Reviews

Cast: KANG-HO SONG is YOON TAE-GOO aka The Weird formerly ELI WALLACH aka the Ugly

BYUNG-HUN LEE is PARK CHANG-YI aka The Bad, formerly LEE VAN CLEEF aka The Bad

WOO-SUNG JUNG is PARK DO-WON aka The Good, formerly CLINT EASTWOOD aka The Good

Why can't Quentin Tarantino makes movies like this? The Korean creators of this film have made a very acceptable homage to the similarly titled film THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. While American born writer and director Tarantino draws inspiration from earlier films, now considered to be cult favourites, and not the critical failures they were initially regarded as, his films always seem to have a spirit of meanness I find thankfully absent in this Korean actioner.

Veteran lead actor Kang-ho Song is a versatile enough actor to approximate the role of Tuco, and indeed, at time looks like ELI WALLACH. Woo-sung Jung updates the CLINT EASTWOOD character of the bounty hunter supreme, and is just as as taciturn as Clint except for the short interlude when he and the Weird share sleeping quarters. mistrust the other.

LEE VAN CLEEF is reincarnated in style by Byung-hun Lee, suitably dressed in funereal black and sporting the scars of his livelihood. He is utterly ruthless from start to finish; he doesn't allow his own men to challenge or to question him, and is totally focused on what he wants to achieve.

This film certainly comes close to wearing out its welcome but the concluding scenes will make it worth your while. Before that conclusion you will be treated to an incredible visual feast of fascinating characters in varied and outrageous costume; landscapes so alien and so vast as to be overwhelming in their novelty, and fanciful and exotic locations chosen as stunning backdrops to the expertly choreographed gunfights that fill this film.

Writer-director Ji-woon Kim certainly has succeeded in creating a distinctive and memorable ORIENTAL WESTERN with this film, that hopefully will see if not a North American theatrical release, then at least a special edition DVD release.

The Icon Blu Ray out of the UK is the international version running 130 minutes and not the 124 minutes shown on the packaging. This release offers a lossless 5.1 digital audio track; the English subtitles are not burnt in, and available at a very competitive price!

Yes, I have watched both Tarantino's INGLORIOUS BASTERDS and its inspiration directed by ENZO CASTELLARI, and would not care to watch the former again, or to recommend it for others to view.

This lengthy film will likely disappoint North American readers who have yet to read the fifth in the Antonio Perez-Reverte historical series chronicling the life and death of one Captain Diego Alatriste. Then again very few will be aware that a film has been made, and that it stars VIGGO MORTENSON, best known here for his on-going role in the hugely successful adaption of J. R. R. TOLKIEN's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.

This film attempts to compact the first five novels into one epic yet personal picture about Spain at the height of its powers. Unfortunately the fourth work in the series THE KING'S GOLD has only just become available in hardcover, AND it may be another two years before the fifth arrives! Significantly, I feel that American readers could find many parallels to this Spain and their own country. One memorable piece of verse says something like, Spain plundered the whole world alone, But now the whole world waits to plunder Spain alone.

That said, I give this film low marks because of the difficulties my girlfriend and I had in viewing it. The film begins in Flanders and sets up the lifelong relationship between the fiercely independent Alatriste and Inigo, the son of a deceased comrade in arms. This situation which makes up most of the first novel is over and done with very quickly. So too is the introduction of the masterful Italian swordsman MALATESTA who is commissioned along with ALATRISTE to assassinate two visiting English members of the royalty.

Somehow within the first hour we get to book four, THE KING'S GOLD. This is especially poorly done, as Alatriste's motivation for taking on the suicidal task is not properly explained and neither is his recruiting of the team. In the film a very moving celebration of life - for a condemned man - is somehow dismissed, and shown only because Alatriste approaches the man for help.

So when the late night/early morning assault on the ship carrying gold from the Americas takes place we know of the men, and worse, the dutiful accountant - OLMEDILLA, if I remember correctly - written in such detail is invisible.

As to the one great love in Alatriste's life, I do not recall the woman MARIA in any of the books, and she is really given short shrift in the film, though it is obvious that the Captain makes great sacrifices for her.

Two other major concerns: no one ever addresses anyone else by name and so you have no idea who is who, and the girl Angelica is dark haired and not blonde with ringlets and green eyes! The running time of this film is frequently listed as 147 minutes but my copy courtesy of Xploited Video only runs 138 minutes (the credits are lengthy and accompanied by music that adds nothing).

The first four books in the series probably total a 1000 pages, and sadly it shows. Thank you for your patience in reading this lengthy discourse.

THE DEADLY BREAKING SWORD stands apart from other Shaw Bros. productions starring TI LUNG in making him an unsympathetic, even an unlikeable character. The more SB films one sees, the more rewarding it can be as you see how the filmmakers would attempt to move beyond the genre formulas, even though they used the same actors and production crews.

His role as TUAN CHANGQING, the Deadly Breaking Sword, puts him at odds with the rest of the martial world. He is an aberration of his famous heroic roles, eg. THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN cycle: he is no longer a protector of the weak, and the old, nor is he a defender of helpless women (though one might argue, there are no so called helpless women in this story).

He looks ahead to the likes of FRANKIE CHAN's nobleman in THE PRODIGAL SON and Donnie Yen's General in the superior ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II. A superior fighter who provokes less fighters into mortal combat; a sadist who not only provides his quarry a coffin but who also relishes detailing his deadly breaking sword technique.

The film cleverly begins with a duel with LIAN SAN (WAI-MAN CHAN) whose own reputation rests with his Throat-Piercing Halberd. The two fighters are well matched, and both sustain serious wounds. The contest ends with LIAN's flight to safety.

LIAN's miraculous recovery is brought about by GUO TIANSHENG (KU FENG). GUO hides behind a facade he has skilfully created in which he is a warm, compassionate and peace loving man. He has an ulterior motive for saving LIAN's life.

The catalyst for the ensuing action is LIU JINHUA, a successful prostitute who comes to town, and hopes to enlist TUAN's services to kill GUO, whom she believes betrayed her brother years ago.

Add to this potentially confusing mix, FU SHENG playing his patented scoundrel, except this time, he is too blind to comprehend that the beautiful LUO JINHUA (LILY LI) is totally in love with him. XIAO DAO (FU) spends most of the film trying to get out of his indentured status. His need for quick, ready cash sets him on a collision course with both TUAN and GUO (aka THE KILLER DOCTOR).

There are several scenes where the key characters confront one another: in one, the smooth, sly GUO easily deceives TUAN; in another, TUAN accuses LIU of lying to him; in others, TUAN, still fooled by the KILLER DOCTOR, attempts to stop XIAO (FU SHENG) from taking on the mission of eliminating the Doctor - for money, and then there is the drastic course of action that FU SHENG takes when he fathoms what LILY LI has been doing.

There is a lot of action, well up to the usual house standards, and well staged too. But what stayed with me was TI LUNG's character TUAN CHANGQING, who is every bit the hypocrite that the good DOCTOR GUO is. It's a great scene when TUAN sitting down with XIAO tells him how wonderful he is as a fighter, and if he only had principles...

Urban warfare waged in a uniquely American landscape by a brigade of capable performers propelled by a team of uniformly excellent scriptwriters...

The battle is being waged in a nameless metropolis, that could well be New York; it'a a city where the rich and the powerful live in a world all their own.

At stake is the future of some 5.000 workers; their only hope is to seek compensation from their employer, personally, as the business itself has gone under.

The employer and multi-millionaire Arthur Frobisher (TED DANSON) has already survived investigation by the SEC; now super lawyer Patty Hewes is attacking in force, and seemingly, with intent to destroy everything that is important to him (I keep thinking of the matchup between the mongoose and the cobra, and the surprise victor).

The script is adept at making Frobisher a very attractive and forceful personality; this is in sharp contrast to Hewes's cruelly and wilfully manipulative lawyer. I tended to side with Frobisher simply for his having litagator Ray Fiske (ZEIJKO IVANEK) for his defence. His is a wonderfully fully drawn character of enormous complexity, and actor IVANEK is equal to the task. Tom Shayes (TATE DONOVON), Hewes's supposed right hand man, is skilfully portrayed too; however, he loses the viewer's approval for his gutlessness as he is truly Hewes's creature.

The two leads, a pair of professionals on the move, seem slight in comparison, but their roles are integral in keeping the story moving. In some ways I found them the least interesting among the principal characters.

Initially I felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the story, by the speed it was being told, the shifts in time, the motivation of the characters, and of course, by the legal jargon. Now I can sit back and say that with patience, it all makes sense, and perhaps all that legalese was not that confusing - well done for great writing! Having viewed a dozen of the thirteen episodes, I can confirm the story and its time in and time out structure does maintain a forward momentum, and that I look forward to a very satisfying conclusion (Yeah, I would advise against giving too much plot away; that's not really the purpose of a review to begin with, and it certainly can take away surprise and the pleasure of being surprised from those who have not seen the entire series).

Sun Chung's AVENGING EAGLE is a martial arts film that transcends the genre; it boasts a superior script and characterization, and achieves a tragic quality of its own.

The Shaw Bros. studio churned out a lot of martial arts films in its 25 year heyday. AVENGING EAGLE is one of the most memorable that I have seen. The script takes the viewer back and forth in time, the flashbacks allow the viewer to discover more and more about its two protagonists (played by TI LUNG and Alexander FU SHENG). So interwined are their pasts that it is quickly obvious that they should actually be each other's enemy. But the logic is such that we can also readily accept that they put aside their differences, eliminate as many of the Iron Boat clan sent in pursuit of TI LUNG's character, and finally, take on the evil leader of the clan (KU FENG).

I found the dialogue especially good and satisfying, and I am sure that others who have seen the film, can think of at least four or five instances, whether the dialogue demonstrates wonderful irony, quiet sadness, and ensures the two heroes display real qualities of heroism.

SUN CHUNG and his crew show a wonderful eye for their locations, the exotic and distinctive costuming and weaponry (of the heroes, and also the thirteen Eagles, and of course, their leader).

With the opening shot, it was obvious this film was photographed away from the usual locations. That, the initial meeting of the two leads, their first skirmish with the Iron Boat gang, and much later, the remote inn that they 'rent' for a month to set up an elaborate ambush, and lastly, the lair of the gang, where SUN builds up to and sustains a lengthy climax, demonstrates a lot of imagination.

Even the music is effective, despite the mono sound of the Region 3 IVL/Celestial Pictures DVD, and is largely 'original'> This film is so good that I have not even broached the subject of its martial arts. And that alone, I believe, is reason enough that I consider AVENGING EAGLE one of the best martial arts films I have seen.

(PS: Consider a quarter century later the Japanese were making films along the same line, ie. AZUMI, which surely lacks the economy of this film, running almost an hour longer).

(PSS: I enjoyed the other contributors' comments on AVENGING EAGLE, surely more confirmation, this film deserves repeated viewing).

(PSSS: If you enjoyed this film, please take the time to track down and watch KILLER CONSTABLE).

BANG BANG YOU'RE DEAD aka Our Man In Marrakesh seems a low budget homage to the talents of director Alfred Hitchcock and actor Cary Grant. Imagine, if you will, a blending of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and NORTH BY NORTHWEST, and you might have BANG BANG.

Tony Randall is very appealing as the much harried, put upon innocent who is caught up in a series of misadventures (his character Jessel actually says something like "We're suspected of being murderers, and we're being chased by murderers"). Randall is certainly not someone you would cast as the romantic lead, but you can readily accept that he and Senta Berger will become lovers.

Ms Berger's characters is very fond and adept at telling lies, and shaping the truth as she sees fit. She does it well, and is charming, and everyone likes her, not least the wily Arab truck driver Achmed (Gregoire Aslan), who twice saves the couple.

I had mistaken Margaret Lee for another Italian starlet but apparently she was born in Wolverhampton, England in 1943. She plays the sex kitten very well, and again, has some good lines.

The script is actually very good, the dialogue especially, with more memorable lines than I expected. The line-up of character actors is also fine, though Klaus Kinski's thug is nowhere as effective as the one he displayed in GRAND SLAM.

Locations are well chosen, the action good for its day, and the music by Malcolm Lockyer (someone who doesn't seem to have worked much in film) catches the flavour of Marrakesh, Morocco.

All in all, highly recommended (If you can find it!)

The recent Celestial Pictures region 3 DVD of the 1980 Shaw Bros. film THE KILLER CONSTABLE establishes that the picture deserves cult status. KILLER CONSTABLE is distinguished by a story quite different from the norm (though the set up may seem hackneyed now); sets, locations and atmosphere that are unique in the Shaw Bros. canon, and action and violence unusually cruel and explicit. Add to this, an ending that is very cynical.

Chen Kuan Tai is very effective in his portrayal of THE KILLER CONSTABLE, known for his policy of not taking prisoners. Such is his self righteous position as judge, jury and executioner, that some of his men take exception to his ruthlessness, and worse, his enemies use that predictability against him.

The story is set in motion when the Royal Treasury is robbed of 2,000,000 taels of gold. Chen's character LENG TIAN-YING is given the unenviable job of recovering the gold, and bringing the robbers to justice. In just 10 days. To save face for his superior, who stands otherwise to face the wrath of the Empress Dowager! LENG is able to build a small posse of five men, who are more devoted to him, than they are to the mission. Too late LENG discovers that loyalty has its costs, and too late he discovers exactly who his enemies are.

Once LENG and company leave the capital their journey is like a descent into hell. They enter into and travel through one wasteland after another; do battle in darkness, in rain, in swamps, in mud and everything in between. I have read comments that dismiss the film, because it is a sword fighting film. This is certainly true, but there is no end to the weapons on display and the variety of styles and subterfuge. Furthermore, the sheer savagery of the bloodletting and lifetaking is such you would imagine yourself to being viewing a horror film.

During this journey LENG and his men must battle the elements as well as an ever present enemy. LENG never seems to have any difficulty of finding the original culprits, something he does wonder at, nor is he curious why none of them have very much of the gold with them. He certainly lacks imagination but never resolve. LENG is actually very human and CHEN portrays his failings and even his humanity, as effectively as he does his unswerving dedication to the cause.

Even the music is distinctive; I didn't hear any of the recycled Ennio Morricone, Messrs. Jerry Fielding and Goldsmith - indeed the scene that introduces the character of KU FENG and his blind daughter is quite unlike anything I have heard in a SHAW BROS. film.

I came away mightily impressed by everything in this film and all the contributing elements -it's a film that does not seem to have become dated at all.

My one concern was that the NTSC DVD runs 92 minutes; the only other running time I have see for KILLER CONSTABLE is 99 minutes (however this seems to be true of almost all the region 3 SHAW BROS. DVDs).

PS: A tael is the equivalent of 1 1/3 oz; not much, but imagine moving 2,000,000 bars of gold this size!

I found myself comparing this to another psychological thriller I had seen recently - CACHE aka HIDDEN - much to the disadvantage of THE ROBBER BRIDE.

The film begins with a scene that makes the viewer expect an investigation a la CSI. Instead it is a single individual investigating a team of trio of women for the possible murder of a woman they all knew in their university years. John's character and personality seems to disappear as we learn more about Zenia the possible woman and the women, Charis, Roz and Tony.

None of the latter women engendered any of my sympathy, though the story argues (or does it?) that all three have been victimized by Zenia, who unerringly detects how best and how deeply the three can be hurt.

I found the choice of Mary-Louise Parker interesting in that she resembled a younger, more feminine Margaret Atwood.

I imagine that I missed a considerable amount of subtext because I have not read much Atwood, and as this is a fairly recent work, it very likely reiterates themes that she finds important.

I edited the commercials out of the film, and was left with slightly less than 89 minutes; so I must applaud those who sat through the live broadcast of THE ROBBER BRIDE, often enduring lengthy 4 minute or longer commercial - I found it incredibly annoying to fight off the numerous pop ups, usually for forthcoming programming, to the extent that I couldn't read or digest the all important closing credits!

A clever script from the late SEBASTIAN JAPRISOT and smart performances from the two male leads - ALAIN DELON and CHARLES BRONSON (or should it be the other way around) result in an engaging and entertaining thriller.

Add to the above the competent direction from veteran JEAN HERMAN and a sparse but effective score by FRANCOIS DE ROUBAIX, it becomes easy why this film has an odd timeless quality.

This is a buddy buddy or bonding story with two loners, both disillusioned and world weary, returning, presumably from Algiers. Like the other colonial powers of this time (post WW II leading into the 60s), France had struggled to keep up appearances overseas. Losing Algiers was a bitter blow.

ADIEU L'AMI (the original title) chronicles the actions of our two (anti) heroes as they struggle to make a go of it, after their discharge.

One thing happens after another, and the viewer really has to pay attention, because JAPRISOT is lean and economical with his script: if it is there, then there must be a reason.

Suffice to say, these two men battle it out, physically and psychologically, one long weekend. Their motivation is quite different, their goals are different - their survival depends entirely on each other. That ALAIN DELON and CHARLES BRONSON are outwardly so different - the former, arguably a pretty boy, and the latter an ugly thug, adds to the chemistry.

That quest makes for a great story, which in turn, makes for a great film.

Lest I forget there are women in this film, and true to the Japrisot method, they too are memorable, though not nearly as fleshed out; to say much more would be to spoil one's delight in discovering their true nature.

FAREWELL, FRIEND HAS BEEN RELEASED IN THE UK; AN ANAMORPHIC IMAGE, 16.9 ENHANCED; IN English ONLY (not even subtitles for the hard of hearing); A RUNNING TIME OF 110 MINUTES; MONO SOUNDTRACK but the DE ROUBAIX music has lots of punch!

Highly recommended.

A trio of deadly China dolls is the reason to see this HK actioner DREAMING THE REALITY (1991). SIBELLE HU joins forces with MOON LEE to take revenge; both have lost the person closest to them, and the villain of the piece is FOK (the late EDDY KO is appropriately slimy and despicable).

MOON LEE and YUKARI OSHIMA have been trained as assassins by their adoptive father FOK. The pre-credits sequence details their training at a very early age, and clearly differentiates the personalities of the two girls/women; the vicious nature of their foster brother and the ruthlessness of their mentor FOK.

There is a lengthy section of the film that takes place in Thailand, where a would be boxer and his sister run foul of a cruel and manipulative promoter. Of course, the two female assassins are then assigned a mission in Thailand, where of course, the two very different pairs of siblings are fated to meet.

There is the usual non-stop action, well choreographed but preposterous; the needless mayhem and senseless elimination of all the minor and some of the major characters; some interesting location shooting, and of course, the appeal of seeing the three women do their thing - something they do often and well

Though I was pleased that this film was broadcast locally on a Vancouver multi-cultural station, I am prone to dismiss this film as one that I would watch once, and no more.

This is yet another ODD COUPLE type film starring KA YAN LEUNG aka LEUNG KAR-YANwhose earlier film with SAMMO HUNG is rightly considered something of a masterpiece. This 1992 police procedural is not nearly as successful. Co-star DANNY LEE was much more appealing in THE KILLER opposite charismatic CHOW YUN FAT. In RED SHIELD, he is a rather unappealing character, playing a policeman so involved with his work, his wife never gets the opportunity to share with him that she might be pregnant.

KA is the opposite of DANNY LEE's character; he is obsessively jealous and continually worried that his glamorous, free-spirited wife is cheating on him.

Circumstances bring the two policemen together and they are assigned to bring down the crafty Dragon Ho (BEN LAM) and his team of ruthless thieves who successfully retreat back to China, after each of their missions.

I am afraid I have seen enough HK action films that I can dismiss this film as for being only for DANNY LEE fans; however, if you are able to see it on TV, as I did, it is worth seeing simply to see how low budget HK film-making was back in '92.

This film CASTLE OF SAND expands on genre conventions and is cinematic in the best sense. YOSHITARO NOMURA takes what was presumably a best selling novel in Japan, and creates a fascinating mystery with all the requisites: the pairing of a veteran and a rookie detective; a murder with a minimum of clues; an unidentified victim; a journey of discovery for both detectives when the investigation seems to have come to a dead end; the seemingly arbitrary introduction of a key figure on which much hinges, and so forth.

The director tells a story with voice overs and the requisite dialogue but as often as not his camera tells the story.

I have seen any number of Japanese films in my 50 plus years, but I still felt I was undergoing the journey and the search that the two detectives take, through the rural regions of Japan that are in stark contrast to their operating base, Tokyo.

The story has elements that take it beyond the realms of the mystery and police procedure genres, and the conclusion is worthy of the time the director has spent in weaving his tragic tale.

The film is now available on DVD via Panorama; it is in the original Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles. It is a SINGLE LAYER DISK, LETTERBOXED and in STEREO, which is paramount because music is central to the whole affair.

Unfortunately my copy had a sequence when the senior detective is addressing his colleagues and no subtitling is provided (you simply see the same line for an awkward length of time). However the viewer should be able to extrapolate what has been said. All in all, a film and DVD worth seeking out!

I was fortunate to find the Simitar VHS edition of THE LIBERATORS. While the box cover states a running time of 85 minutes, it is indeed 77 minutes, as other reviewers have noted.

I do not remember seeing any credits throughout other than THE END; in that sense IMDb proved helpful in supplying the basics.

GEORGE HILTON is a good deal more animated than he is in many of his other films (westerns and giallo are the genre I associate him with most). In uniform and clean shaven he very much looks the part of a recent West Point graduate given his first command during the Italian campaign.

A twist of fate leads him into being responsible for the execution of two fellow American GIs; their lives were thus be intertwined - the young lieutenant will come of age, and the two battle hardened veterans will achieve a state of grace through acts of sacrifice (culminating after the deaths of those who have grown close to them).

KLAUS KINSKI is eminently watchable, and thankfully the director saw fit not to rely on dialogue, but let the camera dwell on his ravaged features. His final scene is memorable, and alone worth the price of the video.

The third piece in the puzzle is a black American actor that I have never seen before; seeing as so many black jazz and blues musicians found Europe a haven it is understandable that black actors too might have chosen Europe as a new home. I found it interesting that the film is half over before he says anything.

The actress credited as BETSY DELL looked very familiar, and so I suspect this is actually a pseudonym. Can anyone tell me who she is?

The locations were such that I felt I was seeing a side of Italy that was totally unfamiliar to me.

A note on the music: it added a lot to the film.

The flavour of the film caught the anti-establishment movement of the times, and would be a nice contrast to John Wayne's THE GREEN BERETS, made about the same time if I remember correctly.

War truly is hell.

Great opening and closing shots, and everything wonderful in between as the camera captures both the wide open spaces and the claustrophobic confines of the station and its various buildings where much of the action in THE UGLY ONES takes place.

For a change well drawn characters rather than a catalogue of stock figures that you expect in a western. Unusually the female lead is a strong individual; the villain of the piece remains the most interesting and complex, and thankfully the bounty hunter does not succumb to becoming a romantic lead.

This film is violent for its time and I enjoyed the reliance on fisticuffs, rather than just gun-play.

The soundtrack is exceptional with a score by STELVIO CIPRIANI that exemplifies the unique qualities of the Euro western.

This is a film I would recommend to any film-goer, and equally important, certainly one that I would watch again (8 out of 10 for this genre).

This is a splendid comic adventure; it is also a 1971 spaghetti western that coming at the tail end of an era was not much seen.

While the cast is uniformly good, it is the script that excels. Tino Carpi's writing provides good lines for almost everybody, whether it is the lead HALLELUJAH, his aristocratic rival in arms ALEXEI, or the two parties, trying to cheat them, the Mexican bandit revolutionary RAMIREZ or the American spy disguised as a nun (AGATA FLORI); even the ruthless arms dealer KRANTZ who engineer the theft of the jewels that everyone chases after a motley crew that becomes recognizable, because they are given not only names but personalities (eg. Cookie and his comments about outlaws, going back to Utah; Fortune, and so forth).

Uruguay born GEORGE HILTON comes across as a blend of TERENCE HILL; JAMES COBURN, especially when he wears motorcycle goggles in an early sequence, and even HUMPHREY BOGART! The actor credited as CHARLES SOUTHWOOD is an engaging fellow, especially when he does his Cossack schtik.

The music by STELVIO CIPRIANI is almost non-stop and adds to the atmosphere.

This is a film that will remind you of many other spaghetti westerns, even if those were made later than this: I was reminded of the SABATA films; the TRINITY films especially the second that deals with rogue monks and their monastery; other Mexican revolutionary films all the way back to VIVA ZAPATA; VERA CRUZ (Emperor Maximilian again) and COMPANEROS/MERCENARY, plus the two Leone westerns DUCK YOU SUCKER and then MY NAME IS NOBODY with the shaving sequence. And those are some that come off the top of my head.

I watched the video distributed by ACADEMY and could almost believe it was STEREO HIFI as cited on their box, but for the fact that no one was doing that back in 1971. In fact I watched this full frame video on a widescreen TV, in the widescreen mode, and was quite satisfied with the picture quality, confirming the original photography was excellent to begin with.

It remains a western that should be seen, therefore be made more available; how nice it would be to see the film on DVD letter boxed, even if it were only in mono!

BREAKING NEWS is yet another JOHNNY TO film exploring the theme of honour among thieves. Earlier successes included THE MISSION and FULL TIME KILLER; others would certainly come to mind if I were to peruse his filmography but you can do that yourself on www.IMDb.com!

Mr TO and the CREATIVE WRITING TEAM of MILKWAY have a habit of not giving the viewer a lot of information, and letting the visual elements that define cinema take precedence.

The opening sequence is very tightly and cleverly shot and edited, so much so that it is a pleasure to sit back and play it over again.

That first sequence introduces most of the protagonists, at least those who will do battle; the subsequent act introduces the upper levels of policedom, who decide to stage a publicity coup.

The need for more effective policing to ensure the safety of citizens should be paramount, but the woman in charge (KELLY CHEN) is every bit as ruthless as the gunmen in her sights.

Caught in the middle is DETECTIVE CHEUNG, the police officer in charge of the initial, disastrous stakeout that sets the story in motion.

Every one seems to want to save face: the thieves refuse to surrender even when the odds seem insurmountable; DETECTIVE CHEUNG becomes more an avenger or a vigilante than a lawman, and refuses to back down, even when ordered to desist and give over to SDI, while CHEN in the safety of her control vehicle, uses technology and superior firepower to prove her worth to her superiors.

JOHNNY TO and his team must take pride in making films where the viewer must EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (a superior policier starring the wonderful LAU CHING WAN). BREAKING NEWS is no exception: there are several twists; scenes of quiet humour, which manage to humanize the villains of the piece, and of course, those nice touches that ensure some memorable characterizations.

By the time the credits roll, everything has come together, and the muddle of the various conflicts is resolved, quite eloquently.

I cannot quite fathom the wide variety of music chosen for this film but it all seems to work.

BREAKING NEWS is an entertaining 90 minutes, and certainly does not wear out its welcome. Now that the anamorphically enhanced DVD is out, you can watch it more than once, to savour all its nuances.

I was very pleased to find the 1974 RAI-Italy series SANDOKAN complete on DVD. While the picture quality is such that it appears to originate simply from video (cassette), the story and themes with conflicting characterizations is certainly there.

Lord Brooke, the villain of the piece, likens himself to Sandokan: he feels that he is acting in the best interests of England, just as Sandokan works similarly for his people. Of course, Brooke with his private empire in Borneo/Sarawak together with his private army of dayaks is more like a precursor to Joseph Conrad's KURTZ in HEART OF DARKNESS.

The power accorded Brooke and his allies the second ruling class - the EAST India (TEA) COMPANY seems absolute, and corrupting in its absolutism.

Some of director SERGIO SOLLIMA's best films explore the nature of authority and the struggle of those under a harsh and unforgiving authority (eg. THE BIG GUNDOWN; FACE TO FACE; THE FAMILY, the corporate nature of the underworld, and even REVOLVER (the links between politics and crime).

SANDOKAN makes for an admirable hero, and though his romantic with the very young MARIANNA, not yet 18, fresh and idealistic, seems trite, it forms one third of the triangle that keeps his world in balance. The other is his men and the community on his island stronghold of MOMPRACEM.

Some of EMILIO SARAGLI's works including SANDOKAN are finally available in English. I was amazed to see that you only have need of a reading ability of 9-12 years.

Not to belabour the point but SANDOKAN is a children's adventure story with wonderfully exotic locations (India and Malaysia were used) and characters, which actually should be watched by the parents too.

(I used to be proud of the British Empire and all its exploits, but over the years it is clear that their methods and their goals were not that noble; and of course, one only has to watch the television and read the newspapers - sometimes between the lines - to realize the problems still exist

This is an entertaining conclusion to the trilogy of westerns made by directer GIUSEPPE COLIZZI and stars TERENCE HILL and BUD SPENCER.

The first collaboration GOD FORGIVES... I DON'T benefited from the presence of FRANK WOLFF, the ruthless master criminal BILL SAN'ANTONIO; ACE HIGH allowed ELI WALLACH to steal the show whenever he was on-screen, giving us a variation on his TUCO role (THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY), so that we could overlook the meandering approach to the memorable finale, set deliriously to a waltz, and the third film BOOT HILL provides a white collar villain in VICTOR BUONO.

His angle on life and death in the west is complementary to what SERGIO LEONE proposed in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Big business and its money was the only means of beating the gun. And so the heroes' approach to defeating the wonderfully obese BUONO is different from the slugfests and shootouts from earlier westerns.

This is why I would disagree with Tom Weisser in his otherwise excellent tome on spaghetti westerns - "the genre's most (unintentionally) nonthreatening villain, Victor Buono". The most successful villains get others to do their dirty work, yet believe their own hands are therefore clean!

On the Spaghetti Western Scales of Justice, another 7.5/10: good cast, music, plot and characterization with some novel elements such as the traveling circus troupe, and the stubborn old judge.

John Ireland heads an excellent cast which is aided by a very good script. Ireland is the "badlands drifter" who inadvertently stumbles into a complex web of twisted family dynamics.

Even at the end of the film it is not entirely clear why the Mexican patriarch played by spaghetti western veteran ROBERTO CAMARDIEL resents his son CHRIS (ROBERT WOODS) so much that he sets him on a path that must surely lead to tragedy.

CAMARDIEL's behaviour towards his only daughter Barbara (DANIELA GIORDANO) is much more understandable: she stood up to him, and attempted to run away with her lover. It is this situation that IRELAND's character stumbles into, setting off a chain of events that finally lead him to take action, but show him to be horribly emotionally crippled by his past life.

Tom Weisser incorrectly describes the film as "Basically, it's the story of a drifter who gets caught up in a range war between two powerful ranchers".

True, there are two powerful ranchers but the younger joins forces with CHRIS, to advance his own romantic interest in his sister Barbara.

Weisser also writes off director LEON KLIMOVKSY "static type of "zoom and pan" film-making," but I found nothing distracting or annoying in either the film's direction or camera work. The score for this 1969 film is by another veteran of the genre FRANCESCO DE MASI.

On the Spaghetti Western Scales of Justice I would rate this 7.5/10. This is just one of a handful of westerns where the actions of an overbearing Mexican rancher/landowner are pivotal to the story, eg. A BULLET FOR SANDOVAL comes immediately to mind.

The new MEI AH DVD "The Butterfly Murders" is a very welcome release, as the only time I have seen this debut effort by TSUI HARK was by watching a very poorly transferred VCD.

The story is confusing enough without having subtitles wholly obscured. That is what happened with the VCD.

The film seems to be only sympathetic towards two characters FONG the writer and a female warrior GREEN SHADOW. In turn they appear allied to the TIEN clan leader, who has also been invited to the SHUM castle.

The castle becomes another character - its exterior grim and barren when the main characters arrive, rather those in AGATHA CHRISTIE's "Ten little Indians". And when they are subjected to the first of many relentless attacks by butterflies, they find refuge underground.

The underground is a maze, with mysterious rooms suddenly appearing and concealing the butterflies themselves; arsenals of elaborate weapons, and so forth.

I wonder if we were not intended to be as confused as all those invited to the castle, to their deaths, as the film plays out: to know is to die, to quote Darius Jedburgh ("Edge of darkness," 1986).

This is one of the few HK films that I have seen that has thrown me re its plot and its characters: it took me a long time to really identify the actors and their characters. That said, I was very impressed with the staging of the action which is plentiful and varied; intrigued with the villain and his suit of body armour (it seemed something out of a Mario Bava slasher film), and quietly applauded the cynical ending, but was upset that once again the filmmakers should use so much Jerry Goldsmith ("Planet of the apes") and Ennio Morricone ("Moses") in the soundtrack.

An entertaining debut by Tsui Hark!

One of the first films that I saw on my own certainly made an impression: I was 10 or 11 and living in the Hague, the Netherlands.

I had no difficulty in following the story, or in understanding the conflicts that arose and which threatened to split the team of saboteurs/commandos. I don't imagine that I thought that war could ever be like what I saw on the big screen, but I became wrapped up in the epic qualities of Maclean's heroes overcoming a myriad of obstacles to achieve their goal.

I had no idea of who the actors were, though I immediately began the careers of Peck, Quinn, Niven, Baker and Quayle (all of whom have passed on).

I also sought out the soundtrack, a wondrous work by DMITRI TIOMKIN: in fact I am playing the Columbia LP, a stereo edition, in the background.

This film would be considered ponderous and pedestrian if made today, yet it was a perfect introduction to the world of make believe, that cinema is (the two other films I saw on my own that have stayed with me were JANE EYRE and EL CID, boasting scores by BERNARD HERRMANN and MIKLOS ROZSA). On the basis of these films alone, I remain an avid soundtrack collector to this day.

EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN is director LIU CHIA-LIANG (LAU KAR-LEUNG) very different contribution to the Shaolin Temple series, begun by CHANG CHEH. Unlike CHANG who seems to have a strong dislike for women, and actresses, LIU provides LILY LI the opportunity to portray a strong, complex female role.

From her very first scenes as a travelling street entertainer who defends her turf in a duel with the famous Shaolin fighter HONG XIOGUAN (aka HUNG SZE KUAN); marries him but keeps him at bay on their wedding night using her martial arts, FANG YUNG is a match for her vengeance obsessed husband.

HONG is one of the few Shaolin monks to survive the earlier massacre. In fact he and his men escaped an ambush only because one of his friends - Brother Tong - sacrifices himself to give them all time to escape.

And the same thing happens again, when he challenges ABBOT PAI MEI (aka "White Brows"), even though he is clearly no match for him. He rejects his wife's advice, seemingly because she is a woman. And using the same pigheaded logic, he makes the terrible decision not to learn her crane style.

Thankfully the son stands up to his father, and learns from his mother. When Hong returns to fight White Brows a second time, there is a sense of inevitability. The son fights to stop his father, who dissuades him with empty rhetoric, and then goes to his death.

In this film this is very significant because the filmmakers have gone to great trouble to establish a strong family unit, only to have it torn asunder because the father is too set in his ways to change. Thus the audience really does feel a sense of loss, and are saddened that the wife and son cannot put the love they have for Hong into words. The need to seek vengeance has become very personal.

The film itself has a wonderful mix of combat and training sequences; sizeable dollops of romance and humour (Cantonese style), and enough plot to hang everything together.

Best of all, it actually has something to say: the film ends, abruptly, leaving you with very mixed emotions.

I first saw this on a Southgate video. The new 2004 Celestial Pictures Region 3 DVD in 2.35 widescreen with rich saturated colours makes you want to watch the film over and over (it also has some very intriguing extras). And it does help to hear the film in its original Mandarin, rather than dubbed!

8.5/10 * a 4 star martial arts classic.

STAGEFRIGHT aka AQUARIUS is a very stylish chiller from Michele Soavi, whose critical reputation rests on this film and the later CEMETERY MAN.

Certainly the film is derivative, and fans of this subgenre will surely comment that they have seen it all before; however, Soavi, like his mentor Dario Argento, is astute when he chooses the likes of ENNIO MORRICONE; GOBLIN, and now SIMON BOSWELL to score his films.

Boswell's compositions together with the opening and end titles written by Stefano Mainetti propel the film along, and provide an aural edge to the onscreen visuals. And if their contributions were not enough, the inspired, and uncredited use of Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th symphony, 3rd movement ("allegro non troppo"), reflects the imaginative touches that distinguish this film from many others.

The play/film within a film works quite well, especially as the cinema is acknowledged to be the art of illusion; indeed this conceit looks ahead to the two DEMONS films, set in a cinema, where the audience are overwhelmed with illusion become reality.

The acting is more than sufficient as the characters are written as types, and set up as victims, just as the heroine has a personality that sets her apart. Her final scenes with the killer are very effective indeed; her fearfulness make her vulnerable, her vulnerability draws us to her, and in drawing us to her, we submit to the relentless onslaught the killer pursues.

This is a film where the viewer/audience surely knows the outcome, but the satisfaction comes from the execution - literally - of the route that the filmmaker takes.

I now have this film on a budget UK DVD which reveals little - I am playing it back on a 16:9 TV, and am very pleased with the quality of the sound (mono) and the visuals, plus some of the unusual, though rare basic extras.