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Reviews
After the Wizard (2011)
A complete waste of film
I don't know whose idea it was to make this 'sequel', but it was a very bad one. "After The Wizard" not only has no Wizard in it, but only spends about 10 minutes in Oz!
The screenplay is strange and atrocious and the acting is superficial at best, with the exception of Peter Mark Richman as the blind passenger. Dorothy has zero screen presence, while the Tin Man and Scarecrow are laughable as their "costumes" are normal street clothes peppered with spray-painted on accents! Seriously? Community theater does a better job!
The director (his first film and it shows it) needs to up his game and write something that makes some sort of sense and lines that don't sound like a six-year-old wrote it. How anyone can say this is a "wholesome film the entire family will love" is seriously misleading you down the yellow brick road...which this film also doesn't have!
A Christmas Carol (1938)
Truly BAD version
It was originally planned that the lead role of Scrooge be played by the great Lionel Barrymore (Mr. Potter in "It's A Wonderful Life"). It was unfortunate that he was unable to portray the miser in a wheelchair, so he handed over the role to Reginald Owen. What a mistake! But I don't really fault Mr. Owen in this pathetic version of Charles Dickens' greatest tale, I blame screenwriter Hugo Butler for hacking the novel into pieces, inventing plot points and scenarios that are ludicrous and ridiculous, and coming up with a terrible screenplay that is badly, horribly written! But wait, there's more! Tiny Tim is about 14 years old, as tall as his father, and acts so upbeat and over-the-top happy, you WANT him to die! Cratchit gets fired after a snowball knocks off Scrooge's hat. Scrooge TAKES Cratchit's wages on the spot, THEN Cratchit--broke and unemployed, mind you--walks home and is instantly cheered up by watching a dead goose across a man's back sway to and fro! Who writes this kind of garbage?? You want a terrific screenplay adaptation that actually ADDS to the novel? It's Noel Langley to the rescue! Watch the 1951 definitive Alastir Sim version and see perfection...second only to the 1982 Roger O. Hirson adaptation with the terrific George C. Scott as Scrooge.
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County (1970)
Terrific!
A 1970's screwball comedy-western with just the right amount of sentiment thrown in...and is NOT on video or DVD! Why?? You have a wonderful cast brought together here: Dan Blocker, Jim Backus, Nanette Fabray, Wally Cox, scene-stealer Mickey Rooney, Noah Berry Jr, Stubby Kaye, the uproarious Jack Elam, long-time stock player Henry Jones, Jack Cassidy, and more! You couldn't lose with a cast like this!
The plot is simple and formula: Charlie, the only blacksmith in town (Blocker) is going to leave because his mail-order bride turned out to be a hoax. The nervous townsfolk convince Sadie the saloon girl (Fabray) to portray the bride just long enough to let him down easy, leave town, then resume her normal life as a bar singer. Since the blacksmith doesn't drink, he'd never enter the saloon, so it's a perfect plan, right?
Jack Cassidy plays Sadie's nasty sometime-boyfriend Roger Hand who the gang try to pass off as wanted criminal Panama Jack. In a great 'showdown' scene, blind-as-a-bat bounty hunter Blaze Kittrick (Elam) draws down on innocent Indian Tom (Rooney) with hysterical results!
Blocker and Fabray fall for each other in the end (naturally) , but the path to their eventual nuptials is a comedy gold-mine with a lot of laughs and heartfelt warm. A true gem of a minor "B" film that finally, after years of waiting, I have a DVD of the movie from an Australian source! Hopefully someday a big-wig at Universal will see the light of day and release it to the public. You want a copy? Ioffer.com has them for sale (me too!).