Change Your Image
Msaunders52
Reviews
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
tour de force by Russ Meyer
There are no words adequate enough to do this film justice,it has to be seen to be believed.It is the exploitation film that all others must be measured against.The film's now legendary status is in no small way due to a combination of a witty and subversive screenplay that is brought to fruition by a cast of players clearly having the time of their lives on a rollercoaster ride to the outer limits of taste and absurdity.A plot that under a less skilled Director than Russ Meyer might have become merely a succession of corny pseudo-erotic vignettes,emerges as a tour de force.Central to this is the extraordinary performance of John La Zar as the outrageous uber-hedonist Ronnie'Z-Man'Barzell,who pouts and minces his way through the libertarian wasteland,uttering faux-shakespeareian platitudes at all and sundry until bowing out on a murderous binge like a camp Manson.This is a very very funny film that will continue to amuse for generations to come,it is also a very accomplished film technically,with some of the sharpest editing of any movieand all shot in a manner that any aspiring film-maker would do well to take note of.Maximum points.
Psych-Out (1968)
Accidental Discovery
I stumbled on this film purely by chance at an all- nighter in London some time in the early seventies.It was wedged between half a dozen or so cheapo -flicks on what was ostensibly billed as a Horror session,the remainder of which I am unable to recall, as from the very onset of the opening credits all that preceded was forgotten.My initial response to the film was pitched somewhere between amusement at what I believed to be absurd inaccuracies in the presentation of the subject matter,and a curious sense of admiration for the film,s broadly sympathetic attitude to the Hippie movement.The well drawn characterisation of the film,s main protagonists elevates Psych-Out way above the majority of Exploitation movies,and even the brutal editing of the version released on DVD cannot detract from the cinematographic excellence of Lazlo Kovacs. The passage of time has enabled me to view the film more objectively,and to re-evaluate what I once held to be its most obvious flaws.Firstly,to make a genuinely accurate Picture about Hippies would have been nigh on impossible for most commercial film makers at the time,as the majority of Heads(we never called ourselves Hippies)would have refused to be drawn into such a production.It is no small thing that none of premier league SF groups of the day(The Grateful Dead,Jefferson Airplane,Country Joe and the Fish etc)appear in Psych-Out,and that the audience at the Mumblin' Jim gigs seem for the most part to consist of office workers on a lunch-time break,hurriedly attired for the event in day-glo tunics,with just the odd genuine longhair thrown in.The thirty-something actors,resplendent in their dubious hairpieces, seem uncomfortable as aspiring Rock musicians(with hindsight it is probable that their preferences lay more with modern jazz)this notwithstanding,the film did somehow manage to convey more than a germ of truth about the times.In the characters of Dave and Stoney we encounter the conflict between the psychedelic visionary and the more pragmatic dilettante(shades of Syd Barrett v Roger waters),and in Steve(The Seeker)a prototype Charles Manson,albeit a more benevolent one.Dean Stockwell for me steals the film,an even more complex character than Steve,he is blessed with all the best lines and even manages to bow out with an heroic death as the film arrives at it's 'mindblowing'conclusion.I think Psych-Out is a little gem of a film,and while it contains much that will amuse,there is also much to admire.
Sweet November (1968)
neglected masterpiece
When Anthony Newley passed away in 1999 I was disappointed,to say the least,at the lack of television tributes that would normally accompany such an event.A brief note at the end of Eastenders was the best that the BBC could muster.The one exception,somewhat suprisingly,came from the fledgling Channel 5 and took the form of a showing of the film Sweet November.I must confess that at the time I had not heard of this film and it was only by chance that I happened to be over at My brother,s house at the moment of its broadcast.For the following two hours I sat mesmerised by a film that represents for me,the very best work that Newley ever did within the medium of film.The opening minutes of the film offer little indication of the true nature of what is to follow,as an unfashionably clad,and strangely uptight Anthony Newley has a chance encounter with a free spirited young lady,who epitomises all that the rigidly conventional Mr Newley would appear to despise.These opening scenes are possibly the most demanding on the viewer,as representing conventional characters came about as easily to Anthony Newley as it does now to Jack Nicholson,or Dennis Hopper.As the storyline unfolds however,the viewer is taken on board a magical rollercoaster of alternating pain and whimsy as the process of liberation,initiated by the promise of a transient love,brings both spiritual regeneration and inconsolable loss to Anthony Newley,s urban changeling.A storyline ,that would in less capable hands than the superlative ensemble cast and director,might descend into empty schmaltz,is carried to an unforgettable finale.I urge all those with a suitably open mind to take the opportunity to share in this neglected masterpiece.