There’s not much to say here other than he’ll be SORELY missed. As an artist, his work scared the hell out of me many times and yet inspired me to experiment more with my own art without trying to emulate the man’s style one bit. His work on ALIEN, like the entire film holds up to this day to the point that I’ve recommended the movie over the years to people who didn’t know it was made back in 1979 (yep, even with those old computers and monitors in use!). Granted, you could say that classic was more the result of Ridley Scott’s solid direction, but he was absolutely inspired by Giger’s mind blowing art and there’s NO doubt at all it would have been a lesser film without it… Continue reading →
From the moment Dimitri Tiomkin’s bouncy western theme music kicks things off and “The Ballad of The War Wagon” plays out with its bouncier western lyrics (sing along, now!), you just KNOW you’re in for a good time. Directed by Burt Kennedy (Return of the Seven, Support Your Local Sheriff), this 1967 western paired John Wayne and Kirk Douglas as a pair of adversaries who team up to take down the titular gold-loaded, four-wheeled, well-armored horse-drawn vehicle (say that five times fast!) with the help of some friends is light and airy fun for an afternoon that’s worth a watch even if you don’t like westerns at all.
If your eyebrow is arching up a bit, fear not pardner! Just think of this gem as a variation on The Adventures of Robin Hood or a more modern heist flick with some of your favorite stars and that’s all you need to know to know you’ll come away from this one grinning. In fact, this is one of those films that works brilliantly because it’s supposed to be funny while also delivering plenty of action and dramatic moments to please genre fans… Continue reading →
Excellent. I’d been looking on and off for a copy of The Ipcress File that wasn’t priced like a Krugerrand and either Region 1 or at least not PAL format and as you can see, I had to import one after all. Still, it’s working fine and I’m quite pleased because not only do I get to see an all-time favorite once more after far too long, I get to write about this for an upcoming Blogathon(Hi, Fritzi!). Anyway, I’m off to catch the episode of Fargo I missed last week, then the new Orphan Black and if I’m still awake, I’ll watch this classic, take some notes and pass out ’til tomorrow. And YES, you should be watching both of those shows if you’ve yet to do so.
Yeah, I do live the wild, wild life, ladies and gents! Have the remainder of an awesome Saturday, people! I may be back later tonight, but perhaps not. We shall see. Harry Palmer is in the house and he can’t be ignored or delayed one bit… Well, ALMOST. Sorry, Harry – I just got threatened by some clones!
Yeah, this one still works quite well, as does the entire film. Sure, Dirty Harry rubbed (and still rubs) some the wrong way for a few reasons, but there’s NO denying director Don Siegel and star Clint Eastwood knocked it out of the park. Before the series descended into self-parody and too many one-liners and dopey situations (see The Dead Pool… or please don’t unless you love to cringe and laugh at the same time), we got a deadly serious Harry delivering one of the all-time best zingers in any film ever. Granted, Harry’s response to the injured would-be bank robber IS a bit over the top (Any cop doing that crap and getting seen doing it would be off the force, I’d bet), but that Scorpio killer is completely off his rocker and the film shows you clearly that despite Harry’s rather rude behavior, that old-time justice has its way with that creep. Still, I wonder how that would be played now? And NO, I don’t want a remake.
Amusingly enough, I wrote up a joke plot outline for a FINAL Harry flick many years back that had an aged and very retired Callahan out camping and fishing somewhere in the woods and a few people with grudges against him (for stuff he’d done in previous films) trying very hard to kill him (and failing miserably for a few reasons). It got wiped in a hard drive crash with a bunch of other ideas and I don’t want to even attempt to recreate it now. Still, back them I thought it made sense and the ending was pretty funny and final for the character and the few people that get to read it seemed to agree in a “too bad NO one will ever turn this into an actual script” manner…
Issac Hayes won a very well-deserved Academy Award for this funky theme to Gordon Parks’ still impressive action film that’s about as far from “blaxploitation” as it gets because the material is played seriously and every actor on screen was committed to make the project work as an action film and a still solid crime drama. I’ve seen this way too many times to count as well as some making-of features on that explosive main theme and the film that show how tight the production was and how the end result still stands up as a killer flick for the ages. I also love this intro because it’s got those actual grimy Times Square locations that are ALL gone these days. I can remember too many movie theaters lining both sides of Broadway and those side streets and while MANY were porn houses, a lot were playing first-run to oldies in single to multiple features in a SINGLE theater! Yes, there were no megaplexes back then running twenty plus flicks – unless you knew what you wanted to see, half the thrill of going to the movies was strolling up and down looking at marquees. Granted, the chances were good if you dress like a mark and acted like a total tourist, you’d be tailed around by creeps. But hey, those were the days of thrills nearly every step in that seedy area, kids…
Yeah, yeah, yeah… TCM shows this a few times a year, but sometimes it’s just nice to own a movie if you happen to not want to rely on a channel (or worse, a streaming video service) to deliver the goods. There’s just something lovely and delicious about popping a disc into a player, sitting back and letting the film in question do its stuff and Bava’s horror classic certainly has PLENTY of stuff. I just find it amusing that as absolutely gorgeous as Barbara Steele was (and is, as she’s still with us, last I checked), in a number of her films, she’s buried under makeup that makes her look pretty horrific. But hey, that’s one reason she’s loved by many fans of classic horror flicks I guess.
As for Raiders, it was $2.50 new, I needed another copy and didn’t care if it was on Blu-Ray or not. I actually hadn’t seen it in a while and HATE watching it on AMC because of all those dumb interruptions and the picture quality is terrible to my eyes. One actually needs NO excuse to own this film, as it’s something you can pop on and loop all day as background noise while you’re doing stuff around the house. “I dunno, I’m making this up as I go!” may become your mantra after a day of this film, that’s for sure…
This intro made and STILL makes me laugh a lot for a few reasons, chiefly the fact that James Cameron cheated himself a chance to make this a LOT funnier. How so? Well, he shortcuts Arnold into landing just EXACTLY where he needed to in order to deck himself out with spiffy leather togs (which is a great thing, don’t get me wrong). But ask yourself, folks… what would have happened if that formerly killer now nice-guy Terminator landed near a senior citizen’s home, a golf course, prison, or some other place where finding awesome clothing and a handy hot hog would have been next to impossible? That would have made for a definitely more amusing opening for sure, although yes, NO way as classic as this one is. Of course, if someone ever shows this post to Cameron, I’d bet I’m in for an earful and I’d sit there and take it, too. I think he’s got enough of a sense of humor to realize I’m just kidding around (heh).
And NO, kids… I didn’t forget Sarah Connor’s equally awesome introduction at all. I wanted to do her first, but couldn’t find a suitable clip on YouTube to use in the time I have today. I’ll get to her (and yes, other heroic ladies) as part of this series soon enough as I’d planned out to include ladies here from the get-go.
So… this is actually happening and let’s just say my skin is crawling (and NOT from fear). Granted, the cast seems solid and veteran TV director Angiezka Holland is an excellent choice (her work on AMC’s The Killing, HBO’s The Wire and other shows shows she’s a master at her craft), but the original film is so (and still) perfect at what it does that even the best intended reworking will fall short by comparison. I may catch this when it runs, but why the hell is it playing on Mother’s Day? Yeah, I get the inherent humor here, but ha-ha, I know some people won’t like the idea of this being a way to end an otherwise fine holiday. Eh, my mom will probably watch it just because she was around to see the Polanski classic and I think she liked it a lot.
(Yeah, it LOOKS creepy… but sadly, by network standards ONLY)
The mini-series format and network not cable airing bugs me as well, but given that network TV has been approaching mild levels of cable-like content for a while now, I’m sure that this will deliver where it counts. That said, I definitely don’t like some saying this isn’t a remake because of the Parisian setting and whatever else has been changed from the book and original film. Zoe Saldana’s got a similarly skinny frame and has a variation on the haircut Mia Farrow had, it’s still the same plot (despite a few changes here and there) and if they show the baby in this one, it’ll destroy the ending of the film because it ruins the mystery completely of what the spawn of the devil would look like. That and you can’t top the dream sequence from Polanski’s classic one bit.
As noted in the title, I’ll try to keep an open mind, but there are a few strikes against this one already for me. Hopefully, the cast and director can save this one enough that even the more ardent fans will want to check it out. I’d imagine though, if it DOES do well, we’ll either see NBC trot it out yearly (eek) or get a sequel fast-tracked for next year (double eek). That idea didn’t do well for the original film at ALL, by the way…
Thanks to George Lucas, Philp Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan with a grand assist from director Steven Spielberg (and of course, the great Harrison Ford’s performance), this one’s easy to fall into and get hooked on right from the moment the Paramount logo fades into that mountain and a big grin spreads on your face. I also find this intro hilarious because those old serials the film was derived from were divided into chapters only a few minutes long, so this would have never been allowed. Anyway, this is one of the most perfect film openings that sets the tone for what’s to come a few minutes later in that trap-packed cave and later, the wilder globe-hopping adventure to come that’s still one of the most re-watchable films ever. I saw Raiders on day one of its release here in NYC and many times since because while it’s far from flawless, it just never fails to entertain in every respect. That’s one part of what makes a true classic movie hero, I’d say…
What can I say about John Ford that hasn’t been better said by a load of other (and far better) writers? Not much, other than even if you hate westerns, his 1939 classic, Stagecoach was and still is a quite phenomenal film from a year where there were dozens of them popping into theaters throughout the year. That famous first shot of John Wayne as Ringo is brilliant and thrilling because it immediately introduces a character that adds to the story in many ways. Without seeing the rest of the film, this clip sets up Ringo as someone who’s liked and hated, a friend, yet a stranger and some sort of outlaw. He’s not giving up his Winchester at all, and yes, that stubbornness comes in very handy soon enough as things get dangerous and his skills are required.
I haven’t seen this one in a while, but if it’s on soon (TCM, of course! I missed the John Wayne flicks they ran last month) and I’m up, I’ll be watching and cheering those great stunts and oohing at that stunning Monument Valley setting once again…
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