Diggstown aka Midnight Sting (1992-USA) ***
Smart boxing con caper movie with James Woods, Bruce Dern, etc. at the top of their game.
What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5
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Markgway
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Stage Fright (1987-Italy) **½
Exposure BD.
Exposure BD.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
The Deadly Trackers (1973-USA) **½
Violent western in which vengeful lawman Richard Harris hunts merciless bandit Rod Taylor across the Mexican border. Pretty much OK, with an interesting cast (Al Lettieri co-stars), but it's undistinguished in execution (original director Sam Fuller was replaced by Barry Shear) and I didn't buy the "shock" ending.
Violent western in which vengeful lawman Richard Harris hunts merciless bandit Rod Taylor across the Mexican border. Pretty much OK, with an interesting cast (Al Lettieri co-stars), but it's undistinguished in execution (original director Sam Fuller was replaced by Barry Shear) and I didn't buy the "shock" ending.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Hitch-Hike (1978-Italy) *½
Incredibly cynical thriller in which a married couple (who can't stand each other) are terrorized by a psychopathic robber. Technically fine, but the material is relentlessly unpleasant, morally dubious, and goes on too long.
Incredibly cynical thriller in which a married couple (who can't stand each other) are terrorized by a psychopathic robber. Technically fine, but the material is relentlessly unpleasant, morally dubious, and goes on too long.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Corinne Clery naked is quite something... but I found the treatment of her character misogynist.
She's molested and raped throughout the movie, then murdered at the end by her own husband, who gets away with the crime. She's basically a sexual plaything for men, and in the worst scene appears to be enjoying her rape.
She's molested and raped throughout the movie, then murdered at the end by her own husband, who gets away with the crime. She's basically a sexual plaything for men, and in the worst scene appears to be enjoying her rape.
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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
In Old California (1942: William C. McGann)
It is fun seeing John Wayne performances during his Republic days. He would experiment more with his roles and would not always be as stoic as he later became (though great directors like John Ford could always tweak his roles.) While the film is basic, Waynes character is not. He is more Gregory Peck in The Big Country than a stereotypical Wayne role. He does seem to be having fun (though later he was not happy with the results of it from what I read I like the character, I just though the director could have done more with it) with it as Tom Craig a mild-mannered Boston pharmacist coming to Sacramento during the Sutter Fort gold rush days (1847). Waynes dad was a pharmacist and he patterned some of this character from him.
The budget is high (for Republic) and looks good. The movie has a problem with the love triangle though by making a big mistake and under developing the Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish) love interest whom Tom Craig likes, though Binnie Barnes (who likes Tom Craig) as Lacey Miller is decent enough as the show girl with money ambitions with the boyfriend Britt Dawson (Albert Dekker) who pretty much owns the town and does not like interlopers from Boston.
I think all the Republic and Universal westerns of this time have to have at least one mass shootout, one massive bar fight and one big one-on-one confrontation. This movie came after The Spoilers though the one-on-one scene with Wayne and Dekker (and their stunt doubles) is nowhere near as good as the one in The Spoilers with Randolph Scott. The stuntmen take some nice falls, but it is sometimes hard to tell who is supposed to be who when all you are seeing is the stuntmen.
For fans of John Wayne and/or 1940s westerns but probably not anyone else.
Small spoiler: The hanging scene just aggravated me. Wayne's character was just too docile, the mob was just too stupid and it came off pretty bad. The deux ex machina exit of it was also aggravating.
It is fun seeing John Wayne performances during his Republic days. He would experiment more with his roles and would not always be as stoic as he later became (though great directors like John Ford could always tweak his roles.) While the film is basic, Waynes character is not. He is more Gregory Peck in The Big Country than a stereotypical Wayne role. He does seem to be having fun (though later he was not happy with the results of it from what I read I like the character, I just though the director could have done more with it) with it as Tom Craig a mild-mannered Boston pharmacist coming to Sacramento during the Sutter Fort gold rush days (1847). Waynes dad was a pharmacist and he patterned some of this character from him.
The budget is high (for Republic) and looks good. The movie has a problem with the love triangle though by making a big mistake and under developing the Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish) love interest whom Tom Craig likes, though Binnie Barnes (who likes Tom Craig) as Lacey Miller is decent enough as the show girl with money ambitions with the boyfriend Britt Dawson (Albert Dekker) who pretty much owns the town and does not like interlopers from Boston.
I think all the Republic and Universal westerns of this time have to have at least one mass shootout, one massive bar fight and one big one-on-one confrontation. This movie came after The Spoilers though the one-on-one scene with Wayne and Dekker (and their stunt doubles) is nowhere near as good as the one in The Spoilers with Randolph Scott. The stuntmen take some nice falls, but it is sometimes hard to tell who is supposed to be who when all you are seeing is the stuntmen.
For fans of John Wayne and/or 1940s westerns but probably not anyone else.
Small spoiler: The hanging scene just aggravated me. Wayne's character was just too docile, the mob was just too stupid and it came off pretty bad. The deux ex machina exit of it was also aggravating.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988-USA) **
Amusingly silly parody of jungle adventures with Shannon Tweed as a feminist anthropologist.
Amusingly silly parody of jungle adventures with Shannon Tweed as a feminist anthropologist.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Vacation (2015-USA) **
Remake/sequel/reboot of the 1983 Chevy Chase vehicle is slightly funnier but also cruder as is the current norm. Good to see the underused Christina Applegate back on the big screen. Bonus points for retaining the series theme song "Holiday Road" (with new backing track).
Remake/sequel/reboot of the 1983 Chevy Chase vehicle is slightly funnier but also cruder as is the current norm. Good to see the underused Christina Applegate back on the big screen. Bonus points for retaining the series theme song "Holiday Road" (with new backing track).
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
The Bloodstained Shadow (1978-Italy) **
Competent giallo reigns in the violence in favour of suspense, but is generally pretty dull and forgettable (unlike Stefania Casini's nude love scene).
Competent giallo reigns in the violence in favour of suspense, but is generally pretty dull and forgettable (unlike Stefania Casini's nude love scene).
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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
I still do not have the urge to watch the Vacation reboot.
The Front Page (1974: Billy Wilder):
This is based on the same source material as Howard Hawk’s His Girl Friday, which itself was a remake based on the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play (I have not seen the 1931 version of The Front Page by Lewis Milestone.) I do prefer the Hawk’s version, though I have seen that movie several times and most recently a few weeks ago. Hawk’s changed the Hildy Johnson character into a woman (originally a man in the play and in the first movie) where here that character is back to being a man acted by Jack Lemmon with Walter Matthau in the Cary Grant role of Walter Burns the newspaper editor whose life is the paper.
Most of the acting is quite good. Lemmon and Matthau work quite well together. The only casting choice which did not seem to work for me was Carol Burnett as Mollie Malloy. She just did not seem to work the dramatic scenes well. You get to see an earlier acting performance from Susan Sarandon. But so much of the film will be quite familiar to those who have seen His Girl Friday. The major differences, not counting the Hildy Johnson role, are cursing, words that could not have been used in the previous film, using a more effeminate character and a few plot changes like actually naming the city of Chicago and using the real newspapers that were mentioned in the play. Some of these changes were not necessarily good, especially the changes with the murderer Earl Williams. But the gist of the plot: newspaper person (Hildy) wanting to get married, gets seduced by boss (Walter) back into the newspaper profession while the escape of Earl Williams is the catalyst to make all of this happen.
So while this is a fun film and has two great acting from the grumpy old couple, it does sometimes feel perfunctory when watching it. It too often feels like a lesser imitation of His Girl Friday which is not what I would expect from the director of Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17.
Billy Wilder on The Front Page by Roger Ebert (May 26, 1974): I was surprised I found this link. But a fun read on the film. I did not see a review from Ebert on the film though.
The Front Page (1974: Billy Wilder):
This is based on the same source material as Howard Hawk’s His Girl Friday, which itself was a remake based on the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play (I have not seen the 1931 version of The Front Page by Lewis Milestone.) I do prefer the Hawk’s version, though I have seen that movie several times and most recently a few weeks ago. Hawk’s changed the Hildy Johnson character into a woman (originally a man in the play and in the first movie) where here that character is back to being a man acted by Jack Lemmon with Walter Matthau in the Cary Grant role of Walter Burns the newspaper editor whose life is the paper.
Most of the acting is quite good. Lemmon and Matthau work quite well together. The only casting choice which did not seem to work for me was Carol Burnett as Mollie Malloy. She just did not seem to work the dramatic scenes well. You get to see an earlier acting performance from Susan Sarandon. But so much of the film will be quite familiar to those who have seen His Girl Friday. The major differences, not counting the Hildy Johnson role, are cursing, words that could not have been used in the previous film, using a more effeminate character and a few plot changes like actually naming the city of Chicago and using the real newspapers that were mentioned in the play. Some of these changes were not necessarily good, especially the changes with the murderer Earl Williams. But the gist of the plot: newspaper person (Hildy) wanting to get married, gets seduced by boss (Walter) back into the newspaper profession while the escape of Earl Williams is the catalyst to make all of this happen.
So while this is a fun film and has two great acting from the grumpy old couple, it does sometimes feel perfunctory when watching it. It too often feels like a lesser imitation of His Girl Friday which is not what I would expect from the director of Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17.
Billy Wilder on The Front Page by Roger Ebert (May 26, 1974): I was surprised I found this link. But a fun read on the film. I did not see a review from Ebert on the film though.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
I've seen His Girl Friday and Switching Channels but neither of The Front Page's.
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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
I forgot about Switching Channels, but I have not seen that either. The first The Front Page is available here from Kino on both BD and DVD. I am curious on it and I like the actors so at some point I do expect to see it (if I find it used I would pick it up sooner than later.)Markgway wrote:I've seen His Girl Friday and Switching Channels but neither of The Front Page's.
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HungFist
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Regarding last year's conversation about Kinjite
The funny thing is, as I was watching the subway and hostess club scenes I was thinking no one in Japan would find this racist! Well, maybe they would, because this is an American film and people are sensitive how foreigners portray them, but everyone in Japan knows this stuff happens in real life all the time. And the same stuff is being portrayed in much sleazier way in Japanese movies all the time. Even Oscar winner Yojiro Takita got his start helming the hugely popular Groper Train comedies..
Groping in trains is a huge problem in Japan even today. I don't know a single girl here who hasn't been groped at least once (not that I've asked everyone, but...). And no, they don't usually do anything radical to try to stop the molester because that would cause a scene in which they would lose their own face. In Tokyo there are some train routes that high schools officially recommend their female students to avoid because of the groping problem. And there are women-only cars on all major lines in the morning trains for the same reason.
Groping hostesses is indeed more or less a part of Japanese business culture. Company employees usually go out drinking after work at least once a week, in some companies several times a week. It's an offer from superiors you can't refuse (collectivism). Drinking with business partners is common as well because in Japan business is based on personal relations and trust. You can't do business with someone you haven't spent a lot of time with and learned to know as a human (collectivism again). While deals are signed in a conference room, you could say in reality they are made in restaurants, golf courses and clubs.
Sapporo, where I live, is actually famous for hostesses that allow you to touch their boobs pretty much as much as you want. I know this because many of my best friends go to those places (I don't, but I get invited all the time). Women are generally quite understanding of the situation and think it's part of the business culture. Of course they're not imagining their husbands groping someone else's boobs, but they don't expect them to be able to avoid going to those places. I've actually put quite some effort trying to change some girls' mindset about that being ok...
And as for the Japanese guy reading porn manga (I think it was suggested it was child porn), that used to be very common. Even today you can walk to any comic book store in Akihabara in Tokyo and you'd see stuff that would be illegal in any Western country. You don't even need to enter, half of the time you can see it from the streets. The Japanese government is trying to clean it up a bit now, but in the 80s it would have been everywhere.
Of course, that's not to say Kinjite gets away clean. It does give an incredibly dumb portrayal of Japanese people overall, and I don't even know what to think of some of the things Bronson says in the film. And of course the other bad guys in the film are... a Latino and a black guy But the Japan set scenes, although probably written with racist intentions, and of course not addressing the majority, are actually more realistic than most foreigners probably think.
As for the film:
Kinjite (USA, 1989) [DVD] - 3/5
An oddly disjointed Bronson film takes about 45 minutes to turn the plot gear on. Bronson is a cop in bad terms with a local pimp selling underage girls. Same time in Tokyo a pervert businessman is learning the art of groping women in public transport. The stories finally intertwine when the Japanese man moves to L.A., gropes Bronson's daughter, and a bit later has his own daughter kidnapped by the pimp and Bronson is assigned on the case. Though openly and amusingly racist, and not only against the Japanese, the films portrayal of certain aspects of Japanese society is actually far more accurate than most people think. Indeed, foreign audiences are more likely to find those scenes racist than Japanese audiences who witness similar behaviour in everyday life. It's an entertaining, semi-sleazy film that earns no points for intelligence, but one really feels more effort should've been put into the screenplay.
Now that I finally saw the film, yes, I'd say you guys are rightShingster wrote:I reckon so!Markgway wrote:So, can we now class Kinjite as gritty realism?
The funny thing is, as I was watching the subway and hostess club scenes I was thinking no one in Japan would find this racist! Well, maybe they would, because this is an American film and people are sensitive how foreigners portray them, but everyone in Japan knows this stuff happens in real life all the time. And the same stuff is being portrayed in much sleazier way in Japanese movies all the time. Even Oscar winner Yojiro Takita got his start helming the hugely popular Groper Train comedies..
Groping in trains is a huge problem in Japan even today. I don't know a single girl here who hasn't been groped at least once (not that I've asked everyone, but...). And no, they don't usually do anything radical to try to stop the molester because that would cause a scene in which they would lose their own face. In Tokyo there are some train routes that high schools officially recommend their female students to avoid because of the groping problem. And there are women-only cars on all major lines in the morning trains for the same reason.
Groping hostesses is indeed more or less a part of Japanese business culture. Company employees usually go out drinking after work at least once a week, in some companies several times a week. It's an offer from superiors you can't refuse (collectivism). Drinking with business partners is common as well because in Japan business is based on personal relations and trust. You can't do business with someone you haven't spent a lot of time with and learned to know as a human (collectivism again). While deals are signed in a conference room, you could say in reality they are made in restaurants, golf courses and clubs.
Sapporo, where I live, is actually famous for hostesses that allow you to touch their boobs pretty much as much as you want. I know this because many of my best friends go to those places (I don't, but I get invited all the time). Women are generally quite understanding of the situation and think it's part of the business culture. Of course they're not imagining their husbands groping someone else's boobs, but they don't expect them to be able to avoid going to those places. I've actually put quite some effort trying to change some girls' mindset about that being ok...
And as for the Japanese guy reading porn manga (I think it was suggested it was child porn), that used to be very common. Even today you can walk to any comic book store in Akihabara in Tokyo and you'd see stuff that would be illegal in any Western country. You don't even need to enter, half of the time you can see it from the streets. The Japanese government is trying to clean it up a bit now, but in the 80s it would have been everywhere.
Of course, that's not to say Kinjite gets away clean. It does give an incredibly dumb portrayal of Japanese people overall, and I don't even know what to think of some of the things Bronson says in the film. And of course the other bad guys in the film are... a Latino and a black guy
But the Japan set scenes, although probably written with racist intentions, and of course not addressing the majority, are actually more realistic than most foreigners probably think.As for the film:
Kinjite (USA, 1989) [DVD] - 3/5
An oddly disjointed Bronson film takes about 45 minutes to turn the plot gear on. Bronson is a cop in bad terms with a local pimp selling underage girls. Same time in Tokyo a pervert businessman is learning the art of groping women in public transport. The stories finally intertwine when the Japanese man moves to L.A., gropes Bronson's daughter, and a bit later has his own daughter kidnapped by the pimp and Bronson is assigned on the case. Though openly and amusingly racist, and not only against the Japanese, the films portrayal of certain aspects of Japanese society is actually far more accurate than most people think. Indeed, foreign audiences are more likely to find those scenes racist than Japanese audiences who witness similar behaviour in everyday life. It's an entertaining, semi-sleazy film that earns no points for intelligence, but one really feels more effort should've been put into the screenplay.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
They have a sub-genre for them?!HungFist wrote:Even Oscar winner Yojiro Takita got his start helming the hugely popular Groper Train comedies..
Then stop doing it!Groping in trains is a huge problem in Japan even today. I don't know a single girl here who hasn't been groped at least once...
Be careful, gaijin! You don't want to start a rebellion that'll piss off the Yakuza.I've actually put quite some effort trying to change some girls' mindset about that being ok...
So before PC westerners get on their collective high horse... CHECK THE FACTS! But then I think it's something we all do, project our own cultural norms and experiences onto foreign cultures and films dealing with such. I have a naturally low opinion of people to start with, so the portrayal of Japanese perversion and human trafficking in Kinjite seemed entirely reasonable to me.But the Japan set scenes, although probably written with racist intentions, and of course not addressing the majority, are actually more realistic than most foreigners probably think.
I think I'm going to pick up the Olive BD when it's out, see if it's as entertaining as I remember.
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HungFist
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Pretty much yesMarkgway wrote:They have a sub-genre for them?!HungFist wrote:Even Oscar winner Yojiro Takita got his start helming the hugely popular Groper Train comedies..
But "Groper Train" is a film series, 11 film I think.Of course they also have the Subway Serial Rape series with 4 movies.
And all the computer games where you can safely practice molesting at home...
When in Rome...HungFist wrote:Then stop doing it!Groping in trains is a huge problem in Japan even today. I don't know a single girl here who hasn't been groped at least once...
Gotta be careful indeed, although I'm afraid most of it has nothing to do with yakuza... but the family men like the one in Kinjite. He wasn't really such a bad guy, was he?Markgway wrote:Be careful, gaijin! You don't want to start a rebellion that'll piss off the Yakuza.HungFist wrote:I've actually put quite some effort trying to change some girls' mindset about that being ok...
I see I've spent too much time in this country when I think like that From the Bronson films I've watched recently I found 10 to Midnight to be the best. Murphy's Law was ok as well, but Kinjite was a bit better. I'm probably gonna see The Evil That Men Do next.Markgway wrote: I think I'm going to pick up the Olive BD when it's out, see if it's as entertaining as I remember.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Hellraiser (1987-UK-USA) **½
Gruesome, moderately effective shocker, directed by Clive Barker and based on his novel. Shows signs of MPAA interference, but is still gorier than my palette prefers. Hurt by New World's instance on redubbing many cast members and the lamest ending since the original Elm St.
Gruesome, moderately effective shocker, directed by Clive Barker and based on his novel. Shows signs of MPAA interference, but is still gorier than my palette prefers. Hurt by New World's instance on redubbing many cast members and the lamest ending since the original Elm St.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Blastfighter (1984-Italy) **
Ex-con Michael Sopkiw is forced into mini-war with yahoo animal butchers.
Watching hunters die in bloody fashion is fine by me... but this is mediocre stuff from Lamberto Bava and ultimately unsatisfying.
Ex-con Michael Sopkiw is forced into mini-war with yahoo animal butchers.
Watching hunters die in bloody fashion is fine by me... but this is mediocre stuff from Lamberto Bava and ultimately unsatisfying.
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saltysam
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Death Promise 2/5 Slum landlords want the residents out,one man rallies them against said landlords, they off him so it's up to his son Charles Bonet and his sidekick Speedy to exact the "Death Promise" on the perpetrators. exploitation cinema at it's zenith,funky theme tune,bad acting,over the top karate screams from some of the fighters...and Bill Louie.it's claimed Tony Liu from the Bruce Lee movies in in this but i think it's a case of mistaken identity.
Vampire Circus 2/5 Hammer horror has a really well done pre credit sequence,rest of the movie can't match it.not bad.
Vampire Circus 2/5 Hammer horror has a really well done pre credit sequence,rest of the movie can't match it.not bad.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Slaughterhouse (1987-USA) *½
Silly slasher pic mainly for die-hards.
Silly slasher pic mainly for die-hards.
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saltysam
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death 1/5 turgid,boring sequel is further hamstrung by the ridiculous amount of sequences shot in complete darkness,so much so at points you won't know wtf is going on.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane 2/5 Jodie Foster is a 13 year old girl living in a quiet town with her poetry writing father,suspicions are aroused when local paedo Martin Sheen and his mother (who they are renting the house from) find that the father is never around.what is she hiding? this isn't bad but it's a bit creepy,touching on themes of kiddie fiddling and in one unnecessary sequence the 13 year old Foster strips naked to get into bed with her older boyfriend.ok,it was a body double but you get my point
The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane 2/5 Jodie Foster is a 13 year old girl living in a quiet town with her poetry writing father,suspicions are aroused when local paedo Martin Sheen and his mother (who they are renting the house from) find that the father is never around.what is she hiding? this isn't bad but it's a bit creepy,touching on themes of kiddie fiddling and in one unnecessary sequence the 13 year old Foster strips naked to get into bed with her older boyfriend.ok,it was a body double but you get my point
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Nail Gun Massacre (1985-USA) *
Hilariously awful horror would make a great bad movie double bill with Don't Go in the Woods.
Hilariously awful horror would make a great bad movie double bill with Don't Go in the Woods.
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saltysam
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Man Up 1.5/5 inoffensive but instantly forgettable brit rom-com starring Simon Pegg & Lake Bell as a couple who meet up on a blind date.Harmless but something i'd never watch again,who buys these movies as keepers?
Cannonball Run 2 1/5 the first was no great shakes but this is pretty dire. looks like the all-star cast had more fun making it than the audience has watching it.The best bits are the Frank Sinatra scenes,where it's clearly obvious he's not in the same location as his co-stars and has filmed them solo
Cannonball Run 2 1/5 the first was no great shakes but this is pretty dire. looks like the all-star cast had more fun making it than the audience has watching it.The best bits are the Frank Sinatra scenes,where it's clearly obvious he's not in the same location as his co-stars and has filmed them solo
Last edited by saltysam on 06 Oct 2015, 19:07, edited 1 time in total.
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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Roger Ebert had a pretty good review on this film. Ha, found mine from several years ago:saltysam wrote: ... Cannonball Run 2 1/5 the first was no great shakes but this is pretty dire. looks like the all-star cast had more fun making it than the audience has watching it.The best bits are the Frank Sinatra scenes,where it's clearly obvious he's not in the same location as his co-stars and has filmed them solo
Cannonball Run 2 (1984: gets the finger/****)
Some films are just so hideously bad that they are entertaining to watch. Some films are so hideously bad that they are just painful. Cannonball Run 2 is a movie that is a combination of both of the former and latter statements that it is a dichotomy of insidiously inane entertainment. It is a film that is so poorly made, with such poor performances from well known actors that it is easily one of the worst films ever made. I have seen more craft in an Ed Wood film (though there is a certain love of what he was doing that makes Woods films horrible yet entertaining). This film makes the first movie look “Rules of the Game” or “Citizen Kane” in comparison. This movie is just that bad.
What makes it so awful? Let me count the ways. There is the famous scene of Frank Sinatra talking with his pals Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Burt Reynolds except that a double is actually talking to them and his scenes are cut into the dialogue. He literately filmed-in his performance (I do not think any scene he is in is actually with another actor in this movie). There really is not much of a race. It is a small part of the film with more focus on subplots like a fake-driving chimpanzee and an assassination/kidnapping plot on a Sheik (Jamie Farr who is Lebanese and by-the-way his father is Ricardo Montalban and they have a Caucasian slave, ok that was a bit funny).
Even the action and stunts are poorly done and less frequent than the original film. The director Hal Needham was originally a stunt man, so as bad as everything else is he should not have failed in this area, though it would have been best to prevent him from ever directing or having kids.
Other questions:
What the hell is up with Burt’s hair piece? Even his mustache looks fake in this film.
Why pair Jackie Chan with Richard Kiel?
Why is the best performance of the film by Don Knotts?
Was Dean Martin ever sober in the film?
Comments:
I hate orangutans in film.
The worst use of a map to show where you are going.
Look fast for Cheech Marin.
Another example of a sequel that did not need to be made from an original film that did not need to be made.
Needed more Captain Chaos.
I love the fact that the Japanese co-driver (Jackie) is speaking Cantonese.
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saltysam
- Bruce Lee's Fist
- Posts: 9357
- Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 19:27
Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Yeah it's a terrible movie.jaw droppingly bad really,the first one is oscar worthy in comparison.
working class blu-ray fan
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Masterofoneinchpunch
- King of Beggars
- Posts: 863
- Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 19:36
Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out
Hangman’s Knot (1952: Roy Huggins):
The only directed film from the creator of The Fugitive, The Rockford Files and producer of Maverick Roy Huggins. This is an above average western with one of my favorite western stars Randolph Scott in another pairing with Lee Marvin (one of three; check out Seven Men from Now which is easily in my top 200 films, top 25 westerns) who is so good at being creepy, malignant and thoroughly dangerous.
Randolph Scott is a Confederate Major who leads a group of men to liberate gold from the Yankees. He did not know that the war was over when he took on this mission.* That makes it a hang-able offense (as they killed a whole party to get that gold.) When he finds out he has to high tail it out of there back to the more sympathetic South. But he and his men get cornered by ruffians who are intent on stealing that gold for themselves. They hole-up with a pro-North group that includes Molly Hull (Donna Reed; It’s a Wonderful Life). I think we know who she is going to eventually fall for. Ultimately this makes this a sub-genre the siege film like Rio Bravo (and for you John Carpenter fans Assault on Precinct 13.)
There are definitely some moral elements I was wondering how they were going to work out, given that this is shown during the Hays Code era, that gives it some interest and bite. It helps by giving focus to an even more bad guy – Lee Marvin (like with John Woo there are good guys, bad guys with a code and then the truly bad guys, I think we know which one Marvin fits here.) The direction is decent, but not spectacular. Not many directors worked as well with Scott as Budd Boetticher (their Renown series is one of the best groupings of all westerns, up there with Anthony Mann/James Stewart and John Wayne/John Ford) so sometimes that hangs over my opinions on these “lesser” Scott films. The writing and characterization is strong though given that Huggins talent lay as a writer. There are not too many surprises though as the plot moves relatively straight forward.
* A similar plot point to this film would be in the later The Big Red One by Samuel Fuller is the after-the-war “crime” and not knowing the war was over with two instances (one would haunt him) with Lee Marvin.
The only directed film from the creator of The Fugitive, The Rockford Files and producer of Maverick Roy Huggins. This is an above average western with one of my favorite western stars Randolph Scott in another pairing with Lee Marvin (one of three; check out Seven Men from Now which is easily in my top 200 films, top 25 westerns) who is so good at being creepy, malignant and thoroughly dangerous.
Randolph Scott is a Confederate Major who leads a group of men to liberate gold from the Yankees. He did not know that the war was over when he took on this mission.* That makes it a hang-able offense (as they killed a whole party to get that gold.) When he finds out he has to high tail it out of there back to the more sympathetic South. But he and his men get cornered by ruffians who are intent on stealing that gold for themselves. They hole-up with a pro-North group that includes Molly Hull (Donna Reed; It’s a Wonderful Life). I think we know who she is going to eventually fall for. Ultimately this makes this a sub-genre the siege film like Rio Bravo (and for you John Carpenter fans Assault on Precinct 13.)
There are definitely some moral elements I was wondering how they were going to work out, given that this is shown during the Hays Code era, that gives it some interest and bite. It helps by giving focus to an even more bad guy – Lee Marvin (like with John Woo there are good guys, bad guys with a code and then the truly bad guys, I think we know which one Marvin fits here.) The direction is decent, but not spectacular. Not many directors worked as well with Scott as Budd Boetticher (their Renown series is one of the best groupings of all westerns, up there with Anthony Mann/James Stewart and John Wayne/John Ford) so sometimes that hangs over my opinions on these “lesser” Scott films. The writing and characterization is strong though given that Huggins talent lay as a writer. There are not too many surprises though as the plot moves relatively straight forward.
* A similar plot point to this film would be in the later The Big Red One by Samuel Fuller is the after-the-war “crime” and not knowing the war was over with two instances (one would haunt him) with Lee Marvin.