adrianovasconcelos Reviews

The Grilling (1981)

Well acted, directed anti-police violence claustrophobia

[8/10 · 8 May 2024]

Why would a man - a notary public, to boot, so a man knowledgeable about law - confess to murdering two children if he did not do it? Perhaps it has to do with some roughing up from police inspector Lino Ventura's sidekick Guy Marchand during his boss' absence.

GARDE À VUE, a legal position whereby if you are suspected of the commission of a crime you are remanded in police custody without being officially under arrest, and can be interrogated, has to do with the techniques used by police to get a suspect to confess. In this case, Ventura lies to notary public Michel Serrault's wife, Romy Schneider in her penultimate film, saying that her hubby does not want to see her. In doing so, he hopes to milk some info out of the wife that will further paint Serrault into a corner. The latter begins rather haughtily but in the end comes across as rather dumb for failing to take what he knows the law can afford him: the possibility of legal counsel and refusal to comment or answer.

Ultimately, the truth is that just as police can resort to mendacity for results, so can a man under pressure lie if he feels that control is slipping from his grasp (though I would never admit to a crime I did not commit, so I have considerable difficulty accepting that anyone of sound mind would do so).

Ultimately, all that official deceit carries unexpectedly high costs. For Schneider, who in real life had recently lost her son in a most unfortunate accident, this must have been a very tough role to play, but she does it convincingly.

Different take on the law in a different culture, certainly nothing to do with 12 ANGRY MEN, or even attempting to come anywhere near its quality in all departments, it emphasizes claustrophobia, and how police authority can distort innocence into guilt, and transform law into crime. GARDE À VUE remains well worth watching. 8/10.

Non-Stop (2014)

Good action sequences marred by poor motivations

[6/10 · 8 May 2024]

The title NONSTOP alerts the viewer that on this flight you need to put your brain on automatic pilot.

John Richardson and Christopher Roach wrote this incredibly hackneyed screenplay whereby plane flight-allergic air marshall Bill Marks - contrastingly convincingly played by Liam Neeson - goes on an NY-London flight as air marshall. Whoe there! He has been fired from the force, how could he get into the aircraft with a pistol? Or has he been fired? Flight captain Linus Roache and eye candy stewardess Michelle Dockery seem to recognize and accept him readily enough. One curiosity that had my antennae up: from the start Marks has had shady characters approach him with questions and dope. It the start of NONSTOP BS.

The fact is that the entire system, including TV and computer networks at airports and in the aircraft, is against him and publicly blackballs his good name as if he could not sue them.

Another incoherent detail: Julianne Moore, a great thespian, is given a rather marginal role as the woman Marks trusts implicitly after she witnesses his fear of flying and patiently pats his paws.

Marks admits, however, that he has taken drugs and that he needs money. Alas, he is not the sole dirty copper on this flight: there is another whose first action is to offer a barbiturate to poor Marks, who has recently had his daughter "taken" (remember TAKEN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5?) by leucemia and, seemingly in answer to his prayers - even if he says nothing religious or remotely God-fearing in the entire flick - suddenly he gets a cool $150 million in his bank account.

The Roach who wrote the script is partnered by Linus Roache as the too trusting and affable flight captain who ends up poisoned: with so many roaches you have to expect rubbish, and that is what the waywardly motivated characters bring to the movie... in spades. It amounts to insult to any median intelligence - which is a pity coz the fight sequences are well choreographed and shot.

Besides the CGI, the single best thing about this flick is the immensely beautiful Michelle Dockery. Neeson performs credibly enough, but it was the elegant Dockery of the exquisite facial features and delightful legs that I wanted to see again and again, complete with her lovely British accent.

De sang et d'encre (2008 TV Movie)

Good acting, pretty faces, predictable tale with WWII roots

[6/10 · 6 May 2024]

I do not know anything about Director Charlotte Brändström's work but from DE SANG ET D'ENCRE one can tell that she pays attention to detail. Cinematography by Pascal Gennesseaux is top drawer, restrained acting by the exceptionally good looking couple of Florence Pernell, as publishing house owner, and Stéphane Freiss as police captain Marc Simon, deserves praise, and the script by Lorraine Lévy is the only element that disagrees with the quality evident in the rest of this opus: it suffers from excessive predictability, and the gimmick of lumping in Jewish concentration camp survivors more than 60 years after the end of WWII just seems too pat, too used, too contrived.

Anyway, it warrants a watch but certainly nothing too involved or that anyone would remember a week later. 6/10.

The Heroin Busters (1977)

Undercover Testi, Interpol Hemmings wreck drug racket

[7/10 · 1 May 2024]

There are some preposterous situations and developments in LA VIA DELLA DROGA aka THE HEROIN BUSTERS but it still reeled me in and had me interested to the end.

Director Enzo Castellari is no household name, not even in his native country, Italy. To be frank, I had never heard of him. That said, the production looks far from shabby thanks to effective cinematography by Giovanni Bergamini and the convincing if unusual leading duo of Fabio Testi - undercover cop looking tall, fit and muscular despite wearing cowboy boots in his almost nonstop running - and Hemmings, the somewhat podgy Interpol inspector still able to climb walls. They exchange some cryptic, even funny lines, none more so than when Testi teaches Hemmings on how to use the pronoun "whom" instead of "who."

The film posts some well made car, bike and running chases - though I found the final one, aboard two light planes, downright risible. The top villain with his fake wig rather struck me as a clearly unintended comedian, especially when piloting the aircraft.

Despite those flaws, I found HEROIN BUSTERS and its level of violence credibly engrossing. 7/10.

The Manhunt (1975)

Vigilantism endorsed in a violent 1970s Italy

[6/10 · 1 May 2024]

Italy, the land of fine art and classy footwear, has also long been known for having the Mafia, Cosanostra, Ndranguetta, Camorra, drug cartels, corrupt police, serious youth crime, and all manner of violence.

In L'uomo della strada fa giustizia (literally translating as The Man in the Street Implements Justice) you get a feeling that by 1975, the year this film came out, Italian society openly rebelled against the crime situation. More than anything else, this Umberto Lenzi effort reflects social unhappiness over the crime rate in the country, and how any innocent person could become victim.

As in DEATH WISH, which came out in 1974, a family member is placed on the sacrificial altar for maximum manipulation. Here, it is Henry Silva's beautiful and sweet 8-year-old daughter who gets shot dead. A purportedly blind man asks for her help to cross the street, uses her to get into the bank and finally shoots her dead to eliminate the witness... but she crucially lives long enough to talk about a scorpion, which turns out to be a piece of jewelry on the villain's wrist.

Henry Silva never struck me as a good actor and here he just uses the same facial expressions - no range, no emotional depth - and quite frankly I kept missing Luciana Paluzzi's delicate facial features. Not that her role amounted to much, basically she just told hubby Silva to not embark on revenge but to take himself in hand and avoid violence.

Sadly, Silva does not listen to lovely Paluzzi but police prove very lenient and promptly urge him to claim that he acted in self-defense. The film's best lines come from Silva's interaction with a transexual, with some cad popping up and saying: "One of these days I'll give you something nice, say, a golden dildo."

Of course, L'uomo della strada fa giustizia cannot match the production values let alone the budget of vigilantism-related films coming out in the USA at the time like DEATH WISH, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, or STRAW DOGS. 6/10.

Murder Is a Murder (1972)

Mediocre whodunnit thriller despite strong acting

[6/10 · 30 April 2024]

Belgian-born Etienne Perier is not a name that stands out among French cinema directors, and in UN MEURTRE EST UN MEURTRE (MURDER IS MURDER) he passes up on a good opportunity to do better, especially in view of the cast made available to him.

Male lead Jean-Claude Brialy sadly has an accident with wealthy wife Stephane Audran who becomes wheel chair-ridden, and resentful of his ongoing affair with stunning clothes shop attendant Catherine Spaak. To cut a long story short, despite her paralysis, Audran is still able to drive her car but apparently forgets to use the hand brake and it slides down a slope and kills her as she goes down the middle of the road (none too careful, is she?)

The real baffler to me is why Director Perier decided to show that sequence as the intro to the film, and he repeats it some 30 minutes later.

That is when blackmailer Robert Hossein and police inspector Michel Serrault appear on screen, both delivering credible performances. For the record, both Brialy and Serrault would come out of the closet a few years later, and apparently had the hots for each other during this film. Spaak and Audran must have felt underused...

The script by Dominique Fabre makes very economic use of logic. Why Audran should have a sister who wants to wear a wig like her and go around in a wheelchair like her is baffling to put it mildly. That, in addition, she should pick up a revolver and fire six shots into the night after police inspectors approach her place is only made more incredible by the fact that Hossein had just shown her how to use the gun because she had never fired a shot in her life!

Toward the end, I did not know - and did not care - whether Audran was Marie or Anne any more. She was misused in the double role but at least Perier gave her the chance to show off her delicious legs as she ditches the wheelchair and shows Brialy and Spaak that she can walk.

The ending, with Brialy and Spaak laughing as they shove the empty wheelchair down a street, and it poses a threat to potential oncoming drivers, is one of the stupidest I have ever seen.

Effective cinematography by Marcel Grignon. 6/10.

The Man Who Laughs (1928)

Plus: direction, photography, ending; sublime Veidt. Minus: overlong

[8/10 · 28 April 2024]

As other viewers have indicated, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS was directed by Paul Leni, born in Stuttgart, Germany, and a major follower of the expressionistic movement, by 1928 much in vogue in that European country. Add to that the fact that Fellow German Conrad Veidt had played the central role in Robert Wiene's THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI (1920) and you grasp why THE MAN WHO LAUGHS turned out to be so much of a German expressionistic opus, quite in contrast with the general output in Hollywood at the time.

The downside to this masterpiece off a minor Victor Hugo tale is that it runs for far too long: 90 minutes would have sufficed and then some. But Gilbert Warrenton's wonderful cinematography keeps the viewer interested, and Veidt's ability to convey searing sadness while carrying the laughing grin that former English king James II had ordered carved into his face as a child has to go down as one of the most memorable performances of all time, to the extent that it reportedly inspired the creation of Batman's nemesis, the Joker.

Mary Philbin also deserves praise for her role as the pure blind girl who "sees" clown Veidt for the wonderful soul that he is. The happy ending is very unusual for films of the time and certainly adds a greater dimension to the film. 8/10.

Shadowman (1988)

Claustrophobia: SHADOWMAN is thy name - Is dit ´n rat?

[4/10 · 24 April 2024]

The only thing I know about Director Piotr Andrejew is that he was born in Poland. On the strength of SHADOWMAN which, from a swift glance at his filmography, gets the highest rating of his entire output, I doubt I will bother to watch any of his other efforts.

For a start, his recreation of a WWII scenario in the Netherlands looks fake: trafficker Jeroen Krabbé drives a vehicle of the mid to late 1950s, clearly not yet in existence in WWII. The police vehicle that snarls in at the end to capture the "rat" in Mevrou Wisse's attic looks like a Renault pickup truck from the 1950s, too.

The way Andrejew wastes Tom Hulce's acting talent verges on criminal. Hulce, who - in my opinion - posted the definitive portrayal of Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart in AMADEUS (US 1985) by 1988, when SHADOWMAN came out, was delivering his swansong in the cinema (perhaps he fared better in the theater - I hope so).

In SHADOWMAN, Hulce has his face covered by dirty clothes and he looks filthy for about a third of his presence on screen. How that could prove attractive to a stunning beauty like Monique (played by buxom bomb Manouk van der Meulen), to the point that they engage in wild sex in a rat- and rat poison-filled attic leaves me speechless and raring to go hungry in any attic just to handle a pair of knockers like Manouk's!

Even more surprising, Manouk is contraband man Jeroen Krabbé's wife or lover but the moment she hears about the Jewish refugee in hiding she wants to see him in Mevrou Wisse's attic. As for the mevrou, she is busy opening Krabbé's zipper while poisoning potatoes to serve the "rat" in the attic who, before long, she suspects does not have a tail and sounds too noisy to rate rat, but might be human instead. To compound matters, she gets post: her son Hans died in combat (I readly admit that one caught me so off guard as to shock me more than the unfortunate mevrou!)

She calls police to investigate the rumblings in the attic but, after hearing the orgastic goings on there, she probably wants a piece of the action from Hulce too!... Having already taken Krabbé from Manouk, she gets all crabby, rebels and resists when police burst in to collect the Jew in the attic... who is now in (unexplained) possession of a knife plus some wood, and black paint, all of which he chisels away at until he gets a fake black wooden pistol going. I immediately had the premonition that that was a mistake, but what do I know and what does anyone care anyhow?

No winners in this movie. Jeroen Krabbé probably steals the show with his unrepetant and even spontaneous opportunism and lack of concern for anything other than making money. The way he places an order for copper and then rejects it shows that he could not give a flying flip for anybody other than Number One. As noted, dishy Manouk has memorable melons and Mevrou Wisse ain't nuttin' to throw away, certainly ready and willing, and with a lovely black Labrador by the name of Vargas that whimpers when he hears noises in the attic but wisely wolfs down a steak when Mevrou Wisse isn't watching!

Smart dog, steaks were rare those days so he ate it while the going was good, coz the Germans had already entered the apartment fixing to send Mevrou Wisse to a camp for giving shelter to a Jew.

Substandard cinematography by Wit Dabal, confusing and unbelievable script by Andrejew. 4/10.

Home from the Hill (1960)

Excellent direction, acting, camerawork; dubious 2d half script

[8/10 · 23 April 2024]

Director Vincente Minnelli made many excellent films: FATHER OF THE BRIDE, LUST FOR LIFE, MEET ME IN ST LOUIS are just three examples of the versatility of the man as director, weaving magic seamlessly whether it be in drama, comedy or musicals.

HOME FROM THE HILL delivers in-family drama with well drawn characters. Robert Mitchum offers one of his finest portrayals as the pater familias who has a roving eye and in the process ignores his growing son (George Hamilton), whom he loves more than he knows; George Peppard also acts above his average as Mitchum's son from a previous marriage, now more a servant about the property. Rafe has the personality Mitchum wishes Hamilton had; Eleanor Parker provides touching moments as Hamilton's mother and the wife Mitchum cheats on and ignores, but who he does not want to exchange for any other female as wife; and Hamilton, like the other George, gives a fine show, well above what I thought him capable of. Reliable and yet unusual as ever, Everett Sloane makes a short but remarkable contribution to the across the board high quality acting.

Fantastic cinematography by Milton Krasner, fitting score by Bronislau Kaper. The script by Harriet Frank and Irving Ravetch opens powerfully but loses oomph in the second half. The honest but bleak ending does not help.

All told, well worth watching on account of superior direction, acting, and photography. 8/10.

Desert Patrol (1958)

Taut script, photography, editing; quality acting, direction

[8/10 · 23 April 2024]

Director Guy Green began as cameraman and quality camera work is a trademark he retains in SEA OF SAND aka DESERT PATROL - no mean feat when the entire film is shot in the desert. Wilkie Cooper's cinematography deserves high praise.

Plaudits, too, to Robert Westerby for the credible, taut script, with sharp dialogue - particularly between Michael Craig and John Gregson as two captains with different leadership ideas. I found rather astute the decision to give the best known actor in the cast at the time - Richard Attenborough - a rather middling, unassuming role as a military vehicle driver partial to brandy, which turns out to be providential during a German pinch.

Acting rates top notch across the board, even smaller parts by Ray McAnally - the surname does him no justice, he does not act anally at all!; Barry Foster - possibly best remembered for his "tie serial killer" in Hitchcock's FRENZY; Tanganyka-born Andrew Faulds as the reliable supplies man; and Vincent Ball as the attentive Sergeant Nesbitt, all deliver flawlessly.

The famous British upper lip abounds and John Gregson, who I remember best for his comic role in GENEVIEVE, plays the understated, cultured officer who can actually speak German and so saves his crew from a hail of German lead.

SEA OF SAND is a fitting title: sand everywhere, vehicles get bogged down in it, wind blows tracks, the enemy appears in the middle of sand storms.

Thoughtful homage to LRDG in WWII. 8/10.

Accident (1967)

Introspective: not much spoken, well acted and directed

[8/10 · 21 April 2024]

Talented Joseph Losey was riding the crest of his wave in 1967, having made the famous THE SERVANT and KING AND COUNTRY (both also with Bogarde) and about to serve the bigger-budgeted but just as claustrophobic THE GO-BETWEEN in 1971, ACCIDENT sees two university professors (Bogarde and Baker) interact with minimal language, like mirror reflections of each other as they seemingly stumble upon life and its lack of sense - all of which is typical of a Harold Pinter script.

Unfortunate Michael York, in his first eye-catching stirrings, is promptly killed off in a vehicle accident and the events leading up to it are reviewed. It does not sound particularly interesting, but high quality direction and acting from the leads, and Bogarde's wife (tremendous show from Vivien Merchant) keep me hooked.

Born in the United States but forced to move to the UK because of Senator McCarthy's persecution of communists in Hollywood under the aegis of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Joseph Losey insightfully shows life in England, its class distinctions, and the looseness of such supposedly firm commitments as marriage, job, and friendship.

If you are looking for action, this is not your film but, unlike other viewers, I found nothing boring about it. Although mundane concerns and words float through the film, I found myself reflecting on my own voyeurism as I watched others trying to make something of the meaning of life. 8/10.

Lone Survivor (2013)

Completely unbelievable

[2/10 · 20 April 2024]

Quite frankly, I doubt that any of what happens in LONE SURVIVOR had any connection with reality. For starters, although it has been done in all conflicts since the beginning of time to send teams to enemy territory to eliminate enemy leaders, it seems plain impossible for a highly professional, calculating army like that of the United States to send just four men to a place in Afghanistan where the opposition's numerical advantage is in excess of 100 to 1. It would amount to a suicide mission and I very much doubt that the US would ever endorse any such.

Then, those four come across three shepherds, two youngsters and one old geyser, and they unwisely set them free, after considering all three possible solutions. The best one would be to ice the three but kindly Wahlberg is afraid of CNN and other negative international repercussions.

Then, the four face some 500 talibans who just never stop coming up, and there is killing aplenty, the fab four get all shot up, fall several times down flicks, get all cut up, but somehow survive broken bones and all (if you believe that, you'll believe anything!)

And in the end, one Apache chopper downed by a Taliban Stinger, kindly Wahlberg gets his just rewards as he is saved, though he must have finished with stitches in every inch of his sorry body.

Nearly two hours of this mind-numbing violence and outright falsehood is just not for me. 2/10.

A Prize of Arms (1962)

Superb British heist flick with in form Baker, Schmid, Magee

[9/10 · 20 April 2024]

I really liked this well constructed, fast moving, credible heist film. It is no accident that not yet famous, future film director Nicholas Roeg scripted the excellent screenplay.

I had never heard of Director Cliff Owen, and even IMDB does not carry that much information on him, but on the strength of A PRIZE OF ARMS, I hope to watch more of Owen's work. He extracts a phenomenal performance from Stanley Baker as the quick-thinking heist planner; and very good ones from Austrian-born actor Helmut Schmid, from the hot-tempered, nervous Tom Bell, and John Philips, as the beffudled camp commander who keeps his nerve in spite of the large sum taken from his unit's coffers.

In fairness to the great thespian that Baker was, I had the misfortune to first see him in GUNS OF NAVARONE, in which he played a rather minor, even dislikable part, causing me to underrate him for many years. I have upped that rating exponentially after watching A PRIZE OF ARMS, HELL DRIVERS, BLIND DATE, ROBBERY, ACCIDENT, among others.

Excellent cinematography by Gerald Gibbs and editing by John Jympson.

Sole regret: no ladies. Otherwise, a definite must-se for anyone interested in the military and in a credible heist. 9/10.

Me and My Gal (1932)

Well directed zany fun with Tracy, Bennett in superb form

[8/10 · 19 April 2024]

I have always like films directed by Raoul Walsh, famously unlucky to lose his right eye after a rabbit jumped through his car's windshield. He has a no-nonsense approach combinbed with dry humor, and his camera work consistently reflects high competence and professionalism.

ME AND MY GAL stands as an excellent example of the 1930s screwball comedy at its best. It has the advantage of a talented cast in top form, notably the wonderful Spencer Tracy (my all-time favorite American actor) and the lovable Joan Bennett, then all of 22 years old, and her sister played by the similarly stunning Marion Burns. George Walsh (Raoul's younger brother) convincingly plays the villain Duke Castenega, who has won Burns' heart, even though she is now married to another man, which poses interesting problems. Still, although affected by the bad egg hiding in the attic, the Tracy-Bennett relation overcomes all those obstacles with good grace - their conversation on the sofa, each of them speaking different from their actual thoughts - is memorable and absolutely remarkable for a 1932 film, especially in light of the fact that talkies had only started four years earlier.

The sole jarring note comes from over the top slapstick acting by some unknown actor portraying a drunk hobo who nearly gets drowned and throws a fish around. Tracy and Bennett are flawlessly comic enough that the drunk hobo's part becomes annoyingly long and embarrassingly repetitive. The good news is that he suddenly disappears and thankfully never returns.

ME AND MY GAL is 79 minutes long and definitely worth watching. 8/10.

They Call It Murder (1971 TV Movie)

Enjoyable TV thriller/whodunnit; Hutton, Bochner in good form

[7/10 · 18 April 2024]

District Attorney Doug Selby (competently played by Jim Hutton) faces a unique murder case involving a dead body in a pool with two bullets in its heart. After some detailed examination and theory debunking as to which of those bullets might have gone in first, it becomes clear that the D. A. is not helped by the blundering Police Chief Otto Larkin, who keeps stupidly disrespecting the very law he is supposed to uphold - it could be a comic relief, but does not quite work - and in time comes under attack himself from a vehicle trying to bump him off a cliffy road.

Standout performance from Lloyd Bochner as lawyer A B Carr, self-effacing but effective in his legal assistance.

Well, all is not bad news: Selby is surrounded by pretty women: the elegant Jessica Walter, who in 1971 also played an evil part in PLAY MISTY FOR ME; Nita Talbot, absolutely gorgeous as a second rate movie star who keeps undergoing rejuvenating surgery; and Jo Ann Pflug, simply to die for.

The explanation as to how all the murders took place struck me as lengthier than necessary, but otherwise I enjoyed it all. 7/10.

The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)

Superlative cast in fast moving whodunnit French noir

[9/10 · 18 April 2024]

I have heard and read a few accounts as to how this film nearly did not get made because no one was interested, but then Signoret apparently had worked with Costa-Gavras when he was still an apprentice assistant director, liked his approach and offered to play a part, and that somehow got her hubby, Montand, interested too. With those two big weights behind the production, Costa-Gavras managed to get a budget going, which also meant that the cast steadily included more and more up and coming French thespians, including already well known names like Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Piccoli, Bernadette Lafont, Claude Mann, Charles Denner, Pierre Mondy, among others.

To be honest, I have never come across a more stellar cast in a French film, and - a rare event - it does not detract from its inherent quality, as the fast moving script and elusive murders and murderer perfectly dovetail with the individualities in a fast emerging, highly talented ensemble: Montand is memorable with his Marseilles accent and nose spray up his nostrils; Perrin and Allégret (Signoret's daughter) make a beautiful, lovable young couple; Piccoli deserves plaudits for his sympathetic portrayal of a man who can't take his eye off women's private parts; Claude Mann as the police intern who knows more than it seems; the extremely alluring Lafont makes the most of a tiny part as a wife trying to tell police more than her interfering hubby; Mondy as the chief inspector who keeps barking commands in numerical order, primo, segondo, tercio; and Denner almost steals the show in the role of Bob, with the nickname Robert, lover of the film's first victim, the luscious Pascale Roberts.

Yes, so many roles and quality actors tend to spoil the broth, and COMPARTIMENT suffers a little bit from that, too - but it grabs you from the outset and the exciting final chase must have inspired many others.

Mesmerizing B&W cinematography from Jean Tournier and editing by Christian Gaudin. Truly pulsating score by Michel Magne.

The final standing ovation has to go to Costa-Gavras for the immaculate directorial debut and the terrific screenplay off the original novel by Japrisot.

Wonderful noir whodunnnit, must-see for anyone interested in noir and French cinema. 9/10.

As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2001)

Great photography, Bettermann acting; overlong, inattentive narrative

[7/10 · 12 April 2024]

Director Hardy Martins, about whom I am shamefully ignorant, does a splendid job with this spectacular rendition of the story of Clemens Forrell, a German POW sentenced to 10 years in jail in Siberia in July 1945.

About 10 years later, after an eventful escape from the pen, and with an USSR Army lieutenant breathing down his neck all the way (I found it hard to believe that he would even encounter his nemesis face to face on the bridge on the border between USSR and Iran - actually Persia in 1955).

Forrell returns home colelcting along the way experiences with a Siberian husky, a beautiful Eskimo-like female, and he comes across all types of cultures in the world's biggest country (Russia's territory comprises about 20% of the Earth's land surface).

Of course, he suffers accidents along the way, is rearrested and ill-treated, and to me the best part is when he meets Igor, well played by Aleksandr Efremov, as a Jew who is out to help people and is not troubled to assist a German POW. The dialogue between the two men, regarding responsibility for the genocide of Jews, is memorable.

In the end, Forrell complies with the promise he made to daughter Elizabeth that he would be home for Christmas... he just failed to specify when, and his daughter had to wait 10 Christmas.

Important negatives: 1. Overlong by some 45 minutes, with excessive snow shots, nightmarish visions, garish forests - all spectacularly filmed but just too much and by no means essential for the narrative; 2. So Clemens gets to reunite with daughter and wife in the church at the end. What about the son born while he was a POW? Why did he not greet his family at the house, just before they left for the church? He had no idea that his daughter had pleaded with the Virgin Mary for his return, he had only promised to return for Christmas - those details, coupled with the (for me) impossible to believe situation on the bridge, with the USSR lieutenant allowing him passage after hunting him down nonstop, detract from what is supposed to be a true story's narrative veracity.

Ultimately, I felt I watched a POW's fertile imagination at work. Still enjoyable but I felt cheated. 7/10.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

Superb road/heist movie: impeccable direction, acting, photography

[9/10 · 11 April 2024]

Michael Cimino opened his remarkable directorial career with this largely underappreciated and, back in 1974, somewhat undernoticed THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT. The greater the pity because it amounts to a great deal more than just an action/road/buddy/heist movie: it has an emotional and intellectual depth seldom seen in films in which Eastwood acted back then - though PLAY MISTY FOR ME and THE BEGUILED already put out signs that Eastwood's career was evolving toward something more intelligent than the flat character Dirty Harry, Honky Tonk, Joe Kidd, High Plains Drifter, Gauntlet vehicles that populated his 1970s.

I purposely mention Eastwood first because it was his company, Malpaso, that financed this project, and yet his laidback Thunderbolt allows the best roles and sharpest lines to go to Jeff Bridges (sublime show!), the humorless, murderous Red Leary played by George Kennedy with malevolent infamy, and the extremely funny Geoffrey Lewis going around selling ice cream while helping map out the heist. Some viewers suggest a gay liaison in the THUNDERBOLT-LIGHTFOOT relation. I disagree. Lightfoot picks up a couple of good looking broads which they bed in separate quarters, naked women turn, and what I saw was genuine friendship between the two men.

Superlative cinematography and editing by Frank Stanley and Ferris Webster, respectively. Lovely landscapes, the beginning against the backdrop of a corn field and mountains with Eastwood running from a church in priestly clothes to avoid taking a bullet, the first of many very well done action sequences.

Kudos to Michael Cimino for a magnificent directorial debut and a script in equal parts intelligent and lively.

Fitting musical score, particularly Paul Williams' song about 8 minutes into the action, "Where do I go from here?" which is relevant to the entire film, especially the ending.

Must-see opus that also reflects crime trends of the 1970s quite well. 9/10.

Ring of Treason (1964)

Solid cautionary tale about UK Cold War spy case

[7/10 · 11 April 2024]

Robert Tronson, better known as a TV film director, helmed the production of RING OF SPIES, aka RING OF TREASON, which is a kind of British noir cautionary tale based on the Gordon Lonsdale spy case in the UK in the 1950s.

Of undeniable quality for a B flick, it is professionally done, solid Arthur Lavis cinematography, competent editing by Thelma Connell, and good acting by unusual lead Bernard Lee in the even more unlikely role of womanizer, tippler, and money-driven spy; Margaret Tyzack as the upstanding, fully compliant state functionary who gets corrupted by Lee, and falls in the web of espionage crime (needless to say, both Lee and Tyzack end up looking stupid and untrustworthy, soiling their good name forever; William Sylvester does well with his short part as the nefarious Gordon Lonsdale; and Thorley Walters portrays very effectively Commander Winters as the overseer of the sting operation that netted the ring of spies.

In that context, I particularly liked the deployment of police personnel and vehicles following the suspects, the way one accountant-like copper kept taking note of how much Houghton (Lee) spent on drinking alone, and sharp arithmetic calculations uncovering the fact that he and Tyzack simply did not earn enough to maintain such a lavish lifestyle.

Definitely worth watching both as dramatization of a real incident and something to learn from: careful what you wish for, it could change you and your life... and seldom, if ever, for the better. 7/10.

The Winston Affair (1964)

Credible Indian background in middling courtroom drama

[6/10 · 10 April 2024]

Originally titled MAN IN THE MIDDLE, but bearing a different name in the US film circuit - THE WINSTON AFFAIR, if memory serves me right - this is a middling script off a middling novel by Howard Fast.

Director Guy Hamilton, famous for such James Bond vehicles as GOLDFINGER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE, MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, among others, never rose above middling status himself. In MAN IN THE MIDDLE, his mediocrity stamps just about every well shot, effective frame credibly bringing out a most unusual Indian background (I have to admit that I never knew of a British-US Command HQ in India during WWII) where US Army sergeant Keenan Wynn just shoots dead a British soldier for apparently making a noise at night, promptly retiring to his quarters and enjoying a good night's sleep.

Eleven witnesses and a courtroom case later, the middling solution could only be for a competent lawyer like Mitchum - albeit a bit rusty after not practicing law for 15 years - to plead insanity on Wynn's behalf... and even the British expertt psychiatrist portrayed by Trevor Howard pretty much endorses that finding.

Whether the finale that every senior US officer apparently sought - death by hanging for Wynn - actually happened, goes open ended. Instead, we see a smarmy Mitchum bidding farewell to pretty nurse France Nuyen... and, as much as I admire Mitchum, the best bit happens when another US officer taps his belly and suggests that he is putting on weight. For the remainder, Mitchum looks more or less bored. I was reminded of his famous self-appraisal: "I have two acting styles: with and without a horse."

No wonder his performance should be middling, then: no horse and a mediocre script about a courtroom drama in which poor Wynn finally steps forward and acts the madman.

The point of this film? I couldn't see one. 6/10 stars for reasonable standards of acting from Sullivan, Howard, Wynn, and fair cinematography from Wilkie Cooper.

The Man with the Iron Heart (2017)

Why bother to keep alive the memory of the Butcher of Prague?

[6/10 · 9 April 2024]

I have nothing against French director Cedric Jimenez but, with the talent he showed in LA FRENCH (2014) I expected him to come up with something better than rehash the story of Reinhardt Heydrich, the Gestapo general who was one of the brains behind the final solution for Jews, and who committed every massacre and barbary imaginable at concentration camps and even in the urban centers - like Prague - where the Reich posted him.

That Jason Clarke satisfactorily fleshes Heydrich out on the screen is undeniable, even if I could not buy that fable he allegedly told Himmler about the foxes invading the chicken coop, and having to be killed off - no one of sound mind would entrust a top mission requiring meticulous organization to a fable teller. That said, Clarke is quite convincing as Heydrich.

The beauty and talent of Rosamund Pike, as Heydrich's wife, are sadly wasted here in a small part in which she begins by forcing Heydrich to become a nazi in order to marry her, and then she just fizzles out as the ignored, expendable half. The two Jacks who play Heydrich's assassins deliver credibly, - the scene of their suicide is harrowing.

In the end, to me the abiding question is: why spend so many $ millions on the memory of a soul-less degenerate who achieved the dubious distinction of rating the biggest killer of Jews in WWII? 6/10.

After Hours (I) (1985)

Untypical Scorcese flick with typical tragicomic overtones

[7/10 · 7 April 2024]

I am not the greatest fan of Martin Scorcese, though I readily concur with anyone who rates masterpieces films like TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL, GOODFELLAS, THE DEPARTED and THE IRISHMAN, and I have the greatest respect for his instructive and informative TV programs on US, Italian, French, Brazilian, and other cinema.

Thus, AFTER HOURS is not a favorite among what I see as lesser Scorcese vehicles. It is undeniable that it has some moments of genius, and a clever tragicomic approach to a succession of Kafkaesque situations in one eventful night in the life of Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) - whose finest performance this might be - but somehow I lost sympathy with this opus after Marcy (played by the extraordinarily lovely Rosanna Arquette) dies of an overdose of tablets, and equally stunning Linda Fiorentino exposes her perfect breasts and disappears after a useless cameo. Just to watch the female beauties makes AFTER HOURS unmissable, but I could not forgive the waste of talent and beauty of those two mermaids... and ultimately I found the film a pointless succession of avoidable mishaps.

Great music from Mozart and Bach, marvelous cinematography by Michael Mallhaus, impeccable editing by Thelma Schoonmaker.

Not too impressed with Minion's screenplay, though Dunne gets most of the film's best lines. Look fast to see Martin Scorcese handle a searchlight in a nightclub. 7/10.

All the Kind Strangers (1974 TV Movie)

Well acted TV production: suspension of disbelief essential

[7/10 · 6 April 2024]

Burt Kennedy directed some very fine Westerns like THE WAR WAGON and THE TRAIN ROBBERS but here he tackles a TV production with less well known actors, though Stacy Keach was riding the crest of his wave in 1974, having starred in high quality films like DOC and FAT CITY.

Keach manages to sound credible in a difficult to believe part of an adult man who is lured by a seven year old into coming into a house of parentless youngsters where everybody is hoping to have a pa and a ma and, to that end, they have already shanghaied pretty Samantha Eggar.

The open end does not clarify whether everyone's quest - apart, it seems from Peter, played rather schizophrenically by John Savage - will succeed, and whether they will form a family unit or social welfare will be the future for those kids.

Eggar is underutilized, as is Robbie Benson and exceedingly beautiful Arlene Farber. Wonderful set of guard dogs, especially the Rottweiler... but you have to wonder how these kids living in the back of beyond, away from school and any form of civilization, actually manage to keep some seven dogs in excellent condition, clearly well fed and trained, with collars and shiny hair.

If you manage to suspend your disbelief - like just switch off your logic brain cells - you will enjoy the cinematography, the canines, the acting, the singing, and even the film's flaws. 7/10.

Curse of the Demon (1957)

Superb Tourneur-directed horror flick

[9/10 · 6 April 2024]

Jacques Tourneur achieved deserved fame thanks to his work with Val Lewton in masterpieces like CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, THE LEOPARD MAN, OUT OF THE PAST - the latter not of the horror genre, but in my opinion his career's finest hour.

In all those films he always took the approach that less is more i.e. He preferred subtlety to showing graphic violence, or even just too explicit motivations. To a large extent, NIGHT OF THE DEMON was intended to follow the same trend, but the producers decided that the monster had to have its face shown and, as much as Tourneur tried to turn it, the tide just overwhelmed him and he had to let them impose their vision.

Thankfully, he restricted the monster to just a couple of sightings, and the beast is so horrible, scabrous, slow moving, and its claws so horny that I ended up accepting it... though I agree with those who feel that not showing the monster would have resulted in an even better opus, as human imagination amounts to the most powerful invention of all.

Plaudits to Dana Andrews for posting a credible performance as the non-believing psychologist who flies all the way from the USA to Great Britain to debunk what he sees as Satanic myths, and especially to Niall McGinnis for building a genuinely frightening character with uncommon powers of prediction and even of distortion of natural phenomena. The party scene in which he ups the stake from white to black magic, ushering in a cyclone, is truly superlative but by no means the only memorable one.

Wonderful B&W cinematography and editing that heighten the scary, oppressive atmosphere, and a fitting musical score all help make this one of the greatest of all horror pictures in any era. 9/10.

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Needless, poorly planned op into foreign land - nothing new

[7/10 · 3 April 2024]

As a non-American living in then Swaziland, Africa, at the time - October 1993 - of the incident highlighted in BLACK HAWK DOWN (BHD), I could not help but wonder about the point of that operation. The South African media carried some reports on it, the local media very little, and suddenly it seemed forgotten to the extent that I wondered whether I had not imagined it all.

Then I found a Newsweek magazine with a more detailed account and from it I inferred that the mission's purpose was to whack a Somali tribal chief. Why, I never learned clearly, but it would take no rocket scientist to conclude that he displeased the White House. One detail that stuck with me from that read was that the US forces had gone in with state of the art listening equipment which proved worthless because the Somalis had no intel, Internet, or even a reliable national phone network, and communicated by traditional systems such as signs, sounds, and messages sung from mosque minarets.

None of that surfaces in BHD. I suppose that Director Ridley Scott decided to minimize the extent of the poor preparedness for the mission, though early in the film General Garrison (played by a convincingly baffled Sam Shephard) admits that the helicopters sent in for the mission might fall short of requirements - which ultimately proved true.

As an onlooker, I could not but feel sympathy for the poor residents of Mogadishu who suddenly came under heavy fire from foreign forces apparently intent on icing a tribal chief. I felt most of all for poor dogs wandering about the streets: Somalia being 99% Muslim, and Muslims regarding canine breath as the devil's breath, those poor mutts had it tough enough to eke out an existence before all manner of heavy military vehicles and gun fire made them run for cover (and dog hearing surpassing human hearing some 60 times, it must have sounded like atomic bombs!)

The manner in which the operation starts, with slick deployment of forces from helis on to roof tops and not too busy streets, immediately shows the difference in technology, and the superiority of US Delta and Rangers troops. Military personnel portrayed by a rather hesitant Josh Hartnett, a determined Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor in a part that is as short as it is meaningless, Tom Sizemore as a colonel able to keep things ticking despite his serious wounds, the briefest appearance by a very young Tom Hardy, all come into view under an endless stream of battle fire, flying rockets, crashing choppers, exposed guts, a blood flood, and all the graphic gore you could ask for and more.

Now, in light of such a devastating attack, you should be able to identify a fearsome enemy. Instead, you see dark-hued persons in plain clothes apparently realizing that they are coming under attack, taking up weapons, and driving open-back vans and jeeps with mounted machine guns. They are portrayed almost like aliens attacking earthlings, and I suppose our instinctive sympathy lies with the earthlings, but in reality their country was invaded by aliens.

The CGI special effects are first class, as one would expect from a Ridley Scott flick.

I found particularly interesting and memorable the baffled facial expressions of Gen. Garrison as he kept receiving bad news from the perimeter inside the unfriendly quarters of Mogadishu, mounting evidence that his men were near condemned and that he had no clue how to help them, but still he issued a threatening warning to the UN forces in Mogadishu that their military vehicles and help was needed. Thankfully, those UN forces rescued the surviving US troops from a truly anarchic situation with locals carrying the bodies of US soldiers and attacking the defenseless wounded inside the downed choppers and other vehicles.

The end of the movie explains that Gen. Garrison retired the day after the wanted Somali tribal chief was killed. A fitting end, I think, to someone handed an unenviable and possibly avoidable assigment without the necessary equipment and preparation.

BHD was done for the US market and obviously neither Scott nor the producers wanted to put off that prime market, but for this film to rate masterpiece it would have to make clearer what prompted the mission, the viewpoint of the Somali authorities and military forces, and even how the Pakistani UN forces felt about endangering their lives and annoying the locals by rescuing the US forces. 7/10.