Last Movie you Watched?

Uncertain Glory (1944) Dir. Raoul Walsh

Bit of a nothing pic compared to some of the Flynn's before it - pairing Flynn and 1943 Best Actor winner Paul Lukas, Flynn plays a French career criminal who is sentenced to die at the guillotine, only to be reprieved when an air raid strikes the prison and he escapes. Lukas on the other hand, is a great inspector who has followed Flynn for years, and sure enough recaptures him again on the other side of France. On the way back to Paris, events turn - a bridge has been blown up nearby by saboteurs and in retaliation, the Germans have taken 100 men hostage unless the saboteurs give themselves up. Thus Flynn tantalises Lukas with the idea of putting himself in as the saboteur in order to save the hostages.

What follows goes on a bit too long, the story is dragged out and padded - interestingly the French themselves arent shown in a great light as the citizens start selling themselves out and the police is rather subservient to the Germans (apparently the film was banned by French authorities post-war) - and the easy charm of Flynn and the old man soticism of Lukas doesnt gel overly well. Not to mention Flynn changes between heroic and selfish way too many times. You have to give Raoul Walsh some action!

John Rambo (2008)



The silliest face impression contest ensues...

Blood, guts and body parts flying all around with exaggerated style...and I loved it. Of course the story is just a secondary excuse for all the mindless action, but let's remember that this is a Rambo sequel; no intelligence is needed. But the title needs to be changed.

7/10


Sylvester Stallone Countdown:
1. Rocky Balboa (2006)
2. The Expendables (2010)
3. Rocky III (1982)
4. John Rambo (2008)
5. Rocky IV (1985)

It was just titled RAMBO here in Aus.



Objective, Burma! (1945) Dir. Raoul Walsh

And so the Errol Flynn war movie-athon comes to an end - of course by the end of '45, the war was over, and after 4 straight war films (and 6 out of 8 if you include DIVE BOMBER), Flynn was starring alongside Alexis Smith in the light western SAN ANTONIO, the next year he'd follow up with the comedy NEVER SAY GOODBYE, and henceforth his ageing in front of the camera would grow ever more advanced. So how does OBJECTIVE, BURMA! rate?

Excellenly - its a bit of a slog at 140 minutes (especially when one's already tired), and its a harsh, tough and gritty pic, but its handled excellently, theres some great battle scenes and its shot wonderfully by James Wong Howe. Not as good as EDGE OF DARKNESS, but a fine war film.

Apollo 13

"Tom and Ron are the accuracy police."

Better believe it. Grumblings about Horner's score aside (let's be honest, a couple of tracks towards the end are remoulded for Titanic then Enemy at the Gates) this film remains a decent watch. It's the attention to detail, the story behind it. Even the fact that Zero-G scenes were done on a KC-135 (the Vomit Comet) and the use of actual audio when they finally ditch the LEM, Aquarius. The fact that it's a Ron Howard film is an afterthought.

-Randy: I'm cuttin' in.
-Dude: She's dancin' with me!
-Randy: I don't want her.

I'm into the second boxset - looks like its going to be a Randy day, so to speak. ;)



The Man Behind The Gun (1953) Dir. Felix Feist

Fun Western thats got a pretty scattered plot but is full of exciting sequences, with shootouts, a saloon burning down, some humour and a massive catfight between two women that gets rather heated. Randy's an army Major sent undercover to 1850s California, scene of seperationist fervour. He gets involved with schoolteacher Patrice Wymore and teams up with Philip Carey (he couldve been a much bigger star than he was) to get the whole thing sorted. Theres misunderstandings which drag the plot along but everything works out for the best. Good fun.

Randy (in his head): I'd like to get a hold of his pistol.

That is a very gay look.

And thus the imagery continues with...



Thunder Over The Plains (1953) Dir. Andre De Toth

Excellent - the best of the 5 I've watched so far, mainly down to the fantastic style that DeToth brings to this picture. It feels a very earthy western, there's a lot of shots of men in bushes, and long grass in their faces, and lots of closeups. And its all complemented by a fantastically staged gunfight at the end.

The scene is Texas, post-civil war, one of two states not yet in the Union (the other was Georgia). Far from recovery, its a haven for carpetbaggers and swindlers, and one man who's fighting back is local Robin Hood type Charles McGraw. Naturally the army has to stop him, but native texan Randy has sympathies with his Texan brethren, so he's going to do anything it takes to have the real criminals prosecuted. And it creates some good tension indeed. :)

Riding Shotgun (1954) Dir. Andre DeToth

And thus now the Scott movie run comes to an end, but not necessarily the Western run (I got Joel McCrea's WICHITA in the mail today). One of those contained, almost real-time stories, Scott's a guy who's been hunting a staegcoach bandit for years by riding shotgun with coaches, hoping he'll show up - only to one day be tricked by the guy himself as part of his plan to hold up a town. Returning to town, Scott's branded a villain who shot up the stagecoach, and no-one will listen to what he knows - that soon the gang will return to rob the town, having used the stagecoach robbery as a decoy to send a posse out of town. What follows is a stylishly small thriller in which Scott's pinned down inside a bar, unwilling to use his gun, whilst the town people are whipped into a hysteria, much to the chagrin of easy going deputy sheriff Wayne Morris (who puts in a fine performance). Despite the odds, Scott redeems himself with a final shootout. Among the highlights is a very young Charles Bronson getting plenty of screentime as one of the villains, but he has one of the lamest deaths of all time.

Trying some rankings...

1. THUNDER OVER THE PLAINS
2. FORT WORTH
3. RIDING SHOTGUN
4. THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN
5. TALL MAN RIDING
6. COLT .45

Randy: You know, Bill. I always said two guns are better than one.



Ho: Randy, why is your gun up?

Randy: Cuz I saw that guy.

Hell Drivers (1957) with audio commentary from sound assistant Harry Fairbairn and freelance journalist Andrew Robertson. Unfortunately, Fairbairn's input is limited because of his hazy memory (fifty years is a long way back) but Robertson provides some interesting trivia such as the fact that McGoohan played the role of "Red" deliberately over the top because he was unhappy with his contract at RANK. I'd wanted to refresh my own memory of the film for some time now - had forgotten the part where Connery falls on his arse after Gordon Jackson pulls away his chair. Not sure if that was pre-planned or improvised as Sir Sean's anger looked genuine.

McGoohan's biography also provides some interesting insight on HELL DRIVERS (I havent seen it) - he was apparently always bitter that it established his screen persona as being rather hostile and often villainous, rather than heroic.

Iron Man 2
this is my idea of what a super hero movie should be like, as was the original
these and the first "Hell Boy" movie are the best I've seen from the genre, with "Spiderman" and "Batman" not bad either, but a bit behind

Salt
the premise for this had the makings of a good movie, both topical, with the sleeper spy scandal of 2010, and twisty, and I suppose it is reasonably watchable, but like other Phillip Noyce action movies, you are left with the feeling it could have been much better
of course in order to enjoy this movie you must first be prepared to put aside any misgivings you have about the credibility of stick thin Angelina Jolie as a kickass secret agent
and be prepared to put aside any misgivings you have about shaky cam and over editing of action sequences
and be prepared to overlook the occasional glaring plot hole… (and many smaller ones)
the Russian spymaster turns up and dobs Jolie in why? wouldn't he have been better to just give her a call and tell her we've got your husband, get busy or else
and having dobbed her in IMO didn't he need to remain quietly in custody, letting the suspicions sink in? rather than kick-assing his way out of Langley and thus blowing any credibility he had as a disaffected Russian
crouched on the bridge behind a car there was no way Jolie could see the container truck was coming, unlike the camera angle that revealed to the audience her supposed thought process and opportunity for escape
and so it goes on…
however I quite like the way the director sign posted little clues along the way, I felt good that I was able figure out the spider venom coma and hostage husband angles within moments of Jolie shooting the Russian President
and how she never killed any American agents, the way she left a trail of injured men in her wake reminded me of the reformed Arnie of T2
and Ange also gets to indulge in some tradecraft / homemade weapons improvisation, although it leans more toward "MacGyver" than "Bourne"
alas the truck jumping got out of hand, but that seems to be the way of things these days, with many directors unable to make the distinction between what is acceptable in a superhero movie and what is credible in a "real" world action movie
like the recent Star Trek reboot, the film continues to rush along, with increasingly generic action and minimal character development, until the big reveal, which I was "hurry up and waiting" for, having concluded that I knew she wasn't going to be the villain, but having no evidence as to who actually was
after that I was reasonably good with it until the scene where she knocked off Lev Schreiber in a highly improbable manner
they should have saved that for later (or for a sequel? yeah right!)
they are obviously hanging out to make one…

compared with say "Taken"
where the only problem I had with the premise in that case, was the supposed selection of obviously affluent American tourist girls in a luxurious apartment as the victims of the white slavery gang…
a truly preposterous notion, why on earth would you kidknap girls that someone with money and power is likely to care about, when there are whole countries full of poor women that no one is going to miss? (or no one who can make it count)
after that I was fine with it, big Liam Neeson was credibly kickass, the stunts didn't get too outragious and his MacGyver / Bourne moments were down to earth

Seve wrote:

compared with say "Taken"
where the only problem I had with the premise in that case, was the supposed selection of obviously affluent American tourist girls in a luxurious apartment as the victims of the white slavery gang…
a truly preposterous notion, why on earth would you kidknap girls that someone with money and power is likely to care about, when there are whole countries full of poor women that no one is going to miss? (or no one who can make it count)
after that I was fine with it, big Liam Neeson was credibly kickass, the stunts didn't get too outragious and his MacGyver / Bourne moments were down to earth

Yep, Neeson alone was kick-ass enough to make Taken the definitive vigilante movie of it's generation. Hell, I'm just as keen to see the return of Bryan Mills as I am the return of James Bond right now. As producer of Taken, at least Luc Besson knew his limitations and used them as strengths. "Man's gotta know his limitations".

Luc Besson is largely unsung, but he's one of my favorite people out there.

Salt is full of James Bond nods; most obviously From Russia With Love ( the Klebb, shoe blade); DAD and the Korean angle; and I think I spotted a LALD nod as well.

Taken works as a mindless revenge rampage. Quite entertaining but quite ridiculous as well.

colly wrote:

McGoohan's biography also provides some interesting insight on HELL DRIVERS (I havent seen it) - he was apparently always bitter that it established his screen persona as being rather hostile and often villainous, rather than heroic.

And yet it was his first substantial film role. And he turned down Bond. I wonder if he was in any kind of competition with Baker (who had pretty much only played villains up to this point) to get the lead part in Hell Drivers?

A seventies British crime double of :


Get Carter (1971)
Dir. Mike Hodges

A favourite that was crying out for a re-watch. Roy Budd's score, the location work, Hodges' dialogue and direction aside, what stands out for me is Michael Caine's performance. He just commands the screen, whether he's demanding that his drink be served in a thin glass or asking Glynn Edwards' Albert if he wants to be dead, it's a brilliant performance. And the look he gives when he knows that Geraldine Moffat is trapped in the boot of his car and that John Osborne's men are actually doing him a favour by dumping the car in the sea, when they think they are doing him a disservice, is so, well, words can't describe how chilling it is. As Alun Armstrong says in the film, "Frank told me you were a shit. And he's right."

5/5

Villain (1971)
Dir. Michael Tuchner

Whilst Caine was playing Carter, Burton was playing Vic Dakin, a homosexual, cockney gangster who makes sure he takes his mother on regular trips to Brighton (to me it looked more like Eastbourne, but it's a stunning location nonetheless). Along with his bisexual lover, Ian McShane, (his sexuality causes him problems when Burton finds him in bed with Fiona Lewis), Burton, accompanied by his violent and treacherous gang, plan to steal the money from a wages van on it's way to a factory of Clarks' London branch. Whilst it lacks the iconography of Get Carter, it's a well-paced film that is no less enjoyable. Again, the screenplay and score are both outstanding, the direction is spot on and Burton turns in a performance of the highest order, as does the underrated McShane.

5/5

Wichita (1955) Dir. Jacques Tourneur

Instant love - an outstanding western thats got an absolute bumper cast, scope photography and some of my favourite themes of Western films. But don't look for historical accuracy. ;)

First, the cast - its headed by Joel McCrea as Wyatt Earp, who enters Wichita a buffalo hunter and leaves as top lawman in the west. But its the charcter actors who distinguish this one...

Vera Miles
Lloyd Bridges
Wallace Ford
Edgar Buchanan
Peter Graves
Jack Elam
Robert Wilke (you'd recognize the face if not the name)
and Keith Larsen as Bat Masterson

Thats one hell of a roster of supporting players - and they're all in amongst the action. I wanted to write more but my train of thought is wondering. One outstanding western.

I really wanna see Wichita, more so than any other Tourneur films (even the horror films Scorsese creams himself over).

Also, is it just me, or has half of this thread just disappeared?

We were approaching 70 pages, were we not? :scratch:




No Country For Old Men (2007)
Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

*spoilers*

This is a fine thriller that looks a million dollars, but did I miss something here? It was all so anti-climactic. Sure, I like the fact that there isn't some kind of shoot 'em up climax in which Bardem is blown to smithereens by Brolin in order to save his wife or what have you, and it was fantastic how his car crash/ shirt purchasing final scene echoed Brolin's earlier on in the film. But to kill off the main character, a man whose eyes the audience see the film through, off-screen with half hour of the film left? It's like Janet Leigh's death in Psycho but, well, wrong. Don't want to come across as whiny here, and I get the whole theme of fate/chance that threads the film together but it just didn't seem right to me. And I seriously struggled with the accents. :oops: I should add that this is the first taste I've had of the Coen brothers' work and it was a fascinating experience nonetheless. The dialogue (well what I could make of it) was bristling with tension, the first coin toss scene is something to behold. Bardem is excellent, as is Brolin. And Tommy Lee Jones. And even Woody Harrelson. A very exciting film too ; Brolin struggling to load his gun when being chased by a vicious dog, his first confrontation with Bardem's hit man and the car crash all had me on the edge of my seat. It all looks great (photography is stunning) and the makeup work is amazing. Impressed on the whole but I just felt cheated by the ending. And what was Jones' dream all about? Would someone care to explain. Please? :)

4/5

HJackson wrote:

I really wanna see Wichita, more so than any other Tourneur films (even the horror films Scorsese creams himself over).

Also, is it just me, or has half of this thread just disappeared?

Another good one is his 1956 Western starring Stack/Roman/Mayo, titled GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING. Both films have made me want to find some of his other Westerns.

And as for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, I must be one of the few people who picked the ending of Bardem getting hit by the car. Probably because before the film there was a road safety ad which used the exact same techinque.



Gunslinger (1956) Dir. Roger Corman

This film does not seem to have a great reputation - its only got a 2.8 rating on IMDB - but I really enjoyed it!

Sexy Beverly Garland is the wife of a marshall in a sleep Western town, a marshall who's just been shot dead. In the face of a weak town, she demands satisfaction, and takes on the marshall's role herself. Allison Hayes (who I saw recently in COUNT THREE AND PRAY, and later starred in ATTACK OF THE 50FT WOMAN) is the town madam who owns the saloon in town, and has been buying up massive amounts of land when the railroad comes in. Let me actually coreect that - if, not when. Hayes is on tenterhooks about a letter coming Saturday that will confirm the railroad - but if not, somebody has to die. And that somebody is the marshall. So she hires gunman John Ireland, who comes to town with his own axe to grind, but also with an undeniable attraction to both women.

It sounds complicated and muddled, but it works quite well, Garland is terrific, the title sequence must've been influential and although the Pathecolour makes the film look like it was shot on cold wet mornings (which I think it mostly was) - this is a terrific little western. :)

Yeah, WTF happened to the thread?

And Tourner rocks.

Wings Of The Hawk (1953) Dir. Budd Boetticher

Solidly entertaining western that provides a pre-WILD BUNCH, pre-Leone and even pre-Aldrich look at revolutionary Mexico. The time is 1911, and Van Heflin's a gold prospector with a big mine in a Mexican province terrorised by a Colonel Ruiz. Naturally enough, one day Ruiz exercizes some muscle and takes over the mine, Heflin belts him and escapes, only to be saved from the jaws of death by the "insurrectos", led by the weak Rodolfo Acosta and the sexy Julia Adams in very tight pants. Funnily enough, rather than being thankful, Heflin just acts like a smug asshole to Adams, at one point telling her to "go pick up a sewing basket."

However, Heflin's attitude doesnt last too long, and before long he's leading the natives against the Federales as things start to get worse, and it all ends in a pretty awesome explosive climax.

You may notice a girl in the bottom of that poster called Abbe Lane - this was a very typical attempt by studios to promote a "bombshell" who got only 1 or 2 scenes in the pic, and she's very forgettable. They shouldve focused instead on Julia Adams...



The Creature from the Black Lagon had the right idea. 8)