Movie review - "God Told Me To" (1976) ***1/2 (rewatching)

 I saw this only a few years ago but couldn't remember it - just flashes of Andy Kaufman at the St Patrick's Day Parade. I saw it on the big screen. Enjoyed the New York locations, the 70s actors, the ambience. Tony Lo Bianco was solid. Loved Deborah Raffin. Her part could't been bigger - she could've been used to explain things. I got confused in the second half. It was wild.

The scene of the actor explaining how he killed his family was powerful. Some plots cried out for more treatment - such as the cabal of rich people helping the demon. More Richard Lynch.

Full of ideas.

Movie review - "Two Moon Junction" (1988) **1/2

 This film was a big deal in its day - Sherilyn Fenn was a very big deal. It's some classy erotica from Zalman King with Fenn as a hoity Southern belle who gets horny for hunky carnival worker Richard Tyson. Both are very good looking. And they commit.  Fenn is a natural. The two leads have plenty of heat.

There's an impressive support cast - Burl Ives, Lucille Fleticher,  Hervé Villechaize, Kristy McNichol (she goes topless too), Martin Hewitt (Brooke Shields' lover in Endless Love), a young Milla Jovovich.

Looks gorgeous. I wasnt one hundred percent into the story but Fenn looks terrific and it's an elevated movie.

Kevin Kline Top Ten

 1) The Big Chill (1983) - stands out in a great cast as Larry Kasdan's surrogate

2) Silverado (1985) - again playing Kasdan, in a Western

3) A Fish Called Wanda (1989) - very funny

4) Dave (1993) - this is very 90s but its heart was in the right place

5) No Strings Attached (2011) - funny support performance

6) Grand Canyon (1991) as Kasdan again

7) In and Out (1997) - a deal in its day, he is charming

8) Soapdish (1991) - very funny

9) The Pirates of Penzance

10) The Ice Storm

Movie review - "Vamp" (1986) ***

 A clear inspiration for Tarantino's From Dusk til Dawn  - three guys go looking for a stripper in a club and find one (Grace Jones) only to realise she's a vampire. That's a decent premise and this is a pretty fun movie.

It could have done with more character interaction between Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler and Gedde Watanabe. Deedee Pfeiffer is very sweet as the waitress who has an old crush on Makepeace. Grace Jones is perfect in the role.

Apparently they wanted Jerry Lewis to play the barteneder but New World didn't go for his price - they went with Sandy Baron. Billy Drago is in it too.

It's silly rather than scary but is made with energy and a bit of flair.

Movie review - "The Great American Beauty Contest" (1973) ** (warning: spoilers)

 Classic Spelling-Goldberg television movie - high concept, lots of starlets, some old time-y stars. It focuses on a beauty contest, run by Robert Cummings and Eleanor Parker (a former beauty queen and actress with a Secret). 

There's a heap of plots: Louis Jourdan blackmails Parker into getting help for Susan Darnonte to sleep with him; Darnonte has a neglectful dad; one of the contestants is black, Tracy Reed; Farrah Fawcett has a boyfriend (Larry Wilcox) who doesn't want to be ignored; Joanna Cameron plans to make a feminist protest. I'm surprised there wasn't a killer out to get them.

The film is silly but it moves along at a fast clip (75 minutes!) and does tackle some issues, such as racism, feminism and soon. But the film loses a lot of points by having Parker scold Tracy Reed about racism and have Cameron win and not be feminist at the end.

Movie review - "The 4.30 Movie" (2024) **

 Kevin Smith fans were hoping for a return to film from this film - he'd given up marijuana, was making a heavily autobiographical movie about a tubby kid in New Jersey 1986. The basic idea is simple and could've been great - young teen invites girl out (though they've already kissed and she seems very keen on him and so there's no stakes).

The young actors aren't very good. They yell at each other a lot.

The piece lacks logic and a sense of truth. Like it builds up to him taking a girl to the movie which is great, but then they go to the movie that morning as well and get kicked out.

I think Smith made a mistake focusing on the one guy and his story - that should've been more of a subplot. It needed three or four stories like American Graffitii. That way you could focus on the location, and cut from story to story.

There's a few too many "hey isn't this inaccurate prediction about the future funny" jokes. And also the trailers of films they see don't seem real - did they have grindhouse trailers in 1986 suburban theatres? On VHS yes but not in the movies.

Movie review - "Angel" (1984) ***

 The first movie New World made, I believe, after Roger Corman left. It's very good exploitation - a solid, easy to understand concept (high school student works the streets of Hollywood as a hooker), with a strong story engine (serial killer is knocking off hookers). Donna Wilkes plays a fifteen year old (!) who's been doing it since she was 12 (!!) but the impact of this is lessened as Wilkes looks so much older and never does nudity (there's more nudity from the girls in high school who all look as though they're in their twenties). Wilkes handles the lead quite well - she's very empathetic.

The unexpected strength of the film is its sense of family - Angel gets on with the other hookers (one of whom has a sweet prospective romance with a Charlie Chaplin impersonator), and has nice friendships with Susan Tyrell and cross dresser Dick Shawn, and cop Cliff Gorman isn't judgey about street walkers, and the most vile person in it apart from the serial killer are the male snots at high school. So when people die it means something. Elaine Giftos from Student Nurses pops up as the guidance counsellor and John Diehl is the killer.

Cliff Gorman actually doesn't so much - doesn't solve any crimes, get the killer , or even save Angel's life. That's all Dick Shawn, Rory Calhoun. But he's got gravitas.

The film surprised me. Not that sleazy and it had a lot of heart.

Movie review - "Children of the Corn" (1984) **

 Apparently Stephen King's original draft focused its opening scenes on the arguing couple as per his brilliant short story - I think he was aiming at a slow build tale along the lines of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Totally legitimate. But it went to New World who made a pulpier, shockier version (more "bumps" earlier) - also legitimate. It breaks POV to incoporate the young kids, which TBH is less scary. The couple who come across the town are happier, younger.

The film has a terrific story which cries out for atmospheric treatment and true horror. The cast are pretty good - the main kids are appropriately scary. But too much of it is silly like Peter Horton scolding them about religion. There's not a high enough death toll. No sense of dread. It's too much a vehicle for Peter Horton being heroic - with Linda Hamilton being rescued.

So basically you have to let go of this being a good movie and just enjoy its clunky straight to video ness.

Movie review - "Tuff Turf" (1985) ***

 It didn't really twig for me until about 30 minutes in that James Spader was meant to be a former rich kid sent to a crummy high school -  once I got that, then I understood this film and why Spader was cast. It shouldn't have been hard to set that up.

This is part teen melodrama, with Spader falling for the girl (Kim Richards, very pretty and good) of the local hoon (Paul Mones, who Michael Pare slapped around in Streets of Fire). It's also part musical with Spader singing to Richards, and forcing her to dance with him, and big production numbers, and lots of music.

Nice to see Spader playing a hero in this era, and Robert Downe y Jnr as his friend. Spader and Richards are a cute couple and Mones is a decent villain. It goes on a bit - the final fight is especially long - and lacks the strong handling of a really good B but it was fun.

Book review - "The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts" by Billy Bob Thornton and Kinky Friedman

 Entertaining memoir from Thornton told in the form of conversations and chats from friends such as Robert Duvall. Angelina Jolie wrote the intro. Doesn't talk much about his early marriages. The stories of growing up are vivid as are those of him being a young man in Arkansas then trying to break in Hollywood. Generous and spiritual. The last third is full of a lot of rants about how the world is going to hell and the internet is horrible - turns into middle aged white man ranting. Always interesting though as we don't often get an insight into Thornton's mind.

Written when Ang was with Brad and Thornton endorses them. Goes up until Jayne Mansfield's Car. Talks a lot about music.

TV review - "The English Teacher" Season 1 (2004) *****

 Excellent comedy. Funny. Differentiated characters. Well cast. Has a point. Love the editing.

Movie review - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) *****

 Really accomplishedn filmmaking. Considering its budget and aims it's a masterpiece. Very confidently handled. No wonder people thought Tobe Hooper was going to be a superstar.

Everything works. John Larroquette's opening narration, warning what's going on. The slow build up. The family squabble - wheelchair brother. The sense of unease - talking astrology, killing cows, meeting weirdos. The logic - they need petrol, go to a house to find petrol, are warned away. The first death is quick and brutal and just like how cows are killed (the stunned person). The second death is more drawn out but very much like real killing of animals. The third kill adds to it. Then there's the fourth. Then the last act has Marilyn Burns scream and run in terror for something like half an hour. It's brilliantly intense.

All the actors are pretty good. The location is wonderful. It feels hot, instense, lonely. The themes are primeval - heat, survival, screaming, and family: Burns and her brother and the killers, both have believably bickering families. It has wonderful lore. You sense the history, the backstory. The creepy things in the house.

It's just very well done.

Movie review - "Bullseye" (1987) **1/2

 David Stratton had a soft spot for this film which was made for almost $5 million - it's up there on screen - but was barely released, although it was screened theatrically in the US.

Certainly worse films got a wider release, and the movie is entirely fine, but it's not a lost masterpiece. The central story is strong - based on Harry Reardon's cattle drive - but it never quite seems to got alive. Paul Goddard is not a particularly engaging lead neither is Kathryn Walker as his lady love.

They're surrounded by a fine galaxy of hams who do their thing - John Wood, Bruce Spence, John Meillion, Rhys McConnochie, Kerry Walker, Lynette Curran - but it never seems to come alive. Actually that's not true - when Spence is on screen it seems to work. 

There's a lot of shadows and I'm not sure the music is right (there's rousing tune at the end - more of that was needed instead of the Paris Texas vibe). The desert photography is pleasing and there's plenty of production value.

But it lacks pace and drive. There's not a lot of laughs. I think Walker should've gone on the cattle drive. It needed more star power - like a Jack Thompson.  More stakes.  Better Aboriginal characters than the wise old tracker who has minimal dialogue. Something. The film just lacks "oomph".

Don't know what Bob Ellis (credited with "additional dialogue") contributed. Presumably the stuff in the brothel and Phil Scott singing on the piano and Curren refusing to sleep with Paul Chubb.

Quick fixes - have the girl go on the trail, had her be the squatter's daughter, had a real villain who is going to kill Goddard, have some conflict between Goddard and the girl which evovles to love, have a rival for the girl. Just basic stuff.

Movie review - "Drawing Flies" (1996) **

 I'll give this to Kevin Smith - he made a break with Clerks and immediately tried to give back supporting films like this and Vulgar. These films did not break through. I had affection for it - the black and white photography, the opening scenes of Gen Xes at parties, sitting on couches, drinking beer, cameos from Smith, Joey Lauren Adams, Ethan Suplee and Scott Mosier (I wish all their parts had been bigger). Jason Lee and Jason Mewes have big roles - they are friends who with some othr friends go on a search for bigfoot.

I couldn't tell the characters apart aside from Jason Mewes because it was Mewes and Jason Lee in the last act when he goes mad.

Movie review - "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" (1974) *** (warning: spoilers)

 The most Sam Peckinpah title of all Peckinpah films, this has become a big cult, with its title, seedy Mexican setting, Warren Oates leading role, interesting cast (including Gig Young and Robert Webber as assassins), love story at its core between Oates and Isela Vega, woman who is raped but also enjoys it (Kris Kristofferson drags Vega off to the bushes but she seems willing).

It's almost two hours and feels dragged out with lots of scenes of chatting in the car - Oates and Vega and then Oates and the head. There is violence but it is short and sharp.

Beautifully shot, Mexican locations, dodgy views of men and women, Oates having a high old time, Young looking seedy AF, chatting to a head. Vega's murder happens off screen - he wakes up and finds she's been killed, but that is interesting. It also happens half way through. We never meet Garcia - lot of off screen drama.

But the film has its own integrity.

TV series "The Westerner" ep 2 "School Days" (1960) ***

 This one is directed by Andre de Toth and was not written by Sam Peckinpah, but it still has a strong story: Brian Keith kills a man, takes him to the nearest house... owned by the dead man's brothers. The dead brother had just killed a woman. It's solid story and the lynch mentality, wanting Keith to dig his grave and die is well done. Tough. Serious.

Movie review - "Convoy" (1978) **1/2

 Making of this was famously troubled, like so many Sam Peckinpah films, with the cocaine riddled director booted off the film. It has a lot of pleasures - gorgegous shots of trucks going through the desert, Kris Kristofferson looking handsome, a sense of camraderie around the truckers, a feeling of pace and speed (they're always in trucks).

It's got silly things like Ali Macgraw's perm. I always remember the trucker girl Kristofferson slept with and how sad faced and unhappy she looked and wondered if that was the original intent which was surely to show Kristofferson to be a stud.

Ernest Borgnine's racism against Ajaye is very effective dramatically. It's great there's a black female trucky too. Bognine works well as a villain even if the "top level government conspiracy to get Kristofferson" is confusing and dumb and probably the result of too many drugs. Macgraw isn't much in this - if only they'd given her straight hair - but she doesn't have much to do, her tan matches nicely with Kristofferson and she does serve as a non-trucking surrogate for the audience to identify with. (This may have helped the film become such a big hit.)

And that title track is catchy.

James Coburn directed second unit!

TV review - "Nodbody Wants This" (2024) ***1/2

 The first three or so episodes are perfect - beautifully cast, well done, funny, lovingly shot. But as the series goes on it gets increasingly silly as if madcap LA girls took over the plot room with Kristen Bell acting like a child, and Adam Brophy becoming more of a cardboard cut out, this perfect man who just accepts everything. Which is a shame because when the show plays the reality of the characters and situation a bit more, less sitcomy and more honestly, it works wonderfully well.

Movie review - "Tempe Tip" (2001) **

 I think they were hoping for something like The Castle but it's not very funny. Jason Donovan is good value as a dad married to Helen Dallimore who moves into a house with a backyard. They think there's money in the backyard and dig it up.

The shenanigans are not interesting, there's no jokes, a quite spectacular sequence at the end when the rain comes pouring in. There's a lot of comic caricatures especially ethnics. The film strives for a deeper meaning it can't convey and some roles seem undercast eg Gary Day in a part that needed someone more iconic. Jason Donovan has an easy charm and the film's heart is in the right place. It's not very good.

Movie review - "During One Night" (1961) **

 Odd story - US pilot Don Borisenko is a virgin. His co pilot is rendered importent in a flying mission so he determines to lose his virginity. He can't get it up with a prostitute. Tries another, who sets him up for robbery. Finds a shy and gorgeous Susan Hampshire. They fall for each other. She wants sex. He can't get it up again. The MPs take him away. A chaplain is nice. He doesn't throw the book at him. Lets him sees Hampshire again. Gets it up this time.

It feels like a TV play at heart. But it's full of interesting touches. Nicely directed and acted. The topic of impotency is at least different. It's sensitively handled. There's some exploitation - an action sequence at the beginning where his co pilot is shot, nudity from the prostitute (we see nipples!) and then later from Hanpshire (her back). The film needs it TBH it is slow. But it's different.

Movie review - "Death of a Soldier" (1986) **

 Philippe Mora is such a bright, engaging conversationalist I keep wishing his films were better but this isn't very well directed. A good true life story - a Yank soldier turned serial killer in WW2 in Melbourne - is done without any real atmosphere or tension, and over the top acting.

There's a lot of older actors in it, who capture the tone and mood of the war, but they're old and wars were fought by the young. The costumes and everything are there, but it feels like a re enactment.

James Coburn is an officer. Bill Hunter and Maurie Fields are cops. Michael Pate is a Yank. Everyone feels old even the soldiers. Reb Brown isn't bad as the killer.

But what's the point. The guy kills. He's caught. He's hung. There is a little outrage at the speed of it but he's killed three women.

What a disappointment.

Movie review - "The Snake Woman" (1961) **

 Sidney Furie's second British film. It's the sort of movie I should like - British horror about a woman who turns in to a snake and kills people, decent story - done in with too many two handers, too much chat, too many scenes indoors. No atmosphere. Too much dull hero John McCarthy. Not enough snake woman - though Susan Travers isn't much in the role. Only 70 minutes.

Neil Simon plays - autobiographical or not?

Come Blow Your Horn (1961)* - yes, based on his brother and parents
Little Me (1962) - no, musical
Barefoot in the Park (1963)* - yes, based on his first marriage
The Odd Couple (1965)* - kind of, based on his brother and mate
Sweet Charity (1966) - no, musical adaptation
The Star-Spangled Girl (1966) - no, Simon regretted not doing concept justice
Plaza Suite (1968) - no, just funny
Promises, Promises (1968) - no, musical adaptation
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969) - no, just funny
The Gingerbread Lady (1970) - no, based on people he roughly knew
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971) - no
The Sunshine Boys (1972) - no, based on old vaudevillians
The Good Doctor (1973) - no, Chekov
God’s Favorite (1974) - no, Job (bad play)
California Suite (1976) - no, just funny
Chapter Two (1977)* - yes, based on his second marriage
They’re Playing Our Song (1979) - no, musical
I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980) - no
Fools (1981) - no, old Russian
Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983)* - yes, expressly so
Biloxi Blues (1985)* - yes, time in army
Broadway Bound (1986)* - yes, starting career
Rumors (1988) - no, farce
Lost in Yonkers (1991)* - yes based on childhood
Jake’s Women (1992)* - yes based on ex wives
The Goodbye Girl (1993) - no, musical
Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993)* - yes based on TV career
London Suite (1995) - no just funny
Proposals (1997) - no
The Dinner Party (2000) - no
45 Seconds from Broadway (2001) - no
Rose’s Dilemma (2003) - no

So it’s actually a smaller proportion than I thought - ten if you include Odd Couple. I think bc the blockbusters and critical hits are autobiographical they overshadow other work.

Al Pacino Top Ten

 1) The Godfather - yes, I know, easy choie

2) Dog Day Afternoon - ditto - he's still very good

3)Cruising - I gotta say, he commits

4) Heat -I used to find this hammy now I find it great

5) Dick Tracy - over the top fun

6) Carlito's Way - the film is still underrated, it's terrific

7) Donnie Brasco - this is a very good movie

8) Glengarry Glenn Ross - Pacino had such a 90s hot streak (cf the 2000s)

9) Any Given Sunday - not belivable as a footbal player but lots of fun

10) Scarface - sure why not

Movie review - "Doctor Blood's Coffin" (1961) ** (re-watching)

 Saw this again after reading the book on Sidney Furie. It's competently directed, quite stylish. In colour, set outdoors in Cornwall which is different. Keiron Moore is a lump. He grabs Hazel Court's arse. Not bad.

Book review - "Sidney J Furie Life and Films" by Daniel Kremer

 Excellent book about an interesting filmmaker. He was treated as a bit of a punchline for a long time and Furie has been associated with a lot of disasters - quitting Night of the Juggler, fired off The Jazz Singer, plus Superman 4 and Gable and Lombard and a lot of flops from big stars (The Appaloosa, Little Fauss and Big Halsy)  - but I remember seeing Ipcres File and thinking this was pretty impressive. And his filmogrraphy holds up. Lots of popcorn fun, from Cliff Richard musicals and Iron Eagle to solid biopics like Lady Sings the Blues and flashy spy movies like Ipcress. I have a lot of gaps on my Furie list which I will try to address.

Great stories like Jeannie Berlin walking off Sheila Levine and dealing with Jill Clayburgh on Gable and Lombard and Brando on Appalosa. Interesting that Michael Caine never worked with him again. I presume bad luck.

Kremer skims over his later movies. Just compared to the others.

It's an excellent book.

James Coburn and Australia

 1) The Great Escape - mangled the accent, nailed the attitude

2) Death of a Soldier - Australian film with Coburn as the imported star

3) Payback - Coburn had a good support role in this film from Aussie-when-it-suits-us Mel Gibson - he and Gibson were also in Maverick together

4) Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round - Coburn impersonates an Aussie

5) Babe in th Woods - early TV play written by Aussie Sumner Locke Elliott starring Coburn

6) Major Dundee - Coburn and Aussie Michael Pate have support roles

7) Duck You Sucker - Cobun took a role originally offered to George Lazenby

I'm kind of stretching...

Musicals - Cry Baby versus Hairspray

 Listened to the cast album of Cry Baby - the broadway show. I know it's only going off cast albums but I think I can see why that didn't work and Hairspray did. As a musical that is - I prefer Cry Baby as a film. But it doesn't have a lot of story - the film runs out as is. Also the characters are less vivid - Johnny Depp and Amy Locane are a solid centre, and there's decent villains (the smarmy guy, the fake pregnancy girl) but the others are more a galaxy of types - Hatchet Face, Ricki Lake.

Compare Hairspray - it's got the overweight girl, and her mum and geeky dad, and her best friend and the friend's religious nutter mom, and the cute guy and bitch girl and her mum, and the black singer, and the black boyfriend. Hairspray has a natural playground - the Corny Collins show - and is about two big issues: treatment of fat people and treatment of blacks. There's more to work with. Cry Baby doesn't have these. It's about outsiders.

Also I think the music in the film is better than Broadway. It was rock a billy, catchy, fun, The musical music feels more generic.

Movie review - "Bite the Bullet" (1975) ** (warning: spoilers)

 Richard Brooks had a big hit with The Professionals and went back to the well with another macho, male driven Western in a slightly odd time period (1906 or something like that) with a rousing score. This has neat photography and an interesting cast but you're bound to wonder "why should we care". The Professionals had clear stakes - kidnapped woman, cash. This is about a cross country race. You can give stakes to a race but Brooks can't crack the problem here. 

There's two old mates Gene Hackman and James Coburn, and a callow kid (Jan Michael Vincent), and a hooker (Candice Bergen), a Brit (Ian Bannen), an old poke (Ben Johnson).

It needed more stakes. More character differential. There's some nice scenes and the actors are fine. The horses are pretty as is the scenery But I got lost what the race was about or why we should care or what was going on. Some robbers turn up and that perks things up because it's clear and clean what they want and the stakes are life and death.

At the end Hackman and Coburn cross the line together. It might mean more if we got a sense they were friends, or rivals, or brothers, or cared. Coburn's character could be removed. So could Johnson. Actually Johnson and Coburn could be merged.

Oh, I'm picking. I don't know. It was loud and pretty and kind of lifeless. Burt Reynolds and James Caan were going to be leads at one stage - they would've given the piece more urgency.

Book review - "Eruption" by Michael Crichton and James Patterson (spoilers) (2024)

 Cobbled from notes in Crichton's papers and put together quite professionally by Patterson. I don't know who did what. I'm guessing the heavy volcano mumbo jumbo was from Crichton. He specialised in taking a silly concept and grounding it in as much reality and research as possible. I totally bought it.

The novel started well, with its set up of a Hawaiian volcano about to expode and the reveal that it has gas that would wipe out the world and a plan to blow up the volcano and divert lava.

It gets less effective as it goes on. Main problem - the army and President keep everything hush hush. Why not tell the world and get the world's resources devoted to getting out the gas and blowing up the volcano? It affects the whole world. Why not tell the town and get them to evacuate?

The tough hero scientist Mac is particularly dull. Like he's tough and impulsive and has some girlfriend and... ugh. He's cardboard. I'm not sure why the reporters are Bad or the head of civilians or the volcano experts who appear on (gasp) TV.

The final volcano isn't bad with a decent death toll. They could've had that an evacuatin. But it sets things up nicely for a suicide run then goes into a deux ex machina. Frustrating.

Easy to read. Short chapters.

Movie review - "Looking for Kitty" (2004) **

 After a swing at being a movie star, Ed Burns went back to basics and made another lower budgeted film playing a private detective who looks after the ex of David Krumholz. It's not a bad premise for the movie but there are no twists and turns. It's mostly Krumholz and Burns trudging around New York and talking. 

Krumholz is a boor - attached to his vows, a dull person, all too easy to see why his wife left. Burns isn't that interesting - he has charm, cranks aout the rich, his wife is dead... Both Krumholz and Burns help each other come out of their shells, I guess, but not to a great degree. Certainly not an itneresting one.

They don't find Kitty to the last few minutes. It's not that compelling. When Burns ask her why she left, he already knows.

Burns has some nice by play with Connie Britton as his neighbor and it would've been a better movie had she hired him to track down her husband or something and it had played as a romance. As a bromance it's not that exciting.

Movie review - "The Carey Treatment" (1972) **

 Blake Edwards whined that MGM cut this movie around and I'm sure Jim Aubrey and co did even though it co stars Aubrey's daughter but it's still long even at 100 minutes taking all this time to get going.

The strength of the novel was its fast pace and technical detail, both which aren't conveyed. The faults of the novel - its tropes - do survive. Like the book there's not enough compulsion for James Coburn to investigate - I think they should've made Jennifer O'Neill (who's pretty but whose part is pointless) be the doctor who got arrested and Coburn investigates it to free her because he loves her.

There's some effective bits and it's not a bad story. Coburn is a swinger and groovy but though he spouts the dialogue isn't entirely convincing as a dogged pathologist. Actually O'Nell would've been better in his role because as a woman she might have a reason to defend an abortionist. You know, Raquel Welch would've suited this.

Thereis a scene where Michael Blodgett gives James Coburn a massage that is very homoerotic. Blodgett is an effective villain and there are neat turns from people like John Hillerman.

But it doesn't have Edwards' patented style and gloss. Variety was right it feels like a TV movie. I think the only point to making these sort of films by the 70s was if you made it glossy and had stars in them.

Book review - "The Late Child" by Larry McMurtry (warning: spoilers)

 Sequel to The Desert Rose gets off to a great, if dark, start  with Harmony discovering her daughter Pepper has died, and Harmoney's boyfriend taking off. But after that McMurtry doesn't have any place to go - he bring in Harmony's sisters who chat away (one is a sex addict which does provide some comedy) and Harmony has a young child a cute kid and they wind up in New York and meet some uninteresting characters - some Arabs, a prostitute, her pimp, a dog. There's a plot where the dog falls off the Statue of Liberty and lives and the son and dog become celebrities, and the daughter died of AIDS from straight sex, and then they all go back to Oklahoma and the New York characters leave and Harmony's other family comes in, mum and dad and it's all mum's fault because she's a bitch. It goes on and on.

I liked Harmony because of her resilience but this felt like a lazy book, McMurtry pushing out five pages a day and not revising it. I was relieved when it ended.

Movie review - "In Like Flint" (1967) **

 Fox were so happy with Our Man Flint that got work started on a sequel before it came out - it did well, was a hit, and so the second one came. It did okay, less well, but Coburn refused to make a third. I think he should have because those two films were really the only ones he starred in that were hits.

This had great photography and that classic Jerry Goldsmith score and some pretty women. J Lee Cobb is in drag. The story isn't bad - clones and women wanting to take over the world. The sexual politics are dodgy AF with Coburn laughing at women wanting to throw over the patriarchy then leading them to fight off the men. I liked the women kicking some arse but it has the vibes of a film made by people going through a divorce.

This has more Matt Helm vibes.

Movie review - "No Looking Back" (1998) **

 Ed Burns ran out of things to say with this movie, which takes what would've been a subplot for his first two movies and drags it out over a feature - Lauren Holly is engaged to Jon Bon Jovi and ex Ed Burns turns up. We find out early on that she was pregnant and he paid for an abortion. That's about it. Oh Holly can't have kids - that's the third act twist.

The windswept locations are beautiful, the cast is pretty, there's some nice Springsteen songs. There's a lot of working class acting in this - lotta smoking, lotta drinking beers. Every scene some actor seems to spark up or drink a beer - after a while it gets to be a joke.

Holly doesn't quite fit in the world which is the point I guess. The movie's a bit of a love letter to her. I'm not sure she's got It (she was an It girl at the time with Jim Carey and all that). In her defence Burns can't dramatise her issues. But you sense Cameron Diaz or Jennifer Aniston who'd been Burns' last film would've nailed in it.

Jennifer Esposito does fit in. She has a great moment where she makes a move on Bon Jovi. More scenes to the suport characters would've been better. Bon Jovi gets a great scene where she cries. Blythe Danner is in it. Her scenes aren't bad. Connie Britton.

Possibilities are hinted at but not really explored - Burns' character being dodgy (I do like that Burns doesn't play him for sympathy).

Movie review - "Newlyweds" (2011) ***1/2

 A delight - Ed Burns' best movie in a long time. Simple, understated, subtle. Unplotty but there is a strong story - a couple on their second marriages for both (Burns, Caitlin Fitzgerald) deal with another couple(her sister is married to his mate) and his hot mess of a sister (Kerry Bishe).

Very Woody Allen with foursomes chatting in diners, and talking to camera. Some old creaky Burns lines about men and women and sex and I feel Fitzgerald's sister could've done with another scene or beat to show vulnerability (no knock on the actor who is good, she's just a little too much of a villain). 

But generally this is wonderful -a mature work, it pops along (talking to camera helps), the subplot about Fitzgerald's ex works well, the tension of the rules of a family member at home works excellently. Fitzgerald and Bishe are outstanding and Burns rises to match them - actually all the acting is strong.