Movie review - "The Challenge" (1982) ***

 John Frankenheimer action flick which had to be rewritten at short notice by John Sayles to change it from a Chinese setting to a Japanese one. Scott Glenn was being trialled in a few leads around this time (eg The Keep) and he's quite good as a boxer. The Macuffin is a sword.

This is a decent movie - it tries to be good. There maybe could be more action. A fair bit of character stuff - Glenn complained more was cut out, but actually I'd rather more action. Not enough Glenn-Mifune.

The villainous henchman who's playing video games was effective. Pretty production value. 

Matthew Modine Top Ten

 Classy Top Ten (features)

1) Married to the Mob (1988)

2) Full Metal Jacket (1987)

3) Birdy (1986)

4) Streamers (1984)

5) Short Cuts (1993)

6) And the Band Played On (1993)

7) Any Given Sunday (1999)

8) Memphis Belle (1990)

9)  Mrs Soffel (1984)

10) Baby It's You (1983)

Craptacular top five

1)  Private School (1983)

2) Vision Quest (1985)

3) Wind (1992)

4) Cutthroat Island (1995)

5) Gross Anatomy (1989) 

Movie review - "Something Wild" (1986) ***1/2

 A film best discovered without knowing too much about it. It ticked all of Jonathan Demme's boxes - love letter to a few actors, stylistic, American underbelly, opportunities for music. Melanie Griffith is wonderful, though in the second half she's very passive. Ray Liotta excellent - ditto Jeff Daniel (I miss those pre blowhard days). Fun cameos from John Sayles and John Waters. Full of quirk and tonal shifts. Like a very good Australian film. Like many of those probably half an hour too long.

Movie review - "Return of the Secaucus Seven" (1980) ****

 Rough, of course, with some erratic acting and staging. But I love the film for its ambition. Being an ensemble piece, trying to break up chat with basketbell games, ordering drinks, nude swimming. You do get to know the characters - I think maybe a few different haircuts would've helped.

The tensions, humour and acting are well staged. There's "future star" spotting with Gordon Clapp and David Strathairn.

It's more sexual than other Sayles films except maybe Lianna. The scene where two characters, Adam leFevre and Karent Trott, whisper about wanting to do it and do it is very hot - Sayles didn't often write that, but he could do it well (eg Battle Beyond the Stars).

I loved the scene where they were arrested and these flakes, or people who seemed flakey (Mark Arnott as the druggie), started reeling off their arrests for political events. 

I would've liked to have seen Lacey, the actress again.

But I love the feeling of friendship, the indie vibe. I's an important movie.

Movie review - "Matinee" (1993) ***1/2

 A film that's impossible to dislike though you can also see why it didn't make many waves comercially - a William Castle type filmmaker visits Key West during the Cuban Missle Crisis. The characters are interesting - a beatnik poet JD, a kid whose father is in the services, a monster mad kid, the Castle filmmaker (John Goodman), his startlet girlfriend (Cathy Moriarty), an anti war kid and her woke parents. I'm not sure the plots are that great - Castle needs some money, there's some young romance. They throw in a spectacular cinema collapse at the end - I'm not sure that was worth the money. They should have had real aliens invade.

But there's so much love for film, filmmakers, buffs, and a recall of the period - like I say it's a real sweetheart of a film. Goodman and Moriaty in particular are great fun. Cameos from Dick Miller and John Sayles.

Movie review - "Piranha" (1978) **** (re-watching)

 Like this movie the more I watch it. Its competence, the solid structure of Sayles' script, the charm of the rural setting (shot in Texas - it has a lovely atmosphere), the engaging Heather Menzies, the skill of Bradford Dillman, the stock company (Paul Bartel, Barbara Steele, Dick Miller), the fact the film has both a sense of humour and a genuine emotional wallop  a kid sees his father eaten, kids are killed, a really nice counsellor is eaten - the attack on the kid's camp is truly shocking and at the end Dillman is catatonic), the film buff in jokes, the polticial commentary. Even Menzies' stand in breasts are funny.

Movie review - "Wild Thing" (1987) **

 This has an interesting Roger Corman style premise (Tarzan in an urban setting) and was written by John Sayles but instead of being directed by Lewis Teague and produced by Julie Corman, who would've kept the pace fast, it's done by someone else and is part Canadian, so has the joy sucked out of it like a lot of Canadian attempts at exploitation.

There are interesting things - 'White Rabbit' over the opening credit, gangsters who dress in bright colours like they're in Death Wish Three, Robert Davi as a stock drug dealer. Betty Buckley is the woman who raises the kid.

Kathleen Quinland feels all wrong - too old, too school marmish.  Robert Knepper is okay. They have nil chemistry. The core of the film should be a love story. They never seen into each other.

When you dig into the premise a little more it kind of wobbles - I mean, Tarzan grew up around apes not humans, whereas Wild Thing is in the city with plenty of people around. He'd know how to talk and interact with people and stuff. 

The movie perks up at the end when Wild Thing goes on a rampage. He kicks arse

The film just needed to be pulpier. More sex, more violence, more emotion. Have wild thing be wilder.

It's a frustrating movie.

Movie review - "Alligator" (1981) ***

 Not from Roger Corman or Avco Embassy but with graduates of the Corman school - director Lewis Teague and writer John Sayles. It's fast paced and witty. The alligator looks terrible and fake. The film gets by on Teague's unpretentious handling, a fine cast - Forster is always fun as a weary cop, Robin Riker sweet as a croc expert,Dean Jagger has a great late career role as a slimy politcian, Henry Silva almost steals the show as an extravagant hunter (they should've kept him alive). They kill a kid as Sayles did in Piranha - the good old days.

But the alligator looks stupid. Never once is it convincing.

Movie review - "Lady in Red" (1979) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Quentin Tarantino gushes about this script. It's a good script, smart... it's a John Sayles script... not amazing. Maybe the full length once was. Pamela Sue Martin is very cute and I'm sure it I'd grown up with her on Nancy Drew the nude scenes would have blown my mind. She is likeable and gorgeous but doesn't quite carry the lead. They offered it to Angie Dickinson who would've been too old... but she really would've nailed it.

Classy cast - Louise Fletcher, Robert Conrad, Chrs Lloyd. Dillinger is in it a very small bit, and there's a whole other section to go. Too cut about to be effective really and only occasionally livens are pure exploitaiton - the final car chase - but as a smart 30s gangster film it's good.

Movie review - "Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980) **** (re-watching)

 Rousing score. Excellent script. Big heart. The other New World space flixs didn't have this heart. Richard Thomas' nerdiness is well used. Darlene F is adorable. Robert Vaughan is touching - great resentful death. All the mercenaries die so it has even more kick than The Magnificent Seven.

Just a great fast paced well written film.

Movie review - "Lady in Red" (1979) *** (re-watching)

The story of John Dillinger's last girlfriend played by Pamela Sue Martin... that actually only forms a small part of the film which is really a rise and fall type saga of a 30s gal along the lines of the story of movie Jean Harlow or Barbara Stanwyck would appear in during the 1930s. Pamele Sue Martin has the role of a life time - so much acting - and she does very well, she's gorgeous and likeable.

She starts off in a farm, accidentally takes part in a robbery (cameo from Mary Woronov), winds up in prison, gets out to work as a hooker. Act two is Dillinger interlude - Martin becomes passive not knowing he's a crook. Act three she becomes a gangster.

The exploitation elements are kind of undercut by John Sayle's social realism - Martin has sex with some dodgy guy at the start but it's bad, and has sex as a hooker later on to a guy who says "call me daddy" and it's quite blunt and depressing. It's good drama, mind, I'm just explaining my theory of why it didn't do well at the box office... whereas the gals in Big Bad Mama loved having sex and had a good ole time. Martin does have good sex with gangsters played by Robert Forster and Robert Conrad, mind.

A lot of it is really depressing - a black female prostitute is viciously killed by a client (Chris Lloyd).

I'm sure it had a New World low budget but the production values are high.

The story has a made it up as it goes along feel... more like a novel. She's a prostitute... she's in prison ... she's with Dillinger. Sayles felt it was shot too slowly... it's on 93 minutes but maybe it needed to be 80.

 

Movie review - "The Howling" (1981) ***

I don't think Joe Dante is a great visual stylist - not up with say Spielberg or Carpenter - but his films always have a lot of neat stuff in them. They tend to be smart because he uses good writers like John Sayles, there are plenty of film in jokes (eg several characters here named after werewolf movie directors, cameos from Roger Corman), and there's lots going on. So you forgive the odd dodgy blocking of scenes.

The basic story isn't bad - reporter Dee Wallace is almost killed in a sting operation so to recover she goes to a colony run by doctor Patrick Macnee. There is a central theme of natural instincts vs being able to control them which actually could have been treated seriously and been entertaining but the film only touches on it - there's more satire of self help movements, which does fit in the theme.

Wallace shares hero duties with three others - the couple Dennis Dugan and Belinda Balaski who have surprisingly large roles, and Chris Stone, who plays her husband. Stone turns, giving the piece good drama - though it's Dugan who becomes the hero at the end. Progressive Sayles ensure the women have plenty to do.

The first half is slow but there's plenty of werewolf action at the end. The leads are solid but the stand out parts are the support cast - Dick Miller as a book salesman who lists the rules, Elisabeth Brooks as a nympho (I swear she was nude in some versions but wasn't in the one I saw), Patrick Macnee as the doctor, John Carradine as a crazy old codger, Robert Picardo as a rapist. I can't believe Brooks didn't come back for any sequels she has a great horror movie presence.

Rob Bottin's effects are fun.

Seeing Joe Dante and John Sayles Talk - Egyptian 14 Feb 2020

They gave a chat introducing Piranha then did a Q and A in between that film and The Howling. Both are very experienced Q and A people and told stories with the skill of old vaudevillians. I had heard a lot of the stories but it was still fun to hear about Dick Miller, how Sayles wrote it (mainly process of elimination), the joy of working with a pro like Bradford Dillman who knew how to match all his shots, shooting test scenes at USC pool in a wetsuit. Sayles talked about writing The Mummy and Jurassic Park 4. It was fun and there was deservedly a lot of love in the room for the filmmakers.

Movie review - "Piranha" (1978) ***

A joyous, smart Jaws rip off where Roger Corman made the smart decision of giving the job of directing to uber passionate Joe Dante, then they had the luck (or rather Frances Doel's talent spotting) of getting John Sayles to rewrite the script. Sayles' writing really was the X factor here - logical (where the piranhas go and why), giving the actors something to play (Bradford Dillman's drunken loner who no one believes, Heather Menzies' plucky skip tracer, Paul Bartel's pompous camp owner, Dick Miller's greedy resort manager, Barbara Steele's enigmatic scientist, Kevin McCarthy's mad scientist), some progressive social commentary (the fish were developed as a weapon in the Vietnam war, the military corruptly sold land to the resort... which is good as it gives them motive to keep it secret) and humour.

While the movie is tongue in cheek it "goes there" - a young boy sees his father eaten in front of his eyes, kids are killed at camp, a nice counselor is killed at camp. The death toll is high and nice people die.

The low budget is artfully disguised - lots of close ups, limited use of the piranhas, setting it in the bus - but the production values are high (lots of scenes on water, extras at the resort and camp). The boobs feel obligatory eg Heather Menzies flashing (I assume that's a body double).

Book review - "My Indecision is Final" by Jake Eberts and Terry Illot

A classic business biography - I can't think of any look at a film production company that's as comprehensive. I meant it goes into a lot of detail about film financing - a lot. But I didnt mind that.

Goldcrest Films was a true shooting comet of the British film scene. It had incredible luck out of the gate, not just with Chariots of Fire and Gandhi but also side investments like The Howling and Escape from New York. But like many a fresh production company once it established a formula that worked - only invest in products from experienced responsible filmmakers, do British stories based on something - they departed from that formula, investing in a lot of first time filmmakers, getting lost in the wilds of television, over expanding.

This book is part memoir from co founder Jake Eberts so is very sympathetic to Eberts but not without criticism. It also tries to be fair to James Lee - which is why Lee ultimately comes out of it so badly.

The best bits of the book are in the second half when they make Absolute Beginners, The Mission and Revolution and you know it's going to end badly. It's gripping, watching-people-jump-off-a-cliff stuff.

There are plenty of lively personalities - David Puttnam, Hugh "perfectionist" Hudson, Dickie Attenborough, James Lee. Some talented, some simply mediocre white men who think the world owes them a living.

I've got to say while Absolute Beginners shouldn't have been made, at least not for anything other than a low budget, I'm glad it was made. 

And no one seems to watch Gandhi any more.

A grand book.

Why Burt Reynolds Might Not Have Worked with A List Directors More

I always felt that Burt Reynolds might have sustained his regime as star had he worked with better directors. Because his filmography was littered with the work of journeymen - Hal Needham, Joseph Sergeant. And his career famously never recovered from turning down the role of the astronaut in Terms of Endearment from James L Brooks. 

But maybe there is something to be said in his defence.

Burt didn't have great luck with A list directors. Look at the following: 

 * Stanley Donen - made a hash of Lucky Lady which had been a much-in-demand script

* Steven Spielberg - was to direct White Lightning but pulled out instead Sergeant did it and was rewarded with a big hit

*Sam Fuller - made Shark but Fuller took his name off the film

*John Boorman - helped make Reynolds a star with Deliverance - they were going to do another film together but Reynolds got sick... the film was Zardoz! Bullet dodged. Still it's a shame Reynolds didn't appear in The Emerald Forest.

*Peter Bogdanovich - the hottest director in Hollywood used Reynolds for two films, both big flops: At Long Last Love and Nickelodeon

*Don Siegel - directed Rough Cut which was a mess.

*Robert Altman - was meant to direct Heat and would have been perfect but pulled out.

*Michael Crichton - he'd made Coma, Westworld, The Great Train Robbery... but with Reynolds did Physical Evidence

 *Blake Edwards - his two films with Reynolds, The Man Who Had Power Over Women and City Heat, were both disappointments.

*Bill Forsyth and John Sayles - a dynamic combination resulted in a good film, Breaking In, but no one cared.

So you can blame him for being wary. 

He did work with some top directors with fine results - Boorman, Alan J Pakula, Norman Jewison, Robert Aldrich.

He fought with directors - John Alvidsen on WW and the Dixie Dance Kings, Dick Richards on Heat, Henry Winkler on Cop and a Half and PT Anderson on Boogie Nights.

Random thoughts - the Burt Reynolds cold streak

In 1982 Burt Reynolds was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, star in the world - and what's more he'd maintained that position for about four years. He had been a name since the early 60s, doing lots of TV and support roles, and moved up to a medium tier star with Deliverance and a series of good ole boy action films such as Gator. What made him huge was Smokey and the Bandit. This was a box office sensation and led to a golden run for Reynolds - the well received Semi Tough, a decently received directorial debut The End, a popular comedy Hooper, a venture into rom com Starting Cover. No one seemed to much like Rough Cut but Smokey and the Bandit II and Cannonball Run were huge and Paternity did okay. Sharky's Machine, his second work as director, was reasonably received and both Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Best Friends were popular.

Within six years he was finished as a star.

What happened?

Did he just become unfashionable? Did he pick badly? Did America change? Did people get sick of him?

Stars often fall from grace... but the jolt of Reynolds' fall was surprise, especially considering he'd been around for so long. Also, several of his contemporaries managed to keep up their profiles - such as Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone.

Let's look at the films he chose:

* Stroker Ace (1983) - he himself calls this a turning point. He famously turned down the role which won Jack Nicholson an Oscar in Terms of Endearment to do this, showing the danger of breaking the Hollywood commandment "nobody knows anything but always try to pick the classiest project". I can understand why Reynolds did what he did... Hal Needham had directed several of Reynolds' biggest hits to date, it was so obviously commercial (cars, gags, boobs, fun) - this was the first one to flop. Which just goes to show, you can never pick what's going to work - sometimes the public can sniff out a stinker.

* The Man Who Loved Women (1983) - a risky-ish bet from Reynolds who was keen to segue into romantic, grown up films... but it was a remake of a Truffaut movie and had Blake Edwards attached. The public didn't like it. What went wrong? Americans don't mind films about compulsive womanisers eg Shampoo. It just didn't work for them. This is the sort of movie which you can't blame Reynolds for making... it's a shame it didn't pan out for him.

* Cannonball Run II (1984) - this one I do think Reynolds may have been a bit hasty about making. I can understand he wanted a hit, it would have seemed commercial... but backing Needham after Stroker Ace should possibly have made him re think. Around this point he should've been trying to make really good commercial films and honestly there was no way Cannonball Run II was going to be it. It was lazy... there was no reason to make it... It lacked heart.

* City Heat (1984) - teaming Reynolds and Clint Eastwood was a fantastic idea and Blake Edwards should've been an ideal movie.  It isn't. You want this to be fun - the opening sequence with the two of them is fine, the basic idea is strong - but it doesn't work. Buddy comedies aren't as easy as they look. Eastwood was wary of Edwards who quit, Reynolds was injured during filming which led to rumours he had AIDS.  The film was profitable though, showing Reynolds was still a box office draw.

*Stick (1985) - Reynolds returns to directing and the film is a mess. He should've been able to do Elmore Leonard - he later claimed Universal bullied him into changing too much of the film, in which case he should've stopped directing. I think by this stage Reynolds' confidence was badly shaken and he needed a stronger director for the film. It's a great pity that John Boorman couldn't have done it. (Indeed for me the great missed role for Reynolds during this period is playing the star part in The Emerald Forest - as fine as Powers Boothe was, it would've suited Reynolds like a glove, and given the movie more commercial power.)

* Heat (1986) - this is when things really started going wonky. You can see the appeal of William Goldman's novel for filmmakers - it has a great central character, a tough guy with a gambling problem, and is full of colourful characters. Goldman's script is okay. But not easily adaptable - because it's more character piece than action piece. So you really need a director who gets it. Robert Altman would actually have been fantastic, but he wanted changes and quit the project, The result was a mess with Dick Richards and Jerry Jameson coming in. The Jason Statham remake showed the problems with the material - it's not quite action, not quite character. Reynolds did suit the role but the film is a mess.

* Malone (1987) - another mess of a movie, when Reynolds needed to be making major films with major talents. Harley Cokeliss was the director here, in a modern day Western.

* Rent-a-Cop (1988) - Reynolds is a cop again only this time with Liza Minnelli - a teaming that didn't excite people in the 70s and didn't in the late 80s. It had another second tier director, Jerry London. I think it was this string of four post-City Heat action films which killed Reynolds' career more than anything.

* Switching Channels (1989) - Reynolds' turn as Cary Grant in this remake of His Girl Friday was acclaimed as a comeback (Reynolds tried to do a Cary Grant a few times). He got some good reviews but the film was a fop. Michael Caine (who was originally meant to play the lead) once said a star needed a hit every five pictures or he was out - by now Reynolds was out.

* Physical Evidence (1989) - a weird one in Michael Crichton's filmography as it has nothing to do with science really, and in fact was originally a sequel to Jagged Edge. It would've been fun to see Robert Loggie be defended by Glenn Close but instead we've got Burt and Terese Russell. There were a lot of these thrillers in the 80s and 90s - the best of them had sexiness, style and some decent plot twists, which this doesn't have. It's a really, really average movie.

* Breaking In (1989) - an unexpected surprise: Reynolds finally works with some top talents, John Sayles and Bill Forsyth, and turns in one of his best performances. It was too little too late though - the film was barely seen. If he'd done this in the mid 80s I think people would've really gotten behind it. But by now Reynolds' reputation was at a super low ebb.

Reynolds then did the smart thing and went back to TV - he had a medium success with BL Stryker and a pretty big one with Evening Shade, which ran for 98 episodes and was only really axed because costs got so high. It was a shame, as I think he could've really found home there.

He made semi comebacks in Striptease and Boogie Nights but could never seem to consolidate. It's a shame. I wish he'd have one last big fat hit before going off because the last two decades must've been tough and I still have a lot of affection for him.

Corman's screenwriters - some random thoughts

Corman is renowned for the stars and directors he gave an early break to - Bogdanovich, Demme, Howard, etc. But he was also a fine judge of screenwriting talent. Consider this roll call
1) R Wright Campbell - an actor with a strong career as writer, including an Oscar nominated Man of a Thousand Faces. Did a lot of good work for Corman including Machine Gun Kelly.
2) Charles Griffith - doyen of off beat screenwriters, his work for Corman was actually the peak of his career as opposed to Act One, but it included some stunning brilliance. Best known for his comedies but his dramas such as It Conquered the World were also good.
3) Richard Matheson - a highly regarded writer when brought in to adapt the Poes, he did some very good work for Corman.
4) Robert Towne - Corman gave him some early jobs, and used him often. A superb writer from the get-go.
5) Charles Beaumont - died young, did a lot of work for Twilight Zone, wrote some good Cormans, notably The Intruder
6) John Sayles - genius screenwriter, discovery of Frances Doel, whose work enlivened New World's output in the late 70s so much.
That's damn, damn impressive.

Script review - "A Safe Place" by John Sayles (1993)

I've got the feeling that the script I read was rewritten by hands other than Sayles - something about the style (lots of exclamation marks and excitable action descriptions as well as quoting "Art of War" and the script is clearly tailored for Dolph Lundgren) didn't feel solely his work. I could be wrong. But this draft felt very close to the final film, which was worked on by two other writers.

I enjoyed reading this script more than watching the film. Maybe I was in a more forgiving mood or something, but I liked the swiftness with which the characters were created (tough Nick, Aussie Ocker, the wise colonel, female merc Grace), and the logic of the story. I wish they'd found more for Loki the beautiful village girl to do i.e. that she'd been more involved in the fight.

Movie review - "Men in War" (1994) **1/2

A decent Dolph Lundgren actioner which benefits from a script by John Sayles but is actually a little dull. Dolph plays a mercenary recruited to help take over an island on behalf of a company who want to harvest the guano.

Some neat touches: beautiful location photography; a local who keeps playing up "wise native" cliches; a female mercenary (Catherine Bell); a hot love scene between a topless Dolph (he's topless for most of the film) and topless Charlotte Lewis; a strong cast (including Perry Lang and Kevin McTighe who have made several films with Sayles); an Aussie mercenary called "Ocker".

There are OK characterisations too among the various fighters. But it was a bit flat and not particularly well directed. There wasn't that much action - a lot at the end admittedly. Dolph is stiff.