Yaphet Kotto Top Ten

 A great actor

1) Midnight Run (1988)

2) Alien (1979)

3) Blue Collar (1978)

4) Truck Turner (1974)

5) Live and Let Die (1973)

6) Across 110th Street (1972)

7) The Running Man (1988)

8) Raid on Entebbe (1976)

9) Fighting Back (1982)

10) Bone (1971) 

Movie review - "Bringing Out the Dead" (1999) ****

 Spiritual sequel to Taxi Driver about another figure dealing with nutters at night - in this case a paramedic. Sunken eyed, restrained Nicolas Cage is perfect in the lead, as a Scorsese/Schrader hero par excellance, a man tormented with guilt.

Patricia Arquette is typically excellent in an understated way. Ving Rhames heaps of fun as a religious driver, Tom Sizemore electric as a manic driver, John Goodman and Marc Antony a great. (The film's stucture is basically Cage and three different partners over three nights, with some other plots threaded through).

It lacks the primeval aspect of Taxi Driver - the "rescue" of Jodie Foster, building up to a big shoot out. This builds to Cage stopping Sizmore beating someone up, and then allowing someone to die. (Immaculate acting on Cage's face then by the way.)

It's warm and heart affirming despite the dodgy world. Scorsese had a kid around this time, maybe that was it.

Movie review - "Obsession" (1976) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Lots of great stuff here - Bernard Herrmann doing a final score, lush camera moves, John Lithgow hamming it up with a Southern accent, knowing this was how Cliff Robertson formed a relationship with Columbia/Begelman, the riff on Vertigo. There was never a more perfect Hithcock heroine - well, brown hair aside - than Genevieve Bujold.

I didn't like it as much. Not much story. I got it. They toned down the incest but it's still there. I'm not opposed to it. Cliff Robertson maybe not quite right. I like him normally but am inclined to agree with De Palma - it needed someone else more Byronic. Who was a 70s James Mason? Mason presumably too old. 

Also Robertson killing Lithgow feels perfunctory. Bujold remains a cypher. I got it, I understand the film. Just didn't click. I'll give it three stars any way.

Book review - "Cinema Speculation" by Quentin Tarantino

 Loved it. Full of genuinely fresh takes, fascinating autobiographical insights, so much love for cinema. In depth pieces on filmmakers like Brian de Palma, Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah. Tobe Hooper. Jim Brown. Kenneth Thomas of the LA Times (who he attributes a lot of the success of the Corman school to - he'd give them a good review and they'd get an agent out of it.) Very seventies. I could read books by him on every decade.

Script review - "The Yakuza" by Paul Schrader (warning: spoilers)

 Based on a novel by Leonard Schrader, says the cover page - I thought both were to work together. A great yarn. Interesting set up. Good star part for the old American soldier called back to Japan; flashy support roles for Dusty, the young Yank who goes with him, Tanner, the guy who calls in Tanner. Terrific co starring part for Tanaka Ken, the bass ass lone wolf who gets involved to his regret. 

There's a pace slump after the girl is rescued but it recovers. Lots of expositiony dialogue and interesting asides - easy to edit.

Script review - "The Yakuza" by Paul Schrader based on novel by Leonard Schrader

I'm not sure which draft this is exactly - I'll assume it was the Schrader one that sold for a lot of money and not the Robert Towne rewritten one.

Some of the writing is clunky - the dialogue isn't that great, there's lots of descriptions (everyone's clothes are described), there's some dodgy voice over explaining things.

But it's a good story full of classical tropes - the private eye asked to come back to help out a friend, the missing girl a la The Searchers, the old Yakuza dude who comes out of retirement.

Really the film is as much Tanaka Ken's movie as Harry the American hero. It's a buddy movie about two dudes in love with each other - the girl in the film, Harry's ex, is really a beard. She has no personality just a kid as stakes.

In this version Hanako the daughter lives - apparently in the film she's killed. The death toll is very high. It's a good action film with lots of honour and the Japanese stuff gives it freshness even now.

Movie review - "De Palma" (2017) ***1/2

Funny sort of doco - basically just De Palma talking to camera about his career, interspersed with photos, clips from his films and home movies. But since his career has been so long and varied and De Palma is a strong raconteur (I'd actually never heard him speak before, I think!) it passes the time well.

I particularly enjoyed hearing about his upbringing - upper middle class (dad was a surgeon), squabbling family life but Brian seemed to have plenty of cash (another spoilt boomer director!), lots of education, he only got the film bug at college. Loved seeing clips of a young De Niro, Jennifer Salt and Jill Clayburgh.

De Palma was given a lot of advantages in life (his sex, his background) but was/is a self starter - he had the moxie to make his own feature back in the 60s, and made a living out of doing promotional documentaries. He also has resilience to bounce back from things like being booted off Getting to Know Your Rabbit.

He's got one of those careers where failures are followed by successes then failures. The success of Sisters led to the failure of Phantom of the Paradise led to the success of Obsession (Cliff Robertson was a pain in the neck which was sad to hear) and Carrie, led to the failure of Home Movies, led to the success of Dressed to Kill (the script was hot property and sold for $1 million), led to the failure of Blow Out, led to the success (ish) of Scarface, led to the failure of Body Double and Wise Guys led to the success of The Untouchables led to the failure of Casualties of War and Bonfire of the Vanities, led to the success of Carlito's Way (which he says "I can't do better than that"), Raising Cain and Mission Impossible (clashes in approach from David Koepp and Robert Towne), the mixed success of Snake Eyes and the failure of Mission to Mars, then the more "indie" path he's tread since then.

De Palma comes across as affable and confident, hungering for success as much as anyone in Hollywood, remarkably unaware and un-analytical of what all these scenes in his films where women die violently might mean for him or how derivative he is, and simplistic in his political takes ("it's a sewer"). He's appreciative of great composers and actors and collaborators.

Lots of interesting bits:
- Sean Penn punched out Michael J Fox in Casualties of War to help Fox's performance - thanks Sean
- he still stands by Bonfire of the Vanities
- he's bitter Sidney Lumet pinched Prince of the City off him
- he was offered Flashdance
- he followed his father around when younger to see who his dad was cheating on his mother with
- he hit up Spielberg and Scorsese for money to finish Home Movies

Very much worthwhile.

Movie review - "Milius" (2017) ****

I think this is a revised version of the documentary - there's more stuff about the Genghis Khan project (did this prompt the recut? to get interest in that?), more footage of Milius post stroke. He's struggling a bit with his words, which is sad to see - but makes the film more epic, more moving.

The talking heads remain great, including Milius' old footage himself - George Lucas, Coppola, Spielberg, Michael Mann, Bryan Singer (weird to see him), Ed O'Neill, Sam Elliot, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

There's few women - his daughter, Lea Thompson,  Kathleen Kennedy. Not enough talk about how, frankly, the depiction of women in Milius films is shocking.  There's inclusion of a talk with a female executive around the time of Big Wednesday where he's berating her, which does not show Milius in a good light. We have lots of stuff involving his kids but no mention of his wives.

A very good documentary. Not uncritical - it mocks how he became a caricature - but very positive.

Script review - "Obsession" by Brian De Palma and Paul Schrader (1976)(warning: spoilers)

Entertaining melodrama in the Hitchcock mode - in particular Vertigo (a film de Palma later revisited with Body Double). The New Orleans setting gives it extra novelty; it's about a property developer, Michael, whose wife and young daughter are kidnapped. An attempt to stiff the kidnappers out of money results in their deaths... and Michael remains obsessed by the case. Later he finds a woman who is the split image of his wife.

There's a fantastic twist here (spoilers) - the woman is his daughter. In the script father and daughter actually sleep together. The film feels as though it should end with Michael's death - I also feel the supporting characters apart from Lasalles could've been used more. There's this other woman in the story who looks as though she's going to do something but doesn't.

Like a lot of De Palma scripts I've read the structure is very sound and I enjoyed it a lot.

Movie review - "Rolling Thunder" (1977) **1/2

This vigilante film has a bit of a reputation among film buffs - Quentin Tarantino has long been a fan (I'm sure the returning Vietnam POW stuff influenced the Chris Walker scene in Pulp Fiction), it was co-written by Paul Schrader whose reputation seems to be nothing these days but whose 70s output is highly regarded, the reputation of director John Flynn is rising, it received a famously bad preview where the audience almost rioted.

Watching the film years on I wasn't that knocked out by it. Flynn directs in a solid, almost polite way - the story is inherently exciting but it's not that an exciting film. William Devane's hand is shoved in  garbage disposal unit but we don't hear crunching sound effects or see anything bloody - it's implied. The deaths off his wife and son happen off screen. The opening credit sequence features a crappy 70s love ballad and it takes ages for any action to happen. Indeed there's only a few action sequences - the attack on Devane, Devane smacking around an informer, Devane taking on one of the crooks and his cronies, the boyfriend of Devane's wife shooting out with some baddies, and the final shoot out.

If you're looking for high voltage vigilante movie this doesn't really deliver, except maybe at the end when Flynn lets loose and shows blood, carnage and nudity (the climax is set at a whorehouse) that he's been restrained about to now. Actually a lot of the movie feels restrained - it's as though Devane and Tommy Lee Jones should die at the end but they don't (though admittedly they could be mortally wounded - the film ends abruptly.)

The first act is well-done drama, with William Devane adjusting to coming home, being told by his wife that she's fallen for another man, struggling to reconnect with his son (similar to Homeland). The role of the woman who falls for him is surprisingly complex and well drawn and very well played by Linda Haynes. The quality of acting is high - though Devane was a little cold. I get that he's detached and all that but he's got to have some emotion because he goes on a rampage and Devane never coveys that. In his defence he wears mirrored sunglasses a lot but for instance Tommy Lee Jones conveys far more instability in his stillness.

There's some odd bits - the abrupt ending (as mentioned), the large amount of screen time given to the 2IC of the baddy gang (Luke Askew) but not the ringleader (James Best). It wasn't clear why the gang let Devane live when they killed his wife and kid. I remember reading Schrader's script and liking how it was the fact the former POW could distance himself from reality helped him survive the camp but also meant he couldn't act to help his wife and child... that's not clear here.

There are some great bits too - Devane making a weapon out of his hook; the feel of small town Texas; the prominence given to Hayne's role; and especially the moment where Devane tells Tommy Lee Jones he's found the guys and Tommy just says "let's go". To give the film it's due it's very much a character-driven piece.

Movie review - "Milius" (2013) ****

A highly entertaining look at the life and times of one of Hollywood's most colourful characters, and top writers - at least during the first part of his career. Milius became something of a cartoon caricature of himself, as this film points out, but early on few writers could match him for lively, original work: Apocalypse Now, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Jeremiah Johnson. I've read these scripts and they're fantastic.

The quality of his output started to decline as he went into directing (not uncommon, unless the person in question worked with a co-writer) - but Milius enjoyed a decent amount of success as a director: Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn. His career started to go south in the late 80s - Milius blames this in part on prejudice against conservatives, which interviewees Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzeneggar poo poo... A more likely reason (as pointed out here) was the commercial failure of several Milius films, notably Farewell to the King and Flight of the Intruder - and also Milius' persona I think began to grate. He kept busy as a writer and director although never matched his old pals like George Lucas, Coppola and Steven Spielberg. Milius was never as good a director as he was a writer - the perfect director for him was Francis Ford Coppola; I also think it's a shame he never got to work with other operatic directors like Brian de Palma.

What gives this film unexpected gravitas is the dimension of unexpected tragedy - his friends talking about how Milius became a caricature, his friend who embezzled from him, a stroke that meant he couldn't speak. By the end of the film he has recovered a little bit, but not a lot - he can shoot and move around but the filmmakers don't show him talking that much.

There are some excellent talking heads - Coppola, Spielberg, Schrader, Eastwood - plus some who don't really have a connection, but I assume agreed to talk for box office value (Stallone, Bryan Singer). Michael Mann is in there - Milius made an episode of Miami Vice for fun, although we only hear about it during the closing credits, just like we only hear about his contribution to UFC there.

There are other areas I would have liked to hear more about - his marriages (none mentioned), his female characters (only two women talk, Lea Thompson and his daughter), his production company the A team.

But these are outweighed by the positives: the depiction of the collegiate atmosphere of 70s film making, home movies of the young Milius, extracts from old USC student films, the talk of the stroke and ensuing battles, meeting his kids. A must for film buffs.

Book review – “The Craft of Screenwriting” by John Brady

Superb collection of interviews with some of the best screenwriters in the business: Neil Simon, Paddy Chayefsky, Robert Towne, William Goldman, Ernest Lehman, Paul Schrader. It was published in 1982, which means there’s some poignancy – Chayefsky died not that long after his interview, Simon has just produced his first film (a career that didn’t last), Towne was about to embark on Personal Best. Full of great tips and insights eg Towne – the only way to learn screenwriting is to see your work done; Chayefsky – when you get feedback from artists it’s about the work, not the art. Brady is a brilliant interviewer – he’s always prepared and he knows his stuff.

Movie review – “Taxi Driver” (1976) ***1/2

I felt this isn’t as good as its reputation today – but then that’s been influenced by many factors: the iconic image of Robert de Niro walking down the streets, the “you talking to me” bit, de Niro in a Mohawk, the fact it inspired a real life presidential assassination, the dynamic violence at the end. Watching it all the way through I got a bit bored and sleepy in places – this may have been intentional since Martin Scorsese has said he wanted to recreate a dream-like state with the film.

This had its origin with Paul Schrader, who came up with a terrific character, moments and finale, but it’s an odd sort of script. It goes in one direction – de Niro pursuing Cybill Shepherd, being rejected by her, and wanting to kill the Senator… then half way through changes gears and he meets Jodie Foster and wants to save her. The male characters are vivid, the female characters less so, although Foster's performance is superb and I just bought Shepherd agreeing to go to a porn movie with de Niro.

I was struck how little violence is in it - a brief shooting (of the mugger) and the shoot out at the end. But throughout is an atmosphere of seediness, filth and dirt: dingy apartments, unclean cabs, porn theatres, broken streets. Not exactly a fun night out.

Script review – “Hardcore” by Paul Schrader

No doubt Schrader really loved researching this movie – all the effort seems to have gone into describing different porno films and theatres, sex shops, kinky motels rather than the story, which takes forever to get going. We never find out how the girl went from being a seemingly innocent teenager, maybe a bit naughty, at bible camp of wherever it was to winding up in a porn film in a couple of months. Instead there’s lots of investigation scenes, which Jack Van Dorn going about things the long way.

It really picks up once Van Dorn hooks up with the young hooker (Nicki) and they help each other - there are some good scenes. The ending does rip off Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder (Van Dorn enterting the baddies’ den to save the day) but at least it’s a powerful finale. In this script Van Dorn says “turn it off” several times but doesn’t say “that’s my daughter up there”. Also he specifically kills the baddy – shoving him through a window, turning him over and pushing his throat on to the glass. (No ramifications from the cops).

There are several nods to The Searchers – the private eye keeps calling Van Dorn “pilgrim”, Van Dorn’s brother in law worries that Van Dorn wants to kill his daughter, Van Dorn goes to his daughter at the end “let’s go home”. And like that film it deals with a great primal fear - to wit, your teenage daughter might run away and wind up in a porno.

Script review – “American Gigolo” by Paul Schrader

I think I’m getting to understand the Schrader template – take an old hokey Hollywood formula and apply it to a new, sordid, grimy world. So you’ve got an avenging gunslinger hero driving a taxi cab and wanting to assassinate people (Taxi Driver), a heist movie set in Detroit auto factory (Blue Collar), a variation of The Searchers set in the world of pornos (Hardcore). Here we have that old standby, a hooker with a heart of gold, who finds true love – only here the hooker is a guy who sleeps with women (no men or couples he says – which I didn’t buy and felt hurt the realism of it but maybe that was a compromise Schrader needed to cast it and get it made. Although to be fair it is established that he used to be a street prostitute). They have a murder plot – one of our hero’s clients is murdered and he’s framed for it 0 to give extra conflict and tension.

This is one of Schrader’s most entertaining scripts. It’s very Hollywood – it's easy to follow, there's a lot of sex and nice clothes as well as a murder mystery. Most of all the role of Julian is a great one for a star: he’s in most of the scenes; there are plenty of comments on how attractive and well dressed he is; he has lots of monologues and scenes with him seducing women; all he needs is the love of a good woman; he’s tough enough to knock out a pimp. Basically he’s a gigolo super hero (speaks several languages, knows art and music, is a fantastic lover, etc). There are several juicy support roles, too: Michelle, the girl who loves him (despite paying for him to sleep with her the first few times); his different pimps, Annie and Leon; a smart detective.

The big print is occasionally florid and the love story between Julian and Michelle is occasionally melodramatic (eg “I can’t help loving you”) – but it’s structurally sound. It’s a 1980 version of an old Joan Crawford movie, with similar attention played to things like costumes, music, décor and drinks.

Script review – “Blue Collar” by Paul Schrader

Schrader at his best – tough, uncompromising. The female characters are either nags (wives wanting money) or whores, but fortunately he doesn’t spend much time on them. The men characters and situations are however evocatively drawn. (This was a characteristic of many top screenwriters from the golden age of the 70s. eg John Milius, Oliver Stone). It uses the basic structure of a heist movie but does it in a fresh way: seedy Detroit in recession hit 70s, the constant desire for more money, the abusive union, oppressive management. Of the three leads the best character on the page is Zeke – angry, bitter, political, full of wind and crap; next best is Smokey, super cool, wasteful of cash, not as tough as he thinks he is. The white friend isn’t as complex as either of these, but there’s some terrific support, including the dodgy union guys. The murder of Smokey is as effective on the page as it was on screen – actually you can say this about the whole script.

Script review – “Rolling Thunder” by Paul Schrader

The original script for what became a major flop and cult film. It was rewritten by another writer, but even in this form it’s not hard to see why it was regarded as such a confronting work – or why Quentin Tarantino liked it, being full of intense violence, crazy leads with their own code of honour, and rednecks.

It’s about Charlie Rane (irritatingly referred to as both “Rane” and “Charlie” in the script) who comes back Vietnam after seven years as a POW. He’s regarded as a big hero (were POWS this praised? I was always hearing about them being ignored) and given a lot of money in back pay. This attracts the attention of some vile gangster types, who torture Rane to find the money – but because he’s so conditioned to have his mind leave his body when tortured, he can’t respond, even when they shove his hand in the garbage remover. So they rape and kill his wife, then shoot his son and him – he’s the only one who survives. He goes looking for payback.

It’s hardcore, even if there actually isn’t that much action when you tally the pages. There’s the killing of the family sequence, roughing up an informant, and the final shoot out. But what there is, is very intense.

The female charactes are appalling: Rane’s wife has had an affair and is going to marry another man but that doesn’t stop her trying to seduce her husband. And on his revenge odyssey Rane uses this big titted blonde bimbo who wants to sleep with him because he’s famous; even when she finds out his real purpose she still goes along with it because she’s… well, she’s stupid. Schrader adds these character scenes to get inside her air head but it only serves to emphasise how he could write women. (Why not have her as the dead wife’s sister, or the widow of a serviceman or something.)

The film is full of racists, even Rane (“Don’t you ever clean up behind yourself?” “That’s why God made Mexicans”). I know this is consistent with the world but it’s wearying. There’s a fascinating scene where Rane goes to a drive in and watches a porno while thinking of revenge, which you think, “gee this is reminiscent of Taxi Driver” – then Rane sees another guy watching a film and it’s Travis Bickle! Making a cameo!

Script review - “Raging Bull” (1980 draft) by Paul Schrader and Mardick Martin

This film has the reputation as one of the greatest movies of the 80s but I’m not a fan. I can see it’s appeal to Robert de Niro, whose passion project this was – it’s full of long monologues and Jack La Motta is a great challenge, a character full of hate, anger, honor (he won’t throw a fight for the Mob), jealousy, sex appeal, violence, misogyny, devotion, toughness. Lots of memorable scenes, such as his jealous rants, pouring cold water on his dick, the fight scenes, winding up a performing clown in a nightclub.

 

But he’s a bore to be around, even on the page, and his adventures are monotonous. Lots of yelling, fighting and getting jealous, in constant repetitive cycles. At least Travis Bickle had some real ambition. The other characters aren't particularly memorable either. 

 

Why do people love this so? I think it’s partly because in the film de Niro put on all those pounds. And some men get off on the misogyny and self-flagellation of it all.

Script review – “Taxi Driver” by Paul Schrader

Still a terrific read after all these years. Few scripts better got into the head of an assassin – indeed, few films could have claimed to inspire a presidential assassin. Lonely, tormented Travis Bickle is one of the all time great cinema characters – haunted, paranoid, lonely, desperate for a cause. We 

think he’s going to off a presidential candidate but he ends up taking out a pimp of a young girl. 

 

The only really bung note in it is the character of Betsy, the ambitious political assistant – I didn’t buy it even on the page she’d go near a guy like Travis. Schrader keeps specifying how handsome he is and I’m sure that in the 70s there was a man drought on as well but he must seem creepy. And he’s a taxi driver. But the rest of it feels all too real (Schrader himself drove a cab for a while and the authenticity seeps through. Apparently the script was originally set in Los Angeles which is hard to believe – it feels so New York.) 

 

Reading this I was surprised how small the part of Iris the prostitute was, but it is evocative. Powerful, delirious and a deserved masterpiece.

Movie review – “Hardcore” (1979) **

No one falls off the wagon like a Calvinist, which is what happened to Paul Schrader in the 70s. His upbringing stands as a prime warning not to be too restrictive when raising your kids, or else they’ll go a bit bonkers and go full on into drugs, sex and film theory. Still, it gave Schrader a rich reservoir of angst to tap, which he does in this drama/thriller.

It accesses one of the great paranoid fantasies of suburbia – to wit, that if your daughter ever goes missing she’ll wind up in a porn film. That’s what happens to George C Scott in this film, resulting in a famous scene where he screams at a projectionist “turn it off!” It’s a good idea, but the film never lives up to its potential.

It takes ages to get started – I get the idea that they’re establishing Scott’s world but it goes on too long. And Scott’s methods tracking down his daughter are way too costly and silly. Surely he could just door knock and say “I’m looking for my daughter”, instead of paying prostitutes for their time and going undercover as a porn producer (complete with fake moustache)? I mean he is the girl’s father, and she’s just a girl in a porn film not someone who witnessed a murder or something like that. I know Schrader was invoking The Searchers but in The Searchers the Indians stole the daughter and killed the family – they were obviously a threat from the beginning. Here the threat comes very late and seems tacked on. (Schrader would later demonstrate a similar failure to understand what made old classics tick when he remade Cat People). The film picks up when Season Hubley becomes involved; her humorous, likeable performance contrasts well with Scott and she should have been introduced earlier, really. Still you get to see a variety of kinky sex shops.

(NB You get the feeling Schrader’s relationship with the studios making this film was a little like the one between PI Peter Boyle and George C Scott on screen – Scott hires Boyle to do find his daughter, Boyle comes up with clues but costs a lot of money and takes forever; Scott tracks Boyle down and busts him on a couch with a hooker, pleading “I’m doing research”. Did Schrader claim all the money he spent on hookers and drugs on his tax?)