Movie review - "Terror Circus" (1974) **

 Alan Rudolph's second feature had him called in to re-shoot a movie that had been started by other fands. It's about three girls traveling in the desert who meet a mystery man (Andrew Prine, a familiar face) who kidnaps them. He's got all these other women captured and he does weird stuff.

Solid basic idea, probably needed some more gore and exploitation. Starts well and ends well with the reveal of a monster scarred by atomic testing.  The middle is a slog - needed a subplot or two. 

Prine gives a strong performance, the girls are pretty. I enjoyed it more than some of Rudolph's other movies.

Movie review - "Ray Meets Helen" (2019) *1/2

 I'm glad Alan Rudolph got the chance to make a movie and that Keith Carradine and Sondra Locke played lead roles and it's about a romance between older people. Also fun to see Samntha Mathis, Keith Davis and Jennifer Tilly have something to do. Carradine has some raffish charm and I enjoyed him playing the piano.  

But it's not very good. It's slow. Locke is clearly unwell and isn't great.  The fantastic elements - Locke continuously seeing a dead Mathis and so on - don't work. The movie feels cheap.

Movie review - "Equinox" (1992) **1/2

 The tale of two identical twins, separated - both played by Matthew Modine. One is a shy type the other is a gangster. Shy guy wants Lara Flynn Boyle, lives next to Marisa Tomei, has M. Emmett Walsh as a dad; gangster lives with Lori Singer (wasted), works for Fred Ward and with Tate Donovan.

The acting is strong across the board - Modine is excellent.  Lovely mood. Erratic middle. Interesting ending. I'm still thinking about it.

Movie review - "Investigating Sex" (2001) **1/2

 A stronger Alan Rudolph movie - it benefits from an interesting idea (a salon of men discuss sex in 1929 with two female stenographers getting involved), a solid cast, some sex.

The chats aren't that interesting and indeed have dated in many ways - Gen Z are a lot more ahead of the group. Salon chat is hard to dramatise. It's stronger in scenes of peeople being affected by what's going on, particularly the women. The movie should have swapped some male characters for female and told it from female point of view. People like Julie Delpy and Tuesday Weld are under utilised.

Robin Tunney and Neve Campbell are stenographers.  

Like a lot of Rudolph movies it feels like a Woody Allen film without as many laughs.  The movie has strong moments then long period of blah. I gave it a half star because it had more energy and the good bits were good. 

Less characters would have helped incidentally. 

Movie review - "Trixie" (2000) **

 Emily Watson doing Americana, a security guard and aspiring private detective. Her accent and malaprprisms get on the nerves as does the... I don't know, the "whatever" of it all. She investigates a crime, has some entertaining chats with Nathan Lane, has a romance with Dermot Mulroney, interrogates Nick Nolte, hangs out with Brittany Murphy who would be better in the lead.

I liked Murphy and Nolte and the movie got better. But - whatever. 

Movie review - "Breakfast of Champions" (1999) *

 Bruce Willis took a lot of risks at his peak, one of the reasons he became so successful - for every Pulp Fiction and Sixth Sense there would be something like this. I haven't read the novel. It's untypica of the output of Alan Rudolph - more fast paced.

I couldn't follow what was going on. I didn't care. People like this movie. I found it confusing. Couldn't care about its take on American society.

Amazing cast - Albert Finney, Omar Epps, Barbara Hershey, Lukas Haas, Shawnee Smith, Will Patton, etc. 

Movie review - "Afterglow" (1997) **

 Nick Nolte and Julie Christie are a couple having issues - he's a handyman who cheats on her. He hooks up with Lara Flynn Boyle, horny and underserviced by husband Jonny Lee Miller who hooks up with Christie.

The female ingenues were often the strength of Rudolph movies eg Lori Singer in Trouble in Mind, Linda Fiorentino in The Moderns and that's the case here - Boyle is lively and energetic. Christie is excellement. Miller and Nolte are fine. 

You know what my issue was with this film? I didn't like the characters. I didn't care if anyone stayed married or had kids. Boyle's character was such a simpleton, Miller seemed so unengaged his his marriage, fuck Nolte for rejecting his daughter. I think because children were involved their antics got to me. 

I just didn't care. 

Movie review - "Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle" (1994) **1/2

 Another Alan Rudolph film that doesn't quite get there. It looks nice, has fun moment and it's entertaining to see all these figures. But the central relationship doesn't land - Jennifer Jason Leigh's Parker and Campbell Scott's Robert Benchley. For whatever reason in these scenes both feel like actors rather than real people. The relationship between Parker and Charles MacArthur (Matthew Broderick) seems more real. Maybe because Broderick has more energy. Or because something happens - they shag, she gets pregnant - as opposed to just pining.

Leigh is at times affective, at other times the drawl overpowers the movie and drags it down. Gwyneth Paltrow is fun as a shallow starlet.  Nice to see Jennifer Beal, Andrew McCarthy, Stanley Tucci, etc. 

I wish Woody Allen did a version of this story. 

Movie review - "Love at Large" (1990) **1/2

 After half an hour I was ready to write this off but then Elizabeth Perkins starts interacting with private eye Tom Berenger - she's another private investigator - and the film lights up. It never quite gets there - Rudolph keeps setting his films in la la land when they should just be based on some sort of reality. But he allows actors the chance to shine - Ann Archer has fun as a femme fetale and Perkins is lively so is Berenger and Kate Capshaw. 

Movie review -"They Shoot Horses Don't They?" (1969) ****

 They were right to sack James Poe - this needed a proper director. The Hunger Games ripped this off down to the fake marriage. Jane Fonda is superb as the broken yet defiant competitor. Gig Young also magnificent- haunted, doomed, ruthless, not without sympathy.

Susannah York goes mad, Red Buttons dies of a heart attack, Bonnie Bedelia is pregnant, Bruce Dern is her husband. Michael Sarrazin looks on, worried - he's not in Fonda's league but he has a great look. 

It's a film about self destruction. The movie warns us up front. Amazing direction. Pefect production design. I love the sea side setting and use of waves in background. 

A triumph for ABC Pictures. 

Movie review - "The Moderns" (1988) **1/2

 I wanted to like this more than I did - setting of Paris in the 20s, cameos from Hemingway and Stein, art, Keith Carradine as an artist offered to do forgery. It's effective and Linda Fiorentino is magnificently sexy, John Lone is fun. Genevieve Bujold is under used again - do better Alan!

The film is two hours. It's ambling. Needed more sex and laughs and satire. There's a boxing match and other scenes. Too much time was spent on development. I wish it had been made in teh late 70s as planned.

Movie review - "Trouble in Mind" (1985) **1/2

 Alan Rudolph's success with Choose Me made it a little easier for him to raise finance for his next movie, this neo-noir about a man out of prison (Kris Kristofferson) whose paths cross with a couple (Keith Carradine, Lori Singer).

This is two movies really - a more serious noir, with Kristofferson kicking ass and falling for Singer, and gangsters - and a campier way out one with Carradine having wacky hair and Divine playing a gangster (quite well). The tone isn't quite right it feels inconsistent.

Singer is lovely, Carradine has a ball, Kristofferson isn't bad, Genevieve Bujold feels a little under utilised. The movie doesn't quite work tonally but I enjoyed the love story with Singer and Kristofferson and the violent bits do keep things going.  

Movie review - "Choose Me" (1984) ***

 Alan Rudolph's one hit - a minor hit but it made a splash, helped by having some names in the cast (Keith Carradine, Rae Dawn Chong, Lesley Ann Downe, Genevieve Bujold). Carradine is another f*boi sleeping with Chong, Downe and Bujold. Chong is married to Patrick Bauchau (excellent) who is sleeping with Downe, who listens to sex talk back Bujold who moves in with Downe without saying who she is.

It's familiar to Welcome to LA  - there's even a sountrack of the one artist. It's always watchable. Carradine's character is unstable, so is Downe's, so I guess it'll work out. There was something lacking in this for me - wasn't quite sure. Maybe it didn't feel like a progression from Welcome to LA. 

Movie review - "A Man Called Horse" (1970) **1/2

 The public liked it - more sympathetic to Indians than normal though it distorts as much as traditional Western, throws in some exotic ceremonies, and is still about a white man who manages to survive, shag a native girl, and become a leader. Richard Harris holds the screen, the direction is poor, the colour enjoyable.

Movie review - "Remember My Name" (1978) ***

 Alan Rudolph's fourth feature, though second "proper" one, is full of interesting moments, including a lead for Geraldine Chaplin and Tony Perkins as a stud opposite his wife Betty Berensen. Perkins and Berensen are married when his ex Chaplin gets out of prison and chaos ensues.

The film keeps you guessing.  No one feels entirely well cast but everyone works. There's an unsettling mood of madness, violence and sex. It's got a standard set up but it's given a non-standard production.

Movie review - "Welcome to LA" (1976) ***

 Washed over me and I went with it. Sort of Son of Nashville with Keith Carradine as a fboi musician once more, only this time in LA. Carradine is back in LA and old flame Viveca Linsfors wouldn't mind shagging him but instead he shags real estate agent Sally Kellerman (married to John Considine), a receptionist Diahnne Abbott, model Lauren Hutton (mistress to Carradine's dad Denver Pyle), and Geraldine Chaplin (married to Harvey Keitel). Kellerman and Considine try to hook up with other people but wind up together. Sissy Spacek is seeing Keitel and offers to sleep with Considine for money.

Carradine has a silly beard. The movie has a wonderful tone. Spacek goes topless and Chaplin full frontal - the seventies! 

Movie review - "The Sons of Katie Elder" (1965) *** (rewatching)

 So much great stuff I wish it was better - John Wayne being manly, Dean Martin as his brother (great team), the concept, the locations, the colour, Dennis Hopper as a coward (fantastic work), George Kennedy as a gun man. Henry Hathaway. But too much much is underwhelming - Earl Holliman (in the film to die basically but I wish he'd had more to play), Michael Anderson (less good than original choice Tommy Kirk), bland Martha Hyer.

Lots of fun still - just could have been a classic, that's all. 

Movie review - "Southern Comfort" (1981) ****1/2 (rewatching)

 The most incomptent soldiers ever? Stealing boats, losing maps, going nutty, yelling, lighting fires, counting chickens before hatched... It feels very real. Magnificently shot and acted. I love the relationship between Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine.

Movie review - "The Warriors" (1979) **** (re-watching)

 Great fun and style. Love the differentiation in the warriors - the gay artist (well, coded gay), the dumb big white guy, cocky Ajax, taciturn Swan, the whimpy white guy who gets knocked out. Spooky sequences like the baseball furies and the Lizzies though I have a soft spot for the Orphans, desperate to prove they're cool.

Keith Carradine Top Ten

 

Re watching Southern Comfort (1981) prompted me to revisit Keith Carradine's filmography. I haven't seen all he's done, esp in recent years, but his run in the 70s-80s alone is easy for a top ten.

1) McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971) - one scene but maybe the best scene in the movie

2) Thieves Like Us (1974) - astonishingly good and touching in another Altman masterpiece

3) Nashville (1975) - another Altman: I'm not actually a huge fan of the movie but he's terrific

4) Emperor of the North (1973) - counter balances Marvin and Borgnine wonderfully

5) The Duellists (1977) - I feel like this movie gets rediscovered every seven years or so; he's great

6) Pretty Baby (1978) - this film would be illegal if made today - he's very good

7) The Long Riders (1980) - the brothers should've worked more together, they all rock in this.

8) Choose Me (1984) - I'll put this in for all the other Alan Rudolphs I haven't seen

9) Chiefs (1983) - splendid mini series

10) Southern Comfort (1981) - my favourite Carradine performance I wish he and Powers Boothe had worked together again

NB recognise he has done much fine work post-1984 this is just to cover that first 15 years

Movie review - "Rio Lobo" (1970) **1/2 (re-viewing)

 Not a good movie but I enjoy it, with its 70s hair, John Wayne beaming at the inadequate supporting cast, Jorge Riviero not up to it, neither Chris Mitchum or Jennifer O'Neill, but Jack Elam fun, and plenty of random helpers eg Shelley Lansing.

But no one has much of a character to play - Victor French (baddy) has a clear goal (money) as does O'Neil (revenge) but everyone else feels sketchy. 

Movie review - "Up the Creek" (1984) ***

 Loved it as a kid, the three stars is generous but it's fun enough, helped by decent production values (Oregon location, rapids, bars, extras, a mini flood) and a classy support cast: James Sikking s in there, John Hillerman. Tim Matheson is full of handsome confident swagger that promised a stardom which never came; the bloke from Porky's seems a little lost, Stephen Furst is fat, the nerd is an alcoholic which is interesting. Jeff East is an ideal villain. Jennifer Runyon is very sweet as the love interest - she and her friends are very sexually aggressive and not punished. Blaine Novak's Coyote-style army villain entertains. Cheap Trick didn't like its theme song but I felt it was fun.

I'm not objective about this film but it's fun. One of Sam Arkoff's post AIP efforts.

Movie review - "Hang 'em High" (1968) ***1/2

 Overshadowed in memory by Eastwood's Leone films but a very good, tough Western with a superb support cast including Charles McGraw, Bruce Dern, Ben Johnson, Inger Stevens, Dennis Hopper, James Macarthur, Pat Hingle, etc. Interesting views on law and order, well motivated Pat Hingle.

Book review - "Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away" by Christopher McKittrick

 Miles was a solid, pretty actor who delivered solid performances over the years, including some classics - The Searchers, Psycho, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I think it's fair to say she's no one's favourite part of these movies but she doesn't let anyone down. The most interesting thing about her career is Hitchcock was briefly obsessed with her and wanted to star her in Vertigo but she fell pregnant and he ended up using Kim Novak.

This is a conscientous, dogged book, like a Miles performance, not that gripping - her life and career wasn't that interesting. She had a few divorces, the Hitchcock interlude... that was about it. She seems like a nice person who married a few dodgy men. The book might've been better putting more dates and credits in an appendix than the text.

Movie review - "El Dorado" (1966) ****1/2 (rewatching)

 I like spending time with these people. Loses half a star for the Chinaman sequence. Wayne is excellent, Mitchum fun, James Caan great, Michelle Carey energetic, Charlene Holt winning, Chritospher George impressive, Ed Asner is fine. Memorable action. Wonderful mood. Makes me feel good. 

Movie review - "Mr Soft Touch" (1949) **

 The idea for this isn't bad - gambler on the run from cops seeks reguge at refuge run by a social worker. But it's not developed well. Glenn Ford is okay as the gambler but they don't give him a decent character to play - he needed to be an extravagant flash harry type, full of charm. Evelyn Keyes is all wrong as the social worker - this should be a sweet demure type to get comedy conflict but Keyes gives off the impression of having been around the block. Terry Moore, say, would've been better.

I didn't like this film. It wasn't funny or that charming, it felt confused, and with miscast leads. Dick Powell was once going to make it with June Allyson - that would've made a lot more sense. 

Movie review - "The Presidio" (1988) ***

 Quite fun. Great star power from Sean Connery and Meg Ryan (doing wonders as The Girl - though she has an arc, being a hot mess). Mark Harmon very likeable. Some okay action sequences. Nothing that memorable but just old school 80s action with fun people. 

Movie review - "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) ****

 Some of humor has dated - attitudes, rather. Sally's orgasm is actually out of character for her - but what a scene. Beautifully directed. Meg Ryan is the heart - so good. Funny, gorgeous. Billy Crystal rises. Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher excellent. Made with such love. Woody Allen given the proper schmaltz treatment.