Hey folks, Harry here – Sorry about this being a week late – things got a little crazy around here – and there’s a lot of titles for even half the month. I hate these 5 Tuesday Months – well – let’s get to it!
May 17th
BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL
Baseball would suck a lot less if instead of grossly overpaid players it became a game for violent zombies like in this crazed as hell film. Utterly insane movie. Not to be watched while having a serious bone in your body. Gleefully absurd and bloody.
CHARISMA
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a fascinating director – SÉANCE is creepy and CURE is just scary. This one is something else altogether. If you like Kiyoshi’s other films, this is a departure – but a welcomed one. It is a pure thriller, but one with existential pursuits… about a tree. You’ll just have to see for yourself. Starring Koji Yakusho!
HUNTING PARTY
If just having Oliver Reed star in a revenge western isn’t enough for you, then having a youthful Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen should push you over the edge. And if there’s any doubts – then the #1 reason to check it out should be L.Q. Jones. And if you don’t know who that is then I just fucking give up on ya. Oliver Reed kidnaps Candice on the pretense that he wants her to teach him to read. Gene Hackman goes bloodthirsty – invests in the latest gun technology that allows him and his men tracking Reed’s gang to shoot them down from a far greater distance that was accustomed or known of at the time. The film is outstanding.
INVITATION TO A GUNFIGHT
If you thought Yul Brynner was a badass in MAGNIFICENT SEVEN or WESTWORLD – you ain’t seen nothing yet. Here – he uses very very little dialogue. He’s an absolute man of mystery here and it predates the Italian Western quite a bit, but you can feel that that revolution was on the horizon, and it was. One of Yul Brynner’s all-time coolest roles. If you love a badass gunslinging flick, the asses don’t get much badder or balder than Brynner’s!
KINSEY (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Great DVD. Absolutely great! The 2nd disc set of extras is worth the price of purchase alone. When you watch the doc – you’ll not only learn all about Kinsey and the making of the film… but the sexual histories of the various crew and actors that made this film. But not Qui Gon’s – in case you just had to know – you still won’t get it. There’s also a great story that may lead you to further your commitment to digital cinematography when you hear the horror story regarding a sequence of footage they shot and the mishandling of the original negative. As for the film? KINSEY is a fantastic biopic that combines humor, drama and actual honest to goodness insight into the man that crazy folk still bitch and moan about… and who, in combination with Hugh Hefner helped trigger the sexual revolution and make way for the wonderful world of unashamed online pornography! WOO HOO! On the second disk – you get to take your own sex test. When I took the test, it said I was a wild sexual animal of unquenchable thirsts and powers. So – obviously it nailed me. It might nail you too… so be careful, I know many of you can’t handle the truth it may reveal.
THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE
This is a title that’s been on DVD before, but this one is on at about half the original price for starters, and discounted below that. I never had the previous edition, so I can’t tell you the difference in quality, but this is a gorgeous transfer of this classic Bob Hope film. Bob is playing his typically cowardly self – and is a quick change artist… and he hooks up with, yummy, Virginia Mayo. And they have to face down an awesome pirate in Victor McLaglen. Then there is the always brilliant Walter Brennan – who tricks poor Bob into a grand treasure filled adventure. This is a classic film from the period when they were never more gorgeous.
SCALPHUNTERS
One of the great Sidney Pollack films… this one starring Burt Lancaster, Shelly Winters Ossie Davis and Telly Savalas. This is one of those Western titles I’ve been dying to have hit on DVD. It isn’t just your run of the mill comedy westerns.. this one has a very political and socially relevant kick going through that makes it something to take very seriously… with a smile, that is. In addition to being intelligent and funny… it is also beautiful. Very pretty cinematography.
SÉANCE
One of two Kiyoshi Kurosawa films being released this month from Home Vision Entertainment. It is a subtitled and original Japanese audio print. There’s a nice little interview with Kiyoshi on the disc… but nothing spectacular. What is pretty damn wonderful is SÉANCE. This is one of those plot lines where a normally decent couple run across an opportunity that they feel is a win win situation. The wife is a psychic, they find a runaway/kidnapped girl hiding in her husband’s equipment in his vehicle… and then decide to keep her – and then attempt to run a scam to publicize her abilities. OF COURSE things go really wrong. Ya watch this movie, late at night, alone. It’ll fuck with ya.
TEAM AMERICA – WORLD POLICE (Special Collector’s Uncensored Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Finally… We get to see the ball-swingest version of TEAM AMERICA. I enjoyed the theatrical version of the film… but had some problems with it. One was their complete reliance on marionettes…. I get that as a creative choice. I just wish that they had taken in other forms of puppetry too, that would have freed them to do more incredible visual work – like in LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE – and if they had to have strings – cg’em on. Heh. That said – just getting the chance to see the sex scene as it was originally meant to be seen… and the violence that much more. I can’t wait. Then there’s all the behind the scenes goodies. This is a disc that every giddy geek in the country is gonna get – and there will be a great deal of drunken tokin’ screenings around the world to this disc. And Kim Jong Il will watch it 3 times a day!
May 24th
AIRWOLF – Season 1
Ok. You are either down with AIRWOLF, haven’t seen it… OR… You’re a Neanderthal unworthy of the 21st Century and this – the most miraculous of human creations. AIRWOLF. The man… wait, scratch that. THE MAN, Ernie Cline. This man god has a spoken word performance piece on his CD – ULTRAMAN IS AIRWOLF – and on that CD there is a bit I would like to quote for you heathens that just do not understand the immense level of perfection that is AIRWOLF… so Ernie… take it away:
“Airwolf is the adjective we should use to describe anything
of majesty, beauty, and intensity.
Something that is simply fucking bad ass . . . is Airwolf.
James Brown's music is Airwolf.
Shakespeare is Airwolf.
Sex so good it makes your spine ache and your knees buckle. . .
That's Airwolf.” – Ernie Cline
ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM
Every once and a while – I get sent a film on DVD that just blows me away. This is one of those films. I’ve seen Yul Brynner’s THE KINGAND I, I saw that Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat version (bleh) – but in all my life, I had yet to see ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM… With Rex Harrison as the King and Irene Dunne as Anna and Linda Darnell as the second hottest Caucasian to play Asian (after Myrna Loy in Karloff’s FU MANCHU.) This is one of the greatest “teacher” movies ever made. There’s no song and dance. But Rex Harrison’s King is simply amazing. Instead of the booming presence of Yul Brynner… he’s a king truly struggling to understand the outside world… and is desperate to pull his country, kicking and screaming into the modern world… but simply is still tied to the past in some rather unfortunate ways. But damn this film is remarkable. In addition there’s a great documentary that reveals that Boris Karloff was an actual relative of Anna – the real Anna. How cool is that?
THE AVIATOR – 2 Disc Widescreen
First off – it’s a must own because it, no matter what the Academy says, is the best American film of last year… at least according to me, which is why I’ll purchase it the second it hits shelves. Second – there’s tons and tons of extras… and on a Scorsese film, that means there’s tons to learn. In particular I’m looking forward to anything and everything about how they did the various color processes in the film. And then there’s the OCD Panel Discussion with Scorsese, DiCaprio and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG’s best friend Terry Moore – who happens to be Hughes’ widow… but that’s minor in comparison to being Mighty Joe Young’s best friend. Now why was this the Best American film to me? Not because of just the nostalgia of the era, the physical beauty and majesty of the film… but because to me… Howard Hughes, as portrayed here, represents the quintessential indomitable spirit of the American dreamer and industrialist that made those dreams a reality. It is a powerful reminder of how close genius and madness sleep inside the bed of man’s mind.
THE BRAVADOS
This isn’t reputed to be one of Gregory Peck’s better films… but it is. THE BRAVADOS is a pretty awesome tale of revenge. A man possessed with a single-minded drive to avenge a most terrible deed done to those dear to him. And who are these dastardly bastards? They count amongst their numbers none other than Stephen Boyd (Ben Hur’s hated foe), Lee Van Cleef (Snake Eyes Himself) and Henry Silva (Killer Kane)! I really can’t recommend this enough to folks that love the Western Sub-Genre of Revenge and Gregory Peck.
BROKEN LANCE
Ahhhhh, now here’s a cool western. It stars Spencer Tracy as the mean bastard of a father that carved an empire of land out of the west, made Governors and fathered 3 white sons and then married an Indian woman and dared in the times of the Old West to sire a “half-breed”. The 3 brothers turn on the one… but what they don’t know is that brother is played by Prince Valiant himself, and even though he’s facing Tommy Udo as an older brother… his singing six-shooters have replaced his sword! I really like this film of severe sibling rivalry. By no means a great western, but a damn good one.
BUFFALO BILL
Know what I love about old fashioned biopics? I love that they dare to dream of the legend these men were. That these were men of duty, following the orders of corrupt men – that they reported these bastards for the bastards they were – then when they discovered that the world was corrupt…. THEY ENTERTAINED US. That’s Buffalo Bill’s story… It’s a naïve one, that a man who sinned so greatly could make up for it by entertaining folks for the rest of his life… or is it?
THE DETECTIVE
This is a great hardnosed Sinatra Detective flick. Too often, I think people just marginalize Frank into thinking of him as some sort of lounge singing fella that occasionally acted. These are generally folks that haven’t seen him in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, SUDDENLY, THE MAN WITH A GOLDEN ARM and this… among others. Frank has a great face and incredibly expressive eyes – the beautiful widescreen presentation really shows off this era in film. Frank is wonderful in this film, rough around the edges. Great Sinatra flick!
DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK
This isn’t usually known as one of the great John Ford films in the modern day, usually because most folks haven’t seen it. One of the great 1939 films, this technicolor film has always been a bit muddy, but this print has undergone a beautiful digital restoration that has brought the film back to vibrant life. If you like LAST OF THE MOHICANS – here’s another take on the same period told in the classic era of Hollywood filmmaking by one of its greatest filmmakers. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert are wonderful in this film – and the old lady they end up living with. What a hoot! Wonderful film.
FORTY GUNS
I once had the honor of seeing this film on the big screen as part of the Austin Film Society’s Fuller Fest – on a big screen with a sold out audience. This is a cigar-chomping gun-blazing Fuller flick… and here you’ll find Barbara Stanwyck at her most sexually aggressive – this isn’t like normal westerns of the period – the only thing close to it is the work of Anthony Mann – but even so – Fuller directed from his balls, and his balls were bigger than anyone’s. If you love Sam Fuller or Barbara Stanwyck… or ya just dig a good western… Check this out!
GO TELL THE SPARTANS
One of those unfortunately forgotten Vietnam films. However, it is actually one of the absolute best ones. This film doesn’t focus on the messy big trouble era of Vietnam… instead it concentrates on the period of American Military Advisor point in and around 1964. This is one of those great films that Burt Lancaster did in 1978 that was overshadowed at the time by the ton of Vietnam films of that era – This is an incredibly great film, I’d forgotten about it too, I saw it on cable back when I was in High School, just didn’t take note of it as I did today. Great film.
LADY IN CEMENT
Ok – now THE DETECTIVE is a serious hardass detective film. This is the second film in the Frank Sinatra “swinging dick” detective film. It’s not as outlandish as something like the IN LIKE FLINT flicks. If you pick up TONY ROME which is further down in this list – then you will not – under any circumstances not want this. This, as well as TONY ROME, is an incredibly fun and carefree sexually charged and sexist entertainment. Besides… it has Raquel Welch doing her curvy drool-inducing thing. Frank for the ladies – Raquel for us. I know, I know gals… they never made the Sinatra fur loined dinosaur epic you wanted. Sigh.
PHANTOM OF LIBERTY – Criterion Collection
One of the great surrealistic Buñuel films. Definitely the funniest of Luis’ films, this is truly cinema of the absurd. Reversing the “proper” way of things – emasculating what is condoned as decent. I love this flick. It’s just wantonly insane. Great.
THE RAZOR’S EDGE
This is classic old school melodrama done the Tyrone Power way. Now you have to realize this is from a radically different style of acting. Personally I love this classic Hollywood version of Somerset Maugham’s classic novel. Clifton Webb, Anne Baxter, Gene Tierney… They’re all fantastic in this film. This is one of the great classic Fox flicks. This has a film historian commentary and Fox Movietone news.
SAMURAI JACK – Season 2
God Bless Genndy Tartakovsky! As pure adrenaline toon violent joy – SAMURAI JACK jacks right into the samurai mayhem joy I discovered as a child watching LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH… Now as an adult – I’m given this great cartoon that combines my unquenchable thirst for Samurai violence… but then put in monsters and aliens and ancient time-hopping demons… HELLO! Geek Heaven Here! Mako’s Aku is just a joy! Blessed happiness here!
SUPER FRIENDS – Volume 2
Time to again break out my HALL OF JUSTICE! These classic Alex Toth designs on the DC heroes – and just the happy joy joy of the episodes are a key injection of coolness from my youth. I love these. I picked up CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER FRIENDS Vol 1 – but this set has more extras including a Kevin Smith and “buds” get together and celebration of all that is the holy glory of SUPER FRIENDS. Admittedly it isn’t the Timm/Dini look at them… Nor is it the glory of the Fleischer SUPERMAN – but it was what we had as kids that kept us geeking till the early eighties when Frank Miller and John Byrne and crew came in and remade that DC universe to make it all count again. Having said that… if I could have any version of the comic Batman animated and brought to life – it’d be the classic Neal Adams BATMAN… and for that matter that old school GREEN ARROW / GREEN LANTERN series.
TONY ROME
When you see Sinatra working a fat whore to help him get his fix… all on the sly… It is absolutely delicious. I also love that he’s too busy to fuck, and it’s driving him crazy. It’s just classic. I love how he ends up taking a drunk gal home, then setting up a huge payoff that just keeps rolling in. This is just classic Sinatra. Frank is absolutely delicious here – relishing all of this. Beautiful transfer.
TORRENTE 2: Mission In Marbella
It is one of the joys of my life that I have met the funniest man on Planet Earth. Santiago Segura! For some bizarre reason – TORRENTE 2 is available in Region 1 before TORRENTE 1. This is a hilariously fucked up and inappropriate gut-shaking funny through and through. The two TORRENTE films are as funny as anything Peter Sellers ever made – possibly funnier! This is frankly that funny. Just great. There’s extreme violence, nudity and disgusting language – this film is the clearest picture of Moriarty – circa his old bachelor days before the cuffs of decency slapped him into the happy bitch he is today. But to know the old Moriarty… all I need do is watch TORRENTE or TORRENTE 2. The films are stand alones, so you don’t really have to be familiar with the first to enjoy this chapter. Hilarious! May 31st
ATTACK OF THE VIRGIN MUMMIES
I haven’t seen this film. Sure the box looks like the box for the greatest film ever made. And the title is genius. But the description on Amazon? “Three of the kings virgin daughters from ancient Egypt are beaten and mummified by a maniac. The maniac later returns in the 21st century as a RAMPAGING MUMMY that brutally kills and destroys everything in its way. He can only be stopped by the same three virgin girls, who are now go-go dancing mummies at a strip joint in Hollywood. And this is only the beginning!!!” Why – how can it be anything but trashy super genius?
The Complete James Dean Collection (EAST OF EDEN / GIANT / REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE Special Edition)
Three Great Films, Great Performances… Iconic and Unforgettable. I really don’t know how to write about James Dean and these movies. Each expression, line of dialogue, action made… perfect. The very best… You look at REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and all other “teenage films” seem like bothersome bullshit. GIANT is one of the all time great Texas films. I lived right smack dab in the middle of “Giant – country” and there Dean’s character was the dream that every would be cool kid dreamt of… if they’d seen the film. Most seemed to of. EAST OF EDEN… it’s just stunning. Actually – all three films are just stunning. They’re melodramas without being forced. Every scene with Dean is electric and alive… as lived for the very first and last time. In the history of actors – Dean represented vitality. 3 perfect performances. Characters with SO MUCH going on in their eyes. I love these 3 films and these editions are worth every penny!
The Essential Steve McQueen Collection (BULLITT 2 Disc S.E. / THE GETAWAY Deluxe Edition / THE CINCINNATI KID / PAPILLON / TOM HORN / NEVER SO FEW)
Now here’s another box set that is just a jewel. First you have that BULLITT 2 Disc set – which not only features one of the top five best car chases in the history of cinema – but tons of behind the scenes all about it. Then you have THE GETAWAY – where you have Steve and the unbelievably wonderful Ali McGraw teamed up in Peckinpah’s version of SUGARLAND EXPRESS – and let’s just say – Peckinpah makes the film just kickass. This too is a 2 disc set. Then if you love a great poker film, they don’t come much better than THE CINCINNATI KID, besides any film with Edward G Robinson, Ann Margret, Karl Malden and CAB CALLOWAY… I mean come on, that’s just about the greatest cast ever! Then… then there’s PAPILLON – with McQueen and Hoffman! It’s fantastic. One of the great Prison Escape flicks of all time! I haven’t seen TOM HORN – but with Slim Pickens and Elisha Cook Jr and Richard Farnsworth… and LINDA EVANS!!! I’m so reeady to see it. Lastly there’s NEVER SO FEW with Sinatra and McQueen – frankly I’ve always felt McQueen didn’t work so well in this film. But then, originally his part was set for Sammy Davis Jr. This just isn’t up to dream of John Sturges and this cast… I mean it was Charles Bronson, Dean Jones, Peter Lawford and Gina Lollobrigida. Should be a great film. Just happens to be good.
KANSAS CITY BOMBER
Ok – Do I even have to tell you why this rules? Gals – you’ve got ROLLERBALL to drool over James Caan in his prime. Us guys? We got KANSAS CITY BOMBER – This is Raquel Welch in full on Roller Derby mode. Now – here in Austin – we still got our own Roller Derby All – Women leagues – and folks – those gals’ll kick all of our asses. Here, this isn’t some pansy – oh ain’t these women adorable film. This is pretty brutal fun. I love this flick – and not only for the fetish value of Raquel on wheels!
SLAP SHOT
I’ll make it real simple folks…. HANSON BROTHERS COMMENTARY! This film, those crazy fellas? Gold, I say, Gold!
STARCRASH
Now… I’m not gonna pretend for a second that this is anything other than a wonderfully shitty rip-off of STAR WARS. Having said that… Caroline Munro is wearing three-threads and a bit of glue – and by golly it’s amazing to behold in motion. Then there’s the insane stop motion giant robot man with the sword… and Christopher Plummer as the Emperor of the Galaxy. Oh, did I mention DAVID HASSELHOFF? Oh yes, and you’ve never laughed so hard. But the real show for every red-blooded boob hound in the world is… Caroline Munro – fans of her heaving chest from GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD remember – and will never forget…
