Night Killer

Back again oh Readers of Rotten. Yeah I am liking that tagline. Feel free to shoot a variant or simply different term to quantify yourselves, my readers. Today we haven't had nearly enough schlock in some time; so who better to go to then Bruno Mattei (Rats, Shocking Dark, Strike Commando, Robowar, Strike Commando 2 and Island of the Living Dead) and Claudio Fragasso (Monster Dog, Zombie 3, Troll 2, After Death, Beyond Darkness,Operazione Odissea and The Squad) the Mockbusters of Italy.  Is the film a Giallo?  Is it a slasher film?  We will find out.

This is Night Killer a.k.a. Do not open that door 3

Eww, your hand smell of Astroglide and pathetic tears.

Wow with in the first 8 minutes we got nudity (Yes fellas there's titty in this) and I just know this will be an international epic. We also have English dubbing that may or may not actually, possibly mimic human speech patterns. This is due to an Italian film crew needing all lines having everything phonetically translated. This is one of the many reasons Troll 2 is awesomely bad. Also question your life choices if you are considering watching Troll 2 without a drinking or riffing game.

On with the film as we see choreography on the stage. Work those calves guys and dolls. No they aren't doing a production of Guys & Dolls. The dancing is all over the stage, aerobics in the background and the play director looks like she is doubling over from bad clams. All in all a fun time clearly.  Honestly, these many uncoordinated white folk dancing brings me right back to Friday the 13^th Part 4: The Final Chapter.   While viewing Crispin Glover's character looking like he is have several myocardial episodes, I screamed at the screen offering Jason $80 to off them all.

FAME! None of you gonna get it!

One of the dancers shows up late and director well, she really didn't chew the girl out. It was tame so she is gotta get dressed for rehearsal and we got a music cue of bad guy about, with a near Freddy Krueger knifed glove and bad head? Going by the shadow, folks. An almost Radu from Subspecies hand eases the changing room door as we gander at nude blonde soon-to-be-dead. Keeping it classy, right movie?  In addition to a Kreuger knock off mask, he has Zombified, Mongoloid, Hillbilly Jason Voorhees murder strength; as he penetrates her entire chest with a slightly effeminate jab. One Punch Man could have made that strike. Also the killer's apparel is already revealed to be wearing said mask, a maintenance jumpsuit and a black trench coat.  Between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, those jumpsuits just fly off the shelves.

The director has a slight meltdown and by that it sounds like she is supposed to be frustrated...it came off like she forgot her lines. I could be wrong. With the PG-13 Tourette's aside, she goes for a smoke and calming down.  Ew Camels non-filtered. I think I figured out why she couldn't project loudly.   Oh in case it sounds like I don't even care about the actors dancing, there are no credits to their IMDB I could find. Yeah! That's what I am dealing with here.

Frustrated, the director/choreographer goes to give Elizabeth Ross (Yup, Betsy Ross) a piece of her mind and she bumps right into the killer; who rakes her throat with his Radu claws.  8 minutes in and we are finally getting our title cards.   A few directors still like that gag.   Finally, lead characters. Melanie (Tara Buckman of The Cannonball Run, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Xtro II: The Second Encounter, Freddy's Nightmares, and Blindfold: Acts of Obsession) sends her daughter Clarissa (Tova Sardot of Night Killer) to see her dad.  Ahh divorce but still behaved. Good call, parents.  I would also point out the striking resemblance Tara Buckman has to Linda Hamilton.   Kind of eerie truth be told.  

Suburban life of 90's coifed hair, shoulder pads in business jackets for both sexes and economy cars.  It is winter in Virginia Beach (in spite of being shot mostly in Rome) and the exposition plot dump tells the tale of the killer as he is also...a rapist. Yay. Grrr. Really need to start viewing synopsis better.

Renegotiating nudity clauses.

We know that Mel is a serious writer, because her whole den is infested with books and she smokes indoors. I vaguely recall smoking indoors. We get a red herring with her ex-lover as he drinks too much and sounds like he was voiced by a drunk Angus Scrimm (Tall Man from Phantasm series).

Melanie is attacked by said murder/rapist and she saw his face but the events are so traumatic she can't bear to think of it. A quick technical note, there was a beginning scene of Tara topless and mere seconds later, she's got a sweater on. The editor fall asleep or fall off the wagon? Your guess is as good as mine.

This masked sicko roams the streets and the cops are doing everything but yelling at Melanie for not remembering that horrible day. Yes fellas, it's all her fault your investigations turned up nothing. Jerks.

Will the killer be brought to justice? Will Melanie remember the killer, let alone who she is?

I get the vibe that Fragasso was going for an intense thriller and they snagged Bruno Mattei for the gobsmack collection of nudity and gore as he is known for. You can really tell the difference in their two styles.   The gore is definitely there, the effects are pretty hammy and the music score sounds like someone sat on a Casio keyboard.  What had the potential for a good ,psychological thriller murder mystery got dumb down for blood, guts and nudity.

So if you need implied rape and murder, see a shrink.   If you want complex story line and clever dialogue, don't watch this.   The irony is in the title as most of the murder/rapes were happening in daylight hours or really well lit homes.  Yeah well this was awful and I am out.  Please again, feel free to suggest titles for future reviews.

Shall I hold you closer, tiny dancer?

B&W Horror: House on Haunted Hill

Welcome back my good and true readers. As we delve into the terrors of the B&W Horror with the prince of darkness himself. Vincent Price. With the potential for murder, mayhem and most long winded malarkey involving dull dialogue and no ability to move ones arms, how could you not be on the edge of your chair? Well if you are, scoot back and relax. This madness hails from 1958. This is House on Haunted Hill.

They're always after me Lucky Charms.

If you're an eccentric millionaire with great big gobs of money, what do you for a good party? Of course you would give folks the chance to winning the amount of ten thousand dollars if they can make it through the night to a haunted house teeming with pesky poltergeists. But who do you invite? Friends and family? Clearly not. How about a smattering of employees, a columnist, a test pilot and maybe even a shrink? How else can you and your wife be entertained but a gathering almost total strangers.

I will out creep you, John Carradine!  I swear this!

Fredrick Loren (Vincent Price of House of Wax, The Fly, Last Man on Earth, House of Usher, Dead Heat, Catchfire The Heart of Justice and Edward Scissorhands) and his stunning new wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart of The Scarlet Hour, House on Haunted Hill, Spider Baby, Wild Youth, The F.B.I., Barnaby Jones, Mannix, Caxabu and Branded) are having a potty according to the shrink who cannot pronounce an r, Dr. Trent (Alan Marshal of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, After the Thin Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Bourbon Street, Day of the Outlaw, Sugarfoot, M. Squad and Surfside 6) with free flowing liquor, loaded firearms and a gaggle of ghouls said to roam the house. Hope that is iron based rounds and not lead then.

Test pilot Lance (Richard Long of Stranger, House on Haunted Hill, The Big Valley, The Girl Who Came Gift Wrapped, Love, American Style, Nanny and the Professor, The Twilight Zone and 77 Sunset Strip) is a martini away from bad touch and is such a klutz I cannot envision the Air Force entrusting this goober with a 15 million dollar aircraft.

Then I feed the entrails to my dark lord and master. More Scotch?

With odd effects and Elisha Cook Jr acting like a demented, drunkard of the Lollypop Guild telling the party goers (potty) of all the horrors of murder, suicide and madness. This murder mystery is only lacking some pesky kids and a yammering dog. Cook plays Watson Pritchard, a wide eyed leprechaun who is convinced the whole house is cursed with the deaths of the previous owners including his brother that has power come for them all.

In spite of this story being a bit on the dull side, the cinematography is impressive, the cast is fairly enjoyable and it is ripe for riffing (movie mockery) if that is something folks love to spout jokes and comments at a flick.

Keep in mind, Rifftrax beat you guys and gals to the professional punch but no reason you shouldn't have some fun with this cinematic goofiness.

Spanish Colonial Outta Control.

Giallo Film: The Fifth Cord

Hey gang! Look, I really would love to hear your input on how the reviews are going. Again you can reach me at rottenreelzreviews@gmail.com or leave a message on Rotten Reelz Reviews so I know I am actually tickling your funny bone and/or informing you on film, TV and games. Let me know if there are some specific titles you want me to look at.

I thought I would look at a Giallo movie today. For those that are unaware of this, a giallo movie is a murder mystery with a fair degree of gore inspired by yellow paperbacks translated for Italy the mystery novels of both British and American writers and primarily devised by director Mario Bava.

Today's giallo is straight up murder as a raspy, excited voice over anticipates murder. Deciding the pros and cons of weapons versus hands on and with such glee you think he was opening Christmas presents instead of arteries. This is The Fifth Cord.

What do you mean you cannot do Eggs Benedict??!!!

With a fish eye lens our killer speaks of stalking his prey at a New Year's get together with too much thrill in his voice. John Lubbock (Maurizio Bonuglia of The Troops Get Married, Ludwig, The Perfume of the Lady in Black and The Kiss of Death) was the killer's first victim but he bungles it and leaves him alive and by that I mean he survives the clumsy attack. Finding out this man injured but alive fellow partygoer and journalist Andrea Bild (Franco Nero of Django, Force 10 from Navarone, The Salamander, Enter the Ninja, The Last Days of Pompeii, Django Strikes Again, Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Django Unchained) decides he better investigate into this attack. A second attendee of the party a invalid doctor's wife Sophia (Rossella Falk of 8 1/2, Modesty Blaise, Black Belly of the Tarantula and Sleepless) is gacked rather easily in her own home and even Andrea's crotchety elder editor has been found dead in the park.

Ew, make out scenes with Edmund Purdom.

 

Both bodies leave a calling card, a black glove with each with a finger cut off. Next thing Andreas finds himself as a potential suspect being an often outspoken alcoholic, this lead police to start to put things into perspective. Who is next? Why is this happening? Will Andreas be convicted via lazy cops?

The atmosphere in the film drags us across many lives from what lurks behind closed doors to what is out in the open for all to see. It dares you to look away but has the feel of a crime caper rather than a typical gialli and even gives a strong role to a woman rather than treating her like eye candy or a prop to be moved from set to set. Helene played by Silvia Monti (The Brain, Blackie the Pirate, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and While There's War There's Hope) brings a sharp mind, a cool head under pressure and insight to a grim scenario.

Our director Luigi Bazzoni (Pride and Vengeance, The Possessed, Footprints on the Moon and Blu Gang e visseror per sempre felici e ammazzati) brought his "A" game telling a dark and morbid tale along with acquiring the astounding cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Apocalypse Now) giving shape to blackmail, bizarre sex parties and astrology intertwined with a murder mystery. That being said, the gore fans will be a tad disappointed as the gore isn't shown in gushing fashion. This is rather stylish and while a bit restrained, this film is completely worth watching for its complex story and excellent characters.

Wait...am I still the ninja??

THE BRITISH INVASION!!!!!

They have infected your television, social media and music. Your friends attempt cockney accents and fail. The repeated Monty Python skits that your friends and family are slowly killing. Face facts, the BBC has invaded your lives for many years. Hey folks, I am back with a new week altogether as this week we enjoy some comedy, drama and maybe even a mystery or two.

Hmm Tramadol makes one...loose.

With the aid of BBC America, most of the states are aware that not only England exists but there is some genuine entertainment meant to be had and enjoyed for all. With science fiction, sci-fi fantasy, some horror titles and far too many of their series remade by the Americans. * slap * Bad ole America. Series like Couplings, The Office and Broadchurch have been imitated with a failed pilot and four episodes and flopped, Broadchurch with Gracepoint and The Office with...well The Office.

For as many successes these different series will have there seems to be America over in the corner, wallflowering and thinking, "If only I could be as cool as that." Wake up America!!! There are plenty of shows and film we have reason to take applause and bow for that we really do not need to resort to re-labeling every British creation. Case in point, I was watching Netflix's streaming Being Human but the tags were wrong so I got the actual UK version and thought, "Wow this is really good but I don't recognize the cast as I did from the promos. Maybe this is an earlier season." Yeah, so while I have seen both versions and each do take away with their own spin. Face facts, folks. Original is usually better.

With all this in mind, the quiet attacks have occurred and you are all helpless before "THE BRITISH INVASION"... Well is was either that or The British Are Here and the last running up was BBC Gems. So if you fancy a cuppa and some biccies, turn on the telly and have a few sniggers then I welcome you to the landing of THE BRITISH INVASION. Cheery'o. Uh I mean ta-ta.   Bugger.  Bye then!

The face Caroline Munro's fanboys make when they see her.

Made for TV Movies

Welcome one and all! I have returned!!!! We are scrambling to get the Rotten Ramblin' On Podcast Campaign out there to folks. This week we are trying to get funds to get the podcast up and running and the hope we will build a podcast for folks to listen. With that being said this week I will be tackling a concept that has been hitting our idiot boxes since the mid 60's. I speak of Made for TV Movies. The term is a full-length film that was produced for and/or distributed by a TV network and I are made specifically for television.

TV Movies is the action is!

The first ever TV movie began in 1961 with the NBC Saturday Night at the Movies. The first of these being the 1964 film, See How They Run which is a chase film with children stalked by hired killers after they accidentally took a piece of evidence that points to a cartel which murdered their dad. Intense concept, right? Aside from the creature feature Sy-Fy silliness, the TV Movie has massed audiences of various ages and generations.

I plan to find 5 completely different genre based films for TV to give a better perspective and scope and allows for decent story-lines. Ranging from nuclear war, police dramas, murder mysteries and family oriented films.

Fabulous hair means drama on the way.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: Farewell, My Lovely

Back again amateur flatfoots for Day 4 of Philip Marlowe Movie Week. As you know, it is best if Marlowe is handled by a tough guy. Someone scrappy, smart and handsome doesn't hurt. To be honest I would have never picked Eliott Gould to play Marlowe but truth be told he did a fair job. This time around we have a vintage rough and tumble fella in the form of Robert Mitchum tackling the role and with all it entitles. This is Farewell, My Lovely.

Sheesh, almost nodded off there.

This is the second adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel closer the the source material unlike the original Murder, My Sweet in 1944 with Dick Powell. In a town with police corruption, hotels rented by the hour or the month, gambling dens, and murder over jewel heists, Marlowe is always there for the little guy.

We join Marlowe (Robert Mitchum of Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter, El Dorado, Cape Fear, The Yakuza and The Big Sleep) in a shabby room at a rundown flophouse. Sitting with him Lt. Nulty (John Ireland of Gunslinger, No Time to Kill, The Cheaters, Rawhide and Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat) listening to Marlowe telling the assorted details of the past few days of his case. A gorilla of a man in a suit named Moose Malloy (Jack O' Halloran of King Kong, Superman, Superman II, Dragnet and The Hero and the Terror) stringently insisted that Marlowe was for hire to track down his former girl Velma. The only lead they have is now a black owned bar. Malloy keeps talking about not seeing his girl for 8 years. Easily an ex-con Malloy loses his patience and starts tossing bouncers and at 6'6" that is not that difficult. Marlowe watches his back but again they didn't find Velma and no one seemed to know one way or the other.

The lady or the liqueur?

Working an additional case is over murder name of Lindsay Marriott (John O' Leary of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, All the President's Men, Airplane! And The Last Starfighter). With a little know-how, Marlowe figures out that Marriot was in the blackmail racket. Still looking for Velma, Marlowe sees both cases just getting muddled with a sojourn attempting to make sense of any of the half truths, double crosses and homicides piling up.

Shockingly enough, Marlowe has several attempts with his life with a visit with an infamous madame in a brothel to a gunfight on a gambling boat, Philip is convinced he has really stepped in it now.

Can Marlowe solve this ongoing conspiracy and collection of murders? Is the whole city against him with every crooked cop looking to punch his ticket?

A few points about the flick. While Marlowe is in his thirties in the novels, Mitchum was 58 playing the character. Mitchum is also the only actor to play Philip twice on screen, this film and The Big Sleep in 1978. This was Jerry Bruckheimer's first full production after only have two previous credits as an associate producer.

The 70s moved to revival of the film noir and hard-boiled detective movies with the same feel as Chandler's novels like Gumshoe, Chinatown and The Black Bird. Marlowe's wheels was a black 1940 Buick Special. Kinda wish they hit up Mitchum for Marlowe years prior.

Wouldn't mind retiring out here.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: The Long Goodbye

Welcome back sleuth spotters for Day 3 of Philip Marlowe Week. A slight break yesterday as my co-host and I were working on Rotten Ramblin' On's sixth podcast. So while we did battle with a barrage of B-Movies, the film of the day got skipped. You have my apologies, gentle readers. With that in mind let's get back to the gumshoe known as Marlowe. This time around of all people Eliott Gould steps in the shamus' shoes and it might be a tight fit. Based on the 1953 novel The Long Goodbye, Philip helps a buddy of his across the border to Mexico only to get pinched by the cops the moment he walks in the door back home. Accusations of murder, conspiracy and aiding and abetting. This is The Long Goodbye.

Bloody finicky cat!

Our neo-noir (a more current film using elements of film noir such as style, theme, content and even media that has not been in use since the 1940s and 1950s) opens with Marlowe (Eliott Gould of M.A.S.H., Harry and Walter Go to New York, A Bridge Too Far, The Muppet Movie, The Devil and Max Devlin, E/R, Bugsy and Ocean's Eleven) having to feed his very finicky cat (Morris the Cat) when his best friend Terry Lennox (MLB All-Star Jim Bouton) asks Marlowe for a lift from L.A. To Tijuana. Hope he is getting some gas money out the deal. No sooner does Marlowe return home he is met by two detectives accusing Lennox of murdering his wife Sylvia. The two jog his memory but Marlowe refuses any cooperation thinking it is a bum rap so they toss him in the jug for three days for obstruction.

That's not Gene Wilder!!

The cops tell him that Lennox killed himself as a guilty conscience so they spring him. Marlowe calls it bull but what can you do? After a quick drink at the bar, Marlowe checks in with Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt of American Gigolo, Cutter's Way, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Time Out and Tales of the Unexpected) on a missing person's case. Her husband has up and left and the police really don't seem to have any interest in this, given the copious amounts of runaways, homicides and car thefts so they have a lot on their plate as it is. This blonde bombshell claims her husband Roger (Sterling Hayden of The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and The Godfather) while a brilliant novelist tends to go on drunken tears and be missing for days on end but this time he has been gone for too long. Eileen needs Marlowe to suss him out, hose him down and get him home. Sounds like a cake walk, right? Interestingly enough, the late Lennoxes also used to reside on the same neighborhood right up the beach. Coincidence?

Roger's behavior is erratic hiding over in a mental facility and the doctor seems to be holding him there against his will. Wade blurts out to Marlowe that he knew the Lennoxes socially to a level that gets Marlowe thinking there is a lot more to Terry's suicide and Sylvia's murder. Should Marlowe keep stepping on toes and peeping through windows for the truth? Does he let his friend's death go overlooked?

A few points of interest in the film. As this is a Roger Altman movie, the camera is always in motion. The man never believed in static shots (a shot on an person, place or thing that has no action and is held still, later inserted from editing) Gould completely improvised the police custody scene when he smears fingerprint ink all over his face and dialogue surrounding most of it.

Both David Carradine and Arnold Schwarzenegger are uncredited in the film as David is Dave a.k.a. Socrates, a guy being held for smoking some doobage and Arnold is a strong arm and at 6'3" that could make about anyone cringe. Sterling Hayden wrote his own scenes and his character's home was actually Altman's house. The gorgeous car Gould is driving around is a 1948 Cabriolet Lincoln Continental Convertible that was actually his car.

This film is one of five Gould made with Altman including: MASH, The Long Goodbye, California Split, Nashville and The Player. Not too shabby, huh?

 

Giving the copious amounts of nudity in the film I would skip letting the kids watch it.

Live-in mob delivery.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: Marlowe

Hey cats and kittens welcome back for Day 2 of Philip Marlowe Movie Week. Now while I felt that Robert Montgomery would not have been my choice for Marlowe he did meet the task of the character despite his slightly flat performance. But let us journey to the year 1969 instead. Away from the black and whites that captured the mystique of the film noir but we will give Metro-color a chance. What happens when our favorite peeper gets a missing person's case which ties into a martial arts master giving his office the Johnny Depp makeover followed by a double homicide? A whole lot of trouble. This is Marlowe.

Your autograph, Bruce Lee or it's two to the liver!!!

Based on Chandler's exceptional 1949 novel The Little Sister our star studded cast unwind the tale of a missing brother leading to blackmail a double homicide with an ice pick and more than a few pummels for our favorite flatfoot.

Our story opens with Marlowe casing the shabby hippie commune looking for Orrin Quest (Roger Newman of The Edge of the Night, Guiding Light, Annie Hall and Passions) Marlowe (James Garner of The Great Escape, Maverick, The Rockford Files, Murphy's Romance, Fire in the Sky, My Fellow Americans and The Notebook) hired a dishy young thing Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell of Man from U.N.C.L.E., A Lovely Way to Die, The Love Machine, It's Alive, Hawaii Five-O and The Stunt Man) whose coy demeanor seems off to Marlowe needs him to find her missing brother as the family has not heard from him in over a month.

With a milk run of a case Marlowe is not expecting anything spectacular for his time but oh brother is he ever wrong. The trail is not very warm but does provide with a few lead of two fellas that may or may not know anything to this mysterious Orrin. Running into a resident of the commune Grant Hicks (Jackie Coogan of The Kid, Mesa of Lost Women, Cowboy G-Men and The Addams Family) who knows more than he is saying but doesn't really admit to knowing Orrin. After conversing and smacking the manager for a pass key, our sleuth goes back to see the manager only find the hotel ledger missing sheets and the manager taking the ten count nap from here to eternity with an ice pick driven into his neck. Presumably he was mistaken for an ice block.

Marlowe talks to the last man the manager did turning out to be a Doctor Largardie (Paul Stevens of The Mask, Another World, Patton and Battle for the Planet of the Apes) who does not deny but doesn't confirm his chat with the manager and he drops the name Grant Hicks when he is off the case. Ms. Quest is making her way out as Hicks calls Marlowe for some info from another hotel just five minutes from his office. With a new lead in the works Marlowe is back on the case when checking with the hotel dick (bodyguard/detective you pervs) to clarify if the call was kosher. The door is unlocked and Hicks seems disposed of when Marlowe is bonked on the head with a .32 with the owner of a pair of dishy legs driving a high end Jaguar convertible in the heart of a recession??

Lt. Archie Bunker wants another beer.

His run-in with the local law via Lieutenant French (Carrol O Connor of Point Blank, Kelly's Heroes, All in the Family, Archie Bunker's Place, In the Heat of the Night and Mad About You) lead to Grant Hicks not being who he claimed an a low ranking skell with delusions of grandeur and a claim ticket for a photo lab. Marlowe's honey gives him a license plate for the jag turning out to be starlet Mavis Wald (Gayle Hunnicutt of Scorpio, Target, The Legend of Hell House, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye and Savage in the Orient). The claim check leads to some racy snaps of Mavis making a bit of face time with a notorious man. Chatting with Mavis' friend Dolores (Rita Moreno of Singin' in the Rain, Westside Story, The Electric Company, Oz and Happily Divorced) and offers his assistance to the sticky situation Ms. Wald is in.

Is Orrin's disappearance and two stiffs connected with Ms Wald? Will there be more bodies to be found and will one of them be Marlowe's?

A few tidbits about the film now. The late Roger Ebert found this film to flip flop from comedy to hard boiled detective while I myself felt it kept the tone of the character. Marlowe has a sharp mind and a smart lip that gets him into more scrapes than most. Apparently Ebert would have preferred it star Humphrey Bogart and it be written by Faulkner rather than Garner's approach.

This is also the first appearance to the American viewing audience of this martial artist fellow Bruce Lee or something other. I hear he may have been in films and TV. Yes I am kidding! Unclench already! He gets to play a villain strong arm which is tough for a guy at 5'7" but I would probably crap my pants this man sent to whip my ass. Bruce also supplied his own clothes he got from Rodeo Drive because the costumes looked not his style. I can respect that. 

Director Paul Bogart (no relation to Humphrey) who worked primarily in TV series and TV movies was really on the ball as this was only his second movie and kept the film fast paced and loose. Now while that may not have been the route Howard Hawks would have chosen, it does not make it any less valid nor this any less Marlowe through and through.

Sorry, we don't have any openings for Rockford right now.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week: The Brasher Doubloon

Hey cats, welcome to the scene that is Day 1 of Philip Marlowe Week. We don't take no eggs laying their meat hooks on our dolly birds. You jake with that??!!

Sorry just digging the slang. This time around Marlowe has been called out to Pasadena to a manor of impressive proportion for a wealthy widow for what appears to be a simple snatch and grab case but as usual, simple is never the likelihood in Marlowe's life. This is The Brasher Doubloon.

Ahh Cryptkeeper!! Oh, it's just you Mrs. Murdock.

Marlowe (George Montgomery of Orchestra Wives, Cimmaron City, Samar and Battle of the Bulge) is treated to clip and rude behavior on the behalf of the loaded widow Mrs. Murdock (Florence Bates of Rebecca, Portrait of Jennie, On the Town and A Letter to Three Wives) who speaks of the Brasher Doubloon, a rare and extremely valuable coin from her now late husband's collection. Hinting about the identity of the thief but refuses to tell Marlowe who, Marlowe has had about enough of her screwy behavior. Merle (Nancy Guild of Somewhere in the Night, Black Magic, Little Egypt and Lux Video Theatre) practically pleads for Marlowe to take the case and states Murdock isn't all that bad and has been quite generous to her as an example. Reluctant to even look into the case, Marlowe returns to his office to find a gunsel name of Eddie Prue (Alfred Linder of The House on 92^nd Street, Canon City, Guilty of Treason and The Invisible Boy) who tries to strong arm him away from the case and invite him to see his boss but Marlowe too fast and smart for our thug, tosses him on on his ear.

Elisha Cook, you get up right now!

Taking the case out of spite and suspecting Murdock's wet smack of a son, Marlowe interrogates Leslie (Conrad Janis of Aiport 1975, The Happy Hooker, Mork & Mindy, Sonny Boy, Murder, She Wrote and Bad Blood) finding his company about as enjoyable as a root canal but can't get a firm grasp on the little greaseball. He then visits a coin dealer by the name of Elisha Morningstar (Houseley Stevenson of Native Land, Dark Passage, Moonrise and All That I Have) who tells Marlowe he did in fact glance at the coin in question and did inform Mrs. Murdock that someone attempted to sell it but is holding out for a bit more lettuce before he gives up the name. Marlowe realizing this canary won't sing, sneaks out but stays within ear shot as Morningstar gets on the blower and gabs with a shamus name of George Anson. Finding his whereabouts, Marlowe drops in on Anson only to find him resting... in peace.

With a body on the ground, Marlowe knows this is linked to the coin and has to duck the cops for confidentiality's sake alone regardless what an ass his client is. Finding the coin at a pawnshop Marlowe prepares to head to his client with Merle calls him telling them Mrs. Murdock found the coin and that he is let go from the case. Before he can really make heads or tails (COIN JOKE) of the situation gunsel bright boy brought a playmate with him, saps Marlowe and drags him off to gambler/casino operator Vince Blair, insisting that the coin is belonging to him because of such arrangements. Between pummels, a dead body or two and avoiding getting on the bad end of black jack, Marlowe has his work cut out for him?

Who else has to die for this coin? What isn't Mrs. Murdock saying?

A few points about the film now. This adaptation hails from Chandler's novel The High Window. Interestingly enough the flophouse was the Gladden Apartments where Raymond wrote the novel which it is based on, lived there for 30 prior the film was shot at.  Fred MacMurray, Victor Mature and Dana Andrews were all at one point cast for Marlowe when the studio settled for George Montgomery as his final flick under his 20^th Century Fox contract. Seems almost flattering.

This film almost seems like a remake of the 1942 film Time to Kill which was a Michael Shayne P.I. film, so not sure what happened there.

Hmm?  Sorry didn't hear a thing you were saying, I was glancing at your boobs.

Philip Marlowe Movie Week

A fine hello there all out there in the social media viewing! As you are reading this blog, no doubt you have a sense of refinement, cultured tastes and savvy with what you choose to entertain yourself. Of course given last week was about over the top gore gags and thinly veiled plots that encompassed girls running around with little to no clothes on and the uber killing machines tracking them down in plot device environment, one does have to comment on that. I, for one shall not be alienating you of course.

Ahh so glad I got the office facing into the Yoga studio.

This week I thought we needed to recapture that Film Noir feel. (the term in cinema that describes crime dramas that are driven by cynicism and sex that was hailed primarily from the 1940s to latter 1950s) One of the most predominant characters of this genre is a certain functioning alcoholic P.I.by the name of Philip Marlowe. First appearance being from the novel The Big Sleep this fictional gumshoe has been in 8 novels, 4 screenplays, 23 short stories, at least two radio plays, radio shows formatted from the 1940s to the late 1950s.

Doing stints in movies and television, our hero chases women, whiskey and bourbon and not necessarily in that order. While he prefers his coffee black, his chess games from books and his camels unfiltered, there lurks a healthy dose of pessimism, ego and razor sharp mind. He likes his chess complicated and his poetry fascinating. He has seen more murders than most cops and dealt with more corruption than a budding senator. The last collection of Marlowe's TV appearances was in 2011 with Toby Stephens at the helm.

With this in mind, I thought it was be interesting to see different actors tackle the same role in their own way. Sadly I cannot review Humphrey Bogart in the Big Sleep or Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet as I have already reviewed both those flicks prior. So sip from that bottle of rye, dodge those fists and bullets, don't be a patsy for the dame and always have a match ready to light.

Dammit fellas it is my Klondike bar, you get your own!

David Tennant Week: Blackpool

Welcome one and all to Day 1 of David Tennant Week. Given I have written several Doctor Who episodes starring the fellow of the week I thought it would be nice to see some other BBC projects that he managed to snare prior his sand shoes, suit, brainy specs and long coat. Such as is the series today involving an arcade owner who is attempting to turn his arcade into an almost casino style hotel worthy of Vegas in the hopes to rake it in and give people something to do. All is good until a young man is murdered and the DI has to get into our arcade owner's business and personal life. This is Blackpool.

Well the name says it all.

The murder of a young man occurs in Ripley Holden's (David Morrissey of Stoned, Derailed, Meadowlands, Sense & Sensibility, Five Days and The Walking Dead) arcade and no stone must be left upturned. The DI (Detective Inspector, you poor yanks) in charge is one Peter Carlisle (David Tennant of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Secret Smile, Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest, The Decoy Bride and The Escape Artist) who comes off charming and good natured but is in fact quite manipulative and is convinced that Holden savaged the boy for skimming from the till or had a fight with him that went out of hand. Everyone's lives have been turned upside down as the coppers have to back and forth from the arcade to their homes and disrupt their lives in search of the truth behind the murder.

Fresh out of Jelly Babies. That was 6 regenerations ago.

Holden has his own family to think about. His wife Natalie (Sarah Parish of Cutting It, Our Hidden Lives, If I Had You, The Holiday, Mistresses, Monroe and Atlantis) who grows weary of putting on a happy face when her family is in chaos, Holden takes her for granted and in general she is lost in her own life. Their kids Shyanne (Georgia Taylor of Coronation Street, The Royal, Blackpool, Casualty and Law & Order: UK) a rotten to the core spoiled brat constantly undermining authority in need of more understanding, love and so on and Danny (Thomas Morrison of Brideshead Revisited, Doctors, Casualty, Monroe and The Theory of Everything) an awkward and deeply troubled boy that is constantly berated by his own father for not being what he deems a man. From the get-go you can see Holden has a temper but years of restraint keeps it under wraps. At the end of the day though, he screams bully and you can see how his rage take ahold of him. Our good DI seems to want Holden to be the murderer, in his heart he needs him to be the murderer as this case is eating him up. Carlisle starts to take a shine to Natalie and concluding to himself he just needs to get into Holden's head and get him to come forward and confess.

The musical score is vital to carrying the elements of the show when it gets downright sinister to the tender budding romances. Tennant and Morrissey come off as they genuinely hate one another.

Is Holden the murderer? Will Carlisle pursue Natalie and will she in turn pursue him?

And now some trivia... because you all do bar crawls and trivia games... well maybe a few of you.

Character actor David Bradley, David Morrissey and David Tennant all have a connection. Both Bradley and Tennant have been in Harry Potter and Morrissey and Tennant were in Doctor Who: The Next Doctor Christmas Special. Furthermore David Bradley portrayed William Hartnell the First Doctor in An Adventure in Time and Space. Complex that is, eh?   

What do you mean NO MORE WALKING DEAD ROLE???!!!

PS2 Week: Silent Hill 2

Howdy boys and girls and welcome back for Day 4 of PS2 Week. Well I had lined up a Bassmasters game of fishing excitement to the likes no other fishing game could muster... but then I remembered it was a fishing game and that is dull in my book. So howsabout a horror game sequel that is sequel in name only??? Say Whaaaaaa???? But Jake that only happens in the volley of cheesy B-movie horror movies you sift through. Well you are wrong, strange person that comes into my apartment to shout at my head. Need better locks. I speak of a game giving third person view, showing us bizarre clues, keys and other such useful items in a sleepy, forgotten town. This is Silent Hill 2.

Stop following me, John Carpenter musical score!!!

The survival horror game got its sequel but in title name only as we roam about in the boots of James Sunderland as he searches endlessly for the whereabouts of his wife Mary, who died of an illness three years prior which her last known location was Silent Hill. Finding an obscure note from his wife telling him to meet her in their special place in Silent Hill. Trudging through this now insane monster ridden town, James encounters Maria, who bares an uncanny resemblance to his wife, who claims to not know his wife and has no idea how she ended up in this town.

Terrified to be alone, Maria convinces James to let her tag along with him as they search the area for clues leading them to the long since abandoned hospital where our old friend Pyramid Head chases them, kills Maria while James narrowly escapes. Making his way to the local hotel where James and Mary spent vacation time, James runs into Maria alive and whole. Is James going mad? Is he on a fool's errand? Will Silent Hill relinquish its hold on him?

My God, I really do look like Sean Bean.

A few technical differences from the original, you no longer have that herky jerky tank turret turning to face opponents. The heads up display is gone but if you pause the game it will have the map layout as you have explored it, the clues that you have gathered and the detailed notes to each clue and mystery being solved. There is at least six ways the game will end at which gives you a fair amount of elbow room and room for error and wisdom.

As far as influences you got the feel that the folks of Team Silent dabbled in a bit of Hitchcock, David Chronenberg and even a smidgen of David Lynch giving it a psychological thriller combined with terrifying imagery, eerie sounds and a musical score that always sets the scenes. With 3D environments similar to Tomb Raider, the game's graphics are sharper, the characters physical appearances are better defined and game play via controller is improved dramatically. The unveiling of each environment feels almost like Alone in the Dark back in '92 with its depths of shadow and contrast. A warped vision providing hours of entertainment but not much in the way of sound sleep.

Some sprucing up and some throw pillows... nah it'll look like crap still.