Entertainment of 1976: All the President's Men

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Number #475: Sean Connery Week: The Anderson Tapes

Howdy folks and welcome back to Sean Connery Week Day 2.  This next movie may have slipped by some of the younger fans as the language is a bit racy, the action a bit rough and a product of the early seventies.  Connery rarely gets a meat and potatoes villain role that you cannot help but empathize with.   This is The Anderson Tapes.

Sean Connery for Hair Club for Men

The Kid: America, man!  You know, it's so beautiful I wanta spoil it.








20 years of his life, John "Duke" Anderson (Sean Connery of From Russia with Love, Diamonds Are Forever, The Terrorists, Murder on the Orient Express, A Bridge Too Far, The Untouchables and The Hunt for Red October) is finally being released after paying his dues for his safe cracking days.  He openly mocks the prison official/ councilor and points out the injustice of society on robber barons, marriage and advertisement found a grife in the system but the guy that steals the magazine honoring these schmucks is a criminal.  

Out and about in New York City connecting back with his estranged girlfriend Ingrid (Dyan Cannon of Shamus, Heaven Can Wait, Coast to Coast, Deathtrap, Author! Author! and Out to Sea) who lives in a posh high rise on 91st Street in Manhattan.  Duke goes to a Mafia don for financing with Angelo (Alan King of Hit the Deck, Miracle in the Rain, Bye Bye Braverman, Lovesick, Memories of Me and Casino) to prep his own four man team to pull a worthy heist and having enough funds to live on while they get their gear together.

Hello Dolly!

However Anderson gets another price tag attached to a fourth man into his crew the thuggish scumbag called Socks (Val Avery of Love and Bullets, The Amityville Horror, Quincy M.E., Sharky's Machine, The Sting II, Easy Money and Renegade) which Anderson is less than thrilled to add in his crew but deals with it.  Anderson takes in how much surveillance from the various alphabet federal agencies, from cameras, bugs and tracking devices seem to originate from private and public agencies viewing his entire plan of operation.

The plan is executed during Labor Day weekend disguised as Mayflower moving crew, severed the phone and alarm wires as they move up each floor, gathering all the residents as they went and moving them along as they rob each apartment.

Can the cops stop our second-story men in time?  What could possibly be the swag they are after that is worth this much effort?

Quick few observations and facts about this movie now.   This is the first movie Connery dropped the toupee since the last Bond film.  This was also Christopher Walken's debut film at the age of 28 when I thought he was ten years younger.  That man had a baby face.    Spot the commander of the S.W.A.T. team is as original SNL cast member Garrett Morris, and he took this so seriously that he spent a month learning muzzle discipline, team building and combat insertions.  Pretty cool.

Tell me he has stop farting in here.

Anime Week: Akira

Welcome to Anime Week boys and girls!!  We will begin with a controversial title that rocked the nations with its cyberpunk look, feel and dark premise to how the world will progress.   Yes, I am not referring to Pokemon.   That is a whole other kettle of fish to contend with.  I speak of the popular manga turned anime Akira.   With this intense saga of violence, the struggle for power and the corruption of the human soul, this story brought amazing visuals and a complex story was well captured on cell.  This is Akira.

The apocalypse came as we always knew it would. The Cubs won the Pennant.

Tetsuo: Twin ceramic rotor drives on each spoiler!   And these look like computer controlled anti-lock brakes! Wow, 200 horses at 12,000 rpm!





Created from the Manga (Japanese graphic novel) by writer/illustrator Katsuhiro Otomo (A Gun Report, Short Peace Peace, Highway Star, Hippa: The Little Vampire and Park)Akira lasting from 1982 to 1990 and creating more than 6 volumes brings us a similar vision in the small cell screen of the same name.

Our story begins in 1988, when a nuclear explosion destroys the better chunk of Tokyo inviting the beginning of World War III.   By the year 2019, Neo-Toyko is a wasteland of anti-government hysteria, bosozku (tribal biker gangs) and people simply getting by day to day.  Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of the Capsules in constant conflict with a rival gang known as the Clowns.   Guess the Jokers was too on the nose and DC comics would have gone crackers over it.   Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo almost runs down an esper (psionically powered being) Takashi who escaped from a secret government lab sprung by an revolutionary group of underground freedom fighters.  No sooner does that occur, heavily armed soldiers tracking Takashi scoop him up along with Tetsuo after a small firefight.  Kaneda and his whole crew get rousted and interrogated for hours to no avail because the gang has no idea what is going on.    

Let's do some crimes, man!

The military head figure Colonel Shikishima and Doctor Onishi realize that Tetsuo has the same level of psionics that to the esper Akira who gave birth to World War III and they want to either lock down his powers or outright kill the boy before Neo-Tokyo suffers a similar fate.  With martial law declared the Colonel preps block to block searches for Tetsuo and his girlfriend Kaori.   Kandea and Capsules are in deep conflict with the Clowns when Tetsuo unleashes a psychokinetic wave that devastates both gangs and starts tearing up the land.  Kandea has no choice but to join forces with the revolutionaries to bring his former friend down before there is no city left to save.

Just a few tidbits on the overall vibe of this film.  To create this film over 2,000 shots and 160,000 single cell pictures were drawn using over 327 different colors.  The interesting part of this all is the better portion of this film takes place at night, which most animators avoid like the plague due to the increased color requirements.  


Otomo's creation of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo has brought about future similar such stories such as: Demon City Shinjuko, Bubblegum Crisis and A.D. Police mixing the aftermath of the world before and the cyberpunk genre.    The themes Otomo's stories displayed where the awkward social isolation, government corruption and totalitarian concepts.

My side! Your side! MY SIDE! YOUR SIDE!

Even Number Star Trek Movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Back again trekkers and welcome to Day 3 of Even Trek Movie Week and I feel this is a bit underrated as a Star Trek film.  Admittedly I may have been one of those nay sayers…well I am copping to it.  So let’s break out the Romulan Ale, quote Shakespeare and find out what it is all about.  This is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

 

Reservations for three please.

Captain Spock: Logic, logic logic.  Logic is the beginning of spoiler, Valeris, not the end.

More than 70 years the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been trading blows, insults and the destruction of their collective fleets. From border disputes, planetary conquests thwarted and out and out space battles this struggle has spanned generations.  The U.S.S. Excelsior is on patrol near the Neutral Zone with Captain Sulu (George Takei of Star Trek, Batman Beyond and Kim Possible) witnesses firsthand a major gravimetric explosion of the nearby moon of Praxus, the Klingon mining operation and they were told to mind their own affair. 

NOT INTO THE SUN, YOU IDIOTS!!!!

Cut to a main chamber of Starfleet Intelligence meeting in under way and the senior staff of the Enterprise has been dragged in session?  Kirk who had been demoted before the Final Frontier is looking to retire after 3 months and is informed that in 50 years time the ozone layer around Kronos (Klingon Homeworld) will be bathed in solar radiation and due to the massive amount of expenses wasted on their expanding military budgets, they have no means of repairing this damage let alone fending off its effects.  The Empire must ask for help. 

Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner of Time After Time, Time Bandits, The Omen, Tron and Doctor Who) and Captain Spock have been in conference for months now and they both concur that peace talks need to be held in order for the survival of the Klingon people.  Captain Kirk has been tasked with escorted the Chancellor and his party to the summit.  With a long standing hatred of the Klingons, Kirk is reluctant to trust or chance his instincts he has honed over the years.  Is this an end to the onslaught of battle with each other or merely some breathing space so they can rebuild and slaughter them all in their sleep or enslave them outright?  

These feelings aside, the Enterprise must embark on one last mission until…the Chancellor’s vessel is struck by a photon torpedo rupturing the hull and causing more than a few deaths.   With the Enterprise being the only ship in the quadrant and is on the hook for the damage to the battle cruiser and the possible murders within.   Kirk and McCoy go to the ship in order to save the Chancellor only to have him die on the very table he was lain on.  Under Empire law the two are immediately whisked away to trial for Gorkon’s assassination.  But if this was not orchestrated by Kirk…then who did it?
 

Bet you can't see the strings.

This one requires a meerschaum pipe and a deerstalker hat to figure out what is going on, is there a conspiracy to sabotage the peace talks and who stands to gain from it all??

Horror of 1970 Week: Mark of the Devil

What’s goin’ on kiddies?  Back again for Day 2 of the psychofunkadelic Horror of 1970 Week and I gots to warn you all, this one is a bit over the top.   Yeah I know I have said that before but frankly it was a bit stomach turning so as always I am giving the heads up. Dig?   So let’s get caught up in some witchcraft, enjoy an outdoor cookout i.e. witch trial and not to disturb the eternal beast.  This is Mark of the Devil.

Medieval dentistry.

Albino: I accuse you of having trampled on the cross, of having ridden to the Sabbath, of throwing the Holy Cross of our Savior into spoiler so the that the skies grew dark, and the rain fell upon the earth!!

Yes boys and girls, this one again random choice fell to an infamous titled film.  In the 18^th century hailed in Austria witch hunters roam the countryside reading to accuse any strong willed woman that refuses these simple minded gits of being the Devil’s pawn.  One such witch hunter Albino (Reggie Nadler of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Felini’s Casanova, Zoltaan: Hound of Dracula and Salem’s Lot) struts and preens about the village instilling terror of the merest possibility of being viewed as a witch.  It is only rumored amongst the villagers that he tortures the accused with hot pokers, lashes and possibly removes the tongue from their heads. 

I just want your soul..er um I mean save your soul.

He is but a mere foot soldier to the Grand Inquisitor Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom of Spartacus, Count Dracula, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Dark Places and Ten Little Indians) who is instilled by the Crown to take jurisdiction for the witch trials is also instructing his young nephew Count Christian von Meruh (Udo Kier of Johnny Mnemonic, Blade, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Barb Wire and Modern Vampires) who behaves as a courtly gentleman in every sense of the word takes a shine to a lovely lady that was falsely accused to burn at the stake.   Christian proceeds to spy on the good Lord Cumberland only to find out that the witch trials is nothing more than a land grab scheme, an accumulation of vast riches and being able to have his way with the farmers’ daughters. 

I’ve just a quick few more warnings offhand about the film. With the standing of fascism taking full swing, it is my belief the point of this film was to bash the fear mongers of the time and point out how Lord Aton was correct in absolute power corrupts absolutely.   Very similar how Arthur Miller’s The Crucible was a bit sneer at the Red Scare era of the 1950’s and that being said…dear God I really wished I skipped this film.  Our opening credits have nuns being violated, the rack being implemented as well as the removal of fingernails by the root.   Oh yes I can definitely say this will not be on my shelf for viewing pleasure and frankly I am a bit concerned the man or woman that needs this in their VHS/DVD collection.

Well Art, I think we had a good turn out for the witch weenie roast.

Tom Clancy Week: Clear and Present Danger

How do avid readers and welcome back for Day 3 of Tom Clancy Week.  You might be wondering if I have enough films for this week and well yes that would be correct.  There all nerves are calmed.  Shh, shh, shhh…  Moving right along I think it is time for some scandalous behavior from the government…kinda like taking their marbles and going home.  Will Jack Ryan be able to pull our fat out of the fire?  This is Clear and Present Danger.

Miss my bullwhip.

Ritter: Spoiler! The world is gray, Jack!

Our favorite desk jockey Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford of Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Patriot Games and Cowboys & Aliens) is back with the CIA and his boss Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones of End of the Road, Claudine, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Conan the Barbarian, Patriot Games and Field of Dreams) is giving the reigns of director of the CIA to Jack as he is the only man he has ever trusted.  Not long on his watch, the Coast Guard find a clipper finding the corpses of an American banker and his family murdered in their beds with several Columbians armed with AKs surrendering immediately.  Must be the 50 caliber that will skuttle the ship they are worried about.

Hey, Jimmy Johns. We need 4 club sandwiches, chips and cokes please.

President Bennett (Donald Moffat of The Thing, One Life to Live and the Unbearable Lightness of Being) finds it was a close personal friend that was skimming close to $650 million in cash from a Columbian drug cartel. National Security Advisor James Cutter (Harris Yulin of Scarface, Another Woman, Narrow Margin and Cutthroat Island) confabs with the President who tells him these cartels represent a danger to the U.S. and must be dealt with immediately; giving an unofficial nod of approval bring the hammer down on the men responsible for his friend and family’s death. 

As Jack takes over for Greer he is asked to go before Congress and plead for $70 Million in the on-going operations in Columbia.  Congress and Jack are blissfully unaware that the funding with be for a black-ops mission.

Jack out of the loop for his Boy Scout ways starts to hear chatter about explosions and crops being destroyed in Columbia but no direct case workload coming through his office.  Old instincts kick in as the Deputy Director of Operations Ritter is not communicating with him Jack starts digging around.  Ritter links up with an older agent, John Clark (William Dafoe of Platoon, The English Patient, The Boondock Saints and Spider-Man) to run point with a special forces team. 

Sir, can we break for lunch? I'm thinkin' Arby's

 

With Columbian cartels losing patience with these attacks on their people and crops, the head of the cartel turns to his intelligence officer, former Colonel Cortez (Joaquim de Almeida of Desperado, Behind Enemy Lines,The Lovebirds and Three 60) of Cuban Intelligence is digging into his own investigation into the possibility of US soldiers in Columbia.  Can Jack save the soldiers, terminate this operation and bring the wrong doers before justice? 

Well go look up the movie.  It is a pretty decent thriller after all.

Tom Clancy Week: The Hunt for Red October

Welcome you wild and zany kids to Tom Clancy Week as we look at the various films adapted from his novels and I thought we best showcase one of the most successful if not a few liberties taken with it. Enjoyable yes but a bit over the top given it is an A-list Hollywood production with of all things an action adventures director.  Will the suspense stay intact or will it blast all the windows in the Nakatomi Plaza?  Grab some popcorn and a soda and don’t miss a single cel on the screen.  This is The Hunt for Red October.

 

In Russia, submarine stalks you.

Captain Ramius: We will pass through the American patrols, past their sonar nets, and lay off their largest spoiler, and listen to their rock and roll…while we conduct missile drills.

In 1984, Tom Clancy wrote The Hunt for Red October, a story interlacing a Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius and a CIA analyst Jack Ryan.  The behemoth Typhoon-class submarine weighing in at 32 tons can with a water displacement rendering sonar capture completely inert.  What does that mean for us civvies?  Well folks, that means you have a missile platform lobbing nuclear warheads at all your major cities before we have even a heads up to it.    Captain Raimius (Sean Connery of Dr. No, Marnie, The Anderson Tapes, Outland and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) is entrusted with a floating death machine that makes very little to no noise in the waters which is one giant missile battery.  Make no mistake about this folks; this is a death dealer plain and simple.  Little does the Soviet Navy realize that Raimius plans to defect and bring the Red October in as a peace offering to the States giving him and his ranking officers a bit of freedom.  

Boy with the success of this movie, The Shadow will be marvelous.

CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin of Knots Landing, Beetlejuice, Miami Blues, The Edge, Clerks Animated Series and The Cooler) briefs (then pants) the government brass on the departure of this killer, quiet submarine and with great detail explains the unbridled threat it poses as the Soviet Navy deploys it.  The chatter is the Soviet Navy fears Raimius plays a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the US.  Ryan pitches the idea that Raimius plans to defect. And as he is the cubicle nerd he is scoffed at by a high ranking Admiral and Ryan retaliates with meeting this Soviet Commander before and knows how the man thinks and that he is well to listen to his worries.

 Ambassador Pelt (Richard Jordan of Logan’s Run, Dune, The Mean Season and Gettysburg) sits in on this meeting giving Ryan the leverage to seek out Raimius before the US Navy sinks them.  With that the clock is ticking on which armada will sink the Red October or will total annihilation occurs.

 

I'm in a sub! In a sub! In a mother f*&%ing sub!

I have just a few comments about this film now.  Director John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard, Medicine Man, Last Action Hero and The 13^th Warrior) managed to pull off a thriller with his rough and tumble action adventures background, from decent crane shots, to low angle zooms the film captivates the audience with energy but also keeps the intensity of the suspense as well.  

Tom Clancy Week

Howdy folks.  As most of you are already aware that on October 1st of this year Best-Selling author Tom Clancy passed away.  Being an avid fan of his work and enjoying several of his novels as well as the video game adaptations of his novels I thought it only fair to honor a man that has entertained many of us with clever characters and bizarre scenarios.

 Hey I love Jack Ryan but an analyst should not be getting a fraction of the trouble that he did. A desk jockey should not be right in the middle of firefights and international incidents.  Sam Fisher on the other hand, total hard ass.  I love the idea of a man in his 50's in peak physical condition that was battered over the years still doing counter intelligence and field work taking out men 20 to 30 years younger than him.

Look I don't care wither Greedo shot first or not!

So this week we observe several film adaptations of his novels and hope you all enjoy the action packed adventures.

PSA Week: Boys Beware

Welcome back boys and girls and what say we dive right in with the horribly misnomers and misguided ideals in the warnings of pedophilia with the confusion of homosexuality.   What’s that?  You are both shocked and appalled that someone let alone a gathering of people could make such a blunder?  Well baby you ain’t read nothing yet.   So hike out your thumb, look nonthreatening and be alert.  This is Boys Beware.

Yikes Jimmy has Unfortunate Face Syndrome 

Whoa ho ho there Johnny.  That spoiler seems to be up to something.

Created and produced though the Sid Davis Productions, you know the fellow that also brought us the disturbing titles such as: The Dangerous Stranger, Girls Beware, Seduction of the Innocent and Too Tough to Care.    In most of these incidental shorts they do send a message that could put kids on the alert of that random stranger or maybe smoking as a child is not a smart idea but for our fun filled title card of Boys Beware old Sid didn’t bother to get his facts straight.  

Jeepers mister, where's my candy bar?

Little Jimmy didn’t know about that Ralph was sick.  Y’see Ralph is a homosexual.    Okay already I was cringing at this short but mustered through with it.   Apparently in the 1950’s equating homosexual men and child molesters was a common practice of profiling.   One that need be stricken from the record as NOT HOW TO HANDLE THESE SCENARIOS!!!    At 10 minutes and 13 seconds this horrible message points out how to avoid these men from their hairstyles and apparel.    Yes kids all gay men have this Ron Jeremy and John Holmes mustache as well sunglasses and bow ties.   Also if they have a TARDIS stay away as well. 

'Bout time for Hee Haw then the torture dungeon, Johnny.

Throughout the entire film being gay is depicted as a mental illness and I am stunned they didn’t point out how turning to Jesus would have set them on the right path.  Due to their minuscule budget you can see the same car in almost every scenario of which there are three.  I guess they couldn’t even borrow another vehicle for a few shots.   With the cooperation of Inglewood California Police Department and the Inglewood Unified School District this piece of tripe was created.  I just love how the conclusion that gay men are somehow inherently dangers to young boys and our little victim Jimmy claims he was taken to a hotel by one fellow was later arrested and then stuck on probation.  All this said to me was every kid that didn't want to do his schoolwork could easily blame his teacher for the same effect and sully the poor man’s name.

For those of you who are easily offended at this completely tapered view on anything deemed out of what is quote “Normal”, I would point out that simple studies illustrate that 75% of all pedophiles are straight Caucasian males.   Hmm missed that study did you, Sid?  As a straight male I was disgusted at this grossly inaccurate portrayal and blatant hate video.    The irony is the one predator that looked genuinely creepy cruising for young boys was our producer Sid Davis himself.    

Well son, I was raised Catholic so hence my attraction to boys.

PSA Week: Duck and Cover

Well hey there teen gang and welcome to the first round of Public Service Announcement Week or PSA for short. Say let’s start this motif off right with bit of public safety.  Here are a few dos and don’ts on dealing a thermal baric atomic explosion to bring Americans to a safety conscious awareness.    So duck in the basement; get under your desk or just cover eyes from the blast.   This is Duck and Cover.

 

Jeepers Mom, we left Sparky outside during the blast.

Well we don’t all have a spoiler like Bert the turtle that we can duck and cover in.

Let us journey back to a time a large gas guzzling all metal vehicles, no real safety belts and a Norman Rockwell view of society.    The atomic scare is under way due to the rampant spread of Communism and the threat of a high yield explosion that if the sheer concussive force didn’t snap your bones and liquefy your organs, then the concentrated thermonuclear explosion would atomize you where you stand, sit or play.   Rather than be open and honest with the masses the United States National Civil Defense felt a lofty and delightful cartoon describing the unbridled terror of having your flesh fried from your body.

Bert the Turtle is passing the buck on his misinformation.

Commissioned for the National Education Association in 1951, this iconic character Bert the turtle did not wolf down pizza, beat up ninjas or tell you how things were bodacious but in fact taught you what to do in the event of a nuclear blast.   The need to keep calm, keep cool and just let the atomic flames wash over you like a gentle breeze was the appeal apparently.  You are to walk safely and in even files while getting into a basement or shelter that could hold maybe 500 people uncomfortable.  Hiding under a metal desk was also an acceptable barrier to mass levels of shockwaves of pressure and thermo baric pressure and flames generating heat to the magnitude of 1102 degrees Fahrenheit.    I am no rocket scientist but I dare say the levels of lead paint in a house would not shrug off the radiation of these levels.

Here a few fun facts of the hypocrisy of this “educational” film.  While covering the devastation of the initial explosion of an atomic warhead how the concussion force works, they seem to have skipped the 7.5 mile radius spread of extreme heat that would make 3^rd degree burns seem like a day at the beach without sunscreen. Not mention the sheer demolition and defoliation of that area in wide spread disaster.  Not even counting the vast levels of radiation that are omitted around every living thing in the area and taking in account for winds to spread this havoc ensued causing that region of land to be ruined for 80 to 100 years plus. 

Oh good golly this floor needs scrubbing.

Funny, how none of these computations were taken in and handed out to the American households.  So the next time you look to the skies and notice a bright flash, your retinas are not completely burned out.  You too will duck and cover.

PSA Week.

This week we tackle a ridiculous conundrum that swept the nation since the 1950's.  I am speaking of the Public Service Announcement.  Speaking of dangers such as what to do on a date, Atomic War, the worries of homosexuality and of course the trouble with women.   These simple issues are horribly construed and misinterpreted on how to best deal with this trouble scenarios.

Bert enjoys a flower before...the commies win.

With the government standing to keep people safe and free of harm the influences are clearly examples of the creation of the Moral Majority, McCarthyism and general close mindedness that leads to the belief how a girl dresses is the cause for her be raped.  HUH?!!!!  So feel free to enjoy this total lack of tolerance and by all means poke fun at this anal retention.

Hitchcock Week: The Lady Vanishes

Howdy all and welcome to the end of Hitchcock Week.   A film that is clever, witty, confusing and conflicting is clearly in order here.  So head out to the lobby, get a soft drink and a heaping bowl of popcorn. This is The Lady Vanishes.

Average waiting line at Olive Garden.

If only we hadn’t missed that spoiler at Budapest.

A young English tourist named Iris (Margaret Lockwood of Honours Easy, Midshipman Easy, Irish for Luck, Doctor Syn, Three on a Weekend, Rulers of the Sea and Night Train to Munich) arrives back at the Gasthof Petrus Inn with her two friends after a long hike and soon to head back to England to marry an aristocrat she does not even love.  A local avalanche has blocked the railroad line so Iris, her friends and several other people are stranded in this village in Europe.   Two of the tourists are typical Englishmen Charters (Basil Radford of The Girl Was Young, Captain’s Orders, Convict 99, Night Train to Munich and Whiskey Galore) and Caldicott (Naunton Wayne of For Love of You, Night Train to Munich, Millions Like Us, Dead of Night, A Girl in a Million, Helter Skelter, The Hidden Room and Trio) and by typical I mean they gripe about the food, the weather, the service and in general life itself.   Iris complains to the innkeeper about the music and dancing above her room.  With a fistful of cash later the innkeeper is officially bribed to remove the noisy hooligans.  

A spoonful of sugar? It helps in the most delightful way, dearie.

Later that evening the music producer Gilbert(Michael Redgrave of Climbing High, The Stars Look Down, Lady in Distress, Jeannie, Thunder Rock and the Importance of Being Earnest) drops by to Iris and complains how if she learned to appreciate the folksy music she won’t be such a stick in the mud.  Reluctantly Iris asks for the innkeeper to give back Gilbert his room and she learns to take in the jaunty tunes as she slumbers. As she closes the window to her room a singer downstairs has been…dealt with BUM BUM BUM DA DA BUMMMMM!!!!  

The next day Iris is accidently clocked with a planter pot and a nice mature woman Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty of The Little Minister, Night Must Fall, The Thirteenth Chair, Conquest, Parnell, Mary Rose, The Royal Family and Rake’s Progress) helps Iris to the train and keeps her company for fear that Iris is suffering from a concussion. Also on the train is Gilbert, Caldicott, Charters, a young lawyer name of Mr. todhunter and his “wife” Mrs. Todhunter.  Iris wakes after fainting prior and Miss Froy invites her to tea in the dining car.  Unable to hear above the train’s noise; Miss Froy writes her name on the window with her finger.  After tea, Iris needs more sleep.

Shortly after awakening, Miss Froy has up and disappeared.  Searching desperately for the lady, Iris finds that no one on board claims to have seen this woman and that she may be delusional.  Gilbert is the only one that believes her and the two attempt find our interpret lady.   People seem shifty, shady and all sort of curious on this train and nothing truly is what it seems.

 

One can hardly resist a girl in a fetching lobster bib.

A few notes on the story and technical specs if you will.   The train shots are done with a series of proper lighting and side projection, meaning a screen is running footage while being recorded for the movie itself. A few objects are waved in front of the lights to give the effect of motion and the cabins via train are on a soundstage being rocked from side to side by a few strong lads to show a variance in the track and motion once again.

This film has suspenseful moments, comic relief and quite possibly some adventure to be had.  A must for any Hitchcock fans.

Action Pack Week: Jack of All Trades

Howdy folks!  We will be finishing Action Pack Week with of course another Renaissance Pictures production that got a few chills, spills and a far amount of laughs from the ham of the Evil Dead trilogy himself, Bruce Campbell.   So loosen your buccaneers, hoist the main sail and above all be a gentleman.  This is Jack of All Trades.

End of a salute or Jazz Hands? You decide.

Spoilers sont plus désagréables  

American adventurer/ spy Jack Stiles (Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead, Bubba Ho-Tep, Serving Sara, Spider-Man, Sky High, The Woods and Burn Notice)  has saved the President Thomas Jefferson’s niece from a death defying encounter with French Canadians.   Oh, ma parole. Wonder what the British would say with the loss such territory?   After such Jefferson assigns Styles to the island of Polau Polau in the South Pacific as this will be the building block for Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire to sweep across the nations.   He will meet up and work with Emilia Smythe Rothschild (Angela Marie Dotchin of Young Hercules, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Lawless: Beyond Justice and Lawless: Dead Evidence) an English spy adjoined to an uneasy alliance between former colonists and the former crown, our two steadfast professionals try to not allow such trifle matters come between them and the mission at hand.   To use such a colloquialism or hyperbole they are to be the monkey wrench in the works.   The fly in the ointment or put simply, the pain in Bonaparte’s ass.

The lady and the twit.

 As Mrs. Rothschild has her export/import shipping business Jack operates in public as her attaché to oversee all matters.  Of course all proper proceedings must take place with French appointed Governor Croque (Stuart Devenie of Dead Alive, The Frighteners, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, In Her Line of Fire and Power Rangers Mystic Force) and when he is not kicking ass for the Lord, he is the supreme commander of France’s older brother who lacks drive and ambition.

Yes ladies the stereotypical archetypes of you being helpless and dullards are hinted at more than a few times.   And yes the cloddish oaf standing that United Europe seems to hold dear to the Americans is also being held up by Campbell and his ham factor.  As a cover and to gain support from the locals Jack dons a disguise based on an island legend that just so happens to resemble The Fox or El Zorro if you prefer, known as the Daring Dragoon.   Yeah even I could not bother making up such a character or its title.

*Ahem* I'm Batman...no really I am.

A few points of the show now if you don’t mind.   The show was shot in Auckland, New Zealand as was Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. One liner jokes, sexual puns and innuendos run rampant throughout the episodes.  The cheese factor ties in well with Campbell’s ham thus delivering a justice sandwich with all the trimmings.  Well maybe no Dijon.   This particular character comes across at his Autolycus character of Hercules and Xena but with a dash of Jim West from The Wild Wild West show and not to be confused with the atrocious film of the same name.  There is mirth, sexual tension and all around silliness but not so campy you can’t sit through it.

Sydney Pollack Week: Three Days of the Condor

Hey all and welcome to the beginning of Sydney Pollack Week and I thought I would start us off with a thriller of point and counterpoint or if you prefer spy vs. spy.  With misinformation, a staggering body count and not knowing who to trust this struggle could prove to be very entertaining.  So synchronize your watches, prep a rally point and grab that phone in a shoe.   This is Three Days of the Condor.

Operator, I really want to direct...

Spoilers may surprise you…

With the Cold War in swing the Central Intelligence Agency is devising ways to control the flow of information, on us, on them and hey how about those guys over there.   Based on the novel Six Days of the Condor by author James Grady this political thriller film focuses on cryptography.  Hiding messages within prewritten text or a cipher that allows spies of different nations to not go strictly by courier or private broadcast.   Meet Joe Turner, (Robert Redford of Barefoot in the Park, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Downhill Racer, All The President’s Men, The Electric Horseman, Indecent Proposal, Sneakers and Spy Game) CIA analyst for a living decodes books from every portion of the world and with vast ability of micro processing…yeah well they still had to deal in 3 whole megabytes at a time. 

After a detailed report of a zero quality thriller novel his office was forced to read Turner expect the higher ups to let him know what they thought of his findings. This low interest novel is only translated in a few languages and not all of the regions are US friendly, coincidence?   As Turner does a lunch run for the office he finds all 6 members of his team assassinated where they sat or fell.  Panicked but still with his wits about him, Turner calls the CIA New York office and is told to arrange a meeting with fellow agents.  The meeting feels hinky and Turner hears the words of Admiral Ackbar in that, it is indeed a trap.

Y at-il une femme?

Barely escaping Turner picks Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway of Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, The Thomas Crown Affair, Network, Supergirl, Midnight Crossing and Double Edge) a woman at random for a place to hold up.  Frustrated, nervous and holding a person hostage in her own apartment, Turner realizes he may have to rely on Ms. Hale, a total stranger because he has no one really to turn to.  After yet another attempt on his life by a false postman Turner kidnaps the deputy director of the CIA New York office Higgins (Cliff Robertson of Gidget, Midway, PT 109, Sunday in New York, The Best Man, Escape from L.A. and Spiderman 1 and 2) who enlightens Turner that the assassin was a Frenchman by the name of Joubert

Most of this movie is based in Washington and New York from tight pan zooms to exterior crane shots, this film clearly had a flexible budget allowing Pollack and crew to give it their all.   Lot of close up of eyes, to capture the vast level of emotion and the music is subtle and not overpowering the story as it unravels.  With a nice Panavision anamorphic lens we get the feeling of being in the movie and while the Eastman 100T is a monster to lug for any cinematographer, its Technicolor response to the scope of this movie is captured so well.  Looooved the Aerial shots of the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Hold it, Mugsy!

From both book and movie you can all feel the influence they gave for films like Mission: Impossible and Enemy of the State.  Granted I do not hear a film in mono recording too often but bravo.     Next to The Manchurian Candidate (1962 original) I do not think I have seen a grittier spy film that is more stories based and dialogue driven rather than action.  You want action based spy flicks hey we got James Bond, Jason Bourne and Xander Cage.     You however might enjoy a combination of action, compelling dialogue of the cynical timeline and a pretty decent score for soundtrack then look no further and have a blast.