The Misfits

 Greetings, Readers of the Rotten. Today is a recent release because I needed a break from the typical stuff I view. A mixture of a heist movie worthy of Ocean's 11 and The Italian Job with the stunt work car chases of a Fast and Furious flick. Round that out with a decent cast along with the charm of Pierce Brosnan. This is The Misfits.

 

Vodka martini? Stop copying me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick heads up for potential viewers of this movie. Nick Cannon does a lot of narration voice over in this film. You have been warned if you're not a fan of his voice. If this isn't a problem then disregard the warning.

A gentleman thief, Richard Pace (Pierce Brosnan of Remington Steele, Noble House, The Deceivers, The Lawnmower Man, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Thomas Crown Affair, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Laws of Attraction and Momma Mia) breaks out of a maximum security prison, his fourth one in fact and is off to acquire ill-gotten gains. With a bit of detail, he knows of a fat cat Kuwaitti prince with a collection of expensive time pieces, making him easy pickings. No sooner has he snatched up the watches, the local police, FBI and the creator of said private prison Shultz (Tim Roth of Resevoir Dogs, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Pulp Fiction, Rob Roy, Four Rooms, No Way Home, Planet of the Apes, The Musketeer, The Incredible Hulk, Lie to Me and Broken). Shultz may be a trifle miffed with Pace. There's the escaping his prisons and making him look professionally like an ass but Pace also plowed Shultz's wife soooo...yeah, that could be motive.

Yeah, I know Tarantino.

 

 

 

 

 

With watches in hand, the authorities hot on his heels, Pace accepts a lift from his mark, simply known as The Prince (producer/actor Rami Jaber of 2 Hours 2 Vegas, Fate, Tough Love, The Misfits, Last Man Standing, WarHunt and The Good Neighbor). A con man, fixer and wheeler and dealer of justice.

His crew, the Misfits deal justice to people cheating the system, swindlers, deadbeat dads and general scumbags. The Prince's face, Ringo (Producer/writer/actor Nick Cannon of All That, Shall We Dance, Roll Bounce, Even Money, Monster House, Weapons, Day of the Dead, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Berserk and The Misfits), hardass strong armViolet (Jamie Chung of Samurai Girl, Dragonball Evolution, Sorority Row, Sucker Punch, The Hangover Part II, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Gotham, 1985, The Gifted, Sherwood and Dangerous Lies) and explosives expert Wick (Mike Angelo of Full House, Surprise, Raak Boon 2, Wuxin: The Monster Killer, Kiss Me, My Little Princess and Mr. Swimmer). 

 

WHAT?! WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This crew brings Pace a chance to pull a major heist. In one of the prisons outside Dubai is devices set aside for terrorism campaigns. 35 million in gold bars. The thing is they want to steal the gold and do good with it. Pace has been looking out for himself since he started being a thief. It has costed him a marriage and a strained relationship with his daughter, Hope (Hermione Corfield of 50 Kisses, Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Fallen, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, The Halcyon, Bees Make Honey, Star Wars: Episode VIII- The Last Jedi, Rust Creek and Slaughterhouse Rulez), a UNICEF worker and may have learned a fair amount of skills from her father at an impressionable age. Bumping into Hope, the alarm bells go off in my head. An impressive caper, the random encounter with his daughter and Shultz hot on his heels?? C'mon Pace, there are no coincidences.

Hope still holds out...well hope that her father can be altruistic and do some good by removing this gold to avoid future terrorism. The crew is solid, the plan is feasible but there is a lot of planning and prep. Thankfully "The Prince" has deep, deep pockets. Think Tony Stark mixed with even more connections and contacts. Less armored suits of course.

Will Pace and crew pull this off? Will Shultz have them all in the slammer?

So overall, it is a pretty predictable story but I have seen enough heist flicks that the formulae is easy enough to create. The dialogue feels dummy down to appeal to a larger audience but it doesn't detract from the full staple in the film. Six individuals doing good and is loving every minute of it. It didn't blow me away but it was well-executed.

 Pierce and Jamie have a bit of sexual tension there and that felt like they just wanted the same effect of Grace Kelly and Cary Grant via To Catch a Thief with a mixture of The Italian Job car stunts and Ocean's Eleven worthy con jobs. As a whole, it was an enjoyable film and I could watch again. 

 

I miss teleporting.

 

The Fast and the Furious

Hey folks. Well the week has been tragic as I will be attending the funeral of my little brother in a few days. He leaves behind 4 kids that will have a hard struggle to move on but I will do what I can to assist that. Today I thought we would look at one of his favorite movies. So get ready for far too much vehicular terminology, over the top action, hot guys and girls.

This is The Fast and the Furious.

'Sup playa?

LAPD officer Brian O'Connor (the late Paul Walker of Timeline, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Noel, Into the Blue, Running Scared, Flags of our Fathers, Bobby Z and Fast & Furious) is undercover to conduct investigations of potential illegal street racers are responsible for boosting semi trucks of their cargo. Like pirates of the highway. A little over 1.2 million dollars in stolen electronics has been boosted. Guess the manifests on these cargo containers didn't include SERIAL NUMBERS!!!

Okay that SNAFU writing aside, Brian is undercover racing himself, hooks up with a crew led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Disel of Boiler Room,Pitch Black, Knockaround Guys, XXX, The Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Last Witchhunter and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), a gear head with a heart of gold looking out for his baby sister Mia (Jordana Brewster of The Faculty, As the World Turns, D.E.B.S., The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, American Heist and Dallas), his sorta girl Letty (Michelle Rodriguez of Resident Evil, Blue Crush, S.W.A.T., BloodRayne, The Breed, Avatar, Machete, Resident Evil: Retribution and The Assignment), mechanic guru Jesse (Chad Lindberg of The Rookie, The Last Samurai, Adam and Ever, Punk Love, Crimes of the Past, I Spit on Your Grave and Rise of the Zombies) and gruff Vince (Matt Schulze of Blade II, The Transporter, Seven Mummies, Final Move, Mr. Brooks, The Flock and Fast Five).

Crap. Did I turn the oven off?

Thick as thieves this lot is as Brian worms his way into their albeit odd family, trying to dig dirt on the other racers in the hopes that his suspicions aren't valid. I will always get the biggest kick out of Brian's commanding officer, Sgt. Tanner (Ted Levine of Silence of the Lambs, Nowhere to Run, Detonator, The Mangler, Mad City, Superman the Animated Series, Monk, Wild Wild West, Evolution and Justice League).   I remember watching this with my brother not trying to riff the film and scream about lotion in the basket. That took some work, let me tell you.

As these sort of story lines go, naturally Brian starts to fall for Mia and the two become close. Dominic isn't thrilled about this at all. He and Brian meet eye-to-eye on this and the issue has been shelved for later. Vince who has had a thing for Mia since they were kids takes it pretty piss poor and jumps Brian.

The two hash it out and Vince is still honked off about the whole chain of events. And hey rap fans! Ja Rule is in this. Yeah I sense no one giving a crap.

Will Brian be able to do his job without compromising his feelings for Mia? Can the cops ever figure out how these thefts are really happening? Will the FBI pay Brian to learn to surf? Whoa.

Okay final thoughts, this is part heist movie and part gear head racer flick. It operates at a good solid pace, the characters are fleshed out so nothing feels like window dressing.

Bottom line is while I have seen this same formula to death (Hence the Point Break reference), it does not diminish the performances that actually come out well.

And while I was never a huge Paul Walker fan, he did touch quite a few souls and was a decent man.

Okay I will be flying out in a while, if you have any thoughts on films I should be looking over, toss me a message on the blog, Facebook page and Twitter.

Rest in Peace, Tristan. I still cannot believe you're gone.

Anime Absurdity: Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen's Gravestone

Howdy folks, so Tuesday was evil brain issues, yesterday I had to grab a nerve block shot and host my first visited podcast for Rotten Ramblin' On. That is getting processed right now so hopefully the director Dustin Ferguson and his friends, family and co-workers have a good time with it. That being said, back to the anime. Today's flick we follow the legendary thief Lupin the third, with Jigen getting into typical mischief as they are out for treasure, the Little Comet. This is Lupin the 3^rd: Jigen's Gravestone.

Those pesky Mormons will follow you anywhere.

Partnered up for the latest gig, Lupin and Jigen are catching up after Fujiko Mine, Jigen has just left a bodyguard engagement where the queen of fictional land of West Doroa, was killed by a sniper that has a gravestone issued for each of his victims before he kills them. Lupin and Jigen give chase for this assassin they discovered is Yael Okuzaki has left a headstone for Jigen. The clock is tickling, our assassin is hot on their trail taking his time and playing with his opponent for the simple fact he really gets a challenge let alone a fellow professional to combat with. He also lets fate decide how many bullets he will use rolling a six-sided die to determine how many shots will be needed.

This film has kind of a different from the typical heist film, we have some great shootouts, an excellent car chase and well a sort of slip and slide and downright filthy dance and BDSM number with Fujiko with some sort of bot, lubricants and metallic tentacles. Yeah folks, this is definitely NOT for the kiddies. Pops or Inspector Zenigata does not get a huge part in the particular film and that irked me so.

Fujiko remembers she is wearing more clothes than her contract allows.

Shockingly enough Fujiko is at the very castle after Little Comet and the dirt on East Doroa's effects in social, political and economic offering info in kick backs, pay offs and all sorts of incrimination but...Fujiko gets abducted several men in elaborate masks that drop her in with said robot for whatever warped hentai scenario was on the rise. Now why Goemon is not around for this outing is being me. Guess the swordmaster had other things to do this time.

Can Lupin save his friends, get the try and find out who hired Okuzaki thus putting a stop to him? It's a pretty tall order but hey, it's Lupin.

The story's overall vibe follows the Monkey Punch traits of perversion on Lupin's behalf, some light comedy interspersed with drama, some action and good times to be had.

As a fan of the franchise, I took away that this was more geared towards adults and really allows for future takes and continuation. It's got a decent story, the action is packed and a good steady pace for the film. Our Japanese and English voice cast know what they're doing giving each signature character the nearest equivalent of that of the series has been. Not a bad flick so dig up Jigen's Gravestone when you have the chance.

Seems quiet enough.

Director Week: Stanley Kubrick- The Killing

Good day and welcome to Day 1 of Director Week: Stanley Kubrick. I wanted to tap into some of his earliest works and this little film noir came my way. Our Director Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey) helmed our movie as it was his third full-length feature film about a robbery gone wrong. So let’s hold out in the flop house, clean and prep the Roscoes and try to keep a cool head. This is The Killing.

GIN!!   Dammit, we are playing Poker!!

Our movie’s leading role ain’t one of the good guys but a career criminal that is planning one last score before he and the missus settle down for the house with the white picket fence. Tough guy Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden of Flaming Feather, Hellgate, The Golden Hawk, The Star, So Big, Dr. Strangelove and 1900) is as vicious as they come but with a heart of gold. His doll baby Fay (Coleen Gray of Kiss of Death, Red River, Kansas City Confidential and Cry from the Mountain) is a gal with great stems and a can do attitude and Johnny would move the heavens just to give her a better view.

With a few choice teammates he assembled Johnny plans to rob a little over two million dollars from a racetrack during a high stakes race. With using a betting teller George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr. of The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, House on Haunted Hill, Blacula and Salem’s Lot: The Movie) giving the access to the back room, a crackshot sniper who is cold as they come, Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey of Rio Conchos, Beach Blanket Bingo, Gunsmoke, A Time for Killing, Head and What’s the Matter with Helen?) a corrupt cop Randy (Ted de Corsia of The Lady from Shanghai, The Naked City, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Delta Factor), a wrestler Maurice (Pro Wrestler Kola Kwariani of The Killing) for crowd distraction. The deck is stacked and ready for game time.

Pour you a boob er um a glass??

One slight hitch is George blabs the plan to his annoyed wife Sherry (Marie Windsor of Force of Evil, The Narrow Margin, Swamp Diamonds, The Day Mars Invaded Earth, Bedtime Story and Salem’s Lot: The Movie) who schemes to get her gunsel boy toy Val Cannon (Vince Edwards of Ben Casey, The Victors, The Devil’s Brigade, The Return of Ben Casey and Son of Darkness: To Die For II) to rob the lot of them and do them in if they get out of line. The heist is set and everyone knows their part but George tells Johnny his wife knows everything and Johnny takes care of business with Sherry telling her to know her place and she and George are getting a big piece of the action as it is. Will the scheme go off without complications or will it blow up in their faces?

A handful of facts now. Our lead Sterling Hayden pocketed a cool 40 gees while Kubrick didn't get a dime. Jack Palance and Victor Mature were alsom considered for the part of Johnny Clay.

Kirk Douglas was so blown away by the film that he sought out Kubrick for Paths of Glory. Shot in 24 days, Kubrick was dissatisfied with the use of narrative in this fim because most of the information was either in error or just plain false. Day of Violence and and Bed of Fear were the working titles for this movie and frankly I think we can all agree that The Killing hits all the requirements for a title.

Mugsy the Clown goes on a shooting spree, slaying five!

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.

#425!!!! Dirty Harry Week: The Enforcer

Hello you Harry fans and welcome to Day 3 of Dirty Harry Week.  Our installment this time around deals with hostages, militants and lots of military hardware.  With two sects of revolutionaries harassing the good citizens of San Francisco, it's up to Inspector Callahan to wage in and cash these punks out.  This is The Enforcer.

Harry, slow down . I'm in heels for crying out loud.

Harry Callahan: Here's a seven-point suppository, Captain.
Capt McKay: What did you say?
Harry Callahan: I said stick it in your spoiler.


Marin County lose a few gas company men as they are lured away from their route by a little blonde with great legs, Miki (Jocelyn Jones of  The Other Side of the Mountain,The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, Fun and Games and Nowhere to Run) who assists her psycho former Vietnam Vet boyfriend and all around thug Bobby (DeVeren Bookwalter of The Omega Man, Cover Girls, Manhole, Evita Peron and Richard II).  Bobby's crew calls themselves the People's Revolutionary Strike Force (which makes a really crappy acronym) who plan to use the van and uniforms for a heist.

Callahan and DiGiorgio (John Mitchum of Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Telefon and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains) are on the scene of a liquor store robbery gone bad and they have hostages.  They demand a fast car with a police radio before they give up any hostages.  Callahan drives his squad car through a plate glass window and ventilates the perps thus saving the day.   Callahan's uptight wank of a Captain chews Callahan's butt for the damage to the store and the injury of the hostages from flying glass sending Harry to Personnel.

Typical Tuesday in San Fran.

DiGiorgio is wounded stumbling on the PRSF's weapons heist, including LAW rockets and M-16s and Harry is assigned to the case along with a new female inspector Kate Moore (Tyne Daly of Cagney & Lacey, The Last to Go, Face of a Stranger, Christy, Bye Bye Birdie and The Autumn Heart).  Working the streets, Harry sits in with a black militant group Uhuru, our former Vietnam Vet was associated with and the leader of the group tells Harry what he needs to know and pretty much establishes to get that psycho off the street before he sees black and white squaddies in his neighborhood.

Harry and Kate are in hot pursuit now but can they find these lunatics before all hell breaks loose?
I had a quick couple of observations on the film now.  The two militant organizations are clearly based off of the Symbionese Liberation Army (the folks that brainwashed Patty Hearst) and the Black Panther Party but for obvious reasons they did not use either real named parties.

The Enforcer cleared over $60 million stateside and another $120 million overseas making this one of the most grossing Eastwood movies of its time.  The biggest SNAFU of this movie was a lawsuit aimed at Eastwood for the title The Enforcer.  Writer Bretaigne Windust (June Bride, The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Winter Meeting) was annoyed his title ending up as Eastwood's working title and Eastwood simply stated that is where the inspiration came from.  Warner Brothers produced both films of course and the case was dismissed.

We don't dig the establishment, man!

A Dash of Film Noir: The Asphalt Jungle

What’s going on teen gang and welcome back to Day 3 of A Dash of Film Noir Week.   Apparently I cannot stay away from the Sterling Hayden films as I am about to review a directorial from John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Red Badge of Courage, The African Queen, Fat City and The Man Who Would Be King) movie now.  Full of capers, heists, double crosses and a bit of gun play.  So put up some scratch, get the gear and let’s make this gig go like clockwork.  This is The Asphalt Jungle.

Got your swag here, Mac but you know my price.

May Emmerich: Oh Spoiler, when I think of all those awful people you come in contact with –downright criminals-  I get scared.

Alonzo D. Emmerich: Oh, there’s nothing so different about them. After all, crime is only… a left-handed form of human behavior.

Doc Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe of Gunga Din, 13 Rue Madeleine, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Ben-Hur and Ben Casey) is out of the clink after a seven year stretch when he heads to a Midwestern town that looks a bit like Cincinnati but is never named to a bookie named Cobby (Mark Lawrence of Helen of Troy, Kill Her Gently, The Detectives, The Untouchables, Johnny Cool and Johnny Tiger) to arrange a pow wow with a lawyer named Emmerich (Louis Calhern of Duck Soup, Notorious, Julius Caesar, Blackboard Jungle and Forever, Darling) to put enough cabbage together to hire a crew to steal jewelry that totals over a million buckaroos. 

HellOoOOoOooOO Niece!

Doc needs 50 large to get him a safe cracker, a wheel man and a thug.  Emmerich agrees to front cash for the heist and then nonchalantly what fences he would use if he were a criminal.  Doc snags a safe cracker name of Louie Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso of Watch on the Rhine, A Gun in His Hand, Baby Face Nelson and Death Feud) a pro but cautious fellow that never works without some people he can trust and recommends Gus Minissi (character actor James Whitmore of The Law and Mr. Jones, Planet of the Apes, Chuka, The Shawshank Redemption and The Relic) as their getaway driver and lastly Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden of The Killing, Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather and Deadly Strangers) a strong arm with a whole lot of attitude.

And now I had just a few comments to be made here.  With the intricate planning and heist in play you have an intense scene over 11 minutes long.  No cutaways but a slight fade to progress time and each character looks like they have been through the wringer.  Hayden’s hard guy performance switches so many gears from the thug with the gun to the man that would do anything for his gal.  I started laughing when Mark Lawrence hit the screen because the only other character I know he has done is Ziggy from Key Largo. 

The biggest attention grabber of this movie is still Doll Conovan (Jean Hagen of Adam’s Rib, Singin’ in the Rain and The Shaggy Dog).  This lady must cling to the spotlight opposite young Marilyn Monroe and they both bring their a game in their scenes it was amazing.   Make no mistake here people this film is all Sam Jaffe but his supporting cast was astounding.  Oh and FYI, no musical score during the whole heist which for me gives a better element of realism.  Today we would be slammed with techno or hip hop with the score is going down.

This guy makes loan sharks seem warm and cuddly.

A Dash of Film Noir: The Killing

Hey there gang and welcome to Day 1 of A Dash of Film Noir Week.   I was scouring through the film archives and came across what I can call a fine example of the genre.  Fortunately a seasoned director had his hands on this flick.   Director Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey) helmed our movie as it was his third full-length feature film about a robbery gone wrong.  So let’s hold out in the flop house, clean and prep the roscoes and try to keep a cool head.  This is The Killing.

So fellas, gin rummy anyone?

Johnny Clay: Alright spoiler, that’s a mighty pretty head you got on your shoulders. You want to keep it there or start carrying it around in your hands?

Our movie’s leading role ain’t one of the good guys but a career criminal that is planning one last score before he and the missus settle down for the house with the white picket fence.  Tough guy Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden of Flaming Feather, Hellgate, The Golden Hawk, The Star, So Big, Dr. Strangelove and 1900) is as vicious as they come but with a heart of gold. His doll baby Fay (Coleen Gray of Kiss of Death, Red River, Kansas City Confidential and Cry from the Mountain) is a gal with great stems and a can do attitude and Johnny would move the heavens just to give her a better view.

Oh Johnny, why can't you be more like Burt Lancaster?

With a few choice teammates he assembled Johnny plans to rob a little over two million dollars from a racetrack during a high stakes race.  With using a betting teller George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr. of The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, House on Haunted Hill, Blacula and Salem’s Lot: The Movie) giving the access to the back room, a crackshot sniper who is cold as they come, Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey of Rio Conchos, Beach Blanket Bingo, Gunsmoke, A Time for Killing, Head and What’s the Matter with Helen?) a corrupt cop Randy (Ted de Corsia of The Lady from Shanghai, The Naked City, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Delta Factor),  a wrestler Maurice (Pro Wrestler Kola Kwariani of  The Killing) for crowd distraction. The deck is stacked and ready for game time. 

One slight hitch is George blabs the plan to his annoyed wife Sherry (Marie Windsor of Force of Evil, The Narrow Margin, Swamp Diamonds, The Day Mars Invaded Earth, Bedtime Story and Salem’s Lot: The Movie) who schemes to  get her gunsel boy toy Val Cannon (Vince Edwards of Ben Casey, The Victors, The Devil’s Brigade, The Return of Ben Casey and Son of Darkness: To Die For II) to rob the lot of them and do them in if they get out of line.   The heist is set and everyone knows their part but George tells Johnny his wife knows everything and Johnny takes care of business with Sherry telling her to know her place and she and George are getting a big piece of the action as it is.   Will the scheme go off without complications or will it blow up in their faces?  Hey check it out because it is another brilliant Kubrick film.

When clowns turn to crime!!

Film Noir Week : The Maltese Falcon

Well hello there boys and girls and welcome to Day 5 of Film Noir Week and of course we go out with a bang.   Very few are aware of the predecessor in 1931 starring Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez but I am certain several know the 1941 classic starring Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor and Peter Lorre.   So roll me a snipe, keep watch out dat window and have the rod at the ready.   This is The Maltese Falcon.

By gads sir, you are a spade and I am calling it such.

Spoilers take slaps and like it!

Private Eyes Spade and Archer have a corner office in an otherwise respectable neighborhood in an unrespectable business. Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart of A Devil with Women, Big City Blues, The Petrifed Forest, To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep) takes a meeting with a babe in the woods, Miss Wanderly (Mary Astor of No Time to Marry, Midnight, Listen Darling, Meet Me in St. Louis and Desert Fury) worried over her missing sister with a bum name of Thrusby, pointing out that he is a dangerous man and not to be trifled with but our boys assure her all the way they can handle it.  

*looks at Archer* NOT IT!

Spade gets a call at night to come to a crime scene.  He patters down only to find his partner at the bottom of a hill with one slug in him.  Next thing he knows is the cops are grilling him for info.  What was his partner after; who did he work for and so on.  Detective Tom Polhaus (Ward Bond of Night Key, Topper, Dead End, 3 Godfathers, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Searchers and Wagon Train) takes a softball approach with Spade and offer an olive branch rather than his hardnosed and hard headed Lieutenant’s approach of hoist him in for questioning and sweat him under a lamp, possibly plant a weapon on him with a bottle of rye. 

 Spade is back trailing Miss Wanderly who shock and gasp turns out to be Miss O’ Shaughnessy and she fields more than a few questions on what she is chasing and what has scared he like a rabbit in a hole.   Three other such criminals are also after said item, a black bird statue.  Thrusby once worked with Shaughnessy but he decided to cut her out of the action and strike out on her own.  While Sam is back in the office a gentleman name of Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre of M, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Casablanca, My Favorite Brunette and Quicksand) first holds him at gunpoint and attempts to search his office, Sam chuckles and makes short work of the little triggerman. 

Colt .45 gets 'em every time.

All this cloak and dagger leads back to a larger gentleman name of Gutman (Sydney Greentstreet of They Died with Their Boots On, In This Our Life, Casablanca, Background to Danger and Passage to Marseille) who has spent 17 years tracking the black bird from royalty to privateer to private collector.  The bird is said to be a gift to King Charles the 5^th of Spain, and the bird has enamel over it to conceal riches that is embedded within.   The chase is on and who will get the bird and who will be holding the bag?