Starring: Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, Will Hutchins, Charles Eastman, Guy El Tsosie, Brandon Carroll, B.J. Merholz, Wally K. Berns, William Mackleprang, James Campbell
Tagline: Suspenseful desert pursuit in the "High Noon" tradition.
Plot: A mysterious woman persuades two cowboys to help her in a revenge scheme.
My rating: 8/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
That tagline is horseshit to bring up HIGH NOON (1952) like that. The only thing they have in common is they're both Westerns and they both have suspense but the tension is quite different. And that trailer wasn't released until at least 1970, four years after this flick. Anyway, I REALLY dig this movie. I had a hunch about the ending early on because they kept avoiding the identity of their prey but that didn't take away from it's power much. The film is masterfully directed by Hellman. The cast essentially consists of four characters. Coley (Hutchins), Woman (Perkins), Billy (Nicholson) and Willett (Oates). Hutchins annoyed me at first but by the second half his goofiness had settled down and grasped the reality of the situation. From then on he was great. Perkins? I'm not sure if I didn't like her character or acting. She was a pissy little brat, the kind of character I don't like anyway. I have my own ideas of what happened to her after the credits rolled. That brings us to Warren Oates who, along with screenwriter Eastman and director Hellman (who I see died in April of last year at age 91), helped make this movie the great film it is. He fucking kills it. My only regret is the film is as short as it is. I would be on board for another half hour of drama that goes beyond the end of the picture. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to visualize that. Don't misunderstand, I loved the ending it's just that I would like to see certain people get what's coming to them and all slow and painful like. Get me? A lot of this crew filmed this back to back with RIDE THE WHIRLWIND (1966). I saw that one a long time ago and I remember liking it OK but after seeing THE SHOOTING, I think I should wait a minute as RIDE is probably the lesser of the two. Plus Oates wasn't in it.
Plot: Merle Hench (Eric Roberts) is an enforcer for a mob outfit. He's set up to take the fall for a multi-million dollar heist of a rival mob boss. Merle's luck turns as he survives the trap and winds up with a piece of the take and the girl. He might have been content to just disappear, but the betrayal of his twenty years of loyalty snapped something inside.
My rating: 4/10
Will I watch it again? No.
Stuntman turned writer/director, Jesse V. Johnson, directed eight pictures before this one. I'd say that's a lot. I'm surprised because this is a REALLY long 95 minute flick. It's so fucking slow. The music score is mostly a slow, steady electronic beat, the kind you get when someone is on a heist and they're being super stealthy. That makes the movie even longer. Everything about this is so casual in its pacing that it almost feels like you're in one of those dreams where you're running but it's in slow motion and you can barely move. I wonder why it's like this because it certainly doesn't have to be.
The cast does an OK job. Roberts doesn't give up the cool tough guy routine for a moment (which gets laughably old). That slows things down since he's giving a one-note performance. That's OK if you dig the tune but it's the combination of everything else in this that the total weighs it down. There is a good deal of slow motion. Scenes are too long and the ending is really stretched out. Around an hour into this I thought it was wrapping up and I was only two-thirds in. Ugh. I'm trying to be positive here and I don't mean to come of like an angry guy who just says, "It sucks!" about movies and leaves it at that. This would be an interesting project to give to people to play with the editing and the music and see how much better this could be. I'm not saying this needs to move at a break neck speed but this picture is unnecessarily slow.
Tagline: The mob put the finger on Slaughter...so he gave them the finger right back--curled tight around a trigger!
Plot: When a gunman in a plane tries to pull a "fly-by" on Slaughter, he knows his battle with the mob -- and corrupt cops -- is far from over. Helped by an honest detective and a good-hearted pimp, Slaughter goes on a mission to expose a list that names every politician and policeman on the mob dole. But it won't be easy. The list is in the home safe of the big man himself (McMahon) and he'll do anything -- including kidnapping Slaughter's babe -- to keep it!
My rating: 6/10
Will I watch it again? Nah.
I think seeing this one two times is enough. It's an almost worthy sequel to SLAUGHTER (1972). It's not as good but it's still better than the average Blaxploitation flick of the day. Jim Brown's still kicking ass. He seems more alive in this one than some of his others where it looks like he just woke up. Having Ed McMahon as the big bad, Duncan, was great except it would've been truly amazing if he had some action. Just having Slaughter and Duncan in a knockdown fistfight (using some good stunt doubling, camerawork and editing) would've killed. Don Stroud is a good, dependable choice for the heavy. It's not a bad picture. There's enough action sprinkled here and there to hold your attention and keep you entertained. Anyone who crosses Slaughter's path and doesn't play nice gets their asses handed to them in short order.
Starring: Tim Klein, Jim Potersmith, Dantes Sivilla, Jordan Zucker, Dave Kallawy, Adrian Robinson, Leonard Jackson, Joshua Paolini, Chelsey Pinegar, Sammy Moraos, Daniel, Lowow, Matt Rosler, Gordon Prince, Ben Amick
More info: ?
Plot: A young Jewish boy is jealous of all the other kids who get great presents for Christmas when he just gets a dreidel. Jump to twenty years later and that boy has grown into a vengeful hero of sorts, meting out justice to those who celebrate Christmas, specifically Santa Claus.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? Sure, it's only six minutes long.
Shot in black & white, this film school project of Kesselman's while studying film at USC is pretty damn funny. The last frame of the end credits say copyright 2000, USC, so I'm connecting some dots here. And it is pretty damn funny. No dots there. I don't think there's a word spoken and there doesn't need to be because you totally understand the kid's disappointment when it comes to December gift giving time. As an adult, he's all about the drugs, chicks and violence. Kesselman was able to turn this idea into a feature film (his first) three years later with The Hebrew Hammer (2003). It's funny. Is this the first Jewsploitation movie? Probably. Now I just need to see the 2003 film.
Starring: Peter O'Brian, Craig Gavin, Lia Warokka, Dana Christina, Kaharudin Syah, Harry Capri, Yenny Farida, Adrian Nugraha, Adang Mansyur, Kandar Sinyo
Tagline: An action-packed fast hitting thriller based on a crime soaked urban jungle
Plot: Rambu, a former cop and now a lone vigilante, goes after the crime syndicate that killed his wife.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? Yes!
Boy, was this a blast! The opening scene sells the shit out of what is to come (watch the above clip). This picture is cheesy fun like few others. I'm definitely going to watch this again but next time it'll be with friends and liquor. For a low budget movie that hardly anyone has probably even heard of, it's actually well made. The fight scenes are well choreographed and edited with precision. They're done better than a lot of Hollywood flicks. Peter O'Brian (as Rambu) just kills it with his physicality and stunt fighting skills. And this guy's physique and presence are very good. Along with the big hair, he's frequently looking like Stallone's Rambo which adds to the fun. There's a little nudity (yay) and lots of kills (yay, yay), it moves briskly and it's a lot of fun. If you dig the opening scene, just wait until about halfway through the picture when you get to the auto rickshaw & dirt bike fight scene. WOW!!! It's low budget in the way DEADLY PREY (1987) and FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY (1981) are and just as fun to watch. Find it and enjoy yourself.
Writers: Alexandre Dumas, Philip Dunne, Dan Totheroh, Rowland V. Lee
Composer: Alfred Newman
Starring: Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Raymond Walburn, O.P. Heggie, Irene Hervey, Georgia Caine, Walter Walker, Lawrence Grant, Luis Alberni
Tagline: An Eye For An Eye...But Three Lives Must Pay For Mine!
Plot: After greedy men have Edmound Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years
for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to get
his revenge on them.
My rating: 6.5/10
Will I watch it again? Nope.
It's OK. It's got that stagy quality you'd sometimes get from epics of this era where the acting is sometimes melodramatic to a fault. The sets and costumes look great, though. The picture was never dull so it's got that going for it. It's not a very rousing rendition of the classic Dumas story but I couldn't help but think that if this picture were handled by Warner Bros. instead of United Artists and then putting some better actors in the leads (like Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains), then you'd have a much more enjoyable movie. Donat does OK but he's not bringing the vigor and charisma I think this character needs.
Starring: Chris Rea, Felicity Kendal, John Cleese, Bob Hoskins, Diana Rigg, Ben Kingsley, Joanna Lumley, Oliver Reed, Gareth Hunt, Nicholas Gecks, Patrick Ryecart, Peter Davison
Tagline: When Harry found out he had six weeks to live, something snapped...and it wasn't his camera.
Plot: After learning he is dying of cancer, a failed photographer illegally
buys a pistol and decides to go vigilante and get his revenge on all
those who have made his life a misery.
My rating: 6.5/10
Will I watch it again? Probably not.
I'm a fan of so many of the people involved in this that it's hard for me not to like this but it is an often hilarious movie trapped in a boring one and that I can't deny. Just look at the massive, talented cast and just pull the trigger and watch it. Maybe fifteen minutes in you'll see what I mean. It drags often and hard. The cast is fantastic. Initially I wasn't sure if non-actor/pop star Chris Rea was going to hurt the picture or help it but eventually I settled into his relaxed style and I loved him by the end of it. It doesn't help that the always adorable and fun Felicity Kendal is with him for much of it. Besides Winner's oddly poor pacing problems, the score has moments of being just plain bad. Even if you're not a film score nutter like me you're likely to come to the same conclusion if you notice the music at all. Woof, it's off. Story-wise it's a better film than what we're left with on screen, and considering the tremendous cast and how funny they are in this, it's a damn shame that it's not an overall better picture. With the right handling I can see this up there with the likes of A FISH CALLED WANDA (1988).
Tagline: There was only one thing more terrifying than leaving the house... staying in it.
Plot: A writer suffering from agoraphobia rents an isolated house so she can
concentrate on her writing. She doesn't know that the house is a former
brothel, and is inhabited by the ghosts of dead prostitutes.
My rating: 6/10
Will I watch it again? No.
There's a good story here but it's in the execution that brings it down. Ghost whores seeking revenge from the grave? Are you kidding me? How did this not work better? Robin Groves does a great job in the lead as Lauren, the woman tormented by all kinds of things. She's got a lot to do, acting wise, and she sells it. She's even better when you consider it's her first feature and second credit. Some of the other actors are lacking in skill but it's not enough to hurt the flick all that much. It's a good looking film. The direction and cinematography are pretty good. It's the pacing that almost kills it. It's 103 minutes and it should be much shorter. There's A LOT of back story told in flashback. It is necessary to some degree to do it this way because the audience needs to be kept in the dark until the right moment just as Lauren was. The music often feels cheap. That could've been a budgetary restraint but the more likely reason is that this is the only score Scholes composed and the last of two that Malken wrote. So there's that. There is a little bit of welcome nudity and there's at least one terrific and grisly death. I guess I'm disappointed this wasn't better than it was.
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson, Udo Kier, Marc Blucas, Dion Mucciacito, Geno Segers, Victor Almanzar, Tom Guiry, Willie C. Carpenter, Mustafa Shakir, Fred Melamed
Plot: A former boxer-turned-drug runner lands in a prison battleground after a deal gets deadly.
My rating: 7.5/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
OK, so the movie is two hours and twelve minutes long. It starts off as one of those perfect storms of bad days for Bradley (Vaughn). He's a tough guy but he has incredible will power and he's able to keep himself calm in the most fucked up situations. He's not a violent man, per se, but he can dish out the violence at a moment's notice when he needs to. This film is the textbook definition of liesurely paced. It's slooooowwww. Exactly halfway into the picture the plot thickens in a most unexpected way. I realize that I paid for the whole seat but now I'm only using the edge. Hahahahahaha. But seriously, it's the kind of moment when you straighten yourself up and pay more attention. Now there are periodic moments of violence and fucked up shit going on but the pacing never really picks up that much so it still feels slow. I thought I knew where this was going but Zahler made sure I didn't and I love him for it. It's unpredictable in a way that almost always comes from a fresh, new voice in filmmaking. I really dig the film. Don't let anyone spoil it for you. It's the kind of movie that stuck with me for a couple of days and I began liking it more and more. I think the next time I see it I'll have to juice up my score. Fans of genre films should dig this but it's not some easily digestible piece of exploitation cinema. It's roots are there but this is something smarter, classier and more challenging to watch and I'm better for it. This is Zahler's second film. His first is BONE TOMAHAWK (2015). It's been on my watch list since it was released and now I feel ashamed for not having watched it yet. I'm going to fix that very soon. His third film could be out this year. He's working with Vaughn, Carpenter, Johnson and Kier again and it has one of the coolest titles ever...DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE. What a fucking amazing title. If that weren't enough, it's also starring Mel Gibson (hopefully in full on hardcore mode) and Michael Jai White.
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Guigino, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Maggie Grace, Moon Bloodgood, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Tom Berenger, Mike Epps, Xander Berkeley, Michael Irby, Josh Clark
Plot: An ex-con gets on a series of apparently unrelated killings. He gets
tracked by a veteran cop with secrets of his own and an egocentric hit
man.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? No.
For the most part this flick is badass. Driver (Johnson) is a Terminator-style killing machine. When it comes to exacting revenge he's just like a Terminator in his execution. NOTHING gets in this guy's way. Cop (Thornton) has an interesting character arc that I totally dug even if if felt a little too obvious. Then the third big player in this picture is Killer (Jackson-Cohen), one that got on my nerves a few times, who is a very young hitman for hire tasked at taking out Driver. He talks too much and spells out everything to his girlfriend, to whom he marries. His arrogance gets old. The story is good enough and it has some interesting elements but it doesn't feel as thoroughly thought out as it needed to be. It's so close to being a very good movie but there's just enough holding it back that I'm not sure if I'll ever want to revisit it and I'm sure I'll be tempted. Oh, and isn't the the same wedding chapel from KILL BILL (2003)?
Tagline: By mistake they killed his wife and child - THAT was a hell of a mistake!
Plot: A mob hitman wants to retire, but his bosses don't think that's a good idea. Complications--and many bloody shootouts-ensue.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? No.
Fans of the Poliziotteschi genre will dig this more than others. It's got some great car chases and action scenes but it's the pacing that would be a deal killer for a novice Eurocrime viewer. The movie is better than average but there are moments where it goes above and beyond like the aforementioned action scenes. They're nicely edited and executed. The plot is a by the numbers revenge picture so what's needed, as long as nothing sucks, is good action, kills, maybe some nudity (there's a little) and a good ending. This picture ticks off those boxes. I dig the ending but it could've been handled a little better. It's not hard to guess what's going to happen. If it had been, that would've been something. Overall the movie can be a little slow going but there's enough to punctuate it throughout to keep it interesting. I've seen it twice now and I think that's all I need.
Plot: A short-tempered, violent criminal named "White Tiger" is on the run
from the police and joins a theater troupe for disguise, killing anyone
who angers him or who suspects his identity. One person he
unsuccessfully tries to kill several times is a cowardly laundry man
named "Mousy" who manages to escape mostly by running and hiding. When a
very close friend of Mousy's is killed by the White Tiger, Mousy
overcomes his cowardliness enough to seek revenge.
My rating: 7.5/10
Will I watch it again? Probably not but I'll definitely re-watch the dragon/lion dance scenes again.
I don't know about anyone else but I watch these 70s & 80s Kung Fu flicks for the fights. The humor rarely hits with me as it's usually coming from way over the top characters who can't possibly exist in real life. The story just needs to serve as a thread on which the Kung Fu action hangs. Those are my criteria. This one is a prime example. The fights are creative and fun and those dragon/lion dance sequences are just marvelous. The print I watched looked great in anamorphic widescreen. It was dubbed in English which wasn't bad but I got the feeling I would have preferred to watch it in the original Cantonese with English subs. Maybe the overbearing comic relief would've been toned down. This picture is one of the good ones from a genre and time when there were a lot of bad to just OK films. It's definitely worth checking out.
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Stefanie Powers, Michael Callan, Mariette Hartley, Luke Askew, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Ralph Waite, Melissa Murphy, William Lucking, James Sikking, Ed Lauter, Allyn Ann McLerie, Gary Busey, Robert Jaffe
Tagline: A Brand New Seven -- Doing Their Number! They put their lives on the line and let it ride!
Plot: Forced by personal circumstances, Marshal Chris Adams recruits a writer
and five prisoners to help him eliminate a gang of Mexican bandits.
My rating: 7.5/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
I have a lot to say about this one. This picture borders on greatness. Really. But it's a few little things that add up to enough to weigh it down with cheapness. First there's the town where Lee Van Cleef (as Chris) is the marshal. I shouldn't say it's the town that's the problem but however it was filmed. It looks a little cheap like it was shot for television.
That screenshot doesn't show it well enough but the town doesn't feel lived in and authentic as how it might in a bigger budgeted picture. Maybe it was the camera or the film but it just has that cheapness to the sets that I don't dig. Then you've got the music. Elmer Bernstein did all four of the Magnificent Seven films and each one uses the same main themes from the first one. They're great themes but they tend to get stale after a while mostly because they've been used in every film and they're used often. That problem carries over into this picture but there's the added problem of some of the cues being used inappropriately. I'm sure it was the fault of the director or studio who wanted to shoehorn those themes in as much as possible despite where the scene needed music or not or needed that theme or a new one. For example, the rousing main theme (you know the one) is heard when Chris and Noah (Callan) are headed South into Mexico to find the three bank robbers who kidnapped Chris' wife on the way out of town. MAGNIFICENT SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Chris and Noah find his wife dead and evidence that she was raped. Chris is naturally pissed and he's got some harsh revenge to mete out. They soon find two of the three men they're looking for and Chris, after a brief interrogation, kills them both in cold blood. Now keep in mind that he's a lawman held in such high esteem that he's on friendly terms with the Governor of his state. Minutes later he and Noah are riding to find the final bank robber. Now it's been more than established that Chris is a tough and hard man. He's a no bullshit kind of guy and his career body count is staggering. You don't fuck with this guy, see? So now he's hellbent on revenge at any cost and behind all of that is the rousing upbeat Magnificent Seven theme. Really? WTF? Exactly. This is just one of a few examples where the music is strangely inappropriately used. Bernstein does provide some wonderful music that was written for this film once Chris & Co. get to the small Mexican village where they take a stand.
The script in the first hour is sometimes clumsy with the dialogue. Every once in a while someone will say something forced or just plain dumb. The priest's entrance is a prime example. It literally feels like the actor was simply to stand there and not say much but the actor has other ideas and forcibly interjects himself into the conversation. It's awkward to say the least. Outside of these gripes (and to me they're big enough to hurt the picture), the movie is fucking fantastic. At this point in the picture (about a third in) shit gets real.
We're only told and shown just enough of the main baddie, the Mexican bandito know as De Toro (Ron Stein) to serve the film. He's got a little dialogue and I'm completely OK with that because there's a lot more going on with Chris' revenge plans, the criminals he recruited to help him and the town of nearly all women (because all of their men were killed by De Toro). De Toro was fleshed out to the right amount needed. The supporting characters are nicely done, especially Chris' criminal compatriots. Of the five of them you don't always know who is good (for Chris) and who isn't and the characters say or do things sometimes that change your opinions on them. Then there's one of the greatest cinema badasses of all time in the form of Lee Van Cleef. He's so hardcore badass in this movie I felt a vagina growing inside of me and my masculinity disappearing. And because he's who he is that it's really tough hearing people call him Chris. He's just not a Chris. It's too soft for this cat.
The final half of the picture is about as good as you can get. It's violent, brutal and fun. The Seven have a few tricks up their sleeve when De Toro comes a-ridin' into town and they do a fine job of it but not so well that it's going to be easy. They just even the odds out a little more like instead of 10 to 1 it's 6 to 1. There's no point in trying to figure out who makes it to the end credits or who snuffs it. The casualty list is long.
This is the last of the four Magnificent Seven pictures and I'm very impressed with this series (except for the second one, RETURN). As they stack up in my book it's the first one, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) (and some of that has to do with being the first and that amazing cast), the third, GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1969), the fourth (this one) and RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1966). I won't be seeing RETURN again. The rest will get many replays before I snuff it.
For what it's worth, this is as close to a smile as you get from Lee Van Cleef...
Directors: Victor M. Ordonez, Ed Palmos, Al Valletta
Writer: Robert E. Waters
Composer: Quito Colayco
Starring: Karin Mani, Robert Torti, Britt Helfer, Michael Wayne, Jon Greene, Jay Fisher, Claudia Decea, Tim Cutt, Jay Walker, Moriah Shannon, Marla STone, Kevin Velligan, Tony Oliver
Plot: A beautiful young martial arts expert stops a vicious street gang from
robbing her grandparents' house. The gang marks her for murder, but her
grandparents are killed instead. The girl sets out to take her revenge
on the gang.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? Yes!
Holy crap was this a fun piece of low budget goodness that I didn't see coming! How is it possible that star Karin Mani only starred in one movie (this one), kicking ass so nicely and doing a good job acting (more so for someone with so few credits) and not getting signed on for more kick ass pictures? I'm stupified. She's fantastic. No only is her fighting swift and powerful but she's smokin' hot to boot! The pacing is nice and brisk and there's some great lines, fights and a lot more great nudity (including her) than you'd think there'd be. I'm going to have to call a special council meeting and get the fellas over to the house to watch this. It's too much fun to keep to myself. And so are these...
Writers: Norm MacDonald, Frank Sebastiano, Fred Wolf
Composer: Richard Gibbs
Starring: Norm MacDonald, Jack Warden, Artie Lang, Traylor Howard, Don Rickles, Christopher McDonald, Chevy Chase, David Koechner, Rebecca Romijn, Gary Coleman, Ken Norton, Chris Farely, John Goodman, Adam Sandler
Tagline: Revenge is sweet (and surprisingly affordable)
Plot: A loser finds success in the revenge-for-hire business.
My rating: 7.5/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
The cast is filled with hilarious people and it's a surprisingly solid movie. I say surprisingly because you wouldn't think this would be anything more than a series of bits (which it is) with no concern for anything else. I'm a huge fan of Norm and others in the cast so that brings more funny to me than it would for other people. Don Rickles is hilarious. The pacing is slower than I'd like it and there's a lot of little bits of down time but there are enough really funny bits to keep it moving along enough for it not to bother me.
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Jack O'Connell, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Tantoo Cardinal, Adam David Thompson, Samantha Soule, Kayli Carter, Audrey Moore, Keith Jardine, Rio Alexander, Samuel Marty
Plot: Frank Griffin, an outlaw terrorizing the 1880s American West, hunts down
Roy Goode, his partner turned enemy. Roy hides out at a ranch as
Frank's chase leads him to La Belle, New Mexico - a town mysteriously
made up almost entirely of women.
My rating: 8/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
This Netflix miniseries of sorts (7 episodes for a total length of about 7 hours) is outstanding. The characters are well crafted and likable and sometimes even fun. My two favorites are Mary Agnes (Wever) and her brother Bill (McNairy). They're fabulous. I want more with these two. The story unfolds with a lot of flashbacks and you don't really know all of the backstory until almost the end and that works just fine. It's got a great sense of time and place, the locations are beautiful, the town feels lived in and there are a lot of characters that are easy to identify and follow. It's written and directed by the same guy that brought us LOGAN (2017), DEAD AGAIN (1991) and OUT OF SIGHT (1998). While I liked how he turned a lot of Western cliches upside down and played around with them, I bothered the piss out of me with little dumb shit like when during the big shootout in the town during the final episode, one of the women is shooting six irons in each hand and then spins them like a trick shooter. It's dumb horseshit like that that smacks of stupid Hollywood movies. Anyway, that's just a tiny peeve I have but the overall show is fantastic. I'm not sure if this was only ever meant to be a 7 episode run or if maybe it's a 'wait and see how it does' kind of a thing that might continue if it's popular enough. Well I definitely want to see more, A LOT MORE!
Starring: Cynthia Rothrock, Don Niam, John Miller, Donna Jason, Sunny David, Emille Davazac, Hang Yip Yim, Richard Yuen, Gerald Klein, William Buckley, Mike Sutton, Michael Sinclair Walter
Tagline: Out of the ring, into the fire... in a fight to the finish
Plot: Kristi Jones (Rothrock) avenges her sister's death at the hands of a crazed martial arts serial killer called Stingray (Niam).
My rating: 4/10
Will I watch it again? No.
So...this is my first Rothrock picture I've seen and judging by it, it might be the last. Her fighting is pretty good. There's lots of slo-mo and you can tell she's making contact with her blows. Her acting, though, isn't making contact. Maybe I should cut her some slack. It's only her 28th film. It doesn't matter because it's not like anyone else does much better in this thing. For a while it was pretty entertaining on some level, some of it being so bad it's good. But there was a point where I thought this was about to wrap up so I checked the time left and I was only 50 minutes into it with 40 more to go! That's not good. From there on out it was a chore to get to the finish line. Something should've been done about that. 90 minutes should not be a magic number films need to achieve, and that's especially for direct to video. At least the fighting was good but it sure would be nice if movies like this would give you a fight in real time where and where you don't see actors pull their punches or wait to get hit. Wouldn't it be nice if a fight lasted seconds but it was fought with real precision and speed? If there's a better Rothrock flick out there please let me know. I don't want to give up on this broad but I don't want to waste my time, either. I've got stacks of shitty movies begging for me.
Starring: Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Michel Constantin, Telly Savalas, Umberto Orsini, Ray Saunders, Benjamin Lev, Peter Dane, George Savalas, Beryl Salvatore, Robert Spafford, Goffredo Unger
Tagline: "The Godfather" Gave You an Offer You Couldn't Refuse. "The Family" Gives You No Alternative.
Plot: After a bloody double-cross leaves him for dead, professional hit man
Jeff tracks the shooter and his beautiful mistress to New Orleans. But
when Jeff takes both revenge and the woman, he finds himself blackmailed
by a powerful crime boss who wants the fiercely independent gunman to
join his organization. Jeff refuses, and is hunted through an
unforgiving city where love is like a loaded gun and debts of vengeance
are paid in bullets.
BRONSON'S AGE: 48 LEVEL OF BADASSICITY (10 being the highest): 10
This has been one of my favorite Bronson pictures for twenty years. It's a damn fine film. Bronson is great as is Ireland and Savalas. The characters and the story have more depth than your typical crime thriller. It takes a while for the story to unfold until you know most of what's been going on but there are some twists and turns that ultimately make this a film about more than just revenge. But let's not forget that revenge is sweet although it's sweeter for us the viewer than it is for Bronson. And the ending is masterfully executed. I LOVE this movie. Even Ennio Morricone's score has balls. You also get some shots of New Orleans not seen in other movies. This picture is a great example of how good a Bronson picture could be and one that a lot of people probably haven't seen. If you haven't, you should fix that.
Starring: Chris Robinson, Alex Rocco, Steve Alaimo, Susan Carroll, Mark Harris, Rey Baumel, Paul Avery, Marcia Knight, Gary Crutcher, Mel Pape, Milton 'Butterball' Smith, Pamela Talus, William Marquez
Plot: A young Seminole Indian uses his rattlesnake to take revenge on all those he believes have wronged him.
My rating: 5.5/10
Will I watch it again? No.
I've seen a few of Grefe's pictures and none of them are good except for the UTTERLY AMAZING Bill Shatner masterpiece, IMPULSE (1974). That one is bad but Shatner fans will love the hell out of it. For a low budget picture this one looks great. The acting and everything else is better than your average low budget flick but what hurts this is a little with the slow pacing and a lot that it's twelve minutes shy of two hours. The kills are pretty good and Alex Rocco's exit is fucking morbidly hilarious.
I can see a sea of drive-in theater goers getting into some serious make out sessions because this is so long. I'm sure a lot of people got at least to third base and I'm sure there was a lot of moaning when the end credits rolled...not from sexy time but from having to leave. It's not that bad of a film but it could sure use a good 20-30 minutes worth of cuts to tighten this thing up. At almost 90, Grefe is still working. Nice!
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