Classe Tous Risques (1960)

AKA:  The Big Risk

Director: Claude Sautet

Writers: Jose Giovanni, Claude Sautet, Pascal Jardin

Composer: Georges Delerue

Starring: Lino Ventura, Sandra Milo, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marcel Dalio, Michel Ardan, Simone France, Michele Meritz, Stan Krol, Evelyne Ker, Betty Schneider, France Asselin

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The big crime! The big chase! Fever-pitch tension grips city! Manhunt spans a continent!

Plot: Abel Davis is a criminal, hunted in Italy. The police are closing in, so he and his pal Raymond arrange to flee back to France with Abel's wife, Thérèse, and their two young sons. Abel and Raymond commit a brazen robbery to get funds, killing two men; in the escape, more die. Abel arrives in Nice with the boys, calls his pals in Paris, and gets the brush-off. Reluctantly, they send a stranger, Eric Stark, to bring Abel to Paris, but he's getting the message he's on his own. Honor, friendship, and debt now count for little. What can Abel, a wanted man with two small children and only Stark as a friend, do? "Never give ground," he tells Eric, but how long can he hold to his code?

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

So I was in the mood for some Jean-Paul Belmondo and I came across this.  I'd swear he didn't show up until halfway through but that first half is a hell of a ride.  Abel (Ventura) isn't a likeable guy.  He's a killer with a bit of a code but he's still a killer.  He's got no problem offing cops, much less anyone who crosses him.  People die in this flick, good people, and that added much to the drama.  Back to Abel...he's a criminal through and through and there are some nice moments that kept me wondering how this guy was going to go down if he was going to get it at all.  Then the film takes a turn into revenge mode for the final act.  That was pretty cool.  The one thing didn't like was how the ending was handled.  A voice over tells us Abel's fate and then goodbye.  Really?  It felt like a cop out.  I'd love to hear the reason behind that decision.  That was my initial reaction and then, once the dust settled, I was more at ease with it.  I still have an issue with it.  Does anyone have a problem with it?  I've got my suspicions but man did it end abruptly and jarringly so.

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

Original title: Il Tuo Vizio e una Stanza Chiusa e Solo io ne ho la Chiave

Director: Sergio Martino

Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Ernesto Gastaldi, Luciano Martino, Sauro Scavolini

Composer: Bruno Nicolai

Starring: Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli, Ivan Rassimov, Angela La Vorgna, Enrica Bonaccorti, Daniela Giordano, Ermelinda De Felice, Marco Mariani, Nerina Montagnani

More info: IMDb


Plot: The decadent and alcoholic writer Oliviero (Pistilli) has Oedipus complex and is the abusive husband of the submissive Irina (Strindberg) that is frequently humiliated. They live in a dilapidated mansion that belonged to Oliviero's mother and he likes to promote decadent parties for hippies that are camped nearby the real state. Irina is scared of his cat Satan that belonged to his mother. When Oliviero's mistress and former student Fausta (Giordano) schedules an encounter with him and is found dead, he becomes the prime suspect of the local police inspector.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

With strong characters and performances (especially from Pistilli, who plays a great bastard, Fenech and Strindberg), this Giallo has a lot to offer.  Pistilli wallows in the twisted Oliviero and he's so easy to hate on.  The locations, sets, camera work, story, everything is nicely done.  The score has an old world feel to it that fits nicely with the visuals and Nicolai also has themes that mirror contemporary Italian Gialli.  It's erotic at times and there's a lot of nudity but it's not excessive.  This isn't some cheap thriller thrown together to get buts in seats.  The filmmakers went that extra mile to turn out a good, interesting, entertaining thriller that has the added bonus of being somewhat based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Black Cat.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  Giallo isn't a genre I'm fond of because it's got to be good for me to like it.  Spaghetti Westerns, for example, have different elements I can enjoy even if the movie isn't good.  I dug this film and I'm hoping to have better luck like this when watching others in the genre.

Crossfire (1947)

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Writers: John Paxton, Richard Brooks

Composer: Roy Webb

Starring: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, George Cooper, Richard Benedict, Tom Keene, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Mario Dwyer

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  Sensational? No, it's dynamite!

Plot: A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Great flick.  Robert Ryan plays a great mean-ass bastard.  It's been said that Mitchum complained that anyone could've played his role but I dig what Mitchum brought to it.  He's so mild mannered but still he's a solid guy.  This is an expertly made flick all the way around and the noir aspect with the lighting and shadows is just marvelous.  The Warner Bros. DVD includes a couple of extras: a commentary track which includes director Dmytryk and a great featurette on the history of the film (9 min).

Bill and Coo (1948)

Director: Dean Riesner

Writers: Royal Foster, Dean Riesner, Ken Murray

Composer:  David Buttolph

Starring: Burton's Birds, Jimmy the Crow, George Burton, Elizabeth Walters, Ken Murray, Pinto Colvig

More info: IMDb

Tagline: You've never seen anything like it!

Plot: The feathered residents of Chirpendale are terrorized by an evil black crow by the name of "The Black Menace". But to the citizen's rescue comes a brave young taxi puller named Bill!

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

This movie is absolutely adorable!  The tagline doesn't lie.  It's unique, funny, fascinating and loads of fun.  What they got these birds to do is often remarkable.  And everything is funny when you've got animals dressed and acting like humans.  That's one of the laws of nature or something like that.  Proven fact!  Science is amazing!  Hahahahahaha.  Anyway, this picture is short (60 minutes), quickly paced, loaded with silly bird puns and a great sense of humor.  The only downside is that the print, while in gorgeous color, isn't that great.  I'd love to watch this again someday with a sparkling remastered print.

Young Bess (1953)

Director: George Sidney

Writers: Margaret Irwin, Jan Lustig, Arthur Wimperis

Composer: Miklos Rozsa

Starring: Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, Charles Laughton, Kay Walsh, Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron, Cecil Kellaway, Rex Thompson, Robert Arthur, Leo G. Carroll, Norma Varden, Alan Napier

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A Great and Spectacular Drama!

Plot: The early life of Elizabeth I, from her childhood until her accession to the throne of England in 1558.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

You can guess by the title that this is all about Bess (Simmons).  But that doesn't mean you can't have fun.  There are some great bits of dialogue that come from her mouth.  She's got a sharp tongue, that young Bess.  There's also the dashing and equally well-spoken Thomas Seymour (Granger).  He's great, too.  And don't forget the great Charles Laughton as King Henry VIII.  Ooh, it gets nasty when Guy Rolfe shows up as Thomas' brother, Ned.  Boo!  Hiss!  Miklos Rozsa once again pulls a great score out of the ether and elevates the majesty of the film's subject.  It's by no means a happy and cheerful film (although I did chuckle a few times at some very choice dialogue and dark humor) but it is interesting.  Between the cast, music, set design, costumes, dialogue, etc., I found it a very nice distraction for a couple of hours.

Maniac (1934)

AKA: Sex Maniac

Director: Dwain Esper

Writer: Hildegarde Stadie

Starring: Bill Woods, Horace B. Carpenter, Ted Edwards, Phyllis Diller, Thea Ramsey, Jenny Dark, Marvelle Andre, Celia McCann, John P. Wade, Marian Constance Blackton, Satan the Cat

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  He menaced women with weird desires!

Plot: A former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation assists a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  YES!

This isn't your ordinary B-picture from the thirties.  No siree Bob.  In the span of 50 minutes you get schooled in psychology...

artistic flares like seeing two cats fight in the basement early on only to have two grown women fight it out to the death in that same spot near the end, a mad scientist pop a cat's eye out of its socket (don't worry, the cat had a glass eye but it will freak your shit out when you see it) and then eat the eyeball, and then there's tha sax!

Holy SHIT!  The sex angle doesn't come into play until the last fifteen minutes and being how I didn't know a single thing about this picture going in, I was very pleasantly surprised.  It's such a rare thing.  This is great 1930s exploitation.  Is the acting bad?  Not really.  It's goofy at times but it's not bad.  I really don't understand some of the comments in IMDb saying this is the worst (or one of the worst) movies ever made.  It's far from it unless you've only ever watched Jean Luc Goddard flicks.  This one is short and fun.  It's worth watching for any of the scenes already mentioned but you've got to watch it for the two broads duking it out at the end.  It gets brutal.   It's true that there's no accounting for taste.  I've seen some horrible pictures and this ain't one of them, sister!  Not by a maniacal mile. 

Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path (1960)

Director: Lewis R. Foster

Writer: David Victor

Composers: Buddy Baker, Oliver Wallace, Frank Worth

Starring: Dewey Martin, Mala Powers, Richard Banke, Eddy Waller, Kevin Corcoran, Brian Corcoran, Diane Jergens, William Herrin, Dean Fredericks, Anthony Caruso, Don Dorrell, Alex Gerry, Eddie Little Sky, Charles Stevens, Walt Disney

More info: IMDb

Plot:  Long before the West was explored to it's fullest, the frontiersman Daniel Boone had a powerful need to expand westward and to see Kentucky Territory. This was an unexplored wilderness on the westward side of the Cumberland mountains and a secret Indian hunting grounds. A traveling peddler tells Mr. Boone of a hidden way to enter that area through a secret Indian trail called the 'Warrior's Path'. So Boone sets out with the peddler and friends to find the path and runs into a Shawnee hunting parting, but finally discovers the unexplored garden-like valley for the eventual westward movement of 18th century Eastern seaboard settlers.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This feels like an attempt to recapture the success of what Disney did with Fess Parker and Davy Crockett from five years earlier.  If that's the case they failed.  This isn't even close.  Dewey Martin could just have easily been at home playing a soda jerk at your local drug store in Anytown, USA.  He's a good looking kid that looks and sounds out of place.  In the first 8 minutes of the movie, and that includes the Wonderful World of Disney opening with Walt himself, 4 minutes are spent at this tree...

Nice color I guess.  Normally I like a lot of the 50s/60s Disney stuff that was made for TV (and movies for that matter) but this one is so run of the mill.  I liked the outdoor scenes the most.  The sets standing in for outdoors are more than obvious.  I reckon if I were six years old and saw this on TV in 1960 (which was aired in B&W) I probably would've dug it but then I'd be wearin' my coonskin hat and ready for some Davy Crockett which would've left me disappointed sitting cross-legged on the floor at the foot of the TV, munching on some sugared cereal straight from the box.  This might've been great TV entertainment in 1960 but watching it now it's just average.  I'll pass on the other three short movies they made that year and the next starring Martin.