Tank Force (1958)

Original title:  No Time To Die

Director:  Terence Young

Writers:  Richard Maibaum, Terence Young, Merle Miller, Ronald Kemp

Composer:  Kenneth V. Jones

Starring:  Victor Mature, Leo Genn, Anthony Newley, Bonar Colleano, Luciana Paluzzi, Sean Kelly, Kenneth Fortescue, Anne Aubrey, George Coulouris

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  When iron men in iron monsters fought for a continent!

Plot:  During WW2 in North Africa, an American sergeant serving with the British 8th Army is captured by the Germans but he hatches various plans of escape from the POW camp.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Here's another hot-headed American surrounded by an international cast and he saves the day.  It's been a stupid movie trope probably since just before WWII.  Usually the only way it doesn't call attention to itself is when the movie is good.  This one isn't good nor bad, it's just kind of there.  There's nothing all that interesting or exciting in the action,  drama or suspense.  Thatcher (Mature) and friends get caught after a tank battle in the desert with the Germans and are then thrown into a POW camp.  At that point the only thing I could think about is how much more terrible it must have been.  It's already bad enough to be in a POW camp, but to be in the hot desert to boot.  No thanks.  Thatcher's isn't going to stick around (he's got a good reason to get away from the Nazis, more than the usual reason of just not wanting to be around them to begin with) so he busts out on day 2 along with some fellow prisoners.  From this point on it's simply a matter of survival as they hide out in a cantina for a few hours before having to fight their way out, more desert trekking, being hunted down by the Nazi-bribed local Arab tribe, escaping their encampment, more desert trekking and finally one last tank battle before being saved at the last minute by a British tank brigade (or whatever you call it).  There are enough different scenes and obstacles for the cast that it's about the only thing that keeps this from being duller.  It's an OK movie at best. 

Victor Mature does a fine job but he feels out of place in the role.  Over the past twenty years I've seen a few of his movies from the 50s and 60s and every time he looks like his face is heavily caked on with makeup.  I don't know what the deal is with that but it was easily noticeable here, too.  Maybe it's more obvious in this one because of the heat.  In this one he's also a lot heavier than you'd think someone at war in the desert would be.  Just sayin'.

This flick has a lot of future Bond alumni like director Young, writer Maibaum, producer Broccoli, actor Robert Reitty,  and stuntman Bob Simmons.  And as a neat coincidence (or is it?), the latest Bond picture is called NO TIME TO DIE, the original British title of this film.

The Black Windmill (1974)

Director:  Don Siegel

Writer:  Leigh Vance, Clive Egleton

Composer:  Roy Budd

Starring:  Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Delphine Seyrig, Clive Revill, John Vernon, Joss Ackland, Janet Suzman, Catherine Schell, Joseph O'Conor, Denis Quilley, John Rhys-Davies

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Seven days to a killing...the ultimate exercise in controlled terror.

Plot:  A British Agent's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm such a big Michael Caine fan that I'll watch everything he did before 1980.  After then, it's pick and choose time.  This one's OK.   The performances across the board are good.  I particularly liked John Vernon (McKee) as the super good at his job villain.  He had this shit thought out down to the smallest detail...until the end, that is.   The set-up and McKee's fucking with Tarrant (Caine) are most enjoyable.  Of course, it helps to have someone on the inside of the agency to help McKee with his task.   The picture is moving nicely until the final act when the tables are turning and it's a race against time for Tarrant to take care of the bad guy and save his son (all the while being hunted down by his spy agency employer as they suspect he's working for the bad guys) and for the mole to be discovered.  It's this last twenty minute or so of the movie that falls into the typical Hollywood device of "let's hurry and wrap this up".  And it's because of that, I was left underwhelmed.  I don't know what they could've done different but what's there is rushed and unsatisfactory.  But up until then, it's pretty darn good.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (2020)

Directors:  Rebecca Chaiklin, Eric Goode

Composers:  John Enroth, Albert Fox, Mark Mothersbaugh, J.D. Thompson

Starring:  Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin & LOTS of colorful characters

More info:  IMDb

Plot:  A rivalry between big cat eccentrics takes a dark turn when Joe Exotic, a controversial animal park boss, is caught in a murder-for-hire plot.

My rating:  9/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Holy shit is this fun!  I burned through this in two sittings and I want more and more!  This is one WTF entertaining cast of unusual characters.  Not one of the people is uninteresting.  They're not all wacky.  Some of them are ordinary, dull people but only if you compare them to the wildest of the lot but even they are interesting and have loads of amazing stories to tell.  None of the top people examined are good people.  They've all got a shady past should probably all be in jail.  So of all the main people, there's no one to root for and that's perfectly fine for the viewer.  It's a shit show of epic proportions.   And as despicable as these people are, most of you would probably like to meet them all.

Chaiklin & Goode do an amazing job in telling a story that, after you see it you'll feel like there's so much more to tell that you could have doubled the 5 hour and 17 minute show and still not have told everything.  The pacing moves so smoothly and seamlessly that each of the seven 45-minute-ish episodes is over before you know it.  And boy, oh boy, do these filmmakers know how to end an episode in such a way that it compels you to continue and double dares you not to.  Netflix is dropping an additional episode this week and I can't wait.  I've already started listening to a podcast called The Tiger King and it's fantastic as well.  I can't get enough of this saga.  This series is fun as hell.

The Burglars (1971)

Original title:  Le Casse

Director:  Henri Verneuil

Writer:  Henry Verneuil, Vahe Katcha, David Goodis

Composer:  Ennio Morricone

Starring:  Jean-Paul Belmondo, Omar Sharif, Dyan Cannon, Robert Hossein, Nicole Calfan, Myraim Feune de Colombi, Raoul Delfosse, Jose Luis de Vilallonga, Renato Salvatori

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Catch the burglars!

Plot:  A group of professional burglars plan an emerald heist from the home of a gem collector but the corrupt Greek police inspector Abel Zacharia is on their trail.

My rating:  7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yeah.

Nice!  I've yet to see anything but a great performance out of Jean-Paul Belmondo (the Steve McQueen of France).  The camera loves him.  He's got such a natural charisma that makes it hard not to like this guy.  He plays Azad, the leader of the 4-person burglary team.  The picture starts out with them at the outset of robbing a house of it's emerald collection.  So far so good until Azad busts out this big case with an elaborate electronic kit that is able to make a custom key for the safe as well as figure out the combination.  That's fine and dandy, too, except this scene DRAGS on for 9 freakin' minutes!  That's not a good way to start your two hour movie.  That's when Omar Sharif shows up as Inspector Zacharia.  You can tell Zacharia is really good at his job as he plays with Azad who goes outside to meet him.  Here are two very smart, charming characters who begin their adversarial relationship that continues to the end.

The performances from these two are fantastic.  Zacharia does what it takes to solve the case but he's also crooked and greedy.  Is he telling Azad a tale in order to get the emeralds back?  You'll have to watch it to find out.  Belmondo does most of his own stunts and he doesn't hold back.  It really makes a difference when you can tell it's the actor performing them versus a stuntman.  What he doesn't do (as he was in the US working on another movie) is drive in this very long and entertaining car chase.

It's a nail-biter.  The tension is there alongside the adrenaline-pumping action.  It's another example of how similar these two characters are (Azad being chased by Zacharia).  Like the time waster of the safe opening scene, this is also 9 minutes long except that it packs a wallop.  It's worth seeing the film just for this scene and it helps to see it in context.  There's another great extended action scene when Azad (on foot and jumping onto and off of moving busses and cars) is again being chased by Zacharia (in a car).  Ennio Morricone's fun score is a welcome addition to the picture.   For a while I was skeptical of the inclusion of a romantic sub-plot but by the end of the picture it paid off.  The conclusion was satisfactory enough but the murder left me a little shocked.  It's nice to be shocked by movies.  That doesn't happen often enough.  Speaking of that, there was an odd scene when Azad shows up a Lena's (Cannon) apartment hoping for some sexy time.  She claps her hand once and the light goes off.  Clapping two times turns it on.  I didn't realize that invention was a thing in 1971.  Anyway, it turns ugly pretty quick and Azad is slapping her face from side to side which activates the light on and off.  On one hand, it's harsh seeing her brutalized like that but on the other hand, it's darkly funny with the light gag.  I'm sure it got tons of laughs 50 years ago but not so much now.

The print I saw looked marvelous and it was in its original French language with English subtitles.  You can watch the flick on YouTube in widescreen but English dubbed only some of the time (according to someone commenting on it).  I would suggest the French dub if you can find it.  It's a fun movie with the unfortunately overlong safe cracking scene in the beginning but the rest of the film moves quickly and it's got some great moments along the way.

The Vampire of Dusseldorf (1965)

Original title:  Le Vampire de Dusseldorf

AKA:  The Secret Killer

Director:  Robert Hossein

Writer:  Claude Desailly, Georges Tabet, Andre Tabet, Robert Hossein

Composer:  Andre Hossein

Starring:  Robert Hossein, Marie-France Pisier, Roger Dutoit, Annie Anderson, Michel Dacquin, Anne Carrere, Norma Dugo

More info:  IMDb


Plot:  Based on the true story of Peter Kurten, a serial killer who committed nine murders and many other offenses in Dusseldorf during the Great Depression era.

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

I've never heard of serial killer Peter Kurten, and now I won't soon forget him.  This guy was brutal.  He likely killed dozens and attempted to kill many more.  His Wikipedia page makes for a horrific read.  He was a monster.  This film very loosely tells the final days of Kurten (subtly played by director/star Hossein) before he's captured.  Just what he did in the film was bad enough, but reading what he did after the movie ended is just shocking.  In hindsight, I wish I had read his Wikipedia page before I watched the film. 

 
Despite the sometimes hard to believe murders he commits in the movie, it's framed in a way that you get a taste of what was going on in Germany at the time, when hate was on the rise.  The policing authority representing law and order is about to be overtaken with vengeance and violence.  We see examples of that with a convertible with four young Brownshirt men inflicting violence with impunity.  Kurten is witness to this and it probably gives him a sense of validation.  The only hint at his motives are given in a couple of lines from Kurten about his cruelty toward animals as a child. 

The cinematography looks fantastic and it's beautifully shot in B&W.  The pacing works well and it's a nice watch.  The only real issue I have is that Kurten doesn't seem all that careful when committing his crimes.  He's very impulsive and most of what we see him do is late at night and out in the open.  He doesn't come across as someone with the skills needed to avoid detection, although he is sometimes seen by others and cleans up afterward like when he finds out a young female witness gave his description to the police and the next day he visits her to shut her up for good.  He's got that going but not the in-the-moment smarts.  It's only a movie and maybe I shouldn't expect so much but Hossein's performance, wile good, falls short of showing that kind of skill or complexity that someone like him should have.  I'm not looking for Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter-level of skill but something more akin to a craftsman who is very good at their job.  The record shows that Kurten was prolific and it would be neat to see how someone who committed so many atrocities could've survived as long as he did before he lost his head.

Dirty Duck (1974)

Original title:  Cheap

AKA:  The Down and Dirty Duck

Director:  Charles Swenson

Writers:  Howard Kaylan, Robert Ridgely, Charles Swenson, Mark Voman

Composers:  Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman

Starring:  Howard Kaylan, Mark Volmen, Robert Ridgely, Cynthia Adler, Walker Edmiston, Joelle Le Quement, Laurene Tuttle, Jerry D. Good, Aynsley Dunbar

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Madder Than Daffy Dumber Than Donald More Existential Than Howard!

Plot:  Mild-mannered insurance-adjuster Willard teams up with a foul-mouthed fowl who takes him on a surreal quest to become less uptight--and possibly get laid.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Two words:  cartoon boobs. 

Well this was a weird-ass movie.  I'm not sure what writer/director Swenson had to say with this picture but it probably views better when you're wasted.  It's trippy and smacks of mid-70s political/subversion/sexual animation.  The "X" rating was reportedly self-ascribed by the studio which was another way to sex up the picture and make it more of a "must see" for adults looking for 'adult' animation.  It's got some funny moments, some subtle and some broad.  I laughed out loud a couple of times.  The animation is crude and cheap but the style fits the production in a way where you don't get the idea that this could've (or should've) looked much better with a larger budget.  The voice work is good and the songs are fun but the lack of funny drags the picture a bit.  Just being mildly amusing wasn't enough for me to hold my interest.  Now, if I had seen this 35 years ago in a theater, I would've most certainly enjoyed it more.  It's a soft recommend for those who like crudely animated nudity.

The Land Unknown (1957)

Director:  Virgil W. Vogel

Writer:  Laszlo Gorog, William N. Robson, Charles Palmer

Composer:  Henry Mancini, Heinz Roemheld, Hans J. Salter, Herman Stein

Starring:  Jock Mahoney, Shirley Patterson, William Reynolds, Henry Brandon, Douglas Kennedy, Phil Harvey

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Lost and Terrorized in Prehistoric Time.

Plot:  Three men and a woman crash-land in a deep crater in Antarctica, where they find a prehistoric world.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

This simple and mildly entertaining adventure flick checks all the right boxes for a reasonable 78-minute romp for some brainless time killing.  That's hardly a winning endorsement but it's not trying to be anything else.  The cast do a fine job with everyone filling their roles nicely.  The plot is straightforward and the dialogue serves it well enough.  See the trailer to get an idea how much money and effort were spent, although I thought the integration of the giant lizard footage was handled better than usual.  The man-in-suit T-Rex is laughable.  I was pleasantly surprised by the ending but, overall, the picture is by the numbers, goofy entertainment.  The word on the street is this was originally going to be given a much better and bigger treatment until it got downgraded to a B-level production, including being shot in color.  I do, however, like that it was shot in B&W.