To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which American producer working in Spain claimed that he turned down Sergio Leone's request to help on PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI?
It was Sidney Pink who thought he invented making Westerns in Spain with FINGER ON THE TRIGGER.
For what film did Richard Harrison take over a role when the director found that he couldn't work with Klaus Kinski?
No one has answered this one yet.
During the making of what film, did an horse throw Klaus Kinski off, breaking the actor's back?
Tom Betts and George Grimes knew that it was UN UOMO, UN CAVALLO, UNA PISTOLA, aka THE STRANGER RETURNS. Dan Vadis took over the role.
Why did Reg Lewis make only one film in Italy?
George Grimes wrote: "He found the working conditions so severe during filming he packed his bags and returned home and abandoned all future projects."
What decision did Mark Forest make that he later felt ruined his movie career?
No one has answered this one yet.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which Italian Western was reportedly directed by a woman, though her name does not appear in the credits?
Who was the first female to compose music for Italian Westerns?
By what name is Gary Hudson better known?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Tom Betts, Rick Garibaldi and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Thomas Hunter and Loris Loddi in UN FIUME DI DOLLARI, aka THE HILLS RUN RED.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Angel Rivera, Rick Garibaldi and George Grimes identified last week's frame grab from ULYSSES.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling in IL PORTIERE DI NOTTE, aka THE NIGHT PORTER.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes and Angel Rivera identified last week's frame grab of Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao in WHEELS ON MEALS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
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I am interested in knowing what movies you have watched and what you enjoyed or not. So please send me an email at scinema@earthlink.net if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:
Enjoyed:
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018) - A wealth of performance clips and interviews with family and friends makes Marina Zenovich's documentary a pleasure to watch - even if it repeats the oft-told tale of the funny man defeated by personal demons. Plus Eric Idle contributes a tune during the closing credits.
Did not enjoy:
CHILD'S PLAY 2 (1990) - I didn't like the first CHILD'S PLAY, so I waited 30 years before viewing the sequel - partly because there have been so many installments in the "franchise" that I felt that I'd better "git er done" before it'll be as much of a chore as it was in catching up on all of the FRIDAY the 13th movies. Director John Lafia seemed to have been inspired by what director Stanley Kubrick did with THE SHINING, not just with the maze-like interior of the Good Guy warehouse, but with shooting most of the movie with distorting wide angle lenses and the whole "little boy in peril" plot. Don Mancini returned as the writer, and the film might be considered an effective suspenser if you can put up with no one believing our little hero, the obvious set-ups and predictable payoffs. Graeme Revell provided a bombastic music score, which didn't prevent the proceedings becoming repetitive, irritating and ultimately dull. It was annoying to see talented performers like Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham and Grace Zabriskie in such a production, and it got harder to remember when Brad Dourif was a promising newcomer. Christine Elise was very appealing, but mostly seemed to be "walking through" the role investing it with very little energy. Plotwise, I was pissed that the filmmakers left the fate of the first movie's mother unresolved. Other possible cinematic inspirations seen in this film were THE FURY with the villain blowing up and STRAW DOGS with our protagonists commenting that they didn't know where "home" was in the end. And maybe the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET sequels with "Chucky" spouting James Bond-like witticisms while committing violence.
CHILD'S PLAY 3 (1991) - First time feature director Jack Bender wasn't as obviously inspired by Stanley Kurbrick as John Lafia was, but writer Don Mancini did throw in some bits right out of FULL METAL JACKET. Chucky's demises and resurrections were about as convincing as Dracula's were in the Hammer series, as was Chucky's revenge motivation. Still no one believed Andy's story, so while the film ended before anyone asked for explanations, one wondered if all of the main characters were set to join Andy's mom in the mental institution. As a vicious military school barber, Andrew Stevens joins Brad Dourif in the "typecast as crazy" club. Mancini provided more characters and more situations so while the proceedings were just as irritating as expected, the film wasn't as repetitive and predictable. Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea take the blame for this film's bombastic score which ensured that nothing subtle ever occurred.
BRIDE OF CHUCKY (1998) - While Universal Pictures wanted a third Chucky movie for release nine months after the second one, it took seven years before they asked for a fourth one. Thankfully dropping the Andy Barclay storyline, this new film traded violent witticisms for outright camp comedy. There was a HELLRAISER joke, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was seen on TV and then quoted in the movie, and it ended with a bit from IT'S ALIVE. Hong Kong director Ronny Yu got critical attention in the U.S. for THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR, so he was offered this chance to make a film in Hollywood. Again written by Don Mancini, this "reboot" did not improve on the "franchise", though the attempt at humor made for a more lively viewing experience. By this time, filmmakers in the U.S. decided to follow Dario Argento's lead and put heavy metal music on the soundtrack. Alexis Arquette played the first homosexual character in the series and Katherine Heigl once again proved how terrific she looked in a sweater.
SEED OF CHUCKY (2004) - You have to wonder what happened on the production side for the fifth "Chucky" movie to be a United Kingdom/Romanian Co-Production. Writer Don Mancini moved into the director's chair and decided to go full self-referential comedy, with many "in-jokes" about Hollywood, resulting in perhaps the dullest film in the series. There were plenty of kills and gore, but no reason to care about what was going on. In addition to the expected joke referencing THE SHINING, much of the film seemed inspired by GLEN OR GLENDA, but no one says "Pull the string!" There were references to HALLOWEEN, PSYCHO and the style of Brian De Palma - when he was being "Hitchcockian". There was also a scene in which Chucky was asked to ejaculate into a cup (?) and he used an issue of Fangoria to excite himself. While seeming a sequel to BRIDE OF CHUCKY, Mancini added a new detail that all of the dolls were stamped "Made In Japan", which came out of nowhere - especially since in CHILD'S PLAY 2 we see them manufactured in the U.S.. John Waters appeared as a paparazzi who got killed by an overturned bottle of sulphuric acid. I wonder if Waters thought that this movie was in bad enough taste to be great? This was the last film in the series to be released theatrically until the 2019 remake. Pino Donagio was hired to do a music score like what he did for films by director Brian DePalma, and he fulfills the job.
CURSE OF CHUCKY (2013) - I guess SEED OF CHUCKY was considered a disappointment, because writer/director Don Mancini dropped the humorous direction of the last two films and decided to do a conventional horror film with the usual "walk slowly towards a mystery" followed by a jump scare. I'm having to redo my review of this because I made the mistake of watching the version shown on AMC. Reading the synopsis on Wikipedia, I discovered that there was a post credit sequence which AMC didn't show. Not that it made the film any better, and it made the already confusing plot just a bit more confusing. If Chucky successfully switched souls with Alice, then why was he back in the Chucky doll trying to kill Andy again? In an effort to return to the suspense of the first CHILD'S PLAY, writer/director Don Mancini began this film with a whole new set of characters who don't know that the doll which mysteriously arrived is evil. While Mancini said that SEED was intended to parody family dramas like ORDINARY PEOPLE by having domestic strife within a family of demonic dolls, here he wasted a lot of the running time by having the family of victims playing the unconvincing domestic drama straight, while we waited for Chucky to start killing. It eventually became apparent that some cosmetic work was done on Chucky to hide the scarring he got in BRIDE OF CHUCKY, and that the Tiffany possessed Jennifer Tilly mailed him to this family, because he blamed them for the police raid which led to his death in the first CHILD'S PLAY. How and why Tiffany/Jennifer Tilly wanted to revive the dismembered Chucky was never revealed. At least with the extended ending we learned that Andy's mother seemed to be doing well after getting out of the mental institution, into which our new heroine, played by Brad Dourif's daughter Fiona, was now ordered. What happened to the convention that Chucky bleeds? Here his head was taken off, and it was just like a normal doll, which he soon puts back on. Joseph LoDuca contributed a music score obviously inspired by Goblin's music for director Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA. Fiona Dourif was very appealing in this film and I am happy to know that I've seen her in better shows like Deadwood and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
CULT OF CHUCKY (2017) - Again I watched the AMC version which did not have the post credits scene, but thankfully YouTube had it. At least the post credit scene gave a sense that evil did not completely triumph. There is a fine line between stylized and ridiculous. I found the asylum scenes in CULT OF CHUCKY ridiculous, but pretty. Fiona Dourif returned as our wheelchair bound heroine who was sent to a different mental institution in order, we find out later, that her doctor can more easily sexually abuse her under hypnosis. We also learned later, that while the Chucky seen in the post credits scene in CURSE was still in Andy's possession, and still conscious, he had learned how to, from the Voodoo For Dummies web site, possess more than one doll as well as more than one human. Obviously, writer/director Don Mancini returned some of the humor to the franchise, even though CULT was a direct sequel to CURSE. Andy knew that our heroine was in danger, and drives to the asylum to rescue her. Unfortunately, he was too late to stop Chucky from possessing her, and she drives away with Jennifer Tilly/Tiffany. This direct to DVD film pretty much worked as a prequel to the Chucky TV series. Joseph LoDuca didn't model his music from Goblin this time, but from Bernard Herrmann's score to PSYCHO. There was no explanation why the Chuckies in this film bleed, while he didn't in CURSE.
Chucky season one (2021) - Considering that I've hated everything that I've seen that had Don Mancini's name on it, it should come as no surprise that I hated all eight episodes of this. When did the USA Network begin to produce (what would be if this was a movie) "R" rated original programming, liberally sprinkled with f-words and s-words? The blood and gore has become standard for cable TV since The Walking Dead, but the obscene dialogue was a surprise. However, there was at least one instance where Chucky said something that was censored - leading one to ponder what it could have been. My guess is "cocksucker". Another surprise is how much of this seemed patterned after Stranger Things, with a group of young people banding together to combat evil. It is odd that one episode ended with a message on how to get help if you're being bullied, but none had a message on how to get help if you feel like murdering someone. Of course, the ending is unresolved and I guess a second season is in the works.
Kennedy's hjarna, aka Kennedy's Brain (2010) - In 2005, Swedish writer Henning Mankell, the author of the novels featuring Detective Kurt Wallender, penned a different sort of thriller. In 2010, writer Nils-Morten Osburg and director Urs Egger turned it into a two-part German TV movie. Journalist Andreas Wilson is found dead. The police rule it a suicide, while his mother, Iris Berben, is convinced it is murder. Enlisting the aid of her estranged husband, and Wilson's father, Christophe Malavoy, Berben heads to South Africa to investigate. Malavoy is killed in what the police rule a robbery turned murder, but Berben presses on to Mozambique where suspicions point to a small AIDS clinic in the countryside. Eventually, Berben discovers that the clinic is actually infecting patients with AIDS in order to test out a new vaccine. Unfortunately, she has no evidence to prove that a large pharmaceutical corporation is behind the scheme. Aside from an inconclusive ending, this production suffers for being too long. It takes a while for the plot to kick-in, and then the filmmakers fail to make the drama compelling despite a strong performance by Berben, who is unrecognizable from her role in VAMOS A MATAR, COMPENAROS.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
THUNDER ROAD (1958) B&W. Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) runs moonshine in supercharged sedans equipped with whiskey storage tank and rigged deterrents while being chased by revenooers or competitors. His son James appears as his kid brother. My dad's perennial favorite
The Making of the Movie :THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) DeMille borrowed John P. Fulton from Universal to create the memorable screen effects. Otherwise, I think it plays like an opera with all actors guilty of histrionics.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
FANTASTIC VOYAGE (66)
HOUSE OF USHER (60)
LAST OF THE VIKINGS (62)
HORROR EXPRESS (72)
THE LIFE AQUATIC (04)
FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON (70)
CONFESSIONS OF BOSTON BLACKIE (41) - Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) gets mixed up in an art forgery racket. Probably the best of the series.
LICORICE PIZZA (21)
CRIME BY NIGHT (44) - PI Jerome Cowan and his secretary Jane Wyman become embroiled in espionage and murder. Snappy little number with fave Cowan in the lead here. Quite enjoyable.
Mildly Enjoyed:
KRAKATIT (48) - From 2018: "A scientist discovers a process that can make anything an explosive. Needless to say, he is pursued by governments and criminals alike. This Czech sci-fi is a highly stylized, hallucinatory fever dream."
MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES (37)
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Angel Rivera Enjoyed:
"Superman and Lois" 2022 season finale.
"Billy Jack" (1971) My copy features a topless scene of "Miss Long False Eyelashes" just before Billy makes Bernard drive his car into the lake.
"The Born Losers" (1967) the movie that introduced Billy Jack. Plays like a western with Billy coming to the rescue of the rape victims.
Mildly enjoyed:
"The Wild Angels" (1966)
The one that started it all., [Not forgetting "The Wild One" (1953)]
Because certain scenes like the rape of the widow of Loser (Bruce Dern), this film would probably be not made today. But it is still a document of its time, especially with the recent passing of Hells Angels founder, Sonny Barger (6/29/22)
BTW, I have a theory that because these outlaw bikers films were very popular in the US; that they were more popular than the "spaghetti westerns" that came out about the same time. As I remember the biker flicks were very popular and only a handful of the westerns being popular. But only if they featured a big star like Charles Bronson or LeeVan Cleef or were very violent in nature, (Aside from the Clint Eastwood films). After all I don't remember Corman making any westerns at this time. But he did make the granddaddy of all gangster films at this time. I am speaking of course of "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" (1967) [Even if was considered a box office flop.]
That movie begat, "The Godfather" (1972) and almost everything that followed. At least in my opinion.
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