To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which Polish born actress made Westerns with Tomas Milian, Tony Kendall and Rik Van Nutter?
Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was Halina Zalewska, best known as Ella Karin in THE BOUNTY KILLER.
Which Italian actor, born in 1936, was killed in movies by Tony Anthony, Gordon Mitchell, Anthony Steffen and George Hilton?
No one has answered this question yet.
What American collaborator of Sergio Leone wants credit for translating the script into English and thus getting the English speaking actors to sign on to make C'ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST?
Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was Mickey Knox.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which actor, born in Guyana in 1931, appeared in three Italian sword & sandal films and three Italian Westerns?
Which actor who starred in director Melvin Van Peebles first movie went on to make three Italian Westerns?
Complete the lyric: "Woman you're not a friend. Everytime I come to you _ ____ ____ _____ _______ ___ ____>"
Name the movies from which these images came.
Rick Garibaldi, George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab of Marilu Tolo and Milo Quesada in SE SEI VIVO SPARA, aka DJANGO KILL! IF YOU LIVE SHOOT!
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Amerigo Santarelli, Samson Burke and Robert Chevalier in LA VENDETTA DI URSUS, aka VENGEANCE OF URSUS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's photo of Adrienne LaRussa and John (Janos) Bartha in director Lucio Fulci's BEATRICE CENCI, aka THE CONSPIRACY OF TORTURE.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
No one identified the above photo.
It shows Tatsuya Nakadai in director Hideo Gosha's THE WOLVES.
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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:
Mildly enjoyed:
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Clare Danes and Jeff Daniels" (2023)
THE WEEKEND (2018) - With a jazzy piano music score by Robi Botos, the third film from Canadian writer/director/producer Stella Meghie has a slight resemblance to a Woody Allen film, minus the dixieland jazz sound. This is partly because the lead, Sasheer Zamata, is a stand-up comedian, and the film is about messy romantic relationships. Zamata talks about on stage the pain of her three year old breakup with
Tone Bell, who still wants to be her friend. As Zamata's mother, Kym Whitley, has turned their old home into an Inn, Bell decides to fulfill his new girlfriend's - DeWanda Wise - desire to meet his ex by having the three spend a weekend at Whitley's place. Naturally, Whitley is worried about her daughter because she's over 30 and unattached. Another guest, Y'lan Noel arrives, unexpectedly without his girlfriend. When Noel and Zamata start to bond over lost romantic partners, Bell becomes possessive of Zamata, much to Wise's displeasure. There's nothing new here, and the laughs aren't big ones, but the cast is attractive and nobody is stupid, so it is a pleasant viewing experience.
Did not enjoy:
BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR (2021) - I don't think I was the intended audience for this comedy, but it gets points to being zany. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo had an hit co-writing BRIDESMAIDS, so they were able to put together the deal to make this film, with some help from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. This begins with a small Asian boy, Reyn Doi, seeming to deliver newspapers from his bike to a neighborhood. The boy then rides out of town, to a tree, which turns out to have an elevator inside. Suddenly, we are introduced to a James Bond style villain played by Kristen Wiig in pale white skin and black hair. She has coerced a scientist to create mosquitoes with deadly stings that hone in on a beacon to kill everyone around the beacon. As a teenager, pale Wiig was humiliated during the "Seafood Jam" in the Florida resort city of Vista Del Mar, so she plots to use her mosquitoes to kill everyone there. After murdering the scientist, pale Wiig sends the lovelorn Jamie Dornan to Vista Del Mar to place the beacon on the stage of the festival. Meanwhile, in the small town of Soft Rock, Nebraska, two middle aged women, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo find out that their circle of friends plan to take a vacation to Vista Del Mar, but our heroines have never before left town. After inventing the story of Trish, a woman who became a water spirit, they decide to adventure in Vista Del Mar. Naturally, they bump into Dornan there, who is beginning to doubt that pale Wiig really loves him. Both women pursue Dornan, but Wiig beds him, and tries to keep it a secret from Mumolo. Pale Wiig sends Damon Wayans Jr. to ensure that Dornan completes his mission. Meanwhile, pale Wiig forces Wiig and Mumolo to jump off a cliff. Luckily, the middle aged women are wearing culottes which act as parachutes. Everything works out happily for all involved when Wiig and Mumolo learn that pale Wiig is evil because she's never had a friend, and they tell her that they'll be her friend. Everyone seems to have forgotten that she murdered the scientist, and even Doi shows up to urge everyone to party. There are two musical numbers in this movie, Andy Garcia has a cameo and Reba McEntire shows up as Trish, the water spirit. After a few acclaimed documentaries, director Josh Greenbaum made this his feature film debut.
BLOODSHOT (2020) - The Valiant Comics character created in 1992 by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin and Bob Layton was originally Mafia hitman Angelo Mortalli. In 1997, Acclaim Entertainment bought Valiant Comics and the character became, under writer Len Kaminski and artist Sal Velluto, covert operative Raymond Garrison who uses the cover identity of Mortalli. Valiant Entertainment took over in 2004, and in 2012 Duane Swierczynski, Arturo Lozzi and Manuel Garcia created the current version of Bloodshot. Eager for another comic book franchise, Sony/Columbia intended this to be the first in a series involving the "Valiant Comics Universe". Even though the theatrical shut-down due to Covid limited the box office for the film, plans are still going for a sequel and more. At first the premise sounds like UNIVERSAL SOLDIER with "super soldiers" being created from dead or wounded military men. When they got into implanting false memories and mind control, the story ventured into Doll House territory. Vin Diesel's resurrection is because of nanites infused throughout his body, which allows for almost instant healing for any damage that occurs. The film starts off with a false narrative, which we learn later was fed into Diesel's brain to give him a revenge motive to commit the murders desired by Guy Pearce at Rising Spirit Technologies. Going into action, Diesel performs like Painkiller Jane - a character created by Event Comics in 1995 and made into a TV series in 2007 - who takes any punishment thrown at her but keeps going due to remarkable regenerative abilities - but no nanites or mind control for her. Eventually, Eliza Gonzalez betrays Pearce and with the help of Lamone Morris sets Diesel free to kill all of the bad guys. At 109 minutes running time, BLOODSHOT feels like it under went extensive re-editing - probably to take out a lot of explanations in favor of cutting to the action. As with Painkiller Jane, BLOODSHOT seems to deliberately act in the dullest and dumbest way possible when on the attack. This results in some spectacular bits that have no excitement. Elon Musk's ex-wife Talulah Riley appears in Diesel's false memories. Dave Wilson directed.
THE HUSTLE (2019) - For some unknown reason Rebel Wilson and Roger Birnbaum thought a female version of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (1988) - which was a remake of BEDTIME STORY (1964) - was a good idea. I'm guessing that Anne Hathaway joined to have the opportunity to play something different from the nice girl roles she usually gets. British comedian Chris Addison made his directorial debut with this film. No one involved seems to have a sense of humor with which I can identify and I found the entire film an irritating drag. And they even were able to make Hathaway look unattractive.
ILLEGALLY YOURS (1988) - Having declared bankruptcy in 1985, director Peter Bogdanovich said he made this movie for the paycheck. Rob Lowe liked the script and hoped that working with Bogdanovich would result in another WHAT'S UP DOC? For better or for worse, Bogdanovich rewrote the script to provide a role for Louise Straten, the sister of the murdered Dorothy Stratten - who had been Bogdanovich's girlfriend. Louise would become Bogdanovich's wife shortly after. (They divorced 12 years later.) In addition to production problems, the film also suffered because of the financial meltdown of the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Bogdanovich also accused studio head Dino De Laurentiis of having the film completely re-cut. Few things are more irritating that an unfunny screwball comedy, which is what this film is. Rob Lowe narrates the film which begins with Kim Myers and L.B. Straten driving David Reeves to the house shared by Marshall Colt and Linda MacEwen. Myers and Straten are being followed by Tony Longo and Howard Hirdler who actually want to murder Reeves, who gets into the house with Colt and MacEwen before they can shoot. It turned out that Reeves was blackmailing everyone and just about everyone was stealing from shipping magnate Kenneth Mars. Myers was being blackmailed about a drug bust she didn't want Mars, her father, to know about. Anyway, Myers and Straten sneak up to spy on what was going on in the house, and see Reeves pull a gun to threaten Colt and MacEwen. In the struggle over the gun, MacEwen shoots and kills Reeves, which happens before Longo was able to fire his sniper rifle. As Colt and MacEwen roll the dead body up in a carpet, they find that Reeves was recording the transaction on a portable cassette machine. MacEwen ejects the cassette and places it on the shelf with other cassettes. As Colt took the body into the garage, Colt's ex-girlfriend Colleen Camp stormed in to get her stuff left in Colt's house. Among the items Camp collected was her cassette tapes. Now why she would think that a formerly blank tape would be the proper contents to a professionally made tape box of David Bowie's Hunky Dory was just one of the dumb elements of this movie. Realizing that Camp had taken incriminating evidence, MacEwen fought with Camp, but Camp made it outside the house. Jumping into her car, MacEwen tried to run Camp over, but Camp pulled out her pistol and fired at her. Camp missed MacEwen, but wounded a mailman on his route. Meanwhile, Myers and Straten took off, without being seen. Meanwhile, in Winston-Salem, Rob Lowe came home to find his girlfriend cheating on him. He jumped into his car and set off to return to his hometown. Along the way, his car breaks down, and he hires towtruck driver Harry Carey Jr. to continue the journey. Through complicated events, Lowe found himself on the jury for the attempted murder case against Camp. Remembering that he had a crush on her since the first grade, Lowe decided to lie in order to stay on the jury hoping to help her. Without even making himself known to her, Lowe attempted to protect Camp from Colt, MacEwen, Longo and Hirdler outside the court, with the unexplained help of Myers and Straten. There was a lot of slapstick bit and a lot of running around, which was't funny. It seemed odd that while we saw a copy of a David Bowie album, there was no Bowie music in the movie. Instead, we hear three original songs - co-written by Bogdanovich - sung by Johnny Cash. On the plus side, Colleen Camp looked good, and so did Rick Jason, who played Lowe's mother's new boyfriend.
INNOCENT (2011) - Made for TNT, this is a sequel to PRESUMED INNOCENT, which was Scott Turow's first novel. In PRESUMED INNOCENT, Prosecutor Rusty Sabich, played in the movie by Harrison Ford, was accused of murder by cop Tommy Molto, played by Joe Grifasi, just before they were to compete for the job of District Attorney. Sabich beat the rap in court, and it turned out that the murder was committed by wife Barbara Sabich, played by Bonnie Bedelia. She made it look like her husband killed his mistress, while she actually did the deed. INNOCENT begins with son Nat Sabich, played by Callard Harris, finding Rusty, now played by Bill Pullman, beside the dead body of mother Barbara, now played by Marcia Gay Harden. Assistant D.A. Tahmoh Penikett, rushes into the office of D.A. Molto, now played by Richard Schiff, to announce Harden's death suggesting that now Schiff can finally get Pullman for murder, after failing the first time. The plot, as usual, gets very complicated - especially after Pullman's son falls in love with Pullman's former adulturous lover Mariana Klaveno. In the end, Pullman is again acquitted for murder with the revelation that Harden committed suicide leaving evidence suggesting that Pullman killed her after she failed to poison him. Written and directed by Mike Robe, this isn't a compelling mystery or courtroom drama. Interestingly, Pullman acts guilty from the first close up we see. Alfred Molina takes over the role of Sandy Stern, played in PERSUMED INNOCENT by Raul Julia.
OVERBOARD (2018) - While the original 1987 film was considered a box-office disappointment, it became something of a "cult classic". Leslie Dixon's screenplay always seemed to me to be a soften remake of director Lina Wertmuller's TRAVOLTI DA UN INSOLITO DESTINO NELL'AZZURRO MARE D'AGOTO, aka SWEPT AWAY, in which a snooty rich woman is taken down by a working class guy. Like the Wertmuller film, OVERBOARD was accused of being sexist, so co-writer and director Rob Greenberg decided to flip the sexes, and have a working class widowed mom, Anna Faris, take down a snooty rich guy, Eugenio Derbez. I wonder if making the rich guy Mexican, and infusing the film with references to Telenovelas was inspired by the success of the TV series Jane the Virgin. Eva Longoria plays Faris' friend and employer who suggested that she get even with the amnesiac rich dude in the hospital, who wouldn't pay for her cleaning services, by claiming to be his wife. The film blithely portrayed another employee of Longoria as being easily able to forge the documents needed for the subterfuge. Naturally, suddenly in a working class household with three girls, the rich guy realized what was important in life and became a model father and husband. Swoosie Kurtz and John Hannah were enjoyable in the supporting cast.
THE ROW (2018) - To update this old fashioned slasher movie, the makers of THE ROW decided to shoot a lot of this with shakey cam and hyper kinetic editing. Also, the insistent music score is mixed really loud. Even though the film is populated with attractive women, it hasn't a single moment that isn't annoying. Detective Randy Couture seems to have a good relationship with daughter Lala Kent when he drops her off at college. He is soon back in cop action, where, of course, he won't wait for back-up and a fellow officer is grabbed by a woman holding a knife to the officer's throat. In trying to shoot the woman, Couture kills the officer, too. So he is suspended from the force and can't investigate when his daughter finds the body of a murdered sorority sister. Parts of the young woman's body have been replaced with parts of a mannequin. Kent is drawn to the sorority because she discovers that her dead mother, about whom she knows just about nothing, had belonged. Kent quickly becomes unlikable as she screams at her father for not telling her more about her mother. Of course, it turns out that her mother had been involved in an hazing incident which resulted in a pledge killing herself. Someone is out for revenge, and writer Sarah Scougal serves up a lot of red herrings. It all climaxes with the murderer holding a knife to the daughter's throat and we're supposed to be worried that Couture might repeat his mistake from earlier in the movie. Someone must have decided that modern slasher movies don't have resolved endings, so a scene gets tacked on after the end credits finish seemingly showing that the bad guy is still around. This is the second film directed by Matty Beckerman and hopefully the last.
THE VATICAN TAPES (2014) - Mix in elements from THE EXORCIST III, THE OMEN and various other EXORCIST rip-offs, and you get this lousy movie with a touch of THE DAVINCI CODE with secret Vatican archives. After a nauseauting montage mixing faux news stories and found footage like recreations of supernatural shenanigans under the opening credits, the film begins with Vatican officials Djimon Hounsou and Peter Andersson considering information about a possible case of demonic possession involving Olivia Taylor Dudley. Michael Pena gets the usual "Father Karris" role as a local priest finding himself in a situation over his head. Eventually, it is revealed that Dudley was born of a prostitute and that she is possessed by the Antichrist. Andersson decides that he must kill Dudley in order to kill the Antichrist, but that allows the Antichrist to be resurrected after death. She then kills all involved in the exorcism except Pena, who is instructed to inform the Vatican that the Antichrist walks the Earth. At the Vatican, Hounsou invites Pena into a secret archive where they are monitoring Dudley's growing popularity as a miracle faith healer. With Brian Taylor, director Mark Neveldine delivered the splendid CRANK movies. Without Taylor, he's delivered this hyper kinetic spook show that is energetic but dull.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
VENGEANCE OF URSUS (1961) Samson Burke assumes the role, and is regarded in the script as a giant, but he's not much taller than Nerio Bernardi.
THE RAVEN Roger Corman. Hazel Court reason enough to watch repeatedly
REPRISAL (1956) Half breed Frank Madden (Guy Madison) wants to settle in a highly bigoted town heavily populated by native Americans, including beautiful squaw Kathryn Grant. But Frank is smitten by the daughter (Felicia Farr) of the land agent from whom he obtained a ranch. Evenually he reveals his heritage.
THE LAST FRONTIER (1955) Cavalry versus Indians the backdrop for soap opera battle amongst trapper scout Jeb Cooper (Victor Mature), fort commander Col Marston (Robert Preston), and the colonol's wife Corinna (Anne Bancroft). Guy Madison and James Whitmore costar.
THE WALKING TARGET (1960) B&W. Noir film from director Edward L.Cahn about a convict named Nick Harbin (Ronald Foster) released after serving 5 years for an armored car robbery with the loot unrecovered. All the authorities promise to shadow him suspecting he hasn't truly reformed.
SECRET OF DEEP HARBOR (1961) B&W. Another Cahn noir with Ron Foster, who plays a news reporter on the waterfront. Girlfriend Janey's (Merry Anders) father operates a charter boat making filthy lucre by smuggling operatives for the syndicate.
NO GREATER LOVE (1960) B&W. 1940's Universal starlet Evelyn Ankers came out of retirement for this her last film appearance. Here she stars with husband Richard Denning in a faith-based production about professionals donating their time and talent to Christian mission work abroad. They play a couple assisting in dentistry for the needy in Madagascar. Cast includes Art Linkletter, Robert Cornthwaite, and Ross Elliot. 30 minutes run time.
Mary Tyler Moore Show S05E21 "The Green Dress" Mary models a voluptuous dress for a friend who aspires to couture. Coworker Ted (Ted Knight) is smitten when he drops in to see her posing in it.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Indian uprising (1952, Ray Nazarro)
The spoilers (1942, Ray Enright)
Badlands of Dakota (1941, Alfred E. Green)
Martha, Jane, James, George et les autres (doc) (2019, Linda Tahir)
Ovni(s) – season1 – episodes 3 to 12
Hoshi no samidare / Lucifer and the biscuit hammer (anime) – season 1 – episodes 4 & 5
Tupyo / Into the ring (2020) – season 1 – episodes 3 & 4
Mildly enjoyed:
Digital man (1994, Philip Roth)
Winchester 73 (tv movie) (1967, Herschel Daugherty)
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David Deal Enjoyed:
THE KID FROM TEXAS (50) - Audie Murphy is Billy the Kid, made out to be a reasonable fellow who was pushed into murdering 21 people before being cut down by Pat Garrett at 21 years old. This pic was a hit and Murphy's string of westerns began. Not bad entertainment, and Murphy's brooding Billy is interesting to watch. Will Geer has a strong supporting role. With Albert Dekker and Gale Storm.
GOLDFINGER (64)
FOUR FACES WEST (48) - Joel McCrea pulls a bank job and, while on the run, makes the acquaintance of the beautiful and understanding Frances Dee. The law keeps dogging him, in the person of Pat Garrett (Charles Bickford), until an act of kindness by McCrea leads to his salvation. Perhaps the only western completely without gunfire or fights, this chase western is interesting and carried with ease by McCrea. Recommended.
HANA-BI (97)
PISTOL FOR RINGO (65)
KEEPERS OF THE MAGIC (16) - Another excellent documentary on cinematographers. See also Visions of Light. Both highly recommended.
JOHNNY CARSON KING OF LATE NIGHT (12)
PERVERSION STORY (70)
GODZILLA (56)
THE WHIP AND THE BODY (63)
THE GHOST OF SIERRA DE COBRE (64)
BROKEN FLOWERS (05)
DR. ORLOFF'S MONSTER (64)
Mildly enjoyed:
SON OF THE RED CORSAIR (59)
SO DARK THE NIGHT (46)
KILL POINT (84) - Leo Fong, a cop who works for Richard Roundtree, is assigned a case that involves a theft of an armory, an insane arms dealer (Cameron Mitchell), and local gangs shooting up grocery stores with automatic weapons. Mitchell's right hand man Stack Pierce seems to be the only one with his shit together. Low budget action is only satisfying on a drive-in, time-killing level.
KILLER SHARK (50) - After a dozen years in school, Roddy MacDowell meets up with his shark boat-owning dad (Roland Winters) down Mexico way for a fishing trip. After his dad loses a leg to a shark, Roddy wants to make up for it and take the boat out again. It doesn't go well. Before director Budd Boetticher hit the big time with his string of top westerns with Randolph Scott, he toiled on Poverty Row. This Monogram effort is breezy but doesn't shy away from tension and action. Winters played Charlie Chan in Monogram's series.
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