September 16 - 22, 2023

 

To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

Which director, born in Moravia, made four features for Italian producers?

No one has answered this question yet.

Which character of ancient Greece was played in movies by Gordon Mitchell, Arturo Dominici, Joe Montana and Piero Lulli?

John Black, Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was Achilles.

Which character of ancient Greece was played by Andrea Bosic, Nerio Bernardi, Brian Cox, Rufus Sewell and Mario Petri?

John Black, Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was Agamemnon.

Which American actor, born of Italian parents, made a Western in Spain playing a Native American?

Bertrand van Wonterghem and Angel Rivera knew that it was Iron Eyes Cody in EL CONDOR.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which character from ancient Greece was played by Hedy Lamarr, Elizabeth Taylor, Hedy Vessel, Sienna Guillory, Diane Kruger and Irene Papas?

Which actor, born in Los Angeles in 1932, appeared in 14 "sword and sandal" films before starring in Italian Westerns?

Which actor was born in France, but raised in Ireland, and would go on to make 14 Italian Westerns?

Name the movies from which these images came.

No one identified the above frame grab.

Can you name from what movie it came?

John Black and  identified last week's frame grab of Mylene Demongeot in GOLF FOR THE CAESARS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

 No one identified the above photo yet.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one identified the above photo yet.

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:

Mildly enjoyed:

Good Omens 2 (2023) 

MAMULA, aka NYMPH, aka KILLER MERMAID (2014) - Director Milan Todorovic likes to call this "the first Serbian creature feature". Like many European movies, it begins with a long list of companies that helped to get it made - though this is the only one of which I am aware that has a catering company among the producers: Jerry Catering Service. In the end credits, it seems that the entire catering staff, including the chef, is listed. On the DVD, there is also a video of their "crowd funding" request, but no information on how successful that effort was. Some of the funding should have come from the Montenegro tourist association, as the location is quite beautiful and the scenery helped to keep my interest. The film starts with a quote from MOBY DICK before many touristy shots of an attractive young couple frolicking. At night, near the water, the couple start to get naked when the man is suddenly under the spell of singing which the woman can't hear. The man jumps into the water, see something that scares him, but is unable to get back on land. The woman asks a passerby to help, but he slams a pointed anchor into her neck. Later on, the woman is identified as Franco Nero's daughter. It is never explained how she would come to this place which we later discover had a bad history for her father. Kristina Klebe and Natalie Burn are two Americans who have come to this place to visit Slobodan Stefanovic, an old college friend. A good portion of the first half of the movie is taken up with a romantic melodrama in which Burn wants to re-establish her relationship with Stefanovic, even after she meets his new fiance, Sofija Rajovic. Meanwhile, Franco Nero mysteriously wanders about. The four young people are joined by Rajovic's friend Dragan Michanovic and they decide to visit an old fort on an island nearby called Mamula. Nero overhears their conversation and warns them to not go there. It isn't until the end of the film that Nero explains why. Eventually, they discover that a mermaid lives on the island - though if she is locked in a well, how did she get that guy at the beginning of the movie? She has Miodrag Krstovic under her spell to kill and cut up people on which she feeds. Naturally, our five young people are in danger, and it is irritating how none of them seem able to figure out how to stay alive. One of the pleasant aspects of this movie is how much director Todorovic loves to have his camera linger on Burn as she walks around in a bathing suit. One of the disappointments is that he doesn't do the same with Klebe. On what is reported to have been a very low budget, KILLER MERMAID features some impressive digital effects.

MAN TROUBLE (1992) - One wonders what director Bob Rafelson and writer Carole Eastman had in mind when they started this project. Together they helped to make Jack Nicholson a star with FIVE EASY PIECES (with Eastman using the name Adrien Joyce). Neither were known for comedy, though Eastman wrote THE FORTUNE which was one of Nicholson's biggest flops - and from which she was fired after a dispute with director Mike Nichols. There were alot of plot elements in this film, many of which were never resolved, which suggested that the film underwent extensive reworking in the editing room. Unfortunately, the results were never funny and the storytelling never satisfying. Operatic soprano Ellen Barkin is in the midst of divorcing conductor David Clennon while also rehearsing with him for an upcoming performance. She gets spooked when she comes home to find her apartment ransacked. Meanwhile, the owner of a security dog company, Jack Nicholson, is in marriage therapy with Lauren Tom, hoping that she doesn't turn his building into a beauty salon. Also, meanwhile, Barkin's sister, Beverly D'Angelo, is pissed that Barkin hasn't read the manuscript to her book exposing the dirty dealings of her "sugar daddy". While D'Angelo is out of town, Barkin moves into her sister's house, and eventually hires a guard dog from Nicholson. Who is stalking Barkin? Is it thugs and lawyers hired by "sugar daddy" Harry Dean Stanton? Is it another of her sister's lovers? Is it Barkin's soon-to-be ex-husband? The romantic chemistry between Nicholson and Barkin worked, but there were too many plot elements being juggled to give it a proper focus. And did they really think that having the guard dog trying to hump every woman around was funny? The most interesting element of this film was how it became a Vittorio Cecchi Gori production for Penta Pictures. Did the box office failure of this movie lead Cecchi Gori to decide to become a politician? Barkin looked great in this film, as does D'Angelo and Veronica Cartwright. Also in the cast were Michael McKean, Saul Rubinek and Paul Mazursky (who co-created The Monkees TV show with Rafelson). 

SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY (1998) - Writer/director Ramin Niami was born in Iran, but educated in London, where he worked as a documentary filmmaker for the BBC and Channel 4. He moved in to New York City and eventually made his first theatrical feature film, in collaboration with Patrick Dillon. Fully embracing the "Independent Film" ethos of the late 1990s, Niami brings a bemused attitude to this portrait of the wide variety of not-very-bright people living in a single building in Manhattan. In addition to the usual actors expected in an "indie" comedy like Sandra Bernhard, Robert John Burke, Peter Stormare and Paul Anthony Stewart, there is a surprising European element with Ornella Muti and Bulle Ogier. Add to that Bai Ling, who spices up the proceedings. There is a myriad of story lines to go with the myriad of characters, including a would be revolutionary who kidnaps Ed Koch, still thinking that he is the Mayor of New York City. Koch talks himself out of the situation by suggesting that the revolutionary come on his radio show to spread his message. Meanwhile, an actor is hoping for his big break in a feature film of I DREAM OF JEANNIE to star Madonna and Keanu Reeves, because he doesn't want to do commercials anymore. Will Sandra Bernhard find happiness with a man who brings a whip on a date? See performances by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and James Chance & The Contortions. And music by John Cale. Is that the same Ken Leung from RUSH HOUR?

TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (1969) - Writer/director Abraham Polonsky was a member of the Communist Party and was blacklisted from working in Hollywood after he refused to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951. So, when he finally directed his second film, many expected it to have a political message. Based on Harry Lawton's book WILLIE BOY: A DESERT MANHUNT, TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE is a fairly straight-forward telling of a factual event. Sure it depicts racist attitudes towards "Indians", and differing perspectives of the same events, but LITTLE BIG MAN had a more obvious "message". Perhaps Polonsky was only interested in making an adventure film about a wanted man committing "suicide by cop". Perhaps he felt his message was made by showing the nobility of the wanted man without trying to turn him into an hero. While some will complain about Robert Blake and Katharine Ross playing Native Americans, they both deliver compelling performances. As the sheriff out to get Willie Boy, Robert Redford again makes his character a complicated and thoughtful individual. His relationship with Susan Clark is surprising, but doesn't really add to whatever point the film may be trying to make. Also in the cast are Barry Sullivan, John Vernon and Charles McGraw. Naturally, there are conflicting perspectives on this story with some saying that Willie Boy was just a murdering scumbag.

THE LAST MANHUNT (2022) - This film seems to exist to call all other versions of the Willie Boy story a lie. "Based on true events from the oral history of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of California. This is the story of Willie Boy the desert runner." Although not credited except in the end crawl "thank yous", Clifford E. Trafzer's book WILLIE BOY & THE LAST WESTERN MANHUNT seems to have been the inspiration for this movie. Actor Jason Momoa, who has a Pacific Islander heritage, became intrigued by the story and decided to make it into a movie consulting with Trafzer, who had been able to get information from the Chemehuevi who usually do not speak of the dead. While Martin Sensmeier is Native American from Alaska, he is not able to create as compelling a character as Robert Blake did in TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE. Partly this is because Willie Boy here doesn't have the troubled back story the other movie provided. He's just a young man who has fallen in love with his cousin. THE LAST MANHUNT actually gives character to her father, played by Zahn McClarnon whose mother is Native American. This film begins with Willie Boy and Carlotta's first attempt to run away. (Note that these filmmakers chose to use the accepted name of Willie Boy's love and not the fictional name from TELL of "Lola".) It is only barely mentioned that this union breaks tribal incest laws. When the fatal confrontation occurs between the young man and the father, it is Willie Boy who brought the rifle, not the father. And rather than the self-defense scenario of TELL, it is an accidental shooting during a struggle. The sheriff character from TELL is completely different here. Rather than the son of a famous Indian killer, this sheriff is a drunk still trying to recover from the death of his wife. Interestingly, director Christian Carnargo gave himself this role, and, again, he is not able to create as compelling a character here as was created in TELL. For one thing, there is no romantic involvement between the sheriff and the woman who runs the agency. She is played by Amy Seimetz, but isn't given much to do here. While TELL had the sheriff be an expert tracker, here most of the tracking is done by two Natives with conflicting agendas. Brandon Oakes, who comes from the Kanienkehaka tribe, plays a local Native whose main interest is in bringing the girl home alive.  Raoul Max Trujillo, whose DNA comes from many tribes, plays a Yaqui Indian who wants to avenge the death of the girl's father. While TELL leaves the girl's death unsolved, here it is clearly Trujillo who kills her, firing from afar having mistaken her for Willie Boy. The false historical perspective of the Whites is personified by a news reporter who sees the manhunt as his ticket to move on to better things. In sensationalizing the story, he feels that the scarier a villain he makes Willie Boy, the more important the story becomes. While in TELL, Willie Boy's body is cremated as a proper Native burial, here it is explained that they do not burn the dead, just the dead's possessions so that the spirit would not be attached to life, but be able to move on. While the sheriff in TELL forbade the taking of a photograph in the end, here the sheriff and the reporter collude to stage a phony photo using an half breed, played by Jason Momoa, to pretend to be a dead Willie Boy. The film ends with the legends: "Through oral records taken from the Chemehuevi elders, Willie Boy survived the events of 1909. He lived, in isolation near Pahrump, Nevada, eventually succumbing to tuberculosis. No record survives to locate his actual remains. Willie Boy and Carlota survived approximately 26 days and 600 miles on foot becoming the longest and last great manhunt of the Wild West." Director Carmargo did not set out to make a thrilling adventure film, and the movie takes on the sense of being a eulogy from the beginning. This is assisted by the sombre music score by Ohad Benchetrit, which sometimes sounds like the music written for the 1992 THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones. Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, who had previously written BRAVEN for Momoa, is the credited screenwriter for this film.

Did not enjoy:

BLACK CADILLAC (2002) - Imagine DUEL except it's a 1957 black cadillac limousine, there are three guys in the car, and we eventually find out who is the menacing driver. The most interesting elements of this movie are seeing Jason Dohring two years before Veronica Mars and Kiersten Warren four years after Maximum Bob. Reportedly based on a true incident, the film, directed and co-written by John Murlowski (with Will Aldis, aka William Porter of BACK TO SCHOOL) tells the story of three guys from Minnesota who drive down to a roadhouse in Wisconsin for fun. Two of the guys seem about to have sex, when the third gets into a brawl. Escaping in their red Saab, the three soon notice that they are being followed by a black cadillac. Down the road, they come across Deputy Sheriff Randy Quaid with car trouble. They give Quaid a lift, and are soon playing "hog of the road" with the cadillac. Eventually, it is revealed that one of the three, Shane Johnson, was in the back seat of his car with Quaid's wife, Kiersten Warren. He only wants to kill Johnson with the help of his brother Robert Clunis, but the three guys, with some help from Warren, eventually triumph over him. In the end credits, there is a "thank you" to the unidentified drivers in Wisconsin who made this film possible. John Murlowski is one of those directors who has never made anything that was celebrated, but keeps working steadily. 

CASS (2008) - Based on the autobiography by Cass Pennant, with Mike Ridley, this film tells the true story of an abandoned Black baby raised by an elderly White couple in London. Actually, it begins with a car load of White guys waiting for Nonso Anozie to arrive at his job doing security at a night club. Anozie arrives and is quickly shot three times. In voice over, Anozie begins to tell his story about how he was bullied and beaten every day as a child, and only began to be accepted when he joined a gang of football hooligans. As he got older, he got bigger, and soon became a general in the Inter City Firm, associated with West Ham United. In 1980 he became the first person to be sentenced to prison for four years for football hooliganism. Eventually, Anozie met a young woman and decided to leave violence behind him - until he got shot. In the movie, he's given the chance to get even with the man who shot him, but chooses to not do it. Reportedly, Cass is still married with kids and has written a number of books about football hooliganism. This is the feature film debut of writer/director Jon S. Baird and its a rather standard "biopic". Aside from being a convincing portrait of why I'm glad to have not grown up in England, the film is a bit of a slog, recounting the awful circumstances of a man's life until his moment of redemption. 

STRIPTEASE (1996) - After the huge success of GHOST in 1990, Demi Moore began her ascent to become the highest paid actress in movies, which she achieved with STRIPTEASE. Much was made about her extensive training in becoming a stripper with breast augmentation and her willingness to appear topless. All of the publicity seemed to work against the movie which turned out not to be a sexy comedy, but an unfunny comedy thriller. Based on Carl Hiaasen's novel of the same name, the movie was written and directed by Andrew Bergman, who had moderate successes with THE IN-LAWS, THE FRESHMAN and IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU. Having lost her attempt to have custody of her little girl played by Rumer Willis, Moore gets a job as a stripper at the Eager Beaver. Stuart Pankin is a big fan of Moore, and reads the newspaper when other women are on stage. One night Senator Burt Reynolds is in the audience and becomes so enamoured of Moore, that when the groom from a stag party gets up on stage with her, Reynolds clobbers him with a champagne bottle. Hoping to keep the incident quiet, Reynolds' "right-hand" Paul Guilfoyle begins murdering anyone who seems to know anything about it - with the help of the thugs who work for a successful sugar company that finances Reynolds' political campaign. When Pankin's body floats past his property, Homicide Lieutenant Armand Assante begins an investigation. Hijinks ensue, with club bouncer Ving Rhames trying to protect Moore and the other girls and Moore's husband Robert Patrick using his daughter to help steal wheelchairs from hospitals for illegal re-sales. There are plenty of stripteases shown, but none of them prove to be alluring. The comradery among these women is charming, but it gets only a little screen time as the thriller elements take over. At one point Rhames is asked if anyone famous ever worked at the Eager Beaver, and he replies "Meryl Streep" as "Chesty LaFrance".

                                                        

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Charles Gilbert Watched:

Short YouTube video on Mel Gibson's film THE SOUND OF FREEDOM that exposes Hollywood's darkside involving human trafficking. He teams with Denzil Washington, who addresses matters of the oppressed in THE EQUALIZER.

In another video Mel Gibson makes the case of child corruption against Hollywood elites like Harvey Weinstein and Oprah Winfrey.

CYBORG 2087 (1966) Titular character (Michael Rennie) transfers back to 1966 in a cylindrical capsule Low budget despite respectable cast. Karen Steele, Wendal Corey, Chubby Johnson, Warren Stevens.

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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:

"STAR TREK: VOYAGE ONE: THE MENAGERIE" (1964/5) (aka "The Cage")

The origin of this film is as one of a group of story outlines Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry sent to the network when they greenlit the pilot for the series. Roddenberry started to work on the script using the working title of, "The Cage" with the captain being Robert April, a character name he had used on at least two of his scripts for the western series, "Have Gun, Will Travel." The name of the captain became Christopher Pike and right before filming began, he changed the title to "The Menagerie". And that is the name I choose to remember it by. (It has been known as "The Cage" to avoid confusion with its televised version.) It is one of my favorite sci-fi films tied with "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1951) as the best filmed Sci-fi movies of all time in my opinion. I saw it in its original form at a showing Roddenberry hosted back in the seventies at the Nassau Coliseum in Nassau County, New York. It reminded me of the best films that might have been made for the series, "The Outer Limits" which is my favorite sci-fi TV series of all time.

"THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES" (1962) A fun take on the sword and sandal films that were popular at the time this movie came out.

"BLUE BEETLE" (2023) A super hero film from DC with a hero who is Hispanic. George Lopez is in it playing a character similar to Alan Arkin's "Peevy from "The Rocketeer" (1991) Very entertaining. Didn't fall asleep not once while watching this film. Susan Sarandon is also in it as the villain or should I say, villainess. Well worth seeing at least in my opinion.

"STAR TREK" (The Original Series) SERIES EPISODE "SPACE SEED" (1967) Ricardo Montalban steals the show as "superman" Khan Noonian Singh. No wonder this episode was used as the basis for the second Star Trek Movie, "The Wrath of Khan.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Ok-tab-bang wang-se-ja / Rooftop prince (2012) – episodes 3 to 6

Bonne conduite (2022, Jonathan Barré)

Arizona raiders (1965, William Witney)

Another thin man (1939, W.S. Van Dyke)

Love on tap (short) (1939, George Sidney)

Coroner creek (1948, Ray Enright)

Senza pieta (1948, Alberto Lattuada)

Mildly enjoyed:

Satiricosissimo (1970, Mariano Laurenti)

Rough night in Jericho (1967, Arnold Laven)

Reach me (2014, John Herzfeld)

Did not enjoy:

Meg 2 the trench (2022, Ben Wheatley)

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David Deal Enjoyed:

SECRET OF KELLS (09)

THE SKULL (65)

BACKLASH (47) - When the body of a prominent attorney is found burned beyond recognition, the police investigation uncovers all the various unsavory types involved. Fun, twisty mystery keeps the audience guessing as well as the cops.

THIEF (71)

IL SORPASSO (62)

WAR BETWEEN THE PLANETS (65)

DAY OF THE OUTLAW (59)

EUROCRIME! (12)

COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE (72)

REPEAT PERFORMANCE (47) - It's New Year's Eve 1946 and Joan Leslie has just killed her husband, Louis Hayward. She wishes hard that she could live the year over and prevent the tragedy, and then it happens, she's back to the previous New Year's Eve. Fun to watch this theater-backdrop fantasy unfold, and Leslie is excellent in the role of the well-meaning wife. Others involved include Tom Conway and Richard Basehart.

DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (59)

TRAIL STREET (47) - Bat Masterson (in the form of Randolph Scott) comes to Liberal, Kansas to tame the town. Good guy Robert Ryan is trying to keep the local famers from pulling out due to the highjinx of bad guy Steve Brodie. A couple of ladies are involved in this plot-heavy, old-fashioned western that stays afloat mainly by the gravitas of Scott's natural charisma and the acting chops of Ryan.

MY DEAR KILLER (71)

DESTRY (55) - Audie Murphy (he's the gunless lawman Destry) comes into the town of Restful at the behest of his drunkard uncle Thomas Mitchell, who has been made a mock sheriff by bad guys Lyle Bettger and Edgar Buchanan, who run the joint. A remake of 1939's Jimmy Stewart/Marlene Dietrich vehicle Destry Rides Again, this cattlemen vs farmers chestnut is quite entertaining. The mellow Murphy plays it slow and easy until Mitchell is gunned down, then all hell breaks loose when Murphy straps on his guns. The solid cast includes Mari Blanchard, Alan Hale Jr, and Wallace Ford.

CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES (66)

DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (71)

NIGHTMARE (63)

Mildly Enjoyed

JUGGERNAUT (36)

STRIPPED TO KILL (87)

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