September 2 - 8, 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.

What is Italian Western actor Jeff Cameron's real name?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it is Giovanni Goffredo Scarciofolo.

What is Dean Stratford's real name?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it is Agatino Strano, aka Dino Strano.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which French actress worked with directors Marco Vicario, Giorgio Simonelli, Riccardo Freda, Carmine Gallone, Mario Gariazzo, Giacomo Gentilomo and Alfonso Brescia?

In which Italian Western does Peter Lee Lawrence kill Alberto Dell'Acqua?

Which Italian Western was originally to be called A DOLLAR A HEAD?

Name the movies from which these images came.

No one identified the above frame grab.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one identified the above frame grab.

Can you name from what movie it came?

 David Deal identified last week's frame grab from MALABIMBA.

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?

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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:

Justified: City Primeval (2023) - Timothy Olyphant returns as Marshal Raylan Givens for this 8 episode series in which he finds that crime in Detroit is more complicated than in Kentucky. Olyphant's daughter, Vivian Olyphant, is quite convincing as Givens' daughter who didn't want to be dragged to Detroit but still wanted to spend time with her father. Michael Dinner and Dave Andron did a good job of keeping what was loved about the TV series while surrounding Olyphant with another compelling cast.

Miracle Workers: End Times (2023)

Mildly enjoyed:

WINCHESTER UNO ENTRE MIL, aka WINCHESTER "ONE OF ONE THOUSAND", aka KILLER ADIOS (1968) - Jose Mallorqui Figuerola is credited for the story of this film, with Maria Amendola and director Primo Zeglio contributing to the screenplay. (IMDb says that it was Mario Amendola.) Were they inspired by the American Western 5 CARD STUD to make another a murder mystery Western? Unfortunately, they were bad at writing one. Peter Lee Lawrence returns to his home town years after Sheriff Louis Induni advised him to leave after shooting a bank robber dead without thinking first. Former town boss Armando Calvo asked Lawrence to return hoping that he would replace the aging Induni, who won't help Calvo compete with Eduardo Fajardo. Calvo blames Fajardo's man, Giovanni Pazzafini, with most of the trouble in town. When someone tries to shoot Lawrence through the door of his hotel room, everyone suspects Pazzafini. The next time someone tries to shoot Lawrence, a prized "one of one thousand" commemorative Winchester rifle is found on the scene. Everyone knows that the rifle belongs to Pazzafini, but Lawrence is suspicious that Pazzafini would leave such evidence if he really was the shooter. Soon a number of murders occur, with Lawrence becoming Induni's deputy inorder to investigate. His investigation is complicated by seeing that his old girlfriend, Rosalba Neri, has become a jewel hungry whore, and by Induni's daughter, Marisa Solinas, following Lawrence around asking him to marry her. Other suspects include Victor Israel, Jaime Blanch and Jose Canalejas. The mystery doesn't unravel logically and the solution comes when the bad guy doing something really stupid. Rafael Abienzo and Paola Mugnai give Lawrence a very attractive wardrobe and Solinas provides some sensuality, all of which is nicely captured on film by Director of Photography Julio Ortas. Claudio Tallino provides some nice music, but the song "Killer Adios" by Tirone Tallino doesn't seem appropriate. Tony La Penna gets the credit "dialogue written and directed by" on the English language version, and his work is awful. Director Primo Zeglio was often credited on films that were released outside of Italy with American filmmakers getting sole credits: like MORGAN THE PIRATE directed by Andre De Toth and SEVEN SEAS TO CALAIS directed by Rudolph Mate. KILLER ADIOS was his last credit and he gave a role to his wife Paola Barbara. He died in 1984.

KILLER CALIBRO 32, aka 32 CALIBER KILLER, aka KILLER CALIBER .32 (1967) - Peter Lee Lawrence plays a gunman who can be hired to kill bad guys for $1,000 each, but only in self-defense. For the first half of this movie, Lawrence demands to be addressed as "Mister Silver", but about half way through, everyone just calls him "Silver". Here is another murder mystery Western entitled after a firearm. At one point, Lawrence points out that the man he is accused of shooting in the back was killed by a .45 bullet, while he only uses an elegant .32 caliber pistol. I wonder who decided that Lawrence should be beautifully attired in what usually passes for a gambler's wardrobe? This screenplay is solely credited to Enzo Gicca, aka Lorenzo Gicca Palli, and again the mystery is not solved in a logical manner, and there are plenty of red herrings. I knew that I was going to have problems with this film when it turns out that Mexicans working as slaves for a rich landowner have hired Lawrence to kill the landowner. With the landowner dead, who is going to pay the workers now? Later on, Lawrence returns to the site, and the workers are still laboring under the same foreman, but they seem content now. Huh? Anyway, the main story kicks off with a stagecoach robbery during which the bandits know that the loot has been hidden under the floor of the coach. When one of the passengers recognizes the bandit leader's voice, all of the passengers are killed. Later on, Lawrence is hired to find the bandits, but with all of the witnesses dead, how does he know there were seven bandits? The trick is that only one of the bandits knows who the leader is, and that one bandit is the first man to try and kill Lawrence and the first one to be killed by a bullet in the back - probably shot by the mysterious leader to protect his identity. There is plenty of work given to the uncredited Chinese undertaker, but we should have also seen an uncredited glass worker because all of the windows that get broken in this film are miraculously fixed when another scene begins. Agnes Spaak is one of the cast members billed under her real name, and while she is attractive, she's not given much to do. Spaak had an acting career for about ten years, but was never able to get out from under the shadow of her younger sister Catherine. She eventually became a successful fashion photographer. This is one of the movies for which Helene Chanel tried out the name Sherill Morgan, while Massimo Righi used Max Dean, Alberto dell'Acqua used Cole Kitosch and Giovanni Pazzafini used Red Carter. Robby Poitevin, who was married to Bella Cortez at the time, is credited with the music score, though much of it is reused music from LE PISTOLE NON DISCUTONO by Ennio Morricone. However the closing credit song "Amica Colt", is original and  is co-written by and sung by Maurizio Graf, using his birth name Attanasio as a writer. This was director Alfonso Brescia second Western after making "sword and sandal" films, and of course he was billed as Al Bradley.

MARRIED BY MISTAKE (2022) - After the cancellation of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I've been looking to see Chloe Bennett in something new. This popped up on Spectrum Cable On-Demand for the E! Channel. I was surprised that E! is now showing new scripted movies. Thankfully this is better than the average Hallmark Channel movie, and it was probably made by the same Canadian producers behind most of what airs on Lifetime and Hallmark. Chloe Bennet is, as expected, gorgeous in this romantic comedy which begins with her waking up naked in bed with Blair Penner in an hotel room in Las Vegas. They soon remember that they had both just graduated from business college when she found out that the job she was about to start has disappeared with the arrest of her future boss. He just found out that this long distance girlfriend, Ashley Ross, wasn't going to wait for him any longer. So, Bennet and Penner got roaring drunk and got married. Penner is heading back to Tennessee to see if he can rescue his family's company, and he offers Bennet a job if she comes with him. Of course, she goes, and, of course, she falls in love with Penner's brother Anthony Konechny. Writer Meg Jackson worked on the TV shows Profiler and Boardwalk Empire, so MARRIED BY MISTAKE is a different credit for her, but she delivers the usual plot elements with a surprising deftness. Director Mike Rohl is a veteran of this kind-of stuff and succeeds in making another pleasant viewing experience.

Did not enjoy:

DRUNK WEDDING (2015) - This is not my kind of movie, especially if the premise is that everyone attending a "destination" wedding is given a digital video camera to capture the experience. So the entire "film" is made up of hand held capturing of embarrassing moments by gleefully obnoxious participants. While not quite BRIDESMAIDS in the style of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the movie is a nice commercial for that resort in Nicaragua. If your humor wants to include a sequence of a male stripper at the bachelorette party having an orgasm after a room full of stripped-to-their underwear women rub against him then this movie may be for you.

                                                        

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Charles Gilbert Watched:

CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE  (1976) Jack Elam plays a trapper in Louisiana whose buddy gets snat ched by big foot while fishing from a boat.

AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957) B&W. Glenn Langan is exposed to radiation from a nuclear blast that induces rapid growth to 60 feet tall. The size of his heart doesnt keep pace, though. Cathy Downs is his fiancee.

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958) B&W. Sequel for the colossus features disfigurement from the end of previous film. Sally Fraser plays his sister.

THE TIJUANA STORY (1957) B&W. Columbia Pictures Clover Productions tells the story of vice across the Mexican border and a newspaper editor (Rodolfo Acosta) rallying support to fight it. Subplot included with James Darren romancing a native girl.

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Angel Rivera Mildly enjoyed:

"NO HARD FEELINGS" (2023) The new Jennifer Lawrence movie. Jen plays a 32 year old single female who prostitutes herself for a car when the car she uses as an Uber driver to support herself and pay the taxes on the house her late mother left her, has been impounded and she can't afford to pay the impound charges. So see, she had no choice. A rich couple will give her a car if she will have sex with their 19 year old socially inept son, but it has to be the"girlfriend experience." Jen also performs some totally nude ass-kicking when she goes up against the punks who try to steal her and her "love interest"'s clothing while they skinny-dip. She looks great in the all together and I mean the all together! The Hall & Oates song, "Man Eater" plays a featured role in this movie.

"YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT INVITED TO MY BAT MITZVAH! (2023) Adam Sandler's daughters are all caught up in this coming of age comedy.

Highly enjoyed:

"IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?!?"(2022) An interesting Netflix documentary about the so-called "Black exploitation" movie period: as well as the history of blacks in American cinema.

"WHAM!"(2023) Another interesting documentary from Netflix. This one is about the history of the pop duo, Wham! and George Michael's struggles "living in the closet!"

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Six black horses (1961, Harry Keller)

The avengers – epis “Too many Christmas trees” (1965, Roy Baker)

Sledge Hammer ! - epis “They shoot Hammers, don't they !” (1986, David Wechter)

Wings of the hawk (1953, Budd Boetticher)

Los annos Arruza (doc) (1996, Emilio Maillé)

Mildly enjoyed:

Miracle workers: Oregon trail – 10 episodes

Alphonse président – season 2 (8 epis)

Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny (2022, James Mangold)

Some mothers do' ave' em – epis “The labour exchange” (1972, Sidney Lotterby)

Did not enjoy:

La vie pour de vrai (2022, Dany Boon)

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