September 14 - 20, 2024

 

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

Brain Teasers:

After which Hollywood actress did Simonetta Vitelli take her pseudonym?

George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that Simone Blondell came from Joan Blondell.

In which Italian Western is there an exterior Cashier's window at the Sheriff's office?

No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian actor regrets turning down the role Gian Maria Volonte got for PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI because the money was too little?

No one has answered this question yet.

And now for some new brain teasers:

How did Lang Jeffries get his start making movies in Italy?

Which American body builder used to be a roommate to Steve Reeves in the time of the "Muscle House"?

Which American body builder ended up marrying his best friend's ex-wife?

Name the movies from which these images came.

No one has identified the above film yet.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's frame grab from L'IRA DI ACHILLE, aka THE FURY OF ACHILLES.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem and Angel Rivera identified last week's frame grab of Giulio Maculani and Nello Pazzafini in IL RAGGIO INFERNALE, aka DANGER! DEATH RAY.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's photo from THE VALIANT ONES

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:

Mildly enjoyed:

IL MIO CORPO PER UN POKER, aka MY BODY FOR POKER, aka THE BELLE STARR STORY (1968) - This was a troubled production which began shooting on location in Yugoslavia under the direction of Piero Cristofani. Robert Woods remembered that the original film had a script with followed the accepted legend of Belle Starr, if not quite the reality. He played Cole Younger, who was the uncle of Charles Younger. Charles Younger was rumored to have been married to Belle for three weeks. Elsa Martinelli was the star of the film and wasn't happy with Cristofani as director and got him fired. Why Lina Wertmuller, who had made four not very successful features, one under the name George H. Brown, was hired to take over the direction of the film hasn't been explained. Reportedly, Woods wasn't happy with the changes Wertmuller was making to the film - including changing his character into the fictional Cole Harvey, and so she killed off his character early and fired him. Eventually, Woods had to sue the producer, Oscar Righini, to get the money owed him. George Eastman, aka Luigi Montefiori, was hired to play a new character, completely fictional, by Wertmuller to be the heroine's love interest, and he said that all of his scenes were shot in Italy. I don't know what the original script was like, but Wertmuller, under the name Nathan Wich, turned the project into another of her stories about sexual politics. The stuff shot with Robert Woods ended up being incorporated into a flashback sequence in which Martinelli tells Eastman about how she became a notorious outlaw. None of this material had any relation to what was accepted as the true story of Myra Maybelle Shirley, who later married Sam Starr. There was no mention in the movie of her three marriages and two children. In any case, the movie focused on her relationship with an outlaw she met during a poker game and deliberately lost an hand with which he got to have sex with her. Feeling disrespected by the man, ie. Eastman, she set out to best him. After about an hour of running time, the film suddenly becomes a heist film remniscent of THE CAPER OF THE GOLDEN BULLS with Belle gathering a gang to climb hand over hand by rope across a town street to break into a bank to steal some jewels. Belle decided to pull off the robbery because Eastman told her he planned to steal the jewels, and she wanted to beat him to it. The film ended with the love relationship still unresolved, with her slapping him and he kissing her before leaving. You know you were watching an unusual Italian Western when it began with Elsa Martinelli singing the ballad "No Time For Love" over the opening credits. Wermuller even had Martinelli playing the guitar and singing the song within the movie. In an interview, Eastman said that he didn't think that the movie got a theatrical release, but the IMDb reported that it was released in Italy on March 15, 1968 and in West Germany on October 11, 1968. Whether that was accurate, I don't know, but I'd never heard of the film until it came out on home video. If you enjoy looking at Elsa Martinelli in close up, this movie will be most satisfying for you. She has flowing red hair and the cutest freckles on her nose. Whether either is real or make-up, I don't know. Usually the complaint about historical accuracy focused on the fire arms used in Westerns. For this film, the complaint is that plastic-tipper cigars didn't exist until the 1950s.

BLACK JACK (1968) - With a movie like this, if you find out that the main character has a sister, you know that she will not survive to the end of the picture. That sort of thing is standard, and is a simple way to set up a revenge scenario. Here writers Luigi Ambrosini, Augusto Finocchi (who had previously worked on six Westerns), Mario Maffei (who had previously written and directed LA GRANDE NOTTE DI RINGO) and director Gianfranco Baldanello decided to complicate matters by starting the movie with a heist scenario. So Native American Mimmo Palmara came to collect Robert Woods from the deserted town in which Woods lived to meet with his gang that included Rik Battaglia, Larry Dolgin, Federico Chentrens, Ivan Scratuglia and Fredy Unger. The rather complicated bank heist took up the first half hour of the movie, and still resulted in the gang having to shoot their way out of town. After the heist, Woods decided to stop off for a roll in the hay with Lucienne Bridou. Meeting up with the gang at their hideout, Woods prepared to divy up the loot as usual, but the gang wanted more. So, Woods ended up taking it all. He then met with Palmara to pay him off. I guess only Palmara knew where Woods was living, so the Indian decided to betray his whereabouts to the gang. For such a clever criminal who boasted about how he did all of the planning for the robbery, Woods proved to be rather stupid for not taking his sister and her boyfriend some where safer than the deserted town. Woods and the boyfriend survive, thanks to Bridou coming by later to check on Woods. Crippled in one leg and having to recover from having a knife put into his gun hand, Woods vows revenge for the death, and scalping, of his sister, Sascia Krusciarska. Interestingly, the filmmakers do not show her rape and murder but only infer it. Any way, the boyfriend said that he could find no trace of the bad guys, but Woods said that he would find them. How he found them, one by one, was never explained, and the filmmakers came up with a number of unusual ways to kill them off. The film took on a kind of "slasher" movie scenario with the audience wondering how the next kill would be achieved. However, as Woods was not sympathetic in the role, the film never became compelling and the kind of jazzy score by Coriolano Gori was not enjoyable. Not surprising, the film had no humor, so there was plenty of time to wonder what kind of financial deal was made to shoot the desert exteriors in Israel rather than Spain.

ELYSIUM (2013) - After the success of DISTRICT 9, South African born director Neill Blomkamp was given the go ahead to make ELYSIUM, another science fiction film dealing with xenophobia and social segregation. In the year 2154, Earth has become overpopulated and heavily polluted, so the "haves" built a space station in orbit called Elysium The "have nots" are left to muddle the best they can on the planet. In an obvious metaphor for illegal immigration, an outlaw group on Earth, specifically Los Angeles, sends up shuttles to breach Elysium's barriers, often times because they have "med bays" which can cure all human ailements, but have been programmed only to work on official Elysium citizens. Security officer Jodie Foster is all in favor of blowing up every illegal shuttle heading towards Elysium, but the President thinks that is too cruel. Foster makes a deal with William Fichtner to create a computer program that will allow Foster to reboot Elysium's systems and stage a coup to overthrow the President. Fichtner runs a factory on Earth in which Matt Damon works. Due to a malfunction, Damon gets a lethal dose of radiation at the factory and is told that he only has five days to live. Damon hopes to be taken to a med bay in Elysium, but Fichtner feels that he should be left to die. Hoping to get to the orbiting habitat, Damon goes to trafficker Wagner Moura, for whom he used to work. Moura outfits him with a mechanical exoskeleton that almost makes him a Robocriminal. As most of the rich people save their important data in their own brains, Moura also outfits Damon with the hardwear to steal all of the information from a richman's brain. Damon wants Fichtner's brain, not knowing that in downloading that man's brain, he's also downloading the information for Foster's coup d'etate. This write-up is already complicated, so I won't go into Damon's child hood friend who grows up to be the beautiful Alice Braga (the neice of Sonia Braga) and how they both end up prisoners of the evil black operations agent Sharlto Copley. Writer and dreictor Blomkamp succeeds in creating a compelling and exciting film, though I would prefer him not using "shakey cam" so much. The opening shots of a decaying Los Angeles looked to me to be footage of the present day slums of Rio de Janeiro, but it turns out that they were actually the Iztapalapa district on the outskirts of Mexico City. The pristine Elysium neighborhoods were partly shot in the wealthy Huixquilucan-Interlomas suburbs of Mexico City and in Vancouver, British Columbia.

FOXTROT (2017) - An official German-French-Israeli-Swiss co-production, FOXTROT was written and directed by Samuel Maoz and won the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion at the 74th Venice Film Festival in 2017. His first feature film, LEBANON, won the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival in 2009. Venice chose to show LEBANON after it had been rejected by both the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals. FOXTROT was an odd film with the first half hour being a tough portrait of an Israeli father, Lior Ashkenazi, and mother, Sarah Adler, being informed that their son, an IDF soldier, was killed in action. Then they were told that the information was wrong and that their son was still alive and it was a different soldier with the same name. The father then called a friend to try and get his son returned home. The middle section of the film shows that son, Yonatan Shiray, on duty at a crossing seemingly in the middle of nowhere. After about forty minutes showing how incredibly dull the posting was, between the scary moments of checking cars coming through, suddenly a misunderstanding leads to Shiray killing four young people in a car. After a radio call, another team with a bulldozer arrived to bury the destroyed car and its occupants. In the morning, an officer arrived by helicopter to tell everyone that they should consider the incident closed or else they would all be in a lot of trouble. He also told Shiray to get into the leaving supply truck because he was going home. Then there was an animated sequence, possibly in Shiray's mind, taking the "last bedtime story" his father told him about trading the family's heirloom Bible for an adult magazine featuring a cover girl with whom he fell in love. In the animated story, the loss of the Bible led to his mother going insane and being put into a mental home. Then we were suddenly back in the mother and father's apartment, only to slowly figure out that Shiray was killed returning home from his posting. The guilt that they felt about getting him sent home early seemed to have destroyed their marriage. Reportedly, the director intended the film to be three episodes with the first designed to shock, the second to hypnotize and the third to be emotional. Well, if that was the intent, I think he succeeded. However, it wasn't until the film was over that the design of it made sense, which made the watching of it a bit of a slog. All of the performers were compelling, and I would love to see more of French born actress Sarah Adler. After the film won the prize at Venice, the Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev denounced the film for suggesting that the IDF would cover up the accidental shooting of a car load of youths. I couldn't identify the youths as being of any ethnicity, but the denounciatoin suggested that they were Arabs.

TE DEUM, aka STING OF THE WEST, aka FATHER JACK-LEG (1972) - I had never heard the term "jackleg" before and now I know that it means "con artist". It is a term used quite often in the English language version of this Italian Western comedy that makes the TRINITY films look like Art movies. Director Enzo G. Castellari first exhibited an interest in mixing comedy with his Westerns with the first film for which he took that credit: VADO... L'AMMAZZO E TORNO, aka I'LL GO... I'LL KILL AND RETURN. aka GO KILL AND COME BACK, aka ANY GUN CAN PLAY. His next five films were played mostly straight, but in 1971 he made ETTORE LO FUSTO, aka HECTOR THE MIGHTY, in which he embraced low comedy. He embraces low comedy again with TE DEUM, but the phenomenal success of LO CHIAMAVANO TRINITA..., aka THEY CALL ME TRINITY, probably had an influence. The film announces the level of humor to come when a lawyer arrives in a Western town and asks where he can find "Stinky Manure". That's the name of the character played by Lionel Stander who has inherited the deed to a gold mine. As Stander, and his whole family are crooks, and the deed comes from a "jackleg", everyone is convinced that it is a phony deed - even though two gunmen show up to try and steal it. The youngest of the family is named Tedeum, which was the hymn being sung in the church where he was born. Timothy Brent (aka Giancarlo Prete) plays Tedeum and he is kind-of this movie's version of Terence Hill. Brent is sent out to sell the deed, and boards a train figuring that's where he'll find a fool with money. At first he finds two women, Francesca Romana Coluzzi and Mabel Karin, who turn out to also be trying to sell a phony deed to a gold mine. Brent then approaches Riccardo Garrone, who turns out to be one of a convention of Texas lawmen on the train. Suddenly, there appears Jack Palance in a monk's robe collecting for the poor. Palance is kind-of this movie's version of Bud Spencer being able to bend the barrel of a shotgun at one point. Seeing another con artist, Brent asks Palance for help getting away from the law. Palance does help and then wants to partner with Brent to sell what they think is a phony deed. Meeting up with the two women from the train, the four go to a town to try and sell their two deeds at an auction at Grant's Mining Company. It turns out that Grant, played by Eduardo Fajardo, was the fellow who sent the two gunmen to steal the map at the beginning. He knows that the gold mine is real and he wants that deed. Eventually, everyone figures out that the deed is to a real mine and they fight for it in a communal bath. The Manure family sticks the deed into a canteen and toss it around like a football - a scene very reminiscent of one in ...CONTINUAVANO A CHIAMARLO TRINITA, aka TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME, except in water. TEDEUM is very silly, but with high energy and good spirits. A bouncy tuneful music score by Guido and Maruzio De Angelis helps the feel good nature of the proceedings, but this is very much an Italian slapstick comedy and many Americans find them incredibly unfunny. 

Did not enjoy:

REBEL MOON the director's cut part one (2024) and REBEL MOON the director's cut part two (2024) - While enduring the 204 minutes of part one, aka CHAPTER ONE: CHALICE OF BLOOD formerly known as PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE at 134 minutes, Zack Snyder replaced Michael Bay as the current American director I least enjoy. Of course, if Bay decided to put out an R-rated version of TRANSFORMERS, that might change. Reportedly Snyder came up with the concept of REBEL MOON while in college, which is when I guess he saw SEVEN SAMURAI and  thought if STAR WARS was partly inspired by THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, why not a space epic based on a different film by director Akira Kurosawa. I guess he didn't see BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS or MESSAGE FROM SPACE. As with ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE director's cut, he seems to feel that length, 242 minutes, equals depth, and slow motion means drama. So every obvious and unoriginal idea he has is lingered over as if it is brilliant. I kept yelling at the TV set "get on with it" until I accepted that the only way to get through this was by fast-forwarding. PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER at 122 minutes or CHAPTER TWO: CURSE OF FORGIVENESS at 173 minutes is slightly better if for no other reason than it is slightly shorter. Of course, part two is more egregious as it has a non-ending threatening the audience with more installments.

 

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David Deal Enjoyed:

THE FALLING MAN (68)

SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (43)

THE INVISIBLE MAN VS. THE HUMAN FLY (57) - How can you resist a title like this? Worth your time.

BRANDED TO KILL (67) - I'm not one for hyperbole but this is a masterpiece.

3 SECONDS BEFORE EXPLOSION (67) - I saw this once, many years ago, and it will fit the bill for fans of classic Japanese crime films. Another winner. 

DEATH ON THE RUN (67) - Please refer to the Eurospy Guide for a complete review of this violent Sergio Corbucci entry.

SOMETHING CREEPING IN THE DARK (70) - From 2021: "One of the more interesting cinematic orphans looking for Bava-esque significance.  This has a hyper reality to it that reminds me of the Amicus horror anthologies of the same time period, but blended with an operatic sense of drama and surrealism that confound any attachment to reality."

FOG ISLAND (45) - George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, Jerome Cowen, Veda Ann Borg in a nasty body count movie. What's not to like?

Mildly enjoyed:

PIRATES OF THE COAST (60) - My copy is crummy. Perhaps the movie gods will favor a decent presentation someday.

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Angel Rivera  Highly enjoyed:

"A TIME TO KILL" (1996)
Samuel L. Jackson shoots and kills the two men who raped and left for dead his 9 year old daughter. Matthew McConaughey in his first major role plays his lawyer who has to defend Jackson at his murder trial. Sandra Bullock also in one of her early roles plays a law student who will work with McConaughey to defend Jackson. I saw this in the theaters when it was first-run. As I vaguely remember the movie having only seen it once before. Bullock especially looks fetching in her appearance in the film. A well done drama.Other familiar faces in this film are: Samuel L. Jackson;  Ashley Judd; and Oliver Platt: among others. 

Mildly enjoyed:

"MARYJANE" (1968)
Fabian plays a high school teacher who gets caught up in the marijuana for sale biz and is framed for possession of pot. (a major crime at the time the film was originally released.) An American International release about the "dangers" of pot smoking; especially if you get caught. Mildly interesting. Also has Diane McBain in the cast.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Hell is for heroes (1961, Don Siegel)

Luci del varietà (1950, Federico Fellini & Alberto Lattuada)

Mildly enjoy:

Sitting Bull (1954, Sidney Salkow)

Zorro – season 1 – episode 1 (tv serie with Jean Dujardin)

Dare to love me - season 1 – episodes 14 to 16

The time tunnel – episode «The death trap» (1966, William Hale)

Island of lost women (1959, Frank L. Tuttle)

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Charles Gilbert watched:

FATAL WITNESS (1945) B&W. Leslie Selander directs Evelyn Ankers in this entry of the Scott Lord Mystery series. Spooky ending when the family of a widowed heiress tries to trick the murderer, her nephew, into confessing.

McGurk's Way  (1952) B&W  Presented by the Fruehauf Trailer Co., Ward Bond plays Dan McGurk giving a speech to construction workers on site addressing the need for highway improvement with regard mainly to the trucking industry. John Hamilton (tv's Perry White in Adventures of Superman) acts as group organizer.

Boeing Age of Aerospace: Aviation documentaries.

 "What Can't We Do" Ep.1 Bill Boeing gets into moving mail by air with primitive planes shortly after the Wright Brothers first flight.

 "Miracle Planes" Ep.2 Fighting takes to the skies in WW2 with marvels like the B 24 and B29.

"Dreamliner" Ep.5 787, the first jet made from composite materials, as a result of multiple global joint ventures, makes its maiden flight in December 2009.

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