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Q (1982)--Directed by Larry Cohen. Stars
Michael Moriarty, David Carradine, Richard Roundtree, Candy Clark. One of cult filmmaker Cohen’s finest
films is an entertaining, old-fashioned monster mash about a giant winged serpent picking off pedestrians in New York City.
Small-time hood Jimmy Quinn (played eccentrically by Moriarty) discovers the nest of the legendary Quetzalcoatl at the top
of the Chrysler Building and ransoms its whereabouts to the mayor for a million bucks. Carradine appears to be having
a gay old time as a loose detective investigating the various killings, which include a window washer found with his head
missing and a topless sunbather lifted off the roof of her building. Written very quickly after Cohen was fired as director
of I, THE JURY, Q is laced with humor, good acting, and capable stop-motion animation by David Allen. For some reason,
major leaguer Ron Cey appears as a cop. Also with James Dixon, Eddie Jones, Malachy McCourt, Mary Louise Weller, and
John Capodice. Music by Robert O. Ragland.
Q & A (1990)--Directed by Sidney Lumet. Stars
Timothy Hutton, Nick Nolte, Armand Assante, Jenny Lumet, Patrick O'Neal. Nolte gives a strong performance as a revered New
York cop who shoots a drug dealer in self-defense. His case is assigned to a green assistant D.A. (Hutton). Hutton's superiors
are on his back to hurry the case along, but, after some investigation, Hutton begins to suspect that Nolte isn't the good
cop he's revered to be, and that the shooting may not have been in self-defense after all. The case also involves a Hispanic
drug lord (Assante) and his lover (Jenny Lumet, the directors daughter), who was once Hutton's girlfriend. Film is a bit uneven;
the pace flags a bit in the second half, but, aside from Hutton (who's a bit wooden here), the cast is excellent. Also with
Lee Richardson, Luis Guzman and Charles S. Dutton.
THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955)--Directed by Val
Guest. Stars Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Margia Dean, Richard Wordsworth. THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT stands as one of the most
significant films in genre history in that it was Hammer Studios' first foray into the world of science fiction and horror.
Based upon a six-part TV serial written by Nigel Kneale and broadcast by the BBC in July 1953, the screenplay by Guest and
Richard Landau details the first manned expedition into space--a rocket that crashlands on a farm just outside of London.
Two of the astronauts are missing; the lone survivor, Carroon (Wordsworth), is found in a zombie-like state, mute and undergoing
a strange physical transformation. Professor Quatermass (American actor Donlevy), the head of the Q-1 Project, orders Carroon
kept in isolation until he can discover what happened to the rest of the rocket party. Quatermass eventually discovers that
an alien presence entered the ship during its flight, and has taken over Carroon's body. Carroon, no longer human, continues
to transform into a monstrous creature with tentacles and escapes to Westminster Abbey.
Using crisp black-and-white
photography by Walter Harvey and a pounding score by James Bernard, Guest heightens the tension by filming the action realistically
in a cinema verite style. Hammer went all out in its publicity, even changing the title in order of emphasize the film's X
rating. Some have objected to Donlevy's terse, humorless performance, but I thought he was fine. His Quatermass isn't exactly
a likable man, but he is believable and to the point and properly heroic during the shocking finale. United Artists retitled
this THE CREEPING UNKNOWN for its U.S. release, since the Quatermass name was unknown here. Also with Lionel Jeffries, Thora
Hird, Gordon Jackson, David King-Wood and future Paul McCartney girlfriend Jane Asher as the little girl Carroon encounters.
Donlevy returned the following year in QUATERMASS 2, released in America as ENEMY FROM SPACE.
QUATERMASS 2 (1957)--Directed by Val Guest.
Stars Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Bryan Forbes. Investigating a mysterious rash of small meteorites that have been
plummeting to Earth near a small English village, rocket scientist Bernard Quatermass (Donlevy) discovers a clandestine base
that's an exact duplicate of the one he designed for the British government. His colleague Marsh (Forbes) is injured
while studying one of the space rocks, but is arrested by the plant's private guards, who send Quatermass on his way.
The web of secrecy and paranoia surrounding the mysterious site spurs Quatermass to dig his heels in even further, leading
him to a startling discovery involving a covert alien invasion. I think this Hammer sequel may be even better than the
original QUATERMASS XPERIMENT. Donlevy's bulldog portrayal and Guest's matter-of-fact direction provide Nigel Kneale's
concept with enough realism to make it scary, and while the visual effects, always a problem under Hammer's low budgets, let
the climax down a notch, the sharp cinematography and James Bernard's atmospheric score pick up the slack. Released
in the U.S. as ENEMY FROM SPACE, Q2 is top-quality science fiction. Professor Quatermass next hit the big screen in
1967's QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, released Stateside as FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH. All four Quatermass films were based
on BBC telecasts penned by Kneale.
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967)--Directed by Roy Ward Baker. Stars Andrew Keir, James Donald,
Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover. One of Hammer's most popular SF movies is the third to feature Nigel Kneale's indefatigable
Professor Quatermass, played for the first time in a feature film by a British actor, Andrew Keir (American leading man Brian
Donlevy played Quatermass in two '50s films). As thought-provoking and intelligent as it is, I find it too talky, claustrophobic
and slightly overrated. Quatermass is called in when construction workers building a London subway discover skeletons
buried beneath the city. Estimated by scientist Roney (Donald) to be five-million-year-old fossils of an advanced breed
of apeman, the bones are found with a mysterious structure constructed from an indestructible metal found nowhere on Earth.
The origin of Man comes into question when Quatermass deduces the structure's identity: a spaceship carrying the locust-like
inhabitants of Mars, who escaped the Red Planet to colonize the Earth. Kneale and Baker join forces to create an interesting
message, given great gravitas by Keir, but there's little action or excitement in the film, and too much of it takes place
on a central set. The fiery climax featuring a London under siege is well-mounted on a backlot, however. Released
as FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH in the United States, where the name "Quatermass" meant nothing. Music by Tristram Cary.
QUEEN KONG (1976)--Directed by Frank Agrama. Stars Robin Askwith, Valerie Leon, Rula Lenska.
Witless British comedy had trouble finding distribution, not because it’s unfunny, but because every studio was afraid
of facing Universal in a lawsuit. Basically a gender-switched remake of the 1933 giant-monkey classic, Agrama’s
comedy casts commercial spokesmodel (“I’m…) Rula Lenska as a tough film director who recruits wiseass Askwith
to accompany her and her crew to a remote island. There he’s kidnapped by luscious native girl Leon and sacrificed
to their god, a big female ape with breasts. With as many gags as QUEEN KONG throws at its audience, you would think
more of them would stick to the wall, but unless you consider Askwith’s hapless mugging to be humorous, this big gorilla
is a dud. You’re better off watching MIGHTY PEKING MAN. From the director of the Egyptian mummy gore movie
DAWN OF THE MUMMY.
QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966)—Directed by Curtis Harrington. Stars John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi
Meredith, Don Eitner, Robert Boon, Dennis Hopper, Florence Marly. Harrington (GAMES) made this low-low-budget sci-fi/horror
flick in about a week using stock footage from a Russian science fiction movie purchased by American International.
The Russian visual effects are pretty good, and Harrington’s film is too for the most part, some unintentional giggles
and a needlessly busy screenplay (by Harrington) aside. In 1990, twenty years after Earth has established a base on
the moon, astronauts are sent to Mars to rescue an alien spaceship that has crashed there. The lone survivor is a silent,
green-skinned humanoid (Marly) who nourishes on human blood and starts chowing down on the crew after mesmerizing them first.
Setbound and cheap, QUEEN OF BLOOD garners a few chills here and there, but takes more than half the film to finally pick
up its bloodthirsty passenger, and the tiny cast calls for a slim body count. Harrington introduces unnecessary plot
threads that don’t pay off, and the casting of his extras (including Forrest J Ackerman) is putrid. Not bad for
this type of thing. Variety didn’t review it until 1969, when it played in New York City with THREE IN THE ATTIC.
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995)--Directed by Sam Raimi. Stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe,
Leonardo DiCaprio. Raimi is the real star of this cartoonish western that doesn't know whether it wants to be homage or a
parody. He seems to be channeling Sergio Leone with his frequent use of deep focus, extreme closeups and panoramic vistas.
The plot even echoes that of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.
The setting is a backwater town run by evil boss Herod
(Hackman at his most depraved). Every year, the town holds a gunfighting contest. The grand prize goes to the only man left
alive at the end of the contest, which is always Hackman. His opponents this time include an ex-outlaw-turned-preacher (Crowe),
Herod's smart-mouthed illegitimate son (DiCaprio), and a mysterious beautiful blond woman (Stone). Raimi's movies are always
fun to watch; his camera seems to always be moving, and at times it's like he's making a Looney Tunes short (when characters
are shot, sunlight shines through the holes in their bodies). Hackman is properly sinister, and the supporting cast seems
to be having fun hamming it up; unfortunately Stone (who was also a producer) doesn't always seem to be in on the joke. Also
with Pat Hingle, Keith David, Lance Henriksen, Kevin Conway, Scott Spiegel and a cameo by Gary Sinise as Stone's father. Bruce
Campbell did a cameo as Wedding Shemp, but was cut out of the release print. Last film of the great black actor Woody Strode
(SPARTACUS), who appears briefly. Script by Simon Moore. Alan Silvestri scores in his best Morricone style.
THE QUICK GUN (1964)—Directed by Sidney Salkow. Stars Audie Murphy, Merry Anders, James Best,
Ted de Corsia. Columbia picked up this independently produced (by screenwriter Robert E. Kent) Audie Murphy western shot in
widescreen and color. The routine story finds Audie playing a gunslinger who returns to his old Montana hometown to prevent
a bank robbery. The townspeople haven’t forgiven him for his part in the death of two hoodlums two years earlier, so
they don’t believe that Audie’s former partner Spangler (de Corsia) has his eyes on the $100,000 resting in the
town vault. Only the sheriff (Best) and Audie’s old flame Helen (Anders) have Audie’s back as he faces down Spangler
and his men. You already know if you have an appetite for this type of generic shoot-‘em-up with an appealing supporting
cast, awkward narration, and clumsy fight choreography. Amazingly, THE QUICK GUN is an uncredited remake of an earlier Kent
film, NOOSE FOR A GUNMAN, which also co-starred de Corsia as the heavy. With Walter Sande (who played the James Best part
in NOOSE FOR A GUNMAN), Mort Mills, Rex Holman, Gregg Palmer, Frank Ferguson, and Charles Meredith. Music by Richard LaSalle.
QUICKSILVER (1986)--Directed by Tom Donnelly. Stars Kevin Bacon, Jami Gertz, Rudy Ramos, Paul Rodriguez,
Gerald S. O'Loughlin. One of the more unbelievable plotlines of recent years. Bacon is a hotshot Wall Street broker who retires
in shame after losing his parents' savings in a deal gone bad. He takes a job as a bicycle messenger (!), and saves Gertz
from a drug dealer (Ramos). His messenger buddy Rodriguez has dreams of opening his own hot dog stand (!), so Bacon eventually
summons some courage, and returns to Wall Street to make his pal's fortune. Lots of slick footage of ten-speeds weaving in
and out of New York traffic, but film is a bit difficult to take seriously.
QUIET COOL (1986)--Directed
by Clay Borris. Stars James Remar, Adam Howard, Daphne Ashbrook, Nick Cassavetes, Jared Martin. Routine 82-minute
B-movie about a New York City detective (Remar) who travels to the Pacific Northwest to help his old flame (Ashbrook) find
her missing brother and his family. Remar discovers the brother and his wife were murdered by vicious marijuana farmers.
Nephew Howard escaped, however (somehow surviving a plunge off a cliff and a roll down a mountain), and teams up with Remar
for revenge. I don’t know where Borris shot this, but it’s a fascinating little village and looks too authentic
to have been built for the production. Story and characters are thin indeed, but Borris lets loose with one bloody action
scene after another, some of them quite ingenious (like using a Jeep to yank a large log through a cabin horizontally).
It’s nice to see perennial heavy Remar playing the good guy for once, even though the movie isn’t particularly
memorable. Also with Fran Ryan, Chris Mulkey and Travis McKenna. Music by Jay Ferguson of the ‘60s rock
group Spirit (“I Got A Line On You”).
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