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BEYOND THE DOORS (1984)—Directed by
Larry Buchanan. Stars Gregory Alan Chatman, Riba Meryl, Bryan Wolf, Sandy Kenyon. Oliver Stone, eat your heart
out. Conspiracy buff Buchanan, the Texas-based filmmaker who once made a fictionalized account of Lee Harvey Oswald’s
would-be trial, goes for broke with this crazy drama, which posits that rock stars Jimi Hendrix (Chatman), Janis Joplin (Meryl)
and Jim Morrison (Wolf) were assassinated by the United States government. Considering that President Nixon really did
try to have John Lennon deported, because of his fear that Lennon would convince young people to vote Democrat, Buchanan’s
theories may not be as crackpot as they originally seem, even if his ham-handed presentation is more laughable than thought-provoking.
The actors hired to portray the charismatic rock stars are so inept that they undercut Buchanan’s concept—there
would be no need for Nixon and Hoover to get rid of performers this bland. The cheapo sets and one-take production tax
one’s patience, particularly the concert scenes, which were obviously shot together at the same time, meaning the Albert
Hall and Woodstock look as cramped as a cozy nightclub stage. Buchanan couldn’t afford to license any hits, so
Hendrix, Joplin and the Doors perform awful soundalike songs, and no attempt is made at period detail—1983 hairstyles
and fashions abound in 1969. Originally released as DOWN ON US (whatever that means), Buchanan changed the title for
home video after Stone’s THE DOORS came out.
BEYOND THE LAW (1992)—Directed by Larry
Ferguson. Stars Charlie Sheen, Linda Fiorentino, Michael Madsen, Courtney B. Vance. A-list screenwriter Ferguson
(THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER) made his directorial debut with this slick but empty biker flick. Arizona prosecutor Vance
recruits ex-cop Sheen to go undercover in Madsen’s biker gang, the Jackyls, and pass along evidence of the outlaws’
dealings in drugs, guns and murder. Sheen, an orphan who shot his abusive cop uncle when he was only six years old,
is still haunted by nightmares of his abuse, and his descent into Madsen’s decadent world threatens to overwhelm him.
Fiorentino (THE LAST SEDUCTION) is a journalist who knows Sheen’s true identity, and is adequate in a role that seems
wedged into a story that doesn’t really call for a romantic interest. Despite Ferguson’s experience writing
soulless action flicks, BEYOND THE LAW concentrates more on character and images of bearded dudes barreling down desert highways
than setpieces, though the film could really use some. Rip Torn has a colorful cameo, and Dennis Burkley plays his 142nd
biker. Ferguson directed a second film: GUNFIGHTER’S MOON with Lance Henriksen.
BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1979)--Directed
by Irwin Allen. Stars Michael Caine, Sally Field, Karl Malden, Telly Savalas. It takes place immediately following
the events of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, and stars Caine (just off Irwin Allen's THE SWARM) as a tugboat captain who pulls up
to the capsized Poseidon and plans to salvage some gold from it. He, his first mate Malden and cute/annoying sidekick Field
are joined by urbane Savalas, a doctor who pulls up in his yacht and announces that his medical crew are going to search for
survivors. Well, there are survivors still down there (including Peter Boyle, Slim Pickens, Shirley Jones, Jack Warden, Shirley
Knight, Victoria Cartwright, Veronica Hamel and Mark Harmon), but Telly actually has his own sinister agenda, which eventually
involves mowing down Caine's party with machine guns. Not really a very good movie, which extends to its cheapjack visual
effects and ineffective Jerry Fielding score. Nelson Giddings' dialogue is the pits, and it's mostly spoken poorly by the
good actors here (Caine and Field are particularly lousy). ABC added footage from the cutting room floor when it aired in
prime time.
BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970)--Directed by Russ Meyer. Screenplay by Roger Ebert.
Stars Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, Michael Blodgett, John LaZar. Meyer's first studio film (for 20th Century
Fox) is part rock musical, part action, part psychedelia, part comedy, part soft porn, part parody and part soap opera. Plot
involves a female rock-and-roll band (called The Carrie Nations) trying to make it big in Hollywood. This film is really a
truly bizarre mess, although the typically (for Meyer) stunning photography and editing keep it interesting. LaZar is pretty
amazing as Z-Man/Superwoman, who says, "This is my happening and it freaks me out!" and "You will drink the black sperm of
my vengeance!" Look for appearances by Pam Grier, Phyllis Davis and Meyer regulars Erica Gavin, Charles Napier, Haji and Edy
Williams. Read (who was married to LAUGH-IN's Dick Martin) and Myers were PLAYBOY playmates. I don't know what drugs Ebert
was taking when he scripted this thing, but it does make it difficult to take him seriously when he puts down today's exploitation
films. Gene Siskel hated this movie. Music by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Sandpipers and Stu Phillips.
BICENTENNIAL
MAN (1999)--Directed by Chris Columbus. Stars Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz, Oliver Platt. What is it
that makes a man a man? The fact that he has skin and hair and kidneys and other internal organs, or that he has the ability
to reproduce? Or is it because he can think and smile and feel pain--physical and emotional? These are heady questions for
a studio Christmas blockbuster, and if this adaptation of an Isaac Asimov story had been filmed during the pre-STAR WARS '70s,
it may have taken a shot at really getting into some of these queries. Instead, despite its inclusion of potentially thought-provoking
themes like immortality, racial tolerance and euthanasia, BICENTENNIAL MAN hits upon its grown-up ideas in the most superficial
manner, preferring to smother them with heavy dollops of maple syrup and serve them up cold.
In the not too distant
future, Andrew (Robin Williams) is a robot--a sleekly designed mechanical servant in the service of Sir (Sam Neill) and his
family, which includes wife Wendy Crewson, an obnoxious daughter called Miss by Andrew, and the cute youngest daughter (played
by the annoying little girl from the Pepsi commercials, Hallie Kate Eisenberg) Little Miss. Sir, an eccentric clockmaker (seemingly
the most successful one ever judging from his rich surroundings) discovers an anomaly within Andrew's circuits which allows
his household appliance to display creativity and humor. Sir fosters these impulses through nightly fireside chats, encouraging
Andrew to design beautiful clocks, helping him open his own bank account, and even teaching him the facts of life. As the
decades roll on (and the nicely designed digital matte paintings become more like cels from The Jetsons)--Sir passes away,
and Little Miss marries and has children of her own--eventually Andrew meets Portia (Embeth Davidtz from ARMY OF DARKNESS),
Little Miss's look-alike granddaughter. Andrew, who is becoming more human all the time thanks to revolutionary robotic experiments
conducted by genius Rupert Burns (Oliver Platt), falls in love with Portia, who is initially taken aback at the prospect of
a relationship with what is still--despite its new feelings and human appearance--a machine.
Williams, who for some
reason has such a burning desire to be loved by audiences that he's thrown away his once-brilliant comic potential in dull
family fare like FLUBBER and PATCH ADAMS, is unable to add any warmth beyond the most superficial to his role. Relying on
a series of cloying mannerisms and expressions, Williams comes across as a less sincere Emmett Kelly, and slightly pathetic
in his need to pander to the audience to get the intended response in the least subtle manner. Neill's performance is the
film's best, and, although his character becomes inexplicably antagonistic towards Andrew at one point (probably only so the
filmmakers could add a hearttugging bedside farewell sequence), I was mostly interested in the father-son relationship between
them. In fact, it is at the point in which Andrew requests his freedom and leaves Sir to explore his identity that the film
really goes downhill.
Technically, the film works well. Its amazing that Williams was able to act at all while encased
within his robotic shell (although I can't for the life of me figure out why an android would have blinking eyelids), and
the old-age makeup used on many of the actors may be the best I've ever seen. James Horner's score is at his usual level of
mawkishness. I liked the main title sequence, with the credits bouncing around a robot-making assembly line. Also with Lindze
Letherman, Bradley Whitford and George "Commando Cody" Wallace.
BIG (1988)--Directed by Penny Marshall.
Stars Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard. A thirteen-year-old boy finds himself magically transformed
into a grown man (Hanks). His childlike personality gets him a job at a toy company run by Loggia and a "girlfriend" played
by Perkins. Hanks is totally believable in his role (he was Oscar-nominated), and the supporting cast is equally good. Script
by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg (Steven's sister). Also with Mercedes Ruehl as Hanks's mother and Jon Lovitz. Directed by
TV's "Laverne".
BIG BAD MAMA (1974)--Directed by Steve Carver. Stars Angie Dickinson, Tom Skerritt,
William Shatner, Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee. All Wilma wants is the very best for her daughters. Isn’t that
what all mothers want? And if it just so happens that she has to wave a Tommy gun around to get it, well, then, that’s
just what she’ll do.
A middle-aged widow didn’t have many options in Depression-era
Texas, not even one as feisty, as intelligent, and as beautiful as Wilma McClatchie (Angie Dickinson). BIG BAD MAMA,
as directed by Steve Carver (DRUM) and written by Frances Doel (DEATHSPORT) and William Norton (WHITE LIGHTNING), finds the
fortyish mother scrounging to make a good life for her two teenagers. The oldest girl, Billie Jean (Susan Sennett, THE
CANDY SNATCHERS), didn’t fall far from the tree, able to sass, smoke, screw and shoot in her mama’s image.
Younger Polly (Robbie Lee, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS) is still a little girl trapped in a burgeoning woman’s body, built for
pleasure, but still reliant on a teddy bear for security.
The McClatchie women find themselves quickly on the move out
of eastern Texas after their bootlegging business comes to a violent end. With a pair of bumbling G-men hot on their
trail, Wilma schemes to take her family to California to start a new life, an honest one. Her plan doesn’t work
out when Wilma, aghast at discovering her daughters performing an ersatz striptease for a bunch of drunken vets, pulls a pistol
and robs the joint. Rationalizing that “we need it more than they do,” Wilma escalates to bank robbery,
using her luscious confederates as a distraction. One such heist is interrupted by Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt), who tries
robbing the same bank at the same time and ends up sharing Wilma’s spoils as a member of her gang and as her lover.
With Fred’s hotheaded attitude and skills with a machine gun, the McClatchies begin making a name for themselves, brashly
knocking over more banks and even an oil field in broad daylight.
Roger Corman produced BIG BAD MAMA for his New World production
company, which was perhaps the most exciting and most profitable independent Hollywood studios of the 1970’s.
One reason for New World’s success was Corman’s instinct for what an audience wanted to see: namely nudity
and violence. BIG BAD MAMA certainly delivers on that front, serving up like clockwork a smorgasbord of bloody gun battles,
car crashes, undraped females, and sweaty sex scenes. It has been said that Corman’s only rule for his directors
was to deliver a “bump”--something exploitable--at least every ten minutes. Carver took Corman’s advice
to heart and then some; BIG BAD MAMA is one of the company’s best-paced and most frenetic pictures.
However, what set New World movies apart from others playing
at the drive-in were the social commentary and relevant human drama that often lurked beneath the surface. Dickinson,
a ‘50s ingénue who would experience the biggest success of her long career in POLICE WOMAN a few months after BIG BAD
MAMA’s premiere, plays Wilma ahead of her time as a fully emancipated woman who certainly didn’t need a man to
complete her, but surely enjoyed the company of one when it suited her purpose. Women weren’t allowed to be openly
sexual beings in 1933, when the movie is set, and that goes double for teenage girls. BIG BAD MAMA exploits that taboo
by letting Skerritt’s character explore open relationships with all three McClatchie women.
The gang’s crime spree takes a turn with the arrival
of Southern smoothie William J. Baxter (William Shatner), whom Wilma picks up during a racetrack heist. The money-grubbing
weakling quickly replaces Fred as Wilma’s bed partner, freeing Diller to hop into the sack with Billie Jean first and
then both girls simultaneously. The complex relationships among the five leading characters are quite unusual for a
low-budget action movie of the period, endowing the sex and violence with a human element that forces you to care about the
next car chase or shootout beyond whether it delivers viscerally or not.
The game cast is mostly responsible for the dramatic weight.
Dickinson, at age 42, is a tremendous sport, not only agreeing to appear nude in several scenes (which undoubtedly contributed
to the film’s box office), but performing much of her own stuntwork and deftly handling the responsibility of transforming
Norton and Doel’s lead into a fully rounded woman. Both Skerritt and Shatner are able foils for Dickinson.
Shatner’s post-Kirk image may have taken a slight beating, considering his amusing characterization of a weak-willed,
mealy-mouthed card sharp, but the result was worth it. He’s a joy to watch, and so is BIG BAD MAMA, a ribaldly
entertaining action/comedy that stands, out of literally hundreds of Roger Corman productions, among his most satisfying.
BIG BAD MAMA II (1987)--Directed by Jim Wynorski. Stars Angie Dickinson, Robert Culp, Danielle
Brisebois, Julie McCulloch, Bruce Glover, Jeff Yagher. More of a remake of than a sequel to BIG BAD MAMA, Roger Corman’s
production is not as much fun the second time around. Less action, less nudity and maybe even less production value
than the 13-year-old New World picture. Wilma McClatchie (Dickinson, still looking foxy in her 50s) is still robbing
the rich with her two sexy daughters, and, just like in the first movie, recruits a young stud (Yagher) and a crafty older
lover (Culp) into her ranks. Out for revenge against the venal millionaire (Glover) who stole her farm and murdered
her husband, Wilma pulls her Thompson out of storage and begins a violent rampage, kidnapping Glover’s son Yagher in
the process. While Yagher and Wilma’s younger daughter fall in love, reporter Culp smells Pulitzer and crafts
his weekly newspaper column to promote Wilma’s family as heroines. Frequent TV Land viewers may be stunned to
see Brisebois from ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE and McCulloch (a former PLAYBOY Playmate) from GROWING PAINS bouncing around
topless. Also with Charles Cyphers, Ace Mask, Arthur Roberts and a cameo by Kelli Maroney (CHOPPING MALL). Music
by Chuck Cirino. Actress Linda Shayne (SCREWBALLS) plays a small role and directed second unit.
THE BIG BET (1985)--Directed
by Bert I. Gordon. Stars Lance Sloane, Kim Evenson, Sylvia Kristel. The director of THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and
ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE makes a teen sex comedy. Demonstrating the same level of wit and intelligence Gordon brought
to the screen in BEGINNING OF THE END, THE BIG BET stars Sloane (who made no other movies so far as I can tell) as a typical
high-school nerd who bets his jerk best friend that he can score with the new class hottie (Evenson). As Sloane is doing
his best to get the former PLAYBOY beauty out of her duds, the alleged friend blackmails her into remaining chaste, at least
until the bet's big deadline. Meanwhile, Sloane relieves his sexual tension with a series of erotic fantasies, some
involving the beautiful new neighbor, fashion designer Kristel (EMMANUELLE), who plays more or less the same character she
did in PRIVATE LESSONS. Gordon's script contains little that resembles genuine humor, but for those looking for sexy
nude women, THE BIG BET is a good bet. Besides Evenson and Kristel, Monique Gabrielle (who also played Emmanuelle in
EMMANUELLE 5) and Stephanie Blake kept the body makeup artists busy. Gordon, who directed his first film in 1955, made
only one more after this, SATAN'S PRINCESS with Robert Forster and Lydie Denier.
THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972)--Directed by Jack Hill.
Stars Anitra Ford, Sid Haig, Pam Grier, Candice Roman, Carol Speed, Karen McKevic, Teda Bracci. Writer/director Hill’s
previous film, THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, was one of the most profitable independent features ever made up to that time, and executive
producer Roger Corman, of course, wanted a sequel. By the time Hill got around to making one a year later, the market had
been saturated with women’s prison movies that filled the screen with nudity and degradation, so Hill decided to send
up the genre with THE BIG BIRD CAGE.
Once again, beautiful women wearing very little clothing are imprisoned
in a hellhole in the Philippines. Grier, whom Hill discovered in THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, returns as a different character, Blossom,
an armed robber who gets tossed into the clink with innocent bystander Terry (Ford), tough black Mickie (Speed), wisecracking
Bull (Bracci), tall Karen (McKevic), and sex-starved Carla, whom I believe was intended to be played by THE BIG DOLL HOUSE’s
Roberta Collins, but was instead essayed by Roman, who looks and acts exactly like her. Haig also returns from Hill’s
previous film as a revolutionary named Django who breaks his lover Blossom out of prison.
Given more money and more time for the sequel, Hill provides the
fast-paced action and nudity the genre required, but with more style and humor. For instance, all the guards at the prison
are gay men, which provides not just an interesting twist to the cliché of lesbian guards, but also a source of politically
incorrect humor. The centerpiece of the film, however, is the title prop, an intriguing three-story contraption that ostensibly
serves as a sugar mill, but is really more of a large visual gag.
Ford, who went on to INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS and THE PRICE IS
RIGHT (!), is one of the sexiest women to make drive-in films in the 1970s, a heckuva compliment, considering she was co-starring
with Pam Grier. She provides a very good anchor for the cast. Also with Vic Diaz, Marissa Delgado, and Andy Centenera. William
Loose and William Castleman provide the score, which is less memorable than Les Baxter’s music for THE BIG DOLL HOUSE,
but certainly matches the action. Hill found himself typecast as a director of strong women’s action pictures. He directed
five more films, all with female leads.
THE BIG BLACK PILL (1981)—Directed
by Reza S. Badiyi. Stars Robert Blake, JoBeth Williams. After BARETTA was cancelled and COAST TO COAST failed
to make Blake a big-screen star, the diminutive leading man created a new character for himself that he hoped would be as
popular with television audiences as Tony Baretta. Scripted by Michael Butler, but executive-produced and created by
Blake, THE BIG BLACK PILL introduces Joe Dancer, a tough Los Angeles private eye who looks, talks and acts a helluva lot like
Baretta. Dancer is hired by wealthy Tiffany Farinpour (Williams) to find her brother, which he does, only to see the
young man shot dead in his arms. Knowing he would be the chief suspect, Dancer hides the corpse and tries to clear his
name, all the while being chased by unseen killers hired to protect something seedy in the Farinpour family’s past.
Clearly a vanity project for Blake, THE BIG BLACK PILL really suffers from Michael Butler's awful teleplay, particularly the
clumsy dialogue, empty-headed narration and loose plotting. Well, gee, I guess that's about everything. JoBeth
Williams is beautiful and a good actress, but certainly no femme fatale, and the rest of the supporting cast shows up only
for one or two scenes, not long enough to learn much about them or their involvement in the mystery. Joe Dancer didn’t
prove popular enough to earn a weekly series, but Blake did reprise the role in two more TV-movies. Also with Wilford
Brimley, Edward Winter, Eileen Heckart, Veronica Cartwright, Neva Patterson, Carol Wayne, Kenneth Tigar, Robert Phillips,
Bubba Smith, Sondra Blake, Kevyn Major Howard and James Gammon. Music by George Romanis.
THE BIG BUS (1976)--Directed by James Frawley.
Stars Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck. Parody of disaster films is set on a nuclear-powered bus traveling non-stop
from New York to Denver. A few good laughs and good performances by Bologna and Channing. The bus contains a swimming pool
and a bowling alley! Also with Harold Gould, Larry Hagman, Ruth Gordon and Ned Beatty. Frawley directed many episodes of THE
MONKEES, winning an Emmy for its pilot.
THE BIG BUST-OUT (1972)--Directed by Richard Jackson. Stars
Vonetta McGee, Linda Fox, Karen Carter, Gordon Mitchell. "Soft skin bursting through hard prison walls!" A group of foxy female
prisoners--and a nun!--escape from a Middle Eastern prison run by sadistic lesbian guards. They are recaptured by brutal Miller
Drake (Mitchell), who plans to sell the women into white slavery. The prisoners bolt again, this time heading into the desert,
where Drake recaptures them. Proving that the Italians can churn this kind of stuff out better than almost anybody, this has
a much higher body count than most women-in-prison pictures, as well as a midget who likes to whip women, lots of machine-gun
fire, and some decent skinny-dipping footage. None of the actors really registers, but I can't really say that I cared. Also
with Tony Kendall, William Berger, Monica Taylor and Rose Margaret Keil. Released theatrically in the United States by New
World Pictures, THE BIG BUST-OUT can also be found as CRUCIFIED GIRLS OF SAN RAMON. The director is actually Ernst R. von
Theumer (JUNGLE WARRIORS), which the Internet Movie Database claims is a nom de plume for Mel Welles (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS)!
Is this really true?
THE BIG CHILL (1983)--Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Stars William Hurt, Kevin
Kline, Glenn Close, Tom Berenger, Meg Tilly, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, and JoBeth Williams. Overrated comedy-drama about
seven college radicals of the sixties reuniting for a weekend after a classmate's funeral. Dialogue is funny and the acting
is generally good, but I hate any movie featuring successful people whining about their tough lives. Probably inspired TV's
THIRTYSOMETHING and was inspired by John Sayles' RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN. Kevin Costner received his big break as the
dead classmate, but was cut out of the picture by Kasdan. Great soundtrack. From the director of SILVERADO and GRAND CANYON.
BIG CITY BLUES (1999)--Directed by Clive Fleury. Stars Burt Reynolds, William Forsythe, Giancarlo
Esposito, Arye Gross, Georgina Cates. Fleury also served as writer and producer of this unbearable 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY knockoff
about one night in the lives of a pair of PULP FICTION-inspired hit men (Reynolds, Forsythe), two transvestites (Esposito,
Gross) and a prostitute (Cates) searching for her doppelganger. Of course, all their paths intersect at the end for a terribly
contrived climax, but it's doubtful you'll still be watching. The performances, dialogue, and situations are awful across
the board. I guess Cates manages to bring a bit of sweetness to her role, but I don't know what kind of accent Reynolds is
attempting. British? Cajun, maybe? It isn't consistent enough to pinpoint, and a scene in which Burt is stripped naked, strapped
to a bondage table and splashed with chicken blood by a trio of devil worshippers has got to be the most humiliating of his
career. Reynolds and Forsythe receive co-producer credits. Also with Balthazar Getty, Donovan Leitch, Roxana Zal and two scenes
involving middle-aged men in embarrassing sexual situations. Music by Tomas San Miguel.
THE BIG DOLL HOUSE
(1971)--Directed by Jack Hill. Stars Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Pam Grier, Sid Haig, Pat Woodell, Gina Stuart, Brooke Mills,
Christiane Schmidtmer, Kathryn Loder. Director Hill (COFFY), screenwriter Don Spencer (SWEET SUGAR), and executive producer
Roger Corman basically created the women-in-prison genre with this fast-paced mixture of violence, nudity, feminism, and social
commentary. It was also the first film appearance by Pam Grier, whom Hill discovered and directed in four films, all of which
made big money and attracted cult followings.
Brown (THE MANHANDLERS) has the leading role as red-haired Collier,
who is tossed into a crummy cell in a prison in the Phillippines along with brassy blonde Alcott (Collins), black lesbian
Grear (Grier), political prisoner Bodine (Woodell), and junkie Harrad (Mills). Food fights, shower scenes, fights, seductions,
and kinky tortures abound until the prisoners finally get their chance to bust out and get revenge against sadistic warden
Dietrich (Schmidtmer) and loony head guard Lucian (Loder).
Although the subject matter sounds grim on the surface, Hill
directs with wit, using comic-book-style wipes between scenes and camping up the more violent material (no blood is seen)
to take the sting out of it. The leading actresses are not just beautiful and willing to disrobe on camera, but they also
appear to “get” what Hill is aiming for and adjust their performances accordingly. THE BIG DOLL HOUSE is pure
fantasy with many iconic scenes, lines (“Get it up, or I’ll cut it off!”), and images (Brown in cutoffs
firing a pair of burp guns from the hip) that inspired a whole slew of women’s prison pictures, including Hill’s
pseudo-sequel, THE BIG BIRD CAGE.
Les Baxter penned the appropriate score and theme song (sung
by Pam Grier), but gave credit to his assistant, Hall Daniels. Also with Jerry Franks and Jack Davis. Woodell, looking for
a change of pace after doing three seasons of PETTICOAT JUNCTION, stayed in the Philippines to do several more movies, as
did Grier, Collins, and Haig. Hill pops up in a cameo at the end. Eddie Romero and John Ashley served as executive producers.
THE BIG HIT (1998)--Directed by Kirk Wong.
Stars Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Avery Brooks. I really liked this energetic martial-arts comedy. Wahlberg (basically
reprising his BOOGIE NIGHTS role) is a sweet and likable hitman working for mobster Brooks. His partner is the flamboyant
and greedy Phillips, who decides to take a job on the side and kidnap the beautiful daughter of a Japanese billionaire for
ransom. Wahlberg, who is strapped for cash since he's supporting both his Jewish fianc (Christina Applegate) and his scheming
golddigging mistress (Lela Rochon), goes along with Phillips reluctantly. Unfortunately, the kidnapping victim (China Chow)
turns out to be the goddaughter of Brooks, who gives Phillips the assignment of discovering the identities of the kidnappers
and killing them. THE BIG HIT is populated with a number of engaging characters, and Wong, a veteran of Hong Kong action cinema,
finds the right note between action and slapstick. Wahlberg is quite pleasant as a professional assassin who can't stand for
anybody to dislike him, and China Chow is a real discovery as the pampered daughter of rich parents who falls for Wahlberg.
Music by George S. Clinton. Also with Elliott Gould, Lainie Kazan, Antonio Sabato, Jr. and Sab Shimono.
BIG
JAKE (1971)--Directed by George Sherman. Stars John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara, Patrick Wayne. The Duke
is Big Jake. Bad guy Boone kidnaps Big Jake's grandson and demands a one million dollar ransom. Pretty routine western has
lots of action and a good cast. Was Wayne's fifth picture with O'Hara. Also with Chris Mitchum and Bobby Vinton!
THE
BIG KAHUNA (1999)--Directed by John Swanbeck. Stars Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, Peter Facinelli. Be forewarned: there
isn't a surfboard within a thousand miles of THE BIG KAHUNA, Kevin Spacey's first film to be released since winning the Best
Actor Oscar for AMERICAN BEAUTY. Heck, there isn't even any sunshine, since nearly all the action takes place indoors on one
set. Being a big-shot movie star means having the clout to make pictures just for your own enjoyment, and although KAHUNA
is obviously a labor of love of Spacey, who produced the picture and hired his longtime acting coach John Swanbeck to direct
it, it also contains a lot for fans of swell acting to love as well.
THE BIG KAHUNA is based upon HOSPITALITY SUITE,
a prizewinning play by Roger Rueff, a former Amoco engineer who was inspired to write it after attending a convention just
like the one in the film and experiencing all the drinking, glad-handing and false promises firsthand. KAHUNA contains a premise
rather than a plot: three employees of a company that manufactures industrial lubricants attending a convention at a hotel
in Wichita, Kansas man a tiny hospitality suite in an effort to land one specific potential client: Dick Fuller, the Big Kahuna,
a corporate president who could become their biggest customer ever. While waiting for the Big Kahuna to arrive, the three
talk. And talk. And talk, which is just fine with me, since Rueff's dialogue is sharp and witty, and delivered by three actors
at the top of their game.
Spacey has the showiest role as Larry, and it's impossible to watch him in this movie without
flashing back to GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, David Mamet's riveting ode to fast-talking salesmen in which Spacey's passive character
drew the brunt of everyone else's cruel barbs. Now it's his turn, and Larry emerges as one so caustic, so wired, so driven
that, like many of James Woods characters, you assume he must be on something. Despite his fast-talking exterior, Larry is
brutally honest, and even though he has an eye for the ladies, he's never cheated on his wife after 12 years on the road.
Phil (Danny DeVito), Larry's longtime friend and partner, is hitting the far side of middle-aged, and is beginning to burn
out. He's thinking of making some changes--he's already quit drinking and divorced his wife--and has a calmer outlook than
Larry. They're teamed with first-timer Bob (Peter Facinelli from CAN'T HARDLY WAIT) from Research who's representing the brains
of the company and has been brought along by Phil to answer any technical questions the Big Kahuna may have. Bob is newly
married, wet behind the ears and still excited by life. He's also a born-again Christian, which leads to some fascinating
discussions, arguments and even revelations about selling and sincerity.
Although Spacey and Facinelli turn in outstanding
performances, it's DeVito who may surprise some people. His character is the most difficult of the three to play, since he's
mostly asked to serve as a buffer between the brash Larry and the idealistic Bob, who are really two sides of the same coin.
DeVito, a marvelous comedic actor who was astonishingly able to invest his venomous TAXI character Louie with a touch of pathos,
delivers an introspective performance as a man learning the way he has lived his life maybe wasnt the best way, and injects
his close-ups with the weight of a man in a state of conversion.
While KAHUNA doesn't exalt any new themes or messages
(let's face it--Arthur Miller wrote the last word on salesmen fifty years ago), I liked it for its performances, the sometimes
fast, sometimes contemplative dialogue, and its attempt at merging the worlds of Christianity and commerce.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)--Directed by Joel Coen.
Stars Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, David Huddleston, Tara Reid. My favorite Coen Brothers movie to date, THE BIG LEBOWSKI
is rip-roaringly funny and one of the most quotable films on the planet. Stoned-out bowling enthusiast Jeff "The Dude"
Lebowski (Bridges) comes home one afternoon to find two goons urinating on his rug and roughing him up because of outstanding
gambling debts. Turns out they've mistaken the Dude for another Jeff Lebowski (Huddleston), a millionaire with a missing
trophy wife (Reid). Lebowski promises to repay the Dude for his soiled rug if he and his gun-toting bowling buddy Walter
(Goodman) deliver Reid's ransom. There's more plot in the grand tradition of Raymond Chandler novels, but LEBOWSKI's
charm lies in its uproarious dialogue and eccentric characters. Also with Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Peter Stormare, John Turturro, Sam Elliott, Christian Clemenson, Richard Gant, Dom Irrera, Jon Polito, Aimee Mann
and Ben Gazzara. Music by Carter Burwell.
THE BIG RACKET (1976)—Directed by Enzo G.
Castellari. Stars Fabio Testi, Vincent Gardenia, Joshua Sinclair. Testi is a badass Italian cop out to stop a
violent, murderous protection racket that threatens business owners who refuse to pay $300 a month for the privilege of not
having their shops destroyed. The gang’s leader (Sinclair) has high-placed friends within the police department,
and Testi is sacked. As the crimes continue and the few victims brave enough to speak out are attacked, raped and killed,
Testi puts together a vigilante task force consisting of escaped criminals, traumatized victims and thief Gardenia to put
an end to the gang’s reign. Testi’s tough performance and Castellari’s agile presentation of violent
action scenes make this RACKET one to remember.
THE BIG RED ONE (1980)--Directed by Samuel
Fuller. Stars Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby DiCicco, Kelly Ward. The great independent filmmaker's last
released feature is an autobiographical look at a group of soldiers in World War II led by grizzled sergeant Lee Marvin. Produced
by Gene Corman, it was released by United Artists with a PG rating. Monte Hellman was second unit director. Filmed in Israel.
THE BIG SCORE (1983)--Directed by Fred Williamson. Stars Fred Williamson, John Saxon, Nancy Wilson,
Richard Roundtree. "The Hammer" plays a tough Chicago cop in this routine action flick with an excellent exploitation cast.
After Fred is falsely accused of swiping $1 million from a major drug bust, he's suspended from the force, which doesn't stop
him from shooting lots of people and bopping many heads to clear his name. Gail Morgan Hickman's script was originally intended
as a DIRTY HARRY vehicle for Clint Eastwood; it surely would have received a few more polishes before Clint shot it, but,
as a low-budget romp for Williamson's Po' Boy Productions, BIG scores okay. Much of the film's joy comes from seeing so many
cool actors: Saxon and Roundtree as fellow cops, Bruce Glover, Joe Spinell, blues singer Nancy Wilson, Ed Lauter, D'Urville
Martin, Tony King, Frank Pesce, Michael Dante, Chelcie Ross and Ron Dean. Music by Jay Chattaway and photography by Joao Fernandez,
both of whom went on to steady work on Cannon films. A pretty typical Williamson film--for whatever that's worth.
THE BIG TRADE (1983)—Directed by Reza S. Badiyi. Stars
Robert Blake, Robin Dearden, William Prince, Kenneth McMillan. The most action-packed of Blake’s three Joe Dancer
movies, probably due to an edict from NBC after the violence-free THE MONKEY MISSION. THE BIG TRADE is also the sloppiest.
My feeling is that editing and sound mixing were never finished, odd since the movie sat on the shelf for two years before
it aired (copyright date is 1981, same as the other Dancers, but it didn't run until '83). Some scenes run too long,
some are virtually repeated, a scene between Blake and McMillan (playing a cop) is marred by the sound of squeaking oars,
some necessary plot exposition is glossed over.
I basically enjoyed it, mostly because of the great stuntwork. It
looks like Blake and Dearden are doing a very dangerous scene where a helicopter about five feet off the ground is knocking
them around with its skids. A teenage boy is killed when somebody tosses him in front of Dancer’s moving car.
Investigating on behalf of the boy’s sister (Dearden), Dancer discovers the victim was in the wrong place at the wrong
time, as he delves into a link between pornography and a major Hollywood studio head (Prince) protecting its biggest star
from scandal.
George Romanis’ frivolous music score, like the other Dancer
movies (THE BIG BLACK PILL and THE MONKEY MISSION), clashes with the hard-bitten tone creator/executive producer/star Blake
tries to achieve, mainly in the use of nourish narration, which is poorly written and doesn’t work at all. Blake
is charismatic, of course, even though he’s still playing Baretta, but without the disguises. The movie feels
rushed, but the action sequences and good supporting cast (Royal Dano, Sam Anderson, Gino Conforti, Sydney Lassick) make it
my favorite Joe Dancer movie. Although all three Dancers were intended as pilots, NBC didn’t give Blake a weekly
home until 1985’s HELLTOWN, which cast the feisty star as a butt-kicking ghetto priest. Uh, yeah, it was Baretta
in a collar.
BIG TROUBLE (2002)--Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
Stars Tim Allen, Stanley Tucci, Rene Russo, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Sofia Vergara. This
screwball comedy ran into difficulty when the studio decided in late 2001 that nobody wanted to see a movie about terrorists
sneaking a bomb onto an airplane. A lot of fine actors work very hard to garner laughs. Desperately so, in fact,
in this story of a divorced writer (Allen) who encounters a crooked businessman (Tucci), his flirty wife (Russo), two bumbling
cops (Warburton from Sonnenfeld’s THE TICK and Garofalo), a sexy maid (Vergara) and several other strangers competing
for gags. It’s frenetic enough to keep you interested, but works too damn hard for few laughs. Also with
Jason Lee, Johnny Knoxville, Jack Kehler, Tom Sizemore, Andy Richter, Ben Foster, Heavy D, Omar Epps, Zooey Deschanel and
Martha Stewart. Filmed in Miami. Based on a Dave Barry novel.
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986)--Directed
by John Carpenter. Stars Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong. This comedy/kung-fu/fantasy/romance/action film
received some good reviews, but was an inexplicable dud at the box office. Russell is hilarious as a dull-witted truck driver
who finds himself in a battle with a 2000-year-old Chinese Godfather with magical powers (Hong). Russell plays reluctant hero
Jack Burton as a swaggering wannabe-macho man who's seen too many John Wayne movies--a fish-out-of-water in this strange Chinatown
underground society where sorcery and ancient myths are commonplace; he's the only character who doesn't know what's going
on! Dun, who went on to co-star in TV's MIDNIGHT CALLER, is his Chinese sidekick. Russell goes through one action scene with
lipstick smeared on his face after a kiss from Cattrall. The special effects (courtesy of Richard Edlund) and action sequences
are fun, and Russell's parody of an action hero is priceless. Gary Goldman and W.D. Richter collaborated on the screenplay;
Carpenter (as usual) provides the mostly synthesized score.
BIGFOOT (1970)—Directed by Robert F.
Slatzer. Stars John Carradine, John Mitchum, Chris Mitchum, Lindsay Crosby, Joi Lansing, Judy Jordan. Chris Mitchum
and girlfriend Jordan break away from their biker gang to do a little smooching. They stumble upon a Sasquatch graveyard
(Chris sweeps away some dirt, uncovering an obvious rubber mask that gives when he pokes it), and then are attacked by a family
of Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) that kidnap bikini-clad Judy. The sheriff refuses to go traipsing about in the forest late at
night, so Chris recruits his gang and a pair of traveling peddlers played by Carradine and Chris’ uncle John.
They find Judy and lingerie-clad parachutist Lansing tied up in the Bigfoot camp, where they apparently are being saved for
breeding purposes. There is some goofy stuff in this movie (the bikers ride Yamahas), but it’s mostly boring and
bad. Seeing Ken Maynard play the storeowner made me wonder whether Al Adamson had anything to do with the movie.
Also with William Bonner, James Craig, Red West, Doodles Weaver and Anthony Cardoza. The poster proclaimed Bigfoot the
“greatest monster since King Kong,” which may well be true, but not in this movie.
BIGFOOT: THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTER (1976)—Directed
by Robert Guenette. Stars Peter Graves. "This may be the most startling film you ever see!" MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
star Graves hosts this hilarious 1976 "documentary" from Sunn Classics, in which he convinces us that, yes, he too once was
skeptical, but once you've seen the conclusive evidence, you'll have no choice but to believe that Sasquatch is real.
It covers the Loch Ness Monster and the Yeti a little bit, but the film’s focus is Sasquatch, complete with “dramatic”
reenactments using actors wearing hairy suits created by Tom Burman’s studio. Complete with psychics, plaster
footprints, dramatizations, and Graves peering at Sasquatch feces through a microscope, this movie, also widely known as THE
MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS, is funny stuff. One reenactment appears to be ripped off from THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK.
For some reason, the bit with Graves allowing a psychic to read vibes from a briefcase containing a plaster cast of Sasquatch’s
footprint is my favorite. You’ve got to admire Graves for keeping a straight face, although—who knows—maybe
he’s sincere. Of course, the notorious Patterson film is included.
BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY
(1991)--Directed by Peter Hewitt. Stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, Joss Ackland. A rare example of a sequel
that's more entertaining than the original. Our knuckle-headed heroes (Reeves and Winter) return from their "excellent adventure"
just in time to be killed off by their evil robot duplicates from the future. They meet Death (Sadler) at the Pearly Gates,
and challenge him to games of Battleship and Clue in an attempt to return to Earth. Sadler is terrific, and his performance
is the best reason to see this movie. George Carlin and Pam Grier are good to see in supporting roles. Be sure to keep an
eye out for a "special appearance" by William Shatner! Script by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, who wrote the first BILL &
TED film. Followed by a short-lived Fox sitcom and a slightly more successful animated series on Saturday mornings, neither
of which featured Reeves and Winter.
BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989)--Directed by Stephen
Herek. Stars Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, George Carlin. Bill (Winter) and Ted (Reeves) are a couple of dumb guys who won't
be able to perform with their rock & roll band (the Wyld Stallyns) unless they pass history. They do so by traveling with
Carlin in his time-traveling phone booth and hanging out with Napoleon, Billy the Kid, Abe Lincoln, etc. Was a big hit with
teens, but you may find it a bit silly and juvenile.
BILL COSBY--HIMSELF (1983)--Directed by William
H. Cosby, Jr. Stars Bill Cosby. Very funny concert film with the standup doing routines on parenting, dentists, drunks, and
other everyday subjects. Was taken from four Hamilton, Ontario shows in 1981. Not quite as good as Richard Pryor's best concert
films, but it's up there with EDDIE MURPHY: RAW.
BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN (1967)—Directed
by Ken Russell. Stars Michael Caine, Karl Malden, Ed Begley, Oscar Homolka, Francoise Dorleac. If producer Harry
Saltzman was trying to out-Bond his own Bond franchise with this third Harry Palmer movie, it’s a big fail. If
director Russell was trying to parody the spy genre, it doesn’t work. I presume a plot this convoluted—one
that starts with ex-MI5 agent Palmer (Caine) assigned to transport a thermos of eggs to Helsinki—is intended as a big
wank-off. I have no idea what was going on through the first half, which sends Palmer to Latvia, where a Russian colonel
(Homolka) takes a liking to him. Eventually, he goes to Texas, where a right-wing billionaire (Begley) intends to start
World War III with the aid of his super-computer. The Finnish locations are properly cold and bleak, which is also how
the story left me feeling. Caine is charming, of course, and far outmatch villains Begley and Malden.
BILLY JACK (1971)--Directed by Tom Laughlin
(as T.C. Frank). Stars Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor, Kenneth Tobey, Bert Freed, Clark Howat. BILLY JACK is nothing
less than one of the most popular motion pictures ever produced. It isn’t much of a stretch to say that no movie
released in 2006 will be as profitable or be seen by more people than BILLY JACK was in its theatrical releases. The
story of a half-Indian and ex-Green Beret who protects a schoolful of teenaged hippies from bigots, BILLY JACK is a testament
to the tenacity and confidence of Tom Laughlin, who produced, wrote, directed and starred in the film as Billy Jack.
Although BILLY JACK was a tremendous hit in the early 1970s,
it can be something of a chore to watch today. Much of it has dated terribly--for instance, the drug humor of the improvisational
group The Committee (including a long-haired Howard Hesseman) and the folk music performed by the flower children characters--but
BILLY JACK’s stances against individualism, non-violence and racial intolerance are as relevant now (or more so, as
Washington extremists strive to plaster Red and Blue labels over us) as ever.
The story behind BILLY JACK is a fascinating one. The
leading character portrayed by Laughlin had already appeared in a biker movie, THE BORN LOSERS, that American International
released in 1967. Laughlin, who produced and directed that picture too, held on to the rights to Billy Jack, and after
THE BORN LOSERS became a hit, he landed financing from Warner Brothers to do a bigger-budgeted sequel called BILLY JACK, which
first came out in 1971. Warners, in Laughlin’s view, buried the film on the bottom of double bills in dirty, disreputable
theaters, so he sued the studio and received the right to release the movie his way. The Laughlin method was to travel
around the country “four-walling” theaters--renting the auditoriums himself, playing BILLY JACK in them, keeping
all the box office receipts, and giving the theaters the concession profits. Laughlin and his family (who also appeared
in the movie) made personal appearances to support the release, and relied on massive regional television advertising to get
the word out. BILLY JACK, which was already something of a hit in 1971, was a veritable smash upon its 1973 re-release,
breaking box office records across the country and turning its karate-kicking anti-hero into a household name.
BILLY JACK is nothing if not ambitious. It preaches about
so many subjects--gun control, education, racism, the generation gap--that the film often falls into tedium. The script
is by Laughlin and his wife Delores Taylor, who plays Jean, the teacher at the Freedom School, where troubled teens go to
escape their uncaring families or recover from bouts with drugs or other dangerous lifestyles. One is 15-year-old Barbara
(Julie Webb), who escaped her abusive father Mike (Kenneth Tobey), a local deputy sheriff, ran off to Haight-Ashbury, got
pregnant, came home to a beating from her father, and found shelter at Jean’s school, where she begins a loving relationship
with an Indian boy. Their miscegenational relationship is a burr under Mike’s saddle, spurring him to create trouble
around their small Arizona town for the students, who are also harassed by weak Bernard (David Roya), the son of venal town
boss Posner (Bert Freed).
Luckily for Jean and the kids, they have a protector in Billy
Jack, one of Hollywood’s few liberal action heroes. Laughlin’s clenched though charismatic performance makes
Billy Jack an interesting character. He learned to kill in Vietnam, where he saw so much senseless bloodshed that he
makes a strong effort to return to his Native American roots and avoid the violence of the White Man’s world, even though
mankind’s inhumanity to his fellow man forces him to seek justice using the skills taught to him by the government,
namely hapkido karate.
If you’re patient enough to endure BILLY JACK’s
pitfalls, there’s much to admire. I agree--when the Laughlins’ daughter Teresa begins caterwauling her way
through a self-penned folk ballad about her dead brother, you’ll want to strangle her. However, Laughlin does
an okay job staging his action scenes, which attempt to preach non-violence while simultaneously stimulating us with shots
of Billy Jack kicking bad guys in the face. Few cinematic moments are more moving than the opening title sequence involving
an illegal roundup of wild mustangs, beautifully shot by 2nd-unit cinematographer John Stephens and set to Coven’s affecting
Top 40 hit “One Tin Soldier.” The acting is variable with hardy character actors like Tobey (THE THING FROM
ANOTHER WORLD) and Clark Howat (as the sympathetic sheriff) doing nice work and amateurs such as Taylor barely able to recite
dialogue with a vestige of emotion. But what the lesser actors lack in technique, they make up for in honesty and earnestness.
This cinematic ode to tolerance and peace also has one classic
moment that’s the stuff of Hollywood legend. Bernard and his posse harass the children in an ice cream parlor
by pouring flour over the head of a cute little girl. Billy Jack waltzes in and gives a long speech about how, when
he sees such beautiful young angels mistreated by idiotic savages. Then, he “...just...goes...BERSERK,”
freaks out and kicks the crap out of the hoods. Irony or Laughlin’s commercial instincts kicking in? Also
with Victor Izay, Richard Stahl, Dan Barrows, Alan Myerson, Cisse Cameron, Stan Rice and Lynn Baker. The melodramatic
score is by Mundell Lowe.
BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON (1977)--Directed
by Tom Laughlin (as T.C. Frank). Stars Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor, E.G. Marshall, Sam Wanamaker, Dick Gautier. Laughlin's
remake of MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON was even produced by Frank Capra Jr., son of the legendary director of the original
that starred James Stewart. When the junior senator of Billy Jack's (unnamed) Southwestern state dies, the governor (Gautier)
appoints Billy (Laughlin) to fill the post temporarily in order to lure the minority, poor and youth vote. When Billy attempts
to introduce a bill allowing a youth camp to be built on land previously earmarked for a nuclear plant, greedy businessman
Wanamaker and corrupt senator Marshall frame him. There is a lot of talk and only one action scene in this admittedly sincere
drama, although Laughlin seems to have forgotten that the karate scenes were what made the original BILLY JACK such a hit
in the first place. I believe Laughlin's heart was in the right place, and his performance--especially during the climactic
filibuster--is pretty good, but the fourth and final (to date) BILLY JACK movie is worth seeing as a '70s curio at best. This
film was never really finished, which explains the sometimes crude editing and jumbled plot. Laughlin struggled to obtain
financing in order to complete his political diatribe, but the film was never released in theaters and only became available
on videocassette in 1999. Also with John Lawlor, Lucie Arnaz, Pat O'Brien, Teresa Laughlin, Peter Donat, Victor Izay and William
Wellman Jr. Suzanne Somers has a credit, but was cut out of the movie. Elmer Bernstein composed a stately score that's deserving
of a soundtrack release. Laughlin actually ran for President in 1992. Heck, I would have voted for the guy.
BIOHAZARD (1984)--Directed by Fred Olen Ray.
Stars Aldo Ray, Angelique Pettyjohn, William Fair. One of Ray's earliest released features is also one of his worst.
And that's saying something. BIOHAZARD runs about 70 minutes, but a long end crawl featuring outtakes stretches it to
feature length. A psychic (Pettyjohn) assisting on a military project accidentally lures a scaly alien (limned by the
director's young son in a monster suit) to our world. It starts wandering around Southern California, mangling people,
while Pettyjohn and her much younger lover (Fair) chase it. Ray throws in a bit of gore and a few spectacular breasts
(40-something Pettyjohn keeps her bra partially on, but Loren Crabtree demonstrates a stunning body), but BIOHAZARD is pretty
bad. Ray nails top billing as an apoplectic general who maintains a strange refusal to believe in something that exists
before his very eyes. Also with Carroll Borland (MARK OF THE VAMPIRE) and Frank McDonald. Music by Chuck Cirino.
BIONIC EVER AFTER? (1995)--Directed by Steven
Stafford. Stars Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner, Richard Anderson. Third (and presumably last) reunion of stars from THE SIX MILLION
DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN. Bionic spies Steve Austin (Majors) and Jaime Sommers (Wagner) finally get married after a
number of bionic stunts. Pretty slow moving, but I have to admit its nice to see some of my childhood idols again.
BIONIC
SHOWDOWN: THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND THE BIONIC WOMAN (1989)--Directed by Alan J. Levi. Stars Lee Majors, Lindsay
Wagner, Richard Anderson, Martin Landau. First reunion of the original series stars was a pilot for a show that was supposed
to feature Jeff Yagher and Sandra Bullock as young bionic secret agents. Anderson, who starred in both shows as OSI head Oscar
Goldman, was an executive producer. Also with Lee Majors II and Robert Lansing. Will always be notable as one of sweet Sandra's
earliest major roles. Teleplay by Michael Sloan, who also scripted the MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. TV reunion.
THE
BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1971)--Directed by Dario Argento. Stars Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Eva Renzi. Musante
plays an American writer living in Rome in this intense, trend-setting thriller. When Musante witnesses a woman being brutally
murdered in an art gallery and is unable to help, he becomes obsessed with finding the killer, while his gorgeous girlfriend
(Kendall) becomes a target. An early and extremely influential example of an Italian giallo. Was heavily edited for release
in the U.S. A must-see for Argento fans.
THE BITE (1988)--Directed by Federico Prosperi.
Stars J. Eddie Peck, Jill Schoelen. You may have seen this on cable as CURSE II: THE BITE, although it has nothing to
do with THE CURSE. It’s a bad Italian horror movie that pours on the slime during the last half-hour or so (thank
special effects man Screaming Mad George). A young couple traveling through the New Mexican desert runs over a pack
of radioactive snakes with their Jeep. One of them bites Clark (Peck) on the left hand and turns it into a snake!
M*A*S*H’s Jamie Farr plays a traveling salesman who chases Clark and girlfriend Lisa (Schoelen) around with snakebite
antidote. Filmed in New Mexico on the cheap, THE BITE has a few slimy, slithery thrills, but it’s all pretty silly
and non-eventful. That is, up until the end with Jill splashing around in the mud with the ooze and the slime and the
snake-vomiting and… Bo Svenson plays the sheriff with a bandage on his nose.
BITE THE BULLET (1975)--Directed by Richard
Brooks. Stars Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Candice Bergen. Entertaining epic western about a 700-mile cross-country horse race
across a grueling desert landscape. Good performances all around--well, except for Bergen, of course. Also with Ben Johnson,
Dabney Coleman and Jan-Michael Vincent. From the director of THE PROFESSIONALS.
BLACK & WHITE (1998)--Directed by Yuri
Zeltser. Stars Gina Gershon, Rory Cochrane, Ron Silver, Alison Eastwood. Rookie cop Chris O'Brien (Cochrane) is
partnered with hardnosed patrolwoman Nora Hugosian (Gershon). Called "Hugs" by her LAPD brethren, Nora has an interesting
way of breaking in new partners, including stripping naked just to get the sexual tension out of their system. She's
also a bit quick on the trigger, capping a junkie on Chris' first day. Chris, as a strict Catholic, finds himself torn
when he believes his new partner to be the Left Eye Killer, a serial murderer of criminals who escaped justice through the
system. Silver picks up an easy paycheck as Nora's ex-partner on the New York City force who's in town to investigate
the serial killings, while Eastwood (the recipient of a fun in-joke involving her father Clint) is strictly robotic as an
LAPD dick. Gershon has played a lot of sexy bad girls, but she's pretty weak here. Cochrane, who went on to play
a cop on CSI: MIAMI, is much better, even though his character's motivations seem iffy to me. I didn't find the mystery
very involving, and the twist ending is too much to take. Also with James Handy, Marshall Bell, Seymour Cassel, Nikki
Fritz, Ross Partridge and Barry Primus.
BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA (1971)--Directed
by Paolo Cavara. Stars Giancarlo Giannini, Stefania Sandrelli, Silvano Tranquilli, Barbara Bouchet. Someone is
killing sexy women in Rome. The killer's favorite method is to first paralyze his victim by plunging an acupuncture
needle into the back of her neck, and then cutting open her stomach as she lies there conscious, unable to defend herself
or even scream in pain. The first victim is sexy Maria Zani (Bouchet), leading the police inspector handling the case,
Tellini (Giannini), to suspect her husband Paolo (Tranquilli). When that turns out to be a dead end, Tellini's trail
leads him to drug smuggling, blackmail and a mysterious health spa. The loquacious title refers to a wasp's method of
killing a tarantula: by paralyzing the spider with its sting and then eating its stomach alive.
Any movie that begins with the arousing Barbara Bouchet receiving
a nude body massage immediately earns high honors in my book, but BLACK BELLY goes even further by setting up an interesting
dynamic between Tellini and his wife, especially in the scenes where he expresses his weariness with his job and a desire
to quit the case. The lurid murders are carried out in typical giallo style, made even more thrilling by Ennio Morricone's
lush score, and the revelation of the killer's identity is indeed a surprise. BLACK BELLY is also noted for listing
three "James Bond Girls" in its cast: Bouchet (CASINO ROYALE), Claudine Auger (THUNDERBALL) and Barbara Bach (THE SPY
WHO LOVED ME). Also with Giancarlo Prete, Anna Saia, Ezio Marano and Annabella Incontrera. MGM released a dubbed
version of this in America, but it's never been available on home video. My smeary copy was in Italian with English
subtitles and taken from an overseas television broadcast.
BLACK BELT JONES (1974)--Directed by
Robert Clouse. Stars Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers, Malik Carter, Andre Phillippe. From its opening
titles, which show tall, lean Kelly kicking the asses of a bunch of bad dudes in a parking lot over the strains of Dennis
Coffey’s amazing, funky theme song, BLACK BELT JONES makes its bones as one of blaxploitation’s greatest crowdpleasers.
Italian mobster Don Stefano (Phillippe) and black gangster Pinky (Carter) try to close down Papa Byrd’s (Crothers) karate
school, so they can buy the property at a cheap price. Enter Black Belt Jones (Kelly), who comes to the aid of Byrd
and his young students while finding time to romance Papa’s daughter (Hendry). Clouse’s rapid direction
and Bob Wall’s fight choreography keep the tongue-in-cheek story on the move. Black Belt’s recruitment of
bikini-clad, trampoline-bouncing babes to help him rip off the Mafia is a good indicator of the movie’s tone.
Alan Weeks, Eric Laneuville, Mel Novak and Ted Lange co-star. Kelly and Clouse made ENTER THE DRAGON together the year
before.
BLACK BELT JONES 2: THE TATTOO CONNECTION
(1978)--See THE TATTOO CONNECTION.
THE BLACK BIRD (1975)--Directed by David Giler. Stars George
Segal, Stephane Audran, Lionel Stander. I really like this comedy "sequel" to THE MALTESE FALCON with Segal following in Bogie's
footsteps as San Francisco gumshoe Sam Spade Jr. The statue shows up again, and more bad guys would like to get their hands
on it. Lee Patrick and Elisha Cook Jr. reprise their roles from the 1941 classic. Giler co-wrote ALIEN.
BLACK
CAESAR (1973)--Directed by Larry Cohen. Stars Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, Art Lund, Julius W. Harris. Fred becomes
a Harlem mob boss. His mortal enemy is corrupt cop Lund, who crippled the childhood Hammer. Good action film with a good performance
by Williamson. Fred was arguably the most charismatic of the blaxploitation stars, but needed good directors to bring it out
on screen. Best scene is the climax when the Hammer rubs black shoe polish on Lund's face and makes him sing "Mammy"! Despite
his character's death, Williamson returned for the sequel, HELL UP IN HARLEM. Music by James Brown. A young Rick Baker did
the special makeup. From the director of Q.
BLACK COBRA (1987)--Directed by Stelvio Massi. Stars
Fred Williamson, Eva Grimaldi, Karl Landgren, Sabrina Siani. COBRA was an amateurish star vehicle for Sylvester Stallone in
which he played a monosyllabic cop protecting a fashion model (played by Mrs. Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen) from a gang of psycho
killers. In this Italian-made ripoff set in New York, Williamson plays Robert Malone, a maverick policeman assigned to protect
a sexy fashion photographer (played by the pouty-lipped Grimaldi) from a gang of psycho killers. We know Fred is a "lone wolf"
from the opening scene in which three bank robbers are holding hostages in an indoor swimming pool. Fred's boss tells him
to acquiesce to the bad guys' demands and to give them whatever they want. Heh heh. You and I both know that isn't how "The
Hammer" operates, and you would think that his boss would too, but he actually has the nerve to be upset with Fred when he
easily whacks the ski-masked crooks. The main plot soon kicks in as a gang of leather-clad bikers, who ride wimpy brightly-colored
Yamahas (!), begin raping and pillaging at will. During a "creepy crawly" session in the 'burbs, they are spotted by lovely
Elys (Grimaldi), who manages to snap some pics of their leader Snake (Landgren). The rest of the running time is basically
Snake and his boys trying to murder Elys before Fred can bump them all off.
I have a soft spot for Italian action
movies from this era. BLACK COBRA isn't among the best, but its loopy attitude and occasional violence make it entertaining
enough. Most audacious is Fred cheekily stealing Clint Eastwood's "Do you feel lucky?" speech from DIRTY HARRY! Williamson
pretty much coasts on his own charisma in this one, since he doesn't really seem like he's "into" the movie too much. Still,
there must have been something about the experience that flipped a switch inside him, since he returned for two more BLACK
COBRA movies. Grimaldi is at least lovely to look at, but Landgren is a Schwarzeneggar-like slab and Siani (2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS)
is wasted as a final-reel hostage. Known in Italy as COBRA NERO, BLACK COBRA was probably filmed in Italy rather than New
York.
BLACK COBRA 2 (1988)--Directed by Stelvio Massi. Stars Fred Williamson, Nicholas Hammond, Emma
Hoagland. Fred is back as maverick Chicago cop Robert Malone, who's still pissing off his superior officers with his ultra-violent
methods of dispensing justice (like shooting a motorcycle-helmeted thug with a hostage in the head). His grumpy boss sends
Malone to Manila, where he's to learn law-enforcement tips from a buttoned-down Interpol cop (Hammond). Of course, their styles
initially clash--Hammond frequently dresses Fred down for shooting first and asking questions later--but you can expect only
a No-Prize for guessing whose style wins out in the end.
Although again directed by Massi (as "Dan Edwards"), BLACK
COBRA 2 seems to move in slow motion. The laughable fights and chases are ludicrous, since it's obvious that the cars are
barely moving and Williamson has to fake some sort of hamstring injury to avoid catching the bad guys too easily. The thin
plot meanders pretty aimlessly, and the acting, dialogue, sets and action scenes are substandard. Even "The Hammer" isn't
his usual charismatic self, although he looks like he might be having a good time. COBRA NERO 2 (the original Italian title)
must have done well, since Williamson returned in COBRA NERO 3 (his filmography also shows a film called DETECTIVE MALONE,
which may or may not be part of the BLACK COBRA series). Hammond was one of the Von Trapp children in THE SOUND OF MUSIC,
and played the lead in the short-lived CBS series THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL (1984)—Directed
by Chester N. Turner. Stars Shirley L. Jones. How this craptacular home movie ever received a videocassette release
is beyond me. Imagine a 70-minute horror movie shot with an old camcorder, scored on an out-of-tune Casio, and directed
by someone who thinks watching his star vacuum and clean her bathtub for ten minutes is riveting entertainment. Oh,
and it’s about a rapist ventriloquist’s dummy.
God-fearing virgin Helen (Jones) is taken with a “puppet”
on sale at her neighborhood junk store. Although warned that said puppet (reportedly a Jerry Mahoney doll painted black
and given dreadlocks) has always mysteriously returned to the store after the first four times it was sold, Helen buys it,
takes it home, and sets it on her toilet while she showers. The devil doll has sexual fantasies about Helen, and then
sneaks into her bedroom that night and rapes her.
If this sounds like the kind of movie that might intrigue you,
I should say that you haven’t really lived until you’ve seen a wooden dummy mounting a topless, not terribly attractive
actress with frizzy hair and oversized eyeglasses while saying things like, “I’m gonna make you beg for it, bitch.”
Adding to the bad taste factor is the fact that Helen loves the sex so much, she invites a couple of strangers home for more
of it. Neither can satisfy her, however, so she goes back to the junk store to bring the dummy back home for another
marathon sex session.
The ear-grinding score sometimes mixed so loudly that the dialogue
is impenetrable. The use of a kid to “play” the Devil Doll in some scenes. The numbnuts dialogue that
makes no sense half the time. Turner’s directorial flourishes swiped from Doris Wishman that find him pointing
the camera at a coffee maker, a miniature bible, a sofa covered in plastic, anything except where the action (such as it is)
is. Give Turner all the credit/blame for this nightmare, as he directed, wrote, produced, edited and scored it.
I can’t imagine watching BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL a second time, but I’ll never forget it. Turner and
Jones also made TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE together.
BLACK DOG (1998)--Directed by Kevin Hooks.
Stars Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, Meat Loaf, Brenda Strong. The type of action flick that saturated Southern drive-ins during
the mid-'70s. If you're nostalgic for those exploitation days of yore, you might enjoy this simple yet fun B-pic. Swayze is
an ex-con mechanic blackmailed by his boss into driving a semi filled with illegal guns from Georgia to North Carolina. He's
teamed up with a struggling country-music singer (Travis handles the in-joke well). An undercover FBI agent, tons of exploding
eighteen-wheelers, and a crazy smuggler played by Meat Loaf all fit into the mix as well. The result is an enjoyable action
movie that's easy on the visual effects and pretension, and heavy on the kind of fun you don't see much at the movies anymore.
You may recognize Swayze's wife (Strong) as the braless Sue Ellen Mishke on TVs SEINFELD. Also with Stephen Tobolowsky and
Charles S. Dutton. TV's Hercules, Kevin Sorbo, was originally signed as the lead, but had to drop out when he dislocated a
shoulder shooting his television series in New Zealand.
BLACK DRAGON (1974)—Directed by Chin-Ku
Lu. Stars Jason Pai Pao, Ron Van Clief. Black American martial artist and stuntman Van Clief made his major acting
debut in this crummy kung fu picture produced in the Philippines. Even though Van Clief only appears in a supporting
role, he landed the lead on the U.S. posters. You can’t tell whether he can act, but he’s good-looking and
fights pretty well. Nonsense plot has Tai Lin (Pao) going to Manila to find fortune working on the docks, but instead
encounters gangsters. Neither the action nor the story is engaging, though it’s fun trying to guess the American
movies from which the score was swiped.
BLACK EYE (1974)--Directed by Jack Arnold. Stars Fred Williamson,
Teresa Graves, Rosemary Forsyth, Richard Anderson, Richard X. Slattery, Bret Morrison, Teddy Wilson. Shot independently by
producer Pat Rooney (HELLS ANGELS ’69) as SHEP STONE, BLACK EYE got a new title when Warners picked it up. It’s
an effective B-picture filled with fights, shootouts, hard-boiled dialogue, and offbeat casting. Star Williamson, who had
just played a Bondian spy in Universal’s THAT MAN BOLT, is definitely among the Seventies’ coolest badasses—charismatic
as hell and walking through the sex and violence with plenty of flip remarks.
Based on the Jeff Jacks novel MURDER ON THE WILD SIDE, BLACK
EYE casts the Hammer as ex-cop-turned-P.I. Stone investigating the murder of his next-door neighbor, a hooker who possessed
an antique cane that once belonged to a silent film star. It seems half of L.A. is looking for that cane, including a porno
producer named Max Majors (Morrison) and hitman Dole (Anderson), who tries to throw Stone off the trail by hiring the detective
to find his missing daughter.
Interesting for its frank casting of the sexy Graves (GET CHRISTIE
LOVE!) as Williamson’s bisexual girlfriend, BLACK EYE also features Forsyth as Stone’s lesbian rival, Wilson as
a soul food proprietor, granite-voiced Slattery as Stone’s bantering ex-partner, and Anderson, who normally played authority
figures, as the film’s villain. Populating the film with colorful supporting roles elevates the somewhat routine mystery,
which is anchored by Williamson’s loose playing that’s more reminiscent of, say, James Garner than the super-cool
Super Spade persona he cultivated for himself.
I don’t know if Williamson’s major studio films
didn’t perform well at the box office or if it was due to the actor’s individualism, but just a couple of years
later, the Hammer was making real bottom-of-the-barrel schlock for distributors like Atlas and Lone Star—a long way
from Warners, Universal, or even AIP. He also made BOSS NIGGER with director Jack Arnold; Williamson once said that, being
an old-timer, Arnold worked too slowly for his tastes, but they got along pretty well. Arnold made his bones on B-movies in
the 1950s, and this tight action flick is right in his wheelhouse. Also with Floy Dean, Cyril Delevanti, Frank Ashmore, Bob
Minor, Susan Arnold, and Belinda Balaski. Music by Mort Garson.
BLACK FIST (1974)--Directed by Timothy Galfas
and Richard Kaye. Stars Richard Lawson, Dabney Coleman, Richard Kaye. This ragged blaxploitation movie shows signs
of post-production woes, just one of which being Kaye's credit for "additional direction". Scenes bump into each other
without proper transitions, and a few plot threads in Tim Kelly's screenplay appear to be left hanging. Strong performances
by Lawson as a charming street fighter named Leroy Fisk and Coleman as corrupt cop Heineken go a long way towards off-setting
the production's cruder aspects. Coleman is particularly fun to watch, already cultivating his smarmy-villain-you-love-to-hate
persona that eventually made him a star in films like 9 TO 5 and TOOTSIE and on television as BUFFALO BILL. He and Lawson
have good chemistry, even though Fisk and Heineken, a lackey of Fisk's mobster/manager Kaye, is shaking the street fightin'
man down for kickbacks. BLACK FIST, which was released several times under different titles like THE BLACK STREET FIGHTER
and the X-rated BOGARD, gets bogged down in a standard revenge plot late in the game, but to that point is an interesting
entry in the genre. Kaye was also the producer of THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME, ironically playing a sleazy producer
and allegedly also acting the part of one off-stage, cheating filmmaker Mike Jittlov out of some profits. Galfas later
directed thrillers for television, and reunited with Coleman for MANEATERS ARE LOOSE!
THE BLACK GESTAPO (1975)--Directed by Lee
Frost. Stars Rod Perry, Charles Robinson. Veteran drive-in filmmakers Frost and producer Wes Bishop (THE THING
WITH TWO HEADS) deliver another typically crazed genre flick, casting future S.W.A.T. co-star Perry as Ahmed, general of the
People's Army dedicated to helping the poor folks of Watts using government grant money. Feeding the poor isn't enough
for Ahmed's second-in-command Kojah (Robinson), who organizes a protection force to chase the gangsters, pimps and drug dealers
out of the neighborhood, only to replace the goons with his own secretly organized "police force", decked out in black uniforms
and living on Kojah's private estate. Much nudity, violence, sleaze and action punctuate this energetically performed
blaxploitation movie, which also casts the director as a rug-wearing mobster and the producer as a gunsel whose partner is
castrated. Also with Phil Hoover (POLICEWOMEN), Donna Desmond and Uschi Digart.
THE BLACK GODFATHER (1974)--Directed by John
Evans. Stars Rod Perry, Don Chastain, Jimmy Witherspoon, Diane Sommerfield. Perry, later a regular on S.W.A.T.,
gives a good performance as J.J., a street hood who falls under the tutelage of L.A. gangster Nate (Witherspoon) and eventually
amasses a lot of power among the black gangs. The one area J.J. refuses to touch, however, is drugs, and he becomes
obsessed with bringing down the dope empire of white mobster Tony Burton (soap star Chastain). Evans is a crude writer
and director, and the plot delivers nothing new, but Perry is watchable, as is the nude body of Sommerfield, who is, of course,
kidnapped by Burton near the end. Also with Duncan McLeod, Damu King, John Alderman and Herb Jefferson Jr. Jerry
Gross (THE MAD BOMBER) released this through his Cinemation company.
BLACK GUNN (1972)--Directed by Robert Hartford-Davis.
Stars Jim Brown, Martin Landau, Brenda Sykes. An amazing cast populates this blaxploitation hit starring Brown as a nightclub
owner out for revenge against the racist, drug-dealing mobster (Landau) who killed his brother. Look for Bruce Glover, Stephen
McNally, William Campbell, Luciana Paluzzi, Keefe Brasselle, Bernie Casey, Jeanne Bell, Gary Conway, Herb Jefferson Jr. and
baseball pitcher Vida Blue (who had just won the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards). Plenty of
violence and action for genre fans, with Glover's fight with Brown a brutal highlight.
THE BLACK HOLE
(1979)--Directed by Gary Nelson. Stars Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Ernest Borgnine, Yvette Mimieux,
Joseph Bottoms, voices of Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens. Disney's first PG-rated feature is often confusing, childish
and scientifically laughable (during the fiery climax, humans are directly exposed to the vacuum of space, yet are completely
unaffected!). The performances range from excessively hammy (Schell) to somnolent (Forster) to non-existent (Mimieux). The
movie also boasts outstanding sets and Oscar-nominated cinematography (by Frank Phillips) and visual effects, and is a lot
of fun. THE BLACK HOLE was Disney's riskiest venture to date: a $20 million science-fiction epic combining philosophical themes
about God and mankinds search for a better existence with the companys typically juvenile approach. Released just two weeks
after STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, it seems to have been lost in the box-office shuffle, although it was one of Disney's
biggest moneymakers at the time.
An Earth exploration vessel, the Palomino, manned by Captain Forster and his crew--gung-ho
first mate Bottoms, twitchy scientist Perkins, psychic Mimieux and cynical journalist Borgnine--encounters the Cygnus, a massive
spaceship that was believed to have been lost 20 years earlier. Its commander, legendary scientist Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Schell),
claims to be the only survivor; robots, including his ominous bodyguard Max, which has buzzsaws for hands, run his ship. The
Cygnus is perched just beyond an immense black hole. Reinhardt has invented a groundbreaking anti-gravity field that he believes
will allow him to pass through the black hole safely. He wants to rule whatever universe lies on the other side of the black
hole, and needs the Palomino crew to guide him.
Basically a space-age remake of Disney's classic 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER
THE SEA with Schell in the James Mason-Captain Nemo role, THE BLACK HOLE features enough colorful special effects and action
to keep one entertained. The dialogue by Jeb Rosebrook and Gerry Day (Rosebrook, Bob Barbash and Richard Landau are credited
with the story) is simple, and the token Disney-esque cute robots with painted-on square eyes, V.I.N.CENT (McDowall) and Old
B.O.B. (Pickens), will probably annoy most adults (although they arent as obnoxious as Jar Jar Binks). Everyone in the cast
has done good work elsewhere--Schell and Borgnine are former Academy Award winners, Forster a nominee--but there aren't any
strong characters or meaty words in the script for them to get into. The 2001-inspired climax didn't make any sense to me,
but was, I guess, deep.
The real reason to see THE BLACK HOLE is for its marvelous Victorian-style sets designed by
Disney vet Peter Ellenshaw (who was also in charge of the miniatures) and the frequently stunning FX. Today's audiences, used
to cartoony CGI effects that are considered to be cutting-edge, may be surprised at the old-fashioned work on display here;
using matte paintings, models, animation and even wirework to make the robots hover, Ellenshaw, his son Harrison Ellenshaw
(in charge of mattes), Joe Hale, Danny Lee and Art Cruickshank have created a real feast for the eyes (the colossal fireball
blasting its way down a Cygnus corridor is very cool), one that will be completely lost in any television or pan-and-scan
video print. Make sure you search out a letterboxed copy on VHS or DVD.
John Barry's outstanding orchestral score
was the first to be recorded digitally, and although the music sometimes doesn't quite match the on-screen action, it would
make for an excellent soundtrack CD if Disney would stop sitting on the rights and let a release happen. Nelson, whose directorial
career began on HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL in the early 60s, continues to work steadily in television; he made only two features
after THE BLACK HOLE. Mime Tommy McLoughlin plays a robot named Captain S.T.A.R. that's involved in a funny shooting gallery
match with V.I.N.CENT.
BLACK HORIZON (2004)--Directed by Fred Olen
Ray (as Ed Raymond). Stars Ice-T, Michael Dudikoff, Hannes Jaenicke, Yvette Nipar. Filmed in 2001, this sat on
the shelf for a couple of years, and was then delayed again out of respect for the astronauts who died in the 2003 Columbia
explosion. The director, writer and producer all use fake names, so feel free to take that information as a sign of
its quality.
A meteor shower rocks a Russian space station and sends it into
a decaying orbit. Survival of the four astronauts, which include the American woman who designed it, hinges upon a rescue
operation led by Ed Carpenter (Dudikoff), a veteran space jockey who blasts off aboard the space shuttle Atlantis with a beautiful
pilot (Nipar) and Jack McKendrick (played by the very German Jaenicke), an agent sent to retrieve data from a secret experiment
being conducted aboard the station. Meanwhile, Ice-T extends the running time as Jaenicke's NSA partner, Larry Jefferies
(obviously scenarist Steve Latshaw [billed as Patricia McKiou, his then-wife] didn't write with these particular actors in
mind), who runs around shooting and getting shot at in hopes of figuring out exactly what his scenes have to do with Ray's
main storyline.
Phoenician Entertainment seems to pride itself on sloppy work, and
BLACK HORIZON, which was filmed as the more judicious STRANDED, is no exception. For instance, several references are
made to Christmas, including a car chase through a Christmas tree lot, but the film specifically takes place two weeks after
Christmas. In some outer space shots, no stars can be seen at all, whereas in others, the actors floating in space are
obviously standing before a fake backdrop painted with too many stars. And the McGuffin that lures the Jaenicke character
into space, a weapon called Prometheus, is forgotten about 20 minutes into the movie and never referred to again. Veteran
viewers of Ray's and Latshaw's action movies will have fun recognizing familiar cast members, such as Art Hindle (BLACK CHRISTMAS),
Chick Vennera, Larry Poindexter, Richard Gabai, Michael Cavanaugh and Andrew Stevens, who not only produced BLACK HORIZON
under his "Hugh Janus" pseudonym, but also named his character's assistant that. Also with Kathy Harren, Lada Boder,
Alex Veadov, Robert Donavan and rapper W.C. BLACK HORIZON isn't an awful film--Ray is too professional to let that happen--but
it's no better than watchable and is especially a waste of Dudikoff, who does little but recite technical dialogue and doesn't
even get to shoot anyone or throw a punch.
Artisan's DVD assembles BLACK HORIZON into a nice package, better
than the movie deserves. Trailers for this and four other films, including WENDIGO and another Ray/Phoenician actioner,
CRITICAL MASS, are included, as well as a photo gallery and an audio commentary by Ray and Latshaw. As usual, Ray's
comments are insightful and informative, providing several neat filmmaking tips and really letting you know what life is like
on the set of a low-budget genre movie. He reveals that BLACK HORIZON won awards for Best Director and Best Special
Effects (!) at a Spanish film festival in 2003, and relates an amazing tale of Ice-T chatting on his cell phone late one night
to one of the five prostitutes who work for him in New York City, where he stars in NBC's LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS
UNIT! If BLACK HORIZON uses extensive stock footage, as Ray's and Jim Wynorski's Phoenician films generally do, Fred
doesn't cop to it in his commentary, although it seems to me that the only reason to give this film a Christmas setting would
be to swipe a car chase from another holiday-set movie.
BLACK KINGPIN--See THE ITALIAN CONNECTION.
THE BLACK KLANSMAN (1966)—Directed by Ted
V. Mikels. Stars Richard Gilden, Max Julien, Harry Lovejoy, Jakie Deslonde, Rima Kutner. Mikels is better known
for much worse pictures like the dull THE CORPSE GRINDERS and the sadly cheap DOLL SQUAD, but he deserves solid props for
this exploitative social drama. Jerry (Gilden) is a black blues musician/photojournalist (!) with a white girlfriend
(Kutner) in Los Angeles. He returns to his race-divided Alabama hometown after learning that his little daughter was
burned to death in an attack on a church by the local Ku Klux Klan. With the help of a prominently product-placed toupee
from Squire, the lightskinned Jerry, who takes the name John Ashley (!), passes for white (the actor Gilden is Caucasian)
and infiltrates the KKK to seek his daughter’s murderer. It all looks, sounds and feels authentic, right down
to the use of amateur performers in supporting roles and frequent use of racial epithets. Produced, directed and edited
by Mikels, THE BLACK KLANSMAN, which was also released as I CROSSED THE COLOR LINE, is a cheap pulp novel brought to life
(that’s a compliment) and is better and more serious than other Mikels movies I’ve experienced. The classically
trained Julien, later in THE MACK, makes his film debut as Raymond, a rabble-rouser hired by the brother of another Klan victim.
Also in his first film is Whitman Mayo, later Grady on SANFORD & SON (and GRADY) and a Conan O’Brien running gag.
Tony Harris sings the title song; music is by Jaime Mendoza-Nava.
BLACK MAGIC (1944)—Directed by Phil
Rosen. Stars Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Frances Chan. A reticent Charlie Chan (Toler) is forced to investigate
a murder when his daughter Frances (Chan) is named as a suspect. The third Monogram Chan mystery again teams Toler with
Moreland as Birmingham Brown, who does his normal scaredy-cat routine, but does it well. This is not one of my favorite
Chans, although it’s not really that far below the better Monogram entries, and Toler was quite comfortable in the role
by this time. Also with Joseph Crehan, Jacqueline deWit and Helen Beverly. Was also released as MEETING AT MIDNIGHT.
BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA (1972)--Directed by Eddie Romero. Stars Pam Grier, Margaret Markov, Sid Haig. Exploitative
remake of THE DEFIANT ONES with plenty of female nudity. Grier and Markov escape from a womens' prison in the Philippines,
and evade the authorities and a vicious drug-dealing pimp, while helping a band of revolutionaries. Haig is great as a redneck
bounty hunter. The leads have a good number of nude scenes, and Romero keeps the pace up. H.R. Christian scripted from an
original story by Joe Viola and Jonathan Demme. Pam and Margaret reteamed for more nude fight scenes in Steve Carver's ARENA.
BLACK MAMBA (1974)--Directed
by George Rowe. Stars John Ashley, Marlene Clark, Pilar Pilapil, Eddie Garcia, Rosemarie Gil. Probably the most
obscure of the many exploitation movies Ashley made in the Philippines, BLACK MAMBA was never released in the United States,
although the women-in-prison picture it was produced back-to-back with, SAVAGE SISTERS, was. It's pretty limp stuff
with Ashley playing an American physician outside of Manila who's surprised to learn witchcraft and voodoo are alive and kicking
in the 20th century. For some reason I must have missed, black witch Clark (SWITCHBLADE SISTERS) puts a curse on pretty
young widow Pilapil, who discovers Clark is wearing a valuable ring that was buried with her late husband. A shopkeeper
who sees the Grim Reaper (complete with black robe and scythe), a hunchbacked grave robber who dies of fear, an exorcist who
tries to whip the curse out of Pilar's back, and a nighttime ritualistic dance number for Satan himself fail to kick this
sorry horror movie in the pants. Reportedly, some scenes were never completed, which might explain the confusing haphazard
editing. Ashley told interviewer Tom Weaver an actual human corpse was used for the graphic autopsy scene.
BLACK MOON RISING (1986)--Directed by Harley
Cokliss. Stars Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, Robert Vaughn, Richard Jaeckel, Bubba Smith. John Carpenter contributed
to the screenplay, but chose not to direct, this entertaining B-picture. Master thief Sam Quint (Jones) is hired by
U.S. government flunky Smith to rip off evidence needed for a big federal trial, but before he's captured by security, he
manages to hide the MacGuffin in the license plate holder of a super high-tech racecar built by engineer Jaeckel. Trouble
ensues when the "Black Moon" is snatched by sexy car thief Nina (Hamilton), who hides it away in one of two enormous office
towers owned by reptilian businessman Edward Ryland (Vaughn). Not much of a budget for Cokliss (MALONE) to work with,
but Jones really shines in his first real turn as an action-movie leading man. Linda suffers from awful '80s hair and
fashions, but follows up THE TERMINATOR with another top-popping on-top sex scene. It's a fun but empty picture with
a cool exploitation cast. Also with William Sanderson, Nick Cassavetes, Keenan Wynn, Dan Shor, Lee Ving, Don Opper and
Al White. Music by Lalo Schifrin.
BLACK NOON (1971)--Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski.
Stars Roy Thinnes, Ray Milland, Yvette Mimieux, Lynn Loring. Unusual TV-movie mixes the horror and western genres.
It's moody, but not especially memorable. Stranded and dying of thirst in the desert, a minister (Thinnes) and his wife
(his real wife Loring) are rescued by kindly Caleb Hobbs (Milland) and his family and taken to their quaint small town of
New Melas to recuperate. The young couple was on their way to Thinnes' new church, but since New Melas has been without
religion since the old church burned down, Caleb tries, with a little persuasion from his beautiful mute daughter Delieverance
(Mimieux), to convince them to stay. Andrew Fenady's teleplay really doesn't have anywhere to go beyond this premise,
and even at 74 minutes, it's not able to sustain interest until the end. The twist ending isn't much of a shock, and
I think BLACK NOON's reputation rests on the fact that it's so hard to see these days. It's not bad, and it offers some
good performances; it's just thin. Also with Henry Silva, Gloria Grahame, Hank Worden, Leif Garrett and Buddy Foster.
Music by George Duning.
BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY (1977)--Directed by Bob Kelljan.
Stars Jesse Vint, Albert Salmi, Robert F. Lyons, Karen Carlson. Vint, the earthy star of New World's 1974 drive-in classic
MACON COUNTY LINE, served as producer, writer and star of BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY, which will seem familiar to anyone versed
in the '70s phenomenon of rural revenge movies. Quite similar to MOONSHINE COUNTY EXPRESS and FIGHTING MAD, BLACK OAK
stars Vint as Jingo Johnson, a Hollywood stuntman who returns to his Oklahoma hometown after he receives word that his mother
has fallen into ill health. Jingo comes home to find that the family farm is now in the hands of a large mining company
owned by the father of his childhood rival (Robert F. Lyons), the same rich scumbag who's now dating his ex-girlfriend Lucy
(Karen Carlson). Turns out his mother's illness is directly related to the farm's mineral rights, forcing Jingo to turn
to vigilante justice, since the local sheriff (Albert Salmi) may be involved.
The final theatrical film directed by Bob Kelljan, a solid action
director whose above-average screen work includes the two COUNT YORGA movies, SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM and the STARSKY &
HUTCH episode that pitted the two cops against a vampire (?) played by John Saxon, BLACK OAK could have used more judicious
editing and a few more action beats. Vint looks and feels right, and he has a seasoned supporting cast to back him up,
but the film feels longer than 90 minutes, and either the material or the budget kept out another chase or two that could
have made this one of the better Southern-fried action movies. It's still worth a look, if only to be reminded of the
kind of low-key non-FX action programmer that isn't made often these days. Also with Seymour Cassel, Douglas Fowley,
James Gammon, Vic Perrin and SCTV's Mary Charlotte Wilcox. Don Peake wrote the score, and Don Everly the closing theme.
BLACK OPS (2008)—Directed by Roel Reine. Stars Lance Henriksen,
Gary Stretch, James Russo. Dull blend of ALIENS and DEATH SHIP puts Henriksen and his team of commandoes aboard a World
War II-era Nazi ship that the U.S. military is using to “interrogate” Muslim terrorists. Everyone on board
has been brutally murdered, and the evidence shows that only one man, as impossible as it seems, was responsible. Lance
and his boys have eight hours to find out what happened before the ship drifts into Iranian waters. Filmed without gusto
by PISTOL WHIPPED director Reine (who uses the pseudonym “Rebel Wang” here), BLACK OPS is slow-going stuff that
owes much to earlier movies that did this type of thing better. Russo appears in a couple of quick landlocked scenes
before the movie gets to the “good stuff,” which was shot aboard real ships in San Pedro, California. Tom
Hanks’ brother Jim plays comic relief in a role that I think is supposed to be riffing on his classic BUFORD’S
BEACH BUNNIES (!), and Katherine Randolph gamely pulls off one of DTV cinema’s most gratuitous topless scenes.
BLACK POINT (2002)--Directed by David Mackay.
Stars David Caruso, Thomas Ian Griffith, Susan Haskell. Typically topsy-turvy mixture of double-crosses and gunplay
in this tepid DTV noir starring Caruso (CSI: MIAMI) as a Washington fisherman (and former Navy SEAL) who becomes involved
with a beautiful blonde and her crooked husband. Gus (Griffith, who also co-wrote the screenplay) is a bad guy doing
business with a vicious counterfeiter, so he and wife Natalie (Haskell) decide to hide out in sleepy Black Point for a while.
Caruso becomes involved when he notices bruises on the suicidal Natalie, and soon the two are having a quiet affair that turns
quite noisy when $3.5 million starts bouncing around the various characters, testing the loyalties of all. I doubt you'll
be surprised at very much that happens in BLACK POINT. Mackay directs competently and perfunctorily, but never raises
the stakes or plotting above TV level. Caruso is better than his material, as usual, and soap star Haskell (PORT CHARLES)
sparkles. Filmed in British Columbia.
BLACK RAIN (1989)--Directed by Ridley Scott.
Stars Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw. More style-over-substance from director Scott. American cops
Douglas and Garcia are assigned to extradite a Japanese mobster back to Osaka. He gets away from them, Garcia gets killed,
and Douglas teams with a Japanese detective (Takakura) to get the mobster back. Plenty of action and some interesting visuals,
but the plot is a bit muddled and Douglas's character is really one-dimensional.
THE BLACK RAVEN (1943)--Directed by Sam Newfield.
Stars George Zucco, Glenn Strange, Wanda McKay. This fun PRC mystery benefits from Zucco's droll performance as Amos
Bradford, a shady innkeeper on the Canadian border known as "The Raven". On a stormy night, he and his simpleton handyman
Andy (Strange) are beset with several mysterious visitors, including a nervous embezzler, an eloping couple, a powerful politician,
and a backwards sheriff investigating a murder. Newfield directs this 65-minute programmer at breakneck speed, allowing
the wit of Fred Myton's screenplay to roll off the tongues of Zucco and his capable supporting cast. Retromedia released
this on DVD as a double feature with THE MAD MONSTER, which also teams Zucco and Strange. Both are recommended late-night
viewing. Also with I. Stanford Jolley, Byron Foulger and Robert Livingston.
BLACK SAMSON (1973)--Directed by Charles
Bail. Stars Rockne Tarkington, William Smith, Carol Speed, Connie Strickland. Big, black, bearded Samson (Tarkington)
is a Los Angeles ghetto bar owner who keeps his streets clean of dope dealers with the help of his pet lion and a long wooden
staff. Beloved by his customers and especially his girlfriend Leslie (Speed), Samson finds his authority called into
question by psychotic gangster Giovanni "Johnny" Nappa (Smith), who decides the only way to branch out into Samson's territory
is to bump the big guy off. Which he tries. Many times. And when that doesn't work, he sends his gorgeous
white girlfriend Tina (Strickland) "undercover" as a stripper in Samson's bar to find information Nappa can use against his
enemy. And when that doesn't work, he resorts to kidnapping, firebombing and murder. Clearly, Nappa is a goal-oriented
gent with big plans for his future.
SAMSON seems like a big, gaudy cartoon with Samson's dashiki serving
as his "costume". The sight of the huge Tarkington spinning and parrying, staff in hand, laying out several of Nappa's
goons at once is not easily forgotten, and Smith is clearly a formidable foe--strong, ruthless, psychotic and definitely Samson's
physical equal. Smith is easily the best reason to watch, as he creates one of his most vicious villains, even smashing
bottles against the heads of his own men when they fail in their mission to bring down Samson. Tarkington holds his
own, I guess, but he's no Jim Brown in the charisma department. I don't believe he ever again starred in a film, but
he did continue to play strong sidekicks; for example, opposite Chad Everett in the made-for-TV ALIEN ripoff THE INTRUDER
WITHIN. Speed fans will grimace at the brutal treatment she receives from Nappa's men, and Strickland carves out a memorable
role using her innate vulnerability and killer bod.
As usual with a film directed by stuntman Bail, SAMSON is packed
with several interesting fights and chases, and the climax is certainly an unusual one. I don't think SAMSON is as good
as other Bail films like CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD or THE GUMBALL RALLY, but it holds its own against the second-level
blaxploitation pictures of the era. Surprisingly, considering how unusual it is and the way it was played up in advertising,
the gimmick of the pet lion is way underused. Also with Michael Payne, Napoleon Whiting, Joe Tornatore, John Alderman,
Titos Vandis and Marilyn Joi. Music by Allen Toussaint. Warner Brothers released it around Christmas time.
BLACK SAMURAI (1976)--Directed by Al Adamson.
Stars Jim Kelly, Essie Lin Chia, Bill Roy. High-haired black martial-arts star Kelly scraped the bottom of the action
barrel when he signed on for this cheap, confusing adventure filmed in Hong Kong. As D.R.A.G.O.N. agent Robert Sand,
Kelly chases sinister Satan-worshiping druglord Janicot (Roy), who has kidnapped his girlfriend Toki (Chia), who also happens
to be the daughter of a prominent Chinese ambassador targeting Janicot's crime reign for extinction. With a bigger budget
and a better director than hack Adamson (BLAZING STEWARDESSES), this adaptation of Marc Olden's series of BLACK SAMURAI pulp
novels could have been fun, since it does sport plenty of exotic locations, beautiful women, kung fu, campy villains and even
a midget. But Adamson, who made bad movies in nearly every genre, can ruin almost anything, and not even Kelly, who
actually is livelier than usual this time, can convince your eyes to stay open. Marilyn Joi plays Janicot's sexy mistress,
while Jace Kahn, Felix Silla and Biff Yeager flail away in support. BLACK SAMURAI is also available as FREEZE BOMB and
BLACK TERMINATOR, so don't be fooled into renting those titles either.
BLACK SHAMPOO (1976)--Directed by Greydon
Clark. Stars John Daniels, Tanya Boyd, Joe Ortiz. This blaxploitation take on the hit SHAMPOO, which starred Warren
Beatty as a sexy hairdresser, employs big Daniels as Mr. Jonathan, a Sunset Strip stylist who does the neighborhood wives
in more ways than one. Despite his swinging style, he falls for receptionist Brenda (Boyd) after just one date, and
is crushed when she returns (against her will) to her former boss, mobster Wilson (Ortiz). Up to this point, Clark's
film is a mild combination of softcore sex (Daniels dallies with a mother and her nubile teen daughters) and gangster flick,
but when Brenda swipes some of Wilson's incriminating documents and hightails it to Daniels' mountain cabin, all hell breaks
loose, complete with male-on-male rape, torture, hit-and-run violence, and death by hatchet, chainsaw and pool cue!
BLACK SHAMPOO isn't very good, and Daniels was better supporting Robert Viharo in BARE KNUCKLES, but it's outrageous enough
to be worth a looksee. The flaming gay portrayals of Mr. Jonathan's colleagues seem eye-opening by today's standards,
but are they really much different than the screeching queens of WILL & GRACE, for instance? One actor is billed
as "Jack Mehoff". Dean Cundey (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?) was a cinematographer. From the director of WACKO.
BLACK SHEEP (2006)—Directed by Jonathan King.
Stars Nathan Meister, Danielle Mason, Peter Feeney. Just when you think you’ve seen every zombie-movie cliché,
leave it to New Zealand director King to give the genre a funny spin. Henry Oldfield (Meister) returns to the family
sheep farm, where he discovers his greedy brother Angus (Feeney) has been conducting weird genetic experiments on the herd
that turn the animals into powerful flesh-eating mutants. Henry teams up with a pretty hippie chick (Mason) to dodge
the bloody animals in this fun satire of 28 DAYS LATER with amusing CGI effects and a good portion of gore.
THE BLACK SIX (1974)--Directed by Matt Cimber.
Stars Gene Washington, Willie Lanier, Lem Barney, Carl Eller, Mercury Morris, Mean Joe Greene. This hybrid of the biker and
blaxploitation genres stars six of the NFL's greatest active players as nice-guy Nam-vet bikers who travel around doing chores
for old farm women and busting up the roadhouses of hostile rednecks. When Washington's brother Eddie is killed by the motorcycle-riding
brother of Eddie's white girlfriend, the six return home for vengeance and a lame climax featuring 150 motorcycle dudes! None
of the stars is particularly charismatic, although only Washington has many lines. Once the novelty of seeing these great
athletes wears off, so will your patience. Also with Robert Howard, Cynthia Daly, John Isenberger, Rosalind Miles, Oakland
Raider Ben Davidson and baseball player Maury Wills. Music by David Moscoe. At the end, we're promised, "Honky, look out!
Hassle a Brother, and the Black Six will return!!!" Good thing for us that "Honky" behaved himself. Director Cimber's real
name is Matteo Ottaviano, and when he wasn't inflicting awful movies upon us, he was getting married to Jayne Mansfield. Released
by Cinemation.
BLACK SNAKE (1973)--Directed by Russ Meyer.
Stars Anouska Hempel, David Warbeck, Percy Herbert. Shot entirely in Barbados, BLACK SNAKE is Meyer's most atypical
film in that it features women with normal-sized breasts and barely any sex and nudity. It's about a slave revolt on
a West Indies plantation in 1835, and is sort of like MANDINGO, but less sleazy--if you believe a Paramount-financed feature
with James Mason could be sleazier than a Russ Meyer flick. Matter of fact, I think the acting in BLACK SNAKE might be better
than MANDINGO too. Meyer veers too much between his customary broad satire and serious racial drama. It really
starts to cook during the last half-hour or so, but never really ignites. It's beautifully photographed and edited though,
and the performances by local actors in supporting roles are convincing. I guess BLACK SNAKE is too good a film to ignore,
at least by Meyer fans, but not nearly as interesting as SUPERVIXENS or BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, Russ' masterpiece.
BLACK SNAKE MOAN (2007)—Directed by
Craig Blamer. Stars Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci. The director of the acclaimed HUSTLE AND FLOW returns
with this odd Southern fried melodrama that would probably attract a mild cult following if it were somewhat less redeemable.
The title and Paramount’s marketing suggest an M.A. Ripps potboiler, but Blamer’s film is actually a goofy character
study of an older Tennessee man named Lazarus (Jackson), whose wife has recently left him after he discovers her affair with
his brother, and the young town slut, Rae (Ricci), he keeps chained to the radiator in the living room of his farmhouse.
See? Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Lazarus finds her lying in the road after one of her many sexual partners
beats on her. He takes her home to fix her up, and decides it’s his duty to clean up her life. Jackson and
Ricci try hard (though she overdoes the white trash wild child thing a tad), and her willingness to show off so much of her
body is certainly a step in the right direction. Blamer’s Memphis childhood backs up his eye and ear for accurate
local color, and his film is certainly not unentertaining, though I think a more exploitative approach would have been more
fun. Justin Timberlake stinks up the joint as Ricci’s National Guard boyfriend, but John Cothran, S. Epatha Merkerson,
Michael Raymond-James and ‘70s child star Kim Richards (her first big film in more than twenty years) are marvelous
in support.
BLACK SUNDAY (1977)--Directed by John Frankenheimer.
Stars Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller. Frankenheimer continued his reputation as one of Hollywood's preeminent
directors of slick thrillers with this nail-biter based upon a novel by Thomas Harris (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS).
Black September terrorists led by Palestinian Dahlia Iyad (Keller,
who was just coming off another Paramount thriller, MARATHON MAN) plot to explode a bomb during the Super Bowl, potentially
killing up to 80,000 innocent Americans, including President Jimmy Carter. Iyad seduces Goodyear blimp pilot Michael
Lander (Dern), a deranged Vietnam veteran, and enlists him in the scheme, which involves a device that will fire several hundred
thousand tiny steel darts in all directions. Israeli agent Kabakov (Shaw) tries to prevent the attack.
Frankenheimer and producer Robert Evans went to great expense
to lend BLACK SUNDAY a sheen of verisimilitude and plenty of excitement, letting down only during its climax, which suffers
from confusing cutting and subpar visual effects. The story and performances, particularly Dern's sympathetic and eminently
watchable turn as a war hero who feels abandoned by his country and strikes back out of helpless revenge, never let up however,
and there's no denying the timeliness of Harris' plot, which is crisply rendered by vets Ernest Lehman (NORTH BY NORTHWEST),
Kenneth Ross (THE DAY OF THE JACKAL) and Ivan Moffat (GIANT).
Also with Steven Keats, Fritz Weaver, Michael V. Gazzo, William
Daniels, Victor Campos, Walter Gotell and Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie. Frankenheimer filmed during Super Bowl X
in Miami, using real football players and CBS broadcasters and providing BLACK SUNDAY with enormous production value that
couldn't have been simulated using paid extras. Great score by John Williams.
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