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BOWFINGER (1999)--Directed by Frank Oz. Stars
Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Jamie Kennedy, Christine Baranski, Adam Alexi-Malle, Kohl Sudduth, Terence Stamp.
Tim Burton's ED WOOD came to mind frequently when viewing this satire of moviemaking, in that both films depict dreamers on
the fringes of Hollywood who would do anything for a shot at stardom and jump at any opportunity to make a movie, since, deep
inside, they may realize this is as close to the Big Time as they will ever get.
Martin, who also penned the original
screenplay, plays Bobby Bowfinger, a middle-aged, down-and-out, fast-talking producer still awaiting his one big break, his
one shot at Hollywood respect. Bowfinger makes his own break when he gets the idea to make a science-fiction blockbuster starring
Hollywood's biggest action star Kit Ramsey (Murphy). When Ramsey, an angry, paranoid, white-hating egomaniac, tosses Bowfinger
out of his limousine and into the street, Bowfinger concocts a mad and desperate plan to star Ramsey in his film anyway--without
Ramsey's knowledge. Recruiting a crew consisting of cameraman Dave (Kennedy), aging leading lady Carol (Baranski), naive Ohio
farm girl Daisy (Graham), Iranian accountant-turned-screenwriter Afrim (Alexi-Malle), slacker actor Slater (Sudduth), and
four illegal Mexican immigrants, Bowfinger instructs his actors to approach Ramsey on the street at inopportune moments, say
their lines and capture Ramsey's reactions on film. Eventually Ramsey becomes freaked out by all this, and escapes to the
refuge of Mind Head, a Scientology-type organization run by the greedy Stricter (Stamp). Nonplussed, Bowfinger finds a look-alike
to double for Ramsey, a nerdy, braces-wearing simpleton named Jiff (Murphy again), whose background comes as a surprise to
Bowfinger and his crew later.
Whereas ED WOOD was one of 1994's best films (and one of the best ever made about filmmaking),
BOWFINGER simply comes across as a sometimes witty comedy that seems to have been recut or tampered with by its studio--Murphy
(who is otherwise fantastic in both roles) really has what amounts to a supporting role, and the tone often veers from wild
slapstick to more subtle wordplay humor. And its impossible to believe that the film Bowfinger makes (CHUBBY RAIN, about aliens
who invade Earth in raindrops!) could ever have been edited into something approximating Hollywood production values. Martin
is watchable as always, his script is good-naturedly clever (Martin's fans from his CRUEL SHOES and LET'S GET SMALL days will
find lots of things to like in it), Graham is appropriately fresh-faced and sexy, and I liked BOWFINGER OK, although I would
have probably liked it better if 1999 hadn't been such a strong summer for comedies. Also with Barry Newman (VANISHING POINT)
and Robert Downey Jr. Music by David Newman. From the director of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS and the voice of Yoda.
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002)--Directed by
Michael Moore. Stars Michael Moore, Charlton Heston. Moore's best film to date is this incendiary, thought-provoking
and, yes, entertaining documentary about America's gun culture. Why do Americans feel the need to own so many firearms?
And why do we kill each other with them so much more frequently than people in other countries do? Using the tragic
massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado as his springboard, Moore interviews SOUTH PARK co-creator Matt Stone
(a former student at Columbine); John Nichols, the brother of Terry Nichols, who, along with Timothy McVeigh, was convicted
of the Oklahoma City bombing; numerous educators and media experts; and most notoriously, National Rifle Association president
Heston. Moore also utilizes the ambush interview to strong effect, most notably at K-Mart corporate headquarters in
Michigan, where bringing two wounded Columbine students with K-Mart bullets still lodged in their bodies results in an unexpected
victory.
Michael Moore is, admittedly, an acquired taste. I find his unique
blend of Mort Sahl-style wit, 60 MINUTES-style investigative reporting, and folksy Midwestern sincerity enormously entertaining
and thought-provoking, and consider COLUMBINE to be Moore's best feature yet. While he asks more questions than he answers,
the questions are important ones that need to be addressed and certainly aren't a priority of the U.S. government. Moore's
logic is sometimes fuzzy (I doubt Dick Clark is to blame, no matter how indirectly, for the shooting death of a 6-year-old
Flint girl), but his passion and intelligence isn't. Ambush interviews have often been criticized as a journalistic
technique, but I think they're essential in cutting through the spin-doctoring and prepared statements that often pass for
press conferences. I'm always amazed when Moore in his various films and TV programs invades a corporate headquarters, as
he does with K-Mart in COLUMBINE, only to be greeted by public relations zombies who become completely lost when veering "off-script"
(as the poor K-Mart representative does when addressing the two teenage boys wounded in Littleton).
I think what makes Moore effective is his genuine sincerity (he
goes too far when he confronts Heston with a photo of the cute little girl killed in Flint, although I honestly believe the
gesture was from-the-heart and not a cynical manipulation), as well as the ability to present his material in an entertaining
manner without diluting its power. Unfortunately, COLUMBINE will probably mostly be seen by audiences already in Moore's
corner. I admired A.O. Scott's positive New York Times review, in which he admitted his opposition to Moore's politics and
methods, yet couldn't deny COLUMBINE's ability to spark discussion. Like much art, COLUMBINE can be difficult to discuss
in a reasonable tone, but don't let its subject matter and potential for flammable viewpoints deter you from seeing it.
A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)--Directed by L.Q.
Jones. Stars Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton, and the voice of Tim McIntire. George Miller has reportedly claimed
that THE ROAD WARRIOR, which he directed, was inspired by this cult science-fiction black comedy. In 2024, after World War
IV has reduced the United States to a desert wasteland, Vic (Johnson) roams the post-apocalyptic landscape with his dog Blood
(Tiger from THE BRADY BUNCH), which can speak to Vic telepathically. While foraging for food and seeking women to rape (life
is pretty grim in the 21st century), Vic and Blood encounter Quilla June (Benton), who seduces Vic and lures him to her underground
community, Topeka, which is run by Craddock (Robards). Topeka is a bizarre place in which people wear white face makeup, smile
blandly, and are sentenced to The Farm for having a bad attitude. The men are sterile, so Craddock presses Vic into stud service
to impregnate 35 young women, which Vic thinks is a pretty good idea until he finds himself strapped to an artificial insemination
machine!
McIntire, who also composed the musical score (except for the Topeka sequence, which was done by Jaime Mendoza-Nava),
scores with some great one-liners as Blood, including the last line of the movie, which received a lot of controversy at the
time and seems to be either loved or hated by audiences (I think it's hilarious). A BOY AND HIS DOG is an interesting movie
to look at; Jones, who also penned the screenplay, and cinematographer John Morrill have composed some striking images, using
their unusual sets and stark California desert locations to strong effect. Topeka, with its sky lit up with bright fluorescent
lights, is particularly creepy. The movie does lose steam almost exactly two-thirds into it when Johnson descends to Topeka;
I don't think these sequences, despite nice work by Robards and unusual photography, work as well as the scenes on the surface.
One reason is Blood's absence, since the movie's best moments consist of the verbal give-and-take between Blood and Vic. Director
Jones believes his movie to be a love story between the two characters, and I would agree.
According to Jones, A BOY
AND HIS DOG played in theaters for 18 years (!) until the prints became so beat up they couldn't be used anymore. Produced
by Alvy Moore (Hank Kimball from GREEN ACRES!), who also plays one of the Topeka committee members. Also with Helene Winston,
Hal Baylor, Ron Feinberg, Charles McGraw and a cameo by Jones (actually footage culled from his earlier directorial effort
THE DEVIL'S BEDROOM). Based upon a novella by noted author Harlan Ellison, who was unhappy with this film (especially the
last line, which is not in the novella and was written by Jones). Director Jones is a noted character actor who made several
westerns with Sam Peckinpah.
THE BOY WHO COULD FLY (1986)--Directed by Nick Castle. Stars Jay Underwood,
Lucy Deakins, Bonnie Bedelia, Fred Savage. Widow Bedelia and her two children, Deakins and Savage, move into a new neighborhood.
Deakins becomes friends with an autistic boy (Underwood) next door who believes he has the power of flight, while Savage contends
with the neighborhood bully. Sweet movie contains good, understated performances from the whole cast, including Colleen Dewhurst
and Fred Gwynne as Underwood's alcoholic guardian. Look for HALLOWEEN director John Carpenter in a bit part; Castle portrayed
The Shape in Carpenters seminal horror film.
THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978)--Directed by Franklin J.
Schaffner. Stars Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason. This wacky conspiracy flick plays at about the same level as
a '40s Saturday afternoon serial, yet was somehow taken seriously by critics and audiences. It was even nominated for three
Oscars! The comic book plot would have us believe that Nazi doctor Josef Mengele (Peck) is alive and well and living in Paraguay,
where he commands a sizable force of Third Reichers ready and willing to do whatever possible to advance their cause. Mengele's
plan involves the assassinations of 94 civil service workers all over the world--all of whom are in their mid-50s with a younger
wife and a son approaching his teens. 12 years earlier, Mengele had created 94 clones of Adolf Hitler, and placed them with
families all over the world to as best duplicate the environment of the real Hitler as a boy (Hitler lost his father around
his 13th birthday). Aging Nazi-hunter Lieberman (Oscar-nominated Olivier) discovers Mengele's fiendish plot, which culminates
in a bloodbath at a Pennsylvania farmhouse.
Based upon a popular novel by Ira Levin (ROSEMARYS BABY), Heywood Gould's
script is filled with clunky dialogue ("You whacked-out maniac!") and plot implausibilities, not the least of which being
the idea that Hitler would have turned out the same as an adult if he had been reared by different parents in a different
country, that the ages of his parents (for instance) were more important in his upbringing than his schooling or religious
background. Peck, in his first villain role, seems to be having fun as Mengele, always clad in a white suit, over-emoting
and lip-smacking like Charles Middleton in an old FLASH GORDON serial. Olivier, on the other hand, brings a great deal of
sensitivity, intensity, warmth and humor to his part in a film that he had to have known was beneath him (legend has it that
Sir Larry, whose health problems were increasing in the late 70s, became less choosy in picking his parts in order to earn
more money to leave his heirs); he was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award, as was film editor Robert E. Swink and composer
Jerry Goldsmith. Also with Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen, Steve Guttenberg, Michael Gough (blink, and youll miss him), Denholm Elliott,
John Rubenstein, Anne Meara, John Dehner, David Hurst, Bruno Ganz, Rosemary Harris, Walter Gotell, Linda Hayden, Wolf Kahler
and Jeremy Black (in a truly awful performance) as the boys.
BRADDOCK: MISSING IN ACTION III (1988)--Directed
by Aaron Norris. Stars Chuck Norris, Aki Aleong, Miki Kim, Yehuda Efroni, Roland Harrah III. Chuck Norris is back
and killing more Viet Cong in the final chapter of Cannon's MIA trilogy. U.S. Army colonel and ex-POW James Braddock
(Norris) is forced out of the American embassy during the fall of Saigon without his Vietnamese wife Lin (Kim), whom he believes
to be dead. Thirteen years later, he's approached in a Washington, D.C. bar by the Reverend Polanski (Efroni), who runs
an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City and claims that Lin and his 12-year-old son Van (Harrah) are alive there. Braddock,
shell-shocked by the news, learns the CIA and the State Department will be of no help getting his family out of Vietnam, so,
loading up with as many weapons and explosive devices as he can carry, he parachutes into 'Nam to rescue them, running afoul
of evil General Quoc (Aleong) along the way.
The screenplay by Chuck and James Bruner, who penned several Cannon
action movies, is certainly more ambitious than the previous MIA entries, fleshing out Braddock's character somewhat, while
also directly addressing the poor living conditions still prevalent in Vietnam. Asking Chuck to stretch as an actor,
though, is not a great idea, since he just isn't up to the task. Firing a roundhouse kick into somebody's face or blasting
helicopters out of the sky with a rocket launcher, Norris is as good as anybody, but he doesn't carry enough weight as an
actor to make the dramatic domestic scenes worth caring about. Don't get the idea, however, that BRADDOCK is a Merchant/Ivory
tearjerker; it's a solid action movie containing plenty of explosions, car stunts and bloody squibs, cleanly directed by Chuck's
brother Aaron, a former stuntman making his debut behind the lens. By this point, Cannon's handy production team, including
cinematographer Joao Fernandez, composer Jay Chattaway, editor Michael J. Duthie and executive producers Menahem Golan and
Yoram Globus, were able to crank these things out pretty efficiently, probably easing Aaron's workload quite a bit.
The plot is a little too paint-by-numbers and the climax precludes
a much needed one-on-one between Braddock and Quac, but BRADDOCK remains satisfactory action fare led by Chuck's patented
easygoing personality. Also with Ron Barker, Jack Rader and an early role for Keith David. Aaron went on to direct
several more of his brother's films, eventually becoming an executive producer of WALKER, TEXAS RANGER.
THE BRAIN (1988)--Directed by Edward Hunt.
Stars Tom Breznahan, Cyndy Preston, David Gale. Delinquent Breznahan is sent by school officials to see psychiatrist Gale,
who also has a popular television show. At Gale's clinic, Breznahan realizes the shrink has been using a giant mutated brain
to brainwash his patients and turn them into violent psychopaths. Barry Pearson's script tries to satirize television, but
there's nothing said that hasn't been said before. The violence is mostly played tongue-in-cheek.
THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (1957)--Directed
by Nathan Hertz. Stars John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Thomas B. Henry, Robert Fuller. While investigating mysterious
desert radiation in a cave under Mystery Mountain (filmed in Griffith Park's Bronson Canyon), scientists Steve (Agar) and
Dan (Fuller, soon to star in WAGON TRAIN) are attacked by a large, flying, talking brain that calls itself Gor. Gor
is an escaped criminal (!) from the planet Arous, and has come to Earth to conquer it using its enormous mental powers.
Gor possesses Steve's body and burns Dan to a crisp. Having a disembodied brain inside of Steve increases his sex drive,
which immediately alarms his fiancée Sally (Meadows), this being the '50s and all. At first, Gor is secretive about
his plans, gleefully blowing up airplanes just by thinking about it and causing massive death and destruction for no other
reason than sheer joy. Eventually he takes the world hostage, revealing his power to the military and threatening to
kill more people if he isn't made Emperor of the Universe or some such. What Gor doesn't know is that his archenemy
Vol is also on Earth and inside the body of Sally's dog George, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce...
BRAIN was released by Howco International and is one of the
most entertaining and ridiculous SF films of the 1950s. Not only is the premise delightfully batty (even by the era's
standards), but it's also bolstered by one of genre legend Agar's richest performances. The lantern-jawed hero-type
must have relished the opportunity to play mean, because he hams it up big time, grinning madly with silver contact lenses
in his eyes and releasing a wild maniacal laugh with every bridge or airplane he explodes with his mighty brain power.
Agar easily carries this gigglefest on his broad shoulders, but he's only as grand as his material, which offers some kooky
science and laughably convenient plot contrivances in Ray Buffum's (TEENAGE MONSTER) screenplay. Meadows, Fuller and
Henry provide stalwart support, repeating Buffum's dialogue as if they mean it. Music by Walter Greene. One of
five films Agar appeared in that year.
THE BRAIN MACHINE (1977)—Directed by Joy
N. Houck, Jr. Stars James Best, Gerald McRaney. Future TV stars Best (THE DUKES OF HAZZARD) and McRaney (SIMON
& SIMON) are the only recognizable faces in this confusing, clumsy sci-fi movie. Four subjects, including genius
McRaney and fallen reverend Best, are chosen for some kind of elaborate scientific experiment in which a sophisticated computer
reads their minds to see if they’re telling the truth about their pasts. A corrupt general and a corrupt senator
want to use the machine to keep constant surveillance on the American people. How they mean to do this or why, as well
as what exactly the machine does, remains unclear to the end of this dull mess filmed in Mississippi. Houck, who previously
directed McRaney in NIGHT OF BLOODY HORROR and Micky Dolenz in NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER, achieves similar cinematic lows here.
He may have been trying to emulate THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN at the climax, but who knows really?
BRAIN SMASHER...A LOVE STORY (1993)--Directed
by Albert Pyun. Stars Andrew Dice Clay, Teri Hatcher, Yuki Okumoto, Deborah Van Valkenburgh. Boy, did Clay's star
burn out in a hurry. Three years after headlining his own summer blockbuster, THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE, and two
years after his controversial NC-17 concert film DICE RULES, the Diceman was working in Portland, Oregon for Albert Pyun.
Oddly, it's probably his best feature role, since he veers slightly away from his misogynist persona to occupy a character
known as Brain Smasher, a nightclub bouncer who accidentally becomes involved with a beautiful woman (Hatcher) on the run
from masked Chinese "ninjas". The McGuffin is a rare orchid called the Red Lotus that allegedly imbues one who eats
it with the power to rule the world. Neither Clay nor Hatcher has it, but Teri's botanist sister (Van Valkenburgh of
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT) does, so Okumoto's Kato-clad goons chase the couple all over Portland to get it. Pyun's screenplay
is fairly funny and decently paced, offering a few kung fu battles and often acknowledging the silliness of it all, especially
in a police station scene where Clay and Hatcher are interrogated by genre faves Brion James, Tim Thomerson, Charles Rocket
and Nicholas Guest. Plus, the future Lois Lane looks scrumptious in a black bustier, hot pants and knee-high boots.
From the director of DOLLMAN.
THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1959)--Directed
by Joseph N. Green. Stars Herb Evers, Virginia Leith, Paul Maurice. Terrible/great science-fiction film about a mad surgeon
(Evers) whose fiance (Leith) is decapitated in a car crash. Evers manages to keep her head alive, and takes it back to his
basement laboratory. Leith whines too much about wanting to die and other minor annoyances, so Evers tapes her mouth shut.
She uses her newly discovered powers of telepathy to command the monster living in the basement closet to break free. It rips
the arm off of Evers's assistant (Maurice) in a surprisingly gory scene. Don't even think about missing this one! Evers later
changed his first name to Jason, and did hundreds of guest shots on episodic television, including a memorable turn as a gay
mobster murdered by his embarrassed father on THE ROCKFORD FILES.
BRAINSTORM (1983)--Directed by
Douglas Trumbull. Stars Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson. Notorious as the film Wood was
working on when she tragically drowned in a boating accident. Director Trumbull was able to finish shooting and crafted this
intelligent science-fiction story of a group of scientists who invents a helmet that allows its wearer to experience the thoughts
and visions of someone else--sort of a precursor to virtual reality. Of course, the government would like to get its hands
on it for use as a weapon. Wood's death left some holes in the story, but the acting and effects are generally good, and the
premise is interesting. Trumbull is an acclaimed special-effects supervisor.
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA
(1992)--Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Stars Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves. A perfect example
of a mainstream filmmaker trying to make Art out of Trash. Coppola's rendering of the Stoker novel may be accurate, but it's
also pretentious, overlong and dull. Oldman is interesting as the legendary bloodsucker as he appears in a variety of disguises
and Oscar-winning makeup effects, but Ryder and Reeves are hopelessly miscast as the separated young lovers Mina and Jonathan
Harker, and Hopkins as Van Helsing acts as though he's in another movie. Produced by Coppola, Michael Apted and Robert O'Connor,
the script was by James V. Hart, who also wrote another overblown extravaganza, Steven Spielberg's HOOK. Lush cinematography
by Michael Ballhaus. Instead of computer-generated visuals, Coppola had the interesting idea of using only special effects
techniques that were around when NOSFERATU was made in the 1920s. Also with Tom Waits as Renfield, Sadie Frost as Lucy, Richard
E. Grant, Bill Campbell and Cary Elwes.
BRAM STOKER'S LEGEND OF THE MUMMY (1998)--Directed by Jeffrey
Obrow. Stars Louis Gossett Jr., Amy Locane, Eric Lutes. Very boring and confusing horror movie features an elderly anthropologist
who falls into a coma at his Marin County mansion after being (I think) attacked by a mummy. His beautiful daughter (Locane)
and her dull beau (Lutes) hole up in the house along with a doctor, an ex-Scotland Yard detective and a number of servants.
People keep getting picked off one by one in not very scary fashion, and not much of what happens makes any sense. Obrow's
screenplay is pitted with plotholes, inconsistencies, flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks) and silly dialogue. Gossett
(as the anthropologists crusty colleague) seems to know he's acting in a stinker, but it didn't help his performance any.
Also with Lloyd Bochner (it's been a long time since I've seen him act, and it's too bad he doesn't have much to do), Richard
Karn and Mary Jo Catlett. From the director of THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD.
THE BRASS LEGEND (1956)--Directed
by Gerd Oswald. Stars Hugh O'Brian, Raymond Burr, Nancy Gates, Donald MacDonald. The melodrama flows freely in this routine
western starring lantern-jawed O'Brian (who was starring in TV's THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP at the time) as Sheriff
Wade Addams and Gates as his fiance Linda Gipson. Linda's father Tom wants Wade to give up being a lawman so he can take over
the Gipson ranch one day, but Addams vows to serve out his current term. Trouble ensues when Linda's little brother Clay (MacDonald)
accidentally stumbles upon the hideout of wanted killer Tris Hatten (Burr). Swearing Clay to silence, Wade arrests Hatten,
who swears revenge against the squealer who ratted him out. Clay's identity becomes known after Tom, who believes Wade silenced
the boy to hoard the reward money for himself, plants the story in the town newspaper, which inadvertently puts a bounty on
his son's head and leads to a violent clash between Wade and Hatten.
Although Oswald was known for the moody direction he delivered in
episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS, his handling of THE BRASS LEGEND is no better than standard. As usual when he played snarling
heavies, Burr steals the picture, although O'Brian is a fine opponent for him. Also with Reba Tassell, Robert Burton, Eddie
Firestone, Stacy Harris and Willard Sage. Herman Cohen, better known for lurid horror pictures like BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN
GORILLA, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM and I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, was the producer. Music by Paul Dunlap. Oswald also directed
Burr's PERRY MASON TV series.
BRAVEHEART (1995)--Directed by Mel Gibson. Stars Mel Gibson, Patrick
McGoohan, Sophia Marceau. Winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Gibson's second film (THE
MAN WITHOUT A FACE was his debut) is a sweeping epic in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA mode. Mel is 13th century Scottish patriot William
Wallace, who led the fight for freedom against the cruel King of England, Edward I (played to evil perfection by McGoohan).
Despite its length of nearly three hours, Gibson keeps the pace moving, and manages to keep the mood relatively upbeat, despite
the gloomy landscape, realistically dirty costumes and living conditions and a pretty healthy helping of bloody violence.
BREAKDOWN (1997)--Directed by Jonathan Mostow.
Stars Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan, J.T. Walsh. Before U-571 and T3, director Mostow reached Hollywood's A-list of
action directors with this taut, efficient thriller filmed on old-fashioned desert landscapes. Jeff (Russell) and Amy
Taylor (Quinlan), en route from Boston to San Diego to begin new careers and new lives, find themselves stranded in the New
Mexico desert when their new Jeep breaks down. Luckily, a friendly trucker (Walsh) happens by, and offers to give Amy
a lift to a nearby diner where she can call a tow truck. Amy never returns, and after Jeff manages to fix the Jeep by
himself, learns that she never arrived at the diner either. He does find Walsh, however, but the police don't believe
his story about possible foul play and conclude either Jeff is crazy or Amy has left him.
For a long time, we're as in the dark as Jeff about what happened
to his wife and Walsh's motives. Doug Milsome's crisp photography and Basil Poledouris' moody score add to the confusion,
and it's almost a shame when we eventually learn that Amy's disappearance is no more than a standard-issue kidnap plot.
Not that it completely derails the film, which is extremely effective, mostly because of Mostow's careful direction, but also
in great part due to the performances by Russell, shifting into Everyman mode here in a polo shirt and chinos, and Walsh,
an exceptionally rich character actor who's given a third-act family to help shade his character. BREAKDOWN takes place
over a span of just about 24 hours, which keeps the suspense at a high level and is unlikely to disappoint. Also with
M.C. Gainey, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Linn and Jack McGee. Richard Marvin provided additional scoring.
BREAKER! BREAKER! (1977)--Directed by Don
Hulette. Stars Chuck Norris, George Murdock, Michael Augenstein. Undefeated World Middleweight Karate champion
Chuck Norris had established a franchise of karate schools and was teaching martial arts to Hollywood personalities like Steve
McQueen when he got the bug to try acting. Small roles in drive-in flicks like THE STUDENT TEACHERS and RETURN OF THE
DRAGON eventually led to his first project as a leading man: a shaggy AIP cheapie titled BREAKER! BREAKER! that attempted
to cash in on the then-current truckin' craze that erupted with the success of pop songs like C.W. McCall's "Convoy" and hit
films like SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT.
Chuck is appealing but very stiff as J.D. Dawes, a truck driver
who enters the tiny burg of Texas City, California in search of his younger brother (Augenstein), who was waylaid by the town's
corrupt police force and held captive. Norris became more appealing as his screen career grew, but, of course, he never
has loosened up much. In the inexperienced hands of director Hulette, who also composed the score and the country-western
songs on the soundtrack, Norris kinda flounders about, following the story from A to B to C and barely registering against
the eye-rolling bluster of Murdock as Texas City's venal boss. Not just the cops, but practically the entire town leaps
when Murdock yells "Jump", leading to some appealing scenes of Chuck running around the cheap-looking ghost-town facades masquerading
as Texas City and thumping and kicking a succession of rednecks as if he were inhabiting a side-scrolling video game.
BREAKER! BREAKER! suffers from its small budget and uncertain
direction, but probably still managed to make some bucks for American International on the Southern drive-in circuit.
Norris learned from a steadier hand in his next production, GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK, which was directed by veteran Ted Post (MAGNUM
FORCE) and co-starred name actors like James Franciscus, Dana Andrews and Anne Archer. Also with Terry O'Connor, Don
Gentry and Jack Nance (ERASERHEAD).
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)--Directed by John
Hughes. Stars Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall. Pretty good comedy about five
stereotypical high-school students (the jock, the prom queen, the hood, the geek, the psycho-chick) getting to know each other
during a Saturday afternoon detention. Some poignant scenes and good performances make this Hughes's best film. None of the
teen stars has been this good since. From the director of PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES.
BREAKHEART PASS
(1976)--Directed by Tom Gries. Stars Charles Bronson, Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland, Ben Johnson. Fast-moving mixture of westerns
and spy movies. Government agent Bronson hops a steam train to protect an arrogant politician (Crenna) from assassins. Gries
sure kept his stuntmen busy. Also with Charles Durning, Ed Lauter, boxer Archie Moore and NFL quarterback Joe Kapp. Based
on a novel by Alistair MacLean.
BREAKING AWAY (1979)--Directed by Peter Yates. Stars Dennis Christopher,
Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, Paul Dooley, Barbara Barrie. Well-written comedy about a dreamer (Christopher) who is obsessed
with becoming a bicycle racing champion. His fantasies drive his father crazy. His dream finally comes true when he and his
townie buddies face off against the local college bike team in an exciting climactic race. Steve Tesich's Oscar-winning screenplay
is full of well-developed characters, and British director Yates does an excellent job developing a tender piece of Americana.
Received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Dooley and Barrie stand out among the cast as Christopher's harried parents.
BREAKING IN (1989)--Directed by Bill Forsyth. Stars Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko, Sheila Kelley,
Albert Salmi. Reynolds made a credible switch from leading man to character actor in this sweet comedy by Scottish director
Forsyth. Reynolds is a middle-aged career burglar who takes novice Siemaszko under his wing and teaches him the tricks of
the trade. Understated screenplay by John Sayles (EIGHT MEN OUT) has plenty of quietly funny scenes. Kelley is cute as the
prostitute Siemaszko falls for.
BREAKING POINT (1976)—Directed by Bob
Clark. Stars Bo Svenson, Robert Culp, John Colicos. BREAKING POINT is a decent though unessential action picture,
basically a Canadian version of FIGHTING MAD and a dozen other vigilante pics that filled drive-ins back then. Svenson is
a hockey-playing judo instructor who witnesses a murder and testifies against the killers in court. Their boss, an industrialist
mobster played by hammy Colicos (DRUM), wants revenge and sends his goons out to rape and kill Svenson's friends and family.
Going into a federal witness protection program and moving from Philadelphia to Toronto still doesn't guarantee their safety,
leaving Bo with little choice but to go all Charlie Bronson on Colicos' buttocks. Culp has a thankless role as a Philly cop
who has to consistently do the wrong thing in order to advance the plot, even though he's portrayed as sympathetic.
Clark is an average action director, though the zippy setpieces
may be the work of 2nd unit director John "Bud" Cardos. BREAKING POINT doesn't aspire to depth, but one excellent scene presents
Svenson breaking the news of her fiance's murder to his sister entirely in voiceover, as the camera stays on Culp's guilt-ridden
face hundreds of miles away. Fox Movie Channel's print appears to be an uncut R-rated version, complete with nudity and profanity
(the rape scene might be cut; we never learn whether the victim was killed), though it is presented pan-and-scan and quite
smeary. Also with Belinda J. Montgomery, Stephen Young and Linda Sorenson. Drab computerized score is by David McLey.
BREAKOUT (1975)--Directed by Tom Gries. Stars
Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, John Huston. Solid actioner stars Bronson as a Texas helicopter
pilot hired by Ireland to rescue her husband (Duvall) from a corrupt Mexican prison. The plan seems simple, which means there's
a double-cross on the way. Quaid lends able support as Bronson's assistant.
BREEDERS (1986)--Directed by Tim Kincaid.
Stars Teresa Farley, Lance Lewman, Ed French. Wow. Poorly acted and possessed by some of New York’s stiffest
actors, this sleazy sci-fi gem somehow ended up on an MGM-released DVD. Did anyone at the studio watch it first?
A slimy space monster (in a rubber suit with boots!) is raping and impregnating Manhattan virgins. After a short incubation
period, they strip off all their clothes and walk into an abandoned tunnel below the Empire State Building, where all the
women climb into an alien hot tub filled with what I can only assume is extraterrestrial semen. An ineffectual detective
(Lewman) and a wooden-Indian doctor (Farley) are the only humans who know what’s going on. This movie is amazing,
and by "amazing," I mean "sleazy and stupid." My favorite scene is one where the virgin bikini model does some coke and then
exercises in the nude for a couple of minutes for no apparent reason. I'm guessing there are very few virgin cokehead
supermodels in Manhattan. I also like when the virgin nurse comes home after a hard day at work, pulls a gigantic pot
of something (I mean huge) out of the fridge, puts it on the stove, turns it on (but there's no fire on the burner), and then
takes all her clothes off while standing in the kitchen. Rampant female nudity and rubber bladder makeup effects abound.
Director Kincaid went on to a career in gay porn.
BRET MAVERICK: THE LAZY ACE (1981)--Directed
by Stuart Margolin. Stars James Garner, Ed Bruce, Ramon Bieri, John Shearin, Bill McKinney, Janis Paige, Stuart Margolin.
THE ROCKFORD FILES barely had time to be missed before Garner was back on NBC with another weekly series. Not that he
was moving too far away from his familiar persona, as Bret Maverick was more or less the same laidback, fast-talkin', rather-switch-than-fight
adventurer as Jim Rockford, just in cowboy garb. Of course, Garner was used to the role, having played Bret in the classic
ABC series MAVERICK from 1957-1960 and in THE NEW MAVERICK, the pilot for a 1979 CBS show starring Charles Frank (THE RIGHT
STUFF) as Bret's nephew Ben Maverick.
In THE LAZY ACE, BRET's feature-length pilot, Maverick rides into
Sweetwater, Arizona for a high-stakes poker game against some of the West's most famous gamblers, including Mandy Packer (Paige),
owner of Sweetwater's Red Ox saloon, and villainous Ramsey Bass (McKinney). The big game takes place the day before
Election Day, in which Sweetwater must choose between honest but tough sheriff Tom Guthrie (country singer Bruce, who is surprisingly
good for a neophyte) and dandy Mitchel Dowd (Shearin), who's in the pocket of town boss Crow (Bieri). Maverick ends
up with the whole pot--and the Red Ox--but his happiness is shortlived when Sweetwater's bank is robbed and the only money
missing is his. With Guthrie stuck in town guarding the ballot box against Crow's behind-the-scenes machinations, Maverick
is stuck with tracking the robbers alone. Well, almost alone, when tracker/conman Philo Sandeen (Margolin, who directed)
is the guide.
THE LAZY ACE does exactly what it was supposed to, which is to showcase
Garner's exclusive brand of wit and charm while introducing us to the regular cast, which also included Darleen Carr as the
editor of the town newspaper and Richard Hamilton as the crusty foreman of Maverick's new ranch. Working from Gordon
Dawson's finely paced teleplay, BRET is frothy fun, reaffirming Bret Maverick's stature as the Old West's most reluctant hero
(although critics have often referred to Maverick as a coward, he was really anything but) while throwing in enough action
to keep western fans happy. In fact, Maverick probably draws his gun more times here than in any three episodes of the
original series. Accompanied by Bruce's catchy theme song (performed over the closing titles by Garner) and brandishing
Garner's unique charm, THE LAZY ACE is almost like a pleasant trip backwards in time.
Also with David Knell, John McLiam as Doc Holliday, Richard Moll
(NIGHT COURT), Chuck Mitchell (PORKY'S), Kirk Cameron, Jack Garner and Luis Delgado. Murray MacLeod and J.A.C. Redford
(who wrote the original, barely-remembered MAGNUM, P.I. theme) penned the score. BRET MAVERICK debuted in December of
1981, and lasted just 22 episodes. Garner, who had his share of injuries on ROCKFORD, got hurt shooting an early scene
when he fell off of a mechanical bull. He broke some ribs, and filming shut down for a few days while he recovered.
Jack Kelly, who played brother Bart on the original show (and in THE NEW MAVERICK), appeared in BRET's final episode in 1982.
BRIAN'S SONG (1970)--Directed by Buzz Kulik.
Stars James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Warden, Shelley Fabares. True story of Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo (Caan) and his
friendship with Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (Williams) during Piccolo's fatal battle with cancer. Enormously popular made-for-TV
movie boasts outstanding lead performances and an intelligent, upbeat script by William Blinn. Won a ton of Emmys and rightly
so. Blinn also created TV's STARSKY & HUTCH.
BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955)--Directed by Edward
D. Wood, Jr. Stars Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Tony McCoy, Loretta King. A drug-ravaged Lugosi stars as a mad scientist using
atomic power to create a race of supermen, and throwing the unsuccessful guinea pigs to a rubber octopus. Tor is sidekick/pet
Lobo. Filled with bad dialogue, awful acting, cheap sets and special effects--in short, everything you love and expect in
an Ed Wood film. McCoy's performance is the worst; he got the role only because his father provided financing when Wood ran
out of money. The set design is ridiculous; the front door changes color depending whether it's seen from the outside or the
inside, and where in the world do those living room steps go? The scene with Lugosi wrestling with the "octopus" is a screen
classic. Almost as funny as PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE.
BRIDES OF BLOOD (1968)--Directed by Eddie
Romero & Gerardo de Leon. Stars John Ashley, Kent Taylor, Beverly Hills, Mario Montenegro. Peace Corps volunteer
Ashley, scientist Taylor and his nympho wife Hills arrive on a small island in the Philippines to do research, and are sure
as shuck surprised to discover the natives sacrificing nude virgins to a horrible creature that mauls them at night.
Called "The Evil One" by the locals, the monster has often been described as a "Michelin Man" by critics, which is not an
entirely unfair comparison. The first of Ashley's so-called "Blood Island Trilogy", BRIDES is also the least, moving
pretty slowly until its fiery climax. Ashley ended up making several exploitation movies in Manila and producing some
too. Considering the year it was made, the gore and nudity factor is high, which may surprise a few viewers in search
of old-fashioned monster-movie thrills. All three Blood Island movies were released through executive producer Kane
Lynn's Hemisphere Pictures. THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND was next.
BRIDES OF FU MANCHU (1966)--Directed by Don
Sharp. Stars Christopher Lee, Douglas Wilmer, Rupert Davies, Tsai Chin, Burt Kwouk. British actor Christopher Lee returns
as Sax Rohmer's diabolical Asian villain from FACE OF FU MANCHU. This time Fu is kidnapping the daughters of prominent scientists
in an effort to force the men to build Fu a giant death ray. Once again Fu Manchu's archenemy, Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard
(Wilmer), must save the day. Structured like a spy picture of the period, Fu Manchu and Nayland Smith have only one short
scene together (a main weakness), but Lee's presence and a fast-moving pace make this one of the more enjoyable Fu Manchu
pictures. Produced by Harry Alan Towers. Lee played Fu Manchu in three more films of declining quality.
BRIDGE OF DRAGONS (1999)--Directed by Isaac
Florentine. Stars Dolph Lundgren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Valerie Chow. I like Florentine and writer Carlton Holder's
approach to the material, mixing genres to create a sort of alternate reality where modern weaponry clashes with '40s technology
and a medieval-style government. Lundgren is Warchild, an expert soldier who has worked his whole life for General Ruechang
(Tagawa), who took over the land when the King was killed in an accident some years earlier. Now, the King's daughter,
Princess Halo (Chow, billed as Rachel Shane), has grown into a beautiful young woman, and will be able to begin ruling as
soon as she marries Ruechang. Discovering that the cruel general was responsible for her father's death, she flees the
wedding ceremony to join a band of revolutionaries seeking to overthrow Ruechang's tyranny, forcing Warchild to choose between
the man who trained him and the woman he loves.
Perhaps the Bulgarian production values are more responsible
for the mishmash of genres than any creative inspiration, but I believed in this fantasy land, partially because the cast
appears to believe in it. Lundgren has certainly loosened up since his early days, and the intense Tagawa is a perfect
foil for the 6'4" Swede. As for Chow, she's simply one of the world's loveliest women, and I found it difficult to take
my eyes off of her whenever she was on screen. Akihiro Noguchi, who previously worked with Florentine on COLD HARVEST,
provides more expert martial-arts choreography, and the director stages plenty of shootouts, explosions and chases with aplomb.
Also with Gary Hudson, Scott Schwartz and Jo Kendall. Music by Steve Edwards.
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)--Directed
by David Lean. Stars Alec Guinness, William Holden, Sessue Hayakawa. Winner of seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Director,
Actor (Guinness), and Screenplay. Excellent World War II drama about a battle of wits between two stubborn and fiercely loyal
soldiers: Guinness, a by-the-book commander of British troops in a Japanese POW camp, and Hayakawa, the camp commander. The
film's other plot features Holden as an American soldier who escaped from the camp and is ordered to return in order to blow
up a strategic bridge, which, ironically, is being built by Guinness's troops to build their morale. Epic tale is full of
action, but the relationship between Guinness and Hayakawa is the most fascinating element. Filmed in Ceylon.
BROADCAST
NEWS (1987)--Directed by James L. Brooks. Stars William Hurt, Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, Robert Prosky, Joan Cusack,
Lois Chiles. Excellent comedy about a love triangle in a network television newsroom. Ambitious producer Hunter falls for
slick anchorman Hurt, even though she despises his attitude towards his job. Her best friend is talented but neurotic reporter
Brooks, who is in love with Hunter. Brooks's screenplay contains brilliant dialogue, fully sketched roles for all three leads,
and a realistic view of network news organizations. Jack Nicholson lends a hilarious cameo as a high-priced anchor. Oscar
nominations went for Best Picture, Director, and Hurt, Hunter, and Albert Brooks.
BROCK CALLAHAN (1959)—Directed by Don
Siegel. Stars Ken Clark, Randy Stuart, Richard Shannon. Big guns Don Siegel (THE LINEUP) and writer Stirling Silliphant
(ROUTE 66) were the creative forces behind this private-eye pilot, but it still didn’t sell. Ken Clark is Brock
“The Rock” Callahan, a former Los Angeles Ram guard with a bum knee who works as a private detective in Beverly
Hills and charges $50 per day plus expenses. Callahan investigates a murder disguised to look like a suicide.
Is the culprit the victim’s sexy young wife, the son or the business partner? Callahan has less than 30 minutes
to solve the case and get into two judo fights. Despite the high-priced talent, BROCK CALLAHAN is less classy than PETER
GUNN and less tough than RICHARD DIAMOND. Clark isn’t a very exciting lead, although he later found success in
Europe starring in westerns, war movies and spy flicks. Richard Deacon, Brett Halsey and Rams coach Sid Gillman guest
star. “The Silent Kill” aired as an episode of the anthology series ADVENTURE SHOWCASE on August 11, 1959.
William Campbell Gault created the Brock Callahan character in a series of mystery novels beginning with 1955’s RING
AROUND THE ROSA.
BROKEN ARROW (1996)--Directed by John Woo.
Stars John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis. Sorry, western fans, this is no cowboys-and-Indians potboiler. Asian
action guru Woo turns Travolta, a major box-office draw at the time, into a scene-stealing bad guy in this slick action flick.
Travolta plays a renegade Air Force pilot who steals a pair of nuclear warheads to use in his plot to extort $250 million
dollars from the U.S. government. Apparently the only one who can stop John's mad plan is his former partner Slater, who teams
up with spunky park ranger Mathis for action in the desert, underground, in the air and on a train. Graham Yost's (SPEED)
screenplay is basically just a clothesline on which to hang Woo's amazingly balletic action scenes; probably no American filmmaker
(outside of Spielberg) directs stunts as well as Woo, whose first U.S. feature was a Jean-Claude Van Damme pic called HARD
TARGET. Travolta looks as though he's having a grand time camping it up. He at least knows better than to take this film seriously;
someone should have told uncharismatic Slater to lighten up a bit. If you're willing to check your common sense at the door,
it's kind of fun. Also with Delroy Lindo, Kurtwood Smith, Frank Whaley and former L.A. Raider Howie Long as Travolta's sidekick.
Music by Hans Zimmer.
BRONCO BILLY (1980)--Directed by Clint Eastwood. Stars Clint Eastwood, Sondra
Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Scatman Crothers. Sleeper comedy stars Clint as the leader of a traveling Wild West show who falls
in love with a rich snob (Clint's real-life love Locke). Bronco Billy is a sweeter, simpler Eastwood hero--another example
of Clint playing a bit with his macho image. A gentle love story and an excellent supporting cast make this worth seeing.
BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH (1976)--Directed by Bill Berry.
Stars Haskell Anderson, Mike Thomas, Roy Jefferson. Three black men return to their Alabama hometown after fighting
in Vietnam and find the racial situation there more intolerable than ever. They take the law into their own hands after
the local sheriff refuses to arrest the rednecks who raped a black woman, first by beating the tar out of the rapists, then
by taking on the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. For some reason, blaxploitation heroes rarely tackled the KKK, and
there is some power in the images of three black men in military fatigues engaged in armed combat against enemies in white
hoods. Berry could have used a larger budget and better actors, but DEATH packs an occasional punch, especially when
you realize that the KKK recruitment billboards shown in the movie along the roadside aren't props--they're real.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL (1970)--Directed
by Paul Wendkos. Stars Glenn Ford, Rosemary Forsyth, Dean Jagger, Eduard Franz. Cinema Center 100 produced this
creepy TV-movie for CBS, Ford's first television acting role. He plays distinguished professor Andy Patterson, a member
of a secret society known as The Brotherhood of the Bell. He was recruited 22 years earlier as a college senior, and
unbeknownst to him, his status with the Bell has brought him great professional and personal success. One by-law of
the society is that each member will one day be assigned a mission, a duty that must be fulfilled no matter what. However,
when Andy is ordered to blackmail a colleague (Franz) into turning down an important job at a large university, the man commits
suicide--a death for which Andy blames himself. He becomes obsessed with bringing down the Bell, whose high-placed members
in government, finance and law use all the power at their command to destroy Andy's career, reputation and even his marriage
to Vivian (Forsyth).
A paranoid and riveting tale of corruption, power and the pitfalls
of "getting something for nothing", BELL treads a line between fiction and non-fiction (in fact, it's rumored that President
George W. Bush was a member of a similar society at Yale), making Ford's downfall even scarier. And speaking of the
great movie star, he certainly didn't let the "inferior" medium of television affect his performance. It may even be
one of his best, bringing his trademark Everyman persona to new heights, struggling to make the world believe his strange
story, battling to do the right thing against impossible odds. The teleplay by producer David Karp (THE DEFENDERS) and
direction by Paul Wendkos (GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN) are sharp as can be, delivering a powerful message through crisp
dialogue and an unusual (for 1970 television) visual style that magnifies Ford's franticness to the max. Fondly remembered
as a cult item today, thanks in part to late-night syndication airings (it has never received a U.S. home video release),
BELL stands as one of the era's landmarks in made-for-television thrillers and a not-insignificant gem in Ford's very significant
career. Jerry Goldsmith composed the discordant score. Also with Robert Pine, Dabney Coleman, Maurice Evans, Will
Geer, James McEachin, William Smithers, Robert Clarke and William Conrad as an obnoxious Joe Pyne-like talk show host.
Ford must have enjoyed working in television, since he soon after played leads in CADE'S COUNTY and THE FAMILY HOLVAK.
BROWN'S REQUIEM (1998)--Directed by Jason
Freeland. Stars Michael Rooker, Selma Blair, Will Sasso, Brion James. Rooker is very good as P.I. Fritz Brown
in this adaptation of a James Ellroy novel, one of the few I haven't read. Brown is an alcoholic ex-cop who pulls down
a few bucks by repossessing cars. For $10,000, he takes a case for obese golf caddy "Fat Dog" Baker (Sasso from MAD
TV), who wants his underage sister Jane (Blair) to stay away from wealthy mobster Sol Kupferman (Gould). Of course,
being an Ellroy adaptation, Brown's investigation leads him down a few roads he'd rather not take, involving fraud, murder,
pornography, incest and his own personal demons. REQUIEM isn't exactly action-packed, but it is an involving mystery,
which probably had to be trimmed quite a bit to condense into a 104-minute screenplay. Freeland, directing his first
film, does a nice job capturing Ellroy's trademark L.A. and even manages to pay homage to the quintessential Los Angeles private
eye movie, CHINATOWN, by dressing Rooker in a bloody headband for a few scenes. Although a character actor by trade,
Rooker proves more than capable of carrying the film on his shoulders, and he's aided by a healthy supporting cast, many just
in cameos, including James as a corrupt Internal Affairs cop, Barry Newman, Jack Conley, Brad Dourif, Valerie Perrine, Tobin
Bell, Jennifer Coolidge and an unbilled Christopher Meloni. The neat piano score is by Cynthia Millar.
BRUBAKER (1980)--Directed by Stuart Rosenberg.
Stars Robert Redford, Jane Alexander, Yaphet Kotto, Murray Hamilton. Henry Brubaker (Redford), the liberal new warden
of a maximum-security prison, goes undercover as an inmate to expose the corrupt local prison board and the inhuman living
conditions. After several days of witnessing starvation (the warden and his trustees are stealing food and selling it
back to supermarkets at a profit), poor medical care (the prison doctor charges the inmates for treatment), brutality, rape,
overcrowding and filth, Brubaker reveals his identity and begins an attempt to change the whole rotten system. That
makes him an enemy to the trustees who were getting comfortable in their routine torture of prisoners, the local businessmen
who were receiving kickbacks and slave labor, and the politicians who were getting rich exploiting the cons.
W.D. Richter and Arthur A. Ross' Oscar-nominated screenplay is a
wonderful showcase for Redford, whose determined performance drives the narrative at a sensitive clip. Many of the social
issues appear dated, now that we know more about prison life than we did twenty years ago, but Richter and Ross' main themes
of greed and human dignity are timeless. Alexander's role as a state prison official who seems to be on Brubaker's side
is a bit of a cipher, but an excellent supporting cast adds tremendous color to the film, their well-honed screen personas
wordlessly filling in the backgrounds of their characters much more than any expository dialogue could. Besides Kotto
(DRUM) as the one trustee Brubaker can trust and Hamilton (JAWS) as the venal head of the prison board, Morgan Freeman, Matt
Clark, Tim McIntire, David Keith, Richard Ward (whose last film this was; BRUBAKER is dedicated to his memory), Val Avery,
Albert Salmi, M. Emmet Walsh, Everett McGill, Joe Spinell, John McMartin, Linda Haynes, Noble Willingham, Wilford Brimley
and Samuel E. Wright also appear. Lalo Schifrin did the sparse score. Rosenberg's final shot is a memorable one.
Bob Rafelson was the original director, but was replaced by Rosenberg shortly after principal photography began.
BRUCE LEE THE INVINCIBLE (1977)—Directed
by Chih Shih Lo. Stars Bruce Li. Um, so I’m not entirely sure what the hell was happening in this Chinese
kung fu flick (which is not unusual for the genre), but it had some cute women, no Bruce Lee, and a wild battle scene where
two Chinese guys have a karate fight with a pair of apes! Li and his master try to rescue a kidnapped woman. Did
I mention there’s a fight between men and apes? Sweet.
BRUTE CORPS (1972)--Directed by Jerry
Jameson. Stars Paul Carr, Jennifer Billingsley, Joseph Kaufmann, Alex Rocco. Perennial TV guest star Carr played
a rare lead in this rough exploitation movie, for which he also served as assistant producer. An amoral band of mercenaries
makes camp near a primitive Mexican village on their way to another gig-for-pay in Central America. Draft-dodging hitchhiker
Kevin (Kaufmann) and a free-spirited girl, Terry (Billingsley), he meets on the road enter the camp for a free meal before
continuing on their way. Encouraged by sexual deviate Wicks (Rocco), the men fight over Terry and rape her. While
Kevin escapes and appeals to the ineffectual local sheriff for aid, Terry is stripped, assaulted and trussed up like an animal.
Not until late in the game does second-in-command Ross (Carr), the only one in the group with a conscience, turn the tables
on his colleagues and team up with Kevin, who has returned for Terry, for a bloody finale. Likely a personal project
for director Jameson and Carr, who worked together several times, BRUTE CORPS is a frankly effective action picture, bolstered
by fluid camerawork, a notable cast and backwoods location shooting. Writers Michael Kars and Abe Polsky, the duo that
penned the Jack Nicholson biker flick THE REBEL ROUSERS, don’t flinch at their antagonists’ brutality, which leads
to unhappy endings for most of the cast. Well-paced, shot, scored and performed, BRUTE CORPS is an obscure sleeper that,
more than 30 years later, remains one of busy director Jameson’s best features. Bald-pated Charles McCauley (TWILIGHT
PEOPLE) plays The Colonel, with Felton Perry (MAGNUM FORCE), Roy Jenson, Michael Pataki and Parker West among the soldiers
of fortune. Carr, Pataki and Macauley represented a veritable repertory company that Jameson hired many times.
Carr passed away February 17, 2006 at age 72 of lung cancer.
BUBBA HO-TEP (2002)--Directed by Don Coscarelli.
Stars Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis. It's hard not to admire a film with a premise as wonky as this one. Writer/producer/director
Coscarelli, best known for the PHANTASM series, would have you believe that Elvis Presley did not die in 1977 and is living
in a dilapidated old-folks home in Texas. Tired of the pressures of being the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis (Campbell)
traded places with a willing Elvis impersonator and hit the small-scale concert trail, happy with tiny venues and his trailer-park
home, until a hip injury confined him to the rest home nearly 20 years ago. Afraid of growing old and losing his mojo
and lonely knowing his daughter and ex-wife believe him to be dead, Elvis has little to look forward to in his remaining days.
That is, until a sinister Egyptian mummy dressed in cowboy clothes begins sucking the souls of Presley's fellow residents
and leaving its victims as corpses. Teaming up with a black man (Davis) who claims to be President John F. Kennedy,
Elvis is revitalized in his attempt to stop the mummy's fatal assault.
Coscarelli's woeful budget prevents him from exploiting the action
and horror elements as much as BUBBA needs them, but the original premise, based on a short story by horror writer Joe Lansdale,
and underlying comic touches are definitely worth viewing. On top of that, Campbell is excellent as a fatalistic Elvis
Presley; while he definitely has the King "down", Campbell is not doing a spoof or a parody. You really believe that
this is what a 70-year-old Elvis would be like if he was here today. It's a wonderful performance with heart, pathos
and wit. Fan favorite Reggie Bannister appears in a supporting role, as do Daniel Roebuck, Ella Joyce, Larry Pennell
and Bob Ivy as Bubba Ho-Tep. Music by Brian Tyler. BUBBA had much trouble finding distribution; he was well-received
at several film festivals during 2002, but it wasn't until the following autumn that Vitagraph managed to get it into several
dozen theaters. Coscarelli promises a tongue-in-cheek sequel, BUBBA NOSFERATU: WRATH OF THE SHE-VAMPIRES, at the end.
Let's keep our fingers crossed!
BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958)--Directed by
Budd Boetticher. Stars Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, Tol Avery, Barry Kelley, Peter Whitney. Not that it isn't
entertaining, but this is not one of Scott and Boetticher's strongest collaborations. Charles Lang and Burt Kennedy's
script contains some sharp humor, and Scott is perhaps the friendliest he's ever been onscreen, but the cast and thin plot
are more akin to a LONE RANGER episode than a big-screen western. Scott plays Buchanan, a good-natured cowboy on his
way home to West Texas who finds himself in a tiny border town accused of helping a young Mexican lad murder a brutal cowpoke.
Unfortunately, that cowpoke happened to be the son of the local judge, Simon Agry (Avery), whose family runs Agry Town, including
brother Lew (Kelley), the sheriff, and dimwitted brother Amos (Whitney), the innkeeper. In the best tradition of MAVERICK
(in terms of plotting, if not character), Buchanan does more reacting than acting, trying to keep his head out of a noose
and betting on the Agrys' own greedy nature to save his life. It's a fun movie, though not particularly weighty.
Also with L.Q. Jones, Joe DeSantis and Roy Jenson. Stevens has little to do as Simon's black-clad henchman.
BUCK AND THE PREACHER (1972)--Directed by
Sidney Poitier. Stars Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell. Two black con men in the Old West (Poitier,
Belafonte) team up to stop evil bounty hunter Mitchell. Lighthearted blaxploitation was an ideal choice for Poitier's directing
debut. He and Belafonte have an easy chemistry together.
BUCK ROGERS (1940)--Directed by Ford Beebe
& Saul A. Goodkind. Stars Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran, Anthony Warde. Crabbe followed up his three Flash
Gordon cliffhangers for Universal with this well-done 12-chapter serial. Col. Buck Rogers (Crabbe) and his teenage sidekick
Buddy (Moran) go into hibernation following a plane crash, and wake up in the 25th century. Earth is ruled by the treacherous
Killer Kane (Warde), and Buck joins up with a band of revolutionaries headquartered in the Hidden City to stop Kanes reign.
With lots of spaceships, ray guns, underground tunnels, Saturnian mutants called Zuggs and anti-gravity belts. Better than
FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE. Music is made up of classical standards and snips from other Universal pictures such as
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Also with C. Montague Shaw as Dr. Huer, Philip Ahn, Roy Barcroft, Dave Sharpe, Carleton Young, Stanley
Price, William Gould, Kenne Duncan, Henry Brandon and Wheeler Oakman.
BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY
(1979)--Directed by Daniel Haller. Stars Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Pamela Hensley, Henry Silva, Tim O'Connor and Twiki
the robot. This campy science fiction adventure was intended as a TV pilot, but was given a theatrical release first.
Following in the footsteps of Buster Crabbe (who played Buck in a 1940 serial) is soap actor Gerard, who actually does a good
job juggling wisecracks and rugged action.
Narrator William Conrad (CANNON) sets up the premise in a quick
pre-credits sequence. In 1987, NASA "launches the last of America's deep space probes". Ranger 3, a one-man craft
carrying Captain William "Buck" Rogers, is knocked off course, and its pilot frozen in suspended animation. Nearly 500
years later, he's discovered floating in space by a huge alien vessel from the planet Draconia. Aboard are sexy Draconian
princess Ardala (played by curvy Hensley in some eye-popping costumes) and her military commander Kane (Silva), who are en
voyage to a "peacekeeping" mission to Earth. They revive Buck, who seems a little slow on the uptake--he thinks his
rescuers are Russians! Kane believes him to be an Earth spy and wants him executed, but Ardala just wants him and demands
he be returned to his ship and sent ahead to Earth. He is, but not before Kane stashes a micro gizmo aboard that will
allow him to break down Earth's defense shield.
Buck's in for more trouble when he gets home. Not only has
everyone he's ever known been dead for five centuries, but shapely Colonel Wilma Deering (Gray), who sure has a slinky way
of walking in her skintight white uniform for such a hard-assed soldier type, believes him to be a space pirate and soon has
him on trial for treason. In a last ditch effort to prove his innocence (although it seems like it would have made a
lot more sense to do this before he was found guilty and sentenced to death), Rogers, after introducing disco dancing to the
25th century and putting some mack moves on both Wilma and Ardala, teams up with an expressionless four-foot robot, Twiki,
and Dr. Theopolis, a round box wrapped around Twiki's neck, to invade the Draconian flagship and destroy their fleet before
their attack on Earth begins.
Produced and co-written by TV hack Glen A. Larson, whose BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA was airing on ABC at the time, BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY was rushed into theaters in March 1979, just five
months before it would become the two-part pilot episode for the NBC series. I'm not sure exactly why BUCK was given
a wide release, but it sure was a smart move for Universal. It allegedly earned more than $20 million at the box office
(a huge profit, considering its TV-level budget) and probably inspired the studio to release GALACTICA's pilot in May--after
it had already aired on television!
I loved BUCK as a 12-year-old, but it gets creakier and sillier
the older I get. The miniatures and matte paintings, some of which were swiped from GALACTICA, are actually pretty good
(although New York Times critic Vincent Canby amusingly called Hensley the film's "most magnificent special effect"), but
the screenplay by Larson and Leslie Stevens (THE OUTER LIMITS) is packed to the gills with thin characters, simple plotting
and too many dialogue groaners and double entendres (as when Buck tells a hot-to-trot Wilma that, after 500 years in space,
he needs a little more time for "re-entry"). Twiki's antics are too childish for my tastes (he's voiced by Mel Blanc,
who says things like, "I'm freezing my ball bearings off"), and it must have really boiled the britches of O'Connor (who,
despite being the second male lead, doesn't even receive enough screen time for us to realize who his character of Dr. Huer
is supposed to be) to learn his scenes were jettisoned so Gerard could chat with a couple of metal boxes.
Haller, a former art director who had settled into a comfortable
career directing television, was actually a decent choice to helm the film (he had directed a couple of horror movies for
AIP, as well as designing the sets for several Edgar Allan Poe adaptations directed by Roger Corman in the '60s), and does
a steady job of keeping the actors lively, the sets bright and the pace flowing. Haller balances the humor and action
well, but BUCK's main problem is the script, which screams "1970s" at every turn. It's one thing to have your actors
sporting contemporary hairstyles and fashions, but throwing in a disco scene is too much. Granted, there's a lot of
unintentional humor in Gerard busting a move on the dance floor, demanding that the musicians "just go with it" and inviting
Hensley to "boogie" and "get down" (although the sight of the scantily clad Hensley, adorned with sequins and a ridiculous
horned headdress, shimmying to the beat is not one easily forgotten by any adolescent boy who sees it).
As silly as it is, the disco scene doesn't hold a candle to BUCK's
opening title sequence, one of the most ill conceived and knee-slappingly hilarious I've ever seen. To describe it is
not enough--it must be seen to be believed--but it involves Gerard lying on a floor lit from below (like the dance floor in
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER), while gorgeous models in silver lame jumpsuits (including Hensley and Gray, who appear over their credits)
writhe seductively, lick their glossy lips, bat their hair around, and make out with Gerard. All this while a Godawful
soft rock tune (written by Larson, who once had a Top 40 hit as a member for the Four Preps) is warbled by somebody named
Kipp Lennon. Obviously intended as some sort of James Bond homage, I'd love to find out who directed it, because he
deserves some sort of award.
As a film, BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY doesn't particularly
work, but it is an effective small-screen pilot. The series that followed was troubled by backstage conflict--several
writers, including story editors Anne Collins and Alan Brennert, clashed with both Larson and Gerard (Brennert soon afterward
wrote an interesting article on the subject for STARLOG), guest star Ray Walston got hurt doing a stunt, and episode titles
like "Space Vampire", "Vegas In Space" and "Planet of the Slave Girls" clearly showed the juvenile path Larson was taking.
In all, 37 episodes were aired by NBC over two seasons, although kids who saw it then fondly remember the show today.
Stu Phillips composed the score, which, except for a menacing theme
for the Draconians and the dopey disco stuff, is no more than generic TV music. Also with "guest star" Joseph Wiseman
as King Draco, H.B. Haggerty and Howard Flynn as the voice of Theo. Felix Silla "played" Twiki. Gerard, Gray,
O'Connor and Silla were regulars on the TV series, with Hensley and Wiseman making sporadic appearances. Michael Ansara
(BROKEN ARROW) replaced Silva as Kane. Hensley retired a few years later after marrying her MATT HOUSTON producer, E.
Duke Vincent. Gray later had a good run on SILVER SPOONS and appeared in a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie. Gerard teamed
with a 10-year-old karate expert on his later series SIDEKICKS.
A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959)--Directed by Roger
Corman. Stars Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone. This mega-low-budget classic was produced and directed
by Corman in five days using leftover sets from another movie. With a witty screenplay quickly cobbled together by Charles
B. Griffith (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), BUCKET is regarded as one of Corman's best films, a skillful mixture of comedy and horror.
30-year-old Miller, in a rare leading role, is Walter Paisley, a nebbishy busboy at a coffeehouse owned by Leonard (Carbone).
Walter admires the beatniks, poets and artists that make up the cafe's clientele, although they disdain him and mock his attempts
to fit in. Obsessed with becoming an artist himself, he accidentally stabs a cat to death and covers it with clay, proudly
showing off his new sculpture to the hoity-toity coffeehouse crowd the next day. They love "Dead Cat", and urge Walter
to "create" something new. That turns out to be "Murdered Man", in reality an undercover narc who attempted to bust
Walter on heroin charges. Although too old to play a lovesick "boy", Miller successfully makes Walter a sympathetic
killer, while Griffith's satirical jabs at the pretentious coffeehouse scene make BUCKET one of Corman's most subversive features,
cleverly played by a good cast, including Julian Burton, Ed Nelson, Bert Convy and Bruno ve Sota. Fred Katz's wild jazz
score was recycled in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, made by Corman a year later in even less than five days.
BUCKSTONE COUNTY PRISON (1978)--Directed by Jimmy
Huston. Stars Earl Owensby, Don “Red” Barry, David Allen Coe, Ed Parker, Sunset Carson. A good movie
could be made about North Carolina entrepreneur Owensby, who built a filmmaking operation at home, including a full studio,
and rented it out to Hollywood productions when he was starring in his own homegrown action features. This vanity project,
Owensby’s third to be directed by Huston, stars ol’ Earl as Seabo, a tough bounty hunter who shoots an escaped
convict in self-defense. Against the wishes of the sympathetic sheriff (old B-movie cowboy Carson), Seabo is sent to
a local prison run by a corrupt warden (Barry) who hates Seabo for killing his outlaw son. After suffering abuse and
beatings instigated by Barry’s thug guard Parker, Seabo eventually busts out and sprays some whupass on all the rednecks
who dissed him. BUCKSTONE COUNTY PRISON, also released as SEABO, is crude action filmmaking and blunt storytelling given
much needed verisimilitude by its backwoods locations, convincing rural atmosphere and low-key star. This type of regional
moviemaking is exactly the kind “they” don’t make anymore, and BUCKSTONE’s mere existence and distribution
are at least as interesting as the film itself.
BUCKTOWN (1975)--Directed by Arthur Marks.
Stars Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Thalmus Rasulala. "The Hammer" plays Duke, who returns to his Southern hometown of Buchanan
(actually filmed in Platte City and Kansas City, Missouri) to bury his brother, who allegedly died of natural causes but was
actually beaten to death by corrupt white cops. Finding that the mostly black business owners are being shaken down by the
cops, Duke enlists his old buddy Roy (Rasulala) to help "clean up" the town. Marks sends an interesting message as Duke, along
with Roy's boys, basically torture and assassinate the police force in cold blood as to make the streets safe once again.
Marks and writer Bob Ellison (THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW) throw in an interesting sociological twist though. Roy and his cronies--T.J.,
Sam and Hambone--realize what a sweet deal the cops had going in Bucktown, and decide to take over the town themselves, even
convincing the black mayor to make them the new police force. Duke, a man of strong values and individuality who has fallen
for his brother's sexy girlfriend Aretha (Grier), realizes that his plan to clean up Bucktown has actually made it an even
worse place to live, and goes up against his oldest and best friend to make things right again.
BUCKTOWN contains
the requisite amounts of violence and sex--it was an AIP release, after all--but is also more ambitious than the normal blaxploitation
fare, even daring to make black characters even more ruthless than the whites. Williamson and Rasulala are charismatic as
hell, and Grier, who performs a nude scene, shows some range in a role in which she's really miscast. After so many star turns
in which she played strong, tough, independent women, it's awkward to see her reduced to crying by her man's side, pleading
with him not to get hurt. The finale, in which Fred smashes into the town jail in a tank (!) and then engages Rasulala in
a brutal one-on-one fight, is well played. Also with Bernie Hamilton (STARSKY & HUTCH), Carl Weathers, Tony King, Tierre
Turner, Bruce Watson and Art Lund, who also played Williamson's vicious nemesis in BLACK CAESAR. Marks, a white man, directed
several black action films, including MONKEY HUSTLE, J.D.'S REVENGE and FRIDAY FOSTER (with Grier). Music by Johnny Pate.
BUDDY BUDDY (1981)--Directed by Billy Wilder. Stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Paula Prentiss,
Klaus Kinski. Wilder's last film was this vulgar, unfunny comedy featuring Lemmon and Matthau in their fourth screen teaming.
Matthau is a professional hitman whose mission to rub out a government witness is interrupted by distraught Lemmon's suicide
attempts. A remake of a French comedy. Probably better in French.
THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY (1978)--Directed
by Steve Rash. Stars Gary Busey, Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith, Conrad Janis. Busey is breathtaking in this biography of
the Texas-born rockabilly star that died tragically in a plane crash at an early age. Film describes Holly and the Crickets'
rise to stardom. Best scene involves the band's performance at the Apollo Theater for the first time; the Crickets don't know
the audience is black, and the audience is unaware the band is white until the curtain rises. After a moment of hesitation
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