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Post by codystarbuck on May 30, 2018 11:48:12 GMT -5
I was watching The Wrecking Crew last night (last of the Dean Martin's Matt Helm Movies) and in the opening credits it's listed Bruce Lee as the Karate Instructor. I was stunned to learned this by accident. Here's the You Tube working with Sharon Tate and Dean Martin ... and Nancy Kwan as Yu-Rang. Blink and you will miss Chuck Norris, in the film. Love the Matt Helm films, even if they are nothing like the books. Ambushers is the lone exception; it's okay, but has some really boring stretches. Silencers is my favorite, especially Stella Stevens and Murderer's Row is pretty fun. Wrecking Crew was a decent recovery from Ambushers, though not quite up to the first two films. Nigel Green makes for a good villain and the gold heist makes it interesting. As Bond parodies go, it is still the best series, though the first Flint film, Our Man Flint, tops it in all aspects. In Like Flint has a weaker story, which prevents the Flint series from taking top honors.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2018 12:16:08 GMT -5
I was watching The Wrecking Crew last night (last of the Dean Martin's Matt Helm Movies) and in the opening credits it's listed Bruce Lee as the Karate Instructor. I was stunned to learned this by accident. Here's the You Tube working with Sharon Tate and Dean Martin ... and Nancy Kwan as Yu-Rang. Blink and you will miss Chuck Norris, in the film. Love the Matt Helm films, even if they are nothing like the books. Ambushers is the lone exception; it's okay, but has some really boring stretches. Silencers is my favorite, especially Stella Stevens and Murderer's Row is pretty fun. Wrecking Crew was a decent recovery from Ambushers, though not quite up to the first two films. Nigel Green makes for a good villain and the gold heist makes it interesting. As Bond parodies go, it is still the best series, though the first Flint film, Our Man Flint, tops it in all aspects. In Like Flint has a weaker story, which prevents the Flint series from taking top honors. I learned two things about the Wrecking Crew ... thanks for telling me this! ... Chuck Norris!
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Post by codystarbuck on May 30, 2018 12:46:07 GMT -5
Bruce Lee also factors into the Flint films, as James Coburn was a student.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 31, 2018 0:49:57 GMT -5
Just finished rew-watching the Gods Must Be Crazy. If you have never seen it, the film is best described as a National Geographic special, gone completely haywire. It was created and directed by South African writer/director Jamie Uys and tells the story of a Bushman of the Kalahari Desert, who stumbles across an empty Coke bottle, thrown out of a passing airplane. It is unlike anything in his tribes' experience and is very useful. However, it starts to upset their peaceful community, as people become possessive of it and start squabbling over it. The Bushman decides to give the thing back to the gods and goes to find them to return it. Meanwhile, a South African news writer has become disenchanted with her life and looks at a wire about teachers needed in remote areas of Botswana. She decides to volunteer and travels there to be a teacher. A researcher, tracking animal populations for his doctoral thesis, is asked to pick her up from the bus station, at a neighboring village. The researcher is very shy and bumbling around women and runs into a series of mishaps, due to his shyness, a cantankerous Land Rover, a bush fire-fighting rhino, and a pesky wild boar. While this goes on, the World's Most Inept Rebel group tries to carry out a coup and fails and is on the run from the army. All of these people come together for some of the wildest adventure in Africa.
The film was made in 1980 and became an international sensation; and, the Bushman, N!xau, became a star, appearing in several movies. Uys would film a sequel in 1989, which is entertaining, though not as fresh and original as the first film. N!xau repeated his role, now looking for his two missing children, who become lost when they climb onto vehicles, used by poachers. While that goes on, a game warden, who was giving a flight to a visiting businesswoman, is forced to make an emergency landing and the pair must make it across the bush.
The original is a lot of slapstick and silly fun, while the second has its moments. Marius Weyers, who plays the researcher, Andrew Steyn, was South Africa's leading white actor and also appeared in Ghandi.
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Post by brutalis on May 31, 2018 8:04:56 GMT -5
GritTV supplied me with another evening of Randolph Scott thrills last night. First up was 1952's Carson City with Randolph being his amiable cowpoke self this time as a railroad construction engineer. He returns to his old home town after 10 years of wandering and reunites with his half brother and while building the rail line fights against the local robber gang the Champagne Bandits (so named because they provide lunch and champagne to all the folks they rob from the stagecoaches) and he draws the attention and affection of the local newspaper man's daughter.
This is one of the better Scott Western's full of fistfights, gunfights, thievery and romance. The low budget doesn't hamper the movie and Andre De' Toth directs solidly in bringing out some of the best of Randolph Scott. De' Toth also directed many of Scott's other 1950's westerns like Man in the Saddle, The Stranger Wore a Gun and Thunder Over the Plains.
Right after was Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend from 1957 with Scott and Angie Dickinson and James Garner along for the ride. Scott is a ex-US Cavalry Captain who is disguised as a Quaker. He is in search of robbers selling defective ammunition to settlers in the area. Another low budget western action-comedy mix that plays well with creative characterizations and strong solid acting. Fun to see both Dickinson and Garner on the cusp of stardom. This was when B-movies were fun and entertaining and meant to fill the void between the bigger movies but it is not a lesser made movie at all.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 31, 2018 11:32:30 GMT -5
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Post by Rob Allen on May 31, 2018 13:15:49 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 1, 2018 0:09:16 GMT -5
That song was used for the title credits of the 1976 movie, Drive-In, with Trey Wilson (of Raising Arizona and Bull Durham) and Gary Lee Cavagnaro (Engelbert, in the Bad News Bears films), with Glen Morshower (24) as the lead teenager in the film. If you've never seen it (and chances are you haven't, given its small release, in 1976), it features an afternoon and evening in a small Texas town, with the evening parts at the local drive-in. It was made dirt cheap, in Texas, using local actors (mostly) and is a lot of fun, with an amusing script and some nice sight gags. Nothing too outrageous or too stupid. Just nice, amusing fun, with some great characters. Some of the performances are less than seasoned pro; but, the ones that count are pretty good. Lisa Lemole, who plays a young woman trying to decide whether to accept her boyfriend's marriage proposal, appears at the end of Logan's Run, as the young woman who reaches out and touches Peter Ustinov's wrinkles (the sequence was shot at the Ft. Worth Water Gardens). Saw it on Cinemax, back around 1982, when we first got wired for cable. They had a bunch of decent comedies that never really got support at the box office; but were fun movies (Drive-In, Honky Tonk Freeway, a few others).
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 1, 2018 12:43:08 GMT -5
In May, I saw ten movies from the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" list. My favorite was An Actor's Revenge, or maybe Floating Weeds, but I also loved Lola Montes, Three Colors: Blue, Manhunter, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Man Bites Dog and Masculin Feminin. The Cow (Gaav) is a very strange Iranian film that is worth watching. I wasn't sure what to make of The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short but I was never bored. The Belgian New Wave! Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) - This movie has James Mason, Ava Gardner skinny dipping, and a bullfight! Lola Montes (1955) - Somebody on the "1001 Movies" staff loves director Max Ophuls. I like this quite a bit, but that's because I love circus movies, and this is the artiest circus movie I've ever seen. Peter Ustinov is the ringmaster. Floating Weeds (1959) - Director Yasujiro Ozu is becoming one of my favorites. Floating Weeds is about an acting troupe stranded in a resort town when nobody is coming to their show and the manager absconds with their meager funds. This is pretty action-packed for an Ozu film because the lead actor of the troupe gets mad and hits people. An Actor's Revenge (1963) - Another great Japanese movie! Japan's most famous female impersonator on the Kabuki stage uses his celebrity status to get revenge on the people who drove his father to suicide many years before. It's like a Vincent Price/Roger Corman movie of the same period. And since the main actor is middle-aged and a bit overweight and always dresses as a female, it's a little like a John Waters film. If you ever thought it might be fun to watch a movie with the Japanese version of Divine, this is the movie for you! The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short (1965) - The Belgian New Wave! A real head-scratcher! I didn't have any trouble following it, but I didn't really see the point. It's not boring. I'll say that for it. Masculin Feminin (1966) - The French New Wave! A film by Jean-Luc Godard. Frequently frustrating but just as frequently laugh-out-loud funny, I liked Masculin Feminin quite a bit. I liked it more and more as it went on. Several very pretty French actresses make the frustrating parts easier to watch. Brigitte Bardot puts in an uncredited cameo appearance. The Cow (Gaav) (1968) - This very strange Iranian film is about a villager who loves his cow. When the cow disappears, the villager loses it and slowly becomes the cow. This film allegedly saved the Iranian film industry because when the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in the late 1970s, he decided that the film industry shouldn't be banned outright because he liked The Cow. Manhunter (1986) - I feel like I should have seen this one 30 years ago! Man Bites Dog (1992) - Belgium got another chance this month, and I liked this quite a bit better than The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short. A documentary film crew follows a serial killer around on his adventures and records his murders, disposing of the bodies, his philosophy. Sometimes they join in and help. Three Colors: Blue (1993) - Juliet Binoche is wonderful in this unmitigated downer of a film.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 2, 2018 0:04:00 GMT -5
In May, I saw ten movies from the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" list. My favorite was An Actor's Revenge, or maybe Floating Weeds, but I also loved Lola Montes, Three Colors: Blue, Manhunter, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Man Bites Dog and Masculin Feminin. The Cow (Gaav) is a very strange Iranian film that is worth watching. I wasn't sure what to make of The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short but I was never bored. The Belgian New Wave! Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) - This movie has James Mason, Ava Gardner skinny dipping, and a bullfight! Lola Montes (1955) - Somebody on the "1001 Movies" staff loves director Max Ophuls. I like this quite a bit, but that's because I love circus movies, and this is the artiest circus movie I've ever seen. Peter Ustinov is the ringmaster. Floating Weeds (1959) - Director Yasujiro Ozu is becoming one of my favorites. Floating Weeds is about an acting troupe stranded in a resort town when nobody is coming to their show and the manager absconds with their meager funds. This is pretty action-packed for an Ozu film because the lead actor of the troupe gets mad and hits people. An Actor's Revenge (1963) - Another great Japanese movie! Japan's most famous female impersonator on the Kabuki stage uses his celebrity status to get revenge on the people who drove his father to suicide many years before. It's like a Vincent Price/Roger Corman movie of the same period. And since the main actor is middle-aged and a bit overweight and always dresses as a female, it's a little like a John Waters film. If you ever thought it might be fun to watch a movie with the Japanese version of Divine, this is the movie for you! The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short (1965) - The Belgian New Wave! A real head-scratcher! I didn't have any trouble following it, but I didn't really see the point. It's not boring. I'll say that for it. Masculin Feminin (1966) - The French New Wave! A film by Jean-Luc Godard. Frequently frustrating but just as frequently laugh-out-loud funny, I liked Masculin Feminin quite a bit. I liked it more and more as it went on. Several very pretty French actresses make the frustrating parts easier to watch. Brigitte Bardot puts in an uncredited cameo appearance. The Cow (Gaav) (1968) - This very strange Iranian film is about a villager who loves his cow. When the cow disappears, the villager loses it and slowly becomes the cow. This film allegedly saved the Iranian film industry because when the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in the late 1970s, he decided that the film industry shouldn't be banned outright because he liked The Cow. Manhunter (1986) - I feel like I should have seen this one 30 years ago! Man Bites Dog (1992) - Belgium got another chance this month, and I liked this quite a bit better than The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short. A documentary film crew follows a serial killer around on his adventures and records his murders, disposing of the bodies, his philosophy. Sometimes they join in and help. Three Colors: Blue (1993) - Juliet Binoche is wonderful in this unmitigated downer of a film. Manhunter I saw back in the day, on board ship (after its theatrical run) really good film and probably the most realistic take on Thomas Harris' work (which got more and more outlandish, the more popular Lector grew, at the box office. Michael Mann used top notch technical advisors and mostly eschewed the over-the-top nonsense in Harris' book and the later films and books. Brian Cox's Lektor (different spelling used) was really rather chilling, as he always had a measured tone and seemed to get right inside Will Graham's head, not to mention directing the Tooth Fairy from his cell. I like Silence of the Lambs; but, it is really more of a fantasy, in terms of how things are handled. Mann went for a more realistic detention center, for where Lektor was held, while Jonathan Demme made it look like a weird medieval dungeon, giving it more of a horror film atmosphere. It also helped that he gad Dennis Farina, an ex-cop, as Crawford. Mann had a lot of police connections, going back to Thief, which added a lot to this film, as well as Miami Vice and Crime Story (as well as Thief and Heat). Man Bites Dog I saw back in the 90s. Hilarious black comedy that gets more and more disturbing the further you are pulled into the killer's world. The really disturbing parts are when the film crew become involved as participants in his crimes and as you watch the killer go from charming and affable to more and more psychotic. it's a really good indictment of how the media covers crime stories and makes media stars out of demented killers. Far more effective than natural Born Killers, if you ask me.
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Post by Jesse on Jun 2, 2018 10:37:34 GMT -5
Watching The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) on TCM On Demand. Glad I got the time to watch this one because it's nearly 3 hours long and two I didn't have a chance when TCM aired last week over the holiday weekend.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 2, 2018 10:48:49 GMT -5
Watched Monty Python's The Meaning of Life last night. My youngest son had apparently not seen it (though he's seen Holy Grail and Life of Brian and a fair number of Flying Circus sketches. He giggled his ass off the entire time.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 2, 2018 12:02:57 GMT -5
Watched Monty Python's The Meaning of Life last night. My youngest son had apparently not seen it (though he's seen Holy Grail and Life of Brian and a fair number of Flying Circus sketches. He giggled his ass off the entire time. I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian a bunch of times. I saw The Meaning of Life when it first came out, and I liked it well enough. I've watched a scene here or there over the years when it showed up on cable. Just a few years ago, I finally rented it and watched it from start to finish for the first time since its original opening. It's pretty funny, but it's not Holy Grail of Life of Brian. The funniest moments are as funny as anything in Holy Grail, there just aren't quite as many of them.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 2, 2018 21:37:06 GMT -5
The sergeant major marching up and down the square is a personal favorite. I first saw it when I was in college, in NROTC, where I marched up and down the square (well, the parade deck, at the U of I Armory)
I should have tried that tactic.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2018 6:32:52 GMT -5
I was watching The Wrecking Crew last night (last of the Dean Martin's Matt Helm Movies) and in the opening credits it's listed Bruce Lee as the Karate Instructor. I was stunned to learned this by accident. Here's the You Tube working with Sharon Tate and Dean Martin ... and Nancy Kwan as Yu-Rang. Blink and you will miss Chuck Norris, in the film. Love the Matt Helm films, even if they are nothing like the books. Ambushers is the lone exception; it's okay, but has some really boring stretches. Silencers is my favorite, especially Stella Stevens and Murderer's Row is pretty fun. Wrecking Crew was a decent recovery from Ambushers, though not quite up to the first two films. Nigel Green makes for a good villain and the gold heist makes it interesting. As Bond parodies go, it is still the best series, though the first Flint film, Our Man Flint, tops it in all aspects. In Like Flint has a weaker story, which prevents the Flint series from taking top honors. Cody, I just watched all the Matt Helm Films -- and compare that with the Flint Films 1) Silencers - The First Matt Helm Film -- the best of the best, just saw it and has everything -- Victor Bruno, Dali Lavi, Stella Stevens, Roger C. Carmel, and others. Nancy Kovack too in a supporting role -- Victor, Roger, and Nancy has Batman Connections. Cyd Charisse was dynamite in supporting role. Just a fantastic film from start to finish! Stella was quite complimentary to Dean in this film ... These two are great spy films -- unique and in the league of 007 Films -- but, a little underclassed and decent. 2) Our Man Flint - The First Derek Flint Film -- Unreal, Spectacular Stunts and a great story. Nicely Done. 3) Murderer's Row - The Second Matt Helm Film -- Ann Margret was great in this film! These three are pretty much a tie -- but, they are good spy films of that era. 2nd Class Bond Films. 4) The Ambushers - The Third Matt Helm Film -- Senta Berger made it bearable. 5) In Like Flint - The Second Derek Flint Film -- Story could had been better -- Yvonne Craig (Batgirl) in this film. I didn't care for the acting in this film -- for some unknown reasons. 6) The Wrecking Crew - The Fourth Matt Helm Film -- Nigel Green was decent, Nancy Kwan, Elke Sommers, and others were good; but the only drawback is too predictable of the film.
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