Month: May 2020

The Magic Christian(1969)

THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN (1969)
Article 4520 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-30-2014
Directed by Joseph McGrath
Featuring Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, Isabel Jeans
Country: UK
What it is: Satire

A tycoon adopts a homeless man as his son, and shows him his mission in life – to find out if every man has his price.

I was fairly slow on the uptake on this movie, as some of the early scenes had me scratching my head. However, I finally did light on the key subject of this satire, thanks to a few scenes which made it explicit; it’s basically a satire on just how easy it is to corrupt someone or get them to undergo something disgusting if you have enough money. Once I reached that understanding, the movie became rather obvious in its message. Fortunately, the movie is loaded with fun little cameos to hold the interest, and sometimes the movie can be quite creative in finding ways to get people to do strange things. I did find myself wondering what the fantastic content would turn out to be, and was wondering if the general surreal air of the proceedings was it. However, near the end of the movie, there are a few events that give it some definite fantastic touchstones; I’m not going to give them away, but if you consider this list of cameo appearances (Richard Attenborough, Laurence Harvey, Christopher Lee, Spike Milligan, Raquel Welch, Roman Polanski, pre-Monty Python John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and an uncredited Yul Brynner), you’ll probably light on the one who provides the greatest content of this sort. All in all, I found the movie entertaining enough, though I suspect it would get tiresome with repeat viewings. Incidentally, my favorite cameo was Brynner’s.

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The Lords of Magick (1989)

THE LORDS OF MAGICK (1989)
Article 4519 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-29-2014
Directed by David Marsh
Featuring Jarrett Parker, Mark Gauthier, Brendan Dillon Jr.
Country: USA
What it is: Possibly the worst epic fantasy ever made

In the tenth century, two brothers, both white wizards, are sent on a quest to rescue a princess from an evil sorcerer. Their journey takes them 1000 years into the future where they wield magic in modern times.

To begin with, my hat is off to director/producer/writer/editor/special effects wizard David Marsh. Why? Because he actually managed to get this off the ground, shoot it, and finish it, all on a budget that I suspect wouldn’t have made Ed Wood envious. In some ways, the sheer awfulness of the thing is beside the point; he managed to get it made without the benefit of a decent script or competent actors. It had to have taken a certain amount of passion, and I admire that. Nevertheless, despite the plenitude of campy elements, this movie makes for heavy going, and the crude sense of humor that permeates the movie really gets annoying. Incidentally, this is the only movie credit for the director and the three listed leads.

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The Lathe of Heaven (1980)

THE LATHE OF HEAVEN (1980)
TV-Movie
Article 4518 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-28-2014
Directed by Fred Barzyk and David R. Loxton
Featuring Bruce Davison, Kevin Conway, Margaret Avery
Country: USA / West Germany
What it is: A dream that sticks with you

A man undergoes voluntary therapy with a dream psychiatrist to find a cure for his condition – his dreams affect the real world. The psychiatrist, who can exude some control over the dreams of his patients, decides to use the man’s abilities to try to change the world for the better…

This is a very effective adaptation of the Ursula K. Le Guin novel of the same name, especially when you consider that the financial resources for the project (it was made for PBS) were probably rather slim. I read the novel many years ago, and though I don’t remember it very well, this adaptation did bring back certain memories of it. It’s something of a cross between “The Monkey’s Paw” and a “scientist playing God” story. It’s an excellent and fascinating movie, well acted and directed, and it’s only in the final scenes where the limited budget causes problems; I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, and I may have to reread to the book to find out. Incidentally, this movie could not be rebroadcast for twenty years due to rights issue involving a Beatles song; it wasn’t until a different vocalist was used for the song that it was shown again.

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Blood Link (1982)

BLOOD LINK (1982)
Article 4517 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-27-2014
Directed by Alberto De Martino
Featuring Michael Moriarty, Penelope Milford, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Country: Italy / USA / West Germany
What it is: Psychokiller movie

A doctor who engages in mental therapy comes to realize that he has a psychic link with his separated Siamese twin brother, who supposedly died at the age of seventeen, but is still alive and is responsible for a string of serial killings. His brother has the psychic link as well, and is planning on impersonating the doctor when he commits his murders.

This movie has a rating of 5.6 on IMDB, but I ended up quite liking it; it’s probably the best movie I’ve seen from Alberto De Martino. I think it’s the premise itself that I like best; the idea of hunter and hunted both having psychic links so that they can know each other’s actions and locations does make for an interesting way to build suspense. I also like Michael Moriarty in a dual performance as the two brothers, though I do think it his performances are just a shade too mannered to be fully effective. Cameron Mitchell also is memorable in a cameo role as an out-of-work boxer-turned-wrestler, and I think this is a good role to show his range as an actor, as it’s quite different from many of his other roles. The movie is a bit on the sleazy side, and some of the developments in the latter part of the movie seem rather far-fetched, but I really like this one overall.

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America 3000 (1986)

AMERICA 3000 (1986)
Article 4516 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-26-2014
Directed by David Engelbach
Featuring Chuck Wagner, Laurene Landon, William Wallace
Country: USA
What it is: Post-apocalyptic absurdity

It’s 900 years after the apocalypse. A female society enslaves men. Some men escape to do battle with the women. Then one of the men discovers artifacts from the distant past…

You know, the idea of a society ruled by women that enslaves men isn’t a totally useless idea, but it’s so rarely used in any worthwhile way that the second it’s trotted out, I expect the worst. And there are a couple of moments here and there where I sense that there was an interesting idea or two lying underneath the surface. But the movie is so mired in its bad ideas, its improbabilities, its incredible silliness, and its shamefaced obviousness (I’ll give you one guess how the society of women and the society of men come to an understanding), that the movie never rises above its status as one of the campiest bad movies of all time. Between the ludicrous lingo developed for the people of the future, the boombox that survives 900 years into the future without even needing a change in batteries, the smarmy and self-conscious narration that peppers the movie, the made-in-the-eighties big hair, and the existence of a hairy mutant character known as Argh the Awful, you’ll find an endless supply of jaw-dropping ridiculousness. No, I’m not surprised that the movie has a surprisingly high rating of 4.3 on IMDB; it’s bound to have a cult following that revels in it all. Whatever else you can say about it, this movie is an experience.

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The Devil (1921)

THE DEVIL (1921)
Article 4515 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-25-2014
Directed by James Young
Featuring George Arliss, Sylvia Breamer, Lucy Cotton
Country: USA
What it is: Drama

A seemingly kindly and philanthropic doctor meddles in the lives of a businessmen, an artist, and the women they both love.

The opening scenes in this movie imply that the title should be taken metaphorically; the “devil” is a false friend who seeks to undo the happiness you have. If the movie remained true to that metaphorical definition, it might still be an interesting movie, but it wouldn’t qualify for the genres which I’m covering. However, when you see the title character reacting with horror to a cross-carrying monk at a costume party, you get your first clue that maybe the title isn’t quite as metaphorical as it seems. This movie was the cinematic debut of actor George Arliss, and he is very memorable as the evil Dr. Muller. What I like best about his performance is that his appearance and demeanor are almost comic, which makes it understandable why it takes so long for the characters to see through his machinations. It’s a good if not great movie, and it’s nice to see it after all these years; it ended up on my “ones that got away” list, from which I can now rescue it, thanks to it showing up on YouTube.

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Acceptable Risks (1986)

ACCEPTABLE RISKS (1986)
TV-Movie
Article 4514 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-24-2014
Directed by Rick Wallace
Featuring Brian Dennehy, Kenneth McMillan, Christine Ebersole
Country: USA
What it is: A building sense of dread

A housing development is built close to a plant that has been working with a toxic and potentially dangerous chemical, one which could cause disaster if something were to go wrong.

On the surface, the movie has a certain resemblance to THE CHINA SYNDROME, in that it involves a worst case scenario of what could happen in a potentially dangerous industry. However, it ends up reminding more of DR. STRANGELOVE in that it’s less focused with finding a particular scapegoat for what happens than in showing how a conjunction of various details could bring about an otherwise avoidable disaster. Because of the way it is formatted, it takes a little while for things to get off the ground, but that’s because it’s building up a wealth of detail. It’s also a bit hard to follow, and unless you have a strong familiarity of the chemicals involved (if they’re not totally fictional), you might find your head swimming on occasion. Still, I really like this movie, at least partially because it doesn’t simplify the problem; in the final analysis, quite a few people end up sharing the responsibility for what happens, and I find this fairly intriguing. It’s a bit marginal in terms of its fantastic content, but it’s not until the disaster occurs and we see the extent of the damage where I think it finally moves into the area of science fiction. Brian Dennehy gives an excellent performance of a man desperately trying to juggle the demands of those above him and the realities of the situation; I found myself really feeling for his situation. All in all, I found this to be quite powerful and provocative, especially for a TV movie.

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Still of the Night (1982)

STILL OF THE NIGHT (1982)
Article 4513 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-23-2014
Directed by Robert Benton
Featuring Roy Scheider, Meryl Streep, Jessica Tandy
Country: USA
What it is: Hitchcock homage

When one of his patients is killed, a psychiatrist becomes involved with a woman who the patient had been having an affair with… and who just might have been his murderer.

One name that is probably not going to pop up very often in this series is Meryl Streep’s. She has the reputation of being one of the finest modern film actresses, but she rarely appears in anything that even comes close to the genres that I’m covering; in fact, I can only think of one other movie off the top of my head that I’ll be covering of hers. I’m even a bit surprised that she appears in this one, but I’m assuming that it may have something to do with the fact that director Robert Benton’s previous film was KRAMER VS KRAMER, which won several Oscars, including one for Streep. Still, I don’t begrudge her her reputation; it’s fascinating to watch how she physicalizes her character and makes it live and breathe. The movie is a Hitchcock homage; it’s played very subtly, and many of the Hitchcock references (I see some to REAR WINDOW, VERTIGO and PSYCHO, and if I were up on my Hitchcock, I’d catch some more) feel organic and well-placed within the story. Scheider does his usual fine job as well, and I do like the Hitchcockian sense of humor that pops up now and again. Overall, I’d say it’s very well done, but it’s one of those movies that seems a little less than the sum of its parts; individual moments work quite well, but as a whole, it’s not quite satisfying; it feels second-hand (probably because it is a homage) and the mystery seems a little obvious. In short, it’s good, but it’s not a classic while reminding you of many movies that are.

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The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982)
Article 4512 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-22-2014
Directed by Albert Pyun
Featuring Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale
Country: USA
What it is: Sword and Sorcery, what else?

An ambitious tyrant plans a coup to take over the entire civilized world, but he must face the vengeful son of a king he killed, as well as a sorcerer he betrayed.

The opening scene, in which a group of men invade a tomb and resurrect the sorcerer, is a wonderful sequence; if the rest of the movie had lived up to this scene, it would have been a winner. Unfortunately, after the first twenty minutes or so, the movie starts to fall into a sequence of rescues, failed rescues, bloody mayhem, torture, and occasional touches of swashbuckling lightheartedness, and though there’s lots of action, the thing gets rather tedious. This was the first directorial effort from Albert Pyun, and for a first movie, it’s not too bad. Still, it’s the type of movie for which I need a solid story to hold my attention, and on that level it’s pretty trite. The movie promised a sequel called TALES OF THE ANCIENT EMPIRE; Pyun would eventually get around to making one called TALES OF AN ANCIENT EMPIRE three decades later.

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Strange New World (1975)

STRANGE NEW WORLD (1975)
TV-Movie
Article 4511 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-20-2014
Directed by Robert Butler
Featuring John Saxon, Kathleen Miller, Keene Curtis
Country: USA
What it is: Failed TV pilot

Three people emerge from suspended animation aboard a space station to discover that 180 years have passed, Earth has undergone an apocalyptic disaster, and their mission will be to return to Earth, find the location of their hold headquarters, and revive the members of their team who were put in suspended animation there. On their journey, they have many adventures.

The minute I saw John Saxon and heard the name of the organization Pax, I knew what we were dealing with; this is a third attempt at salvaging a TV series out of Gene Roddenberry’s GENESIS II concept. The main thing missing this time is Roddenberry himself; I see his name nowhere in the credits (in the movie or on IMDB), and certainly, the details of the central concept have been changed quite a bit from the first two movies. Maybe it’s his absence that explains why this is the first of the three movies that doesn’t feel like a self-conscious attempt to emulate “Star Trek”; it has its own vibe to it. Instead of using the whole length of the movie to tell a single story, it’s constructed like two episodes edited together, so it gives more of a feel of what the TV series would have been like. There are some interesting ideas here, but neither of the two halves seem to be particularly well written or directed, and some of the ideas (such as a society building its law and culture around an old wildlife ranger guide) seem pretty silly. As a result, it’s hard to get excited about this one as a prospective series, which may well be the reason it didn’t end up selling. I think this was the last attempt to salvage the concept.

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