cult film freak: June 2014

Written by James M. Tate / 6/30/2014 / 1 Comment / 2014 , guy pearce , post-apocalyptic , robert pattison , thriller

GUY PEARCE STARRING IN THE ROVER

2014, guy pearce, post-apocalyptic, robert pattison, thriller

GUY PEARCE STARRING IN THE ROVER

2014 rating: *1/2 It’s been ten years since “The Collapse,” turning the Outback into something resembling the MAD MAX post apocalyptic f...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/29/2014 / No comments / bagful , fifties , pj soles , seventies

ANOTHER ECLECTIC BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE REVIEWS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Ui2_Yie1MzGJP50KvafjpAswBIoDXsNLozCN0lp0UVuCVi_XSW-nBaWZ7PKBVMoBB4yRY16SzngKUj5-0Sar0D4i2x3C6SxradxjcHBtulTbebPg3tRzjW24g3TRRArvONqZ2vLHM0w/s1600/Picture+15.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Ui2_Yie1MzGJP50KvafjpAswBIoDXsNLozCN0lp0UVuCVi_XSW-nBaWZ7PKBVMoBB4yRY16SzngKUj5-0Sar0D4i2x3C6SxradxjcHBtulTbebPg3tRzjW24g3TRRArvONqZ2vLHM0w/s1600/Picture+15.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1980 rating: **1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>PRIVATE BENJAMIN:</b></span> Unlike the far superior STRIPES starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, which came out a year later, this isn't a military spoof but a 
character-study involving the army: We're automatically supposed to enjoy seeing 
Benjamin punished for her pampered ways, but the setup doesn't introduce
 us to someone deserving of any big turnaround.<br />
<br />
The boot camp segment, 
mostly rushed along in montage scenes, aren't that funny. And for a 
little while, Eileen Breenan owns the screen as the tough drill 
Sergeant: some of the best humor belongs entirely to her. But when Goldie eventually becomes a Green Beret type, travels
 to Italy and meets the man of her dreams, any plot or purpose goes 
completely AWOL.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1978 rating: **</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>OUR WINNING SEASON:</b> </span>There are so many distractions in this seventies high school drama 
centering on teens from the sixties involving Vietnam, necking in cars, 
drag racing, getting drunk, getting stoned and going steady that the 
main story, of a runner preparing for a big race, is completely 
forgotten. In fact, by the end, when Scott Jacoby faces his challenge, it doesn't
 matter. Nor do any of those distractions which, if executed by more 
involving, fleshed-out characters, might have worked better.<br />
<br />
A great 
young side-cast including Joe Penny, Dennis Quaid and PJ Soles cannot 
save this cliche-filled template of counter-culture youth. And one scene where a car flies through the back of a drive-in movie theater 
screen is a great, memorable stunt, but seems more fitting to a jovial chase film. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGVmn9YseNt47mmtZtc0h0sprF5sok89V706jnPeGdz56He3kQxEp7wBlkVq-UF2ST2_WcN263g8QYWuct-9KtQ8NuAAZlVbKDR5FBlEtIC4AwIBBGdMl2JUCP1oB1CF8HfuWhhxBdLI/s1600/Picture+7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGVmn9YseNt47mmtZtc0h0sprF5sok89V706jnPeGdz56He3kQxEp7wBlkVq-UF2ST2_WcN263g8QYWuct-9KtQ8NuAAZlVbKDR5FBlEtIC4AwIBBGdMl2JUCP1oB1CF8HfuWhhxBdLI/s1600/Picture+7.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1980  **1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>SOGGY BOTTOM USA:</b> </span>What makes this different than any episode of THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, or 
countless films dealing with bayou moonshiners, is there's a dependably 
bland Disney film feel throughout, and it kinda works.   <br />
<br />
Led by town Sheriff Ben
 Johnson, we have a dog race, country music, and good old fashion bar 
fights, and throw in a few side plots: one involving young Don Johnson having
 invented a new kind of fan boat, and the other with his girlfriend, cute PJ
 Soles and a song she sells to a flashy Country singer Ann Wedgeworth who is, along with manager Lane Smith, not very honest, making the down-home heroes that much worthy to root for.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgwWzSKjzwkFZBGk-OAqu3Q_2DdyooNsZDokUFa9r_ODuFbJNSlAoXTOG1ZE8fuighguw5m9AFR-YsMdjr5Vk5Y8OZ9oevmPUTfr2x5L-G1cjrRVY3aF14ssRce5Rxjzb7ZXS1ylF5T0/s1600/Picture+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgwWzSKjzwkFZBGk-OAqu3Q_2DdyooNsZDokUFa9r_ODuFbJNSlAoXTOG1ZE8fuighguw5m9AFR-YsMdjr5Vk5Y8OZ9oevmPUTfr2x5L-G1cjrRVY3aF14ssRce5Rxjzb7ZXS1ylF5T0/s1600/Picture+5.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1984 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE LONELY GUY:</b></span> If based on how many particular jokes land, and compared to Steve Martin's superior ROXANNE or THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, this wouldn't be considered a great comedy, but the character 
played by Martin, who, after a break-up, residing in New York as a single man, is so likable and relatable, THE LONELY GUY is really a legitimately effective, entertaining journey of a man who not only hits 
rock bottom, but learns how to exist there along with his buddy, played Charles 
Grodin, equally as <i>pathetic</i>.<br />
<br />
Martin keeps meeting the woman of his dreams: always losing her phone number right after. What works 
best here are the specific examples of being alone in a big city and how
 to deal with each. Although during the last forty minutes, after our hero 
becomes famous for writing a book about being lonely, things dwindle
 considerably; but hat first hour, especially the scenes shared with 
Grodin, is a real slice of loser life. He should have stayed down for much longer. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1956 *1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>CRIME IN THE STREETS:</b> </span>If REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE met WEST SIDE STORY at a carnival where all the
 rides were broken...<br />
<br />
No, not even a young <i>introducing John 
Cassavetes</i>, as a street savvy teenage gang member at odds with a rival 
group of boy-thugs and pestered by cop James Whitmore... or the fact 
it's directed by Don Siegel and co-stars future director Mark Rydell... could save, or even preserve, this corny "urban" dud. Meanwhile, Sal 
Mineo, naive and vulnerable as ever, plays the youngest member of the gang, which alone
 dooms him from the start.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1997 ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>TITANIC:</b> </span>The big ship is going down. Everyone is frantic, desperate,
 but there's nowhere to go. Not enough life rafts for the passengers and crew. And during this tragic bedlam, the overly villainous Billy Zane has gone crazy that his pouty girlfriend, played by 
Kate Winslet – the only character with layers – loves another man... or 
rather, boy. <br />
<br />
Like the campy dialogue, trying to be important with an annoying class envy mainline, all seeming lifted from a glorified soap opera, TITANIC, the second most successful movie of all time, is pure melodrama through and through. But 
what makes this so good is James Cameron. He takes it seriously enough 
so you're practically forced to be involved. And throughout the fluffy romance, he's got a disaster film just itching to burst at the seams... <br />
<br />
For when the ship eventually capsizes, and people fall to their deaths, banging
 against steel and tumbling violently into the icy sea, you'll know why 
the iconic director, best known for the ultra-violence of TERMINATOR and ALIENS,
 made this movie in the first place i.e. a means to an end: and what an 
end! Although the best stuff, dramatically, works in-between the whispers and screams: as the crew and passengers are just starting to figure things out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1958 *1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE SNORKEL:</b></span> This could have been a terrific comedy. A man wearing a big snorkel sits
 in an airtight basement while his wife suffocates on deadly gases 
above: Doesn't sound very funny, but it is... unintentionally. The 
woman's pre-teen daughter is on to this guy, who's just too perfect... 
and he's a perfectly conceited jerk covering up a 
"perfect murder" in a black and white British melodrama (somehow considered 
Noir) as suspenseful as deep-sea-diving in a swimming pool... in the 
shallow end.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaYugs1-tHTbz8zniYETkyAh5BNfC_shkSQJr5D1HyKvxvN9gZqS0b488clu4jiorKgAc_NZkRQUIfkXOHEHd34FtissqiGqFBjP8wHSDkgcRZXaISdEpBUPa0RLV5zvU9YYl_LoiFoCQ/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaYugs1-tHTbz8zniYETkyAh5BNfC_shkSQJr5D1HyKvxvN9gZqS0b488clu4jiorKgAc_NZkRQUIfkXOHEHd34FtissqiGqFBjP8wHSDkgcRZXaISdEpBUPa0RLV5zvU9YYl_LoiFoCQ/s1600/Picture+1.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1977 rating: **</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>GREASED LIGHTING:</b></span> Not enough racing and too much time centered on racism...<br />
<br />
The adventurous aspects of the 
first black man to break into stock car driving in the South could have 
been a great story, especially that he ran moonshine in his early days. But how he's treated by redneck whites, while important historically, 
overwhelms the film which is too "heavy" for its own good.<br />
<br />
Richard 
Pryor, who would prove his serious acting talent in BLUE COLLAR a year later, seems 
stunted by a muddled script that never settles into anything worthwhile.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1953 ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE BIG HEAT:</b></span> In many crime melodramas of the 1950s, the story of the bloodthirsty, 
fun-to-watch villains can be hindered by the police and their philosophy
 of the situation, as they separately discuss the "nature of the crime" 
to counter the violence...<br />
<br />
But in Fritz Lang's THE BIG HEAT we have rogue a cop who, investigating
 a co-called suicide, is bent on revenge for the murder of his wife: and we have
 the best of both worlds combined... The law is as violent as the 
gangsters while both elements, rolled into one, make for an excellent, 
headbutting thriller.<br />
<br />
The always-watchable Glenn Ford is calculatingly brilliant, and the 
scenes pitted against baddie Lee Marvin are fantastic. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 ***1/2</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE DEADLY BEES:</b></span> Don't mistake this as one of those by-the-number creature-feature bug 
flicks where bees fly around killing people because of the ozone or 
military or whatever else causes "beasts" to cause havoc in other films 
of this type.<br />
<br />
Here we have an intelligent, subtle suspense yarn 
centering on a beautiful singer who finds solace at the house of a 
professor who isn't nice to his wife, or her dog, and might just be mad 
enough to made bees... deadly. But things are never what they seem, and 
this is more Hitchcock than exploitation: building suspense and mystery 
from start to finish. And when the bees do attack (although the effects 
are rather dated) it's quite a buzz.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">1979 *</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE DAY TIME ENDED:</b></span> This ultra low-budget science-fiction dud, helmed by John Bud Cardos, 
couldn't be more different than the indie director's camp masterpiece KINGDOM
 OF THE SPIDERS, where actual things are shown, in that particular case,
 tarantulas, stalking the characters...<br />
<br />
Here we center on a 
family living in the desert being harassed by UFOs, space monsters, and a
 frolicking pint-sized alien, all superimposed on the screen as the 
actors, including Jim Davis, Dorothy Malone, Christopher Mitchum (Robert's son) and child starlet Natasha Ryan, are merely
 reacting as if something's really there... But we know, all the while, there simply isn't 
anything at all. Especially not a plot or purpose.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQGicsd0G7O-YwWigXjDsVGwLNJcCySVtxTuTmvNzVNjY9VIq75K9OES89rvBKl3dwd2zJnnWsFVsVNBifM5eulFH8Sm-TgHGwqJAWbWByETYSGMZPI3sgi7Bo2rLPrvXZdwS_sWU1yA/s1600/Picture+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQGicsd0G7O-YwWigXjDsVGwLNJcCySVtxTuTmvNzVNjY9VIq75K9OES89rvBKl3dwd2zJnnWsFVsVNBifM5eulFH8Sm-TgHGwqJAWbWByETYSGMZPI3sgi7Bo2rLPrvXZdwS_sWU1yA/s1600/Picture+3.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to the top, Eileen Brennan and Sally Kirkland in PRIVATE BENJAMIN</td></tr>
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bagful, fifties, pj soles, seventies

ANOTHER ECLECTIC BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE REVIEWS

1980 rating: **1/2 PRIVATE BENJAMIN: Unlike the far superior STRIPES starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, which came out a year later...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/27/2014 / 1 Comment / action , franchise , mark wahlberg , sequel

MARK WAHLBERG IN TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

action, franchise, mark wahlberg, sequel

MARK WAHLBERG IN TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

year: 2014 rating: ** In BOOGIE NIGHTS, Mark Wahlberg sings a wonderfully cheesy song titled You Got The Touch, which originated from th...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/26/2014 / No comments / deborah winters , eli wallach , tribute

A SPECIAL FAREWELL TO THE LEGENDARY ELI WALLACH W/ DEBORAH WINTERS

deborah winters, eli wallach, tribute

A SPECIAL FAREWELL TO THE LEGENDARY ELI WALLACH W/ DEBORAH WINTERS

Eli Wallach Tribute Eli Wallach, who died yesterday, was one of the great character-actors. Although in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, ...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/24/2014 / No comments / 2014 , biopic , christopher walken , clint eastwood

CLINT EASTWOOD DIRECTS JERSEY BOYS

2014, biopic, christopher walken, clint eastwood

CLINT EASTWOOD DIRECTS JERSEY BOYS

year: 2014 rating: ** Based on an immensely popular Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, about the rise and fall of the pop band The Four Seas...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/23/2014 / No comments / bagful , biker , exploitation , fifties , gary kent , robert dix , seventies , sixties , war

A GRITTY BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE MOVIE REVIEWS

bagful, biker, exploitation, fifties, gary kent, robert dix, seventies, sixties, war

A GRITTY BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE MOVIE REVIEWS

1969 ***1/2 SUPERCOOL: Film Noir/Gumshoe/Private Eye films have a main character wandering from one location to the next in search of so...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/21/2014 / No comments / bagful , crime , eighties , exploitation , fifties , film noir or melodrama , gary kent , sixties

A RANDOM BLOODY BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE REVIEWS

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnlecVSPpL6sNXzY6lJoYwyEz5ief_r6vKst6fKf_JtqcSVy4L4XsVvXBt3sRMbVLMhvzBhl72DdeCLUvUjfGoZSaYlJcylC27zgHjbaHcR6TyP0gCC2NEAVIrRufpOP2uFa1Yp4ZBUA/s1600/gorga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnlecVSPpL6sNXzY6lJoYwyEz5ief_r6vKst6fKf_JtqcSVy4L4XsVvXBt3sRMbVLMhvzBhl72DdeCLUvUjfGoZSaYlJcylC27zgHjbaHcR6TyP0gCC2NEAVIrRufpOP2uFa1Yp4ZBUA/s200/gorga.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1969 rating: *1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE MIGHTY GORGA:</b></span> A man trying to save his fledgling zoo joins a woman whose 
father has been lost in the jungle on search of a giant ape named 
Gorga... <br />
<div>
<br />
A waste of time for those who love the so-bad-it's-good genre. 
This one isn't good at all, save for the appearance of the plastic T-REX
 who'd later turn up as the main villain in the much better  schlocky companion film, ONE MILLION AC/DC, penned by Ed Wood and part of a double feature DVD with THE MIGHTY GORGA, who is basically a man in 
an ape suit, filmed so close-up it's difficult to "enjoy" the 
cheesiness of the not-so-special effects, while the acting is quite dull even though the 
otherwise talented and established actors, including exploitation favorite Gary Kent and noir staple/Lawrence Tierney brother, Scott 
Brady, aren't bad... just bored silly, like the audience.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMv8iP6LCpdNdhQlRgGD68IUIRBnqhETurQVCQgVysozZwe-DUwd5Du2YouIZCUw1VAFr1lbDRlzbbIr7uPCFKPF92hhKY0lVbBeV4nSQY-wowkJ8bjAHExTYAzjwzfxZ_37RK6Q50Vmw/s1600/Picture+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMv8iP6LCpdNdhQlRgGD68IUIRBnqhETurQVCQgVysozZwe-DUwd5Du2YouIZCUw1VAFr1lbDRlzbbIr7uPCFKPF92hhKY0lVbBeV4nSQY-wowkJ8bjAHExTYAzjwzfxZ_37RK6Q50Vmw/s1600/Picture+4.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1957 ***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>A FACE IN THE CROWD:</b></span> First half has charm and a nice story arc of a guitar-slinging 
slick-talking bum turned radio personality then TV host i.e. the man of 
the people aka "Lonesome Rhodes", played with sublime gusto by Andy 
Griffith...<br />
<br />
Patricia Neal, as a radio show producer, pulls the strings, 
falls in love, and eventually Rhodes glides into womanizing and worse 
yet, backing a politician. This occurs during the second half as the 
characters, and the story, declines into an overly-obvious over-the-top 
message: not that too much fame will ruin a normal man, but that 
politics, when mixed with television, doesn't work and can be America's 
downfall.<br />
<br />
Rhode's climb to the top, from rags to riches, is a treat; but once he 
arrives, the movie, like the main character, loses focus and never quite
 regains.</div>
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</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOd9S81XdFRnIa94M-woSuPKXbIrhFK59gRvaVoJIS9wwLKbBn6f3R4XPdXZuMmQt-7dTPCQu9y5mcCnwU5JcRB34APXI3fnSMutxIoX7hMWoT8DA3CIXoA7GJKnerVr_v4HlwcxuzHo/s1600/tar5.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505833128804095234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOd9S81XdFRnIa94M-woSuPKXbIrhFK59gRvaVoJIS9wwLKbBn6f3R4XPdXZuMmQt-7dTPCQu9y5mcCnwU5JcRB34APXI3fnSMutxIoX7hMWoT8DA3CIXoA7GJKnerVr_v4HlwcxuzHo/s200/tar5.jpg" style="float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1955 rating: ****</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>TARANTULA:</b></span> The
 most brilliant thing director Jack Arnold did to make this movie 
timeless, and just as creepy and terrific today as it was all those 
years ago, is to mostly show the titular creature... a giant tarantula 
created by a "mad" scientist... at dusk or night. Then as the story 
builds, and we're used to the creature in shadowy form, it seems more 
real in the daylight...<br />
<br />
The main-frame storyline, of a 
young doctor and a beautiful lab assistant trying to figure out who's 
eating cattle and why folks are vanishing, works in perfect unison with 
the monster that, like in all great creature-features, is used only 
sparingly. And keep an eye out for a young Clint Eastwood
 as a jet fighter pilot in the very end; although his face is mostly 
covered with a mask, that's the man (and be sure to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/09/TARANTULAlland.html">CLICK HERE</a> for a more in-depth review of TARANTULA, which was written as a double-feature retrospective on producer William Alland and star John Agar, also including THE MOLE PEOPLE).<br />
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2QVzdQLJ_EXP0W-ASxBFEL4haquwP7t-qoV483cq8KdONwrtVtWkRHa2x9UX8iBMJWg_bNvjAfyYy2eDEi1nMcgqyB6RTmK4chVpLABW0UtPT6oNY13nS1Zpnw5mT6FNR66KUzbRha4/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2QVzdQLJ_EXP0W-ASxBFEL4haquwP7t-qoV483cq8KdONwrtVtWkRHa2x9UX8iBMJWg_bNvjAfyYy2eDEi1nMcgqyB6RTmK4chVpLABW0UtPT6oNY13nS1Zpnw5mT6FNR66KUzbRha4/s200/2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1947 rating: ***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>NIGHTMARE ALLEY:</b></span> Film
 Noir flicks usually teach us tempted sinners how crime doesn't pay, and now we learn, either 
does reading minds...<br />
<br />
The best scenes occur at a carnival as barker Tyrone
 Power learns a "code" from Joan Blondell that she 
performs with hubby Ian Keith, a once great mentalist turned rummy, who 
owns one scene where, coming out of a boozy haze, he wields a con on 
Power involving a "stock" childhood memory. But after Tyrone and 
gorgeous carnival performer turned wife, Collen Gray, move their 
high-paying act to a nightclub, and a ridiculous plot involving a 
millionaire's dead daughter unfolds, things go downhill slowly... They 
should have stayed put at the carnival.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472694985728130594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxcJ0xDzfm0qowbmOfHk2UDQtw0Ysel_ap76T5v6NOsc-kWNcaBbuxk5ZC601CkgM1schwAAUDqi_4DcF80icDx6uJFchQhML1VS4-kFtzPR1fbvAuHh9w2CUdUJRoCWRqL0o0BauFgg/s200/gary+kent.jpg" style="height: 150px; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 200px;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">year: 1965 rating: ***1/2</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>ONE SHOCKING MOMENT:</b></span> In
 one aspect this movie is way ahead of its time. When it came out, 
showing full frontal nudity, implied lesbianism, and dominatrix was 
groundbreaking.<br />
<br />
But for a sixties-era "Nudie Cutie", or better yet, "Porn Without Penetration", ONE SHOCKING MOMENT is quite tame, and unlike many of
 those films – in which a lean plot involves getting a man and woman 
together in a room – there is a story which, once underway, is quite 
intoxicating when a married couple who aren't that innocent to begin with, including 
apish hubby Gary Kent (under the pseudonym Philip Brady) flirts with 
every woman alive (going a step further with the office bimbo) and 
deadpan/dingbat wifey Lee Anna, dressed up like a floozy... both find 
themselves entwined in sexual taboo after frequenting a nightclub owned 
by an assertive lesbian, played by scene-stealer Verne Martine, who has 
her sights on the wife and eventually teaches the cheating Kent 
something about submission.<br />
<br />
Beautiful black and white cinematography by 
Lazlo Kovacks, a tempestuous hipster-inspired soundtrack, and more than <i>one</i> shock makes this a real treat: and then some.<br />
<div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzX0_rLR7iQcBGIeFhk2sbCmXzvPDi1sSTy17zDzePaB0N5RKBkxopOQM0k0X9vS4J92wD0y-ZQ-pzHNI2Ad6rJ0FC7iKd6eWnAyZkxHEgDPGSkiNzWXsEVQ0kH3XQ7U2zeu5BTn102c/s1600/tetro.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486426587652158514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzX0_rLR7iQcBGIeFhk2sbCmXzvPDi1sSTy17zDzePaB0N5RKBkxopOQM0k0X9vS4J92wD0y-ZQ-pzHNI2Ad6rJ0FC7iKd6eWnAyZkxHEgDPGSkiNzWXsEVQ0kH3XQ7U2zeu5BTn102c/s200/tetro.jpg" style="float: right; height: 195px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2009 rating: **</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>TETRO:</b></span> Francis
 Ford Coppola returns to film school, and is a "triple threat" as 
writer, producer and director for this independent black and white study
 of two brothers: one a brooding so-called genius, Vincent Gallo as Tetro...<br />
<br />
The 
other, Alden Edrenreich as Bennie, a youthful dud who, staying with 
brother and his girlfriend, yearns to complete Tetro's play-in-progress,
 scrawled in notebooks and only meant as cathartic exercise for the 
author.<br />
<div>
<br />
The location, Buenos Aries, is beautiful, as is the 
cinematography. But the characters are all one-sided, especially Tetro's
 famous composer father, shown in colorized flashbacks: so abundantly 
evil he should have a thin little mustache and a few sticks of dynamite.<br />
<br />
Indie icon Vincent Gallo convincingly looks, and 
acts, the part of a reluctant-to-gain-fame dark-horse artist, but 
Edrenriech lacks the blunt determination that, for instance, Matt Dillon
 (originally cast as Tetro) wielded as the 
little-bro-under-big-bro's-shadow in Coppola's RUMBLE 
FISH, which this is a ponderous replica of.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJPQPSyRILEXga-jMXspC8KYYlXEhsYI9Y3FY1JVlL8gulwiJJh02QjDbKOQG_wcxYIsQDWk0eyvnXwdn0-vatnQqxfK_B_WwuX-5AuObO_J5ihoBmS8OSMYn6LqWTdjbuO0kHz8CQ9Bw/s1600/runangelrun2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470848124960161986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJPQPSyRILEXga-jMXspC8KYYlXEhsYI9Y3FY1JVlL8gulwiJJh02QjDbKOQG_wcxYIsQDWk0eyvnXwdn0-vatnQqxfK_B_WwuX-5AuObO_J5ihoBmS8OSMYn6LqWTdjbuO0kHz8CQ9Bw/s200/runangelrun2.jpg" style="float: right; height: 172px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 193px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1969 rating: **</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>RUN ANGEL RUN:</b></span> The
 opening credit sequence (making up for backstory) shows the cover of a 
fictional LIFE-esque "LIKE MAGAZINE" adorned with the face of William 
Smith's character, Angel: he's been interviewed and told-all about his 
biker gang.<br />
<div>
<br />
So the film starts with his former-fellow marauders chasing 
he and his girl down the highway and onto a moving train (the best 
filmed sequence, using split-screen nicely). After finding solace at a 
rural farm, Mr. and Mrs. Smith learn to be "normal", which doesn't go 
without tons of arguments and forgiveness. This is the down-time of 
biker films, and has a "message" about the biker lifestyle selling out, 
perhaps because of the year-before blockbuster EASY RIDER: which this 
film borrows from in its flash-cut editing.<br />
<br />
Smith's acting is good, as usual, but 
he seems to be doing a Marlon Brando/Stanley Kowalski imitation: his performance exceeding the material. And Jack Starrett, 
whose classic leathery voice is used for an aged gas station attendant, 
has directed much better. </div>
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg5kcms2jOKqMzlee2dekQntxAF4jt0KLLoxV2HIgMRBBEHte16mc4zOjo_sdsPOtNr8zcKZfPNmzzPBSNjqtxgXr8Gt55lKmXdfACn6820Cxiwa45rc6oihM-Y9m_GexOOKP2xBDnePk/s1600/goonies.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485840664555850834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg5kcms2jOKqMzlee2dekQntxAF4jt0KLLoxV2HIgMRBBEHte16mc4zOjo_sdsPOtNr8zcKZfPNmzzPBSNjqtxgXr8Gt55lKmXdfACn6820Cxiwa45rc6oihM-Y9m_GexOOKP2xBDnePk/s200/goonies.jpg" style="float: right; height: 130px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1985 rating: **</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>GOONIES:</b></span> For a big budget Steven Speilberg production the 
initial setup frugally takes place within one house, getting to know 
each kid's quirks and then, in the same house but upstairs, the ragged 
clan way-too-easily find a treasure map and the adventure begins: with a
 bicycle ride occurring in the course of a Cyndi Lauper song as THE 
GOONIES find another house where 
they spend the rest of the film: only underground where there are 
several mazy levels.<br />
<br />
Tons of bickering chatter, 
gratuitous product placement, hijinks-action and toilet humor make this 
flick, which could be retitled THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS AND THE TEMPLE
 OF DOOM, more suited for teens than children, as three villainous yet 
goofy thugs provide filler as they thwart the quest: which, despite the 
grandiose musical score, is really just a lot of banal running around. And yet the main problem isn't the plot... treasure hunts are always intriguing... but the Goonies themselves: it's never really clear why they're 
outcasts – or from what exactly.</div>
</div>

bagful, crime, eighties, exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, gary kent, sixties

A RANDOM BLOODY BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE REVIEWS

year: 1969 rating: *1/2 THE MIGHTY GORGA: A man trying to save his fledgling zoo joins a woman whose father has been lost in the jungl...

SHAILENE WOODLEY IN THE FAULT OF OUR STARS

2014, melodrama, romance, shailene woodley

SHAILENE WOODLEY IN THE FAULT OF OUR STARS

year: 2014 rating: ** Teenagers who talk like intellectual college grads is nothing new... Either is having a starstruck book fanatic me...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/19/2014 / 1 Comment / bagful , nineties , seventies , sixties

AN ECLECTIC BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE SUMMARY REVIEWS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYBmOvCknqMPOOJiSHXFelV7MXR4v2mjVP9rJqBQ53jXd58_zJH2Ua0LxrfbR2-lYYgtCoDSmoGtYVmbHroBZMBKLLcXIJnWx2qBgirusodYnPyJMvoDzl6Est8jA7_Fe6xDeqVJQRcA/s1600/forbiddne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYBmOvCknqMPOOJiSHXFelV7MXR4v2mjVP9rJqBQ53jXd58_zJH2Ua0LxrfbR2-lYYgtCoDSmoGtYVmbHroBZMBKLLcXIJnWx2qBgirusodYnPyJMvoDzl6Est8jA7_Fe6xDeqVJQRcA/s1600/forbiddne.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1956 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>FORBIDDEN PLANET:</b></span> The 1950's were full of some pretty bad science fiction movies, so here's a good one... Not only did FORBIDDEN PLANET shape many other of its kind, it was an inspiration for a television show that would premiere a decade later... called STAR TREK!<br />
<br />
Plot
 centers on American astronauts landing on a planet inhabited by one 
American scientist, sole survival of a past mission, his gorgeous 
indigenous-birthed daughter, and some kind of phantom wraith. The 
mystery builds nicely with the gradual investigation of this new world 
and its past civilization, and the actors, especially the three leads, 
keep you lightly interested enough through some cerebral-heavy dialogue. The dated but still worthy special effects coincide with great 
battle scenes. And thankfully the twist ending doesn't have an 
overly-obvious anti-nuke message, a nice surprise since most old school sci-fi flicks lean (and sometimes topple) in that direction.<br />
<div>
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</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexsyRteUgjU3LUHjxNv3Jbr21Kky5AZPg3dATT9XOE4c1FbnaG9_Vy-Tr1fVIBohtQ05LgRtRVhOY56atWX0XDXaAaggL70hVy6SMcueY4iWIXOijiXk9gs1QXDmxsEI1muKB9pOI-ic/s1600/flimflam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexsyRteUgjU3LUHjxNv3Jbr21Kky5AZPg3dATT9XOE4c1FbnaG9_Vy-Tr1fVIBohtQ05LgRtRVhOY56atWX0XDXaAaggL70hVy6SMcueY4iWIXOijiXk9gs1QXDmxsEI1muKB9pOI-ic/s1600/flimflam.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 rating: ***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE FLIM-FLAM MAN:</b> </span>Quirky and frolicking depression-era adventure about a famous (or infamous) 
charlatan who travels around conning people along the way.<br />
<div>
<br />
He meets 
young naive drifter Michael Sarrazin, who learns the ins-and-outs of 
rambling-trickery and being one step ahead of the law: which includes 
Harry Morgan and Albert Salmi as frustrated backwoods cops.<br />
<br />
The dialogue 
can be contrived and corny, the jovial music a bit intrusive (giving away the 
outcome), but because of Irwin Kershner's action-paced direction, the 
characters, and storyline, are delivered smoothly from one location to 
the next.<br />
<br />
Gorgeous "Lolita" Sue Lyon has a small but significant role as
 one of the victims who turns into a love interest for Sarrazin, as he 
realizes the fleeting life might not be for him. And George C. Scott, 
constantly jutting his chin, seems to be doing an old man imitation, but
 its an endearingly memorable character no less.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAez5K7j9B0w1Twb2Vvv84dtv1xqCHkqpLJ4x_SSA1BqDXzZFpPQuGMSzPe-V2Ee3YDkHSVYO_eWd5T7HH9Cqeo5GNYnrjKvS7fTvDhbhNatXuBOayEABPVlFXxqjRqzsfEYvoR6mrspI/s1600/vigilante.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460456075460382242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAez5K7j9B0w1Twb2Vvv84dtv1xqCHkqpLJ4x_SSA1BqDXzZFpPQuGMSzPe-V2Ee3YDkHSVYO_eWd5T7HH9Cqeo5GNYnrjKvS7fTvDhbhNatXuBOayEABPVlFXxqjRqzsfEYvoR6mrspI/s200/vigilante.jpg" style="float: right; height: 186px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 rating: ****</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>VIGILANTE:</b></span> Beginning with one of the coolest guitar-driven opening tracks, we center on a
 trio of vigilantes, sort of a neighborhood watch that kicks ass, are 
Fred Williamson, Richard Bright, and Joseph Carberry. The 
gang of vicious cold-blooded blood-thirsty thugs include shit-talkin' 
leader Willie Colin and henchman Don Blakley.<br />
<div>
<br />
Beginning as a character in the background, everyman machinist 
father/husband Robert Forster, friends with the (secret) vigilante 
group, is in denial about how bad society is until his child and wife 
are attacked by the gang...<br />
<br />
Eventually, everything collides wonderfully in this 
exploitation-DEATH WISH that delivers on every level, including street 
fights, prison survival, and an awesome guitar-driven soundtrack.<br />
<br />
Too 
classy for grindhouse and too gritty for mainstream, this is the perfect
 synergy of blood, guts, guns, and best of all, sweet revenge. Especially once we deal with Forster's plight ranging from a court room tirade, a suspenseful prison stint and finally, a chance to set things bloody straight. Sure, there could have been more Fred "Hammer" Williamson during the final act, but he'd provided Forster enough street wisdom to carry matters through.  <br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE3bk5UkwRXOkxWU_lFBGKSTjiarxzDvfyJNsE7uAULE9kEvP1F09ockgxOwwvw7gLVtH900VgJPc3N5-yCCVDSu-FpJu-7YYaks8MKA9lHNeDTsWjs-1W-nX8AdaTEUr6dGWKnNDCBJQ/s1600/badge+373.jpg"><b></b></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459677877030253394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE3bk5UkwRXOkxWU_lFBGKSTjiarxzDvfyJNsE7uAULE9kEvP1F09ockgxOwwvw7gLVtH900VgJPc3N5-yCCVDSu-FpJu-7YYaks8MKA9lHNeDTsWjs-1W-nX8AdaTEUr6dGWKnNDCBJQ/s200/badge+373.jpg" style="height: 200px; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 140px;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">1973 rating: *</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>BADGE 373:</b></span> The
 continuing adventures of Popeye Doyle, the tough narcotics cop played 
by Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION, now with Robert Duvall as 
Eddie Ryan: both Doyle and Ryan based on real life detective Eddie Egan
 who, like in CONNECTION, has a small part here.<br />
<br />
But unlike that Oscar 
winning film, gloriously directed by William Freidkin with a spontaneous 
free-rolling gritty documentary style, this feels like the pilot for a 
TV series that never was. And it's not even that good. <br />
<br />
The sluggish pace, vapid dialogue and contrived 
plot... Ryan investigating his partner's death... strips away any realism.<br />
<br />
The great Robert Duvall, one of the all-time resilient and brilliant actors, is reduced to working hard for
 very little payoff. Even the action scenes are muddled and boring.  But what can you do... The 1970's was the greatest decade, but nothing is perfect. <br />
<div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEMrW9yr1Hjfnuvdgy1BrR_CdLQ36pYye-PUNnv3kX2B7YzrJHQdz8pEv_e84tfIkWlN69M4pHSqsXG-TIAkSkdQN7CX86LdXrPX5HFxwRTv56XBRsjMdjuDKNYIESP83vyspklFM6ig/s1600/tropic+of+cancer.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457465895397813938" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEMrW9yr1Hjfnuvdgy1BrR_CdLQ36pYye-PUNnv3kX2B7YzrJHQdz8pEv_e84tfIkWlN69M4pHSqsXG-TIAkSkdQN7CX86LdXrPX5HFxwRTv56XBRsjMdjuDKNYIESP83vyspklFM6ig/s200/tropic+of+cancer.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 189px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1970 rating: **1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>TROPIC OF CANCER:</b></span> Henry
 Miller's rousing poetic pornography is brought to the screen with the always-watchable Rip Torn as the controversial author wandering Paris from one 
situation to the next, either narrating Miller's words over various 
shots of the famous city, or dealing with, and suffering through, random
 confrontations with crazy women and even crazier men.<br />
<br />
Reminiscent of 
how Charles Bukowski's life would be attempted years later in BARFLY and
 FACTOTUM... stream-of-conscious odysseys never settling into one 
particular melodrama for too long... this film's progressively-racy 
dialogue seems awkward and forced.<br />
<br />
Some of the side-actors don't fit the 
(for 1970) groundbreaking template, at times feeling like an X-rated 
episode of MARY TYLER MOORE. Torn, although not entirely believable as 
Miller, is intriguing to watch, and along with a few quick sexy scenes 
with Ellen Burstyn, solely owns this obscure curio that seems borrowed 
otherwise.<br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0FIRlvzaYav3y3SibmVxliPQc2YqhrhHyDue5XhrED1IfsmIOuPAitsMZYzU2Ro5ULAVRoOeFC5w0pr-M0JeDt_Yuu5waRcyCSMUw9jQWCuyhcw7GNStIyO3s4qoi8uLUzzka0i7ViE/s1600/Picture+1.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0FIRlvzaYav3y3SibmVxliPQc2YqhrhHyDue5XhrED1IfsmIOuPAitsMZYzU2Ro5ULAVRoOeFC5w0pr-M0JeDt_Yuu5waRcyCSMUw9jQWCuyhcw7GNStIyO3s4qoi8uLUzzka0i7ViE/s1600/Picture+1.png" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 rating: ***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>DEVIL'S ANGELS:</b></span> Sixties biker flicks are usually the same...<br />
<br />
Noisy hog-riders roll into a 
small quiet town making a mess of things. One of the bikers takes things
 too far and a "freak verses pig"<i> </i>battle ensues. That's it in a 
nutshell here...<br />
<br />
The adventure doesn't venture far from the single 
peaceful town where, after crashing an afternoon carnival, The Skulls 
are (falsely) accused of raping a local girl stupid enough to party with
 them.<br />
<br />
Leo Gordon, as the understanding Sheriff, adds essential realism 
and John Cassavetes, as the thinking-man's gang leader, while embodying 
his usual askew charm, seems more like an acting teacher than a ruffian;
 more attributes of "Franco", his scruffy, scene-stealing character in THE DIRTY DOZEN, were needed.<br />
<br />
But no matter, this Roger 
Corman-produced biker-outing delivers the goods just-good enough, and is
 exactly as entertaining as it should be. It's a biker flick, after all. 
 </div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMhK5UypqowmhxGQ45_iHrscWi6URz4xABnF-uwGSVpA56JcwC-iX2LZhfSPtZGe1Nj9HWoYxNKOPDvvtpZkfO7zDYwIE-MbX_h6odYWpZXdF0YGk6GKLOizoGtGQ2cSMVkpg_2Dl_us/s1600/millers+crossing+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMhK5UypqowmhxGQ45_iHrscWi6URz4xABnF-uwGSVpA56JcwC-iX2LZhfSPtZGe1Nj9HWoYxNKOPDvvtpZkfO7zDYwIE-MbX_h6odYWpZXdF0YGk6GKLOizoGtGQ2cSMVkpg_2Dl_us/s1600/millers+crossing+04.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1990 rating: *****</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>MILLER'S CROSSING:</b></span> You
 can't trust anyone, not really, in this classy yet just as gritty 1990 gangster opus
 written and directed by the Coen Brothers during one of their several 
artistic peaks.<br />
<br />
The film plays out like something the duo probably 
always wanted to see: a cutthroat gangster film with more dialog than 
action, more brains than brawn, more bickering than bullet holes, more 
gossip than guns... but when the guns happen, do they ever.<br />
<br />
Albert Finney 
breaks the aging chief mobster template: not only does he lead with an 
iron fist behind a desk, but he takes out a gang of hoods like he were a
 lean, hungry youth. John Tuttero plays the rat-fink-jerk with annoying 
perfection...<br />
<br />
Meanwhile Jon Polito, the Coens very own Akim Tamiroff, as the villainous counter-don, all but steals 
the show, going off on sometimes angry, sometimes sarcastic tangents most would consider overboard unless it was during the Golden Age, when bad guys were aloud to really let loose; and not forgetting J.E. Freeman as his giant thug henchman and 
Marcia Gay Harden as the tough-as-nails gun moll.<br />
<br />
But the film belongs 
to star Gabriel Byrne as a working-man's debt-burdened con-artist 
smoothly wheeling and dealing all the characters to get what he wants, 
which eventually turns out to be his own life and keeping it... Not only 
one of the greatest directed films ever made, but the script is without 
comparison.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

bagful, nineties, seventies, sixties

AN ECLECTIC BAGFUL OF ARCHIVE SUMMARY REVIEWS

1956 rating: ***1/2 FORBIDDEN PLANET: The 1950's were full of some pretty bad science fiction movies, so here's a good one... N...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/18/2014 / 1 Comment / billy dee williams , drama , fritz weaver , kim fields , lance kerwin , stacey nelkin , stella stevens , suzanne crough , tv movie

STACEY NELKIN IN THE TV MOVIE 'CHILDREN OF DIVORCE'

billy dee williams, drama, fritz weaver, kim fields, lance kerwin, stacey nelkin, stella stevens, suzanne crough, tv movie

STACEY NELKIN IN THE TV MOVIE 'CHILDREN OF DIVORCE'

1980 rating: ***1/2 Stacey Nelkin is a cult actress known as the ingénue from HALLOWEEN 3, the pretty starlet in YELLOWBEARD, and last a...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/17/2014 / No comments / barry miller , cynthia rhodes , frank stallone , john travolta , sequel , seventies , sylvester stallone

JOHN TRAVOLTA IN 'SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER' AND 'STAYING ALIVE'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEy9qurR6CcCp_uymiT1xC3kP4XVdNlF_FRCssFaLedjQBZtI0KC7BAcEsuZQpueakduJ7s3QDerV6acbL0gNEDk67W2H0M5Cx0IVgsiSFYmD1qXLdV7mcL-gRPGgVCvACEvjozpM0brrK/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-12-13+at+1.27.39+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="1600" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEy9qurR6CcCp_uymiT1xC3kP4XVdNlF_FRCssFaLedjQBZtI0KC7BAcEsuZQpueakduJ7s3QDerV6acbL0gNEDk67W2H0M5Cx0IVgsiSFYmD1qXLdV7mcL-gRPGgVCvACEvjozpM0brrK/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-12-13+at+1.27.39+AM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Travolta (facing unseen talent agent Estelle Getty) YEAR: 1983</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>STAYING ALIVE:</u><b> </b>Believe it or not, 
STAYING ALIVE, the sequel to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, is not a John 
Travolta film...<br />
<br />
It belongs entirely to writer/director Sylvester 
Stallone, rehashing the ROCKY storyline of a diamond in the rough 
fighting to survive, and given a miraculous chance at quick fame (much 
like Stallone himself)...<br />
<br />
Only here he's a dancer, not a 
boxer... and unlike the Oscar-winning southpaw tale, it's a pretty bad 
movie/great guilty pleasure, and fun as hell! Travolta 
struggles to make it from the streets to lead dancer in the cheesiest 
Broadway musical ever created, SATAN'S ALLEY (a title derived from 
Stallone's own b-movie, PARADISE ALLEY), a cross between CATS and a surreal flu 
dream...<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzR85RAYsqdT7JaDY1erAQp2dVbV6MmkNqpjNRCZg5bM1cietods6hki-To7uY_II_uPaeDYISr0iBEJViBPupSLmtAbUzacTVz4xxfluJHRoEo5JajhgXlUwEwkoGVKkX_zjhVZZaOfo/s1600/Staying-Alive-John-Travolta.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzR85RAYsqdT7JaDY1erAQp2dVbV6MmkNqpjNRCZg5bM1cietods6hki-To7uY_II_uPaeDYISr0iBEJViBPupSLmtAbUzacTVz4xxfluJHRoEo5JajhgXlUwEwkoGVKkX_zjhVZZaOfo/s1600/Staying-Alive-John-Travolta.jpg" width="203" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"Dancing So Close... To... The Fire!"</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Playing the character he made famous in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER,
 Travolta's former Disco King Tony Manero charms his way into the bed of beautiful and classy Broadway star Finola Hughes, who turns the tables and uses 
him. And much like the FEVER dance contest finale, the big budget musical is what
 everything leads to... resulting in the same kind of whiny idealism for
 the main character, taking his dancing much too seriously... But now 
we're skipping ahead... <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLPhYIYbcIc53iDFIRkRhZxvKuyIf8R4QycLnhcqBOcGWyUeQkOE4pJdAiqM6EqILEkSlGs0N9MZIDMfiIer61kV9OejTVjBZiKurc2qP0SDOzd4ZCnBzOgtUKmX5JQo3Sez-wHLE-tE/s1600/stayling+alive+2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLPhYIYbcIc53iDFIRkRhZxvKuyIf8R4QycLnhcqBOcGWyUeQkOE4pJdAiqM6EqILEkSlGs0N9MZIDMfiIer61kV9OejTVjBZiKurc2qP0SDOzd4ZCnBzOgtUKmX5JQo3Sez-wHLE-tE/s1600/stayling+alive+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cynthia's "Rocky" Rhodes</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's a contrived overabundance of Tony getting his
 just-deserts i.e. the player getting played by this devilish vixen, and his 
complaining gets tiresome... <br />
<br />
All the while he uses his loyal girlfriend 
played by Cynthia Rhodes, a cross between FEVER originals Karen Lynn Gorney (talented) and Donna Pescow (sym<u>pathetic</u>): Rhode's Jackie just can't help but to 
love the bad boy. And, like Rocky Balboa, our dancing hero, 
sculpted with mapped-out body muscles yet looking strangely gaunt, 
facially, strives for heights never thought possible: Tony, having 
"grown up," is now going for gold.<br />
<br />
The new, geared-for-the-1980's Bee
 Gee's Soundtrack, unlike the classically catchy disco romps of the late-70's (which had seemed a thousand years earlier but was only six), is full 
of breezy, filler, forgettable pop tunes. Meanwhile, Frank Stallone's muscular fanfare, <i>Far From Over</i>, captures the "drive" a whole lot better, serving as a victorious anthem much like Bill Conti's <i>Gonna Fly Now</i> in ROCKY...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri_Zf0XFVXFrgJc-UbSPJq3IlPLMfliooIlxETaPiyg9FggTjmJnvJbL1IKSOoB2xdpcpQeR9GEakwlHeeUHlAoLtqVmqkrd7EfnDTA0VJsjKmQx3ThARND21mVWSs3-waBN6z51rVLY/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri_Zf0XFVXFrgJc-UbSPJq3IlPLMfliooIlxETaPiyg9FggTjmJnvJbL1IKSOoB2xdpcpQeR9GEakwlHeeUHlAoLtqVmqkrd7EfnDTA0VJsjKmQx3ThARND21mVWSs3-waBN6z51rVLY/s320/2.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"Demented Paratroop;er"</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In some ways, STAYING ALIVE is even more entertaining than the 
original, centering completely on Tony sans intrusion from his priest brother, bickering parents (though mom provides a mellow 
cameo), or his pointlessly plotted cronies... And the intentionally hollow side-characters here, including Steve Inwood 
as an edgy Broadway director, are working hard to keep him ready
 and steady for opening night. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
And now we'll end with a nostalgic memory: Yours truly was
 in the theater when this movie's trailer played... The audience roared 
with laughter when then-dated-as-now title showed up on the screen... So let's give 
Stallone a hand for such a risky venture, and during his peak, no less...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Staying Alive Normal Movie Score: *** Bad Movie Cult Status: ****</u></td></tr>
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So keep an eye out for the director's cameo, pictured below, while Tony walks down
 the streets of Manhattan... In one scene Sly's brother Frank, playing a
 guitarist for Jackie's band, is described by Tony as looking like a 
"demented paratrooper," which is writer Sly's own words describing his 
bro....<br />
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And last but not least <i>but definitely</i> the most obscure pop culture Easter Egg for Cinefiles (years before we used banal movie-geek catchphrases like <i>Easter Eggs</i>... or <i>Cinefiles)</i>: If you listen 
closely towards the end of the movie during the halfway point of the 
musical where, backstage, you'll hear someone say: "Yo, Adrian... Showtime!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcKrXhKVg90cj6DwT5lZQ2keR-m8w_WwVaBI3Gdfq5PAPnSpcFckPuNZ7LTV8jsSw-1YAAFCircncwwBMDc0o8FrI9gkaYhrwPWCyVbwOFW0sXH10x6sbmiYrJ1aIT6CrB0uCT2CWdDc/s1600/trav1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcKrXhKVg90cj6DwT5lZQ2keR-m8w_WwVaBI3Gdfq5PAPnSpcFckPuNZ7LTV8jsSw-1YAAFCircncwwBMDc0o8FrI9gkaYhrwPWCyVbwOFW0sXH10x6sbmiYrJ1aIT6CrB0uCT2CWdDc/s1600/trav1.PNG" width="158" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>disco year of: 1977 </u></td></tr>
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<u>SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER:</u> It doesn’t matter to John Travolta’s Tony Manero whether he’s dancing at the local nightclub or walking down the street during daylight work hours… He’s got the type of oblivious, jangly rhythm not even a shabby neighborhood can touch…<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2Vd8L0OytrXT26RDBbIFCHEQDqeII0yCdBDwcr1AUHpw3Oy5cWU8-PUuRrfyyepSDBXYign5UPgCihjvT_35PmgtwHQ_H1NJxvcDYtlAvum8-ITSsPfy01W9qQfAt2Fz5-zfZcmZa86y/s1600/Saturday-Night-Fever-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="389" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2Vd8L0OytrXT26RDBbIFCHEQDqeII0yCdBDwcr1AUHpw3Oy5cWU8-PUuRrfyyepSDBXYign5UPgCihjvT_35PmgtwHQ_H1NJxvcDYtlAvum8-ITSsPfy01W9qQfAt2Fz5-zfZcmZa86y/s400/Saturday-Night-Fever-4.jpeg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Serpico Night Fever</u></td></tr>
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Which is extremely important since his friends don't have much to do with the plotline, mostly centering on Tony either brooding alone, looking into a mirror or his movie posters, dancing in the center of a cheering/clapping crowd, or suffering a friendly romance with uptown girl Stephanie, a pretentious sophisticate who drops more names than a phone book made of sleet...<br />
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No news here, but it's the music on the million dollar soundtrack that's the real deal, headlined by the Bee Gees <i>Stayin’ Alive</i>, a funky shuffling anthem impossible not to move around to...<br />
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Other songs include <i>How Deep is your Love</i>, obviously providing the love theme throughout despite an unrequited romance: The established playboy has finally met a chick he can't melt with his usual sly charm... <i>More Than A Woman</i> is the soulful dance groove while <i>Night Fever</i>, a backbeat rendition of <i>Stayin’ Alive</i>, is a far better tune. Of course tracks by other artists also keep the ball rolling including <i>Disco Inferno</i>, <i>Boogie Shoes</i> and <i>A Fifth of Beethoven</i>, all taking place within the 2001 ODYSSEY nightclub, a location director John Badham captures in all its glittery glory.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaPwAIaa6hcRqBnrvty3EPuRx3hyphenhyphenADU1qY4pq6FQ_fsYnl7Io9MzejCM8ly1OEZ69S_nPBqobDVO_zh42F7r23zOhtnyX3rRV_FX462K2AhK5pAIwthwEN4UsU-3fg0rztKoS1XB2jIWI/s1600/TheBeeGeesSaturdayNightFeveralbumcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaPwAIaa6hcRqBnrvty3EPuRx3hyphenhyphenADU1qY4pq6FQ_fsYnl7Io9MzejCM8ly1OEZ69S_nPBqobDVO_zh42F7r23zOhtnyX3rRV_FX462K2AhK5pAIwthwEN4UsU-3fg0rztKoS1XB2jIWI/s1600/TheBeeGeesSaturdayNightFeveralbumcover.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Rea Goldmine was the Album</u></td></tr>
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Cinematic fiction aside, not everyone was (or is) a disco fan... DISCO SUCKS was once a catchphrase and ever-used graffiti quote. The trendy genre was a threat to rock n' rollers and the punk movement reveled in the inevitable demise. Ever since, disco has since become a polyester punchline. But it's been a while since the late 1970’s, turning every form of music into a cherished antique serving the pop culture template as a whole, and... <br />
<br />
Back to basics... the friendship between Tony and his gang could have meant more, overall, like in GREASE where each "T-Bird" had a purpose other than propping up their leader's overall significance. But with an expectation of the doomed Bobby (played by Barry Miller, who turns in a much better performance as a whizkid in PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED), none of the fellas really stand out. One scene where they, goading their leader, bark like dogs at a White Castle is downright embarrassing: to Tony and the audience. And a sidestory about a local rival gang seems completely tacked on. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9-TfraYqUdZdUSimf4LkUh_Ob6R6TFukqpImR1-CF8-f0_ByF2JuCuZR81mTsuYsRrGeg6ybCpWswV78kUGq9CbQ-XsKm9WWk2c9GVkLV0u6dz4M-vm5AXK2dFlabY5yukwJ2Ek0_SY/s1600/3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9-TfraYqUdZdUSimf4LkUh_Ob6R6TFukqpImR1-CF8-f0_ByF2JuCuZR81mTsuYsRrGeg6ybCpWswV78kUGq9CbQ-XsKm9WWk2c9GVkLV0u6dz4M-vm5AXK2dFlabY5yukwJ2Ek0_SY/s1600/3.jpg" width="165" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>SNF Score: ***</u></td></tr>
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Meanwhile, Tony's fangirls, including Donna Pescow’s starry eyed Annette, who hangs around street corners just to watch Tony walk, or Fran Drescher as the non-rhythmic Connie, are useful idiots showing how uncaring our lead character is...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5KegB-IHeTI4pCIyKu-joLWbT6IejRKJoGB1bwHqroLnWwkef-hIBSk8XWWKi_HxHhGiV9DiKouQuMJ2v-HelWz6EYOEGjMKSMjrBA-Zg1MCpHXd9EgqyNJi3ZjkkdNMQLuWj1Yjt6OG/s1600/Saturday-Night-Fever-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="385" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5KegB-IHeTI4pCIyKu-joLWbT6IejRKJoGB1bwHqroLnWwkef-hIBSk8XWWKi_HxHhGiV9DiKouQuMJ2v-HelWz6EYOEGjMKSMjrBA-Zg1MCpHXd9EgqyNJi3ZjkkdNMQLuWj1Yjt6OG/s400/Saturday-Night-Fever-3.jpeg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"One day you'll direct me!"</u></td></tr>
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In this current wimpy environment, Tony's selfish and politically incorrect personality is something to admire...You won't see that in a main character any longer... Tony Manero would now be a villain.<br />
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John Travolta’s dire expressions alone, sifting in and out of the nightclub or dealing with his friends and family, including bickering parents and a brother who fled the priesthood, are fun to watch in a mainstream movie trying really hard for a plot, or for that matter, several weaving plots to make the dance numbers seem peripheral...<br />
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But no matter how hard it tries being a gritty urban melodrama, FEVER winds up a soundtrack film with an intentionally pointless anti-hero looking to strike an egocentric claim on existence... Yet his only real motivation, overriding even the desire to win the climactic dance contest, is when Tony tries for sexual action with his dance partner – the catch being only <i>he’s</i> interested in romance, which ironically winds up making him a more interesting character throughout.<br />
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barry miller, cynthia rhodes, frank stallone, john travolta, sequel, seventies, sylvester stallone