Hush is an incredibly low budget British horror romp which leans towards the likes of Steven Spielbergs Dual, and the Hitcher.

Zakes (William Ash) is a unpublished writer desperately looking for inspiration for his book, until the day comes however that he writes his book he spends his days and nights travelling the motorways sticking up posters in roadside services. On one night he takes his girlfriend Beth (Christine Bottomley) on the road with him, and as there night pans out it seems that there is some volatile ground in their relationship, it could either be at its end, or its beginning.  In a moment the arguments are forgotten as Zakes notices a girl tied up in the back of a passing van. In the minutes that follow things turn upside down and Zakes finds himself alone with his girlfriend in the same vehicle as the girl. As Zakes hits the road to free his girlfriend it seems that the least of his problems are encountering the kidnapper, as everyone seems to want a piece of him.

Hush is clearly low budget from the moment it begins, the acting is not where it should be, but for an edgy and gritty sounding British movie you’re prepared to accept it. Its storyline is straight out of a big budget American shocker, so to see a British spin on this type of movie is a fairly interesting concept.

Despite its budgetary limitations there has been a lot of time and attention put into the movies first opening thirty minutes, and it has so much promise. But then it all goes tragically wrong, the movie moves from the believable to something else, and as it makes this transition it throws up so many rehashes of other successful horror movies of recent years (Hostel being one such movie) that it fails to be something unique and turns from being cutting edge to a predictable and to be frank pathetic shadow of its former self.

The character of Zakes transforms rather unconvincingly from ordinary joe to subhuman on some level, almost terminator like, one minute he is nailed to the floor the next he’s climbing rocks, fences, and walls; with the same punctured hands. We have all seen movies where the hero suffers some sort of deep wound and carries on, but here our hero faces this from the midsection of the movie. If you cut yourself it’s annoying, and in ways very distracting, but imagine whooping great puncture marks.

To add to the subhuman nature of Zakes, you then have this sort of mass conspiracy that seems to encapsulate all the characters that Zakes encounters to some extreme or another. This is no isolated kidnapping this is a form of commodity, and it seems that various people along the motorway have been bought into it, whether for the long or short term. Annoyingly this curveball used to shock is used more than once, and as a result loses its impact.

With no budget for known actors the movie pulls in one name, well a name that some may understand and that is Shaun Dingwall, who through TV show Doctor Who has become quickly established as a solid actor, his brief two minute cameo appears just as the movie loses its credibility rather ironically.

For a low budget movie its not all bad, however if they had kept the movie smaller, more intimate and claustrophobic this movie could have achieved a wider audience and become essentially a British classic instantly.

Just to add to the annoyance the movies main villain spends the film without any reveal as to who he is, or what is making him do these things. And as the credits role (PS don’t switch off too quickly as they begin to roll) you discover he has been given the name “The Tarman” just to induce a sort of pathetic nausea. How much more affective would the movie had been had he been a “real person” with a real name, and a reason behind his crimes exposed.  But no instead we end up with this two dimensional character who you never really get to see right up to the end of the movie.

Hush is without doubt an interesting movie, and something very different for a British offering, but it failed to bring anything knew to me. 

Rebel Without a Cause 1955 40×60-inch poster style Z

Nicholas Ray Directs Rebel Without a Cause

Stewart Stern and Irving Shulman wrote Rebel Without a Cause based on a story by Nicholas Ray (1911-1979). Ray (Knock on Any Door, Flying Leathernecks, Johnny Guitar) directed, with Leonard Rosenman serving up the original music score and Ernest Haller as cinematographer.

James Dean (Jim Stark), Natalie Wood (Judy) and Sal Mineo (John “Plato” Crawford) head the cast. Other players include Jim Backus (Frank Stark), Ann Doran (Carol Stark), Corey Allen (Buzz Gunderson), William Hopper (Judy’s Father), Rochelle Hudson (Judy’s Mother), Dennis Hopper (Goon), Edward Platt (Ray Fremick), Robert Foulk (Gene), Nick Adams (Chick), Steffi Sidney (Mil) and Frank Mazzola (Crunch).

Rebel Without a Cause Filmed in California

Budgeted at $1.5 million, Rebel Without a Cause was filmed from March to May 1955. John Marshall High School in Los Angeles served as the fictional Dawson High School for the movie’s interior scenes, with L.A.’s Griffith Park Observatory used for the planetarium shootout. Other California locations included Calabasas, Mendocino and Santa Monica High School. Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank served as the picture’s in-house production facility.

One of the movie’s more intense scenes, the knife fight between James Dean and Corey Allen, was filmed using real switchblades. In order to guard against accidental piercings, the two young actors donned protective chainmail beneath their vests.

In a bit of Cold War history, the scene in which the teens rush to the edge of the cliff following the infamous “chickie run” was punctuated by the detonation of a thermonuclear bomb known as “Zucchini” in the Nevada desert on May 15, 1955. That explosion, part of Operation Teapot, made it appear as if a rising sun had self- destructed.

James Dean and Natalie Wood in Rebel Without a Cause

Rebel Without a Cause: James Dean and Troubled Teens

The Stark family arrive in Los Angeles where 17-year-old Jim enrolls at Dawson High School. Jim, who despises his father for his perceived weakness, wastes no time getting into trouble. Jailed by the police for underage drinking, Jim is visited at the station by his father, mother and grandmother who take him home.

While at school Jim runs afoul of gang member Buzz Gunderson. He also makes the acquaintance of young Judy, who travels with Buzz’s gang, and a slight, shy 15-year-old nicknamed “Plato.” Jim later tangles with Buzz following a tire-slashing incident at the planetarium, with the two teens going at it with switchblades.

Following taunts from Buzz and his gang questioning his masculinity, Jim agrees to a “chickie run,” whereby he and Buzz will race two stolen cars to the edge of a cliff. The first boy to bail out loses, thus earning the “chicken” label. The deadly contest ends in tragedy when Buzz, unable to free himself from his vehicle after his leather jacket gets caught, plunges to his death in a fiery crash below.

After Jim makes an attempt to go to the police, Buzz’s gang takes up his trail. Accompanying Jim are Judy and an armed Plato, who begins shooting at friend and foe alike. While holed up in the Griffith Park Observatory, an unstable, pathetic Plato is eventually gunned down by a police officer acting in self defense.

Rebel Without a Cause Release, Reviews

Rebel Without a Cause opened in movie theaters on October 27, 1955.

“It is a violent, brutal and disturbing picture of modern teen-agers that Warner Brothers presents in its new melodrama at the Astor…Young people neglected by their parents or given no understanding and moral support by fathers and mothers who are themselves unable to achieve balance and security in their homes are the bristling heroes and heroines of this excessively graphic exercise. Like ‘Blackboard Jungle’ before it, it is a picture to make the hair stand on end,” observed Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (10/27/55).

“Here is a fairly exciting, suspenseful and provocative, if also occasionally far-fetched, melodrama of unhappy youth on another delinquency kick…The performance of the star, James Dean, will excite discussion, especially in connection with the irony of his own recent crash death under real-life conditions of recklessness which form a macabre press agent frame as the picture goes into release,” reported Variety (10/26/55).

Rebel Without a Cause and the James Dean Cult

James Dean never lived to see the impact of his signature movie, Rebel Without a Cause. The actor died less than four weeks before the film opened, perishing in a car crash in Cholame, California, on September 30, 1955. What a tragedy, for Dean no doubt would have basked in the ensuing limelight. 

The 24-year-old Dean is a marvel to watch, playing the tormented, rebellious teen who defies his parents, locks horns with gang members and romances the young Natalie Wood. One of Dean’s best lines is aimed at bickering mom and pop, when he mouths the now-famous words, “You’re tearing me apart!”

One of the highlights of Rebel is the infamous “chickie run,” filmed on Warner property in Calabasas, California. The racing cars, as depicted in the scene, simply dropped off a small 10-15 foot embankment, with a studio-built “cliff” and matte shots of the Pacific Ocean later added for the proper effect.

Complementing Dean’s bravura performance are Natalie Wood as the slutty Judy and Sal Mineo as the gay-leaning Plato. Somewhat out of place is Jim Backus, whom many will readily identify as Thurston Howell III of TV’s Gilligan’s Island (1964-67) and/or the voice of the myopic cartoon character Mr. Magoo.

James Dean (1931-1955)

Rebel Without a Cause Box Office, Academy Award Nominations, Notes, DVD

• Rebel Without a Cause grossed $4.6 million at the American box office, good for the #20 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1955.
• Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Mineo), Best Story (Nicholas Ray), Best Supporting Actress (Wood)
• Four young stars in Rebel met untimely deaths: James Dean (1931-1955) in an automobile accident, Natalie Wood (1938-1981) in a drowning accident off California’s Santa Catalina Island, Sal Mineo (1939-1976) in a homicide in West Hollywood and Nick Adams (1931-68) from a drug overdose.
• One of Rebel’s biggest fans was Elvis Presley, who could recite much of James Dean’s dialogue from memory. 
• On DVD: Rebel Without a Cause Special Edition (Warner, 1999).

Additional Reading

• James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in Giant (1956)
• Collectible James Dean Movie Posters

Ahead of its time, Long Weekend made back in 1978 is an incredibly disturbing tale of a couple from Australia whose weekend away from the city to a beautiful isolated beach location goes incredibly wrong when mother nature seeks revenge on them for there offences against it.

This well acted two handed piece of filmmaking almost exclusively follows couple Peter and Marcia played by John Hargeaves and Briony Behets respectively on there weekend of horror.

As their holiday begins you see the couple unleash a variety of offences on the Australian countryside, from running over a kangaroo to starting a bush fire.  And amazingly the very precise filming of the movie means that the viewer also begins to pass judgment on the couple.

The cleverly written script thrusts the two characters headlong at you, but not in a way that you appreciate them, wonderfully although you want to see the characters escape there horror, you also want bad things to happen to them, because you find it incredibly difficult to like them. The character of Marcia is incredibly difficult to like, her venomous tongue vomiting bile with almost every single breath she takes.

The relationship between the couple is difficult to grasp, because while they seem to hate each other its also still very clear that to a degree they are also very much in love.  This does have a tendency to skewer your views of the characters, one minute they fight, the next they seem incredibly close.

Long Weekend is incredibly haunting, not least for the arrival of a sea cow that is killed by Peter when he and Marcia become concerned over its increasing presence whenever he takes a swim. The sea cow is a troubling looking creature not helped by its inability to die.  The sea cow despite its menace is far from being the most disturbing image you see on screen.

A deeper reviewer would question the situation regarding the couples potential fate, making literary or psychological references to the trip the couple take to there location, the never ending road that leads to nowhere almost as if they are being deliberately veered of course to there doom.  But I’m not this deep, and I feel that personally the journey they take is exactly what its meant to be, going exactly where they should. Nothing too deep, just a journey to their destiny.

Long Weekend was never truly appreciated in its time, a period of time where we had no real concept of the end of days like we do now. At the time the Long Weekend was made societies biggest concern was there own personal fate, now as we continue to pollute and destroy the Earth with think more about our descendants mortality rather than ours, what sort of terrible world will they grow old in. Elements of the movies story were ahead of there time in other ways too, at one point Marcia pleasures herself, the sort of story aspect hinted at in movies of the day but never exposed in such detail as they are here, its very clear what is going on whereas in other movies of the day there could always be a double meaning to things.

As a movie goes Long Weekend along with its 2008 remake is one of those movies that once seen is never forgotten; its haunted, twisted, vicious storyline is so harsh that most other films seem harmless compared to it. If you get the chance to see Long Weekend you really should. 

The Jacket is a haunting and enchanting tale of life’s final journey, separating right from wrong, and potential lost love. Its dark and edgy and divides its viewing audience one of two ways, some love it, some hate, and of those that hate it a proportion do not really get it.

Cover of The Jacket

Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) was 27 years old the first time he died, a soldier in the first gulf war taken down by a young boy who he was trying to befriend. After being pronounced dead, Jack returned to life; left a wandering casualty of war with a shady memory and unusual manner. While walking in Vermont he befriends a young girl, and later accepts a lift from a young man. This acceptance of a lift leads to the death of a police officer, and a lack of memory means that Jack ends up being committed to an asylum for a crime he may not have committed. In hospital Jack ends up under the care of Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson) whose “exceptional” methods of treatment involve putting patients in a straight jacket before placing them in a mortuary locker.

Its in the locker that things for Jack get really interesting, his realistic visions take him ten years into the future, to a place where Jack Starks does not exist, not for the past ten years anyway. Through the help of a waitress called Jackie (Keira Knightly), Jack discovers that three days from his encounter with the locker for the second time he will die. For Jack it’s a race against time to discover how he died, or if he can change future history.

The Jacket is a magnificent movie that first haunts you then woos you as it moves from what is essentially horror to romance. It’s an incredibly big story that manages to fit its immense tale into just over 90 minutes. Despite the terrible feeling of darkness and evil that encompasses more or less the entire movie, The Jacket really is a lovely movie. The sadness in that statement however is that it’s a movie that is so far ahead of its time its still not appreciated.

While Jack battles to save himself he is not alone, and in what almost feels like a separate story Dr. Beth Lorenson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) struggles to find a way to save Jack, without understanding his impending fate, she just has a feeling that something bad is happening. But what is incredibly unique in this relationship that seems initially as a good doctor battling against a bad one (Becker), as the story plays out these lines are blurred as you reassess situation.  And this is the beauty of The Jacket, who are the bad people? Who are the good people? You know from the offset that Jack is good but what about all the other characters? As you watch your views shift, and if there is any uncertainty about the movie then its in this area.

The performances are electrifying , from Adrien Brody’s tragic portrayal of Jack, to the breathtaking performances by Keira Knightly playing an American, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as a doctor on the edge, but what of? But the real prizewinner is that of James Bond actor Daniel Craig almost unrecognisable as a jealous husband committed to the asylum because he was too possessive and obsessed with his wife, Craig’s character is convincingly insane.

The Jackets story is vast and it feels like your watching a serialisation as so many story strands are addressed, you don’t really notice this till you watch the movie for a second time and take in the full aspect of the story. You feel like you have watched the essence of the movie, when realistically it has only just begun. And its in this that The Jacket really impresses on you, and etches its way into your mind. It’s a tale you’ll never forgot, and one you’ll enjoy watching again.

Despite its big names in both cast and production crew which include George Clooney and Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Jacket is very much a British movie, filmed almost entirely in a old Scottish Village hospital called Bangour. It’s a magnificent achievement to watch this movie that looks in every way American deceive you to such an extent. 

This is not a piece about films that are so bad people might call them absurd. This is a piece about films that have come from the works of Absurdist authors and playwrights. These authors, in their work, illustrate Absurdist philosophy, which is “the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning in the universe ultimately fail and are hence absurd, because there is no such meaning to be found, at least in regards to the individual.” Many believe that Absurdism started, in much the same way as did Existentialism and Nihilism, with the work of Søren Kierkegaard. This may be true to some extent. However, at the same time as Kierkegaard was laying the foundations for these philosophies in Denmark, in Russia Nikolai Gogol was writing stories that would also become some of the corner stones of Absurdist Literature. Absurdism would be later defined by the work of Camus and Kafka. Camus taking the stance that we can find our own meaning through things such as our actions and interpersonal relationships. Playwrights of The Theatre of The Absurd genre, such as Eugène Ionesco would also put their stamp on the developing philosophy of Absurdism. More recent Absurdist Literature by Josef Heller has become labeled as mere satire. However, the classification of satire does not do justice to Heller’s work. Sadly many Absurdist pieces are often mistaken for satire, while others viewed as just a depressing story. Absurdism is much more complex than satire or depressing stories and the films I am spotlighting here are some very good examples of Absurdist Literature that has been turned into film.

La Peste (The Plague)

This rather depressing 1992 film was based on the 1947 novel by Albert Camus. Directed by Luis Puenzo, and starring William Hurt, as Doctor Bernard Rieux, the film tells the tale of a South American city during the outbreak of a plague. Rieux and his associates remain to care for the sick and dying as others flee the city. As the story progresses they get overwhelmed by the hopelessness of the situation and begin to question their beliefs. The film stays very true to Camus original work with the major exception of the location. The location in the novel was in the Algerian town of Oran. Both the novel and the film illustrate the Absurdist belief that life is irrational. Even though Camus wrote this piece with that belief in mind he also believed, as I stated earlier, that despite the lack of actual meaning in life we can create our own meaning through our actions and interactions with others. If you watch this film, or read the novel it was based on, keep this later clarification of Camus’ personal philosophy at the forefront. If you do that both works can actually be inspirational.

La Peste Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGZIUhbzlxo

Cover of The Plague

Das Schloß (The Castle)

This 1968 film was West Germany’s entry into the Best Foreign Film category for the 44th Academy Awards. The film was directed by Rodolf Noelte, and starred Maximilian Schell as the lead character K. The film was based on Franz Kafka’s 1922 work and last novel. In both the film and the novel, K futilely tries to get in contact with the authorities that govern a village where he wants to acquire the position of land surveyor. These authorities are hidden away behind the walls of an imposing castle and despite all of his attempts K is repeatedly unable to gain admittance. Kafka died before finishing the novel and the film does not attempt to make an ending of its own. The film simply leaves off where Kafka’s pen fall silent, which perhaps makes both the novel and the film one of the greatest pieces of Absurdism in their respective mediums.

Cover via Amazon

Rhinoceros

This 1974 film was based on the 1959 play by Eugène Ionesco. The film’s main character Stanley, played by Gene Wilder, watches as the residents of his town turn into rhinoceroses. At first Stanley distances himself from these transformations, until they begin to affect his personal life. After his best friend John, played by Zero Mostel, and his girlfriend Daisy, played by Karen Black, start their transformation Stanley begins to worry. The American Film Theater, who produced this film, took many liberties with the original Ionesco play in this production. In this version the location was changed from France to The United States and the characters’ names were Americanized. This film was not well received upon its release. Time Magazine’s Jay Cocks said, it was “an upbeat, frantic vulgarization of the Ionesco text”, and that director Tom O’Horgan “removed not only the politics, but the resonance as well. What remains is a squeaky sermon on the virtues of non-conformity.”. Although, this film may not be accurate to Ionesco’s original vision it is worth viewing, if only for the comic facial expressions that Zero Mostel gives throughout the film.

Rhinoceros Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYgR1Pb-lk4

Cover of Catch-22

Catch 22

This 1970 film was based on the 1961 book by Josef Heller. Screenwriter Buck Henry changed much of the plot and took out many of its elements, yet Heller is said to have approved of the film and was impressed by Henry’s dialog. Heller even went so far as to say that he wished he could have included some of Henry’s dialog in the novel. The story is about a World War II US Army Air Force bombardier’s attempts to get out of flying dangerous missions. Captain Yossarian, played by Alan Arkin, attempts to get out of his situation are made impossible by a rule called “Catch 22”, which is explained as “An airman would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he would have to fly them, If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to, but if he didn’t, he was sane and had to.”. Because of this contradiction the term “Catch 22” has become a part of popular culture to describe things that have a similar flawed logic.

Scene from Catch 22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTx1QOpETvo

The Nose

I have not seen this short film, however as Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 short story The Nose is one of my personal favorite works of Absurdist Literature I am including it. The film was made using pinscreen animation. Pinscreen animation is a process where a screen is filled with movable pins which can be manipulated by pressing objects into them and lighting these pins to create shadows. This technique was created by Alexandre Alexeïeff, and his wife Claire Parker, who, in 1963, made this short film of The Nose. The Nose is another tale in which the protagonist is faced with a seemingly absurd and futile dilemma. In The Nose the protagonist’s dilemma is finding that his nose has detached from his face and is parading about town as a human. To make matters worse The Nose has a higher rank than he does in his job as a civil servant. He attempts to capture the nose for reattachment. I will not go any further with the plot here so that you can read and enjoy the original short story or view the short film, if you are lucky enough to find it.

Cover of The Nose

If you watch these films and take on an Absurdist world view remember that we can create meaning in our own lives by our actions and interactions with others. The people who wrote the original works these films were based on did that by writing these pieces. The people who made these films did that by making these films for us to enjoy and ponder. We can all find meaning in our own lives by just living, loving, creating, sharing, laughing, and enjoying the experiences we have while they are happening. Once you take the step towards realizing there is no meaning beyond just existing you can become free to do what ever it is you want to do. Maybe you will want to watch one of these films as an experience or maybe you will make a film like them as an experience. What ever it is I hope you enjoy the experience.

The photos in this piece are of the books these films were based on, with the exception of the movie poster for Catch 22.

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Movies catering to black audiences were nothing new by the early 1970s. In the days of racial segregation, a black or “separate cinema” flourished in the United States from the Teens to the 1950s, producing a plethora of movies with all-black casts.

In the early 1970s, amidst the slogans of black pride and black power, the “blaxploitation” movie emerged from mainstream Hollywood. The name is derived from two words: “black” and “exploitation,” with black characters and predominantly black themes carrying the production.

Here are ten classic blaxploitation movies that no fan of this genre should ever miss. Right on, brother, and keep on truckin’…

Shaft (MGM, 1971)

Shaft hit movie theaters like a ghetto blaster on July 2, 1971. Richard Roundtree plays the title character – that’s Shaft, John Shaft – a self-described “spade detective” who is hired by Harlem gangster Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn) to retrieve his kidnapped daughter from the clutches of the Italian Mafia. Roundtree is in top form as one of Hollywood’s hippest private eyes ever, with Mr. Isaac Hayes delivering the soulful, butt-kicking “Theme from Shaft.” Sing it, Isaac: “They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother…/Shut Your Mouth!/I’m talkin’ ’bout Shaft/Then we can dig it!”

• Academy Award nominations: Best Original Music Score (Hayes), Best Original Song (Hayes, won)
• Great Richard Roundtree line (in reply to Lawrence Pressman, who asks where the hell he’s going): “To get laid, where the hell are you going?”
• Director: Gordon Parks
• Sequels: Shaft’s Big Score! (1972), Shaft in Africa (1973)
• On DVD: Shaft (Warner, 2000)

Blacula (American International Pictures, 1972)

William Marshall plays Prince Mamuwalde, “Dracula’s Soul Brother” who awakens in modern-day Los Angeles where he samples both the nightlife and the local human cuisine. Marshall is a riot as the charming, debonair 18th century vampire-about-town who sees in young Tina (Vonetta McGee) the reincarnation of his long-dead wife. Charles Macaulay plays a racist Count Dracula, with Denise Nicholas, Thalmus Rasulala and Gordon Pinsent in amusing support.

• Great William Marshall line: “Please forgive me. I must depart now. I have indeed had a rare pleasure.”
• Director: William Crain
• Sequel: Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
• On DVD: Blacula (MGM, 2004)

Super Fly (Warner Bros., 1972)

Ron O’Neal cops the starring role as Youngblood Priest, a black cocaine dealer and martial arts practitioner who plans one more big score before he quits the rackets. His “business plan” centers on making a quick one million dollars while sticking it to The Man. But Priest’s friends, fellow drug dealers and a corrupt deputy police commissioner have a different agenda, with Priest fighting for his life on the mean streets of Harlem and the Big Apple. Carl Lee, Sheila Frazer, Julius Harris and Charles McGregor are along for the pimp ride – in Priest’s 1971 customized Cadillac Eldorado, no less. The incomparable Curtis Mayfield delivers the film’s classic music score, including the songs “Super Fly” and “Freddy’s Dead.”

• Great Ron O’Neal line: “With my record I can’t even work civil service or join the damn army. If I quit now, then I took all this chance for nothing and I go back to being nothing. Working some jive job for chump change day after day. Well if that’s all I’m supposed to do then they gonna have to kill me ’cause that ain’t enough.”
• Director: Gordon Parks Jr.
• Sequels: Super Fly T.N.T. (1973), The Return of Super Fly (1990)
• On DVD: Super Fly (Warner, 2004)

Black Caesar (American International Pictures, 1973)

Former pro football player Fred “The Hammer” Williamson plays Tommy Gibbs, a poor ghetto kid who aspires to one day head the rackets in Harlem. In order to prove himself, Gibbs becomes a paid hitman for the white Mob, earning his stripes and eventually his own turf. The Godfather of Soul – Mr. James “I Feel Good” Brown – performs the songs “Down and Out in New York City,” “Mama’s Dead” and “The Boss.” Williamson, who no doubt made Hollywood’s best-dressed list for 1973, is pure dynamite as the ruthless Harlem gangster, with Gloria Hendry, Art Lund and D’Urville Martin in support.

• Great Fred Williamson line (spoken at his mother’s funeral): “I gave her everything she wanted, Rufus, but she still wasn’t ever happy.”
• Director: Larry Cohen
• Sequel: Hell Up in Harlem (1973)
• On DVD: Black Caesar (Warner, 2001)

Cleopatra Jones (Warner Bros., 1973)

Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones, a fashion conscious, tough-as-nails special government agent out to put the big hurt on international drug traffickers. When Jones destroys a Turkish poppy field, she incurs the wrath of drug maven Mommy (Shelley Winters), who eventually authorizes a hit on the super G-woman. Tamara Dobson is one kick-ass you-go-girl in this black actioner, standing over six-feet tall, sporting a huge afro and tooling around town in her sleek, midnight black Corvette with blaring tape deck. Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes, Antonio Fargas and Dan Frazer are in solid support. Have you met this Miss Jones?

• Great Antonio Fargas line as Doodlebug Simkins: “Hair’s like a woman. You treat it good and it treats you good. Ain’t that right, honey? You hear what I’m saying? Yeah, you got to hold it, caress it and love it. And if your hair gets out of line you take a scissor and say, ‘Hair I’m going to cut you.’”
• Director: Jack Starrett
• Sequel: Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)
• On DVD: Cleopatra Jones (Warner, 1999)

Cotton Comes to Harlem (United Artists, 1970)

Chester Himes’ 1965 novel comes to life in this crime drama starring Godfrey Cambridge as Gravedigger Jones and Raymond St. Jacques as Coffin Ed Johnson, two NYPD detectives tasked with investigating the shady Reverend Deke O’Malley (Calvin Lockhart) and his Back to Africa movement. Harlem sizzles in this picture, replete with sex, wild car chases, shootouts and the hunt for an elusive bale of cotton containing the hidden cash. Redd Foxx plays a junk dealer and Judy Pace appears as the Reverend O’Malley’s seductive main squeeze who makes a fool out of a white cop, talking him out of his clothes and cajoling him into putting a paper bag over his head while she makes her escape.

• Great Raymond St. Jacques line: ”What the hell do the attorney general, the State Department, or even the President of the United States know about one goddamn thing that’s going on up here in Harlem?” 
• Director: Ossie Davis
• Sequel: Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972)
• On DVD: Cotton Comes to Harlem (Warner, 2001)

Slaughter (American International Pictures, 1972)

Ex-NFL great Jim Brown has the title role, playing a former Green Beret captain who seeks revenge for the car bombing murder of his parents by the Mob. Coerced into helping the federal government, Slaughter (no first name given) takes his vendetta to South America where he hopes to take out the two remaining crime bosses. There’s plenty of action in this one, with Stella Stevens, Rip Torn, Cameron Mitchell and Don Gordon along for the bloody descent into mayhem.

• Great Don Gordon line as Harry: “You’re really far out, you know that? I mean we go out to that house and let them know we are lookin’ to get killed, and all of a sudden your sittin’ on top of the world like your King Shit! Man, you’re weird Slaughter, I mean goddammit, you’re just weird!”
• Director: Jack Starrett
• Sequel: Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off (1973)
• On DVD: Slaughter (MGM, 2001)

Black Belt Jones (Warner Bros., 1974)

Super cool Jim Kelly plays the title character, a martial arts expert who defends old Pop Byrd (Scatman Crothers) when the Mob moves in on his karate emporium in the ‘hood. After Pop is accidentally killed by the gangsters, Black Belt Jones springs into action, delivering monster chops and high kicks as he fends off the invading goombahs and their lackeys. Gloria Hendry, Eric Laneuville, Alan Weeks and Malik Carter appear in support. “He clobbers the mob,” the movie’s tagline declares of Mr. Jones. And that he does…

• Great Malik Carter line as the black hood Pinky: “Choose money over honey? Shiiiiit. Man, you can pull out my groin, just gimme that coin! Man, I’d rather be dead than not have any bread! Pinky’s mama didn’t raise no fool!”
• Director: Robert Clouse
• Sequel: Black Belt Jones 2 (1978)
• On DVD: Urban Action Collection: 4 Film Favorites – Three the Hard Way (1974), Black Belt Jones (1974), Hot Potato (1976), Black Samson (1974) (Warner, 2010)

Coffy (American International Pictures, 1973)

Sexy mama Pam Grier plays the title character, an L.A. nurse who becomes a one-woman vigilante force after her younger sister becomes hospitalized after injecting contaminated heroin. Grier kicks some serious butt in this picture, employing both charm and brute force as she takes it to the pimping drug dealers and mafioso. Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliott, Alan Arbus and Sid Haig join in the festivities, along with a 1972 Corvette and a ghetto-cruising 1961 Cadillac Fleetwood, the latter driven by DoQui as the rancid pimp King George. “They call her Coffy and she’ll cream you!” the promo material promises. Believe it, baby…

• Great Pam Grier line: “So, you wanna play with knives, huh? Well you picked the wrong player!”
• Director: Jack Hill
• On DVD: Coffy (Warner, 2001)

Bucktown (American International Pictures, 1975)

Fred Williamson plays Duke Johnson, who has journeyed south to swinging Bucktown to bury his brother and settle his estate. Duke reopens his late brother’s nightclub The Alabama, where he is soon pressured by the local law enforcement crackers to pay protection money. When Duke refuses to pony up, things get rough, with Duke bringing in his own boys to help him in his battle against the corrupt rednecks. Pam Grier plays Williamson’s gal pal Aretha (she goes nude in one scene), with Thalmus Rasulala, Tony King and Bernie Hamilton also in the mix.

• Great Fred Williamson line: “Damn, brother, you have become one violent dude.”
• Director: Arthur Marks
• On DVD: Bucktown (Tofhe/MGM, 2003)

Ten More Blaxploitation Movie Favorites

• Foxy Brown (1974)
• Trouble Man (1972)
• Cooley High (1975)
• The Legend of Nigger Charley (1972)
• Three the Hard Way (1974)
• Willie Dynamite (1974)
• Friday Foster (1975)
• That Man Bolt (1973)
• Truck Turner (1974)
• Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

And no, we haven’t forgotten Blackenstein (1973), Black Mama, White Mama (1972) or The Black Gestapo (1975), either – dude.

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• Heritage Auction Galleries

SERIAL KILLER. In the late 1990’s, Renner played the role of Wisconsin’s latest serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. This was a role he was praised for, but it was not without controversy. This role got him a Best Actor nomination with the Independent Spirit Awards. This seems to have been the perfect early role for Renner. As a college student he couldn’t quite make up his mind on a major, ending up with a double major in theatre and psychology.

GETTING LAMPOONED: Renner’s debut came back in 1995 in the National Lampoon film Senior Trip.

BITE ME: Jeremy was ahead of his time on our culture’s current fascination with vampires. He got a guest-starring role as a vampire on the WB’s popular series Angel. More recently he was in the zombie sequel movie 28 Weeks Later.

S.W.A.T. Did you see the Colin Farrell blockbuster S.W.A.T.? If so than you’re sure to have seen Renner in this 2003 film.

REALITY TV: What? An Oscar nominee was once a reality star? Well, kind of. In 2003 Renner was in the Bravo TV reality show called “The It Factor”. The show followed different actors trying to find success.

HITTING THE BIG TIME:  Jeremy scored big recently by nabbing a big role in North Country and by starring in a TV cop show called The Unusuals. Unfortunately this ABC series only lasted one season.

So what’s next for this “new” star? Keep an eye out for him in a new Ben Afleck movie called The Town. Jeremy is also expected to be in The Raven, a film about the fictional account of Edgar Allen Poe’s last days.

Surrounding a couple who have more than a few secrets from each other, we see them exit the city for a long weekend break that will hopefully revitalise there ailing marriage. Despite being together it’s blatantly apparent from the offset that they know very little about each other. The wonder of Long Weekend however is that it’s a story within a story, for while the initial and prolonged focus of the movie is the disintegrating marriage, the secondary story comes slowly sneaking for you jugular.

As the movie unwinds we see the movies couple played flawlessly by Jim Caziezal and Claudia Karvan committing a variety of atrocities on the Australian countryside, from the dozy destruction of a curious kangaroo, to a bush fire caused by the disposal of a cigarette butt. The clever storytelling never lets the characters see the results of there throw away actions however, well not till the end at least.

The best and most compelling issue of the movie is that its very much a two handed piece, for 99% of the movies story you are stuck with the characters of Peter and Carla, this creates and instant feeling of claustrophobia, but set in a wide open space near the sea. The longer the couple spent together in this isolation the less they like each other and the most claustrophobic the movie feels to the viewer.  Its uncomfortable viewing to watch this couple so clearly once in love rubbing each other the wrong way to see the reactions of the other, and with each feud the more awful the level of hate becomes.  For Peter the approaching doom is smothered by the fact that he is too blinkered by the feuds with Carla. While she is capable of seeing what’s coming, and dealing the blows against Peter equally.

The aforementioned doom comes in a variety of ways, firstly in the location they set up camp, which seems situated on a road that leads nowhere and comes from nowhere. A dark shadowy looking creature stalks Peter each time he enters the sea. From beneath the surface Even the location of fellow campers who park up at the other end of the beach provide a certain tenseness, the reveal of their situation is expected but no less disturbing. Finally the fact that each mechanical device has an assured guarantee of failing on them.

Long Weekend is a very topical piece focussing on the final realisation that the human race is destroying this beautiful planet we inhabit, and multiplying it by 100. For the darkest part of the story is that human nature treats Peter and Carla the same way they treat it. And this beautiful idyll they have retreated too seems almost certain to become their final resting place.  From the moment they detour from the main road down a private road, there lives start to turn upside down.  And sadly for the movies characters there seems no escape.

The biggest thing with the movie is that it is eternally evil, the characters are virtually unlikeable, the things that happen to them are un-relentless, and the things they do to each other and their surroundings are unimaginable. You can literally smell the onscreen menace, its just so incredibly dark, and the same darkness leaves the screen after watching making Long Weekend one of those movies you will find hard to forget in a hurry, it’s the sort of haunting fear that only can be felt in real life. So long after the movie ends your haunted by the things that happened in it.

If there is one criticism of the movie it falls in the treatment of the couples dog Cricket, which on numerous occasions is seemingly forgotten about. He claims to love the dog but the throwaway way its treated almost confirms the dogs doom from the minute the movie starts.

James Stewart as Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

James “Jimmy” Stewart (1908-1997) was Hollywood’s Everyman, appearing in over 80 feature films during his long, distinguished career. Stewart made his film debut in Art Trouble (1934) in the uncredited role of Burton. His final movie was An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), in which he provided the voice of Wylie.

Although it’s extremely difficult, if not downright impossible, to pick James Stewart’s ten best movies, here they are nonetheless. Jimmy certainly made us proud, and these movies are among his greatest performances. Aw, shucks…

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Columbia, 1939)

James Stewart plays Jefferson Smith, the head of a boys organization who gets the call to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate. Stewart gives the performance of a lifetime, playing the country bumpkin who comes to Washington and learns the hard way that all is not right in the nation’s capitol. Complementing Stewart is an all-star cast comprised of Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi, H.B. Warner and Harey Carey.

• Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
• Great Stewart line: “Either I’m dead right, or I’m crazy!”
• Director: Frank Capra
• On DVD: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Special Edition (Columbia/Tristar, 2000)

It’s a Wonderful Life (RKO, 1946)

James Stewart plays small-town do-gooder George Bailey, the harried owner of the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan in fictional Bedford Falls. On Christmas Eve, George discovers an $8,000 discrepancy, making him wish that he had never been born. An apprentice angel named Clarence Oddbody begs to differ, showing the suicidal George what life would be like in Bedford Falls if his wish were granted. It’s pure Jimmy Stewart in this slice of “Capri-corn” – romancing Donna Reed, confronting the evil Mr. Potter, engaging in a wild Charleston contest, etc. – with Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame and H.B. Warner along for the merry ride.

• Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
• Great Stewart line: “Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!”
• Director: Frank Capra
• On DVD: It’s a Wonderful Life Two-Disc Collector’s Set (Paramount, 2007)

James Stewart as George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Paramount, 1956)

James Stewart plays Dr. Benjamin McKenna, an American physician on vacation in Morocco with his wife and young son. When the boy is kidnapped, the McKennas are plunged into a nightmare world of shadow and subterfuge, following the trail to London where they uncover an assassination plot. Many feel this may be Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest film, thanks in no small measure to Stewart who portrays the wild-eyed doctor with zeal and cunning. Doris “Que Sera, Sera” Day, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Miles, Ralph Truman and Alan Mowbray appear in handsome support.

• Great Stewart line: “If you ever get hungry, our garden back home is full of snails. We tried everything to get rid of them. We never thought of a Frenchman!”
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• On DVD: The Man Who Knew Too Much (Universal, 2006)

Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia, 1959)

James Stewart plays Paul Biegler, a former district attorney who signs on to defend an Army officer accused of murdering a bar owner. The victim had allegedly raped the officer’s wife, but no forensic evidence can be found corroborating the sexual assault. The wily Biegler, assisted by his has-been colleague Parnell McCarthy, adopts a temporary insanity plea for his client, hoping that will be enough for a jury to acquit. Stewart excels in the courtroom scenes, and provides a little side entertainment as well while tickling the ivories, putting to good use the piano lessons he had taken during childhood. Ben Gazzara, Lee Remick, Arthur O’Connell and George C. Scott enhance the legal proceedings.

• Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
• Great Stewart line: “Drop the stone, Counselor. You live in a glass house.”
• Director: Otto Preminger
• On DVD: Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia/Tristar, 2000)

James Stewart as Paul Biegler, with Lee Remick and Ben Gazzara, in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Vertigo (Paramount, 1958)

James Stewart plays John “Scottie” Ferguson, a San Francisco police detective who retires from the force after witnessing a colleague’s plunge to his death during a rooftop pursuit. Now suffering from vertigo, Ferguson is hired by old college chum Gavin Elster to investigate the activities of Mrs. Elster, who is behaving strangely. The film’s plot may be somewhat confusing, but James Stewart has never been better as the vulnerable, acrophobic ex-flatfoot. Kim Novak plays the mysterious femme fatale, with Barbara Bel Geddes and Tom Helmore in support.

• Great Stewart line: “You shouldn’t keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn’t have been that sentimental.”
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• On DVD: Vertigo Collector’s Edition (Universal, 1998)

The Philadelphia Story (MGM, 1940)

James Stewart plays Macaulay “Mike” Connor, a tabloid reporter for Spy magazine who is sent by his publisher to cover the wedding of wealthy Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord. Complicating matters is the arrival of Lord’s ex-husband, who never quite measured up to her demanding standards. A screwball comedy endemic to the era, The Philadelphia Story also features Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord, Cary Grant as her ex-hubby C.K. Dexter Haven and John Howard as her betrothed George Kittredge.

• Academy Award nomination: Best Actor (won)
• Great Stewart line: “This is the Bridal Suite. Would you send up a couple of caviar sandwiches and a bottle of beer?”
• Director: George Cukor
• On DVD: The Philadelphia Story (Warner, 2000)

The Flight of the Phoenix (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1965)

James Stewart plays Frank Towns, a has-been pilot now working for Arabco in North Africa. After crash-landing in the Sahara Desert following a freakish sandstorm, the grizzled Towns along with his navigator and passengers attempt to build a new, smaller aircraft from the remaining parts. Stewart gives a dynamic performance as the old, seat-of-your pants aviator who duels with the arrogant German engineer in charge of the project. Hardy Kruger, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea and George Kennedy all add their considerable talents.

• Great Stewart line (to Hardy Kruger): “Your theory’s fine, but you get this, mister. That engine’s rated at two thousand horsepower and if I was ever fool enough to let it get started up it’d shake your patched-up pile of junk into a thousand pieces, and cut us up into mincemeat with the propeller.”
• Director: Robert Aldrich
• On DVD: The Flight of the Phoenix (Twentieth Century-Fox, 2003)

Rear Window (Paramount, 1954)

James Stewart plays L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, a professional photographer who’s laid up in his apartment following a chance encounter with a loose wheel while shooting an auto race. While spying on his neighbors, Jeff believes he witnesses Lars Thorwald trying to dispose of his dead wife’s body. Stewart delivers as the creepy neighborhood voyeur, with Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr in grand support. Stewart’s playful banter with Kelly and Ritter make the film.

• Great Stewart line (on Grace Kelly’s Lisa Fremont): “She’s too perfect, she’s too talented, she’s too beautiful, she’s too sophisticated, she’s too everything but what I want.”
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• On DVD: Rear Window Collector’s Edition (Universal, 2001)

James Stewart as L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries with Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954)

The Glenn Miller Story (Universal, 1954)

James Stewart plays Alton Glenn Miller, the legendary bandleader who disappeared over the English Channel in 1944. Although hardly an accurate biography of the talented Miller, the film features plenty of big band music and Stewart in one of his most memorable roles. June Allyson plays Stewart’s wife, with Harry Morgan as Chummy MacGregor. Look for that great Miller sound in this one. Pennsylvania six-five oh-oh-oh!

• Great Stewart line (on reworking “Moonlight Serenade” with a clarinet lead): “Well, we’re not going to postpone anything. We’re going to open tomorrow if I have to stay up all night and rewrite the arrangement.”
• Director: Anthony Mann
• On DVD: The Glenn Miller Story (Universal, 2003)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Paramount, 1962)

James Stewart plays Ransom “Rance” Stoddard, a lawyer who heads West and sets up his practice in the wild town of Shinbone. Although Stoddard believes in the law, his principles are badly shaken when he is brutally beaten during a stagecoach robbery. Stewart is fascinating to watch as the idealistic attorney, with big John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin and Edmond O’Brien along for the violent ride. Watch for Stewart as the reluctant – and lucky – Old West gunfighter.

• Great Stewart line (on Lee Marvin’s villainous Liberty Valance): “I don’t want to kill him, I just want to put him in jail!”
• Director: John Ford
• On DVD: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Paramount, 2001)

James Stewart as Ransom Stoddard, with Lee Marvin and John Wayne, in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Ten Other James Stewart Movie Favorites

• It’s a Wonderful World (1939)
• Call Northside 777 (1948)
• Rope (1948)
• The Stratton Story (1949)
• Winchester ‘73 (1950)
• Broken Arrow (1950)
• Harvey (1950)
• The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
• Shenandoah (1965)
• The Shootist (1976)

Additional Reading

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954)
• The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
• Shenandoah (1965)

Leap Year follows an irritating and deeply shallow young woman from Boston as she travels through Ireland in the hope of proposing to her equally bland and shallow boyfriend after discovering an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men in a leap year. Striding across rural Ireland in improbably high heels, she meets scores of cardboard cut-out locals who gabble about luck and say things like “top o’ the morning” and “to be sure”, and, naturally, she falls for the only one she meets who is under forty. It’s predictable and mediocre on all levels: the script is tedious, the acting unbelievable, the direction pedestrian and the music insipid, complete with jaunty fiddle sections to remind us that we are in Ireland. In fact the depiction of the Irish characters and their homes is woefully stereotypical but delivered without any hint of the irony that could lift such a scene. It’s tedious, turgid, clichéd and frankly awful from start to finish.

But what turns an unimpressive film into a truly terrible one is the sexist and derivative depiction of the central character, Anna. Anna is a deeply unlovely character when introduced; she’s shallow, dull and arrogant, with no obvious aspirations other than moving into a fancy apartment and getting married. Even her profession is drearily stereotypical: Anna dresses up houses that are about to be sold to make them more appealing for potential buyers, a depressingly shallow twist on the traditional role of the “happy homemaker”. When she thinks her boring boyfriend is about to propose but doesn’t, she decides to follow him to Ireland, moaning about the state her shoes and her designer suitcase all the way. Of course as the film goes on we are supposed to warm to her as she becomes a little less insufferable but she’s still dim enough to enter into a marriage for the sake of getting that “dream” apartment before she suddenly decides to go back to the “lovable” (read caricatured) Irish rogue she fell for on the way.

Must we women really be forced to relate to these dull, ambition-less girls whose only interests are men and appearances? Do comedies centring around female characters have to involve awkward, badly-realised romances? Do filmmakers really think that putting their female lead in a suit and a live-in relationship make her a “modern woman”? Because I for one do not. Come on, Hollywood, let’s see some women that we can actually relate to for a change. Let’s see some female leads who don’t feel the need to kiss the male lead whenever they’re feeling emotional. If nothing else, please stop marketing these terrible films at us!

Stodgy, sexist and stereotypical, Leap Year is far more depressing than it is amusing. Avoid at all costs.