1990 - QUICK CHANGE, a funny crime comedy

A film tailor made for Bill Murray's deadpan comedy talents.  Quick Change tells the story of a disgruntled city employee in New York who pulls off a bank robbery with his best friend and girlfriend. As he tries to get out of New York with the loot he is pursued by a police chief played in this case Jason Robards Jr., and thwarted at every turn by the residents of New York City

This is a funny film with clever situations and a good cast of supporting actors to play off of Murray.  Robards an actor not always known for comedy ( he performed in plays written by Eugene O'Neill for god sake) matches Murray as the harassed Chief of Police.

 

This comedic nightmare version of New York was photographed by Michael Chapman who had previously shot another nightmare film about New York, a little film called Taxi Driver.

 

Murray co-directed the film with the screenwriter Richard Franklin.  The running time is 89 minutes.  The film didn't do very well at the box office, but it is a funny film.

89 minutes.

1984 - CITY HEAT, Eastwood and Reynolds together in a classic Hollywood disaster

 The director Blake Edwards wrote the story for City Heat which apparently was going to be a tribute to hard boiled crime films of the 1930's and 40's. Edwards was also going to direct and Warner Brothers persuaded Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds to team up together.  It seemed like easy money in the bank for the studio with those two stars.  The end result was a big flop which did additional harm to Burt Reynolds now fading movie career.

Apparently Eastwood was immediately disenchanted with Blake Edwards and had him removed during pre-production on the film.  Eastwood's production company took over the film and hired actor turned director Richard Benjamin a man who was fairly good with comedies but clearly didn't know anything about shooting an action film with lots of fights and gun battles.

 

Blake Edwards had his name removed for the screenplay and used a pseudo name " Sam O Brown," aka SOB which was the name of the film Edwards made that was a fairly nasty view of Hollywood studios.  Edwards claimed that his dealings with Warner Brothers and Clint Eastwood inspired SOB.  This seems very unlikely as SOB came out in 1981 and City Heat was released in 1984.

 

As you may have guessed this hasn't been a post about the actual film, frankly the film is just not good.  Audiences sniffed out a turkey and the studio deservedly lost money considering the mess that was made of it during the production phase of the film.

The running time of City Heat is 97 minutes.  Besides Blake Edwards the film lists an additional writer Joseph Stinson who wrote a couple of mediocre Clint Eastwood movies, (Sudden Impact and Heartbreak Ridge).

1942 - ROAD TO MOROCCO, Bob Hope 1940's comedy

An example of what passed for comedy during World War II.  The film stars Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and perennial third wheel Dorothy Lamour.  This very silly film has something to do with Hope and Crosby ending up in Morocco which looks like something out of the Arabian Nights instead of 1940's Morocco.

The film is completely held together by the comedic bits of Crosby and Hope, Lamour was always the "straight man" in these films although she does wear her costumes well.

 

The film has some musical interludes as is to be expected since Bing Crosby is in it.  There is one hit song "Moonlight Becomes You," but the rest of the film is just goofy scenes and shtick.

 

If there is one outstanding thing about this film, it's Bob Hope.  Here he is at the top of his abilities basically stealing scenes away from about every other actor in the film.  When Hope was good there was no one who could bring the kind of razor sharp comedy timing that Hope brought to a gag.

For the most part the film is an ordeal to sit through but it was extremely popular with audiences looking for some entertainment during the war years.

Written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman with uncredited assistance from Crosby and Hope's gag writers.  The running time is 82 minutes

1944 - MINISTRY OF FEAR, minor Fritz Lang spy thriller

Somewhat disappointing World War II thriller based on a Graham Greene book.  Ray Milland is the mental patient who after being released from the insane asylum finds himself up to his ears in German spies and traitorous Englishmen during the London Blitz.

This film while directed by Fritz Lang was heavily influenced by the producer and screenwriter Seton I. Miller in his first shot at producing.  Lang was known for his domineering personality on movie sets but apparently Miller was able to bend him to his will. 

 

The result if kind of a boring and lets face it fairly bland film.  It does have a number of Lang's directorial touches because nobody could make more of fog and shadows than Lang when it came to staging scenes.  Ministry Of Fear also features one of Lang's stock characters the larger then life policeman who represents the voice of authority.

 

All in all this is a decent 1940's thriller made by a great director who was fairly constrained by his producer and probably Paramount studio.

The running time is a quick 87 minutes.

1989 - FLETCH LIVES, the sequel to Fletch

Let's take a look at the sequel to the 1985 Chevy Chase mystery Fletch, in my opinion one of the better roles that suited his wise ass persona.  The film was again directed by Michael Ritchie one of Hollywood's best satirists  and written by a decent comedy writer Leon Capetanos.  

The first Fletch film was a rather pleasant funny surprise with Chase donning various disguises and accents as he attempts to solve the mystery of a millionaire who wants Fletch to kill him as he is dying of a terminal disease. Chase smart asses him self through that mystery and the film made fairly decent money eventually a sequel was called for.

In this film Fletch travels to Louisiana to claim an inheritance from a deceased relative, he gets himself mixed up with a bike gang, a televangelist, the Klu Klux Klan and a black handy man right out of a Steppin Fetchit film. 

Fletch Lives doesn't measure up to the first film but it has it moments and probably some of the most outrageous Southern stereotypes ever put on screen since Gone With The Wind. Outrageous but at times pretty funny.

Michael Ritchie and Chase manage a few mild satirical shots at Southerners and I suppose the film is as good as a sequel can be while rehashing the best bits of the first film.  Still, I enjoyed Fletch Lives, the running time is a painless 95 minutes.

1977 - ROLLERCOASTER, a thriller in the wonder of SENSURROUND

 A decent thriller that suffers from over length and was presented in the cinematic wonder of the late 1970's SENSURROUND, essentially big speakers rumbling at a low bass level.  The process was only used in about 4 films and then apparently abandoned.  Besides Sensurround the film is noted for being one of the few screenplays written by Richard Levinson and William S. Link creators of the Columbo TV series and primarily writers of high class television mysteries.  Rollercoaster was one of the few times they wrote for motion pictures.

The plot is the old mad bomber story with clean cut Timothy Bottoms playing the clever mad bomber who is running circles around the FBI and police as they attempt to catch him.  Into the mix comes safety inspector George Segal who is a lot sharper when it comes to figuring out the bomber's mind games than the police are.

  

The film is well directed by James Goldstone and Bottoms and Segal are very good in their roles.  However the problems with the film are it's length, it probably could have been about 10-15 minutes shorter (maybe one less rollercoaster ride) and the studio releasing it during the summer when it had to compete with films like Star Wars, Smokey and the Bandit and the latest James Bond film.  Jazzing the film up with Sensurround didn't really help the box office.

 

Still, if you are looking for a decent thriller Rollercoaster ain't bad.  The running time is 119 minutes.

1955 - IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, Ray Harryhausen and the giant Octopus

 In his second film where he was in complete charge of the special effects, Ray Harryhausen again works stop motion animation wonders on a tight budget.

The story has something to do with a giant radioactive octopus menacing the Pacific west coast.  Submarine commander Kenneth Tobey after doing battle with The giant carrot in Howard Hawk's The Thing and a prehistoric Rhedosaurus that has come to life in the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms now takes on a scary gigantic octopus.  Assisting Tobey is gorgeous movie scientist  Faith Domergue one time protege or maybe girlfriend of reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes.

 

We are in B movie territory here, this was the type of film that entertained kids on a Saturday afternoon.  As those kids grew up only then was Harryhausen finally recognized as one of the best stop motion animation experts in the movies.  Harryhausen was in many ways one of the most important special effects experts in the film industry who is still influential to this day.

 

It Came From Beneath The Sea was written by Harold Smith and George Worthing Yates,  the running time is 79 minutes.

1966 - THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONGEAL, a Disney swashbuckler

 The Disney company films another British based swashbuckler along the lines of their earlier film The Story of Robin Hood.  This film supposedly is based on an actual Irish clan leader, Hugh Roe O'Donnell. As is usually the case, a quick scan of the internet reveals that the real Hugh Roe O'Donnell came to a very different end than the one in the Disney film.

The film is essentially about the British repression of the Irish and O'Donell's attempts to rally the various Irish clans to oppose the British.  The film has fairly decent action and is a typically good production from the Disney British studios.

 

The cast of the film is also fairly decent, Peter McEnery is the "Fighting Prince,"  McEnery wasn't apparently the biggest fan of appearing in Disney movies and was an actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company later in his career.  Susan Hampshire is the love interest, she was always a reliable presence in film and television.  Gordan Jackson is the bad guy and he seemed like he was in about every other British film in the 50's and 60's.

 

Anyway the running time is a brisk 110 minutes, the film was written by  Robert Westerby and Robert T. Reilly.

2022 - THOR LOVE AND THUNDER, not good

Chris Hemsworth is amusing as usual playing this goofy muscleman/god character.  The rest of the film is pretty bad.

If you haven't been following the Marvel films the plot will probably be incomprehensible to anyone trying to pick up the Thor film saga at this point. Even if you know what's going on the story is still pretty poor.

 

It may be time for Marvel to up their game a bit on these movies, it seems like the series has been drifting rudderless since Avengers Endgame.  This film was truly a waste of time.

 Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.  The running time is a longish 119 minutes.

1988 - ROUGE, a showcase for actor Anita Mui

Anita Mui a Hong Kong singer and actress is the whole show in this love/ghost story directed by Stanley Kwan.  Mui was a major personality in the world of Asian entertainment.   She died of a brain tumor at 40 years old.  She was frequently associated with Jackie Chan and shows up in many of his films in odd roles like the step-mother or sort of a second choice girlfriend frequently playing down her glamorous looks.

In Rogue Mui plays a prostitute in 1930's Hong Kong who falls in love with a rich merchant played by Leslie Cheung another actor who died prematurely at age 46.  When this couple wants to get married Cheung's family refuses to acknowledge their relationship.  They make a pact to commit suicide together at which point the film jumps forward 50 years.  Mui now a ghost is searching for her lover who did not show up in the afterlife with her.

 

Mui actually doesn't act much in this film in the traditional sense. But she is a powerful physical presence throughout the film.  She does manage to portray a look of desperation and sadness throughout the later part of the film that is very effective

 

This is a rather unusual film to come out of Hong Kong in the 1980's.  Most of the films at that time were action films or action fantasy films for the most part.

The film was written by Yau Tai Ping On and Lilian Lee Pik Wah, the running time is 96 minutes. 

1996 - ERASER, the last of Arnold's good action films

Arnold  Schwarzenegger was getting towards the end of his run as the preeminent action star of the 1990's.   Eraser is probably the last really entertaining Arnold action movie.

Whoever was responsible for hiring the actors for this film did a very good job.  Arnold plays a U. S. Marshall working in the Witness Relocation Program for the Department of Justice.  He gets involved with Vanessa Williams playing an employee of a crooked defense contractor who is ready to testify for the U.S. Government.  Eraser has a great supporting cast with James Coburn playing the head of the Witness Relocation Program, James Caan one of it's top agents and the actor Robert Pastorelli as one of Arnold's witnesses who is now in the relocation program.

 

The film has very entertaining action scenes and Arnold playing off of a strong group of actors certainly helps the film.  

  

Walon Green and Tony Puryear get screenplay credit, but apparently there were a lot of other uncredited writers involved in the film, the film runs 114 minutes.

2008 - TRANSSIBERIAN, a good mystery thriller

A very good mystery thriller reminiscent of a Hitchcock film particularly The Lady Vanishes, although Hitchcock generally stayed away from mystery stories.  Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson play American missionaries returning from a trip working in China at their church mission.  They choose to take the Transsiberian Railroad which is a seven day train ride that runs through the heart of frozen Siberia.  While on the train they meet another couple who they bond with.  Meanwhile a Russian police detective is on the trail of a killer that has stolen a supply of some illegal drugs.

This is a rare thriller that spends time supplying backgrounds to the characters in the film which helps create a lot more realism and tension when they  begin to fall into danger. The film is also helped by some excellent photography of the cold snowy landscape and the action highlights are nicely judged.

 

For the most part the actors give excellent performances with British actress Emily Mortimer a standout  playing an American wife with a complicated past.  Woody Harrelson not really one of my favorite actors actually does a good job as her hayseed hardware store manager husband.  Ben Kinglsey is the Russian detective who at first seems like a decent guy but is a hardened cop underneath his likable persona.

 

The film was a disappointment at the box office for some reason and lost money, the victim of poor marketing perhaps, who knows.  It's still a very good film in a time when it's hard to put together a decent thriller.

The film was written by the directer Brad Anderson and Will Conroy.  The running time is 111 minutes.

1959 - THE OUTLAWS IS COMING, the final Three Stooges feature film.

 After nearly 50 years of eye poking, head bashing and just the general abuse of Curley Joe and Larry by Moe, The Three Stooges finally retired.  Their last feature film was The Outlaws IS Coming.  The film is a semi funny spoof of western films, but the movie really can't measure up to their famous Columbia Studios two reel films that entertained kids in the late 50's and early 60's. 

A lot of the humor in this film is dependent on the viewers familiarity with television commercials that were airing on television at this time.  Frankly the boys now for the most part in their 60's weren't really able to perform lots of their famous slapstick routines.

However when you were looking for something on TV that was just plain funny, these were your guys. They would never be confused with Ernest Lubitsch, Charlie Chaplin or Max Linder but in a lot of their short films they were good.

This film was written by Elwood Ullman who worked on many of their comedies.  The running time is a painless 89 minutes.

2003 - MEMORIES OF MURDER, good police procedural film.

Based on an actual case about the investigation of South Korea's first serial murder.  This is an extremely well made film.  In a small town in a rural part of South Korea the bodies of two women are found.  The police force in this area begin an investigation but it becomes clear that their lack of experience in this type of crime is way over their heads.  Arriving from Seoul to lend some expertise is a police inspector who begins to piece together the crimes.  This is the jumping off point for a film that looks at the emotional toll the investigation takes and at the same time manages to be a very involving thriller about a police investigation.

One of South Korea's best directors Bong Joon-Ho in only his second film directs with a very assured style.  Joon-Ho would go on to direct Parasite and The Host among other films he's been a filmmaker to watch.

 

The film has fine performances from the cast and the photography and editing is at a very high level.  The film has some sick humor and captures the lives of some police detectives who are barely going through the motions at their job.

Overall a very impressive sophomore film.  Usually new directors fall on their faces with their second film.  Not in this case.

Written by Bong Joon-ho and Shim Sung-bo the running time is 131 minutes.

1997 - VOLCANO, the disaster movie lives on in the 1990's

Just when the world thought the disaster movie cycle ended in the 1970's not one but two volcano movies came roaring into the theaters during the 1990's and they were just 7 months apart.  For my money I think Volcano is the more entertaining of the two movies for the chief reason that it has Tommy Lee Jones as the main lead in the film. 

Tommy Lee Jones is the head of the Office of Emergency Management  for Los Angeles, he runs around town barking orders at his loyal assistant played by Don Cheadle who is back at the office monitoring stuff.  Jones is in fine form in this film, he comes off as his usual grouchy self acting like a volcano erupting in downtown Los Angeles is just one more thing he has to put up with that day.  Jones is assisted by Anne Hecht improbably cast as a seismologist who is mostly in the film to provide Jones with facts about about this ridiculous situation.  Jones also has a teenage daughter whose chief role in the film is to get herself in jeopardy so he can rescue her along with the citizens of Los Angeles.

 

Volcano is entertaining in a crowd pleasing action movie kind of way.  If the film gets off track it's when it tries to make a comment on racial harmony which hardly seems like a good time considering Wilshire Blvd is about to be reduced to ashes.  

 

I suspect a lot of the enjoyment of this film is due to watching the city of Los Angeles being burned to a crisp.  Anyway the film was written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray, the running time is 104 minutes.

1980 - ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND, trend setting horror, action, comedy

Actor, director and co writer Sammo Hung practically invents the martial arts horror film with this rather idiotic comedy.  Sammo plays a man doing battle with ghosts in a haunted house while simultaneously dealing with a cheating wife.

The film has lots of very silly scenes and for such a famous film, it plays a lot more goofy than I was expecting. The film ends with Sammo being possessed by a monkey god while he fights his wife's lover who is also possessed by some ancient Chinese warrior. 

 

There's lots of fighting towards the end of the film and a lot of it is just really foolish even for my low brow taste. I know that a lot of these Asian action films like to combine humor with action but in this case "oh come on."

Sammo Hung is a very talented guy and the film was a big hit for him so this probably puts me in the minority opinion on this film.  The film was written by Sammo and Huang Ying, the running time is 98 minutes.