1968 - BAKENKO: A VENGEFUL SPIRIT aka The Cursed Pond

In medieval Japan, an evil lord desires the wife of a Japanese warrior.  He has the warrior killed and the grieving wife and her kitty cat drown themselves in a pool near the lord's estate.  The spirit of the wife and the kitty cat come back and possess another kitty cat who in turn wreaks her vengeance on the lord and his servants when the kitty turns into a killer cat woman.

To be honest this film was not really my cup of saki.  Maybe it's a cultural thing but to this Westerner there is nothing particularly frightening about being scared by a cute little kitty no matter how many close ups they film of the snarling cat.

The film goes down the expected road as the cat turns into the cat woman who kills a lot of people.  Naturally the cat woman is immune to all the arrows the Japanese warriors puncture her with.  This movie marches to its expected conclusion.

Well the best I can say about this film is that it's shot in black and white which does give it a kind of creepy mood.  The film looks like it was entirely filmed on studio sets, nothing wrong with that.  The cat seems very cuddly at times

The film was written by the director Yoshihiro Ishikawa, the running time is 87 minutes.

1968 - THE BASTARD or I bastardi

This rather oddball Italian euro crime feature is set in Arizona but the credits acknowledge that the film was shot in New Mexico, whatever.  The plot involves two criminal brothers who are basically robbing and shooting people all over the American Southwest.  One of the brothers  ( Giuliano Gemma) is betrayed by his current girlfriend to the other brother (typically scary actor Klaus Kinski) who steals his suitcase full of jewels and injures him for life.  The film turns into a revenge story from that point on with Giuliano Gemma out to kill his brother Kinski.

There are lots of shootings, car chases and a couple of gorgeous women one played by Margaret Lee.  In addition onetime James Bond leading lady Claudine Auger who was Domino in Thunderball, shows up in this film.  Also in the cast is legendary 40's glamour star Rita Hayworth as the drunken mother of the two brothers.  Hayworth suffered from dementia towards the end of her life but I don't know if that affected her performance in this film, she is supposed to be playing a drunk.

 

The director is a guy named Duccio Tessari an Italian writer/director who worked in the "Spaghetti Western", euro crime, and war movie genres, a versatile fellow.  You can give him credit for moving the story along and making it interesting and watchable.  He has a good eye for staging action scenes and picking locations.  Having two gorgeous women as costars doesn't hurt this film any.  The Bastard is a decent watch if you are into crime films.  I have to say that the film does have a rather odd ending.

 

The film was written by Mario Di Nardo, Ennio de Concini and Duccio Tessari.  The running time is 102 minutes.

1968 - SOL MADRID, the one about the undercover cop

With the once mighty MGM studios seeing better days, someone got the idea to feature The Man From U.N.C.L.E. leading man David McCallum in a movie.  McCallum is Sol Madrid a sort of  humorless tough undercover cop on the trail of some drug smugglers in Mexico.  McCallum was popular on TV as spy Illya Kuryakin so he got his one time chance at a big screen role like every other TV star usually did.

The whole film has kind of a tired  feeling to it.  Everyone seems to be walking through the motions with all the usual double cross stuff that's always in these films.  If there is any entertainment value in the film, it sure isn't the plot. Anyway, McCallum infiltrates the drug lords, beats up some bad guys and screws a gangster's moll played by Stella Stevens who always seemed to be in every movie and TV show.   The film does look like it had some on location filming in Acapulco well at least I think it did.  Mostly Sol Madrid has that tired MGM studio back lot look to it.

 

The film actually has a decent cast besides McCallum and Stella Stevens.  Tellly Savalas is the drug kingpin in Acapulco.  Savalas appears to be doing a warm up for his Blofeld character from On Her Majesties Secret Service,  he is essentially playing the same guy. Ricardo Montalbán is another undercover cop working with Sol Madrid.  Character actor Pat Hingle is the organized crime accountant and  Rip Torn is another organized crime bad guy out to get Sol Madrid. Good actors all of them, but they don't really have much to do.

 

Brian G Hutton directed, he wasn't noted for filming action shoot em up's, at this point in his career but  he must have impressed the producers as they hired him to direct Where Eagles Dare.  File Sol Madrid under tired crime thrillers.

Written by David Karp, the running time is 90 minutes.

1968 - THE BROTHERHOOD, almost a warm up for The Godfather.

 Preceding The Godfather by a few years, The Brotherhood has a lot in common with that film since it deals with many of the same issues.  Briefly, Kirk Douglas in the head of a Mafia family which is part of a larger organization.  As the organization attempts to establish itself into more legitimate enterprises, Douglas resists the group's plans.  The film also focuses on Douglas's brother played by the actor Alec Cord who decides to be a part of the Mafia family business.  The conflict comes about as the old ways of doing things i.e. murdering informants clashes with the the organization's future business plans.

The director is Martin Ritt, a Hollywood craftsman who was always good when it came to working with actors and telling a story.  Kirk Douglas may seem miscast, but he's very good as the Don with a sense of honor about the good old Mafia code days.  Alec Cord I remember from a number of western films but he's also good as the conflicted brother of Kirk Douglas.  Irene Papas plays Douglas's wife but it's really not much of a part for this talented performer.

 

For the most part this is a fine film with an interesting story and an especially fascinating climax. 

The cinematographer was Boris Kaufman a guy who worked with Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet and going way back in time,  Jean Vigo.

Lewis John Carino, a fairly decent writer wrote the screenplay, the running time is 96 minutes.

1968 - A DANDY IN ASPIC, Anthony Mann's final film

It would be nice to say that Anthony Mann's final film would be at the least a decent ending to his great career.  Unfortunately A Dandy In Aspic is what as known as a misfire.  This confusing spy vs spy tale almost rivals Funeral In Berlin for ridiculously complex plotting. 

Anthony Harvey plays a double agent embedded in British intelligence by the Russians.  For reasons to complicated to explain or care he is ordered to find the Russian assassin who has been killing British spies and eliminate him.  Never mind that the person Harvey is hunting is actually himself and around and around we go with this very contrived plot.

 

Tom Courtney is Harvey's coworker who hates his guts, Harry Andrews as usual has the "M" part handing out orders. For reasons I can't even begin to understand Mia Farrow is Harvey's very gratuitous love interest who just kind of shows up at different very contrived times in order to sleep with him.  I have no idea why she is in this film.  Did I mention comedian Peter Cook is in it as a British spy?  A very odd piece of casting.

 

Sadly Anthony Mann died two weeks before he was scheduled to finish filming.  Harvey stepped in and completed the film.  Mann had started his career in the film noir genre but you would be hard pressed to find any noirish touches in this story.  It's difficult to know what attracted Anthony Mann to this story he may have been looking for a change of pace after directing his super epics, El Cid,  Fall of the Roman Empire and Heroes of Telemark, For whatever reason this dull espionage tale just doesn't work.

The film was written by Derek Marlowe based on his book, the running time is 107 sluggish minutes.

1968 - IN ENEMY COUNTRY, war movie junk from Universal Studios

 Not much fun to write up or even watch for that matter.  In Enemy Country is the kind of mediocre stuff Universal Studios churned out during the 1960's.  The other major studios, Warner Brothers, MGM, 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures for that matter certainly provided plenty of crap to the movie going public.  However Universal had a special place in Hollywood where their roster of contract performers and technicians made film after film for theaters or television.  These films all looked the same and the quality was about the same in any venue, mediocre.

 

 

Be it crummy musicals like Flower Drum Song or Thoroughly Modern Millie,  unfunny comedies  such as Tammy and the Doctor, or Fluffy this was all very undemanding stuff to put it nicely.  Universal was especially adept at lame westerns.  He Rides Tall,  Bullet for a Badman, Shenandoah and Gunpoint pop into mind to name just a few.  Hitchcock did some of his worst work for Universal towards the end of his career.  This was also the studio that pioneered the cheapo made for television films that always seemed to be on television almost like an out of control plague.

In Enemy Country is a very boring war film with most of it shot on the back lot.  The plot has three Allied Intelligence officers going undercover in Germany to steal a new torpedo which is so powerful it will disrupt the invasion of Normandy.  They are assisted by a beautiful woman who is a deep cover spy married to a German officer.  The talk in this film is endless for the most part.  There are a couple of action scenes but it's just too little too late by the time you get to the end of the picture.   The cast is that familiar bunch of actors that constantly turned up in Universal's films, Tony Franciosa, Anjanette Comer, Guy Stockwell,  Michael Constantine, John Marley, Milton Selzer, Tige Andrews and Virginia Christine.  I literally grew up watching these actors.

The film was written by Edward Anhalt and Sy Bartlett, the running time is 107 minutes.

1968 - GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN, entertaining western.

This is a decent well made western.  It's not some classic of the western genre but it's a professional production with a good story, good action and good actors.  Anthony Quinn is am army deserter who disguises himself as a priest.  He ends up in a Mexican town called San Sebastian which is under siege from bad guy Charles Bronson.  Quinn rallies the villagers to fight off Bronson and his gang.

The director is a man called Henri Verneuil who specialized in traditional French film making.  He was not a member of the "new wave" bunch to put it mildly.  If you wanted solid dependable technique in the classic tradition of movie making, Verneuil was your man.

 

Guns For San Sebastian has a good score by Ennio Morricone and say what you want about Anthony Quinn, a larger than life actor.  He's a commanding presence in this film.

 

Written by Serge Gance,  Miguel Morayta, Ennio de Concini, and James R Webb who apparently did the engilish version of this film.  The running time is 111 minutes.

1968 - DUFFY, journey back to the swinging 60's

A couple of actors that would probably be identified as charter members of the swinging 60's, Susannah York and especially James Coburn show up in one of those elaborate heist films that were kind of the rage for a while.  

The swinging 60's, particularly swinging 60's London probably only existed in the minds of entertainment reporters and TV and movie executives.  The era was frequently marked by a contempt for all things and members of the establishment, especially the older generation. Never mind that this group of 20 and 30 somethings were going to eventually age out and join their elders.

 Duffy has Coburn at his most zany, living in a hipster pad in Tangiers that is decorated with lots of weird artwork and stuff.  Duffy gets involved with a couple of brothers who want to rip off a bunch of money from their father played by the always reliable actor James Mason who in a lot of ways is really the most interesting character in the film.

 

Susannah York is one of the "birds" slang for a woman, of the brothers.  York was always a likable performer and exuded an appealing English sex appeal.  She turns up in a lot of films during the 60's and if you needed an English "hottie" you would hire her.

 The big caper takes place on Mason's yacht and it's reasonably clever the way they get the money off the boat.  The film has one of those twist endings that were popular.  I write it a lot in my posts but this is basically a decent time killer of a film.

Written by Donald Cammell and Harry Joe Brown Jr., the running time is 101 minutes.

1968 - HOUSE OF CARDS reasonably entertaining thriller

George Peppard is a "down on his luck" Hemingway type of writer living in Paris.  He befriends a young boy and ends up as a tutor for the boy whose mother just happens to be gorgeous Inger Stevens who just happens to be a member of a fascist family that just happens to be a part of a large right wing conspiracy to take over Europe and ultimately the United States.

 The director is John Guillermin who was a decent enough filmmaker.  I guess he was kind of a go to studio guy for projects like King Kong (Jessica Lange version). The Towering Inferno, and one of the better Tarzan films, Tarzan's Greatest Adventure. Guillermin had done a couple of other films with Peppard so it was probably old home week for the two of them.

Back to the film, this is a reasonably entertaining thriller which probably could have used a little more focus in it's writing,  the story kind of meanders around.  However Guillermin does a good job keeping the action moving along which helps to cover up some really big holes in the story.  The on location filming in Paris and Rome also helps. Inger Stevens dressed by Edith Head, is easy on the eyes. Peppard does a reasonably good job as the "Hitchcockian" man on the run hero.  This is the usual inoffensive time killer of a film.

 

Oh yes, Orson Welles is third billed in the cast but he's barely in the film.  This was probably another one of his "paycheck films."

The film was written by the team of Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. under assumed names, which is never a good sign.  The running time is 105 minutes.

1968 - BLACK LIZARD, a strange Japanese crime film

A very strange crime drama from Japan, this is a an odd ball film if ever there was one.  Black Lizard is one of those master criminals doing a battle of the wits thing with the police, in this case detective Akechi.  The film's plot involves a rich jeweler who's daughter has been kidnapped by Black Lizard who demands a ransom of a diamond worth about one million dollars (1968 money). Black Lizard also likes to take her victims and turn them into statues for or own private museum.

But probably the strangest thing about this film is the casting of the actor Akihiro Maruyama in the role of Black Lizard.  Maruyama was a famous female impersonator, a drag queen if you will.  Absolutely no mention is made of Maruyama as a female impersonator and in fact there is kind of a love duet played between detective Akechi and Black Lizard.  This is a strange film.

 

The film is based on a play by the writer Yukio Mishima who's life was dramatized in the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.  Mishima was quite a character himself.

The film was written by Masashige Narusawa and the director Kinji Fukasaku, the running time is 86 minutes.

1968 - THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS, one of those elaborate heist films.

One of those elaborate heist films like Ocean's 11, Rififi, the remake of Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, Ocean's 13 etc. They Came To Rob Las Vegas was filmed by a Spanish director in the United States and Spain.  The cast is certainly very eclectic, Gary Lockwood, Elke Sommer, Lee J. Cobb, Mr. Rififi himself Jean Servais, Jack Palance and Lee J. Cobb.

The story is about a revenge heist where our antihero played by Gary Lockwood decides to steal an armored truck right under the noses of the police and some American gangsters.  Frankly the plot is rather preposterous but just watching how the writers work it out is rather entertaining.

The movie has decent location work, the acting isn't bad, even Elke Sommer gives a fairly decent performance for a change.  The action and the gun play is fairly decent.

 

All and all this is a fairly good 1960's crime film set in Las Vegas but with a kind of weird European vibe to it which I guess isn't surprising since it's an international film production.

The running time is 129 minutes, the film was written by Antonio Isas, Lluis Josep Comeron, Jorge Illa and Jo Eisinger. 

1968 - DANGER DIABOLIK, an early comic book film

 Probably the last person in the world to be directing a comic book film would be Mario Bava a filmmaker usually associated with the horror genre.  Surprisingly Danger Diabolik turned out pretty well.

Diabolik, a master criminal created by two sisters, is a comic book character that started in 1962 and ran for approximately 900 volumes.  The rights to the character were purchased by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis.  De Laurentiis produced this film along with another comic book movie Barbarella at the same time. After an abortive start which saw De Laurentiis firing the original director Seth Holt and the recasting of the female role originally played by Catherine Denevue of all people, director Mario Bava took charge.

As was the case with Bava, he brought his considerable visual skills to the film.  He was also a master of trick photography and was known as a director who could class up a film production without spending a lot of money, something that probably must have appealed to De Laurentiis.

 

John Phillip Law played the master criminal Diabolik who pulls off one spectacular robbery after another with the help of his very sexy mistress/assistant Eva Kant played by Marisa Mell.  The rest of the cast had actors like Michel Piccoli who I usually think of as working with directors like Bunuel and Goddard.  Thunderball villain,  Adolfo Celli playing the real bad bad guy of this film and English comedian Terry Thomas who has a small role as the Minister of Finance, who has to persuade people to pay their taxes after Diabolik blows up all the tax offices.

 

Considering how overblown the comic book to film franchise has become since the domination of Marvel studios, it's kind of a relief to see a film that actually knows when to play up the camp with colorful visuals and entertaining but not go so over the top on the action scenes. 

The film was written by Dino Maiuri, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates and Mario Bava.  The running time is 105 minutes.

1968 - LADY IN CEMENT, incredibly a sequel to Tony Rome.

Incredibly Frank Sinatra's Tony Rome private eye character is back in a sequel to the first under performing film.   While treasure hunting, Sinatra finds a naked dead woman with her feet stuck in a bucket of cement at the bottom of the ocean.  So the viewer is off with another Tony Rome adventure as he romances the babes again and wisecracks his way through the case yet again.

The director Gordon Douglas returns probably because he is some kind of masochist when it comes to making films with Frank Sinatra.  The music is by Hugo Montenegro a composer who is best known for his peppy I Dream of Jeannie TV series theme

Well what can you say about the cast.  Richard Conte, Marin Gable, Lanie Kazan and Dan Blocker are in it.  Blocker in the ads is frequently referred to as Dan "Bonanza"  Blocker a reference to the long running television series he was a part of.

This time Raquel Welch, 20th Century Fox's resident contract sex symbol gets to endure Sinatra's misogynistic behavior.  Anything for the great art of film I guess.

 

Two writers were involved it this mess, Jack Guss and Marvin H. Albert the original author of the novel Lady In Cement.  Yes you read that right this film is actually based on a novel.

The running time is 94 minutes.  Lady In Cement was also an under performer at the box office which insured there would be no more Tony Rome films.

1968 -HAWAII FIVE-O - Original series, season one

 Of all the TV cop shows from the 1960's this is one of the few that stands out as being rather good.

Created by Leonard Freeman and starring Jack Lord.  The show had the advantage of being filmed entirely in the state of Hawaii.  This was no small accomplishment as the entertainment industry in Hawaii at the time was rather lacking for production facilities. In addition, virtually no one in the film crew had production experience, it was a build from the ground up television production.

In a way this worked to the advantage of the series.  Most of the episodes were shot on locations throughout Hawaii which gave the show the dual advantages of realism and a location that had not been really exploited to death by Hollywood. A lot of the actors in supporting and featured roles were actually natives.  

 

The show starred Jack Lord played the head of the elite police unit, Steve McGarrett.  This was an actor who was completely immersed in his part and dominated every scene that he was in.  James MacArthur a Disney film alumni took the part of Danny Williams, who was essentially Steve McGarrett's sidekick.  MacArthur was smart enough to know who was in charge and lasted 11 seasons.  After the producer Leonard Freeman died during season five, Lord essentially took over running the show.  Apparently he was a pretty demanding guy but he kept the series production standards  high for the entire 12 season run.

 

Story episode wise the demands of shooting 24 episodes resulted in the usual mix of good, indifferent and bad episodes.  Still many of the show's episodes hold up pretty well and as I stated before the Hawaiian locations are still a major asset for this series.

1968 - KRAKATOA EAST OF JAVA, a special effects bonanza

 If you like old school special effects, this is the film for you.

 

131 minutes of things blowing up, particularly in the 2nd half of the film.

 

The film was shot in 70 mm which probably won't mean much for home viewing.

 

The chief fault of the film is the screenplay which is credited to Bernard Gordon and Clifford Newton Gould.  It is all over the place.  A search for a sunken treasure, a mother's search for her lost child, a musical number of all things and the usual ridiculous Cinerama type effects with the camera spinning around at inopportune minutes bring the action to a halt.

 

The film has a decent cast but they are at the mercy of a very bad story and indifferent direction.

 

The special effects sequences directed by Eugene Lourie provide the entertainment value for this film.

1968 - 5 CARD STUD, an entertaining western

Here's something you don't see everyday, a mystery film set in the old west.  Dean Martin is the card shark who gets involved with a group that lynches a man they suspect of cheating at cards.  One by one the group starts dying off while Deano tries to figure out what's going on.

Robert Mitchum shows up as the Reverend Jonathan Rudd, essentially repeating his character from The Night Of The Hunter.  The producer Hal Wallis and the director  Henry Hathaway load the rest of the cast up with a familiar bunch of names. Inger Stevens, Roddy McDowell, Yaphet Kotto, Denver Pyle and everyone's favorite character actor Whit Bissell.

 

As with any Hal Wallis production the film looks good and Henry Hathaway does his usual excellent job staging the action scenes.

 

Written by Marguerite Roberts the film runs 103 minutes.