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Bill’s Bizarre Bijou goes to GHOST TOWN (1988)

Posted in "So Bad They're Good" Movies, 1980s Horror, 2013, Bill's Bizarre Bijou, Drive-in Movies, Ghosts!, Westerns, William Carl Articles with tags Catherine Hickland, Charles Band, Empire Pictures, Franc Luz, Ghost Town, Jimmie Fl Skaggs on January 31, 2013 by knifefighter

Bill’s Bizarre Bijou

William D. Carl

This week’s feature presentation:

GHOST TOWN (1988)

Welcome to Bill’s Bizarre Bijou, where you’ll discover the strangest films ever made. If there are alien women with too much eye-shadow and miniskirts, if papier-mâché monsters are involved, if your local drive-in insisted this be the last show in their dusk till dawn extravaganza, or if it’s just plain unclassifiable – then I’ve seen it and probably loved it. Now, I’m here to share these little gems with you, so you too can stare in disbelief at your television with your mouth dangling open. Trust me, with these flicks, you won’t believe your eyes.

Ah, Empire Pictures: A Charles Band Production – at one time those words sent anxious chills down my spine as I waited for the credits of the second feature to end and the next movie at the drive-in to begin. Charles Band brought us unbelievably cheap, shoddy, stupid, and FUN movies during the 1970s and 1980s. This is the man who unleashed lizard aliens in LASERBLAST (1978), a killer Chuck Connors in TOURIST TRAP (1979), Demi Moore pursued by a chest-bursting Alien-wannabe in PARASITE (1982), midget Satanist monsters in GHOULIES (1985), Tim Thomerson time traveling in TRANCERS (1985), and the list goes on and on. . . . TROLL (1986), TERRORVISION (1986), RE-ANIMATOR (1985), FROM BEYOND (1986), PRISON (1988), CELLAR DWELLAR (1988), CANNIBAL WOMEN IN THE AVACADO JUNGLE OF DEATH (1989), and who can forget 1988’s SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-A-RAMA? With a few exceptions, these were bad B-movies, maybe even D or E movies, but there was a certain charm to the “I Can Do It” attitude everyone at Empire brought to their projects that compensated for most of the budgetary restraints. What remained were fun little movies that many remember fondly.

One of the last Empire Pictures produced by Charles Band was GHOST TOWN (1988), a horror western hybrid that was actually head and shoulders above almost everything Band unleashed upon the poor suckers still in their cars at drive-ins at two in the morning. This little baby fell between the cracks as Band folded Empire Pictures and brought forth Full Moon Pictures, which threatened to (and sadly, for a while, did) release a new movie on video every month. Don’t get me started on Full Moon movies. They made the Empire flicks look like Ernst Lubitsch in comparison, although they had their followers.

Anyway, as GHOST TOWN begins, a beautiful woman in a convertible, Kate, (Catherine Hickland from the TV shows CAPITOL, WEREWOLF, and ONE LIFE TO LIVE) races through the desert. A fallen power line stops her, and she takes a shortcut (Uh oh! We all know how those turn out). She tosses a bridal veil from the moving car and she hears the hoof-beats of an invisible horse and rider following her. Her tire blows, and a mysterious sandstorm envelopes her, all to the sound of many invisible horses, and something takes her, leaving the road completely empty.

Enter scruffy Sheriff Langley, played by Franc Luz (THE NEST, 1988 and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, 1989). He’s called out to the missing girl’s Mercedes. Turns out she’s the spoiled daughter of the richest man in the county, who just turned runaway bride. Langley has always had a yen for her, so he goes searching for Kate, and instead spots men on horseback who fade into the heat-waves (a cool effect). Suddenly, a Wild West outlaw attacks his car, shooting it up. Then, the tires explode and the car catches fire, leaving him on foot and stranded. He finds a sign for a town, Cruz Del Diablo, and when he reaches for it, a desiccated zombie grabs his arms and rises from the sand. It says, “You’re the one – the one who will rid my town from this fate worse than death. Go! Now!” And the talking dead man promptly folds itself back into its grave. This is followed by a raging storm, and Langley takes refuge in a dilapidated house.

Franc Luz as Langley

In the morning, Langley discovers the old house is part of a rundown, deserted Western town. Eventually, he runs into The Dealer, a drunken gambler played by Bruce Glover (CHINATOWN, 1974 and GHOST WORLD, 2001). He informs the sheriff that the girl is in the town, and that they have nothing but time…nothing but time. Okey-dokey. Langley finds a sheriff’s badge in the local bar, and when he puts it on, he starts seeing the inhabitants of the town, including bar-owner/ bartender Grace (Penelope Windust of V, 1983 and IRON WILL, 1994). She disappears just after informing him the telegraph wire has been down for “some time.”

The town is stuck in time, reliving the wild days before the Devlin gang killed everyone in the place, letting some roam as ghosts and others becoming only voices in the night, crying between heaven and hell. Now, the zombified Devlin (the despicable Jimmie F. Skaggs of PUPPETMASTER, 1989 and OBLIVION, 1994) and his gang of thieves hold the remaining townspeople hostage. Kate, who looks an awful lot like Devlin’s old girlfriend who was killed by Devlin for rebuffing his advances, is being held hostage by his gang of outlaws while Devlin tries to (yuck) romance her.

Langley learns his modern day weapons don’t work on the ghostly Devlin gang, but when he uses the old, dead sheriff’s six-shooter, it kills ‘em real good! So, it’s showdown time with a chase through Cruz Del Diablo and a final gunfight that, while not worrying John Ford, is exciting enough for a popcorn flick like this one.

Welcome to GHOST TOWN

GHOST TOWN is filled with alternating action set pieces and moments of creepy imagery. There’s also plenty of gore during the exciting shoot-outs, as well as a man dragged by horses, skulls crying blood, a crucifixion on a windmill, silver smelting, and a Phantom of the Opera-type unmasking scene. It gallops along fairly quickly, aided immensely by Luz’s self aware performance as Langley (you actually root for him; he’s earnest as hell and he’s actually pretty smart for a hick sheriff character, though his jeans are so tight you wonder how he runs in them at all) and the over-the-top histrionics of Skaggs as Devlin. He isn’t just chewing the scenery; he’s putting a bib around his neck and sitting down for a buffet. Beneath his yellow fake teeth and his scarred, shot-up face, he rolls his eyes and hisses every line of dialogue, laughing wildly while killing people and spouting lines like “I’ve seen the devil. When you get to Hell, give him my regards.”

GHOST TOWN is beautifully shot on desert vistas by Mac Ahlberg who photographed dozens of Full Moon and Empire productions (MERIDIAN, 1990, CRASH AND BURN, 1990 and FROM BEYOND, 1986) as well as many bigger productions like DEEPSTAR SIX (1989), INNOCENT BLOOD (1992), BEVERLY HILLS COP III (1994), and A VERY BRADY SEQUEL (1996). He’s lately returned to the Band family wagon with such unimpressive credits as PUPPET MASTER: THE LEGACY (2003) and KILLER BONG (2006). He died this year, but he thankfully left us the sepia-toned and sunset-infused photography of GHOST TOWN. He made this low-budget movie look like it cost twenty million bucks. It raises the whole production from decent to quite respectable.

It’s really too bad GHOST TOWN is almost completely forgotten after a token VHS release from New World. It’s a fun little B-movie, full of action, with contemptible villains, heroes to applaud, pretty women, and several great action sequences.

I give GHOST TOWN three zombified outlaws out of four.

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The Final CKF Review of 2012: DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

Posted in 2012, Action Movies, Cinema Knife Fights, Plot Twists, Revenge!, Tarantino Films, Vengeance!, VIOLENCE!, Westerns with tags Christoph Waltz, Django Unchanined, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, leonardo dicaprio, Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L. Jackson, Slavery, Vengeance, Western on December 31, 2012 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)
By Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

(THE SCENE: A saloon in the old west. L.L. SOARES and MICHAEL ARRUDA sidle up to the bar. The bartender is washing glasses and suddenly looks up at them and his eyes bug out of his head)

BARTENDER: You boys are from that Cinema Knife Fight gang, aintchoo? We don’t want no trouble ‘round here.

LS: And there won’t be any trouble, as long as you bring us a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

(BARTENDER grabs a bottle and puts it in front of them, with two glasses)

MA: Wow, what fast service! Thank you, my good man!

BARTENDER: Sshh-sure (goes to the other end of the bar)

LS (pours whiskey): And here we are, doing our last Cinema Knife Fight review for 2012, and it’s probably the movie I’ve been looking to most all year, Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED.

MA (lifts his glass): Why don’t you tell the fine people in the audience what the movie is about.

LS: Sure thing, pardner!

DJANGO UNCHAINED opens two years before the Civil War, and Django (Jamie Foxx) is one of a group of slaves being transported across some rough terrain, when along comes a traveling dentist, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who rides a wagon with a big tooth on top. But Schultz stopped being a dentist five years earlier. Now, he’s a bounty hunter, and he is after the reward for three outlaws named the Brittle Brothers, but he doesn’t know what they look like. Instead, he’s tracked down one of the slaves from the plantation they were working at, Django. Schultz offers the man his freedom if he will help him identify and capture the Brittles.

Django would like nothing better than to hunt down the men who beat him and sold his wife and himself to separate buyers (when they tried to escape from the plantation), so he readily agrees. When the men transporting the slaves (which include Django) protest, Schultz makes short work of them. Soon, the two men are making their way to small town in Texas, to discuss their partnership, and to kill the local Sheriff (you’ll find out why when you see the movie).

Schultz finds out that Django is desperate to get his wife back, so he makes him a deal. If they get the Brittle Brothers, Django will become a free man. But if he continues to work for Schultz, collecting rewards for outlaws who are wanted dead or alive (and they just about always bring them in dead) throughout the winter months, Schultz will help him track down his wife in the spring, and help him free her.

Their hunt for the Brittle Brothers take them to the plantation of a man called Big Daddy (Don Johnson), and Django relishes the chance to get revenge. This begins the partnership between Django and Schultz, which turns out to be quite profitable, since Django is a natural shooter and the fastest gun Schultz has ever seen.

Come spring, their journey takes them to the plantation of Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a sadistic Southern Gentleman-type who treats his slaves viciously, especially the men he buys to participate in fights to the death for his amusement. Schultz pretends to want to buy one of his fighters in order to get close enough to confirm that Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) is indeed on the plantation, and he and Django plan to get her out. Django pretends to be a “black slaver” who is there to be Schultz’s consultant, and everyone is astounded to see a black man who rides a horse and acts like an equal to the white men around him.

The odyssey Django undertakes to free his wife parallels the German legend of Sigfried and Brunhilda, where Sigfried traveled through hellfire and slew a dragon to free the woman he loved. What Django goes through is just about as dangerous, once Candie gets wind of what is really going on, thanks to the keen observation skills of his right hand man, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson).

DJANGO UNCHAINED is a violent, but highly stylized revenge drama set in the old South. And it continues Tarantino’s streak of making great movies, as far as I’m concerned.

MA: I hated it.

(LS spits out his whiskey.)

MA (laughs): Just kidding. You just looked so happy talking about the movie, I couldn’t resist.

LS: You scared me.

MA: There’s a first time for everything.

LS: A new Tarantino movie has become s0mething of a big event for me, and I was more than happy to check it out at the matinee on Christmas Day (when it was released). However, I was shocked to find the theater packed so early in the day. I thought most people would be home with their families, but the theater appeared to be sold out at the showing I saw. It was a good crowd, though, and it was nice to see that there are so many Tarantino fanatics.

MA: I saw it this past Friday night, and the theater was packed then too, and it was a very enthusiastic lively audience.

(YOSEMITE SAM gets up from the table where he’s playing cards and approaches the bar)

YOSEMITE SAM: So you varmints think you’re tough, huh?

LS: Yup.

MA: Well, to be honest, we never actually said that.

YOSEMITE SAM: The last hombre who spoke to me that way is now six feet under…

LS: Is that where Bugs Bunny lives these days?

YOSEMITE SAM: Why, you!

(MA pulls out his gun and fires at SAM’s feet, making him dance as LS claps his hands)

LS: Hey, this is fun!

MA: You tired yet?

YOSEMITE SAM (breathing hard): Damn you, Knife Fighters.

(MA stops shooting and YOSEMITE SAM topples over in exhaustion)

LS: Rats! I wanted to see more dancing.

Anyway, back to our review.

Nobody makes movies like Quentin Tarantino, and DJANGO UNCHAINED is just another in a long line of powerful epics. Not only is DJANGO the tale of a man yearning for freedom and the freedom of the woman he loves, and thus there is a love story at the heart of this film, but it’s also a chance for Tarantino to recreate American history in his own image. Because his movies are not so much set in certain point in time as they are events that unfurl in a world of Tarantino’s creation. In his world, things don’t happen exactly like they did in ours. For example, in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009), his last film, a rag-tag group of soldiers actually succeeded in assassinating Hitler.

Tarantino also has a sense of style that sets him apart from everyone else making movies today.

MA: That’s certainly true.

LS: It’s a mixture of art (because there is an artistic eye to the way his movies are filmed) and pure grindhouse adrenaline. Even though DJANGO is over two and a half hours long, I never once felt bored, and it never dragged—in fact, I wanted even more. For once, every scene was necessary, and expanded upon what came before it, like the petals of a flower in bloom. There are several reasons why his movies are so satisfying. First off, there’s that artistic eye of his. Tarantino pays attention to detail and, in so doing, he fleshes out his world quite nicely, and makes it feel like a real place.

MA: I would argue that it feels less like a real place and more like the world seen through an artist’s eyes, which doesn’t make it any less satisfying or believable. Watching DJANGO with its rich imagery and fine attention to detail was like looking at an artist’s painting, only this artist is also a helluva writer.

LS: Which brings me to my second point, his dialogue, which is second to none in modern cinema.

MA: It’s great dialogue. I could listen to Dr. King Schultz all day.

LS: There are also his soundtracks, which treat music as a character in the film, and he draws from everything from the music scores of other films (the opening song, “DJANGO” is from the 1966 spaghetti western of the same name, and it works just as well here), obscure pop songs, and music written just for his movies.

MA: I agree. The soundtrack is second to none. My favorite part of the soundtrack is the variety he uses, the combination of pop songs—which amazingly don’t seem out of place here—with traditional film music.

LS: My favorite songs, aside from the title song, included ones by John Legend and Brother Dege. Hell, Tarantino even uses a Jim Croce song (someone I normally don’t like) to maximum effect in the middle of the film. (And this is probably a good time to mention that the soundtrack album is pretty damn cool, too.)

And then there’s the casting. Tarantino’s movies always seem to have amazing casts, and DJANGO UNCHAINED is no exception. I wasn’t a big fan of Jamie Foxx before seeing this movie, but I consider myself a fan now. Foxx turns in a terrific performance here, full of anger, heart, and frustration with the world his character finds himself in.

MA: Yeah, I’m not the biggest fan of Jamie Foxx either, but he is excellent here. He really brings Django to life, and pretty much everything he does with this character in this movie is spot on. He makes Django one bad-ass bounty hunter, yet he never sacrifices the sympathy we feel for him as he tries to rescue his wife. It’s a very satisfying performance by Foxx, and I enjoyed him here much more than I did in RAY (2004) and DREAMGIRLS (2009).

LS: Alongside him is Christoph Waltz as Dr. Schultz. If you remember, Waltz won an Oscar for his role as a Nazi officer in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, and he’s just as mem0rable here. Waltz is fascinating to watch as the self-assured and morally righteous Schultz, and he and Foxx play off of each other really well.

MA: Waltz is great. Not quite as mesmerizing a performance as he pulled off in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, but it’s a much different role and is satisfying in a different way. Dr. Schultz is a much more enjoyable character than the intense Nazi officer Waltz played in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS.

LS: I’m not a big Leonardo DiCaprio fan, either, and I still don’t understand why so many directors want to use him so much (Martin Scorcese comes to mind), but he is brilliant here, playing against type as a sadistic villain.

MA: Directors want to use him so much because he’s a terrific actor! Admit it, he’s a great actor!

LS: I’m not admitting anything! But I will say that it may be the best performance I’ve ever seen DiCaprio give, and one scene where his Calvin Candie makes a point with an old skull and a hammer is especially intense.

MA: Very intense. That’s a testament to both DiCaprio’s acting skills and Tarantino’s direction. I mentioned that I saw this movie with a very lively enthusiastic audience. There was definitely a buzz in the theater before and during the movie, but during this scene, you could hear a pin drop.

(Sheriff QUICK DRAW MCGRAW and his deputy BABA-LOOEY enter the saloon and walk over to the bar)

QUICK DRAW: I hear you gents are disturbing the peace in my town.

BABA-LOOEY: Yeah!

LS: So what if we are?

MA: Actually, we’re trying to mind our own business and review a movie here.

QUICK DRAW: Why, you! How dare you speak back that way to a lawman!

BABA-LOOEY: Yeah!

LS: A law-horse you mean. Make him dance, Michael, I want to see the funny horse dance!

QUICK DRAW: I think you need to be taught some manners. (reaches for his gun)

(LS fires first, and a fountain of blood spurts out of QUICK DRAW, splashing all over BABA-LOOEY)

QUICK DRAW: I’m shot!

BABA-LOOEY: I’m getting out of here!

LS: Someone call the glue factory.

MA: Back to our review, after being so rudely interrupted.

While my favorite performance in the film belonged to Christoph Waltz as Dr. Schultz, I wouldn’t say he gave the best performance in the movie. That honor goes to DiCaprio.

DiCaprio delivers a riveting, delicious performance as Calvin Candie. He’s the perfect antagonist for Waltz’s and Foxx’s protagonists. And as you mentioned, once you get to that scene with the hammer and skull, he’s one scary guy. It’s the best DiCaprio performance I’ve seen since THE DEPARTED (2006) and BLOOD DIAMOND (2006).

LS: Sam Jackson is just as villainous as Candie’s sidekick Stephen, a man who appears to be a fussy old “Uncle Tom” type, but who is, in reality, Candie’s confidante and pretty much his equal behind closed doors. And he’s just as vicious as his “master.”

MA: It’s my favorite Jackson performance in years. Stephen is one aggravating, vicious son of a bitch.

LS: Kerry Washington is perhaps the heart of the film as Broomhilda, a slave who speaks German as well as English (which Schultz finds delightful and which they use in their plan). She’s undergone much brutality by the time Django finds her again – the first time we see her in a scene that isn’t a flashback, she’s being pulled naked out of a hotbox, where she’s being punished, and screams when a bucket of water is splashed on her—and you immediately want him to succeed in his plan to rescue her from the hell that is Calvin Candie’s plantation, called Candieland.

MA: Yep. Washington is great and does a terrific job evoking our sympathy throughout the film.

LS: And those flashbacks are pretty potent. There are several times where Django’s mind wanders during their journey and he sees fleeting images of Broomhilda behind a tree, or bathing next to him in a stream, and you can feel Django’s yearning for her. His passion. And his remembrances of the abuse inflicted on him and “Hildi” (as she’s called) keeps him focused throughout to exact the vengeance he so rightly deserves.

The use of flashbacks in this movie is another plus. The cinematography in these scenes looks different from the rest of the movie—kind of dreamy—and evokes the way flashbacks were used in the best movies of the 1960 and early 70s (MIDNIGHT COWBOY comes to mind). I loved that effect.

(DEPUTY DAWG enters the saloon)

DEPUTY DAWG: Dang it, you shot Sherriff McGraw!

LS: Yeah, what of it?

DEPUTY DAWG: Y’all think you can come into this town and shoot our sheriff in cold blood?

MA: He’s just a cartoon. So are you.

DEPUTY DAWG: Just a cartoon? Do we not cry if you hurt us? Do we not bleed if you shoot us?

(CLOSE-UP of DEPUTY DAWG’s face, as tears stream down his cheeks)

MA: If you put it that way, I feel kind of bad.

LS: Me, too.

DEPUTY DAWG: You two are so lucky that I wanted to be Sheriff of these parts, otherwise I’d take you in. But since QUICK DRAW’s dead, now I can take his job. Barkeep, drinks for everyone! Put it on my tab!

SALOON PATRONS: HURRAY!

BABA-LOOEY (hiding behind a barrel of beer): Looks like I better make like a banana and split (runs away).

DEPUTY DAWG: Let’s get back to your review. I want to see how this ends.

LS: What were we talking about? Oh yeah, the cast. The rest of the cast in DJANGO UNCHAINED is top-notch, and there are lots of really great actors in small roles here.

MA: Which is always a lot of fun.

LS: Just some of them include: Walton Goggins (from THE SHIELD and more recently the FX series JUSTIFIED) as a cowboy on Candie’s crew with a mean streak; Franco Nero (the Italian star of the 1966 DJANGO, you can identify him by his piercing blue eyes) as another slave owner who pits his man against Candie’s in a brutal fight scene that is going on when Schultz and Django first meet Candie. James Remar (Dexter’s father on DEXTER) as both one of the Speck brothers who are transporting the slaves in the beginning of the movie, and later as Candie’s hired gunman, Butch; Tom Savini as a man who handles Candie’s vicious dogs; Bruce Dern in flashback as Django’s former slave owner; Jonah Hill in one of the movie’s more humorous scenes as a complaining Klansman – with Brad Dourif as another one of that gang; M.C. Gainey (one of the more memorable “Others” from the TV series, LOST) as one of the Brittle Brothers; and Lee Horsley as a corrupt sheriff. The only actor here who seemed a little off was Tarantino himself, in a role as an Australian mercenary. But considering how great a job he’s done here as a director, it’s easy to give him that. (besides, rumor has it another actor backed out at the last minute, and Tarantino had to fill in for the scene, because it was the easiest solution).

MA: It was fun seeing Bruce Dern, even for just the one scene.

And don’t forget Don Johnson in a memorable bit as Big Daddy, a southern plantation owner who serves as a sort of precursor to Calvin Candie.

LS: You’re right. Don Johnson is terrific in this movie as well. I loved him in every scene he’s in.

MA: I also enjoyed seeing Dennis Christopher as Candie’s lawyer, Leonide Moguy.

I’m not quite sure what Jonah Hill was doing in this movie. He seemed a bit out of place, even if he did appear in the film’s funniest scene.

LS: DJANGO UNCHAINED is gory. When bullets enter flesh, there is a fair amount of blood.

MA: And it’s not of the CGI variety, which is a good thing.

LS: During a big shootout towards the end, things get messy. But there’s a kind of visceral authenticity to it.

MA: Yeah, but I thought things got a bit carried away at the end. It seemed unnecessary, and didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the movie. I could have done without the big concluding bloodbath. I don’t have a problem with the fates of any of the principal characters, but to have an army of nameless gunmen riddled with bullets nonstop while spewing blood showers all over creation did nothing for me.

LS: Between the top shelf acting, terrific script and dead-on direction, DJANGO UNCHAINED is easily one of the best movies I have seen in 2012. I just wish I didn’t have to wait all year long to see it. I give it four and a half knives.

MA: I liked it too, but not as much as you. I agree that it has phenomenal acting, directing, and a top-notch script. All three of these things are equally terrific.

One of my favorite parts of the script is that it runs the full gamut of emotions. It’s a love story, an actioner, a revenge tale, a statement on the evils of slavery, and the moods range from that incredibly tense scene near the end where Candie delivers his spiel with the skull and hammer to the funniest Ku Klux Klan scene in a movie this side of Mel Brooks. It’s laugh out loud funny, and not of the nervous laughter variety. It’s simply hilarious.

LS: It’s also a western—Tarantino’s take on the spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s, to be exact—as well as a homage to the black empowerment films of the 1970s. Two genres with their feet firmly planted in grindhouse cinema. Tarantino takes these elements and uses them to transcend his inspirations with something new and epic in scope. But the grindhouse elements here mean this movie is also entertaining as hell.

MA: There are lots of well-crafted scenes. I thought the initial meeting scene between Dr. Schultz and Django, which comes right at the beginning of the movie, is one of the film’s best sequences. It sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

The “Mandingo” fight sequence is a particularly brutal scene, as is the scene where a slave is torn apart by dogs. These scenes aren’t overly gory, but they’re tough to get through. Tarantino does a nice job with reaction shots of his characters. You don’t need to see what’s going on. You can tell by looking into the pained eyes of Dr. Schultz, for example.

But the film’s not perfect. While I would agree with you that the pacing is very good throughout, I did think it lost momentum towards the end. The movie reaches an obvious climax when the plot to rescue Hildi comes to a head, but from there, as the story continues, I thought it lost a few steps.

It’s not that I didn’t like the ending to this movie. I did. It’s just that I thought the last twenty minutes or so didn’t have the same edge as the rest of the movie, and I didn’t find the final few events of the film as believable as all that had come before it. And once it became obvious where the tale was headed, it didn’t have the same sense of unpredictability towards the end as it had during the beginning and middle.

LS: The only moment in the film that seemed to strain believability for me was the outcome of the deal between Candie and Schultz for the freedom of Hildi. It seems that Schultz could have resolved it much easier, and that his motives were almost forced to take the movie where Tarantino wanted it to go. I can’t fully complain, because what happens afterwards is so spectacular, but it just seems that Schultz was a little unnecessarily stubborn in that scene for the sake of the plot.

MA: See, I didn’t find what happens afterwards all that spectacular. To me, the film hit its peak during that scene where Candie and Schulz make their deal, and what followed, while good, was less intense.

It’s tough to keep up the kind of intensity found in DJANGO UNCHAINED for an entire movie, and I think, as this one made its way to the finish line, it slowed down somewhat. I don’t mean the pacing slowed down, but the story did, if that makes any sense.

Still, I liked DJANGO UNCHAINED a lot, and it’s also one of my favorite movies of this year. I give it three and a half knives.

LS: That’s all you’re giving it? What are you, insane?

MA: I’ve only given a handful of movies more than a three knife rating this year, which puts DJANGO UNCHAINED in the upper echelon of movies I’ve seen this year, where it belongs.

Hey, bartender! How about another round of whiskeys?

BARTENDER: S-sure. Then you folks’ll be leaving?

LS: We’ll be leaving when we’re good and ready.

BARTENDER (pouring whiskey, nervously spilling some): No hurry. Take your time. You’ll get no trouble from me.

LS (downs his drink): I’m good.

MA: And I’m ready.

LS: Let’s blow this watering hole.

BARTENDER: Please! Don’t blow up my bar!

MA: It’s just an expression. Keep your shirt on.

BARTENDER: Why would I take off my shirt?

MA: You don’t get out much, do you? Let’s get out of here.

LS: So long folks! We’ll see y’all next year with lots more movie reviews! So stay with your pals here at cinemaknifefight.com for 2013!

MA: Adios, muchachos y muchachas!

BARTENDER (scratches his head): You’re Mexican?

(CLOSE-UP of DEPUTY DAWG who’s asleep at the bar, snoring loudly)

—END—

Michael Arruda gives DJANGO UNCHAINED ~ THREE AND A HALF knives (out of five)!

LL Soares gives DJANGO UNCHAINED ~ FOUR AND A HALF knives!

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Transmissions to Earth: DJANGO (1966)

Posted in 2012, 60s Movies, Action Movies, Classic Films, Exploitation Films, Italian Cinema, Killers, LL Soares Reviews, Low Budget Movies, Spaghetti Westerns, Trasmissions to Earth, Westerns with tags Cowboys, Cult Movies, Django, Franco Nero, Italian Exploitation Films, Sergio Corbucci, Spaghetti Western on December 27, 2012 by knifefighter

Transmissions to Earth Presents:

DJANGO (1966)
Review by L.L. Soares

In honor of Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, DJANGO UNCHAINED, which opened on Christmas Day, I thought I would see the movie that inspired him – at least in part – the original 1966 spaghetti western called, simply, DJANGO, starring Franco Nero.

When we first see the titular anti-hero, Django is on a hill, dragging a coffin behind him with ropes. He looks down upon a group of Mexican bandits tying up a prostiute named Maria (Loredana Nusciak) and flogging her. Suddenly, a group of soldiers arrive, shooting the bandits and setting the woman free – or so we think. Instead, they form a cross from pieces of wood, intent on burning her for her sins. Django comes to her rescue and she is saved a second time.

Django drags around a coffin wherever he goes.

Going into town, they find it pretty much deserted, except for a whorehouse/saloon run by Nathaniel (Angel Alvarez). Their clientele includes the soldiers, led by Major Jackson (Eduardo Fajardo), and the Mexican bandits, led by General Hugo (Jose Bodalo), the exact two groups who had taken turns persecuting Maria earlier.

Django makes the whorehouse his office, dragging that coffin of his into the middle of the room, to the consternation of Nathaniel and his girls, who are terrified about how Major Jackson will respond. When we are introduced to the Major, he is using bandits as target practice (they’re forced to run up a hill and he shoots them in the back as they flee). Jackson takes some of his men into town to look at the stranger who shot some of his soldiers, which leads to Django revealing just what’s in that coffin of his. Let’s just say Major Jackson enters the saloon with an entourage and leaves all by himself.

Django has a special treat for his enemies in the coffin he drags around everywhere.

While Django and Nathaniel are digging graves for all the men Django has killed, the bandits show up again. It turns out that General Hugo knows Django from past skirmishes and they are old friends. Django reveals to the General why he came to town – to steal some gold from a military fort just inside the Mexican border. Hugo is game, and they follow Major Jackson back to the fort, where they attack (after hiding in the covered wagon Nathaniel normally uses to bring prostitutes to the soldiers) and abscond with a big bag of gold dust.

Afterwards, Hugo double-crosses Django, cheating him out of his cut of the gold in the name of “La Revolucion” Hugo is planning, to take over the Mexican government. He expects Django to make a sacrifice for the cause, but the mysterious stranger has no intention of leaving empty-handed, especially when it was his plan that got them the gold.

After tricking the bandits out of their gold, Django tries to get away, but accidentally loses the gold (now stuffed in his coffin) to a patch of quicksand. The bandits catch up and crush Django’s hands, leaving him for dead, before riding off into an ambush of Major Jackson’s men, who shoot the bandits dead.

The film ends with a lethal showdown in a cemetery with Django, with a gun but crushed hands, against Major Jackson and a group of his men, culminating in a satisfying conclusion.

DJANGO was a big hit upon its initial release and spawned lots of imitators, and some sequels. It’s clear that Franco Nero’s character is patterened after the “Man with No Name” that Clint Eastwood played in the spaghetti westerns he did for director Sergio Leone. Django is a man of few works, with a face full of stubble, like Eastwood’s mercenary, but Nero also has piercing blue eyes beneath his beat-up cowboy hat. Directed by Sergio Corbucci, DJANGO isn’t as epic as Leone’s best work, and he clearly doesn’t have anywhere near the budget of Leone’s films, but Corbucci makes up for it in in interesting locations and a strong atmosphere of foreboding.

DJANGO doesn’t have much to distinguish it from the tons of other Italian westerns of the time, but Nero is terrific as the lead character. And that coffin he drags around is an interesting gimmick. Also, Major Jackson’s men go around wearing red bags over their heads, looking an awful lot like a variation on the Klu Klux Klan (the fact that Jackson is clearly a racist just emphasizes this).

It’s not 100% clear what Major Jackson is up to. He leads a group of soldiers, but they seem to be outside of the law and murder the locals with impunity. At one point, Jackson mentions that he fought for the South in the recent Civil War (which isn’t referred to by name), while Django fought for the North. All the more reason for them to be enemies. But since the film was made in Italy, it seems to be a little vague about the details of the war and the specifics of geography.

While it’s not a great movie, DJANGO has some great moments, including a scene where bandits cut off the ear of one of Major Jackson’s cronies, a preacher named Brother Jonathan (Gino Pernice), and that final showdown in the graveyard. And Franco Nero dominates every scene he’s in, and it’s not hard to see how he became an international star.

Charismatic actor Franco Nero became a star for his portrayal of DJANGO.

Charismatic actor Franco Nero became a star for his portrayal of DJANGO.

DJANGO may have “inspired” Tarantino’s new one, but aside from the titles (and names of the title characters) and the fact that they’re both westerns, there’s not a lot in common between DJANGO and DJANGO UNCHAINED. Tarantino has stated that he really likes this movie, however, and he uses some of Luis Bacalov’s score for DJANGO in DJANGO UNCHAINED, including the memorable title song which appears in both films. The original film is worth checking out, however, especially if you’re a big fan of Italian westerns of the 1970s.

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Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN (4 of 4)

Posted in 2011, Classic Films, John Wayne Movies, Michael Arruda Reviews, Monstrous Question, Westerns with tags John Ford, John Wayne, monstrous question, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, Westerns on September 18, 2011 by knifefighter

MONSTROUS QUESTION: Favorite WESTERNS
(Monstrous Question created by Michael Arruda)

Tonight’s question from L.L. SOARES:
What are our favorite westerns?

Our panel responds:

******

MICHAEL ARRUDA:

I have a lot of favorite westerns, but here are a few of them:

I discovered John Wayne later in life, but I have to say, I REALLY enjoy his movies. He truly dominates the movies he’s in. To do that on a consistent basis takes talent, and Wayne, though he won only one Oscar for TRUE GRIT (1969), had a lot of it. The westerns Wayne starred in belong in a category all their own.

I think the best John Wayne western I’ve seen, and the one that includes Wayne’s best performance, would be THE SEARCHERS (1956), directed by John Ford. This is a dark, meaty role for the Duke, one in which he gets to show a grim, dangerous side.

You also can’t beat the plot, as Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a man who along with his nephew (Jeffrey Hunter) spends years searching for his niece, who had been abducted by Indians when she was a child. Her parents, Ethan’s brother and wife, were murdered by these same Indians, and it’s hinted at early on in the film that Ethan and his brother’s wife share more than just a casual connection. Also, Wayne’s dark side in this movie comes into play because he hates Indians, and the longer his niece is with them, the more it becomes apparent that rather than rescue her, he’d like to kill her.

It’s a great movie.

But my favorite John Wayne western, in terms of how much fun it is to watch, would be RIO BRAVO (1959), with Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson. I love the story and I also like Dino’s drunk deputy character, Dude, and Angie Dickinson makes a very sexy leading leady. I also like EL DORADO (1966) which pairs Wayne with Robert Mitchum and James Caan. Sure, it tells almost the same story as RIO BRAVO, but it’s still great fun. These two were both directed by the great Howard Hawks.

Moving on from John Wayne, any western that Clint Eastwood has starred in is more than worth your time. I love the trilogy by Sergio Leone, FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965), my favorite of the three, and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966). I also like Eastwood in UNFORGIVEN (1992) a lot, and a host of others. Like I said, you can’t go wrong with Eastwood.

And just to have a western without Wayne or Eastwood, I enjoyed the recent 3:10 TO YUMA (2007) starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and would list that as a modern favorite.

******

—END—

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Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN? (3 of 4)

Posted in 1970s Movies, 2011, Classic Films, Mark Onspaugh Columns, Monstrous Question, Westerns with tags Client Eastwood, High Plains Drifter, monstrous question, Outlaw Josey Wales, Westerns on September 17, 2011 by knifefighter

MONSTROUS QUESTION: Favorite WESTERNS
(Monstrous Question created by Michael Arruda)

Tonight’s question from L.L. SOARES:
What are our favorite westerns?

Our panel responds:

******

MARK ONSPAUGH:

My favorite Western of all time is HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973), the surreal, supernatural Western shot at Mono Lake that was Clint Eastwood’s second feature as a director, and it’s got everything – a town with a secret, outlaws coming to settle a score, a vengeful spirit, a dwarf, lots of Eastwood-style gunplay… Hell, even the Man with No Name has a name here… if you pay attention…

Eastwood wrote to John Wayne after this debuted, wanting to work with him – the Duke sent back a nasty reply, unhappy with the violence and revisionist leanings of HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER. Needless to say, they never did work together.

I’d take any Eastwood Western after that, but especially THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976), THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966 – the score alone earns it a spot) and HANG ‘EM HIGH (1966) – [showing his hanging scar] “When you hang a man, you better look at him!”

Man, I love Westerns – I’d also throw in BLAZING SADDLES (1974) and the granddaddy of ‘em all, HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962), a look at the pioneers and push westward that has every (it seems) major star of Hollywood and everything from a wagon train, a raft on the rapids, riverboats, buffalo stampedes, Indian attacks and the Civil War – all in Cinerama!

—END—

******

Tune in next time for another response!

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Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN? (2 of 4)

Posted in 2011, 60s Movies, Classic Films, Colleen Wanglund Reviews, Monstrous Question, Westerns with tags Eli Wallach, John Sturges, Magnificent Seven, monstrous question, Seven Samurai, Steve McQueen, Western, Yul Brenner on September 11, 2011 by knifefighter

MONSTROUS QUESTION: Favorite WESTERNS
(Monstrous Question created by Michael Arruda)

Tonight’s question from L.L. SOARES:
What are our favorite westerns?

Our panel responds:

******

COLLEEN WANGLUND:

My favorite western has always been THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960). Directed by John Sturges, who also directed THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), it stars Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn and James Coburn. The impressive cast alone makes it a great movie for me. It has plenty of action but is at times understated in its tone, focusing on the motives of the characters for agreeing to help the Mexican villagers against the bandit Calvera (Wallach). There’s also a sentimentality to the movie….I first watched it with my Dad, who loves westerns and growing up I was daddy’s little girl. My dad is also responsible for my love of James Bond films, but that’s for another column. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI (1954), so close a remake that the two movies share some dialogue, but that’s never really been a factor as to why it’s my favorite western. Yes, I love Kurosawa, but when I first saw THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN I had never heard of him.

I must give honorable mention to Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) as a very close second, which stars Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, and Jason Robards. WEST is an epic film dealing with the changes that were occurring in the western part of the United States with the arrival of the first railroad. It plays out like an opera and has some very beautiful and amazing cinematography.

What I love about both of these films is that there isn’t necessarily a strict black and white/good versus evil storyline. I mean, of course there are obvious good guys and bad guys, but there’s also a grey area. In SEVEN, the motives of some of the characters aren’t very noble. In WEST, Jason Robards plays a bandit who comes through as a good guy as the story moves along. There are no singing cowboys or an idealization of the American West in either of these movies and that’s part of what makes them so good. I’m not generally a fan of westerns, but I love THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.

—END—

******

Tune in next weekend for more responses!

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Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN? (1 of 4)

Posted in 2011, 60s Movies, Classic Films, LL Soares Reviews, Monstrous Question, Westerns with tags John Ford, John Wayne, monstrous question, Sam Peckinpah, The Searchers, Westerns, Wild Bunch on September 10, 2011 by knifefighter

MONSTROUS QUESTION: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN?
(Monstrous Question created by Michael Arruda)

Tonight’s MONSTROUS QUESTION comes from L.L. SOARES.

Since there’s been a decent number of a westerns released in the past few years, including this summer’s COWBOYS AND ALIENS, L.L. thought that our readers might like to know what our favorite westerns were, and so he asked his illustrious panel of writers, including himself, to weigh in on the subject.

Our panel responds:

******

L.L. SOARES:

Since I came up with the question, I’ll answer this one first for a change.

What’s my favorite western? This is an easy one. I’m a hardcore fan of director Sam Peckinpah, and, as far as I’m concerned, he directed the best western ever made with 1969’s THE WILD BUNCH. Peckinpah had done other westerns before, including the classic RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962). But THE WILD BUNCH was something else entirely. It was a game changer. Not only did it deal with a more melancholic view of the west—in THE WILD BUNCH, the old west as we know it is winding down and the “heroes” are a bunch of aging outlaws who want to pull off one last job and then retire— but there’s no clear-cut hero, since they’re all pretty much anti-heroes, and it also ushered in a more explicit level of violence than westerns had ever seen before. The gory ending of THE WILD BUNCH was as much of a shock to the system of its time as the bloody shoot-em-up at the end of Arthur Penn’s BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967). These movies ushered in the wild and wooly cinema of the 1970s, when” anything goes.”

The cast is chock full of amazing actors, from 1950s leading men like William Holden and Robert Ryan to top-notch character actors like Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, Strother Martin, Edmund O’Brien, and Peckinpah mainstay Warren Oates. For a potent shot of rye from the wild west, you can’t do much better than this.

A close second is John Ford’s 1956 classic, THE SEARCHERS, starring John Wayne hisownself, Jeffrey Hunter and a young Natalie Wood. Ford might just have been the most iconic western director of all time, and THE SEARCHERS comes toward the end of his career. Both he and Wayne had made a lot of westerns before this, but none has the pure gut punch THE SEARCHERS gives you. Indian Hunter Ethan Edwards might just be the darkest character Wayne ever played (and he’s such an anti-hero, he would have been at home in a Peckinpah film), and the ending is cinema at its finest. When I was a kid, I wasn’t much of a John Wayne fan, and he kind of grew on me as an adult. THE SEARCHERS is his finest moment.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

THE “SPAGHETTI WESTERNS” that Clint Eastwood did with director Sergio Leone in the 1960s—Their trilogy together, A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965), and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966) not only made Eastwood an international star, but they injected new, vibrant blood into a mostly stagnant genre and made westerns exciting again.

Monte Hellman’s westerns: RIDE THE WHIRLWIND (1965) starring Cameron Mitchell and a young Jack Nicholson (in one of his early leading roles) and THE SHOOTING (1968) starring Nicholson and the great Warren Oates—two low-budget, meditative westerns that kind of transcend the genre.

******

Tune in next time for another response!

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COWBOYS & ALIENS

Posted in 2011, Aliens, Blockbusters, Cinema Knife Fights, Monsters, Westerns with tags Aliens, Cowboys, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Jon Favreau, OIivia Wilde, Science Fiction, Western on August 1, 2011 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011)
By Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

(THE SCENE: A saloon in the old West. Cowboys sit at tables, playing cards and drinking. On the small stage at one end of the room is the cantina band from STAR WARS, playing bizarre-looking instruments and other-worldly tunes. L.L. SOARES enters through the swinging doors and sidles up to the bar. He’s wearing a black cowboy hat and has a toothpick between his teeth).

LS: Gimme that drink that Yosemite Sam used to have in the old Warner Brothers cartoons.

BARTENDER: Coming right up, sir.

(Bartender puts on a welder’s mask and mixes up a bunch of liquids that culminate in a small explosion, then hands the glass over with tongs. LS takes a sip)

LS: Ahhh! Perfect.

(The doors swing open again and MICHAEL ARRUDA saunters in, wearing a white cowboy hat and a bright green vest. He also goes to the bar).

MA: I’ll have your biggest, coldest glass of milk.

BARTENDER: Yes, of course, sir.

MA: And don’t bother pasteurizing it or homogenizing it. I want mine STRAIGHT UP.

BARTENDER (shaking a little): Certainly.

(BARTENDER brings tall glass and puts it in front of MA, who takes a sip)

MA: Ahhh!

LS: Unpasteurized did you say? You sure do live dangerously, pardner!

MA: You can say that again.

LS: You sure do live dangerously, pardner!

MA: What is there, an echo in here?

LS: Well, since we’re here to review the new movie COWBOYS & ALIENS, I suppose we should get to it.

MA: You start. I’m enjoying this milk too much. (Belches loudly). (To Bartender): Hey, you got any cookies to go with this?

BARTENDER: Right away, sir.

LS: Yeah, so this week’s movie is COWBOYS & ALIENS. I have to admit, I wasn’t too excited about seeing this one. The trailer didn’t look all that great. Of course, the fact that I’ve seen the trailer like 75 times and have it ingrained in my brain doesn’t help. But this one surprised me a little. As for what it’s about – well the title says it pretty succinctly.

MA: Kind of like SNAKES ON A PLANE (2006).

LS: Yeah, except this one didn’t suck. Well, not completely.

MA: I didn’t think this one sucked at all .

LS: Shhh. I don’t want to give away my verdict in the first page!

MA: Whatever. Continue, pardner.

LS: Right off the bat, we’re thrust into the action as cowboy Daniel Craig—the latest James Bond 007 himself—wakes up to find himself in the middle of the desert with no memory of who he is or where he came from. He doesn’t even have any shoes! He does, however, have some weird-looking manacle-like contraptions on his left arm, and a gaping wound in his side. Even with these handicaps, he makes quick work of some grimy looking bounty hunters who ride by and decide there might be a price on his head.

MA: I liked this opening scene. It was a fine way to start the movie.

LS: Yeah, right in the middle of the action. I liked it, too.

So this cowboy takes his pick of the dead bounty hunters’ clothes and horses while they’re pushing up daisies, and rides into the nearest town, where everyone seems to be afraid of a punk kid who likes to shoot his gun to scare people, Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), who gets away with his behavior because his daddy is the big cattle baron in those parts and pretty much keeps the town running with his prosperous business. Of course, being new to town, Mr. Craig doesn’t know he’s supposed to run cowering from this annoying kid, and kicks him in the jewels. The sheriff (the great Keith Carradine, who’s been in everything from Robert Altman movies to DEADWOOD, and a whole lot more), brings them both in and locks them up in the jailhouse. Percy for being a nuisance (and accidentally shooting a deputy) and Craig because he looks an awful lot like a guy he saw on a “Wanted” poster.

It’s about this time that the kid’s daddy, Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) rides into town, intent on springing his troublesome son, when some other visitors decide to show up. Except these ain’t riding horses. They’re flying in on brightly lit aircraft that look like giant metal dragonflies. Oh, and they like to shoot out hooked wires and abduct whoever they can get ahold of.

Mr. No Name (we later learn his name is Jake) finally figures out what that thing on his arm is when it suddenly springs to life and blasts one of the spaceships to kingdom come, which just makes him all the more mysterious. Who is the feller and what’s his story, anyway?

The rest of the film involves Craig, Ford, and a bunch of other townspeople going on a trek to find where the spaceships took their loved ones. And along the way they meet up with hostile bandits, hostile Native Americans, and even more hostile alien monsters.

This movie actually turned out to be better than I was expecting, and a big part of that is the fact that it was directed by Jon Favreau. Who knew that the whiny guy who starred in and wrote the indie comedy SWINGERS (1996) and directed and starred in the gangster comedy MADE (2001), with his buddy Vince Vaughn, would later go on to become an A-list director of summer blockbusters? But that’s exactly where his career has gone, and he’s pretty good at it. I mean, this is the same guy who gave us the IRON MAN movies (okay, the second one wasn’t so great, but the first one rocked!), and he replicates some of the same magic here.

MA: Yes, I agree about Favreau . I loved IRON MAN (2008), and in spite of certain aspects of this movie I didn’t find so hot, I loved COWBOYS & ALIENS as well.

LS: Another big plus is the cast.

MA: I agree . The cast is terrific.

LS: Daniel Craig, he of the rugged features and piercing blue eyes, makes a pretty decent cowboy and an effortless leading man. The guy is perfect for this kind of role, and it’s nice to see him do the occasional non-James Bond movie now and then. He’s much too good an actor to be tied to one franchise.

MA: I liked Craig too . He’s one of my favorite actors right now, and he’s very good again here . However, I’ve seen him better . I like him better as Bond, and his performance here is not as strong as the riveting one he delivered in DEFIANCE (2008).

LS: Personally, I prefer some his earlier films like when he played artist Francis Bacon’s lover in LOVE IS THE DEVIL (1998) and as a gangster in movies like ROAD TO PERDITION (2002) and LAYER CAKE (2004). I’m just not a big Bond guy, although I think Craig is one of the best two actors to tackle the role (the other being Sean Connery). It’s funny, I didn’t realize I was a Craig fan from so long ago – there’s something about him that feels current and new.

MA: And while he makes a solid tough guy, based on his performance in this western, he’s no John Wayne or Clint Eastwood . Wayne and Eastwood, in addition to being tough, infused tremendous personality into their roles, and Craig doesn’t do this here. Even Jeff Bridge’s recent performance in TRUE GRIT (2010) was more on target than Craig’s in this movie . Craig was good, but he could have been better.

LS: A lot of people were excited to see Craig paired with Harrison Ford here, but I guess I wasn’t one of them. I’ve never been a big Ford fan, even though I thought his Han Solo was one of the better characters in the STAR WARS series, and he starred in one of my all-time favorite sci-fi flicks, BLADE RUNNER (1982). But I’ve also found him to be kind of wooden and unexciting in a lot of roles, and the INDIANA JONES series never really wowed me (I know, I know, I’m the only one who doesn’t love Indie!).

MA: Well, hold onto your hat, pardner, but I’m not a big INDIANA JONES fan either! I liked RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) a lot, but the rest of the films I could take or leave . Your take on Harrison Ford is interesting . I would agree with everything you said….

LS: We agree on something? Do wonders never cease?

MA: ….except, in spite of the numerous wooden and unexciting roles, I’ve somehow always liked Ford, and I think it’s because he’s good at creating likeable characters . He doesn’t tend to blow you away with deep tremendous performances, but he does act like a favorite uncle who you can’t help but like . So, I was one of those people who was looking forward to the pairing of Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

LS: Here, in COWBOYS & ALIENS, Ford is pretty good as a grizzled former soldier who starts out looking like the town bully and all-around bad guy, but eventually turns out to be one of the white hats. He and Craig do have some onscreen chemistry, but I thought Craig dominated every scene he was in with ease.

MA: Yeah, Harrison Ford is cast against type . Curiously, I liked Ford better early on in the movie when his character was more of a bully . Later, when he softens and becomes more of a good guy, I thought he fell back into the more traditional Harrison Ford role, only older and grumpier . I wish he had stayed villainous . It was more refreshing to watch.

LS: I completely agree. I would have preferred if he’d stayed a bad guy throughout, just for something different.

MA: I don’t know about the onscreen chemistry between Craig and Ford, though. I thought that was one of the areas where the film lagged. I didn’t find much chemistry between them at all . A buddy movie, this ain’t!

LS: Really, there are some scenes at the end where they seem to have become buddies!

MA: I disagree. To me it looked like Craig was just tolerating Ford and would have kicked him in the ass if he had the chance.

But you’re right about Craig dominating every scene he’s in. This is definitely Daniel Craig’s movie . He would have carried this movie even without Ford.

LS: Easily. Hey, I thought you said Craig wasn’t as good here as he was in some of his other movies? Now it’s his movie? Make up your mind.

MA: It is his movie . I’ve just seen him better in other movies . He’s that good of an actor, in my book.

LS: Also, Ford’s character is named Dolarhyde, an unusual enough name that made me think instantly of Francis Dolarhyde, Tom Noonan’s sinister character in MANHUNTER (1986) and Ralph Fiennes played the same character in the remake RED DRAGON (2002).

MA: I thought there were some curious names in this movie . Dolarhyde made me think of dollars, and when the film begins, Dolarhyde is quite the greedy character .

LS: Makes sense. He’s definitely greedy, and I don’t see any clues that he’s a serial killer like Francis Dolarhyde. (Laughs) It’s just an unusual name that stuck out for me.

MA: Craig’s character is named Jake Lonergan—he’s a loner, the solitary mysterious man with no name who rides into town a la Clint Eastwood in the Sergio Leone westerns.

LS: Yep, the fact that he couldn’t remember his name throughout most of the movie definitely made me think of Eastwood’s iconic Man With No Name. Except Eastwood’s character was more self-assured and didn’t have memory problems.

MA: Adam Beach plays a character named Nat Colorado . Colorado is the name of the Ricky Nelson character in the classic Howard Hawks/John Wayne western RIO BRAVO (1959) .

LS: Fascinating. It’s also the name of a state. (Laughs)

The rest of the cast is pretty good too, chock full of seasoned character actors from Sam Rockwell (who’s been in everything from the Chuck Barris biopic CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND in 2002 to MOON from 2009) to Walton Goggins (from the FX Channel TV-series THE SHIELD and the new FX series JUSTIFIED) to Clancy Brown as a preacher named Meacham (you might remember him as another preacher, Brother Justin Crowe, in the HBO series CARNIVALE). We’ve also got Olivia Wilde as the main lady here (a lot of people might recognize her as “Thirteen” from the FOX series HOUSE), and a perty one she is, even if I did burst out laughing when they first showed her in a pretty cotton dress and a big ol’ gunbelt strapped across it. She’s just as mysterious as Craig’s character, and we eventually find out why.

MA: I also liked Keith Carradine as the sheriff, and Noah Ringer as the little boy who “grows up” (translation: he learns to kill! Ahhh, rites of passage in the old west!) was also very good .

LS: I’m a huge Carradine fan from way back, and this isn’t his first western role. He was excellent as Wild Bill Hickock in the HBO show DEADWOOD (which I mentioned earlier), played Buffalo Bill Cody in a movie called WILD BILL in 1995 and his first film role was in Robert Altman’s revisionist western, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, way back in 1971, when he was more famous for being the brother of actor David Carradine and son of the horror legend, actor John Carradine.

As for the kid, he’s good, but I didn’t think he was anything special. It seems like he’s there more to mellow out Harrison Ford’s character, whose son in the movie is a disappointment, so Ford is drawn to this kid who’s more of a clean slate, and takes him under his wing.

MA: And I thought Paul Dano stood out early on as Percy Dolarhyde, the pain-in-the-ass son of Ford’s character.

LS: He’s great at playing pains-in-the-ass! He was also the annoying preacher in THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007).

MA: My favorite performance though, of the supporting players, belonged to Sam Rockwell as Doc . He was excellent.

LS: I think Rockwell is a very underrated actor who deserves more attention. But I don’t think Doc was one of his better roles. It was good, but he’s had a lot better.

As for the monsters, well, CGI remains a very imperfect tool. So there are scenes where the alien monsters look pretty damn cool, and other times where they look clunky and hurky-jerky, but overall I was pretty impressed with them. I even thought they were just as formidable as the otherworldly critter we saw earlier this summer in JJ Abrams’ SUPER 8, in a few scenes.

MA: I would agree that the aliens ran hot and cold in this movie . They didn’t blow me away by any means . Will there ever be an alien or aliens as frightening as the alien in ALIEN (1979) and its first sequel, ALIENS (1986)? These new CGI aliens just don’t cut it . They’re too cartoonish, and cartoons just aren’t scary!

LS: I agree. The monsters from the ALIEN movies are still the gold standard for extraterrestrial creatures. Thank you, H.R. Giger.

MA: However, like you said, there are times when these aliens are pretty cool-looking . I thought they were better than what we saw in BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (2011) and SKYLINE (2010), but not quite as good as the aliens in DISTRICT 9 (2009).

LS: Yeah, the aliens in DISTRICT 9 were something completely different and original. But I think Favreau’s monsters in COWBOYS & ALIENS are pretty effective for the most part.

MA: I liked the hands coming out of the alien’s chest to grab people . I thought this was cool . They were also kinda menacing, in a PG-13 sort of way, mostly because they abducted humans and performed painful experiments on them . So, yeah, they were kind of disturbing when they weren’t looking like expensive cartoons.

LS: Yep, those crazy hands were an interesting feature. It looks like they were situated right next to the creatures’ lungs in their chest cavities. Weird—and cool.

MA: I thought the alien ships were just OK . They were better when they weren’t seen . When they were shown as lights in the sky, they were creepy . When we see the actual ships, again—cartoon.

LS: Gotta agree with you there.

(GREEDO from the original STAR WARS (1977) —we refuse to call it “A New Hope” —and Boba Fett from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) get up from their table and approach the bar. GREEDO says something in some incomprehensible alien language)

LS: What did he say?

BOBA FETT: He said he likes your friend’s vest.

(LS looks up and down at MA’s bright green vest)

LS: He’s no friend of mine.

MA (looks at LS): Likewise, you sidewinder.

LS: Come on, give the weirdo alien your vest.

MA: That’ll be the day.

LS: Sorry guys, I think we have a guy here who doesn’t like to share.

(GREEDO bursts into tears and runs out of the saloon. BOBA FETT shakes his helmeted head and goes after him)

LS: Meanie!

MA: And proud of it!

LS: With its attention to detail, great pacing, and even some scares, COWBOYS & ALIENS is a lot more fun than I was expecting, and it was certainly as good as the superhero films we’ve been seeing this summer (COWBOYS & ALIENS is also based on a comic book –er, sorry, “graphic novel” —by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Platinum Studios). It’s no IRON MAN (2008), because nobody here is as entertaining as Robert Downey Jr. was in that movie, but Daniel Craig is close in his intense own way, and it’s easily as good as two other recent summer blockbusters, THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA.

MA: I actually liked it a little bit better than THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA.

LS: Another thing I liked about it was the way the movie didn’t immediately become a science fiction film once the aliens were introduced. This movie is as much a western as it is a sci-fi flick, with some storylines deeply entrenched in the time period, and others leading up to the big finale as the bandits, cowboys and Indians all “bury the hatchet” and team up to battle the greater evil from another world.

MA: I agree . I liked the western aspects of this movie a lot . In fact, there were times I almost wished it had been a straight western.

As a whole, I found COWBOYS & ALIENS to be one curious movie, and I’ve used that word several times here during this column on purpose because I found this to be an odd movie that works exceptionally well, in spite of its flaws.

I won’t beat around the bush . I REALLY liked COWBOYS & ALIENS, and I found it to be a very entertaining movie . I saw it in a packed theater (by far, the most crowded theater I’ve been in this summer) and the audience was really into it.

What makes this movie so curious? For starters, it takes two standard formulas that aren’t really all that original, puts them together, and presto! It creates something original . The western plot is as old as the gold rush . A mysterious bad man rides into town, and he beats up on the town bully, only to have the bully’s father, a powerful greedy son of a bitch, ride into town to rescue his son and give this stranger his comeuppance . We’ve seen shades of this plot in countless westerns, from A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) to RIO BRAVO (1959) and EL DORADO (1966).

The plot of aliens invading the earth to experiment on humans—it goes without saying, there’s nothing original about this plot, either . However, put this story in the old west, and suddenly, you’re onto something.

I’m not sure if I buy the whole thing, the whole gimmick, but I have to say, I think it works because I sat there as entertained and satisfied by this movie as I’ve been by any movie this summer.

LS: There were a few times when it seemed a bit “gimmicky” to me, but for the most part, the genres blended well, and this is a clever concept. But this certainly isn’t the first time that anyone has thought to combine genres this way. We’ve seen several horror/westerns hybrids over the years from the vampire movie, CURSE OF THE UNDEAD (1959) to the dinosaurs in THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), and more recently, the burrowing monsters in J.T. Petty’s THE BURROWERS (2008), which also starred Clancy Brown who was the preacher in COWBOYS & ALIENS!

And don’t forget Z-movie gems like director William Beaudine’s one-two-punch of JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER and BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, both from 1966.

MA: True, but none of these western/horror hybrids involved aliens from outer space.

I also liked the plot point where the cowboys and the Native Americans have to team up to battle the aliens . Sure, we’ve seen this before too, (the enemy of my enemy is my friend) but how many times have we seen these two particular warring groups join forces against a common foe in the movies? Not many.

There’s also a rousing music score by Harry Gregson-Williams, a composer who has a ton of movie soundtrack credits . To name just a few, he wrote the music scores for UNSTOPPABLE (2010), X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009) and the SHREK movies.

All in all, COWBOYS & ALIENS provides grand summer movie entertainment . It’s anchored by a solid performance by Daniel Craig, it has a great cast of supporting actors led by Harrison Ford, it enjoys a decent plot, and its aliens are rather menacing for a summer blockbuster-type movie.

It’s my favorite of the summer movies so far, and I give COWBOYS & ALIENS - three and a half knives.

LS: I liked it, too, but I don’t think as much as you did. It was a great popcorn movie, and while I was watching it, I really enjoyed it, but afterwards, it was kind of forgettable. But this is exactly the kind of movie a lot of people are looking for in the summertime. I liked it at least as much as THOR, my favorite superhero blockbuster of the summer so far, so I’ll give it three knives. Although, I’ll admit, it almost nudged me into giving it that extra half-knife, too, but I think I was a little too generous with CAPTAIN AMERICA, so I’m gonna be a little stingy this time, to balance it out.

(A group of COWBOYS are having a discussion at one of the tables, and the biggest, meanest one of them gets up and approaches the bar).

MEAN COWBOY: You fellers are clearly not from around here.

LS: Yeah, so?

MEAN COWBOY: We don’t like strangers coming into our saloon.

MA: That’s funny, considering your house band is from Alpha Centauri.

MEAN COWBOY: Enough with the jokes. You two better skedaddle if you know what’s good for you.

LS: Or else what? You gonna shoot us?

MEAN COWBOY (takes a menacing pause and then says): Maybe.

(LS takes out a weird black box and looks at it)

MEAN COWBOY: Now, what might that be?

LS: It’s called a Taser.

(He shoots it at the COWBOY, who drops to the ground and starts screaming. The rest of the cowboys cower to the edges of the room)

LS: You see, Michael, this is why I love time traveling. We can always introduce ornery types like this guy to new technologies and learn them something.

MA: Yeah, and completely mess up the space/time continuum in the process.

LS: Oh well, that’s life.

MA: We probably should get going, after all. We’ve got another movie to review next week, and time travel isn’t an exact science.

LS: True enough. (to bar patrons) Later, gators.

(MA and LS leave the saloon to the strains of menacing Ennio Morricone music)

-THE END-

Michael Arruda gives COWBOYS & ALIENS ~ three and a half knives.

L.L. Soares gives COWBOYS & ALIENS ~ three knives.

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CKF COMING ATTRACTIONS: JULY 2011

Posted in 2011, 3-D, Aliens, CGI, Cinema Knife Fights, Coming Attractions, Magic, R-Rated Comedy, Superheroes, Westerns, Wizards with tags Captain America, Coming Attractions Cinema Knife Fight, Cowboys and Aliens, Deathly Hollows, Harry Potter, Horrible Bosses, Transformers on July 1, 2011 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT
COMING ATTRACTIONS: July 2011
by Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

(THE SCENE: The stark surface of the moon. An astronaut slowly makes his way through zero gravity.)

ASTRONAUT (crackly audio): Mission Control? Come in.

MISSION CONTROL: Mission Control, here. Go ahead.

ASTRONAUT: I don’t believe this, Mission Control. We’re not alone up here. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. There’s—-.

MISSION CONTROL: Transformers?

ASTRONAUT: No. Cinema Knife Fighters.

(MICHAEL ARRUDA & L.L. SOARES are seated in front of a wide screen TV set watching the trailer for APOLLO 18. They both turn towards the Astronaut.)

MA: That’s right. We’re here on the moon.

LS: We were here before you, and we’ll be here long after you’ve left, through the power of cyberspace.

ASTRONAUT: How is it you can breathe without a space helmet? There’s no oxygen up here!

MA: We can do whatever we want. We’re writers.

LS: For example, when we’re sick of talking to you, we can make you disappear, like so. (Snaps fingers and Astronaut disappears with a poof!).

MA: That wasn’t very nice.

LS: That’s why I did it.

MA: Anyway, we’re here on the moon to bring you our COMING ATTRACTIONS column for July, and we’ve chosen this setting because the first new movie to be reviewed this month is TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON.

LS: I’d rather be reviewing APOLLO 18, but that one’s coming out in August.

MA: Actually, it’s just been changed to September. No lie. Get this, the release date for APOLLO 18 has already changed 5 times! Right now, it’s slated to open on September 2, but I’m not holding my breath. Five release date changes? That’s crazy. Anyway, this one’s not opening in July, so we’ll move on to the July releases and talk about APOLLO 18 later, whenever the hell they decide to release the damn thing.

So, we begin July with a review of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, or I should say, I begin July, as you won’t be reviewing this one with me.

LS: Nope. I’ve given you the honor. (Laughs hysterically).

MA: I’ll actually be reviewing TRANSFORMERS 3 with Dan Keohane, as he’ll be filling in for you that weekend.

I really don’t like the Transformers movies. The first one was tolerable, but the second one was awful. They say that #3 is going to be really good, and the previews don’t look half bad, but I’m not holding my breath on this one, and I fully expect not to like it.

It’s directed by Michael Bay. ‘Nuff said.

LS: On July 8 we’ll be reviewing the R-rated comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES.

This one actually looks pretty good. It stars Jason Bateman, Ed Helms (from the HANGOVER movies) and Charlie Day (from one my favorite shows, IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA) as put-upon workers out to get rid of their bosses (played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston, respectively). I like Charlie Day a lot, and he seems to be popping up in a lot of movies lately. I also thought Aniston looked the hottest I’ve seen her in the trailer for this movie.

MA: HORRIBLE BOSSES looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s directed by Seth Gordon, who directed a documentary several years back called THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (2007). The film was about two men competing for the world record high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong, but I liked it because it was filmed at a place I visit regularly, the Fun Spot arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, which bills itself as the largest arcade in the world.

On July 15, it’s time for HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2. This one will be covered by Dan Keohane.

(A great cheer erupts, and suddenly a humongous crowd of little green moon men stand applauding.)

What are they cheering for?

LS: That they don’t have to see HARRY POTTER either. Thanks, Dan, for sparing us all!

MA: Yes, thanks, Dan!

LS: As fans of the series know, DEATHLY HOLLOWS PART 2 is the final Harry Potter movie, so this is a big deal for Potter-heads, or whatever fans of Harry call themselves. Dan has been following the series –first in book form and then the movies – since the beginning, so he’s best qualified to review the last film.

MA: Also, we don’t want to see it.

LS: And it’s in 3D, too!

MA: Okay, on July 22, it’s CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER.

I’m looking forward to CAPTAIN AMERICA. I think the previews look great, and dare I say it, even the 3D effects look good in the previews! So, I have high hopes for this one.

It’s directed by Joe Johnston, who also directed THE WOLFMAN (2010) remake, so this bodes well for CAPTAIN AMERICA. The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the same two writers who wrote the screenplays for all three CHRONICLES OF NARNIA movies. This does not bode well for CAPTAIN AMERICA!

LS: It could be worse. It could be written by writers who gave us the TWILIGHT movies.

MA: Captain America will be played by Chris Evans. Let’s hope he has better luck this time around as a superhero, because he failed to wow me as the Human Torch in the FANTASTIC FOUR movies. However, Evans was memorable in SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010) as one of the evil ex’s.

LS: I actually don’t mind him that much. I hope he makes a great Cap!

MA: Hugo Weaving will play The Red Skull. Weaving has been in a ton of movies, like the MATRIX series, and he played Inspector Abberline in THE WOLFMAN.

LS: The Red Skull is a classic bad guy. I think Weaving should be pretty good in the role.

MA: The cast also includes Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones.

LS: Captain America hasn’t had the best luck with movie versions so far. In fact, some of the past ones have gone straight to video, or have been TV-movies. This is the first time Cap gets the real big-budget treatment. I’m hoping this one turns out great, and, at this point, Marvel’s movie line has become pretty reliable. I’m not expecting anything here that will blow me away, but it should be fun, at least.

MA: And we finish July with COWBOYS AND ALIENS, opening on July 29.

LS: This one could go either way, but the trailer actually looks pretty decent. And I like Daniel Craig, who’s the star of this one.

MA: I’m not sure what to make of COWBOYS AND ALIENS. I love the cast. Teaming Daniel Craig with Harrison Ford is inspired casting, and I can’t wait to see them in action together.

It’s directed by Jon Favreau, the director of the two IRON MAN movies, so this is a good sign, and it was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, and— yep, one more, Hawk Ostby. Five screenwriters. Incredible.

LS: Hey – Damon Lindelof was one of the creators of LOST, with J.J. Abrams!

MA: Well, that’s good news.

And the wild card— COWBOYS AND ALIENS is produced by Steven Spielberg! He just produced another movie we reviewed here – J.J. Abrams’ SUPER 8. Actually, he’s just one of the producers involved with COWBOYS AND ALIENS. Just how many producers were there? Ready for this ? Fifteen!

I have to say that number again. Fifteen! And in addition to Spielberg, Ron Howard is also in the mix. With all that talent behind it, the film has to be good? Right? Not really. We’ll find out for sure on July 29.

Well, that about wraps things up for us here. I might as well stay here on the moon since I’ll be reviewing TRANSFORMERS 3 this week. I think I’ll join the little moon men for a drink while I wait. (to LS) Care to join us?

LS: Sure. As long as I’m gone before the movie starts. I’m glad you’re seeing it without me. I hear that the TRANSFORMERS movie is in 3D too, which means you’ll have to pay more for a ticket! (Laughs hysterically).

MA: Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.

LS: I am!

(Small moon men walk by, carrying packages of something called “Green Cheese”)

MA (to little moon men): Any of you guys want to see the new TRANSFORMERS movie with me? (They all start laughing.) I didn’t think so.

Well, folks, it looks like I’ll be boldly going where many have gone before but few want to return.

See you at the movies!

—END—

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TRUE GRIT

Posted in 2010, Cinema Knife Fights, Coen Brothers, Westerns with tags Coen Brothers, Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, josh brolin, Matt Damon, Revenge, Rooster Cogburn, True Grit, Western on December 27, 2010 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: TRUE GRIT (2010)
by Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

(THE SCENE: The back room of a general store. The proprietor tries to keep MICHAEL ARRUDA from going back there, but he pushes on. In the room, they encounter empty whiskey bottles on the floor, and LL SOARES asleep among the inventory. The proprietor lifts his arms in defeat and leaves)

MA: Wake up, you old codger, we’ve got a movie to review.

LS: Saints and tarnation! Can’t a man be allowed to sleep the sleep of the dead even one day a year? I paid that proprietor dearly to prevent anyone from coming back here and disturbing my slumber. How the hell did you find me?

MA (lifts an empty whisky bottle and sniffs): It wasn’t too hard. Wake up. We’ve got a movie to review.

LS: Dammit, Michael. It’s Christmas Eve. Can’t you let a brother sleep late for once?

MA: It was your idea to review this one. Up and Adam! (He kicks the steamer trunk LS is sleeping in)

LS: AAAARGH!

MA: Come on. I have family members to visit. Gifts to hand out…..

LS (interrupts): Houses to haunt. I know, I know.

(LS jumps up, covered in old, worn long underwear and pulls his pants on)

MA: What’s with the eye patch?

LS: I was raising a bottle and accidentally poked myself in the eye. Do you mind?

MA: Eye don’t mind at all, yuk, yuk!

LS: Oh, get stuffed. We’ve got a movie to review, don’t we?

MA (smiles): Yes, we do! And eye do believe it’s your turn to start.

LS: You’re going to need an eye patch of your own in a minute! Okay, I’ll start it then.

TRUE GRIT is the new movie by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan of course, and I was really looking forward to this one. Based on the classic novel by Charles Portis, some of you pardners might remember that it was filmed once before, by director Henry Hathaway, with John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, in 1969. It was the only movie to get Wayne a coveted Oscar statue. But some people have complained that the Hathaway/Wayne version took some liberties with the source material. The Coens aim to rectify this by adhering closer to the novel. Of course, I can’t tell you if they succeeded in doing this. I haven’t read the book.

MA: Neither have I. (LS glares at him.) What? I said “I”, not eye!

LS: Aye. While Wayne was not the most talented of his brethren – there were certainly other leading men of his generation with more range and actorly gifts – he did a great job with the character of Rooster Cogburn (as his Oscar clearly illustrates), and I’m a big fan of the original film. So I wasn’t sure if it really needed to be remade.

But the Coen Brothers, in their infinite wisdom, deemed it so. So who am I to argue? I donned my winter attire and went out to the movie palace to partake of their cinematic Christmas gift. And I have come away with mixed feelings about the new TRUE GRIT.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the movie, because I did. I thought it was extremely well-made and well acted. I’m just not sure if I appreciated the tone all that much.

MA: Really? Then I’m eager to hear what you have to say, because for the most part, I enjoyed the tone of this one. I didn’t have a problem with this movie until its ending, which I found anticlimactic. Why are endings so challenging for filmmakers these days? Don’t answer that now. Go on with your thoughts about tone. I’m interested.

LS: Let’s dissect this pickled frog, shall we?

The story is mainly about poor Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld). Her father, a farmer, was shot to death by a hired hand named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), who also robbed him and fled the scene. Mattie is a serious, determined girl, and all of 14 years old. She has come to town to have her father’s coffin shipped back home and to secretly arrange for vengeance upon her father’s killer. When she is told it is unlikely that the killer will be apprehended – the man has fled to “Indian Territory” (which will someday be called Oklahoma) and there’s a shortage of federal marshals to pursue him – Mattie takes it into her own hands to hire a marshal directly, with money in hand, to make sure the job gets done. Of the possible lawmen to hire, Mattie chooses Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), because he has “true grit” and is known for not bringing them in alive (he usually kills the men he pursues). Since she wants her father’s killer dead, she is overjoyed to find such an ornery and foul-tempered brute to do the job. When she first spies Cogburn, testifying at a trial about men he’d shot, she knows she has made the right choice in the matter.

And so she goes about resolving some of her father’s business to acquire the money, and hires Cogburn to do the deed. Of course, Cogburn is also a whiskey-drinking drunkard as well as a man of the law, so it’s tough to get him motivated at first. But he comes around quickly enough. One of her demands in their exchange of money, however, is that she has to go along on the journey. Her intention being to kill the man himself when they find him, with her father’s own gun, which she has collected from the boarding house he stayed at when he was last alive.

The rest of the film recounts their journey to find the elusive Chaney and bring him to justice. The polecat has taken up with the outlaw Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) and his gang. Cogburn aims to take Ned in tandem, to collect a reward for his hide as well.

MA: And I enjoyed this tale of the journey. It’s what happens once they find good old Mr. Chaney that I have trouble with. By the way, don’t forget Matt Damon….

LS: Ah, yes. Mr. Damon portrays a Texas Ranger by the name of LeBoeuf (which he pronounces “LaBeef”). LeBeouf has been trailing Chaney for a while now, attempting to take him back to Texas for a sizable reward. It seems Chaney had been up to mischief in that state as well, killing a Senator and his dog, and LeBoeuf plans to claim the bounty. But he hasn’t had much luck and seeks to throw in his lot in with Mattie and Cogburn, because I guess he believes the more, the merrier. Besides, Cogburn knows the Indian country well and would at least provide a useful guide for LeBeouf. He even cuts the man in for a percentage of the reward. Both men see Mattie as a complication, a thorn in their respective hides, but she proves she is more than capable of keeping up with them.

And so, our merry band departs Arkansas, hot on the trail of Tom Chaney.

The acting here is all top-notch. Starting with Steinfeld, who is pretty much astounding in her role.

MA: She is amazing, no doubt about it. Her performance in TRUE GRIT is among my favorite parts of the movie.

LS: The young girl plays a no-nonsense, ultra-serious character who will not back down in her quest. I don’t think she cracks a smile once in this movie, and she takes charge of every situation she is in with little or no effort. TRUE GRIT is really her story, and Steinfeld is more than up for the job. Her performance is a powder keg here, and I hope she gets nominated for an Oscar herself.

MA: She’s definitely worthy of an Oscar.

LS: Jeff Bridges, at this point in his career, has become almost as iconic as John Wayne was when he portrayed Rooster Cogburn.

MA: Hold your horses, there, pardner! That would be emphasis on “almost.” I love Jeff Bridges just as much as the next guy—

NEXT GUY: I take offense at that comment. I don’t love Jeff Bridges at all!

MA: Sorry. I thought I was just using an expression.

NEXT GUY: You should be more careful with what you say.

LS: Scram, you smelly varmint!

(NEXT GUY exits.)

MA: As I was saying, I’m a big fan of Bridges, but he’s nowhere near to the icon that was John Wayne. Wayne’s one of the all time biggest stars in film history. And even though Wayne over the course of his career didn’t show a lot of range—as he tended to play himself over and over— he was damn good at it. I’ve become a huge Wayne fan as I’ve gotten older.

LS: Be that as it may, Bridges is the superior actor.

MA: Yes, I would agree with that.

LS: Like I was saying, I love this guy like a second cousin—

NEXT GUY: Better you than me.

LS: Go away!

But I do have some bones to pick with Bridges’ performance here. First of all, the man speaks in such a gruff, mutter, that in some scenes I wasn’t 100% sure what was being said. But, thankfully, that doesn’t happen too often. My other objection is that at times he is portrayed as a bit of an oaf, an idiot, for the sake of comic relief in a story of revenge, and that wasn’t much to my liking. A couple of jokes at his expense is one thing, but there are parts of this film where I thought Cogburn came close to becoming a joke.

MA: I didn’t think he was a joke, but if you’re thinking of the scene where he tries to show off his shooting abilities to LeBoeuf and Mattie Ross, and he’s obviously drunk and at that time not a very good shot, yes, that scene was a little annoying. But I don’t remember there being much more than that.

LS: Yes, that scene where he tries to shoot items he throws up into the sky to impress Mr. LeBeouf becomes rather comical at Cogburn’s expense, but he redeems himself in a true crisis. My problem is how Cogburn is portrayed as pretty much a buffoon throughout he tale – constantly blathering on about silly details of his life like an old hen, shouting when he’s better off using stealth, etc. This is more the fault of the screenwriting than the acting, however, and Bridges does his best to keep the character both noble and oblivious throughout, despite the drunken binges and such.

MA: I really enjoyed Bridges a lot in this movie. As powerful as Hallee Steinfeld was in this film as Mattie Ross, I thought Bridges was equally as good as Rooster Cogburn. I thought both their performances were among the best I’ve seen this year. Bridges was certainly more satisfying here in TRUE GRIT than he was in last week’s TRON: LEGACY.

LS: As many people may know, I’m not a big Matt Damon fan. In some films his earnestness and resemblance to Howdy Doody have made it difficult for me to take him seriously, but he continues to wash away that initial reaction and prove himself a decent enough actor. In TRUE GRIT, Damon is clearly the comic relief character (or is that Cogburn?), who thinks he is much smarter than he truly is. And I think he’s an improvement over Glenn Campbell, who played the same role in the 1969 version.

Of course, Mattie shows both men up for the fools they are. Damon’s character also redeems himself when he needs to. But two fools in one tragedy seems a bit overdone to me, even if this were a work by Billy Shakespeare.

MA: I usually enjoy Damon a lot, but I thought he was just OK here. I didn’t find LeBoeuf particularly compelling or all that enjoyable. I’ve seen Damon deliver some riveting performances, taking a role and making it his own. That’s not quite the case here. LeBoef is Le-Boring.

LS: Josh Brolin plays Chaney, when we finally meet him, as a whiny man-child, not much worth the time spent pursuing him, and not much of an adversary at all, which I guess is the point, but I found his character to be a bit grating. Which is odd, since I’m usually such a big fan of Brolin’s.

MA: I wouldn’t know. Brolin’s screen time here is ridiculously brief, it’s flippin annoying! It’s one of the problems I have with this movie. The three main characters spend all this time tracking down Chaney, and then when they find him, it’s over so quickly.

I actually thought Brolin was fine. I wish he had had more of a part. As it stands now, blink and you might miss him.

LS: You’re exaggerating again.

MA: I know, but I’m making the point that he’s not in this thing much. Often, my favorite part of a movie is its villain. Tom Chaney isn’t much of a villain. And why not? Because we don’t get to know him.

LS: Barry Pepper is actually much better in his small role as outlaw Lucky Ned Pepper. He looks and acts as battle-worn as his character should be, and deserved more screen time.

MA: Yes, he does. TRUE GRIT is obviously the story of Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn, and as such, the movie succeeds. I enjoyed their story immensely, but the movie as a whole would have been better had more time and care been given to the villains in the story as well.

LS: Agreed. I liked this movie a lot. I thought it was very well-done, and I think Steinfeld steals every scene she is in. But my complaint is with the tone of these proceedings. As I mentioned before, there’s a bit too much comic relief in a story that deserves more introspection. Sure, Cogburn is a drunk and a blowhard, but if he’s been so successful at his job, he must be much more of professional killer than we are led to believe here. A bit more clenched-teeth mercilessness in the face of adversity would have been nice. It’s like the movie starts with telling us his reputation as a cold-blooded bringer of vengeance and then the reality is that he’s a clown. Which is all well and good, but I would have been happier to see more of his rattlesnake fangs.

A scene in a shack where one man loses his fingers and another has his head blown off was more to my liking – an intense scene that goes from casualness to violence in the blink of an eye, but there’s not much else like that to be seen here. Even if you were to have one eyehole covered in a patch, as Rooster does.

MA: A great scene! One of my favorite scenes of the movie, very intense! I wish the ending had been as intense as this scene!

LS: Are you referring to an absurd bit of storytelling toward the end where Cogburn rides a horse to death to get a snake-bitten Mattie to a doctor, and once the horse dies, he carries her miles further in the snow to their destination? Is this the scene you didn’t like? Because you’re right, it’s kind of dumb.

MA: No, I was actually referring to the confrontation— or lack thereof— between our good guys and Tom Chaney, but you’re right about the rushing to the doctor scene. I mean, I was fine with it until the horse dies and Cogburn picks up Mattie and carries her across the countryside. I think after a few yards he would have passed out, but he carries her for miles! Yeah, right.

LS: Look, I love the Coen Brothers to death, and I wanted to love this movie, but it’s not in the same wheelhouse as films like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) and FARGO (1996), which better knew how to temper their laughs and grimaces of pain. Actually, I don’t remember laughing much in NO COUNTRY at all, which is probably why it worked so well for me. In these grim scenarios, laughing in the face of reaper is often better served in small doses, unless you’re going to create a virtuoso work of absurdity like my favorite of their films, THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998), in which the tone suits its material perfectly.

MA: I’m hot and cold with the Coen Brothers. While I enjoyed NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and FARGO, I didn’t enjoy BURN AFTER READING (2008) all that much. Oddly, one of my favorite movies of theirs is the quirky O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? (2000).

LS: And there you have it, my review of TRUE GRIT. I give it three and a half knives. Not the full four of an exceptional film, but close. And certainly not the five knives of a masterpiece. The Coens have made a couple of films that approach greatness in their oeuvre, but this one falls a bit short for me.

MA: Me, too. Actually, for most of this movie, I was enjoying it a lot, and it was approaching four knife status. However, the ending took care of that.

I thought the pacing to TRUE GRIT was slow and deliberate, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was completely wrapped up with Mattie Ross’ and Rooster Cogburn’s story, and even though this film of their journey together took its time, I enjoyed every minute of it.

There were lots of enjoyable scenes. You already mentioned my favorite, the “finger slicing scene,” but I also enjoyed the sequence where they come across the hanging body from the tall tree branch. I loved the small details, like the sound effects of the bird chomping on the corpse’s face.

I enjoyed the sequence where they met the Bear Man. It was very mysterious and captivating.

I thought the shoot out following the “finger slicing” scene was also rather intense and well done.

Everything up until the ending was excellent. Up until the ending, TRUE GRIT is a compelling western, well-made, and totally engrossing.

But the conclusion lacks oomph; it’s anticlimactic. What should have been a dramatic confrontation between Rooster Cogburn and Tom Chaney never happens. This is because, ultimately, TRUE GRIT is a character study of Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn. It’s not a chase movie, or an action picture about the pursuit of an evil bad guy. The evil bad guy is nothing more than an afterthought here.

Does this ruin the movie? Absolutely not! It just prevents it, in my book, anyway, from completing the deal and achieving 4 knife status.

As a result, I give TRUE GRIT three knives.

LS: Fine. Some might say that TRUE GRIT is a bit off the beaten path for us, since it’s not horror. But it is a genre film—that genre being of the Western persuasion. Besides, there were mighty slim pickins’ this month for horror films. And as this year went on, we did seem to be branching out a bit in other territories…much like Rooster Cogburn and his crew.

And now that you’ve wrung this review from me, Michael, can I please go back to my slumber?

MA: Of course. I’ve got to get going anyway. I have to go scare— I mean, visit some relatives today.

(Door opens behind MA. A young 14 year-old girl enters the room.)

GIRL: Are you two the Cinema Knife Fighters?

MA & LS: Yeah.

GIRL: A bad man shot a lousy movie about my daddy. I’m here to clear his name. Will you review the movie and tell the truth about my daddy?

MA: Your daddy’s name isn’t Edward Cullen, is it?

GIRL: Nope.

MA: Good, then I’ll see the movie.

LS (exasperated): I just want to sleep, dag gum it! Can’t you handle this one yourself, Arruda?

MA: You can sleep all you want—after we help this girl. Now, tell us about this movie.

GIRL: Well, first of all, it’s all lies, and second—-.

(As girl tells her story, the camera pans away, exits through window of general store, and in a wide crane shot pulls away, revealing saddled horses hitched to the store and a snowy surrounding landscape, and we hear LS shouting, “Damn it, where’s that whiskey bottle I was saving for Christmas?” followed by the crack of a glass bottle shattering, and MA saying, “There ‘tis.”)

—END—

Michael Arruda gave TRUE GRIT – three knives.

LL Soares gave TRUE GRIT - three and a half knives

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Archive for the Westerns Category

Bill’s Bizarre Bijou goes to GHOST TOWN (1988)

The Final CKF Review of 2012: DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

Transmissions to Earth: DJANGO (1966)

Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN (4 of 4)

Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN? (3 of 4)

Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN? (2 of 4)

Monstrous Question: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WESTERN? (1 of 4)

COWBOYS & ALIENS

CKF COMING ATTRACTIONS: JULY 2011

TRUE GRIT

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