Dante's Inferno (1935)

Directed by: Harry Lachman
Written by: Philip Klein + Robert Yost
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor, Henry B. Walthall, Alan Dinehart, Scotty Beckett, Robert Gleckler, Rita Hayworth

Spencer Tracy plays a man who lucks into carnival barking as a result of meeting a man, played by Henry B. Walthall, who runs a concession known as 'Dante's Inferno.' Walthall soon becomes Tracy's father-in-law, and Tracy becomes a successful businessman. He launches a huge, gaudy Inferno employing ruthless means to get the property. Though a wonderful husband and father, in his corporate world, he stops at nothing to get what he wants, including cheating, bribery, and ignoring possible dangers. The consequences are disastrous.

This film features three giant set pieces that must have thrilled audiences in 1935. Two of them are large scale disasters, the first on the boardwalk pier and the second aboard a luxury liner. But the most memorable and eye popping of these set pieces is a lengthy dream sequence where Tracy descends into hell. We see mountains of tortured souls writhing naked in lava, masses of hooded demons marching into oblivion, the damned, suffering, screaming as they are tortured for all eternity. Even if you don't believe a hell exists, this is some visually powerful stuff.

Unfortunately, besides these memorable sequences the story is pretty routine. Poor man makes it big, destroys his soul in the process, and in the end repents to his loving wife (only after countless people are killed by his greed and carelessness. Twice.) At times it seems that the rest of the film was written around the amazing dream sequence. They needed a story to lead into that trip through the underworld, and what they came up with was pretty routine. But no matter, for the film features some amazing special effects for that era, some that could still impress today.



Final Verdict: See It

Mr. Billion (1977)

Directed by: Jonathan Kaplan
Written by: Ken Friedman + Jonathan Kaplan
Starring: Terence Hill, Valerie Perrine, Jackie Gleason, Slim Pickens, William Redfield, Chill Wills

In this awful late 70's cross country adventure film, Italian actor Terence Hill plays Guido Falcone, the recipient of his recently deceased uncles estate. Guido lives in a small village in Italy where he fixes cars for a living. He is visited by John Cutler, his uncles former right-hand man at the Falcon Bank in San Francisco. He informs Guido that he has 20 days to make it to San Francisco, or the inheritance will be null and void. Soon Guido is in New York and Cutler is back in San Francisco. Cutler has his greedy eyes on Guido's money and new found power at the bank. So he hires the sexy Rosie Jones to seduce Guido on his was to California, and trick him into signing over power of attorney to Cutler. What follows is an episodic cross country lark involving kidnappings, cowboys, explosions, bar fights, car chases, gunfights and other misadventures.

This movie might have been tolerable if the leads could actually act. Terence Hill and Valerie Perrine are embarrassingly bad. Watching Terence Hill in this made me wonder if the directors just grabbed the first decent looking italian guy they could find, rolled camera, and told him to read the cue cards.

Valerie Perrine, most well known (and funny) as Lex Luthor's main squeeze in the first two 'Superman' films, borders on bad camp in this. I must say her scenes were funny but not for the reasons intended. Her introduction scene is notably guffaw worthy.

But sadly, this isn't a good movie to watch to laugh at. Although there are a few unintentional howlers here and there, most of the movie is just plain boring.

There are some good arial shots along the way, and Slim Pickens makes things a little more fun when he's on screen, but all in all this is a true dud.

Final Verdict: Skip It

Blue Steel (1989)

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Kathryn Bigelow + Eric Red
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, Clancy Brown, Elizabeth Pena, Louise Fletcher, Philip Bosco, Kevin Dunn, Richard Jenkins

There have always been so few female directors working in mainstream cinema, I always try to see as many of their films as I can. In this case it was a film by Kathryn Bigelow, 1989's cop thriller 'Blue Steel.'

Jamie Lee Curtis plays a rookie cop who guns down a robber in a grocery store hold-up. Unbeknownst to her, a stockbroker, played by Ron Silver, picks up the crooks gun. Soon he's obsessed with Curtis and out in the streets at night murdering random people. He tracks her down, stalks her, even takes her to dinner. When Curtis finds out that he's the madman responsible for the murders plaguing the city, they both enter into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

I've always found Kathryn Bigelow interesting. Unlike acclaimed female directors like Jane Campion and Mira Nair, Bigelow's films are aggressive, even masculine. Some of her credits include 'Near Dark,' 'Point Break,' 'Strange Days,' and this years critical hit 'The Hurt Locker.' Watching any of these films you'd have no idea they had a female behind the camera. And that's why I like her so much. She breaks the mold of what kind of pictures female directors 'should' make.

So I was looking forward to sitting down and enjoying 'Blue Steel.' Sadly, I really didn't. The problem isn't the acting or directing, it's the script. The first half of the film is tight and suspenseful, but the second half is full of cliches and plot holes.
The cinematography however, is pretty good, and sort of distracts you from the dull proceedings. It's reminiscent of a Ridley Scott film from the 80's.

All in all, 'Blue Steel' isn't terrible, it's just not very believable or exciting. There was a great movie that could have been made here, but because of the lousy script, we got a mediocre one.



Final Verdict: Skip It

The Terminator (1984)

Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: Harlan Ellison; James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd + William Wisher Jr.
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, Bess Motta

I think the majority of people have seen this movie. However, I had only seen parts 2 and 3.

The story is familiar to most. A cyborg is sent back in time from the future to kill Sarah Conner, who will give birth the the leader of the human rebellion in the future. Also arriving back in time is human hottie Michael Biehn, who has sworn to protect Sarah.

I thought the story of an emotionless killing machine terminating anyone in the Los Angeles area with the name of Sarah Conner was just so twisted and just thinking of it makes my skin crawl. That's why I classify this film as more of a horror film than science fiction. There is a monster after Sarah Conner, and she needs to run. Sounds more like 'Halloween' than 'Star Trek' to me.

The sequels are definitely science fiction, but 'The Terminator' relies on suspense and a tight, efficient script over large special effects sequences. But very few films blend genres so well, but James Cameron really pulled it off here. (As he did with 'Aliens' a couple years later.)

So if you want to see when science fiction wasn't all transforming cars and web slinging superheroes, revisit this classic.



Final Verdict: See It

Across 110th Street (1971)

Directed by: Barry Shear
Written by: Wally Ferris; Luther Davis
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Richard Ward, Paul Benjamin

Disguised as cops, three black crooks steal a big amount of cash after killing five syndicate runners and two policemen. The NYPD and the Mafia react with immediate concern.

Tough police veteran Captain Frank Mattelli (Anthony Quinn) resents the intrusion of Lieutenant Pope (Yaphet Kotto), a black detective, in the case, while Mafia boss Don Gennaro (Frank Mascetta) sends his paranoid son-in-law, Nick D'Salvio (Anthony Franciosa), to reassert control over the Harlem branch and see that the money is recovered.

The black syndicate up in Harlem, headed by Doc Johnson (Richard Ward) and his assistant Shevvy (Gilbert Lewis), rejects D'Salvio, while promising only token help. So Nick and Shevvy rip through the city, doing whatever they can, and killing whoever they want, to get any info on who stole the money.

Anthony Quinn is pretty good as the aging detective who has long ago realized that all his efforts are not going to do more than take a small bite out of crime, but he is not above taking a bribe from a racketeer. His method of dealing with a reluctant witness is to hit hard first and ask questions later. The rigorously legal approach to police work, as exemplified by Yaphet Kotto, is not for Quinn. But these two opposites must work together to prevent the Mafia from committing any more sadistic executions.

This film always seems to get categorized as a blaxsploitation film. I disagree. In my opinion, it's more in the league of 'Serpico' or 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' and other gritty crime dramas from the early 70's. But I guess it could get called a blaxsploitation film because of the presence of some of that sub-genre's mainstays.



Final Verdict: See It

Rolling Tunder (1977)

Directed by: John Flynn
Written by: Paul Shrader + Heywood Gould
Starring: William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes, James Best, Dabney Coleman

The vigilante revenge genre is one of my favorites. There's 'Straw Dogs,' 'Thriller: A Cruel Picture,' 'Ms. 45,' 'Foxy Brown,' 'Coffy,' and 'Death Wish,' just to name a few. 'Rolling Thunder' is somewhat different than those. Instead of balls to the wall action and formulaic dialogue, we get a very introspective film spotted with sequences of intense 70's exploitation violence.

The film stars William Devane as Major Charles Raine, a troubled Vietnam veteran returning home from the war. During a local heroes welcome home ceremony, he is awarded a large sum of money from the town for his bravery. Before he can even settle back down into a peaceful existence with his wife and son, some local thugs attack, looking for the money. During the struggle his wife and son are murdered, and his hand is cut off.

After he gets out of the hospital, (where they replaced his hand with a hook) he vows to get revenge. He befriends a local waitress (played wonderfully by Linda Haynes) and soon they are off to Mexico to track down the killers. It is during this portion of the film where we get some great glimpses into these two tragic characters heads. This part of the film is so good, that the revenge sequences towards the end seem extraneous and dull, despite their gore.

All in all it's not a bad film at all. It just seems to lose steam towards the end. It's certainly worth checking out if you're a fan of 70's revenge films and/or Vietnam movies.



Final Verdict: See It

Escape To Athena (1979)

Directed by: George P. Cosmatos
Written by: George P. Cosmatos; Edward Anhalt
Starring: Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Claudia Cardinale, Stefanie Powers, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono, Elliott Gould, Anthony Valentine

It's always weird for me to see an actor who played James Bond in another movie from that period of their 007 career. This would have to be the weirdest so far.

Roger Moore plays an antique collecting SS Officer stationed in Greece during WWII who runs a prison camp. In this camp, which more or less resembles a resort, are David Niven (also a former James Bond,) Richard Roundtree (Shaft!,) and Sonny Bono (the ex-Mr. Cher.) In a 'Hogan's Heroes' type set-up they annoy Roger Moore and his evil SS colleague (played by Anthony Valentine) by always trying to escape. When they are caught, instead of being put to death they are given a slap on the wrist. You see, it turns out that Roger Moore isn't a bad Nazi, he's just an opportunist, which we learn when two American art dealers, played by Elliot Gould and Stefanie Powers, arrive. He and the three prisoners and these two Americans plan on stealing some treasure hidden in a local monastery. When the Germans lose the war, they'll make millions.

Meanwhile, Telly Savalas (a former Bond villain) plays a Greek resistance fighter who is holed up in a local brothel run by the vampy Claudia Cardinale. He plans on liberating the Nazi prison camp and destroying a German submarine.

After an overlong and dull second act, it turns out that the Nazi's have turned the local monastary into a secret launch pad for a deadly nuclear bomb. Telly leads Mr. Cher, Shaft, and Elliot Gould up the cliffs to the monastary while Moore, Niven and Stefanie Powers get to work on destroying the German submarine.

If only any of it were exciting. This movie is only good for seeing such a big, interesting cast in such a big disaster of a WWII adventure. The most egregious offender is Elliot Gould, whose character seems like he's right out of the 70's, not the 40's. In fact, this whole film seems to take place in some alternate reality where WWII continued on into the early 1980's.

Final Verdict: Skip It