speaking of Steve Martin, here's an oddity:
Steve Martin's first comedy special: The Funnier Side Of Eastern Canada, 1974
It's actually a near straight travelogue, where he takes us on a tour of Toronto and Montreal, but all done in his goofball style.
Most of the places he shows us in Toronto don't exist anymore, there's been so much development! The footage of Ontario Place makes me especially nostalgic...
I can't figure out why he did this. Later in his career he collaborated a lot with Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, Paul Schaffer, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Martin Short ... but none of those guys are involved, so what was his Canadian connection in 1974?
008: Operation Exterminate
Yet another lo-budget Italian spyfilm cranked out in 1965.
Starring Ingrid Schoeller as Agent 008, and Alberto Lupo as Agent 006.
I had recently seen Schoeller in an episode of the Saint, looking up her bio is what led me to this...
So, why did the Italians mass produce such a glut of James Bond ripoffs at the time? something to do with money-laundering perhaps? If other countries' film industries were also trying to cash in at such a scale, I don't stumble across their product so easily. These Italian made Bond-ripoffs are ubiquitous!
Mostly filmed in Egypt, some very nice location shots, with finale in Switzerland.
Schoeller plays the American spy who does most of the work, disguised as a nightclub chanteuse. Lupo is the British agent assigned to team up with her, kinda sorta looking like a more slope-browed Connery. He's basically her sidekick.
Get this: there is a dangerous anti-radar mcguffin that has been stolen and come up for sale in the black market. The spies of two countries are in Egypt, rivals teaming up to recover the technology. The villain traps them in the back of a truck, and drives them out deep into the Egyptian countryside and strands them there. At one point the sexy lady spy drugs her British male counterpart even though they're supposed to be working together. and so on...
I know when EON finally filmed The Spy Who Loved Me they couldnt actually use Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me for plot ideas, but who woulda guessed they borrowed so much of the plot from this Italian obscurity?
Not to mention borrowing the car - helicopter chase from Italian obscurity Danger Diabolik!
The Game
Slick nourish thriller from David Fincher - not as dark as Seven of course. Released in 1997 it has touches of Tomorrow Never Dies of that year, with BMWs, corporate events and scenes of death set up to frame the innocent.
It has Michael Douglas as the lead, a dour rich businessman who is sent a mysterious present by his unreliable younger brother played by Sean Penn. But when he reluctantly engages with it, he finds he's bitten off more than he can chew and may be victim of a massive scam.
It reminds me of a 1980s film with Rosanna Arquette in which the guy is stranded in New York all night after losing his wallet and can't get home.
To say more would spoil what is pretty much a one-note movie but done with such style that you do wish Fincher had done Bond - but would he want to?
hey I've actually heard of Danger Diabolik!
...or maybe I just heard of the comic strip its based on, and didnt realise theres a film until you mentioned it?
but now I have to see this film: I see it's got Largo in it.
according to wikipedia, Dino deLaurentis produced this Diabolik film at the same time he made Barberella (which I certainly have seen), sharing supporting actors and technical talent between the two adaptations to save money. I would imagine these two Euro-comics films must make a good double bill!
Danger Diabolik is a fun movie. It was directed by Mario Bava and like many of his movies, some of it is a bit disjointed and the dubbing can be dodgy at times but overall it has a sense of style to it that belies its relatively small budget.
THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, 1983. Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner
I like Kathleen Turner better parodying the vampy femme fatale, in this film and Roger Rabbit, as opposed to Body Heat where she played it straight.
I still haven't seen All of Me. Is that the one with Lily Tomlin? there's also Dead Man Don't Wear Plaid. and of course the Jerk. I saw the Jerk as soon as it came out, but for some reason never saw the followups at the time.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin and Michael Caine is a good one.
My hubby seems to be on sort sort of mission to find the worst British gangster film ever made.
I can't begin to tell you what rubbish I've watched the past couple of weeks.
We've watched all the 'Rise of The Foot Soldier' films which weren't that bad initially but did progressively worse as they went on.
We also watched a load where we didn't get past the first 20 minutes.
The most disappointing was one called 'We Steal The Old Way'. I had high hopes for it. It stars Ian Ogilvy, Julian Glover, Chris Ellison, Billy Murray and a load of others ... what a load of tosh!! First of all it had Ian Ogilvy doing some sort of cockney accent and then the acting was so hammy I couldn't watch it. Turns out there were two follow ups to it!!
I've also noticed how Steven Berkoff keeps popping up in these things.
Just watched Ad Astra. The only thing I knew about it going in was that it was Brad Pitt in space—had no idea of the plot, any of the other cast, or even whether it was set in an early, modern or future space exploration era. Ended up really liking the film. The story could have been a bit stronger and the pacing improved but the effects and cinematography—wow! In a pitch-black room with a big screen and surround sound, I was absolutely blown away.
Hoping to watch it this weekend sometime Tonight I watched a classic Halloween (1978) not the abomination of the Rob Zombie crap re-make
J Carpenter's homage to A Hitchcock still a masterpiece -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I suppose it helps to be knocking on a bit to appreciate this film, and to see it at this time of year as the leaves turn to flame. This was on three years ago when my Mum was in her final nursing home (she died in October) so it has a certain resonance for me.
As the film unfolds it is hard to see how it could be any more enjoyable than it is...
Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw, Denholm Elliot, Nicol Williamson, Ronnie Barker, Ian Holm, Richard Harris, Kenneth Haigh, Peter Butterworth, Bill Maynard... How ironic that of all this supporting cast, the only one still alive as I write is old Robin himself - Sean Connery. -{
Me and my big mouth.
Still, if want a film to do the late Sir Sean justice at this time, you could do a lot worse than Robin and Marion.
Tonight I'm watching "The first great train robbery" from 1978 starring none other than Sean Connery. A leftfield choise perhaps, but that's partly why I'm watching it.
Is that the one where Connery says "I wash born and raished in he deshert" in his usual Scottish accent? I haven't seen that movie yet, but I'll love to.
A thought just occured to me: has any major movies (or TV series) been made about the opioid crisis, poverty in the rust belt or the problems in the agricultural midwest in the last 10-20 years?
I watched a short documentary today on the making of " The Longest Day ".
It was funny how like " Where Eagles Dare " it was criticised for casting
Actors too old for the characters they were portraying. Although many of
those same actors had actually served during the war.
One interesting point was how Sean Connery got some of his scenes filmed
earlier that intended as he needed to jet off to Jamaica to film a new Spy movie
called, Dr No -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
This movie is about terrorists hijacking a supply boat and placing bombs on the boat and three oil rigs in the North Sea. Roger Moore plays Ffolks, a man who commands and trains a private commando diver unit. This isn't really an action movie as you may have expected, it's more of a tense thriller and I like it. Especially enjoyable is the fact that Moore plays against type. I quote IMDB:
Ffolkes (Sir Roger Moore) was far removed from the type of character he was known, a suave, debonair, charming, sophisticated ladies' man. If anything, Ffolkes was actually a cranky, moody, and cantankerous misogynist. He is bearded and somewhat shabbily dressed, as opposed to his previous image as clean shaven, and a dapper dresser. His affections are reserved for his cats, of which he has many, rather than women, of which he has none.
It is nice to see Roger playing someone else than an action version of himself and he gets to show his acting skills.
(it's nice to see enough reserach was done to know Stavanger is the main petrolium insustry and supply town in Norway, sort of our Huston with a mix of oil and religion)
North Sea Hijack another great boys own adventure {[] I have recently
re-watched on YouTube two short silent comedies from a legendary
Double act The two Ronnies, The Beach and The picnic ) some
great laughs to be had from these. -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Starring Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman
A feel good film based on the life of the British ski-jumper Eddie the Eagle, who fought against lack of support and encouragement to enter the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Starring Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman
A feel good film based on the life of the British ski-jumper Eddie the Eagle, who fought against lack of support and encouragement to enter the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Isn't this one of the few movies where the Norwegians are the enemies? The only other example I can think of is Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet )
Starring Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman
A feel good film based on the life of the British ski-jumper Eddie the Eagle, who fought against lack of support and encouragement to enter the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Isn't this one of the few movies where the Norwegians are the enemies?
Well, I wasn't going to bring that up ) The British Olympic panel were pretty mean to him too.
Just about the last of the depressing dystopic early70s scifi movies before Star Wars reinvented the genre.
You know there's a classic spy plot underneath all the sci-fi speculation and social satire? Logan is given a secret assignment by the Central Computer, to go undercover, join the Runners and find Sanctuary, without telling the other Sandmen what he's doing, who then try to kill him like he was any other Runner.
...and theres one scene of special interest to us: the same scene Farrah Fawcett is in, by very nice coincidence! but she's not why I'm pointing this scene out.
Logan decides to get plastic surgery at the New You plastic surgery clinic. The surgeon has Logan lie on a bed, while four lasers pivot and rotate overhead on articulated robot arms. These lasers are used to precisely reshape the flesh. While Logan is lying there, the surgeon receives a call alerting him that his latest patient is a Sandman, so tries to use these same lasers to cut the helpless Logan into little pieces, leading to a fight scene where both men are throwing each other in the path of the lasers which have gone out of control.
The setup and fight scene look a lot like Die Another Die!
As recommended upthread by Napoleon Plural and TonyDP, and a fine and tasteful recommendation it was too!
Based on a longrunning Italian comic strip (which I confess I've never read) Diabolik is not a spy but a masterthief dressed in a superhero type costume, who pulls off the most complex and visually stunning heists ever. Accompanied by his sexy ladyfriend/collaborator Eva, the two anti-heroes drive a beautiful Jaguar very fast over dangerous switchbacks while necking passionately without ever needing to watch the road, before returning to their magnificent underground lair that makes the Batcave look low-rent by comparison.
This is a rather expensive looking film, at least compared to the other cheap Italian spy-trend knockoffs I've been watching lately. Slick stylish visuals, great pacing, and an incredible Morricone soundtrack that blends psychedelic rock with John Barry-isms. And Emilio Largo himself plays the villain and has bought himself another Largo-worthy yacht.
There's lots of scenes that anticipate later Bondfilms. In particular, you know that scene in aVtaK where Zorin drops a reluctant conspirator off his dirigible, that everybody says is a repeat of Goldfinger? well there's a scene in this film that looks even more like that scene, and it's better played too!
One year before heist film the Italian Job, this one also ends with a cliffhanger that makes Caine's final predicament look laughably simple to resolve in comparison.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find Barberella online. I suspect the two films would make a swell double-bill.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find Barberella online. I suspect the two films would make a swell double-bill.
FYI, Barbarella is available via Prime Instant Video so if you have that service you can check it out.
With regard to Danger Diabolik, it was actually a very low budget movie but director Mario Bava used his many tricks like hanging miniatures to extend sets and make it look way more expensive than it really was. There's a small documentary on the DVD/BluRay that goes into detail on the character and making of the movie. You can also check it out on YouTube here:
And one other obscure Mario Bava movie I would highly recommend is Planet of the Vampires (sometimes known as Demon Planet), a surprisingly good, creepy and atmospheric sci-fi/horror movie about two spaceships that land on an alien planet where mayhem ensues. There are a lot of parts of the movie that were later copied by Alien and the ending would make Rod Serling proud. Like Danger Diabolik, Bava had to get the most out of a very limited budget and used all sorts of clever in-camera effects and techniques. It's also available on Amazon Prime Instant Video. There's a trailer on YouTube (though the narrator lays it on a bit thick):
With regard to Danger Diabolik, it was actually a very low budget movie but director Mario Bava used his many tricks like hanging miniatures to extend sets and make it look way more expensive than it really was. There's a small documentary on the DVD/BluRay that goes into detail on the character and making of the movie. You can also check it out on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCHaY9ZKlac
thanks for the link to the documentary TonyDP, that really adds to my appreciation of the movie.
As an old Swamp Thing fan, I enjoyed seeing cartoonist Steve Bissette carefully explaining how this works visually as an authentic comic book movie experience.
and its extra amazing all those spectacular visuals were done with limited budget!
Gotta love creative use of practical special effects.
you know I'm not sure the Diabolik comic has ever been translated into English? if it has, I've never seen a copy
Adapted from the novel by Mickey Spillane.
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Dark, stylish, nasty and amoral.
All those weird camera angles and extreme contrasts of light and dark we expect from noir, but this is more like a cynical parody of the form, an evolution taken to a hopeless, even apocalyptic conclusion.
Despite a Nat King Cole tune during the (backwards scrolling!) opening credits, the score is less musical than soundcollage, with important exposition often obscured by incongruous and disturbing sound effects. At least once, the next scene's sound effect begins several camera edits before the next scene proper begins. So not just confusing, as such plots usually are, but deliberately disorientating.
Mike Hammer is a private detective on a mission of vengeance. But even though Spillane's books themselves are rather nasty, this is an even less likable version of the character. Here, Hammer is specifically a "bedroom snoop" and blackmailer, and it is implied he pimps his secretary/lover Velma to create divorce evidence and obtain other valuable information.
Exciting adventure begins when Cloris Leachman (yes, Frau Blucher and Mary Richards' landlady in her film debut), just escaped from a mental hospital, is hitch-hiking in a state of panic and a bathrobe, and picked up by our hero in his vintage corvette. Soon after she is dead, and Hammer being asked a lot of questions by the police.
Hammer endures two separate torture scenes, and he himself doles out much sadistic violence, and not always to the bad guys. Fight scenes are pretty graphic and elaborately staged for 1955!
Eventually it all gets a bit science fictional, seemingly transcending genre, leading to an ending thats a whole 'nother level of dark-and-depressing altogether. As if blackmail and torture weren't enough for a tuffguy detective to worry about.
Say, remember that mysterious briefcase from Pulp Fiction? this is where it came from!
Now I never heard of director Robert Aldrich, but a quick bit of research reveals his other films are also a bit arty and disturbing, so I'm going to look for some more of his brand of weirdness!
Bernard Lee, Peter Cushing
Lee plays an experienced pilot who is accused of making an error when a new plane crashed. But was it his fault or was there a problem with the plane? I’ve seen a few films with Bernard Lee before he became M and I think this is one of the better ones.
Bernard Lee, Peter Cushing
Lee plays an experienced pilot who is accused of making an error when a new plane crashed. But was it his fault or was there a problem with the plane? I’ve seen a few films with Bernard Lee before he became M and I think this is one of the better ones.
Comments
Steve Martin's first comedy special: The Funnier Side Of Eastern Canada, 1974
It's actually a near straight travelogue, where he takes us on a tour of Toronto and Montreal, but all done in his goofball style.
Most of the places he shows us in Toronto don't exist anymore, there's been so much development! The footage of Ontario Place makes me especially nostalgic...
I can't figure out why he did this. Later in his career he collaborated a lot with Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, Paul Schaffer, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Martin Short ... but none of those guys are involved, so what was his Canadian connection in 1974?
008: Operation Exterminate
Yet another lo-budget Italian spyfilm cranked out in 1965.
Starring Ingrid Schoeller as Agent 008, and Alberto Lupo as Agent 006.
I had recently seen Schoeller in an episode of the Saint, looking up her bio is what led me to this...
So, why did the Italians mass produce such a glut of James Bond ripoffs at the time? something to do with money-laundering perhaps? If other countries' film industries were also trying to cash in at such a scale, I don't stumble across their product so easily. These Italian made Bond-ripoffs are ubiquitous!
Mostly filmed in Egypt, some very nice location shots, with finale in Switzerland.
Schoeller plays the American spy who does most of the work, disguised as a nightclub chanteuse. Lupo is the British agent assigned to team up with her, kinda sorta looking like a more slope-browed Connery. He's basically her sidekick.
Get this: there is a dangerous anti-radar mcguffin that has been stolen and come up for sale in the black market. The spies of two countries are in Egypt, rivals teaming up to recover the technology. The villain traps them in the back of a truck, and drives them out deep into the Egyptian countryside and strands them there. At one point the sexy lady spy drugs her British male counterpart even though they're supposed to be working together. and so on...
I know when EON finally filmed The Spy Who Loved Me they couldnt actually use Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me for plot ideas, but who woulda guessed they borrowed so much of the plot from this Italian obscurity?
The Game
Slick nourish thriller from David Fincher - not as dark as Seven of course. Released in 1997 it has touches of Tomorrow Never Dies of that year, with BMWs, corporate events and scenes of death set up to frame the innocent.
It has Michael Douglas as the lead, a dour rich businessman who is sent a mysterious present by his unreliable younger brother played by Sean Penn. But when he reluctantly engages with it, he finds he's bitten off more than he can chew and may be victim of a massive scam.
It reminds me of a 1980s film with Rosanna Arquette in which the guy is stranded in New York all night after losing his wallet and can't get home.
To say more would spoil what is pretty much a one-note movie but done with such style that you do wish Fincher had done Bond - but would he want to?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
...or maybe I just heard of the comic strip its based on, and didnt realise theres a film until you mentioned it?
but now I have to see this film: I see it's got Largo in it.
according to wikipedia, Dino deLaurentis produced this Diabolik film at the same time he made Barberella (which I certainly have seen), sharing supporting actors and technical talent between the two adaptations to save money. I would imagine these two Euro-comics films must make a good double bill!
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin and Michael Caine is a good one.
I can't begin to tell you what rubbish I've watched the past couple of weeks.
We've watched all the 'Rise of The Foot Soldier' films which weren't that bad initially but did progressively worse as they went on.
We also watched a load where we didn't get past the first 20 minutes.
The most disappointing was one called 'We Steal The Old Way'. I had high hopes for it. It stars Ian Ogilvy, Julian Glover, Chris Ellison, Billy Murray and a load of others ... what a load of tosh!! First of all it had Ian Ogilvy doing some sort of cockney accent and then the acting was so hammy I couldn't watch it. Turns out there were two follow ups to it!!
I've also noticed how Steven Berkoff keeps popping up in these things.
As you would expect, I watched most of it through my fingers and cringing.
How he does it I'll never know.
Halloween (1978) not the abomination of the Rob Zombie crap re-make
J Carpenter's homage to A Hitchcock still a masterpiece -{
Me and my big mouth.
Still, if want a film to do the late Sir Sean justice at this time, you could do a lot worse than Robin and Marion.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
It was funny how like " Where Eagles Dare " it was criticised for casting
Actors too old for the characters they were portraying. Although many of
those same actors had actually served during the war.
One interesting point was how Sean Connery got some of his scenes filmed
earlier that intended as he needed to jet off to Jamaica to film a new Spy movie
called, Dr No -{
This movie is about terrorists hijacking a supply boat and placing bombs on the boat and three oil rigs in the North Sea. Roger Moore plays Ffolks, a man who commands and trains a private commando diver unit. This isn't really an action movie as you may have expected, it's more of a tense thriller and I like it. Especially enjoyable is the fact that Moore plays against type. I quote IMDB:
Ffolkes (Sir Roger Moore) was far removed from the type of character he was known, a suave, debonair, charming, sophisticated ladies' man. If anything, Ffolkes was actually a cranky, moody, and cantankerous misogynist. He is bearded and somewhat shabbily dressed, as opposed to his previous image as clean shaven, and a dapper dresser. His affections are reserved for his cats, of which he has many, rather than women, of which he has none.
It is nice to see Roger playing someone else than an action version of himself and he gets to show his acting skills.
(it's nice to see enough reserach was done to know Stavanger is the main petrolium insustry and supply town in Norway, sort of our Huston with a mix of oil and religion)
re-watched on YouTube two short silent comedies from a legendary
Double act The two Ronnies, The Beach and The picnic ) some
great laughs to be had from these. -{
Eddie the Eagle (2015)
Starring Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman
A feel good film based on the life of the British ski-jumper Eddie the Eagle, who fought against lack of support and encouragement to enter the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Isn't this one of the few movies where the Norwegians are the enemies? The only other example I can think of is Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet )
Well, I wasn't going to bring that up ) The British Olympic panel were pretty mean to him too.
Just about the last of the depressing dystopic early70s scifi movies before Star Wars reinvented the genre.
You know there's a classic spy plot underneath all the sci-fi speculation and social satire? Logan is given a secret assignment by the Central Computer, to go undercover, join the Runners and find Sanctuary, without telling the other Sandmen what he's doing, who then try to kill him like he was any other Runner.
...and theres one scene of special interest to us: the same scene Farrah Fawcett is in, by very nice coincidence! but she's not why I'm pointing this scene out.
Logan decides to get plastic surgery at the New You plastic surgery clinic. The surgeon has Logan lie on a bed, while four lasers pivot and rotate overhead on articulated robot arms. These lasers are used to precisely reshape the flesh. While Logan is lying there, the surgeon receives a call alerting him that his latest patient is a Sandman, so tries to use these same lasers to cut the helpless Logan into little pieces, leading to a fight scene where both men are throwing each other in the path of the lasers which have gone out of control.
The setup and fight scene look a lot like Die Another Die!
As recommended upthread by Napoleon Plural and TonyDP, and a fine and tasteful recommendation it was too!
Based on a longrunning Italian comic strip (which I confess I've never read) Diabolik is not a spy but a masterthief dressed in a superhero type costume, who pulls off the most complex and visually stunning heists ever. Accompanied by his sexy ladyfriend/collaborator Eva, the two anti-heroes drive a beautiful Jaguar very fast over dangerous switchbacks while necking passionately without ever needing to watch the road, before returning to their magnificent underground lair that makes the Batcave look low-rent by comparison.
This is a rather expensive looking film, at least compared to the other cheap Italian spy-trend knockoffs I've been watching lately. Slick stylish visuals, great pacing, and an incredible Morricone soundtrack that blends psychedelic rock with John Barry-isms. And Emilio Largo himself plays the villain and has bought himself another Largo-worthy yacht.
There's lots of scenes that anticipate later Bondfilms. In particular, you know that scene in aVtaK where Zorin drops a reluctant conspirator off his dirigible, that everybody says is a repeat of Goldfinger? well there's a scene in this film that looks even more like that scene, and it's better played too!
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find Barberella online. I suspect the two films would make a swell double-bill.
FYI, Barbarella is available via Prime Instant Video so if you have that service you can check it out.
With regard to Danger Diabolik, it was actually a very low budget movie but director Mario Bava used his many tricks like hanging miniatures to extend sets and make it look way more expensive than it really was. There's a small documentary on the DVD/BluRay that goes into detail on the character and making of the movie. You can also check it out on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCHaY9ZKlac
And one other obscure Mario Bava movie I would highly recommend is Planet of the Vampires (sometimes known as Demon Planet), a surprisingly good, creepy and atmospheric sci-fi/horror movie about two spaceships that land on an alien planet where mayhem ensues. There are a lot of parts of the movie that were later copied by Alien and the ending would make Rod Serling proud. Like Danger Diabolik, Bava had to get the most out of a very limited budget and used all sorts of clever in-camera effects and techniques. It's also available on Amazon Prime Instant Video. There's a trailer on YouTube (though the narrator lays it on a bit thick):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzbEfsCNpis
As an old Swamp Thing fan, I enjoyed seeing cartoonist Steve Bissette carefully explaining how this works visually as an authentic comic book movie experience.
and its extra amazing all those spectacular visuals were done with limited budget!
Gotta love creative use of practical special effects.
you know I'm not sure the Diabolik comic has ever been translated into English? if it has, I've never seen a copy
According to this website it looks like some of the books were translated into English, but I've never seen them myself either.
http://www.europeancomics.net/index.html?a=o&b=Diabolik
Adapted from the novel by Mickey Spillane.
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Dark, stylish, nasty and amoral.
All those weird camera angles and extreme contrasts of light and dark we expect from noir, but this is more like a cynical parody of the form, an evolution taken to a hopeless, even apocalyptic conclusion.
Despite a Nat King Cole tune during the (backwards scrolling!) opening credits, the score is less musical than soundcollage, with important exposition often obscured by incongruous and disturbing sound effects. At least once, the next scene's sound effect begins several camera edits before the next scene proper begins. So not just confusing, as such plots usually are, but deliberately disorientating.
Mike Hammer is a private detective on a mission of vengeance. But even though Spillane's books themselves are rather nasty, this is an even less likable version of the character. Here, Hammer is specifically a "bedroom snoop" and blackmailer, and it is implied he pimps his secretary/lover Velma to create divorce evidence and obtain other valuable information.
Exciting adventure begins when Cloris Leachman (yes, Frau Blucher and Mary Richards' landlady in her film debut), just escaped from a mental hospital, is hitch-hiking in a state of panic and a bathrobe, and picked up by our hero in his vintage corvette. Soon after she is dead, and Hammer being asked a lot of questions by the police.
Hammer endures two separate torture scenes, and he himself doles out much sadistic violence, and not always to the bad guys. Fight scenes are pretty graphic and elaborately staged for 1955!
Eventually it all gets a bit science fictional, seemingly transcending genre, leading to an ending thats a whole 'nother level of dark-and-depressing altogether. As if blackmail and torture weren't enough for a tuffguy detective to worry about.
Say, remember that mysterious briefcase from Pulp Fiction? this is where it came from!
Now I never heard of director Robert Aldrich, but a quick bit of research reveals his other films are also a bit arty and disturbing, so I'm going to look for some more of his brand of weirdness!
Bernard Lee, Peter Cushing
Lee plays an experienced pilot who is accused of making an error when a new plane crashed. But was it his fault or was there a problem with the plane? I’ve seen a few films with Bernard Lee before he became M and I think this is one of the better ones.
Ahh yes, the cone of silence...