The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – T. Hooper

The title put me off from this one for thirty years and now that I’ve watched it, there’s no denying its visceral nature and memorable (indelible?) images, particularly given the very low budget.  However, is this something that you really need to watch? Probably not.  On the plus side, there is less gore than you might think, with a lot of the horror left to your imagination (a scary place). This is much preferred (but don’t go thinking that director Tobe Hooper is as discreet as Val Lewton or anything).  Also, there is the implicit vegetarianism theme – humans are likened to cattle being slaughtered for meat and the methods used are clearly spelled out (and exemplified). Worth thinking about in this age of factory farming. On the minus side, well, this movie is sadistic; the last victim is female (as usual) and there is always the risk that some wrong-minded viewers might feel support for attitudes that condone violence against women (the word “bitch” is telling). However, the character with a disability is treated fairly equitably.  Still, you should think twice before exposing yourself to a film where a bunch of young people get chased around by a man in a leather mask with a chainsaw.  Unless you want to be freaked out, that is.     

Castle of Sand (1974)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Castle of Sand (1974) – Y. Nomura

Expert police procedural from Yoshitaro Nomura which follows two detectives trying to solve the murder of an elderly man at a railway station in Tokyo.  The first hour of the film appears to be nothing but dead ends. There are only two clues, the victim’s heavy regional accent and the word “Kameda” overheard by a bar hostess.  Finally, a linguist offers a breakthrough and the investigation gains some traction.  Around the halfway mark, the film starts to transition with a look into the life of the killer (who has already been observed in passing a few times).  As the detectives piece together some amazing clues, we are provided with the killer’s complete backstory revealing his motive, if not justifying it at all.  In some ways, the shape of the film is not too different from Kurosawa’s great High and Low (1963), which is the best police procedural I have seen.  Yet, despite a drawn out sequence during a piano concerto that seeks to reveal the mind of the killer, I still felt he remained opaque (and the film drags at this point, past the two-hour mark).  But the title remains apt – some castles made of sand melt into the sea, eventually (and even though the direct Japanese translation is “sand bowl”, the logic remains the same).  The film looks great in color and widescreen nevertheless.

Monsieur Gangster (1963)

☆ ☆ ☆

Monsieur Gangster (1963) – G. Lautner

French gangster spoof that finds Lino Ventura (best known for his later appearances in Melville’s Army of Shadows and Deuxieme Souffle) unexpectedly inheriting a crime syndicate from an old friend that comes with the obligation to look after the friend’s teen daughter.  This is the kind of role that De Niro might take on, a tough guy who plays for laughs but maintains a straight face. Of course, the teenager causes all sorts of trouble, as do the underbosses of his old friend who wish to run the business themselves.  So, there are some broadly comic moments (as when Ventura takes to punching the deliciously put-out Bertrand Blier every time he sees him) and some action sequences (some shoot-outs).  But apparently something is lost in translation for the English-language viewer because this film is much loved in France specifically for its clever dialogue by Michel Audiard; the subtitles do show some unusual phrasing but nothing that leaps out to make you laugh.  One scene where the gangsters reminisce about the old days while drinking moonshine was funny anyway and probably was hysterical to French-speakers.  In the end, I was hoping for a bit of a Grisbi type picture but instead I got a situation-comedy that nevertheless evokes some of the genre.

  

Scrooged (1988)

☆ ☆ ½

Scrooged (1988) – R. Donner

Loud and largely unfunny – I guess I was right to have skipped this back in the day.  Bill Murray doesn’t really do a convincing “mean” – his sense of humor is wryer and more smart-ass than the sub-Don Rickles insult comedy which he is asked to deliver here.  The script is a barrage of bad jokes and celebrity cameos flung at the wall with the hope that something will stick.  And since this is a version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, we need to believe that Murray is a bad man in need of transformation -- but he doesn’t go all the way in either direction (his previous film The Razor’s Edge should have taught him something). Nevertheless, the pay-off at the end (after being visited by scary David Johanssen and awkward Carol Kane plus a guy in a skeleton suit) does hold some rewards – we get a classic Murray improv riff, not exactly funny, but at least feeling authentic at last.  Or perhaps I’ve simply forgotten what Murray was like in the ‘80s now that he has matured into a very good and often subtle character actor.  No subtlety in this picture, however.  Oh and if you are wondering, the Scrooge character is a TV exec and there is a tacked on romance sub-plot (featuring Karen Allen) that Dickens didn’t cheapen his material with.  The “Tiny Tim” surrogate is a young Black fellow who hasn’t spoken a word since his father was killed – and, of course, miraculously does as everything comes together in the spirit of Christmas.  If only this sentimental ending were earned.   

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) – E. Petri

Almost grotesque in its point-making, Petri’s film targets corruption, fascism, and power by showing that a leader of the police force might theoretically be immune from prosecution, even for murder.  Gian Maria Volonte plays said cop, the head of the homicide division (but promoted to the head of the political division as the film begins), who murders his mistress and plants obvious clues incriminating himself to test whether he really is “above suspicion”.  Rather garish to look at, as some Italian films seem to be, and full of travelling shots, flashbacks, and minor characters that clutter things up a bit, this is still Volonte’s show as he dominates everything (and even more so when he starts targeting subversives as a function of his new role).  I guess it is blackly comic how the police and surrounding bureaucracy do everything possible to deny Volonte’s guilt, even when he goes so far as to confess.  I didn’t think this at the time but perhaps Donald Trump’s ability to get away with the most heinous sexist and racist actions also fits this pattern…although in this case, actions have been minimized by supporters rather than completely denied (but this too would keep an authoritarian leader in place).

Papillon (1973)

☆ ☆ ☆

Papillon (1973) – F. J. Schaffner

Epic prison flick shot on location in Jamaica (substituting for Devil’s Island and surrounds in French Guyana) with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman doing it tough after their convictions for pimp-killing and counterfeiting, respectively (although McQueen claims to be innocent).  Focused primarily on action rather than on thoughts (apart from dreams of escape), the film lacks the depth I had hoped for (and you can see this in other films by the same director, Schaffner:  Planet of the Apes, Patton, Boys from Brazil).  McQueen does a nice job of transforming from a steely tough guy to an addled old fool with rotten teeth (still dreaming of escape) but Hoffman’s performance seems rather one-note (if dedicated). Based on a supposedly true story by Papillon himself (Henri Charriere), the film has that seventies blockbuster look and feel but it doesn’t rise to the status of the great classics. Still, if you can handle the length, there are enough struggles and setbacks for the prisoners to hold your interest and the scenery looks great.   

  

Jason Bourne (2016)

☆ ☆ ☆

Jason Bourne (2016) – P. Greengrass

Director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon return to the Bourne franchise.  They invest the proceedings with a definite amount of zing, as do Alicia Vikander and Tommy Lee Jones as (possibly) duplicitous leaders of the CIA.  However, at this point, it is hard not to see that what once used to be fresh (dynamic editing, pulsing music, non-stop action sequences) is now part of a (successful) formula.  Nevertheless, even when watched on the small screen on an airplane, the film feels exciting.  Vincent Cassel makes a solid evil villain (“the asset”) and his inclusion allows more of Bourne’s backstory to be explained.  Is he ready to come in from the cold?  Is he even more angry now that he knows more about the Treadstone program?  Still, even with a few additions to the Bourne story, the plot here is only skeletal with just enough to hang the action sequences on.   Much like a Chinese takeaway meal, after you are finished, you may feel hungry again. 

  

Thunder Road (1958)

☆ ☆ ☆

Thunder Road (1958) – A. Ripley

Robert Mitchum plays up his “bad boy” charm as a “transporter” running illegal moonshine across the South in a souped up 1950 Ford.  Mitchum also produced and co-wrote the title song (not the Bruce Springsteen song, which only stole its title from this film) and no doubt selected his son, James, to play his younger brother.  You’ll need to set aside the unusual move that sees Mitchum still playing a kid at 40 but that’s probably not all that requires suspension of disbelief here.  Yet the action sequences, with the Feds and some crooked mobsters chasing Mitchum, feel authentic and so too do some of the Southern locations (filmed in and around Asheville, North Carolina).  I hear this is a “cult classic” and I don’t think it warrants that status but it’s not bad.  If only the rest of the acting was on Mitchum (Senior)’s level. 

  

The Young Savages (1961)

☆ ☆ ½

The Young Savages (1961) – J. Frankenheimer

Sober social problem drama that tackles juvenile delinquency by pointing the finger directly at broken homes and the slum environment.  Burt Lancaster is the District Attorney, formerly from the slums himself, who wants to put three young hoods who killed a blind Puerto Rican boy into the electric chair.  His boss, aiming for the governor’s office, approves; his wife, a rich white liberal, disapproves.  Lancaster takes his time investigating both viewpoints, including the families of the victim and the accused murderers (with Shelley Winters as his former girlfriend, the mother of one of the accused) as well as other members of both the Italian and Puerto Rican gangs involved in the incident.  And then he basically throws the case in a quest for the truth, demonstrating to the jury how the killers came to be killers and why they should be treated with mercy – of course, the victim’s family is stunned and disappointed (especially because the truth involves a dose of victim-blaming).  If the film didn’t discuss the institutional racism present in America, one might worry that its conclusion itself smacks of bias.  But no one would disagree that Lancaster has done the right thing by showing mercy – it’s just that it’s all a bit preachy as directed by earnest young John Frankenheimer fresh from live TV and not yet up to the standards of his classic films (The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May).  Rather dated too.   

  

El Cuerpo (The Body) (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆

El Cuerpo (The Body) (2012) – O. Paulo

Slick Spanish thriller that takes the Hitchcockian path of revealing who the killer is from the start and then creating suspense as the police close in on him.  I can’t remember Hitch using flashbacks however (except perhaps in Vertigo) but here they add to the tension because we can see moments when even the victim may have discovered the plot to kill her.  This is a key part of the plot because, you see, the victim’s body has gone missing and all signs point to the possibility that she is still alive and leading the police to clues that identify her “killer” (and, of course, tormenting him psychologically along the way).  The whole film takes place in the morgue (more or less). Belen Rueda (from The Orphanage, 2007) plays the victim, a successful but emotionally cruel businesswoman, and Hugo Silva plays her younger husband with the incentive to kill his wife arising due to her large fortune and his much younger mistress (Aura Garrido) who wishes to have him all for herself.  Jose Coronado plays the stereotypic seedy police detective with problems of his own.  So, in many respects, El Cuerpo is straight genre film-making with no aim except to thrill and to entice viewers with a hard-to-anticipate twist ending.  The cinematic style is noirish (rainy nights, dark medical rooms) but nothing special.  Whether the ending is earned or not is up to viewers to judge – but, as with many pictures of this type, thinking back over the film after the ending is known does highlight its improbabilities.  But don’t let that spoil your fun. 

  

Safe in Hell (1931)

☆ ☆ ☆

Safe in Hell (1931) – W.  Wellman

Pre-Code (i.e., before censorship and enforced happy endings) Hollywood feature by William Wellman and starring Dorothy Mackaill (who is in every virtually scene).  She is a call girl (the only way she can make a living, she claims, and the woeful status of women might support it) who accidentally kills her former pimp.  When her true love, a sailor, returns just at that moment, he loyally helpls her to escape to a Caribbean isle with no extradition laws to the US.  She promises to be faithful and, despite the fact that alcohol is not banned, not to party either.  As you would expect, her new land is filled with dissipated criminals who are sex-starved for a white woman (the film is as racist as it is sexist, although the two black characters, who run the hotel, are not caricatured fortunately).  Eventually gives in but still keeps her chastity awaiting the return of her sailor; instead her pimp arrives seemingly back from the dead (but of course he was never really killed, just using the opportunity to score some insurance money).  But, lo and behold, when he makes a move on Gilda this time, she kills him for good.  The plot goes on – will she get the death penalty or not? And there are a few more twists and a fully downbeat conclusion (after only 73 minutes).  At the end, I thought, well that wasn’t much -- but somehow, over night, it haunted me a bit.  Mackaill is a charismatic figure and she evokes the desperation of her plight and the psychological issues (faithfulness vs. hedonism in the face of a cruel unjust world) pretty well. Director Wellman is better known for The Public Enemy (1931) and A Star is Born (1937).

  

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

☆ ☆ ☆

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) – M. Zenovich

Even-handed review of the Polanski statutory rape case that manages to make relatively clear the legal shenanigans that have been involved while also making it clear that the director was guilty.  Just taking one look at the school photo of the 13-year-girl makes you realize how wrong he was – so young.  I don’t think it mitigates things to ponder the fact that Polanski’s parents died in the Holocaust and his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson family. In archive interviews, Polanski himself seems to brush off the seriousness of the charges, as did the French, who received him when he fled the US.  However, this documentary does make it clear just how much Polanski was jerked around by the judge, a publicity-seeking knob (as suggested by both prosecution and defense lawyers in interviews), and why he decided to escape to avoid any further complications in the case and its resolution.  I didn’t realize that the film was 8 years ago and therefore omits the most recent moves by the U. S. to extradite Polanski again and their unwillingness to allow him to wrap things up with “time served” as even the victim and her family now think should happen.  I’m of two minds – 42 days isn’t much of a sentence (the time he actually spent in prison) – but 40 years in exile might be. As a parent (albeit of boys), it is hard not to see the ugly side of things and hard not to doubt the complicity of the victim at the time.  All told, this is a lot of talking heads to watch but director Marina Zenovich keeps things interesting.