The Mystery of Chess Boxing (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Mystery of Chess Boxing (1979) – J. Kuo

Not from the Shaw Brothers’ studio nor from Golden Harvest, this independent production from Joseph Kuo famously inspired the Wu-Tang Clan (the main baddie is called Ghost Face Killer).  But what struck me first is how closely this film is modelled on Jackie Chan’s earlier hit (for Golden Harvest), Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978).  Li Yi-Min takes the Jackie role of wet-behind-the-ears youngster who wants to join a famous kung fu school but is bullied by the senior student and then trained in secret by the school’s cook – played by Simon Yuen, who also comically played the old man who trained Jackie in both Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master (also 1978).  I found out today that Simon Yuen (Yuen Siu-tien) was also the real-life father of director Yuen Woo-ping who did the choreography for the fight scenes in The Matrix (1999).  In any event, The Mystery of Chess Boxing follows the same general plot of Snake in that Li Yi-Min ultimately needs to fight the final boss (Kuan Wu-lung) with the help of his ailing master (Jack Long); perhaps it isn’t entirely fair that they double-team the Ghost Face Killer, but he needs defeating by any means necessary.  The old-school hand-to-hand fighting here is outstanding which helps the film rise above its copycat origins; the comedy feels ordinary at best (but as I only had access to a dubbed version, that brought some unintentional (?) humor too). Chess boxing itself, as a new style, does not really make much sense!

 

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979) – G. Kromanov

I happened to be on Letterboxd and was checking out what some of the people I follow were watching and film critic Glenn Kenny had this one on his recently watched list (and he gave it five stars with a three word review: “more mind expansion”).  This piqued my interest but I could only find it at the internet archive.  It’s an Estonian film from 1979, so it has that 70s vibe (real phones with cords, European fashion/habits).  You might say it is a film noir (in colour) or perhaps it is one of those murder mysteries that takes place in a hotel where all of the guests are suspects.  This hotel is high in the mountains and the plot includes an avalanche that cuts off power and the roads and keeps everyone there, including the police inspector who got a mysterious call-out only to find that there was no crime to solve.  (An anonymous note soon advises him that a murder is about to be committed).  There is the usual allotment of suspects: a businessman and his flirtatious wife, a canoodling young couple, a paranoid man with TB, a physicist with an obsession about aliens, and then there’s the hotel proprietor and a Saint Bernard (rescued from the Dead Mountaineer who lent his name to the hotel).  Against the odds, the film held my interest when one of the young folks is found dead and the detective (Uldis Pucitis) begins to question the suspects.  Odd events start to pile up (including the arrival of a half-dead “foreigner” who seems to have a link to some of the guests) -- and then, somehow, everything gets very weird: as in, who thunk this (!) in 1979 (!).  Stay for the finale – it’s worth it!

 

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Escape from Alcatraz (1979) – D. Siegel

Ah, the prison film – it has such a long history and so many clichés.  Escape from Alcatraz does not really eschew any of these but as crisply directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood in his macho prime, it’s a solid effort.  But does it live up to the masterworks of the genre? (Maybe not). I’m thinking of Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956), Becker’s Le Trou (1960), Dassin’s Brute Force (1947), and maybe Caged (1950) starring Eleanor Parker.  Obviously, there are a lot of variations on the theme (e.g., The Shawshank Redemption, 1994) and modern versions might be even more brutal (e.g., A Prophet, 2009).  But Alcatraz is based on a true story with an open-ended conclusion: the escapees were never found (presumed drowned but who knows?). So, since we know where the story ends up (as forecast by the title), this is really all about the mechanics of the escape (similar to the Bresson and Becker films), with a little bit of relationship building and character development (but not much!).   

 

Winter Kills (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Winter Kills (1979) – W. Richert

I wonder if the Coen Brothers were thinking about Winter Kills when they cast Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowksi? Although he’s much younger here, he also plays a much put-upon “straight” character caught up in zany episodic situations beyond his control. In this film, he’s the much younger half-brother of the assassinated president who is provided with evidence that contradicts that single-shooter theory put forward by a Government Commission.  With pressure from his father (John Huston), he descends into the rabbit hole.  If this plot sounds like a thinly veiled retake of the events surrounding JFK’s shooting, it shouldn’t take long to confirm when faced with characters like “Joe Diamond” (Eli Wallach), in lieu of “Jack Ruby” of course (all from Richard Condon’s novel).  And it also doesn’t take long before the serious subject matter starts to give way to some blackly comic moments, as Nick Kegan (Bridges) finds himself confronting a range of eccentric characters played by well-known character actors: Sterling Hayden, Ralph Meeker, Richard Boone, Toshiro Mifune, Anthony Perkins, even Elizabeth Taylor (in a well-paid cameo). Not unlike the real thing, the conspiracy theory laid out here includes various red herrings and dead ends (with most informants meeting unfortunate fates after providing evidence).  Letting things wash over you without worrying too much about details is probably the best strategy.  And, in the end, the film ties things together with a truism about power and money that doesn’t feel wrong. A lost half-baked classic of sorts.

 

Paul Schrader

 

 

Hardcore (1979) – 3 stars

American Gigolo (1980) – 3 stars

Cat People (1982) – 2 ½ stars

Light Sleeper (1992) – 3 ½ stars

Auto Focus (2002) – 3 stars

This week, I watched 5 Paul Schrader films (so you don’t have to?).  I suppose my (half-hearted) mission was to see whether the acclaimed Taxi Driver (1976) screenwriter could be considered an auteur or not.  He’s certainly directed a lot of films, between Blue Collar (1978) which is actually really good (with Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto – reviewed on my blog) and his most recent release Oh Canada (2024), which I haven’t seen. Mishima (1985) and First Reformed (2017) are also recommended, as is Affliction (1997) which I haven’t rewatched since then.  The above list makes it seem that Schrader is consistently releasing solid work across many decades but alas my snapshot of films across 3 decades suggests it is not true.  

Hardcore (1979) his second film finds George C. Scott heading from Michigan to L. A. to find his daughter who has apparently run away to make porno films. This gritty shot-on-location is typically described as reflecting Schrader’s upbringing in a puritanical Dutch Calvinist church community, with Scott portraying the judgmental scornful Christian that Schrader was socialised to be. The film doesn’t hold back from the sleaze and seems to want to show some affection toward some of its lost characters but is instead seems to pity them, even while displaying a voyeuristic tendency that might actually be one of Schrader’s auteur trademarks if we grant him that status.  

The next film moves from gritty (Blue Collar and Hardcore) straight into sleek and stylish with Richard Gere on display as the titular American Gigolo (1980) and Giorgio Moroder’s electronic variations on Blondie’s “Call Me” (which he cowrote) pulsing on the soundtrack.  Gere is Schrader’s existential loner -- and this is the first film in his “Lonely Man” trilogy, where he takes inspiration from Bresson’s Pickpocket (1959).  Schrader wrote a classic book about Transcendental Film that focused on Bresson, Ozu, and Dreyer.  But try as I might, I just couldn’t see this film as transcendental.  Gere forms a bond with a senator’s wife (Lauren Hutton) from whom he accepts no money and she is his only solace when he is framed for a murder, possibly by his pimp.  It isn’t bad but it isn’t good (Hector Elizondo is interesting as the homicide detective, even if the rest of the acting is boring). 

Up next: Cat People (1982), inspired by the 1942 Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur classic but by no means a remake.  Natassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell are literally descendents of half-cat, half human ancient entities who transform into animals if they have sex with anyone outside of their species and must kill in order to return to human form.  Despite Kinski prowling around naked, the film is nearly stultifying, even if John Heard gives it his best shot as a New Orleans zookeeper. Is anybody lonely? Maybe, since they are estranged from their species.  Moroder hardly uses Bowie’s theme music at all.  Did I mention these two films were produced by Jerry Bruckheimer? Enough said.  

Fast forward 10 years to Light Sleeper (1992) starring Willem Dafoe as another lonely man, this time a drug dealer working for Susan Sarandon.  He’s finally gotten clean and thinking about his future since Sarandon wants to get out of the business.  A run in with an ex-lover throws him out-of-sorts.  This film is a step up from the others but often feels artificial – is it a thriller, is it arthouse, it isn’t sure.  Dafoe carries it with his artistry (and we get another jailhouse scene from Pickpocket to boot). 

Dafoe does appear in a few Schrader films throughout the years and he also brings his talent to Auto Focus (2002) which returns us to a very sleazy world in this biopic of Bob Crane from Hogan’s Heroes (played by Greg Kinnear).  Crane’s interest in perving was aided and abetted by electronics expert John Carpenter (Dafoe) who introduced him to videocameras, VCRs, homemade pornography and swinging.  Crane himself doesn’t feel like one of Schrader’s lonely men but there must be a void he’s trying to fill with all this smut.  It’s a true story and Crane was murdered, probably by Carpenter.  Dafoe keeps it creepy and Schrader is back to his judgmental/voyeuristic push-pull act.  You kind of can’t look away.  

So, where does this leave us?  If I fold in half-formed memories of First Reformed, Affliction, Mishima, and newer films like the Card Counter (2021), it sort of does feel that Schrader should be granted auteur status.  However, the problem is likely that he isn’t a very good or consistent director or is too much subjected to the commercial needs of his producers (or his own poor instincts).  The themes may be there but too many of the films are average or worse.  Still, he does manage to find more acorns than a blind squirrel might.

 

Salem’s Lot (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Salem’s Lot (1979) – T. Hooper

I guess I stayed away from this two-part TV movie (3 hours in total) all these years for a couple of reasons: 1) the track-record for Stephen King adaptations is pretty bad (is The Shining the only exception?); 2) David “Hutch” Soul isn’t exactly an Oscar winner; 3) did I say TV movie? (this was a different thing in 1979!).  But, well, to be honest, after a pretty shaky start (Fred Willard and Julie Cobb are having an affair and husband George Dzundza plots to catch them), the movie did start to grow on me (notwithstanding the fact that the last time I saw Geoffrey Lewis, he was having a bare-knuckled fistfight with Clint Eastwood and an orangutan).  The bottom line here is that the vampires are actually pretty spooky looking (and acting) – they gave me the creeps.  (Credit may go to director Tobe (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper). That’s what we came for – the horror story, modelled closely on Dracula, but taking place in a small town in Maine. This time Barlow doesn’t mess around – there’s no seducing of anyone, just straight for the kill and the pyramid scheme of proliferating bloodsuckers.  Brooding David Soul is there to record the clues but we all know what’s happening here. There’s also an assortment of old and classic character actors given another chance on the small screen, from James Mason (North by Northwest, Lolita, Odd Man Out), the Renfield who paves the way for Barlow’s entry to the town, to Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon, Rosemary’s Baby), Marie Windsor (The Killing, The Narrow Margin) and Lew Ayres (All Quiet on the Western Front, Advise and Consent) as townsfolk who help Soul or get in his way.  (Come to think of it, Cook Jr and Windsor also played a married couple in The Killing – but they are divorced here which wouldn’t be surprising given their relationship in that heist film).   And just when the comfort food of vampire lore is going down pretty easy, well into the third hour, there’s a distinct shift and things really don’t end up where you expect them to.  It’s darker, weirder, more post-apocalyptic.  I guess readers of the book would have known what to expect but I didn’t and that made all the difference.

Quatermass (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Quatermass (1979) – P. Haggard

Writer Nigel Kneale’s final outing for Prof. Bernard Quatermass finds the elderly rocket scientist (now played by Sir John Mills) in the bleakest of dystopian futures. Society has completely broken down (think Children of Men or Mad Max) and youth gangs are rampaging everywhere. Quatermass is brought out of isolation in Scotland by the disappearance of his granddaughter, who has seemingly joined a cult of Planet People who travel to mystic locations such as the Stonehenge like Ringstone Round awaiting a mystic force to take them to another world. When a force really does appear, Quatermass and a small group of space scientists realise that it may not be a force for good.  Across four episodes, the team attempts to figure out what is happening and try to stop it – meanwhile all of the world’s young people are being rapidly depleted (including 70K people in Wembley Stadium).  Shot on an extremely low budget, the four-part series is nevertheless very effective (perhaps as a result of the low budget) and even though you can’t always trust Quatermass, as played by John Mills he is always charismatic. The (often elderly) supporting cast – who you can’t count on to stay alive – do a solid job in support.  This is easily the grimmest of the Quatermass releases but worth tracking down.  

 

Tess (1979)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Tess (1979) – R. Polanski

A young Natassja Kinski, aged 17, takes centre stage as Thomas Hardy’s tragic heroine in Roman Polanski’s version of the 1892 novel.  When Tess’s alcoholic peasant father discovers that he may be descended from a more noble lineage, he sets into motion events that will lead to her downfall.  Indeed, he is the first of many men who seek to exert their will over Tess.  First, she is sent by her father to seek out the real D’Urbervilles and to represent herself as a poor relation; as a result, she is given a job (tending poultry) but soon her richer “cousin” (Leigh Lawson) attempts to seduce her.  Eventually, despite her resistance, he bends her to his will – but she escapes to bear a child out of wedlock (which dies).  Tess moves to another job at a dairy farm and soon finds true love with Angel Clare (Peter Firth), son of a family of religious puritans. However, she fears what he will think if he finds out her past, as he eventually does.  The plot goes further (for 2 hours and 40 minutes) and I won’t spoil it here.  Suffice it to say that the screenplay emphasises the mistreatment of Tess but also her ability to endure every hardship, even choosing them in lieu of giving in to the desires of men which might nevertheless provide freedom from poverty.  In Polanski’s hands, the film has the gauzy feel of many period pieces set in rural England (but actually filmed in France); it’s marked by the occasional stunning shot, but is generally subdued in tone. Kinski holds her own but has relatively few lines – we observe her struggles from the outside. As the plot unfolds, it eventually achieves a certain emotional weight but it is difficult to know (without having read the source) whether this is an effect of the book or the film or a synergistic combination of the two.    

 

Fårö Document 1979 (1979)

☆ ☆ ☆

Fårö Document 1979 (1979) – I. Bergman

Ingmar Bergman returns 10 years later for a second documentary about Fårö, the small island he came to call home (although at this point he was a tax exile living in Germany).  This second look is longer and less formally structured with more expansive wordless stretches showing us life on the rural island (which has become a favoured tourist destination during the summer).  It does feel meditative at times. Watching this back-to-back with the original 1969/1970 doco reveals some overlap (this time they slaughter a pig instead of a sheep, however) and from this vantage point, a viewer might be hard pressed to determine whether they are watching 1969 or 1979.  A brief attempt in the spirit of the 7 Up! Series involves interviewing the kids from the bus in 1969 to see whether they followed through on their plans to leave Fårö or to stay (most ended up staying, it seems, even as the population dropped to 670 or so).  Everything is very pastoral (and often very wintry), but the loss of cinematographer Sven Nykvist is felt.  A few poignant moments captured me but my attention did waver.  Bergman’s political comments at the end further reinforce the sameness of this sequel.  Perhaps this is one reason why the mooted 1989 edition was never made.  Nevertheless, it would likely be great to visit Fårö one day.

Phantasm (1979)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Phantasm (1979) – D. Coscarelli

Not as gory (or as scary) as I expected.  Instead, this is a very seventies-feeling low budget horror film, seen from a 13-year-old boy’s perspective.  In fact, there is a hint at the end that much of this could be a dream/nightmare (brought on by trauma).  This could explain all the surrealistic or nonsensical elements to the story, which is as follows:  A boy whose parents have recently died now has to cope with the death of a friend of his big brother’s (supposedly suicide but we “know” that it is murder).  He sees a mysterious tall man carry off the coffin instead of burying it and thus becomes interested in the funeral home which is later revealed to contain a portal to another planet/dimension.  The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) seems to control some growling Jawa-like monsters and he’s pretty impressive/oppressive himself.  The big brother (Bill Thornbury) and his friend (Reggie Bannister) attempt to destroy the Tall Man who has also carried off some local girls.  Oh and there’s a grandmother who tells fortunes.  And sinister cars that chase our heroes.  And perhaps the tall man can morph himself into a sexy lady.  And there’s a flying silver ball that has razor blades that pop out and kill people.  Somehow it all holds together (despite the low budget, less than accomplished acting, and so on) but I’m not sure I need to see the 4 sequels, do I? I guess the fact that it does hold together despite its weirdness is what makes it a cult classic.

The Magnificent Butcher (1979)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Magnificent Butcher (1979) – W-P. Yuen

Old school Kung-Fu directed by Woo-Ping Yuen, who also directed Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) and Drunken Master (1978) which were Jackie Chan’s breakthrough hits.  Here, Sammo Hung takes the “loser” role previously occupied by Jackie, although truth be told, Sammo was in the industry a lot longer and apparently assisted Jackie to get his first parts (earlier they had both been part of the same Peking Opera troupe as children).  Sammo plays “Butcher Wing” who finds himself in a mess of trouble when the evil son of a rival kung fu school kidnaps his long-lost brother’s wife. Fortunately, Sammo has a strong ally – the “Beggar King” (according to imDb) who was supposed to be played by Simon Yuen (the drunken master himself, the old man in both of Jackie’s earlier films, and the father of director Woo-Ping Yuen) but he died of a heart attack during this film.  Fortunately, his replacement, Mei Sheng Fan, is pretty great in the trickster role as well.  The film is filled with fantastic hand-to-hand combat, replete with amazing and strange falls/jumps/punches with animal names/farts in the face etc.  There are some epic battles between the heads of the schools and also their strongest pupils.  Sammo, who was always overweight, holds his own, comically but effectively (later he went on to be an established director and producer in Hong Kong and then a star of his own American action show, Martial Law).  So, the film is great fun and funny too – until it isn’t. There is a problematic scene where the bad guy kills one of the lead female characters in the midst of an attempted rape.  Of course, this establishes him as really bad and perhaps reminds us that all this kung fu fighting (with fake blood and all) is actually pretty violent and bad.  But playing rape and murder for laughs isn’t right and although the scene is just a couple of minutes in an otherwise enjoyable film, it rankles.  It makes you wonder about our culture (not just HK culture) then and now – certainly there were plenty of harsh horror films that contained similar material.  Was it acceptable?  Is it OK to look away and recognise that this is/was just play-acting?  Since the evil act was punished, is it okay to have been included?  These are deeper questions than the Magnificent Butcher is able to answer.  Perhaps it is better simply to watch Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow or Drunken Master instead.

The Brood (1979)

☆ ☆ ½

The Brood (1979) – D. Cronenberg

Very strange, very strange.  In fact, it is the ideas that writer-director David Cronenberg came up with that make this worth watching – the execution is lacking.  Sure, the effects are creepy/disgusting, as we all came to expect from this auteur, but the acting (even from legend Oliver Reed) is a bit flat and the slow slow build to the final climax is too dreary.  Yet, there is something in the idea that our anger might become manifest physically, either as sores or actual projections, that links this to other Cronenberg films and perhaps to the man’s deeper metaphysical or psychological concerns.  Frank Carveth (Art Hindle)’s wife is isolated in a sanatorium under the watch of psychiatrist Hal Raglan (played by Reed); he brings their 5-year-old daughter Candy to see her on the weekends.  However, when Candy returns with scratches and marks on her back, Carveth seeks answers.  A few bloody murders later and the truth is finally revealed (in the final 15 minutes) and it is very strange, very strange.  Next up for Cronenberg: Scanners (1981) and Videodrome (1983) which expand on these themes with even more panache.

Buffet Froid (1979)

☆ ☆ ☆

Buffet Froid (1979) – B. Blier

There must be other touchstones besides “Waiting for Godot” but none are coming to mind just now.  Blier’s film is as abstract, surreal, and nonsensical as Beckett’s play but it exists more decidedly in the real world of crime and cops, relationship disintegration and loss, towering apartment buildings and empty subway stops.  A young Gerard Depardieu stumbles from one set-up to the next – is he potentially a murderer himself? Even he doesn’t know.  Blier’s father is genial as the police inspector who seems more interested in being left alone and drinking wine than investigating crime and Jean Carmet is pathetic as a weak-willed killer of women. These latter two form a ridiculous trio of sorts with Depardieu.  The plot frenetically (but absurdly) bounces from one setting and new acquaintance/lover/foe to the next, ending finally in a beautiful natural locale with beautiful Carole Bouquet putting everyone out of their misery.  Doesn’t overstay its welcome but might require some tolerance – that is, you could be alienated by this riff on alienation.