Everybody mistakes a fumble-fingered, song-warbling, saddle tramp for a dastardly desperado in director Stuart Heisler’s satirical horse opera “Along Came Jones” (*** out of ****), toplining “Virginian” star Gary Cooper as the eponymous protagonist, Loretta Young as his sharp-shooting love interest, and Dan Duryea as the notorious bandit. “Jesse James” scenarist Nunnally Johnson derived this splendid send-up of sagebrushers from “The Searchers” author Alan Le May’s novel, and “Along Came Jones” represents Cooper’s first and only independent production. This easy-going, sentimental oater features several low-key but heartfelt performances, especially from Cooper as the incompetent cowpoke who couldn’t hit the side of a barn with his six-shooter even if he threw it at it. William Demarest plays his comical sidekick who has more sense than the hero. Dan Duryea is appropriately malicious as the real Monty.
The production values of this modest Independent Pictures production reflect the restrictions imposed by the U.S. Government on Hollywood during World War II. No movie could boast more than $5-thousand dollars worth of new production materials. Consequently, everything appears just as plain and generic as you can imagine. Nobody has more than a couple of costume changes, and the performers often act in front of back projected landscapes when they hit the trail. This is one of those westerns where you never see a train, the U.S. Calvary, a nation of war whooping Native Americans, or scenic Monument Valley landscapes. In other words, white Anglo-Saxon American Protestants swap bullets with each other over the course of its unhurried 90 minutes, but nothing happens that you haven't seen before in any other western. Nevertheless, Cooper’s amiable performance and Heisler’s restrained helming make “Along Came Jones” a pleasure to watch. Remember, "Along Came Jones" came along before the Bob Hope western comedies "The Paleface" (1958) and "Son of Paleface" (1952), but both "Paleface" farces surpassed "Along Came Jones." Interesting, “Along Came Jones” anticipated John Ford’s last great western “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962). Loretta Young does for Cooper in “Along Came Jones” what John Wayne did for James Stewart in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”
“Along Came Jones” opens with a one-of-its-kind stagecoach hold-up. Monty Jarrad (Dan Duryea of “Ball of Fire”) lays in ambush with his Winchester rifle as a six-horse stagecoach trundles along a remote river road and shoots the coach tongue that holds the horses in harness. The coachman loses control of the vehicle and its rear wheel smashes into the rocks on the side of the trail. Monty wounds the guard, armed with a Winchester instead of a shotgun, and the guy plunges off the swiftly moving vehicle and falls into a tree. The Wells Fargo coach careens to a halt into the side of the mountain, and Monty rides up to it, snatches the money bag from the driver, Ira Waggoner (Walter Sand of "To Have & Have Not"), and hightails it off down the trail. The guard recovers sufficiently enough to wound the fleeing outlaw and Monty incriminates himself when he drops his rifle on the trail. In a close-up, we can see his name etched onto the long gun: Monty Jarrad. The next shot shows a lawman posting a $1-thousand dollar reward dodger for Jarrad.
Song warbling Melody Jones (Gary Cooper of “Sergeant York”) and his sidekick George Fury (William Demarest of “All Through the Night”) are riding along when they spot the town of Payneville in the distance (bogus looking back projection again) and Melody realizes that they took a wrong turn at the fork in the road some 400 to 500 miles back. George shakes his head. “Well, it don’t surprise me none, I can you tell you that a cowhand that goes in for breaking horses by the times he’s your size, he’s been hit in the seat of the pants so many times he ain’t got any brains anymore—just a kind of yellow oatmeal in his head.” Our heroes mosey into Payneville and the First Chance Saloon barkeeper notices the initials MJ on Melody’s chaps and assumes Melody is Monty Jarrad. Melody spots pretty looking Cherry de Longpre (Loretta Young of “Ladies Courageous”) prancing down the boardwalk. He follows her while George enters a saloon. George doesn’t understand why everybody refers to him as Uncle Roscoe. According to the wanted poster, Monty rides with a fellow called Uncle Roscoe. Meanwhile, Melody eavesdrops on Ira who observes how “very nice” Cherry walks, and Melody slugs him so hard that Ira wallows in the dust. Before Ira can pull his six-gun, another citizen points to the chaps on Melody’s horse with the initials MJ. Everybody thinks Melody is actually Monty. Melody has never commanded such respect from anybody. All the time this is happening, Melody has no clue why the citizenry are treating him with such latitude. George is infuriated his reception in the saloon. He hates being called Uncle Roscoe, Monty’s sidekick. When he rejoins Melody, he complains about this rude treatment. Melody explains how to cast a big shadow. “You got to look like you’re somebody and act like you’re somebody, like you can take care of yourself no matter what happens, and then pretty soon you’re somebody.” George gives Melody a dubious look at this advice.
Eventually, Cherry saves Melody from getting ambushed in town and they ride out to her ranch. The real Monty Jarrad isn’t so sure about Cherry’s plan to make everybody believe that Melody is him. Nobody could be that stupid, he assures her, but he doesn't know Melody. Cherry explains that she has fixed Melody and George up so that the posse will be riding south after them while Monty can ride north. Melody smells a rat and doubles back to the ranch. In the course of events, Cherry changes her mind about Monty. She complains to her brother Avery that she liked Monty originally because he was "wild," but Monty has grown "mean" and she doesn't approve of his rancor. She turns on Monty and she helps Melody out of several tight scrapes. Cherry takes Melody to the shack where Monty has stashed the stolen loot but they find themselves up to their necks in one predicament after another. Director Stuart Heisler keeps the action moving along fast enough so that this hokum never stalls out. “Along Came Jones” turned out to be a genuine crowd pleaser when it came out in 1945. Everybody who made it seems like they were having a ball. Nunnally Johnson provides some memorable lines of dialogue and the final shoot-out is a hoot. There are enough twists and turns to make “Along Came Jones” more than just an ordinary western.
CINEMATIC REVELATIONS allows me the luxury of writing, editing and archiving my film and television reviews. Some reviews appeared initially in "The Commercial Dispatch" and "The Planet Weekly" and then later in the comment archives at the Internet Movie Database. IMDB.COM, however, imposes a limit on both the number of words and the number of times that an author may revise their comments. I hope that anybody who peruses these expanded reviews will find them useful.
Friday, December 19, 2008
FILM REVIEW OF ''WALKING TALL: LONE JUSTICE''
No, “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” (**1/2 out of ****) doesn’t resume where “Walking Tall: The Payback” ended. The major players in Dallas behind sleazy Howard Morris—Traxell Byrne (Jerry Cotton of “American Outlaws”) and his right-hand henchman, Lou Dowdy (Todd Terry of “The Anarchist Cookbook”)—got away scot-free. Neither were apprehended and held accountable for their perfidy. Whether this was a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers or a gaping hole is still debatable. Those two precipitated two of the most important events in “Walking Tall: The Payback.” In a sense, they served as plot puppeteers. They pulled strings and got the hero and the villain to dance to their tune. Instead, the “Lone Justice” in this genuine sequel refers to a ruthless Hispanic druglord, Octavio Perez (newcomer Rodrigo De la Rosa), who the Feds are prosecuting as a racketeer. Producer Andrew Stevens has a cameo as Octavio’s defense attorney. Tenacious FBI agent Kate Jenson (Yvette Nipar of “Vampire Klan”) and her rebellious daughter Samantha (Haley Ramm of “X-Men: The Last Stand”) return, and Nick is now Kate’s boyfriend much to Samantha’s chagrin. Nick’s mother, Emma Prescott (Gail Cronauer of “Boys Don’t Cry”) is also back in this follow-up. The story takes place initially in Dallas and then the characters retreat to Nick’s ranch in the sticks. When Nick isn’t battling the villains, Samantha and he bond, and she considers him more of a friend than an enemy. FBI Agent Marcia Tunney (Elizabeth Barondes of “The Forsaken”) emerges as the most interesting character.
“Walking Tall: Lone Justice” surpasses “Walking Tall: The Payback.” The Joe Halpin & Brian Strasmann screenplay is a hundred times better than their previous effort, but it isn’t without its flaws. Happily, “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” generated considerable suspense despite the cliches that clutter this familiar FBI versus the notorious drug felon narrative. This movie develops the theme of ‘teamwork.’ Furthermore, it features at least one example of judiciously placed foreshadowing. Pay attention to Nick and Samantha’s discussion about firearms in the barn. The villains pose a greater challenge to our heroes than the previous ones did and these villains are rather nefarious. They don’t mind amputating one FBI agents thumbs when she refuses to answer their questions. Our hero, Nick Prescott, finds himself in a tight situation or two. At one point, the villains have him tied up like Rambo was in “Rambo: First Blood, Part 2” when he was attached to mattress box springs and received jolts of electricity. Unfortunately, in spite of the superior script, director Trip Reed relies on annoying concertina zooms and frenetic jump cuts to not only intensify but also accelerate the action. The concertina zooms look jarring and the jump cuts that are designed to break up mundane actions are equally annoying. Neither of these cinematic devices adds anything to the story. On the other hand, they call attention to the lack of action.
The action unfolds with Nick driving to Dallas to see his girlfriend. Nick stops off at a convenience store to pick up fresh flowers for Kate and ice cream for dessert. This scene contains its share of humor and drama. While Nick searches for the appropriate flavor of ice cream, an African-American gangsta and his Hispanic sidekick try to rob the cashier. They demand that the cashier open the safe. Nick throws a can that knocks the poor cashier out cold and then he single-handedly thwarts the two robbers. The Hispanic robber tries to use marital arts moves on our hero and Nick routinely slings bags of potato chips at him before he takes him down. Although Nick kept the criminals from robbing the store, he winds up in jail for hitting the cashier with a can. Nevertheless, Kate comes down and gets him out of jail. Samantha, who doesn’t know Nick that well yet, sees him as a distraction for her mother who is too distracted by the demands of her job to pay her daughter the attention that her daughter deems suitable. Initially, tension mounts between Samantha and Nick.
Meanwhile, Kate is part of a prosecution case against Octavio. The Feds are protecting a witness against the druglord who can send him to jail for good. Unlike the R-rated “Walking Tall: The Payback” with its objectionable rape scene that showed no nudity, “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” forefronts a nude scene with a Hispanic honey stripping and displaying her abundant breasts so that she can catch the eye of the witness. While he stands at the window in plain view against the wishes of his protector, Perez’s henchmen relieve a bellboy of his duties and masquerade so they can get into the motel room and kill the witness. The Feds cannot prosecute Perez on a major charge, so they fall back to a money laundering charge and their witnesses are their own agents. Kate is one of them and she and her colleagues move to a safe house until they are to be called to testify. Somehow, the Perez gang learns about their whereabouts and wipes out everybody, killing Kate in the process, too. This is the first of a couple of genuine surprises that elevates “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” over its pathetic predecessor.
The Perez gang watches Kate’s funeral from a distance and they believe that their problems have been taken care of, but they are wrong, dead wrong.
Saying anything else about this better than average sequel would ruin its impact. Kevin Sorbo looks comfortable in his role as Nick. The scene in the hospital when a fellow FBI agent and he try to avoid Perez’s killers churns up considerable suspense. Nevertheless, the hole that plagues this tense scene is the absence of any hospital security guards. That Perez’s killers—disguised as EMTs—could smuggle automatic weapons into the hospital is too much to ask. The last scene at Nick’s ranch has problems, too. The convention in both “Walking Tall” movies is the heroes cannot play hardball the way that the villains can and remain heroic.
“Walking Tall: Lone Justice” surpasses “Walking Tall: The Payback.” The Joe Halpin & Brian Strasmann screenplay is a hundred times better than their previous effort, but it isn’t without its flaws. Happily, “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” generated considerable suspense despite the cliches that clutter this familiar FBI versus the notorious drug felon narrative. This movie develops the theme of ‘teamwork.’ Furthermore, it features at least one example of judiciously placed foreshadowing. Pay attention to Nick and Samantha’s discussion about firearms in the barn. The villains pose a greater challenge to our heroes than the previous ones did and these villains are rather nefarious. They don’t mind amputating one FBI agents thumbs when she refuses to answer their questions. Our hero, Nick Prescott, finds himself in a tight situation or two. At one point, the villains have him tied up like Rambo was in “Rambo: First Blood, Part 2” when he was attached to mattress box springs and received jolts of electricity. Unfortunately, in spite of the superior script, director Trip Reed relies on annoying concertina zooms and frenetic jump cuts to not only intensify but also accelerate the action. The concertina zooms look jarring and the jump cuts that are designed to break up mundane actions are equally annoying. Neither of these cinematic devices adds anything to the story. On the other hand, they call attention to the lack of action.
The action unfolds with Nick driving to Dallas to see his girlfriend. Nick stops off at a convenience store to pick up fresh flowers for Kate and ice cream for dessert. This scene contains its share of humor and drama. While Nick searches for the appropriate flavor of ice cream, an African-American gangsta and his Hispanic sidekick try to rob the cashier. They demand that the cashier open the safe. Nick throws a can that knocks the poor cashier out cold and then he single-handedly thwarts the two robbers. The Hispanic robber tries to use marital arts moves on our hero and Nick routinely slings bags of potato chips at him before he takes him down. Although Nick kept the criminals from robbing the store, he winds up in jail for hitting the cashier with a can. Nevertheless, Kate comes down and gets him out of jail. Samantha, who doesn’t know Nick that well yet, sees him as a distraction for her mother who is too distracted by the demands of her job to pay her daughter the attention that her daughter deems suitable. Initially, tension mounts between Samantha and Nick.
Meanwhile, Kate is part of a prosecution case against Octavio. The Feds are protecting a witness against the druglord who can send him to jail for good. Unlike the R-rated “Walking Tall: The Payback” with its objectionable rape scene that showed no nudity, “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” forefronts a nude scene with a Hispanic honey stripping and displaying her abundant breasts so that she can catch the eye of the witness. While he stands at the window in plain view against the wishes of his protector, Perez’s henchmen relieve a bellboy of his duties and masquerade so they can get into the motel room and kill the witness. The Feds cannot prosecute Perez on a major charge, so they fall back to a money laundering charge and their witnesses are their own agents. Kate is one of them and she and her colleagues move to a safe house until they are to be called to testify. Somehow, the Perez gang learns about their whereabouts and wipes out everybody, killing Kate in the process, too. This is the first of a couple of genuine surprises that elevates “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” over its pathetic predecessor.
The Perez gang watches Kate’s funeral from a distance and they believe that their problems have been taken care of, but they are wrong, dead wrong.
Saying anything else about this better than average sequel would ruin its impact. Kevin Sorbo looks comfortable in his role as Nick. The scene in the hospital when a fellow FBI agent and he try to avoid Perez’s killers churns up considerable suspense. Nevertheless, the hole that plagues this tense scene is the absence of any hospital security guards. That Perez’s killers—disguised as EMTs—could smuggle automatic weapons into the hospital is too much to ask. The last scene at Nick’s ranch has problems, too. The convention in both “Walking Tall” movies is the heroes cannot play hardball the way that the villains can and remain heroic.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
FILM REVIEW OF ''WALKING TALL: THE PAYBACK" (2007)
Although Sony Studios designated it as a sequel to director Kevin Bray’s 2004 theatrical feature “Walking Tall” with Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson, “The Confidence Man” director Tripp Reed’s “Walking Tall: The Payback” (2007) with Kevin Sorbo qualifies as only an ‘in name’ sequel.
Sorbo plays a former U.S. Marine, Nick Prescott, who trains horses for living, while the Rock played Chris Vaughn. Furthermore, “Walking Tall” took place in Kitsap County, Washington, whereas “Walking Tall: The Payback” occurs in Boone County, Texas, not far from Dallas. Sorbo’s Nick totes around a big stick once for a couple of the minutes in the middle of the movie. Instead, he prefers a riot shotgun with a lever action grip to a big stick. Indeed, he uses a pool cue in the bar fight, but he never wields a club either like the Rock or much earlier as Joe Don Baker and Bo Svenson did in the previous theatrical releases.
On the other hand, “Walking Tall: The Payback” (* out of ****)explores corrupt in a small town. The screenplay by Steven Seagal collaborator Joe Halpin and newcomer Brian Strasmann borrows from Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West,” because the primary villain, Harvey Morris (A.J. Buckley) is trying to buy up land before a new highway is built through the town, and he isn’t particular about how he acquires the real estate. He walks into a hardware store with his henchmen and they smash up the owner’s arm and promise him more rough stuff if he doesn’t bow to their wishes. The opening scene shows one of Harvey’s thugs pumping gas out of the storage tank when the owner appears with gun in hand and threatens to kill the henchmen. They tangle, the henchman shoots him and the gas station owner lives long enough to touch off an explosion that wipes out everything. Later, the villains assault a city councilman on his tractor in his crop field and torch the tractor. When a waitress warns our heroes that the villains intend to force the city council to appoint an interim sheriff, the villains close in on her trailer and gang rape her. “This will put a smile on your face,” they chuckle as they bend her own her sofa and sodomize her. Despite its’ R-rating, the filmmakers shy away from nudity of any kind. The same is true for the violence. You see little blood and nobody is squibbed so that bloody explosions erupt when they are shot or wounded.
Despite Kevin Sorbo’s brawny presence, A.J. Buckley’s slimy villain, and its solid production values, “Walking Tall: The Payback” is a derivative, far-fetched, superficial thriller with no surprises except its narrative lack of closure. The heroes take the primary villains to task, but they ignore the larger villains that lurk in Dallas and churn up most of the conflict between the hero and the villains. One might think that the producers would have taken up where “Walking Tall: The Payback” left off in the sequel “Walking Tall: Lone Justice,” but Andrew Stevens and director Tripp Reed explore other areas. “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” updates the main characters from the first one without probing into the treacherous sidewinders that provided support to the villains. There is one good bar fight early on in “Walking Tall: The Payback” that passes muster, and Kevin Sorbo’s hero uses a horse to good advantage in the final showdown, but this movie lacks clout. Tripp doesn’t do anything revolutionary, and the best that can be said about “Walking Tall: The Payback” is that it clocks in at 88 minutes. Some of the dialogue is catchy. For example, the villain confronts the hero: "There can only be one big dog, everybody else, they just sniff" while the hero challenges the villain: "Are you all bark and no bite?”
Our hero, Nick Prescott, has a low opinion of the law and the justice system. We learn that his wife died when an inebriated driver ran into her and killed her. Says Nick, “Justice is about two things: power and money. With them you can just about get away with anything.” Nick and his father Sheriff Charlie Prescott haven’t seen each other since his wife’s death because Nick felt that his father didn’t press the case hard enough. The drunk driver got off with a fine and community service. According to Nick, “the system is broken.” He shrugs when his father tells him that he going to see the FBI in Dallas to find a way to bring down Harvey Morris and his Dixie mafia. “You really think that you can make a difference?”
Later, Harvey and his henchmen catch Charlie on the highway, wreck his car, flip it and kill him. At the funeral, Harvey drinks a beer from afar and watches the ceremony. This aggravates Nick so much so that his father’s deputy Hap catches Nick taking a shotgun from the rifle rack. Hap tosses him a badge and assures him that as a deputy he has more leeway. Nick starts his own campaign against Harvey. A few days later, the FBI agent, who told Charlie that the felons had not broken any Federal laws, arrives and looks into matters. It seems that Charlie took a revolver that he recovered from the gas station after it blew up and gave it to Detective Pete Michaels of the Dallas PD to run a ballistics test on it. The higher powers behind Harvey in Dallas bribe Pete to send the report to Harvey and this is what prompts Harvey to kill Charlie.
“Walking Tall: The Payback” is a synthetic, redneck thriller with enough action to keep you watching while you shake your head in disbelief at the audacious things that the citizens let the villains get away with in this lackluster 94 minute melodrama. Women should be forewarned that Kevin Sorbo keeps his clothes on the entire time.
Sorbo plays a former U.S. Marine, Nick Prescott, who trains horses for living, while the Rock played Chris Vaughn. Furthermore, “Walking Tall” took place in Kitsap County, Washington, whereas “Walking Tall: The Payback” occurs in Boone County, Texas, not far from Dallas. Sorbo’s Nick totes around a big stick once for a couple of the minutes in the middle of the movie. Instead, he prefers a riot shotgun with a lever action grip to a big stick. Indeed, he uses a pool cue in the bar fight, but he never wields a club either like the Rock or much earlier as Joe Don Baker and Bo Svenson did in the previous theatrical releases.
On the other hand, “Walking Tall: The Payback” (* out of ****)explores corrupt in a small town. The screenplay by Steven Seagal collaborator Joe Halpin and newcomer Brian Strasmann borrows from Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West,” because the primary villain, Harvey Morris (A.J. Buckley) is trying to buy up land before a new highway is built through the town, and he isn’t particular about how he acquires the real estate. He walks into a hardware store with his henchmen and they smash up the owner’s arm and promise him more rough stuff if he doesn’t bow to their wishes. The opening scene shows one of Harvey’s thugs pumping gas out of the storage tank when the owner appears with gun in hand and threatens to kill the henchmen. They tangle, the henchman shoots him and the gas station owner lives long enough to touch off an explosion that wipes out everything. Later, the villains assault a city councilman on his tractor in his crop field and torch the tractor. When a waitress warns our heroes that the villains intend to force the city council to appoint an interim sheriff, the villains close in on her trailer and gang rape her. “This will put a smile on your face,” they chuckle as they bend her own her sofa and sodomize her. Despite its’ R-rating, the filmmakers shy away from nudity of any kind. The same is true for the violence. You see little blood and nobody is squibbed so that bloody explosions erupt when they are shot or wounded.
Despite Kevin Sorbo’s brawny presence, A.J. Buckley’s slimy villain, and its solid production values, “Walking Tall: The Payback” is a derivative, far-fetched, superficial thriller with no surprises except its narrative lack of closure. The heroes take the primary villains to task, but they ignore the larger villains that lurk in Dallas and churn up most of the conflict between the hero and the villains. One might think that the producers would have taken up where “Walking Tall: The Payback” left off in the sequel “Walking Tall: Lone Justice,” but Andrew Stevens and director Tripp Reed explore other areas. “Walking Tall: Lone Justice” updates the main characters from the first one without probing into the treacherous sidewinders that provided support to the villains. There is one good bar fight early on in “Walking Tall: The Payback” that passes muster, and Kevin Sorbo’s hero uses a horse to good advantage in the final showdown, but this movie lacks clout. Tripp doesn’t do anything revolutionary, and the best that can be said about “Walking Tall: The Payback” is that it clocks in at 88 minutes. Some of the dialogue is catchy. For example, the villain confronts the hero: "There can only be one big dog, everybody else, they just sniff" while the hero challenges the villain: "Are you all bark and no bite?”
Our hero, Nick Prescott, has a low opinion of the law and the justice system. We learn that his wife died when an inebriated driver ran into her and killed her. Says Nick, “Justice is about two things: power and money. With them you can just about get away with anything.” Nick and his father Sheriff Charlie Prescott haven’t seen each other since his wife’s death because Nick felt that his father didn’t press the case hard enough. The drunk driver got off with a fine and community service. According to Nick, “the system is broken.” He shrugs when his father tells him that he going to see the FBI in Dallas to find a way to bring down Harvey Morris and his Dixie mafia. “You really think that you can make a difference?”
Later, Harvey and his henchmen catch Charlie on the highway, wreck his car, flip it and kill him. At the funeral, Harvey drinks a beer from afar and watches the ceremony. This aggravates Nick so much so that his father’s deputy Hap catches Nick taking a shotgun from the rifle rack. Hap tosses him a badge and assures him that as a deputy he has more leeway. Nick starts his own campaign against Harvey. A few days later, the FBI agent, who told Charlie that the felons had not broken any Federal laws, arrives and looks into matters. It seems that Charlie took a revolver that he recovered from the gas station after it blew up and gave it to Detective Pete Michaels of the Dallas PD to run a ballistics test on it. The higher powers behind Harvey in Dallas bribe Pete to send the report to Harvey and this is what prompts Harvey to kill Charlie.
“Walking Tall: The Payback” is a synthetic, redneck thriller with enough action to keep you watching while you shake your head in disbelief at the audacious things that the citizens let the villains get away with in this lackluster 94 minute melodrama. Women should be forewarned that Kevin Sorbo keeps his clothes on the entire time.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
FILM REVIEW OF ''FOUR CHRISTMASES''
Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon generate chemistry galore as a couple of cute yuppies who’re afraid to get hitched in first-time director Seth Gordon’s hilarious new holiday hootenanny “Four Christmases” (**** out of ****), a raucous, PG-13 rated, romantic comedy of errors complete with Three Stooges style slapstick routines. Although our protagonists think they have it made as live-in lovers, they learn eventually that the road to rapture is paved with marital vows and infants. The source of the wit in “Four Christmases” is what this pair doesn’t know about each other. They’re compelled to cancel an exotic trip to Fiji and endure four separate episodes with their dysfunctional families. Quadruple the hilarity of the Ben Stiller & Terry Polo comedy “Meet the Parents,” and you’ll have some clue about how much you’ll cackle. The cast bristles with Oscar-winning thespians such as Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Jon Voight. Mind you, “Four Christmases” isn’t aimed at children, but grown-up audiences will guffaw at the misguided misanthropy of the irresponsible protagonists.
Although they’ve been dating each other for three years, neither Brad (Vince Vaughn of “Fred Claus”) nor Kate (Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon of “Walk the Line”) have any intention of approaching the altar. Marriage would merely complicate matters for them. Anyway, marriage didn’t work for their parents who wound up divorcing. Every Christmas for the last three years, our heroes send their regrets to their folks that they cannot visit because they’re performing charitable acts for destitute people in third world countries. Brad goes so far as to research his lies so they contain a ring of truth. Our couple arrives at the airport to pick up their tickets when they discover to their chagrin that a blinding fog has grounded all flights. Matters worsen when a TV news crew captures them ‘live’ on camera commenting about their Fiji holiday disaster. No sooner have Brad and Kate been exposed as hypocrites than their parents contact them by cell phone and invite them to celebrate Christmas. Reluctantly, Brad and Kate try to make the best of a bad predicament with no idea that their lives are about to change forever. The screenplay by Matt R. Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas, and Scott Moore turns out to be funnier than you’d expect considering that “Four Christmases” is formulaic frivolity from start to finish. Virtually everything that can go wrong for them does, but everything works out for the best by fade-out.
First, Brad and Kate visit Brad’s divorced dad who keeps a stuffed skunk on his wall along with his rabbit hunting trophies. Brad has to contend with his two muscle-bound, Neanderthal-minded brothers Denver (“Iron Man” director Jon Favreau) and Dallas (Tim McGraw), who are semi-professional cage wrestlers. They constantly embarrass poor Brad by pinning him to the floor in humiliating head and body locks while their obnoxious brats climb atop him to slap our hero silly. Kate learns that Brad’s real name is Orlando. Brad’s redneck pappy Howard (Robert Duvall of “Open Range”), who drives a combine for a living, named his sons after the city where he sired them. Brad gives Howard a satellite system, but he winds up wrecking his father’s house trying to install it.
Things fare no better for Kate when they visit her oddball mom, Marilyn (Mary Steenburgen of “Stepbrothers”), who tattles about her daughter’s past. Brad learns that Kate grew up as a chubby little cherub who got shipped off every summer to Fat Camp. Brad laughs hysterically at Kate’s obese baby pictures and pokes fun at Kate’s only friend, a butch gal pal, who sports an incriminating haircut. Worse, Kate’s sister Courtney (Kristen Chenoweth of “Stranger than Fiction”), blabbers about Kate’s phobia of being trapped in an inflatable jump-jump trampoline with the neighborhood kids who accused her of having cooties. Kate relives that horror after Courtney’s infant barfs up breast-milk on her dress and sends her off to the bathroom for an apparel change. While she is in the bathroom, Kate experiments with a pregnancy kit, only to have Courtney’s older daughter snatch it, taunt her, and then seek sanctuary in a jump-jump crowded with noisy urchins. Director Seth Gordon films this episode as if the jump-jump is a giant monster waiting to devour a terrified Kate.
As it turns out, Marilyn’s latest beau is a Pentecostal minister, Pastor Phil (Dwight Yoakam of “Sling Blade”), who wants volunteers to impersonate Joseph and Mary for their annual Christmas play. Marilyn volunteers Kate because she played a tree in her high school play. Pastor Phil summons Brad to join her. A real child winds up in Kate’s arms, and she is clueless about what to do even when Pastor Phil provides her with instructions in the manger scene. Surprisingly, this church scene is played fairly straightforward with the laughs on our couple instead of the play. Afterward, they visit Brad’s free-spirited mother, Paula (Sissy Spacek of “Coal Miner’s Daughter”), who has re-married Brad’s former best friend, collects New Age objects, and bakes marihuana in her brownies. Brad hates his best friend for tying the knot with his momma, and Kate snickers when Paula gushes about Brad's obsession as a child with breast-feeding.
Seth Gordon’s claim to fame is his documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” about a father in the suburbs who struggles to rack up the highest score in the Donkey Kong video game. The secret of Gordon’s success with this hackneyed material is the swift pace he maintains so the gags follow each other in rapid succession. Vince Vaughn steals the show with his fast-talking routines that are every bit as funny as anything he pulled off in “The Wedding Crashers,” while Reese Witherspoon is as amusing in a restrained sort of way. “Four Christmases” will tickle your ribs and jingle your bells for every second of its comically crisp 90 minutes.
Although they’ve been dating each other for three years, neither Brad (Vince Vaughn of “Fred Claus”) nor Kate (Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon of “Walk the Line”) have any intention of approaching the altar. Marriage would merely complicate matters for them. Anyway, marriage didn’t work for their parents who wound up divorcing. Every Christmas for the last three years, our heroes send their regrets to their folks that they cannot visit because they’re performing charitable acts for destitute people in third world countries. Brad goes so far as to research his lies so they contain a ring of truth. Our couple arrives at the airport to pick up their tickets when they discover to their chagrin that a blinding fog has grounded all flights. Matters worsen when a TV news crew captures them ‘live’ on camera commenting about their Fiji holiday disaster. No sooner have Brad and Kate been exposed as hypocrites than their parents contact them by cell phone and invite them to celebrate Christmas. Reluctantly, Brad and Kate try to make the best of a bad predicament with no idea that their lives are about to change forever. The screenplay by Matt R. Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas, and Scott Moore turns out to be funnier than you’d expect considering that “Four Christmases” is formulaic frivolity from start to finish. Virtually everything that can go wrong for them does, but everything works out for the best by fade-out.
First, Brad and Kate visit Brad’s divorced dad who keeps a stuffed skunk on his wall along with his rabbit hunting trophies. Brad has to contend with his two muscle-bound, Neanderthal-minded brothers Denver (“Iron Man” director Jon Favreau) and Dallas (Tim McGraw), who are semi-professional cage wrestlers. They constantly embarrass poor Brad by pinning him to the floor in humiliating head and body locks while their obnoxious brats climb atop him to slap our hero silly. Kate learns that Brad’s real name is Orlando. Brad’s redneck pappy Howard (Robert Duvall of “Open Range”), who drives a combine for a living, named his sons after the city where he sired them. Brad gives Howard a satellite system, but he winds up wrecking his father’s house trying to install it.
Things fare no better for Kate when they visit her oddball mom, Marilyn (Mary Steenburgen of “Stepbrothers”), who tattles about her daughter’s past. Brad learns that Kate grew up as a chubby little cherub who got shipped off every summer to Fat Camp. Brad laughs hysterically at Kate’s obese baby pictures and pokes fun at Kate’s only friend, a butch gal pal, who sports an incriminating haircut. Worse, Kate’s sister Courtney (Kristen Chenoweth of “Stranger than Fiction”), blabbers about Kate’s phobia of being trapped in an inflatable jump-jump trampoline with the neighborhood kids who accused her of having cooties. Kate relives that horror after Courtney’s infant barfs up breast-milk on her dress and sends her off to the bathroom for an apparel change. While she is in the bathroom, Kate experiments with a pregnancy kit, only to have Courtney’s older daughter snatch it, taunt her, and then seek sanctuary in a jump-jump crowded with noisy urchins. Director Seth Gordon films this episode as if the jump-jump is a giant monster waiting to devour a terrified Kate.
As it turns out, Marilyn’s latest beau is a Pentecostal minister, Pastor Phil (Dwight Yoakam of “Sling Blade”), who wants volunteers to impersonate Joseph and Mary for their annual Christmas play. Marilyn volunteers Kate because she played a tree in her high school play. Pastor Phil summons Brad to join her. A real child winds up in Kate’s arms, and she is clueless about what to do even when Pastor Phil provides her with instructions in the manger scene. Surprisingly, this church scene is played fairly straightforward with the laughs on our couple instead of the play. Afterward, they visit Brad’s free-spirited mother, Paula (Sissy Spacek of “Coal Miner’s Daughter”), who has re-married Brad’s former best friend, collects New Age objects, and bakes marihuana in her brownies. Brad hates his best friend for tying the knot with his momma, and Kate snickers when Paula gushes about Brad's obsession as a child with breast-feeding.
Seth Gordon’s claim to fame is his documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” about a father in the suburbs who struggles to rack up the highest score in the Donkey Kong video game. The secret of Gordon’s success with this hackneyed material is the swift pace he maintains so the gags follow each other in rapid succession. Vince Vaughn steals the show with his fast-talking routines that are every bit as funny as anything he pulled off in “The Wedding Crashers,” while Reese Witherspoon is as amusing in a restrained sort of way. “Four Christmases” will tickle your ribs and jingle your bells for every second of its comically crisp 90 minutes.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
FILM REVIEW OF ''THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL" (2008)
The landmark 1951 science fiction fable “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (**** out of ****) concerned an extraterrestrial emissary named Klaatu (Michael Rennie of TV’s “The Third Man”) who came to Washington, D.C., in a flying saucer to warn Earthlings that they must not “apply atomic energy to spaceships that will create a threat to the peace and security of other planets.” In the dreary, special effects laden remake, the intergalactic Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) shows up in a huge sphere in Manhattan’s Central Park to warn Earthlings that they have treated the planet with the same lack of respect that they treat each other and have wrought so much damage that they must be obliterated. Hmn, hasn’t Al Gore already said that without a spaceship and a monstrous robot in his recent documentary "An Inconvenient Truth?"
Environmentalists will no doubt applaud the remake for its global warming message, but popcorn-minded audiences aching for thrills and chills galore may find this high-minded but heavy-handed remake bland to the bone. Mind you, “Exorcism of Emily Rose” director Scott Derrickson and “Last Castle” scenarist David Scrapa have loaded “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (*1/2 out of ****) remake with more action than its relatively tame predecessor. Nevertheless, this superficial sci-fi saga generates little drama or suspense in what amounts to an anemic disaster movie with top-tier special effects. The 8 foot robot Gort that accompanied Klaatu now towers 28 feet tall and it boasts another weapon in it arsenal along with his molten laser beam eyeballs. The filmmakers stage several over-the-top aerial raids on the sphere that recall similar tactics in Roland Emmerich's "Independence Day." Unfortunately, these pyrotechnical displays add little substance to an already insubstantial film.
Pretty Jennifer Connelly gives the best performance, while Keanu Reeves remains as inarticulate as ever as the alien who wants to address world leaders. He was a hundred times better in last year’s shoot’em up “Street Kings.” Kathy Bates gives her best Hilary Clinton impersonation and dresses as tastefully as Sarah Palin. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” springs no surprises with its ecological message.
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” contains a prologue that the original lacked. In 1928, a lone mountain climber (Keanu Reeves of “The Matrix”)in India discovers a shimmering globe in the snow and touches it. When he awakens later from the shock that the object dealt him, he finds a hole has been burnt in his glove and a tiny patch of skin has been removed. The nasty sphere came to harvest the mountain climber's DNA so that it could clone a human body. The action fast-forwards to contemporary times as a military communication satellite detects an object streaking towards Earth with a crash point 78 minutes away in Manhattan. The government assembles an elite team of scientists to deal with the aftermath of this catastrophe since they cannot prevent it. Ignorant government agents come banging on the door of Princeton astrobiologist professor Dr. Helen Benson (Oscar winning Best Actress Jennifer Connelly of “A Beautiful Mind”) and hustle her off to a helicopter and flight to New York City. Initially, the military briefing sequence reminded me more of Ronald Neame's "Meteor" (1979) Michael Bay's "Armageddon" (1998), Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" (1998)
When Helen isn’t teaching, she is a single mom to her adorably obnoxious African-American stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith of "The Pursuit of Happyness") who hasn’t gotten over the death of his father in combat. Jacob sasses his mom, wears his hair in tassels, and hinders more than helps her later in the action. Of course, everything is forgiven in the fourth quarter when he realizes the error of his ways. Anyway, everybody reacts with shock when the alien spacecraft touches down without turning New York City in a colossal crater. Like his classic predecessor, Klaatu emerges and a trigger-happy U.S. Army soldier pumps a slug into him just as he approaches Helen in a Hazmat outfit, splattering red alien blood on her mask. About that time, a gargantuan robot named Gort emerges from the sphere and emits a laser beam blast that turns all weapons into dust. Klaatu halts Gort from further destruction and lets the authorities rush him to a top-secret surgical suite where a doctor digs out the slug. The doctor informs them all that an embryonic human is swaddled beneath layers of placenta. This human matures rapidly into Keanu Reeves, though the filmmakers neglect to bring up the fate of 1928 mountain climber. In the remake, Klaatu enjoys greater powers than his predecessor. He can use his mind to incapacitate his captors and he does so during a lie detector scene that is prominently features in the trailer. Happily, Klaatu's interrogator is the same size as the alien so Klaatu can don his suit and don and saunter off the military installation.
Since the president and vice president have been evacuated to an undisclosed location, Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates of “Primary Colors”) greets Klaatu and refuses to turn him loose despite his having done nothing wrong. Instead, the scientists rush him off for a lie-detector test, but the resourceful Klaatu engineers an easy escape and hits the road with Helen. Jacob joins them and does everything that he can to undermine his mom and Klaatu. Eventually, Helen takes Klaatu to meet Nobel Prize-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese of “Monty Python” fame in a cameo) who received his accolades for biological altruism. The blackboard scene from the original is replicated here, but Klaatu’s dialogue with Barnhardt focuses on the welfare of planet Earth not the escalating arms race. According to Klaatu, there is a shortage of planets for sustaining life and humans have devastated the Earth too such a degree that they must be wiped out. Barnhardt pleads with Klaatu for the future of humanity; he argues that the brink of destruction will prompt humans to change their ways.
Meanwhile, the military abduct Gort, imprison the robot in a silo, and try to cut through its impervious biological skin with a diamond drill. They fail miserably, but the gigantic robot spawns the synthetic equivalent of locust and the locust spread in clouds to destroy mankind and man-made structures. In the original, Gort acted as a policeman for the aliens, while he can reduce himself into a swarm of locust. The military were able to encase Gort but they didn't take him off to a secret army base.
Okay, neither Robert Wise’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” nor Derrickson’s remake adhered to author Harry Bates’s original pulp short story “Farewell to the Master.” Of course, Wise’s “Earth Stood Still” served as a cautionary anti-Cold War tale about the paranoia of nuclear proliferation as well as an allegorical Christ tale. After all, Klaatu called himself Mr. Carpenter and rose from the dead. Derrickson’s spin has little in common aside from the bare bones basics of Edmund North’s screenplay. Keanu Reeves is ideally cast as the monosyllabic Klaatu and he knows how to deal with nosy traffic cops, but his Klaatu seems a little behind the 8-ball when he realizes that his strategy may not be best. While “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is new, this Keanu Reeves rehash is not an improved version of the timeless original.
Environmentalists will no doubt applaud the remake for its global warming message, but popcorn-minded audiences aching for thrills and chills galore may find this high-minded but heavy-handed remake bland to the bone. Mind you, “Exorcism of Emily Rose” director Scott Derrickson and “Last Castle” scenarist David Scrapa have loaded “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (*1/2 out of ****) remake with more action than its relatively tame predecessor. Nevertheless, this superficial sci-fi saga generates little drama or suspense in what amounts to an anemic disaster movie with top-tier special effects. The 8 foot robot Gort that accompanied Klaatu now towers 28 feet tall and it boasts another weapon in it arsenal along with his molten laser beam eyeballs. The filmmakers stage several over-the-top aerial raids on the sphere that recall similar tactics in Roland Emmerich's "Independence Day." Unfortunately, these pyrotechnical displays add little substance to an already insubstantial film.
Pretty Jennifer Connelly gives the best performance, while Keanu Reeves remains as inarticulate as ever as the alien who wants to address world leaders. He was a hundred times better in last year’s shoot’em up “Street Kings.” Kathy Bates gives her best Hilary Clinton impersonation and dresses as tastefully as Sarah Palin. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” springs no surprises with its ecological message.
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” contains a prologue that the original lacked. In 1928, a lone mountain climber (Keanu Reeves of “The Matrix”)in India discovers a shimmering globe in the snow and touches it. When he awakens later from the shock that the object dealt him, he finds a hole has been burnt in his glove and a tiny patch of skin has been removed. The nasty sphere came to harvest the mountain climber's DNA so that it could clone a human body. The action fast-forwards to contemporary times as a military communication satellite detects an object streaking towards Earth with a crash point 78 minutes away in Manhattan. The government assembles an elite team of scientists to deal with the aftermath of this catastrophe since they cannot prevent it. Ignorant government agents come banging on the door of Princeton astrobiologist professor Dr. Helen Benson (Oscar winning Best Actress Jennifer Connelly of “A Beautiful Mind”) and hustle her off to a helicopter and flight to New York City. Initially, the military briefing sequence reminded me more of Ronald Neame's "Meteor" (1979) Michael Bay's "Armageddon" (1998), Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" (1998)
When Helen isn’t teaching, she is a single mom to her adorably obnoxious African-American stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith of "The Pursuit of Happyness") who hasn’t gotten over the death of his father in combat. Jacob sasses his mom, wears his hair in tassels, and hinders more than helps her later in the action. Of course, everything is forgiven in the fourth quarter when he realizes the error of his ways. Anyway, everybody reacts with shock when the alien spacecraft touches down without turning New York City in a colossal crater. Like his classic predecessor, Klaatu emerges and a trigger-happy U.S. Army soldier pumps a slug into him just as he approaches Helen in a Hazmat outfit, splattering red alien blood on her mask. About that time, a gargantuan robot named Gort emerges from the sphere and emits a laser beam blast that turns all weapons into dust. Klaatu halts Gort from further destruction and lets the authorities rush him to a top-secret surgical suite where a doctor digs out the slug. The doctor informs them all that an embryonic human is swaddled beneath layers of placenta. This human matures rapidly into Keanu Reeves, though the filmmakers neglect to bring up the fate of 1928 mountain climber. In the remake, Klaatu enjoys greater powers than his predecessor. He can use his mind to incapacitate his captors and he does so during a lie detector scene that is prominently features in the trailer. Happily, Klaatu's interrogator is the same size as the alien so Klaatu can don his suit and don and saunter off the military installation.
Since the president and vice president have been evacuated to an undisclosed location, Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates of “Primary Colors”) greets Klaatu and refuses to turn him loose despite his having done nothing wrong. Instead, the scientists rush him off for a lie-detector test, but the resourceful Klaatu engineers an easy escape and hits the road with Helen. Jacob joins them and does everything that he can to undermine his mom and Klaatu. Eventually, Helen takes Klaatu to meet Nobel Prize-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese of “Monty Python” fame in a cameo) who received his accolades for biological altruism. The blackboard scene from the original is replicated here, but Klaatu’s dialogue with Barnhardt focuses on the welfare of planet Earth not the escalating arms race. According to Klaatu, there is a shortage of planets for sustaining life and humans have devastated the Earth too such a degree that they must be wiped out. Barnhardt pleads with Klaatu for the future of humanity; he argues that the brink of destruction will prompt humans to change their ways.
Meanwhile, the military abduct Gort, imprison the robot in a silo, and try to cut through its impervious biological skin with a diamond drill. They fail miserably, but the gigantic robot spawns the synthetic equivalent of locust and the locust spread in clouds to destroy mankind and man-made structures. In the original, Gort acted as a policeman for the aliens, while he can reduce himself into a swarm of locust. The military were able to encase Gort but they didn't take him off to a secret army base.
Okay, neither Robert Wise’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” nor Derrickson’s remake adhered to author Harry Bates’s original pulp short story “Farewell to the Master.” Of course, Wise’s “Earth Stood Still” served as a cautionary anti-Cold War tale about the paranoia of nuclear proliferation as well as an allegorical Christ tale. After all, Klaatu called himself Mr. Carpenter and rose from the dead. Derrickson’s spin has little in common aside from the bare bones basics of Edmund North’s screenplay. Keanu Reeves is ideally cast as the monosyllabic Klaatu and he knows how to deal with nosy traffic cops, but his Klaatu seems a little behind the 8-ball when he realizes that his strategy may not be best. While “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is new, this Keanu Reeves rehash is not an improved version of the timeless original.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
FILM REVIEW OF ''KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL" (1952)
“Dark Alibi” director Phil Karlson’s “Kansas City Confidential” (***1/2 out of ****) qualifies as a crisply-made, smartly-plotted, entertaining heist caper about the perfect crime. This imaginative, 1952 release from United Artists and producer Edward Small about an innocent man framed for a robbery that he didn’t commit teems with interesting characters, a seasoned cast, edgy predicaments, and a fine resolution. Good guy John Payne musters considerable credibility as the flawed protagonist who is punished for the crime, while a dream cast of classic heavies--Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, and Neville Brand—enjoy their ill-gotten gains until our hero can pay them back with interest. “Red River’s” Coleen Gray plays Payne’s love interest, but her character is strictly peripheral in the greater scheme of the action. Yes, she does figure into the plot, but she isn’t front and center like the rest of the cast, including Preston Foster as the mastermind of the a million dollar hold-up.
“Narrow Margin” lenser George E. Diskant’s moody black & white photography is first-rate, and several camera angles stand out, enhancing the thrills and chills. Rowland Brown and Harold Bruce provided the basis for the story, while Harry Essex and George Bruce penned the tightly-knit screenplay with uncredited assistance from both Karlson and Payne. Clocking in at a trim 99 minutes, “Kansas City Confidential” doesn’t squander a second and never wears out its welcome. Moreover, some commentators have described it as a film noir entry when it really isn’t film noir. The interesting thing is that Karlson’s crime thriller seems a little ahead of its time with its post-modern spin on events. The cops are portrayed as pretty ruthless and the mastermind has a back story that makes him a tragic character. All in all, “Kansas City Confidential” delivers more than the usual 1952 thriller about a robbery.
The film opens with this foreword: “In the police annuals of Kansas City are written lurid chapters of criminals apprehended and brought to punishment. But it is the purpose of this picture to expose the amazing operations of a man who conceived and executed a ‘perfect crime,’ the true solution of which is not entered in any case history, and could well be entitled ‘Kansas City Confidential.’”
The action occurs in three parts. The mastermind checks his plan. He has decided to rob an armored car as the cops tote the money sacks out to the vehicle. A florist truck usually parks near where the armored car is parked. The florist delivery man, Joe Rolfe (John Payne of “Tripoli”), parks his truck and takes flowers into a building. The mastermind, Tim Foster (Preston Foster of “Guadalcanal Diary”), has been planning the heist fastidiously as a close-up reveals a time table of events he has made. For example, he notes the times that police squad cars cruise past, the arrival and departure of the Western Florist Delivery truck as well as the Bank Armored cars. Foster has timed everything at least five times for pin-point accuracy. He has calculated that he will need between two and four minutes to pull the job. He picks three criminals, Pete Harris (Jack Elam of “The Comancheros”) a trigger-happy, chain-smoking, dice gambler; ladies man Tommy Romano (Lee Van Cleef of “High Noon”) who is a habitual criminal, and Boyd Kane (Neville Brand of “Riot in Cell Block 3”) a cop killer who chews bubble-gum.
The second part involves the bank hold-up. As Foster has planned it, the criminals slip up beside the armored car and in unless than four minutes, they appropriate the money bags and hightail with one guard snapping off a couple of rounds at them. Predictably, the Kansas City cops pull over Joe, search his florist delivery truck, and haul him off to the station for some police brutality. Eventually, the authorities discover the abandoned florist delivery truck, but by then Joe has lost his job. “Thanks for nothing,” he utters contemptuously.
We learn that Joe fought in World War II hero and saved a man’s life on Iwo Jima. Joe’s grateful pal provides Joe with a tip about Harris’ whereabouts through a third party. What Joe doesn’t realize until he catches up with shifty-eyed Jack Elam is that Foster planned the crime wearing a mask. He almost entrusted each criminal enough money to leave the country until he thinks thing have cooled down enough to divide the loot. None of them knows what Foster looks like and they don’t know what the others look like because Foster forced them to always wear masks in front of each other. “I’ve made you cop-proof and stool-pigeon proof,” Foster brags. He gives them each a tore playing card in case he doesn’t make it to the split-up. Later, Tijuana authorities get the drop on Harris as Joe and he are about to leave for the Central American hamlet of Borados. Harris tries to shoot his way out and dies. Somehow, Joe appropriates Harris’ luggage with the mask and the torn poker card that Foster gave each of them.
What sets “Kansas City Confidential” apart from most B-pictures about the perfect crime is mastermind Tim Foster’s motivation. He spent 20 years on the KCPD and he was forced to retire because of politics. He engineers this perfect crime so that he can weasel his way back into the good graces of the department. Even his daughter has figured out a way for him to get another shot at being a cop. However, Foster has gone beyond the point of no return. Nevertheless, he almost pulls it off. Tracking down Foster and company is no picnic for Joe, but he manages to clear himself in the end rather neatly. Karlson does an outstanding job pacing this little thriller and revealing only a bit at a time. The scene where Joe loses his revolver at the swimming pool and finds himself pitting against Kane and Romano in his bungalow is terrific.
Critically speaking, “Time” magazine observed that “Kansas City Confidential” “combines a ‘perfect crime’ plot with some fair-to-middling moviemaking.” However, the November 10 review added: “After a few brawls and beatings, both justice and love emerge triumphant. Obviously, the ‘confidential’ of the title does not refer to the picture’s plot, which is a very model of transparency.” Meanwhile, “The Nation” magazine on November 8, 1952, opined: “For a fairly good movie you can see “Kansas City Confidential,” which in general burglarizes another burglar movie, “The Asphalt Jungle,” adds a few wrinkles picked up from the Brink robbery, and passes over probability faster than any movie in memory. But unlike any of the above films, it tells a story with gimmicks or short cuts, and all the people involved—director Karlson, actors Elam, Van Cleef, Brand—were not only concerned with the best way to express the material on hand but obviously enjoying themselves.” “The Saturday Review” stipulated that “for all its titular hints at daring political expose, is really just another cops-and-robbers thriller, somewhat better done than most and far more absorbing than many, thanks to its taut and logical story.” “The Saturday Review” went on to say: “There are some surprisingly explicit hints at police brutality, a good deal of gratuitous violence all around. The director, Phil Karlson, keeps his action whipping along at full tilt, aided considerably by George Kiskant’s clean, imaginative camera work. “Newsweek” magazine in its December 8, 1952, review avers that after the set-up for the crime that the film slid down hill. “From this point on George Bruce’s and Harry Essex’s script loses in tension and gains in elaboration and incredibility. The picture never recaptures the cold, fast drama that director Phil Karlson got into the sinister masquerade of the earliest footage.”
Altogether, “Kansas City Confidential” is worth watching again and again.
“Narrow Margin” lenser George E. Diskant’s moody black & white photography is first-rate, and several camera angles stand out, enhancing the thrills and chills. Rowland Brown and Harold Bruce provided the basis for the story, while Harry Essex and George Bruce penned the tightly-knit screenplay with uncredited assistance from both Karlson and Payne. Clocking in at a trim 99 minutes, “Kansas City Confidential” doesn’t squander a second and never wears out its welcome. Moreover, some commentators have described it as a film noir entry when it really isn’t film noir. The interesting thing is that Karlson’s crime thriller seems a little ahead of its time with its post-modern spin on events. The cops are portrayed as pretty ruthless and the mastermind has a back story that makes him a tragic character. All in all, “Kansas City Confidential” delivers more than the usual 1952 thriller about a robbery.
The film opens with this foreword: “In the police annuals of Kansas City are written lurid chapters of criminals apprehended and brought to punishment. But it is the purpose of this picture to expose the amazing operations of a man who conceived and executed a ‘perfect crime,’ the true solution of which is not entered in any case history, and could well be entitled ‘Kansas City Confidential.’”
The action occurs in three parts. The mastermind checks his plan. He has decided to rob an armored car as the cops tote the money sacks out to the vehicle. A florist truck usually parks near where the armored car is parked. The florist delivery man, Joe Rolfe (John Payne of “Tripoli”), parks his truck and takes flowers into a building. The mastermind, Tim Foster (Preston Foster of “Guadalcanal Diary”), has been planning the heist fastidiously as a close-up reveals a time table of events he has made. For example, he notes the times that police squad cars cruise past, the arrival and departure of the Western Florist Delivery truck as well as the Bank Armored cars. Foster has timed everything at least five times for pin-point accuracy. He has calculated that he will need between two and four minutes to pull the job. He picks three criminals, Pete Harris (Jack Elam of “The Comancheros”) a trigger-happy, chain-smoking, dice gambler; ladies man Tommy Romano (Lee Van Cleef of “High Noon”) who is a habitual criminal, and Boyd Kane (Neville Brand of “Riot in Cell Block 3”) a cop killer who chews bubble-gum.
The second part involves the bank hold-up. As Foster has planned it, the criminals slip up beside the armored car and in unless than four minutes, they appropriate the money bags and hightail with one guard snapping off a couple of rounds at them. Predictably, the Kansas City cops pull over Joe, search his florist delivery truck, and haul him off to the station for some police brutality. Eventually, the authorities discover the abandoned florist delivery truck, but by then Joe has lost his job. “Thanks for nothing,” he utters contemptuously.
We learn that Joe fought in World War II hero and saved a man’s life on Iwo Jima. Joe’s grateful pal provides Joe with a tip about Harris’ whereabouts through a third party. What Joe doesn’t realize until he catches up with shifty-eyed Jack Elam is that Foster planned the crime wearing a mask. He almost entrusted each criminal enough money to leave the country until he thinks thing have cooled down enough to divide the loot. None of them knows what Foster looks like and they don’t know what the others look like because Foster forced them to always wear masks in front of each other. “I’ve made you cop-proof and stool-pigeon proof,” Foster brags. He gives them each a tore playing card in case he doesn’t make it to the split-up. Later, Tijuana authorities get the drop on Harris as Joe and he are about to leave for the Central American hamlet of Borados. Harris tries to shoot his way out and dies. Somehow, Joe appropriates Harris’ luggage with the mask and the torn poker card that Foster gave each of them.
What sets “Kansas City Confidential” apart from most B-pictures about the perfect crime is mastermind Tim Foster’s motivation. He spent 20 years on the KCPD and he was forced to retire because of politics. He engineers this perfect crime so that he can weasel his way back into the good graces of the department. Even his daughter has figured out a way for him to get another shot at being a cop. However, Foster has gone beyond the point of no return. Nevertheless, he almost pulls it off. Tracking down Foster and company is no picnic for Joe, but he manages to clear himself in the end rather neatly. Karlson does an outstanding job pacing this little thriller and revealing only a bit at a time. The scene where Joe loses his revolver at the swimming pool and finds himself pitting against Kane and Romano in his bungalow is terrific.
Critically speaking, “Time” magazine observed that “Kansas City Confidential” “combines a ‘perfect crime’ plot with some fair-to-middling moviemaking.” However, the November 10 review added: “After a few brawls and beatings, both justice and love emerge triumphant. Obviously, the ‘confidential’ of the title does not refer to the picture’s plot, which is a very model of transparency.” Meanwhile, “The Nation” magazine on November 8, 1952, opined: “For a fairly good movie you can see “Kansas City Confidential,” which in general burglarizes another burglar movie, “The Asphalt Jungle,” adds a few wrinkles picked up from the Brink robbery, and passes over probability faster than any movie in memory. But unlike any of the above films, it tells a story with gimmicks or short cuts, and all the people involved—director Karlson, actors Elam, Van Cleef, Brand—were not only concerned with the best way to express the material on hand but obviously enjoying themselves.” “The Saturday Review” stipulated that “for all its titular hints at daring political expose, is really just another cops-and-robbers thriller, somewhat better done than most and far more absorbing than many, thanks to its taut and logical story.” “The Saturday Review” went on to say: “There are some surprisingly explicit hints at police brutality, a good deal of gratuitous violence all around. The director, Phil Karlson, keeps his action whipping along at full tilt, aided considerably by George Kiskant’s clean, imaginative camera work. “Newsweek” magazine in its December 8, 1952, review avers that after the set-up for the crime that the film slid down hill. “From this point on George Bruce’s and Harry Essex’s script loses in tension and gains in elaboration and incredibility. The picture never recaptures the cold, fast drama that director Phil Karlson got into the sinister masquerade of the earliest footage.”
Altogether, “Kansas City Confidential” is worth watching again and again.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
FILM REVIEW OF ''TWILIGHT'' (2008)
The romantic horror fantasy thriller "Twilight" (**** out of ****) qualifies as a terrific tale about forbidden love and passionate angst for teenage damsels. "Nativity Story" helmer Catherine Hardwicke and "Birds of Prey" scenarist Melissa Rosenberg have done a splendid job adapting bestselling author Stephenie Meyer's first-person novel about a virgin in love with a vampire. Mind you, these vampires are nothing like Bela Lugosi's "Dracula." Instead, these bloodsuckers can cavort in the daylight without getting burnt to a cinder. Moreover, they can gaze at themselves in mirrors, and they have no fangs to bare! While this radical departure from standard vampire lore may grieve "Blade" and "Buffy" fans from watching this chick-lite, WB-style saga, the young lovesick females who have made Meyers' four novels smash hits with 17 million copies sold in 37 countries could care less. This PG-13 rated romancer about the sexual attraction between two high school juniors confronts the temptations all teens face but it also marks the boundaries of true love. Furthermore, unlike its closest counterpart, a yarn called "Blood and Chocolate" about the illicit love between a graphic novelist on the lam in Europe and a shape-shifting female werewolf, "Twilight" is neither as gritty nor as gory. "Twilight" may keep its audiences awake at night, but they won't be suffering from nightmares.
Isabella 'Bella' Swan (Kristen Stewart of "Jumper") has spent most of her life with her flaky mom in Phoenix, Arizona. As "Twilight" opens, our dark-haired heroine flies off to live with her divorced police chief dad, Charlie Swan (Billy Burks of "Fracture"), in rainy Forks, Washington. It seems that Bella's mom, Renee (Sarah Clarke of "Thirteen"), and her new hubby, minor league baseball player Phil (Matt Bushell of "Leatherheads"), are hitting the road, and Bella wants the stable environment that only her dad can provide. It doesn't help matters that Bella is both awkward and accident prone. She cannot play volleyball without spiking her own teammates, and she isn't light on her feet when she dances. When she arrives at Forks High School, she manages to get in with the right crowd, but it is the guy in the wrong crowd that arouses her. Cadaverously pale Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson who plays Cedric Diggory in the "Harry Potter" franchise) cannot take his eyes off Bella anymore than she can look away from him. They get off on the wrong foot when he storms out of biology class, but soon they are as thick as thieves.
Early in the story, Bella is hanging out in the school parking lot by her jalopy of an ancient Chevy truck when another student, Tyler Crowley (newcomer Gregory Tyree Boyce) races onto campus. Another student pulls out in front of Tyler, and Tyler swerves and skids his van sideways. Bella looks up and stands paralyzed with fear. At the last possible second, Edward appears out of nowhere and keeps Tyler's van from creaming her. Bella stares in shock at the way Edward manages to halt the careening van with his hand. Later, Edward assures her it was nothing more than an adrenaline rush, but Bella doesn't believe him. No matter how many times Edward warns Bella to have nothing to do with him, she dreams about him. Eventually, they become fast friends, and our heroine discovers that there is more to Edward than meets the eye.
Hardwicke and Rosenberg take liberties with Meyer's novel, but the changes are relatively minor and make the action more palatable. I've read the novel once and seen the movie three times. Sticklers for detail may object to the differences, but by and large the alterations are for the better. Meyer penned the book in first-person so that everything is filtered through Bella's perspective. No third-person movie adaptation can replicate the first-person novel experience so some moviegoers may have a legitimate beef. Nevertheless, the shift in narration from first to third person presents greater opportunities for delicious red herrings and white-knuckled suspense. While Bella and Edward gradually grow accustomed to their respective fears and foibles, vicious vampires that drink human blood are attacking people in remote places. No, "Twilight" is nothing like "30 Days of Night." Hardwicke and Rosenberg don't confine the humor strictly to Bella and Edward's quirky relationship. Police Chief Swan is so concerned about Bella's new boyfriend that he gives his daughter a can of pepper-spray.
Ostensibly, "Twilight" is lightweight blast. The chemistry between Stewart's Bella and Pattinson's Edward is spot perfect. Edward is drawn to Bella because, unlike all the other students, he cannot figure her out. She baffles him, while Bella struggles to understand Edward's bizarre behavior. Robert Pattinson bears a striking resemblance to 1950's heartthrob John Derek. While Hardwicke conjures up humor in the offbeat coupling of Bella and Edward, the relationship between Bella and her estranged father Charlie recalls the oddball relationship between Harry Dean Stanton and Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes comedy "Pretty in Pink." Despite the audience demographic that "Twilight" plays to, Hardwicke never misses a chance to make this thriller look smart and sophisticated. Watch the high school scene when the teacher talks about rewarding the best lab partners with a golden onion. The last half-hour of "Twilight" shifts into high gear as Bella meets Edward's immortal family and some interlopers. What little violence occurs in this lushly photographed film occurs in those final 30 minutes. Nevertheless, you don't have to be a teenager to enjoy "Twilight" as a chaste romance with a twinge of tension.
Isabella 'Bella' Swan (Kristen Stewart of "Jumper") has spent most of her life with her flaky mom in Phoenix, Arizona. As "Twilight" opens, our dark-haired heroine flies off to live with her divorced police chief dad, Charlie Swan (Billy Burks of "Fracture"), in rainy Forks, Washington. It seems that Bella's mom, Renee (Sarah Clarke of "Thirteen"), and her new hubby, minor league baseball player Phil (Matt Bushell of "Leatherheads"), are hitting the road, and Bella wants the stable environment that only her dad can provide. It doesn't help matters that Bella is both awkward and accident prone. She cannot play volleyball without spiking her own teammates, and she isn't light on her feet when she dances. When she arrives at Forks High School, she manages to get in with the right crowd, but it is the guy in the wrong crowd that arouses her. Cadaverously pale Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson who plays Cedric Diggory in the "Harry Potter" franchise) cannot take his eyes off Bella anymore than she can look away from him. They get off on the wrong foot when he storms out of biology class, but soon they are as thick as thieves.
Early in the story, Bella is hanging out in the school parking lot by her jalopy of an ancient Chevy truck when another student, Tyler Crowley (newcomer Gregory Tyree Boyce) races onto campus. Another student pulls out in front of Tyler, and Tyler swerves and skids his van sideways. Bella looks up and stands paralyzed with fear. At the last possible second, Edward appears out of nowhere and keeps Tyler's van from creaming her. Bella stares in shock at the way Edward manages to halt the careening van with his hand. Later, Edward assures her it was nothing more than an adrenaline rush, but Bella doesn't believe him. No matter how many times Edward warns Bella to have nothing to do with him, she dreams about him. Eventually, they become fast friends, and our heroine discovers that there is more to Edward than meets the eye.
Hardwicke and Rosenberg take liberties with Meyer's novel, but the changes are relatively minor and make the action more palatable. I've read the novel once and seen the movie three times. Sticklers for detail may object to the differences, but by and large the alterations are for the better. Meyer penned the book in first-person so that everything is filtered through Bella's perspective. No third-person movie adaptation can replicate the first-person novel experience so some moviegoers may have a legitimate beef. Nevertheless, the shift in narration from first to third person presents greater opportunities for delicious red herrings and white-knuckled suspense. While Bella and Edward gradually grow accustomed to their respective fears and foibles, vicious vampires that drink human blood are attacking people in remote places. No, "Twilight" is nothing like "30 Days of Night." Hardwicke and Rosenberg don't confine the humor strictly to Bella and Edward's quirky relationship. Police Chief Swan is so concerned about Bella's new boyfriend that he gives his daughter a can of pepper-spray.
Ostensibly, "Twilight" is lightweight blast. The chemistry between Stewart's Bella and Pattinson's Edward is spot perfect. Edward is drawn to Bella because, unlike all the other students, he cannot figure her out. She baffles him, while Bella struggles to understand Edward's bizarre behavior. Robert Pattinson bears a striking resemblance to 1950's heartthrob John Derek. While Hardwicke conjures up humor in the offbeat coupling of Bella and Edward, the relationship between Bella and her estranged father Charlie recalls the oddball relationship between Harry Dean Stanton and Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes comedy "Pretty in Pink." Despite the audience demographic that "Twilight" plays to, Hardwicke never misses a chance to make this thriller look smart and sophisticated. Watch the high school scene when the teacher talks about rewarding the best lab partners with a golden onion. The last half-hour of "Twilight" shifts into high gear as Bella meets Edward's immortal family and some interlopers. What little violence occurs in this lushly photographed film occurs in those final 30 minutes. Nevertheless, you don't have to be a teenager to enjoy "Twilight" as a chaste romance with a twinge of tension.
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