FILM REVIEW OF ''THE WORDS" (2012)

 "TRON: Legacy" writers Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal have written and directed their first film together about the controversial issue of plagiarism. "The Words" (** OUT OF ****) qualifies as an initially provocative but ultimately anti-climatic melodrama about purloined prose. This loquacious, 96-minute, PG-13-rated film shuns physical action so it shares little in common with the traditional end-of-the-summer blockbusters. You won't find any careening car chases, white-knuckled fistfights, and sensational shoot-outs in this contemplative morality play. The first half of "The Words" is deliciously audacious, but Klugman and Sternthal undercut everything  afterward with a devastating revelation. The main characters that Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons incarnate aren't real people! Instead, Cooper and Irons embody nobody characters in a story that another character has created. After this stunning surprise, "The Words" unravels as a second-rate story-within-a-story. Basically, this is a soap opera about another soap opera with losers who have struggled against formidable odds to fail miserably. Mind you, the tragic characters that Cooper and Irons portray are sympathetic in several respects. Nevertheless, the resolution to their conflict lacks dramatic impact. After our protagonist admits that he has appropriated another man's words, nothing happens that truly tops his confession that he ripped off another man’s verbiage. Ironically, the real author never receives credit because too many other people would suffer undue hardship. Meantime, the actual author who created these woebegone characters—played by Dennis Quaid--emerges as far less complicated than his own characters. Had Klugman and Sternthal jettisoned the framing device of a narrator, this could have been a better film.  The problem that the two filmmakers never deal with satisfactorily is the overwhelming inertia of their narrative.  This is a very dull movie about characters that don’t have a shred of charisma. "The Words" boasts solid performances by an attractive cast featuring John Hannah, Olivia Wilde, J.K. Simmons, Ron Rifkin, Michael McKean, Zoë Saldana, and Liz Stauber.

Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper of “The A-Team”) dreams about writing the great American novel.  The problem is that he is living on next to nothing in New York City and his genius had taken him nowhere. Rory persuades his reluctant father (J.K. Simmons of “Contraband”) to foot his bills while he forges his literature.  This movie should have been released on Father’s Day, because Simmons plays a father who is worth his salt. Eventually, Rory is called into an agent’s office. The agent commends him for writing a wonderful novel, but he describes Rory’s book as too “interior.” Rory decides to take a job at a publishing house where he supervises the distribution of mail and manuscripts to agents.  One day Rory pulls out a frayed leather satchel that his wife, Dora (Zoë Saldana of “Avatar”), brought for him from a Parisian antique shop after they had visited Ernst Hemingway’s apartment.  Years later, Rory discovers an anonymous manuscript on yellowed typing paper in a concealed compartment of the satchel.  He reads it and admires what he peruses.  

 Essentially, the novel is a melodramatic tearjerker set in Europe about an American soldier (Ben Barnes of “Dorian Gray”) and a French waitress Celia (Nora Arnezeder of “Safe House”) who fall in love near the end of World War II.  The man who penned it was living in Paris, and he entrusted the manuscript to his girlfriend.  Unfortunately, she left it accidentally behind in a storage compartment aboard her seat on the train.  The author never recovered his manuscript until he read the story published under Rory’s name.  Naturally, Rory is floored by this revelation.  Consider Rory’s defense.  He read the novel and felt that if he could transcribe it to his computer that he might catch the magic of the author’s prose so that it might improve his own writing.  Rory doesn’t change so much as a single mark of punctuation.  He hands it to an agent at the publishing house, Joseph Cutler (Zeljko Ivanek of “The Bourne Legacy”), and Cutler loves it.  The novel proves to be a sensational bestseller.  One day while he is spending time alone in Central Park, Rory meets the elderly gentleman who wrote the manuscript.  Imagine Rory’s shock at being busted for plagiarism. The old man (Jeremy Irons of “Die Hard with a Vengeance”) tells Rory everything that he remembers about his story.  The shock sets in, and Rory finds himself trapped in a minefield of moral repercussions. Rory is no villain, and he is fully prepared to expose himself for the plagiarist that he is, but everybody advises him against making any foolish decisions that may jeopardize his career!  During all this rigmarole, Rory and Dora squabble because she feels that he has not been truthful to her.

After the third act, “The Words” coasts gently without surprise to its lackluster finale.  The last part of the action concerns bestselling author, Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid of “Footloose”), once he concludes his public appearance where he read selections from his novel “The Words” about Rory’s plight.  Clay’s agent Richard Ford (John Hannah of “Four Weddings and the Funeral”) introduces him to a Columbia graduate school, Daniella (Olivia Wilde of “Cowboys and Aliens”), who wants to interview him.  She demands to know more than Ford has shared with anybody about Rory’s fate.  By this time, fatigue has set in and “The Words” concludes feebly with neither striking insights nor spiraling revelations.  

FILM REVIEW OF ''KING OF THE COWBOYS" (1943)

Roy Rogers tangles with Axis sympathizers in director Joseph Kane's "King of the Cowboys," a contemporary Republic Pictures western set during World War II. Basically, "King of the Cowboys" (**1/2 OUT OF ****) is an espionage oater. You won't find any Fifth Columnists either wielding Lugars or snarling oaths, but these American traitors mean business. Incidentally, neither Kane nor scenarists Olive Cooper, J. Benton Cheney, and Hal Long ever identify the people that these anarchists are supporting. Roy sings "I'm an Old Cowhand," "Ride, Ranger, Ride," "Red River Valley," and "Roll Along Prairie Moon." Roy has several interesting scenes, including his escape from a warehouse wired to blow sky high. Pat Brady, one of the Sons of the Pioneers, utters an immortal line of dialogue that I always thought was first used in the 1982 epic "Conan the Barbarian": "Do you want to live forever?" Most of the physical action involves the kind of derring-do that was the bread and butter of Republic's serials. Gerald Mohr provides sufficient villainy as the kind of felon who has no qualms about indiscriminate murder. Gene Autry's perennial sidekick Smiley Burnette plays Roy's right-hand man Frog Millhouse and serves as comic relief. One of the gimmicks the villains deploy to wreck the car filled with good guys predates a similar gimmick that the villains used against James Bond when he careered around Goldfinger's factory in the third OO7 epic.  The villains are a technologically savvy bunch.

A sabotage ring is terrorizing Texas, and the dastards are destroying warehouses with explosives. Texas Governor Shuville (Russell Hicks of "Captain America") summons Roy Rogers and Frog Millhouse about an incident that occurred when they pursued the Wilson gang to Arkansas. They confronted the outlaws in a saloon that straddled the border between Arkansas and Texas. One of them is Duke Wilson (Stuart Hamblen), and Duke robbed the rodeo where Roy worked. Predictably, the Arkansas sheriff (Herbert Heyes of "New York Confidential") isn't happy about Roy's decision and lodges a formal complaint with  Governor Shuville. "Rogers," Shuville observes, "I like the way you work. I like your nerve. I can use a fast-thinking man like you. In fact, I need you for an assignment." The Governor wants Roy to infiltrate a group that has thwarted each of his operatives. He wants Roy because "the fellows after you wouldn't mistake you for anything but a cowboy." The Governor briefs Roy, "There is a wave of sabotage sweeping through this territory with the precision of a well-organized gang. All my efforts to apprehend them have failed." The Governor warns Roy that his predecessor died making his report by telephone. The only available clues are the words: "following Merry." Roy volunteers to take care of the problem for the Governor. The chief executive asks Roy to memorize a secret phone number. This will be the only way they will communicate until they close the case. The Governor is the only man who knows about Roy’s mission.  This became a familiar but suspenseful ruse in mystery-thrillers.  The only man who can vouch for the discredited hero is a law enforcement official of the highest authority who winds up indisposed.

What the Governor has no way of knowing is that his personal secretary, William Kraley (Lloyd Corrigan of "Son of Paleface"), is the leader of the saboteurs. A suspicious Kraley warns Maurice (Gerald Mohr of "The Angry Red Planet") and his henchmen to be on the look-out for Roy Rogers.  He explains that Roy Rogers quit the rodeo after a private conference with the Governor.  Kraley tells them their new "key word: triplets."Later, while Roy is singing and strumming his guitar in the back of a cafe, two actresses from The Merry Makers Carnival and Tent Show enter and order the $35 cent lunch. Roy serves them coffee, and they have a conversation. "Every town we play has an explosion or a fire," Judy Mason (Peggy Moran of "Horror Island") points out. The other girl, Ruby Smith (Dorothea Kent of "Pin-Up Girl"), gripes because an explosion interrupted her dancing act. Roy says he is looking for a job, and Judy agrees to notify her stepbrother Dave (James Bush of "Massacre River") about Roy needing employment. The comments about the explosions arouse Roy's suspicions after the Ruby uses the words “following Merry.” He visits the carnival in the town of Rawhide with Frog. Roy decides to join the carnival to learn first-hand what is really happening behind the scenes. The carnival features a mind-reading act with a turban-clad individual known as Maurice the Mental Marvel. Actually, Maurice is Kraley's second-in-command. The act is rather sophisticated. A cowgirl with a microphone in her ring, Judy Mason, which she calls 'the mystic stone' asks spectators to confidentially address their problems to the stone. Interestingly, the stone serves as a microphone. A man behind the stage, usually David Mason, sits at a radio transmitter and relays the information to a man in a turban and a robe. Roy and Frog disrupt Maurice's show and their commotion prompts Mason to give Roy a chance to sing. Later, after he lies about  a date with Judy, Roy has a run-in with Maurice, and they tie him up and abandon him in a warehouse about to be blown to smithereens. Afterward, Roy contacts Shuville, and the Governor and his men cruise into a trap because Kraley listened in on their conversation. They think they are about to have a head-on collision with another vehicle when in fact all that is happening is they are driving toward a huge mirror. This is rather ingenious. The Governor's car tumbles down the side of a mountain.

Meantime, Roy suspects that they have trapped the saboteur when Frog and he take over the mind-reading act. Maurice catches Roy using the receiver. When he is about to shoot Roy, Mason threatens to expose them all. Instead of Roy, Maurice shoots Dave in the back. Maurice frames Roy for Dave's murder. During his stay in jail, Roy learns that the Governor isn't expected to survive the car crash. Roy telephones Frog, who appears in a disguise masquerading as Roy's grandfather, and tells him to tell Judy about Maurice's treachery. Judy and Ruby arrange for Roy to escape from jail and returns to the carnival. Kraley passes along information during the Maurice act. Maurice tries to intervene, and Roy guns down Kraley. Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers hightail it on horseback to prevent the saboteurs from dynamiting a metal bridge that a train will cross. Roy climbs the bridge and defuses the dynamite. While he is climbing on the bridge, Maurice's henchmen keep him busy dodging their lead and firing back at them.

"King of the Cowboys" is a predictable but entertaining, lightweight espionage western. Roy Rogers makes a charismatic, clean-cut hero in a white Stetson. He warbles several tolerable songs.  Veteran director Joe Kane keeps the action constantly moving headlong so this B-movie doesn't wear out its welcome during its 56-minute running length.

FILM REVIEW OF "NAVAJO JOE" (ITALIAN-1966)

 This cynical Sergio Corbucci horse opera about the eponymous Native American hero exacting vengeance on a murderous gang of cutthroat renegades for murdering his woman and massacring his village qualifies as a stalwart, traditional Spaghetti western with nonstop riding, shooting, and killing galore.  Killing constitutes a virtual reflex action in this savage, above-average shoot'em up.  “Gunsmoke” actor Burt Reynolds must have been in the best shape of his life to pull off some of his stunts.  He leaps and he lunges as if he were a born acrobat. For example, trussed upside down by the evil villains, he gets a little help from a sneaky city slicker and crunches up to untie his ankles. Remember how Richard Gere did sit-ups dangling by his ankles from the ceiling of his apartment in "American Gigolo?" Burt performs similar stunts and is as nimble as a ninja.  Masquerading as Leo Nichols, "Fistful of Dollars" composer Ennio Morricone conjures up another memorable, atmospheric orchestral soundtrack with traditional Indian chanting, screaming, and steel string guitar thumping.  Quentin Tarantino thought so much of it and he sampled Morricone’s score in his two sword-wielding “Kill Bill” bloodbaths.  “Hercules, Samson, and Ulysses” lenser Silvano Ippoliti confines all the rampaging violence very skillfully with his widescreen compositions so everything looks aesthetically cool.  Some of Ippoliti’s more imaginative images occur when he hides the identity of one of the villains during a saloon conference scene.

"Navajo Joe" is one of a fistful of westerns where the only good Indian isn't a dead one. Few American westerns would celebrate the Native American as Corbucci does in "Navajo Joe." Joe is pretty doggoned smart for a savage. Veteran Spaghetti western villain Aldo Sambrell is as treacherous as they come. So filled with hate is he that he kills without a qualm. No sooner has Mervyn 'Vee' Duncan  (Aldo Sambrell of "For A Few Dollars More") shot, killed, and scalped Joe's Indian wife than Joe hits the trail in pursuit of Duncan and his gang. Gradually, Joe begins to whittle down the opposition. Meanwhile, Duncan discovers that the authorities in the town of Pyote where he once sold scalps have posted a bounty of both himself and his half-brother.  Just before Duncan’s blonde-headed brother Jeffrey (Lucio Rosato of “4 Dollars of Revenge’’) drills the sheriff with his six-shooter, the lawman informs an incredulous Duncan that he is wanted for murder.  Duncan points out that he has been bringing the sheriff the scalps of Indians for years. “The scalps you brought then were those of troublemakers,” the lawman points out.  According to the sheriff, things have changed. “Now, you’re attacking peaceful tribes, killing even the women and the children.” A prominent doctor convinces Duncan to rob a train heading for the town of Esperanza. He warns Duncan not to try and blow up the safe because an explosion will destroy the half-million dollars in the safe. He knows the combination and they can split the loot.  This part of the “Navajo Joe” screenplay by “Fistful of Dollars” scribe Fernando Di Leo, “Hills Run Red” writer Piero Regnoli, and “Mafia” scribe Ugo Pirro sounds somewhat like “For a Few Dollars More” when Colonel Mortimer persuades El Indio to let him open the safe because too much dynamite might destroy the loot.  Before Duncan leaves town, his gang and he set it ablaze.   

Predictably, Joe intervenes and steals the train from Duncan after the villainous dastard has massacred all the passengers, including a woman and her baby, along with the U.S. Army escort. Joe takes the train to Esperanza and offers to liquidate the gang if they will pay him a dollar for each head.  Eventually, Duncan captures Joe and tries to learn the whereabouts of the money, but Joe does not talk. Duncan ranks as one of the most heartless outlaws. He shoots a preacher point blank in the belly with his six-gun after the minister thanks him for not wiping out their town!  This trim 93-minute oater features a lean, mean Burt Reynolds wielding a Winchester like a demon and decimating the ranks of the bad guys. The Spanish scenery looks as untamed as the ruthless desperadoes that plunder one town after another.  “Django” director Sergio Corbucci never allows the action to slow down.  Despite its many sterling qualities, “Navajo Joe” never achieved the status of other Corbucci westerns like “The Mercenary,” “The Grand Silence” and “Companeros.” The no-frills MGM DVD presents the action in widescreen with several languages in subtitles.