Friday, May 31, 2013 by watchstream
Fever Heat (1968)iMDB Rating: 7.1
In his final film role, Nick Adams is a young mechanic who finds danger and romance in the exciting, sometimes unscrupulous world of stock-car racing.
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Thursday, May 30, 2013 by watchstream
Doomsday Machine (1972)iMDB Rating: 2.4Spies discover that the Red Chinese have built a "doomsday machine" capable of destroying the surface of the Earth, and that they plan to use it within a matter of days. Meanwhile, Project Astra, a manned U.S. space mission to Venus, is in its final hours before launch when it is taken over by the military and nearly half of its all-male crew is replaced by women. The reason for this becomes apparent when, shortly after Astra leaves orbit, the Earth is completely destroyed in a global cataclysm! Is the human race doomed? What dangers and wonders await the crew of the Astra on their journey to Venus?
SO bad, it's really funny!
I bought the video because the plot sounded like an adaptation of a great mid-1960s comic book I own, one of my prized possessions. Alas, I was wrong. This movie is SO bad, it's quite funny!
Where can I start? The movie begins with an Oriental cold-war/espionage plot, followed by a military end-of-the-world scenario (with Casey Kasem as a Mission Control Capcom!), then becomes a battle-of-the-sexes-in-outer-space flick, finally ending with a bizarre philosophical encounter with a superior alien intelligence.
The special effects are laughable--Barcaloungers or La-Z-Boys are used for crew couches in the spaceship; two entirely different craft (a V-2 -like rocket and a circular space station) are supposed to be exterior views of the SAME spaceship; and the Apollo CSM serves as a Russian interplanetary craft with a quite-spacious interior.
Character development is not much better. One of the main male leads, supposedly one of the astronaut corps' finest, becomes a sex maniac the minute he leaves Earth orbit.
Highly recommended for all who love bad movies!
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Blind Man's Bluff (1970)iMDB Rating: 3.7A blind sculptor works on his magnum opus unaware that the skeletons he has been using for armatures are the remains of the victims of his evil wife and that he is the next target.
Something peculiar about the production
Watching the film on videotape, I got to wondering about the incredibly meandering plot and how many of the characters don't really have anything to do with each other. Then it hit me-- this flick was assembled over a period of years! The original movie centered on Karloff but his ill health left that section far too short. Over the next couple years, it looks like the producers added to the flick whenever there was cast and money available. And of course as movies got more explicit, they added more scenes to make this stew commercially viable (like the lesbian model scene).
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 by watchstream
C'mon, Let's Live a Little (1967)iMDB Rating: 5.3Standard boy-girl malt shoppe doings, with a free speech on campus sub-plot dropped in.
Funny . . . but not meant to be
10 out of 10 if you need a great laugh! It should be noted that the writer, June Starr and the producer, Alex Alexander (among other aka's) were husband and wife. Unfortunately neither one recognized how bad this film really was. Much to my surprise it was on TCM about 2 years ago and I was spellbound by it. It's just not a classic for the right reasons. I agree with those who believe it would make a great midnight movie. There is real talent on screen with Bobby Vee, Jackie DeShannon, and Kim Carnes. Eddie Hodges had a TV acting career, but best of all is Ken Osmond who we all know as Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver. There's just not enough talent to overcome the archaic script and a fairly low budget. Direction seemed to be at a minimum . . . and it shows. It looks and feels like a movie out of the 50's which would never do well in the late 60's. Enjoy it for the comedy it is.
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Carmen, Baby (1967)iMDB Rating: 5.9A sexy temptress no man can resist and a local police officer who falls hard for her become embroiled in a complicated intrigue of passion and jealousy in Radley Metzger's boldly original erotic update of the opera Carmen.
glossy 60s erotica for modern libertines
Seen today, the best elements in Metzger's 60s erotic films are not the sex scenes but the lounge/pop music scores, mod interior design and hip dialogue. Also of note is the creative use of camera placement (through glass or mirrors) to distort what we're seeing. There are long stretches of dull dubbed dialogue between erotic scenes but the three colorful party sequences were the highlights for me.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013 by watchstream
We Still Kill the Old Way (1967)iMDB Rating: 7.0Sicilia, late '60s. Two men are killed during a hunting party. The hurried inquiry indicates that it was a killing made for 'honor' reasons. Paolo Laurana is a leftist professor not convinced of the official truth and starts investigating by himself. He finds some help from a solicitor, Mr. Rosello. While investigating, he is fascinated by Luisa, the widow of one of the victims. But the reality is too different from what Laurana could imagine. Reality includes not only the mafia and corrupt politicians, but also Church connections. The reality is that there could be only one end for Laurana. It won't take long.
A subtle and clever intrigue of fear, power and clamming-up
At the beginning of the movie a pharmacist receives an anonymous letter that threatens him of death. And the murder actually happens. Seems very simple but nothing is what it seems and the journey to the truth will be long and difficult. The book is excellent and the movie is at par with it and very faithful to the romance. Great direction. Incredible cast with Gabriele Ferzetti in his best interpretation together with the one in "C'era una volta il West" and Gianmaria Volonté simply beyond reach as always. Many other great actors. Yes I am an enthusiast 'cause there's not a word or a shot out of place in this movie and the plot is ingenious. Who is going to see this film for the first time will be taken away by the developments (the pace seems to be calm but looking in between the kinks you may realize that many things are going rapidly on). Trying to figure out what is the kernel of the happenings and the "reasons" for the murder is a very interesting exercise but it's highly unlikely for the spectator not to experience a big surprise at the end. In my opinion Elio Petri at his best (I mean at the same level of his other masterwork: La classe operaia va in Paradiso).
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Camelot (1967)iMDB Rating: 6.7The story of the marriage of England's King Arthur to Guinevere is played out amid the pagentry of Camelot. The plot of illegitimate Modred to gain the throne and Guinevere's growing attachment to Sir Lancelot, whom she at first abhors, threaten to topple Arthur and destroy his "round table" of knights who would use their might for right.
interesting ...
One of the reviews I once read of this marvellous film dismissed it as 'kohl and overacting'. No way. It has so many scenes that live in the memory as I write, not having revisited the movie for quite some time. The wedding sequence with all its lights; Guinevere, beautiful in her wonder of the magical land where leaves 'blow away altogether, at night, of course'; If Ever I Should Leave You (not sung by Franco Nero, as I understand, really, but you'd never guess); How To Handle A Woman ('what's wrong, Jenny? where are you these days? I don't understand you ...'); creepy Mordred; and the ending (run, boy, run) which is terrific. I have heard Burton as Arthur and have to say I was disappointed. They made the right casting choice for the movie. A pity some of the songs got cut (except it would have been even longer then, good for us who like it, intolerable for those who don't). Also interesting to compare with other Lerner/Loewe movies with their themes of magic, understanding, and change (My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Gigi and Paint Your Wagon). As they sit together as a body, Camelot is one of the best.
Monday, May 27, 2013 by watchstream
Il grande colpo di Surcouf (1966)iMDB Rating: 6.2IL GRANDE COLPO DI SURCOUF (Sergio Bergonzelli and, uncredited, Roy Rowland, 1966) **1/2
This is actually the last entry – but the first I have watched – in a two-film series about the titular figure, a French corsair of the Napoleonic era (there was even a 1926 Silent adventure dealing with his sea-faring exploits). Again, I expected little from it but was reasonably entertained in the long run: incidentally, this sequel does not seem to have been released in English-speaking countries (despite the uncredited involvement of Hollywood veteran Rowland) since I could not find an alternate title for it in that language! As for Bergonzelli, I own but have yet to check his intriguing giallo IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH (1970).
Anyway, the film offers mild excitement of the pirate variety, with the expected ruses (Surcouf's ship passing off as a British one in difficulty so as to ambush the enemy vessel responding to their would-be distress-call!), captures/escapes and, of course, romance with – inevitably – a woman from the opposite side and married to the hero's sworn enemy (having actually been a former flame of the protagonist's, also returning from the first film, and now he too has his own family). The latter is played – albeit rather wasted here – by Antonella Lualdi from Vittorio Cottafavi's THE HUNDRED HORSEMEN (1964).
Incidentally, the title refers to a 'big job' undertaken by Surcouf but, while he does lend his services to Bonaparte somewhere along the line, I did not feel there was anything particularly outstanding about his mission…even if, admittedly, much of what went on has already pretty much slipped my mind (which is a rather regrettable tendency with respect to this sort of unassuming fare)!
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Astérix le Gaulois (1967)iMDB Rating: 6.5In the year 50 BC Gaul is occupied by the romans - nearly. But the small village of Asterix and his friends still resists the Roman legions with the aid of their druid's magic potion, which gives superhuman strength. Learning of this potion, a Roman centurion kidnaps the druid to get the secret formula out of him.
A primitive incarnation of the famous Gaul indeed
I wasn't expecting Pixar animation from a French cartoon from the Sixties, but I did expect the drawings to be a little more complex. It doesn't distract from the enjoyment of the movie but if you've ever seen some of the early Charlie Brown cartoons you'll find the stiff animation style quite familiar.
The story itself is very simple and involves an undercover Roman spying on the Gauls to learn the secret of their superhuman strength. We all know it's because of the magic potion but this first movie is very "entry level" so don't expect it to get any more complex than that. It is an almost direct adaptation of the comic-book, but a few of the character names have been changed, for example Getafix is now called Panoramix. I am glad they didn't follow through with these weird changes for the rest of the movies.
At a running time of less than 70 minutes there's not much time for a plot to develop but there are a decent amount of laughs and it's always fun to watch the hapless Romans get beaten up.
Thankfully, the animated Asterix never got any worse than this.
Sunday, May 26, 2013 by watchstream
Fumo di Londra (1966)iMDB Rating: 5.9More for Albertone than for the movie itself
"Smoke over London" ("Fumo di Londra") is the very first feature of Alberto Sordi as director. The Roman was one of the best comic actors of the Italian cinema, he made many memorable films. (We don't have to forget that Federico Fellini made him a star: he chose Sordi for his first two features, "Lo sceicco bianco" and "I vitelloni".)
With this movie, in 1966, Sordi took a new challenge in his career -directing.
Dante Fontana (Sordi) is an Italian man in love with British culture and lifestyle. His dream is coming to the Swingin'London and living like a typical Englishman -he will test the impossibility, for him, to be English...
Albertone (in Italy he was called in this way!) is funny and comical as always. Unfortunately his debut is not special -only a few exceptions of his self-directed movies are very good, like "Polvere di stelle" or "Finché c'è guerra c'è speranza". The reason is that this movie sometimes is boring and loses speed. The way of directing is rather self-indulgent; Sordi loses time with many shots of London -it seems a postcard. Albertone loved filming stories outside Italy and the fault is always the same: focusing more on the environment than in the story. It's a pity, it's like he wastes part of his performing energy.
Sordi gives the best of himself when he's directed by someone else (for example Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, Vittorio De Sica, Luigi Comencini... in other words the Italian comedy big directors). In these contests he works in an excellent way.
But Alberto Sordi is always nice and funny and the movie is not bad. I say OK for "Smoke over London" most for his actor than for the film itself.
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28 minuti per 3 milioni di dollari (1967)iMDB Rating: 5.9And ninety minutes of good entertainment
I expected worse from this unknown Italian heist movie from the sixties. Yes folks, it is a typically 60's product, set at first on the french Riviera, where a billionaire hires a professional thief to rob the great Mogol jewel diamond, in Rome, where it is heavily guarded.
The almost entire movie focuses on the preparation and heist itself. We of course think of two Jules Dassin's masterpieces: RIFIFI and TOPKAPI. When we see our thieves testing the alarm system on a safe, the same kind of the one they will have to deal with further in the story. And during the robbery itself, there is no talk at all between our leads. Like in RIFIFI, remember... It is not a noir feature as RIFIFI, but with a little lightness and humor. Like the sequence where the robbers, when leaving the safe room they cracked, answer to a phone ringing where a guard asks to one of his colleagues - he thinks on his duty and not tie up by the hoods - to help him with his crosswords enigma: how many words for those who are as silent as cats where they get away, in seven words. The thief who takes the phone and answers to the question, impersonating the guard tied up, says: ROBBERS. Ah Ah Ah Ah. Very funny isn't it?
The very ending is exquisite, in the perfect mood for this era.
Saturday, May 25, 2013 by watchstream
The Sex of Angels (1968)iMDB Rating: 6.2Four people (three women and a man) set off on a boat trip through the fjords of Yugoslavia. Two of the women are lesbian lovers. Influenced by LSD, the female passengers freely engage in nudity.
Rather unsettling and very 1968.
Director, Ugo Liberatore's first film of only half a dozen or so and I have been meaning to watch his 1970 May Morning but its about bullying at oxford and I've been putting it off. This, however, is very much 1968 and has been quickly slipped into my 'Acid Erotica' list. Not that there is much skin on display here. The girls seem almost paranoid about revealing anything and are very careful how they slip their bikinis off and on. This is partly because the story seems to have them less than worldly and it seems very odd that whilst we have an LSD trip depicted (well, set up and the consequences thereof depicted) the girls do express real anxiety regarding loss of virginity. Almost the entire film takes place upon Daddy's yacht and has been mentioned by another, is reminiscent of Top Sensation and Interrabang, two superior films. Pleasant enough and whether the girls were told to act and look at each other so strangely or thats just the way they are, I don't know but it is rather unsettling at times.
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The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)iMDB Rating: 2.1In this zero budget cheapie a busty Batwoman enlists her beauteous bevy of Batgirls (when they are not dancing the jerk) to help her regain a mad scientist's invention (an atom bomb made out of a hearing aid) before a costumed ne'er-do-well, Rat Fink, can glom onto it for his own purposes.
END!!!!!
Tom Servo's final comment on this movie. This movie bad. This movie VERY bad! There isn't one shred of plot to be found. There's dancing, some good guys, some bad guys, and something very bad that can't really be called acting. This movie hurt me and I think it hurt others as well.
Friday, May 24, 2013 by watchstream
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Rapporto Fuller, base Stoccolma (1968)iMDB Rating: 6.3Ken Clark is a race car driver and a good one. Some how, he becomes entangled in espionage involving a Russian Ballerina and a secret document called the Fuller Report. Not being any kind of a secret agent, Dick Worth [Clark] has to rely on his quick thinking, catlike reflexes and most of all, his luck to see him through. After all, the powers involved play only one way ... for keeps!
One of the seven Eurospy classics
Ken Clark is such a lug. All he wants out of his visit to Stockholm is a Swedish girl but luckily for us he gets much more. I say luckily because this is a heck of a fun movie. Clark plays Dick Worth, an American racing driver in Stockholm to put on an exhibition that his boss Bennet (Jess Hahn) hopes will result in orders for cars. At least that's what Worth believes. Worth gets drawn into CIA business when he is mistaken for a spy and takes on the job of recovering the Fuller Report, CIA information about an assassination plot.
The entire production is visually impressive especially an interrogation and gunfight sequence that takes place in a lumber yard. It's an outstanding location chosen, no doubt, for the many horizontal lines that accent the action. It was even memorable enough to make it onto the Belgian poster! At the end of this sequence, after Worth and his lady have temporarily escaped the clutches of the bad guys, she says to him `I was afraid they would kill you' and he responds `Yeah me too.'
The racing car milieu makes for some fun but the hands down winner here is the killer score by Armando Trovajoli. It's practically non-stop jazzy spy pop that will have you humming long after the VCR has rewound. Look for this one, it's recommended.
Thursday, May 23, 2013 by watchstream
To Trap a Spy (1964)iMDB Rating: 6.1U.N.C.L.E. discovers that Thrush killer Andrew Vulcan plans to assassinate a visiting African leader, Premier Ashumen, while he's on a tour of Vulcan's factory. Napoleon Solo enlists the help of Vulcan's old girlfriend, Elaine May Donaldson, who pretends to be a rich widow and gets closer to Vulcan, trying to find out if her old friend really is the bad man that Solo says he is. At the same time, she also enjoys the life of luxury and wealth and finds it hard to accept that she has to go back to boring married life after the operation is over. The film is made from the first season episodes "The Vulcan Affair" (09/22/64) and "The Four Steps Affair" (02/22/65) from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Low Budget But Engaging Pilot Episode for UNCLE Series
At the height of "spy mania" in the mid- 1960's, MGM sought to exploit their phenomenally successful "Man From UNCLE" TV series with low-budget, big screen adaptations of episodes that had been edited together. The admittedly cheap tactic was nevertheless effective. "To Trap A Spy" was released in the US in early 1966 as part of a double feature with "The Spy With My Face". Unlike the other adapted films that followed, this one wasn't based on a two-part TV epidode. It was derived from the pilot episode "The Vulcan Affair", that was broadcast in b&w, though shot in color for possible theatrical release. As with several of the UNCLE films that followed, certain sequences were shot especially for the theatrical version, most relating to sexual references that were deemed to hot for TV.
The film is more effective than one would think, and illustrates the origins of what was to be the weekly basis for UNCLE episodes: an innocent citizen (a la Hitchcock) is drawn into a caper of international intrigue involving UNCLE. In this case, Patricia Crowley is an everyday housewife who is recruited to thwart her old high school flame (Fritz Weaver), of late a millionaire megalomaniac. This formula of utilizing everday citizens was quickly abandoned. Purists will note the limited presence of David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin. As this was the pilot show, no one had forseen his eventual popularity with audiences, thus the lion's share of footage goes to Robert Vaughn's dapper and suave Napoleon Solo. Wil Kuluva appears as the UNCLE boss Mr. Allison, but in the actual series the character was replaced by Leo G. Carroll as the wonderfully eccentric Alexander Waverly. James Bond's "Thunderball" femme fatale, Luciana Paluzzi has some extended screen time as another bad girl, and keep an eye out for a blink-or-you'll-miss-him appearance by future Bond villain Richard ("Jaws") Kiel in the climax. All in all, a very enjoyable and nostalgic experience. Available only in the UK on Region 2 DVD.
