dasilentpardner-65037 Reviews

Love Hurts (1990)

JEFF DANIELS IS FANTASTIC

[10/10 · 7 March 2024]

Jeff Daniel's stars in 'Love Hurts' as a man who engages in empty womanizing after experiencing the pain of divorce and losing his kids. His ex and kids have moved to a farmhouse in Pennsylvania near his parents and, in the meanwhile, Daniels tries to heal his hurt with work, cigarettes, liquor and sex.

Then he's asked to attend his sister's wedding in his Pennsylvania hometown (his ex and kids will be there) and we can clearly see some life lessons on the horizon. Weddings are often ripe for human behavior ('Lovers and Other Strangers,' Altman's 'A Wedding' are two good examples) and here is not different. The screenwriter has a good ear for brisk diaolgue that sounds like real people are speaking it. Bud Yorkin directs with a sure hand and makes all the scenes interesting.

But it is the acting by the principles that raises the film up. Jeff Daniels has often given excellent performance that fly under the radar ('Purple Rose of Cauro,' 'Marie,' 'Something Wild'), but here he does something very special : he humanized an average shlub who is fallible and even sometimes a jerk. John Mahoney and Cloris Leachman seemingly effortlessly invest their roles as his parents with humanity and compassion. And Amy Wright (who we never got enough of) brightens the film as the awkward and unsure sister.

It's a quiet film, made of little moments. No CGI here. Just humans grappling with life in a sometimes humorous and altogether honest way. Burt Bacharach lends a nice if somewhat repetitive score. An underrated gem of a film and a certain must for Jeff Daniels' fans. Don't listen to the naysayers.

Shamus (1973)

CLASSIC BURT A SHAME TO MISS

[10/10 · 16 March 2023]

Shocking to me that there are so few reviews here and even more shocking are the negative ones. "Shamus" is a fine film, a liberal dose of 1970's laid-back slick, and an interesting and well-fitting vehicle for handsome star Burt Reynolds.

Reynolds was the biggest star in the world in 1973, the year this film was made. Clint Eastwood was really his only rival as top male film star of the world. Reynolds had just come off showing off his considerable dramatic acting chops in the great 'Deliverance' and here he's inheriting the mantel of a Raymond Chandler-like detective, not unlike Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep." And, not dissimilar to that classic, this film's plot is nearly indecipherable. That much is true. But it is the trip we enjoy here because going down any rabbit hole with Burt is enjoyable.

The other plusses of this film are the lovely Dyan Cannon in a role that is both fun and sexy (she gets to do quite a bit more than she did opposite Sean Connery the year before in 'The Anderson Tapes,'), the supporting cast is well cast down to the smallest roles, very good cinematography, and a great jazz score by Jerry Goldsmith that is certainly a cut above the norm. (Goldsmith was Oscar-nominated the same year, 1973, for 'Papillion,' but he easily could have had two nominations with this one.)

Fun fact: also in 1973, Elliot Gould actually played the Raymond Chandler character in Robert Altman's brilliant 'The Long Goodbye.' In both that film and here in 'Shamus,' our protagonist has a cat and both are played by the famous Purina icon Morris the Cat!

If you're a Burt fan, a detective movie fan, a '70's fan, or if you're looking for a smart flick that won't hurt your head with esoteric references and smarty pants in-jokes, try this one. I think most will feel nicely rewarded.

Northern Borders (2013)

DERN AND BUJOLD AREBPLENTY TO RECOMMEND

[10/10 · 18 January 2023]

Bruce Dern and Genevieve Bujold play bickering grandparents who inherit their grandson for an indeterminate amount of time in this film set in the isolated woods of Vermont in the late 1950's. This film is about familial love and misunderstanding. There's little melancholia or anything to feel warm and fuzzy about, but Dern and Bujold help the film rise above its conventions.

Dern might have had an Oscar nod for this film but he had the distinct misfortune for making the film 'Nebraska' (and creating a similar angry character) in the same year (2013). He was Oscar-nominated for 'Nebraska' and not for this film. Bujold has to be one of the most beautiful women in the world and she remains so here (she was 71 when she made this film.) Dern and Bujold, acting champs that they are, work well together creating sparks and they salvage the film overall.

Most of the rest of the characters are underdeveloped (especially the father who drops off his son to the grandparents.) Then, there's the bank robber daughter (I'm not kidding) who, late in the film, hijacks the picture and the story completely. At least the role is played by an actress skilled enough to try to pull off such a weird and basically unbelievable character. Would've loved to see what Tatum O'Neal would've done with it.

The film is slow, so be warned, and the hatefulness between the principles very nearly does the picture in but Dern and Bujold are a wonder to behold and plenty enough to recommend this film. I found myself thinking about it days after seeing it, so that's always a good sign of an indelible if (in this case) sometimes unbelievable story.

Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022)

MANY ARE MISSING

[7/10 · 21 November 2022]

From Bill 'Bogangles' Robinson to Louis Gossett Jr. To Marlene Warfield to Denzel Washington (!), there are quite a number of major artists and performances missing. Yaphet Kotto is mentioned once, but his best performances ('Bone,' 'Report to the Commissioner,' 'Blue Collar') are not seen. Pearl Bailey is never mentioned and Redd Foxx is seen for 2 seconds. You would likely never know that Jim Brown and Fred Williamson were, in the 1970's, supreme sex symbol icons as well as icons of masculinity. Cicely Tyson's storied career is distilled to her Oscar nod for 'Sounder' and an appearance in one other film. Spike Lee's films (even his early work) gets glossed over. So, yes, I have some problems with it. However, I must admit that it is an admirable and sophisticated try. Should've been 3 hours long and they should've allowed the film clips to breath a bit more. A nice primer to whet the appetite of the film student. The initiated will find a number of cinematic holes and missed opportunities.

The 'Human' Factor (1975)

THOMAS HUNTER WROTE IT FOR HIMSELF

[10/10 · 29 October 2022]

Thomas Hunter was inexplicably chosen by Dino DeLaurentis in 1966 to head up a western film called 'The Hills Run Red,' a film that was originally earmarked for Burt Reynolds to star in. For whatever reason, Hunter was at the right place at the right time and won the role and the resulting Spaghetti Western, though no masterpiece, garnered Hunter some good reviews. It was generally agreed that he was highly attractive, could hold the screen, and had a promising future in film.

Flash forward nine years and the bloom was off the rose as they say. Hunter's career had not proved a dynamo and, a decade on, he wasn't as attractive as he once was. So he wrote a film and wrote a role for himself in it and the result is 'The Human Factor.' This film is no great shakes but it has a tight interesting revenge plot and, though dated by today's standards (mostly having to do with computer capabilities), the tension still holds up. George Kennedy is the pudgy everyman who seeks revenge (refreshing in the era of Charles Bronson), John Mills (just five years after his Oscar-winning turn in 'Ryan's Daughter') plays his friend and co-worker, and wide-eyed Rita Tushingham drifts in and out as another co-worker. And then there is Thomas Hunter as the bad guy, the role he wrote for himself.

There's a nice Ennio Morricone score, a surprise or two in the plot, and enough tension to keep one interested if not exactly glued to it.

A pretty solid actioner if you can accept the plotholes.

Great for fans of Thomas Hunter or '70's action flicks.

Charly (1968)

CHARLY AND THE I.Q. FACTORY

[6/10 · 17 October 2022]

I first saw 'Charly' when I was a kid and liked it very much, most probably because I saw it from a sci- fi angle. (Mentally challenged guy gets syrum that turns him into a brilliant thinker, but it's transitory.) Now, years later, the film seems dated and disturbing for numerous wrong reasons.

Cliff Robertson in the lead commits himself to the part 100%, but he overplays the infantile Charly (very SNL-like) and relies too heavily on sex appeal when he's supposed to be smart. Claire Bloom plays the doctor who falls in love with him, but only after he's 'cured,' i.e. Sophisticated. And Lilia Skala and Dick Van Patten, of all people, play the doctors who have no arc to their characters but to provide a devil's advocate for Bloom.

Then there is the biker stuff, an embarrassing montage. Which is quickly followed by a mod disco dancing sequence. Well, yes, it was 1968 after all, but the film would benefit from deleting both these silly sequences.

I'm of two minds about Ravi Shankar's musical score: it's sometimes intrusive and yet sometimes very original and interesting.

Also, the film is dated by the use and overuse of the politically incorrect word 'retard,' so be warned if things like that offend you or make you squirm.

Overall, I found the film dramatically slack and overrated. Ron Moody should've won the Best Actor Oscar for "Oliver!" instead of Robertson. What Moody did was a once in a lifetime gig.

Strike Force (1975 TV Movie)

COPS AND ROBBERS AND RICHARD GERE

[10/10 · 7 October 2022]

The story for this film evolved from a true life one by Sonny Grosso - the real life Roy Schieder character from 'The French Connection.' This film was made for 1975 television audiences , Richard Gere was gorgeous and charismatic, Cliff Gorman ('All That Jazz' and 'An Unmarried Woman') was one of the 70's most overlooked actors doing a fine nuanced job here, and the film has Joe Spinnell from 'Rocky' and 'Taxi Driver' in a pivotal supporting role. Honestly, what more do you need? An entertaining crime buster thriller that hasn't aged poorly like many others from that time period. Roger and out.

The Sea Wolves (1980)

GRUMPY OLD MEN OF NAVARONE??

[10/10 · 5 October 2022]

Upon its release, 'The Sea Wolves' was considered too old fashioned, 20 years too late for the style of filmmaking on display. Today, however, we can rejoice that the film is an adventurous, sturdy war drama, full of star power, handsomely mounted, and well-structured. These things count and 'The Sea Wolves' has all these things in droves.

I won't go into the story because likely if you're reading this you already have some idea this is a WWII battle film. It is true that perhaps less would have been more in the overall production of the film. In other words, there are so many strings to pull together here, so many subplots, so many characters, and so many details and 'local color,' that perhaps a paring down, especially in the first half hour, would've benefited the film, made it more focused, and made it stronger.

But there is that aforementioned star power: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Roger Moore and Trevor Howard. You can't beat that for a cast. Moore is particularly in good form - this was in between 'Moonraker' and 'For Your Eyes Only' for him and he's wonderful here. It is, quite likely, his finest, fullest performance - a complete surprise to anyone who thinks him only capable of 007. Trevor Howard does an amazing lived-in job, too, and if there's any doubt that Peck and Niven were too old for their parts ... well, just watch the film. Professionalism and class trump brawn any time. Though Barbara Kellerman isn't bad in the film, once I heard that she replaced originally cast Diana Rigg, I had to say Rigg would've been sooo much better. Without knowing about Rigg, I thought the role should've gone to someone like Ann Turkel.

The production jumps effortlessly from India, to Germany, to Goa; it's a marvelous-looking film with great locals and fine cinematography. Good visual effects and no bluescreen. One certainly gets the feeling the filmmakers really cared to spare no expense and make a thrilling movie on a large canvas.

All in all, I'd watch this a second or third time before watching any of 'The Expendibles' pictures. This is rousing wide-screen entertainment at its best. I felt rewarded for having taken a chance at a film that was mysteriously slammed upon release. It definitely deserves to be better reviewed and seen more.

First Monday in October (1981)

FIRST MONDAY OF TAKTANJI

[10/10 · 3 October 2022]

Today, on the first day of work of female Supreme Court Justice Taktaji Brown Jackson, I decided to revisit 'The First Monday in October,' a film I hadn't seen in 40-odd years.

Amazing, really, how prescient it still is! The film was rushed into release only a month after our first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Conner, took the bench.

There's alot going on here: a fight between Liberalism vs. Conservatism when actual facts and intelligent discourse was the norm; a meditation on chauvinism and women's rights and how far women had come, especially in the workplace; and an aside about the legal rights of obscenity and free speech and the cultural responsiblities of Larry Flint-like smut peddlers. In between are a number of laughs and some great lines. True, it's not a laugh riot, but it induces a number of well-earned chuckles and the acting is first rate. The leads are Walter Mathau as a liberal judge and Jill Clayburgh as the sparring conservative first female appointee to the bench of the highest court in the land. Both lead performances earned Golden Globe nods and would have earned Oscar nods in just about any other year. Both performances earn our attention and are just terrific.

Among the drawbacks are these: I side with critic Judith Christ who claimed the casting of James Stephens in the role of a law clerk similar to his role in T. V.'s 'The Paper Chase' is disconcerting. Any up-and-coming young actor in the role (Tim Matheson? Gregory Harrison? Cliff DeYoung?) would've done a great job and been a better standout. There are two nice supporting performances from stalwarts Barnard Hughes and previous Oscar-nominee Jan Sterling, but neither role yields enough yuks or pathos to make much of a mark. And, late in the film, there's the aforementioned drawn out side story about pornography that is mishandled to the point it seems smarmy and off-putting and undoubtedly helped to garner the film an otherwise unwarranted R rating.

Fun to see Ruth Loomis (the Jill Clayburgh character) is from what was then ultra-conservitive Orange County, CA. It's now ultra Liberal! I live here now, only blocks from John Wayne Airport, featured in the film. Hilarious!

Weekend (1967)

GODawful

[1/10 · 27 September 2022]

An undeniable indescribable load of crap. The worst film I've ever seen. The one film I will from now on always point to as the epitome of lurid pseudo-intellectual European libtards horsing around and foisting it off on the middle class as art. My GOD(ard), what hell hath wrought! Not a single redemptive moment other than a scene early on at a crash sight when a woman insults a guy's tractor and, for him, that's the last straw. I like many great Godard films and even have vehemently defended much of the second half of his spotty and strange career, but this one was intolerable. I'm surprised he got to make more movies after this. Just shows you how the critics can be lead ...

Lost and Found (1979)

SEGAL AND JACKSON AND DALLYING DING DONGS!

[10/10 · 6 July 2022]

Only 4 other reviews and 3 of them negative....?? What...?

Okay, "Lost and Found" is not "A Touch of Class" (the previous pairing of stars George Segal and Glenda Jackson) but, just on its own terms, this film has some bright moments, some smart diaolgue and, most importantly, two of the best film stars of the '70's!

I was always a little miffed by the success of "A Touch of Class" anyway. The characters were adulterers, after all, and there's little that's fascinating or charming about that. And then there was the Best Picture Oscar nod and Glenda's Best Actress win. Surprising and puzzling, but one has to admit that the film delivers for sophistication, amusing laughs and intermittent romanticism.

But there are laughs to be had here, too. An Academic and a divorcee prematurely marry and entanglements ensue. It's no great shakes perhaps but it's a fair sight better than the stuff being peddled today. This was back in the days when lead actors could actually be in their forties and adult situations didn't mean they were X-rated. Dignity and discretion carry the day. Fun and slapstick comedy abound, if not in the dollops perhaps expected. The film is, as they say, handsomely mounted, fairy well paced, and has nice bits by Maureen Stapleton (though the old lady potty mouth schtick gets a bit wearing), Paul Sorvino, John Candy, Martin Short, and the marvelous Hollis McLaren. If you have some time and aren't expecting the world, there are far worse flicks to watch.

The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

NAZIS IN HEAVY, UM ... WATER

[10/10 · 16 June 2022]

"The Heroes of Telemark" is admittedly tepid yet it is also remarkably effective, a good - even almost great - WWII adventure film, its overall story apparently true but with a number of gaffes or stretches of invention. Despite director Anthony Mann's gift at expansive narrative, a judicious editor could have improved the film greatly; its running time at 130 minutes is a wee tad too long and its overall narrative far too ponderous to maintain that length.

Kirk Douglas does his square-jawed best as our hero, a Brit playboy scientist. It may not be Douglas's finest moment, but he tries valiantly in every scene and neither is it "Once Is Not Enough." However, it is Richard Harris that really registers in his role, a rebel upstart with a clever mind and fearless soldiering qualities. Michael Redgrave is sorrowfully miscast and basically wasted in a virtually silent role as a resistance fighter (I kept imaging Lionel Stander in the role, for some odd reason.) Ulla Jacobsen (Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night") gets a good role as Redgrave's daughter and Douglas's ex-wife but, like much in this film, her role ultimately goes underdeveloped. Anton Diffing slips in as a scheming Nazi - a stereotypical shorthand role he made an entire career out of playing.

The score is quite good, the cinematography vacillates wildly from good to too-dark and grainy, and the ending is quite fine though the build up getting there eventually feels like a rather long trek through Norwegian snow. Overall, however, I have to side with it as an exceptional film because it is long on high adventure, its locations are beautiful, it has a great animated Richard Harris performance, and it remains quite memorable and ultimately far above average.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!

[10/10 · 14 June 2022]

Taking off where his "The Out of Towners" left off, Neil Simon concocts a hilarious comment on New York 1970's deterioration, American paranoia and distrust of the government, and tough-won relationship struggles, all the while kevetching in a most humorous mood. The laughs generally are not easy ones as in, say, "Murder By Death," rather, the laughs here catch in your throat with their level of seriousness and truthfulness.

Jack Lemmon gives a convincing performance of a man beaten down by society and ready to compromise his principles which are no longer recognized or valued as human decency anyway. He did a similar job in his Oscar-winning performance in "Save The Tiger" (1973), but here he does it with comedy and a careworn aplomb and the results are genuinely pretty terrific. Anne Bancroft is Lemmon's equal as his harried wife Edna. Bancroft was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actress in 1975, deservedly so.

Gene Saks is a fine enough substitute for the Tony-winner Vincent Gardenia who originated the role of the brother on Broadway. And we have fine cameo support by Sylvester Stallone, M. Emmett Walsh, F. Murray Abraham, and Florence Stanley.

Also, the film features one of Marvin Hamlish's most underrated scores. Listen for it and how its lilt enhances the overall film.

An entertaining look at '70's New York and the resilience of the human heart. Funny how little things have changed.

The Haunting (1963)

JUDITH CRIST WAS RIGHT

[3/10 · 1 August 2021]

Judith Crist was right about this one - not only is it not scary, nothing happens. A collection of uninteresting wackos attend a haunted house for a fortnight. Loud sounds, a creepy door or two, some flashing lights ...that's about it. Even as a physiological thriller, this is a fail. The characters are shrill, annoying, and unconvincing. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom both give far better than they get. The implied lesbianism (circa 1963) is actually unintentionally humorous. Russ Tamblyn has a nice moment or two as the dry comic relief, but it's not enough to save it. Martin Scorsese has blown all credibility by apparently saying this is his favorite horror film. Blah! There's no horror, no suspense, almost no drama whatsoever. It goes nowhere!

Testament (1983)

THE BIG KABOOM OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LIVE ON AFTER THE BOMB

[10/10 · 12 April 2021]

The first fifteen minutes or so of 'Testament' are utterly mundane, purposefully. A Northern California family struggle to get to work and school on time, take out the morning trash, hurriedly search for their keys and wallets. While the husband is away on business, a Nuclear bomb goes off in San Francisco. The rest of the film is engaged with survival and the strength of family.

Jane Alexander ('All the President's Men') gives a devastating performance as the mom taxed with holding her family and her wits together while the whole country deals with a disaster of Biblical proportions. Her small town of Hamlin is thrown into a cycle of death, paranoia, and depression. Things go from bad to worse as people find themselves increasingly isolated, fighting for food, and losing their hair as children and adults die, mass graves amass. It's not an easy film to watch but it's so well-done, so well-acted, that we're spellbound throughout.

Oscar-nominee Jane Alexander has a fine showcase for her talents here, never verging towards hysteria but rather letting us in on her numbness and frustration. Not since her other Best Actress Oscar-nominated performance in 'The Great White Hope' (1970) had she had a role that made full use of her talents. William Devane plays her husband in a thumbnail sketch as the family patriarch. Former Oscar nominees Mako ('The Sand Pepples') and Lilia Skala ('Lilies of the Field') make appearances as townspeople and Rebecca De Mornay and a very young Kevin Costner play a troubled young couple. But it is Lukas Haas who gives the film's finest performance. Haas was only a child back then but his performance has not a hint of Hollywood kid in it, so measured and lived-in is his performance that I really think he was robbed for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod (I think that as well about his performance in the Harrison Ford-starrer 'Witness' a few years later.) It's subtle, tender work that isn't manipulated by the film's director.

There are a moment or two in the film that might seem contrived or unlikely and there are a moment or two that perhaps would have been better had they been fully dramatized. Lynn Littman directed for TV's American Playhouse but the film was so well-regarded by early audiences that it got a feature film release in theaters.

As previously stated, this is not an easy film to watch, but you won't forget it. Any film that lingers indelibly in the mind for nearly forty years obviously is devastatingly compelling.

On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... (1967)

FIND THAT DAMNED KEY!

[10/10 · 10 April 2021]

"The Chastity Belt" should be better regarded. Okay, it's not great cinema, but it is a frolicking romp of a flick with a few subdued late-60's naughty bits, a libertine Pasollini feel to it's general proceedings, and a great overall look. Tony Curtis (so under-rated) plays a knight in hot pursuit of the key to unlock Monica Vitti's ... um ... armor. Curtis is great clever fun, lampooning the movie star image he cultivated in films like 'Taras Bulba,' 'The Vikings' and 'Spartacus.' Monica Vitti had to be at her most beautiful just at that moment of the world, so ravishingly beautiful is she here. The great cinematographer Carlo Di Palma shot the film after he shot three classics for MIchelangelo Antonioni and before he shot ten distinctive films of Woody Allen's mid-career. Danilo Donati provides the costumes. Donati has been Oscar-nominated, like, six times, winning two Oscars for Zefferelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' and Fellini's 'Casanova.' He should've been nominated for this one; his work is eye-popping and yet historically accurate. It's true that this movie won't change your life and it has some slow and even confusing patches and not enough nudity or raucous goings-on to make it completely noteworthy. It's also, on occasion, poorly dubbed. However, anyone interested in Curtis or Vitti, or anyone interested in a sometimes-funny outing with a film that's quite unusual and far better and far more adventurous than most comedies made today, should enjoy this one.