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thedoctorisnot
Reviews
Sextette (1977)
A valiant effort by a living legend
One of the first Mae West films I ever saw was Myra Brekenridge. The film was OK up to a point but when Miss West enters the auditioning for leading men only.....I was mesmerized. I couldn't believe she was pushing eighty (assuming her birth year was 1890ish). From that point on I was determined to find Sextette. Fortunately, the video store purchased a copy for me. It was a pretty good film the first few times I saw it, but then I began to study it. There were a few scenes I saw that made me pause. It seemed that she had to be cued to say her lines. Usually when a flash bulb went off. For example, the the hotel lobby scene, when she says "well, if it wasn't my wedding night, you'd have a deal". Look for the flash just before the line is said. Another example was during the song "Hooray for Hollywood" It appears that Timothy Dalton has to really tug on her to get her to follow him. After closer examination, I think she sees an opening in the crowd, so she may have thought that was where she was supposed to go. Timothy REALLY tugs on her to get her to follow. Other than that, it is a film that will be cherished by her fans, for whom it was made. Still a good view.
Airport (1970)
The good old days
This was the film that started the "disaster" trend. It's a film that can proudly hold it's head high and is in the company of other escapism films such as The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake and Skyjacked. Perhaps the script is a bit lame. Burt Lancaster (in his book) referred to Airport as a "piece of junk". But you have to remember the film was made in 1969 for a March 5 1970 release date. There were no computer generated special effects back then. All the action sequences were done real either full scale or miniatures. I had the honor of acquiring a 16mm print of the film, which has since been AWOL for a few years. The real hero of the story is the Boeing 707 (tail number N324F) If you ever get a chance to rent the film or see it on TV, look for the final landing scene. The pilot landing the plane almost does a half donut in the snow. Not bad for a plane weighing in at over 200,000 lbs.