Let’s Have Some Fun! Picks From Deep in your DVD Library

We all have movies that don’t get talked about very often. Movies that never get the treatment or attention we think they deserve; unknown gems and guilty pleasures. Here are two of mine:

Unknown Gem: The Great Train Robbery; released in 1979, written and directed by none other then Michael Crichton, starring Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Leslie-Anne Down.

A “caper movie” that takes place in England in the mid 1800’s; Connery’s character, Edward Pierce, puts together a team to attempt to steal a shipment of gold bound for the Crimean War from a moving train.

I like this movie because it is as much a “period piece” as it is a “caper movie.” The sets and costumes are a wonderful trip back to Victorian England. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is superb and Geoffrey Unsworth’s cinematography is beautiful. There aren’t any Oscar worthy performances here, just wonderful light entertainment.

The dvd is non-anamorphic and a tad bit grainy. There are no special features no speak of, but this remains an old favorite.

Guilty Pleasure: Flash Gordon, released in 1980, directed by Mike Hodges and starring unknowns Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon and Melody Anderson as his girl, Dale Arden. The cast does include some great surprises: Max von Sydow plays The Emperor Ming, Topol, (of Fiddler on the Roof fame), plays Dr. Hans Zrkov, and we get an early look at the fourth James Bond in action with Timothy Dalton playing the part of Prince Barin. Brian Blessed has too much fun playing the character of Prince Vultan.

This movie is pure camp, a send-up of the 1930’s serials done with top notch production values. The soundtrack by Queen is now almost legendary. The costumes are directly inspired by the original comic strip and just add to the fun. While the special effects are far removed from the CGI we’re used to today, they fit perfectly with the feel of the movie.

Flash Gordon is to science fiction what another great “camp film,” The Adams Family is to horror films. Neither go anywhere near the genre their characters and sets might have been designed for. The Adams Family is a pure comedy and Flash Gordon, well, let’s call it a “Comedic Space Opera.”

Re: Let’s Have Some Fun! Picks From Deep in your DVD Library

There ain't nothing guilty about liking Flash Gordon. That's a beautiful movie

A movie I don't have on dvd but which I've always been partial to is The Blood of Heroes (I believe it was titled Salute of the Jugger in some other countries). Written and directed by David Webb Peoples, the chump responsible for inconsequential little movies like Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys, and Unforgiven. Starring Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Delroy Lindo.

It's essentially an Inspirational Sports Movie that happens to take place in a post-apocalyptic future. The game played is called Jugger and involves two teams of bruisers armed with melee weapons trying to jam a dog skull on stakes at either end of the field. Rutger Hauer is the player/coach of a small market team who might have found his ticket to the big leagues when he meets Joan Chen, who he thinks has the right skills to be his new runner (the position of the player responsible for carrying and spiking the "ball"). It's really low budget but it's my favorite of all those cheaply made Mad Max rip-offs that came out in the 80s (beats the crap out of Waterworld, at any rate). I would *love* for some small dvd label to do an uncut special edition of this film for region 1.

Re: Let’s Have Some Fun! Picks From Deep in your DVD Library

The Limey

Terence Stamp at his suavest. Brutal and beautiful at the same time. I pull it out at least once a year.

Re: Let’s Have Some Fun! Picks From Deep in your DVD Library

Easy Money with Rodney Dangerfield and Joe Pesci. I got this as a double with Back to School. I always loved Easy Money. Rodney and Joe Pesci are big time partyers. Rodney's mother in law is a rich department store owner who dies and leaves her fortune to Rodney's family if Rodney can stay off booze and drugs for a year and loose weight. It is certainly not intellectual, but is filled with hilarious moments. One I always liked was after a night of drinking and getting stoned, they get the munchies and can't find a diner open. They get to one the is "open 23 hours" and of course, closes just as they arrive.

Re: Let’s Have Some Fun! Picks From Deep in your DVD Library

Screamers, a 1996 SciFi movie starring Peter Weller about miners/soliders on a planet warring over mining rights and operations. The "good guys" (Weller's side) have released "Screamers" which are the ultimate mobile sword or mobile land mine that attack from underground to utterly decimate the enemy. The ending may be a bit cliched and over the top but I found the conversations between Weller and Andy Lauer in the middle of the movie much more interesting. It made me think about whether we should win a war at all costs and is there a line in warfare not to cross. Are there weapons so vile that no matter how much we disagree with our enemy, they don't deserved to be killed by them? That probably wasn't the intention of the film but that is what I got out of it.