Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)
01/27/08:
CARRY ON AGAIN DOCTOR(Gerald Thomas, 1969)
Being the third outing in the series to be set against a medical backdrop, I was fully expecting this to be a tired rehash of old gags and ideas; however, I found it quite an agreeable latter-day entry – if still essentially second-tier material.
The cast sees Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and Jim Dale in more or less similar roles as its predecessor CARRY ON DOCTOR (1967); on the other hand, Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey and Barbara Windsor play different characters. Also, the mid-section of the film reverts to a tropical island setting (to which Dale has been assigned as a punishment, and where wily orderly James is stationed – though, even in such remote surroundings, he manages to keep up-to-date with English soccer results via coded drum-playing from the natives!).
Some of the best gags involve Dale’s accident-prone antics at the hospital early on (including his examination of scantily-clad starlet Windsor) and the latter stages set in Dale’s private clinic (James has devised a concoction which turns out to be an effective slimming treatment – subsequently exploited by Dale under the patronage of wealthy Sims), which also sees Hawtrey once again in drag (he’s a doctor who’s jealous of Dale and has infiltrated the clinic on a mission for Dale’s ex-superior/now-rival Williams). Series regular Peter Butterworth only has one wacky scene; other bits highlight Wilfrid Brambell (uncredited as an eccentric patient), lovely Valerie Leon (as Dale’s sultry secretary) and future Mrs. Michael Caine Shakira Baksh (as a native-girl who successfully undertakes James’ miraculous cure).
01/27/08:
THE PIRATE MOVIE(Ken Annakin, 1982)
Rated a BOMB by Leonard Maltin, this is not really quite bad if certainly misguided – what was veteran British director Annakin thinking?: an old-fashioned pirate adventure, inspired by Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta “The Pirates Of Penzance” (contemporaneously receiving the big-screen treatment), set to horrid electronic music. Yet, the thing is fitfully amusing in spots (often campily so)…
Christopher Atkins is bland as the unwilling buccaneer hero, but tomboyish leading lady Kristy McNichol is cute (she even naively says “Ole`” instead of “Touche`” during the swordfights!). Ted Hamilton, then, is The Pirate King – whose matinee`-idol looks seem like a cross between Adam West and Randolph Scott! Scenes from Fox’s classic swashbuckler THE BLACK SWAN (1942) with Tyrone Power actually play throughout the opening credits: it transpires to be a TV screening of that film – since the narrative here is given a modern-day framework, with the adventure within turning out to be a dream set off by the nerdy McNichols’ visit to a pirate attraction! Apart from much romance and derring-do, we get a bumbling group of singing and dancing bobbies (cops) who constitute an obvious anachronism. Still, they’re involved in one of the film’s more inspired bits: during the climactic bout, they gang up on a isolated pirate – and one of them attempts to obscure the camera’s viewpoint (recording the event, as it were)…which, of course, lampoons the usual
expose` of police brutality!
01/28/08:
THE TRAP(Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1985)
This pretentious, claustrophobic sex drama – which plays like a cross between LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972) and THE NIGHT PORTER (1974) by way of LOVE RITES (1988) – was concocted by directors Francesco Barilli and Lucio Fulci, while helmer Patroni Griffi was also behind the acclaimed ’TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE (1971) – which I own, but have yet to watch.
To begin with, it does boast a good cast: Tony Musante is O.K. as the object of desire for several women; Laura Antonelli glamorous but no longer young (in fact, I don’t think she has any nude scenes here); Florinda Bolkan is underused in a thankless role; best of all are the sultry Marsillach sisters (Cristina – playing Antonelli’s character at a younger age when she had a clandestine fling with Musante – and Blanca as her daughter, who finds herself just as much attracted to him). The latter are involved in (or are witness to) several steamy situations and, although according the IMDB they were of age when the film was shot, they sure as hell don’t look it and, as such, the result is quite disturbing in spots and certainly leaves one with a bad taste in the mouth.
Anyhow, the narrative deals with Antonelli’s elaborate revenge on the selfish Musante whose sado-masochistic practices she endured as a child and which have subsequently traumatized her for life: she now lives across the hall from his current lover Bolkan and eventually, with her daughter’s help, he ends up trapped inside their apartment for days. The trouble is that the jealous offspring wants her mom’s lover for herself! The abrupt open-ended conclusion is fashionable – but, essentially, rather blah and Ennio Morricone’s score isn’t one of the maestro’s best, either.
01/29/08:
CARRY ON GIRLS(Gerald Thomas, 1973)
This latter-day “Carry On” entry doesn’t feature such series stalwarts as Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques or Charles Hawtrey, but still manages to be great fun – if, in no way, a classic. Council member Sid James (tied up with hotel manageress Joan Sims) decides to drum up business for their modest town by organizing a beauty contest. Kenneth Connor (sporting a funny accent and fuzzy hair-do) is the long-suffering Mayor – who, apart from his office duties, has to contend on a daily basis with openly contemptuous wife Patsy Rowlands (theirs is inspired mismatch casting indeed). Another couple is James’ best pal Bernard Bresslaw and his young wife Valerie Leon (initially made to appear frumpy-looking but who eventually undergoes a make-over when, unbeknownst to her spouse, she determines to enter the contest herself out of jealousy).
Barbara Windsor is “Miss Easy Rider”(!) and she’s involved in rivalry throughout – erupting soon enough into a catfight in Sims’ hotel lobby – with ex-roommate Sally Geeson. June Whitfield is the feminist council member who opposes the contest; to this end, she engages photographer nephew Robin Askwith (later star of several naughty “Confessions” films – I’ve never watched any, but am on the point of acquiring a few) to cover the preparations in order to uncover some misdeed which would allow her to put a stop to the whole ‘debasing’ event. Jack Douglas as the hotel concierge incorporates his hilarious twitching routine (also seen in CARRY ON ABROAD [1972] and “Lamp-Posts Of The Empire”, an episode from the CARRY ON LAUGHING [1975] TV series). The finale – in which the contest is systematically sabotaged by the puritanical female townfolk (including the Mayor’s own wife!) is an undeniable highlight of the film but is, essentially, a direct lift from a much earlier entry in the series – the superior CARRY ON TEACHER (1959)!
01/29/08:
DIAMONDS(Menahem Golan, 1975)
Elaborate caper movie which, while nothing special, is redeemed by its unusual Israeli setting. Robert Shaw has a dual role as an industrialist and his security device-maker twin (the karate match between the two Shaws constitutes perhaps the film’s low-point!). Ex-con and thief Richard Roundtree (often clad in conspicuously outlandish costumes) and lover Barbara Hershey (billed Barbara Seagull) are industrialist Shaw’s unwilling accomplices in a diamond robbery – whose security system was devised by none other than his brother (whom he admits to not liking!). Shelley Winters turns up in irrelevant bits as an annoying American tourist; GET CARTER (1971)’s Roy Budd provides the score. Caper movies are among my favorites (maybe, it’s because I work in a bankJ) but this is a very mild addition to that exciting thriller subgenre – chiefly because of an unconvincing plot also involving child kidnapping, a counter robbery from a church to mislead the Israeli police, the gang donning a series of silly disguises and, ultimately, a burglary which remains unfulfilled (again, a fashionable twist in the cynical 1970s but rather ludicrous in this context!).
01/30/08:
CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE(Gerald Thomas, 1978)
This film exhibits a severe drop in quality in this popular long-running comedy franchise and is deservedly considered its nadir (no wonder it proved the last entry for 14 years!). Despite the connection to the soft-core French series (which offset a parallel Italian one), it’s really quite tame: statuesque Suzanne Danielle is quite delightful, and the film is chiefly tolerable because of her – the rest is generally tasteless and, sadly, rather lame! On the other hand, the series stalwarts are given little of substance to do, none more so than top-billed Kenneth Williams (who’s embarrassing, given that he has to appear butt-naked several times throughout!); guest star Beryl Reid is also wasted as a doting mother of one of Emmanuelle’s conquests, and Albert Moses (from the MIND YOUR LANGUAGE TV series) turns up as Williams’ bemused psychiatrist.
As was the case with the French original, there’s little plot to tie the relentless sexcapades: the liberal Emmanuelle’s wrecking of a society dinner is immediately followed by a would-be satirical sequence showing her go through various public offices delivering her own special favors. At one point, she even bets with
chauffeur Kenneth Connor that she can seduce the Queen’s guards – but the scene has an ironic (if predictable) twist; throughout the course of the film, an entire soccer team, an infatuated naïve young man (Reid’s son) and a body-building celebrity also figure among the insatiable Emmannuelle’s endless parade of lovers.
She even arouses Williams’ servants – all of them series stalwarts – who open up to reveal their most unusual individual experience in the matter: while these scenes show some invention, essentially they’re just a lazy form of padding!; incidentally, Barbara Windsor was supposed to incarnate all of their ‘dream lovers’ – but, wisely, she dropped out of the project. At the end, husband Williams suddenly finds himself willing (he’d otherwise been obsessed with keeping fit!) and feeds Emmannuelle fertility pills behind her back…leading to a multiple-birth finale which may (or may not) be intended as a nod to Preston Sturges’ THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK (1944)!!
02/03/08:
MINNESOTA CLAY (Sergio Corbucci, 1965)
Corbucci’s second Spaghetti Western is an improvement on the first – MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (1965) – but still a long way from his best efforts in the genre (namely DJANGO [1966] and THE GREAT SILENCE [1968]). The leading man is Cameron Mitchell, who wisely opted to appear in European films tackling starring roles rather than be stranded in Hollywood playing poor supporting ones; that said, in the same year as this film, he was featured in a fine ‘B’ Western by Monte Hellman – RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND (1965) – alongside rising star (and screenwriter) Jack Nicholson! The narrative provides many typical Spaghetti Western elements but, as I said, it’s an early example yet – so that it lacks the baroque touches inherent in later outings (suffice to compare Corbucci’s relatively sober treatment here to the tongue-in-cheek approach to the same concept in the self-explanatory BLINDMAN [1971]!).
Here, as in his two better-regarded genre classics, Corbucci gives us a hero – his name probably derives from Jackie Gleason’s character, Minnesota Fats, in the pool-room drama THE HUSTLER (1961)! – who has to battle not just the villains but a physical ailment (he’s slowly going blind). Besides, he has a daughter who thinks him dead – and he’s willing to offer her his protection, while remaining silent about his paternity (only at the climax, when the villain callously exploits his condition by putting the girl in Mitchell’s line of fire, does he confess to their kinship!).
02/03/08:
TODAY IT'S ME…TOMORROW YOU (Tonino Cervi, 1968)
I’m sure this title has been broadcast on Italian TV many times over the years but, only after renting it on DVD along with many another Spaghetti Western, did I bother to check out whether it was any good – and I was surprised to see it receive a
ratong on the “Cult Filmz” website! As it turned out, I found myself agreeing with that assessment – which makes the film one of the better (if largely unsung) entries in this profuse, eclectic and erratic genre.
An interesting name in the credits is that of co-screenwriter Dario Argento; actually, early in his career the soon-to-be horror
meister worked on several such efforts in this capacity (including the ultimate genre masterpiece, Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST [1968]). Similarly, director/co-screenwriter Cervi started out as a producer on films by such Italian arthouse heavyweights as Antonioni, Bertolucci, Bolognini, De Sica, Fellini, Lattuada, Monicelli and Visconti, etc. – though, later, he even dabbled in nunsploitation flicks!
Anyway, as I said, this is a pretty good Spaghetti Western – albeit saddled with a catchpenny (and meaningless) title – involving a typical revenge plot: leading man Brett Halsey (appearing, unnecessarily, under the amusing pseudonym Montgomery Ford!) emerges from prison after five years, having been framed for the murder of his Indian squaw bride (shown in sepia-toned flashback, this is pretty much a genre fixture); he rallies a compact but formidable band of gunmen/mercenaries (shades of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN [1960]) and sets out in pursuit of the real culprit, ex-pal Tatsuya Nakadai (the celebrated Japanese actor is given the Mexican name of Elfego, though he wields a deadly machete in the fashion of a samurai!).
Halsey appeared in a number of low-brow Spaghetti Westerns (one of them being ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK [1970], incidentally an irregular – and disappointing – stint in the genre by Mario Bava, another seminal figure in Italian horror cinema) but this is most probably the best one he did. Accompanying the appropriately dour and black-clad lead, among others, are beefy Bud Spencer (a future icon of brawling comic fare – by the way, I have three more Spaghetti Westerns of his lined up for this week, one of which also credits Argento among its scriptwriters) and genre/Euro-Cult stalwart William Berger (his character is something of a fop and, furthermore, has a gambling addiction).
Nakadai’s presence here, then, is a delightful surprise – which definitely works to the film’s advantage (his demise, in a confrontation not unlike that in a Budd Boetticher Western, is a particular highlight); with this in mind, prolific composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino incorporates several weird Oriental sounds into the traditional Spaghetti Western
motifs – and the result is effective indeed. Sergio D’Offizi’s notable cinematography, however, isn’t rendered justice by the English-dubbed print utilized for the VCI DVD – which is considerably scratched and muddy (at one point, Halsey remarks that “It’ll be dark soon”…but the sky, as it appears, is already pitch-black!). Needless to say, the film contains the expected set-pieces of violent action – including an admirably sustained forest ambush at the climax.
