Charles Bronson as a Commie !?

Based on the novel by Walter Wager, "Telefon" has not aged well because it’s so dependent on the cold war tension that existed between the USSR and the US in the Seventies. The film is basically a cat-and-mouse game with Soviet agent Major Grigori Borzov (Charles Bronson, that's right Bronson is a commie) tracking rogue Russian scientist Nicolai Dalmchimsky (Donald Pleasence) across America to prevent him from activating sleeper agents. Borzov is assisted by Barbara (Lee Remick. fresh from "The Omen") who asks more annoying questions than necessary, leading the audience to believe she may not be completely  true to the motherland. 

 

The film's middle section is dragged down by repetitive bomb scares. Dalmichimsky is working from outdated intelligence so his targets are all de-classified U.S. Military installations. Once Borzov realizes the pattern and hones in the next target the action shifts to a more linear chase that’s further heightened by Barbara’s loyalties. But the ultimate showdown is deflating because beyond some silly disguises Pleasence's Dalmichimsky is never built up to be a threat.

 

Director Don Siegel uses his flair for montage to craft a his action sequences without dialogue. "Telefon"  is a road movie, much like Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur" and "North by Northwest" had their leads criss-crossing America here we see plenty of seventies architecture including San Francisco's Hyatt Regency Hotel (used in "The Towering Inferno") and a modernist house resting on top of a barren rock outcropping.

 

The supporting cast is uniformly good (but trapped in underwritten roles), and it’s nice to see veteran character actors Alan Badel and Patrick Magee playing snotty KGB strategists, and Tyne Daly in a small (and ultimately irrelevant role) as a computer geek.

Trivia note: The poem that activates the Russian sleeper agents was used by Quentin Tarantino in "Death Proof" as the lines Jungle Julia has her listeners recite to Butterfly. The lines are an excerpt of the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

Breaking Up is Hard To Do (Director's Cut)

The hosts of The Film Thugs podcast, Jim Dirkes and Clarkson Campbell, asked listeners to send in the names of directors, actors or film people who they had given up on. People they liked but just could no longer support. Here are my choices:

I'm an optimist. I really don't break-up with directors but their films do fall in priority. Below is a list of 10 directors who went from must see opening weekend to will see in the theater to maybe I'll catch it on video. If I do see their films theatrically it is because I'm sneaking in after seeing something else. They will not get my money. I've limited myself to guys currently working. Hopefully some if not all of these guys will rebound.

Woody Allen's straight is writing but for the past decade or so it seems that his work could use a few more revisions. His pace of one film a year is admirable but maybe every idea isn't film worthy. The past few films seem like excuses to hang with Scarlett Johansson (I don't blame the dude as I would probably do the same if I was in his position)   

 

Frances Fords Coppela has earned the right to make his small, personal, arty films like "Youth  Without Youth" and "Tetro" but I don't have to watch them. Still they have to be better than his studio paycheck grabbing dreck like "Jack." 

Peter Jackson His films have evolved into self indulgent chaos. A "King Kong" remake where it takes over an hour to see the fucking ape!? "The Lovely Bones" may have been a great screen saver in the '90s but it doesn't work as a melodrama. What happened to the fat, be-speckled, bearded film geek that we all loved so much?     

Kevin Smith After "Jersey Girl" spectacularly failed he ran back to the security blanket of Jay and Silent Bob. He seems completely uninterested in growing as a artist. This one is a real shame for me as Smith and I are the same age. "Clerks" was one of the films that inspired me to become a regular at my local art house and for my money "Dogma" was one of the best films of the '90s. Now he is content to smoke weed, record podcasts and play to his loyal Stepford fans.  

M Night Shamalan "The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable" and "Signs" signaled a significant run for any director. But then he seemed to lose his head up his ass. The twist in "the Village" seemed tacked on and killed the film for me. I enjoyed the fairy tale aspect of "Lady in the Water" but the fact that he cast himself as the author of a world saving book signaled an out of control ego. That has only grown in recent years and "The Last Airbender" was unwatchable wreckage.

Roland Emmerich Yes that Roland Emmerich. Now hear me out. He made some fun popcorn films. "Moon 44" was a good low budget, direct to VHS sci fi. "Universal Soldier" is a good late night filler and every time I run across "Independence Day"  on cable I get sucked into it for 20 minutes. Even his "Godzilla" film is adequate so long as you don't think of the main creature as Godzilla and you don't watch the "Jurassic Park" romp in Madison Square Garden. But these films are the apex of cinema when compared to "10,000 B.C." and "2012" Both of these films kill brain cells faster than huffing paint.   

Barry Levinson Another guy who started with a bang and is now limping along. "Diner," "The Natural," "Young Sherlock Holmes," "Tin Men" and "Rain Man" fuck those are some incredible films. It is unfathomable that the same man produced "Jimmy Hollywood," "Toys," "Sphere" and "Bandits." 

Brian DePalma A late night airing of "Sisters" was one of the first movies to scare the shit out of me. True I was only 11 at the time but I avoided watching the film for years due to the memory. I'm not a "Scarface" fan (too cartoony for me to take serious) but the rest of the man's filmography is incredible. "Blow Out," "Dressed to Kill," "The Untouchables," "Obsession" Hell I even like "Raising Cain" and "The Bonfires of the Vanaties" is the kind of grand disaster only a genius could produce. But after the success of "Mission: Impossible" he's been in the shitter. "Snake /Eyes," "Mission to Mars" "Femme Fatle" "The Black Dahlia"  not a single watchable film in the bunch. I haven't even bothered to see "Redacted"

Barry Sonenfeld After starting his career as the Coen Brothers cinematographer he directed amusing, stylish films before letting the abomination that "Wild Wild West" on the world. Since he's worked less releasing such bombs as "Big Trouble" and "Men in Black II" Now he's returning with the completely unneccessary third Men in Black. God help us.  

  

Oliver Stone This one's a cheat since I just paid to see "Wall Street" Money Doesn't Sleep" but since Stone didn't write the script it seems like a paycheck movie for him. Stone's early career is incredible but after "Talk Radio" his personal agenda gets in the way of the storytelling. Tom Cruise gave a stirring performance in "Born on the Fourth of July" but Stone's visuals took me out of the film. The visuals work to add to the paranoia in "JFK"  but I think "Natural Born Killers" is simply a well made piece of shit. Plus I'm still angry that I paid to see "Alexander" in the theater plus he has the balls to release three versions of this crapfeast on DVD including one that runs 3 1/2/hours. Who would want to sit through more of Angelina Jolie's Boris Badanov's accent and Colin Farrell's black hole of charisma lead performance.

Clint Sings! (and so does Lee Marvin)

Josh Logan's "Paint Your Wagon" was produced when the big budget musical genre had fallen out of favor with audiences and does not meet the expectations raised by teaming two of the manliest actors in Hollywood, Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin by putting them in a big budget musical.  

 

In a energetic performance, Lee Marvin plays his usual drunken,but lovable scoundrel who teams up with Clint Eastwood after discovering gold while burying Eastwood's brother. Enter Jean Seberg as the extra wife of a Mormon who is auctioned off to high bidder Marvin. After a musical montage Eastwood also falls in love with Seberg leading to an odd three way marriage.

 

The movie suffers from a hopelessly bloated running time (164 minutes!) and is filled with truly forgettable songs.  The apathy of Eastwood's character leads to his being overshadowed by the charismatic, overblown Marvin. By this time Eastwood has established his tough guy persona so watching him croon lovesick ballads like a second rate Ricky Nelson is disheartening. Where Eastwood's singing has a thin, light quality that may be grounded in his love of jazz, Marvin opts for a less challenging speak-singing style that  provides a mumbled rendition of "Wand'rin Star" that surprisingly rose to number one on the charts. Yes, that's right Lee F'ing Marvin sang a hit single.

 

You would think a film with a three-way marriage, debauchery, polygamy, Paddy Chayevsky script, and the star power of Eastwood and Marvin would be more fun or at least interesting. In the case of "Paint Your Wagon" you would be wrong.

Eastwood Goes to War

For the better part of three decades following the end of World War II was staple fare for virtually every major British and American studio, plundering every important event (and many minor ones too) of the war in order to spin outrageous yarns that often had little to do with the actual events. Some of them are so bad that they become unintentionally funny, running the full gauntlet from sanctimonious drivel to idiotic shoot-'em-ups that want nothing more than to provide an impressive number of explosions and a high body count. "Where Eagles Dare" is an intriguing affair: a Boys' Own style adventure yarn that is a complete work of fiction and seems to have no loftier goal than to thoroughly entertain its audience. While perhaps not as accomplished or as well-known as its similar cousin "The Guns of Navarone"  (which was based on a novel by "Eagles" screenwriter Alistair McLean and shares a comparable style), the film has a legion of fans and the viewer accepts its charmingly ludicrous story at face value.

The plot initially seems completely straightforward. A crack team of British agents, led by Major Smith (Richard Burton), are tasked to infiltrate a castle deep in the Bavarian mountains and rescue a captured American general before he spills the beans to the Nazis about the Allies' plans for D-Day. Tagging along is an American ranger, Lt. Schaffer (Clint Eastwood). However, it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems. Smith has been advised that there is a mole in his ranks, and when members of his team begin dropping like flies he must work both to discover the mole while at the same time concocting a daring raid and plan of escape.

The truth of the matter is much more complicated and by the time Smith reveals the real reason for the mission and the actual agendas at work, most viewers will have given up trying to make sense of it all. The fact that the mission itself seems completely pointless once we learn the actual objective is best forgotten. The sole American in the troupe, Eastwood's Lt. Schaffer takes in all the outlandish proceedings in much the same way as the audience: completely baffled, but willing to accept it in order to see it through. Complementing Eastwood's stolid but bemused performance is Burton's portrayal of Major Smith, a man who gives the impression that he is always in complete control. Even when (briefly) captured by the occupying Nazis, you get the impression that nothing worries or surprises him unduly, and Burton manages to make such activities as scaling a castle wall and hopping from one moving cable car to another look effortless. The third major player is Mary Ure, whose character of secret agent Mary Elison is a refreshingly active female heroine in a period and genre usually dominated by men. Hammer horror queen Ingrid Pitt is also featured as a resistance fighter who provides access to the fortress.

A lot of the enjoyment of the film is derived from its sheer excess. The location itself, a huge gothic fortress towering above snow-capped mountains and reachable only via cable car, has a superb atmosphere of its own, and Arthur Ibbetson's widescreen photography frames it beautifully. While the first half of the film is played out in a relatively subdued manner, the second half, which sees our bold heroes making good their escape, is a classic study of popcorn excess. Perfectly synchronized explosions ring out in unison, whole stone-walled rooms collapse based on the power of a couple of sticks of dynamite, and Clint Eastwood mows down entire battalions of soldiers thanks to his seemingly endless supply of weapons and ammunition, all pulled from a small bag of holding. Despite incoming machine gun fire from multiple positions, Eastwood's character seems to have no trouble in dispatching multiple opponents in a matter of seconds, whether it be with a machine gun of his own, his trusty pistol, or one of those magic sticks of dynamite. It's all incredibly silly, but it is the sheer lack of believability that makes the film so entertaining. You never truly know exactly what is going to happen next, thanks to the fact that our heroes seem capable of clearing any obstacle laid in the way of their goal.




Of course, no good World War 2 action film is complete without over-played Nazi stereotypes, and "Where Eagles Dare"  has them in abundance. From the monocled General Rosemeyer (Ferdy Mayne) to the simpering pretty-boy Gestapo officer Major Von Hapen (Derren Nesbitt), complete with curly golden locks, none of the villains of this piece are to be taken seriously. These fellows are cackling villains of the first order, all of whom could have stepped straight out of a pantomime: General Rosemeyer, for instance, asks for the Gestapo to be kept out of the interrogation activities until the requisite information has been acquired since "we don't need them cluttering up things with torture chambers". Of course, they all speak perfect English (minus the odd "Heil!" and "Fraulein!" and the fact that they pronounce "the" as "ze"). Indeed, English is the only spoken language in the film, despite a big deal being made of the fact that our heroes speak perfect German. Such is the magic of film, I suppose. It's probably a good thing that none of the German soldiers are allowed to be anything other than cardboard cut-outs, because they are gunned down with such carefree panache that to view them as actual people would make the film a rather depressing exercise.


 "Where Eagles Dare" remains a highly enjoyable action romp and one that remains effective to this day, provided you watch it in the correct frame of mind and don't take it seriously.

The Don's First Eastwood Picture

The first film to pair director Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood was the 1968 release "Coogan's Bluff." They would go on to make six films together including the film that made Eastwood a superstar "Dirty Harry." Eastwood's directing style is also largely indebted to Siegal. Both men like to shot at a fast pace, trusting their instincts and their collaborators. In some ways,the character of Arizona Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan  is a prototype for Harry Callahan, they share a ask questions later take on police work and sneering dislike for big-city bureaucracy, but this is a lighter picture.

The film gets most of its comedic mileage from its fish-out-of-water elements, whether Coogan is encountering cheating taxi drivers, big-city tough guys, or goofy hippies. The NYC police are primarily represented by Lee J. Cobb's hard-nosed Lt. McElroy, and while his character is a bit of a stereotype, he manages to imbue it with some personality. Susan Clark provides the requisite romantic interest as probation officer Julie Roth, and while some of their interludes are a little on the dull side, she is a bit of a spark plug who puts an interesting spin on her dialogue. 

Action sequences are solid, with a spirited, messy pool hall fight and a motorcycle chase as highlights. Its impressions of the hippie scene, on the other hand, feel more than a little out of touch - like a forty-something screenwriter's idea of what a hippie club would be like. "Coogan's Bluff" is a flawed, minor Eastwood picture, but still interesting, primarily for its place in his iconography; we see him tinkering with his image, moving away from the cowboy image of his television work and Spaghetti westerns and into a more brutal, urban landscape.Plus it points to great things in store for the Siegel/Eastwood combination.

Spaghetti Western comes to America

"Hang 'Em High" holds an important place in Clint Eastwood's career. Not only was it the first film to be produced by his production company, Malpaso, but it was the first American film in which he received top billing. Released in Summer 1968, it rode the popular wave of Sergio Leone's Man with no Name trilogy with Eastwood, and demonstrated the influence that Leone's films had exerted on the Western genre. The plot is a old Western standard of revenge, but it feels pedestrian and plods along providing little entertainment for long stretches of time.

Most of the film is pretty predictable - Eastwood sets out as a vigilante but becomes a man of the law and develops a conscience along the way. There is a half developed rape revenge subplot that features actress Inger Stevens but that seems to have been included so there would be a female presence in the film. Director, Ted Post (who worked with Eastwood on the television series "Rawhide" and collaborate with him again on the Dirty Harry sequel "Magnum Force") works in anonymous fashion, aping Leone's use of the zoom lens and keeping the whole affair moving forward. 

Eastwood's character may not be a "man with no name" of course, but he is decidedly vicious, single minded and not entirely sympathetic. This being Hollywood in the sixties, Eastwood's character is softened up and given a love interest. Unlike Leone's westerns Eastwood is surrounded by great character actors like Ben Johnson, Ed Begley and the ever reliable Pat Hingle. The film also features early work from Bruce Dern, already playing crazy, and Dennis Hopper, who dies too soon after only one insane monologue. The film was shot on beautiful locations, but doesn't look particularly impressive because of a  bland cinematography and poor framing choices. The attitudes in the film are rather confused - it can't decide whether or not it is in favor of capital punishment, and some interesting observations about the development of Hanging Judges into State governments are left as something of an afterthought. There's also a certain gloating sadism that negates any serious thoughts the film has on the immorality of killing.

Odd publicity shot of the cast

Civil War Epic Ends the Trilogy on a High Note

Stylish, stylized, amoral, and brutally violent, Sergio Leone's final chapter of his Man With No Name Trilogy "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is a stunning, intoxicating masterpiece. Leone's depictions of a world full of rough, selfish individuals devoid of morality fascinate the viewer  with its visual appeal. Leone shifts form extremely tight shots of his characters' eyes and harsh or terrified faces to sweeping, awe inspiring images of vast, barren landscapes. The actions of the characters moving through this emotionally charged world elaborately choreographed and perfectly timed like a dance. The director imbues every minute of the movie with a tangible, edgy excitement. He develops tremendous tension with his leisurely depictions of the film's characters performing various trivial actions, as bathing, checking a gun, or the like while violence looms in the immediate future. Then, punctuating such drawn out moments with the shocking brutality. 

The director cannot, however, take sole credit for the film's success. For one thing, Ennio Morricone's score is consistently stunning and complements the movie throughout, evoking both wistful sadness and overwhelming excitement. It is surely among the most memorable pieces of music ever created for a movie and is familiar to first time viewers. The score of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is as vibrant and alive as are any of the film's other qualities.

Finally, I should note that the performances of the three leads are truly wonderful. Clint Eastwood is cold and subtle as the nameless gunman known only as "Blondie." Lee Van Cleef endows Angel Eyes with a sadistic cruelty, and Eli Wallach gives life to the brutal, earthy, and some much needed comic relief Tuco. All add significantly to the movie's appeal. New to Leone's style is the humor throughout, particularly the uneasy alliance between the ‘good’ Blondie and the ‘ugly’ Tuco. But it’s pure gallows, with violence permeating the frame. The film is the rare third part of a trilogy that ends the series on a high note.