Only now does it occur to me... MAVERICK

Only now does it occur to me... that MAVERICK is a real "Donner Party."  By that, I don't mean that it involves cannibalism, torture, or Mel Gibson Jesus-poses,

Though if this isn't in his contract, I'll eat my hat.

instead I mean that its director, Richard Donner, has packed the film with actors and references from other "Donner" films.

Obviously, it stars Mel Gibson (of 4 Donner LETHAL WEAPONS and a CONSPIRACY THEORY), but there's plenty more where that came from.

Margot Kidder (Donner's SUPERMAN 1 & 2, he also produced her appearances in TALES FROM THE CRYPT and DELIRIOUS) shows up as a grouchy spinster obsessed with a stolen wedding dress:

Alfred Molina (Donner's LADYHAWKE) appears as a recurring villain and instrument of Gibson-torture:

Stephen Kahan ("Captain Murphy" from all 4 LETHAL WEAPONS, but also appeared in Donner's SUPERMAN, INSIDE MOVES, THE TOY, SCROOGED, CONSPIRACY THEORY, 16 BLOCKS, RADIO FLYER, TIMELINE and a few TALES FROM THE CRYPTs) plays a riverboat card dealer, who shares an unusual interaction with Mel Gibson, whereupon he congratulates him on his win (with familiarity), and takes the chair with him as he stands, prompting Mel to nearly crack up.

Then, for the piéce de résistance:  Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Lewis are shootin' the shit inside a bank when three robbers bust in to relieve them of their wallets and blow the safe.  The lead robber piques Mel Gibson's interest and there is a note of recognition.

 

He pulls down the robber's bandana to reveal Murtaugh himself, Danny Glover:

And to the strains of the LETHAL WEAPON theme, they share a moment, then decide––nahh, this ridiculous.  Glover goes on his way, revealing the rest of his gang:

Corey Feldman (of Donner's THE GOONIES, and the Donner-produced THE LOST BOYS and BORDELLO OF BLOOD), country musician Hal Ketchum, and apparently transportation coordinator John M. Woodward, who coordinated such on LETHAL WEAPONS 2-4, CONSPIRACY THEORY, and TIMELINE.  I think that qualifies as a Donner Party!

Oh yeah, and even in the Wild West, Danny Glover is getting...

...too old for this shit.

BONUS QUIZ:  Can you identify which of the following pictures are screen captures from MAVERICK (featuring the lush cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond), and which are Western Americana picture postcards?

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

It's a cheap trick question––they're all screen captures from MAVERICK!

PS––and apparently, the brilliant Linda Hunt (THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, THE BOSTONIANS, KINDERGARTEN COP) and my fave glam rocker Alice Cooper had their scenes deleted (damn!) as "The Magician" and "The Town Drunk," respectively.

Film Review: PREDATOR 2 (1990, Stephen Hopkins)

Stars: 3 of 5.
Running Time: 108 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Maria Conchita Alonso, Ruben Blades, Bill Paxton, Adam Baldwin, Robert Davi, Kevin Peter Hall, Calvin Lockhart, Alan Silvestri, Mark Goldblatt (editor and director of DEAD HEAT)
Tag-line: "Pull over, park, and pray." AND "Hunting season opens again... this Christmas."
Best one-liner(s): "Want some candy?"
Best lazy one-liner: "I'll show you insubordination, you sonofabitch!"

MYTH: The finale of PREDATOR 2 involves Gary Busey putting the Predator in a headlock and biting off some of his dreds with his ginormous, shining teeth. FACT: If it did, this movie would have garnered five stars.

Another FACT: the Busey storyline is given the short shrift, and has a frankly anticlimactic conclusion. Although they at least allow him to psychotically say, "Lions and tigers and bears...OH MAI."

MYTH: Danny Glover's main character trait in this film is that he likes having an extensive collection of handguns.

FACT: Glover's key character trait is that he despises birds. "Damn. Damned birds!" Maybe they figured, hey, snakes worked for Indiana Jones, so...

MYTH: The Predator is pro-choice. FACT: The Predator has a stranglehold on an ARMED woman, and is about to deliver the coup de grace when his thermal vision spies a baby within her womb.

He spares her, thus affirming his pro-life ideals or that he considers all fetuses to be humans or something.

MYTH: The filmmakers accurately depict voodoo and its rituals. FACT: Shall we begin with the fact that in the film, it's a JAMAICAN, not Haitian, killer voodoo posse? In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason they inserted this plotline was so there could be a couple shots of dudes in dredlocks in silhouette and then for half a second you could be like "Wait, is that the Predator?... Oh."

MYTH: This movie tried to make "Damn birds" into a catchphrase. FACT: It was "Want some candy?"

MYTH: There's hardly any POV Predator-vision in this movie. FACT: They went overboard. Even the main title is in Predator-vision.

There's so much Predator-vision that the viewer will later DREAM in Predator-vision. They should have called this movie PREDATOR 2: PREDATOR-VISION.

Concluding thoughts: Three stars: five stars for Busey, Glover, and overall insanity, minus two stars for not using Busey to full capacity. "It's between ME and HEIM!"

-Sean Gill