Only now does it occur to me... VINYL (2016)

Only now does it occur to me... that the "Long-Haired Rocker"––on the left-hand side, in the orange and brown faux-silk shirt––bears a certain resemblance to the proprietor of this blog:


And indeed it is!  In July 2014, it was my pleasure to work as an extra in the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot episode of VINYL, which premiered last night on HBO.  It was amazing to witness the (then) seventy-one year old Scorsese ply his trade with the passion and energy of someone fifty years his junior.  (I myself could barely keep up after two consecutive seventeen-hour days.)  It was something of a magical experience (I even had the opportunity to briefly meet co-producer and FREEJACK star Mick Jagger), and in my rather biased opinion, I recommend you check it out!

Film Review: CANNONBALL! aka CARQUAKE (1976, Paul Bartel)

Stars: 4 of 5.

Running Time: 90 minutes.

Tag-line: "The annual Trans-American outlaw road race– a cross-country demolition derby without rules!"

Notable Cast or Crew:  David Carradine (DEATH RACE 2000, CIRCLE OF IRON), Robert Carradine (REVENGE OF THE NERDS, BODY BAGS), Mary Woronov (ROCK N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, DEATH RACE 2000), Paul Bartel (EATING RAOUL, THE USUAL SUSPECTS), Dick Miller (GREMLINS, THE TERMINATOR), Gerrit Graham (USED CARS, THE PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE), Veronica Hamel (HILL STREET BLUES, HERE COME THE MUNSTERS), Bill McKinney (DELIVERANCE, EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE), Joe Dante (director of EERIE, INDIANA, GREMLINS), James Keach (Stacy's brother, FM, THE LONG RIDERS), Carl Gottlieb (writer of JAWS and THE JERK), Stanley Bennett Clay (ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, CLEOPATRA JONES), Louis Moritz (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, NEW YEAR'S EVIL).  Written by Bartel and Don Simpson (co-producer of THE ROCK, BAD BOYS, TOP GUN, FLASHDANCE).  Cinematography by Tak Fujimoto (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE SIXTH SENSE).

Best One-liner:  In lieu of a one-liner, just imagine a car exploding.

After the success of DEATH RACE 2000, Roger Corman and New World Pictures wanted another car picture out of auteur/performer Paul Bartel, and so he submitted to them a project that would have been completely wonderful and astounding called... "FRANKENCAR."


Corman wouldn't spring for it, though, wanting something a little cheaper and more mainstream, especially in comparison to DEATH RACE 2000, whereupon men and women in cars that looked like dragons and cattle and gatling guns ran over pedestrians for sport.  Corman wanted a standard cross-country racing movie, and Bartel, deep in depression, feared he would be pigeonholed as an action director.  Despite it all, he grudgingly delivered his "car movie."

I put off watching CANNONBALL! for years, having heard mostly bad things and not wanting to tarnish my memories of DEATH RACE 2000.  However, having just seen it, I am happy to report that CANNONBALL! is great.  The material has been adequately Bartel-ized; it's dark, hilarious, insane, and it ends with a senseless pileup of cascading explosions that truly must be seen to be believed.


 Due to the final scenes alone, CANNONBALL! may very well have more per capita explosions than most Michael Bay movies, truly earning its alternate title of "CARQUAKE."  It's a fun, dumb, fast-paced time, and here are my nine favorite things about it:

#1.  The cross-country race/tournament aspect.  A forerunner to CANNONBALL RUN in title and content, I've always enjoyed movies that feature a motley crew of characters competing against each other for some zany prize.  Maybe it just reminds me of BLOODSPORT.  Would that make this not a kumite, but a carmite?

#2.  David Carradine.  In DEATH RACE 2000, they put him in a gimp costume and called him "Frankenstein."

That was pretty good.  Here, they tough him up by slipping him in moccasins and a salmon pink hoodie, with a bandana tied around his neck like an ascot.   
 
"Huh?" you ask.  "Hush up and just go with it," I say.


#3.  Robert Carradine.

The moral center of our film, pre-'REVENGE,' nerdy Carradine is likable and fun, hanging out with his girlfriend Belinda Balaski (a likable Joe Dante crony who's been in over a dozen of his films).  They're the classic "nice guys finish last" underdog team.


#4.  Mary Woronov.

It ain't a Bartel flick without Woronov!  In the past, I've referred to the two of them as the "demented 70s and 80s versions of Tracey and Hepburn."  She filmed all her scenes in one day and was reportedly miserable doing so (she didn't know how to drive a car, so they only used cutaways), but as the leader of a trio of waitresses who are tooling around in a van, she provides the proper spunk and bitchiness that this film needs.

I especially appreciate that she's busting shit up and driving through prefabricated homes... before the race even begins!

CARQUAKE!

#5.  The bizarre Yokel-mobile.  Here goes: one single car in the race plays home to Gerrit Graham ("Beef" from PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE) who's a successful country western star appropriately plucking an acoustic guitar throughout;

Judy Canova, notorious Old Hollywood yodeler and comedienne (this was her final film role); and Bill McKinney (Ned Beatty's rapist in DELIVERANCE!)

who is the central villain of the piece, a hateful asshole-type who is a hateful asshole merely for the sake of being a hateful asshole.  (Character motivation be damned!)

#6.  James Keach (Stacy's brother).

Here he delivers a ludicrous, one-note performance as a pipe-chomping German driver named Wolfe Messer who is always saying subtle German-y things like "YOU DUMMKOPF!"


#7.  Dick Miller.

Fulfilling the "it's technically not a movie from 70s if Dick Miller's not in it" rule, Dick Miller appears as Carradine's desperate gambler brother.  He gives a solid, typically Miller-ish performance, and I especially applaud the balls of casting him as Carradine's brother in a movie that already features Carradine's real-life half-brother.

#8.  Paul Bartel.

He casts himself as a priggish, turtleneck-addicted criminal kingpin who communicates to his cronies from behind a piano, singing fake Cole Porter.  Sounds about right.

#9.  A surprise appearance by Martin Scorsese and Sylvester Stallone as mobster associates of Bartel's character, who (very) briefly appear in a brief hangout session, eating KFC.


WHAAAAAAT?!

Four stars.

–Sean Gill

"Ayn Rand Reviews 12 Classic Movies" at theNewerYork

Some of you may know that in addition to my loves of filmmaking, playwriting, and singing the praises of Jean-Claude Van Damme, I have an interest in literature.  I don't often plug my other publications on this site, but this is certainly a case where the two interests overlap.
 
 Ayn Rand: not a fan of THEY LIVE.

It's a new, satirical piece that's been published by the fine folks over at theNewerYork, it's entitled "Ayn Rand Reviews 12 Classic Movies," and you can read it here.  (Don't worry, John Carpenter earns a mention.)  Enjoy!

 (archived below after theNewerYork became defunct)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)  
D: Stanley Kubrick. Starring: Douglas Rain. 160 m.
Synopsis: A sensible computer refuses to indulge five astronauts in their addiction to socialized life support.
Grade: B-

All About Eve (1950)
D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Starring: Anne Baxter, George Sanders. 138 m.
Synopsis: An intrepid young woman is vilified for offering a superior version of an existing product.
Grade: A

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)  
D: Irvin Kershner. Starring: Billy Dee Williams, Jeremy Bulloch. 124 m.
Synopsis: After our hero is forced to sell his friends for less than their fair market value, a libertarian paradise among the clouds falls victim to government regulation.
Grade: B

Ghostbusters (1984)  
D: Ivan Reitman. Starring: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd. 105 m.
Synopsis: Private contractors fulfill a service the municipal government is unable to provide and a shiftless green phantom's ectoplasm-subsidized lifestyle is thwarted.
Grade: A+

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
D: Frank Capra. Starring: Lionel Barrymore. 130 m.
Synopsis: A suicidal lunatic antagonizes a pillar of the community; his negligence is rewarded with unjustified charity.
Grade: F

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
D: George Seaton. Starring: Jerome Cowan, Porter Hall. 96 m.
Synopsis: A costumed maniac distributes handouts to unproductive, unemployable deadbeats.
Grade: D

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
D: Nicholas Ray. Starring: James Dean, Natalie Wood. 111 m.  
Synopsis: A young man's passion for unregulated car racing draws government interference.
Grade: B-

Rosemary's Baby (1968)
D: Roman Polanski. Starring: John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer. 136 m.
Synopsis: A highly motivated up-and-coming actor achieves success through innovative means and builds a family in the process.
Grade: A+

Speed (1994)
D: Jan de Bont. Starring: Dennis Hopper. 116 m.
Synopsis: A freethinking idealist strikes a blow against the pork barrel of public transit while satirizing the concept of speed limits.
Grade: A-

Sunset Boulevard (1950)
D: Billy Wilder. Starring: Gloria Swanson, Cecil B. DeMille. 110 m.
Synopsis: A self-reliant woman with extraordinary talent withdraws from a society that doesn't deserve her; later, the law interferes with how she puts her private swimming pool to use.
Grade: B

Taxi Driver (1976)  
D: Martin Scorsese. Starring: Harvey Keitel. 113 m.
Synopsis: A successful small business owner is harassed and ultimately murdered by an ex-government employee with ties to a progressive senator.
Grade: C

They Live (1988)
D: John Carpenter. Starring: Meg Foster. 93 m.
Synopsis: A homeless man tampers with a successful business model and a respected television network suffers property damage.
Grade: D-

Film Review: CAPE FEAR (1991, Martin Scorsese)

Stars: 4 of 5.

Running Time: 128 minutes.

Notable Cast or Crew:  Nick Nolte (EXTREME PREJUDICE, FAREWELL TO THE KING), Jessica Lange (THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE '81, TITUS), Robert De Niro (RAGING BULL, THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE), Joe Don Baker (THE OUTFIT, THE NATURAL, WALKING TALL), Juliette Lewis (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, STRANGE DAYS), Illeana Douglas (GOODFELLAS, GHOST WORLD), and Fred Dalton Thompson (real-life failed presidential candidate, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER).  Cameo appearances by Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and Martin Balsam (PSYCHO, DEATH WISH 3).  New screenplay by Wesley Strick (ARACHNOPHOBIA, WOLF).  Cinematography by Freddie Francis (THE ELEPHANT MAN, DUNE).  Non-original music by Bernard Herrmann.  Herrmann score adapted by Elmer Bernstein (THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, GHOSTBUSTERS). Credits sequence by Saul Bass.  Uncredited executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall. 

Tag-line: "There is nothing in the dark that isn't in the light.  Except fear.  Cape Fear."  (emphasis added)

Best one-liner:  "Counselor!"

Alright, folks.  CAPE FEAR '91 has kind of a bad reputation.  Now, Scorsese went all out:  I think he thought this was going to be his "Hitchcock" film.  He even updated the Bernard Herrmann soundtrack and had Saul Bass (!) do the credits sequence.

As it turns out, it ain't Hitchcock, but let me put it in perspective.  You know that clichéd high school yearbook quote, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars?"  I think a slightly modified version of that can apply here.  I surmise:  "Shoot for Hitchcock('s moon-shaped belly), even if you miss, you'll land among the De Palmas."  And that's exactly what this feels like– a mid-range De Palma film!  And there are much worse things to be– because I happen to love mid-range De Palma (BODY DOUBLE, DRESSED TO KILL, RAISING CAIN, etc.) .

So without further adieu, and though I do prefer the original, here are seven quick reasons why CAPE FEAR '91 is a place worth visiting:

#1.  The inverse cameos.  CAPE FEAR '91 brings back three of the principals from CAPE FEAR '62, and in strange bizarro versions.
 
First, we have 'ol Rumple Eyes himself, Bob Mitchum, helping the Nick Nolte character protect himself from De Niro's version of the original Mitchum role.  Whew.


Then, we have Gregory Peck as an apparently evil version of Atticus Finch, defending De Niro from Nick Nolte's version of the original Peck role.  Damn!

Finally, we have Martin Balsam playing the judge who sides with De Niro, because he hates "vigilante justice."  Now, I know that's not true– given that I've seen him mow down legions of gang members with WWII-era machine gun in DEATH WISH 3.

#2.  Joe Don Baker drinking a combination of Pepto-Bismol and Jim Beam for the duration of the film.

If that doesn't warm your heart, then I personally forbid you from ever again watching a Joe Don Baker movie.

#3.  De Niro makin' creepy phone calls in gravity boots. 

Because... 1991.

#4.  The "clinging to the underbelly of a rapidly moving vehicle for several hours" plot twist, which feels EXACTLY like something that'd be in a De Palma film. 
  

#5.  Ditto on "murderous De Niro in drag."
 
It's really one of those strange performances where you can't quite tell if he's phoning it in or not.  There's often a fine line between "bad" acting and "genius" acting (see: the career of Steve Railsback, for example), and I kinda can't tell if this is a performance of nuanced intensity, or if it's a practical joke on the audience.  Either way, I love it.

#6.  Continuing in this vein:  in 1991, nearly one hundred years of motion picture history culminated in the subtle beauty of Robert De Niro singing a line of Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now"

while offering a joint to orthodonitia-encrusted teenage Juliette Lewis:

Truly fantastic.

#7.  Nick Nolte crazy-face!

I've discussed this in-depth before, but there are few things more frighteningly exhilarating than seeing a crazy-faced Nick Nolte in his native habitat.

SWEET DREAMS, KIDDIES!


P.S.  It always struck me as bizarre that the theatrical poster's placement (see above) of the torn photo and De Niro's creepy gaze build a subliminal image of a keyhole, especially since I can't recall keyholes being relevant to the plot whatsoever.  Thoughts?

–Sean Gill

Film Review: NEW YORK STORIES (1989, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, & Woody Allen)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 124 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Peter Gabriel, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Ira Wheeler, Larry David, Talia Shire, Giancarlo Giannini, Adrien Brody, Chris Elliot, Debbie Harry, Victor Argo, Illeana Douglas, Kirsten Dunst. Shot by Néstor Almendros, Sven Nykvist, and Vittorio Storaro.
Tag-line: "One City. Three Stories Tall."
Best one-liner: "I just wanted to kiss your foot. Sorry, nothing personal."

Omnibus projects are never quite as good as they ought to be, yet in the midst of a lot of general dislike for NEW YORK STORIES, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit (obviously, some parts more than others). Now we know there's a great lineup of directors: Scorsese, Coppola, and Allen; but the cinematographic talent on display is equally staggering: Néstor Almendros (DAYS OF HEAVEN, CLAIRE'S KNEE, KRAMER VS. KRAMER), Vittorio Storaro (THE CONFORMIST, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE), and Sven Nykvist (FANNY AND ALEXANDER, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, PRETTY BABY, Tarkovsky's OFFRET). So despite all else, know that this film is visually immaculate. But on to the films:

Scorsese's LIFE LESSONS is a near masterpiece. Written by Bronx novelist Richard Price (THE WANDERERS), it's sort of a 'portrait of the artist as a bitter, middle-aged egoist.'

Nick Nolte is electrifying as a painter who lives his life on the crest of each wild brush stroke. He lumps together his talent, frustration, and self-doubt as one, non-negotiable 'artistic passion,' which, of course, is above the reproach of mere mortals.

Such as his indentured servant/roommate/apprentice/pseudo-girlfriend, Rosanna Arquette-


–or even his 'talk of the town' performance art rival, Steve Buscemi.

A lifelong VERTIGO fanatic, Scorsese builds a world of dangerous obsession (and no I'm not talking about Eszterhas-ian flavors of the month) and ever-shifting artistic/sexual power dynamics that has rarely been equaled.

Nolte plunges into the depths of compulsion and the mania of creativity (the man himself was on a frenzied hot streak which would continue with Milius' FAREWELL TO THE KING and Lumet's Q&A the next year) and Scorsese presents it all as a flurry of exquisite visuals, crisp edits and rockin' tunes, and the denouement hits just the right note of melancholy and cynicism.

The next segment, Coppola's LIFE WITHOUT ZOE, is the most misunderstood of the bunch. Seen by some as a saccharine bore fit for children's TV, they fail to take into account that it is a satire. It clearly shows the naive viewpoint of a trust fund brat who knows no other life; where homelessness and international intrigue can be solved with Hershey's Kisses and precocious scheming.

After spending much of the 80's telling the stories of children (literally) born on the wrong side of the tracks, I don't understand why everyone seems to think Coppola would sell his ideals up the river to glorify a rich little shit.

Allen's OEDIPUS WRECKS closes the film, and, despite a very clever and original premise which I shan't exactly spoil–

begins to lose steam around the halfway point, and never quite recovers. In all, a solid film, but see it for the Scorsese. Four stars.

-Sean Gill

Film Review: RAGING BULL (1980, Martin Scorsese)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 129 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty (KINDERGARTEN COP), written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin based on the book by Jake LaMotta, Joseph Carter, and Peter Savage.
Tag-lines: None.
Best one-liner: " I get ya's both in the ring, I'll give ya both a fuckin' beatin', ya both can fuck each other."

One of American cinema's dingiest, grimiest, most brutal sub-genres was the "Boxing Noir," which encompassed films like THE SET-UP, KILLER'S KISS, CHAMPION, CITY FOR CONQUEST, 99 RIVER STREET, BODY AND SOUL, and THE HARDER THEY FALL, among others. (Also see "Wrestling Noir," like NIGHT AND THE CITY.) These were far grimmer, sweatier, sleazier, and more visceral than your standard noir- the heroes frequently being palookas and mad apes whose lack of moral fiber was only exceeded by their desire to lash out wildly- to PUNCH, PUNCH, PUNCH!



It was a world of dark alleys, crinkling flashbulbs, and sweat and blood-drenched leather and canvas. So in a nod to those that came before, Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, and Robert de Niro decided to smack the American "sports genre" in the mouth with one savage, merciless blow, which broke up the fluffy, soft-shoe wankfest that had developed in Boxing Noir's absence. Using the Bronx, and it's culture of domestic, organized, and recreational violence as a starting point, Scorsese creates a world of ferocious, untamed, irreconcilable contrasts- a world of black and white, of toned bodies and flabby husks, of raw power and complete impotency, of rage and tranquility, of determination and aimlessness. And the only thing that can reconcile these contrasts in the mind of our hero is 'to punch' and 'to be punched.'

It's a confusing enough world already for most of us who haven't been beaten senselessly in the head on a regular basis and endured God knows how many concussions; so how can the oafish Jake even hope to cope with the complex rumblings of his bleakly constructed soul? Well, watch the film and find out. Five stars.

-Sean Gill