Things are a bit slight this month, but never fear… we have some Halloween leftovers, some vintage stuff and a video store action movie from the 80s, all provided with non-spoiler summaries and trailers when applicable. Read on…
The romantic period drama THE WAY WE WERE (1973, PG) is mostly famous for its Marvin Hamlisch score and the engagement of lead stars Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. It was also a major box-office blockbuster grossing in at $50 million and Streisand’s version of the main theme scored a number-one radio smash. Predictably enough, Streisand is the show stealer as she brings us appealing performances that win audiences hearts — this film is no exception.
The setting is New York near the closure of World War 2 as it deals with a divisive relationship between a Jewish activist (Streisand) and a WASP (Redford) going into Hollywood. Their romance is being tested by opposite ideologies.
Tearjerkers like this one tend to be overly melodramatic and I can’t blame the naysayers, but we have here a star couple that’s grand enough to keep spirits afloat. Not to mention there will never be another unbeatable powerhouse like Barbra that speaks of royalty in high volumes, so that’s another big bravo for her
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Known for being a cult favorite here in the States, the British film CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960) offers an eye-popping combo of bizarre deaths and glamourous cheesecake in a movie script that’s pretty *blah*. But with all of that spectacle, it’s worth howling about as a guilty pleasure.
A plastic surgeon who botched a procedure becomes a sadistic circus owner, using women with disfigured faces and turning them into **beautiful** circus performers — they soon fall victim to their deaths that prove to be no mere accident. The film stars Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur and Donald Pleasance.
Needless to say, the women are all for show and the 4K release only makes them more ageless despite the makeup FX that makes them look ugly. And definitely not the kind of circus movie your kids should watch, either. This is one of awfully too many ‘B’ pictures from the drive-in days of yore that found a home on ELVIRA’S MOVIE MACABRE — yes, it aired in June 1984 and I’m not kiddin’!
Fun fact: its director Sidney Hayers married cast member Remberg twenty-five years after this film was released.
This cartoonish haunted house movie from Japan is too unbelievably bizarre! It combines horror, fantasy, kung fu and lots of maniac visuals for a great time. Simply known as HOUSE (1977), it bears no relation to the 1985 American horror film of the exact same name — such premise is mightily similar but with a comical flair that makes this fun.
Seven schoolgirls are taking a trip to a giant house in the countryside, as one of them reconciles with her aunt living there. However, one by one, they each fall prey to supernatural forces that result in a series of twisted ‘deaths’, one of which involves a bloodthirsty piano.
I’ll take the word from the synopsis on the back label that it plays like an episode of SCOOBY-DOO, where horror and comedy blend together to mind blowing heights. Why can’t modern horror films come to this rich level of whimsicality? While it was aimed specifically at younger audiences at the time of its first run, it’s not without fake blood and gore effects, as it’s willing to engage the viewer with sightseeing thrills akin to latter movies such as TETSUO THE IRON MAN.
It took over 30 years for this Toho-released film to get a proper U.S. screening by way of Janus Films, known for distributing its catalog of arthouse selections for Criterion’s physical media line. HOUSE was long sought after by horror enthusiasts and the movie communities at large giving it a highly positive reception. Quirky movies like this one deserve a place on your shelf because they don’t come around too often.
Tom Selleck traded in his sunglasses, red Ferrari and Hawaiian lifestyle for the frontier in a handful of Western movie roles, most notably QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER. In this 1997 made-for-cable feature filler LAST STAND AT SABER RIVER, based on the book by Elmore Leonard, a Confederate war vet drifts to Arizona and returns to a peaceful life he once had, until he and his family confront a different battle against Union rebels who are laying claim to his territory. The feature also stars Suzy Amis, David Carradine, Keith Carradine, David Dukes, and pre-SIXTH SENSE child actor Haley Joel Osment.
Action sequences and cinematographies are worthy of interest for Western buffs, if not first-rate, but such is the life of this above-average TV movie coming from the Ted Turner cable empire — a ‘TNT Original’ as originally advertised.
Fans of the MAGNUM P.I. and BLUE BLOODS star should be encouraged to find this one and a few other Selleck frontier dramas that fill in the gap between the two aforementioned prime-time series he was widely known for.
KILL ZONE (1985, R) is exactly what one will expect, a RAMBO clone of sorts about a war veteran who turns into a death machine against his fighting men after a training exercise goes badly. His goal is to survive and escape.
Violence is abundant all throughout, of which this movie has the makings of a low-budget independent effort that found a place on the shelves of video rental outlets. Today, it’s pretty much an artifact of 1980s ‘trash’ for nostalgia seekers.
Of interest is actor Ted Prior who had been a bodybuilder before appearing in numerous direct-to-video movies from the VHS era including the horror curiosity KILLER WORKOUT. Worth noting is that he and his brother founded Action International Pictures —or simply A.I.P. — which spit out a number of these films including titles starring David Heavener (KILL CRAZY, RAGIN’ CAJUN). Usually, they mostly involved Prior in charge as actor and/or producer.
SECRET OF THE INCAS, a 1954 adventure fillm in lavish Technicolor and starring Charlton Heston, is the story about an American tour guide in Peru going on on an expedition to seek out a valuable treasure known as a ‘sunburst’.
Elements of this movie were long seen to be the subject of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the very first of the ‘Indiana Jones’ series. In fact, Heston in archaeological attire often has a striking resemblance to the style worn by Harrison Ford!
Much of the credit here goes to plenty of romantic chemistry between Heston and the leading lady Nicole Maurey, plus finely choreographed musical interludes by the Peruvian singer Yma Sumac.
It may not be a rarity in ‘vintage’ escapism — after all, it did good box-office in 1954 — but those willing to examine correlations to ‘Indiana Jones’ and / or explore the work of Heston for the first time should look into this one.
Only three cast members — Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer — exist on the screen as the last people living on Earth in this ‘post-apocalypse’ drama THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL (1958, no MPA rating). This unsettling Eisenhower-era piece for its time takes place in New York City following a nuclear holocaust that wiped out civilization, as uncertain relationships form between them.
There were major criticisms behind this fairly melodramatic feature, and among those were that race had the upper hand over any real storytelling about aftermath it was meant to portray. Taken for granted, established musician Belafonte is the central core of everything about this film, and worthy enough as a highly versatile actor in the making. Most audiences didn’t approve of the ending as well, but that’s for you to judge.
Those who stumble across this vintage black-and-white film will no doubt compare and contrast with 1980s cult classics NIGHT OF THE COMET and THE QUIET EARTH, both of which follow the vaguely similar premises of survivorship on a lonely planet.
That will do it for now, but I will leave you with a bonus image of this Harry Belafonte CD that just arrived in the mail. This is a greatest hits package that contains a familiar song that was made famous in BEETLEJUICE. Previously, I covered his other film ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW from the same era.
More random movies next month!
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