Imagine if Hammer House Of Horror Studio’s somehow managed to have a baby with Andy Warhol. Then throw in some surrealism, abstract art, spooky imagines and some horror. What might emerge on the other side is something resembling the wackiness of this film called Games.
Taglines – Passion wears a mask of terror in this strangest of all games!
Here’s a summary of the events leading up to the controversy on the Rod Steiger film Hennessy in 1975 with it’s IRA bomb plot involving British Parliament and The Royal Family.
Taglines – The Most Intensive Manhunt Ever Mounted!
After causing a major upset in the Charles Bronson action packed thriller “Mega Force One” in 1974 when Her Majesty The Queen had bumped his wife Jill Ireland off the project and taken top billing over Bronson. It’s wasn’t a good start for these two stars but differences were put aside for the success of the movie. Continue reading
“A policeman, unlike most men, lives close to evil and violence. He can, like all men make his own private hell. The good pass through it with minor burns, the evil stumble and fall and die in strange places”
Private Hell 36 is the story of two top LA detectives investigating a series of stolen marked $50 dollar bills which keep popping up across the city. Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff) aren’t just two tough cops, they are also close friends, each has got the others back. Surely nothing can get in the way of this close bond? Continue reading
Well maybe not Sombreros but I couldn’t think of a hat that began with S other than a Stetson and Sombreros are way more sillier. Especially if you can imagine they all did wear sombreros, it would really cut through the fog thick tension in this excellent thriller. Le Doulos is a rough old time French translation for “hat” and the hat of choice for these Parisian gangsters is the Fedora. Another translation for this is also “informer” and maybe that snitch also wears a hat! And considering most these gangsters wear a hat, who could be the finger man, the informer?
Revisited a childhood favourite of mine recently, a science fiction film that has embedded itself on me like some cosmic radiation. Whenever I see mention of it I feel a pull not unlike that of a black hole drawing me in for a viewing. This time it was courtesy of fellow film blogger Mr. Bobinsky who posted some beautiful inspired artwork. That was all I needed and off I went again on another journey.
Tagline – You can’t escape the most powerful force in the universe.
I try to read as little as possible when searching for a new film to watch. I like to see the movie poster, find out the director, give the cast a quick scan, a quick glance at the IMdB score (a healthy 7.2) and maybe a quote of the plot.
“A quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene”.
Right from the beginning panning camera shot over the Space Needle Tower and just before it flies from one side of the Seattle city to the other, pin pointing the positions of our two stars in this film, you know you’re in for something really special. During this scene both stars are introduced to you with their very own jazz score from the soundtrack composer and jazz legend Quincy Jones.
Gruff and super moody journalist Ivan Johnson (Eddie Constantine) arrives at Alphaville following his journey through the Galaxies. He’s there with his camera to report back to the Figaro-Pravda, his newspaper, the strange goings on in this futuristic city. Ivan Johnson isn’t who he pretends to be, he is in fact an American private-eye come secret agent called Lemmy Caution.
Lemmy Caution –“Fuck yourself with your logic.”
Lemmy Caution is a nonsense kind of guy who has absolute complete contempt for bellboys asking for tips and no time to relax with the pleasures of the Seductress Third Class lady drones, however insanely beautiful they maybe! But he’s happy to pull his gun out at any other moment. Maybe a poster of naked girl that he feels might need some extra nipples or if you’re too lazy to flick your zippo, then Lemmy’s your guy, he maybe old but he’s still a quick firing crack shot and can light that with a single bullet shot.
Tagline – Suddenly the word is Alphaville… and a secret agent is in a breathless race against the Masters of the Future.
He arrived at Alphaville on a mission from the Outlands of Nueva York to track down missing agent Henry Dickson (Akim Tamiroff) and to repatriate Professor von Braun (Howard Vernon). To do this means investigating the city, luckily he meets the Professor’s daughter Natacha von Braun (Anna Karina) who just happens to be one of the most breathtaking ladies in this dystopian future world and let it be known, every lady in this city is bonkers beautiful.
Natacha Von Braun – “Got a light?”
Lemmy Caution – “I’ve traveled 9,000 kilometers to give it to you.”
The problem with getting around this city is that you are watched over 24/7 by an artificial intelligence tyrannical ruler going by the name of Alpha 60. Imagine a Siri or Alexa unit speaking to you after a non-stop week long bender of booze, cigars and cigarettes by the box load and you might get a picture of this booming gravelly hoarse throaty loud voice commanding everything from the airways.
Alpha 60 – “The acts of men carried over from past centuries will gradually destroy them logically. I, Alpha 60, am merely the logical means of this destruction.”
Alpha 60 has made this world inhuman, removed emotional thoughts and feelings, words like love, conscience and poetry and other passionate human freewill affections from the human mind. Anyone resisting these ways will be rounded up and executed.
Alpha 60 – Time is like a circle which is endlessly described. The declining arc is the past. The inclining arc is the future.
Can Lemmy complete his mission plans and get out of this future city devoid of emotion and travel back to The Outlands? Can he do better than his counterpart detective Dick Tracy? And more importantly can he get the girl?
Lemmy Caution – “Dick Tracy, is he dead?”
From the opening arrival at the hotel you know you are in for a fantastical ride. Director and writer Jean-Luc Godard brings together a half serious, half satire, futurist trip through 60’s Paris. Godard’s film brings with it a fully functioning keyword generator of genre category labels like French New Wave, Avant Garde, Neo Noir, Social Satire and Surrealism, yep it really hits every single one. You either going to think this film is a work of total genius or pretentious load of gobbledygook. I thought it was ridiculously fantastic and loved every single second of it.
One surprising factoid
If you imagine Lemmy Caution is a Sam Spade, Mike Hammer private detective kind of noir guy you will know his character. What I didn’t know was Eddie Constantine is an American actor who moved to France and starred in a whole series of Lemmy Caution B-Movies way before Jean-Luc Godard gave us his crazy take on the character. He played Lemmy at least 10 times and even paired up with Godard one last time in 1991 for the film called Germany Year 90 Nine Zero. I had absolutely no idea of any of this until just now!
Anyhow I’m sure there’s some deep psychological studies and essays out there in blog land which will be worth reading to explain things but everybody will get different feelings and thoughts about the film and that’s what makes cinema such an important medium. Have fun on your journey through the galaxies.
Wolfie
I do like a list, hope you do too! Here’s what has been watched in October 2017. Continue reading
From the poster image I went in thinking this was a post-apocalyptic film and even after watching I’m not a 100% sure if it was or wasn’t! It might of well have been, it certainly looked like they lived in some bleak desolate god forsaken place. Unbelievably this is set in New Zealand and not the beautiful settings we are used to from the likes of Peter Jackson’s band of bare footed Hobbits stomping around the Shire. This hamlet, where are story is set, is awash with piles of mud, slush, muck and dirty dank puddles and sad pained faces. Continue reading
Wolfmans Cult Film 