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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2021 - 5:22 AM
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jackfu
(Member)
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A Jeff Morrow and Morris Ankum twofer.
Both of these movies had A-Movie ideas and plots, but F-movie budgets.
Kronos (1957) 6/10 - B-Movie Scale
I like this film. Typical of its time script and acting-wise. The plot is pretty good. The main thing for me is that for once, the robot isn’t humanoid in form. Other than to allow a stuntman to wear a robot costume as cost savings, I’m not sure why robots are almost always depicted as humanoid in scifi films.
Plus, I like the idea of a giant robot.
For its time the effects weren’t all that bad. However, on some of the long shots, where animation was clearly used for the walking, instead of using strong, deadly pylon legs, the robot almost looked as if it was tip-toeing thru the tulips.
I liked how near the end, when the robot is short-circuiting, there are circuits flashing on and off on the exterior of the machine.
It made lots of cool noises, too.
The Giant Claw (1957) 5/10 - B-Movie Scale
This movie really catches a lot of crap, and I think some of that is unfair. It’s another one that is typical for its day. The story line is good and the idea of a monster from another dimension with an antimatter shield that protects it from weapons was fairly unique. And, for what it’s worth, it’s the first film that I know of with the idea of using a maser.
So, it comes down to “The Bird”.
Yes, the special effects with the bird destroying the jets were laughable and whoever thought it was a good idea to use a fifty-dollar marionette as the most vital cast member of the film should have been tied to a pole and force-fed a gallon of French-Canadian “Pierre’s apple jack”, oui?!
Jeff Morrow once said something to the effect that none of the cast had seen the bird effects after the film wrapped and he went to see the film in a theater in his hometown. The Bird got such laughs, he slinked out of the theater before anyone recognized him.
It IS a terrible effect, but it’s not much worse than some of TOHO’s flying monsters, IMO. The original plan was for stop-motion work from Harryhausen, but budget constraints kept that from happening.
Both films are worth the ninety minutes of watching.
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Still nice. The is waving goodbye and soon to be getting ready for bed.
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Three Days of the Condor (1975, Sidney Pollack) 9/10 (Amazon Prime)
Taut conspiracy thriller by Sidney Pollack, starring Redford as a CIA bookworm who accidentally survives the assassination of his unit and slowly realizes he cannot trust anyone, as it may have been an inside job. Co-starring Faye Dunaway and Max von Sydow as efficient, calculating hit-man. One of the finest movies of its genre, it still holds up well today (of course I had seen it before), you could almost re-make the movie with the same screenplay, as only the technical gadgets have changed, but not so much the political games. (The romantic subplot is pretty standard 70s and the weakest part of the film, you'd have to update that, but it still works.) Unobtrusive, mellow-jazzy score by Dave Grusin here and then as filler, nothing special, as most of the suspense scenes are in 70s realistic fashion style left un-scored.
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2021 - 11:51 AM
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By: |
TominAtl
(Member)
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Three Days of the Condor (1975, Sidney Pollack) 9/10 (Amazon Prime)
Taut conspiracy thriller by Sidney Pollack, starring Redford as a CIA bookworm who accidentally survives the assassination of his unit and slowly realizes he cannot trust anyone, as it may have been an inside job. Co-starring Faye Dunaway and Max von Sydow as efficient, calculating hit-man. One of the finest movies of its genre, it still holds up well today (of course I had seen it before), you could almost re-make the movie with the same screenplay, as only the technical gadgets have changed, but not so much the political games. (The romantic subplot is pretty standard 70s and the weakest part of the film, you'd have to update that, but it still works.) Unobtrusive, mellow-jazzy score by Dave Grusin here and then as filler, nothing special, as most of the suspense scenes are in 70s realistic fashion style left un-scored.
This is probably my favorite 70's paranoid conspiracy thriller and one of Redford's best movies. Understated and taut.
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Three Days of the Condor
This is probably my favorite 70's paranoid conspiracy thriller and one of Redford's best movies. Understated and taut.
Yeah, I'm inclined to agree.
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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2021 - 4:39 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) – 8/10
While there had been gangster films and films about criminals before, this classic crime drama from director John Huston was one of the first to look in detail at a single crime from the criminals’ point of view. Sam Jaffe received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of “Doc Erwin Riedenschneider,” recently released from prison and with a foolproof plan for a half-a-million-dollar diamond heist. All he needs is $50,000 in seed money from high-living crime financier “Alonzo Emmerich” (Louis Calhern), who has to borrow the money from bookie “Cobby” (Marc Lawrence) because he is broke. The money buys the needed help, in the persons of safecracker “Louis Ciavelli” (Anthony Caruso, $35,000), muscle “Dix Handley” (Sterling Hayden, $10,000), and driver “Gus Minissi” (James Whitmore, $5,000). During the robbery, the building and its alarm are easily breached. But things start to go awry when the blast to open the vault sets off alarms in nearby buildings. From there, it’s one thing after another, as the plan slowly unravels.
The film has a great B-movie cast, solid plotting (from W. R. Burnett’s 1949 novel), and some tense sequences. Miklos Rozsa provides some musical bookends with opening and closing cues, but otherwise the film is unscored. Harold Rosson’ s black and white cinematography, which included some location shooting in Lexington KY and in Cincinnati, OH, also received an Oscar nod. Sam Jaffe lost the Oscar, but received an award at the Cannes Film Festival for the Best Performance of the Year. THE ASPHALT JUNGLE was not a big hit at the box office, grossing just $3.1 million.
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Waterloo
1971
How this ponderous peculiarity was ever billed as a family action film at the time i dont know. I saw this with my mum n dad - never remembered being so bored. Its a spectacle, for sure, and to be admired for its epic scale, but dreary and heavy-going as the mud the battle was fought in. Rod Steiger's over-acting sometimes works in the roles hes in (Duck you sucker hes perfect) but in this even his exaggerrated whispering to himself is irritating. A very confusing battle, too, not very clearly explained.
6 out of 10
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Yes i shouldve given credit for the helicopter shot as the french cavalry ride into ambush of the british tactical triangles. That iconic shot was a famous poster at the time you could buy in woolworths - my cousin had it on his bedtoom door, with Bruce Lee and Easy Rider on the wall.
That 132 mins run time is interesting, i couldve sworn it was 5 hours!!
"By God sir, Ive lorst my leg."
"By God sir, so you have"
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Terence Alexander, not George Cole
I put a pic in for you.
A rare memorable moment.
And the bit where an officer informs Wellington that Napoleon is in range and asks permission to fire a shot.
"Certainly Not!" Says Plummer. "Leaders of armies have better things to do than fire at each other."
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