Tag Archives: Sunday NIght Movie

Sunday Night Movie: Macbeth(1948)

Before Citizen Kane, and before the Mercury Theater’s radio production of War Of The Worlds, Orson Welles was the wonderkid for his stage productions. He gained fame and notoriety for fresh and inventive productions of classic theater. Most notably among these was his production of Macbeth.

Using an all black cast he staged Macbeth on a Jamaican plantation with a cast that was inexperienced on the stage. The production was a smash hit, propelling the young Welles on his way to stardom.

After the trouble Welles found with the studio system and his bruising combat with William Randolph Hurst over Welles’ first film, Citizen Kane, perhaps it was natural that Welles returned to Shakespeare looking for his cinematic redemption. Welles convinces second tier studio Republic, best known for westerns, to support his Macbeth.

The version I watched last night is a version that Republic did not release. It was part of Welles’ that ‘the Scottish Play’ be done with Scott accents. The studio rebelled when it heard the final version and order all the dialog redubbed with the actors playing the parts in their native accents. This version is not currently available in the United States on DVD. The image above is from a Korean import which I purchased a few months ago.

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Sunday Night Movie: The Maltese Falcon (1941)

This is truly one of my favorite films. The Maltese Falcon is the film that launched the genre of Film Noir and in many ways it has never been equalled.

I first saw the film in my Introduction to Cinematography class back in my old college days. That was a grand course. Every Tuesday and Thursday we’d sit though about 25 minuets of lecture, then watch a film. (Films started on Tuesday and we completed them on the Thursday session.) It was done chronologically, starting with silent films and working our ways through the decades of film production. (Mostly we saw American films, but there were a few foreign movies.) Many movies I would have never sought out I watched there and I truly learned to love all sorts of film.

The Maltese Falcon is movie that made Bogart as start, it launched the directing career of John  Houston, and it forever stamped on our collective psyche what a hard-boiled detective is like.

Curiously this is the third adaptation of the novel into film. The first was made ten years earlier and did modest box office, the second was made in 1936 and strangely titled, “Satan Met a Lady.” It starred Betty Davis in the femme Fatale roole, but the film was played more for laughs than serious crime fiction and it failed with audiences and critics alike.

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Sunday Night Movie: Robocop

Well, the Sunday Night Movie feature now turns 50! Not 50 years of course, but this is number 50 for my Sunday Night Movie posts.

I started the Sunday Night Movie more than fifty movies ago, but I did not blog about it at first. The movie events started for me when I noticed a convergence of two factors. The first was that  had a large and growing library of films on DVD and Blu-ray, but I didn’t always make time to watch any of them. I would think about them, a title would pop into my head during the day and I’d think ,’Man, it’d be good to see that movie again.’ However life would catch up with me and I wouldn’t watch anything. So I committed myself to a movie every Sunday night.

The second factor was that my sweetie-wife and I have divergent tastes in movies. There are plenty of films we watch and enjoy together, but some not so much. The Sunday Night Movie became a time when I could screen a film that was not to her tastes. (Such as the blood-tastic violent film I watched last night.) Continue reading →

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Sunday Night Movie:The Caine Mutiny

Yesterday when I was bumming around town and playing videos games with my pal Bear he asked me what was my Sunday Night Movie feature going to be and I replied that I was thinking of re-watching Robocop.

After my sweetie-wife went to bed and it was time to start up a feature I realized that I was in the mood for something meatier that Robocop. I wanted a dramatic film, not a genre piece. I scanned my collection and my eyes fell on The Cain Mutiny.

I can’t remember the first time I saw The Cain Mutiny. I know it was television during the 80s’, before the dreaded infomercials had pushed movies out as the low-budget local tv station fare. I remember tripping across the film fairly close to the start and I was pulled in at once by the riveting writing, characters, and performances.

If you only know Humphrey Bogart as the cool always in control detective then this film is one you really should see. It’s a film he did after he escaped the studio system and could be in the kind of roles that would stretch him as an actor.

The central character of the film is Willis Seward Keith, a young 90-day wonder of an Ensign. Willie has problems, mainly he’s too attached to his mother still and has not learned to be his own man. He’s got an on-again/off-again relations with a lovely signer, May Wynn, and has been assigned to a worn out, rusted hulk of a ship, the DMS Caine. Willie saw himself making an important contribution to the war effort, (the setting is WWII), but instead he’s on an ‘outcast ship, manned by outcasts, and named after the greatest outcast of them all.’ Or so Communications officer Lt. Keefer informs him.  Things seem to take a turn for the better when a new captain is assigned to the Caine, Lt. Commander Phillip Francis Queeg. Queeg is old navy, a life-long naval officer and a by the book man. When the new captain makes it clear that the Caine is going to become a new ship and taunt ship Willie couldn’t be more pleased.

However, Queeg has his own demons  and the drama of the story is rich with loyalty, betrayal, and cowardice.

This is a movie that every time it came on TV and I caught even a portion I stopped and I would always end up watching it to the end. I eventually copied off the air on a VHS tape, and then later got it on laserdisc. Now it’s one of my favorite DVDs. When it comes out on blu-ray I will replace it without qualms or any need for additional bonus material.

I tracked down a library copy of the Pulitzer prize winning novel a  few years ago. This film is a pretty good adaptation of half the novel. I don’t begrudge them that they only told half the story. Even at that the running time was 2 hours 5 minutes. There is little that is in the film that was’t in the book. Contrary to popular myth, Bogart did not invent the bit with Queeg and the ball-bearings, that was in the book.

If you get a chance see this movie and read the book.

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Sunday Night Movie: The Kentucky Fried Movie

I was not in the mood for anything heavy, serious, or that require more brain power than say a epileptic mouse. After scanning my collection I settling on the sketch comedy movie, The Kentucky Fried Movie, for my sunday night feature.

If you are familiar with Airplane! then you know something of the kind of humor to expect from The Kentucky Fried Movie. It was written by the director/writers of Airplane! and directed by John Landis.

The film is a collection of sketches and comedy bits. Most are presented in a coming attractions format except for the odd TV spot and of course their feature presentation: A Fist Full Of Yen.

This is not a movie for the kiddies. There is rampant nudity and language, but hell there’s nothing wrong with either of those thing in my book.

I suspect that much of the humor will be dated and inaccessible to viewers not young enough to remember the seventies. The PSA, the films parodied, and the frequent refrain ‘Film at 11’ are pretty much meaningless now. That said I think that there is enough humor that it would still be entertaining just not as fulfilling as to say someone of my age bracket.

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Sunday Night Movie: Forbidden Planet

Commander J.J. Adams has got problems. Firstly, he’s in command of 18 highly-competitive physically perfect specimens of manhood who have been cooped up inside a tiny spaceship for 370 days. Next, the twenty members of the Bellerophon expedition he has been sent to relieve are all, save one, dead. Slaughtered by a mysterious and unstoppable entity. The sole survivor the enigmatic Dr. Morbius refused to divulge the secrets of the ancient and dead world orbiting Altair. If all that wasn’t enough, Commander Adams finds himself competing with his own First Officer for the affection of Morbius’ beautiful and intelligent daughter, Altaira.

Forbidden Planet is truly one of the great films of Science-Fiction. I selected it as my Sunday Night Movie to honor the passing of it’s star, Leslie Nielson . (see action pose to the left, and thanks to Forbidden Planet’s The Daily Planet for the image.) If you are 30 or under it is likely that you know Leslie Nielson only as a talent comedic actor, but that was his second career as an actor. From the 50’s through the 70’s Leslie Nielson was primarily a dramatic actor.  Forbidden Planet is one of his first leading man roles and he was selected to be a dashing, romantic lead. That said, he found moments in the script where is comic timing could come to the fore.

This is a movie about power, the corruption of power, and how that corruption can take place even with the best and noblest of intentions. It is a warning that the powers of a god does not make a god. A warning that all of us have a nasty dark and dangerous side that is best kept chained in the basement of our minds.

The script is dated and there is no mistaking that this was a story and characters populated in the 1950s. It might take place in the year 2500 or something, but the culture and the characters are pure Americana in the mid 1950s.  That said it is still one of the handful of SF films that I would urge all serious fans of the genre see. The story is still compelling, the science is still spot-on and the vision still bold .

If you watch this movie you might feel flashbacks to the original series of Star Trek and that would be understandable. Gene Roddenberry’s show was clearly following in the footsteps on this film. This is one of the pivotal movies influscing film and Tv producers until today.

Every now and then someone tries to get this remade, and in my opinion that is a bad idea. Last I heard there were considering a three picture remake, ’cause hey that makes more mulla. If they make it, it won’t be as good. It will not be as bold and as original. This movie is not flawed and it is not forgotten, it should be left alone.

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Sunday Night Movie:Rollerball (1975)

Jonathan E. only wants two things out of life, to have his wife back and to play Rollerball. He’s played Rollerball for the Houston team on behalf of the Energy Corporation for nearly ten years. Longer than any other man has ever player the brutal and often deadly sport. Now the Corporation, one of seven that rule in a world without nations, has told him to retire. Jonathan, one man, stands against the corporate machine in defiance and the corporation will not be defied.

Rollerball is one of the first stories that can be called cyberpunk. Made in 1975 the film depicts a world without want, without suffering, with war, and without freedom. A world where the nation-state has withered away, but communism did not rise rather corporations did. They manage the world and provide for everyone’s needs, all they ask is that people keep out of managerial decisions.

Rollerball stars James Cann as Jonathan e, the best Rollerballer the world has ever seen, and that is a danger to the corporation. The game is both gladiatorial bloodsport to keep the masses happy and entertained and symbolic message that one man can not make a difference.

This is a brand of SF filmmaking from the 70’s that I truly miss. Before Star Wars, the Sf films of the 70’s by and large had important themes and messages. They were concerned with ideas and the implications of those ideas. Thanks to ground breaking films before them. 2001, The Planet Of The Apes, The Day The Earth Stood Still, SF films were beginning to be seen as a fully adult medium for story telling. this fully matured in the 70’s until Star Wars.

Don’t get me wrong I love me my fun action filled Star Wars, but it displaced by the massive box office it generated, the idea of the small thoughtful SF movie. Science Fiction at the theater became the domain of the block buster, the wanna be blockbuster, always with more and more elaborate special effects.It is like the SF buffet was now comprised solely of Ice cream and Cookies.

We’ve seen a few thoughtful Sf films post Star Wars, but by and large the spectacle has ruled the day.

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Sunday Night Movie: Journey To The Seventh Planet

So there I was last night playing around with the Netflix instant queue on my Xbox 360 when I saw this title pop up.

Hmm, this is a 50’s SF film I had never heard of and I was in the mood for something light and fairly mindless. A badly imagined trip to the planet Uranus just was the thing.

This film from 1962 is Danish. I wonder just how many danish SF films are there? T stars John Agar who made a career out fo B-Sf films though this particular movie is several grade lower than his standard fare.

It starts with voice-over narration to let us know that it is the year 2001 and mankind has made the earth a paradise. There are no nations and no wars and all of man energies have been harnessed for peaceful and exploratory goals. To quote the narration: ‘All the planets close to the sun, including Saturn, have been explored.’ The writers were clearly using values of ‘close’ that are unfamiliar to me.

Anyway the UN has noticed regular radiation pulses coming from the planet Uranus and has dispatched an international crew to investigate and see if there is life. There is little expectation for life as they suspect that the planet has a surface temperature of negative 400 degrees. As they enter orbit and a brief period of weightlessness an alien intelligence, vast, cool, and unsympathetic —wait that’s from a better story — the evil alien mind takes over theirs and probes it for their dreams and fears. (1962? I wonder if this film was a favorite of Gene Roddenberry?)

They land and the landscape around the ship changes from bleak and frozen to lush and rich woodland. Our intrepid crew don’t realize this ’cause apparently they have no external cameras. They plan to take hours testing the suddenly hospitable atmosphere before exiting the ship. The Evil Alien Presence — as impatient as an author awaiting a rejection slip —  opens the door to their craft flooding it with rich breathable air.

Freaked beyond measure, the crew logically decided to leave and head for home. No they didn’t, they went ahead and walked outside, sans suits. I couldn’t PAY my players to be that stupid.

They quickly encounter old flames, childhood homes, and apple trees, all apparently equally loved by the repercussive crewmen. Let’s not consider where the apple-fetish might take us,

Further exploration indicates that a forcefield surrounds their landing site. A handy stick can be pushed through the field so they know it can be penetrated, but have no way to determine what the conditions are beyond. With due care and planning remote probes are sent through the barrier to ascertain the conditions. You don’t believe me do you? Well, you’re right. The German kid, on his first mission, sticks his arm through and finds out what it feels like to be a frozen TV dinner. Lucky for him the budget did not include one-arm effects and he is allowed to recover in a day with no ill effects.

The rest of the film is the crew exploring the frozen world in very thick non-pressure suits, encountering lovely ladies and accepting them as their long lost loves, fighting giant one-eyes bipedal rats,  and fighting with a Cycloptic-brain that pulses radiation at 750 roentgens.

If you are into MST3K fare, but without Joel and the Bots then this might be for you.

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Sunday Night Movie:The Exorcist

When Chris MacNeil’ s daughter Regan begin behaving strangely, Chris does what any mother would do and takes Regan to the doctors. Despite advanced technology and level of medical examination that borders on medieval torture the doctors can find no cause for Regan’s increasing bizzare and violent acts.

When Chris’s director dies mysteriously after visiting Regan Chirs is pushed out of the light of reason and enlightenment and is forced to confront the growing possibility that Reagon is possessed.

With only the help of Father Karras  a priest whose own faith has shattered, Chris must find the one person who can save Regan’s soul, The Exorcist.

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Sunday Night Movie:FutureWorld

Two years after reporting about the massacre at he Delos owned amusement park Westworld, reporter Chuck Browning smells another story brewing. Delos has opened a new amusement park, insistent that this time the robot are fail-safe. When a man is murdered trying to get information to him, Chuck realized that not everything is as it seems at Delos.

Forced to work with a professional and personal rival, television reporter/personality Tracy Ballard, Chuck infiltrates the high-tech park Futureworld. Despite their bickering the television report and newspaper man discover this time  that more is at stake than homicidal robots. Uncovering a vast conspiracy that threatens the world, Chuck and Tracy risk more than their lives.

I’ve decided that I would start off my Sunday Night Movie posts with a pitch for the films I watched. The principle reason for this is so that I would get more practice at pitch writing. It is an important aspect of novel selling and an aspect I particularly suck at.

So the Futureworld is the squeal to the 1973 hit, Westworld starring Yul Brynner and Richard Benjamin. In Westerworld at film directed by Michael Crichton from his novel of the same name. The Delos corporation has created an adult theme-park populated with lifelike robots. People can play in artificial environments, engaging in sword fights, sex, gun fights, sex, and debauchery. (Drinking in other words.) The robots malfunction and instead of losing the fights, begin killing the guests. Technology gone awry, as you can see it was never a new theme for Mr. Crichton. Westworld was a hit and made oodles of money, that commanded a sequel.

MGM released Futureworld on 1976, Michael Crichton was not involved in this production so the technology did not go awry. Instead we have a very seventies plot of conspiracies and cynicism. Political and economic leaders from around the world are coming as guests of Delos and of course some nefarious is happening to them. This film was not as well received by either the critics or the public and is generally a forgotten SF film of the seventies. I ended up watching it last night because I was in the mood for something that would not task my brain beyond the most rudimentary concepts.

That said this film in many ways worked better for me than Westworld did. Westworld suffered from severe plot-holes that were required to create the situation that Crichton demanded of his story. For example, when the technology fails in Westworld, the powered doors all locked. Sealing the technicians, who might have resolved the plot before the main characters were in too much danger, in their underground control chambers. There are apparently no overrides, manual or otherwise on these doors. Without power it is simply impossible to open them. Furthermore, the air stops and all the tech die of suffocation. Even as far back as the seventies this is not OSHA compliant. Westworld required this so that Richard Benjamin would have to face the gunslinger alone. Truthfully, this is not very good writing.

Futureworld, by not having the plot revolve around a breakdown of technology escapes this trap. It also got one thing right about the future, the death of Newspapers. Everything else about the future is strangle contemporary to the seventies. Blythe Danner is wasted as the airhead television personality.

In the end this made a perfectly acceptable SF film for a late-night  just kick back and enjoy it viewing, but not one I’d want to own

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