What was the last movie you saw?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Watched at home during my time away from the computer:

Maybe I'll Come Home In the Spring (1971)

Made for TV movie. Sally Field is a teenager who returns home after running away to be a hippie. Her on-and-off hippie boyfriend (David Carradine) tracks her down. Will she go back to him? What little plot there is (the film is very impressionistic and jumps back and forth in time a lot) also involves her parents and her sister. Title song performed by the unrecognizable voice of Linda Ronstadt. Very much of its time. The film doesn't paint a very appealing picture of either the hippies (eating from garbage bins, having bad drug trips) or the squares (worrying more about possessions than people, having drunk parties.)

 

[KGeo777]

THE TERRORISTS aka RANSOM 1974 - I don't understand the ending of this film and I have seen it a couple of times. Sean Connery is a Norwegian security chief with a peculiar accent and Ian McShane is a terrorist on a plane who threatens to blow it up unless another terrorist is freed. But the twist at the end seems completely screwy as if they needed to justify a shoot out and had no other way to do it. If you think about it-it makes little sense--and why would they have real explosives that needs to be diffused by removing a piece of a wrist watch? Even when they are landing the plane--they have a gun pointed at the pilot's head for no reason. In fact it is dangerous--what if there is a bump and the gun goes off? Also, the woman terrorist has a gun pointed at the head of a maid in the bus for the whole time--jeez - I don't think she has to worry about any sudden karate moves.

I would have have saved it for a snowy day but we have none.

 

[Toby Frost]

Agreed. However, the follow up, The Big Sleep remake with Mitchum, makes two huge mistakes by setting it in the 1970's and moving it to the UK. Avoid.

Yes, it really doesn't work at all. Seeing it made me realise just how integral the time and setting are to those stories.

 

[Parson]

I watched a lot of TV last night. I watched the final episodes of American Primeval a story about a little known time in US history 1850's Utah where the Mormons, a couple of Indian tribes (mostly Black Feet and Shoshone), and the US army/government were all in a bit of conflict with each other in a kind of a three way war. As in most "historical" movies it is short on history and long on drama. The plot is complicated. There are two story lines which are mostly independent, but they both run into all the conflicted sides of this dispute. It is gripping and very, very, violent. Everyone in the movie is in danger of being killed and many of them are. (Netflix)

There is one thing that you either going to hate or love, when arrows are shot they are filmed in slightly slow motion with more sound than is realistic.

Assuming that the violence is okay with you:
Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

I also watched The Six Triple Eight. (Reviewed up thread) On the whole I liked this movie probably better than it deserved. The Production, plot, and cinematography were all pretty average. What carried the day for me was the true story of the only African/American women's battalion to serve in Europe in WWII. And how they were treated by the white establishment and how they persevered and were much more capable than a lot of military leaders believed them to be. On every level this would be considered a lesser presentation than American Primeval but this is the one that is hanging with me more than the former. (Netflix)

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

 

[Jeffbert]

Deadline at Dawn (1946) NOIR ALLEY; I think this is the 1st time I have seen it. Anyway, as far as the twist ending goes, I did not see that coming!

So, this sailor Alex Winkley (Bill Williams) on leave becomes drunk, and learns that the woman he was with last night, is dead. Moreover, he has a large wad of money in his pocket, & cannot remember where or how he got it. He finds the money while dancing with one of those 10¢ a dance young ladies June Goffe (Susan Hayward), & confides in her. They go to the apartment and find the woman strangled to death. Next thing, they confide in a cabbie, Gus Hoffman (Paul Lukas), & the three of them pursue clues, hoping to clear the Sailor before 6 AM when the bus going to the Naval base will leave.

supporting cast/characters:
Val Bartelli (Joseph Calleia) the dead woman's brother, & he wants revenge! Sleepy Parsons (Marvin Miller) the nightclub piano player. Edna Bartelli (Lola Lane), the murder victim.

8/10

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Eyes Behind the Stars (Occhi dalle stelle, 1978)

Tepid Italian UFO movie. Photographer gets abducted by aliens (just ordinary people in suits that completely hide them.) His model later gets mind controlled remotely and gets captured as well. Reporter friend investigates, cops investigate, military investigates, but secret service types cover things up. When model is found in a catatonic state, a psychic reads her mind to get some indication of what happened Nihilistic ending. Mostly folks talking. Pretty tedious.

 

[KGeo777]

ACE HIGH - 1968 -- Terence Hill and Bud Spencer film--haven't seen many of them. Not sure I see the appeal but in this case they had Eli Wallach as a partner with Brock Peters and near the end, Kevin McCarthy. Most interesting to see the last one in a spaghetti western because they would usually emphasize visuals--especially the face--over dialogue and so it was fascinating to see McCarthy presented in that way. Reminded me of Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time In The West--and by coincidence or maybe not, half of the red-haired McBain family shows up in one scene.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Night of the Strangler (1972)

Contains no strangling. What is does contain is a complex whodunit with strong racial themes. Young white woman comes home to tell her fanatically racist brother (as well as her more liberal, if hot-tempered, other brother -- Mickey Dolenz, fresh from The Monkees) that's she's pregnant and plans to marry the father, who happens to be black. Racist brother freaks out, of course. Back in New York, the father of her child is killed by a professional hit man with a rifle, right in front of her. Not much later, somebody drowns her in a bathtub, then makes it look like suicide.

The film has just started, so let's say that there's a lot of tension between the brothers, more people get killed, leading to our Shocking Twist Ending. It's cheap and amateurish, and the convoluted plot may not make total sense, but it's got a certain raw power.

 

[Foxbat]

Soylent Green (1973)
I haven’t watched this one for many years but was pleased to see that it had stood well against the passage of time. Fine performances from Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson (his last movie) elevate this Fleischer directed flick to Sci-Fi classic.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Candidate (1972) another of the 100 most important political films. Ben M. talks with Kaitlan Collins of CNN, before and after the film. Ben's father was himself, a political insider, rates this, "All the King's Men, & The Last Hurrah "as the three most accurate political films ever."

This particular film, is all about the campaign for Senator, and has content consistent with that. the guy is sucker-punched, cussed-out, etc. Interesting, if nothing else.

8/10

 

[paranoid marvin]

Soylent Green (1973)
I haven’t watched this one for many years but was pleased to see that it had stood well against the passage of time. Fine performances from Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson (his last movie) elevate this Fleischer directed flick to Sci-Fi classic.

Fantastic movie, and the pairing of Robinson and Heston worked so, so well.

It very much surprises me that no one has ever made a remake, as it is just as relevant today.