John Wayne had a career that spanned decades. He began with bit parts in the late 20's, until his first real meaty part in The Big Trail (1930). Then he wallowed in "poverty row" westerns (cheap B movies cranked out by such studios as Monogram and Liberty, with budgets lower than even the quality) until John Ford rescued him and gave him what is referred to commonly as his breakthrough role as "The Ringo Kid" in Stagecoach (1939). Over the next 40 years, Wayne's name became a drawing factor in dozens of movies.

Admittedly, he was involved in some clunkers over that span. Not too many would disagree that probably his worst was when he tried to play Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956).(Wayne as a Mongol warrior? See the link to see what I thought of that decision). A lot of those poverty row westerns rank pretty low on a list of Wayne movies, too, and admittedly, to me at least, most of them could be confused with each other, because they all basically had the same story.

Personally, I think Wayne was at his best when he stayed with the westerns genre.  My personal favorites in this category are El Dorado, The Horse Soldiers, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, Stagecoach, The Train Robbers, The Undefeated and The War Wagon, all of which I have reviewed elsewhere on this blog. You can also add a few that I haven't gotten around to reviewing (yet): Chisum, Fort Apache, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, Red River, The Searchers and True Grit. I also like Rio Bravo, but not nearly as much as I like the remake, El Dorado.

When Wayne tried to branch out from his western hero mold, at times he came across as a western cowboy in a role that was decidedly not a western, but many times did a good job at it anyway. As jingoistic as they come across, both Sands of Iwo Jima and The Green Berets are still standout Wayne performances. But both of those are war movies, and cowboys and soldiers are not all that far apart, at least in the Hollywood tradition. You could have transplanted both of those in the realm of the Civil War and made him a Union officer leading troops and they still would have been mostly the same.

In my opinion, however, when Wayne tried to play modern day characters outside of the war and western pictures, his films were not all that great.  Circus World, Jet Pilot and even Hellfighters are probably some of the worst films my admitted movie hero ever made.

Two movies Wayne made just prior to his last, and one of his greatest, films, The Shootist, rank among those that many Wayne fans are not overly fond of.  Both, I think, were made in response to Dirty Harry (1971) and involved him playing modern day detective/cop characters. In McQ (1974) and Brannigan (1975) Wayne played the rogue cop role already made famous by Clint Eastwood, and followed by such TV shows like Baretta. Of course, in McQ Wayne's character quits the force and takes on the role of private investigator to complete his goal, but he starts out as a sort of Harry Callahan character at the start.

It's not that Wayne is absolutely horrible in these two. The fact is, being an avowed Wayne western aficionado, I myself just had a hard time with accepting him playing the gritty modern cop character. Now it must be said, Wayne had been approached to play Harry but turned it down, and admitted later that he thought he had made a mistake. So his taking on these two roles probably had a lot to do with that decision. 

Contrary to the title of this blog entry, Wayne's gun(s) in these films is not a .44 Magnum as Eastwood uses in Dirty Harry. In Brannigan his preferred weapon is a Colt Diamondback, and in McQ, it is a SW Model 10, but I couldn't resist the title, given that these two films were basically knockoffs of the Eastwood film.

Both films have something to keep the interest of people. There is a little bit of film noir running through each, what with a lot of surprise double crosses, and a few "didn't see that coming" twists, but in my opinion, Wayne was the fly in the ointment here. Clint Eastwood was 40 when he made the first Dirty Harry, and as such somewhat believable as the rogue cop with some vigor still in his body. Wayne, on the other hand, was in his mid-60's when he made these two, and even taking the cancer that was starting to take toll on his body by this time, just didn't have the oomph to look like he could still hang with the big guys. 

 

 

 

 

Brannigan (1975):

Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) likes doing things his way, regardless of what objections the bosses might have. He is hot on the trail of a mobster named Larkin, and he'll stop at nothing to get him.  But Larkin is no longer in America.  He is currently in London, where the Brits have offered to extradite him to the Americans, and the powers that be send Brannigan to collect him. But basically Larkin is walking around free until at such a time. That's because the Brits have some "by the rules" laws, which includes the fact that he could go on bail.  Not to worry, however, Jimbo, they have him "under surveillance". Jolly good, eh, what? 

 

Larkin has a hit out on Brannigan, and has hired a hit man to eliminate him, this despite the fact that even if he succeeds the Americans will just send another man.  But Larkin doesn't like Brannigan very much, so he has his sights set on just the immediate future. 

 

And he has one of the best hit men in the world on the pay roll, Gorman (Daniel Pilon). He also has no intention of taking the advice of his "lawyer" , Fields (Mel Ferrer), to skip town through a bit of subterfuge because Larkin really likes London and wants to hang around.

 

Brannigan is met at the airport by a police officer, a woman (bit of a change from his last stint in London during the war.) Det. Sgt. Jennifer Thatcher (Judy Geeson) escorts Brannigan to meet with the head honcho in Scotland Yard, Sir Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough), who assures him they can pick up Larkin any time Brannigan is ready to do so.  But there is a fly in the ointment.  While Larkin was at a men's club getting a massage, he is kidnapped, and now even the Yard has no idea of his whereabouts.

 

Brannigan gets off to a bit of a bad start with Swann over his insistence to wear his firearm, which, although regulatory by American standards is against British law.  "When in London, do as the Londoners do" is not a part of Brannigan's repertoire, however. Despite many demands put on him by Swann to turn over his weapon, he refuses to do so.  Which decision comes in handy quite often over the course of the film.

 What keeps this movie from becoming an unintentional farce like the Conqueror is the fact that the action gets gritty enough to hold your interest.  And the chase scenes through the London streets are exceptionally well paced.  I am especially grateful for the fact that when, in the inevitable scene in which Wayne is forced to take the wheel in one car chase, the film didn't sink into the "fish out of water" driving I half expected: that of Wayne, being American, driving the wrong side of the road or some such ridiculousness.  At least they kept that joke out of the picture.

There is some very interesting twists going on, and Brannigan seems to think that maybe, just maybe, that kidnapping of Larkin isn't as on the up-and-up that it would seem to be.  Although you might think it was given the fact that one scene involves the "kidnappers" sending the police one of Larkin's fingers as proof they mean business. Which just goes to show how committed some people can be in hoodwinking others.

Over the course of the film there is always that hit man working his way into the objective, and in one scene, the female detective almost buys it just because the hit man mistakes her for Brannigan.  Fortunately she is saved, because that would have been a very serious letdown if she had died.  I liked the girl playing her.

The final shootout with the bad guys goes pretty much as you would expect.  But wait! Remember the hit man?  He is still determined to finish his assignment. OK, so this movie (and as you will see, the other one) are not really horrible. And with a younger guy than Wayne, these movies both might have been good moneymakers, whether or not a star name was in the title role. 

 

 

McQ (1974):

 

The beginning has a guy driving around the city where he kills two uniformed police officers.  One is a guy on early morning patrol checking locks when he sees the car and investigates.  The driver shoots him and speeds away.  But not very far because he shoots another a few blocks away.  Then he goes to a diner where he stashes the gun in a satchel.  And we find out that he is a police officer himself... He takes the satchel outside and throws it in a car that pulls up, but as he is walking away, the driver of that car shoots him. It turns out that the original shooter was a Det. Sgt. Boyle, who was a partner and friend of Lt. Lon "McQ" McHugh (John Wayne). 

 

It's a bad morning for McQ. Not only does he learn that his partner and friend has been shot, but when he goes outside, he finds some guy trying to hijack his car.  He yells at the would-be thief  who runs away, but someone has been lying in wait for him and tries to shoot McQ.  He dodges the bullets and ends killing his would be assassin instead.  Already, barely three minutes into the picture, we have 4 dead bodies.

In the tradition of film noir, it gets even more complicated as it goes along.  McQ's boss, Capt. Kosterman (Eddie Albert) thinks the whole thing is a plot by radicals. (This being the 70's, liberal anti-war student radicals were often the bad guys.) 

 

But McQ is convinced it is the work of a local drug lord, Santiago (Al Lettieri).  He tries to do his own work in solving the murders (Boyle has in the meantime died), and ends up beating the crap out of Santiago to try to get a confession.

 

 

That doesn't work so well.  McQ ends up in hot water with his bosses and is told to take a desk job pending investigation.  But McQ is in no mood to give up so easily.  He quits the force and then goes to a private detective friend to get hired on as a private investigator. This is just a cover, since McQ's "client" is himself, thus giving him some freedom to operate on the case in another capacity. He still retains a compadre on the inside of the force, however, to help him wangle the necessary information he might need; J.C. (Jim Watkins)

In the process of investigating he finds out from a former snitch, Rosey (Roger E. Mosely), that there is a planned heist, and from another snitch, Myra (Colleen Dewhurst) that the planned heist is going to be from the police department itself.  

 

It turns out that about $2 million worth of drugs is about to be burned, but hoods posing as laundry men, take the drugs.  McQ gives chase but loses them in a confusion during the chase. Capt. Kosterman is none too pleased and threatens McQ with removal of his private license. But McQ is still on the case, with or without his legal license to carry. Ultimately he breaks into Santiago's offices where he finds, conveniently, a desk littered with bags of the "drugs".  But he is caught by Santiago and his henchmen, and finds out that even crooks can be taken for a ride.  What Santiago actually ended up with in his drug heist are bags of sugar. 

You get it now?  There are some police men on the inside who are dirty, taking the drugs for their own profit and basically leaving the real drug dealers high and dry.  McQ suspects that the Mr. Big on the inside must be Kosterman, who, after all, has been doing everything he can to get McQ off this case.  But don't be too sure about that...

Of course, it turns out, as anyone watching must have cottoned to, that Boyle was involved in some dirty dealings, but he had to have a partner in the ring, one who knew all about his dirty dealings, and one who was higher up in the echelon on the inside.  But maybe there were a couple of other partners that were in on it that no one else knew about. And possibly, just possibly, friends that McQ has may not entirely be the friends he thinks he has.

At this point I would normally tell you how it all panned out.  But despite  the fact that I thought Wayne was out of his element in this role, I still liked the double cross the film makers put on the viewing public as to the real solution.  Maybe you will see it coming a mile away, but I was thrown for a loop. Which is why I think this movie is worth watching, at least plot wise. Wayne may not be believable as an obviously aged cop trying to pull off stuff that someone 20 years younger ought to be doing, but the story makes it worth a watch.

One of the important reasons why this film works is that it had a guy behind the camera who knew how to make the action interesting.  John Sturges, the same man who gave us such classic action oriented movies as The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven (and there's a movie long overdo for an appearance at the Drive-In...), Ice Station Zebra and his last film, The Eagle Has Landed knew how to hold the viewers interest. Many of you could name others, I'm sure, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind for me.  

Well, folks, as opposed to most of my Wayne movies, this time I won't have to try to saddle up a horse, although the Plymouth is no match for the kinds of cars Wayne gets to go home in...

(And, in case you missed it a few years ago, for those who might be wondering, I present the Plymouth...)

 

 

Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

OK, let's settle this argument once and for all.  Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie. Just because you set a movie at Christmas time, and insert a few genial "Merry Christmas"es into the film, and maybe put a guy in a Santa suit in it somewhere does not automatically give it the status of "Christmas" movie.  

I mean, you've got these lists of so-called "Christmas"  movies, like Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, L.A. Confidential and even Batman Returns, all of which are solid action and/or dramatic movies, but the connection to Christmas is tenuous at best. All of these movies would work just as well if the holiday in question  was Thanksgiving, or Easter or even Earth Day.  Maybe the events leading up to John McClane arriving in California to hook up with his estranged wife would have to be tweaked.  But it wouldn't detract from the actual plot.

I admit there are some good arguments for considering Die Hard a Christmas movie, especially the idea that McClane is solidly tying to promote family values by being present with his family on this hallowed holiday, but those same family values would not be out of place if he showed up on his kid's birthday.  (And the teddy bear he has in tow at the beginning would fit in just as well...)

But this movie was not a Christmas release at the time it came out.  It was firmly entrenched in that classic "summer blockbuster" portion of the Hollywood tradition, having been released on July 15. 1988.  Although, to be honest, 1988 doesn't seem to have been a banner year for that summer blockbuster theme.  Some of the other movies released that summer ( Big, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and Red Heat to name a few), probably would not be considered blockbuster material.  In fact, July 4th weekend saw the release of License to Drive, Arthur 2: On the Rocks and Short Circuit 2, neither of which seems like Hollywood expected 1988 to be a big year for the summer movie goer.

And neither Bruce Willis nor director John McTiernan lay claim to he fact that this is meant to be a Christmas movie. If the two major names behind it deny that it is one, doesn't that seem to imply that people have a wrong idea/? I  mean. if you want to pick this  movie as your go-to Christmas Eve tradition as opposed to, say, Miracle on 34th Street or one of the many versions of A Christmas Carol, both solidly Christmas movies, then go ahead, but trying to justify it by saying it's a "Christmas" movie is pure folly, in my opinion.

Given that, so why am I choosing to do this post so close to the day in question?  Because, despite my reticence to accept it as a "Christmas" movie, it's still a damn good movie.  And  besides, what says Christmas more than a bunch of terrorists being taken on by a one man army...?  All we need is Santa Claus to show up in camo with an army of commando elves.  And to celebrate the victory, a healthy dose of alcoholic beverages by the blazing fireplace afterwards... Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum. Then we really could call this a "Christmas" movie.

 Besides Bruce Willis, who was just starting out in his film career, the film does have a cache of great actors in it.  Of course, everyone knows the fabulous Alan Rickman as the head baddie, Hans Gruber, made his first feature film debut.  But additionally we got what I like to call a big trifecta of memorable actors well known for playing "assholes". and/or villains.  

First we have Paul Gleason.  Gleason, of course, is well remembered as Assistant Principal Vernon in The Breakfast Club and Clarence Beeks in Trading Places, neither of which are very likeable characters.  Additionally, there is William Atherton, the jerk who tries to get the Ghostbusters group shut down in the film of the same name.  And Robert Davi, who here is the head of the F.B.I. was memoable, for me, as the villain in the James Bond film, Licence to Kill.

But that's not all.  Reginald VelJohnson, Carl from the TV series Family Matters, is a solid presence as McClane's ground contact during the siege.  Bonnie Bedelia. who I first saw in the 1979 version of 'Salem's Lot, is here as McClane's estranged wife. And one other character, Argyle, the limousine driver, is played by De'vereaux White.  He doesn't have the cache of roles that the others had, but, interestingly enough for me, he was the kid who tried to steal a guitar at Ray's Music Exchange in The Blues Brothers.

Most of the cast of others are of varying degrees of fame, but one other that I wanted to trow in in Al Leong.  Leong is a fixture in the kind of movies I like.  He appears in, among other movies, Big Trouble in Little China, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Lethal Weapon, and The Scorpion King.  He's hard to miss even when he has a brief uncredited role.  He appears here as one of the terrorists (an Asian terrorist in a German terrorist group?  Well, not much less likely than an African American one, and there is one of those too.)

Die Hard (1988):

The film opens with our hero, John McClane (Bruce Willis) arriving at LAX, bound for a reunion with his wife and kids.  We get the meat and potatoes of the situation in bits, since McClane is a man who likes to keep to himself, but apparently his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) has taken the opportunity to expand her own career, despite John's ability to accept it.  She took on a job with the Nakatomi Corporation as an executive, which caused her to move with the kids to L.A. while John stayed behind in New York. (He's a NY cop, and a dedicated one at that.)

 

 

John is met by Argyle (De'voreaux White), the limo driver that Holly has sent to pick him up.  Even though Argyle tries to draw John out he's not very talkative.  Upon arrival at the Nakatomi Building Argyle offers to park the limo in the garage and wait to see how John's meeting with Holly works out, just in case he might need a ride to get a hotel in anticipation of a quick turnaround.

 

 

Fortunately, for those of us with a short patience for matrimonial drama, there is a quick change in scenery. At just a mere 17 minutes into the movie the terrorists invade the building and begin their onslaught.  The first of the victims is the security guard at the front desk, (because, after all, this whole thing can't go down if there is anyone who might throw a wrench into the terrorists' proceedings.)

The terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), quickly take over the Christmas party and take all those present as hostages.  He demands the security codes from the president of the corporation, but the man claims he doesn't know.  Whether he really does or doesn't we don't get to find out, because Hans has decided the man is uncooperative and therefore useless.  Victim #2.

 

 

Meanwhile, John, who has been winding down in Holly's office, hears the gunshots and realizes the s**t has hit the fan.  And now, the real meat of the film gets underway.  The third death in the movie, however, will not be an innocent hostage.  John takes out one of the terrorists and announces his presence to the rest of them.

 

 

Too bad that his first terrorist is the brother of one of the others.  That creates a bit of animosity that will crop up now and again over the course of the film.  Although Hans has a desire to take John alive, the brother has other ideas and often puts the entire endeavor in jeopardy.

While one of the terrorists (the electronics whiz) makes an effort to break down the security codes protecting the vault and Hans makes an effort to convince the hostages that he is a suave debonair and not entirely all bad kind of guy, the rest of the group makes an effort to track down this rogue would-be hostage who is making a mockery of them.  And not doing all that good a job of it at that.  There is a disparity of sides however.  The terrorists only have 11 guys to go up against John.  Probably needed to plan ahead a bit more.

Meanwhile, John, for his part is doing his best to get the attention of the authorities that something is not quite right at the Nakatomi Building.  He turns in a false fire alarm, but the terrorists manage to put the kibosh on that.  John tries to use the walkie-talkie he confiscated from the dead one dead terrorist he took out, but the police think it's just some joker.  They do send one squad car, manned by patrolman Al (Reginald VelJohnson)., but he determines there is nothing wrong, since the terrorist who took over the security guard position gives him the old "nothing wrong here" line.  But John manages to get their attention yet again when he shoves the dead guy out the window and it lands on Al's patrol car...  Now, John has their attention...

 

 

In comes the police headed by one of our resident Assholes-in-charge, Deputy Chief Robinson (Paul Gleason).  Robinson thinks he can handle the situation with a full-on raid on the building.  Not his best idea.  When things start to go a little south, the F.B.I. shows up, led by the second of our Assholes in charge, Big Jonson (Robert Davi).  And his ideas aren't much better.

 

 

Meanwhile, the third resident asshole, a smarmy "get the big story no matter what" reporter, Thornberg (William Atherton) is gumming up the works.  He eventually figures out who the fly in the ointment on the inside is, and who his wife is, and goes to try to get some of the story at the source by interviewing the kids of John and Holly.  (Yeah, that's going to put him in good graces with the parents...)

 

 

Of course, most of the movie involves John putting himself in harms way trying to take out the terrorists.  And I'm not exactly sure how many people end up dead in this film.  There are all of the terrorists, of course, and two of the hostages, but it is questionable how many of the police and F.B.I. guys end up dead.  Surely it doesn't come close to the body count in Rambo III (released the same year), but I would hazard a guess that the toll comes in the top 5 of movies released that year.  

Die Hard is definitely worth watching, especially if you like this kind of film.  However, I suggest if you want a family night movie for Christmas Eve, you are probably better off with It's A Wonderful Life.

The Plymouth ain't no limousine, but it is will get me home in style.  Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

When the summer of 1989 rolled around I was a student at Southwest Texas State University (since renamed Texas State University).  I was heavily involved in an on-campus Christian group called The Great Commission.  At that time (I have no idea whether the program is still in effect), the on-campus group held an annual event every year in which those of us with the funds would pack up and move to Washington D.C. area for a leadership conference.  Essentially we got full time jobs during the day and attended leadership conferences at night.

I admit even today that I was not cut out to be a church leader.  Hell, I'm probably lucky to even be in God's good graces. If God is patient, (and people who are devout will tell you He is) then He has his work cut out for Him, in my case.

At any rate, I was in D,C. are when this movie came out.  By the time I actually had the opportunity to see it, it had already made it's run through theaters and was on it's last legs in the $1 theaters. (Yes folks, there was a time when you could actually go to see a movie for a $1.  But, to be fair, a regular price ticket was only about $6 ..)

I only vaguely remembered this film before watching again today.  I remembered, of course, Swayze as a top dog bouncer, and I remembered Kevin Tighe (formerly from one of my sister's favorite TV shows Emergency!) as the owner of a bar who entices Swayze's character to come work for him.  And that's about it.

Swayze was always a stud in my opinion, but he had some tendencies to playing less than he-man characters over the years.  Consider: He was a man's man in such films as Uncommon Valor,  Red Dawn, Steel Dawn, and to some extent The Outsiders.  But he was also in such less man-friendly films such as Dirty Dancing, Ghost and of course Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. Don't get me wrong.  I actually liked some of those films, but being a gung-ho type movie buff, I gravitated to ones where he was kicking ass and taking names as opposed to ones where he making women swoon.

Which brings us to Roadhouse. This movie was directed by a guy credited as "Rowdy Herrington" , and if this movie is an indication that "Rowdy" nickname is not a misnomer.  I think the director was in the cutting room saying something like "O.K. we've been 5 minutes without a fight, it's time to stick another one in...".

Roadhouse (1989):

Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is the top dog bouncer at a bar in New York City. (Note I see credits for his first name being "James" but I can't recall it ever being mentioned in the movie.  Everybody call him "Dalton"). Dalton has such a reputation that all you have to say his name and everybody gives a low whistle and says "Dalton?" Man he's the best."

 

Into his world comes Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe). Frank is the owner of the Double Deuce, a bar in Missouri that he wants to invest money and time in to make a profitable venture.  The town is on the outskirts of Kansas City, according to the early dialogue, but the actual town is Jasper.

 

(OK, so something you need to know here is that the real town of Jasper, Missouri has nothing to do with the town in the movie.  For one thing the real Jasper is WAY too small to even support a bar of the size of the Double Deuce. But the real issue I have with the prospect of hiring Dalton for this venture will pan out over the course of this review).

The town of Jasper is basically being run by a mob boss wannabe by the name of  Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).  It becomes evident that Brad has the run of the town, and has everyone trembling at his feet.  He has everyone paying protection to him to be allowed to function within the town.  He also has the law enforcement under his thumb.  (Which explains how no cops seem to ever show up when fights break out.)

The first thing that Dalton demands from Frank is $5000 up front and $500 a day as the top dog.  Which brings one to wonder how much money a small town bar expects to bring in on a daily basis...

You can see from the beginning that Dalton has his work cut out for him.  This bar makes the average Western saloon look like a mom and pop fine diner.  There are more bottle flying and fists pumping in the space of a minute than you can even keep count.  The waitresses are selling extracurricular enhancements, the bartenders are skimming the till, and the bouncers are not pulling their own weight.  One of Dalton's rules at the beginning is that he must be given free reign to make the changes he deems necessary.  Which includes getting rid of the excess weight.

HE sets down the law with his three rules:

1. Never underestimate your opponent. Always expect the unexpected.

2. Take it outside.  Never start anything in the bar unless it's absolutely necessary.

3. Be nice. Until its time to not be nice.

Of course, these new rules do not necessarily set well, not just with unruly patrons, but even with former employees.  And time and again Dalton goes out to the parking lot to find his car has been vandalized.  But he takes it in stride.

He finds a place to live, a room on a dilapidated farm owned by an old geezer named Emmett (Sunshine Parker).  And he finds time to develop a relationship with Dr. Clay (Kelly Lynch), the local female doctor.  Making for one of the screen's most quick romances.  He just meets her and they fall in bed together (oh the charm of Swayze..)

 

 

It takes almost half the movie to introduce the real conflict, however, that of the villain of the film. Wesley.  Wesley develops an intense dislike for Dalton, some of it due to the fact that he is helping turn the Double Deuce into a better and more profitable place (which probably irks him more because he can't dip his fingers in the pie...)  But also because Dalton is developing a relationship wit Dr. Clay, a girl that Wesley once had, but apparently lost sometime in the past.  (Could it be because he is an unprincipled jackass...?)

 

Wesley and his hoodlums cause all kinds of ruckus, including the demolishing of the local auto parts place (ostensibly because the owner would.t pay he protection racket fees.)  But eventually he sets his sights on getting rid of Dalton one way or another.  Dalton has some help however, when his mentor, Wade (Sam Elliot) shows up and helps him kick some villain butt.  

 

But even this is not eventually enough.  And Dalton has a decision to make, either stay and fight, or just get out while the getting is good.  It turns out, however, that Dalton has his choice made for him by the actions of Wesley.

 So is this a good movie?  Well, as I mentioned there is a couple of major plot point that just doesn't make sense.  For one, I find it hard to believe that small town bar is such a going concern (even if it is on the outskirts of Kansas City). And how a town located that close to a major metropolis could have a small time hoodlum exercising that much control over the operations seems to be a bit far-fetched.

One of the things I mentioned in the beginning is this movie seems to be just  looking for a fight to happen.  It seems like every five or ten minutes a fight breaks out just to break up the monotony of dialogue and character interaction.  And they are quite a few dead bodies by the end of it, but most of those crop up in the final 10 minutes.  Looked at from a different angle, you could say it's one big fight scene broken up by the occasional breaks of dialogue...

You should know that the movie did get nominated for several Razzies including Worst Actor, Worst Director and Worst Picture (but fortunately for this outing it came out the same year as that turkey Star Trek V The final Frontier. There are some things that just deserve to be left on the dung heap) 

I wouldn't say this is a movie every action film fan should watch.  I wouldn't even say you should watch it if you want to be called a Swayze completist.   But if you have an hour and a half to kill and don't want to get into anything too deep, it's not too bad.

Quiggy

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my entry in the Rule Brittania Blogathon hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts.

 

 

 

 

There was a new revolution in science fiction that came to the fore in the late 1990's.  Although it's origins predated it, in 1995 a series of short stories by Paul Di Fillippo (Steampunk Trilogy) is credited with creating the term,  Steampunk incorporates the genre of alternate history, another great science fiction form, with uses of steam technology to create modern style conveniences and tropes into actual history. 

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen started out life as a graphic comics series created by Alan Moore (of fame for Watchmen and the grittier incarnation of Batman) and Kevin O'Neill.  As in the film version, the comic negated the "Gentlemen" part of the title right off the bat with the introduction of Mina Murray, a vampiress that was the spawn of Dracula.

The series spanned several comics and a graphic novel  or two before being tagged as a feature film.and are well worth seeking out.

 

 

 

 

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003):

In 1899 London (and elsewhere), there are a series of robberies.  Although the culprits are not who they are purported to be.  The robbery in London is supposedly being pulled off by Germans, and a counter robbery in Germany is supposedly being pulled off by Englishmen. It seems someone wants to create the illusion of conflict to start a war between the two late 19th century superpowers.

To that effect, Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery) is sought out to be recruited.  Quartermain is older than the hills and feel he is beyond his years and declines.  He has been retired for years and living out his life in remote Africa.  One of the things established at the beginning is a quote that "Africa will never let him die". (Keep that in mind.  It comes into play later.)

But it seems that someone is determined that Quartermain will not be recruited.  But the efforts to stop him have the opposite effect.  Quartermain returns to England where he meets "M" (Richard Roxburgh) who is trying to establish a hero contingent to combat the mysterious "Fantom", the mastermind behind the efforts to create a world war.

Quartermain ends up with his first members of his hero contingent and seek out a couple more before they can become a team.  In the end, he has Mina Harker, who is now a vampire {from Dracula} (Peta Wilson), Captain Nemo {from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea} (Naseeruddin Shah), Dorian Gray {from The Picture of Dorian Gray} (Stuart Townsend), Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde {from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde} (Jason Flemyng), and Rodney Skinner, a thief who came across the invisibility formula created by Griffin {from The Invisible Man} (Tony Curran.  They also acquire an interloper, a fully grown adult Tom Sawyer, who works with the United States in conjunction with the League.

 

 

 

From London the crew uses Nemo's submarine, The Nautilus, to travel to Venice where some plans are underway by the Fantom to destroy the city. En route they discover that they have a double agent, some one in the League who is secretly acquiring formulas and blood samples from the League, to which purpose is not entirely known.  Everyone thinks that it is Skinner, since he never seems to be around. (Or maybe, he is... he is invisible, after all)

But, as it turns out, it is not Skinner who is the culprit.  It seems the Fantom is blackmailing some one else to help him undermine the efforts of the League... Dorian Gray.  But Dorian is not entirely an unwilling accomplice.  It seems he has an evil side to his nature already in play.  (Which wouldn't be surprising to anyone who read the original source material for the character...)

 And while attempting to prevent the devastation of Venice, another secret is revealed.  It seems that M has a very close relationship with the Fantom.  They are one and the same.  

Dorian tries to sabotage the Nautilus, thus revealing that he is the double agent and the League had been in the wrong blaming poor Skinner.  The League travels to Mongolia to find the secret headquarters of the Fantom/M. Where we discover that the Fantom/M has another identity heretofore unknown.  (I'll leave that one for you to discover on your own if you watch, but here is a tantalizing clue... the character is not dead yet, although everyone thinks he died a few years ago in a fight on a cliff near a waterfall...)

For anyone who is a devotee of classic Victorian era literature, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman has a lot to offer.  And for anyone who became a fan of the later fictional development of steampunk there are a lot of neat little gadgets to intrigue you.  Although LOEG did not make a huge impact with the critics (it only has a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and had to rely on worldwide sales to garner a profit (it only took in $66 million against its $79 million budget in the U.S., but eventually pulled in $149 million before it left theaters), it is still a cult favorite among its devotees.

That's it from the back seat of the Plymouth this time.  Drive safely, folks.

 

Quiggy

 

This is my first entry in the So Bad Its Good Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room

(Note on the title of this entry) Sylvester Stallone has only one facial expression, a seriously blase', sometimes angry, look which I would call "stone face".  I have watched dozens of Stallone movies, and I don't recall him cracking a smile once.  Maybe because "cracking a smile" would cause his face to crack...?


















It could be said that Sylvester Stallone made one good movie in his entire career (Rocky), and then either just cloned or parodied the character for the next 45 years.

At least, if you take the Razzies for what they are worth.  The Razzies, Or Golden Raspberry Awards,  in case you didn't know, are the wicked step-brother of the Oscars, an award given every year to the Worst Picture / Actor / Actress / Director (etc.) in a given year.  For Worst Actor alone, Stallone holds the record for most nominations, with 15 to his credit.

He also won the award for Worst Actor of the Decade, twice, for the 1980's and 1990's.  (The 1990's  award was for "99.5% of everything he's ever done".)  And pretty much every movie he was a part of in that time period also competed for an award (Worst Picture / Director).

An argument could probably be made for saying that John Wilson (the founder of the Razzies) and company just have it in for Stallone.  At the same time he was getting Razzies he was also ranked in the top of Best Action Movie stars.  Admittedly, Stallone will probably never be confused with Oscar material as an actor.  But for a certain segment of the population, mostly he-man wannabees like me, he is almost the equivalent of an action hero god.

Stallone's career as a Razzie nominee hit it's highlight, in my opinion, in 1985.  That year, both Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II hit the big screen.  Between the two, a total of 16 nominations were garnered for Razzies.  Stallone even got a nod from the Razzie committee as worst director (for Rocky IV).

To the two films credit, both were big money makers (and my $$ were a part of that tabulation).  Only Back to the Future made more money that year, but Rambo: First Blood Part II and  Rocky IV were #2 and #3 respectively in terms of overall bucks at the box office.  Proving that even if he was a bad actor, he did have the cachet to draw in the crowds.

Part of the attraction of these two movies, at least at the time, was the presence of Russians as the villains.  In order to understand the conflict within the movies, one must understand the historical context.  This was during a time, prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the decline of Russia as a dominant threat to the American way of life.  The Cold War was still in effect, when the United States (in particular the Ronald Reagan led years of the American government) danced toe to toe with the evil empire of the Soviet Union. Thus, the James Bond movies and most other action movies of the time that involved an international conflict would reflect a Russian influence on the other side. (see my review of the 80's movie  Red Dawn for more).
























Rambo: First Blood Part II: (1985):

In terms of release Rambo: First Blood Part II was the first in the theater, a summer release.


At the end of the first First Blood, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is sent to the penitentiary to do hard labor.  (See the movie to find out why, if you don't already know.  Or just follow the link above and read my thoughts on it  if you don't want to invest 2 hours to watch it...)



But his former commanding officer, Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) has been keeping him on his mind.  So when a covert mission to go back in to Vietnam to see if they can verify the existence of P.O.W.s who were never repatriated at the end of the Vietnam war, Rambo is one of the few surviving Green Beret veterans from that war that is thought to have the capabilities to complete the mission.




So Rambo is taken to a headquarters where he meets Murdock (Charles Napier) who gives him his mission.  He is to infiltrate the Vietnamese jungle and locate a potential P.O.W. camp and take pictures to bring back proof that P.O.W.s are still being held by the Vietnamese. 




(A side note:  At the time it was widely believed that the Vietnam government had reneged on repatriating many P.O.W.s  from the Vietnam war.  Although there was no actual proof of such, the government at the time used the idea as muscle in its relationship with the Republic of Vietnam,  And the theme of a rescue operation to free them made its way into a few movies of the time, including the Chuck Norris vehicle Missing in Action and the Gene Hackman film Uncommon Valor.)

Rambo is rather incredulous at the idea that he is supposed to just "take pictures" but leave the P.O.W.s he might find there. But he agrees to the mission.  Dropped off in the jungle (with most of his equipment lost during the drop), Rambo meets up with Co (Julia Nickson), a covert Vietnamese girl who is fighting against the Communist regime.



Together they approach the potential site where, indeed, several prisoners are being held.  Against orders Rambo frees one of the prisoners and makes his way back to the pickup site.  The prisoner informs Rambo that it was lucky they came when they did because "they move us around a lot."  This revelation is the first clue in the fact that the mission might not have been all on the up and up.  Apparently the camp was supposed to be empty, which would have produced no results.

The true nature comes to the fore when, at the pick up site, the rescue team radios back to HQ that Rambo has a P.O.W. with them and Murdock orders them to abort the mission, leaving Rambo behind to be captured.

Enter the Russians.  Headed by Lt. Col. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff), the Russians try every which way to get Rambo to talk, and to radio back to his HQ that any further attempts to come in to Vietnam will be addressed with requisite retribution.



But Rambo tells them to go to Hell.  He does submit to the radio contact, but his only words are to tell Murdock that "I'm coming to get you!" And then proceeds to escape.

The final segment involves the typical Ramboesque escape and jungle battle as Rambo picks off both Russian and Vietnamese soldiers who are in pursuit, and eventually commandeers a helicopter which he uses to help the remaining P.O.W.s in the camp escape.

Of course, Stallone would go on to reprise Rambo in a few more movies, most recently Last Blood, (which I missed in the theater.  Just waiting for a chance to get it on DVD).  The Rambo series is proof positive that an attitude and a good knife will get you through any situation...








Rocky IV (1985):


Rocky IV by contrast, enjoyed a Thanksgiving release.  This was one of the handful of movies that my sister and I saw together over the years.

After Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) defeated Clubber Lang (Mr. T.), life has become sedate for Rocky.  He has his family to care for, and his friends to pal around with, especially his once nemesis, now good friend and sometimes trainer, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers).

But there is a new enemy on the horizon.  The Russians, who are always trying to denigrate their nemesis, the Americans, have begun a  campaign to claim that their amateur boxing hero, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) is better than anything the Americans could pit against him. Of course, this will inspire even the most liberal of the population to experience a little twinge of resentment and American pride to come to the fore.

As a result, since the Boxing Commission is not quite ready to sanction an official fight between its champion and the, as yet, unknown contender, there is an agreement to have an exhibition bout in Las Vegas.  And who else but pro-America former heavyweight champion Apollo is better to step in to the ring and take this Russian whippersnapper down a peg or two?  So despite some misgivings, not only from Apollo's family but also from Rocky, the former champ agrees to a match.  Of course, Apollo is under the impression that even though he has aged a few years, he should still be able to hold his own against an amateur.  (You could be forgiven if this reminds you of George Foreman, who tried something similar in the early 90's, entering the ring in his mid 40's).




Apollo, unfortunately, is no match for Drago. And despite a pre-match performance of a somewhat patriotic song by James Brown,




the fight doesn't quite come out the way Apollo and Rocky and the American public quite intended.



Apollo is pulverized and eventually dies from the damage he suffers in the altogether too short match.  Making Apollo the second trainer/friend that Rocky has had to watch die.  (See Rocky III)  Disgraced not only by he fact that he wouldn't throw in the towel during the match to stop the fight and incensed by the pure chutzpah the Russians exhibit after their win, Rocky agrees to a match between himself and Drago, to be held in Moscow on Christmas Day.   (and if you don't see the slap in the face the Russians are giving America by having the fight on that day, you haven't been paying attention).

Adrian (Talia Shire), Rocky's wife, pleads with him to not follow through on the fight, but if you know Rocky (or at least this kind of movie), you know those pleas have to fall on deaf ears.  Rocky travels to Russia where he knows he can train without the distraction of the American paparazzi, which he knows all too well won't give him the peace to train.  Don't miss the recreation of Rocky's famous climb up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in which Rocky does virtually the same thing, only up a mountain.




The day of the battle comes.  The crowd is sufficiently hostile to the intruder from America while cheering for their national hero.  Which is to be expected.  What is not expected (and may just be wishful thinking on the scriptwriter's part that it would actually happen) is that as Rocky manages to go toe to toe with Drago, as each round passes, more and more of the crowd seem to switch their allegiance from Drago to Rocky.




If you don't know how this movie turns out, you don't watch enough of these kinds of films.  I must admit that Rocky still looks like he could take Drago (or at least that Stallone could take Lundgren) despite the fact that the Russian is a head taller.  Much more believable than in later years, in which Stallone is still trying to capture lightning in a bottle as an action hero, despite the fact that he looks like he would be more comfortable in a walker than an armored tank.

You've got to admit, though, that both John Rambo and Rocky Balboa can instill some patriotic idealism.  Both of these movies deserve at least one look, and even if you don't care for the jingoistic fervor, which quite frankly comes off as something like John Wayne saying "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do".  Whether you watch them or not, just remember, stand up for what you believe in no matter who stands in your way.

I actually prefer First Blood II over Rocky IV, but both are pretty cool if you like this type of movie.

Time to fire up the Plymouth and head home.  Drive safely folks.

Quiggy