rwozniak-1

At first, I didn't know what to make of this film. Was it a play? Was it a movie? I couldn't really tell. The way the movie is presented on film left me guessing. But whatever it is, it's worth watching. Certainly, it's a low-budget effort; but nevertheless, it's one of those movies I hoped wouldn't end.

In any case, I saw it for the first time late, on a sleepless night, and it held me spellbound for the duration. There seemed to be something magical or even mystical about it, as the young man's ghost--who appears to pop into the scene from nowhere--attends to some unfinished business; and in so doing, he manages to save his reputation, falls in love with a struggling violinist, and then--having given his all to complete his unfinished task--has to leave his love behind.

The castles in the sand are splendid, especially when lit with candles from within; but they are transient and easily destroyed by the ocean's tide. There has to be a message in the story somewhere ... whether it be simply that some good can come out of even life's seemingly darkest moments. And certainly, one has to note the undaunted faith and hope of the old man, even when it appears that all is about to be lost.

This is another one of those films that I simply had to capture with my VCR the next time it ran in my area, and I made a point of looking for it. I've since transferred it to DVD for myself. I can't help but wonder if "Sandcastles" provided the inspiration for the movie "Ghost" several years later.

An unlikely plot deals with a cop, whose wife is murdered, and who then becomes ordained a Catholic priest, gets assigned to a poor parish with special needs in the district where he was a cop, and who somehow attempts to track down his wife's murderer. The cop-priest struggles to get his priorities straight--avenging the death of his wife as a cop or serving God in the role of a priest.

In my opinion, the best part of the movie is the "Mass" music. A minor subplot entails some youth pressuring the young, but stern monsignor to allow them to have a "folk mass" just once. Of course, the cop-priest intervenes; that is, up to the point the "folk mass" becomes a "rock mass." As music director at my church, I've completed the Mass music, written out the musical score, and used the music during services. Other than that, the movie--to me--was a time waster. The film offers little in the way of suspense or drama. It was nothing significant or exciting. But perhaps, I got distracted by the music??? There was a follow up to the movie, one that was equally uneventful, something about a plot to murder a number of priests. There wasn't even any good music to save the the sequel.

I caught most of the episodes when they originally aired, and I agree that there seemed to be something mystical about the show. I've always been fascinated by wolves, and thought at the time a show that endowed a human with the insights and instincts of a wolf was brilliant. Despite the less-than-brilliant writing, for me, the show was captivating, sort of like "Dark Shadows" used to be. There were a number of subplots attempted ... fears that Lucan might revert to wolf, Lucan relentlessly being pursued by the law, Lucan's attempt to find his real birth parents, something about having witnessed a drug deal gone wrong, and his ongoing friendship with Dr. Don Hoagland, who was responsibile for socializing the wolfboy. It's a shame the series only lasted part of single season, and even then was often preempted for sports events. I regret that the series never appeared again as reruns. I did happen to catch the pilot movie on VHS, which I pulled off the air via my VCR at 2:00 a.m. over one of the oddball local Chicago TV stations. That was several years ago. I've since transferred it for myself to DVD. Since that time, I've picked up bootleg DVDs of all the episodes: Lucan-pilot, The Search, How Do You Run Forever, One Punch Wolfson, Brother Wolf, The Creature Beyond The Door, Thunder God Gold, Nightmare, and The Pariah. I hope the series is legitimately resurrected sometime on DVD.