Ramon_Rojo

There are many that will talk about how bad the previous two STAR WARS prequels were, as if there was absolutely no process of thought involved in either of them. Now, with REVENGE OF THE SITH, they are jumping up and down with acclaim.

I agree with this acclaim because SITH is the darkest, most violent and the most disturbing STAR WARS period. To say that it makes THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK come across like Disney cartoon would be an understatement.

Which brings me back to THE PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES.

With all three films, we find ourselves wondering how could the cherubic, selfless child from THE PHANTOM MENACE turn into the reactive, borderline psychotic teenager with fascist leanings in ATTACK OF THE CLONES, to a genocidal brownshirt in REVENGE OF THE SITH.

I think that was best summed up by Hannah Arendt when she coined the word 'the banality of evil'.

In the guise of a science fiction fantasy, Lucas, with his prequels, has created an interesting meditation on fascism and the path to evil.

I hope that people will take the time to think about what he was created...

What can I say about this film?

Well, it has to be first Nixon doctrine spaghetti western with a frustrated general complaining about the rules of engagement that prevent him launching a search-and-destroy mission on an Apache stronghold in Mexico (Hmmmm...substitute Apaches for the Vietcong and Mexico for Vietnam...) It even has a buckskin Rambo, that being Captain Kaleb, who wants to take out the entire Apache nation after his wife is murdered.

Well, this gets me to the movie. It is one of those movie that used to get made in the Sixties and Early Seventies where scores of actors are assembled in various stock roles, with a screenplay that has recycled every action movie convention without much spark or imagination. And then there's Bekim Fehmiu. I've seen more vivid performances from driftwood.

In short, it's one of those movies you watch on a Saturday afternoon, when nothing else is on and pay very little attention to it.

The only exception I would have to make it for Piero Piccioni's score. It's got that cheezy late sixties jazz thing going on (apologies to Dennis Miller..)

Other than that, it is nothing terribly memorable...

I have many chances to catch this 'film' on cable. I have had many times where I tried to sit through the entire film. In all of my attempts to watch this, I have to say this: this is positively the worst film that I have ever laid my eyes on. Considering that I've seen PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE, GLEN OR GLENDA, and Bob Guccione's CALIGULA--that's saying a lot.

There are many vignettes in FREDDIE GOT FINGERED that I'm still trying to flush out of my head. The most odious is when Gordo births a baby, bites through the umbilical cord and whirls it around the hospital woman.

From all of the things that went on during the production and during the time when some studio exec green-lighted the movie, I wonder about one thing: did anybody think that this was funny?

You know---I'm not being entirely truthful. There was one moment that amused me. It was when the studio exec played by Anthony Michael Hall commented to Goldo about his drawings: "You see what I mean...Doesn't make any sense....pretty f**king stupid..."

Why?

Because it summed up the entire film....