vanwall
Joined Jan 2000
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vanwall's rating
I enjoyed this adaptation of The Spirit comics, and in many ways it caught the flavor and humor of the original stories. It had a nice cast of virtual unknowns, and hit all the marks for fun and adventure. Sam J. Jones did a creditable job, and Laura (McKinley) Robinson had P'Gell down cold, and was a gorgeous femme fatal. It had a low budget look, tho, for much of its length, and not enough of the wonderful camera angles The Spirit comic practically cried out for. That said, Will Eisner told me himself, at a ComicCon, that he would rather I never mentioned it again. He wanted a darker, more noir look to it, with a better cast. As for the re-make from 2008, which reeked, the less said the better - I'm sure Mr. Eisner would have plenty of negatives to talk about for that film; many, many more than for this one.
I caught this once on TV many years ago, and waited for a few years to see it again on TV, and the second viewing confirmed my original impression - a cast of unknowns, headed by Norman Alden, made a beautiful small film that should be released on DVD as soon as possible. Alden played mostly heavies in the films I'd seen him in before, and this was a revelation - he was totally believable and very expressive with his movements, something talented big men can do like no others. The script is almost hyper-realistic, with a good feel for natural language, depending on other characters interactions with Andy to advance each set piece in the film. All in all, a great little independent film.
Gorgeous film, with a great Robert Wagner psycopath performance. He uses his good looks to advantage, using all the women he knows, and killing some. Wagner's best performance, by far. The location shots are beautiful, and this movie looks better than the mediocre script deserves. Virginia Leith has to carry the last part of the movie, and she's very good. A much under-appreciated actress. Strangely, the weak remake of this movie from 1993 starred Sean Young, who not only looks VERY much like Leith, but her voice is eerily similar! Watch the original, it's pure Hollywood!
Rob in Dago
Rob in Dago