DEATH SQUAD (1985, dir. Max Pecas) - French title Brigade des Moeurs
This is a definitely a Junesploitation film.
The French title is better translated as Vice Squad, but that name was obviously used for a different film. The sleaze of Death Squad begins off the bat when three trans p-r-o-s-t-i-t-u-t-e-s are gunned down by men riding motorcycles. That sets off a series of events that serve to connect the characters more than create a coherent plot. There are the motorcycle killers, a rogue cop, a host of p-r-o-s-t-i-t-u-t-e-s, and a criminal gang running s-e-x clubs and p-O-r-n distribution. A lot people get killed as well. In short, it is a film that rivals Italian exploitation in sleaziness, nor is it at all P.C. There is also a strong '80s vibe. Death Squad was also released as Brigade of Death.
'ONE [FRANCO] IN THE HAND[JOB?], TWO [JEAN ROLLINS'] IN THE ['HARRY']BUSH' WHOLESOME THR#&-S0ME! :-P
Jess Franco's EUGENIE DE SADE (1973, FAWESOME) Jean Rollin's THE R@PE OF THE VAMPIRE (1968) & THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970... both INDICATOR 4K UHD)
A Casual Listener and zillagord mentioned on Jess Franco Day! comments that "Eugenie de Sade" is one of their favorites. And since this turned out to be Soledad Miranda's final movie role for Franco (released the same year I was born! :'( ) I gave it a shot. Told as a feature-length deathbed confessional flashback, we learn the s#xual/murderous antics that sexually repressed Eugénie (Miranda, looking good and being sympathetic despite doing awful things) engaged in with her wordsmith stepfather Albert (Paul Muller) across several European countries (Belgium, Germany, France, etc.) after both realize they share the same deviant tendencies. It was fun early on when "EdS" seemed to tiptoe gently around Eugénie pushing herself onto her old [step]man, only for Albert to blow past his kid's sexual advances and go straight for human t@rture/homicidal partnership. By the final act all bets are off regarding which taboo "EdS" will trample over next. A fascinatingly monotone English dub, Bruno Nicolai's musical cues working hard and tried-and-true nude/er0t!c scenes with the (often to%less) female victims of the Radecks' killing spree combine to make this a slightly above-average Franco spectacle. YMMV on the daughter/stepdad s@x scenes' appeal. :-O
Franco himself bookends/appears in the narrative as a writer interested in the Eugénie/Albert partnership, hinting heavily he's onto their Marquis de Sade-inspired arrangement. Only Jess Franco would seek to have his name attached to de Sade's to IMPROVE the former's pedigree. :-D "EdS'" sad final two minutes seem like a poetic/symbolic farewell to the Franco/Miranda partnership, the director's final freeze-frame expression capturing the palpable sadness of the moment. 4.15 RED CAPES/HATS WITH MATCHING GLASSES (out of five).
The directorial feature debut of Jean Rollin, "The R@pe of the Vampire" is a boring, incoherent mess that at least drops hints of visual/thematic elements that would return stronger and more polished in his future work. As a completist of Rollin's work I want to hold on to this set of extras and commentaries, but outside of Junesploitation! and Scary Movie Month I don't see myself revisiting this one often... if at all. Divided into two uneven halves (30 min. for the first and roughly an hour for the second), "TROTV" start with a psychoanalyst (Bernard Letrou's Thomas) and his friends/associates traveling to a rural mansion to study four sisters that the local folks believe are ageless vampires. Early on Rollin keeps the ball up on the air about whether the sisters really are vampiric or victims of collective brainwashing. That goes out the window during the 2nd half when a cult of worshippers and their 'queen' try to stage a vampire wedding, complete with sex coffin and other weird eccentricities. A few of the sisters and humans from early on re-appear, rendering an already confusing narrative even more incomprehensible. B&W cinematography looks OK but camera work/acting/production values are the pits. Everybody's got to start somewhere, and for Rollin "TROTV" turned out to be the bottom. 2.5 BEACH-STRANDED BOATS (out of five).
You can't tell me Stanley Kubrick didn't have "The Nude Vampire" in the brain while making "Eyes Wide Shut." Parts/motifs of this Rollin joint (masked sexual servants/stalkers, secret corridors of power where the wealthy gather to gamble and be degenerates, etc.) are visually stunning, particularly shadows cast over tall buildings making people seem gigantic. There is a young man (Oliver Rollin's Pierre) smitten by a pretty girl who turns out to be a vampire coveted by both human and vampire factions. Somewhat incoherent, which it compensates for with cute nude chicks and thick, relentless atmosphere. For Rollin completists mostly. 3.45 TWIN BALCONIES (out of five).
The red outfit with the sunglasses that Soledad Miranda wears for the first murder is memorably eye-catching.
Watching Eugenie de Sade during Junesploitation 2020 is still such a clear memory for me, and it remains among my favorite Junesploitation discoveries. It is undoubtedly the most touching Franco film I have seen, J.M. By the time Eugenie de Sade was released, Soledad Miranda was gone three years. The Bruno Nicolai score captures the melancholy. I have only ever watched the film in French because I know the language and the dub is so much more poetic than the English one. The Blue Underground DVD gives me both options.
Speaking of dubbing Jess Franco films, there is an interview with a man named Gerard Kikoine on the Sins of the Flesh blu-ray. He was in charge of creating the sounds and dubbing on several of Franco's early 1970s films.
"EdS" is now my favorite Jess Franco of the ones l've seen... but it's only good-enough for a 4.15 in my scale. There is a low-ceiling for my enjoyment of Franco, and "...Portuguese Nun," "...Ecstacy" and this are bumping up against it. 🤨🫤
SINS OF THE FLESH (1974, dir. Claude Mulot) - French title Les Charnelles
Benoit, the ne’er-do-well son of a wealthy family, faces the possibility of having his father cut off any financial assistance to him. Work is definitely not for him, though. After making the random acquaintance of a young man and a young woman, Benoit forms a partnership with them to pursue criminal schemes to generate some needed income. They also help him pursue his pleasures, which become increasing voyeuristic and violent.
Sins of the Flesh merges a crime story with extended soft-core scenes. It sometimes feels like two separate films. The crime element does become dominant by the conclusion, however. The fashions of the day, concerning both clothing and cinematic style, are fully on display. Even making exploitation, French directors could not get away from slow pacing. I admit that it is not the most compelling film, but there is some importance to it as a warm-up to Claude Mulot launching French s-e-x cinema beyond the soft-core realm.
couldnt decide on a flick for today so decided to learn a smidge about a Eurosploitation master...
Dario Argentos World of Horror (1985)
Absolutely dug this documentary. Structurally its a bit all over the place but the content is filled with behind the scenes footage from several early flicks of Dario interspersed with small commentary sound bites from him. He constantly delivers said lines with an almost unnerving sense of calm disposition and 1000 yard stare. Its also a really great (albiet brief) look at how much happens behind the scenes to get incredible shots: HUGE cranes, warehouses full of lights/cables, creative special effects and practical effects, etc. In the end it did what i expected: made me want to revisit the great flicks i know and moreso fill in many gaps of Argento!!!!
Doubled-down with a European-set nunsploitation “video nasty.”
Anita Ekberg is still fascinating to watch 20 years after her dance in the Trevi Fountain as a drug-addicted, sex-crazed, obsessively-devout nun around whom many people seem to die untimely and gruesome deaths.
DWARFSPLOITATION! In this depraved Danish doozy, Olaf isn’t a comedic, carrot-nosed snowman—he’s a lascivious, perverted little person, p!mping out chained up, strung out, captive slave girls! What may be worse, his mother, a former actress, enjoys belting out Beefeater’s-inspired musical numbers. Quite a heady combination! This has an Andy Milligan feel to it with its garish, shabby interiors and familial infighting. I watched the STRONG version with p*rn inserts, which had me musing—has there ever been a more appropriate (or redundant) term than “p*rn inserts”? This one’s for only the most debauched of my Junesploitation pals: enter the dwarf’s dungeon (attic, really) at your own risk.
Finland: Island of Doom (Tuomion saari) (2023, dir. Keke Soikkeli)
According to urban legend, a young boy killed his newborn sister and recognizing his sociopathy, his father took a rowboat to a nearby uninhabited island and left him there to fend for himself. Half a century later, a group of friends go on a camping trip to the island for sheer morbid curiosity. Guess what happens next.
The premise (basically Halloween + Friday the 13th, down to the killer wearing a bag over his head) is generic but has potential for a solid if uninspired slasher... if only the dialogue wasn't groan-inducing and the acting a fucking abomination. Not a single line uttered in this movie feels like something a human would say, not a single action or facial expression feels like something that comes naturally to a character. Painful to watch.
Netherlands: The 4th Man (De vierde man) (1983, dir. Paul Verhoeven)
An alcoholic, bisexual novelist is plagued by violent, disturbing visions. He has an affair with a mysterious woman but desires her boyfriend more, and soon comes to suspect the woman kills those she mates with and he might be next in line.
There's no mistaking it, it's definitely a Verhoeven movie, with sex, death and Catholic imagery all rolled into one fever dream. An intriguing mystery with excellent acting (especially from Jeroen Krabbé), dark humor and in-your-face lurid imagery.
Italy: Alien 2: On Earth (Alien 2 - Sulla terra) (1980, dir. Ciro Ippolito)
A spacecraft returns to Earth from a deep space mission (which I guess is supposed to be a reference to Alien, even though the movie seems to take place in 1980) without its crew, and then a team of spelunkers finds a strange, blue rock (no, they don't find it in a cave but behind a roadside diner's outhouse, they just happen to be spelunkers), and while they're exploring a cave, the rock turns out to be a hatching alien egg.
The title obviously tries to ride on the coattails of Alien, released only a year earlier, even though it has very little in common with it. The setup is pretty boring (there's one dramatic panning shot from an unconscious person's toes to her face that lasts about a minute and feels more like a Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker gag than something out of a horror movie), and when the alien monster gets loose and starts attacking people, the over-the-top gore effects are very entertaining but disappointingly infrequent.
I due superpiedi quasi piatti (The Two Almost Flat Superfeet) puts Terence Hill and Bud Spencer together again (it is the tenth of seventeen movies they would be in together) and sends them to Miami.
In this film, they’re Matt Kirby and Wilbur Walsh, longshoremen who decide to rob a grocery store and, in the process, end up being cops. Look, this is even years before Police Academy, and it has a lot of the same notions.
Somehow, they got David Huddleston to be in this as Captain McBride, who is in charge of the boys. Soon, they all learn that the same criminals who controlled the docks where they worked are behind a lot more.
Also known as Trinity: In Trouble Again, Two Supercops and Crime Busters, this is not related to Miami Supercops, another Hill and Spencer movie. Hill and Spencer made five movies in Miami that are in my favorite genre: Italians making their movies partially in America.
There’s even more meta in here, as a hot dog cart plays the theme song of their movie, Even Angels Eat Beans. During a scene where Matt is trying to get Wilbur to be kinder, he remarks, “He who finds a friend finds a treasure.” That would be a future Hill and Spencer title.
If you’ve seen any of those, you know what this movie is all about. Hill is the good-looking nice one, and Spencer is the giant grump. Somehow, they may not start as friends, but they get that way, which leads to slap fights with bad guys and frequent bean eating. However, a formula is called that because it works, and these movies make me happy as I can be—just joyous, singing along to the music and happy that I live in a world where they were filmed.
This was directed and written by E.B. Clutcher, who also made nearly every union of these two, directed The Unholy Four and shot movies like Django, Erik the Viking and Nightmare Castle. Yes, that’s the Americanized name of Enzo Barboni, the director of Trinity.
Meanwhile, in the middle of this comedy, Hill’s character becomes involved with an Asian family and works to help them as the criminals target them. Their daughter? Laura Gemser. Throw in some Oliver Onions soundtrack, and there’s no way I could love this more.
Maybe I wasn't in the right mood but this French Tarantino knock-off really didn't work for me. Talk about all style and no substance, yikes! I found it crass, gross, unfunny and frankly annoying to sit through.
VIDOCQ (2001) Famed criminal turned detective Vidocq dies when fighting a masked supervillain known as the Alchemist. The subsequent investigation reveals more and more secrets via flashback about the two men. This movie is a wild ride. One-named director Pitof films the whole thing with manic music video flair – perhaps too much flair for some viewers, but I liked it. I’ve only ever seen Gerard Depardieu play lovesick shlubs, so it was quite a change seeing him play Vidocq as an action hero with fights and chases. Definitely recommended if you’re looking for a big blockbuster that isn’t the same-old same-old.
30 days of Georges Melies, day 26: FAUST AND MARGUERITE (1904) The titular Faust sells his soul to the devil so he may romance the lovely Marguerite, but things don’t go as planned. This one only works if you’re familiar with the classic Faust story, as it’s a highly abbreviated version. While there are some neat transitions, the movie is more about the pageantry of it all rather than the far-out effects. Say, are we due for a new adaptation of Faust? What would that even look like in the 2020s?
I went with Jean Rollin today, because I really dig his darkly sexy vibe. A cocky but clueless thief screws over his accomplices and takes off with stolen gold. To escape his pursuers, he hides in an isolated manor in the woods, occupied only by two young women who immediately start acting more than a little strange, being flirty and menacing at the same time. Intrigued, he decides to hang around until nightfall when a bunch of mysterious guests are expected to arrive. He doesn’t realize, of course, that this was the women’s plan all along. Rollin feels very much in control of his tools here, crafting a tasteful piece of exploitation imbued with atmosphere, tension, and a sense of impending danger to go with the requisite nudity and blood. If someone was looking to get into his films, I think this one would make an excellent starting point.
This and Grapes of Death are the ones I would recommend to a Rollin newbie. They have all of the qualities of a Rollin film with a narrative that is straightforward.
Is the image from Wife In The City, Lover In Town?
ReplyDeleteSorry, it thinks it's Wife On Vacation, Lover In The City.
DeleteI believe so! I don't even think it's an exploitation film but I wanted Edwige and Barbara Bouchet in the same shot.
DeleteIt is an Italian sex comedy, which can be very exploitative depending on the story and the director.
DeleteLet's see if this one sticks here...
ReplyDeleteDEATH SQUAD (1985, dir. Max Pecas) - French title Brigade des Moeurs
This is a definitely a Junesploitation film.
The French title is better translated as Vice Squad, but that name was obviously used for a different film. The sleaze of Death Squad begins off the bat when three trans p-r-o-s-t-i-t-u-t-e-s are gunned down by men riding motorcycles. That sets off a series of events that serve to connect the characters more than create a coherent plot. There are the motorcycle killers, a rogue cop, a host of p-r-o-s-t-i-t-u-t-e-s, and a criminal gang running s-e-x clubs and p-O-r-n distribution. A lot people get killed as well. In short, it is a film that rivals Italian exploitation in sleaziness, nor is it at all P.C. There is also a strong '80s vibe. Death Squad was also released as Brigade of Death.
'ONE [FRANCO] IN THE HAND[JOB?], TWO [JEAN ROLLINS'] IN THE ['HARRY']BUSH' WHOLESOME THR#&-S0ME! :-P
ReplyDeleteJess Franco's EUGENIE DE SADE (1973, FAWESOME)
Jean Rollin's THE R@PE OF THE VAMPIRE (1968) &
THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970... both INDICATOR 4K UHD)
A Casual Listener and zillagord mentioned on Jess Franco Day! comments that "Eugenie de Sade" is one of their favorites. And since this turned out to be Soledad Miranda's final movie role for Franco (released the same year I was born! :'( ) I gave it a shot. Told as a feature-length deathbed confessional flashback, we learn the s#xual/murderous antics that sexually repressed Eugénie (Miranda, looking good and being sympathetic despite doing awful things) engaged in with her wordsmith stepfather Albert (Paul Muller) across several European countries (Belgium, Germany, France, etc.) after both realize they share the same deviant tendencies. It was fun early on when "EdS" seemed to tiptoe gently around Eugénie pushing herself onto her old [step]man, only for Albert to blow past his kid's sexual advances and go straight for human t@rture/homicidal partnership. By the final act all bets are off regarding which taboo "EdS" will trample over next. A fascinatingly monotone English dub, Bruno Nicolai's musical cues working hard and tried-and-true nude/er0t!c scenes with the (often to%less) female victims of the Radecks' killing spree combine to make this a slightly above-average Franco spectacle. YMMV on the daughter/stepdad s@x scenes' appeal. :-O
Franco himself bookends/appears in the narrative as a writer interested in the Eugénie/Albert partnership, hinting heavily he's onto their Marquis de Sade-inspired arrangement. Only Jess Franco would seek to have his name attached to de Sade's to IMPROVE the former's pedigree. :-D "EdS'" sad final two minutes seem like a poetic/symbolic farewell to the Franco/Miranda partnership, the director's final freeze-frame expression capturing the palpable sadness of the moment. 4.15 RED CAPES/HATS WITH MATCHING GLASSES (out of five).
The directorial feature debut of Jean Rollin, "The R@pe of the Vampire" is a boring, incoherent mess that at least drops hints of visual/thematic elements that would return stronger and more polished in his future work. As a completist of Rollin's work I want to hold on to this set of extras and commentaries, but outside of Junesploitation! and Scary Movie Month I don't see myself revisiting this one often... if at all. Divided into two uneven halves (30 min. for the first and roughly an hour for the second), "TROTV" start with a psychoanalyst (Bernard Letrou's Thomas) and his friends/associates traveling to a rural mansion to study four sisters that the local folks believe are ageless vampires. Early on Rollin keeps the ball up on the air about whether the sisters really are vampiric or victims of collective brainwashing. That goes out the window during the 2nd half when a cult of worshippers and their 'queen' try to stage a vampire wedding, complete with sex coffin and other weird eccentricities. A few of the sisters and humans from early on re-appear, rendering an already confusing narrative even more incomprehensible. B&W cinematography looks OK but camera work/acting/production values are the pits. Everybody's got to start somewhere, and for Rollin "TROTV" turned out to be the bottom. 2.5 BEACH-STRANDED BOATS (out of five).
You can't tell me Stanley Kubrick didn't have "The Nude Vampire" in the brain while making "Eyes Wide Shut." Parts/motifs of this Rollin joint (masked sexual servants/stalkers, secret corridors of power where the wealthy gather to gamble and be degenerates, etc.) are visually stunning, particularly shadows cast over tall buildings making people seem gigantic. There is a young man (Oliver Rollin's Pierre) smitten by a pretty girl who turns out to be a vampire coveted by both human and vampire factions. Somewhat incoherent, which it compensates for with cute nude chicks and thick, relentless atmosphere. For Rollin completists mostly. 3.45 TWIN BALCONIES (out of five).
The red outfit with the sunglasses that Soledad Miranda wears for the first murder is memorably eye-catching.
DeleteWatching Eugenie de Sade during Junesploitation 2020 is still such a clear memory for me, and it remains among my favorite Junesploitation discoveries. It is undoubtedly the most touching Franco film I have seen, J.M. By the time Eugenie de Sade was released, Soledad Miranda was gone three years. The Bruno Nicolai score captures the melancholy. I have only ever watched the film in French because I know the language and the dub is so much more poetic than the English one. The Blue Underground DVD gives me both options.
Speaking of dubbing Jess Franco films, there is an interview with a man named Gerard Kikoine on the Sins of the Flesh blu-ray. He was in charge of creating the sounds and dubbing on several of Franco's early 1970s films.
"EdS" is now my favorite Jess Franco of the ones l've seen... but it's only good-enough for a 4.15 in my scale. There is a low-ceiling for my enjoyment of Franco, and "...Portuguese Nun," "...Ecstacy" and this are bumping up against it. 🤨🫤
DeleteJ.M.: Happy you checked it out and found it worthwhile. I so appreciate the wealth of your contributions to Junesploitation!
Delete✌️😃🙉
DeleteSINS OF THE FLESH (1974, dir. Claude Mulot) - French title Les Charnelles
ReplyDeleteBenoit, the ne’er-do-well son of a wealthy family, faces the possibility of having his father cut off any financial assistance to him. Work is definitely not for him, though. After making the random acquaintance of a young man and a young woman, Benoit forms a partnership with them to pursue criminal schemes to generate some needed income. They also help him pursue his pleasures, which become increasing voyeuristic and violent.
Sins of the Flesh merges a crime story with extended soft-core scenes. It sometimes feels like two separate films. The crime element does become dominant by the conclusion, however. The fashions of the day, concerning both clothing and cinematic style, are fully on display. Even making exploitation, French directors could not get away from slow pacing. I admit that it is not the most compelling film, but there is some importance to it as a warm-up to Claude Mulot launching French s-e-x cinema beyond the soft-core realm.
couldnt decide on a flick for today so decided to learn a smidge about a Eurosploitation master...
ReplyDeleteDario Argentos World of Horror (1985)
Absolutely dug this documentary. Structurally its a bit all over the place but the content is filled with behind the scenes footage from several early flicks of Dario interspersed with small commentary sound bites from him. He constantly delivers said lines with an almost unnerving sense of calm disposition and 1000 yard stare. Its also a really great (albiet brief) look at how much happens behind the scenes to get incredible shots: HUGE cranes, warehouses full of lights/cables, creative special effects and practical effects, etc. In the end it did what i expected: made me want to revisit the great flicks i know and moreso fill in many gaps of Argento!!!!
KILLER NUN - 1979 dir. Giulio Berruti
ReplyDeleteDoubled-down with a European-set nunsploitation “video nasty.”
Anita Ekberg is still fascinating to watch 20 years after her dance in the Trevi Fountain as a drug-addicted, sex-crazed, obsessively-devout nun around whom many people seem to die untimely and gruesome deaths.
“It is a nun’s vocation to suffer…”
THE SINFUL DWARF (1973, Vidal Raski, DNK)
ReplyDeleteDWARFSPLOITATION! In this depraved Danish doozy, Olaf isn’t a comedic, carrot-nosed snowman—he’s a lascivious, perverted little person, p!mping out chained up, strung out, captive slave girls! What may be worse, his mother, a former actress, enjoys belting out Beefeater’s-inspired musical numbers. Quite a heady combination! This has an Andy Milligan feel to it with its garish, shabby interiors and familial infighting. I watched the STRONG version with p*rn inserts, which had me musing—has there ever been a more appropriate (or redundant) term than “p*rn inserts”? This one’s for only the most debauched of my Junesploitation pals: enter the dwarf’s dungeon (attic, really) at your own risk.
Finland: Island of Doom (Tuomion saari) (2023, dir. Keke Soikkeli)
ReplyDeleteAccording to urban legend, a young boy killed his newborn sister and recognizing his sociopathy, his father took a rowboat to a nearby uninhabited island and left him there to fend for himself. Half a century later, a group of friends go on a camping trip to the island for sheer morbid curiosity. Guess what happens next.
The premise (basically Halloween + Friday the 13th, down to the killer wearing a bag over his head) is generic but has potential for a solid if uninspired slasher... if only the dialogue wasn't groan-inducing and the acting a fucking abomination. Not a single line uttered in this movie feels like something a human would say, not a single action or facial expression feels like something that comes naturally to a character. Painful to watch.
Netherlands: The 4th Man (De vierde man) (1983, dir. Paul Verhoeven)
An alcoholic, bisexual novelist is plagued by violent, disturbing visions. He has an affair with a mysterious woman but desires her boyfriend more, and soon comes to suspect the woman kills those she mates with and he might be next in line.
There's no mistaking it, it's definitely a Verhoeven movie, with sex, death and Catholic imagery all rolled into one fever dream. An intriguing mystery with excellent acting (especially from Jeroen Krabbé), dark humor and in-your-face lurid imagery.
Italy: Alien 2: On Earth (Alien 2 - Sulla terra) (1980, dir. Ciro Ippolito)
A spacecraft returns to Earth from a deep space mission (which I guess is supposed to be a reference to Alien, even though the movie seems to take place in 1980) without its crew, and then a team of spelunkers finds a strange, blue rock (no, they don't find it in a cave but behind a roadside diner's outhouse, they just happen to be spelunkers), and while they're exploring a cave, the rock turns out to be a hatching alien egg.
The title obviously tries to ride on the coattails of Alien, released only a year earlier, even though it has very little in common with it. The setup is pretty boring (there's one dramatic panning shot from an unconscious person's toes to her face that lasts about a minute and feels more like a Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker gag than something out of a horror movie), and when the alien monster gets loose and starts attacking people, the over-the-top gore effects are very entertaining but disappointingly infrequent.
Crime Busters (1977)
ReplyDeleteI due superpiedi quasi piatti (The Two Almost Flat Superfeet) puts Terence Hill and Bud Spencer together again (it is the tenth of seventeen movies they would be in together) and sends them to Miami.
In this film, they’re Matt Kirby and Wilbur Walsh, longshoremen who decide to rob a grocery store and, in the process, end up being cops. Look, this is even years before Police Academy, and it has a lot of the same notions.
Somehow, they got David Huddleston to be in this as Captain McBride, who is in charge of the boys. Soon, they all learn that the same criminals who controlled the docks where they worked are behind a lot more.
Also known as Trinity: In Trouble Again, Two Supercops and Crime Busters, this is not related to Miami Supercops, another Hill and Spencer movie. Hill and Spencer made five movies in Miami that are in my favorite genre: Italians making their movies partially in America.
There’s even more meta in here, as a hot dog cart plays the theme song of their movie, Even Angels Eat Beans. During a scene where Matt is trying to get Wilbur to be kinder, he remarks, “He who finds a friend finds a treasure.” That would be a future Hill and Spencer title.
If you’ve seen any of those, you know what this movie is all about. Hill is the good-looking nice one, and Spencer is the giant grump. Somehow, they may not start as friends, but they get that way, which leads to slap fights with bad guys and frequent bean eating. However, a formula is called that because it works, and these movies make me happy as I can be—just joyous, singing along to the music and happy that I live in a world where they were filmed.
This was directed and written by E.B. Clutcher, who also made nearly every union of these two, directed The Unholy Four and shot movies like Django, Erik the Viking and Nightmare Castle. Yes, that’s the Americanized name of Enzo Barboni, the director of Trinity.
Meanwhile, in the middle of this comedy, Hill’s character becomes involved with an Asian family and works to help them as the criminals target them. Their daughter? Laura Gemser. Throw in some Oliver Onions soundtrack, and there’s no way I could love this more.
Dobermann (1997, dir. Jan Kounen)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I wasn't in the right mood but this French Tarantino knock-off really didn't work for me. Talk about all style and no substance, yikes! I found it crass, gross, unfunny and frankly annoying to sit through.
That was exactly the critics when it came out back then. I personally love it, but i get it
DeleteVIDOCQ (2001)
ReplyDeleteFamed criminal turned detective Vidocq dies when fighting a masked supervillain known as the Alchemist. The subsequent investigation reveals more and more secrets via flashback about the two men. This movie is a wild ride. One-named director Pitof films the whole thing with manic music video flair – perhaps too much flair for some viewers, but I liked it. I’ve only ever seen Gerard Depardieu play lovesick shlubs, so it was quite a change seeing him play Vidocq as an action hero with fights and chases. Definitely recommended if you’re looking for a big blockbuster that isn’t the same-old same-old.
30 days of Georges Melies, day 26: FAUST AND MARGUERITE (1904)
The titular Faust sells his soul to the devil so he may romance the lovely Marguerite, but things don’t go as planned. This one only works if you’re familiar with the classic Faust story, as it’s a highly abbreviated version. While there are some neat transitions, the movie is more about the pageantry of it all rather than the far-out effects. Say, are we due for a new adaptation of Faust? What would that even look like in the 2020s?
Fascination (1979)
ReplyDeleteI went with Jean Rollin today, because I really dig his darkly sexy vibe.
A cocky but clueless thief screws over his accomplices and takes off with stolen gold. To escape his pursuers, he hides in an isolated manor in the woods, occupied only by two young women who immediately start acting more than a little strange, being flirty and menacing at the same time. Intrigued, he decides to hang around until nightfall when a bunch of mysterious guests are expected to arrive. He doesn’t realize, of course, that this was the women’s plan all along. Rollin feels very much in control of his tools here, crafting a tasteful piece of exploitation imbued with atmosphere, tension, and a sense of impending danger to go with the requisite nudity and blood. If someone was looking to get into his films, I think this one would make an excellent starting point.
This and Grapes of Death are the ones I would recommend to a Rollin newbie. They have all of the qualities of a Rollin film with a narrative that is straightforward.
Delete