Change Your Image
gohb
Reviews
Herostratus (1967)
Sadly, dated
In its time this movie must have been a mind-blowing experience. It's still worth seeing for its overall bravura and the performances of Michael Gothard and (in a lesser role) Mona Hammond. But in 2022 it has little we haven't seen many times over. The experimental style, the critique of capitalist exploitation, the existential dread, the failures of history...you know the drill. It's all as true as it ever was, of course, but there are subtler and less pretentious ways of telling the story now. The film is also frighteningly sexist, in a way that was acceptable in the late 1960s but no longer. And dare I say it, the protagonist's emotional story arc was hackneyed even then. I'll admit, though, that the ending was a genuine surprise, the most thoughtful part of the film for me.
Wild Guitar (1962)
Go Steckler!
What can you say about the magnificent Ray Dennis Steckler? He was one of the all-time schlockmeisters, producing visionary work on ridiculously low budgets, making you stare in disbelief yet hunger for more. He doesn't really have free rein in this one (compare "Incredibly Strange Creatures..."), but still produces some dazzling moments. The sequence going from Arch Hall, Jr. singing "Vicky" with Carolyn Brandt's totally unconnected dancing, to Nancy Czar's rushing through the streets, to the ice-skating scene, is one of the greatest bits of simultaneous camp and surrealism I've ever seen. And it ends on a surprisingly sweet but still unsentimental moment. Then there's the let-it-out final scene, with Arch, Nancy, and the dancers on the beach with the motorcycle, a perfect set of icons for the period. And then, of course, there's Steckler's acting. Here he's the perfect foil to ultra-innocent Arch Hall, Jr., mugging and sneering as the evil psycho henchman.
Although this may be his best film as an actor, it's probably not his best as a director. As noted, he's pretty much under wraps, and a lot of the conventional scenes are ordinary, partly because Arch Hall Jr. is such a bland presence. But see it anyway, and see all the rest of his films, too. You'll never be the same.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
A genuine classic
I'm almost 50 years old, and I've been hearing about this film for the better part of my life, but never got around to seeing it until recently. I figured it had to be overrated--I mean, two guys in drag, once you've done the standard jokes, what else is there?--but it's a wonderful movie, well worth its reputation. The early Chicago scenes are fairly ordinary (and in fact the gangster bits never really catch fire), but once the boys get into their outfits the film never lets up. Tony Curtis got a lot of ridicule early in his career, but he was a very good comic actor, and his Cary Grant fake millionaire is simply hilarious. Marilyn Monroe is luminous as always, and perfectly cast as the archetypal sweet dumb amorous blonde. Jack Lemmon's acting has always been a bit too mannered for my taste, but once he cuts loose in the second half he's great. The real star of the show, though, is the script, which brings the laugh lines tumbling fast and furious, and gets more out of the old premise than you could ever expect. Add Wilder's relentless farce pacing, and you have a true classic. Don't wait most of your life to see it.
The Magic Sword (1962)
Good film for kids
I was 7 years old when this movie came out, and although I didn't see it then, I bet I would have loved it. Swashbuckling knights, a quest, plenty of adventure, some pretty evil bad guys, and a few memorable creepy images. Of course, I wound up seeing it at the age of 47, and I have to admit it's for the most part pretty cheesy. Gary Lockwood and Anne Helm are so badly miscast it's hilarious, the attempts at humor are excruciatingly bad, the plot is kind of lumpy (the 7 curses don't seem to have any pattern to them), and so on. But hey -- some films are for kids and not adults, and this is about as good as you're going to get from Bert I. Gordon. Let's give him his due on this one.
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
The quintessence of bad 50s sci-fi
I love this movie. It's not just bad 50s sci-fi, it's bad 50s sci-fi distilled, purified, and concentrated. Everyone in the production seems to be having a great time, zipping from scene to scene with energy and purpose, never seeming to notice that the acting is horrendous, the script is ridiculous, and the special effects laughable. I could spend days talking about this film, but all you need to know is that it has BOTH 1) spacemen in shiny outfits with ray guns AND 2) a giant lobster. An absolute must-see for bad film buffs.
Soultaker (1990)
Dreadful
I haven't seen the uncut version, but I find it hard to believe that 15 minutes of film could make this turkey more palatable. The script is cliche, the acting is unbelievably amateurish, and the ending is simply ludicrous. And as if this weren't enough, the director films it in preposterously pretentious fashion, with "symbolic" dissolves and jump cuts, and "expressive" camera angles. The best film for comparison is Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. There you've got a cartoon that knows it's a cartoon, and the results are hilarious; here you've got a cartoon that thinks it's Citizen Kane, and the results are dreadful. I see that that this film won an award, and that lots of people really like it. I can't possibly imagine why.
Ernest Rides Again (1993)
Believe it or not, a classic
The Ernest films are pretty much all the same: amiable, clunky, dumb, with an inspired moment every half hour or so. This is the exception. Same writers, same production company, but for some reason they decided to forget about plausibility and go straight for surrealism -- and the result is one of the funniest movies ever made. There's a story of sorts (lots of people chasing a revolutionary war cannon purported to contain the Crown Jewels of England), and a moral of sorts (don't be afraid to risk), but they're just scaffolding for the gags and shtick. The script abounds in throwaway lines that have no relation to anything else ("I haven't seen anything like this since the Bay of Pigs"), scraps of ridiculous dialogue (the history professor sees Ernest with a possibly valuable artifact: "Where did you get that?" "France." "Where in France?" "Outside Paris"), and all sorts of off-the-wall bits (the professor doing Elvis, the Mighty Workboy song). Jim Varney does a few of his standard issue klutzy-Ernest bits, but they just set the real humor in higher relief. Plus, the supporting cast is great: Tom Butler as the villain, alternately sadistic and zoned-out ("Yes...but many men died"); Ron James as the nebbishy professor ("Herpetology is not my field"); and the magnificent Linda Kash, stealing the picture as the professor's domineering wife ("Really hate that tie, dear. Really do.") I've seen this movie maybe ten times, and it gets stranger and funnier every time. If you're expecting something that makes sense, you'll be disappointed, but if you just sit back and watch the weirdness, you're in for a comic classic. 10 out of 10, no hesitation.
High School Big Shot (1959)
Underrated (mild spoilers)
This film got roasted by the boys at MST3K, but it's actually a neat and nasty piece of low-budget film noir. The plot is tight, the characters are believable (within the good-boy-gets-obsessed-with-bad-girl genre), the pacing is solid, the climax is well-handled, and the cast is bolstered by several fine character actors. True, most of the time you want to hit the protagonist with a brick, but he's actually quite effectively creepy when he plays the mastermind. The scenes between him and his dad are quite powerful, in a minimalist kind of way. Sure it's depressing, but that's the point. Good movie.