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The Killer Shrews (1959)
Dogs dressed in rags-entire movie budget spent on tobacco
This movie is so hilarious because it was made so badly and cheaply. It looks like it was filmed on "Gilligan's Island". One of the stars of "Dukes of Hazzard" TV show is the main star of this movie(the deputy who worked for Boss Hog) He is the captain of a boat that is taking supplies (probably a load of cigaretts) to a small island somewhere in some ocean. On the island is a slightly mad scientist, his daughter, and another guy (Ken Curtis) who later starred on the TV show "Gunsmoke" as Marshall Dillon's deputy, "Festus". So there you have it--a movie with two future deputies--it is a miracle that these two were ever hired as actors again after starring in this movie. When the boat arrives on the island, the captain and his one crewman is forced to stay on the island because a storm is in the area and it is too dangerous for them to take the boat to sea. Little do they realize that the world's largest rodents are waiting for them. What is even more dangerous is the cloud of nicotine smoke that permeates everything on this island. There is enough second-hand smoke on this island to melt the polar icecaps. The interior walls of the house on the island are all dark gray because of the nicotine stain. For some reason the house on this island has no furniture.The actors can only stand around and wait for the movie to end. Obviously, the movie crew could only borrow one camera, so the actors could not move around too much. The handy man (Ken Curtis) spends most of his time getting drunk on martinis and chain-smoking. He is very depressed because the rodents are taking over and the movie is so low-budgeted. So much money is spent on tobacco in this movie that there is none left for props. Stray dogs must have been picked up and dressed up in rags to portray the rodents that are getting bigger and increasing in number at an astronomical rate. The mostly mad scientist is the one who created these mutant shrews and he does not know how to stop them from hyper-procreating at an amazing rate and taking over the island. One wonders why the second-hand smoke does not wipe out the mutant rats. The shrews get stronger, meaner, and start eating the humans, one by one. The handy man consumes enough alcohol to drown all the ragged rats. The captain of the boat loses his crewman to the hungry rodents and falls in love with the scientist's daughter, the only woman on the island. The boat somehow disappears and they have no way to escape the island and the gluttonous, man-eating, nympho-rodents. These shrews have a gestation period of about thirty-seconds. The budget is so low that at times puppets are used to represent the carnivorous rats. The dogs have rags tied on them in order to look like shrews. These shrews cannot be tamed. They must thrive on nicotine. As the movie runs out of cast members and the giant rats get fatter, the few people left are getting desperate.The handy man only belly-aches and gets even drunker by the minute. The hyper-breeding rodents are now eating the house and there isn't much time left to come up with a way to survive. As the house is being devoured by the crazed rats, the boat captain suddenly comes up with an idea, in spite of the alcohol fumes and the nicotine smoke. I do not want to spoil the ending of the movie, but suffice it to say that they break the world's record for welding barrels together. This is the type of movie that you should see even if you are told the ending of the movie...it just does not matter. If you like to make fun of no-budget movies, this one fits the bill completely.
Flightplan (2005)
Flightplan
"Flilghtplan" is an excellent movie because Jodie Foster is the intense main character in this great story. Jodie Foster should receive an Academy Award* for being Jodie Foster. She has played so many parts in so many different types of movies for so many years like no one else. She makes the plot and character in this movie so very believable, only increasing the extreme intensity of this great thriller. Foster plays Kyle Pratt, a woman who boards a new type airliner bigger than any other. Pratt discovers after a nap that her daughter has disappeared. The mystery begins. She becomes frantic. The crew doubts her sanity. Did Pratt really bring her daughter on board the plane-or does she even have a daughter? The crew of the airliner find out that Kyle's husband has recently died and that Pratt is taking medication for the traumatic loss. This only intensifies everyone's doubts about Pratt's state of mind. The movie does not slow down for a minute-the viewer in the theater will experience the feeling of actually being on board the plane. At important points in the movie, the camera rotates around Foster-expressing the unsteadiness of her mind. This same camera technique is used in the 1976 Brian DePalma film, "Obsession". Both movies portray a protagonist who is dealing with remorse and doubts about the past. Both movies have the main character dealing with the death of a spouse. Both movies end in an airport and have the main character doing the very same thing(I cannot tell you what, without ruining both movies)In both movies the sanity of the main characters is doubted. In "Flightplan", the erie beginning causes the viewer to doubt most of what is happening in the remainder of the movie. During "Flightplan", you will not get up and leave the theater for any reason. You won't want to miss a minute of it. The other actors in this movie are excellent. The Air Marshall in this movie seems to be sky-high during this flight. Please see this movie in the theater. Do not wait until it is out on DVD. Please.
Obsession (1976)
Obsession
No previews of this movie should be read if there is any chance that it gives away the plot of the movie. The ending is quite unbelievable and heart-stopping. You think all through this movie that you know what is going on--but you won't. I know people who saw this movie and still did not know what actually happened. I was fortunate enough to see this movie in a theater in 1976. There was hardly anyone else in the theater. In one week I saw the movie five times and would have seen it more but the theater ended the showing of it. In my city it was not shown at any other theater. The reason "Obsession" did not do well in ticket sales was that the title made people think of demon possession movies(which many were tired of at that time). It was not marketed correctly. The movie opens in 1959 as a rich business man in New Orleans, Courtland,(Cliff Robertson) is married to a wonderful wife and has a daughter who is about five years old. The wife and daughter are kidnapped and held for ransom. Courtland, thinking that he is doing the safest thing that he can do, contacts the police. The police find the kidnappers and the wife and daughter. The kidnappers escape with the hostages in a car and the police chase them. The kidnapper's car slams into a fuel truck on a bridge and all is lost. Courtland blames himself for the tragedy. Courtland spends the next sixteen years buried in guilt and remorse. Psychotherapy does not do much good. In 1975, Court(as he is known as) is finally persuaded to take a vacation in Italy where his firm conducts business. His partner(John Lithgow, who does a great job speaking Italian with a New Orleans drawl)goes with him. Court goes to a huge,beautiful, cathedral where he makes a heart-rendering, earth-shaking, discovery. All through the movie, care must be taken to carefully observe the paintings, whether they are in the cathedral or in a house. They all have meaning. There are art students in the cathedral who are restoring paintings that have been damaged during a flood(A second chance for the works of art). One of the students,a young woman, bears an uncanny resemblance to Court's dead wife. Court returns later with his business partner who is shocked by the resemblance of the woman. The musical score during these scenes are hauntingly beautiful and tell the story of a man who has awakened from a nightmare of self-reproach. Court meets the student, Sandra(Geniveve Bujold,one of the most beautiful actresses in the world) and takes her to lunch. Lunch turns into dinner and a relationship develops. Court falls madly in love with her. He is alive for the first time since 1959. Court returns with her to New Orleans and announces that he is going to marry her. His friends try to talk him out of this whirlwind romance and give himself time to think about it. Court dismisses their advice and decides to marry Sandra the next day without his friends. Sandra reluctantly agrees. The next morning, Court finds that Sandra has been kidnapped. The ransom note is a copy of the 1959 ransom note. This nearly drives Court info insanity and he decides that this time he will do the ransom right--but will he succeed? The rest of the movie is a frenzy. The last two minutes of the movie should not be viewed by anyone with a heart condition. It is that intense. I cannot explain further because the movie is not only a love story and thriller, but also a mystery. Brian DePalma was a genius for directing this movie. There are several scenes in this movie where the camera rotates around a character, painting a picture of an unsteady state of mind. You can see the same cinematography and effect in the 2005 movie, "Flightplan", with Jodie Foster. Both movies have the same portrayal of one who is desperately cares for a loved one and is dealing with intense guilt from the past. Both movies end in an airport with the main characters doing exactly the same thing, which I cannot reveal without ruining the ending of the movies. You must find a copy of "Obsession" and view it because it is like no other movie--even though some have compared it to Hitchcock's movie, "Vertigo".
Streets of Fire (1984)
Streets of Fire
In this movie, the hero, Cody(Michael Pare) is stopped by two policemen. One is white and one is African-American. The one playing the African-American policeman is someone who has been in other movies or TV shows. Can anyone tell me the name of the one portraying the African-American policeman? Please help. This is a great movie by director Walter Hill. He made the Pare character to wear "western" clothes and have a name, "Cody", which obviously reminds one of a person famous in the American West. Cody packs a Wincherster rifle used in the west and his pistol also seems to be western in style. It is hard to pinpoint the time of this "Rock and Roll Fable". The cars are from the fifties or before. The clothing style is from the fifties at times and from the eighties for some people. Rick Moranis wears the style-less striped shirt with plaid jacket and checked bow-tie with big glasses and flat haircut. This much his style in his later movies such as, "Ghostbusters" and "Honey I Shrunk The Kids". Bill Paxton plays a dufus that he later portrays again in "True Lies" with Arnold Schwartzanegger. In a very small part, a filthy bum is played by Ed Begley Jr. At the beginning of the movie, Moranis plays Billy Fish as a brash, obnoxious booking agent. At the end of the movie his mood changes(possibly because he gets the girl?)and he becomes a likable character. The fight scene between Raven(Wilem Defoe) and Cody(Michael Pare) is very intense and believable. The ending is very interesting. It seems to leave room for a sequel, but so far, no one has made one, unfortunately.