Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons (1973)iMDB Rating: 6.7
O Amuleto de Ogum (1974)iMDB Rating: 7.2To entertain some thieves, a blind guitar player tells them the story of a man from the Northeast of Brazil, involved with criminals living in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, who allegedly had a "closed body", meaning that his body couldn't be hit by bullets or other weapons, by the wish of Ogum, one of the gods of Candomblé, a religion common in Brazil and Africa.
Superman (1973)iMDB Rating: 6.7A compilation of four episodes of "The Adventures of Superman" tv series: episode #95 ("The Mysterious Cube"), #100 ("Superman's Wife"), #80 ("Tin Hero"), and #82 ("The Town That Wasn't").
Overlooked movie
I found this to be a very enjoyable installment of Superman. George Reeves is the reason that Superman got so popular and the reason it got to the point where Christopher Reeve would take over. As well as Dean Cain. Definitely worth watching, any superman fan will enjoy this film.
2069: A Sex Odyssey (1974)iMDB Rating: 4.4Five sexy females from the planet Venus are sent to Earth to bring back sperm samples to their planet, which is dying out because there are no men left on it. After the land they find that it's not all that difficult persuading Earthmen to help them in their quest.
I've never had a blowjob french-style
Don't be fooled: this isn't yet another tired example of the Girls From Outer Space Pretending To Be The French Ski Team Come To Earth To Collect As Much Sperm As Possible genre, though the synopsis may suggest otherwise. This movie is a gem, an absolute jewel that has enriched my life from the moment I laid eyes upon it. Hilarious, exhilarating, action-packed, and stunningly erotic, "Ach jodel mir noch einen" is a Euro-Madcap Tour-De-Force, a grossly underrated Bavarian classic.
Stop everything you are doing and run out to rent, or better yet, BUY this movie immediately.
The Rainbow Boys (1973)iMDB Rating: 7.0Three bickering people search after the gold mine the father of one of them owned.
Warmth and Character outweighs technical shortcomings
This film is a must see for fans of the three stars, Donald Pleasence, Kate Reid and Don Calfa. The viewer needs to avoid getting caught up some of the "low budget" production foibles that lend an amateurish feel to parts of this film. The authenticity of the British Columbia west during the 60's and 70's is spot on. The heat of the opening scene with the insects and birds competing with the river's burble is a refreshing dose of actual sound compared with the current crop of movies filmed out west whose creators can't resist adding in the screech of an eagle or the call of a loon whenever a vista comes upon the screen. Kate Reid, plump and middle aged as Gladys, an unlikely love interest or at least a winter bed warmer and companion of the endearing prospector Logan played by Pleasence. The two are locals of the spectacular Fraser Canyon in BC and the movie builds around the accidental meeting of Logan and Mazella played by Don Calfa. Logan pays for some groceries with gold dust and Mazella happens to notice, his interest piqued, the two cross paths again outside when Mazella smashes into a local Indian's car and Logan reluctantly offers a helping hand defending Mazella and taking him off to get patched up by Gladys. A simple genuine bond is immediately established at the kitchen table between the three and a plan is hatched to attempt to rediscover Logan's father's old gold mine. Notable hilarious dialog at a stop at a cabin on the way has Logan and Mazella lost in male conversation about the most trivial of detail regarding hobbies and long nights in the bush and crushing gold bearing ore,"it is a lot of work" that it cannot help but get the tight-asses laughing. Logans constant reminiscences about his father and his need to defend his honor to Gladys lends pathos that can't help but warm the heart of even the worst cynic. Calfa, Reid and Pleasence are a pleasure to watch. This is their film along with the wilderness back drop, and it should be enjoyed for all its personality and not scrutinized to heavily for production shortcomings. Films with this kind of innocence and brilliant character portrayal should be dragged back from obscurity.
Tutti i colori del buio (1972)iMDB Rating: 6.9Jane lives in London with Richard, her boyfriend. When she was five, her mother was murdered, and she recently lost a baby in a car crash. She's plagued by nightmares of a knife-wielding, blue-eyed man. Richard, a pharmaceutical salesman, thinks the cure is vitamins; Jane's sister Barbara, who works for a psychiatrist, recommends analysis; a neighbor Jane's just met promises that if Jane participates in a Black Mass, all her fears will disappear. Jane tries the Mass, but it seems to bring her nightmares to life. Is there any way out for her short of death or a living Hell?
Decent giallo thriller with some nice psychedelic touches
I'd be lying if I said "All the Colors of the Dark" is one of the finest Giallos, but fans of the subgenre, Satanist thrillers, or 70s psychedelic European horror will be entertained. The plot isn't exactly the most original devised. It seems very derivative of "Rosemary's Baby", but the Italian exploitation filmmakers of the time were known for latching onto successful American films. However, what sets this apart from being just a mere ripoff is there's a good deal of nice psychedelic touches, particularly the genuinely unnerving nightmare sequences. Also, director Sergio Martino, while not a great stylist, knows how to build tension in some sequences. The fact that Edwige Fenech, possibly the most gorgeous woman working in European horror at the time, plays the lead damsel in distress is definitely a plus.
The film, like many other European horrors, is extremely stylish. Fortunately, in addition to the standard bits of dreamlike weirdness that was a staple of the genre, it actually has a coherent plot. Sure, its dumb and not always compelling, but the fact that they tried is a plus. The direction by Martino isn't always well paced (the film has many lulls and seems to have several endings), but he effectively builds tension in many sequences. The violence is surprisingly minimal as well, making the occasional outbursts all the more shocking. Still, the main reason to watch this is Fenech. Shes breathtakingly beautiful, and while not necessarily a great actress, certainly has an amount of screen presence. The film wouldn't be half as good with a different actress. "All the Colors of the Dark" isn't anything I'll be rushing to watch a second time, but its worth renting if you're a fan of this stuff. (6/10)
Fang Shi Yu (1972)iMDB Rating: 5.9A gifted but proud young martial arts student injures and kills an opponent. In retaliation , his father is killed. The young student vows revenge and begins to prepare for his epic face-off.
Meng Fei's performance is among his best
ej's kung-fu capsule review for films of the chop-socky old-school -
1. basic plot type - Young man coming of age as kung fu hero; 'school vs. school' rivalry to-the-death.
2. plot construction - Very good, among the best from this screen-writer (the ubiquitous I Kuang). Weakened by unexplained lapse in continuity editing towards the end.
3. dramatic - Frequently.
4. funny - Rarely.
5. dialog - Acceptible; clichés kept under control.
6. cast performance - Very good - Meng Fei's performance is among his best.
7. crew performance - Solid.
8. amount of fighting - Plenty.
9. quality of fighting - Very good for the era.
10. special any cast or crew notes - Somewhere between this film and the rest of his career, Meng Fei lost his humility, recapturing it only once for the classic Snuff Bottle Connection.
But here, he's entirely believable, and even demonstrates the character's maturing over time, which lays a solid foundation for the film's themes.
11. big positive - The final fight scene - rapid, strong, violent, and completely in keeping with the characters and themes.
12. big negative - In the scenes immediately leading up to the final fight, continuity gets lost; very distracting.
bottom-line - who should see this movie - It's a solid action film for those who like unarmed combat of any kind.
Green Inferno (1973)iMDB Rating: 3.3Cheesy Spanish Produced Exploitation film.
This Cheesy movie is about a strange man named Franz who lives deep in an underground cavern surrounded by immense wealth and luxury. He causes havoc and unrest among the native tribes and a team of "skilled multi-national secret intelligence agents". These "Agents" are recruited to investigate the uprising and eliminate the problem. Too make things short there is many killings throughout the film. The guy who directed this movie once Directed the Great Paul Naschy in a....you guessed it a Werewolf Film.
Lola (1974)iMDB Rating: 5.3A 25-30-year old Hacienda-owner (David Hemmings) is misbehaving on women due to his traumatic youth; his mother (Alida Valli) covers him for his sadistic actions; however, when he wants the daughter of the mansion supervisor to serve for him, things seem to get totally out of hand. He 'tames' her, but when 'tamed' and finally married, the young woman (Andrea Rau) soon becomes the dominating person in the family.
Artistic sleaze
This is vaguely arty film which criticizes the decadence of landed nobility in Latin America and explores the perverse dialectic between power and sexuality. And of course, it's also a convenient excuse to show beautiful (and frequently naked) European actresses being abused and sexually degraded. David Hemmings is the spoiled and sexually-warped heir of a decrepit and nearly-bankrupt Venezuelan hacienda. His doting mother (Alida Valli) hires peasant girls from the nearby village to indulge her son in his perverse "games". His latest victim is played by Andrea Rau (who was Delphine Seyrig's vampiric lesbian sidekick in "Daughters of Darkness"). He locks her in a pen and starves her until she gives in to his sexual demands. He then plays various humiliating games with her--forcing her strip and dousing her with a hose, feeding her a maggot-filled loaf of bread, making her dress up like a bunny and run through the woods while he "hunts" her on horseback. Of course, he gets his comeuppance in the end but not before the requisite amount of nudity, sex, and misogynistic degradation has been achieved. I certainly wouldn't recommend this film to feminists (or to the vast majority of women for that matter), but it is fairly tasteful and restrained compared to many other films of its ilk. If you're into this sort of stuff but can't handle the rougher WIP, nunsploitation, or Nazi death camp movies, this one might be for you.
Le viager (1972)iMDB Rating: 6.9Doctor Galipeau has a brother, Emile, whose wife has just given birth to a baby boy and who dreams of owning a house. He has just examined Louis Martinet, an old man who, according to him, is in the last stages. That is why he advises Emile to purchase Martinet's house for an annuity. Unfortunately for the Galipeaus, not only does Martinet recover but, month after month, year after year, the "dying man" proves hale and hearty as well! Whereas the greedy Galipeaus fall from the frying pan into the fire...
Faites-moi confiance ! (Trust me !)
X-Mas 1930 : a 59 years-old man called Martinet goes to Doctor Galipeau for a complete check-up. The doc is sure that his patient will die in some months maybe a year, so he proposes to the old man and his own brother to begin a annuity contract : every year, the Galipeau's will give to the old-timer a sum of money (based on aluminum rates), and when Martinet will die, his house of Provence (in a small unknown town called St-Tropez) will be theirs... But after nine years, the whole family began to think that enough is enough, and they tried to end the existence of Martinet...
Simple but excellent plot : Michel Serrault ( only 44 at this time) gets 25 years older...and more, and he is absolutely perfect as the good naive old man, the family Galipeau is perfectly despicable, mainly the doctor, a great Michel Galabru. His lines are sooo good ! Every year, on X-Mas day, he has lunch with his family, and he talks a lot : Examples : In 1930 : "Galipeau will die within six months...trust me !" In 1932 : "Hitler? Who is Hitler? Nothing but a little house painter ! He will never succeed....trust me !"
Remember : that's a comedy ! So, you can watch it and enjoy ! TRUST ME !!!
Al otro lado del espejo (1973)iMDB Rating: 6.3A nightclub singer is haunted by the ghost of her late father. The dead man summons her through a mirror, forcing her to commit a series of violent crimes.
Ecstatic killing
Here is another of those elusive Franco films that in its proper context is neither horror, nor porn or sexploitation, in spite of the hardcore inserts, but wandering around mind.
Now I really appreciate Franco. Like a good friend you have known forever, I appreciate him, in part, because of how familiar his flaws and habits. So I won't mollycoddle him or pretend in his face: he was often sloppy, charmless as a thinker and embarrassing in a number of ways. Whereas his fans read profundity in this film, for me all the stuff about mirrors, madness and theater as staged inner life are as sophomoric as it gets, for instance that whispers of a damaged mind will issue from a mirror, not interesting in the least.
Let me say here that it's not the elements themselves, which others like Rivette, Resnais and Ruiz have used to the same effect, but the narrative distance they are placed away from the viewer which I find superficial.
As for the notion expounded in another comment here that next to Ford (!) and Godard, Franco is one of few directors who have deeply probed in their cinema the illusory world of appearances, that position is simply unfathomable and bizarre.
But I accept all that as part of the experience of shared intuition that is possible with a good friend, which deep down I find fulfilling—for me, Franco is worth knowing because, going past conscious narrative impositions, I can relax in his fluid fabric of images, which he seems to stir up from life as he walks through it, striking a spontaneous arisal akin to memory. The more of his films I watch, esp. of this elusive kind, the more I relax because I have memories of previous travels.
It's all in the last scene here.
Leading up to it we have, as said very obviously layered madness about a woman reliving guilt from her past, inserts of incestual cunnilingus and hardcore sex (in the Italian version I saw), and relaxed wandering around bars and later exotic Madeira. As a whole, the film evokes in plot and tone Franco's films with Soledad, She Killed in Ecstasy and Eugenie. It is not as 'pure' as Female Vampire, nor as testing.
The idea, tremendously simple, is that a woman wanted to get married, her beloved sister killed herself from desperation and perhaps spurned love, and she carries this burden in her unfulfilled affairs with men.
The Spanish version without the inserts may flesh out the story a bit more, but story is not the main point, for me it's swimming across to where images acquire a sort of life of their own.
In the last scene we have the wandering, the madness, the repressed emotion, all coalesce together in a beautiful way as a bridal veil flutters in the wind.
Iluminacja (1973)iMDB Rating: 7.4Tabloid life of a physicist; his work, his love life and his quest for the meaning beyond.
A genius in search of a soul and the meaning of life
Get genial. Go to army. Blow your chance with the love of your life. Get sex, get married, get kids and social "respectability". Work in a well reputed scientific research institute.
After such an impressive "carreer", start seeking your soul. To get it, leave everything behind and get to the monastery to become a monk. For some,(the weaker minded I would like to believe) this is a gift from god: the "illumination" ! as simple as that.
For others, I believe the meaning is the failure of a genius to be a "social beast" and find happiness this way among his fellow people. As once Kant (?) said, the superior being (man) is self-sufficient to himself. He can find peace only in the defiance of secluding himself in a monastery in a country ruled by a communist regime.
Excellent movie, more actual and dangerous than anything in these materialistic days of our modern society. No wonder you can't find a copy to buy anywhere in the US.
Au-delà de la peur (1975)iMDB Rating: 5.7A group of outlaws takes a man's wife and child hostage. He must walk a fine line between working with the police to rescue his family and not angering the kidnappers to the point where they might hurt or kill them.
The French desperate hours.
Yannick Andrei worked wonders when it came to make storybook miniseries as "la Dame de Montsoreau" or " La Juive Du Château-Trompette" testify.This is his only silver screen work and it's not as good as his MTV films.
All the actors look so much the part they become caricatures: Michel Bouquet,Claude Chabrol's bourgeois;Michel Constantin,the criminal-who-keeps-his-word;Paul Crauchet the cop,and so on.
Bouquet's family (except for the mum-in-law who is shot as soon as the gangsters enter the house) is held hostage in his desirable mansion for he's become a man who knows too much (he was mistaken for an accomplice and he knows everything of the pack's future break in).And this peaceful man begins to play cat and mouse with the villains....till his brother-in-law lets the cat out of the bag and tells the police...
Bouquet takes trouble over a movie unworthy of his talent.
La choca (1974)iMDB Rating: 6.8Martin lives in a mountain hut with his wife, La Choca, and his son, little Martin, and Flor, Choca's sister. They live through hardship to make ends meet, and Martin does some smuggling. During his abscence, three men arrive, accuse him of having betrayed them, and set a trap to capture him. When he arrives, all hell breaks loose, and out of the carnage only La Choca survives.
It Preserve Indio's Essence
In Oaxaca's jungle,the 'Indio' Fernandez show us a passionate drama which preserve his very particular style in spite of the years, those years allow too some series of bad words in the film which made it more believable. Pilar Pellicer as the Choca seems to be rude enough to resist anything, however she succumb in front of the carnal desire represented in one of the bandits, who had killed her husband and attack her family-intense feelings- essential factor in Indio's films are shown, in this time in violent way.
The very desirable MecheCarreño,shows gently her body every time she touch water, maybe 'cause she does't have any other purpose in the movie, however when Salvador Sanchez tries to rape her ,he didn't get it. an entertain film towards the end of the career of the most awarded director in the golden years of our industry
Anna, quel particolare piacere (1973)iMDB Rating: 6.4Anna is quiet, living with her parents, cashiering at a café bar in Bergamo. She meets and falls for Guido, a Milanese gangster in town to lie low. He pursues her, but also warns her that he's no good. She goes to Milan with him anyway. When she witnesses a Mob hit, Guido's boss wants her compromised so she will never testify against them: Guido pushes her into prostitution. When she becomes pregnant and Guido wants her to have an abortion, she rebels. Can she escape "the life," or is death the only alternative? What about the child?
A good date movie?
While I can't really rave about this move, I also certainly can't say it wasn't interesting. On one hand, it is a typical "poliziani", a hard-boiled and violent Italian crime thriller about Mafia criminals and corrupt or vigilante police, but on the other hand, it is also a women's picture featuring no-clothes-horse Edwige Fenech in one of her more dramatic (as opposed to hysterical) roles.
Fenech plays Anna a young, naive provincial woman who falls in love with a brutal and abusive gangster who, at the behest of his godfather (top-billed Richard Conte)involves her first in smuggling then in prostitution. She tries to leave the life after her mobster hubby goes to prison. She gives birth to a son and falls in love with a respectable doctor, but of course her past soon catches up to her.
This is a rather schizophrenic movie. It is has the typical violence of a poliziani, and Fenech performs her usual quota of nude/sex scenes (the most interesting scene though features not Fenech, but a bizarre stripping clown--that's right, a clown). The ending though is incredibly sappy and tear-jerking. I can't imagine anyone who liked the early part of the movie liking the end and vice versa. I suppose it could be a good date movie for women who want to see Fenech emote and men who want to see Fenech undress (it beats the hell out of a Renee Zellweger romantic comedy, anyway).
Two People (1973)iMDB Rating: 6.3about....
Evan Bonner (Peter Fonda) is a deserter from the Vietnam war; he is on his way back to America to give himself up when he meets Deirdre McCluskey (Lindsay Wagner) a beautiful if petulant model. The two make an unlikely couple, but once in France the magic of Paris works its charm and these two vulnerable people finally find each other.
