Reviews

I first saw this movie as part of a double video, with Phil Tucker's Robot Monster..needless to say, this bill wasn't put together as two brilliant examples of the best films ever made.This one rules, though..there is nothing like seeing overweight wrestling women, Samson (the masked mexican wrestler) and the WORST EVER mummy costume all together in one feature. Don't bother trying to follow the plot, or searching for the myriad errors in continuity..just lay back with your sense of the absurd in hand, along with something cold and refreshing, and let your troubles melt away in a fine and glorious wash of true silliness.

I've only given one vote of 10 on this database..guess which film got it. Having read the Frank Norris novel, and seen the truncated but still astonishing remains of Von Stroheim's masterpiece, I can understand perfectly why the full version is the most sought after of all lost films. Actors who use the screen instead of acting as if they are on a stage, camera work that moves lightly through the script, lighting that tells the story instead of complimenting the lead actress, it's all done well here. The titles, I understand, were inserted to fill gaps left by the editing and don't work well, but it's a minor carp. Just screen any other silents made before it, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is the real thing.

It seems as though people miss Peckinpah's messages. This is not a bloodbath, or a violent film..it is an anti-violence statement..when Benny pursues death, it claims everyone around him..by forsaking music and love, he proves that he is "already dead", and the flies in the car are just as much there for him as the head. Peckinpah himself, time and time again, let the critics know what he was doing, but their narrow views wouldn't allow them to see the power here, and when they felt bad at the end of this movie, they thought it was just a bad film. It's not..just a disturbing one. Personally, I think that Paul Verhoeven and Oliver Stone should be forced to watch this one until the message sinks in..violence is ugly, and if you glorify it with pretty montage work, you will wind up living in a society that collectively believes that violence is glamorous.

OK, I'm not even going to comment on the butchery of Heinlein's novel, or the bloated budget syndrome...just this: every single action movie cliche is done badly in this film..the crane shots of characters screaming, "NOOOO!", the handheld shakiness of the camera to add versimilitude, the gung-ho noble death, I could go on and on. The special effects are jerky and lack the necessary suspension of disbelief to be enjoyable, the acting is atrocious, the dialogue is unrealistic and stilted, the situations are alternately dull and overblown, the direction is uneven, sound recording is barely passable, the list continues...this movie is the WORST ever made, by anyone, anywhere, ever..and I won't even qualify this with an IMHO..watch it and shudder with the realization that it made money!

What can you say about Peter Sellers? From the Goon Show, through the Ealing comedies, the Pink Panther films, up to Being There, he was consistently brilliant! Kubrick knew it, Blake Edwards knew it, and this movie does a lot to prove it to everyone else. Instead of making his stereotype just a vehicle for laughs, he brings out the pathos and beauty inherent in alienation..instead of using scripted antique gags as an invitation to walk through the role, he transcends each tired joke with impeccable timing and facial expressions. Even the silly sixties situations don't ruin the comedy here, as they did in Alice B. Toklas. In my opinion, this one is timeless, and should be seen by anyone who has a sense of humor.

There's a lesson to be learned here..but who cares? Don't mess around with the little cat, Spike..even after the bad luck inherent in the noir feline is negated by a dousing of white paint, fate learns to associate bad luck with a whistle..larger and larger objects come into contact with Spike's noggin, and though most would be daunted by the repeated application of anvils, safes and the like to their cranium, this cretinous canine continues causing chaos throughout the film..to the audience's glee.

Tex, sex, and Avery Rex!! The king of cartoons sends the 1943 censors a message..when the armed forces actually bypassed the Hays office to get an uncensored version of this one off to our troops overseas, they preserved one of the greatest works of art ever committed to celluloid..and allowed resonances to echo into such disparate results as Jessica Rabbit, Cool World, and Ren and Stimpy. For the record, the plot is simple..the old fairy tale is worn out, and needs some new blood..the wolf is now really a wolf, and Red has more than goodies in her basket..now, go and watch this one three hundred times, and you'll see almost all the little jokes lovingly crafted into it..

He inspired Kricfalusi and some plots on "I Love Lucy" as well as making kids and adults giggle he gave us all our ration of unlimited animation may Red Hot Riding Hood forever jiggle! This is my all-time favorite of Avery's MGM period..one joke, over and over, with the most incredible takes in the entire animation field..watch and see who REALLY was responsible for the icons at Warner's. You don't need Freudian analysis to see the raw sex and violence in everything he did, it's right out in the open, screamingly funny, unbridled by the mores of his day or any other. Evergreen, timeless, and inspirational.

The artist's hand and a blackboard..a quick sketch of a face..another face, a cigar, a cloud of smoke, and suddenly, a whole new art form is born. No genius here, absolutely terrible drawing, but it's the first one as far as we know, and deserves a bit of credit just for that..Melies did stop motion first, and there were hundreds of flip books using the persistence of vision to animate line drawings before this silly little strip of celluloid came along. Nonetheless, everyone who has ever enjoyed a Tex Avery or Disney cartoon should know the humble origins of the form, and this is one example.

This is easily one of the most subversive, sick and demented films ever made..and badly made at that. A few of the scenes are stolen from early 1970's porno comics from Europe..as in the beheading/oral sex shot, scavenged from a really nasty little 8-pager called, "Nazi Sex." (!) If 1963 H.G.Lewis style gore and filmed-on-velveeta style direction are your joys, this is the film to seek out above all others..it's as bad as they come, and will get even jaded viewers to feel uncomfortable. I still regret renting this one, although it's good to know that any thought that is human is still available at the local video store...

Georgina Spelvin..thousands of anonymous actors traditionally used George Spelvin as a pseudonym..there are so many in-jokes in this film that I catch a new one with each viewing..in the porn field, it's like casting pearls before swine. This film is easily the best hardcore sex programmer ever made, and I'm gonna tell you why..the actors could actually act, the cutting is as good as any B movie, and the dialogue is sane and pertinent to the plot. It's on celluloid, which makes it look like a real movie (which it was), and all the people in it look like genuine human beings. OK, so where does the bad rap it's suffered come in? Well, most porn consumers want gorgeous girls and hot sex with no moralizing..and most film critics won't give a porn film a review at all. Admittedly, this is no Citizen Kane, but it stands head and shoulders above the asinine general run of sex films. Watch the suicide scene, compare it with mainstream treatments of the same subject, and you decide..is it art? I think so...

Imagine that Van Gogh could only afford one color of paint..and had to work with a housepainting brush..and was drunk most of the time..would his work have been immortal? Ed Wood was not the worst director of his time, and certainly not the weirdest, but he tried, damnit! Stock footage, loopy dialogue, crazed writing..this one has it all! Phil Tucker was cheaper, and Kenneth Anger was weirder, but Ed had the drop on both when he did this semi-autobiographical bit of total nonsense.

In the world of comic strips, Winsor McKay was easily one of the greatest artists of all time..and as an animator, his work is comparable. He was firmly convinced that he invented the animated cartoon, and although this is not the case, his work does stand alone. Take a good look at the work he did on the Lusitania sequence, and you will find that only the Fleischer Bros. Superman cartoons approach the realism in illustration, the light simulation, and the smooth, full animation. Also, you get a chance to see George McManus, creator of the "Bringing up Father" strip and a fantastic artist himself. If animation is your metier, it's required viewing..brilliant clear through.