AWN Blogs

Many directors make a “Hitchcock” film and this film is just one of Brian De Palma’s “Hitchcock” films. Borrowing a lot from PSYCHO and a bit from REAR WINDOW, De Palma crafts a murder mystery that keeps the viewer on edge and wanting to know what happens.

Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson, 1960’s OCEAN’S ELEVEN) is sexually frustrated widower who has remarried a lug. Her son Peter (Keith Gordon, LEGEND OF BILLY JEAN) is a scientific genius. She visits her psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine, SLEUTH) to talk out her problems. One day at the museum, in a very detailed sequence of images, Kate flirts with a stranger later identified as Warren Lockman (Ken Baker, SAFARI 3000). This incident will spin the film into unexpected twists and turns that are part of the joy of the film. Other chief characters include sleazy looking police officer Det. Marino (Dennis Franz, TV’s NYPD BLUE) and Liz Blake (Nancy Allen, ROBOCOP), a high-class prostitute who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You can definitely say that you’ve never seen anything like this before. The film follows bottom-rung hustlers Willie (John Lurie, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST) and Eddie (Richard Edson, DO THE RIGHT THING). Willie moved to New York City from Hungary and hasn’t done a single thing with his life. A good day for him is sleeping in.

Then unexpectedly he has to take in his cousin Eva (Eszter Balint, TREES LOUNGE) who is flying in from Budapest. He doesn’t want her there and she knows it. They begrudgingly get along until she moves to Cleveland to live with their aunt Lotte (Cecillia Stark, only film performance), who only speaks Hungarian with a few dashes of English. A year passes and after some trouble with a poker game, Willie suggests to Eddie that they drive to Cleveland to visit Eva, who is happy to see them because it’s a change. But the new location doesn’t change, Willie and Eddie. They continue their boring and redundant existence. This is when they decide that going to Florida will really be a change, but it isn’t.

Some people view this film as a true classic. It made the AFI list for the 100 greatest American movie romances. Some people view the film as a sudsy melodrama.

Wilma Dean Loomis (Natalie Wood, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE) and Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty, REDS) are high school students, who are madly in love. The film is set in 1929, but it could take place today. Wilma Dean feels the pressures of being a “good girl” from her mother (Audrey Christie, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN) and Bud feels equal pressure from his father Ace (Pat Hingle, HANG ‘EM HIGH) to go to Yale and become a big success. The will of the two younger lovebirds’ parents is forced upon them and drives them apart.

CURLY SUE is sweet and heartwarming, but will give you tooth decay and the warming of the heart may be due to indigestion.

Bill Dancer (Jim Belushi, TV’s LIFE WITH JIM) is a homeless con man who uses the little girl Curly Sue (Alisan Porter, PARENTHOOD) to help him scrounge up a meal and a few bucks wherever they can. One day they scam a high-powered New York lawyer named Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch, DRUGSTORE COWBOY) by pretending that she hit Bill with her car. Due to the intervention of her jerky boyfriend Walker McCormick (John Getz, MEN AT WORK), Bill and Sue only get a meal. Then guess what happens? Come on guess. Grey ends up hitting Bill with the car for real and takes him and Curly Sue into her home.

I know, I know – this film can be total cheese in parts, but it’s a very fond memory from childhood. Now that I’m older I can see all its warts, but I love it all the same.

The story is simple – new kid in town gets picked on viciously by cool kids then an Asian handyman teaches the kid the ways of karate so that he can defend himself and prove that “he’s alright” to the cool kids. This kind of stuff happens all the time. Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio, MY COUSIN VINNY) is the kid and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita, TV’s HAPPY DAYS) is the Asian handyman.

Leading the cool kids is Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka, BACK TO SCHOOL) and the whole row with Daniel is over – of course – a girl named Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue, LEAVING LAS VEGAS). And as Mr. Miyagi says there is no bad student only bad teacher, so we also get the cool kids’ karate teacher and ex-marine John Kreese (Martin Kove, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II), who teaches no mercy. After one particular beating and meeting Sensai Kreese, Mr. Miyagi-san agrees to train Daniel-san to fight in the All Valley Karate Championships.

This is a remake of a 1966 film starring Michael Caine. I’m sure the original film about a womanizing playboy was far more risqué back in its day. Jumping from bed to bed these days can be deadly. This time around Alfie is played by the strikingly handsome Jude Law, who was Oscar nominated for THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and will be appearing in six films this fall. Like the original, the film is told in a casual style where Alfie talks directly to the camera commenting on the unfolding events and his feelings toward them.

Throughout, the dashing chauffeur has relationships with bored rich wife Dorie (Jane Krakowski, TV’s ALLY MCBEAL), single mom Julie (Marisa Tomei, IN THE BEDROOM), older businesswoman Liz (Susan Sarandon, DEAD MAN WALKING), party girl Nikki (Sienna Miller, TV’s KEEN EDDIE) and his best friend Marlon’s (Omar Epps, THE BEST MAN) girlfriend Lonette (Nia Long, SOUL FOOD). Yep, Alfie even sleeps with his best friend’s girl when he’s trying to get them back together after a break-up. Throughout the film, Alfie hits bumps in the road and seems to land on his feet. It’s his reactions to these events that make the film so interesting.

Director Wes Craven is trying to do several things with this film, but they don’t really mesh that well. He’s trying to tell a modern fairy tale/legend as well as mixing horror with comedy.

Fool (Brandon Quintin Adams, MOONWALKER) is a young black boy, living in the worst ghetto imaginable. His family is about to be evicted and his sister’s boyfriend Leroy (Ving Rhames, PULP FICTION) decides to get even with the landlords and rob them of their gold coin collection. Leroy enlists Fool to help. However, little do they know, the landlords Mom (Wendy Robie, TWIN PEAKS) and Dad (Everett McGill, TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME) are insane.

The evil couple are searching for the perfect children, who don’t speak, see or hear any evil. Their daughter Alice (A.J. Langer, MEET THE DEEDLES) is kept prisoner in the house. When the boy children turn bad, they are kept in the basement and fed human flesh. However, one named Roach (Sean Whalen, TWISTER) gets out and lives in the walls of the house. Fool’s mission becomes escaping the house alive and saving Alice.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci is best known to the general public for LAST TANGO IN PARIS and THE LAST EMPEROR, but I think this film is his best.

Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN) is a weak-willed man who joins Mussolini’s fascist secret police so that he can have a “normal” life. Normality is something that Marcello is obsessed with. He marries a beautiful socialite named Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli, DIVORCE – ITALIAN STYLE) so that he will fit in more. On his honeymoon to Paris, he is given a mission to kill his former professor Quadri (Enzo Tarascio, THE DESIGNED VICTIM), who fled Italy when the Fascists took over and is vocal in their opposition. But when he arrives in Paris, Marcello is smitten by Quadri’s young bride Anna (Dominique Sanda, THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS), who is sexually liberated and the epitome of non-conformity.

Steve McQueen is Frank Bullitt, a desensitized police lieutenant who doesn’t allow his emotions to influence his tactical performance. The film is a fairly straight-forward police procedural, but its McQueen and an interesting plot that makes the film wonderful.

Hot-shot DA Walter Chambers (Robert Vaughn, TV’s A-TEAM) enlists Bullitt to guard a mob informant named Johnny Ross (Felice Orlandi, CATCH-22) at the beginning of the film. After Ross and a cop are shot, Bullitt makes it his mission to figure out what happened, despite Chambers threats to ruin his career. The antagonism between Bullitt and Chambers is awesome. I loved the subtle way the film developed Bullitt’s relationship with his girlfriend Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS). Bullitt never makes any emotional declarations, but we know that his oasis in a world of violence is her.

This is simply one of the best courtroom dramas ever made. It shows the perfect workings of a defense lawyer. Paul Biegler (James Stewart, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE) is a former DA, who spends most of his time now fishing. This doesn’t really help his fledgling law firm, which can’t even pay its secretary Maida Rutledge (Eve Arden, STAGE DOOR). When he’s around, Paul spends most of his time debating law with drunken lawyer Parnell Emmett McCarthy (Arthur O’Connell, FANTASTIC VOYAGE).

Then Paul gets hired by the attractive Laura Manion (Lee Remick, THE OMEN), whose husband Lt. Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara, DOGVILLE) murdered the man who rapped her. What makes this courtroom drama so intriguing is we know Manion is guilty and because we like Paul so much we are fascinated at how he’s going to try to get the soldier off. Laura and Frederick aren’t even that likeable, but we can understand where Frederick was coming from. In the court, Paul must face cocky assistant state attorney general Claude Dancer (George C. Scott, THE HUSTLER). Added to the mix is the genial judge Weaver (real life McCarthy judge Joseph N. Welch) and the mysterious young woman Mary Pilant (Kathryn Grant, THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD).

Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor, SHALLOW GRAVE) is a young dock worker. One day him and his boss Les Gault (Peter Mullan, SESSION 9) pull a body out of the river. This sets the grimy tone of the film.

Director David Mackenzie (SOMERSAULT) does an amazing job of creating mood with the wet and dirty work of hauling coal down the canals of England. So when Joe starts seducing Les’ wife Ella (Tilda Swinton, DEEP END), we sense impeding doom. The affair is about momentary need and lust from both Joe and Ella. Joe is trying to find some stability while Ella is trying to find some passion. However, Joe isn’t the settling down type and scenes with the pretty young woman Cathie Dimly (Emily Mortimer, LOVELY & AMAZING) hint that Joe is not all that he seems.

The trailer for this film made my skin crawl. But I have to admit the film turned out to be a lot better than I had expected. It’s formula to be sure, but it was written by people who know its formula and try their best to buck the system -- at least a little.

Helen Harris (Kate Hudson, ALMOST FAMOUS) is a young executive assistant to a top fashion agent named Dominique (Helen Mirren, CALENDAR GIRLS). Helen is very much like her oldest sister Lindsay (Felicity Huffman, TV’s DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) – carefree and fun – and nothing like her other sister Jenny (Joan Cusack, IN & OUT), whose house is described as the showroom for the Pottery Barn. When tragedy strikes with the death of Lindsay and her husband, Helen is granted guardianship of their children.