Category Archives: Movie Reviews

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
Directed by Chris Marker and Francois Reichenbach
Written by Chris Marker
1968/France
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel

[box] And it’s one, two, three/ What are we fighting for?/ Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn/ Next stop is Vietnam – “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag”, Country Joe and the Fish[/box]

French directors capture the carnival atmosphere and brutality of the March for Peace on Washington.

On October 21, 1967, thousands of anti-war protestors gathered in Washington to demonstrate against the War in Vietnam.  They were joined by pro-war activists and neo-Nazis staging counter demonstrations plus hundreds of military police struggling to keep the protestors in line and away from the Pentagon.

I enjoyed this time capsule of the TV news that plagued our family dinner-time drama in 1968.  I think there’s enough stuff for people to get that riled up about now but it might take sending unwilling boys off to die to stir up the intensity of these protests.

Country Joe McDonald in Woodstock (1969)

Gallery of Horror
Directed by David L. Hewitt
Written by David L. Hewitt and Gary R. Heacock; original stories by Russ Jones
1967/US
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Tagline: So shocking it will sliver your liver![/box]

Will David L. Hewitt enter the pantheon of bad movie directors with Ed Wood, Coleman Francis and Larry Buchanan?  Only time will tell.

The filmmakers manage to cram John Carradine’s narration and no less than five short stories into one 83 minute film with predictable results.  Each of the vaguely creepy stories ends with a twist that will just leave you shaking your head.

No laughs.  No reason to watch.

This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse (Esta noite encarnarei no teu cadaver)
Directed by Jose Mojica Marins
Written by Aldenora De Sa Porto and Jose Mojica Marins
1967?Brazil
Iberica Filmes
First viewing/YouTube
They Shoot Zombies Don’t They?

[box] Zé do Caixão: There’s the most perfect creation of nature: children! Pity that they grow up to become idiots. In search of nothing. Lost in a Labyrinth of egoism… and dominated by a non-existent force: the faith in the immortality of the spirit. Man in his stupidity doesn’t comprehend the only truth of life: the immortality of blood.[/box]

Now this is how you make horror on a shoestring budget.

Coffin Joe (portrayed by the director), having survived the first part of the trilogy, is still on the lookout for a “superior woman” to bear his “perfect” son.  He abducts several of them but all but one fails his “superiority” test by showing fear while being covered with tarantulas and snakes.  The one who passes isn’t good enough for him either.  Then he meets the thoroughly evil daughter of a colonel and finds his match.  Can the town ever rid itself of this scourge?  Complete with weird Technicolor scenes of Hell.

You don’t need a monster when you have a character as truly creepy as Coffin Joe.  I liked this bizarre little film quite a bit.  Recommended to horror fans.

Torn Curtain
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Brian Moore
1966/US
Universal Pictures/Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “I did not have to act in ‘Torn Curtain’. I merely went along for the ride. I don’t feel that the part demanded much of me, other than to look glamorous, which Mr. Hitchcock can always arrange better than anyone. I did have reservations about this film, but I wasn’t agonized by it. The kick of it was working for Hitchcock. That’s what I did it for, and that’s what I got out of it.” – Julie Andrews[/box]

The Master disappoints in this, his 50th film.  Still quite watchable though if only to gaze at Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in their prime.

Professor Michael Armstrong (Newman) is a genius nuclear scientist.  He has been working with his faithful assistant and fiancee Sarah Sherman (Andrews) on a device that will render offensive nuclear weapons obsolete.  Simultaneously, an East German scientist is working on the same idea.  Out of scientific curiousity, he agrees to pretend to defect to East Germany so he can talk to his counterpart and then escape to the West.  He tells Sarah nothing of his plans but departs, he says, for Sweden.  She learns he’s on a plane to East Berlin and books herself a ticket.

The remainder of the film is devoted to cloak-and-dagger intrigue between amateur spy Armstrong and the East German Intelligence Service.  The high point is protracted hand-to-hand combat between Armstrong and the agent who has discovered his secret.

This was a first-time viewing and I found it distinctly odd.  Its script really lets it down.  Hitch could neither make me believe that anything resembling the farfetched plot could have taken place behind the Iron Curtain nor make me suspend my disbelief.  The patriotism was somehow off as well.  Andrews spends virtually all her time wringing her hands and looking good.  Not a winner in my book. Still I did pay attention for the entire run-time which is more than I can say for some other films in my seemingly endless journey through 1966.

The Witch (La strega in amore)
Directed by Damiano Damiani
Written by Ugo Liberatore and Damiano Damiani from a novel by Carlos Fuentes
1966/Italy
Arco Film
First viewing/Amazon Instant

“Those that can heal can harm; those that can cure can kill.” ― Celia Rees, Witch Child

The main attractions of this giallo supernatural “thriller” are erotic scenes with the gorgeous Rosanna Schiaffino.  I am in the wrong demographic.

At the behest of Consuelo, a very strange old woman, a historian is lured to a creepy mansion to work on her late husband’s erotic journals.  When he arrives he finds not only Consuelo but Aura (Schiaffino) her lovely “daughter”.  It turns out the historian was brought there for Aura’s erotic benefit.  He displaces her former lover.  A lot of weird stuff occurs including sexy interpretive dances by both mother and daughter..

The plot to this one is extremely convoluted and I wasn’t interested enough to figure out its intricacies.  Schiaffino makes a stunning witch though.

The Sword of Doom (Dai-bosatsu toge)
Directed by Kihachi Omamoto
Written by Shinobu Hashimoto from a novel by Kaizan Nakazato
1966/Japan
Takarazuka Eiga Company Ltd./Toho Company
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Toranosuke Shimada: Study the sword to study the soul, you fool… an evil mind makes an evil sword.[/box]

Everything about this ultra-violent samurai movie spells masterpiece.

Ryonosuke Tsukue (Tetsuya Nakadai) is a wandering ronin whose sword is for sale to the highest bidder.  In the first scene in the movie, we learn that Ryonosuke is a psycopath who is perfectly willing to kill for free.  He starts by slaying an aged pilgrim who is praying for the Buddha to take his soul.  The pilgrim’s granddaughter will play a prominent part in the story as she is kind of passed from one man to another.

Later, Hama, the wife of Ryonosuke’s rival in a fencing match begs him to throw the fight.  He is willing only in exchange for the wife’s virtue.  But when the match occurs, the jealous husband goes after Ryonosuke and is quickly slain,  Ryonosuke marries the wife and treats her pretty badly.  Then Ryosuke joins a band of assassins for hire.  Eventually, both his gang and the brother of the slain man are after him.  The body count mounts as Ryonosuke is eventually consumed by his own evil.  With Toshiro Mifune as a wise fencing master.

The body count in this one tops any Zatoichi movie!  And it’s all deadly serious with plenty of gore.  But the awesome cinematography, staging and acting easily overcame any squeamishness I might have felt.  It harkens back to the glory days of Kurosawa and Kobayashi.  There are three mass sword battles that are nothing short of amazing.  The climactic scene where Ryonosuke starts slashing at the thin walls of rooms to get at the ghosts of his victims is unforgettable.  Highly recommended.

A Man for All Seasons
Directed by Fred Zinneman
Written by Robert Bolt from his play
1966/United Kingdom
Highland Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Sir Thomas More: I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.[/box]

The word for this is “sumptuous”.  And what a cast!

The film is based on the true story of Henry VIII of England (Robert Shaw) and his sometime Chancellor Thomas More (Paul Scofield).  More is a well-respected jurist and devout Catholic.  He has no desire to be a martyr.  Nevertheless, his conscience will not allow him to publicly support Henry’s divorce from his first wife Catherine and even less Henry’s declaration of himself as the head of the Church of England.

Despite the pleading of his wife (Wendy Hiller) and daughter (Susannah York) to bend, More attempts to play a cagy game of keeping public silence on the entire matter.  This is far from enough for Henry.  With John Hurt as weasel Richard Rich, Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey and Vanessa Redgrave in a short scene as Anne Boleyn.

Costume dramas are hit and miss with me but I really liked this one.  The scenes on the river are spectacularly photographed.  A bunch of great actors are absolutely spot on.  My favorite supporting performance was Shaw’s.  He has only a couple of scenes but his impact is indelible.  My husband absolutely hated this movie, which he found depressing and pointless.  Different strokes for different folks I guess.

A Man for All Seasons won Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Cinematography, Color; and Best Costume Design, Color.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Shaw) and Best Supporting Actress (Hiller).

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Roma
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Written by Alfonso Cuarón
2018/Mexico
Esperanto Filmoj/Participant Media
First viewing/Netflix

[box] Sra. Sofía: We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone.[/box]

I haven’t met a movie as full as surprises in a long time.

I knew nothing about the story going in and I think that is the way to see it.  The setting is Mexico City, 1971.  At the center of the story is Cleo (Yalitza Aparacio), a young domestic worker in the household of a physician Sr. Antonio, his wife Sra. Sofia (Marina de Tavera) and four children.  Cleo is one of several servants and has a particularly close relationship with the children.

Sr. Antonio soon departs for Quebec and never returns. Sra. Sofia is left to pick up the pieces.  Cleo has troubles of her own.

Cuaron specializes in gorgeous wide panning shots that capture the detail and scope of the setting before closing in on the action in each scene.  The effect is dreamlike and yet hyper-realistic.  I tried and failed several times to anticipate what happened next and found it to be one delight after another.  Absolutely recommended.

Roma won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Foreign Language Picture; Best Director; and Best Cinematography.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actress; Best Supporting Actress; Best Original Screenplay; Best Production Design; Best Sound Editing; Best Sound Mixing.