huckfunn's Reviews

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (1963–1988)

22 January 2006

I have fond memories of the original series, not just because it was so well done but because I worked for Don Meier Productions, in Chicago, c. 1977-78. It was a great place to work for a first job out of college. (At the wages they paid, though, I was pretty much forced to move on.)

The show had been in production for 15 years at that point, and was a well-oiled machine. The ever-dapper Don Meier had cinematographers scattered around the globe shooting raw footage. The footage was sent to the offices on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, where very experienced editors would piece together each show. Then, the writer (Allan Eckert?) would create a script that conformed to the visuals -- just the reverse of how fictional stories are shot and produced (although this may still be the method used with wildlife and other documentaries).

One of my jobs was to edit in the commercial segues, usually spoken by Marlin Perkins ... "Just as the mother lion protects her cubs, you can protect your family with Mutual of Omaha ..."

It was a treat to watch these pros at work, and to learn from them. Animal Planet and all the animal-related shows on the Discovery Channel owe much to these pioneers. Though it would be great to see the old shows (and Marlin, Jim, Stan) on TV again, I believe the advances in animal photography and documentary production make that, sadly, unlikely.

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In Broad Daylight (1991 TV Movie)

CREEPY TRUE STORY

17 June 2004

I want to chime in on this film because it really scared the H-E-Double Bamboo Sticks out of me, motivated me to read the Playboy article about the incident, and then the well-researched book by the same name.

Brian Dennehy is perfectly cast as the villain -- although the real guy was even creepier, more violent and sociopathic. The film doesn't give any real back story, which is a possible but negligible shortcoming. The book, however, does a good job of illustrating how this poor country boy developed into the alienated monster he was, and how he fit (or rather didn't fit) into the community.

This story could have taken place in any small town. I happen to be from Missouri, and every summer I pass through and visit similar one-light towns in the Ozarks. (Just so we're straight on the geography, Skidmore, where this took place, is NOT near Springfield, per one reviewer, but in the northwest corner of the state.) The impression I always get is that because the townsfolk know each other, they are careful to get along with their neighbors. IBD is about how to deal with someone who has no intention of getting along with the neighbors.

I won't spoil the ending, but it is shocking, and a relief, when it comes, especially after the buildup of suspense and terror -- and it really does seem to render "justice." Love the line from the old farmer: "I didn't see nothing. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

This is an atmospheric TV movie that works as quality cinema.

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Breathless (1983)

Mehico! Mehico! Mehico!

14 March 2004

I got tired of watching my censored taped-from-TV version of this film, so I finally bought the DVD. I am one happy hombre. In addition to the superior video and audio quality, one gets several unobstructed views of the object of Gere's love/lust -- and that's no insignificant treat.

One reviewer aptly referred to this film as Gere doing his "early-80s cheeseball riff on the sexiest man alive." I concur. "Breathless" could be seen as an expansion of his minor role as Diane Keaton's dangerous pretty-boy in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" -- transposed from wintery Chicago to sultry L.A.

I won't analyze this film. It doesn't hold up under criticism, and certainly there is plenty to dislike, starting with the relentlessly sociopathic behavior of its protagonist. Rather, in the spirit of the film's love-almost-conquers-all theme, here's just a partial list of what I love about "Breathless":

1. Kaprisky in her see-through swimsuit. Rowrrrr! The rest of her wardrobe is pretty damn sexy, too. (The jury's still out on Gere's blue 'soot.')

2. The kiss at the diving board. It has to be one of the best in cinema history. Kaprisky is a goner after that.

3. Gere's line: "I think maybe I was rolling dice when I should have been rolling you." Cheesy, sure, but look at her face when he says it.

4. The shower scene, together. Kaprisky running hot and cold. "Jesse, you're crazy." ... "So what?" ... "It's OK. I like it."

5. Gere turning female heads wherever he goes, as he exudes his studly scent.

6. Los Angeles as The Place to Be. I lived and loved in L.A. during the early/mid-80s, and can vouch for the intoxication of being young and on the go in the City of Dreams. It's one big-ass place. McBride and veteran lensman Richard Kline do a superb job of capturing its heat, light (L.A. sunsets put a glow over the whole city), and diversity -- from the downtown hotels and office towers, to the industrial sections, to the Hollywood hills, to upscale West L.A., to the beach communities (where we see what must be every mural in L.A.).

7. The amazing ending. Gere taking his "all-or-nothing" motto to the wire. In what other movie will you see a dude dancing and singing to his woman while the cops have their guns drawn on him?

"Breathless" is Gere at his best. Maybe Kaprisky, too, for whatever that's worth. Don't think too hard about it. Just enjoy the ride.

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The Duck Factory (1984)

Sweet Little Show with Good Performances

12 January 2004

My summary is a quote I stole from another reviewer (Shark), so he/she gets the credit, but it accurately describes this charming bit of TV history.

I don't know how the other reviewers can remember such details of a series airing 20 years ago. I can't recall any great plots or dialogue; however, I do remember that the show impressed the hell out of me through sharp writing and well-cast, engaging characters.

Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but I believe I saw Carrey's star potential -- or at least the charisma that propelled his career. I also remember the appeal and promise of Teresa Ganzel, an actor unfortunately better known for her sexy little-girl voice and well-proportioned bod than her performances.

Oh, well, I just want to be on record as saying that The Duck Factory is a series that deserved more time and respect than it got, and, if you can find it on video or in TV-land, it is definitely worth a look.

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Sensational Janine (1976)

10/10

Perhaps the Best Adult Film Ever

24 June 2003

X-rated "Sensational Janine" is a must-see/must-own for any lover of "old" ('60s/'70s) erotica. It is the best-known (only-known?) film in the USA by talented German director Hans Billian.

It has EVERYTHING (almost): an interesting and followable story supposedly based on the real life of a famous Viennese prostitute (followed by 'Professional Janine,' a classic in its own right, but with a different actress playing Janine) ... a jaw-droppingly beautiful star (Patricia Rhomberg -- would love to see how she turned out in middle age), her ripe body oozing sexuality in every scene ... male actors who look like regular guys (not gym-rat studs) ... brother-sister sex ... stepfather-stepdaughter sex ... landlady-boarder sex ... sex-with-the-horny-bitch-from-the-alley sex ... priest-penitent sex ... take-me-when-I'm-sleeping sex ... threesomes ... foursomes ... voyeurism ... masturbation ... light S&M ... hand-jobs ... blow-jobs ... lingerie modeling ... in fact just about every kind of sex except anal and animal. Gee, I wonder if Russ Meyer had a hand in making this?

Production values are high, visibility very good, and the pacing and editing commendable. There is wit and snap to the dubbed dialog. Ex: Janine is spying on her mother and a boarder who are shtumping.

Mother: 'We must hurry. Janine will be home any minute.'

Boarder: 'I'm sure Janine knows what it's all about.'

Mother: 'No, I'm sure she's a virgin.'

Janine (to herself): 'Not for long, Mother. I can tell you that.'

As mentioned by another reviewer, the women are refreshingly all-natural, with unshaved bodies. Everyone in the film seems to be enjoying with abandon the greatest gift Mother Nature has bestowed. Rhomberg is so beguiling and charismatic that I'm sure she could have been a star in mainstream films here and overseas if she had been so inclined.

"Sensational Janine" truly is a feel-good movie that some connoisseurs of erotica consider the best adult feature film ever made.

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Auto Focus (2002)

Out of Focus

19 May 2003

What obligation to truth and accuracy does a director have when creating a biopic? What latitude do we give for creative interpretation and expression? In the case of Auto Focus, I contend that Paul Schrader did not feel a sufficient obligation to the facts, and took too much creative liberty. His film is subtitled "The Life of Bob Crane." That mandates a responsibility -- to Crane's survivors, to people who care about the man, and to the public as a whole -- to be as factual as possible in portraying his life, while still entertaining us.

I urge anyone interested in the real life of Bob Crane to read about him. Robert Graysmith's book, upon which the film is based, does a professional job of documenting Crane's life and murder; however, there is a decisive lack of data coming from son Scott Crane and his mother, Patricia Crane (Bob's second/last wife). Scott's site, bobcrane.com, is a real eye-opener. If we are to believe Scott (and he convincingly demonstrates that he is an expert on the life of his deceased father), then the film is significantly misleading and narrow in its depictions of Crane's real persona and the relationships he established and maintained in his life. Here are just a few areas of dispute:

1) Schrader portrays Carpenter "seducing" Crane into the swinging lifestyle. As Scott states and proves at his site, Crane was into the swing scene in the 1950s, way before meeting Carpenter.

2) Schrader gives us a scene in which Crane is counseled by a priest. There is no information at Scott's site or in Graysmith's book that religion or pious people played an important part in Crane's life, influenced his morality, or shaped his sex life.

3) There is no information to conclude that Crane had a significant (if any) interest in S&M or B&D.

4) There is no indication that Crane had a homosexual relationship with Carpenter or any other man -- unless you consider Crane and Carpenter having sex with themselves, or with female partners, while in the same room to be homosexual.

5) In one scene, Schrader implies that Crane had a penile implant. Crane didn't need one, nor did he have one (according to the autopsy report and witnesses to it). This may seem a minor point, but it imputes to Crane a vanity and preoccupation with size/performance for which there is no evidence.

Kinnear ALMOST carries off the role, but can't quite capture the duality in Crane's personality. He fluidly portrays the charming, likable entertainer Crane was. But he's not convincing as the obsessed sexual animal who was able to entice hundreds of women not only to "party" with him but to bare it all on film and video as well.

This is also Schrader's fault. Crane was unique, in his time, for being so publicly open and honest about his sex drive. To the contrary, Schrader has not shown himself to be comfortable with depictions of sex and sexuality. For a film about one man's now infamous sex drive, Auto Focus has surprisingly little explicit sex in it. What we do see is presented as naughty, perverse, and destined to end in violence. (Schrader has walked this path in other films -- Hardcore, American Gigolo, Taxi Driver).

Most negligently, we are never offered an explanation of, or insight to, Crane's sex life. Was it an addiction, or just a great hobby? How did he balance his working life with his sex life? Was he really that different from other celebrities of his era, or today, who bed-hop with abandon? Or did he just keep better records?

Auto Focus is more successful than not in telling us -- colorfully and stylishly -- who Bob Crane was. But couldn't we, shouldn't we, come away with Why?

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The Grey Zone (2001)

"WE DID SOMETHING."

18 May 2003

Warning: Spoilers

This appears to be a film that viewers either like very much or hate, feeling it was a waste of time and money. While I understand (and agree with some of) the criticism, I assure you that if you have more than a superficial interest in the Holocaust, and normally respond positively to gritty historical drama, you WILL BE REWARDED by this film.

True, the casting could have been better. Nelson should have stuck with lesser known, more ethnic, foreign or foreign-born actors. None of the big names (Keitel, Buscemi, Sorvino, Arquette, Lyonne) give really bad performances, but their presence in so many other films, in contemporary timeframes, serves only to remind us that we are watching actors.

Keitel does seem to be hamming it up, but, then, because he is one of the executive producers, Nelson may have had to cut him some undeserved slack. Lyonne and Sorvino are so camouflaged by dress and makeup, and have so little screen time, that their presence is not a distraction.

Several reviewers have commented about accents and line deliveries. There definitely is a play-like, Mamet-wannabe delivery of dialogue. It grated at first, but I got used to it. As for language, we're all so used to hearing German characters speaking German-accented English that I don't think it is a problem. However, for consistency, and verisimilitude, perhaps some (if not all) of the actors should have spoken with foreign (Polish, Hungarian, Russian, etc.) accents.

I felt the overall attention to detail was admirable and compelling. My favorite moment, among several great ones: a Sonderkommando worker stands quietly outside a gas chamber, in deep shadows, taking repetitive swigs from a bottle of some unidentified liquid. First reaction was, This is thirsty work. Then the realization that he is methodically anesthetizing himself to the horror, and that they all - prisoners and guards alike - had to numb themselves in some way.

Some reviewers believe there is too much violence and gore. To the contrary, considering the setting, Nelson is quite reserved in what he shows us, never locking the camera on anything too gruesome for too long. Example: as one of the female prisoners is being tortured, it looks as if she's merely undergoing an uncomfortable polygraph test. If you're going to show us somebody being tortured, we deserve to at least know/understand what the torture is - and this could have been done without being nauseatingly graphic about it. I'll go along with the overall treatment of violence in The Grey Zone, some things ARE best left to the imagination; however, I'm still waiting for a Holocaust film that doesn't `sanitize' the horror.

Ultimately, this is an uplifting film, without the slickness and sweeping-epic manipulation that a Spielberg would bring to it. Its message is vividly and grippingly conveyed: (in the words of one of the dying Sonderkommandos) `We did something.'

POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD

A few historical notes. 1) There were hundreds of Sonderkommandos; we see a much smaller number.

2) According to my source, the women responsible for smuggling gunpowder out of the munitions factory weren't discovered and tortured by camp-stationed Gestapo until after the explosions and revolt. Four were hanged. Rosa, the link with the Sonderkommandos, never broke under torture, never revealed her co-conspirators.

3) The smuggling was done through mess tins, not in the clothes of the gassed Jews. The victims removed all clothing before entering the `showers.'

4) Some rebels made it through the fences into the woods. `Almost all' were killed in a battle with the Nazis.

I'm sure there are other historical inaccuracies, but they didn't detract from the impact of the film for me.

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Dazed and Confused (1993)

10/10

Say, Man, You Seen This Film? It'd Be a Lot Cooler If You Did.

10 July 2002

Let an old-timer (47), one who came of age in the 70s, tell you whippersnappers something -- maybe three somethings: 1) Linklater deserves every accolade (and then some) for this masterpiece; 2) D&C belongs in the pantheon of the top 5 coming-of-age period pieces, and, I dare say, among the top 50 best films of all time; 3) the 70s really were as good (and bad) as depicted.

D&C can stand on its own filmic merits for the superb casting, acting, wardrobe, music, dialog, and, of course, direction. But it is its stunning capture of the looks, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors of young people during that time that drives it home.

There are many priceless moments in this film, despite the fact that I can't relate to all of them. For example, the fraternity/sorority-type hazing antics. In high school? Maybe they did/do that stuff in Texas; I wouldn't be surprised.

Just a few of the things I enjoyed in this movie:

The hot, young teacher with her radical enthusiasm (still running strong from the 60s) being pursued by the football stud.

The ridiculous clothes, which we (in the 70s) really thought were flattering and cool.

The drunk, amorous, and very sexy Jodi enticing Pink to kiss her at the big party, then shutting him down with a reminder about his girlfriend.

The ways in which the experienced guys and gals are always giving advice to the younger guys and gals, kind of mentoring them.

The car talk. In my day, it was all Fords vs. Chevys. Big gas-guzzlers. No self-respecting American drove a foreign job.

The stoners slinking around, always high or about to be. I wasn't a doper in high school, but, even if you weren't a part of that group, you knew it was going on. This was well before all the anti-drug hysteria, when soft drugs were hip and fun.

The head coach ranting about Pink's attitude problem. Clint's macho, ready-to-kick-some-ass routine. And, of course, Wooderson always on the make: 'That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age.' It's easy to see why Matthew McConaughey became a star.

I could go on forever. The characters are so vivid, the humor so sharp, the story line so well woven, the good times so real. See it high. See it low. But SEE IT!

And if you really dig it, there's a great soft-cover book, Dazed and Confused ('inspired by the screenplay by Richard Linklater') that gives the back story on all the characters, along with lots of historical and cultural detail on that era.

I love this flick.

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