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rijim2001
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A Killer in the Family (1983)
The Last Rampage of GaryTison in the Arizona Desert !
I just finished watching this film which is now available on DVD-R from Warner Brothers. It is part of their Warner Archive Collection. I would advise you to watch the film without knowing anything about its background. It is worth it. The movie stands on its own. So don't read any more unless you want some more back-round on it and some opinions!
It is indeed based upon real events that took place in the summer of 1978 when Gary Tison serving two consecutive life sentences, at the Arizona State Prison, for murder broke out with the help of his three teenage sons. You can read a deeper story about Tison and the sociopathic nature of his control over his sons as well as his inherited lawlessness which is not explained in this TV drama by obtaining the book "Last Rampage: The Escape of Gary Tison" by James W. Clarke (University of Arizona Press). Clarke actually slept near Tison's group one night at a Colorado camp site and not knowing who he was just felt evil present and picked up his family and left. The book also indicts the corruption in the Arizona prison system.
James Spader plays Donny the eldest of the sons who evidently had a good future studying law (to be used years later on Boston Legal) in college which he threw away to help supervise the breakout. The breakout is a tense almost unbelievable event. And according to news reports it became an embarrassment to the Arizona State Prison system for quite some time. Mitchum almost has a "heart attack" (joking here) when they first change cars. I actually laughed out loud at his reaction. You'll have to see it in context.
When the five are on the road in a different car speeding away everything seems fine because they are on their way to Mexico. After they have a flat tire in the desert things start to spiral out of control and they boys begin to question who and what their father really is.
My main complaint about this TV drama is that Mitchum's character was never revealed as being a former murderer. The viewer is led to believe he was in prison for a much lesser crime and was a normal inmate and father, not the sociopath he really was. And it seems the sons never knew this either though this seems to be impossible to believe.
The epilogue can now be updated to read:
After 19 years of litigation waiting on death row, Randy Greenawalt was executed: Jan. 23, 1997
Ricky and Raymond Tison, who were under 20 years old at the time of the shootings, were also sentenced to death. On appeal, their sentences were reduced to life in prison.
Custer's Last Fight (1912)
The greatest Indian frontier spectacle ever shown!
The 1925 re-edited version (with new scenes, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Little Big Horn) of Custer's Last Fight, the 1912 Thomas Ince cowboy western. It was described on handbills as, "The Big, New, and Only Original Frontier Spectacle of the Celebrated Battle of Little Big Horn"; "The Battle of No Survivors"; "Educational - Every School Boy and Girl Should See It"; "A Picture All Should See - Man, Woman, and Child"; "On The Screen In Its Full Glory!"; "Supendous Colossal Gigantic"; "A picture that 'hews to the line,' letting the chips fall where they may"; "The Greatest Wild West Feature Ever Filmed"; "COMING!! The Mighty Epic Spectacle of the Old-Time West"; "Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Battle at Little Big Horn"; "The greatest Indian frontier spectacle ever shown"; "Dedicated to the Spirit of the American Pioneer"; "Famous Indian Uprising in 1876 Under the Bloodthirsty SITTING BULL"; "Taken in the Black Hills. Over a Year in the Making" starring Francis Ford, Grace Cunard and Charles K. French. In 1926 (the 50th Anniversary of the Massacre at the Little Big Horn, known as "Custer's Last Stand") , the original movie was re-cut and some new footage was shot and the movie was re-presented with new posters and lobby cards printed. The ones you see sold as art for your walls are reproductions of the 1925 re-release. There are no 1912 posters or advertising known to exist.
Open Season (1974)
A Spanish MADE FILM MADE TO MIMIC AN American ONE
Get some decent Americn actors on the cheap, film in the mountains outside of Madrid to cut expenses, play it for the U.S. market and you end up with this film. I think that is the main reason so many male reviewers on this site think this is a terrific film. Because of the European sleaze factor of one pretty single woman in a mountain cabin with men with guns. The plot has been explained by many others but (Spoiler alert) most missed the fact that Fonda had fathered a child years earlier when he and his "clean-cut" pals gang raped Holden's daughter and got away Scot-free. That's why Holden shows up at the end to exact revenge and to stop these guys. I just watched a tape of it and am selling it fast and cheap so it won't contaminate my library of films.
T.H.E. Cat (1966)
A complete list of episodes and the theme music
"Out of the night comes a man who saves lives at the risk of his own: Once a circus performer, an aerialist who refused the net... Once a cat burglar, a master among jewel thieves... And now, a professional bodyguard - primitive, savage, in love with danger - T.H.E CAT!"
The episode list can be found at http://epguides.com/THECat/guide.shtml and the music can be found at this Sound America site link http://soundamerica.com/sounds/themes/Television/T-Z/ under thecat66.wav I believe the announcer is George Fennemen best known as the announcer in You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx (79 episodes, 1950-1961) , Dragnet (276 episodes, 1951-1959), Dragnet 1967 (33 episodes, 1967-1969)
The Young One (1960)
One of Luis Buñuel's few English language films
This film is available for sale on Half.com "A black New Orleans jazz musician flees to a remote coastal island in order to escape the wrath of a lynch mob. While hiding out on the island, he befriends a young white girl, much to the distrust of the island's sheriff, who is secretly involved with the girl. Once a search party from the mainland arrives to escort the musician back, the delicate veneer of trust which existed between the musician and the sheriff is shattered, and the sheriff must confront the truths about his crime, and more importantly, his own depraved nature." (from the posting of half.com) This film is in black and white.