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Police Story: Ice Time (1977)
A contrast in teen girls' lives and pinball
Normally a strong series with an interesting cast, this episode was depressing and didn't feel as focused as some. A vice cop hopes his teen daughter can be a pro ice skater, but much of his time is spent trying to bust a prostitution ring of underage girls. He does a good job of switching from loving father to undercover officer stripping down to pose as a customer. Normally Police Story officers are tormented. This one didn't seem as bothered as most.
James Cromwell plays a total creep, and the story of the trusting girl he lures in for abuse seemed thrown in for shock value. Had she been reported missing? Her story could have been developed more.
An unexpected pinball challenge between Cromwell and a woman who works for him seemed very out of place. Would a vice cop really take on a second job in a supermarket to earn more money for his daughter's ice skating lessons and time on the ice (hence the title)? Although he's married, his wife only appears when he's in bed, either at home or the hospital.
The underlying focus is the contrast between the vice sergeant's daughter who can devote herself to skating practice with a goal of going pro, while other teen girls are being beaten, drugged up, and pimped out. Not an episode I'd watch a second time, unlike many in this series.
Love, American Style: Love and the Crisis Line/Love and the Happy Family/Love and the Vertical Romance (1973)
Love and the Happy Family: Good for the actors
Review of just one segment: Love and the Happy Family. A rather portly Murray Hamilton has recently married Zira, Kim Hunter. They each have an adult child who is visiting while on spring break. Sian Barbara Allen plays Hamilton's daughter, while a very young and very tall Ed Begley, Jr. Is Kim Hunter's son. The two of them are now supposed to be brother and sister, but instead they've started a romance.
At first, Hamilton and Hunter don't like the idea, and Hamilton thinks of a way to break the young couple up. He'll introduce his daughter to a young man who works for him.
Hamilton gets most of the one-liners that are as corny as you remember this show being. The real entertainment is just seeing the actors if you are a fan of any of them. With a cast of unfamiliar faces, this same segment would not be worth watching.
Adam-12: Dirt Duel (1972)
Micky Dolenz, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, and Dirt Bike Cringe
Adam-12 is probably the single best American police drama, but Season 5 got off to a bad start.
Guest stars Micky Dolenz and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes are fun to see, but can we really take them seriously as a biker gang who have a problem with "the Fuzz"?
A series of purse snatchings by bikers leads to our officers' confrontation with the gang. When they attend a local community police meeting, the story gets worse. The usual "I bet you're not so tough without that badge" line leads to a cringeworthy exchange between Malloy and "Kookie," as Malloy thinks it's a good idea to challenge him to a dirt bike race. Suddenly I expected Fonzie to appear. Is this still Adam-12?
Reed has a short time to teach Pete how to race a dirt bike. How convenient that Reed knows all about it. The big day comes and the "kids" (both men are 40!) have their race. Malloy is a man of integrity, but I'd rather see him doing police work.
Worth it for fans of the Monkees or 77 Sunset Strip, and young boys might have enjoyed the dirt bike scenes. Overall, not the Adam-12 you came to see.
Adam-12: The Late Baby (1972)
Corny, Creepy, and a Lot of Sinatras
Season 5 is where a great series appears to slide downhill, and this second offering shows its decline.
If you tuned in for the great partnership between Reed and Malloy as they chase down armed robbers, you can skip this one. Instead we find Malloy in pursuit of a new young girl in the office, and she turns out to be the niece of the thorn in Reed's side, Ed Wells.
They handle a prowler call well, and there's a car chase, but most of their policing involves a flower vendor's mundane drama and it goes on for far too long.
When Wells is trying to keep Malloy from dating his niece, Malloy thinks Wells should back off as the girl is 25. This would have been a good time for Wells to point out that Malloy is 40 and the word predatory comes to mind. Wells doesn't, but things get creepier with her next choice of dates.
Check the cast listing. The whole episode seemed like an excuse for Crosby and Sinatra family comedy.
Reed seemed very dignified in this one. 5 for Reed. 0 for the writers.
Adam-12: Excessive Force (1974)
Malloy pushed too far by the series' worst villain
Even though people got shot, beaten, and/or killed sometimes, Adam-12 was normally a "family" show and probably most popular with pre-teen boys. The crime in this episode is not suitable for all audiences by a long shot.
Although the episode opens with a typical Adam-12 "comedy" situation - a man stuck in the storm drain - it quickly descends into potential darkness when a six-year-old girl is nowhere to be found. A house-to-house search is well underway when keen-eyed Malloy finds the perp.
I can only imagine Milner's reaction to how much running the script called for. Normally McCord did all the athletic legwork. Notice they don't always show the running officer's face!
Once Malloy has hold of the sleaze, the perp says some truly horrible things about his crime. Did I just hear that on a 1974 TV show with children watching? Who wouldn't react like Malloy does!
For all the seasons when Reed wouldn't be able to stop thinking about the bad things they'd dealt with and Malloy would tell him to let it go, now it's Malloy's turn to be reminded an officer can't get emotionally involved.
Despite what he's done to this innocent little girl, the perp is more concerned with pressing charges against Malloy for the rough treatment. The rest of the episode is Malloy going through the disciplinary process.
Definitely one of the series' more serious and shocking episodes.
Robert Montgomery Presents: Sunset Boulevard (1956)
Ageism and Sexism still masquerading as a "Crazy Lady" movie
This is a TV version of the Gloria Swanson film. The film is memorable, yes, but its real message is ugly. The story here is the same, but on a smaller budget and more confined. The writer is over thirty, but no one thinks anything of his pursuit of the script writer girl in her early twenties. The legendary film actress has hit fifty. Is there some reason she can't look at the younger man the way the man looks at a younger girl? The director with whom the actress once worked is older than the actress, but he's still working, and quite successfully.
Why shouldn't the actress continue her career? Why shouldn't she pursue younger love interests? The message in this story seems to be that only men are allowed to do those things. Making the actress "crazy" seemed a convenient way to mask the ageism and sexism that are the real message of this film.
This particular adaptation works just fine. I saw the film first, so I cannot say if the story would have struck me as hard had I only seen this. Darren McGavin was good in everything he ever did. He has the same cocky attitude as his Kolchak character did later on. Sadly, Mary Astor's drinking showed on her face. She was not the same woman that Jack Barrymore and Ronald Colman were hoping to marry. Gloria Swanson had aged better, despite actually being maybe a year older than Mary when she did her film version, and Gloria's version seems all the more ageist as a result. Mary just seems washed up and sad.
I'm not sure what the point was of remaking this. Of course, in the 50s people didn't have the luxury of owning their favorite movies on home copies, so maybe it was fun to see the story again. This version is not bad, but it doesn't improve on or add to the original film in any way, and that's why I gave it only a 6. Also, you don't get to see the amazing car. It's just referred to.
Romance in the Dark (1938)
John Barrymore is the reason I tracked this film down
John Barrymore is the reason I tracked down this lesser-known film. The story itself is B or C-grade. John Boles gets to show off his own singing ability on film as an opera singer who is competing with John Barrymore's impresario character for the attentions of Claire Dodd. Her character comes across very icy and doesn't seem worth fighting over. Meanwhile an opera singer eager for fame, Gladys Swarthout, drives the screwball comedy element of the film. She poses as a maid and Middle Eastern princess, and Boles hopes her marketability will distract Barrymore from Dodd. Swarthout's character is the only one I felt anything for.
For me, the best part of the film was seeing John Barrymore without his moustache! He has it shaven off early in the film and suddenly looks like his 1920s films again. It's like silent movie Jack, looking a bit older and with less hair, but wonderfully attractive. Unfortunately, he gets very few opportunities to do any scene-stealing.
This film is only worth seeing if one of the actors is among your favorites. Clean-shaven Jack Barrymore is the sole reason I will watch this again. I just wish he'd had more screen time.
Stage 7: Yesterday's Pawnshop (1955)
Held My Attention and Kept Me Guessing
I found this on a DVD called the Golden Age of Television, vol. 14. I had bought it to see Ronald Colman, in a TV short called The Lost Silk Hat, that let me down. This was the best episode on the disc, I thought. A man has been married less than a year, and his new wife wants him to look at some antique lamps. In the shop, he sees a ring he clearly recognizes, but he doesn't want his wife to know of his interest. He returns later to find out how the ring got there and follows the trail back to get answers to a nine-year-old mystery in his life. It kept me guessing, and the more that was revealed, the more interested I became. Usually these simple TV stories that relied mostly on dialogue turn out to be a waste of your half hour unless you particularly like one of the actors. This one had a slight Twilight Zone feel to it and a satisfying ending.
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935)
Debonair Ronald Colman in a corny film, but he sings!
OK, he only sings one line a few times over in front of the bathroom mirror, but ladies might go "Oooh! Is he singing??" Ronald Colman plays the dapper gentleman, ever confident. However, this film is a waste of his charm. He and the ever-aristocratic Nigel Bruce, both such thoroughly classy English gentlemen, are supposed to be Russian exiles. You know how Russians always sound like well-spoken Englishmen, right?
Colman somehow wins a major fortune in the casino in Monte Carlo. Hard to swallow, but OK. Harder to believe, he is 40-something, charming, gorgeous, and now incredibly rich, yet has no wife nor women in hot pursuit of him. Instead he is in pursuit of Joan Bennett, who keeps reappearing wherever he goes. She is very wooden and stands out no more than any other young blonde, yet of course in typical 30s movie fashion, Colman instantly declares his deepest love for her and proposes. It's too contrived to be cute.
The scene in the fake Alps caused me second-hand embarrassment. Ladies will again "oooh" when he tries to lift her down. Maybe her smoking while hanging there is what won him over? Bennett's character lacks depth, and I couldn't cheer for their romance.
For the record, I like Joan Bennett. She was lovely and became a good actor. In her first film opposite Colman, "Bulldog Drummond," she was dreadful. This film six years later wasn't much of an improvement. In 1934, she looked lovely and charming as Claude Rains' wife in "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head," but I digress.
Always nice to see Ronald Colman all dressed up and acting debonair, but sadly this film seemed like a silly throwaway to me.
The Marriage Playground (1929)
Fredric March surrounded by children disappoints
I am eager to see all of Fredric March's pre-1940 films. Some of them are brilliant. Others are just OK, but his performance is always top-notch, regardless of the material. Or so I thought. If this were the first time someone was seeing March, they would never know he was a professional actor.
Mary Brian plays March's college friend's daughter. A series of marriages and divorces has left a large collection of children in her primary care. She is only seventeen. After a whacky meeting on the beach, the young girl and the kids are all smitten with March. However, March's character is engaged to a widow he has allegedly loved for a long time. You see where this is going. The age difference is supposed to seem acceptable, though March initially protests, and viewers are left to see which woman he finally chooses to marry.
If you want to see young Mitzi Green, with her loud mouth, or young Anita Louise, you might enjoy this film. Lilyan Tashman always turned in a good performance when playing a villain. The delightful Kay Francis is less than enjoyable here though. Mary Brian is probably the best performer in the cast, but I didn't like her character. March's devotion to the children seems unnatural, and I couldn't see him as a believable husband to either woman. I came in wanting to like this film, but after viewing it, I don't understand the good reviews it got at the time.
The Late George Apley (1947)
An attack on traditional upper class values for radicals to applaud
George Apley is the head of an upper-class Boston family and a man true to Victorian values and behavior. Fans of Ronald Colman's voice are treated to an almost excessive amount of it in the beginning as his character is established. He quotes Emerson and seems truly delighted to have seen a certain bird so late in the year. You get to hear him say "sap-sucker" repeatedly. He feels his privilege comes with certain duties, and those must come before all else. The story opens on Thanksgiving Day, so we meet the extended family. Here is where things turn ugly. His two adult children have both decided to rebel against the path their father feels is right. The daughter has taken up with a young lecturer from New York who calls Emerson a radical, much to George Apley's horror, and smokes cigarettes instead of cigars. Suddenly his daughter is talking about Freud and badmouthing coming out parties. The son has long been expected to marry a certain cousin, but now he is lying to his father that he has to study. Instead, he's off to see a new girlfriend from the wrong side of the tracks.
At this point, I expected the father to reel his children in. However, the story goes against George Apley and all that he stands for. His close friend and his wife both tell tales of George's own younger days concerning love, marriage, and the role his father had played in his son's actions. Suddenly George does a 180. He has a whole different outlook. He even sneakily reads his daughter's Freud book. Here's your chance to hear the Ronald Colman voice spout the word "sex" multiple times.
Is George Apley abandoning his inherited sense of what's proper for his family so that his children can pursue romantic love? Or is this a portrayal of upper class Victorian values being mocked and shattered for the writer's own satisfaction? At one point, another character claims the Apley fortune came from the triangular trade of rum, slaves, and molasses. Although this film is from the 40s, its condemnation of George Apley's values seem to reflect fully modern disdain for the past.
The viewer is left to see how long George's 180 turn will last and to what extent. How much will he compromise and capitulate? Will the son and daughter marry their romantic loves or respect their father's Apley family Bostonian traditions?
I know I am in a small minority, but I found the film insulting and distasteful. I thought it was like watching a classy older man be pushed into the gutter by a gang of young punks. Ronald Colman is always wonderful, but the scathing attack the original writer was making on the upper class of Boston seems very ugly on the screen.
She Had to Eat (1937)
Eugene Palette's frog voice dominates this mediocre comedy
I bought a copy of this film to see Jack Haley, the man with the beautiful eyes and pretty face. Haley keeps getting mistaken for a criminal and is continually asked to take his pants down for a positive i.d. at the police station. Didn't see that coming! Rochelle Hudson does a bit of singing. I was more concerned about what would happen to Haley's pet rabbit Cactus (nothing bad happens to him) than about any of the characters.
Eugene Palette's unmistakable and unpleasant voice seemed to dominate the film. Haley didn't get a chance to shine. The comedy was weak and the story largely forgettable. Sorry for the downer of a review. I was hoping for more Jack Haley highlights.
Alibi (1942)
James Mason tries out his Norman Maine act for Margaret Lockwood
This film is too simplistic and low budget to be of much interest except for the pairing of Margaret Lockwood and James Mason. I guess these English people were supposed to be French because of their character names, but there isn't much French about the film except for the type of live entertainment in the club. James Mason was quite good doing drunken comedy (see A Touch of Larceny). Odd observance: Margaret Lockwood seems taller than usual beside him in this inoffensive fare. In their two most famous films together, The Man in Gray and The Wicked Lady, they were paired as wonderfully fun to hate villains, but they might have done well as a comedy duo too. Pity it never happened. This film will give you a glimpse of what that might have been like. Enid Stamp Taylor also has a small part. Delightful how quickly people fall in love in these old films.
I Met a Murderer (1939)
Younger James Mason does a lot of running for Pamela's ego
A huge thank you to the kind soul who posted this film on Youtube, which allowed me to see it. The other review on here tells all you need to know really, and thank you for that too.
Fans of James Mason will want to see this because his youthful performances were as solid as all of his work, and for the ladies, he's just pleasant to watch. Watching him work on the farm in the beginning of the film, the viewer wonders why his character ever married that miserable wife. When his real future-wife appears, viewers can wonder about that attraction too. I believe that in fan fiction, Pamela would be known as "Mary Sue." She crops up again in a LOT more of his work (groan).
James Mason does a lot of running in this film, literally, but does not get to really showcase his strong points. He might not have thought too highly of the Gainsborough Melodramas, but those are what made him # 1 with British female audiences. For a non-period piece of his early work, I would recommend "The Night Has Eyes." He's dark, brooding, rather scary, and possibly a fiend in it: that is an enjoyable performance piece for him, and the leading lady is likable. "I Met a Murderer" might have been intended as promotion for James Mason, but seems more like an ego piece for Pamela.
This is the first of three Mason films that I've watched where people's pets get killed. Boo-hiss to that! I could NOT recommend this film to the casual viewer or fan of British 30s films. As a James Mason performance, it's a 6 or 7. He simply didn't have much to work with. As a story, it's a 2.
East Side, West Side (1949)
Needed more Ava Gardner! Seinfeld Man Hands comedy
I watched this film hoping to see some sizzle between Ava Gardner and James Mason. She was wonderfully wicked, but he underplayed it too much. Same great voice, but no passion in his role at all. Absolutely zero chemistry between Mason and Stanwyck. No wonder their marriage was in trouble! How did the studio ever think they would be believable together? I was eager to hear Mason's character's explanation at the beginning about why men cheat. Didn't impress me though.
The best part of the film was the murder mystery aspect and a wonderful appearance by Cannon star William Conrad. Van Heflin played a former cop and a character you like right away. However, his part seemed like it belonged in a different film from the underused Ava Gardner's. The overall lack of excitement gives the viewer time to notice annoying things about the actors. Why did Barbara Stanwyck talk like she had false teeth? James Mason was curling and uncurling his fingers non-stop.
Now the great comedy part: Man Hands! If you are familiar with the Seinfeld episode with Man Hands, you will certainly shout it out toward the end of the film.
They Were Sisters (1945)
James Mason's cruelty makes you watch, but it's unpleasant
Phyllis Calvert is lovely and sympathetic and, aside from the children and the dog, is the only one to really cheer for. Although most female viewers will be lured in by James Mason's disturbingly alluring cruelty, they will probably find it quite ugly by the end. Being set in the more modern day, with Mason in a suit and driving a car, instead of a period costume and a horse, makes this story all the more unpleasant. Worst of all is the casting of Mason's real-life wife Pamela as his eldest daughter (!) Unless this was a rare glimpse of him breaking character with the camera rolling, his physical affection with her in their many shared scenes surely indicated incest. Eww! Her performance doesn't give that impression, but then she wasn't much of an actress. Allegedly her character is mature, yet she calls him "Daddy" throughout. His poor on- screen wife and children suffer his endless verbal and emotional abuse. He even threatens the poor dog. The most entertaining scene for me (as an American) was when the young son is playing with a new gun, and Cruel Papa Mason says he MAY have to take that away from him. Unlike the villain you loved to hate in The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady, here his villain is more like alcoholic pervert uncle-by-marriage who manages to ruin every family gathering. You'll applaud Phyllis Calvert's kind- hearted character but won't find any redeeming value in Mason's villain.
Saturday's Children (1940)
Claude Rains fans should see this.
This film is a comedy with sad parts. If you want to see the past, the fashions, the way women were treated, or just escape from modern films, you might enjoy this. I watched it solely for Claude Rains, but found the female lead to be very likable and certainly very pretty. A girl of 22 meets a man at her new job, and they begin a solid friendship. I liked that she wasn't a typical girlie-girl, trying to catch a man. She was a person first and very honest. It's her sister who is determined the two must marry. The marriage runs into trouble mostly due to finances--nothing much has changed in America, has it! Claude Rains is absolutely charming as ever, kind, gentle, funny, and very devoted to his daughter. It shocked me that a 1940s film, or any father, would tell his daughter it was OK for girls to sow some "wild oats" as well as boys! Dad's action toward the end of the film shocked me as well, and overall this was a fairly poorly written, unrealistic kitchen-sink drama. However, Anne Shirley is so lovely and likable, and Claude Rains is wonderful. Great to see him not playing a villain or an overly intense individual for once (though he did that so well!) Worth seeing for those two actors. Without them, it would be a miss.
Voices (1973)
A stage play on film with a haunting twist
I got this film because I like David Hemmings. He was just starting to lose his looks at this point. At first I thought, isn't this supposed to be a horror movie? His character seems rather cruel, but not supernatural scary. I thought maybe he was behind the events, trying to drive her mad. The flashbacks to the mental hospital were the most horrible part, I thought. The things they did to people there.... It's not graphic, but just the idea of one's rights being taken away and then some doctor almost experimenting on you.... It seemed too convenient that she would inherit an old house way out in the woods like that. WARNING WARNING, SPOILER HERE: I suspect the people who made Nicole Kidman's "The Others" had seen this film. Also "Beetlejuice"! However, the writer of this story may have been inspired by that Twilight Zone with the three astronauts going thru the motions again and again, I think with Jack Klugman. The time travel aspect did not make sense to me at all.
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
SPEW SPEW SPEW animal violence MORE SPEW
WARNING: Animal violence. Main character stabs her kitten to death. The stabbing is off-screen but the blood flies, and then she throws his corpse in a backyard grave. That is where I said "OK, goodbye!" Animal violence is never needed nor acceptable. No way. I wanna be SCARED not upset over cruelty. Later they plan to murder a goat, but it doesn't happen. Mostly the film features SPEW. The hideous old gypsy woman vomits on the main character over and over, here's maggots in your mouth, here's more spew. The girl also spews blood all over people. When the high-pressure fire hose style nosebleed was spraying all in sight, I admit I DID laugh out of control. Also, if the gypsy woman had that HUGE family, why would she have been homeless? And if she'd lived there 30 years, wouldn't the house have been paid off already? Shame on you, Sam Raimi. And where was Bruce Campbell?
The Buttercup Chain (1970)
Two cousins suppress their incestuous love through relationships with two other young people in 1969 Europe.
Warning. Possible spoilers. The Buttercup Chain's tag line might lead you to believe the film centers around the carefree, intertwined love lives of four lovely young people. However, what actually drives the story is the incestuous would-be relationship between first cousins, played by Hywel Bennett (as France in the film) and Jane Asher (Margaret). The two were born to twin sisters on the same day. Sadly, the boy's mother passes away when he's young, leaving him to be raised as more of a brother alongside his female cousin. Even as youngsters, the two have a deep, tender love for each other. Flash forward to Margaret returning home to London from schooling elsewhere and her "brother" France there to meet her. Although the two are in love with each other, France has a plan to find his "sister" a lover other than himself. France finds one almost immediately in blond Swedish hunk Fred, and then France meets an American girl, Manny, for himself. He then leads the quartet on holiday in the Spanish countryside. Manny falls for France, and Fred for Margaret, yet despite the two new couples pairing off in bed, the siblings' main interest remains each other. France himself likes to manipulate the situation, and he even watches from a distancehis sister making love with Fred. He seems to live vicariously through Fred rather than abandoning his thoughts about Margaret. Manny complicates things first by introducing the wealthy older man she's already involved with, starting a relationship with Fred herself, and then announcing she's going to have a baby. The story follows their lives together, adventures on the side, and the feelings France and Margaret keep trying to suppress. After a tragedy heightens everyone's emotions, Margaret takes the lead in an attempt to consummate the love between her and her brother.
The four young actors are all beautiful, and England, Spain, Rome, and Sweden provide the background scenery. Shot in 1969, the period fashions are a joy too. The acting is excellent, even if some parts of the story seem a little unbelievable. Much of the time the quartet are swimming, bathing, or making love, so the two female leads are frequently topless. However, it was still the era of natural breasts, so none of the nudity seems gratuitous, just "European." Hywel Bennett is the only one who keeps his clothes on this time (saving it up for "Loot" perhaps!) Did I mention all the smoking? I should because there's a lot of smoking! The film is hard to find just now, but fans of Jane Asher or Hywel Bennett should definitely track it down. It will probably leave you feeling sad, but the actors give strong performances, and it's probably one of the few incest-themed dramas that doesn't feel creepy.
Suwarôteiru (1996)
Illegal foreigners in Japan-- deep in crime, filth, and ugliness
After having read that this film was such a masterpiece, I was seriously disappointed. Mostly I bought it because I love actor Eguchi Yosuke. I was shocked to hear him speaking Chinese and some torturous and vulgar English. In fact, I heard very little Japanese throughout the whole long, long film. This film is much uglier than I had anticipated. Quirky pop star Chara, who I've always suspected was more Philippina or Vietnamese than Japanese, plays a kind-hearted hooker from Shanghai. She takes under her wing a young girl who's lost her own hooker mother, saves her from a life as a prostitute, inspires this girl to get a tattoo, and goes on to be a pop singer. Normally handsome good guy Eguchi Yosuke-in his long hair period-plays Chara's brother, a Chinese gang leader. If you're used to seeing him in Japanese dramas, you'll be in for a shock. Most of the characters on screen are anything but Japanese. There's the big black fella who teaches the young girl how to box, the American Jewish doctor who has chosen to work in dirty conditions giving tattoos to other illegals, the white guys who can't speak English, only Japanese, and somehow get by as musicians, and assorted other Middle Eastern (maybe?) illegal aliens who live in squalid conditions and make money attacking passers by. Do not go into this film expecting to see or hear Japanese people, or to see any of the hi-tech, pop culture, or traditional images one normally associates with Japan. Instead you are greeted by Yentown--the dirty world of illegals desperate to get rich in Japan by any means necessary. SPOILER, SPOILER! The main story involves a cassette tape that allows for the duplication of the magnetic strip in money. Thus our "heroes" can counterfeit loads of money, open a night club, let Chara become a singing star (watch for a cameo by her husband Asano Tadanobu), and somehow save the day again when rival gangs threaten them. Overall the film was just ugly. Ugly people doing illegal things in the dark dirty corners of at-the-time prosperous Japan. This is the kind of film that gets rave reviews by those who confuse ugliness for depth and beauty. Many readers will slam this review. Sorry, but I had to review it my way.
Kyouju Luger P08 (1994)
Japanese violence, rape, and gun play
Previously "wholesome" Japanese model/actor Abe Hiroshi became a self-described "hardboiled" veteran actor with this departure from his former clean-cut image. A shy, "librarian-type" office worker in the beginning, he comes into possession of a German Luger used in WWII and turns into a vigilante type. He lives with his sister, drinks endless bottles of Evian, and practices with the gun. Then, in his first totally nude sex scene (ooh, girls!! Enjoy this one!), he accepts his nympho co-worker's invitation to bounce on her futon. Our hero's big mistake though is in rescuing a working girl from the abuses of her pimp. Said evil character wants revenge bad and nabs the innocent sister. An ugly gang rape scene leads our hero to go confront the evil-doers. One wonders how much English the Japanese cast could understand, as when Abe goes in search of bullets for his gun, he winds up in a foreigner-filled bar where some vulgar anti-Japanese sentiments are hurled his way. The black fella who sells Abe the bullets is particularly offensive. On a comical note, those ten bullets sure went a long way. It seemed like hundreds of rounds were fired! Apparently this film won awards in Japan. I don't know why. For the ladies, it's just a chance to see Abe Hiroshi's first totally nude sex scene. Chances are you'll have to find this on auctions.yahoo.co.jp like I did. Can't imagine it would be highly sought-after in the USA, although it did wind up in one of Thomas Weissner's early Japanese Cult Cinema guides for Americans.