Thunderball (1965)

The James Bond series was enjoying unprecedented success after its first three films culminating with the best of the series in my opinion GOLDFINGER (1964). The filmmakers would quickly follow-up GOLDFINGER'S triumph with THUNDERBALL (1965) directed by Terence Young who introduced audiences to Agent 007 in DR. NO (1962).

THUNDERBALL is another solid effort by the Bond team but it does begin to reveal a few chinks in the Bond series armor. The villain Largo is not quite as flashy or memorable as Dr. No or Auric Goldfinger. Instead of a new exotic location, the filmmakers return to a familiar locale with the Caribbean, this time the Bahamas (DR. NO was shot in Jamaica). The screenplay is intelligent but THUNDERBALL drags a bit in the second half, spending too much time underwater. And we don't really learn anything new about James Bond (Sean Connery again) except that he does take a vacation every now and then which is how he stumbles upon S.P.E.C.T.R.E.'S latest diabolical scheme.

Probably the biggest drama in THUNDERBALL is that Kevin McClory is the producer instead of the usual team of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. McClory originally developed the original story for THUNDERBALL with screenwriter Jack Whittingham and Bond novelist Ian Fleming before Broccoli and Saltzman bought the rights to the Bond books. But Fleming tired of the screenwriting process. Fleming did end up turning the THUNDERBALL idea into a novel. McClory sued Fleming for stealing his idea and ended up acquiring the film rights to THUNDERBALL. Broccoli and Saltzman didn't want a competing Bond film so they made a deal with McClory. McClory got the Producer credit and Broccoli and Saltzman took Executive Producer credits in THUNDERBALL.

The final screenplay was by Bond veteran Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins based on Jack Whittingham's original screenplay based on an original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming. Because McClory owned the film rights to THUNDERBALL, it would be remade in 1983 as NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN starring (yes) Sean Connery in his last appearance as James Bond. Klaus Marie Brandauer, Kim Basinger, and Barbara Carrera would co-star in the film with the locale changed to the French Rivera.

So the 4th in the series THUNDERBALL begins with one of my favorite Bond pre-credit sequences. Bond (Sean Connery) and Madame LaPorte (Mitsouko) attend the funeral for the nefarious Colonel Jaques Bouvar i.e. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. #6 (played by Bond stuntman Bob Simmons) who had murdered two of Bond's colleagues. But Bouvar has faked his own death, disguising himself as a female mourner at his own funeral. Bond notices something amiss with the lady when she opens her own car door.  He surprises the Colonel at his French chateau. Bond dispatches the skirt wearing Bouvar then escapes via a jet pack (shades of Buck Rogers) strategically placed on the outside terrace. The delicious irony of Ladies Man James Bond punching a woman before we realize it's Col. Bouvar is an inventive start to THUNDERBALL.

With S.P.E.C.T.R.E. #6 dead, we're introduced to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. #2 Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) who arrives at S.P.E.C.T.R.E. headquarters in Paris (the evil organization's lair is fronted by a philanthropic non profit helping displaced people). Largo announces his plan to the cat loving but unseen Ernst Stavro Blofeld (who we will finally lay eyes on in 1967's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) and a cadre of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agents. Largo looks like a modern day pirate (he even sports a black eye patch) and his plan would make Blackbeard blush. Largo plans to steal two nuclear bombs from a NATO bomber and ransom them for 100 million pounds ($280 millions US dollars) in uncut diamonds. The E in S.P.E.C.T.R.E. does stand for Extortion.

Bond stumbles upon Largo's plot accidentally while vacationing at an English spa. Largo's right hand man Count Lippe (Guy Doleman) uses plastic surgery to have a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent impersonate NATO pilot Major Francois Derval (Paul Stassino). The real Derval is killed and the imposter Angelo Palazzi (also played by actor Stassino) hijacks the plane and lands it in the waters near the Bahamas where Largo and his underwater team remove and hide the bombs and kill the imposter Derval (never ever trust an organization that has an octopus for its logo).

During a briefing with M (Bernard Lee), Bond notices a photo of Derval with his sister and follows the trail to the Bahamas where he's joined by American CIA Agent Felix Leiter (played by Rik Van Nutter, the third different actor to play Leiter so far in the series) and lovely local agent Paula (Martine Beswick, who appeared previously in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE). Largo has a large compound at the tip of the island called Palmya and a super yacht called the Disco Volante. Largo conveniently keeps company with the dead NATO pilot's sister Dominique "Domino" Derval (Claudine Auger).

As the clock ticks down toward Largo arming the nuclear bombs if the world doesn't pay up, Bond must deal with dangerous Golden Grotto sharks, underwater thugs armed with spear guns, and the volumptous but lethal SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) as he searches the waters around Largo's estate for the missing Vulcan bomber and the nuclear bombs. Using his skills as the World's Greatest Lover, Bond seduces Domino to turn on Largo. Dammit if I didn't believe that SPECTRE would hand over the bombs after they got paid their ransom. Even if the ransom is paid, Largo plans on pointing one of the nuclear bombs at Miami. Bond and Largo fight it out on his runaway super charged yacht as it races toward some exposed rocks.

THUNDERBALL'S Largo is an inferior version of Auric Goldfinger from GOLDFINGER but the two supervillains do share one quality.  They both are sexually inadequate with women. Neither man is especially attractive. The only reason they have beautiful women around them is because of their wealth. Bond flaunts his sexuality brazenly in their faces, sleeping with their mistresses or curvy assassins. Largo makes up for his lack of sex appeal by doing what most men do: owning large toys like his giant yacht and his huge oceanside compound to make up for their lack of sex appeal. Largo even humiliates his own henchman Vargas (Philip Locke) in front of Bond. Domino shudders at the things she's had to do with the sadistic Largo who's not beyond cruelty and violence toward her. Domino must feel some pleasure when she impales Largo with a spear gun.

One thing THUNDERBALL reminds audiences is that working or coming in contact with British agent James Bond is a hazardous undertaking. In THUNDERBALL, Bond's local contact, the pretty Paula ends up kidnapped and tortured, committing suicide by cyanide pill rather than reveal secrets to Largo. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. assassin Fiona Volpe makes wild, passionate love with Bond but both she and Bond know one of them will have to kill the other soon.

I feel guilty that I consider THUNDERBALL a step down from the first three Bond entries. It was the most expensive 1960's Bond film to make and it also made the most money. It has all the best Bond technicians working on it -- Screenwriter Richard Maibaum, Production Designer Ken Adam, Director of Photography Ted Moore, and Editor Peter Hunt who all turn in their usual spectacular best. Director Terence Young is at the helm once again. Young introduced the sophisticated tone for the Bond films in DR NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. The script is taut with the usual humor to lighten the dramatic moments. But the underwater sequences (beautifully directed by underwater director Ricou Browning who played the Creature in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) are too numerous in the second half of the film. The fight scenes and underwater submersibles are cool but they go on too long.

Once again, the Bond filmmakers continue the tradition of casting the best actor or actress for the role even if that actor or actress's English isn't very good, dubbing their dialogue with a different voice. Ursula Andress (DR NO), Danielle Bianchi (FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE), and Gert Frobe (GOLDFINGER) all had their voices dubbed in post production. THUNDERBALL extends this practice with both Adolfo Celi and Claudine Auger. In an interesting Special Feature on the THUNDERBALL DVD, they show a scene with Celi and Auger at the Baccarat table with the actors's real voices. Celi's Sicillian and Auger French. Their English sounded fine to me but the Bond filmmakers thought otherwise.

Sean Connery is once again stellar as James Bond, still playing the part with vitality and even a bit of goofiness in a few early scenes. He's not mailing his performance in and I'm not sure he ever did. Director Young once again goes for a beauty queen to play Bond's love interest as Claudine Auger was a former Miss France (Danielle Bianchi in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE was a former Miss Italy). Just like when I rewatched Bianchi in RUSSIA, I wasn't crazy about Auger the first few times I watched THUNDERBALL but she too grows on me with repeated viewings, especially in her wet suit.

The rest of the cast is uniformly good, if not a bit underwhelming. Adolfo Celi as Largo does seem a notch down from Goldfinger although Largo is more vicious, throwing his own thugs into his personal shark tank when he receives bad news. There's no amazing second nemesis like Red Grant in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE or Oddjob in GOLDFINGER to antagonize Bond although Luciana Paluzzi has fun in her role as the red-headed S.P.E.C.T.R.E. villainess Fiona Volpe. Largo's right hand man Vargas looks creepy with his long bald head and fish eyes. Largo tells us Vargas has no vices. "Vargas does not drink, does not smoke, does not make love." Vargas's only hobby is murder but he too will find the wrong end of a spear gun courtesy of Bond.

Some final THUNDERBALL tidbits. THUNDERBALL was the first Bond film shot in widescreen Panavision, ushering in that Bond was big time. THUNDERBALL would be director Terence Young's final Bond film but what a way to go out with the biggest, most lavish Bond film yet. Bond films always have a great opening theme song but the title THUNDERBALL seems like a tough song to write. Originally, the theme song was to be Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang sung by Dionne Warwick (check out the DVD to hear her version on the 2nd commentary track). But at the last minute, the producers felt the theme song should have the title in it and what we hear now is Thunderball sung by Tom Jones. A scene at a restaurant called the Kiss Kiss Club would be the filmmakers way of acknowledging the first song title. Lastly, CASINO ROYALE (2006) returned to the Bahamas where THUNDERBALL was filmed and shot some scenes near some of the original locations.

Ultimately, did too many producers and writers water down THUNDERBALL? The film still maintains the same high standards that the first three Bond films had. THUNDERBALL has a bigger budget, is longer than the previous films with a plot as engaging as ever, and looks fantastic. I think it's biggest drawback is its length and that the second half of the film spends too much time looking for the nuclear bombs. THUNDERBALL still maintains the high standards for the Bond series that would eventually begin to wear thin in the 1980's.

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Pearl Harbor. December 7th, 1941. "A Date which will live in Infamy," said President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he spoke to the U.S. Congress and the Nation after the attack. THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963) might be the first war movie I remember watching but Pearl Harbor is the first battle I remember wanting to learn more about. Never one to turn down an opportunity to make a film about historical events, Hollywood has tackled the attack on Pearl Harbor indirectly in Otto Preminger's IN HARM'S WAY (1965), more directly with an American/Japanese co-production directed by Richard Fleischer TORA, TORA, TORA (1970) and recently, Michael Bay's big flashy PEARL HARBOR (2002).

But after World War II ended, Hollywood took its time addressing the events of Pearl Harbor. It wasn't a golden moment for America. It was a sneak attack and we were caught napping. We did not win. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) may be the greatest film set around Pearl Harbor that really isn't about the battle. The film has a brief section near the end where the attack is shown. But ETERNITY is more soap opera than war film but with a military setting, dealing with adult situations (infidelity, miscarriage, brutality) presented in a frank, realistic manner for the 1950's. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY would resonate with audiences, earning eight Academy Awards and burning into our memory banks the celluloid image of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr embracing on a sandy beach while waves cascade over the lovers (symbolizing lovemaking).

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is based on the novel by James Jones who drew loosely from his experiences with the Hawaiian 27th Infantry in pre-WWII Hawaii. The title FROM HERE TO ETERNITY comes from a stanza in a Rudyard Kipling poem Gentlemen Rankers. Even though the film is set in Hawaii, director Fred Zinnemann and screenwriter Daniel Taradash never hint that the Japanese attack is coming, waiting until the climax of the film to reveal a wall calendar and the date December 6th (the day before). James Jones would author another great book about his experiences at Guadalcanal called The Thin Red Line which would be turned into a film twice -- in 1964 directed by Andrew Marton (co-starring ETERNITY's Jack Warden) and again in 1998 directed by Terrence Malick.

ETERNITY begins at Schofield Barracks in Oahu as Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) transfers to Company G, the Rifle Company. Prewitt is a bugler but better known around the barracks as a boxer. He catches the eye of Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) who wants his Company to win the Regimental Boxing Championship and sees Prewitt as his ticket to victory and possibly promotion. But Prewitt refuses to join the team, having blinded a friend in a boxing match a few years earlier. The man who really runs Company G is Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster). Warden handles all the requisitions and paperwork. He takes Prewitt under his wing. As Capt. Holmes non-commissioned officers try to break Prewitt, Warden does his best to keep Prewitt alive and out of trouble. Company G's class clown Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) befriends the lone wolf Prewitt.

Warden and Prewitt both become involved with different women of class on the island. Warden begins a dangerous affair with Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr), the wife of his superior Captain Holmes. Maggio takes Prewitt out one weekend to the New Congress Club where Prewitt meets a beautiful hostess i.e. prostitute Lorene (Donna Reed) who he falls in love with. Maggio picks a fight with the sadistic James "Fatso" Judson (Ernest Borgnine), Sergeant of the Stockade.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY follows their parallel relationships. Karen wants to divorce her husband. Warden promises to sign up to take the officer training so he can transfer out and take Karen with him. But he doesn't sign the papers, realizing he's not officer material. Lorene (who reveals to Prewitt her real name is Alma) is trying to save up enough money to move back to Oregon to become a proper, high class woman. Alma and Prewitt pretend to be married. But Alma doesn't want to be an Army wife and Prewitt calls the Army his family, proclaiming he's a "thirty year man." Maggio, having his weekend pass pulled one night, leaves his guard duty post and goes AWOL, joining Prewitt and the others in town. Maggio is caught by the military police and thrown into the stockade for six months where the brutal Judson awaits him.

Beaten repeatedly by Judson, Maggio escapes the stockade and finds his friend Prewitt before dying in his arms.  The next night, Prewitt stakes out the New Congress Club and fights Judson in an alley. Judson pulls out a switchblade. During the scuffle, Prewitt stabs Judson, killing him. Prewitt suffers knife wounds as well and hides out at Alma's apartment. Warden and Karen end their affair. Capt. Holmes is reprimanded by his superiors for his hazing of Prewitt. And then, on the morning of December 7th, the Japanese invade Pearl Harbor. Warden and Company G manage to set up some machine guns and shoot at a couple of Japanese Zeros. The lives of everyone will be changed forever by the attack.

The character Prewitt in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is similar to Private Witt (even in name) in author Jones's THE THIN RED LINE. Both men are loners. Both men go AWOL although at different times (Witt at the beginning of THE THIN RED LINE and Prewitt toward the end of ETERNITY). And both Prewitt and Witt will make a life or death decision to save a fellow soldier or soldiers at his own peril.

Prewitt tells Maggio the military is his family, both parents having died when he was a teenager. Warden becomes a surrogate father to Prewitt, letting him make mistakes from time to time but protecting him from Capt. Holmes and his thug like non-commissioned officers who try to coerce Prewitt into boxing for the Company. Warden takes care of men like Prewitt , Maggio and the entire Company G. Warden becomes involved in Karen's life, trying to rehabilitate her reputation and fragile psyche after putting up with her husband's philandering ways for years. But Warden can't take care of himself. As organized as he is with paperwork and military formalities, he's a mess when it comes to his private life. Like Prewitt, the military is Warden's family, his girlfriend, his life.

Give credit to director Fred Zinnemann for putting together an incredible cast and taking some chances on casting. Frank Sinatra was not famous for his dramatic acting. He was a world renowned singer but had acted in some forgettable musicals. Zinnemann took a chance on Sinatra to play Maggio and was rewarded as Sinatra would win Best Supporting Actor in 1953. Similarly, Donna Reed was best known as playing sweet wholesome girls like Mary Hatch in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). But Zinnemann (and studio head Harry Cohn) cast her against type as the prostitute Lorene/Alma and Reed was also rewarded with a Best Supporting Actress Award for ETERNITY. I've always had a crush on Donna Reed since IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE but as I watched her in ETERNITY, I suddenly realized she resembles my other film sweetheart Olivia de Havilland. Look for young Ernest Borgnine, Jack Warden, and Claude Akins in supporting roles as officers.

But FROM HERE TO ETERNITY's success is powered by breakout performances by its three lead actors: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Deborah Kerr. Their careers would soar after ETERNITY. Lancaster had been playing mostly swashbucklers (THE CRIMSON PIRATE) and film noir leads (CRISS CROSS) before landing the role of Sgt. Warden. Lancaster's athletic build fits perfectly with his confident personality as he embarks in an affair with his boss's wife. No actor has looked better in a swim suit than Lancaster as he frolics with Kerr on the beach. Clift would make a career playing moody, anguished characters (RED RIVER, A PLACE IN THE SUN) but Private Prewitt is the role Monty is forever remembered for. Often, I find troubled characters annoying but Prewitt is very likable. He stands by his principles for as long as he can. He lives by his own code. And he makes the ultimate sacrifice for a friend.

Before ETERNITY, Deborah Kerr had played nuns (1947's BLACK NARCISSUS) or proper English women (1952's THE PRISONER OF ZENDA). Kerr's performance as the promiscuous but troubled Karen Holmes is another against type casting that is brilliant. Kerr is striking with her blonde hair and tall stature. She's sexy without having to resort to seductive clothing. Her scenes with Lancaster smolder. As Karen, she's a damaged woman, married to a cheating husband, trying to rebound from a miscarriage. Her only way to get back at her husband is to cheat on him. She just can't find the right man, hooking up with men more attached to the Army than a relationship.

The success for FROM HERE TO ETERNITY belongs to Austrian born director Fred Zinnemann (and screenwriter Daniel Taradash). The pacing for ETERNITY is military precision perfect. Zinnemann introduces us to all the characters early, providing each one with several scenes to reveal their characters strengths and foibles. He then cross cuts back and forth between the parallel relationships building between the two couples with Maggio's subplot as filler. Zinnemann said he has always been drawn to films about outsiders, characters who didn't initially belong. Gary Cooper comes to mind in HIGH NOON (1952) but Clift's Prewitt is the ultimate outsider, a "hard head" who just can't conform. As Kipling's poem proclaims about soldiers who have lost their way, they are "damned from here to eternity."

Zinnemann had made a name for himself a year earlier with HIGH NOON (1952). FROM HERE TO ETERNITY would garner 13 Academy Award nominations. Both Zinnemann (directing) and Taradash (writing) would win Academy Awards for ETERNITY. But Zinnemann would only direct 9 films over the next 29 years including working with Kerr again in THE SUNDOWNERS (1960) and directing another Academy Award winning film THE MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966). Zinnemann would direct 18 different actors in Academy Award nominated performances (source: IMDB). He was an actor's director and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY full displays that.

Usually I watch the film I review each month twice. A sign of a good movie for me is I couldn't wait to watch FROM HERE TO ETERNITY again. The characters and story lines are so compelling. Every role is perfectly cast from lead down to the smallest bit character. The film was shot on location on Oahu, bringing realism to the film. Yes, the James Jones novel was toned down for the cinema but Zinnemann and Taradash still convey or imply much of the adult situations that take place.  FROM HERE TO ETERNITY would be remade as a TV Mini-Series in 1979 with William Devane and Natalie Wood reprising the Warden and Karen roles but it holds no candle to the 1953 version. Zinnemann's FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is a timeless classic and definitely deserving of all its Awards and acclaim.

The Snake Pit (1948)

CRAZYFILMGUY is getting old. Later in 2014, I will hit the big 50 years old. Half way to 100. In my youth, summer time meant summer blockbuster films. I recall many a summer paying $5 (later $7, $9, and now what is it - $10?) to sit in an air conditioned movie theater and watch RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or POLTERGEIST or INDEPENDENCE DAY. So what popcorn spectacular film have I planned to review for July 2014?  None other than THE SNAKE PIT (1948), a most un-blockbuster film starring one of my cinematic crushes Olivia de Havilland about that most popular summer topic -- mental illness. My seventeen year old past self is shaking his head at the thought of his now 49 year old self watching an adult film with no light sabers or bull whips.

I fell in love with Olivia de Havilland the moment she took her head dress off in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) and her gorgeous brown hair cascaded down. She had round, full cheek bones and a lovely smile. I think every film I've ever seen Olivia de Havilland in (CAPTAIN BLOOD, GONE WITH THE WIND, DODGE CITY) has been a period film.  THE SNAKE PIT will be my first modern Olivia de Havilland film.

THE SNAKE PIT sounds like the title of a good Val Lewton horror film but it's one of the first films of its kind to deal with the treatment of mental illness, a taboo subject in the late 40's. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 26.2 % of Americans 18 years and older suffer from some kind of mental disorder. Directed by Anatole Litvak with a screenplay by Frank Partos and Millen Brand (and uncredited Arthur Laurents) based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Mary Jane Ward (and her real life struggle with mental illness), THE SNAKE PIT paved the way for other films about mental illness including Milos Forman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975) and Ron Howard's A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001). Litvak directed some war documentaries during World War II and THE SNAKE PIT at times has an authentic, realistic documentary feel.

We meet Virginia Stuart Cunningham (Olivia de Havilland) sitting with her friend Grace (Celeste Holm) on a bench as THE SNAKE PIT begins.  Only Virginia does not recognize her friend Grace.  Virginia is a patient at the Juniper Hills State Hospital.  She is under the care of Dr. Mark Kik (Leo Genn). Virginia's husband Robert Cunningham (Mark Stevens) has committed Virginia to the mental hospital when Virginia began exhibiting anxiety, confusion, bewilderment, and memory loss after their recent marriage.

An early flashback shows how Virginia and Robert first met in Chicago where Virginia was trying to get her manuscript published and Robert worked for the publisher. Her book is rejected but they continue to meet for coffee and find they have similar taste in music. But Virginia disappears after breaking off a date.  Robert moves to New York and six months later, he runs into Virginia at the New York Philharmonic. Their courtship resumes and they eventually get married but Virginia's behavior begins to deteriorate and she has a mental breakdown.

Dr. Kik tries electric shock treatment and hydrotherapy on Virginia, hoping to stir both past and present memories.  Virginia responds favorably to the treatment.  Virginia reveals a past boyfriend named Gordon (Leif Erickson) who died in a car accident. Virginia blames herself for Gordon's death. The hospital's review board including Dr. Curtis (Howard Freeman) and Dr. Jonathan Gifford (Frank Conroy) are eager to discharge Virginia due to overcrowding and more female patients arriving every day but Kik wants more time to fully cure Virginia. Virginia's review goes horribly wrong and she has a setback, prompting Virginia to be placed in one of the worst mental wards of the hospital.

Kik won't give up on her. Virginia works her way from Ward 12 back to Ward 1 (the best). When Virginia barters for a doll with another patient, the doll conjures up memories from her childhood and her relationship with her father Mr. Stuart (Damian O'Flynn) who she idolized but blames herself for his death and her mother Mrs. Stuart (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND's Natalie Schafer) who didn't shower Virginia with love. Kik finally pushes Virginia to unlock her father/husband issues and help her to reunite with her husband Robert and return to society as a functioning person.

As provocative as THE SNAKE PIT'S story is, the film at its core resembles a mystery but without a murder. The mystery is what is the cause of Virginia's mental breakdown.  Director Litvak uncovers the mystery slowly, revealing clues bit by bit. Litvak doesn't treat the mental hospital like a horror show although Virginia's review during a storm is a tad theatrical, representing her mental state. But the film doesn't pull any punches either. Virginia thinks the hospital is like a zoo early in the film. Later, she explains to Dr. Kik when befriending another patient that "a sick animal knows how to care for another sick animal."

Except for the bureaucratic review board doctors and Nurse Davis (Helen Craig), a precursor to the strict, disciplinarian Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) from ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, most of the doctors and nurses are shown as sympathetic and humane. Dr. Kik and later his friend Dr. Terry (Glenn Langan) are portrayed as caring doctors who want to cure Virginia.

Virginia best explains the film's title when she tells Dr. Kik "I remembered once reading in a book that long ago they used to put insane people into pits full of snakes. I think they figured that something which might drive a normal person insane, might shock an insane person back into sanity." Director Litvak dramatizes Virginia's speech by shooting at a high angle and pulling back (with photographic effects) as if from God's point of view to make the mental hospital look like a pit of wriggling, overcrowded snakes i.e. mentally ill patients. It's a fantastic visual metaphor to accent the snake pit description. I think one of the shocks of THE SNAKE PIT is that this mental hospital is full of female patients. Audiences are familiar with crazy male characters (think Renfield from DRACULA) but never before had American audiences seen an abundance of mentally ill women: young and old, wives, grandmothers, girlfriends, sisters.  Mental illness doesn't discriminate.

Olivia de Havilland gives one of the performances of her career in the juicy role of Virginia Stuart Cunningham in THE SNAKE PIT.  De Havilland puts vanity aside, wearing little make-up and looking haggard in many scenes. She's often tied down to a gurney or wearing a straight-jacket, certainly not the glamorous De Havilland from her Errol Flynn movies. Virginia is the kind of role that in today's film community, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, or Meryl Streep even would have been fighting to play.  De Havilland would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1948 but would lose out to Jane Wyman for JOHNNY BELINDA (Wyman played a young deaf, mute girl).

The rest of the cast is uniformly good. Leo Genn's Dr. Kik is a bit stereotypical with his pipe smoking but he plays the role as a sympathetic, innovative psychiatrist and not some Dr. Frankenstein. Kik may have the most soothing doctor's voice in the history of film. One familiar face in a supporting role is Celeste Holm as Virginia's inmate friend Grace. Holm appears briefly in the early part of THE SNAKE PIT. Holm had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress the year before in 1947's GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT. And Natalie Schafer who entertained me as a child as Mrs. Thurston Howell III i.e. Lovey on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND plays a very different role as Virginia's cold, unloving mother. Director Litvak must have liked Schafer as he cast her again in his 1956 film ANASTASIA.

The one supporting character I found most revealing is Gordon, Virginia's boyfriend, played by Leif Erickson (no, not the Viking Leif Erickson). He's not in the film very long but Gordon represents a substitute father that Virginia becomes involved with. Virginia may have turned out fine with Gordon but he's killed in a car accident. Virginia blames herself for his death and begins to reject the love of any man.

Director Anatole Litvak would not have a prolific film career but a steady one. Besides THE SNAKE PIT, Litvak's other well known films include SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948) with Barbara Stanwyck and ANASTASIA (1956) starring Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner. He would make several war documentaries during WWII. This is the first Litvak film I've seen but his handling of an important social issue like mental health is even handed and powerful. At times, Virginia's plight looks bleak but Litvak shows compassion and empathy for Virginia and all the women who deal with their debilitating illnesses. THE SNAKE PIT never gets maudlin or preachy.

One final contributor to acknowledge is 20th Century Fox Producer Daryl Zanuck, never one to shy away from a provocative subject.  Without Zanuck's belief that THE SNAKE PIT should be made, the reforms and legislation that improved mental hospitals throughout the country after THE SNAKE PIT'S release might not have happened so swiftly.

So don't let the title fool you. THE SNAKE PIT is the farthest thing from a horror film. But it accurately depicts the horrors and struggles of mental illness in a searing and realistic way. It might make you look at the man or woman talking to themselves on a downtown street corner in a different light.

The Lost Patrol (1934)

They (the Film Gods I presume) say there are 7 basic story lines that have been handed down since man first began to tell stories.  If that is true then the plot behind THE LOST PATROL (1934) surely must be one of them.  In THE LOST PATROL, a British patrol becomes lost in the desert.  But the premise of a group of people lost, getting picked off one by one by an unseen enemy, could happen in so many different premises: a haunted house, a space ship, the wilderness, an island or the western frontier. 3:10 TO YUMA (1957 and 2007), SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981), THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965), ALIEN (1979), ALIENS (1986), AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945), and SAHARA (1943) are just a few of hundreds of films with this simple plot. The entire FRIDAY THE 13TH horror series owes its roots to THE LOST PATROL with horny teenagers replacing British soldiers.

THE LOST PATROL deserves attention as it is director John Ford's first noteworthy film.  Ford, who would become famous for his collaboration with John Wayne in Westerns such as STAGECOACH (1939), FORT APACHE (1948), and THE SEARCHERS (1956) had been a director during the silent film era but PATROL is one of his early successful sound films.  Although Ford did direct films set in other time periods, the Western is where he's most regarded. THE LOST PATROL is one of his few period films not set in the Wild West or World War II. Based on the story Patrol by Philip MacDonald, screenwriters Dudley Nichols and Garrett Fort wrote the screenplay. A silent version just called LOST PATROL also based on MacDonald's story was made in 1929.

Director Ford opens THE LOST PATROL with such a simple action. Lieutenant Hawkins (Neville Clark) leading a British patrol on horseback across the Mesopotamian desert (now present day Iraq) in 1917 is shot and killed by an unseen Arab assassin. Hawkins was the only one who knew their mission and destination. The Sergeant (Victor McLaglen) takes over command as bullets fly. The Sergeant and his patrol ride over sand dunes until they spy an isolated oasis: palm trees, water, and an abandoned mosque. As the patrol buries their lieutenant, the Sergeant tries to maintain order and discipline amongst his men as they figure out their next move.

We get to learn a little about THE LOST PATROL as they remove their Pith helmets and we see who some of the men are. There is Sanders (Boris Karloff), the religious fanatic; Morelli (Wallace Ford), who thinks he's bad luck; George Brown (Reginald Denny), the cynic; and Quincannon (J.M. Kerrigan), the Sergeant's loyal friend. As the men recuperate from their dire circumstances, they reflect upon their mortality, their wives and girlfriends back home, and their dreams if they ever make it out of this hellish Garden of Eden.

The oasis turns out to be anything but paradise as the lost patrol battles heat, sandstorms, Arab snipers, and each other. Pearson (Douglas Walton), an idealistic young soldier, is found dead the next morning at his post and the horses missing. Next, Hale (Billy Bevan) climbs up one of the palm trees for a better look when he's picked off by the sniper. In a desperate move, the Sergeant has the men draw lots for a suicide mission for two of the patrol to go on foot for help. Cook (Alan Hale) and McKay (Paul Hanson) draw the mission. The patrol watch them walk into the shimmering heat, disappearing like mirages. A day later two horses return carrying the mutilated bodies of Cook and McKay.

THE LOST PATROL'S men begin to lose their sanity.  Abelson (Sammy Stein) wanders aimlessly into the desert. Sanders tries to kill the Sergeant and has to be restrained. Just when the band of soldiers have almost lost hope, an English bi-plane passes over and circles the besieged oasis, landing nearby. A rescue looks imminent but the rescuing pilot (Howard Wilson) also succumbs to a sniper's bullet. The Sergeant removes the machine gun from the plane as the British troop dwindles down to just the Sergeant.  The Arab marauders finally reveal themselves in a final battle as the Sergeant tries to hold off the desert invaders until the brigade arrives.

Themes that director John Ford will use throughout his career pop up in THE LOST PATROL. Ford likes to pit Man vs Nature as the patrol battles the elements: heat, wind, and sand. At times, nature is harder on the patrol then the unseen snipers. Other Ford films that pit Man against Nature include 1937's HURRICANE (storm), 1940's THE GRAPES OF WRATH (wind and dust), and even THE SEARCHERS (the four seasons). Ford photographs panoramic, expansive vistas and shows man as small, insignificant ants against the backdrop of massive buttes and mesas.

Director Ford also reveals his love of military conventions for the first time in THE LOST PATROL. Ford often focused on the everyday life of units, patrols, troops, and all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it. In FORT APACHE, he stages a fancy military ball where the dancing is as choreographed as a troop inspection. In RIO GRANDE, he shows the life of a military family and the toll it takes on marriage and relationships. Ford's Calvary Trilogy equates family and a cavalry troop as interchangeable.

In THE LOST PATROL, the men are all individually different (class, experience, age) but the unit brings them together. PATROL should be a grim survival film but director Ford romanticizes the patrol's predicament with humor and patriotism. Composer Max Steiner's score is always uplifting (and his opening theme will be reworked later in 1943's CASABLANCA). As one man after another falls, the Sergeant makes sure that each man's sword is placed upright in their grave, six shiny swords gleaming in the desert sun, silver monuments to the dead. Ford also implies in THE LOST PATROL (and later FORT APACHE) that it's not always the top commander who holds the unit together but one of the subordinates (like the Sergeant in PATROL).

Speaking of family, director Ford would accumulate a family of actors he would use over and over again throughout his prolific career (including some actual family members). The only one in THE LOST PATROL who would continually pop up in future Ford films is the lead Victor McLaglen who plays the Sergeant. It's fun to see a young, strapping McLaglen in PATROL as I was more accustomed with the older, heavier McLaglen from RIO GRANDE (1950) and THE QUIET MAN (1952).  In a case of art imitating real life, McLaglen actually served with the Irish Fusiliers in Mesopotamia (Iraq) during World War I when PATROL takes place. McLaglen was Ford's leading man in Ford's early films like THE LOST PATROL and 1936's THE INFORMER before Ford would cast a young John Wayne in 1939's STAGECOACH and the rest is history. But McLaglen would just move on to colorful supporting roles in Ford films, usually playing an Irish rogue of some sort (even though McLaglen was born in England, of Scottish ancestry).

Another actor not normally seen in a John Ford film or a non-horror film is Boris Karloff cast as the deeply religious soldier Sanders. It's nice to see Karloff who normally played monsters (FRANKENSTEIN) and mad scientists (HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) in an adventure film. Sanders seems on the verge of having a mental breakdown at the beginning of the film.  He's always with his Bible and after reading one of its passages, believes his desert assignment is God punishing him. But he goes mad in the so-called Garden of Eden and runs into the desert with a makeshift crucifix to sacrifice himself to the enemy in a Christ-like action.

The rest of the supporting cast is uniformly fine. Reginald Denny as the enigmatic George Brown reminds me of a young William Holden. Denny had matinee idol good looks. Brown reveals he comes from money and that he enlisted using the alias George Brown. Brown probably didn't have to fight and he's clearly disenchanted with what he thought was a noble cause.  Brown is the only man who deserts the patrol and we never learn his fate although he leaves a note with Sanders that he's trying to circle around the enemy.

A favorite supporting actor of mine Alan Hale has a small role as Cook, one of the doomed British soldiers. Hale, a gregarious performer, would have been a perfect addition to Ford's repertoire of actors but Hale would instead partner with director Michael Curtiz and actor Errol Flynn in several films instead including THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) and SANTE FE TRAIL (1940). Wallace Ford (no relation to the director) as Morelli is one of the films more sympathetic characters. He's the guy audiences would like to see survive -- funny, self-deprecating, and honorable but THE LOST PATROL does not play favorites. Ford would have a long career in film and television.

One of the many reasons I like John Ford films is he was one of the first directors to film on location.  For his Westerns, he favored Monument Valley in northern Arizona and southern Utah.  Most films in the 30's were filmed in studio sound stages or on back lots.  THE LOST PATROL'S exteriors are shot in Yuma, Arizona and Buttercup Dunes in southern California where according to IMDB the temperatures reached 150 degrees (if Ford was seeking realistic Mesopotamian temperatures he succeeded).

THE LOST PATROL is a good opportunity to see an early work by director John Ford as he began to develop his style and themes that would carry him to great success over the next thirty years. I wouldn't declare THE LOST PATROL a classic but the film has one of the classic plots that writers and directors continue to use today.

Road House (1989)

Nothing says the 1980's like tight jeans, leg stockings, the music of A Flock of Seagulls, mullets, or a Members Only jacket. Whether it meant to or not, ROAD HOUSE (1989) starring the Swayze aka actor Patrick Swayze was the swan song or encore of the 1980's (you decide) and a bridge to a new decade  -- the 90's. Normally, I would have no interest in the Swayze. I wanted no part of his big hair, gyrating hips or muscular torso.  But my girlfriend at the time (now Mrs. CrazyFilmGuy) wanted to see DIRTY DANCING (1987) and I had run out of excuses. It turns out DIRTY DANCING was a nice film and the Swayze could do it all: dance, act, and sing.  That film turned my wife into a Swayze fan but I still wasn't a convert.

When ROAD HOUSE first came out, I still wanted no part of the Swayze even though this film had no dancing or singing (at least not by the Swayze). It just had fighting. Bar room fighting. Brawling. Bare knuckles. But a few years ago, I saw in the paper that a local comedy theater group was performing ROAD HOUSE (it has also been done Off-Broadway and as a fightsical).  That caught my eye. For a comedy troupe, even a local one, to honor a film by spoofing it, I knew there was only one reason. I call it the Aura of Swayze.

So I buckled down and watched ROAD HOUSE earlier this month. The Swayze already is a movie cult figure, regardless of what I think. Women the world over still swoon over his Johnny Castle in DIRTY DANCING and men can relate to his Zen bad guy Bodhi in POINT BREAK (1991). Add to the Swayze's resume the mysterious, psychology major Dalton (first name, last name - we just don't know), the best, baddest bouncer west of the Mississippi. There's just something about the Swayze. He's no Olivier or Hoffman. But he's so earnest in his acting. Every scene he's in, he gives it his all, 100% intensity, whether it's a fight scene or just driving a car or buying groceries.

ROAD HOUSE is directed by the aptly named Rowdy Herrington. The bar/club that Dalton works at is never called the Road House (the title is a nod and a wink to the Doors song Roadhouse Blues one of several songs blind blues singer Jeff Healey and his Band perform at the fictional Double Deuce club). It's an unusual film for producer Joel Silver who found success with big action films like LETHAL WEAPON (1987), PREDATOR (1987), and DIE HARD (1988). ROAD HOUSE has action (exploding houses, Monster Trucks crushing smaller cars at a used car lot, the Swayze tackling a man off of a moving motorcycle) but it's mostly redneck fighting, a healthy dose of bare breasts, and the Swayze.

ROAD HOUSE kicks off at a different club called Band Stand as Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe) shows up to persuade Dalton (Patrick Swayze), the best cooler/bouncer in the Midwest to leave his current job and come join his new up and coming club the Double Deuce. Faster than you can say parachute pants, Dalton accepts the offer.

When he arrives in Jasper, Missouri, Dalton discovers the Double Deuce is in need of a makeover. The Deuce is a rundown road house, full of hard drinking rednecks and peckerheads. It's the Wild West with a barroom brawl every few minutes, one OSHA incident from being shut down. The current employees either deal drugs or like bartender Pat McGurn (X's John Doe) swipe from the till. Dalton cleans house, removing the troublemakers and teaching the remaining staff and bouncers how to deal with the clientele. But Dalton runs afoul of the local rich kingpin Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara) who extorts from the local businesses for his protection like Red Webster's (Red West) auto parts store and controls all the liquor distribution in town.

As the Double Deuce begins to make a profit, Wesley sends in his #1 goon Jimmy (Marshall Teague)and his boys to remind Dalton and Tilghman who's boss. Dalton and his bouncers win the first round but Dalton is injured. A trip to the local hospital introduces Dalton to Elizabeth Clay aka Doc (Kelly Lynch) the hottest looking emergency room doctor south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Dalton even carries his own medical records to assist her. Wesley tries to buy Dalton's loyalty but Dalton isn't a man to be bought. He lives by his own rules, his own code. When Wesley sends his goons around a second time to stir up trouble at the Deuce, Dalton's mentor and buddy Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) shows up in the nick of time to help Dalton distribute some round house kicks and solar plexus punches.

Wesley puts the hammer down on Dalton.  He blows up the house Dalton is renting from neighbor Emmet (Sunshine Parker). He has his thugs torch Red's hardware store. I was wondering where the local authorities were to arrest Wesley but then I remembered Wesley has the police in his back pocket as well. It's only inevitable that Dalton and Jimmy face off in a martial arts battle to the death, shirtless, torsos glistening with sweat, trying to make us forget the beach volleyball scene in TOP GUN (1986) or as I like to call it Maverick versus Iceman. Dalton has his showdown with Wesley at Wesley's compound, a battle to the death in Wesley's trophy room, big game heads mounted on the walls. What other film will you see a giant stuffed polar bear crush a man? But Dalton will not become Wesley's latest trophy.

At its simplest (and ROAD HOUSE isn't very deep), ROAD HOUSE is an old fashioned modern western with Dalton like the cowboy hero SHANE (1953) arriving into a new town (in this case the Double Deuce) and cleaning up the filth and scum that have taken it over. Dalton carries with him a troubled past (he killed a man in Memphis). Dalton tries to stay out of trouble but trouble has a way of finding him. Wesley is like the corrupt cattle baron, using his wealth and power and henchmen to extort the local businessmen and terrorize the town. Instead of a climactic gunfight between two gunslingers, Dalton and Jimmy duke it out a more modern way with fist, feet, and fingers. ROAD HOUSE'S finale is satisfying as the townspeople (represented by four businessmen Wesley extorted or terrorized) band together to help Dalton defeat Wesley and his posse. Everyone may have 80's hair and clothes but deep down, ROAD HOUSE is a western.

What often sends a film like ROAD HOUSE into the realm of cult classic are quotable (although not always profound) lines of dialogue. Screen writers David Lee Henry and Hilary Henkin provide ample examples. Dalton's rules to his team: "One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. And three, be nice." Dalton's philosophy on his trade: "Nobody ever wins a fight."  Dalton's quotes don't always make sense but would you question a guy who can rip your throat out with his fingers? Bad guy Jimmy may regret opening up too much to Dalton during their climactic battle: "I used to fuck guys like you in prison." A running joke in the film (borrowing a similar line from 1981'S ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) is people's pre-conceived perceptions of the famous bouncer Dalton. "I thought you'd be bigger." Writers Henry and/or Henkin must have worked in a bar or club and saw and heard some of these incidents first hand.

ROAD HOUSE has an eclectic supporting cast. Kelly Lynch as Dalton's love interest Doc is a nice choice. Lynch caught my attention in Gus Van Sant's DRUGSTORE COWBOY (1989) which came out the same year. She had dark brown hair in that film. Lynch was the It girl in the early 90's, showing up in several films. Originally a fashion model, Lynch's career never quite took off although she was a better actress than most models i.e. Lauren Hutton. Sam Elliott as Wade Garrett is Dalton's father figure, a symbol of what Dalton could become if he doesn't get out of the bouncer business. Elliott always brings an element of cool to his performances (check out MASK or THE BIG LEBOWSKI).

At times, Ben Gazzara plays bad guy Brad Wesley like Bing Crosby possessed by a Dixie gangster. At other times (like frolicking with young babes at his pool), Wesley appears like a sinister Hugh Hefner. It may be hard to watch Gazzara who starred in director John Cassavettes edgy independent films like HUSBANDS (1970) or THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (1976) selling out in such a high profile B movie but an actor has to work right? Gazzara seems to be enjoying himself.

I remember Kevin Tighe as Roy Desoto, firefighter/paramedic and the other half to Randolph Mantooth from my childhood TV drama EMERGENCY. Tighe had a renaissance after that show playing mostly villains in films like EIGHT MEN OUT (1988) but it's nice to see him play a good guy again as the Double Deuce's owner Tighlman. And although Swayze, Lynch, and Elliott all have some big hair in ROAD HOUSE, I proclaim the winner to be the gorgeous Julie Michaels as Denise, Wesley's current girlfriend and femme fatale who stokes the fire with an outrageous strip tease at the Double Deuce.

ROAD HOUSE plays up the Swayze's success in DIRTY DANCING and the Swayze's sex symbol status, finding every opportunity it can to have Swayze's shirt off.  Director Herrington stages a slow dance between Dalton and Doc that feels DIRTY DANCING-ish. Music obviously plays a role in ROAD HOUSE with Jeff Healey (playing Cody) and his Band providing music at the Double Deuce (there's a nice opening performance by the Cruzados with Tito Larriva at the Bandstand too).  Rock star John Doe (from one of my favorite bands X) has a role as Wesley's troubled nephew Pat and Red West who plays a guy named Red was part of Elvis Presley's inner circle and bodyguard for awhile.

There's no question ROAD HOUSE is cheesy. But everyone in the film seems to understand that the story is all in good fun. And I found myself rooting for the Swayze, who doesn't seem to take himself too seriously. ROAD HOUSE doesn't fall into the pantheon of great films like CITIZEN KANE or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA but if you're looking for some light entertainment that won't tax your brain and has some quotable lines you can try out in real life, ROAD HOUSE might be the kickass film for you to check out.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

In today's headlines, a disaster aboard a cruise ship is as simple as a norovirus making the entire ship's passengers and crew sick with diarrhea and vomiting (notwithstanding the recent Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia accident). Back in the day, it was passenger ship disasters like the Titanic or the RMS Lusitania that captured the world's attention. But for an impressionable 8 year old kid (who would grow up to become CrazyFilmGuy), it was the fictional passenger ship christened the S.S. Poseidon that introduced me to a different kind of catastrophe -- disaster films.

For whatever reason, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) touched a nerve for me when I was a youngster.  It was one of the first adult (i.e. PG rated )film I ever saw in a movie theater. And bless my grandmother Armella. She was the kind soul that took her grandson to see the disaster/adventure epic. Why my parents allowed me to see POSEIDON ADVENTURE yet wouldn't let me see producer Irwin Allen's next disaster blockbuster THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974) two years later I will never know?

My grandmother and I saw THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE at the now defunct Eastgate Theater in east Portland. I believe it was the top bill of a double feature (the other film was 1973's THE NEPTUNE FACTOR which believe it or not also had POSEIDON actor Ernest Borgnine in it). I faintly recall we caught the end of NEPTUNE as we arrived in the theater but the Canadian knock-off that looked like it was shot in some one's fishbowl was forgettable compared to the incredible fictional story of the Poseidon.

Producer Irwin Allen (who apparently also directed some of the action scenes uncredited in POSEIDON ADVENTURE) first hit it big with the feature film (1961) and subsequent television show (1964 to 1968) VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA about a nuclear-powered submarine. But it was THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE that is Allen's finest moment, even more so than his next production THE TOWERING INFERNO. After INFERNO, Allen would produce and/or direct several more disaster films like THE SWARM (1977) about those pesky killer bees and BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1979) but they pale next to THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Based on the novel by Paul Gallico, Academy Award winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT) adapted the book with Wendell Mayes and weaves several compelling human stories throughout the special effects laden movie.

The S.S. Poseidon is on its final journey from New York to Athens, Greece, headed for the scrapyard. It's New Year's Eve. The Captain (Leslie Nielsen) is being pushed by Mr. Linarcos (Fred Sadoff), a representative for the ship's owners, to get the Poseidon to Athens quicker. Director Ronald Neame introduces us to the main characters and their back stories. Reverend Frank Scott (Gene Hackman) is an idealistic, rebellious minister shipped off to Africa by his diocese.  Mike Rogo (Ernest Borgnine) is a New York cop vacationing with his wife Linda (Stella Stevens), a former prostitute who Rogo wooed off the streets.  Comedian Red Buttons plays Martin, a lonely bachelor. Belle and Manny Rosen (Shelly Winters and Jack Albertson) are a Jewish couple headed to Israel to see their grandson for the first time. Rounding out the cast are big sister Susan (Pamela Sue Martin) and her little brother Robin (Eric Shea) traveling by themselves and the ship's entertainment, singer Nonnie (Carol Lynley).

The Poseidon's New Year Eve's Party is ruined as a 7.8 sub-sea earthquake near Crete sends a gigantic wall of water at the Poseidon flipping the ocean liner upside down. As the survivors try to make sense of their topsy turvy new world, a band of passengers led by Reverend Scott decide to make their way upward toward the hull of the ship to be rescued. But obstacles await their every move. Acres (Roddy McDowall), a waiter, is the group's best guide through the ship's labyrinth but he makes an early watery exit. The constant threat of rising water, raging fires, and explosions within the ship keep the survivors on their heels.  And Reverend Scott and Rogo grapple as the alpha males, yelling and fighting with each other as to which one can lead the rest to safety.

To reach the propeller shaft, the survivors must swim through a watery maze that will test the endurance and bravery of every man, woman, and child. Each member will get to show their worth or overcome a fear. Mrs. Rosen proves to be a good swimmer and rescues Reverend Scott when he's trapped underwater. Young Robin's knowledge of the layout of the ship from earlier visits to the Captain and Purser prove handy. And the singer Nonnie, the weakest link of the group, overcomes her fear of heights and swimming with the assistance of perpetual bachelor Mr. Martin. But in a disaster film not all the passengers will survive and it is surprising in the end who dies and who lives.

I think the enduring success of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE is because of the special effects, sets, and stunts in the film. All the exterior shots of the Poseidon cruising through the ocean are real, a large miniature model used in an enormous water tank on the 20th Century Fox back lot (a few on deck exterior shots with some of the actors were done on the actual Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA). For the most part, all of the establishing shots and even the tidal wave striking the ship are realistically done. It is incredible to imagine that these effects are all pre-CGI (computer generated images). The sequence when the ship begins to capsize and the guests begin flying all over the set is memorable and well-staged. Passengers hanging onto upside down tables, hundreds of feet in the air before falling to their deaths is unforgettable. There's even a bit of humor in the survivors grim escape when young Robin has to use the rest room and stumbles upon the toilets and urinals all upside down.

Director Wolfgang Petersen (DAS BOOT) would direct a remake called simply POSEIDON (2006) but even with advances in special effects technology, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE'S special effects seem more impressive than POSEIDON'S CGI effects. Petersen chose a younger cast (Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Emily Rossum, and Richard Dreyfus in the Red Buttons/Lonelyhearts role). It treats the original with respect but like many recent remakes, it won't make you forget the original.

For a disaster film, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE has a plenty of religious themes and metaphors which I missed as a young boy. The Reverend Scott character is unique among disaster films and played with great style by Gene Hackman who had just won the Academy Award for Best Actor in THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). Hackman gives the preacher much more depth and layers than a disaster film lead deserves. Scott is a Jesus Christ like figure.  He's an outcast, banished to Africa by his church leaders for his outspokenness.  He wrestles with his faith. The passengers who join him to try and escape become his flock. At one point, Rogo admits he almost was a believer in Scott's crazy plan to escape. Scott pleads to his father (God) to stop taking his flock's lives when one of his group dies. Ultimately, Scott will sacrifice his life as Jesus did to save the others. But am I going too far to imply that Linda Rogo, the hooker turned wife of a policeman, is Mary Magdalene.  Probably. But Linda pays for her sins in the end as well.

Obviously, novelist Paul Gallico borrows some similarities between the Poseidon and the real life passenger ship the Titanic that sank in 1912 which director James Cameron would turn into the blockbuster hit TITANIC in 1997. But THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE takes us into TITANIC territory with a twist. Whereas the Titanic hit an iceberg, the Poseidon is struck by an enormous tidal wave caused by a sea earthquake (we would call it a tsunami today). Both films have company men pressuring the captains of each ship to make faster time, pushing the ships to their breaking points before forces of nature block the way.

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE would be the prototype for how to cast future disaster films like EARTHQUAKE (1974) or AVALANCHE (1977). Mix in one hot star (Gene Hackman), throw in a few middle-aged actors (Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens), add a few movie icons in their golden years (Shelly Winters, Jack Albertson, and Red Buttons), and finish it up with young, fresh faces (Pamela Sue Martin, Carol Lynley, and Eric Shea) and producer Irwin Allen had his recipe for a hit. I don't think it's any coincidence that POSEIDON ADVENTURE has 5 Academy Award winners in its cast (Hackman, Borgnine, Winters, Buttons, and Albertson) bringing some cache and class to this disaster film. Producer Allen would top himself with THE TOWERING INFERNO bringing together two of the biggest stars at the time with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen (in their only film together) as well as Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and Fred Astaire.

Performing in a disaster film like THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE requires the actors to deal with water, fire, heat, cold, gas, and a set that rotates 45 degrees.  The actors have to crawl, swim, and climb.  It's a tough, physical film. Kudos to Shelly Winters. She's the heaviest of the principles in the film yet she climbs up ladders and swims through a flooded section of the ship like she's a teenager. And Stella Stevens, Carol Lynley, and Pamela Sue Martin spend much of their time in their underwear, wet shirts, or tight shorts, soaking wet for a good part of the film. Director Neame and his editor Harold F. Kress have the tough (or fun depending on how you look at it) task of limiting the number of butt shots on these poor actresses forced to leap and clamber up all kinds of ladders, stairs, and scaffolding as they try to survive. Hats off to elder statesmen Jack Albertson and Red Buttons as well. They handle the elements as well as the younger performers.

As usual, the memories from watching the film in early 1973 change upon recent viewing. As a kid, I remember a scene where Reverend Scott and Susan are passing through the kitchen galley and we see the burnt face of one of the dead crew. I could swear his white eyes were popping out from his blackened face and I recoiled. But watching it as an adult, the eyes were not protruding out from his skull, just open, a vacant stare. It's a pretty tame shot. How the mind plays tricks on our recollections. I also became a huge Roddy McDowell fan after watching THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. I don't know if it was his Scottish accent or because he was so helpful yet he was the first to die. I would track Roddy down afterward and began watching him in THE PLANET OF THE APES movie series.

Director Ronald Neame would not be the first person that comes to mind to direct a disaster/adventure film. Neame started out as a cinematographer before becoming a director and his filmography up to THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE was more subtle with character oriented films like THE HORSE'S MOUTH (1958) and THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969). Neame was brought in to work on non-action scenes for POSEIDON ADVENTURE and he had a great cast to work with. Neame would end up directing the thriller THE ODESSA FILE (1974) with Jon Voight and another disaster film METEOR (1979) with Sean Connery so POSEIDON'S success sent his career in a different direction. THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE is also notable as another early music score for the great John Williams (STAR WARS, E.T.). Williams score is used sparingly but effectively.

It's hard to believe that THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE cost just $5 million dollars and made over $90 million dollars. Producer Irwin Allen would try to rekindle the magic with a sequel BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1979) starring Michael Caine and Sally Field among others but it never captured the magic of the first one. I mentioned the Wolfgang Petersen remake POSEIDON (2006) that proved state of the art special effects still can't improve an already superior film. There would even be a television version of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (2005), with a slightly altered plot as terrorists take over the ship before it capsizes. Adam Baldwin, Rutger Hauer, and Steve Guttenberg sailed on this forgettable version.

You never forget your first love, your first bike, or your first PG rated film. THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE was the film that started me off on my infatuation with movies. Many thanks to a silver haired former elementary teacher who happened to be my grandmother for making her grandson the happiest boy in Oregon for a few hours back in 1973.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 and 2009)

Back in the day (in this case the 1970's), newspapers use to have print ads for upcoming and current films playing in movie theaters.  During the week, it was just one page and the black and white posters were pretty small. But on Sunday, the Entertainment section would have big advertisements for movies coming to town and what theater they would be playing in. Besides the Sports page, it was my favorite part of the newspaper. Since I couldn't see most of the films because I was too young, I lived vicariously through the print ads. Two ads that stand out in my memory were of all things two Walter Matthau detective movies: THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN (1973) and something called THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974).  I could never figure out what that title meant until I watched it recently. The title refers to a hijacking of a New York subway train. Pelham is the final stop on the line. One two three is the time the train departs: 1:23PM.

The original PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is a gritty, realistic thriller directed by Joseph Sargent that goes out of its way to cast unattractive actors to make it more authentic. Stars Walter Matthau, Jerry Stiller, and Robert Shaw, all good actors, would not be considered sex symbols. The more jowls and wrinkles on these actor's faces, the better. PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is the predecessor to TV Producer Dick Wolf's LAW & ORDER shows that also cast shaggy dog actors like Jerry Orbach or Richard Belzer as protagonists.  So when Columbia Studio decided to remake the film in 2009, slightly changing the title to THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (numbers instead of words) who better to jazz up the story and visuals then the king of over the top action films Tony Scott (Ridley Scott's brother) who gave us TOP GUN (1986) and DAYS OF THUNDER (1990). I bet you most filmgoers have no idea that Tony Scott's film is a remake.

Sargent's THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE could be a companion piece to those other gritty films shot in real New York locations like THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) or DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975).  Based on the novel by John Godey, the screenplay is by Peter Stone who also wrote the clever Hitchockian thriller CHARADE (1963). The film kicks off with a great jazzy musical score by David Shire.  PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is about four criminals: Mr. Blue aka Bernard Grier (Robert Shaw); Mr. Green aka Harold Longman (Martin Balsam); Mr. Grey aka Giuseppe Benvenuto (Hector Elizondo); and Mr. Brown aka George Steever (Earl Hindman) who hijack a New York City subway train and demand one million dollars in ransom or they will start killing one hostage at a time. The leader is Grier, a former mercenary who has the plan meticulously worked out. Each man wears a disguise. They board at different stations. They call each other color code names.

Negotiating with the hijackers and trying to catch them at the same time is Transit Police Lieutenant Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) and his partner Lieutenant Rico Patrone (Jerry Stiller).  It's a game of cat and mouse between Garber and Grier. Grier demands one million dollars. Al, the Mayor of New York (Lee Wallace who resembles former New York Mayor Ed Koch) and his advisers including Deputy Mayor Warren LaSalle (Tony Roberts) debate whether they can drum up a million dollars from their broke city but the Mayor gives in, deciding he doesn't want 18 dead bodies hurting his reelection. Meanwhile, the New York SWAT team creeps toward the one subway train and a brief firefight ensues. As the New York police rush to deliver the money, Grier executes the Train Conductor (James Broderick) in retaliation for Mr. Brown suffering a gun shot wound.

Once the hijackers have the money, their escape plan begins.  They change out of their clothes and remove their disguises. Longman, a former subway conductor, sets the subway train to move without a driver, sending the subway car and its passengers speeding down the tunnel. They split up the money equally and prepare to head to street level. But like most movie heists, the best laid plans begin to unravel. Grier and the hot tempered, trigger happy Mr. Grey have a fatal disagreement.  Mr. Brown is shot by a plainclothes cop who was on the train and has crept down the tracks. Garber stumbles onto Grier still down in the subway. Grier, a man of principle and discipline, touches the third rail on the track, electrocuting himself rather than going to prison.

All that's left for Garber and Patrone to hunt down is the fourth hijacker, the former subway conductor Longman. Instead of a big finale chase scene or shootout, screenwriter Stone comes up with an anti-climactic but satisfying conclusion that consistently stays with Garber's calm, police procedural approach to capturing the criminals. Interestingly, PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is one of the few theatrical films that director Joseph Sargent made.  He primarily worked in television. His only other feature films of note are WHITE LIGHTNING (1973) starring Burt Reynolds and the forgettable JAWS: THE REVENGE (1987).

PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is many things. It's a heist film with four hijackers who have little in common except greed. Longman aka Mr. Green (Balsam) is the only one with a beef with the Transit Authority. He was fired for a trumped up charge (which when he explains it sounds plausible). Mr. Blue (Shaw) is the most mysterious of the four. He's a mercenary with military experience (which explains the precision of the heist) who has turned to robbery as the mercenary business has dried up. Director Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS (1992), another robbery film gone bad, pays homage to PELHAM ONE TWO THREE as the robbers in Tarantino's film also have color names like Mr.Pink, Mr. White, and Mr. Orange.

At the same time, disaster films like AIRPORT (1970) and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) were stirring up big numbers at the box office. If catastrophes could happen to planes and ships, why not a subway train. PELHAM ONE TWO THREE tries to capitalize on the disaster film element in the last act as the hijackers send the hijacked subway car racing through the tunnel with no conductor and at high speeds to throw off the authorities. Screenwriter Stone fills the subway car like a Noah's Ark of stereotypes (and the credits even acknowledge the parts). Included in the subway car are Hispanic, Black, Jewish, Homosexual, Hooker, and Pimp. Young and old, men and women are all represented as well.

Director Sargent goes for authenticity over glamour in this PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. All of the cast especially the Transit employees, police officers, and city politicians all look like real people.  There is no gorgeous blonde nuclear physicist or dazzling redheaded biochemical engineer to be found. Wrinkles on the face, saggy stomachs, thick sideburns and moustaches, heavyset actresses, there are no beautiful people to be found. PELHAM ONE TWO THREE also examines how a city works under crisis. As portrayed in this film, the answer is not very well. Different agencies don't cooperate with each other. City officials like the Mayor are portrayed as idiots, more concerned about the political fallout than innocent lives.

Rising above it all is Walter Matthau's Lt. Garber. He's the calm in the maelstrom of disbelief and tension in the Transit Center control center as the hijacking occurs and the subway schedules break down. Matthau has a few wisecracking moments but he plays it mostly straight. He's part negotiator, part detective. Robert Shaw as the leader Grier is also calm, methodical, and in control. Grier is Garber's doppleganger in a sense.  Grier seems ruthless but tiny, seemingly insignificant miscues lead to their heist unraveling. Martin Balsam as Longman is the most sympathetic of the hijackers. Movie fans who are used to seeing Hector Elizondo play warm characters in Gerry Marshall films like THE FLAMINGO KID (1984) or PRETTY WOMAN (1990)  will be surprised by his turn as the lewd, sociopath Mr. Grey.

Other familiar faces to look for include Woody Allen's favorite movie buddy Tony Roberts as the Mayor's adviser, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND'S mother Doris Roberts as the Mayor's wife, and great character actor Kenneth McMillan (RAGTIME, DUNE) as a Borough police commander.

Flash forward 35 years and the subways still play a vital part in transporting New Yorkers all over the Big Apple and its boroughs. Tony Scott's THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1,2,3 crackles with virtuoso. Scott shoots the film in his usual MTV video style with fast edits and slow motion, swirling and twirling camera moves around the actors, a palette of colors blinking and reflecting off glass partitions and windows. The subway control center where Garber (now played by Denzel Washington) works is a sophisticated, computerized hub. The hijackers are now called terrorists (although they are still hijacking the train). Writer Brian Helgeland (LA CONFIDENTIAL, A KNIGHT'S TALE) stays with the original storyline to a degree but infuses today's headlines and technology (Wall Street corruption, terrorism, GPS, and laptop computers) into the film.

This PELHAM 1,2,3 begins as the original does with four hijackers taking over the Pelham subway train and demanding $10 million dollars (not the $1 million that Shaw and his gang requested. Blame it on inflation) or hostages will be killed. The leader goes by the name of Ryder (John Travolta), a scary looking dude with a neck tattoo and Fu Manchu moustache. Ryder looks like a neo-Nazi but his background will surprise you. The filmmakers discard with the color code names from the original. Ryder's main accomplice is Phil Ramos (Luis Guzman) the inside man, having operated subway trains until he crashed one, killing some passengers and sending him to prison for ten years. Rounding out the gang are machine gun toting heavies Bashkim (Victor Gojcaj) and Emri (Robert Vataj).

When Ryder radios in that Pelham 1,2,3 is under his control, Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) takes the call at the control center. This Garber is not a police lieutenant like Matthau, just a dispatcher. Garber is under investigation for possibly taking a bribe. Ryder makes his demands to Garber.  The Transit Authority dispatches a negotiator Camonetti (John Turturro) to assist with Ryder. Garber's boss John Johnson (Michael Rispoli) sends Garber home but Ryder only wants to deal with Garber and kills the conductor, demanding Garber be his conduit for his demands.

The Mayor (James Gandolfini) and Deputy Mayor LaSalle (John Benjamin Hickey) give the approval for the $10 million dollar ransom. The Mayor also has his own problems with a well-publicized affair which has hurt his approval ratings.  As the police race with the money to the designated drop off spot, SWAT teams close in on the terrorists.  A rat plays a part in igniting a gun battle with the crooks and Ramos is shot dead.  Ryder kills another passenger and then demands Garber bring the $10 million to the train. Ramos was the only one who knew how to drive the train but Garber also knows how to operate it, having worked his way up the ladder with the Transit Authority.

PELHAM 1,2,3 goes off the rails so to speak in the last act as Garber turns into Superman, leading the crooks out of the subway before separating from them.  Garber goes superhero as he confiscates a car and chases the taxi carrying Ryder. A traffic jam forces Ryder to get out of the taxi and Garber and Ryder have their final confrontation on the Manhattan Bridge as police helicopters and officers converge on them.

In this newer PELHAM, the three main characters all have secrets and seek redemption.  Garber has been accused of taking a bribe from the Japanese while consulting on which subway trains they should buy.  Garber sees apprehending Ryder and his cohorts as a way to regain his integrity and his good standing with his co-workers, even if it means risking his life.  The mastermind Ryder's redemption is a bit more twisted.  Ryder feels the city of New York owes him after sending him to prison. He's been slighted (although his earlier crime deserved incarceration) and he's looking for financial redemption from the political movers and shakers of Manhattan. I won't reveal his secret but it's a nice twist and makes the hijacking more plausible. The last character who finds redemption in PELHAM 1,2,3 is the Mayor. Beaten down by the media and his own staff for an infidelity (his secret) that's shaken City Hall, the Mayor is the one who figures out Ryder's past life and who his real identity is. How many films do you see the Mayor turn detective?

Director Scott and writer Helgeland obviously hold the original PELHAM in high regard and keep many of the same plot points and scenes from the original in their remake but Scott goes overboard in some of his choices. One scene where a police car with police escort races though the streets of New York to make Ryder's deadline gets multiplied by ten as the car is struck not once but twice by other vehicles and propelled insanely into the air (the two police officers miraculously surviving). Whereas the original had a non-action ending and just good police work, director Scott pulls a TRUE ROMANCE shoot-out for the two lesser known hijackers Bashkim and Emri complete with slow motion blood spurting that just doesn't belong in this film. The filmmakers also try to humanize Garber by giving him a wife (Aunjanue Ellis) and a couple of kids. I preferred not knowing Garber's family history. This new PELHAM does end on a great note as Garber turns down the Mayor's offer for a fancy escort, choosing to take (what else?) the subway home to see his family.

Garber and Ryder are both mirror images of each other, basically good men who succumbed to greed. Garber's greed is not as great as Ryder's or as intense but they are connected by their ethical failures. Actor Denzel Washington enjoys either playing the top dog in films like MALCOLM X (1992) or AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007) or the common man in JOHN Q (2002) or as Garber in PELHAM 1,2,3.  John Travolta as the ringleader Ryder has started to become stereotyped as the heavy that Quentin Tarantino resurrected with him brilliantly in PULP FICTION (1994). Travolta's too hyper as Ryder. This PELHAM has too much dialogue between Garber and Ryder on the radio. Yes, they're able to disperse plenty of plot information and each gives away some background about each other but I found their conversations contrived at times.

A nice surprise is James Gandolfini's performance as the Mayor. Known as the tough Tony Soprano from HBO's THE SOPRANOS, Gandolfini softens his voice and wears a nice suit (projecting former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg). His mayor is not a buffoon like in the original but a smart, flawed human being who has the wits to figure out who Ryder really is. John Turturro also plays against type as the calm negotiator Camonetti, assessing and analyzing the situation unfolding.

In the end, I would have to recommend the original THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE over the newer 1,2,3.  As slick as the newer Tony Scott version looks and sounds, the original has an almost documentary feel to it with actors who look like real life New Yorkers and subway employees.