The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Everybody has a Top 10 List of their favorite films. Whether you're a movie critic or just a film aficionado, a List emerges from all those films you've watched. Several years ago, CrazyFilmGuy decided to come up with a List. It's really a Top 5 favorite film List (plus an additional three or four more for good measure). I've never written it down and I stopped it at about 1999. The List has to be films that I want to see over and over again. One of my future blogs I will reveal the whole List. But Number One on my list (and perhaps a surprise to many) is George Miller's post-apocalyptic action film THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981), the sequel to his film debut MAD MAX (1979). From the first time I sat in a movie theater and watched THE ROAD WARRIOR (it actually came out in the U.S. in the summer of 1982 along with BLADE RUNNER and E.T. but was released first in Australia the winter of 1981), I was captivated by its sheer visual brilliance in action, editing, cinematography, wardrobe, and storytelling.

With director George Miller rebooting his leather clad hero Max Rockatanksy (and actor Tom Hardy taking over for original Max Mel Gibson) in the new MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015), I thought this would be a good time to compare the best of the three MAD MAX films THE ROAD WARRIOR with the new film as FURY ROAD will be compared to THE ROAD WARRIOR, even if the timeline, according to Miller, is a couple of decades apart. For those unfamiliar with the series, the MAD MAX trilogy is made up of the original, low budget MAD MAX, Miller's first feature film that introduced us to Police Officer Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) who loses his family to a motorcycle gang and chases them down for revenge in his V-9 Interceptor (actually a Ford Falcon). Then, came THE ROAD WARRIOR which is set about 25 years after MAD MAX. The third and least satisfying film although very different is MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985), set farther in the future for our wandering hero.

In MAD MAX, society was on the verge of anarchy. In THE ROAD WARRIOR (written by George Miller, Terry Hayes, and Brian Hannant), nuclear war between nations has destroyed cities and sent survivors out into the Australian wastelands to fend for themselves. Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), former policeman, is now a burnt out shell of himself, driving the endless white line highways in search of food and gas while trying to evade the scavengers that prey on the weak. After coming across the crazy Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) and his Rube Goldberg gyrocopter, the Gyro Captain takes Max (and his loyal Australian cattle dog) to a rocky outcrop. He shows him a ragtag group of survivors led by the swaggering Pappagallo (Mike Preston) defending an oil refinery from a horde of marauders commanded by the muscular Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson), "the Warrior of the Wasteland, the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah" and his blood thirsty henchman, the red mohawked Wez (Vernon Wells).

After an ill-fated attempt from some of the survivors to hunt for a rig that can haul their prized oil tanker to a new paradise, Max brings a wounded man back to the compound with the hope of receiving some gas for his good deed. But the man dies. Before Pappagallo can discard Max, Humungus and his gang return, promising the survivors safe passage if they give up the oil refinery. The Feral Kid (Emil Minty), a young wild boy, kills Wez's boyfriend the Golden Youth (Jimmy Brown) with his boomerang, enraging Wez. Humungus takes out his rage on his captives at night, torturing and killing his prisoners while Max, Pappagallo, and the others watch in horror.

Max tells Pappagallo that he saw a truck a few days away that could haul their tanker full of fuel. He makes a deal to bring back the truck. Max sneaks out at night beneath the vigilant eyes of Wez and Humungus. On his way to the truck, Max comes across the Gyro Captain again. Working together, Max and the Gyro Captain run the gauntlet of vehicles, bullets, and murderous outlaws camped out and bring the truck cab back to the compound. The survivors are ecstatic and see Max as their savior for getting out alive. But Max is a loner. He passes on a new deal to drive the tanker away to a new home, choosing to take his chances on his own against Humungus. At dawn, Max speeds off into the outback, chased by Wez and his thugs.

Wez along with the Toadie (Max Phipps) cause Max to have a terrible crash down a ravine. Max barely crawls to safety before his car explodes, booby-trapped, killing Toadie trying to siphon his gas. Wez takes off, thinking Max is dead. Seeing the smoke from the compound, the Gyro Captain flies off to investigate. He finds Max half dead and flies him back to the oil refinery. Pappagallo and his people are ready to leave. Max has no choice but to drive the tanker. He has nothing else to live for as his car and dog are both gone. Pappagallo balks at first but Max insists. And so begins one of the great finales (and chase scenes) in film history as Max, Pappagallo, the Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey) and a few others break out with the oil tanker chased by Humungus, Wez, and a bunch of hot rods, tow trucks, motorcycles, dune buggies, and police cars in hot pursuit.

When THE ROAD WARRIOR first came out, I remember critics calling it a post-apocalyptic western, comparing it to SHANE (1953) with Mel Gibson's Max the equivalent to Alan Ladd's lone western hero Shane. It wasn't until I began watching a lot of westerns that I saw that THE ROAD WARRIOR was a futuristic western. Max is the lone gunslinger, devastated by the loss of his wife and son, trying to live on his own and not get attached to any one person, group, or cause. But circumstances pull him into a hero role he tries to avoid. The band of marauders on motorcycles and souped up cars are the Indians, exemplified by the mohawked Wez and his war paint. When they chase Max and the tanker at the film's climax, it's like the Indians pursuing the stagecoach. And the group of survivors behind their fort, guarding and protecting the gasoline are the homesteaders or wagon train fighting off the Indians. Besides the Warrior Woman and Pappagallo, the settlers are not very strong. They're mostly made up of women, old men, and children. Most of the younger men are either meek or crippled. Only Max can lead them to safety.

So why is THE ROAD WARRIOR my favorite film of all time? Let me count the reasons. First, never had cars crashing and windows smashing, metal grinding against metal, and bodies somersaulting through the air or tumbling like rag dolls looked so beautiful on film. Director Miller and Cinematographer Dean Semler's every camera angle and movement is perfect from high angle and aerial shots to up close with the scorched highways and burning rubber hitting the pavement. Some films are glorious to look at but lack a story. Not the case with THE ROAD WARRIOR.

Then, there was my man crush on Mel Gibson who plays Max. THE ROAD WARRIOR would turn Gibson into an international star. He's a baby faced boy in MAD MAX but in THE ROAD WARRIOR, Gibson's the embodiment of cool, decked out head to toe in black leather with that cool Australian accent and spiky hair. I wanted to look and be Mel Gibson as Mad Max. I tried to catch every film that Mel made after ROAD WARRIOR including THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (1983), THE BOUNTY (1985), and AIR AMERICA (1988). I develop these man crushes from time to time. Mel was my first. Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ralph Fiennes in their early years come to mind as other crushes. Ironically, my latest man crush is on Tom Hardy, the actor who replaces Mel Gibson as Max in FURY ROAD. Ever since I saw Hardy in Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION (2010), I'm his biggest fan.

When we choose our favorite films, there are reasons why we love this film or that film. It might be the actors in it or the story or the genre. Those are the big things that make us love a film. But it's also the little things, small visuals that resonate for me in my favorite films. In THE ROAD WARRIOR, it's Max's cattle dog sniffing a dead kangaroo lying next to the rig or low angle shots of the automobiles or the white lines on the highway racing by or a cobra snake insignia on the side of a tow truck chasing Max. Max's loyal dog almost steals the film in the first half of the film, its reactions so human like. And the end of THE ROAD WARRIOR with Max standing alone in the middle of the endless highway as the Feral Kid and the other survivors caravan away, the camera pulling away on the lone hero as he grows smaller and smaller, is priceless and perfect. It's the visual equivalent of the little boy Joey (Brandon De Wilde) in SHANE calling "Shane! Come back!" as Shane rides off only without any dialogue.

Mel Gibson's performance as Max in THE ROAD WARRIOR is more mature, nuanced as he's grown more comfortable in the role. For THE ROAD WARRIOR, director Miller drew inspiration from author Joseph Campbell's book The Hero With a Thousand Faces (more on that later). In the first MAD MAX, Max became a vigilante only after his wife and son are run down by the Toecutter and his motorcycle gang. But by the time of THE ROAD WARRIOR, Max is a loner, a survivor, his loved ones but a distant memory. When Max finds a toy musical box that plays Happy Birthday, a shadow of humanity returns to his face. The song reminds him of his child, a happier time. The Feral Kid will also remind Max of his son, his family. Max will give the music box to the Feral Kid, the most poignant moment in THE ROAD WARRIOR. But Max has no time for love or a relationship anymore. The closest Max gets to a woman is when the Warrior Woman apologizes to him.

The villains in THE ROAD WARRIOR are key ingredients to the film's appeal. The Lord Humungus is mysterious and a bit disappointing as the main heavy. Played by Swedish weight lifter Kjell Nilsson, Humungus looks like a WWE wrestler with a hockey mask that hides scars that may have been caused by a fire or radioactive fallout (we never know). He pontificates a lot to the survivors but his main weapon besides an antique pistol is a sleeper hold that he uses on Wez when the mohawked madman disobeys him. Like Max, Pappagallo, and the others, the Humungus is aware that everyone has lost someone. He tries to be humane, offering Pappagallo and his people safe passage if they'll just give up the oil refinery. But circumstances won't let peace happen, not with a dog of war like Wez around. When Pappagallo refuses the offer and disobeys the Humungus's orders, the real Humungus is revealed, a Humungus that takes no prisoners and intimidates with shock and awe.

But Wez, played by Vernon Wells makes up for the Humungus's shortcomings. Wez is terrifying, relentless, and fearless (he even wears cheekless leather chaps). His weapon of choice is a metal crossbow attached to his wrist. He's Geronimo or Crazy Horse to Max's Shane. Wez, Humungus, and the other scavengers stand out in their quirky wardrobe that's one part Hell's Angels, one part S&M, and one part Nazi storm trooper thanks to costume designer Norma Moriceau. Actor Wells would also appear as a bad guy in John McTiernan's PREDATOR (1985) and spoof his ROAD WARRIOR Wez character in John Hughes's comedy WEIRD SCIENCE (1985).

Director Miller wisely throws in a comic character with the Gyro Captain played by Bruce Spence to give THE ROAD WARRIOR some humor during all the action and chase scenes. Spence is a tall, gangly actor, his appearance resembling a tall bird like a crane or heron. No wonder he likes to fly. He's the closest thing that Max will have to a friend (or "partner" as the Gyro Captain keeps telling Max) since Max and his police buddy Jim Goose from the original MAD MAX. The Gyro Captain waxes nostalgia for the good old days. "Remember lingerie?" he asks Max as he carries gas cans for Max. Spence would make another appearance as a different, shadier pilot in MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME. More recently, Spence (almost unrecognizable) played an alien in George Lucas's STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005).

After THE ROAD WARRIOR, George Miller would make the final Mad Max movie MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (co-directed with George Ogilvie) in 1985 and then completely switch gears. Not many people might know it but Miller would move into children's films and create two very popular children's film franchises about a pig (BABE and BABE: PIG IN THE CITY) and penguins (HAPPY FEET). As for CrazyFilmGuy, I would take a hiatus from my all time favorite film. I decided I wouldn't watch it again until Warner Brothers released a DVD version of THE ROAD WARRIOR jam packed with extras and special features (I'm still waiting Warner Brothers).

In 2001, word leaked that George Miller had a new Mad Max script called MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. But the journey from script to finished film would have as many obstacles as one of Max's incredible adventures. Miller would endure delays due to 9/11 and then the 2006 U.S. invasion of Iraq halting any chance of making the film in the African desert country of Namibia due to safety reasons. Then, plans to film in Australia were halted by Mother Nature who turned Miller's dusty landscape into a green oasis. Lastly, original star (and my former man crush) Mel Gibson would have a career meltdown. By the time the world had calmed down and Miller and company were finally ready to try again in Namibia, Gibson was too old to play the part of Max.

Thank the movie gods for George Miller's perseverance. 34 years since THE ROAD WARRIOR and 30 years since THUNDERDOME, director Miller along with co-writers Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris have given us a new Mad Max tale titled MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Set several years after THE ROAD WARRIOR but a brand new story, Miller had a bigger budget ($150 million dollars), new technology, and a new Mad Max (Tom Hardy) to throw his creative energy at. FURY ROAD is not a remake but a reimagining of Max Rockatansky to entice a new generation and please us old die hard MAD MAX fans. Although a different story, FURY ROAD has elements, motifs, actors, and scenes that hearken back to the earlier MAD MAX films while taking us on an adrenaline charged new journey of the lone hero, the road warrior known as Max.  Welcome back Max. We missed you.

Director Miller steps on the gas pedal right from the beginning in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD and never stops. Immortan Joe (Hugh Keys-Byrne) is a warlord who rules over the Citadel in this toxic, arid dystopian wasteland. Joe controls the water, the gasoline, and the people. His War Boys, painted white young soldiers, idolize Joe like a god. Immortan Joe keeps five wives ("my property") as prisoners and to produce healthy offspring through rape. Into this maelstrom comes Max (Tom Hardy), living out in the fringes, haunted by the deaths of his wife and daughter. He's hunted down and caught by a War Boys scout party and brought back to Immortan Joe's kingdom where he's hung upside down and hooked up to War Boy mechanic Nux (Nicholas Hoult) as a human blood bag, providing strength to the poisoned, sickly youth.

But Imperator Furiosa (Charlene Theron), a War Rig operator with a mechanical left arm, enslaved by Joe, plots revenge against the evil tyrant, liberating Immortan Joe's five wives and hiding them in her war rig as she makes a run across a hostile environment to bring these girls back to her homeland called the Green Place where she was stolen away as a child. Immortan Joe discovers her treachery and with his gargantuan son Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones) and his army of War Boy warriors including Slit (Josh Helman) by his side, they pursue Furiosa's vehicle with an armada of monster trucks and supercharged machines. Nux, wishing to gain Immortan Joe's favor, rides with the armada, bringing his blood donor Max with him, stuck on the front of Nux's roadster like a Roman shield.

Immortan Joe and his War Boys race to catch Furiosa while fending off other tribes in the region with just as crazy vehicles (like a dune buggy resembling a porcupine) as them. Furiosa drives into a gigantic sand storm, momentarily losing her pursuers. Nux and Max get separated from Joe's war party. Max attempts to free himself from Nux's chains and finds himself near Furiosa's war rig.  Furiosa and Max square off with each, almost killing one another before they realize they both have a common goal - to escape Immortan Joe's tyrannical reign. Max joins their righteous cause as Furiosa brings her war rig into a canyon ruled by a Rasta-looking Rock Rider tribe. She tries to cut a deal with the bikers as Immortan Joe's fleet draws closer but the deal backfires.

With Max's help, Furiosa and Immorten Joe's stolen harem of Toast the Knowing (Zoe Kravitz), Capable (Riley Keough), the Dag (Abbey Lee), Cheedo the Fragile (Courtney Eaton), and the pregnant Splendid Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) outduel not only Immortan Joe's army of tricked out trucks and cars but a two other baddies who have joined Joe: the Bullet Farmer (Richard Carter) and the People Eater (John Howard). Nux, left for dead, stowaways on the oil rig and becomes an ally with Max and Furiosa. Furiosa reaches a band of mostly older women called the Vuvalini or Many Mothers from where she was born. This matriarchal motorcycle tribe led by the Keeper of the Seeds (Melissa Jaffer) and the imposing Valkyrie (Megan Gale) have dire news for Furiosa. It's up to Max to rally this ragtag band of mothers, daughters, wives, and outcasts and take the offensive against Immorten Joe.

With 20 plus years to contemplate a new story for his Lone Wolf, anti-hero Max, Miller delivers, conjuring up a hallucinatory, over the top, crazy post-apocalyptic new world for Max to inhabit. FURY ROAD introduces us to the War Boys, kamikaze-like warriors slavishly devoted to the god-like father figure Immorten Joe, willing to sacrifice their lives for the warlord in hopes of reaching Valhalla. But the War Boys and War Pups are sickly, poisoned by their environment, many with tumors on their bodies, destined for short life spans. Blood transfusions from prisoners like Max and pumped mother's milk from Joe's pool of obese wet nurses help keep the pale young men strong and ready for battle.

We're introduced to the villainous Immorten Joe who governs the Citadel with an iron fist, branding all his human property with his death's head insignia on the back of their necks. Five beautiful wives are kept in captivity, iron chastity belts attached to them. They are sex slaves to Immorten Joe, fertile women he will rape so he can breed a stronger brood and one day, a healthy heir.

Miller gives us our first female road warrior in the series in Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). With her head shaved and a bionic left arm, Furiosa proves herself to be every bit an equal to Max. Even Furiosa's cargo, the five young maidens are more than just Victoria Secret eye candy (even if a couple of the actresses actually were Victoria Secret models previously in real life). Each young lady plays a part in their race to freedom, fighting off Immorten Joe's War Boys, reloading Max's shotgun, or aiding Furiosa as she drives.

MAD MAX movies are always about the cars and car crashes and Miller goes steroid in both instances in FURY ROAD. THE ROAD WARRIOR had a small army of vehicles but FURY ROAD brings an armada of war machines with monstrous tankers and rigs, hybrid hot rods and muscle cars, Immortan Joe's Gigahorse (two Cadillac Coupe de Ville's welded on top of each other), killers on giant bending poles called Pole Cats, and even a trailer pulling a death metal guitar player spewing flames from his double necked instrument known as the Doof Warrior (Iota) and four behemoth drummers pounding away on their enormous war drums.  FURY ROAD is an assault on your senses.

Although MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is a reboot of the MAD MAX trilogy, Miller draws inspiration from the first three films, filtering past ideas and images into FURY ROAD. The War Boys with their ghostly white skin and black, hollow eyes seem a homage to a minor character from MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME called Scrooloose, a mute, eccentric boy who was part of the tribe of kids Max stumbles upon. Scrooloose had the same chalky skin and raccoon eyes as the War Boys.

THE ROAD WARRIOR'S Warrior Woman hinted at the possibility of a strong female character and THUNDERDOME'S Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) had her moments. In FURY ROAD, Miller unleashes a full feminine fury starting with Furiosa, the bad ass War Rig driver for Immortan Joe's empire who betrays him. There are other empowered female protagonists in FURY ROAD like the raven haired Valkyrie. Both women could be offspring of the original Warrior Woman from ROAD WARRIOR.

The music box that Max finds on a dead body in THE ROAD WARRIOR makes an appearance in FURY ROAD as Toast, one of the wives, plays with a similar music box. The musical toy reminds them of a simpler, less violent past and hope for the future. Max's V-8 Interceptor makes a brief appearance in FURY ROAD but the car figured more prominently in both MAD MAX and THE ROAD WARRIOR. Unfortunately, there's no Australian cattle dog or much of any animal to be found in FURY ROAD unless you want to count the two headed lizard that Max munches on at the start of the picture.

The most significant nod to the old MAD MAX films is the return of actor Hugh Keays-Byrne as the evil Immortan Joe. Keays-Byrne started it all in 1979's MAD MAX as Toecutter, head honcho of the motorcycle gang that maims Max's friend Goose and murders Max's wife and son. As the aging Immortan Joe, Keays-Byrne still has a crazy head of hair and scary eyes but he's almost Darth Vader-ish  with his breast plate adorned with war medals and a gruesome breathing apparatus and horse teeth mask. Keays-Byrne has come full circle in the MAD MAX pantheon of bad guys. Both Toecutter and Immortan Joe belong in the Mad Max Villain Hall of Fame.

Tom Hardy as the new incarnation of Mad Max in FURY ROAD doesn't make us forget Mel Gibson's Max but Hardy puts his own stamp on the MAD MAX franchise, showing he's the right guy to take over the role. Gibson's Max may have been ever so slightly more vulnerable and humorous. Hardy's Max is indeed a little mad, tormented by nightmares of his dead daughter. Hardy's Max is on the brink of insanity, wrestling with demons inside his head even before he becomes Immortan Joe's captive. But just like Gibson, Hardy looks kick ass in leather as the stoic wasteland wanderer. And his humanity will slowly return over the course of FURY ROAD.

In Imperator Furiosa as played by Charlize Theron, Miller has created one of the strongest female action characters since Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in ALIENS (1986) or Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in TERMINATOR II: JUDGMENT DAY (1991). Stolen possibly by Immortan Joe as a child and imprisoned, then discarded when she may have been infertile and unable to bear children, Furiosa has plotted for countless years to get back at Joe.  Theron plays her as empowered mother figure to the five young women. Max reluctantly becomes the big brother to Furiosa and the brides. Even though FURY ROAD is a sci-fi action film, the film's theme of oppressed women, white slavery, rape, and human trafficking are taken from today's headlines and atrocities occurring in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and by a terrorist group known as ISIS.

Just like THE ROAD WARRIOR had humor with the Gyro Captain, comic relief in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is provided by Nicholas Hoult as the War Boy Nux. Enamored by his idol Immortan Joe, Nux aches to impress Joe. But Nux is a failure. He starts out as a bad guy but turns good when surrounded by all the women of FURY ROAD. Nux is like a teenager hitting puberty. Hoult gets all the best bits of what dialogue there is in FURY ROAD and he makes Nux very sympathetic and ultimately heroic.

The MAD MAX films are not necessarily known for their music but music has played a role in all the films. In MAD MAX, the Night Rider quotes from AC/DC's song Rocker. It might just be me but in THE ROAD WARRIOR, I always thought the Mechanic looked like the lead singer from Air Supply and the Gyro Captain's Girl with her headband and ponytail sort of looked like Australian singer Olivia Newton-John. MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME cast singer Tina Turner as Aunty Entity and featured two great songs on the soundtrack by Turner. But MAD MAX: FURY ROAD goes full throttle with a traveling rock guitarist and drummers following the chase, providing musical inspiration. FURY ROAD is a rock opera during the almost full length chase with Immortan Joe the mad rock star. Miller even casts the offspring of rock legends in key roles. Zoe Kravitz who plays Toast is the daughter of rock musician Lenny Kravitz. Riley Keough who plays Capable is the granddaughter of none other than the King -- Elvis Presley. And kudos to FURY ROAD'S composer Junkie XL whose music adds to the film's tension and action immensely.

Besides director Miller, compliments to the entire producing and production team behind MAD MAX:FURY ROAD.  Miller coaxed veteran Australian cinematographer John Seale (THE ENGLISH PATIENT) out of retirement and the results are stunning. Seale's color palette of burnt orange for day scenes and cold blue for night scenes are magnificent. Editor Margaret Sixel's cutting of FURY ROAD is impressive and may win her an Oscar. And let's not forget production designer Colin Gibson who's insane array of cars and trucks lives up to the MAD MAX tradition.

I've always been surprised that there weren't more post apocalyptic films after THE ROAD WARRIOR and THUNDERDOME.  I think ROAD WARRIOR definitely influenced some of the crazy characters in the Coen Brothers RAISING ARIZONA (1987). THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise owes its car chases (no matter how unbelievable) to the MAX films. Kevin Reynold's WATERWORLD (1995) was a water version of THE ROAD WARRIOR (and even had the same cinematographer Dean Semler). Neil Marshall's DOOMSDAY (2008) mixed zombie plague, King Arthur, and a ROAD WARRIOR like car chase finale. The closest film to the MAD MAX series I've seen and liked was the Hughes Brothers THE BOOK OF ELI (2010) with Denzel Washington. But Miller's MAD MAX films are tough to top.  And Miller has added to the series with maybe his masterpiece in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. I dare another filmmaker to top FURY ROAD (and if they do, then it will be a good thing for moviegoers).



Director George Miller (center) surrounded by Mad Max both past and present: Mel Gibson on the left and Tom Hardy on the right.

With the character of Mad Max Rockatansky, as played by both Mel Gibson in THE ROAD WARRIOR and now Tom Hardy in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, George Miller has created maybe one of the greatest anti-hero characters in film and an incredible mythology around Max and his world that has no limits. Miller explained the hero mythology influenced by Joseph Campbell's book The Hero With a Thousand Faces in an interview in the 1982 July/August issue of Film Comment.  "The hero in all these classic stories is always a lone, fairly amoral seeker wandering a dark wasteland. Most of the time he's not aware of his purpose. There's no real hope for him but, because of some particular talent he's got - like Max's skill on the highway - he's able to give to a new order. Life goes on." THE ROAD WARRIOR has a new bigger brother to join it in the film universe and that big brother's name is MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Long live Mad Max!

Three Days of the Condor (1975)

The impeachment and resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974 were dark days in American history. Watergate, secret audio tapes, and other nefarious activities by Nixon's Administration all fed into the public's psyche that our government could and would lie to the American people. But the United States government's misfortunes became a small cottage industry for Hollywood who began to produce political conspiracy thrillers involving the U.S. government and its intelligence agencies. The king of the paranoia film was director Alan J. Pakula who started it all with his paranoia mystery KLUTE (1971). He followed that up with THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974) and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) based on Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's uncovering the real story of the Watergate break-in that torpedoed Nixon's presidency. But before Robert Redford starred in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, he did a fictional CIA conspiracy film called THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975) directed by Sydney Pollack.

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is based on the novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady. Apparently, screenwriters Lorenzo Semple, Jr and David Rayfiel were able to lop off three days for budgetary purposes (joke). I was talking to a friend recently who said he had applied for a job at the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) out of college but had backed out before the interview. Perhaps he had seen CONDOR where it's hard to trust anyone and assassins might be waiting just around the corner. THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is one of seven films that Robert Redford and director Sydney Pollack worked on together. Except for a bad music score choice and a very unromantic love scene, CONDOR is one of Pollack's best films, one of the few thrillers he made besides THE FIRM (1993). The film fits perfectly into the conspiracy thriller genre that rose from the fall of Nixon.

Robert Redford stars as Joseph Turner, a low level CIA researcher at a phony CIA non-profit called the American Literary Historical Society located in a quiet brownstone building in New York City. Turner and his colleagues are bookworms.  They read books, analyzing them for codes, trends, new ideas, and leaks. It's boring stuff and 99% of what they find and report back to Langley (the CIA's headquarters) is rejected. Turner sneaks out to grab lunch for his co-workers including his girlfriend Janice Chong (Tina Chen). While he's gone, three assassins led by the mysterious Joubert (Max von Sydow) enter the building and slaughter everyone.

Turner returns to find his friends dead. Afraid and confused, Turner grabs a gun and flees the building. Everyone on the street looks suspicious. He finds a phone booth and calls in to the nearest Panic Office (CIA station), identifying himself by his code name Condor. He's transferred to Deputy Director for New York J. Higgins (Cliff Robertson) who orders Turner's Section Chief Wicks (Michael Kane) to set up a rendezvous point and bring Turner in. Wicks brings a friend of Turner's, a statistician Sam Barber (Walter McGinn), to join him so Turner can be at ease. But at the alley meeting, Wicks tries to kill Turner. Turner wounds Wicks who manages to shoot Sam dead. Now paranoid that the CIA might be in on the hit, Turner kidnaps an unsuspecting photographer Katherine Hale (Faye Dunaway) as she leaves an outdoor clothing store. He wants to get off the grid and has her take him back to her apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Higgins reports to his superiors including Mr. Wabash, an Ivy League Director type. Wabash and the other directors wonder if Turner has turned or gone rogue. They want Turner found at all costs.

Turner attempts to convince Katherine that he's not a nut. Unable to convince her initially, he ties Kathy to the toilet and borrows her van. Turner visits Sam's apartment looking for clues. He runs into Joubert who's hunting for Turner. The two men play a game of cat and mouse in the elevator and apartment building. Joubert tries to shoot Turner when he leaves the apartment building but Turner surrounds himself with a group of young people. Turner takes off in Kathy's van but not before Joubert writes down the license plate number. The next morning, a hit man disguised as a mailman (Hank Garrett) shows up at Kathy's apartment. Turner and the mailman battle and Turner shoots the killer. Kathy now believes his story.

Turner has Kathy help him kidnap Higgins at gunpoint and bring him to a site where Turner and Higgins can converse. Higgins reveals that Turner accidentally uncovered a separate intelligence group within the CIA. There's another CIA within the CIA, a clandestine network. When Turner sent notes about a mystery that didn't sell and was only translated into certain languages, a sanction (kill order) was put on the entire research house. Still not totally trusting Higgins, Turner does a little more digging which leads him to a high level CIA  Deputy Director of Operations Leonard Atwood (Addison Powell). Atwood is the mastermind behind this rogue group. Turner confronts Atwood inside his house but Joubert shows up as well. The climax is surprising and fits entirely with the paranoia/conspiracy plot.

Robert Redford's Joseph Turner character in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is very much a Hitchcock like protagonist. He's not necessarily the wrong or innocent man in the wrong place like Robert Donat in THE 39 STEPS (1935) or Cary Grant in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959). After all, it's Turner's analysis of a book that catches the attention of the wrong people in the CIA that leads to his co-worker's deaths. But Turner is an unlikely hero in the Hitchcock hero manner. He's not a spy trained in weaponry or fighting skills. He's a researcher, a low level analyst who reads and interprets books. Yes, he has a code name Condor but that's about as spyish as he gets. Yet Turner's smart enough to use his wits to stay alive. He takes a gun from the murder scene which saves him when his Section Chief Wicks tries to kill him. He finds a vulnerable, innocent woman Kathy to hide from the agency's killers. And Turner avoids a second time getting knocked off by Joubert at Sam's apartment by sticking with a crowd of people. Maybe Turner has read a couple of Ian Fleming or Robert Ludlum novels in between his research to learn enough to survive.

CONDOR may be the first spy film that indoctrinated audiences into the jargon and world of the CIA that seems commonplace in later films like LA FEMME NAKITA , THE BOURNE IDENTITY (and its sequels), or the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series.  The James Bond films had CIA agent Felix Leiter but he was on the periphery, mostly Bond's chauffeur. Terminology like the Company (referring to the CIA) or cleaners/contractors (hit men) are used for the first time that I can recall. After the hit on Turner's coworkers, the CIA sends in janitors (agents) to clean up the mess. Turner scoffs when Higgins calls the Intelligence Agency a Community. Nothing Turner has seen from the killers or his bosses make him feel part of a community. No one or U.S. Agency can be trusted not even the U.S. Postal Service. One of the assassins is dressed as a U.S. Postal carrier.

Director Sydney Pollack is not known for directing thrillers but THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is one of his best films. I was lucky enough to work on a film with Pollack, CONDOR supervising editor Frederic (Fritz) Steinkamp, and Director of Photography Owen Roizman (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) called HAVANA in 1990. All three were consummate professionals and good at their craft. But in a couple of instances with CONDOR, Pollack makes some bad choices. The jazzy funk score by longtime music collaborator Dave Grusin doesn't work for this spy thriller. Grusin's score would be better suited for a heist film.  Luckily, Pollack doesn't use much of Grusin's music. And for a director like Pollack who made two of the greatest love stories in cinema in THE WAY WE WERE (1973) and OUT OF AFRICA (1985), the love scene between Redford and Dunaway is just terrible. What could have been an erotic and kinky scene between kidnapper Turner and hostage Kathy is awkward with Pollack cutting between the couple rolling around in bed and Kathy's bleak black and white photographs. Redford and Dunaway, two of the 70's hottest actors look uncomfortable, unsure what to do and how to look sexy.

But Pollack captures the paranoia and distrust by Turner as he digs into the secret he accidentally uncovered that led to his friends deaths. As Turner begins to uncover the truth, he becomes bolder and more confident. Like a Hitchcock film, the MacGuffin or secret is about oil and perhaps an attempted invasion or coup to secure oil fields in the Middle East. But that's really not the point of the story, just a hook to move forward the story.  Not known as an action director either, Pollack stages an incredibly believable fight in Kathy's apartment between Turner and the mailman assassin. Turner is way out of his league but he manages to use rugs and couches and the smallness of the room to even out the disadvantage between him and a paid killer. It's a terrific fight scene that would make James Bond or Jason Bourne proud, expertly edited by Fritz Steinkamp.

Robert Redford is perfectly cast as the unlikely hero Joseph Turner in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. Redford makes us like Turner immediately as  he's goofy and nerdy (yes, a very good looking nerd), gently poking fun at his stuffy boss Dr. Lappe (Don McHenry) or the curmudgeon security guard before all hell breaks loose.  He's a regular guy who becomes a kidnapper and killer when his spy bosses try to terminate him. Ironically, later in his career, Redford would play the spy masters and bureaucrats that he fought against in CONDOR in Tony Scott's SPY GAME (2001) and the Russo Brothers CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014).  WINTER SOLDIER owes a lot in tone and plot to CONDOR with the good organization SHIELD infiltrated by its nemesis organization HYDRA just like CONDOR'S secret CIA within the CIA.

Faye Dunaway's role as Kathy Hale is a bit more tricky and perplexing. I wanted to see sparks fly between Redford and Dunaway in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. After all, Dunaway had played opposite most of the great actors of the late 60s and 70s -- Steve McQueen, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Paul Newman. Redford would be the final feather in her cap. But Dunaway's performance is a bit muted and enigmatic. Kathy seems like a damaged woman already when Turner kidnaps her. Her photographs in her apartment depict lonely and empty images, hinting at something dark from her past. Director Pollack struggles with their love scene. Since Turner's holding her hostage, is it consensual or is it rape when they sleep together? The actors lack of chemistry in their sex scene hints that they're unsure themselves.

The CONDOR supporting cast is uniformly good. Max von Sydow plays the hired contract killer Joubert. I don't think it is a coincidence that the name Joubert is similar to the dogged Police Inspector Javert pursuing Valjean from LES MISERABLES (1935). When Joubert learns that he and his hit team only killed six of the seven targets, it's a personal failure for him. It's professional pride that sends Joubert or one of his minions to hunt and find Turner and finish the job. Joubert is as meticulous as the miniature toy soldiers he paints as a hobby. Joubert is the real life toy soldier in this game of spies. He's also the most loyal person in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, loyal to each contract that he's given, following its instructions to the letter. Von Sydow plays Joubert with a reserved calm. He's the intellectual equivalent of the researchers, only he's a killer.

I always liked actor Cliff Robertson who plays Bureau Chief J. Higgins. Something about his voice, his demeanor I've always found soothing. He usually played good guys in films like the title character in CHARLY (1968) or a young John F. Kennedy in PT 109 (1963). Robertson even testified against a corrupt studio executive in the 1970's that nearly got him blacklisted from the industry. But in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, you're never quite sure which side Higgins is on which makes his character unsettling and compelling. Pollack plays off Robertson's good guy image.

And once again, John Houseman parlays his popularity in the 1970's. Whether he was guest starring as a mad scientist in the TV show THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN or appearing in those Smith Barney commercials, the elder Houseman had a resurgence as an actor after a long stint as a producer and writer earlier in his career (JANE EYRE). Like his role in ROLLERBALL (1975), Houseman's Mr. Wabash is an executive type only this time he's at the top of the CIA, trying to manage a potential crisis. Like Higgins, the audience is never quite sure whose strings Wabash is pulling, adding to CONDOR'S suspense and paranoia. Houseman brings instant class to the role.

For those people nostalgic for the 1970's, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is a time capsule to the wardrobe and hair of the 70's. Big lapels and glasses, sweater vests, ascots and scarves, thick sideburns and hair. All the bad guys even wear fedoras. But THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR ultimately reminds us of the beginning of the political conspiracy film, a paranoia of black helicopters and black sedans, men in suits with black sunglasses, seemingly on the U.S.'s side, all born from a real life National embarrassment known as Watergate. Luckily, our government has learned from these mistakes, right? Well, since Watergate, we've had Iran-Contra, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and leaks from the NSA (National Security Agency). All lies and deception and misdirection from the truth. Fact will continue to support fiction as long as these misdeeds continue.

The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986)

No one will ever accuse CrazyFilmGuy of imitating a pool hustler. Having played several games of pool over the recent holiday on a friend's new pool table, I was reminded that one has to practice and practice and play consistently to be a good pool player. Yes, I can occasionally hit a good shot or even consecutive shots but then I evolve back to the terrible pool player that I am. One time at a San Fernando Valley Cowboy bar, I became a pool hustler by accident for about an hour. It was a quarter to play the previous winner. He knocked the eight ball into the side pocket during the match. That's a scratch and he lost. I took over the table and won three more matches because each challenger hit the eight ball into the pocket prematurely. Skill had nothing to do with my pool hustling at the Cowboy Saloon. It was all luck that night.

But actor Paul Newman did practice and practice to play pool hustler "Fast" Eddie Felson in THE HUSTLER (1961). It adds to the believability for his character. Director Robert Rossen makes sure to shoot the billiard game in wide shots so we can see that Newman, Jackie Gleason,  and the other actors are really playing pool and playing pretty darned well. My first encounter with "Fast" Eddie Felson was the sequel to THE HUSTLER called THE COLOR OF MONEY (1986) directed by Martin Scorsese with Paul Newman back as the older and maybe wiser Eddie Felson and Tom Cruise as the young hotshot pool phenom who reminds Felson of himself. It had some nice camerawork by Scorsese and a good soundtrack but I probably should have watched THE HUSTLER first to learn Eddie's backstory. Now that I'm older and wiser (but still a terrible pool player), CrazyFilmGuy is going to do just that and watch the definitive story THE HUSTLER (which I've never seen) first and then revisit THE COLOR OF MONEY.

Directed by Robert Rossen (ALL THE KING'S MEN) with a screenplay by Sydney Carroll and Rossen based on the novel by Walter S. Tevis, THE HUSTLER open with "Fast" Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and his partner Charlie Burns (Myron McCormick) pulling up to a local bar/pool hall outside of Pittsburgh. Eddie and Charlie are pool hustlers. The opening sequence quickly introduces the audience to the pool hustle as Eddie and Charlie hustle the local patrons and even the bartender (a young Vincent Gardenia) out of a couple hundred dollars.

Eddie may be a pool hustler but he's also a very good pool player. His ultimate goal is to beat the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). Eddie and Charlie arrive at Ames Hall in New York where Fats frequents. Fats hasn't lost in 15 years according to one of the locals Big John (Michael Constantine). Eddie gets his chance when Fats arrives at his usual 8pm. Eddie and Fats play an epic game spanning over 24 hours, drawing a large crowd at times including gambler Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) who bankrolls Fats. Both men are up and down with the money. At one point, Eddie has won $11,400 dollars. But he can't walk away and Fats crushes him. Eddie and Charlie end up at a fleabag hotel and Eddie ditches Charlie, taking a bus to another town, hoping for a fresh start.

Eddie encounters Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), an young alcoholic woman, at the bus station then again in a nearby bar. Eddie moves in with Sarah and they become lovers. Charlie tracks Eddie down to Sarah's apartment. Charlie wants to get back out and hustle pool with Eddie. For Eddie, their partnership is over. Eddie runs into the gambler Bert at a poker game. Bert offers to put up some money for Eddie to hustle pool again but Bert's cut is too steep and Eddie spurns him. Eddie tries to hustle some local toughs at a bar near the docks. The thugs, led by the Turk (Cliff Pellow) break both of Eddie's thumbs because he's a "pool shark." Did Bert put out the word to hurt Eddie?

Eddie stumbles back into the Sarah's arms.  Sarah nurses him back to health. Eddie becomes human again. Sarah falls in love with him. When Eddie recovers, he hooks back up with Bert and his 75/25 split. Bert has a mark in Louisville that he wants Eddie to play. Eddie brings Sarah with them. Bert and Sarah don't like each other. Bert sees her as a distraction for Eddie. Sarah believes Bert is using Eddie. Eddie plays a southern gentleman named Findley (Murray Hamilton). Findley wants to play billiards not straight pool. In typical Eddie Felson fashion, he falls behind in the money but then rallies to beat Findley. But in beating Findley, he loses Sarah who commits suicide by pills.

Eddie returns to Ames Hall for one final match against Minnesota Fats. Eddie brings the remaining $3000 that he won for Bert but cost him Sarah's life. Eddie's a different person in this game. He beats Fats but he beats him with character. Bert still wants his cut but Eddie reminds him, "I loved her Bert. I traded her in on a pool game." Eddie walks out of the Ames Hall a changed man.

THE HUSTLER examines the human condition. Director Rossen is more interested in a story about losers than winners. Eddie, Charlie, Sarah, even Bert and Minnesota Fats to some degree are losers in life. Bert calls Eddie "a born loser." He tells Eddie that he doesn't have "character" like Minnesota Fats. Rossen uses cripples as a metaphor for these self-destructive souls and their struggles. Sarah has a lame leg, weakened from polio when she was a child. Eddie has both his thumbs broken, making him a cripple, keeping him away from pool briefly. Even the black pool hall attendant Henry (Blue Washington) has a deformity that makes him limp when he walks. Life is hard for the people of THE HUSTLER.

The dynamics between all the characters is fascinating. Early in THE HUSTLER, there is the father/son relationship between Charlie and Eddie. Eddie breaks it off. The relationship between Eddie and Minnesota Fats is like a father/son relationship too. The young Eddie (son) trying to topple the older Fats (father) in straight pool. What son hasn't felt the elation when he finally beats his father at a game of basketball or a sprint. Gambler Bert takes a fatherly interest in Eddie even if it's for purely financial reasons. Eddie asks why Bert suddenly wants to "adopt" him. Bert may think Eddie's a "born loser" but he does recognize Eddie has "talent" meaning he can make Bert some money. Eddie doesn't recognize Bert will use him. But Sarah does.

Eddie and Sarah hustle each other in their relationship. Sarah tries to build Eddie up. She tells him he's a "winner" and that she loves him. Eddie supports Sarah's drinking habit and provides physical comfort for her. But they are using each other to get by. Sarah will make the ultimate sacrifice to save Eddie's soul from Bert. She scrawls with lipstick on a hotel bathroom mirror the words PERVERTED. TWISTED. CRIPPLED. This is her vision of her and Eddie's relationship. Earlier, she had written that she and Eddie had a "contract of depravity." They drink and make love but never show their true feelings or behave like normal human beings.

Bert is the devil and Eddie is willing to sell his soul to Bert to get back into the pool game. Bert tells Eddie that "character overcomes talent." Eddie had Fats on the ropes in their first encounter but Eddie gets overwhelmed by the moment, getting drunk and losing his cool while he was ahead. Fats just puts baby powder on his hands and calmly waits for Eddie to crumble. Sarah will become the angel who saves  Eddie's soul from Bert but at a terrible price. And Minnesota Fats is neither devil nor angel. He's a well-dressed, dapper Buddha, a Zen Master of Pool, unshakable whether he's winning or losing. He's cool and calm. He never raises his voice, never puts his opponent down. He just plays pool and he plays it very well. He is God in the pool hall, almost mythical. When Fats and Eddie play pool it's like two knights jousting with pool sticks and chalk.

THE HUSTLER would solidify Paul Newman as a movie superstar. Newman's portrayal of Eddie Felson would also define the type of characters Newman would play for the next 10 years - the antihero. He's not bad but he's not a good person either. HUD (1963), HARPER (1966), COOL HAND LUKE (1967), and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) are all antihero roles that Newman would excel in. Newman was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award as Eddie Felson and he should have won but he didn't (he lost to Maximilian Schell for JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG). Newman's performance is nothing short of magnificent. But the movie gods would reward Newman for that oversight by awarding Newman the Best Actor Academy Award for THE HUSTLER sequel THE COLOR OF MONEY. But don't be fooled. His 1986 Oscar is an apology for Newman's not winning in 1961 as Felson in THE HUSTLER.

Newman excels because he has three incredible costars to feed off. The scenes between Newman and Jackie Gleason, Newman and George C. Scott, and Newman and Piper Laurie are Oscar worthy, every one of them. There is not a wasted scene in THE HUSTLER. Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats is only in two scenes but he dominates those two scenes. Gleason was famous for his comedic character Ralph Cramden in the TV comedy show THE HONEYMOONERS but he demonstrates he could play dramatic parts equally as well. George C. Scott as gambler Bert Gordon reminds me why Scott's early film career was so electric. Watch Scott in THE HUSTLER or DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) and be awe struck by his intensity and delivery. Scott would win the Best Actor Academy Award in 1970 for his role as General George S. Patton in PATTON.  Piper Laurie may not be a household name or star which makes her character Sarah Packard all the more real and tragic. We don't have any preconceived opinions of her. Laurie would gain more fame as Sissy Spacek's fanatically religious mother in Brian DePalma's CARRIE (1976) and later costarred on the cult TV show TWIN PEAKS.

Even the smaller supporting cast in THE HUSTLER is uniformly good. Myron McCormick as Charlie Burns, Eddie's surrogate father and partner in pool hustling and Murray Hamilton as the salaciously pleasant Southern gentleman and billiard player Findley stand out. Other familiar faces to look for in THE HUSTLER include Michael Constantine (TV's ROOM 222) as Big John, another pool hustler/gambler; the real boxer Jake LaMotta (for which Martin Scorsese's 1980 film RAGING BULL is about) as a bartender, and World Champion pool player Willie Mosconi (who trained Newman and did some of the film's trick shots) as a pool hall regular.

Director Robert Rossen may be one of the most talented filmmakers you never heard of. I thought he was a French director (but he's not). Rossen started out as an accomplished screenwriter (THE SEA WOLF). Then, Rossen directed BODY AND SOUL (1947) and ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949) which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. But between 1949 and 1961 when he directed THE HUSTLER, Rossen was dogged by the House Committee for Un-American Activities (HUAC). Rossen ended up naming Communists to save his career and then went to Europe where he made a few mediocre films until he returned to New York to make his masterpiece THE HUSTLER. His next film LILITH (1964) with Warren Beatty would not do well and Rossen died in 1966, much too soon.

But what a masterpiece he left us with THE HUSTLER. Story, acting, photography, set design, and editing (the great Dede Allen) all come together. The film is about winners and losers not pool but Rossen spreads the story out over 5 different pool games, each match serving as a chapter or act for the story. Eddie is a loner and Rossen often frames Eddie by himself in doorways and windows, isolating him. Before I watched THE HUSTLER, I figured Eddie and Fats would play at the finale of the movie, the big match between the two best pool players. But Rossen has Eddie and Fats play early in the movie when Eddie loses and then again in the finale as he climbs from the lowest depths to transform into a wiser Eddie Felson.

Rossen wanted authenticity for THE HUSTLER. Most of the film was shot in New York in real pool halls, bus stations, and diners. THE HUSTLER oozes smoke and booze and sweat. Look at the characters seated around the fringe of the pool table when Eddie and Fats play with their slicked back hair, cigarettes, and dark glasses. They all look like hustlers and gamblers.

Martin Scorsese's sequel to THE HUSTLER called THE COLOR OF MONEY (1986) attempts to stand on its own while showing reverence for the original. The easiest distinction is THE COLOR OF MONEY is shot in color and not black and white like THE HUSTLER. Scorsese makes this clear at the very beginning with gaudy red title credits and deep, thick colors for the pool halls. THE COLOR OF MONEY'S music is more blues oriented with music by Willie Dixon, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters. THE HUSTLER had a jazzy score. 9 ball is the game in THE COLOR OF MONEY. It was straight pool in THE HUSTLER.

I had seen THE COLOR OF MONEY first back in college but I had not seen THE HUSTLER so I didn't have any context about Eddie's past. Now that I've seen the two films in chronological order, how does THE COLOR OF MONEY stand up to THE HUSTLER? COLOR is a worthy sequel to THE HUSTLER. It's not as dark or as powerful as the first film but it's exciting to watch Paul Newman resume the "Fast" Eddie Felson character as a middle-aged man and show us what Felson has been up to since he walked out of Ames Hall after beating Minnesota Fats. Scorsese and screenwriter Richard Price adroitly focus on the older Felson's relationship with a young hotshot pool player played by the hottest young actor in the 80's Tom Cruise. Eddie has become a combination of Bert Gordon and Minnesota Fats and Cruise's Vincent is now the young Eddie Felson we saw in THE HUSTLER.

The film opens with an older "Fast" Eddie Felson (Paul Newman), white haired and with a moustache sitting at a bar chatting with his bartender/owner girlfriend Janelle (Helen Shaver). Felson is a liquor salesman now. Behind him, a young, naïve hotshot pool player Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise) is taking Eddie's protégé Julian (John Turturro) to the cleaners while Vincent's girlfriend/manager Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) keeps an ever watchful eye. Eddie likes what he sees in Vincent, reminding Eddie of himself. Eddie tells Vincent "you are a natural character; you're an incredible flake. But I'll tell you something kiddo. You couldn't find Big Time if you had a road map."  Eddie takes the two of them under his wing. Eddie wants to take Vincent to a 9 ball tournament in Atlantic City. But he wants to take five or six weeks to get there, show Vincent and Carmen how to hustle in smaller pool halls and college bars (the film was also shot in Chicago). He wants Vincent to sometimes lose on purpose so when they get to Atlantic City, they can take everyone to the cleaners.

The trip starts out badly at first. Eddie's a little rusty getting back into the pool hustle. But Vincent's potential lights a fire in Eddie that has been extinct for some time. Vincent and Carmen test Eddie's patience. Eddie has a hard time controlling Vincent. Eddie needs Carmen to work with him not against him. It's tough for Vincent to "lay down" and lose on purpose. Eddie runs one hustle with Vincent in which Eddie and Carmen play boyfriend/girlfriend which makes Vincent jealous. When Vincent goes out after hours and beats a good local player named Moselle (Bruce A. Young) against Eddie's wishes, Eddie cuts his ties with Vincent and Carmen, giving them their stake (money) and wishing them the best in Atlantic City.

Eddie decides to compete again. But he gets schooled by another young hustler Amos (Forrest Whittaker) and begins to doubt his skills. Eddie gets his eyes checked and begins to wear glasses.  He plays again and starts to have some success even beating Moselle. Eddie enters the Atlantic City 9 ball tournament. He runs into Vincent and Carmen. Eddie and Vincent meet in the semi-finals where Eddie beats Vincent. But later, Eddie finds out that Vincent lost on purpose, winning a lot of money on a side wager. The next day, Eddie forfeits his championship match. He waits for Vincent. He wants Vincent's "best game." They rack them up to face each other as the film ends.

The fun of THE COLOR OF MONEY is watching how Eddie Felson has evolved. Eddie is part Bert Gordon, the gambler that almost destroyed Eddie in THE HUSTLER and forced him to retire. Eddie sees potential (and money) in Vincent just like Bert saw an opportunity to make money with Eddie. But Eddie is also part Minnesota Fats. Eddie's the wily veteran who wants to show the young Vincent he's still king of the pool table. Watching Eddie and Vincent square off in the finale is a little deja vu when the younger, cockier Eddie competed against the best in Minnesota Fats in THE HUSTLER.

Paul Newman doesn't miss a beat as he picks up his Eddie Felson character 25 years later. But THE COLOR OF MONEY'S Eddie Felson priorities have changed since THE HUSTLER. He doesn't play pool, instead bankrolling younger players like Julian and Vincent. The game has passed him by. It's 9 ball that they're playing not straight pool. Eddie chides Julian for taking drugs like cocaine and amphetamines. In Eddie's day, it was just alcohol. But as Eddie deals with Vincent and Carmen, he realizes it's like taking care of kids, kids that Eddie never had. When Vincent fails to follow Eddie's advice, Eddie finds that desire to win, to dominate in pool again. He gets his fire to be the best back.

The passing of the mantle from Eddie to Vincent is also the case of Paul Newman passing the baton to a young Tom Cruise. Newman made a career out of playing anti-heroes, cocky guys bucking the system. Cruise's early career was definitely playing cocky characters although I never thought of Cruise as an anti-hero. I have to admit Cruise is better in THE COLOR OF MONEY than I remember. Yes he's cocky but not in his annoying TOP GUN or DAYS OF THUNDER way. His Vincent displays a conscience and a heart. Vincent doesn't know how good he is like young Eddie Felson did. But older Eddie will harden Vincent, teach him the ropes.

The other revelation in THE COLOR OF MONEY is rediscovering one of the better actresses of the 1980's in Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. I forgot how good she was.  She's not a crippled, damaged soul like Piper Laurie in THE HUSTLER. In fact, Mastrantonio's Carmen is a female version of Bert and Eddie. She sees Vincent's talent but just isn't sure how to utilize it until Eddie teaches her the ropes. She's slightly older than Vincent, more mature, nurturing. Mastrantonio had a good run in the 80's besides MONEY with SCARFACE (1983), THE ABYSS (1989), and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (1991). Forrest Whittaker also stands out as the young pool hustler Amos who catches Eddie off guard, taking Eddie's money and sending Eddie into a deep funk. And look for 80's professional pool players in the film including Steve Mizerak (you might remember him from a few Miller Lite Beer commercials) and Keith McCready who plays the vulgar player Grady Seasons.

Although Rossen moved his camera at times in THE HUSTLER, Scorsese uses his usual bag of cinematic tricks, having the camera swirl around Eddie or Vincent or the pool table or using fast pans as the players break, making the game more visually interesting. THE COLOR OF MONEY even uses some trick photography like an extreme close up as the camera follows a giant pool ball into a pocket. One of Vincent's matches set against Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London is Scorsese at his best, Vincent strutting around the table like a rooster. Long time Scorsese collaborators Michael Ballhaus (Director of Photography) and Thelma Schoonmaker (Editor) make it all look so effortless. Besides this sequel to THE HUSTLER, Scorsese would also remake the 1962 thriller CAPE FEAR in 1991. My only real knock on THE COLOR OF MONEY is the cheesy poster. It just seems a film with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise should have a classier poster than what Touchstone came up with.

In anyone else's hands THE COLOR OF MONEY could have been a disaster and ruined the legacy of THE HUSTLER. But Scorsese, knowing that he can't top the classic THE HUSTLER, chooses to make a more character driven sequel, showing the audience what has happened to Eddie Felson 25 years later. And having Paul Newman return to play the pivotal "Fast" Eddie is key. THE COLOR OF MONEY has talent but it's THE HUSTLER that has the character that still resounds even today. What a great double bill those two films would be.

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

I owe my fondness for our solar system and the planets that belong to it to my late grandfather Bill (who I affectionately called Poppa). Bill owned a telescope and he would set it up on the sidewalk in front of his house on a hot summer Fresno, California night and let the neighborhood (and his grandson) gaze up at the heavens.  I saw Saturn and its rings and Mars for the first time through his telescope. I memorized all the names of the planets as a kid and to this day I look to the stars from time to time when I notice a particular bright object in the sky or on the horizon.

Hollywood has also been fascinated with the stars and planets and galaxies that make up our universe for story ideas. Many films have aliens coming from the red planet Mars like WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) but the filmmakers for 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957) are the first that I can recall to have a space creature from Venus. The second planet from the sun and the closest planet to Earth (it's actually 25 million miles away according to Google not 20 million miles as the film's title suggests), Venus is that bright star just on the horizon in the west after the sun sets. I stumbled upon 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH one afternoon as a kid while over at a friend's house. Although I was intrigued by the lizard like Venus creature, I remember being slightly traumatized by a scene where the creature pushes a zoo elephant back on its haunches, crushing two zookeepers behind the elephant. Yes, both were just clay model creatures but it seemed real to me at the time.

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH and its creature from Venus (known as Ymir by film geeks although never named in the movie) is the work of famed Special Effects wizard Ray Harryhausen.  This would be only Harryhausen's 2nd feature film following IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955). 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH is directed by Nathan Juran who would collaborate with Producer Charles H. Schneer and Harryhausen on 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958). 20 MILLION MILES screenplay is by Bob Williams and Christopher Knopf from a story by Charlott Knight. Harryhausen idolized KING KONG effects wizard Willis O'Brien and got his first film work on O'Brien's MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949). 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH follows the KING KONG storyline to a degree but with a science fiction angle.

A U.S spaceship, the XY21, returning to Earth from a 13 month mission to Venus crash lands off the coast of Sicily. Two Sicilian fishermen Verrico (George Khoury) and  Mondello (Don Orlando) with a young boy Pepe (Bart Bradley now Bart Braverman) paddle out to the ship and rescue two of the 17 astronauts on board before the spaceship sinks. One of the astronauts Col. Robert Calder (William Hopper) survives but Dr. Sharman (Arthur Space) dies from a space fungus on his face contracted on Venus that killed most of the crew.

A small metal container from the ship washes up on the beach and young Pepe discovers it. He finds a frozen embryo with a creature inside the container. Pepe sells it to a zoologist Dr. Leonardo (Frank Puglia) who's on vacation in the region with his granddaughter Marisa Leonardo (Joan Taylor), a medical student. The U.S. Government tracks the wayward spaceship to Sicily. Major General McIntosh (Thomas B. Henry) and Dr. Judson Uhl (John Zaremba) arrive in Sicily and meet up with Calder who briefs them that the expedition brought back an alien specimen from Venus on the spaceship. Only no one knows where the specimen is.

The embryo hatches and a small lizard like creature with a human like torso, dinosaur like tail, and reptilian scales emerges.  Dr. Leonardo has never seen anything like it. He places the alien creature Ymir in a cage in his trailer and begins to return to Rome to study the creature. Young Pepe reveals to Major McIntosh that he found the container and sold it to Dr. Leonardo. Calder and the Army race to find Dr. Leonardo. Ymir grows at a rapid rate and escapes Leonardo's trailer. Calder almost traps Ymir in a farmer's barn but Ymir escapes. Calder knows the creature likes sulfur (Venus's number one mineral). Ymir heads to the base of Mount Etna and its sulfur pits. Italian Police Commissario Charra (Tito Vuolo) wants the alien killed but Calder devises an electric net to drop on Ymir and immobilize the monster which he and Dr. Uhl successfully complete with the assistance of Army helicopters.

Ymir, sedated by an electrical current, is brought back for observation at the Rome Zoo. McIntosh updates a small pool of reporters on Ymir's origin. As Calder shows three reporters the alien from Venus, an electrical accident awakens Ymir and the monster breaks free of its chains, terrorizing an elephant at the zoo before wrecking havoc through the streets of Rome. Calder and the US Army (who are somehow available instead of the Italian Army) pursue Ymir through the Roman Forum to the Colosseum where Ymir climbs to the top of the ancient arena in its final standoff against tanks and bazookas.

Harryhausen's Venusian lizard creature Ymir from 20,000 MILES TO EARTH has many similarities with another large cinematic creature that wishes it had never met the human race -- King Kong. Both Ymir and Kong are brought to earth/civilization against their will. Because these creatures exhibit fear when first interacting with humans, the audience feels empathy for the lizard alien/ape and their fish out of water situation. Ymir just wants to be back on its sulfuric planet Venus. King longs to be fighting dinosaurs on Skull Island. Ymir breaks out of the Rome Zoo and terrorizes some of  Rome's famous landmarks like the Roman Forum and Colosseum. Kong bursts out of his shackles in New York's renowned Radio City Music Hall and climbs to the tallest perch he can find in New York - the Empire State Building. Both creatures fight to the end against the US Army/fighter planes and fall to their deaths dramatically, surrounded by the curious public who feared the monsters hours before.

It should be no surprise that 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH borrows plot elements from KING KONG (1933) as KONG was the film that inspired a young Harryhausen to enter the world of film special effects, even apprenticing with Willis O'Brien, a special effect pioneer who created King Kong and gave Harryhausen his first job on another rampaging ape movie MIGHT JOE YOUNG. 20 MILLION MILES pays it forward inspiring future Science Fiction movies. A point of view (POV) shot of the spaceship in 20 MILLION MILES hurtling toward open water is replicated in a similar POV shot from the opening minutes of PLANET OF THE APES (1968) as a spacecraft carrying Charleton Heston breaks through the clouds and toward water where it crash lands. And the embryonic egg that the lizard Ymir hatches from in 20 MILLION MILES took me back to the eggs that John Hurt stumbles across in Ridley Scott's ALIEN (1979). Hurt wishes a small alien lizard like Ymir had emerged instead of the squid-like organism that attaches itself to Hurt's face.

Most of the 1950's Science Fiction monster films were fairly low budget like TARANTULA (1955)or THE BEAST FROM 50,000 FATHOMS (1953). Some were shot overseas in Europe to save on money. You won't find Jimmy Stewart, William Holden, or Ingrid Bergman in these kind of films. 20 MILLION MILES has the good fortune to be partially filmed in Italy. Somehow,  Producer Charles Schnee procured some Army hardware to beef up the production value. Army helicopters, jeeps, two dozen Army extras, and even a tank give 20 MILLION MILES some pizazz. The most amazing coup by the filmmakers are sequences of the soldiers racing around the Roman Forum and the Colosseum chasing the creature. Two years ago, I was in Rome on vacation. Those historical sites looked spectacular but protected with limited access for tourists. Archaeologists are still excavating on the sites. Apparently in 1957, the Italians weren't doing much upkeep to the Forum or Colosseum. The Forum looks overrun with weeds. And it looks like no section of the Colosseum was off limits to the film crew as soldiers race up and down all levels of the ancient arena. How times have changed.

Ultimately, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH is a B movie with some unintentionally laughable moments. Early in the film, the high ranking military officer McIntosh actually pays the reward money himself to the young urchin Pepe for discovering the lost container. Where's the General Accounting Office to handle that transaction? Later, McIntosh gives an incredibly detailed speech about the creature to reporters (and the audience), giving way more information than any government official should. I would hate to see McIntosh brief reporters (and Russian spies posing as reporters) on any of the U.S.'s military secrets or classified projects.

William Hopper as Col. Robert Calder is the only real recognizable star in 20 MILLION MILES. Hopper, the son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, had already acted in an earlier B monster movie THE DEADLY MANTIS (also 1957 also directed by 20 MILLION'S Nathan Juran) with Craig Stevens. Hopper would gain great popularity as Perry Mason's sidekick Paul Drake in the TV show PERRY MASON. Hopper has a funny gaffe in 20 MILLION MILES. After he's rescued from the sinking spaceship, we find him recuperating in a hospital bed.  When Marisa checks on him and Dr. Sharman, Hopper gets out of bed to reveal he's fully dressed in his military uniform instead of a hospital gown. Somebody get me the wardrobe and continuity department!

But where 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH distances itself from the other monster films from the 1950's is Special Effects wizard Harryhausen's Venusian creature Ymir.  Whereas TARANTULA or THE GIANT MANTIS superimpose their giant insect onto a landscape, 20 MILLION MILES brought back the stop motion animation that made KING KONG realistic and a big hit. It's obviously a model but the model work is so intricate, Ymir's movements so life like, it takes 20 MILLION MILES to another level.

Despite 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH'S script limitations and occasional hokey dialogue and acting, this film works because of the talent of Ray Harryhausen and his excellent stop motion animation work with cinema's first ever alien from Venus -- the reptilian Ymir.

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

"Whatever you do, don't pick up strangers." We all remember our mothers (and fathers) telling us those words before we went on a long trip by ourselves in a car. And I never picked up a stranger until a few years ago. Returning from the beach one night, I spied a young man and woman walking on the shoulder of a dark stretch of road. I had seen a car off to the shoulder about a mile behind them. I figured that was their car.  So I picked them up.  The reason I picked them up is I had six other people in my SUV with me. I wasn't worried about getting murdered and cut up into tiny pieces.  It turns out their car ran out of gas.  I took them back to their nearby town so the young man could get a can of gas and his other car. They were very appreciative and he even gave me $20 which I kept trying to give back to him but to no avail. But my little niece gave me the evil stink eye the rest of the way home.

Hitchhikers get a bad rap.  For the most part, they're young (or old) wanderers with little money or no wheels trying to get from one place to another.  It's the people picking up the hitchhikers that you should be more worried about.  But not all hitchhikers are good. When THE HITCHER with Rutger Hauer came out in 1986 (and subsequently remade in 2007 with Sean Bean), I thought to myself why hasn't someone done a film about a psychopathic hitchhiker before.  It turns out someone had.  Actress Ida Lupino directed the film noir-ish 1953 thriller THE HITCH-HIKER. Lupino is a pioneer as maybe the first and only woman to direct a film noir film.

Director Lupino co-wrote THE HITCH-HIKER with her then husband Collier Young (who also produced), adapted by Robert Joseph, based on the true story of killer Billy Cook who went on a murderous hitchhiking killing spree from 1950-51.  Lupino and her actors are all film noir veterans. Actor Edmond O'Brien was in D.O.A (1950).  Frank Lovejoy appeared in IN A LONELY PLACE (1950) with Humphrey Bogart.  And psychotic hitchhiker William Talman had roles in ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950) and THE RACKET (1951). Even Lupino starred in ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951) and played opposite Bogart in HIGH SIERRA (1941). The only character missing in THE HITCH-HIKER is the femme fatale although this time she's behind the camera i.e. Lupino.

THE HITCH-HIKER begins stylistically. We only see the hitchhiker's thumb and shoes at first as he's picked up first by a young married couple whom he murders and robs and next a traveling salesman who meets a similar fate. It's the unfortunate luck of two buddies Roy Collins (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert Bowen (Frank Lovejoy) on a guy's weekend fishing trip to pick up the hitchhiker next. Director Lupino still keeps the hitchhiker in the dark literally in the backseat until he pulls out his gun. The men have picked up Emmett Myers (Frank Talman who played Perry Mason's nemesis District Attorney Hamilton Burger in TV's PERRY MASON), also known as the Kansas Desperado. Myers is a sadistic, psychotic murderer.

Myers has the two men take him over the border into Mexico (which apparently was quite easy in 1953 with just a single checkpoint and one border guard). Myers plan is to reach the coast town of Santa Rosalia where he plans to kill the two men and hop a ferry across the Gulf of California to Guaymas on the Mexican mainland. But during the journey Myers and Collins & Gil will wage a psychological game of cat and mouse against each other. Myers, a loner, seems to have a chip on his shoulder riding with these two friends. He challenges Gil to a shooting contest and forces Gil to play a dangerous game, shooting a can out of Collins's hand. Collins begins to crack as Myers picks on him. One night at an abandoned airfield, Collins tries to flee to get help, Gil chasing after him but Myers chases them down with the car. Myers doesn't speak any Spanish which makes him nervous whenever they stop for gas or groceries.

After the bodies of Myers previous victims are found, a Government Agent (Clark Howat) working with Captain Alvarado (Jose Torvay) with the Mexican police begin tracking Myers. They even plant a phony news broadcast for the paranoid Myers to hear, making him think the police are looking elsewhere as they track him south of the border. The men's car suffers a flat tire but Gil fixes that. Later, Collins puts a hole in the gas tank, crippling the vehicle.

Myers makes Collins and Gil walk the rest of way to Santa Rosalia. When they reach the town, they discover the ferry is out of commission (a fire) and will not be repaired for several months. Myers and the two men search the docks for another boat that can take Myers across the Gulf. But the Mexican authorities are waiting and ambush Myers in a tense final showdown.

The more modern THE HITCHER films portrayed its hitchhiker character John Ryder as a nihilist, totally destructive toward his victims, surroundings, and even himself. There was no backstory to Ryder. He was just pure evil. In THE HITCH-HIKER, killer Emmett Myers has more depth. He's a loner, his parents abandoning him at an early age. He has no friends. He seems jealous of Collins and Gil's friendship. He tries to become a wedge between the two men. He has to prove he's a better shot than Gil. He's frustrated when the two men can speak Spanish to the locals and he can't. "You guys are soft, " he says. "You've always had it good, so you're soft. Well, not me! Nobody ever gave me anything, so I don't owe nobody!" Myers has an axe to grind with anyone who's smarter or better off than he is. But he's still bad, shooting a barking dog one night when it annoys him.

Film noir films usually involve detectives and take place in urban settings like big cities. Although film noir began in the 1940's, it was post World War II that filmmakers began to experiment with the genre. THE HITCH-HIKER isn't your typical noir. It takes place mostly on a Mexican highway and rocky desert and sleepy Mexican towns, often in broad daylight. Film noir often have a triangle of characters but usually it's two men and a woman. THE HITCH-HIKER is all men -- a sociopath and the two best friends he kidnaps.

This triangle is the crux of THE HITCH-HIKER. Gil, a WWII veteran, knows that he and Collins need to stick together if they hope to defeat Myers. But Myers bullies the bigger Collins like the hillbillies picked on chubby Ned Beatty in DELIVERANCE (1972). Collins begins to snap. He tries to flee on his own to find help but Myers chases him down. Myers dislikes Collins so much that he makes Collins switch clothes with him hoping if the Mexican authorities do find them, they'll shoot Collins by mistake.

Frank Talman's performance as the murderous hitchhiker Emmett Myers is the key to THE HITCH-HIKER'S appeal. Talman is able to drum up so some sympathy for Myers that the audience never felt for Rutger Hauer or Sean  Bean in THE HITCHER. Myers knows how to get under people's skin and Talman's performance is a precursor for other cinematic sociopath's like  Robert Mitchum's Max Cady in CAPE FEAR (1961). Myers vows to never be caught alive but when the Mexican authorities apprehend him in the film's finale, there's no shootout or final violence (except for Collins landing a couple of revenge punches on his kidnapper). Myers looks like a caged animal, panic in his eyes when he realizes he'll be behind bars again. I kept waiting for the handcuffed Myers to jump into the water and drown himself but THE HITCH-HIKER'S delicious irony is that Myers does not die in a blaze of bullets. He's going back to prison. I was curious why Myers didn't just kill Collins and Gil and take their car across the border but then we wouldn't have a film now would we? In a way, Gil and Collins are Myers only "friends." Myers keeps them alive because he likes their company, even if it's ordering them around.

RKO Studios produced THE HITCH-HIKER and the studio was well known for turning out excellent film noir B movies such as  OUT OF THE PAST (1947). The HITCH-HIKER is a taut, 70 minute thrill ride. Lupino uses the film's low budget to her advantage. She stages much of the story with the three men riding in the car.  She doesn't have to deal with big sets or lots of extras. Most of the film is set on a desert highway. Interestingly, there's some dialogue in Spanish but no subtitles. Either the filmmakers couldn't afford subtitles or they chose to be authentic and not use them. Lupino and Young pretty much followed the real  killer Billy Cook's story so much that they even gave Talman a deformed eyelid just like Cook had. Lupino directed a few other feature films like THE BIGAMIST (also 1953) but she would continue directing plenty of television shows including episodes of THE UNTOUCHABLES, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and even GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.

Speaking of old television shows, having grown up watching TV's PERRY MASON as a kid, I got a kick seeing William Talman with long hair. My recollection of Talman as DA Hamilton Burger in PERRY MASON was he had a marine type crewcut. Or maybe his hair was just shorter and slicked back. And I knew Edmond O'Brien from Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH (1969) but O'Brien's barely recognizable in that film with a thick beard and weathered face. O'Brien's Collins is a man wracked with some guilt. He's the one who took a detour into the border town of Mexicali to check out the local ladies. He and Gil never would have come across Myers if they had just headed straight for their original destination -- the Chocolate Mountains.

In a strange coincidence of 3 Degrees of PERRY MASON, the CrazyFilmGuy's next review is going to be 1957's 20,000 MILES FROM EARTH, a science fiction film starring William Hopper who happened to play Perry Mason's sidekick Paul Drake on the TV show. In this review of THE HITCH-HIKER, I was pleasantly surprised to find William Talman who played DA Hamilton Burger from PERRY MASON. But I will not be reviewing GODZILLA (1956) in the near future which starred none other than Perry Mason himself -- Raymond Burr. That's just too many PERRY MASON references. But nice to see all the actors from the TV show had done well on the big screen too.