Monday 4 March 2024

Walter Hill: Peer of the USA

His movies about cowboys and gangs, music and mayhem, with sundry clever gimmicks that usually elevate subgenre clichés to pulp art-forms, make Walter Hill the best director of pictures about American cultures. Although the quality his work might vary quite a lot, his credits include several classics (48 Hrs, Streets Of Fire, Extreme Prejudice) as Hill practically perfects buddy-movies, timeless adventures, and modern westerns. Is he the greatest auteur of genuine Americana? Perhaps his success was partly because he was born, like Clint Eastwood, in California, not in New York like his rivals Martin Scorsese, the late Michael Cimino, and upstart Abel Ferrara. Usually, Hill’s own class of directors are less prolific, or their action movies are far too inconsistent in average quality. 

For last week’s re-watching survey, I picked a batch of 7 titles that (apart from Long Riders) I have not seen again since their VHS releases. Charles Bronson’s mysterious loner Chaney almost seems destined to save chronic gambler Speed (James Coburn), and junkie doctor Poe (Strother Martin) from their vices. After serving his time as screen-writer, Hill’s directing debut HARD TIMES (1975) looks well crafted, despite its low-budget. Sets and locations are carefully shot with painterly care to enhance social struggles of the Depression era. Bronson’s fisticuffs generate whatever mercenary thrills and amorality that western styled action themes promise to deliver, while sequences like cage fighting are sharply edited by Roger Spottiswoode (who, like Hill, also worked for Sam Peckinpah). Restored to 4K standard, Eureka’s MOC Blu-ray has a pictures booklet, with a contemporary review by Pauline Kael.


Renowned for its unique casting of actual brothers (Keach, Carradine, Quaid, Guest), playing outlaws from families, THE LONG RIDERS (1980), re-mints gunslinger lore with revisionism like meta-movie authenticity. Curiosity values aside, this version of the ‘James-Younger gang’ sees director Hill blasting his way into western mythology, tackling bank/ stagecoach/ train robbery, with ruthless guns and attempted chivalry.

Outsmarting Pinkerton agents, or getting brutal revenge after ‘Robin Hood’ failures, Jesse James and Cole Younger get increasingly violent when lawmen harass a widow and kill innocents. Previously filmed as Kaufman’s Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972), the gang’s climactic job results in a bloody shoot-out of slow-mo stunts, a ride through shop-windows, and inventively stylised bullet-zinger effects. The appearance of a steam-tractor that spooks horses symbolises the cowboys’ finale while a time-lock defeats armed robbery. Here, musician Ry Cooder begins a career doing soundtracks for six Hill movies, while Pamela Reed and James Remar have Starr turns, providing witty characters for unhappy loner Cole to fight. Kino special edition R1 Blu-ray has a disc-load of extras, including retrospective cast interviews, plus 1 outstanding hour of German documentary, Outlaw Brothers (2013), made by Robert Fischer, for Fiction Factory.

An engagingly persistent comedy of American excess, filmed several times before this version, BREWSTER’S MILLIONS (1985) celebrates rags-to-riches fantasy with links to Twain’s story Million Pound Bank Note, and John Landis’ class-conscious money-bags bet in Trading Places (1983). Can a baseball pitcher spend-but-never-squander $1 million every day for a month, to inherit a mythically vast fortune? If any wealthy life-style is only a tawdry game, should the results be a win or a loss? Hill’s approach to farcical humour is fuelled by tragedies about frequently mercenary attitudes, and wholly tasteless extravagance, in the premier decade of yuppies. Its amoral schemes and thematically virulent greed gained even greater cultural resonance after Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987), but none of all that detracts from a sense of overindulgent fun, boosted by John Candy wittily playing sentimentalism for keeps. 

After his cross-genre “rock ‘n’ roll fantasy” Streets Of Fire, director Hill explored  the roots of US music in CROSSROADS (1986). Wannabe guitar-star Eugene ‘Lightning Boy’ teams up with legendary bluesman ‘Blind Dog’ Fulton for this road-movie with a mojo bag, heading into southern gothic. Dangerous dreams on the Mississippi delta shape their quest for one ‘lost song’ by Robert Johnson (feature debut of TREK’s Tim Russ) whose mythic deal with Legba makes an eerie prologue. Hitchhikers on trail to celebrity, with decades of culture between them, the heroes windup in an electric duel against Steve Vai. Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca are fun as the kid and Willie, while Jami Gertz’s runaway heart-breaker Frances provides the young man his final lesson in getting the blues. Pained silence... needs no explanation. Joe Morton almost steals the show as Scratch’s assistant.


Not to be confused with Joel Schumacher’s last movie, 2011’s home-invasion thriller, starring Cage and Kidman, actioner TRESPASS (1992) is Hill’s reworked updating of John Huston’s classic Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948). On an urban adventure, reckless fire-fighters, Don and Vince, stray into a conflict between black gangs led by King James (Ice-T). A disused factory becomes a death-trap for all concerned, when a lockdown siege seems influenced by John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13 (1976). Sniper shots and hostage crisis ramps up tension, while suspense cranks higher from army weapons  in gunfights over turf. Philosophical angles ensure the hoods are more than just angry thugs, and it’s grimly amusing when they act like black yuppies. There are talky smarts against feral greed on both sides of racial issues, but adding maniacal impatience and junkie-level desperation to this wholly mixed-up situation generates a wealth of thieving violence for the long lost stash of churchy gold. William Sadler and Bill Paxton make for engaging leads, especially when their moral dilemmas become a nightmare of explosive demolition, where it’s always the savvy of survival that counts.


 “This dance is a demonstration hostile to the citizens of the United States.”

Yes, that’s how trouble starts in GERONIMO: An American Legend (1993). Blue-coats played by Jason Patric and Matt Damon escort Apache leader Geronimo (Wes Studi, deserving stardom here after his great performance in Last Of The Mohicans), to meet US army General ‘Nantan Lupan’ Crook, before his tribe are confined to Reservation land. Old hands Gene Hackman and Robert Duval express acting proficiency for their co-stars, and need only grins and nods to communicate effectively on-screen. Narration adds depth to a story observing that freedom (wild like the wind?) is never civilised, while USA’s cultural dilemma prompts the question: can ‘pacification’ ever be honourable? But for Geronimo’s visions, this movie is almost drama-doc in approach, and yet Hill just cannot resist doing splendidly arty compositions for locations. It’s also not a bio-pic, but a powerful character-study. Look out for Scott Wilson and Stephen McHattie in a fine supporting cast of 'White-Eyes'.   


Notably, except for Another 48 Hrs. (1990), director Hill does not create sequels, and rarely repeats his past work beyond signature in-jokes like a pub/club called Torchy’s. WILD BILL (1995) crams plenty into a brisk 90+ mins. As famous gunslinger, James Butler ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, Jeff Bridges improves upon previous western performances, in Hearts Of The West and Heaven’s Gate, and seems to perfect grouchy mannerisms he later displayed for the Coens’ excellent True Grit remake, succeeding John Wayne.

Slowly going blind, Hickok faces down foes and outrages even friends, like ‘California’ Joe (James Gammon, never better), and Charley Prince (John Hurt). Hurt’s extra job as narrator sticks close to Hill’s formula by providing insights, not just details, to help viewers ‘see’ the unfolding narrative clearly. Wild Bill is roundly portrayed as walking nightmare, not a cowboy hero. “I don’t explain myself.” He’s a serial killer, sometimes wearing a badge. Just daring to touch Bill’s hat is annoyance enough for him to shoot anyone. Ellen Barkin’s Calamity Jane looks definitive, and is certainly far superior to Jane Alexander’s 1984 TV film, or Anjelica Huston’s series Buffalo Girls (also 1995). A fabulous supporting cast showcases Diane Lane, David Arquette, Bruce Dern, and James Remar, with Keith Carradine’s witty cameo as ‘Buffalo Bill’.

Thursday 25 May 2023

Rush In Rio

Remember the bad old days of music on VHS, when most videoed concerts ran for a standard TV-show length of 45 minutes? If you were lucky, a premier band released 75 minutes worth, but that was rare. Canadian trio Rush always provided far better value for money than most of their rivals (not that I think they have any equals). Their previous live video, the remarkable A Show Of Hands (1988), filmed over two nights at Birmingham’s NEC, plays for 90 minutes.

This is the first DVD from Rush and, despite various production difficulties including the band’s lack of prep time for a pro sound-check, it’s an amazing film. Shot with 22 cameras in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium, this venue sees Rush performing for a 40,000-strong audience on 23rd November 2002.

Neil Peart - the Professor

Starting with Tom Sawyer, the band recycles other 1980s’ tracks such as New World Man, before launching into new material like Earthshine. Unlike many progressive-rock bands, Rush play artfully composed instrumentals - including their momentous YYZ - without any danger of appearing self-indulgent, because such works maintain their commitment to creativity and musicianship. The Pass is introduced as one of the band’s own favourites, and it’s followed by Big Money and The Trees, with lyrics that comment on capitalism and politics. Closer To The Heart was a late addition to this tour’s set-list, especially for the Brazilian audiences, because Rush discovered it was the most popular of their songs, down south. The often-neglected Natural Science precedes a brief intermission, but the band return to the stage in spectacular fashion with a cartoon dragon on the main projection screen, perfectly synchronised to physical fire effects to mark the beginning of One Little Victory.

The second half of the show continues with more songs from the latest album, and their live versions of Ghost Rider and Secret Touch are even more energetic than the studio tracks. Dreamline and the brooding Red Sector ‘A’ segue into the main instrumental section of the show, which includes Neil Peart’s awesome solo O Baterista, an impressive piece that aims to present a narrative of drumming and drums. Rush have pointedly ignored rock stars’ vogue for ‘unplugged’ versions of their songs, but here we find Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson sitting down with acoustic guitars for a folksy arrangement of protest-song Resist, which does at least give Peart a break from the circular array of his revolving drum kit.

Geddy Lee

It’s mostly older material from then on, with the powerhouse ‘Overture’ from 2112, a livewire rendition of The Spirit Of Radio (still, I think, Rush’s most successful 45-rpm single), a medley of By-Tor And The Snowdog with Cygnus X-1 (only the intro), in an encore that closes with Working Man - a track from their very first album.

Alex Lifeson

At nearly three hours, RUSH IN RIO (2003) offers magnificent entertainment, complete with Peart’s frankly staggering variety of percussive beats, Lifeson’s hilarious warbling rant about jazz, and there’s also Lee’s unusual stage-decor of laundry machines. If your musical tastes include anything by Led Zeppelin, Rush  are regarded as leaders of the next generation of innovative rock acts. Diehard fans will not be disappointed.

An extras disc features Andrew MacNaughton’s excellent documentary The Boys In Brazil (54 minutes), which details the planning and execution of Rush’s first ever visit to Brazil for the tour’s last three dates (all stadium shows) with the 60,000 crowd in San Paulo being the largest audience Rush have ever played to as a headline act.

Wednesday 24 May 2023

Tolkien 3

Peter Jackson’s epic ‘Tolkien trilogy’ revolutionised fantasy movies, starting with The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001), followed by The Two Towers (2002), and this closing chapter, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003). For this great Middle-earth saga to work on-screen, with original cinema versions and the full set of ‘extended editions’ many liberties were reportedly taken with JRR’s texts. As I have not read those books, my view of what’s widely acclaimed as the ultimate form of literature in its genre, and this adaptation, remains limited to an SF interpretation of the grandiose spectacle as a legend about disarmament. 


It’s a triumph of genuinely noble wisdom over madness, and details valiant efforts to avert the possibility of catastrophic warfare simply by disposal of the doomsday weapon. Since the One Ring can only be un-made in the fires of Mordor, we can see this notion of a meltdown destruction putting an end to such 'evil', and so the ring becomes a prime WMD example. This notion is reflected in varied sci-fi works but, perhaps most tellingly, with the annihilation of the cyborg stealth weapon, in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), that saves the future for humanity.


Despite its glorification of warfare, referencing the crusades (as ‘halflings’ can be read as children), here, somewhat perversely, even the long dead are called upon to fight as ghosts. Whatever your views, this remains action cinema of repeatedly astonishing displays when levels of magical threat expands from shire (village), to fortress (city), to realm (the world). There are many grotesque fantasy horrors in Middle-earth's journey, but I always found that Shelob the giant spider is the most nightmare-inducing creature of them all. As for this movie's protracted string of awkwardly sentimental endings, I think Jackson’s ROTK should have shown the newly crowned monarch, with elf royalty, and other people, bowing to the heroic hobbits... and then a fade to black. That would have been a more sensible as the final scene.

Tuesday 23 May 2023

Demonlover

What begins as a routinely credible intriguer about industrial espionage stealthily but relentlessly develops into a meditation upon and an expose of the disturbing and complex roles that sex with violence play in global corporate media markets. DEMONLOVER (2002) by Olivier Assayas, maker of stylised French comedy-drama Irma Vep (1996), delivers his very best movie, so far. It’s one of this century’s new classics and an often dazzling picture that’s the most underrated Euro-Asian psychological thriller of its decade. 


Despite some quite adverse critical reactions, Assayas' extraordinarily perceptive character-studies of women in control, and women being controlled, overcomes initially baffled reservations about its lack of obvious narrative logic, especially on repeat viewings. With the fascinating central performances, by Connie Nielsen, Chloe Sevigny, and Gina Gershon, there is executive rivalry for management promotions on a brokered virtuality project for securing a world monopoly on ‘adults only’ anime. Cold ambitions are stymied by romantic entanglements and office politics. Cat-burglar exploits result in a clumsy murder and subsequent cover-up, but more answers than questions about frequently bewildering crimes when conventional plotting segues, quite inexplicably, into resolutely horrific surrealism. Assayas’ deeply tragicomic leanings are startling in both aspect and affect.


Demonlover defies expectations and dramatic standards by providing no comforting explanations for those in need of reassurance that the heroine will escape, or at least survive. After upsetting all the ‘wrong’ people by hacking into the forbidden ‘Hellfire Club’ website, the unwary thief is kidnapped for (perversely, off-screen) a systematic ordeal of drug abuse and torture, later thoroughly broken by sadomasochistic experience when she returns to work, at an office now run by a mysterious assistant.


Palpable fetishistic eroticism follows during nightmares of gamely fighting a way out of anomalous captivity. Is this just another weirdo activity in a cyber-sexy damnation trial? Glossily mesmeric and peculiarly anonymous, eager to jettison its rationality, while counter-balancing everyday mundanity with an exotic glamour of hyper-fast edits of intoxicating imagery, Demonlover might appear annoyingly imprecise, yet it's overloaded with tantalising subtexts. It’s ironic, as a recklessly unfocussed critique of sociopathic corporations, and a headlong ride into garishly wondrous oblivion. This is essential viewing for anyone who enjoyed Cronenberg’s Videodrome (1983), and eXistenZ (1999), or Wenders’ superbly enigmatic Until The End Of The World (1991). 

Monday 22 May 2023

Adaptation

Written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze, and with an excellent dual-role for Nicolas Cage, portraying Charlie and his twin Donald, comedy-drama ADAPTATION (2002) offers an offbeat deconstruction and meta-dissection of screenwriting and the nature of making movies. 


It boasts outstanding support from Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, with Brian Cox as story-maven Robert McKee, plus endearing cameo appearances for studio flashbacks about Jonze’s classic Being John Malkovich (1999). Prompted by a case of writer’s block, this is bursting with searing pathos for profoundly creative struggles, while attempting to turn literary art-forms into something more commercial.

But “..what if the writer is attempting to create a story where nothing much happens?” It never succumbs to entirely maudlin sentiment or gentle whimsy, but explores with a fascinating wit, various models of documentary realism, bizarre fantasy, and almost everything between such polarised opposites. This peculiarly amusing satire remains essential viewing for any keen fans of genuinely innovative cinema.