Monthly Archives: May 2024

Sudden Death (1977, directed by Eddie Romero)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Ed Neilson (Ken Metcalf) is a business executive who just wants to spend the weekend grilling with his family but then a bunch of gunmen show up and, in a surprisingly violent sequence that even shows children being shot in slow motion, massacre his entire family.

Ed barely survives and begs his old friend, a former CIA agent named Duke Smith (Robert Conrad), to find out who murdered his family.  Duke would rather hang out on the beach with his wife (Aline Samson) and daughter (Nancy Conrad) and he refuses to help Ed.  But then Ed gets blown up in his car and Duke and his former partner (Felton Perry) come out of retirement to get justice.  Duke’s investigation leads to a corrupt businessman (Thayer David), a murderous government official (John Ashley, who also produced), and a ruthless hitman (Don Stroud).

Filmed in The Philippines and directed by Eddie Romero, Sudden Death is a violent and brutal thriller with a twisty the plot that is nearly impossible to follow.  It seems like a lot of killing for no particular reason.  The thing that sets Sudden Death apart from other action films is its willingness to violently kill off anyone, regardless of age, gender, or relative innocence.  The 70s was a decade known for downbeat endings but, even by the standards of that decade, Sudden Death‘s ending is shockingly abrupt and bleak.  In the lead role, Robert Conrad shows off the ruthless intensity that made him the most feared of all of the coaches on Battle of the Network Stars.

Originally, the sidekick role was offered to Jim Kelly.  When Kelly dropped out, the role was given to the far more laid back Felton Perry.  I think if Kelly had stayed with the film, it would probably be a cult classic today.  Instead, it’s an obscurity that reminds us of how bleak even exploitation films were in the 70s.

Retro Television Review: T and T 3.7 “A Lesson In Values”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990.  The show can be found on Tubi!

In this episode, Terri finally get to show what she can do in court.

Episode 3.7 “A Lesson In Values”

(Dir by Clay Borris, originally aired on February 17th, 1990)

While working late at the courthouse, Terri stumbles across a homeless man named Nesmith.  Nesmith explains that he’s not a drug addict or a drunk or a criminal or anyone dangerous.  He’s just a man who lives on the streets and travels the country, jotting down his thoughts in notebooks.  Terri is charmed by Nesmith and offers to find him room at a nearby hostel.  Nesmith accepts the offer but then drops dead of a heart attack.

Terri takes it upon herself to serve as executor of his estate.  In his will, Nesmith asks that all of his money — several thousand dollars — be left to his friend and traveling companion, Junior Grayson.  Turner tracks down Grayson, which is about all T.S. Turner does in this episode.  Instead, the entire episode revolves around Terri trying to prove that Nesmith’s will is legitimate.  Nesmith’s wife (Fran Gebhard) and her sleazy attorney (John Stocker) want the money for themselves, despite the fact that Nesmith left home 12 years previously and had little contact with her afterwards.

It took seven episodes but Terri finally gets to be at the center of an episode.  Unfortunately, it’s a pretty predictable episode and it’s also one that presents the homeless as being not people in need of support but instead as whimsical truth-tellers who enjoy living on the streets.  As played by Kristina Nicoll, Terri is not a particularly credible attorney.  I mean, Amy was definitely an underused character but you never doubted that she knew what she was doing in court.  Terri, on the other hand, seems to think that suggesting that the judge will be a big meany head if she doesn’t find for Grayson is an effective argument.

In the end, Grayson does get the money but, because Nesmith’s owed a bunch of back taxes (Come on, Canada, the mans dead!), Grayson will only be getting a few dollars.  That’s okay, though.  Grayson knows that there’s more to life than money.  Grayson gives Terri all of Nesmith’s notebooks and the episode ends with Terri starting to read them while Turner and Decker box in the background.  (Seriously, Turner does next to nothing in this episode and, from what we do see of him, he just seems to be annoyed in general.)  Personally, I was hoping that the episode would end with Terri announcing that she was going to get the notebooks published so that everyone could know who Nesmith was.

Another strange thing about this episode is that the actors playing Nesmith and Grayson were not credited.  I sat through this show a handful of times, looking for their names but they were never listed.  (And they’re not listed at the imdb either.)  The actor playing Grayson gave a heartfelt performance and was this episode’s redeeming factor.  I wish I could credit him.

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix For Rolling Thunder!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, we’ve got a classic, 1977’s Rolling Thunder!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Rolling Thunder is available on Prime and Tubi!  See you there!

Scenes That I Love: Amy Steel Confuses Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part II!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Amy Steel, the actress who played Ginny, the strongest and most resourceful of all of the final girls to appear in the Friday the 13th franchise.  Whenever I watch any of the Friday the 13th films, I always like to think that I would be Part 2’s Ginny, though I know, deep down, I would actually probably more likely be Part One’s Marci, getting stuck outside the rain in my underwear and somehow not hearing someone stepping up behind me with an axe.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Friday the 13th Part II.  In this scene, Ginny proves herself to be the only camp counselor in history to be smart enough to confuse a backwoods vagrant who wears a flour bag over his head.  This scene is one of the reasons why Ginny is one of the franchise’s most popular characters.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Joseph Kosinski Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, TSL wishes a happy birthday to director Joseph Kosinski!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Joseph Kosinski Films

Tron: Legacy (2010, dir by Joseph Kosinski, DP: Claudio Miranda)

Oblivion (2013, dir by Joseph Kosinski, DP: Claudio Miranda)

Only The Brave (2017, dir by Joseph Kosinski, DP: Claudio Miranda)

Top Gun: Maverick (2022, dir by Joseph Kosinski, DP: Claudio Miranda)

Music Video of the Day: Iron Man by Black Sabbath (2000, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

30 years after the song was first released and helped to define heavy metal for a generation, a live version of Iron Man was released, as a single, in 2000 and it brought Black Sabbath its first Grammy nomination.  Appropriately, this video was made during the period of Osbourne’s first reunion with Black Sabbath.  It was filmed over the course of two performances at the Birmingham NEC.

Two years after this video and the band’s first Grammy nomination, The Osbournes would premiere on MTV and, unfortunately in my opinion, Ozzy would become better known as a reality television participant than as a singer.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 2.8 “The Smile In The Third Row”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!

This week, Jonathan and Mark head to Broadway!

Episode 2.8 “The Smile In The Third Row”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 20th, 1985)

Fred Fusco (Lorne Greene) is a veteran actor who is appearing in a Broadway play.  In the play, Fred plays a man who learns that he’s about to die.  During the third act, Fred’s character actually does die and Fred ends the play with a monologue about owning the choices he made in his life before he ascends into Heaven (via a harness).

It’s a depressing play and the theater is usually half-empty whenever Fred performs.  But one night, Fred claims that he spotted God sitting in the third row.  Fred also says that God really enjoyed the show.  When the news get out, the play becomes a huge success as audiences turn out to see a play endorsed by God.  Fred becomes a huge celebrity and befriends a terminally ill boy who promises to say hi to God when he goes to Heaven.  However, when Fred starts to talk about leaving his fortune to charity, both his sister (Mary Ann Gibson) and his nephew (David L. Lander) conspire to have him committed.

Fred also happens to be Jonathan and Mark’s later assignment.  Mark gets a job at the theater while Jonathan puts on a collar and becomes Father Jonathan.  While Mark is convinced that Fred is actually seeing God, Jonathan is skeptical because Jonathan doesn’t see God in the theater.  Why, Jonathan asks, would God reveal himself to an actor but not an angel?  There’s an interesting subtext here, as it quickly becomes obvious that Jonathan isn’t so much skeptical as he’s jealous.  He even rather recklessly reveals to Fred that he’s an angel in his quest to convince Fred that he hasn’t actually seen God.  Fred reveals that he’s willing to accept Jonathan’s word that he’s an angel but then asks why Jonathan is not willing to accept his word that he sees God in the theater.

Is God in the theater?  At the end of the episode, Fred’s harness is broken but, at the end of the third act, he still ascends above the theater and then vanishes.  The newspapers call it a hoax but the show suggests that, much like Elijah, he’s been assumed straight to Heaven.  Is Fred meant to be a modern day Elijah?  Would that therefore make his sister a modern-day Jezebel?  Perhaps but, fortunately for her, she is never eaten by wild dogs.

As usual, there wasn’t much subtlety to be found in this episode of Highway to Heaven but it still worked surprisingly well.  When Fred met the dying child, my first instinct was to roll my eyes at the obviousness of it all but those same eyes had tears in them by the time the scene was over.  The episode benefitted greatly from Lorne Greene’s strong performance as Fred Fusco and Michael Landon’s strong portrayal of Jonathan’s mixed feelings about Fred’s claims.  All in all, this was a strong episode.

The Films of 2024: The Bricklayer (dir by Renny Harlin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Someone is assassinating commie journalists in Europe and making it appear as if the CIA is responsible.  O’Malley (Tim Blake Nelson) of the CIA suspects that the assassin is Michael Radek (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a former intelligence asset who faked his own death but who has now returned and is seeking vengeance on the Agency for the death of his wife and daughter.  O’Malley decides that Radek’s friend and former CIA handler, Steve Vail (Aaron Eckhart), is the only man who can track Radek down.

The problem is that Vail is as disillusioned with intelligence work as Radek.  Vail walked away from the Agency years ago and now spends his time listening to jazz and working as a bricklayer.  Vail explains that, when working with bricks, everything is predictable and everything fits together perfectly.  It’s the opposite of the chaotic world of spies and assassinations.  O’Malley think that Vail is full of crap and I would be tempted to agree if not for the fact that Aaron Eckhart is one of the few actors who can make you believe anything that he says.

At first, Vail refuses to help but then Radek sends a group of assassins to kill him.  That changes Vail’s mind.  Along with an inexperienced supervisor named Kate (Nina Dobrev), Vail heads to Greece to not only track down Radek but also discover the identity of a mole in the CIA.

The Bricklayer was advertised as being a return-to-form of sorts for director Renny Harlin.  In many ways, it’s a typical Harlin film.  For the most part, it looks good.  Some of the action scenes are exciting.  A car flips over and explodes.  At the same time, it never quite reaches the heights of Harlin’s heyday.  This film has neither the grandeur of Die Hard 2, the romantic sparks of The Long Kiss Goodnight, or the energy of Deep Blue Sea.  The film’s low-budget is definitely a factor in that.  There are scenes in the film that look about as cheap as some of the movies that Bruce Willis was making before he announced his retirement.

That said, The Bricklayer does what it does with efficiency and Renny Harlin still knows how to keep the action moving.  Though the story is a bit too familiar to really be intriguing, Aaron Eckhart makes for a surprisingly believable secret agent.  One thing I especially liked about Eckhart’s performance is that he didn’t go for the “grim” stereotype of the former intelligence agent.  As played by Aaron Eckhart, Steve Vail may have had his regrets but he wasn’t some sort of emotionless zombie.  He enjoyed jazz.  He enjoyed the work that he did as a bricklayer.  Though the rules of the genre demand that he and Nina Dobrev start the film as mild adversaries, they quickly developed a likable chemistry.

The Bricklayer is the epitome of an okay, middle of the road movie.  It’s neither good nor bad enough to be especially memorable but it’s entertaining enough if you’ve got 100 minutes to kill.

Paper Lion (1968, directed by Alex March)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Writer George Plimpton (Alan Alda) is a Park Avenue sophisticate who practices “participatory” journalism.  He has already written about pitching in an exhibition all-star game and getting knocked out by Sugar Ray Robinson.  He is having trouble coming up with his next stunt until he goes to Central Park and plays a touch football game with his girlfriend Kate (Lauren Hutton) and his editor, Oscar (David Doyle).  Oscar sees George throwing the ball and decides that George should write about going to a professional football team’s training camp as a player.

George, who fantasizes about throwing the game-winning touchdown, is enthusiastic.  Most of the teams that George approaches are less enthusiastic but finally, the Detroit Lions agree to sign him as a quarterback.  Once the other players realize that George is a writer and not a professional athlete, there’s a lot of resentment.  As Guard John Gordy (playing himself) puts it, he could easily get injured while protecting an inexperienced quarterback like George.  George can always go back to Park Avenue but, for the rest of the players, the game is their life and they don’t like the idea of some outsider coming in and treating it all like a joke.  At first, only the fearsome defender Alex Karras (also playing himself) is willing to support George but eventually, George’s refusal to give up wins over the rest of the team.  They even let him score a touchdown during practice.

When the preseason begins, George waits for his opportunity to take the field.  How many yards can he lose in three plays?

Paper Lion is based on a true story.  In 1963, George Plimpton did attending training camp and play a scrimmage for the Lions and he later wrote a book about the experience.  The movie changes the time period from ’63 to ’67 so that all of the then-members of the Lions could play themselves.  (Though Karras was a friend of Plimpton’s, he was actually suspended during the 1963 season and, unlike in the movie, never joined Plimpton on the practice field.)  The film plays Plimpton’s football career largely for laughs, celebrating every guy’s fantasy of being a sports star while also showing why it’s probably best to leave the actual game to the professionals.  Alan Alda doesn’t imitate Plimpton’s famous Mid-Atlantic accent but he does capture the excitement of a man getting to live out his fantasy.

Paper Lion was made with the full cooperation of the NFL and a good deal of the film’s final third is made up footage that was shot for an actual game.  Seen today, it’s interesting to see how positively Paper Lion portrays both the game and its players and to contrast it with how the game is usually portrayed today.  There’s no talk of steroids or fears of multiple concussions.  All of the players are clean-cut, friendly, witty, and helpful.  Even the training camp hazing is all done is good fun.  Paper Lion introduces us to the nicest people in the world and they’re all football players!