Sam Raimi directed A SIMPLE PLAN, a movie about two brothers and a friend who find a crashed plane on a nature reserve that just happens to have a bag of cash containing $4.4 million. What starts out as the potential answer to all of their problems turns out the biggest problem they’ll ever have to deal with.
Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton & Brent Briscoe play the guys who find the money and come up with a plan to keep it. As you can imagine, it all goes to hell, with one thing leading to another thing that leads to another thing, and none of it good. The performances in this film are uniformly excellent, with Thornton as the standout. He completely disappears into his character and received an Oscar nomination for his work. It’s a great film, but it’s not exactly a fun film as we watch these characters’ lives turn into a slowly unfolding bus wreck. I watched it recently for the first time since I saw it in the theaters in 1998. Although I highly recommend it, I’m probably good for another couple of decades.
This scene with Paxton and Thornton is pretty sad and a pretty strong indicator of why money ultimately can never bring true happiness.
On Monday, when I watched The Seven-Upswith Jeff, Leonard, Bradley, and his wife Sierra (as well as one of our favorite TSL commenters, Dougie Cooper), I was struck by the fact that the film’s score sounded a lot like the score forThe French Connection. At first, I figured that it was just a sign of how influential The French Connection was but later, I learned both score were composed by the same man, Don Ellis.
I’ve been thinking about The French Connection a lot since I first heard that Gene Hackman had passed away. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a secret showing of The French Connection at the Alamo Drafthouse. The film worked wonderfully on the big screen, with that car chase leaving me totally breathless. Gene Hackman’s performance as Popeye Doyle was undeniably powerful, his hyperactive and self-destructive pursuit of Charnier filling the entire theater with both dread and excitement. Even though we knew how the film would end, those of us in the audience still couldn’t look away.
Anyway, this is all my rambling way to brag about going to a secret screening of The French …. no wait, wait. Actually, this is my rambling way of introducing today’s song of the day. Here is Don Ellis’s Theme FromThe French Connection.
So, some may have noticed a lack of retro television reviews this week. I wish I had a better excuse than me being sick to give you but seriously, I’ve just been under the weather big time this week. I went from 9 degree temperatures at Lake Texoma to 67 degree temperatures back home in Dallas and my asthma has basically just been kicking my ass for a week and a half now. Plus …. well, I won’t go into the gory details but let’s just say this is not my week when it comes to feeling well.
I was going to try to get caught up on my television reviews today but then I realized that would essentially mean writing and posting 9 television reviews in one day and it would also mean that I would inevitably have to rush to get them all completed. That, along with me being tired and ill, would probably lead to some badly written reviews on my part. Add to that, the Oscars are approaching this weekend and Oscar Sunday is a big tradition around these parts. It’s a tradition that also requires a bit of focus from me.
Long story short: I’m bowing to reality. I’m sick and the world’s not going to end if there’s a week’s delay in reviewing the next episode of Malibu, CA. I’m accepting that what Erin always tells me about taking care myself is true and that I need to perhaps get a little rest so I can get back to being 100% healthy and alert. Retro Television Reviews will return on March 3rd with Miami Vice! Thank you for your understanding and patience!
4 Shots From 4 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 is the birthday of one of the greatest films stars ever, Elizabeth Taylor! And you know what that means. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Elizabeth Taylor Films
A Place in the Sun (1951, dir by George Stevens, DP: William C. Mellor)
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Jack Hildyard)
Cleopatra (1963, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Leon Shamroy )
Boom! (1968, dir by Joseph Losey, DP: Douglas Slocombe)
Gene Hackman has passed away. He was 95 and reportedly found dead in his Santa Fe home, along with his wife and dog. That’s what the authorities are saying. They also say there’s no sign of foul play. I’m sure there will be a lot of online speculation about what that all means. That’s the way of the world nowadays and it’s a shame.
Gene Hackman was one of the greats. He went into acting after a stint in the Marines and, according to most accounts and his own interviews, he never lost that grit and that expectation of professionalism from everyone he worked with. A former roommate of Robert Duvall’s, a close friend of Dustin Hoffman’s (from the days when they were both unknown stage actors), Hackman went from doing episodic television to becoming one of our best film actors. He was hardly a traditional leading man but his talent was undeniable. His Popeye Doyle was the classic eccentric cop. His Lex Luthor was a great comedic villain while his performance as Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven proved to be the perfect portrayal of the authoritarian impulse. Interestingly enough, he was reportedly set to make his directorial debut with The Silence of the Lambs but he withdrew from the project, saying he didn’t like the violence. (Reports vary on whether he would have also played Lecter or Jack Crawford.) Hackman was a liberal but of the old-fashioned, blue collar variety. He once said starring in The French Connection changed his whole view of policing. It takes courage to admit to having changed your mind on anything. It’s not something that a lot of celebs have the guts to do anymore.
I’ve always respected that Hackman retired under his own terms. Faced with spending the latter part of his career appearing in movies like Welcome to Mooseport, he said, “I’m done.” Someone would have to be the once great star who humiliated himself by taking the lead role in Dirty Grandpa but it wasn’t going to be Gene Hackman.
Gene Hackman, RIP. He had a great career and gave us many great performances and that’s all we can really ask of an actor.
Rancher Jeff Reynolds (Frank LaRue) used to be one of the good guys on the frontier but he’s recently changed. He fired all of his loyal ranch hands and instead hired a motely crew of outlaws. He’s buying up land and evicting the squatters who have been living there. About the only good thing he does is hire Lon Cardigan (Johnny Mack Brown) to be his new herd boss. Lon is engaged to Reynolds’s daughter, Bobbie (Claire Rochelle). With the help of Bobbie and comic relief cook Calico Haynes (Horace Murphy), Lon tries to figure out why Reynolds is now doing the bidding of the evil John Porter (Ed Cassidy).
The title is the most exciting thing about this movie, which is one of those old B-movies that puts the “creak” in creaky. There’s surprisingly little gunplay but there is a lot of horse riding. For a film that runs less than an hour, a surprising amount of it is just shots of people riding from one location to another. The horses’ hooves sound impressive on the soundtrack but it’s not exactly exciting. As always, Johnny Mack Brown is a convincing cowboy. It’s a good thing he looks like he knows what he’s doing when he’s riding a horse! The plot was standard B-western fluff. Johnny Mack Brown appeared in a ton of westerns and almost all of them seemed to feature the same range war. There are better Johnny Mack Brown movies out there. This one is for completists only.
Episode 9 begins with Shane (David Carradine) riding his horse up to a family looking over some dead cattle. It seems their water source has become poisoned and the patriarch of the family, Tom Gary (Robert Duvall), blames Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed). He believes that Ryker is trying to force him off of his land. After Shane heads off to get the family some fresh water, Gary grabs his shotgun and heads to Sam Grafton’s bar looking for Ryker and some payback. When Shane finds out that Gary is going after Ryker, he and Tom Starett (Tom Tully) take off to try to stop a killing. They get there just in time to stop Gary. Ryker tells them that he had nothing to do with the water becoming poisoned, that it’s just a drought and the area is subject to getting alkaline in the water. That’s what actually killed his cattle.
Three weeks later, Shane, Tom, Marian (Jill Ireland), and Joey (Christopher Shea) are sitting around the table talking about the Garys. Nobody has seen them for a few weeks, so Marian decides she’s going to go visit Ada Gary (Phyllis Love) to check on the family. Ada tells Marian that her husband has become completely obsessed with the idea that Ryker is trying to steal his land and that he spends every night outside with his shotgun. The next day, Ryker rides up and tells Shane that Tom Gary took a shot at him as he was riding his horse along the trail. Moments later, the Gary’s little girl runs up to the ranch and tells Shane and Tom that her pa has shot her mom. When they get to the Gary ranch, Ada is shot but she’s still alive. She tells them that her husband believes everyone, including her, is out to get him, and that he has headed off into the hills with guns and supplies. Shane and Ryker head off to get him, with Ryker wanting him dead…
Episode 9 starts off like a normal episode. It’s very normal for a sodbuster to be into it with Ryker at this point. But after watching the first eight episodes, we believe Ryker when he says he didn’t poison the water supply. We know that’s not his style. As the episode progresses, we begin to learn more about Tom Gary. We hear from his kids and his wife about how scary he is when he’s angry. His kids even tell Joey about their special hiding place outside of the house that they go to when their dad gets mad. We find out that they’ve spent many nights outside hiding from their dad because it’s not as scary as being in the house with him. This is when we realize the episode is going in a completely different direction. Tom Gary isn’t a victim of Ryker and his desire to own all of the land in the valley. The truth is that Tom Gary is abusive and clearly suffering from a mental illness, and the valley is not the place for a man with a violent mental illness. Can you imagine what living hell it must be for his wife and his kids? To be honest, I haven’t ever thought of what it must have been like for those suffering from mental illness, and for those who loved them, back in the old west. And this is from a guy whose wife works with the mentally ill week in and week out. Tom Gary has no help, and his family has no way out. Robert Duvall gives a good performance as Tom Gary, and we definitely see him as a man who has lost control of his faculties and is no longer capable of living in normal society. The writers even go so far as showing Shane as the person who wants to bring him in alive, and Ryker as the person who thinks it will be better for everyone, especially Ada Gary, if he’s dead and she doesn’t have to deal with him any longer.
Overall, Episode 9 is not an easy episode to watch, and it doesn’t provide any easy answers, which is honestly how it should be. I wasn’t expecting the show to go in this direction, even if just for one episode. This episode makes you uncomfortable and makes you think of things you don’t really want to think of, and I’m guessing that’s probably the point. I give the show credit for that, but I’m also hoping episode 10 will get back to more familiar territory.
4 Shots From 4 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, we wish a happy birthday to one of the directors who brought the horror genre back to box office life in the aughts and 2010s, James Wan! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 James Wan Films
Insidious (2011, dir by James Wan, DP: John Leonetti))
The Conjuring (2013, dir by James Wan, DP: John Leonetti)
Aquaman (2018, dir by James Wan, DP: Don Burgess)
Malignant (2021, dir by James Wan, DP: Michael Burgess)
Through the Shattered Lens 