Category Archives: Film Review

Law of the Valley (1944, directed by Howard Bretherton)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Dan Stanton (Edmund Cobb) and Condon (Tom Quinn) are planning to run a bunch of ranchers off their land by cutting off their water supply.  Once the ranchers leave, Stanton and Condon will be able to sell their land to the railroads.  After the bad guys murder a rancher named Jennings (George Morell), the rancher’s daughter (Lynne Carver) sends a message to U.S. Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie (Johnny Mack Brown) and Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton).  Old friends of the murdered rancher, Sandy and Nevada come to town to rally the ranchers against Stanton and his men and to free up the water that’s been dammed up.

This was a pretty standard Johnny Mack Brown western.  Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton always made for a good team but the story here is pretty predictable.  After you watch enough B-westerns, you start to wonder if there were any made that weren’t about outlaws trying to run ranchers off their land.  It’s interesting that these movies almost always center, in some way, around the coming of the railroad.  The railroad is opening up the frontier and bringing America together but it also brings out the worst in the local miscreants.

As with a lot of B-westerns, the main pleasure comes from spotting the familiar faces in the cast.  Charles King and Herman Hack play bad guys.  Tex Driscoll plays a rancher.  Horace B. Carpenter has a small role.  These movies were made and remade with the same cast so often that that watching them feels like watching a repertory company trying out their greatest hits.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), Della Street (Barbara Hale), and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) are in New York when an old friend of Perry’s, magazine editor Lauren Jeffreys (Diana Muldaur) is accused of murdering a rival editor, Dyan Draper (Valerie Harper). Dyan was infamous for writing about the personal lives of celebrities in her column so there’s a ton of possible suspects. While Ken teams up with a mobster named Tony Loomis (Robert Clohessy) to search for clues, Perry finds himself facing off against a young district attorney (Scott Baio) who is smarter than he seems.

This Perry Mason movie is unique because, for once, the prosecutor is as good an attorney as Perry.  It reminded me of how, when the movies started, David Ogden Stiers always played the prosecutor and came across like someone who would probably win if he has going up against anyone other than Perry Mason.  Even though I immediately thought of Bob Loblaw as soon as I saw him, Scott Baio gives a good performance as a lawyer who worships Perry and can’t wait to face him in court.  For once, there’s mutual respect between the two sides.

The mystery was another one of those where I was able to guess who the killer was from the start.  They had to really stretch things to get the mob involved so that Ken could team up with Tony.  (Ken wanted to bring the killer to court while Tony just waned to shoot them.)  Also, it was obvious that Raymond Burr was not doing well when he filmed this movie.  In almost every scene, he’s either seated or leaning against something.  There are only 6 more Perry Mason films featuring Burr after this one and one of those aired after he died.  Burr still gives a commanding performance whenever Perry’s in court, though.  Sick or not, there’s no other attorney you want on your side.

The Tioga Kid (1948, directed by Ray Taylor)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Singing Ranger Eddie Dean (played by the same-named Eddie Dean) and his sidekick, Soapy Jones (Roscoe Ates), are sent to track down the Tioga Kid, an outlaw who happens to look just like Eddie.  Soapy suggests that The Tioga Kid could be a long lost twin brother.  Eddie isn’t sure because his parents were killed in an Indian ambush when he was just a baby.  This seemed to be the backstory for many of Poverty Row’s favorite western heroes.

Dean plays both Eddie and the Tioga Kid.  You can tell them apart because the Tioga Kid doesn’t sing and always dresses in black while Eddie dresses in white and won’t stop singing.  Twin rivals were another big thing when it came to B-westerns.  Thanks to then revolutionary split-screen technology, matinee audiences could enjoy the sight of their favorite heroes shooting at themselves.  Eddie Dean was usually cast as a mild-mannered hero so he really seems to enjoy the chance to be bad as the Tioga Kid.

The Tioga Kid is a film that will be appreciated by those who are already fans of B-westerns.  The Tioga Kid was made late in the B-western cycle and there are a lot signs that it was made in a hurry.  There’s a scene involving a stunt man where he’s not even wearing the same shirt as the person he’s standing in for.  Matinee audiences probably didn’t mind.  They were too busy watching Eddie Dean shoot at himself and cheering him on during the movie’s big fist fight scene.  Eddie Dean may not have been a great actor but he could throw a punch with the best of them.

So, I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin (1991, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

World famous magician David Katz (Peter Scolari) is accused of murdering his assistant (Nancy Lee Grahn) while performing a trick at a charity show.  The prosecution says that David killed her to cover-up a pregnancy that was the result of a drunken, one-night stand.  However, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) discover that there were many people who might have a motive for killing the victim.

After the previous emotionally-charged Perry Mason movie, this entry felt pretty bland.  I liked Peter Scolari as the accused magician but otherwise, this was a little boring.  I guessed who would be playing the murderer as soon as I saw their name during the opening credits.  I did find it amusing that Perry and the prosecutor (played by Bob Gunton) seemed to sincerely dislike each other.  That added some bite to the courtroom scenes but I really do miss David Ogden Stiers’s as Perry’s regular courtroom opponent.

At the end of the movie, Perry took the jury to the theater where the murder occurred and then cross-examined the witnesses in the theater.  I guess the movie’s producers were trying to do something new but it just didn’t feel right for Perry to get his confession anywhere other than in a courtroom.

North of Arizona (1935, directed by Harry S. Webb)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Newly hired ranch foreman Jack Loomis (Jack Perrin) comes to the aid of two Indians who were nearly swindled out of their land during a card game.  The Indians inform Jack that his new boss, George Tully (Al Bridge), is actually a crook and the ranch is just a front for his criminal activities.  When Jack says he doesn’t want to be a part of Tully’s schemes, Tully and his men frame Jack for a robbery.

After you watch enough of these Poverty Row westerns, you start to get the feeling that anyone in the 30s could walk into a studio and star in a B-western.  Jack Perrin was a World War I veteran who had the right look to be the star of several silent films but once the sound era came along, his deficiencies as an actor became very apparent.  He could ride a horse and throw a punch without looking too foolish but his flat line delivery made him one of the least interesting of the B-western stars.  That’s the case here, where Perrin is a boring hero and the entire plot hinges on the villain making one really big and really stupid mistake.  John Wayne could have pulled this movie off but Jack Perrin was lost.

Jack Perrin’s career as a star ended just a few years after this film but not because he was a bad actor.  Instead, Perrin filed a lawsuit after a studio failed to pay him for starring in one of their films.  From 1937 until he retirement in 1960, Perrin was reduced to playing minor roles for which he often went uncredited.  Hollywood could handle a bad actor but not an actor who expected to be paid for his work.

I Loved Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster (1991, Dir. by Ron Satlof)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Despite being asked to take the case by an old friend (Mason Adams), Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is reluctant to defend Johnny Sorrento (Michael Nader) in court.  Johnny is a former gangster who has been credibly accused of murder in the past.  Now, he’s on trial for killing his wife and not even Perry is totally convinced that he’s innocent.

Of the 18 Perry Mason films that I’ve watched so far, this was definitely the best.  This is the first time that I’ve seen Perry defend someone who he both dislikes and, even more importantly, distrusts and Raymond Burr was really convincing whenever he got angry at Johnny.  For once, the case wasn’t wrapped up as neatly as usual.  Solving the murder of Johnny’s wife meant delving into a past murder and it uncovered a lot of dark secrets.  The identity of the killer was a real surprise but there was a lot more going on than just solving the mystery of who killed Johnny’s wife.  At the end of this movie, Perry looked like he was about to cry, no matter how much Della (Barbara Hale) tried to comfort him.

Sharing much more would be the same as spoiling all of the movie’s twists and turns so I’ll just repeat that this is the best of the Perry Mason movies that I’ve seen so far.  The guest cast is great, especially Mason Adams and Paul Anka.  The Perry Mason films always follow the same plot and sometimes, they can blend together but this one made a real impression and really took me by surprise.

Texas Buddies (1932, directed by Robert N. Bradbury)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Ted “Jet” Morgan (Bob Steele) returns home from World War I.  When he gets off the train in his small, western town, he’s met by Si “Old Timer” Haller (George “Gabby” Hayes).  Si explains that Ted’s aunt is dead and his uncle was run out of town for being a drunk.  Alice, “the girl next door” who Ted hoped to marry, married someone else.  Si invites Ted to stay with him.  Ted agrees and things start to look up when he meets Si’s niece, June (Nancy Drexel).

Meanwhile, a gang of outlaws led by Ken Kincade (Harry Semel) hijack a mail plane and steal the payroll that it was carrying.  Ted is not nicknamed Jet for nothing.  He not only know how to ride a horse but he’s good with planes too.  With the help of Si and the local sheriff (William Dyer), he aims to stop those turn of the century skyjackers before they can force another unexpected landing.

Though the film takes place after World War I and features Bob Steele flying a plane and Gabby Hayes driving the same car he drove in Rainbow Valley, this is definitely a western.  Before he proves himself as a pilot, Ted has to prove himself as a horseman and the movie ends with a traditional western gunfight.  The postwar setting does still bring some unexpected elements to the story.  Ted’s lonely arrival in his hometown reflects what it was like for many veterans returning home from Europe.  At first, Ted doesn’t feel like he has a place in his old town but he soon gets a chance to prove to both himself and the townspeople that he belongs.

Bob Steele and Gabby Hayes are good heroes.  Robert N. Bradbury, who was also Steele’s father, was one of the best of the B-western directors.  For fans of the genre, this film is a definite treat.

Brad watched VIOLENT COP (1989), starring Takeshi Kitano!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

To celebrate the incredible Takeshi Kitano’s 79th birthday, I decided to revisit his directorial debut, VIOLENT COP (1989). I first discovered Kitano in the late 90’s when I saw that his film FIREWORKS (1997) was available for rent at my local Hastings Entertainment Superstore. Of course I rented it. It was slow, but it was also incredibly powerful, and I found myself paying attention to Kitano’s career. He has this incredible screen presence, and I was soon watching everything he came out with from BROTHER (2000) and BATTLE ROYALE (2000) to the update of ZATOICHI: THE BLIND SWORDSMAN (2003). I also looked back at the earlier work in his career, which brings us back to VIOLENT COP. 

VIOLENT COP introduces us to Detective Azuma (Takeshi Kitano), a Tokyo cop whose methods are almost as brutal as the crimes he investigates. When his best friend, the corrupt cop Iwaki (Sei Hiraizumi), is murdered, Azuma uncovers a criminal network tied to drugs, corruption, exploitation, you name it! Through a series of beatings and threats, Azuma closes in on the professional killer, Kiyohiro (Hakuryu). Complicating matters is Azuma’s sister, Akari (Maiko Kawakami), a mental case and drug addict. When Akari is kidnapped due to his investigation, Azuma will stop at nothing to get his own, unique brand of justice.

First time director Takeshi Kitano brings an interesting and minimalist quality to VIOLENT COP through his long static shots and sparse dialogue. He’s able to create an atmosphere where the brutality of his story feels raw and natural. Actor Takeshi Kitano’s performance as Azuma follows suit. Once the violence comes, it resonates and lands extremely hard precisely because it’s presented in such a straightforward manner. Kitano’s film is way more realistic than most of us would probably care to admit.

Ultimately, VIOLENT COP doesn’t condemn or endorse Azuma, choosing to just observe him as his story leads to tragedy. As Kitano’s directorial debut, however, it introduces us to a unique and confident new voice… bleak, unsentimental, and unsettling. Kitano, the actor and the director, isn’t afraid to just stare at the camera and dare you to decide if there’s any difference between the good guy and the bad guy!

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case Of The Ruthless Reporter (1991, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

When arrogant news anchor Brett Huston (John James) is shot and killed, his co-anchor Gillian Pope (Kerrie Keane) is arrested and charged with the crime.  It looks like an open-and-shut case because Brett was shot with Gillian’s gun.  Luckily, Gillian is friends with Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and soon Perry is on the case with Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses).

Now this is how you do a Perry Mason movie!  Brett’s murder is linked to a memo that he wrote in which he criticized the other members of the news team and argued that they should all be fired.  All of the suspects are enjoyably eccentric.  There’s a weatherman (Peter Jurasik) who wants to be a stand-up comedian.  There’s the sports reporter (Philip Michael Thomas) who used and sold steroids.  There’s the producer (Susan Sullivan), who was also Brett’s ex-wife.  Brett even insulted the station manager (Jerry Orbach, who previously appeared as a different suspect in The Musical Murder).  Ken, as usual, finds time for romance, this time with reporter Cassie Woodfield (Mary Page Keller) who appears to have someone trying to kill her as well.  Along with a great cast of characters, this mystery had a solution that took me by surprise but which also made sense when I looked back on it.  The final courtroom reveal was perfect.  This is also probably the only Perry Mason film where the hours of a hamburger restaurant proved to be instrumental to the case.

The Case of the Ruthless Reporter was a good one!

S.F.W. (1994, directed by Jefery Levy)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Cliff Spab (Stehpen Dorff), his friend Joe Dice (Jack Noseworthy), and teenager Wendy Pfister (Reese Witherspoon) are in the wrong convenience store at the wrong time and end up being taken hostage by a group of masked terrorists who have guns and video cameras.  For 36 days straight, their ordeal is broadcast live on television.  They become the number one show in the country and Cliff’s nihilistic attitude makes him a star.  When the terrorists threaten to kill him, he spits back, “So fucking what!?”  Alienated young people take up S.F.W. as a personal chant and credo.  When Joe finally fights back, both he and the terrorists are killed in the shoot-out.  Wendy and Cliff are now celebrities, even though they don’t want to be.  Released into the real world, Cliff has to deal with everyone wanting to make money off of him.  His alienation has been turned into a product.  He just wants to be reunited with Wendy but his fans want him to tell them how to live their lives.  Fandom turns out be a fickle beast.

Earlier this morning, I came across a news item that Jefery Levy, the director of S.F.W., had died at the age of 67.  S.F.W. used to show up frequently on cable in the 90s but I hadn’t thought about it in years.  When I first saw S.F.W., I didn’t care much for it.  Cliff came across as being a poseur and Stephen Dorff came across like he was way too impressed with himself.  With John Roarke playing everyone from Phil Donahue to Sam Donaldson and Gary Coleman appearing as himself, the movie seemed like it was trying too hard to be outrageous.  Looking back on it now, though, I realize S.F.W. may not have been a good movie but it was still a very prophetic movie.  What seemed implausible in the 90s — like the 36-day live stream from inside the convenience store hostage situation and Cliff Spab’s fans switching their allegiance to a self-righteous virgin who yells that everything matters while trying to assassinate him — feels far too plausible today. 

In 1994, S.F.W. and Jefery Levy predicted the 2020s.  The only thing it got wrong was having Cliff Spab not wanting to be a famous.  Today, Cliff Spab would probably be presenting the Best Podcast award at the Golden Globes.