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!
Here are four shots in beautiful black-and-white!
4 Shots From 4 Beautiful Black-and-White Films
Rebecca (1940, Dir by Alfred Hitchcock)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, Dir by John Ford)
The Southerner (1945, Dir by Jean Renoir)
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Dir by Billy Wilder)
Charles Bronson is Leo Kessler, a veteran detective who’s seen it all and has grown sick of a system of justice that he thinks favors criminals over their victims. When girls start getting murdered, he immediately suspects the arrogant Warren Stacy, played by Gene Davis in the best role of his career. When Kessler and his partner Paul McCann (Andrew Stevens) start putting the pressure on Stacy, the killer responds by going after Kessler’s daughter Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher). Needless to say, our hero will do anything to stop the madman, ANYTHING!
10 TO MIDNIGHT is a special movie in my house because it’s my wife’s favorite Charles Bronson film, even when she didn’t have any overall appreciation for Bronson as an actor. Luckily for her, she had me to introduce her to the rest of the iconic actor’s voluminous catalog of movies. I saw 10 TO MIDNIGHT myself when I was pretty young, probably 13 or so. I remember being scared that first night after I watched the movie when I was trying to go to sleep. My wife and I watched it today on my old VHS tape that I’ve owned going back to the late 1980’s.
There are several elements that elevate 10 TO MIDNIGHT above the average cop / slasher thrillers of the 1980’s. First, it’s Charles Bronson in the lead role. Bronson has such a strong presence on screen that his presence alone elevates almost any material. He looks great in the film, and the role gives him some good opportunities, as both a mentor to the young cop, and even more importantly, as a dad who wants to do better for his daughter. It’s a solid role that seems to fit Bronson like a glove. Second, we know from the very beginning of the movie that Warren Stacy is in fact the killer. We also know that the law seems to be working in his favor. And because of that, we’re on Kessler’s side as he goes to extreme lengths to stop his reign of terror. Finally, the script and director J. Lee Thompson go all in on the sex and violence. Examples include Stacy killing his often naked victims while he himself is in the nude. There is much talk in the film about items of a sexual nature and Stacy even has a sexual release device that almost has to be seen to be believed. It definitely adds a decadent and voyeuristic feel to the proceedings. And I haven’t even mentioned yet that it has one of the very best endings of any Bronson film, second only to THE MECHANIC, in my humble opinion.
I highly recommend 10 TO MIDNIGHT!
For a more detailed review of 10 TO MIDNIGHT, check out Lisa’s review from a couple of years back below:
Tripp Spence (Harry Connick, Jr.) is a lawyer who cheated on his taxes. He goes on the run with his 13 year-old son, Derrick (Shawn Salinas). They settle in Las Vegas with new identities. Tripp now goes by Glenn Ryan and Derrick’s new name is Mickey. Because Derrick was given the identity of someone who was a year young than him, he is still eligible to play one more season of Little League baseball. Mickey leads his team to victory after victory and that’s no surprise. He’s a year older and a head taller than all the other players. Eventually, Mickey takes his team to the Little League World Series, where he plays a team from Cuba. Glenn knows that, with all of the publicity, the IRS is going to catch him but all that matters is that his son get to play in the big game.
I love baseball and I can get pretty sentimental when it comes to watching a Little League game. I tear up at both version of The Bad News Bears. I also like Harry Connick, Jr. What I don’t like is cheating and it bothered me that this whole movie was built around a father encouraging his son to cheat. There wasn’t any reason why Mikey had to be thirteen. It wouldn’t have changed the plot that much if he had actually been twelve and still eligible to play. It’s one thing when major leaguers cheat by corking their bat or wiping something on their pitches. They’re adults and everyone knows that it’s a part of the game. But to encourage your son to cheat at Little League? That’s low.
Mickey was written by John Grisham, who loves baseball but who still should have known better.
Hank Gathers is one of the most intriguing “what if?” stories of modern basketball. Growing up in the Raymond Rosen Projects of Philadelphia, Hank stayed out of trouble by playing basketball. An outstanding high school player, he went first to USC before transferring to Loyola Marymount. Along with his friend Bo Kimble, he was a stand-out player at Loyola. However, on March 4th, 1990, the 23 year-old Gathers collapsed during a game with Portland and died on the court, the victim of an abnormal heartbeat. His last recorded words were, “I don’t want to lay down!” Gathers set records in college. Would he have done the same in the NBA? Sadly, we’ll never know but he definitely had the talent and the ability to be one of the best.
Final Shot is a by-the-numbers biopic of Hank Gathers, focusing on his life in the projects and his friendship with Bo Kimble. Victor Love plays Gathers while Kimble is played by Duane Davis and they both give good performances. Their friendship feels real and when Hank helps Bo recover from a broken leg and when Bo worries about Hank’s recently diagnosed heart condition, the scenes are sincere in a way that lifts the film above the normal biopic clichés. Nell Carter and George Kennedy both have good roles as well, Carter as Hank’s mother and Kennedy as Hank’s high school coach and mentor. This is the type of role that Kennedy could have played in his sleep so I appreciated that he actually gave a believable performance.
Final Shot is a made-for-TV movie so it doesn’t dig too deeply into Gathers’s life outside of basketball, the way that college treat their athletes, or the systems that made playing basketball Hank’s only way of escaping the projects. For what it is, though, it’s a fitting tribute.
I like this scene from 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!! but, in real life, you should probably never use an axe for batting practice.
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!
Here are four classic shots, all featuring rain.
4 Rainy Shots From 4 Films
My Neighbor Totoro (1988, Dir. by Hayao Miyazaki)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Dir. by Frank Darabont)
Prisoners (2013, Dir. by Denis Villeneuve)
Toy Story 4 (2019, Dir. by Josh Cooley)
I want to wish a happy 37th anniversary to RED HEAT, which premiered on June 17th of 1988. Directed by the legendary Walter Hill, one of the finest directors of the 70’s and 80’s, RED HEAT entertainingly combines Hill’s badass action scenes with the buddy cop shenanigans of Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi. It’s a movie that I dearly love, and I’m glad to have an excuse to celebrate it today!
Enjoy this scene where the Russian cop played by Schwarzenegger, who’s just learned about the “Miranda rights” in the United States, proves he hasn’t quite grasped the concept yet!
Abby (Kaelen Ohm) has been through a lot. A recovering alcoholic, Abby is struggling with the guilt of having caused a car accident while her young daughter was in the backseat. Her daughter’s okay but her husband cannot forgive Abby for putting their child in harm’s way. Needing to clear her head, Abby heads to the farmhouse where she grew up. She hopes that her husband and her daughter will eventually join her there. Instead, she finds herself trapped in the middle of a battle between two drug mules and a corrupt sheriff (Nicholas Campbell).
I liked Last County more than I thought it would. It’s a straightforward thriller that doesn’t waste any time getting to the action. Kaelen Ohm was great as Abby and I really found myself getting caught up in her story. I wasn’t just worried about whether or not she would survive the siege led by the sheriff. I was also really worried about what would happen with her as far as her family was concerned. Would her marriage be saved or would she fall in love with the more sensitive of the two drug mules? Along with good performance and direction, Last County also really captured the feel of being isolated out in the middle of the country.
Far better than I thought it would, Last County took me by surprise. It’s on Tubi.
I watched this movie by accident.
I was looking for Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, an obscure Buster Crabbe film that is nearly impossible to find. I was happy to see that someone had uploaded it to YouTube but then I watched and discovered that, even though the video was entitled Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, they had actually uploaded a movie called Sweetheart of the Navy. I was disappointed but I went ahead and watched because the movie was only 61 minutes long and I needed something to post for today’s review.
In other words, I’ve got no one to blame but myself.
Cecilia Parker plays Joan Whitney, who co-owns a cafe on the harbor. When her business partner runs off, he takes all the money and leaves her with all the bills. Joan has to raise the money to keep her bar open. Her friends, Andy (Cully Richards) and Pete (Don Barclay), decide to stage a fight against the boxing champion of the Navy, Bumper (Jason Robards, Sr., father of the more famous Jason Robards). They recruit the overmatched Eddie Harris (Eric Linden) to fight Bumper and then get all of their friends in the Navy to bet on the fight. Commander Lodge (Roger Imhof) views Eddie has being his protege and tries to change his mind about fighting. Joan tries to convince Eddie to get in the ring.
I may be biased because I was already annoyed that Buster Crabbe wasn’t in this movie but Sweetheart of the Navy was instantly forgettable, creaky, and corny. Forgettable songs, stagey directing, and boxing action that won’t exactly put Rocky to shame, Sweetheart of the Navy took 61 minutes of my life under false pretenses.
And again, I have no one to blame but myself.
DONATO AND DAUGHTER tells the story of Los Angeles Police detectives, Mike Donato (Charles Bronson), and his daughter Dena Donato (Dana Delany). The two have a strained relationship mainly due to the mysterious death of Dena’s brother, Tommy, and Mike’s unwillingness to discuss the circumstances surrounding his death with her. When a serial killer (Xander Berkeley) begins targeting nuns, brutally raping and murdering them, Dena is asked to lead a task force to catch the killer. Her supervisor not-so-subtly requires that she include her father, a tough-as-nails and experienced cop, as part of the team. The remainder of the story focuses on two elements: 1) The investigation as it closes in on the extremely dangerous serial killer and 2) The family drama as Mike and Dena deal with their relationship issues. The two worlds eventually collide when the killer goes after Dena!
While he did work on a couple of theatrical films in the 1990’s, like Sean Penn’s THE INDIAN RUNNER (1991) and DEATH WISH 5: THE FACE OF DEATH (1994), Charles Bronson spent most of the decade making made-for-TV movies. Of course, as his biggest fan, I would always watch the movies on the night they premiered on TV, with THE SEA WOLF (1993) being the only exception as we didn’t have cable TV in Toad Suck. That means on September 21st, 1993, I was glued to my television set as the latest Charles Bronson film, DONATO AND DAUGHTER, premiered to a national TV audience on CBS. I specifically remember the network running warnings due to the disturbing and violent content of the movie. I also remember enjoying that first viewing, and I still enjoy the film to this day.
Even though he was in his early 70’s at the time, Charles Bronson still looked great in DONATO AND DAUGHTER. He gives a strong performance as both the cop trying to catch the killer and as the dad who doesn’t know how to open up to his successful, adult daughter who needs him more than he can comprehend. Dana Delany is an excellent actress, and she is able to balance her character’s determination to be the best cop possible to “show her dad,” with the vulnerability of a daughter who just needs to know he loves her. Their relationship has to work for the movie to work, and I think they both do a great job. The other standout performance in the film belongs to Xander Berkeley. His portrayal of a husband and businessman, who also happens to be a vicious serial killer, is truly creepy and gives the movie a disturbing edge. On a side note, Berkeley’s “wife” in the film is played by actress Kim Weeks. She and Charles Bronson would get married in 1998, and they would be together until his death in 2003.
Overall, I think DONATO AND DAUGHTER is well worth watching as both a cop thriller and a family drama, although I do think the thriller elements work the best. It’s not the most groundbreaking or original story you’ll ever see, but the film is elevated greatly by the iconic presence of Charles Bronson and the strong performances by Dana Delany and Xander Berkeley. I give it a solid recommendation! The trailer is included below:
Through the Shattered Lens 