Since both Eric Roberts and James Woods are celebrating a birthday today, it seems only appropriate that today’s scene of the day should feature both of them. In this scene from 1994’s The Specialist, Woods, Roberts, and Rod Steiger all compete to see who can steal a relatively simple conversational scene.
Today is the 78th birthday of James Woods, one of the great actors of his generation. Capable of completely disappearing into his roles, Woods is known for his unmatched intensity and diversity. He can play anything from a badass action hero to the most evil scum of society, from a mentally handicapped adult to the most intelligent man in the room. He’s been one of my favorite actors since I first discovered him in the late 80’s in the movie BEST SELLER (1987). While he’s won multiple Emmy awards and Golden Globes, the fact he’s never won an Oscar for his acting skills is beyond my comprehension. As he was an Executive Producer of OPPENHEIMER (2023), I particularly enjoyed that film’s Oscar success! Happy Birthday Mr. Woods! Thanks for the countless hours of entertainment you’ve brought into my life!
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984)
SALVADOR (1986)
THE HARD WAY (1991)
GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI (1996)
It’s Die Hard On A Submarine in 2008’s Depth Charge!
Dying of a brain tumor and passed over for a promotion (and wow, you thought your week sucked), Commander Krieg (Eric Roberts) and a band of mercenaries take over a nuclear submarine. They force off all of the actual crew of the sub but they somehow miss the doctor (Jason Gedrick) and an electrician (Chris Warren). The mad commander announces that unless he is sent a certain amount of money, he will launch the nuclear missiles. While the President (Barry Bostwick) dithers and an admiral (Corbin Bernsen) searches for the sub, the doctor and the electrician beat up mercenaries and work their way to the bridge.
“Get off my boat!” Gedrick growls several times.
Yeah, dude, we get it. Air Force One. Good movie.
This on the other hand …. well, let’s be positive here. This movie provides Eric Roberts with a substantial role and he does a good job as the villain, even if his motives never quite make sense. (He’s got a year to live so what exactly would he have done with a promotion or any of that money that he’s demanding?) But this movie asks us to believe that a bunch of mercenaries could not only sneak onto a submarine but also defeat almost the entire crew without a single bit of trouble. And then for submarine’s doctor to just happen to turn out to be a former boxer or UFC fighter or whatever he’s supposed to be (“He was a fighter,” a presidential aide explains) is just a bit too much of a coincidence.
That said, you get Eric Roberts, Corbin Bernsen, and Barry Bostwick, all in the same movie. All three of them deserve better but at least they all gave it their best here!
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
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!
Happy birthday, Eric Roberts!
4 Shots From 4 Eric Roberts Films
Star 80 (1983, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Sven Nyvkist)
The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984, dir by Stuart Rosenberg, DP: John Bailey)
Runaway Train (1985, dir by Andrei Konchalovsky, DP: Alan Hume)
The Dark Knight (2008, dir by Christopher Nolan, DP: Wally Pfister)
2004’s Border Blues features Gary Busey as a wild-haired LAPD police chief who has psychic visions that enable him to track down a mad bomber.
Wow, that sounds great!
Well, believe it or not, that’s really only a minor subplot in this film. The majority of the film is about Andrei Samurov (Rodion Nahapetov), who was the greatest detective in Moscow before he immigrated to the United States. Now, he works in a restaurant and dreams of being the greatest detective in the LAPD. During a trip to Mexico, Andrei meets Larry (Eric Roberts), an American who now helps people sneak across the border. Larry is helping a Russian woman (Anna Nakhapetova) and her daughter make their way across the desert. Larry seems to take a special interest in the woman’s daughter. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Larry’s own daughter died under tragic circumstances.
Oh, and Erik Estrada’s in this too! He plays a Mexican cop named Morales and he yells a lot.
Gary Busey, Erik Estrada, and Eric Roberts!? How could this go wrong? Well, you could stick them all in a film that doesn’t make much sense and which has a plot that is next to impossible to follow. This is one of those movies where you get the feeling that the names were cast first and then a story was built around them. On the plus side, Eric Roberts actually gets a good deal of screentime and turns Larry into a rather interesting character. Larry is menacing but, there are times when he’s almost sympathetic. Roberts gives a good performance but, unfortunately, the majority of the film is focused on Rodion Nahapetov’s unconvincing turn as the greatest detective in the world. Nahapetov both directed and starred in this film and the end result is a vanity project that doesn’t seem to lead to anywhere in particular.
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
I’m going to guess that there’s quite a backstory to the production of the film …. well, I’m really not even sure what to call the film.
The version that I just watched on Tubi was called 69 parts and it clocked in at a little over 90 minutes. It’s the story of gangsters, cops, and one hapless law student in 1979 New York. Jack (Ryan O’Callaghan) needs money to go to law school. His best friend, gambling addict Gino (Johnny Solo), arranges for Jack to get a loan from his uncle, Dennis (Aidan Redmond). However, Gino swears that he can double the loan if Jack goes with him to the tracks. Unfortunately, Gino’s hot tip turns out to be a bust so now Jack is broke and can’t pay back the money. So, Dennis forced Jack to marry Dennis’s mistress so that she can get her green card but then Dennis gets jealous and decides to kill Jack but then he discovers that Jack is the son of an imprisoned criminal associate (Eric Roberts). It’s all a bit too complicated for its own good and the use of multiple narrators, many of whom sound exactly alike, doesn’t make the film any easier to follow.
Tubi claims that 69 Parts was released in 2022. However, on the IMDb, there’s a film called 79 Parts, which is listed as being a few minutes shorter than 69 Parts but it has the exact same cast and the exact same plot. This version was released in 2016, six years before 69 Parts. And then there’s 79 Parts: The Directors Cut, which clocks in at over two hours and which was released in 2019. In short, there appears to be multiple versions of this film and really, I have to be a little bit impressed by the determination necessary to keep re-editing, re-titling, and re-releasing the film.
As for the film itself, the version I saw was a bit too busy and difficult to follow but I appreciated the work that went into recreating the 70s. That obviously take some effort. Aidan Redmond was properly avuncular and menacing as Dennis but Jack was such a wimpy character that it was difficult to really care about him. As for Eric Roberts, he appears for about five minutes and is even less impressed with Jack than I was. Maybe Eric gets to do more in the director’s cut.
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
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, we pay tribute to the year 1982 with….
4 Shots From 4 1982 Films
Fitzcarraldo (1982, dir by Werner Herzog, DP: Thomas Mauch)
Poltergeist (1982, dir by Tobe Hooper, DP: Matthew Leonetti)
Cat People (1982, dir by Paul Schrader, DP: John Bailey)
King of Comedy (1982, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Fred Schuler)
Seeing as how I raved about this film and James Caan’s performance earlier this week, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene that I love should come from 1981’s Thief. Here is the famous diner scene, featuring Caan and Tuesday Weld. Caan later said that he considered this to be the best acting he had ever done.
Since Iron Man first hit theaters in the summer of 2008, especially with the post-credits scene of Nick Fury asking Tony Stark if he knew anything about the Avengers Initiative, comic book fans have always been hoping that all the Marvel Comics properties would soon interact with each other. X-Men and Fantastic Four characters were controlled by 20th Century Fox.
This began to change in 2011 with the massive hack of Sony servers which gave the public behind-the-scenes info on Sony execs worried about the Spider-Man film franchise and how it was lagging behind Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe under the control of uber-producer Kevin Feige. In just a few years after this hack rumors of Spider-Man being loaned out to become part of the MCU became fact.
The next major shift in fans wanting all of Marvel properties becoming part of the MCU was Disney’s purchase and merger with 20th Century Fox in 2017 and completed in 2019. With just a few small restrictions here and there (Universal still hold the rights to the Incredible Hulk character but allowed Disney to the character), the MCU was now pretty much complete.
The first thing fans wanted was a new take on Marvel Comics’ first family: The Fantastic Four.
There’s been several attempts to put the Fantastic Four on the big-screen. From the 1994 unreleased Roger Corman low-budget film to the three films when 20th Century Fox was still a separate studio, fans never really bought into those iterations. But now that the first family was back under Marvel Studios control, especially with Kevin Feige as producer, fans were once again hopeful.
The first official trailer is now out and it looks like it will lean heavily on the Fantastic Four’s 1960’s origins right down to the retro-futuristic design and theme. How the film will explain where the team has been during the MCU timeline will be a narrative that a team of screenwriters and director Matt Shankman will have to navigate.
Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025.
I’m passionate about movies, but my day job consists of providing high quality tax planning and preparation services for a wide variety of clients in the Central Arkansas area. After a couple of months of 70-90 hour work weeks, April 16th is the day that I can begin to focus a little less on work and a little more on the things I truly love. I can’t wait to continue to share my passion for movies, music, Charles Bronson, Chow Yun-Fat, and so many other things with all of you. I need a few days to get some rest and get my mind straight, but I’ll soon be back to sharing my opinions and my life! Thanks to all of you who read my work! ❤️
Through the Shattered Lens 