Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Amy Heckerling!
Today’s scene that I love comes from Amy Heckerling’s feature debut, 1982’s Fast Times At Ridgemont High. In just two minutes, Heckerling introduces us to almost all of the major characters, establishes the mall as the center of Ridgemont High culture, and leaves us with little doubt that we’ve entered a time machine and found ourselves in the 80s. Look at all the future stars. Look at Mike Damone, future mobster. My heart always breaks for Stacy and her brother Brad. They have no idea what’s waiting for them this year.
Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences claim that the Oscars honor the best of the year, we all know that there are always worthy films and performances that end up getting overlooked. Sometimes, it’s because the competition too fierce. Sometimes, it’s because the film itself was too controversial. Often, it’s just a case of a film’s quality not being fully recognized until years after its initial released. This series of reviews takes a look at the films and performances that should have been nominated but were, for whatever reason, overlooked. These are the Unnominated.
I come here to defend Charlton Heston.
1994’s Ed Wood is a great film that has one unfortunate line. Towards the end of the film, director Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) meets his hero, Orson Welles (Vincent D’Onoforio), in a bar. They talk about the difficulties of directing a film. Wood talks about the trouble that he’s having with Plan 9 From Outer Space. Welles says that he can understand what Wood is going through because the studio is forcing him to cast Charlton Heston as a Mexican in his next movie.
And look, I get it. It is true that Charlton Heston does play a Mexican prosecutor named Mike Vargas in Welles’s 1958 film, Touch of Evil. And it is true that Heston is not the most convincing Mexican to ever appear in a film. And I understand that there are people who enjoy taking cheap shots at Charlton Heston because he did have a tendency to come across as being a bit full of himself and he was a conservative in a industry dominated by Leftists. There are people who actually think Michael Moore doesn’t come across like a self-righteous prick when he confronts Heaton in Bowling for Columbine. I get the joke.
But it’s not true and it’s not fair. When Touch of Evil was first put into production by Universal, Welles was not hired to direct. He was hired to play Hank Quinlan, the formerly honest cop with a habit of planting evidence on those who he believed to be guilty. When Charlton Heston was offered the role of Vargas, he asked who had been hired to direct. When he was told that a director hadn’t been selected, Heston was the one who suggested Welles be given the job. When, as often happened with Welles’s film, the studio decided to take the film out of Welles’s hands, Heston argued for Welles’s vision while Welles was off trying to set up his long-dreamed of film of Don Quixote. Say what you will about Charlton Heston’s career, he fought for Orson Welles, just as he later fought for Sam Peckinpah during the making of Major Dundee. Heston may not have agreed with either Welles or Peckinpah politically but he fought for them when few people were willing to do so.
That Touch of Evil is a brilliant film is pretty much entirely due to Welles’s directorial vision. The story is pure pulp. While investigating the murder of an American businessman in Mexico, Vargas comes to believe that Quinlan is attempting to frame a young Mexican for the crime. While Vargas watches Quinlan, his wife Susie (Janet Leigh) is menaced by the crime lord Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff), who has his own issues with both Vargas and Quinlan. The plot may be the stuff of a B-programmer but, as directed by Welles, Touch of Evil plays out like a surreal nightmare, a journey into the heart of darkness that is full of eccentric characters, shadowy images, memorably askew camera angles, and lively dialogue. Welles and cinematographer Russell Metty create a world that feels alien despite being familiar. Just as he did with Gregg Toland in CitizenKane, Welles shapes a film that shows us what’s happening in the shadows that most people try to ignore.
There’s really not a boring character to be found in Touch of Evil and the cast is full of old colleagues and friends of Welles. Marlene Dietrich shows up as Quinlan’s former lover. Mercedes McCambridge plays a leather-clad gang leader. Dennis Weaver is the creepy owner of a remote motel. (Two years before Psycho, Touch of Evil featured Janet Leigh being menaced in a motel. Mort Mills, who played Psycho’s frightening highway patrolman, plays a member of law enforcement here as well.) Zsa Zsa Gabor shows up for a few brief seconds and it makes a strange sort of sense. Why shouldn’t she be here? Everyone else is. Joseph Cotten plays a coroner. Ray Collins plays a local official. In the film’s skewered world, Charlton Heston as Mike Vargas works. His upright performance grounds this film and keeps it from getting buried in its own idiosyncrasies. Big personalites are everywhere and yet the film is stolen by Joseph Calleia, playing Quinlan’s quiet but observant partner. Calleia’s performance is the heart of the film.
TouchofEvil was not nominated for a single Oscar and that’s not surprising. It’s not really the type of film that was noticed by the Academy in the 50s. It was too pulpy and surreal and, with its story of a crooked cop framing someone who might very well be guilty anyway, it was probably too subversive for the Academy of the 1950s. It would take a while for TouchofEvil to be recognized for being the noir masterpiece that it is. In a perfect world, Welles would have been nominated for directing and for his larger-than-life performance as Quinlan. Joseph Calleia would have been nominated for Supporting Actor and perhaps both Janet Leigh and Marlene Dietrtich would have been mentioned for Supporting Actress. That didn’t happen but it would have been nice if it had.
One of the most influential scenes in action movie history, the restaurant shootout from A BETTER TOMORROW still packs a punch. I watched HAVOC (2025) from director Gareth Evans recently and he used the music from this scene in his movie. It felt like a love note to fans of Hong Kong cinema like me, and it made me want to revisit this movie again immediately. Chow Yun-Fat is amazingly badass, and John Woo himself even shows up at the end.
As I continue my celebration of Chow Yun-Fat, who turns 70 years old on May 18, 2025, I decided to revisit the film that made him a star, the Hong Kong classic A BETTER TOMORROW (1986).
This undisputed action movie classic opens with Ho (Ti Lung) and his partner and best friend, Mark (Chow Yun-Fat) going about a normal workday. Except these two men are part of a triad organization that manufactures counterfeit American dollars. Ho seems serious while Mark appears to be the fun, cool guy, with his trench coat, Alain Delon sunglasses, and huge smile. They stroll through their organization’s offices, play with piles of fake money, and Mark even lights his cigarette with a $100 bill. They seem to have the world by a string when their boss asks Ho to take an up and coming guy in the organization named Shing (Waise Lee) along on their next deal in Taiwan. Before heading to Taiwan, Ho goes to see his dad in the hospital where he sees his younger brother Kit (Leslie Cheung), who has entered the Hong Kong police academy and is completely unaware that Ho is part of a criminal organization. Ho’s dad doesn’t want to see his sons on the opposite side of the law, so he asks him to leave his life of crime behind. Ho decides that the job in Taiwan will be his last, but unfortunately, the deal quickly goes awry, turning into a big shootout, with Ho and Shing barely escaping with their lives. They are tracked down by the police where Ho turns himself in, allowing Shing to escape. When the triad bosses find out that Ho has been arrested, they send a big henchman to kidnap his dad, who is now at Kit’s house, as leverage to make sure Ho doesn’t talk to the police. Kit, his girlfriend and his dad all fight the huge henchman, but dad is eventually stabbed to death. Cut to Mark reading the paper and seeing that his best friend has been arrested. He finds the betrayer in the Fung Lim restaurant and proceeds to take his revenge, in slow motion and with two guns no less. On his way out though, he takes a couple of rounds to his right knee.
Cut to three years later and Ho is getting out of prison. Kit doesn’t want to have anything to do with him and blames him for their father’s death. Distraught, but knowing he needs to work, he goes to a taxi company run by Ken (Kenneth Tsang) and is able to land a job. While working his shift, he goes by their old office building and sees Mark, who’s now a cripple with a limp and a leg brace. Shing, now a boss, walks out of the building surrounded by his bodyguards and throws cash on the ground at Mark’s feet, treating him like nothing more than a beggar. Ho goes to talk to Mark and the two men embrace. Mark wants to join forces with Ho and retake the underworld by storm. Ho wants to steer clear of his old life and try to reconnect with a completely uninterested Kit. Everything comes to a head when Kit is set up by Shing to be shot and Mark is viciously beaten. Determined to relive his old glory days, and now having given up on Ho for help, Mark breaks into the triad’s offices and steals the plate that is used to create the phony money. Ho has decided he can no longer sit on the sidelines. He and Mark use the plate as an excuse to lure Shing and his men to the docks where they engage in an apocalyptic shootout that will change all of their lives forever.
It’s hard to know where to start when talking about a movie like A BETTER TOMORROW. I’m not going to do a normal review where I discuss the various pros and cons of the film. Why, you ask? Because it’s a great movie, but it’s so much more than just that. A BETTER TOMORROW would change action filmmaking forever, and eventually turn Director John Woo and actor Chow Yun-Fat into worldwide stars. It would become the highest grossing film in Hong Kong cinema history. It would create a trenchcoat fad in tropical Hong Kong that would find its way across the world entrapping movie nerds like a young Quentin Tarantino. It would create the heroic bloodshed film genre, a genre that would become a staple of Hong Kong cinema for years to come. It would mix balletic action and raw emotion in a way that had never been done before. And the whole world would eat it up. John Woo may have even made better action films in the ensuing years with movies like THE KILLER and HARD-BOILED, but they were all inspired by the greatness and success of A BETTER TOMORROW. It’s quite simply one of the most influential movies of all time, and it’s still influencing later generations of filmmakers. I watched Gareth Evans’ new film HAVOC (2025) a few days ago, and it clearly pays homage to this amazing film through its use of music from a key scene.
I did want to talk a little bit about the main stars of the film. Ti Lung, who plays Ho, was one of the great stars of the Shaw Brothers kung fu films from the 70’s. He’s excellent in the lead role, so much so that the he would win the Taiwan Golden Horse award as best actor for his performance. Leslie Cheung, who plays the younger brother Kit, was a huge pop star in Hong Kong. He sings the memorable tune that plays over the film’s closing credits. I’ll admit that his portrayal of Kit gets on my nerves, though. While I can understand his feelings of anger towards his brother, he often comes off as whiney, acting more like a petulant child than a serious adult. He would become a very good actor over time, but I don’t think he’s very good here. On a sad note, on April 1st, 2003, suffering from depression, Cheung would commit suicide by jumping off the 24th floor of the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong. It was a tragic end for a great Hong Kong artist. It’s hard to believe now, but prior to A BETTER TOMORROW, Chow Yun-Fat was considered “box office poison.” He had been a TV star in Hong Kong, but his movies would never do very well. That would all change with A BETTER TOMORROW. Even though he was more of a supporting character in the film, he became the undisputed breakout star and he would capture the hearts of the people of Hong Kong and all of Asia from that point forward. His charismatic performance became the personification of the flawed, emotional, heroic, super-badass. Women loved him and men wanted to be like him, and he made it all look so easy. I’ve said before that he’s one of the great international movie stars of the last 40 years. It all began with A BETTER TOMORROW.
Finally, I wanted to take a moment to discuss the Director of A BETTER TOMORROW, John Woo. Woo had been kicking around the Hong Kong film industry for many years, having directed quite a few martial arts films and comedies in the 70’s and early 80’s. By the time of A BETTER TOMORROW, he was considered past his prime. He wanted to make films like his heroes Jean-Pierre Melville and Martin Scorsese, but was considered too much of a risk by most of the local industry. Luckily for him, Tsui Hark and Cinema City would give him a chance to make the movie he wanted to make, even if it came with a tight budget, and a cast that included a fading martial arts star and the human equivalent of box office poison. Woo would take this opportunity and change what action movies looked like forever. Good for him, and us, as we’d get so many great films, including one of my all time favorites, FACE/OFF (1997) with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. I said all of this about the stars because before A BETTER TOMORROW came out, it looked like a project that would go nowhere fast. Instead it changed the world of cinema. It also changed the world of a movie nerd from Toad Suck, Arkansas, with the aftermath of its success providing so many hours of entertainment in my own life. It’s truly amazing what one great film can do.
For some reason, certain people seem to feel the need to try to reduce what Orson Welles accomplished with 1941’s CitizenKane.
In 1971, the famous film critic Pauline Kael published an essay called RaisingKane, in which she argued that screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz deserved the majority of the credit for CitizenKane. This was Kael’s shot at rival Andrew Sarris and his embrace of the auteur theory. (1971 was the same year that Kael described DirtyHarry as being a “fascist work of art” so I guess even the best film critics can have a bad year.) David Fincher’s father, after reading Kael’s essay, wrote the screenplay for Mank, which not only made the case that Mankiewicz deserved the credit but which portrayed Orson Welles in such a negative fashion that you really did have to wonder if maybe Orson had owed old Jack Fincher money or something. Herman J. Mankiewicz himself always claimed that he deserved the majority of the credit for CitizenKane but then he would, wouldn’t he?
The truth of the matter is that Mankiewicz did write the screenplay for CitizenKane and he did base the character of Charles Foster Kane on William Randolph Hearst and the character of Kane’s second wife on Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies. There’s some debate over how much of the film’s narrative structure belongs to Mankiewicz and how much of it was a result of Welles rewriting the script. Mankiewicz played his part in the making of CitizenKane but he played that part largely because Orson Welles allowed him to. Like all great directors, Welles surrounded himself with people who could help to bring his vision to life. (That’s something that would think David Fincher, of all people, would understand. Aaron Sorkin may have written The Social Network but the reason why the film touched so many is because it was a David Fincher film.)
Make no mistake about it. CitizenKane is Orson Welles’s vision and Welles is the one who deserves the majority of the credit for the film. The themes of Citizen Kane are ones to which Welles would frequently return and the cast, all of whom bring their characters to vivid life, is made up of largely of the members of Welles’s Mercury Theatre. The tracking camera shots, the dark cinematography, and the satiric moments are all pure Welles. As the Fincher film argues, Mankiewicz may have very well meant to use the film to attack Hearst for his personal hypocrisy and for opposing the political ambitions of Upton Sinclair. If so, let us be thankful that Orson Welles, as a director, was smart enough to realize that such didacticism is often deadly dull.
And there’s nothing dull about Citizen Kane. It’s a great film but it’s also an undeniably fun film, full of unforgettable imagery and scenes that play like their coming to us in a dream. It’s a film that grabs your interest and proves itself to be worthy of every minute that it takes to watch it. I was lucky enough to first see Citizen Kane at a repertory theater and on the big screen and really, that’s the best way to watch it. It’s a big film that’s full of bigger-than-life characters who are ultimately revealed to be full of the same human longings and regrets as all of us. As a young man, the fabulously wealthy Charles Foster Kane thinks that it would be “fun” to run a newspaper. Later, he thinks that he’s found love by marrying the niece of the President. He runs for governor of New York and, watching Welles in these scenes, you can see why FDR tried to recruit him to run for the Senate. Welles has the charisma of a born politician. When Welles first meets Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore) it’s easy to laugh. The great man has just been splashed by a taxi. Susan laughs but then winces in pain due to a tooth ache. Later, Kane insists on trying to turn her into an opera star. He runs a negative review written by his friend (Joseph Cotten) and then he promptly fires him. As in all of Welles’s films, it’s all about personal loyalty. Kane may betray his wife and the voters but he’s ultimately just as betrayed by those around him. In the end, you get the feeling that Kane was desperately trying to not be alone and yet, that’s how he ended up.
There are so many stand-out moments in CitizenKane that it’s hard to list them all. The opening — MIGHTY XANADU! — comes to mind. The satirically overdramatic newsreel is another. (CitizenKane can be a very funny film.) Joseph Cotten’s performance continues to charm. Orson Welles’s performance continues to amaze. Who can forget Agnes Moorehead as Kane’s mother or Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein, haunted by that one woman he once saw on a street corner? Myself, I’ve always liked the performances of Ray Collins (as the sleazy but strangely reasonable Boss Gettys), Paul Stewart (as the subtly menacing butler), and Ruth Warrick (as Kane’s first wife). Mankiewicz may have put the characters on paper but Welles is the one who selected the amazing cast that brought them to life.
CitizenKane was nominated for nine Oscars and it won one, for the screenplay written by Welles and Mankiewicz. Best Picture went to How Green Was My Valley. When was the last time anyone debated who should be given credit for that movie?
Since today is Orson Welles’s birthday, I wanted to share at least one scene that I love from his films. The famous tracking shot from 1958’s TouchofEvil, which begins in America and ends in Mexico, truly shows Orson Welles at his visionary best.
It’s also Welles at his most clever. Knowing that he wouldn’t be given control over the editing of the footage he shot, Welles included as many long shots as possible to make it more difficult for an editor to chop up or alter his vision.
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 celebrate what would have been the 110th birthday of the great Orson Welles! It’s time for….
4 Shots from 4 Orson Welles Films
Citizen Kane (1941, directed by Orson Welles, DP: Gregg Toland)
The Stranger (1946, dir by Orson Welles, DP: Russell Metty)
Touch of Evil (1958, dir by Orson Welles. DP: Russell Metty)
The Trial (1962, dir by Orson Welles, DP: Edmond Richard)
If you enjoy bone-crunching action filmmaking, Gareth Evans’ films THE RAID (2011) and THE RAID 2 (2014) are as good as it gets in the 21st century. When I saw that Evans had a new film coming to Netflix that stars a badass looking Tom Hardy, I have to admit I got excited. The trailer only increased my anticipation with its promise of stylized, intense action, as well as a cast that includes personal favorites like Timothy Olyphant (JUSTIFIED T.V. Series) and Forest Whitaker (GHOST DOG). I settled in front of my TV and hit play, with high hopes for HAVOC!
The film opens with conflicted police detective Walker (Tom Hardy) sharing words of regret via voiceover, and then immediately shifts to a high speed chase between an 18 wheeler and a bunch of cops. It is an intense scene that ends with washing machines filled with cocaine being thrown onto a trailing cop car! We soon learn that the big truck was being operated by Mia (Quelin Sepulvida) and Charlie (Justin Cornwell), the son of ethically challenged businessman Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). It seems Charlie and Mia stole the drugs to pay off her debts to Chinese triads. When they go to a club to deliver the drugs, a group of masked men proceed to interrupt the drop and kill everybody, including the beloved son of the triad’s leader Tsui (Yann Yann Yeo). When Walker sees Charlie on security footage from the club, he goes to Beaumont, a man who knows his dirty secrets, and makes a deal. He’ll get his son back, and they’ll be square for life. Soon the triads are in town ready to hunt down and kill Charlie and Mia, who they believe are responsible for the massacre. Add to that a group of corrupt cops, led by Vincent (Timothy Olyphant), who also want Charlie and Mia dead, and detective Walker and his new partner Ellie (Jessie Mei Li) have their hands full on Christmas Eve!
Here are some observations after my first viewing of HAVOC. First, Tom Hardy is a badass in the central role as Walker. I’ve been a fan of Hardy ever since he started breaking out in America after his performance in BRONSON (2008). I really loved him as Mad Max in FURY ROAD (2015). I’d never really envisioned him as this kind of action lead, but he definitely brings a certain gravitas to the role. Second, this movie feels like a bone crunching super hero movie at times, as it’s chock full of special effects. I found the action sequences featuring gunplay and hand to hand combat to be brutally awesome, but the car chase scenes aren’t quite up to the same standard. I mentioned the 18 wheeler chase in the plot description. As the scene plays out it’s a lot like watching an unrealistic chase scene from a later sequel to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise. It’s an exciting scene in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t seem set in the real world, which is a slight subtraction for me. Third, the movie is set on Christmas Eve, and I enjoy films that take place on holidays. We have a scene early in the film where “Father of the Year” Walker is buying his daughter’s Christmas gifts at a local convenience store. A little later, there’s a cool abduction scene that plays out to the sound of Bing Crosby singing “O Holy Night.” That’s good stuff. Fourth, director Evans seems to be trying to channel the spirit of 80’s and 90’s John Woo, as his film features an endless arsenal of weaponry, coupled with high emotions, and even a little classic music from an iconic scene in Woo’s own A BETTER TOMORROW (1986). No matter how many rounds are fired, there’s always more bullets or guns to be found as the last half of the film is almost nonstop action spread out over two amazing sets, first in a club and then at a cabin. And both of our featured parents, murderous triad leader Tsui and corrupt businessman Beaumont, get a chance to show their human sides by illustrating their sacrificial love for their children. Although HAVOC most certainly does not compare favorably to Woo’s HARD-BOILED, I can also see that Hong Kong classic being referenced here. Fifth, I’m a big fan of Timothy Olyphant, especially of his character Raylan Givens in the TV series JUSTIFIED. I had to forget Raylan on this night because his character here is an irredeemable piece of crap. Of course, Olyphant is excellent and delivers his evil with a smile on his face.
Overall, I enjoyed HAVOC, but I don’t think it’s quite as good as either of the director’s RAID films, and that’s okay. I’d probably go with a solid 7 stars out of 10 for a rating. I love Hardy and Olyphant, who both bring their tremendous charisma to the table. I also enjoyed the many cool moments throughout the film leading to the action extravaganza that plays out at the end. It will be interesting to see how often I want to go back to this film in future years. I do know that if you enjoy action movies, you should definitely watch this film. Just don’t expect another RAID 2.
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday May 5th, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo with DARK ANGEL (1990) starring Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, Matthias Hues, and Michael J. Pollard.
I really enjoy Amazon Prime’s plot description for the film… “A renegade cop undercover on a drug sting discovers a murderous alien who feasts on the brains of heroin addicts.” Honestly, if that description doesn’t make you want to watch the film, there’s probably nothing I can say to bring you along. On a side note, I remember this movie going under the name I COME IN PEACE when I was in high school, which is kind of cool because the bad guy will say he comes in peace right before committing horrific murder. But now it’s called DARK ANGEL, so that’s that.
So join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch DARK ANGEL! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
From Luis Bunuel’s 1965 short film, Simon of the Desert, the faithful Simon (Claudio Brook) finds himself transported from 6th Century Syria to the 1960s by the Devil (Silvia Pinal). The song playing at the club is called RadioactiveFlesh. Simon wants to go home. The Devil wants to dance.
Through the Shattered Lens 