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!
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:
Today’s scene that I love comes from Lucio Fulci’s 1981 masterpiece, The Beyond.
Liza (Catriona MacColl) meets the mysterious Emily (Cinzia Monreale) on one of Louisiana’s famous bridges to nowhere. This scene is Fulci at his most dream-like.
4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.
98 years ago today, Lucio Fulci — the maestro of Italian genre filmmaking — was born in Rome. Fulci would go on to direct some of the most visually stunning (and, occasionally, most narratively incoherent) films ever made. Fulci worked in all genres but he’ll probably always be best remembered for launching the Italian zombie boom with Zombi2. His subsequent Beyond trilogy continues to fascinate and delight lovers of both horror and grindhouse filmmaking.
Lucio Fulci, needless to say, is a pretty popular figure here at the TSL. In honor of the date of his birth, it’s time for….
6 Shots From 6 Lucio Fulci Films
A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin (1971, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Luigi Kuveiller)
Don’t Torture A Duckling (1972, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio D’Offizi)
Zombi 2 (1979, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio Salvati)
The Beyond (1981, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio Salvati)
The House By The Cemetery (1981, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Sergio Salvati)
Murder Rock (1984, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP: Giuseppe Pinori)
We’re watching THE MECHANIC (1972) on our #MondayMuggers live tweet tonight (see my prior post for the details). The film is a character study of an aging hitman, that just happens to feature some awesome action sequences. In case you’re on the fence about joining us, here’s a little taste of badassery to whet your appetite!
John Robinson has been described as being the Internet’s first serial killer.
I don’t know if that’s an accurate description but it is true that Robinson, who most of his neighbors and family knew as just being a somewhat eccentric businessman who always seemed to be in trouble with the IRS, did make contact with several of his victims in online chatrooms. No one is quite sure how many women Robinson killed in the 80s and the 90s. Robinson himself has given contradictory numbers. What is know is that Robinson started out by luring women to his home by claiming that he had a job for them. Many of the women who accepted his job offer were either never seen again or their bodies were eventually found on his properties in Kansas and Missouri. Eventually, after serving time on fraud conviction, Robinson started to use internet chatrooms to find his victims. He used the screenname Slavemaster, something that would have undoubtedly stunned all of his neighbors.
In KidnappedByAKiller, Steve Guttenberg plays John Robinson. Now, it should be noted that Guttenberg doesn’t get much screentime and he’s also nearly unrecognizable under a ton of old age makeup. Guttenberg plays Robinson as being a creepy old man who uses the fact that he walks with a cane to put people at ease. The film doesn’t spend much time with Robinson and it doesn’t show any of his murders. Instead, the focus is on the police who investigated Robinson and also on Heather Robinson, a young woman who was Robinson’s adoptive niece but who was also the daughter of one of Robinson’s victims. After killing her mother, Robinson “gave” Heather to his brother and sister-in-law, telling them that her mother had been a drug addict who abandoned her baby.
The majority of the film focuses on Heather (Rachel Stubington), who is a teenager when John is arrested for the murders that he committed. Heather struggles to come to terms with the knowledge that her uncle — who seemed kindly, if a bit corny — murdered her mother and that she was essentially kidnapped and given away. What seemed like an act of kindness — Uncle John not wanting a drug addict’s daughter to get lost in the system — was actually John Robinson’s attempt to cover up his crimes. Much like the criminal who starts a business to launder money, Heather’s adoption was John’s attempt to launder evidence. Stubington does a good job as Heather, capturing her struggle to come to terms with her identity. The scenes of her dealing with her feelings towards John and the scenes of hardened detectives recoiling in shock as they discover the remains of John’s victims all serve as a reminder that murder is not an isolated crime. It’s something that effects communities and families long after the act itself has been completed.
KidnappedByAKiller deserves credit for focusing on a victim instead of on John Robinson, himself. Too often, when it comes to true crime movies, the victims are forgotten while the serial killer gets all the best lines and the big moments. KidnappedByAKiller presents John Robinson as being a rather pathetic old man and that’s perhaps the best thing about it.
I had that thought 16 minutes into Emmanuelle. A remake of the wonderfully trashy 70s film that made a star (of sorts) out of Sylvia Kristel, this version of Emmanuelle takes itself way too seriously. It should be noted that no one is under the impression that the original Emmanuelle films or any of the unofficial spin-offs were high art. The first film may have pretended to be about something but, ultimately, it was a trashy sex romp that was made because some folks wanted to make a lot of money. That’s one reason why the original film and Kristel’s version of the character continue to be popular. Both were totally shameless and unapologetic.
The remake, though, is boring. Emmanuelle (played by Noemie Merlant) even has a boring job. She works in quality control for a large chain of luxury hotels. That’s right, quality control. This film reimagines Emmanuelle as being the female version of Creed from TheOffice Emmanuelle has been sent to Hong Kong so that she can evaluate a hotel that is being managed by Margot (Naomi Watts). The company has tasked Emmanuelle with finding an excuse to fire Margot and Emmanuelle is feeling conflicted about it. Let me tell you, there’s nothing sexier than quality control.
Emmanuelle has several sexual experiences while staying at the hotel. The sensuality of Hong Kong gets to her. While wearing a towel, she flirts with a nervous room steward. She touches herself in front of an escort who hangs out at the hotel’s pool and she gets upset when Margot sends the escort and her friends away. Emmanuelle wanders through the film with a blank expression on her face, staring at things that are often happening off-camera. Hong Kong is presented as being a world where everything is for sale and no desires are forbidden. If this was one of Joe D’Amato’s Black Emanuelle films, the decadence would probably be strange and entertaining. However, since this is an Emmanuelle film that takes itself seriously, it’s kind of boring.
In fact, this film really does get caught up in the whole “Will Emmanuelle get Margot fired?” plot. That is probably the least interesting part of the movie but the filmmakers really do want us to understand that Emmanuelle could lose her job if she doesn’t give Margot a bad report. But honestly, who cares? This film makes the mistake of assuming that “quality control” is a lot more exciting than it actually is.
Emmanuelle does fall in love over the course of the film. Kei (Will Sharpe) is an enigmatic guest who hasn’t had sex in “two or three years” because he lost his desire. He’s suffering from ennui! Emmanuelle yells at Kei for smoking in the hotel but she’s attracted to him as well. At least, that’s what the film wants us to believe. Merchant and Sharpe have so little chemistry — romantic or sexual — that it’s hard to really care. They have some philosophical discussions, the type of stuff that even Zalman King would have dismissed as being rather pretentious.
The main problem, as I said before, is that this film just isn’t fun. It gets bogged down with its plot and Merlant, Watts, and Sharpe all sleepwalk through their roles. This film should have been glorious trash. Instead, it’s just dull.
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 June 16th, we are showing THE MECHANIC (1972) starring Charles Bronson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn, Jill Ireland, and Frank DeKova.
In THE MECHANIC, Charles Bronson plays a hitman who takes on a young apprentice (Jan-Michael Vincent) and trains him to be a professional assassin. But in their world, you never know when you’ll go from being the killer… to becoming the next target!
I reviewed THE MECHANIC for The Shattered Lens back on New Year’s Day!
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 pay tribute to the legendary cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond. Born 90 years ago today in Hungary, Zsigmond got his start in the 60s with low-budget films like The Sadist but he went on to become one of the most in-demand cinematographers around. In fact, of all the people who started their career working on a film that starred Arch Hall, Jr., it’s hard to think of any who went on to have the type of success that Zsigmond did.
Zsigmond won one Oscar, for his work on Close Encounters of Third Kind. He was nominated for three more. He also received a BAFTA award for his work on The Deer Hunter and was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Stalin. He’s considered to be one of the most influential cinematographers of all time.
In honor of the legacy of Vilmos Zsigmond, here are….
4 Shots From 4 Films
Deliverance (1972, directed by John Boorman, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
The Long Goodbye (1973, dir by Robert Altman, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, dir by Steven Spielberg, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
Heaven’s Gate (1980, directed by Michael Cimino, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
MEN & CHICKEN (2015) is the story of two estranged, and flat out strange, brothers, Gabriel (David Dencik) and Elias (Mads Mikkelsen), who find out a family secret when their father passes away. It turns out that their “dad” is not their biological father, so the two brothers head out to find their real one. They know he’s a reclusive scientist named Evelio Thanatos, and that he lives on a remote island. When they arrive on his island, they meet their three half-brothers Josef (Nicolas Bro), Gregor (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Franz (Soren Malling), who are some real weirdos, and who are prone to violently beat visitors in the head with heavy cookware and stuffed beavers. After taking a couple of beatings from their brothers, Gabriel and Elias are able to work their way into their family’s dilapidated mansion where they find that it is filled with chickens, pigs and a bull named Isak. This is a strange group, with each brother exhibiting certain physical abnormalities and odd behaviors. There’s something dark going on here… and why won’t their new brothers let Gabriel and Elias meet their dad, who apparently sleeps all day in an upstairs room? The remainder of the film deals with the brothers getting to know each other and discovering their family’s deep, dark, animalistic secrets!
I’ve presented a plot summary of MEN & CHICKEN above, but no summary can really do this film justice. It’s a film that has to be seen to be believed. The first thing I really noted about the film is its complete commitment to its weird tone and a twisted sense of humor. We meet Mikkelsen’s character Elias on the most awkward date ever, which he follows up by going to the bathroom and immediately masturbating. We soon learn that masturbating is just something he always has to do. The way his brother accepts the behavior as if it’s no different than him tying his shoes is odd and funny at the same time. There’s also a sight gag early in the film where Gabriel is watching from afar as his brother is being beaten repeatedly in the head by kitchen pots the size of bathtubs that made me laugh out loud. Of course, it’s meant to be funny, but the film’s visuals are also realistic enough that when we see Elias up close his face is a bloody mess! I haven’t watched a lot of Danish films in my life, but I’m starting to get a sense of just how twisted their senses of humor can get! Director and writer Anders Thomas Jensen is somehow able to balance the dark comedy of his setup, the strange nature of the characters he’s created, and the grotesque, horrific visuals that we see inside their family home in a way that’s both absurd and increasingly poignant as the film continues on. I’m so used to movies that follow the same plot points and formulas, but Jensen’s films are wildly unpredictable. You truly never know what you’re about to see next, to both good and bad effect, but it’s definitely not boring!
Mads Mikkelsen is incredible as brother Elias. This role could not possibly be farther away from his repressed badass in Jensen’s RIDERS OF JUSTICE, but you can’t take your eyes off of him. As odd and repulsive as his character can be, the actor’s instincts for absurd comedy are perfectly on display and he’s incredible. I also liked actor David Dencik as his brother Gabriel. His more “normal” character grounds the film as all sorts of craziness is going on around him. They complement each other well. I also recognized Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro as two of the odd brothers, who were also in RIDERS OF JUSTICE. It’s fun seeing Jensen’s stock players in such unique and versatile performances.
After having now watched Jensen’s films MEN & CHICKEN and RIDERS OF JUSTICE, one of the things I’m picking up on is his ability to create an endearing “family” out of almost any kind of circumstances. These are some of the most strange and troubled people that you will ever see on screen, but beneath the perversity of it all, a theme emerges on the power and acceptance that can be experienced inside of a family, and, ultimately, on the nature of humanity itself. It may not be altogether realistic, but there’s an idealism and hope that resonates with me.
As I wrap this up, let me just say that MEN & CHICKEN is not for everyone, so I can’t recommend it wholeheartedly. It goes to some deep, dark places in both its humor and the revelation of their dad’s disturbing scientific experiments. However, adventurous viewers with a perverse sense of humor and a willingness to follow a story wherever it may lead will be rewarded by this wholly unique film. A 25 year old me would have probably not been a fan, but 50+ year old me thinks it’s great!!
Through the Shattered Lens 