Tag Archives: review

October Positivity: Play The Flute (dir by Rich Christiano)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2019’s Play the Flute, Brett Varvel plays Brandon Cobb.

Brandon has just been hired as youth minister at a suburban church.  Brandon is young and ambitious and his hope is to build the church’s youth ministry into one of the largest in the city.  Instead, he discovers that the church’s teenagers are, for the most part, a bunch of spoiled brats who refuse to read and learn their assigned Bible verses.  Apparently, they’ve managed to chase off every youth minister they ‘ve had.  Will Brandon be able to get through to them?

My question, though, is why Brandon is the one who has to get through to them.  Where are the parents in this mess?  Loretta Swit does turn up as one concerned parent but her daughter, who speaks with a stammer, doesn’t even want to go the youth group because of some boys who keep making fun of the way she talks.  (I stuttered up until I was about 12 so I could relate.)  But where are the other parents?  A church youth group is not like high school.  You’re not legally required to attend.  Your parents aren’t going to be charged if you get caught skipping.  The kids are obviously in the youth group because their parents took them to church and told them to attend.  So, shouldn’t the parents be the ones who get yelled at when their out-of-control brats chase off a youth minister?

Brandon struggles.  No one laughs at his Dad jokes.  His attempts to open up about his past are met with stony silence.  This youth group is hardcore!  Finally, Brandon challenges the worst member of the youth group gang to a race.  Brandon loses the race to the younger man but everyone is impressed by his determination.  He was willing to humiliate himself just to get them to listen to him.  And so, they start to listen.

The film is narrated by one of Brandon’s former students, who explains that Brandon has recently died.  At first, I thought maybe Brandon had a heart attack after challenging a much younger man to a footrace.  Instead, Brandon died of cancer.  Brandon may be gone but his students will always remember him and cherish the memory.  That’s kind of sweet.

This is another Rich Christiano film.  Christiano, along with his brother Dave, was one of the pioneers of modern faith-based filmmaking.  He’s been directing and producing films since the early 90s and the format has always remained the same.  A Christiano film is usually rather talky, has a few moments of boomer humor, and typically ends on a sentimental note.  That’s certainly the case with Play the Flute, a very slow movie that seems to have its heart in the right place.

Christiano did manage to get a few familiar faces for the film.  (At least, they’re familiar if you watch a lot of old television shows like I do.)  I already mentioned Loretta Swit as one of the mothers.  Clint Howard shows up as the manager of a restaurant who is upset to learn that his employees have been screwing with the time clock.  And Fred Grandy — GOPHER! — shows up as a minister.  One thing I recently learned is that Fred Grandy actually served in the U.S. House of Representatives after he appeared on The Love Boat.  We need more former sitcom stars in politics.  I’m looking at you, Matt LeBlanc!

Anyway, where as I?  Oh yeah.  This movie was inoffensive but not particularly compelling.  Who knew church youth groups were such a hotbed of rebellion?

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 3.2 “Ties That Bind”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network!  It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, the bike patrol continues to be largely ineffective.

Episode 3.2 “Ties That Bind”

(Dir by Sara Rose, originally aired on August 10th, 1997)

TC is excited because Jeff Pierce has moved to Santa Monica.  I had no idea who Jeff Pierce was but the show explained that he was some sort of professional bike rider.  Even if Jeff Pierce hadn’t been credited as “himself,” I would have guessed that he was a professional athlete just by how bad of an actor he was.

Pierce needs help retrieving his pink competition shirt.  TC and Victor help him out.  That was nice of them.  Pierce challenges the thief to a race and the thief is so excited about getting to race Jeff Pierce that he doesn’t even mind when he gets arrested at the finish line.  He even gets an autographed picture of Jeff Pierece!

Meanwhile, Gloria Allred also appears as herself.  She appears as an advocate for a group of women who are protesting the release and the return of former serial killer Conway Henriksen (Marc Riffon).  Conway has spent ten years in a mental hospital and he says that he’s now reformed.  However, after he gets harassed by some of his former victims (apparently, he didn’t kill everyone) and his house house is set on fire, Conway snaps and kidnaps Cory’s best friend, Billie (Rainer Grant).  Conway thinks that Billie is his abusive mother and he starts quoting from the Bible and the overacting gets a bit embarrassing.  Finally, Conway shoots himself.

Now, this storyline had potential.  Conway was sincere in his desire to start his life over again but the harassment campaign pushed him over the edge.  Unfortunately, because this is Pacific Blue, the idea of the people trying to protect their neighborhood from a serial killer pushing the guy into becoming just that was left largely unexplored.  Instead, everyone just breathes a sigh of relief after Conway shoots himself.

Finally, Chris’s real father (Kent McCord), shows up at headquarters and explains to Chris that, despite what her mother told her, he didn’t actually die in Vietnam.  Instead, he’s been working as a commercial pilot and now he wants to get to know Chris.  Chris, of course, acts like a total bitch about it, especially after she discovers that he’s married and that Chris has a teenage half-sister who is as much of a sullen brat as she is.  Still, Chris eventually forgives her father for having a life and the episode ends with Chris and her real father going sky-diving.  This episode missed an opportunity to have Gloria Allred and Jeff Pierce join them in jumping out of the plane.  That would have been classic Blue.

It’s just another day in L.A.

Horror On TV: Hammer House of Horror #12: The Two Faces of Evil (dir by Alan Gibson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of Hammer House of Horror, a family picks up a hitchhiker.  A subsequent tragedy leaves a wife wondering if her husband is actually her husband.  This is a creepy and twisty episode that is guaranteed to inspire just a little paranoia.

This episode originally aired on November 29th, 1980.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS (TV Series) – S7, E18: “The Woman Who Wanted to Live,” starring Charles Bronson and Lola Albright!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Charles Bronson appeared in three episodes of the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS T.V. series. His first two appearances came in the first season in early 1956 when Bronson was still in the early stages of his career. When “The Woman Who Wanted to Live” aired on February 6th, 1962, Bronson’s standing in the film and television community had risen dramatically. Since those first two appearances, he had headlined several low budget films (MACHINE GUN KELLY and SHOWDOWN AT BOOT HILL), starred in his own television series (MAN WITH A CAMERA), and even co-starred as one of the seven gunmen in the western classic, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN! As opposed to those two early appearances, Bronson was a well known commodity to audiences in 1962, and he was on the precipice of breaking out in even bigger roles, as THE GREAT ESCAPE and THE DIRTY DOZEN were just over the horizon!

In “The Woman Who Wanted To Live,” we meet escaped convict Ray Bardon (Charles Bronson), a hardened criminal who was shot in the arm when busting out of prison. In serious pain and in need of some quick cash and a getaway vehicle, Bardon robs a remote gas station, even killing the attendant when he makes a move for his gun. Soon a beautiful young woman named Lisa (Lola Albright) drives up to the station. Bardon wants to steal her car and take off, but surprisingly Lisa, who sees his wounds, convinces him to let her drive him wherever he wants to go. As Bardon wonders why she’s willing to help him, Lisa assures him that she will do whatever he wants her to do as she just wants to stay alive. As they flee into the night, they have to deal with a flat tire and a gang of dangerous thugs, but Lisa continues to help Bardon and even passes up a couple of opportunities to take off to safety. Why is Lisa so invested in Bardon’s survival? If you’re guessing there’s more to the story, you would definitely be right! 

After watching all three of Charles Bronson’s episodes of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, I believe that “The Woman Who Wanted To Live” just may be the best of the bunch. It’s not as creepy as “And So Died Riabouchinska,” and it certainly doesn’t play up the black comedy like “There Was An Old Woman,” but it does pack quite the emotional punch. First, the story is very effective, as we watch the bond that seems to be developing between the escaped criminal and his captive. You can’t help but wonder if we may be watching two twisted souls who may actually need each other. Hitchcock was always good at throwing people into desperate situations together, and script definitely goes that route here. In the short 25 minutes contained in this episode, each character is given the opportunity to truly help the other, as she helps mend his wounds and he protects her from roadside thugs with bad intentions. Even as the two help each other, as the story plays on, a tightening grip seems to take hold on the audience as to why Lisa hasn’t escaped when she’s had her chances. The strength of the episode just may be the fact that when the big reveal happens, it’s as plain as the nose on your face even though I never considered it a single time, something I have in common with our criminal, Frank Bardon. Second, this episode features two excellent performances from the stars. Interestingly, Charles Bronson and Lola Albright would appear together in the Elvis movie, KID GALAHAD, later this same year. As usual, Bronson brings a real world intensity to the role of the wounded and desperate criminal. With his lived in features, Bronson is incapable of presenting himself in a way that doesn’t seem true and authentic, whether he’s playing a cop or a killer, and his presence here is a clear indicator of his impending stardom. In a tribute to Albright’s performance, the two stars have quite a nice chemistry together, and she steals the final scenes as her character transforms right in front of our eyes and we understand why she’s refused to run away.

With its strong script and the excellent lead performances from Bronson and Albright, I easily recommend “The Woman Who Wanted To Live” as a superior episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. This episode truly surprised me and has lingered with me since I first watched it a few days ago. 

October True Crime: Murder in Coweta County (dir by Gary Nelson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1948, one of the richest men in Georgia committed a murder.

John Wallace was a landowner, back when that title actually meant something.  He was known as the boss of Meriweather County.  Everyone in the county seemed to work for Wallace in one way or another.  He controlled the county officials.  The sheriff enforced the law only as far as John Wallace would allow him.  The bootleggers had to pay Wallace for protection.  When one bootlegger, a sharecropper named Wilson Turner, failed to do so, he was fired and kicked off of Wallace’s land.

Turner retaliated by stealing two of Wallace’s cows.

Wallace responded by murdering Turner.

Because Turner attempted to flee and Wallace chased after him, Wallace committed the murder not in Meriweather County but in neighboring Coweta County.  What Wallace didn’t realize was that this meant the investigation didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of his hand-picked sheriff.  Instead, Sheriff Lamar Potts of Coweta County headed up the investigation.  John Wallace was eventually arrested by Sheriff Potts and he was eventually convicted of murdering Wilson Turner.  At the time, the case drew a lot of attention both because of Wallace’s wealth but also because two of the main witnesses for the prosecution were the two black men who Wallace forced to help him dispose of Wallace’s body.

It’s an interesting story, largely because the history of America is full of men like John Wallace, people who set up their own little dictatorships.  It’s often portrayed as being a Southern phenomena but John Wallace really wasn’t that much different from the crude political bosses who, for decades, dominated politics in city like New York and Chicago, the type who held onto power through a combination of intimidation and patronage.  In my home state of Texas, George Berham Parr inherited the political machine that controlled Duval and Jim Wells County.  Parr committed numerous crimes during his time as the “Duke of Duval” but he had important friends.  He was the one who “found” the votes necessary for Lyndon Johnson to win a senate seat in 1948.  (In return, Johnson got Harry Truman to pardon Parr for failing to pay his taxes.)  Parr is also suspected of having been involved in at least one murder but it wasn’t until LBJ himself retired from politics that anyone truly investigated Parr’s activities.  In 1974, he was again convicted of failing to pay his taxes and Parr was later found dead at his ranch.  Suicide was the official police ruling.

As for the story of John Wallace, it was turned into a made-for-TV movie in 1983.  Murder in Coweta County stars Andy Griffith as John Wallace and Johnny Cash as Sheriff Potts.  Griffith, playing a soulless villain, is chilling as John Wallace.  Wallace is all-smiles and good ol’ boy charisma whenever there’s a crowd around but, once it’s just him and his cronies, a different side comes out.  Wallace thinks that he can get away with murder because he’s been able to get away with everything else.  Sheriff Potts is determined to see that justice is done.  Murder in Coweta County is an atmospheric Southern crime story, one that is so full of atmosphere that you can feel the humidity.  While Johnny Cash was definitely a better singer than an actor, Andy Griffith’s villainous turn makes the film worth watching.

Horror Film Review: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (dir by Dan Curtis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1974’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula opens with a familiar sight.

British solicitor Jonathan Harker (Murray Brown) is in Transylvania, where he has an appointment with a mysterious man named Dracula.  The local villagers are superstitious and seem to be frightened of Dracula’s very name.  When Harker reaches Dracula’s castle, he discovers that Dracula (Jack Palance) is a courtly but enigmatic man.  When Dracula sees a photograph of Jonathan’s fiancée, Mina, and her best friend, Lucy, something about it seems to capture his attention.  Later, that night, Jonathan is attacked by several female vampires.  After Dracula saves Jonathan’s life, he forced Jonathan to write a letter home, saying that he will be staying in Transylvania for month.  Jonathan attempts to escape but is instead dragged off to the crypt, where Dracula’s brides await….

Soon, Dracula is in England.  Lucy (Fiona Lewis), who looks exactly like Dracula’s long-dead wife, is taken mysteriously ill and dies.  Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Nigel Davenport), called in when Lucy was showed signs of being sick, suspects that there is a vampire at work.  Lucky’s fiancé, Arthur Holmwood (Simon Ward), doesn’t believe it until he sees, with his own eyes, Lucy raised from the dead and calling for him to come and join her….

Not to be confused with the Francis Ford Coppola film, 1974’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula was directed by horror impresario Dan Curtis.  It’s a rather loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel.  For one thing, Jonathan Harker does not return to England.  Dracula is, from the start, more interested in Lucy than in Mina.  Lucy’s other suitors — Quincy Morris, John Seward — are not present.  And Dracula himself does not get younger as the result of drinking blood.  In fact, it’s such a loose adaptation that it’s actually difficult to justify calling it Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  (In fact, the film is also known as Dan Curtis’s Dracula, which is a far more appropriate title.)

That said, it’s still an entertaining vampire movie.  Jack Palance, who previously worked with Dan Curtis in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, gives a properly intense performance as Dracula.  He doesn’t try to adopt any sort of Eastern European accent or anything like that.  Instead, he delivers his lines through clenched teeth (or, perhaps, fangs) and he fixes his victims with a powerful stare that hints at the animalistic urges behind his controlled demeanor.  Palance plays Dracula as being arrogant and convinced that no mere mortal can defeat him.  At the same time, there’s a vulnerability to Palance’s Dracula.  Watch how his face briefly lights up when he sees Lucy’s picture and is reminded of his long-dead wife.  Watch his fury when he discovers that Van Helsing and Arthur have gotten to Lucy before him.  His love for his wife is the one shred of humanity that Dracula still has within him.  When he loses her a second time (in the form of Lucy), he’s prepared to go to war.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula was originally meant to air in October of 1973 but the showing was pre-empted by the announcement that Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned.  As a result, this film — so clearly meant for Halloween — did not air until February of 1974.  That doesn’t seem fair.  Poor Dracula.

Horror On The Lens: Scream of the Wolf (dir by Dan Curtis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For today’s horror on the lens, how about a little werwolf action?

In the 1974 made-for-TV movie, Scream of the Wolf, Peter Graves is a writer who is asked to help solve a series of mysterious murders.  The fact that both human footprints and wolf tracks have been found at each murder scene has led some people to assume that the killer must be a werewolf!  Will Graves be able to prove them wrong or will it turn out that they are right?  Graves calls in a famous hunter (Clint Walker) to help track down the killer but it turns out that the hunter has secrets of his own.

Scream of the Wolf features a screenplay from Richard Matheson and it was directed by television horror specialist, Dan Curtis.  It feels like it was probably meant to be a pilot in which Peter Graves would deal with a supernatural mystery on a weekly basis.  Even if the movie didn’t lead to a series, it’s still enjoyably atmospheric.

 

October Positivity: Faith Of Our Fathers (dir by Carey Scott)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

2015’s Faith Of Our Fathers tells the story of a road trip to Washington, D.C.

John (Kevin Downes) and Wayne (David A.R. White) might not seem to have much in common.  John is uptight and neurotic, on the verge of getting married but feeling like he has to do one final thing while his fiancée (Candace Cameron Bure) plans their wedding.  Wayne is a proud redneck, someone who lives in a trailer and enjoys picking fights.  When John first shows up at the trailer, Wayne shoots a shotgun at him.  When John refuses to leave, Wayne eventually allows him into the trailer and the two of them talk.

They are linked by their fathers, who both served and bonded in Vietnam.  Through flashbacks, we see how John’s father (Sean McGowan) found strength from his religious faith and how Wayne’s father (Scott Whyte, who viewers of a certain age will recognize from City Guys) eventually set aside his cynicism.  Wayne is in possession of the letters that his father wrote home from Vietnam and John, feeling a need to know who his father was, wants to read those letters.  Wayne agrees to show John the letters if he drives Wayne to Washington D.C. so that they can visit the Vietnam War memorial.

Along the way, the two of them bicker, bond, and have adventures.  This is a road film, which means that it has to take a while for John and Wayne to stop arguing with each other and start to open up about their pasts and their views on the modern world.  They meet a wide variety of people while on their trip, some of whom are trustworthy and many of whom are not.  They also meet Mansfield (Stephen Baldwin), who served in Vietnam with their fathers and who offers up some details about what happened to the men while they were serving in the military.

Unfortunately, the film itself doesn’t really work.  It has all of the flaws that one typically associates with a faith-based filmmaking.  The budget is noticeably low, something that especially becomes an issue during the Vietnam flashbacks.  The dialogue is often didactic.  Downes and White are familiar faces when it comes to faith-based films and they’ve both given good performances in other films but they both feel miscast here.  As played by Downes, John is a bit too neurotic to be believable (or particularly sympathetic) while White’s earnest and, at times, goofy style of performing feels wrong for a character who is supposed to be into random fights and beer.  For someone whose career has largely become about appearing in faith-based films, Stephen Baldwin seems rather detached throughout Faith of our Fathers.  In the flashbacks, he’s one of the least convincing commanding officers that I’ve ever seen in a war film.  In the modern scenes, he just seems bored.  If I’m being hard on Baldwin, it’s because I’ve seen him give really good performances in other films.  Knowing that he could be giving a good performance makes his bad performances all the more frustrating.

I will say this, though.  Faith of Our Fathers takes a stand for supporting our veterans, both when they’re serving and after they’ve come home.  I appreciated that.  All too often, we seem to hold the unpopular wars against those who served, as if the mistakes of those in command are somehow their fault.  That happened with Vietnam and it’s happening right now with Iraq and Afghanistan.  No one should ever be forgotten or deserted by their own country.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 4.17 “New Guy In Town”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, there’s a new cop on the beat!

Episode 4.17 “New Guy In Town”

(Dir by Arnold Laven, originally aired on March 15th, 1981)

Ponch is upset because the new rookie on the team, T.C. Hunsacker (Joseph Hacker), is just too perfect.  He’s still on probation but he’s already good at his job.  He’s a professional.  He’s got a good sense of humor.  He’s a good bowler.  He’s as comfortable talking about classical music as he is talking about cars.  He’s not arrogant.  He’s nice to everyone.  Everyone likes him.  Ponch cannot stand that TC doesn’t seem to have a flaw.

Yeah, Ponch, it’s kind of annoying when someone knows everything and can do anything, isn’t it?  Seriously, who does this Hunsacker fellow think he is when we all know that this is….

Ponch has other things to be concerned about, though.  Martin Beck (Chris Connelly) and Lina Beck (Jenny O’Hara), the brother and wife of someone who died while being chased by Ponch and Baker, are determined to get revenge by killing both of them.  Baker is nearly taken out in a hit-and-run.  Ponch nearly gets blown up in his car.  Fortunately, TC was there to tell Ponch not turn the key in the ignition.  TC noticed some wires on the ground and immediately realized there was a bomb in Ponch’s engine….

Wow, is there nothing TC cant do!?

I really am starting to see Ponch’s point.  TC really is too good to be true.  According to the imdb, this was the only episode in which he appeared.  I know that Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada apparently were not getting along during the filming of CHiPs and that Wilcox was threatening to leave the show because he thought the producers favored Estrada over him.  Maybe this episode was meant to set up Hunsacker as a possible replacement in case Wilcox did leave.  That’s really the only reason I can think of for this show to have devoted so much time to a character who has never been seen before and who, apparently, will never be seen again.

The focus on TC made this an uneven episode but there were a few good chase scenes and a slow-motion van crash.  And really, that’s all that one can really ask from this show.  An exciting chase can make up for a lot!

Horror On TV: Hammer House of Horror #11: Visitor From The Grave (dir by Peter Sasdy)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For tonight’s horror on television, we have the 11th episode of Hammer House of Horror!  This atmospheric episode features Kathryn Leigh Scott as a woman who fears that she is being haunted by the ghost of a would-be rapist that she earlier killed.  Simon MacCorkindale plays her husband, who has secret of his own.

This episode originally aired on November 22nd, 1980.