Moovie Review Threade

Chris in Santa Cruz CA

Chris in Santa Cruz CA

Super Anarchist
6,875
1,653
earths surface
Virgulino Ferreira said:
Nice, thanks @Well-known member . I can't remember if I watched it or not - therefore, I need to watch it! I love Lee Marvin.

I don't know why but it made me remember one of the craziest and most unique movies I saw in the last 5 years, another product of the 60s:



The President's Analyst

A 1967 political satire and black comedy with science fiction elements, starring James Coburn, touching on themes that are unfortunately still contemporary. Cult status nowadays. I saw it almost by accident, not knowing anything about it. It was a big surprise, in a very positive way.

If I had to review the movie in 3 letters, they would be LSD.

If you need more convincing, the trailer is good and doesn't reveal too much.

4.666667 out of 5 Cuckoos.
Click to expand...

That is a silly movie. Proved that sellers did not have the market cornered.
 
M

Mark_K

Super Anarchist
2,202
999
Between the mountains and the sea
Virgulino Ferreira said:
Nice, thanks @Well-known member . I can't remember if I watched it or not - therefore, I need to watch it! I love Lee Marvin.

I don't know why but it made me remember one of the craziest and most unique movies I saw in the last 5 years, another product of the 60s:



The President's Analyst

A 1967 political satire and black comedy with science fiction elements, starring James Coburn, touching on themes that are unfortunately still contemporary. Cult status nowadays. I saw it almost by accident, not knowing anything about it. It was a big surprise, in a very positive way.

If I had to review the movie in 3 letters, they would be LSD.

If you need more convincing, the trailer is good and doesn't reveal too much.

4.666667 out of 5 Cuckoos.
Click to expand...

The one universal truth is that everybody hates The Phone Company....and The Phone Company rules the world.

Scarily prescient movie.
 
Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member
20
8
In the windmill of your mind
The_Silencers_poster.jpg


The Silencers - Matt Helm Series

Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton. Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill enemy agents. This cadre of agent type has an informal name, used as the title of the second Helm book - 'the Wrecking Crew".

I think Ian Fleming had the same original hard edge idea for the James Bond character, but Fleming was more of a gentleman and wrote the character with a little more warmth and dimension instead of a cold-blooded killer on the right side of good like Hamilton portrays.

These two famous spy legacies originally crossed paths. Film producer Irving Allen had a partnership with Albert R. Broccoli . Broccoli wanted to buy the rights to the James Bond series of novels, but Allen was not interested. The partnership broke up, Broccoli went into partnership with Harry Saltzman and United Artists on the Bond films and the rest is history.

I just started reading the Matt Helm books (there are 28 of them).They're pretty violent and the Helm character is pretty darned cold-blooded (but I'm only on book number four - maybe later in the series he learns to play nice).

The movies are a whole nother thing. They feature everyone's favorite inebriate Dean Martin, singin', drinkin', and lovin' his way through his missions. ("nother is a word by the way - I looked it up).

Allen decided to make his own spy series. He read a copy of one of the Matt Helm novels and optioned the film rights in twenty-four hours with his own money ("a sizable amount").

In 1964 he set up the FILM series with Columbia Pictures. The 1966 Silencers was the first of five planned Helm films.

Dean Martin was not the original choice for the lead. Allen later said "We had wanted Paul Newman or one of the good stars but no one would go up against Sean Connery. Nobody wants to go up against a successful series."

The original Helm movie idea was for a serious series based on the cold-blooded killer described in the book, but with no serious bankable star available, a more tongue-in-cheek approach was decided and Dean Martin took the bait for the lead. This turned the series (four films were ultimately made) into a lighthearted spy romp spoofing the James Bond series.

There would soon be more competition: James Coburn in the "Flint" Series, Richard Johnson in the revamped Bulldog Drummond (with Elke Sommer), Woody Allen in his own spy spoof "What's Up Tiger Lilly" (and as a character in the grand opus "Casino Royale"). All would follow this same light humor path, ultimately the 60's spy spoofs outnumbering the 60's Bond movies they were spoofing 3 to 1).

The Silencers begins with a borrowed plot element from the first Helm novel, Death of a Citizen, but takes the title from the second. It begins with the agent being coaxed out of retirement. Helm's mission is to stop an evil organization called "BIG O" (the Bureau for International Government and Order) from their plan of diverting an American missile into an underground atomic bomb testing site in New Mexico.

The singing talents of Vikki Carr and Martin provide several songs featured in the film, along with some spy jazz instrumentals by the Mike Leander Orchestra. Elmer Bernstein provides title theme and sound track. Cyd Charisse dances the dance of the seven veils in the opening titles, a theme repeated in the titles of the later films as well.

The recently deceased Stella Stevens is Helms's love interest, and she takes all the pies in the face. The incomparable Israeli actress Daliah Lavi provides the drool factor as the sidekick agent to Helm.

Victor Buono as the sweaty and overweight Bondian villain Tung-Tze. Arthur O'Connell is the military-industrial establishment boss-guy in the Brooks Brothers suit, Wigman.

No point in explaining the plot further, just imagine a day in the life of Dean Martin.

Eschewing fancy sports cars, Martin's Helm is equipped with the most boss Mercury Park Lane station wagon on the planet. He brings on-screen drinking and driving to an art form, and solves the problem of tending bar while driving via outfitting the Merc with mini lounge seats - likely comfortable to drive in and certainly practical for car-lounge drinking.

1681621897900.png




A most memorable 1960's spy romp -- hijinks ensues over every minute.

I think Martin's Helm was the character that likely Austin Powers secretly aspired to.

The Silencers - 1966 - Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi (swoon!), Victor Buono

RATING: FIVE SNAGS

And for your viewing pleasure, a link...

 
Last edited:
S

Sisyphus

Anarchist
619
430
Tartarus
It is with some disbelief that I say that Paddington and Paddington 2 are much better movies than they should be. I was incredulous when my university-aged kids recommended them, but they were great feel-good movies with amazing CGI integration.

datebook.sfchronicle.com

‘Paddington 2’ and ‘Citizen Kane’ battle it out for best movie ever

While the argument went viral on social media, 'Paddington 2' is one of dozens of movies with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.
datebook.sfchronicle.com datebook.sfchronicle.com
 
S

Sisyphus

Anarchist
619
430
Tartarus
m.imdb.com

Turbo Kid (2015) - IMDb

Turbo Kid: Directed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell. With Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Edwin Wright. In a post-apocalyptic wasteland in 1997, a comic book fan adopts the persona of his favourite hero to save his enthusiastic friend and fight a...
m.imdb.com m.imdb.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts





Top