Movie Review: The Dogs of War (1980: United Artists/MGM/Twilight Time)

...ah, mercenaries...ya' gotta love 'em, right?? Heroes unto themselves, in the sense that...much like bounty hunters...they act and behave of their own accord, and get the job done via unconventional and unorthodox means, when those who subscribe to the lawfully established and so-called acceptable 'rules of the game', have failed. Driven by their own self-serving agenda...the culmination, be that of heartful heroics, thrill-seeking recklessness and/or monetary gain...and yet, wholly honor-bound and dedicated to the cause, in which they were hired to taken on. Confident, albeit arrogant in their ability to persevere, and yet...considering the unpredictability of the vocation...quite well aware that the next mission laid before them, might well be their last. As such, lovingly embracing a death wish, so to speak...but hey, at least there's a paycheck in it, should one survive, to fight yet another day...

...good grief!! 'Heroes', nothing...this viewer pretty much just defined the classic 'anti-hero', right??...

Movie Review: Salvador (1986; Hemdale/MGM/UA/Twilight Time)

...ya' know?? It's often quite interesting and intriguing, the evolution of a filmmaker. The inaugural hits...the initial misses...and that marked milestone of a film, which carries said filmmaker to greater heights, even to the point where, for good or for bad, whatever comes after, is still quite anticipated and well-received by viewing critics and audiences alike. For most, one's introduction to a specific filmmaker is typically something wrought well-after that aforementioned milestone, and after having been privy of latter, higher-profile work, curiosity prescribes...even sometimes demands one to back-pedal to that now-renowned and revered filmmaker's earlier work...

...cutting to the chase, let's just throw the name out there, 'kay?? Ready, go...Director Oliver Stone. Bam!! Right away, what comes to most folks' minds are the high-profile films of keen political rhetorics, observations and engagements, whether such things are observed and/or depicted in the exploitative media ("Natural Born Killers"), in a war-torn battleground ("Platoon", amongst others), in the high-rise financial arena (...can you say, "Wall Street"), on the grassy football gridiron (...a la, "Any Given Sunday"), or heck, even in the obvious of politically-driven locales...namely Washington, D.C., itself (..."JFK", "Nixon", "W.", etc.), Of course, there are those moments of filmmaking escapism...for lack of a better word...'breaks' in the political rhetorie, so to speak, as director Stone etches out the smaller, eclectic, more character driven stories (...of course, we're talking "Talk Radio", "U-Turn", "Savages"...the

Movie Review: "Captain Kidd" (1945; United Artists/Cheezy Flicks)

...there's an old saying, about 'truth' being 'stranger then fiction'; often we hear about stories, related to certain historical figures or celebrities, which we'd come to accept as the norm, and yet, when one digs deeper amidst the common pleasantries, one finds that there's a lot more to the story, than originally related. As much as we want ever so much to forever remember and recall the best and most significant deeds and behavior of a famous person, we are also drawn toward the underlining controversy, as far as the true nature of the person...and often times, that 'true nature' isn't hardly what we expected, or perhaps would rather not have known about. And then, there's the opposite side of the matter...a matter which suggests that this historical figure or famous personality has proven to possess a relatively interesting background...but not in Hollywood's terms; and when that happens...well, our fine and fettered Hollywood writers & filmmakers, just can't help but deftly and creatively weave greater interest and intrigue, for the fascinating, albeit less-than-charismatic character...fiction, yes, but fiction deftly woven into fact. It's happened countless times in the magically embellishing realm of Hollywoodland, and such is the case with one of Cheezy Flicks recent additions to their spansive selection of films; indeed, from a historical point of view, one definitely won't come across any new revelations about Captain William Kidd, in the daring pirate adventure excursion from 1945, United Artists' "Captain Kidd", but what the filmmaking powers that be, have come up with, herein...on an anemic shoestring budget, no less...is still a whole heck of a lot of fun to watch...

Movie Review: Convoy (1978; EMI Films/Cheezy Flicks)

...it's sometimes intriguing, and at the same time, perplexing when a renowned, albeit controversial filmmaker...reputedly known for escapist film fare, rendered on a provocatively visceral and dead serious level...does a 180 degree turnabout, and takes on a much more lighter level of material...adventurous and thrilling, with a measure of humor, intrigue, romanticism and rollicking light-heartiness, that wholly contradicts many of that filmmaker's previous productions. Almost as if the director wanted to take it easy, and do something fun and outrageous...maybe even commercial, for a change...a break from the provocative and controversial, and onto something much more akin to wild and crazy abandon. They...the critics, his fellow filmmaking brethren, and even the general public...thought that director Sam Peckinpah had taken leave of his senses, when his next chosen project was a rip-roaring, 18-wheelin' juggernaut, good ol' boy movie version of a pop country/western hit song, which at the time, was reining over the AM radio waves. Crazy insane?? This is the guy who dared turn the western genre on it's ear, with unconventional revisionist classics, like 1969's "The Wild Bunch" & 1973's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", not to mention visceral crime dramas, like 1971's "Straw Dogs" & "1972's "The Getaway"; yet, here he was...jumping on the band wagon, with the 'flavor-of-the-moment', dash & crash truckspoitation genre, spear-headed by at-the-time recent runaway hits, like 1977's "Smokey and the Bandit", "Breaker! Breaker!" and the following year's "High-Ballin'". And amazingly enough, Peckinpah's whimsically relishable adaption of singer/songwriter C.W. McCall's hit song, "Convoy", proved to be his biggest box-office hit, considering his reputation...and given some able-bodied assistance from another Hollywood legend, due to director's ailing health...

Movie Review: Motel Hell (1980, Blu-ray)

...ya' know?? For years, "Motel Hell" was a sort of a flavor-of-the-moment 'holy grail' film, for this ardent fright film fan. It was 1980...the year that this viewer 'crossed over', having just turned 17, and now able to, at least legally, partake in 'R' rated film fare, all by my butt-squirmin', horror-movie-lovin' lonesome. That year, of course, was overwhelmingly dominated by the splatter classic, "Friday the 13th", which was hacking and slashing it's way through enormously huge box office bank, much to the dismay of countless distractor critic reviews. For this undiscriminating genre lover, who had always kept a constant finger on the pulse of horror films, via magazines and TV snippets, even at a young age (...uh, without the aid of internet, might I add), this little upcoming, mad-looking oddity, called "Motel Hell", seemed right up my alley. Articles in Famous Monsters of Filmland and Fangoria, whetted my appetite for the film...a panning review of the film, offer by stuck-up critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, on their then-relegated-to-PBS 'Sneak Previews' show, only goaded me on, as far as seeking the film out...and a lovingly displayed movie poster of the film, hung up on the wall in my bedroom...scrounged up by my dad, who serviced a number of the local L.A.-based movie distributors at the time, only served to stir my imagination, as to what I might expect from the film, and at the same time, agitated my fearful sense of anticipation, whereby I would daringly ask myself, "...do I really want to see this??" Uh, dumb question...

......it's late, and Vincent Smith...a middle-aged farmer, juggling a renowned and successful smoked meat business, along with a roadside hotel... is restless. Finally, he gets up out of the rocker, seated on the hotel manager's porch, and giving the neon hotel sign the stinkeye (..."...damn flickering second 'O', in 'Motel Hello's got a dang short...gonna have to fix that...people liable ta' think that..."...), Vincent shrugs his shoulders, goes inside the office, grabs his hunting rifle, fires up the pick-up truck, and barrels down the road. Pulling off to the side, turning off the truck lights, and finding a hidden, inconspicuous spot, he looks across the dark fields, barely lit by the moonlight, and...Wait!! What's that, up ahead?? Taking careful aim, Vincent fires off a couple shots...