Movie Review: One From The Heart (1982)

Genre: Romance  

Director: Francis Ford Coppola  

Starring: Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Nastassja Kinski, Raul Julia, Harry Dean Stanton  

Running Time: 107 minutes  

Synopsis: In Las Vegas, mechanic Hank and travel agent Frannie (Frederic Forrest and Teri Garr) are a bickering couple in a stagnant relationship. After one argument too many, they go their separate ways for one night, seeking romantic flings. Accompanied by his friend Moe (Harry Dean Stanton), Hank is infatuated by alluring circus acrobat Leila (Nastassja Kinski), while Frannie is pursued by performing pianist and waiter Ray (Raul Julia). The couple's promising affairs may have unexpected consequences.

What Works Well: Director Francis Ford Coppola's passion project reimagines Las Vegas on a studio lot as a pristine, vividly dreamy, and neon-drenched test ground for romantic commitments. Hank and Frannie's adventures over one night are narrated by the music of Tom Waites and Crystal Gale, with an emphasis on surrealistic visuals often superimposing the couple's emotionally attached but physically separated movements. Thematically, the narrative contrasts the thrill of novelty with the unheralded joys of a long-term commitment.

What Does Not Work As Well: The triumphant and audacious style is undermined by minimal content, flat characterizations, and flimsy emotions. The over-reliance on music to tell the story relegates the script to bullet points, exposing Hank and Frannie as uninteresting characters floundering in misguided expectations of change to salvage the relationship. Nastassja Kinski and Raul Julia fare worse as empty impressions of fantasy lovers. 

Key Quote:

Leila (to Hank): If you wanna get rid of a circus girl, all you've gotta do is close your eyes.

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Movie Review: Paris, Texas (1984)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Wim Wenders  

Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell  
Running Time: 147 minutes  

Synopsis: Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) walks out of the West Texas desert four years after abandoning his family. His brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) is summoned to fetch him, and the two men drive back to Los Angeles where Walt and his wife Anne (Aurore Clément) have been caring for Travis' son Hunter. After Travis tentatively re-establishes a bond with his child, he sets out to search for his wife Jane (Nastassja Kinski), who also disappeared four years prior. 

What Works Well: Director Wim Wenders and writer Sam Shepard take a long, and hard, look at the state of masculinity in the west. In the shape of Travis, they define a mostly silent crisis built on an inability to communicate and cohabitate, but also a deep conviction that a form of imperfect redemption is possible. Augmented by stellar Robby Müller cinematography and a comfortably nervous Ry Cooder music score, the desert terrain that forged a mythically heroic western persona now spits out a broken man who has lost everything but is still determined to make amends. In a career filled with character roles, Harry Dean Stanton achieves a captivating highlight as an emotionally battered average man, as does Nastassja Kinski as a young wife and mother doing what she must to survive.

What Does Not Work As Well: The final act is a compelling tour-de-force of vulnerability shared in separation, but also defaults to describing rather than showing the demons at the heart of Travis' crisis. 

Key Quote:

Jane (to Travis): I hear your voice all the time. Every man has your voice.

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Movie Review: Repo Man (1984)

A laidback and subversive science fiction thriller comedy, Repo Man is all fun and games, including when people die.

In Los Angeles, anti-authoritarian youth Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez) quits his menial supermarket job, and is then recruited by Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) to become a car repossession agent, stealing vehicles from customers who have fallen behind on payments. Meanwhile, a mysteriously sweaty man (Fox Harris) is driving a 1964 Chevy Malibu with dangerous alien-related cargo in the trunk, attracting the attention of government Agent Rogersz (Susan Barnes) and UFO conspiracy theorist Leila (Olivia Barash).

Under Bud's guidance Otto enjoys life as a repo man, and gets to know Bud's associates including Marlene (Vonetta McGee) and the alien-obsessed Miller (Tracey Walter). He also tangles with local business rivals the Rodriguez brothers. When a $20,000 reward is offered for the retrieval of the Malibu, Otto finds himself in the middle of a wild and high-stakes chase.

An often bizarre mix of alien conspiracy adventure, imaginative science fiction and anti-establishment punk thriller with attitude to spare, Repo Man stands alone. An independent production written and directed by Alex Cox, the film creates its own rules, including a fierce dedication to burn down every product placement opportunity and a commitment to snarl in the face of preconceptions about where the narrative is supposed to go.

While patchy in parts, sometimes disjointed and almost entirely devoid of context, Repo Man is stubbornly loyal to its version of nihilism hiding around the next corner. And so Cox, through the character of Bud, creates a code for career repo men, and of course it's a behavior standard that none of Bud's associates or rivals seem to remotely care for. Instead Otto is dropped into a wild world where theft is an actual job, and discovers a perfect fit for a punk without a cause, give or take a few chases, shootings, and radiation-induced instant incinerations.

And it's no surprise that as the insane worlds of aliens-in-the-trunk and repo men collide, the seemingly close-to-mad Miller, who spends his days burning other people's personal belongings retrieved from repossessed vehicles, slowly emerges as the most rational character. He is in tune with the possibilities of past, future and present actually being one, and as all others lose their minds, Miller is already there.

With Emilio Estevez willing to stand his ground against all comers and Harry Dean Stanton chasing the illusion of dignity in his suited attire, Cox steers Repo Man to a suitably beyond-wacky conclusion, the underbelly of a scrappy Los Angeles a perfect venue for the next automotive generation.

All careers enjoy highs and lows, but nothing compares to the out-of-this-world intensity of repossessing cars in a car-obsessed town.

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Movie Review: Escape From New York (1981)

An action thriller set in a depressed near-future, Escape From New York carries A-movie ambitions with a B-movie ethos. The story of a lone hero attempting to rescue the President from the wasteland of a Manhattan turned into a prison is delivered on a bare-bones budget but with plenty of flair.

It's 1997, and after a crime rate explosion, all of Manhattan Island is turned into a maximum security prison, protected by a 50 foot perimeter wall and mines. Convicts are deposited into Manhattan and never allowed out, with security controlled from a police headquarters on Liberty Island under the leadership of Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef). Air Force One with the President (Donald Pleasence) on board is hijacked by anti-government revolutionaries and intentionally crashed into Manhattan, but the President survives by sheltering in an evacuation pod. He is captured and held hostage by unknown prisoners.

Hauk recruits newly convicted Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), an ex-Special Forces war hero who has turned to a life of crime, to mount a one-man rescue mission and retrieve a crucial cassette recording carried by the President within 24 hours. Snake lands a glider on top of the World Trade Center, and soon has to fend off crazy killers marauding the streets. He encounters Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine), Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) and his girlfriend Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), leading him to the self-proclaimed Duke (Isaac Hayes), who commands the largest gang of criminals and is likely holding the President.

Fresh off his unexpected success with Halloween, director John Carpenter was provided enough clout to helm an impressive group of stars in an ambitious story requiring relatively elaborate sets. The clever premise is brought to life through the imaginative use of early simulated computer effects, Carpenter stretching his budget as far as it would go to bring to life a bleak vision of the future. The film clocks in at under 100 minutes and is ultimately a straightforward and fairly routine chase-and-rescue film, but also brimming with panache and attitude.

Thematically, Escape From New York logically extrapolates from all the downbeat 1970s crime-drenched New York-based dramas. Death Wish had the city in the grips of an out-of-control crime wave, while The Warriors saw the gangs effectively taking full control of the streets. Carpenter carries the trend to its conclusion, and now Manhattan is turned into a prison, abandoned to the low lifes who chased away civilization.

While the idea is rich, the execution is constrained by the budget. Once Snake makes it into the city, the action sequences are restricted to basic arm-waving clashes with zombie-like randoms, and then its quickly onto encounters with Cabbie, Brain, and then a standard confrontation with Duke's entourage. A no-rules two-man brawl in the boxing ring with Snake forced to take on the local brute with bats-as-weapons smacks of irrelevant padding. Overall, the city-as-a-prison environment appears limited to a few blocks, a couple of sets, a few overturned cars, and a rather limited population density.

Carpenter does a fine job with nighttime filming, and plays with backlighting, shadows and silhouettes to good effect. But by far the best thing about Escape From New York is the character of Snake Plissken. Kurt Russell oozes pissed-off cool, his long hair and eye patch creating a seminal image. At every turn he is confronted with an "I heard you were dead" greeting, which does not appear to surprise him. Dismissively swatting off attackers with either fists or assorted weapons, he is only strained by the impossible time limit imposed on his mission by Hauk.

The secondary cast brings together a clutch of respected veterans comfortable in schlocky surroundings. Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, and Donald Pleasence add plenty of esteemed heft, and spout their lines with conviction but without enjoying much character evolution.

Escape From New York is a joyride through the urban jungle of a dismal future. The overarching idea may be more interesting than the details, but the taxi trip is lively all the same.

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Movie Review: Pretty In Pink (1986)

A high school comedy, romance and drama wrapped into a pink package, Pretty In Pink delves into the politics of love across social class divides, and finds real teenagers grappling with the details of growing up.

Andie (Molly Ringwald) comes from a lower income family and lives on the wrong side of the tracks with her father Jack (Harry Dean Stanton), who has not yet recovered from being abandoned by his wife. Andie is clever, resourceful and takes on the responsibility of keeping her father somewhat functional. At a high school dominated by rich kids, Andie fends off the sexual advances of the lecherous Steff (James Spader), but harbours a crush on his shy friend Blane (Andrew McCarthy). Both Steff and Blane come from monied families and social norms dictate that they stay away from poor girls like Andie. Meanwhile, Andie's best friend since childhood is the extroverted Duckie (Jon Cryer). He is deeply infatuated with her, but she just considers him a reliable if sometimes annoying buddy.

Blane finds the courage to approach Andie and they start dating. Steff is incredulous that his best friend is associating with what he considers an unworthy girl, while Duckie is heartbroken that the love of his life has eyes for someone else. With the big night of the prom approaching, Andie finds herself at the centre of a turbulent romantic drama with ripple effects disturbing established expectations.

Written by John Hughes, directed by Howard Deutch, and packed with new wave music from the likes of The Psychedelic Furs, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and New Order, Pretty In Pink is a cultural milestone. It followed on the heels of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, as Hughes established himself the dean of smart high school films, with Molly Ringwald his primary muse and a generational role model. Andrew McCarthy's presence helps to classify Pretty In Pink as part of the loosely defined 1980s brat pack series of films.

The story itself is a simple riff on Romeo and Juliet, with teenage emotions exaggerated by throbbing hormones and the intensity of the high school experience. Pretty In Pink may be a touch over-scrubbed. Andie is just a shade too perfect, Blane carries a hint of white knight, and Duckie's individualistic free spirit at times reaches into comic relief territory. The ending (changed from the original intent) caters more to fairy tale fantasies rather than gritty reality.

But Hughes again demonstrates his unusually high level of respect for many his characters, with Andie, Duckie, Blane and Jack all developed into rounded people worth knowing. Even Andie's friend and boss at the mall record store Iona (a sparkly Annie Potts) benefits from creditable depth. And the characters all come to life within an efficient 96 minute package.

Through his characters and with a mix of humour and pathos driven by the thumping soundtrack, Hughes delves into some of his favourite issues, including the fuzzy borders between friendship and love, the cliques that dominate high school social interaction, and building difficult bridges across chasms of wealth and privilege. Other than Jack, this is a discovery world made up exclusively of teens, the school teachers a mere inconvenience to be navigated on the road to understanding the truths that define adulthood.

Molly Ringwald is at her best, her subtle expressions a constant source of critical embellishment. Ringwald narrows her eyes, cocks her head and purses her mouth just so, never over elaborating and always with the quizzical innocence of a mature teenager walking the tightrope towards becoming a grown-up. Andie loves pink; Ringwald adds the texture, shades and patterns to bring the one colour to cheerful life.

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Movie Review: The Pledge (2001)

A thoughtful psychological crime drama, The Pledge plays with a patient mood while grappling with a brutal murder and the search for the mysterious predator.

In Reno, Nevada, police detective Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) is retiring. On his last working day, the brutalized body of a young blonde girl named Ginny is discovered in a snowy field. Jerry pledges to the victims' mother (Patricia Clarkson) that no matter what, he will bring the murderer to justice. Toby (Benicio del Toro), a dimwitted vagabond aboriginal, is arrested and detective Stan Krolak (Aaron Eckhart) extracts a confession from him, declaring the case closed.

Jerry doubts that Toby is the killer, and after retirement he continues his informal investigation, interviewing Ginny's grandmother Annalise (Vanessa Redgrave); the victim's best friend at school; and the father (Mickey Rourke) of another young blonde girl who met the same fate as Ginny. He gains a vague picture of the killer's car model and colour, and a murky connection between the crimes and porcupines.

Jerry purchases a gas station along the main highway in the rural area where he believes the next murder may happen. As the months pass, he befriends single mom Lori (Robin Wright Penn), who has a young blonde daughter Chrissy (Pauline Roberts) about the same age as the previous victims. Gradually, Jerry starts to encounter men who could be suspects. But Jerry is also hearing voices in his head, and may be starting to lose his grip on reality.

Directed by Sean Penn, The Pledge is an adaptation of the Friedrich Dürrenmatt book. This is a film that takes a deep breath from the surrounding landscape, and focusses on characters, atmosphere and emotion. There is little action that takes place on screen, but plenty that goes on in the thoughts, fears, and hopes of Jerry Black as he tries to fulfill the promise he made to the distraught mother of a young victim.

Penn's pacing is deliberate, but nevertheless engrossing. Within the forgotten back road setting where time is slow, towns are small, cars are old and technology is outdated, the film is packed with tiny unsettling moments, indications that all is not well, neither in the rural community stalked by a vicious child killer, nor in Jerry's mind. Jerry could be suffering from old-age, post-retirement emotional turmoil, the stress of his pledge, or something else altogether more serious. Penn provides hints, but never any clear resolutions. What is for sure is that some danger is lurking and closing in, and Jerry is welcoming, almost eager to face his nemesis. Whether or not he is ready is another question.

While The Pledge unfolds on its own terms towards a rich and rumpled conclusion, it does suffer from almost too much silence, as the details of Jerry's deliberate actions are sacrificed in search of style and a brooding aesthetic.

Jack Nicholson provides a thankfully subdued performance, staying well within himself despite the mounting stress. Jerry Black is a stoic, calculating character, well past the days of running after suspects and now more interested in laying an elaborate trap and waiting for the right time to pounce. Nicholson conveys a man under self-imposed pressure, with his judgement increasingly clouded. He may or may not be using Lori and Chrissy as a lure; he likely does not quite know anymore whether his need for a family is in conflict with the burning desire to solve a crime.

In support, almost every one-scene role is brought to life by a prominent actor. In addition to Clarkson, del Toro, Eckhart, Wright Penn, Rourke and Redgrave, Helen Mirren makes an appearance as a psychiatrist, Harry Dean Stanton is the original owner of the gas station purchased by Jerry, and Sam Shepard is a police detective.

The Pledge weaves a spell and luxuriates in its foggy density, as much a crime mystery as a thought-provoking sojourn to the place where promises become obsessions.

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Movie Review: Alien (1979)

A suspense and gore horror movie set in deepest space, Alien is genre-melding classic that redefined the limits of science fiction, launched the career of Sigourney Weaver, and hatched a long-running franchise.

The commercial freighter Nostromo is heading back to Earth on a months-long journey, carrying 20 million tons of ore mined on distant planets. The crew of seven consists of Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), Warrant Officer Ripley (Weaver), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Engineering Technician Brett (Harry Dean Stanton). They are supposed to sleep through most of the journey, but halfway to Earth they are unexpectedly awakened by Mother, the on-board master computer, when Nostromo receives what appears to be a distress signal from a nearby planet.

Dallas, Kane and Lambert descend to the surface of the mysterious planet and discover the remains of a mammoth alien space ship, and deep within it large organic pods harbouring a form of alien life. When Kane gets too close to one of the pods, a small slimy alien being jumps out and attaches itself to his face, crashing through his helmet. Although Ripley insists that the immobilized Kane should be quarantined, Ash ignores her and allows him back on board with the alien still attached. Although Kane appears to make a remarkable recovery, the horror is just beginning, and the Nostromo is soon infected with an ugly, highly intelligent, fast moving, viciously lethal, rapidly growing alien, intent on killing off the crew.

Director Ridley Scott creates an unglamourous, utilitarian environment on board the Nostromo, dominated by endless dank corridors, large industrial equipment, finicky strobe lights, grease stains, oozing leaks, and endless places to hide. Awash in dark murky colours, space exploration is no longer an exciting adventure with lightsabers, laser guns and wars between the planets; it's just mundane soul-destroying blue collar work, and the crew are essentially long distance truck drivers doing their job, bickering, complaining about work conditions and arguing about their pay and bonus.

Within this routine Scott drops in an intruder species that has evolved to survive and kill with maximum efficiency, and Alien draws enormous strength from the lack of symmetry in the ensuing conflict. The crew are beset by infighting and lack of mutual respect, and are definitely not equipped to defend themselves. The alien is nimble, brutal, and soon, very large. It's not a fair fight, there is no help on the way, and nowhere to escape. The suspense is immediate, and Scott makes the most of it. As Dallas orders his team to fan out and hunt down the alien within the grim bowels of the ship, it is painfully apparent that the hunters are the prey, and they know it.

While Alien is dominated by long periods of building suspense, it is punctuated by short, sharp, often gory punctuation marks, Scott sprinkling into his movie several highly effective and memorable scenes of horror that are forever embedded into the cultural landscape. The alien latching itself onto Kane's head is just the beginning. There is a creature birth, a pesky cat, a robot meltdown, and a final confrontation where horror and suspense come together at close quarters, human and alien facing off both knowing that only one can survive.

Scott enhances the impact of the film by quickly establishing a distinct character for every crew member, the opening 45 minutes both setting the context and defining the essential traits of the seven-person team. Dallas is decisive but mostly concerned about steering the ship back to Earth. Kane is thoughtful, Ash scientifically inquisitive and not beyond breaching protocol to satisfy his curiosity. Lambert is a follower while Ripley understands the importance of respecting well-established regulations and not afraid of standing up for what she believes is right. Parker and Brett are resourceful around the ship's mechanical components, but see themselves as separate and a class below the other five. When confronted by a determined common enemy, the individuality of the crew members heightens the sense of dread.

Sigourney Weaver's Ripley starts on the periphery and gradually moves to the centre of the movie, and by the end Ripley emerges as the unlikely crew leader, willing to sacrifice the mission to ensure some measure of survival. She would return in future episodes to confront her demons, as of course would many aliens. Alien is an irresistible start to a conflict between the species, the Nostromo a ship that stumbled onto humanity's most formidable enemy.

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The Movies Of Harry Dean Stanton

All movies starring Harry Dean Stanton and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Wrong Man (1956, uncredited)

The Proud Rebel (1958)

How The West Was Won (1962, uncredited)

In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Cisco Pike (1971)

Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Straight Time (1978)

Alien (1979)

Private Benjamin (1980)

Escape From New York (1981)

One From The Heart (1982)

Christine (1983)

Repo Man (1984)

Paris, Texas (1984)

Red Dawn (1984)

Pretty In Pink (1986)

The Green Mile (1999)

The Pledge (2001)

Anger Management (2003, uncredited)

You, Me, And Dupree (2006, uncredited)

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

The Last Stand (2013, uncredited)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Straight Time (1978)

A fine example of street-level 1970s filmmaking, Straight Time presents a downcast story of a man looking for a break but unable to escape his past. Dustin Hoffman delivers a gritty performance as an ex-con briefly tasting freedom but finding the lawful life most unwelcoming.

Max Dembo (Hoffman) is released from prison after serving a six year sentence for armed robbery. He makes a seemingly genuine attempt to earn an honest living despite the bullying presence of his parole officer Earl Frank (M. Emmet Walsh). Max meets Jenny (Theresa Russell) at an employment office, and they start a tentative relationship as he secures a grimy apartment and an unglamorous job at a canning factory.

But an unfortunate encounter with Willy (Gary Busey), a former colleague from his criminal days, derails all of Max's effort to go straight, and lands him on the wrong side of Earl's intentions. Max snaps, humiliates Earl by chaining him to a fence on a freeway median, and slips back into a life of crime. With Jerry Schue (Harry Dean Stanton) as a partner, he embarks on a crime wave that soon turns bloody.

The ease with which Max get back to grips with a life of hold-ups, guns, greed, shady characters and murder betrays his earlier attempts to reintegrate into society. Earl's boorishness was just the first in what would have been many obstacles for Max to overcome to go straight, and his tendency for violence and comfort with brutality are clear indicators that he never really stood a chance. It is to Hoffman's credit that for the first part of the film, we believe that his struggle for civility is well intentioned, and this makes his about-face and headlong dive back into violence a memorably jarring transition.

M. Emmet Walsh is deliciously hateable, a man whose instinctive mistrust of ex-cons proves to be both well-placed and a self-perpetuating stance. Gary Busey nails Willy as a dim-witted, jovial bear of a man, a victim since the day nature handed out intelligence. Smarter but no less ill-fated is Harry Dean Stanton's Jerry, a reluctant rifle man, unable to resist the buzz of the hold-up but equally unable to control Max's excesses. Kathy Bates appears in a small but memorable role as Willy's wife.

Theresa Russell's Jenny is fresh-faced and innocent, a 1960's left-over deep into the desperate 1970's. Her character is the only odd fit in the movie, Jenny's desperation to fall for and then stay with a man having a shadowy past and no future prospects left unexplained.

Director Ulu Grosbard finds the more dank corners of Los Angeles to place Max's story, easily overcoming the absence of New York by further degrading Max in the city of supposed dreams and opportunity. Grosbard keeps Max at the centre of the story and the enigmatic Hoffman in the middle of the frame, with no chance to escape to the edges of his natural tendencies.

Straight Time is a story of lost hope and preordained destiny. There may be a willingness to change the course of a life, but sometimes the gravitational pull of history determines the future.

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