Movie Review: The Secret Invasion (1964)

Genre: World War 2 Action  

Director: Roger Corman  

Starring: Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Henry Silva  

Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1943, British Major Richard Mace (Stewart Ganger) assembles a group of imprisoned convicts for a secret mission to open a new front in the Balkans, as a distraction from the upcoming Allied invasion of Sicily. The recruits include the cerebral Rocca (Raf Vallone), cold-blooded killer Durrell (Henry Silva), explosives expert Scanlon (Mickey Rooney), and forger Fell (Edd Byrnes). They secretly land near Dubrovnik, connect with local Partisans, and attempt to free a key target from Nazi captivity.

What Works Well: This war-mission-on-a-budget borrows ideas from The Guns Of Navarone and The Great Escape, and seeds the inspiration for The Dirty Dozen. Director Roger Corman ensures a base level of competence despite limited resources, and the cast contains enough quality (if not necessarily stellar talent) to maintain interest.

What Does Not Work As Well: The plot gets needlessly complicated, including a prolonged stint within a prison that features endless momentum-defeating skulking. The narrative choices range from bizarre (Rocca's finger clicking) to misguided (handing the stone-faced Henry Silva a half-hearted attempt at romance, complete with a cruel mishap involving a baby). Corman confuses noisy, over-long, poorly-staged, and clumsily-edited battle scenes for excitement, a mess made worse by the inexplicable appearance (and sometimes subsequent disappearance) of hundreds of soldiers, first from one side (the Germans), then the other (the Partisans), and then yet another (the Italians).

Key Quote:

Major Mace: Abandoned?! This mission will be abandoned only when all six of us are dead!

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Movie Review: Code Of Silence (1985)

Genre: Action  

Director: Andrew Davis  

Starring: Chuck Norris, Henry Silva  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: After a violent gang-on-gang drug den raid, Chicago mobster Luis Comacho (Henry Silva) seeks revenge on the rival outfit of Tony Luna (Mike Genovese). Tough-as-nails Police Sergeant Eddie Cusack (Chuck Norris) anticipates the wave of violence and tries to protect Luna's innocent daughter Diana (Molly Hagan). His job is complicated by tensions within the police force, where past-it Detective Cragie (Ralph Foody) has planted evidence to cover-up the accidental killing of a bystander. 

What Works Well: The casting of Chuck Norris and Henry Silva on opposite sides of the law creates an epic duel of the expressionless stonefaces, adding macho joy to the bouncy vibe of this action-packed thriller. Director Andrew Davis rises well above the acting talent, budget, and plot, using numerous Chicago locations to stage competent and sometimes clever set-pieces, stunts, and chases. The likes of Dennis Farina and John Mahoney lurk deep within the cast list, although they are upstaged by a clunky-but-still-cute and heavily armed police robot on wheels.

What Does Not Work As Well: All the characters are in-you-face stock representations of good and evil without a visible morsel of depth, context, background, or self-awareness. It's never quite clear if the relationship between Eddie and Diana is supposed to be parental or something ickier.

Key Quote:

Eddie: When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you.

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Movie Review: Above The Law (1988)

Genre: Action  

Director: Andrew Davis  

Starring: Steven Seagal, Sharon Stone, Pam Grier, Henry Silva  

Running Time: 99 minutes  

Synopsis: Martial arts expert Nico Toscani (Steven Seagal) is now a Chicago police detective, having turned his back on the CIA after witnessing the agency's corruption in the Vietnam War jungles. Nico is married to Sara (Sharon Stone) and father to a newborn baby, while his partner Jacks (Pam Grier) is about to be promoted. He receives a tip about an illegal explosives shipment, but FBI agents arrive to sideline his investigation. Nico persists, and uncovers a conspiracy involving an assassination plot, illegal immigrants hiding in a church basement, and his former CIA colleagues.

What Works Well: In his screen debut, stone-faced and soft-spoken Steven Seagal carries undeniable swagger and immediately establishes himself as an upright action hero. His one-against-many martial arts battles almost rescue the movie, while Henry Silva as the main antagonist matches Seagal in the duel of single-expression faces.

What Does Not Work As Well: In the routine gallop from one flat action scene to the next, the plot is complicated to the point of incomprehension, the threads of multiple conspiracies tangled into a bundle of distraction. Too many samey set-pieces feature screeching car tires and undefined bad guys emptying their weapons at the indestructible hero, and the acting talent on display across the cast is rudimentary.

Conclusion: Below the line.



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Movie Review: Alligator (1980)

Genre: Monster Horror

Director: Lewis Teague

Starring: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Henry Silva

Running Time: 94 minutes

Synopsis: In 1968, 14-year-old Marisa purchases a tiny pet alligator, but her father flushes it down the toilet. 12 years later, Detective David Madison (Robert Forster) starts to investigate the discovery of severed body parts, and a reporter (Bart Braverman) unwittingly reveals a huge alligator living in the sewers. Madison exposes an unscrupulous pharmaceutical company illegally dumping an experimental growth hormone, and teams up with Marisa (Robin Riker), now a herpetologist, to search for the overgrown alligator. With political pressure mounting, police Chief Clark (Michael V. Gazzo) brings in ruthless big-game hunter Brock (Henry Silva) to destroy the monster.

 

What Works Well: With tongue firmly in cheek, writer John Sayles shamelessly rips-off Jaws. Here the bad-science-gone-wrong horror explanation adds doses of wry humour, with everything from Madison's thinning hairline to victims being munched in their entirety contributing to a none-too-serious (but still gory) attitude. Director Lewis Teague has an eye for the spectacular, and finds highlights in the alligator bursting out of the sewer and then gatecrashing a wedding. Michael V. Gazzo's gravely voice reaches quarry proportions, but even he is upstaged by a stone-faced Henry Silva dressed in a safari suit and mimicking an alligator's mating call.

What Does Not Work As Well: The special effects are barely passable, and some of the horror scenes (including one involving kids and a swimming pool) don't work at all. Too many samey sequences take place in the sewers, Robin Riker struggles in an underwritten role, and an overall dedication to mania defeats cohesion. The monster-is-attacking music, again cloned from Jaws, is just too familiar.

Conclusion: This low-budget but still humongous alligator chomps with a wicked smile.



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