Movie Review: Midway (1976)

Genre: Historical World War Two Action  

Director: Jack Smight  

Starring: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, James Coburn, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Edward Albert  

Running Time: 131 minutes  

Synopsis: It's 1942, and the United States Navy is weakened and reeling after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune) wants to press Japan's advantage and plots an attack on the Midway Atoll in the Pacific. A cryptographic unit led by Commander Rochefort (Hal Holbrook) breaks enough of the Japanese code to allow Admiral Nimitz (Henry Fonda) to plan a high-risk ambush, committing all of the Navy's aircraft carriers. The trusted Captain Matthew Garth (Charlton Heston) is assigned to the USS Yorktown, along with his son Lieutenant Thomas Garth (Edward Albert). With both countries holding nothing back, tense surveillance maneuvers precede an epic battle, with the fate of the Pacific War at stake.

What Works Well: This is a grim-faced and square-jawed recreation of the seminal World War Two naval battle, filled with star presence and impressive hardware. The storytelling represents both sides and seeks the small details that shape history, including a broken radio preventing a crucial transmission, malfunctioning electronics resulting in lost torpedo bombs, and crucial battlefield decisions made within the fog of war and riding on gut instinct. Director Jack Smight admirably translates unfolding battle tactics into comprehensible plot points.

What Does Not Work As Well: A wedged-in romance between Lieutenant Garth and his interned Japanese-American lover is a clunky distraction. Equally clumsy is a hodgepodge of ineloquently inserted historical footage borrowed from other Hollywood productions and unrelated battles. Some stars like Robert Mitchum and particularly James Coburn lend their presence to just a few scenes before cashing their cheques.

Key Quote:

Admiral Nimitz (to Captain Garth): We can't trade them carrier for carrier, Matt.

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Movie Review: The Americanization Of Emily (1964)

Genre: War Drama Comedy Romance

Director: Arthur Hiller

Starring: James Garner, Julie Andrews, James Coburn, Melvyn Douglas

Running Time: 115 minutes

Synopsis: In London of 1944, D-Day preparations are underway. The US Navy's Lieutenant Charlie Madison (James Garner) manages logistics for Admiral Jessup (Melvyn Douglas), who is concerned that the Navy's war efforts are underappreciated. A charming womanizer and admitted coward, Charlie starts a romance with Emily Barham (Julie Andrews), a military pool driver who believes in notions of honour and sacrifice. When the ailing Jessup demands a propaganda film of the Normandy invasion, Charlie and his colleague Lieutenant "Bus" Cummings (James Coburn) are thrust uncomfortably close to the front lines.

What Works Well: The Paddy Chayefsky adaptation of William Bradford Huie's novel is full of sharp intellectual debate, delivered with cynical conviction by characters navigating the turmoil of World War Two. Themes include the contrast between the American and English perspectives on the war; the value and exploitation of service and honor as opposed to practical individual survival objectives; and the preoccupation with optics and finance plaguing the military's leadership. In a sexually liberated milieu, Julie Andrews as Emily is a bright light amidst the uniforms, representing British resilience in the face of personal loss and an American cultural invasion.

What Does Not Work As Well: The multiple competing narrative ambitions result in plot threads being abandoned for long stretches. The tonal shifts between romance, philosophizing, and outright cynicism are often jarring, with several characters recalibrating beliefs according to the whims of the script. Some of the dialogue exchanges are theatrically wordy. 

Conclusion: A whip-smart and well-rounded commentary on war's conundrums.



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Movie Review: Affliction (1997)

Genre: Character Drama

Director: Paul Schrader

Starring: Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek, Willem Dafoe

Running Time: 114 minutes

Synopsis: Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) is the nominal police presence in a small and snow-covered New Hampshire town. Divorced and failing to reconnect with his young daughter, Wade suffers from a short temper and lingering trauma due to childhood abuse he suffered at the hands of his father Glen (James Coburn). Wade confides in his Boston-based brother Rolfe (Willem Dafoe) and girlfriend Margie (Sissy Spacek), but the mysterious death of a hunter in the woods followed by the death of Wade's mother - plus a persistent toothache - combine to test his limits.

What Works Well: Director and writer Paul Schrader adapts the Russell Banks book with an emphasis on mood and milieu. Camouflaged as either a crime mystery or a custody crisis, this is a carefully constructed character study about the persistent weight of a dreadful past and a disappointing present. Nick Nolte's rumbling presence projects a losing battle between civilized behaviour and the continuity of abuse, with James Coburn's domineering and unapologetic caveman attributes casting a long shadow. Accompanied by an ominous music score, the Paul Sarossy cinematography captures a frigid middle-of-nowhere New England town where the rusting police cars don't even carry decals, and the locals antagonize each other because there is not much else to do.

What Does Not Work As Well: The narration is unnecessary, and both Willem Dafoe and Sissy Spacek are underutilized. Despite a healthy running time, the postscript is overloaded.

Conclusion: Emotions simmer underneath frigid exteriors.



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Movie Review: Firepower (1979)

Genre: Crime Action Thriller

Director: Michael Winner

Starring: James Coburn, Sophia Loren, O.J. Simpson, Eli Wallach, Anthony Franciosa

Running Time: 104 minutes

Synopsis: Wealthy New York socialite Adele Tasca (Sophia Loren) seeks revenge when her husband, a medical researcher, is assassinated. Suspicions centre on reclusive criminal billionaire Karl Stegner, believed hiding in Antigua. The FBI's Frank Hull (Vincent Gardenia) leans on shady businessman Sal Hyman (Eli Wallach) to bring fixer Jerry Fanon (James Coburn) out of retirement. Fanon and his colleague Catlett (O.J. Simpson) are hired to find and capture Stegner alive, but their target will prove elusive.

What Works Well: Director Michael Winner delivers action set-pieces, explosions, and chases on land, at sea, and in the air, at regular intervals and in sparkling Caribbean locations. James Coburn is a commanding presence in a role rejected by both Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. Instead of acting, Sophia Loren settles for posing in a succession of fetching outfits. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The unnecessarily complicated plot lacks any emotional depth and quickly becomes an impossible-to-follow, going-through-the-motions exercise. Useless distractions include Fanon's body-double, the entirety of Eli Wallach's role, Adele randomly switching her affiliation back and forth, and a brother-in-law side-story. The secondary bad guys are uninteresting and the real villain is kept under wraps, robbing the action of a compelling counterpoint.

Conclusion: Noisy, attractive, and empty.

  

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Movie Review: Ride Lonesome (1959)

A routine but robust western, Ride Lonesome is a modest package delivered with minimal fuss. 

In rugged desert terrain, veteran bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) arrests fugitive Billy John (James Best), but not before Billy sends his men to fetch help from his brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef). Ben has a multi-day journey to escort Billy to Santa Cruz, and at a rest stop operated by Carrie Lane (Karen Steele) and her husband, Ben and Billy encounter outlaw Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts) and his sidekick Whit (James Coburn, in his screen debut).

Ben and Sam create an uneasy temporary alliance with a common objective of delivering Billy to justice, Sam intent on securing an amnesty in the process. Once Mr. Lane is confirmed as dead the group continues the trip to Santa Cruz, and have to fight off an attack by tribal warriors intent on kidnapping Carrie. Frank and his men are soon in pursuit, and with Ben choosing the long and slow trails, Sam starts to suspect that Ben's real target is Frank, with Billy being used as a lure.

The sixth of seven westerns directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott (who co-produced the films with Harry Joe Brown, hence the "Ranown Cycle" label applied to the series), Ride Lonesome is written by their frequent collaborator Burt Kennedy. Clocking in at an efficient 73 minutes, the film is a compact effort, never threatening to rise much above budget and talent limitations, but also easily maintaining a basic level of engagement and competency.

Majestic CinemaScope photography and sometimes clumsy editing summarize the film's ambitions and constraints. On close examination the plot makes little sense, and the portrayal of the Mescalero natives is particularly obtuse: their attack consists of riding in circles to offer themselves as best possible targets, and this after their Chief offers a horse as a trade for Carrie. But the film does work its way to a stirring climax, Brigade's real intentions revealed in a final confrontation with Frank. The jagged bond between Brigade and Boon is another steady source of spiky macho posturing with multiple possible outcomes.

The elemental dialogue matches the stiff performances. Kennedy's script stays in clipped economy class, and Scott, showing all of his 61 years, appears particularly uninterested in expressing any emotion other than cold and stoic. Pernell Roberts breathes more life into the Sam Boone role, while Lee Van Cleef is largely wasted: the seemingly critical character of Frank appears in all of two scenes. Karen Steele brings plenty of incongruous glamour to the desert, Boetticher not restraining any of the salivatory ogling by the sweaty men in her company.

Ending with an unforgettably fearsome image of a fiery cleansing, Ride Lonesome also rides straight and true, but along a narrow trail.



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Movie Review: The Internecine Project (1974)

A conspiracy thriller, The Internecine Project features an innovative multiple murder plot hampered by thin characterizations and a flimsy context.

Celebrated American economics professor Robert Elliot (James Coburn) is visiting London, where he reconnects with reporter Jean Robertson (Lee Grant), his ex-lover. Shady businessman E.J. Farnsworth (Keenan Wynn) then offers Elliot a high-ranking position in the US government, but only if Elliot cleans up his side-business in industrial espionage. This requires Elliot to make sure four people die in short order.

The intended victims are misogynist masseur Albert (Harry Andrews), high-priced prostitute Christina (Christiane Krüger), tweedy government official Alex (Ian Hendry) and sonic wave scientist David (Michael Jayston). Elliot ingeniously arranges for the four targets to kill each other in one night, but not everything will go according to plan.

The Internecine Project does not lack for talent on either side of the camera. The film is co-written by Jonathan Lynn and Barry Levinson, who also co-produced, with Geoffrey Unsworth in charge of cinematography. Director Ken Hughes is always on the lookout for the interesting angle, and with Coburn and Grant providing star power, the basic ingredients are impressive.

But this British production is limited by a singular focus on executing a clever series of sequential murders, at the expense of everything else. The initial setup is sketched in at best, and Hughes dismissively waves at the espionage and corporate corruption plot. The four victims-to-be are barely introduced before Elliot winds them up and sends them on their way. As a result the cold mechanics of murder are much more interesting than the people doing the killing and getting killed, and this is not a good thing.

Worse still is a remarkable underutilization of star power. Grant as reporter Jean Robertson is reduced to the role of irritant in the film's second half, her half-baked journalistic assignment subsumed by whiny interruptiveness. Coburn is confined to a dark office, counting telephone rings and ticking off a checklist with a painted expression of concern.

With a late twist-in-the-tail similarly botched and creating no emotional impact, The Internecine Project leaves a trail of forgettable dead bodies and little else.

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Movie Review: Duck, You Sucker! (1971)

A sprawling spaghetti (or more specifically, Zapata) western about reluctant revolutionaries, Duck, You Sucker! is Sergio Leone's most complex commentary on the futility of chasing a cause.

In Mexico circa 1913, Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) is a peasant bandit leading a gang made up of his family members in robbing and raping society's elite. Juan meets John (Seán) Mallory (James Coburn), an ex-Irish revolutionary wanted for murder back in England. John is an explosives expert, a skillset that appeals to Juan, who dreams of robbing the Mesa Verde bank. The two men initially clash, Juan driven by personal greed and John haunted by memories of his failed exploits in Ireland.

Although neither man is interested in the rumbling Mexican revolution, they team up with Pancho Villa supporters led by Dr. Villega (Romolo Valli). John cajoles Juan into freeing a large number of political prisoners, and Juan becomes a hero of the revolution. With their friendship growing, the two men ambush a convoy of government troops commanded by the stone-faced Colonel Reza (Antoine Saint-John). Retribution is swift and Juan pays a high price as the countryside is soaked in the blood of massacres and reprisals, which only leads to more violence.

An awe-inspiring yet flawed and sometimes awkward 157 minutes about friendship, regret, cynicism, and small personal agendas caught up in bigger events, Duck, You Sucker! (also known as A Fistful Of Dynamite and Once Upon A Time...The Revolution) marks Leone's first departure from the warmth of western mythology. This time war is a useless and bloody hell, and no individuals can escape the horror. A friendship can be forged under fire, but ultimately countless poor people will be slaughtered, and not much will change.

After having directed four films in the five years between 1964 and 1968, Leone took three years off and returned with a new and ambitious agenda to juxtapose the ideological winds of change sweeping through the streets of 1960s Europe with the brutalist Fascist imagery of the 1930s through the story of a simple friendship. Choosing a more modern western setting of early 20th century Mexico also brought Duck, You Sucker! closer to modern themes of struggle against corrupt regimes, and Leone set out to de-romanticize the concept of revolution.

Opening with a quote from Mao Tse-tung through to an impassioned speech by Juan asserting that the poor die and nothing really changes in revolutionary upheaval, Duck, You Sucker! is a jaundiced view of political change. The enemies of Juan and John in the form of Colonel Reza (Antoine Saint-John) and Governor Don Jaime (Franco Graziosi ) are poorly drawn and barely defined, either as a narrative weakness or intentionally because the real enemy is the resilient system of corruption where the faces and names at the top can be replaced but the suffering of the masses continues.

Again either as harsh cinematic shorthand or as an intentional intellectual challenge, Leone counteracts the film's length with several jarring scene transitions, jumping from the epic bridge ambush to the aftermath of a devastating cave massacre and then an act of gross betrayal overworking a firing squad under the rain. Each one of the three scenes is a tense emotional steamroller delivered with lyrical barbarism, and they mercilessly follow each other, demanding that viewers actively and quickly fill the gaps between the euphoria of victory and ravages of reprisals.

And just when it seems there is no more emotional toxicity to unleash, Leone conjures up a scene straight out of Fascist hell. Impossibly fluid overhead camera work witnesses soldiers slaughtering hundreds of peasants in a series of parallel concrete death channels. By all means have your revolution, but please witness the large scale butchery unleashed against the innocent.

But at its heart Duck, You Sucker! is also a story about an unlikely friendship between two men brought to life by fine if chequered performances. One or both of the two lead actors are in every scene, and they create two enduring characters. Rod Steiger channels his inner Tuco and over emotes his way through the film as the talkative and frequently sputtering Juan, struggling as much against excessive sweat as he does against poverty. James Coburn provides balance with a laid back performance as John, but both men struggle with inconsistent accent application.

The turmoil of Duck, You Sucker! is set to one of Ennio Morricone's most innovative music scores, the main "Sean, Sean, Sean" (John's Irish name) theme melding into a soulful and regretful melody carrying the echo of lost idealism. Throughout his Mexico adventure John has soft-focus flashbacks to his time in Ireland, where a convoluted romance and friendship turned sour, with outcomes that forever changed his attitudes about honour and sacrifice.

Fed up with the high personal cost of chasing causes, now he just wants to simplify his life's work to blowing up whatever obstacles come in his way. As John is inexorably drawn into his next revolution, this time he is under no illusions. He will dispassionately help others make progress towards upheaval and agony using the biggest explosions he can wire up, his soul already blissfully exhausted.

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Movie Review: Cross Of Iron (1977)

A World War Two epic, Cross Of Iron examines German class warfare on the bloody front lines of the global conflict.

It's 1943 on the Eastern Front, and on the Crimean Peninsula the German Army is retreating under pressure from Russian forces. Sergeant Steiner (James Coburn) is a legendary and decorated platoon leader, one of the few remaining hopes for some battlefield success. His commander Colonel Brandt (James Mason) along with the jaded Captain Kiesel (David Warner) give Steiner plenty of leeway, but all this changes when Prussian Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) arrives at the front having requested a transfer from France.

Stransky is from a privileged background and knows nothing about combat, but covets the Iron Cross for bravery in the field. He immediately clashes with Steiner, who does not hide his disdain for the entitled officer class. A Russian assault and German counterattack end with Steiner wounded and sent to a rehabilitation hospital, while Stransky falsely lays claim to the medal, further straining the relationship between the two men. But with the German front disintegrating, personal conflicts will merge into a chaotic retreat and improvised rearguard action.

An adaptation of the 1955 Willi Heinrich book The Willing Flesh, Cross Of Iron is a stunning condemnation of war and an unrelenting front line experience. For 133 intense minutes director Sam Peckinpah recreates what it means to be under a continuous barrage, with almost every scene taking place either in forward command posts under the regular thud of landing mortar shells or right on the chaotic and gruesome front lines, the vicious battles often culminating in hand-to-hand combat.

Even when Steiner is wounded and dispatched to a hospital for recuperation, the war travels with him. His concussion and shell shock result in disturbing hallucinations, the images of war flashing through his head and distorting reality. He is surrounded by soldiers who have lost limbs and parts of their faces, and the condescending visits to the hospital by high-ranking officers only add to Steiner's sense of disgust.

Between the frequent and brilliantly conceived scenes of combat, Cross Of Iron settles down for conversations about class, politics, manipulation and the futility of war. Ironically Steiner and Stransky share a hatred for the Führer, Steiner because of his natural unease with authority while Stransky cares much more for power derived from historical privilege than race-driven nationalistic politics.

But the common ground between the two men ends there. Steiner's core belief is that men create their destiny by their own actions, while Stransky's entire being is governed by family status, and the resulting schism between the two men cannot be reconciled. Steiner defines himself with battlefield heroics and true leadership, and Stransky lives down to his reputation by quickly exploiting the secrets of men around him (in this case, homosexuality) for his own malevolent purposes.

Meanwhile Brandt is caught in the middle, a pragmatic officer all too aware of Germany's doomed near-future, and Kiesel is a would-be intellectual caught in the wrong place at the wrong time in history, duty-bound to serve but no longer able or willing to conceal his dark mood of resigned self-pity.

The performances match the grandeur of the production. In the lead role James Coburn has rarely been better, and brings to Steiner a confident arrogance flowing from steely self-belief. Maximilian Schell is the perfect foil, and ensures Stransky's inner sleaze oozes easily to the surface.

With interpersonal tension raging and a front line collapsing, Peckinpah finds poignant moments and images of despair. Steiner's platoon adopt a captured Russian boy soldier, and his fate is all the confirmation Steiner needs for the madness of war. Later, Steiner's platoon is betrayed and lost behind enemy lines, and after an arduous journey through Russian lines, including a bloody tangle with an all-female group of Russian army nurses, their worst enemy will prove to be their own army.

Steiner gets his revenge the only way he knows how, by grabbing his foe, grabbing his rifle, and marching out to "where the Iron Crosses grow". If wars have to be fought due to the delusions of the ruling class, the only alternative for men like Steiner is to join the insanity with honour intact.

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Movie Review: Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973)

A languid pursuit western, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid celebrates the end of the wild west through the eloquent story of former friends clashing from opposite sides of the law.

In 1909, ex-lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is gunned down in an ambush. In his final moments he flashes back to his quest from years earlier to capture Billy The Kid (Kris Kristofferson).

Back in 1881, Garrett is elected Sheriff of Lincoln County and mandated by powerful cattlemen and business interests to bring his old friend William "Billy The Kid" Bonney to justice. Billy refuses to leave the territory and is soon captured by Garrett and sentenced to death by hanging. But he escapes by killing deputies Bell (Matt Clark) and Olinger (R.G. Armstrong), then meanders his way to Mexico.

Governor Lew Wallace (Jason Robards) and cattleman John Chisum (Barry Sullivan) apply pressure on Garrett to get the job done. He restarts the pursuit and recruits new deputy Alamosa Bill Kermit (Jack Elam). Garrett also seeks help from Sheriff Baker (Slim Pickens) and his wife (Katy Jurado) and is joined by lawman John Poe (John Beck). Meanwhile a mysterious knifeman known only as Alias (Bob Dylan) joins Billy's men, and a showdown at the gang's Fort Sumner hideout looms.

A troubled and chaotic production that suffered from Peckinpah's excessive drinking, under-funding and faulty equipment, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid culminated in the studio butchering the released version. In 1988, Peckinpah's rough "Preview" version was released, and in 2005 a restored "Special Edition" (the subject of this review) was prepared under the supervision of editor Paul Seydor. The 2005 version salvages a beautiful mess out of the debacle.

The script by Rudy Wurlitzer is based on true events, but Peckinpah clashed with his writer and conjured up a more lyrical western centred on a friendship and rivalry echoing the classic theme of transformation from wilderness to civilization. And while the violence of the transitioning west is still bloody, Peckinpah avoids excess, sprinkling the action scenes in service of the narrative instead of using gore as a frequent shock device.

Ironically, it is the older Garrett who represents business interests and a future dominated by commerce ahead of individual spirit, while the much younger Billy carries the torch for the fearless and arrogant attitudes of the past. And given most of the film's component parts, it's remarkable that Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid gels as well as it does.

Events are intermittently explained or narrated in song by a warbling Bob Dylan, a device that somehow succeeds in the context of the film's dreamy construct. Dylan wrote Knocking On Heaven's Door for a poignant scene capturing the shock of meaningless death leaving life-long love behind. As evidence of the anarchic production, both the original release version and Peckinpah's own rough Preview left the song out, only for Seydor to rescue it in the Special Edition.

In addition to providing the soundtrack, Dylan wanders through the background of the film visibly and understandably unsure about the poorly defined role of his character Alias. Meanwhile, a perpetually smiling Kristofferson, aged 37, captures Billy's cockiness but otherwise struggles to convince as a 21 year old.

Peckinpah's pacing is sometimes erratic. A few scenes are stretched well beyond any added value, Garrett's smug interrogation of one of Billy's men in a canteena while Alias reads bean can labels a prime example. And the film is littered with numerous secondary characters, most of them contributing a single scene before disappearing.

Despite all the film's peculiarities, Peckinpah does get the overall ambiance right. With James Coburn delivering one of his most grizzled and world-weary performances, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid oozes resignation. Neither Garrett nor Billy are in any hurry to end their chase, both aware the future will arrive soon enough, and once present glories are lost there is no getting them back.

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Movie Review: The Last Of Sheila (1973)

A mystery thriller, The Last Of Sheila is clumsily mounted and poorly executed.

In Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheila is killed in an unsolved hit-and-run. A year later, her film producer husband Clinton (James Coburn) invites six members of the film world, all potential suspects in Sheila's death, to spend a week on his yacht in the Mediterranean.

The invitees are fading film director Philip (James Mason), starlet Alice (Raquel Welch) and her husband/manger Anthony (Ian McShane), talent agent Christine (Dyan Cannon), struggling writer Tom (Richard Benjamin) and his wife Lee (Joan Hackett).

Clinton introduces them to a mystery game they will play during the week, with each assigned a secret card denoting a transgression, with one to be revealed every night through a treasure hunt style contest at successive ports of call. Mishaps start to beset the yacht, and suspicions emerge that Clinton may have a sinister motive related to Sheila's death.

Directed by Herbert Ross, The Last Of Sheila is co-written by actor Anthony Perkins and musician Stephen Sondheim. The lack of writing discipline is evident in a muddled premise, lack of character development, a midway jarring change in tone, and a tired, highly illogical resolution featuring dozens of late-arriving factoids introduced in inept flashbacks. This was a troubled production beset by on-set tensions betrayed by distracted and incohesive cast performances.

The mystery, once revealed, is far beyond plausible, The Last Of Sheila falling into a trap of trying to justify a murder solely for the pleasure of the script. Along the way, the first half of the film rushes towards an ill-defined game, but only plays two out of six find-the-sinner rounds before abandoning the concept altogether in favour of a stage-bound Agatha Christie whodunnit, absent a clever detective.

The morsels of enjoyment are few and far between, and include Mason digging deep to try and salvage the outcome late in the proceedings, with the grounded Joan Hackett the only other cast member appearing to care. A clever clue appears early in the film and offers a late blip of a pulse upon re-emerging towards the otherwise limp finale.

The Last Of Sheila carries some potential, but is fumbled into the murky Mediterranean waters.

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Movie Review: Our Man Flint (1966)

A satirical James Bond-style spy spoof, Our Man Flint offers some funny moments but reeks of cheap plastic and barely developed story ideas.

The Galaxy criminal organization, led by three pacifist scientists, has devised a method to control the world's weather to demand global disarmament. In response, the member nations of the Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage (ZOWIE) under chief Cramden (Lee J. Cobb) scramble to identify an agent to stop the mayhem. They come up with Derek Flint (James Coburn), a former ace spy and now an exceptionally wealthy international playboy.

Cramden shares a choppy history with Flint but is finally able to convince him to help. Flint's investigation takes him to Marseilles and Rome. He thwarts assassination attempts by Galaxy agents Gila (Gila Golan) and Gruber (Michael St. Clair), and seduces Gila to try and identify the evildoers' secret hideout. But lying in wait is chief henchman Malcolm Rodney (Edward Mulhare), who advocates for Flint's quick elimination, and who has kidnapped Flint's four lovers to use as bargaining chips.

The idea of bumbling scientists as chief bad guys using weather events as pressure tactics while rejecting the use of guns is promising for a satire. But that's about it for bright sparks on display in this lame attempt by 20th Century Fox to cash in on the international spy craze ignited by the early Bond movies. Our Man Flint is beset by garish sets, dialogue surprisingly free from wit, and bland directing courtesy of Daniel Mann.

The action scenes are poorly staged, the scientists barely get to explain their plot, and never expose on the difference between killing innocent people by floods, volcanoes and earthquakes, as opposed to more traditional weapons of mass destruction. Some bizarre 1960s kitsch moments feature beautiful looking people playing on manicured fields or engaging in free sex at the secret hideout, but how exactly all this is supposed to fit into the plan for world domination is left up to the imagination.

Maybe it's all part of the satire to throw unrelated but hip concepts at the screen and hope some of it sticks, and Flint's four lovers not saying a meaningful word between them appears to be knowing wink at the subjugated role of women in this made-for-the-screen spy genre. Meanwhile, James Coburn is willing to partake in the festivities and brings a glint in the eye and a perpetual smile to assure everyone not to take anything seriously.

Our Man Flint is a satire of a sub-genre already on the way to satirizing itself, and a cheap-looking one at that.

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Movie Review: Payback (1999)

A tongue-in-cheek neo-noir film with a throwback 1970s edge, Payback is a rollicking fun time, filled with sharp dialogue, a smooth anti-hero and jarring violence.

A career criminal known only as Porter (Mel Gibson) has been double crossed, shot and left for dead. With his wife Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger) and partner in crime Val Resnick (Gregg Henry), Porter had just stolen $140,000 from a Chinese gang. But Lynn and Val conspire to relieve Porter of his $70,000 share, with Lynn shooting Porter in the back for good measure, upset that he was having an affair with call girl Rosie (Maria Bello). Val uses most of the money to buy his way back into a powerful criminal organization known as The Outfit, run by Carter (William Devane) and Fairfax (an uncredited James Coburn).

Porter recovers and sets about plotting his revenge with violent methods, demanding the return of his $70,000. Lynn overdoses on heroin, and Porter tracks down Val through drug dealer Stegman (David Paymer). But his exploits attract a crowd, and soon the Chinese gang, including S+M dominatrix Pearl (Lucy Liu) are on his tail, as well as two crooked cops. The closer Porter gets to Val, the more he tangles with the leadership of The Outfit, all the way up to kingpin Bronson (Kris Kristofferson).

Porter, narrating: Crooked cops. Do they come in any other way? If I'd been just a little dumber, I could have joined the force myself.

Directed and co-written by Brian Helgeland, Payback is a gritty, aggressive thriller. With a bad-guy hero carrying a kick-ass, dead-already attitude and Mel Gibson at his absolute cool peak, the film oozes danger with extreme prejudice. The story understandably stretches Porter's capabilities beyond rationality, but otherwise the mix of sardonic humour, punchy action and unconstrained ballsiness among bad guys and worse guys is triumphant.

Carter: There's an old expression that's served me well: "Do not shit where you eat."

A big part of the film's appeal is the investment made in Porter as a character. He is humanized both in his sense of honour among thieves, and through his relationship with Rosie, two flawed sinners drifting sideways until they meet each other. The oily Val Resnick is also provided with plenty of latitude to come to life as the antithesis of Porter, a criminal without scruples just looking for his version of the good life.

Carter, to Resnick: Do you understand your value to the organization, Resnick?...You're a sadist. You lack compunction. That comes in handy.

The everything-including-the-kitchen-sink elements work surprisingly well. Lucy Liu has a blast as the dominatrix turned on by violence; her depraved arousal in bed next to Resnick as he is being threatened by Porter summarizes the film's unconstrained wickedness, culminating in Porter's classic let her work quip. The gun-toting Chinese gang, the crooked cops, and the ever mounting layers of sleaze up the ladder of The Outfit all add to Payback's enjoyable insanity. Veterans William Devane, James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson glide in with mounting levels of evil smarminess.

Pearl, seductively: I've got a few minutes.
Porter: So go boil an egg.

The film's colour palette is a mixture of bleached greys, blacks and browns, appropriate for an underworld rife with backstabbing. Payback goes into the sordid corners of criminality, and lands on a pile of misanthropic revelry.

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Movie Review: Looker (1981)

A hokey science fiction thriller with just a hint of smarts, Looker predicts the coming world of CGI but is an otherwise low-budget, low-brains mess.

In Beverly Hills, plastic surgeon Dr. Larry Roberts (Albert Finney) notices an increase in already gorgeous models, including Cindy (Susan Dey), coming to him with requests for precise adjustments to their features, measured in millimeters. When three such models turn up dead, victims of badly-staged suicides, police Lieutenant Masters (Dorian Harewood) suspects Roberts as possibly having something to do with the deaths.

Roberts decides to stick close to Cindy to try and keep her safe, and starts to investigate the connection between the dead women. His probing leads him to tycoon John Reston (James Coburn), who runs a multi-billion dollar international conglomerate including a company called Digital Matrix run by his wife Jennifer Long (Leigh Taylor-Young). Roberts uncovers a nefarious plot to create perfect television ads by generating digital copies of attractive models, with a high-intensity light weapon called LOOKER (Light Ocular-Oriented Kinetic Emotive Responses) being used to clean up the residual mess.

Written and directed by Michael Crichton, Looker is a muddled little thriller that is never quite sure of its own plot. Due either to bad writing, bad editing or both, the plot borders on incomprehensible, with Crichton never fully explaining what Reston is up to, why it has to be illegal, and why the models need to die. Worse is Dr. Robert taking on all investigative and policing duties, the surgeon-as-hero proving to be as plastic as his profession. Other than suspecting the wrong guy and then showing up in the final scene, the real cops add little value.

Albert Finney and James Coburn go through the motions with minimal conviction, Susan Dey and Leigh Taylor Young deliver daytime soap worthy performances to go along with some atrocious lines of dialogue, and former pro football player Tim Rossovich zombies through the movie as an inept hitman. The much touted light pulse weapon that gives the film its name is inconsistently applied (its impact ranges from hours to seconds), its function never fully explained, and appears to significantly complicate rather than simplify the intended criminal acts.

In the absence of a coherent story Crichton passes the time creating another of his futuristic environments propelled by science-on-the-edge. The research taking place at Digital Matrix mixes measuring human psychology with computer precision, and defining the minutiae of what the brain responds do. The context of computers being capable of delivering on human desires better than humans themselves is compelling, with Cindy experiencing what it feels like to be digitized and copied, rendering the original specimen superfluous.

These are ideas worth exploring, but only in the hands of a better filmmaker. Despite a polish of sexy glitz, Looker's appeal and intellect are not even skin deep.

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Movie Review: Eraser (1996)

A big budget Arnold Schwarzenegger action extravaganza, Eraser is fresh out of new ideas and settles down to recycle the violence, heavy weaponry and attitude from many previous and better productions.

John Kruger (Schwarzenegger) is the best agent working for the Witness Security Protection Program (WITSEC), the government bureau responsible for making critical witnesses disappear before and after they testify against violent criminals. Kruger first saves the life of careless mob witness Johnny Casteleone (Robert Pastorelli), and is then assigned by his WITSEC supervisor Robert DeGuerin (James Caan) to protect Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams). She works at high tech weapons manufacturer Cyrez, and has uncovered evidence that Cyrez is illegally exporting advanced weapons to enemies of the United States.

WITSEC Chief Arthur Beller (James Coburn) advises Kruger that a lot of well-connected people will want Lee dead, and he is soon proven right. Kruger has his hands full fending off enemies, but manages to stash Lee in a New York safe house. Soon many witnesses that are supposed to be under protection turn up dead, revealing a mole within the agency and forcing DeGuerin and Kruger to swing into action to try and reach Lee before the death squads. Kruger soon realizes that he is surrounded by traitors, and as the deadline for a huge illegal weapons deal approaches, he finds an unlikely ally in Casteleone as he tries to thwart the bad guys and keep Lee alive.

John Kruger is big, strong, robotic, works alone and is pretty much indestructible. It does not matter how many times he is shot, stabbed, buried in rubble or otherwise hurt. In the very next scene his injuries are irrelevant and the mayhem continues. In short, he represents the shorthand summary of many previous Schwarzenegger characters, and he blazes through the film fending off countless enemies, shooting, maiming and overcoming villains no matter how outnumbered or hurt he may be.

Eraser is directed by Chuck Russell, and he keeps the action coming at the pace needed to satisfy the undiscerning viewer, which also conveniently covers up the numerous plot holes and disinterested acting. Caan and Coburn sleepwalk through the film, miles and years away from their era of relevance, while Vanessa Williams appears to try hard but cannot overcome a fundamental lack of ability to act. Schwarzenegger does not try to act; he just times the delivery of his one liners to maximum effect, and some of these actually work.

In terms of stunts and set-pieces, Russell does deliver a few gems amidst the prevailing and predictable silliness. There is a long free fall from a plane, a New York zoo aquarium shoot-out that involves some massive and quite hungry alligators, and a cool handheld rail gun with wall-penetrating visibility. Of course the film ends with Arnie destroying his surroundings carrying not one, but two of the massive weapons. When it's Schwarzenegger doing the erasing, only the biggest and baddest erasers will do.

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Movie review: Charade (1963)

A stylish spy thriller with a dash of humour, Charade thrives on a hip vibe generated by a crackling mystery, a stellar cast, and a cool Parisian setting.

Regina "Reggie" Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is trapped in a loveless marriage with a husband she barely knows. While she is on vacation, suave stranger Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) seems to make it a point to meet her. Reggie returns to her Paris apartment and is startled to learn her husband Charles is dead, having been thrown from a train, and has left her next to nothing. At Charles' funeral service, three grim strangers show up: Tex (James Coburn), Scobie (George Kennedy) and Gideon (Ned Glass). They all seem eager to confirm that Charles is indeed dead.

Joshua reappears and befriends Reggie, while in the following few days Tex, Scobie and Gideon start to make their menacing presence felt with veiled and obvious threats. American Embassy official Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) connects with Reggie to warn her that Charles was illegally in possession of $250,000 that belonged to the United States government, and that the three henchmen are his former crime accomplices and likely won't stop at anything to find the missing money. Reggie has no idea where her ex-husband has stashed the loot, but soon realizes that even with Joshua's help her life is in grave danger, she can trust no one, and nothing is at it seems.

The premise is simple: a plucky damsel in distress is surrounded by a throng of potentially dangerous men. The bad guys are chasing a classic MacGuffin in the form of a missing cache of World War Two money stolen by four soldiers while on a mission behind enemy lines. Elegantly directed by Stanley Donen, Charade is an engaging Hitchcockian thriller handled with a light touch, the Peter Stone screenplay (based on the 1961 short story The Unsuspecting Wife) featuring a romp through Paris with romance and humour injected in just the right amounts to brighten the mood.

The Henry Mancini music score and title song, as well as the animated opening credit sequence by Maurice Binder, announce Charade as a slick example of 1960s film making. Donen aims for chic smoothness, and achieves it through personality and pacing. Even during the more serious action and danger scenes Donen leaves no doubt Reggie will emerge unscathed, and numerous hints wink at the many plot twists. Charade unfolds like a fun trip through a handsomely-trimmed maze; there are a few surprises around some corners, but never any doubt about the final destination.

On closer examination there are plot holes to be sure, as well as some incongruous character reactions as Reggie demonstrates remarkable composure and reaches for clever quips in the face of sudden danger. The flame of romance between Joshua and Reggie also has the potential to flounder on the jagged rocks of a 25 year age difference between Grant and Hepburn. That hurdle is mostly cleared by making Reggie the romantic instigator, a stance that fits in with her relief and liberation at the end of a loveless marriage. Hepburn and Grant develop an easy chemistry and glide over the rough patches on a large dose of star charisma.

The supporting cast is deep in talent. George Kennedy waves a steel claw to good effect, James Coburn does the same with a Texan accent, and Walter Matthau adds bureaucratic oiliness. Filled with unscrupulous villains chasing a cheeky heroine, Charade wins on charm.

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Movie Review: Bite The Bullet (1975)

A western with epic ambitions to capture the drama of a 700 mile endurance race, Bite The Bullet fails on almost all fronts. While the cinematography is admirable, the plot, characters and conflicts are routine, boring and superficial.

It's 1906, and a disparate group of cowboys gather to compete in an endurance race sponsored by a newspaper, with $2,000 in prize money and plenty of side bets to spice up the pot. Rough Riders and long-time friends Sam (Gene Hackman) and Luke (James Coburn) both enter the race, although for different reasons: while Luke has bet big that he will win the race, Sam is a humanitarian who loves animals, and wants to try and help competitors stay out of trouble and ensure that horses are not abused.

Other entrants with ambitions to win include an elderly man looking for a final shot at glory (Ben Johnson), a Mexican with a toothache (Mario Arteaga), an English gentleman (Ian Bannen), the young punk Carbo (Jan-Michael Vincent), and Miss Jones (Candice Bergen), the only woman in the race. The wealthy and conniving Parker (Dabney Coleman) owns a prize horse considered the favourite, and Parker intimates that he will stop at nothing to make sure that his horse comes in first. Once the race get going, the riders face challenges from the unforgiving terrain, bandits, and each other.

While the race, inspired by a real event, provides what could have been an intriguing backdrop, the script by director Richard Brooks is far too underdeveloped to build genuine drama. Despite the presence of a stellar cast, the characters are provided with insufficient depth to become compelling people worth caring about. Some of the key central competitors, such as Luke and the Mexican, remain astoundingly vacant at the end of the 131 minutes. In contrast, the young Carbo undergoes a jarring attitudinal transformation that defies all credibility, from a cocky young gun full of bravado to a meek and respectful kid.

The film appears to have suffered a gruesome fate in the editing room, and the botched cutting may have contributed to rampant character truncation. A central premise of the film is the front-runner status of Parker's horse; the cowboy entrusted with delivering victory on this thoroughbred is not even identified as a character, and the pair conveniently but inexplicably disappear at the film's climax. The one genuinely good moment involves Ben Johnson as the unnamed Mister, recognizing that he cannot anymore compete in a young man's world and summarizing his cowboy drifter life in an affecting soliloquy.

Otherwise, Bite The Bullet provides endless scenes of horses and riders racing across the terrain, sometimes on their own, sometimes in pairs, and sometimes in artistic slow motion. The cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr. makes excellent use of the varied landscape, and conveys a sense of lonely isolation as horse and rider streak across the wide western expanse. But nice imagery of panting horses is not nearly enough to sustain a long film. Bite The Bullet stumbles, falls and bites the dust.

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