Movie Review: The Last Voyage (1960)

Genre: Disaster Adventure

Director: Andrew L. Stone

Starring: Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, George Sanders, Edmond O'Brien, Woody Strode

Running Time: 91 minutes

Synopsis: The aging luxury ocean liner Claridon is crossing the Pacific with Captain Robert Adams (George Sanders) at the helm. The passengers include Cliff Henderson (Robert Stack), his wife Laurie (Dorothy Malone), and young daughter Jill. An engine room fire triggers a large explosion, separating Jill from her parents and trapping Laurie under debris. As Captain Adams dithers, Second Engineer Walsh (Edmund O'Brien) and his crew struggle to prevent water flooding into the damaged vessel, while Cliff tries to save his family with help from crewman Lawson (Woody Strode).

What Works Well: Andrew L. Stone directed, wrote, and co-produced (with his wife and editor Virginia) this effective disaster thriller, and focusses with cold and detached efficiency on three groups grappling with the unfolding crisis: the officers surrounding the slow-to-react Captain Adams, the crewmen led by the scrappy Walsh, and the Henderson family. The narrow focus results in crisp storytelling, enhanced by excellent special effects and imaginative cinematography. Themes of sacrifice, determination, and life prioritization are unafraid to wander towards dark emotional places.

What Does Not Work As Well: Other than the Hendersons, all the other passengers are irrelevant extras, and the cumbersome attempts to rescue Laurie from under the debris occupy excessive screen time.

Conclusion: As the crippled ship slowly sinks, the thrills soar.



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Movie Review: The Professionals (1966)

A sturdy western with a stellar cast, The Professionals features an arduous cross-border rescue mission traversing an unforgiving desert, with plenty of time for shifting allegiances, character surprises and well-executed action.

Early in the 1900s with a Mexican revolution still raging, American businessman Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) hires a group of four mercenaries to rescue his kidnapped wife Maria (Claudia Cardinale) from the clutches of Mexican revolutionary leader Raza (Jack Palance). The hired men are gunnery expert Rico (Lee Marvin), explosives master Bill Dolworth (Burt Lancaster), scout and archery ace Jake Sharp (Woody Strode) and respected horse trainer Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan). Rico and Dolworth used to be part of the revolutionary forces, fighting alongside Raza.

Rico leads the group across arid terrain towards the guerrilla leader's headquarters. Along the way they have to navigate through treacherous canyons, fend off bandits, and survive extreme heat and exhaustion. Once they arrive near Raza's compound Rico has to devise a plan to infiltrate the camp and rescue Maria from under the nose of the ragtag revolutionary army, but many surprises await.

Directed, written and produced by Richard Brooks, The Professionals carries a Magnificent Four type premise, with slightly less charisma but more plot twists. Brooks keeps the action moving and regularly inserts skirmishes with assorted bandits to keep the gunplay quotient up and establish the credentials of the professionals ahead of the showdown with Raza. Good production values and magnificent Coachella Valley scenery captured by cinematographer Conrad L. Hall elevate the film to a visual treat.

The character interaction scenes are not as effective. The four men do not have sufficient definition to convey depth. Dolworth is a free-wheeling womanizer, Hans is older, more feeble and generally out of place. Sharp says little and Rico is the stoic leader. Other than Dolworth being more money-driven and lascivious than the others, Brooks is unable to generate much in the way of personality.

Both the action and the moral dilemmas improve once the group arrives at Raza's compound. The attempt to extract Maria generates the central plot twist, and the subsequent plot elements unfold with renewed urgency. The professionals get to question their purpose, their quest and their motives, and Dolworth, the most mercenary among them, will have the biggest questions to answer.

The impressive cast members share the screen time, with Marvin and Lancaster most prominent. Marvin's Rico fits straight into the actor's screen persona as the unflappable team leader, while Lancaster struggles to convince as a more jovial dynamite specialist with a carefree attitude. Ryan, Strode, Palance, Cardinale and Bellamy are thoroughly competent but don't get much to work with in terms of texture and intensity modulation.

The Professionals are a lively bunch, well worth accompanying on their difficult mission. They may lack some wit and wisdom, but they make up for it in loud and efficient execution.

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The Movies Of Woody Strode

All movies starring Woody Strode and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Woody Strode (1941, uncredited)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

The Buccaneer (1958)

The Last Voyage (1960)

Spartacus (1960)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

The Professionals (1966)

Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)

Boot Hill (1969)

The Quick And The Dead (1995)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Boot Hill (1969)

A mixture of Italian artistry with western grime, Boot Hill sparkles in patches with clever editing and brash juxtapositions. A muddled story and rather limp climax take some of the shine off.

The mysterious Cat Stevens (Terence Hill) is pursued by a large posse intent on killing him for reasons never made clear. Wounded in a gunfight, he escapes and takes refuge with a travelling circus run by Mamy (Lionel Stander) and featuring trapeze acrobat Thomas (Woody Strode). When Thomas' son is killed by Cat's pursuers, Thomas and Cat team up and join forces with Hutch Bessy (Bud Spencer), Cat's partner from adventures past. The three men come to the aid of a community of miners being bullied by a corrupt tycoon and his brutal henchmen.

The third instalment in the loose trilogy that started with God Forgives...I Don't! (1967) and continued with Ace High (1968), Boot Hill was later re-released and falsely marketed as part of the more famous (and less gritty) Trinity series. In Boot Hill, Terence Hill and Bud Spencer still have an edge, with violence and ruthlessness to the fore and any attempts at comedy kept well in control. The result is more serious and closer to the original Spaghetti Western ethic.

Director Guiseppe Colizzi injects Boot Hill with sometimes stunning visual flair. Making the most out of the organized chaos that surrounds Mamy's travelling circus, complete with dwarfs, heavily made-up faces and dancing girls, Colizzi creates the best scenes by intercutting desperately joyous circus performance shots from inside the tent with life-and-death gunfights erupting on the dusty town streets. The results are brilliantly jarring.

Otherwise, Boot Hill has relatively little to offer in terms of drama and compelling plot. The entire miners-under-threat narrative is hurriedly dropped into the film and bungled in terms of building any tension, resulting in a climax that fails to captivate.

Terence Hill works on an effective serious and dangerous western persona but Bud Spencer's late appearance hardly leaves an impact. Woody Strode shines in a relatively rare opportunity as an almost leading man, his physical presence unleashed to cause some serious damage.

Boot Hill climbs about halfway up the hill, enjoys a reasonable view, but is held back by some clumsy boots.

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