Movie Review: Blow Out (1981)

 

DIRECTOR: Brian De Palma. CAST: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden, Curt May, John Aquino, John McMartin, Robin Sherwood, Michael Tearson, Deborah Everton, J. Patrick McNamara, Missy Cleveland, Roger Wilson, Lori-Nan Engler, Cindy Manion, Missy Crutchfield, Marcy Bigelman, Ann Kelly, Dean Bennett. 
BLOW OUT is the second reinterpretation of Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 classic BLOW-UP (Francis Ford Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION was the first in 1974), but with sound used instead of photography. John Travolta is Jack Terry, a horror movie sound technician who is out in a local park recording potential sound effects when he witnesses a car drive off the road and into a nearby creek. Although the male driver drowns in the accident, Jack can rescue the woman passenger and takes her to the hospital. He finds out that the dead driver was the governor, whose associates persuade Jack to sneak the women passenger out of the hospital, as she is an escort whose presence would be an embarrassment to the deceased political figure. Jack plays back his park recording and discovers that the car wreck was no accident at all—he distinctly hears a gunshot prior to the car going off the road. He becomes more interested when the media gets involved and begins to discover the truth behind an assassination attempt on the governor. BLOW OUT is a very good movie, although its box office failure was a blow to John Travolta’s career as a serious actor for years until Quentin Tarantino cast him in PULP FICTION. John Lithgow’s ability to play the creepiest of bad guys likely started here while Dennis Franz deserves special mention for an incredible performance as a slimy blackmail photographer. Some might appreciate the story’s allusions to the Watergate scandal, JFK’s assassination, and the Lake Chappaquiddick incident. Brian De Palma fans will likely see BLOW OUT as an underrated entry in his extensive filmography. They are correct.

Movie Review: Cape Fear (1991)

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese. CAST: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Martin Balsam, Illeana Douglas, Fred Dalton Thompson.
Martin Scorsese’s remake isn’t into implying anything at all; it goes for the throat. Some of the story elements have changed—Sam Bowden is the public defender who suppressed evidence that could have gotten his client a lesser sentence or acquittal from rape charges. Max Cady was guilty as hell, but a report about his victim’s “questionable” sexual history could have set him free and Sam was not about to have that on his conscience. You might note that this is a direct violation of Cady’s constitutional right to a proper legal defense in court. Cady discovers the report while appealing his case as a jailhouse lawyer. Now he wants vengeance. Cady gets out during a time when the Bowden family is dealing with trust issues between Sam and his wife, as well as his daughter slipping between rebellious, awkward, and sexually curious. No one is perfect in Scorsese’s Cape Fear. Max’s behavior is bolder this time around too, particularly when he corners young Danny Bowden at school. Robert De Niro is very good as Max Cady, but eventually degenerates into a parody of the irrational and becomes just another horror movie killer. Strange to see Martin Scorsese resorting to stylized techniques and unnecessary slasher film ploys. Someone else could have hung their hat on Cape Fear using the same approach, but this is Martin Scorsese and it is funny how standards work. This is not one of his better movies compared to the obvious classics on his resume, but maybe that is the point: that even the great Martin Scorsese has flaws.

Movie Review: Marathon Man (1976)

DIRECTOR: John Schlesinger. CAST: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller, Richard Bright, Marc Lawrence, Tito Goya, Fritz Weaver, Jacques Marin.
One of the decade’s best suspense thrillers! Marathon Man concerns three people who are all in a figurative race to stay one step ahead of each other. First is Dr. Christian Szell, a Nazi war criminal hiding out in South America and living off stolen diamonds from his Auschwitz murder victims. He will stop at nothing to retrieve the remaining gems from his recently deceased brother’s safety deposit box in New York, despite the great risk of having his identity exposed. Second is Henry “Doc” Levy, who fronts as an oil industry executive while working as a secret government agent and one of Szell’s couriers. Szell trusts no one after his brother’s death and tries to have Doc killed several times to no avail. Doc follows Szell to New York to confront him. Third is Doc’s brother Thomas “Babe” Levy, a Ph.D. candidate and would-be marathon runner suspected of having knowledge of Szell’s identity and motives. Unfortunately, he has no idea that he is about to be mixed up with Nazis and secret government agencies. Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, and Dustin Hoffman are all excellent as always in their respective roles. Marathon Man is one of those films that get better with each viewing that reveals more of the hidden gems in performance, direction, and photography. Based on the novel and adapted for the screen by William Goldman.

Movie Review: Cape Fear (1962)

DIRECTOR: J. Lee Thompson. CAST: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, Barrie Chase, Paul Comi.
This dark Hitchcockian masterpiece is one of my favorite suspense thrillers and it has never gotten old. Gregory Peck is Sam Bowden, a family man stalked by a relic of his past—a convicted rapist sent to jail by his testimony. Robert Mitchum is Max Cady, the crafty ex-con using the law to his advantage. Stalking laws did not exist back then, so nothing Cady does to torment the Bowden family is actually illegal. Sam is a lawyer, but will have to find other ways to manipulate the law and fight back when it becomes apparent what Cady has in mind for Bowden’s wife and teenage daughter. Mitchum is fantastic here; he doesn’t need a bunch of tattoos and profanities to come across as a bad, bad man. His stare is menacing enough. Max Cady is not a man selling wolf tickets. Cape Fear utilizes the psychological approach of not showing or discussing the actual act of rape. Film censor boards in 1962 would not have allowed that to happen, but it is still obvious what is going on here. Cape Fear’s strength is not in what it says, but what is implied.

Movie Review: Rider on the Rain (1970)

DIRECTOR: Rene Clement. CAST: Marlene Jobert, Charles Bronson, Annie Cordy, Corinne Marchand, Jill Ireland, Jean Piat, Marcel Peres, Gabriele Tinti, Ellen Bahl, Jean Gaven, Marc Mazza. 
Interesting (at first) French suspense drama about a woman who shoots her rapist dead in self-defense and dumps his body in the Mediterranean instead of calling the police. Charles Bronson is the mysterious American who suddenly materializes in aggressive fashion asking questions about the rapist’s death. His conduct towards the survivor might make Rider on the Rain an uneasy film to watch for some in today’s #MeToo era. Everything starts with strong performances from Jobert & Bronson and a lot of promise, but then slowly peters out to a flat conclusion. I imagine a different director could have made better use of the story’s lightly Hitchcockian nature for something more gripping. Perhaps Charles Bronson could have seen a better remake happen had his idea panned out in 1983, but we will never know. Jim Morrison was supposedly inspired to write the DOORS favorite “Riders on the Storm” after seeing this film.