VIDEO ARCHIVES NOTES: This movie was discussed on the April 18, 2023 episode of the Video Archives podcast and can be found on their site here.
Colonel Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider) is a tough soldier awarded for his bravery in Vietnam.
Colonel Valachev (Jürgen Prochnow) is the same way, but on the other side of the West German-Czechoslovakia border.
These two men are an asset at war but a liability in peacetime.
They may just drag everyone into World War 3.
Based on the Einstein quote, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones,” this movie finds Knowles butting heads with his superiors Lieutenant Colonel Clark (Tim Reid) and General Hackworth (Harry Dean Stanton) when he isn’t getting blind drunk — on J&B no less and no, this is not a giallo — when he isn’t crossing the border and sabotaging Russian bases.
By the end, the two men battle in hand-to-hand combat on a frozen lake with their countries’ armies on both sides ready to unleash mutually assured destruction. The fight was so realistic that Scheider cracked one of his ribs and Prochnow popped out his knee.
The Fourth War was directed by John Frankenheimer from a script by Kenneth Ross, both of whom were anti-war, and hated the name given to the film as well as other possible titles like Game of Honor and Face Off.
This is the second Scheider and Frankenheimer film for Cannon after 52 Pick-Up. It’s funny because when you hear the storyline — an American soldier and his Russian counterpart yearn for war as they stare at one another across the border — you could imagine that as a Cannon movie this should star Stallone and Lundgren — if it were a higher budget option — or Chuck Norris and Richard Lynch — if it were a regular Cannon budget. I could go on and dream Cannon cast this further, such as Bronson and Wings Hauser or Michael Dudikoff and Billy Drago.
Redline was the working title of The Fast and the Furious, a movie that definitely — alright, totally — inspired this movie.
The controversy around the film may be a bigger story than the movie, as it was produced by Daniel Sadek, who also wrote this movie.
Sadek dropped out of school in Lebanon in the third grade and worked in gas stations and car dealerships when he made it to the U.S. He noticed all the most expensive cars at his job at Fletcher Jones Mercedes Bentz were being bought by people in the real estate market, so he went into the field. By 2007, his Quick Loan Funding had approved US$4 billion in subprime mortgages, and he was making $5 million a month.
What do you do with that kind of money?
You gamble. You buy a lot of homes. You buy a lot of cars. You make vanity productions where your cars get destroyed on film.
Sadek funded this movie with subprime loans issued by his company, which closed its doors after the subprime mortgage crisis. Then, in late 2008, his lending and escrow license was revoked by the California Department of Corporations.
Vanity Fair listed Sadek at number 86 in their 100 to Blame for the economic crisis. They called him “Predator Zero in the subprime-mortgage game.” He declared bankruptcy and owed millions to all sorts of folks.
Of course, banks get bought out but those caught in the savings and loan crisis, the people like you and me, well…
We don’t get cars like this.
On the streets of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, daredevil drivers race the world’s most exotic cars with gangster Michael D’Orazio (Angus Macfadyen), hip hop producer Infamous (Eddie Griffith), Hollywood producer Jerry Brecken (Tim Matheson) and Chinese businessman Marcus Cheng (Michael Hagiwara) making bets in the millions.
The racers include gorgeous auto mechanic, driver and rock star Natasha Martin (Nadia Bjorlin, who engaged to Sadek at the time this was made) in a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and Carlo (Nathan Phillips), who is trying to keep his brother Jason (Jesse Johnson) away from their Uncle Michael (yes, the mob guy). Everyone has all sorts of side bets and Uncle Michael also wants Natasha for himself. But first, Jason tries to race and his Lamborghini Diablo ends up in flames.
The best part of this movie is the stunts and the driving. It was directed by stuntman and fight choreographer Andy Cheng (a former member of Jackie Chan’s stunt team) and has cinematography by Bill Butler (Jaws, Lipstick, Grease), so it looks awesome while the cars are on the road.
One more bit of Sadek: he loaned an Enzo, just like the one in Redline, to Eddie Griffin for a charity race. Griffin lost control of the Enzo and crashed into a concrete barrier, totaling the car but not being injured. That was another $300,000 dollars lost. Sadek had to sell all of his cars not long after this movie, including all of the ones used on screen.
That Koenigsegg CCX that shows up at the end? It has a 4.7 liter twin-supercharged V8, 806 horsepower and can hit more than 245 mph.
The MVD blu ray release of Redline also has a making of feature, a video of the cast at the L.A. Auto Show — where the Porsche Carrera GT that Sadek gave to be crashed in the movie was shown — and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.
Elise (Karen Abercrombie), a grandmother hurt by her past, and Patrick (Leon Pridgen), a widowed pastor have given up on love. But can faith bring them together?
Directed by Joanne Hock and written by Tara Lynn Marcelle and star and executive producer Karen Abercrombie, this is the first time I’ve seen Dallas star Charlene Tilton in a movie for some time.
This is a Pure Flix release, so if you’re not into faith movies, consider this before watching.
Elise is devoted to her grandson Derek (Jemarcus Kilgore) and her store Moxie. Pastor Patrick is just as concerned with those who worship at his church. It seems that neither has time for a relationship. However, the congregation decides to use technology to get the two of them together.
I realize that the majority of my site is devoted to martial arts, giallo, Jess Franco and the sleazier side of film. Consider this a refreshing break where we watch a movie that is meant for families and those that are trying to do the right thing.
I also enjoyed that the film didn’t make fun of faith, as well as having a cast that is racially diverse without calling it out. It’s a nice thing to see in films, especially religious themed movies.
Radio talk show host Ryan King (Matthew Perry) has barely taken any time to get over the death of his wife. He just wants to get back to work, but his boss Steven (John Cho) won’t allow him back on the air until he goes to grief counseling.
Ryan joins a support group but he could really care less. However, the way he approaches the sessions actually helps the others in his group. Led by the barely trained Lauren Bennett (Laura Benanti), the members are Anne (Julie White), a lesbian proscutor unable to get past the loss of her partner; Yolanda Mitsawa (Suzie Nakamura), whose fiancee ran off; Owen Lewis (Tyler James Williams), whose brother is in a coma; Mr. K (Brett Gelman), who has a mysterious job with NASA and who also refuses to reveal why he’s there; Sonia (Sarah Baker), who misses her cat; Fausta (Tonita Castro), whose father and brother just died; Danny (Seth Morris), whose wife had a child with another man while he served in the army; George (Bill Cobbs), who is dealing with the loss of his sight and a former member of the group who shows up from time to time, Simone (Piper Perabo), who Lauren dislikes, perhaps because she starts dating Ryan.
Scott Silveri, who was a writer and executive producer on Friends, also created Joey, which was another sitcom with an alumni of the show. While that Matt leBlanc sitcom lasted for two seasons, this show only lasted one. Maybe all the sadness on the show was a bit much for viewers. Or perhaps they didn’t like how it felt so much like Community.
I love sitcoms and had never seen this show before, so I enjoyed sitting down with it and getting to know its characters. Ever since the first Newhart series and Dear John, group therapy has been a perfect t story engine for comedy shows. It works here, as you really enjoy the interplay between the characters. Gelman is probably the most entertaining of all of them and his governement ties are funny when you consider that a decade later, he’d be known as the conspiracy obsessed Murray Bauman on Stranger Things.
This was streaming for some time on the Roku channel, but seeing as how you can never tell when things are going to be removed, it’s a really cool thing to own this DVD set of the only season of the show. I wish we could have seen where a second season would have gone.
When Golden Harvest first released this movie, no one knew who director and writer Wu Yu-sheng, actor Chen Yuen-lung or fight choreographer Hung Chin-pao were.
Today we know them as John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
After Shih Shao-Feng (James Tien), a traitor to the Shaolin eliminates thousands of their number for his own power, a surviving Shaolin master named Yun Fei (Tan Tao-Liang) has one goal. Revenge.
The problem is that he’s going up against an army — and Tu Qing (Sammo Hung) — all by himself. He’s already lost one battle against Tu Qing and his extended iron claw technique. Saved by a blacksmith by the name of Tan Feng (Jackie Chan), and soon joins forces with a swordsman named Zorro (Yang Wei) who has refused to draw his weapon since he accidentally killed a lover.
You can see the influence of Chang Cheh on Woo, as he allows us to get to know every single hero so that their heroic sacrifice means something at the end of the movie. The action is great in this, giving you an idea of the magic that Woo would bring in the 80s, as well as the loyalty between violent men, another theme that continually comes up in his movies.
It’s interesting to see Woo tackling a traditional Hong Kong film, one about the Shaolin Temple, the brave warriors who defend it and the cruel ones who attempt to tear it down. Tao-Liang Tan fights literally armies of people in this all by himself and looks great doing it. Credit for the fight choreography goes to Hung, who also has to wear a ridiculous set of teeth.
The Arrow Video blu ray of Hand of Death has a 2K restoration from original film elements by Fortune Star. There’s also a new feature commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng and Michael Worth; From Hong Kong to Hollywood, an archive featurette on John Woo’s early career, including interviews with Woo, Chow Yun-fat and Peter Lau; a never-before-seen archive interview with star Tan Tao-Liang, filmed by his former student Michael Worth; an archive interview with co-star Sammo Hung; the Countdown to Kung Fu credits; a trailer and image gallery.
You also get a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch and an illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by film programmer William Blaik.
The most expensive film ever made at the time, Waterworld lives in the same rarified air as Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate, except that it was one of the highest grossing films of 1995.
The thing is, while it cost $175 million, it made back $264.2 million worldwide, as well as having a profitable video and cable release. It’s still making money, because the stunt show based on the movie, Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular, is still running at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Singapore, Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Beijing 27 years after the movie was released.
Writer Peter Rader came up with the idea for Waterworld during a conversation with producer Brad Krevoy literally as a Mad Max rip-off. He probably also read the comic Freakwave by Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy*, which had been nearly optioned as a movie. Co-writer David Twohy even outright said that he was inspired by The Road Warrior and the filmmakers hired that movie’s director of photography, Dean Semler, for this film.
Before filming began, Steven Spielberg warned star Kevin Costner and director Kevin Reynolds not to film on open water, a lesson he learned from Jaws. They didn’t listen and watched the set sink. And hey, Reynolds quit before the movie was done because he and Costner fought so much.
So what did this all lead to?
Waterworld is way better than it’s been said to be. It is, quite literally, Mad Maxon jet skis. Costner is the web-footed Mariner, a man who recycles his own urine as drinking water because since the polar ice caps melted, the drinking water is quite limited and the Earth is just plain filled with water. He saves Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a kid named Enola (Tina Majorino), protecting them from The Deacon, a one-eyed Dennis Hopper, and then uses the map on Enola’s back to find the only dry land on Earth, which is the top of Mount Everest.
It just takes two hours and fifteen minutes** to get there.
*Ironically, McCarthy would later co-write Mad Max: Fury Road.
**The Costner cut is three hours long.
The three disc limited edition Arrow 4K UHD release of Waterworld has everything you ever wanted about this film.
There are three cuts of the film newly restored from original film elements by Arrow Films, six collector’s postcards, a double-sided fold-out poster and a limited edition 60-page perfect bound book featuring writing on the film by David J. Moore and Daniel Griffith, and archival articles, as well as a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper.
The theatrical cut disc comes with the following extras: Maelstrom: The Odyssey of Waterworld, a feature-length making-of documentary including extensive cast and crew interviews and behind-the-scenes footage; Dances With Waves, an original archival featurette capturing the film’s production; Global Warnings, in which film critic Glenn Kenny explores the subgenre of ecologically themed end-of-the-world films; a production and promotional still gallery; a visual effects still gallery; original trailers and TV spots.
You also get the TV cut and the extended European Ulysses cut, which includes previously censored shots and dialogue.
If you love Waterworld, you need this. Get it now from MVD.
At the end of the 1970s, Toru Murakawa’s Game Trilogy launched actor Yusaku Matsuda as the Toei tough guy for a new generation. Sadly, he would die from cancer at the way too early age of 40 after appearing in Black Rain.
As Shohei Narumi, he’s a killing machine who speaks little, shoots often and never falls for anything. The new Arrow Video set of these films is the first time these movies have been released outside of Japan and man, I loved every minute of these movies.
The Most Dangerous Game (1978): You first meet Shohei Narumi when he’s being roughed up after he contests a game of mah-jong. mah-jong game. He recovers from that in time to find and rescue a kidnapped businessman, at least for a few minutes before that guy is killed in the middle of a gun battle. Narumi is saved by Kyoko (Keiko Tasaka), the mistress of one of the men he’s trying to stop. He gets another job once he’s back on his feet: kill the boss of the kidnappers, which he does. Twice.
How twice? The guy has a public double, so they both have to go. But even the cops are on the take, setting an ambush, but he escapes and, well, kills everyone except one car of criminals who kidnap Kyoko and drive her across Tokyo while somehow, incredibly, Narumi keeps up while wearing cowboy boots. Look, I’ve been on Japanese streets and even though they are clogged with traffic, there’s no way you can chase a car on foot.
The one issue I have with the movie is that it’s kind of hard to like the hero. I mean, he isn’t even a hero, for one. He wins over Kyoko by assaulting her. But then, the film almost demands that you become a fan of him, what with the cool as cool gets clothes, him drinking gin when shot in the stomach instead fo going to the hospital and just being an all around amoral killing machine. Because you never see anything the bad guys do or plan because the movie moves from action moment to action moment like an ADHD kid playing with his toys, you eventually have to concede that he is the protagonist that you must be in favor of.
Directed by Tôru Murakawa and written by Hideichi Nagahara, this film has literally a slam bam pace that never slows down. Ever.
The Killing Game (1978): Shohei Narumi has been in hiding for five years after a major assassination assignment. He’s poor, no longer able to afford his fancy lifestyle. He can’t even get a drink at the hostess bar he gets pulled into.
We don’t have anything like a hostess bar in America. They aren’t places of prostitution but instead a modern version of geishas, providing entertainment and flirtation to lonely salarymen.
While there, Shohei Narumi runs into two women from his past. A hostress named Akiko (Kaori Takeda) was the daughter of the man our protagonist killed five years ago. Yet she doesn’t hate him for it. The other is the mama-san — the boss of the place — named Misako (Yutaka Nakajima). As he shot everyone he could five years ago, she is the one person he let live. Now she’s dating another boss, Katsuda (Kei Sato), and he wants Shohei Narumi to start killing for him. So does another boss. That means that everybody is going to die, many of them from bullets that Shohei Narumi shoots.
What comes across at the end of this film is the fact that without someone to kill, his existence is pointless. He’s like an unfired gun. All he knows in this life is how to end others.
The Execution Game (1979): Shohei Narumi wakes up alone in a filthy room. All he can remember is a girl, a car and a hit to the head, but now he’s hanging from a ceiling and finds out that this is all a trial to test his skills for a new client. They want him to kill their current hitman, who has started acting strangely, but that’s just the start of his new work.
He also has a relationship in this movie, even if she betrays him, and tells a young woman to avoid shady men at one point. This is in contrast to how he acted in the first film, so is this growth? I believe so, as is the idea that he sees the ocean as where he wants to return, growing up close to it and its ebbs and flows symbolize the way his life goes: bloody bursts of ultraviolence mixed with solitude, sometimes for years.
The past films have seen him exhausted and nearly passed out as women strip around him or frantically trying to pay for everyone in a hostess club, knowing that he has nearly nothing. Here, he’s a man that knows his job and what he has to do. That means always being ready to be sold out, always prepared to be in the sights of someone’s weapon and constantly willing to kill someone, anyone, at any time.
The limited edition Arrow blu ray box set of The Game Trilogy has a high definition blu ray version of each movie with new English subtitles. You get a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella, a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Hayley Scanlon and Dimitri Ianni.
The Most Dangerous Game has new audio commentary by Chris Poggiali and Marc Walkow, a 30-minute interview with director Toru Murakawa, the original Japanese theatrical trailer and an image gallery.
The Killing Game has commentary by Earl Jackson and Jasper Sharp. The Execution Game has new commentary by Tom Mes. Extras include an interview with Yutaka Oki, film critic and personal friend of Yusaku Matsuda; an interview with screenwriter Shoichi Maruyama, the original Japanese theatrical trailers and image galleries for both films.
Let’s be straight: I could type out the entire script of this movie by memory. That’s how important this movie was to a 23-year-old me. I even worked in an ad agency inside a mall and often felt like the characters in this, walking the shops and stores of Station Square with no shopping agenda. Even now, 28 years later, I can quote from this movie at any time and so much of it is part of my vocabulary.
I was probably one of the few people back then who loved it, because it bombed and writer and director Kevin Smith apologized for the movie at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Today, as Smith says on the intro to the Arrow blu ray, this movie has aged into being seen as a success.
This movie is all about the adventures of T.S. Quint (Jeremy London) and Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee) as they navigate the Eden Prairie Center Mall — actually in Minnesota*, but supposedly New Jersey — and attempt to get over the loss of their respective girlfriends, Brandi Svenning (Claire Forlani) and Rene Mosier (Shannen Doherty). Along the way, they interact with Jay and Silent Bob, meet Stan Lee and even go to the dirt mall.
That’s an oversimplification of a movie that once — and yes, still — meant so much to me. What comic book geek doesn’t see themselves as Brodie, a man who can somehow win over Doherty despite only caring about Superman being able to shoot semen like a shotgun and playing as Hartford on his Genesis? Even all these years later, I see him as one of the coolest characters in the movies of my youth and have followed Jason Lee through so many characters as a result.
From Michael Rooker trying to hunt down Brodie — and having to eat a curious pretzel — to the gameshow Truth or Date being made at “their mall” and Priscilla Barnes as a multi-nipple having fortune teller, there are so many moments in this movie that I remember and instantly laugh about. It also sets up Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back back as Suzanne the orangutan makes her first appearance.
While Jay and Silent Bob Reboot felt like a massive misfire, I’m happy to see that this movie has lost none of its fun and good feelings. Sometimes, as Smith says, things just age well.
Sadly, the malls we once haunted are all gone. Even the one I worked at is now all office spaces and tourist restaurants. We go there every once in a while for fondue. But all I can see is when it was once filled with people like me, those with no set shopping agenda.
*Fargo was being filmed in the same town at the same time.
The Arrow re-release of this movie comes with so much, starting with a 4K restoration by Arrow Films of both the Theatrical and Extended cuts of the film, approved by director Kevin Smith and cinematographer David Klein. There’s also audio commentary with Smith, producer Scott Mosier, archivist Vincent Pereira and actors Jason Lee, Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes.
Plus, you get an introduction to the film by Smith, an interview with the director, a tribute to producer Him jacks, interviews with Mewes and cinematographer David Klein, an animated making-of documentary featuring Minnesota crew members who worked on the film, deleted scenes, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews on set, an archival making of featurette, a Q&A with Smith, the music video for “Build Me Up Buttercup,” a still gallery, dailies, a theatrical trailer, Easter eggs and a press kit for the soundtrack.
It all comes in an amazing package that has an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Philip Kemp, a fold-out poster featuring replica blueprints for Operation Drive-by and Operation Dark Knight, and a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Robert Sammelin.
Sammo Hung made his directorial debut with The Iron-Fisted Monk and was ready to show more of who he was with this, his second film. Starring Casanova Wong as Cashier Hua and Hung as his friend Fat Chun, this is what happens when Hua is left for dead after discovering a conspiracy against the mayor. Chun tells his friend that if he wants to stay alive, he must study the fighting style Wing Chun from Master Leung Tsan (Bryan Leung Kar-Yan).
Master Tsan is a doctor and master of Wing Chun who can trace his martial arts lineage all the way back to the style’s founder. What’s amazing is that Wing Chun has at least eight different distinct lineages and each of those have their own origins. Those eight schools are based on the teachings of Ip Man, Yuen Kay-shan, Gu Lao Village, Nanyang / Cao Dean, Pan Nam, Pao Fa Lien, Hung Suen / Hung Gu Biu, Jee Shim and Weng Chun. We will never know the true origins of the fighting art, as the skills, movements and even history were shared from teacher to student by voice only. Nothing was in writing, as it was connected to anti-Qing rebellion and must remain in the shadows.
Tsan does what we expect from a martial arts movie. He makes Hua go through a series of training sessions to become a fighting expert, but will he learn enough in time, what with the men who tried to kill him before still searching for him?
The final battle proves that yes, he knows enough.
The Arrow blu ray release of Warriors Two has 2K restorations from the original elements by Fortune Star of both the original Hong Kong theatrical cut and the shorter export cut. You can listen to two different English dubs, as well as Cantonese and Mandarin options.
There are two commentary tracks. Martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng and actor Bobby Samuels discuss the Hong Kong version and action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema are on the export version. There’s also The Way of the Warrior: The Making of Warriors Two, featuring interviews with stars Sammo Hung, Bryan “Beardy” Leung Kar-Yan, Feng Hak-An, Casanova Wong and Wing Chun master Guy Lai, an interview with Bryan Leung Kar-Yan and the original theatrical trailers.
You also get a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Joe Kim, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Joe Kim and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Jonathan Clements and original press materials.
Originally airing on November 23, 1966 on ABC Stage 67 and now made available on DVD thanks to Liberation Hall and the UCLA Library Film & Television Archive, Noon Wine was directed and written by Sam Peckinpah.
At the time, the legendary cantankerous director was a Hollywood outcast — I wonder when the time happened when he made anyone like him or was popular with studios — following the troubled Major Dundee and being fired from The Cincinnati Kid.
Producer Daniel Melnick was a big fan of Peckinpah’s television series The Westerner and his movie Ride the High Country. Producer Martin Ransohoff had fired him from that movie for “vulgarizing the picture” and shooting it in black and white. He replaced him with Norman Jewison and Strother Martin was fired at the same time as Peckinpah.
Melnick thought that it was pretty unfair, so he went against a lot of big names and gave Peckinpah complete freedom. The writer of the book it was based on — part of three stories, including “Old Mortality” and “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” that were in her 1939 Pale Rider, Pale Rider book — Katherine Anne Porter loved what he did with the script.
This was a big hit and saved Peckinpah, leading to his comeback. He was nominated by the Writers Guild for Best Television Adaptation and the Directors Guild of America for Best Television Direction. He did one more TV job — “The Lady Is My Wife” for Bob Hope’s Chrysler Theater— and then wrote Villa Rides and taught a class at UCLA. In 1969, he got to make The Wild Bunch.
Star Jason Robards would keep a personal copy of the film in his private collection, but for half a century, you could only see it at the Library of Congress and the Museum of Broadcasting, I’m so excited that I own this DVD now.
Royal Earle Thompson (Robards) is a dairty farmer in southern Texas, sometime before the 20th century. He talks a great game, but he’s too lazy for farming life. He’s married to Ellie (Olivia de Havilland), who is sick more often than she’s well, and has two young sons named Arthur (Steve Sanders) and Herbert (Peter Robbins). Basically, it could all fall to bits any second until a quiet stranger named Olaf Helton (Per Oscarsson) comes for a job and a place to live.
Nine years later and the farm is thriving, thanks completely to Helton. Everything is perfect now. Perfect until a bounty hunter named Homer T. Hatch (Theodore Bikel) shows up and claims that Olaf is a mental patient. Thompson has a vision of his farming hand being killed, so he grabs an axe and kills Hatch. Helton runs away as Sheriff Barbee (Ben Johnson) and his deputy (L.Q. Jones) arrive.
Thompson is found not guilty but he may as well have been convicted. Even his own wife fears him and his sons want nothing to do with him. He writes a letter at the close, saying that it was all his fault, not Helton, saying he only wanted to defend his friend.
Peckinpah didn’t think that De Havilland was convincing in the closing moments of the film. He had a plan, however. He asked the cameraman to keep shooting the next scene. After he said cut, he told her that she was a nasty actress. Her reaction is what’s in the film.
In the book, Thompson kills himself with aa shotgun. How amazing is it that we don’t see that in Peckinpah’s film after the excesses that he’d unleash on audiences in a few years?
I loved the Liberation Hall release of this, as it has two versions, one with the original commercials that aired back in 1966. It gave me a time machine feeling and man, this movie is something else, a nuanced take on a story that draws you in and holds you for the entire length of this movie.
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