Clint's Luck: Everybody Loves a Winner

 

'I don't pretend to understand losers...Winners tell themselves, 

"I'm as bright as the next person. I can do it. Nothing can stop me."' 

- Clint Eastwood on why audiences like him playing a winner

While I'm not speeding through it like Arnold's Total Recall, I'm 500 pages into the "warts and all biography" on screen legend Clint Eastwood, The Life and Legend, by Patrick McGilligan. For the most part you gather that Clint likes to keep fit, pal around with macho dudes, changes friends and professional colleagues every few years, loves the ladies but never really wanted kids and really likes saving money. There's great and shocking stories aplenty like the time Clint ran his truck into a car parked in his space when there were another 5 open or the time he locked out live in ladyfriend Sandra Locke and put all her stuff into boxes in the driveway. She would sue him later and settle.

Dear John: The Shootist

To ring in New Year's Day I felt like watching something epic and/or classic. My copy of The Searchers is on loan so I ended up with another seminal if less classically remembered John Wayne western, his final film The Shootist from 1976. Based on Glendon Swarthout's novel with a script from Miles Hood Swarthout and Scott Hale, the Don Siegel directed tale of a dying gunfighter intrigued and entertained me so much that I watched it 3 times in the 48 hour Amazon Prime rental period. The Shootist opens up with a montage of John Wayne clips from earlier films, setting up his J.B. Books as a law and gun man who won't be wronged, won't be insulted and won't be laid a hand on. Into his twilight years and diagnosed with cancer, Books just wants to live out his final days with dignity in peace. Ending up in the picturesque Carson City, fabulously brought to life by the real city in Nevada and the Warner Brothers lot, we meet a plethora of Wayne's friends, film favorites and familiar faces. You had semi-retired James Stewart as the local doctor Books trusts, Lauren Bacall as a widowed boarding house owner, young Ron Howard as her son and would be rabble rouser, Scatman Crothers as the world's greatest haggler and livery owner then genre faces Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, Bill McKinney and Harry Morgan as local threats and lawmen.

The script crackles with memorable moments (want my wallet? BLAM!), terrific dialog ("The day they lay you away, what I'll do on your grave won't pass for flowers"), a sense of humor and scattered bits of violence that pack an impact. While a bit weathered, gray and stiff at 68, Wayne is solid as Books, drawing on his heroic baggage to give us a character that's still able and willing as well as reflective and philosophical as he doesn't have time to take the long way or make nice. Director Siegel keeps things moving and the film holds up quite well as it's entertaining, reflective, funny and near mythical. The production was difficult from the start as Wayne was not the first choice for Books but Italian financier and producer Dino De Laurentiis is said to have been set on the star. Writer Swarthout recalled the shoot being difficult with Wayne falling ill during filming and the crew unsure if he would return. Wayne had already lost his left lung and several ribs to cancer prevention surgery years before and faced stomach cancer shortly before shooting commenced. Release information online is muddled with a June or July release where the film grossed either $6, $8 or $13 million depending on who you believed.

After a prolific, iconic and profitable career that spanned five decades, John Wayne died in 1979 with an Oscar, nearly 200 acting credits and worldwide fame to his name. Don Siegel had already established himself as a force in film after successful collaborations with Clint Eastwood and mega hit Dirty Harry, which would mark a milestone in his career. Subsequent team ups with Charles Bronson, Burt Reynolds and Better Midler would not be quite as influential and Siegel retired before passing away in 1991. Eastwood would credit Siegel along with Sergio Leone as the two biggest influences in his own prolific directing career. The Shootist ended up on several Top 10 lists for the year and garnered award nominations from The Academy, Golden Globes and BAFTA.

Western Weekend: Missionary Man

It was a nice and relaxing weekend where I caught up on some cleaning, reading and of course, movies. After talking about Dolph Lundgren emulating Clint Eastwood earlier this week, it was time for some Dolph directing with his Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter quasi remake Missionary Man from 2007. After falling into directing with 2004's The Defender when Sidney Furie fell ill and the big Swede had to fill in, Dolph would go the Eastwood route for several more films with 2005's The Russian Specialist being a highlight. For Missionary Man, Lundgren stars, directs and co-wrote the script for the low budget, modern day western. Set in a small town in Texas, Ryder (Lundgren) shows up on an iron horse aka a motorcycle and heads to the bar where he downs tequila, straight up; no salt, no lime, like water then beats the shit out of a pack of thugs outside who are beating up a junkie native who owes some money. You see local big dog John Reno (Matthew Tompkins) has his eyes set on building a casino on nearby native tribal people's land and he's gonna get it whether they like it or not. But now the peaceful locals and shit swallowing Sheriffs have some back up with Dolph around and start standing up for themselves. Of course Reno wants Ryder on his side but the violent man of faith is already on Team Jesus. Reno calls in some back up muscle and biker boys lead by Jarfe (John Enos III) show up who may or may not know who Ryder is.

Shot with a rumored $2 million budget in Waxahachie, Texas for prolific actor turned producer Andrew Stevens, Missionary Man holds up as an excellent piece of DTV action for Lundgren. You get him playing a mysterious badass who visits to pay respects to a dead friend from the military and ends up saving the small town. There's fist fights, shootouts, explosions and shotgun blasts to the face galore all done in a slightly overwrought, nearly black and white style. Some of the editing is choppy as you don't really see some of the hand to hand moves and Dolph could have cooled with the slow motion. The film pays homage or cribs from Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter and Billy Jack among other flicks with story bits and dialog. Dolph is still a towering presence here as he breaks faces with fists and knees then wastes fools with a sawed off shotgun. You even get some fact based drama out of the local tribes people struggling with the asshole white folk/gangsters and as they adopt Dolph into the clan. At a brisk 93 minutes, it's hard to get bored and you get some decent sized set pieces like a night time shootout and an ending where Dolph takes out a dozen thugs one at a time in the streets and alleys with ropes, guns and fisticuffs. Friend and frequent co-star James Chalke shows up as the Sheriff and UFC fighter Brad Imes appears as a thug who has a change of heart after getting his nose busted by Dolph.

Missionary Man would continue an uptick in quality for Dolph after a string of low budget, barely cobbled together efforts like Jill Rips, Agent Red, Storm Catcher and Retrograde. Taking more control of his career creatively, higher profile fare like Universal Soldier: Regeneration, The Killing Machine and Command Performance followed before getting the call from buddy Stallone for big screen return hit, The Expendables.

View In Peace: Geoffrey Lewis

Woke up to the news that awesome character actor Geoffrey Lewis passed away. Known for his many collaborations with Clint Eastwood, I'll always remember him being the dim witted and funny sidekick Orville from Every Which Way But Loose. You know, where Clint Eastwood plays a truck driving bare knuckle brawler who has a pet orangutan won in a fight against four guys? Classic. And as "uncle" Frank Avery from Double Impact as the hard ass veteran helping twin Jean-Claude Van Damme's take revenge on the baddies who killed their parents? Terrific. Besides a half dozen flicks with Eastwood, Lewis appeared in films filled with the likes of Steven McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Redford and Sean Connery in flicks like Dillinger, The Great Waldo Pepper, The Wind and the Lion and Tom Horn for directors including John Milius, Michael Cimino, George Roy Hill and Irvin Kershner.

Lewis was a part of my formative cinema viewing years as Stallone's Captain Schroeder in Tango & Cash, Sheldon Lettich's Double Impact, hard and disillusioned teacher Kerrigan to former student Mark Dacascos in Only the Strong, a Sheriff opposite Dolph Lundgren in Army of One then as banker Eugene in Richard Donner's Mel Gibson starring Maverick before appearing as depressed, suicidal hitman Abner in The Way of the Gun. I'd have to say Lewis's work in Every Which Way But Loose and Double Impact are what I'll always know him for. As Clint Eastwood's buddy and pseudo manager, Lewis is quite funny in the face of rude roadside market shoppers, angry bikers and gets the gal in the form of future Vacation star Beverly D'Angelo.

Double Impact is one of my favorite Jean-Claude Van Damme flicks and it's nice to see the then young and upcoming karate star opposite a few seasoned veterans like Lewis and Philip Chan. I asked Sheldon about how Lewis was cast and if I recall correctly, his name came up through the casting director. The duo would reteam on Lettich's next directorial effort, Only the Strong. Lewis plays Frank Avery, adopted uncle of Chad Wagner (Van Damme), a raised in Paris but living in Hollywood karate and aerobics instructor. Turns out Chad has a twin brother, Alex, in Hong Kong. The duo were separated at birth when their parents were killed by vicious gangsters over a lucrative tunnel construction project. Frank saved the kids, leaving Alex at an orphanage and taking Chad with him. 25 years later, Frank is going to take his revenge and the kids are coming with him. Arming themselves to the teeth, Frank, Chad and Alex take on Hong Kong thugs, greasy haired enforcers, high kicking baddies with spurs on their boots and a buff female bodyguard with thighs that can kill using explosives disguised as cognac, sniper rifles, high kicks, Johnny Walker Red, black silk underwear and lots of flexing. Ah the 90's...

Born in San Diego, Lewis was raised in Rhode Island before moving back to California at age 10.  First appearing on television and short films in 1970, Lewis would earn a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination for 1980's Flo, a CableACE Award nomination for 1984's Maximum Security and a California Independent Film Festival Best Actor award for 2005's Old Man Music.

Cable Sunday: Michael Biehn

The X-Men film franchise started as a major gamble for studio Fox which saw 2000's first film given a decent if unspectacular budget of $75 million, a few familiar faces in the cast and a relatively new director in Bryan Singer. Production was shut down in the middle of shooting to reassess and scripts from the likes of Joss Whedon, Ed Solomon and finally David Hayter had piled up for years. It was a $300 million grossing hit and paved the way for six follow ups in 14 years. The 80's set X-Men: Apocalypse begins shooting soon as does the lower budgeted take on 4th wall breaking, Merc with a mouth Deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds to follow last year's near $750 million dollar grossing Days of Future Past. Last summer, rumors of an X-Force script began to circulate and it was confirmed that Never Back Down and Kick-Ass 2 filmmaker Jeff Wadlow was penning a draft. Then came reports that Channing Tatum would pick up the bo staff, playing cards and New Orleans accent of X-Man Gambit for his own standalone flick.

An X-Force flick could work pretty well as the team is a bit more rough and tumble than Professor Xavier's crew. Instead of a soothing, intelligent and mentor style leader, X-Force is headed by the gruff and calculating soldier from the future Cable. With a scarred face, cybernetic arm and always carrying a huge gun, Cable was designed to be the opposite of the wheelchair bound, talk and think it out Charles. This guy is all about the action and taking down the bad guys "cold, hard and mean". Training his young mutants to be more of a military style response team, X-Force runs into the Mutant Liberation Front and their pack of super powered terrorists working for dude in a ton of armor with a superiority complex, Stryfe. X-Force is made up of Cable's chick and comrade in battle Domino, high flying southern guy Cannonball, the blood thirsty wolf-woman Feral, explosion tossing smartass Boom Boom, native tribesman strong dude Warpath and man from another planet/dimension bred to be a warrior Shatterstar. Whipping this rag tag team of outcasts to fight an organized and maniacal threat to humanity is total fodder for a high octane, fast moving action flick filled with hand to hand battle and CGI spectacle. With more of a focus on close quarter combat, you could build up some match ups and showdowns between characters heading into the I'm sure to be explosion and destruction filled finale. Which would be a nice change of pace from previous superhero flicks where our team fights an army of faceless goons a la X-Men: The Last Stand or The Avengers.

Way back in the 90's, Wizard Magazine nominated Clint Eastwood to play Cable in a yet to be produced X-Men movie that also included Michael Biehn as Cyclops, Dolph Lundgren as Colossus and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Gambit. Creator Rob Liefeld has read the first draft of X-Force and could barely contain his excitement. While production is still a ways off, The Liefeld dropped names like Tom Hardy, Jon Hamm and Stephen Lang for Cable. It's an interesting role to fill as Cable is an older character; white haired and grizzled with scars on his face. Not exactly Hollywood's favorite casting call. Tom Hardy seems a bit young for it while Hamm has the jawline if not the presence. Stephen Lang is a pretty close call given his role and appearance in Avatar as the hard ass, pumped up military leader with scars down his head. But for me, I can't help but think this is a role for the one and only Michael Biehn. Given Cable's time traveling history, sent back to prevent an incident with future repercussions is at least in passing similar to Biehn's Kyle Reese in James Cameron's The Terminator. If you'll recall, Skynet's machines have risen, wiped out most of the human population with nuclear strikes and uses the remaining survivors as labor. Leader of the resistance John Connor is a pain in their side so they send a killing machine back to 1984 to kill his mother Sarah before he's born. Soldier Reese travels back to protect her, essentially giving his life for a woman he's never met but fallen in love with through stories and a single photograph.

From there Biehn donned a headset, body armor and giant Pulse Rifle as a space Marine in Aliens and has played his fair share of gun toting and futuristic cops, soldiers and secret agent types in flicks like Navy Seals, The Rock and Planet Terror. Now pushing 60, the Biehn is the perfect age and amount of grizzled to play Cable. His memorable baggage as a time traveler and space soldier make a nice through line to the metallic mutant. Still lithe and athletic, it's not hard to imagine Biehn pumping up a bit and donning a white wig and fake scars while running around barking orders, firing off future guns and being the hard yet reliable heart of the upstarts. Just think the vulnerable physicality of Kyle Reese with the taciturn hard ass-ness of The Rock's Commander Anderson only with shoulder pads and a metal arm. Since Cable is always dealing with potential futures and alternate time lines, it would be a weird fan theory full circle as X-Men was originally set up at Carolco at Cameron's request before being sold off to Fox. Biehn would have been an awesome Cyclops in a Cameron produced X-Men film from the 90's and Cable is actually Cyke's kid in the comics so if he couldn't play the father, how about the son?

Unfortunately X-Force is stuck in development as producers are leery about having more than two X-Men related movies in a year given the glut of superhero flicks from Marvel, DC and Fox's own Fantastic Four hitting theaters in the next few years. After casting hot at the time Taylor Kitsch as Gambit in the woeful Wolverine Origins flick they've upgraded to Tatum for a follow up so I'm sure they'll go with someone with more heat for Cable if a flick ever does get made.  But here's hoping Biehn returns for Alien 5, it's a huge hit and it leads him right into X-Force.

Body slide to HQ...

What the Chuck?! Hero and the Terror

Did you miss it? I sure did. Tuesday, March 10th was the 75th birthday of one Carlos Ray aka Chuck Norris! The Air Force veteran turned martial arts expert and champion turned movie and TV star turned internet sensation spends his days living in rural Texas, working out on his Total Gym and speaking at conservative events. We know and love him for his awesome 70's and 80's action flicks so let's dive into 1988's Hero and the Terror. This puts us on the tail end of his go-go years with Cannon Films following hits like Missing In Action, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force.

Hero is a weird one, more of a thriller than an action flick as we meet Danny O'Brien (Norris) as he's tracked down the man-brute-child Simon Moon aka The Terror (Jack O'Halloran) and fighting for his life under a pier. Moon nearly chokes and drowns O'Brien to death but trips and dazes himself, which makes arriving back up think The Chuck managed to put the big man down. Thus becoming a hero and a trauma survivor at the same time. Cut to three years later, O'Brien is slowly getting his confidence back and moving in with his pregnant lady Kay (Brynn Thayer). There's an awesomely ludicrous workout scene where Chuck is bench pressing while having flashbacks of Moon's hands wrapped around his throat, intense! American Ninja's Steve James shows up as one of his cop buddies and with another friend scream at O'Brien to complete his reps and joke he's prepping for the Olympics. I should mention that Norris is really pumped up in this one with a smooth hairless chest and a 80's style spaghetti strapped tank top. Competing with Stallone and Arnold perhaps? He rocks sweet sweaters and blazers while tooling around in his Corvette.

Thought dead for the last three years, Moon returns, killing women with his bare hands. His once abandoned lair has been remodeled and scheduled to open as The Wiltern Theatre. Hiding in unmapped cubbies, Moon eludes O'Brien and the police until they figure out there's more to the joint than thought. Alone, O'Brien finds the secret compartment Moon has been bringing his victims back to and faces off against The Terror one last time. Like I said, this was kind of a weird one but very watchable, Chuck doesn't have a ton of fight scenes, just one against some thugs on a bust and the final confrontation with Moon. His usual odd charm and humor is put on display in his scenes with Kay and one where he burns toast, etc. It was nice to see Steve James pop up for a few scenes even if he spoke with a kind of strange nasally, hero voice in this. There's one scene where James is on a stakeout in the theater and decides to get a work out in by running laps listening to Mozart!

After making his name in martial arts and action fare to big box office but few critical accolades, Norris hit both with 1985's Code of Silence. Follow ups Invasion U.S.A., The Delta Force, Firewalker and Missing in Action III would see diminishing returns and be viewed as less challenging and more exploitative fare. Hero and the Terror, based on the novel by Michael Blodgett, adapted by Dennis Shryack and directed by William Tannen was an attempt to broaden Norris' range. His character isn't the silent badass, he's got fears and even sees a therapist. Throw in the pregnant ladyfriend and some delivery room humor and you've got yourself a character similar to but also very departed from Lone Wolf McQuade, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force where it was more about revenge or taking down scumbags cold, hard and fast. After so many years of that, it was time to be strong yet vulnerable. While the flick is easily a Saturday afternoon repeater, it did little to broaden Norris' fanbase. Opening on August 26th, 1988, Hero and the Terror grossed an anemic $1.8 million for the weekend coming in 12th place behind long released fare like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Die Hard, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Young Guns and Coming to America on it's way to a $5.3 million total.

Hero and the Terror's weak performance was Norris' worst showing in years. A proposed team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Cowboy and The Cossack was planned but never materialized. A Delta Force sequel would do little to turn the tide and 1991's The Hitman would fare even worse. Norris himself deemed the picture OK and not one of his favorites. Director William Tannen would reteam with Norris nearly 20 years later on entertaining DTV flick The Cutter. Novelist Michael Blodgett would have more success on the cop-canine comedy Turner & Hooch the next year before passing away in 2007. Screenwriter Dennis Shryack had previously written Clint Eastwood vehicles The Gauntlet and Pale Rider as well as Norris' Code of Silence (originally meant for Clint) and would go on to co-write Turner & Hooch and the Peter Weller actioner Fifty/Fifty.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Norris, keep pumping!

Oscar Overlooked: Arnold Schwarzenegger in Twins

Welcome to Oscar Overlooked, my spotlight on criminally underrated performances. It's no secret that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is notorious for not rewarding genre films and their makers. Comedy, action and science fiction score big with audiences but usually not with the voting board. Sure every now and again they'll rally behind a James Cameron that can mix spectacle and story but for the most part, big crowd pleasing films have to bask in their financial success and word of mouth rather than critics or awards. By 1988, former Mr. Olympia bodybuilding champion Arnold Schwarzenegger had been acting full time for nearly 10 years. Films like Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator cemented his arrival to Hollywood but he was still only seen as an overdeveloped freak show good at playing brutes and robots. 1987's Predator was a potent mix of action, horror and sci-fi while giving The Oak more dialog than usual. It would be his highest grossing film to date with a $60 million domestic haul but subsequent returns for futuristic sci-fi actioner The Running Man and buddy picture Red Heat wouldn't keep the momentum going.

Rather than repeat himself with another bloody affair, Arnold lined up Twins, a comedy about genetically modified brothers meeting each other for the first time as adults. Showing business savvy and belief in the project, Arnold, co-star Danny DeVito and director Ivan Reitman forfeited their upfront fees, feeling that studio Universal was taking all of the risk. Settling for 20% of the back end, the film's budget was a moderate $16 million. Why is Arnold's portrayal of the naive, seemingly perfect and educated Julius Benedict worthy of praise? Because Arnold convincingly portrays a naive virgin! If that's not acting, you tell me what is. Long known for his boisterous personality and love of women coupled with his tough, "one man army" screen persona; seeing Arnold play a childlike, literal nice guy who doesn't like to fight, never gotten pissed off, drank beer or had sex in his life was something audiences had never seen or expected. The film was a huge hit, grossing $111 million in the U.S. alone and another $104 million overseas making it the 5th highest grossing film of 1988. All in, Arnold's percentage deal netted him a reported $35 million bucks. Like Clint Eastwood before him who lampooned his own tough guy image in Paint Your Wagon and Every Which Way But Loose, action stars have trying to soften their image ever since from then rival Stallone in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot to Vin Diesel in The Pacifier and The Rock in The Gameplan and The Tooth Fairy.

Reviews weren't overly good for Twins but Roger Ebert gave it 3/4 stars and the film netted a handful of music nominations and awards from the Golden Globes and People's Choice Awards. During Oscar season, usual suspects and subjects like an autistic Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Gene Hackman as an FBI agent investigating racially charged murder in Mississippi Burning and Edward James Olmos as an inner city school teacher who won't give up on his class in Stand and Deliver were lauded for Best Actor. Surprisingly, Tom Hanks was also nominated for his portrayal of a kid turned into an adult for comedy-drama Big. Twins was now Arnold's highest grossing vehicle yet and follow up sci-fi action flick Total Recall made even more followed by another well received comedy, Kindergarten Cop before mammoth money maker and cinema changer Terminator 2: Judgement Day would be nominated for half a dozen technical Oscars.

Snow Screen: 50 Shades of Grey, Kingsman & American Sniper

Lotta movies out there right now, lotta movies. This past weekend saw an interesting one-two punch of literary adaptions hit theaters: erotic Twilight fan-fiction turned best seller 50 Shades of Grey and graphic novel adaptation Kingsman: The Secret Service. Grey made waves with it's bondage and blind fold motif while Kingsman was a throwback to big spectacle spy flicks from the 60's. Both performed admirably at the box office and surprisingly, both were rated R.

Grey is the story of meek English Literature major Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and her relationship with guarded young billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). Basically Grey is a messed up youth with a junkie mother that was abused as a child and the only way he can find sexual gratification is through being a dominant to a submissive using assorted handcuffs, blindfolds, whips and the like. Steele is intrigued and swept off her feet by Grey but has to pump the brakes when the seemingly weird and unfamiliar fetishes start coming out. There's plenty of romance and sex as I found the flick surprisingly watchable and telling a familiar story. It's literally a romantic comedy about a girl meeting a guy and the two meeting in the middle to make it work. Instead of zany, accident filled set pieces to show how much the duo cares for each other, you get sex scenes with hands being tied in ties, or bound with ropes. Sam Taylor-Johnson crafts a classy and sleek looking picture from Kelly Marcel's adaptation of E.L. James' hit novel. Steele is your typical awkward duckling waiting for her prince who just happens to be a dammaged goods billionaire. As I thought the film would simply depict her becoming Grey's sex slave in return for a jet set lifestyle, the flick does a good job of having Steele stand her ground as a consenting adult open to experimentation but not exploitation. Dornan's Grey is like a less serious version of Michael Fassbender in Shame, addicted and disturbed but it's not as feel bad/awesome as all that jazz. Pacific Rim's Herc Hansen Max Martini shows up as Grey's driver but doesn't do or say much. Would have been interesting to see Martini reunited with original Christian Grey and Pac Rim co-star Charlie Hunam in such a different film.

Kingsman is the latest from Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class director Matt Vaughn. This time around we get Colin Firth as secret agent Harry Hart, a member of a secret society that fights global threats. He takes young Eggsy (Taron Egerton) under his wing after the lad's dad is killed on a mission. Like James Bond, Jr., Eggsy trains to become a Kingsman who are fighting the Richard Branson/Russell Simmons with a lisp tech mogul baddie Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). Utilizing cell phone waves, Valentine plans to brainwash the world into killing itself through violent urges. The flick runs a bit long but is more or less a ridiculous good time, bordering on irresponsible with loads of gratuitous violence and hanky panky talk. A fantastic supporting cast includes Mark Strong, Mark Hamill and Michael Caine. Colin Firth is the latest older leading man to go Liam Neesons in Tooken to kick some ass and looks pretty good doing it. Like Dolph Lundgren said, these days it just takes a few stuntmen, a good cameraman, editing and a solid choreographer to make anybody a decent action hero.

I've been wanting to see American Sniper for a while now and was not deterred by any talk of attacks on subject Chris Kyle's character or the fake baby. A pretty simple story about a guy wanting to serve his country and how that affects his life, wife and family for good and bad. Bradley Cooper is solid as the Navy's deadliest sniper and Navy Seal as he serves four tours in Iraq facing terrorists, human butchers and snipers. The film goes back and forth between the battlefield, his home life between tours and his relationship with wife Taya (Sienna Miller). As a film, I found it to be a well done, rousing, scary and a bit sad look at the deeds and sacrifices the men and women of the armed forces make to protect the freedom of the rest of us. Whether or not Kyle had emotional or mental issues or if a guy should really be celebrated for being a skilled killer I can't comment on. I didn't find the film to be jingoistic or war mongering in any way and it didn't attempt to portray Kyle as a squeaky clean superhero. Clint Eastwood delivers the goods on a reported $60 million dollar budget with shootouts, explosions, lots of time in Iraq and sand storms, etc. The Magnificent Seven and Now & Again star Eric Close shows up for a quick scene but I was surprised that most of the remaining cast was filled with unfamiliar faces. Randomly, Kyle's Marine buddy Marc Lee is played by Luke Grimes who was also in Grey as the billionaire's goofy brother.

With the Oscars this weekend and not much interest in trying to see all the Best Picture nominees, I figure if I can check out The Theory of Everything this week I'll be all caught up. Well besides Hot Tub Time Machine 2 because that looks hilarious. Here's hoping for a Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese cameo to go along with all the time jumping and references from the first flick.

What the Chuck?! Forced Vengeance

On the back end of Turner Classic Movies' Underground programming of Miami Connection was another 80's martial arts opus, Forced Vengeance from 1982.  The flick opens with a stylized fight scene between the silhouette of Chuck Norris and an unknown attacker in front of a giant neon sign with Chinese characters complete with blaring music but no sound.  We have no context whatsoever and it immediately reminded me of future action flicks that would do the same thing, mainly Best of the Best 2 where it adds a little mystique to the credits and Dolph Lundgren's Direct Action where it pads out the runtime.  From there we meet Josh Randall (Norris) as he collects a debt from a Los Angeles scum bag and beats up a would be enforcer in the process.  There's humor right away as Randall's favorite cowboy hat is stomped on and there's a close up of him curling his fist before dishing up some pain.  Cut to Hong Kong, "a slap in the face that feels good" where you "make money as fast as you can" with an opening shot out of Enter the Dragon or reused by Bloodsport.  We meet Randall's benevolent, tai chi practicing businessman of Jewish heritage boss Sam (David Opatoshu) and his son David (Frank Michael Liu).  The duo run honest casino Lucky Dragon in HK where Randall is head of security.

Unfortunately David has made some bad business decisions and evil casino overlord Stan Raimondi (Michael Cavanugh) is about to swallow up their small potatoes establishment.  When Sam refuses to sell, father and son are gunned down leaving Randall the prime suspect and on the run.  With Sam and David dead, daughter Joy (Camila Griggs) becomes the sole heir to the Lucky Dragon and target of a citywide manhunt.  Randall grabs the young woman and along with his spunky ladyfriend, Claire (Mary Louise Weller) go into hiding with Vietnam buddy LeRoy Nicely (Bob Minor).  With the cops and the mob after them, Randall sets off to squash Raimondi's hold on the city.

Cleanly directed by James Fargo, Forced Vengeance is a pretty solid karate thriller with some surprisingly exploitative traits.  There's lots of fist and feeticuffs in the Chuck Norris karate tradition: big punches, low knee, high foot roundhouse kicks, a flying sidekick off the side of a building, slow motion jumping off furniture tackle, pulling the slide of a handgun back next to the side of a guy's head to intimidate him and a death by falling glass in the throat.  A unique touch was Randall using pressure points to subdue attackers, pressing on forearms and necks.  There's also a surprising amount of laughs in Franklin Thompson and Fargo's script.  From Randall always drinking a beer, having his cowboy hat damaged and telling his chick to throw a blanket on him so he can nap, Vengeance definitely has a sense of humor and Norris gets to throw out lots of one liners and funny/awesome quips like "Your son made me an offer...before he died" cause Chuck killed him in the last scene, get it?!  Or when an Organized Task Force agent tells Randall he's a real litterer, cause of all the dead bodies, ska-doosh!

It's also a product of it's time and has a scuzzy feel with many a lady being slapped, flaming homosexual depictions and a surprisingly brutal end to Claire's life at the hands of a giant Chinese brute.  Composer William Goldstein provides a distinctive yet overly melodramatic score with soothing pianos and grating laser sounds alike.  The Hong Kong setting is a nice touch and you feel like you're back watching Lee, Roper and Williams leave for Han's Island in Enter the Dragon or planting the seeds for Jean-Claude Van Damme's jokey foot chase through the shadowy narrow corridors in Bloodsport, it's truly a distinct cityscape.  Running and fighting his way through the streets, Randall comes across a Bruce Lee imitator with nunchucks and whooping strange noises.  You know how movies today seem like rehashes of other movies?  Well Forced Vengeance was like watching movies that didn't even exist yet.  When a guy slaps a woman and Chuck slaps him, asking, "hurts, don't it?", I went to Tombstone.  When the Chinese brute told Chuck his girl was "very good", I thought of Kickboxer.  At one point someone mutters, "Randall, Randall, Randall" and Arnold Vosloo from Hard Target popped into my mind.  I'm sure many of these were coincidences but it just kept happening!

Even though Norris got a career boost from student, friend and global superstar Steve McQueen, Forced Vengeance owes much of it's crew to another action hero, Clint Eastwood.  Director Fargo had previously worked on Clint flicks like Joe Kidd, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Every Which Way But Loose as an Assistant Director before graduating to the helmer's chair himself.  Villain Michael Cavanuagh had also appeared in three Eastwood vehicles before starring in Vengeance.  Stuntman extraordinaire Bob Minor plays the funny, cool and swole buddy, much like Steve James would later to Michael Dudikoff and Norris in American Ninja and The Hero and the Terror.   Released on July 30th, 1982, Forced Vengeance would gross $6.6 million at the box office from 576 theaters ranking it ahead of movies like The Soldier, Megaforce and Eastwood's Honky Tonk Man but way behind action fare Rocky III, First Blood, Firefox, Conan the Barbarian and The Road Warrior.  Norris' next film would be a step up, the iconic Lone Wolf McQuade before embarking on his lucrative partnership with Cannon Films.

Charm In Peace: James Garner

I was saddened to see that James Garner passed away on Saturday night in his Brentwood home at the age of 86 by what can only be deemed natural causes.  I had just watched The Great Escape over 4th of July weekend and was again reminded of what a cool, charismatic, funny and macho presence Garner was.  Arguably his role as smooth talking scrounger Hendley in The Great Escape is richer than star Steve McQueen's Captain Hilts, who got to add some motor cycle chase scenes to give audiences something to remember him for.  Garner was one of the last guys Hollywood had left.  What I mean is that he is one of the last of that era's leading men who could do physical, funny and dramatic without breaking a sweat.  He was a star with presence and personality not just fleeting fame.  A product of a broken family and later a veteran of the Korean War and merchant marines, Garner had that real life experience that many young actors are missing today who simply got into the craft from an early age.  He even went after both Warner Brothers and Universal in court, and won!  Of his Great Escape colleagues, director John Sturges, producer Walter Mirisch, co-stars McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, James Donald and Donald Pleasance among others have all passed away while other dynamic personalities from the period like Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum have also ascended to the Hollywood party in the sky.  I figure Kirk Douglas is the last of this strong willed, independent and status quo rejecting lot so I should probably write him to tell him how much I've enjoyed his work on and off screen.

I can't recall where I first saw Garner's work but I never really got into his TV stuff where he became a star on Maverick then cemented his legacy with The Rockford Files.

The Great Escape - Bob Hendley, the smooth talking, tool stealing, document procuring scrounger who looked so dashing in his white turtleneck while trying to escape a German camp.  Word is that a rough cut showcased Garner's character to the point that Steve McQueen walked out on the production causing director John Sturges to fire the actor and rewrite the script to blend his character with Garner's.  Of course The Cooler King stayed on and The Great Escape became one of his signature roles.  McQueen and Garner would become friends, neighbors and racing competitors with McQueen often throwing empty beer cans on Garner's beautifully manicured lawn.

The Americanization of Emily - Charles Madison, a smooth talking naval officer aide with an aversion to combat falls for Julie Andrews and gets sent to fight.  Great dialog from Paddy Chayefsky and wonderful chemistry with Andrews.  James Coburn pops up as his buddy nicknamed Bus, which is just an awesome nick name.

Support Your Local Sheriff - Jason McCullough, a big, burly dude in the west who uses his wits, charm and mouth to get out of most trouble in this western comedy.  Loved the bit where he stops a big fight so he can grab his lunch and eat in peace as well as the scene he sticks his finger into a threatening bandits gun and convinces him it will backfire.  Terrific supporting cast and the sequel, Support Your Local Gunfighter is amusing but not quite as good.  I believe he earned a career high salary for one of the flicks in the $750,000 range.

Tank - Sgt. Major Zak Carey, a loving father and Army legend serving his final tour of duty at a small base in Georgia who runs afoul of the corrupt, local law enforcement.  Uses his personal tank to break his son out of jail then goes on the run.  Funny and random flick from the 80's post Garner's 2nd successful TV run with The Rockford Files' 6 year, 122 episode run which saw the star sue Universal for compensation and profits and walking away with an alleged $14 million bucks.

Maverick - Marshall Zane Cooper, the elder straight arrow lawman to Mel Gibson's hot shot gambler who is afraid of guns Bret Maverick.  It looks like Garner, Gibson and Jodie Foster are having a ball in Richard Donner's update of the television show and that makes it more fun for the audience.  Watch out for cameos from Donner alum Corey Feldman and Danny Glover as well as a nod to Lethal Weapon even though the movie takes place in the 1800's.  James Coburn pops up again opposite Garner in a nice reunion. Apparently producers wanted Paul Newman but after he passed, they came to their senses and back to the man who originated the role.

Space Cowboys - Tank Sullivan, Clint Eastwood credits Garner with paving the way for TV stars transitioning to film after suing WB to get out of his Maverick contract.  Garner anchors a cast that includes Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, James Cromwell, William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones as a former test pilot turned reverend.  The young version of Tank is played by Body Armor's Matt McColm too boot.  The scene where Jones and Garner try to keep up with NASA's young astronauts lifting weights is a great one.

I just watched a documentary that interviewed Kurt Russell, an actor who always seemed like he was having a good time and went into semi-retirement to work on a vineyard.  It reminded me of Garner who was known to consider acting a means to an end, playing roles big and small, never chasing status, just working and happened to get lucky and made it on a bigger level.  The kind of guy who just comes off as a cool dude you'd like to kick back with and shoot the shit with.

Dolph Month: Maximum Start

The first movie I ever saw in a theater was Cannon Films' adaptation of Mattel's toy line Masters of the Universe.  Since then I've been a lifelong Dolph Lundgren fan with his intimidating physique, sometime crazy character portrayals, martial arts prowess and general stoic Dolph-ness.  While he never reached the career heights of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal or the man most directly responsible for his career, Sylvester Stallone, Lundgren has carved a nice spot out for himself and in recent years has only gotten more recognizable.  Taking a cue from Clint Eastwood and Stallone, Dolph has directed 6 films in his long list of credits in a bid to challenge himself and take control of his fate.  Recently, Lundgren has taken on a real world threat and put it into the movies with his written and produced effort, Skin Trade, which focuses on the horrible world of human trafficking.  Recruiting Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, Peter Weller and Michael Jai White, Skin Trade looks to be the best type of film, one that is born out of passion and carried through with the objective to entertain and illuminate.

Rewinding a few years and Dolph was a self described skinny wimp at age 16 with asthma.  Taking up full contact Kyokushin Karate and by his late teens was a heavy weight champion competing in his homeland of Sweden and traveling to the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.  Of course karate wasn't exactly a career back then so Dolph took after his brother and father and studied Chemical Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm as well as Washington State University.  In the early 80's, Lundgren received a Fulbright scholarship to M.I.T. but had 6 months off in New York before classes started.  He then met singer Grace Jones and traveled with her to the set of James Bond picture A View to a Kill where he was given a walk on role and history was about to be made.  Delaying his further studies, Dolph went in for a cattle call audition that ended up being for Rambo II and Rocky IV.  Originally being dismissed for being too tall (6'5"!), Lundgren had a friend snap some photographs of him in boxing gear and sent them off to the casting agency.  Months later he received a call to test for the role of Ivan Drago, a seemingly unbeatable, scientifically enhanced boxer from the Soviet Union.

With 3 months to prepare, Dolph began to work on gaining weight to play the formidable heavyweight destroyer.  As an athlete, overly developed muscles would waste his bodies natural system as whether you're 100 or 400 pounds, you have the same amount of blood flowing through your veins and aerobic capacity.  Upping his time in the weight room and scaling back on cardio, Dolph began a high protein, low carb diet that he really had no idea how to go about.  By the time the screen test arrived, Lundgren was a solid 248 lbs while the two other actors auditioning were heavier and smoother.  Dolph maintained a quiet persona a la Clint Eastwood while the other candidates screamed and went over the top.  A call the next day from Stallone himself confirmed Lundgren had the role.  Now it was time to get in cinema shape.  Working out for hours with Stallone, the two built up their bodies and muscles that boxers generally don't have.  With 5 months until shooting, the duo started off lifting heavy for 2 hours to put on mass on a 3 day split of Chest/Back/Shoulders, Arms and Legs with 2 hours of boxing daily.  By the end of prep, their lifting time decreased dramatically and boxing work was upped to 4 hours daily.

The result was two of the most sculpted physiques in film history depicted as old versus new school training in the film.  But that is for our next post...

(Not) Love Actually: Daredevil VS The Punisher

Captain America:  The Winter Soldier is cleaning up at the box office while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has already started raking in the bucks internationally.  DC just announced a Justice League movie to follow 2015's Batman VS Superman and allegedly have an additional 9 comic book adaptations in the works.  Marvel head honcho Joe Quesada dropped a few tidbits about the Daredevil series coming to Netflix, promising a "street-noir" style on the ground level of the Marvel cinematic and television universe.

During WonderCon weekend, in a bit of coincidental scheduling, 2003's big screen adaptation of Daredevil was playing on one channel while 2004's The Punisher was playing on another.  Both Marvel heroes are harder edged and more violent than The Avengers or Spider-Man and their films reflected (or attempted to) that moody, visceral and kinetic vibe.  10 years ago, the superhero movie was just starting it's transformation.  The Batman series had stalled with 1997's 4th chapter in a haze of bright colors, too many characters and kid/toy friendly camp.  1998's Blade gave Marvel a shot in the arm but that character was hardly a comic book icon.  2000's X-Men really set things off as Fox gave the production a decent budget and summer slot which in turn gave them a franchise that is still going strong 14 years and 7 movies later.  2002's Spider-Man showed audiences and critics that a "funny book" movie about a teenager granted wondrous powers who swings around New York in red and blue tights could be equal parts heart wrenching and adrenaline pumping on it's way to a $800 million dollar gross in theaters alone.

In 2003, Fox's long gestating Daredevil hit the screens, opening up # 1 on President's Day weekend to poor reviews and uneven audience reaction.  A Director's Cut would prove to be slightly better received but all you need to do is look at the negative reaction to Ben Affleck being cast as Batman to see how many viewers thought it spelled doom.  Written and directed by Grumpy Old Men's Mark Steven Johnson, Daredevil plays out as a pretty faithful adaptation of the comic books on the surface.  Teen Matt Murdock is blinded by radioactive waste and gains heightened senses and "radar vision" then takes to the streets to deliver rough fist, feet and makeshift nunchuk/bo staff justice when it eludes the courts he works in by day as a lawyer.  Throw in future wife Jennifer Garner as ass kicking assassin Elektra, Colin Farrel as over the top henchman Bullseye and the massive Michael Clarke Duncan as crime lord The Kingpin and you get one of the most eclectic yet capable casts of the young Marvel movie age.

The movie does suffer from some clunky writing and acting by Affleck and Garner and has some really bad, even for it's time, CGI f/x.  Mostly of Daredevil leaping and flipping inhuman lengths and heights.  The flick looks pretty slick but feels a bit hollow with it's nods to the comics, brooding violence, bleak yet shiny cinematography and crammed in heavy metal soundtrack.  Taking in $178 million worldwide on an estimated $80 million dollar budget, Daredevil couldn't be considered a flop as a handsome 2-disk special edition DVD sold well enough to warrant a Director's Cut release but a sequel was never publicly discussed and Affleck soon moved into a career funk.  Subsequent releases Gigli focused too much on his personal life while Paycheck became a middle of the road, throwaway title that led helmer John Woo to pack up and go back to China.

Marvel's next attempt at an adult comic book feature came in the form of Artisan turned Lionsgate's 2004 release The Punisher, which holds the distinction of being their first R rated venture.  Directed and co-written by Die Hard: With a Vengeance and Armageddon's Jonathan Hensleigh, The Punisher opened up # 2 in April of 2004 to blah reviews and lackluster audience interest.  Our hero is Frank Castle, an undercover CIA agent on the verge of retirement.  When the son of powerful mob boss Howard Saint is killed during an operation, Castle's entire family is wiped out and he is left for dead.  Surviving, Castle comes back to haunt Saint as the bringer of punishment and basically kills a whole lotta people while blowing up drugs, money and fending off hitmen.  Solid actor and future king of weirdcool Thomas Jane made a smooth million bucks for the role and underwent a hardcore training regimen that included lifting weights, hand to hand combat, gun and edged weapons training with former Navy SEALs.  John Travolta shows up as Saint while familiar faces Will Patton, Roy Scheider, Rebecca Romijn, Kevin Nash, Ben Foster and Laura Harring round out the cast.

Hensleigh attempts to harken back to the good ol' days of Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel's 70's vibe with real stunts, little CGI and a slowed down pace.  The results are successful in parts as the action is brief yet brutal and crisp, there's variety to the violence and set pieces while dark humor is sprinkled throughout.  Other sections are overbearing, melodramatic and downright cheesy as the dialog scenes are handled with a heavy hand and the big, beautiful orchestral score seems to be playing over the wrong movie.  Changing the locale from New York to Florida didn't help matters and TJ spends most of the film shirtless to show off all his hard work a la Hugh Jackman in the later Wolverine movies.  For some reason Lionsgate and Marvel decided to play chicken with Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Part 2 and came up short as KB took in a healthy $25 million on it's way to a $152 million worldwide total while The Punisher only managed $13 million on it's way to a disappointing $54 million global tally on a reported $28 million dollar budget but would sell huge on home video thus spurring serious chatter for a sequel.

Thomas Jane would never realize his leading man potential as 2007's The Mist would misfire over Thanksgiving weekend and leads in low budget, DTV fare soon followed before appearing on HBO's Hung for 3 seasons.  Wanting to make a gritty, Walter Hill directed, 70's style follow up, Jane walked away from the sequel which was released as the cartoonishly over the top, not sure if it's passable or horrible, Punisher: War Zone which garnered a pitiful $10 million worldwide in 2008.  Jane would return to the role in unofficial short film sequel Dirty Laundry, co-starring Ron Perlman that has grabbed nearly 5 million viewers.  As they've battled in the comics for decades, let's hope The Punisher manages to pop up in the new Daredevil series where they can be handled with a little more care and support in this comic book movie driven era.

Ask Me a Question: Terminator 2 w/Robert Patrick

As I navigate the seas of social media and work on getting the word out on the Van Damme double feature while traveling to 3 cons in a month, I'll be taking a break to attend yet another throwback screening at the Arclight Hollywood to see one of the greatest sequels of all time, Terminator 2:  Judgment Day.  If you'll recall, The Terminator and Aliens screened not long ago sans guests while T2 was a winner in an audience choice poll and has the T-1000 himself, Robert Patrick, stopping by to introduce 1991's highest grossing movie and my first R rated flick in a theater.  In addition to T2, Patrick has popped up in everything from Die Hard 2: Die Harder to Double Dragon to Walk the Line and Gangster Squad while appearing on TV in X-Files and The Unit.  Since his first credit in 1986, Patrick has convincingly played heroic, nefarious, fatherly and amusing opposite Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Denzel Washington, Demi Moore and Harrison Ford while being directed by the likes of James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Robert Rodriguez and James Mangold.

Judgement Day takes place years after the first as soldier and father of the future Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) and Sarah Connor's (Linda Hamilton) son John (Edward Furlong) has been targeted for termination.  Patrick plays the more advanced than Arnold's T-800 model, the shape shifting, liquid metal T-1000 that is the ultimate infiltration unit that can imitate nearly any form and has a penchant for turning his limbs into huge knives and stabbing weapons.  Picking up many of the same beats from the original, T2 is a huge, groundbreaking, exciting, action packed, visual roller coaster compared to the low budget, tech noir B-movie masterpiece of the first.  Upon release the film took in half a billion dollars in theaters alone and ushered in a new era of digital f/x.  In 1996, Universal Studios unveiled a part live action, part 3D film that reunited the main cast for an amusement park attraction that ran for 15 years.  I'm sure it will look fantastic on the big screen and I'll bet Mr. Patrick will have some great stories to share.

*UPDATED*

The Los Angeles Times just announced their line up for the 5th annual Hero Complex festival.  Years past have seen guests like Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Richard Donner, Warren Beatty, Peter Weller, John Carpenter, Roland Emmerich and many more attend.  This year centers on future set Science Fiction with double bills of The Terminator and sequel Judgement Day with writer/director James Cameron appearing as well as Alien and Aliens with star Sigourney Weaver.  Coincidentally, I've seen Terminator, Aliens and Judgement Day on the big screen all in the last couple of months and just saw Weaver discuss Aliens at Calgary Expo.  I guess that just shows you how dang popular these movies are.

Arclight Presents Terminator 2:  Judgement Day with special introduction by co-star and T-1000 Robert Patrick was a great night out.  My friend helped rope Patrick in and he was a very cool guy and accommodating to the dozens of fans looking for a handshake or photo.  Patrick's teenage children had never seen the flick and were in attendance as well.  To begin, Patrick welcomed the crowd and mentioned a few tidbits about the production like studying predators in the wild to develop his often imitated run to show no wasted movement, catching up to the camera car doing 13 miles per hour, James Cameron telling him they were making history when doing the "walk out of fire" shot and hitting Arnold with a padded metal pipe a little too hard in a fight scene.  He listed Cop Land, Walk the Line and Gangster Squad as some of his personal favorite movies and roles while giving props to director James Mangold.  After the flick, Patrick told us he hadn't watched the film in at least 20 years and that the steel mill was chopped, shipped and reassembled in China!  I had some shirts made up for the night and gave some to him and his family, he really seemed to like them and so I'm hoping to trade him additional shirts for a sit down interview.  Which would be a first for Dammaged Goods! 

My First Million: Clint Eastwood and Kelly's Heroes

By the late 60's and early 70's, Clint Eastwood was becoming one of Hollywood's biggest stars.  Thanks to the world wide success of Sergio Leone's Man With No Name Trilogy (where he actually has a name, in each...), Eastwood was paid hefty sums in the $500,000 - $750,000 range for World War II action fest Where Eagles Dare and the awesomely excessive western musical Paint Your Wagon, co-starring fellow cinema badass Lee Marvin.  But his first million dollar paycheck came for, I believe, 1970's Kelly's Heroes.  Re-teaming with Eagles director Brian G. Hutton, Eastwood would receive top billing this time around, heading up a talented cast that included Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor and Donald Sutherland.  What initiallyally started out as a Comedic Adventure Caper, Heroes would suffer a tumultuous shoot that was originally slated for 9 weeks but went on for 6 months in Yugoslavia.

The script, originally titled, The Warriors, by Troy Kennedy Martin, sold to MGM for a cool $250,000 clams.  The story of a group of G.I.'s in France who go behind enemy lines to steal $16 million of Nazi gold, The Warriors had all the potential trappings of a great anti-war adventure film.  Director Hutton saw it as a comedy while Eastwood saw it as a satirical adventure caper.  At first thinking they could shoot it in northern California, production moved to Yugoslavia where original World War II weapons and vehicles were still abundant.  Throw in the offer to demolish a small town and the newly retitled Kelly's Heroes was off and running.  To kick things off, Donald Sutherland was struck down with a case of Spinal Meningitis and spent 5 weeks in an English hospital.  The tone of the script was tricky to pinpoint as Eastwood saw it as a reflection of his own military service where he spent most of his time as a swimming instructor and his views on the Vietnam conflict.

Kelly's Heroes is one of my all time favorite Clint Eastwood flicks.  It's big, funny, weird and fun.  There's everything World War II movie aficionados love: Thompson sub-machine guns, tanks, minefields, a motley crew of smart ass G.I.'s, dog impressions, negative waves, Lalo Schfrin score, celebrating villagers, Tiger Tanks, snipers, wine and cheese. Eastwood is in typical serious form as the fed up soldier who sees his shot and takes it.  Sutherland gets the award for Best Hippie in World War 2 while O'Connor is hilariously blowhard as the general listening to the caper on the radio, thinking it's actually some motivated campaign to break enemy lines.  It's a men on a mission flick that isn't as long, serious or slow burning as The Guns of Navarone or The Dirty Dozen (which are both great, just different).  It would be interesting to see what the original version would have been like as Hutton and Eastwood fought and lost to the studio's recutting of the picture to remove most of the anti-war satire.  Eastwood would later comment on the film having the potential to be great but in the end was just a bunch of screw offs running around.  Kelly's Heroes had the unfortunate distinction of being prepared, produced and released under 3 different studio regimes at MGM.  In a bid to fight off the growing threat of television, Heroes was released in the over sized 70mm format.  The film took in $5.2 million, less than Where Eagles Dare but a decent hit nonetheless.

Eastwood was only 2 films away from another career defining film, the anti-establishment cop thriller, Dirty Harry.  Director Brian G. Hutton's output would slow tremendously before eventually retiring.  Donald Sutherland had just come off the smash hit MASH and still had  Klute, Animal House and Ordinary People in his near future.  Kelly's Heroes would be one of Carol O'Connor's last film credits before finding huge success on television in All in the Family, Archie Bunker's Place and In the Heat of the Night.  Telly Savalas had already established himself as a great character actor in roles ranging from the psycho soldier in The Dirty Dozen and as a Bond villain in On Her Majesty's Secret Service before becoming TV's Kojak.

That's your problem!

Last Man Standing: Harrison Ford

It's 80's time over at The Arclight as they're showing classic flicks like Aliens, Predator, The Terminator, Back to the Future and Die Hard over the coming weeks (a.k.a. Michael Biehn on the big screen 2 weeks in a row!).  On Wednesday, the Dome was nearly sold out for a revival of 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom which finds the globe trotting professor fighting gangsters in China before embarking on a quest for magic stones in India where he uncovers a dark cult of heart stealing baddies.  The film looked great up on the big, curved screen of The Dome and Steven Spielberg's work still holds up with it's mix of walloping action, exotic locales, romance and buddy comedy in the purposely dark story.  Apparently writer/producer George Lucas was going through a divorce at the time and not in the best of moods and also wanted to follow The Empire Strikes Back's move into scarier territory.  If you've never been to The Dome, always sit in the middle sections, whether you're in the front row or the way in the back, it's still a good view.  Sitting on the sides is a little weird because the curvature of the screen seems to distort the image, to me, at least.

Earlier in the week and during dinner, I had been discussing American leading men and how we have so few of them coming up the ranks.  Batman, Spider-Man, Robocop and Superman are all played by Europeans.  Australians like Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth have a lock on playing tough guys while for a moment America was getting Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera shoved down our throats.  Point Break, a film about an Ohio football player turned FBI agent chasing down a California surfer, just got cast with an Australian and a Scotsman in the leads.  Don't get me wrong, we'll always have our Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Cruise and Smith contingent but those guys all started off in the 90's and are "cool guys" who were deemed pretty or funny before coming into their own.  Tom Hanks, a marvelous actor, has made a career of being the nice guy.  Where's the American ideal, the cowboy, the quiet loner, the get it done, Doer?  Burt Reynolds had his day but his good ol' boy charm just wasn't taken seriously.  Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood did it their way but apparently that's not the times we're living in anymore.

In the 90's, every big script went to 3 guys:  Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford.  Gibson is fucking harsh but his career was sold on his Australian upbringing.  Costner was a McQueen wannabe but never half as cool, in fact, he kind of comes off as a dick.  But Ford...Ford was it, Ford, in my estimation was our last American Man.  The O.G.  He was strong, dignified and fought the fight because it was the right thing to do.  In Temple, he is a movie icon for the books with his strong jawed handsomeness, dry wit and laconic personality.  A former carpenter who turned to acting, Ford brings a real life weariness and knowing confidence to the screen with his creaky gait and fit yet not overblown physique.  Turns in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Witness, Patriot Games and The Fugitive showcased his anchoring presence and easy going action charm.  While Air Force One gave us the only President, cinematic or otherwise, we can imagine throwing down with terrorists before tossing them off his plane.

Here's to you, Harrison Ford, for showing us how it's done.  Hopefully they manage to cram in "get off my plane" in Expendables III where he's playing a pilot.