At
Close Range (1986/Orion/MGM)/House Of Bamboo
(1955/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)/The Sin Seer
(2014/RLJ DVD)/The Stranger Within (1974
telefilm/Lorimar)/They Came To Rob Las Vegas (1967)/The
Todd Killings (1970 aka A Dangerous Friend aka
Skipper/National General/Warner Archive DVDs)
Picture:
B/B/C/C/C/C Sound: B-/B/C+/C/C/C Extras: B/B-/D/D/D/D
Films: B-/B-/C+/C+/C+/B-
PLEASE
NOTE: The At Close Range and House Of Bamboo
limited edition Blu-rays from Twilight Time were limited to only
3,000 copies each and are out of print, though MVD has reissued Range
with all the same extras. The Stranger Within, They Came
To Rob Las Vegas and The Todd Killings are now only
available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and
can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
a set of thrillers from the last few decades for you to know about...
James
Foley's At Close Range (1986) is the pairing of acting legend
Christopher Walken (seriously uncompromising) as a crime boss with
then popular star Sean Penn showing his acting chops early as the son
who comes back to deal with his dysfunctional, even dangerous father
again. Coming back home to his Philadelphia home circa 1978, he gets
together with his brother (real life brother Chris Penn) and a gal
(Mary Stuart Masterson) he gets involved with upon arrival. However,
the father's criminal activities have become, more profitable, more
daring and as he and his brother get re-involved, the authorities are
watching them.
Better
know for the #1 hit Madonna record from the soundtrack by Patrick
Leonard (see below) quoted often in the score in good ways, the film
did not do well at first in its theatrical release, then got
discovered on home video and with both growing interest in Penn and
ever-present respect for Walken. The era is mostly brought back to
life convincingly, but some weird 1980s commercial concessions (like
a Toyota ad the actors/characters imitate to the cost of the film's
credibility) throw the film off, not helping it one bit. But it is
better than you'd think, with additionally good acting turns by
Crispin Glover, Eileen Ryan (The Penn Brothers mom, who just passed
away as we updated this review), Millie Perkins, Tracey Walter, David
Strathairn, Candy Clark and an appearance by Kiefer Sutherland. The
film has aged well and in interesting ways, so it is worth seeing or
if you saw it a while ago, catching again.
Samuel
Fuller's House Of Bamboo (1955) is both a crime murder drama
and an examination of the rough rebuilding of Japan by the Allies,
especially the United States. Robert Stack is a visitor who falls
for a young Japanese woman (Shirley Yamaguchi) as he starts to cross
paths with an American gangster (Robert Ryan) who is up to no good,
forcing himself around town with no one to stop him. The film opens
with a dead body discovered in the middle of new buildings arising
near Mt. Fuji, serving as an ironic start to a world that is not what
it seems on the surface, though it cannot hide enough of its dark
side.
Ryan
is very effective as the head mobster, racism plays into this, as
does sexism and some oppressed homosexuality. This plays a bit long
at 102 minutes, but Fuller takes his time to show this new Japan
(very well too), focuses on character development and has his usual
shady side of life points to make (semi-Noir here too, for that
matter), so despite some flatness, it is a solid film worth your
time. Nice climax too. Cameron Mitchell also stars.
Extras
for both Blu-rays include a DigiPak with a nicely illustrated booklet
on the film including informative text and essays for each respective
film by Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-rays add Isolated Music Scores,
Original Theatrical Trailer and feature length audio commentary
tracks. Range has an excellent new track with film scholar Nick
Redman and Director Foley that covers the film as thoroughly as it
does the industry, while Redman and Kirgo have recorded a new track
for Bamboo, we get an older audio commentary by film
historians Alain Silver & James Ursini and we get related Fox
Movietone Newsreels.
Paul
D. Hannah's The Sin Seer (2014) is an interesting attempt to
fuse the supernatural film and mind reader cycle with the
African-American world and religious left they represent as a woman
(Lisa Arrindell Anderson) can look into a persons soul and see things
they do and don't know about, including the future. This can make
her the target of the mentally ill, vengeful and haunted, so she
hires a body guard (Isaiah Washington) who happens to be an ex-con.
She is now trying to figure out an older murder that might be a cold
case, but her special knowledge is about to heat it up again.
Though
this can get preachy and miss more than a few beats, the makers are
onto something and it has its moments. Anderson has an interesting
appeal and is good in the role, while this seems franchise-able and a
sequel ought to be attempted. Not bad for a low budget, C. Thomas
Howell, Salli Richardson and Michael Ironside also star.
There
are no extras.
Lee
Phillips' The Stranger Within (1974) also has supernatural
aspirations with Barbara Eden trying for a Rosemary's
Baby/Exorcist tale as she plays a happy wife who suddenly
finds herself pregnant, despite her husband having an operation to
stop that. After a fight over possible infidelity and some doctor's
visits, she starts acting strange, eating all of her food with tons
of salt, speed-reading books and more. Her husband (George Grizzard)
hired a hypnotist (David Doyle of the original Charlie's Angels)
to see if he can find out more, but that only brings on more
questions than answers.
Though
not a great film, this low-budget TV movie still manages to be a bit
creepy and seeing the actress who was the title character on I
Dream Of Jeannie (now issued in a Complete Series Blu-ray box set
with mixed results) go wild is the biggest curio appeal of the whole
74 minutes. Eden shows her acting skills here in unexpected ways and
when you add co-stars like Joyce Van Patten and Nehemiah Persoff,
this is definitely worth a look.
There
are no extras, though more TV movies should have them.
Antonio
Isasi's They Came To Rob Las Vegas (1967) is a co-production
between Spain, Italy, France and Germany picked up by MGM in the U.S.
and meant to be a serious international heist film. Its mix of
Italian rough cinema and Hollywood star class makes it unique in
heist films, but it was part of a new cycle still going on at the
time. Gary Lockwood (a year before Kubrick's 2001: A Space
Odyssey) is a casino dealer with a big plan to steal a fortune
from an armed truck from his boss (Lee J. Cobb) including using his
sexy girlfriend (an irresistible Elke Sommer) to get this done. He
has some other friends and a lavish plan that will eventually take
place in the middle of the desert, but complication will ensue
including a persistent cop (Jack Palance) getting in the way.
Budget
or not, the technology here might have been impressive for the time,
but has dated awkwardly and some items (like the way film is
optically printed on then advance television screens) makes this odd
as anything to watch. All is still plausible enough, but its the
stars and actors (including Jean Servais from the heist classic
Rififi) that are the real reasons to see the film. Uneven, it
is still worth a look and is definitely something different.
There
are no extras, though even a trailer would have been interesting.
Finally
we have Barry Shear's The Todd Killings (1970 aka A
Dangerous Friend aka Skipper) with Robert E. Lyons in the
title role, an older guy hanging with younger teens who trust him and
hang with him because of his knowledge, some money and drug
connections. However, when we meet him, they are so loyal, they have
just helped him commit the murder of a young gal while we crosscut to
the mother knowing something has happened to her daughter. We also
find he has a co-dependent relationship with his mother (Barbara Bel
Geddes) who runs an old folks home, gives him an allowance and makes
some good money. He also is interviewed by a military man being more
candid about things than you'd expect.
Things
get more interesting when an old friend (a young pre-Waltons
Richard Thomas looking better and more alive than he ever did on that
Depression-era show) reuniting, without him knowing what Skipper has
done. The film is also very open about sexuality (gay sex surfaces a
few times), drugs, nudity, date rape, violence and nontraditional
living when it was a new shock to see in any film, let alone a
Hollywood release. James Broderick, Gloria Grahame, Edward Asner and
Michael Conrad are among those representing establishment figures.
Thus,
this is smarter than your usual film from the time that gave us
Zabriskie Point, The Strawberry Statement and Easy
Rider, but it is very good, has its mystery storyline that run
parallel with the rest of what is being shown, said and is about,
thus more than worth your time as more than just a time capsule film.
I hadn't seen it in a long time and never uncut, so its impact is as
strong as it was when it arrived 52+ years ago and counting. Even
with its flaws, it is definitely worthy of rediscovery.
There
are unfortunately no extras.
The
Blu-rays look best with the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on Range (shot in the Super 35mm format) and
1080p 2.55 X 1 digital High Definition image CinemaScope transfer on
Bamboo can show the age of the materials used, but both far
superior a transfer to all previous releases of the films and impress
enough throughout in their big screen intent.
The
three theatrical films on DVD all happen to be anamorphically
enhanced 2.35 X 1 image presentations shot well, but a little softer
than I would have liked. Sin just has too much softness from
its HD shot, but I wondered if some of that was from a tradedown.
The prints on the other films, plus the 1.33 X 1 image on Stranger,
sometimes have flaws. However, they are all solid 35mm shoots (yes,
another good-looking telefilm from back in the day) that give us
hints as to how good their color is on film. Even with Vegas
in 2-perf Techniscope, you can see the quality that dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor versions of the film had. Todd also
had Technicolor prints, but was shot in the superior Panavision
anamorphic 35mm format.
The
Blu-rays offer the best sound in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless
codecs, with the original 4-track magnetic sound with traveling
dialogue and sound effects on Bamboo upgraded nicely to a 5.1
lossless mix, sporting the best sound here. Not bad for being the
oldest film on the list. Range has a 2.0 Stereo mix with
Pro-Logic surrounds from its original Dolby A-type analog theatrical
release. It can sound good, but also has a little warping and
distortion (the Madonna hit ''Live to Tell'' sounds great at
the end credits on the isolated music track, but not as well on the
film's actual soundtrack). Otherwise, its fine.
Sin
is the third best here in a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that is not
badly recorded, if not perfect. That leaves the rest of the DVDs
with lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono that sounds aged, second-generation
and needs a bit of work. Be careful of volume switching and loud
playback levels on those to be on the safe side.
To
order any of the three Warner Archive DVDs, go to this link for them
and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
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Nicholas Sheffo