Terminator Franchise

When it comes to sci-fi movies, there are a couple of concepts that need to be included within the story to keep my attention throughout. Because, let’s face it, the definition of a science fiction movie, for me anyway, is movies that include technology and conceptions that we haven’t achieved yet in our present. For me, time travel and cyborgs are a must. Whenever I watch a film that shows someone going from the past to the future, or vice versa, I’m intrigued. And if it is a story of someone going into a future or a past that includes cybernetic organisms, I’m there. The Terminator, James Cameron’s 1984 classic includes both and to great effect.

The film features Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of the cyborg assassin—the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 T-800 infiltrating Terminator, a role he’ll always be remembered for and he was perfect for the part. If you think about it, a man with a thick Austrian accent acting in an American movie should stick out like a sore thumb, and I admit he does in some of the movies he was featured in after making this film, but he doesn’t here. Why? Because he barely spoke any dialogue. Why should he? He was a robot sent from the future to kill a target. In that aspect, it’s very easy, as an audience, to get past the accent.

During a decade where we had so many cheesy sci-fi films and horror flicks, with only the dramatic pieces being taken seriously, here comes The Terminator to give us an intelligent and well-written science fiction movie that keeps the audience enthralled throughout. From the moment the film opens with a look into the dismal future and the narrative text telling us it’s the year 2029, we see how machines have taken over the world—a truly scary window we, as the audience, look into. In a time when America had a constant background fear of the Soviet Union sending over nuclear missiles to take us out, how we all were very conscious of the Cold War, seeing this film showed us what could happen as an aftermath. Not necessarily machines taking over, but how everything would be destroyed and not many people surviving.

Luckily, James Cameron only gave us a glimpse of that world and quickly brought the story back to the present where the majority of the film takes place.

Simply put, the film is about a cyborg that is sent back from the future to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). At the same time, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back, as well, to protect her. At the beginning of this, Reese is trying to convince Sarah what is happening and, like most of us would do if we were in her place, she doesn’t believe him. The rest is a cat-and-mouse game of Sarah and Reese trying to get away from the machine, giving us exciting action sequences, until the electrifying climax of the film.

I’ll never forget the day my brother and I saw this movie. Like most movies we saw, our mother would drop us off at the theater and pick us up two hours later. One reason, and it’s a pretty sad reason, I’d never forgotten this day was an old man was hit and killed by a car that had ran a red light. It happened right in front of us and, after going over the obituaries for the next few days, we found out he was 81 years old. Crossing the street with his wife like they did day after day, I’m sure, and living on this earth for 81 years, he gets taken out by an idiot who ran a red light. Sad.

Sorry for the digression.

Now, we all associate Arnold Schwarzenegger as the kick-ass hero from all his movies, toting a huge machine gun and blowing shit up to save the day. But in this film, he wasn’t anything of the kind. In fact, he was the villainous killing machine murdering and executing anything that gets in his way while Michael Biehn was the hero. And that’s one thing about the beginning of this film, if you’ve never seen it. When Arnold shows up, especially when he takes out those punks to get himself some threads, you know he’s the bad guy. When Kyle Reese shows up, you’re not sure what to make of him. At first, he seems shady and might be after Sarah Connor as well. I remember thinking that both men were going after her at the same time, working together somehow. It blew me away when I found out that Arnold was a machine and Reese was there to protect Sarah from it. For its time, The Terminator is one of the best science fiction stories put to film.

Of course, any movie is victim to time and seeing that this flick was made in the mid-80s, you know there are going to be some flaws. But it was pre-CGI and practical effects were there all the way, all done by one of the masters of special effects: Stan Winston. With the replica Arnold head that was made to accomplish the eye removal scene and the fake arm to achieve the tendon repair part of the film, the stand-out is the Endoskeleton which we see in the final act. All other robot designs fail in comparison to Winston’s design of the terminator’s skeletal structure. From the glaring red eyes to the steel tendons and servomechanisms, it’s a masterpiece. With the exception of the stop-motion portions of the film, the final act was awesome and still has me on the edge of my seat when I watch it to this day.

The Terminator is the one that started it all.

Fun fact:

In the DVD and Blu-Ray, the extras include some deleted scenes. Most are fluff that was taken out to cut down the running time of the film, but two stand out in particular that should’ve been left in. One scene takes place after Sarah “terminates” the machine and police are securing the area. Two employees of the warehouse that the climax takes place in are talking when one finds an odd computer chip on the floor, hiding it in his shirt pocket before a cop walks by. The other scene takes place as Sarah is being taken away in an ambulance. As she’s being placed in the back of the vehicle, the shot widens out to show us the building’s company name as Cyberdyne. These two scenes show us that James Cameron always had a sequel in mind and I wish they would have placed these scenes back in the movie as a special edition.

Back before the internet, when we didn’t have so much information, I hadn’t heard about a sequel until I read about it in a TV Guide. “A TV Guide?” you ask? Yes...a TV Guide. I wasn’t into film magazines much, but I’m sure I would’ve picked up on the sequel news if I had. Nevertheless, the news floored me. It wasn’t too long later when I went to go see Arnold’s 1990 classic, Total Recall, that I was floored again. Before the movie started, a mysterious trailer began showing an Endoskeleton being scanned and placed in some steel pod, with a read-out showing that some sort of initiating sequence was beginning. As it opened up, there stood Arnold Schwarzenegger as the camera panned up his body to his face with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he opens his eyes and they’re glowing red. The trailer closes and you hear Arnie’s voice declaring, “I’ll be back.” In 1991, he was back…back as the T-800 once again in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Once again, James Cameron brought us something new and exciting, with a lot of action and great story-telling. He introduced us to a new type of special effects that changed the film industry on its head, giving us the love/hate relationship of CGI. Now, he used it in a movie before this one, in a little movie back in 1989 called The Abyss, but not as extensively as he uses it in this film. It’s hard to believe T2 (as it’s called in most media formats) is over twenty years old, but I still view it as a fresh work of art. Watching it today, you’d be hard-pressed to find many mistakes or flaws in this piece.

Although this film follows the basic premise of the first film, with a villain coming back in time to kill someone with another hero to come back as well, saving the someone from the villain. This time around, however, it’s a little more complex. The terminator that comes back to kill the person is a new advanced machine, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a liquid metal that can imitate anyone and creates blades or stabbing weapons out of its hands. The hero, though, is the terminator model from the first film, the T-800 (once again, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), which was captured by the resistance of the future and reprogrammed to go back in time to save the person that needs saving. The person that needs saving isn’t Sarah Connor this time, but her son, John Connor (Edward Furlong), the one who becomes the leader of The Resistance and is responsible for sending the T-800 back. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) isn’t faring too well as she’s been incarcerated in a mental institution for what happened in the first film as well as other atrocities she’s perpetrated in order to stop Cyberdyne Systems from eventually creating Skynet, the computer network that ultimately leads to humanity’s demise.

First off, after getting through the fantastic idea of this sequel as well as the returning cast members from the first film, I’ve got to say that the casting directors did a fabulous job of finding Edward Furlong. Thirteen years old at the time, Furlong brought a youthful perspective to the movie in the beginning, having the young-and-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude of what he felt was abandonment by a crazy mother. The change he goes through as he finds out she was right all along and realizes he will become the leader of the resistance of the future was so transcending, you start to believe he has what it takes to lead.

Now, Arnie coming back as the T-800, in itself, is awesome. The opening scene for his appearance was pretty exciting the first time I saw it. How he went through the redneck bar to find himself some clothes and a motorcycle was classic. I guess what stuck in everybody’s minds after the first film was Schwarzenegger’s outfit of leather as he rode the motorcycle, so Cameron outdid it by putting him on Harley Davidson Fat Boy this time around. I have to admit, though, the George Thorogood cue of “Bad to the Bone” was a little cheesy, but I liked it. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that Arnold was already 44 years old when he made this film, but he appeared to be in tip top shape.

Now, the entrance for Robert Patrick as the T-1000 was equally as impressive as he shows up and takes the persona of a police officer and gets to work, looking for John Connor. Unlike the T-800, this newer model is able to feign some personality here and there to be accepted more easily into society. But when it’s time for this terminator to become evil, he’s hands down ten times as evil as his predecessor. Being smaller and less bulky, the T-1000 is able to move swifter and faster, making him a force to be reckoned with.

What I like about this installment is that it gets a little deeper into Skynet and how it will come to be the threat it will be in the future. Unlike the first film where Skynet is just some unknown computer threat with no background to it, T2 introduces the reasoning behind it and the human basis that made it what it was. It made us, the audience, divided and made us think what we would do in the protagonists’ position. Would we kill a man who, in a sense, creates Skynet to prevent the future war of humans against machines? Would we simply take out a human being whose only crime is trying to advance technology to help the human race, not knowing the end result is a network that turns on us?

It’s funny how Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, this time, becomes the hero of this flick, playing the evil character that, only a mere seven years prior, was killing whoever got in his way. Even in this one, the T-800 has no problem trying to terminate someone who gets in his way. But the writers played it smart and made John Connor responsible for everything the machine does because it has been programmed to follow John’s orders. So when John tells him he can’t kill anyone—albeit after asking “why?” a few times—the T-800 complies.

I hate to say it, seeing and hearing how much of a douche bag James Cameron turned out to be in later years, but he nailed it in this movie and really closed out the story perfectly. He’s been quoted—when he was asked to direct a potential sequel to this one—that he felt the story was finished with this one and that there was nowhere to go with it. But a money-making franchise always has somewhere to go, especially when you have intelligent writers and an adequate director to helm a worthy sequel, and that’s they did a long twelve years later.

Fun fact:

On most of the media versions of the film, you have a choice to watch either the theatrical version of the film or the long version of the film.  More than that, you can enter the code 8-29-97 in order for an extra-long version of the film.  Both include a cool part where the T-800 informs John and Sarah that the microchip has a learning processor function that's left off.  But if switched on, he can learn and take on more information to help him act more human.  The scene proceeds with John and Sarah opening the port to the chip to switch on the function.  It's a pretty critical scene from the film that explains why the terminator starts acting more human towards the end of the film.  Other scenes are forgettable, especially the part where the T-800 tries to smile.

2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is far from a classic, but a well-intentioned sequel nonetheless, giving us more of the same with a little twist towards the end. But what else can you do to re-establish a franchise that looked like it ended twelve years prior? Well, you just add a line about how Judgment Day was postponed, that’s all. Then you just start the story all over again.

As a side note, between the late 1980s and into the late 1990s, I read quite a few comic book titles. One series I had picked up a few years after T2 was a simple memory was a “Terminator” title that I forget, but it had me intrigued. The story picked up right after T2 finished, with Sarah and John back on the run, still paranoid about terminators coming for them and thinking the war will still happen. I enjoyed how the police showed up to search the steel mill and found the T-800’s arm stuck in the gears—the same arm that Arnold’s character breaks off and leaves behind to go find the T-1000. It also turned out that the government backed up all of Miles Dyson’s files so the destruction of Cyberdyne was all for nothing. So, with that story in my head, I thought T3 would go that direction and I was excited about that because there was so much that the writers of the comic book got into, it blew my mind.

But, alas, the movie was nowhere as exciting as that comic book storyline. Don’t get me wrong…the movie was very good and it was interesting in the route it took, but I had my sights lined up in a totally different direction.

So, the narrative opens up, with the adult John Conner (Nick Stahl) explaining where’s he’s been and what he’s been doing since we’ve last seen him, which is basically laying low and staying off any radars. He gets into an accident and needs medication and breaks into a veterinarian clinic to find some. Meanwhile, the newest terminator, the T-X (Kristanna Loken)—a female terminator with an Endoskeleton covered in mimicking liquid metal—shows up to look for and terminate John Connor’s Resistance lieutenants. Also, the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is back as well, showing up at a country-western bar during ladies night to look for some threads. As John is found out by the manager of the vet clinic, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), both terminators arrive shortly—one to terminate, one to save.

Above all else, I’ve got to say that 56-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger looked damned good in this film. Everyone involved with the movie claimed that there were no CGI touch-ups during the scene where Arnie shows up in the buff, so if that’s true, I’m damned impressed. I definitely have to give a guttural growl for Kristanna Loken as the T-X, as she shows up in the buff as well. But both entrances of the terminators were great, except for the cheesy comedic lines during Arnie’s time at the country-western bar.

I like that they went with the military taking over the Skynet system and needing to put it online as a worldwide computer virus begins. But it didn’t seem to explain much, like how they went on with Dyson’s work with the advanced computer microchip. I guess it’s assumed that they took it over or was watching his work from afar, but I would’ve liked to hear or see that chronicling of events. Also, without spoiling the ending twist, I don’t understand how the primitive machines at the end of this film would be able to create the more advanced machines we see in the next sequel.

So, without those items I had just mentioned, the film is basically a reboot of the previous film.

The good parts of the film—and there are some here and there—are, of course the entrance of Arnie and Kristanna as the T-800 and T-X, respectively. The chase scene was exciting, as it seemed like they destroyed many city blocks. The fight scene between the two terminators was pretty kick-ass and with the advancement of special effects meshed with CGI helped it out a lot. The return of Dr. Silberman was done well, humorously showing that he’s still trying to make sense of the events he had witnessed in the previous film.

I do enjoy this film, don’t be mistaken…I just had really high hopes for this outing and it didn’t live up to my imagination.

Fun fact:

In one of the extras on the Blu-Ray or DVD, there is an omitted scene that shows General Brewster watching a video featuring a Sergeant Candy (Schwarzenegger) talking about Cyberdyne and the robotic work they do.  The funny thing about this scene is that his voice is dubbed with some over-the-top southern accent.  It's a pretty cool scene to watch and I'm kind of glad they left it out because it's just too comical and dorky the way Arnold's portrayed here.

So, the last entry in the franchise—so far—is the McG directed, 2009 film, Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale as John Connor and Sam Worthington as the mysterious Marcus Wright. As a side note, I did review this film back on May 18th, 2009, shortly after its release. If you go back, you’ll notice I drooled all over this film, mainly for the reason that I grew tired of james Cameron’s ego at the time. But since its release onto Blu-Ray and a few viewings, as well as getting over my hatred of Cameron, I put more thought into it, so here it is. So, get ready for some nitpicking because I’m going to have a few things to say about this one.

Before getting into the likes and don’t-likes of the movie, let me summarize it as best as I can to break it down a bit. The film opens in 2003, with Marcus Wright waiting on death row, when a Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) shows up to try and have Marcus sign his body away for science after his death. The film then opens to the future with John Connor and resistance soldiers invading a machine-controlled area to rescue human prisoners, but is destroyed before they can, leaving Connor as the only survivor. After getting away from a damaged T-600 terminator, Marcus appears—obviously from the underground bunker prisoners were being held—and makes his way to make sense of what is happening, not knowing he’s now in the year 2018. Along the way, he meets up with a young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and his friend, Star (Jadagrace Berry), as they make their way to find Connor and The Resistance. I won’t say too much more because my nitpicking will just make it redundant.

First and foremost, the situation with Marcus Wright in jail with Dr. Kogan was weird, even when I first viewed it in the theater. I know they were trying to convey that the character of Kogan was dying of cancer, but they didn’t do their homework when they wanted to find a way to show that in her character. A woman who goes through chemotherapy will lose her hair, correct, but I don’t think her eyebrows will be immune to that fact. I know, it’s trivial and I can get past that, but the ludicrousness of having her wear a scarf on her head only to cover half of her head so we can see that the rest of it is bald is absurd. Anyway, the whole gist of this scene shows that Cyberdyne (as we see the paperwork Marcus signs has the company’s header on top) had plans from the get-go to make a cybernetic organism. So, let me get this straight…Cyberdyne knew they’d need to do this in 2003 to have Marcus infiltrate The Resistance in 2018? Even if it were just an experiment, why did Cyberdyne revert to such primitive terminators like the T-600? If they had the technology to make a terminator Endoskeleton that fit in a normal-sized human being, why did they make monstrosities like those rubber-skinned machines afterwards? I guess I can buy that Cyberdyne was just trying to collect bodies to put on ice to do research on incorporating machine and electronics to humans, but the film implies this has been a plan from the outset.

Another thing that bothers me every time I watch this is how Skynet has Kyle Reese on its kill-list. How does Skynet know about Reese? It shouldn’t. Even if it obtained police files from 1984, it should only know about how he helped Sarah Connor get away from the original terminator. It shouldn’t know about him fathering John Connor, unless there were illegal surveillance cameras in the motel room when Sarah and Kyle were making love. Even if Skynet had that information, why wouldn’t it have Kyle Reese terminated when he was captured and placed in its prison camp? Why does it keep him in a cell to lure in John Connor? This makes no sense.

Although the terminators are pretty awesome in their appearance, with great special effects to make them move and animate, why is it that they only throw people around when they don’t have weapons? In the opening future scene, the damaged T-600 only throws John Connor around. It could easily break his neck or punch a hole through him, but it only resorts to throwing him against the helicopter or across the terrain. Even the climactic scene in Skynet’s factory, the T-800 (more on that later) only throws John around as well.

Finally, the fact that most of the fighting and combat is done in the middle of the day ruins it a bit for me. In the first two films, when we’re shown the flashes of the future war, we see that most of the battles take place at night. I know it’s more logical for them to do combat with the machines during the day because the machines’ night vision or infrared wouldn’t be as useful during the day, but those scenes of the future were so awesome to me and I was looking forward to seeing them in this one. Overall, it didn’t seem like Skynet was much of a threat the way that The Resistance was able to fly around in choppers and jets, not to mention being able to have a base in plain sight.

Okay, now for the good parts of Terminator Salvation.

Above all else, the special effects are phenomenal. The fact that they had Stan Winston on board for this film helped out a bit. Some of the newer machines were great, like the Harvester that put Michael Bay’s Transformer robots to shame, or the MotoTerminators that detached from its legs—those things were so cool! The HydroBots were pretty remarkable as well, showing us that there were no hiding places you can go that didn’t have a threat. Of course, the advancement of CGI and motion capture technology get them the ability to show us some cool terminators like the T-600 that Reese mentions in the first film, which were giant human-like machines with rubber masks for face that can fool you from afar, but not when you’re close to them. Last, but not least, the climactic scene with the T-800 was magnificent! If there’s any saving grace to the idiosyncrasies I have with this film is the final battle scenes between John Connor, Marcus Wright and the T-800. This is a spoiler, but you have to see this to believe it. In the beginning of the film, Connor comes across a computer where the prisoners are being held that shows Skynet’s plans of finally going forward with a new terminator series: the T-800. In the culminating scene at the end of the film, we see it unveiled for the first time. Although risky and a little rough, it worked perfectly to show us Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800. After looking into this, I’d discovered that they were able to digitally map Arnold’s face from the first film to the face of the body builder who acted in this film. Oddly enough, the man in this role, who we never see his face, is Roland Kickinger. I say oddly because for one, the man was born in Austria, just like Schwarzenegger. Also, he looks a little like Arnie, even has the same accent. Lastly, he played the young version of Arnold in the TV movie, See Arnold Run.

So, generally, Terminator Salvation has a lot of plot holes, especially if you’re a big fan of the franchise like myself, and have followed it all the way through, but the special effects keep you entertained and the story is somewhat interesting as it shows John Connor moving up in the ranks to become the leader of The Resistance. Here and there, some nice touches were placed to pay homage to some of what we’ve seen in previous entries, like the explanation of John Connor’s scar that we see in the beginning of T2, the return of Guns’N’Roses’ “You Could Be Mine” and how Reese was taught to tie a cord from his shotgun to his shoulder.

It’s a shame that they couldn’t go forth from here and if Hollywood studios keep up with the only trend they seem to be green lighting these days is that if we do get a Terminator 5, it’ll be a reboot or remake. But I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and hope they don’t do something stupid like that.

Anyway, my final “bit” on the Terminator franchise?

The first two films are hands down the best, giving us some great entertainment and story throughout. The third entry, although a retread of the second, is engaging as well and sets it up nicely for the fourth installment. Sadly, they went with a mediocre director like McG and didn’t do their homework before getting into this. However, all films are enjoyable throughout and it’s perfect for a nice eight-hour movie marathon.

Thanks for reading!

You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits.

Superman Franchise

Back in 1978, my nine-year-old self had witnessed a movie that blew my young mind, taking me to a level of phantasmal stupor that I'd never known existed within my conscience and left me in a state of euphoria that wasn't equaled until a lengthy 24 years later.  Yes, Superman: The Movie was quite a spectacle that transcended all schoolboy subjects back then, being talked about on the news and plastered all over the popular magazines on the racks.  Wherever I went, whether at the grocery store with my mom and seeing the movie advertised on lunch pails and school stationary, to seeing the movie spread all over the magazine covers at the barber shop (except for the Playboys that my dad wouldn't let me touch in the first place).  It was a sensation that I don't think I will ever experience again.

Even though this phenomenon was very apparent throughout the pop culture of the time, my parents still weren't impressed and didn't see the need to plop down a few bucks to take my brother and I to see this magical film.  It wasn't until the mother of my brother's friend, Brian, offered to take my brother and I to see it at the nearest theater that my mom gave her blessing.  On top of that, Brian's mom just dropped us off to see it on our own—without adult supervision!

From the beginning of the film, just after the voiceover from the child reading from the comic book pane and John Williams' score slowly and quietly beginning until it blasted with the all-too-familiar theme music, a lump in my throat rose and stayed in place throughout the whole event.  I'll never forget that day and how we all left the theater after the film ended, talking about how awesome or cool (I forget the lingo we used back in the 70s) the movie was and wanting to go back inside for a second viewing.  We really believed a man could fly...and I still do.

Richard Donner was chosen to direct this film, but he did more than that; he took the story of this well-known superhero and treated it as it should have been—as a well-respected tale of an American icon.  Many biblical parallels have been noticed, making the story even more meaningful than I understood it to be when I first watched it, but above all else it was a superhero movie done perfectly for its time.  Knowing the many facets of all the terrible tales of how the producers treated Richard Donner throughout filming this epic, I won't get into that at all.  I'll just say that this was Donner's masterpiece, without a doubt.

Scripted from a tome of a treatment from Mario Puzo (of "Godfather" fame), the story was made with a sense of realism and not too campy (as Batman's character was made into during the television show and movie made back in the 60s).  No, this was a serious piece made into a larger-than-life epic with many somber tones, mixed with some humorous moments to give it an entertaining feel.  The film, as a whole, included three different themes as it went along; it went from the science fiction setting on Krypton, and then slowing down to the Norman Rockwell-esque feel of small town life in Smallville, finally to the big city life in Metropolis.  As I grew older, I came to appreciate this film more and more as I understood the drama and deep-rooted story of Clark Kent going on his journey to become the Man of Steel, because as a child I was chomping at the bit to see him finally turning into Superman and flying around to do some heroic deeds.

So, without going into too much detail, I'll go over the structure of the story.

The film starts with Jor-El (Marlon Brando) on the planet Krypton, banishing three criminals to the Phantom Zone.  Even though he tries to warn the planet's council that the planet is doomed, his warnings fall on deaf ears.  Although he's forbidden to leave Krypton so as not to cause fear to the people of the planet, he decides to send his only child, Kal-El, to Earth.  Once there, Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford) and his wife, Martha (Phyllis Thaxter), take in the child and name him Clark, knowing his abilities, and raise him as their son.  Finally, the day comes where Clark knows he has to go north and finds out who he really is—Superman.

First off, the casting of the relatively unknown (at the time) Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman was perfect.  Hearing, today, some of the names they had in mind to play the part (Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford, to name a couple) is quite amusing.  To have those well-known actors in the lead would lose the magic and make the film unbelievable.  I won't go too much into what I've heard they went through to try and cast the title role, but I urge you to watch some of the extras on the DVD to hear some of the behind-the-scenes stories to get an idea.  But Reeve gave a great performance, treating the role as serious and passionate as it should have been.  He definitely went through some rigorous training and diet to get the right body type, but he had the height and looks right off the comic book pages to make a Superman fan scream with delight (not that I did that).

Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Clark Kent's biological father, was such a pivotal role for the film and undeniably was the heart of it all.  Along with Glenn Ford's portrayal of Clark's Earth father, they both showed how they made Clark the person he was—Jor El, the knowledge and logic and Jonathan Kent, the heart and caring.  Although both characters are near opposite, they both help guide Clark's transition into Superman.

As the film moves into the Metropolis portion, we meet Jackie Cooper playing Perry White, the chief editor of the Daily Planet, who gives the newspaper office life and not just a boring place to work.  I enjoyed watching the scenes with Cooper, giving the right witticism a fast-talking editor would denote.  We're also introduced to Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) as the love interest for Clark Kent/Superman.  Although I've never felt she was attractive enough for the part, the chemistry between her and Reeve was unquestionable.  Of course, you've got to have Marc McClure there to play Jimmy Olsen, the Daily Planet's photographer.

In an amusing introduction to the main villain of the film, the cops are all on the lookout for Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) as they follow Otis (Ned Beatty), hoping he'd lead them to where Luthor's hiding out.  The interaction between Hackman and Beatty is hilarious, along with the beautiful Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher, the trio is a perfect motley crew of unassuming villains.  They seem harmless until we get to the brunt of the story and we see how evil Lex Luthor really can be.

Even though we're teased at the closing of the Fortress of Solitude scene, we really don't see Superman in action until nearly halfway through the movie.  But the wait is well worth it, because it's a very special moment where the world sees this superhero for the first time as he saves Lois (of all people) from certain death as she falls out of a downed helicopter.  On top of that, he catches the chopper as it falls from its crashed demise on top of the Daily Planet building down towards them, inciting cheers and applause from the onlookers below.  I still get a lump in my throat when I observe that scene.

It might be noted that there's no big creature or alien that Superman fights with in this film, it's merely a battle of wits between he and the diabolical Lex Luthor, as he devises a plan to destroy most of the California coastline in order to up the value of all the worthless desert land he purchased just east of the coastline.

Most the things we know about the character are in the film—his speed as he races a locomotive train, leaping tall buildings with a single bound, invulnerable to anything except Kryptonite, x-ray vision (except he can't see through lead)...most of everything a Superman fanboy will get excited about.

One scene that I never understood why it was excluded from the theatrical print of the film was the "trial by bullets, fire and ice" scene.  Around a year or so after the film's release, when it was televised (I believe it was ABC), there were quite a few scenes included to make sure it would fit the allotted time that I didn't remember seeing when watching it in the theater.  A part that stood out, right after Superman spins himself into a drill and lands down into a corridor before getting to the doorway of Luthor's lair, was where he's being tested by Luthor as he's shot by remote machine guns, roasted by bursts of fire and frozen into a block of ice.  Unquestionably, none of these tests hurt the Man of Steel, but it was such a wonderful display of special effects as the bullets are bouncing off of his body and he just walks through the fire unscathed (the freezing scene could've been cut, it looked a little fake), so I don't understand why they would've cut this out of the original print of the film.  Rest assured, however, because that scene—as well as some others—have been reinstated onto the newest DVD releases, all in pristine clarity.

Of course, with time and all the advancements of special effects over the years—especially CGI and motion-capture effects—the flying scenes are a bit outdated and laughable.  When you see a front view shot of Reeve lying in front of a rear-projected aerial scene or some of the blue screen effects, you'll lose a little bit of the mysticism the movie instills in you.  But the wire-work scenes still work and give the film a sense of practicality, believing Superman is real and can easily defy gravity.

Overall, I still give this film a high honor as being the first true serious superhero film.  With the special effects constraints they must have experienced during that time, Donner and his crew did an excellent job in getting this legendary character onto the silver screen in such an admirable fashion.
And if there's anything I can nitpick about this film is the famous (or infamous) "Can You Read My Mind" scene.  I find myself consciously in a battle on whether I should fast forward this scene or just try to enjoy it for what it is—a scene establishing the love story between the two characters: Lois Lane and Superman.

It wasn't until a couple of decades later that I started hearing about the controversial stories that this was supposed to be made into two films, how the original treatment was supposed to be filming a two-part epic to give them a cohesiveness about them as the first part was to have a cliffhanger to end it and lead it into the sequel, Superman II.

I'm sure you've heard all the anecdotes regarding the feud between Richard Donner and the producers, how they fired him and replaced him with Richard Lester to finish the sequel, so I won't get into that.  But if you do watch Superman II carefully, you can tell which scenes were filmed by Donner and which ones were filmed by Lester.  For one thing, Donner's scenes are more serious, much like the tone from the first film.  Lester's scenes are clearly campy and directed to get laughs here and there.  Furthermore, it's on record that Gene Hackman did not return for filming when Richard Donner was released, so all the scenes clearly containing his likeness is obviously Donner's portion.  Marlon Brando was also supposed to be included in the theatrical cut of the sequel during a key emotional scene between himself and Christopher Reeve.  But to avoid paying Brando the money he was contractually promised, the producers had his performance cut from the film in order to void that extra pay.

Enough of all that behind-the-scenes drama...let's talk about 1980's Superman II (released overseas in 1980, but in the states in 1981).

I can't stress enough how excited I was when I first saw the trailer for this film, hearing that Superman will be back and battling beings from his home planet and who have the same powers he does.  Seeing that they were the criminals from the beginning of the first film, who were dispatched by Jor-El to the Phantom Zone, I went out of my mind wondering how they escaped and travelled to Earth.  Well, 1981 came around and I found out.

At the beginning of the film, there's a montage, recapping what happened on Krypton, when the criminals—General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran)—were sentenced to the Phantom Zone.  From there, the movie goes into how Superman hurtles an elevator into space to let the nuclear bomb—which was attached to it—detonate.  The shock blast from the explosion reaches the floating Phantom Zone, shattering it and releasing the three Kryptonian criminals.  They make their way to Earth and the chaos begins.

A lot of the sequences involving the criminals causing destruction is great, like the scene on the moon and when they finally begin their path of ruin from the small town of country bumpkins to the White House.  Terence Stamp gives a great performance as the head baddie, General Zod, demanding everyone kneel before him and strictly articulating a true evildoer.  Sarah Douglas as his female counterpart, Ursa, is equally as intimidating as Zod, but with a definite hatred of all men.  Jack O'Halloran as Non is a little cheesy with his grunts and growls, but after seeing the "Donner Cut" of the film, those sounds were added in post in this one (more on that later).

To add to the villains in this flick, Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luthor, escaping from jail to get to the truth about Superman and use that against him as he joins forces with the Kryptonian criminals.  As I mentioned before, all his scenes were filmed during the first film, so it's not like he returned to form.  But it lightened the scenes a bit when playing opposite the super-baddies.

With all this going on, Superman—as Clark Kent—is traipsing around with Lois on some bogus honeymoon story they're working on in Niagara Falls.  She finds out his identity and he takes her to the Fortress of Solitude to let her know everything and to convert himself to human, losing all his powers, in order to be with her.  Unfortunately, when they get back to Metropolis, he finds out the criminals are on Earth and he tries to go back to get his powers back.  I found these scenes pretty powerful (obviously scenes filmed by Donner) and showed how much Superman cared for Lois by giving up being Superman for her.  But at the same time, you can see the hesitation Lois displays, showing us maybe she doesn't want the human Clark, but the "super" man he was.

Now, after watching this film as the "Donner Cut" that was released a few years ago, it was very interesting.  Firstly, the recap at the beginning was a little overlong, just going a little too much on the summarizing of the first film.  But what I liked about it was how it all ended with the missile that was diverted first was what exploded and caused the criminals to escape.  Secondly, the scene of Lois noticing the resemblance of Clark to the newspaper photo of Superman and how she drew a fedora and glasses over it was so cool.  Also, the follow-up scene of Lois jumping out the high-rise window to prove that Clark will turn into Superman was awesome.  They had to edit in a double and add a voiceover, but it was still remarkable.  Most of the film was about the same, albeit with no campy grunts and whimpers from Non, some different angles during some scenes, and not much else changing.  The biggest setback, although I thought it was a noble effort, was adding the screen tests of Lois finally proving Clark was Superman.  If you can get past how skinny Christopher Reeve was (obviously before his training regimen), you'll appreciate the scene for what it was.  And what it was was a much better way of proving Clark was the Man of Steel (although if he can catch a bullet, wouldn't he be able to see that no bullet shot out of the gun?).

It is a fun alternate film to watch and to visualize how great of a sequel it would've been if Donner had been allowed to continue with the project.

But as for the original theatrical sequel, it's great, even though it contains two different styles of directorial film making.  But, oddly enough, I think that's what makes Superman II work—the serious tones peppered with a few campy moments to give the film a little levity.  After seeing the "Donner Cut" of the film, I'm sure it would've been the companion piece to his 1978 masterpiece, but we'll never know.  But we know what type of movie we would've gotten if Richard Lester directed this film completely, and that's what takes us to the next film in the franchise.

Now with Richard Lester being given the full reigns for the next sequel, 1983's Superman III, we get to see what he brings to the table in making a mockery of such a loved American superhero.  Because hearing that he wasn't familiar with the character in the first place as he's British, I can see why this film turned out the way it did.

Basically, the story revolves around Gus (Richard Pryor) at first, as he's an unemployed black man trying to get work but getting shot down at an unemployment office.  Getting a data entry job at a big computer firm, he ends up being some sort of computer whiz and is able to change his paycheck to get himself a lot more money.  He's found out by the head honcho, Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), but uses Gus to make him money.  When Superman inadvertently thwarts this, Webster wants Gus to use computer technology to get rid of the super hero.  All this is soooo outdated and ridiculous, even back in 1983 when I saw this in the theater it seemed ludicrous.  The only saving grace is when none of the abovementioned characters are not on the screen, but when the story focuses on Clark Kent going back to Smallville to attend his high school reunion or when the bogus Kryptonite causes him to turn evil.  Other than that, this movie is very difficult to sit through.

I think the problem with this whole film is the absurdity of how the writers or director or the producers perceive the logistics of how computers work.  And even if you can get by that, knowing the background of Superman will cause you to call bullshit when you see how he's losing against this super computer and everything associated with it.

You know, I did think this film started off well, with the opening credit scene, because I did enjoy that.  Rather than staring at boring credits flying through space, we get to see a little physical comedy sketch play out with a few gags like men falling and bumping into things when they see a beautiful lady walking down the street or a blind man losing his guide dog and thinking he recovered it but actually is pushing a street line painting machine as he marks lines crazily all over the place...things like that.  And it all ends with Superman saving some schlub from drowning in his car after he crashes into a fire hydrant.  But after that...quite a downhill train wreck.

One thing to note is that there is an absence of Lois Lane from this film.  She makes a quick intro at the beginning as she announces she's going to Bermuda or somewhere like that, but that's about it.  Seems that Margot Kidder really expressed her distaste for the way Richard Donner was treated after the first film and the producers saw to it that her role in this one be reduced considerably.  She should be glad not to be associated with this one.

If you thought that movie was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet as we get into the next sequel that had to make a deal with Christopher Reeve to make sure he returned to the title role.  Since the last film, the rights were sold off to the Canon Group and they were supposed to return Superman to his greatest, but they missed the mark entirely.  Yes, 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was a terrible movie, almost unwatchable.

I can't help but feel sorry for Reeve as this was his exiting Superman role.  After watching this, I knew there was no way we'd ever see him in the blue & reds again.  I'll give it to him, however, for giving some story input (as was the deal promised to him for returning into the role) about ridding the world of nuclear weapons and was pretty cool to see how he took them from all the countries and collected them in some gigantic net in space (who made that net???).

I'm surprised as hell that Gene Hackman agreed to return as Lex Luthor as this was clearly a hackneyed script that was as ridiculous as it turned out.  He must've made out like a bandit because I don't know if I'd take the risk of being involved with a stinker like this flick.  Adding insult to injury, Hackman's paired up with Jon Cryer as his nephew, Lenny, getting on everyone's nerves as he sounds like a cross between Pauly Shore and Cousin Balky.  Ugh!  It's terrible!

Anyway, Luthor wants revenge on Supes, creates a being called Nuclear Man to fight him...there's battles in outer space that looks like terrible blue screen you'd get done in Vegas...somehow Mariel Hemingway's character is able to breath in space...it's just so awful, it's really unwatchable.

It's been said that there is an uncut version of this film with more scenes and two Nuclear Men...but I don't think anything, cut or uncut, could save this movie.

Since the 90s, I've heard that they wanted to bring Superman back to the big screen.  I thought that was awesome because special effects had come a long way since 1987, with CGI and better filming techniques.  Finally, in the mid to late 90s, it was said that Tim Burton was going to helm the film and base the story on the death and return of Superman, based on the infamous storyline in the comics.  Then came the news that Nicholas Cage was to star as the title character.

(pin drops to the floor)

Yes, the fans became unhinged, collectively screaming at Warner Bros. to not let this happen.  How could Nicholas Cage even think he was able to fill the red boots that Christopher Reeve wore?  What made him think he had the boyish, yet manly, good looks to pull off the character so beloved by the world?

I don't know...but thank goodness it didn't happen.

After going round-robin for a few more years, finally it was announced that Superman would be back in the hands of Bryan Singer.  On top of that, it was announced that this would be a sequel, not a reboot.  But here's the kicker: the sequel would ignore parts three and four and take place after part two.  Seems the writers took the liberties that the writers took when making Halloween H20 a few years prior.  And in 2006, Superman Returns was released.

Now, this movie worked for me on some levels of the story, but went south on some other parts.  First off, I liked their decision to take place after part two, but starting off with just a screen text explanation of what happened in the last five years could've been better served if they filmed it rather than explained it.  Nevertheless, I liked the idea that Superman had hope that maybe he could search for more answers when he heard a scientist discovered a planet that could be Krypton and leaving Earth to find it.  I also like how Lois Lane moved on and even wrote a Pullitzer Prize-winning story about how the world didn't need the Man of Steel.

What I didn't like, above all else, was that Lois—SPOILER ALERT—gave birth to Superman's son.  That, to me, was just a plot point we could've done without, something that made making a sequel impossible.  They wrote themselves into a hole they couldn't get out of when they included that character into the mix.

Brandon Routh as the title character was great in the dual role of Clark Kent and Superman.  The suit was updated and looked good and the sets were fabulous, especially the updated Fortress of Solitude.  Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane got on my nerves a little, as she was kind of bitchy and unlikable at first.  I agreed with having a love triangle, having James Marsden as Richard White, giving Superman that sadness on what he missed out on while he was away from earth.

Even though he was essentially copying Gene Hackman's mannerisms, Kevin Spacey added a bit more wickedness to the character of Lex Luthor.  He wasn't just a toying villain opposite Superman, but you really believed he wanted the Man of Steel dead.

Overall, the story was good, but let's face it—it was basically a retread of the frst movie: Luthor devised a scheme to get his own land that people would have to pay him for while millions of people would die in the process, Superman saves people, he goes up against Luthor and gets duped by Kryptonite, comes back and wins the day.

The special effects were great, particularly the plunging jet hurtling to Earth as Superman keeps it from crashing and saving the lives of thousands in the stadium it was about to fall into.  It was a great scene, but sort of prematurely showed its hand too early in the film.

By and large, the film is a decent and enjoyable follow-up to Superman II that could've been more, but was a hell of a lot better than parts three and four.

So there you have it, the Superman franchise the way I see it.  I find myself hard-pressed to watch the whole franchise without skipping the two awful sequels, but I'm a completest and I must do so.  But I highly recommend that parts one and two be watched back to back and Returns right after.

Hopefully the character will get a great presentation on the screen again when Man of Steel is released next summer, but we'll always have these previous movies to fall on if we're disappointed by Zack Snyder's achievement.

My final "bit" on the Superman Franchise?

In honor of the great Christopher Reeve, grab a tub of popcorn, sit back for a few hours and re-watch the first two films followed by Bryan Singer's try at a sequel.  We all need heroes in this world, so enjoy a true American one.



Thanks for reading!

You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits.

Chaplin

Well, I finally decided it was high time that I stop watching horror movies for a while and get back into some drama. I looked into Netflix to see if anything new was streaming and that’s when I happened upon a film I’ve wanted to see since its release almost twenty years ago.

It’s one movie that had been on my radar for quite some time now, but I’ve never been able to sit down and watch it. The movie I’m referring to is the 1993 film, Chaplin, starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the pivotal role of Charlie Chaplin. I’m glad I finally found the opportunity because this film was epically great. Having always had a curious fascination with Sir Charles Chaplin, I found this film very intriguing and entertaining. I had never really known the trials and tribulations this man went through, nor the enemies he had made in our country, simply for wanting to entertain and make films for everyone to enjoy.

Of course, we all know Charlie Chaplin for his lovable and humorous character, “The Tramp,” and how he had entertained audiences during the silent film era, but this film, based on Chaplin’s autobiography and “Chaplin: His Life and Art” by David Robinson, delved deeper into who he was and what he went through during his stint in cinema.

The film begins with Charlie Chaplin’s days as a child (Hugh Downer playing the younger version), living in poor conditions with his older brother, Sydney (the younger version played by Nicholas Gatt and the older version, later, by Paul Rhys), and mother, Hannah (Geraldine Chaplin), until the day comes where her mind finally snaps and a teenaged Charles (Thomas Bradford) has to have his mom committed. Later, with the help of his brother, Charles gets a job in small vaudeville-like shows as a comedy act until he’s noticed in the United States and starts acting in films as he discovers and begins his “Tramp” character. Throughout the beginning of the film, we hear a voiceover, then later see a flash-forward, of Downey, Jr. playing the elder Chaplin living in Switzerland as he’s reciting his story to the fictional character of George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins), who is writing Chaplin’s biography (fictionalized in the film, because Chaplin wrote his own autobiography).

What kept me absorbed in this film were the adversities Chaplin went through as he made a name for himself in movies. J. Edgar Hoover, himself, kept a file on the silent film star during the time—before and after—of World War II. Nazism was not to be taken lightly, and it seemed that Chaplin was being watched and thought of as a Nazi supporter during that time. As time went on, and the fear of Russia and communism went through America, Chaplin was kept an eye on because of his affiliation with supporters of that mindset.

But most intriguing of all was how Charlie Chaplin never felt like he did enough or ever reached his goal. He was very innovative and headstrong, not falling for what the norm was in Hollywood or what his peers thought he should do. For instance, being that Chaplin started his career during the silent movie era, when “talkies” came to be, he refused to let his “Tramp” character speak, feeling like the character would lose everything he portrayed and change for the worse if he did.

Very sad how our country treated this legend, but it does have sort of a happy ending as Chaplin finally realizes, at the end of the film, that he did do enough in his career and left quite a legacy in Hollywood.

Robert Downey, Jr. does an amazing job in the lead role of Charles Chaplin. I guess it helps that he has the same build, looking remarkably like the great comedic actor, but I’m sure performing Chaplin’s physical comedy was no easy task to pull off. And although many British actors portray Americans, this time it was the other way around as Downey, Jr. does a terrific job at keeping up a British accent, believably, throughout the film.

The sets were terrific, depicting each period perfectly as the movie goes on, from Chaplin’s early life in the late 1800s to the 1970s. The cinematography was excellent and the recreations of Chaplin’s films were done well with no modern embellishments whatsoever.

Yes, this film was brilliant and it’s a wonder why I had waited so long to finally sit down and watch it.

My final “bit” on Chaplin?

Although Robert Downey, Jr. went through some personal problems, before and after this film, it did not get in the way of his profession as he pulls off a terrific performance. I remember thinking that he finally accomplished the high of his career as he was nominated an Academy Award (and won a BAFTA Award) for Best Actor back then. However, he continued to have a few more publicized issues afterwards. Still, he didn’t let that get in the way of his career as so many actors and actresses do these days (are you listening Lindsay Lohan?). Anyway, when it comes to dramatic films like this, I’m not one to add too many to my DVD and Blu-Ray collection, so I won’t advise that you do that. But if you are a collector of dramatic pieces such as Chaplin, you’ll be happy with this film in your collection. Overall, I loved it and was glad I finally gave it a view.

Thanks for reading!

: @CinemaBits.

Director Spotlight: Jack Arnold

Some of my favorite movies are from the 1950s, I have to admit. Of the films from that era, I have a handful of favorites—six to be exact—that have a couple of things in common. One item of note is that they are all Universal Studios films and the other is that they were all directed by Jack Arnold.
Now, I never noticed that these films were directed by him until I purchased the “Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection” a few years back and saw that three of his films were included on it. Also, when revisiting a few of the other ones, I couldn’t help but notice his name on those as well. That’s when I took a glance on IMDb and saw that he had quite a résumé listed.

At first, I was going to pick one of his films to review, but seeing that they’re all such excellent films from that time, I decided to talk about all of them. And although his list of films starts in 1947, I’m going to go ahead a few years and start with 1953.

1953’s It Came From Outer Space is a great film of the atomic age based on a Ray Bradbury story about an alien takeover of a small town in Arizona. The film stars Richard Carlson as John Putnam, who suspects aliens are affecting the people of the town after seeing a craft crashing to Earth. Nobody believes him as the aliens are able to easily take the identities of the townsfolk.

What’s notable about this film, and it’s commented on during a featurette on the DVD, is that it’s the first film to be shown in 3D. A couple of historians that spoke on the vignette said that it was one of the best presentations of 3D in any film of that time.

The special effects are cheesy, the design of the alien costume is a little laughable, the situations don’t seem dangerous, but that’s what makes an excellent 1950s sci-fi flick! This movie was released three years before the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it’s basically the same story—well-acted and a treat to watch.

Next, in Jack Arnold’s catalog of films is one we should all know. It’s probably the one that Jack Arnold is best known for and another 3D production that historians note as an excellent presentation of the gimmick that is currently overused by countless movies today. The film is 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Although another black & white film, this movie is handsomely captured, especially the underwater scenes showing the creature swimming. One scene to note is the scene where our leading lady, Kay (Julie Adams), is taking a swim in the river and, unbeknownst to her, the creature is swimming right underneath her, almost mimicking her strokes.

The film is the first in a trilogy and Jack Arnold returned the following year, in 1955, to once again take over the director’s chair for the sequel, Revenge of the Creature.

In this first sequel, the creature is captured and brought to Florida to be kept in captivity at a marine tourist park. Of course, the creature escapes and runs amok, causing terror to anyone who comes across it.

One thing to note is that the film was actually filmed in Florida and not in the back lot of Universal Studios...not even California. But it’s still an enjoyable film and interesting to see how they decided to go with the sequel. And although Jack Arnold didn’t direct the second sequel, The Creature Walks Among Us, it’s still worth a watch.

After directing a western and a few episodes of “Science Fiction Theatre,” Jack Arnold, again, returned to Universal to film another sci-fi thriller. This time around, he decided to go big…way big…and filmed a creature-feature that terrified audiences and still keeps me on the edge of my seat every time I watch this flick. The film is 1955’s Tarantula and it’s one of his best movies from this decade.

Although it’s the same old plot formula with a mad scientist making some sort of chemical concoction to make animals grow at an accelerated rate, it's still a blast to watch. When a human experiment fights back and destroys the scientist’s lab, one of his test subjects—a tarantula—is able to get out of its container and go out into the desert and nearby farming lands. As it eats animals, cattle and some humans, it’s able to keep growing until it seems as if it can never be stopped.

I love watching this movie, again to see the familiar facades of the Universal back lot, but just to take in the formulaic storylines of that era. I’d put this as number two out of Jack Arnold’s inventory of films. The special effects were so well done that I can’t believe this was accomplished in 1955. The animals—and tarantula—in their confines were a standout in the beginning as they appeared enormous in size. The scenes with the tarantula climbing over mountains and crawling up the highway were a stunning sight to see.

Now, what would I put as the number one film that I’ve seen from this director? What movie did he direct a mere two years later in 1957 which, again, used top notch special effects (for its time) for Universal Studios? Why, it’d have to be The Incredible Shrinking Man, of course!

Jack Arnold filmed this one after directing two movies in 1956. But, I must say, I love this movie…the cool acting of Grant Williams in the lead as the unlucky Scott Carey, the special effects, the set designs…just everything about it.

It’s pretty amazing how well of a job the special effects team was able to create sets to make it look like Grant Williams was shrinking. The oversized chairs, phone, pencil, furniture…it’s so cool to see this. And even though the editing of normal-sized characters next to Grant Williams’s shrunken self wasn’t top-notch, it still gave you the idea of what his character was going through. Especially the scenes involving the cat with the dollhouse and tarantula in the basement…wow…I can’t say enough about this film.

Being that it was adapted by a Richard Matheson story, I think that helped quite a bit. But it was well done and very entertaining.

Arnold filmed a few more films, and then returned to Universal once again to film a pretty cheesy monster movie. Even though it’s considered a B-movie at best, it’s still a favorite of mine to visit annually…1958’s Monster on the Campus.

Once again, cheesy effects really plague this film, to the point that you can’t help but laugh. The make-up work for the monster in this looks just like a loose-fitting mask you’d find at a costume shop during Halloween, there’s a flying giant dragonfly that you can clearly see strings attached to it, the main prop of a primitive fish looks cheap and obviously made of foam or plastic, yet I love this movie so much.

The main storyline is borrowed heavily from The Wolf Man as the main character changes to a caveman when he gets the plasma of the fish into his system, whether from a cut or…smoking it? But the flick is one of those films where you enjoy it for the tackiness it displays, so take it with a grain of salt.

So, there you have it…the six films of Jack Arnold that I really appreciate. Although, there was one film he wrote that I love as well, even though he didn’t direct it, was the film, The Monolith Monsters. Also worth a watch, it’s part of my “Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection,” so it’s always part of my 1950s movie marathon I watch annually.

One constant of most of the films from Jack Arnold is that most of these were filmed in the back lot of Universal Studios. If you’re a fan of the Back to the Future films, you’ll recognize the town area as Courthouse Square…there’s no mistaking it.

I don’t know what I like most about these films and why I love watching them so much. My wife pointed out about how she loves glancing at them every so often so she can get a look at the fashion the women wore during that time, and I get a kick out of that as well. I guess I like that too, how most of the men always wore a shirt and tie and how the women were always wearing dresses, the hair and faces made up, I get a kick out of checking out the 1950s cars, the ways of life during that time…I really can’t put my finger on it. Most people I know can’t stand watching anything in black & white, but I love it. Maybe it’s the historical value of the films and how it gives you a window to look into the past.

But, those six are my favorite films from the late, great Jack Arnold. He has a much larger summary of films and television shows, but I just wanted to go through the few films that I exceptionally appreciate. If you were to look at his list of films, he directed many westerns and crime dramas. As time went on, he directed episodes of “Rawhide”, “Perry Mason,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Brady Bunch,” and many other well-known television programs. Seems as if he had a great career following these films I’ve just reviewed, with many directing gigs in some of the most popular TV shows of our time. Sadly, he passed away in 1992 at the age of 75, but his movies and television programs will live in imfamy.

My final “bit” is for you to go look for the “Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection” on DVD. They are some of the best Universal has to offer in the 1950s era sci-fi flicks.  I highly recommend it.

Well, once again, thank you for reading and you can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits.

Creepshow Franchise

Seems I can’t stop talking about horror movies, no matter what time of year it is, even if it’s only a few days until Christmas.  I guess I should watch corny films like Elf or Family Man or Four Christmases, but when I reach for my movie binders, I find myself grabbing the ones marked “horror” instead of “holiday.”  And even when I do take down one of my horror binders, I habitually leaf through them to pick out the Blu-Rays over the DVDs.  I can’t help it, I get a kick out of how good some of these films look all cleaned up and looking more crisp and clear than they did when they were first released in theaters.  

The first movie in question—Creepshow—unfortunately, I haven’t purchased the Blu-Ray disc.  The sole reason being is that the disc is so bare-bones, I don’t think it’s worth it.  It’s probably a simple transfer that wasn’t cleaned up and probably looks just as good as the DVD.  And with the lack of special features, in my mind, it’s just a waste of money.

 

A while back (maybe 5 or 6 years ago), it was announced that a special edition DVD was to be released, complete with deleted scenes, a “making of” featurette, cast interviews…the works.  But shortly after that was announced, it was publicized that the special edition was only to be issued in the UK, not the United States.  Something to do with the rights of distribution between Universal Studios having overseas rights and Warner Bros. having domestic…I’m not sure.  All I knew, and still know, is that the US wasn’t going to be privy to that release, so we shouldn’t hold our breath.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s talk about Creepshow.

Back in 1982, this movie was released on my birthday—November 12th.  I had just turned 14, but my parents weren’t really big movie-goers, so, in turn, I wasn’t a movie-goer.  I had to sit in class and hear the other kids talk about how cool and scary Creepshow was and wish I could’ve seen the movie as I sat watching the TV spot come on, teasing me from my television set.  It wasn’t until another year went by before I was able to watch it when it premiered on the Showtime cable channel.  Of course, it was only broadcast during late hours, so I was only allowed to watch it until it was my bedtime, so, again, I was only able to watch a fraction of the movie.  It wasn’t until another year or so before I was able to watch it in its entirety and I fell in love with it all over again.

When it comes to horror anthologies, Creepshow is the best, in my book.  It was just a perfect storm for this film to be made.  With the two masters of horror (at the time), Stephen King and George Romero, you couldn’t go wrong.  The beginning of the 80s was the best time for Stephen King.  Nearly every year there was a movie being made out of a novel or a short story by him, so it was a no-brainer for studio execs to give this film the green light.  And with Romero helming this film, it only sealed the deal.  

The anthology features five tales—plus a wrap-around story to book-end the film—and it’s a wild ride.  Most of the film is presented as if you’re reading one of the horror comic books of the 1950s, complete with colorful backdrops and comic book frames shown during some of the terrifying moments to give it that extra thrill. 

With “Father’s Day,” you’ve got Romero’s specialty, the dead body of a father who was killed years ago is reanimated and decides to come out of his grave to get the Father’s Day cake (do people have cake on Father’s Day?) he feels he deserves.  This is an eerie one, especially the ambiance created during the graveyard scenes.

For some of the funniest comedic moments in the film, “The Lonely Death of Jordy Verrill” showcases that Stephen King (in the lead role of this tale) really does have some comedy acting chops.  He plays a country bumpkin who finds a meteorite which has landed in his field.  But the radioactive liquid that spills from the inside of it causes “growing” concern.

“Something to Tide You Over” is a nice little supernatural story, again with corpses becoming reanimated, as an eccentric rich guy decides to punish his wife and the man she’s having an affair with by burying them from the neck down on his beach property, letting the tide come up slowly to drown them.  But they find a way to exact revenge.

My favorite chapter of the whole film is “The Crate.”  That is the one story out of the whole movie that gave me night terrors for a while.  I was afraid to go to sleep and had to check the closet and under the bed for a few years (still do every once in a while).  Basically, it’s an old crate that’s found underneath some stairs in a college, but the crate is home to some creature that’s just waiting for someone to open up the crate so that he can eat.

And for something that’s truly disgusting, “They’re Creeping Up on You” will satisfy you.  This is the one story that really grosses me out, every time I watch it.  An eccentric germ-a-phobe, Upson Pratt, has the most advanced apartment to keep germs and bugs out as he conducts his business and life without stepping out of his apartment.  But somehow, bugs check in…until Mr. Pratt checks out.

I can’t forget about the wrap-around story, which begins at the very start of the movie with Tom Atkins acting like a total dick to his son, all because the kid was reading the “Creepshow” horror comic book.  Right before going into the beginning credits, the kid (played by Stephen King’s son) hopes his dad rots in hell.  A skeletal figure appears at his window and the kid gives the impression that he’s happy about this.  Holy shit!  I would’ve screamed for my dad, telling him how sorry I was that I was reading that crap and that I’d never read that type of comic book again!  But, being that it’s a movie, the kid punches his fist against his other hand, as if he’s going to beat the shit out of somebody, and the introductory credits roll.  The story ties up at the end of the film with the son getting some revenge on his dad.

One thing, for a horror movie, there sure are a lot of stars in it.  You might recognize Ed Harris in the first tale as he boogies it on down during a little disco dance scene.  As I’d said already, Stephen King does a great job in the one tale that happens to be a one-man show.  You’ll recognize the great Leslie Nielson as the antagonist in the third tale, along with Ted Danson.  Hal Holbrook and Adrian Barbeau are featured in the fourth story.  And, last but not least, is another great actor, Mr. E.G. Marshall as Upson Pratt in the last tale.

The practical effects (seeing that this is way before CGI’s time) are pretty awesome and were done by the wizard himself, Tom Savini.  He even has a funny cameo at the end of the film as one of the garbage truck workers.  His creation of the creature from the “Crate” story still chills me.  I love the little touch of having all the drool drip out of the creature’s mouth when it’s about to eat someone.  Savini definitely leaves his signature in this film.

Lastly, I can’t forget the music score.  The composition by John Harrison positively makes this movie all the more creepy.  The piano gives the film the musical nuance it needs, just listening to it gives me goosebumps.  Every time I watch this film and hear the music that accompanies it, I feel I'm watching a spooky movie from the 40s...all because of that movie score.

Now, Creepshow 2 came around five years later, albeit not directed by George Romero, but he still had a hand in it.  The stories were still penned by Stephen King, or taken from his short stories, but there were only three tales this time around, again, with a wrap around story.  Right away, you can tell that this film is inferior to the first one, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Again, the start of the film begins with the start of the wrap around story, involving a kid, Billy (not sure if this is supposed to be the same Billy from the first movie), and his love for the “Creepshow” comic book.  He rides his bike to where the delivery of the comic books is to be dropped off, greeted by The Creeper as he’s given an issue of the book.  From then on, the credits roll as the live action blends into animation.  Here’s where you see the weakness of the film compared to the first because the animation is not done very well.  The Creeper is now a cartoon character who introduces each story, but if you can put aside the bad cartoon quality, you’ll like this film.

The first tale introduced to us is the story of “Old Chief Wooden Head.”  Set in a small community with Native Americans being the majority, a storefront wooden Indian comes to life to avenge the murders of the store owners.  When I first saw this flick in the theaters, I remember thinking that this first story went on a little too long.  I recalled how tight and to-the-point the stories presented themselves in the first film, and in this film, especially in the first tale, it seemed to kind of lag.  But it’s a good revenge narrative that ends kind of cool.  It stars George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour as the store owners, and even though it’s a little lengthy, it’s still a good yarn.  Although you can tell when the wooden Indian is real or a guy in a suit, the outfit made for the film was pretty realistic, having the appearance of real wood.  Now, even though Tom Savini makes a cameo as The Creeper and consulted a little in the makeup effects, most of the special effects duties went to Greg Nicotero.

The next story is “The Raft.”  Four teenagers head out to a small lake out in the mountains to get high and swim out to an anchored diving platform.  Some floating blob in the water turns out to be a deadly force that kills anything that’s unlucky enough to be caught in the water with it.  This one is my favorite of all the tales.  We get to know the characters as they drive to the lake, the jock, Deke (Paul Satterfield) and his nerdy sidekick, Randy (Daniel Beer), taking their dates and hoping to get some action.  The tension that builds as they’re stuck on the platform and cold from the swim are definitely felt, because I was thinking to myself that I’d go out of mind if I were in their place.  Thinking about the tension and suspense built in this feature, it’s hard to believe they were able to accomplish it simply by having people stand on a swimming platform while dragging some hefty bags around in the water.  But it worked.

Finally, “The Hitchhiker” is a tale about a hitchhiker who’s accidentally hit and killed by a cheating wife, trying to get home before her husband.  In order to keep her rendezvous secret, she flees the scene and leaves the hitchhiker…but the hitchhiker keeps coming back for a ride.  This is a nice Twilight Zone-ish story with a malicious character that keeps coming back no matter how hard you try to get away.  On the other hand, the main character deserves what she endures because it was her fault to begin with.  Nevertheless, it’s still a scary thought to have someone keep showing up even though you’ve passed them and ran over them and smashed into them over and over again.

In between each story, the wrap-around story continues as Billy is confronted by the local bullies as they chase and threaten him.  To end the film, just like the first film, Billy gets revenge on his tormenters. 

So, Creepshow 2  ends with The Creeper blending back into his live-action version, in the back of the newspaper truck as it drives off, throwing out “Creepshow” comic books by the handful.  I always think to myself, Man, that must’ve been a hell of a cleanup job after that shot!  

Without going into it like the detail of the first two films, we all know that there was a Creepshow III made.  I watched this feature, unfortunately, once and wish I had never even wasted my time with it.  It’s an insult to Stephen King for this film to be called Creepshow.  If you look at the ratings on IMDb that are given by users, not critics, you’ll see that the first film received 6.6 stars out of 10, the second received 5.6, and this last debacle received 2.7.  In my opinion, that’s very generous.  

This piece of shit features five tales that are boring and just plain uninteresting, so much so, that I’m not even going to waste my time with synopsizing them.

So there you have it, a great horror franchise, tarnished by the third entry.

What’s my final “bit” on each of these films?

Creepshow is an excellent classic, filled with great performances by many wonderful actors who make this movie come alive.  They’re believable in their parts and never take anything away from the film.  Although the DVD and Blu-Ray discs are plain with not much in the extras department, it’s a must to own.

Creepshow 2 is a worthy follow-up, but not as good and entertaining as the first.  The characters are a little over the top sometimes, taking you out of the movie as you laugh at how one-dimensional they are.  But the stories are very interesting and keep you in it until the end.  While not on Blu-Ray yet, I was able to find a Divimax Edition (which was a high definition transfer some select DVDs were able to get before Blu-Ray came around) a few years back that contains some interesting behind-the-scenes extras.  This one is in my collection and is a must if you own the first film.

Creepshow III…forget it.

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You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits

The Birds

A first for Cinema Bits, I present you, the original trailer for The Birds...

Luckily, I outgrew my fear of birds a long time ago, but I did have a fear of them during my childhood and it’s all thanks to my second favorite Sir Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds. You see, the one small scene—more like a flash—in the movie, where a character walks into a bedroom and sees a man sitting in the corner with his eyes gouged out, leaving two bloody dark holes, changed my life forever. In that time of my life, I was scared shitless of birds for years, avoiding them outside (we lived next to a creek that was lined with eucalyptus trees on either side and they were homes for many murders of crows) and never wanting to hold one if a friend had one as a pet and offered to let me do so. No, Mr. Hitchcock did a number on me by making this movie.

Over the years, I’ve watched this classic dozens of times (seems like it was always on TV when I was a child), especially now that I have it on DVD, and I love it more and more during each viewing.

The movie is based on a 1952 short story by Daphne Du Maurier and was made into a feature-length film in 1963. It’s a simple story (more like two separate stories), really, about a woman named Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) following a man named Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) from San Francisco to Bodega Bay after a little altercation in a pet store that leaves her attracted to him. Soon after arriving at Bodega Bay and meeting up with Mitch, birds of all species start attacking the people of the coastal town.

I like how the film has subtle flashes of scenes that show you what’s to come, like the massive flock of birds circling above San Francisco at the beginning of the film. There’s also a bit of a message as well—when the scene plays out inside the pet store, we see dozens of cages with many birds inside, subliminally showing the audience how cruel it is to cage them up like that. Even Mitch mentions it during that scene when he first meets Melanie.

The choice to have the bulk of the story take place in Bodega Bay is brilliant. The view of the town while Melanie is making her way along the winding road shows how isolated and small it is and seeming like it’s in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the scenery is nice as well, showing the view of the bay and the green hills going inland. But probably the best reason to have it set near the coast is to have a reason to include seagulls as the majority of the menacing birds.

Now the special effects are still remarkable to this day. I still can’t believe how convincing each scene is when the birds are attacking. Of course, being older and used to today’s CGI effects in films, I can make out some of the flaws in this film, but they’re few and far in between. One of the most memorable attack scenes come when some of the townspeople are holed up at the local restaurant, right after a car explodes from ignited gasoline. A shot appears from the birds’ point of view, high above Bodega Bay, and seagulls start appearing and hovering over the destruction. It’s an amazing shot and I was amazed when I found out it was a painted matte framed around the people and the fire. It was done a few times in this movie and to great effect, especially the very end of the film…it gave the movie the shock value it needed to end it. But along with a few other key scenes, the attack scenes will make you think twice about walking around outside when birds are present. The scenes where the birds are nearly taking over the screen was created by a sodium vapor process which, being that this was done in 1963, had a much better effect than the use of blue screen many years later. I mean, those birds look like they’re in the same space as the actors…it’s amazing. And let’s not forget about those eerie bird sound effects, because those bird calls still give me the heebie-jeebies when I hear them. Which reminds me…no music score in this film…only the sound effects.



One thing about a lot of movies, especially from this era and prior, was that the dialogue was very scripted. Even movies today are heavily scripted where all the characters take turns with their lines, performing their dialogue one at a time. If you think about it, that’s not how life works. How often have you been able to speak your mind about something without being interrupted? Because that’s what makes this movie stand out from the rest of the films of the golden age of cinema, it’s the constant interruption to the characters speaking their lines. Whether it’s someone on the phone, ringing for someone while another person is talking, then being cut off as the person on the phone starts speaking to whoever’s on the other end of the line, or people having conversations face to face, interjecting each other, I think Alfred Hitchcock made an effort to include that in this film. In fact, as I noticed it happened the first time, it actually started getting on my nerves, just slightly.

Younger audiences might not enjoy this movie because it’s not all about birds attacking and killing people—that’s actually the background to the film. The real plot to it is how Melanie Daniels meets Mitch Brenner in San Francisco, is attracted to him, and follows him to Bodega Bay when she learns he’s travelling there for a birthday party for his sister, Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). As she arrives, she happens to meet a past girlfriend of Mitch’s, Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), and becomes the target of contempt from Mitch’s mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy). So, really the story is a love triangle between Annie, Melanie and Mitch, not to mention how a mother doesn’t think any woman is good enough for her son. With the long and drawn out scenes, playing out the drama, the birds attacking are, at first, a backdrop until the climactic ending that never really comes to a conclusion, which makes this film all the more terrifying. Very few movies, these days, end in such a fashion. Most movies either end happily or crushingly, but almost always have a resolution. And that’s the brilliance of Hitchcock. He knew that ending the film the way he did would continue the terror for the viewer even after the film ended.

My final “bit” on The Birds is that it’s a wonderfully entertaining film with a nice story. One of my two favorite films from the master of suspense and I watch it at least once a year. I was looking forward to purchasing the film on Blu-Ray, but it was only released as part of an Alfred Hitchcock boxed set. I’m sure it’ll be released separately and when it does…I’m getting it. A must for your media collection, The Birds is one of Sir Hitchcock’s best!

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