Only now does it occur to me... CARRIE

Only now does it occur to me...  that P.J. Soles and her hat practically steal the goddamn movie. 

During the filming of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN– a definite 'ensemble' piece, if there ever was one– Steve McQueen (unbeknownst to many of his fellow actors and to their later chagrin) tried his damndest to pull focus and steal the show with ostentatious bits of acting "business" whenever he was on screen, especially in scenes where his character had little or nothing to do.  In a similar vein (but certainly less malicious) is P.J. Soles (of HALLOWEEN and ROCK N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL fame) in CARRIE.  P.J. Soles is terrific.  She always injects her roles with an infectious sense of fun, but in CARRIE, she gets to play a villain.  A villain with a big 'ole red rainbow ballcap.  And pigtails.  And a smirk.




Hell, she's sort of like the proto-Punky Brewster.

Anyway, this hat gets around:  when they're making fun of Carrie's lack of menstrual knowledge,

in the classroom,
 
doing push-ups,

setting up for prom,

shit– even AT the prom:


I love it!  Look at her daring to even steal focus from Betty Buckley

with that hat and her impish grin.  It's hard to say if this is De Palma or P.J. herself at work here.  I'm leaning toward P.J., possibly because I need to believe that she's as mischievous in real life as the characters she portrays.


Well, now THAT's just ridiculous. 

I salute you, P.J.  You got a lot of mileage out of that hat, and so did I.  I hope that it's kept in a vault at the Smithsonian.

Read More

Only now does it occur to me... SNAKE EYES

 Only now does it occur to me...  that Nic Cage once played Rick Santorum in SNAKE EYES, the biopic focusing on his lesser-known early career as a sleazy Atlantic City cop.

Read More

Film Review: THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987, Brian de Palma)

Stars: 4 of 5.

Running Time: 119 minutes.

Notable Cast or Crew: Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith (AMERICAN GRAFFITI, STARMAN), Andy Garcia (THE GODFATHER PART III, BLACK RAIN), Billy Drago (TREMORS 4, DELTA FORCE 2), Patricia Clarkson (THE GREEN MILE, THE WOODS), Jack Kehoe (SERPICO, MIDNIGHT RUN), Don Harvey (CREEPSHOW 2, DIE HARD 2). Screenplay by David Mamet, music by Ennio Morricone, cinematography by Stephen H. Burum (CARLITO'S WAY, RAISING CAIN, ARTHUR 2: ON THE ROCKS).

Tagline: "AL CAPONE. He ruled Chicago with absolute power. No one could touch him. No one could stop him. - Until Eliot Ness and a small force of men swore they'd bring him down."

Best one-liner: "Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight." (said in Sean Connery's Scottish brogue)

THE UNTOUCHABLES is a pretty solid flick. I saw it when I was rather young, and I remember it making quite an impression. Part buddy cop movie, part mobster epic, part Peckinpah-style shoot-'em-'up, part courtroom drama, part police procedural, part Sergei Eisenstein meets John Woo– it pretty much had it all. Initially I saw it because INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE had recently come out and it had launched a Sean Connery kick for me that never really did end, now that I think about it. I believe it may have been my first exposure to Brian de Palma and David Mamet, too. In the years hence, I know that Mamet has written works with greater depth and resonance than this, and I know that De Palma has made movies that are artsier and even more ludicrous, but it's nice to return to THE UNTOUCHABLES, like an old friend– an old friend with a reverb-heavy, kickass 80's Morricone soundtrack who luvs slo-mo squib action and disguising split-screen shots as ridiculous deep-focus shots.

Anyway, others, such as J.D. at Radiator Heaven, John Kenneth Muir, and Mr. Peel's Sardine Liqueur have pretty much said what needs to be said about the film in the realms of historical context, profundity, and classiness, so I suppose that instead of covering ground that's already been covered, I'll do what I am wont to do: leap headlong into the absurdity and minutiae of THE UNTOUCHABLES!

As such, I'll divide my observations into two parts: Drago-related, and non-Drago-related. The non-Drago-related section is gonna be pretty small, actually.

Non-Drago-Related Observations:

#1. Don Harvey.

Hey, look, guys– it's Don Harvey, handing Kevin Costner an axe! You remember Don Harvey, don't you? From DIE HARD 2 and CREEPSHOW 2? I've described him as proto-Peter Weller meets proto-Kevin Bacon, and hey– I like the guy. Nice to see you, Don.

#2. TENEBRE homage.

Oh, De Palma, I love ya. During a notable scene when Sean Connery is being stalked at his home, the camera shifts forward and backward, tracking across the exterior architecture, catching voyeuristic glimpses of Connery, and ending with a first-person P.O.V. of hands breaking into a window, just like the legendary crane shot in TENEBRE (which has nearly the exact same visuals, and ends with black-gloved hands wielding bolt-cutters to gain entrance to a window). Sure, it doesn't matter much in the long run, but it makes me kinda tingly when Argento gets a well-deserved salute. Unless said salute is being delivered by Diablo Cody. Or to Diablo Cody. Eh. Anyway, TENEBRE is notably referenced in RAISING CAIN, too.

#3. Connery's booze stash.

Throughout the film, my girlfriend was remarking that "there's no way Connery is sober during this," and I, not having seen the film in a dozen years or so, was saying "he's fighting alcohol bootleggers, let 'im total his tea." Anyway, during the sequence referenced in #2, Connery pulls a bottle o' contraband hooch out of his oven and has a snort. Also of note: Connery is apparently playing an Irish American with a Scottish accent, just as he played a Spaniard with a Scottish accent, and in the future would go on to play a Russian with a Scottish accent. A versatile fellow, he.


Drago-Related Observations:


Who is that terrifying, cheek-boney, crazy-eyed, thin white duke lurking in the shadows, there? Wait a minute, wait a minute... a sense memory is kicking in... could it be...

Holy shit, now the wheels are turning, ladies and gentlemen! "Smooth Criminal" was on BAD, released in late August 1987. THE UNTOUCHABLES was early June 1987. Could it be? Could the inspiration for "Smooth Criminal" be none other than ....BILLY DRAGO???


"As he came into the window, it was the sound of a crescendo"

"He left the bloodstains on the carpet"

"You've been hit by, you've been hit by, a smooth criminal"

And then, it turns out that Drago later appeared, in 2001, in a Michael Jackson video called "You Rock My World!" Is it possible that all of Jackson's surgeries involved wanting to be more like Billy Drago? Is MOONWALKER indirectly the result of Billy Drago's acting brilliance? Who is Annie? And more importantly, is she okay? So many unanswered questions.

But I believe I may have put the cart before the horse. Let me back up for a moment. Billy Drago, long beloved by this site, plays "Frank Nitti," the white-suit-clad doer of Al Capone's dirty-work. He blows up children, he skulks in the dark, he kills beloved characters, he makes thinly veiled threats and dons a devilish grin.


And he does it with style. That's Drago for ya. The man is one of a kind. Make no mistake about that. I may have alluded to other celebrities with "thin white duke," or "smooth criminal," or, hell, once I even called him "Scary Dean Stanton," but my point is this: you believe Drago, every step of the way. Here is an actor who connects with the material, brings it alive, even when he's bringing alive an attempted Chuck Norris makeout session. And by the time THE UNTOUCHABLES is over: you will believe a Drago can fly– (which again, returning to DELTA FORCE 2, appears to be a recurring career theme!)

...Amen.


-Sean Gill

Read More

Film Review: RAISING CAIN (1992, Brian De Palma)

Stars: 4.4 of 5.
Running Time: 91 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: John Lithgow, Gregg Henry (BODY DOUBLE, PAYBACK), Steven Bauer (SCARFACE, TRAFFIC, BODY DOUBLE, GLEAMING THE CUBE), Lolita Davidovich (JFK, DARK BLUE, CLASS), Frances Sternhagen (THE MIST, BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY, MISERY). Music by Pino Donaggio. Cinematography by Stephen H. Burum (RUMBLE FISH, UNCOMMON VALOR).
Tag-line: "De Mented, De Ranged, De Ceptive, De Palma." More on that in a bit.
Best one-liner: "We need to find these babies now!"

You can say that RAISING CAIN is the work of a demented genius, an utter madman, an Argentophile, a psychoanalyst, or an absurd practical jokester. But it doesn't really matter, because the truth is, RAISING CAIN isn't a movie at all. It's a playground. John Lithgow's playground. And you'd better be in the right state of mind, cause Lithgow is gonna show you the labyrinthine secrets of the monkey bars; the ecstatic highs, down-to-earth lows, and endless cruelty of seesaw slamming; the dizzy thrills of tire swing spinning; the tragic bewilderment of being left behind when recess is over; and the iron-fisted, punitive detention that follows.



And by sweet God, Lithgow is having a blast.

It's difficult to discuss this film, because so much of the initial enjoyment is founded in the deliberate unfolding of the whacked-out plot which brims with gleefully unexpected moments, silly shocks, and macabre laughs. So I don't wanna say too much about the story, or how many characters Lithgow plays, or who murders who, or if this kid, presently plummeting from a great height,


gets caught or not. So instead, I'll try to speak in general and stylistic terms. But first, I must address the fact that a lot of people hate this movie. It's slightly abstruse, sure, but it's also a fun time- and it's well aware of it. More Argento than Hitchcock, the film embraces its own ridiculousness- then proceeds to play it straight. It's engaging even as it's confusing, and the overall arc is tied up rather neatly compared to something like, say, LOST HIGHWAY, but, in my opinion, the people who have knee-jerk negative reactions to a film like that will likely feel the same about RAISING CAIN.

Now it should be no surprise to most of you that Lithgow plays multiple roles in this thing, and while I don't want to outline exactly what that means, I would like to A: applaud De Palma for never showing two Lithgows in the same shot, even though the special effects which would make it possible it were ubiquitous by 1992,


and B: applaud Lithgow for, as always, being absolutely fearless, powerful, terrifying and truthful. (And, as a side note, I'm pretty sure that the fourth season of DEXTER would not exist without this film.) As I said before, Lithgow runs the gamut in this film, from crusty old-world physician to middle-aged greaser punk to frightened little boy to bungling, cuckolded spouse.


They should have given him the Oscar that year. No- correction: they should have given him all the Oscars that year.

The combination of Stephen H. Burum's glossy (yet dreamlike) cinematography and Pino Donaggio's melodramatic (but nerve-racking) score is an excellent one, and their continued partnership enables the same De Palma magic which graced BODY DOUBLE. As in BODY DOUBLE, there are one or two genuine scares which are further amplified by De Palma/Burum's visual mastery and Donaggio's unsettling, screeching accompaniment.

De Palma even manages to work in a four minute and fourteen second steadicam shot, the kind of virtuoso technical move which I'm always a sucker for.

The dialogue is theatrical- but not to the point of distraction, and the supporting roles are solid without being flashy. After all, this is the Lithgow show. Frances Sternhagen stands out as a wig-wearing specialist who may be able to unravel Cain's mysteries, and Gregg Henry plays one of those vaguely unlikable tough guys (here, a cop) which we've grown accustomed to seeing him play.

Then there's an ongoing clock motif, supposedly inserted by De Palma so that we could have a greater understanding of the film's admittedly confusing timeline (which becomes rather complex given the sheer amount of dream sequences and skewed perspectives).

However, I think the clock motif was inserted just so that Lithgow could psychotically declare, "Hickory dickory dock- Cain has picked his lock!"

Regardless, I loved every second of this film right down to the abrupt, TENEBRE-style finale, and as far as I'm concerned, the "black jokester De Palma" of RAISING CAIN, BODY DOUBLE, and OBSESSION is De Palma at his best (as opposed to the more popular, slightly mainstream, but still noteworthy De Palma of flicks like CARRIE or SCARFACE). For once, the tag-line really says it all: "De Mented, De Ranged, De Ceptive, De Palma."

-Sean Gill

Read More