Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries "Blood at the Wheel" #2.7 (2013)

I'm going against conventional wisdom - it's not one of my favorites, 27 May 2017

Phryne is backing an all-woman race team. When the team's driver is killed in a seemingly simple crash just days before the big race, Phryne suspects foul play. Jack, not realizing the driver wasn't Phryne, is horribly grief stricken - more so than he likes. He decides that his relationship with Phryne has to change.

Earlier today when writing about the film Checkpoint (coincidentally, another race themed film), I wrote that I considered it underrated. I feel the opposite about Blood at the Wheel. To me, this fan-favorite is overrated. I have a number of problems (Dot's impersonating a Russian driver, an unrealistic looking race, and the annoying women vs men theme) but the biggest issue to me is the manner in which the final reveal is handled. I hate it when a murderer, with very little prompting or reason, just starts spilling their guts and confesses to everything. Who does that? It feels so unnatural and lets the detectives off the hook without actually having to solve anything. It bothers me in books, TV shows, and movies. It's a huge cheat I cannot stomach. And to me, it really hurts the episode.

As for the developments in the Jack - Phryne relationship. I'll just say it's all heartbreaking. While I can certainly understand some of where Jack is coming from, it seems little like overkill. Hopefully, he (and the writers) will have a change of heart.

6/10

Checkpoint (1956)

Underrated, 27 May 2017

The robbery of an Italian automobile factory goes horribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of several policeman. After he escapes, the robber, O'Donovan (Stanley Baker), is able to blackmail his sponsor into helping him get out of the country. Their plan is to use an international automobile race as a cover to smuggle O'Donovan out of Italy and into Switzerland. O'Donovan will have to impersonate one of the co-drivers. Will the other drivers go along with the plan and can O'Donovan keep his cool all the way to the Swiss border?

This is one of those cases where I find a film underrated on IMDb. IMDb - 5.6/10. Me - 8/10. So it's obvious that I enjoyed Checkpoint much more than most. There's a lot I liked about director Ralph Thomas' film. There's plenty of drama, action, and intrigue throughout Checkpoint. The opening robbery, even though at this point we have no idea what's happening, is a great introduction to what is to come. The race scenes really worked with me and I found them incredibly exciting. I've seen other films with similar race scenes that either do not look "real" or are just plain old dull. The fight scene at the film's end is thrilling. It could have gone either way in my mind. The acting is top notch. Stanley Baker plays about as good a thugish brute as anyone. And Odile Versois is just delightful - a word I don't think I use very often, but it describes her perfectly. Finally, the Italian locations are as gorgeous as anything I've seen recently. It's all so beautifully filmed. I can't say enough about Ernest Steward's cinematography. My only complaint is with the second act of the film where Checkpoint seems to lose a bit of focus and almost turns into a schmaltzy romance. Still, the overall movie is highly enjoyable.

I don't know much about old racing cars, but the cars featured in Checkpoint are amazing looking machines. If you're into racing, it's probably worth checking out the movie for all the cool cars and real racing footage.

8/10

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

"Hey, it's not the size of your mouth; it's what's in it that counts.", 25 May 2017

While her parents are away for the weekend, Trish invites a few of her girlfriends over for the weekend. Their plans include beer, weed, and pizza. Plans are interrupted, however, by an escaped mental patient with a very large power drill that he enjoys plunging into his victims. Girls in pajamas (or less) and a deranged killer – sounds like a good mix.

I never realized the screenplay for Slumber Party Massacre was written by novelist Rita Mae Brown. Over the years, I've enjoyed her Mrs Murphy mystery series. I've read that she originally intended the movie to be a parody of the slasher genre, but the producers went ahead and made it a more serious movie. There's still a lot of humor in the film that I find quite funny – the refrigerator door scene near the end being one example. Also, knowing that this was originally meant to be a parody, it helps explain a lot to me about the killer and the rest of the movie. On his own, Russ Thorn is not very frightening – just odd. Some of his facial expressions in the finale are priceless. I haven't read through all the comments on IMDb, so I'm sure this has been endlessly written about, but exactly what kind of power source was he using with that drill? There was no power cord and I've never seen a battery powered drill that can maintain that much power for that length of time. It must have been one of those nuclear drills so popular in the early 80s. The giant drill also makes for a very unwieldy, noisy weapon. Not the weapon of choice when sneaking up on people. I'll bet this was most likely a leftover irony from the original script.

Since its release, I think I've now seen Slumber Party Massacre three times. I enjoyed it much more this time, but still can't rate it higher than a 5/10. I think that had they gone ahead and made this a full- on parody, it would have been a much better movie.

5/10

Plunder Road (1957)

"900 miles to go", 25 May 2017

$10 million in gold is being shipped by rail to San Francisco from Salt Lake City. Five men are determined to see that the gold doesn't make it. The men successfully pull-off a daring nighttime robbery and snatch the $10 million. Their plan includes loading the gold into three different trucks. At regular intervals, they set off for the coast where they intend to rendezvous and split their loot. Will they make it? (This is a film noir – you know things are bound to go horribly wrong.)

Plunder Road is a nice little low-budget noir/crime/drama film. While I enjoyed every second of the movie, the highlight for me has to be the robbery that takes up at least the first 15 minutes of the film's 72 minute runtime. Similar to Rififi, the robbery is carried out almost entirely in silence. The plan is well thought out and executed. The coordination between the five guys makes for a great watch. Director Hubert Cornfield expertly filmed this section of the movie. He wisely included almost every detail – from the masks to the gassing of the guards to the handling of the explosives. Some of the camera angles Cornfield chose helped to increase the excitement of the whole thing. I also think that filming the heist in pouring rain was a wise decision. The rain added even more suspense and atmosphere. While I'm not overly familiar with most of the cast (Elisha Cook, Jr, being the exception), they all give nice performances. I think I was most impressed with Stafford Repp as Roly Adams, but that may only be because he's familiar to me having played Chief O'Hara on Batman in the 60s. Plunder Road's ending is appropriately bleak. As with most good film noir, none of the characters comes out unscathed.

7/10

Phantom of Death (1988)

A giallo with a twist, 24 May 2017
- Un delitto poco comune

About half way through Phantom of Death last night, I almost gave up and turned it off. Much of the first act seemed so schizophrenic to me. What I thought was going to be a straight forward giallo ended up being anything but. I'm glad I stuck around. It's not great, but Phantom of Death provides a rather unique twist on the giallo that fans ought to check out. 

Robert Dominici (Michael York) is a 35 year-old concert pianist with the world at his fingertips. However, he is stricken with a rare disease that makes him age at an alarmingly rapid pace. He goes through bouts of uncontrollable, murderous rage. His target (as with most all gialli) – beautiful young women. Inspector Datti (Donald Pleasence) is tasked with putting a stop to the killings. For the aging Dominici, it becomes a cat and mouse game as he taunts Datti at every opportunity. 

The rapidly aging plot device is used very effectively in Phantom of Death. The police aren't sure who they're after. Physical evidence suggests the killer might be in his 30s or in his 50s or even in his 70s. It's a nice twist. And York does a phenomenal job with the aging Dominici. His performance here is much better than I ever expected to find in a film like this. Even though he's a ruthless killer, York is actually able to make the audience feel sympathy for Dominici and his situation. This is especially true in the film's finale. It's really remarkable. The make-up here is also fantastic. With hair falling out, teeth rotting, and other age related transformations, York really appears much older than he is. Nice job.

As is the usual case and as my rating indicates, there are some issues I had with Phantom of Death. I love Edwige Fenech, but she's horribly underutilized as Dominici's love interest. Her role is such that I'm in the fourth paragraph of this and I am just now mentioning her. I don't think Pleasance gives one of his better performances. He often looks tired and lost. He's not helped by a script that makes him and the rest of the police look incompetent. How they didn't catch Dominici earlier is a mystery that can only be answered by one of the film's writers. One of my biggest complaints is with the editing. There are several occasions where a scene will jarringly end and switch to something completely different. A monkey on speed could make smoother transitions. Finally, the pacing is off kilter at the start of the film. As I wrote previously, it felt schizophrenic.

5/10

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries "Marked for Murder" #2.6 (2013)

A nice episode, 23 May 2017

When a star football player (that's Australian Rules Football) is found dead in the shower with the rival team's scarf around his neck, Jack and Phryne begin an investigation. Was it murder or was it suicide? And what about the blisters on the player's feet? The water wasn't hot enough to burn him, so how did he get 3rd degree burns? A lot of questions, but few apparent answers.

It took a while for me to get into Marked for Murder, but it ended up being a very fun episode. At first, the player and team names seemed confusing and I was having some issues with it. Once I quit worrying about some of the details and just sat back and enjoyed the episode for what it was, it worked beautifully on me. Marked for Murder has some real detective work going on. Phryne sorts through clues that ultimately lead to part of the solution. The bonus was that I was able to follow right along. I always love it when you can piece clues together along with the detective and have a chance to figure things out. The final solution was more than satisfactory. The method of murder was as clever as anything I can remember seeing so far in Miss Fisher. The story lines featuring Phryne, Jack, and Jack's ex-wife were as uncomfortable to watch as they should have been. Finally, the passion displayed by the football fans was perfectly over-the-top. Overall, a really nice episode that I'm rating a solid 7/10.

7/10

Calendar Girl Murders (1984) (TV)

Even by 80s television standards, Calendar Girl Murders is pretty weak., 23 May 2017

One by one, the models featured in a calendar are being murdered. Lieutenant Dan Stoner (Tom Skerritt) is put in charge of the investigation. He immediately strikes up a friendship with former model Cassie Bascomb (Sharon Stone), who seems to have a stalker. Is the stalker the killer? Or, is it someone more closely associated with the calendar?

Even by 80s television standards, Calendar Girl Murders is pretty weak. As was customary at this time, the filmmakers would have you believe the movie is more scandalous than it is with models from a nudie calendar as a backdrop. But honestly, these buttoned-up women have more in common with the Amish than calendar models. A lot of the movie plays out like a standard 70s/80s cop show. I could easily see this as an episode of Charlie's Angels or Vegas. And what could have been a good ending is ruined. There should have been tension and suspense in the final scenes. Instead, it feels rushed. In short, Calendar Girl Murders is just lame. The only real positive I can come up with is some of the acting. Considering how young she was, I thought Stone did a nice job. And Skerritt gives the professional performance you would expect and manages to rise above his lackluster surroundings.

Finally, I look at Calendar Girl Murders as a wasted opportunity. The makings of a decent film are buried here somewhere. Beautiful women, an unknown killer, red herrings, the calendar backdrop, and a twist at the end – sounds like the makings of a giallo to me. In the right hands and without the constraints of TV, I could see Calendar Girl Murders being an entertaining film.

3/10

36 Hours of Hell (1969)

Dry and predictable, 22 May 2017
- 36 ore all'inferno 

After intense bombing designed to wipe-out Japanese forces on the Pacific Island of Rabaul, a small group of Americans are sent in to clean-up any remaining combatants before the main force lands. What should have been a routine mission turns out to be more complicated and deadly than hoped. The Japanese forces have weathered the bombing storm and are ready to take the fight to the Americans.

36 Hours of Hell stars Richard Harrison. Yesterday, I wrote about another Richard Harrison film – Rojo. My feelings on 36 Hours of Hell are much the same as my feelings on Rojo – it's terribly dry and predictable. I know the filmmakers did the best they could with a limited budget, but it felt like a series of clichéd set-pieces stuck together into a 90 minute film. There was little to hold my interest from one scene to the next. And it doesn't help matters the way the characters were presented. To be an effective war film, you have to care about the guys that are being blown to pieces. Here, other than Harrison, I didn't know enough about any of the other guys to care if they lived or died. Finally, I'm beginning to think that Richard Harrison may hold a limited appeal to me. I don't think he's particularly good in this film. One of his men is killed and his emotions are all wrong. The emotion he displays would be more appropriate for burning a steak on the grill than watching a man die. 

There are a couple of positives I'll briefly mention. First, I appreciate the fact that actual Asians were used to play the Japanese soldiers. Even in 1969, you didn't see this very often. Second, the film looks great. The cinematography is quite good and better than expected. Third, I'm not overly familiar with Pamela Tudor, but her limited role here is memorable. Still, the bad outweighs the good and I cannot rate 36 Hours of Hell any higher than a 4/10.

One final note – I feel I need to mention the music. While I thought it was great, often brilliant, it never really fits the action on the screen. It didn't feel like the music you would associate with a war movie. In my opinion, Franco Salina's score would have been much more at home in a giallo.

4/10

Rojo (1966)

Richard Harrison channels Clint Eastwood, 21 May 2017

I titled this "Richard Harrison channels Clint Eastwood". I should have added "with little success". El Rojo (or just Rojo) seems to be a feeble attempt to recreate the success and feel of A Fistful of Dollars. The comparisons and influences are unmistakable. Harrison does his best at playing his version of The Man with No Name, but he doesn't have the charisma of Eastwood. Director Leopoldo Savona uses some of the same shot and lighting techniques, but he's certainly no Sergio Leone. And Benedetto Ghiglia main title theme is so similar to something Ennio Morricone would have written, it can't be a coincidence. These are talented men in their own right, but they can't compare with the people behind one of the greatest, most influential Spaghetti Westerns ever made.

I'll cut the writers some slack - all SW story lines seems to center on revenge. Here, the movie opens with group of settlers being massacred just as they reach their family's gold claim. The killings are made to look like the work of Indians, but we immediately know better. A town is built on the site called Gold Hill, One day, a stranger arrives in town (Harrison). It seems the four most respected (or feared) men in town were behind the massacre. And the stranger is the last living relative. He is (you guessed it) out for revenge.

Beyond what I've written earlier, there are other problems with Rojo. The biggest issue I had is the dull script. There are too few surprises to keep things interesting. Everything is sort of telegraphed from the very beginning. Also, I usually don't complain about dubbing (and I would never hold it against a film), but be warned - the dubbing on the version I watched was about as bad as I can remember. It's like someone ran the script though an online translator (I know, there was no internet in 1966) and didn't bother proofing the result. Parts are quite funny.

As for positives, there are a few. I mentioned the opening theme. It may sound like Morricone, but that's actually a good thing. It's a bit reminiscent of The Ecstasy of Gold. Some of the acting is good. Piero Lulli, as the head baddie and Nieves Navarro, as the love interest, were standouts. Finally, much of the movie does look good. The film has that sweaty, tight, dirty look to it that I always enjoy in a good SW.

Overall, Rojo is a lackluster attempt at recreating Leone's film. In short, it's unoriginal, predictable, and dull. I have probably overrated it with a 4/10.

4/10