Low Budget Minimalist Western

 

THE SHOOTING-1966-A bounty hunter (Warren Oates) and his dumb friend (Will Hutchins) meet a mysterious woman (Millie Perkins; earlier the title role in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK) who wants them to accompany her on a journey. The two try to figure out her motive and later meet up with her friend Billy, a gunfighter (Jack Nicholson). There's a lot of talk in this moody Western by director Monte Hellman. The ending may seem contrived but pay attention to the minimalist dialogue. Nicholson & Perkins were in RIDE THE WHIRLWIND for Hellman the same year. 

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Hellman

BEAST FROM THE HAUNTED CAVE-1959-At ski resort in Deadwood,South Dakota, a petty gangster Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff) plans to blow up a mine as a distraction so he and his gang can rob a safe full of gold. His girlfriend Gypsy (Sheila Noonan, also in Jerry Warrens's INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD) flirts with Gil  Jackson (familiar TV actor Michael Forest), a ski instructor. After they've pulled off the heist the gang has Gil lead them cross country skiing to make their escape (he is unaware they are making a getaway). Things go ok until they are terrorized by a weird spider like monster (Chris Robinson, also in a small role as a bartender) who attacks and puts his victims in cocoons (like ALIEN) and sucks their blood (like in ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES which producer Gene Corman also made the same year). There's a lot of talk and the climax is over in a flash!

This was the first feature by director Monte Hellman (BACK DOOR TO HELL, TWO LANE BLACK TOP). It suffers from a low budget (Roger Corman was the executive producer) but moves along very quickly! The screenplay is by Charles B. Griffith who also wrote the Corman (Roger) directed BUCKET OF BLOOD  the same year and in 1960 penned the original  LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, This guy deserves an  honorary Academy Award!

BEAST's very minimal cast also features Wally Campos, Richard Sinatra and Kay Jennings. This was kind of remade by Corman as CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA.

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Early Jack

BACK DOOR TO HELL-1964-Three army intelligence operatives land in Manila just before McArthur to try and destroy a Japanese communications outfit. It was filmed in The Philippines by Monte Hellman so the few Japanese soldiers are played by Filipinos. The leader of the trio is played by singer Jimmie Rodgers. John Hackett (who co-wrote the screenplay) and still unknown Jack Nicolson (who speaks Japanese…?) are the other two. They get help from a local guerilla outfit and torture a Japanese general. The dialogue is rather stilted and there’s not much action. Nicolson was also in RIDE THE WILD WIND and FLIGHT TO FURY for Hellman. Hackett was later a stand-in for Nicolson.

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Wrestlers Or Rock Stars?

THE MARINE-2006-You would have thought after the debacle of NO HOLDS BARRED in the ‘80’s dirt bag wrestling owner Vince McMahon Jr. would have learned his lesson about making movies. But of course being the self-centered bastard that he is, Junior decided the time was right to try it again. Too bad for us all!

All he could come up with was a cheap Swartzenegger rip-off starring the guy, John Cena who at the time happened to be the champion of McMoron’s wrestling promotion. Every cliché’ in the book is thrown in. Explosions abound. It’s the kind of action flick that gives CGI a bad name. Robert Patrick is the bad guy who kills a lot of people (there’s even a TERMINATOR in joke). Director John Bonito had previously done work for wrestling on TV. Hopefully we will never hear from him again. Chuck this shit and go watch John Woo’s HARDBOILED!



TWO LANE BLACKTOP-1971-A duo drag race their way around the USA. James Taylor is The Driver and Dennis Wilson is The Mechanic. Both need acting lessons. Warren Oates is GTO another driver who challenges them to a race in Washington DC. Laurie Bird is The Girl. Harry Dean Stanton appears as a gay hitchhiker. Everyone walks around a lot and works on their cars. Sometimes they talk. Cult Director Monte Hellman made this between THE SHOOTING and COCKFIGHTER (which also featured Oates & Bird). They didn’t seem to know how to end the movie so the final scene has the film burn away. Some have said this is the ultimate road movie. I say it’s pretty boring…



GREENDALE-(2003)-A few years ago it seemed like every actor or actress would direct at least one movie in his or her lifetime. Fortunately that “trend” has kind of abated. Still egotistic nobodies like Vincent Gallo make their own movies and actually get them released so why can’t a rock and roll icon like Neil Young?

Of course this isn’t his first attempt. He directed several of his own concert films (like RUST NEVER SLEEPS) and one very bizarre “real” movie called HUMAN HIGHWAY. This is totally different from anything he has done before and in fact it’s totally different from most other films too! It’s kind of a rock opera/musical/parable, which besides writing the music he also produced and directed (under his usual pseudonym “Bernard Shakey”). It’s filmed in grainy Super 8 except for some excellent CNN like news reports. The central characters are The Green Family including their hippie father, his two sons (one a painter, one a cop killer) and his environmentalist granddaughter. There’s no dialogue. The characters only mouth Young’s lyrics at certain points in his songs. The story involves topics that usually pop up in Young’s songs: saving the environment, not trusting the government and manipulation by the media. It’s kind of experimental I guess but not all that interesting, mainly because (much like Frank Zappa’s 200 MOTELS) with the exception of two songs (“Bandit” and “Be The Rain”) the music isn’t up to Young usual standards. The director appears briefly as Wayne Newton…

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