Review #1,238: 'Alien' (1979)

Before the stream of sequels, spin-offs, video games, board games, and it's own incredibly underwhelming origin story, and before this year's shameless yet occasionally entertaining rip-off Life, there was Ridley Scott's Alien, a masterclass in how to create an A-picture out of a B-list idea and budget. Even before that of course, there was Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires, but Scott infuses his film with such elegance, sheer horror, and it's very own mythos (which would be tirelessly explored in the aforementioned extended multi-media universe), that to label the seminal sci-fi classic as plagiarism of Bava's interesting, if schlocky, 60's space opera would be preposterous (although it clearly draws inspiration). As a favourite of most children growing up in the 80's and 90's, Alien joins the likes of Jaws, Back to the Future, The Goonies and Close Encounters of the Third Kind as one of the untouchable genre classics.

The crew of the Nostronomo, a starship freighter owned by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation are awoken from hypersleep by an urgent message from the on-board computer, Mother. A signal has been detected coming from a nearby planetoid, and by the terms of their contract they are obligated to investigate. The crew are a rag-tag bunch of what can only be described as working-class space truckers; scruffy, chain-smoking, and constantly complaining about pay. Many of them, including Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), object to the unnecessary risk, but Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) overrules. Touching down on the dark, desolate planet, they quickly come across a crashed alien ship containing the dead body of a large, unknown species. Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt) probes further, eventually discovering what appears to be a nesting area. One of the eggs opens, and a spider-like creature attaches itself to his face, rendering him unresponsive but alive.

It's isn't difficult to work out how things unravel from this point. After the shock of the 'chestburster' scene (which I still recall seeing for the first time as a youngster), Alien follows the tradition of the slasher flick. But one of the many things that separates the film from the formulaic tedium of the slasher genre is the care Scott takes with showing you very little. The brief glimpses of the xenomorph, growing rapidly as the film progresses, are terrifying enough, but it's the long moments between the kills that makes Alien so engrossing. The design of the ship's interior is dark and dank, almost reptilian in appearance, purposely sculpted to make it seem that the creature could pop out of any corner of the screen, at any time. Our fears are confirmed in one particularly effective sequence involving the search for the ship's cat Jones, where what appears to be some harmless tubing in the background suddenly turns into an oozing, snarling face..

Now one of the most iconic monsters in cinema history, the xenomorph is a clever accumulation of our worst fears. A creature of pure survival, it serves only to prolong the existence of its species, whether it be to wipe out any possible threat, or using its victims as hosts for its offspring. James Cameron's admittedly excellent sequel threw more of them at the screen, and the subsequent films opted for CGI. But there is nothing scary about special effects, and Bolaji Badejo's performance inside the suit proves that practical effects can stand the test of time, and completely terrify when employed correctly. The alien isn't the only star of the show however, as Sigourney Weaver's badass survivor Ripley is one of the silver screen's most recognisable and much-loved heroines, in a role that could have been a simple 'last girl' routine in the hands of a lesser actor. She is backed up by a fantastic cast that also includes Veronica Cartwright, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto, all making their archetype characters feel alive. But the real star is Scott who, having gone off the boil in recent years, reminds us of a time when he was capable of delivering pure cinematic magic.


Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto
Country: UK/USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,218: 'The Thomas Crown Affair' (1968)

Some movies rely on the chemistry of their lead co-stars in order to engage their audience, hoping that the thrill of watching two sexy movie-stars romancing and eventually getting it on with each other will provide sufficient escapism to make the reality lurking outside seem a world away. It's difficult to think of a film as reliant on the raw sex appeal of its superstars than Norman Jewison's 1968 heist thriller The Thomas Crown Affair, and Steve McQueen, as the titular millionaire playboy, and Faye Dunaway, as the sultry insurance investigator hot on his tail, positively sizzle with chemistry. In fact, they are so gorgeous that they manage to turn a game of chess into a playful game of seduction. The duo have certainly given much better performances during their careers, but they have never looked so good.

This pretty much sums up The Thomas Crown Affair: a polished, colourful star vehicle with an unashamedly glossy veneer. At the very centre of the story is a bank heist gone right, masterminded by the rather smug Thomas Crown (McQueen) after he handpicks his crew without ever letting them see his face. The thieves escape with over 2 million dollars, and nobody, including the rather clueless Detective Eddy Malone (Paul Burke), has any idea who it was. Enter Vicki Anderson (Dunaway), a no-nonsense independent woman with a love of the finer things in life. She quickly figures out that Crown was behind it all, but remains puzzled at why a man with everything would want to steal money he doesn't need. Of course, it's all a game, and the couple start their own game of cat-and-mouse as they embark on a steam affair.

Taking inspiration from the Expo 67 film A Place to Stand, which greatly impressed McQueen, Jewison employs 'multi-dynamic image technique', splitting the screen into sections with each part showing a different viewpoint. It gives the film a unique style, especially during the opening heist, and when combined with 60s kitsch, everything is wonderful to look at. While the visuals still impress, the characters are somewhat dated. He's the rich, philandering charmer, and she is bowled over by his fast-living and expensive possessions. It makes it all the more difficult to warm to a character I would detest in real life, but McQueen has more than enough charisma to pull through. There are never any real stakes, but it's pretty fun while it lasts, just a little hollow at its centre. The Pierce Brosnan/Rene Russo remake from 1999 makes for a more satisfying ride.


Directed by: Norman Jewison
Starring: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke, Jack Weston, Yaphet Kotto
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #535: 'The Running Man' (1987)

A quasi-disturbing trend in '80's American cinema was the wisecrack; innocuous in some genres, it even extended to the horror film, with the child killer (paedophile if you want a 21st century tag) Freddy Krueger - who would flaunt his quips after extravagantly offing a "youngun". Within the action film, it was Schwarzenegger who was the king of the one-liners. The Running Man offered the perfect vehicle for this fashion of dialogue, with its structure of death-for-survival. In the future (2017 to be precise) the worlds economy has crashed leaving many homeless, and the state runs the entertainment industry - in this science fiction world, television ratings are raised by the depiction of violence and humiliation; as long as it is justified with criminality.

Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) is an ex-cop, wrongfully imprisoned for a helicopter attack on civilians. In the opening scene we see the "real" event, as Richards refuses to shoot innocents, and ignores orders. As we are in familiar sci-fi themes, this dystopic police state, and its control of the media, manipulates the facts to create a criminal. Escaping a maximum security prison (which seems surprisingly easy to break out of), Richards heads for his brothers in the city, whilst Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto) and Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre) head for revolutionary activity. But the butcher of Bakersfield (the name attributed to Richards by the falsified media story) is too buff, and far too athletic to not be used in television most popular gameshow (its title used for this film), and Killian (Richard Dawson) spots the potential of this "contestant" in a prison break video.

Captured and forced to take part in The Running Man, Richards (along with Laughlin and Weiss and the ubiquitous damsel (Maria Conchita Alonso) who is picked up along the way) has to face a series of stalkers, who hunt them down in a fight to the death. Simply put, it is a kind of underground gladiatorial entertainment, and with the over the top stalkers (including Fireball (Jim Brown) and Buzzsaw (Gus Rethwisch), who all have specific modes of weaponry) they face a game-like structure to get to the next level. In this structure we find the linguistic genius (sic) of Schwarzenegger, as he sardonically "explains" within one comedic line, what happened when he killed another man (for example, after raising buzzsaw's chainsaw to his groin, he is asked what happened to him, and Richards replies "He had to split" - hilarity!

Some of the films themes resonate within our popular culture to this day. Now, I'm in no way stating that this film was prescient, or even that it was ahead of its time. The presentation is certainly of its time, and many of the ideas can be found elsewhere (within literature, Orwell's 1984 is standard for dystopian futures), such as Peter Watkins' Punishment Park (1971). What the film does highlight when viewed in another century is that the general populous has become far more media savvy that ever. We are used to the idea that anything we watch on television (particularly when we consider the mass of reality TV that litters our airwaves) we are watching something edited for the purpose of entertainment. In The Running Man, the audiences are unaware that manipulation is rampant within both current affairs and entertainment broadcasting.

I think I may have just taken a Schwarzenegger film far too seriously. This is an '80's gung-ho action film, that perpetuates the throw-away, comic book violence that prevailed - after all, America was defeated in their last war (Vietnam) and, I'm guessing, had to make war and violence accessible to children! This frightening concept would become more concerning when many adult action ideas were transferred to Saturday morning cartoons (both Robocop and Rambo were translated to cartoon, and they were based on two of the most violent films of the decade). This digression is not too far away from The Running Man, as it does often feel like it is directed at a younger audience, despite the bloody violence, it is very much a cartoonish and immature approach to what could have been a more cerebral comment on mass entertainment.

Based on a book by Stephen King (Writing as Richard Bachmann), the film does have some interesting elements to it. In our modern world of multi-channel, on-demand entertainment, a large segment (the majority in fact) of the media we consume, is so insipid, so incredibly dumbed-down, that it would be easy to argue that these forms of visual pleasure are produced as a form of control (you know, keep them in line by feeding them shit that rots the brain). In The Running Man, the largely homeless population gather round the over sized screens that litter the skyline to watch state-controlled gameshows, and they find their entertainment in the death of others. When Richards begins to beat the stalkers, the audience start gunning for the supposed "villain". Therefore, the film seems to be making the point that death is what people want to see, even if it is the wrong type of death.

Despite all of these transgressions, this was one of the favourites as a youngster. It is undeniably entertaining, and has some genuinely nice moments, and offers some interesting visions of a future that was inevitably there in 1987, but in which has been exacerbated over the last 30 years of increasingly dumb entertainment. Within standard television production modes, The Running Man is not inspiring film making (it was directed by Paul Michael Glaser, who was Starsky in Starsky and Hutch, and also directed many episodes of Miami Vice). There is probably no doubt that this will be remade, as the ideas and themes are still very relevant today, but lets hope that if it is remade, they forget about the muscles and gladiator iconography, and focus on the manipulation through entertainment. And please, never, ever put Schwarzenegger in a Lycra jumpsuit!


Directed by: Paul Michael Glaser
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy

Review #466: 'Truck Turner' (1974)

Blaxploitation films are so frequently ridiculed and parodied (much of it with reason) these days, that it's easy to forget that some of them were actually pretty good. Shaft (1971) paved the way for the sub-genre with its strutting bad-ass lead who's a sex-machine to all the chicks, and Isaac Hayes' Oscar-winning score (for what he will forever be best remembered for). Hayes himself steps into the lead role here as ex-American football star and bail bondsman Mac 'Truck' Turner, who according to Yaphet Kotto's bad-guy pimp Blue, is "like a bulldog with eyes up his ass!", and displays some surprisingly charismatic qualities that makes it quite a shame he didn't appear in more.

Greasy lawyer Fogarty (the great Dick Miller) employs bounty-hunters 'Truck' Turner and his partner Jerry (Alan Weeks - with the best grin in cinema) to track down a low-down pusher and pimp named Gator (Paul Harris). After an extended chase scene, Turner and Jerry manage to kill Gator, much to the dismay of Gator's lady Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols - Uhura!). Dorinda rounds up the big pimps and offers her valuable collection of whores in exchange for Turner's head, a deal in which Blue accepts. Wanting to settle down with his girlfriend Annie (Annazette Chase), Turner finds his life turned upside when Blue employs a gang of hired killers.

Beginning almost as a buddy-comedy, the witty script and some genuine chemistry serve up some amusing early scenes, showing off Hayes' natural screen presence. But this turns into pure police procedural blaxploitation as the main plot kicks in, with jive-talk, pimps in some of the most delightfully ludicrous dress I've ever seen, car-chases, slow-motion shoot-outs, cocaine, hookers, and of course a tragically neglected soundtrack from Hayes himself. The action scenes are surprisingly good, and Corman protege Jonathan Kaplan (director of fellow Grindhouse Project feature Night Call Nurses (1972) - review #443) makes sure he includes as much slow-motion men falling off rooftops and gushing fake blood as possible. Bloody good fun, and probably better than Shaft.


Directed by: Jonathan Kaplan
Starring: Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Alan Weeks, Annazette Chase, Nichelle Nichols, Dick Miller
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie