100 Rifles

100 Rifles (1969)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Tom Gries

Starring: Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy

From: Marvin Schwartz Productions 

Is the movie a masterpiece that you’d perhaps want for something starring Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy, and even cult favorite Soledad Miranda for a few scenes, filmed in Spain and all set to a Latin-flavored Jerry Goldsmith score?

No. Also, Brown & Welch did not get along during filmmaking.

This does not mean that 100 Rifles wasn’t a pretty good time. Brown was a lawman who rode into early 20th Mexico to collect the bounty on the head of Reynolds, who had a white father and a Native American mother; Burt had a hell of a tan for this redface role; so did Welch in her Native American role. He robbed a bank to purchase the titular rifles for his people to fight against the Mexican government & a railroad built on their land.

The relationship between the three leads was a fractious as you’d expect; also expected (and delivered) for me was that this was a rollickin’ good time. They had an adventure in the wilds of Mexico-Spain was a nice substitute-at least one set I recognized as appearing in From a Few Dollars More. Colorful characters, a detestable villain-the General role Lamas had-and the Goldsmith score were further assets.

In my opinion, there are several quality shootouts involving large numbers of people which electrified & was an asset in making 100 Rifles enjoyable despite the film not coming together to form a classic starring a trio of legends. At least there was what amounted to a gratuitous shower scene involving Ol’ Raquel… but it’s done as a ruse so that moment didn’t serve no purpose for the plot.

The Delta Force

The Delta Force (1986)

Runtime: An overlong 129 minutes

Directed by: Menahem Golan

Starring: Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, many others

From: Cannon

Alan Silvestri’s all-timer of a score makes me want to run through a brick wall, it’s so epic & rousing!

There was no better time than now to revisit The Delta Force for the first time since long before I joined Letterboxd 13 (!) years ago. This is still one of the most famous films Chuck Norris ever did, it has the most distinguished cast, and is amazingly 80’s as only Cannon could deliver. That includes the topic of plane hijackings; the plot is loosely based on the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, along with a few details of Operation Entebbe.

I will NOT spend time discussing how the terrorists were Palestinians or how they segregated the Jewish passengers on the plane, or the numerous photos seen of the Ayatollah, or the line “Israel is America’s best friend in the Middle East” or other details for MANY blatant reasons. I can note that some now won’t like that the villains were Arabs (despite all the turmoil in the Middle East I recall as a kid in the 80’s and 90’s) or that their leader was non-Arabic Robert Forster, who at least did a swell job in making the role not as stereotypical as was probably on page. Plenty of time is spent on that sweaty airplane; while not everything the villains did was vile, most of their behavior was. The drama on the airplane is best described as “histrionics.”

The cast of familiar faces does help: Chuck, Forster, Lee Marvin, Joey Bishop, George Kennedy, Bo Svenson, Robert Vaughn, Shelley Winters, Lainie Kazan, Kim Delaney, Susan Strasberg, and Martin Balsam. There’s also Hanna Schygulla of Fassbinder and Bela Tarr fame who elevated a standard “heroic flight attendant” role. Heck, the titular Delta Force is so badass, Steve James is a key member (although as I always say, there needed to be more of his character) and three of the random background players in the group are Liam Neeson, Kevin Dillon, & Mykelti Williamson.

Most of the action is saved for the back half; those action beats thankfully delivered. Some moments are so OOT you might be reminded of Team America: World Police. Politics aside, a few times I giggled at the silliness on screen, whether it was s--- blowing up on screen or absurdly awesome deaths. To reiterate, the Alan Silvestri score-especially the motif-is tremendous and is an asset for the film. Heck, if the Marvel movies he scored had music like this, I’d actually want to watch those silly pictures!

The Delta Force was another nice way for me to tip my cap to the late Chuck Norris. The pushback on a Variety article concerning his politics was so strong, I shouldn’t have worried that much about that detail. Many people have noted him as a good, honorable dude (including a Letterboxd mutual that got to briefly meet him personally) so I was happy to finally discuss The Delta Force here. If I had any Budweiser on hand, at least one would have been cracked open during viewing…

 

A Mighty Wind

A Mighty Wind (2003)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Christopher Guest

Staring: The typical crew in these Guest mockumentaries… including (RIP) Catherine O’Hara

From: Warner Bros./Castle Rock

A belated RIP to Catherine O’Hara. When I saw Best in Show for the first time in January, the thought never crossed my mind that she’s passed away only about two weeks later. I pushed off tipping my cap to her until now; this film is on Netflix currently, but only until early April. As someone who grew up in the 80’s & 90’s, I’ll of course forever remember her for Beetlejuice & Home Alone but I’ve enjoyed her in other things, including Best in Show and now, A Mighty Wind.

Truth be told, I never listened too much to folk music; it’s not something I hate but it’s a genre I’ve never done a deep dive on. I wish my late mother was still around-at times she’d remembered the old folk music she used to listen to-this mockumentary spoofed the folk revival of the early 60’s, when Mom was a kid. I do recall she still remembered the songs of Peter, Paul, & Mary. Who knows if she’d be offended at even this light poking fun at that scene.

An old folk music producer passes away; several groups come together for a tribute concert. This includes The Folksmen act that was both on Saturday Night Live in the 80’s & are part of the Spinal Top universe. Of course, many wacky, colorful characters appear throughout. The usual crew for the Christopher Guest mockumentary subgenre are here: Michael McKean, Ed Begley, Jr., Harry Shearer, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge, and many others. What a tremendous look Willard sported in this film.

The droll humor you expected was present; I was entertained by these characters & the scenarios. O’Hara was part of a former duo w/ Eugene Levy but they had the typical nasty split. His character had mental health struggles; thankfully, that wasn’t done in poor taste. To echo others, his character was clearly based on such musicians as Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson. As expected, the O’Hara-Levy duo were simply a treat. Not a bad way for me to pay tribute.

Naturally, for a comedic movie concerning a musical genre, the songs needed to sound authentic while still ludicrous. Thankfully, A Mighty Wind succeeded on this front. The movie was also a success in terms of providing entertainment for 90 minutes, notwithstanding of my limited knowledge of the musical genre it mildly prodded.

Code of Silence

Code of Silence (1985)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Andrew Davis

Starring: Chuck Norris (RIP), Henry Silva, Molly Hagan, Bert Remsen, Mike Genovese

From: Orion

RIP Chuck Norris. I watched something else last night but that review will be posted early next week. I should have inferred yesterday that his hospitalization in Hawaii was serious.

Yes, I’ve heard some things, re: his political stance/how many on Letterboxd would vehemently disagree with them; there’s blissful ignorance on my part if he ever had any abhorrent beliefs. Regardless, I’m not someone who ever watched too much of Walker: Texas Ranger or even paid much attention to the memes. Rather, I’ll note that he was a great martial artist w/ multiple black belts and he starred in silly yet usually entertaining B-movies in the 70’s & 80’s. Code of Silence was seen before, but long before the days of Letterboxd; no better time for a revisit. Thankfully I had time earlier today for the revisit.

Chuck is a Chicago cop alongside the likes of Dennis Farina & Ralph Foody, a.k.a. the Angels with Filthy Souls guy from Home Alone; Foody & some other faces (including Henry Silva) would later appear in Above the Law, also from director Andrew Davis. Things go awry during a stakeout and in a plot point that will garner a reaction from at least some on Letterboxd, Chuck won’t support corrupt police officer Foody, who accidentally shot a random minority civilian but planted a gun on his corpse to cover his own behind. The racism among some cops won’t make people happy either. No wonder Foody was later cast as a gangster. Norris is ostracized as a gang war is occurring. 

The movie is silly yet entertaining; after all, another plot point is a giant robot on wheels that is more “product of 80’s movies” rather than anything that to my knowledge ever existed in real life. This is not my favorite Chuck Norris yet is still a good time. Even early in his career, Davis as a director was an asset; so was the 80’s-riffic score from David Michael Frank. The film’s more a gritty thriller with car chases & shootouts than martial arts—that’s OK as Code of Silence still delivers satisfying action beats. As someone from Illinois, it was great seeing Chicago in the 80’s-many different locales were shown, including a scene on the El Train.

Chuck was acceptable when it came to acting skills, at least in Code of Silence. For those that aren’t as keen on trashy genre pictures like I am, this may be a good selection for someone wanting a Norris movie they would enjoy. I’m glad to have seen some of his cheesy yet fun B-movies in recent years; that’s why I am a little bummed he passed away, even if he reached the age of 86. To borrow a line seen on Twitter today, Death didn’t walk towards Chuck Norris to claim him… Chuck Norris walked towards Death.

 

Tommy

Tommy (1975)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: Ken Russell

Starring: Oliver Reed, Ann-Margaret, Roger Daltry, many other actors & musicians

From: Columbia

No one should be surprised that I found the plot of Tommy a little baffling yet also found the music to be incredible and the bizarre maximalism moments to be hilarious. No one should be surprised either that I have even more to say than typical about the movie.

I hadn’t heard most of the songs on the Tommy album as rock operas aren’t always my bag yet who could believe that a Ken Russell (no relation) film would play on IMAX screens across the United States both Tuesday night & last night in the Year of Our Lord 2026? I’d seen Russell’s OTHER 1975 rock opera starring Daltrey (Lisztomania) so no better way to finally tackle the film. Many Who songs I do enjoy, for the record.

Surprises occurred throughout; having viewed some of the director’s films before, bizarre moments were expected. I wasn’t quite imagining the titular Tommy to become “deaf, dumb, & blind” after a certain traumatic event, Tina Turner appearing in a bedroom above a strip club w/ red cape then turning into a metal knight, Ann-Margaret straddling a long pillow after being doused w/ baked beans & chocolate sauce, her being seduced by Jack Nicholson (on-screen during his one scene… although presumably he also tried to do so off-screen! Also, he SANG), Elton John’s Giant Shoes, or many other moments that probably shouldn’t be spoiled by me.

The film has a wacky plot… yet as I’ve seen others eloquently proclaim, the story is more thoughtful than I expected concerning such topics as abuse, exploitation, religion, cults, stage parents, celebrity worship, & more. At the time I realized the story of Tommy Walker wasn’t a cheery one; after all, he was obviously sexually abused by a relative (a trigger warning for those out there). Well, after reading other reviews, there might have been implicit abuse of that nature by other loved ones that was beneath the surface of the bizarre scenes… yes, morbid.

Perhaps it’s better I be amused by such things as the clothing Oliver Reed wore, or another assumption: on set wasn’t the only time that Reed and Keith Moon partied with each other. The story was more than expected when going in, I only knew the wacky premise of “a deaf, dumb, & blind kid can sure play some mean pinball.”

I’ll give Pete Townshend (I REALLY hope the reason he provided why he got “in trouble” in 2003 was true) and Russell credit; they collaborated on this film and created a product that greatly entertained me-while sometimes puzzling me as well-and was deeper than I first give it credit for. Then again, with hindsight, I should have given Phantom of the Paradise more kudos for presenting serious themes & some evils concerning real life behind the veneer of bombastic moments & catchy music.

Like w/ De Palma, Russell is a talented director despite his proclivities towards seedy genre material. His direction was a huge asset for Tommy; the final few minutes before the end credits alone were incredible… it featured an epic journey to a great song, leading to an awesome shot that mirrored the opening, then hearing the great song again during the end credits. I am glad that a director like Russell had one undeniable commercial success while maintaining his outrageous style.

Between the quality sets, the music, & the ending, that alone is one of the many reasons why I don’t feel quite the same about modern films as I do older ones. I also have to acknowledge that Ann-Margaret was the MVP; afterwards, I discovered she won a Golden Globe & was actually nominated for an Oscar.

As for the crowd that came out on this night: a mix of people, but many older folks who could have watched this on the big screen in ’76. Not all the Gen-Z’ers stuck around to the end of the film (the heck with them. I know those reading this aren’t like them) but most of the middle-aged & older stuck around for the end credits, then loudly cheered & clapped. Not only was I happy they had a great time, but that it’s easier now than ever before to view older movies at all the major theatrical chains in the United States. While it’ll have to be done at home, I’ve probably been sleeping on Ken Russell for too long.

Gugusse and the Automaton

Wake up folks, a lost film from 1897 (!) was recently found again: 

In this special post earlier than usual for a weekday, I discuss the tremendous story behind this piece of lost media, which was recently revealed as having been found again. This 45-second short features director Georges Melies interacting w/ an automaton dressed as Pierrot the clown, using the trademark Melies camera tricks & editing. Whether or not this should be considered as “the first instance of a robot in cinema” or even “it was the first sci-fi movie” can be debated.

Instead, I’ll focus on how the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. acquired this on a film reel. They were donated a box of reels from a Bill McFarland in Michigan; his great-grandfather William Frisbee was a potato farmer and schoolteacher who was a showman at night who went around w/ a projector and another new device (a phonograph) to show the world’s first films to paying customers. How cinema was shown way back when during those nascent days is a topic I know little about but need to do a deeper dive on in the future. The topic sounds endlessly fascinating to a nerd like myself.

I’ve not seen the Scorsese film Hugo but I do realize Melies is a key character & like in the film, he had his own automatons. My granting a rare 5 star review is not entirely due to the content of this short (shorts are always difficult to rate as it’s not a fair comparison to feature films) but rather the story of how Automaton was discovered. I'm thankful the LoC was able to restore this nitrate print; it's always nice seeing silent cinema "found" again-much of it is still lost. Perhaps London After Midnight is out there somewhere... 

Blood & Gold

Blood & Gold (2023)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Peter Thorwarth

Starring: Robert Maaser, Marie Hacke, Alexander Scheer, Roy McCrery, Jordis Triebel

From: Netflix

This was much preferable to Sisu to me. Earlier in the year, someone on a messageboard discussed the German Netflix film and noted the same opinion that I did. It was a relief that Blood & Gold wasn’t a massive letdown like Sisu was. An actual story was present, the hero (heroes in this case) weren’t superhuman like they were part of the MCU, the dark humor actually landed, and Nazi scum were still killed.

As a deserter of the German Army is captured and hung from the neck until dead, Heinrich isn’t dead due to rescue from Elsa, a woman who lives on a remote farm w/ Paule, her brother that has Down Syndrome. Heinrich would really like to see his young daughter again. Meanwhile, the same Nazi scum are looking for a cache of gold belonging to some Jewish people.

Some minor nitpicks could be made; instead, I’ll focus on the positives. Heinrich is an enjoyable hero, while Elsa was competent in facing off against the villains without being OOT unstoppable. The action wasn’t a must-see yet was still enjoyable, especially the gory moments. The characters were fun, whether the heroes or the hissable villains. Paule was the most memorable role-& not just because the character wasn’t a lame stereotype. Of course, the highlight was seeing Nazi Scum Get Wrecked ™

Adding personality to the mix was that this had the flavor of a Western (including the score) and featured several songs, including one from Marlene Dietrich during a key scene. My negative opinion of Sisu puts me in the minority; regardless of your opinion, re: that motion picture, Blood & Gold is one I recommend for those that have their interests piqued by the premise.