Runtime: 86 minutes
Directed by: Wayne Coe
Starring: James Earl Jones (RIP), Brad Dourif, Will Hare, Marc McClure, William Atherton
From: East-West Film Partners
RIP James Earl Jones
Yesterday I went and saw a bad movie theatrically; that will be discussed tomorrow. After the screening, it wasn't until arriving back home that I looked at Twitter and saw the unfortunate news. Even as a kid, I knew that him (for example) guest-starring on a TV show was a big deal and he was someone I knew as the voice of both Mufasa & Darth Vader. As an adult it was nice to see him in films like The Hunt for Red October and Conan the Barbarian; as it's Spooky Season, I've already reviewed the amazingly bad Exorcist II: The Heretic and I've known of Grim Prairie Tales for years, about time to discuss a Horror-Western (I wish there was more of those) which is also an anthology.
The premise is simple: Brad Dourif-an appropriate actor for this time of year-is a clerk who is traveling through the desert. He encounters bounty hunter Jones and they literally sit around the campfire telling each other scary stories. The premise has always intrigued; sadly, due to what I presume are those nebulous “rights issues” again, the movie has never advanced past the laserdisc era. While there are copies on YouTube, via the “Bowels of the Internet” I found the 87-minute version of the picture rather than the 83-minute cut on YouTube.
What a shame then that among the quartet of stories, none of them I would say are even good, let alone great. While each has a moment or two, overall they are all some combination of too short, too muddled, lacking in scares, and all have weak conclusions. Yet, I'd like to think that this just gets a passing grade from me not because I want to give my props to Jones but because he and Dourif spend plenty of time interacting w/ each other and with actors of that caliber, no surprise that those sequences are the clear highlight of the film.
It's always nice seeing the likes of Will Hare, Marc McClure & William Atherton. It amused me to discover that two future famous cinematographers worked on the film. Janusz Kaminski made his feature-film debut here as the director of photography; only a few years later he started his still-continuing partnership w/ Spielberg. One of the grips: Wally Pfister. He was the DoP in many cheap 90's films (including SOFTCORE, no kidding) before he began his long partnership w/ Nolan. As flawed as this movie is, I'd still love to see it in HD or at the very least, a film print that someone stumbles across.
It's bizarre to note that an anthology film has better wraparound segment footage than the short stories between those wraparound segments, but 'tis true here. Be that as it may, it was still nice to finally experience Grim Prairie Tales after all these years. What a career Jones had both stage & screen. I can't be too sad that he lived to the age of 93 and millions around the world have appreciated his talents; again, RIP.
No comments:
Post a Comment