The Meyer Files #3: Wild Gals Of The Naked West (1962)

This is a weird one. More fantastical than his previous movies, and yet somehow more barebones, with even less of a story. You get the feeling that Meyer is running out of steam with this kind of thing. Semi-nude ladies were no longer enough to maintain interest, and something new was needed.

For now, that meant stylistic refinement -- especially with the editing. This is the first of Meyer's movies that feels like it was assembled in the edit bay. It's basically an hour long montage.

The opening montage, showing various elliptical references to important events from the Western history (Custer's last stand, the gunfight at the OK Corral) is great (especially the shot of the bloody sabre washed away by the tide), and oddly poetic.

The narration, which never lets up, is a rare clunker. Usually Meyer's narrations are comically monotonous and over-explanatory -- here it is just monotonous.

The majority of the running time is given over to tired, half-skits. Two cowboys engage in an unending fist fight; a topless woman is chased by a potential rapist carrying a ladder; a gorilla disguises himself as a cowboy to wonder through town; an Indian ties a a young lovely to a stake but then can't make the sparks to get a fire burning...

None of it is funny or clever, and it goes on forever.

Finally, about halfway in, a plot kicks in. A moral crusader  turns up in the nameless town and starts causing trouble. By trouble, that means cleaning up all the drinkin', whorin' and shooting' antics of the townsfolk.

There's no room for this rube, and local saloon owner Snake sets about getting rid of him.

This madness all ends in the Fallen Angel saloon. Clearly unable to afford sets, Meyer and his crew have come up with a fantastic solution -- the saloon interior is represented in a bare room with multicoloured walls and set dressings which are literally drawn on the walls. Even the keys on the organ are just painted.

It's insane, but it's an inspired bit of art direction and the only thing really worth mentioning as a positive for this film.

After seeing off Snake, the square sets about righting all the wrongs in the town, which basically involves him putting an end to all of the tiresome skits which have been carrying on. This means another run-through of all the BS we've already been subjected to.

And so the town dies from 'goodness', and we are left with the old narrator (screenwriter Jack Moran in a fake moustache) offering some monologue that tries to justify the preceding hour. Thankfully another big-breasted woman walks past which cuts his rambling and the movie finally ends.

Phew! What a slog. Back in my Mr. Teas  review I noted how the movie presented an embryonic form of Meyer's style. Wild Gals is somewhat similar. There are quite a few Meyer pictures where skits stand in for plots, only those manage to be either comedic or memorably surreal. Wild Gals does not work as either, but like all of Meyer's early movies, it is a testing ground for ideas Meyer will utilise down the line.

Bonus trivia: This is the first movie to feature Princess Livingston, who would continue to pop up in Meyer movies for the next several years.

Learn to love this face -- you will see more of it.

Russ Meyer will return with Europe in the Raw!

For previous entries...

The Meyer Files #1: The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959)

The Meyer Files #2: Eve and the Handyman (1960)

The Meyer Files #2: Eve and the Handyman (1960)

Once more into the breach. After last week's inauspicious debut, my expectations for Meyer's second feature are considerably lower than when this project started.

First, some housekeeping: To speed things up, I am going to release the next three reviews right now -- these early films are not good, and I want to get to Meyer's narrative features, which are movies I would actually recommend.

On to the review!

This one has a little more of a plot and features Mrs. Meyer herself in the starring role.

Eve Meyer is an important member of RM's inner circle -- as well as performing in front of the camera, she would become a co-producer and distributor of his films. Without her smarts (and her ability to intimidate Meyer out of a few bad ideas), Meyer may never have achieved the financial independence which enabled him to stay on his own terms for the rest of his career. Her co-star is another Meyer acolyte, James Ryan, who would reprise his handyman character in future Meyer opuses.

So basically the story is Eve in a trench coat following the Handyman around and trying to get his attention. To confuse things further, she also appears as a nurse who helps the Handyman with helping a tree give birth(?!?) and a waitress in an ice cream bar who the Handyman is infatuated with.

Apparently this movie was made because Eve was jealous that Meyer was not including her in his new career. It shows. The movie is basically the same story as Mr. Teas, except with Eve following him around. There is almost no nudity and far fewer bosom-related puns, which is a major weakness. Meyer without boobs is like Michael Bay without explosions -- it's like he does not know how to direct without having them to lend a sense of perspective.

That last statement is the worst description of a director's modus operandi ever, but it nails Meyer's cock-eyed aesthetic to a T.

Once again, there is no dialogue -- just Eve Meyer narrating her pursuit of the Handyman. Eve has a pretty husky voice and kind of looks like Lauren Bacall, which is a plus. Her male co-star looks like Kyle Maclachlan's country cousin, which is... weird.

I'm running out of things to say about this movie. Fact is, not much happens and it all winds up being about hair brushes. You can watch it to figure that out.

Don't worry, two more of these 'nudie cuties' and we'll be out of the woods. While these early movies can be hard to watch, it's important to point out that without these early efforts, we would not have gotten Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls or Supervixens.

Russ Meyer will return with Wild Gals of the Naked West!

For previous entries...

The Meyer Files #1: The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959)

The Meyer Files #1: The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959)

I needed a long-term project for the new year. What was it going to be? A TV series? Comic books? Cooking tips? In the end, I decided to go for something completely different from my usual stuff: the filmography of Russ Meyer.

I have always been a fan of Russ Meyer and his movies. However it was not one of his movies which made me a fan -- it was a book. Jimmy McDonough's 2005 biography Big Bosoms and Square Jaws is a highly entertaining, passionate encapsulation of why Meyer and his work is so great. Even if you are not a fan or have not idea who Meyer is (as I was), McDonough's book is well worth a look.

On to Mr. Teas and his immoral ways...

I have never seen this film before. I am more familiar with Meyer's more 'mature' works, so this was a real eye opener.

A couple of things are striking about The Immoral Mr. Teas. Meyer is well known for his visual style -- the vibrant colour, the focus on montage to create comic juxtaposition and the use of pretentious voice-overs to add another layer of irony to proceedings -- and this film features all of these things, but in embryonic form.

Barely an hour long, it is basically a silent comedy in the style of Jacques Tati. The only sounds are the pompous voice-over and a faux-French comedy score. Overall, the film shows Meyer's background in industrial films, with the focus on following mundane events in exhausting detail. It basically looks like one of those shitty short docs they used to play before the movie on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (think Hired! from The Bride of the Monster episode).

Like an industrial film, there is no real story. The viewer just follows the titular character in his daily life, as he goes about his work and enjoys his spare time. All the while, he pines for the bountiful beauties around him.

It soon becomes clear that this world is basically occupied by Teas and a group of beautiful women. However, whenever one gets close, Teas runs for the hills. There are men in this movie, but their faces are generally obscured (the reason being the actors, mostly Meyer's friends, did not want to be recognised for appearing in such a salacious picture). For the late 50s this might have been 'hot stuff', but in 2016 it is pretty tame.

There are huge chunks of this movie which are just montages of Teas delivering packages on his bike. They are so monotonous. The extremely annoying theme which plays during these sequences made me want to throw my laptop against the wall. About half an hour in, a vague plot kicks in. Teas has to go to the dentist for a tooth ache and the anaesthetic causes him to start seeing naked women everywhere.

In 1959-1960, this movie left a huge impact, mainly on its novelty value. Watching it in the 21st Century, long after the novelty has worn off, the flaws are obvious. Meyer's compositions are striking, with plenty of tilted angles and strong colour, but the editing -- the centrepiece of Meyer's style -- is slack, and the lack of onscreen drama adds up to tedium.

Following its blockbuster success, Meyer would go on to copy the Mr. Teas formula in his next couple of movies, before realising he would have to start thinking about including plots and characters. 

Don't worry. There's some good movies coming up. Speaking of which...

Russ Meyer will return with Eve And The Handyman!

An ode to Derek Flint

You can have your Austin Powerses, your Agent OSS117s and your Johnny Englishes (okay, no one wants that). Derek Flint is still the grooviest secret agent of them all. I only came upon them this past year when I was researching another piece, but from the first strains of Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score, I was in.

I love these movies.

Our Man Flint (Daniel Mann, 1966)

The plot is simple. A mysterious organisation called Galaxy has developed a secret weapon which gives them the ability to unleash natural disasters on any place in the world. Led by a group of scientists who want to save the world from itself, their members include a sultry femme fatale (Gila Golan), a psychopathic assassin (Edward Mulhare) and, best of all, an anti-American American eagle. With the world's intelligence agencies powerless to stop them, it is up to one man to halt their mad scheme: super spy Derek Flint. 

James Coburn is perfection as Flint -- convincing as an action hero, a ladies man or a scientific genius. His deadpan approach to the madness around him is a delight (especially his shocked reaction to that traitorous eagle).

Lee J. Cobb as his long-suffering chief is also great -- forever two steps behind his employee, he is basically the audience surrogate. He is also a great example of what makes the Flint pictures so enjoyable -- while they are clearly styled after James Bond, there is no attempt at any point to adhere to that formula. Cobb's embattled chief bears about as much resemblance to M as a Lamborghini to a rock.

The script is fast and funny, the photography by Daniel L. Fapp has that great mid-60s sheen, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith is terrific (it sounds like a vacation for your ears). 

All in all, Our Man Flint is well worth a look.

In Like Flint (Gordon Douglas, 1967)

Of the two films, Our Man Flint is definitely the strongest, but In Like Flint is a solid sequel that does not lose too much of the magic that made the first Flint such a joy. The plot involves fake presidents, space craft and another secret base on a tropical island, this time filled with beautiful women.

The photography is even more vibrant this time out, especially in an extended sequence in which we find Flint working undercover as a ballet dancer in Soviet Russia.

One area where this movie is a step up from its prequel is action. While Our Man Flint does not have many major action sequences (the only one that stands out is Flint's showdown with that damn eagle, and even that does not really count), by contrast there are some really great action scenes in its sequel.

This new emphasis on action as well as laughs allows Coburn to really show off his chops (he trained with Bruce Lee). Coburn's proficiency with kicking ass is especially obvious during his acrobatic punch up with a squad of soldiers in a health clinic gym. The jokes may not hit as often, but Flint's punches and flying kicks are a great substitute.

Once again Jerry Goldsmith's score is a winner, and on par with the one he provided for its predecessor.

It's too bad there were not more movies to chronicle Derek Flint's adventures -- this character and his world are so well done, it would have been a real treat to get a few more adventures out of him (and a re-match with that goddamn eagle).

For my last piece on the Matt Helm series, click here.

Favorite Action Scenes

Welcome to 2016 everybody! 

To get the year off with a bang and a strangled half-scream, here is a selection of some of my favourite action scenes.

The Train Fight, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

To this day, the most memorable brawl of the series. Oddjobb, Jaws, Xenia Onatopp -- no other henchman, no matter how iconic, has been able to match the sheer menace and physicality that Robert Shaw brings to the character of Red Grant. Their fight in the train car, recently referenced in Spectre, is so tense because there is no gimmick to it -- it's just two desperate men in a confined space fighting for their lives. The hyper-real sound design, expert choreography and Peter R. Hunt's signature editing all combine to create one of the few truly gripping action sequences in the long running series.

The three-way tussle, THE RAID

Actions speak louder than words. And Mad Dog is very, very loud.

The street ambush, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

Almost forgotten in this post-Bourne universe, Clear and Present Danger represents the best of the Jack Ryan films adapted from the books by Tom Clancy. A cracking thriller that privileges smarts and interesting characters over explosions and special effects, the film's best set piece is the ambush on Jack Ryan's (Harrison Ford) motorcade. With hyper-real sound design and a coordinated approach to the ambush, it is a testament to the power of this scene that it is used as a training film for anti-terrorism units and government security agencies.

The final battle, PREDATOR

Everything has been leading up to this: All the big guns fired, big muscles flexed and big mouths shut all the macho posturing whittled to the nub; all the one liners worth saying said. With its focus on a pared down, elemental struggle between man and beast, this sequence feels like a re-working of Beowulf. Perhaps the most important aspect of this sequence is how director John McTiernan (Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October) manages to make Ah-nuld feel like an underdog even before the Predator re-appears. The Austrian Oak comes across as potentially vulnerable. Remarkably, McTiernan manages to make Schwarzenegger comes across as just a human being. This makes his eventual victory over the alien so much more satisfying.

The Police Station, THE TERMINATOR

A story goes that Schwarzenegger was once approached by a group of cops in a gym. They all claimed that their favorite scene was the Terminator's assault on the police station. It is indeed great. The best moment of the whole scene is the shot of Sarah Connor reacting to the sound of the machine's first shots. The nightmare is not over...

The free-running jamboree, CASINO ROYALE

After the CG bonanza that was Die Another Day, the creative team behind the Bond franchise came back to earth. Wasting no time, they drop Daniel Craig into a foot race against an agile adversary who is more than a match for the green 007. What makes the scene great is that it acts as a study in contrast, between the free-running fugitive's physical abilities and Bond's less refined, more strategic approach. Recognizing that he cannot match his foe's prowess, Bond focuses on finding shortcuts to decrease the gap between them. Both a detox from the gadget-heavy Brosnan flicks and an introduction to our protagonist, the parkour chase is an unqualified success.

The opening police pursuit, THE HIDDEN

While it owes a debt to The French Connection, this sequence emerges as a fitting encapsulation of the film as a whole. Filled with the dark humor and peerless inventiveness which makes this among the best B-movies of the Eighties, what starts out as a rote police pursuit of a bank robber takes a turn for the macabre as their unstoppable quarry plows through downtown LA. Look out for a great bit with a pane of glass.

The White House Attack, X-MEN 2

There have been some really great action sequences in comic book movies -- the truck ambush in Dark Knight, the air rescue in Iron Man 3, the elevator smackdown in Captain America 2 -- but no scene for my money comes close to matching the sheer brio, invention and flat-out excitement of Nightcrawler's (Alan Cumming) assault on the White House. It was a sequence so good that Bryan Singer would later use it as the template for the equally memorable Quicksilver set piece in Days of Future Past.

The train chase, NUMBER SEVENTEEN

Holy crap, this movie is dull. For the first two thirds it is just a bunch of boring characters bumbling around the stairwell of a creaky old house. It's so bad, I could not believe that Alfred Hitchcock had directed it. And then they leave the house and get on a train. You can tell that this is the scene that probably attracted Hitch to the project. As our heroes chase the villains back and forth on the roofs of the carriages, the movie goes from one star ignominy to 3 stars average -- the scene is honestly terrific. Filled with nerve-shredding moments and some great little action beats, this train chase puts most blockbusters to shame. And that includes the obvious model shots, which just makes it look like a really hyper-active episode of Thomas the Tank Engine!

This post has been literally years in the making. Consider it a work-in-progress. If another scene comes along, I'll add it in. 

Creed: Worth the hype

The last time I watched a Rocky movie was almost a decade ago. While I really liked the first movie, it's never been a franchise that stuck with me. Kinda like the Rambo movies -- after First Blood, they just turn into increasingly cartoonish repetitions of the same underdog story. They forget where they started.

Ryan Coogler is a genius. That's the only word I can use to describe how he made me feel during this movie. Somehow Creed managed to make me care about these characters and world in a way I never have. I don't care about Rocky, Paulie or Adrian, and yet every time this movie evoked the series' past, I was a broken man. There was this one moment where Adonis takes out Apollo's stars'n'stripes shorts which almost made me tear up. What the hell is with this movie? Anyway, let's get into it.

The story is fairly simple. Adonis Johnson is the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed. Born after his father's death, he spent years going through foster homes and juvie centres, until he is given a second chance after Creed's widow Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) finds him. Searching for purpose, he has become a fighter in underground bouts in Mexico while sleepwalking through a desk job. Obsessed with becoming a professional boxer, he leaves his comfortable life to go to Philadelphia and build himself into a true fighter. To do this, he seeks out a reluctant Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to train him...

On paper, this synopsis sounds dopey and cliched as heck. And to be honest, if you want to be cynical, it is basically the same template from Rocky. There are a few nods to the previous movies (and I'm sure I missed plenty of others), but Coogler and his collaborators have done a marvellous job of making this movie feel like its own beast. The filmmakers clearly love this franchise and take great care to enliven all of the tropes and conventions of the typical sports movie. The way he does this is through character. That's what made the first movie great in the first place, and Creed spends every second of its 2 and a half hour runtime making you care about these people and their problems (if you are worried about pacing, don't worry. This thing flew by).

Michael B. Jordan continues his impressive run of performances with Adonis. Impulsive and even tempered, mature and childish, this is a character filled with contradictions and Jordan makes you believe every one of them. Even though his arc echoes some familiar moves from the first movie, the characters are so distinctive it never becomes an issue.

While Jordan is great as the young Creed, he is more than matched by his co-stars.

Tessa Thompson plays Bianca, Donny's neigbour who becomes his love interest. She's a singer with deteriorating hearing. Unlike Adrian, she will not give Donny an inch and stands up to him. She's a fully fleshed out person who has no illusions about her boyfriend's life. Together with Balboa, her relationship with Donny is the catalyst for his eventual growth. Like everything else in this movie, it is a familiar character type, but one lent a degree of nuance and complexity which elevates Bianca beyond the poor Adrian clone she could have been. Between this and Spike Lee's Chi-Raq, Thompson is definitely one to watch.

On the Sly front, can't say anything you haven't already heard. Stallone is terrific. I would not be surprised if he got some awards attention. Hopefully this inspires him to put aside the guns for awhile and make some more dramas. When the first Rocky came out, people thought he was going to be the next Brando. This performance should give him another shot at more character roles. It's that good.

On the technical front, everyone is talking about the long take of the first fight -- what's great about it is that you don't notice it for a long time. And unlike the opening salvo in Spectre, it is not designed to draw attention to itself -- it's all about following Adonis as he is put through the ringer in his first real bout. The choreography of the camera and the performers adds to this great sense of escalation as Adonis finds his feet (and his fists). It's great.

If you like Rocky already, you'll love it. If, like me, you don't have a lot invested, you'll enjoy it a lot. Maybe there will be a sequel. I hope not. This movie is great, and should be left to stand on its own. Irregardless, check this movie out.

Double bill: Youth & 5 to 7

Took in a couple of new indie releases yesterday. Here's the reviews!

Youth  

This one was... interesting. For the second time this year I am reviewing a film featuring Rachel Weisz in a hotel where weird stuff happens.

The plot is fairly simple: two old friends, a retired composer (Michael Caine) and a film director (Harvey Keitel), take a vacation at a resort near the Swiss Alps. While the composer tries to ignore an invitation to stage a concert of his most famous work, the director is hard at work on what he plans to be his last film.

This is a very interesting film. While the story is linear, it is broken up by a series of vignettes and surreal dreams that offer glimpses into the fading psyches of our protagonists. Caine and Keitel are good, although I feel like these are roles I've seen them play before.

Rachel Weisz turns up as Caine's daughter, and Paul Dano plays an actor using his vacation to research his next role. All these people are searching for purpose, and the hotel serves as the catalyst for change.

Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), Youth is all about ageing, memory, nostalgia and regret. If the symbolism occasionally feels obvious and the dialogue clunks with metaphor, it does not really matter when so much of it works. My main issue is with the dialogue, which betrays its writer's origins all too often.

Actually, since the film does so much of its work visually it is surprising that there is so much emphasis on words to explain what we are seeing. The movie would have been more interesting without the dialogue, or in the filmmaker's natural tongue -- what sounds obvious in English may be more palatable in Italian.

Occasionally however, the film manages to leaven the characters' conversations with a much needed sense of humour -- as in the excruciating scene in which Dano's self-pitying thespian is cut down to size by Miss Universe (Madalina Ghenea). That's not her name, she just won Miss Universe and no one bothers to give her real name.

Occasionally inspired but somewhat hackneyed, Youth is a solid showcase for its stars. Check it out.

5 to 7

Struggling writer Brian Bloom (Anton Yelchin) meets an older French woman, Arielle (Berenice Marlohe). Smitten, they begin a relationship. She informs him that she is married, but that they can continue their relationship from 5 to 7pm each day.  

Though he is uncomfortable with the arrangement, Brian agrees and is drawn into Arielle's family. Through this new, unorthodox relationship, Brian grows as a person and his stagnant writing career begins to take off. And then he falls in love... 

This is a movie that lives and dies on the chemistry between its leads -- on that count, it does not quite work. While Berenice Marlohe and Anton Yelchin do have a rapport, it feels more like a casual fling than a genuine romantic frission. The story is pretty formulaic, and so are the characters -- everyone is playing an idea, not a fully realised person. The only one who rises above her archetype is Olivia Thirlby as Marlohe's husband's mistress, who becomes Brian's inner voice of reason.

Writer-director Victor Levin is clearly trying to evoke the romance narratives of another era -- the glistening, subtle innuendo of Lubitsch and the more prosiac but iconic Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961). However, this kind of material, in which characters navigate a specific code of sexual etiquette, requires a deft touch to avoid it feeling contrived. Sadly, Levin does not have it.

Technically, there are a few issues. Levin often frames his characters in long shots, and at the other end of rooms and through doorways and windows. This gives scenes a cold, clinical feel that works against the modern fairy tale Levin is trying to create -- it also highlights the tepid chemistry between his leads. He also uses a lot of deep and shallow focus in a haphazard and seemingly unnecessary way. It just gives off the air of someone who is trying to dress up scenes with unnecessary touches which detract from the simple story.

The reliance on the references to old Hollywood romance also means that the film winds up too conventional to really take advantage of its premise. While the film never outright condemns the characters for their unconventional approach to romance and relationships, the neat ending in which heteronormativity is restored, reduces the film to be yet another tired story of a young man gaining 'experience' from sexy older woman. 

Ultimately, 5 to 7 is a souffle that fails to rise.