Reviews

I have this season on disc(25 shows) and this is one of Robert Conrad's favorite shows. It is also one of my favorite shows.

I want to point out that at the beginning of each show there is a little "debriefing" by James West himself. I also want to point out that if you do not want to know anything about the story, do not listen to Robert Conrad's introduction. In my mind, that intro is full of spoilers.

The madman in the "The Howling Light" is a scientist and technically a clinical psychologist. A cruel, sick, Pavlovian behaviorist. The other guest star is a Native American, most likely educated in American schools, yet a vehement man who does not like whites. Probably despises them, but does not like Ocularis much either.

...

One of my favorite Wild Wild West episodes. Actually, all of the First Season(CBS) shows were my favorite. All in black-and-white, and all those shows are on a set now.

Action, suspense, comedy, mystery, sexy, super-criminal, drama. That sums up this show, and most of the Wild Wild West shows. Artie, Jim's partner is responsible for most of the humor, but much more. Artie is very intelligent, an explosives expert. Artie sadly is the SS agent who gets left out of the romance a lot, but not always. Jim is the one with the knack for the ladies. Although I like women, it is obvious that Robert Conrad is very virile. He worked out a lot, and developed quite a physique in a time when different drugs and drinks were not available on the market to make a man develop contour.

I am not going to tell you anything about the episode. It's a must see, almost a comic book story, but still a TV show with great story. Exceptional production and post-production, and desirable to older set, because the program was really a family show. There was not extreme violence or content. Plus these first shows, not to downplay the later episodes, were very well-made, to inspire interest. In that sense they remind me of The Avengers. Those very early shows starring Honor Blackman, that now command a very high price, were complex. But all the shows from both of the 60's programs were, at least to me, much more entertaining than hour TV adventures from later on.

.

If you say the three spaghetti Westerns Eastwood began his movie career with are a trilogy, then I say that this is true as a way of marketing Sergio Leone movies made in Spain. This is nothing I'd argue with, because it does lead a person to see the three movies. They are crafted in the same way. Gina Maria Volonte plays the tough in the first two, and was "replaced" by Eli Wallach, who is the outlaw Tuco. Wallach is much better for the part in TGTB&TU, because of Tuco's style and his sense of humor. Whereas Ramon and El Indio only had a sadistic laugh. All three of the main characters in the Dollars movies were shootists, as was The Colonel. In many ways, A Fistful Of Dollars is my favorite of the Trilogy. It was nearly in the "B" movie category. Yet it was made better.

A Few Dollars More was a movie that put the viewer in a position where the person has "no amore, no sun, and no popcorn"(Groggy). What I mean is A Few Dollars More is a movie you cannot miss any of, from beginning to end. Even if you stop the player, you will miss something. Because the Van Cleef movie is very complex. It is also more elaborate. I would never try to watch A Few Dollars More on television. The other reason I like A Fistful Of Dollars so much is there are several characters that star as "good"..Pepe Calvo, the store owner, and Joe Egger, the undertaker. They have character depth and are integral to the entire film.

Maybe the most amazing thing about the whole story is the movie is only two hours(1 hour, 55 minutes, actually). Kindly remastered, as the classics are in the hands of artisans. If one watches that many older movies, it's evident that the movie was made awhile back. Now, the Paramount movie is clean, but the lines are still soft.

A small office in NYC is terrorized. Not exactly an act of terrorism, to be more accurate the shooting is an act of executing every employee except two. One that got away, and in that case he didn't get away actually. He was on an errand. Then later another employee is found dead in his apartment.

Telephone systems were more honest then. To prove that, let's just say that phone systems were 99 percent lines. Now the phone systems are 39 percent lines and the other 61 percent of the communications are carried out with radio waves and digital conversion systems. Imagine half the people in Brooklyn, NY being tied in on the same circuits by one guy who knew how the phone system worked. I buy the idea---I think it's totally realistic, during the time the movie was made.

Condor is in flight, because he knows something is up. He knows that he knows too much. It's become a cliché over the years, that phrase about "knowing too much", but the fear of the operations(code "Five Continents Imports") is that by saving his own skin, Condor will find out much more than the company wants him to know. Therefore he becomes more afraid. The book reader has not only a vast personal warehouse of knowledge, he has an acute instinct of danger.

Miss Dunaway is a great girl Friday. She needs to be.

--

Unless one is blind, it is obvious that all the Hobbits, including Gandalf the wizard, have a hankering for evil substances..namely, the tobacco plant. Also, brew, which as we all know has a merry concept. And so it all begins. Frodo's uncle is celebrating a birthday. He is very old, and hardly looks it. But why? He possesses a special ring, with properties the old hobbit hardly knows. He can disappear, but what else? The ring Bilbao owns has an otherworldly power, yet Gandalf knows the ring is evil. Not evil, exactly, but Gandalf knows that some entity desires the ring. An entity that would wield terrible power if the entity could claim it.

The birthday party for Bilbao is a blast. Fireworks, Old Toby, the two brothers Peregine and Merry getting in the most trouble. Frodo is enjoying himself so much until he sees Bilbao..and then doesn't see him.

They were once kings, and now are dark horsemen. They have found Frodo and his new companions who are not exactly welcome..but what can he do?

The stage is set for the Fellowship of The Rings when Frodo has gotten far enough into an adventure that there is no turning back. He and his companions meet a strange horseman in an alehouse. And Peregrine, true to his nature has discovered that "it comes in pints".

,,

Laura Dern is sort of underrated, maybe that is because Miss Dern has commingled movie acting with TV roles. If she is not obviously a knockout, physically, then no I don't understand that view, since her pulchritude scores right up in the top BABE percentage as Kidman, Ryan, and the late Anna Nicole Smith. The Jurassic Park scientist who bounded across the compound running for her life(and Sam Neill) has the best legs of any actress in my mind. Laura Dern's acting competence is right up there at her feminine attractiveness.

Different from the very popular Jurassic Park. The less well-known comedy/drama is typically the old(1991) tape or DVD some person has back in a closet underneath a bunch of old videocassettes, eight-tracks, and various other old media. It belongs on a shelf next to Annie Hall or Beaches. Ramblin' Rose is a movie with a practical transference into a role of a simple but level-headed call girl in the South during the Depression Era. The woman is very down to earth, homey, and very sincere. But has a taste for good loving. Put it that way.

The time is the nineteen-thirties, and Ramblin' Rose is a movie you could see with anyone, who is an adult and appreciates a good movie. It feels like a seventies movie for some reason.

For some reason, very good movies do not catch my eye until much later. That may be because I have been in engrossed in so many movies made before the 1990's.

I have seen Gary Oldman play Dracula several times and will see this horror flick again. The movie deserved the awards it received and I think one reason is the special effects. Not that it had many special effects, it did. Most people think of special effects as the visual eye candy, the behind-the-scenes manipulation and tricks that horror and sci-fi are noted for. Yet in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the camera itself must take credit for the chilling atmosphere and occult crafting found in the film's visual mastery. Screenplay is what I am actually referring to, and the screenplay is what makes the movie so strong in its intent to transfer a ghost story into reality.

My prejudices in actors being what they always are, Anthony Hopkins is my candidate for the most credible supernatural expert on Nosferatu. It's interesting and possibly very unique that the actor plays the somewhat eccentric but intelligent physician but also a priest as well as a narrator. Van Helsing gives the movie what all dramatic movies what I call a wealth of humorous injection. Whether you or I give any credence to the occult or the supernatural, the circumstances surrounding the profound interplay between the living and undead, it is lighthearted to hear a doctor say "I just want to cut off her head and put a stake through her heart".

--

I did not get to go. Well, a lot of people in the states did not get to go. Unless they had tickets to London. The Pulse concert was a one and only.

This is a performance, it is a big stage production, a rock concert, and not a movie. But almost like a movie. Pulse was one of the largest productions of it's type, possibly ever. Woodstock 1969 could not compete with that typification, at least at least not in technical terms. There were a few very famous people up there in the video disc, I won't say who. I have the first DVD released in the U.S. of Pulse. The disc, or each disc have all types of configurations. Configuring the sound is the mainstay of the controls. There is even a "pink generator" and that is a real sound configuration found in rarer and older theater system. Also a configuration for the speakers. I do not not have a lot of concert videos, this may be something normal.

There are some very cool things going on inside that wheel, which is really half a wheel. This is not to even include the lighting effects. The Pink Floyd concert includes marvelous laser light effects, but there is so much more. There are singers, for Pink Floyd's 1969 classic Dark Side Of The Moon. There are videos. There is so much included in this concert it is staggering. The first disc is music that came out later, after Dark Side Of The Moon had sold millions of copies. On that first disc is beautiful incandescent lights, not to mention the laser lights. It's all a spectacular show, and the sound of Floyd does not run second rate to the visual auras surrounding the band.

An excellent show, from any point of view. Even if you do not listen to one of the original psychedelic bands from England. Turn the house lights down, please.

.

Ah, yes, another 70's movie that loses its luster alongside Miami Vice and Bad Boys. What am I? A wise guy? Guess that's true.

French Connection II is a lot different from The French Connection. It was neither a better or worse movie. It was different, and one reason is that Roy Scheider was not there. French Connection was set and filmed in the port town of Marseilles.

Ben "Popeye" Doyle does not have a lot going for him, at the beginning and for most of the movie. He is greeted by a police chief(Bernard Fresson) who is dressing fish at a dock with a dozen or more of his men who are all doing the same. Barthelemy finds out he has been had, that what he is looking for among all the fish is not there, that it's an April Fool's joke. What Doyle finds out after a little cordiality is that Doyle is not wanted in Marseilles. Barthelemy points out to Popeye that a lot of men are lost in the shootout at Charnier's drop point in New York. Popeye is there in Marseille to get Charnier no matter what, even after the bloodbath back in New York. But Popeye's hands are tied---Barthelemy only allows Doyle to be an observer. Knowing Inspector Doyle's aggressiveness and furtive agreement with himself(and the devil if it means that), it's a foregone conclusion that Doyle will go after the heroin trafficker. If you know the other movie. Doyle is a loose cannon. But he is a smart cop, a good shot, and being in France does not faze him. After all, Ben Doyle is a New York cop.

If any film proves Hackman's worth as an actor, his artistry as a performer comes shining through when Doyle is shot with heroin. The realism of a heroin user under the influence is evident as Hackman falls deeply under the drug's spell. He is like a person who has had a lot..He has no strength, he has no desire really, to get up off the bed. How he comes to get the junk is something to find out elsewhere ..I like finding out first hand.

Later, when Hackman is coming off the stuff, there is a little comedy as Hackman talks to the chief. The detective's withdrawals are authentic, as is his derision toward the police chief. But soon Popeye Doyle is back on the case, fit as ever, and with the blessings of Barhtelemy --but not entirely.

A tight film, with some nice sights on the way. And no violins in the background. Popeye does not miss out on the femmes. He doesn't not miss much, period.

I'm sort of sad to be a part of this party, but like another reviewer said, this piece of French handiwork received a low rating. But like Meatloaf said after a night of busting helmets on the gridiron "I guess they didn't understand". Know what's funny? I rented this movie for the sex. Soft core is the wrong word to describe what I just saw, completely. I don't mean to become more caustic here, but it made me understand what people here enjoy about the glossies, you know the ones in the bags that Junior can't buy or look at. "Don't Look Down" was artistic and genuine. I was completely drawn toward Antonella Costa. She was innocent in an odd way, with the mystique of both a nymph and satyr.Actually, she was a woman with much knowledge about pleasure. The actress needed the body for the part, for all the parts. Why I was so entranced by a film about kama sutra, and a relationship between two French lovers is just beyond me. Because it all meshed, and subtitles I could have foregone and still understood most. The man had a very serious sleep disturbances. Becoming involved with this woman was his redemption. It was not just ordinary physical passion. He learned an art from her. He himself knew things, and soon the two of them were walking with their heads in the treetops. Some of the movie was pure fantasy, probably. Among American audiences that might be a turn-off. But a lot of people don't have the patience to watch films with subtitles. To see fantasy in a good movie, you pick out a fantasy, you know like Doctor Doolittle or Spacebusters. I feel like some day we are going to go to a computer and create our own movies, that have Genre No.1, PGH-135-1, use these preservatives, as it were, in a recipe. Where would the story be, the characters? I like foreign movies, but my viewing pleasure of this film goes beyond any genre assimilation. Foreign movies are very simple..I think that's how the actors find a chance to be characters in a movie. A lot happens, but there is not a lot of crypticism and the drive to embarrass. Although snubbed by any possible combination of American movie critics, Leandro Stivelman and Antonello Costa had a great story and a beautiful soundtrack. It's not what we go for over here, I'm not sure why.Maybe they should have processed the movie through Panaflex. It did not have real fruity colors.

To the best of my knowledge no spoilers are here. The Martins have a new utility in their home. Their neighbors, or some, already have a robot so Dick Martin finally decides to purchase a unit from Northern Robotics. One of the Martins develops an instant dislike for "Andrew" right away. She has an instinctive dislike of other things as we see later in the movie. Never having a robotic servant(Andrew is designed for protocol), Martin notices many things about Andrew but perceives none as very unusual until he finds Andrew listening to classical music on an old Victrola Andrew finds out in the yard. The manager of Robotics, Richard Martin, Richard's wife, Little Miss and her sister, and everyone human associated with Andrew grow old as Andrew remains a solid piece of computer manufacturing. Andrew learns many things, he learns about human reproduction, about humor, about the world in general. He has money. He is a member of a family, a family that is not altogether happy, but is decent in most ways, and takes care of Andrew. Andrew is quite taken with Little Miss, in a human way, and this is actually not normal in a robot but there's nothing to do. But if there was, Richard Martin does not intend to change or re-integrate Andrew's circuitry. He does not intend to alter Andrew in any way, although Andrew is very unique. Andrew has fundamental qualities that in theory should not exist in a robot. Time passes and soon Andrew becomes interested in relocating, no longer satisfied in being an android servant of humans. There is humor all through the film, though not an overpowering kind, because step by step Andrew undergoes a transition with the help of a robotic engineer. Andrew has found the apple of his eye, and he will not let anything stand in his way. That apple is NOT Galatea.

Rated PG.

The movie made me feel sorry for him in a lot of ways. The Richard Nixon portrayed in Stone's Nixon was in reality and in the film a two-time winner in the race for U.S. President. And during his second bid, Nixon was deeply involved in a spy mission known as Watergate. Some of the things that made me feel sympathy were: His constant harping on the past, his own past as a son of Quakers, which he was proud up---that point was made again and again in the movie. Nixon talked about Roosevelt a lot, saw him as a hero. Roosevelt was elected in 1901, and I did not know that McKinley was assassinated. Another quality of Nixon(as portrayed in this film), was that he hated the Kennedys, but for non-political reasons. The Kennedys were like a "popular party". Nixon talked about John and Teddy Kennedys "media darling halo". A lot of people did not like Nixon, through Stone's eyes or did not understand him, thinking on the latter lines that Nixon was a fruitcake, or a nut case. In the movie Nixon was taking a lot of medications...this relates directly back to his brother Harold and another brother Arthur dying of tuberculosis. So Richard may have been a candidate for the same illness. Whether Nixon medicated himself with other drugs is not clear. He drank at the White House..I think everyone drank. It is definitely true that Nixon had a dark side..very much so toward his wife "Buddy". The film makes Nixon out obviously to be the manipulator in the Ellsberg plan, but the obvious masterminds were Hunt, Liddy and..Erlichmann? Probably Ehrlichmann, too. A lot of Nixon's staff knew about the bugging. What it amounts to in Hollywood cinema terms anyway is that, who wants to go to see a movie about a golden boy? There is not enough material for an interesting story. The movie is intensively interesting to me, and I wonder if that is because I am not ultra-extremist. The terrible acts of people like Mark David Chapman and Timothy McVeigh shows the direction we are going in. Further than the assassinations of the '60s. Anyway, Nixon got the nod after JFK was erased, and Nixon through his idiosyncratic charm took the bull by the horns. He was going to win the office anyway. Pat was obviously happy. She was a tough one to figure. Because she at one time showed wishes that Richard would quit politics. But she could see clear to the presidency for her husband. Later, when the chips were down, and Nixon was being criticized for Cambodia, the job Pat Nixon's husband held was reflecting back at her a lot. For anyone who missed "the show", there were some embarrassing moments in Nixon's early career. The contest against Mondale however, was not one of those moments. Moving toward the presidency, Nixon's platform was one of the power and the glory in his speeches, when he gave his speeches. I believe that was the 60's.

Eastwood is a successful, high-stakes cat burglar who has never met the President. Until an incident when the thief meets the Chief up close and personal. Hackman plays an official in the oval office who has taken a lover in the house and master bedroom of an extraordinarily wealthy philanthropist. Whitney finds large amounts of cash there in the businessman's bedroom. Shortly, he realizes someone else is in the mansion. . A vicious lover's entanglement ensues. Soon two agents played by Denzel Washington and Scott Glenn enter the bedroom and one of the three preceding players in this drama is dead. Now every Eastwood movie contains at least a small amount of humor, whether they are action or drama. Now enter the supervisor, Diane Lane. Who is Diane Lane? Not the prolific celeb of modern movies considered a hottie. A different, veteran actress by the same name. I needed to search for both actors(not here), Lane and Glenn(who was in Apocalypse Now, by the way). Lane is funny, in an offhand way..kind of like a savage or sadistic sarcastic humor. Whitney has witnessed a killing, which soon turns out through circumstance to be a murder. Circumstance can be a wonderful thing, as Ed Harris discovers(another agent) when he "happens" upon the burglar. Meanwhile, the millionaire(E.G. Marshall) is tore apart by loss. Although much older than his beautiful yet extreme..better half, the man is devastated, and takes an active part further in the film.

Angel-A, the character, is an enigma. Is she actually an angel? Only in one instance does she exhibit any powers. A bit about Rie Rasmussen: Among other worldly powers, she is a 5'10" professional model who is also an actor. "Angel-A" a Eurocorp film is foreign by American standards and is all spoken French. The movie is in black-and-white and filmed completely in Paris. Angel-A is an enigma for many reasons. She shows an interest in Andre, a little guy who jumps off a bridge into one of Paris's rivers. Andre demonstrates that he can swim and fishes Angel-A out of the river. Now she plays the part of the person who owes this man her life. She quickly finds out that Andre is a Middle Eastern with a morbid/sarcastic humor who dabbles in olive oil. And other ventures that have landed him in...trouble. The angel tells him she will make all his financial troubles go away. Then the mobsters will go away and not kill him. So, early in the movie, as Angel-A is becoming Andre's friend and rescuer, she tells a lady in a bathroom that the guy Angel-A is with is a woman, actually. It's clear that Andre is not gay. Later in a restaurant is possibly the most romantic and sweet part of the film, where Angel-A tells Andre this revelation directly. Angela-A may be an angel, but she is not some sweet little angel with a halo and all of that. She is smart, thinking on her feet. She sizes up situations quickly. And with some experience in hand-to-hand combat, she could have easily kicked some butt throughout the film. Yet Angel-A, whose sidekick believes is a wild woman, is very much woman, and later Andre understands why.

In 2008 Mark Myer and Ron Reeder made a documentary film about outlaws and gunslingers, and that is the name of the film, Outlaws and Gunslingers. It is an in-depth feature, covering renegades, guerrillas, bank robbers and such in the Old West in the United States. What is extremely interesting is this: Suppose all you know or about William Antrim or William Bonney or The Kid is derived from the TV movie "Billy the Kid". This being a documentary, the video I'm watching now, it is fascinating, and informative(depending on who you might ask). But what happened in the Turner movie actually happened according to historical evidence presented in these programs. Every character, or every man vital to the important phases of the outlaw's life is represented. Even Joe Grant(Red West), who instigates gun play with Billy The Kid is mentioned. Ipso facto, the historians are practically recanting the movie. The Kid snakes his hands out of the manacles, that is true. He also kills the deputy guarding him when Billy goes to the outhouse. Though the researchers do say that they don't know for a fact that Bonney(The Kid) killed Dolan. They also don't why Billy did not leave the country after he killed an officer near the Lincoln courthouse. As for Bonney's regulators, they were all either shot by lawmen or headed for high country. But no one seems to know for sure.

Some time after the second MIB movie was in the movies, I read more than six comments that reacted negatively to MIB II. When I saw MIB II the first time, I was not as impressed. Now it seems that I like MIB II more and I see it more often. I love both movies. In many ways the second flick was better. Y'all are always saying more bang for the buck, well, I thought MIB II had it. In many ways the movie was serious. The earth was about to be destroyed, and that's an old plot line, I realized. But the movie was funny almost all the way through. There was romance, some drama, action, thrills, everything you would desire from a good sci-fi. Agent J is there with his normal urban humor you might expect from his buddy in Bad Boys, but still prevailing as the smart agent policing the Earth for criminal aliens. Serleena is a handful. The key plot in MIB II is the light of Zartha. Serleena in her zest and evil kills the pizza guy, but the rapist, well, he gets what he deserves I think. Serleena has a varied appetite.

Frank the pug(a dog) gets a starring role in this installment of Men In Black. Seems pretty smart, but cannot sing Gloria Gaynor very well. But it's funny. He finds himself a prisoner in the MIB headquarters.

There are a lot more special effects here, more alien characters. A lot of them turn up at Jeeb's Joint, where Agent K has gone with Agent J. Agent K is using Jeeb's deneuralyzer, powered by an Evinrude outboard motor. Later, J and K run into Newton and his girlfriend at their video store, and the story thickens.

A lot of fun, this movie is. The key is not to take any of it seriously, and yes, TLJ has probably made better movies, movies a lot older than this. But this one's fun, especially the 10,000 foot long worm.

.

A lot of JB fans consider this one of the best. Then there is another group that believes Connery was virtually the best. All the James Bond fans I've known were or are men. More about that later. Herve Villechaize was famous for Fantasy Island, was an actor cursed with dwarfism. It is a curse, because the person with the affliction develops different physical problems over their lives. Herve is Nic Nac in the Bond movie, and is the sidekick of Scaramanga, a self-employed hit-man who lives like a millionaire. He makes his home in the Far East, on an island. Scaramanga is played by Christopher Lee, the Dracula legend. The criminal is as evil as any undead creature, and is a marksman, a killer, who uses golden bullets on his victims. The golden bullets have no special power, but they are Scaramanga's trademark, and a sample of his ego.. The movie has a lot of different dimensions...action, suspense, romance(this is Bond), but the movie is known for humor, because of the presence of the sheriff. J.W. Pepper recognizes the "British secret agent from Britain" right away.. On the serious side of this spy movie(based on Ian Fleming's novel), there is one of the most beautiful "Bond's Girls", Maud Adams who hails from Sweden. Her character in The Golden Gun is very much a kept woman, and her keeper is Francisco Scaramanga. There is a little of everything in the movie, including an unusual airplane. But there is much killing, as there is in any crime film. A very entertaining piece of celluloid from 1974, of course produced by Albert Brocolli.

-

I cannot stop watching this movie. Taylor(Charlie Sheen) is narrative in a way. One thing I remember is Taylor's fear of snakes. But he got over that very soon. Another thing I remember is that he wrote to his grandmother. He did not write to his mother and father, and that was because his parents did not want him to go..The least savory, or one of the least, was Junior, who almost got Taylor killed, and a lot others. I am pretty old now, yet I was too young for the draft, or Vietnam. I saw Apocalypse Now in my small town, and it blew my mind. . In Platoon, the mainstay of the military movements was to find the bunkers of the NVA. Taylor's commander was a Sergeant named Barnes, a rugged veteran who took it up himself to command the platoon. He was rough around the edges, maybe a little too. Elias was in the soft parade, or it seemed that way. He was not benevolent, that was not the right word. He cared about the soldiers a lot, and was willing to do anything for the troops.

Back at the canteen the soldiers were partying a lot, and Taylor had his first exposure to that kind of thing. But everybody loved him and thought a lot of him, until something happened that changed his whole perception of the infantry. Really, it was a lot of things that made him feel different, and that was when the platoon ran across a group of NVA. Taylor began to see the war in a whole new light. He felt that there were not any rules out in the bush.. An excellent movie. Every time I see it I see something different. My opinion of the film is that Keith David deserved a nomination. If for no other reason, I think so because of his attitude as a soldier and infantryman.

Fandango is one of the best movies ever made. That statement is not fair or equitable, and people say it everyday. It is not just my favorite movie. I think Costner himself, if he were sitting here having a beer(or a root beer) would not even agree. Costner would probably say Dances. The Kevin Reynolds movie the review is about is a guy movie, that's probably the truth. They came up with a word or a phrase years ago for this kind of movie, "coming of age". Five guys in Texas take off for the Mexican border on a last fling after college in '67, and the order of business is to "find an old friend". They know where he is. I figured they must have kept up with him all this time because they know exactly where he is. I don't know how many times I have seen this, and at long last I have the widescreen DVD. I knew from the start, when I first saw Fandango, that I was going to like it. The song playing low in the background at the beginning was Badge by Cream. Gardner(Kevin Costner) was in a room throwing darts at a picture of himself and his ex-girlfriend Debbie(Suzy Amis). His buddy Wagner is about to marry the girl, but something happens and wedding plans fall through. Next thing I know, the Groovers are heading to Mexico in a blue Cadillac. Along the way they run out of gas, and Gardner is musing about old times. They try to hop a train in a most strange way, later run into some pretty young girls, and eventually Phil has to prove he is not a weenie. When the troop finally get to the Mexican border to where their old friend is, Wagner has made a romantic conclusion...he should have married Deb.

Some nice flying in this movie.

There is a different series that was released by the same name in 2006. It was written by David Attenborough and hosted by Sigourney Weaver. The other documentary was very well-received by the public and used a lot of computer graphics. Was probably enjoyed much by the very young as well as the older crowd who like Attenborough or anything relevant to nature and science.

The series under review here was released in 1986 and was first aired on PBS. It received its funding from several sources including a TV station in Cincinatti. A lot of research went into this documentary series and I enjoyed it. There is tons of knowledge and information in the show, yet I did not view it as a classroom lecture. The seven programs were all in- depth but fascinating and intriguing. Anyone who has seen the programs have their favorites I'm sure. The first program talks about plate techtonics and shows footage of Japan after a strong earthquake, and all the program topics relate to the oceans, geology, solar science, and the precious metals of the earth. Not only science itself the focus of the series, but the series goes up close to the researches and scientists in the laboratories. All narrated by Richard Kiley. A very good way to learn about earth, and the knowledge is actually still fresh and new.

If you have never...are you sure you want to? Before you become a Spaceball(if you have not already joined the Human League of Spaceballs), there's an old saying you should remember: "suspend disbelief". At least until after the credits ...which don't come on until the end(ha ha)!. I have steered you down the wrong road. You should suspend disbelief right away! Before the first chapter of the DVD. If you are not watching a DVD, just don't believe anything on the tape. I can't believe how dumb I am. This is the third time I have seen this wacky space flick and...I just realized that Bill Pullman is not one of Wyatt's deputies...He is Lone Star. How did I not figure that out in the first scene...that he is in fact having one! Texas, ma'am..The last courageous star fighter has his own ship and it looks an awful lot like an RV(80's movie made before the SUV's took over). He's with his faithful pal(who doesn't look like he really chews tobacco), and his name is Barf. He's half man and half mutt and is played by the late John Candy. The hefty actor was in many movies including Armed and Dangerous and JFK.

The princess arrives on the scene shortly after this insane descent into space madness(1:39). She's decided that her happy trails lead somewhere besides the altar(who is that guy?), and soon Daphne Zunigas is calling all the shots now, it seems, until Joan Rivers' Virgin Alarm goes off. It's Dot Matrix to the menu, I mean the rescue. But why am I spending all this time talking about the Twilight Couple when I have not even mentioned Dark Helmet? Maybe...DH is not worth mentioning. His greatest feat is luring the princess into a false sense of security and believing that she is actually getting paid to be in this Mel Brooks movie. I have to have some respect now for the man who brought us from the Wild Wild West to Germany(give me life!)(both circa 1800's) to the future of satiric parody in...the future, sometime. Yogurt is the most conventional present-day character, because he already has a store inside a pyramid where he is selling dolls and other memorabilia related to the darn movie Spaceballs. I saw Bill Pullman do that fantastic gymnastic move that everybody should know now is not a Jackie Chan move. It was first made famous on the big screen in Matrix. Which is still available on Betamax(just kidding).

Maybe this was not one of the best movies, or best loved movies(I noticed it lost quite a bit at the box office), but I laughed almost all the way through this. Laughing, I found out early on is somewhat prohibitive in movie theaters, and of course the person next to you wants to hear what's going on. A lot is going on in this comedy, and I happened to like Joanna Whaley a lot in her French Maid. But, if you did not think the flick was all that hot itself, or anyone, an idea might be to watch the movie again and try to notice only Bill Murray. Think about it, he is acting in a movie where he assumes that he is in a contrived situation. The SNL actor is so completely believable, and his character and everybody else's character is supported by a pretty involved script. The whole comedy is worthwhile if you can watch in an unprotracted manner. I have a habit of seeing some highly acclaimed movies in parts. Yet I watched this all the way through without a break. The plot is not anything new by itself, that is the the plot the criminals have in the heart of London. But then the idea of this sort of thick but spontaneous movie rental employee being involved in there makes the picture unique.

It seemed to me that English Bob was only in the area of Big Whiskey to rest, have a drink..and have a game of billiards. But Bob brought two items with him. His biographer, and English Bob's attitude. Being an enforcer for the railroads was not a crime. But bounty hunting, well, that was a crime, too. I suppose. Most of the dirty jobs of gunning down "assassins" and making the sheriff's own policies belonged to Little Bill Baggett. Bill the Sheriff was not wrong about a lot of things and policies, but Baggett had a violent way of dealing with "problems". So English Bob was interested in a game of billiards, but he also deliberately ignored the gun law in Baggett's town. Much like Wyatt Earp's towns in the Old West. With the apparent difference that Earp was trying to stop outlaws. Were English Bob and William Munny outlaws? Yes, I suppose they were. But they were not riding in gangs like Jesse James or red-legs. And for all I know bounty killing was not a crime. Except maybe in Big Whiskey, Montana.

Little Bill may have believed English Bob was a bounty hunter for the prostitutes, that part was never very clear. Later it becomes clear that The Kid has a healthy appetite for "billiards", and this has a major influence on the way things go later on. In the beginning, the prostitute Delilah has an infraction against her. At least according to the men involved. And so, the prostitutes don't have much recourse except to accept Bill Baggett's decision about the assault on Delilah. Except for Strawberry Alice. She is angry and she thinks the whole decision is a raw deal.

The Kid, also known as the Scofield Kid, brings William Munny into the drama. Clint Eastwood plays a pig farmer who can barely mount his horse. Who is not used to being rode, but it is sort of funny. Munny is at first not too good with a pistol. He practices there at the farm using an old tobacco can. Munny is better with a rifle. The reformed outlaw loves his two young ones, and is true to his wife, who has been dead near a decade. And William Munny has not had a drink. Not for a long, long, time.

By stand-alone I mean the following..my review of the movie is my review of the movie The Doors, and especially the singer who is by now in American history nearly a myth, a modern Dionysus. Yet, Jim Morrison was a little too close to the present in terms of events, his life as a part of and outside of The Doors, to be a myth. A legend, yes, depending on your point of view about rock icons. There are many books about Jim and The Doors none I have not read, and I should, since I like their CD's. And because I like the movie so much. Yet the last part of the statement I just made invites an incredible amount of criticism, so much that the beliefs of other Doors fans become practically catechisms. The church of The Doors that has stoned the director of the film so much is angry, or was at a time. Ray Manzarek is a very good example. I don't think I saw him on video in the 15th year reissue. I don't see Manzarek in any of the special features. Although I love the movie, so much that I've seen it 20 times or more, I have to have respect for a man that was the closest member to Jim Morrison. They all loved Morrison, everyone in the band I mean, even John Densmore. I believe the drummer served to balance out the emotions. After all, the group was not Jim Morrison and The Doors. So, the movie begins with The Lizard Kind in his later days, a little heavier, enjoying the alcohol possibly more than ever, and accompanied by the spirit of the Indian played by Red Floyd Crow Westerman. The native American plays a crucial part of the movie. The spirit is watching Morrison, looking after him it seems. But not able to do anything to help. The movie shows Jim Morrison in a downward spiral. Like I said, this is a stand-alone review of the movie. A lot of things did happen, yet a lot of events and feelings were not explained. This was really a major motion picture, with Hollywood cinema attire, and obviously there are people still alive(or were) connected with The Doors who were offended. There have been many famous people, whether they were actors, musicians, comedians, politicians, poets and writers who have been the subject of movies. But those people, like Jackson Pollock or Nixon or Andy Kaufman were all, to my knowledge, never in docudramas until after their death. This is the big difference between Morrison and those I just named. Apparently, the surviving members of The Doors with the exception of Manzarek were for the movie. Maybe they changed their minds later. The movie The Doors blew my mind, because it was a major motion picture. What is ironically humorous about that fact is that the movie was garnered and placed under Paramount and now belongs to Lionsgate. It was hugely successful...one never knows what movie entities have on their mind. Didn't fit into their library. The uniqueness of the L.A. band in movie terms is that, after seeing a film about The Doors, it's an act that no other band can really top. To see a movie about The Byrds or The Airplane or The Grateful Dead...that might never happen. The reason could be each did not have such a wild poet/singer with so much going on in his life...or those other Cali bands may have just said no to the idea, for any number of reasons. I'm just not one who is angry about the Doors movie. It's too different, and did not make me feel like an idiot. There are so few major pictures about American rock bands.

--

I'm a pretty nice guy. I trust my instincts when it comes to putting any printed matter on the internet, especially on message boards for sites I respect. I respect this site. So, let me start with small conspiracy theory. The Blu-Ray movies are doing pretty well. I have never had the money really for any new movies in the wrapper, so I buy movies at Walmart. I have to say Walmart, because they are the only store in my area that offer such a volume of the $5 movies. There are a lot of older "classics" and I usually am happy with what I buy. I play my movies on a PC and normally they play back at good full volume. The movies from those bins also demonstrate good video. Caddyshack did not do well in the video or the audio department. In some parts of the flick the picture was fine and in other areas the video was terrible. Especially in indoor scenes. There's no real question about my software or my personal computer or my A/V or my DirectX(I realize I am getting technical here. But most people know about computer audio and video.) I simply have no problems with most of my movies. Back to the conspiracy theory. Now that traditional DVD's with the dual layer format are being offered at lower prices, what kind of mastering is going on by the studios with the rights to all these titles? True, the movie was not expensive, but it was still money. I have seen other movies that don't give the best viewing experience. I watch movies all the time on my desktop, because I have the nice LCD monitor. Did I say nice? As for my sound and video, 90% of my movies all sound nice. Except for Caddyshack, and I hope to score some more SNL-casted flicks and hope that I have better luck.