Reviews

I was fortunate enough to spend a day on the set of this film when it was being shot near Huntsville, Texas. My dad was cast as the parole board chairman who denies Doc McCoy (McQueen) his parole in the opening minutes of the film. I got to be on the set during the shooting of that scene, and in the process got to meet McQueen (frankly, I wasn't all that impressed when I met him, but others told me he wasn't feeling well that day), Ben Johnson (a very cool guy, exactly the same off-screen as he is on camera) and Sam Peckinpah (also a very cool and engaging guy - he autographed my dad's copy of the script upside down and backwards so that, as he is standing facing you, you can read his signature). Having that background, and even having been pretty young at the time, it was still a memorable film when I finally got to see it. I've seen it several times since and I think it has stood the test of time as a truly great action film...but, of course I could be somewhat biased.

McQueen absolutely dominates the film, as he nearly always did. As for McGraw, I have to say that I think she was fairly wooden and flat in practically every scene she made, but then she was really just there to be eye candy and to give McQueen's character someone to play against...in addition to the fact that she was a co=producer of the movie. The action sequences are superb and set the stylistic direction for many films made since. Peckinpah was a master, there is no doubt. There are so many excellent scenes in this film that it would be hard to catalog them all.

If you are a lover of the action film, this is definitely top o' the heap and worth adding to your collection. Even though it was made 35 years ago (and man, does that make me feel old!) it has aged very well and still shines as a classic of its genre.

It's predictable and understandable to compare RED DRAGON with its 80s-era predecessor, MANHUNTER, but with the exception of both (allegedly) being based on the same book and characters, there's nothing to compare. RED DRAGON was clearly written and released solely to cash in on Anthony Hopkin's oddly appealing Hannibal Lecktor/Lecter character, who is peripheral at best to this story line. If that's what you're looking for - you'll find it, but far from being a completing stroke to the Thomas Harris "Trilogy", RED DRAGON leaves you feeling cheated. With the exception of Hopkin's definitive Lecter (who feels very derivative in this one - almost as if he's trying to recapture what he showed us in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), the movie is hopelessly miscast, and with so much required of the characters in this story, that is ultimately this film's epitaph. Fiennes does not convince as a menacing Dolarhyde, and you really don't even get a feel of how sinister and dangerous the character is supposed to be, much less a view into what is truly driving him - you just feel like he's eccentric and a little past weird. Edward Norton, while usually a fine actor, was just horribly out of place as Will Graham. He's too young, too eager, and - well - too fluffy to come across as an emotionally devastated profiler who's been to the depths of psychological hell. You don't even get the sense that he is reluctant to get involved in the 'Tooth Fairy' killings - it's more like he is posturing just because he knows his wife will be upset if he does. Harvey Keitel is as disconnected and disinterested as ever. Overall, the movie does not succeed as anything other than a chance to once again roll out Hopkins as Lecter, and that's just not enough. Dated though it may be with an undeniable 'Miami Vice' feel to it, Michael Mann's MANHUNTER is simply the better telling of the story.

Possibly this isn't Michael Mann's best - or even next to next to best - movie, but I make no apologies for liking it quite a lot. In fact, my chief complaint about this movie is that it has never been released on DVD so that the full texture and sense of this piece could be better experienced and appreciated. It is a travesty with all the tripe that leaps from the undergrossing screen to overblown DVD these days, that no studio has had the stones to release THE KEEP on DVD.

In a weird, connect the dots fashion, I consider this film to be a critical milestone in Mann's directorial evolution. In and of itself, this makes the film entirely watchable, if not "important". The movie should be indispensable to Mann's devotees, and I find it surprising that it is not. As much as Manhunter (one of my all time favorites) and Heat (right up there with them) are ranked by most as very good films, THE KEEP, if for no other reason than its novelty should be accorded more respect than it gets.

Read the other reviews here and you can more or less understand the story line. The salient facts are there. I differ on several points, however.

First, I don't consider THE KEEP to be a 'horror movie' or even sci-fi, although it certainly has elements of both. I have no recollection of how the film was billed when it opened in '83 (in fact, I didn't see it until it appeared on Showtime, significantly later), but if you are looking for a 'horror' or 'sci-fi' flick, THE KEEP will leave you short. It is more of a 'thriller' if you had to pigeon-hole it, but even that doesn't really work, and this is what I think what confuses many who have seen and subsequently slammed this movie. To those who want a nifty tight film with all the proper cinematic and artistic "T"s crossed and "I"s dotted, you won't find it here and you will be eternally frustrated. What you will find is a unique, visionary realization of an essentially often told story of conflict between ultimate good and ultimate evil, spun in an arguably overly symbolic context.

Second, much apparently has been said about the lameness of the sets and special effects and accents and soundtrack and costumes, etc etc. I can't ever know for sure, but I don't think that Mann, with all his individual sense of style (remember, his visions and realizations virtually defined a substantial part of the 80s -- whether you liked them or not) was all that concerned about the impact of the trappings, but more on what they allowed the story to play against. The interplay of color (or lack thereof), background, character and music all create an enjoyable tapestry, best viewed from several feet away. If you get hung up on the minutae of this film, you've lost the message. In my personal opinion, this isn't a movie that should be watched critically - because it will fail in many ways, as others have already observed. Rather, you should suspend not only your disbelief but your pretentiousness and just let the movie sort of flow around you. It's a bit like drift diving in Cozumel - the warm current moves you along to the degree that details can get lost and fuzzy, but you eventually realize that's what makes the experience different and wonderful.

The music certainly isn't appropriate to the period (1941 Nazi-occupied Romania) but then this isn't a period piece. Quite the contrary, the Tangerine Dream soundtrack adds to the gauzy, dreamlike quality which to me is what makes this movie so compelling and different. The acting isn't the best and in places, yes, the audio is pretty bad, but when considered as a whole, I believe the movie succeeds. My VHS copy of THE KEEP is now getting threadworn from overplay and I hope that someone, somewhere, will bring it out on DVD.

A strong 8 out of 10.