FILM FRENZY

Paint Your Wagon (Photo: Kino & Paramount)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL (1984). Given the grim news that greets Americans daily, there might not be many people rushing to check out the Blu-ray release of a film that centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite John le Carré providing the source material, George Roy Hill (The Sting) as director, and Diane Keaton as star, The Little Drummer Girl proves to be a disappointment, mainly salvaged from complete irrelevance by a handful of exciting set-pieces spread throughout. Keaton stars as Charlie, an American actress living in London (one of her fellow thespians is played by Bill Nighy, who looks about 12). Even though Charlie is fiercely pro-Palestinian, Israeli intelligence oddly decides she would be perfect to use as an undercover agent, placing her in an anti-Zionist terrorist cell in order to root out a prominent leader. Charlie falls for her Mossad handler (Yorgo Voyagis), which only complicates matters. Just as the 51-year-old Jane Fonda was miscast as the 31-year-old Harriet Winslow in 1989’s Old Gringo, so too was the 38-year-old Keaton a poor choice to play the 26-year-old Charlie — in both cases, it was because these seasoned, strong-willed actresses were playing characters who were naïve to an absurd degree. Keaton’s Charlie is especially problematic: The actress plays her as such a simpering, hyperactive twit that it’s not unreasonable to assume she might be mentally challenged. There’s some genuine suspense when the spy games are being played, and Klaus Kinski gives an energetic performance as a Mossad operative. Beyond that, this is all over the map, in more ways than one.

The only Blu-ray extra is the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★½

MOLLY’S GAME (2017). As a writer and producer, Aaron Sorkin has been such an important and enduring fixture on the film and television fronts (an Academy Award for adapting The Social Network and multiple Emmy Awards for writing and producing The West Wing) that it’s a wonder he had waited this long before making his directorial debut in either medium. Then again, perhaps he was just biding his time waiting for the right project: Why soil his reputation on a Paul Blart: Mall Cop sequel when something better could be right around the corner? In this case, that “something better” turned out to be Molly’s Game, with Sorkin not only directing but also penning this absorbing adaptation of Molly Bloom’s exhaustively titled book Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker. As Molly, a former skier whose legendary poker games made her an FBI target, Jessica Chastain delivers a typically brainy and impassioned performance, with Idris Elba offering solid support as the lawyer who takes her case. Opening in limited release on Christmas Day and going wide two weeks later, this seemed like catnip for grown-ups seeking some respite from seasonal servitude geared toward kids and families — instead, it grossed only $28 million, meaning it continues to be ripe for discovery at home. Sorkin earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, but a highly competitive Best Actress field along with the usual slot automatically reserved for Meryl Streep (this one for The Post) resulted in a no-show for Chastain.

The only Blu-ray extra is a making-of piece.

Movie: ★★★

MONEY TALKS (1997). There’s a running gag in Money Talks that’s so perfectly set up and played, it’s a shame it couldn’t have been employed in a far better movie. Franklin Hatchett (Chris Tucker), a street hustler who’s being sought by the police for crimes he didn’t commit, has convinced TV news reporter James Russell (Charlie Sheen) to help him prove his innocence in exchange for an exclusive interview. Meeting James’ fiancée (Heather Locklear) and her parents (Paul Sorvino and Veronica Cartwright) for the first time, Franklin introduces himself as “Vic Damone, Jr.,” the son of singer Vic Damone and actress Diahann Carroll (Damone and Carroll were married in 1987, meaning Franklin would at most be 10 years old, but never mind). The movie gets a lot of mileage out of this joke (“I used to hang around with Junior Walker, Jr. … Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr.”) — indeed, Tucker is so effortlessly amusing throughout the entire picture that one wishes this were a solo starring vehicle. Instead, it offers a co-starring role to Sheen, who rarely found a picture he couldn’t sleepwalk through. Sheen’s character is a major drag on the proceedings, which, truth be told, aren’t that hot anyway, given how much the movie adheres to formula. There are the nasty Eurotrash villains, the girlfriend (Elise Neal) who’s so thinly written that she barely registers as a character, the supposed “good guy” who predictably turns out to be (gasp!) a “bad guy,” and so on. Reuniting the following year and jettisoning Sheen for Jackie Chan, Tucker and director Brett Ratner would find greater success with the entertaining box office smash Rush Hour.

The only Blu-ray extra is the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★

NORTH DALLAS FORTY (1979). Nick Nolte delivers yet another grounded and deeply felt performance in a football flick that’s hard-hitting both on and off the field. Based on the novel by former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent (who co-scripted with director Ted Kotcheff and producer Frank Yablans), this focuses more on the mental and emotional brutality directed at the players by management than on the physical lumps they acquire during the game. Nolte is Phil Elliott, the wide receiver for the fictional North Dallas Bulls. More intelligent and sensitive than most of the macho clods with whom he shares a locker room, he finds that both his loner attitude and his understanding of the behind-the-scenes politics have made him a thorn in the side of the team’s owner (Steve Forrest), its coach (G.D. Spradlin), and its assistant coach (Charles Durning). The NFL refused to support this picture, and it’s no wonder, given that many of the players are painted as violent, sexist louts and all the members of the management team are portrayed as greedy, manipulative, and uncaring jerks. Some lengthy speeches are only present so that no one misses the point of the movie, and there’s a subplot involving Phil’s relationship with his girlfriend (model Dayle Haddon) that contributes little. But an air of authenticity adds to its urgency, and the climactic game ends in a way that doesn’t take the familiar underdog route.

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray edition include film historian audio commentary; an introduction by Kotcheff; a discussion with Kotcheff; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

PAINT YOUR WAGON (1969). This loose adaptation of the 1951 Lerner and Loewe Broadway musical often gets tagged as a flop, yet its box office numbers would indicate otherwise. The truth lies in between. Certainly, the film did well enough financially to emerge as one of the year’s top 10 moneymakers (#7), but a ballooning budget and ample delays ended up muting the profits. It’s a queer sort of film — released in 1969, the year of such revolutionary hits as Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider, it seems resolutely old-fashioned in most regards, yet there’s a streak of then-contemporary anarchy snaking through it like a vein of gold. Set in the fictional No Name City during the California Gold Rush, it stars Lee Marvin as Ben Rumson, a cantankerous prospector who acquires a partner in Pardner (Clint Eastwood) and a wife in Elizabeth (Jean Seberg). Elizabeth loves both men and vice versa, so, taking a cue from the Mormons, she ends up with two husbands. Often hokey, often hilarious, this finds Harve Presnell (later William H. Macy’s cruel father-in-law in Fargo), as saloon owner Rotten Luck Willie, singing a gorgeous rendition of “They Call the Wind Maria.” It’s a shame the equally lovely “Wand’rin Star” had to be wasted on the gravel-voiced Marvin (nevertheless, his version hit #1 in the UK!) — for his part, Eastwood gets to sorta-sing “I Talk to the Trees.” Flawed, to be sure, but not without its ample charms.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by authors Dwayne Epstein (Lee Marvin: Point Blank), C. Courtney Joyner (The Westerners: Interviews With Actors, Directors, Writers and Producers), and Henry Parke (The Greatest Westerns Ever Made and the People Who Made Them), and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

THE SPACE BETWEEN US (2017). A teen flick that registers less as “YA” and more as “why bother,” this at least has its heart in the right place. That would be inside the body of 16-year-old Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield), who becomes the first human born on Mars after his astronaut mom (Janet Montgomery) pops him out and subsequently dies on the operating table. Raised on the Red Planet by sympathetic astronaut Kendra Wyndham (Carla Gugino), Gardner longs to visit Earth, even though the change in atmosphere would threaten to enlarge his heart and destroy his bones. Nevertheless, with the approval of the head of the space program (Gary Oldman), he’s allowed a brief visit — at which point he takes off to find the father he never knew. Along for the cross-country trek is a grouchy high school girl (Britt Robertson) who doesn’t believe he’s from Mars but elects to help him anyway. The opening act on Mars is stridently lackluster, and the picture only picks up slightly once it crash-lands on Earth. There’s some modest amusement in watching Gardner approach each new discovery like an intergalactic Chauncey Gardiner, and Butterfield sells these moments perfectly. But any sense of wonder quickly gives way to a tired and tepid romance between a dying boy and the girl he thaws, and the central mystery — the identity of Gardner’s father — is not only immediately apparent from the start but also introduces some sleazy undercurrents into the tale. Viewers who really want to learn about life on Mars are best advised to stick with David Bowie.

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Peter Chelsom; a making-of piece; and deleted scenes.

Movie: ★½

THE SURE THING (1985). In a decade largely defined by raunchy teen sex comedies, here’s a film that stood out from the pack thanks to its sweetness and sincerity. Rob Reiner, still making the transition from actor to director (this was only his second such credit, following 1984’s cult classic This Is Spinal Tap), unobtrusively guides this tale about Walter “Gib” Gibson (John Cusack), an East Coast college freshman who’s never had much luck with the ladies. When his high school buddy Lance (Anthony Edwards), now attending a West Coast university, invites him to California with the promise of hooking up with a “no-strings-attached, no-questions-asked sure thing” (Desperate Housewives‘ Nicollette Sheridan in her film debut), Gib decides to accept the offer. Little does he realize that he will be making the trip with his reserved, possibly repressed, classmate Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga), who’s heading out west to visit her hopelessly square boyfriend (Boyd Gaines). Naturally, Gib and Alison find their icy antagonism melting over the course of their lengthy road trip, but what the script by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts lacks in originality, it makes up for in good cheer and good vibrations. Look for Tim Robbins as a college kid named Gary Cooper (“But not the Gary Cooper who’s dead”), and listen for the likes of Rod Stewart’s “Infatuation,” Huey Lewis and the News’ “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” and Wang Chung’s “Dance Hall Days” on the soundtrack.

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Reiner; an archival making-of featurette; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

TARGET (1985). Gene Hackman’s first two collaborations with director Arthur Penn were 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde and 1975’s Night Moves — it goes without saying that Target, their third and final teaming, proves to easily be the least of three. Hackman, of course, is as dependable as always — he’s Walter Lloyd, a Dallas businessman who’s considered a dullard by his grown son Chris (Matt Dillon). When wife-mom Donna (Gayle Hunnicutt) heads off to Europe as part of a tour group, the pair don’t worry until they receive a call alerting them that she’s disappeared in Paris. They hightail it to France, whereupon Chris discovers that his dad has built up a lifetime of secrets — ones which tie directly into Donna’s kidnapping and which will prove useful as Walter attempts to extricate the entire family from a dangerous situation. The mid-eighties was a period when movies featuring hot young stars (such as the Brat Pack) were all the rage, so it’s no surprise that Dillon’s role feels beefed up and that it’s his mug that’s front and larger on the poster (he’s holding the revolver in macho fashion while Hackman’s in the background looking as if he’s trying to remember where he left his car keys). Yet he’s all wrong for the part — for starters, it’s impossible to believe him as Hackman’s flesh-and-blood — and most of the story’s silly interludes directly relate to his character. Still, the central storyline is constructed from sturdy Cold War stock, and even the obviousness of the “surprise” villain can’t defuse the explosive ending.

Blu-ray extras include entertainment journalist audio commentary and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★½

THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940). Decades before the life of a celluloid truck driver basically consisted of hauling contraband booze, talking on CB radios, and flipping off redneck cops, They Drive by Night depicted a decidedly darker lifestyle, with the truckers forced to contend with crooked bosses, faulty rigs, a perilous lack of sleep, and the occasional femme fatale. George Raft and Humphrey Bogart are Joe and Paul Fabrini, brothers who share a truck if not the same career ambitions. Paul wouldn’t mind a steady job that would allow him to remain at home with his perpetually worried wife (Gale Page); Joe, however, has ambitions of owning his own trucking line. A tragedy changes the trajectory of Paul’s life; for his part, Joe continues to pursue his dream, taking time off to woo a sharp-tongued waitress (Ann Sheridan) while steering clear of the flirtatious wife (Ida Lupino in the role that launched her Hollywood career) of his garrulous boss (Alan Hale). Based on A.I. Bezzerides’ novel Long Haul, They Drive by Night benefits from Raoul Walsh’s muscular direction, superlative performances (even the generally sleepy Raft excels), and a twisty plot that even finds room for a murder. This was the final stepping stone on fourth-billed Bogart’s lengthy path to full-fledged stardom — 1941’s High Sierra, also co-starring Lupino, would permanently propel him into leading-man territory.

Blu-ray extras include a retrospective making-of piece; the Oscar-nominated 1938 live-action short Swingtime in the Movies, featuring cameos by Bogart, John Garfield, Priscilla Lane, and other Warner Bros. stars; and the 1942 radio broadcast of They Drive by Night, starring Raft, Lana Turner, and Lucille Ball.

Movie: ★★★½

3 GODFATHERS (1948). One of the 14 collaborations between John Ford and John Wayne, 3 Godfathers is part comedy and part tragedy, with a strong dose of Biblical allegory included for good measure. Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, and Harry Carey Jr. play three good-natured bank robbers who stumble across a dying — and pregnant — woman (Mildred Natwick) in the Arizona desert. She passes away right after giving birth, but not before making the three outlaws promise to take care of her baby boy. Comic antics ensue as the trio must learn how to childproof the Western frontier — think Three Men and a Baby with saddle sores instead of Tom Selleck — but the film eventually turns grim as death continues to play a prominent part. Eventually, the story winds down in the town of New Jerusalem, the travelers’ destination spot thanks to the guidance of a shining star and some choice Bible passages. 3 Godfathers is comparatively minor Ford, but it’s mostly effective at mixing seriousness and sentimentality, and it offers strong roles to Armendáriz and Ward Bond (as the wily sheriff in pursuit of the trio). This was based on a Saturday Evening Post story that was filmed several times prior and since, most recently as the 1974 TV movie The Godchild, starring Jack Palance, Jack Warden, and Keith Carradine in a Civil War setting, and the 2003 anime saga Tokyo Godfathers, with a drunk, a drag queen, and a teenage runaway replacing the three cowboys in a modern-day setting.

The Blu-ray also contains the 1936 version Three Godfathers, starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, and Walter Brennan. Extras consist of the theatrical trailers for both versions.

Movie: ★★★

Short And Sweet

STAND AND DELIVER (1988). Edward James Olmos earned a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his inspired — and inspiring — performance in this drama based on a true story. He plays Jaime Escalante, the Bolivian-American teacher who implemented a math program at an East Los Angeles high school that was so impressive, it led to record numbers of underachieving Latino students conquering calculus and moving forward toward college and careers. This follows the same story structure as numerous other films about struggling students and the extraordinary instructor who shows them how to succeed, but Olmos’ reel-life portrayal and Escalante’s real-life accomplishments allow it to stand out and deliver.

The only Blu-ray extra is the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

SUPER MARIO BROS. (1993). There’s nothing remotely enjoyable (let alone “super”) about this legendary migraine-inducer in which two plumbers (Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo) save Earth from a take-the-paycheck-and-run Dennis Hopper (miscast — if that’s the word — as a dinosaur king from a parallel universe). The action is chaotic rather than exciting, and the film, with its drab settings and dull characters, is a visual eyesore. As for our heroes, they remain as one-dimensional as their incarnations on monitor screens. Despite its commercial and critical failure, this was the first film to set the stage for an onslaught of video-inspired features; other inanities from those early years included 1994’s Street Fighter, 1995’s Mortal Kombat, and 1999’s Wing Commander.

Blu-ray extras include making-of pieces and deleted scenes.

Movie: ★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

THE DUELLISTS (1977). Director Ridley Scott’s filmography is remarkably varied — Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and more — and it all began with The Duellists, which made an impression at the Cannes Film Festival (where it won Best First Film) but was ignored by audiences. Still, after years spent making commercials for British television, it provided the filmmaker with enough of a foothold that he was able to snag the directing job on 1979’s Alien, an assignment that turned his career supernova. Based on Joseph Conrad’s 1908 short story “The Duel: A Military Story” (aka “The Point of Honor”), which was itself based on a real-life scenario, the film stars Keith Carradine as d’Hubert, an officer in Napoleon’s army who’s tasked with delivering bad news to a fellow officer, a hothead named Feraud (Harvey Keitel). Ignoring the sound advice of not shooting the messenger, Feraud instead focuses all his anger and hatred on D’Hubert, and what results is a series of duels between the men that transpires over the course of approximately three decades. The all-American duo of Carradine and Keitel is rather incongruous in this decidedly European production, but the actors acquit themselves well enough — Carradine by projecting his character’s innate decency, Keitel by channeling his character’s myopic fervor. The always-welcome Albert Finney pops up in a grand total of one scene as the French politician Fouche, while composer Howard Blake contributes a vibrant score that sets the right tone for the picture’s visual dazzle.

Movie: ★★★