Reviews (233)

Very stylish and enjoyable goth/graphic novel adaptation
I never saw this originally in '94 because I dismissed it as A. a martial arts film (and I hate those) and B. adapted from a comic (and I just can't get into those) and C. aimed at a teen/goth/punk audience (and I am way too old for that). What a mistake! Finally almost ten years on, a friend heard me say I really liked Alex Proyas' DARK CITY -- a neat sci fi film with a very different story but the same kind of dark fantasy look -- and couldn't believe I had never seen THE CROW and made me watch it.

I have to say that I really think this is a fine, well made movie and none of my preconceptions were remotely correct. The art direction is brilliant, with a wonderful and creepy gothic fantasy look, almost but not quite black-and-white, set in a mysteriously surreal "Detroit" that is in some kind of alternate universe from the real Motown. Brandon Lee is really charismatic and haunting in the role of Eric Draven, and not merely because of the tragic incident surrounding the film. He was real star material and just totally inhabits this part.

After seeing the film, I did read the O'Barr comic, which is very sincere and heartfelt, but I think the filmakers -- in what is a pretty rare event -- IMPROVED the plot and characters while keeping all of the angst and atmosphere. They totally honored the character of Eric and the basic idea of the avenger, the memories of his beautiful girlfriend, and sense of overwhelming grief that inhabits the graphic novel. Where they impoved the storyline in cinematic terms is in the treatment of the minor characters and villians. They really fleshed them out, and it enriches the movie and balances the storyline well.

Bookending the film with quotes from Sarah (Rochelle Davis), the little girl who narrates and observes much of the story is an example of a good idea that doesn't really exist in the comic, where the little girl is called Sherri and only appears briefly. Even more so is the expansion of the character of Top Dollar, who again is a minor episode in the comic and more of a grubby hell's angel/drug dealer -- in the film he has been transformed into a complex and compelling crimelord. Michael Wincott is simply amazing in this part, playing Top Dollar as a kind of depraved, satanic, renaissance prince, and clearly having a great deal of fun with this role, especially some wonderful and very clever dialogue. The very, very sick but quite sincere love story between Top Dollar and his psychic half-sister is the reversed-mirror image of the pure and innocent love of Eric and his fiance, a clever idea.

Wonderful music, great visuals, terrific acting...The Crow should NOT be missed.

NOTE: I bought the "Collector's DVD". Don't bother. There is NOTHING worth looking at on the second DVD, some production sketches and posters, nothing special. The director's commentary (on the first disk) is interesting to listen to ONCE, but you can get that on the single disk DVD. There is a smattering of extra footage, but nothing you will miss. Save some bucks and just get the one disk wide screen version.

Fantastic is an understatement.
For those of you don't know this movie is Brandon Lee's last. Tragically, he died during the last days of filming. This film would have catapulted Brandon Lee into major-stardom.

Knowing this only makes the movie darker, sadder, and more heart-wrenching.

Based on the comic book series of the same name by James O'Barr, the movie stays close to its comic book roots. Dark imagery, up-close shots, and stark contrasts add to the comic book feel and gothic look of the movie. The music in the film, both soundtrack and songs, convey thoughts and imagery.

The Crow is a story of love and revenge, loss and retribution. It is a portrait of the struggle between the pain of seeing the past, and the peace of gaining closure. Director Alex Proyas did a wonderful job of capturing this struggle on film.

While the bulk of the supporting cast is at the very least believable, Michael Wincott is disturbingly creepy as the main antagonist "Top Dollar." Ernie Hudson, here playing a cop who thinks he's seeing a ghost, delivers an even performance.
But the movie is ALL Brandon Lee. He brought his martial arts background and talent to this film and gave 200%. He was also the movie's fight choreographer. This means: sit up and watch!

This movie is 80% action, 5% comedy, and 15% heart-wrenching, tear-jerking tragedy. Be prepared to sit on the edge of your seat, and use up a box of kleenex.

Death.It's a living.
The story of The Crow begins when a rock'n'roll guitarist named Eric Draven along with his fiancee,Shelly Webster were brutally murdered by T-bird's gang.
However,one year after their death,Eric returns from the dead and tries to find out about the murder of himself and the love of his life.The Crow is a very romantic,action,battle story fill with a great historical event that Eric,the undead hero must solve with a police officer and a young kid from the streets.This is for Dar and Tao from Sarah:Dar and Tao.Together forever.

The Crow- A Comic Book Treasure Brought to Life
The Crow is based on the dark comic series by James O'Barr. The film was directed by Alex Proyas who later made Dark City and the upcoming feature I, Robot, which is due out July 16, 2004. The Crow is a stunning film, its visuals are dazzling. This film of course is always remembered for the sad and unfortunate death of Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Brandon Lee had emerged and stunned us with this great performance and if he had lived he could have had a promising and grand career as an action star.
Brandon Lee plays Eric Draven, a rock musician who is brutally murdered along with his fiancee. A year later he comes back to life by the powers of a crow and the crow guides him as he seeks revenge for those who took away his life. The movie does turn simply into a revenge flick, but it is a quite stunning one. This film features some great action sequences and Lee as I stated earlier gives a great performance. The film was released in 1994 and spawned two sequels, neither were as good as the original, infact the third went straight to video. Due to Lee's unfortunate death, the filmmakers were able to finish the film using digital technology by what they had filmed of Lee's performance so the film could be released. Proyas released the film to honor and in tribute of his death, some where upset by this but others think it was good of him. This is a great film and I'm pleased to say it is a part of my DVD collection.
The Crow is rated R for A Great Amount of Strong Violence, Language, Drug Use and Some Sexuality. The violence is pretty intense and some might be offended or upset by it, after it one can expect that considering this is a dark and gritty film. The violence includes the use of guns, knives, swords as well as fisticuffs. There's also use of profanity, most of which is strong, and some drug use. Overall a great movie and one which should be seen.

A truly dark masterpiece!
Brandon Lee plays Eric Draven in this story of revenge and justice. Eric Draven and his fiancee are alone on "Devil's Night" which has been named that because of the crime and arson that goes on in the city. Devil's Night takes place on the night before Halloween. Eric and his fiancee are interrupted by a group of thugs that rape and kill Eric's fiancee in front of him, and then proceed to kill him. Now the idea of The Crow is this; when a person dies, a crow carries their soul to the afterlife, but sometimes the crow will bring the person back for unfinished business. Guided by the crow, Draven returns to exact revenge on those responsible for the rape and murders, and he targets each and every person involved. He returns as a tortured soul, bent on revenge for taking the life that he and his fiancee Shelly wanted to live, a life that was taken from them for no reason.Along the way Eric is helped by Sargeant Albrecht, who is the only one who truly cared about bringing the killers to justice. Every time Eric kills one, the task at hand gets harder as he gets to the source of the evil.

This is a superb film, perfect in every way in my opinion. It is dark, graphic and I would even go so far to call this a true masterpiece of American cinema. Brandon Lee plays his role with a passion, truly giving the dark feel of this film and the message behind it. It really is a shame that he died, I think he would have been a great actor. But this is his legacy, and it is a great legacy to leave behind. I have not seen the 2 sequels yet, but I am fairly certain this is the best one. I encourage you to see this movie if you haven't already.

The dvd itself is packed with extras that take an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the film as well as other things. The movie really sounds great turned way up on a surround system, and the picture quality is great.I should also mention the soundtrack to the movie, which is one of the best I have ever heard. Seeing this will make you want to buy the soundtrack, it is just that cool. My only regret about this movie is that I didnt see it sooner. So I have given my opinion, and I really recommend that you see this movie. If it isn't considered one already, it will go down as a true classic in cinema for the rest of time. ... Read more

Reviews (102)

"Helmut? Oh, I got a helmut..."
Easy Rider is a truly landmark film in the true sense of the meaning of the term. Produced on a very low budget and set in the late 60's it was, in my opinion, the first movie to really capture a particularly interesting moment in time. While many films sort of used the notion of the late 60's, drugs, sex, rebellion, idealism, as a means to make money, this seemed really the first film to accurately reflect a realistic image of the time period with an unflinching eye.

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper play Wyatt, or Captain America, and Billy, two free type spirits who, after a making quite a bit of money through a sale of drugs, decide to hit the road and drive cross country to Mardi Gras. Along the way, they pick up George Hanson, a southern lawyer, played by Jack Nicholson.

While watching this movie, you may get a sense that it is sort of a western, with the western landscapes and the main characters riding 'iron' horses. This was the intention of the filmmakers, especially the director, Dennis Hopper. One of my favorite scenes was at the beginning, right before Wyatt and Billy are about to embark on their trip, Wyatt removes his watch and throws it on the ground. This symbolized a sense of throwing off the constraints of the old world and an effort to embrace true freedom, if there is such a thing.

Nicholson tends to steal the scenes he is in, and gives a particularly wonderful piece about what freedom is, and why people are so afraid of it. He sort of represented to me one who has been fed many misconceptions about the individuals and movement Wyatt and Billy represent, but once in their company, finds that much of what he has been told may not be true. A sort of individual caught between the generations.

The film is dated, but that didn't detract anything for me. The only scene I really didn't care for was when Wyatt, Billy, Mary (Toni Basil), and Karen (Karen Black) drop acid in a Louisiana cemetery and proceed to trip for an extended period of time.

Along with wonderful performances, much credit must go to the cinematographer, as the landscapes are beautiful, especially the wide shots of the western scenery. They are truly breathtaking. And the music used was exceptionally good, fitting each scene and helping to create the proper mood throughout the film.

The movie presented here looks excellent, in anamorphic wide screen, and includes a commentary by Dennis Hopper. Also included is a wonderful 'Making of' featurette called Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage which really helps to illustrate all that went into making this film. The production, at time, often reflected the turbulent times of when the film was made, and helps to give more flavor to the movie, really enhancing the overall effect. All in all, Easy Rider is a wonderful slice of outsider Hollywood that captured the true essence of an exceptionally turbulent time in America.

Wholly overrated
"Easy Rider" (1969)

"A classic...a great film for its day...everyone is sure to love it", those were the comments I had been hearing about Easy Rider before I rented it. I expected this movie to be great because it was called a counterculture classic and topped many people's lists of the best film of the 1960's. In my opinion, Easy Rider is a case of don't believe everything you read.

Sure, the movie has its good points. The music is fantastic. The songs are all very memorable and suit the road theme, styles of the film and the time in which it is set very well. Many of the songs of the movie have become classics since the films release. Easy Rider is also shot gorgeously, with heaps of great sunset shots and motorcycle journeys.

The performances in the movie are also very good. Jack Nicholson is the stand out as the innocent comic relief Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda meet when they go to jail. Nicholson deserved another Oscar for this role! Hopper clearly put a lot of effort into the film being a writer, director and lead actor, but his continuous "man's" and hippie references annoyed the heck out of me, as did his monologues about what he "sees" after he takes drugs. Peter Fonda was hailed as the leading actor of the movie but he really doesn't say that much and he has very little facial expression. His acting definitely got better.

There was also way too many drugs in this movie. In the film, this is basically the story: these 2 guys take drugs, encounter people, take drugs, make the people they encounter take drugs, take some drugs, sleep, take a couple more drugs, have sex, and then take drugs. And apparently this story is all about "freedom" according to Dennis Hopper. Yeah right. Also, Easy Rider doesn't present any ideas why or why not the characters should be doing this. Why are they doing it in the first place? Is taking drugs a way to make people free and express freedom? No. I found the use of drugs both pointless and excruciatingly unrealistic in this film.

So, the movie does have its good points - the cinematography, bikes and Jack Nicholson - but not enough to overcome the whole pointlessness of the entire production. This is one big disappointment for me, and I can't believe such a film that was hailed as a "classic" could be so banal and stupid.

MY GRADE: C-

The best portrait of a hopeless generation!
Dennis Hopper made a cathartic movie. I 've always recognized his talent as actor and film maker . He's an outsider artist , in all the sense of the expression.
This picture, is reflect of his own character. The tale about two renegades , every one of them trying of seeking his destiny, decide to make a journey (the mythical approach) to New Orleans Mardi Grass (evasion once more) , in his powerful motocycles .
This journey will allow Hopper to express the alienated existence of these guys and the people who surrounds in every point they decide to rest. The violence is free ; and you watch in the visual language of the people who simply don't accept their way of living , the way they dress ; they establish a spiritual rapport with that hippie community in the middle of the road, where the psichodelia images suggest you what's going on.
This film was a low budget . 394.000 bucks , but the script depicted as any other american film of its age the sense of going to nowhere abaout a generation tired of waiting for a change.
The increase dark shadows will cover the landscape and will carry to that magnificent and poetic ending.
I still have the original vynil soundtrack of this picture. If six was nine of Hendrix, Born to be wild and the Pusher of Steppenwolf , or the weight were emblemeatic songs of its age which reflected wise and sincerely , the expecatations of a generation just in the year in which the man reached a superb scientific and technological triumph in Jul 29 1969 .
In a certain way this outlaw couple behaves in similar terms that Butch Cassidy (Western) , Scarecrow (existential mood city) , Midnight cowboy (outsiders in New York).
May be the film age a bit but its descriptive script from its release became in a cult movie.!

Still an Important Film
Every reviewer who has commented on the dated-ness of this film is accurate. However, just because the film cannot be enjoyed in its original context does not mean that it cannot be enjoyed in another -- especially by people who did not live during or do not remember the late '60s. There are different battles to be fought, but the film is still pertinent in this current era of engaging the amorphous "war on terror" and its subsequent erosion of our civil rights, and the continued corporatization of America. Everybody who said that this film doesn't really have a plot is also accurate, but so what? The point isn't to give the viewer a story with a bunch of twists and turns, but to simply show the lives of two cultural rebels (who probably seem quite tame by contemporary standards) as they trek across the southwest to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. The cinematography is excellent, especially considering the age of the film and its budget. The acting is really good and Jack Nicholson gives one of the best performances of his long career. He would have completely stolen the show had his character's screen-time not been cut short.

Here's why the film is still important: despite there no longer being a widespread, vicious divide in the nation between people like Fonda and Hopper and mainstream America, the themes of the film (freedom, freedom of expression, and how some are more free than others) remain totally relevant and Fonda and Hopper's characters can be seen as even more iconic than they were in 1969, because now that they don't actually represent you or me (as they could in 1969) they achieve larger-than-life status.

The scenes at the commune may elicit confusion or even a giggle from younger members a contemporary audience, but hopefully these people will look a bit deeper than the long hair and the funny clothes to realize that these characters represented a very real subculture in the late '60s; a movement that not only decided that the ballooning consumer culture was eroding their freedoms, but who also decided to do something about it. How many people today would be brave enough leave behind most of their possessions and live off the land, to protect the values they hold dear? Virtually none.

"They're gonna make it," declares Fonda about the food-strapped commune, and in 1969 it was possible for this line to be legitimately optimistic and to have enough strength and resonance to encompass the entire countercultural movement. Today, we know that they didn't make it. What did America lose by Fonda, Hopper, Nicholson and the commune not making it? That is for the viewer to decide, and that is why the film remains very important. In its day, the tragedy that befalls Fonda and Hopper could have been intended as a rallying cry. Today, it is reason to pause for introspection on the larger issues: What is important to us? What has been taken away? How much have we willingly sold away? And, most importantly, what would we sacrifice to get it back?

Two for the road
Revolutionary in its time but appearing somewhat dated now, "Easy Rider" was the ultimate road trip: two bikers on a cross-country ride from the west coast to Mardi Gras in New Orleans after scoring big in a drug deal. Produced and directed by, and starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, and almost stolen by a then-unknown named Jack Nicholson playing a hippie lawyer, "Easy Rider" follows its two heroes across some of the most stunning scenery in the Southwest as they head towards Louisiana in search of "freedom", whatever that means. "Easy Rider" not only brings us two (or three, counting Nicholson) of society's dropouts, we also meet a community of hippies, some narrow-minded small-town lawmen, and some rednecks in Louisiana who seem to have a more-than-passing relationship to Neanderthals. We wonder if the film's perhaps unwitting message is that the search for meaningless "freedom" results in meaningless and wanton death and destruction. More than any film of its time, "Easy Rider" caught the mood of the late 1960s in America and the fear of the "establishment" for society's rebels. It may be of its own time, but its timeless rejection of mindless conformity echoes down to us. ... Read more

Reviews (76)

A tokin' cult classic
For those of you who grew up in the 70's, Cheech & Chong where the Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello of those times. Seeing this film in DVD is a joy, since I must have seen it on tape more than a 100 times, till it was unwatchable. Now, for the first time we can see the film in it's original panoramic (widescreen) format, and for those who saw it before on tape, you'll see all you've missed before. The copy is pristine clear, and it includes a load of deleted scenes, some actually funnier than what we saw on the original run of the film. Included on those missing scenes, is the infamous one featuring Harry Dean Stanton, who doesn't remember ever appearing in a Cheech & Chong film. Plus there is an audio commentary by Cheech himself and Lou Adler, the director, who prior to this, had never directed a film before. You'll be astonished to learn how much this film influenced other people, guys like Quentin Tarantino, for example, not to mention the numerous rock groups who grew up watching this guys and re-recorded their music. All in all, a real pleasure to discover this seminal gem from the 70's, given it's full use or advantage on DVD. If you saw this guys' films way back then, do yourself a favor, and get hold of this DVD. For those too young to remember them, but who heard of them from an older brother or "stoner" uncle, get hold of it and discover what kept us laughing during those daze, er, uh, days. Filmakers of today, take notice that films can be made without a million cuts per second and only with long continous shots.

Plot-Free Pot-Fest -- Big Whoop about Very Little!
Definitely DATED, this film has 70s "High Times" written all over it. These guys have not much more than "pot" on their brain. All jokes lead to the same subject...dope, man!

Cheech and Chong, already celebrated novelty song artists with several best-selling albums to their credit just had to take their "message" to the next level. "Up In Smoke" gave them plenty of exposure and secured a solid fandom. 25 years later, though, the laughs drop drastically on the dime-bag-scale.

When I was still in high school (and I didn't give in to the smoking of anything, then or now), I may have enjoyed this sort of nonsense more. As a middle aged intellectual, I can offer only a few tired smirks. Give me Laurel & Hardy instead!**

best stoner movie ever!
hello cheech and chong fans i may only be a teenager but i have been a fan for like 4 years now and this is the funniest movie i have ever seen might be the best comedy ever!.and if ypur going to order a cheech and chong movie get this one but if i were you and you had some money to spend buy all of them and all of there cd's.and im so glad chong is finaly out of prison and to all of you die hard c and c fans the new cheech and chong movie is going to start production in september chong and cheech were both on jay leno on july 9th so there back together for awhile. anyways dont get to high later.

THIS IS A PARODY, DON'T YOU PEOPLE GET IT?
This film does not advocate drug use, this film, and Cheech and Chong's act are parodies of people who do drugs. If anything it takes every stereo type of all kinds of drug users and makes fun of them. If you watch this movie again and think about what I have said you will actually think this film is even funnier than you did before. I have known most of these types of people and think this movie is halarious, one of the funniest films ever made and I do not do drugs.

ALL Pot and NO Plot makes this ONE DULL MOVIE!
Campy trip back to the smoky 70s. Definitely DATED, this film has "High Times" written all over it. These guys have not much more than "pot" on their brain. All jokes lead to the same subject...dope, man!

Cheech and Chong had already enjoyed celebrity as novelty song artists with several best-selling albums to their credit. This effort of "Smokin' Dope - The Movie" takes their "message" to the next level. "Up In Smoke" gave them plenty of exposure and secured a solid fandom. 25 years later, though, the laughs drop drastically on the dime-bag-scale.

When I was still in high school (and I didn't give in to the smoking of anything, then or now), I may have enjoyed this sort of nonsense more. As a middle aged intellectual, I can offer only a few tired smirks. Give me Laurel & Hardy instead!** ... Read more

Amazon.com

When car nut and aspiring B movie maverick H.B. "Toby" Halicki released his debut film, he gave top billing to his car, a yellow 1973 Ford Mustang named Eleanor. That's a good indication of Halicki's priorities in the original car-crunching, tire-squealing drive-in classic Gone in 60 Seconds. Halicki wrote, produced, starred, and did all of his own extraordinary stunt driving in the picture, the story of a career car thief who makes a deal to steal 48 cars for an overseas smuggler. OK, it's not Shakespeare. The plot is perfunctory at best, and Halicki's all thumbs when it comes to directing his wooden cast, but he gives a crash course in the mechanics of the car-theft biz and tops it off with one of the greatest car chases of all time: a 40-minute finale that roars through five Los Angeles-basin towns and destroys 93 cars in the process. It's a masterpiece of stunt driving, down-and-dirty photography, and sharp, furious cutting; the unsung hero of the picture is editor Warner Leighton, who paces the film perfectly and never lets it stall. Forget the messy Nicolas Cage in-name-only remake, this is outlaw auto cinema at its purest, and it's never looked better than in this newly restored edition with a revved-up sound design and an entirely new (rather generic) score.

The 25th Anniversary DVD also features an introduction by Denise Halicki (the director's widow); laid-back commentary by Leighton and cinematographer Jack Vacek that foregrounds Halicki's seat-of-the-pants filmmaking style; interviews with Parnelli Jones, J.C. Agajanian, and stunt driver Bobby Ore (all of whom appear in the film) and former Ford honcho Lee Iacocca; two cut scenes; unused driving footage; and 300 stills. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (53)

The end all and be all of car chase movies
Gone does not pretend to be anything other than a car chase movie. The plot, such as it is, is purely a set-up for the 40-minute sequence that destroys (at least) 93 cars. Whatever anyone thinks about the non-chase parts of the film, the brilliantly-edited pursuit is well worth the wait. Not only does it stand up to the 2000 remake, Mr. Halicki's masterwork does not suffer in comparison to accepted classics such as Bullitt, The French Connection, or Ronin. The new soundtrack, by itself, is professional and supports the action quite well. While I, as well as other Gone cultists, miss the original music, the re-issue should not be faulted for its omission.

I liked it more than I thought
After learning that the 2000 movie was actually a remake of a 1974 movie, I got the bug to watch the original. I had a hard time finding it.

I read some reviews that said to skip this 25th anniversary edition and watch the original Media VHS release. I was lucky enough to get my hands on both this weekend.

I liked this movie much better than I thought I would. True, the real highlight is the car chase, everything else is just filler, but it was still a fun movie.

I've read complaints about the remastered anniversary edition available on this DVD. Let me say that after watching both versions, this DVD has a much better, cleaner picture than the old VHS tape. The sound wasn't bad either. My only beef with the anniversary edition was the new soundtrack, everything else was just fine. The anniversary edition on DVD features a generic new pop synth soundtrack. Most of the time, I really wasn't listening to it. But, if you are going to have those 70's hair styles, sunglasses, clothes and sideburns, why mess with the 1970's music? Yes, it was dated, but the music went along with the movie and added to at least a couple scenes.

The original soundtrack should have at least been an available option as an alternate version to watch, even if it was recorded in mono. If that had been done, I'd have given it another star.

As is, it's not bad. The music is a little distracting because it doesn't go at all with the rest of the movie, but if you can get past that annoyance, this DVD is certainly watchable.

It left me wanting an old Mustang.

greatest car chase ever!!!
Just sit back and let H.B. Halicki entertain you. this gives all car chase's a standard to live up to. and the Extras are very interesting as well. this just goes to show that holywood is out of ideas and tried to atempt to remake a trend setter with a big name actor and failed. do yourself a favor and watch this the " origanal"

Decided never to watch it ever again in under 0.60 second's
This movie is terrible. It reminded me of the bad acting you see in a porno movie, I kept expecting the twangy music to start playing and people to start striiping off and getting it on! Thats how great there acting is!

I suppose if your a car lover, which im not, then this movie would be of intrest, but to me, it was a porno movie without any nudity! It was shockingly bad acting! The remake might have had better actors and a plot, but even that one didnt intrest me.

If your into cars and like to see them on screen going fast? then youll probably love the movie, if your like me and thats not your fancey, then youll agree with this.

Gone in 60 Seconds - Re-issue comments
This DVD is a great reissue of the original movie. The widescreen feature is a nice touch, as well as the digital re-mastering of the video. Very nice job! My only negative comments are the lack of the original soundtrack, featuring songs by Phil Kachaturian. A sort of B-grade "suspense" background track was added, which sort of reminds you of the cheesey old karate movies. Sadly, an important dimension was lost from the film by deleting the original music, especially in the scene with Pumpkin in the office alone, waiting for her man to return..(check out the original movie to compare..). The commentary feature is nice and full of cool trivia, but it too fails to mention anything about the original songs. Another bit of information that would have been a great addition, would have been current interviews with the old cast members, as a sort of follow-up as to their current where-abouts. Other than those few points, the movie is great and a trip down memory lane. Enjoy! ... Read more

Reviews (39)

Decent (not great) presentation of drive-in classic
Of course, if you're reading this, you probably already know that "Shaft" is an above-average blaxploitation flick with Richard Roundree as a private detective hired to track down a Harlem gang boss' missing daughter. With dialogue like "You got problems, Shaft?" "Yeah, two of 'em. I was born black and I was born poor." you really can't lose.

So on with the DVD. The film itself is nicely letterboxed (I think for the first time), and while it's not made from the greatest print (there are a couple scratches), it's a perfectly acceptable presentation.

Extras include trailers for all three Shaft flicks . This is great--I wish Warner had done the same with their "Dirty Harry" DVD. (They did with the VHS version.) There's also a 1971-produced short "Making of" film and the option to view the movie in French (a surreal experience, to be sure.)

The cast and crew bios, however, are pretty meager, offering only a relatively complete portrait of Richard Roundtree. Where's Moses Gunn? Or Gordon Parks? The "Awards" option is pretty worthless as well, showing that the movie won the Oscar for "Best Original Song."

Oh, yes, and there's no commentary track with Director Parks as is described on the Amazon site. Forgivably, it's not mentioned on the DVD box, so this is probably just something that didn't pan out at the last minute.

It's still lots of fun, but not what it could have been.

A Winner!
This is the genuine original "Shaft" from 1971, with Richard Roundtree, that scored so well with inner-city (read: African-American) audiences that it spawned two sequels and created a new mini-genre, the grudgingly titled "Blaxploitation" films. As a kid living in a rural white area at the time, I missed this important and popular movie until I saw it last week in my VCR. And you know what? It's good.

Shaft is a private investigator who is hired by a local crime boss to find his beautiful, vulnerable daughter, who has been kidnapped by a rival ring from New Jersey. This is no small potatoes: a major drug war could break out between Jersey and Harlem if the problem isn't resolved soon. By the way, someone goes crashing through Shaft's very high office window in his presence, so Shaft has to bargain and barter with his only sympathetic contact in the NYPD to keep from being arrested on a murder charge. Shaft has to work on his own, under cover, without most of the advantages the police enjoy.

The performances in this film are wonderful. It shows how shamefully Hollywood has ignored black talent that actors the caliber of Moses Gunn didn't get steady work, and the situation is only marginally better today. The talent brings conviction to a gangster plot line that is really just an update of 1930s material, minimizing its formulaic quality and keeping it fresh. There are also sharp points made about the realities of urban black life. Example: A taxicab pauses, then zooms by well-dressed Shaft, only to stop 50 feet up the street to pick up a similarly dressed white guy. It's stuff like this that raises "Shaft" well above the movie-of-the-week level that infects so many routine and direct-to-video films.

I think that time may have actually improved "Shaft." The violence is just violence. Shooting a gun is just that, not an invitation to buckets of blood. A car crash is a car crash, not a fireball. One thing the writers or producers seem a little conflicted about is the level of swearing: a character will say "[bad]" in one sentence, use the s-word in the next, then revert to "[bad]" Ditto those well-worn terms about fornication. Well, 1971 was a confusing time.

For a generation raised on Joe Fridays, Shaft is quite an interesting character, a handsome leather-clad James Bond without all the high-tech gadgetry. He has a nice apartment and a loving wife, but he also keeps a sleek, tasteful bachelor pad that Hugh Hefner might envy. He must be quite the successful P.I.! I suppose this bit of fantasy was meant to serve as relief to the gritty urban drama played out on the streets. At any rate, I didn't mind it. If you're sitting on the fence about this movie, buy the tape; it's quite cheap.

The original
Gordon Parks created a sensation in Shaft with an ultracool performance by Richard Roundtree who went onto to do several films in this series. However none holds up as well as does the first film, which plays just as well today as it did in the 70's. Shaft was the quintessential rogue cop, taking orders from no one and tracking down the crooks no matter where they hid in the city. But what really makes this movie work is the feel Parks has for New York, capturing the quality of the inner city like few others have been able to do. One is carried along on the hip soundtrack by Isaac Hayes, taking in the mean streets of Harlem as Shaft fights both the corrupt police force and the underworld. Always one to do it his own way.

The mob wanted Harlem back. They got shaft...up to here.
That title is the films original tagline...and they got the shaft allright!

Shaft is a great 70's urban classic. The film is beautifully photographed and staged. The atmospheric camera work captures the streets of New York, always keeping the look of the film harsh and cold. The color scheme is typical 70's muted with acidic contrasts, but at the same time uses a number of blue tinges, especially in the outdoors, to suggest the cold environment the people are facing.

The DVD is presented in the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio as well as an open matte (fullscreen) transfer that adds some picture information at the top and the bottom of the screen. The transfers look pretty darned good for a 1971 flick. Audio is presented in the film's original monaural track and is fairly weak, though acceptable.

The DVD features includes a bonus documentary "Filming Shaft on Location", three trailers and cast biographies.

You gotta love Shaft & Richard Rountree. A great flick and a great DVD.

THE BEST OF THE BLAXPLOITATION FILMS
PERHAPS THE BEST BLAXPLOITATION FILM OF THEM ALL. JOHN SHAFT [RICHARD ROUNDTREE] IS HIRED TO INVESTIGATE THE KIDNAPPING OF A GANG LORD'S DAUGHTER. VERY INTERESTING MOVIE WIH LOTS OF GREAT MUSIC. THE FILM ALSO HAS A SHARP SENSE OF HUMOR. FOR A FUN TIME, CHECK OUT THIS CLASSIC 1971 ACTIONER. ISSAC HAYES WON AN OSCAR FOR THE SHAFT THEME SONG. FOLLOWED BY TWO SEQUELS, A TV SERIES, AND WAS REMADE [SORT OF] IN 2000. ... Read more

Reviews (68)

Billy Jack is back, but the DVD does lack...
I'm not sure I was even in school when this film came out, but I remember seeing it in the theater and several times in syndicated re-runs. As a young girls, I thought Billy Jack was cute and I nursed my secret crush through all of his films. This movie is a look at a time where people were grappling with society and social responsibility. At the time, it may have seemed to stir up questions, but now, it is a nostalgic look at a time that was to self-involved to understand the situation it was in. Now its funny to watch, in the manner that it deals with the conflict of pacifist teens looking for identity and the good 'ol boys of the past. The fight scenes are tame by today's standards, but are still entertaining. How many action heroes today have the elaborate precurser to a fight like Billy Jack's removing of his boots?
The negative aspect of this DVD is that it is merely a DVD version of the VHS. The only benefit is that you can advance by scene. No trailers, no news clips or interviews. This is a shame since the DVD medium allows for so much more, and especially since there has been recent revisiting of Tom Laughlin and the Billy Jack story by the E! cable channel. Recently, I was in the store and saw a Billy Jack set which had all three movies in it. It claimed to have additional footage. So, I would recommend looking for an alternate version before purchasing this. For my disappointment in the DVD, I'm giving this a 3 star rating.

Not as naive a movie as you might think
This film captures the ideals of racial equality of the late 60s tempered by the realities of living in America in a waning civil-rights era of the early 70s.

Billy Jack returns to the reservation after a tour in Vietnam to find tension between the students of the Native "Freedom School" and the local townspeople. Some townspeople are motivated by fear and distrust, others buy old-fashioned racism. Billy Jack defends the students of the Freedom school, violently if need be.

The hippie, anti-racism/fascism message is not subtle. However, the answer to the world's problems does not lie in the simple "love one another" mantra of the the peace movement. Billy Jack gets respect and some degree of safety for the students at the Freedom school only by kicking the racist antagonists in the face.

At the same time, taken too far, a confrontational approach doesn't make it all better..even if you have the moral authority. Billy Jack finds this out as he is surrounded by the authorities, wounded and bleeding to death in a shack. It takes courage to fight back, and it takes just as much to realize that black and white responses to life's challenges do not amount to functional solutions to those problems.

As stated in some reviews of this movie, some of the acting and music leave much to be desired. However, we know that in real life people don't act as emotionally convincing as actors portray them, and the bad hippie songs actually make the movie believable. The improv-theatre scenes are a bit corny, but honest and quite amusing. A few are excellent, actually.

The movie is honest about violence, race, and sexuality. I think it would be viewed as politically incorrect today, in spite of its hippie message.

The opening scene where wild mustangs are coralled against the visual backdrop of a Southwest canyon and the musical background of Coven's anti-war anthem is quite moving. A very beautiful movie, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

Admirably Violent Non-Violence
Any film whose main thread is that it takes an extremely violent advocate of non-violence to truly protect the non-violent, immediately has my full attention and respect. If I could have only been around in the early seventies to watch hordes of stringy-haired American middle to upper class youth cheer, in all seriousness, a denim-clad white guy kicking the living hell out of (and in some cases even kill) anyone who doesn't practice the appropriate level of peace and understanding, I would have truly been in heaven. This movie and it's enduring popularity have confirmed what I have always suspected: disagree with a pacifist and they would like nothing more than to place your head on a pike.

If a person could have jammed anymore sixties clichés into an hour and a half, I'd like to watch their movie, too. Leading the pack would be the connection to "Indians", followed by ear-ringing singalongs at the school.....being bitten by rattlesnakes in a "purification process"....guerilla theater.......expressing yourself......"squares"......and on and on.

Jean is the lady that runs the school and, despite a notable lack of physical contact, is Billy Jack's lady. She is the good cop to his bad and spends a great deal of time doing one of two things: trying to talk Billy Jack out of collapsing your windpipe OR sneering with satisfaction once he actually does it. Jean's philosophy is plain and straightforward: there isn't a problem in the world that couldn't be solved in a peaceful manner if people would just love one another....and if that doesn't work, I'll un-cage Billy Jack and set him out to snapping your limbs like twigs. She also has the most unusual set of sideburns I've ever seen in my life.

There's not been a movie made that I'd rather watch than this one. Buy it. Quickly.

For A 1971 Film It Still Makes The Grade
I love this movie the first time I saw it, and I still love it today. This movie portrays a time when racism was really rampant; when people were searching for meaning in their lives, and when people still believed that good might triumph over evil. Tom Laughlin turns in the performance of a lifetime in this film. I plan on checking out the other Billy Jack movies, but I doubt any will match up to this one. If any of you amazon.com reviewers can think of one, let me know, please.

God Bless! Happy movie watching and book reading everyone.

www.therunninggirl.com

Somewhat dated, but entertaining!
I watched this movie as a 10 year old and found it to be an awesome movie. Upon further review, I found that this movie lost some of it's touch. The movie seems dated with all the hippies walking around. But, Tom Laughin as Billy Jack makes the movie work. BTW, the original Billy Jack movie was "The Born Losers" back in 1967. It works! ... Read more

Description

Suspense as startling as a strangled scream! This is it, the defining motion picture in all of "film noir," written by Academy Award-nominee Martin Goldsmith (The Narrow Margin) and directed by legendary B-movie maker Edgar G. Ulmer (Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, The Black Cat). Tom Neal (The Brute Man, The Pride of the Yankees), handsome 1940's leading man, brings to thrilling life a down-on-his-luck nightclub performer who takes one wrong turn and picks up the meanest femme fatale in all of "noir," played to perfection by the incomparable Ann Savage (The Dark Horse, The Spider) in one of the most powerful and riveting performances ever recorded on celluloid. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Director Jack Hill, a protégé of the originalschlockmeister, Roger Corman, knew his way around a low budget and ashocking subject. Women-in-prison films were nothing new in 1971, butThe Big Doll House had it all--sex, violence, nudity, a sadisticguard, and a sexually frustrated warden--and served it up with anabundance of cheapjack energy and tongue-in-cheek humor. The beauty ofHill's movies lay in the way they could appeal not only to the hordeswho would go see them at drive-ins but also to the true trash-cinemafans who could appreciate his offbeat sensibilities. The plot is ratherhoary, with a new inmate discovering the corruption of the prison setup,complete with a drugged-out psycho, a cellmate informer, and a guardwho delights in torturing the women with poisonous snakes. The girlsput their heads together and begin to devise a way out of theirtropical hellhole, but not before disrobing several times and having aknock-down, drag-out fight in the muddy rice paddy where they're forcedto toil all day. The Big Doll House, like some of Hill'sother movies, was shot in the Philippines, with the cast and crew making upplot elements and dialogue in near-guerrilla filmmaking. Though theislands were a cheap place to produce movies in the '70s, the workingconditions were boot camp-like. Where The Big Doll House reallysucceeds is in its mix of titillation and action, a fast-pacedcombination that makes it one heck of a fun exploitation movie towatch. It's also worth noting that this movie gave the great Pam Grierher first real starring role; she would become a Jack Hill regularbefore moving on to more substantial roles. --Jerry Renshaw ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Big Doll House equels Big Fun
Wow....I just finished watching this movie and it is a real jem. Ladies in prison flicks are cool but this one takes the cake as far as campy goes. Here are some of the things you will experience if you watch this flick.
1. Tons of 70's babes with tight skimpy outfits on.
2. More babes with skimpy outfits on.
3. Homosexual prison gaurds
4. Homosexual prison warden
5. A Philipino Revolution
6. More 70's babes with tight outfits on.
7. A woman hanging by her ponytail as punishment for trying to escape
8. Mud wrestling
9. Crazed women inmates imprisoned in an cage with other crazy wild women (they act like animals....funny!)
10. Inmates who want to be "raped" by men, because they haven't "had any sex in a very long time".
11. More sex starved female inmates in tight outfits.....especially one very "hot blond babe" who begs for sex!!
I must admit this is by far the funniest and sickest movie I have seen in a long time. The plot centers around this band of revolutionaries who want to take over thier country by force. They come up with the crazy idea of breaking into an all "womens prison" and freeing the women who will help them with the revolution.(This is the first time I have ever seen anyone break "into" a prison.) Not much of what goes on makes any sence but it sure makes for one hell of a laugh riot. Roger Corman impressed me again. I have only seen one other Roger Corman movie "Bucket of Blood" and I have to admit that this film is stranger and funnier than "Bucket". As I was watching this film I kept asking myself "Is Roger Corman for real?... is he trying to be serious or trying to be funny?"....the script is a zany hoot and the film kept my attention all the way through. I recieved the VHS version and there was 2 spots where the audio did not sync up to the film, this error actually added to the wierdness of the flick. The entire movie had that "made for T.V" feel to it. There is some nudity and bad launguage but the contentnt is so bizzare and offbeat that it deserved a "R" rating. I highly recommned this film for the cinema nut who thinks he has seen it all. You will not be dissapointed!.....the highlight of the film is when halfway thru the movie you find out the prison guards and warden prefer men sexually over women...gay prison guards!!!!.....this twist in the scipt is just TOO FUNNY!!........buy it today....you will thank me!!

Judith Brown & Pam Grier!
What a combo. 'Ladies in Prison' movies is the best idea next to breast implants, and we all know Pammy don't need those. Nudity, violence, one liners, sex, and the great cat-fights. Pam is the star, but Judith don't take no back seat! When farmer man wants to feel Pam's melons through the bars, he get's more than what he bargained for. Talk about plowing. All these characters pop up again and again in the 'Pam Prison' series. SOmetimes she the prisoner, sometimes the warden, and sometimes the revolutionist. Why does every 'woman in prison' film have to have a revolution anyway??? Well no matter, Pam and Judith like I said are a pair that can't be beat!

Scantily Clad...and Behind Bars..!
A CLASSIC. Pam Grier is sublime.

A Fast-paced Exploitation Classic
While not the first or last of the so-called "women in prison" movies, The Big Doll House is certainly one of the best.

A fast-paced exploitation classic from the Lord of the Schlockmeisters, i.e., Roger Corman, The Big Doll House stars Judy Brown, who is taken to a remote island prison and meets fellow jailbirds Pam Grier (!), Brooke Mills and Roberta Collins; Grier and Collins seem to run the entire prison themselves, while Mills plays Harrad, a psycho junkie who makes an art out of hallucinating. Sid Haig is the dominating warden who uses poisonous local snakes to torture the inmates.

All in all, a tongue-in-cheek blend of sex, comedy and violence from a more creative time in American cinema.

The Big Bird Cage was next.

Pam Grier stars in a "Women in Prison" action film.
While any movie starring Pam Grier is worth watching, the Big Doll House is a particularly entertaining entry in the "Women in Prison" film genre. Produced by the great Roger Corman and filmed in the Philippines, this movie features all the violence, mayhem, and nudity one expects in a 70's "Girls Behind Bars" flick. It also has the added bonus of a great scene where Pam Grier and another woman fight it out in the mud of the rice fields (where the women are forced to toil). Don't miss it! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Abel Ferrara, the bad boy of American independent filmmaking, madehis first splash with this violent twist on Death Wish and therevenge-vigilante genre. Nastassja Kinski look-alike Zoë Tamerlis Lundstarsas a beautiful mute seamstress in New York's garment district, a shrinkingviolet who is brutally raped and assaulted not once but twice in the sameday. After dispatching the second predator in an adrenaline-driven rush ofpanic, she pockets his handgun and disposes of the body in small chunks.Tamerlis makes the most of her wordless role, her wide-eyed vulnerabilityhardening to a dead-eyed determination as she transforms from quivering victim to avenging dark angel, a one-woman vigilante force hunting pimps,perverts, sickos, and slimeballs and using herself as bait. Consider thisFerrara's Taxi Driver, a very different portrait of New York's meanstreets. Though this shot-on-the-cheap production occasionally suffers from amateurish performances in supporting roles, Ferrara's impeccable eye forcomposition and bravura sense of editing create momentum that carries itthrough to its memorable Halloween party finale. Tamerlis is decked outin a nun's habit with a slash of lipstick across her face, a handgun tucked in a garter, and a contract out on the entire male sex. It's a deliriouslyeffective exploitation thriller that undercuts every expectation of thegenre. Ferrara makes a cameo as the first attacker. Tamerlis latercowrote and costarred in Ferrara's most notorious production, BadLieutenant. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Not your typical feminist revenge film...
Abel Ferrara's second major film (after Driller Killer, also rereleased on DVD), which has just been released on DVD, is the controversial "Ms. 45." The picture transfer is well done, really crisp and clear...you couldn't tell it was made 20 years ago except by hairstyles and clothes. The sound is not the greatest; some parts are hardly audible. And, there are no extras at all in this edition; no trailers, commentary, interviews, nothing. But as for the movie itself, those who are into revenge films will find it a pleasant surprise.

The late Zoe Tamerlaine (who has an uncanny resemblance to Denise Richards) stars as Thana, a sexy mute woman, who is the victim of rape and burglary. She survives, killing one of the rapists. But she doesn't call the cops...she instead takes the dead rapist and starts sawing up his body, later disposed in garbage bags. She then takes his 45 caliber, and this is when the movies gets really crazy. Her world becomes very delusional, and Thana starts shooting guys out of paranoia. But progressively she becomes even more trigger happy, and starts to kill any guy who advances on her, even when he is posing no immediate threat to her. The movie climaxes with a very wild, bloody shootout. "Ms. 45" has been quoted as Ferrara's "Taxi Driver"; Ferrara's direction is a less-gritty Scorsese, displaying New York through funny dialogue and scenes. The movie will satisfy gorehounds, and it will keep the viewer interested in this gory black comedy from start to finish. "Ms. 45" has been banned in many countries, and it had to be cut to get an "R" rating. Ferrara's excellent direction is a huge accomplishment this being only his second major film, and it places "Ms. 45" much higher than other feminist revenge films (eg I spit on your grave). After watching this movie, you'll see where they got the idea for "American Psycho"...

Appreciating the late Zoe Tamerlis
Zoe Tamerlis (also known as Zoe Lund) died a few years back in Paris of an apparent drug overdose. Even though she'd never be a household name, the actress had a cult following in the States -- largely as a result of her debut film, Abel Ferrara's violent Ms. 45. Made when she was only seveteen, Ms. 45 stars Tamerlis as Thana, a young, mute woman who works in New York's garment district and spends her days suffering in forced silence as basically every male on the planet either propositions her or taunts her with sexist comments. (One of the film's more disturbing aspects isn't that not a single positive man makes an appearance but that the male ogres who do show up are all so believable and familiar.) One day, in a coincidence that points to the film's exploitation roots, Thana is raped twice by two different men in one day. After the second rape, the mute Thana finally asserts her independence by killing her attacker and from there, the film's plot shifts into high gear. Thana now starts to roam the streets of New York at night, deliberately enticing men and then, once they respond, gunning them down. In perhaps the film's most famous scene, Thana dresses up as a sexy nun and takes on a street gang. Anyway, Thana becomes progressively more and more unhinged (and since this is an Abel Ferrara film, the New York imagery becomes more and more surreal and Hellish) and goes from shooting just potential rapists to any man who crosses her path. While the plot may make this sound like just another exploitation flick, the film actually has a disturbing intensity to it that makes it, at times, quite disturbing to watch. Ferrara's direction, while stylized, is also far more realistic than most other exploitation films and Tamerlis's amazing performance keeps the film rooted in a very real sense of pain and danger. She is the center of the film and she plays every aspect of her character with such force and credibility that its hard not to get sucked into her fractured reality. And its a reality that stays with you long after the film is over.

The original Kill Bill (...well, sort of...) ?
Take the swordplay out of "Kill Bill" and add a heaping cup of creepiness and you've got Ms.45: a helluva flick about a woman done wrong --REALLY WRONG-- who gets so much revenge you'll be afraid to look almost any female in the eye. This is not a film about a relationship (as "Kill Bill" was) but rather a hardcore film about lonely vengeance. It a slowly maddening spiral into the private hell of the ultimate victim. On one hand it will leave you cheering for her (feels so good to see male sex monsters get what's coming to them) and on the other hand you will be left screaming innocent men to run for their frickin' lives! This is a great flick. The perfect female "Death Wish". It was captivating from start to finish. Sexy, disturbing, and wild-eyed. The fact that it is dripping with 70's styles and sounds and ambience just made it all the more surreal to me. If you want a simple movie with a deep complex terror that will leave it's mark right between your eyes, you gotta see "Ms.45"!

And you thought you were having a bad day
I am glad "Ms. 45" is back on the shelf, because for a long time it was hard to find, certainly up here in Canada. This film is superior to "Driller Killer" in every way except for the lead track. Nothing touches the live performance of Tony Coca Cola and the Roosters playing The Grand Street Stomp. It is quite obvious in "Ms. 45" that that is not the sound of a trumpet. Anyway, for those who don't dig this, you can't tell me you can diss it. This, his second film, is night and day between "Driller Killer". What an obvious improvement. I was hoping that the DVD wouldn't be Vanilla and have at least a directors commentary. "Driller Killer's" commentray is legendary. And while you could chalk this up as being the female version of "Death Wish" there are some elements here that make it a true horror flick. For all those who liked "Eating Raoul", this is a must see. Suspension of disbelief is an obvious exercise here, but you won't be disappointed with it if this is your thing. See if you can spot Michael Richards as one of the extras at the Halloween party.

Gritty, Grim Revenge Flick That Thrills
I still vividly remember director Abel Ferrara a decade after I watched "Bad Lieutenant," a devastating cinematic experience about an immoral New York City police officer (played with grim effectiveness by Harvey Keitel) spiraling downward into the depths of drug addiction. Unfortunately, that was one of the few Ferrara films I ever had the opportunity to watch until I recently picked up a DVD copy of "Ms. 45," a 1981 "revenge" film that both intrigues and disgusts its viewers. I should say right here in the beginning that this Image Entertainment version of the film is slightly trimmed in several places, most notably at the end when one of the shooting victims takes a bullet off camera. Why they cut this small piece of the movie is beyond me, especially when they left in most of the other violent killings. Who can say why distributors do what they do, but in a movie like this that delivers plenty of shocks that didn't end up on the editing room floor, cutting anything out of it is unnecessary and annoying. Perhaps another DVD company will release a special edition version of "Ms. 45" with an uncut transfer of the film.

"Ms. 45" tells the story of Thana, a mute young woman who works in a clothing shop in New York City. Despite her disability, a disability that her male boss seems to remind her of every chance he gets, Thana does have a one thing going for her; she's pretty to the point of spectacular, although in the beginning of the film her natural shyness and tendency to hover in the background away from her co-workers obscures her looks. Life for this young seamstress looks like it will be a series of uneventful occurrences until the day two attackers rape her. These unfortunate, and to be frank, unlikely incidents cause something inside of Thana to snap. She kills one of her attackers in her apartment and promptly dismembers his body, remembering to take his .45 pistol in the process. What follows is a rampage through the streets of the city, as Thana guns down in cold blood any man who has the temerity to hit on her or annoy her in any way. She murders, by turns, a pimp, an insufferable photographer, several gang members, an Arab sheikh and his chauffer, a guy she meets in a bar, and many other gentlemen who are definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. A curious thing happens to our anti-heroine as she embarks on her bloody sprees: she begins to blossom into full beauty. Thana dresses up, puts on make up, and casts fetching come hither looks at potential victims before the bullets start flying.

A big round of applause must go to Zoe Lund, the actress who played the Thana character. Certainly, a script that calls for the lead performer to play a mute must rely on something other than dialogue to propel the movie, and Lund fills the role to a tee with her wonderfully expressive face and doe like eyes. Her silent screams of anguish during the opening rape sequences convey the horror of the situation as well as, if not better than, using vocalized expressions of agony. Lund's transformation into a sexy angel of death is also intriguing to watch. It is quite unfortunate this actress died a few years ago, and even more regrettable that she didn't star in more films. Yes, she's that interesting to watch.

"Ms. 45" definitely falls in that loveable 1970s and early 1980s sub genre known as the "revenge" movie. The body count in this movie easily stacks up with anything Charles Bronson produced in his "Death Wish" franchise (with the possible exception of "Death Wish 3"). Ferrara doesn't take the usual route with this film, however, since he fills his picture with plenty of religious and gender imagery. For example, pay attention to the closing sequences of the film, when Thana goes on a rampage at a party. Obviously, her costume for the party is symbolic, but also pay attention to how the lady behind her holds the knife. I could take the opportunity here to present some sort of grand explanation or synthesis of what all of these symbols mean in the context of the movie, but I won't because I don't really know how they all fit together. I do know Ferrara takes his religion seriously (see "Bad Lieutenant," mentioned above), but the spiritual imagery in "Ms. 45" isn't as obvious as it is in the later 1992 Keitel film. The Ferrara canon, if these two films are any indication, cry out for a budding film student with an eye towards writing a master's thesis or dissertation.

The DVD version from Image Entertainment falls squarely into the mediocre category. There are no extras for the film: no trailers, no commentaries, no production stills, no cast interviews, and no television spots. The only thing you will find here is a menu screen. At least the transfer quality of the film more than makes up for these shortfalls, as the picture looks great for such a low budget production. The soundtrack really works well with the movie, too. Abel Ferrara continues to direct films, but he may never approach the visceral impact of "Ms. 45." If you enjoy films in the vein of "Death Wish," this winner is definitely up your alley. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

It's a great film
I love the Dolemite movies, which is quite possibly the greatest duo of films ever made. I'll never in my life forget the kung-fu action scenes and a naked Rudy Ray Moore rolling down a grassy hill in "The Human Tornado." These movies should be viewed every man, woman and child to walk the earth...they are truly an experience like no other.

The Kung-Fu is worth the purchase price alone!!!
Don't believe the fools who doubt Rudy Ray Moore!!! How can people look at the Dolemite movies seriously? The opening credits are printed on his GIANT JAMES-BROWN-STYLE CAPE!! You'll never enjoy the sensory overload and outright absurdity of these movies if you try to THINK about them. Just have a six-pack and a few smart-mouthed friends around when you watch it.

Nothing beats Dolemite's , jokin', hustlin' kung-fu ways. NOTHING!!! Step off, Batman!!!

I quote the man himself when I say: "Man, move over and let me pass, 'fore they has to be pullin' these Hush-Puppies out your ...!!"

My brother MADE me watch this, and I'm a changed man.

Dolemite's back!
Ok, last time we caught up with the godfather of rap he beat willie green and crooked politicans in a brilliant film. This time I'm affraid, Rudy Ray Moore fumbles. The Human Tornando succumbs to the sequel disease of being worse than the first one. It's not horrible it's a very good movie, but it tries to be to formulatic , it wants to be as good as the first one and use sub-plots resembly the first one.

The plot line, Dolemite leaves California behind and is somewhere in the south when he is caught with the sherrif's wife and jumps off a hill naked. The sherrif is pursuing him across the nation as dolemite puts his nightclub act on the go. He makes it back to Cali. and finds Queen Bee in some hot water with nightclub competiors, and Dolemite comes to the rescue. The movie's not horrible, but not as good as the 1st. It sometimes is choppy, hard to follow, and complete nonsense ( even more than in the original) Dolemite saves the day of course but a weird ending leaves you wanting a bit more well enough to leave on a high point. Remember the first had witty comebacks, and two rap songs performed you'll be lucky to catch him even run into rhyme this time. All in all this was good, close but no cigar.

Big time disapointed
I just loved the 1st one but the sequel was just too slow, not very funny and had lost it's charm. It just has a few memorable scenes.

A Dolemite Fan
Although the characters in this movie and other Dolemite movies
are a little rusty with their acting, I can't help but watch
these movies over and over again. The movie hits with the
rest of the top-rated movies of that era. ... Read more

Amazon.com

After the success of the wicked little sci-fi satire Death Race2000, producer Roger Corman quickly recast David Carradine, this time as arebel warrior in the year 3000 paired with B-movie vixen Claudia Jennings. Theresulting mix of barbarians and bikers lacks the inspired humor and satiricaltwist of its inspiration, but it works just fine as a drive-in action pictureabout gladiators on motorcycles and bug-eyed mutant cannibals in second-ratemakeup. Carradine gets to go all kung-fu and Jennings bares all in completelygratuitous (and frankly bewildering) torture scenes, and for all their New-Ageyphilosophy mumbo jumbo, they rise to the occasion in the gladiator ring (thedeathsport of the title), where they pack in enough cycle stunts and fierycrashes to please an exploitation junkie. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Better than Kill Bill!!! Carradines best work!!!
Oh man. My friends and I went to Blockbuster to look for movies, and saw this movie. The cover looked totally tremendously spectacular! it was like.. omfg it owns the matrix special effect. The motorcycles were totally cool looking, and theyr swords are SO AWESOME, CUS THEY WERE CLEAR!. and oh man, i love how they recycle scenes over and over and put funny buzzing noises everytime the awesome motorcycles roll bye. The BEST, AND I MEAN BEST PART about this movie is when the girl gets naked in the torture chamber omg, my friends mom came in while we were watching, and we changed it right away, but thats another story. HAHA OMFG, THIS MOVIE IS AWESOME, the girl is hot too! and i love their ray guns, where whatever they shoot just dissapears, i also love how things explode for no reason. Yeah thats about it. A+!! I REALLY SUGGEST YOU BUY THIS MOVIE!... lol oh man... their swords... are... GREAT.

Death Sport
Entertaining cheerful low budget crap, that is strangely less dated than the bile of sword & sorcery films that came in the next decade.
Looking at this film now it is basically an adult version of Battlestar Gallatica, with violence and female nudity
David Carradine sleepwalks through this and he is still superb.
However this not in the same league as the brilliant satire DeathRace 2000. Still it's fun to see films like this, that would
not have a pray of being made in this day and age.

Post-apocalyptic World of the DeathSport
Death Sport is one of my favorite films. It is the best of the post-apocalyptic action genre which, sadly, with the fall of the Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union has seen its heyday. No one has done it better than Roger Corman. David Carradine, a free and independent "guide," exhibits a cold-blooded and deadly swordsmanship showing no mercy to the "enforcers," a uniformed, motorcycle-riding force of "state-men," the conformist and totalitarian-ruled city-dwellers of the future "after the neutron wars." Claudia Jennings co-stars as a warrior equal in prowess to Carradine and equally deadly to the "enforcers." Richard Lynch is superb as a renegade "guide" who joins the "enforcers" and leads them in their evil plans to capture enough "guides" to hold the Death Sport, a gladiator-like motorcycle combat in which the "enforcers" hope to prove the superiority of the "Death Machine" over the swordsmanship of the "guides." It's the details that make this movie so different. Carradine cleaning the blood from his sword on his cape, the sound-effect when he skewers an "enforcer," the short screams of the "enforcers" when they see imminent death in the upraised swords of Carradine or Jennings, or get vaporized by a "Death Machine," and the whole cold, death-embracing world created in the film. I find myself strangely attracted to this world in which I wouldn't last my first encounter with an "enforcer." Finally, Jerry Garcia did electric guitar-work on the soundtrack. The special features don't match the DVD case - there is no eight page booklet of an interview with Roger Corman - but I didn't buy this DVD for the interview.

Best Movie Ever
Death Sport is the greatest movie ever made. It was on clearance ...and although i own 100,000 copies i couldnt resist so i bought it. the movie has some great action scenes all leading up to the final duel between some guy and another guy who looks like chuck norris. In one scene you can actually see a rope connected to the stuntman. Also scenes are used over and over just with different noises. there is some great machines in the movie such as a scooter painted silver made to be a motorcycle. this movie shows that with the trillions of dollars it costed to make it the movie was great

Death Sport, Death Machines -- How about Brain Death
With this kind of movie you know three things are going to happen: (1) lots of explosions, (2) naked women, (3) none of it will make sense.

As mentioned by another reviewer, most of the "action" is seeing a bunch of motorcycles being driven around fields, rocks, and something that appears to be borrowed from a monster truck rally.

The climatic swordfight has only one good choreographed move, when Moor does a nice somersault kick--too bad Oshay forgot to react. Almost the entire sword fight is filmed really close-up so you don't see them actually hitting the swords together, just swinging elbows. Of course, since the "crystal" swords are clear plastic, they would have broken on the first hit.

If you really want to see this movie, wait until you can rent it for free at your local video store. Should you get the VHS or DVD? With a movie as lousy as this, does it really matter? ... Read more

Amazon.com

Angie Dickinson stars as a bank-robbing matriarch in this 1974Roger Corman production, often described as a knock-off of Bonnie and Clyde. (As if that makes any difference regarding the worth of the film--which ispretty good.) Set in Great Depression-era Texas, the story finds Dickinson's desirable and poor character driven to crime, along with her twodaughters (Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee), all of whom use sex to distract or drivemen into culpability. The film, directed by Steve Carver, is pure Cormanformula: fast-moving, violent, gritty, adorned with nudity, and yet solidly trueto its own sense of high drama and texture. Veteran Angie Dickinson brings solid acting chops (and a great bod on display) to the enterprise--and speaking of Enterprise, William Shatner is quite memorable (as is TomSkerritt) as one of the gentlemen who fall under the antiheroine's sway. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Times change
I watched this movie in the seventies when it came out and it seemed very, very racy. Now its pretty calm stuff with no more nudity than any contemorary flick. Still good, especially if you are an Angie Dickinson fan. The young girls add some heat but the nudity is brief.

What the #%*@? Only for low IQ individuals!
Friends! How can anyone give this more than one star?? This movie is a piece of crap!!! Wake up, get a life, and see about finishing high school!

Cheap exploitative campy trash, BUT....
Yes, this movie is cheap, exploitative campy trash, with a forgettable nonsensical comedy/ violence plot and poor acting by almost every actor/ actress in the movie,

BUT,
the superb performance and presence of Angie Dickenson make this a must-see movie!
Angie was 43 when the movie was made, and the actress playing her "teenage" daughter Billy Jean was 29! I can't find an age for the actress playing Polly, even on IMDB.

It's Good Trashy Fun and We get to see What all the....
Hullabaloo was about Angie Dickinson in one of her best nude scenes.

This movie has few redemming social values, other than it's shot pretty good, and it has a weak plot and some beautiful women, including a former supporting actress from "Eight is Enough," Ms. Dickinson, and even "Captain Kirk." But, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good period campy movie...

A must for Angie fans
Apart from perhaps Dressed to Kill, this is Angie Dickinson's finest moment on film. A satisfying mix of humor, suspense, drama, and touching at moments. Of course, there is also plenty of flesh, including from Angie herself. A classic. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Part One
"The Final Programme" is an adaptation of Michael Moorcock's first book in the Jerry Cornelius series. Like Elric, the Jerry Cornelius stories, an epic in themselves, comprise a subset of his Eternal Champion epic, inspired in part by Jungian psychology and the theories of Joseph Campbell. Of all of Moorcock's books, the Jerry Cornelius stories are the most experimental and are by far those which lend themselves the least to movie adaptation.

Robert Fuest, who was a set designer and director of the Avengers TV series and the Dr. Phibes movies, makes an admirable, and visually entertaining, attempt at adapting the first novel, however what he creates is ultimately flawed. This is most noticeable in the ending (which I won't spoil) which comes off as purely pretentious camp in the film, although it works well in the novel.

One of the things which makes the Jerry Cornelius series most interesting is that each novel takes place in a slightly different world with slightly different characters with similar names, reliving the same dramas over and over again. For example, there is the love triangle between Jerry and his brother and their sister, which is barely developed in the movie, perhaps for censorship reasons. As you progress through each book, the themes become reinforced and the series' exploration of archetypes becomes stronger. The love triangle, for example, becomes more profound and takes on mythic tones, like the legends of Osiris, Isis and Anubis. By adapting only the first novel, the movie loses most of its impact and its focus on the themes in the novel becomes quite surface. So instead of an amazing intellectual journey, you instead get what appears to be an especially campy, bizarre and racey episode of the Avengers, with secret agents and spies in fancy dress racing to retrieve a mysterious microchip in a psychedelic and decadent age.

Another weakness of the movie is that it gives only a bare glimpse at the End of the World, something that is wonderfully portrayed (in different manners) in each of the Cornelius books. The largest indication of the movie taking place at the end of the world is a speech about the approaching end of the current Yuga (or "age"). However, it is preferable that the movie is a bit too subtle in this regard instead of hitting you over the head with it.

Someone who has read the Cornelius books will likely have greater appreciation for this film than others, recognizing what it accomplishes in attempting to adapt an impossible to film book. But all should find at least the first half an enjoyable trip with great, creative visuals and avant garde late 1960s fashion and architecture.

Better than I expected
I had read Michael Moorcock's somewhat scathing comments on this movie and its history. Jon Finch was a friend of Moorcock's and he also knew some of the other actors -- it has a superb cast including Hugh Griffiths, George Chakaris, Jenny Runacre, Sterling Hayden. According to Moorcock the only thing wrong with the film (produced by Putnam and Leiberson who had just done Performance -- Jagger turned the Cornelius part down as being 'too freaky') was the director, who came in after the success with EMI of his Doctor Phibes movies. Fuest certainly didn't rise to glory after this and seems to have disappeared almost entirely. Moorcock claimed the director had 'reversed' much of his attack and added sexism whereas Moorcock was celebrating gender bending. For all that, there are some fine performances and some great comic scenes, with Finch and Co. coming in to their own as, according to Moorcock's account, they gradually took charge of the picture. Jerry starts out as a sort of freaky James Bond, but by the middle of the picture is playing it far more for laughs (and a lot better than The Spy Who Shagged Me!). Still well worth watching, if only for its incredible list of British and American repertory movie actors giving their baffled best. Moorcock's piece also notes Chakaris coming up to him 'Young man, young man -- what is this film all about ?' By this time Moorcock had no idea himself. "I don't know," he said. "Ah, there you are," said Chakaris triumphantly, "the author doesn't know what it's about, either.' Really, if you want the full strength of what this could have delivered, you need to read the new Cornelius Quartet, just out from Four Walls, Eight Windows -- this first was always the weakest -- but would have been so much better with a director who understood its targets. The relative failure of this movie meant that the other Cornelius movies, optioned to Goodtimes, never got made. Imagine The English Assassin as a movie -- or better still The Condition of Muzak. Someone should start thinking about a good remake...

"A very tastey world!"
What can you say about a film that, opening scene onwards, you either love or loathe? It's fantastically dated, and that's what makes it fantastic. From the London Red-Bus Movie music, the bizarro pseudo-science, the biting dialogue, and the (almost) Cast of Thousands, "Final Programme" is one of my favorite films ever. I've almost worn out my copy.

The plot's incidental, but what the hey? Jerry Cornelius (Jon Finch) is a Nobel Laureate living on Bell's scotch, pills, and chocolate digestives in a chaotic world where Trafalgar Square is a vast dump, arms dealers operate in basements across from the National Gallery, and Amsterdam's now "25 square miles of white ash--for once the Americans got it right." Jerry's dad, mad-scientist and founder of the Cornelius line, was working on something weird in Lapland when he died, but that's not Jerry's problem now. He's more worried about his crazy brother Frank (the wonderful Derek O'Connor), who is holding their sister Catherine hostage in the Family Manse and is, if possible, more strung out than Jerry.

But Lapland returns to haunt him in the form of Miss Brunner (Jenny Runacre) and three Magritte-like scientists. They need Jerry to help them get his dad's microfilm, the last piece of The Final Programme---a project staggaring in conception and quite, quite funny. The microfilm is locked in the house with Frank, and as the old family retainer tells Jerry,"There's another problem--it's that house. You know what that old house is like." "I haven't forgotten" says Jerry.

That "old house" is a super-modern fortress, of course, complete with lights of simulate "pseudo-epilepsy", booby traps, poison gas, and a pantheon of James Bondish dangers. Along the way to the microfilm, it becomes apparent there's something very odd about Miss Brunner, and that Frank's not the fool he seems.

I know it's dated and I don't care. I don't care if the continuity is bad. I don't care if the budget could've been bigger. I don't care if the "science" is Junk with a capital "Juh". I'm oblivious to it all, because this is such an entertaining movie. For one thing, Jon Finch is incredible. He's the perfect Jerry, and Prince could only PRAY to wear a Goth/New Romantic suit as well as Finch does. For another, Jenny Runacre's Miss Brunner was feminist before there was a common understanding of what that word meant. And the versatile Derek O'Connor's greasy, desperate Frank is brilliant.

You'll need to have your finger on the "rewind" button--the dialogue comes fast and urbane. You'll keep recognizing British character actors, and let's face it, if you're female, you'll want to gaze on Finch's beautiful, intelligent face again.

And the visual jokes--watch for "LOVE" embroidered on the vampirical Brunner nightie in the "climactic" final scene!

A warning, though: this really does deserve its R rating. Hustle the kiddie-winks to bed first--then enjoy!

Planet Weird
This film is based on the original Michael Moorcock story of the same name. I have read the Moorcock version and I genuinely have to say that the film seems to be better. It is an existential romp through conscienceness. It takes you to a weird alternate reality of planet earth. In the end it leaves you with more questions than it answers (what can be better than that). You get to sit back and decide. A film that really makes you think.

I saw it as 1974's Last Days of Man on Earth
You can definitely see the Austin Powers roots here. But unfortunately, much of the gadgetry is only alluded to in events presumably happening off-screen (i.e. several references to the main character flying around in an F-4 jet). Was this for budgetary reasons?
I laughed at the end when I spotted the credit listing the person responsible for "continuity" since this movie had very little. And at only an hour and 15 minutes it is no wonder--all the transition scenes were cut. But perhaps wisely, otherwise it would have been criticized for being "plodding" among its other faults.
Really more of an action/spy flick than sci-fi. I guess this is why sci-fi movies had such a bad image before Star Wars. When I think of sci-fi, I think of what is more accurately called "hard" sci-fi, rather than this mildly apocalyptic-themed movie.
Campy and wacky in a dated, 1970's British way. My favorite scene is the sloppy fight with "the Greek guy" (gotta love the plaintive, "help, I think I'm losing..."). Oh, and the black fingernail polish. If you like that sort of thing, this is good for you. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Jack Hill's 1975 drive-in opus, Switchblade Sisters, hasall the requisite cheese and then some: girl fights, gun duels, sex-starvedreform school guards, flashes of nudity, and evenAfrican-American-Maoist-revolutionary-butt-kicking chicks who don'ttake nonsense from anyone. The story is a prime example of how the influence of great filmmakers canbe reprocessed into pure exploitation: Maggie (Joanne Nail), a smart, newmember of a distaff gang, presents a threat to the group's established leader(Robbie Lee). The intricacies of their subsequent relationship--love, betrayal,and a battle for control--has numerous echoes of the films of Nicholas Rayand Howard Hawks, and Hill plays it all with a seriousness that underscoresthe heart within this trash classic. No wonder Quentin Tarantino becamethis film's latter-day benefactor, promoting its 1998 theatrical re-release under the auspices of his revival imprint, Rolling Thunder Pictures.--Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Fun 70s exploitation flick.
"Are they young rebels fighting for survival in a decaying society? Or are they hoodlums taking advantage of their youth?"
Directed by Jack Hill, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is a cult classic that was sadly overlooked until Quentin Tarantino managed to get it re-released. Cinema snobs (People who think the only films worth watching are arthouse junk that make "statements") will look down on anyone who calls this a movie- but those of us who aren't pretentious geeks (i.e: ME, & hopefully YOU who are reading this) will see merit in this cheesy B grade sex & violence entertainment.
Also known as THE JEZEBELS & PLAYGIRL GANG, the movie centers around two street gangs The Dagger Debs: Lace (Robbie Lee), Patch (Monica Gayle), Donut (Kitty Bruce- Lenny's daughter) & Bunny (Janice Karmen) & their male counterparts the Silver Daggers; who run a drugs & prostitution racket at their high school.
One night at a diner the Dagger Debs try to recruit a customer named Maggie (Joanne Nail) to the gang after she pulls a knife on Patch & nearly cuts out her good eye. Unfortunately the cops sweep the place and Maggie is jailed along with the rest of the gang.
On their release, the gang decide to put Maggie through her first test towards becoming a member. This involves seducing some greasy gimp named Clutch (Paul Lichtman) & stealing his medallion as part of the initiation; but in an act of retaliation Clutch abducts & rapes Bunny, leaving her hospitalised in a critical condition.

This of course leads to an all-out gang war in the movie's latter third- with The Dagger Debs re-christening themselves The Jezebels & joining forces with the Silver Daggers & soon the streets are flowing with blood. There is however, some brief insight into the psychology of the gangs: an explaination one of the Silver Daggers gives for being in a gang is because of his insecurity over having a crooked willy. Now there's a plausible reason to go out and knife people!
SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is a fun explotation flick, but is a bit lacking in the T&A department (that's not to say there isn't any, though)- it's also worth noting that this was made four years before Walter Hill's THE WARRIORS which made this genre hip. Granted, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS isn't up to the standards of director Jack Hill's earlier classic SPIDER BABY; but for its kitschy late night entertainment value, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is hard to beat. Check it out.

A terrible beauty
This film is top-notch comedy that is terrible on purpose. Kick back with your film student friends and show them this example of film for the fun of it.

Awesomely Bad!
This movie is great, horrible acting, super-low budget, very over-the-top. It's no West Side Story, but definately hilarious after a couple of drinks. Truly Le Bad Cinema!

Great exploitation film
Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures video collection is something for true fans.
From the arthouse masterpiece Chungking Express (also available) to the blaxploitationfilm Detroit 9000 (also available), this series delivers a small collection of different genre classics.

Switchblade sisters even offers exclusive Jack Hill special features including his first film!

Quintessential exploitation, in a good way.
I'm tired of people who consider themselves above the "camp" films they are extolling displaying their sense of superiority to the films they supposedly admire. For example, there is nothing at all "terrible" about the technical aspects of the Evil Dead films (read the other reviews and you'll understand to what I am referring) especially when their budgets are taken into consideration. As for Switchblade Sisters, let me just say that this is one of those quintessential flicks that blur the boundary between "art" and "exploitaiton," much like Jess Franco's better films. In fact, this is precisely what Tarantino did in Pulp Fiction: but since that film had a bigger budget and name actors, mainstream audiences reacted differently. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Long Live Jim Kelly
This title, as bad in production value as it is, definitely ranks up there with the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. I laughed so hard at times, I nearly cried. Either they were doing this tongue in cheek, which then makes it brilliant, or it was complete schlock. Either way, it's a keeper for the library.

NOTE: I bought the VHS version thinking it would contain the edited footage, but it does not. Seems there is no fully uncut version available, because someone wrote the DVD version is edited. Ripoff.

Jim Kelly is a classic, and when he delivers the line "your credibility has reached an all time low", he is unforgettable.

LOVE THE MOVIE, BUT THEY'VE CUT IT
I have the older video copy of this and it's BAD, but fun. Looks like the newer VHS and DVD copies have been badly cut. Too bad! We need an uncut version of this on DVD! Try to find older versions and enjoy the great fights and silly crap served up with the original [***], Kelly's colorful use of language and some good old fashion sex and violence. The "G rated" version they have out on DVD is absurd.

Maybe the worst movie ever - but a must see!
This is singlehandedly the worst movie I've ever seen. Some movies have bad acting. Some have bad direction, bad writing, or just a bad feel. Black Samurai has all of that in spades, and just as icing, bad sound editing, and bad action scenes. Don't waste your time on this movie if you're expecting a martial arts movie on par with.. well, real martial arts movies.

What this movie is, however, is absolutely, although unintentionally hilarious. I laughed so hard my eyes watered up several times. But let's be clear: there are no jokes in Black Samurai. Black Samurai IS the joke, and I think Jim Kelly was in on it.

First of all, the title is horribly misleading. Jim Kelly, while indeed black, is no samurai. There is one scene where Kelly practices with a katana and some nunchucks, but that was apparently just to keep him sharp for later movies; they never appear again.

Secondly, for a government agent, Black Samurai is one evil dude. Even though Kelly is apparently some manner of law-enforcement official, he doesn't arrest anyone. He deals out his own brand of justice: knocking most people out, while selecting a few at random for life-altering injury. In one instance, Kelly chooses a seemingly random opponent and yells THE single most classic line in '70s film: "You never gonna walk again, sucka!", whilst snapping his spine. You cold as ice, BS.

But you don't just have bad titling or random acts of evil to glean cheap laughs from! You still have the veritable treasure trove of laughter that is the sound editing and effects!

First, the punches and kicks for some reason sound just like gunshots. Actual gunshots sound like gunshots too, which sounds confusing, but when you're watching the movie trust me, it'll be the least of your concerns.

Here's the best part: there are entire scenes complete with dialog where nobodys mouths move. Yes, really. No, I'm not making this up. There's a five minute scene where Kelly and an opponent move around sizing each other up. They're talking the whole time, but no mouths move. Maybe they're doing it telepathically. Also, apparently Kelly saw the movie after it was filmed and refused to do the dubbing for his character, hoping the movie would die, because there are several occasions where Kelly is supposed to be talking, but someone else's voice comes out.

This isn't a B Movie. This is more like an H movie. It's WAY down on the chain. I'm buying it anyway! I want to show it to my kids someday when they tell me classics like Ferris Beuller and Spaceballs suck. "...no little Timmy, THIS sucks."

What a terrible film !!!!!!!!!!
First of all let me say I love Jim Kelly but this movie is just plain awful, the acting is the worst i have ever seen and even the fights not the best Jim has ever done.
I actually turned the film off half way through because I was so bored with the story line.
Thank god Jim did "Black Belt Jones" !!

Black Samurai ¿ Not to be Taken Seriously
When watching this DVD all conventional expectations of standard film making (decent acting, editing, direction etc.), should be put aside. Instead this DVD should be enjoyed for what it is a schlock B - grade cult/martial arts send up that is performed with tongue firmly in cheek. "Black Samurai" is directed by Al Adamson who knows his way around low budget action fare. This film stars Jim Kelly as a wealthy agent for the government organization D.R.A.G.O.N. Kelly is lured back into action when his girlfriend is kidnapped by a group of Haitian voodoo slavers. Things do go from the sublime to the ridiculous as Kelly is pitted against a vulture, a slew of diminutive bad guys and the evil warlock Janicott (Bill Roy) all while never messing up one hair of his immaculate afro. Also, there is a scene of Kelly donning a jet-pack to sneak up on the evil doers that has to be seen to be believed. Adamson keeps things from spiraling into an incoherent mess while keeping a brisk pace. The supporting cast is odd but will be familiar to cult movie buffs including D' Urville Martin ("Black Caesar"), Felix Silla (Cousin It from "The Addams Family"), Marilyn Joi ("Kentucky Fried Movie") and tough guy Aldo Ray ("We're No Angeles"). The primary reason to watch this DVD is for the choreographed fight scenes that are done well enough and really do showcase Kelly's martial arts ability. All in all this film is not going to be remembered as great cinema but the charm of its silliness makes it enjoyable. ... Read more

Description

Witness director Al Adamson’s disturbing and socially significant cinematic portrait of a biker gang’s anti-social rampage! Motorcycle maniacs on wheels terorrize the southwest! After this sadistic gang wreaks havoc on the patrons of roadside diner, a waitress and ex-marine are the only surviving witnesses.The pulse-pounding suspense inscreases rapidly as the duo find themselves pursued through the desert by The Satans in a bloodthirsty chase.This seventies cult hit features chilling performances by Russ Tamblyn and Greydon Clark as "Acid." ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Life Imitates Art
This movie is a classic example of "Life Imitates Art". Many a bike club was built on the premise of this and many other 60's scooter tramp flicks like this one. Own a piece of American counter-culture and add this jem to your library!

violent and sexy biker movie
The movie starts promisingly with a couple indulged in petting suddenly interrupted by a gang of bikers. They drug the girl and rape her, then set the forcibly drugged and drunk couple in their car and roll the car over the edge of a cliff.
And the action never stops in this fine drive-in classic biker movie dubbed by producer Sam SHERMAN as the "CITIZEN KANE of biker movies". Well, I don't agree to that (in my view the best biker film of all time is the Spanish THE MAD FOXES), but SATAN`S SADISTS is great fun nevertheless.
The further plot concerns a former marine hitchhiking through the California desert, who is offered a lift by a middle-aged couple, a cop and his wife on second honeymoon. They decide to have a meal at a roadside diner. Suddenly the biker gang arrive at the diner! You can probably guess, what happens next: the bikers make trouble, molesting the waitress and harrass the cop's wife, prompting the cop to draw a revolver. Things get nasty, resulting in the policeman's wife getting raped (unfortunately we don't get to see too much nudity here) and the death of the cop, his wife and the diner's owner. The ex-marine and the waitress escape in the desert, killing two bikers in the process. One guy meets a particularly nasty end by being drowned in the toilet! The furious bikers give chase and the couple must fight for their life...

WOW! They don't make movies like that anymore. SATAN`S SADISTS is a sleaze masterpiece, full of violence, nudity, violent sex and drug abuse. The film is rather anti-establishment, like many movies of the period. And the characters are really cool! Sure, the ex-marine is a bit boring as well as his new found girlfriend, the waitress. But the bikers deliver. Particularly Russ TAMBLYN is great as the cool but psychopathic gang's boss Anchor. He delivers a nice anti-establishment speech before shooting the cop and the other victims at the diner. And his accomplices are a rather weird bunch! Two of the gang members are handicapped, a biker is one-eyed (but wears sunglasses nonetheless), another even needs a hearing aid (!). The only concern of the bikers seems to be sex and getting stoned. And the dialogue is sometimes over the top - like when the bikers encounter three girls in the desert, one of them sunbathing topless, which prompts one biker to remark "She is keeping her milk warm."
Oh yeah, I really love this movie.

The DVD itself is filled with lots of extra features. First, there is an introduction to the movie vy producer Sam SHERMAN, who talks about how cool the film is and that it has gained a cult following worldwide. This segment however looks like it was shot 100 years ago.
Producer SHERMAN also appears in an interesting interview. This guy knows some stories to tell and it is fun to listen to him. The producer also provided an audiocommentary on which I can not comment, because I did not listen to it and I am generally not a fan of audiocommentaries. However I did listen to the radio interview with Regina CARROL, wife of director Al ADAMSON and staring in SATAN`S SADISTS as "freak-out girl". It is a promotional piece and again fun to listen to. There is also a gallery of behind-the-scenes photographs, presented in a way, as if they were shown in a drive-in theatre.
Then there is the film's trailer, which is outstanding. It starts with a disclaimer: THE SHOCKING SCENES YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE ARE NOT SUGGESTED FOR THE WEAK OR IMMATURE. IF YOU CANNOT TAKE IT, WE ADVISE YOU TO NOW PATRONIZE THE CONCESSION STAND OR LOOK AWAY FROM THE SCREEN DURING THIS PREVIEW OF "SATAN'S SADISTS". The trailer promotes the film with the tagline A REBELLION OF HUMAN GARBAGE! Seeing is believing.
There are also 3 TV teaser trailers for the film as well as four additional trailers for other films, all directed by Al ADAMSON: DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (trashy beyond belief, only for diehard trash film fans), the slightly better zombie romp BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR, ANGELS WILD WOMEN (a promising looking exploitation flick) and GIRLS FOR RENT (titled erronously I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE on the trailer menue) starring XXX actress Georgina SPELVIN of THE DEVIL IN MRS. JONES fame.
A great disc!

If you like entertaining, violent, politically incorrect B-movies, buy it! You won't be disappointed.

Overrated
This is the most overrated film I've seen in a while. I hoped for a violent, sexist, stark, disturbing biker film, and I got cheese. The motorcycles are awful, some of them are like dirt bikes and others no self-respecting biker would ever ride. The Satans colors look like iron-on patches. The violence is very antiseptic, with very litte gore, almost no nudity, and no realism. The plot and continuation are pathetic; could someone explain to me how the manniken-haired "good guy" got up that mountain so quick at the end to fight Firewater, or better yet, why? Also, the picture and sound quality are abyssmal, rendering whole sections of the movie unwatchable. A total waste of time and money, and completely misrepresented by anyone who gives it a good review.

from Fringe Video Fanzine Issue #005
One of the greatest biker films of all time. Very nasty, raw and violent. "...Released during the height of the biker film craze, the film made enough money to finance several more movies..." The simple western good guys vs. Bad guys type plot consists of a bike gang who "...terrorize some people at a desert diner until the gang is done in by a drifting Vietnam vet..." This is Al Adamson's breakthrough film, which propelled him and partner Sam Sherman into business with the introduction of a company called Independent International Pictures Corp. The film was intended to be the jewel which they would market to the drive-in crowd. "...not at all typical Adamson fare... It contained no footage from other movies..." Extreme for the time, the film starts with the rape of a large breasted women, and later LSD being forced to unwitting girls before they are raped and murdered. Miles away from the usual Hollywood type exploitation biker movies that regulars like Casey Kasem [Cycle Savages (1969) / Wild Wheels (1969) acted in. This is a film that strayed far away from the mainstream, and found an audience amongst the anti-establishment film going crowd who were eating up such films as: The Wild Angels (1966) or Easy Rider (1969). Said to be "...the Citizen Cane (1941) of biker films..." So extreme that many say that the film almost ruined the career of the main star Russ Tamblyn [West Side Story (1961) Twin Peaks (1990 - 91). The anti-police speech Tamblyn does, as he sits on top the car is probably the highlight of the movie. Shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm to save money for the casting. Al Adamson managed to hire such notables as John 'Bud' Cardos [Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) / Psych-Out (1968)], Greydon Clark [Skinheads (1989)], and Regina Carrol [Beat Generation (1959) / Viva Las Vegas (1964)] who later married director Al Adamson. Audio commentary on the disc by Sam Sherman, also features a radio interview with Regina Carrol, some behind the scenes photos, and short documentary called 'Producing Schlock'

An Excellent movie!
This 60's biker movie is a lot of fun. Rampaging biker gang with psycho leader, older couple on vacation, good-guy marine and the young waitress - priceless. I could have done without the rape scenes, but the camera didn't dwell on them too long.

The acting really couldn't be much better. Excellent characters. Apparently filmed in 11 days. Doesn't get much better for b-biker flicks. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Tough biker babes stomp a couple of vicious racist rapists and then cool their heels in a rural commune while the men hit the road for a biker rally (they actually spend most of their time getting drunk and passing out). The vacation is short-lived when the women discover the seemingly peace-loving guru is actually a drug kingpin with a vicious gang and a side business in human sacrifices. That's just one of the unexplained twists in this oddball thriller made at the end of the biker-movie craze. When the genre died, according to producer Sam Sherman, they couldn't give the film away so director Al Adamson reshot it to cash in on the explosion of female-centered action pictures. The result is a schizophrenic production, a biker buddy film full of macho posturing and brutal violence against women that suddenly gives way to girl-gang vengeance. Cameraman Gary Graver (Orson Welles's F for Fake) uses the California desert and back roads to good effect and frees his camera to leap into the dynamic free-for-all brawl and the high-powered chase that climaxes the film. But for all the wild, butt-kicking energy of the Angels' women, it's the men to the rescue.

The DVD features a commentary by producer Sam Sherman, along with a newly recorded introduction, a profile taken from the cable TV series Split Screen, and trailers to this and four other Al Adamson-Sam Sherman collaborations. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Vro-o-om, vro-o-om
An independent biker film with cheap production values and a swiss cheese plot that will probably become a cult classic in a few years. Hard to follow the theme in some places. Utterly forgettable. I will probably give my copy away.

End of an Era
Al Adamson was always much better at making action films, especially those starring bikers, than the horror films he is mostly known for. "Satan's Sadists", for example, is still one of the best biker films ever made. However, in the early 1970s he found himself stuck with a just completed biker film at a time when the public had grown bored with biker films and stopped attending. So, seeing the success of films about groups of tough women like Roger Corman and Jack Hill's Pam Grier prison films, he decided to change the emphasis of the film and its marketing. Thus Angels' Wild Women was created, placing greater focus on the women in the bike group and ads greatly exaggerating how tough and mean they are were released.

Actually, the bikers in the film are quite tame. In contrast to Al's classic "Satan's Sadists", this film provides a positive perspective on bikers. The men do get into a bit of macho posturing, but otherwise they're nice folk looking for fun and freedom.

The plot of this film is quite worthwhile, however, and provides an excellent look at the end of an era. When the film was made, the Manson family trials had just occurred, which led those equating Manson's family with the hippies to declare that the hippy movement was dead. This movie, which was largely shot at the Spahn ranch, out of which Manson operated, taps into this.

The plot is simple: The females of the Angels gang are left on their own while the men attend a convention with another gang. One of the Angels gets involved with a love cult run by a sadist while visiting a ranch, and it is up to the other women to try to get her out after she learns that the leader is a criminal. Thus tragedy enters the Angels' attempt at creating a new society based on love and freedom. The women are all portrayed strongly and positively, however, it is up to the men to come to their rescue in the end. As with most of Adamson's action films, not all the good guys survive, and a certain level of sadness underlines the fun and excitement.

Though a well acted and directed movie with a decent script, Angels' Wild Women is more like a good action movie than great art like "Easy Rider", but is similar in its bitter-sweet examination of the end of an era.

Decent, but falls short
Biker gangs cruising around, causing little trouble.

Having scene Satan's Sadists first, I was not as impressed with AWW. The chicks could have been a little meaner and some more violence might have helped. Dragged at several spots. ... Read more

Description

Make contact with this action-packed thriller!When Chow Yun-Fat tries to get his friend out of a gambling debt, he joins forces in a weapons heist. The job goes bad and he's betrayed by the leader, so he plots the ultimate revenge.But can he follow through with his plan? ... Read more

Reviews (19)

The Greatest Movie Ever Made...
This is the greatest movie of all-time. Its got it all: ultra-violence, unbelievable camera moves, incredible action scenes, a tight script, a talented director(Ringo Lam) and most importantly of all...Chow Yun-Fat, the most charismatic actor of the present era, who gives, in my opinion, his best performance to date.

On top of all of the above named, 'Full Contact' has the great villain in a film ever...Simon Yam is unbelievable as this homosexual gangster. Simon is classic.

If you say you like HK cinema and you don't dig this movie, you're a total reject. This is the finest film ever made. Go see it. Go buy it. Enjoy it.

Film Yes, DVD No
"Full Contact" ranks high on the list of classic Hong Kong "heroic bloodshed" action films. Grittier and more extreme than John Woo's films (more gore and maimings, and characters who are less noble), it's an entertaining ride, and a good showcase for the always-magnetic Chow Yun-Fat. Unfortunately, this DVD re-release has a serious problem -- the actual video print is a big improvement on the original Tai Seng release, but whole chunks of soundtrack seem to be missing from the Chinese audio track (strangely enough, they're present on the English audio track). If you don't mind watching your Hong Kong movies in English, this is a good buy, but if you're a purist, you're better off sticking with the original Tai Seng DVD for the complete Chinese audio track.

BRILLIANT..SUPERB
This is a Excellent FIlm. If you Like guns and violence Watch This. Violent and Betrayal. Chow Yun Fat is Brilliant. He is the Pacino/De Niro of Hong Kong Cinema.

Gritty!!! Violent!!! Brutal!!! Great!!!
Plot Outline: After Sam (Anthony Wong) gets in trouble with some triads over a gambling debt, his best friend Jeff (Chow Yun-Fat) has to bail him out. Sam gets word that his cousin Judge (Simon Yam) wants him and his friends to help them pull a job robbing a truck. Once on the job Jeff finds out it was all a trick set up by the triads to kill him. In a turn of betrayal, Sam is forced by his cousin to shoot Jeff. They leave Jeff to die in a burning building, only Jeff makes it out alive. Now he looks for revenge.

The Review: Full Contact is easily the sleaziest, grittiest and downright most vulgar HK action film I've ever seen. Now that I've said that, it's also just one outright cool film. Taking what could have been just an average tale of revenge, Ringo Lam injected the film with the style of the 80's and a healthy dose of brutal violence. The film represents all that was great of the all but dead Heroic Bloodshed genre. It's still around, but you don't see too many films like Full Contact anymore.

Don't misunderstand me, the violence in Full Contact, while plentiful, doesn't quite top the likes of A Better Tomorrow II, but the film is just a whole lot seedier. The violence in John Woo's films are usually comical to some point, but here the violence takes place somewhat in reality. The gunplay is actually fairly minimal really. There's only a couple of gunfights, and excluding the first person bullet effects, they aren't really all that spectacular. The violence in the film is just accentuated by the feel of the film. In one of the more brutal scenes in the film, Anthony Wong's character shoots a man in the head about seven times, covering the guy in blood. It's just an ugly image, and made uglier by the scenery and characters. It takes place in a dingy warehouse and watching his blood splatter all over his hands can almost make you feel uncomfortable.

When I first sat down to watch Full Contact I didn't know much about it and wasn't expecting much. I had read on a message board somewhere in the past that it was supposed to be a great non-Woo HK action film so I decided to give it a chance. Within the first five minutes of watching the film, it makes it's case strongly, and lets you know exactly what kind of film it's going to be. Simon Yam's gang robs what appears to be a jewelry store, in the process he stabs a innocent woman through the chest then proceeds to have her open the vault. We're introduced to the rest of his gang too. Mona, the promiscuous and Deano the muscular freak (played by Frankie Chin, best known as the guy who tries to strangle Ricky in Ricky-Oh). The introduction is so simple, but it's just so perfect. It's hard to put my hand on it, it's just the perfect way to start the film. A kick to the gut for the audience.

If one thing bothered me most about the film the first time I watched it, it was surprisingly enough Chow himself. Not that he gives a bad performance or anything like that, it's just his clothing style is just terrible. He wears a short sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Add to that a crew cut and a leather vest over the shirt, and you've got one goofy looking chow. The second time I sat through it I just took it in as part of the cheesyness of the film. The roaring electric guitar solos, the clothes... it's all so classic 80's.

The style, the violence, and the characters are what makes the film. Simon Yam is repulsive in his role as a flamboyantly gay sociopath who let's nothing stand in his way. Chow puts in a great effort, but it doesn't really take much from Chow to please. He could be playing a coma patient and would still ooze 'cool' from his pours. When I first watched the film I wasn't familiar with Anthony Wong, so I didn't actually ever notice him, but now that I've seen Beast Cops I was surprised to find out that it was he who played Sam. He's gained a whole lot of weight over the years, but I think he's actually more suited with the weight on. In this film, when his character becomes a tough guy it's kind of hard to take serious, but with some weight on him Wong comes off a bit more intimidating. As far as acting goes, those are the central characters. Everyone else puts in decent enough performances even though the girls just seem to be there for eye candy. Nice eye candy, but eye candy just the same.

To wrap things up, Full Contact stands out as one of the best Heroic Bloodshed films made not by John Woo. That actually sounds a little harsh, I don't compare the film to Woo's work, but it's just unavoidable. Anyway, I've debated with myself whether to give it a four or a five for a while now, and I've come to the conclusion that it's getting the Stubbing Award. Sure, it doesn't add a whole lot more to the genre, but it delivers what is one of the funnest rides the genre has ever produced. Full Contact is a classic, not to be missed by HK film fans, or gritty gangster film fans for that matter.

One of Chow's Best!
I've had a quality bootleg VHS copy of this film for years, but picked up this DVD on the cheap to compare it to the original Golden Princess release. In some ways its better (more squibs, better subtitles, more dialogue and scenes) and in some ways it's worse (characters names have been changed, much of the rocking HK soundtrack missing). Inexplicably Jeff's name has been changed to Godfrey. Godfrey! What kind of name is that for a tough guy? Virgin's name has been changed to Yin and the big muscular villian is now Madman. I believe originally it was Deano or something like that but don't quote me on it as I haven't watched the original version in a while. The great guitar work is missing from both the Bangkok car chase and the final nightclub shootout, but most of the other music remains intact, notably as Chow recuperates and trains in Bangkok and when Mona is dancing at the nightclub. This DVD has english and chinese language dialog and widescreen and full screen picture. Buy it man, it kicks a$$! ... Read more