October 27th, 2007
Posted by
Ian W |
DVD Viewing Journal |
no comments
Kirk Douglas is Brendan O’Malley, who arrives at the Mexican home of his ex-sweetheart (Dorothy Malone) and her husband (Joseph Cotten) on the run for murder. On his trail is Dana Stribling (Rock Hudson) whose brother-in-law O’Malley murdered.
If that all sounds a touch melodramatic that’s because it is, and things get worse when Cotten is murdered and Douglas and Hudson compete for Malone’s affections on a cattle drive from Mexico to Texas. Hudson has vowed to kill Douglas when they cross the border and it’s this confrontation that the film builds too. Unfortunately it seems to take an age getting there.
Douglas is the films biggest plus. He’s playing the sort of snappily dressed charmer we’ve seen him do often before but there is an undercurrent of violence too O’Malley that gives Douglas a little more to work with. Top billed Hudson’s character is too straight-laced to be really interesting but it’s a solid performance.
It’s a shame Joseph Cotten is dispatched so soon as his is by far the most interesting character, an alcoholic ex-Confederate officer with a shameful past. His first scene with Douglas is the best the film has to offer, with the two sparking off each other in a way that Hudson doesn’t even come close too.
October 27th, 2007
Posted by
Ian W |
DVD Viewing Journal |
no comments
Bruce Campbell’s feature debut as a director is a comedy that suffers from the worst thing a comedy can suffer from - it’s not funny.
Based on Campbell’s Dark Horse comic the film is about a rich American who undergoes experimental brain surgery that leaves him with two personalities, his own and that of the brain donor, a Bulgarian taxi driver. Both men were “murdered” by the same woman, as was Campbell’s wife, who finds her brain transplanted into the body of a dancing robot.
The original comic was set in L.A. but for the film it’s transplanted to Bulgaria for budget reasons and the production looks cheap (it was a Sci Fi Channel original movie). Still Bruce is used to working on micro budget films and money isn’t what makes this a dud, that’s down mainly to the script.
With the exception of the films star the performances aren’t up to much. Stacy Keach looks embarrassed as the mad scientist Dr Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov but far worse is Ted Raimi as his imbecile assistant, Pavel. Raimi clearly thinks he’s funny, and one has to assume Campbell does too, but he’s groan inducingly bad.
Luckily Bruce is on hand and displays his gift for physical comedy. The restaurant scene and the bar room fight may not rank alongside the possessed hand in Evil Dead 2 but they’re the films finest moments.
