Skin Game

You know what isn't particularly funny? There's no way this introduction isn't in poor taste but...slavery! In recent years, even movies like Django Unchained that were fan favorites and critically loved caused a stir because of its slavery subject matter. So movies like Django, 12 Years a Slave, miniseries like Roots, the subject matter is played straight. That is NOT the case with 1971's Skin Game, a pre-Civil War story with comedy and drama rolled into one.

It's 1857 in Missouri when two men ride into a small town. Quincy (James Garner) is a plantation owner with some money problems, meaning he has to sell one of his slaves, Jason (Lou Gossett Jr.). He gets several hundred dollars for him and they part ways, Quincy onto the next town with Jason waiting to travel with his new owner. Well, that's what you'd think at least, what the supposed-plantation owner and his slave want you to think. In reality, they're con men, going from town-to-town, Quincy "selling" Jason to one plantation/land owner after another and getting out of town while Jason manages to escape in one way or another. The plan has worked well for quite a while now with a hefty bank account waiting for them back in Chicago when they decide they've had enough. Jason, he's had enough as he's the one taking more risk. Quincy, he'd like to travel to a couple more towns and pull off their successful con. What could possibly go wrong?

I've long been aware of this 1971 comedy-drama but never caught up with it. Thank you, Turner Classic Movies! It was worth the wait. From director Paul Bogart -- and an uncredited Gordon Douglas, I imagine there's a good story there -- it takes a touchy, potentially explosive subject matter in slavery and manages to tread the fine line between funny, at-times dramatic and just in poor taste. Come on...slavery. There's just nothing funny in that department. 'Game' doesn't minimize it or make light of it, instead attacking one of the most horrific periods in American history from the side. Considering it that way, it's actually pretty smart. Two con men looking to make some serious cash out of the sale of fellow human beings, now that is creative and certainly unique.

Playing on an oddball variety of a familiar storytelling device, Garner and Gossett have a ton of fun with their odd couple, buddy relationship. We don't learn too much about them, only that they've been con men for several years now piling up the cash with their risky play in each new town. We do learn that Jason was born a free man in New Jersey and chooses to do this, an important detail in my opinion. In a brief, quickly-cut flashback, we also see how the duo met, a fun aside and a necessary one that shows and tells a lot about these two. Sure, there are differences between the two men, but they're cut from the same cloth. The chemistry between Garner and Gossett is not in question with plenty of laughs and some great dialogue flying back and forth throughout the 102-minute running time. A great buddy combo to lead the way.

Also look for Susan Clark in a fun part as Ginger, a fellow con-man...um, con woman who crosses paths with Quincy and Jason at some inopportune moments. Brenda Sykes plays Naomi, a slave who Jason meets and wants to buy her freedom. Ed Asner is perfectly slimy as Plunkett, a slave trader with brutal tactics and no regard for his "merchandise." As for assorted slave and plantation owners, look for Andrew Duggan, Parley Baer, George Tyne, J. Pat O'Malley, and Henry Jones. Also watch for a quick appearance by Royal Dano as violent abolitionist John Brown.

There are some portions in the final act that run a tad sluggish with a story that has some pretty decent surprises. It tends to drift at times, but for the most part, this is an interesting story. I'm mostly recommending it though for the unique, inventive story and the spot-on, perfect chemistry between James Garner and Lou Gossett Jr. This isn't a movie that breaks any new ground, but it deserves more of a reputation than it currently does. Worth a watch for a creative story, unique setting in the pre-Civil War south and a very solid cast. Give it a watch!

Skin Game (1971): ***/****

Jaws 3-D

How do you make an unnecessary sequel even more unbearable? Add a gimmick! Here go we with one of the all-time worst sequels ever, 1983's Jaws 3-D. The original Jaws is a classic, Jaws 2 is pretty dumb but still entertaining, but this second sequel and third flick in the series is....Just....Plain....Awful.

Working at SeaWorld in Florida, Mike Brody (Dennis Quaid) is one of many employees readying for the opening of a new exhibit. It features underwater tunnels and a restaurant that allow park visitors to see what the ocean is like from an underwater perspective. The opening though has a minor hitch....a great white shark has been trapped in the enclosed water park, and it has already claimed a few victims. What to do? Working with his girlfriend and animal trainer Dr. Kay Morgan (Bess Armstrong), Mike and several other park workers manage to capture the shark, the first captured great white shark ever. Problem solved, right? Not so fast. The captured shark is the baby.....and it's mom is angry and also trapped in the park. Where exactly is this immense 35-foot shark hiding? Can they find it and kill it before it claims any more victims?

Oh, good Lord, this movie was awful. My viewing recently was the first time I'd ever really watched this sequel, and it will most definitely be the last. This dreck doesn't even have that quality of 'It's so truly bad that it's good and entertaining.' What's unfortunate is that the basic premise -- a killer shark trapped in a highly populated area -- has the potential to be at least mildly entertaining. That's all it is though, just potential. There are any number of deal-breakers here from the lousy acting to the poorly written script to the horrifically bad special effects, and I use that term ever so lightly. All instances that in itself would be bad, but wouldn't you know it? '3-D' offers all of the above for our viewing pleasure!

I'll kick things off with the 3-D element here. By 1983, studios had at least some semblance of technology available, but apparently director Joe Alves pissed someone off and didn't get any of that technology. The actual use of 3-D technology is laughable here. We get countless shots of dolphins, fish and assorted sea life swimming right at the camera. Watch out! They're going to swim right at us out of the television! That's just one thing though. At one point, the 35-foot shark swims directly at the camera, but it is so ridiculously fake-looking that I ended up laughing. The shark doesn't move, doesn't swim. It just appears to be floating at us menacingly. Then, when the shark -- SPOILERS STOP READING SPOILERS -- meets his maker, its blood and jaw come spiraling at us. I'm not a fan of 3-D anything (even when some money is spent on it), but when it's this bad.....wow, just wow.

Okay, moving on. Let's tackle the script here. Yes, you guessed it. It is awful. The shark is almost secondary to the story and takes a backseat to basically everything. The first 30 minutes are spent with Mike (son of Roy Scheider's Chief Brody) and Kay as they meet up with Mike's younger brother, Sean (John Putch), and try to get him to have some sex with slutty water skier Kelly Ann (Lea Thompson). There's never any rhythm to any of the story, just random attacks that we never really see clearly and then a bunch of explaining. The reveal that the shark they've caught is hysterical. Apparently the 35-foot shark is hiding in a ventilation pipe. Yep, it's just sitting there waiting to strike. Also look for Louis Gossett Jr. as the park manager, Simon MacCorkindale as hunter FitzRoyce with P.H. Moriarty as Tate, his hunting assistant.

There was an art to how the original Jaws presented the lurking shark and its impending attacks. John Williams' score here is thrown by the wayside, just the main 'Shark theme' making the transition here. It's stupid. We never really see any of the shark attacks, and all the tension goes out the window. What we see of the attacks are quick and hard to follow. It also ends on a highly inappropriate freeze frame. People have just died tragically and horrifically via shark attack, but Quaid's Mike jumps out of the water with a pump of his fist. A super-imposed dolphin jumps out of the water and twirls in the air. Yeah for survival! It goes beyond dumb and entertaining here. It's just dumb to the point I felt stupider having watched it.

Jaws 3-D (1983): */****

Return to Lonesome Dove

Based off a novel by author Larry McMurtry (one of my all-time favorite books) in 1985 and turned into a wildly successful TV miniseries in 1989, Lonesome Dove is one of the all-time greats. Great characters, story, scope and scale, it has few rivals in the canon of miniseries. Some four years later in 1993 an unofficial sequel, Return to Lonesome Dove, was released, one McMurtry supposedly hated to the point he altered his official sequel like he was thumbing his nose. Oh, this should be good.

Having completed his mission for his friend, Gus, back in Texas, former Texas Ranger Woodrow Call (Jon Voight) undertakes another daring, almost impossible task. With his cattle ranch back in Montana focusing on the cattle herd, Call intends to drive a herd of mustangs north, breeding the horses with the best animal stock he can find. With help from another former Texas Ranger, Gideon Walker (William Petersen), and a veteran cowboy, Isom Pickett (Louis Gossett Jr.), Call readies a herd. Back in Montana at the Hat Creek ranch, Newt Dobbs (Rick Schroder) is doing his best to keep the ranch going. When he receives a telegram from Call, he heads south to meet with Clara Allen (Barbara Hershey) at her ranch. What awaits them all will not come easy as rustlers, outlaws, range wars and even good old-fashioned greed rear their ugly head.

First off, this 1993 sequel isn't Lonesome Dove. No miniseries could replicate the original's success on basically every single level. To be fair, the original didn't need a sequel of any sort, but here we sit. McMurtry wrote an official sequel to Lonesome Dove the same year as this TV follow-up, Streets of Laredo, that was apparently the author's less than pleased response to this miniseries. He hated it and ended up writing a book that seemed needlessly hateful, even spiteful, in wiping out characters, making some characters make ridiculous jumps that were based in no reality whatsoever. I read the book (and watched that miniseries) because I loved the characters. It was a disappointing, unnecessary follow-up. Did McMurtry think this 1993 series was just a chance for some easy money for a studio and TV? Maybe, but you know what else? It works in a big way.

Let me say it again. This isn't Lonesome Dove. What is it then? Fans of the 1989 miniseries shouldn't be disappointed. I came away very impressed and ended up loving it. It is a well-written, well-acted story that picks up logically where the story left off. My biggest concern was 'What's the point?' The characters didn't necessarily need more resolution. My worries were unfounded. Director Mike Robe and script writer John Wilder -- for lack of a better description -- do the characters right. They do the story right. It has it all; action, romance, sweep and scale to boot. While it's a personal story that succeeds because we like the characters, it's also a big, sweeping story about the taming of the west. It wasn't easy, and people died in the process (good and bad people alike). A couple different things aid the success here. 'Return' was filmed in Montana and Texas, and it is a beautiful miniseries to watch from beginning to end. The biggest thing though is composer Ken Thorne "tweaking" of the score from the original by Basil Poledouris. That music is like another character being transitioned from one miniseries to the next. Listen to a sample of the music HERE.

The actor with the biggest shoes to fill here is without question Jon Voight, replacing Tommy Lee Jones in a career-best performance as Woodrow Call. This is a tremendously layered character, one who can be infuriating to watch one second, and the next you can't help but feel for him. Strong, resolute, and living by a personal code of honor, Call expects others to do the same....and is typically disappointed by them. I was suspicious of the Voight casting, and early on, I wasn't a huge fan. But as the movie goes along, I grew to like the performance more and more. I came away vastly impressed with what Voight was able to do, making the character his own. Replacing Angelica Houston, Hershey too does an admirable job as Clara Allen, the tough as nails horse trader living near Ogallala, Nebraska who has to deal with all sorts of history with Woodrow. Two pairs of big shoes to fill, but both actors fill them admirably.

I thought the best thing going for this miniseries though was the return of Rick Schroeder to play young cowboy Newt Dobbs. A boy growing into manhood in 'LD,' he is a man now, but trying to learn and figure out what kind of man he really is. With the taming of the west, it's a great character to see these changes in as everything around him changes. We're seeing him grow up in front of us. His main subplot involves a rival cattle rancher in Montana, Gregor Dunnigan (Oliver Reed), who becomes a father figure of sorts to him. There's a Shakespearean/mythological edge to the relationship with Gregor's young wife, Ferris (Reese Witherspoon), seeing something she likes in young Newt. Also returning from the original are Chris Cooper as July Johnson, former sheriff now working at Clara's ranch, and Tim Scott as Pea Eye Parker, a former ranger who's long worked with Call and the Hat Creek outfit. Scott is given far more screentime and is a scene-stealer every minute he's in front of the camera. Other returnees include Barry Tubb, William Sanderson and David Carpenter as Jasper, Lippy and Needle, three more Hat Creek cowboys.

If there is an issue with this miniseries, it's that there are a lot of different storylines covered in four episodes. Yes, they criss-cross here and there, but there are a lot of characters and stories to be dealt with. You're going to love some more than others. I certainly did, although I liked them all. My favorite beyond Newt's story was the focus on the mustang herd being driven north from Texas. Playing a character similar to Robert Duvall's Gus, Petersen is a breath of fresh air as Gideon Walker, my favorite new character to the story. Gossett Jr. is underused but still very good as Isom with CCH Pounder as his wife, Sarah, along for the drive with their two children. The cowboys include mostly Mexican vaqueros led by Agostina Vega (Nia Peeples), a young Mexican woman looking for something from Call. Also look for Dennis Haysbert as one nasty villain, Cherokee Jackson, a half-breed outlaw who keeps crossing the herd's trail. Reginald T. Dorsey also a cool if small part as Isaac, Isom's brother leading the mustangs north.

Because the story does have so much going on, the 5 hour and 45-minute running time never really lags. That doesn't mean that some parts aren't better than others. Not surprisingly, the best is saved for the finale. It is an incredibly moving finale, including one absolutely gut-wrenching scene between Voight's Call and Schroder's Newt. It's the scene you wanted to see at the end of Lonesome Dove only to have it never come to fruition. As is though, this is a nearly perfect ending. It's a great capper to a great miniseries, a worthy addition to a great series in general.

Return to Lonesome Dove (1993): *** 1/2 /****