All the Young Men

In the last few days, I've written a handful of movies about the Korean War, dubbed the Forgotten War in the years since.  Along with the actual war, the movies set in the Korean War have been forgotten for the most part.  Some for good reason like the B-movies I've reviewed.  Others unjustly so as WWII and Vietnam movies are more well remembered.  Korea had its fair share though, like The Steel Helmet, Pork Chop Hill, The Bridges at Toko-Ri and several others I'm probably forgetting.  One I'd seen parts of and finally caught up include 1960's All the Young Men.

This war movie comes from one of our favorite genre's here at Just Hit Play; the unit picture.  Instead of focusing on an epic battle or behind the scenes action at HQ, the unit picture focuses on one specific group, anywhere from a squad or patrol to a regiment or brigade.  When handled well, they work so well because story-wise there is going to be a large cast full of multi-dimensional characters in some precarious position, usually forced to work together to get out alive.  More than most unit pictures, 'Young Men' reminded me a lot of 1934's The Lost Patrol.  But more than just a unit picture, an added dimension has been added, racism among soldiers.

After a successful landing in Korea, an advanced Marine recon platoon is sent out on patrol to take control of a Korean farmhouse controlling a key pass.  The pass needs to be held until reinforcements can arrive because a battalion of Marines has been cut off, and the pass provides their only way to safety and rescue.  But on the march, the patrol is ambushed with heavy casualties.  Dying of his wounds, the lieutenant commanding the platoon must pass command to one of two men.  First, there's Kincaid (Alan Ladd), a former sergeant busted for behavior with years of combat experience, and two, Sgt. Towler (Sidney Poitier), a new transfer who's never led men in combat. Towler is picked so he must lead the survivors to the pass and hope to hold out so the Marine battalion can get through safely.

The Korean War was the first conflict where the army units were integrated so here is one of the first examples of a movie showing black and white soldiers fighting alongside each other.  Kincaid objects to Towler's in-field promotion because of his lack of experience, not his skin color, while others like Paul Richards' Bracken is a bigoted Southerner who wants nothing to do with Towler.  Poitier must have been used to doing racially charged roles by 1960, but he does a great job as the sergeant with the target on his back.  As the man in charge, he's tasked with deciding what's best for his men and what's best for the war effort.  Not his best performance, but one definitely worth recommending.

It might come across as cliched or stereotypical, but the way director Hall Bartlett handles the soldiers and their interactions seem to ring true to me. The life of a soldier are these lightning quick moments of fear and terror broken up by long stretches of boredom with nothing to do.  Bartlett directed, produced and wrote this war flick that isn't heavy on action, instead letting the soldiers breathe a little, have conversations, let us find out who they are, what they think about, what they're afraid of.  The combat sequences are somewhat repetitive and reminded me of scenes from 1949's Battleground -- also filmed on an indoor set -- with their claustrophobic feel of being surrounded, being closed in by an unseen enemy.

Telling the story of this small group of soldiers, we see all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of different walks of life as Bartlett assembles quite a unique group for his Marine squad.  A very old-looking Ladd is rather wooden here as Kincaid, the soldier the others trust most.  He comes to life during his intense confrontations with Poitier, but other than those scenes it is not his strongest role.  Filling out the rest of the group is former teen idol James Darren as Cotton, Glenn Corbett as Wade, the medic (same name as Saving Private Ryan's medic), comedian Mort Sahl as Cpl. Crane (given a chance to even do some of his act), and Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson as Pvt. Torgil.  Filling out the ranks there's also a wounded soldier (Dick Davalos), a Navajo Indian, the youngster, and the tired vet.

Besides the ahead of its time decision about integrated units, 'Young Men' also pushes the envelope with its handling of violence whether it be blood squibs or just what and how things are shown, including a hand attached to a bloody rifle, no body in sight.  It's not particularly gory or graphic, but it is noticeable.  Filmed in black and white with a mix of indoor sets and outdoor (Glacier National Park in Montana), this is a solid Korean War movie that is well worth looking up.

All the Young Men (1960): ***/****

The Shootist

As a movie star, you don't always pick how you get to ride into the sunset on the horizon.  For many, their days as a star are long past.  Others just never get that right role that allows you to end on a high note.  Well, there is an exception to every role, and that's John Wayne, one of the most iconic stars to come out of Hollywood's first 50 years with sound films. A star whose popularity went up and down some over a long career, Wayne was always in the public eye with his movies, his last part being one of his best all-time parts, 1976's The Shootist.

During the mid 1970s when Wayne was in the process of making his last few movies, The Duke was struggling with stomach cancer that would ultimately end up killing him in 1979.  More than any other time in his career, Wayne resorted to playing a version, a caricature of himself in the late 1960s and into the 1970s.  There was a comfort factor involved for both the actor and the audiences who still loved seeing him on-screen.  With an exception here and there, none of these later movies are classics, but they're all entertaining.  The Shootist is one of those few exceptions, a classic thanks almost exclusively to Wayne's performance in the title role.

It's 1901 and infamous gunfighter J.B. Books (Wayne) rides into Carson City to see an old friend of his, Doc Hostetler (James Stewart). Books has been feeling poorly, and the Doc confirms the bad news; he has cancer and only has a few months to live. The gunfighter takes a room at a boarding house run by a recent widow, Mrs. Rogers (Lauren Bacall) and her troublemaker son, Gillom (Ron Howard).  Books goes about wrapping certain things up with his life as he prepares to die, putting things in place and tying up some loose ends.  But the Doc warned him, letting the cancer kill him will be a long, drawn out and incredibly painful process.  If there was a way to quicken that death, he recommends Books do it.  So knowing what awaits him, the older, worn-out gunfighter puts together one last moment of glory.

Seven years earlier, Wayne won his first and only Academy Award for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.  In a sense, it was a lifetime achievement award for all he had accomplished in his career.  But just on performance alone, his John Bernard Books ranks up there as one of his all-time top five.  It is a part that Wayne was born to play, plain and simple.  His Books is a dignified man with a reputation as a killer, a man who lives by certain principles and expects others to do the same.  He doesn't apologize for his past and to a certain point, is frustrated with the life he has led where every young punk with a gun wants to kill him to prove how good they are.  Easily one of the Duke's best parts, and a fitting end to a great career.

Directed by Don Siegel, 'Shootist' brings together an excellent cast, almost like a going away party for the Duke.  Having worked together 20 years before in 'Blood Alley,' Bacall and Wayne are perfect together with some of the best on-screen chemistry Wayne ever had with a female co-star.  Their scenes flow so easily, and it's just fun watching two pros show what they can do with good material.  The same for young Ron Howard who plays a different character than the viewer is used to considering his Andy Griffith and Happy Days roots.  Books becomes a bit of a father figure to Howard's Gillom and tries to teach him the lessons of how to be a man.  Along with Stewart as the doctor, there's Harry Morgan as the town sheriff, John Carradine as the undertaker, Sheree North as a lost love of Books, and Scatman Crothers as the livery stable owner.

The story builds to a certain point, and you dread where it is going -- even knowing it is where it has to go.  Books takes the Doc's advice and arranges a way so three men who would love nothing more than to put a bullet in him meet him at the same place.  If all goes well, he'll go out in one last blaze of glory, avoiding whatever the cancer can throw at him.  The trio include Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian and Bill McKinney, all three waiting for him in a saloon. The ending is foreshadowed in a line delivered midway through the movie, but it still comes as a bit of a shock.  Of his 170 or so movies, John Wayne actually died in just eight movies, and few are as moving as this one. You can watch it HERE, obvious SPOILERS.

Beyond the sets, background and lack of gunplay, this is a movie entirely devoted to character, specifically John Bernard Books and the last few days of his life.  It is a western focusing on the changing times as the old west becomes a thing of the past, the U.S. advancing forward into a new time.  In that way, it's appropriate that the Wayne character wants no part of it.  As some characters point out, he is a relic from the previous times.  His exit then is only appropriate, going out as he came in.  One of Wayne's best and an underrated western overall.

The Shootist <----trailer (1976): ****/****

Mission Over Korea

Just 41 years old when he died of a coronary thrombosis while shaving, John Hodiak had already made 30-plus movies in a career that lasted just over a decade.  He was never a huge star and often played the second or third billed star, but in the handful of movies I've seen with him, Hodiak always left a positive impression.  He had a natural way of acting, and always came across as incredibly likable.  One of the last movies he starred in before dying so young was 1953's Mission over Korea, a war flick released while the U.S. was still involved in the Korean War. 

The movie is really nothing special overall and works as a prime example of what a lower budget war movie could be.  Not great, not bad.  Just kind of there.  It's instantly forgettable with its story of army pilots flying observation planes over the battlefield so that artillery can be called in on enemy positions.  There's always a positive, if just depends on how hard you want to look.  Besides Hodiak as the star, the positive is the aerial footage, blending shots of the slower, no armored observation planes and some of the first uses of jets in aerial combat.  Other than, the character and story is as cookie-cutter as they come.

Flying as an observer in a light-weight plane with no weapons and no armor to protect from enemy fire, Capt. George Slocum (Hodiak) receives word that a new pilot is inbound to join him as an observer.  The new, inexperienced pilot is Lt. Pete Barker (John Derek).  Slocum has worked with Pete's older brother at the same airfield and is looking forward to meeting the younger brother.  Barker is a hotshot though and is always looking to show off his ability, make a name for himself.  With so few observation planes doing such an important job, Slocum is forced to go along with the antics, especially when reports of a new mission start circling the base.

That description is about as stream-lined as I could make this one.  It used just about every war movie cliche, throws it in a blender, and the final result is a mismatched story that never really says anything or goes anywhere.  We briefly meet Slocum's wife (Maureen O'Sullivan), but it's very briefly.  Ladies man Barker tries to woo a nurse (Audrey Totter) but never really gets anywhere with her.  Add in the ever-present threat of a North Korean attack, and you've got two romance subplots which are dead in the water.  There's also a mission that's never really well defined as Slocum and Barker fly from airfield to airfield hoping to avoid those Korean attacks.  A nice voiceover late states 'More will fight after what these men have started.'  Translation, we didn't have more money to do anything else.

Searching for something to recommend, it starts with Hodiak and two supporting parts and ends with some cool aerial footage.  Hodiak plays a well-worn character you've no doubt seen in countless other war movies, but the character is likable from the start.  A father-son relationship with a Korean teenager (William Chun) is a little much at times, but that's minor.  As for Slocum's mechanical crew, Harvey Lembeck as Sgt. Maxie Steiner and Richard Erdman as Pvt. Swenson have some fun in supporting roles.  The trio have a good dynamic broken up by Derek's woodenness in a generally dislikable character. While somewhat limited, the aerial footage of the observation planes and fighter jets are impressive -- even if we have to see certain shots repeated over and over.

Not much more to say about this one.  It's pretty poor overall and leans toward being straight propaganda.  The North Korean guerrillas are outfitted with white sheets (I didn't get it either) and typically make appearances when a main character needs a reason to storm out of a scene and be angry.  It's entertaining enough in an 'oh, that's pretty bad' way, but it's inoffensive enough to watch if you've got 80 minutes to kill.  For Hodiak fans looking for a war movie, go check out the much better Battleground from 1949.

Mission over Korea (1953): **/****    

A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die

What flies in one market doesn't necessarily do the same in a separate market.  Take 1968's A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die, a popular spaghetti western released in Europe with an almost 2-hour running time. On a separate note, if that title isn't one of the coolest ever, I don't know what is.  Anyhow, MGM gets their hands on it for a U.S. release, cuts about 20 minutes, and hacks away the ending so American audiences can leave with a happy conclusion.  What's left? A good but not great spaghetti western that will always have the question of 'What if?' floating around it.

Released at the height of the spaghetti western craze, 'Minute' has been left in the dust by more popular spaghettis from directors like Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci among others and other movies with bigger stars.  This is a western with all sorts of genre regulars from the gothic sounding soundtrack -- not Ennio Morricone -- to the anti-hero to the supporting cast full of recognizable faces to the familiar locations.  A classic it is not, but it still remains an interesting watch for spaghetti western fans.

Infamous outlaw Clay McCord (Alex Cord) has ridden the outlaw trail for years, but the law seems to be closing in.  He hides out in the desert, bandit town of Escondido, run by a thuggish gunhand, Kraut (Leone regular Mario Brega), who would like nothing more than to put a bullet between McCord's eyes. While hiding, McCord hears of an offer made by the new territorial governor (Robert Ryan) giving amnesty to any outlaws who will sign a document and surrender their guns. The outlaw is skeptical, but a recurring problem that he believes is epilepsy continues to plague him, paralyzing his gunhand whenever it is put under stress.  Sooner or later, it will happen at the least opportune moment.  As he prepares to ride in to sign the amnesty though, McCord not only has to deal with Kraut, but the local sheriff (Arthur Kennedy) who is suspicious of McCord's motives.

This is not your typical spaghetti western in a lot of ways, and in others, it's a good example of how strong the genre could be.  Not a big star, Cord plays McCord as a sympathetic character forced into a life of working as a gunhand.  Some eerie flashbacks show some of Clay's motivation as he watched his father succumb to epilepsy.  It's an appropriate addition to a genre that has had heroes who are blind, deaf, tortured, mutilated and generally disabled.  Ryan gives the movie credibility just by showing up as governor Lem Carter, and Kennedy looks to be enjoying himself in the midst of his European movies.  Also look for Italian beauty Nicoletta Machiavelli as Laurinda, a woman who helps Clay.  For the rest of the cast, if you're a Leone fan you'll recognize countless faces in supporting roles.

Not as action packed as some reviews would make it out to be *cough Roger Ebert cough * this western gives a little more character development to its anti-hero in Clay McCord.  There are gunfights, including the exciting finale in one of the movie's more noteworthy filming locations.  Not just shooting in the sparse deserts, director Franco Giraldi moves his story all around from desert to river areas to forests and never stays in one place too long filming in Italy and Spain for the American west.  Composer Carlo Rustichelli turns in a score with two main themes, one quiet tune for the hero, the other that drives the action. All the little elements that help up and add to the quality of the movie.

Unfortunately, the DVD feels the need to taunt its buyers with a claim of a 118-minute running time, the original length upon being released in the late 60s.  In fact, the DVD runs about 98 minutes and does have a disjointed feel at times with some awkward cuts.  The worst cut comes at the end though.  SPOILERS As is, McCord signs the amnesty and rides off to a new life.  The original version has McCord sign the amnesty and then be shot down a few miles outside of town by bounty hunters unaware of what he's done.  Talk about a shocker ending, I've never found anyone who's actually even seen the ending.  The DVD ending does work, but the cut ending just seems like it would work better, especially for the McCord character arc.

Not as well known as many spaghetti westerns, this is a hidden gem in the genre.  It's floated around in anonymity thanks to its lack of big names, but all the better for catching up with it now.  It is available to watch through Youtube, but it is in Spanish and isn't of the best quality.  If you can find the MGM DVD, it does offer a cleaned-up widescreen presentation.  Hopefully somewhere out there is a 2-hour version with the original ending, but for now, this will have to do.

A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (1968): ***/****

Tank Battalion

It has been called the Forgotten War.  The Korean War wasn't as clear cut a victory as WWII and wasn't as epic a failure as Vietnam, falling somewhere in between.  So for a forgotten war, how about a forgotten, pretty awful B-movie?  It's a story that could have just as well been set in WWII in the Pacific, and other than an early title card there are no clues that it is a Korean War movie.  A B-movie if there ever was, 1958's Tank Battalion.

Made out of AIP Studios, this is a movie that represents everything wrong about a B-movie and serves as a good example as why many moviegoers groan when they even hear a mention of a B-movie.  Extremely low budget, small cast, and stock war footage highlight the general cheapness, not to mention so many characters making stupid decisions because the story requires it.  This is not a movie readily available on VHS or DVD -- having few redeeming qualities makes that easier -- so I'm basically going to give anything and everything away I can about this movie.  So be forewarned, epic SPOILER alert, Tank Battalion is about to get it.

Their tank damaged in battle, Sgt. Dunne (Don Kelly) and his crew return to base so the tank can be fixed.  From his crew, there's young, naive Private Collins (Robert Paget), ladies man and goofball Skids Madigan (Frank Gorshin, later the Riddler), and smartass Cpl. Corbett (Edward G. Robinson Jr.).  Dunne is reunited with his long-lost love, nurse Alice (Leslie Parrish), Skids meets a bitchy nurse (Regina Gleason), and Collins falls for Nikko, a Korean waitress (Barbara Luna).  Right when things seem to be perfect, the tank is fixed and Dunne's crew must join in on an offensive.  It's not long before the tank comes under attack and again is knocked out of action.  Trapped behind enemy lines, Dunne and Co. must find some way to safety.

Where some war movies have a message and others are content to be action-packed, 'Battalion' falls in that middle ground that doesn't do either.  This is a flick that's just there without serving any real purpose.  As a love story, nothing really develops and the only relationship that is even moderately interesting is Collins and Nikko.  Of course, that's left up in the air.  As an action movie, it's almost entirely stock footage.  The rest looks like producers rented a tank for an hour or two and drove it around, spinning the turret occasionally.  The "battle scenes" has 3 North Korean soldiers "harassing" the tank with a machine gun.  That's about it in terms of action.  Once the tank does start rolling again, it drives around a corner and up a hill.  Movie over, see you next time.

I included a fair number of cast links in the plot description, and if you look at their filmographies you will see that most of the cast never amounted to much.  Gorshin went on to play the Riddler in the 1960s Batman TV show, and Luna was in a handful of movies and made a lot of guest spots on TV shows, but that's about it.  The one cast member to leave a positive impression is Kelly as Sgt. Dunne, mostly because the tough but fair sergeant is always a good character.  Gorshin hams it up with impressions, Robinson Jr. mopes around, and Paget defends the honor of his girlfriend.  Fascinating stuff all around from War Movies 101.

Enough of that, let's get to the ending.  For most of an hour, we've been forced to endure Paget's Collins being annoying, naive, and generally a pain in the butt.  Translation; the young hero we're supposed to root for.  He ends up having to run for help to save the pinned down tank and is shot down so unceremoniously I was sure he was faking it, trying to deceive the North Korean gunners.  Well, nope.  He gets picked off running.  Then Robinson Jr -- who disappeared for much of the movie with no romantic interest -- steps up into the hero role, runs in ridiculous fashion to find help, dodging snipers the whole way and ends up saving the crew.  Then the tank starts, someone throws a grenade, and the large force of 3 North Koreans blow up.  Talk about a buzzkill ending to a lousy movie.

My favorite might have been the interiors of the tank which look like the four actors sat down inside a cardboard box with sharpies and wrote some directions on the wall like 'CARBINE' and 'AMMO.'  I've never been inside a tank, but I feel safe saying that's not what it looks like inside.  Just the capper on a real stinker of a movie, B-movie or not.

Tank Battalion (1958): */****

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission

Released in 1967, The Dirty Dozen featured a long list of stars, tough guys who worked perfectly together to make a WWII classic.  Almost 20 years later in the era of TV movies and miniseries, Lee Marvin reprised his role as Major Reisman for The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission, and was all set to play the character again before he passed away from a heart attack in 1987.  Someone had to step into the role though, and producers turned to one of the stars of the original Dozen, Telly Savalas. 

Now 65 years old and on the downside of his career, Savalas plays Major Wright in 1987's The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission.  It's not so much a sequel as a reworking, just like Marvin's 1985 movie, with whole scenes duplicated albeit with a new cast and some slightly older returnees from the original.  As stand alones, these sequels might be better -- there would be one more in 1988, review to come -- if you haven't seen the original.  On the other hand, it's a good guilty pleasure seeing all the low-budget, scene for scene repeats of the original classic.  A bad TV movie if there ever was one, but an entertaining bad movie.

It's 1944 and Major Wright (Savalas) has been recalled from a behind the lines mission in Italy to undertake a new, more important mission.  General Warden (Ernest Borgnine) orders Wright to assemble a squad of 12 men sentenced to death or long terms of imprisonment and train them until they're an effective fighting force.  Intelligence reports have the Germans making a new nerve gas in a rocket with the capability to reach the U.S..  The Germans are doing this work hidden away in a heavily guarded French monastery.  Wright's more than a little suicidal mission is to lead his squad in -- with some help from loyal Sgt. Holt (Vince Edwards) -- and not only destroy the nerve gas but also rescue six scientists commissioned to work on the experiments.

Even with the original, the problem with a squad of 12 soldiers is that all of them can't receive equal screentime.  The 1967 original at least tried to introduce all 12 convicts turned commandos.  That way when they do inevitably start getting picked off, we know who it was.  Well, the TV versions lose about an hour of actual movie time and a significant amount of the budget.  Five or six of the 12 are even identified, the rest mostly serving as cannon fodder who are typically identified after they get killed.  Of those that do stand out there's Bo Svenson channeling Savalas' Maggott character, Randall 'Tex' Cobb as Swede Wallan, Gary Graham as Stern, Paul Picerni as Pops Ferucci, and two van Patten brothers as two convict brothers (quite a stretch).  Rounding out the new dozen were a handful of Yugoslavian actors who don't have more than a line or two combined.

As for the returning cast members, Savalas as Major Wright is a similar feeling to watching Marvin in 'Next Mission.'  They're clearly too old to play the parts, but because it's Telly freaking Savalas you let it pass.  He's Big Joe, he's Kojak!  He looks like he's having some fun with the part, and some of his line deliveries provide some funny moments in an otherwise slow script.  Borgnine really makes nothing more than a two-scene appearance as General Warden, the staff officer tasked with keeping tabs on Wright and coming up with these missions that will save the war.  Vince Edwards steps in for Richard Jaeckel as the tough but loyal sergeant.  His part requires him to squint, growl and throw a grenade now and then.  Wolf Kahler plays the SS commander in the area trying to stop Wright's commando squad.

After the requisite in-fighting and then bonding as a fighting unit, the new Dozen are unleashed in France.  Even with a small TV budget, director Lee Katzin handles the action-packed finale nicely. It's heavy on gunfire and short on actual blood, but it is entertaining.  It is an action sequence that is aided by the monastery location and has that right blend of chaos and explosions.  As with the other Dozen movies, it's only a matter of time and who will get picked off against the overwhelming odds.  The ending did surprise me -- one character gets to redeem himself with a big sacrifice -- in how many of the squad survive the mission.  See if you can guess which ones make it.

A made for TV movie that's probably only recommended for fans of the original Dirty Dozen or at least WWII movies.  It's the type of unpretentious, cheap action flick that is best when you don't take it too seriously.  Sit back and enjoy this one, watch Savalas and Co. gun down German and SS soldiers by the busload.  If that fails, there's always the original.  Just interested in the action? Watch THIS fan video (SPOILERS obviously) with every kill from the movie.

The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission <----trailer (1987): ** 1/2 /**** 

10 Rillington Place

Growing up, I was introduced to a lot of movies that I love to this day.  One of those is The Great Escape -- I'll get around to reviewing it sooner or later -- and it remains my favorite movie some years later.  In a cast full of stars, one of the best was Richard Attenborough as Big X, the leader of the POW escape.  So from there on in, any movie with Attenborough in it, I can't help but see him as that character.  Usually it wears off at some point during the movie because he was too good an actor to be typecast, but it's always there in the back of my head.

So heroic British prisoner of war as the base, and how about a British serial killer as an adjustment?  That's 1971's 10 Rillington Place, a drama based on the life of British serial killer John Reginald Christie with Attenborough playing Christie.  It's a remarkable part for the British actor that earned him tons of critical praise.  Playing a historical figure is one thing on the intimidation meter as an actor because there's little room for personal interpretation. But what about playing a killer?  There's a certain amount of respect for playing an Abe Lincoln or George Patton.  But a killer?  Directed by Richard Fleischer, 'Place' doesn't try to present Christie in any sort of positive light -- thankfully -- and just tells the story as accurately as possible.

It's 1944 London and John Reginald Christie (Attenborough) welcomes a woman into his house to treat her for an ailment.  He kills her and buries her in the backyard of his home, an apartment building at 10 Rillington Place.  Fast forward five years to 1949 and  Christie welcomes a young couple who are moving into the building.  Timothy Evans (John Hurt) and his wife Beryl (Judy Geeson) have an infant daughter and are struggling to make ends meet. Worse news for Beryl, she's pregnant and there's no way the young couple can afford a second child.  With some medical background, Christie offers to help perform an abortion, but the Evans' have no idea what the landlord is up to.

Beyond the acting, Fleischer films a movie light on style and heavy on characterization and doom and gloom.  The movie was actually filmed at 10 Rillington Place -- where Christie is believed to have murdered as many as six women -- and gives the story a real sense of macabre and death.  Plainly put, it's creepy knowing these things actually happened in the locations we're watching.  The London as presented is dark, gloomy and plain with no sense of life or color at all on the streets or in the dank, little apartments.  All smart choices in putting this together to make a stark, depressing and unsettling movie.

On pure acting skill, this has to be one of Attenborough's best parts.  Reading through some Christie bio information, it looks like he clearly did his homework on the man's behaviors, speech patterns and mannerisms to bring this serial killer to life.  He kills his victims with a variety of carbon monoxide that basically knocks them unconscious and then strangles them.  We only see this in any sort of detail once, but that's plenty. Bringing this character to life though, we're not taking Jason or Freddy Krueger.  He's quiet, keeps to himself, typically very polite, but all these things hide moments where his true self comes out.  Those scenes are incredibly unsettling to watch, especially a prolonged abortion procedure.  On top of that, it doesn't hurt that he physically resembles the real-life Christie. Safe to say, this is unlike any other Attenborough role I've come across.

Along with Attenborough, the screen is dominated by Hurt and Geeson in a smaller cast.  Hurt's Timothy Evans is an illiterate factory worker prone to exaggeration in his stories and a little too much drinking.  His character isn't exactly sympathetic, but compared to Christie, this guy's a lamb.  His stupidity in not seeing what's happening around him is frustrating because you want him to figure it all out, but Christie just keeps pulling the strings and pushing his buttons to get him to do what he wants.  Geeson is the sweet young wife trying to make the best of an awkward situation.  She takes the best possible alternative -- which isn't all that great to begin with.  Both parts are well-acted and could have easily been overshadowed by Attenborough's performance, but Hurt and Geeson hold their own.

There's something about the movie I'm struggling to put my finger on, but it's definitely a positive.  As near as I can figure, it's the honesty in which the true story is told.  A majority of the story focuses on this one specific incident between Christie and the Evans with the aftermath rushed to a certain extent.  It's not bad rushed though, just fast paced.  The ending is a blink and you'll miss it.  Overall, the storytelling is a highpoint just in terms of its pacing, honesty and briskness.  It doesn't try to whitewash anything, and the movie is that much better for it.

10 Rillington Place <---TCM clips (1971): ***/****

52 Pick-Up

If movies have taught men anything, it's not to cheat on your spouse.  Movies have shown us you could be killed, double-crossed, blackmailed, and forced to do all sorts of ungodly things to keep your secret safe.  Then there's always the mistress and/or spouse finding out and turning on you.  Big picture?  Don't mess around, and you've got a good shot at avoiding all this stuff.  Too bad no one takes advice these days, like in 1986's 52 Pick-Up.

Working off an Elmore Leonard novel, director John Frankenheimer puts together a movie that you basically feel dirty for having watched it.  It's that perfectly wrong blend of sleaze and scum with the 1980s porno scene serving as a backdrop for some extramarital shenanigans. 'Pick-Up' has that feel of a low-budget B-movie, but not necessarily in a good way. The premise is interesting enough, but there's a handful of plotholes that make you groan, and worse than that, characters making decisions that no one in their right mind would do.  If you read no further, here's a good summation of the movie.  Death Wish for Cheaters.  That's the best I can do.

Going to see his nude model/topless dancer mistress, Cini (Kelly Preston) at her apartment, rich and married businessman Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) is caught off guard by three men waiting for him.  They have video footage of Harry on vacation with Cini in some comprising positions and now want him to pay up if he doesn't want the footage shown to his wife, Barbara (Ann-Margret). Making his decision worse, Barbara is running for local office with the district attorney and any news like Harry's cheating would completely derail her campaign.  But even as he's about ready to pay the money, Harry realizes they won't just let him get away so he decides to go on the offensive, taking it to the three mystery men blackmailing him for piles of cash.

Watching a movie based on an Elmore Leonard novel, you head in with a certain amount of higher expectations.  Not having read the book, I can't just how well the transfer was made and what was left out, but this movie has some of the dumbest villains I've ever seen.  Raimy (John Glover) is an owner of a porno theater and the mastermind of the plan.  Leo (Robert Trebor) runs the club where Cini works and seems genuinely surprised when everything hits the fan.  Last, there's Bobby (Clarence Williams III), a pimp who is just too trusting of his partners in crime.  They have to be the unlikeliest of villainous trios, but man, they sure are dumb.

The dynamic is funny among the three, Raimy being the insanely calm leader, Leo the freakishly nervous dupe, and Bobby the muscle who never seems to realize something bad could happen in this plan.  Glover stands out for his part as Alan Raimy, a truly over the top villain you just love to hate.  He's the only one of the three that really registers in any sort of intimidation with the other two more funny than scary -- unintentionally so.  The decisions these three make drove me nuts because they hope to blackmail Scheider's Harry for years and years to come, but then decide to get rid of all the evidence that would pin a murder on Harry.  There's stupid and there is criminally stupid.

As an actor, I really like Roy Scheider in the five or six movies I've seen him in.  This is a difficult character to get behind because of the actions he's taken against his wife (who would really cheat on Ann-Margret?) so he's in a hole right from the start.  The character as a whole is hard to put your finger on because he is so far over the place.  He's angry, worried, a vigilante, a detective, a rich businessman, and with an intelligence that has helped him amass a huge business.  Scheider's always very watchable, but this isn't my favorite character of his.  Ann-Margret is very good in a better part as Harry's wife Barbara, a woman struggling to deal with this bombshell that's been dropped on her while also trying to be elected to office.  Former model Vanity has a small part as one of Cini's fellow strippers while Preston needs to look scared and be naked for her part. Doug McClure has a small part as Arveson, the D.A. that Barbara is working for.

In most of his movies I've seen, Frankenheimer is a very visual director, and 'Pick-Up' does have it's moments as Harry tries to right his wrong. The movie was shot in some of Los Angeles' seedier areas on top of some locales that include a strip club, an orgy/party, and Raimy's porno theaters.  Needless to say, Frankenheimer isn't shy about nudity and violence in this flick.  It's almost too seedy though right from the start in a story that never quite figures out what it is.  Also, watch out for the obvious reference to The Mechanic near the end.  A laughably bad ending.

52 Pick-Up <----trailer (1986): **/****

Kings Go Forth

In the midst of a world conflict that threatens the fate of the free world, it seems odd that personal conflicts and prejudices could play a part.  Take WWII where Allied forces did everything they could to stop Adolf Hitler from taking over the world.  Soldiers from countries all over the world worked together to accomplish this mission.  But what about a soldier-to-soldier basis?  They were united in their efforts, but that doesn't mean they thought alike.  They still had differences and prejudices that almost certainly made an impact on their lives.

It sounds stupid, but what about racist soldiers?  Wrapped in a worldwide conflict, some surely still found times to criticize or ridicule blacks, Hispanics, and any number of other ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.  Just because you're defeating Hitler doesn't mean you still can't have some fun, right?  I meant that sarcastically if you didn't pick that up.  That is the basic premise of 1958's Kings Go Forth where personal prejudices end up playing a large part in the relationships of two soldiers and a young French girl in the months following the D-Day invasion in 1944.

Working with an advanced observation unit positioned ahead of the lines, Lt. Sam Loggins (Frank Sinatra) is used to working in dangerous situations, doing his best to get his men through the war unscathed. The casualties continue to mount though with a new radioman, Cpl. Britt Harris (Tony Curtis) assigned to Loggins' squad who starts to stir things up.  While on leave in Nice, Sam meets a young French girl, Monique (Natalie Wood) who he instantly clicks with.  As the war wages onward, their relationship grows, but two things stand in their way.  Monique has a secret she's worried about sharing with Sam, and smooth, suave ladies man Britt shows up just in time to possibly steal her away from Sam.

The story description does come off as a bit too much like a soap opera, but it's not as painfully obvious while watching.  Sinatra, Curtis and Wood have a good chemistry together in making this love triangle (maybe the laziest plot device ever) not only entertaining, but believable.  It's fairly clear from early on in the movie that Sinatra and Curtis are going to butt heads, it is only a matter of time until we find out why and how.  I should also point out this is a love story set in WWII, not the other way around.  Don't go in expecting epic battle scenes with hundreds of extras.  What little action there is in the movie is saved for the end when Sam and Britt undertake a dangerous mission in a German-held Italian town.

Director Delmer Daves is hamstrung a bit by 1950s censors but gets away with a fair amount in his storytelling.  Parts are subtle so pay attention because you're not going to be hit over the head with any obvious reveals.  The secret Monique is so worried about is that her father was black so she thinks no American is going to want any part of her.  Sinatra's Sam seems more bothered about it while Curtis' Britt doesn't seem fazed in the least.  Of course, that would be too obvious an ending so don't think I gave anything a way.  These elements make the soap opera-esque story more worthwhile and not just three lonely individuals trying to find happiness in war.  If that was the case, I might have turned the movie off halfway through.

Telling this story, Daves wisely focuses on his three main characters with a few supporting parts worth mentioning.  Sinatra didn't have the greatest range as an actor, but when he found the right part he typically knocked it out of the park.  His Sam Loggins is a good example of what he can do with that right part.  Curtis gets to play against type to a bit, putting a harsher spin on his typical lovable rogue who you still like.  He's not a straight bad guy, but if there is a villainous character here, it is him.  It is fun though seeing two performers like Sinatra and Curtis work together with some meatier roles.  Other than her French accent, Wood is excellent as Monique.  The 20-year old actress looks beautiful and makes Monique sympathetic in her trials as she grows up, trying to figure out what she wants in life while dealing with this cloud over her head she has no control over. Leora Dana has a good if small part as Monique's mother while Karl Swenson is good as Sinatra's commanding officer.

Other things worth mentioning include the camerawork and the filming locations.  Daves shoots the movie in black and white, a good choice that makes the story and setting more sparse, more basic emotion.  With color, I don't know if the movie works as well.  With a few notable exceptions, the movie was also shot in France and Italy including some great shots of the French Riviera.  A beautiful movie to look at, and with a good story on top of it.  See this unheralded WWII love story for the acting thing, especially the three stars. 

Kings Go Forth <----trailer (1958): ***/****