Ciao baby, you were one hot wasp waisted Vamp! You scared the Hell out of me when I was a lad with your appearance in Plan 9 from Outer Space and maybe you even had sex with James Dean.
Check out Those Claws!
Here’s the opening to WPIX’s Chiller Theater that you figured so prominently in. Sexy and Scary what a great combination for a little kid to be exposed to. Give ’em Hell up in Heaven, Vampira!
Man, Was She Sexy!
Martin Scorsesce produced and narrated a film about producer Val Lewton, Val Lewton: The Man In the Shadows. It’s very good and it’s great to see an under appreciated filmmaker get his due. TCM showed a lot of Lewton’s work, especially the RKO stuff, to complement the premier of this documentary, directed by Kent Jones by the way. So much has been written about Lewton’s films, I don’t want to repeat what’s already been said but let me throw my 2 cents in. His work especially with Touneur, wise and Robson was so subtle and atmospheric, so artfully made (Nicholas Musuraca is one of the all time masters of B&W cinematography, check out Out Of The Past and Albert S. D’Agostino , one of the greatest Production Designers ever to put a fountain on a set) There’s nothing today that compares with this quality filmmaking! Nothing!
And here’s something I noticed in Cat People. There is a transitional device almost like a fade to black and back but it’s not, it’s an optical that mimics a shadow passing in front of the camera, like a black panther wiping the lens. I’ve never seen this technique used elsewhere and I’ve never heard mention of it made by anyone. It is very subtle and because it’s used to transition from one scene to another it’s accepted as a typical fade in/out yet it creates a sense of unease that sneaks up on you, just like the rest of the film. It slowly wraps you up in a fog of suspense so suddenly you realize you’re lost, in a dark place at night and something may be following you. The documentary also tells you how hard Lewton worked. He killed himself making these films for unappreciative assholes. It’s just not right. And then Mark Robson, the editor he promoted to director, at great personal cost, screws him out of a partnership with Robert Wise and himself! They don’t give the details in the documentary but it certainly makes Mr. Robson look like a scumbag. By the way this review is part of the Val Lewton Blogathon, hosted by The Evening Class.
How could you do it, Mark Robson?
Maestro Fernado Di Leo between the two babes from Avere Vent’anni
I just watched an Italian language version of Fernando Di Leo’s great poliziotto Il Boss (Wipeout USA). A very cool film, I had the good fortune to see it on a double bill with Montaldo’s MachineGun McCain at Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse Film Festival. The Italian version is a bit different, for one thing a lot of subtlety is lost in translation, at least it seemed that way to me, the Italian language version created an overall impression of more political corruption and intrigue. It seemed more real in a way. commissario Torri (Gianni Garko) is in bed with local Mafiosi,
Gianni Garko, commissario Torri, Order in the Mob!
informing them of police action, he has a house and bank accounts given to him by the Mob but he justifies his activities by saying he’s all about “Order”, and only the Big Bosses can maintain order among the Underworld. Is this a rationalization? does he really believe he’s helping Society with his proto Fascist philosophy? The film doesn’t give any definite answers but it’s the questions I find fascinating. Lanzetta (Henry Silva in one of his most iconic performances) is a ruthless, cold blooded killer.
Henry Silva, looking like an Incan head carved from Stone
A monster raised by a Mafia don, almost like Frankenstien, except this monster succeeds in destroying his creator. The dialog between Lanzetta and Rina Daniello (Antonia Santilli) has more dimension in the Italian version.
Have a shot of the Italian Gangster’s Favorite, J&B!
She keeps calling him “Larry” which pisses off Lanzetta to no end. Their conversations seem almost improvised, very natural. The sequence where they shack up in Lanzetta’s apartment is one of the strangest in all Crime Cinema! A full blown Mob War is raging in Palermo and right at the height of it, the guy who started it all is locked away screwing his brains out with the daughter of his ex-boss! He even complains to her that he’s spending too much time in bed with her. It’s like it’s the first time this monster has had sex. Another point that struck me more forcefully in this version is this: the film opens with one of the greatest hits in all Mafia Films, Lanzetta fires a grenade launcher from the projection booth into a theater full of Mafia dons about to watch a Swedish porno film. It’s as if the projector literally becomes a Death Ray! The Power Of Cinema!
Coldest Killer in Cinema!
But my point is this, in the aftermath of the killing, at the morgue, one guy is hysterical, screaming for revenge, nothing will satisfy him but blood!
First To Rat!
This is Attardi (Gianni Musi), later when the gang has kidnapped the daughter of the Don responsible for killing half their family, Attardi wants to kill her with his bare hands, he has to be restrained by his brothers. But Attardi is the guy who rats out the family! He tells Lanzetta where they’re holding the girl! This strikes me as so true, the over dramatic guy, screaming for revenge is the one who rats out his family! Di Leo’s crazy characters really ring true! I also noticed a funny thing, when Lanzetta is in the projection booth preparing to send the audience to Hell, the projector is running but there is no film in it! The reels are empty! Check it out.
The Boss Never Sleeps
Richard Conti is great as the insomniac Boss of Bosses and Pier Paolo Capponi is excellent as Cocchi, the rival hitman, he is like a tough Italian John Casale.
Cocchi, Casale’s Cousin From Palermo
And here’s another strange thing, at the end of the film in the Ameriacan version it ends with Lanzetta walking off down a road, in the Italian version it cuts to the lawyers office where he gets a phone call and a title appears, Coninua, to be continued. What ever happened to Part Two? I guess it never got made, too bad, I’d love for this film to keep on going!
I Wish!
I had dinner with the lovely, eternally young Barbara Bouchet during the Grindhouse festival. I asked her about working with Di Leo, she said she loved it, that when they made a film it was like one big happy family, a joy to be involved with. I was happy to hear that. As I watched Wipeout at the New Beverly Cinema Quentin was sitting next to me, he leaned over and told me that Di Leo is one of his, maybe his favorite director of all time. He also said he heard an interview where Di Leo was asked ” Are there any directors working today that you admire, or that remind you of your own filmmaking?” Di Leo replied, ” Yes, Quentin Tarantino!” It made Mr. Tarantino very happy.
I was watching Umberto Lenzi’s From Corleone To Brooklyn when I spotted this shot of 42nd street. The film advertised on the marquee, The Brinks Job was edited by my old pal Bud Smith. Jere Huggins, another friend once told me that while they were working on it, on location in Boston, a group of Mafia thugs came into the cutting room. It seems that while filming in downtown Boston the previous day Mr. Friedkin had trained his camera on a crowded street. Somewhere on that street was a wanted Mafia capo who took umbrage at being filmed. So he sent a group of soldiers to the editing rooms where they tied up the editing crew and pistol whipped one of the unfortunate cutters. They seized the film shot the previous day and left with it. One of the trussed up assistant editors, I believe it was Ned Humphries, dialed a phone with his nose and called for help. The police came and freed them. Later a ransom demand was made for the purloined film, unfortunately for the filmnappers, the editors just ordered a new print of the missing dailies from the lab where the original negative was stored. Bud Smith was not in the editing room during this ordeal, the Mafiosi struck early in the morning while the assistants were syncing dailies and Bud was having his coffee at his hotel.
What a Deal!
My pal Mark Boone Junior turned me on to a great DVD store, Old Bank DVD. It’s down on 4th and Main and it has a great selection of films to check out. I’ve been in need of a new place to rent stuff since Jerry’s video closed a few months back. It’s next door to a great little cafe where they make excellent coffee, have an impressive selection of wines by the glass, and make a mean panini. The Banquette Cafe, very nice. But check out what I got at Old Bank DVD, 3 dvds for $10, on a table by the front door are some on sale specials from an Art Walk or something. I got Hercules Unchained, Italian peplum starring Steve Reeves and photographed by the great Mario Bava, Crime Boss, directed by Alberto DeMartino and starring Telly Savalas, and Deep Red by the master of Italian horror, Dario Argento! What a deal! I haven’t watched them yet so I can’t speak for the quality but still, $3 and 33 cents each! Score! I was talking about Bava to the guy running the place and two other guys asked if I liked Bava. They turned out to be filmmakers from Italy and we had a great conversation about Italian film, Cinecitta, and Bud Spencer! How cool is that! I’ve found my new video spot, I can get there on my scooter in 10 minutes and pick up a DVD. So head down to 4th and Main across from The Barclay Hotel, have a glass of wine and check out the excellent selection at Old Bank DVD. I’ll post some photos soon.
Watching this Argento masterpiece I suddenly became aware of a phenomenon, it was something I’d thought about in other films but here in 4 mosche di velluto grigio it was so clearly exercised it jumps out and hits you over the head just like the killer in this movie. I’m talking about the use of perceived space or sense of place, private, personal space and public space.
Place Of Recurring Nightmare
Isn’t it more horrible when an atrocity happens in a public place and no one can do anything about it? Especially for the victim, it creates a sense of false hope, ” Look over here, someone’s trying to kill me! Can’t you see!” The dream our protagonist has says it all, a public execution in a square in Saudi Arabia. A guy is kneeling, the executioner jabs him in the neck with a stiletto, he jerks his head up and the killer chops his head off with a sword. This takes place in a large courtyard or plaza, a very public place. In a way this is the quintessential image of horror, of nightmare. A person being killed in cold blood out in the open for all the world to see and no one’s doing anything about it. They sit and watch complacently.( The image of the execution reminds me of a scene in Alain Resnais Last Year At Marienbad, another film with an interesting use of space).
Marienbad Psychological Space
Taking his cue from this nightmare image Argento then stages some of the murders in a way that takes advantage of our perceived sense of place. The set up for the whole film is a man intruding on our hero’s personal space. Roberto,(Michael Brandon) a rock drummer sees a guy always looking at him wherever he goes.
Roberto, he looks more like a guitar player than a drummer to me
He gets fed up and chases the guy into a theater or opera house. It’s empty, a public place turned into the setting for a nightmare.
Roberto accidentally kills his stalker and is photographed in the act by someone wearing a clown mask.
Soon he is being threatened by the mysterious photographer. Later a woman calls the killer and demands blackmail, I have to comment on the genius sequence that follows her voice over the phone lines, underground, through a switching station to the killer’s apartment,super cool,
Following the voice over the wires
the blackmailer arranges to meet the killer in a park. There are lots of children playing, lovers in the bushes, music is piped in. A very safe public place. But as it gets later and later and the killer doesn’t show, the woman daydreams, smoking a cigarette. Suddenly she notices the music has stopped, the children are gone, the lovers have left. Argento accomplishes this in a beautiful way, jump cutting from a wide shot of the children to the same wide shot without them, ditto the lovers in the bushes. Brilliant!
One second they’re there
The Next They’re Not
Then our hapless blackmailer hears the scrape of the gate as the watchman locks it, the sun is setting, she’s now trapped in a nightmarish maze of bushes and walls with a psychotic killer hunting her.
The Innocent Park has Nightmarishly Transformed into a Labyrinth of Death
Argento has captured the logic of the nightmare perfectly, but for me it is his understanding and manipulation of “place” that makes it so powerful.
Famous Argento Use of Color
Later in the film a gay private detective tracks the killer on the subway, a crowded public place, the killer gets off and the private dick follows.
Subway to Hades
Once again the public space transforms to a nightmarish claustrophobic death cube ( a public restroom). Another killing is a classic, a young girl hears the killer enter her apartment, she sneaks out of her bedroom and into a hallway, there she stands at the foot of a stairway. The stairway is psychologically a scary place, I believe it comes from our childhood when it was physically dangerous to us, also you can’t see what’s at the top of the stairs, Hitchcock took advantage of this phenomenon in Psycho.
Stairway to Heaven, I mean Doom
Then the young girl goes up the steps and hides in a wardrobe, like a closet. Another nightmare place from childhood, the child hiding from the punishing or abusing parent. This was also used very effectively by David Lynch in Blue Velvet.
Childhood Trauma
Ther is another cool sequence where the police use the dead girl’s retina and a laser beam to record the last image seen by the victim, this idea has been used in other films but I think this was the first time it appears,
this movie is extremely rich in creativity and for me Four Flies On Grey Velvet is the best use of the manipulation of our perception of place in Cinema. Bravo Dario Argento!
Hats Off To Argento!
Hard to find but worth it! A historical drama based on a true story about a beautiful young girl (Beatrice)
Francesco vs. Beatrice
her tyrannical father and a loyal servant that loves her, of course with all the usual Fulci fetishes, eye-trauma, torture, rape, etc.
Fulci signature Eye Trauma! That’ll teach him!
It’s told in a sort of time jumping flashback style from multiple points of view, a riff on Yojimbo but not the same technique. Great production value, medieval Italia, Roma, villas in the campagnia.
Cool Optical, Matte shot using Castel Sant Angelo
Soldiers, cardinals, Inquisitors, there’s even a papal investigator who is a Medieval Columbo!
The Pope’s Colombo! Official Investigator Of The Vatican
A dysfunctional family headed by a father who is a total sadist prick. He has one guy torn apart by dogs, throws a party when two of his sons are killed in Salamanca ( he’s notoriously cheap and rejoices he dosen’t have to foot the bill for his sons crusading any more), imprisons his daughter in a filthy dungeon, abuses her and everyone around him.
Tomas Milian as loyal servant Olympio
Olympio loves Beatrice
Tomas Milian plays Olympio the servant, he becomes Beatrice’s lover and helps her off her old man.
The Torture Of Olympio
The best scene in the movie is when Milian, who has been graphically tortured in horrible ways and has confessed implicating Beatrice, is brought before her to confront her. The Inquisitors expect him to contradict her and say she’s guilty, he looks at her from the floor, his body torn up, shattered, a mess. He apologizes to her and says she’s innocent!
When confronted with His Lady he recants his confession
The Inquisitors are pissed! They drag him off to torture some more and while breaking his bones on the Wheel, he dies. There is also a wild boar of a man called Il Catalano. He is a hired killer brought in to finish off Francesco Cenci( George Wilson). We first meet him in a cave where he lives, he’s passed out with two naked prostitutes.
Catalano, The Human Wild Boar
This guy is great, there’s no one like him in Cinema today! Ignazio Spalla! Check him out! Super cool casting by Fulci in giving this cat the part.
Boar Hunt
Everyone cracks under torture except the beautiful Beatrice, they wrap a rope arond her head and tighten it until her head almost explodes but she doesn’t crack. She’s the toughest one in the movie, maybe from putting up with that asshole of a father for all those years. She tells the court how he raped and abused her and her lawyers shout it at the trial for the whole world to hear.
Royal Rapist Rat
The people of Rome want her set free! She gets a groundswell of support which pisses off the Pope, a dude with a hugh, hairy mole on his puss.
Pederast Cardinal with his Holy Boy Toy
The papcy covets Cenci’s land and fortune, what better way than to off his family and claim it all for the Church! I heard tell that when this movie came out in Italy people in the theater were yelling for the director to be killed! Fulci pissed off the Christian Democrats with this anti-Church tale of greed, torture and murder. It does bring to mind the Salem witch trial where women were offed so greedy townspeople could glom their real estate! It also bears comparison with another cool movie, Michael Reeves Witchfinder General. Check it out if you can track down a copy, you won’t be sorry. 
This is a killer clip of an orchestra in Italy playing the theme from Italia A Mano Armata (A Special Cop In Action, USA) an incredible piece of music by Franco Micalizzi. I have a story about this particular tune. I was working as an editor on Kill Bill. One day Quentin tells me that two great Poliziotto’s are playing at The American Cinematheque that night. So we go and see them, they were great. Italia A Mano Armata and Roma A Mano Armata. Cut to a few months ago. I’m working on Death Proof, QT cuts in a piece of music in the big car chase, it’s Italia A Mano Armata! He tells me he’s been wanting to use that music ever since we saw the films at The Cinematheque during Kill Bill! Enjoy! Have a glass of Nebbiolo!
I just found this video on YouTube. I directed, shot, and edited it for my pal Daniele Luppi. It’s a music video set to his tune Fetish Quartet from his album An Italian Story. Daniele did the score for my film One Night With You and his album features performances by a few of the same legendary musicians he employed on the soundtrack, mainly Alessandro Alessandroni and Antonello Vannucchi. It’s a great album, check it out. By the way Daniele has been busy working with Gnarls Barkley on some amazing tracks. Keep your ears open for their next collaboration.
Me & Leonard
Well I finally did it. Traveled up to the Central Coast of California with a camera, got my pal Joe Montgomery to shoot and interviewed Leonard Mann. I had met Leonard this summer by accident. We were at a party for a mutual friend, in talking to him I quickly found out who he was and what films he had starred in, a veritable Whitman’s Sampler of Italian genre film! Spaghetti Western, Poliziotto, Giallo, SciFi, Historical Drama, Sex Farce, all the cool genres the illuminati of film are into. Leonard acted with some luminaries in these films, James Mason, Marcello Mastroianni, Woody Strode, Laura Antonelli, Henry Silva, Ivan Rassimov, Stephen Boyd, Allida Valli, Richard Kiel, Harvey Keitel,to name just a few. But the real reason for the interview was not a particular film or a particular actor or even a particular genre. I wanted to try and capture a little bit of the spirit of those times, recreate a feeling of that incredible milieu when all of these films we love so much were born. I’m linking this to a Podcast (audio only) but I may create a video version complete with illustrative film clips and release that into the ether in the near future. For now I hope you enjoy this visit to Roma 1968.
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Check this out! A crazy Pinky Violence type film from Japan, in B&W Scope no less! A smoking hot chick out for revenge, gore galore, a pit and the pendulum type finale, what more could you ask for! These Japanese genre films never cease to amaze me! They are so well made, the rest of the world cranks this stuff out on a shoestring budget with ketchup blood effects, shot in Uncle Louie’s butcher shop with a camera mounted in a shopping cart and starring whoever didn’t get a job that summer. This stuff looks like Yojimbo! I guess they had a big homegrown market for this genre cause it sure as hell didn’t make it out of the country! They made a profit strictly on a one country theatrical run! Those were the days! If you’d like more info on this series click the magic link below and be transported to The Outcast Cinema Blog!
A World Of Wacky Wonder Awaits!
Here’s the trailer to Sergio Sollima’s magnificent Western La Resa Dei Conti or as it’s known in the USA, The Big Gundown. This is one of my favorite Spaghetti Westerns, up there with the Leone masterpieces. It features an incredible score by Ennio Morricone, vocal work by Alessandro Alessandroni’s Cantori Moderni, and solo vocal by Christy.
Is Christy Really Gianna Spagnulo?
Sergio Sollima and Sergio Donati imbued the screenplay with Socialist overtones but it’s the interplay between Milian and Van Cleef that really elevates this film to the Olympian heights of Western Greatness. As a matter of fact I think it rivals, maybe even surpasses the buddy/enemy dynamic of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That’s a tall order! Van Cleef did this immediately after GBU, what a great year he had! (Check out Mike Malloy’s cool book Lee Van Cleef for more info on this great actor.) There’s a Classical Greek reference in a sort of Odysseus on the Isle Of Circe scene with Milian as Odysseus. Also this trailer features some of the supercool optical work from the ultra groovy main title sequence. Check it out, you won’t be sorry!
Beautiful Main Title Sequence