Newspaper reporter Jack Burden (John Ireland) is assigned to cover the campaign of Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford), a small-town yokel running for Treasurer. Burden has been told that Stark is a rarity in the world of politics: he’s an honest man. While following Stark, who is harassed at every turn by his political rivals, Burden realizes everything he’s heard about Willie is true.
Burden writes a series of articles on Stark, who he sees as a decent yet naïve man who ultimately has no hope of winning the election. Sure enough, when the votes are tallied, Willie has been defeated.
As a reward for accepting the assignment, Burden takes a vacation, traveling home to spend time with his mother (Katherine Warren) and family friends, including Judge Monte Stanton (Raymond Greenleaf), the Judge’s nephew Dr. Adam Stanton (Sheppard Strudwick) and Adam’s sister Anne (Joanne Dru), with whom Burden is deeply in love.
Something happens, however, in the months that follow Willie Stark’s defeat: an accident in a school building kills a dozen children, the result of shoddy construction. Which just so happens to be one of the issues Willie Stark was trumpeting during his campaign: construction contracts going to family and friends of the current council members, regardless of qualifications. Remembering his stance on the issue, the public heralds Stark as a voice for the common man, and this newfound popularity lands him a nomination for Governor of the state.
With Burden and Sadie Burke (Mercedes McCambridge) as his advisors, Willie Stark makes a series of informative but uninspiring speeches, not realizing until it’s too late that his nomination was nothing more than a sham, a move designed to split the vote of the “common man” to clear the way for the crooked incumbent to return to office.
Those who set Willie Stark up to take this particular fall, however, come to regret their actions. As it turns out, they’ve only managed to awaken a sleeping giant.
All at once, an angry Willie Stark transforms into a political dynamo, delivering fiery speeches and riling up the “hicks”, who, like him, have had enough of the current administration. Within 4 years, Willie Stark is elected Governor, winning in a landslide.
But he is not the same man he once was; in fact, as his term stretches on, Willie Stark proves himself the most corrupt politician of them all, a fact that grows more apparent to his old pal Jack Burden with each passing day.
Broderick Crawford won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Willie Stark, the political optimist who, before long, lets power and his role as “the voice of the people” go straight to his head. Early on, Crawford plays Stark as a lovable fool, a man who has good ideas but lacks the grace and tact to get them across to the voters. The moment of his transformation (which, incidentally, also comes the day after he got drunk for the very first time) is a tremendous scene, with Willie, enraged by the realization he was just a patsy, delivering a speech that riles up the very people he was meant to corral and placate. Crawford plays it wonderfully, and, like Burden and Sadie, we the audience are happy that Willie Stark has finally unleashed his inner politician.
Willie rides this newfound vigor all the way to the State Capital, where, over time, he’ll make backroom deals with shady characters, doing so for what he calls the “greater good” (this includes the construction of a free hospital that he wants Adam Stanton to run). But as director Rossen shows us, in a hard-hitting manner, all power corrupts, and it isn’t long before Willie Stark has become the type of government official he had initially fought against.
Mercedes McCambridge, in her screen debut, also won a much-deserved Academy Award for her turn as the cynical Sadie, who falls for Stark’s rhetoric a bit harder than most. In addition, Rossen’s expert direction brings an interesting flow to the story: mannered at the outset, frantic in the final act, mirroring first Willie Stark’s humble beginnings, then his meteoric rise.
Even by 1949, corruption of power was a time-honored (read cliché) topic for motion pictures to explore. Yet All The King’s Men does it in a way that never feels like it’s treading on familiar ground. It is a movie that continues to resonate, and is just as vital as ever.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Dead Man’s Burden, the 2012 directorial debut of Jared Moshe, is something special.
Set a few years after the American Civil War, Dead Man’s Burden tells the tale of two siblings attempting to reconnect, each hiding a secret from the other that could ruin any chance of a happy reunion. Wade McCurry (Barlow Jacobs), a former Sergeant-Major in the Army, receives word that his estranged father is dead. Having stayed away from the family’s New Mexico farm for ten years, Wade finally arrives home, where he is reunited with his younger sister Martha (Clare Bowen), now the wife of Heck Kirkland (David Call).
With their father gone, Martha intends to sell the farm to a mining company, whose representative E.J. Lane (Joseph Lyle Taylor) has made them a very generous offer. Though disappointed (he was hoping to settle down and farm the land), Wade quietly steps aside to allow Martha and Heck to do as they please.
It isn’t until he visits family friend Three Penny Hank (Richard Riehle) that Wade discovers his father’s death might not have been an accident (the old man supposedly fell off his horse). Hank even believes Lane may have had a hand in it (Wade’s and Martha’s father refused to sell, while Martha let it be known she was anxious to move as far away as possible).
Armed with this new information, Wade attempts to bring Lane to justice, though the truth of what really happened to his father may be more than he can bear.
Writer / director Moshe doesn’t conceal either Wade’s or Martha’s secrets from the audience. In the film’s opening scene, we watch Martha gun down her father (played briefly by Luce Rains) as he is riding away. As for Wade, while still making his way home, he has a run-in with two brothers (Adam O’Byrne and Travis Hammer) who are out hunting. Wade tells them his family originally hailed from Texas, but when they ask which Confederate General he served under, Wade is hesitant to reply. That’s because Wade did not fight for the Confederacy. He was a Union officer, which is what caused the initial rift between he and his father. In fact, when Wade first arrives at the farm, Martha believes he’s an imposter because she was told Wade had died years earlier while on his way to enlist with the Confederates.
Yet even with their secrets, a fondness develops between Wade and Martha, who have a genuine love for one another. Martha tells Heck that Wade was always more a father to her than their actual dad, while Wade is clearly pleased that the young girl he left behind has matured into a smart, hard-working woman. We know more than they do, of course, and once the truth is out about them both, their relationship will likely be ruined. One of the film’s strengths is that, because we see the love they have for one another, the weight of their inevitable falling out grows heavier with each passing scene.
Moshe does a fine job developing his characters while also taking advantage of the picturesque New Mexico landscape (there are some truly stunning shots in this film). Still, Dead Man’s Burden does stumble a little in the third act when a gunfight breaks out. While most of the movie was shot in a classical style, a la John Ford, this firefight took a more modern approach, with rapid cuts that not only feel out of place, but make the action confusing and hard to follow.
Fortunately, this was the film’s lone weakness. A dramatic, well-crafted tale of family bonds stretched to their breaking point, and featuring a cast of mostly unknowns, Dead Man’s Burden did, indeed, prove to be a hidden gem.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Writer / director Paul Naschy stars as Leonardo, who, over the course of the film, will use his wits and quick thinking to get the upper hand on everyone he meets. With Tomas (David Rocha), a young man he rescued from a cruel master, as his companion, Leonardo lies, cheats, steals, screws, and murders his way through 16th century Spain.
Tomas believes Leonardo is a very intelligent man, the perfect mentor to instruct him in the ways of the world. But the truth is Leonardo may not be a “man” at all. In fact, all the evidence points to him being the devil in human form!
More a series of random adventures than a straightforward narrative, Naschy’s The Devil Incarnate is a bleak sermon on the baser elements of humanity, a sermon the filmmaker delivers with gusto to spare. After killing the first person he meets (a down-on-his-luck soldier) and saving Tomas, Leonardo makes his way to a small farm, where he seduces Ines (Silvia Aguilar), the farmer’s wife, before making off with she and her husband’s entire savings. Though a sweet girl when they first meet, Leonardo lures Ines into bed with a few choice words. Once the deed is done, he humiliates her, takes her money, and carves his “brand” into her backside. Tomas expresses regret at how Leonardo treated Ines, but Leonardo excuses his actions by reminding his young companion she was, in the end, a fornicator who was more than happy to cheat on her husband.
The Devil Incarnate progresses in much the same way from that point on: Leonardo coerces potential victims into wrongdoings, bringing their greedy or lustful ways to the forefront before robbing them blind. Naschy gives a bravura performance as the “devilish” Leonardo, spewing cryptic dialogue on the weaknesses of humanity, yet doing so with such exuberance that it’s clear he had a blast playing the part.
Leonardo’s saddest encounter comes when he enters the home of Dona Aurora (Sara Lezana), a once-proud member of the aristocracy who has fallen on hard times. Her husband dead and her money all but gone, Dona Aurora is also mourning the inevitable loss of her young daughter, who doctors say is suffering from a fatal illness. Leonardo claims he can save the girl, but only if Dona Aurora will afterwards spend the night with him. She agrees, and the girl immediately recovers, leading to a prolonged sequence in which Leonardo and Dona Aurora make love (being a ‘70s genre film, there is no shortage of nudity and sex in The Devil Incarnate, this scene included). Without spoiling it, what eventually happens to Dona Aurora after her encounter with Leonardo results in the film’s most heartbreaking moment.
That said, there is plenty of comedy to be found in The Devil Incarnate as well, everything from a humorous showdown with a stuttering moneylender (Pepe Ruiz) and his nagging wife (Paloma Hurtado) to a romp at a brothel, sped up via fast-motion, that features music and physical humor so outlandish it could have been lifted from an episode of Benny Hill. Naschy also shows off his range as a director, infusing The Devil Incarnate with an energy that never falters while also capturing some truly remarkable images (a late “crucifixion scene”, set in the ruins of a monastery, is striking in its beauty).
On top of everything else, the actor / director offers up “food for thought” throughout The Devil Incarnate, providing one shocking revelation after another on the human condition. At one point, Tomas laments the state of the world, and tells Leonardo he is holding out hope that the future will be much brighter. With a smile, Leonardo predicts his young friend will, that very night, dream of the future. When Tomas closes his eyes, he is horrified by images (via black and white stock footage) of the atrocities of World War II, everything from Nazi bombings to concentration camps. Naschy’s point is clear: mankind’s barbarity remained not only constant through the centuries, but has gotten worse.
This is certainly not an uplifting message, yet The Devil Incarnate somehow manages to be an uplifting film, for both the craft on display and the sheer joy that Naschy took in making this movie. His efforts would be rewarded: The Devil Incarnate was nominated for Best International Film at the Fantosporto Festival, and took home an award at 1978’s Eurocon. And the film feels just as fresh and original today as I’m sure it did upon its initial release.
The Devil Incarnate is a movie to treasure.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Set during the days of the French Inquisition, the film stars Naschy as Bernard de Fossey, whose sole purpose is to expose heretics and those who are in league with Satan. Along with his assistants Nicholas (Ricardo Merino) and Pierre (Tony Isbert), de Fossey makes his way to the prosperous French village of Peyriac, where he informs the authorities that witchcraft is running rampant in the area.
Shortly after his arrival, de Fossey falls in love with Catherine (Daniela Giordano), the daughter of the town’s mayor. Catherine, however, is already in love with Jean (Juan Luis Galiardo), who has promised to marry her.
Like a good many of these movies, Inquisition points out how easy it once was to execute someone for witchcraft, and how the accusers themselves were often as evil, if not more so, than the condemned. A servant named Renover (Antonio Iranzo), who is blind in one eye, had been constantly ridiculed by the young women of Peyriac, and he takes revenge on them by accusing first one and then another of witchcraft. Each girl is brutally tortured until she confesses (the interrogation of Denise, played by Jenny Llata, is particularly tough to watch). Once convicted, they are burned at the stake.
But Inquisition goes a step further than most by including scenes with actual witches, who have given themselves over to the darkness. When Jean is found murdered on the side of the road, a distraught Catherine turns to her good friend Madeleine (Monica Randall) for comfort. Madeleine takes the grieving Catherine to visit Mabille (Tota Alba), a purported expert in the black arts. Mabille promises to reveal the identity of Jean’s killer to Catherine if she, in turn, dedicates her life to Satan. Convinced that de Fossey had a hand in Jean’s death, Catherine also seduces the holy man in an effort to discredit him among his peers. Already attracted to Catherine, de Fossey proves easy prey. As disturbing as the initial scenes of Inquisition are, when innocents are sent to their deaths, it’s in the second half, when witchcraft and devil worshipping take center stage, that the film delves even further into the horrific.
Along with its well-paced story, Inquisition features costumes, settings, and even make-up effects (during one of her “trips” to the sabbat, or black mass, Catherine encounters a demon that looks damn eerie) that convincingly transport us back to this most unfortunate moment in human history.
In later interviews, Naschy himself said he was proud of this movie, claiming the reviews at the time of its release praised his efforts, especially as a novice director. And rightly so: Inquisition stands alongside The Witchfinder General and Mark of the Devil as one of the best entries in this particular subgenre of horror.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
A sci-fi / horror mash-up, Frankenstein Unbound has more in common with Corman’s Poe films of the 1960s than the low-budget but entertaining schlock he churned out in the decades that followed.
The story opens in the year 2031, in the city of New Los Angeles. Dr. Buchanan (John Hurt) has developed a powerful weapon that emits a particle beam, one strong enough to vaporize enemy combatants, yet at the same time precisely focused, meaning it will not damage the surrounding environment. Unfortunately, Buchanan’s weapon has one very serious side effect: it fractures time and space, and opens a portal that transports him to the past.
Finding himself in Switzerland in the year 1817, Buchanan meets none other than Victor Frankenstein (Raul Julia), who is reeling from the recent death of his younger brother. Justine Moritz (Catherine Corman), the child’s former caretaker, has been accused of killing the boy and is currently standing trial. But Buchanan knows the truth: it was the monster that Frankenstein himself created (played here by Nick Brimble) who committed the murder.
Eager to save Justine from the gallows, Buchanan enlists the help of Mary Godwin (Bridget Fonda), a young writer who has taken a keen interest in the trial. Recognizing her as the eventual author of Frankenstein, and therefore perhaps the only person who can prove Justine’s innocence, Buchanan visits Mary on a nearby island, where she is vacationing with her lover Percy Shelley (INXS’s Michael Hutchence) and Shelley’s friend and fellow poet Lord Byron (Jason Patric).
But there is more at stake here than the life of an innocent nanny. It seems the monster, which continues to roam the countryside, is demanding a mate, and has threatened to kill Frankenstein’s fiancé Elizabeth (Catherine Rabett) unless Frankenstein creates one for him. With his knowledge of electricity, Buchanan might be able to help Frankenstein save Elizabeth, but is he willing to assist in bringing yet another potentially violent creature into the world?
It is a fascinating story, with strong performances by Hurt, Brimble, and especially Raul Julia, whose Victor Frankenstein proves at times even more monstrous than his creation. Yet as he did with such Poe outings as The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia, it’s the world - or should I say worlds - Corman and his team conjured up throughout Frankenstein Unbound that most impressed me. Starting with the future’s New Los Angeles (brought to life via futuristic gadgets, matte paintings, and Buchanan’s pretty kick-ass talking car) through to early 19th century Switzerland, the sets and costumes are all very convincing.
The same can’t be said for the special effects (including one rather strange scene where a Mongol emerges from the time rift and attacks Buchanan), which are on-par for a film from this time period, meaning they have not aged well. That said, the make-up (especially that of the monster) and various gore effects all looked awesome, and did their part to update this classically-themed story for modern-day horror aficionados.
All this, plus the film’s thought-provoking ending (in which Buchanan is forced to contemplate his own life’s work and its parallels to Victor Frankenstein’s), served as proof positive that Roger Corman hadn’t lost his touch. As gorgeous, as entertaining, and as challenging as anything he made previously, it’s a damn shame that Corman didn’t direct more movies after Frankenstein Unbound.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
A class of American students is invited to Yugoslavia to observe a ritual that is performed once every hundred years. When they arrive at their destination, they are met by Professor Andromolek (Bo Svenson), who guides them to a remote countryside village. The students are led to some rundown shacks and told to rest up from their long journey. As they do so, the locals board up the doors so that the students cannot escape, then set fire to the structures.
One student, Richard (Jeremy Sanchez), is killed in the blaze. The others manage to escape, and take off running into the woods.
The group eventually makes its way to some train tracks, and attempts to hop a passing train. Four students; Christie (Sarah Conway Ciminera), Kevin (William Geiger), Angel (Alex Vitale), and Beverly (Mary Kohnert), climb on board, while two others, Larry (Ron Williams) and Melanie (Renee Rancourt), are left behind.
But none of them are out of danger just yet. It seems that Beverly, who is of Yugoslav descent, is destined to play an important part in the upcoming ritual. In fact, she has been chosen as the future bride of Lucifer himself! And not even a speeding train can outrun pure evil.
Shot on-location in Belgrade, Amok Train is even wilder than the above synopsis might suggest. Soon after the frightened students board the train, its conductor Milutin Micovic), spots some burning timbers lying across the tracks, and stops in order to clear them off. As he is doing so, the train rolls forward, crushing Milutin and decapitating him. At the same time, Milutin’s assistant (played by Ratko Tankosic), who is still on the train, is sucked by an unseen force into the fires of the coal engine.
As this is happening, the cars carrying the other passengers break away, crushing the engineer (Mario Novelli) in the process and leaving Beverly and her friends alone on a runaway train.
The gore in the above scene is not the most convincing, but it’s good enough, and sets the stage for more carnage to come. And while this sequence would surely rank high on the insanity meter, it can’t top the absurdity of what transpires over the remainder of Amok Train!
Combining a number of different scenarios (Beverly’s realization of her fate; the other students attempting to stop the train; Larry and Melanie on foot trying to make their way to safety; and the railroad executives wondering why the train refuses to make its scheduled stops), Amok Train takes its audience on a ride ten times wilder than any rollercoaster, with scenes so outlandish that it’s impossible to predict what’s to follow. For example, I always thought a train needed a track to get from point “A’ to point “B”. Well, a regular train does, I suppose, but a train under the control of pure evil? Seems like it can do anything, go anywhere, hunt anyone!
What’s more, we eventually find out that the students aren’t as alone on the runaway train as they thought. Sava, a stowaway thief (Savina Gersak), and Marius (Igor Pervic), a mysterious man in a cloak who never stops playing the flute, are also along for the ride.
There are some brutal deaths in this film (one in particular, involving two train cars, is especially gory), and there’s no shortage of impending catastrophes, chief among them the runaway train, which somehow turns completely around and starts traveling in the other direction (don’t ask how… you have to see it for yourself), putting it on a collision course with another passenger train!
And just when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s the grand finale, where Satan himself makes a cameo.
A lot of what happens in Amok Train doesn’t make a lick of sense, and you’re just as likely to laugh out loud as be frightened and amazed by it all. But it is a relentless movie. Amok Train does not let up! From the moment the kids run into the woods to escape the fire, Amok Train barely stops to take a breath.
Whether you’re having a good time with the lunacy or rolling your eyes throughout, the one thing I guarantee is you will never, ever be bored by Amok Train!
Rating: 7 out of 10
Hosted by a creepy coroner (played by director John Carpenter), Body Bags features three tales of the macabre. First up is “The Gas Station”, in which college student Anne (Alex Datcher) spends her first overnight shift as a gas station attendant worrying about a serial killer on the loose.
The second segment, titled “Hair”, centers on Richard Coberts (Stacy Keach), a middle-aged man who is losing his hair. Fearing this will affect his relationship with girlfriend Megan (Sheena Easton), Richard tries everything to keep from going bald, finally deciding to put his trust in Dr. Lock (David Warner), who has developed a revolutionary new procedure that is guaranteed to grow hair.
Closing out the trilogy of tales is “Eye”, the only of the three not directed by Carpenter (Tobe Hooper took the reins for this one). Minor league baseball player Brent Matthews (Mark Hamill) is on a hitting streak, and is sure to get called up to the big leagues. Unfortunately, a car accident costs him his right eye, bringing his career to an abrupt end. But all is not lost; Dr. Lang (John Agar), a surgeon, tells Brent about a potential medical breakthrough, a procedure in which Brent will receive an eye transplant. The operation proves a success, but when Brent starts experiencing grisly visions, he can’t help but wonder whose eye he received.
One of the most entertaining aspects of Body Bags is its cast. “The Gas Station” co-stars Robert Carradine as Anne’s co-worker; David Naughton as a customer who drives off without his credit card; and filmmakers Sam Raimi and Wes Craven, who turn up in cameos. Along with Keach, Easton and Warner, “Hair” also stars Debbie harry as Dr. Lock’s flirtatious nurse, with brief appearances by model Kim Alexis and make-up effects artist extraordinaire Greg Nicotero. In “Eye”, Hamill and Agar are joined by Twiggy (as Brent’s wife) and Roger Corman (as Brent’s first doctor). Even Carpenter’s wraparound segments feature a couple of fun cameos when co—director Hooper and Tom Arnold turn up at the end as a pair of Morgue workers.
Still, there’s more to Body Bags than its star-studded cast. The segments themselves run the gambit, giving us thrills and suspense (whenever a new customer turns up in “The Gas Station”, we, like Anne, wonder if it might be the serial killer); comedy (there are some funny scenes, and a couple of laugh-out-loud moments in “Hair”); and psychological horror (Hamill does a fine job in “Eye” as the baseball player tormented by violent visions he cannot explain, and which may be transforming him into a killer).
Tying them all together is John Carpenter, clearly having a blast (under some fairly grotesque make-up) as the wise-cracking morgue attendant who enjoys spending time among the dead, especially those corpses that met a violent end.
Body Bags was initially designed to be a half-hour television series, to rival HBO’s hugely popular Tales from the Crypt. Showtime, however, nixed the idea, so what would have been the first three episodes of a new show instead became this anthology film.
And as entertaining as Body Bags is, I can’t help but wonder what might have been had the series been green-lighted.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
