Categorie archief: Films

En de award voor coolste filmposter ever gaat naar…

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

‘Hobo with a Shotgun’

Zoals het de poster van de betere exploitation film betaamt is de poster van ‘Hobo with a Shotgun’ een getekende poster die de sfeer van de film perfect in één beeld visualiseert. De held van de film is uiteraard het grootste afgebeeld. In het geval van ‘Hobo’ is dat Rutger Hauer die het titelpersonage speelt. Hij heeft een echte zwerverslook met een schitterende nasty gezichtsuitdrukking. Om de hoofdpersoon heen zijn alle belangrijke scènes en personages uit de film te zien. Ik kreeg echt direct zin om de film te gaan bekijken, iets wat alleen de beste posters voor elkaar krijgen. De titel, logo en tagline zijn ook nog eens te gek. Kortom, een dikke tien.

Behalve de vette poster is de film zelf ook behoorlijk geslaagd. Hij begint met een naamloze zwerver die met een goederentrein arriveert in een naamloze stad. Een beetje zoals Clint Eastwood in de westerns over the man with no name. Door de mooie georchestreerde muziek krijg je helemaal het gevoel naar een film uit de jaren zeventig te zitten kijken.

De stad waar de hobo arriveert, is een smerige plek waar sadistische psychopaten de dienst uitmaken. Tussen de vele hobo’s worden bumfights georganiseerd en gefilmd, vrouwen worden gebruikt als lust- en martelobjecten en de politie wordt betaald door de leider van al het tuig, de über sicko Drake. Hauer’s dakloze heeft door een paar slechte ervaringen al snel genoeg van alle smeerlappen en besluit aan het moorden te slaan. Gewapend met een shotgun richt hij een bloedbad aan onder het tuig. In zijn missie wordt hij bijgestaan door prostituee Abby.

‘Hobo with a Shotgun’ was oorspronkelijk een namaaktrailer die deelnam aan een fake trailer competitie georganiseerd om de première van ‘Grindhouse’ te promoten, het grootse exploitation project van Quentin Tarantino en Robert Rodriquez. De trailer won de competitie en werd in sommige Canadese bioscopen vertoond als onderdeel van ‘Grindhouse’. Het is de tweede aan ‘Grindhouse’ verbonden trailer die het tot een speelfilm schopt. De andere is ‘Machete’ van Robert Rodriguez zelf.

Omdat de film met een relatief bescheiden budget is gemaakt en geen grote Hollywood sterren in de cast heeft, is het een overtuigendere exploitation film dan de ‘Grindhouse’ films van Rodriguez en Tarantino zelf. Het excessieve geweld en sadisme maakt wel dat het moeilijk is om veel te geven om de personages, inclusief de protagonist. Ook is de opbouw niet helemaal geslaagd; Hauer verandert in een paar minuten in een massamoordenaar, wat ook de genoegdoening wat teniet doet. Maar de boodschap over de human condition is toch overtuigend neergezet. Ook is het exploitation gehalte optimaal; je kunt je het geschreeuw en gejuich bij de vele bloederige scenes in het theater levendig voorstellen. Deze hobo is het zeker waard om wat kleingeld aan uit te geven.

Convoy

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Sam Peckinpah
Written by: B.W.L. Norton
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Burt Young, Ernest Borgnine

Year / Country: 1978, USA
Running Time: 104 mins.

Convoy is not really a fast carsploitation film, but more like a road adventure. It is a bit of an odd movie in director Sam Peckinpah’s oeuvre, although it does contain a slow motion shot or two and it stars Ali MacGraw and Ernest Borgnine.

The story revolves around a trucker nicknamed Rubber Duck. His Mack truck has a wild duck statue on the hood; later parodied by Tarantino in Death Proof in which Kurt Russell’s character Stuntman Mike has the same. Rubber Duck has that something that makes people leaders. You can not really put your fingers on what it is, a sort of X-factor, but Rubber Duck, charismatically portrayed by Kris Kristofferson, definitely has it.

After a bar fight with a bunch of dishonest cops, led by the crooked sheriff Cottonmouth (Borgnine), Duck and his buddies head to New Mexico where they will be safe from prosecution. Through a radio channel, other truckers pick up on what is going on and join the convoy. It grows and grows until it reaches a powerful mass. Although triggered by corruptness, the convoy is not really a political event. It just happens.

The greatest strength of Convoy lies in its screenplay. There may not be much of a story; it does sketch strong characterizations and delivers very sharp dialogues. Also impressive is the beautiful landscape cinematography. Certainly not near Peckinpah’s best, but good compared to many other standards.

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Biography: Sam Peckinpah (1925, Fresno – 1984, Inglewood) got famous for reinventing the western with movies such as The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. His nickname would become ‘Bloody Sam’ because these movies often contained extreme violence and bloody action sequences. His career started when he got to do jobs for director Don Siegel. Then he got to direct (western) TV series. In 1961 he directed his first feature film, a western titled The Deadly Companions. However, it was with his second feature, Ride the High Country (1962), that Peckinpah really began to establish his reputation. He died of a stroke in 1984, 59 years of age.

Filmography (a selection): Broken Arrow (1958, TV episode), The Rifleman (1958-59, TV episodes), Klondike (1960, TV series), The Deadly Companions (1961), Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), Moon Wine (1966, TV), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Straw Dogs (1971), Junior Bonner (1972), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975), Cross of Iron (1977), Convoy (1978), The Osterman Weekend (1983)

The Hills Have Eyes

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Wes Craven
Written by: Wes Craven
Cast: Dee Wallace Stone, Michael Berryman, Robert Houston

Year / Country: 1977, USA
Running Time: 86 mins.

A lesser known movie by horror master Wes Craven is The Hills Have Eyes, the shocking account of a family (the Carters) trapped in the desert and attacked by a family of cannibals. It reminds very much of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both in story as in creepy execution.

Craven builds the tension up steadily. The cannibals are not seen for a long time (only heard) and then, during the nighttime, they appear and deliver a tremendous blow to the Carter family. Afterwards, the surviving Carters strike back and eventually become as brutal as their attackers when they seek revenge.

The movie is based on the legend of Sawney Beane and his family, a feral clan who inhabited and roamed the highlands of Scotland’s East Lothian County, near Edinburgh, in the early 1400s. They captured, tormented and ate several transients. They were eventually captured on the order of Scotland’s King James and brutally executed without a trial, inspiring the aspect of the film that the Carters become bloodthirsty themselves.

This is only Craven’s third movie after the horror movie The Last House On the Left (1972) and The Fireworks Woman (1975), an adult movie he directed under the alias Abe Snake. The Hills Have Eyes is very raw and contains violence that is still shocking by today’s standard. Some of Craven’s fans even say it is his best movie. It might just be true.

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Biography: Wes Craven (1940, Cleveland – 2015, Los Angeles) is the maker of a number of classic, genre bending horror films. The debut was the gruesome The Last House On the Left in 1972. In 1984 he reinvented the youth horror genre with A Nightmare on Elm Street, which became a genre classic and a popular horror franchise. Twelve years later, he again created a commercial and critical success with Scream. This film also spawned many sequels, three of them directed by Craven and all successful. Craven also occasionally worked within other genres, such as drama/music with Music of the Heart in 1999.

Filmography (a selection): The Last House on the Left (1972) / The Hills Have Eyes (1977) / Deadly Blessing (1981) / Swamp Thing (1982) / A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) / The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985) / The Twilight Zone (1985-86, TV-episodes) / The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) / Shocker (1989) / The People Under the Stairs (1991) / New Nightmare (1994) / Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) / Scream (1996) / Scream 2 (1997) / Music of the Heart (1999) / Scream 3 (2000) / Cursed (2005) / Red Eye (2005) / Paris, je t’aime (2006, segment: ‘Pere-Lachaise’) / My Soul to Take (2010) / Scream 4 (2011)

Face to Face

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Sergio Sollima
Written by: Sergio Donati, Sergio Sollima
Cast: Tomas Milian, Gian Maria Volonté, William Berger

Year / Country: 1967, Italy / Spain
Running Time: 107 mins.

In Face to Face, director Sergio Sollima delivers a more intellectual take on the spaghetti western while still packing in thrilling action. The film stars Gian Maria Volonté – best known for his villainous roles in A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More – as Boston professor Brad Fletcher. Suffering from a severe lung ailment, Fletcher moves to Texas for the warmer climate, only to be taken hostage by the ruthless bandit Solomon Bennet (Tomas Milian) during a daring escape from custody.

Bennet aims to reunite his old gang, including his former ally Siringo (William Berger). However, he’s being hunted by the Pinkertons – a private detective agency – of which Siringo is secretly a member. As Fletcher spends more time with Bennet, his passive nature erodes, and he gradually embraces a life of crime. Once the beast within him is unleashed, he proves to be even more ruthless than his captor.

Sollima weaves a deeper thematic layer into the film, using the western setting to explore the rise of fascism. When Bennet seizes control of a village, he governs it as though it were a single organism, using manipulation and torture to force everyone into submission. His authoritarian rule mirrors historical regimes, adding an unsettling resonance to the story.

However, Fletcher’s transformation isn’t entirely convincing, likely due to the film’s extensive edits – the original cut ran 2.5 hours. His shift from an educated, seemingly moral man to a cruel bandit happens too abruptly, making it feel somewhat unearned. That said, Sollima’s direction shines, especially in his handling of the actors. Volonté delivers a controlled and nuanced performance, while Milian exudes charisma in every scene.

Ennio Morricone’s score, while solid, doesn’t quite reach the brilliance of his work with Sergio Leone. However, the film’s opening credit sequence does capture the grandeur of Leone’s westerns, setting the stage for an absorbing experience. Despite some flaws, Face to Face remains an excellent film – thought-provoking, visually compelling, and anchored by strong performances.

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Biography: Sergio Sollima (1921, Rome) is an Italian filmmaker. Due to his trio of westerns starring Tomas Milian in the mid 60’s (The Big Gundown, Face to Face and Big Gundown 2: Run, Man, Run) he became known as ‘the other Sergio’ – the third most important director of spaghetti westerns, after Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci. Sollima began in cinema as a scriptwriter on Italian sword and sandal epics such as Ursus (1961) and The Ten Gladiators (1963). He directed two spy movies to capitalize on the popularity of the James Bond films. Then he started making spaghetti westerns and action / crime films such as The Family starring Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas. Later in his career he moved more towards television work.

Filmography (a selection): L’amore difficile (1962, segment ‘L’avventura di un soldato’), Agente 3S3, passaporto per l’inferno (1965), Agente 3S3, massacre al sole (1966), Requiem per un agente segreto (1966), The Big Gundown (1966), Face to Face (1967), Big Gundown 2: Run, Man, Run, The Family (1970), Devil in the Brain (1972), Revolver (1973), Sandokan (1976, TV-episodes), The Black Corsair (1976), Steps of Love (1989), Berlin ’39 (1993)