Out of the Past (1947)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

This noir classic is neatly packaged into three inter-related parts, each conveniently featuring a different girl. First, there is the wraparound narrative in a small California town near Tahoe. Mitchum owns a gas station and is courting Virginia Huston. In typical noir fashion, he tells her about his past in a long flashback. Here, femme fatale Jane Greer is the object of our detective's passions. He follows her to Mexico, gets involved in murder and flees back to the States where he is double and triple crossed. Back in real time, his past catches up with him and he leaves the small town to sort it all out once and for all. He meets Rhonda Fleming, she is all over him but after his experiences with Greer he sees right through her. Speaking of Greer, she shows up again, but the tables are turned and he uses her to get out of a jam.

Carrie (1952)

Directed by William Wyler
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Paramount)

Laurence Olivier is a middle-aged, wealthy restaurant manager in Chicago. He is respected, trusted and bored with his marriage. In walks Jennifer Jones, a wide-eyed beauty from the sticks in Missouri, and he falls madly in love. She is involved with huckster Eddie Albert, but is mainly using him for a place to live. She falls for Olivier, and they begin a passionate relationship. Olivier gives up everything to be with her: his job, his respect and his family. They flee to New York and try to start over with money he has "borrowed" from the Chicago restaurant. His deed soon catches up with him and they live in abject poverty. As Olivier slips further into depression over his lack of a job and lost family, Jones starts a career as a Broadway actress. He leaves her and becomes homeless. The film works on many levels: the folly of an older man falling in love with a younger woman and its consequences, how a rich man deals with poverty, how a poor woman deals with wealth, dehumanization in the big city, the loss of innocence, and more. Olivier is excellent as always as the pathetic George Hurstwood. Downbeat to the end, this one is not your usual Hollywood fare.

Comes a Horseman (1978)

Directed by Alan J. Pakula
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Pakula follows up his classic All the President's Men with a long story set in the rural west of the 1940s. Jane Fonda is having a land dispute, among other things, with her evil neighbor Jason Robards. James Caan is a cowboy working his nearby land with cattle. Together, Fonda and Caan try to change the status quo of rich ranchers and oilmen after their land. The problem is Robards and Caan both give monotone, emotionless performances. I had to constantly turn up the volume to even understand what they were saying. Only Fonda brings any kind of passion to the story, and that story goes on for an almost unbearable 2 hours. Somewhat redeemed by excellent cinematography of the Colorado landscape and realistic depiction of rural life.

Torrents of Spring (1989)

Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Miramax)

I was hoping maverick Polish director Skolimowski would inject his unique style into what appeared to be a routine romantic period drama, but he fails miserably. It would be easy to blame Timothy Hutton, but his female costars Valeria Golino and Nastassja Kinski are equally as bad. The trio are fatally miscast and have zero chemistry. It's a turgid Turgenev romance, where Russian Hutton falls head over heals for peasant beauty Golino for no apparent reason, then gets into a heated romance with the aristocratic Kinski. They have a sex scene in a crumbling mansion as her horse watches. The two women meet at what is supposed to be a dramatic dinner, but I could not stop laughing, particularly during Hutton's tirade in the back room. His Russian accent completely disappears when he tries to emote, then he breaks down in tears and hides behind a curtain.

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Directed by Edward Dmytryk
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Serpentine story that follows private detective Philip Marlowe through the gritty streets of a big city in search of a murderer and a jade necklace. Along the way, he gets beat into unconsciousness a few times, seduces beautiful women, gets kidnapped and injected with drugs which make him have vivid nightmares, tangles with the police and eventually solves the case. Highly influential noir is very entertaining and stylized, but some of the dialogue, especially the narration, seems forced and just plain silly. I suppose the style has been spoofed so many times that it is hard to take seriously, even though at the time this was fresh and original.

Larceny, Inc. (1942)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Robinson spoofs his gangster persona, yet again, in this mildly funny but entertaining romp. The teaming of Robinson and Broderick Crawford in a comedy is a stroke of genius. Crawford plays the dumb gangster to the hilt, he can't even string together coherent sentences. If they had gone a little bit further this would be a screwball classic. As it is, I'm never comfortable with Robinson doing comedy, and this does nothing to change that opinion. His best scene was "gift wrapping" a suitcase for a customer, which consisted of covering it with brown paper and a loose string. However, the scenes with Santa at the end were the only thing that really got a laugh out of me.

Ride a Wild Pony (1975)

Directed by Don Chaffey
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Walt Disney)

Sentimental tale set in turn-of-the-century Australia. Little Scotty lives in the bush and can't get to school. He's given a wild pony and patiently breaks him for the long ride to school. The horse turns up missing one day and after an exhaustive search he never finds him. Meanwhile, little rich girl Josie is crippled and needs a pony to get her around. They catch a wild pony and train it to pull her trap. Could it be the same missing pony? They both claim ownership, and a rather far-fetched trial ensues. The judge forces the pony to decide between the two kids, leading to some typical Disney-fied anthropomorphism. The ending teaches a lesson, but was otherwise unsatisfying. Good location shooting in the Australian outback.

The Hunters (1958)

Directed by Dick Powell
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, 20th Century Fox)

Robert Mitchum arrives at a US Air Force in Japan during the Korean War. He meets fighter pilot Richard Egan in the bar. Egan is too drunk to get himself home, which leads to Mitchum meeting his wife, Swedish beauty May Britt. He flirts with her, and vice versa, until he finds out she is Egan's wife. Back on base in Korea, he's the new wing commander and Egan is the troublesome pilot who lacks confidence in his ability to shoot down enemy jets. The dog fight scenes are terrific, some of the best I can remember involving jets. However, the romantic triangle bogs down the movie with sentimental mush.

Ride in a Pink Car (1974)

Directed by Robert J. Emery
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Academy Home Entertainment)

Southern redneck car chase schlock with Glenn Corbett returning to his hometown where everyone thinks he was dead. His old girlfriend has married his brother, but she is still in love with him. An Indian friend is in jail for murder. When Corbett kills a man over another girl, he breaks the Indian out of jail, grabs his old girl friend and steals a pink Thunderbird. They get in shootouts with the police, crash through fruit stands in slow motion and eventually end up in a stand off in a cavernous old barn. The soundtrack is unusually obtrusive and bad, including some awful songs by the Indian on his acoustic guitar.

The Country Bears (2002)

Directed by Peter Hastings
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Walt Disney)

I really like the Disney World Country Bear Jamboree attraction on which this movie is based. It's a nostalgic slice of Americana that harkens back to a simpler time. Somehow they managed to turn it into one of the worst movies Disney has ever made. It's the story of an adopted bear living with a "real" family, who runs away from home to find his "destiny", to bring his heroes, The Country Bears, back together to save Country Bear Hall. On the one hand, you've got the mushy Disney "family" message about acceptance, hammered home with all of the subtlety of a Sunday prayer meeting. Then there is the "reunion" of the band, a silly plot device in which they go on the road to find each member and convince them to join the band. The nail in the coffin is the musical numbers by modern pop acts, just horrible, horrible songs by untalented Disney "discoveries" Krystal and Jennifer Paige. There are numerous cameos by famous musicians like Elton John and Bonnie Raitt, which are too embarrassing to even watch. The film is the complete opposite of the spirit of the original Disney World attraction: slick, modern and ultimately hollow.

Flood (1976)

Directed by Earl Bellamy
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Irwin Allen-produced, TV movie disaster-of-the-week with an all star cast of victims. A dam is springing leaks, but the hard-nosed mayor of the downstream town refuses to admit it will break. He butts heads with Martin Milner, officer Malloy from Adam-12, who alerts the town of the impending disaster. Once the dam breaks, there are several personal dramas that play out, following the disaster-movie formula laid out by Earthquake. The special effects are nothing special, a combination of stock footage, miniatures and some cleverly filmed water rescues. Carol Lynley, from the Poseidon Adventure, screams a lot as the trapped pregnant woman, and her rescue from a house is the best of the bunch.

The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)

Directed by Mitchell Liesen
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Plotless hodge podge of variety acts on an ocean liner involved in a race across the Atlantic. Bob Hope's debut feature has him as the radio emcee. More interesting is W.C. Field's character, a drunk millionaire who owns the boat, and also has a flying motorcycle. He cheats at golf, plays pool with a crooked cue, flirts with the ladies and hijacks the ship.

Invisible Stripes (1939)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Raft and Bogie are paroled from Sing Sing on the same day. Bogie intends to return to his gangster lifestyle, but Raft plans to go straight. The film is mainly interested in Raft and the way society treats the ex-con. He's fired from several low wage jobs, sometimes by management who doesn't trust him, sometimes because of the other workers who resent him and pick fights. He finally manages to hold down a job as a stock boy and over time rises to a position of responsibility. However, when the cops pick him up for no reason he gets fired again. He looks up his old pal Bogie, and soon joins his gang and goes on a bank robbery spree. Loaded with money he could never make holding down regular jobs, he gives most of it to his brother who owns a garage. The Production Code-imposed ending sees that a life of crime gets its just reward, but makes for a predictable denouement.

Charlie Chan in London (1934)

Directed by Eugene Forde
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, 20th Century Fox)

Despite the title, most of the film takes place at a country estate far from the city. A group of wealthy English gentry are the suspect pool as Chan tries to clear a man facing a hanging for a crime he didn't commit. Chan decides to reconstruct the crime, a nasty murder involving a large knife, and this provides the necessary clues leading to the arrest. A young "Raymond" Milland is among the suspects. Pleasant if undistinguished Chan mystery.

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)

Directed by Anatole Litvak
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Far-fetched drama/comedy with Edward G. Robinson as a doctor trying to discover a physical reason people turn to crime. He carries out silly experiments on Bogie and his gang, such as having them touch their noses or taking blood samples in the middle of a robbery. Bogie doesn't like the way he is being bossed around by the more intelligent doctor, and when he discovers his true identity tries to kill him. Robinson survives, but turns the tables to experiment with the "ultimate crime".

Beowulf (2007)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Paramount)

More video game than movie, this animated Robert Zemeckis film even has the gall to credit actors, though there is not a second of real life footage to be found. Filled with violence, blood, guts and heaving bosoms, it's all for naught since the rubbery animation completely blunts the impact. It's a cold, unreal world of motion capture technology, flawed to the core in the "uncanny valley". It is basically an overblown cartoon, full of pompous glory, a belching chorus accompanied with thundering drums, whose main character repeats "I am Beowulf, see me roar!" There is not one but two "monsters", Grendel, who looks like the baby in Eraserhead, and its mother, a stylized Agelina Jolie who rises out of the water like Neve Campbell in Wild Things. Grendel is killed early on by a naked Beowulf, whose private parts are always strategically blocked from view. Angelina is not happy and takes revenge by turning into a dragon. People are saved at the last possible second from crumbling castles and high ledges, just like in a Looney Tunes cartoon. It's also in 3D, which means long, pointy objects are frequently thrust directly into the camera.

Arizona Days (1937)

Directed by John English
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI)

Early Tex Ritter oater is unusual in several respects. First, there is a vaudeville-style performance in the Tombstone Opera House, where Tex manages to trick a gang into paying for the show after they had stormed in without paying. Later, little Billy is shot dead, the young boy who Tex was teaching how to play guitar. This must have shocked the Saturday matinee audience in 1937. Lastly, Tex takes up the job as tax collector in Tombstone, forcing outlaws to pay up or else. The songs are lively and Tex seems to be having a good time in only his third film.

The Black Camel (1931)

Directed by Hamilton MacFadden
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, 20th Century Fox)

Earliest surviving Warner Oland Chan entry casts him as a Honolulu detective investigating the death of a Hollywood starlet. There is another, earlier murder that also plays a role in the mystery. Bela Lugosi is a prime suspect as the mysterious fortune teller Tarneverro. Favorite Charlie Chan aphorism: "Always harder to keep murder secret than for egg to bounce on sidewalk".

Pets (1974)

Directed by Raphael Nussbaum
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

Candice Rialson escapes from her abusive brother only to make friends with a black woman who convinces her to kidnap a rich jogger on the beach. The black girl takes his car to go rob his house, leaving her alone with the tied up jogger. She teases him and then has sex with him. She runs away (again) and this time makes friends with a lesbian artist. She poses as a model, but soon is living with her. She gets bored of their lesbian relationship, so when a man breaks into the house she convinces him to stay the night in her bedroom. The lesbian finds out and Candice has to run away (again). This time she takes up with the owner of an art gallery, and after he buys her clothes she is living in a cage in his basement with a tiger, a squirrel, a wolf and a big bird (all female). Ed Bishop from the UFO TV series babbles on about the life of the modern woman and how his female "pets" actually have better lives. An oddity, even by 70s drive-in standards.

Behind That Curtain (1929)

Directed by Irving Cummings
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, 20th Century Fox)

Not a bad little mystery that spans the globe, from London to India, across the desert to Iran, then finally back to San Francisco. Someone has killed the detective hired by a suspicious father to investigate his daughter's fiance. Her "best friend" also is concerned over her well being. They get married anyway and flee to India. It's not long before he's cheating with a maid, in a rather prolonged scene filled with sexual innuendo. His wife flees with her friend to Iran. Scotland Yard is hot on the trail, and all roads lead to San Francisco, where Charlie Chan makes a brief appearance.

Oklahoma Raiders (1944)

Directed by Lewis D. Collins
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI)

Tex Ritter was one of the best singers in all of the cowboy B's. However, his down home, friendly demeanor does not suit him well for the role of shootin' and fightin'. There is a fight towards the end of this picture, and Ritter looks completely lost. He does frequently pick up a guitar, and impresses as usual. It's a very confusing story of wild horses, a female bandit and land rights in the Oklahoma Territory during the Civil War.

Kid Galahad (1937)

Directed by Michael Curtiz
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Edward G. Robinson is a Miami boxing promoter. A bellhop at one of his parties gets in a scuffle and knocks out the world champion with a right. He's a naive country kid trying to earn money to buy a farm. Robinson agrees to groom him for the world championship. The kid is also a lady killer, but does not realize it, and Robinson's girlfriend Bette Davis falls for him. However, the kid is in love with Robinson's sister. Romantic complications take up perhaps a bit too much of the picture, but it is somewhat balanced by a gritty depiction of the corrupt boxing world. Davis adds class and stature to the cast.

Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958)

Directed by Bruce Humberstone
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

A doctor is running a hospital and developing a serum in the jungle. The local witch doctor feels threatened and his tribe terrorizes the hospital and its staff. When the young tribal chief becomes deathly ill, they must choose between the old ways of the witch doctor or the new ways of the hospital to save him. Tarzan is on the side of the hospital, showing up in the nick of time over and over to save both white men and natives from snakes, crocodiles, lions and each other. Jane has perfect hair and make up, whether it be in the tree house or the hospital when she comes down with appendicitis. Cheta wears a loin cloth throughout and boy is called "Tartu". Ridiculous entry is studio bound with an over reliance on stock footage and native mumbo jumbo.

Greetings (1968)

Directed by Brian De Palma
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Platinum)

A series of satirical sketches centered around the Vietnam War. A threesome of young countercultural bums in New York make up ways to dodge the draft: pretend to be gay, pretend to be radicals, etc. They spend most of the rest of their time trying to get laid. Talky, dated, episodic and frequently boring.

The Sword (1971)

Directed by Lei Pan
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Crash Cinema)

A sword collector realizes that the "greatest sword in the world" is not in his possession. He tracks the owner down in a remote mountain cabin. It's an old man and his daughter, who have withdrawn from the world because of the bad luck the sword brought them. Unable to buy the sword, the collector seduces the daughter. He leaves the next day, vowing to return in a year, after he has trained himself as a fighter. He returns a different man (with one big, black eyebrow), and tragedy results. A moral story about the emptiness of worldly pursuits and their ultimate cost.

The Little Giant (1933)

Directed by Roy Del Ruth
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Edward G. Robinson gives up his gangster life in Chicago after Prohibition is repealed. He goes to southern California to be a "sportsman" in High Society. It's a fish-out-of-water story as he falls in love with a rich girl who is only after his money. He buys a mansion and has swanky parties all to impress her. All along, it's his live-in "assistant" that he is really falling in love with. When he is duped of all his money, he calls on his old Chicago pals to get it back the old fashioned way, extortion. The final scene shows the hard-boiled gangsters on horses playing polo.

Road to Singapore (1940)

Directed by Victor Schertzinger
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

The first in the Bing & Bob road series sees the inseparable buddies swearing off women and going to the tropical isles. They soon find a live-in maid in the form of Dorothy Lamour, who cooks and cleans for the messy bachelors living in a straw hut. Inevitably, they both fall for Lamour and force her to choose which one she will marry. It all ends in a big native feast, in which they wear dark make-up, don dresses and do silly dances.

Butterfly (1982)

Directed by Matt Cimber
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Industrial Entertainment)

Pia Zadora is the whole show, playing a teenager who shows up at her "father's" abandoned mine in the middle of the Arizona desert. She immediately begins to seduce him, a ploy to get him back in the mine for the silver. He admirably resists her sexual overtures. Her boyfriend and his relatives show up, and it turns in to a sordid mess of cheating spouses and illegitimate children. There is a trial for incest with an elderly Orson Welles as the judge. It is basically an adult soap opera, but with some good desert location photography. The Industrial Entertainment DVD suffers from distracting picture stutter ("ghosting") whenever the camera pans or there is motion left or right, indicating a poor PAL-sourced transfer.

Brother Orchid (1940)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Edward G. Robinson plays yet another reformed gangster trying to go straight. He travels to Europe to join "high society", but loses all of his money buying race horses and other dubious deals. He returns to the old gang, lead by Bogey in a minor role, but they want nothing to do with him. They wound him one night in a shoot out and he seeks help at a monastery in the woods. The "Floracians" make them one of their own and he is soon growing flowers and helping his fellow man. It's neither funny enough to be a comedy nor gritty enough for a realistic gangster drama, so flounders somewhere in between the two.

The Grasshopper (1969)

Directed by Jerry Paris
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Bisset leaves her small Canadian town at the age of 19 to move in with her boyfriend in Los Angeles. Her car breaks down and she hitches a ride with a bad stand-up comic. He convinces her to stay with him in Vegas for a few days, where she schmoozes with his buddies at a party. She eventually makes it to LA but gets bored with "domesticity" and goes back to Vegas. She becomes a showgirl, marries Jim Brown, falls in love with a musician, becomes a hooker and skywrites obscenities while smoking a joint. Interesting but dated story of lost innocence.

Hard Core Logo (1996)

Directed by Bruce McDonald
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Miramax)

Fictional documentary crew follows a fictional, aging punk band on their reunion tour across Canada. The band falls victim to rock cliche while the film falls victim to rock video cliche.

Goliath and the Vampires (1961)

Directed by Giaocomo Gentilomo
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Wild East)

Effective blend of the horror and sword and sandal genres, with Gordon Scott fresh off the Tarzan series as Goliath. When his village is pillaged and the women taken away as slaves, Goliath vows revenge on the perpetrators. Kobrak is some kind of mystical creature that feeds on blood and commands an army of faceless robots. Goliath teams up with a local sultan whose got an underground laboratory where he keeps preserved bodies which he hopes to bring back to life with a secret element possessed by Kobrak. He's also got an army of blue men, which Goliath leads into battle against the faceless robots in an interesting finale. The Wild East DVD, while widescreen, is a washed-out, brown muck. The included trailer has much better color and gives some indication of what this might have looked like in it's original theatrical run.

Black Legion (1937)

Directed by Archie Mayo
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Bogey is passed over for a promotion at his factory. He joins the "Black Legion" as a way to get back at the "foreigner" who got it. His quiet, suburban home life soon takes a back seat to his new friends. He spends his nights getting drunk, burning houses and flogging "foreigners". One night he accidentally kills his best friend. He goes to trial, but his Legion friends can get him out of the jam. Will he take their help or do the right thing? A thinly veiled critique of the KKK, melodramatic but effective, and sadly still relevant today.

Marshal of Gunsmoke (1944)

Directed by Vernon Keays
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, VCI)

Tex Ritter is hired to clean up Gunsmoke, a western town overrun by lawlessness ever since gold was discovered. His brother is a naive easterner and attorney, bilked by the leader of the gang in a loaded card game. Gun play leads to murder, a trial, an escape and a chase. Jennifer Holt is the local saloon singer and romantic interest. There is a wild ride on a breakaway stagecoach. Ritter sings some songs, but his acting chops are sub par.

The Thirteenth Guest (1932)

Directed by Albert Ray
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Alpha)

Typical early mystery set in an "old dark house". Pre-fame Ginger Rogers revisits the home of her youth, shuttered for 13 years. There is a flashback to the reading of her father's will as a young girl at a banquet table with relatives. Someone is killing them off and placing the bodies in the same chair they sat in at the banquet, including Ginger. But wait! It's not really Ginger but a lookalike with a face lift. In steps police detective Lyle Talbot, who can't be bothered to answer his phone while romancing the local beauties. The killer is seen garbed in a mask and cape, operating the "electric telephone" from a hidden room. Talbot soon figures it out, despite the lack of help from his dumb partner, who provides comic relief. Talky, boring, confusing.

West of the Pecos (1945)

Directed by Edward Killy
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lions Gate)

Barbara Hale spends most of the movie disguised as a boy, leading to some uncomfortable situations between her and cowboy Robert Mitchum. It is milked for all it's worth: a bathing scene, a spanking and a sleepover at the watering hole where Mitchum invites "him" to cuddle up is particularly cringe worthy. Finally towards the end her true identity is revealed, leaving about 15 minutes to wrap up the threadbare plot.

Nevada (1944)

Directed by Edward Killy
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lions Gate)

Early "Bob" Mitchum effort as the replacement for Tim Holt in the Zane Grey series of B westerns from RKO. Chito is back playing guitars and chasing women as his sidekick, as well as old pro Emmett Lynn as Pancake. It's a decent story about the Nevada Comstock Lode, with bad guy Craig Reynolds buying up supposedly worthless homesteads, since only he knows it's actually silver and not gold in them thar hills. Mitchum, though, steals the film with charisma to burn.

The Mayor of Hell (1933)

Directed by Archie Mayo
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Slum kids are sent to reform school, where life is hell under the warden who runs it like a POW camp. Gangster Cagney gets a political appointment and takes a personal interest in the kids during a visit. He fires the warden, falls in love with the nurse and instigates self-rule for the reformatory. This works fine until Cagney gets involved with the old gang and shoots someone. The warden returns and things are worse than ever. Only this time the kids, having learned from their self-governing days, quickly take control and pass their own form of judgment.

When the Line Goes Through (1973)

Directed by Clyde Ware
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, All Seasons Entertainment)

Drifter Martin Sheen follows a white crow and finds twin platinum blonds in sun dresses living alone with grandpa in a dilapidated house in the country. Neither one has "ever been kissed", and it takes Sheen the entire film to address that problem. Through flashbacks, we learn of his life in the Navy, his various jobs and philosophy of life: go everywhere and try everything. We also learn about the two girls in flashbacks: a pilot who crashed nearby died, their mother, grandpa's story. It's an uneasy mix of second rate Tennessee Williams and an episode of Three's Company.

Pufnstuf (1970)

Directed by Hollingsworth Morse
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Feature version of the Sid & Marty Krofft TV show spends a little more time with Jimmy pre-Living Island. For instance, we find out he was kicked out of the band and was about to abandon his flute, which suddenly started talking. Once on Living Island, he tangles with Witchiepoo, who steals Freddy and uses him to win "witch of the year" at the witches' convention. There are frequent breaks for soft-psych songs, including one by Mama Cass. HR Pufnstuf is voiced by a different actor than the TV series, and it is slightly askew. Willakers!

Battle of the Bulge (1965)

Directed by Ken Annakin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Epic recreation of the famous WWII battle. Robert Shaw stands out as the cold, determined Nazi tank commander Hessler. On the American side, the film suffers from a lack of solid characterization, though Fonda gives an admirable attempt as the soft-spoken and insightful Kiley. The film is also dragged down by an overuse of poor back projection and some iffy miniature work, but otherwise a grand ole time in the Cinerama dome.