Avenue Kurtodrome

Django may be incredibly popular in Italy, the UK, the US and Germany, but the rest of the world is often unaware of this spaghetti western hero. Quite a shame, so let’s talk about the film.

The main character’s name, Django, refers to Django Reinhardt, the famous jazz musician. Django wasn’t just known for being an exceptional musician, he also had a copule of fingers missing. Why director Sergio Corbucci chose this name for the main character of his movie will become painfully clear when you see the movie.
A sick joke, yes. But far from the only sick joke Corbucci has put in the movie.

Django was supposed to be shot on a spaghetti western set. Sadly, heavy rainfall had made the grounds considerably muddy, probably too muddy for a western to be shot there. Corbucci did not despair, he even liked what he saw and decided to make the set even soggier. This is just one of the details that draw you into the movie when you’re watching the opening scene.
While not many spaghetti westerns will start with the film’s hero dragging himself through the mud, Django has another extra: the hero is dragging something along with him, a coffin.
As human beings tend to be curious, you want to find out why someone’s carrying around a coffin and who or what is inside this coffin. The film’s main character is definitely not the guy that’ll tell us: Django is a mysterious character. It would be wrong to describe him as a hero, he’s more of an anti-hero, just like it’s hard to find a good character inside this film.

Franco Nero is excellent as Django, in fact so noteworthy lots of producers tried sticking the name Django to all their spaghetti westerns with Nero. Actually, Nero didn’t even have to be in the film… it was enough that the movie was a spaghetti western. With more than 20 movies using the name Django, it should be noted that there is only one official sequel, Django 2: Il Grande Ritorno, made 20 years later with Nero once again as Django. Sadly, the movie is not that good.
Much more noteworthy is Django Kill, a spaghetti western that was released just a couple of months after Django and which had its title changed from If You Live Shoot, much to the annoyance of director Questi. While being completely unrelated to Django (the main character is played by Tomas Milian), it is the one movie that comes closest to the unhealthy atmosphere of Django and is even way sicker (the scene where bandits pull golden bullets out of a wounded guy’s chest springs to mind).
Django itself has its fair share of whipping scenes and torture scenes, including a rather notorious one where one guy has his ear cut off and then has it put in his mouth.

You’ll notice the bad guys wear red masks. Great (it stands out so much you remember those scenes forever), but it wasn’t planned. A major production that was being shot at the same time as Django had hired the best-looking extras, so Corbucci could only get his hands on ugly extras and had them wear capes.
This is probably what makes Django such an interesting picture: if the extras are ugly, have them wear capes; if the grounds are muddy, make them muddier and insert a scene where the prostitutes are sitting by a stove in an attempt to get warmer, that’ll convince the viewer it’s late autumn or even winter.
Add to this the wonderful looks of Franco Nero, who looks good but isn’t as clean cut as many heroes in spaghetti westerns. You could actually believe Nero spent a couple of weeks in cold and dirty areas. In fact, once again movie magic helped establish that: the make-up crew gave Nero a few extra wrinkles, to make him look tougher.
All in all, that’s what makes this film so exceptional: its combination of luck/coincidence and a relentless creativity that manages to work all the misfortunes into the film as if it had always been planned like that.

One important name hasn’t been mentioned in this review: that of the assistant director, one Ruggero Deodato, who later became a director himself and got his name into movie history books as the director of Cannibal Holocaust.

Being quite brutal, the English censors did not take kindly to the film and had Django banned in the United Kingdom. The British audience only heard about the film’s reputation and were only introduced to Corbucci’s film when The Harder They Come was shown in British theatres, a reggae movie that included a few scenes from Django.
This is the sort of stuff that does wonders for your reputation.

There’s a good occasion to review Messiah of Evil (a.k.a. Dead People) now: it became a public domain movie a couple of years ago, but now it’s become downloadable (legally!) at the Internet Archive.

The film’s plot is wacky enough: a young woman (Marianne Hill) goes to California to find out what has happened to her father, an eccentric artist. Once she arrives at the beach house, she finds out her father wasn’t the only peculiar guy around. What a strange town it appears to be!

The movie is decent and the scene in the movie theatre should be labelled as downright classic. Five years before Romero’s Dawn of the Dead this movie had an idea where zombies go when they’re roaming around. The supermall is fine, how about a ticket to the movies?
The theatre sequence builds up slowly (it lasts well over six minutes) but effectively: we (unlike the girl) know she’s the only human in the theatre and know trouble is brewing when the audience is filling up (ever so slowly) by dead people. While the character is awaiting the main attraction (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye - surely a joke if you know the town is taken over by zombies) she and you are treated to some trailers. That’s always a sign of a love for cinema… genuine cult cinema likes to include clips from other movies, just remember how Django was incorporated into The Harder They Come (1972).
(If you can’t wait to watch this scene from Messiah of Evil, don’t despair: you can find it at the bottom of this article.)

The writer and director of Messiah of Evil is Willard Huyck. Huyck directed only four movies, with Messiah of Evil as his debut and Howard The Duck as his (erm) swan song. His penultimate directing job was Best Defense, a comedy with Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy. All this makes you wonder: how can it go so bad for a director?

But, rather than wondering about that, let’s look at what Huyck was able to pen: that list includes Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and American Graffiti. American Graffiti was released in the same year as Messiah of Evil, by the way: 1973 must’ve been Huyck’s creative peak. Let us also not forget the influence of Huyck’s wife, Gloria Katz. Huyck and Katz tended to write together. Messiah of Evil is the only movie where she also helped him direct (albeit uncredited).

As 70s cult movies come, Messiah of Evil was released under a shower of alternative titles. Apparently the official title is Dead People, but I must confess I never saw a print of the movie under that title. The quite generic The Second Coming is another title and of course there’s Revenge of the Screaming Dead, which makes you assume you’ll be treated to a gore movie. Messiah of Evil sounds more occult and is therefore the best title for this movie. It may not be the scariest movie you’ll ever see, but it packs loads of atmosphere and definitely deserves more recognition.

Occasionally the movie plays like a bad trip, especially in the scene where our heroine, in the artist’s peculiar house, sticks a needle into her leg and has a rather nasty hallucination:

Messiah of Evil is available (as Dead People) over at the Internet Archive. You can download it as MPEG1, MPEG2 or MPEG4 here. You can also download it from the equally legal Public Domain Torrents (link). It’s also available on DVD. It’s on a double bill with the Belgian horror The Devil’s Nightmare, courtesy of TGG Direct (link) or, courtesy of Alpha Video, on a disc together with Sisters of Death (link). Both fine movies, but let’s not forget today’s star attraction: Messiah of Evil.

And here it is, the doomed trip to the movies…

No war comes without a set of propaganda movies: some clearly intent to change your mind about how evil the other side is, some are merely exploitation.
Let’s face it, earlier on we already reviewed a Sherlock Holmes movie that was set in World War II, where Holmes (Basil Rathbone) tried to outwit the evil Nazis.

Hitler Dead or Alive (1942) is a similar exploitation movie: it’s a propaganda piece that’s so inept it’ll make you smile.
You can download it for free (legally, I like to add) at the Internet Archive or buy it on DVD.

The plot is fabulous: a group of ex-convicts take up the challenge to kill Adolf Hitler for one million dollars. The idea is that, if Hitler is dead, the war will end. Erm… right… that makes sense.
The film is full of such interesting plotlines. Here’s another one: the convicts are arrested and manage to conceal their plans by pouring pudding all over the hidden microphones (the microphones are hidden behind the cardboard walls, by the way).

I generally don’t like spoiling movies, but this is the sort of Badmovie which is enjoyed even more because you know what’ll happen. But if you don’t want to know: don’t read on…

You’re reading on? Okay, let me spoil some more of the plot (”plot”, used in the lightest possible meaning of the word): our heroes manage to get so close to Hitler they can capture him (see photo). The fierce Nazis want to kill our heroes, but Hitler begs for mercy. That is why our heroes manage to escape, with Hitler as a prisoner.

Because they don’t want everyone to see they’ve kidnapped Hitler… they shave off his moustache. This makes him completely unrecognizable. Which isn’t that strange: after all the actor who has to portray Htiler (Bobby Watson) doesn’t really look that much like the Führer. That Watson played Hitler several times came as a gigantic surprise to me.

Anyway, this leads to a catastrophic ending: the heroes are captured, as is Hitler. Not a single Nazi manages to recognize their leader without his moustache (I’m telling you, this is truly the plot outline!) and Adolf Hitler is shot. Along with our heroes and - for good measure - a bunch of innocent children. You see, we were almost starting to forget how evil the Nazis were.

Sadly, the war didn’t stop there and Germany is being led by a lookalike of Adolf Hitler (hrmm, heard that before). Surely they can find four other volunteers to shave off his moustache??

I can only recommend you to watch Hitler Dead or Alive, if only because it’s good to know that this sort of propaganda movies existed. I couldn’t take it serious for one minute and truly nothing pleads in the movie’s favour, but sixty years later it has finally become what it should’ve been called all along: a badmovie.

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the latest Onar Films release, Captain Swing (scroll down to find it here or have a look at the DV website in case you missed it). Two years ago Onar Films released three Kilink movies on DVD (Kilink in Istanbul and a Kilink sequels double bill). If you never got round to buying those, right now might be a good option. On its blog Onar Films spread the rather disappointing news the DVDs will be gone in a couple of months. Here’s why:

As if I didn’t have enough problems, I just received a threatening message from Yilmaz Atadeniz, the producer of the 3 KILINK films I have released, that our contract period is overdue and that I must either give him MORE money to prolong the contract or return him ALL my remaining DVD’s!

Yes, our contract mentioned 18 months and I was stupid enough to believe that he wouldn’t mind giving me a break.
I was stupid enough to ASSUME that after that period, he was JUST free to sell the copyrights to another guy too.
And I was stupid enough to believe that 18 months were enough to sell out. (more)

This is so much harder for the Kilink double bill as for Kilink in Istanbul: the latter was almost sold out anyway (and as limited editions tend to go: the final one is the final one), but there are still some 400 copies of the Kilink double bill left. Copies which will be sent to Turkey, maybe to never appear again (unless they’re sold by the producer himself).

You may remember that I said the Kilink Double Bill was a good choice because a) it contains two films on one dvd (my maths department convinced me that’s quite some profit) but also b) the second Kilink movie (the first film on the double bill) starts with a long flashback of what happened in film one (we’re talking about a flashback of Boogeyman proportions).

Anyway, if you’re still interested in the Kilink movies, you’d better hurry if you wanna play safe. Meanwhile on the Onar blog a new post has appeared, asking reading not to be too negative on Atadeniz. We’ll gladly copy a link to that message too.

As for me… in a couple of days I’ll be looking at a stack of new releases from the Dutch label Filmfreak. Stick around!

The movie The Descent has already been reviewed here, so there’s no need to bring all that up again. Anyway, a couple of days ago I saw a poster for the film I hadn’t seen before. It’s good enough to share it with you here, so have a look…

And so we’ll have to wait for the Hari Puttar movie to be released in theatres. Warner Bros has fired a lawsuit against “all parties involved in the production and distribution of the Hari Puttar film” (I wonder if that includes the catering service). You see, Warner Bros claim Hari Puttar is too similar to some wizard boy franchise they have the rights of. The name’s Harry Potter, you may have heard of them.

Here’s why Warner Bros are wrong:

1) “Mirchi Movies, the makers of the Bollywood children’s film, have denied the accusations. [...] Mirchi says that Hari is a popular Indian name, and Puttar means ’son’ in Hindi and Punjabi.”
This makes one wonder: can people file lawsuits against using a popular name in a movie’s title? And if so, there must be one John Tucker out there who can go to the courts and file a lawsuit against a movie containing his name as well as containing a death threat. Also, “son”. It’ll be hard to be against the use of a word. What are Warner Bros trying to achieve? That from now on Punjabi parents will have to adress their sons as follows: “Come here, Hari, my not-daughter.”

2) Let’s never forget that Warner Bros should consider themselves quite lucky. After all, claiming it was Rowling who came up with the idea for her books is a bit of an overstatement. Discerning readers might want to discover the works of Anthony Horowitz.

So to sum up, Warner and co will protect their unoriginal ideas from being copied and people who speak Hindi or Pakistani are no longer allowed to call their sons “son” or give them a popular name.

Link to BBC article

Chainsaw Maid is a claymation short by Takena. An ode to the zombie movies by George A. Romero, enough gore to please Lucio Fulci and a hint of David Lynch (the Twin Peaks score by Badalamenti).

Don LaFontaine, the man who provided the sonorous voice for more than 5,000 movie trailers, died Monday at age 68.

LaFontaine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from a collapsed lung. He had been taken to the hospital Aug. 22 with a blood clot in the lung.

LaFontaine was known as the “king of the movie trailers,” having done the trailer voiceovers for films such as Terminator, Fatal Attraction, Cheaper by the Dozen, Batman Returns and his personal favourite, The Elephant Man.

His baritone voice and melodramatic delivery are famously associated with the oft-repeated movie trailer phrase, “In a world…”

More from that CBC article here.

And then there’s this short documentary on YouTube:

Captain Swing is the latest offering from Onar Films. The movie is a Turkish adaptation of an Italian comic based on the adventures of an American rebel. Well, I say American, I mean “French-American” living with Indian tribes. Did I just manage to include every country in the world in two sentences? Anyway, are you prepared for 90 minutes of Turkish actors pretending to be French, American, British and (heaven forbid) Indian? Let’s review Kaptan Swing (or Captain Swing)…

In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, Kaptan Swing is daft. Well, there’s a Turkish fellow trying to pass as an Indian (which basically means he walks around semi-clothed, has a couple of lines on his face and mentions the great gods in the sky in nearly every sentence)… of course it’s daft. Then again, American movies made in the fifties with similar themes are no less silly (even if directed by heavyweights like Jacques Tourneur). One has to assume it comes with the theme.

Anyway, Kaptan Swing is a rebel sought after by the English (read: Turkish actors in silly red outfits). His love is the ample bosomed Betty, his friends are the slightly overweight Mister Bluff and Sad Owl, the Indian who’s always hungry (and who’s in charge of the film’s comedy elements - which are quite annoying).
The thing is: Sad Owl’s comedy may be a bit annoying, but bear in mind this film doesn’t take itself serious. The addition of comedy characters in Turkish thrillers and horror movies is disturbing, but here you allow yourself to let it pass. Because the film is silly. Let’s face it, the genre is silly: comparable American movies from the 50s were no less cardboard than this feature.

After watching the trailer for this movie, I had a lot of reservations for this film, but to be honest, Kaptan Swing isn’t all that bad. You won’t believe for one second the film is set in North America, but if you look at it as a rogue movie, it’s okay. The film is quite faithful to the Italian comic it was based on, Il Comandante Mark.

As for the picture quality, it must definitely be mentioned this movie looks incredibly good. Often these Turkish movies look in such a bad shape the word “abysmal” would be considered as a compliment, but Captain Swing is one of Onar’s best looking movies so far. Apparently not all was lost.

Onar Films included the second part of its history of Turkish fantastic cinema (focusing on adventure movies) on this DVD, so on top of Kaptan Swing you’ll learn more about this movie and its likes. And what a shame that documentary isn’t longer.

Other extras include a poster insert, a couple of filmographies and biographies, a photogallery and a reel of upcoming trailers. Make sure you watch those trailers, there’s one of a Turkish Bond adaptation, the Turkish version of Death Wish (which will be released later this year) and a couple of other mouth-watering sleaze goodies. Treats ahead, ladies and gentlemen, treats ahead.

P.S. Do you know your one Captain Swing from another? Read the Wikipedia entry for more info, but bear in mind the Turkish movie isn’t included there.

The first movie that springs to mind is Girlfight.
But this is not Girlfight. Yes, this is a movie about a girl who wants to make it in the world of female boxing. But that’s where the parallels end.
This is Dans Les Cordes.

This is the movie debut of director Magaly Richard-Serrano. If her name is familiar, you’re probably interested in boxing. Magaly Richard-Serrano is a former junior boxing champion of France and the niece of a former world champion. Boxing isn’t just a part of the family tradition, the boxing blood is running through Magaly’s veins.
And Richard-Serrano was able to translate this love onto the screen, so that we, non-boxing moviegoers, could also understand what it feels like to be a boxer.

Richard Anconina (Joseph) is a former boxer. He has a daughter (Angie), who wants to claim the junior title one day, and a niece (Sandra), who’s also into boxing. Sandra has been raised as a daughter ever since her mother died. Sandra looks up to Angie, but when Angie is severely wounded during a fight and has to skip the next match, Sandra seizes the opportunity to claim her share of the limelight, wins the match and becomes the champion in her category.
Which is when things get worse… Sandra suddenly starts to lose weight, so she could end up in Angie’s weight category and claim the title Angie hadn’t been able to win. Angie is furious. With her cousin, who even tries to fit Angie’s clothes so she can see how much weight she’s already lost. With her dad, for abandoning all hope in her. And with her mother, who starts blaming Sandra for everything, claiming she is as much of a rotten apple as her late sister (Sandra’s mother). One big happy family!
Angie and Sandra fall out, one training becomes extremely vicious (ever wanted to see two girls beat each other to pulp?) and the family ends up completely shattered. And this with the ultimate fight only days away…

More than Girlfight, Dans Les Cordes manages to capture the feeling of what it’s like to be a boxing girl. On the other hand, if you compare Girlfight and Dans Les Cordes, you’ll have to confess that in the end Girlfight is the better of the two movies.
Ultimately, the tragical history of Angie’s family lacks the intrigue to keep you interested for the full 90 minutes. To overcome that, the film should’ve focused more on the boxing itself or have focused more the characters (as it is, the characters are 2.5 dimensional rather than 3D).

Which doesn’t mean that Dans Les Cordes is not a good movie: my ultimate verdict for this movie will be 6.5 out of 10. But this 6.5 movie shows so much passion (for both boxing and cinema) that you’re willing to overlook the unfinished bits.

Louise Szpindel is very good as Angie. You sometimes wonder if boxing isn’t one of her hobbies. (I hadn’t seen her before, but this was already her tenth role.) Richard Anconina is very famous in France (though not a lot of his movies have made it across the border), but probably the most famous person (globally) in this movie is Maria de Medeiros, who gets to play the labile mother.

I read somewhere that the director worked six years on this film before it was finally finished. As is often the case with projects that take up such a long time, the result is not a complete success. I don’t know why: maybe because the people involved get so familiar with their work they lack the ability to cut into their beloved work with a severe critic’s mind. As is often the case with such projects, the viewer feels the love for the project so much (s)he doesn’t have the heart to be very critical about it.

Dans Les Cordes is far from the best movie you’ll see this year, but there’s enough love put into this picture you’ll be able to enjoy it, even if you won’t remember it for the rest of your life.

6.5/10