THE BREAKING POINT (1950) / DARK OF THE SUN (1968) / AVALANCHE EXPRESS (1979). The latest sampling from the made-to-order Warner Archive Collection (www.warnerarchive.com) includes three macho movies from three different decades.
Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not had already been made into an excellent 1944 feature directed by Howard Hawks and offering the immortal first pairing of Bogart and Bacall, but Warner Bros. decided to return to the source material a second time (albeit under a different title). In The Breaking Point, it’s Casablanca helmer Michael Curtiz overseeing the dynamic John Garfield as Harry Morgan, a skipper who’s struggling to make the payments on his charter boat during a particularly tough time. As his wife (Phyllis Thaxter) waits and worries at home, he gets mixed up with a shady middle man (Wallace Ford) who facilitates illegal activities and a free-spirited woman (Patricia Neal) who tries to pique his interest. As Harry’s moral crewmate, Juano Hernandez steals this unrelentingly downbeat picture.
Based on the best-selling novel by Wilbur Smith, Dark of the Sun appears to have been one of the first films to cash in on the landmark success of the previous year’s Bonnie and Clyde in allowing more violence to make it onto the screen. This is a surprisingly brutal movie, with Rod Taylor and Jim Brown cast as two mercenaries who agree to rescue both a stash of diamonds and a group of civilians deep in the Congo. Taylor’s Curry is only in it for the money, while Brown’s Ruffo is fighting for his country; those under their command include Wreid (Kenneth More), a perpetually soused doctor, and Henlein (Peter Carsten), a former Nazi who’s not above murdering small children. Much of the action takes place aboard a train, although the two most jolting set pieces are set on terra firma: a chainsaw battle between Curry and Henlein, and the African rebels’ capture and slaughter of a group of civilians.
Fourteen-year-old boys are game for pretty much any action film, and 14-year-old film buffs are game for pretty much any action film featuring an all-star cast. Yet even at that age, when I caught Avalanche Express during its initial theatrical run, I knew that this movie stank on ice. Watching it lo these many years later, it still proves to be a miserable experience. An adaptation of Colin Forbes’ popular novel, this finds Lee Marvin as an American agent who, with his team in tow, attempts to help a Russian bigwig (Robert Shaw) defect by escorting him on a perilous journey aboard a transcontinental train. Critic Leonard Maltin hilariously noted that the “cast has enough stiffs in it to resemble audition time at the Hollywood Wax Museum,” and he isn’t kidding: Marvin and Maximilian Schell are uncharacteristically awful, while Horst Buchholz, Mike Connors, Linda Evans and especially gridiron great Joe Namath (or, as he’s billed, “and Joe Namath as Leroy”), are all DOA. Shaw at least had an excuse: He died of a heart attack during production, resulting in practically all of his dialogue being dubbed by others. Two months prior, the fine director Mark Robson (Von Ryan’s Express, Peyton Place) had also died of a heart attack, thereby marking this as a doomed production almost from the start. The only achievement of note is the visual effects work in the avalanche sequence, supervised by John Dykstra (Star Wars).
The only extras on the DVDs are the theatrical trailers.
The Breaking Point: ***
Dark of the Sun: ***
Avalanche Express: *
Extras: *
EVERYTHING MUST GO (2011). This adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story (“Why Don’t You Dance?”) is a gem — perhaps more of a diamond in the rough than a polished jewel, but still. Will Ferrell stars as Nick Halsey, a relapsed alcoholic who loses his job, his wife and his house all on the same day. Locked out of the home he shared with his spouse (who’s temporarily living at an undisclosed location) and low on cash because she froze all their assets, Nick parks himself on the front lawn, guzzling beer while surrounded by all the possessions she chucked out along with him. Only two people in the neighborhood bother socializing with him: Samantha (an excellent Rebecca Hall), a pregnant woman whose husband is always away, and Kenny (promising newcomer Christopher Jordan Wallace), a portly boy fighting boredom since his mom’s up the street working as a caretaker. Nick’s AA sponsor, a cop (Michael Pena), informs him that he can’t live on his lawn, but he can legally remain there for a couple of days if he holds a yard sale. So with the help of Kenny, Nick starts selling his cherished possessions, all the while attempting to come to grips with his present situation and future uncertainty. While it’s true that a better actor might have knocked the rich role of Nick Halsey out of the park, Ferrell is nevertheless fine in the part, allowing us to largely forget the baggage that his clownish canon can’t help but bring to the project. It’s a smart career move on his part, and it will be interesting to see if he’s able to build on it. Yet the real discovery here is writer-director Dan Rush, making impressive debuts in both capacities. From little moments that sneak up and surprise you to climactic confrontations that don’t always go down as expected, he shapes the material into something memorable and meaningful.
Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Rush and Pena, and two behind-the-scenes featurettes totaling 19 minutes.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: **
HANNA (2011). With a young girl as its steely-eyed, bloodletting protagonist, Hanna can’t help but be compared to Kick-Ass, what with its steely-eyed, bloodletting Hit Girl. Bring it on: This is one film that can take down its competition. While Kick-Ass was criticized in many circles for glorifying the mayhem exacted by its pint-sized heroine, director Joe Wright is careful not to allow the same charges to be hurled against his new picture. As ably portrayed by Atonement‘s Saoirse Ronan, Hanna likewise is out to avenge a dead mother, but Wright and his three writers treat her cat-and-mouse game against the person responsible — a hissable CIA operative played by Cate Blanchett — with a hardcore efficiency that eschews any sops toward gorehounds. But that’s not to say the film is cuddly within the confines of its PG-13 rating. With even Hanna’s dad (Eric Bana), the ex-agent who teaches her how to survive at all costs, opting for tough love instead of tender moments, this is a brutal and uncompromising motion picture — at least until it cowardly tries to sidestep the obvious fate of some of its most likable characters, hoping that audience members won’t remember to question it afterward. The choppy denouement could stand to be longer — the film wraps up even as we’re still trying to process new information and fill in the blanks (some of which remain glaringly empty) — but with its crisp action sequences and unfussy acting, Hanna is a chase flick that on balance is worth catching.
Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Wright; an alternate ending; four minutes of deleted scenes; and five behind-the-scenes featurettes (totaling 33 minutes) covering Ronan’s preparation for the role, the location shooting, the Chemical Brothers’ work on the soundtrack, and more.
Movie: **1/2
Extras: **1/2
OBSESSION (1976). If Dressed to Kill is Brian De Palma’s take on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, then Obsession is his variation on the Master’s Vertigo. Released two months before his other film from 1976, the excellent Carrie, burned up the box office, De Palma and co-scripter Paul Schrader crafted this atmospheric thriller in which land developer Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson) witnesses the deaths of his wife (Genevieve Bujold) and daughter (Wanda Blackman) after a botched kidnapping. Sixteen years later, he decides to visit Florence, Italy, where he first met his wife; there, he encounters a young woman who looks exactly like his dearly departed spouse. Anyone who’s seen Vertigo will be able to nail everything in this picture before it happens, and even those who have never been privy to Hitchcock’s classic will at least be able to peg the character played by John Lithgow (Michael’s business partner) from his first appearance. But the fun in Obsession comes not from its plot but from its sweeping passions: the soaring score by Bernard Herrmann, the swirling camerawork by Vilmos Zsigmond, and the tortured yearning embodied by Robertson. Obsession isn’t De Palma at his best, but it’s still worth a watch or two. The great Herrmann, whose credits include Citizen Kane, Psycho and, yes, Vertigo, produced two scores in 1975 before passing away on Christmas Eve; both of them — for Obsession and Taxi Driver (also released in 1976) — earned him posthumous Oscar nominations.
The only extra on the DVD is the theatrical trailer.
Movie: ***
Extras: *
SCARFACE (1983). With Brian De Palma as director and Oliver Stone as screenwriter, is it any wonder that this update of the 1932 gangster classic was greeted with a barrage of controversy even before it hit theaters? (The MPAA threatened it with an X, though it was finally released with an R.) Al Pacino, in the role that marked the transition from serious thespian to raging ham, is mesmerizing as Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who ends up becoming Miami’s most powerful drug lord, and he’s strongly supported by early turns from Michelle Pfeiffer (as his cokehead mistress) and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (as his kid sister). And yes, that’s future Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham (Salieri in Amadeus) who refers to Tony as a “fucking peasant” before meeting a grisly end aboard a helicopter. De Palma directs with his usual technical flourish, Giorgio Moroder provides one of those catchy techno-scores that could only have come from the 1980s, and the profanity flies as fast as the bullets. Subtle it ain’t, but just try turning your eyes away from this study in stylistic excess.
The Blu-ray set also contains a DVD copy of the original Scarface (1932). A Molotov cocktail of a movie, Scarface was, like its remake, one of the most controversial films of its era. Loosely based on the mob activities of Al Capone and other Chicago hoodlums, this film so agitated the Hays Office censorship board that they insisted producer Howard Hughes and director Howard Hawks make numerous changes; when those edits failed to satisfy the censors, the two Howards opted to go back to their original cut and release the film without official approval (it was a box office smash). Paul Muni gives a dynamic, animalistic performance as Tony Camonte, a natural born killer who rises from mob flunky to crime kingpin. Unlike the gangsters played by Cagney, Bogart and Robinson, Muni’s Camonte isn’t particularly smart, brave or self-aware; instead, he’s a simple-minded ape who succeeds by pure force and is eventually exposed as a coward when the chips are down. The film’s violence drew the bulk of the protests, though it’s difficult to believe anyone could have missed Tony’s incestuous feelings toward his teenage sister (Ann Dvorak). George Raft, who counted numerous gangsters among his real-life pals, is effective as Tony’s coin-flipping henchman, while Boris Karloff, a year after attaining stardom in Frankenstein, pops up as a rival crime lord.
Blu-ray extras on the 1983 Scarface include on-screen scorecards tracking the number of F-bombs dropped and bullets fired (229 and 8,509, respectively) during the course of the film; a picture-in-picture option with access to cast and filmmaker interviews; the 39-minute featurette The Scarface Phenomenon; 22 minutes of deleted scenes; a 12-minute short in which real-life law enforcement officers discuss the movie’s setting and characters; three retrospective pieces (totaling 55 minutes) in which De Palma, Stone, Pacino and others discuss the making of the movie; and an amusing 3-minute comparison between the theatrical cut and the edited-for-network-TV version. The set also includes 10 collectible art cards. DVD extras on the 1932 Scarface include an alternate ending and an introduction by Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.
Scarface (1983): ***
Scarface (1932): ***1/2
Extras: ***1/2
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2011.
