Marshland / La isla mínima (2014)
Spanish movie. German blu-ray.
A murder mystery thriller set in the spanish “deep south”. Recommended.
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Duel (1971) - 7/10.
Timeless film, in my opinion. Some genuinely tense and suspenseful scenes, as well as some nicely crafted car sequences. I did not expect it to hold up as well as it did for a film that’s over fifty years old.
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great film, there is also a german remake btw. and i recently saw a newer film by the director called Los Tigres
Thanks for the tips. Freies Land you mean? I will check it out!
And Los Tigres also maybe. He have made some other films that I also want to see, Unit 7 and Prison 77.
The Last Round (Il conto è chiuso) (1976): A poliziotteschi directed by Stelvio Massi. It transplants Yojimbo, or more accurately ‘Red Harvest’, to a gritty, industrial setting in Northern Italy and actually credits Dashiell Hammett as one of the writers. It stars actor Luc Merenda as a villain and former middleweight boxing champion Carlos Monzón as the Yojimbo/No Name character (although here he’s actually named Marco Russo.)
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Got excited there for a moment - I thought that was Jeff Cameron.
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Some British films from 1957
The Smallest Show on Earth (Dearden / 7/10)
Campbell’s Kingdom (Thomas / 7/10)
Hell Drivers (Endfield / 8/10)
Windom’s Way (Neame / 5/10)
Violent Playground (Dearden / 6/10)
Interpol (Gilling / 5/10)
The Flesh is Weak (Chaffey / 6/10)
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I noticed Hell Drivers (I had never heard of it) is on You Tube, so I might give it a try. Stanley Baker is nearly always good value
I’ve always liked it, Scherp.
I like Baker and I am a sucker for these 1950s British films. My favourite period for our cinema. Some of the pleasure is in “face spotting” in the same way that we do in Spaghettis. Those bit part and character actors that just turn up in so many of the films from the period. Sid James, Herbert Lom, William Hartnell, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Rhodes, Gordon Jackson all turn up in this one. Plus a few “new faces” that would become more well known in the next decade. David MacCallum, Jill Ireland and Sean Connery.
But I think Patrick McGoohan probably steals the show as the manic Irish pace man, Red. A psychotic ball of tension constantly on the verge of exploding he makes a good foil for Baker’s stoic granite jawed hero. I’ve watched it many times and always enjoy it.
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Oh yes, Patrick and David. Childhood nostalgia. Patrick McCoohan will always be Danger Man to me. He was a hero I (an ordinary kid, not a figure of strength) could identify with: he didn’t look like a super hero and lacked that laconic charisma of Roger The Saint or Sean Bond that made their characters elusive. Ordinary but nevertheless be dangerous, that’s what I wanted to become, as a 12-year old kid.
And then this Man from Uncle. I told the whole world that Uncle wasn’t a real uncle, but an abbreviation that, when written out, read United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. From time to time I rewatch an episode on You Tube and I noticed that the series was - more or less like The Avengers - tongue-in-cheek, almost a parody, but we didn’t notice that back then, we took things seriously and all wanted to be Napoleon Solo or Ilya Kuryakin.
I was defintely a Kuryakin wannabe.
And yes, McGoohan was Dangerman for me too although I guess became more associated as The Prisoner over time. Back in ‘57 he was still stuck playing villains in B movies and he did it well.