End of the Summer Reading

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 28, 2008

Categories | News, Books, Television, Science Fiction, John Phillip Law, Nikkatsu

Summer is coming to an end and I thought I’d make mention of a couple of new and upcoming book releases that I’m looking forward to reading.

First up is John Phillip Law: Diabolik Angel written by Carlos Aguilar and his wife Anita Haas. They worked closely with John Phillip Law on the book before his unfortunate death this summer and it promises to be one of the most interesting biographies of the year. Carlos has written many wonderful books that I admire on directors like Sergio Leone and Jess Franco. He was kind enough to send me some information about his latest book as well as a wonderful picture of himself and his wife with John Phllip Law so that I could share it with my readers.

Above: Carlos Aguilar, Anita Haas and John Phillip Law.

Here’s a brief blurb about the book from the back cover that should grab your attention:

“John Phillip Law is one of the most cosmopolitan and charismatic actors of his generation. He is best remembered for his fantasy cult films Barbarella, Danger: Diabolik and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the European western Death Rides a Horse, and the American classic The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and Von Richthofen and Brown. But apart from that, his novelesque personal and artistic journey bears a unique intercontinental link between diverse phenomena, both inside and outside cinema: from Hollywood in the 50s to Broadway in the 60s; love affairs with actresses Faye Dunaway, Barbara Parkins, Marisa Mell and Barbara Bouchet; the world of the hippies, with its free love and drugs; the Playboy empire; la dolce vita in Rome, Almeria of the spaghetti westerns and European co-productions of all kinds; Spain’s dictatorship, the beginning of the West’s fascination with martial arts, Asia’s economic awakening and Dracula in the theatre. John Phillip Law has, in one way or another, been part of all these phenomena. This extensive interview, in which he shares his memories with straightforward honesty, is accompanied by an exceptional collection of photos. An extraordinary work about an extraordinary life.”

At the moment John Phillip Law: Diabolik Angel is only available from SciFiworld in Spain but hopefully this bilingual book will get a wider release in the future.

Another interesting upcoming release is Midnight Eye contributor Jasper Sharp’s new book Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. According to the publishers at FAB Press it’s based on extensive interviews with many of the leading figures in the field and offers to take readers on “a wild joy ride deep into the hinterlands of Japanese culture, society and radical politics.”

From the FAB Press website:

“Just how close are the links between the arthouse and the grindhouse in Japan? Read about the ins and outs of Japanese censorship from the wartime onwards, and how topless deep sea diving girls came to woo local audiences in the ’50s. Learn how a TV nature documentary maker ended up helming nude female Tarzan movies, and how ’60s mavericks Kôji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi met up with John and Yoko at Cannes while on the way to the Golan Heights to make a film about Palestinian revolutionaries. How Deep Throat’s Harry Reems wound up in Tokyo starring in a zany sex comedy about a penis transplant gone awry, and how one of Japan’s most famous literary figures ended up the subject of the country’s first gay porno movie. How one of Nikkatsu’s leading directors went it alone to make a film about powerboat racing and ended up in the bad books of the yakuza, and how the anti-Bush sex farce Horny Home Tutor: Teacher’s Love Juice came to be re-titled as The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai and became one of the most talked-about Japanese films of recent years, playing at over twenty international film festivals.”

Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema is available from Amazon.

Last but not least, is Marcelo Abeal’s new book The Legend of Time Tunnel which is a tribute to Irwin Allen’s terrific television series of the same name. Abeal’s book includes detailed chapters on all the main actors involved with the production such as Robert Colbert, James Darren, Lee Meriwether, Whit Bissell, John Zaremba, Sam Groom and Wesley Laus as well as Irwin Allen himself. The book also boasts a special introduction by Robert Colbert, an episode guide and detailed information about the stunts performed on the show. I briefly wrote about Irwin Allen’s contributions to television last year and I’m happy to see that his television work is getting more attention.

Marcelo Abeal is an Argentinian actor and professional stuntman himself and his book seems to be a limited release. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy please email Bob Frassinetti at: admin@frassinetti.com and tell him I sent you!

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John Phillip Law 1937-2008

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 14, 2008

Categories | News, Actors, John Phillip Law

John Phillip Law as the sexy silent super thief, Diabolik.

One of my favorite actors and one of the most beautiful men to ever appear in movies has passed away at the age of 70. It’s mind-boggling to consider how many terrific and entertaining films that John Philip Law appeared in. He may not be a household name and if imdb.com is to be believed, I don’t think he ever won any acting awards but he was always fun to watch and I never get tired of looking at him. He’s really one of cinema’s great male beauties and an important counterculture figure. I will miss him but I’m thankful that I got to enjoy the man in so many wonderful movies.

My Top 10 favorite John Phillip Law films
(numerical order subject to change at anytime!):

1. Diabolik (1968) (Diabolik made my list of 10 Favorite Eurotrash films that I compiled last year.)
2. Barbarella (1968)

John Phillip Law as the blind angel Pygar in Roger Vadim’s surreal and sexy sci-fi fantasy Barbarella (1968)

3. Death Rides a Horse (1967) (This film made my list of Top 10 Spaghetti Westerns)
4. The Love Machine (1971)
5. The Sergeant (1968)
6. Whisper in the Dark (1976)

Dyan Cannon and John Phillip Law having some fun
in the sex-charged Jack Haley Jr. film The Love Machine (1971)

7. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) (I wrote about this film in-depth last year after revisiting it)
8. Skidoo (1968)
9. The Last Movie (1971)
10. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)

John Phillip Law must deal with Rod Steiger’s unwanted advances in The Sergeant (1968). A fascinating film about a gay military man struggling with his emotions.

Honorable Mention:
The unforgettable ’80s horror fantasy Night Train to Terror (1985)

It’s really a shame that The Love Machine, The Sergeant and Skidoo are not available on DVD yet. Some studios will probably try to cash in on the actor’s death so we may see these films finally find there way onto DVD soon. Skidoo seems to be getting a lot of attention lately so I suspect that it will be released in the near future.

Finally… a must see video clip for The Swinging Lust World of John Phillip Law. This wonderful psychedelic video tribute to John Phillip Law contains brief action clips from many of his best films accompanied by the title song from Ennio Morricone’s brilliant soundtrack for Diabolik. It appears to be a trailer for a longer upcoming film:

Recommended Links:
- John Phillip Law’s Official Site
- L.A. Times Obituary
- Tim Lucas on meeting and working with John Phillip Law

UPDATE: The very nice Chris Casey was kind enough to leave a comment on my Myspace Blog letting me know that John Phillip Law had been suffering the effects of terminal cancer, which led to his sudden death. You can find Chris’ comments here.

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The Terrorists Are Coming, the Terrorists Are Coming!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 12, 2007

Categories | Movie Reviews, American Cinema, Comedies, War, Norman Jewison, John Phillip Law

I recently had the opportunity to see Norman Jewison’s extremely silly and sometimes smart 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming for the first time in about 20 years when it played on TCM. When I was a kid The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming was one of my favorite comedies for reasons I can’t really explain, except it seemed to portray adults as I saw them then - easily frightened big kids who projected their fears onto their children and conformed to every bad idea that society and the government tossed their way.

I was afraid the film wouldn’t hold up after such a long period of time between my last viewing so my expectations were extremely low going into the movie but once it ended my appreciation for it remained. It’s no longer one of my favorite comedies but I really admire its undeniable charm and the way it manages to cram complex ideas into easily digested entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. Simply put, it’s a lightweight version of Kubrick’s brilliant Dr. Strangelove (1964) and it works.

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming opens with a Russian sub running aground in a small New England coastal town. Naturally chaos erupts because the U.S. is in the middle of the cold war and only four years have passed since the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis. The Americans think the Russians are invading and the whole town pulls out their guns and comes together to form a modern day militia in an effort to stop them. Of course things aren’t exactly what they seem since the Russians in the sub are merely trying to get back home. After bouts of hysteria and plenty of violent outbursts, the panicky town’s folk and the frazzled Russian soldiers manage to come together to save the life of a young child in peril and the sub returns home.

There are some standout performances in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, including Carl Reiner’s terrific turn as a comedy writer trying to calm the paranoid town and the very funny Alan Arkin playing a smart Russian Lieutenant who’s trying to get a handle on the slowly escalating events all around him. Brian Keith is also very good as the town Sheriff who can’t believe the situation he’s found himself in. Arkin’s Russian Lieutenant and Keith’s small town Sheriff could have been roles written purely for easy laughs but they’re not. Viewers are asked to sympathize with both men in some ways and we do. The gorgeous John Philip Law also shows up as a Russian solider who speaks a little bit of English and ends up falling for a perky American blond played by Andrea Dromm. The two young lovebirds make a cute couple and their romance echoes themes found in Shakespeare’s classic play Romeo and Juliet, which gives the film an emotional core that I personally found rather sweet and appealing.

The beauty of The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming seems perfectly clear today as we deal with some vaguely defined idea of an enemy we’re supposed to fear enough to give up our Constitutional Freedoms and basic human compassion for. The film has often been unfairly criticized for its dated jokes, simple plot and silly slapstick style humor. But if the ideas presented in Norman Jewison’s film are so dated, simple and silly, why are people still making the same absurd mistakes outlined in a movie made some 40 years ago? If anything, the film’s basic premise and themes are as pertinent as ever. Underneath all the movie’s jokes and gentleness, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming knows that war is a nasty business and there are rarely any victors.

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming has often been compared to It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) due to it’s title, characters and a large cast that happens to have some similar actors including Jonathan Winters, but I think The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming is a much stronger film that is willing to explore big ideas that were not very popular at the time that the movie was made, while keeping its tongue firmly planted in its cheek. Apparently the movie was banned in the USSR after its release, but it was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1966.

The script is based on a novel called The Off-Islanders by the American author Nathaniel Benchley who happens to be the father of Jaws author Peter Benchley. I find it amusing that both men wrote books set in small New England towns where they were raised. And both stories focus on a town being terrorized by some unknown scary “other.” It’s also worth noting that one of my favorite American filmmakers, the great Hal Ashby, also acted as an editor on the movie.

These days it can be hard to find anything worth smiling about but if you haven’t seen The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming I recommend giving it a look. It just might make you laugh. The movie is available on DVD from Amazon and it’s playing again on Turner Movie Classics Nov. 28th when the great actor Brian Dennehy hosts four of his favorite films. I really like Brian Dennehy so I was happy to discover that he selected the film to play with two other films from the sixties, Karel Reisz‘s gritty British drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and Bryan Forbes‘s British comedy The Wrong Box (1966). I’ve wanted to see The Wrong Box for years, but it isn’t available on DVD yet so I’ll be watching it on TCM Nov. 28th.

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A Spaghetti Western Top Ten

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 6, 2007

Categories | Italian Cinema, Westerns, Ennio Morricone, Lucio Fulci, Klaus Kinski, John Phillip Law, Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone, George Hilton

I love Spaghetti Westerns. The best ones are what I would call “gothic westerns” since they combine some of the best aspects of Italian gothic horror films and literature with classic American westerns and western novels. They are filled with high drama but laced with subtlety. They offer romantic views of the west but they’re often very dark and at times even frightening. Suspense, death, blood, dirt, graveyards, coffins and religious iconography are reoccurring aspects of Italian westerns. Silence and sound were equally valued by directors and atmosphere was as important as story. Good and evil are often irrelevant and humanism - with a misanthropic streak - is king.

Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the politics at play in many Italian westerns. Many of the directors, composers and actors who made these films were card carrying Communists. Capitalism and Imperialism were often the real bad guys and many of the best Italian westerns managed to present their Marxist ideals in an incredibly entertaining way.

Recently Keith Brown over at Giallo Fever asked his blog readers what their “Top 10 Spaghetti Westerns” were. I had a hard time putting my list together because I like a lot of Spaghetti Westerns, but I thought I’d share my current Top 10 List here.

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (a.k.a. Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, 1966, Sergio Leone)
This is my favorite Leone film for many reasons. It’s a thoughtful, funny and entertaining movie with an amazing Morricone score. I really love the writing and I think the script is just brilliant, plus Leone films it all beautifully. Eli Wallach gives one of the greatest performances of his career as Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and in my opinion he steals the show from Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. The scene between Wallach and his brother (the priest - Luigi Pistilli) is one of my favorite scenes from any film ever made. Wallach is not just reviving his character Calvera from The Magnificent Seven here, he’s giving him depth and making him one of the most enduring characters in the history of cinema. It’s a movie I’ve watched countless times and I never get tired of it.

Watch: Lengthy clip leading up to my favorite scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2. The Great Silence (a.k.a. Il Grande silenzio, 1968, Sergio Corbucci)
I’ve already written a bit about why I love The Great Silence but the movie deserves a few more words. I think it’s Corbucci’s best film and definitely one of the most violent westerns ever put on film. There is deep humanity and brutal realism at play in The Great Silence and I think the movie has a kind of surreal quality that’s hard to put into words. Klaus Kinski gets to play one of the most ruthless characters ever created and that’s reason enough why this movie is one of my personal favorites but I also love Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance as the tragic and doomed Silence.

Watch: Great clip of Klaus’s brutality in The Great Silence

3. A Bullet for the General (1966, Damiano Damiani)
I wrote about this terrific film last month and explained why it’s one of my favorite westerns so I won’t bother with the details again. Please check out my previous review.

4. Once Upon a Time in the West (a.k.a. C’era una volta il West, 1968, Sergio Leone)
This is another great Leone film with a terrific Morricone score that I love. I think Henry Fonda is wonderful as the cruel killer Frank and the infamous scene where he murders the boy and his family is one of the most brutal scenes ever captured on film but the rest of the cast (Bronson, Cardinale and Robards) also offer worthwhile performances here. In the end though Once Upon a Time in the West is really an epic about the birth of the civilized west and the landscape that gives it life. The story and the directing are the real stars. It’s a beautiful love letter from Leone to all Spaghetti Western fans.

Watch: Clip from my favorite scene with Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West

5. For a Few Dollars More (a.k.a. Per qualche dollaro in più, 1965, Sergio Leone)
This is my second favorite Leone/Eastwood film. The story is wonderfully told and the film’s really entertaining but I especially love the interplay between Klaus Kinski’s hunchback character Wild and Lee Van Cleef’s Col. Mortimer. Both actors are my favorite western bad boys and their scenes together in For a Few Dollars More are truly priceless. Kinski’s performance is full of his typical twitches and outbursts, and Lee Van Cleef gets in his usual cold hearted stares. Eastwood is really good here and he looks truly fantastic in his poncho and hat but in the end this is really Lee van Cleef and Gian Maria Volontè’s movie. Both actors are terrific in their starring roles alongside Eastwood and once again Morricone delivers a fantastic score that really compliments the action and drama.

Watch: Great Kinski vs. Cleef fan video compiling clips from For a Few Dollars More

6. Django (1966, Sergio Corbucci)
I love the Django series and I had a hard time choosing between three Django films to list here. Django Kill - If You Live, Shoot! (1967) and Strangers Gundown (1969) are also worthy of being added to my Top 10 list, even if they’re inclusion in the Django cannon is debatable. In the first film the handsome actor Franco Nero stars as the enigmatic Django and his performance as the coffin carrying gunslinger is equal to Clint Eastwood’s best performances as “the man with no name.” The story of Django is well told and beautifully directed by Corbucci. The film also boasts a great score by composer Luis Enríquez Bacalov which is comparable to some of Morricone’s best work. All three of the Django films I mentioned are well worth a look if you like your spaghetti westerns dished up bloody and a bit surreal.

Watch: The final 6 min. of Django

7. Death Rides A Horse (a.k.a. Da uomo a uomo, 1967, Giulio Petroni)
The story treads familiar ground but it’s still one of the most entertaining revenge westerns ever shot. Lee Van Cleef and the very cute John Phillip Law give two of their best performances here as Ryan and Bill, and I think they have a surprisingly good chemistry together. The movie boasts some creative camera-work and it features one of Morricone’s most unnerving scores. One of my favorite scenes involves a poker game between Bill (John Phillip Law) and bad guy Burt Cavanaugh (Anthony Dawson), but Lee van Cleef gets a lot of great scenes in Death Rides A Horse as well.

Watch: One of my favorite scenes from Death Rides a Horse

8. Massacre Time (a.k.a. The Brute and the Beast/Tempo di massacro, 1966, Lucio Fulci)
I wrote about Fulci’s Massacre Time back in March so I won’t bother going over it again but I will add that besides Fulci’s stylish directing, Massacre Time includes one of George Hilton’s best performances and it has a great score by composer Coriolano Gori (a.k.a. Lallo Gori).

9. My Name Is Nobody (a.k.a. Il Mio nome è Nessuno, 1973, Tonino Valerii & Sergio Leone)
I really enjoy the humorous westerns that feature Terence Hill and this one is my favorite of the bunch. It’s probably Sergio Leone’s most lighthearted effort but he works well here with Tonino Valerii who directed some great Italian thrillers. Henry Fonda delivers a terrrific performance as an old gunslinger and he has some wonderful scenes with Terrence Hill. Morricone’s score is really playful at times which works well with the movie’s comedy. My Name Is Nobody is a fun film but it’s also a touching farewell to the old west and it confirms that Leone offered Fonda some of his best and most interesting roles late in his career.

Watch: One of my favorite scenes from My Name Is Nobody

10. Dragon Strikes Back (a.k.a. Shanghai Joe/Il Mio nome è Shangai Joe, 1972, Mario Caiano)
When I was a kid Kung Fu was one of my favorite TV shows. The impact that the show had on me is hard to explain but the philosophy it championed definitely made an impression on me. Dragon Strikes Back is basically a drawn out movie version of Kung Fu with Chen Lee (a poor man’s Bruce Lee) playing David Carradine’s role. It’s plain silly at times and the story is thin but it also has some great moments such as the fantastic bullfight and the duel between Chen Lee and Klaus Kinski (once again playing a nasty bad guy here). The combination of Spaghetti Western and Kung Fu action flick is a strange mix that really works. The movie also has a great Bruno Nicoli score (with borrowed bits from Have a Good Funeral, My Friend) and overall the movie is just a really entertaining treat.

Note: Keoma (1976), Companeros (1970), A Bullet for Sandoval (1969) and Duck, You Sucker (1971) all came close to making my list.

I’ve only seen about 25 or 30 Spaghetti Westerns and there are hundreds so my list is subject to change in the future.

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The Eurotrash Pinnacle Project

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 22, 2007

Categories | Movie Reviews, News, Horror, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp, Klaus Kinski, Helmut Berger, John Phillip Law

David Zuzelo who runs the terrific blog Tomb it May Concern started what he refers to as The Eurotrash Pinnacle Project. It’s an effort to bring together a list of favorite Eurotrash films from every genre imaginable including eurohorror, giallo, eurospy and spaghetti westerns. I recently contributed my own list of Top 10 Eurotrash films with an additional 10 titles tacked on the end for good measure, since selecting only 10 was an impossible task.

In my brief commentary for the first 10 films I listed, I used the word “sexy” a lot, which isn’t too surprising since sex often plays an important part in Eurotrash films and some of my favorite actors (Klaus Kinski, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp, Helmut Berger and John Phillip Law) often show up looking very sexy in the movies I mentioned.

You can find my list of favorite Eurotrash films now posted over at Tomb it May Concern. Be sure to click on the label link “Eurotrash Film Pinnacle Project” at the bottom of the entry because it will take you to the the rest of the great movie lists contributed by others.

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