... of the 70ies and one of the best movies of all the people involved in this project! Originally a project of Sam Peckinpah, it was then directed by director Bob ALDRICH, an equal to Sam, but not yet having gained the reputation he deserves. While Sam did much fewer movies than Robert and was a director, who was difficult to handle (a real GENIUS!), Aldrich was easier to handle and did movies, which were less controversial, in other words: not as brutal as Sams. But that doesn't make him any less good director. He has a distinct style and the same appreciation for great tough dramas, just check out ULZANA'S RAID, for example.
EMPEROR is probably his best movie, simply a must-see. I watched this the first time when I was a teenager and this did run in late-night TV (of course, being still pretty brutal, this is nothing for prime-time, ha ha). I Liked the German title "EIN ZUG FÜR ZWEI HALUNKEN", but being less movie-educated 2 decades ago than I am today, I didn't expect much and just gave it a try. It was just AWESOME, I was so thrilled, that from that day I took all efforts needed to see as many from Aldrich's movies (and lee Marvin's, of course) as possible.
MARVIN and BORGNINE play the roles of their lives and are possible the best imaginable actors for these roles (although at the time the movie was made, you had a lot of great tough guys to choose from, while today you'd have real troubles finding any actors, who could believable play these roles - they're all weepies now), the script is tough and intelligent and although the movie runs for nearly 2 hours, it's never boring. When no action takes place (and no movie needs to have only action-scenes, that gets boring within a quarter hour, just try THE ROCK to see how it should NOT be done), you have superb photography (I agree with the guy describing this one as one of the best-photographed movies of all time) and clever dialogue, pretty philosophical at times. The scenery is breathtaking, the battles tough and brutal (and short: violence is usually an eruption, which happens fast and doesn't take long), the story great and the actors perfect! What more could one ask for?? A real winner all the way!
Such a pity that directors like Peckinpah and ALDRICH are not among as anymore and today's movies can't hold up with such masterpieces, because they're mostly overpriced "blockbuster"-sh**, which try to appeal to everyone (to cover their 50 to 100 million $ production budget) and therefore have no real style and because today's directors simply can't do it as well as their ancestors could direct (with 1 or 2 exceptions, maybe).
Check this out, you won't be disappointed!
EMPEROR is probably his best movie, simply a must-see. I watched this the first time when I was a teenager and this did run in late-night TV (of course, being still pretty brutal, this is nothing for prime-time, ha ha). I Liked the German title "EIN ZUG FÜR ZWEI HALUNKEN", but being less movie-educated 2 decades ago than I am today, I didn't expect much and just gave it a try. It was just AWESOME, I was so thrilled, that from that day I took all efforts needed to see as many from Aldrich's movies (and lee Marvin's, of course) as possible.
MARVIN and BORGNINE play the roles of their lives and are possible the best imaginable actors for these roles (although at the time the movie was made, you had a lot of great tough guys to choose from, while today you'd have real troubles finding any actors, who could believable play these roles - they're all weepies now), the script is tough and intelligent and although the movie runs for nearly 2 hours, it's never boring. When no action takes place (and no movie needs to have only action-scenes, that gets boring within a quarter hour, just try THE ROCK to see how it should NOT be done), you have superb photography (I agree with the guy describing this one as one of the best-photographed movies of all time) and clever dialogue, pretty philosophical at times. The scenery is breathtaking, the battles tough and brutal (and short: violence is usually an eruption, which happens fast and doesn't take long), the story great and the actors perfect! What more could one ask for?? A real winner all the way!
Such a pity that directors like Peckinpah and ALDRICH are not among as anymore and today's movies can't hold up with such masterpieces, because they're mostly overpriced "blockbuster"-sh**, which try to appeal to everyone (to cover their 50 to 100 million $ production budget) and therefore have no real style and because today's directors simply can't do it as well as their ancestors could direct (with 1 or 2 exceptions, maybe).
Check this out, you won't be disappointed!