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Reviews
Stolen Innocence (1995)
A Memorable Story
This is a made-for-television film that isn't easily forgotten. It's a psychological drama, memorable more for the excellent character development and acting than the plot. The story might be hard to believe, particularly the ending, were in not based on a real events.
Tracey Gold plays an 18-year-old runaway from a lower-middle class home, determined to break out of an contentious relationship with her mother. Basically a good girl but naive, Gold's character, Stacy, ends up in the world of cross-country truckers, where a smooth operator named Richard (expertly played by Thomas Calabro) convinces her to take a ride west with him and his driver partner in an empty rig. Richard comes across immediately as a slick con artist, and Stacy is impressed.
Once the pickup is made, the viewer watches as Richard is revealed slowly and methodically to be a criminal, a hustler, and ultimately a violent, paranoid psychopath. A level of suspense is maintained as the viewer sees each change in Richard's demeanor before Stacy herself understands the mess she's gotten herself into.
But it's not a simple tale of "madman grabs girl." Richard is a conflicted man, Stacy his perfect prey. The interaction between them shows the complexity of the personalities of all involved, from Richard's dominated and abused accomplice to the vulnerable and guileless Stacy. But Richard is the character that fascinates most. Everything he does suggests a troubled past, a tendency to unpredictable mood swings, and ultimately, when Stacy's fear becomes overwhelming, a compulsion to possess her and control her, even to the point of threats to take her life.
Still, a curious bond is formed between them. And that's what makes the story so poignant. This is a well-made film; it has the sort of subtlety that makes it worth watching more than once.
Coquette (1929)
Watch it as history....
More than the silents that preceded it, this is a rare glimpse into a world that is almost impossible for our generation to imagine. The acting style seems bizarre by modern standards. The characters walk as if they were trying to dance, and they speak as if they would rather sing their lines. Okay, sound equipment may have been awful then - "talkies" were brand new in 1929 - but that fact does nothing to make it less pretentious when the characters stretch their mouths to yawn proportions to utter dated lines like, "darling, I love you more than life itself."
Then there's the plot, another feature of this film that is as quaint as the acting and the dialogue. "Norma," played legendary silent screen actress Mary Pickford at the end of her prolific career, becomes "compromised" by a night with a boyfriend, Michael. Michael vows to marry her but instead finds himself in an angry confrontation with Norma's father, the doctor.
Father takes a gun to avenge his violated daughter - who is played, remember, by a 37-year-old woman. And poor Norma, finding her lover on his deathbed, pours forth a mind-numbing, melodramatic declaration of her love that had to have been way over the top even in those days.
But the most amazing part is the end, where the doctor is on trial for murder. Norma takes the stand to accuse her lover of rape and thus save her father, which she does admirably and with all the flourishes and eye-batting appropriate for the era. Suddenly, the father's conscience is stirred and he rushes to the feet of his daughter - this in a court of law - and pleads with her to let him take the blame with honor. The doctor eyes the murder weapon, a revolver sitting on a table before the judge, and then stands before the court and demands that he pay his debt to the state. Imagine that!
Father then rushes to the arms of daughter and begs her to "hug daddy" as she used to. What follows was surely, even to audiences of the day, an excessively-long, gruesomely-sentimental embrace. To a modern viewer seeing it in the contemporary context, it would clearly suggest incest, though this was certainly not the meaning of the scene. That done, father grabs gun and commits suicide in the courtroom. To the film's credit, the event is conveyed well by the sound of a single gunshot - no blood.
Pickford may have been the darling of silent film, and she was undeniably a remarkable actress in that setting. But her talkie debut is flawed in every conceivable way, from the bogus southern accents of her and others' characters to the comical arm gestures she makes to emphasize her schmaltzy love-talk with Michael.
You have to cut this film some slack not only for the year it was made, but also because sound movies were then in their infancy. Still, the story line and script are painfully exaggerated and the acting horribly stilted.
But is it worth watching? I say yes. It's important cinema history. And it's fun.
Delusion (1991)
Delusion : offbeat, mesmerizing, brilliant!
This is a movie that has real class. It's a haunting, offbeat thriller, a psychological character study, a sophisticated, modern film noir.
The story centers on three main characters, each acted to perfection by Jim Metzler, Jennifer Rubin, and Kyle Secor. The timing and dialogue are exquisite, and the plot is believable and eerily realistic. The viewer is mesmerized as the story unfolds against the hauntingly beautiful backdrop of Death Valley. Even the minor characters add to the sinister but fascinating atmosphere that is maintained from start to end.
This is a movie that is so absorbing, so extraordinary in every way, that it actually can be habit-forming. It gets better with every viewing. In my opinion, this may be the best movie ever produced.
Delusion (1991)
Delusion : offbeat, mesmerizing, brilliant!
This is a movie that has real class. It's a haunting, offbeat thriller, a psychological character study, a sophisticated, modern film noir.
The story centers on three main characters, each acted to perfection by Jim Metzler, Jennifer Rubin, and Kyle Secor. The timing and dialogue are exquisite, and the plot is believable and eerily realistic. The viewer is mesmerized as the story unfolds against the hauntingly beautiful backdrop of Death Valley. Even the minor characters add to the sinister but fascinating atmosphere that is maintained from start to end.
This is a movie that is so absorbing, so extraordinary in every way, that it actually can be habit-forming. It gets better with every viewing. In my opinion, this may be the best movie ever produced.
The Drifter (1988)
Wonderful story idea, implausible conclusion
This is a movie that had great possibilities - a woman on a road trip who has a one-night fling with a hitchhiker she picks up on the road. But the man refuses to let go, and tracks her down in her Southern California apartment, making unwanted phone calls and trying persistently to have some kind of relationship with her.
It's a fine start. But, without giving away too much of the ending, the screenwriters inexplicably decided to turn him into a good guy, attempting to create another classic "surprise ending." But it's awkward, often confusing, and ultimately entirely unbelievable. Had they story evolved differently, they could have turned this "obsessed" young man into a more sympathetic figure without all the implausible plot twists.
And a scene at the end, in which the woman is trapped with a knife-wielding killer, stretches on for minutes as the would-be-killer misses and hesitates. Real suspense doesn't have to be so clumsy or contrived.
Murder in the Heartland (1993)
A film that is well-done and absorbing
It is a real shame this film is not available on home video, as I found it to be extremely well done and memorable. It is based on the notorious Charles Starkweather murder spree of the 1950s, and as a (more or less) true story, it automatically carries a certain level of fascination for afficionados of classic crime cases.
But this one has much more. It gives the viewer a sense of the complexities of the people involved. Starkweather's jailbait girlfriend, Caril Fugate (Fairuza Balk) comes across as oddly pathetic, the product a wretched home life. As such, she is credible and intriguing. She is docile and submissive but stubborn, as well. While not quite likeable, the viewer can feel some empathy toward her.
Starkweather, on the other hand, is a study in absolute amorality. His purposeless life unravels into madness on screen, with Fugate following, sometimes willingly sometimes out of fear or compulsion.
This is an intelligent film. Much is left to the imagination of the audience. It is a long movie, but absorbing. I recommend it highly.
Delusion (1991)
Delusion : offbeat, mesmerizing, brilliant!
This is a movie that has real class. It's a haunting, offbeat thriller, a psychological character study, a sophisticated, modern film noir.
The story centers on three main characters, each acted to perfection by Jim Metzler, Jennifer Rubin, and Kyle Secor. The timing and dialogue are exquisite, and the plot is believable and eerily realistic. The viewer is mesmerized as the story unfolds against the hauntingly beautiful backdrop of Death Valley. Even the minor characters add to the sinister but fascinating atmosphere that is maintained from start to end.
This is a movie that is so absorbing, so extraordinary in every way, that it actually can be habit-forming. It gets better with every viewing. In my opinion, this may be the best movie ever produced.