Over on Goodreads.com authors were asked/challenged to provide a two sentence horror story in honor of Halloween.
Here’s mine…
Deep under the earth and in the bunker, Earth’s last survivors let out an anguished cry when they heard the approaching noises. Those vile, terrifying creatures could gnaw through concrete and metal just as easily as human flesh.
After finishing that last Mad Max picture, I was thinking about Mel Gibson’s career and the movies featuring him.
As should be obvious, my favorite Mel Gibson role is certainly Mad Max and my favorite film featuring Mr. Gibson is The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2.
Easy peasy.
But then I thought: With The Road Warrior my favorite Mel Gibson starring feature, what would I consider my second favorite?
I thought about that for a while. The original Lethal Weapon was a damned good movie, even if it felt like director Richard Donner and company threw the script away soon after starting filming (I always chuckle at the grim tone of the movie in its opening minutes and then how quickly it becomes a slapstick action/comedy!). There are plenty of others to consider, from Braveheart to The Year of Living Dangerously to (yeah, I liked it) Maverick, etc. etc.
But the one that seemed to come back to my mind over and over again was the 1999 film Payback. Now, to be very clear, I saw the film when it was original released to theaters and hated that version. But a few years later director Brian Helgeland’s version of the film, Payback: Straight Up, The Director’s Cut, was released and that, my friends, was a whole different animal. (The below trailer is from the theatrical cut)
Based on The Hunter, the first of the Parker novels by Donald E. Westlake (writing under the pen name Richard Stark), this version of Payback was a lot closer to said novel and a hell of a lot better overall as a movie.
As good as that film was, and bear in mind I’ve already stated it is my second favorite Mel Gibson film, it isn’t nearly as clever and strong, IMHO, as the original movie version of the same novel, this one released in 1967 and starring Lee Marvin. I’m referring, of course, to Point Blank…
Point Blank was, if memory serves, not terribly well received upon its initial release but, over the years, it has attained a cult following and is considered by many today among Lee Marvin’s best works.
The plot of these movies are essentially the same: Lee Marvin, like Mel Gibson, plays a version of the character of Parker (in Marvin’s case he’s named Walker, in Gibson’s its Porter). He is involved in a heist along with his wife/girlfriend and best friend and the two betray him and leave him for dead.
Parker/Walker/Porter come back, seeking their fair share of the money and revenge… though one can’t help but wonder if the character’s interest is more in getting that money versus getting that revenge.
Here’s the thing though, and the reason why I like Point Blank more than Payback: Director John Boorman and his screenwriters crafted a fascinating new addition/wrinkle to the story, one that, IMHO, elevates the material into the stratosphere.
What they have done is taken this tale of criminals, revenge, and stolen loot… and made it a ghost story.
Yeah, you read that right: Point Blank is a ghost story.
We have in the opening minutes of the film the heist and the betrayal and Walker is shot. He collapses to the ground and, his best friend and wife/girlfriend believe, is dead.
In Payback, he’s clearly not. In Point Blank, though, if you pay close attention to you come to realize that Walker is no longer among the living, but that he’s a vengeful ghost.
First thing to note: His hair is dark during the heist. After the heist and after “recovering”, his hair is (ghost) white. As the movie progresses and he goes after the people who betrayed him and demands his money back, you notice a second thing: Walker does not kill anyone in the course of the film.
Yeah, he roughs people up, but the ones that die -and there are several that do- do so either by other’s hands or their own. Further, Walker’s obsession with getting his money appears to be so all consuming that it seems to be the only reason for anything he does.
And, BIG SPOILERS, by the end of the movie, after he’s run down the Outfit to the point where those that remain in it finally decide to give him his damned money, the movie ends on an extremely curious note.
We return to the scene of the original crime, Alcatraz (this location is not featured at all in Payback), where Walker and his partners did the original crime and where he was betrayed and “died”. The money he’s sought all this time is delivered by a Mob boss. The exhausted mobster yells out that the money is there for Walker to take.
Walker, hiding in the shadows, watches the delivery and the mobster but doesn’t leave his hiding place. The audience, feeling there is another betrayal coming, understand Walker’s hesitation.
But…
After a while, the mobster shrugs. He leaves the package with what we assume is indeed the money where it is and gets back into his helicopter and departs. Silence follows. The money remains where it is and there are no other people around and, we realize, there is no chance of another betrayal.
Still Walker remains in the shadows, not saying anything nor going to get the money. Instead, he retreats further back into the darkness, until he’s completely swallowed by it.
Fin.
My take?
Walker’s ghost has gotten what he wanted and can now rest in peace. The irony is that a ghost -of course!- doesn’t need the money. But by going through all he has and delivering revenge to those who deserved it while getting his proper cut of the loot, he can now rest in peace and does so when he disappears into the shadows that final time.
As someone who fashions himself a writer, that ending, and that ingenuity of writing, absolutely floors me.
The upshot of all this is that a) If you haven’t already, you should see Payback: Straight Up, The Director’s Cut. Even more importantly b) you should see Point Blank.
It’s worth the trip(s).
A few days back I did a Mel Gibson Mad Max -from The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2– sketch and…
…doing that one illustration didn’t scratch the itch. Not entirely.
So…
I know many people today can’t stomach Mel Gibson and, frankly, I can’t argue the point. What he did, though it was an awful long time ago, was nonetheless nasty as hell. Clearly Mr. Gibson was in a dark place fueled by what appears to be heavy drinking and his actions and statements are both hard to comprehend and even harder to forgive.
For me, I knew and loved much of Mr. Gibson’s work prior to his melt-down and the work he did before that moment, especially in The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2, was terrific stuff.
I suppose this is a case where I’ve divorced the work from the artist themselves, because even I have a hard time comprehending the things he did.
Quick update:
I’m slowly… very slowly… reading through the current draft of the book and…
I’m liking what I’m reading.
To be sure, there are some things that will need expansion and/or “cleaning” but much of what I’ve read (approximately the first 1/3rd or so of the book) flows remarkably well.
While I know what happens in these early pages, its been many months since I’ve looked at them so, therefore, I’m looking at them with fresh eyes and the fact that the stuff reads as well as it does is very promising.
I suppose when you’ve made it to your 11th major work, even if you’re a fool like me you’re bound to learn a few tricks along the way. Either that or I’ve finally learned to write things with a stronger eye on making it closer to what it should be by the time I’m through.
Anyway, back to work.
Not so very long ago came the news that actor Martin Landau had passed away.
Though perhaps not one of the best known actors out there, Mr. Landau carved an impressive career for himself. Today he’s probably best known for playing the foul mouthed, drug addled elderly Bela Lugosi, a role which won him a Best supporting Actor Oscar, in the 1995 Tim Burton directed film Ed Wood.
Terrific as he was in that role, my familiarity with Mr. Landau came with earlier roles, two specific, which happened to be television shows that also featured his then wife, the stunningly beautiful Barbara Bain.
The two shows? Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999.
Anyway, I was looking around the internet last night seeking some interesting picture from Space: 1999 to use for my next piece and, though I didn’t find it, I did find a fascinating picture with both Mr. Landau and Mrs. Bain which looked as if it was taken after their stint in Mission: Impossible and a little before Space: 1999.
And here it is. Enjoy!
Once again I dip my toe into the subject that raises people’s ire and finds no easy medium.
But, does it seem like after last week (that terrible last week) that we’ve crossed some kind of line with regard to President Donald Trump and his shenanigans?
With the latest clash between Trump and Senator Corker and Trump and Secretary Tillerson, the later who supposedly called his boss a “moron” (or, if you believe some sources, a “f*cking moron”) along with the terribly delayed response to Puerto Rico’s emergency following being hit by a hurricane, and the silly stunt Vice President Pence performed at the Indianapolis football game this past Sunday and one gets the feeling that even many of those invested in Trump are perhaps tiring of his silliness, the incompetence, the general chaos, and starting to sour on him.
Indeed, even the startling, sickening news of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual deviance and eventual ouster from his own company has, ironically, cast the spotlight on something too many have chosen to ignore… and that is Donald Trump’s own history of sexual deviance.
Now I’m not naive. I know there will always be those who stand behind the Donald. To them, he can do no wrong.
But I’m curious if the Republican party… at least those who are serious about running the country, have maybe, just maybe had enough and, with Senator Corker speaking out, the proverbial dam has finally developed a leak.
Mr. Corker will remain in office until the midterm elections but now that he’s “unchained” from seeking votes, one wonders what’s next for him, and for the party that rode that tiger to this point.
Will that dam finally break?
Stay tuned.
This is… interesting.
From bleacherreport.com and in an article written by Scott Polacek, we find that…
Cubs, MLB Sued by Fan Who Was Struck By Foul Ball and Left Blind In One Eye
To be sure, this sounds like an absolutely terrible situation for the fan. Jay Loos, the fan in question, was hit by a foul ball while attending a Cubs vs. Pirates game and has undergone three surgeries and has two more to go through and will probably also need a prosthetic eye.
Yes, the foul ball essentially destroyed his eye and broke bones in his face.
On the one hand, I feel for the man, who is seeking some $50,000 in damages. Based on that figure, which doesn’t appear too terribly exaggerated, I suspect he’s not seeking much more than the costs of the surgeries and getting him back to a semblance of what he was… at least as much as possible.
On the other hand, if you’re taking in a baseball game and you’re in the seats immediately behind and to the left and right of the batters, there is the possibility of foul balls -and bats!- heading your way in a mighty big hurry.
The article (yeah, I know, I’m spoiling the whole damn thing) notes that baseball teams are investigating/considering extending the netting behind the batters for situations like this and, frankly, it surprises me there is all that much pondering to do.
I know there may be those who argue this will limit people’s vision but if there is a possibility of avoiding this gruesome injury in the future, what’s there to consider?
When I was much younger (way back in the stone age, natch), I very clearly remember the release of the subject of my latest sketch, Mel Gibson’s Mad Max from the incredible Mad Max 2 or, as it was known in the United States, The Road Warrior.
Back when the film was released, I was too young to see this “R” rated film without *ahem* adult supervision. I nonetheless managed to see the film twice upon its initial release and was turned away a third time.
Ah well.
I still consider Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior one of the very best action films ever made, regardless of people’s current opinions -sadly, understandable- against Mr. Gibson. I felt the latest Mad Max film, Mad Max Fury Road, would have been better served with Mr. Gibson, though please don’t take that as a slight against Tom Hardy, who took over the role.
It’s just that to me, Gibson is Mad Max and I personally feel he would have done better in the lead role… but that’s crying over spilled milk at this point.
So here he is, in all his glory, a very young Mel Gibson in the role that made him a star…
Today we have the release of a very belated sequel.
I’m referring, if you haven’t paid attention to the headline above, to Blade Runner 2049, the Ryan Gosling starring vehicle -though Harrison Ford is back as well- of the 1982 film (duh) Blade Runner.
Which means this sequel comes an astonishing 35 years after the original movie’s release, which I believe is a new record. The previous record of the longest time between original movie and its sequel is, I do believe, 1982’s Tron to 2010’s Tron Legacy, something I’ve had on my mind very recently. To save you doing the math, that movie had 28 years between original and sequel.
I plan to catch the film in theaters as I am a fan of the original though I feel director Ridley Scott’s previous film to that, Alien, is a far better overall film.
Blade Runner was a difficult sell back in the day it was originally released. It was something way different from what many expected and was a murky, at times difficult film to understand. In some ways this was understandable. Director Ridley Scott was forced to add a “voice over”, which Harrison Ford reportedly couldn’t stand doing, to explain for audiences what was up.
The film wasn’t a terribly big success but over time the movie received second and third looks and, voila, people began to appreciate the movie more and more. In fact, things became so good for the film that Mr. Scott was given the unheard of until then chance to return to the film and “fix” it so that it more resembled the version he wanted.
That meant various versions, most of which did away with the voice over and included or cut certain scenes but, with the eventual release of the “Final Cut” of the film, we have what is likely the final word on it… though I personally don’t feel the “other” versions are so terrible they should be burned at the stake. Hell, I don’t even mind the Harrison Ford voice-over!
But when I watched the original Blade Runner a little while back, I noted something that always troubled me about it: The story presented was… slight. In fact, if you look at Blade Runner as a modern noir mystery, the mystery part is surprisingly slight. Here we have the police department going to Harrison Ford’s Deckard to find these lost Replicants as if he’s the only one capable of doing this type of dirty work -the classic “he’s the only one with the knack” archetype- and the way he goes about finding them is, let’s face it, something the police should have been able to do.
For example, he finds a snake scale -something the police should have found- in an apartment along with a photograph (which he does not much more than zoom in on) to get valuable clues to where those replicants are.
But here’s the thing: The movie uses a film noir/mystery to offer us a fascinating sci-fi mood piece/environment which influenced pretty much all futuristic movies that came afterwards.
In fact, so many movies were influenced by the visuals presented in Blade Runner (which, to be fair, was itself influenced by works such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis), that today’s audiences looking at the movie for the first time may have trouble finding it as great a film as others have. In fact, I recommend those who are fans of the film (or not) to check out this interesting article over at i09.com, a site dedicated to geek culture, which had two of its staffers see the film for the first time and react to it.
Anyway, as I said above, I do plan to catch Blade Runner 2049 sometime in the very near future, though the run time -two hours and forty some minutes!- does seem rather… long.
Still, as a fan of the original film and based on many of the good reviews, I’ll give it a look-see.
So it enters my mind to do Clint Eastwood picture.
He is, after all, one of the more recognizable stars of the 1960’s on…
Thing is, I don’t want to do your typical Clint Eastwood picture, ie the grimacing, angry, Dirty-Harry-carrying-a-weapon-type image. I’ve had my fill of late of angry, grim people.
After looking around, I find this image, clearly a Clint Eastwood promo picture taken before his “spaghetti western” period (he’s clean shaven!) and probably was made in/around his Rawhide years. What’s fascinating is that it looks like the type of picture Mr. Eastwood might have forwarded to the folks over at Bonanza!
And there you have it, a young, smiling, clean shaven Clint Eastwood!
