A Few of My Favourite Things (Page 1)

Delos is the ultimate theme park holiday resort. For $1000 a day customers can live out their fantasies in one of three controlled zones: Romanworld, Medieval World or Westworld - interacting with other holidaymaker role-players and state-of-the-art robots. Friends John and Peter live out the dream in Westworld... until things begin to go seriously wrong. When minor technical faults escalate, the resort robots carry out their programming with no thought or consideration to the safety of the guests. For John and Peter that means fleeing for their lives from a relentless killer gunslinger...
 

Here we have a movie which sets the benchmark, showing every aspiring filmmaker how it should be done. Westworld is in my top dozen films of all time, and it's easy to see why when you examine the inherent structure. It's based on a book by Michael Crichton, bestselling author of The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, The Terminal Man and many others. However, a good book does not necessarily transfer smoothly to the big screen. One of the strongest attributes Westworld possesses is the fact that it works equally successfully as a western, science fiction, technological thriller, disaster movie, action adventure and, in places, feel good light comedy - whilst maintaining an essentially genreless mainstream stance.
 

If I only had one word to sum-up Westworld it would be Fun. Right from the off, we're caught up in the enthusiasm of first-timer Peter Martin, reflected in the knowing smile of his experienced friend John Blane. We soak-up the ambience of the old west in the form of course whisky in the saloon, horse riding, a shoot-out with a gunfighter, the pleasures of the cathouse, a jailbreak and a bar room brawl. The scientists running operations behind the scenes are shown in brief snippets with no wasted dialogue, so as to not detract from the main events hotting up for our protagonists.
 

Similarly, we're kept up to speed with some events in Medieval World, and in particular a guest's fatal confrontation with the Black Knight. The escalating tension as we approach the conclusion has the same feel as the film Duel – also from the early seventies. This is not only due to the tight script but exemplary acting. There's not a single bad word to be said about Yul Brynner's portrayal of the black-garbed robot gunslinger. It's just so powerful, and it's this performance alone which turns a good film into an excellent one. I simply cannot sing his praises enough.

As you would expect, the 2013 Blu-ray release of this film supersedes the DVD version in terms of quality of sound and picture. Special Features include a featurette, the 1980 TV pilot Beyond Westword, and a Trailer. Of coarse, there was an original sequel to Westworld, called Futureworld. However, despite having Peter Fonda in the line-up, it possessed none of the humour, thrills, acting prowess, style or presence of its predecessor. Yul Brynner appears, but is woefully underutilised in a brief dream sequence. So, where is the much-anticipated 4K version of Westworld? I guess we'll just have to wait. In the meantime, pick yourself up a copy of the Blu-ray. You won't be disappointed.

To paraphrase the movie tagline: Boy, have we got a movie for you.

(Review originally written by Ty Power for sci-fi-online 2002 - Updated 2021)

It's Spain 1944. Young Ofelia is being brought by her pregnant mother to where her new 'father' is stationed. The captain turns out to be a cruel and sadistic man. The civil war is over, and elsewhere in the world the Normandy landings are taking place, but bands of rebels to Franco's dictatorship are loose in the hills. Close to the camp Ofelia is visited by a fairy who leads her to an ancient labyrinth. A faun tells her she is the lost daughter of the king of the Underworld, and that she must complete three tasks to prove she has not become too mortal. But the only ally she has is suffering dangerous problems of her own...

I've seen some surreal films in my time, but this pretty much beats them all. Director Guillermo Del Toro has an impressive track record already, with Cronos, The Devil's Backbone, Hellboy, Crimson Peak, and The Shape of Water to his name. This time he's excelled himself big-time. In fact, I am a big fan of most of del Toro's work and think of him as a successor to the great John Carpenter's crown.

Pan's Labyrinth is plainly a parable for many things, but mainly the coming of age. There are loose connections to Little Red Riding Hood, The Wizard of Oz, any number of Grimm's Tales, and even his own The Devil's Backbone. But this is not one for the little kiddy-winks. It's brutally and graphically violent, and eerie, as well as emotional and fantastical.

You realise after viewing it in its entirety that the entire movie is an allegory for life. The brutality of adulthood versus the innocence of youth. As one of her three trials, Ofelia enters the tree of womanhood (the entrance resembles a vagina opening, and the branches above are curled round like fallopian tubes) whilst being reluctant to put away childish thoughts. The Giant Toad is a metaphor for greed and the wealth of the world, the Pale Man represents the evil of the world feeding on the helpless. Pan, the faun is neither good nor evil, but it has its own motives.

It is ambiguous as to whether these fantasies are real or simply the girl's way of dealing with the harsh realities of life - specifically, the evil vindictiveness of her despised new stepfather, Captain Vidal, the ruthless dictator. As adults, we can only assume the latter. The film also explores selfishness against sacrifice. There's the irony of performing an adult selfless act when Ofelia still inhabits a fantasy world - presumably of her own making.

This is the most weird clash of genres I've ever come across, but the fact that they don't really fit together makes the concept all the more significant. This film spans the gamut of emotions, and is fantasy based in a harsh reality. Only when you reach the end do you begin to change your view of what has just taken place. Ambiguity in an ending is nearly always a good thing. It leaves you thinking. It leaves you thinking you have witnessed something rather special.

Extras on this excellent 2-disc set include a commentary by Director Guillermo Del Toro; a National Film Theatre Interview with Del Toro (hosted by Mark Kermode, in my opinion the best film critic around - apart from me, that is!); a prologue by the director; The Power of Myth short, DVD Comic Sketches: The Pale, The Fairies, The Giant Toad and Pan; El Fauno Y Las Hadas; The Colour and the Shape; Storyboard/Thumbnail Comparisons; VFX Plate Compare: Guillermo Del Toro and the Green Fairy; Director's Notebook; The Melody Echoes the Fairy Tale; Mercedes' Lullaby; Poster Gallery & Trailer, and much more.

Phew! If you've always shied away from subtitled films before, remove those blinkers open those eyes, and use this as your starting point. You won't be sorry. I've just discovered that there is now a Ultra HD 4K version of this masterpiece. I'll be picking that one up.

(Review originally written by Ty Power for reviewgraveyard 2007 - updated 2021)

This 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray release from Fabulous Films Ltd/Fremantle Media Enterprises couldn’t be more timely, as far as I’m concerned. Duel is one of my favourite movies of all time – certainly registering high in my top dozen – and I’ve only recently been searching for a Blu-ray or 4K version to replace my old and well-worn DVD. I couldn’t be happier to finally view this amazing film from 1971 in HD.

Dennis Weaver – best known for the 1970s police series McCloud,  which first aired from 1970 until 1977 – plays David Mann, a travelling salesman on his way to California to meet a client for a lucrative deal. At one point he overtakes a slow-moving 40 ton truck, which shortly afterwards overtakes him and slows right down again. Concerned that he might be late for his appointment, Mann makes a risky movement to get past the truck. Thereafter, he is singled-out as prey for the super-charged huge truck, and Mann is caught in a  desperate down-spiralling game of cat and mouse for survival.

It doesn’t sound like much, does it? But believe me, this movie is  packed full of nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat suspense. It’s as though a proverbial ratchet is steadily clicking up the tension. Several factors come together to make this work in synergy. The first is the choice of actor. Dennis Weaver was chosen based on his impressive performance in Touch of Evil (1958), and achieves the impossible by carrying this portrayal alone. There are around fifteen or so peripheral characters  whose cameos Mann has only the briefest interaction with (his wife on the phone, a roadside café’s handful of patrons, a petrol pump attendant and a school bus driver and some kids. For ninety percent of the running time it’s simply the man, his car and the terrifying truck. This works really well, as the viewer  sub-consciously bonds and sympathises with Mann to the point that they replace him in the car and experience many of the emotions he very clearly feels: humour, impatience, annoyance, fear, terror, the edge of madness, and an underlying survival instinct. Weaver also performed many of his own stunts.

The second factor is the source material. Duel originated as a novelette tale by master storyteller Richard Matheson, which was printed in Playboy magazine only a short time before it was optioned for the screen. Legendary filmmaker Stephen Spielberg was to be the director. Yes, him. But I’ll come to that. Matheson was a master of his art and had countless novels and shorts adapted for TV or the big screen – many of which he also wrote the script/screenplay for. Among his many successes you might recognise are The Shrinking Man (it had the word ‘Incredible’ added for the film), I Am Legend (adapted into at least three different film versions), Hell House (The Legend of…) , A Stir of Echoes, The Button, What Dreams May Come, Somewhere in Time, and of course Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (the classic Twilight Zone episode, starring William Shatner).

A young Stephen Spielberg was shown the Playboy story of Duel by his assistant, as she felt it would be of interest. Spielberg had worked in television, so the original idea was to film it as a TV movie, but ultimately after editing it the rare decision was made to film additional scenes for a theatrical release. As a fan of silent movies he wanted to make the truck a sinister character rather than simply an object. Spielberg auditioned seven different trucks as if  they were actors, deciding on a 1955 Peterbilt 281 because the front resembled a face. In doing so, he created one of the most unusual and menacing characters in a movie. The filming is very low and contact-based, giving the feeling you are not just witnessing events but are actually a part of them. He also achieved a number of ‘firsts’ with the professional aid of Stunt Co-ordinator Carey Loftin, who arranged the timeless car chases in Vanishing Point (another favourite of mine), Bullitt, and The French Connection. Loftin drove the truck. First person-effective low shots of the road create a sense of speed and panic, which has subsequently been copied in multiple films. Also, rogue trucks and cars with faceless unseen drivers have been used many a time but to much lesser effect. Spielberg proved to the producer that he could film the entire script on location (the director fought against using soundstage sequences) in little over ten days. It was well worth the fact he went two or three days over on the shoot, otherwise we might have ended-up with back projection and Steven Spielberg might not have been given the leeway to achieve the impressive career he has.

You would think that the roadside café scene would be utilised as a breather – a break in the pace – but there is no downtime here, as Weaver's character silently scrutinises the patrons and their boots, attempting to discover which, if any, is the driver of the truck. We hear his thoughts, and frantic reasoning. There are some amazing set-pieces, and also some red herrings in that certain other things are made to sound like the  truck as we experience Mann’s shaken psyche. Spielberg even incorporated a primeval monster roar at the conclusion. The camerawork is amazing, with unusual shots and angles which enhance the off-kilter reality of events. The striking sound score (not really music) accompanies the picture well, making the truck even more menacing. I played the film through my new home cinema system and the loud rumble each time the truck approaches is both exhilarating and  unnerving.

The entertaining extras include A Conversation with Director Steven Spielberg; Steven Spielberg and the small screen; Richard  Matheson: Writing of Duel; Trailer; Photograph and Poster Gallery; and an all new (and quite excellent) Graham Humphrey artwork sleeve. If you like road movies and buckets of suspense, I can’t urge you enough to add this to  your collection.  

(Review originally written by Ty Power for reviewgraveyard 2021)