The Cassandra Crossing (1976)

the cassandra crossing poster

The Cassandra Crossing which is one of those star-studded disaster movies that was so popular in the 1970s. It is about how an eco-terrorist accidentally contaminates himself with a deadly virus and then boards a train. Once the government learns what’s happened they seal up the train and make sure no one can get off. They reroute it to Poland where they will be quarantined until a cure is found. To get there they have to cross a disused and likely hazardous bridge called the Cassandra Crossing.

Richard Harris plays a neurologist who just happens to be a passenger on the train and becomes the defacto hero. Burt Lancaster is the government, military guy back at the base barking all the orders to keep everybody aboard. The cast also includes Sophia Loren as the neurologist’s wife, Ava Gardner as the wife of an arms dealer, Martin Sheen as her plaything, OJ Simpson as the world’s worst priest, and Lee Strasberg as a Jew who is none too keen to be returning to Poland (apparently the train is going to quarantine them at an old concentration camp.

That’s a good cast and the basics of the story are interesting, but like so many of these star-studded disaster movies it spends too much time giving each actor a good scene or two, and not enough making me care. Or at least be thrilled by the suspense.

It is confusing, too, I’m not 100 percent sure they were headed towards the concentration camp. Wikipedia says so, and Strasberg’s character has a nervous breakdown, but I didn’t hear any dialogue expressly stating that was their destination. I’m not really sure why they have to go to Poland anyway. The train was originally a Geneva to Stockholm exchange. It seems like they could just park it somewhere relatively isolated, board it up, and wait until the doctors figure things out. A lot of the plot is like that – confusing.

The actors, for the most part, seem to be having fun, and I always like watching lots of cool actors in a film together. But I wish they’d tightened things up a bit and concentrated on making this thing as tense as possible. Instead, it is a bit of a bloated mess.

Things do get a little exciting toward the end when our heroes do battle with the military goons in order to stop the train before it pummels off the bridge and it’s got one of those terrifically bleak endings. But it takes far too long to get there to make this a recommendation.

Fifteen Years of Bootlegs

Though I started this blog in 2004 it wasn’t until 2008 that I started posting bootlegs for download. That’s approximately fifteen years (more or less, there have been some stops and starts along the way) of me posting shows on this blog. I don’t have any real idea of how many shows I’ve posted in all those years. I’ve got 6,960 of them that I’ve labeled “Bootleg Bonanza” which is what I used to call those posts. But that doesn’t include any of the shows that are still locked away in private mode, nor any of the more recent shows that I’ve thrown up on Google Drive. That’s a lot of sharing. I’m proud of that.

Five years ago I did a series of posts where I celebrated Ten Years of Bootlegs. I did a little countdown of my Top Ten most popular bootleg posts, according to my hit counter. I thought it would be fun to revisit that post with an update for the 15 Year Anniversary.

As always there are caveats. My hit counter is wrong. Over the years I have switched a time or two between WordPress and Blogger. I’ve had my own website, I’ve downloaded counters, and relied on whatever WordPress uses internally. I went private for a few years, blocking all search engine access. I urged everyone to sign up for my e-mails (which means most people never actually come to the site, they just download from the e-mail.) And now that I’m doing daily posts where I mostly link directly to Google instead of doing individual posts for each show. All of that has massively messed with my stats.

But with all of that in mind, I still think it is fun to see what is most popular.

Here’s the original list, with original stats.

10. Bob Dylan – Abandoned Desire – 2251 hits
09. Bob Dylan – 1978 Tour Collection – 2125 hits
08. Bob Dylan – The Genuine Never Ending Tour Covers Collection (1988-2006) – 2345 hits
07. Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead – The Entire Tour – 3015 hits
06. Bob Dylan – The Complete Supper Club Soundboards – 3302 hits
05. Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler – The Complete Recording Session – 3254 hits
04. Bob Dylan – Santa Cruz, CA (03/15-16/00) – 2874 hits
03. Bob Dylan – A Couple More Years – 3646 hits
02. The Allman Brothers Band – San Francisco, CA (12/31/73) – 3552 hits
01. Bob Dylan – The 1974 Soundboard Collection – 4367 hits

And here’s the updated list.

10. Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead – San Rafael, CA (06/01/87) – 3802 hits
09. Bob Dylan – 1978 Tour Compilation – 3891 hits
08. The Grateful Dead – The Entire Warfield Theatre 1980 Run – 3963 hits
Van Morrison – Shows by Year – 4251
07. Bob Dylan – Santa Cruz, CA (03/15-16/00) – 4459 hits
06. Bob Dylan – The Genuine Never Ending Tour Covers Collection (1988-2000) – 4641 hits
05. The Allman Brothers – San Francisco, CA (12/31/73) 4880 hits
Grateful Dead: Shows by Year – 5103
04. Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler – The Complete Recording Sessions 1979-1986 – 5191 hits
03. Bob Dylan – Complete Supper Club Soundboards – 5323 hits
02. Bob Dylan – 1974 Soundboard Collection – 6487 hits
01. Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead – The Entire Tour – 8139 hits

So as you can see it mostly stayed the same, which makes sense, I guess. What was popular then stayed popular now. The positioning has changed a bit which is interesting.

The Dead’s Warfield run of 1980 joined the list. It wasn’t posted until the middle of these anniversary posts which explains why it wasn’t on the original list. And a single Dylan and the Dead show also entered the list. I’m not sure why that particular one is popular. Pushed out were two Dylan outtake sessions – Abandoned Desire and A Couple More Years.

And there you have it. I don’t know if anyone but me cares about this stuff but I think it is pretty interesting. It does sadden me a little to realize that the way I post shows now pretty much eliminates my ability to know which shows are the most popular. Maybe someday I’ll go back to posting individual posts for individual shows, but that day isn’t today.

Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams Is The Pick Of The Week

bluray

I was supposed to have written this article for Cinema Sentries and I totally forgot about it. Luckily, my buddy Gordon picked up my slack and you can read all about his picks here. But I thought I’d go ahead and talk about my picks anyway. If nothing else this keeps me in shape for writing about it next week.

But I shall be brief.

Empire Pictures was one of those low-budget studios that seemed to pop up pretty regularly in the 1980s, but this one had the good taste to put out some pretty good films (sort-of). Films like Ghoulies, Re-Animator, Dolls, and my beloved Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity.

The always-great Arrow Video is releasing a terrific-looking boxed set of five films from Empire Pictures which include The Dungeonmaster, Dolls, Cellar Dweller, Arena, and Robot Jox. It is loaded with extras and comes with some spectacular packaging. Consider me there. Call this my pick of the week.

Also coming out this week that looks interesting:

Pasolini 101: The Criterion Collection is releasing this collection of seven films from the controversial Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini. I’m not overly familiar with his work, but I trust Criterion to deliver the goods.

Creepshow: Shout Factory brings us this absolutely brilliant-looking release of a not-all-that-great film. Creepshow is one of those horror anthology films that was so popular back in the day. They are all written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero which is pretty cool. I know I’ve seen this, but I don’t remember much other than I was disappointed by it. But the sweet is really cool. It’s got a 4K transfer, and lots of extras including posters, lobby cards, and pins.

Cold Eyes of Fear: I just watched this Italian Giallo last Friday night. It’s a pretty average little flick about a home invasion by two guys – one who is after money, another who needs some private papers locked away in a safe. It starts out strong, but then pulls the rug out and becomes much safer and less interesting.

The Old Man and the Sea: Warner Archive is releasing this adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway story with Spencer Tracy in the lead.

Angel Face: Another Warner Archive release. Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons star in this film noir about a simple man who falls for a complicated femme fatale. Otto Preminger directs.

Waterworld: Arrow Video gives us a 4K special edition (complete with three different cuts) of this Kevin Costner vehicle that at one time was the most expensive film ever made. I just watched it today and I’ll have a full review soon. Probably.

Evil Dead Rise: I love the original Evil Dead Trilogy. Evil Dead 2 is one of my all-time favorites. I liked what I saw in the Ash Vs Evil Dead TV show. But I wasn’t much for the more recent Evil Dead movie. It was straight-up horror and gore with none of the fun. I hear this one is the same.

Footloose (1984)

footloose poster

I grew up in a small, conservative town in Oklahoma. My family attended a conservative, evangelical-ish church. My parents were conservative and religious, though I’ve since come to realize they weren’t quite as conservative as many folks in their social circles were at the time. I was allowed to listen to rock and roll music, and we watched all kinds of movies, sometimes even Rated-R movies.

My memory is fuzzy but I believe they did not allow my brother, who is four years older than me, to go to school dances. Dancing leads to sexy thoughts which leads to actual sex, or so the thought went. By the time I got old enough they had loosened up on that idea, but I actually had no desire to go to dances. I was way too shy to ask a girl to one, and even if I did, I didn’t know how to dance.

Footloose is a movie about a teenaged boy named Ren (Kevin Bacon) who moves from the big city of Chicago to a small, mountainside, Midwestern town. It is more or less run by the local Preacher (John Lithgow) who instigated a town ban on dancing of any kind. Now, in this scenario dancing doesn’t lead so much to sexing (though certainly, that is still on the reverend’s mind) but to drinking and that leads to death. Or at least it lead to his son’s death when he did some drinking and driving.

So Ren comes to town, and he’s the new kid so he gets picked on by the bullies, one of whom challenges him to a game of chicken on tractors. There’s a little trouble at school, too, which turns Ren into a troublemaker in the eyes of the preacher. But he also makes a friend with Willard (Chris Penn) and the preacher’s daughter Ariel (Lori Singer).

Did I mention the town has banned rock and roll, too? Like all bans of this sort, they don’t do any good and the teens listen to rock and roll, drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and have a little sex. But what they don’t do is dance. At least not in an organized fashion. Queue Ren and his righteous fight to have a school dance.

Though it was a big hit when it came out in 1984 I only just saw it this weekend. I did have the soundtrack though, and it’s killer. I don’t think my parents outright banned me from watching it, but I do remember hearing discussions about how us kids shouldn’t watch it because it promoted dancing and disrespecting authority. Someone also complained that the theme song by Kenny Loggins promoted skipping church to go dancing and having fun.

Had I been interested in seeing the film, I no doubt would have found a way, but it just didn’t look that good to me. Watching it now I can firmly say it is a very dumb film, but also ridiculously fun.

They don’t hammer too hard on the morality of the film, and Lithgow plays the preacher with some nuance and, eventually, some heart. Mostly it is a film that wants to be a musical and loves to do dance montages.

Two of my favorites include Ren getting frustrated by the preacher and running off to some warehouse where he proceeds to drink, smoke and do an amazing dance all by himself. Later, when he learns Willard can’t dance he teaches him. And we are treated to this lovely montage of those two teenage boys dancing together (one might think this film is very gay – one might not be wrong).

I don’t think it is too much of a spoiler to say that the teens get their dance. What I love about the final dance scene is that it isn’t some carousing, dirty dancing affair. No, the teens do a little line-type dance and then mostly just dance by themselves. It is very chaste, just some kids having fun.

And that’s the film. Really pretty dumb, but tons of fun to watch.

The Friday Night Horror Movie: Bloody Hell (2020)

bloody hell poster

After accidentally killing a woman while trying to thwart a bank robbery, Rex (Ben O’Toole) is sentenced to eight years in prison. Upon release, he decides to go to Finland to escape the media circus (the trial made him famous) and start a new life.

At the airport, he is noticed by a strange couple who keep staring at him and talking about him in Finish. In Finland, just arriving at the airport, he takes a cab. The driver puts releases some gas into the back cabin knocking Rex out. He awakes to find himself tied up in the basement of the strange couple’s house, with one of his legs cut off.

To tell much more of the plot would be to spoil much of the film’s fun. And it is a fun film, despite all the horror, dismemberment, killing, and gore. Rex talks to himself and this is displayed by having him literally talk to himself, as in the actor plays a more sarcastic version of Rex which we literally see as two people. That allows for a lot of humorous back and forth, which works better than it should.

The family consists of a mother and father, and twin sons who are all murderous psychopaths. But there is also Alia (Meg Foster) who understands how screwed up her family is but has not been able to escape. Naturally, she becomes a love interest of sorts.

For the most part, the film deftly mixes its thriller/horror moments with some pretty funny comedy and a surprising amount of whimsy. When Alia first talks to Rex and realizes he might be her salvation we whip into a fantasy sequence with her dancing with Rex in a beautiful field while romantic music plays. That sequence will get a hilarious replay towards the end of the film with some imaginative changes.

It doesn’t always work. The back and forth between Rex and his imagination can be a little grating at times. The family drifts a little too far into cartoonishness, especially at the end. But I found it quite enjoyable. Horror comedy is difficult to pull off and Bloody Hell does it better than most.

Boom Town (1940)

boom town movie

While looking for something to watch I stumbled upon this movie. A western starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, and Hedy Lamarr, I thought, why have I never heard of this before? The answer, of course, is that it isn’t that good. Great movies become beloved, and bad ones are notorious, but average ones are easily forgotten.

Gable and Tracy play Big John McMasters and Square John Sand respectively, two oil wildcatters. The film starts out strong enough with both of them down on their luck, out of work, and out of money. Square John has spent his last dime on some Oklahoma land he’s just sure is full of oil, but he’s got no cash to buy the drilling equipment. Big John says he has cash and they team up together. Turns out he doesn’t really have any money but he cons the equipment from Luther Aldrich (Frank Morgan). Oil flows and the two of them are rich.

Square John has a girl, Betsy (Claudette Colbert) back home he’s been courting since he was a young buck, but he’s yet to talk her into marriage. She shows up without warning and meets Big John without either knowing who the other is. She pretty quickly figures out he’s Square John’s partner, but she finds it fun to toy with him without him knowing who she is. They talk and flirt, and fall in love. In the morning she fesses up, but admits she never really loved Square John, at least not in that way, and came all the way out to let him down gently.

Square John, for his part, takes all of this on the chin. Betsy and Big John get married and things go well. Until they don’t. She finds him in the arms of another woman, starts to leave him, but ultimately forgives him. Something Square John cannot do.

He breaks up their partnership and the rest of the film finds one of them up and the other one down, financially speaking. When one is down he wants nothing to do with the other, and vice versa.

It is here that the film falls apart for me. It goes on for far too long having one of them strike it rich and then lose everything and then the tides turn. Betsy is stuck in the middle. Hedy Lamarr eventually shows up as a woman who uses her skills and charms to basically be a corporate spy, giving Big John the scoop on what is going down in New York, and giving him the upper hand. She uses those same charms to woo him, creating yet another rift in the relationship.

I love me some Hedy Lamarr but by the time she really gets going, I was ready for the film to end. It has some really oddball things to say about love and marriage and the story just falls apart about midway through.

That’s too bad, too, because it has a great cast and that first half has a lot of promise.

The filmmaking is actually pretty great. The actors are all very good and the photography is very picturesque. There is one brilliant scene in which an oil well catches fire. The blaze is tremendous and a score of workers risk their lives to put it out It really is quite something to see.