Tag: jack palance

31 Days of Horror: Alone in the Dark (1982)

Alone in the Dark

Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence) is one of those wacky doctors who thinks the patients at a psychiatric ward shouldn’t be called crazy or locked up and heavily medicated. They need kindness and understanding. They should be more or less allowed to do what they want, and instead of correcting their delusions, you should just run with them. Except for the people on the third floor. Those guys are nuts. They have to be securely locked away.

Even then, they make the floor look rather cozy. Oh, there are big, strong doors that can swing shut and lock in an instant, and if anyone tries to open a window, barricades come down fast. But if everyone behaves, then the place looks like a nice place to live.

The film makes a big deal about the electric locks. Those doors open and shut electronically. The windows are the same. A guard says they are perfectly safe as long as the power doesn’t go out. So naturally, the power goes out.

The four guys on the third floor escape and wreak havoc. They will eventually find their way to Dr. Dan Potter’s (Dwight Schultz) house. He’s a new psychiatrist at the hospital, having just replaced a guy who moved to another town. But the third-floor guys think he must have killed that guy, and now they want revenge.

The back half of the film becomes a station-under-siege film. It’s pretty good.

It’s also pretty weird. The third-floor guys are played by Martin Landau (as a pyromaniac preacher), Jack Palance (and a disturbed former POW), Erland Van Lidth (as a child molester known as “fatty”), and a dude who only shows his face at the end and is only known as “Bleeder.”

Before they lay siege to Potter’s house, they go into town where everybody is looting because all that stands between society and chaos is a little power outage. They have some fun and get some weapons. It is a bit silly, really.

Our villains are having a lot of fun. Donald Pleasance isn’t really given enough to make his character interesting. Once the siege starts, things get interesting. I love a good base-under-siege story, and this one’s done well.

It is a film I’m happy to watch during Spooky season, but not one I’m likely to ever return to.

Once a Thief (1965)

Once a Thief

Ever since Eddie Pedak (Alain Delon) got out of prison six years ago, he’s been straight as an arrow. He’s married to Kristine (Ann Margret) and has a cute-as-a-button little girl. He’s got a good job. He’s happy.

Except for Detective Mike Vido (Van Heflin). He got shot trying to catch a thief several years back, and he’s certain it was Eddie who did it. But the culprit was wearing a mas and Mike only saw his eyes, so the courts let Eddie go. Ever since, Mike has had it out for Eddie and is constantly trying to prove that he’s committed various crimes.

When a store robbery goes bad and a woman is killed, Mike thinks he’s got Eddie dead to rights. A witness description matches Eddie, and he was seen in the exact type of coat Eddie wears, and he drove away in the same model car. Mike takes him in, but his witness says it wasn’t Eddie who did it.

Meanwhile, Eddie gets a visit from his brother Walter (Jack Palance), a man who has definitely not given up the gangster life. He says he’s got a job for Eddie, something that pays big for just a day’s work. Eddie says, “No.” He doesn’t do that work anymore.

But then Eddie gets fired from his job. Mike told his boss about his past. This has happened before. Eddie has trouble finding a new job. Kristine has to take a job as a waitress. She tells Eddie she’s slinging hamburgers, but really she’s a cocktail waitress at some nightclub. She has to wear a skimpy thing.

This drives Eddie crazy. He is supposed to be the breadwinner. He’s not supposed to wash the dishes and make sure the kid is in bed on time. I always find these things fascinating. I guess I’m what you’d call a modern man. My wife and I take turns cooking. I wash dishes. I fold laundry. For a few years, I was a house husband while my wife worked. I was a stay-at-home dad for the first three years of our daughter’s life. I liked it. I don’t really understand these forced issues of masculinity.

But I do understand that it is a thing. It was a much bigger thing in the 1960s, and people like Eddie felt emasculated when they couldn’t work. But it doesn’t exactly make me feel for Eddie. It doesn’t put me on his side. It is fun to watch Delon in this role. I’m so used to him as the icy cool guy from his French films; to see him so hot with emotion here is interesting. He also has a tender side, too. He dotes on the girl, and he is tender with his wife. His character is also Italian, which is just weird.

You can probably tell where this story is going. The film does a nice job with it. Heflin is good as the cop. He’s obsessed with Eddie, but he’s also got a detective’s instincts and knows when he’s made a mistake. Palance is menacing. John Davis Chandler is the dark, kinky sidekick that always seems to be in this type of film. He’s terrifying.

Ann Margret is a little too weepy and screachy for my tastes. But the rest of the film more than makes up for it.