To deal with Jacques Rivette, it eventually becomes necessary to come to grips with the issue of length. At three and a quarter hours, this entrancing fantasy is far from his longest effort. In his own defense, Rivette will cite a "tradition" of length in movies -- Griffith, Gance. (He …
Lack of conviction vies with lack of tension for ultimate supremacy in this messy private-eye case, written by Robert Towne and directed by Roman Polanski, set in the 1930s, fashionably. What you comprehend of the case seems not at all correct, and the rest rushes right past you, out to …
The pervasive seediness is pretty well taken care of, in short order, with the haircuts, mustaches, bulbous features, and plastic raincoats of the anti-heroes, these superstars of surveillance, and also with the somber, tinkling musical score of David Shire. The disdainful, sedentary camera directions of Francis Ford Coppola serve chiefly …
A nightmare of New York City streets swarmed over by hopped-up hooligans who flit and slither like rejects from a West Side Story audition. In effect, this Michael Winner exercise picks up from the baleful curtain line of his previous movie, Stone Killer: "You've got five more minutes, Christians!" Winner …
Under the chipper direction of Joe McGrath, this cross-breeding of British Goon Show silliness with a Disney formula animal story is a surprising success, and probably more fun for grownups than for tots. McGrath's sophisticated cartoon technique, which is rich in little details as well as in extravagant whimsies, gives …
The beginning-to-end car chase is elevated somewhat above the ordinary (hair-raising stunts, ear-splitting sound effects) by the polished, if overly souped-up, direction of John Hough, and by the unsympathetic, unwholesome characterizations of Peter Fonda as a nervous, cackling, narcissistic speed maniac and Susan George (the one and only) as a …
A perfumed, chi-chi piece of erotica, exported from France and bearing a rather vain, savoir-faire attitude about the ins and outs of carnal pleasure. Actually, the amorous adventures of the pixie wife of a French diplomat in Southeast Asia rely mostly on obvious, frivolous amusements: masturbating in front of a …
Animation is obviously a favorable, and as yet underexplored, way to do s-f and fantasy subjects -- a more direct and less compromising outlet for the imagination than is offered through traditional live-action special effects. And this prize-winning French-Czech cartoon by René Laloux, about the battle for global supremacy between …
Some of the special effects — a swan-shaped spaceship; a five-story, putty-like monster with a dry wit — are reminders of the fantasy realm of antique movie serials; but the sense of fantasy crashes to earth with every lethargic display of soft-core sex. The cross-purposes scheme of combining prurient interest …
What is shown of the hero's bright side (his career as a professor of English Literature) is pretty skimpy, and silly besides. His nebulous relationship to his mother and grandfather is also skimpy, but mildly intriguing. These things, in any case, are almost completely eclipsed by the mass of material …
Francis Ford Coppola's sequel pedals backwards and forwards from the events of the first Godfather. But while it ranges over great distances, from 1901 to 1958, it leaves a lot of gaps along the way — characters dropped from sight and mind, motives unhinted at. It is a movie that …
Francis Ford Coppola's sequel pedals backwards and forwards from the events of the first Godfather. But while it ranges over great distances, from 1901 to 1958, it leaves a lot of gaps along the way — characters dropped from sight and mind, motives unhinted at. It is a movie that …
Bertrand Blier's film adaptation of his own novel (the title in French translates properly as Balls) is an exercise in tracking shots, smooth and light-on-the-feet, to keep up with the cross-country sprinting and joy-riding of its two punk heroes. Things come very easily to this petty and pretty pair -- …
Robert Clouse's splashily colored comic strip jumps from Hong Kong to Hollywood and back, on a life-and-death treasure hunt for a placid Oriental statue which, in its acupuncture instructions, holds the secret to eternal youth. Joe Don Baker dishes out some good old-fashioned punches in the midst of kung-fu country; …
Ostensibly a takeoff on television, this collection of Ken Shapiro skits, transferred to film from underground TV, strays way beyond the actual and the probable in search of laughs (a kiddie show with storytime pornography readings, sports coverage of the Tijuana Sex Olympics, etc.). So, what it has to do …