Tubi Thursday: The Mechanic (1972)

 After doing so many Remakes, I thought it might be fun to flip the script a bit and do an original Film that GOT a Remake.

More Bronson Films too- bonus!

In a very '70s opening, a Hitman- Bronson- watches a man, takes notes, sets up an event and then executes it.

It being the man.
He blows up a guy and we get no dialog until after this happens, a full 16 minutes into the Film.

He is hired by Keenan Wynn to help him with some business, since he worked with Bronson's Dad.

He meets up with a woman- his Wife Jill Ireland- who he apparently hires to act like a sad, left-behind girlfriend...but she's actually a Prostitute.

Does this count as roleplaying for the pair IRL?

Shock twist- Bronson actually is hired to kill Wynn and does so.

He attends the funeral and forms a weird bond with the guy's adult son- Jan-Michael Vincent.

He finds that the guy is callous and, naturally, makes him his protege.

The work a hit and things don't go well.

I mean, they go well for the audience, as WE get to see a big fight, a motorcycle chase and an explosion.

Bronson's boss tells him that he broke the rules bringing in Vincent and sends him to Italy on a mission.

Before he leaves, Bronson sees that he is now a target!

They go on the mission anyways and try to kill a guy on a boat.

Things don't go well.  

To find out how badly, stream the Film now.  You've got 10 days.

A good Film- no question.  Just know that, again, this is a VERY '70s Film.

If you don't know what that means, you'll find out.
If you do know, you'll be sure whether or not to watch this.

Bronson does a really good job here, with a Script that doesn't need him to emote all that much.  That's good, since, you know, Bronson.  Joking aside, you get a sense of pathos, loss and possible redemption from the guy.

Vincent is also good here, especially when the Film asks him to do the kind of subtle emotions and expressions that Bronson can't.  I can see why someone remade this (not arguing that they should have, mind you).

You get some weird filler here meant to characterize Bronson- including a bit where he watches two guys fight- but it otherwise works well.

Let's have a compare-contrast, shall we?

A good Film that is definitely of its time.  That said, lots of the Film is timeless and great.

Tubi Thursday: 10 to Midnight (1983)

 After watching an '80s Film last week (with Rifftrax), let me stay in that Decade.

It's a completely different feel, however, as it is a Cannon Film...

The late '70s to mid '80s were all about vigilantes...who are also Cops.  This is no exception.

A man acts like a complete jerk to some ladies in a Movie Theater...    

...but sneaks out to kill a lady.

He does so while nude- save for rubber gloves- to leave no clues.

Yep, nothing could come off of a body at a crime scene.  Certainly not hair or nails.

A Cop- Charles Bronson- has a new partner- Andrew Stevens, from The Terror Within Films- know that this murder is related to a previous one.

Mind you, we are just told this, so between this and abruptly following the killer, I feel like I missed a Film.

Is there a 9 to Midnight that I have to see first?

The killer went to the Funeral and knows to look for the Diary, which has his name in it.

Of course, we saw the Cops go to look at the victim's stuff.  Is it then a surprise when they have it?

Well, it is to the killer...and the roommate, who decided to cook eggs in her '80s lingerie.  

Wait, what?

The Theater alibi holds- since they don't check into it- and the Cops won't do more, angering Bronson.

He plants the 2nd victims' blood on the guy's clothes and they arrest him.

Shockingly, his deceit is revealed and...

Bronson confesses, ending the Trial before it starts and losing his job.

Now the killer really wants Bronson's Daughter dead, so things come to a head.

The Ending is kind of forced and abrupt.

This is the big, scary Film that my Mother was freaked out by.  Weird.  And yes, that was why I added it to my Queue months ago.

It is a Cannon Film, so you know what to expect.  It thankfully has more depth than you might think.  Bronson isn't just the cliche of him that many people have based on Films he made around this time.  He doesn't deliver any monologues or anything, but he plays a real-feeling person.

The killer, likewise, gets alot of attention.  We don't really know why he kills, which is a shame.  There's a really despicable part that focuses on him getting advice to 'act crazy to escape punishment.'  His Lawyer- Character Actor Geoffrey Lewis- tells him to act like he is both Schizophrenic AND has Dissociative Identity Disorder.

In a Film with about a dozen murders in it, this is the part that bugs me the most!

The Soundtrack is great, so I can ignore the dated aspects mostly.  

Honestly, the fact that Bronson does something bad and faces consequences for it helps this one a bit for me.  

That ending though...I mean, did you have to do it?
He was naked and covered in blood, screaming about how he was going to lie and then come back for revenge.  Would that have held up in Court?

Regardless, I was expecting worse here...although now I need to check my closet for Yuppies.

Bronson was in far worse Cannon Films- by the same Director no less- after this.  If you can put on your blinders a bit, this is actually pretty good.

Turkey Dei: The White Buffalo

If at first you don't succeed, make the same movie again.  

Today's film is The White Buffalo, a film that is surprisingly hard to track down.  It represents a series of historical footnotes yet has no mainstream DVD release via Netflix.  

Before I get ahead of myself, what is this movie?  

It's Jaws.  

Two years after that iconic film, Dino De Laurentiis (R.I.P.) was trying really hard to copy the success.  There was King Kong (ugh), Orca (UGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH) and this film.  

As a bonus, Will Sampson is also in this movie.  He was an Inuit in Orca, so naturally he's a Native American in this film.  Ethnic identity- where did you go?  

The film is interesting for being a Western and a Horror film.  There aren't a lot of those- especially in 1977- and most of them aren't good.  

This turned out to be Charles Bronson's final Western, as well as the last film he made with Dino.  I guess that's not enough to warrant a real DVD release.  

Keep your eyes peeled for a slew of Character Actors- many of whom are associated with Genre films- as well.  It was the '70s- if you didn't have 15 big names in random roles, you couldn't make a film.  

To find out why this film succeeds and fails in many ways, read on...

The first shot of the film is amazing!  It makes me think that 'Yeah, a killer Buffalo' can work.  What terror, what evil, what....

...idiot thought that this model was scary.  Realistic- maybe, but it looks like a giant, killer goat.

Hmm...where's that movie?  The Revenge of Billy the Kid doesn't count either.

This whole intro turns out to be a dream.  

This is the dream of Buffalo Bill (Bronson), a man who goes out West to find a new life and escape his past.

The titular animal, meanwhile, goes on a rampage through an Indian Camp, killing many.  

This includes the son of...

Crazy Horse (Sampson)- who's super-pissed.  He goes, well, Crazy and plans to hunt the Buffalo down.

On the plus side, his motivation is more than 'I had a dream about a Buffalo, so I have to go kill it!'

Fun Fact: Slim Pickens is in this movie.  He's not in it nearly enough, but he is in it.

After being chased out of town for his past deeds, Bill goes out with his pal to hunt the Buffalo down.  

Again- it's all because of a recurring dream.  I'm just saying.

 The Buffalo does not take the threat lightly and... basically just runs around a lot.  

Kind of a one-note monster, really.

 Bill and Horse team up to take out the creature...and the rigging team keeping it moving.  

They succeed and make peace with society or whatever.  The End.

Eh, it's better than Orca.  Seriously, I hate Orca and this is not nearly as offensive.  For being the second-least-offensive Jaws rip-off produced by Dino De Laurentiis in 1977, The White Buffalo deserves some respect.  

I like to make my back-handed compliments really specific these days.  

In all honesty, it's not bad.  There is a pretty good amount of filler here, even if it is a bunch of shoot-outs.  I guess I can't complain too much about a random sub-plot with Kim Novak as a former Hooker.  That said, there is a lot of filler.  

I wanted to like this movie more, especially since I kind of like Razorback and, to a certain extent, Chawz.  

The use of the Animatronics here is not all that great, especially compared to the real animal footage in Orca and the ones in Jaws, this is bad.  The whole thing just feels lazily-put-together and cheap at times.  

If you can track this film down, it does merit a watch.  Just don't expect to be super-impressed by the final product, that's all.  

On the plus side, I got another great Carradine face...

Next up, we return to Video Game films with a live-action film.  It was made to support a now-dead game franchise, so the stakes are...low.  Stay tuned...