Friday's Fun with BluRay

Just as much as I hate that BluRay brings out the flaws in all my favorite movies, I love that BluRay brings out the details in all my favorite movies...

We where sat in the new cinema at the new office watching the new BluRay of George A. Romero's gritty climax to the original Dead trilogy, Day of the Dead 1985, when secrets that have been kept safe from the eye in previous versions - yeah think umpteenth version dupe, as that's how I first was introduced to this movie decades ago - where suddenly unleashed upon the bunch of us who'd gathered for our weekly dose of big screen carnage.

Day of the Dead is riddled with referents to previous installments in the Romero franchise and also several nod to other classic movies and horror related themes. There's the grand opening which sees Sara [Lori Cardille] have something of a recurrent nightmare. It not only set's the theme of pending doom, but it's also an obvious Roman Polanski's Repulsion 1965 homage. There's the nickname of Dr. Logan [Richard Liberty], Frankenstein - a contemporary spin on the creation of the modern Prometheus, as he tries to tap into the zombies primal "human behavior", and there's referrals to names from previous installments, and the obvious Stephen King's Salem's Lot nod.

But the minimal scene that caught my attention was the scene at the beginning of the movie - let's call it the ordinary world if you like - after the Repulsion prologue, where Lori and Miguel [Antoné DiLeo] are scouting the town for survivors, but merely awaken the horde...

After the crocodile crawls out of the bank, but before the iconic image of Dr. Tounge and the titles are up on screen, there's two shots of a zombie coming out of the Edison Theatre, and in the background of this wonderful high-defenition print from Arrow, you can make out two great posters on the outside of the theatre...

The images are posters for Lucio Fulci's Conquest 1983 and Enzo G. Castellari's I guerrieri del Bronx (1990: The Bronx Warriors) 1982. (There's a third poster hidden behind the door that seems to be shark related, but I'll leave the imagining up to you)

Now this may just seem to be random images which one may come to expect outside an old theatre... but these movies where movies that had a couple of years on their neck at the time Day of the Dead was shot. As far as I'm concerned I'm quite sure that this is a deliberate decision made by Romero - who's movies frequently hold nods to other films, filmmakers and writers that he appreciates - and his longtime collaborator production designer Cletus Anderson, art director Bruce Allan Miller and set designer Jan Pascale.

A great little secret, or perhaps homage, that's been hidden in generation loss and inferior quality since 1985, now finally sees the light of day!

1990: The Bronx Warriors

1990: The Bronx Warriors
Original Title: 1990: I guerrieri del Bronx
Directed by: Enzo G. Castellari
Italy, 1982
Sci-Fi / Action
Distributed by: Shreik Show

How damned fantastic is this movie? In my sincerest opinion Enzo G. Castellari’s 1990: The Bronx Warriors is one of the absolute best of the Italian sci-fi / post apocalypse flicks ever, and to top it all off - those opening titles are easily among the best opening titles ever. Simple, effective and fucking brilliant.

Castellari is a marvellous director who’s primarily associated with fast paced movies that stay safe in the “real world”, movies like The Inglorious Bastards (Quel maledetto treno blindato) 1978, Keoma 1976, The Last Shark (L’ultimo squalo) 1981, The Bronx Warriors suite 1982-1983, and the many great Poliziotteschi like The Big Racket (Il grande racket) 1976 and Street Law (Il cittadino si ribella) 1974.

Castellari – or Enzo Girolami which his birth names states and why you see that G. in his name – was more or less born into a career in the movie industry. His father Marino Girolami was a director too, responsible for almost a hundred movies where stuff like Violent Rome (Roma violenta) 1975, A Special Cop in Action (Italia a mano armata) 1976 and the classic Zombie Holocaust 1980 can be found. Marino Girolami’s brother, Enzo’s uncle, is Romolo Guerreri, director of films like Johnny Yuma 1966 and The Sweet Body of Deborah (Il dolce corpo di Deborah) 1968. So it’s no surprise that Enzo got himself into the game too. Working his way through a diverse positions – script supervisor, second assistant, editor, actor (he still frequents his own and others movies – more recently Q.T.’s Castellari inspired Inglorious Basterds 2009) and finally the logic step up to directing his own first feature, the spaghetti western Any Gun Can Play (Vado l’ammazzo e tornoro) 1967. The movie was a hit and secured Castellari’s future as he directed several more Spaghetti Westerns before moving into the World War 2 and Poliziotteschi flicks.

The movie that Castellari perhaps is most known for is the 1981 action/thriller The Last Shark, a movie that was seen by Universal – who produced Stephen Spielberg’s original Jaws 1975 and sequel Jaws 2 1978 – as being a bit too close to their movie, and taking a way too much money that close to their own Jaws 3-D 1983 opening (a complete piece of garbage compared to L’ultimo squalo). So they sued, and had the movie taken out of distribution. Castellari’s movie may have been taken off the screens, but it secured a place in cult cinema history for all eternity.

Luckily Castellari has stayed away from the blood drenched euro horror genre – apart from the Italian/Spanish co-production Sensitività (The House by the Edge of the Lake) 1979. The movie made no major impression and as not being a big fan of horror Castellari rejected the offer to direct the next horror film that Fabrizio De Angelis offered to him. Instead Castellari suggested that De Angelis take it to fellow director and friend Lucio Fulci, and the rest is Italian cult movie history. The movie was of course the majestic Zombi 2, one of Fulci’s greatest pieces of his second comeback as a director.

But today we take a look at the absolute best of the many Italian futuristic sci-fi movies that came in the wake of Walter Hill’s The Warriors 1979, George Miller's Mad Max 1979 and John Carpenter’s Escape from New York 1981 – Enzo G. Castellari’s phenomenal 1990: The Bronx Warriors.

In a nutshell 1990: The Bronx Warriors is about a young woman Ann (Stefania Girolami Goodwin – Enzo’s daughter, billed here as Stefania Girolami) who goes missing in, or runs away too, the Bronx – now a no-man’s-land where law enforcement has given up. Instead, gangs who are in constant conflict with each other for neighbourhood domination roam the area. Ann is at first taken by the Zombies, but pretty soon The Riders – who act as some sort of vigilante law keepers in the area – show up and after beating the crap out of the roller-skating Zombie gang member, Riders leader Trash (Mark Gregory) takes her with them. Due to a murder of one of the Riders gang members there’s tension between them and rival gang The Tigers – headed by The Ogre (Fred Williamson in his second of three movies for Castellari). The Tigers have found a tracking device – which obviously belongs o Ann, as they still don’t know that she’s the daughter of the President of the Manhattan Cooperation – but the Tigers suspect that the Riders gang member they wasted was a spy for the cops and this obviously causes a hardened tension between the two gangs. Trash members want to retaliate and avenge Chris’ murder, but Trash opts for a more restrained approach that has his second in command Ice (John Sinclair as John Loffredo) question his leadership.

At this point the executives at Manhattan Cooperation decide to send in Hammer [Vic Morrow] an infamous hit man, to track down Ann at any cost. But Hammer is a cynical cold bastard and he sees a perfect opportunity to start a war between the rival gangs and have them kill off each other once and for all. Hammer sneaks into The Riders hideout and after killing two of their number plants a Tigers ring – tension is wound up to a maximum and gang war is at bay. After a brief romantic moment on the beach, Ann is once again kidnapped by the Zombies and Trash left humiliated, he again opts for a more tactic solution where he suggests to take help of their old rival The Tigers in rescuing Ann. Trash has a hunch that something’s not right and the diplomatic tactic separates him and second in command Ice even further. Trash and a few men, venture through several rival gangs territory including a tap dancing one and the dwellers – seemingly post atomic blast underground beings - to have a meet Ogre and discuss a plan of how to free Ann, and at the same time sort out the concerns he has about the recent happenings.

As Ogre and Trash, assisted by the deadly but charming, Witch [Betty Dessy in her only role], set about to free Ann from Golan’s Zombies [George Eastman], Hammer stays close, provoking things even further, and luring Ice to betray Trash and the Riders loyalty to each other. Now Trash doesn’t only have rival gangs to look out for but also has traitor lurking in his gang.

Still following his sinister agenda to agitate the gangs into a full-fledged war, Hammer wallows in his successful tension between the gangs and having them set against each other, one small step from total gang war. But that’s not enough and finally in one last move to rescue Ann, he brings in the big guns for Operation Burned Earth which orders “ No Evidence, witnesses or other beings left alive” and the movie comes blasting at full speed into the burning climax that still has a few surprise shocks up it’s sleeve.

Starting off with those fabulous opening titles, the movie quickly sets up the obligatory New York location shot as Ann runs across the bridge. Cut to the interior of an office where the Vice president (Enzo himself) and Sam Fisher (his brother Ennio Girolami) of The Manhattan Cooperation are informed of Ann’s absence and start discussing how to act. So far only Castellari and two of his family members have been shown on screen, and finally there’s the text card to explain the current situation in the Bronx. It quickly sets up the plot and gives us a rough idea of the world the movie will be like. Hard, raw and ruthless.

Just watching those opening titles it’s easily understood that this movie is going to be something else. Ok cast wise the choice of seventeen year old Mark Gregory always surprises me, a guy that Castellari found at the gym where he used to work out (and still does), but he’s a well buffed guy and pulls the part as - hard ass biker boss, but still able to show a soft side - Trash like a charm. Gregory, went on to star in the sequel Bronx Warriors 2 (Fuga dal Bronx) 1983 and followed that with a string of Rambo-esque like characters in the Fabrizio De Angelis Thunder trilogy, Fernando Baldi’s Just a Damned Hunter (Un maladetta soldato) 1988, and after leading Pierluigi Ciriaci’s Afghanistan the Last War Bus (L’ultimo bus di Guerra) 1989 he vanished off the face of the earth and never made another movie.

Apart from the wild card Gregory, Castellari’s daughter Stefania Girolami Goodwin plays the second lead. Stefania had starred in several movies previous to 1990: The Bronx Warriors for her father, although this was her largest part in a movie to date, and later followed in her fathers footsteps and became a director herself. Now with the two leads out of the way, just take a look at that supporting cast! Fred Williams as Ogre, Christopher Connelly as Hot Dog, Vic Morrow as Hammer, in his second last performance – as you know he died in that terrible accident on the set of his next movie Twilight Zone: The Movie 1983, Enzo in his customary bit part, his brother Ennio, and Joshua Sinclair as Trash second man Ice, and the always-fantastica George Eastman as Golan. It almost plays like a who’s who of eighties action flicks. And with that said one can’t overlook the guys of Rock Stuntman Team (who did those unbelievable stunts in Ruggero Deodato's The Atlantis Interceptors 1983) once again pull off some great stuff and star as gang members side by side with real New York Bikers. Oh yeah I almost forgot, Bobby “Demoni 1+2” Rhodes is seen briefly in the flick, and he even get’s billing in the title sequence.

The masterful Sergio Salvati’s cinematography is outstanding, and his compositions here are only possibly challenged by the splendid work on Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2. Then I get all giddy again when Gianfranco Amicucci’s name comes up, because I know that this guy edits the beat to perfection, like he did on so many previous Castellari flicks, and 1990: The Bronx Warriors is a really tight and brilliantly edited piece.

Needless to say the knowledge of Dardano Sacchetti and wife Elisa Briganti behind the script (along with Enzo) also adds to the overall affection I have for this piece. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there are very few movies that don’t work with a script by Sacchetti, and he will always be among the greatest screenwriters of all time in my book. Stick his name on any old tripe and I’ll watch it, and I’ll enjoy it because I know it’ Sacchetti!

And being a Sacchetti/Briganti (with Enzo) script I start to see stuff that I don’t find in other scripts/movies. There’s a great little Romeo & Juliet / Stockholm Syndrome thing going on between Ann and Trash which I like, it’s adds to the movie and validates his reason for not simply bursting down the door of his rivals and simply taking them out. There’s a value at stake, and that always set’s up a great narrative. Then again the movie also reads as a critique to large organisations, and with that said, the downbeat ending – sure Trash makes it out, but to what price? – The ruthless cooperation are left standing with their pants down when Hammer pushes his personal mission – exterminate them all – to the top of the list passing the “rescue the princess” plot.

I also feel a strong Spaghetti Western vibe in 1990: The Bronx Warriors, as I feel that it deals with similar themes that have occurred in Spaghetti Westerns. The corruption, the one man vigilante, enemies forming temporary alliances - joining forces against a common foe – and the whole damned show going up in flames. I can’t say that it is a futuristic Spaghetti Western, but there’s definitely that kind of vibe to it, and several of the other Sci-Fi/Post Apocalypse films too.

Finally, and I know that I usually end up leaving the score to the last part, but there’s a reason for that. I frequently find that as I write, and if it’s a score I like through the movie, I listen to the soundtrack as I write, because those tracks may be great on their own, but with the images of the movie fresh at mind they are terrific. Such is also the case with Walter Rizzati’s brilliant score to 1990: The Bronx Warriors, it’s a great piece that uses a wide range of styles to bring depth to the movie. The funky beats to set pace and forward movement, the almost Wagner-ish piece that accompanies the funeral of the Riders gang members and that great progressive rock thumping and heavy bass jive makes an eminent soundtrack that conjures up those great images over and over again.

I love this movie, and each time I revisit it I get worked up like a kid about to get a bag of sweets as that unbelievably cool title sequence rolls by. The movie works for me every time, I never get bored, and I just get drawn in and enjoy the ride. Because it is a heck of a ride without any slack or slow sequences at all, and I do feel that it’s by far the best and most stylish of all the post apocalypse – biker gang movies of this time period. That’s off to the great Enzo G. Castellari who once again proves why we still talk about his movies and so many others have disappeared into the realms of the forgotten.

Image:

2.35:1 Widescreen

Audio:

Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, English dub dialogue.

Extras:

There’s an interview with Fred Williamson, one with Enzo G. Castellari, trailers, a photo gallery and a very entertaining commentary track with Castellari.

And here's that splendid opening sequence with footage shot by Castellari himself, and Walter Rizzati's great score in all it's glory.

Keoma

Keoma
Directed by: Enzo G. Casterllari
Italy, 1976
Spaghetti Western, 97min
Distributed by NjutaFilms

Story:
When the civil war has ended Indian half-blood Keoma returns to his hometown only to find it under the suffering grip of the tyrannous Mr. Caldwell. To make things worse there’s a plague harrowing the inhabitants and no one is allowed to leave the isolated village unless they are dead or being taken to the mines where the sick are disposed of. Among Mr. Caldwell’s band of hoodlums are Keoma’s three stepbrothers, Butch, Sam and Lenny, who never accepted that their father William Shannon saved Keoma from death and raised him as his own son. Subsequent to rescuing Lisa who is pregnant but still being sent to the mines as her husband had the plague, Keoma makes it his mission to let Lisa give birth to her child and free the town. But freedom rarely comes without a price.

Me:
Like so many other Italian directors of the seventies/eighties, Enzo G. Castellari followed, started and perfected the trends and made the movies in demand. Keoma was his eight western and perhaps one of his finest, as it explores themes frequently used in the Italian Spaghetti Western; oppression, injustice, and the fight for freedom, but also uses a heavy dose of symbolism to make a statement about life and death. Shot in 1976 when the gritty Spaghetti Westerns where a fading kind, being replaced by more a comedic approach perfected by Enzo Barboni in the “Trinity” movies, often featuring Terence Hill [aka Mario Girotti] and Bud Spencer [aka Carlo Pedersoli] and post apocalyptic Sci-Fi adventures, Keoma is a great latter day entry into that magnificent genre that still stands strong against the tests of time.


Staying true to the traits of the Italian Spaghetti Westerns, it’s established from the start that Keoma is an unwanted guest in his home town, an outcast, a minority, in other words a traditional underdog, and we always root for the underdog. Not an underdog in the sense that he’s a weakling, because he is in fact the second fastest shot in the west out done only by his father, but more from a racial standing point. He’s an Indian, just below the recently freed slaves on the scale. After he is reunited with his father William [William Berger] they philosophize about the civil war that has just ended. In a somber comment Keoma's father points out that before the war the white man had a guilty conscious for slaughtering the native Indians, so they went to war to free the Negro slaves. Now that the Negro's have their freedom they have gone back to butchering the Indians. A sublime commentary on mankind and in many ways still true today where world leaders take to war in foreign countries to shift the focus of their poor jobs in office. Also there's an important indicator that even won battles can be failures. AS Keoma spends his first night in the town, he stumbles upon his old friend George [Woody Strode] who was the family caretaker when they where young, as seen in several flashbacks. George, once a slave, has now been given his freedom after the civil war, but has become an drunk instead. "I found out what freedom was worth. That's why I drink.". he replies when Keoma points out that the war is over he had gained his freedom, that which he dreamed of.



As usual Franco Nero does a great job of his portraying his character, Keoma, an Indian who returns to his hometown after the Civil war just to find that sinister ex-confederate Mr. Caldwell holds the small town in a tight grip. During the start of the film he encounters the gang as they slaughter townsfolk being shipped off to the mines where the inhabitants that have been infected with the plague are dumped to die. This is where he picks up a very pregnant Lisa [Olga Karlatos], and in a kind of statement against all the death and horror he’s witnessed in his lifetime he makes it his task to keep Lisa safe so that she can have her child. And he really goes through hell and high water to allow her to give birth to that kid. Lisa dies giving birth, symbolically cross cut against the final showdown between Keoma and his brothers; Death vs. Life, and as Keoma mounts his horse the old Witch [Gabriella Giacobbe] stood holding the child claims that she can’t look after the child because it will die, Keoma replies; “He Can’t Die! You know why? Because he’s free, and a free man never dies!” then rides off into the sunset. Also this final line is symbolic antithesis of the violent solutions taken to most problems met so far in the film, which could be interpreted as Keoma beating death, hence the old witch being Death, and when presenting her with a new life (the child,) he brings death to an end forcing her to embrace life instead. This theory is supported by the few times that the Witch reappears in the movie. Just after Keoma saves Lisa from death in the mines, as Keoma hangs beaten in the town, also when he completes killing off the gang members. Death is there to watch over his actions, possibly guiding him on. But Keoma makes his mark, he proves his point, the time of death is past, the leaders are dead, the gang disbanded. The townsfolk have their freedom once again and with it new hope as new life is brought into the world.


It’s uncertain how much of Luigi Montefiori’s [Aka George Eastman, another great Italian character actor and still to this day an active screenwriter.] original script was used during the shoot. Rumors has it that Castellari, unsatisfied by the script discarded them and had new scenes written as they where shooting. Although I think that it’s just an entertaining anecdote and pretty unrealistic as the movie is a very tight production and holds a high level story wise. I find it hard to see how they could have scripted the plot and all it’s subplots [the story of hatred and jealousy between Keoma and his step brothers as children, the three brothers own sinister plans to take over the town after Caldwell is killed by Keoma, the long thread death and life that battle throughout the movie, etc], while in the midst of production. It doesn’t add up, and Keoma would have been a much lesser movie if this was the case.


Keoma is a delight to watch and there are some amazing camera tricks that still hold up today. In the pre-title sequence there’s the origin of Keoma told through a flashback that still surprises me each time I see it. Just a simple trick as panning to the left and we are suddenly in the midst of an Indian slaughter, set up so that we learn the origin of Keoma and his tragic background. Also there are several occasions where his memories of his childhood fighting his three stepbrothers, hanging out with his stepfather, being taught to shoot bow and arrows by George [Woody Strode] are elegantly woven into the scene initiating the flashback, and on some occasions even have Keoma as an adult in the midst of the events. This is done as the picture editing of Gianfranco Amicucci, and the cinematography of Aiace Parolin all come together very neatly .And you can't really talk of Keoma with out discussing the soundtrack by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis which features really strange folk/opera singing by the enigmatic Sybil & Guy. But as terrible as it may be at times, they are singing the movie plot and pushing it forward, asking questions and making statements, which is really entertaining, and kind of works as an inner monologue of Keoma. So if your after a great piece of late seventies Spaghetti Western with out the laughs and comedic gags, then Keoma is definately something you might want to check out.


Thanks to Jenny for sugesting that the old Witch was Keoma’s subconscious when she first appeared in the pre-title sequence, for this got me thinking about the Sub Conscious - Defeating Death – Seventh Seal – Theme.

Image:
Cinemacope 2.35:1 - Anamorphic

Audio:
English Language, Dolby Digital Surround 2.0


Extras:
20 Minute interview with Castellari on the westerns and Keoma, the original trailer, poster and still gallery, biographies for both Castellari and Nero, and trailers for Sergio Martino's Torso, Jamue Balugero's The Nameless, and Lucio Fulci's New York Ripper also available from AWE.