Film Review: EATING RAOUL (1982, Paul Bartel)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 83 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran (LONE WOLF MCQUADE, BIG LOVE, NIXON), Richard Paul (THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, EXORCIST II), Ed Begley, Jr., John Landis cameo. Co-written by Richard Blackburn (LEMORA: A CHILD'S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL).
Tag-lines: "Meet the Blands! They're square . . . They're in love . . . And they kill people."
Best one-liner: "Well, there's one consideration. If you'd done what he asked, he would have died anyway."
Best exchange: "I'm the host here, goddammit, now get out of your clothes and get into the hot tub, or get out! We don't want any wet blankets or spoilsports at this party...we're here to SWING!" "-Yeah, well, swing on THIS!"

EATING RAOUL takes elements of film noir, the Roger Corman school of B-movies, John Waters, and the traditions of its own inimitable director and star, Paul Bartel, and coagulates them into a dark, hilarious, and gritty L.A. masterpiece that I feel is superior to the other great early 80's oddball cult comedies like REPO MAN. This is good "quirky" (a giant wine pillow?!) before quirky got sold up the river and commercialized.

Self-produced for nearly nothing by Bartel and his parents, the film has an attention to detail which is exquisite: half the jokes are visual or aural cues buried in the scene or dubbed in later, which become the filmic equivalent of the tiny, jokey, tucked away illustrations in the classic issues of Mad Magazine. (And with a greater degree of subtlety than, say, AIRPLANE.)

Bartel and frequent collaborator Mary Woronov prove themselves to be one of the all-time great cinematic teams: if you will, the 70's and 80's demented cult answer to Tracey and Hepburn. (They acted together in 18 films, and Bartel directed her in 5.)

As always, their dynamic is perfect, making even obvious jokes uproarious due to their low-key, matter-of-fact presentation.

The film knows what lines to cross (race, swingers, fetishists), exactly how far to go without being gratuitous, and its humor is definitely a precursor and influence on contemporary awkward hilarity such as ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. Five stars. And special note: this movie has nearly nothing to do with cannibalism, yet I frequently see it lumped in with DELICATESSEN, SWEENEY TODD or other films of that ilk, which is absurd.

As an angering side note, the current R1 DVD transfer image is unduly elongated and basically sucks. But still see it!


-Sean Gill

Film Review: LONE WOLF MCQUADE (1983, Steve Carver)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 107 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Chuck Norris, L.Q. Jones, David Carradine, William Sanderson, R.G. Armstrong, Robert Beltran
Tag-line: "When Norris meets Carradine all hell breaks loose!" AND "Chuck Norris is Lone Wolf McQuade. David Carradine is the man that got in his way." AND "The 'Mad Dog' Criminal...The 'Lone Wolf' Lawman...The Ultimate Showdown."
Best exchange: Too many to pick just one. We'll go with: "I've been real busy." "Oh boy, same old trouble, huh?" "...My kind of trouble doesn't take vacations."

A lot of what I have to say about LONE WOLF MCQUADE can be summed by the following:

"It may be a game to you, Falco, but if I find out you're playing, I'm gonna have your little ass!"

By the way, that line was delivered to a little person crime boss who's about to be taken down a notch...


Anyway. Outside of DELTA FORCE, it's very, very rarely that we see Chuck co-starring with anybody worth a damn. I don't know if it's because he's an egoist who doesn't want to play second-fiddle to anybody, if he refuses to play the villain, or if no A-lister will appear in a film with him, but I guess it doesn't matter. Cause here he costars with David Carradine. More on that in a minute. This movie succeeds because its action traditions draw on a whole lot more than just martial arts. The opening credits and first scene are classic Sergio Leone spaghetti western. They even use Leone's favorite font. And the music: to say it's a Morricone rip-off would be generous. It's Morricone carbon copy. The romantic theme is 'Jill's Theme' from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST with one note changed. Well, it doesn't matter. This is a good thing. The middle of the movie is classic Peckinpah. Modern-day Western, with plenty of bullets flying. We even got Peckinpah regular L.Q. Jones. The end of the movie is an assault on a compound that is pure RAMBO. Norris even puts on a red bandana. But then we get to the meat of the movie. The Western Kung Fu. And who to give it greater legitimacy than the man who first embodied it, David Carradine? Carradine, as always, is amazing. And the final duel between him and Norris can't even be sullied by Carradine's bizarre choice to wear a blue-and-gold-diamond 80's sweater.

And then as if to cement the film's repute, both men refused to use stunt doubles! The film's edited by Abel Ferrara regular Anthony Redman, it's got Norris getting buried alive and pouring beer on his head and chugging it before escaping; and it's got a romantic scene with Norris, a hose, and a lot of mud.

What's not to like? One of the strongest Norris films. I know you don't like attachments, Chuck, but here's four stars.

-Sean Gill