mmegiraldi's reviews

While I was growing up, I used to hear about this series on television shows and I always find amazing it's unlikely end; the leading actor (Carlos Miranda) became himself a Highway Patrolman (the English translation of the title) after the series end! (He did made some movies while on leave years later)

Through television series collectors I managed to see about ten episodes of the series, and I understood why, even 30/40 years after its end people still talked about it. It was good, albeit simple.

They didn't have too much money, so the scenes have to be shoot once, twice only if (by luck) they had enough film for it. The extras (and some of the week's supporting cast) were all amateurs and the show has no stuntmen, so sometimes the fight between the hero and the villain's thugs were real or the closest to it. Even with all this and many other odds against them, they delivered a new episode every week, in which Carlos brought justice to those who needed it.

True the plots couldn't be more plain, but so what? The kids back then wanted bad guys doing their villainies, some fights and pursues, and the good guy arriving in the end and saving the day. And they had it.

One thing you can say about Rod Cameron character (Rex Bennett) in this serial, boy did he had to fight! All the episodes had a minimum of three fights each, and guess who was in the middle of most of them? That's right Rex Bennett. The second serial with the character was better than the first (G-Men Vs. The Black Dragon) due mostly to fights and cliffhangers but that doesn't mean that the first serial was boring, it was very good, but they made this one better. After dealing with saboteurs in the US, Bennett is sent to Northern Africa to stop the (very stereotypical) Nazi's schemes against the Allies. His main adversary is a certain Baron von Rommler, who's impersonating the local chief and friend of the Allies Sultan Abou Ben Ali. Nothing new, even for those days, true. But starting from this cliché the writers developed a series of creative and good perilous situations for Bennett and his friends (Joan Marsh and Duncan Renaldo as Janet Blake and Cap. Pierre). Plus when the fights ensued not only the stunts wanted to bring up something new, but even the cameramen! All in all, a good way to spend some hours in front of a TV.

High noon had such an impact here on Brazil that motivated the production of this (aparently) spoof. Kid Bolha is everything that Will Kane isn't, coward, chickenhearted and with few regard for himself. But he accidentally manages to put the nefarious Jesse Gordon in jail, and becomes the Sheriff. And when Jesse Gordon is back in town, he have to face him again, even if he can't stand the idea of it. Oscarito plays with all the situations Gary Cooper's character had to endure and delivers not a parody but an homage to the proud Marshall. Plus he's not the only good reason to see this movie, Grande Otelo as Ciscocada have his moments as Kid Bolha's deputy. And José Lewgoy as Jesse Gordon deliver his usual "I'm the born rotten villain" performance. During many years this movie was considered almost as an insult to High Noon by western fans but, gradually, even those had to admit that it's a movie with a light of it's own, and a big one. One last thing, in Brazil 'High Noon' is called 'Matar ou Morrer' (To Kill or Die), and 'Matar ou Correr' means 'To Kill or Run'.

This was the first blockbuster in the Chanchada Movie gender. Spoof of Samson and Delilah (1949 version), it's actually a funny criticism on the Brazilian populist government. Horácio travels through time to Gaza where he meets Samson. Impressed by Horacio 'magic powers', Samson exchanges his hair for Horacio's cigarette lighter. With Samson's powers Horacio recreates the Brazilian government in the Gaza kingdom. With all of its defects. Of course, the former Gaza governors are not happy with the situation, but they can't do anything as long as Horacio has Samson's hair. And that's where Dalila enters of course...

Oscarito's performance is great (as usual), and everybody else does a good job. Plus every cent invested in the production was put in good use.

The Sputmik is missing and a hillbilly thinks that it had just fell in his backyard. He becomes famous and he and his wife are introduced to the 'High Society' while the CIA, the KGB and the French wants to lay their hands in the Sputnik, by all means necessary. That's the plot. What happens in the movie in fact is a series of jokes about the Brazilian High Society and how the world perceives the Brazil. It's plenty of stereotypes, true, but this is also part of the fun (Jô Soares as a CIA agent who can't stop chewing chewing gum and Norma Bengel as B.B., sexy French agent, are memorable). Lots of funny moments all along the way including its purposely 'open end'.

I first saw this movie when I was 11 or 12 years old. Since then I've seen about nine or ten times. So what if the good guy is a pirate? A real proud one? Tyrone Power give one of his best performances, George Sanders is pure evil, Maureen O'Hara is more than just the pretty damsel-about-to-be-in-constant-distress and Laird Cregar gives life to a good portrait of Henry Morgan. And the other actors gives good performances as well. Plus the story is good (I never read Sabatini's book, shame on me), a fine example of the Pirate Movie (like Douglas Fairbanks's The Black Corsair). All in all the kind of movie that you can see many and many times.

Chanchada was a very popular class of movies in the middle of the XX Century in Brazil. Think about a simple idea for a comedy, put some musical numbers (mostly samba), don't care too much about the quality of the acting and remember, the good is always good and the bad is always bad (and is caught by the Justice in the end).

Simple isn't? The best chanchadas were from a studio called Atlântida and if Oscarito was in one you knew that good laughs, and memorable moments of the comedy in the cinema, were ahead.

As in this movie, Oscarito (as Barnabé) becomes the target of everybody else in the movie; the police, the crooks, the press AND an oriental princess who wants to marry him. The translation of the tittle is 'Barnabé, You're Mine'. After a good one hour and a half of fun (alright there are some moments that are not really that fun but they are very few), you understand why Oscarito was the king of the chanchadas.