Bone

An superb and breathtaking movie - purely character driven, unpredictable and mesmerising. Fabulous performances all round, an intriguing script, some good satire and excellent pacing throughout.

I'd recommend seeing it without any preconceptions - don't read any plot summaries, and don't be put off by any conclusions you may draw about the movie in the first 15 minutes...

This is an absolute gem!

At last I have found the holy grail of modern cinema. 'Housewife' is the film many people spend half their lives looking for. The stylized approach to incidental music, flashback techniques and the coming together of elusive plot strands all go towards making a truly first class motion picture. This film stands as a beacon shining in the darkness from continent to continent, breaking every mould, chasing its own hysteria which the film makes no bones about concealing. 'Housewife' is the yardstick for a truly wonderful film.

"I'm a big black buck just doin' what's expected of him!"

"Bone" is one of the stranger films of the 1970s and is one I am not 100% sure I liked...but at least it was original! It begins with a couple rich folks, Bill and Bernadette (Andrew Duggan and Joyce Van Patten) relaxing by the pool. Soon a black man, Bone (Yaphet Kotto), arrives and the couple assume he's an exterminator or handyman coming to clear the rat out of the pool. Instead, after taking care of the rat, he sticks around...and threatens to rob them and rape the missus unless her husband returns from the bank with a ransom. The husband goes to the bank but changes his mind and goes off on some very strange adventures with a lady screaming about x- rays as well as a bizarro woman who wants to replicate her rape as a child...with Bill! As for Bernadette, despite Bone acting all rapey, it soon becomes apparent he isn't going to rape her and she is disappointed. Yes, I know this is very politically incorrect and some feminists would be offended by this notion. Soon, she realizes her husband is NOT bringing back ransom money...and the story gets even weirder. The finale is strange....and not 100% satisfying.

This film was written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen--a guy known for blackspoitation films like "Hell Up in Harlem" and "Black Caesar" (both excellent movies, actually). I would NOT consider this blacksploitation at all...but it does bring up a lot of race issues and the white folks are nasty hypocrites like you might see in a blacksploitation flick. In fact, the film is more a commentary about the banality of the upper class and their lack of ethics, values and souls. A very weird film...and one that bears re- watching simply because it's hard to determine exactly what Cohen is trying to say!!

By the way, you might be surprised to see quite a bit of Joyce Van Patten in this film. Despite her image as a 'nice girl' in films and being the sister of Dick Van Patten, here she shows some nudity and the film definitely has some very adult themes.

Oh man, this film is good. Beautifully acted, the entire cast seemed to understand their place in the movie perfectly. Some very strong social observations are made within as well, making Cohen's script work on multiple levels. The way everything has a surreal feeling to it, it almost feels like a dream the whole way through. And where did Yaphet Kotto come from, and where did he go in the end? Very mysterious, but it all fits into the dream, possibly the dream of the son in Vietnam? I haven't been so excited about a comedy in awhile, this film needs to be seen. Rating: 35/40

BONE (3+ outta 5 stars) Very odd film that gets better and better the more times you see it. The plot sounds like an average thriller... but the movie is really a comedy... a very black, very subversive comedy. A well-to-do middle-aged couple (Andrew Duggan, Joyce Van Patten) have their bickering interrupted by a mysterious, threatening black man (Yaphet Kotto) who seems to come out of nowhere. He ransacks the house, looking for money. After coming up dry he sends the husband to the bank to withdraw some cash... if he doesn't come back in an hour he is going to rape the wife. Well, the husband takes the opportunity to run out on his wife and have a one night stand with a crazy woman he meets outside of the bank. The wife and her captor, in the meantime, actually begin to form a bond... and soon take off after the errant husband to seek their revenge. Or do they? Excellent performances and dialogue. I was a little taken aback by the movie the first time I saw it because I wasn't sure where it was going... so you'll need to keep an open mind to fully appreciate it. Why was Yaphet Kotto never a big movie star? He OWNS this movie! (Then again, he pretty well owns EVERY movie he appears in.) Classic opening dream sequence of Andrew Duggan selling used cars filled with gruesome accident victims!