Phill-13 Reviews

The Fugitive (1993)

A Truly Great Film

[10/10 · 24 June 2010]

"THE FUGITIVE" I remember watching the weekly TV series starring David Janssen as a small boy back in the 1960s. Well, I just watched the remake of David Janssen's "The Fugitive," this one starring Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Pantoliano and I must say it's great. I normally don't say this about remakes, but this film really is great. It's emotionally charged from beginning to end, takes you on a roller-coaster ride all the way through keeping you riveted to the edge of your seat with heart-pounding action all the way through. I give it a "Thumbs-Up!" And, that's not something I do with very many remakes. Thanks guys, for a great movie.

Wild Seed (1965)

A Different Kind Of Love Story

[10/10 · 15 June 2010]

Two kids on the run, a twenty-year-old boy and a seventeen-year-old girl are running away. They meet on the road and at first, the girl is very reluctant to travel with him. But, after a while, she changes her mind. She's on her way to LA while he tells her he's on his way to San Diego. They travel together with him protecting her against tramps, railroad cops, state and county cops, and everyone else in general. As they travel, they begin to fall in love. Will their love continue to grow? Regardless, will they make it to their destinations? Or, will something prevent them from making it? This is an excellent movie and I wish Universal would put it on video.

This is what I call an "artsy" film that appears to me like college professors produced it with their students starring in it. In other words, it's almost like a painting. I highly recommend watching it if it ever comes back on TV.

Black Widower (2006 TV Movie)

A Movie About A Local Man Accused Of Murdering His Wife

[5/10 · 2 April 2006]

Spoiler #1: My only complaint, was that the exterior shots were not filmed here, in Anderson, Indiana, so it kind of spoils parts of the film for us local residents.

Spoiler #2: When Mr. Amos allegedly killed his 3rd wife in Detroit, MI, he was 53-years old. Mr. Lipper looks like he's under 30, while Mr. Amos pretty much looked his age. You know, dark-haired, graying at the temples, well-tanned.

Being a life-long resident of this town, I am acquainted with some of the participants of this case, but not all of them. We do have over 53,000 residents, so it's kind of hard to know everyone. Regardless, the case, as portrayed in the Lifetime movie, was pretty accurate in most aspects. Mr. Lipper's portrayal of Mr. Amos was very good, although he was way too young--(see spoiler #2 above). Still the film is not bad if it's type. As of this writing, the local police and prosecutors still haven't re-opened the cases involving Mr. Amos' first two wives, nor of the death of his mother. Too bad. My mother and grandmother used to shop at Mrs. Toles' (Mr. Amos' mother) flower shop. Anyway, it's a pretty good film. The only reasons I rated it a 5/10 was because of the spoilers. To non-residents, these spoilers shouldn't matter, so, if you enjoy this genre, watch it and enjoy. I recommend it.

A Howling in the Woods (1971 TV Movie)

Not A Bad TV Movie For 1971

[7/10 · 14 March 2004]

I remember seeing this movie on TV in 1971 while in the 10th grade in high school and it was pretty good. [Most of the TV movies of that era were shown from 9:30 PM to 11:00 PM (EST) so they were only 1-hour-and-30-minutes in length, but this one was a full-two-hours!] I missed the ending because I had a paper route to deliver at 4:00 the next morning (actually, 2 of them) so I had to go to bed. Anyway, what I remember is: Barbara Eden inherits this old hotel when her uncle dies. Disheartened with her marriage, she goes to stay at the hotel with the idea of remodeling and then running it. Shortly after she arrives, the townspeople tell her to leave and at night, she hears a dog mournfully howling in the nearby woods. As she tries to solve the mystery of the howling dog, she was told that a six-year-old girl was found "accidentally drownded" in the nearby lake. [She was told this by the dead girl's six-year-old cousin Betsey (Lisa Gerritsen).] As Eden's character investigates the howling dog and the "accidental drowning," of the little girl, she become convinced that the two incidents are related.

It was about this point I had to go to bed so I could deliver the newspapers to my customers on my paper routes, so I don't know how the movie ends up. It would be really great if this movie were to be released on home video, so I could see the ending. I recently found a copy of the paperback novel on which this movie was based, so I know how the novel comes out, but I'd still like to see the movie so I can see how it comes out. (I suppose it is similar to the ending in the novel.) Anyway, I'm willing to pay whatever the price is for a VHS or DVD, so home video companies, here's your chance to make some more money off of me! How about it?

Mad Bull (1977 TV Movie)

Mad Bull Karkus VS The Demented Killer

[29 December 2003]

Alex Karras' portrayal of Iago "The Mad Bull" Karkus is not great, but is really okay. He plays a professional wrestler grappling with his conscience over losing his wife and son because of his career choice. During his soul-searching, he meets and falls in love with Christina Sebastiani (Susan Anspach), a fellow Greek. She doesn't like his chosen profession any more than his ex-wife, but she does try to understand him. Meanwhile, he is stalked by a demented killer (Tracy Walter). Will he win Christina's love and find the killer, or lose both her love and his life? Karras has several moments of really great acting in this film. His greatest moment is a tender scene at his brother's bedside who took a bullet meant for him. Karras has done better movies, but all in all, not a bad character study.

The Exorcist (1973)

This film will scare the Hell out of you....

[10/10 · 1 October 2002]

This film will scare the Hell out of you and the Heaven into you... literally...if you have been brought up as religious as I was. (I am a Catholic right from the cradle and am a former Alter Boy.) If you are religious it will frighten you as it did me. If not, that's okay, too and you'll find it an entertaining entry in the "demonic possession," genre. The film, allegedly based on facts, (that alone made it seem even more frightening at the time of its release) was calculated to keep your stomach in knots and to give you goose pimples as large as the measles or chicken pox all over your body from start to finish, and it succeeds in every way due to the direction, art, staging, and acting of the principals involved. If you do watch it, you'll be riveted to your seat throughout this film as my friend and I were. It all starts as a childish game of playing with an Oui-Ja board, through which little Regan (Blair) accidentally conjures up the devil (an altogether real possibility while playing with Oui-Ja boards) and subsequently becomes possessed by the devil (also a real possibility, because that's, allegedly, how the actual child came to be possessed in real-life, inspiring the book and subsequent film). After all Hell breaks loose in the house, Regan's mother (Burstyn) takes her to a local church, and the pastor calls in the Exorcist (von Sydow) to (hopefully) save her daughter. Will he succeed or will the devil kill little Regan and drag her soul to Hell? Watch and find out. At the time of its release, the film was billed as the most frightening film ever made, and it was. (You gotta remember...this was the early '70s when censorship was still going strong and films didn't show much on-screen, nor did they infer very much in the dialog, either except in "X-rated" films, which this wasn't. It was "only" rated "R".) If you watch this film, don't do it alone. I watched this film in 1973 at the age of 17 at a local theater with a friend (a fellow Alter Boy like myself) when it was first released because our local church banned it (or, rather us Catholics from watching it) and we wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. Anyway, at the theater, they were handing out sickness bags at the door, which I think, but am not sure, was a gag, intended to frighten us even more. Gag or not,it sure frightened us, alright. (Well, ME anyway.) Watch this film, but if you do, be sure to keep your sickness bag handy...you just might need it.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

One of the greatest cops 'n robbers films of all time.

[24 June 2001]

This is one of the greatest cops 'n robbers films of all time. Loosely based upon the real-life escapades of Bonnie Parker and her lover, Clyde Barrow, along with Clyde's brother, Buck, Buck's wife, Blanche, and C. W. Moss, the film details the gang's escapades throughout the American Southwest during the early years of the Great Depression. Action-packed from beginning to end, this film is total dynamite as well as flying lead. Beatty gives a dynamite performance as the vicious Clyde Barrow, who will stop at nothing to escape capture by the law...literally. Dunaway gives a stellar performance as Bonnie, an amateur poetess who allegedly entertained her fellow gang members with long poems. Gene Hackman is superb as Buck Barrow, the joke-cracking gang-member, and Michael J. Pollard is equally adept as C. W. Moss, the sissy-killer of the bunch, who cries after each killing he is involved in. Denver Pyle is great as Texas Ranger Frank Hamer who doggedly tracked he gang and ultimately engineered the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, after the gang kidnapped him and send pictured of him "bein' just as friendly as pie," with the gang, as Bonnie Parker is alleged to have said. One bizarre note: Buck Barrow was actually shot in the head and after the gang had camped out following his shooting, they left him when "the laws," had surrounded them. Buck lived for several days in a hospital after his capture by the law and actually was pretty coherent several times, giving statements to the police, and even asking for a minister to whom he could give his "final confession," and hopefully receive Divine Absolution. Gene Wilder gives a fine performance as the hapless, would-be, funeral director (or "Undertaker," as they are referred to down south) Eugene Grizzard, and Evans Evans is equally fine as his harried girlfriend, who apparently lied to Grizzard about her age. (When she told Bonnie her true age, she had a very sheepish look on her face while Grizzard gave her an amazed look as if to say: "I didn't know you were THAT old!) Anyway, this is a great film and loads of fun to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon when there's nothing else to do. It's great to watch with "The Untouchables," 1959, starring Robert Stack and "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre," 1967 starring Jason Robards. I rate this film 10 stars out of a possible 10.

Blood Feud (1983 TV Movie)

Blake's performance steals the show.

[3 June 2001]

For those of you that think Blake can only do "Barretta," watch this film the next time it is on television. Blake proves that he really is an excellent actor, when he tries. Blake's performance as Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa really does steal this show as this performance was, by far, the best he'd ever done up to that point. Originally shown as a 2-part mini-series, this movie depicts the epic battle between then-Teamster Boss Hoffa and the politically ambitious John F. Kennedy, the charismatic young Senator from Boston. Cotter Smith, a then unknown young actor, gave an equally strong performance as Bobby Kennedy, the younger brother of JFK, an idealistic lawyer himself, who fought for years to finally bring down Hoffa and send him to prison. Sam Groom gave his usual great performance as Senator, then President John F. Kennedy, who told Bobby that he didn't "want to be seen as anti-labor," while grooming himself for a run for the Presidency, wanting Bobby to be careful with his investigation of Hoffa. Glossy at times, this film strives hard to take a tough, gritty look at the battle between the Kennedys and Hoffa and succeeds in most aspects. Sadly, the Kennedys and Hoffa died for their beliefs and, (I believe) as a direct result of this battle. You'll have to see this movie on television as it has never been released on VHS. My rating out of 10: 8.5

The Exorcist (1973)

It will scare the HELL out of you...and the Heaven back into you

[10/10 · 12 April 2001]

This film will scare the hell out of you...literally. If you've been brought up as a Christian as I was (I am a Catholic right from the cradle) and start having doubts about the existence of God, Satan, Heaven, and Hell, I strongly urge you to watch this film. The direction, art, staging, and acting of the principals involved was calculated to keep your stomach in knots and goose pimples as large as acne, all over your body from start to finish, and it succeeds in every way. You'll be riveted to your seat throughout this film, and don't be surprised if you have an extremely strong desire to go to the nearest church afterword, because you will. You'll need to, after you watch..."The Exorcist." Watch this film. But don't do it alone. I watched this film in 1973 at the age of 17 at a local theater with a friend when it was first released (they were handing out sickness bags at the door). Afterword, you'll have no doubt WHATSOVEVER of the existence of God and his powerful and saving Love and Grace. You'll also have no doubt WHATSOEVER of the heinous evil of Satan and his horrific powers of destruction. I was an Alter Boy dropout as well as a Church dropout. But after seeing "The Exorcist," I went back to my church. This film is ABSOLUTELY the scariest, most frightening, and most vivid film in the history of film making. This film was based upon a real exorcism (in real life, a young boy was possessed) and one of the priests involved with the real exorcism was interviewed (I forget on which network) sometime in 1999 along with William Peter Blatty (who was a news reporter at the time of the real exorcism) who wanted to write a series of stories based upon that possession and ultimate exorcism. He was allowed to (by the Church) only after agreeing to change the identities involved and their location, (the people involved craved privacy and Mr. Blatty, being an honorable, decent, and responsible man, acquiesced) instead using pseudonyms and other locations. The result was the book and film, "The Exorcist," a very true, and very real story of the horrors of demonic possession, the exorcism of the demons, and the aftermath. After seeing this film, you'll ABSOLUTELY have no doubt WHATSOEVER of the existence of God, Satan, Heaven, and Hell, for they all DO EXIST! It's up to us to decide which we want to follow. I choose God. Whom do you choose?

The House That Would Not Die (1970 TV Movie)

One of the all-time great ghost stories.

[10/10 · 1 April 2001]

The house That Would Not Die is one of the all-time great ghost stories ever filmed. In fact, the only thing wrong about it is that it's total running time was only about 75 minutes to fit into a 90-minute time slot. It should have been a full ninety minutes or longer and released to theaters. Ruth Bennett (played by the great Barbara Stanwyck who hands off scene after scene to her younger co-stars to let them shine in their own right) inherits a centuries-old house built before the Revolutionary War, in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania. The original owner, General Douglas Campbell, was suspected of collaborating with the British during the war. His daughter, Amanda (Ammie) and her boyfriend, American Soldier Anthony Doyle, confront him, and they disappear shortly after, ostensibly eloping. For the rest of his life, Old General Campbell roams the countryside calling: "Ammie, come home!", a cry heard two hundred years later by Stanwyck and her young niece, Sara Dunning (played by the pretty and very talented Kitty Wynn, after they move into the house. Aided by Stan Whitman (played by Michael Anderson, Jr., another very talented actor), and Professor Pat McDougal (played by another great actor, Richard Egan) they endeavor to discover the reason why the general is still searching for his long-lost daughter after two hundred years. The resolution and climax of this exciting ghost story will have one and all riveted to the edge of their seats, especially if properly viewed at midnight, Saturday night, during a thunderstorm with howling winds and crashing thunder.

Crowhaven Farm (1970 TV Movie)

One of the greatest witch movies ever made.

[10/10 · 1 April 2001]

Crowhaven Farm is one of the greatest witch movies ever made. It's up there with "Horror Hotel" (1960) (original British title "The City Of The Dead"). Both films explore the possibility that executed witches come back in contemporary times to wreak vengeance upon the descendants of those who executed them in 1692. Hope Lange is great as the reincarnated Meg Carey, trying desperately to escape the witches wrath as she and her husband (magnificently played by Paul Burke) try to have a baby. After she spends a night at the apartment of a friend (played by the usually devious Lloyd Bochner) she does, indeed, become pregnant. Burke, suspecting infidelity, (which did not happen, by the way) goes after Bochner with the usual jealous intent, all against a backdrop of witchcraft. What does young Jennifer Lewis, a spoiled, bratty, ten-year-old (played to the hilt by Cindy Eilbacher) and her aunt, Mercy Lewis (played by Virginia Gregg, a severely underrated actress of immense talent), and Felicia, played by the great Patricia Barry, all have to do with the witches? Viewers will be sitting on the edge of their seats right up to the exciting climax to find out.