Now that's a quality exploitation picture.
The first time I watched this was in a theater, and it felt so fucking tense during the love the rope scene. It doesn't lose any power on a rewatch. It's the only time Major Charles Rane seems like he's alive.
Tommy Lee Jones sure looks like he's having a great time there at the end. Everyone's performances are just excellent. William Devane working that cut-down shotgun with his prosthetic claw hand is just one of the best things in all of cinema.
“I have a sense of shame in the light.”
The Night Porter is one of the star examples of transgressive cinema exploring the legacy of WWII. It was blasted by some critics upon release (famously called “romantic pornography” by Vincent Canby) and remains controversial even now. But I think it transcends mere exploitation and offers a haunting portrait of the trauma of Europe in the post-war era. The subject matter might just be too distasteful for some people to approach…
Much better to watch with others than alone, since this time around I could laugh about the main character's loathesomeness rather than just getting vaguely stressed out.
Viewed a rare 16mm print from a private collector at the Trylon Cinema
My takeaway is that despite the gruesome details, this story is basically a standard noir story. It’s hard to know who to trust; characters lie and act hypocritically and in ways that are philosophically inconsistent. Viggo’s new organ-generating performance artist Saul Tenser is basically Philip Marlowe or Doc Sportello, floating through a world full of forces that he doesn’t totally comprehend, buffeted by parties who want to charm, trick and use him, unaware of the secret motivations that occasionally provoke…
The first time I saw Cruising was in the mid-90s. I’d probably read about it in a zine, which is where I learned about most of the weird shit I liked at the time. Luckily, the small video store I walked to most days had a surprisingly diverse selection, and it was no problem to bring home the grainy VHS copy and watch it in my basement lair. The film made a big impact on me. I’d never seen a…
