Great Googly Moogly
Am I still Lost? Not one bit. I have found myself out of a daze, out of the desert, and I was out of the jungle but the maze of the mind was still to begin. I could write another thousand words with terrible metaphors but enough is enough. Let's talk movies.
Movies? Plural? Zuh? Yes to all. This review is a rather special review. Why special you ask with terminal intensity? Special fits this review in the sense that I am back on track to watching a movies on a whim and luckily enough, I am able to watch 2 movies back to back that were directed by the same director. And who can this director be? Why...Richard Fleischer of course.
Who?
Richard Fleischer is a name that might be unknown to many readers out there. It's easy to see why since the name isn't one as flashy as say a Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, or Jean Luc Godard but most likely, and I mean with some strong odds in my favor, that if you were watching movies throughout the time of video rentals up until the recent hellfire of modern cinema that is the present of 2025 then you have most likely seen some of his movies.
One possible way that you came across his films is because of that one disgusting word; Nostalgia. Attached to many of his films is that hideous word with some of his most popular films with the young people being the following; the Disney adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Vikings, Soylent Green, and Fantastic Voyage.
Another way is if you had any inkling to trying to understand what makes a commercial flop since he went about getting the job directing one of the famous box office flops; the horrendous musical known as Dr.Doolittle.
There are other flops that came around in his career but this one in particular is setting the bar pretty high and so there is not much need to delve much further.
A 3rd way that you might have caught sight of at least one of his films is if you are a fan of 1970’s action films. For this man directed Charles Bronson in the Elmore Leonard scripted Mr.Majestyk. The heart breaking tale of the mob encroaching in on the life of a watermelon farmer whose only true desire is to make sure that his crop of watermelons get to the marker.
The 4th, and the last I will list, way in which you might have been introduced to the name of Fleischer is for the name of Max Fleischer who is also known as the man who created such animated stars such as Koko the Clown, Popeye, and Betty Boop. Apparently he also created and patented the first technology involving rotoscoping. Richard Fleischer is his son.
Now how does a genius like me pay attention to one man's filmography/life? I have nothing else I would rather do than know a persons filmography/life for the off hand chance of winning a trivia night at my local sink hole.
To those others wasting their time with family, kids, or chasing dreams then there's an easier way of going about this. You can read the fantastic memoir he wrote entitled Just Tell Me When to Cry. It's him basically writing the highs and the lows of his entire career and it certainly is a great read.
Double the Feature
And so with this journeyman of a director, I had to choose 2 films out of his entire filmography to give a watch. The two most obvious choices out of all the films available were obviously 10 Rillington Place and Mr.Majestyk. Why these 2 obvious choices? They were the only two off the grid video disks I had on hand. Limitation in choice is never the worst case scenario and it sure helped when it came to these two particular films in general.
10 Rillington Place
Richard Attenborough stars as homicidal sexual deviant John Reginald Christie. Based on the true story of the man with the same name, Attenborough delivers an amazing performance. What a cheesy line I wrote but goddammit if it ain't the truth.
John Christie is man that has a need to kill. Why does he have this need? No idea but a desire thrives in him and he will do what it takes to fulfill it. He commits a murder within the first 10 minutes and leaves the viewer wondering what the fuck is going to happen next.
Most likely if you know the case against the man then you have a good clue of what happens next but being that I had no knowledge on any of it, I just had to experience the movie blind.
Man, what a terrible case of injustice.
A couple by the name of Evans move into the top floor of a three floor residence with their infant child. This building being one that John Christie owns and rents out to tenants. Starring a real young John Hurt as Timothy Evans and a lovely Judy Geeson as Beryl Evans as the young couple who squabble and yell at each other with the biggest problem they face being their 2nd child on the way that they can't afford to keep.
Abortions are illegal during this time and the pills she has taken to terminate don't work. Out of options for them but Christie sees an opportunity for himself and offers his own "medical expertise" to help their situation. They agree and Christie goes about using his tried and true method of poisoning woman and then strangling them. Horrified (Or maybe not?), John Christie goes about in creating an elaborate story for the murder he just committed.
With a cool and cold state of mind and a precise nature to pull off his murder, Christie manages to convince John Hurt about the failed abortion and ultimately sets him up to take the fall by having him leave town and Christie going about in covering up the murder scene.
Hurt ends up confessing and informing on Christie but Christie don't play that game. He denys everything and John Hurt is left up shit creek without a paddle. Through court proceedings and just terrible luck, John Hurt ends up receiving a guilty verdict for the murder and is sentenced to hang while Christie ends up piling up a body count as he gets older. Reaching such an old age that he can no longer work to keep his building and ultimately has to leave his residence. Leaving all those bodies behind.
Years past and the bodies are found with a now homeless Christie facing his crimes after being spotted on the street by a cop walking his beat.
Damn
This movie is something else. I can't truly identify it as a horror movie even though the way I have been describing it seems to sound like a 1971 version of The Silence of the Lambs. There just isn't a drop of blood throughout the film. Even with Attenborough doing some heinous shit like punching a woman till she bleeds, you don't see the blood. You hardly see the aftermath of any of the murders except for a few second frames of the disposed bodies.
Neither can I say it’s an all out thriller in the sense of keeping me on my toes throughout. That ain't the case except for when the police get involved but even the movement of the police, trial, and execution goes about at a pace that doesn't feel like a thriller.
This movie is one that feels like it belongs as a character piece kind of film or a fictional examination of a moment of history I guess. Maybe a mix of both. What can be said for certain is that Richard Attenborough brings the motherfucking heat as this guy. You know what? This movie actually reminds me of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer except without the gore but with that same menacing tone.
A movie like this is what modern filmmakers strive to achieve but ultimately fail when it comes to the horror genre. Or at least it seems when it comes to the killers themselves being the subject of the film. There seems to be a need for killers in certain films to be understood. A need to be psychologically evaluated to give reason behind their madness. Maybe its a part of the genre and the fact that it doesn't exist makes it hard to identify it in a certain genre.
The most famous example I can think of this occurring is in Psycho. There's like a 10 minute scene near the end that explains to the audience the killers motives, reasons, and state of mind that brings a nice resolution to how Norman Bates lost his mind and started killing.
In this film, a scene like that is nowhere to be seen and it really makes this particular movie killer stand out. There is no scene that reveals a secret motive that keeps him going in his murder spree. There is no moment in which the audience feels sorry for the guy because his madness has over taken his hold on being "Normal".
This movie shows the viewer what he's all about in the first 10 minutes with the first on screen murder but the film does something great by showing that in the middle of burying her in the backyard, there's already someone else buried there. This isn’t his first victim and from that point on, as Christie tries to present himself as human as possible, the viewer is getting this anxious feeling of what will happen next. Nothing being said more about the guy.
In all fairness, there is a moment during the trial when his history comes into play but it isn't information that explains anything regarding the character and seemingly becomes null and void when officials believe his elaborate telling of the situation at hand regarding the death of the wife and child.
Right. I didn't mention it before but Christie's character actually goes out of his way to kill a child. There isn’t a shot of this but the implication is troubling enough. I couldn't believe the audacity of the motherfucker.
Intermission
Richard Attenborough was a very famous acting man. Rest in Peace. One of the best acting mans to ever act though to be honest, I have had seen very little screen time of his acting.
Before this film, I recognized him as a character within a pair of British films; The League of Gentlemen and All Night Long and in the American film; The Great Escape. He was good in those but nothing like this character he plays in 10 Rillington Place ever shows up in any of those films. He seems more like a friendly guy than anything menacing. The only recent film I can recognize the guy in is in the original Jurassic Park where he seems like a friendly guy who couldn’t see the forest from the trees when it came to Dinosaurs.
Though I do recognize him in the films he directed. As well as acting, he become a director in his own right with such films as Gandhi and Chaplin. Yes, I do enjoy the film Chaplin.
This film is just fantastic to watch just for the performance alone. I ain't seen nothing like it since probably Rooker as Henry in the previously mentioned film and all credit goes to Attenborough but I do believe that the director Richard Fleischer deserves some recognition.
Richard Fleischer reminds me a bit of Sydney Lumet. A director that could work on a project with little to no reservations on the material as long as they can work with it to the best of their abilities. Maybe the two of them don't have a similar filmography but I believe the diversity between the films they did make is a good indicator to being similar to one another in terms of their “style” of directing.
There's a certain style to this movie but its not necessarily one that adheres to the director to which it could be recognized in all of his films. Strictly for this film are techniques for just this film. Fleischer is the kind of director whose style is whatever the material calls for.
For instance, there are zoom in shots all throughout the film but they never seem to interfere with the film itself. They never get in the way of what the scene is about. They never call attention to themselves and how the film ends is with a zoom in towards the face of Christie but its not an in focus shot. It's a shot that's out of focus and frames the screen as a still shot. All you hear is breathing as the final narrative points regarding his fate are shown. A truly creepy shot that manages to sum up the feeling the audience has over the guy. These zooms are needed to enhance this encroaching feeling anxiety over the viewer on when this guy is going to get caught and ending the movie on a out of focus zoom is just the cherry of top.
Another great shot I have to mention is the one where John Hurt is dealing with the second confession that is being written up for him which essentially states that he confesses about killing his wife and child. The back of John Hurt’s head is in the middle of the frame then the camera starts to dolly to the right. As the camera travels, it starts to pan along the back of John Hurt's head to reveal his bewildered face the police officer reads off this confession and its just the greatest.
The best execution in not only revealing his face but working simultaneously with the viewer as they themselves are shocked at what they are hearing.
Final Deep Critical Thought
Man, this movie is just great. Give it a watch. Its definitely worth it.
Mr.Majestyk
Charles Bronson is Melon Farmer Vince Majestyk, a Vietnam veteran who needs to get his 160 acres of watermelon picked. Bronson needs his melons picked but getting in his way are Melon Picker Extortionists, Colorado Police, and Mafia Hit-men. Through tooth and nail, he fights to get his melons picked but goddammit does life refuse to let this man pick his melons. Violence on Melon erupts and Bronson is left with the only option he has left; Take out the men that took out his melons.
Highlights
As a Charles Bronson action film, its pretty great. Some of the highlights are as follows but be warned as spoilers are to follow:
* The films starts off with Bronson hiring some melon pickers to pick his melons and as he finishes filling up his truck at the gas station, some traveling migrants ask to use the bathroom but the gas attendant cant let migrants take a dump in their bathrooms. Bronson solves the problem through aggression and the migrants can take their dumps in peace.
* Melon Picker Extortionists pick a fight with Bronson and the way he picks his workers. Bronson don’t care but the Melon Picker Extortionists pull out a shotgun. Bronson takes hold of said shotgun and runs the evil men away. Moments later, the Melon Picker Extortionists file a complaint against Bronson over him using their own shotgun against them. Bronson goes to jail in a rage over his melons that need to get picked but the chief of police don't care. TO JAIL HE SAYS.
* Bronson and the rest of the prisoners, including Mafia Hit Man Frank Renda, get put on a transfer bus but the bus gets ambushed by Renda's Mafia Pals who end up bungling the job as Bronson makes a getaway with Renda as his prisoner. Frank Renda screaming THE KEYS during the shootout is pretty great.
* Al Lettieri is a fucking monster in this movie. You ever see those hanging slabs of beef in a meat packing facility? Imagine a big head with a big mustache with beefy arms and legs and you get this guy playing Frank Renda
* Watermelon Massacre
* Larry, Bronson's buddy on the melon farm, gets his legs broken by the Melon Picker Extortionist Mafia by being held against a wall as a CAR rams into his legs.
* Bronson jumps into the bed of his truck while his girlfriend drives the truck and gets involved in one of the most ludicrous chase scenes ever. Some cool shots of Bronson shooting some fools with a shotgun when kicks down the tailgate at the end of the bed.
* Bronson starts knocking off the bad guys one by one. First with the shotgun from the bed of the truck, then knocking a car off the ledge of a cliff, then just getting them old school style with the shotgun.
*Bronson jumps through a window then fires his shotgun midair to deliver the killing blow against Frank Renda.
A True Analysis
Now THIS...is a Charles Bronson movie. There are a couple of good ones and there are a couple of bad ones but this manages to be considered one of the few Great Charles Bronson movies.
An actor for many years that had supporting roles in such big films as The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven and got his first lead role in the Roger Corman film Machine Gun Kelly. He would eventually become a leading star in his own brand of action films. As mentioned before, quality may vary when it comes to these films but there are some great ones and this definitely fits the criteria.
Now why is this so? As mentioned in the highlights, the scenes do sound quite ridiculous but somehow Bronson manages to sell the drama. I'm not saying this is on the level of Hamlet but as far action movies go, this works and Bronson makes it work. Work being a very lax term.
The romance? One of the few cases in which Jill Ireland isn't playing the opposite female lead and so its fun to see a change of pace within a Charles Bronson film. It's not like this plays a BIG role in the film but like I mentioned before, it works well enough in this Charles Bronson film.
The Villain? Ain't nothing better than when Bronson is going up a great villain and this is it. Al Lettieri is a man on a rampage until the end when he realizes that he was going up against the one motherfucker you shouldn't go up against; An enraged melon farmer.
Is this film for everyone? Hell no…so then we have to answer the question of who is this film for?
* Charles Bronson fans of course.
* Elmore Leonard fans maybe.
* Action movie fans possibly.
* People allergic to Watermelon No way.
And there you go.
Watch the movie if you fall into the first 3 categories and maybe pick up a 6 pack of something that isn't domestic. I mean come on, buy better beer people. If you fall into the 4th category, I'm sorry for your loss.
The Fleischer Experience
This guy seemed to be a director that just made movies. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn’t but that’s the name of the game when you make a movie. There is no sense of thinking highly of one self when it came to this director. From his memoir, it’s easy to see that he cared about the script in wanting it to be good when making the film as well as striving to get the best performances he can. When it came to having an ego though, I don’t believe this is a guy that had anything resembling one for it doesn’t show in the two films I just watched.
They each stand on their own terms with them working in their strengths and not a single frame between them can be measured as a sense of Style that is inherent to the director in question. I miss directors like these. Sydney Lumet, Sydney Pollack, and Steven Soderbergh come to mind. I can’t really name anybody else that fits that mold in recent years but then again, the hellfire of modern cinema is one in which the director needs to be a writer, no matter how shitty they are, and make a splash with their first film or they ain’t shit. Oh well, at least that’s a problem I don’t have to deal with.
Into the past I go my friends. Finding something good and praying it ain’t too bad.
Just In Case
So I saw these films on the following Blu-rays. 10 Rillington Place was viewed on the Powerhouse/Indicator Blu-ray.
Mr.Majestyk was viewed on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray.
