Out of a Film Festival Comes Another Biker Movie

A Film Festival Comes To Be

    I recently made my way to a film festival the other day. I write this on Sunday and this festival happened yesterday on a Saturday but I am posting this on Monday. It was the annual, I think, Severin pop up film festival where they go about in celebrating their greatness and to be fair, its well deserved. There are plenty of films that I have only come across due to this label with the biggest life changing moment was finding the director Eloy de la Iglesia whose films have become some of my most personal favorites. Especially his film Cannibal Man.

what a masterpiece 

    And so I traveled to this place and when it comes to driving into the hell hole of Los Angeles, my bowels tend to churn in anticipation the closer and closer I reach my destination. For this trip, I prepared myself. Pedialyte, Coconut Water, and Pepto-Bismal blended into the most delicious elixir to ever exist and after drinking a few cups of that, I knew I was ready. Last year though I was not ready.    

    The bowels last year churned and boiled to the point where the car I was traveling in had to pull over in order for the bowels to evacuate. Luckily my pants and underwear survived so I was able to enjoy the film festival. But into Los Angeles this year; all was well.

 

The Festival 

    The festival this year was pretty cool. There was some good movies that played along with some short films. With possibly one of my greatest movie going theater experiences that I have ever experienced was experienced on this day.

    They had played a pair of silent films back to back but instead of having some prearranged soundtrack to go along with the films, they had hired a pianist to play alongside the movie. I had never had a chance to see something like this and sitting there seeing this movie play while a man plays the piano, a strange feeling began to grow in the back of my mind that made me realize that this was a truly special moment in time.

    Although this silent film can be played again with someone else playing the piano, this moment can never be repeated with this particular crowd of movie goers. This strange mixture of performative art and a silent film on screen was something that had to be the norm back in the day before the recorded track but here was this lost art of sort that had been resurrected and in sitting through that, I couldn't believe how magical movie watching could truly be. Then my heart skipped a beat when a beautiful remastered print of Mario Bava's Bay of Blood played right after. Truly a highlight that I will cherish ever so.

 

Terrific

    In between the first two movies shown were these short 15 minute breaks and during this time I would venture out to the back of this movie theater, Brain Dead Studios, and try my best to privy the merchandise on sale but movie fans that gather for an event like this, the kind that wear worn out t-shirts of their favorite hardcore horror movie and have long flowing greasy hair even though they are balding from the front, refuse to have any kind of spacial awareness. And so, on the third trip I had to barge my way through to buy a couple movies.

    Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot money but after paying my rent, the electric, the gas, buying food, buying gas, and paying back my student loans; I had about 60 bucks to spare. Luckily, they were doing buy 3 for 50 so after negotiating with myself on what I could get the most bang for my buck I purchased the following movies:

                                                                        True Pleasure

    After the festival and striving to fight a possibly hangover today, I sat down and chose the movie that wasn't a Jess Franco joint.    

The Feature in Question

 

    To say there is a plot to Satan's Sadists would be diving into the uninteresting whereas if you view it more as a character piece then there is far more to indulge yourself in when taking this strange journey of a biker gang that truly has nothing to lose.

    The film starts off with possibly one of the most brutal openings that I've seen so far from a biker film. They pull up to some couple making out and make their presence known with some slick comment. Soon enough they start beating the guy up and knocking him out. Then they drug the woman with some LSD before each member takes a turn in raping her. Except for Firewater. Yes that is a characters name. They Finish up and put the couple back into their car, pour alcohol all over them, and then push the car off a cliff killing them both. That's how the movie fucking starts. Fucking bananas.

    The movie goes on and we see these squares traveling through the desert and there there to bring some sense of grounded reality to offset this biker madness. All these people meeting up to clash at a diner where after a quick confrontation between the gang and a Marine, the gang takes control of the situation. Some of them, including the leader Anchor, take the owner and this passing older couple to the back of the diner, which happens to be a junkyard?, where Anchor has them tied up. He then goes about raping the wife then after finding out the old guy was a cop gives this speech. This speech being one that not only hits so goddamn hard but also creates an understanding to their logos as to why these wandering maniacs are the way they are.

 

                  what a speech

    There were 2 other members that get killed in the diner by that roaming Marine, in the vein of a Johnny Rambo, who just came back from Vietnam, He and the waitress go about in making their escape with the remaining gang members chasing them down into the desert mountains.

    At this point, there's a split between the "plot" of the film with what happens next. The gang finds a trio of girls, they having shown up earlier in the film, camping out and getting rock samples. They take clear advantage of their camping supplies and then of the girls themselves. Anchors woman, Gina, has enough with Anchor paying her no attention nor caring and goes about in committing suicide. 

    Anchor and his buddy Acid stay at the camp and go about in drugging the woman and raping them before killing them. Two other members, Willie & Firewater, yes that is his name, go out on the hunt for the Marine and waitress but the Marine ends up killing Willie by tossing a rattle snake that bites him. 

    The biker gang ends up self destructing with Acid playing Russian roulette by himself and reaching that point where he shoots himself. Anchor and the racist named Firewater fight one another. Firewater winning and wanting to warn the Marine and waitress but they end up fighting to the death with Firewater getting killed by a boulder but then the final confrontation.

    Anchor shows up on his motorcycle and walks over to the two with a gun, in this real great shot of Anchor right in front of the sun and creating this golden silhouette, and starts laughing at the expression that the Marine has on his face when seeing him. A true madman as the Marine holds a switchblade and is ready to kill. Anchor fires and the Marine throws a knife, which lands impossibly, into Anchor's throat that kills him. Then the Marine comes out of nowhere to deliver the most INSANE line that I ever heard:

In Vietnam, at least I got paid when I killed people.

    Then him and the waitress drive off on Anchors motorcycle but from the looks of it, not into the city where salvation was waiting.

Way Far Out

    Out of all the biker films that I have seen in recent times, this one was special. With the lack of plot, the film is able to makes the characters stick out more and the end result achieves this real nihilistic feeling all throughout. 

    In the other films, there are at least goals for those bikers to achieve whereas here it just seems that these characters are just existing. Going from one place to another just trying to get their kicks and this movie just happens to be when it all comes to end. Leaving me to wonder how long have they been roaming this Earth and spreading their hatred for the status quo?   

    What really sold me on this movie were the two characters of Anchor and Gina. These two truly steal the movie. Russ Tamblyn playing the leader of this gang and every time this guy shows up on screen, the movie realigns itself with his silent madness. Every other moment outside of this guy on screen is bringing a grounded reality back to the movie but when he shows up, its madness. Everything he does has a sense of terror. He hardly raises his voice or anything except for the end and even then, he's laughing         

    Reportedly Russ Tamblyn rewrote and improvised all his dialogue and if that's true then he was riding a truly high creative wave. Playing it truly sinister all throughout and especially so when you realize that there is nothing for this guy to attach himself to this Earth. Ultimately carrying on this turbulent relationship he has with Motorcycle Mama Gina played by a fantastic Regina Carrol that sets her on a downward path.

    Her performance is another highlight of the film as there is just so much there for me to empathize. All the squares in this movie and what happens to them is a bummer but what happens to her is truly tragic. For her character is one of great sadness. Of great unfulfillment. Of great melancholy. It's strange seeing a woman like this in a movie since I don't believe that there would be many directors willing to make a completely sub servant character such as this go through with such a bummer end. 

    All throughout the film, Gina is basically living for the sake of Anchor. All she wants is for Anchor to live a life that she could be a servant to which feels something akin to those woman that have a Charles Manson fixation but instead of having her be some sex slave, I'm sure he did but only after he gets through raping so many other women, Anchor treats her like shit to the point where he tells her that she isn't worth anything to him. Leaving her with nothing and so she ends up taking a motorcycle and speeding off to her death right off a cliff.

    One of the most unnerving scenes was the cross cutting of Anchor and his fellow cohort Acid go about in using the trio of drugged woman for their own pleasure up until killing them and Gina riding a motorcycle to her suicide. With this song playing that feels a bit out of place but also feels just perfect for this scene. It's really just amazing.

    Although the movie was one made with far less artistic intentions with it reportedly being made under the gun with a small budget and a lack of a script, I got a lot more out of it than I expected. So much so that I have a need to give it a rewatch soon compared to the various other biker films that I have indulged in and so I can can only come to the conclusion o:  This is the best biker film that I have seen thus far.

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

From a Bummer to a Good Time

    Only 1 Movie That Can Heal  

    Haven't been feeling too good amigos. What the ailment could be I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Maybe it's the realization of time never stopping even when my existence will have to come to a stop sometime. I can't watch movies after I die unless something worthwhile in technology can achieve this dream but alas, all technology is good for is manufacturing hardcore pornography for the degenerates out there but I digress. Been feeling a bit on the bummer side and after going through a whole day feeling like this, I decided that I needed to watch a movie but the ultimate question came soon after: What movie? 

    Jess Franco is still off the table but I did see his Film Noir Rififi in the City recently and thought that was great. Peter Strickland was still taunting me with his box-set but I couldn't commit to The Duke of Burgundy.

    So I ventured onto the TUBI streaming service in search of a Jean Claude Van Damme movie. I found a couple but what I also found was a movie from the past. Obviously it was from the past as it came out in 1992 but its also a film that was part of my personal past. A film directed by a man that I had to import his other films as no one was releasing this crazy shit on American shores. That man is John Woo and the feature presentation was Hard Boiled.

What a title card

And So

    There was recent news in the movie watching world where Shout Factory had received the rights to certain Hong Kong films that have been existing strictly in limbo. Meaning that movie fanatics can finally fulfill their life's journey of upgrading from the original round of terrible quality DVD's that came out back in the day and reach fulfillment with the promise of a 4k remaster. 

    20 years or more in the making with Hard Boiled being one of the tougher sons of bitches to get a copy of as the last great physical release of this film was by the Criterion Collection release back in the late 90's. I couldn't get a fucking copy of this movie since I was barely 10 years old and didn't know who the fuck a John Woo was.

    It would only be in the high school when I would correct this mistake but even then, I could not get hold of this expensive piece of physical media. I did manage to get copies of The Killer and Bullet in the Head from Fortune Star release though so high school wasn't all that bad but I did have to illegally download a terrible dubbed MP4 of Hard Boiled so high school wasn't all that good either. Enough small talk, lets get into this beautiful film.

 

Possible the only decent release and priciest  

The Story

    Gun running is problem number #1 in early 90's Hong Kong and Officer Tequila is on the front line in trying to stop it. The movie opening up with him playing some cool jazz then the band heads out for some tea but are actually working a stake out. Gun deal goes bad and the only solution is for the bullets to start flying. Bad guys die. Civilians die. Cops die. Its a bloodbath. One cop in particular, the cool drummer of the band, get lit up by the boss henchmen and Tequila has to live with it for the rest of the movie. He kills the guy that killed him by the end of the scene so he ain't out for revenge but instead is dealing with the melancholy.

    Funeral service kicks off but the movie flips to a casual light jazz beat as we now follow Alan, a Triad hit-man, who is introduced by going to the local library and pulling off a hit. Killing a man while he was studying and walking away without a care in the world. Except he does care. Cares enough to make a paper crane for every person he's killed but we find out about that later. He works for a gun runner by the name of Uncle Hoi and everyone celebrates the hit but soon after, Johnny Wong comes calling and wants Alan to work for him. He lost a guy and needs a replacement. A real killer. 

    Alan has to prove his loyalty by killing his Uncle in this warehouse takeover but then Tequila shows up and starts shooting. A most insane shootout happening and soon enough, the two end up working together for the rest of the film to take down Johnny Wong. Also, Mad Dog is the coolest villain with morals to be seen on the screen.

one bad ass mother fucker

 

The Man that is John Woo

     There is something special when one mentions the name because no matter the movie, there is always something tremendously enjoyable to take from it. From the Hong Kong movies to the Hollywood years and then maybe the China years and then those 1or 2 American films again. 

    I can't say that I've kept up with the work of the guy since the last thing I saw was Paycheck when it came out.

 

pretty cool movie

 

Regardless, when looking through the filmography the hits keep coming:

A Better Tomorrow 

 A Better Tomorrow II

The Killer

Bullet in the Head

Hard Target

Broken Arrow 

Face/Off

Mission: Impossible 2

Windtalkers 

Paycheck

But what makes Hard Boiled the golden child of the bunch?

    There are a few things that come to mind when realizing that this film stands the strongest against the rest of his films. The first is the most subtle but possibly the most important; Music. 

    He wasn't able to use jazz in his previous film The Killer and that movie is a bit lower on the Francis Booth scale of genius as it has a song that the main female character sings in the beginning and all throughout and it's terrible. Its the kind of song that is trying to force an emotional emotion down your through and in the scene instead of having the music naturally create this emotional tone to set the scene.  

    In this film, it starts off with a slow build up as the credits silently take up the screen alongside an off screen Officer Tequila mixing his drink and then jamming on a clarinet. Some real smooth shit that sets this opening of the cops jamming in a jazz band while the movie starts showing us the sights of early 90's Hong Kong then some more opening credits and then newspaper articles with screaming headlines setting up the rampant gun running going on. All this flowing together to set up the first scene of the tea house shoot out. 

    Throughout the rest of film, the jazz switches modes from the melancholic tones to this upbeat good time moment and then we get these far out jazz moments during the shoot out moments with this repeating sound effect going BADA DA DA DA DA DA! throughout that gets you riled up.  

just press play and you'll hear what I am saying

    Music has and will always important to all of John Woo's films with the most insane moment being the child listening to a cover of Over the Rainbow during a shoot out in Face/Off but in this film, it plays its strongest role. Just absolute perfection meshing with every scene in the film.

    What else makes this special? The relationship between Chow Yun Fat and Teresa Mo. In all John Woo films, there are always strong relationships present between the main characters characters that they have actual gravitas compared to the endless action films that teeter and totter with stock characters saying stock lines that ultimately have stock character arcs. 

    One example are the three buddies in Bullet in the Head or the two brothers and two buddies of A Better Tomorrow, and in The Killer between the killer and the cop. A lot of these relationships are so strong with their masculinity as well as soft as these characters are willing to cry over the death of one another. But this works against any notion of their being a relationship with whatever woman is on the screen but here, there is actually something of merit. 

    It's not like in the forefront of the film as the tale between the two cops is what the heart of the film is but seeing Chow Yun Fat and Teresa Mo have their little back and forth really makes a mark. There's a sense of history between the two and with the undercover cop sending flowers that makes Tequila jealous. It feels like genuine cute moments of a relationship that you never see in a John Woo film. It was refreshing to say the least. 

    Now for the coup de grâce as to what makes this movie the greatest; the last 30 to 40 minute action sequence. This is one of the first movies I remember watching where everyone in the movie shows up for this. All of the police officers seen so far throughout the film show up for this. The main bad guys and all their henchmen show up for the final sequence. Just absolutely insanity and that's why the action works so goddamn well. 

    No one is safe in this movie. Sure, the MAIN characters, for the most part, survive but everyone else is fair game. Cops are getting killed in this hospital. Bad guys are lining up the morgue. Even the civilians that are in the hospital needing help get lit up. Its an absolute frenzy as tensions rise and explode and rise then explode. Every bullet that EXPLODES into a wall or a body is keeping you on your toes in anticipation as you wait to see what the fuck is going to happen next! It's a thrill every single time the movie moves locations to that hospital sequence. Ultimately achieving an ending where all the characters reach the end of their arcs, each story line wraps up nicely, and you are left with a film that not only satisfies but leaves you feeling something that few films have achieved; Fulfillment.

    You will always hear of people comparing the shootouts in his films to these beautiful bullet ballets and other superfluous phrases such as that but in all honesty, its the absolute restraint in going about creating all these elaborate sequences that sets up the notion that every single bullet matters. Creating a feeling for the viewer to be so engrossed with the action because nothing feels wasted and everything truly matters. 

What else is there to say?

    A true high watermark to any filmmaker to have made this but to Woo, it seems to have been just another day on the job. Though his films past this aren't as strong, at least in my opinion, there is always something worth watching in them. What truly excites me more in having watched this on what seems to be the new 4k remaster of the film, is that the heart itself cannot do anything but swell in joy.

     For now there is a definitive version available for all to enjoy but what this also offers is hope for future releases of other Hong Kong films and with City on Fire seeming to be the first release to test the waters, I have already placed my order, then the future is looking pretty good for this movie watcher.

Who Better To Get The Job Done?

   War is a Hell of a Good Time

    There is an interesting thing when life has you working a regular job that gets in the way of your movie watching. You end up being tired after a long day then having to get home through all that traffic and then you have to cook yourself some dinner and then clean some dishes. Just all this shit stacking up higher and higher on a never ending to do list and then 9:30pm comes around and you realize that you still have to do laundry. So you do laundry but in this small space of time that has been created where one must wait comes opportunity and what else can come out of this opportunity but to watch a movie? So I watched a movie.

    It took a little time when it came to picking out a movie though since I have so many options to choose from. The problem of buying more movies than you can get around to watching. There is a Lucio Fulcio film by the name of The Psychic that I bought nearly a year ago that I haven't seen. There was a fire I had to deal with so cut me some slack. There are also some Jess Franco films I gotta get around to but I was planning on giving those a watch when I start working on my lesbian vampire story so no dice for tonight. Gathering dust was a Peter Strickland box set that I only managed to get through 25% of and to be honest I should have committed and watched The Duke of Burgundy but I didn't. Instead I chose a film that I could only half remember; the 1970 classic The Losers.

 

 

The Feature Presentation

    It's an exploitation film of the greatest sense. The Vietnam war rages on and the CIA brings in a biker gang of veterans to come in and conduct a rescue mission for a person that can bring peace, or something worthwhile, to end the war. Five bikers going by the name of Link Thomas, Limpy, Duke, Speed, and Dirty Denny make up the gang of The Devils Advocates that are set on completing this mission. 

    The movie mostly following their characters get involved in various situations all the while they modify some bikes for the final mission. Then the final mission happens and they succeed in the end of pulling off their assault/rescue mission though none of the gang members come back while the important intel VIP guy survived. Having nothing but disdain for the gang that saved him and could care even less about the fact they sacrificed their lives to save him.

 The 1 and Only

    Some years ago, I had written a post on this very blog about some biker movies I saw. Actually the director of this film, Jack Starrett, directed Run Angel Run! which I should re-watch as well as the awesome Warren Oates and Peter Fonda film Race with the Devil. 

Fantastic!

    Back to that previous review though, I remember one or two were good and the rest were cool with I believe only one of them being just bad. A complete misfire from beginning to end and it was the Larry Bishop joint Hell Ride. I still think about that film from time to time and can't fathom what could be done to turn it into a good movie. I don't want to talk about Larry Bishop though as I got William Smith on the mind.

 

All That Is Man

    There is a certain charisma that can be seen in an instant when it comes to an actor. You see Charles Bronson and say 'I see you amigo.' or if you see Franco Nero you'd think 'I believe you amigo.' When I see William Smith, that same feeling instantly comes to be whenever he walks into frame.

    In all honesty, he doesn't give much of a performance here since he is just so cool to begin with. Containing an aura seen here that one can see easily in the Mickey Rourke's early films except if you see Bill Smith in any of his later films, you can easily see that he still got it compared to Rourke's later movies. Except The Wrestler which can be considered Mickey Rourke's true swan song. 

    Case in proof is his small role in Conan the Barbarian. You watch him play as Conan's father who in the beginning moments of the film breaks down an entire belief system to young Conan. And in listening to him saying this monologue with such conviction and gravitas, it sets the tone for what the movie could have been. This absolute brutal revenge story of a child growing to be a goddamn barbarian but ultimately this falters as the film is just fantastic until the moment when Arnold speaks that lamentation speech which then follows is a clumsy story that doesn't do much of anything but in that speech, the world was limitless.

Just the Best

 

William Smith  was one of those actors that if you knew then you were cool. He gave it his all when starring in far too many low budget films and its a shame that he never a real opportunity to showcase his skills as being just a cool dude. Nonetheless, what he has left behind as his career is something truly worth watching. 

 

If you want to know more about the guy then you should check out his website. It's still up and running! https://www.williamsmith.us/index.shtml 

 

The Overall Film

    You know, I wouldn't call myself an expert in biker films nor would I put myself as a war movie expert but as far as films dealing with a biker gang going to fight in the Vietnam war, I could call myself an expert off of this 1 film.

    Watching this for the second time in a long time, I remember very little of it. There were some key parts in my brain but the overall mood was not within reach of my memories. There is a true ebb and flow where some members of the gang, Sleepy and Dirty Denny, are shown getting themselves into mischief. The two of them hanging out with prostitutes and fighting dudes for most of their screen time. 

    Then you get the love story side with Limpy and Duke dealing with the power of love with this suicide mission hanging over there head. Limpy hooking up with a woman that has a GI baby already and Duke most likely only coming back to Vietnam just to find the love of his life. The two of having the same goal of wanting to bring them back to the United States.

    Link, the leader of the gang, is just going through the motions. Doing his own thing but not enough of one where he does anything remarkable for the first part of the film but starts to liven up when the assault commences.

    In all honesty, there is no real motivation in the movie for these dudes to be going on this mission. As seen in various other movies dealing with men being sent on a suicide mission like The Dirty Dozen or The Devils 8 where there's a set up as to who they are and what they gotta do. With a small budget like this movie, there ain't not time for a set up. Low budget and shot in the Philippines to substitute Vietnam. The true blue Roger Corman route of bigger visuals on a small budget. 

 Can't Forget The G.O.D Men on a Mission Movie

    We got these bikers showing up and they got shit to do. I personally like to think that the real reason that these veterans came back is that they had nothing better to do state side except for Duke who came back for love. But the other guys, they were bored out of their minds back in the USA. Getting shitted on by the public and just traveling down the endless highways on their choppers trying to find meaning until they get the chance to come back for a suicide mission. Though this is all speculation and more effort on the viewer having to connect the dots than the film doing the work.

    Even with the lack of plot or those other machinations that keep a movie going, I truly enjoyed just watching these characters exist. None of them are paint by number cliches when it comes to these movies, remember I am an expert on biker war films, and even though they all seem like thundering assholes when they first show up; I fell for the stories they ended up getting involved with. Even Dirty Denny, played by wild man Houston Savage, who just runs around screaming racial epitaphs and beating up anyone and everyone. 

 

Absolute Nut

    What was really interesting watching this is was the sense of impromptu physicality to each scene. I don't know how else to explain it but nothing that these characters do in this film feels stiff. There's a natural rhythm to them existing where it seems like they just are in the scene and not playing the scene. It brings a real energy to the movie that kept me engaged to keep watching.

    The movie running without a plot for some time until the last 20 to 25 minutes of the film which turns it from something cool to something pretty great. The bikers managed to build themselves some modified Yamaha's with machine guns as well as a 3 wheeler with a mortar launcher and pull off the assault to this guarded village to rescue some important guy. 

This guy just bleh

    This guy they gotta save has to be the weakest part of the movie. He's just some dude with some murky reason as to why he needed to be rescued where he rambles about how he could end the war with China and blah blah blah. If they just tweaked this guy to be something more then I think the ending of this would have fucking hit. I mean really fucking hit. Making the bikers getting knocked off one by one feel much more of a downer than what it is now. 

    Duke gets it first before the assault and sets up the tone of hopelessness for the rest of the film to follow. He tries to ride off with his girlfriend into the Vietnam sunset but they cross a Vietcong booby trapped bridge that launches them into the water below. The Vietcong stand on the bridge and shoot him and his girl down but Duke, played by Adam Roarke, gives the greatest face of despair and the shot itself is just so fantastic. The sun shining on the water and its all in slow motion while looking as though they zoomed in optically in post production to create this real strange visual of him center stage. Just such an amazing shot right when he catches all these bullets and bites the big road rash.

    That's another thing about this fucking movie. There are just some really fantastic shots done out in nature where the guys are just existing. There's a certain mood and in the future I would like to pull all these shots together and make a montage of vibes. Obviously because I'm an old man I would have to play Nightcall by Kavinsky when putting a song to the images but I digress.

Bill Smith Just Pulling It Off With Ease 

    So Duke gets killed and then Dirty Denny gets killed in the assault leaving the remaining three members to get caught but they make their escape only to end up dying. Limpy gets killed due to an accident with the 3 wheeler that actually almost killed the actor Paul Koslo. Then Link Thomas gets killed going after the VIP then Sleepy gets killed when he tries to get revenge and kill the VIP by getting shot by an American soldier.

    The title song of The Losers starts playing with everyone who got killed throughout the movie being shown in these small windows. The entire moment giving us the audience to have to come to the conclusion that war itself is the loser. Or something like that.

The Verdict Starring Francis Booth

    Look, this ain't masterpiece theater. This is a exploitation film that has pieces of conversations that will make your eyes pop out of your head. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this film immensely from start to finish that I will wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone needing something that feels antiquated with a rusty edge.