Better Every Time.

Some movies get better every time you see them.

You discover something new. A performance suddenly knocks you out. You notice how the music impacts the film as a whole. Or maybe, after seeing it five times, you finally really get it.

One that really hits me in a different way ever time I see it is Walter Hill’s The Driver (1978).

I’m curious, what movies do that to you?

RIP, Christopher Plummer.

Christopher Plummer
December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021

Christopher Plummer has passed away at 91. Of course, we’ll be hearing a lot about The Sound Of Music (1965) the next few days, but I’ll always remember his turn to play Sherlock Holmes in Murder By Decree (1978). He was terrific, taking his place up there with Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing.

In this photo, he’s sitting on the set in his Holmes outfit.

Blu-Ray News #318: The Norseman (1978).

Directed by Charles B. Pierce
Starring Lee Majors, Cornel Wilde, Mel Ferrer, Jack Elam, Susie Coelho, Christopher Connelly, Jimmy Clem, Deacon Jones

When it comes to costume films, I tend to prefer the cheap, cheesy exploitation pictures to the serious epic ones. And they don’t come much cheesier than the gloriously stupid The Norseman (1978) starring Lee Majors.

The premise is pretty simple: the Six Million Dollar Man is a Viking who comes to North America about 500 years before Columbus got here — and has to fight it out with the Indians. And in a subplot that’s never fleshed out, the Viking Jack Elam must’ve fraternized with the Native American ladies, since his wild-eyed bloodline turns up in lots of Westerns in the 1950s.

Lee Majors did The Norseman between The Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy. He got half a million bucks and a percentage. Cornel Wilde and Mel Ferrer round out the cast. Charles B. Pierce (The Legend Of Boggy Creek, The Town That Dreaded Sundown) wrote, produced and directed it, and American International handled the distribution. It’s pretty terrible, but that’s of little consequence here.

I love to see anything bearing an AIP logo make it to Blu-Ray, and Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing are bringing The Norseman to the format in February of 2021. See, once we get out of 2020, things are gonna get better.

Blu-Ray News #230: The Brink’s Job (1978).

Directed by William Friedkin
Starring Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, Warren Oates, Gena Rowlands, Paul Sorvino

After the box-office failure of his masterpiece Sorcerer (1977), William Friedkin turned out a gem of a heist picture, The Brink’s Job (1978).

It’s a shamefully overlooked movie — from a script by Walon Green who wrote Sorcerer and The Wild Bunch (1969), and I’m so happy to hear it’s getting a Blu-Ray release from Kino Lorber. Can’t wait.

Blu-Ray News #226: Piranha (1978).

Directed by Joe Dante
Starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski, Paul Bartel, Richard Deacon, Bruce Gordon, Stephen The Swimming Swine

I’m so happy to be putting this post together. Because yet another movie that I love dearly, Joe Dante’s Piranha (1978), is getting a real Cadillac of a Blu-Ray release from Scream Factory this June.

One of the prop piranhas.

It’s often called “the best of the Jaws ripoffs.” But it’s more than that. It’s scary. It’s funny. It parades a terrific cast of veteran character actors across the screen. And it just plain entertains. Released the same summer as Jaws 2 (1978), it’s the better picture by far. After all, what could possibly beat a plot like this — scads of piranhas are released into a river, and at the end of the river lies a kids’ summer camp. Pure genius.

Year ago, I was outbid on a 16mm print of this movie that turned up on eBay. This extras-packed Blu-Ray will certainly help right that wrong. Here’s what you’ll get —
4K Remaster from the original camera negative
New Audio Commentary with Roger Corman
Audio Commentary with  Joe Dante & producer Jon Davison
“The Making Of Piranha” – Interviews with Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski & more
Behind-The-Scenes Footage, Bloopers & Outtakes, Additional Scenes from the TV version
Stills, Trailers, TV Spots, Radio Spots

All that, and it comes in one of those fancy steelbook packages. I can’t wait sink my teeth into this. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Screening: Piranha (1978) On Shout TV.

Directed by Joe Dante
Starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, Dick Miller

I love Piranha (1978), Joe Dante’s Jaws ripoff — produced by Roger Corman and written by John Sayles. I’ve seen it countless times.

Shout TV has a special event planned to celebrate the movie’s 40th anniversary — August 3 on Shout TV’s Twitch channel. To me, this is certainly a movie worth celebrating.

Screening: Piranha (1978).

Directed by Joe Dante
Starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski, Paul Bartel, Richard Deacon, Stephan The Swimming Swine

A 35mm print of Joe Dante’s wonderful Jaws ripoff Piranha (1978) will be run as part of the festivities at the Hudson Horror Show on Saturday, May 20th at 7:55 and 10:40PM.

The Empire South Hills 8
1895 South Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

One of the prop piranhas by Phil Tippett. How cool is that?

Piranha‘s a real favorite, and I’d love to be there. This was one I never caught in the theater.

The Hudson Horror Show’s entire lineup is in 35mm. God bless ’em!

Blu-Ray News #98: The Pink Panther Film Collection.

Directed by Blake Edwards
Starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk, etc.

Shout Factory has announced the arrival in April of a very, very funny thing — The Pink Panther Blu-Ray Collection. It gathers up all six of the Peter Sellers Inspector Clouseau films, from The Pink Panther (1963) to the after-his-death thing, The Trail Of The Pink Panther (1982), and presents them in hi-def.  We all have our favorite of these films, and our favorite gags — mine is A Shot In The Dark (1964) and the gag with the parallel bars in Strikes Again (1976).

The Pink Panther (1963)
Starring Peter Sellers, David Niven, Robert Wagner, Capucine
“Oh well, if you’ve seen one Stradivarius, you’ve seen them all.”

A Shot In The Dark (1964)
Starring Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer
“Yes, it is my coat.”

The Return Of The Pink Panther (1975)
Starring Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Catherine Schell, Herbert Lom
“Swine bird.”

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk, Lesley-Anne Down
“It is obvious to my trained eye, that there is much more going on here than meets the ear. ”

Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978)
Starring Peter Sellers, Dyan Cannon, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk
“Ooohhh, sixteen chests on a dead man’s rum, Yo-ho-ho in the bottle of the chest.”

Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
Starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk
“I am André Botot, mustard salesman from Dijon.”

Personally, I’m glad they left out the non-Sellers pictures. This set is coming from Shout Factory’s new Shout Select line, and they promise a slew of extras. Funny as all hell, and absolutely essential.

Blu-Ray News #12: Convoy (1978).

Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw, Ernest Borgnine, Burt Young and Franklyn Ajaye

OK, so it’s really not all that good. But I’m so glad Kino Lorber is bringing Sam Peckinpah’s Convoy (1978) to Blu-ray. (That’s him with the headphones staring at Kristofferson.)

It’s got a great cast, some incredible New Mexico scenery and as you’d expect, Sam’s as good with crashing cars and trucks as with people getting shot. This was his next-to-last film (coming between 1977’s Cross Of Iron and 1983’s The Osterman Weekend), and his addictions and excesses were getting the best of him. His friend James Coburn was brought in as second unit director. Some say Coburn shot a great deal of what we see on the screen, as the picture went way over budget and behind schedule.