There may be a reason why Lamont Johnson is a lesser known 70s director.

I only have a passing acquaintance of his work, including a handful of Twilight Zone  episodes (including one classic where Robert Redford plays Death), The Last American Hero which is one of the fine Jeff Bridges films during his outstanding mid-70s run (Fat City, Badlands, Rancho Deluxe, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Hearts of the West, Stay Hungry), that TV movie where Jeff Goldblum plays Ernie Kovacs and Spacehunter the 3d S&M sci-fi where Michael Ironsides plays a crippled cenobite.  So with one good film, it's worth digging deeper.




This one is closer to Spacehunter camp.  Definitely the dumbest of the 70s paranoid political thrillers, but hysterically enjoyable the less seriously you take any of it.  George Peppard is almost Leslie Nielson-level ludicrous, the script is guffawsome.  The slight strobe effect in some scenes helps the hallucinatory vibe, but that's more of a symptom of the poor Youtube copy than anything.  Endlessly stupid and a lot of fun.

7/10


The TV film My Sweet Charlie has some good reviews, and maybe Johnson works better in that format.  I'm mostly interested in it because it has Al Freeman Jr., a familiar character actor who I really only know from his uncanny turn as Elijah Muhammad in Spike Lee's Malcolm X.  The other films are a mix of interesting casts and what what available.
 

Also, re: Bridges, I recently watched Tron and it kinda owns? A case where a special effects showcase has genuinely creative visuals.

Rock wrote:

Also, re: Bridges, I recently watched Tron and it kinda owns?

Absoultely.  Obviously, for someone my age, it's a nostalgic treat (saw it in the theater; had the "see/hear/read" record/book), but I think it stands up very well.  Even the metaphysics, which were ridiculed for awhile, have now seemed to have been embraced by the 'singularity' crowd.  And the graphics, while technically crude, have a formalist style which has a retro-futurist flavor.  It's telling how, by comparison, the sequel has aged much worse.

Also, JJ, re: Bridges, have you seen 8 Million Ways to Die? I suspect it would be up your alley.

I read that a lot of the takes in the finished film were warm-up takes and not ones Ashby considered the "final" ones, which I think is somewhat apparent even if I do like the movie.

The Raven
Air

Rock wrote:

Also, to nobody's surprise, Assault on Precinct 13 fucking rips on the big screen.

So does Rumble in the Bronx (to nobody's surprise).

Rock wrote:

I dunno, I'm in the mood for gothic horror in general at the moment, so I didn't mind the silly detour. These movies are benefiting from being watched in close proximity to each other.

I love this era of gothic horror films, but The Raven is one of my least favorite, even among the more comedic ones.  Definitely my least favorite of the Cormans, although Haunted Palace is pretty ho-hum.  Hell, The Terror is more interesting to me than The Raven.

My favorite among them is Masque of Red Death, which I'm happy to see you give a positive review.  If you land on one you may prefer to that one, it might be House of Usher or Tomb of Ligeia.

The Premature Burial
Rush Hour 2
 

Jinnistan wrote:

Rock wrote:

I'll have to hunt a bit for those, as they don't seem to be on Tubi or Youtube at a glance.

Which ones did that Vincent Price box set consist of?

The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Tales of Terror, Theater of Blood, Madhouse, Witchfinder General m, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Twice Told Tales.

The Corman ones I’m watching on either Tubi or YouTube.