Catnip Reviews: SHAKESPEARE'S SH*TSTORM, THE OGRE OF ATHENS, AIRPORT 4-FILM COLLECTION

Snack-sized opinions from the frisky felines at Free Kittens…

SHAKRESPEARE’S SHITSTORM (4K UHD/Blu-Ray) - If Dick Clark was the “World’s Oldest Teenager,” then Lloyd Kaufman is unquestionably the world’s oldest 12 year old boy. His sense of humor hasn’t changed one whit since first assuming the throne of low-budget bad taste in 1984 with The Toxic Avenger. If anything, he’s since plunged to new depths of immaturity, as demonstrated with Shakespeare’s Shitstorm. If nothing else, the title is accurate. Traces of The Tempest can be found if you squint hard enough, while massive amounts of spewing excrement are the catalyst to what can loosely be called a plot. Elsewhere, there’s plenty of the juvenile, scatological, gross out gags that helped build Kaufman's empire, along with heavy-handed “satire” attacking modern political correctness with the subtlety of a jackhammer. But I’ll give the Troma team props for one thing…Blu-ray & 4K releases of their titles are generally loaded with bonus material and this one is no exception. (2020/94 min/Troma Entertainment). KITTY CONSENSUS: 😼😼

THE OGRE OF ATHENS (Blu-ray) - In this 1956 obscurity, Thomas (Dinos Iliopoulos) is a lonely, nebbish banker who is suddenly mistaken for The Ogre, a notorious criminal who’s been terrorizing the city of Athens. But upon a chance meeting with a sultry dancer, he ends up falling-in with a crew of small time gangsters who are planning a big heist, believing Thomas to be The Ogre himself. Along the way, Thomas strikes up a friendship with another young dancer who’s unhappy with her life. Considered a milestone in Greek cinema, The Ogre of Athens features fine moments of perceptive human drama, charming comedy and even some film noir touches. Well worth seeking out, this disc also comes with a few supplements that offer valuable historical context.  (1956/104 min/Radiance Films). KITTY CONSENSUS: 😺😺😺

AIRPORT - THE COMPLETE 4-FILM COLLECTION (Blu-ray) - This set is a disaster lover’s dream. Obviously products of their time - when disaster movies were plentiful and profitable - none of them are works of art, but remain tons of melodramatic fun...occasionally at their own expense. While the original Airport is widely considered the best one (and credited for popularizing the genre to begin with), I’ve always been more partial to Airport 1975 and Airport ‘77, both of which are more action driven. As for The Concorde - Airport ‘79…it’s still a morbidly fascinating, unintentionally hilarious train wreck. All four films have been given terrific 4K restorations, so they look and sound great, though I do wish more effort was put into providing some substantial bonus material. There’s a booklet featuring a perfunctory essay, along with insightful new audio commentaries for each, but considering their cultural impact of ‘70s cinema (for better or worse), surely they deserve a bit more. (1970-1979/470 min/Kino Lorber). KITTY CONSENSUS: 😼😼😼😼

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (4K): A Time to Forgive?

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (4K UHD)

1975 / 133 min

Warner Bros

#InPartnershipwithWB

Review by Mr. Paws😸

While Jaws has gotten a lot of attention this year, another little film celebrated its 50th Anniversary as well. It also swept the Oscars back in 1975, winning every major category, including Best Picture. I distinctly remember being 12 years long and staring drop-jawed in the front the TV when the final award of the night was announced, incredulous that it beat the greatest movie ever made. It didn’t matter that Jaws was the only nominated film I’d actually seen at the time.

I still haven’t quite forgiven the Academy for that, but after finally watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest about a decade later - old enough to better appreciate its themes, distinctive characters and rich performances - I had to concede it was a pretty great film. Better than Jaws? Hell no, but perhaps I’d change my tune if Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) had met her demise in the mouth of a great white.

Even without any sharks, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest remains supremely rewatchable. Perhaps even more so today, because while revisiting the film in 4K, I was reminded of how many famous character actors got their first big break here, including Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Will Sampson and Brad Dourif. But of course, the whole movie still belongs to Jack Nicholson as rebellious asylum inmate R.P. McMurphy and Louis Fletcher as his cold blooded foil, Nurse Ratched. The Oscars they received for those performances are well-deserved. 

Jack sits on a tack.

I was also reminded of how subtly affecting the movie is, especially the scenes in which McMurphy endears himself to the other inmates. My favorite moment would have to be the one where McMurphy commandeers a fishing boat and takes his new friends on a real adventure, a sequence that’s both funny and heartwarming. Elsewhere, his friendship with silent, hulking “Chief” Bromden sets up a climax that remains poignant and haunting, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. 

50 years later, the film arguably remains the career highpoint for a lot of people on both sides of the camera, including director Milos Forman. So while One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest still no Jaws, maybe I should finally consider forgiving the Academy for thinking it was. After all, it ain’t like they gave the Best Picture statue to Barry Lyndon.

Finally remastered in 4K, both the picture and sound have been given significant upgrades from previous Blu-ray editions. The details, textures and color palettes are sharper and more accurate, while two audio tracks are offered, including an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio mix. The disc also comes with a few interesting new bonus features (outlined below), along with an archival feature-length retrospective documentary. But I gotta say...whoever designed the terrible new cover should be fired.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Conversations on Cuckoo: Group Therapy and Conversations on Cuckoo: Moviemaking Memories are a couple of new Zoom discussions featuring producer Michael Douglas and actors Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif and Danny Devito. 

COMPLETELY CUCKOO is a feature length retrospective documentary featuring a ton of interesting interviews that include producers Michael Douglas & Saul Zentz, Kirk Douglas (who originally optioned the film with the hope of playing the lead role), actors Louise Fletcher, Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito & Vincent Schiavelli, director Milos Forman and original author Ken Kesey.

5 DELETED SCENES

DIGITAL COPY

A Big Helping of RAW MEAT (aka Death Line) in 4K

RAW MEAT aka Death Line (4K UHD)

1972 / 87 min

Blue Underground

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Back in the mid-70s, my friends and I snuck into auditorium #4 of the old Southgate Quad for a double feature consisting of Squirm and Raw Meat (both titles released in the U.S. by American-International Pictures). Killer worms and flesh eating zombies? Sounded like an afternoon well spent. 

At least Squirm delivered as promised. As for Raw Meat…man, talk about false advertising! Sure, there were a few gross bits, but for a thrill-seeking 13-year-old, watching an old, bald, Chatty Cathy cop berate suspects was decidedly less entertaining than the pinball machines in the theater lobby. Which is precisely where we headed after about 30 minutes.

Wisdom may not always come with age, but I eventually wised up to the unscrupulous practice of rebranding movies with gonzo new titles to snooker folks who judge books by their covers (which the likes of AIP and Roger Corman’s New World Pictures often did with films they acquired for the grindhouse crowd). Case in point, Raw Meat was originally called Death Line (still the onscreen title) and was never intended to compete with ravenous worms for a middle schooler’s attention.

While flesh eating is inferred, there are no zombies in Death Line. It’s got a pretty cool premise, though. While the London subway system was being constructed in the late 19th Century, a cave-in trapped several workers who resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. A century later, one of their descendants has been snatching commuters to feed himself and his dying mate. When a prominent MBE member goes missing, Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasence) investigates, but spends a lot of his time grilling Alex (David Ladd), the guy who brought it to his attention in the first place. It also turns out a lot of folks have gone missing in the subway lately. 

"I thought I paid this."

Part horror film, part police procedural, Death Line is atmospheric and well made on a low budget, with good direction by Gary Sherman (who’d later go on to helm Dead & Buried, one of the best underseen movies of the ‘80s). But it's Pleasance who steals this one. His amusing performance suggests he had great fun playing his character, which I didn’t fully appreciate as a kid, but now think he’s the best part of the entire movie. And while not nearly as gory as it’s reputed to be (or as we were expecting back in the day), some of the violence is pretty potent.

Blue Underground has given the film an impressive 4K facelift with a nice video restoration. There are also four audio options to choose from, including a new Dolby Atmos track. With the exception of a new audio commentary, the bonus features (mostly interviews) are all carried over from the original Blu-ray release, and they provide a revealing look back at the production. 

But, alas, the deceptive advertising continues even today. While Christopher Lee is featured along with Pleasance above the title on the cover, he appears in only one scene…for about two minutes. Other than that bit of deception, Raw Meat/Death Line is an entertaining slice of ‘70s British horror that has certainly aged better than Squirm.

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K & BLU-RAY COPIES

FEATURETTES - Tales from the Tube is an entertaining conversation between director Gary Sherman and executive producers Jay Katner & Alan Ladd Jr.; From the Depths is an interview with actor David Ladd and producer Paul Maslansky; Mind the Doors is an interview with actor Hugh Armstrong.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By director Gary Sherman, producer Paul Maslansky and AD Lewis More O’Ferrall; 2) By historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troyhowarth.

TRAILERS, TV & RADIO SPOTS

POSTER & STILL GALLERY

REVERSIBLE COVER - With the original title, Death Line.

Revisiting GET CARTER in 4K

GET CARTER (4K UHD)

1971 / 112 min

Warner Archive Collection

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

A strong argument can be made that 1971’s Get Carter is the best British gangster movie ever made. And even though it wasn’t nearly as revered at the time of release, many critics and historians have claimed that very thing. This excellent new 4K transfer only strengthens that argument…at least aesthetically.

And aesthetics are a big deal here. If it didn’t look and sound like writer-director Mike Hodges rolled over a boulder to examine what thrived in the dark beneath it, Get Carter wouldn’t have the same impact. In that sense, the film conveys the same feeling we get from watching Taxi Driver, where being immersed in its drab & gritty setting is a major part of what makes it effective.

Essentially a complex tale of revenge, Michael Caine is Jack Carter, a London mob enforcer who returns to his hometown of Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother, Frank, supposedly while driving drunk. While Carter’s convinced he was murdered, his boss warns him not to step on the toes of other gangsters. He does, of course, once it turns out that the biggest of them, Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne), has a motive for murder (related to the rape and exploitation of Frank’s teenage daughter, Doreen).

"No talking. You're in 'time out'."

Caine’s role in Get Carter is unlike anything else he’d done at the time (or since, really), playing an unlikeable, irredeemable and cold-blooded killer whose tough exterior is almost impenetrable (save for a solitary moment when he sees Doreen forced to appear in a porno film). He’s also banging his boss’ wife, Anna (though that aspect of the story smacks of a an excuse to gratuitously show Britt Eklund masturbating). While we don’t necessarily like Carter, his antagonists are worse. And since there are a lot of ‘em, the film is chock-full of violent, satisfying payback. Best of all, Caine nails the part.   

Still, it’s sort of understandable why Get Carter was underwhelmingly received back in the day. To be honest, I didn’t care for it much when I first watched it, either. But it’s one of those movies that gets better the more you see it, when you don’t go in with preconceived narrative expectations and appreciate what the filmmakers are trying to do, which is toss the audience into an ugly world filled with terrible people (including its protagonist). And as gangster movies go, it’s the goddamn Godfather compared to the pointless Stallone remake. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K & BLU-RAY COPIES

FEATURETTES - Mike Hodges in Conversation is an enjoyable Q&A with the director before a live audience; In The Sound of Roy Budd, music analyst Jonny Trunk discusses the score; Don’t Trust Boys is an interview with actor Petra Markham, who plays Carter’s 16-year old niece; Klinger on Klinger features the son of producer producer Michael Klinger.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By actor Michael Caine, director Mike Hodges and cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky; 2) By critics Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw.

INTRODUCTION BY MICHAEL CAINE - From 2022.

ORIGINAL & RE-RELEASE TRAILERS

DAKOTA: Fly, Dick, Fly!

DAKOTA (Blu-ray)

1974 / 102 min

Cult Epics

Review by Mr. Paws😾

See Dick (Kees Brusse). See Dick’s plane. See Dick fly his plane. See Dick take a job because he needs the money. See Dick fly his plane some more. Fly, Dick, fly! See Dick spend the entire middle act refueling his plane mid-flight with a hand pump. Pump, Dick, Pump! See one of Dick’s engines overheat and stop working without impeding his journey whatsoever. See Dick land safely. See Dick share a blunt with his friend’s wife. Smoke, Dick, smoke! See Dick get paid so he can keep flying. The End.

There you go…almost the entire plot of Dakota, an obscure 1974 Dutch film by Wim Verstappen, who's probably best known in his home country for the sex flick, Blue Movie. But don’t go expecting any soft core shenanigans in this one. The sexiest it gets is when a nubile young woman, Claudia (Monique van de Hen), inexplicably throws herself at old Dick, who shuns her advances. In fact, he spends the first half of the film avoiding her efforts to charter his plane. This aspect of the narrative is then dropped altogether when old friend Helen (Theo van der Groen) hires him to smuggle some crates across the ocean. 

A couple of frequent fliers.

From this point on, Dakota features no conflict, antagonists or character development…just Dick flying his crusty old DC-3 to his destination. As the main character, he’s not particularly likable or interesting. All we really know about him is he loves to fly. The film occasionally teases us with a potential crisis - like the aforementioned engine overheating - but for the most part, Dick’s flight is about as eventful as the average morning commute. 

If Dakota is supposed to be some sort of metaphorical journey, I sure as hell never found any underlying theme. For Dick’s trip to represent anything beyond flying his plane, perhaps the first half of the film should have established him as a bit more than a cantankerous guy who smuggles stuff. Aside from decent cinematography (some of it by future Speed director Jan de Bont), Dakota drones on and on without ever taking off.

EXTRA KIBBLES

DAKOTA PRESS FLIGHT - Exactly what the title implies…a 20 minute promo film from 1974.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By Peter Verstraten.

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 1978 (Vara Visie)

PHOTO GALLERY

REVERSIBLE COVER

THE ANDERSON TAPES and the Drive-In Slumber Party

THE ANDERSON TAPES (1971)

Starring Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Christopher Walken, Ralph Meeker, Alan King, Dick Anthony Williams, Val Avery, Conrad Bain, Margaret Hamilton. Directed by Sidney Lumet. (99 min)

Essay by D.M. ANDERSON💀

1971’s The Anderson Tapes was a milestone experience in my young life. For starters, this was my very first drive-in movie, back when I was about eight years old. My parents brought my sister and I along, packing the backseat with enough snacks and blankets to make it feel like a slumber party (Mom even had us wear our jammies). Since The Anderson Tapes and its co-feature, The Love Machine, weren’t exactly Disney fare, I’m assuming they included us for date night because they couldn't find a babysitter. And since neither film starred singing cartoon critters, perhaps they figured we’d simply fall asleep soon after Dad hung that big metal speaker on the car window.

But when has that ever happened at a slumber party?

The Anderson Tapes was my introduction to Sean Connery. This was before I ever watched a James Bond movie. In fact, I was too young to even know who James Bond was. Still, this burly, imposing old man with a receding hairline left quite an impression and kinda reminded me of my uncle, who always smelled like cigarettes and Aqua Velva. It was also my first film by Sidney Lumet, who directed a batch of classics that would someday rank among my favorites (like 12 Angry Men, Fail Safe and Dog Day Afternoon). But at the time, I had no idea what directors' jobs were.

Most significantly, though, The Anderson Tapes was my first “dirty” movie. Well, dirty as perceived by an eight-year-old.

I’m pretty sure that particular date night in the summer of ‘71 didn’t quite go as my parents planned. Caught up in the novelty of watching a movie in the car, my sister and I didn't quietly drift off to sleep. We were generally pretty unruly, prompting Dad to yell shut up on numerous occasions. But in between bickering with my sister and fighting over blankets, I was sort of paying attention to the movie…

Sean Connery...pretty in pink.

Sean Connery plays “Duke” Anderson, a professional thief who's just been released from prison and plans another heist, this time of an entire Manhattan apartment building, which is filled with wealthy tenants. A lot of the story consists of Duke putting his crew together, getting financial backing from the mob and hopping between the sheets with his girlfriend, Ingrid (Dyan Cannon). But what he doesn’t realize is the police have a lot of his criminal associates under heavy surveillance, so even though they weren't necessarily spying on him, Duke keeps popping up on the cameras and wire taps.

Though the first couple of acts are a little too talky for a kid to commit 100% of his attention, certain elements definitely piqued my interest, such as Cannon stripping off her clothes and hopping in bed with Connery…where they kissed naked! I remember my sister going “oooOOOooh” at witnessing these nasty adults engaging in such a dirty act (something that respectable adults like Mom & Dad surely never did). When I asked Dad if this was one of “those rated X movies,” he impatiently replied, “Sure, Dave. Now shut up.”

I seem to remember him saying shut up quite a bit that night.

My sister and I giggled at all the swearing…lots of “shits,” “goddamns” and an assortment of other taboo words that would’ve gotten me slapped if I were to work them into casual conversation (though Mom and Dad often did). When I interrupted to ask what “faggot” meant, Mom whipped her head around and warned me never to say that word again. Dad just shook his head. In a way, I felt kinda privileged to be hearing such grown-up talk in a movie, stuff I never heard Fred MacMurray or Dean Jones spouting in Disney flicks.

Even then, I found the climactic heist sequence pretty riveting, and easily the most violent thing I’d ever seen on the big screen. Seeing one dead character’s bloodied face after crashing the getaway truck haunted me for awhile afterwards. The Anderson Tapes might have even been the first movie that I found somewhat inspiring. Not to rob an apartment building or anything, but I did spend some playtime recreating the final getaway attempt with my Hot Wheels and Legos. And when school started up again that fall, I bragged to my friends that my parents took me to see a dirty movie. 

As for the second flick, The Love Machine, maybe I finally did fall asleep because I have almost no memory of it beyond the title.

Save for key moments that violated my childhood innocence, my recollections of The Anderson Tapes faded over time. I didn’t give it much thought and never watched the thing again until 50 years later, when I happened to discover it on Blu-ray. That’s when memories of the whole drive-in debacle with Mom & Dad came flooding back (at least partially). Revisiting it was an interesting experience, to say nothing of fondly nostalgic. 

Of course, it isn’t nearly as violent or dirty as I remembered. The sex and nudity is strictly of the PG variety, meaning we never actually see much of Dyan Cannon’s physical attributes, nor do she and Connery do more than discreetly kiss under the covers. The swearing is actually pretty mild, at least compared to what frequently flies from my mouth while driving. On the other hand, the homophobic slurs are kind of off-putting these days and exacerbate the film’s dated, uncomfortably stereotypical depiction of gay people, as personified by Martin Balsam’s character, Tommy Haskins, a member of Duke’s crew. 

"I need something that goes beep."

When I first saw the film, my favorite character was “The Kid” because he had long hair just like The Beatles and Chekov from Star Trek, a look I was beginning to think was pretty cool. The Kid is played by a fresh-faced Christopher Walken and this was one of his first movies. Elsewhere, there’s the legendary Margaret Hamilton in her last film appearance, but I didn’t recognize her because she didn’t wear the green make-up and prosthetic nose that scared the shit out of me whenever The Wizard of Oz aired on TV. 

Much of the emphasis of the narrative is on the surveillance methods used by police, which was apparently cutting-edge at the time (and enhanced by composer Quincy Jones’ grating electronic flourishes). I missed out on when this stuff was jawdropping, though thematically, the concept of one’s every move being monitored might be the one aspect of the film that remains pretty timely. 

But I prefer not to think about that. I’d rather look at The Anderson Tapes as an enjoyable trip down memory lane, when I was getting on my parents’ last nerves in the backseat of their Pontiac Le Mans. It doesn’t rank among Lumet or Connery’s best work, but remains a pretty enjoyable film. My mom has since passed, but it might be fun watching it with Dad one more time. I don’t know if he remembers the movie or his regretful decision to host a drive-in slumber party, but I could make it up to him by shutting my mouth this time around.