But this film is the blackest of comedies. And the very scenes that were the most hilarious were also those that engendered outrage in me, gradually at first, and then with a rushing forward.
It is the true story of the latter stages of development of the Bradley armoured vehicle which was featured in the Gulf War, and the Air Force officer, James Burton, whose task, by Congressional edict, was to sign off on the final testing of the vehicle. Without his approval the Bradley could not go into production.
The film is based on his book.
What he discovered was that the Bradley's design had evolved from a fast troop transport to a mish-mash of everything, making it unsuitable for each of its now numerous and contradictory roles.
Worse, however, was that the vehicle...
A Frightening Look at the Procurement Process
This film would be hilarious were it not so frightening.
This film is not portrayed as a documentary Still, it purports to reflect in a semi-accurate manner the convulsions that attended the development of the Bradley fighting vehicle. Based on news reports, it contains more than a bit of truth, even if there is some dramatic license being employed.
The conflict in this film is between a conscientious officer who wants to do real testing and a pentagon general who wants to make contractors and politicians happy. It is a sad state of affairs.
The development of the Bradley had a long history before it ever reached deployment. It was plagued by cost overruns, changing specifications and failed tests. It even went through a phase where it was supposed to be aquatic. In the end, a troop carrier for 11 troops became a scout vehicle that was too prominent to do scout work, had a turret like a tank so it would attract extra fire, had aluminum armor so it...
Brilliantly on target
It is well-known that when it comes to procurement, the Department of Defense does not usually put a priority on such incidentals as whether the item actually works. DOD history is cluttered with such gold-plated duds as the Sergeant York gun and the infamous $7600 coffeemaker. "The Pentagon Wars," a made-for-cable film originally aired on HBO, is a devastatingly satirical -- and true -- look at one such boondoggle, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Col. James Burton (Cary Elwes) is a by-the-books Air Force officer who is given the job of making sure the Bradley is effective and ready for use. He quickly learns that the vehicle is a Frankenstein's monster, designed by committee and unable to do any of the tasks it was meant for, but which is being built anyway. In his attempts to adequately test the vehicle, Burton is up against Gen. Partridge (Kelsey Grammer), who is determined to get the Bradley into production no matter what. After all, it has been 17 years in design, with $14...
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Scenes from this movie have stuck with me my whole life. I had nightmares for weeks about the masked bandits coming after me and for awhile I could never look at a Daffy Duck mask the same again. I also vividly remember the students and teacher making a last stand at the old cave where they made their fortress. I was always impressed by how crafty those group of kids were and...
This film is full of suspense!
I first saw this movie on cable TV (I'm pretty sure) about 7 or 8 years ago! I was most likely in the 4th or 5th grade. It was absolutely stunning and created all kinds of suspense in my mind. Was the young woman and her students going to die or we're they along for a horrible joy ride? I have been looking for this movie for the 7 or 8 years since I've seen it. Until about 2 weeks ago, a friend has enlightened me with the title of this movie!! I was asking all sorts of people about it and describing all that I had remembered, but didn't even know the title! WELL, IF YOU WANT A GREAT MOVIE TO WATCH, THIS IS THE ONE! I hope to GOD, it gets re-released again....can we email the distributer? What's their name? Thanks......
Ask that Fortress be Re-Released!
Fortress, starring Rachel Ward - Australian siren of 80's movies, gives one of her best performances in this action/suspense thriller. The story takes place in a tiny town in the outback of Australia. Ward plays Sally Jones, a teacher who, along with her class, is kidnapped by a group of masked men who hope for a large ransom, in exchange for the group. The only hope for Sally and her class is escape into the wilds of the outback. The school children and their teacher push the narrative forward with heart-stopping action and relentless suspense which ends with a spine-tingling conclusion. If this movie sounds interesting, write to amazon.com and asked that it be re-released. It's currently unavailable.
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The story is pretty straightforward: a girl is attacked by a zombie on a train, leaves the train, then roams the French countryside looking for people who can help her with the ever-increasing zombie problem. The Grapes of Death title refers to wine made from pesticide-laced grapes, which is responsible for turning people into the zombies. It's different than, say, your typical Romero or Fulci zombiefest in that the people turn into the living dead gradually. It'll be just a hand decaying at first, for example, and the FX showing this and the other gore scenes are pretty effective...
Gory, sleazy zombie flick
Jean Rollin is a name instantly recognizable to hardcore horror fans, yet meaningless to nearly everyone else. This ignorance is quite unfortunate because the French director concocted some of the sleaziest, most unusual films ever made during the 1970s and 1980s, films usually imbued with a disturbing mix of hypereroticism and bloody violence. I have often tossed Rollin's name around in impolite company with seeming aplomb even though I had never seen even one of the man's films. You read enough plot synopses about someone and you start to feel as though you know every intimate detail about their work. What I did hear from others about this director oftentimes did not bode well. He is apparently well versed in schlock filmmaking, which in and of itself is not a problem with me, a true lover of bad cinema, but several of his films continue to draw raves from a selected minority of genre fans. Well, I finally sat down with a Jean Rollin film, his 1979 effort "Fascination," and was...
The Grapes of Death
Jean Rollin achieves what many consider to be his finest work in THE GRAPES OF DEATH, which also serves as one of the first French Gore films. This second dubious honor is a bit misleading, however, as the film is intended to be a surreal fantasy rather than a zombie shocker. A woman returning home to her family's vineyard is horrified to discover that the pesticides being used on the local crops have turned the villagers into the living dead! As is the case in the majority of his pictures, plot and character become secondary to creating a visual canvas (a trait that would carry over into the works of Lucio Fulci). Rollin paints the French landscape in mists, fogs, and dilapidated buildings, which add to the rich atmosphere and eerie setting. His zombies still retain shreds of their humanity, with many of the ghouls begging to be put out of their pain and misery as the rot eats them alive. One of the film's most disturbing sequences finds a blind girl stumbling over the bodies of her...
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One very sad footnote--I believe that this was Joan Sims' last
film. Ms. Sims was a delightful character actress, and, of course, an indispensible member of the legendary "Carry On Gang".
She will be missed.
Who Am I?
A woman's movie, "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells" was both nostalgic and provocative. The cast included first-rate actors Dame Judi Dench, Olympia Dukakis, Ian Holm, and Leslie Caron who never disappoint. Add to this the vocal artistry of Cleo Lane performing the songs of the forties era, and you are transported to your own long ago and far away.
Dame Judi Dench portrays an aging woman who has just lost her husband. Her marriage brought her love and family, a fair share of things material and . . . contentment. But she is at the point now when she can reflect on her life and "The Girl Who Used to Be Me" (theme song from the equally poignant movie, "Shirley Valentine").
Much of the movie, for me, centered on the relationship between the grandmother and her young granddaughter. In a particularly moving scene near the beginning of the film, the granddaughter comes into her grandmother's home to find her alone upstairs playing a tenor...
One of The Very Best Movies I Have Ever Seen
This wonderful movie is a must for those of us who remember the good old days, when music was played by real musicians, who could read music. This is another WW 2 movie and there are hundreds of them, but this is a bitter sweet comedy drama that will make you sit back and close your eyes and transport yourself back into the era which many call, "The greatest musical period of the 20th century. Judi Dench surly deserved an award for her performance of a grandmother saxophone player who played with an all girls band during the war. She was the star. She had not played in years and after her husband had died her little grandaughter asked her to pu the band back together to play at her school dance. The story of how this came about is funny, sad, sentimental and entertaining. I will leave the rest for you to see, but I give this a 5 star rating and if there 10 stars it would get that. Enjoy an afternoon with these ladies and relax, you are in for an enjoyable time.
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The picture quality is great and the audio is clear. No Marx Bros. collection is complete without it!
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A tale of the effects revenge, greed, and bittnerness can have on people, the story traces the duel of words and intrigue between two men; Captain Ralls (The DUKE), and shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye.
DUKE skippers Sidneye's prize ship, the Red Witch, and purposely wrecks her in a plan to cheat Sidneye out of a cargo of gold. Turns out that Sidneye had plotted to steal away DUKE's girl, Angelique Desaix (played by the lovely and angelic Gail Russell).
Tricking DUKE into a fatal confrontation with the girl's father, Sidneye is able to marry Angelique before The DUKE can set things right. This leads to her unhappiness, and The DUKE takes revenge on Sidneye by wrecking the Red Witch.
A wonderful study of greed, revenge, and redmption, we see the tale through the eyes of a young seaman (Gig Young), who Ralls sees as his younger...
Garland Roark's Novel Brought to the Screen
This seemingly obscure 1949 movie produced quietly during some of John Wayne's greatest years of stardom is an overlooked excellent and well written drama. The movie ties into the original story and actually opens the original book and begins the narration of Chapter one at the hands of the first mate. The story revolves around scuttling a sailing vessel "The Red Witch" that contained a cargo of five million in Gold Bullion. There is competition between the owners and Captain Ralls (John Wayne) who plays an ambivilant character who sides with whatever group is most advantageous at the time. The story is told from the perspective of the first mate and utilized the "flashback" technique similar to "Casablanca" but spends considerable time filling you in on how the present situation developed. Although this is in glorious B&W, the island scenery and romance of the age of sail work wonders along with casual romances and adventure to make this a great and interesting film to watch.
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