Le Marginal (1982)

I discovered Ennio Morricone’s main theme for Le Marginal (1982) recently on a Best Of – that piece of music is awesome, with its disco-bass and dramatic strings. So I thought I’d track down and watch the movie it belonged to, a French super-cop crime thriller in the tradition of Bullitt, Dirty Harry, every cop […]

Django (1966)

The original Django (1966) is a spaghetti western that obviously Tarantino paid tribute in Django Unchained taking the name, the theme song and even having original Django Franco Nero pop up in a cameo. The original Django film is itself a riff (or cash-in copycat) on A Fistful Of Dollars in that it’s based on […]

In A Valley Of Violence (2016)

Directed by Ti West (House of the Devil, The Innkeepers) and produced by Blumhouse, In A Valley Of Violence (2016) is a satisfying B-movie western, a bit like John Wick (unfortunately for animal lovers) as weary soldier Ethan Hawke and his trusty dog (played by Jumpy) try to move through a small town without trouble […]

Switchblade Sisters (1975)

Switchblade Sisters (1975) is directed by Jack Hill, and is a title that has come up a lot as an exploitation drive in classic (Tarantino re-released it on his Rolling Thunder label in the late 90s, I think). A teen gang of girls led by the intense Lace (Robbie Lee, delightfully gnashing at the scenery) […]

All That Jazz (1979)

I’d been keen to see Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical All That Jazz (1979) for awhile and I finally sat down with it over one weekend. Fascinating to watch such a reliable and straight-laced performer like Roy Schneider stretch himself, playing a version of Fosse that is glib, controlling, physical, exhausted and ultimately, a rueful asshole. Some […]