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 […]

Caged Heat (1974)

Caged Heat (1974) was written and directed by a young Jonathan Demme for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Working within the lurid ‘women in prison’ genre with all that entails, the movie is a cut above due to its singular characters (such as Barbara Steele’s imposing yet strange warden), surreal dream sequences, broad jokes, and […]

Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

Being a huge fan of the stylish classic Le Samourai, I’ve been very remiss in not seeking more of director Jean-Pierre Melville’s other films. When I saw a DVD copy of Le Cercle Rouge (1970) available for cheap, I snapped it up and settled in. Now if you thought Alain Delon was impeccably handsome in […]

Love And Anarchy (1973)

I’d not heard of Love And Anarchy (1973; Film d’amore e d’anarchia, ovvero: stamattina alle 10, in via dei Fiori, nella nota casa di tolleranza..) until Lewis Rice O’Donnell talked about it. Directed by Lina Wertmüller and set during the 1930s, it’s about a fuzz-faced yokel named Tunin (Giancarlo Giannini) who travels to the city in […]

The Silent Partner (1979)

After rewatching one of my all time favourite movies The Long Goodbye, I was keen for some more Elliott Gould movies. The Silent Partner (1978) is a thriller I’d not heard of before, shot in Canada and set at Christmas time. Gould plays a bank teller in a shopping mall who gets wind of a […]