The 100 Chapter 13: 72 & 71

Who doesn't love a list?

I devour the BFI Best Films of All Time list whenever they deem it necessary to revise and (invariably) disagree with most of the findings, but I still get a kick out of browsing. Same with Rolling Stone's inane Best 100 Albums (how does Sgt. Pepper drop from #1 to #24 in the latest incarnation?); the anger I feel subsides when I see they've put a couple of Aerosmith albums on the list! We all disagree with that number one but we keep right on scrolling through each choice.

This project, which has been percolating for quite a while, originated from the constant back and forth "good natured bickering" between John Scoleri and myself. John invariably loves everything and I hate it all (for more of the discourse, I advise one and all to pick up a copy of bare•bones print magazine and read our debates about streaming and movie theaters to get a taste). I began to think it would be fun to compose a Favorite (as opposed to Best) 100 and compare our selections. Making it even more tantalizing, I managed to talk the third head of Ghidorah, Jack Seabrook, into participating. This could be interesting, since John's never seen a movie the two Georges (Romero and Lucas) didn't have a hand in, and Jack usually favors the flicks that have words at the bottom of the screen (dis-moi que j'ai tort, Jack!). I, on the other hand, can't wait to educate these two gentlemen as to what constitutes good cinema.

Every Thursday, we'll count down our picks two at a time. We're hoping this will generate discourse outside of our trio. Let us know just how crazy we are. This is going to be fun!—Peter

Aliens (1986) 

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser

Directed by James Cameron

"We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly."

No, it's not nearly as good as Alien, of course, but this is one riotous, rollicking mindless ride once it shifts into second gear about an hour or so in. James Cameron (the only time you'll hear that name on this list) was coming off the unexpected success of Harlan Ellison's The Terminator and that gave him a bit of pull in Hollywood. He levied that newfound mojo into a higher budget for the floundering Alien II and managed to make his $20 million budget look like $200 million. It's a very easy film to describe to newcomers who might want to take a look: Rambo in Space. I saw this opening night at the Cinema 150 right up the road from where young teen John Scoleri resided.

Some of the dialogue is cringeworthy (Bill Paxton's  overcaffeinated "Dude, let's paaaaaaahty" one-liners, in particular remind you just why the 1980s should be excised from history, yet those bon mots are what most of the knuckleheads remember today) and Ripley's see-saw attitude toward the trip ("There's no way I'll go down on that planet... Okay, I'll go down but I ain't gettin' off the bus... ok, I'm going in") can be confusing, but the action is non-stop and the climactic fight between Ripley and the Queen a dazzler. After this one, the franchise took a header. And, hey, for the first time on the 100, the kid ain't annoying!—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: In my memory, this was one of those sequels that was better than the original, like Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2, Terminator 2, etc. Alien was good but this was supercharged! I haven't seen it in decades, but I have fond memories of it.

John: As far as I'm concerned, Aliens doesn't deserve to be within 100 films of Alien on a list like this (and we'll get to that one in time, but it's going to be a while). I'm honestly shocked that you can somehow forgive all of the '80s excess of this film when you so openly complain about it in so many others. I give Cameron credit for being smart enough to distance himself from the tone of Ridley Scott's far superior original, but I think he must have still been high on Rambo fumes when he sat down to write it. And I'd put it about on par with that one, which is similarly distanced from the much preferred First Blood. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous Queen vs Power Loader set-piece. Thankfully, in 1986 we had films like Highlander to cleanse the palate after disappointments such as this.

 

The Warriors (1979)

Starring: Michael Beck, James Remar

Directed by Walter Hill

"Can You Dig It?"

"Warriors! Come out to play-ay!"

A charismatic figure named Cyrus calls a meeting of representatives from 100 gangs in New York City. Each gang sends nine members to the Bronx, where Cyrus calls for a truce, suggesting that if the gangs all work together, they will wield incredible, city-wide power. Among the gangs in attendance are the Warriors, from Coney Island. Suddenly, a shot rings out from the crowd and Cyrus is killed! The shooter points at the Warriors and accuses them of the assassination. The police arrive and all the gangs scatter! Can the Warriors make it home by subway from the Bronx to Coney Island without being caught by the cops or wiped out by rival gangs?

I must have seen The Warriors on VHS a year or two after it came out. I watched it with my guy friends and loved it from the start. Watching it again this week, I was struck by how accurate the portrait of NYC in the late '70s is. It really was dirty and dangerous, but it had an appeal that is missing in today's high rent, low risk metropolis. What works best about the movie is the rival gangs, each of whom has something unusual in the way they dress or act. Most memorable are the Baseball Furies, who wear baseball uniforms, carry baseball bats, and paint their faces.

I watched the director's cut, in which Hill added transitions from scene to scene that are made to look like comic book pages. Best of all on the disc are interviews with cast and crew, where the costume designer reveals that the idea of painting the Baseball Furies' faces was inspired by Kiss—"they were big at the time." At about an hour and a half, it's not too long and the ending, when the villain clinks beer bottles together and taunts, "Warriors! Come out to play-ay!" is what everyone remembers.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: A classic (another that just barely missed my list) but no mention of the A+ end credits song by Joe Walsh (remade by Eagles later that year for The Long Run)? This is another of the movies from 1979 that I must have seen twenty times. My favorite scene isn't even a gang fight; it's the nice, tender moment between Swan and Mercy on the subway where the posh kids are giving them the stink-eye. Great little break between skull bashings.

John: While not on my list, I do think this one is a lot of fun. And another great David Patrick Kelly performance! What stands out to me is how a film that should not hold up to scrutiny, in particular given the colorful costuming of each of the different gangs, manages to rise above it. It somehow works and fits in the world Hill created. It feels like New York before it was walled off into a maximum security prison. I personally recommend skipping the director's cut, at least until you've had a chance to experience it as it was initially released. 

The Fog (1980) 

Starring: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis

Directed by John Carpenter

"At the bottom of the sea lay the Elizabeth Dane, with her crew, their lungs filled with salt water, their eyes open, staring to the darkness."

Another John Carpenter classic, and a great modern day ghost story. The crew of the Elizabeth Dane lay at the bottom of the ocean for 100 years after the founders of Antonio Bay intentionally lit fires to cause their ship to crash. As present day locals prepare to celebrate the town's centennial, a fog returns to Antonio Bay, and there's something in it! The film features one of Carpenter's most haunting scores.

The human cast is fantastic, from Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, and Janet Leigh to the many members assembled from Carpenter's stock company: Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Loomis, and Darwin (Napoleon Wilson) Joston! And we can't forget the ghosts, led by makeup effects artist Rob Bottin as captain Blake, who are incredibly creepy with their unforgettable glowing eyes!—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Adrienne Barbeau! If you were a male teen in the 1970s, only Farrah boiled your eggs faster. Just watched this recently and, while it won't show up on my 100 List, I still got a kick out of it. You can tell Widow's Bay took a lot of inspiration from The Fog (but that's okay since JC obviously borrowed his atmosphere from EC Comics and maybe a little Fulci). And one more time: Adrienne Barbeau.

Jack: I remember seeing this in a theater when it came out. It was scary and fun. I probably saw it again on VHS way back when but I haven't watched it in 40+ years.

Deliverance (1972) 

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty

Directed by George McCowan

"Did you ever look out over a lake and think of somethin' buried underneath it? Buried underneath it. Well man, that's just about as buried as you can get."

Four buddies go for a canoe trip on the Cahulawassee River (actually the Chattooga) in Georgia and attract the attention of some unrefined folk along the way. An encounter leads to death by self-defense using a bow and arrow and the boys find themselves stalked by the dead man's kinfolk. The father of so many "rednecks vs. city boys" flicks that it would take me days to list (and to be fair, a few of those were pretty dolgarn good), Deliverance is one harrowing, engrossing thriller. 

The leads (the fourth man is Ronnie Cox from The Car) are all solid. Beatty and Voight always elevate what they're in but if you've never seen Burt Reynolds in anything but his good 'ol boy comedy flicks, you're in for a real treat (although he was equally good in 1974's The Longest Yard). Each man has his own obvious personality trait: Reynolds the macho asshole; Beatty the overweight city boy dismissive of the hill people he comes in contact with; Cox the moral compass; and Voight the buddy who just wants to fit in but doesn't really know why he's come along. By movie's end, these guys all seem to have switched personality traits.

There's a lot to recommend here; some critics pointed to the ecological theme (the end of nature) while others found the photography (by Vilmos Zsigmond) to be the highlight. For me, it's the breakneck pace; there's no time to catch that breath. No sooner do we bury the mountain man than we're back in the canoes, facing the rapids and more unfriendly inbreds. I think the first time I saw Deliverance must have been its TV premiere in 1975. I remember all the kids at school echoing the famous "Squeal like a pig!" line during recess the next day. Voight spotting Burt in the distance, pulling back his bow just before he lets it fly, still raises the hairs on the back of my neck fifty years on.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I've seen this more than once but not in a while. I agree it's a great flick. Now that banjo music will be stuck in my head.

John: It's a good film, but not one that compels me to revisit it with any frequency, so not a candidate for my Top 100.

The Road Warrior: Mad Max 2 (1981)

Starring: Mel Gibson

Directed by George Miller

The ayatollah of rock and rollah!"

In the not too distant future, civilization has collapsed and what few people are left fight to the death for oil and gasoline to power their engines. Mad Max Rockatansky, a former policeman whose family was killed, happens upon a makeshift fortress in the Australian Outback where survivors guard a tanker full of gas. He decides to help them fend off attacks by a group of violent lunatics led by someone who calls himself Lord Humongous and this leads to a wild, extended chase, with every sort of vehicle trying to catch and stop Mad Max as he drives the tanker toward a safer area.

I watched this last night and was struck by the humor, the violence, and the sheer propulsion of the long chase that makes up the latter part of the film. I can remember when this came out and Mel Gibson was one of the coolest movie stars on the planet, long before he went off the deep end. George Miller's direction seemed spectacular at the time, though I've long since lost interest in his career. The Australian Outback filming locations sure are bleak, as is the narrative, but there's still enough here to make it an enjoyable watch. The flood of post-apocalyptic films that followed in its wake have dimmed its effect somewhat, but it was groundbreaking at the time.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Now this is one of those sequels that is better than the original. This was released during that dynamite summer of 1982, where we got Poltergeist, Rocky III, E.T., Carpenter's The Thing, Blade Runner, and Conan. We'll never see a summer like that again. I think I lived at the Century Theater. Anyway, I loved this one, though not nearly enough to include it on my list. 

John: George Miller is one of a kind, and The Road Warrior is one of those rare handful of films that managed to launch an entirely new genre of copycat films. The look and feel would be emulated for years to come but never matched (though Miller himself has delivered several strong examples in the franchise since). I'll even go on record agreeing that this one surpasses the original (though I'm still a huge fan of Mad Max, particularly with the original Australian dialogue track). 

Highlander (1986) 

Starring: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown

Directed by Russell Mulcahy

"There can be only one."

Immortals. Sword fighting. Beheadings. And Queen! Highlander was my first exposure to Christopher Lambert who with, the support of the late, great Sean Connery in one of his most entertaining performances, we see him evolve from a clumsy barbarian to an accomplished sword master. And it was also my first exposure to Clancy Brown who, as a result of this film, I would subsequently expect to portray the nastiest of villains whenever he showed up onscreen (and he all too often happily obliged).

Russell Mulcahy took his experience shooting music videos and created a visually stunning adventure. The use of the Queen songs is far more effective than how their music was deployed in Flash Gordon. (Yes, there were the inevitable sequels, as well as a TV series, all of which seem to have  forgotten the whole 'there can be only one' mantra.)—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: This movie sucks and so does the Queen soundtrack. And you can quote me on that. I think we have Highlander to blame for all the Harlequin bodice rippers of the 1980s. Or is it the other way around? At any rate, all of it should be thrown on a pile and ignited ASAP. I knew there would be some interesting picks made by my pal, John, but this is the first one that made me roll my eyes.

Jack: I've not seen this, but I don't know why. It seems like something I'd enjoy.