Design Movie Reviews

The plot is tight, economical and well crafted....taciturn, moody Detective Frank Bullitt (McQueen) is charged with the protection of a key witness vital to an upcoming trial involving Mafia connections. Whilst hidden away in a supposed secure location, the witness and his police guard are brutally gunned down by unknown assailants. The heat is turned up on Bullitt by his tough Captain (Simon Oakland) and the manipulative, opportunistic politician Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) to come up with the right answers fast ! Between the draining investigation, Bullitt struggles to maintain his relationship with his cultured, sensitive girlfriend, Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset)

Primarily coming from a TV series background, Englishman Peter Yates (directing his fourth movie) did a commendable job as director on "Bullitt"...producing a complex, intense crime thriller with a unique style that would ultimately influence many other films. Yates would later to go onto direct Robert Mitchum in the excellent "sleeper" crime film "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" !

And of course "Bullitt" is reknowned for it's now legendary car chase between Frank Bullitt's 390 GT Mustang and the two hitmen in their black, Dodge Charger 440 Magnum barrelling through the city streets and highways of San Francisco....just don't pay too much attention to how many times they pass that slow-moving, green VW Beetle !!

The DVD transfer is excellent in both sound and picture quality, and the Limited Edition Set with the extra goodies (Single sheet poster, shooting draft, lobby cards etc.) is a real bonus for keen film fans !!

One of my favourite cop thrillers....McQueen sizzles on screen !!

Great movie, by the way... read my review!

To start, the extra features are fun and informative; I especially liked the clips from movies that first featured the songs from SITR. I also enjoyed seeing Debbie Reynolds looking so good 50 years after filming (she narrates the "Making of..." piece).

Moving on to the film itself, the transfer to digital medum was done very well. The picture is great (especially since I started using an S-video connection from DVD player to TV) and the sound is fantastic. The music was apparently digitized from a pristine original or something (I am not too clear on the technical details). Whatever the MGM folks did, it worked like a charm! The movie looks and sounds beautiful, even compared to the new print currently playing in movie theaters.

I should add that my elder son has been a big SITR fan since he was 2 years old. We used to play a game in which he was Gene Kelly and I was Donald O'Connor. He would get upset if I didn't call him Gene for the hours the game went on. He is currently taking tap-dancing lessons, in no small part due to the influence of Gene Kelly in SITR as well as other movies (e.g. Anchors Aweigh, On The Town, and American In Paris).

In short, this DVD is a wonderful addition to any movie collection.

The film itself is the most briskly paced of Chaplin's feature-length films. And his writing is sharp, unhindered by the sermonizing which permeates his last works. The dilemma facing our Little Tramp this time is something all of us can relate to: For the first time, we see him thinking ahead, wanting to have a future, to form a family, and working towards that end. Chaplin's physical-comedy skills are at their peak: Witness the extended takes of the rollerskate scene, and the factory assembly line. Even if the 18fps (sometimes 16fps) film speed made everything look faster than it really was, it's still impressive physical co-ordination requiring flawless execution, since Chaplin rarely edits using coverage.

In Modern Times we see one of the first truly well-rounded Chaplin heroines. The radiant Paulette Goddard was Chaplin's best leading lady, her high spirits and lively presence being a much better foil for Chaplin than the starry-eyed icons of perfection that were Georgia Hale, Edna Purviance, or Virginia Cherrill. She just has more star quality and brings a quirkier, more animated personality to Chaplin's films, balancing them nicely.

And the gags -- some of the best in the Chaplin canon. The eating machine always has me rolling on the floor; the nonsense song is terrific (the DVD offers a "karaoke" version which, though a novelty, does tell us finally what the lyrics actually are); and all the machine gags are fast-moving gems.

The bonus materials include a long outtake and several documentaries. "Chaplin Today" features guests Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the French filmmakers behind the film Rosetta, and though their film-historian banter is not entirely to my taste, they do bring up some insights that I hadn't observed about Modern Times.

In all, a great release, and a great DVD to have for movie nights. It's a wonderful presentation of a comedy classic.

The second disc has an introduction by biographer David Robinson documentary, in which Robinson explains that Chaplin was very concerned with and educated about economics and the role of industry in causing the Great Depression. His ideas became the driving force behind "Modern Times".

The documentary features a commentary by two French directors. I didn't find it particularly insightful. However, there is also footage of Chaplin (without his Tramp costume) with Gandhi and talking to a camera. Though brief, it gave me my first look at Chaplin the man (I had only seen him as the Tramp).

Overall, an excellent work, and highly recommended. Oh yeah, the film's good too.

Although it drags a bit (maybe should have cut 20 minutes or so) I found numerous humorous moments in the movie (especially the Hitler parody with the beach-ball globe and duck hunting). There's a serious from-the-heart speach at the end, one that's very much out of character (or in character, depending on how you look at it), and, although it lends gravitas to the parodies beforehand, I think it would have been much more appropriate (and scathing to all political nonsense) if it had been done in character.

Anyways, The Great Dictator is a fun movie, that serves as a good introduction to Chaplin (at least, I'm eagre to see more, especially Monsieur Verdoux and Modern Times). The DVD has some nice goodies too, so it's worth a purchase if you want to build up a library, but I can't see myself wanting to watch this again for a long while.

At least in the larger U.S. cities 30 years ago, residents had become totally fed up with traditional law enforcement initiatives. It was no longer safe to walk the streets at night. Even more dangerous to do so in public parks. Homes were robbed while people worked during the day. Many of the same homes were robbed again later after insurance coverage replaced the articles previously stolen. Racial animosities, drug abuse, and a widespread contempt for institutional authority all contributed to such problems.

Under Don Siegel's crisp direction, Eastwood and his associates in the cast bring R.M. Fink's screenplay to life (and yes, to death) as they focus on what is obviously an irreconcilable conflict between Callahan and his superiors who include the mayor of San Francisco. Callahan's motto seems to be "Whatever it takes." In some situations, it may take his 44 Magnum, "the most powerful handgun in the world." Callahan has not totally lost faith in his society nor in the importance of the legal system. However, he does feel betrayed. The mayor and even Lieutenant Bressler (Harry Guardino) just don't "get it." This is precisely the same point Jim Malone (Sean Connery) makes to Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) in The Untouchables 26 years later: When orthodox ("by the book") crime-fighting strategies and tactics don't succeed, use others even if they are not (at least technically) legal. Countless other films (such as Magnum Force, The French Connection, and L.A. Confidential) also make the same point.

It is important to remember when seeing this film again, as I did recently, that it portrays elements of an urban society few of us ever experience. Also, that it is a drama, not a documentary. Its primary purpose is to tell a story. The plot focuses on a serial killer named "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson) whom Callahan is determined to eliminate. Even when he eventually does so, questions remain. Don't criminals also have rights? What would happen if all or most other detectives followed Callahan's example? To what extent (if any) should private citizens also be actively involved in law enforcement? I agree with several critics who claim that, with Dirty Harry, Siegel and Eastwood created a new film genre. Its influence proved to be substantial. Each viewer must decide for herself or himself how much social relevance it has retained after 32 years but almost everyone would agree that it has lost little of its entertainment value.