Aging Movie Reviews

I am NOT a fan of Bob Hope's movies. I really never watch him as a comic but this movie was very enjoyable! Great musical numbers and the kids are dolls. Rags to riches. With the combination of music, kids, Hope not playing Hope...you will spend an delightful evening renting or buying this movie.

A rarely seen Bob Hope gem, "The Seven Little Foys" is well worth seeking out. The film is based on the true story of Eddie Foy, a vaudvillian who, after the unexpected death of his wife, decides to make his seven children into a stage act in order to keep on eye on them while on the road. That his children are one and all completely deviod of any talent whatsoever doesn't faze him much. After all, famous for being dreadfully untalented is still famous.

The first half of the movie drags a bit while detailing the courtship of Eddie Foy and his long-suffering wife, but the second half has Bob playing off of seven terrific child actors and the results are very entertaining. (For example, racking his brain on how to get his kids on stage, Bob asks them what they can do. His littlest replies cheerfully, "I can dance!" and proceeds to careen around the room in a drunken manner. "Keep your opinions to yourself", Bob observes.)

To Eddie's surprise, the kids are so bad they're a huge hit, and though dysfunctional, the Foys are ultimately a loving and tightknit bunch. Bob and the kids have a great chemistry, and he also has a great foil in the Italian actress that plays the children's aunt. (At one point she grouses that the house Eddie has bought is "falling apart", "Nobody complains about you", Bob shoots back. )

And of course, there is the famous scene when Bob and Jimmy Cagney do a wondeful softshoe atop a banquet table; this scene alone is worth the price of the DVD.

If you're a fan of Bob Hope or like turn of the century period films , be sure not to miss "The Seven Little Foys".

This Brentwood Bob Hope DVD has beautiful color and a razor sharp image. The movie is aimed more at music than comedy, and comedy fans may be a little disappointed. But Bob Hope fans and musical fans will be amused.

I am NOT a fan of Bob Hope's movies. I really never watch him as a comic but this movie was very enjoyable! Great musical numbers and the kids are dolls. Rags to riches. With the combination of music, kids, Hope not playing Hope...you will spend an delightful evening renting or buying this movie.

A rarely seen Bob Hope gem, "The Seven Little Foys" is well worth seeking out. The film is based on the true story of Eddie Foy, a vaudvillian who, after the unexpected death of his wife, decides to make his seven children into a stage act in order to keep on eye on them while on the road. That his children are one and all completely deviod of any talent whatsoever doesn't faze him much. After all, famous for being dreadfully untalented is still famous.

The first half of the movie drags a bit while detailing the courtship of Eddie Foy and his long-suffering wife, but the second half has Bob playing off of seven terrific child actors and the results are very entertaining. (For example, racking his brain on how to get his kids on stage, Bob asks them what they can do. His littlest replies cheerfully, "I can dance!" and proceeds to careen around the room in a drunken manner. "Keep your opinions to yourself", Bob observes.)

To Eddie's surprise, the kids are so bad they're a huge hit, and though dysfunctional, the Foys are ultimately a loving and tightknit bunch. Bob and the kids have a great chemistry, and he also has a great foil in the Italian actress that plays the children's aunt. (At one point she grouses that the house Eddie has bought is "falling apart", "Nobody complains about you", Bob shoots back. )

And of course, there is the famous scene when Bob and Jimmy Cagney do a wondeful softshoe atop a banquet table; this scene alone is worth the price of the DVD.

If you're a fan of Bob Hope or like turn of the century period films , be sure not to miss "The Seven Little Foys".

This Brentwood Bob Hope DVD has beautiful color and a razor sharp image. The movie is aimed more at music than comedy, and comedy fans may be a little disappointed. But Bob Hope fans and musical fans will be amused.

Harvesters had a chance from the start to be a pretty good film,
but it flopped. Maybe because of direction, maybe because of differences of ideas, whatever.
One thing that messed up this film was the silly CGI/visual effects. Watch for them with the guy driving his car by the screen and the other one when they are driving down the dirt road to the "Harvester" house.
The movie did have some good scenes and the acting was ok
rent it first see what you think,I own it and i'm not impressed

with it.

If you enjoyed TEXAS CHAINSAW and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, you'll love HARVESTERS! Leanna Chamish, who plays the beautiful and deadly Betty Peelman, is remarkable. You might call her "the real Mrs. Cleaver". The rest of the cast is great, too. Excellent production values and an interesting story line provide chills in the great drive-in horror movie tradition. You'll want to settle down with a big bowl of popcorn and turn out the lights before spinning this terrific DVD. Enjoy!

Harvesters is way above the average B-movie. I've seen a lot of low-budget stuff, but this one really stands out. It's got good acting, nice special effects, many gruesome death scenes, and a kick-butt ending. The DVD quality is outstanding, with good picture image and great sound quality. It also has an informative "making of" special feature that I found very entertaining. There are two trailers included, as well. This movie isn't for the kids (language and nudity), but for horror and suspense fans, it's sure to please! I recommend it.

The DVD is interesting, but there is too much of the same old commentary that has been circulating in beat documentaries for years. Many of the folks interviewed weren't all that significant to the movement. However, the Burroughs footage alone is worth the effort - but not nearly enough Jack Kerouac footage - there should have been much more of Jack and much less modern critique by folks who just weren't there. I would have liked to have seen more of Gregory Corso as well, but he has some priceless moments in the film! The Neil Cassady footage is also very good. Ginsberg is Ginsberg. I didn't get the point of the Johnny Depp/Dennis Hopper/John Turturro bits. Although Turturro's performance is by far the best! Overall, it's a nice documentary but not as ground breaking as was hyped.

"The Source," director Chuck Workman's documentary about the Beat Generation, is as close to communing with a bygone generation as possible. In this examination of the lives of modern American literature's unholy Trinity -- Allen Ginsberg ("HOWL"), Jack Kerouac ("On the Road") and William S. Burroughs ("Naked Lunch") -- and how they unwittingly made thoughts pulse to their own strange beat, Workman's film releases the essence of these legends by casting a spell of media voodoo. Ironically, this same method of divination is responsible for bringing bits of these great personalities into the minds of today's commercially fed youth -- remember the infamous Burroughs Nike ad and the use of Kerouac's image to sell blue jeans?

This look back at the fathers of the Beat Generation was filmed before Ginsberg was silenced by cancer in the spring of 1997, yet the poet functions as a spirit-guide not unlike Virgil in Dante's "Inferno." He gently takes us from the initial meeting of the three writers in 1944 at Columbia University to their inspiration by Neal Cassady through the '50s, the Jazz Age and into the '60s with the youthful interpretation of what they started and how it fomented a revolution.

Like Dante, we are left on our own for much of the documentary to sort through the barrage of incredible footage, interviews and huge cast of players, which Workman must have sold nearly a pound of his own soul to procure. The surreal nature of Burroughs loading his gun or watching Neal Cassady do a jig by a Volkswagen bus, plunges the audience even deeper into the past by humanizing men whose mythic importance is on the same level as JFK or James Dean.

It is these scenes that make "The Source" such a fine record of a lost age. Workman's labor of love is crafted like the best college history courses. We hear exactly what altered the state of the spoken and written word, and the writers' astonishment that they were being emulated and taken so seriously. Burroughs' contempt, Kerouac's confusion and Ginsberg's quiet acceptance of their fame are illuminating to those of us who weren't there or didn't pay close enough attention to the centers of culture.

Workman goes a bit astray with his use of reenactments, a decidedly MTV convention that, for the most part, serve only as a minor distraction. It's easy to buy Johnny Depp reciting bits and pieces of Jack Kerouac's works in what looks like a roadside bar, but Dennis Hopper's attempts at sections of Burroughs' "Junky," "Interzone" and "Queer" are terrible. It might be because Hopper is, in fact, a legend unto himself, and it's difficult to see him as another from the same period. (An excellent Burroughs can be seen in David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" starring Peter Weller as an amalgamated William S.). All is forgiven, though, because the fresh memory of John Turturro's visceral rendition of Ginsberg's "HOWL" outside the Rockland State Hospital in New York City is unforgettable and truly inspired.

However, much of the footage is painful, and Workman is determined to present this mythological period by picking at the scabs of time and the recent commercial deification of these people. Scenes of an angry and pickled Kerouac trying to discuss the essence of writing with talk show host Steve Allen -- and then if you can believe it, William F. Buckley -- are quite sobering and make it clear that theirs' was more of a struggle than a party.

Then there are the shots of Burroughs that are about as comforting as the cold sweat that lets the addict know he hasn't killed himself. He's young and dangerous, wielding a knife in one scene and a syringe in the next. And although there is a perverse thrill watching the world-famous junky shoot up for the camera, we also get to see the needles in his eyes filled with scorn for anyone unlucky enough to be on the other side of that camera. One can almost feel him looking through the movie screen, searching for the kind of people who will eventually frequent "art houses" to watch films about things that should be read in books.

Just when it appears that everything is getting too weird, Ginsberg returns. Wrapped in a blanket and looking so much like his Dantaen counterpart, he glides through the early morning light of New York -- with lines of his poetry materializing on a nearby movie marquee.

Released in 1999 to coincide with the publication of "The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats", this Chuck Workman documentary is a kaleidoscope of film clips, photos and interviews with a particular focus on Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. I looked forward to seeing this video in anticipation of learning something. After all, these writers influenced the era in which I was growing up and opened unique and dramatic new ways of viewing the world. Tracing the early beginnings in the 1940s and bringing the movement right up to the present, it showed the changes in these young men (and they were ALL men) through the years.

With the exception of Allen Ginsberg, they look like they all turned...out of touch with reality and locked into a way of thinking whose off-kilter attitude which was once hip, turned into an off-kilter attitude which never grew out of the fifties and seems "mental" today. Gregory Corso and Lawrence Ferlinghetti look like bad smelling derelicts. On a talk show in later years Kerouac, with slurred speech insists that the Vietnam war was a plot of the Vietnamese to get American jeeps and, in a later interview with William F. Buckley Jr., his eyes are red-rimmed and droopy and his words seem like babble as he is demolished by the precise cutting words of his host. The film moves fast and the clips come one after another. Often, the cast of characters are not identified and it was hard for me to follow just who was who. There's Ken Kesey. And Neal Cassady. And short film clips from 50s TV shows from Father Knows Best and Alfred Hitchcock poking fun at the Beatniks. It was hard to follow any individual story line and I found myself getting bored.

Several well known actors were hired to read some of the writing itself. Johnny Depp did a good job of reading Kerouac and Dennis Hopper read from Burroughs. John Turturro, was emotional in his reading of insberg's "Howl" but he never rose above the material. I wish this film was better. I would really like to know more about the beats. For years I've carried around the idea that some day I'd pick up acopy of "On the Road" or "Naked Lunch" in a secondhand book store and explore these writers for myself. But frankly, after hearing bits andpieces of them in this film, I've lost most of my interest. These ravings from angry young men intent on ripping preconceived culture apart certainly did influence our world. I say "hooray" for the effort. I'm personally glad that they opened the way to the future. But, after seeing this film, I'm not sure I want to enter their world through their words.

This film is incredibly slow, and it has put me to sleep twice now. I can't understand all this ooing and ahing over it. 5 stars? Yawn. And I generally love (and tolerate) old films and find Marlene fascinating, but this one never really takes off. I'd rather see Blonde Venus again than sit through Shanghai Express. Clive Brook is a troll, and his performance is a waste of celluloid, a la David Niven or Cary Grant.

Paramount's SHANGHAI EXPRESS is an adventure story and above all a love story about Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) and Captain Harvey (Clive Brook) who used to be her lover. Most of the action takes place on a train which is held up by Chinese bandits.

SHANGHAI EXPRESS stands as one of the best of Marlene Dietrich's performances with Josef von Sternberg as director. What I also find especially intriguing about this classic gem are the appearances of Warner Oland and Anna May Wong in important supporting roles.

Although he is best remembered as Charlie Chan, the Swedish actor Warner Oland had in addition a distinguished film career playing a variety of heavies. He was Colonel von Hindau in DISHONORED with Marlene Dietrich in 1931. This movie was also directed by Josef von Sternberg.

Anna May Wong had an equally illustrious career. One early success before sound was her role as a Mongol slave in THE THIEF OF BAGDAD with Douglas Fairbanks in 1924.

"Shanghai Express", is one of those films that very aptly fits into the category of "they sure dont make them like this anymore". Boasting hauntingly beautiful camera work and photography, the film being very much a product of the glamourous 1930's treats its leading ladies face as if it was a rare icon throughout the films running time. These haunting images are the work of Joseph Von Sternberg, the genius who was responsible for creating so much of the mystic around Marlene Dietrich in classic roles like "Morocco", "Blonde Venus", and "The Scarlet Empress".

Exotica is the one word that constantly comes to mind when viewing "Shanghai Express". It's not so much the storyline (which in actual fact while entertaining is rather trite) that holds your attention so much as the ever more amazing series of "photographic images" that are made of Marlene Dietrich throughout the film wrapped up as she is in exotic furs, black feathers or shrouded in cigarette smoke or partial shadows. They truly are what Hollywood glamour at this time was all about and they were responsible for creating some unforgettable visual images of Dietrich that have gone down in Hollywood folklore. "Shanghai Express" tells the story of a disparate group of passengers on the express train travelling to Shanghai during the Chinese civil war. Along the way we get to findout abit more about each of the passengers before the train is hijacked by a warlord who is travelling on the train. Dietrich plays one of her most famous characters in Shanghai Lily, a lady of ill repute who makes the memorable statement that "it took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily". On board the train she encounters her great love from 5 years previous Capt. Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) a man who has never got over his great passion for her. Brook as other reviewers have mentioned is a strange choice as the romantic lead here as he is obviously too old for the role while still being a capable actor. Despite the lack of real chemistry between them they nevertheless work well and make the scenario of them rekindling their love and Shanghai Lily being willing to sacrifice herself to ensure Donald's safety when he is in the hands of the warlord that bit more believable. The film is peppered with other great performances. Anna May Wong plays the spunky partisan Hui Fei and since very little of her work is available for viewing these days her presence in "Shanghai Express" is a reat treat. She was a wonderfully gifted actress and here her presence is vital to the plot development which finds her being raped by Warlord Chang and then seeking her own revenge for the injustice done to her by fair means or foul. Warner Oland, famous as one of the actors to play Charlie Chan here plays the devious Henry Chang a man of mystery on the journey who turns out to be a vicious warlord who hijacks the train when one of his supporters is arrested. There has been criticism of a westerner playing the role of Chang however Oland is wonderful in the role and really gets his teeth into the character of the ruthless warlord. The memorable Louise Closser Hale, a veteran of so many 1930's melodramas scores here as the elderly busybody Mrs. Haggerty who's main concern is looking after her little dog and who strongly disapproves of everyone and everything on the train. Her bossy nature contrasts beautifully in her scenes with Warner Oland and she is definately a match for him in the bossy stakes. Eugene Pallette is also memorable in his usual gruff way playing Sam Salt the compulsive gambler on board who tries to continually place bets on anything that is occuring.

Working in collaboration with Joseph Von Sternberg Marlene Dietrich had a dream run at Paramount in the early 1930's. Her work with Von Sternberg is certainly what she is most remembered for but it's easy to forget that all the expertise at Paramount was responsible for creating the "Dietrich look". Camera work is the vital selling point in this film as I have mentioned creating so many unforgettable images of the Dietrich glamour. Costumes are also a stand out here as Marlene, dressed unforgettably by Travis Banton wears a series of exotic gowns that no other actress of this time, with the possible exception of Garbo could have worn. The overall look of the film is a beautiful feast for the eyes and the scenes of the Chinese markets, and the station were the passengers are held at are filled with atmosphere and are first rate in their execution.

A huge success on its release in 1932 "Shanghai Express" is still a movie treat and clearly illustrates how the mystic of Marlene Dietrich was born. She is perfect in the role, mesmerizing in actual fact, and is the main reason for enjoying repeated screenings of this classic. It is my favourite Dietrich film and really points out what Hollywood glamour was all about. Enjoy.

Please, before the rotten vegetables start flying, I'm in no way disparaging the brilliance of Half Japanese by low-balling this documentary. I just think there are glaring flaws abounding here. To start with, the film almost completely whitewashes over the music and era that really made the band unique. They talk at length about 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts, but we hear none (or next to none) of the music!! We get a few seconds of "Calling All Girls" and some live versions of "Firecracker Firecracker," and then suddenly we're in Jad's indie-rock later period. All of Jad's "Zany" later songs about Walt Disney and his wholesome songs about dating Juanita and her red dress are emphasized, while his completely seminal work, which revealed a much greater fear of being hurt by women, is ignored. You're going to play "This Could Be The Night" but totally avoid "Nicole Told Me" or "I Know How It Feels...bad"??!?! It's this love/terror mix that makes Jad such a complex artistic figure. Nearly all the music covered is from the Charmed Life/Band That Would Be King era, which is apparently all the thing for certain 1/2 Jap fans, but c'mon, we don't ever hear word (or sound) one about the "Loud" album!

Finally, with the exception of Penn Jilliette, who's at his best here, the lesson we seem to learn from this film is that Half Japanese fans are professional feebs. I can't think of a worse triumvirate to shower praises on this great band than pucker-holes like Byron Coley, Phil Milstein, and the king of all that is wrong with independent music, Gerard Cosloy (No great music has been released on a major label? Warner Brothers put out the Gang of Four's "Entertainment!" Tell me, how's that new Matmos album coming, foolio?). Are there no decent people who like 1/2 Japanese? I mean apart from Penn and David Greenberger?

This is a must-see documentary in that 1/2 Japanese are a must-hear band, and Jad and David really are the best people to tell their own stories. And what great stories they are! Proceed with all due caution, but enjoy the beams of pure unrefracted kindness and sweetness that crack through the cynical hipster overcoat that's haphazardly thrown over the subject matter.

This is a very cute and amusing documentary on "Half Japanese". It seems really relavent to the rock music scene here in the U.S. in which " ... rock" groups like Korn and Limp Bizkit are the big sellers. If you're a big indie rock fan (like me) then this will definately tickle your fancy and give you hope that someone out there is in their garage making another breakthrough album.

This is a wonderful picture about some of indie rock's most eccentric stars. The live rooftop performance of "1,000,000 kisses" is worth the price of admission alone. And Jay Fair's explanation of "How to play guitar" may cause you to wet yourself with delight. Have napkins close for the tears of laughter and joy. If you like indie rock check this out. My only complaint is all of the major label bashing. It is rather pointless in this context. There is also some blow hard DJ type who disses the Beatles (! ). As does someone who negatively reviewed this DVD, but he appears to hate almost everything except the J Geils Band's (?) first album. Bwahahahahahahaha! BUY BUY BUY!

This well-done remake of "where's charlie" is made all that better by Ellen Barkin's performance.

Blake Edwards does a fine job of directing his own original script for his gender, but not comically challenged film. .............. We open with advertising executive Steve Brooks (Perry King), a cad in every sense of the word. We are clear that Steve has broken many hearts, three of which turn on him at once. As three of his scorned women decide to lure him into a hotub where he thinks the women have invited him for a multiple seduction, they get their revenge and drown him instead. .............. Now Steve is dead, but hasn't quite reached heaven yet. I suppose you could say he's in purgatory, until, as god requires, he can get one female to truly love him. That would be a cinch for the unrepentant romeo except for the fact that at the last minute, the devil intervenes and decides he must get a female to truly love him AS another female, enter a great comic performance from Ellen Barkin. ................ Ellen Barkin playing a female version of Perry King's Steve was great casting, since the two DO look so similar. Barkin is truly comical as Amanda. She tells Ad boss Tony Dow, that she's Steve's sister, again, believable. What's not believable? A high powered Ad agency letting a top executives sister, fill his now high-heeled shoes. Hey, no one said this film was realistic. However, the stepping in and filling anothers shoes becomes forefront, as Amanda takes over for Steve. She also has to get used to being a woman. This is not an easy task. She desperately confesses to one of her murdering ex-lovers who she really is. The ex then comes to Amanda's aid, teaching her how to do all the things girls do. Barkin is worthy of Lucille Ball slapstick status as she hilariously teeters around on those hard to fill high-heel shoes, tripping and grasping walls. She must also remember that since she is a woman physically, mentally she must think and feel as one too, and can no longer covet fellow women. All that to keep in mind, while dealing with lascivious glances and advances from men as well. In particular she has to fight off boss Tony Dow, and figure out the relationship with her buddy from work played by Jimmy Smits. Amanda also tells Smits she's really Steve, and he will be the one person that can get her to heaven and out of this jam, but I can't tell you how, you'll have to watch and see! ................ The most confusing part for Amanda will be how she is to deal with a sought after client (Lorraine Bracco) who is a lesbian, and wants a relationship with her. She could wrap up the deal if she submits to Bracco's advances, but doesn't feel comfortable as a man inside a womans body, making love with a woman who doesn't like men. Confusing? Not at all. I can guarantee you'll be amused at every scene. ................ While "Switch" was not a tremendous commercial success for Blake Edwards like "10", amongst many others in his career, and treads in a similar water with his "Victor/Victoria", it is a highly watchable, humorous and delighfully happy film that you should not miss. If you are a fan of actress Ellen Barkin, she really shines here in a fine comical AND sympathetic performance. I mention sympathetic because, when the script and direction are done right, you WILL care about the characters. When Steve is sent back to earth as Amanda and tries her hardest to find a female to truly love her, you as the viewer, female OR male, will fall in love too, with her AND this unique comedy film.

At first glance, this film looks like it's going to be a slapstick clone of so many other Blake Edwards' productions. And, in fact, the film does contain a great many scenes that would tend to belong under the "slapstick" genre. Surprisingly, however, there is much more to this film.

The plot centers around a man named Steve Brooks who is a womanizer squared. He's handsome, charming, well built & has a "way" with women. Unfortunately, he also has a heart of granite & leaves a wake of heartbroken women behind him.

One day, 3 ex-girlfriends plot their revenge. They lure him into a hot tub and murder him. Steve makes it to Purgatory, but is told he is right on the borderline between having his final destination be heaven or hell.

To break the deadlock, God (who is both male & female) sets forth a task: he must find a woman who truly likes him for who he is (and not for some fast-talking come-on line) in order for him to get inside the pearly gates. At the last moment, the Devil enters the picture and puts on a twist: Steve must get a woman to like him AS a woman!

Ellen Barkin is marvelous as a man trying to figure out how to be a woman. Barkin does a particularly impressive job moving like a man thru out the film and her performance truly steals the show.

So far, it sounds like your typical gender-switching comedy, only with a twist. However, the plot contains many more unanticipated twists. It also deals with some very serious issues that make it nothing short of a dark comedy. Again, this is quite unexpected from looking @ the cover.

I would recommend this film for people who enjoy getting a little more than what they bargained for. As the religious deities obviously parody the Judeo / Christian tradition, I would NOT suggest this film for people who are easily offended. In short, the film takes turns poking fun @ men, poking fun @ women & poking fun @ religion. It turns out to be a good comedy, but a dark one.

Here's an Italian horror flick that's a cut above the rest. It's not as corny as most of the films in the genre(though it is still a bit corny), but the actors pull it off nicely. Of course we've got Giovanni Radice, who once again is great in his offbeat performance. As you probably know already, John Saxon(a fantastic actor not given his due) was lured into this one, and it's very amusing to see him in this kind of film. I think this film is hyped up to be alot gorier than it actually is(the notorious "sewer shootout", while cool and all, just isn't as gruesome as you're led to believe), though the violence is executed nicely here. As opposed to Fulci, who's violence is very slow and drawn out, this film's violence is quick, realistic and frantic. Also, the film's star isn't the gore or violence, but the strength of the performances and story, which is rare for this kind of thing. There are long stretches without any violence at all, and in my eyes, wasn't at all boring. Usually in this kind of flick, you couldn't care less about the characters and their problems.....you just want to get on with the gore man! You want the impalements and the cannibal feasts and the moldy, cruddy zombies blown to smithereens! Well, Cannibal Apocalypse is a truly standout flick that combines the best of both worlds.

When I first got Cannibal Apocalypse on DVD, I did not know what to expect because I only saw reviews about it. But when I saw it for the first time, I thought it was a good movie, but why name it Cannibal Apocalypse? There were a few scenes that showed the infected soldiers bite people, but they mostly used their hands or weapons to kill people. Other than that, it was a good movie. Also, it is worth it checking the extras that come along with the movie, especially Cannibal Apocalypse Redux. It interviews two of the stars and the director about how the movie was handled and so forth, especially the part that Quentin Tarantino thinks of this as one of his favorite movies ever. Also, it shows an alternate version of the movie that was edited on video here in the US. However, if you want the check out the Butchering of Cannibal Apocalypse option, you might want to come closer to read the text because of its small print. Other than that, good movie to see.

This is a great horror movie that has withstood the test of time. The print is in great condition and the commentary provides interesting information about this movie. Such as John Saxon not realizing that this was a Cannibal Movie before signing the contract and then being a little baby when it came time to put the "BITE" on somebody. This movie has always held my favorite gore scene. See this movie just for that scene. It's well worth it.

very few of us now a days, know of the incidents and life in cuba and why fidel castro took power, from a corrupt gangster style goverment of the baustista goverment.
sean connery plays a british mercenary, trying to scope out the situation for the in power goverment , and re-live a old fling
with a old flame from north afrika, ww2 days.
chris sarandon plays the handsome husband of brooke adams, who's family is that of the elite and powerful.
see this movie and undersatnd the life that once was.

*Cuba* may be the best movie you've never heard of. The setting is 1958, just before the final collapse of the Batista regime. Sean Connery stars as a British mercenary with the odd name of Dapes, whom Batista's colonels hope will help them to stamp out Fidel Castro's revolutionaries. However, Connery pretty much figures out -- almost as soon as he arrives -- that Batista's cause will be lost, and so his attempts to guide the incompetent military are rather half-hearted. He's much more interested in reviving a love affair with an old flame, Brooke Adams (surprisingly glamorous, but with an on-again, off-again accent). Problem is, she's married to the profligate son (Chris Sarandon) of one of Cuba's wealthiest industrialists . . . and it's a lifestyle that rather fits in with her imperial demeanor. (She runs the cigar factory and the rum distillery while her husband gets drunk and chases the skirts of the hired help.) The movie does not pretend to be a terribly accurate account of the Cuban Revolution. What director Richard Lester goes for instead are impressionistic sketches of the land, its people, and its culture. All the stereotypes are here, lovingly rendered: the fat, pompous jefes; the sultry women; the tacky gringo culture superimposed on the place for the visiting American businessmen (one of whom is the always-welcome Jack Weston, in a terrifically sleazy performance); the cigar factories; the prostitutes; the skinny kids playing street baseball; posters of politicos; languid bathers poolside; tropical drinks with the little umbrellas . . . get the idea? The movie succeeds spectacularly in delineating the death-throes of a way of life. Havana in particular seems deserted, denuded of people: even blonde American strippers can't find an audience. *Cuba* is a poignant, and at times funny, daguerreotype of a nation filled with ghosts, just on the cusp of revolution.

This movie is on any list of my family's 10 favorite movies. We saw it in the theater when it was new, and hoarded the homemade videotape made from a TV broadcast, which was a major event in this household. Finally on DVD - it's wonderful that now we can see it in both widescreen and non.

The film rewards repeated viewing, since eventually you realize that all the comic business ties in with all the main plot lines. I think this mixture of relevant-to-the-plot background comic bits throughout a film must be Richard Lester's forte, since he does it so well in all of his movies. Here the comic bits are superb - there really are no loose ends!

Every character, every actor is wonderful, even the bit parts. Jack Weston gives one of the best performances of his life. It lingers in the imagination as THE picture of life at every stratum in Cuba at the end of the 1950s, even though (as has been observed in other reviews) the locations were really in Spain. The colors, the ambience, even the music - wonderful.

It's obvious to me, anyway, that this movie stands the test of time...it has survived to be reborn in DVD format. Thank goodness! - Because it deserves to be remembered and enjoyed.

The dynamic duo team up again and go to Africa but unfortunately Werner Herzog leaves the script back in Germany. Either that or Herzog must have run out of money or drugs halfway through the shoot. The editing is choppy and while the film feels way too long you get the impression that scenes are missing.

It's hard to believe these are the same people that brought us Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, Woyzeck and Nosferatu.

Klaus Kinski gets to dress up a bit like Aguirre and kick a snake. He also gets one cool line; "They are our future murderers." He then gets to tug on a boat in a futile attempt to get it in the water in a scene which is supposed to express the madness of ruthless ambition (see Aguirre's end) but is unintentionally evocative of a Monty Python skit.

Unhappily, this was their last film together.

Rent Fitzcarraldo.

Werner Herzog has said that he's not happy with the way "Cobra Verde" turned out. Since I don't know how it was supposed to turn out, I can only give my opinion of the finished product.

Klaus Kinski (in his last starring role in a Herzog film) plays a Brazilian cattle rancher forced into poverty due to a drought and a death in the family. He spends some time as a gold miner, but when he is cheated by the paymaster he takes up a life of crime and becomes the almost comically-feared bandit "Cobra Verde".

He almost-accidentally becomes a foreman to the owner of a sugar plantation; when he falls afoul of the man by impregnating his daughters, the plantation owner decides to appoint him as a vice-regent in West Africa, in the hope that he will get himself killed in the process of reviving the slave trade. Unfortunately for everyone, Cobra Verde is resourceful enough to accomplish his mission-- just before the British destroy the slave trade for good. Cobra Verde is cheated again, and he dies in a futile attempt to sail a slave ship back to Brazil.

Again, I don't quite know what the problem is-- all the actors and actresses are fantastic, Herzog achieves epic results on a small budget, the photography and music are beautiful, and the story is powerfully moving. I've decided not to worry about it. The film has some amazing moments: the 360-degree pan at the beginning, the woman who seduces Cobra Verde during a thieving raid ("Your money or your life!" "My life."), the lone holdout from the Brazilian stronghold, the mad African chief,... and the beautiful girls singing a ceremonial song at the end, all build up to an amazing viewing experience. Herzog's films have this quality of almost adhering to a formula, but they let a bit of random strangeness through-- just like real life. I don't think Herzog has anything to worry about.

COBRA VERDE marked the fiinal collaboration (not counting the director's elegiac documentary MEIN LIEBSTER FEIND) between Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski. It's one of their most haunting works, quietly epic in its scope, fueled by gorgeous cinematography and and an enigmatic lead performance. Herzog's commentary is wonderful. COBRA VERDE is one of those films I find myself rewatching in bits, if only to recapture for a moment the funereal magic of a lost world.