Veterans Day Movie Reviews

The film is long..and boring. It is not a rock and roll film, per se. I was expecting that mid-way through the film, the character of Jim will have started a rock band and have played a major role in helping to bring about the British Invasion. Not so. This is just a story about a directionless young man who quits school, gets seasonal jobs to support himself, engages in cheap sex, watches (and does nothing) as his friend Mike (Ringo) gets beaten up by customers, comes home after two years, marries and has a kid, then leaves them and everyone else to embark on his rock and roll dream. END OF PICTURE.

The music is great and the film DOES have potential. But I think it would have been better served to have half of the movie reflect Jim's disillusionment and aimlessness, and the other half reflect what happened as a result of this. As it stands, watching this film is like going to the theatre, and having to leave just as the movie starts. You never get to see what becomes of Jim as he embraces his new-found "freedom". For that, I guess you have to see the sequel they mention.

I love David Essex in this movie. He's very cute and a good actor. Disappointing, however, was his character. He's not a very sympathetic "bloke"; rather, he's self-absorbed, deceitful and a cheat..and certainly not anyone you can depend upon in your time of need.

Ringo does a great turn and it's interesting to see him in this context. I am a big Beatle fan, and I enjoyed seeing him in something different and stretching his obvious acting abilities.

That said, I think this movie could have been much better. To add insult to injury, they listed "Rock On" as being in the movie, but nowhere do you hear it played in the film. Perhaps it was in the sequel, but then the makers of this film should not have deceived the public into thinking it is heard in the film, because it isn't.

Maybe a second viewing of this film will put things in better perspective for me, but for now, this is my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Like "Quadrophenia," "That'll be the Day" is not a musical, though it has plenty of music in it, including the likes of Richie Valens, the Everly Brothers, Dion, etc. The live bands at the dance halls, for the most part, play cover versions of American artists. The real rock stars in the film -- Essex, Ringo Starr, and Billy Fury and Keith Moon in small cameos -- all do an excellent acting job. Essex, in particular, is terrific as Jim and Ringo, as Jim's carny friend Mike, proves that he really can act in a serious role, given the right material (his work here will make you quickly forget about "Caveman"). Rosemary Leach, as Jim's mother, and Rosalind Ayres, as the wife he leaves, are also impressive. Even the small roles are well cast in this film. There's a great scene where young Jim breaks into a seaside arcade on his birthday and proceeds to get drunk. Along comes an English bobby on a bicycle. Rather than arresting him for breaking & entering and disorderly conduct, the compassionate policeman helps Jim home. It's a small, but wonderfully played scene by Ron Hackett as the policeman. Such are the performances throughout this film.

Anchor Bay, as usual, does a great job with the visual presentation of this film, but save for a trailer (shown, for some inexplicable reason, in three different sizes!), there are no extras. This is the type of film where a commentary from David Essex, or the film's director (Claude Whatham) or screenwriter (Ray Connolly) really would have added a lot for fans, in much the way that Director Franc Roddam's commentary added to the viewing experience of "Quadrophenia." If and when "Stardust" is ever released on DVD, let's hope that "the powers that be" will include a commentary track (hint: Director Michael Apted would be great).

Note: Despite it's PG rating, this is not a children's film. In addition to some unsavory characters and mild profanity, there is implied sex as well as a surprisingly graphic sex scene for a PG rated film (the MPAA ratings standards were much laxer in the early 1970s then they are now). Mercifully, there is no drug usage.

You meet up with Clive, that evil guy that is always evil. Apparently he is evil because he likes being evil(that is his entire motivation). He wants to open some box(like the box is crazy and has these mysterious powers like arc) that will turn stuff into demons, or something. Anyways Eliza is just a sub character that really isn't that cool, shes just there for a sappy love story, and Elk's motivation. Elk finally seems to "understand" that he needs to stop whining over stuff and just be a man about it. It isn't all that glorious. Anyways, the problem is action. The series does not have enough action and this dvd seems to try to avoid action at all costs. We are gonna see shu and tosh fight together? No, they decide to cut out the fight right before it starts, which is totally stupid, because the fight would have rocked. We are going to see that old dude, merchant, and the drummer boy fight?(i forget the names because the characters were boring) No, they decide to show an explosion and bam cut out of that fight scene too. Ok so we go to this temple thingy. "Guess what, lots of talking." This quote I think really captures the essence of that last episode or 2.

Than with like, a flash of light, it ends. What was that? People like die than come back and die again but are still alive? Dude the creators just went totally off topic. Possibly the most idiotic thing they could of done and did do was try to make it a happy ending, yet everyone is shocked at everything. They try to move this thing for the plane and everyone is like, "Omg can they move it?" Shut up and help them! Theres always a problem, heres a tip, stop being so shocked at everything and start acting like real people.

In closing, this review is basically to tell you that this series lacks many things, and probably the ending does the series as much justice as evangelion's ending. And if you haven't seen evangelion's ending, it's horrible, confusing, and doesnt explain anything. Its one of those endings where you make your own conclusion, that is why it is bad.

"Bad Girls go to Hell" is a classic, starring the bautiful Gigi Darlene who experiences a nightmarish never-ending sequence of rape, beating, sexual harrasment. The picture is dream-like with very little conversation, nearly with no story-line to follow. All in all a surreal experience, like Vampyr or Dementia but adding a lot of sexiness (not really nudity).

"Another Day, another Man" is far inferior. Even less nudity, a standard plot of two girls (one being a hooker, but wants to become an ordinary girl - one ordinary girl who does it vice versa) much more talky and showing less confidence. Gigi Darlene,not so vulnerable and wide-eyed as in Bad Girls, plays the hooker but has put on some pounds (or has become pregnant?) making her look less attractive and the role does not suit her.

I purchased this DVD as a replacement of my VHS of Bad Girls and therefor am not at all disappointed by the second feature's failure to entertain.

BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL is an interesting little curio starring Gigi Darlene as a young wife who is attacked by her dentally-challenged janitor and accidentally kills him. Fearing the worst the girl flees to New York but ends up living with weirdo after weirdo, including Darlene Bennett who plays a shapely lesbian who does nothing but swan around in body-stockings!

ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER MAN stars Barbie Kemp as a beehived newlywed whose husband suddenly takes ill and has to stay in bed for about half a year (as you do), and has no option but to follow her friend (Darlene Bennett) and become a sex worker. Interestingly, Kemp wears the same black-lace bodysuit worn by Bennett in the earlier film!

Of course, the big advantage is the "Let's Go To The Drive-In" feature which couples the two films together along with various concession stand ads and intermission shorts. There are also some great trailers for other Wishman films in addition to the films presented here.

Be sure to check out the other Something Weird Video double-features which include GIRL GANG/THE VIOLENT YEARS and THE NOTORIOUS DAUGHTER OF FANNY HILL/THE HEAD MISTRESS.

After the initial run of 26 episodes featuring Police Surgeon David Keel and his cohort John Steed had aired in the UK in 1961/62, the producers of the program opted to bring Steed to the forefront of the action and give him a number of different "assistants." Thus, for season two, 26 further episodes were made and broadcast in 1962/63 featuring Steed abetted by Martin King, Venus Smith or Cathy Gale. Mrs. Gale turned out to be the most popular and successful foil for the suave agent, and the other characters did not return after season two. Unlike the later Peel/King stories which were all made on film, these studio based TV shows are much more reliant on dialogue and plot than visual elements, and can be somewhat heavy going as a result.

A&E is releasing these stories in a somewhat confusing order, and has started with season three. The first two sets released, Avengers 64 1 & 2, feature the LAST six episodes of season three. Next comes Avengers 63 sets 1 & 2 which comprises of the first half of the season. Next up in the release order is 63 sets 3 & 4 which precede 1 & 2 in running order and in fact feature the last seven stories from season two, plus the first from season three. Confused? Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, since thankfully there's no real reason to watch the stories in chronological order anyway.

What is interesting is the development of the production standards. 63 sets 3 & 4, featuring the latter stories from season two, are far more rudimentary in terms of production quality. The sets are extremely small and sparse; The direction very slap-hazard; Camera work shoddy; Sound is extremely poor; and the acting is negligible. With no budget for editing or reshooting, all the actor's fluffs and goofs stayed in. Steed's character is far less suave and sophisticated then he became later during his familiar role alongside Mrs. Peel, and the relationship with Mrs. Gale in particular is at first downright hostile with very little warmth between the two. He seems to get along much better with Miss Venus Smith, a night club singer who he engages at various gigs to act as his eyes and ears. Venus is a very odd character, and played strangely, but enthusiastically by Julie Stevens. She looks about 12, sings like she's forty, and dresses like anything in between. She also seems extremely naïve and it's hard to imagine why Steed engages her to help him at all. The far more intelligent and elegant Mrs. Gale does eventually warm up to Steed, and in the season three stories where she is the exclusive companion to him, their relationship develops nicely and they become much warmer and closer to each other.

The production values on season three are also much better than the earlier episodes. The sets became larger and more elaborate. The direction, lighting and sound improved greatly and the acting was much less wooden. Some editing was clearly allowed on these later stories, whereas the earlier ones clearly were broadcast as if they were live. There's a terrific blunder in "Six hands across a table," where Cathy is called "Ros" in one scene, and both actors realize the mistake, but keep going.

The quality of the DVD's is somewhat disappointing, even accounting for the age of the material and the production values mentioned above. It may not be the case, but it certainly appears that A&E have made no attempt whatsoever to re-master the original tapes, and the flaws, jumps, scratches and sound blips are too numerous to mention. Virtually every episode on 63 sets 3 & 4 are hampered by picture and sound flaws and defects. Things do improve for 63 1 & 2 and 64 1 & 2, but the quality is still disappointing. Mind you, it appears they have done nothing to clean up the Tara King episodes either!

As a big fan of the series, I wouldn't even consider not having these episodes in my collection, but if you're looking for the wacky camp humor and the tele-fantasy of the Peel/King eras, these stories may not be for you.

Finally, things slowed down to a more reasonable level and we are treated to a brief interview about this project. It is explained that one goal was to give 5.1 listeners the most bang-for-buck by utilizing special mixing techniques to widen the soundstage and give special effects. Now let me say that I have a 52" widescreen with a 5.1 system that "brings down the house" (for me), and I thoroughly enjoy watching concert videos. Well, not in this case. This DVD has the ABSOLUTE WORST sound of any I have heard! We could not understand a single word sung during the music portions - AND we already own the CD!!!

I don't mean to come off hard here, but I do happen to own a recording studio and consider myself a fair judge of what good sound should be (audibly comprehensible would have been nice). Let's just say that if you enjoyed 3D's first concert DVD...well, don't expect the same experience! (The Offerings Experience DVD is excellent BTW). It seems the band should have left well enough alone. (*Note - we tried every combination of sound settings - even stereo only, to no avail! Can't understand a word.)

On to imagery...it seems too many people were hired to "pull off" this DVD project. Almost a hundred cameras were used (from looking at shots of the setup), yet ironically - almost every single shot of the drummer is either pixelated or out of focus! They did a much better job in the first DVD with more limited resources.

Lighting - in the first DVD 3D's lead singer Mac looked almost like a prophet he was so well lit - it was surreal (and very impressive considering this was a live concert shoot!), yet nearly every frame of the "Come Together" disc is poorly lit with excessive blue hues (I actually stopped at one point thinking something was wrong with the set, popped in the "Offerings" disc - and it was again, perfecly lit!), and never once in "Come Together," is Mac seen properly lit. (The guy who shot the first DVD should get a lighting award though - it's amazingly fantastic!).

Extra features: Outtakes on the first DVD were truly authentic and even funny, but the ones on "Come Together" seem gratuitous and contrived. Now, these guys are touring almost daily - and I KNOW some "real" funny stuff has to be going on...why not show some of it? Third Day is truly talented - yet only the "dregs" seem to have made it onto this disc.

Maybe Mac, Tai, and the boys will read this and realize that too many men wearing too many hats were involved "too much" in this project, and perhaps God was pushed aside abit to accomodate the technical niceties. I think it could have been much better with much less (next time throw away a cocktail napkin or two!)

Final Score: This project (Come Together) = 2, the first project "The Offerings Experience" = 5 If, like me - you have to have the latest project available from one of your favorite bands, buy it...but don't expect it to come close to "Offerings" - they're not even in the same league. Maybe "next time."