Sofa's Focus
Artwork by Summer Jeram
Sharing with you something we personally like.
Where Eagles Dare (1968) - Movie review
By Steve 25/01/21
Photo by Steve Smith - Blu-Ray cover signed by Derren Nesbitt.
***IT'S SPOILER FREE DOWN THE BACK OF THE THIS SOFA***
I first saw this movie through a dim scratched 28 inch CRT television screen which was wheeled out every Christmas for the movie extravaganza that signified the end of term at my old secondary school.
That well-worn VHS pan and scan copy, presumably recorded from a previous Christmas holiday showing on BBC1, still held me to the last scene then, the same as it does today in all its Blu-ray remastered glory.
Set during WWII a small group of soldiers are hand-picked for a covert mission behind enemy lines to rescue an Allied General, from a supposedly inaccessible castle called the Schloss Adler or the “Castle of Eagles” as it is better known, currently housing the headquarters of the German secret service. But when one of their team is murdered at the start of the mission it's seems no one can be trusted.
Released in 1968 and staring Richard Burton as Major John Smith the leader of the team and the most layered character, Clint Eastwood as Lieutenant Morris Schaffer from the American Ranger division, the importance of his geographical difference from the rest of the team becomes evident later in the movie, Mary Ure and Ingrid Pitt as the beautiful undercover MI6 agents who are both capable of holding their own when the bullets start flying and last but by no means least Derren Nesbitt as the ever suspicious Major Von Happen of the Gestapo.
With a stirring soundtrack by Ron Goodwin to rival any action movie today, the iconic radio call-sign of "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" and spectacular action set pieces from blowing up bridges, fighting on the roof of a cable car (years before 007) to explosions galore and two handed German MP40 shoot outs. Along with plot twists and double crosses left right and center, this is pure unadulterated action and adventure. It also gave birth to my gamer tag of ‘secondratepunk’, a line said to Clint Eastwood’s character by the legendary Burton himself.
The screenplay was written by Alistair Maclean who also wrote the novel. It was filmed on location in Austria, Bavaria and MGM studios England. Now I know my rose tinted glasses are covering up the fact that newcomers to this movie will see some occasional poor SFX that don't hold up to today’s pursuit of the picture perfect, things aren’t as historically accurate as the could be and the fact that even at the time of release Clint Eastwood himself renamed the movie 'Where Doubles Dare, due to the amount of time stand-ins where used in the action scenes but rest assured you will be cheering by the end credits.
Not because you made it through the two and a half hour running time but because you were part of an adventure that Indiana Jones would have been proud of and for any man of a certain age, this is the kind of mission your Action Man was molded for.
Commando [1985] - Movie review
By Steve 26/01/21
Photo by Steve Smith - VHS rental copy .
***SPOILER ALERT - BE CAREFUL LOOKING DOWN THE BACK OF THIS SOFA***
Somewhere, somehow, someone's going to pay, said the movie poster tag line of the actor and character that epitomized the 80's one man army phenomenon.
After he was the Terminator but before he battled the Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the retired Delta Force Operative Colonel John Matrix whose daughter is kidnapped by mercenaries who want to use her as leverage to make Matrix perform an assassination of the now president of Val Verde, so South American dictator Arius played by Dan Hedaya who Matrix helped to overthrow, can regain control.
All neat and tidy...well it might have been if the Austrian Oak, who can actually carry one and smell baddies from downwind, would just cooperate right?...wrong, he'd rather shoot the baddies or eat them for breakfast as he’s apparently “very hungry”.
Now this movie was never to be taken seriously, so please disengage and eject that part of your brain that says he could never push that SUV on his own or pick up that phone booth and spin it over his back or fall from the undercarriage of... Oh hell let’s just disengage the brain entirely and hand me the popcorn.
Matrix old team has systematically been killed, leading to his old Major General to find and warn him. This unfortunately leads the mercenaries to Matrix secluded mountain retreat where he has been living peacefully with his daughter who is then kidnapped by one of his believed assassinated ex-team member Bennet played to the max by Vernon Wells.
What results is one of the best action movies of the eighties with Matrix careering down a steep tree lined hill in a car with no breaks, a plane journey with an impromptu exit, a shopping mall fist fight that has him engaging multiple security guards including a triple hit combination on two security guards that has yet to be rivalled and then swinging from the Malls ceiling with its own decorations. A one on one fight in a motel room with Cooke played by the great Bill Duke resulting a rather gruesome departure, car chases, shoot outs, a very inventive use of circular saws, exploding buildings, an ingenious way to deadhead your roses and the end fight against Bennet that has you punching the air like it was a Rocky movie…well I had to let off some steam after all that.
There have been a few changes over the years with an Unrated Edition which adds some background on Johns past and reinstating scenes originally censored and cut by the BBFC. A sequel was planned but Arnold was not interested, it was to be based on a book by Roderick Thorp called Nothing Last Forever, which would later become another little action movie...Die Hard.
So sit back with this Arnold classic, read the instructions on your M202A1 FLASH rocket launcher, because you never know when it will come in handy.
Brannigan (1975) - Movie Review
By Steve 26/01/21
Image Robert Edward McGinnis - Copyright United Artists
***SPOILER ALERT - BE CAREFUL LOOKING DOWN THE BACK OF THIS SOFA***
Before Arnie came bursting through the door in Predator, sardonically saying “Knock, knock”, another man mountain nicknamed ‘Duke’ did exactly the same thing but with a little more panache. These first scenes set in Chicago at a money counterfeiter’s warehouse or a ‘paper hanger’ as he’s called in the movie, introduces John Wayne’s Dirty Harry clone Brannigan, a no-nonsense cop that lets nothing stand in his way when taking down the bad guys.
All very clichéd and all very “did I fire six shots or only five?”
That’s when this story’s backdrop abruptly shifts to new territory, the great City of London, a dirty and tired looking 1975 London. This is ‘The Sweeney’ TV show on the big screen with seedy pubs, underground hoods and a very grey unpainted Tower bridge of which we will revisit later.
The story has the now fish out of water Brannigan trying to extradite the notorious American gangster Ben Larkin played by John Vernon of Animal House fame. But Larkin is kidnapped and held for ransom before Brannigan can get to him, so the Duke has to cooperate with the stuffy yet charismatic Commander Swann of the Metropolitan Police played by Sir Richard Attenborough, who has a problem with Brannigan’s methods and a certain .38 Colt Diamondback revolver but is happy to be involved in raucous fisticuffs that would rival any western movie’s saloon brawl.
The well-executed action sequences include the afore mentioned pub brawl with the legendary Wayne throwing his famous fake punches, a memorable car chase through Battersea’s Shaftesbury Estate and central London then culminating in a jump from one side of the Thames to the other using a very iconic and unpainted half raised bridge.
Many well-known actors pop up in cameos like Brian Glover, Lesley Anne Down and Tony Robinson. Yes our very own Bladrick has his spot in the limelight with Marion Morrison albeit a rather wet one.
With lines like “Right now I’d like to get my hands in Larkin’s lapels” and “Well the view from the bridge was terrific” (feel free to repeat these with the Dukes famous twang) Wayne gives a sterling performance even though ill health was already plaguing him.
This movie also has for me a great but probably overlooked (by many) performance by Sir Richard Attenborough. Swann’s yin to Brannigan’s yang entertains with every scene and even though he has to conform to the 1975 Americans ideal of the typical English upper class, with a stiff upper lip and the strict dress code rules enforced for his Gentleman’s Club, to me there is always a little twinkle in Richard’s eye saying lets have some fun with this and “Please order the dover sole”.