Reviews (5)

SENSE OF '60s IDEALISM
The premise is that of a talented long-distance runner having spoiled his career by naming too many bigwigs in the hierarchy of amateur athletics as having been "on the take". The runner's dad, an old marxist, didn't see the point of pursuing an athletic career, as opposed to struggling in the political arena, despite his son's carrying off his athletic commitment with a great sense of justice and fair-play.

So, the son comes home and competes in a race he isn't supposed to be in & the old man, over time, gains a broader appreciation of human endeavor, as long as it's done with class & honesty.

Maybe a somewhat predictable story, but Dern carries off the loner-hero-runner who would not close his eyes to corruption with great style (kind of Serpico meets Jim Ryun). I always thought Dern was great in roles that express baby-boomer social concern.

Also, Pam Grier is Dern's girlfriend (that's gotta help, eh?).

Rob Nilsson of San Fran directed this & also the excellent "Northern Lights".

Men okay, women not so great
When I saw "On the Edge" during its first run in the Bay Area, I could give it five stars for its depiction of a man trying for a comeback after the sport he loved failed him. I couldn't give it much for its depiction of the relationship Wes had with Cora. She seemed incidental and plus, we never see her with Wes and his father or with Wes' extended family. He's more active and demonstrative with his ex-coach and his father. The fact that Cora is played by the incomparable Pam Grier makes it all the more amazing. I see him have very eye-opening sex with her but I don't see him unwind, confide, open himself with her other than when they are entwined, and then there is little here to mine. Such unwinding could give viewers a better, internal understanding about Wes and give me a reason why Cora was so integral to his life and why he returned to her. She only gives of herself when he has been disappointed or wounded; in short, she's a kind of mother figure. No wonder she leaves him just before his great "Cielo Sea" (the Dipsea) race. That she loves him in her own way is obvious, but why?

Yes, I am black and no, I have no problem with interracing in film. I'm just disappointed that I don't see more than I could wish.

80s [slumm]
Basically this is a typical... 80's movie... the kind you would find late night on USA or something. The characters are tired, simple and boring and the music makes you feel like you are playing Atari. The movie is also incredibly unmotivating, especially if you are a competative, serious runner. Don't buy it, in fact don't rent it.

Kinda bored but still not bad in the end
Could anybody as a runner been suspended for 20 years? Suspension usually means there is a time limit or period for such penalty or punishment, and it usually means a short term. Yet in this movie the guy after 20 years was still suspended from running. How could it be? That no big deal misconduct is the bad scenario of this movie only served as a tough element for this tough 44 years old middle aged guy to deal with, making the movie itself possible. That misconduct should not and would not sentence him a lifetime ban from running but exaggerated too much. With a lot of totally unnecessary love-making scenes just served as another cheat purpose to keep the viewers not falling sleeping during watching, just another [thing] stuffed into this slow going movie. But all in all, the ending is quite good, showing this guy not only got an iron will, but also a big heart of sharing, for the triumph and satisfaction of such achievement with other front runners.

Great road runner movie
Although not quite in the league with Chariots of Fire, I think this is perhaps the best of the "running movies" that followed.
Bruce Dern plays "Wes Holman", a 44 year old former elite 10K track athlete who was driven from the sport by unfair circumstances. Wes attempts a comeback training for a somewhat unique race, a 14.2 mile mountain trail "handicap" race in which runners are started at different times dependent upon their age or sex. It is said that a real race in Marin County, "The Dipsea" served as a model for the movie.

The movie chronicles the Wes' year of training, while also dealing with issues with his father and the athletic governing body, and has re-kindles a relationship with an old flame, played by Pam Grier. The best part of the movie is simply watching the training and finally the race. Some of the stuff with the race is kind of "corny", so to speak, but I think most runners would enjoy the movie just to watch the running. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

For fans of emotionally intense cinema...
Rob Nilsson first came to my attention with a very strong film he made in the "style" of John Cassavetes, called SIGNAL 7. When I found out about THIS movie, I rushed to see it. It remains emotionally intense -- I'm tempted to say "emotionally violent" -- but otherwise is NOT an attempt to continue reverencing Cassavetes. It tells the story of a very intense and scarring love affair from two people who are so bad for each other they just can't stop having sex. If you understand the logic of that, you'll find this film a pleasure to watch, albeit a somewhat masochistic one. At times, it gets fairly brutal -- speaking in terms of the emotional content alone -- but it's a GREAT movie about what relationships can be like (particularly the ones that burn deep and leave scars). It's also about friendship, and writer and cult-figure Don Bajema (BOY IN THE AIR) gives a great performance as the main character's frustrated buddy (the main character, if I recall, is played by the director himself). Nilsson also somehow managed to get the rights to use MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS on his soundtrack, particularly "Mea Culpa." It really adds to the intensity, fits right in. A strong, compelling film. In gritty black and white, as I recall. Good movie. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Lets go to Moscow
This documentary on the making of Words for the Dying is fascinating, not least because it is a bit unconventional. I saw this on the big screen immediately after one of JC's performances at the London ICA a couple of years back - during the performance he and a DJ radically reworked his 'classic' songbook, forcing you to reapproach the songs afresh. Similarly, watch this and you'll find new things to appreciate in the album whose making it documents.

There's a remarkable humour to this film. Eno refuses to be filmed, so the crew smuggle in hidden cameras to the sound booth - you really feel as if you're eavesdropping. Sometimes, the scenes are not directly relevant - JC checking out a local band, a virtuosic double bass warming up - but all blend to create an atmosphere of the process of making the album. Amid it all, you sense the drive to create something meaningful and special. In my opinion, the film is better than the recording it documents.

Perhaps not to everybody's taste (out of maybe 300 at the concert, only five stayed for the screening!), but an engaging curiosity.

Well, I Like It
I've bought a couple other John Cale albums, and I like this one the best. It might help if you like Gavin Bryars or Philip Glass or other contemporary composers: this isn't the simple songs of 'Paris 1919' - it's Dylan Thomas poetry set to orchestral music and a choir. I love the way Cale's voice contrasts with the orchestra and choir - very moving. The two "Songs Without Words" are excellent pieces in their own right, as is "The Soul of Carmen Miranda".

MAGNIFICENT CARMEN
I agree with the current reviews. So why bother? I need to say that The Soul Of Carmen Miranda is one of Cale's most magnificent, moving songs. If not here, get it on Seducing Down The Door.

Cale Alone In Left Field Again
Hard to believe no one else has reviewed this one yet. The Amazon review is pretty accurate I'd say--brave, but flawed. I'm on the fence between two and three stars for this one.

The orchestral "score" to the Falklands Suite is surprisingly good neo-classical, but the accompanying poetry reading (aided in places by the Llandaff Cathedral Choir) is quite awkward for the most part. The suite could have functioned nicely as a mood piece, but there are portions of the reading that are positively jarring, so I'm not sure when you'd really want to play it.

The piano pieces are both pleasant enough (but very brief). Then comes "The Soul of Carmen Miranda", the only "conventional" rock song here. It's a moody techno-pop collaboration with Brian Eno that points the way directly to "Wrong Way Up", a great album that you should buy immediately. As for "Words For The Dying", it's interesting, but hardly essential. "Carmen Miranda" appears on "Seducing Down The Door" and a portion of "Falklands" is on "Fragments of a Rainy Season", so you can probably live without this one.

For Fans of Cale or Eno, it's Worth a Few Bucks
Even though the self-absorbed filmakers think we want to see as much of them as we do of Eno or Cale, there are still some interesting scenes of the two working on recording tracks from the album. We even get to see Cale lose his temper and shout a four-letter expletive at the boys' choir. What makes the video worth the purchase are the moments where the camera sits still long enough to let you see Cale and Eno interact while in the studio. Unfortnately there are far less of these moments then there are of pretentious camera-jiggling around Moscow at night, but if you are a fan and it is worth it to you to see this rather rare footage of these guys at work, I'm afraid it's a necessary purchase. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

SENSE OF '60s IDEALISM
The premise is that of a talented long-distance runner having spoiled his career by naming too many bigwigs in the hierarchy of amateur athletics as having been "on the take". The runner's dad, an old marxist, didn't see the point of pursuing an athletic career, as opposed to struggling in the political arena, despite his son's carrying off his athletic commitment with a great sense of justice and fair-play.

So, the son comes home and competes in a race he isn't supposed to be in & the old man, over time, gains a broader appreciation of human endeavor, as long as it's done with class & honesty.

Maybe a somewhat predictable story, but Dern carries off the loner-hero-runner who would not close his eyes to corruption with great style (kind of Serpico meets Jim Ryun). I always thought Dern was great in roles that express baby-boomer social concern.

Also, Pam Grier is Dern's girlfriend (that's gotta help, eh?).

Rob Nilsson of San Fran directed this & also the excellent "Northern Lights".

Men okay, women not so great
When I saw "On the Edge" during its first run in the Bay Area, I could give it five stars for its depiction of a man trying for a comeback after the sport he loved failed him. I couldn't give it much for its depiction of the relationship Wes had with Cora. She seemed incidental and plus, we never see her with Wes and his father or with Wes' extended family. He's more active and demonstrative with his ex-coach and his father. The fact that Cora is played by the incomparable Pam Grier makes it all the more amazing. I see him have very eye-opening sex with her but I don't see him unwind, confide, open himself with her other than when they are entwined, and then there is little here to mine. Such unwinding could give viewers a better, internal understanding about Wes and give me a reason why Cora was so integral to his life and why he returned to her. She only gives of herself when he has been disappointed or wounded; in short, she's a kind of mother figure. No wonder she leaves him just before his great "Cielo Sea" (the Dipsea) race. That she loves him in her own way is obvious, but why?

Yes, I am black and no, I have no problem with interracing in film. I'm just disappointed that I don't see more than I could wish.

80s [slumm]
Basically this is a typical... 80's movie... the kind you would find late night on USA or something. The characters are tired, simple and boring and the music makes you feel like you are playing Atari. The movie is also incredibly unmotivating, especially if you are a competative, serious runner. Don't buy it, in fact don't rent it.

Kinda bored but still not bad in the end
Could anybody as a runner been suspended for 20 years? Suspension usually means there is a time limit or period for such penalty or punishment, and it usually means a short term. Yet in this movie the guy after 20 years was still suspended from running. How could it be? That no big deal misconduct is the bad scenario of this movie only served as a tough element for this tough 44 years old middle aged guy to deal with, making the movie itself possible. That misconduct should not and would not sentence him a lifetime ban from running but exaggerated too much. With a lot of totally unnecessary love-making scenes just served as another cheat purpose to keep the viewers not falling sleeping during watching, just another [thing] stuffed into this slow going movie. But all in all, the ending is quite good, showing this guy not only got an iron will, but also a big heart of sharing, for the triumph and satisfaction of such achievement with other front runners.

Great road runner movie
Although not quite in the league with Chariots of Fire, I think this is perhaps the best of the "running movies" that followed.
Bruce Dern plays "Wes Holman", a 44 year old former elite 10K track athlete who was driven from the sport by unfair circumstances. Wes attempts a comeback training for a somewhat unique race, a 14.2 mile mountain trail "handicap" race in which runners are started at different times dependent upon their age or sex. It is said that a real race in Marin County, "The Dipsea" served as a model for the movie.

The movie chronicles the Wes' year of training, while also dealing with issues with his father and the athletic governing body, and has re-kindles a relationship with an old flame, played by Pam Grier. The best part of the movie is simply watching the training and finally the race. Some of the stuff with the race is kind of "corny", so to speak, but I think most runners would enjoy the movie just to watch the running. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Cassavetes fans take note
The last words to appear as the credits roll up on this film are "Dedicated to John Cassavetes." It's no surprise. Made while Cassavetes was still alive, this movie is as fine a tribute to Cassavetes' movies and methods as was ever made, and I'm counting the films by Elaine May and his son Nick. Rob Nilsson and the cast workshopped the script together, a very intimate and powerful look at the emotional lives of a group of taxi drivers (SIGNAL 7 is a distress call, cabbie in trouble). Two of them, Marty and Speed, dream of going to Hollywood and trying to make it as actors. Both are beyond it, however. Marty, though talented as an actor, is struggling to come to terms with the fact that he'll probably die an utter failure, knowing he just doesn't have it to succeed, crushed as he is by his compassion for those around him; Speed, less talented, less realistic, and far more desperate, is determined to pretend that he has a chance. Both men are in their 50's, however, and barely scraping by. Performance as a way of escape, healing and survival is a theme Cassavetes cared a lot about, and it's sensitively and intelligently handled here. As in Cassavetes' films, the emotional content is pretty intense, and one really ends up feeling like one has encountered real human beings by the end of the film, and known them more deeply than most people one meets in life. As much as I like the film, I have to acknowledge, though, that it isn't particularly visually impressive or inventive. It's simply a really good effort to make a Cassavetes film on the part of people who obviously care a great deal about the role of the actor and the communicative possibilities of filmmaking. Recommended viewing. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Rod Serling, Twice Removed
While this initially comes off as a "Twilight Zone"-style morality play, shifting a thinly-disguised Western setting into a science fiction setting, it should be pointed out that this film is quite far removed from Rod Serling's original. In fact, the Amazon reviewer's statement that Serling's script was "unproduced" is not strictly true.

"A Town Has Turned To Dust" was a television play written in the 1950s, the heyday of live television drama (I can't recall if this was a Playhouse 90 offering). Serling's original script focused on a real-life case involving the lynching of an African-American man, with the complicity of local law enforcement officials. The network feared that this was too inflamatory and controversial to be produced in Serling's original form, so it was rewritten extensively. The version that *was* produced and aired in the 1950s changed the setting to New Mexico in the late 1800s, and changed the victim's character from African-American to Mexican immigrant. Rod Steiger played the local sheriff.

Rod Serling was extremely upset about these alterations, and felt that they had gutted his story, putting too much distance between audience and subject. The "old West" setting, in his opinion, dulled the impact and relevance that his play was intended to have. The play, as written, was not "allegory" at all -- it was a somewhat fictionalized retelling of recent (or current) events, whose impact came from its *contemporary* relevance.

I can't help wondering what Serling would have thought of this recent version, which now has two thick layers of reworking. It is no longer a "1950s lynching placed in a Western setting", it is now a "1950s lynching placed in a Western setting and moved to a Science Fiction setting." The setting -- and the relevance -- of Serling's original have been distanced even further from his original intention. In drawing the play further and further from its intended context, Serling's voice is increasingly muted.

The world's problems never change.
A Sci-Fi type of movie is not what I usually like but this is a great movie. Written by the late Rod Serling it shows a time in the future where the problems are the same as we have now and have had in the past. A lot of what this movie is about is prejudice and hate. Ron Perlman and Frankie Avina are the shinning stars in this movie. I highly recommend this movie. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Rod Serling, Twice Removed
While this initially comes off as a "Twilight Zone"-style morality play, shifting a thinly-disguised Western setting into a science fiction setting, it should be pointed out that this film is quite far removed from Rod Serling's original. In fact, the Amazon reviewer's statement that Serling's script was "unproduced" is not strictly true.

"A Town Has Turned To Dust" was a television play written in the 1950s, the heyday of live television drama (I can't recall if this was a Playhouse 90 offering). Serling's original script focused on a real-life case involving the lynching of an African-American man, with the complicity of local law enforcement officials. The network feared that this was too inflamatory and controversial to be produced in Serling's original form, so it was rewritten extensively. The version that *was* produced and aired in the 1950s changed the setting to New Mexico in the late 1800s, and changed the victim's character from African-American to Mexican immigrant. Rod Steiger played the local sheriff.

Rod Serling was extremely upset about these alterations, and felt that they had gutted his story, putting too much distance between audience and subject. The "old West" setting, in his opinion, dulled the impact and relevance that his play was intended to have. The play, as written, was not "allegory" at all -- it was a somewhat fictionalized retelling of recent (or current) events, whose impact came from its *contemporary* relevance.

I can't help wondering what Serling would have thought of this recent version, which now has two thick layers of reworking. It is no longer a "1950s lynching placed in a Western setting", it is now a "1950s lynching placed in a Western setting and moved to a Science Fiction setting." The setting -- and the relevance -- of Serling's original have been distanced even further from his original intention. In drawing the play further and further from its intended context, Serling's voice is increasingly muted.

The world's problems never change.
A Sci-Fi type of movie is not what I usually like but this is a great movie. Written by the late Rod Serling it shows a time in the future where the problems are the same as we have now and have had in the past. A lot of what this movie is about is prejudice and hate. Ron Perlman and Frankie Avina are the shinning stars in this movie. I highly recommend this movie. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Less is More in this Prairie Populist Epic
Precede or follow watching this movie by reading a little about the Non-Partison League of North Dakota, which will flesh out this spare, memorable film. Much of it is set in late fall and winter, which on the plains can be bleak and reinforces the North Dakota stereotype as an inhospitably cold place to live.

Part love story, part tragedy, and part history of the farmers' rebellion against perceived moneyed interests, the movie etches itself on the memory through vivid yet understated scenes: the old farmer who expires at the base of a scarecrow atop a lonely, windswept rise; the threshing of wheat done by an antique kerosene-powered tractor, belts and all, during a genuine Dakota blizzard that blew up while the crew filmed; the grain elevator manager unjustifiably downgrading the farmer's wheat, and the farmer's rage; and the many scenes of wind-blown grassland and snow. It is all deeply moving in a muted sort of way.

Two of the best parts are the beginning and end, in which real-life Henry Martinson plays the movie Henry Martinson. Martinson, in his 90s when the movie was made in 1979, was the genuine article: a North Dakota prairie radical who was involved in the NPL saga. His home is now part of the Bonanzaville Pioneer Village in West Fargo, North Dakota, and I visit it regularly. We likely wouldn't have seen eye to eye on some things, but he had spark, and what a great thing it is to have him on film!

The NPL merged with the Democratic party in North Dakota in the 1950s. Yet some of the same old grievances shown in the movie against the railroads and other institutions still crop up from time to time.

There's a story to be told of North Dakota radicalism, and this movie does it well. If it's action or hot sex you're looking for, keep looking. But if you want entertainment rather than titillation, while getting a look at the same time at the social ferment in early 20th century North Dakota, this is it. The film opens the door onto an interesting and at times moving era in our history.

Northern Lights Shining Star
I've seen "Northern Lights" twice and want to share it with friends and families. I'm frustrated this Cannes winner isn't available for rent or purchase. It's a beautiful, thoughtful account of one of the most successful Populist movements in American history; when frustrated farmers slowly and reluctantly joined the Nonpartisan League, elected their own legislators and ran the state government for six stormy years.

Great men in wide space
Already 20 years since I saw this movie and still ready to buy it... but unavailable. A superb black&white movie showing hard times in emerging North Dakota. Scene with snow falling on mature corn is especially remarkable. Scenario describes 1920's famer's society with arrival of machinery and the Lizzie of the doctor. Intense characters and oppressive landscape (almost Russian plains).

Super realistic movie about life of early emigrant farmers.
This a a super realistic movie about life and times of farmers in North Dakota prior to WW1. It reminds me of movies like "Hester Street" and "Emigrant Saga" in the way that it so closely matches the period presented. I can remember my grandfather bouncing me on his knee singing a Swedish rhyme just like it was presented in the movie. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has grown up in the great plains states and especially to anyone over 60 years old. ... Read more