Rob Christopher's Blog, page 7

3 things about Michael Winner’s SCORPIO

Scorpio [1973]

1. Exploding, collapsing wooden scaffolding.
2. Burt impersonates a Black priest.
3. Fake suicide capsule.

I have never, ever liked a film directed by Michael Winner. And while I can’t say it’s a “good” movie, I came closer to liking Scorpio than any other Winner film.

It’s basically a John le Carré simulacrum with a flabby, derivative screenplay, burdened with some truly terrible dialog, that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The ending in particular has none of the gravitas it thinks it has, simply because it feels contrived rather than fated. However you do get some excellent location work, beautifully lensed by Robert Paynter, and a helluva chase sequence. Burt and Alain are fun to watch, especially in their few scenes together.

So yeah, it’s a tolerable way to kill a few hours.

3 things about Lewis Allen’s ILLEGAL

Illegal [1955]

1. A poison that takes 45 minutes to work.
2. Storefront: DALE’S RECORD SHOP
3. Deathbed confession that arrives too late.

3 things about Bong Joon Ho’s MICKEY 17

Mickey 17 [2025]

1. The tail becomes a sauce.
2. An accent somewhere between Bobby Brady and Columbo.
3. Sex expends too many calories.

3 things about Paul Wendkos’ GIDGET

Gidget [1959]

1. She’s reluctant to strip down to her bathing suit; one of her friends commands: “Peel, girl!”
2. Breast-enhancing exercises.
3. When The Four Preps pop in to perform “Cinderella” at the luau, it’s the squarest, corniest, whitest musical interlude in 1959 cinema.

3 things about Jean Renoir’s FRENCH CANCAN

French Cancan [1955]

1. An afternoon tryst in the backroom of the boulangerie.
2. Taking turns showing off their newfound limberness.
3. Pepto-Bismol walls backstage.

3 things about Steven Soderbergh’s OUT OF SIGHT

Out of Sight [1998]

1. She silently enters the bathroom, spots him, makes an appraisal.
2. Reading glasses perched on Dennis Farina’s nose.
3. “I just want to know what happens next.”
“You know.”

3 other things.

3 things about Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER

28 Days Later [2002]

1. Their note. “Don’t wake up.”
2. Fleeing rats.
3. “I promised them women.”

3 things about Aaron Wertheimer’s WEDGERINO

Wedgerino [2015]

1. When something’s cooler than cool, it’s beige.
2. A round of private conversations.
3. “I’m Lisa. People call me ‘Sa for short.”

3 things about Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin’s CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER

Chronicle of a Summer [1961]

1. “I paint to understand the painting of others.”
2. A long pause. “If I only knew.”
3. Several minutes go by after we first see the tattoo before it is explained to us what it means.

3 things about Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

The Dark Knight Rises [2012]

1. The stock market raid occurs in the daytime and about five minutes later it’s the dead of night.
2. Alfred and Fernet-Branca.
3. Extremely tall bench.

3 other things.