Raging Bull "I'm the boss! I'm the boss! I'm the boss!!"

So here is yet another movie review and yet again this one harks back from the 80s once more as I will cover Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed biopic based on the real life events of the former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta.  So let's put on the boxing gloves, step in the ring and get ready for the bell...

So the story begins in 1941 with Jake LaMotta, nicknamed "The Bronx Bull" or "Raging Bull" who loses a fight against another boxer named Jimmy Reeves.  Jake's brother and manager, Joey (Joe Pesci) afterwards discusses with Jake the possibility of him getting a shot at the championship title with the help of one of his mob connections, Salvy Batts (Frank Vincent).  Jake's home life however is turbulent as he often rows with his wife, Irma (Lori Anne Flax) and he soon becomes attracted to a 15 year old girl named Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) whom he persues and eventually later marries a few years later.  As the story moves to 1947, with Jake now married and Vickie having had a baby, he now grows paranoid about the possibility of Vickie having feelings for other men, as she makes a comment about upcoming fighter Tony Janiro (Kevin Mahon) being good looking.  When Jake fights Janiro in the ring his feelings paranoid jealousy lead him to brutally beat Janiro senseless as he defeats him in front of Vickie and local mob boss, Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto) in the audience.

After the fight, Joey talks with journalists at a nightclub, the Copacabana, where he spots Vickie having a drink with Salvy and his men.  Joey is outraged at Vickie for doing so and tells her to go home but she returns to the table where Joey angrily argues with Salvy and attacks him, with their fight continuing outside on the street.  Como later on orders them both to apologise and he tells Joey that LaMotta will get his shot at the title but he must take a dive first.  At the next fight, Jake is up against Bud Fox, whom after he punches and stuns the fighter with just one punch, doesn't put up a fight and leaves the ring, and later sobs in tears as he regrets his decision.  As a result Jake is suspended by the board as they percevied him as throwing the fight, but Jake is later re-instated and is giving another shot at the title.  On the evening of the title fight, Jake has become increasingly paranoid over Vickie and as he is paid a visit by Tommy (who kisses Vickie on the lips) he is seething with jealousy and he slaps Vickie and angrily tells Tommy to butt out when he tries to interject.  Regardless of that Jake goes on to win his fight against Marcel Cerdan and he finally claims the middleweight championship belt.

The story then moves on to 1950 where Jake is now the defending champion, with his new fame and success he has a new house.  Jake however still can't let go of his obssession with Vickie as he probes Joey for more information about the incident at the Copa club when Joey assaulted Salvy as he asks if it had to with Vickie, which Joey denies.  Jake further goes on to press Joey and asks if he had an affair with Vickie, however Joey refuses to answers and walks out.  After Vickie returns home, Jake questions her and asks her if she slept with Joey, which she angrily denies and she goes off to lock herself in the bathroom.  Jake however breaks down the door and roughly grabs and slaps Vickie, who finally admits that she slept with Joey, Salvy and Tommy, leaving Jake enraged, who storms off to Joey's house, where he assaults him infront of his wife and children.  Later Vickie returns home and packs to leave but Jake pleads with her not to go, and she finally relents.  After this Jake continues his title defence, however from here he starts his downward spiral and he starts a self destructive cycle which sees him throw his career away and struggle later in life.....

Raging Bull is undoubtedly one of Martin Scorsese's finest films and remains one of the crowning moments in the director's career.  The story itself is gripping and at times unsettling to watch where we see at first hand, LaMotta's violent streak both in and outside the ring.  And for the most part of the film LaMotta really is a pretty loathsome character, who's jealousy and extreme paranoia do threaten to alienate him from the audience.  However later on in the film you do recognise that LaMotta does slowly redeem himself toward the end when he makes up with his brother Joey.  And given how good the film is, it was a bit of a disgrace in how it was overlooked at the Academy Awards with Scorsese once again missing out on Best director and Picture, although De Niro won the academy award for best actor.  The film also wasn't well received on its release due to its violent content, however since then it has become widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

Which brings onto the performances section of the review and they are all superb, starting with Robert De Niro who is simply magnificent in his role as Jake LaMotta, the hot tempered and jealous boxer, who has a vicious streak both in the ring and out.  De Niro of course also famously in the film gained 70 pounds in weight for the role of Jake LaMotta for the latter scenes in the film after Jake retires from boxing, however for the sake of De Niro's health, these sequences were shot quickly so he could start to lose the weight again.  De Niro plays the part as about as well as you could possibly hope for and he has many highlights in the film.  Such examples include the scene where he argues with Joey over Vickie and did he sleep with her and he later on goes on to assault Joey in his home.  In fact one amusing aspect about that scene is the moment where Jake asks Joey "Did you fuck my wife?" Pesci's initial reaction wasn't strong enough for Scorsese, so he got De Niro to improvise another question which was "Did you fuck my mother??" and Pesci's reaction that we see in the film is in response to that question!  Another scene is near the beginning where Jake tells Joey to hit him in the face and as Joey reluctantly starts punching him, Jake says "You throw a punch like you take it up the ass!".  De Niro also has some emotionally powerful moments in the film with the main one being where he is thrown in the stockade county jail as he was arrested for introducing underaged girls into his club.  And after Jake is thrown into his cell, he starts to relentlessly pound the walls with his fists, screaming and yelling "Why???! Why???!! Why???!!!" over and over until his gives in and sits down, sobbing say "They call me animal! I'm not an animal!  Why do they treat me like this!  I'm not that bad!".  De Niro also has some funny moments in the film such as in the scene where he is invited over to meet Tommy Como and he tells him that he intends to really beat up on the good looking boxer Janrio.  And Jake says "I'm gonna open up his hole like this!  I'm gonna make him suffer.  I'm gonna make him wish his mother never had him!" but then he jokes "But he's nice good, pretty kid too.  I've got a problem, should I fuck him or fight him?!".  And also later after his boxing career is over, he get's some low paid gigs as a stand-up comedian, and as he does his routine in a sleazy bar, he says "When I arrived here I asked the owner "where's the toilet?" and he said "You're in it!".  And De Niro's last scene in the film is also worthy of mention where the story finished where it started in 1964, with Jake reminiscing and quoting Brando's lines from "On the Waterfront" and later shadowboxing and muttering to himself "I'm the boss!  I'm the boss!!". 

Joe Pesci is also superb in his role as Joey, Jake's brother, who is also a bit of a hothead as well and also has a bad habit of two-timing his wife with other women, and Pesci himself was a largely unknown and struggling actor at the time.  Pesci has some great moments in the film as well, such as in the scene where he argues with Salvy in the Copa and he attacks him and later assaults him out on the street and slams Salvy's head into a taxi door.  Pesci also get's some good dialogue as well such as in the scene where he is questioned by Jake as to whether he slept with Vickie or not.  And in the scene Joey says "How can you ask me a question like that?  Where do you get your balls big enough to ask me that!" and he later follows it by saying "Its a sick question and you're a sick fuck and I'm not that sick that I'm gonna answer it.  You know what you should do is a little more fuckin and a little less eatin, that way you won't take it out on me and everybody else!".  Another scene of interest is where near the beginning Jake and Joey spar with one another in the ring, and De Niro for real actually delivered a punch that broke one of Pesci's ribs, which we can hear as Joe groans out loud when it happens.  And his last scene with De Niro is also quite a surprisingly moving one where Jake finally reconciles with Joey after so many years of not talking to one another, and they meet in an underground car park and share a long hug.

Cathy Moriarty is also excellent in her role as Vickie, Jake's long suffering wife (who of course later divorces him).  Moriarty herself was only 18 or 19 at the time the film was made, yet her husky voice and her ability to look more mature than her years, helped her carry the role and she played it perfectly.  Moriarty also has some good moments in the film, the best ones being where she argues with Joey in the Copa, and she says to Joey "Look I'm tired of turning and having both of you two up my ass all the time!".  And the other is her best scene where Jake rows with her at home in the bathroom and angrily slaps her when she reveals that she slept with Joey and the others.  "I fucked all of them!  What do you want me to say??!  I fucked Joey, Tommy, Salvy!  I sucked your brother's cock!  What do you want me to say?!  You're nothin but a fat pig selfish fool!".  And after Jake storms out of the bathroom she yells after him "His fucking cock is bigger than yours too!!!".

Nicholas Colasanto is also very good in his role as the mob boss, Tommy Como, who backs Jake in his attempts to claim the middleweight title.  Colasanto also has some good scenes in the film, although his main two are the scenes where he talks with Jake at the Copa and in the scene where he talks to Joey after Joey's row with Salvy.  And Colasanto has some good lines in the scene where he tells Tommy that how is annoyed with Jake who is making him look an embarrassment and he says "I don't care how colourful he is or how great he is.  He can take on all the Sugar Ray Robinsons and Tony Janrios in the world, but he ain't getting a shot at the title, not without us he ain't!".  And lastly Frank Vincent, who would later become a regular Scorsese stalwart, is also very good in his role as the mobster, Salvy, and it would pretty soon become a common trend for Vincent to play mob guys, but then again he's so good at it.  And Vincent has a good moment with Pesci during the scene where they call a truce in their meeting with Tommy and as Joey gives Salvy a hug and Salvy groans painfully as he has a bandage on his head and he says "What are you fuckin nuts??!  You're killing me!".  Also another is in the scene where Jake is invited over to Tommy's table at the Copa and he is rather hostile to Salvy and says regarding Janiro to Salvy "I could both gives you a ring and both give you a beating and you can go fuck each other!" and Salvy says "But I would be full of blood!" and Jake smiles and says "You get used to that".    

As for Martin Scorsese, well he hardly puts a foot wrong here as his direction for the film is superb and he made the astute decision to shoot the film in black and white (and was beautifully shot by the DoP Michael Chapman) and it works incredibly well as a result, as the monochrome helps convey the stark and gritty qualities the film has.  Scorsese also provides the film with some great visual moments and the fight sequences are superbly handled and they show the raw brutaltiy of the sport.  And this is highlighted mainly in the scene where Jake fights Sugar Ray Robinson (played by Johnny Barnes) for the last time and he takes a brutal beating from Robinson, which leaves him barely standing, battered and bloody and looking like something out of a horror film.  And in one of the film's most striking images after the fight is over we see the Jake's blood drip from the ropes.  The film while it doesn't have an original music score, it makes a great use of the opera Cavalleria Rusticana composed by the Italian composer, Pietro Mascagni, particularly the most well known track "Intermezzo" from that opera, which is used in the film's opening titles where we see Jake slowly shadowbox in the ring.

So flaws..... Raging Bull have any???  Well yes and no, its a great film that get's most things just about spot on, it does have one or two niggles.  The first one would be with the character of Jake himself, as he is largely a self-obssessed, bad tempered, mysoginistic asshole and while it undoubtedly is a warts and all depiction of the real LaMotta, its easy to see why viewers would feel alienated in watching him.  The real LaMotta in an interview actually even said himself that when he first watched the film with the real life Vickie he became depressed and reportedly said to Vickie "Was I really that bad???" and Vickie turned and said "No, you were worse!".  Joey isn't as bad a character but he does also share his contempt for women as he too treats his wife like crap as he cheats on her, as we see in one scene where he quietly says to Jake that he intends not taking her out on a date but another woman instead.  Another slight issue is surprisingly with De Niro's performance as while he is superb in the role, one thing he doesn't do well as an actor is cry!  And this is shown clear as day in the scene where he sobs on the shoulder of his trainer after he waked off from the his fight with Fox as his crying just isn't convincing at all and it just sounds put on.     

But that aside Raging Bull is still remains one of Martin Scorsese's finest achievements and to this day it still warrants a repeated viewing, and while it doesn't paint a pretty picture and it sure isn't Rocky, it does succeed in telling an engrossing story of one man's battles inside and outside the ring.

And with that I shall leave you there.  Ding Ding! (Sorry!).    

Airplane! "The shit's gonna hit the fan!!"

Soooo another review coming your way and this one is yet another film from the 1980s which is yet another classic comedy, Airplane! which was a big success on its release in both critical and commercial terms.  So let's strap ourselves in and let's give this un a look....

Well we all should know the plot of the film which starts with troubled ex-fighter pilot, Ted Striker (Robert Hays) who suffers from post traumtic stress after his experiences in an unspecified war.  Striker tries desparately to win back his ex-girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty) who is now a flight attendant and he nervously boards a Boeing 707 which is flying from Los Angeles to Chicago.  While onboard the plane there is an outbreak of food poisoning, which appears to be contracted from fish served on the plane, which affects many of the passengers.  It also affects the plane's captain, Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves) and the co-pilot Roger Murdoch (Kareem-Abhul Jabbar) which leaves no one to fly the plane.  Elaine then contacts Chicago's control tower and speaks to the supervisor, Steve McCrowskey (Lloyd Bridges) who advises her to activate the ship's automatic pilot, which is a large inflatable doll (named Otto in the credits) but it will not be able to land the plane.  Elaine eventually approaches Striker to ask him to fly the plane, but he initially refuses and is then brought around by one of the passengers, Dr Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) who informs of how serious the situation is with the passengers.  Striker however soon panics at the helm in the cockpit and decides he can't land the plane and walks out leaving the auto-pilot to take over.  Rumack however manages to bring Striker around again as he tells him an inspiring story of his time during the war as a medical officer.  After this Striker steps back into the cockpit once again determined to land the plane and save the critically ill passengers in the process....

Airplane! still to this day is an hilarious comedy film and it introduced its own unique style of comedy at the time with its use of visual and verbal puns and gags.  The film's comedy in itself is also relentless are there so many gags and jokes in the film and they come so thick and fast that you are bound to laugh at least half of them.  The film itself is of course a spoof of the Airport disaster films of the 1970s and its plot was largely based on film Zero Hour! made back in the 1950s.  And the writer/director team of Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker also made the astute choice of casting non-comedic actors in the roles, which helped make the film funnier as the actors took their roles so seriously.

So this leads me into the performance paragraphs and the cast are all perfect in their roles, starting with Robert Hays in the main role as troubled ex-war veteran, Ted Striker, who does a great job as the film's straight man.  Hays has quite a few funny moments in the film, and one my favourite early on ones is where he chases after Elaine at the airport at the start, and she rebuffs him and he turns to the camera and says "What a pisser!".  Another funny scene is of course the flashback sequence where he first meets Elaine and he watches her on the dance floor for the first time, stunned, he narrates "I had ask the guy next to me to pinch me to make sure I wasn't dreaming!" and as he does in the scene, the man nervously steps away from him.  This is then of course followed by the scene where he takes off his US airforce uniform jacket to reveal a Saturday night Fever style suit as he dances with Elaine to the Bee Gees "Stayin Alive".  Another funny moment is the flashback scene where he and Elaine visit an African tribe during the war and Ted shows them how to play basketball and they all soon turn our to play like pros and when he first shows American greetings to the tribe leader, he gives the leader a low 10, and the leader knocks him out!  And then there is the end of this scene where Ted's relationship with Elaine starts to show cracks and he narrates "It was at that moment I realised that Elaine had doubts about our relationship.  And that as much as anything lead to my drinking problem" and Ted proceeds to pour a drink down the left side of his face!  Hays also get's the classic line when one of the plane's engines is struck by lightning and Ted says "The oil pressure!  I forgot to check the oil pressure!  When Kramer hears about this, the shit's gonna hit the fan!" and then we do a cut to the flight tower and we literally see some shit hit the fan!  And another funny visual gag later on is when Ted tries to land the plane and the landing gear breaks and the plane skids along the runway and we see buckets of sweat pouring off Ted as he tries to grind the plane to a halt!  And lastly another one of my favourite lines of Hays in the film is when Ted first sits down in his seat on the plane and an elderly lady next him asks if he is nervous and he says "Yes" and she asks "First time?" and Ted says "No, I've been nervous lots of times!". 

Julie Hagerty is also really good in her role as the sweet, well meaning and rather highly strung Elaine Dickinson, who was Ted's former girlfriend.  Julie also has some funny scenes in the film where she plays Elaine's slight air headed qualities to perfection.  One such scene is after Dr Rumack tells her not to cause panic but try and find out if anyone can fly a plane, she announces on the PA system "By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane??" which is then followed by all the passengers going bananas, and the inexplicable but far from unwelcome visage of a topless girl running infront of the camera, which a rather nice chest!  Also there the flasback scene where Elaine visits Ted in a psychiatric hospital and she says to him "You got a letter from headquarters this morning." and Ted asks "What is it?" and she says "Its a big building where generals meet, but that's not important".  And as Ted sits wallowing in self pity over his failure in the leading the air raid he was involved in, he says "Because of my mistake, six men didn't return from that raid" and Elaine says "Seven men, Lieutenant Zip died this morning" and Ted suddenly spits out his drink in surprise over her!  Also in the scene where Rex Kramer (played by Robert Stack) a current airline pilot, who arrives to control the crisis and help Striker land the plane, there is a funny moment where Elaine relays Ted's words to Rex over the radio.  And as Ted says "Its a damn good thing he doesn't know how much I hate his guts!" Elaine without thinking repeats "Its a damn good he doesn't how much he hates your guts!". 

Leslie Nielsen, who up to this point had no experience in comedy films is priceless in his role as Dr Rumack, the buttoned down doctor onboard the plane, who tries his best to help save the passengers who have been poisoned.  Nielsen has quite a few highlights in the film such as in the scene where he asks Elaine what everyone had to eat tonight and Elaine says "We had steak or fish" and Rumack says "Yes yes, I remember, I had lasagne!".  The film has its moments where the dialogue is played on a comedy of misunderstandings as in one scene Rumack speaks with Captain Oveur and he says to him "How soon can you land?" and Oveur says "I can't tell" and Rumack says "You can tell me, I'm a doctor".  And Rumack asks "Can't you take a guess" and Oveur says "Well not for another two hours" and Rumack says "You can't take a guess for another two hours?!".  Another hilarious moment is where Rumack starts to describe the effects of the food posioning, as we see that the pilot, Ouver had fish as well and he starts to feel the symptoms as Rumack describes them.  "It starts with a slight fever and a dryness of the throat.  When the virus penetrates the red blood cells, the victim becomes dizzy, begins to experience an itchy rash, then the poison goes to work on the central nervous system, severe muscle spasm followed by the inevitable drooling.  At this point, the entire digestive system collapses accompanied by uncontrollable flatulence.  Until the poor bastard is reduced to a quivering wasted piece of jelly!".  And at this point Oveur collapses!  And of course there is the classic line where Ted says to Rumack "Surely you can't be serious!" and Rumack says "Of course I'm serious.  And stop calling me Shirley!".

Lloyd Bridges is also great in his role as the Chicago control tower supervisor, Steve McCrowskey, who becomes increasingly unhinged as the film goes on.  Bridges has some great moments in the film such as the scene where he arrives at the airport tower and dishes out orders left, right and centre and then stands behind his desk and we see a photograph of himself on the wall behind adopting the exact same stance!  Also as the crisis worsens on the plane, McCrowskey choice of stress relief get's more and more edgier, as he starts by saying "Guess I picked the wrong week to stop smoking!" which is then followed by whisky, amphetimines and then glue!  And after sniffing glue we see McCrowskey hanging upside down, high as a kite and later he comes down to Earth and as the plane hurtles out of control and nears the tower, McCrowskey yells out "Its coming straight for us!" and he dives out the window!

Peter Graves is also hilarious in his role as the pilot Clarence Oveur and he has some amusing moments.  The first one that springs to mind is when the young boy, Joey is brought up to the cockpit by Elaine to see it and Oveur asks him some increasingly perverted questions, which start off as "You ever seen a grown man naked?" followed by "Joey, do you like films about Gladiators?" and then "Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?".  Another funny moment is when Oveur at the start of the film picks up the wrong courtesy phone and the operator says "No, the white phone!" and he takes a call from a doctor from the Mayo clinic.  And then the operator cuts in and says "Excuse me, Captain, but I have an emergency call from Mr Hamm on five" and Oveur says "OK, get me Hamm on five and hold the Mayo!".  Robert Stack is also really good in the film also as Rex Kramer, a former war pilot who flew with Striker and now is held in contempt by Striker.  Stack has some funny moments such as the first scene he appears in at Kramer's house, where it looks like he is looking at himself in a mirror, but then he steps through what appears to be the mirror instead!  Another fun moment is where he hurriedly rushes through the airport lobbies and is pestered by different religious preachers trying to promote their believes to him and he ends up beating them all up!  And Stack's best line in the film for me is the scene where Kramer and the others go up to the tower and one of the men has a finger in their ear and Kramer looks at him and says "And get that finger out of your ear!  You don't know where that finger has been!".  

The other cast members are also funny such as Stephen Stucker who appears as the air traffic controller with a manic sense of humour.  Stucker's camp delivery allows for some funny moments where his character interjects at some inappropriate moments or says something pretty insensitive or just plain silly.  A funny example of this is in the scene where Captain Oveur's wife arrives at the tower and McCrowskey tells her "Your husband's OK but he's unconscious." and Johnny adds "Just like Gerald Ford!".  And in another scene one of the controller's in the tower says "The fog is getting thicker" and Johnny pounces up to an overweight controller and rolls his belly and says "And Leon is getting larrrgeeerrrrrr!".  Also as Oveur's wife is distraught at her husband's condition Johnny looks sympathetically at her, but then he starts to look at what she is wearing and exclaims in disgust "Where did you get that dress, its awful, and those shoes and that coat!  Jeez!!".  And when they head to the upper part of the tower, Johnny follows them prancing away "The tower!  Tower!!  Rapunzel!  Rapunzel!!".  And one of Stucker's funniest lines comes when McCrowskey and the other men look at the headlines over the crisis with flight and they list different ones and Johnny looks at the paper and says "There's a sale at Penney's!".

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the famous basketball player also makes a funny cameo as the airline co-pilot, Roger Murdock who has a funny scene where the young boy, Joey is let into the cockpit and he spots straight away who he really is.  And when the boy mentions his shortcomings as a player, Kareem grabs the boy and says "Listen, kid, I've been hearing that crap ever since I've been at UCLA!  I'm out there busting my buns every night!  Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lainer up and down the court for 48 minutes!".  Al White is also funny in the film as the jive dude who suffers from food poisoning as well, and in a funny scene one of the ladies on board speaks Jive to him and he insults her for it as he speaks fluent Jive (never English) and she walks off saying "Jive ass dude got no brains anyhow!".  And lastly Lorna Patterson who is also pretty good (and pretty) in her role as the flight attendant Randy, who has a couple of funny moments, one where she plays the guitar for a sick girl onboard the flight, and she accidentally knocks out the girl's drip wire, who goes into shock, while Randy gleefully sings "There's only one river" oblivious to it all!  The other is where she breaks down in tears and regrets how shes "26 and still not married!" and one of the married women comes in to ask Rumack, who is with Randy when will they land and asks how she is and the woman says "Oh terrified, but at least I have a husband" and Randy continues to sob. 

As for the Zuckers and Abraham in their directorial roles they have done a great with Airplane! here as they nail the serious comedic tone of the film perfectly well and they let the gags come thick and fast and the films move at such a pace it never lags.  The film's music score is also very worthy of note as it was composed by the great Elmer Bernstein, who did alot of the American comedy films of that period, and the film's main theme is still a very memorable one as well and the score suits the film's quasi serious tone to perfection.

So Airplane!  Flaws?????  Well hmmmmmmm yeah OK one thing that did bother about the film was it never was disclosed what war Ted Striker flew in, as the film footage suggests it was the World War II.  And throughout the film that's the war that is suggested however since that Ted Striker appears only to be in his early 30's and not any older than that and Robert Hays himself was only 32 years old at the time of filming (born in 1947 and it was filmed in late 1979) its extremely unlikely he would have flown in WWII as he wouldn't have even been born before it ended!  So we have to assume it was another war although which war who can say and in the end I guess we just need to suspend disbelief once more.  But its another timeline issue which remains thoroughly unresolved in the film, not unless Ted and Elaine are much older than they appear and they've been taking embalming fluid or something to preserve themselves or some such stuff as that! (well OK that is pretty stupid in itself!).

But that aside Airplane! remains one of the funniest and in its own way most influential spoof comedy films in modern American cinema.

So on that note I shall say tara there and hope you all have a good Easter!  :-)

Stir Crazy "You cooked half my stash!!!"

OK this post is also from the 80s, the very early 80s, 1980 to be exact as it will cover Stir Crazy, the comedy hit starring the comedy duo of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.  And with that let's do the usual and take a look at this mother....

So the plot is pretty simple as it follows two New Yorkers, a writer, Skip Donohue (Wilder) and Harry Monroe (Pryor) who decide to leave New York and head for Hollywood.  On their journey they stop off in Arizona and they get a job at a bank doing a song and dance routine dressed as a couple of woodpeckers.  On their lunch break however, two men steal their outfits and perform the routine and then proceed to rob the bank.  As Skip and Harry return to the bank they are immediately arrested and are soon sentenced to serve a 125 jail sentence.  The two men start to serve their jail sentence but they find life very tough on the inside, and after failing to attempt insanity, they end up making friends with inmates, Jesus Ramirez (Miguel Angel Suarez) a robber, and Rory Schultebrand (Georg Stanford Brown) a gay man who killed his stepfather.  After three months of their sentence, Skip and Harry are taken to see the warden, Walter Beatty (Barry Corbin) who has Skip ride a mechanical bull, which Skip rides successfully at maximum speed.  The warden impressed by Skip's performance on the bull decides he will use him to represent their prison in an annual rodeo.

Skip however soon learns the truth about the rodeo from Jesus and Rory, who tell them it is in fact a corrupt operation run by Beatty and another rival prison warden and the money from the rodeo goes straight to the wardens as a result.  Jesus and Rory also tell Skip to hold out on the warden if he get's picked in order to work a deal for themselves, which Skip does.  As a result, Beatty has Skip punished by putting him on a gruelling work detail, chaining him up and even placing him solitary confinement, as well as sharing a cell with the most feared prison inmate, a mass murderer called Grossberger (Erlan Van Lidth).  However none of this breaks Skip's spirit, and he eventually succeeds in getting his deal over to Beatty, where he asks to pick his own team and get a larger cell.  Meanwhile Skip and Harry's defence lawyer Len Garber (Joel Brooks) along with his law partner, Meredith (Jo Beth Williams) try to prove their innocence as they track the leads of the two men who actually robbed the bank.  And as the film nears its end, Skip and Harry attend the prison rodeo, where Skip must ride and while this is going the others must try and plan their escape and make a break for it....

Stir Crazy is generally considered to be the best of the Wilder and Pryor collaborations on screen, however for me I think its a close second rather than the best as See No Evil, Hear No Evil is better.  Regardless of that, Stir Crazy is still a very entertaining and funny film and the natural on screen chemistry that Wilder and Pryor share is what makes the film work so well.  The film recieved mixed reviews on its release although it was a commercial success, its reputation has improved over the years since then (I think!).

Which brings me (quicker than usual!) onto the performances starting with Gene Wilder who is pretty good in his role as the overbearingly chirpy and open minded Skip Donohue and he get's some good laughs in the film and good lines.  As an example is the scene where Skip in prison first lays his eyes on Grossberger, who cuts a large frightening figure, who aggressively cuts through the inmates tables to get a salt cellar and Skip says "I wonder what triggered all that violence??  I know what it is, no one has ever simply just sat down and talked to that man".  And as Skip approaches Grossberg and mildly says "Hello!" Grossberger stands up and screams at him and Skip runs back to his seat and says "I think I'll wait till after he's had a nap!".  Another funny scene is where he tries to befriend the two rednecks in a bar, who ultimately end up robbing the bank, as the two men use a punching bag, Skip butts in and tries to make chat with them, unsuccessfully, so instead he uses the punching bag, and one of the men stops him and punches the bag off its stand into overhead lights.  Another funny moment comes during the scenes where the warden tries to "straighten out" Skip and has him placed in solitary confinement, after being released he says to the hard assed deputy (Craig T. Nelson) "Just one more day, please.  I was just getting into myself!".  And the scene where he turns down the warden's offer to be in the rodeo and he says "My mother was a veternarian.  I couldn't have anything to do with the exploitation of animals, she'd turned over in her grave!" and he proceeds to have an imaginary converstion with his mother "What I said no, ma!  Are you crazy, I said no!  I have witnesses!  All right we'll talk about it in my cell!".  And another moment that is funny is where Skip and Harry wake up in their cell together and given their extremely cramped confines of the cell, they end up trying to use the same urinal to pee and as they do, Skip says to Harry "You're peeing on me!!".   

Richard Pryor is also great in his role as the down to earth and rather highly strung, Harry Monroe, who follows Skip's lead on their road to Hollywood, which ultimately turns sour, as they take a wrong and end up in prison.  Pryor has plenty of funny moments in the film such as the scene where having just been arrested and taken to a police station, Harry starts to strut his way into the holding cells and pretends to act tough and he says to Skip "You gotta get back, Jack.  If you ain't bad, you gonna get fucked!".  Also in his first scene where he works as a kitchen waiter in a mansion and one of the staff unwittingly puts half of his container of hash into the food, thinking it was oregano!  And Harry looks on bemused and says "Jesus!  You cooked half my stash!!".  Another funny moment is in the holding cell where a mean looking criminal approaches Skip and Harry, who sobs onto Skip's shoulder.  And the criminal says "You one short son of a bitch, ain't you?" and Harry sobs in reply "Yeah I'm a short son of a bitch!  My father was a short son of a bitch, too.  And we had a little brother and we couldn't even see him!".  And later during their prison sentence, when Harry tells Skip about Jesus and Rory's plan to bust out, Harry says "I don't think I can take 30 years in this place and I know you can't.  We gotta get the fuck out of here!".  And another funny moment is in the scene where one of the inmates, Blade (Charles Weldon) while at the prison stables tells Harry how to handle a bull, which is in the stalls, and there is one word which will drive it crazy and he leaves Harry to figure out the word.  And Harry goes through all sorts of things such as "Rumplestilskin" and ends up just saying "Shit!" and the bull goes mad and charges after him.  Another funny comes after Skip and Harry after a heavy day's work detail outside, Harry shaikly walks into his cell and collapses in a heap and in the morning, they both wake up side by side in a heap.  And Harry tries to get ready by putting his leg into Skip's remaining trouser leg, as Skip has his other leg in the other one, and Harry screams "I can't feel my other leg!!".  And then there is the scene where Skip and Harry first enter the prison cell area and they try and fake insanity in order to get out of it.  And Harry first clams down Skip and then Harry goes crazy and tears off his prison shirt and yells "Aggghhh!!! I can't take it!" before Skips calms him down and they both spring back up and trot to their cells.   

In the supporting roles Barry Corbin is very good as the prison warden Beatty, and given his Southern drawl, Corbin is perfect for the role and he does a fine job with it.  Corbin's best line in the film comes when after Skip turns down Beatty's decision to have him ride in the rodeo, he says "That boy is confused.  Straight him out!".  Craig T. Nelson also makes an impression as the hard assed and intimidating deputy Wilson, and he has some good lines in the film, especially in his first scene where he sharply tells Skip to "Get on the BULL!!" i.e. the mechnical bull.  Also later on where Skip comes back and makes a deal with the warden to do the rodeo and he asks for a bigger cell with better ventilation, Wilson says "What's the matter has Grossberger been fartin on ya?!".

Goerg Stanford Brown also is very good in his role as Rory, the gay inmate who takes a shine to Harry, and he helps them bust out of jail.  Brown has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Rory places his hand on Harry's, who smacks it away and he asks "Why did you kill your stepdad anyway?!" and Rory says "For insulting my new fur jacket and slapping my hand!" and Harry panics and takes Rory's hand and places it back on his.  Also there is the scene while they are out in the prison yard, Rory points out the hardened inamte, Blade, to Harry and says "He's the man I'll get your cheese burger from.  For some reason I make him uneasy!".  And lastly I will mention JoBeth Williams who is quite good as Skip and Harry's defence lawyer's partner.  And during one of their meetings in prison, Skip asks her would she ever become romantically involved with a prisoner and she says "Absolutely not!".  

As for the direction Sidney Poitier does a fine job with the film as it moves along at a nice leisurely pace and despite the harsh prison environment, he keeps the tone light hearted and allows for Wilder and Pryor's antics to work well.  The film's music score however by Tom Scott remains one of the film's weaker points as it sounds pretty dated and is a bit bland and generic sounding for such a film, but it serves it purpose regardless.

So flaws does Stir Crazy have some????  Yep its not a perfect film, for starters the film's plot is wafer thin and there's not much story in it all, as it serves merely a vehicle for Wilder and Pryor to work their gags, which no doubt would be largely improvised.  Another thing is the ending is a bit daft as despite Skip and Harry busting out of jail, Meredith and Len turn up to tell them they are really free as they caught the real bank robbers.  However they are both still guilty of doing a prison break!  And that hardly makes them look innocent does it??  Regardless of their innocence in the robbery they have still committed an offence in breaking out!  I also had a bit of a problem with Skip's character as well as he really is a bit of annoying dick, as well as a bit crazy as he impulsively tries to make friends with everyone, particularly people he should have no business even trying to make friends with, such as the two rednecks!  And in the end if you look at the events of the film, it really all started with Skip's decision to try and befriend the two rednecks in the bar, who as a result later follow them, watch them do their song and dance routine, and later take their clothes, do the routine and rob the bank!  So basically in short, while he was innocent of the robbery, its all Skip's fault, as if he was more cautious with whom he chose to socialise with, none of this would have happened.  What a fanny!  I also thought the film's intro song, titled Stir Crazy funnily enough, is a bit duff and annoying as Gene Wilder sings over it, it doesn't really lend well to the beginning of the film. 

But despite those niggles, Stir Crazy is still an engaging and funny comedy, which shows the comedy duo of Wilder and Pryor near its best.

And with that I shall sign off right there.

Raising Arizona "So many social engagements, so little time...."

Right time for another 80s film and this one is a Cohen brothers classic, Raising Arizona which was released all the way back in 1987 and follows the story of a young couple who decide to steal a baby because they can't have one of their own.  So let's put on the shades, the sun cream for the desert sun and have a look at this un....

So the story starts with a small time robber Herbert I. "Hi" McDunnagh (Nicholas Cage) who meets a policewoman, Edwina "Ed" (Holly Hunter) who takes his mugshots in jail.  After repeated offences, Hi continues to meet Ed at the jail and the two of them soon grow fond one of one another and Hi learns that Ed's fiance left her.  After his latest prison releasem Hi proposes to Ed and they soon get married and they move into a mobile home in the Arizona desert.  However their happiness is shattered when Ed discovers that she cannot have children and because of Hi's criminal record they cannot adopt a child.  Then there is the news of the Arizona "quints" on the news, as a locally famed furniture magnate named Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson) and his wife have just had five baby sons.  Hi then goes to their house and sneaks in and kidnaps one of the babies and they take the child home, who they believe is Nathan Jr.  Hi is soon visited by two of his prison buddies, Gale and Evelle Snoats (John Goodman and William Forsythe) who almost tempt to go back to his criminal ways, however he resists as Ed doesn't approve of them and wants them gone.

However things take a turn for the worse when Hi's work supervisor, Glen (Sam McMurray) and his wife, Dot (Frances McDormand) turn up for a social gathering at which Glen later proposes they wife swap, which leads Hi to punch Glen.  Hi later that night, out of desparation holds up a convenience store to get some diapers for the baby, which Ed witnesses from the car, and she angrily drives off without him, forcing Hi to hightail it on foot with the police chasing him.  Ed however soon relents and picks up Hi and they share a tense ride home together.  The next day Glen turns up at Hi's trailer and tells him he's fired and not only that but he plans to blackmail him as Glen has sussed that Hi and Ed have stolen Arizona's baby and he plans to take the baby for themselves and he will turn them over to the police if he doesn't co-operate.  However Gale and Evelle have overheard the conversation as they were inside the trailer and they take the baby for themselves and they tie up Hi.  Gale and Evelle plan to rob a bank, which they do, however the money they take is ruined as the teller unbeknown to them put a dye canister inside which goes off while they drive away in the car.  Hi and Ed soon catch up with Gale and Evelle and they take back the baby to return Nathan Arizona, after which Ed suggests they end their marriage.

However on the way they are intercepted by a bounty hunter named Leonard Smalls (Randall "Tex" Cobb) who has been tracking Gale and Evelle's movements, who also approached Nathan Sr to offer to get the child back for a bounty.  Smalls soon catches up with Hi and Ed and he beats Hi viciously and as he is about to kill him, Hi accidentally pulls one of the clips out of a hand grenade on Smalls vest, with Hi running away just in time before Smalls is blown to pieces.  Hi and Ed then return the baby to Nathan Sr who confronts them but then begins understand their reason as to why they took him and he suggests that before "they go and do anything stupid" to sleep on their decision as to whether they should break up or not.  And the film ends with Hi having a vivid dream of his future with Ed......

Raising Arizona remains one of the Cohen brothers most charming films, which is a welcome change from some of their more hard edged movies, yet at the same time it is quirky enough that it never veers toward being overly sentimental.  The characters in Arizona are also quite likeable with Hi, a small time criminal who tries his best to go straight after he marries Ed and they long to have a child together, but when they release they can't they resort to drastic measures.  Ed is a bit more highly strung and bosses Hi a bit in the film, but she too is a decent character who is desparate to have a child of her own and disapproves of Hi's prison buddies, Gale and Evelle.  Gale and Evelle also despite their criminal backgrounds are also somewhat strangely endearing and provide alot of humourous moments in the film.  The only contrast to these characters is of course Leonard Smalls, who appears almost like a precursor to Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men, as an unstoppable evil force, who even kills God's creatures and anything else in his way.

And this brings me neatly onto the performances section of the review and the cast are all great here, with Nicholas Cage playing one of his most likeable roles as Hi, a well meaning although not entirely bright criminal who tries to go straight and marries, a policewoman, Ed, and they long to have a family, but are crushed when they realise they can't.  Cage has some excellent moments in the film such as the scene where he robs the convenience store, wearing a pair of tights over his head and holds the gun to the clerk and as Ed berates him from outside he says to the clerk "Better hurry it up, I'm in dutch with the wife!".  Also the scene where he sits at one of his parole hearings and the board chairman says "They got a name for people like you, Hi.  Its called a recividism, a repeat offender!  Not a pretty name is it Hi?" and Hi says "No, sir.  But that's not me anymore".  And the chairman says "You're not just telling us what we want to hear?" and Hi says "No, sir" and the chairman says "Because we just want to hear the truth" and Hi says "Well then I guess I am telling you what you want to hear".  And when Hi's supervisor tries to talk him into some swinger action with their wives, Hi punches him and says "Keep your goddamn hands off my wife!".  Another good scene for Cage is when he learns that Ed's fiance has left her and he says "You tell him I think he's a damn fool.  You tell him I said, H.I. McDonnugh!  If he wants to discuss it, he knows where to find me, in the Maricopa maximum security correctional facility for men state farm, Road number 31, Tempe, Arizona!  I'll be WAITIN!!".

Holly Hunter is also excellent in her role as Edwina "Ed" the policewoman who falls in love with Hi and they end up getting married but their lives are devastated when they realise that Ed is infertile.  And this brings in one of the Hunter's funniest moments when she drives back home to their trailer and she sobs uncontrollably and says "Ed, I'm barren!!".  And later when they kidnap Nathan Jr, Ed holds the baby and she starts to sob again as she says "I love him so much!".  Hunter also later has another funny moment when she reads a story to Nathan Jr while she waits for Hi to get diapers, only to see him hold up the store and she looks on angrily and says "That son of a bitch!" and she get's out the car and continues to yell "You son of a bitch!!".

John Goodman also puts in a great turn as the criminal Gale Snoats, who escapes from prison along with his brother Evelle.  Goodman, who is no stranger to comedy is right at home here and he has some pretty funny moments in the film.  And Goodman's first scene is pricelss where he escapes from prison, having tunnelled his way out and rises up from the earth, roaring his head off with delight and he helps pull Evelle out of the ground as well.  Goodman also has some amusing moments where he seems suspicious about the Arizona child that Hi and Ed have got, such as where he sees Ed use a bottle of milk to feed the baby instead of breast feeding, and he says "Why ain't you breast feeding him?  You appear to be capable".  And as he notices that Ed seems to be more controlling of Hi, he says "Say who is wearin the trousers around here, Hi?" and later he says "Got you on an awful short leash, don't she, Hi?".  And when he's asked by Ed did he and Evelle bust out of prison, Gale says "We felt the institution no longer had anything to offer us".  Also when Ed tries to get out of the social engagement with his supervisor Glen, and Ed disapproves, he meekly gives in and Gale ponders smoking his cigarette "So many social engagements, so little time".  And another funny scene comes when after they take Nathan Jr from Hi and tie him up, they rob a bank and they leave without the baby, and when it dawns they left him on the side of the road, they scream in horror and turn back, with Gale going bananas and pounding the steering wheel (suffice to say they leave screaming in this film!).

William Forsythe is also funny in his role as Gale's non too bright brother, Evelle, and he has some funny moments, such as the scene where after they drive off with the baby, Gale looks down at the baby, who has just done a poo, and he turns to Gale and says "Gale, he just had hisself a little ol' accident!  You see though moving we are, he just had hissel a little ol' rest stop" and Gale sniffs the air and says "Well that's natural".  Also the scene where he robs an aged convenience store clerk and says "Right old timer, I want you to count to 825 and then count all the way back down again!  And I'll be back in five to make sure you ain't cheatin!".  And as they rob the bank together, Gale orders all the customers and staff to get on the ground, but he then looks around and asks where all the tellers are, and Evelle says "They're on the floor, as you command, Gale".

In other supporting roles, Trey Wilson is also pretty good as Nathan Arizona Sr, who is locally famous furniture magnate, often seen on TV.  Wilson has some good moments in the film, such as the scene where the police question him after he and his wife learn of the disappearance of Nathan Jr, and the policeman asks what the baby was wearing "I don't they were jammies!  They Yodas and shit on em!".  And he looks angrily at the police officers in his house who stand around and says "Damnit, are you boys gonna chase down your leads or are you gonna sit drinkin coffee in the one house in the state where I know my boy ain't at?".  And later on in the film's second last scene where Hi and Ed return Nathan Jr to him, and he catches them about to leave.  And Nathan Sr realises they took the baby and they tell him why and he says "Well surely medical science might catch up with you one, day.  It sure did with us, with a vengeance!".  And as Ed and Hi tell Nathan they are thinking of breaking up he says "Well ma'am I don't know much, but I do know human beings.  You brought my boy back so you must have your good points, too.  Oh and before you do another foolish think like bustin up, I suggest you sleep on it.  At least for one night."

And then there is Randall "Tex" Cobb who makes a memorable impression as the bounty hunter, Leonard Smalls who is like an unstoppable force, who is out to collect Nathan Jr as well, and he cuts an intimidating figure, with his darkened muddy skin and his amusing tatoo which says "My momma never loved me".  Cobb has some good moments such as where he goes into Nathan Sr's office and makes his offer to get the baby back.  And he introduces himself to Nathan by saying "Name's Smalls.  Leonard Smalls.  My friends call me Lenny... only I ain't got no friends".  Cobb also has some amusing moments where we see him blow away God's creatures, such as an innocent bunny rabbit, and his fight scene with Hi, where he beats Hi near senseless, and floors him with an uppercut, the style of which is done like something out of the video game Mortal Kombat.         

And lastly I will mention Sam McMurphy who is quite funny in his role as Glen, Hi's supervisor at work, who proposes that they do some wife swapping.  And he says to Hi "I'm talkin about sex, boy!  I'm talkin about L'maour!  I'm talkin that me and Dot (his wife) are swingers! I'm talkin about wife swappin!  I'm talkin about what they call nowadays open marriage..." and then Hi proceeds to deck Glen with one punch.  And after that Glen runs away in a panic "You're crazy!" and without looking his runs into a post!  And the regular cast Frances McDormand and also wife to one of the Cohen brothers is pretty good in her albeit brief role as Dot.  And last of all Emmett Walsh has a funny cameo in the film as a machine shop ear bender, who works in the store with Hi, who keeps telling him corny stories.

As for the Cohen brothers well they do an excellent job here with directing the film as well as writing it and the film zips along nicely and never drags as it is just a mere 94 minutes long.  The Cohens also employ some great camera work, as well as some amusing visual gags such as the scene where Hi is chased by the police through a supermarket and on the streets and even some dogs chase him as well.  Carter Burwell, who is the Cohen brothers regular composer also provides a pleasant and jaunty music score, with that rather catchy but albeit slightly annoying intro theme with the guy yodelling over it.

Flaws wise, Raising Arizona isn't burdened with too many, although perhaps the one thing that does niggle me about the film is where exactly did Leonard Smalls come from???  As the film suggests that Hi created him out of his memory and he became a solid apparition in a sense, which is in itself is pretty daft.  This is especially seen in the moment where Smalls appears on his motorbike, driving on the roads, and Hi suddenly sees him as does Ed, who asks who he is and Hi says "You see him too??".  The film's ending also leaves Ed and Hi's future hanging in the balance, which may annoy some audience members who want to see if they still remain together or not, although the dream does suggest that they will.  But then again its not the first film to finish on an unresolved ending and it certainly won't be the last.

So that's it for my look at Raising Arizona, which still remains a charming, funny and offbeat comedy which is still worth a watch almost 30 years on.

And with that I shall leave yeee there.

Wall Street "Greed is good!"

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Star Wars Part 3: Return of the Jedi "Now young, Skywalker... you will die!!"

Right time for the third, but not last part of my look at the Star Wars series, as I will get to the prequels a bit later, but for now I will do Return of the Jedi to complete the original trilogy.  So let's have a look at episode 6.....

OK so the story starts with Luke Sykwalker (Hamill) who has now completed his jedi training who returns to Tatooine to save Han (Ford) from the alien blobulous gangster, Jabba the Hutt.  Luke's plan also involves Leia (Carrie Fisher) who turns up dressed as a bounty hunter who frees Han from his carbonite encasing only to be captured herself and forced to be Jabba's slave (as his previous one was eaten by his pet, a monster named the Rancor, which dwells in a dungeon below).  Luke soon arrives at Jabba's palace himself and confronts Jabba and tells him to release Han or he will die, but Jabba then traps Luke down in the dungeon with the Rancor but he manages to outwit and kill the Rancor.  Jabba however is outraged and sentences Luke and Han to death at the hands of the Sarlacc, a creature that digests its enemies over a thousands years!  At the site of the pit of the Sarlacc, Luke manages to release himself and fight off Jabba's men with his light sabre (hidden in R2-D2 who was also present at Jabba's palace with C-3PO who are both here at this point as well!) along with the help of Lando and Chewie.  Leia meanwhile strangles Jabba to death by using her chains and Luke rescues her as he sets Jabba's sand barge canons on itself to destroy the barge as they rescue Han and fly off.

Luke then returns to Degobah where he meets with Yoda for the last time, who is dying of old age and in his dying breaths he tells him that Darth Vader (Prowse and Jones) is indeed his father and that he must confront him and only then he will be a jedi, and also there is another Skywalker, then he dies.  Luke then speaks with the spirit of Obi-wan Kenobi (Guinness) who tells him that the other Skywalker is Leia, who is his twin sister.  Menawhile the rebel alliance are in the process of making a plan to destroy the new Death star by landing on the moon of the planet Endor, which houses the battle station's sheild generator, which once destroyed will let them enter infrastructure of the station and destroy it within.  Luke then rejoins with Han, Leia and the others on Endor, where they land and end up fighting with imperial scouts and have an ensuing speeder bike chase, in which Leia is separated from Han and Luke and is taken by a group of small furry creatures named Ewoks, the inhabitants of the planet.  Han and Luke are also captured by the Ewoks, but when they see Threepio, they worship him thinking him to be a God.  Luke then uses his force powers to levitate Threepio which astounds the Ewoks, believing he is capable of magic and they release Han, Luke and Chewie and they form a partnership to fight the Empire.  Luke later tells Leia that she is his sister and that Vader is his father and that he must go and confront him.

After this Luke surrenders himself to Vader and he tries to unsuccessfully persuade him to leave the dark side of the force, who tells him it is too late and he then takes Luke to Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) the ruler of the Galactic Empire onboard the new Death Star.  On Endor Han's strike force team are captured by stormtroopers, however the Ewoks launch a surprise attack on the imperial troops, which allows Han's team to eventually capture the base.  Meanwhile the Emperor taunts Luke into fighting Vader where he intends for him to kill Vader and take his place as his apprentice.  Luke engages in Vader in an intense light sabre duel and this time the tables are turned as Luke is now the stronger of the two, however he eventually he refuses to fight him and hides in the shadows.  Vader taunts Luke back out to fight by revealing that he knows that he has a twin sister in Leia and if he can't turn Luke to the dark side then he will turn Leia, which enrages Luke as they re-engage their duel and Luke get's the better of Vader and cuts his hand off (in revenge for his own).  The Emperor urges for Luke to kill Vader and take his place at his side, but Luke refuses and tells the Emperor he has failed, which enrages him and he attacks Luke with force lightning from his finger tips.  As Luke writhes in pain and pleads with Vader to save him, Vader finally relents and saves Luke by hoisting the Emperor over his head and throwing him down a chasm.  Vader however is fatally wounded as a result and he tells Luke to take his helmet off, which reveals Vader's face to be badly scarred, and he tells Luke to tell Leia that he was right that there was still good in him and he then dies.

And from here its up to Han to disable the Death Star sheild generator to allow the rebel assault lead by Lando to enter the battle station to destroy the Empire's reign once and for all and Luke must escape before its too late.......

It has to be said that Return of the Jedi is the weakest entry in the original trilogy especially given the very high standards of the first two films.  However that is not to say its a bad film, in fact its far from it and it is in itself a very entertaining and at times gripping film to watch, which has its fair share of highlights and still stands hand and shoulders over the prequels.  The tone of Jedi is also a bit more light than that of Empire as we see a happy reunion of the regular characters once Han has been rescued and despite the inveitable danger that lies ahead of them.  The film also features some great action as well, especially in the scene where Luke and Leia give chase to some imperial scouts, and the dogfights with the imperial fighters during the climactic battle to destroy the Death Star as well as the scene where Luke and the others battle against Jabba and later when Luke has his final confrontation with Vader.  As for the production Lucas managed to avoid going over budget as he did on Empire as the film was budgeted at 32 million dollars and he hired Richard Marquand to direct the film after his first choice of David Lynch was turned down.  The film's original title was Revenge of the Jedi, but this was later changed to Return of the Jedi as Lucas said that revenge is not in the jedi nature.  Early in pre-production, Harrison Ford suggested that Han be killed off as an act of self sacrifice, but this was later rejected, and initially Yoda was not to have re-appeared in the film but Marquand insisted that he was re-appear to confirm Vader's identity as Luke's father.

Getting onto the performances they are pretty good overall, starting with Mark Hamill, who once again does a fine job as Luke, who's character has now become more focused and mature and is no longer the impatient and naive youth we saw in the first film.  Hamill has several highlights in the film and the main ones are when he confronts the Emperor onboard the new Death Star and later fights Vader.  Hamill plays Luke in a pretty straight serious manner although he still has one or two moments of levity among his dramatic journey toward his destiny.  And Hamill has some good lines as well in the film, such as when he first meets with Vader and he acknolwedges him as his father, and Vader says "So you have accepted the truth" and Luke replies "I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker my father" and later when Vader says its too late for him to turn back to the good side, Luke says "Then my father is truly dead".  And later after he defeats Vader in their light sabre duel and as the Emperor urges him to join him and take Vader's place, he get's one of his most memorable lines: "Never!  I'll never turn to the dark side!  You've failed your highness!  I am a jedi, like my father before me!".

Harrison Ford does well here again as Han Solo (now been promoted from Captain in Empire to a General!), although I think his role is slightly more marginalised than before as he seems to take a back seat to the rest of the drama that happens in the film.  Ford still has some good moments in the film such as where he let's Lando take over the Millenium Falcon for the attack on the new Death Star and as he prepares to leave for Endor on a stolen imperial shuttle, he looks anxiously out the window at the falcon.  And Leia puts her hand on him and asks what's wrong and Han says "I don't know, I've just got a funny feeling, like I'm never gonna see her again!".  Also in the scene where he is reunited with Luke at Jabba's palace, and Han asks Luke how he is doing and Luke says "Same as always" and Han replies "That bad, huh?".  And later as they are taken out to the Sarlacc pit by Jabba's men, Han who's eyesight has been temporarily been blinded due to his time in carbon stasis, Han says "I think my eye sight is getting better, instead of a dark blur, I see a big bright blur!".  And Luke follows it up by saying "There's nothing to see.  I used to live here you know" and Han turns to say "You're gonna die here, you know.  Convenient!".  And in the scene in the woods on Endor when Chewie springs the trap by running for a slab of meat, which get's them trapped in a large net, Han says "Nice goin, Chewie!  Always thinking with your stomach!".

Carrie Fisher again is fine in her role as Leia, although it has to be said that she has lost alot of her feisty personality that made up her personality.  This however was a directorial decision as well as from Fisher who felt that in Empire that Leia had become way too bitchy and by Jedi she is more happy and in love with Han at that point (so basically she just needed a good man (or a shag even!).  Fisher still has some good scenes in the film and the ones that stand out are of course when she is at Jabba's palace as she is captured and forced to be Jabba's slave, and she wears that rather sexy and revealing bikini type outfit!  Fisher also shares a good scene with Hamill in the scene where Luke tells Leia that she is his sister and that Vader is their father and he must go and confront him.  And when Luke tells her that she is her sister, Leia looks surprised and says "I know.... somehow.... I've always known!" yet what springs to mind right away is if you did know why did you kiss him in Empire???!!  Lucas clearly forgets the implications of incest in that one!  And Fisher also has another good moment near the very end after the rebels are victorious, Han asks her if Luke wasn't on the Death star when it blew and she says "He wasn't I can feel it".  And Han says "You live him don't you" and she replies matter of factly "Yes" and Han is hurt and says "Its OK.  I understand.  When he get's back I won't get in the way" and Leia says "No, its not like that at all!  He's my brother".

David Prowse and James Earl Jones also again do a fine job together as Darth Vader, although this time around Vader plays second fiddle in the villain stakes to the Emperor and he no longer has any power or does anything evil, as he is just the Emperor's pawn.  Regardless of that though, Jones still provides some of the film's best lines for Vader, such as in the opening scene where he berates a terrified officer who greets him on the new Death Star, which is still under construction.  And as the officer says "We shall double our efforts" to get the Death Star completed, Vader says "I hope so for your sake, commander.  The Emperor isn't as forgiving as I am!".  And later when Vader meets with Luke and when Luke mentions his former name of Anakin Skywalker, Vader angrily says "That name no longer has any meaning for me!" and as Luke continues to try and turn him from the dark side, Vader says "Obi-wan once thought as you do.  You don't know the power of the dark side.  I must obey my master!".  And later as they fight and Luke hides in the shadows, Vader taunts him to drive him out by saying "Sister!  You have a twin sister!  Obi-wan was wise to hide her from me!  Now his failure is complete!  If you won't turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will!".

Billy Dee-Williams once again does very well in his reprising his role as the suave Lando Calrissian, who redeems himself after his forced betrayal in Empire, and fights for the rebel cause and leads the assault on the new Death Star.  Williams has some good moments in the film, which include the scene where he is about to leave in the Falcon for the assault and he reassures Han he will take good care of the ship and says "I'll take good care of her, buddy, she won't get a scratch!" and Han nervously says "I got your promise! Not a scratch?" and Lando laughs saying "Will you get going, ya pirate?!".  And later when Lando is onboard the Falcon he says to his fellow rebel pilots "Don't worry my friend will get that shield down in time.  Either that or this will be the shortest offensive of all time!".

Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker also again reprise their roles as the robotic duo of C-3PO and R2-D2 and provide some moments of amusement in the film.  Baker as R2 has some fun in certain scenes the one which springs to mind is where R2 and the others are captured and tied up by the Ewoks and when they released him, R2 protudes a zapper from his chest unit and zaps one of the Ewoks in ass!  Daniels again provides a fine vocal performance as the neurotic and haughty droid C-3PO and he get's some good lines in the film.  And his best scenes come when they are surrounded by Ewoks, who worship Threepio as if the droid were a God or Idol, and as Han insists that he pretend to use "his devine influence" to get them out of the situation, Threepio says "I'm sorry General Solo, but that just wouldn't be proper!  Its against my programming to impersonate a deity!".  And later during the scene where Luke, Han, Chewie and R2 are all tied up and about to be set on fire as sacrificial victims, Luke says to Threepio to tell them he will use his magic if they disobey him, and he uses his force powers to lift Threepio in his throne like chair, which freaks out the Ewoks who release them afterwards, and Threepio who is petrified says "I never knew I had it in me!".  Peter Mayhew also makes his return as Chewbacca although he isn't give a whole lot to do here he still cuts the unmistakable figure of the large Wookie.

The film also features some new characters that are purely puppets which were operated by different puppeteers.  The most notable character of all is Jabba the Hutt, the massively overweight blob, which sits on a large sofa, laughs and licks it massive tongue, which is dribbles and slavers like nothing else.  Jabba also has some good lines in the film (the voice was done by Larry Ward) which were of course subtitled as he speaks in Huttese (the native tongue of the Hutts).  Jabba's best lines come when he faces Luke and as Luke tries to use his jedi mind powers on him, Jabba says "Your mind powers will not work on me, boy!" and later "I shall enjoy watching you die!".  And later on his sand barge as he has taken Leia as his slave, Jabba has Leia chained and he grabs her close to him and says "Soon you will learn to appreciate me!".  Other new puppet characters also include the Rebel alliance officer, Admiral Ackbar, an alien creature, who delivers the immortal line, when the rebel assault fighter team are ambushed by the Imperials TIE fighters, he exclaims "Its a trap!!".

Then of course we have the return of Yoda, who in this film is near death when Luke visits him again and he lives just long enougn to reveal the truth about Darth Vader as being his father and that there is another Skywalker.  Frank Oz, who voices Yoda again as he did in Empire, provides a charming performance as the poor old Jedi master is about to buy it and he delivers a good line when he says to Luke "Do I look so old to such young eyes??? When 900 years old you will reach, will you look as good, will you not?!".

And last but far from least, Ian McDiarmid steals the show as the evil Emperor Palapatine, who is the real villain behind it all and at last we see him in the old scaly flesh.  McDiarmid clearly relishes in playing the part and he is simply wonderful at it as he seems to take great glee in delivering the Emperor's tasty dialogue.  McDiarmid provides some of the film's real highlights, particularly the scenes where Luke is brought onboard the Death Star by Vader and he continues to goad and taunt Luke into joining him and taking Vader's place.  McDiarmid has numerous good scenes and dialogue, such as when we first see him emerge from his shuttle onboard the new Death Star and he says to Vader "Everything is proceeding as I have forseen!" and cackles madly.  And later as Luke is brought before him he says to Luke "It is unavoidable, it is your destiny.  You, like your father, are now... mine!".  And one of my favourite lines in the whole film is when he says to Luke that his rebel allies are walking into a trap and that the Death star "Is quite safe from your pitiful little band!  Oh and I'm afriad that the deflector shield will be quite operational by the time your friends arrive!".  And later as he fails to turn Luke he grimly says "So be it, Jedi!" and later "If you will not be turned, then you will be destroyed!  You're feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side!  You have paid the price for your lack of vision!" as he zaps him with the full force of his electric bolts from his finger tips.  And lastly his most infamous line "Now young Skywalker... you will die!".

Finally moving onto the direction, Richard Marquand, who was hired by Lucas after David Lynch turned down his offer to direct the film, does an excellent job here with Jedi and keeps the action coming thick and fast and he also handles the film's softer moments as well and again like Kershner manages to get some good performances from his cast.  The film itself was shot at Elstree studios but it was also shot on Location in Arizona for the desert scenes on Tatooine and also in the redwood forests of California for the Endor scenes and the filming lasted over four months.  Getting onto the film's music score, which is again excellent and is again by John Williams and while its not quite as good as his scores for the previous films its still more than good enough to put most film scores to shame.

As for the flaws of Jedi????  Any worth moaning about????  Well OK it has to be said that yes it is the weakest entry out of the three films and while its a very entertaining end to the series, what nearly ruins it are the Ewoks.  And it has to be said that the Ewoks remain the most tedious creatures in the original series as they really appeal soley more to kids than anything else, and it takes away from the othewise compelling drama that Luke faces against The Emperor and Vader.  The film also has an abundance of puppet characters in it as well, most of them appear in Jabba's palace and it also has to be said that the pacing of the sequence at Jabba's palace is a bit slow as well.  And again the film is guilty of a rather cheesy happy ending with all the original crew reunited together and smiling at the camera as if they are in a family photo!  I also wonder why all the imperial officers are all British (or mostly anyway!) its as if they are trying to say something about the Empire, like all the villains must be British (or in Ian McDiarmid's case Scottish!) whereas the Americans are the good guys.  Just what are you trying to say, Lucas???!! ;-) 

I also in retrospect think its a bit daft how Darth Vader sustained fatal injuries from lifting an electricity charged Emperor over his head for about 10 seconds before he threw him into a chasm below, when Luke was getting zapped by the Emperor for at least a minute, yet somehow Luke didn't die as a result!  I think there's a lack of continuity there!  Either that or they are saying that as Vader is the older of the two he would be more susceptible to the Emperor's force powers, but it still seems silly.       

The other problems I have with the film however are more related to the special editions released since, especially the 1997 version, which featured some pointless new additions to its special effects, which it hardlt needs as effects was Jedi was easily the best and most spectacular of the three.  But first off the music number at Jabba's palace is awful and cringeworthy with a new annoying alien singer, who get's his face right up into the camera, which makes you want fast forward!  Then there is the awful replacement of the cool end music that was in the original film during the scene at the end where rebels celebrate on Endor, which yet again shows that Lucas should stop tampering with his films!  And in some cases the additional CGI really doesn't add much at all and that has been case with all these re-done editions, Lucas should have learned that if it ain't broke don't fix it!  And one of the worst inclusions of all is the scene where the Emperor tortures Luke with his force lightning and as Darth Vader looks on, all of sudden we hear him yell "No!!" as he moves to stop him!  Its just wrong, George!!  Leave it alone aghhhh lol!!  And lastly another naff inclusion is of Hayden Christensen as the spirit of Vader, which replaces the actor, Sebastian Shaw, who appeared originally there and played the unmasked Vader.  Now given that Vader died as an older man, it would have been more logical to STILL have him appear at the end of the film, rather than the young petulant Skywalker we get who can't even stare in the right direction!  But again Lucas just doesn't know when to stop.

But all that aside Return of the Jedi is a fine entry and finish to the original trilogy of Star Wars films and with Episode 7 currently in production (thankfully it will not be directed by Lucas but by J.J. Abrahams) the saga will continue its intended 9 episode run.  Next up I will cover the prequels, perhaps not right away but they will be done, for what its worth. ;-)   

So with that I shall finish right there and no I will not finish by saying something naff like may the force be with you, so I will instead say simply bye for now!