Hitman City

Starring:Joe Estevez
Director: Scott Shaw
Studio: Asia Filmworks Ltd.
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
International Action Star SCOTT SHAW stars as Jericho Rider, a Secret Agent who must wipe out a gang of vicious killers based in Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, and Hollywood.

Amazon.com

"Ladies and gentlemen, the motion picture you are about to see is called The Naked City." With a helicopter shot slowly closing in on Manhattan, producer Mark Hellinger's staccato narration introduces the film ("It was not photographed in a studio . . .") and continues throughout like a documentary commentator with a literary flair. It's a conceit that serves this police story nicely, giving the patina of realism to this deglamorized look at the work of the homicide squad. Barry Fitzgerald reigns over the film with his jovial good humor as a veteran detective investigating the murder of a high-living model. He has few clues and fewer suspects, until he cracks the story of big-talking Howard Duff and throws some light on his shady past. Jules Dassin, who had just come off the shadowy, expressionist Brute Force, peels away those flourishes to shoot in a straightforward style influenced by the Italian neo-realists and the contemporary American newsreels. The film is rich in supporting performances by soon-to-be-famous character actors--Arthur O'Connell, James Gregory, Paul Ford--but the city itself becomes the film's most vivid character. Shot entirely on location in New York City, the distinctive cityscape looms over practically every shot and injects the film with a defining sense of place (cinematographer William Daniels won an Oscar for his work). You can see the roots of The French Connection in the bustling city scenes and the exciting foot chase finale on an elevated walkway. --Sean Axmaker

Description

"There are eight million stories in the Naked City," as the narrator immortally states at the close of this breathtakingly vivid film—and this is one of them. Master noir craftsman Jules Dassin and newspaperman-cum-producer Mark Hellinger's dazzling police procedural was shot entirely on location in New York City, as influenced by Italian neorealism as American crime fiction. A double Academy Award-winner, The Naked City remains a benchmark for naturalism in noir, living and breathing in the promises and perils of the Big Apple, from its lowest depths to its highest skyscrapers.

Customer Reviews:

The Naked City.......2007-06-25

Shot entirely on location in 1940s Manhattan, this semi-documentary police procedural offers a day-to-day look at the life of the Big Apple, its varied denizens, and the routine of two cops--old hand Fitzgerald (who quietly steals the film) and the dutiful but still green Taylor--out to catch a killer. Dassin handles the action with matter-of-fact directness, and soon fast-talking Frank Niles (Howard Duff) has raised their interest. But the great achievement of "City" is its verisimilitude of character and place, and a final chase scene on the Williamsburg Bridge that will steal your breath away. There might be "8 million stories in the naked city," but this sinister crime drama was the first--and still the best. Trivia note:this film was said to have inspired "Dragnet".

Did I see the same film?.......2007-06-23

This has developed a rep as being a landmark movie, but somehow I managed to miss it. Now that I've seen it I don't understand the praise at all. The Irish affected Fitzgerald barely carries the lead, and the rest of the acting is simply putrid, horribly ham handed. I watched the scene with the mother identifying her dead daughter, and all I could think of is that she had another job that afternoon and had to emote quick and flee. The preceding scene where the young cop comes home to handle spanking his kid is completely pointless, and the acting by husband and wife is soap opera quality at best, just awful.

It gets worse, there's a narrative track would embarrass a "Dragnet" episode, syrupy strings in the soundtrack, and dialogue that often wanders off point, making it difficult to follow. All the side bits just waste time, the action doesn't move from scene to scene in a form which builds any sense of continuity. I couldn't even finish watching it, so I guess I'll never know who Mcillicuddy was.

The architype of police procedurals - and, film noir to boot.......2007-06-04

A murder.
The evidence.
The investigation.
Red herrings.
Resolution.

This film's DNA runs through all that followed - from Dragnet to Law & Order.
Buy this film if you love 1948 NYC and Irish detectives - a great film!

One of Eight Million Stories.......2007-05-07

This landmark film, energetically directed by Jules Dassin not long before the McCarthy witch-hunts forced him out of the U.S., deserves the typically classy Criterion treatment. As we have now come to expect of all Criterion versions, the print has been beautifully restored and meticulously annotated. Movies of any decade do not hold up equally well; "Naked City" is flawed by producer Mark Hellinger's narration--often hammy and too much "on-the-nose"--and some dated performances. On the other hand, the police procedural still draws you in, the music score is superb, and the noirish yet documentary-quality of post-war New York City makes for a wondrous time-capsule. (Thank God the move was shot in black and white. Color would have ruined it.) Like the place and people it captures, ""The Naked City" is an imperfect but very good movie.

no truer depiction of new york was ever caught on screen.......2007-05-05

just an all-around great movie! jules dassin directed this groundbreaking film, shot in and around late 1940s new york city: a decade too early for me to remember its reality, but still close enuf in time for me to sense just how accurately it was caught. any fan of procedural television cop shows of today (the "law & order" or "csi" franchises most prominent among them) should go take a look at this to understand where they came from; tho the immature eye might view this earlier version as "primitive" in some senses, that would be akin to a fan of adam sandler disparaging chaplin. barry fitzgerald is wonderfully schlumpfy as the long-time detective working his way thru a homicide investigation, even making a misstep or two along the way. great supporting cast, great editing, great writing, great cinematography, &c. -- and neat extras on the dvd, highlighted by a long interview with the still going strong dassin, whos a hoot! this is a must see.

Average customer rating:

Old school at its best
Across 110th Street
Brutish, noisy, incoherent police melodrama...
Great Soundtrack
Across 110th Street

Across 110th Street
Starring: Frank Adu , Frank Arno , Joseph Attles , Paul Benjamin , and Ed Bernard
Director: Barry Shear
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Cotton comes to Harlem
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ASIN: B00005N7Z2
Release Date: 2001-10-16

Description

Slicker than a Harlem shakedown, Across 110th Street "hits hard" (Cue) with a jacked-up, smacked-down thrill-ride through the hell-raisin' hoods of Harlem! Cooler-than-cool Anthony Quinn leads a hot cast, including Anthony Franciosa and Yaphet Kotto, in a "hair-raising" (Motion Picture Herald) cop thriller that packs a double barrel of "gory vengeance raw, ugly and unnervingly real" (Playboy)! When a crew of gun-totin' gangstas knocks over a Mafia racket in Harlem, their plan gets blown to hell and the crib gets blown to bits! But as the bullets start flyin' and cops start dyin', a pair of New York's finest (Quinn and Kotto) are forced to work together to bring justice to the streets before the Mafia brings the ghetto to its knees! Now, wanted by the Man and hunted by the Mob, there ain't no way these homicidal homeboys are getting across 110th Street exceptin a body bag!

Customer Reviews:

Old school at its best.......2007-05-03

If you like old school blacksploitation films then you will love this. It is chock full of well know actors and the theme is outta sight!

Across 110th Street.......2007-02-15

When a dry-cleaner, a building superintendent, and a party animal decide to make a better life for themselves--split threeways--and dress up like cops to rip off $300 000 from the Mob, they don't exactly commit the perfect crime. The Mob sends its most sadistic enforcer, and some other violence-prone creeps, into Harlem to teach everyone across 110th Street that said street is a dividing line, not to be crossed. Meanwhile, Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn play two detectives who have nothing but contempt for each other--but their job is to try and collar the three perps before the mobsters manage to hunt them down and eliminate them ("it's not about the money...it's about honor and respect").

Quinn's character, Mattelli, is a blatant racist and unapologetic bully, resorting to beatings and terror whenever he wants info. Kotto, as Pope, is more the stoic, silent--if slightly twitchy- type, who copes with his new partner as best he can, while occasionally losing his cool with the raging bull he's saddled with. The two barely communicate with each other as they follow the few leads they come up with that may point them to any of the fugitive trio, who have scattered in fear, but not enough to cover their tracks; the tension-filled silence between the two leads is as effective as most of the incendiary dialogue when they lash out at each other. I wish we could have learned more about Pope's background or personal life, so that Yaphet Kotto would have a bit more to do in the role (Quinn, the loudmouth, moans about his past and his personal problems enough so that, as vile as he is, we get to know more of what he's all about).

Then there's the action and violence, resulting mainly from the mobsters on a mission getting to their targets--or any unwilling informants that may know the names or whereabouts of the targets--before the cops. Anyone who gets shot instantly loses a quart of blood (though this is 1970's blood, which was apparently a different colour than today's blood). BLAM!--and it's like a hose is turned on. All shakedowns and roughings-up are painfully severe, and I'm just talking about Mattelli's handiwork. Fortunately, the violence sprays all over a wonderfully involving and serpentine plot that shifts smoothly from character to character; Quinn and Kotto almost step aside to let the bad guys take this movie hostage, and it works well. Not that they're contribution isn't riveting or relevant--the two detectives have the very best scene, as they both invade the office of a smirky gangster named Doc, who puts them in their place--but this film really belongs to Logart and Harris, two of the moneygrabbers turned murderers, as they hide, and then run, for their lives. For them, it's not the honor; it's definitely the money. Rich or dead, all the way. The fear only comes when--in the end--they each turn their final corner.

I thought the very last moment of the film was a bit senseless, although, thinking it over, I guess it counts as revenge. Besides that, it's all wickedly spot-on: the dialogue, the acting, the music, the pace, the plot, the costumes, the action...every scene is a treat.

Watch this with L.A. Confidential, or maybe Snatch.

Brutish, noisy, incoherent police melodrama..........2006-12-17

"Across 110th Street" is about a hijack of Mafia cash, in which Anthony Quinn became involved in an unsympathetic role as an old-line cop, on the take for years and ready to retire...

Quinn gives a controlled, nicely shaded performance of a character who has long ago sensed that all his efforts are not going to do more than lift the smallest corner of the lid of crime... He does his job and he does it well according to his lights, but he is not above taking a bribe from a racketeer... His method of dealing with a reluctant witness is to hit hard first and ask questions later...

His captain Frank Mattelli actually is part of the film's somewhat irrelevant subplot, dealing with the rivalry between two cops (opposite Yaphet Kotto as the younger, "clean," black lieutenant bucking for Quinn's job), while the police, the Mafia and the black syndicate each tries to track down the gang of hoods which knocked over Harlem numbers bank...

The strictly legal approach to police work, as exemplified by Yaphet Kotto - who also plays racketeer "Mr. Big" in "Live And Let Die" - is not for Quinn... This is his territory, his little kingdom, and he keeps the peace as best he knows...

"Across 110th Street" remains brutish, noisy, incoherent police melodrama, with fashionable sadism and predictable performances...

Great Soundtrack.......2006-08-03

The best thing about Across 110th Street is the music with Bobby Womack and J.J. Johnson teaming up on the excellent soundtrack. The movie has a decent feel to it as far as cop dramas went during that time, but there were much better movies such as Gordon Parks' Shaft and Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night. Still, it is fun to watch if for nothing more than Yaphet Kotto, who would later play the precinct captain in Homicide, a long way from the blaxploitation films of the 70's.

Across 110th Street.......2005-08-22

Well this movie is nothing special, I laugh at anyone who says it's the greatest crime drama ever, it's not, it's not
even at the same level as "Heat", it's typical offensive Blaxploitation.

That about sums up the movie, except not as well known
and not as effective as "Heat", Anthony Quinn and Yaphette are
mirror images of Sidney Poitier's character and Rod Steiger. Pretty standard blaxplotation.

Quinn basically plays a racist police named Capt. Mattelli
whose about as racist as they come beating up any black person in his path, unfortunately no one in this film gives him an equal amount of beatings.

Kotto as Lt. Pope who is working the case with him involving stolent loot of the mafia from a couple of black criminals.

Man all the characters in the movie are truly revolting black and white. Mattelli isn't the only racist cop, and in fact he's a hypocrite racist who is taking money from a black mafia
kingpin!!!!! Truly hilarious.

There are other racist and corrupt white cops
, and for a twist we have some black pimps and
dealers who sell out their black partners
in crime.

Really there isn't too much to say about the movie,
it's a Blaxploitation, we all know how this
bad films ends.

I do get a kick of Lt. Pope slamming the Captain down calling him a racist sob (which he is) and the Captain having the gall to change the subject: "You want my job, don't you!!!"

Not really he just wants you to stop being a white
beatnik racist.

Anyhow only for true movie collectors of this type
of cinema everyone else should avoid it.

Average customer rating:

It has cought up with my interest
ISSUES
Must By As Cynda Williams is from my Hometown
A REALLY HORRIBLE MOVIE
EXTRAORDINARY SUSPENSE AND THRILLS!!!

Caught Up
Starring: Jerry Boyd , Jason Carmichael , Jeffrey Combs , Snoop Dogg , and Michael Clarke Duncan
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005OW06
Release Date: 2001-08-14

Amazon.com

It's no wonder Caught Up only garnered haphazard theatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplay nods for Tales from the Hood and Sprung, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from Chinatown and Bound but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of the first classic or the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the second. Starring Bokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants to go straight but who keeps finding himself in unlucky circumstances, Caught Up has laughable dialogue and terrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass for acting, and wastes the laconic beauty of One False Move costar Cynda Williams, as a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling on the floor in disbelief. Had Caught Up played its convoluted plot for laughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on the genre, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. Caught Up is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. --Paula Nechak

Customer Reviews:

It has cought up with my interest.......2005-09-07

It was basically a decent movie. The plots keep flipping on you. The first part is silly, but what can you say about the 'hood'? That acid on the head was a bit much though. And they never let us know how the fortune teller finds him. She had to know about him. Glad to see that he was able to finally open his club and get his son.

ISSUES.......2005-09-05

IT WAS A GOOD STORY LINE AND IT REALLY SHOWED THE COMPANY YOU KEEP CAN GET YOU IN ALOT OF TROUBLE SEE IT YOU'LL LIKE IT

Must By As Cynda Williams is from my Hometown.......2002-07-12

I thought it was a very very good suspenseful movie that was a bit biazarre at times but still a good watch. I am very proud of Cynda's performance and, I am amazed at her rapid growth as an actress. Good Flick...........

A REALLY HORRIBLE MOVIE.......2002-02-21

This might be the most terrible movie ever made. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

EXTRAORDINARY SUSPENSE AND THRILLS!!!.......2000-08-11

It is truly amazing how someone can be 'Caught Up' in someone else's stupidity and Woodine should have realized that after getting out of prison. But instead, he continues to be caught up in lust, love and money. This was a GREAT movie all the way through. Rent it, buy it, just see it!!!!

Average customer rating:

Must have for Wong Kar Wai fans!
The Daddy of the Kar Wai Canon
Sundown in the City
a great movie
Even better than Chung King Express

Fallen Angels
Starring: Charles W. Young , Takeshi Kaneshiro , Charlie Yeung , Karen Mok , and Michelle Reis
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Chungking Express
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ASIN: B0002X7GY8
Release Date: 2004-10-19

Customer Reviews:

Must have for Wong Kar Wai fans!.......2007-04-02

As a sort of 'sequel' to Chungking Express, it definitely holds it's own quirkiness & action-packed fun! Viewers also get to enjoy watching Takeshi Kaneshiro once again. Definitely a Must-Have!

The Daddy of the Kar Wai Canon.......2006-10-18

Fallen Angels could have been so named due to its dropped origin as part of director Wong Kar Wai's previous film Chunking Express, emerging afterwards as a follow up. To hear the critics tell it, `Express' is his masterpiece, regularly making the `best movies ever made' lists along side such exalted company as your Citizens Kane's and Casablanca's. But for me Fallen Angels is, to date, the daddy of the Wong Kar Wai canon.

Fallen Angel tells of a not quite burnt-out hit man, Leon, who begins to tire of the whole `gun for hire' malarkey and decides to quit on account of his burgeoning feelings for the female operative who he has never met, but who plans his jobs for him. The female operative, Michelle, also emotes for our existential assassin but somehow they both realise that if they ever did come face to face the fantasy would evaporate. The unrequited love thing is Kar Wai's forte but here it is more a case of "As long as you don't look at it, it won't disappear." So their love continues on the basis of ensuring that it never really exists. Anxious to avoid an inevitable unprofessional encounter, our navel gazing killer goes off on an adventure into the Kowloon night where he crosses paths with a series of likable reprobates before embarking on that fatal "one last job."

This takes us not so neatly into a `mad as a hatter' subplot about a petty criminal who was rendered mute as a boy by a can of `out of date' pineapples. He goes out at night and gets up to a range of activities such as massaging a dead pig and kidnapping a family and forcing them to eat ice cream. He to falls in love, with a girl who believes she has been beaten to the altar by someone called Blondie. He helps her go in search of the usurper of her affections resulting in a hilarious beating up of a blow up doll!

Cinematographer and Kar Wai regular Christopher Doyle engages a warped and gaudy neon look throughout; something of a trade mark in Kar Wai films. This is the world from inside a Wurlitzer juke box - or, at least, through the eyes of a tranquilised goldfish and this, incidentally, is not a complaint. The other thing I like about this film is that it walks the line between the art house `heart warmers' of the best of European cinema and the `Glock Opera' pyrotechnics of John Woo and Ringo Lam.
Genre clash - it's the future.

Sundown in the City.......2006-10-13

Wong Kar-Wai is the modern cinema's premier poet of loss and longing. His characteristically enigmatic films capture the erratic rhythms and ephemeral nature of memory and torment: fleeting, fragmented, wandering only to return obsessively to its central foci.

While Wong's debut, "As Tears Go By", was a relatively straightforward commercial riff on Scorsese's "Mean Streets" and the 'heroic bloodshed' style of Hong Kong street opera pioneered by action maestro John Woo, he would establish with "Days of Being Wild" and "Chungking Express" a signature style characterized by visual bravura mixed with interwoven and intensely introspective tales of emotionally isolated young people adrift in the shadow kingdom of urban postmodernity. Eschewing more traditional narrative formats for an ellipitical self-referrentiality that mirrors memory itself, Wong's films are rarely instantly accessible, but reward the patient viewer with intoxicating moods and contemplative brilliance.

"Fallen Angels" was originally conceived as something of a 'nightside' sequal/companion piece to "Chungking Express." Structurally and thematically it mirrors the latter with two seperate plotlines, each centering on a pair of twentysomethings (a hitman and his female 'agent' in one and a strange, mute confidence man and the girl he takes a shine to in the other) in search of love but unable or unwilling to find it in each other. Assorted camera tricks, fish eye lenses, slow motion sequences and the strategic use of a gloriously bittersweet pop soundtrack all help to capture a mood of frantic desperation and the distortions of memory and longing.

Wong also invokes the first of his 'art' films, "Days of Being Wild," returning to its concern with the loss and meaning of identity in an impersonal world. Leon Lai's hitman and Takeshi Kaneshiro's petty criminal both try - and fail - to remake their lives on ths straight and narrow. One of them manages a peace of sorts with his failure - the other goes out out in a bittersweet blaze of glory. Wong also explores the way in which longing (mis)identifies others: his characters view each other through the distorted lens memory and desire - what they see is not reality, but a projection of their own dreams - and when the truth is made manifest, it is always the cruelest blow.

a great movie.......2006-05-14

Fallen Angels is a truly special film, but it's not for everyone. It's gritty in a stylish way, shot mostly handheld with available light. But it's not gritty in the way most American pictures are; shaky cameras with perfect lighting and snappy editing. The takes are long, and the film is often grainy.

Wong Kar-Wai explores the transitory nature of life here. It's a little confusing, and the characters are beyond weird, but they really do have heart. The frantic pace and confusion give way to brief, precious moments of poignancy. The bleakness and impermanence of the rest of the film makes these moments feel even more meaningful.

If this sounds like your style, the movie can be very rewarding. But it's definitely not everyone's style. I find Chungking Express is generally a more palatable Wong Kar-Wai picture for viewers with more mainstream tastes.

Even better than Chung King Express.......2006-03-01

Here's a great love story that is faster paced and has more action than "Chung King Express". This is a great film with some really exciting cinematography and amazing views of night time Hong Kong! A lot of the shots reminded me of another great foreign film, "El Mariachi", check that one out!

If you liked "Chung King Express", you'll definitely enjoy this movie by the same director. If you enjoyed films like "Lost In Translation" and "Oldboy" you should definitely check out this flick it's beautifully original!

The DVD includes optional English subtitles and the picture quality is excellent.

Average customer rating:

WHAT ?!?! Average three star!?!??!
Butchered movie
Good cast but horrible script -- a real waste of talent!
BUYERS BEWARE
WARNING!

Backtrack
Starring: Julie Adams , John Apicella , Clifford Bartholomew , Kevin Bourland , and Carl David Burks
Director: Smithee, Alan
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005NSYA
Release Date: 2001-10-04

Amazon.com

Dennis Hopper directed, as well as acted in, this moody mess from 1989, which was barely seen for a couple of years until getting a boost from the rising fame of its star, Jodie Foster. Looking startlingly young, Foster plays a conceptual artist who witnesses a mob hit, thus becoming a target herself for an assassin (Hopper). But instead of killing her, Hopper's killer falls in love, demonstrating his passion by stalking her at a distance, "owning" her every move and keeping her in exile from ordinary life. The resulting isolation squeezes Foster's creative spirit, forcing her to confront doubt and self-loathing--everything that artists suffer as the price for self-expression. Deeply self-conscious, with a calculatingly meditative tone that becomes inseparable from Hopper's tenacious voyeurism (the film's most obvious commercial hook--Foster's nude scene--is almost prayerful in its pathology), Backtrack wants to be a confessional fable about the artistic process. Instead, it's a muted yet rambling confession about the sinner inside a filmmaker, which would be great if Backtrack were, say, Rear Window. But it surely isn't. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

WHAT ?!?! Average three star!?!??!.......2006-06-23

This movie might be the equivalant of cinemagraphic vomit. I can't believe that the average rating is three stars. The soundtrack consisted of horrible whiney 80's saxaphone music that made my ears bleed. I was 13 when I saw it and 15 years later, the horrible images are still emblazened in my mind as the worst 2 hours I have deliberately spent in my life. Please turn back now before you waste your time and money.

Butchered movie.......2005-07-20

Don't buy this DVD. Buy the VHS director's cut. The movie has been wrecked by haphazard edits. The DVD doesn't even make sense. This is not a bad film. Buy the VHS, but run as far as you can from this DVD. It's a rip-off.

Good cast but horrible script -- a real waste of talent!.......2005-04-02

I expected to like this quirky 1990s film. It's directed by Dennis Hopper and has a list of great actors and an intriguing theme. A woman artist witnesses a Mafia murder and goes to the police. However, she recognizes one of the cops as one of the hit men and goes on the run. The bad guys want her dead and even hire their own hit man who becomes obsessed with her. That's the kind of story I like, especially as Jodie Forster is cast as the woman and Dennis Hopper is cast as the hit man. Also in the cast are Dean Stockwell as the crocked cop, Bobby Dillon as a fellow artist, John Tuturro and Tony Sirico (Paulie on of The Sopranos fame) as mobsters, and there's even a cameo by Vincent Price.

My expectations for this film didn't pay off, however. From the very beginning, when Jodie Foster's car breaks down and she witnesses the mob hit, I found myself annoyed. There she was, leaving her car, wearing high heels and a skimpy dress and not even carrying a purse. Later, it was just too easy for her to change her identity. She went to a cemetery, found a gravestone of a woman who would have been her age, and applied for a birth certificate and a social security card. Also, the technology of the time (1990) was certainly not sophisticated enough for Dennis Hopper to go to a computer screen and track her identity change.

All the characters came across as exaggerated comic strip caracatures and I found myself laughing out loud when they tried to be serious. Perhaps this was the director's intention, but the film just couldn't hold my attention. I wanted to turn it off after ten minutes but hoped it would get better. Somehow I watched for another forty minutes before ejecting the DVD disk with disgust at such a waste of talent.

If you've never heard of this film I can well understand why. It was simply a dud. I have only one thing to say about this film. Forget about it!

BUYERS BEWARE.......2005-02-26

READ ALL REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BUY. If I had taken the time to read the warning about the cut DVD version, I never would have bought this DVD. Too late schmart. It's a hatchet job. Very sad and SO maddening that an intriguing film in which one could luxuriate has been turned into a goofy trivialization. And I can't return it because I've opened it.

WARNING!.......2004-08-31

A word to the wise from one who got burned: the Artisan DVD release is the expurgated cut. The story makes no sense once they've trimmed the Jodie/Dennis sex scenes, so don't buy it. Shame on Artisan.

Average customer rating:

This is "The Family" re-titled...
Bad one for Charlie
The Beauty Of Violence
"This is no ordinary Bronson movie."
this is, to me,is charles bronson's masterpiece!

Violent City
Starring: Charles Bronson , Jill Ireland , Michel Constantin , Telly Savalas , and Umberto Orsini
Director: Sergio Sollima
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005ASOM
Release Date: 2002-01-22

Customer Reviews:

This is "The Family" re-titled..........2005-12-30

First I want all Bronson fans to know that this movie was originally out as "The Family" back in the 70's! I had been looking for Bronson in "the Family" for a while, when a friend told me the plot of this one and I immediately realized it was "The Family"! Why the studio re-titled it is unknown to me and I believe will only confuse Bronson fans looking for this title. The movie itself is classic Bronson fare and if you're a fan who has not seen it, you will enjoy it. Good Bronson action with witty Bronson one-liners. Hey, Telly Savalas is in it too- what more can you ask for!

Bad one for Charlie.......2005-11-16

Charles Bronson is one of my favorites, but VIOLENT CITY is example of 70's trash at it's worst.
Boring slow pacing and a "see-saw" action that gets old really fast.
Bronson's character is so stupid acting in this film for a hitman that you wish he would get killed off himself.

I love Charles Bronson... but this is one of his dud films !

The Beauty Of Violence.......2005-11-06

This is a relatively unheard of Bronson movie, which should take its place on the mantel of other great Bronson works such as Mr. Majestyk, The Mechanic, Rider on the Rain and Once Upon a Time in the West. Bronson is the cold killer in this film, and as anyone who has seen The Mechanic knows, no one plays cold blooded killer better than Charles Bronson. Only in this film Bronson is caught between being a "professional" and his love for the double crossing Jill Ireland. The director Sergio Sollima plays with this relationship and also with the audiences' minds by building up anticipation and delivering something they are expecting, but delivering it in the most shocking way possible. Sollima knows the rules of the genre he is working in and he toys with it. In turn this brings out some of the most innovative narrative that cinema has ever seen. Adding salt to the already tasty dish is Ennio Morricone's moody score, which has the undertones of a spaghetti western being played out in the present time. The score is layering every pore in Bronson's face as it is the film. The cinematography is perfect, as it entices the plot to move furthur on in the beautifully created shots and colours of the film. COOL is the word to sum up Violent City.

"This is no ordinary Bronson movie.".......2003-08-01

That's from the back cover on the DVD. I guess what they're saying is, "This is a GOOD Bronson movie." Indeed -- ANY movie written by Lina Wertmuller and scored by Ennio Morricone is bound to be at least interesting, no matter the subject or the star. *Violent City*, set in New Orleans but Italian-produced (and directed by journeyman Sergio Sollima), is a really nasty piece of work that explores the seamy underbelly of petty organized crime and its contract killers. Charles Bronson plays a retired independent hitman hilariously named "Jeff". At first, he gets our sympathy. He's a nice guy, on the surface: well, he's nice as long as he's got a yacht and a hot broad to play with. But when things turn sour -- when he's double-crossed by the hot broad and an old pal -- he shows his true colors as a thoroughgoing b---ard. He's a remorseless killer with a rapist mentality. But in the milieu of *Violent City*, one can hardly single Jeff out for condemnation: it's every man (and woman) for him/herself. No good guys, here. Speaking of the woman, Bronson's wife Jill Ireland nicely brings to life Wertmuller's brilliant conception of the Dumb Blonde who hides the heart of a Medusa. Telly Savalas also makes an impression as the New Orleans kingpin who puts a roadblock in Jeff's plans for revenge. Savalas, wearing gigantic eyeglasses, gives us an oddly sympathetic Mob boss. (Bronson, btw, is terrible as usual, but so what?) I think I'll refrain from giving out plot details, because the movie depends on its plot twists to keep the audience hooked. Seekers of the "visual aesthetic" will definitely be hooked by the superb locales. Sollima manages to avoid the Quarter almost entirely: the majority of the location shots are in the seedy ghettos, swampy suburbs, and shipping docks of New Orleans. Never has this city looked so ugly and untouristy (no cliched scenes of the main characters wending their way through Bourbon St., et al.), but the scenery certainly befits the savage storyline. In any case, ALL will be impressed by the violent, slowly operatic finale. *Violent City* is a classic example of "neo-noir" at its conception in the early Seventies. It's a gem ripe for discovery. Especially recommendable to fans of Sam Peckinpah: the concerns with masculine power, and the blending of sex and violence, will make the Peckinpah fan feel right at home.

this is, to me,is charles bronson's masterpiece!.......2003-03-31

yep. you read that headline right. i have blasted bronson's later work like the DEATH WISH series, 10 TO MIDNIGHT, THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, MURPHY'S LAW, KINJITE, etc. you have to check on his earlier work which he did very well. he was tough, no nonsense, no remorse. his best films were THE DIRTY DOZEN, HARD TIMES, TELEFON + he did some italian actioners like RIDER IN THE RAIN & to me, his best film of all, VIOLENT CITY. it is shown on tv, where i saw last night, as THE FAMILY. an underrated 1970 treasure well directed by sergio sollima. bronson's wife jill ireland is perfect and very beautiful here. telly savalas is a hoot trying to squeeze out a new orleans accent as a mob boss. i won't get into the plot since i've read the other amazon reviews including 1 spoiler review. oh my, keep your ears peeled for ennio morricone's spectacular score. ranks right up there with ennio's GOOD, BAD AND THE UGLY theme. like i said, i won't do spoilers but the climax is well done with silence with the crackling sounds of bullets shattering glass and i did jump when that occurred. despite silence, jill ireland yells out her final line which i read her lips well. it is sad. i am glad VIOLENT CITY is on dvd. the widescreen is terrific! it is about time!

Average customer rating:

One of my favorite films
The kind of film you cannot explain, but must see...
Not the 'feel good movie of the year'
ARTIZTIC VIEW ON ALIENATION
Everything you have seen before and nothing like anything you have seen before.

Fallen Angels
Starring: Leon Lai , Michelle Reis , Takeshi Kaneshiro , Charlie Yeung , and Karen Mok
Director: Kar Wai Wong
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Chungking Express
In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection
Days of Being Wild
Lost and Found
Too Tired To Die

ASIN: B00000ILEM
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Amazon.com

Fallen Angels was originally planned as one section of director Wong Kar-Wai's best-known film, Chungking Express, but eventually it grew into its own distinct and delirious shape. In many ways, Fallen Angels may be the better film, a dark, frantic fun-house ride through Hong Kong's nighttime world. Part of the film is a love story between two people who have barely met: a young, ultra-hip hit man (Leon Lai) and the dreamy operative (Michele Reis) who plans his jobs. Much of the movie is given over to a very strange subplot about a manic mute (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who goes on bizarre nocturnal prowls through a closed food market--like almost everything else in Wong's films, this is antic, stylish, and oddly touching, all at the same time. It must be said that, also like Wong's other films, Fallen Angels is fragmented and oblique to the point of occasional incomprehensibility…but then suddenly something wild or wonderful happens, such as the moment when the killer leaves the scene of a spectacular shooting and is promptly waylaid by a cheerful old school chum on a public bus. These coups--whether lyrical, violent, or simply "how on earth did they get that shot?"--are tossed off by Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle with all the cool of the hired killer, as though the movie were a cigarette dangling from a pair of oh-so-casual lips. This is exactly why so many otherwise calm critics fell all over themselves in hailing Wong Kar-Wai as one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation. --Robert Horton

Description

Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai's stylistic masterpiece. A thematic sequel to "Chungking Express," "Fallen Angels" explores the lives of a number of Hong Kong ne'er-do-wells as they try to find love and money in the desperate streets of the city. This bittersweetly romantic film features a kaleidoscopic display of cinematography, camera angles and editing.

Customer Reviews:

One of my favorite films.......2007-05-12

Of all the WKW Chunking films, this is the masterpiece. Absolutely beautiful, emotional, hilarious and action packed- all in one film.
Wonderfully shot. One of the best visual scenes of all time- when Charlie is in the noodle shop shot through the glass in the pouring rain. masterful.

The kind of film you cannot explain, but must see..........2006-10-16

"Fallen Angels", directed by Wong Kar Wai, is the kind of film you cannot explain, but must see. Why? Because it manages to transmit the feelings of isolation, love, hope and despair of its main characters, characters that are not like you or me, but that feel the same things we sometimes feel.

This film is driven by inner monologue, that is, you can hear what the characters think. Due to that, you are able to watch their actions but also to hear their thoughts. It is interesting, but also heartbreaking at times. In a sense, "Fallen Angels" could be accurately displayed as a sequel to "Chungking Express", because it is also about people, their stories, and specially their longing for something they don't have but hope for.

One of the main characters is a hitman, Wong Chi-Ming (Leon Lai), who has a beautiful partner (Michele Reis) that coordinates his hits. Wong Chi-Ming knows why he became a killer, a reason that is strange but that makes sense to him: "The best thing about my profession is that there's no need to make any decision. Who's to die... when... where... it's all been planned by others. I'm a lazy person. I like people to arrange things for me". Despite that, he is thinking of leaving his job and becoming a "normal" person, something his partner doesn't like at all.

The other main character is He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a young mute that lost his voice after eating a tin of expired pineapple. He Zhiwu has a weird hobby: to break into stores at night and pretend to run them, forcing customers to buy things. He also happens to fall in love with a very strange lady, and says to himself "They say that love can change a man. I start to find myself looking better and more charming, and suddenly I discover that I'm turning blonde".

"Fallen Angels" is, again, a strange but magical film. I've tried to explain it, but I know I cannot do that well enough. It is up to you to draw your own conclusions. In my opinion, though, this is a film to be recommended.

Belen Alcat

Not the 'feel good movie of the year'.......2006-05-19

Not only does Fallen Angels tell a story, giving each character a developmental turn in the spotlight, but it sets the mood to be carried throughout the film. This movie is real and intimate. I was left feeling cold most of the time. It seems that, even though there are strong emotional scenes, most of the characters also recognize the coolness of the world surrounding their niche in society. Sometimes there are smiles, but no happiness. A well-developed, produced, acted, edited and written piece of art.

ARTIZTIC VIEW ON ALIENATION .......2005-12-29

indidviduals who are alienated, an outcast within the society tells their different story in this artistic entertaining movie. Cinematogrophy done by the one and only stylish chris doyle. Chris is amazing wih the cinematogrohy done on this film. Shot with neon, dreamy, hallucinatory preparation made this film an artistic beauty to watch. Each characters in this story are very interesting in their own way. We have the cool laid back quite assasin (leon) who lurks his way down at night to the city lights of hongkong in order to fulfill his mission guided and ordered by his dreamy melon-cholic girl partner, in which both of em never met one another but only find cues on things on recognising each others' personality. Such when michelle (the assasin's partner) look through the assasins left overs in her hotel room to know the assasin's preference. We have the mute, entertaining, colorful personality character who also lurks his way with his scooter at night to run his imaginary jobs at random shops and restuarant. This mute guy is takeshi kaneshiro who always run in with this one particular guy in which takeshi forces him to become his customer otherwise painful consequences might happen(a funny scene). The movie is entirely unique in its own way that i really find captivating to the senses. There is way more stuff in the movie than what i just said, you just have to find it for yourself. In my opinion this movie is way better than its predecessor chungking express in which directed by the same director. get the movie if u want to see a unique cinematography and stories of alienated individuals.
(grade A)

Everything you have seen before and nothing like anything you have seen before........2005-12-07

One thing is for sure - it is everything you have seen before and nothing like anything you have seen before. As a Wong Kar-wai junkie, I have to admit - it is getting harder and harder to find a favorite - Fallen Angels is among the top three. In one sense I really loved Fallen Angels because it is full of the same urban angst brought up in Chungking Express. There is something utterly and strikingly gorgeous about Wong Kar-Wai's movies. The mise-en-scene and backdrops his characters inhabit in that give each scene a particular almost brooding feeling. Wong Kar-Wai's are lost and lonely in a world that is dark and full of despair. Fallen Angels is no different.

Fallen Angels' Hong Kong is alive in the evenings. One could argue that the cinematography captures a dreamlike state, pure urban neon, and erotic. In Fallen Angels we travel the gritty back alleys (reminiscent of Chunking Express) into underworld dives, dreary dive bars juxtaposed against a brightly-lit McDonalds. I have to say this... Wong Kar-wai does somewhat put me off with his product placement - but we have to finance our projects somehow, I guess.

Leon Lai's is a lazy hired killer. His portrayal, it can be argues is weighty and conjures up a sense of gaudy (almost caddy) persona. I am reminded of Yuddy in Days of Being Wild. Lai is wonderful as a contradiction of apathy and poetry. Lai plays it with a languid air. Every move is deliberate - smooth. Conversely, Michelle Reis' is his doppelganger - his manager. She is obsessed with him, becomes emotionally attached to him. I would argue that a sense of betrayal set the stage for the hit man's final demise. A nighttime ride in the back of a motorcycle with He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) leads me wonder is she has comes undone. Love though, and its many forms of cruelty is a recurring theme with Wong Kar-wai. Oh that sweet betrayal... He Zhiwu is a potent character. The relationship He Zhiwu develops with his father is proof positive that even in the broken world of dysfunctionality there resides a lotus from the marshes. The videotape sessions, at first almost humorous, forms yet another center of love shattered - sometimes we need to really treasure what we have lest it slip by so suddenly... he Zhiwu is a symbol of the lyricism of youth.

One has to admit, even after Chunking Express, Fallen Angels is different from any Hong Kong movie. Driven by inner monologue (much like the later much acclaimed The Follow from The Hire series) it draws one in. The languid tone and deeply erotic tale is one that will stand the test of time. Fallen Angels according to Teo takes over from where Chungking Express leaves of. I argue that it brought Chungking Express to a whole new realm. Fallen Angels is Chungking Express on steroids.

Miguel Llora

Average customer rating:

The Naked City
Did I see the same film?
The architype of police procedurals - and, film noir to boot
One of Eight Million Stories
no truer depiction of new york was ever caught on screen

Naked City
Starring: Barry Fitzgerald , Howard Duff , Dorothy Hart , Don Taylor , and Frank Conroy
Director: Jules Dassin
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Brute Force (Criterion Collection)
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ASIN: B00000IYRJ
Release Date: 1999-06-29

Amazon.com

Description

New York City detectives Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor) are assigned to investigate the mysterious murder of a young woman. Following the leads in the case, they come upon a jewel theft ring that has been plaguing New York society. Muldoon and Halloran finally untangle the skein of thieves and discover the murderer to be one of the slain woman's cohorts in the jewel gang. When cornered by the detectives, there is a violent shoot-out.

Customer Reviews:

The Naked City.......2007-06-25

Did I see the same film?.......2007-06-23

The architype of police procedurals - and, film noir to boot.......2007-06-04

One of Eight Million Stories.......2007-05-07

no truer depiction of new york was ever caught on screen.......2007-05-05

Average customer rating:

Big City Blues
Starring: Burt Reynolds , William Forsythe , Giancarlo Esposito , Arye Gross , and Georgina Cates
Director: Clive Fleury (II)
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Comic Action | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video