Throwback Thursday – Page 2 – We Are Movie Geeks

Throwback Thursday: ‘Clue’

The 1985 murder comedy ‘Clue’ is a rare breed. It is one of the few films that whenever I stumble upon it as I flip through channels, regardless of how far into the film it is, I have to stop and watch. Sometimes five minutes. Sometimes until the next commercial break. Sometimes all the way to the end. It’s a kind of fix that only a film as funny and as timeless as ‘Clue’ can provide.

It wasn’t the first comedy to broach the subject of murder. It wasn’t even the first murder mystery comedy. Screenwriter and director Jonathan Lynn (‘My Cousin Vinny’ and ‘The Whole Nine Yards’) was definitely influenced by classic films like ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’ and even more recent murder mystery comedies like ‘Murder by Death.’ However, there is an intensity to ‘Clue’ that is unmatched. The comedy thrown out at its audience comes a mile a minute and just as consistent. Not only do the jokes come fast, they come nonstop and just about every one it hit out of the park. Some are campy. Some are witty. Some incorporate the best sight gags since the silent era. ‘Clue’ is a comedy that has something for everyone, and each brand of humor is executed just as flawlessly as the next.

More than 20 years later, the idea of taking a board game and turning it into a feature film is becoming a trend. With feature film adaptations of ‘Battleship,’ ‘Ouija,’ and ‘Monopoly’ just on the horizon, you have to give credit to ‘Clue’ for being the frontrunner on the trend more than two decades prior. Lynn takes the best elements of the board game (the creepy house, the eccentric characters, the various weapons, etc.) and puts each one to good use.

The casting in ‘Clue’ is flawless. Michael McKean plays the dorky Mr. Green who keeps insisting he “didn’t do it”. The late and great Madeline Kahn plays the melancholy Mrs. White, who may or may not have murdered her husband. Eileen Brennan plays the somewhat senile and overly naive Mrs. Peacock. Christopher Lloyd plays the sex-crazed Professor Plum. Martin Mull plays Colonel Mustard, who seems tough until he is faced with death and who misses his mommy and daddy. Lesley Ann Warren plays the seductive Miss Scarlet. Each actor is phenomenal in their own way, bringing the equally phenomenal characters to life. Every actor brings out the best in the character, and none of them fall behind in the laughs department. I dare you to not, at least, crack a smile during the scene where Madeline Kahn’s Mrs. White goes off on how much she hates Yvette, the maid.

However, the real standout performance in ‘Clue’ is for a character that is completely made up for the movie. Tim Curry stars as Wadsworth, the butler, who has brought the other six to the mansion. Curry is a force within this film, hardly taking a breathe for seemingly minutes at times. The film’s final act, where Wadsworth essentially runs through every event leading up to that point, is a juggernaut of comedy and Curry keeps the pace of the film without effort.

Of course, what ‘Clue’ is most notable for to the general public is the idea that three, different endings were shot. Random endings were shown depending on what theater you attended. It was a bold attempt at marketing, sadly one that didn’t work all that well in ‘Clue’s favor. The film was anything but a box office success, pulling in just over $13 million in its entire run. It didn’t help the film’s chances that it came out on the same day as ‘The Jewel of the Nile,’ the sequel to ‘Romancing the Stone.’ Audiences had a choice between comedies, and most headed for adventure instead of mystery.

Despite its box office receipts, the various endings for ‘Clue’ is probably what the film is most remembered for. When it was released on VHS, all three endings were included. It wasn’t until the film was released on DVD in 2000 that I had the opportunity to watch it with a completely random ending. In more recent years, the film has gained a cult following, particularly among fans of Tim Curry’s other, famous film, ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ Theaters will sometimes acquire a print of ‘Clue’ and show the film, once again, as it was intended to be seen with a completely random ending.

No matter how you watch it, on VHS or DVD, in theaters with a crowd of hundreds or late at night starting an hour in, ‘Clue’ is a hilarious film that is just as funny today as it was nearly a quarter of a century ago. It is an intensely fun movie that, despite its central theme of murder and blackmail, is anything but a “dark” comedy. If you’ve never seen ‘Clue,’ do yourself a favor and check it out. If you have seen it, go back and watch it again. I guarantee it to be just as funny now as it was when you first watched it.

Throwback Thursday: ‘Thief’

“I am the last guy you wanna mess with.”

Over the years, hell decades, director Michael Mann has made it his effortless job to make the coolest movies around. Even films that are less than applauded (I’m looking at you, ‘Miami Vice’) have this sense of cool. It’s as if Mann has found a way to bottle cool and splash a drop of it on each frame of his films.

So, at some point, you’ve got to go back to where it all began for Mann. No, not back so far as the TV movie, ‘Jericho Mile,’ or even the one episode of “Police Woman” he directed in ’77. I’m talking about his feature film debut in 1981, ‘Thief,’ which he both wrote and directed.

James Caan stars as Frank, a master jewel thief who just wants to make his $410,000 and walk away from the business for good. He dreams of living on the beach with his wife, Jessie (played by Tuesday Weld), and it is his God-given talents at safe-cracking that holds him firmly in the dangerous life he has made for himself. And such it is when Frank realizes his fence has been knocked off, and the man behind it (played with devilish care by Robert Prosky) wants to acquire Frank’s services for one, last run. With his partner (James Belushi in a rare, dramatic turn before his comedy days) by his side, Frank attempts to balance his lifestyle with the family he wants to develop and, somehow, make it out the other end alive and richer.

It’s a premise that has become all too commonplace since its inception, and I’m not even saying that occurred with ‘Thief.’ How many times have we seen the story of a master thief/con artist/safecracker/hitman who is in it for one, last score and then he’s out? All too many times, and going back to watch ‘Thief’ now, nearly thirty years after it came out, might leave filmgoers who have grown up in the modern, film world desiring more.

However, the smoothness and the cool neon glow Mann has given the Chicago setting for Frank’s story is undeniably hip. This movie cries out ’80s. From the bright blue opening credits, to the hosed down city streets, to the beeming score by Tangerine Dream, Mann has definitely stamped his film with its time and place.

Regardless, these aspects don’t have to be cyclical in any way to remain cool to this day. ‘Thief’ is a hard-edged action film. It is anything but nonstop, but, between Mann’s impeccable vision and his tense and cleverly researched screenplay, there is never a dull moments found from start to finish. Mann really knows his stuff, and Frank, as a character, makes believers out of all of us.

Much of this is thanks to the incredible turn by Caan, who also served as the film’s co-producer. He lives and breathes Frank in this film. When Frank is working, Caan makes it seem as effortless as Mann’s shots. When he is at ease, so to speak, Caan has a way of ramping up the intensity in even the calmest moments. You feel his unease. You understand his desire to leave the business, but you also realize, even with his wife and family, he isn’t much if he’s not displaying his talents.

The rest of the cast is kinetically good, as well. Weld, Belushi, and Prosky are faultless, and Willie Nelson turns in an ample and sound performance as the man who trained Frank in prison. Watch for small parts by Dennis Farina and William Petersen, both future Mann staples, also.

Unfortunately, when it was first released on March 27th, 1981, it failed to make much of a mark. It raked in roughly $4.3 million at the box office, and failed to make Mann the go-to guy for crime dramas and action movies. In ’83, Mann released the surreal horror film ‘The Keep,’ which also did poorly at the box office. With these two misses on his early resume, Mann was forced back into the television world, and he spent the next three years as executive producer of “Miami Vice.”

Through all of his career peaks and valleys, ‘Thief’ remains the film that marked the world of cinema with Michael Mann’s sense of cool perfection. He has since made better films (‘Heat’ is arguably his best film, and I will always stand by ’06’s ‘Vice’ adaptation), and he has delved into this world of cool crime much deeper (‘Collateral’ is an unscathed yet almost forgotten diamond). Despite all of this, it was with ‘Thief’ that Mann made his presence known to the world of motion pictures.

Many times, a filmmaker with a career as vast and as impressive as Michael Mann will have a feature film debut that becomes lost, buried under the blanket of film they have created since. I would be lying if I said ‘Thief’ were not one of these films. It is somewhat forgotten, but it is a film that deserves to be sought out and revisited. It is a film that is best described as effortless cool, and its style is undeniably its best attributes. However, it is also a film that is flawlessly directed, strikingly acted, and an all-around impressive feature film debut from one of the best directors still working today.

Throwback Thursday: ‘The Fugitive’

One of the first things I recall about having seen ‘The Fugitive’ for the first time was how strange it was to see Harrison Ford with a full beard. Aside from that, he gave an incredible performance as a man who is mistakenly convicted of his wife’s murder. The film begins with all the facts and evidence literally piling up on Dr. Kimble (Ford) in such a way that any jury would likely convict him. Then again, that’s the advantage of being the audience in a movie. We were the only one’s who knew he was innocent, but we couldn’t prove it yet. Just like Dr. Kimble knew he wasn’t the killer, we knew, but we had to take this exciting and unfortunate journey right alongside Dr. Kimble in order to prove to the authorities that he was innocent.

After his sentencing, the transport bus carrying Dr. Kimble and others wrecks during a prisoner uprising and coincidentally rolls down hill right onto a railroad track with a train barreling towards them. In the frenzy that follows, Dr. Kimble escapes. Enter Tommy Lee Jones, aka Marshall Samuel Gerard, or the guy who is going to track down Dr. Kimble by whatever means necessary. Jones is awesome as the badass tough-guy he’d already become so well known for playing in earlier films. ‘The Fugitive’ came just one year after Jones made waves in the popular Steven Seagal actioner ‘Under Siege’ where he was the one playing the bad guy. Good or bad, Tommy Lee Jones playing the no-bullsh** tough-as-nails character always equals hard-hitting fun.

What we quickly learn about both characters is that they’re both incredibly intelligent and incredibly resourceful, but they do so from very different backgrounds. It helps being a doctor when you’re an injured fugitive on the run. Throughout the film, as the foot soldiers of law enforcement chase their tails, Dr. Kimble and Marshall Gerard are in a high-speed mental game of cat and mouse as their wits prove more crucial to the outcome than their physical speed or endurance . That’s not to say there isn’t real suspense and physical trials of will and determination, as within the first forty minutes, the story is already steamrolling towards it’s first climatic moment (of many to come) when Kimble and Gerard meet face to face for the first time. In a tense stare down on the edge of a drainage duct, Kimble and Gerard play a game of eyeball chicken before Kimble makes a daring escape in the form of a swan dive off the dam and into the reservoir below.

In a moment of nervous clarity, Dr. Kimble realizes that no one will ever believe he is innocent and no one will ever “give” him the opportunity to clear his name. He realizes that to prove his innocence, he will have to seize the opportunity for himself. At that moment on the dam, Dr. Kimble looks death in the face and determines it frightens him less than the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars with actual killers. At that moment, Dr. Kimble threw caution to the wind and was essentially reborn as a man focused on finding the truth and revealing it to his accusers while being pursued by Gerard and half the Illinois police force. All while being brilliantly assisted by the adrenalin-producing, emotion-evoking compositions of James Newton Howard.

‘The Fugitive’ raises some interesting points of discussion, the biggest and most obvious being the question of what lengths would you go to prove your innocence if wrongfully accused? We rarely consider this type of self-reflection, writing off the possibility of ever being in this sort of situation as virtually impossible. However, consider the fact that all it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the possibility becomes a bit less impossible. Consider this… “there have already been 238 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.”* Now consider how many more there may be who haven’t had the opportunity to test their DNA against their convictions.

Now, I’m not suggesting that our prisons are filled with wrongfully accused inmates, but they do exist. Even our own government admits there is a disturbing margin of error within our legal system, whereas the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “admits that statistically 8% to 12% of all state prisoners are either actually or factually innocent.”* One of the greatest achievements that a movie such as ‘The Fugitive’ can accomplish is to raise awareness of these scenarios and shed light on the inherent imperfections of our legal system. Acknowledging that no system is perfect, we must always pursue to make adjustments and corrections as to continually ensure that our means of protecting our citizens remains fair and just, both for the innocent and the accused.

I’ll end on this final note… place yourself in Dr. Kimble’s shoes for a moment. If you knew you were innocent, would you just accept that you are powerless and allow the imperfect legal system to imprison you for life, or even schedule your own death, or would you fight, not with violence, but with the legal system itself and every other resource available to you in an effort to clear your name, regardless of the outcome. For some in our country, this is the daily struggle they endure and they need the support of the free and the willing who believe in the possibility that they may have been wrongfully convicted. Wouldn’t you want the same done for you if the tables were turned against your favor?

Throwback Thursday: ‘Unbreakable’

“How many days in your life have you been sick?”

An anonymous letter delivered to unemployed father and husband David Dunn, addressed only with “Limited Edition”. This is how we are first introduced to Mr. Glass, long before we see or hear the enigmatic villain-to-be, we are introduced to his intellect and his inquisitive nature. For those of you who have seen ‘Unbreakable’ you know all abut the intricate relationship between Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) and David Dunn (Bruce Willis)… two ordinary men of no great consequence who, by way of fate or chance, or whatever we wish to call it, discover extraordinary truths about themselves.

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan may have made a few stinkers in his career, but no matter what dribble he may create in the future, Shyamalan will forever be remembered for creating this instant classic amongst comic book fans. ‘Unbreakable’ isn’t based on any actual comic book, but instead is based on mind of a comic book fan, the mind of a person with passion for the art.

‘Unbreakable’ (2000) is Shyamalan’s third film, but only his second serious venture into the style he would come to be known for after amazing audiences in 1999 with ‘The Sixth Sense’. His influence from Alfred Hitchcock is clearly evident in the visual style and techniques used in filming ‘Unbreakable’. In many cases, a filmmaker that used prolonged and intricate tracking shots, extreme high and low angle shots distorting perspective and the long motionless takes that linger on a character, all in the same film, it would be a critics feeding frenzy. ‘Unbreakable’ defies this logic and actually pulls this off beautifully.

Even with all the fancy camera work, this is mostly overshadowed by the film’s muted color palette and it’s sombre tone. Eduardo Serra (Defiance) photographed a remarkably beautiful picture within a relatively limited range of color and contrast. The film’s score by James Newton Howard (Defiance) is outstanding, taking the seriousness and sophistication of classical instrumentation and applying it with great effectiveness to a story that would have normally been handled quite differently.

“Do you see any Teletubbies in here?” Say hello to Jules, making his momentary cameo as Mr. Glass berating a potential buyer of vintage comic book art from Elijah Price’s Limited Edition gallery when he discovers the man is buying it for his 4-year-old son.

Elijah Price (aka Mr. Glass) is a man who has lived his life from the day he was born with his arms and legs already broken while still in his mother’s womb, has had his life work against him all this time, but yearns for something more.’Unbreakable’ is essentially an origins story, beginning with the entrance of Elijah Price into the world. We are given moments of epiphany for Elijah through stages of his childhood as his mind is molded into what would eventually become the intellectual arch-nemesis to our hero.

Elijah developed an insatiable curiosity as a child, spending the better part of his days self-secluded in his home to avoid his frail body getting hurt. He develops a fascination for comic books when his mother begins using them as motivation to get Elijah to go outside and live once in a while. What his mother saw as mere entertainment for her son, Elijah finds a whole new way of looking at the world. He sees an unrecognized truth in the comic books, one that is dealt with directly but not taken seriously. Elijah sees the dichotomy of good and evil, and more importantly the necessity of two opposing forces that will balance one another in the universe.

While Elijah suffers the repeated injuries of a weakened physical body, this is countered by a keen intellect. Likewise, David may have super-human strength and the benefit of virtual indestructibility, this is also countered by David’s fear of water that serves as his kryptonite and is suggested as the only likely way for David to die. This is an integral element within the respectable superhero lore, as a hero without a weakness is too perfect and therefor wields absolute power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This “weakness” plays a crucial role in ‘Unbreakable’ while David is tracking down a serial killer, assisted by his “sixth sense” ability, but must conquer his one true nemesis before he can conquer the killer… his fear of water.

David Dunn enters the story after Elijah, returning home by train from New York in an attempt to find work. His life is empty and without purpose, or so David believes. He is unemployed and his marriage is at risk of divorce. He has a son Joseph who thinks the world of him, but David is unable to see this, instead remaining stuck in his self-loathing rut about his life. While Elijah has endured endless hardships, he sees the world through an optimistic, if not slightly distorted lens.

David has the world at his fingertips, happiness lying right before him, but he cannot see what he has until he begins having his own string of epiphanies about his true abilities. His son Joseph also benefits from his dad’s self-discovery, finding a hero in his father. The scene when Joseph is helping his father lift weights and they discover David’s true strength is a perfect example of this renewed relationship through David’s awakening, but is in contrast to David’s continued denial that he is anything but an ordinary man. David’s true turning point occurs during an intense scene when Joseph threatens his father’s life at gun point to prove that his father is a hero.

‘Unbreakable’ intelligently moves beyond the stereotypical trap of thinking all heroes and villains need costumes. While David Dunn and Elijah Price do not don capes and body suits, therefor allowing the audience to focus much more appropriately on the humanity of the characters, Shyamalan does still honor this tradition in subtle ways. David Dunn has no alias, but Elijah does refer to himself towards the end of the film as Mister Glass. He also has two understated trademarks, the wardrobe containing an abundance of purple and a glass cane, a symbol of his body being both structural and fragile at the same time. David Dunn, on the other hand, is presented in all his heroism wearing a baseball cap and a hooded poncho, but it is distinctly worn during his climatic hero scene.

Despite the fact that M. Night’s IMDB rating has consistently dropped with each film he has made since ‘The Sixth Sense’, which is his only film to appear in the IMDB Top 250 List at #137, ‘Unbreakable’ still maintains an average IMDB user rating of over 7 out of 10 stars. The movie is just that damn good and it holds up to repeated viewings as well. ‘Unbreakable’ tells a great story and is packed with powerful scenes from beginning to end. Shyamalan may or may not revive his career and his former status of being one of the most anticipated filmmakers in Hollywood, but I can just about guarantee he’ll never top this little masterpiece.

The two-disc DVD release hit shelves on June 26, 2001. For the time, the packaging and features were pretty awesome, featuring a die-cut slip case and came with two artist prints, one of David Dunn in his hooded poncho and one of Elijah Price. ‘Unbreakable’ is also available on Blu-Ray. The DVD special features include:

Fully produced additional scenes not seen in theaters, introduced by M. Night Shyamalan
Behind the Scenes footage, featuring Bruce Willis
Comic Books and Superheroes, an exclusive feature with Samuel L. Jackson
The Train Station Sequence, a multi-angle feature
An excerpt from an early film by M. Night Shyamalan

Throwback Thursday: ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller’

Robert Altman is a director that almost entirely polarizes me. Ã‚ I either really love his films or I am utterly bored by them. Ã‚ My love or hate for an Altman film is pretty far from the norm, as well. Ã‚ I’m not a fan whatsoever of ‘Nashville,’ yet I absolutely adore ‘Popeye’ and ‘Quintet’ (just don’t try to understand the rules of the game in that one).

With Altman’s passing in November of 2006, we can sit back and look over the man’s entire career, choosing the best and worst from that bunch. Ã‚ In my eyes, the absolute best film Altman’s filmography has to offer is ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller.’

Warm and cold at the same time, heartbreaking and jovial, ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller’ was one of Altman’s first films. Ã‚ Set in a small, Northwestern town during the old west, John McCabe (Warren Beatty) arrives in town to set up a saloon and brothel. Ã‚ Julie Christie plays the brothel’s madam, Mrs. Miller, whom McCabe quickly falls in love with. Ã‚ Soon after, a company arrives in town to attempt to buy out McCabe, but he refuses. Ã‚ The refusal escalates into violence.

The story is very simple.Ã‚ It’s based on the 1959 novel, McCabe, by Edmund Naughton, but what makes this film damn near perfect is Altman’s direction and the performances of the two leads.Ã‚ Altman’s revisionist style fits in perfectly with the film’s dark themes, and scenes of violence become beautiful through their composition. Ã‚ Through Altman’s direction, every character within the film is given an importance, even a weight to a scene they appear in. Ã‚ This was done through Altman’s decision to allow many of the people playing smaller parts, even extras, to create backstories for their character.

From Altman’s direction comes the performances given by Beatty and Christie, the latter of which earned an Oscar nomination for her role. Ã‚ William Devane, Rene Auberjonois, and Shelley Duvall all give memorable performances, as well. Ã‚ Keith Carradine, as simply, the Cowboy, made his debut with ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller.’

Altman’s steadiness when framing and shooting scenes, with help from cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond (‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’) gives the film the power to stand up after all of these years.Ã‚ The film’s soundtrack, made up entirely of songs by Leonard Cohen, is equally brilliant.

Three Cohen songs (“The Stranger Song”, “Winter Lady”, and “The Sisters of Mercy”) appear in the film. Ã‚ “The Sisters of Mercy” appears on a number of occasions throughout the film, and it is riveting every time we hear the single, lonely guitar string start the song off. Ã‚ The songs are incredibly appropriate for the themes and story found within the film, and it is amazing to think that the songs were not written for the film. Ã‚ Altman did not hear the songs until the film was in post-production. Ã‚ After attending a party where Cohen’s album “Songs of Leonard Cohen”, Altman decided the three songs fit his film perfectly. Ã‚ Altman was later upset to hear that Cohen did not like ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller.’ Ã‚ Years later, Cohen phoned Altman saying he had changed his mind about the film after having seen it with an audience.

Haunting, powerful, and poetic, this film couldn’t be any better.Ã‚ I’m quoting Roger Ebert here, but he said it perfectly when he said, “Rober Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is McCabe & Mrs. Miller.”Ã‚ Seek this one out.

‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller’ can be purchased at Amazon. Ã‚ It is also a part of the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Western Adventures along with ‘The Wild Bunch,’ ‘Jeremiah Johnson,’ and ‘The Train Robbers.’ Ã‚ A Blu-Ray is not yet available for the film. Ã‚ A hardcover book, Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller: Reframing the American West by Robert SelfÃ‚ about the film’s production and its place in American cinema is also available.

Throwback Thursday: ‘Tremors’

When it comes to fun movies that never get old and stand up to repeat viewings, it’s hard to beat the original ‘Tremors’ (1990). I never did see this movie in the theater, but I can only imagine how much fun this would have been to experience for the first time in a crowd full of moviegoers seeing ‘Tremors’ on opening night. ‘Tremors’ grossed $16,667,084 domestically, not including VHS/DVD sales.

‘Tremors’ wastes no time throwing us into the heart of what makes it great… monsters. The movie is this odd but wonderful melding of the two biggest genres of the 1950’s bringing the monster flick and the western together to create uniquely entertaining and nostalgic movie fare. We are introduced to our first “victim” at precisely 13 minutes into the movie, but this doesn’t really count because it’s sort of a self-inflicted death, brought upon by fear. What drives a man to climb up an electrical tower and sit there for 3-4 days and die of thirst?

Our first “real” victim makes his debut at 15 minutes into the movie, meeting his demise exactly 30 seconds later. What has begun now is a chain reaction of events that lead Earl (Fred Ward) and Valentine (Kevin Bacon) on a mad dash to flee the tiny town of Perfection, believing a crazy killer is on the loose. They would be correct, except for the crazy part.

Oh, I almost forgot the love interest. There always has to be a love interest and it’s Rhonda (Finn Carter) in ‘Tremors’ causing a rift of sexual tension between Earl and Valentine… all over a nerdy hot seismologist chick. Of course, she proves useful in surviving and defeating the mysterious killers.

Oh, what the Hell! I’m not giving anything away here. The killers are giant subterranean worm-like creatures of unknown origins, but theories abound with the most popular being mutants caused by radiation, government weapons created to attack the Russkies, dormant prehistoric creatures, or alien beings from outer space. You pick! What they most certainly are is determined by opportunistic entrepreneurial general goods store owner Walter Chang, played with great caricaturistic finesse by Victor Wong. What are they… they ARE Graboids! Hell yeah!

As totally awesome (and smelly) as the Graboids are, the heart of the movie is made of it’s characters. Offbeat, stereotypical and often naive, the townsfolk of Perfection perfect what is great about ‘Tremors’. The most memorable characters are Burt (Michael Gross) and Heather (Reba McEntire), a married couple who live in a fortified house bunker and make Charlton Heston and the NRA look tame when it comes to an obsession with guns. Michael Gross would ultimately end up making something of a career out of the ‘Tremors’ franchise, starring in all four movies and the Sci-Fi channel TV series which ran for 13 episodes. It’s tough to say if Michael gross is better known as Burt Gummer in ‘Tremors’ or as Mr. Keaton in ‘Family Ties’.

‘Tremors’ is one of the last great bastions of stop-motion animation, combined with animatronics, used for special effects in big movies. In this sense, the Graboids were real, not computer-generated, making them that much more enjoyable. The effects are both fun and convincing enough so that we don’t sit through the entire movie huffing and puffing like we do when effects are ridiculously bad.

‘Tremors’ could also make a great, if not brutal, drinking game if played based on how many times Earl and Valentine say Hell, Damn, Son of a Bitch or some variation thereof. Oh, and you’ve never heard anyone utter the words “mother humper” the way Kevin Bacon does in ‘Tremors’. Hey, what do you expect? It’s a PG-13 movie from 1990. ‘Tremors’ was originally set for an R-rating until the studio cut a deal with the MPAA by removing all but one F-word from the finished film.

The ‘Tremors’ Collector’s Edition DVD released in 1998 with special features including a Making of Documentary, a video showing the creation of the Graboids, Outtakes, the original unused ending and production photos. If you’re truly into the franchise as a whole, all four films can be purchased in one two-disc set for $14.99 on Amazon.com or at Best Buy.

Let’s check the counts on this modern classic of comedy horror…

Body Count: Eight Humans, One Horse and several sheep.
Burt & Heather’s Gun Collection: 36 Rifles, Shotguns, Semi-Autos and Pistols (that I could count); One Elephant Gun; One Flare Gun; a Cannon (sight unseen) and a slew of Pipe Bombs (aka “a few household chemicals in the proper proportions”).
Times Melvin Pisses Earl Off: Four.
Times Earl Says Pardon My French: Twice. (Rhonda says it once as well.)
Make-Shift Pole Vaulting Scenes: One.
Bulldozers: One.
Reba McEntire Songs: One.

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