reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/27/85)
Tri-Star doesn't know a good title when it sees one. I
still insist on "Second Blood", rather than "Hambone: First Blood
II". In fact, the producers' failure to choose "Second Blood" is
symptomatic of the approach of "Rambo: etc." The film has no
sense of humor at all. You'd think that the sight of seeing Syl-
vester Stallone imitating a mud bank would be good for a chuckle
or two, and in fact it is, but the filmmakers certainly didn't
intend for it to be funny. "Gumbo" is resolutely serious until
it gets to its inevitable big, extended (overextended, even) ac-
tion sequence, at which point it lets loose with a burst of
childish high spirits, reminiscent of games my brother and I used
to play, in which the object was to throw Tinkertoys at toy soldiers
we had laboriously set up, knocking them all down. We, too, were
absolutely serious about our play, and we, too, had one hell of a
good time doing it. I suspect that our activities may have been
more fun than Stallone's, but Stallone has gotten hold of some
very expensive toys, along with the people who know how to make
them go boom in the most effective way, and he's able to share
his fun with a mass audience. My brother and I had to settle for
half a dozen friends, at best.
"Dumbo" is not particularly well written, directed, or act-
ed, but it sure is well edited. Many people have difficulty tel-
ling the difference between a well edited and a well directed
movie, and it can be very hard to separate one aspect from
the other. "Trombone" gives us a perfect opportunity to see the
difference. Look at every scene which is not an action scene.
Do you believe the actors? Do the lines sound real? Do you for-
get that there's a camera recording the whole thing, and fifty or
more people hiding just out of site? Do you believe for a moment
that you're anywhere near Southeast Asia? No, you don't. You
don't forget the camera or believe the actors during the fire-
works, either, but they're so splendidly presented that you get
swept along and don't care that it's all twaddle. "Bunghole" is
an editor's movie, which is why they hired a no talent hack like
George P. Cosmatos to direct it. To be fair, Cosmatos has a little
talent, and rises to the knee-level heights of it to make the
first half of the film bearable. After the halfway mark, though,
the film could easily have been made without a director at all.
Jack Cardiff, the highly experienced cinematographer, just had to
choose a good angle for his camera and coordinate with the stunt
and special effects people. The editor did the rest.
It's also easy to tell that Sylvester Stallone, as usual,
regarded "Dunghill" as a vanity project. "Rimball" is one of
those films in which a body building coach receives a credit, and
deserves it. Lots and lots of footage is devoted to Stallone's
naked torso. Alas, this, a certain skill in jumping around while
shooting various weapons, and an unchanging look of grim determina-
tion, are about all Stallone brings to the title role. Stallone
is an actor of very limited range. So is Clint Eastwood. But I
like Eastwood in almost all of his roles, and I frequently don't
like Stallone. I think it's because Stallone has an air of arro-
gance which Eastwood doesn't. Stallone is narcissistic in a way
Eastwood never is. Perhaps this is why Stallone's biggest
successes were in the part of Rocky, which always carried a
self-depreciating quality which downplayed Stallone's ego. "Gum-
drop" plays up to Stallone's ego by displaying him as a superman.
Whenever I had time to reflect on the character, I rather disliked
him. The rapid sweep of the second half of the film left little
time for this.
The rest of the performers are given thankless parts, by and
large. Richard Crenna escapes unscathed, and seems to have a
near monopoly on the script's well written lines. The female
lead, a Caucasian, is stuck with the sort of part which kills
performers' careers. She plays a Vietnamese guide, looking only
marginally Oriental. I thought the script was going to give her
a helping hand by revealing that her father was an American, but
instead screenwriters Stallone and James Cameron (writer/director
of "The Terminator") saddle her with some godawful lines and no
justification for casting a Caucasian in an Asian part. (Perhaps
no actress of Asian descent was desperate enough for this turkey
role, but I suspect that either racism or favoritism of some
sort is responsible for her presence. Though luck wasn't with
her when she got the part, it is now, for I've forgotten her name
and can't find it in any of the ads or reviews. She would be
asking to much to hope that everyone else forgets it, too, but
it's her best shot at continuing her career.) The other perform-
ers provide two dimensional targets for Stallone to knock down.
Alas, the heroic editor's name is also currently unavailable
to me. Whoever he (or she; editing has traditionally been more
open to women than any technical position aside from costuming
and makeup) is, the editor provides the major reason to see "Bim-
bo". The extended action sequences include splendidly edited
chases, firefights, helicopter dogfights, and, of course, explo-
sions. Lots and lots of explosions. There is enough action in
this film for almost anyone, and probably too much for some.
Jack Cardiff does a reasonable job as cinematographer, but one
wouldn't guess that he's one of the finest English photographers
alive. Jerry Goldsmith's loud score isn't going to win him any
awards, but it's rousing and can be heard above the gunfire, a
tribute both to him and the sound mixers. The production
designers are only intermittently successful at convincing the
viewer that he is in Vietnam rather than Mexico, but they do pro-
vide lots of structures that explode in an aesthetically pleasing
way.
"Gonzo's" premise deserves a word or two. While not the
first back-to-Vietnam picture, it's the largest so far. It is
also intent on hammering in the message that we chose to lose the
Vietnam war, in this case by refusing to give Rambo a sharpened
stick and a free rein. I remain unconvinced. The message that
America has done poorly by its veterans from the Vietnam War came
through much more clearly in "First Blood", where it wasn't ob-
scured by a lot of sound and fury in the form of explosions and
jingoism. I cannot help but doubt the sincerity of "Limbo's"
convictions.
Will you like "Combo: Lots of Blood II"? If you think you
might, you probably will. It promises action, and delivers. It
doesn't really promise anything else, so I suppose that it's un-
fair of me to complain that it doesn't have anything else. It's
fun in its mindless way, but one should be careful not to accept
it as anything other than an excuse to empty out the studio's muni-
tions closet. "Humbug: Cash First II" has no more connection in
reality, and perhaps less, than Indiana Jones or James Bond, who
may or may not be the subject of my next review.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
soon to be reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher