The Good Shepherd (2006) - De Niro's CIA drama excels

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+ Best Period Movie of the Year 

A piece of Matt Damon's bespectacled profile superimposed with the insignia of the CIA are the main visual elements on this sparse, seriousness-indicating poster for Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd

Wilson aka. 'Mother' becomes the newly begun Central Intelligence Agency's eminence during WWII, but following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961, Wilson is confronted with his late father and his own worst sides.

The Good Shepherd is written by Eric Roth (The Horse Whisperer (1998)) and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Robert De Niro (A Bronx Tale (1993)), who here takes up extensive duties as co-producer, director and co-star.
The film is a unique tale of the US and USSR intelligence agencies, as the Cold War got underway, and their mutual dependence, built around a human drama. That drama doesn't throw around grand gestures, but it comes with an eerie finale, SPOILER as Wilson gets his son's fiancée thrown off a plane.
Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity (2002)) gives one of his career's best performances as an understandably dumb bastard (Wilson), and the rest of the fine cast are also impressive. Ann Roth's (Hope Springs (2012)) costumes are very well done, and some of writer Roth's lines spouted by Damon's cowboy-like spy come off with sparks.

Related posts:

Robert De Niro: The Irishman (I Heard You Paint Houses) (2019, VOD) - Scorsese's great gangster epic of growing old and death (co-star)
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Tender moments, great De Niro in uneven romantic dramedy (co-star)

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
15 Minutes (2001) or, Bad Cynics in New York City (co-star) 
Cop Land (1997) - Stallone faces corruption and turns in some good acting in fine crime drama (co-star) 
Casino (1995) - Scorsese's sumptuous Vegas gangster tale has the wingspan of a Greek tragedy (co-star)
Cape Fear (1991) - Scorsese adds lots of stuff to remake but loses the balance (co-star)
Backdraft (1991) - Ron Howard's giant, stupid Chicago-set firefighter movie (co-star)
Angel Heart (1987) - Parker's stylish devil-lurking holds limited punch (co-star)
The Deer Hunter (1978) - Cimino's great, colossal Vietnam epic (star)

Watch a German language version trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly around 90 mil. $
Box office: 100.2 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.11 times its cost)
[The Good Shepherd premiered 11 December (New York) and runs 167 minutes. The project was begun in 1994 for Francis Ford Coppola. Other talents who were near it include Wayne Wang, Philip Kaufman, John Frankenheimer, Graham King and Leonardo DiCaprio. The 110 mil. $ budget was cut down to "under 90", necessitating Damon and other stars waive their usually higher salaries. Still Angelina Jolie (Salt (2010)) was reportedly paid a hefty 8 mil. $ for her performance. De Niro traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia to Moscow as research, as well as studied CIA history. Shooting took place in the Dominican Republic, London, England, New York, Connecticut and Washington DC from August 2005 - January 2006. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Night at the Museum, holdover hit The Pursuit of Happiness and new release Rocky Balboa, to a 9.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weeks in the top 5 (#4-#5-#5) and grossed 59.9 mil. $ (59.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 5 mil. $ (5 %) and Italy with 4.1 mil. $ (4.1 %). The film was nominated for the Best Art Direction Oscar, lost to Pan's Labyrinth. It won the Silver Bear prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was lambasted by CIA historians for its veracity. De Niro expressed ideas to make two sequels to the film; since 2012 a TV-series spin-off has been brewing at Showtime, with De Niro in talks to direct the pilot. De Niro has not returned as a director since but returned as an actor in Stardust (2007). Damon returned in Ocean's Thirteen (2007); Jolie in A Mighty Heart (2007). The Good Shepherd is rotten at 55 % with a 6.14/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Good Shepherd?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - Forman's 1970s gold-rimmed classic

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Star Jack Nicholson looks askew with a broad smile up at the barbed wire fence on this classic poster for Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

McMurphy is convicted of assaults and statutory rape of a 15 year-old but is not insane, as he is nevertheless placed under observation at a closed mental institution, where the charismatic new resident really turns things upside down.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is written by Bo Goldman (Shoot the Moon (1982)) and Lawrence Hauben (The Outsider (1969, TV-series), actor), based on the same-titled 1962 novel by Ken Kesey (Sometimes a Great Notion (1964)) and the play adaptation by Dale Wasserman (How I Saved the Whole Damn World (2001)), and directed by Czech master filmmaker Milos Forman (Black Peter/Cerný Petr (1964)).
The film is a 1970s classic. Ironically, because Forman said that the villainous nurse Ratched represented the Communist Party of his own Soviet-plagued country for him, the film often comes off as radically liberal; as the loud, pushy new guy (McMurphy) instills the loonies with the creed that they belong out in the real world and should rebel against the repressive system. This is obviously debatable.
The film opens theatrically and with some typey presentations of the characters, who later however gain breadth, and the highly sympathetic nature of the story has led many to pronounce One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest a masterpiece.
It is a gripping drama with some stimulating performances: Jack Nicholson (Broadcast News (1987)) as McMurphy and Louise Fletcher (Johnny 316 (1998)) as the iconic, ultra-conservative villainess Ratched, of course, but most memorable is Brad Dourif (Blood Shot (2013)) as Billy Bibbit, the young patient with the mother trauma. Jack Nietzsche's (Cannery Row (1982)) nerve-exposed score is tremendous, - and the film's ending is unpredictable.

Related posts:

Milos Forman: Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Amadeus (1984) or, The Fool Genius and his Teacher

Watch an original trailer for the film here

Cost: 4.4 mil. $
Box office: 163.25 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 37.1 times its cost)
[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was released 19 November (USA) and runs 133 minutes. Kirk Douglas had bought the rights and attempted to find funding for a film after playing McMurphy in the 1963-64 Broadway stage version but failed at it. His son Michael Douglas later bought the rights, found the money, hired Forman and waited 6 months for Nicholson to be available. The actors followed patients at the Oregon State Hospital's daily routines and group therapy for a week prior to filming, and Nicholson and Fletcher even witnessed electroconvulsive therapy being administered. Shooting took place in the active Oregon State Hospital, where the hospital director helped actors find patients to 'shadow' and also encouraged incorporating patients into crew functions; only later did Douglas find out that several of these were criminally insane. Shooting took place from January - March 1975 in Oregon and California. Some actors slept in the ward at night. Fletcher was paid 10k $ (before tax) for 11 weeks of work, while Nicholson received 1 mil. $ and 15 % of the gross. The shoot changed cinematographer during production due to 'artistic differences', and the budget and schedule ballooned from 2 mil. $ to 4.4 mil. $. Co-producer Saul Zaentz borrowed against his company Fantasy Records to raise the money. The film grossed 108.9 mil. (66.7 % of the total gross) in North America, becoming the 3rd highest-grossing film of 1975 and the highest-grossing film of 1976, in which it made 56.5 mil. $ of its gross. The impressive world gross made it United Artists' highest-grossing distributed title ever. The film was nominated for 9 Oscars, winning 'the big five' as the first film since It Happened One Night (1934): Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor and Actress. It lost Best Supporting Actor (Dourif) to George Burns for The Sunshine Boys, Cinematography (Haskell Wexler, Bill Butler) to John Alcott for Barry Lyndon, Editing to Jaws and Score to John Williams for Jaws. The film also won 6 Golden Globes, 6/10 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a César award, won 2 David di Donatello awards, was nominated for a Grammy, won 2 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #18 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between Goodfellas (1990) and Seven Samurai (1954). Forman returned with Hair (1979)). Nicholson returned in The Missouri Breaks (1976); Fletcher in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is certified fresh at 93 % with a 9.05/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

Top 10: Best dramas reviewed by Film Excess to date

 
1. The Leopard/Il Gattopardo/Le Guépard (1963) - Luchino Visconti
 

2. The Past/Le Passé (2013) - Asghar Farhadi
 

3. Children of Paradise/Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) - Marcel Carné 

4. Like Father, Like Son/そして父になる (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) (2013) - Hirokazu Koreeda

5. The Lives of Others/Das Leben der Anderen (2006) - Florian Henckel von Donnsersmarck

6. A Woman Under the Influence (1974) - John Cassavetes

7. Doubt (2008) - John Patrick Shanley  

8. Flight (2012) - Robert Zemeckis

9. Mad Men season 5 (2012) - Matthew Weiner

10. Three Colors: Blue/Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993) - Krzysztof Kieslowski

Chosen out of 265 reviewed titles labeled 'drama' or 'great drama'

Previous Top 10 lists:

Best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date    
Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date      
Best debut movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Best Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Best documentaries reviewed by Film Excess to date 

What do you think of the list?
Which dramas would make your personal Top 10?

The Specials/Hors Normes (2019) - Universal humanism and an everyday hero lauded in great drama

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+ Best Drama of the Year + Best French Movie of the Year + Best Social Realism of the Year 

The film's two male stars look severely pleased with something unknown on this uninformative poster for Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano's The Specials

Bruno is a middle-aged Jewish man who runs an uncertified home for children and youths with severe autism in Paris with the help of a friend, who trains young people from the ghettos to be employees there. But between Bruno's unwillingness to say no and the authorities concerned probing, the home is in real jeopardy.

The Specials is written and directed by French master filmmakers Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano (The Intouchables/Intouchables (2011)), based on the true story of Stephane Benhamou, who is a friend of the filmmakers and runs a home like the one in the film in Paris.
Vincent Cassel (Black Tide/Fleuve Noir (2018)), so often playing thugs and violent men, - and usually being great at it, - here prospers with a very different character in Bruno, and it may in fact be his best performance to date: The over-burdened, sweet and deeply humanistic home leader is a true everyday life hero, and his home is an exceptional case for study. Not only does the home house the toughest autism cases and succeed in minimizing their medication, it is also run by a Jew, cooperating with Muslims, other Jews and really just every one else who turns up. A pragmatic realism and universally recognizable care for the individual makes this feat possible. Hélène Vincent (Les Petits Ruisseaux (2010)) as a mother to a young man with autism, whose life has changed wholly to support him, is also a stand-out in the charming and vibrant cast.
The story mixes the looming scrutiny from the authorities with the intake of a new, severely challenged boy, Valentine, and hiring of a new African-French helper from the projects, who gets attached to Valentine. It never nears feeling dry or overly stern, as Nakache/Toledano again successfully incorporate humor and romance, (mostly just sweet promises of future romance really), into the heavy mix. Keeping the balance so that the focus on the serious issue, - the financial realities behind pushing around these difficult autism cases between authorities and lack of a will to better their lives, - is a challenge that the filmmakers meet with impressive deftness, to some degree following a playbook that they have written with past projects.
This doesn't take anything away from the wonderful, very touching, ultimately uplifting drama The Specials, which will be especially meaningful for anyone near a person with autism.

Related posts:
 
Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   
Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
The Intouchables/Intouchables/Untouchable (2011) - A universal, uplifting masterpiece
 

Watch a trailer for the film with English subtitles here

Cost: 13 mil. €, approximately 14.06 mil. $
Box office: 18.7 mil. $ and counting
= Big flop (has presently returned 1.33 times its cost)
[The Specials premiered 25 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, out of competition) and runs 114 minutes. The film is a co-production between no less than 15 companies. There are presently regrettably no North-American release of the film announced. Its 3 biggest markets have been production country France with 16.2 mil. $ (86.6 % of the total gross), (it sold more than 2.1 mil. tickets there), the Netherlands with 1.3 mil. $ (7 %) and Germany with 450k $ (2.4 %). The film is nominated for 8 César awards. The film has upcoming late February releases coming in Portugal, Spain and Finland and March releases scheduled in Australia and Turkey. Nakache and Toledano are returning with En Thérapie (TV-series), about the aftermath of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. Cassel returned in Underwater (2020); Reda Kateb (Zero Dark Thirty (2012)) in Possessions (2020, TV-series). 1,933 IMDb users have given The Specials a 7.6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Specials?

Parasite/기생충 (Gisaengchung) (2019) or, The Haves and the Have Nots

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Crime Drama of the Year + Best Dollar Return of the Year: 22.68 Times the Cost + Best Mega-Hit Movie of the Year + Best Societal Critique of the Year + Best South Korean Movie of the Year 

A mysterious, identity-hiding poster for Bong Joon Ho's Parasite indicates something deeply amiss in the global village

The son of a poor South-Korean family gets an opportunity to teach English to the daughter of a wealthy family, and he is not one to miss a chance to help out his own family, once he enters the much enviable halls of the rich.

Parasite is written by Jin Won Han (Okja (2017), assistant director) and South-Korean master co-writer/director Bong Joon Ho (Barking Dogs Never Bite/Flandersui gae (2000)).
Ho dishes out an original story that is modern while being archetypical at the same time, delving into the unsavory traits of both the poor and the rich in a harsh economic environment that leaves an entire family to punch pizza boxes together in their unsanitary, sub-street level home for food. It in no way idealizes either class, but rather probes how the stark inequality leads to dehumanizing and agonizing behavior and divides between the two, which is always much more pregnant among the poor, - probably only because they are the ones trying to claw their way out of a dump.
Parasite is groundbreaking for its cultural infiltration as a wholly South-Korean film, as it speaks to people all over the globe and will become a touchstone for conversations - also outside of cinema - likely for decades to come. This is due to the big ideas present in it and the poignancy with which it deals with them: The title evokes a brilliant duality, as the story's parasites can be viewed as both the poor, amoral family or the filthy rich, who leech on the labor of thousands for reckless personal gain. The script distinguishes itself also by its strong portrayal of how poverty inevitably degrades and stigmatizes the individual, (SPOILER the sexual scene dealing with the daughter's underwear and the returning point about the stink of the poor work to this end.) These and other scenes show a real understanding of the unenviable situation of poor people.
The script is also inventive, original and brilliant, building up to developments that seem logical story-wise but are nevertheless outrageous and create frantic gushes of suspense, fun and excitement that only the rarest of films succeed in culling forth. The score by Jaeil Jung (Okja (2017)) is simple but great and amplifies the transgressions of the poor family, which to some extent can be excused by their wish to escape poverty. However, even the most sympathetic to the poor must face this family's descend into wicked crime as a means to an end; and it is a separate point of Parasite that extreme inequality inspires cruel crimes. SPOILER Another heartbreaking highlight of the dynamite script has the father of the poor family advising his son that "You can't go wrong with no plans." - The ultimate opportunist but also powerless credo passed from father to son.
The cast is uniformly great: Kang-ho Song (Howling/Ha-wool-ling (2012)) as the poor father; Hye-jin Jang (Mothers/Dangshinui Bootak (2017)) as his ruthless wife; Woo-sik Choi (Monstrum/Mulgoe (2018)) as their son, the initial entry into the rich family's life; Yeo-jeong Jo (Babysitter/Beibishiteo (2016, miniseries)) as the anxious mother of the house; Jeong-eun Lee (Another Child/Miseongnyeon (2019)) as the original housekeeper, and Myeong-hoon Park (Steel FLower/Seutil peullawo (2015)), memorable as her ill-fated husband.
Parasite is a powerful portrait of a modern society at odds with itself; which wants to seem sustainable but isn't. Unjust and unhealthy, its sickness permeates the earth we inhabit as illustrated in one of the film's best sequences, SPOILER as the poor peoples' neighborhood gets flooded by an extreme rain shower that doesn't affect the other class in their privileged hillside home. Perhaps the best image of Parasite is that of the young woman of that family sitting on their toilet, which is just about exploding from blow-back sewage, trying to light a cigarette in the flooded home. This feels very much a terrible and very powerful metaphor for our times and behavior at realizing our destructive impact on mother earth, and the image is a striking, ominous message from a film that is ripe with meanings as well as rich on outstanding work.

Related posts:

Bong Joon Ho: The day after ... the 2020 Oscars 

2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 11.4 mil. $
Box office: 201.4 mil. $ and counting
= Mega-hit (has returned 17.66 times its cost so far)
[Parasite premiered 21 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 132 minutes. Inspirations for the script includes the classic South-Korean film The Housemaid (1960) and the true case of Christine and Léa Papin, two live-in maids that killed their employers in 1930s France. Shooting took place for 124 days from May - September 2018 in South Korea, including Seoul. Both the rich and poor family's homes were built entirely for the film. The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. It opened #14 to a 393k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, the best per-theater average there since La La Land (2016). It peaked in its so far 19 week release in North America after the Oscars at #7 and has grossed 45.8 mil. $ (22.7 % of the total gross) there to date. In South Korea, the film's biggest market, the film opened to 20.7 mil. $ and grossed 72.9 mil. $ (36.2 %). After North America as 2nd biggest comes Japan with 22.6 mil. $ (11.2 %). The film is also getting released in a black and white version in some markets. As the first Korean film ever, Parasite was Oscar-nominated; in fact for 4 Oscars, winning all 4: Best Picture, - first time ever gone to a non-English language film, - Director, Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film. The film also won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 2/4 BAFTA nominations, an AFI award, 5/12 Blue Dragon award (South Korea's leading awards), was nominated for a César award, won a David di Donatello award, an Independent Spirit award, a National Board of Review award and countless other honors. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #21 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Se7en (1995) and City of God (2002). A US-made HBO spin-off series is in the making. Ho's next project is not announced yet. Song returned in The King's Letters (2019); Jo in Beautiful World/Areumdaun Sesang (2019, TV-series) and Woman of 9.9 Billion (2019-00); and Choi in The Divine Fury/Saja (2019). Parasite is certified fresh at 99 % with a 9.37/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Parasite?

The Gatling Gun (1971) - The Indian Wars of the West revisited in deficient flick

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Grim sexual brutalization and violent meanness is promised on this sparse poster for Robert Gordon's The Gatling Gun

During the Indian Wars of the 19th century, cowboys and Indians combat each other, until the American whites invent the Gatling Gun, a rolling machine gun that they use to mow down the natives.

The Gatling Gun is written by Joseph Van Winkle (Dark Places (1974)) and Mark Hanna (Raymie (1960)) and directed by Robert Gordon (Blind Spot (1947)).
There isn't much story to this war western, which also technically and in other ways lacks fundamental qualities, (the Apache Indians for some reason speak Spanish in it, for instance.) Interminable war scenes only slightly remedy these deficiencies. For anyone not prone to westerns, The Gatling Gun is likely to be intolerable to watch.

Listen to a grand piece of the film's score here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[The Gatling Gun was released in May (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Shooting took place in New Mexico and California from April - May 1969. Little is known of the film's production and limited release. It was Gordon's last feature; he returned only with The American People in World War II (1973, documentary short). 292 IMDb users have given The Gatling Gun a 5.0/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Gatling Gun?

Ginger Snaps (2000) or, Howl of the Emo Sisters

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Gothic and bloody indications mixed with mysterious teen sexuality howl from this poster for John Fawcett's Ginger Snaps

When one of two very emo teenage sisters are bitten by a werewolf, it gets her to run amuck in monstrous, adolescent sex!

Ginger Snaps is written by Karen Walton (Deep in the City (1999-00)), with great Canadian co-writer/director John Fawcett (The Boys Club (1996)) contributing story elements.
Here is a highly surprising and edgy horror; most of its shots are deliberately shot askew (cinematography by Thom Best (A Good Meal (2016)).)
The film is ripe with strange or unusual things, and, yes, it is also scary! Mimi Rogers' (Cleaners (2014, TV-series)) deeply humorous performance as the sisters' mother also deserves highlighting.

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 572k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.12 times its cost)
[Ginger Snaps premiered 1 August (München Fantasy Filmfest, Germany) and runs 108 minutes. 15 companies collaborated to make the film. Shooting took place from October - December 1999 in Ontario, including Toronto. The film won an award at the Toronto International Film Festival and made 425k C$, making it the 5th highest-grossing Canadian film to come out for nearly a year. It made just 2k$ in the US, from two film festivals. But the film became a 'cult favorite' on DVD, though with sales undisclosed. This led to the sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004), which had an even smaller theatrical gross, and another direct-to-video sequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004, video). Fawcett returned with 8 TV credits before his next theatrical outing The Dark (2005). Emily Perkins (Repeaters (2010)) returned in Christy: Return to Cutter Gap (2000, TV movie), Christy: Choices of the Heart (2001, miniseries) and theatrically in Prozac Nation (2001); Katharine Isabelle (The Arrangement (2017-18)) in The Fearing Mind (2000, TV-series)), The Immortal (2001, TV-series) and theatrically in Josie and the Pussycats (2001); Kris Lemche (Haven (2013-15)) in Saint Jude (2000); and Rogers in 8 TV and short projects prior to her theatrical return in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003). Ginger Snaps is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ginger Snaps?

The Gorilla (1939) - Hilarious Lugosi and game Ritz Brothers light up above-average gorilla flick

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A lively poster for Allan Dwan's The Gorilla, which effectively indicates both the film's potentially frightening and funny elements

 
A rich man is threatened by a man who calls himself The Gorilla, and so he hires three detective brothers to investigate. 

The Gorilla is written by Rian James (The Fortress (1947)) and Sid Silvers (Bottoms Up (1934)), based on the same-titled 1935 play by Ralph Spence (Let's Go, screenplay (1923)),  and directed by Allan Dwan (The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch (1914)).
The film distinguishes itself from other gorilla movies of its era by being a 20th Century Fox studio picture and thus benefits from better production values; better pictures (cinematography by Edward Cronjager (I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951))) and sets (including the central mystery house, enveloped in thunder of course), - and not least an ape that actually looks like one.
The Ritz Brothers (Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)) as the three bumbling detectives and Bela Lugosi (The Wolf Man (1941)) as the incredibly funny butler Peters, (butler again, yes), make The Gorilla highly worthwhile for the viewer who can appreciate this type of thing.

Watch the opening of the movie here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[The Gorilla was released 26 May (USA) and runs 66 minutes. The film was written, produced and released within just 8 months. Lugosi's role was originally meant for Peter Lorre. Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California. The Ritz Brothers' father's death in January 1939 created a delay in the shoot, and when the three stars failed to show up to resume filming by late January, Fox sued them for 150k $. They came back and did the work but never worked for Fox again after that. The film has fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Dwan returned with Frontier Marshal (1939). The Ritz Brothers returned in Pack Up Your Troubles (1939); Lugosi in The Human Monster (1939). 1,176 IMDb users have given The Gorilla a 4.8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Gorilla?