The Heroes of Telemark (1965) - Excitement abounds in boy's dream K. Douglas war adventure

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A fabulous painted poster full of scenes of drama and action for Anthony Mann's The Heroes of Telemark

The story of how the German lead on the nuclear front during World War II in their hydro plant in Norway was stopped in the last second by Norwegian resistance fighters and British soldiers.

 

The Heroes of Telemark is written by Ben Barzman (Oasis (1955)), Ivan Moffat (Giant (1956)) and Harold Pinter (Reunion (1989)), based on the novels Skis Against the Atom (1953) by Knut Haukelid and But for These Men (1962) by John Drummond, and directed by Anthony Mann (Dr. Broadway (1942)).

Kirk Douglas (Spartacus (1960)) is a fantastic scientist/old pig here, who only thinks of himself, but who (of course) transforms into the greatest hero of the Telemark nonetheless. (Telemark is a region in Southern Norway.) As a Norwegian he is, naturally, incredibly unbelievable, and his greased-up hairdo doesn't move a quarter of an inch throughout the truth-based action adventure.

At one moment black and white footage of planes are placed in the film in what comes off as a silly ploy. But otherwise this is a highly thrilling war movie in the vein of The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Where Eagles Dare (1968). It may be second to those films, but The Heroes of Telemark has a rare and exciting cross-country skiing chase that puts the nerves on alert!

 

Related posts:

Anthony Mann: El Cid (1961) - Charlton Heston unites Spain in Mann's glorious epic 

Cimarron (1960) - A fine epic western settler adaptation 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 5-5.6 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 1.65 mil. $ (North-American rentals; according to Variety, 1967)

= Uncertain

[The Heroes of Telemark premiered 23 November (London) and runs 130 minutes. Shooting took place from November 1964 - ? in England and Norway, including in Oslo. The North-American rental gross listed above says little about the actual box office gross. The film was among the 15th highest-grossing of the year in the UK. William Darby's Anthony Mann biography records that the film made "modest box office business". Mann returned with A Dandy in Aspic (1968). Douglas returned in The Lucy Show (1966, TV-series) and theatrically in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966); Richard Harris (Ravagers (1979)) in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966). 7.1k+ IMDb users have given The Heroes of Telemark a 6.5/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of The Heroes of Telemark? 

Gamera the Invincible/Daikaijû Gamera/Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965) - The birth of the child-friendly turtle kaiju

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A sensationalistic, nothing short of fabulous poster for Sandy Howard and Noriaki Yuasa's Gamera, the Giant Monster

Before the film's title sequence a Russian jet plane gets shot down and explodes in Alaska with an atomic bomb, which goes off, and an enormous fire-spouting turtle, who can fly like a UFO, gets created.

Gamera, the Giant Monster is written by Richard Kraft (American scenes) and Niisan Takahashi (Kemeko no uta (1968)) and directed by Sandy Howard (Diary of a Bachelor (1964)) (American scenes) and Noriaki Yuasa (Shiawasa nara te o tatake (1964)).
What follows after the events detailed above is what feels like quite a long movie, though the film is shorter than 90 minutes. The effects impress, as when Gamera the flying turtle knocks over nuclear reactors. But there is also a ridiculous sub-plot about a boy, who really cares for the giant monster.
SPOILER In the end Gamera gets locked inside a giant capsule and sent to Mars, meanwhile the Gamera song, (it's pretty bad yeah), gets played again, and the screen excitedly proclaims as from the mouths of its expectedly enthused audiences; Sayonara Gamera!

Related post:

Gamera franchise: Destroy All Planets/Gamera vs. Viras/Gamera Vs. Space Monster Viras/ガメラ対宇宙怪獣バイラス (Gamera tai uchū Kaijū Bairasu) (1968) - Unmitigated kaiju trash

Watch a great chronological collection of Gamera trailers that runs 20 minutes here

Cost: 40 mil. ¥
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain - but reportedly a big hit in Japan
[Gamera, the Giant Monster was released 27 November (Japan) and runs around 78-86 minutes (different versions). Made as a more child-friendly rival to Toho's popular Godzilla (1954), the film was first intended to feature live rats attacking a miniature city. But the rats gotten for the film turned out to have fleas and were removed, the story was rewritten and resultingly the Gamera monster was created. The cost is under half of the one for Godzilla (100 mil. ¥). The film was reportedly a big hit in Japan, where production of a sequel was instantly begun with an elevated budget on par with Godzilla's. An Americanized version with some new scenes, dubbed dialog and a new theme song was created and released in December 1966. It is the only Gamera film to get a North-American release, and its gross numbers are regrettably unknown. Gamera returned in Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) and 10 later sequels. Howard returned with King of Africa/Caccia ai Violenti (1968); Yuasa with Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967). 2,533 IMDb users have given Gamera: The Giant Monster (the Japanese version of the film) an average 5.0/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Gamera the Invincible?

For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer

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A familiar figure in a poncho returns on this striking painted poster for Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More

Manco is a hard-nosed bounty hunter in the wild West, but in his hunt for the evil bank robber Niño, he runs into the vengeful colonel Mortimer, and the two partner up in what becomes an extremely dangerous duplicity.

For a Few Dollars More is written by Italian master co-writer-director Sergio Leone (The Colossus of Rhodes/Il Colosso di Rodi (1961)), Luciano Vincenzoni (Beyond Justice (1992)), Sergio Donati (Almost Blue (2000)), Enzo Dell'Aquila (The Brute and the Beast/Le Colt Cantarono la Morte e Fu... Tempo di Massacro (1966)), Fernando Di Leo (Loaded Guns/Colpo in Canna (1975)) and Fulvio Morsella (My Name Is Nobody/Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (1973)). It is the middle film in Leone's Dollars Trilogy, which starts with Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) and ends with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (1966). There seems to be a trend among online film critics to praise this film over the others now, because it is the least commonly hailed among the three, but I still feel that For a Few Dollars More is the weakest among Leone's western films, which include two subsequent films: The masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968) and the great political epic Duck, You Sucker/A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa (1971).
This in no way makes For a Few Dollars More a poor film, however; it is extremely entertaining, but also feels a little like a playground for the champion filmmaker to develop and reuse effects, devices and techniques, which not until his following two films would place him as an incontestable western maestro.
The film is well acted: Clint Eastwood (Honkytonk Man (1982)) is great as the dogged gunslinger Manco; Lee Van Cleef (How the West Was Won (1962)) is good as the colonel, and Klaus Kinski (Paganini (1989)) is fun in a wild supporting role. But it is Ennio Morricone's (Sabato, Domenica e Lunedì (2012), TV movie) original and innovative music that to me is the greatest part of For a Few Dollars More.

Related posts:

Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa, Coglione!/Duck, You Sucker (1971) - Sergio Leone's cinematic cornucopia 
A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho

Listen to Morricone's unequaled theme for the film here

Cost: 0.6 mil. $
Box office: 15 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[For a Few Dollars More premiered 18 December (Italy) and runs 132 minutes. As Fistful of Dollars was released to immediate success in Italy, a sequel came up fast. But locking Eastwood for it was challenged, as the film was not yet released in the US. The producers rushed an Italian print to him, and screening it along with some friends, Eastwood was impressed by the film and signed up for the sequel upon realizing Leone's talent. The first script was reportedly written by Vincenzoni in 9 days. Charles Bronson was approached for a role but passed, as he had done with the previous film as well. Eastwood was paid 50k $ and Van Cleef 17k $. Shooting took place in Spain and in the Cinecittà studios in Rome, Italy. The film became an even greater success than Fistful of Dollars in Italy, where it by 1967 had become the highest-grossing film in the country ever. It did not get a North-American release until May '67, 4 months after Fistful of Dollars, and was a big hit, grossing 5 mil. $ (33.33 % of the total listed gross) there. The film was also successful in France; there it was the 7th highest-grossing film of 1966. It has since been re-released countless times. Leone returned with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which was also Eastwood's next movie. For a Few Dollars More is fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of For a Few Dollars More?

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) - Meyer's thrill-tastic outlaw masterpiece

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A racy, sensationalistic, screamingly naughty poster for Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Three go-go dancers race-drive in the desert, where they meet a young couple. The leader of the dancers, Varla murders the guy and kidnaps the girl. The group wind up at the home of some maniacs with money, and a true blood bath unfolds!

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is written by Jackie Moran (Wild Gals of the Naked West (1962)), with Californian master co-writer-director Russ Meyer (The Seven Minutes (1971)) contributing story elements. It was Meyer's 9th theatrical fiction feature.
This movie simply exceeds the usual bar of awesomeness by miles. It has to be experienced, and even then its wild, renegade thrills are stupefying.
The scruffy, dirty jazz and rock that fills out the film's soundscape fits perfectly with the insane, overstrung dialog and characters. Tura Satana (Irma la Douce (1963)) is mean and badass as Varla, and Meyer and Charles G. Schelling (The Black Cat (1966)) has cut the film to perfection.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is the epitome of a cult film and a subversive treat that continues to spread its wicked fun.

Related post:

Russ Meyer: Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979) - Late-late night sex-silliness from Russ Meyer

Watch Meyer speak shortly about his career in an interview here

Cost: 45k $
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain - but appears to have been an initial-flop-later-hit
[Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! was released 6 August (USA) and runs 83 minutes. The title was changed from The Leather Girls to The Mankillers to its final title, which sound editor Richard S. Brummer came up with. Meyer has stated that it signifies a film that has everything: Speed (faster), sex (pussycat) and violence (kill! kill!). The film was shot on B/W due to its low budget. Susan Bernard was just 16 at the time, couldn't drive and was afraid of Satana. Her mother was present during shooting, which took place in California. The fights include real hair-pulling and throwing sand in the face. The film was released on a double bill with Mudhoney (1965), also directed by Meyer, in North America, and the only other listed market is West Germany in 1967, prior to re-releases, beginning in the 90s. Reports on its performance differ; it seemed to have flopped initially, but become profitable over time, as it has become a cult item. It made 36k $ in its 1995 US re-release. Satana returned as an uncredited stripper in Our Man Flint (1966). Meyer returned with Motorpsycho! (1965). Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is fresh at 74 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!?