Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975) - Edmonds' notorious Nazisploitation sensation

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Promises of sensational sex and violence feature prominently on this no-holds-barred exploitative poster for Don Edmonds' Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS

In SS commandant Ilse's small concentration camp in Nazi-era Germany, women are rotting their lives away or getting trained in pain to be prepared as prostitute slaves for the German soldiers, while the male prisoners are used - and castrated. But a rebellion smoulders ...

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is written by Jonah Royston (The Starlost (1973, TV-series)) and John C.W. Saxton (Blackout (1978)) and directed by Don Edmonds (Wild Honey (1972)).

This sensationalistic and entirely sleazy and tasteless film is elevated by good camera-work (cinematography by Glenn Roland (First Strike (1984))) and a thoroughly sadistic performance by Dyanne Thorne (Hellhole (1985)) as the title character. The story is titillating (for the right audience) and the tension builds slowly despite possible confusion as to who is supposed to be the 'hero' of the tale.

 

 

Watch a clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 100k $

Box office: Unknown, projected 5 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-hit (projected return of 50 times its cost)

[Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS premiered in January (Boston) and runs 96 minutes. The story is loosely inspired by the Buchenwald camp commander's wife Ilse Koch, who was imprisoned following WWII for her crimes. Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California on the left-over set from Hogan's Heroes (1965-71), which the production was allowed to use on the condition that they demolish it after. The film was released to derisive reviews, bans in Australia, Germany and Norway, - and thunderous audience interest. Regrettably the gross numbers are not public information, but they were likely huge: The film sold 186,204 tickets in the small market of Denmark, one of its relatively few markets, coming to approximately 400k $. It may well have grossed more than 5 mil. $. It inspired three sequels, all with Thorne, and none that logically made sense in relation to each other, the first one being Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976), which was Edmonds' return. Thorne first returned in The Swinging Barmaids (1975). Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is rotten at 36 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS?

Hard Times/The Streetfighter (1975) - Hill debuts with Bronson gold, a boxing favorite

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An imagination-fueling poster for Walter Hill's Hard Times that effectively sets us in a specific place and time

A fortune-hunting boxing promoter finds his new bare-knuckle sensation in an unimpressed man, who can punch so that even the heaviest adversaries see stars. But the promoter will have to borrow a big amount to get his new fighter going.

 

Hard Times is written by Bryan Gindoff (The Candy Snatchers (1973)), Bruce Henstell (The Candy Snatchers, assistant director) and debuting co-writer/director, Californian master filmmaker Walter Hill (48 Hrs. (1982)).

An enormously simple story gets presented in the most beautiful way in Hill's period boxing drama; handsome sets, beautiful image compositions (cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop (Class Reunion (1982))) and an iconic performance by Charles Bronson (Murphy's Law (1986)). Some of the nuances here lie in the fact that one senses the inherent degradation in having to fight until blood spurts in order to survive; SPOILER along with the ending's implicit point about protecting and helping those you have fought along with, even if you don't care much for them.

James Coburn (Intrepid (2000)) is strong as the promoter, a man caught between a rock and a hard place. The scene in which Bronson sets things right in Louisiana is fantastic. The film's final fight, (despite the fact that the camera doesn't linger much on the impact of the punches), is the fight of the decade. 

Hard Times is a phenomenal, inconspicuous song of a hero, a gift for men - and probably Bronson's best starring picture.

 

Related posts:

 

Walter Hill: Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail! (co-writer)

Another 48 Hrs. (1990) - More of the same from your buddies Hill, Murphy & Nolte 

48 Hrs. (1982) or, Reluctant Partners

The Getaway (1972) - McQueen/Peckinpah hit the bank with unrefined thriller (writer)

 

 

Watch 3 minutes of the film's beginning here

 

Cost: 2.7 - 3.1 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: Reportedly 26.5 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 8.54-9.81 times its cost)

[Hard Times was released 13 August (France) and runs 93 minutes. AIP producer Lawrence Gordon gave Hill the chance to direct after he had been successful with a number of action screenplays. Bronson was paid "almost 1 mil. $" for his performance. Shooting took place around September 1974 in Texas, Arizona, Los Angeles, California, and in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film's box office numbers are not easy to dig up; the-numbers.com allege that it made 5 mil. $ in North America, relatively little compared to the 26.5 mil. $ total gross listed elsewhere, and the fact that Hill in 2009 said that he still received profits from the film. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Hill returned with The Driver (1978). Bronson returned in Breakheart Pass (1975); Coburn in Skyriders (1976). Hard Times is fresh at 92 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hard Times? 

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?

The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud

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Clint Eastwood looks fierce in spiked climber's shoes on this painted poster for his own The Eiger Sanction

Our hero is an art professor, who has retired from a former career as hitman. But he is now brought back into the service due to a combination of a killing of an ex-colleague and our man's own unique mountain climbing skills.

The Eiger Sanction begins fairly well with master filmmaker director-star Clint Eastwood (The First Traveling Saleslady (1956)) in his familiar corner as a character who is, in short, a superior, womanizing lone wolf. Here he reports, - and negotiates with tremendous luck, - with his blind albino boss in near-darkness.
Quite some time passes before we get to the titular Eiger Sanction, a mission name for Eastwood's hit job on the Swiss mountain the Eiger. Then a while passes with the training and mountain climbing in general, which I found very light on suspense. The Eiger Sanction almost develops into a buddy movie at this point with Eastwood and George Kennedy (Hangfire (1991)).
The Eiger Sanction is written by Hal Dresner (Husbands and Wives (1977), TV movie), Warren Murphy (Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), story) and Rod 'Trevanian' Whitaker (Hot Night in the City (2004), short story), based on Whitaker's same-titled 1972 novel. The film features great aerial photography but is deeply unexciting, very unhip and nearly sexist. It also remains a mystery to me why the plot's central hit absolutely has to happen on the Eiger, but maybe that's just me.... (?)

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story  
The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (actor)
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (actor) 

Listen to a piece of John Williams' elegant score for the film while seeing pictures from the production in this video

Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 14.2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty (but likely a minor flop)
[The Eiger Sanction was released 21 May (USA) and runs 129 minutes. Trevanian's novel, his first published, was a James Bond spoof, which was turned more serious in the script. Eastwood wasn't interested in spy films but took the opportunity to end his three-movie deal with Universal, who he wasn't happy with, and also to get to shoot far away from the studio while challenging his own mountain climbing skills. Shooting took place in Utah, Arizona, California and Switzerland, including on and around the actual Eiger mountain, from August - September 1974. A 26 year-old climber who worked on the production was killed on the Eiger as part of an accident that also left another crew member injured, and it was considered to cancel the production. Reportedly led on by other climbers, Eastwood decided to go on, and the dangerous shoot, in which he did his own stunts, went on. Eastwood invited cast and crew for a wrap party at his own California restaurant, the Hog Breath's Inn. Roger Ebert awarded the film 3/4 stars, translating to two notches higher than this review. The international box office figures are not publicized, but if we assume that the film did modest business and ended up with a 20-22 mil. $ gross, the film counts as a flop or a minor flop. The Eiger Sanction is fresh at 69 % with a 6.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Eiger Sanction?

The Devil's Rain (1975) or, The Meltdown!

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It's not saying too much to remark that this incredibly colorful poster for Robert Fuest's The Devil's Rain promises more than the movie delivers

QUICK REVIEW:

A family's patriarch vanishes, and their son goes looking for him. This is somehow connected to a satanical church out in the desolate countryside, whose leader Corbis has lost a highly important book.

The Devil's Rain presents a hardly understandable story, which bounces out by having members of the satanic church melt to death at several occasions. SPOILER The title refers to the rain which melts them all, when their spooky soul-goblet gets smashed in the end.
The film is well photographed, by Álex Phillips Jr. (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)), and it has some scary sounds made as the purgatory lamentations of souls.
But its narrative drives in a kind of neutral gear for too long, and elements like Ernest Borgnine (The Wild Bunch (1969)) playing a goat make the experience more involuntarily funny than frightening. Another such grotesque element is that William Shatner (Big Bad Mama (1974)) has no eyes for most of the film... One hardly notices that John Travolta (Domestic Disturbance (2001)) makes his completely unimpressive debut here as one of the 'melters' - These and other things about Devil's Rain have nonetheless over time given it a notoriety to some as a film so strange it simply has to be seen.
The Devil's Rain is written by Gerald Hopman (Evilspeak (1981), associate producer), Gabe Essoe (The Adventures of Black Feather (1995)) and James Ashton, (whose only credit it is), and directed by Robert Fuest (The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)). Fuest, who had directed 6 features before this, went down with the ridiculed flop the film became and subsequently worked only on TV, except for the erotica Aphrodite (1982).

Watch a trailer for the film from a Danish video here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The Devil's Rain was released June 20 and runs 86 minutes. The shoot was reportedly shortened from 8 to 6 weeks during production. Real-life satanist Anton LaVey was used as an adviser on the film and has a minor part in it. Borgnine reportedly swore never to be in another film with a satanic topic due to strange accidents during production. The film was panned upon release: Roger Ebert gave it just 1½ stars out of 4, which translates to a note harsher than this review. Australian critic Michael Adams has called The Devil's Rain 'the ultimate cult film', [because]: "It's about a cult, has a cult following, was devised with input from a cult leader, and saw a future superstar indoctrinated into a cult he'd help popularize." (Referring, of course, to Travolta, who is a prominent Scientology member.) The Devil's Rain is rotten at 20 % with a 3.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Devil's Rain?

Death Race 2000 (1975) - AIP's dystopic car smash

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The totally awesome poster for Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000

QUICK REVIEW:

In the year 2000, the US has become a semi-Nazi police state, where the greatest sports heroes are called Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe, who compete at who can kill the most people in the Death Race.

Death Race 2000 is written by Robert Thoms (Crazy Mama (1975)) and Charles B. Griffiths (The Wild Angels (1966)), who wrote the finished shooting script. It is based on the short story The Racer by the recently passed Ib Melchior (The Angry Red Planet (1959)). It boasts an original idea for a car sci-fi action movie, which is well-executed here by director Paul Bartel (Carquake (1976)).
Producer Roger Corman (The Terror Within (1989)) is in his element behind this kind of film, and David Carradine (Kung Fu (1972)) is perfect in the role as the killing machine Frankenstein, while his soon-to-be superstar co-actor Sylvester Stallone (Stop! Or Mom Will Shoot (1992)) mostly just yells ugly things.
The effects are fun, and the film is morally indefensible as entertainment for its core audience, young people, which is the case for most of the edgy 70s exploitation flicks. Death Race 2000 rocks!

Cost: 0.3-0.53 mil. $
Box office: 5-8 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The shoot had been plagued by script problems, bad weather, a stressed-out star (Carradine) and big time restraints due to the low budget. Death Race 2000 became one of Corman's American International Pictures' biggest successes.  They made a comic book series based on it in the 90s, and it was remade in 2008, (a much inferior film.) Carradine was paid 10 % of the gross, which AIP only did with him and Ron Howard. Roger Ebert changed his opinion about the film, from his original zero-star review, to later calling it part of "a great tradition of summer drive-in movies". The film is fresh at 85 % on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Death Race 2000?

Barry Lyndon (1975) - Kubrick's elegant 19th century costume whopper

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The simple, elegant poster for Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon is an adaption of a 1844 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray titled The Luck of Barry Lyndon. It is the second of American master director Stanley Kubrick's (Spartacus (1960)) two 1970's movies, the previous one being A Clockwork Orange (1971). He would make only three more films in his career after Lyndon: The Shining (1980), his greatest film of them all, and the great Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
Barry Lyndon is a young Irishman in the early 19th century, who falls in love and jumps head-strong into trouble, as the object of his affection is to marry an English captain. This begins the tale of his life's adventure, which leads him around Europe as an opportunistic charmer, until he, somewhat disillusioned, marries a beautiful and wealthy countess, whom he doesn't love, and starts to squander his life thus.
This grand period drama, arranged in two parts with an intermission in between, captivates with its smart writing, incredibly beautiful images and Ryan O'Neal (What's Up, Doc? (1972)) in the title lead as the sympathetic, emotional Lyndon, whom most of us will like at times and dislike at others, but always want to follow due to O'Neal's sincere performance. Lyndon is a man who, for most of the story, seems to just follow his luck and do what seems to be the best thing for himself at any given moment. (Which is something most will probably be able to feel empathic about.)
Backing him up are some wonderful performers: Marisa Berenson (Death in Venice (1971)) is perfect as his unfulfilled, melancholic wife the countess, and Murray Melvin (A Taste of Honey (1961)) is equally audacious as Reverend Samuel Runt. Their facial qualities are heightened to great effect by exquisite make-up, hair, wigs, and costumes of supreme level, and it is no wonder that the film won an Oscar for Best Costumes (besides for Best Music, Cinematography and Art-Direction/Set-Decoration.)

Murray Melvin in the middle and Marisa Berenson to the right in this still of one of the solely candle-lit scenes in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

Ryan O'Neal and Marisa Berenson, majestically attired in another still with much more light and therefore details from Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

The details:

Michael Hordern (Labyrinth (1986)) lends his pleasant, great voice to the film as its narrator, who is sometimes declared unreliable, (by film critics or scholars.) He certainly sets a knowing, darkly humorous, and later a little sad tone for the epic.
Barry Lyndon is remarkable also for its impressive ambition to be shot without electrical lights, which seemed to have been mostly kept during its production, where some scenes are only lid by candlelights, which drastically diminishes the quality of the images a camera can shoot. The challenging idea is carried out masterfully by Oscar-winning cinematographer John Alcott (The Shining (1980)).
Barry Lyndon has stunning, picturesque images, an accomplishment which relies on a mix of careful production, composition and visual inspiration. The film also delights with Kubrick's choice of great classical masterworks by composers like Handel, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Paisiello, Vivaldi as well as Irish folk songs. All this music isn't crammed into the picture, because there's time:
At 184 minutes, Barry Lyndon is a long film, and it's 3rd act also is a bit longer than it ought to be in my opinion. 
Still, duels, tableaus, incredible horse-shots and all, Barry Lyndon is a tremendously fine experience, well-acted, realistic as a period depiction, and with heavy literary and picturesque qualities.

Related reviews:

Stanley Kubrick: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairytale with both heart and mind (concept only)
The Shining (1980) - Kubrick's descent into madness is a timeless masterpiece
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
A Clockwork Orange (1971) or, Outrage! The intellectual sci-fi-prison-crime-drama Shocker!
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or, Humanity and Space 

England goes to war! In Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

 Watch the braggadocio trailer here

Cost: Est. 11 mil. $
Box office: Reported 20.1 mil. $
= Big flop

What do you think of Barry Lyndon?
What is Kubrick's greatest film in your opinion?