‘Squirm’: Among the best of 1970s drive-in schlock classics

SQUIRM (1976) 

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

During the mid-1970s, schlocky exploitation films from American International Pictures and New World Pictures filled second-run theaters and drive-ins every summer across the Deep South and the United States.

Marketed with catchy titles, bizarre concepts and trailers that promised violence, horror and crashing cars, many of these low-budget quickies played to packed theaters and turned an impressive profit.

But once hooked into the theaters, it was more than obvious most of the films were pure trash – films that had no redeeming value and weren’t nearly as interesting as the trailers that advertised them.

Every once in a while, though, one of those low-budget films would click. And when they did – like the 1976 horror, flesh-eating worm thriller “Squirm” – they often turned out to be an undiscovered gem buried in the middle of an otherwise large pile of pure junk.

Italian director Sergio Leone helms big screen’s best Western

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968)
ITALIAN MOVIE POSTER

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

From the brilliant 20-minute showdown at a train station depicted with almost no dialog to the pitch-perfect performances throughout, “Once Upon a Time in the West” is unlike any other Western ever made.

It’s also the greatest, the product of Italian director Sergio Leone – who had just completed the Clint Eastwood Western trilogy of a “Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good the Bad and the Ugly.”

Leone’s films are distinctively different from Westerns made by American film makers.

While Leone had an obvious love for the genre and was heavily influenced by such classics as “3:10 to Yuma,” “High Noon” and “The Searchers,” his films were nevertheless distinctively different.

For starters, they technically were Italian films, Spaghetti Westerns, filmed and financed on location in Europe with a European crew. The Eastwood trilogy was shot in Italian and dubbed in English for American release; Eastwood was one of the few actors to say his lines in English.

Pacino, DePalma team on crime thriller ‘Carlito’s Way’

Editor’s Note: This is the last of three posts on films of Brian DePalma. 

CARLITO’S WAY (1993)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Fresh off his Oscar-winning performance in “Scent of a Woman,” Al Pacino jumped head-first into his second collaboration with director Brian DePalma following the ultra-violent “Scarface” in 1983.

In the process, Pacino wound up starring in yet another of a long line of mob films that have dotted his career that began with “The Godfather” and included that film’s two sequels and “Donnie Brasco.” Ahhh, but “Carlito’s Way” is significantly different.

Like “Scarface”, 1993’s “Carlito’s Way” features an Hispanic hero played by Pacino. But the similarities end there. These are two distinctly different films, both thematically and stylistically.

“Carlito’s Way” eschews the vicious, mean-spirited violence of “Scarface” for a haunting, tragic story of a deeply flawed man.

Brian DePalma’s Vietnam War classic: ‘Casualties of War’

Editor’s Note: This is the second of three posts on films of Brian DePalma.

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

CASUALTIES OF WAR (1989)

Brian DePalma has spent a good bit of his film making career mimicking the work and style of Alfred Hitchcock and occasionally dabbling in comedy and crime films with mixed results.

After experiencing success in 1976 with “Carrie,” DePalma bombed with his next film – the thriller “The Fury.” The same thing happened in 1989 when he bombed with  “Casualties of War,” his first film after the hit thriller “The Untouchables” in 1987.

But while “The Fury” was a stylish horror thriller with plot elements similar to “Carrie” (the main characters in both were telekinetic), “Casualties of War” was drastically different from “The Untouchables.” Here, DePalma jumped head-first into the Vietnam War with powerful results.

The tag line was catchy: “The first casualty of war is innocence.” The cast was impressive: A young Michael J. Fox trying to branch out from comedy and Sean Penn adding to his long list of admirable screen performances.

Overlooked and underrated: Brian DePalma’s ‘Blow Out’

Editor’s Note: This is the first of three posts on films of Brian DePalma. 

By TERRY R.CASSREINO

BLOW OUT (1981

Brian DePalma built his reputation and successful career by directing, and sometimes also writing, suspenseful and memorable character-driven horror thrillers.

He modeled his early work on Alfred Hitchcock. Some critics derided DePalma as nothing more than a Hitchcock hack, directing films that echoed and mimicked the themes and settings of many Hitchcock classics.

“Obsession” (1976), set in New Orleans, was nothing more than a retread of “Vertigo” – replete with a haunting score by Hitchcock regular Bernard Hermann. “Sisters” (1973) and, especially, “Dressed to Kill” (1980) had an awful lot in common with “Psycho.” In fact, “Dressed to Kill” is practically a shot-for-shot remake.

When DePalma tried to re-invent himself, his efforts proved just as troubling. “The Untouchables” (1987) was a slick, uninteresting retread of a popular 1950s television crime drama and “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990) was a flat-out, unmitigated, uninteresting disaster.

First trailer for new Steven Spielberg film ‘War Horse’

“War Horse” the novel

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

It’s been a long two years since Steven Spielberg has graced the big screen with a new film – so, to make up for lost time, he has two in store for the end of the year.

First up is Spielberg’s 3-D motion-capture film, “The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.” The film is based on an obscure, little-known (at least on these shores) comic book hero, Tintin.

I, however, am more interested in “War Horse” – Spielberg’s first live-action film since “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the dreadful 2008 film that attempted to revive the Indiana Jones franchise.

It’s difficult to make consistently great films every time out of the gate. And even though Spielberg has amassed an impressive filmography, he also has released the occasional dud such as “Always” (1989), “Hook” (1991) and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997).

Louis Malle’s forgotten masterpiece: ‘Lacombe, Lucien’

LACOMBE, LUCIEN (1974)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Long before he directed the classic American films “Pretty Baby” and “Atlantic City,” French director Louis Malle was a well established and respected film maker in Europe and his native country.

He made an auspicious debut with the 1958 thriller “Elevator to the Gallows” (available on DVD through the Criterion Collection, click here) and followed it with a string of successful films that included his 1971 coming-of-age drama “Murmur of the Heart” (also available on DVD through the Criterion Collection, click here).

But perhaps Malle’s greatest achievement came in 1974 with “Lacombe, Lucien,” the story of a teenage peasant boy in World War II France who, unwittingly at first, joins the French Gestapo – gaining immediate power and respect from Germans occupying the nation.