They Call Him the Working Man

The essence of Rambo meeting the good-hearted 'save the community' nature of Billy Jack set within the arena of B movie western style silliness can be found in 1985's Savage Dawn, a little seen wild experience from director Simon Nuchtern. As the hot desert sun roasts the sandy arid landscape of back roads Texas, one motorcycle driving man, aptly named Stryker (Lance Henriksen, never looking more threatening - if that's possible), a speak softly and carry a big stick Vietnam vet drifter with no home, makes his way to the closest thing to it. . . the dying town of Aqua Dulce (an ironic name, as there is no water left in the community). Water once helped the gold mine locale thrive, but now it, and its people, are struggling to survive. It is here that he finds his only true friend, wheelchair bound Tick Rand (George Kennedy) - another former vet with a MacGyver-like ability to fashion deadly weapons out of anything at hand. He also gets reacquainted with Tick's two children, Danny (Michael Sharrett) and Katie (Claudia Udy) - who clearly has a thing for the strong silent type.

Do you know what you get when you cross Tina Louise and Adam West? For anyone who said Ginger Batman, you would be completely wrong. You’ve actually somehow found your way to the 1984, below B exploitation action movie Hell Riders, directed by James Bryan. An entertainingly bad western-style action movie missing any of the class of a Billy Jack (and a film like that didn’t have a ton of class), the narrative follows traveller Claire Delaney (Tina Louise), a woman who is having a rather difficult time with her clunker of an automobile.

When you see the names Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, you almost inevitably know that you are in for a James Bond film. The two longtime producers of the franchise (and children of original mastermind Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli), have been working on these projects since the Timothy Dalton era. With closure now coming to the Daniel Craig era – his final Bond feature, No Time to Die, is slated for a November release, and talk has turned to who will be next to play the super spy. Ranging from Tom Hardy and Tom Hiddleston, to excited chants for Idris Elba to become the first black Bond, there have even been some people saying that it is the right time for the first female Bond. Dividing fans, purists (like myself) are not overly fond of the idea, while some ‘perhaps’ more modern leaning viewers love the idea.

It is likely that, if you were able to transplant The Losers release date from 2010 to 2020, the film would be a major hit (sadly, in 2010 it was not). A comic book movie that perfectly combines high octane action with liberal doses of comedy, it starred Jeffrey Dean Morgan (a superb character actor both before and after this film – including memorable stints on television series like Supernatural and The Walking Dead, as well as films like Watchmen and Rampage), Chris Evans (just one year before he really took off with his role as Captain America), Idris Elba (just as he was exploding on the scene with his excellent BBC series Luther – he would also make his Marvel debut the next year as Heimdall in the Thor films), and Zoe Saldana (a year after her breakthrough role in Avatar, she has exploded into superstardom by playing Uhura in the Star Trek franchise and Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel movies), it would be damn near impossible to unite a cast like this again without a hundred million dollar plus budget (for your information, this film had a twenty-five million dollar budget). Following a CIA special forces unit, their leader is Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Clay (Morgan) – a man who looks like a 60s sex symbol (bespoke suit, no tie, three buttons undone, chest hair flowing); his best friend, explosives expert Captain William Rogue (Elba) – who is an aptly named moody wildcard; intelligence expert and computer whiz Captain Jake Jensen (Evans) – a constant kidder who thinks he is cooler than he actually is; their eyes and ears, Sergeant Linwood “Pooch” Porteous (Columbus Short); and sniper Sergeant Carlos “Cougar” Alvarez (Óscar Jaenada) – the strong and silent type.

A remake, especially of a classic (or cult classic) is tricky. You’ll have a tough time winning over the purists – too similar and it is considered a cheap rehash. . . too different and it is looked upon as not paying proper tribute to the original, meaning that you’ve really got a lose/lose situation (in regards to your core audience). One remake that deserves a second look is the 2005 Jean-François Richet (Mesrine Part 1 & 2; Blood Father) action crime film Assault on Precinct 13. Based upon the John Carpenter film of the same name (the filmmaker carrying with him a group of diehard fans that are hard to please), James DeMonaco (the scribe of The Purge franchise) takes over the gargantuan task of modernizing this iconic cult classic. Rooted in a very similar situation (but changing enough to make it feel quite fresh), as in its predecessor, the Precinct is closing in one short day – in this case, on January 1st.

Let me start by saying that every James Bond film, be it ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (for lack of a better term), is special. Since 1962's Dr. No, Ian Fleming’s famed spy has lit up the silver screen, not only awing and entertaining (for even the most frustrating of Bond films still have those wow moments of action, or those most entertaining one liners), but also holding a magnifying glass up to the then present day – analysing current issues (such as The Cold War, The Space Race, North Korea. . . the list goes on and on). . . understanding when to be more jokey or serious, it is a measuring stick of an historical document that speaks to what was on people’s minds in that specific year. Now, you might be wondering – why oh why review Roger Spottiswoode’s 1998 film Tomorrow Never Dies – for it is arguably one of the less magical efforts in the franchise. Being a fan of all things Bond, I recently read the film’s novelization, written by Raymond Benson (who wrote three novelizations during the Pierce Brosnan era, as well as six original novels, and three short stories). . . and was quite impressed by how entertaining it was (which didn’t exactly compute with my memories of the film).