Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Director: John Carpenter
Writers: Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein, adapted by W. D. Richter
Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong and Victor Wong

Index: Make It a Double.

James Hong’s Double took me from a movie I’ve reviewed before to a movie I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed before. Nowadays, my go to films from John Carpenter have changed from Halloween and Escape from New York to They Live and Big Trouble in Little China, two movies that I enjoy more and more with every viewing.

This was Carpenter’s Hollywood flop, which cost $20m or so to produce but only took half that at the box office. There are probably a lot of reasons for that but one is that the audience really didn’t understand what it was in 1986.

What they probably expected was an action movie full of Chinese weirdness but without a real understanding of what Chinese weirdness actually looks like. It would happen in the U.S. and Kurt Russell would be the action hero who would take care of it all.

The Gold Rush (1925)

Director: Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain and Georgia Hale

Index: That's a Wrap!

I was rather surprised to find that I haven’t reviewed The Gold Rush before, given that it’s the indirect reason why I wrote Charlie Chaplin Centennial: Keystone, a book about his first year in film, 1914. The trigger was a friend of mine attending a college film class, because he was the only person in the room who looked at the cover of the textbook and recognised Chaplin as the Little Tramp in The Gold Rush.

The point, of course, was that a century ago, the Little Tramp’s famous silhouette was the most recognised image in the entire world. To go from that to the comment of “Who’s that dude on the cover?” in a college film class is a scary descent in cultural awareness.

She-Wolf of London (1946)

Director: Jean Yarbrough
Writers: George Bricker, based on an original story by Dwight V. Babcock
Stars: Don Porter, June Lockhart, Sara Haden, Jan Wiley and Lloyd Corrigan

Index: 2025 Centennials.

It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally I’m able to wish someone a happy one hundredth birthday while I remember their life and work through a centennial review.

June Lockhart didn’t have a huge career in the movies, being better known on television, but she started early and kept on going, so the span from her first to last movie is over eighty years and counting, from an uncredited role in A Christmas Carol in 1938 to a voice role in 2019 in Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm.

Given that her father, the Academy Award-nominated actor Gene Lockhart, kicked off his professional career on stage in 1897 at the age of six, their shared output stretches into three different centuries. Her daughter Anne, who’s a prolific voice actor, landed her first credit in 1958 and is also still working, with almost one hundred episodes of Chicago Fire to her name.

Blade Runner (1982)

Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel and Joanna Cassidy

Index: Make It a Double.

I love it when people choose their Doubles, especially when they introduce me to new and joyous films I don’t know. James Hong had lots of opportunity to do that, as his four hundred and fifty credits go back to Dragonfly Squadron in 1953, and they’re wildly varied.

In 1974, for instance, he went from Dynamite Brothers, an Al Adamson feature, to Chinatown, then made a couple of TV movies, playing U.N. Secretary General U Thant first in The Missiles of October then a major role in Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders, a mystery set in China back in the 7th century, shot with an all Asian cast. And they’re just part of one year in a career that’s spanned seven decades and counting!

Instead, he chose the safest double thus far, picking a couple of very well known films that I’ve seen many times. I’ve even reviewed Blade Runner before, but I will happily dive in again. It’s no hardship to watch these two and I can focus more on Hong’s contributions.

The Assassin (1988)

Director: Jon Hess
Writers: Anthony Peckham and Stephen Katz, based on a story by Beth Glazer and Anthony Peckham
Stars: Steve Railsback, Nicholas Guest, Xander Berkeley, Sam Melville, Pamela Seamone, Jorge Luke, Jorge Reynoso and Elpidia Carrillo

Index: Make It a Double.

While The Stunt Man was always going to be Steve Railsback’s first choice for his Double, he had plenty of alternatives for a second, with a set of strong roles in titles like Lifeforce, Turkey Shoot and the TV mini series Helter Skelter, as a well received Charlie Manson, even something outrageous like Alligator II: The Mutation.

Instead, he went for this thriller, a movie so obscure that it isn’t even available on DVD—I had to watch a rip of a laserdisc copy—and the only critic’s review at IMDb is from my friend Jim McLennan at Film Blitz, who looked at it so long ago that we can’t trust its 2003 date.

Jim rated it a D, suggesting it’s “just another forgettable action flick” and, in most regards, he isn’t wrong, because the action isn’t strong, the characters are clichéd and the mystery is transparent—the bad guy isn’t just who we’re expecting it to be but also who we’re hoping it will be because we dislike him from the start. There’s a big explosion that’s wildly gratuitous and the music, which I really dug, makes it feel like a Beverly Hills Cop knockoff, which it isn’t.

She (1925)

Director: Leander de Cordova
Writer: H. Rider Haggard
Stars: Betty Blythe, Carlyle Blackwell and Mary Odette

Index: That's a Wrap!

Oh, dear. Much of the point of this project is to highlight just how good and/or interesting feature films made a hundred years ago were. Sure, we’ve made technological strides in the decades since 1925, but silent movies were not just melodrama and wild gesticulation.

Well, except this one. This seventh take and first feature adaptation on H. Rider Haggard’s classic adventure novel She—it was first filmed in 1899 by Georges Méliès as a one minute long trick short—is absolutely melodrama and wild gesticulation.

What’s really frustrating is that it isn’t a lot else! It may be the first huge disappointment that this project has turned up thus far, which is a shame because I’m a fan of Haggard and his novel She, which deepened the lost world genre that he had so memorably pioneered in King Solomon’s Mines.

The Stunt Man (1980)

Director: Richard Rush
Writer: Lawrence B. Marcus, adapted by Richard Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur
Stars: Peter O’Toole, Steve Railsback and Barbara Hershey

Index: Make It a Double.

Now that I’ve seen The Stunt Man, it’s hard to imagine Steve Railsback could have any other picture in his career more appropriate as his first choice for this project. Cameron is a gift of a part for a young actor, the traditional lead character manipulated by the non-traditional lead character, both in this film, The Stunt Man, and in a film within the film, an unnamed war movie set during World War I.

Railsback also goes through what seems like every emotion known to an actor with maybe a few new ones for good measure, and in doing so, holds his own against Peter O’Toole in an iconic award-worthy performance—the latter was Oscar-nominated alongside John Hurt for The Elephant Man and Robert de Niro for Raging Bull. Talk about a tough year!

As we start, Cameron is nervous. There are too many cops in the café with him and, sure enough, one slaps his handcuffs on him, so he runs. He’s not the titular stunt man yet, but what he does would count as an impressive demo reel. On a bridge, he thumbs a ride in a vintage Duesenberg with an imperial German eagle on the side, only for the driver to kick him out of the car then try to run him down, ending in the river. That’s when he realises he has been filmed from a helicopter all along.

Compound Fracture (2014)

Director: Anthony J. Rickert-Epstein
Writers: Renae Geerlings and Tyler Mane
Stars: Tyler Mane, Muse Watson, Derek Mears, Leslie Easterbrook, Renae Geerlings, Daniel Roebuck, Todd Farmer, Jelly Howie, Susan Angelo and Alex Saxon

Index: Make It a Double.

This horror movie may open in slow motion and black and white but it quickly finds colour and regular speed and all artsy pretentions are ditched. It’s a confined movie, though, almost all of it unfolding within the compound that Gary Wolffsen calls home, so claustrophobia is a key focus, especially given so many cameras monitoring the place, inside and out.

It turns into a good opportunity for Derek Mears, who plays a particularly nasty monster of a villain, and Tyler Mane, another big scary dude, best known for playing Michael Myers in the Rob Zombie Halloween movies, as well as Sabretooth in X-Men. That’s surely one reason why both chose it for their Doubles—yes, I will be covering it again in Make It a Double Vol. 4—but it’s a Mane Entertainment film too, so it’s also Mane’s film as producer and co-writer; he wrote it with his wife, Renae Geerlings, who’s also his screen fiancée in the film.

Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925)

Director: Donald Crisp
Writer: Jack Cunningham, based on the novel Don Q’s Love Story by K. & Hesketh Prichard
Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Astor, Jack McDonald and Donald Crisp

Index: That's a Wrap!

It’s a long while since I’ve seen the original The Mark of Zorro, a Douglas Fairbanks vehicle based on the first appearance of Zorro, a short story called The Curse of Capistrano, published a single year earlier. Zorro came quickly to film.

However, this is only a sequel in name, as it was based on a Don Q novel instead, a Spanish character called Don Quebranta Huesos, who first appeared in 1904, so predated Zorro. Don Q’s Love Story was the first Don Q novel after a couple of short story collections, all written by a mother and son writing team.

Here, due to Hollywood story manipulation, Don Quebranta Huesos becomes Don Cesar de Vega, son of Don Diego de Vega, now formally outed as Zorro. He’s a Californian of Spanish blood, though almost the entire story unfolds in Spain, with young Don Cesar visiting “for a period of travel and study”, as per a tradition for eldest de Vega sons.

The Aggression Scale (2012)

Director: Steven C. Miller
Writer: Ben Powell
Stars: Fabianne Therese, Ryan Hartwig, Dana Ashbrook, Derek Mears, Jacob Reynolds, Joseph McKelheer, Boyd Kestner, Lisa Rotondi and Ray Wise

Index: Make It a Double.

I met Derek Mears, like many of the people who kindly chose Doubles for me, at a horror convention and that’s where you might expect to find someone who’s 6’ 5” and missing all the hair on his body. Needless to say, he plays a lot of screen monsters, including Jason Voorhees in the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th.

However, Derek, like many of those people, didn’t choose two horror films for his double, as his first choice is an unusual action thriller.

It grabbed my attention quickly, lost it again and then, as I wondered if it was going to get it back, did so with style, turning this into a film I wasn’t expecting to see.

Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Writers: Tim Metcalfe, Miguel Tejada-Flores and Tommy Lee Wallace
Stars: Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Traci Lin and Julie Carmen

Index: Make It a Double.

It’s easy to see why Stephen Geoffreys chose the first Fright Night over the second; he’s not in this one. He was asked back but he didn’t particularly like the script, so chose to do 976-EVIL instead.

It’s easy to see why William Ragsdale chose the second Fright Night over the first; he has a much better part, one that allows him to really get his teeth into the role, if you’ll pardon the unintended vampire pun.

He’s still Charley Brewster, of course, but he carries the film this time. He was the lead last time out, even though Chris Sarandon got top billing, but he was a pretty routine high school kid unworthy of much attention, if you ignore the whole vampire next door thing. Geoffreys and Roddy McDowall were both far more fun to watch. Here, McDowall has the top billing, and he’s as great as always, but I was primarily watching Ragsdale this time.

The Reaping (2007)

Director: Stephen Hopkins
Writer: Carey W. and Chad Hayes, based on a story by Brian Rousso
Stars: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb and Stephen Rea

Index: Make It a Double.

William Ragsdale was also in Fright Night—in fact he was its lead actor—and he did choose its sequel for his Double, but he chose this first and I wonder why.

For a start, he doesn’t have a huge role in it, playing the sheriff in the small town of Haven, which is proving anything but, given that it’s experiencing a rerun of the twelve plagues of Egypt visited by God on the Egyptians for their persecution of the Jews.

For another, it’s not a well received movie, with a pitiful 7% rating on the tomatometer, a single point above The Hottie and the Nottie and under half the remake of The Wicker Man. It’s a low enough score to worry going in.

However, while it’s certainly not without its flaws, I think it’s been given a bum rap. It’s set up well with an interesting lead character and the imagery is impressive, not just the visuals but the impact behind them. And AnnaSophia Robb, Violet Beauregarde two years earlier in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is a revelation.

Fright Night (1985)

Director: Tom Holland
Writer: Tom Holland
Stars: Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys and Roddy McDowall

Index: Make It a Double.

After Heaven Help Us, Stephen Geoffreys was given the lead part in Fraternity Vacation, then found the role for which he’s most known, Evil Ed Thompson in Fright Night. It made his name and it doesn’t shock me that it was his second Make It a Double pick.

What shocked me was how much (and how little) I’d remembered of this film from my last viewing many decades ago.

I remembered the core of the story, about a teenager, Charley Brewster, who realises that his new next door neighbour, Jerry Dandridge, is a vampire, but nobody believes him. So he turns to his hero, Peter Vincent, a horror actor and host of the TV show Fright Night Theatre, who is a renowned vampire killer. Of course, Vincent thinks Charley’s mad too as vampires aren’t real. Until he realises that they are.

The Great Impostor (1960)

Director: Robert Mulligan
Writer: Liam O’Brien, based on the book by Robert Crichton
Stars: Tony Curtis, Edmond O'Brien, Arthur O'Connell, Gary Merrill, Joan Blackman, Raymond Massey, Robert Middleton and Karl Malden

Index: 2025 Centennials.

Like many, I thoroughly enjoyed Catch Me If You Can, the 2002 movie with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. It was fiction but based on the true story of a ballsy conman called Frank Abagnale, Jr. who became different people to get what he wanted. Well, partly true, because many doubts have been cast on the veracity of his claims and I can see why. Some of them do seem to have been borrowed from this film.

This is another true story about a different ballsy conman who became different people, a man called Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t been debunked and yet it came first by half a century. Tony Curtis plays Demara, and he’s called him his favourite role from a long and distinguished career.

While Abagnale did what he did for money, Demara seems to have done what he did for a much better reason: to help people. Well, that and because he simply can’t grasp why anyone has to settle for less than they’re worth, just to comply with society’s rules. He learns that as a child when his father loses his small chain of movie theatres then is hired back as a simple projectionist. It isn’t right, he thinks.