THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

title: Thunder and Lightning

cast: David Carradine, Kate Jackson, Charles Napier, Claude Earl Jones

producer: Roger Corman

rating: ***

Those fan boats (the ones made famous on TV's Gentle Ben) jamming around the Everglades are cool. As is the boat chase that encompasses the first twenty minutes. Some car chases too. And a decent plot about moonshiners getting revenge on a corporate soda producer who moonshines in his warehouse at night after sabotaging independents by day, one being David Carradine who, protecting two old men who run a tried-and-true rural "still", and with girlfriend Kate Jackson at his side (who happens to be the daughter of the corporate villain) there's plenty of sticky situations to get in-and-out of, and that means action. But after an hour any reason for the running around runs its course and all seems exercise. Overall a neat Roger Corman outing for the seventies. And Carradine even provides some kung fu for good measure.

IN THE HEAT OF PASSION

title: IN THE HEAT OF PASSION
year: 1992
cast: Sally Kirkland, Nick Corri, Michael Greene, Jack Carter
rating: ***1/2

Sure there's a lot of steamy scenes, but this early-nineties Roger Corman production has a lot more going for it. Like Oscar-nominated actress (for 1987's ANNA) Sally Kirkland playing the bored trophy wife of rich man Michael Greene. While at a gas station, she meets hunky mechanic Jsu Garcia (then billed as Nick Corri). The two hit it off and really want to connect; especially Garcia, who makes every effort to do so. And by posing as a cable TV repairman, he talks his way into the bedroom where sexy Kirkland awaits. But what really excels this to greater heights is an action sequence involving Garcia, who's an actor on the side, being chased by mobsters and using this motivation in a scene from a movie (within the movie) with a similar plot line. But back to reality: what Garcia doesn't know is Kirkland (who's a personal friend of yours truly), like any effective Film Noir moll, hides a deep dark secret fueling a hidden, and perhaps lethal, agenda. And it takes a grade-A actress and actor to provide enough intrigue and intensity to make a B-movie really work.

CANNONBALL

title: CANNONBALL

year: 1976

cast: David Carradine, Belinda Balaski, Robert Carradine, Bill McKinney, Sylvester Stallone, Martin Scorsese, Dick Miller

director: Paul Bartel

rating: ****

Not as beloved as Roger Corman's "Deathrace 2000", the car-race film also starring David Carradine and directed by Paul Bartel, but is, in its own way, better. No funny-violent sideplot here, just a straight-out cross-country race based on the real life (and very illegal) Cannonball Run; yes, the same one Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham would take on a few years later... but this is more raw, rough and ragged. Each group has their own quirks and motivations, allowing the viewer to care about the outcome and feel part of the action, which is pretty much non-stop. Sylvester Stallone, who played Carradine's arch-enemy in "Deathrace 2000", makes a cameo as a mobster (along with Martin Scorsese).

BUCKET OF BLOOD

title: BUCKET OF BLOOD

year: 1959

cast: Dick Miller, Bert Convy

producer/director: Roger Corman

rating: ****

This is a classic Roger Corman film about a busboy at a coffee shop... name of Walter Paisley... who quotes the pretentious, long-winded "house poet" and aspires to be an artist. He lives in a small apartment and lives a lonely life. This is icon Dick Miller at his best; especially since he's usually a side character or a tough guy as A BUCKET OF BLOOD is black comedy way ahead of its time, and it even says something about wannabe artists who live their lives quoting talented and/or pretentious artists without having a creative outlet of their own. Perhaps the covering of dead bodies in clay represents those who COVER other artists without trying to create for themselves. But it's more than representation of ideas or symbolism; Roger Corman's best directorial effort is liken to a body count horror flick that may not be scary, but it pays off in random kills, each strategic and important for the tight story that never meanders: leading the viewer's suspense into deliciously evil anticipation. Those who lose their lives for Walter Paisley's sculptures more than deserve it. The best scenes are in his own personal payback to those who thought of him as a failure. Corman regular Anthony Carbone is both effective and hilarious as he, halfway through, catches onto Walter's methods, and reacts against and alongside our anti-hero's newfound talents.

BLOODY MAMA

title: BLOODY MAMA

year: 1970

cast: Shelley Winters, Robert DeNiro, Don Stroud, Robert Walden, Bruce Dern, Diane Varsi

director: Roger Corman

rating: *1/2

How can a movie directed by Roger Corman and starring Shelley Winters as a bank robber with sons played by Don Stroud, Robert Walden and last but not least Robert DeNiro not be great? Judging Corman films can be difficult since they don't aspire for much, but this is a lazy exercise in a filmmaker pushing an envelope with nothing inside. For DeNiro fans there's not much here. His character just stands around with a dumb look and every once in a while says something in an over-the-top hillbilly accent. Don Stroud is really the focal point as "Herman", the psychotic eldest son, but his performance does nothing but grate on the nerves. And Shelley Winters collects a paycheck. Corman produced BOXCAR BERTHA and CRAZY MAMA are much better.

SWING SHIFT

title: SWING SHIFT

year: 1984

genre: Romance/Comedy

starring: Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Ed Harris, Christine Lahti

rating: **1/2

Centers on a housewife whose husband goes to war in 1941, right after Pearl Harbor. Thus Goldie Hawn is called, along with many other women, to aid in the war effort by working in a war plane factory. Christine Lahti plays her outgoing and somewhat lusty best friend, a failed nightclub singer who's got the hots for Fred Ward, the nightclub's owner. And Kurt Russell plays a trumpet playing player named "Lucky" who doesn't have to fight the war because of a heart condition... which doesn't seem to exist as he can play trumpet all night, drink, chain smoke, and have an affair. According to Demme the movie was ruined in the editing room, making it more of a standard romantic comedy than a character-study of women working in factories. It is a somewhat entertaining time-waster, but it could have been much, much better, centering more on Hawn and Lauti than the Hawn/Russell romance.And at the very end, when Hawn and Lauti (along with their female workmates) look back upon their good times, the audience too wishes there was more of that to experience.