The Long Riders, directed by Walter Hill, is a 1980 Western more entertaining (“wipes” and all) than truly good. It deals with Jesse James, played by James Keach, and his bank robbing outfit, toward whom the film is a tad too cordial. There are some fine details, however, such as an argument between two buckboard passengers about service in the Civil War while the passengers are being robbed.

The material involving the female characters (Amy Stryker‘s Beth, Pamela Reed‘s Belle) is paltry and unconvincing. But the movie’s action, though not without cliches, is exciting. I also give it a cheer for offering an original screenplay and for what is nowadays politically incorrect content. Remember I mentioned the Civil War?

Anthony Hopkins, who is extraordinary in Richard Lester‘s film Juggernaut (1974), once said this obscure picture is “highly underrated.” It was released in the Seventies when it was understood that British films were saying very little, if anything, of importance. Hence what difference would it make for Lester to direct a thriller about a vicious criminal who has planted seven bombs on a transatlantic liner?

But Juggernaut, though quite imperfect, is pretty shrewd and engrossing. Lester does well with the early crowd scene—all those ocean liner passengers before the voyage begins—and maintains the directorial competence to the end. One of the best segments covers the bomb squad technicians as they parachute into the ocean and go through hell to get on the ship. (It’s up to them to dismantle the bombs.) Then there are the actors. Although Omar Sharif, as the liner’s captain, is uninteresting, Richard Harris and David Hemmings are pleasingly believable. Ian Holm and Roy Kinnear are reliable, but Shirley Knight does not show the unerring authenticity that Caroline Mortimer, enacting Anthony Hopkins’s wife, shows.

I should also indicate that there is scant directorial daring from Lester in the film. It isn’t Petulia. It is underrated, even so, and credit should be given where it is due.

In Mars Needs Women, Yvonne Craig plays a human being. In a late Sixties Star Trek episode (“Whom Gods Destroy”), she plays a space alien. There, the mentally sick, who can be instantly cured, have seized the lockdown spacecraft they are on. Marta (Craig) is one of them, and for her alien state Yvonne’s body was painted light green, though fortunately her always lovable brown hair was left alone.

Craig’s acting is agreeable. She tries hard to create a naive and fearful character—-a flatly sexy one too. (Those poses!) Her bare legs are dancer’s legs, muscular. Setting out to be a professional dancer not an actress, Miss Craig is allowed to dance—and does so adeptly—in this episode! It is the highlight of a decently written production. It’s just too bad that the villain of the piece finally snuffs Marta out. He is sick.

In Mars Needs Women, Yvonne Craig plays a human being. In a late Sixties Star Trek episode (“Whom Gods Destroy”), she plays a space alien. There, the mentally sick, who can be instantly cured, have seized the lockdown spacecraft they are on. Marta (Craig) is one of them, and for her alien state Yvonne’s body was painted light green, though fortunately her always lovable brown hair was left alone.

Craig’s acting is agreeable. She tries hard to create a naive and fearful character—-a flatly sexy one too. (Those poses!) Her bare legs are dancer’s legs, muscular. Setting out to be a professional dancer not an actress, Miss Craig is allowed to dance—and does so adeptly—in this episode! It is the highlight of a decently written production. It’s just too bad that the villain of the piece finally snuffs Marta out. He is sick.

I don’t care for most of the metaphysics, such as they are, in George Roy Hill’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), based on the unread-by-me Kurt Vonnegut novel.  Surprisingly, though, some of them I do like.  (Are human beings right to believe they possess genuinely FREE will?)

Be that as it may, the virtues in this outre movie are multiple.  Hill has his heart in it; his brain too.  I don’t know just how versatile an actor Michael Sacks is, but he enacts a maturing innocent, Billy Pilgrim, at various stages of his life knowingly and winningly.  Ron Liebman is deep and true as a troubled creep, while Sharon Gans is a passionate non-caricature as the silly Valencia Pilgrim.  Also first-rate are the touching Eugene Roche as a decent conservative man and soldier and the enchanting Valerie Perrine as a movie starlet.

It’s difficult to know what the film is ultimately about, particularly since it seems to regard World War II as being without a purpose (Alfred Kazin’s complaint about the novel).  But it’s otherwise impressively honest and occasionally darkly funny.

Slaughterhouse-Five (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)