cult film freak: dennis christopher

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Written by James M. Tate / 7/09/2023 / No comments / action , adventure , comedy , dennis christopher , eighties , john hurt , karen kopins , kidnapping , wayne crawford

WAYNE CRAWFORD PLAYS 'JAKE SPEED' STARRING KAREN KOPINS

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</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHGzONR7OOd6ey7V_4KMaMZyF0o7Xc34uw_0MxOAw4m7ILJgH9VZfwwIcswBRpupnOybPTO7KvhOi_z7XDSXIEY0kaK4sxNSvO7AmteVx303PowH-e0X2tb0SLH6qhQfXedX9v6F32ELQf6McOvUPSZXqADFGbJxFx53ThaiBUFun46zFSAJBbKw1XWpY/s1996/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-08%20at%209.52.34%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1142" data-original-width="1996" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHGzONR7OOd6ey7V_4KMaMZyF0o7Xc34uw_0MxOAw4m7ILJgH9VZfwwIcswBRpupnOybPTO7KvhOi_z7XDSXIEY0kaK4sxNSvO7AmteVx303PowH-e0X2tb0SLH6qhQfXedX9v6F32ELQf6McOvUPSZXqADFGbJxFx53ThaiBUFun46zFSAJBbKw1XWpY/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-08%20at%209.52.34%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: JAKE SPEED Year: 1986 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The plot of ROMANCING THE STONE involves a mousy female harlequin-style novelist living sad and single in Manhattan who, after her pretty, footloose blond sister is kidnapped, goes on an action-packed trip with a flawed yet dashing, handsome maverick who looks like her fictional hero, but only in silhouette...<br>
<br>Up close, what New Yorker Karen Kopins (Jim Carrey's girl in ONCE BITTEN) sees in supposed paperback icon JAKE SPEED, played by writer/producer Wayne Crawford (along with VALLEY GIRL partner Andrew Lane), is a scruffy con man: he and his partner, Dennis Christopher's Desmond, tricked her into thinking they could find her kidnapped blond sister: a very familiar plot-line only a year following the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner smash hit...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, comedy, dennis christopher, eighties, john hurt, karen kopins, kidnapping, wayne crawford

WAYNE CRAWFORD PLAYS 'JAKE SPEED' STARRING KAREN KOPINS

Title: JAKE SPEED Year: 1986 Rating: ***1/2 The plot of ROMANCING THE STONE involves a mousy female harlequin-style novelist living sad and...

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER RIDES 'BREAKING AWAY' W/ DENNIS QUAID

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Epitomizes the Haves Haves Not of Breaking Away YEAR: 1979</u></td></tr>
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Feel good movie about teens from the poor side of the tracks but with a cool rock-diving water hole to hang at, BREAKING AWAY is
 distinguished by a confidently upbeat, quirky protagonist who, while obsessed with Italy, longs to race bicycles with Italy's visiting 
team: But when not peddling around town, Dennis Christopher's Dave hangs with local buddies Dennis Quaid, a former football hero; Jackie Earle Haley, the token mascot; and Daniel Stern, the comic relief who's the most soulful and in-tune with our cycling hero...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dennis Quaid as Mike</u></td></tr>
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To the rich college kids, led by preppie jerk Hart Bochner, the young locals are Townies or Cutters while the University remains an albatross that otherwise humble and poor Bloomington, Indiana can't shake. Our boy Dave's the only one with an angle: Finding the prettiest girl in Robyn Douglass, and faking an Italian accent for a filler romance.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Breaking Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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Through the much too-written script, where the late-teens talk like they're suffering a mid-life crisis, the bicycling scenes are nicely shot by action director Peter Yates; and though the class envy gets tiresome, and Dave's jovial dialogue with his parents is a tad silly, as the big race 
between the locals and jocks approaches, each and every character contributes 
equally to a spirited finale.<br>
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Before that, when a depressed Dave (suffering one of those cinematic teenage-midlife-crisis's) and endearingly dishonest used car salesman dad Paul Dooley walks through the ruin of a town, sharing about his own faded dreams, it seems like another motion picture altogether: More edgy and realistic, which BREAKING AWAY could have used a few more scenes of. But it's an affable sport film meant to celebrate the energy and momentum of youth, and it does that well.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Almost sure this is Jennifer K. Mickel as Girl in Breaking Away with Hart Bochner</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Riding against the Italian Bike Company truck in BREAKING AWAY</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dennis Quaid shows his stuff in BREAKING AWAY</u></td></tr>
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daniel stern, dennis christopher, dennis quaid, hart bochner, jackie earle haley, john ashton, paul dooley, peter yates, robyn douglass, small town, sport, teen

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER RIDES 'BREAKING AWAY' W/ DENNIS QUAID

Epitomizes the Haves Haves Not of Breaking Away YEAR: 1979 Feel good movie about teens from the poor side of the tracks but with a cool ...

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER'S TOUR-DE-FORCE OF 'FADE TO BLACK'

body count, dark comedy, dennis christopher, eighties, exploitation, horror, linda kerridge, marcie barkin, mickey rourke, morgan paull, neo noir, tim thomerson

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER'S TOUR-DE-FORCE OF 'FADE TO BLACK'

Dennis Christopher in FADE TO BLACK Year: 1980 "That was a lot of fun and I got burnt by squibs, they’re called," is not a qu...

QUENTIN TARANTINO DIRECTS DJANGO UNCHAINED

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2012 cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson rating: **1/2</u></td></tr>
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Modern exploitation guru Quentin Tarantino serves up historical revenge once again. His last film, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, had the German Nazis getting theirs, and now, with a good German on board (the villain from the last film) we’re out to set things right in the American Deep South, two years shy of the Civil War…<br />
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Although the first half takes place on the road from Texas to Mississippi as bounty hunting dentist Dr. King Schultz recruits a slave named Django to help him find three outlaw brothers (Django alone knows their appearance)... These are the more spirited and deliciously cutthroat segments as our heroes partner up and, as Django puts it, “Kill white people for money.” <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTft1Tx88yDRp_OK2C14q2oev5_kPgxZFJAUvBhPiyi1t7FsE4vqo181grrNiuAiCXKREUfazlxzYr8uqwkR__tfHJ5JAhkWoTcNMi2J2ltUU1YhfmXkmjSHNWbhXzdIv18fayVPOOmE/s1600/ddd1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTft1Tx88yDRp_OK2C14q2oev5_kPgxZFJAUvBhPiyi1t7FsE4vqo181grrNiuAiCXKREUfazlxzYr8uqwkR__tfHJ5JAhkWoTcNMi2J2ltUU1YhfmXkmjSHNWbhXzdIv18fayVPOOmE/s320/ddd1.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christoph Waltz</td></tr>
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Christoph Waltz (Schultz) and Jamie Foxx (Django) are a good team, and while making mince meat out of their targets, the bloodshed is something to marvel. But Tarantino throws in awkward bouts of humor, derailing the intensity of the moment. One particular scene where a group of rednecks complain about not seeing through masked eyeholes (including a very distracting cameo by Jonah Hill) feels like Mel Brooks clumsily intruding Sergio Leone. <br />
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After Django helps Schultz with his job, it’s time for the doctor to aid his more-than-capable partner rescue Django's wife Broomhilda, who resides at “Candyland,” an infamous Antebellum plantation run by the sinister though much too youthful Calvin Candie. <br />
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While Leonardo DiCaprio has more than capable acting skills, and savors the gloriously tyrannical racist dialog, there could have/should have been a backstory on why the owner of a plantation looks fresh out of finishing school. For a man who’s supposed to have a lifetime of seething venom oozing from his veins, those desperately piercing blue eyes seem more confused and frustrated than cold and calculating, making Tarantino’s purposely overboard racism more of a crutch than weapon for the DiCaprio character (perhaps Don Johnson, who played a wily brothel owner in a previous scene, could have taken this role… he had the age going for him and with that, soulless eyes that look like he’s seen – and been through – pretty much everything).<br />
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But Leo’s not alone. He’s helped along by the most wicked of Uncle Tom’s played by Samuel Jackson, whose spitefully cantankerous Stephen figures things out before his boss. This is a nice role for the QT stock actor, who has sleepwalked through many roles post PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN. Although his feeble mannerisms often slow down the performance, and at times he seems to be performing. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Foxx</td></tr>
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The main problem with UNCHAINED is how long Tarantino stretches scenes with dialog. While the actors, especially Waltz and DiCaprio, have a blast with colorful monologues, you’ll often forget there are other characters on board – and most of the speeches fail to serve the plot: the duo pretending to buy Mandingo slave fighters when they really want to free Django's girl, a slave. And unlike the movies QT grew up on, especially the Leone Westerns, there's never a genuine feeling of being outdoors. Even the exterior shots, especially the opening chain gang sequence, feels contrived and constrained.<br />
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With all the deals and discussions going on, the much-anticipated reunion of Django and Broomhilda is lost in the mix. Not even Django’s surreptitious trigger finger (whenever she's treated badly) adds worthy suspense, which, during this overlong stint at Candyland, is very much needed. But there’s not all downtime at the mansion: a particular Candie lecture involving a slave’s skull does successfully perk things up, providing DiCaprio a good five minutes of sheer unapologetic villainy. Then, after a shocking twist, it’s Django alone who must save his girl.<br />
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Jamie Foxx, having played a quietly brooding second fiddle to Waltz so far, makes up for lost time with heated gusto. This third and final act involving a group of Australians being duped by Django, who’s learned the art of waxing poetic, is replete with the bare-knuckle action we’ve anticipated (although large chunks of bloody guts flying off each gunshot victim seems like Tarantino doing an overboard imitation of himself). There are some decent montage sequences, but some of the music, especially that of the rap nature, seems too modern for the time portrayed. And the editing feels somewhat limp without QT’s longtime collaborator Sally Menke, who died a few years back: Particular flashbacks and hallucinations are often confusing and awkward.  <br />
<br />An okay ride, much better than Quentin’s last two films (BASTERDS and DEATH PROOF), yet there needed a much tighter/sharper vehicle for our hero to truly deserve the fanfare of the literally explosive finale. Instead of being the title character he mostly seems a sidekick. <br />

2012, blaxploitation, christoph waltz, dennis christopher, exploitation, james remar, jamie foxx, leonardo dicaprio, quentin tarantino, samuel l. jackson

QUENTIN TARANTINO DIRECTS DJANGO UNCHAINED

year: 2012 cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson rating: **1/2 Modern exploitation guru Quentin Tarantino se...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/14/2011 / No comments / daniel stern , dennis christopher , dennis quaid , hart bochner , jackie earle haley , P.J. Soles , paul dooley , seventies

BREAKING AWAY

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV_kL0JCr5wMHEYa66umpFXE2As5YhtKIvMzxuf5RvSEKhc06CkCY5ZNgRGaTxUltwaCZVFF81iW42KPI2DqFig8RBhEHmnlFqhKOZKsFDj4kYZhM8rETX5vz0nVYtPQeqEeCXCGZT6LA/s1600/breakingaway.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562195754616625874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV_kL0JCr5wMHEYa66umpFXE2As5YhtKIvMzxuf5RvSEKhc06CkCY5ZNgRGaTxUltwaCZVFF81iW42KPI2DqFig8RBhEHmnlFqhKOZKsFDj4kYZhM8rETX5vz0nVYtPQeqEeCXCGZT6LA/s200/breakingaway.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px; float: right; height: 192px; cursor: pointer;" /></a><strong>title:</strong> BREAKING AWAY<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 1979</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, Paul Dooley, Daniel Stern, Hart Bochner, P.J. Soles<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">director: </span>Peter Yates<br /></div><div><strong>rating:</strong> ****</div><br /><div></div><div>Feel-good classic about teens from the poor side of the tracks, this one distinguished by a confidently upbeat, quirky main character who, while pretending to be Italian, longs to race bicycles with Italy's visiting team. When not peddling around town, Dennis Chrisopher hangs with local slackers Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, and Daniel Stern, known as "Cutters" and demeaned by rich kids at the local university. The bicycling scenes are wonderfully shot by action director Peter Yates, and although the class envy gets tiresome, and Christopher's relationship with his parents seems a bit cartoonish, as the big race between the locals and students approaches, each character contributes equally to a fantastic (though predictable) conclusion. </div>

daniel stern, dennis christopher, dennis quaid, hart bochner, jackie earle haley, P.J. Soles, paul dooley, seventies