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Considering he shot 23 yakuza-action movies between the years 1972 and 1978, it's a wonder director Kinji Fukasaku could keep the characters, stunts and scripts from spilling over into each new production. In actuality, there's a good bit of recycling going on in Cops versus Thugs , with familiar actors from the Battles Without Honor and Humanity films (recently released as a box set by Arrow Video) shuffled into new roles and familiar scenarios given a fresh twist. Here, it's an unlikely friendship between Detective Kuno (Bunta Sugawara) and up-and-coming yakuza Kenji Hirotani (Hiroki Masukata) that sets the stage for an almost Shakespearean family tragedy. The title, Cops versus Thugs is more than a bit of a misnomer as the script (by BWH&H screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara) is primarily focused on the blurred lines on both sides of the law. Det. Kuno and the cops at his local precinct aren't exactly on the take, but their method for keeping the peace involves ma...

The digital age has ushered in an overabundance of film appreciation over film criticism. But a movie like How t o Steal a Million (1966) is almost completely immune to a critical dissertation of its pros and cons. It exists simply to entertain, matching up two beautiful people (Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole) in a beautiful city (a modern but picturesque Paris) surrounded by beautiful things (artwork from masters like Renoir and Van Gogh)....one particular item of which they plot to steal from under the noses of several security guards, the Paris police force and an unbeatable electronic security system. This should be fun! And it most assuredly is. Director William Wyler ( The Big Country ) was a bit late to the heist film game. Two Pink Panther movies had already come and gone before he enlisted the writer of Peter Sellers' last installment ( A Shot in the Dark ) to adapt the long-gestating project as a vehicle for Hepburn, a star he'd helped to create in ...

The first comedic pairing of Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau got off to an auspicious start with 1966's The Fortune Cookie , a satirical riff on the double-dealing, penny pinching insurance industry and the ambulance-chasing attorneys who fight just as dirty to make a quick buck. Under the directorial guidance of Billy Wilder ( Some Like It Hot ), the actors bookend each other almost effortlessly, setting the stage for even more comfortable collaborations to come. But it's here, in a script overstuffed with quirky supporting characters, that Lemon and Matthau found their groove as mismatched brothers-in-law Harry Hinkle and Willie Gingrich. A sideline cameraman for CBS, Harry (Lemon) gets walloped by "Boom Boom" Jackson, the Cleveland Browns' star punt returner, on a broken play. Although there's no real damage done, Willie (Matthau) quickly hatches a scheme to sue everyone involved, passing off an old back injury of Harry's - along with plenty of i...

In the films of Elio Petri, not all crimes are created equal. In fact, the director often argues that murder is less despicable than a general lack of ethics and morality. It's a socio-political theme that began almost fully-formed with his debut feature, The Assassin (1961), a clever character study disguised as a police procedural starring Marcello Mastroianni as an unscrupulous antiques dealer accused of killing his older, wealthy lover. Brought in for questioning, Alfredo Martelli (Mastroianni) is confronted with the rather serious fact that he was the last person to see Adalgisa De Matteis alive. And as the history behind their relationship is revealed - Martelli seduced her away from a close friend and counted on her for financial support - the chief investigator, Palumbo (Salvo Randone) becomes less and less sympathetic to Alfredo's pleas of innocence. As does the audience. Petri uses a series of flashbacks prompted by each new bit of evidence, scenes which cast ...

More of Woody Allen's adventures in Bergmanland , Another Woman (1988) draws most of its inspiration from Wild Strawberries , Bergman's dreamy meditation on the regrets that come with a life unlived. In this case, that life belongs to Marion (Gena Rowlands), an accomplished professor of philosophy, amateur artist, appreciator of poetry, theater, fine wine and all around successful 50-something woman who suffers a shocking epiphany that the rest of the world finds her to be a prissy, judgmental hypocrite. Allen excels in writing just that sort of self-centered, elitist snob....but he rarely camouflages them so well. On sabbatical to prepare for a new book, Marion subleases a small second apartment away from her stiff but successful husband, Ken (Ian Holm), in order to work in peace. But by some acoustical fluke, the private conversations from the psychiatrist office next door provide an even more irresistible distraction. Marion finds herself drawn into the depressing conf...

Despite the lurid titles and campy artwork adorning VHS classics like Basket Case and Frankenhooker , the films of Frank Henenlotter were always a cut above the usual home video cash-ins. There was obvious affection for the genre, of course, but matched with an ambition to do something more than compete with the typical slashers and creature features. Henelotter's work had wit and panache (at least as much as he could afford) along with the practical gore effects '80s fans demanded. Brain Damage (1988) is all that and more, unraveling like a hallucinatory blend of David Cronenberg and Jim Henson as it introduces the world to Elmer, a brain-eating parasite who provides his host with a heroine-like "juice" in exchange for a regular supply of his favorite food. The film opens with an elderly couple frantically searching their New York apartment for (what we assume to be) their missing pet. But when they wind up on the floor foaming at the mouth from withdrawal s...

Pity those poor Sonny Chiba completionists. While Bruce Lee had a tragically shortened career, Chiba has 188 credits -highlighted by his forceful turn in the Streetfighter films of the '70s - stretching from his more lighthearted appearances in the early '60s right up to his role in Tarantino's Kill Bill movies and beyond. And only a very small percentage of them have ever made it onto Region 1 home video, let alone Blu-ray. So consider the release of Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (1975) a drop in a very big bucket. Based on a popular manga series, the Toei produced film cuts so many corners it barely qualifies as a proper adaptation but works overtime to hold its audience interest. Chiba stars as Akira Inugami, the sole survivor of a clan of shapeshifters who is pulled into the investigation surrounding a series of deadly maulings, the victims torn to shreds by some invisible force. Caught between a yakuza plot, tragic romance and his own supernatural lineage, I...

Although its theme of women in the workplace is still a hot topic, Baby Boom (1987) probably won't inspire much serious discussion. Maybe that's because its main character, J.C Wiatt, is an honest-to-goodness one-percenter, thriving at the top of the executive pay scale. Or maybe it's just that writer Nancy Meyers, who specializes in crowd-pleasing, demographically targeted, feel-good fluff, isn't interested in starting a serious dialogue to begin with. Baby Boom is perfectly fine with being a workingwoman chick-flick fairy tale, thank you very much. And, to be honest, it's kind of refreshing not to have to carry all that extra weight. The self-described "Tiger Lady" of a Manhattan marketing firm, J.C. (Diane Keaton) is all business; she wears her 80 hour work week and unmarried-but-successfully-cohabitating status like a badge of honor. But an unlikely inheritance from a cousin overseas results in her being named guardian of Elizabeth, a Gerber...

Caltiki, The Immortal Monster (1959) is one of the holy grails of '50s science fiction. Marking the uncredited directing debut of Mario Bava ( Blood and Black Lace ), the film has been almost impossible to find on home video outside of imports or grey market dubs. But now Arrow Video has stepped up to the plate with a Blu-ray / DVD combo that blows away any previous presentation and adds a pair of audio commentaries to explain what all the fuss what about. In actuality, Caltiki is a bit of a bore. But then again, so are most of the Sputnik-era monster movies it's emulating. Modeled after the success of Hammer Films' The Quatermass Xperiment , here we have a team of scientists on an archeological dig in Mexico who awaken a flesh-eating, radioactive blob. It turns out this same blob was responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the entire Mayan civilization. And it's got its eyes (or sensory organs of some sort) set on Rome next! Director Riccardo Freda ...

Anyone with even a passing interest in Spaghetti Westerns has certainly run across Django. The character, introduced in Sergio Corbucci's 1966 film and played by Franco Nero, was co-opted by countless producers for completely unrelated projects simply for name recognition. There was only one official sequel, but 1968's Django, Prepare a Coffin is almost as legit, with the same writer, cinematographer and newcomer Terence Hill as a near-perfect stand in for Franco titular tragic hero. The film begins with a Django (Hill) coming to the aid of an aspiring politician, David Barry, (Horst Frank) but turning down the job offer of "enforcer" in the new administration. Miffed at the refusal, Barry orders his men - led by the merciless Lucas (George Eastman) to hijack a cargo of gold Django is charged with delivering, murder his wife and leave the gunslinger for dead. Fast forward five years. Django is alive and working as a hangman, all part of an elaborate plan for ...

One of the progenitors of Italian Neorealism, director Luchino Visconti often found his pendulum swinging in a more melodramatic direction. And that's certainly the case with Ludwig (1973) an overstuffed buffet of royal politics, sexual repression and a hint of madness. Helmut Berger inhabits the role of "Mad" King Ludwig II of Bavaria, whose artistic obsessions and homosexual tendencies pushed him into a life of paranoid isolation. At nearly four hours in length (the TV version adds another 17-minutes), Visconti certainly had the freedom to leave no stone unturned. But his emphasis lies with the underlying cause of Ludwig's fragile mental state, caused by thwarted passions and a government that coddled his eccentricities in exchange for a free hand. Ludwig's legacy, after being deposed and driven to suicide, are the extravagant castles that remain a huge tourist attraction in what is now Germany. Inheriting the throne at the age of 18, Ludwig (Berger) h...