One the worst things that can happen to a cop is to be forced to do a shooting in the line of duty. All the training in the word does not make living with action any easier, especially if it results in a fatality. It is among the most traumatic events that can occur for a police officer. No matter what, that officer is likely to second guess every decision that led to that point. Could they have found another way to resolve? Did they have to shoot? Could they have talked the person down? Did the person have to die? Those are just a few of the question that are likely to arise. What makes that situation even worse is if person is found to have been at fault. And herein lies the premise for Warning Shot. David Janssen of TV’s The Fugitive fame plays LAPD Sergeant Tom Valens in this crime drama where he finds himself in that exact situation. During a routine stakeout, Valens fatally shoots what he perceives to be an armed suspect. However, upon a comprehensive investigation, the purported weapon is nowhere to be found. This premise alone was enough to intrigue me, but while watching the film, I became more engrossed in the crime drama with every passing detail. Rounding out the cast are Ed Begley and Joan Collins, as well as the “First Lady of American Cinema,” herself, Lillian Gish.
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Coming off the success of James Cameron’s The Terminator, just about every studio was looking to piggyback off that gold mine, and what followed was a parade of knockoff films that for the most part failed to match The Terminator in quality and in box office draw. One of those bottom-of-the-barrel knockoffs is the 1987 film Programmed To Kill, also known as The Retaliator. While in the 80’s this was a film that could be appreciated  in drive-ins and later on late-night cable, nowadays the unexpected draw for this film is that it has the late Paul Walker in one of his earliest roles playing Jason, the son of the film’s lead character, Eric Mathews (Robert Ginty). Former CIA agent Eric Matthews is hired to lead a group of mercenaries to rescue a pair of kidnapped kids from a group of terrorists. In the process of performing the extraction, Samira (Sandahl Bergman), one of the terrorists, is critically wounded. For some reason, the mercenaries bring Samira with them. Samira is then brought to a group of government scientists who do experimental brain surgery and in the process turn her into a cyborg
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The 1980’s saw a resurgence of the themes and styles of the earlier film noir genre but with more modern themes and situations. Films like Alan Parker’s DeNiro/ Rourke Angel Heart and Paul Schrader’s Richard Gere/Laura Hutton American Gigolo are two of the finest examples of what has become known as neo noir. The genre has existed since the 1960’s, but there was a certain style to these 1980’s films that brought us the peak of this style of filmmaking. It crossed other genres as well. Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner is absolutely the best science fiction representative of the style, and that film’s impact on sci-fi going forward still has a huge impact today. It’s all about style: lighting, cinematography, and themes that often blur the line between good and bad. No Mercy returned Richard Gere to the genre, and while No Mercy was a box office flop, it has endured more than some from the era, and now Kino Lorber gives us a chance to revisit one of the better examples of neo noir on Blu-ray. It’s worth a look, and I’m going to tell you why.
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“From the green hills of Vermont to the verdant canyons of Arizona, people all over the country are beginning to realize it’s nearly over. We have almost beaten COVID, and the best news of all? Things are finally getting back to normal. Infection rates are at an all-time low. New stronger vaccinations have ebbed the tide. And we humans are cleaning up the mess and finally getting on with our lives But as we start to get back to our jobs and schools, one question remains: What lingering effect will the pandemic have on our children?”

This has been a tough year for everyone. Productions all around the world have been uprooted because of the pandemic. I guess I thought there might have been one place on this planet that was safe. OK, I made that last part up. We always knew that South Park was going to have a field day with COVID. Let’s be honest; the amount of material for the irreverent show is simply off the scales.
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I grew up hearing about Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. It was more about his television credits and hosting accomplishment. I’d say hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, which to my understanding is a record that still holds up to this day, is something to be proud of. Hell, his next closest competitor is Billy Crystal, who is still ten behind him. Then there is Lucille Ball, who is obviously most notable for her popular television series, I Love Lucy. I hear about these comedic icons all my life and now through Fancy Pants, the second of four films that these two collaborated on. I got to see them in action. And while there is much about the film’s brand of comedy that went over my head, it was easy to see the appeal of these two, as individuals and as a comedic pairing. Based on a musical by the name of Ruggles of Red Gap, Hope stars as Humphrey, real name Arthur Humphry, a struggling American actor masquerading as British to be part of a British acting troupe. When another British actor enlists the cast to pose as an aristocratic family in order to impress visiting Americans, Effie and Agatha Floud (Ball), Humphrey, pretending to be the family butler
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“In the 1940’s, a new genre – film noir – emerged from the world of hard-boiled pulp magazines, paperback thrillers, and sensational crime movies. These films, tough and unsentimental, depicted a black and white universe at once brutal, erotic, and morally ambiguous.”

Film Noir officially started in the 40’s, but the movement was well underway by the early 30’s. You can trace its roots to the Great Depression and the arrival of the dime pulp magazines. These were highly stylized, mostly mystery stories that provided cheap escapism for the masses who were not having a good time of it. Writers like Raymond Chandler crafted the mold that was easily transferred to the silver screen. These were low-budget films that were intended to be second billing with the more mainstream releases. They were shot quickly. Many have a very flat look, created intentionally. The lighting was often minimal, crafting odd shadows and unusual textures.
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France is a country that is absolutely saturated by a rich cinematic history. Beginning in the late 1890’s with the Lumière Brothers and their Cinématographe, traveling to the middle of the century with Cahiers du Cinéma, the French New Wave, and Cinéma Vérité; all the way to more contemporary French cinema. The country still makes incredible waves that influence the film industry. Interestingly, the term “film noir” came directly from French film critics, commenting on the low-key lighting used in many of the gangster films of that time period, calling them “black films” or “dark films.” It wasn’t until the 1970’s that Auteurs began to intentionally make film noir, however, the characteristics of classic film noir were not lost on French filmmakers who consumed these “dark films” as means of inspiration
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Director William Wyler is a bit of an icon when you look back in Hollywood history. He’s a director with such classics under his belt as Roman Holiday, Funny Girl, and then of course Ben-Hur. But before he filmed those, he did a smaller and more intimate film called Detective Story. This isn’t a big spectacle, but instead it is a gritty drama that takes place over a single day in a New York police station. The film is so simplistic in scope that it’s no surprise that it was originally a stage play, but it’s Wyler’s direction that elevates this film to something bigger. Then there are the remarkable performances from Kirk Douglas and the rest of the cast that make this film better than the potential snore-fest this could have been. Jim McLeod (Douglas) is a hard-nosed cop who likes nothing more than to take the criminals down in his city, to the point that he doesn’t realize it’s been days since he’s been home and seen his wife.  He’s about to head out when he has an encounter with a criminal that sets McLeod off, and he attacks then criminal in custody. The altercation is bad enough to send the criminal to the hospital and jeopardize McLeod’s career. This is just one of the stories going on in the police station.
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