Disc Type

This 1975 Burt Reynolds film is nothing like I expected, and for the most part I’d say that is a good thing. When I first picked up the title, I pretty much expected this to be a fun yet somewhat forgettable action film from the 70s, something in the same vein as Stick or Gator, but instead this is a more complex story that takes many strange twists and has an ending that was pretty unexpected. The film was directed by Robert Aldrich, who was fresh off of directing The Longest Yard and also to his credit directed one of my favorite war films, The Dirty Dozen.  Aldrich is one of those directors who I’d put in the same category as Don Siegel who were just fantastic at directing “tough-guy” films that just oozed testosterone in just about every frame.  In other words, directors that Hollywood would try to cancel in a heartbeat if they were working today. That being said, this is one of those films that is a product of the time it was made, and it has enough offensive moments that would make a modern audience want to stand up and protest, and, well, it’s what makes me like this film a little more than I should.

This remake of the 1936 screwball classic My Man Godfrey very much works as a snapshot of the time and how the wealthy as well as the social elite acted.  In many ways we can still see this behavior on display when we look at some of the modern celebrities (looking at you, Kardashian family) we can view it as harmless privilege or simply an abuse of wealth. Either way, when watching this film, though it has plenty of charm, there is plenty to cringe about when viewing the behavior of some of these characters.  When watching this, it’s best to go into it thinking of it as nothing more than a silly story and just ignore how improbable any of this could actually be. The film opens up with a chase taking place. Irene Bullock (June Allyson) is in hot pursuit of her sister, Cordelia Bullock (Martha Hyer) as they speed through the back streets of New York.  Irene is trying to catch up with her sister who has stolen a goat that she intends on using for a scavenger hunt. It’s when the pursuit is taken to a pier where the ladies encounter Godfrey Smith (David Niven) who is posing as a vagrant but in reality has illegally jumped ship when traveling from Austria in search for a new life.

"There is an old saying that blood is thicker than water."

We've had Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Gene Simmons with his Family Jewels, and even Snoop Dog's Father Hood. It's become a bit of a trend to follow these celebrity families around and watch the drama of their privileged lives unfold on our television screens. You might think it's a relatively recent phenomenon, but would you believe they were doing it back in the infant days of television when we followed around a musician named Ozzie and his wife way back in 1952? No, we're not talking about Ozzie Osbourne and his family. I'm talking about Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. They were television's darling family before we ever heard about Lucy and Desi.

"This is the territory of Wyoming. The year: 1866. On this soft, solitary day of early summer, men from two different worlds have come together to talk. There is bitterness here, suspicion, and distrust. You remember your friends and loved ones who have been killed. You've seen the bleached ribs of their wagons. And still they come, pushing west with a vision, a vision of farms and of towns of land they can call their own. They come by the hundreds to reclaim the wilderness under your protection, the army of the United States."

George Sherman was one of the most prolific filmmakers in American cinematic history. Between 1938 and 1973, he made over 100 such films, including classics like Big Jake (director) and The Comancheros (as a producer), both with John Wayne

"In all the bloody pages of history, no bloody chapter was more bloody than the bloody era of the buccaneers. Over the seven seas the Brethren of the Coast, as these bloodthirsty pirates called themselves, roamed at will. Killing, plundering and looting. Writing their names in blood across the bloody record of time. They were a murderous, bloodthirsty crew who feared neither men nor the Devil. But the bloodiest of all these bloodthirsty buccaneers was the bloody pirate: Bloodthirsty Dave."

There's more blood in that prologue than the entire Friday the 13th franchise.

"Till I run up against you, Nazi was just a word in the newspapers to me. Now it's another way to spell cockroach. Well, this place needs cleaning up, and for the next two minutes, I'm a one-man Board Of Health." 

Lucky (Ladd) runs a New York crime gang. He's dealing with two very big problems. His second, Slip Moran (Leonard) is trying to have him killed, so he employs lookalikes and doesn't let on to Slip that he's wise to his efforts. Also, his number has come up, but it's not because of Slip. It's WWII calling, and he's trying to dodge the draft. His lawyer tries one scam after another, but nothing is working. He even hires an old lady, Ma (Paige) to pose as his dependent mother but blows the scam when he gives a grand a week as his payments to her. There's nothing to be done. Lucky is going into the army, and Slip is going to be taking over the mob.

Last season saw huge changes, and now the sixth season of SEAL Team hits DVD from CBS Home Entertainment. For the first four seasons the show has enjoyed a pretty well-rated run on CBS's prime time schedule. Season 5 started out exactly the same way until after the first four episodes. The series was switched suddenly from the television network to the Paramount + streaming service, and with the switch there are several huge changes. The first is in the number of episodes shot for each season. On CBS most shows run from 20-24 episodes a season. Last year because of it being a hybrid year, you got 14 episodes. Starting this season, you will get only 10 going forward.

"During the war between Maximillian and Juarez in 1865 there was a small territory on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande River known as Zona Libre - Free Zone. It was dominated by a man who called himself General Eduardo Calleja, and he made it a haven for any man outside the law. This is the story of Zone Libre."

Clete Mattson (McCrea) is swimming across the Rio Grande to the place Zona Libra with Union cavalry soldiers hot on his tail. They're shooting at him while men on the Zona Libre side makes bets on whether he'll make it. One of those bets is placed by Carmelita (De Carlo). She rushes to his side as he collapses on the riverbank. He's alive and is taken to be cared for. The General (Armendariz) agrees to meet with the man calling himself Jim Lake.

The name Shirley Temple is about as iconic as it gets when it comes to film history, and despite how many films I’ve seen in my lifetime, I had somehow managed to never see a film with Shirley Temple in it. When I volunteered to check out this film, I honestly thought it was going to be the 1980 version of the film that had Walter Matthau and Julie Andrews, simply because I didn’t realize that there were at least three versions of the film that were made. Despite the mixup, I was happy to get a chance to see the film and find out for myself what made Shirley Temple such a cinematic darling on the screen and made her memorable enough to even have a drink named after her. Personally, I’m not sure if this is the best example of her work, but it is certainly a product of its time.