Assault on Precinct 13

Having seen They Live before Assault on Precinct 13 which was made over 10 years before I see the similarities. Two characters, different in many ways, are thrown in the middle of a situation they have to work together to get out of. Both films depict the grittiness of the city as people struggle to stay alive and neither film gives an explanation as to why the situation even began.

The two female characters contrast each other as one stands up willing to defend herself while the other cowards in fear. Oddly enough she is also the only one to suggest a reasonable solution to their predicament.

Every character puts in effort to fight the gang relentlessly attacking them and as in many John Carpenter films there is no decipherable hero although some may argue it is Napoleon Wilson for triumphing against the odds.

Trivia

• The story that Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) tells about his father sending him to the police station when he was 6 years old with a note, is actually a true story of Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock told this to Francois Truffant in Truffaut's book "Hitchcock".
• John Carpenter has said that he based his score to this film on both Lalo Schifrins's score to Dirty Harry (1971) and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".

Sources:
IMDB

Dog Day Afternoon

After watching Dog Day Afternoon I was interested in researching the film and the story of John Wojtowicz. Writer Frank Pierson met Wojtowicz shortly before his death in 2006. When speaking to him he began to see a noticeable difference between the character Al Pacino portrays on screen based on his screenplay. Sonny as a character is more aware of his surroundings, John on the other hand seems only interested in taking what he needs from people. In the case of the public, more specifically Pierson, it is attention. Wojtowicz original intentions were in good nature, but judging from his interview he liked the attention he gained afterward moving his focus instead on publicity. I find the contrast between fact and fiction fascinating. If Sonny were written differently would I have felt the same about him? Would he be just as likable? His personality is what captivates you and ultimately causes his downfall.

A reoccurring theme in films about soldiers coming back from war, as we've seen in Coming Home, is the psychological damage it causes. We are aware Sonny and Sal are Vietnam vets and the effects it had on both of them is quite different. Sal is at the ready to shoot any hostage because killing is nothing to him. The same can be said for how each hostage reacts to robbery. One minute they are huddled in a room together, and later a woman is playfully tossing a gun around with no intent to overpower Sal and Sonny.

Trivia

• John Cazale's role as Sal was originally intended for an 18-year-old, which was the age of the real Sal.
• In the original script, Sonny and his trans-sexual lover were supposed to take part in a scene outside the bank in which a heart-felt goodbye was to take place along with a kiss. Al Pacino refused to do this, claiming it would take away from the phone conversation between Sonny and Leon. Frank Pierson was forced to make appropriate changes. This resulted in the just telephone conversation instead.
• Other than fake sweat, there was no make-up used in the rest of the film.
• SPOILER: Even though this film is about a bank robbery, and has several firearms throughout the whole film, only two shots are fired. The first is when Sonny (Al Pacino) shoots his rifle at a window to scare off the police that are trying to go around the back of the bank. The second and final one is at the end when Murphy (Lance Henriksen) shoots Sal (John Cazale) in the head, resulting to his death.

Sources:

IMDB
Wikipedia
Based On A True Story
Karyn Kay
Word Press

Saturday Night Fever

The opening sequence of Saturday Night Fever is very similar to Shaft not only in the sense it's the main character, male, walking through the streets of New York, but it gives insight into who the character is based on their interactions.




We get the idea Tony is a young, working class, ladies man with little direction in his life. Tony's family is very traditional, his father is used to working to support his family while his mother does housework. When his mother mentions getting a job, his father becomes angry, later we see similarities in the way Tony treats women. He sees women as nothing more than sex objects until he meets Stephanie who wont even give him the time of day. Used to being wanted by women, he sees this as a challenge. When he finally does get a date with her she speaks nothing, but how great her life is and all the famous people she's met. Later in the film Tony loses his job to help Stephanie move only to get it back when he returns because the customers and store owner like him. The store owner tells him he has a career at his store, at that point Tony realizes his life is going nowhere and he doesn't want to end up working in the store for the next 15 years.

His life consists of working during the day and going out to the club with his childish friends. Their juvenile antics catch up to them after a night drinking causes Bobby to fall off the bridge. Tony re-evaluates his life and the film ends with him apologizing to Stephanie for disrespecting her. He agrees to remain friends as well as move to Manhattan to start a career. The viewer isn't sure if Tony is capable of changing for the better, he is used to being the center of attention at the club, but can he deal with being a nobody?

Trivia

• The film was rated R when it was released in late 1977. The studio was so eager to attract more young people to the film because they were buying the soundtrack album, that the film was cut by a few minutes and the shorter version was given a PG rating. The PG version was released in 1978. Both versions were released on VHS but only the R rated version was released on DVD.
• When they shot the first bridge scene, director John Badham kept secret from Donna Pescow the fact that when 'the guys "fell off" the bridge they actually landed on a platform a few feet below. Badham and the other actors didn't tell her about the platform because they wanted a genuine look of horror and anger on Annette's face when Tony, Double-J and Joey appeared to fall off. Therefore Donna's reaction to them falling, and her facial expressions turning from horror and shock to outright anger, were real, and her next line, "YOU FUCKERS!", was not scripted.

• This was one of the very first films to utilize the Steadicam, a camera-stabilizing device

Sources:
IMDB
youtube

Shaft

Shaft may not have been the first blaxploitation film, but it stands out for its hero. A hero previous to Shaft's release was notably missing. Even people not able to relate to the main character found the film as a way to escape the reality of racism. Finally seeing high levels of success being accomplished by a black person acknowledged on screen helped boost morale.

I don't agree with Quentin Tarantino about the misuse of the theme. Director Gordon Parks, opens by establishing the main character, as he walks through the city the audience gets a feel for him as a normal guy based on his interactions. A dramatic opening would be too cliche for Shaft. The lyrics back his entrance with describing John Shaft's smoothness, courage, and sex appeal

Trivia

• Was rumored to be written as just another detective movie, with a white detective in the lead, but, after the success of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), the film was rewritten and recast as a blaxploitation movie. This story has been told several times by director 'Melvin van Peebles'. The Ernest Tidyman novel which was the basis for the film is about a black detective and not a white one.

Taxi Driver

At the beginning we see signs of Travis Bickle's mental instability when he takes a job as a taxi driver at night, spends mornings in porn theaters, and in between drinks heavily and pops pills. It isn't until he is rejected by Betsey how socially inept Travis is. Loneliness and alienation causes him to become increasingly disturbed, eventually driving him to become violent. In a heroic effort he intends to shoot the presidential candidate and himself. After his efforts fail he instead plans to save Iris from her atypical lifestyle. We know Travis took part in the Vietnam War, but never find out what happened to him which may explain his flaws.

Martin Scorsese forces the viewer to gather an opinion on whether or not Travis was a hero by the end of the film. Sport is perceived as a bad person by society's standards for what he does, but we see he treats Iris with care in the scene where they dance together. Iris tells Travis briefly in the scene at the diner there is nothing for her at home, and shows no interest in leaving New York. After Travis murders Sport and his gang, we don't hear from Iris. She goes back home to Pittsburgh, and the only remaining sign of her is a letter her father wrote to Travis


Viewers debate over interpretation of the end of the film. Did Travis die at the end and fantasize his heroism? Is society so disgusted by Sport's 'job' they praised Travis as being a hero instead of a criminal?

Trivia

• Robert De Niro worked twelve hour days for a month driving cabs as preparation for this role. He also studied mental illness.
• Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear.

Sources:

IMDB

Jaws

Jaws is to swimming what later film Friday the 13th is to camping. Hearing the first two notes of Jaws' theme starts a frenzy as it is synonymous with impending doom. Accompanying John William's score is the shark's perspective as it seeks out its prey making the scene much more intense.

Fear of the shark always lingers with low angled camera shots of feet scurrying across the shore.

Spielberg executes fear well without being overtly gory. He builds suspense by only giving hints as to how massive the shark is. The big pay off doesn't come until the end of the film, but not before a tease of its head popping out the water shocking the main character and the viewer.

The shot below foreshadows the boats demise in a subtle way.
As Hooper and Chief Brody swam back to shore I was left thinking Jaws isn't the only shark in the water. Who is to say they get there safely?

Trivia

• The color red is never used in any clothes or any backgrounds as Spielberg wanted it to be only seen as blood.
• After the shark was built, it was never tested in the water, and when it was put in the water at Martha's Vineyard, it sank straight to the ocean floor. It took a team of divers to retrieve it.
• To create the sound of a drowning woman during post-production, Susan Backlinie was positioned, head upturned, in front of a microphone, while water from above was poured down into her throat
• SPOILER: Quint's name comes from the Latin word for "fifth". Quint is the fifth person killed by the shark (after Chrissie Watkins, Alex Kintner, disembodied head in boat, and Michael's sailing teacher).
  
  

Sources:
IMDB
Horror Stew

The Conversation

Nothing is as it seems in The Conversation, what seemingly is a general conversation between a couple is far more. Through Harry, a loner surveillance expert's planted microphone, and the camera's perspective we follow the couple as they stroll the crowded park only knowing what he knows.

It isn't until a meeting with the director goes awry Harry becomes concerned with his intentions once he has what he wants. Distracted by his concerns a normally reserved Harry opens up to an attractive woman only to have the tapes stolen from him.

The climax arises in a Hitchcock-esque build up as Harry searches a hotel room after suspecting a murder. All seems well, but that's just what you are meant to think.

Harry has listened to the tapes multiple times, it isn't until he knows the truth that the words "he would kill us if he had the chance" took on a new meaning with an emphasis on the word us. Paranoia sets in when he realizes he is being listened in on, causing a calm and collective man to turn into someone more crazed and agitated .

Trivia

• Originally envisioned as a horror movie with Marlon Brando.
• David Shire's original music was composed prior to production and played for the actors prior to their scenes to get them into the proper moods.

Sources:
IMDB
Reel To Reel