There’s no shortage of love for writer/director/producer Larry Cohen in this space.
It’s now a couple of months on since his passing, and I think we can safely say that while not all of his movies were great (some may have even been downright bad), he always exuded a true independent spirit while making films intended to be entertaining, his last two theatrical features being no exception.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Original Release Date: March 22, 1990
Many filmmakers have done great New York movies (William Friedkin and Martin Scorsese perhaps chief among them), but few could do NYC on a budget like Larry Cohen (though this one did have a little more money behind it than usual).
Which is not to say that The Ambulance is on the level of The French Connection or Taxi Driver (far from it, to be honest), but there is a certain je ne sais quoi about it that still resonates with those familiar with the city today.
Eric Roberts plays a Marvel Comics illustrator (before you even ask, yes, Stan Lee is in the movie in his first film appearance) who meets a girl on the street. She collapses and is taken away in a ambulance. The only trouble is that he can’t seem to find her in any known hospital, thus igniting the mystery plot.
If I have one big issue with The Ambulance, it’s that the tone is a bit muddled. It’s a little more lighthearted than you’d expect, which isn’t the worst thing, but overall the movie would have benefited from a harder edge.
However, the cast is solid, especially James Earl Jones in a literal scenery-chewing role, and there’s some classic death-defying practical stunt-work; and, on the whole, the film just looks good (shout-out to cinematographer Jacques Haitkin, who does action unit work on a lot of big movies these days).
It’s not Larry Cohen’s best movie, but, like much of his work, it’s fun, enjoyable, and an interesting time capsule of pre-Giuliani New York.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)
Original Release Date: May 10, 1996
So, it’s Super Bowl weekend, and I’m sitting in a Pam Grier marathon at Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers. Movie #1 was Jackie Brown, which is great, but basically impossible for any other film to follow; Movie #2 was Friday Foster; and Movie #3 was Scream Blacula Scream. After #2 and #3, I said to myself, “You know, I think I would have enjoyed those a lot more had they been directed by Larry Cohen.”
Enter Movie #4: Original Gangstas, his last theatrical feature (Movie #5 was Black Mama, White Mama, just in case you were curious).
Shot on location in Gary, Indiana (the murder capital of the U.S. at the time, and sadly still deeply struggling today), Original Gangstas is mainly a big Blaxploitation reunion, featuring an incredible top-to-bottom cast, including Fred Williamson (Hammer), Jim Brown (Slaughter), Pam Grier (Coffy), Paul Winfield (Gordon’s War), Richard Roundtree (Shaft), and Ron O’Neal (Super Fly).
It may seem like an odd fit for someone like Larry Cohen to direct, but he and Fred Williamson go all the way back to Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem in 1973, so he’s well familiar with the tradition at play, and of course he brings his trademark budget-efficient panache to the Midwestern venue; in particular getting a lot of mileage out of Gary’s abandoned Union Station.
Original Gangstas was a flop at the time of it’s release, and I can understand why (I mean, it’s no Boyz n the Hood); for one thing, the synthesized music score hasn’t aged well at all, and thematically it’s a bit messy, but, again, it’s entertaining, and it’s fun to see so many familiar faces (both young and old).
I’ll admit, I may be over-hyping it, but in this case I’m not going to feel bad about it.
Seeing as how it’s nearly impossible to talk about Avengers: Endgame without spoiling anything (though I do give it a hearty recommendation if you’re the least bit interested), it seems as good an opportunity as any to talk about three films that I imagine the statute of limitations for spoilers has expired on, at least for anyone who’s old enough to drink.
I’ll speak only for myself here, but I see Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight triptych as the defining movie trilogy of my generation. Part of that is personal taste, part of that is timing (Batman Begins came out as I was graduating high school, Dark Knight heading into my senior year of college, and Dark Knight Rises a couple years into my first 9-to-5 job), but mostly it comes down to cultural impact.
For better or worse (mostly worse, to be honest, but I don’t hold other people’s incompetent stylistic plagiarism against Nolan), these films’ version of Batman and his universe is likely the genesis and certainly the embodiment of what I refer to as Post-9/11 Realism. You can see it in other franchises (or attempted franchises): James Bond; Jaffa/Silver’s Planet of the Apes; new American Godzilla; the DCEU; FANT4STIC; and so on. Even Mission: Impossible, as outright fun as those movies have been in the new millennium, there’s definitely a tinge of seriousness that feels Dark Knight-esque.
But, hey. We’re here to talk about some Batman movies, so let’s talk about some Batman movies.
Original Release Date: June 17, 2005
Weirdly enough, I don’t remember a lot of hype for Batman Begins at the time of its release. It was almost as if it snuck up on us with great stealth (as a ninja should).
Oh, sure, I’d been following the rumor mill for years (more on that later), but deep down I think we almost didn’t believe that it was actually happening, probably because back in my day people didn’t reboot franchises every three years like certain hack studios do today, so despite the fact that eight whole years had passed, the debacle of Batman & Robin was still fresh in our minds.
And, wow; what a sea change.
To go from the candy-coated Gothic neon of the Burton and Schumacher films to the down-and-dirty grittiness of Batman Begins was nothing short of mind-blowing (to their credit, the filmmakers of Casino Royale were able to recapture this feeling a year later, and to greater profit). I think I went out and saw it three times in theaters (which would become something of a tradition with this trilogy, though not unmerited). What’s interesting now though, looking back, is that while I wouldn’t necessarily call it more fantastical, it’s certainly more dreamlike (some might say more “comic book”) than its sequels.
Still, despite the fact that it was a top ten hit both domestically and worldwide, it seems as if a number of people still sleep on this one today, but for fans of the Batman, it was the shot in the arm we desperately needed, and still very much appreciate.
Rating: ★★★★★
Original Release Date: July 18, 2008
If I may jump back for a second to about 2001, I remember when the big rumor about the yet-unproduced Batman reboot was that it would be Batman: Year One (which later turned out to be a quality DC animated feature), to be directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starring as Batman, wait for it, none other than Aaron Eckhart.
Obviously, none of that ever materialized (and may only have ever existed as rumor in the first place), but flashing forward in time, while everybody was freaking out about Heath Ledger being cast as The Joker, I was just happy that Eckhart finally got some sort of consolation prize.
But enough about rumors, as fun as they may be.
I was so excited to see the sequel to Batman Begins that I rounded up a crew to go see, of all movies, I Am Legend, opening night, in IMAX, because I’d learned there’d be a special preview of The Dark Knight. Little did we know we’d be treated to the entire bank heist scene, which, believe me when I tell you this, when that opening shot of the city in broad daylight hit the screen, I thought I was going to fall out of my seat. It was an indelible moment that I still think about today. We’d all grown up going to IMAX films at museums and such, and I’d seen a few movies blown up for the larger screen, but to see a feature film actually shot in the format itself was, again, mind-blowing.
Honestly, by the time I got around to seeing the full movie (again, opening night, in IMAX), my expectations were so ridiculously high that I probably should have been disappointed in some way, but I wasn’t. In fact, at the time, I’d say my expectations were exceeded. Pretty close to miraculous if you ask me.
And I know I wasn’t alone on that.
Rating: ★★★★½
Original Release Date: July 20, 2012
My memories of this one aren’t as clear as they are for its predecessor, but it was a similar overall experience (though I do remember one of my workmates at the time living in Newark and waking up one morning to the sight of Gotham City Police vehicles parked outside his front door). My friend and I went to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol opening night in IMAX to see the special preview, which again was the amazing opening scene of the movie (and featuring a different audio mix for Bane than the final version of the film).
Suffice it to say though, I think we were all a little less hyped for this one in the wake of Heath Ledger’s untimely death. There’d been rumors that the reason for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s casting was to replace him as The Joker (which, in retrospect, I think could have worked, especially if his screen time was limited), but ultimately The Dark Knight Rises proceeded forth on its own terms, forging a new and different direction while ambitiously merging the previously unrelated stories of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to an all-out conclusion.
I remember many people being highly critical of this one at the time, but I’ve always enjoyed it. It may stretch the bounds of realism in a more pronounced way than the two films before it, but all-in-all it draws out a fitting end to the character of Batman according to Nolan’s vision.
As they say, go big or go home.
Rating: ★★★★☆
So, what did I actually learn from seeing all three of these films in IMAX in one day (to celebrate Batman’s 80th Birthday)?
Well, I learned that while each movie is decidedly worth the price of admission on its own (which I already knew, but still), when you line all three of them up in such a direct comparison, it becomes obvious that Batman Begins is the best of the bunch (despite having no actual IMAX footage), which I honestly did not believe up until a few weeks ago when this event happened. The thing about Begins is that the layering of the story and the pacing is just so good, and as big and as grand as its sequels are, they just as obviously have third act pacing issues, which isn’t the worst thing, but it’s noticeable, and forces me to nick some points off.
Another thing I learned is that despite the great performance from Health Ledger (and it is Great), and despite The Dark Knight’s snub being the reason for The Academy opening up the Best Picture Oscar to more than five films per year, the gulf in quality between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises is not nearly as wide as the consensus would have you believe. In fact, at this point, if you said you liked the latter better than the former, I wouldn’t hold it against you.
Mostly though, I got a great refresher in knowing that these movies would not be what they are without Christopher Nolan. His passion for shooting on real film, for doing effects in camera as much as humanly possible, his knack for great (and I mean truly seamless) miniature work, his blissful ignorance that allows him to cast roles based on merit rather than reputation, all of these things flow out of who he is, what he cares about, and his artistic vision. He’s a great storyteller, to be sure, but the way you tell stories has an impact on the stories you tell, and I couldn’t be happier that this trilogy came from his heart, mind, body, and soul.
At least in the world of live-action, this version of Batman may never be topped. I’m not saying it’s completely flawless, but I’ll tell you this, I don’t think anyone will ever put such care into it ever again. In this world of digital 4-D cleanliness, having these gritty, tactile, analog films is like a warm blanket I wouldn’t trade for anything.
God save the king.
P.S. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here before, but if you’ve never seen Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, you should definitely check it out. There are some amazing parallels between James Mason’s version of Captain Nemo and Liam Neeson’s character in Batman Begins.
King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen
Written and Directed by Steve Mitchell Interviewees: J.J. Abrams, Rick Baker, Eric Bogosian, Barbara Carrera, Larry Cohen, Joe Dante, James Dixon, F.X. Feeney, Robert Forster, Megan Gallagher, Mick Garris, Yaphet Kotto, Paul Kurta, John Landis, Laurene Landon, Traci Lords, Michael Moriarty, Frank Pesce, Tara Reid, Eric Roberts, Martin Scorsese, Fred Williamson Soundtrack: Joe Kraemer
Even before seeing this documentary, I was reasonably familiar with Larry Cohen, as I’d seen his collaborations with Bill Lustig (aka the ManiacCoptrilogy and Uncle Sam), as well as (and perhaps more importantly) The Stuff, which he wrote, produced, and directed (as he often did), and which I have great affection for.
If you’re completely unfamiliar with Larry Cohen (which I imagine is most people), he’s mostly known for being a purveyor of low-budget exploitation films throughout the Seventies and Eighties, but he actually started out as a mainstream television writer (including creating a little series called Branded), and he’s continued to sell screenplays throughout the Nineties and into the Aughts (most notably Phone Booth).
More often than not telling stories on the streets of New York (where he was born and raised), Cohen was notorious for shooting without permits and stealing whatever shots he could to add production value without adding to the budget, giving his films a realism and an energy beyond many other similarly budgeted projects.
The documentary itself isn’t as out-and-out entertaining as, say, Electric Boogaloo, but this is more than made up for by the content, as Larry’s career arc is quite fascinating unto itself. Mostly though, King Cohen is a testament to choosing artistic control over more money, and a record of a time gone by when Americans were allowed to enjoy a little more everyday danger (before the terrorists won).
Whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker, a cinephile, or just a fan of documentaries, this is a worthwhile watch all-around.
Rating: ★★★★☆
God Told Me To
Original Release Date: October 22, 1976 Written and Directed by Larry Cohen Cast: Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, Sylvia Sidney, Sam Levene, Robert Drivas, Mike Kellin, Richard Lynch, Sammy Williams, Harry Bellaver, Andy Kaufman, Randy Jurgensen, Mason Adams
Soundtrack: Frank Cordell
I’d seen the trailer for this at many an Alamo Drafthouse pre-show and always laughed it off, but, to my surprise, God Told Me To is highly watchable, engaging, and, in general, probably much better than it has any right to be (although the final button didn’t make much sense to me, but I’m feeling generous, so I can forgive that).
The film starts out as something of a police procedural. There’s a string of mysterious mass murders perpetrated by separate and unrelated people. The only element that connects them is they all tell NYPD Det. Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco, in one of his best performances) that “God told me to,” before they themselves die. Det. Nicholas, being a devout Catholic (yet maintaining an extra-marital affair; it’s complicated), is understandably shaken by this, yet is nevertheless determined to discover the truth behind the murders, be it God, Satan, mass hysteria, or something else entirely.
I won’t say anymore about the plot as it would spoil the movie (spoiler alert: they reveal it in the aforementioned documentary), but, suffice it to say, the movie most likely does not go where you think it will, and as such is an enjoyable ride.
Is it a masterpiece? Hardly, but if nothing else it’s noteworthy for featuring Andy Kaufman in his first role (in one of those trademark grandiose Larry Cohen stolen sequences), and, as Cohen’s films often do, it punches above its weight class.
