Larry Cohen – People Talking

Larry Cohen Twofer – ‘The Ambulance’ and ‘Original Gangstas’ – Perpetual Motion

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?

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)

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.

Because we love Larry Cohen.

Rating: ★★★★☆

New and Old Twofer – ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ and Larry Cohen’s ‘Special Effects’ – A Bundle of Meh

Bad Times at the El Royale

Written and Directed by Drew Goddard
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Chris Hemsworth, Manny Jacinto, Jim O’Heir, Alvina August, Nick Offerman, Mark O’Brien, Xavier Dolan
Soundtrack: Michael Giacchino

Bad Times at the El Royale is not the worst movie ever, nor would I even say, “It sucks.” However, it’s not nearly as clever as it thinks it is (or as most people seem to think it is).

The biggest and most glaring issue is that for a film that’s nearly two-and-a-half hours long, the amount of information you receive is borderline shockingly low, which I could abide if it was super-stylized (a la Mandy, or something more Tarantino-esque like Inglourious Basterds), but it’s really not. It’s more plot-driven than character-driven, and dare I say neither the characters nor the performances are all that special.

It’s a shame because I like Drew Goddard for his work on The Cabin in the Woods and The Martian, but something just didn’t quite jell here. Maybe trimming some of the fat to reduce the runtime and quicken the pace would have been an improvement unto itself, but I’m really just spit-balling here; who knows what would have worked?

Again, I didn’t hate it, and if you’re still really curious it might be worth a Redbox rental down the line, but that’s about as much of a recommendation as I can give it.

Rating: ★★½ (out of five)

Special Effects

Original Release Date: November 16, 1984
Written and Directed by Larry Cohen
Cast: Zoë Lund, Eric Bogosian, Brad Rijn, Kevin O’Connor, Bill Oland, H. Richard Greene, Steven Pudenz
Soundtrack: Michael Minard

In our [hopefully continuing] little series on the life and works of Larry Cohen, Special Effects has decidedly been the biggest disappointment.

Much like Bad Times at the El Royale, I didn’t hate it. It at least has the trademark Larry Cohen (and vintage New York City) energy to keep you going, but it suffers from a lack of a strong lead performance (or supporting performance for that matter), and a lack of just plain old verisimilitude. As talented a screenwriter as he is, and as much as I appreciate the influences from, say, Vertigo, there’s an uncanny valley effect to the story here that not even Cohen can overcome, and it’s difficult to not realize how insane and unrealistic it all is.

Again, it’s a shame, because obviously I like Larry Cohen, and I don’t think Zoë Lund and Eric Bogosian are untalented, but the film is a misfire, plain and simple.

Rating: ★★½ (out of five)

New & Old Twofer – ‘Mandy’ and ‘Q: The Winged Serpent’ – Reel Monsters

Mandy

Directed by Panos Cosmatos
Written by Panos Cosmatos (story and screenplay) & Aaron Stewart-Ahn (screenplay)
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Bill Duke, Richard Brake, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouere, Hayley Saywell
Soundtrack: Jóhann Jóhannsson

Wow, so this one really took me by surprise.

I saw the trailer and figured, “Okay, crazy horror movie with Nic Cage, definitely at least worth checking out.”

What I was not expecting was, quite frankly, one of the best films of the year so far.

Right off the bat, I’ll say it’s a lot to take in (like, A LOT), which will undoubtedly turn some people off; not so much in the story, but in all the other trappings such as lighting, music, occasional animation cutaways, the gore (though in some ways that was less than I expected), and a largely deliberate pace.

The thing is though, it’s just so dang artful, and as dark and crazy as everything is, it’s not just a totally raw feel-bad experience like Hostel or some other torture porn nonsense; there’s a heart and soul somewhere in there through all the muck.

As far as performances go, it’s the best thing Nic Cage has done in about fifteen, maybe even twenty years. He doesn’t have to deliver too much in terms of dialogue but he definitely gives life to a mostly subdued character who could’ve just been a robot in the hands of another actor.

However, the real showstopper is Linus Roache as the villainous Jeremiah Sand, who most people will know as Bruce Wayne’s daddy in Batman Begins and/or ADA Michael Cutter on Law & Order. I won’t give away too much, you can get a decent glimpse from the trailer anyway, but let’s just say he lets it all hang out in a big way.

As I said before, the music plays an integral role as well, and the score from the late Jóhann Jóhannsson is on par with (if not outright superior to) any of his work for Denis Villeneuve, or Hans Zimmer’s score for Blade Runner 2049.

All told, I have to hand it to writer/director Panos Cosmatos (son of the late action director extraordinaire George P. Cosmatos) for bringing to life a colorful mashup of Dario Argento, “Satanic Panic”, classic Ridley Scott, and a bit of Tarantino for good measure. I’ve not yet seen his previous film, Beyond the Black Rainbow, but it’s definitely on my watch list now.

Oh, and how could I forget a wonderful cameo from Bill Duke, who will always be the best thing?

Rating: ★★★★½

Q: The Winged Serpent

Original Release Date: October 29, 1982
Written and Directed by Larry Cohen
Cast: Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David Carradine, Richard Roundtree, James Dixon, Malachy McCourt, Fred J. Scollay, Peter Hock, Ron Cey, Mary Louise Weller
Soundtrack: Robert O. Ragland

You go into this movie thinking you’re going to see a monster chomp down on a bunch of people, and, to be fair, that does happen, but what you don’t bargain for is Michael Moriarty consuming the scenery at a rate that would make Pac-Man blush.

Not that that’s a bad thing, because his performance is arguably the best aspect of the movie, but it’ll take you by surprise if you’re not ready for it.

Really though, the reason we’re even talking about this film is as part of an unofficial series on the life and works of Larry Cohen (that’ll have at least one more installment; hopefully more).

Shot in eighteen days, entirely on location in the City of New York, and notorious for causing a front-page-worthy panic on account of men firing fully-automatic weapons atop the Chrysler Building, Q is far from a masterpiece, but it is what you might call a fun romp.

Essentially an exploitation version of a 1950s Ray Harryhausen picture (but somehow with even less budget), the titular Q is the ancient Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a giant serpent-bird mysteriously brought back to existence, feasting on New Yorkers blinded by the mid-day sun, and taking up residence in Manhattan’s most beautiful skyscraper.

In addition to Michael Moriarty, the movie features competent turns from David Carradine and Richard Roundtree as a pair of detectives, Candy Clark as Moriarty’s distressed wife, and long-time Cohen good-luck charm James Dixon as another policeman.

Again, Q is a good time (especially with the right crowd) and a great case-study in low-budget film-making, but overall and in terms of the Cohen canon I didn’t find it quite as interesting as God Told Me To.

Still fun though.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

New & Old Twofer – ‘King Cohen’ and ‘God Told Me To’

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 Maniac Cop trilogy 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.

Rating: ★★★½