Pretty Poison (1968)

4.5 / 5  Feb '10
Tagline: She's such a sweet girl. He's such a nice boy. They'll scare the hell out of you.
Directed by: Noel Black
Written by: Lorenzo Semple Jr., Stephen Geller
Actors include: Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Black Comedy
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I actually thought this was really quite charming, who'da thought that Anthony Perkins could be out crazied? In this film he plays somewhat of a sociopath ex-con who convinces a simple beautiful young woman (Tuesday Weld) that he's a secret FBI agent. He charms her with tales of his imaginary life and even convinces her she's working with the FBI all in the name of getting back at the chemical company that fired him. When they go on a "mission" to rig the collapse of part of the building things go really wrong when they are spotted by the night watchman. It's really a bizarre film because Tuesday's character is really naive and well seemingly dense but yet well appearances aren't always what they seem. This is one unusually creative and fun to watch crime film with well written characters that seem surprisingly real and some nice violence. You can't go wrong with this one and there certainly aren't many like it....sort of like Bonnie and Clyde for the mentally disturbed!

Availability:  On DVD

The Parallax View (1974)

4.5 / 5 Feb '10
Tagline: There is no conspiracy. Just twelve people dead.
Directed by: Alan J. Pakula
Written by: David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Actors include: Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels
Genre: Thriller
Length: 102 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Somehow the first 3/4 of the film is non-stop excitement...I mean it's like they crammed every action packed trick they've seen in every thriller past into one movie! Some are going to find this to be overkill...but not me, I thought that was awesome! There is even a fight scene on top of the Seattle space needle, it doesn't get more thrilling than that! The plot is about the assassination of a Governor, although the higher ups are claiming that there was no conspiracy though we start to learn that their might have been. See folks that were in the same room as the assassination when it occured are now turning up dead. When a panicked Woman who believes they were trying to killer her tells her tale to reporter Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty), he doesn't believe her either...until he has no choice! From there he's on an unstoppable and reckless mission to find out what really happened no matter what! The character of Joseph is a little ridiculous, I mean this guy really is entirely fearless apparently and has unlimited resources. Aside from that it does contain a video sequence of clips that goes on for way too long and things start to slow up a bit towards the end unfortunately. If it had kept the momentum it started with I would declare it to be one of the best thrillers ever...as is it's only amazing!

Availability:  On DVD