The port city of San Francisco serves as the backdrop for this noir thriller that features Eli Wallach as a homicidal criminal on the trail of a heroin shipment from Hong Kong he’s expected to collect and deliver. Each shipment has been stowed in statuettes, dolls, and other such trinkets, all in the hands of…
Tag: san francisco
M*A*S*H (1979) – Period of Adjustment, Nurse Doctor, and Private Finance
Though gone, Radar casts a long shadow over the 4077th, and it has a profound effect on both B.J. (Mike Farrell) and Klinger (Jamie Farr). Period of Adjustment was written by Jim Mulligan and John Rappaport, and first aired on 22 October, 1979. While the camp comes down on Klinger constantly for not being up…
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – Destin Daniel Cretton
The MCU expands just a little further with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which explodes onto theatres on 3 September. Simu Liu, one of the talented cast members of the beloved series Kim’s Convenience steps easily onto the silver screen to assume the mantle of the titular Shang-Chi in a story that…
48 Hrs. (1982) – Walter Hill
It has been a number of decades since I watched 48 Hrs. In fact I remember watching it on videotape after I had put some kid, who I was babysitting, to bed. Watching it now, in 2021, I was stunned at how harsh, homophobic and racist the film comes across as. It also has a…
The Dead Pool (1988) – Buddy Van Horn
Dirty Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is back for one more go around in 1988’s The Dead Pool. And of all the sequels following Magnum Force, this is probably my favourite of the bunch. It’s a little sleeker, has the best cast since Magnum Force, and Harry isn’t quite as much a racist ass as he…
Sudden Impact (1983) – Clint Eastwood
Lalo Schifrin returns to score Dirty Harry’s next adventure which sees Eastwood not only starring as Dirty Harry Callahan, but serves as the film’s producer and director. After causing more problems for the city brass, and not following the law in his own investigations, Harry is assigned to a homicide case that will get him…
Star Trek: The Fearful Summons (1995) – Denny Martin Flinn
Space, the final frontier… I take up the journey with Kirk and company again this week, and was delighted in how most of The Fearful Summons read. It’s a fast read, and has the pacing of a screenplay, and even reading it, you can tell what things would be edited out of the film, or…
The Enforcer (1976) – James Fargo
Clint Eastwood returns as ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan for a third time in The Enforcer, the only film in the series not to have music by Lalo Schifrin (Jerry Fielding takes over giving us a jazzy sounding film score) and for the only time, pairs Callahan with a female homicide detective, Kate Moore, played by Tyne…
Magnum Force (1973) – Ted Post
Clint Eastwood returned as Detective ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan for a second outing in 1973’s Magnum Force, despite the fact that he seemed to be quitting at the close of the original film. This time out the gritty, and occasional racist and misogynistic film sees Harry hard at work in his beloved San Francisco, when a…
Millennium (1996) – Pilot, and Gehenna
On 25 October, 1996, the creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter (who brings along Mark Snow to deliver the score) introduced us to Frank Black, played by the incredible Lance Henriksen in Millennium, and despite the fact pilot episodes always have a lot to set up, this one gets all the pieces on the board…
The Mind Reels 