The Exterminator - James Glickenhaus - USA - (1980)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080707/

Plot by Imdb: " When John Eastland's best friend, Michael Jefferson, is mugged and left permanently crippled, he decides to do something about it. Jefferson had saved Eastland's life in Vietnam and now it's time for Eastland to get revenge for his friend. Using his old Army gear he sets out on a crusade to clean up the streets of New York using the name "The Exterminator."

One of the best vigilante flick, in my humble opinion. It's not quite up to the level of "Rolling Thunder" but close. It is equally grim and violent. And it doesn't seem outdated to me now, just think about all the Gulf War  and Afghanistan vets coming back or the ex-Yugoslavia soldiers turning to crime. The Vietnam first sequence has some gruesome moments, specially the decapitation scene that sticks with you during the movie. It makes the psychological trauma of the vigilante even more realistic. The rest is ultra classic/ vets back from hell, one of them get mugged and killed, his best friend avenge him and, realizing that crime is everywhere, goes on a rampage amongst the criminals and corrupted. It's one of those movies about the incredible urban "fauna" of New York at that time, as well. Creepy sex-shops, junkies and urban decay are everywhere. As for the bad guys, the list is almost complete : pimps, hoodlums, rapists, a powerful mobster and a senator, etc... The main characters are surprisingly all well painted. Rober Ginty is solid and never ridiculous. Even with a flamethrower in the hand. His false Nemesis, the cop that understand all too well that somebody can turn into a vigilante in this environment, is also doing a good job. The main paranoid  message, as usual, is that society is not protecting you, even when you almost gave your life for it. 

How are you protecting yourself from society ? Me, I chose to blog.

Trailer:

Ren Zhe Da aka Ninja The Final Duel - Robert Tai - Taiwan - (1986)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091636/

 Plot  from Imbd: "The Ji Ho Ninja clan vow to destroy the monks of a Shaolin temple. To do so they must first perfect their Water Spider Assault Unit, the Iron Tiger Claw, the Ninja Rock Climbing Formation and the Ninja Heaven Death Wish Blade. Luckily the Shaolin temple finds protection in the form of a good monk, two Hare Krishna's and a monk from Harlem."

I'm dedicating this review to Zoltan, international specialist of Ninja foolishness on film.

Oh my fucking GOD !!!! I've just been blinded by this visual shuriken, that left me speechless and  looking for more Taiwanese Ninja insanity ! This is just too much: Ninja's secret techniques involving giant aquatic spiders, climbing trees with demon-cat disguises and buriing oneself in the ground, before popping out like rockets. a naked woman fighter specialized in high kicks, black and white Buddhist monks  that looks like transvestite Hare-Krisna (!!), etc......I can't tell you enough about the costumes and general art direction (all over the place) but let's just say that it is a MASTERPIECE of the cheap ninja flick genre. 

Director Robert Tai has committed another major attempt against good taste in 1999 by associating with...Rudy Ray Moore - yes, Dolemite himself -  in the "Shaolin Dolemite", that I will watch very soon.

Just go for it but remember, it is extremely important to drink heavily before watching this film. Not doing so might result in serious injuries to your brain.

Trailer:

The Stunt Man - Richard Rush - USA - (1980)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081568/

Plot from Imdb: "A fugitive stumbles on a movie set just when they need a new stunt man, takes the job as a way to hide out, and falls for the leading lady."

Richard Rush, after his years documenting Hippie life, like in Psych-Out, made this movie, that only can be described as a forgotten masterpiece.

A metafiction about cinema and the creative experience of a shooting set, it deals with the reality and illusion of our lives. Almost every characters in this movie invents themselves and lives in a dual reality/fiction world: the actors of the movie, but also the director, some of the crew and the general public of movies. And ourselves as viewers of the movie. The authorities will also be led in a false "world", only thanks to the will of the director. This "great Hollywood director" Eli Cross (played by Peter O'Toole and inspired by David Lean and John Huston) is really a great character: bigger than life, this god-like figure seems to model the all world around him, according to his will and interest of the moment. Even if the escape character has his life and freedom on the line, it looks like it's just another "game" for the director. Another character to be put in one of his illusion. The mixed sequences between the life of the main character and the shooting are great: it starts by a crash between those two seemingly irreconcilable worlds in the first "bridge sequence", where a criminal without anything to loose enters by accident the world of fake and play, the stuntman world, that's gonna be his way out...or maybe his fate.

Incredibly well shot, visually abundant, at moment, it touches genius. Unfortunately the movie is way too long and some scenes could have been cut or felt unnecessary or redundant. But this is really not important as the energy of the movie is so tremendous, it will blow your mind. Some scenes are as strong as some in a Frederico Fellini movie. Technically tremendous, scenaristically incredible, artistically marvellous, this amazing movie is to be discovered immediately by every movie fan.

PS: There is a two hours long documentary about the making of this movie called: "Sinister saga- the making of The Stuntman"...shot in this metafiction style, a cross between illusion and reality.

Trailer: