Clockers

Year of Release:  1995
Director:  Spike Lee
Screenplay:  Spike Lee and Richard Price, based on the novel Clockers by Richard Price
Starring:  Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, Mekhi Phifer, Isaiah Washington, Keith David, Pee Wee Love
Running Time:  128 minutes
Genre:  Thriller, crime drama

Brooklyn, New York City:  Nineteen year old Strike (Phifer) is a "Clocker", a street level drug dealer, working for local drug dealer Rodney Little (Lindo).  When a rival dealer, who Little claims ripped him off, turns up dead, Strike's brother, Victor (Washington) confesses to the murder.  However, Victor is an honest, upstanding member of the community.  A hard-working family man who has never been in trouble with the law, and has no reason to commit murder.  Homicide detective Rocco Klein (Keitel) is convinced that Victor is innocent and taking the fall for Strike. 

Based on an acclaimed 1992 novel by Richard Price, which later served as inspiration for the TV series The Wire (2002-2008), this is an angry, stylish urban thriller.  It moves from gritty documentary-style realism, to stylish flamboyance, with Lee showcasing his trademark visual flair.  He also shows his skill with actors getting some great performances from a talented cast.  The characters are not just one dimensional, Klein is technically the hero, and does care about seeing justice done, but is also quite racist, at least in his language.  Strike is a dealer, but has moments of compassion and kindness.  Rodney Little is an avuncular father figure, and also a violent crime boss.  However the film is really about communities being ripped apart by drugs and violence, where casual murder is an everyday reality.  The film was not a success when it was first released, and seems to be an overlooked film in Lee's oeuvre, which is a real shame because it deserves a lot better and, sadly, is as relevant in  2020 as it was in 1995.

John Turturro, Mekhi Phifer and Harvey Keitel in Clockers   

They Live

Year of Release:  1988
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  John Carpenter (as Frank Armitage) based on the short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson
Starring:  Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Running Time:  94 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, action

Ever get the feeling that there is something not quite right about the world?  That there is something going on behind the scenes?

Drifter "Nada" (Piper) arrives in Los Angeles looking for work.  He discovers a pair of normal-looking sunglasses but when he puts them on he discovers subliminal messages hiding behind every billboard, advertisement and television signal instructing people to "Obey", "Consume", "Marry and Reproduce", "Conform" and so on.  Moreover, wearing the sunglasses allows him to see that many seemingly normal people are in fact skull-faced aliens in disguise.  The aliens are in the process of an insidious and successful take-over of Earth.  Needless to say, Nada can't see eye to eye with the alien invaders and makes his feelings known through the medium of punching and the use of very large guns. 

This is an enjoyable blend of science-fiction, action, satire and social commentary.  On one level it is a fun twist on the alien invasion narrative, but on another it does have a very pertinent message about how we are controlled by the media and messages that we seem  to be constantly bombarded with, now more than ever.  In fact the film is possibly more pertinent now that it was back in 1988.  Professional wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper makes for a charismatic leading man, and he handles the action scenes well, his nearly six minute punch-up with Keith David in an alley is a highlight.  None of the rest of the cast really get to make much of an impression, because it really is Piper's show.  Meg Foster in particular doesn't really have much to do.  While the film was a moderate success on it's release, it has since become a major cult film, and it's imagery has been used many times in various places. 
As well as directing and writing the screenplay (under a pseudonym), Carpenter also co-wrote the film's pulsating, noir-tinged score. 
It's an important and memorable film that is gets ever more disturbing all the time.  The film was distributed by Universal and it is unlikely that such a subversive film would be released by a mainstream studio today.  In fact, according to Carpenter, when he first pitched the film to Universal, a baffled executive asked "Where's the threat?  We all sell out every day."  Carpenter used the line in the film.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.  And I'm all out of bubblegum."
- Nada (Roddy Piper)

- They're already here in They Live

 

The Thing (1982)

Year:  1982
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  Bill Lancaster, based on the novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Starring:  Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Donald Moffat, Richard Masur, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Joel Polis
Running Time:  109 minutes
Genre:  Horror, science-fiction, action

The crew of an American research base in Antarctica rescue a huskey from being shot by a Norwegian helicopter.  However they quickly discover that the huskey is not the cute dog it looks, instead it is a shape-shifting alien life-form which can infect and perfectly imitate any other organism which it comes into contact with.  Soon the rapidly dwindling crew are forced to fight against an enemy which could literally be any of them. 

This is probably one of the great horror movies of the 1980s.  It is pretty much a streamlined fear machine, empty of any non-essentials, dedicated to scaring the audience witless.  It is most famous for it's (at the time) ground-breaking special effects, which are only slightly showing their age, and are more convincing and effective than the average computer generated effects used in the recent prequel.

John Carpenter has referred to the movie as being the first part of his "Apocalypse Trilogy" (the other two being Prince of Darkness (1987) and In the Mouth of Madness (1995)) due to the fact that, although the three films are completely unrelated to each other, they each present a potentially apocalyptic scenario.  The film is nominally a remake of the 1951 Christian Nyby-directed The Thing from Another World, which was produced by the legendary Howard Hawks.  However, Carpenter forgoes the 1951 Cold War invasion by carrots from outer space (in that film the Thing is a plant creature and not a shape-shifter) and returns to the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" which the 1951 movie was based on, and the original premise of the Thing being a shape-shifter which could be posing as any of the team.  This is where the 1982 film really works, aside from the stomach-churning special effects which feature a cavalcade of grotesque creatures which to my knowledge have never been equalled let alone bettered.  The whole idea of a small number of people being trapped together in a situation which they can't get away from (here it's winter in Antarctica and they are completely cut off from any hope of rescue or escape until spring) and anyone of your companions potentially turning against you and trying to kill you.  In fact, the humans in the film are as dangerous to each other as the creature.

The film is unusual in having a completely male cast, which Carpenter thought would make it "more intense", and right from the start you have the pressure-cooker atmosphere of guys stuck together in a hostile environment, and there are hints of tension bubbling away long before the creature presents itself.

The cast are effective and bounce off each other well, especially Kurt Russell as the whiskey-giuzzling leader of the group, MacReady, and bears a striking resemblance to late period Jim Morrison.  Mostly the dialogue isn't particularly memorable, but there are a few great lines.  Another important element to the film is Ennio Morricone's pulsating score, which resonates in the brain for a long time afterwards.

The film was not a success on it's original release, Carpenter and co blaming that on the fact that E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) with it's far more benign vision of an alien encounter was released two weeks earlier, and the movie-going public preferred their aliens sweet rather than sour.  Also many reviewers were put off by the levels of gore (influential critic Roger Ebert described it as "a great barf-bag movie").  However The Thing went on to find a strong cult audience on video and has since been re-evaluated as a key horror work. 

From the moments the opening title burns itself on to the screen to the memorably bleak and ambiguous ending, the film is a perfectly orchestrated ghost-train ride with tension so powerful you could shatter your teeth on it.

The film was followed by a prequel, also called The Thing, which was released in 2011.

It's tough work defrosting the fridge:  Kurt Russell in The Thing.