The Flim-Flam Man (1967)

The Flim-Flam Man was based on Guy Owen's 1965 novel, The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man.

As the movie begins, Jason "Curley" Tradeaway (Michael Sarrazin on his film debut), AWOL from the U.S. Army, jumps off a moving train to help Mordecai Jones (George C. Scott), a grifter who was just tossed out of a boxcar.

Mordecai takes a liking to the kid and takes him on as a shill. Together, they rip through the Southern United States locals, setting 'em up and taking 'em down, fleeing the angry marks when they have to, taking it easy when they can.

They set up a scam to relieve Mr. and Mrs. Packard (Jack Albertson and Alice Ghostly) of their daughter Bonnie Lee's (Sue Lyon) car. In their haste to get away, Mordecai drives like a madman, leaving a wake of chaos behind them in downtown Clayton, North Carolina. Sheriff Slade (Harry Morgan) and Deputy Meshaw (Albert Salmi) give chase, adding to the confusion and wreckage.

The raucous chase ends in a crash, but that's okay, because they are able to appropriate a moonshiner's truck. The hootch serves as a vehicle to scam a greedy store owner, and everything's working out just fine and dandy.

But ... uh oh, Curley and Bonnie Lee are smitten with each other, although from a distance. From a distance, that is, until he sneaks over to her house one night and they end up in each other's clutches kissing. They do a lot of kissing and talking in the next day or so, Bonnie Lee starting to sound like his conscience – thinking pragmatically, urging him to 'fess up to the sheriff and the Army.

Mordecai and Curley pull a pigeon drop on a town yokel named Jarvis Bates (Slim Pickens), who puts up $500 of his own money, then skeedaddles, thinking he's pulling one over on them.

Their luck runs out ... they're nabbed by the sheriff and his men. However, that's not the end of the story, not by a long shot.

The Flim-Flam Man is a most entertaining film, exploiting the funny side of George C. Scott, the innocent-likable side of Michael Sarrazin, and the beautiful side of Sue Lyon.

Grade: B+

Planet Terror (2007)

Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) is a go-go dancer who loses a leg in a truck accident with her old boyfriend, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez). They'd bumped into each other at the The Bone Shack restaurant, owned by J.T. Hague (Jeff Fahey), who's celebrating his 25th year in business and is loath to share his barbecue sauce recipe with anyone.

The two have no idea that things are about to get really nasty. Abby (Naveen Andrews), a chemical engineer, releases a dangerous gas when threatened by Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis), a demented military official. The gas turns people into flesh-eating, pus-worthy, majorly damaged zombie-like humans, who begin wreaking terror on the roads.

Next thing you know, Dr. William Block (Josh Brolin), the town's sinister physician, begins seeing serious cases of ulcerating sores and blistering tongues. His bisexual anesthesiologist wife, Dakota (Marley Shelton), is just a smidgen on the crazy side and is just aching to get away from him.

Dead bodies begin walking out of the morgue, Dr. Block turns horrid, and the quazi-zombies begin munching on people, including sheriff's deputies. J.T.'s brother, Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn), launches a hunt to track down these eaters of human flesh and brains.

Believe me, this is pretty ooky (i.e., gory) stuff. Funny too, especially when Dakota tries to open her car door and drive when both her hands are broken.

The group makes a stand, just like town citizens in a western movie, gun blazing in front of the burning Bone Shack before heading out on the road. Zombies stand in their way, only to explode like juicy watermelons when rammed by their vehicles.

Lots of people (281, including zombies) die in Planet of Terror, which is filmed in the scratchy, jerky movie style of the old grindhouse movie theaters of the '70s. It's even got stoppages that result in melting film and a missing reel (or so we're advised).

Co-producer Quentin Tarantino has a small role as an infected military prison guard who gets stabbed in his right eye by Cherry's splintered wooden leg stump and his left eye by Dakota's hypodermic injector.

A shorter version of Planet Terror was released as a double feature with Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, under the title, Grindhouse. The movie opens with a fake trailer of Machete, which subsequently was made into a movie starring Danny Trejo in 2010.

Grade: B-

Bambi (1942)

Walt Disney's fifth animated feature, Bambi was based on the book, Bambi, A Life in the Woods, by Felix Saltern of Austria.

The forest awakens one fine morning with great excitement, for the new prince is born – Bambi (voiced by Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright and John Sutherland), as innocent and wobbly as a new-born fawn might be, the son of his mother (Paula Winslowe) and the Great Prince of the Forest (Fred Shields).

Soon he's cavorting with his newfound friends: Thumper (Peter Behn, Tim Davis, and Sam Edwards) and Flower (Stan Alexander, Tim Davis, and Sterling Holloway), listening to the wise advice of sleepy Friend Owl (Will Wright), and learning the difference between flowers, butterflies and skunks.

At first bashful, then irritable at another young fawn's (Faline, voiced by Cammie King and Ann Gillis) attentions, Bambi and Faline become lifelong friends.

Unfortunately, danger is always present, particularly when Man enters the forest with his guns. Mom becomes victim to a hunter, which was very scary to me when I saw the movie as a child.

The best segment, in my humble opinion, is the young animals' first spring season, when they all become "twitterpated," enamored of females for the first time. For Thumper the bunny, and Flower the Skunk, it's all cutesy lovey dovey, but for Bambi, it's a little more serious ... rutting and fighting, all of which bonds Bambi to Faline.

There's not a heck of a lot of story substance to Bambi, but there are some philosophical thoughts and life lessons that every child should be aware of – such as “Be careful and always watch out for danger.” Bambi is more a vehicle to entertain kids with delightful characters, animation, and of course, memorable Disney music.

It's a delightful film; that is, if as an adult you haven't become jaded to cartoons. I have to admit that if I'm not in the mood, the old animated movies can be quite boring and I'm easily distracted. Having said that, you should know I had at least one false start.

All of the voice-over talent were uncredited.

Ranked by the American Film Institute as the #3 animated film of all time, Bambi was produced on a budget of $858,000 and brought in more than $267 million at the box office.

Grade: B-

The Prophecy 3: The Ascent (2000)

The angelic war continues, in Heaven and on Earth. Street preacher Danyael Rosales (Dave Buzzotta), the nephilim born of Valerie Rosales in The Prophecy II, is gunned down while delivering his "God doesn't care about us" message to his followers. But, after all, he IS the son of angel Danyael, so he does have some powers – regeneration, for example.

Because his human assassin wasn't able to take Danyael's heart, the archangel Zophael (Vincent Spano) goes after Danyael himself.

But Danyael is not alone. Gabriel (Christopher Walken), formerly the series' nemesis archangel, is now human (re, The Prophecy II), serving as Danyael’s protector (similar to the Arnold Schwarzenegger cyborg in the Terminator movie series). Gabriel has expanded his capabilities, even learning to drive (and, he does look pretty good with new hairdo).

Maggie (Kayren Ann Butler), Danyael’s girlfriend, is confused when she learns Danyael has risen from the dead. Captured by Zophael, she is compelled to do his bidding. Zophael tells her that Pyriel (Scott Cleverdon) is coming, and that Danyael is trying to kill him. What he doesn't tell her is that Pyriel is the the Angel of Genocide who wants to overthrow and succeed God.

Danyael, Zophael, Maggie and Gabriel converge on Gila Flats of the Hualapai Nation, where Danyael plans to confront Pyriel.

An epic battle with Zophael ensues, followed by an even greater one with Pyriel, one on which the fate of mankind's future in Heaven (and Maggie's life) depends. Thank God for divine intervention.

Steve Hytner reprises his role as coroner Joseph from the previous two Prophecy films; Mary (Moriah Shining Dove Snyder), once again appears as Mary, the Native American child in The Prophesy II.

Released as a home video and not shown in theaters, The Prophecy 3: The Ascent is the third and (at the time) final sequel to The Prophecy (1995) and The Prophecy II (1998). Although it was billed as “The Final, Most Thrilling Chapter,” two more sequels were later produced.

The subsequent sequels are The Prophecy: Uprising and The Prophecy: Forsaken, both released in 2005. Both enjoyed theatrical release.

Grade: B

The Prophecy II (1998)

When last we saw Thomas Daggett (Bruce Abbott) in The Prophecy, he'd survived a full-on attack by the archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken), who'd come down to Earth from Heaven to claim a dark soul he wanted to use to tip a battle of heavenly angels in his favor.

It's four years later and Gabriel is back, having returned from Hell, where he was dragged off to when he lost his battle with Lucifer. Now a monk at St. Gregory's Monastery, former Los Angeles Police Department detective Thomas has prophesied the birth of a nephilim – the progeny of a human and an angel.

The prophecy comes to pass when nurse Valerie Rosales (Jennifer Beals) is seduced by the angel Danyael (Russell Wong), whom she had injured in a car accident. Not long after he leaves the hospital bed, Danyael and Valerie end up in her bed, after which he bid her farewell and vanishes.

Valerie, of course, is pregnant. Not just pregnant, but speedy pregnant. A few days later, her doctor tells her she's in her second trimester. Warned by the coroner who knew Thomas Daggett, Valerie seeks answers, learning about the schism between angels loyal to God, and those jealous of his over-attention to humans over angels.

As we learned in The Prophecy, Gabriel can use humans as helpers (especially those who have attempted suicide and are on the verge of dying). He keeps them in limbo and makes them do his bidding. His unwilling "assistant" this go-around is a teenager – Isabelle "Izzy" (Brittany Murphy).

Hampered on his search because he doesn't know how to use a dry-cleaners' computer to locate Valerie's address, Gabriel has Izzy do it for him. He finds Valerie, but Danyael comes to the rescue, revealing all to her. Danyael has to get her to Michael (Eric Roberts), who will protect her and the child.

This time, the final showdown takes place in a wasteland – Eden, "what man has made of it."

A pretty intense movie with well-constructed action scenes and some pretty good acting, The Prophecy II is fairly short (less than an hour and a half, including credits), and is the first of four sequels to the original 1995 movie.

Grade: B+

Movie Quotations 78

"Do you know how you got that dent, in your top lip? Way back, before you were born, I told you a secret, then I put my finger there and I said, 'Shhhhh!'" – Gabriel (Christopher Walken), in The Prophecy

"So, you're keeping me alive because you don't know DOS?" – Isabelle "Izzy" (Brittany Murphy), in The Prophecy II

“In the end, there's still the word. Everywhere. In heaven with angels, the Earth and stars; even the darkest part of the human soul. It was there the word burned brightest, and for a moment ... I was blinded.” – Gabriel (Christopher Walken), in The Prophecy 3: The Ascent

"Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: You're walking along, minding your own business ... when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl ... you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air ... and you completely lose your head!" – Friend Owl (voiced by Will Wright), in Bambi

"Don't shoot yourself. Don't shoot each other. But especially ... don't shoot me." – Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn), in Planet Terror

"Greed's my line, lad. Greed. Fourteen-carat ignorance. It never lets you down." – Mordecai Jones (George C. Scott), in The Flim-Flam Man

“Now listen to me you benighted muckers. We're going to teach you soldiering. The world's noblest profession. When we've done with you, you'll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilized men!” – Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery) in The Man Who Would Be King

"Alta, about a million years from now the human race will have crawled up to where the Krell stood in their great moment of triumph and tragedy. And your father's name will shine again like a beacon in the galaxy. It's true, it will remind us that we are, after all, not God." – Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen), in Forbidden Planet

"All right. What up, fellas? Hitting the showers, eh? (That sounded weird.)” – Terry Delfino (Bobby Cannavale), in Win Win

"I prefer to let you attempt to decide for yourself the probable consequence of swallowing a soul." – The Publisher (Ganjiro Nakamura), reading The Author's (Osamu Takizawa) unfinished manuscript, in Kwaidan (Chawan no Naka story)

The Prophecy (1995)

A Roman Catholic who lost his faith during the rites of ordination to priesthood, Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas) is now a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Then, into his life enters the angel Simon (Eric Stoltz).

It seems angels have come to Earth on a mission. They are looking for a dark human soul, one that will decide which side will win a war now being waged in Heaven.

Simon first battles Uziel (Jeff Cadiente), defeating him, which brings Tom into the case, trying to figure out who killed him, not knowing the victim was an angel (despite the cadaver's lack of eyes, or the coroner's discovery that he was a hermaphrodite). The only clue is an obituary in a Chimney Rock, Arizona, newspaper left in Simon's room.

Archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) also has arrived on Earth to take possession of the soul and use it for evil purpose in the battle. Needing the help of a human to obtain Simon's personal effects, Gabriel latches onto Jerry (Adam Goldberg), who's being held in limbo after a suicide attempt; among the effects Jerry obtains is the Chimney Rock obituary.

Soon, Thomas, and Gabriel and Jerry separately, are on their way to Chimney Rock. Gabriel disinters Korean War Col. Arnold Hawthorne's body, but his soul is gone, taken by Simon and hidden it in a young Chimney Rock girl named Mary (Moriah Shining Dove Snyder).

Thomas talks to Mary's teacher, Katherine Henley (Virginia Madsen), then pokes around Col. Hawthorne's home, where he finds stories and film evidence that the colonel may have been responsible for torture and massacre of Koreans during the war.

Gabriel finds out about Mary from her classmates and goes after Hawthorne's soul. But if Thomas and Katherine have anything to say about it, he's not going to get it. Gabriel needs another assistant. So he takes one from the local hospital ICU – Rachael (Amanda Plummer).

The first-ever fallen angel, Lucifer (Viggo Mortensen), appears before Katherine, then Thomas, and offers his help because if Gabriel wins the war, that would result in two Hells, and he doesn't want that.

The result? A battle between evil-evil and good-evil. Only one will win. For now.

Produced on an $8-million budget, the film brought in box office revenues of more than $16 million. The Prophecy was followed by four sequels: The Prophecy II (1998), The Ascent (2000), Uprising (2005) and Forsaken (2005).

Grade: B+