Marshall Anker Movies
Wes Craven's first film was a crude but shocking horror opus that, like George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), became a grind house hit largely because it went much further than terror films before it had been willing to go. Often compared to Ingmar Bergman's stark medieval rape drama The Virgin Spring (1960) (though one wonders whether this was influence or just coincidence), Last House on the Left follows a group of teenage girls heading into the city when they hook up with a gang of drug-addled ne'er-do-wells and are brutally murdered. The killers find their way to the home of one of their victim's parents, where both father and mother exact a horrible revenge. Like Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre two years later, Last House on the Left was an unrelievedly dark vision of contemporary horror that inspired many future films which copied its effects without achieving its visceral impact. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
This detective-themed action-adventure film spoofs The Big Sleep, which was based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Burt Reynolds plays McCoy, a hard-nosed private detective. The story has more tangles than a bowl of spaghetti, but it begins when McCoy is called to the house of Hume (Ron Weyand), an eccentric diamond dealer, and is given the task of recovering some stolen gems. McCoy is beaten by a gang of thugs to warn him off the job, and this lets him know that he's onto something really big. By the end of the film, McCoy will have hooked up with a gorgeous blonde (Dyan Cannon), driven a tank through a warehouse wall, and delivered numerous crooks to the police. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1989
- R
Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Alice Arlen and Nora Ephron, Cookie comes across as an inconsequential piece of fluff, bolstered by a quirky performance by Emily Lloyd. Lloyd is Cookie Capisco, the daughter of mobster Dino Capisco (Peter Falk), who has just finished thirteen years in prison. Dino wants to get out of jail, settle some old scores, and make up for lost time with his daughter. His illegitimate daughter, that is -- since Cookie's mother, Lenore (Dianne Wiest), has been Dino's longtime mistress. Dino's actual wife Bunny (Brenda Vaccaro) has, he thinks, been kept in the dark about Dino's mistress and his daughter. Dino decides that the best way to get to know Cookie is to hire her as his chauffeur. With her ears attuned to the conspiracies floating around Dino, she quickly discovers that her father's old crony, Carmine (Michael V. Gazzo), has been swindling him and that Dino's life is in jeopardy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, (more)
- 1999
- NR
A big bag of money and fish equals nothing but trouble for an expatriate Indian in Karma Local. Bali (Darshan Bhagat) is a young man who has just arrived in New York from India. His uncle, who sponsored his emigration to the United States, thinks Bali is lazy and gets him a job manning a newsstand in the subway. One day, a regular customer named Charlie (Josh Pais) dashes up the stand while being chased by a group of large and very unfriendly men; Charlie quickly hands Bali a large and foul smelling bag that turns out to be full of fish -- and a large amount of cash. Bali fully intends to hold on to the money for Charlie, but Charlie owes most of the loot to a thug named Balthazar (Don Creech) who doesn't really care who has the money -- or who he has to hurt to get it back. Solid performances and a streetwise flavor are the strong points of this drama, the first feature from director and star Darshan Bhagat, which was screened at the 1999 San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dharshan Ghagat, Josh Pais, (more)
