My Week of Movie Watching

Will Penny – Above-average western from 1968 stars Charlton Heston as a loner cowboy who finds himself looking after a woman and her young son in a remote cabin. They are terrorized by a family of crazies led by father Donald Pleasance and son Bruce Dern (inspired casting, in my opinion). This is a lesser known Heston role, but it is one of his best. Heston’s Penny is shy and pretty much resigned to an unattached life, but as he starts to draw close to the woman (Joan Hackett) and her son, he has to re-examine what he wants out of life. Directed by long-time TV director Tom Greis, and photographed by the great Lucien Ballard. Recommended.

A Colt Is My Passport – Stylish Japanese Noir from Takashi Nomura. This one centers on a pair of hit men who kill a crooked mobster, them find themselves betrayed by their bosses and forced to go on the run. Jo Shushido plays the lead killer, who is presented as an icy professional much like you would encounter in the films of Jean-Pierre Melville. The score gives it a distinctly American feel. Things are kept at a low simmer for much of the film, as the killers play cat-and-mouse with their pursuers, and then the film erupts in an exhilaratingly violent conclusion. Highly recommended.

Father of a Soldier – Obscure 1964 film from Russia. This one follows an elderly father going to see his son in an army hospital. When he gets there, the kid has already been released and sent back to his unit. The father is then radicalized by German atrocities and decides to enlist right there. This one is kinda sorta a promising idea, but there isn’t really much going on here. The father is presented as a pretty dim bulb, and the film doesn’t make any real grand statements about war. Despite some good battle footage, this one is a miss.