Two Martinis Late
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
directed by Jimmy T. Murakami
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
watched on Netflix Instant
I used to gripe about the titles that disappear from my Instant queue at the end of every month, but now I see each expired Netflix license as a good excuse to watch a movie I might otherwise have put off indefinitely. There's always a week's lead, at least, before one more Roger Corman production returns to the ether. I'd rank Battle Beyond the Stars somewhere between Forbidden World (effectively atmospheric) and Galaxy of Terror (that of the unfortunate rape scene).
John Sayles wrote the script, James Horner scored it, and James Cameron designed miniatures. At some point in the future I hope that Sayles is more famous for his Corman contributions than his solo career, but I doubt he will be. The miniatures are great: organic, strange, slug-like. The story, built on Seven Samurai, cribs from Alien (androids), Star Wars (space cowboys), and 2001 (wide-eyed awe of stars). Corman no doubt insisted on the subplot in which a Geppetto-like maker of robots gives away his daughter to the first pilot he can breed her with, but Murakami keeps the usual sexual hijinks to a series of polite teases.
Sayles' premise is that bad guys can all agree on hating really bad guys together, and nothing's so romantic as a handful of scoundrels with their own spaceships. George Peppard, as "Maverick," is the most memorable, in part because he looks sweaty and drunk and ill at ease on set. Corman was cheap but paid for marquee names every now and again. If a tuneless "Streets of Laredo" isn't enough of a return on the initial investment, there's always Maverick's boat, the General Lee with a FTL drive (this is a drive-in movie, after all). Not the career that John-Boy from The Waltons probably had in mind, but you can't stay young forever.
directed by Jimmy T. Murakami
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
watched on Netflix Instant
I used to gripe about the titles that disappear from my Instant queue at the end of every month, but now I see each expired Netflix license as a good excuse to watch a movie I might otherwise have put off indefinitely. There's always a week's lead, at least, before one more Roger Corman production returns to the ether. I'd rank Battle Beyond the Stars somewhere between Forbidden World (effectively atmospheric) and Galaxy of Terror (that of the unfortunate rape scene).
John Sayles wrote the script, James Horner scored it, and James Cameron designed miniatures. At some point in the future I hope that Sayles is more famous for his Corman contributions than his solo career, but I doubt he will be. The miniatures are great: organic, strange, slug-like. The story, built on Seven Samurai, cribs from Alien (androids), Star Wars (space cowboys), and 2001 (wide-eyed awe of stars). Corman no doubt insisted on the subplot in which a Geppetto-like maker of robots gives away his daughter to the first pilot he can breed her with, but Murakami keeps the usual sexual hijinks to a series of polite teases.
Sayles' premise is that bad guys can all agree on hating really bad guys together, and nothing's so romantic as a handful of scoundrels with their own spaceships. George Peppard, as "Maverick," is the most memorable, in part because he looks sweaty and drunk and ill at ease on set. Corman was cheap but paid for marquee names every now and again. If a tuneless "Streets of Laredo" isn't enough of a return on the initial investment, there's always Maverick's boat, the General Lee with a FTL drive (this is a drive-in movie, after all). Not the career that John-Boy from The Waltons probably had in mind, but you can't stay young forever.
posted by NPK at 11:35 AM
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