IdleRich

IdleRich
"Nunsploitation is a lame genre, though ultimately more redeemable than Nazisploitation. It's ultimate source is, I guess, Ken Russell's The Devils, which I hate. I prefer to think of it as the inevitable outcome of the Catholicism that heavily underpins all the Italian exploiters, from Bava to Leone to Fulci and back and beyond."
I love The Devils but I wouldn't have especially associated it with Nunsploitation as it seems like far more than a genre flick to me. The Catholicism thing seems a better source for the genre to me, do you think that there is any connection between The Devils and NS except for superficial thematic similarities?

"The Great Silence is my favorite western of all time, even beating Leone and John Ford. I love that film, and not just because it contains Klaus Kinski's greatest ever performance."
Have you seen the alternative ending where he wins by doing something totally ridiculous like wearing metal gloves so that his hands don't get injured?
It's interesting that some scenes in this film have several translations, I've seen two versions of the scene where Silence meets Kinski in the carriage which completely alter the conversation they have. I found that a little disconcerting.

Looking at that list of Westerns - Four of The Apocalypse is very disappointing, after an excellent start it becomes very boring very quickly. A real shame. Turns out that Massacre Time is on my lovefilm list already.
Speaking of lovefilm, they sent me another Borowczyk yesterday by complete coincidence. The film was called Love Rites and basically the film is about a man and woman who meet on the Metro and go back to her boudoir where things suddenly turn nasty and weird. I actually rather enjoyed it despite some silly voice over narration that suddenly appears in the sex scene - all this "he thrust his mighty weapon in to the hilt" business, although I guess that bit is deliberate as it is echoed at the end when the protagonist is wrongly accused of murdering a woman he meets bathing in the Seine and the witness describes him "stabbing the knife in to her to the hilt".
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Oh, come on, the ending of Four of the Apocalypse is great! A whole village of Wild West brutes going la la over a newly born babe! In the snow! I think it's a superb film, although its fungular atmosphere is somewhat spoiled by hammy dubbing. I really like these on-the-cusp-of-Zombi Fulci productions - the instinct to create something worthwhile fading against the magnetic pull of gore $$$'s. Did you rate The Psychic at all?

I can't actually bring myself to watch The Great Silence 'happy ending' - the very idea is counterintuitive - although I suppose I shall have to force myself at some point. I think you have to watch this film in Italian though - for once thing, English dubbing removes the fey chill of Kinski's amazing performance.

The Devils is to Nunsploitation what The Night Porter is to Nazisploitation. Er, I wasn't being entirely serious.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Massacre Time is a more straight - if vicious, and sadistic - spaghetti Western than Four of the Apocalypse. It has a brute elegance - rather like its two leading men.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Er, I wasn't being entirely serious.

Although I realise I sounded more pompous than I meant to.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Oh, come on, the ending of Four of the Apocalypse is great! A whole village of Wild West brutes going la la over a newly born babe! In the snow! I think it's a superb film, although its fungular atmosphere is somewhat spoiled by hammy dubbing."
I know what you're saying but I'd lost interest long before that bit. And the actual ending bit when he catches up with the baddie seemed like such an afterthought.
Never seen The Psychic.
I thought that I watched The Great Silence in Italian with subtitles - definitely seem to remember hearing Kinski's sibilant camp voice in that film.

"The Devils is to Nunsploitation what The Night Porter is to Nazisploitation. Er, I wasn't being entirely serious."
Fair enough.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Sorry, I just got a bit confused when you said "It's interesting that some scenes in this film have several translations, I've seen two versions of the scene where Silence meets Kinski in the carriage which completely alter the conversation they have..."
 

craner

Beast of Burden
bit when he catches up with the baddie seemed like such an afterthought.

You mean Jacobean revenge and grand cosmic comeuppance, surely??? Thomas Milian is channeling the spirit of Charles Manson. After drugging and raping Bunny, Chaco deserves the lingering, brutal treatment Stubby dispenses. I thought it was a decent and deserving resolution, frankly. It gave me a warm feeling inside. What's great about this film is how it veers wildly between barbarity and tenderness - and, in the end, the two extremes coincide.

I can't believe you're so down on this film! It's easily one of Fulci's best.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"You mean Jacobean revenge and grand cosmic comeuppance, surely??? Thomas Milian is channeling the spirit of Charles Manson. After drugging and raping Bunny, Chaco deserves the lingering, brutal treatment Stubby dispenses. I thought it was a decent and deserving resolution, frankly. It gave me a warm feeling inside. What's great about this film is how it veers wildly between barbarity and tenderness - and, in the end, the two extremes coincide."
Yeah but it was just too easy. The scene giving birth goes on for about four hours and then the main guy rides along a bit for about two minutes and just by complete coincidence the bad guy falls right into his lap. He doesn't even have to struggle to overcome him, he's asleep isn't he?
 

craner

Beast of Burden
He doesn't even have to struggle to overcome him, he's asleep isn't he?

Yeah, and Stubby ties him up. It's sort of the point, though - Chaco is a weak character. His reign of terror relies on guns and dirty tricks. He doesn't even 'overpower' Bunny when he rapes her - he ties her to the ground and drugs her; he does it to the whole gang. He's basically a pathetic psychopath. And Stubby himself is simply a conman who happens to be redeemed by, uh, love. Although he has just abandoned his child to a village of tender-hearted male brutes. So he's a pretty ambigious and fucked-up character. And he certainly doesn't take any chances with a nutter like Chaco. It's a really unheroic and brutal ending, actually. A dour and ambivalent resolution rather than an operatic blowout a la Leone. I like it.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Chaco is a fearsome shot isn't he though? They are scared of him before he drugs them.

"It's a really unheroic and brutal ending, actually. A dour and ambivalent resolution rather than an operatic blowout a la Leone. I like it."
Yes, it is unheroic and dour but I'm afraid I found it also a little bit.... I dunno, underwhelming and boring.
Looks as though you can download the Soledad Miranda tunes here by the way

http://sanjose72-ii.blogspot.com/2008/07/va-chicas-ye-ye-vol-6.html
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Chaco is a fearsome shot isn't he though? They are scared of him before he drugs them.

Actually, you're right. He is quite terrifying. He is quite useful for shooting food, however. I thought Chaco was a great creation by Thomas Milian. Milian is always good for exceeding the director's original conception of his characters.

Good work on the Soledad songs - I'll try to listen to them later on.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
206652.jpg
 

sub-rosa

cannibal horses
Oops, I missed all these posts. :(

I'm not sure that Borowczyk is so good when his film is set in the present day (as in the last segment) and the first segment was badly let down by Raphael's hair (among other things).

You are right, those Borowczyk films set in contemporary environment don't work at all. It seems his talent is in manipulating the traditional erotic code by using the semiotic structures of a certain era which is really not adequate for portraying the contemporary atmosphere. I think Borowczyk's style of eroticization and philosophy is more or less similar to the Baroque style of Sacher Masoch which Deleuze opposes to the grim and bleak atmosphere of Sade's stories. A contemporary erotic set requires a more complex system of codes. But these codes usually look redundant, excessive or irrelevant to eroticism and sexuality. Obviously, Borowczyk's quasi-Baroque style is not really compatible with the way these contemporary codes and systems work and communicate. Have you seen The Pornographer? it tells the story of an adult director who cannot make movies anymore and his plans to bring characters and relationships of old erotic stories to present sets fail. (It is not a recommendation because that movie is just boring and stupid)
 

sub-rosa

cannibal horses
And Yes, more 'yellow' (giallo) posters please! Nothing beats the sleaze-power of yellow with red fonts.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"The Mercenary (Sergio Corbucci, 1968) The SW Holy Grail, at least until youtube came along. Genius."
It's only the first three parts (about twenty-five minutes) there though.

"Obviously, Borowczyk's quasi-Baroque style is not really compatible with the way these contemporary codes and systems work and communicate. Have you seen The Pornographer? it tells the story of an adult director who cannot make movies anymore and his plans to bring characters and relationships of old erotic stories to present sets fail. (It is not a recommendation because that movie is just boring and stupid)"
Nah, not seen it. Having said I don't like his modern ones though I quite liked Love Rites although I seem to be in a minority of one there judging by all the other opinions and reviews I can find. I think I found the one on Immoral Women particularly jarring because it followed on straight from two historical ones which clearly worked better.
 
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