[also a couple of corrections/additions to the SIFF reviews at the end. -Moderator]
THE DEAD POOL
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1988 Jeff Meyer
Before seeing THE DEAD POOL yesterday, I watched the original DIRTY HARRY on CBS last Friday. I enjoy that film a good deal (and also MAGNUM FORCE); while it's not exactly an even-handed crime drama, it sets the standards for a character who's gone on for a hell of a long, popular run. In the early Dirty Harry films, San Francisco was always portrayed as a place to stay the hell away from because of those long-haired crazies, some of whom were homicidal maniacs -- you can always tell these guys because a) they giggle hysterically all the time and b) Harry says something pithy before slamming a bullet into their forehead. And Harry's always portrayed as one of the last few bastions between Decent Folk and The Crazies, and it's a thankless job.... I believe that some of my older relatives in Iowa got their ideas of San Francisco (and California in general) from Clint Eastwood movies.
The last couple of "Harry" films, however, have spent a lot of time parodying that image (apparently not well enough, though, since Eastwood got elected in the Carmel mayoral race -- watching John Vernon ask him for advice in DIRTY HARRY becomes all the more funny). Having his dog get blown away in the last film was taking the "dead partner" bit about as far as it would stretch, and you felt as if the formula had gotten so re-used that they were playing part of it for laughs. Funny, but I missed some of the character and eccentricities that made Harry such an interesting cop in the first movie -- all I can remember about the film preceding THE DEAD POOL is that Harry's tag line is "Make my day." It's outlasted almost all remembrances of the film itself.
THE DEAD POOL starts out with several efforts to get out of the rut, and most of them work pretty well. Harry has just put a big-time gangster in San Quentin, and two things have come of it. One are numerous attempts on Harry's life by the gangster's associates, which of course he's used to. What he's NOT used to is being in the good graces of the department and the public due to his work, and he has something to say about attempts by the police PR man to make him a celebrity. We also have a series of murders going on among San Francisco movie people, which continues to twist in the film's general "news and hype" theme. This is all done pretty well.
About halfway through the film, though, things begin to return to the self-spoofing stage, though THE DEAD POOL is more subtle about it than the previous Harry films. Also, the city is portrayed in a less gritty manner than in some of the early films. Except for kids robbing Chinese restaurants, it looks like a paradise to me. The ending is straight formula Harry, and for that it was enjoyable, but I could have asked for watching the character go somewhere.
MISC: There's a great spoof of San Francisco chase scenes towards the end. Harry's methods are still not very legal, though some of them are understandable (strikes me that if a guy unloads a machine gun into your car (with you in it), you can't be faulted too much to shooting him in the back as he runs away). The romantic interest in THE DEAD POOL looks like a more elegant version of Sondra Locke. I liked his new partner, who can out-one-line Eastwood at times.
Basically, worth $4.50 or $5 if you like Harry, or limited crime dramas in general. If you an informal Harry-watcher, wait for it to hit the discount houses.
=============
Several people have pointed out two mistakes I made in the Seattle International Film Festivals I wrote:
First, that was Kristy McNicol in TWO MOON JUNCTION, not Jodie Foster. Sorry, it wasn't in the credits of the SIFF program, and I got mixed up and put Foster's name down. Lord knows why I would get the two mixed up.... Anyway, it's a stupid movie, you *still* don't want to see it....
Secondly, in the Hollywood and the Code retrospective of BORN TO BE BAD, I mistakenly put down Henry Travers as the obnoxious child actor who played Loretta Young's kid. Several people pointed out that Travers was a older, pleasant character actor who was a Hollywood staple; these days, he's best known as Clarence the Angel in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I got the name mixed up -- I forgot that in the thirties, child actors got much lower billing than they do nowadays (unless their name was Shirley Temple), and since Travers was listed below Grant's name, I expected that was the kid's name (he's on-screen a lot). Travers plays a kindly old bookstore owner who is always trying to keep Loretta Young on the path of virtue. Good luck!
One last addendum to the festival: The Market Theater, which closed down a few weeks ago, has been picked up by the Cineplex Odeon chain of theaters, and is currently showing DOMINICK AND EUGENE. I can only hope that, since DOMINICK AND EUGENE is the kind of film the Market always enjoyed showing, that Ann Browder and company are still in charge; and maybe -- just maybe -- they can wangle Cineplex Odeon into using the Market for next year's festival.
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM
Manual UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, microsoft}!fluke!moriarty
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