ST. IVES (1976) A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 1999
In 1990s we had Steven Seagal movies. We had been prepared to that, thanks to 1980s Chuck Norris movies. In 1970s, often regarded as the Golden Age of cinema, we had Charles Bronson movies. Such films, action-oriented thrillers relying solely on the charisma of its lead, were that period's equivalent for straight-to-video films of today. They were low budget but made with solid craftsmanship and, unfortunately, hardly distinguishable from each other. ST. IVES, 1976 thriller directed by Jack Lee Thompson, is one of the examples.
The protagonist of this movie Raymond St. Ives (played by Charles Bronson), former crime reporter and would-be book writer, who suffers from compulsive gambling. In order to improve his situation he takes an offer by Abner Procane (played by John Houseman), Beverly Hills eccentric, to use his street knowledge and mediate the return of some important but stolen documents. A simple exchange gets complicated with couple of murders, and even more complicated when St. Ives realises that Procane was actually one of most successful criminal masterminds of Los Angeles.
Good connoisseurs of 1970s cinema would have experiences a whole lot of deja vus watching ST. IVES. The film has a rather complicated conspiracy plot, like many of 1970s thrillers did (with Barry Beckerman's script somehow managing to squeeze it into 90-minutes format). The directing style of Jack Lee Thompson mimics other, more successful crime thrillers with the use of shaky camera and very dark photography. Lalo Schiffrin as composer provides some good atmosphere with his recognisable style. Acting is, on the other hand, sub-par, with Bronson, and almost everyone else, sleepwalking through the role. Bronson didn't even have many scenes that would capitalise on his charisma of an action star. His lack of chemistry with Jacqueline Bisset as his alleged romantic interest is almost palpable. John Houseman and Maximillian Schell, on the other hand, bring some fun playing their characters in very campy, almost theatrical styles. The biggest fun, however, comes when viewers start recognising future big stars and important players like Jeff Goldblum, Robert Englund, Harris Yulin or Michael Lerner, all playing minor, but interesting roles. All in all, those who miss ST. IVES wouldn't miss a thing, but those who watch it, won't miss hour and half of their lives afterwards.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
Review written on December 1st 1999
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
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