Tony Richardson’s look at corruption in the border patrol service is both sensational and insightful, and Jack Nicholson gives a committed performance as a downtrodden functionary who finds himself in a major moral and humanitarian catastrophe. The problem is still there today, with no consensus on the right diagnosis or solution. The action melodrama costars Harvey Keitel & Valerie Perrine, and introduces (to the U.S.) the impressive Elpidia Carrillo. From Powerhouse Indicator.
2/09/18

CineSavant is back — had an incredible time but a real physical workout, seventeen days on the move and my head is almost too dizzy to write. I’ll say no more except that it was an intense trip to Peru — six hotels and trips by air, bus, and boat and a lot of hiking. But I lost seven pounds going up and down those paths and ruins. Thanks for staying with me.

The good news is that I now have plenty of time free to catch up on reviews, especially with reviewers Charlie Largent and Lee Broughton helping. The discs ready to peruse are a daunting selection:

Milestone: Shoes; Severin: Threads; Arrow Video: The Witches, Federico Fellini’s Orchestra Rehearsal, Clouzot’s Inferno; Warner Archives: Harper and The Drowning Pool; ClassicFlix: Along Came Jones; Kino: The Covered Wagon; Twilight Time: Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, Dragonwyck, My Cousin Rachel;  Criterion: Tom Jones, Elevator to the Gallows, The Silence of the Lambs, Night of the Living Dead.

Upcoming titles that tickle Glenn’s fancy: Kino: The Outlaw, Under Capricorn, The House that Dripped Blood, Doctor Blood’s Coffin, The Outer Limits, Duck You Sucker (as A Fistful of Dynamite), The Lion in Winter, Joan of Arc (1948), Topaze, No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Roger Corman’s Highway Dragnet, and The Vampire and the Ballerina (hopefully with the Italian version L’Amante del Vampiro); The Maze in 3-D (not sure from where); Twilight Time: Jacques Demy’s Model Shop, Auto Focus, Martin Ritt’s No Down Payment, Blue Denim.

— Glenn