WENT TO CONEY ISLAND ON A MISSION FROM GOD…BE BACK BY FIVE: FORGOTTEN FRIEND

Talk about a mouthful for a title! I’d never heard of this movie so when I saw it being released as part of the MVD Rewind collection I was interested. What I ended up watching was a well-made movie that entertains well enough but makes you think even more.

Jon Cryer (who also helped produce and write the script for the film) stars as Daniel, one of three grown friends who now works at an unglamorous job at a cash advance/credit company. His friend Stan (Rick Stear) hasn’t done near as well. Bouncing from job to job he currently works at his uncle’s pizza joint. In addition to that Stan also has a drinking and gambling problem.

The two grew up in the streets of NYC and became fast friends early on. Stan had a problem with one leg shorter than the other that forced him to wear a corrective shoe. An operation intended to help and lengthen one leg didn’t work out well and left Stand with a limp as well as a permanent brace. It also led to his views on life being unfair, the cause for his drinking. As the two grew up they made friends with another boy named Richie (Rafael Baez), the school stud who taught them how to talk to girls and was later rumored to have made the move on every girl in their class.

One day Stan shows at Daniel’s job and tells him the two of them need to leave. Pretending his grandmother passed away (a trick they employed as children) he tells Daniel they’re “on a mission from God”, a phrase they used to use. It turns out neither has seen Richie in years and someone has told Stan that they saw him homeless and living on the streets at Coney Island. With winter coming on the pair head there with the hope of saving their old friend.

The movie uses a combination of flashbacks and current adventures among different characters to tell the story. In flashbacks we discover what it was that led to the breakup of these friends, a secret of Richie’s that brings into doubt his way with the ladies. We also learn about Stan’s romance with Gabby (Ione Skye) that has carried on to the present. But even there things aren’t always what they seem.

On the boardwalk of Coney Island this pair show to find the location closed for the season for the most part. Venturing in to those places still open (a freak show, a restaurant, a ski ball place) they encounter various people on their journey to find Richie. In the end that journey isn’t just a discovery involving Richie but one for Stan as well, the culmination of a lifetime of poor choices and anger fueled attitude. Each person they talk to brings them closer to finding Richie and at the same time brining Stan closer to facing his own truths.

The movie works well on all levels. Each of the characters the two come across add to the story, revealing things about themselves that they both apply to their own lives. Of the two of them Daniel is the more stable, a solid worker in a boring thankless job with a slow moving love life. And as the travel through Coney Island he remains the more reasonable one. But it takes the efforts of both to find the solution to the problem of locating Richie.

The three actors in the lead roles turn in fine performances. A quick search at imdb for Stear finds little information and a short list of performances. That’s too bad as he does a solid job here. Cryer went on to much bigger things making it big in 2003 with the hit series TWO AND A HALF MEN. He too does a fine job here in a role that allows him to be the solid member of a group of friends rather than the oddball characters he’d played in the past. Baez doesn’t get much screen time but he leaves behind a character you’re not likely to forget.

As I said the movie is part of MVD’s Rewind series, movies that once graced the shelves of mom and pop video stores across the country. They made sure this is the finest presentation of the film with a high Definition Blu-ray 1080p presentation of the main feature from a frame-by-frame digital restoration from original 35mm film elements. Included in the extras are a new introduction for the film featuring director Richard Schenkman and Cryer, an audio commentary track with both, a behind the scenes making of featurette, THE PRODUCER a comedy short directed by Schenkman, a photo gallery, the original theatrical trailer and a collectible mini-poster.

The end result is an entertaining drama that is worth taking a look at. Fans of Cryer will want to make this a part of their collection. And if not fans this movie might make you one. It’s definitely worth watching.

Click here to order.

HILDA CRANE: SOAPY MELODRAMA

I can honestly say that until the release of this movie by Twilight Time I’d never heard of this movie. I found that strange since there are so many movies that are at least mentioned in various books and articles and yet this one somehow never caught my attention. So I went in with no clue what to expect.

The movie revolves around young Hilda Crane (Jean Simmons), a young woman who returns to her mother’s home in small town USA after a run of bad luck, bad situations and bad choices in New York City. She married early, divorced, married and divorced again and had no future prospects relationship or business wise. Now she’s returned home to try and find her way with the help of her mother Stella (Judith Evelyn). Of course her lifestyle thus far has left her with quite the reputation there in town.

Hilda proclaims that she’ll follow her mother’s advice and submit to the way of the world, one of drudgery away from the big city lights and chained to a modest home. She’ll give up her freedom and belief in romantic love and replace it with a life of domesticity.

Walking her old college campus she runs into former professor and lover, Jacques DeLisle (Jean-Pierre Aumont). Seeing him again rekindles her dreams or romance at all costs. He takes her to his apartment and tells her she was the one woman he always longed for. He’s about to have a book published that should leave him well off and he wants her back. But at what costs? The more he speaks the more she realizes he wants her as the woman on the side and not his wife.

Hilda has always had the eye of someone else from her past. Russell Burns (Guy Madison) owns a successful construction business now and has always loved Hilda. Not only does he send her a message he proposes to her right off the bat as well. He takes her to a home he’s in the middle of constructing and tells her that he had the plans made to suit the style she always loved but it will need her touches to make it a home. Still smarting from the run in with DeLisle she accepts Russell’s offer. She does so even though she knows she doesn’t love him.

Willing to live the life her mother wants her to she finds another roadblock in her way, Russell’s mother (Evelyn Varden). A domineering mother who runs her son’s life she’s unhappy that he wants to marry Hilda. So much so that she goes to Stella’s house to confront Hilda. After a series of questions and comments Hilda refuses to change her mind Mrs. Burns leaves in a huff.

Torn between wanting to marry the man her mother thinks she should in the hope of finding domestic bliss and the romantic passion she dreams of in a man who wants her to be nothing but his “courtesan”, Hilda finds herself in the middle of yet another romantic problem, still determined to live her life for herself and not for what society thinks is best for her. When DeLisle returns, successful and about to marry a woman for money, still wanting Hilda on the side, her problems become more pronounced.

The fifties were known for so many melodramas like this one, heaping on what had come before them and adding to them a bit of scandal in the making. To imagine a woman returning home after a divorce was one thing in the past but to come home after two was almost unimaginable. On top of that we have a strong willed character here determined to pursue the goals she sets for herself rather than those established by society. The end result is to cause herself more pain. Does that make the movie a morality tale or does it allow her some leeway, enough room to move in her own skin and determine a life for herself that is the best of both worlds?

Watching the movie I couldn’t help but think that the sexual revolution of the sixties destroyed the possibility of making a movie like this afterwards. Free love resulted in women unbridled by the morals of the past. They could not be shamed by public standards and that scarlet woman model wouldn’t hold water ever again. The goals that Hilda wants in this film would become the norm and whatever it took to reach those goals would be encouraged and applauded. The thing is that both worlds aren’t quite reality, both sides have repercussions to deal with in their wake.

I’ve read some say that this was one of Simmons best performances but I’d beg to differ. Yes, she does what is called for here but the character is prone to overindulgent histrionics, making speeches rather than conversation and certainly more self-centered than most characters on film. Feelings for the character move back and forth from sympathy to dislike but in the end you feel that you’re seeing less a woman in control and more a child who wants it all at no cost. Simmons delivers her lines well and acts wonderfully, it’s perhaps more the dialogue written for her that makes the role seem a bit off.

The supporting casts does an amazing job here. Evelyn as her mother moves from caring to demanding, supportive and well-meaning but in the worst way possible. Here we have a woman who gave up her dreams for the life of a housewife and accepted it and now wants her daughter to do the same. The opposite side of that coin is Varden as Mrs. Burns, a woman who wants to control everything about her son, pushing away any potential romantic interest he might develop and trying to buy off Hilda with cash at one point. Both women are looking to control their offspring coming at it from different directions and both are more destructive than constructive. Aumont does a decent job here but the accent and attitude seem cardboard cutout rather than a character with depth. Madison is stalwart and little else, the man who suffers for his love but accepts whatever he can get from her.

The movie felt a bit long at times but not overly so. As I said it plays like what it is, a soap opera with an all-star cast made for the big screen. Shot in Cinemascope at the time to compete with television the images are well framed and shot and the print used by Twilight Time has been converted to a pristine 1080p high definition blu-ray. Extras are small but interesting and include an isolated music track, JEAN SIMMONS: PICTURE PERFECT an episode of the old Biography series and the original theatrical trailer. As with all their releases Twilight Time is limiting this to just 3,000 copies so if interested buy one right away.

Click here to order.