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In “Hijacked: Flight 285,” a thriller movie with no risks or depth, Anthony Michael Hall gives a singularly obnoxious portrayal of a psycho kidnapper; murderer turned-hijacker.
Some critics trace the roots of the spaghetti western back to as far back as 1943, and while this era is up for contention, what is universally accepted is that it first gained traction with the release of Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars. This was in 1964 and it remained a commercial success with the release of its sequel, For a Few Dollars More in 1965. Among all cinema made in Italy, spaghetti western films were the most widely viewed around the world and so literally hundreds of them were produced. This resulted in the creation of sub-genres like Zapata’s, which were political films criticizing imperialism, featuri gunslinger bounty hunters, betrayal stories, tragic heroes, and even comedy westerns.
The height of the spaghetti western craze was reached in 1968, which marked a notable decline in the amount of films of that genre being produced in 1969. Even though the cycle extended deep into the 1970s, and some of the greatest films of the genre were produced during that period, the genre did seem to be growing a little weary by 1970. In what was considered the first major success of one of the movies led by the directors attempting to throw in comedy, They Call Me Trinity was released towards the end of 1970. The film garnered so much success, that they decided to release a sequel to it in 1971. These movies did cause a minor surge in the popularity of comedic spaghetti westerns. However, several months before the release of Trinity, Mario Brava had released his version of the comedic spaghetti western to the Italian film audiences. But similarly to most of Bava’s works, it was not received well and neither did it achieve any commercial success.
In the very beginning, Roy (Brett Halsey) and Winchester (Charles Southwood), who share the leadership of a band of robbers, are fighting as they wish. The onlooker thinks he or she is watching two people who can’t stand each other on a fight but later it becomes clear that the two are close friends engaging in rough sport. They are both excellent fighters so they are constantly fighting against each other, changing the title of best fighter with the same speed their noses change from un-jabbed to jabbed. Very soon, however, Roy makes up his mind to leave the gang of robbers and work like an honest citizen. The two friends part ways, but they are reunited when they set out to explore for the treasure of gold coins. While trying to avoid being caught by the clinically unstable silver-haired man known as The Reverend (Teodoro Corra) who is after the gold too, they also need to battle for the affection of a Native American woman (Marilu Tolo).
Bava Mario is known for his works in the supernatural and gothic horror. It was therefore surprising when he decided to direct this film. This film won’t be his sole spaghetti western film and indeed, there is evidence of Mario straying from the cobwebbed castles and black gloved killers even further in order to make sex comedies and poliziotteschi. It appears that the man had a special place in his heart for gothic chillers but was rather unfortunate to deal with weak budget allocations and ineffective production executives. In order to keep bread on the table, he had to make the necessary compromises. The end result are movies akin to these which is ‘uneven’ at best and would largely go unnoticed today if not for being tagged as a Bava film.
Bava is famous for his opening scenes and here he manages to deliver on that promise. His usage of fog wrapped around deserts gives a feel of old cliched terrifying graveyards present in his chiller movies. Even though Bava’s films are futuristic in nature, this theme is present in certain parts of the movie. However, unlike his other movies, the bulk of this film is not visibly distinguishable as a Bava film.
Maybe it’s a matter of taste, but Italian humor seems to always miss the mark among audiences that do not speak Italian. Even though I wish I could laugh at some Italian gags, I always find myself exhausted rather than entertained. This such comedy style was also true for this film. One example would be the duel between “Twitch” and the other cowboy that occurs at the start of the movie. Twitch bursts out as a character with a handicap-tic, thus his name Twitch. Taylor here puts his tics on display in grand style when he is busy threatening his opponent. When Tween is shot, but instead goes into a flurry of overacted convulsions that would make even my eight year old niece giggle, it is evident that the comedy is taking a more brute approach. There’s another gag, where a screen is set for a stripper in a saloon, so all one can see is her shadow. During a drunken brawl, the screen is predictable torn to unveil a transvestite who puts on an exaggerated pout to show his displeasure at being on spotlight. The actions are filled with plenty of chase, and the action packed fistfights pose as a good distraction from what is a silly and juvenile comedy. And it appears The Reverend is always prepared to spice things up with some dynamite.
Brett Halsey is Roy Colt, an essentially decent man who attempted life as an outlaw and found it unfulfilling. Halsey was an American television and soap opera exponent in the 1950’s, and would later act in both American films and television, at times making the leap to Europe for low-end genre films. He acted in many of Lucio Fulci’s later features as well as in the low-budget classic Demons 6, which was directed by Luigi Cozzi. He was conversant with both American and spaghetti westerns and portrays the tender-hearted Colt well. Charles Southwood is also in the cast as Winchester Jack, a dim-witted and extremely stubborn bandit who cannot give up thieving even when it is clear he can no longer make a decent living out of it. Comedy may not be Halsey’s forte, but it is Southwood’s. He eagerly tosses himself into the character and the action so much that he makes it easy for everyone including the Native American woman, Manila, who steals his gun and forces him into some very cold water before they sleep together. Marilu Tolo, is also in the cast as Manila, the mercenary Indian that will have sexual relations with whoever is strongest and richest.
Contrary to her age, she is not stylish like Claudia Cardinale, but does have a sense of beauty. The only difference is that she bears a big totem. Tolo uses the wooden totem to keep a tab on all her clients and transactions. While Cardinale was a self-indulging schemer, Tolo is a self-sufficient woman who has managed to learn the world of men. One of the things Tolo does is that she notches the stocks of her guns after every kill. Lastly, the idea of The Reverend, an ill-tempered and merciless plunder, is hilariously more enjoyable than it should, and the complaining of Teodoro Corra is so exaggerated it makes you wonder if he actually put himself on the losing side. Corra has been turned into a relief valve so he is always placed against a tight, minus-caring world like plane and can always gloat about getting dumped seedologies. That plunder image managed to capture one broad culture of the country because it is so banal. That long shriek of pain makes everything including life and the world and everything in between look absolutely lost. Initially Corra whining can and may be amusing, WITHOUT LOOKING AT IT FOR TOO LONG. He is sure to be the one who sets the tone of what should be the dramatic center of the crime. Instead of being amusing, the situation hotly begins to be ordinary. Everything went off when he Kazoo’s decorates and ROLLS his came-proof enemies to pieces.
True to form, he throws out a bag along with some explosives to vent his frustrations to the empty sky, until, well, you know what happens.
Bava was a great master at the use of shoestring budgets (the financing for Kill, Baby…Kill! actually ran out halfway through, and the crew and cast completed the movie as a labor of love to the director). The received wisdom about him, however, is that he was the greatest director to develop from the bottom up. His ability to stretch a dollar is legendary. But these methods are revealed in Roy Colt and Winchester Jack. Bava utilized desert locations with impeccable skill. But these efforts are quite pathetic and easily recognizable here.
Ultimately, die-hard fans of Bava won’t be disappointed, but neither will be blown away. Some seasons may surprise you with how boring it is, and others can be just okay at best. Too much drama, going out of style, and ‘85’ to some might actually feel relaxing. Each positive aspect is complemented by the music. The cinematography along with the acting also do a great job of drawing you in. ‘Kino Lorber’ has done a better job with this movie than the one on the Blurry. The other version was very basic for people who do not want extras. Kino has restored the film and now it looks breathtaking. It has been done in a way that is not too loud for the viewer, but still appealing. Italian is the main language used in the movie, but who does not love English subtitles? The audio is in English as well. Tim Lucas, a Italian horror news writer described as a fine art critic, exclaimed that the enhancements on this movie are both eye catching and troublesome at the same time. For fans of this movie, it might be conflicting since it is not highly rated. But they do claim this is the definitive version of the movie. The purchase can be made via kinolorber.com or on Amazon.
Inadequate writing skills have never affected Anthony Michael Hall’s ability to be a unique and savvy actor. As a psychopath who hijacks planes, a part-time kidnapper, and a serial murderer in “Hi-Jacked: Flight 285’,”, he is simply too irksome to begin with. The movie is definitely lacking booking gags that are engaging or filled with create amazement.
Telepic begins just like every other Irwin Allen film as the characters first appear in vignettes, introducing the audience to a belligerent, drunken Vietnam veteran, the estranged husband and wife, alongside their young daughter, and a cool-headed female pilot, who is a character full of courage. She is accompanied on a flight by her playboy co-pilot.
A viewer would expect to see these aforementioned characters in the movie as the play intricate role within the storyline. More importantly they expect to witness the same sadistic techniques used within “The Towering Inferno” respectively. In reality their characters can simply be used as a plot device in furthering the morality undertones of the disaster picture.
In this specific case the character Hall plays is a violent felon being moved onto a commercial flight, that is intended to transport him to Leavenworth prison. He shares the plane with mercenary James Lancaster, which helps him escape alongside Hudson Leick. Hall, Lancaster and Leick hijack the plane with the intent of soliciting 20 million dollars from the government and speaking to Federal agents Perry King and hostage negotiator Ally Sheedy all while taking control of the plane. In retrospect, Hall, King, and Sheedy all experienced a rather unfortunate and sad situation that resulted in the death of a child and Hall being thrown into jail.
Let’s start with the matters in the air. The plane Hall is on is being seized and he is ordering the flight to land in Dallas. The passengers on the other hand are trying to overpower the terrorists with their intelligence and velour. Hall, playing a one hazy character, dashes in the cockpit and “stumbles” in the aisles with frightening wide eyes until the SWAT team arrives and, with long desired mercy, shoots him.
Perhaps the drama will be added by the stars brazening ‘Hijacked’ on the marquee as they usually do. Sheedy has a mini reunion of formers, Sheedy is in a nicely restrained role in which she valiantly fights her Valley Girl accent. And look! Hall is starred along with the famous James Brolin and the always likable Michael Gross, not to forget Leick, who last season finished a juicy turn on ‘Melrose Place.’ But the characters are too weak to appeal to any audience since there is hardly any interesting plots in the drama.
After the first hour of watching drama that was not engaging, I am glad ‘Telepic’ sped up. However, I was not pleased by the change since Charles Carrell, the one in charge of directing, disregarded the telpic, remove the tension. He has not left much for himself to deal with anyways when he is working with such an increase in intelligence.
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