Brian Trenchard-Smith has directed 42 movies and TV series in various genres from martial arts to comedy to horror to action adventure. He is one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite directors
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June 23, 2009
By that I do not mean visual phantasmagoria, rather the way he mixes the thematic cocktail. An unconventional combination of ideas which is constantly interesting with each new painting.
A week ago Quentin had invited the surviving members of the Grindhouse Gang - Film Editor for the LA WEEKLY Scott Foundas, directors Richard Rush, George Armitage, Alan Arkush, Lewis Teague and myself to a screening at his house. Missing was Bob Clark, killed along with his son by a drunk driver just 10 days after the Grindhouse Gang’s last dinner in 2007. I recently directed a re-imagining of Bob Clark’s PORKY’S franchise. In tribute to Bob, Quentin first played the original theatrical trailer of PORKY’S, followed by trailers from the other directors early work. Ales were uncapped and the main feature rolled.
The film starts in 1941, the year my father was shot down over France, parachuting into a field surrounded by German soldiers. (There is a small point to this family history) The officer in charge actually addressed him with the famous cliché: “For you the war is over.” My father dug tunnels for the Great Escape. The escapees drew lots for their order of exit. He drew ninety something. Halfway down the tunnel he heard gunfire, just after number 73 ran into the woods. The thwarted escape was just as well perhaps, because Hitler ordered 50 recaptured officers to be shot. So I am steeped in World War Two lore. It’s been a fascination of mine - and the baby boomer audience - since childhood, as we wonder how we would stand up to the perils that faced our fathers. BASTERDS will entertain not only Tarantino’s youthful fan base but an older generation as well. It will have a special resonance for European audiences.
But I’m not a WWII purist, satisfied only by the authenticity of KANAL, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, PRIVATE RYAN etc. Like KELLY’S HEROES, war movies can be wacky fun and this one certainly is. To get the full benefit of any Tarantino movie, you have to enter his alternative universe without reservation. So to the nay-sayers who quibble too long/too episodic/too fanciful/too much chat, etc., I am tempted to say eat shit and die; but instead I will suggest they are missing out on a delicious post modern layer cake full of quirky characters, surprising plot developments, and wry asides running the gamut from WWII cliché to riffs on the etiquette of strudel and the power of cinema.
The story is driven by two totally balls-to-the-wind performances that set the tone for the movie.
Brad Pitt‘s sadistic hillbilly commander, complete with gloriously fulsome accent, is a worthy addition to his gallery of oddballs, which best display his acting chops. The unexplained rope burn on his neck is a clever touch, prompting the audience’s subconscious to speculate on the cause, thereby deepening the character without spending any screen time on the subject. Quentin will probably tell you the backstory on the eventual DVD.
Christoph Waltz’s villain is as groundbreaking a piece of work as was Alan Rickman’s criminal mastermind in the first DIE HARD.
He does a daring high-wire act every scene, sometimes in three languages, always theatrical but never straying into camp, and is totally fascinating to watch. Till Quentin cast him, he was a well thought of German television actor. Now he is the beneficiary of a Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for a performance of such impish evil charm.
Martin Wuttke’s brings intriguing new flavors to the latest screen Hitler. The red lining to his cape in his introductory scene is another nice touch, immediately establishing that sense of grandiosity that all dictators assume.
For comparison here is the winner of the “My Cat Looks Like Hitler “ competition. 
Yes, there really is such a thing. Check out the site. www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com
Some critics are like eunuchs at the orgy. They can’t to it , so they bitch about people who can. Other critics have a blinkered vision that can only define an auteur’s work by what they have done in the past. They would criticize Picasso for daring to paint a Gainsborough. Get used to it, guys: every Tarantino movie is one of a kind, pushing new boundaries, breaking new rules. BASTERDS - as some have complained - is not an action picture, though the action, when unleashed in a blizzard of well framed shots, is masterfully staged. Unlike other disjunctively-cut/overly-telephoto action scenes of some recent movies, a clear sense of geography makes the BASTERDS action more impactful and involving.
BASTERDS is a unique subset of the Men on a Mission genre: World War Two Revenge Fantasy Black Comedy as devised by the world’s greatest authority on genre. It is a character based suspense piece, re-arranging some WWII Iconography in an entertaining way. Above all, it is a Tarantino dialogue piece, a cinematic play, with all the riffs and digressions that implies, climaxing in the best ending ever for a WWII movie. You get a sense of the fun Quentin was having in this teaser.
The assembled Grindhouse Gang loved the movie. (It got an 11 minute standing ovation at Cannes) Our applause did not last as long, because…we were hungry. We all went out for dinner, and bombarded Quentin with questions. His answers confirmed that BASTERDS is definitely a movie to see twice.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS opens in the US on August 21. I’ll be there.
June 16, 2009
With an African American finally in the White House, the extreme right media blowhards have been busy playing the race card, albeit in code. When the Mountainous Rushmore called President Obama “a reverse racist” for appointing a Latina to the US Supreme Court, it was a case of the pot belly calling the kettle fat. Click the double-verging-on-triple-chin to hear the radio clip.
Limbaugh’s gleeful repeat playing of the “Barack the Magic Negro” song was indicative of how deep are the roots of his racism. I suspect when he thinks of Obama, the word that Rush uses in his heart, if not on air, has not been in common parlance for 50 years or so. Here’s an account of the last time I heard the “N” word spoken at a public gathering.
I was associate producer and director of film sequences for QUEST OF QUESTS, a yearly beauty pageant show broadcast by the Nine Network live across Australia from the ballroom of Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel. 200 high society guests, fortified by food and liquor, sat at tables to watch 22 contestants parade in evening gowns and swimsuits, vying for the crown. I have since come to view such beauty pageants as perpetuating the stereotype of woman as handmaiden, but for a 25 year old guy they sure were fun to work on. In the days leading up to the broadcast, I had shot film sequences on each girl depicting their favorite hobby. (For instance young Belinda Green from Tasmania, later to become Miss World, was a dab hand at finger painting.) Beauty, beauty everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Courtesy of the vigilant chaperone and den mother to the girls Mrs. Marjorie Colebrook, a tireless organizer and great lady who requested my participation two years running.
My major responsibility during the telecast itself was to ensure that all the contestants and guest judges were at the right place at the right time. The Guest of Honor was former Miss Grenada, Jennifer Holstein, the first black woman to win a major international beauty contest (I forget which). She was a charming statuesque beauty. Imagine a young Michelle Obama.
Sitting beside Jennifer Holstein at the high table overlooking the ballroom - the rich have their pecking order too - was the owner of the Network Sir Frank Packer (right), one of the three robber barons of Australian media, the others being Fairfax and Murdoch. Rupert may be the last man standing now, but Packer was the undoubted titan at the time. This portrait was painted by Judy Cassab and is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
Halfway through the show, I approached the high table to collect Ms. Holstein for her next appearance on the stage. I was wearing a dinner jacket as all crew on the show were required to do. Sir Frank immediately mistook me for a waiter and said, “Get me a whiskey and soda.” So I quickly guided Ms. Holstein to her designated entrance point, then went in search of the requisite whisky and soda. It was not wise to ignore an instruction from Sir Frank, who reputedly fired a copy boy for speaking to him in the elevator. Given the overworked waiter staff, the quickest solution was to buy the scotch myself from the bar. Back at the high table I placed the tumbler beside Sir Frank and picked up his empty glass. Well, not quite empty. Sir Frank’s hand clamped firmly around my wrist, and without a word, tipped the dregs into the new glass. You do not fight the hand that feeds you. It was an indication of how the man turned a small newspaper into a media empire.
Eventually the winning girls were announced. Joy, tears, roll end credits. The live feed to the nation concluded. Just as well. Because at that point the sponsor of the show joined the guest judges on the stage and addressed the audience in the ballroom. Sir John Walton, knighted for his services to commerce, chairman of Waltons department stores offered his thanks to all who made the show possible. Standing right beside Jennifer Holstein, the very embodiment of black is beautiful, he thanked her for coming all the way to Australia. She received enthusiastic applause. Then Sir John turned his attention to the Quest organizer sitting in the audience. He offered particular thanks “to Mrs. Marjorie Colebrook, who has worked like a nigger.”
There was no discernable intake of breath from the audience, more a moment when 200 people involuntarily stop breathing. A sharp silence like a puff of cold air. Then Sir John continued on oblivious. I was too far back in the hall to gauge Jennifer Holstein’s reaction. But she remained on the stage. Would anyone believe this moment if they read it in a screenplay? Naturally it was never reported. Today it would be all over Youtube and TMZ in minutes. Remember that Michael Richards (Seinfeld’s Kramer) racist rant?
The irony of Sir John’s use of the “N” word was that he intended the word as a compliment. Negroes, like the show’s organizer, were hard working people.
I am sure he apologized later. I heard a rumor that Sir Frank apologized on behalf of the network and that Ms. Holstein had been gracious. Sir John meant no insult. He just had not shaken off the ingrained racial attitudes of his parent’s generation. It was a slip of the tongue.
With Limbaugh, and fellow narcissistic escapees from anger management class, Hannity, Beck, and Savage, their rhetoric is no accident. It is carefully calculated then wrapped in code. But when an “entertainer” says the President is a greater enemy of the United States than Al Qaeda, he has crossed the line into incitement. There is no doubt in my mind that the recent murders committed by right wing crazies are a result of the toxification of political discourse that has developed over the last 20 years, particularly since the 2000 election. So will they dial it down? For the greater good?
No. They have no shame.
April 20, 2009
As CGI becomes more affordable, the low budget historical spectacular is within our grasp…Musings on the value of History, and the morality of War as entertainment.
I love costume pictures, in which present day issues are mirrored in the past, while relationships and events play out amid spectacular sets and landscapes. It’s an expensive undertaking; consequently many historical pictures do not recoup their cost, making this genre ever harder to finance. So we have to find ways of making them cheaper. Tighter schedules, digital set extensions, combined with computer crowd and battle technology is the way to go.
My appetite for historical epics was sharpened by a recent visit to Waterloo in Belgium.
Jean-Pol Grandmot
This is the Lions Hillock, the monument built to commemorate the battle of Waterloo.
As a clash of armies, the defeat of Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo reshaped nineteenth century Europe.
As an epic movie WATERLOO (1970) was a bit disappointing. I worked on the trailer in England, then saw the finished film in Australia 6 months later, hoping that a good post production finish would take the picture to the next level. I guess - try as we do sometimes - you can‘t fix a script in the mix. Take a look at this trailer someone recently posted on U Tube - images set to Ennio Morricone - which puts an interesting flavor into the panoramic tableaux style of Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk.
The true story of the battle of Waterloo is in fact a very exciting story - it could have been a battle action race-against-the-clock movie. The international cut (130 mins) had some nice moments but overall felt a little lethargic; spectacular but lacking the visceral cut and thrust of Braveheart-style battle scenes. Most expensive epics of that era needed to obtain a ‘U’ certificate (universal exhibition with no age restriction) from the British Board of Film Censors, to reach the widest British audience. Nor did the film greatly illuminate the characters of Napoleon and Wellington.
Perhaps the Russian cut, around 4 hours, told a richer story.
Christopher Plummer carefully underplays Wellington, knowing perhaps of Rod Steiger’s tendency to gnash at the scenery, which he always did with great charisma. As with William Shatner, it was part of Steiger’s appeal as an actor.
As I looked out over the Waterloo landscape, not greatly changed from the Belgian farmland of Sunday June 18th, 1815, I wondered what great stories could be told in a high end mini-series, covering the battle experiences of the lowliest ranks to the commanding generals. And how to make it appealing to American audiences, an important factor for recouping investment. Involve American characters. Add a female perspective.
Below me, on that wet early morning, two armies of approximately 70,000 each faced each other along a two and a half mile front, bisected by that distant road. Wikipedia provides a very concise account of the battle.
Here’s my pocket version. Wellington, with mainly inexperienced troops and 100 fewer artillery pieces than Napoleon, had to hold his position long enough to receive re-enforcements from Prussian General Blucher,
whose troops had received a severe mauling at French hands the day before, and were regrouping slowly. Blucher, a 70 year old man, was leading his men forward on horseback despite being wounded in the previous day’s battle. That’s one tough senior citizen. Napoleon, with veteran troops, had to defeat Wellington before the two armies could unite against him. Napoleon was confident because he had something Wellington did not - 14 regiments of armored cavalry, 7 regiments of lancers, while Wellington had only a handful of lancers.
But the battlefield was sodden from a night of rain. Bad for cavalry maneuvers. Bad for artillery too. Cannonballs would embed in mud, rather than skip along hard ground, creating a swath of destruction. So Napoleon had to wait for the ground to dry, knowing that Blucher was inching closer every hour, though he too was delayed by muddy roads. At 11:30 Napoleon could wait no longer and ordered a series of attacks, driving a wedge into Wellington‘s position. It was thrust and parry all day. In the Iron Duke’s words: “the nearest-run thing you ever saw.” If Blucher had not arrived around 4 pm, Wellington would have been forced to retreat.
As it turned out, it was Napoleon’s army that was driven from the field in disorder. His carriage was found abandoned, still containing a pouch of diamonds. Casualties from both armies totaled over 47,000 dead and wounded. All in the space of a few hours. Today, it’s hard to imagine the emotional, social, and economic impact of such loss of life if it were to happen today.
This scull from the battlefield is on display at the museum in Waterloo that was once the inn used by Wellington as his headquarters. That’s probably a roundshot hole. Artillery would also fire ball, canister and chain. There’s an example of the effects of chain scything down rows of infantry near Al Pacino in REVOLUTION. Suffice to say, the wounded suffered terribly. It took 3 days before the last wounded men still alive received what passed for battlefield medicine then.
The human cost of his ambitions were never Napoleon’s concern. He was a man drunk on the elixir of conquest and domination, and such men have to be stopped.
Two portraits of Napoleon, one bloated with pride,
the other humiliated by Abdication.
And Wellington was the defense-savvy general to stop him. A master of ambush, parry and counter attack.
I have a particular affection for Wellington, because from age 13 to 18, I attended the school founded in his name, Wellington College in England, which encouraged my interest in drama in general and cinema in particular. Funded by the school with a couple of pounds sterling worth of 8mm film, I shot my first battle scene at 17, with 20 members of the Cadet Corps, blank ammunition, and thunder flashes. I learned, to paraphrase Robert Duvall, that I love the smell of cordite in the morning. (Perhaps Wellington has a lot to answer for! But I would love to show today’s Cadet Corps my Siege of Firebase Gloria.)
But what if Napoleon had not been stopped? What if he had put Wellington to flight, then turned and blasted Blucher’s advancing columns. The war weary allied powers might have made an accommodating peace, Britain might have stepped back, leaving Europe to sort out its own problems. Britain might never have become the world power that its leadership in the victory over France ensured. The map of Europe would certainly have been different by the dawn of the 20th century. Would the unification of Germanic states under Prussia have taken place or not? Then, would there have been a World War One, which led inevitably from the punitive peace imposed on Germany, to the rise of Hitler and World War Two? What if..? That question is one of the reasons that history fascinates me. I recommend the New York Times best seller WHAT IF…? edited by Robert Crowley that first hooked me on counterfactual historical scenarios. I’d like to make a few What If movies. What if Hitler had won…
So, back to the movie of WATERLOO. It’s certainly watchable, and maybe screening the DVD will encourage some people to read one of the many excellent books on this turning point in European history. But I saw more of Sergei Bondarchuk’s camera flair in his 6 hour War and Peace ( 1968). You will see what I mean in this extract from the battle of Borodino sequence. ( German language version) Incredible visualization.
History is a great tutor. As has been said, if we do not learn its lessons, we are condemned to repeat its mistakes. As we teach children ethics, we should teach them history as well. Not just Euro-centric history either, but world history. The teaching of history as a tool for social progress is undervalued in many educational systems. Training to be good worker bees and consumers is not enough, as competition for the planet’s resources becomes more intense. Broader knowledge of different cultural histories will promote greater understanding between peoples, and over time lessen the likelihood of conflict. Perhaps history will view the Obama Presidency as a turning point in conflict resolution.
Certainly I hope by the end of this century wars will be relegated to the role of museum pieces, viewed on your home theatre wide screen as cautionary artifacts. I have enjoyed making my five war themed movies, yet I recognize that the genre contributes to the glorification of state sanctioned mass murder, generally initiated for economic gain but cloaked by righteous indignation. In war movies, the flags, the bugles, the heroism, all the images that contribute to the insidious seductiveness of war, even when contrasted with the horrors of combat, nonetheless celebrate an activity that we should, as a species, have put behind us by now. Why do audiences return time and again to the war story? War is inherently dramatic, providing the opportunity to witness a character’s self transcendence, to vicariously experience danger at a heightened level. Yet our attraction to these films helps make the fetish of warfare seem an unavoidable force of nature. It’s a thorny double standard for those of us that make war movies. Guilty as charged, I remain drawn to such films. Here’s another extract from ZULU, where that under rated film maker Cy Raker Endfield slides in some 1964-style anti-war message between battles.
Perhaps he saw Vietnam coming…
April 6, 2009
Do you want to brush up on your conducting? Check out the instructional DVD on this website, produced by long time British broadcaster and old friend James Montgomery.
The Craft of Conducting is comprehensive, technical, detailed, and engagingly outlined by a charming lady Denise Ham, who is Tutor in Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She’ll have you holding that baton properly in no time!
Film composers provide an invaluable function, propelling the narrative, sculpting the mood. We all have favorite movie scores, where we felt the music took the picture to another level. The first time a music score took me by storm was John Barry’s ZULU.
What an amazingly diverse oeuvre that man gave us. First, here’s a link to the powerful opening title music - illustrated here instead of titles by frozen frames from the film - which then segues into Richard Burton’s mellifluous tones setting the historical scene. If ever there was a voice to follow such an epic opening theme, it’s his.
I still enjoy listening to that score. ZULU is one of the greatest war movies ever made, the first depiction of a colonial battle that treated “the natives” - who were just defending their land from invaders - with respect. The movie still holds up after 45 years. Here’s a nine minute segment.
When the score kicks in after 6 minutes, see how effective it is in stirring the emotions, placing heroism in the context of the tragedy of war. I’ve seen ZULU many times, and it profoundly influenced the two battle pictures I made: THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA (1989), which treated the Viet Cong with respect, and SAHARA (1995) which perhaps was less respectful to the Afrika Corps. Every now and again I screen the MGM widescreen DVD of ZULU to a young (generally male) audience followed by discussion. They get it.
Check out IMDB’s 46 strong poster gallery, which shows how a timeless film has produced a time capsule of poster art.
What was the score that first dazzled you? And why?
April 1, 2009
The Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels recently programmed a section on OZPLOITATION. (Sexy buzzword for Australian genre movies 1970-1986) Festival honcho Dirk Van Extergem invited Mark Hartley, creator of NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD (trailer), Richard Brennan, producer of LONG WEEKEND (trailer), a classy Ozploitation example, and myself, your humble genre director and Hollywood’s best kept secret, who, I confess, also made the aforelinked LW trailer in my purple prose period of promo narration back in the Seventies. Trailers were too long in those days - nowadays they give too much away, like key images and surprises, diminishing dramatic impact for the customer in the quest for the best opening weekend box office. It is a difficult balance of responsibilities to maintain, I grant you, and my LW trailer is guilty too, though it was considered a grabber of a trailer in 1978. Today I would propel the structure at twice the speed and replace the narration with slick titles.
As was evidenced at the Festival screening, LONG WEEKEND, in a brand new Scope print, holds up very well today 32 years after it was shot. It still delivers ecology, suspense and a slow motion emotional train wreck, driven by a stellar performance from the late John Hargreaves. Sound Design professionals might also appreciate the complexity of the sound track, which adds greatly to mood and tension, a really sophisticated job from a fledgling film industry.
Offscreen is a great new offbeat Festival. Here’s a link to the website. Their manifesto: “to be a showcase for unusual and independent talent, highlighting the weird and the wonderful, including offbeat genre films, extraordinary documentaries and other hybrid, iconoclastic features from around the world.”
Works for me…
Among the genres they programmed this year were rare Giallo and Post Apocalyptic. So here follows a bit of a trailer park, distilled from their website, for fans of these genres who are currently at their computers; You don’t have to see them all at once on company time…
GIALLO
AUTOPSY is florid hi-octane Giallo with camera trickery, nudity and prosthetic gore effects ahead of the curve for 1975. American actress Mimsy Farmer is a delight.
Now retired from acting, she lives in France and is an accomplished sculptor and painter, providing art for such films as Troy and The Golden Compass, as well as her own creations. In its day, in countries where it did not get banned or cut to pieces, AUTOPSY more than satisfied an audience taste for forbidden fruit.
MILANO CALIBRO 9, is a violent Poliziottescho, a Giallo sub-genre, from Fernando De Leo. The opening sequence kick starts the robbery/betrayal/revenge plot with meticulous economy, building to a jaw droppingly over the top pay-off. And that’s just the first seven minutes! De Leo certainly knew how to get your attention. A great example of his Melville on Steroids style.
PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK. Mimsy Farmer once again (a year before AUTOPSY). Here she headlines a sex obsessed mood and shock piece, stylishly shot in the Bava style Equal parts Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, and enigma; the ending causes you to re-evaluate everything that has gone before, and then maybe you are still scratching your head. But if you embrace the alternative universe the film offers, then it’s a real collector’s item.
Of all the Giallo that the Offscreen Festival presented, these were the ones I would most enjoy remaking in my own way.
POST APOCALYPSE
THREADS, was one of the best mini-series of the Eighties. Here’s a link to an earnest promo trying to attract American viewers to a searingly realistic, totally uncompromising depiction of nuclear war, and its consequences, namely the unraveling of the very threads of civilization. (Try selling Ads for soap powder and Cialis with that.)
Still powerful 25 years later, THREADS focuses on ordinary people who are unaware that an obscure conflict in Iran is mushrooming into global annihilation. (Yes, Iran. And now we have Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to worry about too. ) It is great that Offscreen gave this important film a platform to point to the continuing obscenity of nuclear weapons and the need to keep bellicose politicians of all stripes under control. It was a frightening film to see in the Reagan era. Viewed now, it is still very unsettling, but we feel the comforting presence of a recently installed safety net. President Obama certainly faces a challenge to unravel the Gordian Knot of Middle East peace, with its attendant nuclear trip wires, but, personally, call me crazy, I believe the world is going to be a less dangerous place after 8 years of his efforts.
OK, off my soapbox, back in my seat at Offscreen’s venue, the idiosyncratic Nova Theatre, funkily decorated in true underground style, and lubricated by a generous bar that expanded my knowledge of Belgian ales. Here’s a happy snap of Hartley, Brennan, and myself during the NQH Q&A.
I’m the bemused gnome in the corner with the glass of wheat beer.
The Post Apocalyse section concluded with MAD MAX, a new print of a rare version of this Australian classic. Why? Because it is the American dubbed dialogue version with French subtitles, created because the US distributor in 1979 was afraid of Australian vowels! Watching friends like Roger Ward’s Fifi, Hugh Keays-Bryne’s Toe Cutter, and Mel Gibson’s Max with tough guy American voices was a surreal screening experience. And seeing Max’s interceptor smash through the caravan at 90 mph, knowing Grant Page is driving with his freshly broken leg in plaster, is always a pleasure.
My contribution to the Post Apocalyptic genre was DEAD END DRIVE IN, my sociopolitical allegory of the retro future.
LA Times critic Michael Wilmington called it Exterminating Angel meets Mad Max. El Q singles it out for special mention in NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD. Like Mad Max, an American dubbed version of the soundtrack was prepared, but in our case thankfully, never used. Naturally all film makers love their celluloid children. (My family numbers 38, and hopefully still growing. And 35 step-children from short marriages. That’s how I view my episodic output. Others have fertilized the eggs, but I do look after them for a crucial gestation period.) So, I am particularly fond of DEAD END DRIVE IN, THE MAN FROM HONG KONG and STUNT ROCK, which were selected for this festival. The organizers made us most welcome throughout our stay. Great Euro Cuisine, and expeditions to Waterloo and Bruges. Not to mention El Guapo Stunt Team front man Captain Catastrophe setting himself on fire outside the theatre in our honor…
More from the Offscreen Festival in the next blog.
