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Title: Messenger of Death (1988) Post by: Trevor on February 12, 2014, 12:54:56 AM This film has one of the creepiest openings ever from a credits shot of a seemingly hideous vengeful angel to a dark figure gunning down innocent people in a Mormon community to a truly WTF ending - the film just ends, no actual wrap up - and the viewer is left gobsmacked, the bad guy dies and Charles Bronson is left puzzled.
A good film which I revisited a few days ago and it deserves to be better known. :smile: (http://funkhundd.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/messenger-of-death-1988.jpg) Title: Re: Messenger of Death (1988) Post by: The Burgomaster on February 13, 2014, 10:16:32 PM I never saw this movie until I went on a Charles Bronson spree a few years ago and bought a bunch of his movies on DVD. I had heard a lot of bad things about it, but I didn't think it was so terrible. Not a movie that I'm apt to watch very frequently, but I could be convinced to watch it from time to time.
Title: Re: Messenger of Death (1988) Post by: Neville on February 17, 2014, 02:09:41 PM This was the last of the Charles Bronson / J. Lee Thompson's thrillers, right? I watched it - foe the first time, I think - a few years back. Certainly it's not the worst of the lot -those would be "Caboblanco" and / or "Kinjite"- but it does seem a little formulaic. At least Bronson here plays a journalist, so he doesn't just shoot people all around, but rather tries to figure things out.
Title: Re: Messenger of Death (1988) Post by: Trevor on February 18, 2014, 02:59:42 AM At least Bronson here plays a journalist, so he doesn't just shoot people all around, but rather tries to figure things out. At one point, he shoots a coffin (of all things) and then beats up the person who kills the Mormon family. Bronson: "You're going to give us the name, yes?" Bad Guy: "No!" [gets kicked in the pie hole] :buggedout: :teddyr: Title: Re: Messenger of Death (1988) Post by: The Burgomaster on March 02, 2014, 09:45:42 AM I still can't figure out how J. Lee Thompson went from movies like CAPE FEAR and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE to the cliched action movies he made at the end of his career. His career reminds me of Richard Fleischer, who made movies like 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, and THE BOSTON STRANGLER and then ended up making crap like MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY, RED SONJA, and AMITYVILLE 3-D.
Title: Re: Messenger of Death (1988) Post by: Neville on March 02, 2014, 09:59:11 AM Many of those old school directors' careers suffered a lot after the traditional studio system fell apart. They were more craftmen than artists, and thus needed a good structure to back them up in order to give the best of themselves. That's also the case of John Sturges and many others, they did their best work in the 1960s and in the final stages of their careers their films are either hit or miss.
In the case of Thompson, watching "McKenna's Gold" also gives you a better perspective on the guy's real talent. It's a very entertaining movie, but some of its worst scenes show why Thompson never became an A-list director. |