Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[The Great Owl]

Martin Sheen, in his first feature film role, and Tony Musante (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) star as two sociopathic outlaws who amuse themselves by taking over a subway train car in New York City and holding the passengers hostage in order to humiliate them with sadistic games. The unfortunate victims include two soldiers, played by Beau Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys) and Robert Bannard (Ryan's Hope), a teenage girl, played by Donna Mills (Knots Landing), and her sexually aggressive boyfriend, played by Victor Arnold (The Seven-Ups), a black couple played by Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Ruby Dee (Do the Right Thing), an elderly couple played by Thelma Ritter (Rear Window) and Jack Gilford (Cocoon), a former alcoholic played by Gary Merrill (All About Eve), an unhappily married couple played by Jan Sterling (Ace in the Hole) and Mike Kellin (Midnight Express), two parents, played by Ed McMahon (The Tonight Show) and Diana Van der Vlis (Ryan's Hope), who are just trying to get their young daughter home, and a homosexual man played by Robert Fields (The Stepford Wives). These horrified passengers each inevitably draw the attention of their tormentors in different ways, and their reactions in the face of unimaginable tension make for some of cinema's most overtly unnerving moments.

The 1967 crime drama, The Incident, is one of the most disturbing films that I have ever seen in my life. Its bleak narrative, which invites comparisons to Straw Dogs (1971) and Deliverance (1972), is painful to watch across the board, but it especially cuts deep for those of us who have been targeted by bullies at some point in our lives. At several points in this film, I remembered times when I was bullied during my childhood, and I thought about how I've since been haunted by regrets that I did not take up for myself during some of those situations. When the closing credits rolled, my heart went out to most of the subway passengers whose lives will never be the same again. Like most adults, I try to be a polite citizen and I depend on society's rules to protect me, so films that shed light on times when we are left to our own devices during confrontational situations are always an unpleasant endurance test. This movie, which was directed in a stark black-and-white documentary-like fashion by Larry Peerce, delivers the toughest such test that I have seen to date.

During its first hour, when we are introduced to each of the characters as they prepare to board the train while grappling with their own respective problems in life, The Incident preps us for a scenario drawn from the blueprint of John Ford's Stagecoach, which concerns diverse strangers who are compelled to work together against a common threat. This film has something far more insidious and caustic up its sleeve, however. Instead of catering to heroic tropes that we are yearning to see, this story draws its terrifying strengths from the real-life story of Kitty Genovese, a woman who was stabbed to death outside her New York City apartment in 1964 while her cries for help were reportedly ignored by multiple indifferent witnesses.

Most rational humans have an inherent desire to avoid violence and confrontation. The Incident, which shows the sad results of what can happen when such people are placed in a claustrophobic setting with thrill-seeking individuals who thrive on threatening behavior, must have raised quite a few eyebrows during a decade when people were torn between minding their own business and stepping in to help others amidst racism in the Civil Rights era and amidst protests against Vietnam, but it takes on a new resonance today in the current political climate torn in half between those who favor gun control and those who believe that an armed society will be a safe society.

It's going to take a while to get this movie out of my head, and, even as I rewatch it right now with the Blu-ray commentary track playing, it makes me want to curl up in a fetal position in the corner and lock my doors. I think that The Incident is a tremendous movie because of its sheer ability to go straight for my emotions, and I believe that it is an example of neo-noir at its finest, but it is not an easy watch.

This Twilight Time Blu-ray delivers the tense goods with a filmic and detailed presentation that puts certain moments all the more too close for comfort. The booklet and the commentary track, featuring Director Larry Peerce and historian Nick Redman, is a superbly informative and engaging listen.

Well done, Twilight Time!

(...although it may be quite a while before I summon the guts to revisit this one)

[tisdivine]

Just had a chance to check my mail and The Seven-Ups & Dont Bother to Knock arrived today. Its 1:45 here so thats prob too late to start a movie, right? Noooooooooooo its Friday night!

[oildude]

Here are the Twilight Time release announcements for June 2018, courtesy of the Home Theater Forum. As always, out of respect for HTF's exclusive announcement window, I will not be updating the first post of this thread until TT makes an official announcement later today.

TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (1970) BLU-RAY - June 19th

MY SISTER EILEEN (1955) BLU-RAY - June 19th

MY GAL SAL (1942) BLU-RAY - June 19th

LET’S MAKE LOVE (1960) BLU-RAY - June 19th

[mja345]

Originally Posted by oildude

Here are the Twilight Time release announcements for June 2018, courtesy of the Home Theater Forum. As always, out of respect for HTF's exclusive announcement window, I will not be updating the first post of this thread until TT makes an official announcement later today.

TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (1970) BLU-RAY - June 19th

MY SISTER EILEEN (1955) BLU-RAY - June 19th

MY GAL SAL (1942) BLU-RAY - June 19th

LET’S MAKE LOVE (1960) BLU-RAY - June 19th

Wow, that's an obscure set of announcements outside of "Let's Make Love". I love obscure films, but I have to admit I had to look up the first three. "Take a Girl Like You" features Oliver Reed, which means it will be an automatic pickup.

[jayembee]

Another Marilyn Monroe (directed by Cukor) checked off...

Another Rita Hayworth checked off...

A Janet Leigh/Jack Lemmon pairing (co-written by Blake Edwards)...

And Hayley Mills...

[Aclea]

More -



- is always a good thing. And on my birthday, too...

[Sinbad75]

Great to finally see Haley Mills showing up in a Blu-ray release from TT. Amazingly, this will be only her second film released in the format following the Disney Movie Club exclusive release of "Pollyanna" from a few years back. The TT release gives me hope that the great "The Trouble with Angels" with Haley and the iconic Rosalind Russell will someday follow! Oh, and don't forget to consider "The Long Ships" with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. A fun fantasy Viking adventure!

[Ruined]

I wish TT would make the pre-order bundles 19.99 per title instead of 24.99. Latter is just too much if you aren't totally interested in every one. I bet they'd get a lot of people pre-ordering with that change instead of waiting for sales.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by oildude

Here are the Twilight Time release announcements for June 2018, courtesy of the Home Theater Forum. As always, out of respect for HTF's exclusive announcement window, I will not be updating the first post of this thread until TT makes an official announcement later today.

TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (1970) BLU-RAY - June 19th

MY SISTER EILEEN (1955) BLU-RAY - June 19th

MY GAL SAL (1942) BLU-RAY - June 19th

LET’S MAKE LOVE (1960) BLU-RAY - June 19th

Excited for My Sister Eileen . Would love to see TT release more of Jack Lemmon’s early Columbia films. It Should Happen to You, Phffft, and Fire Down Below would all most welcome.

[plateoshrimp]

I wish I could go ahead and order Let's Make Love and My Gal Sal today. More Marilyn and Rita is always good.

Originally Posted by belcherman

Excited for My Sister Eileen . Would love to see TT release more of Jack Lemmon’s early Columbia films. It Should Happen to You, Phffft, and Fire Down Below would all most welcome.

I'd love to have all three of those, too. Judy Holliday was great and seems largely forgotten by most people.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Sinbad75

Great to finally see Haley Mills showing up in a Blu-ray release from TT. Amazingly, this will be only her second film released in the format following the Disney Movie Club exclusive release of "Pollyanna" from a few years back. The TT release gives me hope that the great "The Trouble with Angels" with Haley and the iconic Rosalind Russell will someday follow! Oh, and don't forget to consider "The Long Ships" with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. A fun fantasy Viking adventure!

DMC are also bringing out the Parent Trap.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

All these titles that TT are releasing is great. A lot that I need to check out but I wish TT was able to get more 80s-90s Sony titles released. Toy Soldiers (1991), Gladiator (1992) and Look Who's Talking come to mind just to name a few. Also I wish they could've gotten Real Genius. I don't think I've been really excited about a TT release since At Close Range in 2015 (which was an awesome year for TT). I can't remember if I read that TT doesn't have their contract with Sony anymore or if that was with another studio. I wonder if the now terminated (hopefully) Sony Choice Collections made it an issue for TT being able to release Sony titles.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Excited for My Sister Eileen . Would love to see TT release more of Jack Lemmon’s early Columbia films. It Should Happen to You, Phffft, and Fire Down Below would all most welcome.

I second It Should Happen To You.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

All these titles that TT are releasing is great. A lot that I need to check out but I wish TT was able to get more 80s-90s Sony titles released. Toy Soldiers (1991), Gladiator (1992) and Look Who's Talking come to mind just to name a few. Also I wish they could've gotten Real Genius. I don't think I've been really excited about a TT release since At Close Range in 2015 (which was an awesome year for TT). I can't remember if I read that TT doesn't have their contract with Sony anymore or if that was with another studio. I wonder if the now terminated (hopefully) Sony Choice Collections made it an issue for TT being able to release Sony titles.

I’d love for an “American Pop” release, an isolated score would be killer. “Metropolis” (2001 Anime film) needs a new scan badly.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

I’d love for an “American Pop” release, an isolated score would be killer. “Metropolis” (2001 Anime film) needs a new scan badly.

Yeah their isolated scores are a real treat. I'm thrilled that Patrick Leonard's score for At Close Range has one especially since it never got released on any music format. It's one of my all time favorite scores too

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

All these titles that TT are releasing is great. A lot that I need to check out but I wish TT was able to get more 80s-90s Sony titles released. Toy Soldiers (1991), Gladiator (1992) and Look Who's Talking come to mind just to name a few. Also I wish they could've gotten Real Genius. I don't think I've been really excited about a TT release since At Close Range in 2015 (which was an awesome year for TT). I can't remember if I read that TT doesn't have their contract with Sony anymore or if that was with another studio. I wonder if the now terminated (hopefully) Sony Choice Collections made it an issue for TT being able to release Sony titles.

It’s MGM that Twilight Time no longer have a contract with.

The one Sony title I want them to release (or any of the companies with Sony connections) is Robin and Marian.

[movieben1138]

Excited for MY SISTER EILEEN! I love that movie!

[HINDIBLUERAY]

IMG_1666.jpg

I now have the entire TT catalog title as of 2017.

[Aclea]

The Seven-Ups was producer-turned-director Philip D'Antoni's attempt to outdo his earlier Bullitt and The French Connection but it tends to fall a bit flat because of a lack of star power, slack pacing and a story that just doesn't matter. If anything its more a premise than a plot - a cop is unaware that his main informer is actually using him to get information on which mobsters to kidnap - and has characterization that never rises to the level of paper thin (Roy Scheider’s rule-breaking police unit are so secret they don’t even have personalities). Despite a few "just a coupla kids from the old neighborhood" lines, the characters simply aren't there, leaving Scheider often seeming on the verge of being completely lost while Tony Lo Bianco's hesitancy all too often seems more like desperation for something to latch on to that he’s not getting from either the script or his director (D’Antoni is noticeably better with places and machines than drawing nuance out of his actors). More than that, the film just lacks real drive to connect its setpieces in the first half so its impact depends on how good those sequences are. Luckily the film has a couple of real doozeys, an ingenious ransom handover in an automated car wash and a nine-minute car chase – like its D’Antoni-produced predecessors placed right in the middle of the film, inadvertently making the real finale seem comparatively underwhelming – that goes all out to top everything that had gone before it.

Although it’s not quite up to the standard of Bullitt or The French Connection, partially because we’re just not as invested in the main character, it was in its way more influential on subsequent cop movies. Where they had centred on evasive driving where the point was not to crash into anything, this is pure demolition derby stuff where the intent is to cause as much damage to other cars (especially ones not involved in the chase) as possible. Unlike the more outrageous stunts that would be introduced the following year in Freebie and the Bean, this keeps it more grounded and within the realms of possibility, but it certainly blazed a trail for Burt Reynolds et al. It’s also the point in the film where the stakes are raised, the plot finally starts to cohere and it finally gets some dramatic focus as the formerly clueless Scheider and his bland team finally notice what’s going on and start playing really dirty.

It’s basically a typical generic 70s cop movie with all the strengths and weaknesses that implies and if you go in expecting another Bullitt or French Connection you’re not going to do yourself or the film any favours, but dial your expectations down and it’s a decent enough Saturday Night Special.

If the film is a bit of a disappointment with enough good scenes to make it worth a look, Twilight Time’s Blu-ray is an exceptional release, carrying over all the impressive extras from the UK Signal One release (audio commentary by Richard Harland Smith, interviews with D’Antoni, Lo Bianco and technical advisor Randy Jurgenson, two excellent featurettes on the car chase – one vintage giving the official version, the other modern explaining how they ‘stole’ shots and broke all their agreements with the authorities to get the scene and ended up getting arrested – stills and poster gallery, teaser and full trailer and, despite not being listed, the old Ken Films 16-minute Super 8mm cutdown) but going the extra mile by not only including an isolated track for Don Ellis’ brutally non-thematic score but also including one for Johnny Mandel’s more traditionally developed rejected one as well, along with the usual booklet which allows Julie Kirgo to wax lyrical about her childhood in New York (including attending the very school that features in the car chase).

The transfer is as good as you can expect for a film that deliberately went out of its way to capture the grit and ugliness of New York in the 70s when the city looked like it was about to collapse into the abyss at any second: a few shots look a little flat (some quite probably deliberately, others because of difficult light sources during the shoot) but for the most part it’s a very satisfyingly clear, crisp and clean transfer of a dirty looking picture. If you like the film, you won't be disappointed with this excellent release.

[SeanJoyce]

Yeah, The Seven-Ups isn't a truly "great" film or even a particularly good one, but the chase and the quality of TT's release make it a must-buy.