Sand and Stars

 

 

 

 

 

This is my entry in the John Saxon Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Cinematic Catharsis

 

 

 

 

So who is John Saxon? Well, Saxon, whose real name was Carmine Orrico, was a guy who made a name for himself in the 70's and 80's as a go to guy for such low budget horror and martial arts films that were the bread and butter of the drive-in movie circuit.  You may not recognize the name, but it's a sure bet you would recognize the face, especially if you watched those kinds of movies.

During his heyday he was a presence in such films as  Enter the Dragon (notably Bruce lee's last completed film) in which he is among a group of competitors in a tournament on a remote island. and many Westerns and crime dramas in the 70's.  Although he never achieved a high profile starring role for the most part, he did get a lot of attention whenever he was on screen.  He managed to win a Golden Globes award as New Star of the Year, an award he shared with James Garner and Patrick Wayne (from 1954-1965 there were multiple winners of the award  each year).

Saxon had a career that spanned from 1954 to 2017 (a few years before his death), but he was most active in the 70's and 80's. He did get roles ointo even the 90's and 2000's.   I didn't know it at the time, but I recently re-watched Beverly Hills Cop III, and lo and behold, there was Saxon in yet another role, this time as one of the baddies.

Blood Beach (1979):

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... you can't get past the beach! 

You know, for years, I thought that was the tagline from this movie. It plays on the fears caused by the blockbuster Jaws from a few years previous.  However, it turns out that the tagline is slightly different.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ... you can't get to it!

Notice the difference?  I think my tag is better, but, we can't do anything about it now...

Anyway, as intimated in the tagline, this movie initially plays off the fears of beach fun that that blockbuster had on vacation traffic back in 1975.  Surely the makers of this movie did not envision having that kind of impact on vacationers.  (If they did, then I want some of what they were smoking in the boardroom...)

And while I'm admitting misconceptions, for years, before I ever got to actually see the movie, I had sworn that I heard that the creature at the end of the film turned out to be a giant ant lion.  Whether that was an actual ending of another film, I can't say, but as you will see if you make it to the end of this review, you will see that it was NOT necessarily a giant ant lion.

The movie opens with Harry (David Huffman) going off to his job as a harbor patrol man.  He apparently swims out to his job. On the beach he greets a woman, Ruth, who is doing her daily walk on the beach with her dog.  While Harry is out swimming he hears the screams of the woman, whom we see pulled down into the sand and disappear.

 

What happened to her?  No one seems to know, since it seems no one saw her disappear.  At least no one who is coming forward.  We do see a woman watching the scene from an abandoned building, but she is not making herself known.

The LA Police are dubious.about her disappearance.  The two detective partners who discuss the disappearance with Harry (played by the Young brothers, Otis and Burt... OK they aren't really brothers, but isn't it interesting that they are both named Young?)

 

 

There former girlfriend of Harry, Catherine (Marianne Hill) shows up, because, coincidentally, she was also the daughter of Ruth, and has shown up to find out what happened to her mother.

 

 

 

The incident with Ruth is investigated, but no one is sure how a woman can just suddenly disappear from a deserted beach.  One of the better parts of the film, at least for me,  is when Burt Young is on the screen.  Sure, he is playing a character that is typical for him, a crass, brash and not too bright bruiser type.  But Burt always did brighten up movies I saw him in.  

The next "victim" of of our mysterious enemy is the pet dog of the woman killed earlier.  The dog is looking for his missing mistress and ends up losing it's head over the loss.  Literally.

Cut to the crowded beach.  The next potential victim is a girl who is with friends being covered in sand.  She starts screaming that something is biting her legs. She is pulled from the sand, her loegs covered in blood (but still intact).  (And depending on which cut of the movie you see, there is a brief (very brief) glimpse of whatever is doing this.

Finally, our star makes his appearance.  Saxon, who is the chief of police, Captain Pearson, is talking with the assembly of police discussing the incidents, the missing woman, the dog and the girl who was "slumming; I presume" from Beverly Hills. And he wants answers.  (Well, who doesn't, John?  Who doesn't?) He's got everybody from the mayor to the daughter to the parents of the girl to the ASPCA (who want to know what the police are doing to investigate a blatant act of cruelty to animals because of the dog victim.  (Yes, there are some attempts of comedy in this film...  poor attempts, but attempts, nonetheless.)

Several more people are attacked by this sand creature including a would be sex offender who, without being too graphic, won't be doing any sexual offenses in the future.  Viewing the scene Capt Pearson says the tag line "just when you thought it was safe..."  (The writers don't miss a chance with this one...)

As with that other classic beach monster film, no one seems to have any idea that if there is something dangerous around, maybe a good idea would be to avoid the dangerous area.  So we are going to see a couple more victims being swallowed up by the beach.  (And for a movie called :"Blood Beach" there is surprisingly little "blood"in these attacks.  The ones that are swallowed whole apparently have no blood in them.)

Interestingly enough, we do get some very brief looks at this creature as it shows it consuming the victims below the surface.  It's looking almost like some kind of slug. But the real thing is, when the authorities finally discover it's lair and set up video cameras, that it looks more like some kind of Venus flytrap. 

 

 Captain Pearson has the lair rigged up with explosives designed to blow the thing to smithereens.  But as a doctor intimates, there are some things that exist in the world that are capable of regeneration and wonders what might become of each smithereens if they do blow the thing to Kingdom come.

 OK, so if you are operating on all cylinders, you can see how the final scene rolls out.  

Is this movie any good?  Well, I can give you the best thing I can, which is tell you how one of my review books puts it.  It's a "silly little shocker that can best be described as "sucky"." Which is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the way the creatures sucks it's victims into the beach, but is not a bad description of the film.  If you want to save time, just think of it as Baywatch with less bikinis and more blood.  Or at least more disappearing bodies...

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980):

This film, made on the cheap by the famous low budget mogul Roger Corman has a cache of stars and future stars to boost it into the stratosphere.  Besides our current subject, Saxon, the film also has Richard Thomas (yes, John-Boy Walton is in this...).  It also features George Peppard (Col. Hannibal Smith from The A-Team, and the titular detective Banacek... or for those of you into that kind of movie, Paul from Breakfast at Tiffany's).  Additionally you've got Robert Vaughn (Napoleon Solo from The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among others...), Jeff Corey ( a face you would recognize, even if the name is not familiar), Sybil Danning (one of the big names in the babes with guns and/or swords genre of film) and Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson from the TV series Lost in Space). And Julia Duffy (Newhart) makes her big screen debut. It also has music composed by James Horner (whose resume included, among others, the films Titanic and Field of Dreams).. And James (Jim) Cameron was involved in the art direction and visual effects. And the script was written by another giant in the industry, John Sayles (who directed several high profile films, including my favorite sports movie, Eight Men Out).

The film has been described as Star Wars meets Seven Samurai, At the start, Sador (John Saxon) of the Malmori has come to the planet Akir. (A name that is homage to Akira Kurosawa, director of Seven Samurai, among other great Japanese samurai flicks). He informs the people of Akir that he intends to subjugate them in a short time. 

 

 

Zed (Jeff Corey) tells the people they must learn to fight, a thing that has not been a part of Akir society for many years.  What must happen is they must gather some mercenaries to help them, and thus we have Shad (Richard Thomas), the only one who apparently can fly their lone star ship to head out to recruit these mercenaries.

 

 

But first he needs the help of old Zed's former ally, Dr. Hephaestus (Sam Jaffe).  He goes to the spaceport home of the doc, but the Doc is just a shadow of his former self, in more ways than one.  He insists that Akir is doomed, with or without help, and wants Shad to stay on the spaceport and, with his daughter, Nanelia (Darlanne Fluegel), repopulate the spaceport. (All it has are androids...)  But Shad is insistent on saving Akir, and with Nanelia's help, escapes.

 

 

The next goal is to round up the mercenaries.  Fortunately for Shad, one is just around the corner.  Cowboy (George Peppard) could be a big help, that is if Shad can exercise a little bravado and kill a few people who are trying to kill Cowboy themselves... 

 

When he has finished, Shad tries to convince Cowboy to join the team.  But before he does, we get to see why Sador is such a badass.  He has a "stellar converter". Think Death Star, but on a smaller budget.  Essentially, instead of blowing up planets, Sador can eliminate his enemies by turning their planets into suns.

 Meanwhile, Nanelia is rescued (captured?) by another race, a mercenary creature who goes by the name of Cayman. (And Cayman looks a lot like a couple of other creatures from movies I've seen, like the alien in Enemy Mine). Cayman rescued her, but intends to sell her to another party.  That is until he finds out that Nanelia is seeking mercenaries to fight Sador. It seems Cayman and Sador are NOT bosom buddies... 

 

And Shad runs into the Nestor who want in on the action. (BTW, I wonder if this is where Star Trek got the idea for the Borg.  The Nestor are sentient beings who share one consciousness... "What one sees, all see, what one knows, all know...) They are not looking for gain in the matter, they just want to join in the quest, however.

 

And then Shad meets up with Gelt (Robert Vaughn) the sole remaining mercenary of his own world.  And Gelt is reminiscent of the character that Vaughn played in The Magnificent Seven, Lee, a guy who doesn't care what he has to do, just as long as he gets paid to do it.

 

The final piece of the puzzle is St. Exmin of the Valkiri (Sybil Danning).  Shad is not entirely gung-ho about her joining the party however, since he ship is small and it doesn't look much like a fighting machine.  (Of course, if he could see her, he might make an exception...)  But she is nothing if not determined and somehow ends up on the fighting team anyway.

 

Which leads up to the final battle.  As any good Star Wars knockoff, there are some decent space battles, but since, as I said before, this has some elements of Seven Samurai (or The Magnificent Seven, for you neophytes), there is also a battle on Akir's surface. And that's where Cowboy's help comes in handy, since his trade of choice is hand weapons, so he has taught the Akir how to handle themselves in hand-to-hand combat.

Ultimately, a few brave souls have to die.  And most of them die spectacularly.  (That $2 million budget wasn't all wasted on actor talent...).  This isn't Star Wars, of course, it's just Star Wars Lite.  But damn, it is a great movie in it's own right.  If you have an hour and a half to kill, I recommend it.

Well, folks, that wraps up this trip.  The old Plymouth may not make it to Akir, but it's good enough to get home (as long as I don't run into Saxon on the way...)  Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy