Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Imprint Films and Fun City Editions.
Welcome to this month’s second installment of “Physical Media Isn’t Dead, It Just Smells Funny,” where we will be completing the balance of April’s frankly unique and welcomingly diverse crop of Blu-ray titles. For the remainder of the month we’ll take a look at two war titles from Imprint Films from two controversial Old Hollywood figures: Samuel Fuller’s muscular, misguided, albeit well-intentioned film China Gate and the unforgettable sole directorial effort from HUAC pariah Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun. Fun City Editions, meanwhile, delivers another fascinating gem of ’70s cynicism and sorrow in the form of Born to Win featuring excellent performances from Karen Black and George Segal.
It’s a tumultuous and torn-up month about broken people in broken situations but as we enter spring and glimmers of hope begin to bud like the flowers we pass everyday on the sidewalk, rain and tears are great cleansers for the sunnier days ahead.
Much like Westerns, the breadth and scope of so many war movies made during the studio system simply boggles my mind, especially when you have to get down to business in figuring out what sets one “men on a mission” movie apart from the other 50 that probably came out that year. Yes, putting someone muscular and acidic behind the camera like Samuel Fuller will certainly help; the man of course specializes in the brutal nightmares of the battlefield (as well as the streets in his canon of crime films). However, choosing to focus on a war that isn’t done to death — I’m not trivializing, just saying that while there are infinite WWII movies, you could probably reasonably take on the task of counting how few Spanish-American war movies there are — as well as taking a theme and running with it will certainly help set you apart from the pack.
That’s what writer, director, and producer Samuel Fuller set out to do with China Gate, a 1957 film about mercenaries on a mission in the First Indochina War. The film stars Gene Barry as Sgt. Brock and Nat “King” Cole as Goldie, two Korean War veterans now working for the French Foreign Legion. Brock’s estranged wife “Lucky Legs” — excuse me if I missed if they tell us what her actual name is, but given that her introduction is a lingering, slow pan up her thighs to her hips scored to sultry saxophone music, I think it’s safe to say that’s all she’s called — played by Angie Dickinson in some unfortunate yellowface (more on that later), was left in the lurch by Brock because Lucky is of half-Chinese descent and their child was born with noticeable Chinese features. Lucky is hired by the Legion to lead a mission, along with Brock, that if successful will guarantee a safe emigration for their child to America.
It’s a messy movie to say the least but one whose heart and mind wants to be in the right place. Fuller wants to tackle the hypocrisy and absurdity of miscegenation and racism prevalent not just in the West but the world at large. You get asides from Nat “King” Cole’s Goldie remarking as much and some tense scenes involving frank conversation about the subject sandwiched in between scenes of Fuller’s signature filmmaking. Yet it’s hard to get behind a film that cast an actress in yellowface while preaching about tolerance. There’s also the xenophobia of encroaching communism to contend with. Like I said… messy. But what you will get out of this movie are the exciting “men on a mission” scenes you come for, a mission done at great sacrifice and with much bloodshed directed with a steady hand. Overall, I’d call it a “mid” effort in Fuller’s filmography but one I think you should give a shot, if only for a sense of what American attitudes towards race, communism, and miscegenation were at the time through the lens of a war that probably isn’t taught much in western history courses and how similar and different those political landscapes are now.
Special features for Imprint Films’ release of China Gate include an audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan; Peace of Mind: A Personal Look at “China Gate” by Samantha Fuller and Christa Lang Fuller; Tough Girl: Angie Dickinson’s Early Roles in Film, which is a video essay by the great Kat Ellinger; along with a theatrical trailer.
There’s too much to get into with writer Dalton Trumbo and his long legacy with the House of Un-American Activities Committee and the blacklist. In short, after being a part of the “Hollywood Ten” who refused to answer questions posed by the committee about communist activities in Hollywood, Trumbo had the long road ahead of him of rebuilding his career using pseudonyms or even the names of other filmmakers. Mostly known as one of the great incendiary writers of the studio system, Johnny Got His Gun is a fascinating sole directorial effort 30 years after Trumbo published the novel of the same name and 20 years after being dubbed a figurative leper in Tinseltown.
A horribly mutilated veteran played by Timothy Bottoms emerges from WWI having lost his sight, speech, hearing, and sense of smell, but retains his sense of touch and his ability to think and dwell and extrapolate on memories. Those memories turn into fantasies, some involving his father, played by Jason Robards, and others involving Jesus Christ, played by Donald Sutherland. It’s a memory play in the most literal sense about a man trapped within himself and his anguish with only the most fleeting moments of grace provided to him outside the prison of his mind.
While I think this film is so interestingly shot and structured (the present-day/real-world parts are in black and white while the memories and fantasies are in color) and there is so much of that late ’60s starkness and Kafkaesque relationships with power structures that are present in things like John Frankenheimer’s Seconds, as well as some influence from Fellini and an uncredited touch-up from French surrealist Luis Buñuel, the film is frankly… bleak. It is the feature-length equivalent of the phrase “I have no mouth and I must scream.” That’s not a negative in my book, but those looking for catharsis may need to turn away. To me, it’s clearly a film by someone who’s gone through the nightmare of having to be a creative who has either had to push for every ounce of effort to get one of their visions to a wider audience or been trapped with stories in their mind because they know no one will take a chance on them. For that and its interesting cast and the surreal direction of someone in the autumn of their creative career who only got one turn calling the shots, I think it’s definitely worth your time. Even if you’re just the world’s biggest Metallica fan and want to see where the footage used in the music video “One” comes from.
Featuring a new audio commentary by author and critic Matthew Asprey Gear; a documentary tilted Dalton Trumbo: Rebel In Hollywood which gives you the much needed context this movie is coming from; an interview with actor Timothy Bottoms; behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Bottoms and director of photography Jules Brenner; and a 1940 radio adaptation starring James Cagney, you can find Johnny Got His Gun through Imprint Films.
This is what I love about Fun City Editions. They’re the distributor taking the most time and care into preserving the cinematic portrayals of what is probably the grimiest and most aesthetically ramshackle-yet-alluring periods in the late 20th century. Born to Win fits right in with their other releases featuring New York as a *sweating about the cliché they’re about to consciously write* CHARACTER UNTO ITSELF. YEAH, I SAID IT! But the movie is more than just a snapshot. It belongs with the canon of stories about oddly endearing sad sacks and hustlers who are performed with grace and nuance.
George Segal plays J., a former hairdresser-turned-junkie who left a domestic life behind to chase the dragon. He runs the streets with his seemingly only friend Billy Dynamite (Jay Fletcher), always looking for the next fix. In an unexpected turn, a footloose and fancy-free woman played by Karen Black falls for J. and it looks like maybe J. has an out of the life he fell into. However, after pushing weight for a pimp and dealer played by Hector Elizondo and getting popped by narcotics cops (Ed Madsen and a young and very hot Robert De Niro), forcing him to become an informant, the title Born to Win may or may not be an ironic one.
Like Panic in Needle Park or Drugstore Cowboy, there’s a low-fi ragged poetry to a movie about an addict who still has some control over his impulses but not enough to keep him out of trouble and also not enough goodwill built up cosmically for trouble to not find him. George Segal has a lovely physicality and tone to him as he ambles through the streets of New York in the opening credits and onwards. You truly want him to win. You want him to get clean. You want him and Karen Black to ride off into the sunset, but you also are entranced by how much the universe really does pile on J. and those around him. It’s a beautifully, grittily shot film with a spontaneous and soulful score from composer William S. Fisher that made me pause and rewind certain scenes to hear those moments of impact combined with those images. A scene involving some bad drugs comes immediately to mind with how well the meshing of image and sound come together to convey panic and anxiety. If that’s not enough to sell you on the movie, then how about a small but important role from the great Paula Prentiss and a nice little silent appearance from the ironically named Burt Young (of Rocky fame)?
I could keep gushing about this movie and I really do think that if you, like me, enjoy these portraits of a world gone by, then you should 100% pick up a copy of Born to Win from Fun City Editions. The Blu-ray comes with a newly recorded audio commentary by writer Jason Bailey and filmmaker Michael Hull of the Fun City Cinema podcast as well as an essay from writer Justin LaLiberty.
Along with ‘Round Midnight from last week, this is definitely my pick of the month for April. See you here next month with a whole new crop of what I am sure will be interesting titles.
Aja Essex is a film lover and a menace. She plays jazz from time to time but asks you not to hold that against her. Her taste in movies bounces from Speed Racer to The Holy Mountain and everything in between. Since both those films have now been screened at and written about for the IU Cinema, she will probably change this bio soon.