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He’s a bad mother… watch your mouth. Hey, I’m just talking about Shaft. SHAFT brought blaxploitation to the mainstream. Many movie-goers hadn’t seen a black man like him before and there’s a power to the role that is still fascinating today. More so than SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAAD ASSSSS SONG’s protagonist, Shaft was more acceptable to a white audience, yet retained a ferrous “stick it to the man” attitude.

John Shaft (Richard Roundtree, SEVEN) is a private detective, who knows the mean streets of New York City well. When drug dealer Bumpy Jones (Moses Gunn, RAGTIME) sends a couple of thugs to bring Shaft to him, one of the henchmen ends up thrown out a window. Eventually, Bumpy comes to Shaft asking for the PI to locate his kidnapped daughter. Bumpy claims he doesn’t know who would take his little girl, suggesting that it may be Ben Buford (Christopher St. John) and his black power revolutionary group. But things aren’t as they seem and Shaft’s investigation uncovers links to the white mob.

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ONG-BAK generates awe not from its lame plot, but from its raw stunt work that baffles the eyes. Story is irrelevant when the real purpose for this film is to showcase the amazing physical skills of its star Tony Jaa. It’s a kung-fu flick — what else do you want?

Ting (Jaa) is a skilled boxer from a small village in Thailand. Young gangster Don (Wannakit Siripout) has stolen the head of the village’s stone Buddha called Ong-Bak. So Ting heads to the city to retrieve the statue’s head. In the city, he meets up with Humlae, known as George (Petchtai Wongkamlao) and his sister Muay Lek (Pumwaree Yodkamol), who left Ting’s village for the city and are more interested in stealing Ting’s money or exploiting his fighting skills then helping him find the missing idol head. As would be expected, Ting ends up in a boxing match, which loses Don’s boss Komtuan (Suchao Pongwilai) a lot of money.

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After EASY RIDER, hitting the open road became an often-used metaphor for regaining one’s freedom. RIDER was revolutionary, however some parts have dated it. Many films copied the concept to varying degrees of success — 1971’s TWO-LANE BLACKTOP took the concept to great heights. In the same year came VANISHING POINT, a shallower take on its era, but with a lot more kick ass action.

Kowalski (Barry Newman, BOWFINGER) drives custom cars across country to their owners. He’s just gotten back from a long trip when he makes the bet that he can head out right away and get from Denver to San Fran in 15 hours. (To do so he’d have to average 85 mph, but whatever.) Right before he heads out, he takes some speed to stay awake. Racing down the highway, two motorcycle cops try to pull him over, but he keeps on going.

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The first KARATE KID is a classic. Yes, I’m gutsy enough to say that. Yeah, it has its total cheese parts, but at its core it is a believable tale of friendship. However, THE NEXT KARATE KID is all cheese. Abandoning the core relationship that made the original great (not that it saved part two or three), you can hear the filmmakers trying to wring out the last coin from this franchise.

Every time Pat Morita rolls his eyes in disgust, you have to believe it’s a comment on the trite he is being subjected to in order to pay his mortgage. This time around Mr. Miyagi (Morita) becomes the guardian of his dead friend’s daughter, named Julie, played by, yes, two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank.

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Terry Gilliam’s TIME BANDITS is a strange film to put your finger on. One is often dazzled by the production design and imagination on display, yet frustrated with a lack of story.

Kevin (Craig Warnock, TV’s TO THE LIGHTHOUSE) is awoken from his sleep one night when a medieval knight bursts forth from his closet. Apparently, a wormhole ends in his room and some renegade employees of the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) smuggle young Kevin along with them. Randall (TV’s THE WIZARD) is the leader of the Time Bandits, which includes Fidgit (Kenny Baker, STAR WARS), Strutter (Malcolm Dixon, WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY), Og (Mike Edmonds, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT), Wally (Jack Purvis, BRAZIL) and Vermin (Tiny Ross, FLASH GORDON). The dwarf thieves have a map that shows them all the wormholes in the universe and have decided to travel through time to steal vast riches because they are upset with the Supreme Being for relegating them to making trees for eternity.

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This notorious “art” film weaves a spell over all that have seen it — whether they say they liked it or not. It’s notorious in that it dares to be completely unlike anything you have ever seen before. Director Louis Malle (ATLANTIC CITY) makes a film that Roger Ebert calls the only film free of all clichés. I’d have to agree with that statement.

The title is also a description. Two old friends have dinner and that’s about it. A short prologue with Wally (Wallace Shawn, THE PRINCESS BRIDE) walking to the restaurant provides some backstory via voice over.

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SUPERFLY is another one of the landmark films of the short-lived blaxploitation era, which lasted from the early 1970s to about 1976. It’s not as groundbreaking as SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAAD ASSSSS SONG or as mainstream as SHAFT, but it has more interesting things to say than either of those films. Part of what makes the film so interesting is its mixed message. The informed viewer can easily see what the film is trying to say, but its negative influence on impressionable youth can be seen as well. It’s credited as making the drug-dealing pimp look of the early 1970s chic.

Ron O’Neal (WHEN A STRANGER CALLS) plays Youngblood Priest, a cocaine-using, cocaine-dealing ladies man. He uses women like they’re Kleenex. He’s decked out in superfly clothes and has the sweet El Dorado Cadillac. One can see why the older African-American generation didn’t want him as a role model for their kids. However, what the film is saying is that Priest is a product of his environment. He was fed all the same materialistic ideals that white kids are fed, but is not given the means to attain those American dreams in conventional ways.

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In retrospect, THE MISFITS has taken on a grander, more haunting feel now that we know more about what would happen to the people who made it. It serves as the last and arguably best screen performances for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Written by playwright/Monroe’s husband Arthur Miller and directed by vet John Huston (THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE), the story has a slow build to a perfectly realized conclusion.

Roslyn Taber (Monroe) has just gotten a divorce in Reno from her husband, who we can infer was at least mentally abusive to her. To start the film, Roslyn has been in a car accident and the mechanic Guido (Eli Wallach, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY) offers Rosyln and her new friend Isabelle Steers (Thelma Ritter, REAR WINDOW), who owns the boarding house where Roslyn is staying, a ride to the courthouse. Afterward, Guido asks them out for drinks, where they meet suave, aging cowboy Gay Langland (Gable).

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Luis Buñuel often dealt with the hypocrisy of society — especially the Catholic Church — in his films. This 45-minute film is an extremely subtle and surreal satire of religious piety.

St. Simon (Claudio Brook, THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL) lives in the 4th Century atop a pillar where he preaches to passers-by for six years, six months and six days. The story begins with a rich man giving Simon an even taller pillar to stand on. The townsfolk literally put him on a pedestal. Simon shames the priests’ piety with his devotion. From time to time, he has visions of the devil (Silvia Pinal, VIRIDIANA) as woman with a water jug, a tempting schoolgirl and an androgynous Greek with one breast bare and wearing a beard.

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Throughout his career, as a screenwriter on TAXI DRIVER and as a director with AMERICAN GIGALO, Paul Schrader has dealt with characters on the fringe of society that make their living in the night. He again tackles such a character in LIGHT SLEEPER — this time an upscale drug dealer named John LeTour (Willem Dafoe, THE ENGLISH PATIENT).

LeTour works for a woman named Ann (Susan Sarandon, DEAD MAN WALKING), who wants to get out of the drug business and maybe open a cosmetics company. But if she actually goes through with it what will LeTour do? He was a drug addict who started dealing to pay for his addiction. He eventually kicked the habit, but the money was too good to walk away from. And now that he’s forty he has nothing to show for it.

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