Day 3 of the Best of QT Fest – and this has been the day I’ve been waiting to get to. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’ve enjoyed the two previous days, but this one… well… WIPEOUT and BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH are a pair of my fave QT flicks and I couldn’t wait to share them with Yoko for the first time. That.. and well, after BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH is the Weird Wednesday presentation of Alain Delon in JOY HOUSE, a Rene Clement film that I hadn’t seen yet– and if there’s any screen presence that can prime your woman for loving, it’s Alain Delon. He was like an attractive Jude Law with a French Accent.
This particular night I had to rush to finish yesterday’s coverage – and then bust ass to the Drafthouse. Upon getting there – we begin to hold seats for the rest of the AICN crew and begin giddily talking about the night’s films.
As the audience fills the Drafthouse up, the grand poobah of the Alamo Drafthouse… Tim League emerges from the shadows after the video trailers play to introduce Quentin and thank all the sponsors and partners for the night’s festivities. He’s wearing a cool Hanson Brothers shirt and is gesturing with a beer in his hand when he suddenly drops the atom bomb… “Quentin isn’t here yet, so I’m going to stretch this out, and if when I’m done – he still isn’t here – then we’ll all silently wait in the darkness till he arrives.”
About this time, Quentin arrives, but allows Tim to continue thanking the Austin Film Society, Matchframe… God. You see “The Good Lord loves Exploitation, because it was going to rain last night, but it didn’t. God loves gritty 70s exploitation nights.” He then issued a challenge to the audience to stick around after the second and last film of the night’s QT programming for the Weird Wednesday programming of JOY HOUSE starring Alain Delon and Jane Fonda… and tells us, “You’re not excused till 2am.
Then he invites Quentin to the stage with a warning to the audience about inappropriate laughing, jeering or talking during the night’s films – and then Tim lost his fucking mind and started calling the second film of the night, BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH a piece of shit. Literally – the hypertension that makes my cheeks red drained out in horror. He’s got to fucking be insane. BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH is a magnificent and joyfully brilliant Blaxploitation film.
Quentin is visually stunned by this statement… as he should. He instantly says that ordinarily he respects Tim’s opinion on these types of films, but he’s just way off base on BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH. Way off base.
Quentin also picks up on Tim’s note about not being an ass during the screenings – by essentially saying – “You laugh when it’s funny, not when it’s about you being cooler than the film.” And how if you meet these films on their own terms – you’ll find that you really give a shit about them. Like during HOLLYWOOD MAN the night before, Quentin said he gave a shit about William Smith finishing his film. “I gave a fuck about Bill Smith finishing his fucking feature!”
Then he went into his proper introduction of Fernando DiLeo’s WIPEOUT aka THE BOSS. Quentin went into how he’s introduced a lot of different auteurs to the audiences of QT Fest over the years… and how Austin and the QT Fest is a flashpoint, the epicenter… that the earthquake starts here and ripples out to the rest of the Earth… and that was never truer than when he introduced us to the maestro genius… FERNANDO DiLEO!
And there’s no better DiLeo star than Henry Silva, the unleashed deity of WIPEOUT. He then went into the history of Italian Mafia films – and how the genre really got its kick from THE GODFATHER in America… but where that film was all about the class of the mob and the comparison family relations to the basic American family… Where people saw their father’s like Brando’s character – or their brother as Sonny… minus the violence, or maybe not. But that probably the best thing that THE GODFATHER did was kickstart the Italian Mafia films – which were the really exciting ones. “In fact, until Hong Kong exploded with the films like A BETTER TOMORROW, HARD BOILED, etc…” these were the violent masterpieces of the day. That isn't to say Quentin doesn't love THE GODFATHER. To Quentin - THE GODFATHER is the well... the fucking GODFATHER. It's just the Italian Mafia films were the pulpier action styled masterpieces that he came to love. The Italian films were just as raw and bloody as those later Hong Kong epics, just not as coordinated and choreographed. The Italians did it with zooms and hand held shots.
Also – in Italy – where the mafia is the real fucking thing, these films rip the Mob to pieces. “In the Italian films, the mafia are dogs! No honor here, they’re lying stealing fucking dogs. Mongrels – They deserve no respect and anyone that gets involved with them is a fucking fool!”
He then called Henry Silva the ultimate hitman actor. He’s totally right. He then went into how in these Mafia films – the Italians always went after some old actor from the 40s, 50’s – that they treated like royalty and paid them like they’d never been paid before. Actors like Joseph Cotton just ate it up – and Richard Conte thrived like never before. Quentin even called Conte the Harvey Keitel of the 40’s. Awesome.
Then lastly he mentioned the Nymphomaniac daughter of one of the Mob bosses and how she almost steals the entire show. He did a bit of talk about BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH – to ensure people stuck around for it… after Tim’s heinously misplaced tag of shame… But I’ll save that for the intro to that film – and right before he left the stage – he left us with a new “Texas Drink, I call it ‘Period on the Beach’ – it’s Big Red and Malibu Rum – it’s that perfect drink to give that 14 year old girl you’re trying to get drunk and take home!” Seriously – he said that out loud. There was lots of uncomfortable laughter.
The trailers were for THE NICKEL RIDE – this fantastic film. THE DON IS DEAD – which looked fantastic. And a QT fest 1 fave of mine… MARCH OR DIE! The people laughing in the theater literally have no idea. This is a fucking amazing film. But then, I only know of about a half dozen people in the theater right now that probably know that.
Now – here’s my Original Review from 6 years ago of WIPEOUT:
It was mere foreplay compared to the second film... WIPE OUT.
As Quentin noted in his introduction... everywhere else in the world, but the U.S.... this film is known as... THE BOSS... and folks, this movie is as hardcore as they come.
You know that description that Quentin gave in his introduction to tonight that I wrote up above... ahem... that’s here. I mean, HOLY SHIT! I still have the bump on my head from it falling off the back of the chair and hitting the floor, because my spurting necked body was a fountain of gore over this movie.
First off... You have never seen HENRY SILVA as a bigger badass.... I mean, he’s playing waaaay earlier than Chow Yun Fat... that type of KILLER... This guy is not to be fucked with.
And this Fernando DiLeo chap is a friggin crime film genius. In this film nothing goes as expected. FOR EXAMPLE...
When one of the Mafia head’s daughter is kidnapped and ransomed by a low level gang trying to gain power... the gang guys decide to pull a gang bang on this ‘sweet innocent daughter’ only to discover that she’s an insatiable drug and alcohol loving nympho that can wear all of them out and ask for thirds... She is a sexual beast. You see... she is OF the Mob... which means she’s a part of that whole dirty piece of shit sub-human debauchery ridden world... She will fuck anyone, be anyone’s whore...
And if she’s being sweet and nice the guys screwing her will slap her... grab her by the face and slam her into the wall and leave her dripping... And if she were to die... they wouldn’t think 2 seconds about dumping her delicious body into a flame chute.. so noone would know she even existed.
AND THAT IS NOTHING. You thought in Film Noir people double crossed? Heh... I thought I had the whole formula down... I thought I understood everyone having personal high ambition motivations... NOPE... DiLeo here just began whupping ass on the back and forth... who is with who sort of thing.
Henry Silva? Like I said, ol Killer Kane has never been this killer before. It doesn’t have the finesse of the Hong Kong cinema... but it is like those Hong Kong films are a dream of these films. Like they never existed... and this is that bitter pill of reality that gives you stomach cramps.
When this film ended... there was a lot of applause.. If you go to IMDB on this film.... you will read a single existing review, and the quote is, “The best and most realistic Mafia film ever made.” Now... I love THE GODFATHER films... I think GOODFELLAS is brilliant.... Hell THE SICILIAN is damn fine... but I’ve never seen a Mafia film this hard or brutal... and from what I can find out it seems that DiLeo was taking incidents right out of the headlines of the day in Italy... and bringing them to life..
BRUTAL....
Click Here To Read The Original Night of QT4 – during which WIPEOUT originally played.
How’d the film hold up? Absolutely stunning. This movie is the fucking shit. An actor that went unheralded by Quentin in his intro was the Italian, Gianni Garko, who played Commissario Torri – who very nearly also almost steals the show. His gesturing is a marvel – and the lines this man has… He’s just fucking rude and crude, but in the funniest goddamn way. “Take this to the Commerce Department from the Ass End of the AntiMafia bureau!” after pulling a note from under the ass of a colleague. Awesome. Fucking Awesome. And when he tells one guy to get a new face cuz his is awful… I fucking cry laughing. He rules.
And the dazzling Antonia Santilli. She did very few films – probably because somebody married her as quickly as possible, because either she’s a great actress are she really loves to frolic and fuck. She’s got dick on the brain and you can see it as clearly as a Stop light. She made a film called UNBELIEVABLE ADVENTURES OF ITALIANS IN RUSSIA – that is highly rated on IMDB, but with no reviews. I’d fucking love to see this film, as she apparently is the star. And man… After watching this, you really really want to see anything and everything she ever did. And that title is probably better to admit to wanting to see rather than THE SEXY VIRGIN. Which I wouldn’t mind seeing either.
And Henry Silva is just the man. When he realizes that he’s wasted a week between the legs of Antonia Santilli – he tells her. And when he tells her, “Just Screw Baby, Don’t Think!” is… well amazing. Definitely check this one out!
Next – we had BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH – as I said earlier… Tim League lost his fool mind. I love the man, but god damn! Quentin hit the stage and began praising it for the fact that it was a homegrown Blaxploitation film shot in the Klan country of the South and how that took big fucking balls. Most exploitation films came out of Exploitation houses like AIP. There weren’t that many homespun yarns.
This film stars a bunch of Football players, but Quentin admitted he doesn’t know much about Football, and think’s our team has orange and some sort of a beast as a mascot.
What he loves about this film is how these amateur actors have a real comraderie and your really start to like them. That they’re very charming. However, the real jewel of the film is the very subject matter. As Quentin stated… how this wasn’t a staple plot in the Blaxploitation genre is beyond him, but then Blaxploitation films weren’t really set in rural south. They found their heart and soul in the urban centers. And other than for comedy relief – they never really dealt with the Ku Klux Klan.
You see – the plot for the film is that 3 Black best friends join up in the special forces to go fight in Vietnam. They get great training, get in some hairy situation in Nam, but when they get back – they’re not really Whitey’s “Boy” anymore. They begin a voter registration movement, that gets the Klan up in arms – and when the Klan gets violent – these 3 decide to fucking kill them all… special forces style… Long before FIRST BLOOD.
In addition – they actually did location shooting in Klan Country – including a real Klan billboard. Quentin feels it had to be shot in super secret clandestine manner, cuz “You thought William Smith had trouble shooting in HOLLYWOOD MAN, shit you’d have crosses being burned on the set!”
And with that – Quentin threw the mike up… a bit and crashed down. I couldn’t wait.
The trailers were fantastic. Starting off with CLEOPATRA JONES, then COOL BREEZE – “You’d have to be white not to recognize him!” Heh. Then COMBAT COPS which had an amazing last shot. Then ACROSS 110th STREET – which had several on my row singing along to the soundtrack.
Here was my original account of BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH from 2001 and QT5:
BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH
Quentin takes the stage and points out that BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH is actually something rather special. "You would think that black men kicking ass on the KKK would be a staple of the Blaxploitation genre, but you’d be wrong. Usually the Blaxploitation films explored the urban scene, leaving the Klan be. Now I remember watching this trailer during SOUL TRAIN when I was a kid, well the week that it came out anyway, and the part that always got me was when the black guys put on the Klan outfit to kick ass with the Klan."
Quentin called this a real jewel of "regional exploitation filmmaking." Now… That seemed to be a hedging of his bets… What the fuck is a jewel of regional exploitation filmmaking. The production values will probably suck ass. Oh well, I’m sure it has its kitschy value at some level…
Then he told us that the film was actually shot in Klan Territory, and that when you see recruitment signs for the Klan in the film… they were real signs from the area they were shooting.
Then Quentin gave a Stephen King quote that he finds apt for this film, that… well kinda frightened me.
"You have to drink a lot of milk to enjoy crème… You have to drink some spoiled milk to appreciate milk."
Well that just seemed to signal the possible worst of it all…
NOW… For the Last Feature Presentation of the Evening…
BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH!!!!
Ok, first off… I know you won’t believe me, but heh… This may very well be near my favorite Blaxploitation movie ever. My fave is COFFY, but BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH just rules!
It might just be a case of grossly exceeding expectations… Of delivering on every hope and prayer of a film with the concept of Blacks kicking the shit out the Klan theme and then going all the way with it.
The three lead heroes Roy Jefferson, Mike Bass and Larry Jones of the Washington Redskins are absolutely charismatic as all hell in this flick. Particularly Larry Jones with that busy moustache of his…
He has such great lines as:
"Kill ya? We’re gonna set fire to this barn, but first we’re gonna nail your balls to the floor and hand you a razor blade… …then it’ll be Cut or Burn… hahaha… Cut or Burn… My bet is Burn!"
"Awwww, the motherfucker didn’t go in!"
And then:
"I feel like KING KONG"
To which his teammate responds, "Shit You Are KING KONG Nigger!"
However, my favorite line of the film goes to a white sheriff that tells an inbred racist dumbshit, "You Look Like A Goddamned Highway Fatality!"
This film is so freakin good. Far better than many of what are considered the classics of the genre. You can pick up a copy on Ebay, the tape seems out of print though… (There are 3 currently available!)
I can not highly recommend this movie enough if you are a fan of the Blaxploitation Genre. Whatever idiot posted that review on IMDB… No Soul! This movie plays like hell to an audience. That crowd was cheering like mad!
And the ending… Dear lord, you’ve never seen anything remotely this cool on screen before! Just… unexpected coolness around each and every corner! Must be seen! And must get a damn fine DVD treatment! This should be a classic of the genre!
Well that officially ended the evening, however a few folks stuck around after BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH for a special screening, not associated with the fest of TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS in 3-D… Which, while being a gorgeous print… watching that film from 1am to 3am… well… Surreal as hell!!!
