DVD Collectors Online

Saboteur, a review by Achim

Saboteur (1942) ****
4 out of 5

Well, I was disappointed...

On the good side, the first 45-60 minutes are mostly fun to watch with the story following one of Hitchcock's favorite theme: the innocent everyman wrongly accused and on the run to proof his innocence. Shot nicely and in typical Hitchcock manner the film has the poor chap escape the grasp of the police several times and, also typical for Hitchcock, confront the actual wrong doers (whodunnit this is not). Unfortunately this film hasn't aged well. Even the first half is broken repeatedly by overly patriotic black and white conversations trying to tell the audience how good Americans do and do not behave. This only get worse in the second half, besides getting way too talkative n general that I was struggling to pay attention. The climax is nowhere near suspenseful, with the bad guys making obvious mistakes and the music lacking big time in this part of the movie. The rather unceremonious finale make me feel that Hitchcock made this piece of propaganda for the money rather than his vision; I guess he got to do what he wanted that year with excellent Shadow of a Doubt ().



(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on May 30th, 2009)

Joe, a review by Antares

Joe (1970) 3.5/5 - If your only conception of Peter Boyle is that of a lovable grandfather, or as a comic Frankenstein, then the indie film Joe will definitely quash that appearance. As the main character in John G. Avildsen's first feature length film, Boyle plays a loudmouth racist who learns of a secret in a chance meeting in his local bar. As Joe is spewing his bigoted bile to the bartender, he quips at the end of his diatribe, "I'd love to kill me a hippie." Seated next to him is a middle aged man who has just entered the bar in a somewhat agitated and disheveled shape. As he listens to Joe's violent request, he lets slip out that he has just killed one himself, his daughter's (Susan Sarandon in her first role) junkie boyfriend.

What follows is a bizarre story about the counter culture and right wing ideology, mixed with an awkward voyeuristic spin on class struggles. The film doesn't really get going until we meet Boyle's character, and sadly, that takes almost a half hour of exposition regarding the daughter and boyfriend's drug induced lifestyle and the aforementioned murder. But once Joe is introduced, his pathological hatred for anything or anyone who leans to the left is riveting to watch. In fact, it is probably the only real reason for watching this very dated film from the golden age of indies. Well, that and the ending kind of takes you by surprise. If you can endure a director who is learning the ropes, and the dated nature of parts of the film, I think you could be pleasantly surprised at this relic of 70's gritty independent film making.

(From Antares' Short Summations on June 27th, 2011)

The Good Old Days TV Thread, a review by addicted2dvd

My Thoughts:
I have not watched an episode of the original series in years! I really need to add more of these to my collection at some point. Right now I only have the first 10 of the original volume releases. This is a right good episode. The virus spread so fast... just from the slightest touch. While this is a good series... I prefer The Next Generation over it. For one thing I never cared too much for William Shatner. Then there is also just the better effects with the later series. But don't get me wrong... this one is still well worth watching!

My Rating:

(From The Good Old Days TV Thread on February 22nd, 2010)