Real life Australian stuntman/stunt coordinator Grant Page travels to Los Angeles to work on a TV action series DANGERGIRL. Briefly sidelined by a TV stunt demonstration gone wrong, Page consults on the pyrotechnic effects of 70's band Sorcery's stage shows – Page being the fictional cousin of band member Curtis Hyde – which depict fiery battles between a Merlin-esque wizard and the devil. His gains a love interest in journalist Margaret (director Brian Trenchard-Smith's wife Margaret Gerard) who is concerned about his dangerous line of work while slinky Dutch actress Monique Van Der Ven (TURKISH DELIGHT) is concerned over her own lack of involvement in the show's action.
That's really all there is to it. Although Sorcery is the focus of the advertising, their performances and Page's work on them are used to showcase Page's stuntwork including his work on four previous collaborations with director Trenchard-Smith from the TV documentaries THE STUNTMEN and KUNG FU KILLERS to the features DEATHCHEATERS and MAN FROM HONG KONG, as well as a fire stunt Page did for Philippe de Mora's MAD DOG MORGAN. An Australian/American/Dutch production (explaining the presence of a game Van Der Ven), this mix of mockumentary and filmic drama come across well as a sort of near-plotless episodic exploration of the entertainment world anchored by a charismatic lead who is nevertheless more a stuntman than an actor; indeed, the film concedes this by having Hyde introduce him to his bandmates as "Cousin. Stuntman. Horrible actor, but a hell of a nice guy." The film probably would not have worked as just a stunt film or just a behind the scenes concert film, but the film is not a vanity project for Page since he and Trenchard-Smith convey their admiration for their international colleagues (including highlights from the stunts in GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS).
The sexual tension of the triangular Page/Gerard/Van Der Ven friendship is refreshingly mild making Margaret's concerns about Page's risk-taking a believable romantic complication while Van Der Ven belies her sex kitten reputation by being more interested in her craft than messing around. The film also offers viewers a time capsule view of Los Angeles in the seventies which might look quite exotic to younger viewers, with theater marquees for DEEP THROAT (in the fifth year of its theatrical run) and some surprisingly smog-free L.A. vistas. The film also features early appearances by the late Phil Hartman in a small role – one of a number of supporting players from The Groundlings' comedy troupe – and LEMORA director Richard Blackburn appears as Van Der Ven's sleazy agent who also blithely comments on the expendability of stunt workers.
Not released in the United States until 1980 through Edward L. Montoro's Film Ventures International as STUNT ROCK then SORCERY then CRASH, STUNT ROCK was the surprising recipient of a two-disc special edition DVD from Code Red in 2009. The NTSC master struck for the film was given a bad PAL conversion for Umbrella Entertainment's Australian DVD edition. That PAL-converted master's deficits were compounded when Umbrella included it as an SD extra on their Blu-ray of Trenchard-Smith's MAN FROM HONG KONG where technicians attempted to convert it to 24p not realizing that it was not a native PAL master resulting in a version that runs four minutes longer than the 24fps running time with distorted audio.
Umbrella's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray rectifies things with a new 4K scan of the same archival 35mm elements. While the heightened grain of blown-up 16mm material was less glaring in SD and the presentation felt more consistently "vintage," the new HD master makes the differences in source material far more evident but the bump up in detail during the 35mm-originated footage is appreciable and the 16mm always footage feels organic to the film since it is utilized in the form of cutaways rather than inserts. The original four-track magnetic stereo track was damaged early on in the sales screenings so all theatrical and home video presentations have been in mono. Umbrella's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is indeed mono but the dialogue is always clear and the scoring and songs sound wonderful. Optional English HoH subtitles are also included, clarifying the names of some stunt talent and films mentioned in the dialogue. (Kino Lorber has released an American Blu-ray earlier this year).
Both commentary tracks from the Code Red DVD have been ported over. The first features Trenchard-Smith, his wife Margaret, and Page. Trenchard-Smith leads the discussion, noting that the Dutch backers provided $400,000 for the film and $100,00 for the production of the LP soundtrack – the title song was written for the film while the other song were part of Sorcery's repertoire – with the stipulation that the film be ready within months for Cannes and film markets complete with a four-track magnetic stereo soundtrack. He notes the use of 16mm footage in split-screen that would be less grainy than blowing up the footage to the full frame, Russell Boyd (PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK) shooting 35mm footage of the opening stunt while he himself shot in 16mm, and the many guerilla shoots in Los Angeles for the non-union production (in which cinematographer Robert Primes uses the pseudonym Bob Carras). Page recalls arranging the stunts in Los Angeles with American coordinators and performers – Hollywood being his first experience doing a fall into an airbag – and contrasts the "Australian honesty" with careerist Hollywood's blame game when something goes wrong. Gerard, now a journalism professor, has endured much ribbing for being in the film but recalls the critiqued love interest aspect of the film as stemming from her recent marriage to Trenchard-Smith and Page being more like a brother as her husband's longtime friend.
The second track features Trenchard-Smith, producer Marty Fink (IN LIKE FLINT), and actor Blackburn. Trenchard-Smith leads the discussion again but Fink provides background on the Los Angeles location shoot – the guerilla shoot at LAX was budgeted as the cost of a parking pass – and Blackburn recalls that fellow UCLA graduate Ron Raley (later co-writer of EDGE OF SANITY and PACT WITH THE DEVIL for Harry Alan Towers) had worked on a short film with Jim Morrison that was stolen from UCLA. Trenchard-Smith also points out similarities to the film THIS IS SPINAL TAP which was edited by Robert Leighton who edited this film's concert scenes.
New to the Blu-ray is "The Ultimate Rush: A Conversation with Brian & Margaret Trenchard-Smith" (80:07), a pleasant remote conversation with the couple from their home in Oregon where they have lived since the nineties. A lot of information is familiar but Trenchard-Smith does describe the film as a "ninety minute trailer for Grant Page" that was successful in that respect but less so in the box office, showing the film to Sandy Howard who hired him and Page to work on the Canadian projects CITY ON FIRE and DEATH SHIP, and the film's cult status as a time capsule of the Los Angeles seventies music scene. Margaret Trenchard-Smith recalls meeting her future husband, getting married after a courtship of sixteen days, and her decision to pursue a degree when they moved back to America (whereupon she discovered she was most comfortable "acting" in the role of a professor). They also lament that Page was underutilized as an actor, recall that van der Ven was already in the United States with her husband cinematographer Jan de Bont (BASIC INSTINCT) who was shooting Noel Marshall's ROAR and was reluctant for his wife to do stunt work after having his face clawed by a lion cub.
Also new is extended interviews (17:34) from NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD with Trenchard-Smith and Page. Page opines that Sorcery were better magicians than musicians and fondly recalls the hit-and-run shooting of stunts like scaling buildings and bridges around Los Angeles without permits. Trenchard-Smith emphasizes how important Page was in figuring out the logistics of the shots and describes the film as a "love letter to stuntmen" and a "paean to Grant Page." The disc also features Brian Trenchard-Smith's Alamo Drafthouse appearances (24:48) which are just that, a sequence of director introductions to various screenings.
Ported from Code Red is an introduction to the film by Trenchard-Smith (2:00) along with a selection of interviews with Trenchard-Smith, Blackburn, musican Smokey Huffs, and producer Fink (68:34). Trenchard-Smith recalls his days as a schoolboy in England shooting his own stunts for amateur films, starting to work at Channel 9 in Australia, making THE STUNTMEN his first independent film and selling it to Channel 9, and coming up with the high concept for STUNT ROCK in the shower. Fink recalls being hired as line producer because he shared the same lawyer was the Dutch backers, having experience with foreign directors, and lamenting that all directors were not as driven and innovative as Trenchard-Smith when faced with budgetary limitations. Blackburn recalls being recommended to the film by schoolmate Raley, his talent for mimcry, and how he gets recognized for the film more than for LEMORA. Huffs recalls his first band, wanting to do something more theatrical, being introduced by a bandmate to some magicians, the various incarnations of the band's lineup, some mishaps with fire on stage, as well as Trenchard-Smith, Page, and van der Ven.
Also ported over is an audio interview with Sorcery drummer Perry Morris (22:21) while the disc has included for the first time the film's Cannes promo reel (19:30). Closing out the package is the U.S. theatrical trailer (2:23), the trailer with commentary by Trenchard-Smith from "Trailers from Hell" (3:51), and a full Brian Trenchard-Smith trailer reel (40:55) including THE LOVE EPIDEMIC, THE MAN FROM HONG KONG, DEATH CHEATERS, STUNT ROCK, TURKEY SHOOT, BMX BANDITS, FROG DREAMING, DEAD END DRIVE-IN, DAY OF THE PANTHER, STRIKE OF THE PANTHER, OUT OF THE BODY, DANGER FREAKS, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2, LEPRECHAUN 3, LEPRECHAUN 4 IN SPACE, BRITANNIC, MEGIDDO, OPERATION WOLVERINE, ARCTIC BLAST, THE CABIN, CHEMISTRY, ABSOLUTE DECEPTION, and DRIVE HARD. Packaged with the disc is a 16-page comic adaptation. The double-sided cover features four artwork motifs for the film while the back of the slipcover features the synopsis and list of special features.
No comments:
Post a Comment