A TIME FOR DYING: Budd Boetticher/Audie Murphy's final narrative film gets the remastered treatment on DVD

TrustMovies had never heard of  A TIME FOR DYING prior to receiving the announcement of its imminent appearance in remastered form on DVD from Corinth Films, a distribution company the output of which I've been particularly fond of over the years.

Turns out that this very odd little (it lasts only 76 minutes) western from 1969 -- the last narrative film directed by Budd Boetticher and featuring the final performance of Audie Murphy -- is very much one-of-a-kind.

It's no secret to film fans -- particularly those of westerns -- that Mr. Boetticher (pictured left) was one of the better directors in this once-popular genre. Boetticher was drawn to and had a knack for making the most of stories that highlighted moral questions, together with those oft-times gray areas between right and wrong, evil and good.

This interest gets full play in A Time for Dying, as we note early on a scene in which a sweet bunny rabbit is about to be attacked by a rattlesnake. After the movie's hero (Richard Lapp, shown two photos below) prevents this, he is interrupted by a young man who looks rather villainous (actor Bob Random, shown below and currently making news via the popular documentary, The Other Side of the Wind), who suggests to our hero that the rattler had a right to live, too. Hmmm...

A Time for Dying turns out to have been both directed and written by Boetticher -- his first and only try at screenwriting, although he did provide stories for a few films. His script may not have won any awards, but it still stands as a simply-constructed, nicely-written and very surprising piece of work. Its simplicity, in fact, is one of the reasons the film so easily draws us in and keeps us both amused and interested in just where this oddball story might be heading.

The movie possesses genuine charm, thanks to the work of actors Lapp (above, who looks amazingly like a young and fresh-faced Audie Murphy) and its heroine, a spunky and intelligent young woman played by Anne Randall, shown below. These two "youngins" combine sweetness and naivete in such perfect measure that it's difficult not to be charmed by the pair and the situation in which they find themselves.

Though the two have only just met -- they're both "new in town" -- only a day elapses before they've gotten themselves "hitched." At the point of a gun. The gunslinger is none other than a certain famous Judge Roy Bean (played with great relish and fun by Victor Jory, below), who takes a liking to these kids, even as he sentences another sweet-looking youngster to be hung by the neck until dead for possibly stealing a horse. ("Don't worry," my spouse noted, "he won't really be dead.") Hmmm again...

By the time you have reached the finale and denouement of what one of our more famous critics, Roger Ebert, called "the damndest and confoundingest western you can imagine" -- I suspect you'll have arrived at a notion that would have pleased the late Mr. Boetticher immensely: It really does not matter how charming or sweet or "good" you might be, people: 
Life is mostly shit.

Along the way, not only do we meet that hanging judge, but also Jesse James (played by Murphy, shown above, in his final screen role), Jesse's brother Frank, and their relative, also known (by a pompous-but-not-so-hot filmmaker) as "the coward Robert Ford." Boetticher's take on these famous folk, just as on Judge Bean, is every bit as unusual and enjoyable as is all else in this oddly sweet and darkly satisfying film.

From Corinth Films, A Time for Dying makes its DVD debut this coming Tuesday, February 5. Simultaneously -- already, actually -- the movie is available via Amazon Prime Video and free, for members of that popular streaming service.

A Netflix no-no from Spain: Gonzalo Bendala's nitwit thriller, WHEN ANGELS SLEEP

That world-famous (and now seeming to exist just about everywhere in the world) streaming site Netflix has gifted us with lots of worthwhile movies to view, including more and more of which the company has itself distributed. Every so often, though, a real clunker appears in the mix, one that's dumb enough to make a warning worthwhile. Such a film is the new WHEN ANGELS SLEEP, written and directed by Gonzalo Bendala.

The original Spanish poster for the movie, shown below, asks the question: Cuando los angeles duermen, quien nos protege? which translates, TrustMovies believes, to When angels sleep, who protects us?  Here's a better and more useful question the movie-maker might have asked: When every decision made by every character in your film is completely stupid, how can your audience be expected to give a shit?

By the end of this 91-minute would-be dramatic thriller, I found myself talking back aloud to the screen so often, usually saying "For god's sake, don't do that!" that I had pretty much gone hoarse. This is particularly too bad because the film's cast deserves much better.

Lead actor Julián Villagrán (shown below, of Extraterrestrial) plays one of the heads of a Spanish insurance company who is trying to get home in time for his young daughter's birthday party. He is several hours' drive away, however, and so he makes just about every dumb decision possible in order -- or so it begins to appear -- not to get there.

Then we're introduced to a teenage girl who apparently has parent problems. She hates 'em, but from what we're allowed to see, they're merely typically clueless-about-teens, while she seems angry/ugly enough for hospitalization. As played by Ester Expósito (shown at top and below, of the recent and much better Netflix series, Elite), the young lady quickly tries your patience to the point where you're dismayed to realize that you'd be more than happy to see her dead.

And then we have our anti-hero's wife (Marian Álvarez, below), who -- in accepting her hubby's nonsensical excuses while also accepting the advances of next-door neighbor who's helping with that birthday party in lieu of dad --  seems to alternate between dumb and dumber. And if you imagine that the supporting characters are any better, give it up. They're not only just as dumb -- but a whole lot nastier.

Except the police. They're stupider than everyone else put together. Please: Tell me that Spain's cops, including the one in charge of the others here, are smarter than this?! Somebody? Anybody? Guess not. The really weird thing about this movie is that its ending is simply terrific. Or would be, if what preceded it had a trace of actual truth and did not seem instead to have been manipulated within an inch of its life.

This denouement could hardly be darker -- or more directly contradicting one's hopeful idea of any justice existing in our world. There's zero to be found here, which is a difficult, but sometimes salutary thing to accept. Unfortunately, instead of giving us reason/evidence to have to deal with this thesis, we get an uber crappy movie to precede this wonderfully dank and existential ending, one that is worthy, yes, of Beckett and/or Céline.

Streaming now via Netflix, When Angels Sleep, won't put you to sleep. But it will probably make you plenty angry -- and for more bad reasons than good ones.

Blu-ray debut for a seldom-seen spaghetti western: Sergio Corbucci's THE GREAT SILENCE

One of those movies you may have heard of over the years but rarely have been able to actually see, THE GREAT SILENCE, a 1968 spaghetti western from a lesser-known Italian director, Sergio Corbucci, after a very limited theatrical release here in the USA, will finally be available next week via Film Movement on Blu-ray. No less an authority than Alex Cox has deemed the film "One of the finest westerns ever."  TrustMovies would not go that far, but the film is worth seeing -- if only for its take-no-prisoners finale that pretty much outdoes any other western you'll have seen in its near-total darkness. The only problem is that, while the movie is dark, it's not at all deep.

Signore Corbucci, who died back in 1990, wrote some 57 films and directed 63, so he's not exactly unknown to film buffs, but he is nowhere near as noted, say, as is his friend and compatriot Sergio Leone.

Corbucci was involved in films of various types -- from westerns to comedies to some of the popular-back-then giallo genre. According to many "experts," this film is his masterpiece. If so, I'm happy to have seen and enjoyed it, but I'm probably not going to dig into many of his other movies.

There are a number of good reasons for digging into this film, however -- beginning with its unusual cast. In addition to the fine Italian actors on view (including Luigi Pistilli, playing one of the film's two major villains), we've got a French star (Jean-Louis Trintignant, above) as the hero, German (by way of Poland) star Klaus Kinski (below) as the supreme villain,

and two Americans: the gorgeous Vonetta McGee (below, right, of Blacula and Melinda) and an actor named Frank Wolff who began his career in Roger Corman movies but found his greatest success in Europe doing these spaghetti westerns. Wolff (shown in the penultimate photo below) adds what little humor there is to the film, as the newly sworn-in sheriff who proves a bit smarter than he looks or acts.

The subject here is a little different, too. We've often seen westerns that feature a bounty hunter or two, but here these guys are all over the place and as nasty as they come. In league with the town big-shot (played by Pistilli, at center, below) who turns every-day citizens into criminals with a bounty on their heads, these bounty hunters then bring in their prizes, dead, of course, since their posters proclaim them "Wanted: Dead or Alive."

The film's end credits inform us that the massacre by bounty hunters that we eventually see here, taking place in Utah, was the thing that finally put a halt on these greedy murderers. Just as well, too, because almost immediately after you begin to enjoy and appreciate a character in the film, he or she is summarily killed off.

Women, wives, children, no one is safe. In fact, our hero, known as Silence, was rendered silent as a child by a bounty hunter determined to keep the kid's mouth shut. Filmed in some gorgeous snowscapes, the movie is lovely to look at but about as bleak as they come. Other than that darkness, however, in both concept and execution, the film is pretty obvious and standard. For the first 40 minutes, given its reputation, you wait for something on screen to indicate its "greatness." My spouse gave up at that 40-minute point, noting, "I've seen much better on episodes of Gunsmoke or Bonanza."

Too bad, because the movie does gain power and weight as it moves along. The finale goes against just about all we've come to expect from the western genre, and this in itself makes The Great Silence worth seeing. So far against grain does the movie go that two alternate endings were shot -- evidently, just in case. One of these provide a last-minute reversal and features just about every happy-ending cliche you could want (and indeed probably expected this film to give you). The second alternate ending proves much more bizarre, as it leaves just about everything up in the air.

The Blu-ray transfer in 2K digital restoration is decent enough to pass muster, and the disc's half-dozen Bonus Features include an excellent interview with Alex Cox regarding the film and Sergio Corbucci; a fun 1968 documentary, Western, Italian Style; original Italian- and English-language versions; trailers (then and now: this is the film's 50th anniversary); and those two alternate endings.

Even if you don't place the film in your pantheon of great westerns, there's certainly enough in this tasty, tidy package to make your investment of money and time worthwhile. From Film Movement Classics and running 105 minutes, The Great Silence hits the street on both Blu-ray and DVD this coming Tuesday, June 5 -- for purchase and/or rental.

THE DEPARTMENT Q TRILOGY: Jussi Adler-Olsen and Nikolaj Arcel's top-notch Danish police procedurals hit home video

Better by some distance than the much-vaunted and hugely-successful Scandinavian behemoth, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, the three full-length films that comprise the current DEPARTMENT Q series (named for a newly organized "cold case" division of a Danish Police Department) are tighter, more focused, less florid and bizarre than that popular Lizbeth Salander trilogy. (Of course, those very negatives are seen as attributes by those of us who love Ms Lizbeth.)

As adapted from the novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen by Nikolaj Arcel (shown at right, who also wrote the original Dragon Tattoo film, as well as directing and co-writing the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair), the trilogy has two directors: Mikkel Nørgaard (who helmed the first two films) and Hans Petter Moland (the last of them). So dark and driven are all three, however, that I don't think viewers will notice much difference in style. Molan's movie takes longer to click into gear. From there onwards, it moves like a house afire.

Each tale told by each film is complete unto itself, but I would suggest beginning with the first, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES (Kvinden i buret), as it introduces us to the characters and to this new bureau, Department Q, and to its first "case" -- looking into what was ruled a suicide but now begins to looks more like a "missing person." Here, as in each of the films, motive is as important as all else, and as we learn details of the characters of each of the antagonists, it is difficult not to feel some sympathy for them, even if we cannot excuse their actions.

In "Keeper," we also learn of the problematic victim and her history, as our two protagonists, Carl (a terrific job by Nikolaj Lie Kaas as the troubled, driven and socially awkward  detective) and his new assistant, Assad (the fine Fares Fares, of the Easy Money series, who can quietly handle some of the team's toughest problems). These two are not your usual police procedural protagonists. Carl is heroic, all right, but he is as apt to get beaten up and thoroughly shamed as anything else. But he endures and drives forward.

Movie two is titled THE ABSENT ONE (Fasandræberne), and it is the longest and, for me, the best of the three. Dealing with bullying and entitlement and how these can grow into horrific behavior if not blocked early on, the movie watches as high-school-age kids go from beating their peers to worse, until one of them can no longer handle it all. She, Kimmie, is at the heart of this tale, and Danica Curcic (below) brings her character to splendid, dark life.

We are allowed much less empathy for the villains this time around -- Borgen's Pilou Asbæk  and Men & Chicken's David Dencik -- for they are upper-class nasties who seem not to have learned a thing from any of this, except to push harder, stronger and longer into death/destruction. The plotting is twisty, the investigation smart but believable, and the outcome awful, moving, and with a keen, deep sense of justice for all.

A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH (Flaskepost fra P), the final film in the trilogy, makes a good capper, as it delves into the subject of religious faith -- the belief in which sets off the terrible tale told here, while also making it possible for this film's villain (himself an abused product of faith gone haywire) to do and even get away with his awful deeds. This theme also gives us a chance to observe Assad's Muslim heritage, as well as Carl's complete lack of religious faith. (The dark ironies ever-present in these films shine through with an icy light.)

That villain -- played with stunningly cold reserve and sharp, surprising strength by Pål Sverre Hagen (above, right, of the Kon-Tiki remake) -- proves a formidable character, a man apparently unfettered by most of the feelings that might trouble the rest of us.

The scene of the disappearances -- children have gone missing -- is a countryside community of some visual beauty (unusual for this series), but what we learn of those children and their religiously stifled parents is enough to put us off "god" for good. Though this final film is slow to reach blast-off, once it does, you will be as breathless, frightened and maybe a tad hopeful as you were with the preceding installments.

For folk who love police procedurals, I would consider Department Q a "must." And if you've been somewhat disappointed with many of the other procedurals you've already seen, give Carl, Assad and these dark, Danish movies a shot. They're likely to be habit-forming.

From Sundance Selects/IFC Films, after a very limited theatrical release, the series hits DVD (with each film on a separate disc but in a single package) this coming Tuesday, December 20, for purchase and/or (individually) for rental. The three films can also be seen currently (in high def!) via Netflix streaming.

Streaming tip: Riley Stearns' indie, FAULTS, proves a superb surprise in every way

One of those streaming surprises that catch you up between breaths in their twisty, funny, spacey logic, as well as a movie that knows exactly what it's doing while keeping a number of steps ahead of its audience, FAULTS , written and directed by Riley Stearns, opened theatrically in a very limited released almost one year ago, and, as often happens to low-budget independent films, simply disappeared. It's available now via Netflix streaming and Amazon (and probably elsewhere), and it is a don't-miss movie for anyone who enjoys something different that is just about perfectly executed.

Mr. Stearns, shown at left, has come up with something equal parts darkly comic, timely and increasingly bizarre, and he has cast it to perfection, too, -- using his wife, that superb actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and an equally fine actor, Leland Orser, in the leading roles.  Ms Winstead (shown below and currently getting her long overdue moment in the sun in the new PBS series, Mercy Street), has given nonstop great performances in everything from the latest remake of The Thing to Smashed. I would say that she has outdone herself with Faults, except she always outdoes herself. That seems to come naturally to the woman.

Her co-star, Mr. Orser (shown below), too, proves a surprise. A fine actor (and one of the reasons Taken 3 was a better movie that most critics wanted to admit), he matches Winstead scene for scene and surprise for surprise. What these characters do and go through in the course of this 89-minute movie is, as we used to say, a humdinger.

The story is a simple and sturdy one: a down-on-his-luck fellow whose career has been all about deprogramming victims of cults, is hired by the parents of a young woman who's been recently "cultivated."  His job is to deprogram her as quickly as possible. That he himself is in big financial trouble proves no small inducement to take this latest case.

The movie is by turns funny, bizarre, dramatic and understated. And the performances from the entire cast are simply terrific. These include Beth Grant and Chris Ellis and the parents, Jon Gries as Orser's boss, and Lance Reddick as the boss' hired hand.

Everything works in Faults, and the beauty of the film is how it works. Part mystery, part comedy, part drama, part "exposé," a movie this good does not appear all that often. Pounce, please -- and do so before you learn much more about this very special film. (I am adding it now to my best-of-last-year list.)

In Jon Watts' COP CAR, a pair of updated Hardy Boys encounter some very bad things

The Hardy Boys, for all you youngsters out there, was a popular series of books first published back in the late 1920s about a pair of young boys who investigate all sorts of mysteri-ous happenings (think of them as a male version of Nancy Drew times two, though they actually preceded Nancy by three years). I bring this all up because those Hardy Boys came to mind as I watched the new film COP CAR, which is about to make its Blu-ray/DVD/digital HD debut this coming week.

The Hardys, however, never encountered anything quite like what our two ten-year-olds get up to in this very-necessarily R-rated movie. Another critic has compared what happens to something out of a Coen Brothers film, though Cop Car has little of the Coens' style or sense of humor (it's funny and semi-stylish in its own manner), though the brothers' love of violence is indeed on hand, if only as a threat until very late in the proceedings. As co-written (with Christopher D. Ford) and directed byJon Watts (at right), the film is funny and intriguing from its opening scenes and holds you in thrall right up until its 87 minutes have concluded.

Though its above-the-title star is the oft-seen Kevin Bacon (on poster, top, and in the penultimate photo below), the movie rests solidly on the small shoulders of Bacon's co-stars -- James Freedson-Jackson (shown above) and Hays Wellford (below, left) -- the former a neophyte, the latter with a few roles already under his belt.

These kids (and the actors who plays them) are fabulous: funny and real and full of that anxiety that hits at the onset of puberty and doesn't let go until -- if you're lucky -- adulthood. The first 15 minutes of the film, in fact, belong to these kids alone, and they make the most of it as, apparently running away from home along a wide stretch of barely populated Colorado plains, they come across what appears to be an abandoned police car in a secluded, slightly wooded area.

The writers/director contrive to show us this first charming, funny scene, then go back a bit in time and then forward again, surprising us and making us more than a little concerned for the safety of these two boys.

The tale takes place within a single day -- a few hours, really -- which gives it a goose of extra reality and suspense, as event piles on event until things grow much darker and we're not at all sure where they will lead or what the outcome might be. In addition to Mr. Bacon and the boys, the cast includes only two other major roles (unless you count that of Kyra Sedgwyck, who plays the voice of  the police dispatcher): Camryn Manheim (above) and Shea Whiigham (below).

The movie is so cleverly plotted, exciting and fun that it surprises me it was not more widely seen. In fact, it's that rare more-or-less-mainstream film that we critics enjoyed (79% on Rotten Tomatoes) more than the audience (54% on RT). So, if you're in a mood for a movie than goes from sunny, light and carefree to awfully dark and unsettling, take a ride in this Cop Car.

The movie is an object lesson -- for all the characters involved -- in the myriad ways in which our actions can have unintended consequences. It's particularly sad that our under-aged heroes, with so little experience to fall back on, must suddenly learn this, too.

Cop Car, from Focus Features, hits the street on Blu-ray/Digital HD and DVD this coming Tuesday, September 29, for purchase or rental.