U.S. Marshals

U.S. Marshals (Stuart Baird, 1998) A sequel to The Fugitive, but where that film's Dr. Richard Kimble had been captured and cleared of the murder of his wife, it would seem a little silly to have him go through the same situations, innocent of another horrible crime with which he's charged. 

Talk about "Double Jeopardy!"

But, Tommy Lee Jones received a much-deserved Oscar for his portrayal of U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard, so if the success of The Fugitive dictated a follow-up, best that it concentrate on Gerard and his team of dedicated if eccentric agents working with him, that made so much of an impact in the earlier film. So, along with Jones, came back Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, and LaTanya Richardson Jackson, their wise-cracking timing just as smart-alecky and operating just enough off the rails for "Big Dog" Gerard to rein them in.

But, whereas Gerard in the first film is the active member of a squad seeking to run down a fugitive from justice, here he stumbles into the assignment, accidentally becoming involved in the case in a situation not unlike how the character—with a different first name—was directly, and personally, involved in the escape of the TV "Fugitive." He's part of the deputized contingent escorting prisoners when the transport carrying them suffers a catastrophic accident.

How did he get there? A fugitive-round-up that goes a bit South leading to "excessive force" complaints puts him in dutch with his commander (Kate Nelligan), and as "punishment" he's assigned to escort his prisoners to their holding facility by plane.

Too bad that he doesn't know that the movie's been following a parallel track of following an unrelated investigation into the murder of two Diplomatic Security Service agents trying to stop an exchange of diplomatic secrets. The main suspect of that case is one Mark Roberts (Wesley Snipes), who has been posing as a truck driver but was arrested following a traffic accident. Roberts' fingerprint was found on the scene of that double-murder and now he's being transported on that same plane. Trouble is, he's been targeted for assassination, and that attempt led to the plane crashing. Roberts escapes and Gerard leads the investigation to find him.

He's not alone, though. Along with his usual squad, he's saddled with DSS agent Royce (Robert Downey Jr.), who's a special kind of cocky that just rubs everybody the wrong way, and who's in a big "hurry-up" to apprehend Roberts, even if it means disobeying procedure and going all-cowboy, moves that turn Gerard twenty-five shades of cranky.

While Roberts is working underground to find out why he's been framed, Gerard and crew go to the source to find out about their quarry. Security footage of that double homicide shows two things—that Roberts' actions were self-defense and that he was wearing gloves, contrary to the fingerprint evidence he'd been assured of. But, Gerard being Gerard, he still pursues leads leading to Roberts, while also wanting to find out what the story is. Complications arise to make him double-down on his efforts to find Roberts—who he learns is actually a CIA operative named Mark Sheridan, suspected of trying to sell U.S. intelligence to the Chinese.

Director Stuart Baird started his career in film as an editor—and a great one, at that--editing Tommy, Die Hard 2, and several films of Richard Donner's including The Omen, Superman, and the first two Lethal Weapon films. His first film as director, the Kurt Russell starrer Executive Decision, was a Warner Bros. programmer that proved to be a trial by fire with quarreling actors—only slightly mollified by million dollar pay-checks—and he was able to deliver a fast, furious hijacking drama that had the momentum to keep plot-holes pushed to the backs of audience's minds.*

U.S.Marshals was his second stint in the director's chair** and he had big expectations to fill. The Fugitive had been a big action hit and Baird and his scripter (John Pogue) stacked the film with chases, a couple of spectacular stunts, and shifting narratives and divided loyalties. He also had a bigger canvas--Executive Decision was claustrophobically centered around the interior of a 747 Boeing passenger jet--and he took advantage of it, not only employing varying urban environments, but also Louisiana swamps, even a massive grain freighter.

But, the highlight stunt is one that parallels the "Kimble jumps the dam" sequence in The Fugitive—although appearing much later in its respective film—is Sheridan's jump from the roof-ledge of a building to catch a moving train. It is absolutely ludicrous in imaginable consequences and injuries, but Baird's set-up and editing makes it look plausible...and thrilling...even if Gerard is slow in firing his pistol.

This is the second film for much of the cast and they're all uniformly great.  The only exception being Robert Downey jr. who, frankly, "protests too much" in his role as the square peg in Gerard's posse. Downey is a miracle-worker as an actor, no one could dispute that, but, here, he works against the movie as much as he seems to work against bringing this fugitive in. Where someone in his position should be a bit more low-key, Downey's performance is a grand-stander that immediately puts him in the audience's cross-hairs as somebody "not right." And for all the tsuris his character causes Gerard, you wonder why Deputy Marshal Sam doesn't just keep him out of the way by assigning him clerical work.

 

U.S.Marshals is almost a very good movie, if it didn't stumble so much trying to be as good as The Fugitive, but, unfortunately, it takes a very simple formula and complicates it to no good effect. In raising the stakes, it instead just diminishes the returns.

* For example: Sheridan heals awfully fast—his auto accident at the beginning of the film breaks his arm and puts him in a neck-brace, yet that doesn't seem to slow him down any; "Mythbusters" proved that a Smith & Wesson pistol couldn't shoot out the window of an passenger plane, so a less-powerful zip-gun CERTAINLY shouldn't, which would've stopped the movie in its tracks; and although I appreciate Irène Jacob (as Sheridan's girlfriend) running around in a little black dress, it's absolutely ludicrous that Sheridan would attempt to go on the run with her in the cemetery scene—even if she was wearing sensible shoes.

 
** Baird's third--and so far last—directing effort was the fourth--and last—film featuring the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" cast, Nemesis. He has continued to edit films, most notably two James Bond films of the Daniel Craig era, Casino Royale and Skyfall.

Dracula (1979)

Dracula (John Badham, 1979) A Tony Award winning Broadway revival of the 1924 stage version with stage design by Edward Gorey and a much-heralded performance by Frank Langella in the lead* was the inspiration for this late 70's version of the Bram Stoker story. By the time Universal Studios decided to make another version of the play,** Gorey was out, but director John Badham wanted to make the film in black-and-white to better reflect the Broadway version, but the studio wouldn't have it monochromatic.***

The film, adapted from the 1924 Deane-Balderston play by W.D. Richter, would boast some high-end talent. Badham has just come off the success of Saturday Night Fever and he was able to secure Gilbert Taylor as cinematographer, Bond alums Peter Murton as production designer and Maurice Binder—who was experimenting with laser effects at the time—for the title sequence (and as "visual consultant), John Williams (at the time the hottest film composer after his work on Star Wars and Superman) for the score, and the services of Lord Laurence Olivier (during his Germanic acting phase) as co-star.

We skip Transylvania and Castle Dracula and the hapless Jonathan Harker visit to start off with a dark and stormy night, which lashes the unfortunate ship Demeter, bearing a cargo of dead men (and, apparently, a wolf) and sends it into the shoreline of Whitby, Yorkshire. The local head of the sanitarium, Dr. Seward (Donald Pleasence) examines the bodies and determines that all aboard the death ship have had their throats slashed. Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis)—who is visiting her friend, the doctor's daughter Lucy (Kate Nelligan)—finds that a man has washed ashore, miraculously saving him from the fate of the others. He is Count Dracula (Langella), who has purchased a nearby mansion-in-ruins, Carfax Abbey.

Seemingly none the worse for wear, The Count accepts a dinner invitation from Dr. Seward at his residence in the sanitorium. Badham gives him a great entrance where he's announced, strides in and with a perfect flourish takes off his cape and hands it, unseeing, to the butler. Langella's Dracula is handsome, Byronic, and has a way of focusing all his charm through his eyes. Langella also has a condition called nystagmus, which creates involuntary movements of the eye, but here it's an advantage rather than any sort of hindrance; his eyes vibrate in close shots that provide a certain focused attention that seems a bit feral.

The evening goes quite well, and if the pairings are uneven, with Lucy Seward attended to by her fiancee, the solicitor Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve), the Count is only too willing to give his undivided attention to Mina (who looks quite pale). Before too long, she will be dead, and her father Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Olivier) will arrive with questions and a fear that his daughter has joined the Undead. Meanwhile, Dracula turns his attention to Lucy.

Where this Dracula has changed over previous incarnations (or reincarnations) is in Dracula's impression as a romantic hunk, as opposed to a creature of the night. Perhaps, it was Hammer's focus on Dracula's effect on the nubile women in those films, or the portrayal of vampire Barnabas Collins as a doomed romantic figure in the 1960's TV soap "Dark Shadows." As opposed to other versions, there were probably a fair amount of audience members who sided with The Count here, rather than with Seward and Van Helsing. Certainly, the character of Lucy has more than sympathy for him, flashing an enigmatic smile at the film's ambiguous ending.

And, as opposed to Hammer, this Dracula can turn into wolves and bats. In fact, Badham stages a shot where Dracula jumps through a window and emerges as a wolf. And there are several instances of "bat-cams" that parallel a prop-bat as it flies through the air. Binder's laser effects seem a bit irrelevant in the scheme of things, like they were tacked on for effect. But, the most unnerving thing about this Dracula is the way he approaches Mina's room early on, the camera looking up the edifice of Seward's hospital to espy the vampire on the roof, and then he moves down the wall like a cat, emerging upside down in the window and flicking away at the molding with his finger nails. Very creepy.

He also seems less vulnerable to crosses and the other religious paraphenalia and garlics Van Helsing uses against him, and as for only appearing at sun-down, he dismisses it entirely: "It's always daylight somewhere on Earth, professor. After my rest, I only need stay in darkness." Good to know. Universal, the studio that released this version—and other iterations of the 1924 play—as part of their promotional material, put out a poster with handy things to know about vampires in order to "know the facts." I can hear the voice of Agent Scully saying "Well, first, they don't exist..."

All in all, it's not bad. A little hysterical. A little silly. A literal bodice-ripper. But, at least it's a record of Langella's approach to the character from his Broadway run. And there's gratitude for that.

* When Langella left the production, Raul Julia took over. In the touring version, Jeremy Brett and Jean LeClerc played Dracula.

 

** Universal had a major hit (and franchise) with the Bela Lugosi version in 1931. Before the Langella-Gorey run, the previous Broadway performer had been...Bela Lugosi. While the novel is in the public domain (which is why Francis Coppola could make a film of it) Universal owns the film rights to the play, commissioned by the Stoker estate to combat imitations...like Murnau's Nosferatu .

 

*** Universal won that round, getting a golden, richly colored film, but when the film was remastered in 1991, for widescreen laserdisc release, Badham had the colors de-saturated. The 2019 "Shout Factory" DVD release has both the theatrical and laserdic versions.