Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence Quick Links

Film RSS

Telefon Review


Very Good
Charles Bronson is KGB, man! And Lee Remick is a double agent! And together they have to track down KGBer-gone-commando Donald Pleasence, as he reactivates a long-since-abandoned plan to activate sleeper agents in the U.S. and have them blow up a bunch of stuff. This Cold War thriller may not have the most complicated story, but it's curiously effective and has been been surprisingly influential, a nice companion piece to The Manchurian Candidate, another mind controlled-civilians-as-assassins story. Bronson probably does less fighting in this film than in any other film in his career.

Cul-De-Sac Review


Very Good
Roman Polanski's character study is strange, creepy, and often compelling. The freaky foursome in the film are a pair of criminals on the run and a husband and wife in whose home they uninvitedly take up residence. The criminals (including Lionel Stander, the butler from Hart to Hart) turn the husband (Donald Pleasence) into a snivelling fool, while the wife (Françoise Dorléac) is alternately a vamp and a freaked-out basket case. How they interact -- and how this all ends up -- is devilishly interesting, though it's ultimately not terribly believable.

Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers Review


Weak
This one's Halloween #6, made six years after Halloween 5 and decades after the series had totally died. Still, there are plenty of impalements (Michael Myers' favorite mode of death in this film) to keep our interest, and one line ("Michael Myers in space!?") is chuckle-worthy because all of his brethren would go there in the coming decade, including Jason. As a straight-up horror film, this continuation of the H-ween story revived in H4 and H5 -- Halloween III busted the series with a wholly unrelated tale -- is less about the gore and more about telling us why Michael is so batty for killin': because druids and creepy dudes in black are protecting... ah, skip it.

Continue reading: Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers Review

The Great Escape Review


Excellent
Coming on the heels of John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven three years earlier, 1963's The Great Escape shows how quickly the ambitious epic can turn into a rote, readymade piece of filmmaking - a Hollywood masterpiece by design. There's a formal, somewhat stilted feel to its three-hour story about a group of imprisoned World War II officers and their struggle to break out of a Nazi P.O.W. camp, and anybody who thinks that Michael Bay is a bullying thug of a filmmaker who likes pushing people's emotions around can come here to see where he got it from. But for all its flaws, Escape has some of the most memorable moments in any war film, and some excellent performances from its ensemble cast.

Based on a true story, The Great Escape is set during the tail end of World War II, when a variety of officers from different countries were sent to Stalag Luft III, a prison camp designed to handle the most diligent escape attempts. Both fearless and duty-bound, the men spend no time with long prologues or chit-chat about what to do; they, along with the movie, immediately set to work, using the skills they know best. There's Anthony Hendley, the "scrounger" skilled at digging up needed provisions; James Garner, at his best when he's being charmingly unctuous to his Nazi captors; Charles Bronson, as the "tunnel king" Danny Velinski, offering a nice combination of two-fisted bravado and sensitive-guy neurosis; and Donald Pleasance, the British document forger, who brings a steely, proud stoicism to his role that sets the movie's emotional feel. His is the most convincing performance, which makes sense given that really did time in a German P.O.W. camp.

Continue reading: The Great Escape Review

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence Quick Links

Film RSS

Occupation

Actor


Donald Pleasence Movies

The Great Escape Movie Review

The Great Escape Movie Review

Coming on the heels of John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven three years earlier, 1963's The...

Artists
Actors
    Filmmakers
      Artists
      Bands
        Musicians
          Artists
          Celebrities
             
              Artists
              Interviews