tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8707040.post6883405011355108751..comments2024-02-25T12:47:03.941-06:00Comments on Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot: Nothing Will Prepare YouMarty McKeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02084642122976337263noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8707040.post-41760390348736798562007-10-15T17:43:00.000-05:002007-10-15T17:43:00.000-05:00Stone has a lot to say about LIZARD'S TAIL, and he...Stone has a lot to say about LIZARD'S TAIL, and he admits much of the dialogue came from Marc Brendel, the book's author. I think a lot of the horror elements--the hand roaming around killing people--were forced on him by the studio. Stone says he participated in studio-mandated reshoots with Carlo Rambaldi's mechanical hands, and that Stan Winston and Tom Burman came in late in production to do the special effects makeup. He likes the Viveca Lindfors ending (so do I), but not the set nor the freeze frame.Marty McKeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084642122976337263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8707040.post-47825729902926910282007-10-15T17:40:00.000-05:002007-10-15T17:40:00.000-05:00He does talk a little bit about SEIZURE, though li...He does talk a little bit about SEIZURE, though little beyond "that was my first film, and it was another horror film." Considering in the past it had been reported that he didn't talk about his pre-SALVADOR films (as a director), I was surprised to hear him bring SEIZURE up (or do a THE HAND commentary, for that matter). Stone says that he never really wanted to make horror films and implies that he just doesn't get them ("I don't have the horror gene"), but that was the genre available to him at the time. Between SEIZURE and THE HAND, he had written PLATOON, but wasn't able to get it going, and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, which actually got within two weeks of its shooting date before the plug was pulled. Al Pacino and Bruce McGill were in the cast, and Stone had been rehearsing with them for a period of time. I remember liking BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY when it was eventually made by Stone with Tom Cruise, but it's interesting to think what a late-'70s version with Pacino would have been like.Marty McKeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084642122976337263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8707040.post-11034458670063426912007-10-15T17:39:00.000-05:002007-10-15T17:39:00.000-05:00Having read THE LIZARD'S TALE after seeing this co...Having read THE LIZARD'S TALE after seeing this countless times on HBO in the early 80's, I have to say that Stone does a pretty good adaptation of the novel - where the movie stumbles (and stumbles badly) is in being very literal in having Caine's hand as an extension of his will... which, if you're going to call your movie THE HAND is probably hard NOT to do... <BR/><BR/>The book actually is much darker, ending with the main character essentially getting his way, having framed his colleague for murder and incapacitating his wife in a coma. None of this ridiculous PSYCHO homaging present... for a second film, it ain't bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8707040.post-74669733313243618802007-10-15T17:15:00.000-05:002007-10-15T17:15:00.000-05:00This was a SNEAK PREVIEWS "Dog of the Week" pick b...This was a SNEAK PREVIEWS "Dog of the Week" pick but honestly, I didn't mind the movie at all. Definitely not great on any level but considering much of the drek occupying movie screens and video shelves when this came out it wasn't THAT bad, and as your review illustrates there are some quite commendable aspects to the movie. Does Stone make any mention of SEIZURE during his commentary? It would have been interesting to see what other kinds of films he may have developed had he either stuck with or at least routinely re-visited the horror genre.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15072833878836137632noreply@blogger.com