Movie Details
| Title: | Fort Apache, The Bronx | |
| Director: | Daniel Petrie | |
| Year: | 1981 | |
| Genre: | Cop | |
| Times Seen: | 2 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.13.23 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.13.23 | Internet | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2023 Trading the dangerous territory of the old west for late 70s/early 80s South Bronx, this cop movie stars Paul Newman as the experienced cop and Ed Asner as the new hardass captain. Other than that, the two films aren't really related except where the cops decorate the precinct with native american stuff because the neighborhood is so tough that it's like a fort in enemy territory rather than a normal police precinct. I liked this a lot, but I suspect that's more because it fits into the genre of grimy-nyc 70s movies than anything else. Lots of location photography, lots of local extras and bit roles. Young-ish Danny Aiello as a creepface cop, and Rachel Ticotin (who I mostly know from Total Recall) as a nurse/love interest to twice-her-age Paul Newman. It bears resemblance to Across 110th Street but probably a higher budget and this largely feels a little late in the genre. It definitely has more of a 70s vibe than 80s although post-apocalyptic stuff like 1990: Bronx Warriors is only a year away... Yeah now that I look a few movies up, Warriors was 79, Cruising was 80... I guess nyc was definitely still a shithole in 1981. I also want to note for the record that at one point in this movie, Newman has both a cigarette and a toothpick in his mouth. That's a move that even Paul Newman can't pull off. So yeah this was fun. Cops and drug dealers, pimps, riots, roof-jumpers, and Pam Grier as a dusthead maniac. What's not to like? And that's it! Another year down. I didn't fit as many movies in this year as I'd like but what else is new. Maybe if I retire some day I will really go all out and have this last 10 days like a real festival. Judging by the amount of junk food I've eaten over the weekend I'm not sure my colon could survive that long, but there's only one way to find out! In the meantime, this will have to do. I still had fun and since I didn't go to Fantastic Fest this is probably the most movies I've watched in a week all year. Speaking of, here's the rundown on the numbers. Movies Seen: 14 in the past week (2/day), 14 in the past month (0.47/day), 77 in the past year (0.21/day), and 3454 since the site started (0.5/day). Ouch. Not my worst year but that doesn't mean it's good. Yet this journal continues... Best not to dwell on these, we'll see how next year goes. It's always fun how whatever random films I watch, patterns and connections still emerge. Like how Peter Carey wrote both Until the End of the World and the short story used for Dead End Drive-In, or how both Metropolitan and Quai des Orfevres use the term "egotist." I do think there's a little bit of magic in here and I hope to be able to continue this tradition indefinitely. There's always more movies - more good movies - to discover, cross off the list, or dredge up from childhood and revisit. Maybe one year i'll dedicate a day to my mom's favorites or my dad's favorites since I got my love of movies from them. Maybe one year I'll have someone over to watch with me so it won't be a one-person festival. Nah... |
| 07.11.07 | Netflix | Paul Newman's a SOuth Bronx cop dealing with crap. This might be the lowest NYC has ever looked on film. The wasteland of eearly 80s south bronx rubble litter practically every shot of this movie.It's pretty incomprehensible to think how much dereliction anddecay going on back then when you see it today but damn if it's not all over this movie as an anthropological record. In fact, the scenery is almost more interesting than the movie itself... but not quite. Pam Grier's pretty great inher small role in this, her snake dance especially. I liked it, really solid. |
