* indicates that this title is also available to rent, stream, or purchase on various platforms. Please note that streaming options may differ from these home video presentations in terms of visuals, supplemental features, etc.
“When Titans Ruled the Earth: Clash of the Titans & Wrath of the Titans” * (2010/2012, Arrow Video) Highly caffeinated but entertaining remake/revamp of the 1981 fantasy film of the same name, best remembered for Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion special effects and Laurence Olivier’s utterance of “Release the kraken!” which launched countless memes, jokes, etc. The basic framework of “Clash” and its sequel, “Wrath of the Titans,” is the same as its source material: the gods of ancient Greece, miffed at humanity’s lack of proper groveling, deliver punishment via the aforementioned Kraken, which demigod hero Perseus (Sam Worthington) must stop with the head of Medusa. The 2010 and 2012 films take the “Harry Potter” route by tapping an impressive array of Serious International Talent to play the gods: Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as a doom-metal Hades, Mads Mikkelsen, Gemma Arteton, Danny Huston, Luke Evans, and others, all of whom appear to enjoy (or tolerate) playing sword-and-sandal games (“Wrath” swaps Rosamund Pike for Alexa Davalos’s Andromeda and adds Edgar Ramirez and Bill Nighy). Both “Titans” take a long time to reach their final showdowns – in “Wrath,” Perseus has to repel the gods’ father, the living volcano Kronos (modeled after the Greek monster Typhon) – but has the good sense to load these winding paths with plenty of CGI monsters and action setpieces. If you revere the ’81 version, you’ll probably find fault with these brawny re-dos, but if not, you’ll appreciate Arrow’s Limited Edition presentation, which provides 4K and Blu-ray editions of both titles as well as new interviews with producer Basil Iwanyk, vintage making-of featurettes with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, and even some amusing deleted scenes.
“Redline 7000” * (1965, Arrow Video) The stock car racing scene, as viewed from the perspective of the stoic young men who drive the cars and the women who (often inexplicably) love them. Howard Hawks directed this curiosity, which brims with harrowing race footage (lensed in part at CA tracks like Gardena’s Ascot Speedway) and the director’s signature brand of male bonding and myth-building. Where the picture loses traction is in George Kirgo’s sudsy script (co-written with Hawks), which pivots between three relationships – tough guy James Caan and Marianna Hill, who’s initially with Skip Ward before he connects with Gail Hire, and John Robert Crawford and Laura Devon – none of whom are particularly compelling and whose romances occasionally wander into dated misogyny. A favorite of Quentin Tarantino, who compared it (accurately) to Elvis Presley’s racing pictures (like “Spinout,” which Kirgo wrote), it’s probably best enjoyed by Hawks completists and screen racing fans, though the supporting cast – which includes character actor Norman Alden, George Takei, pop songwriter Carol Connors, and briefly, Teri Garr, Erica Gavin, and Jerry Lewis (!) – holds interest when the script flags. Arrow’s Limited Edition Blu-ray includes commentary by Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman and video essays by Howard Berger and Kat Ellinger, though the real draw is an interview with racer-turned-filmmaker Bruce Kessler, who served as second unit director on “Redline.”
“Lady Whirlwind/Hapkido” * (“Lady Whirlwind” only) (1972, Arrow Video) Double bill of Chinese-language martial arts features from Hong Kong that offers a stellar showcase for star Angela Mao, who remains largely unsung outside of Hong Kong action aficionado circles. The Taiwanese-born Mao top-billed or appeared in titles for director King Hu and Golden Harvest, but remains perhaps best known for her minor role in Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon.” However, Mao’s status as a top box office draw in Asia and the United States was assured with these titles, which puts her remarkably fluid martial arts skills and formidable presence front and center. In “Hapkido,” Mao, Sammo Hung, and Carter Wong use their training in the titular martial art (Ji Han Jae, founder of Sin Moo Hapkido, appears as their teacher) to fight off the nefarious, Japanese-backed Black Bear School (whose members include then-up-and-comers Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, and Yuen Wah). Mao doesn’t need any partners in “Lady Whirlwind,” as she proves in her relentless pursuit of Chang Yi, who is himself on the trail of Japanese gangsters (led by the ruthless Liu Ah-Na), and must wait for him to settle his score before exacting revenge. Sammo Hung’s fight choreography highlights Mao’s incredible physicality (e.g. multiple consecutive roundhouse kicks) and helps establish her as a screen hero as unflappable and ferocious as any of her male peers (many of whom are on the receiving end of fists and feet in these pictures). Arrow’s Blu-ray offers 2K restorations from original film elements of both titles with Mandarin and English audio tracks, multiple commentaries by experts like Frank Djeng, Michael Worth, and Samm Deighan, a new two-part interview with Mao (speaking from one of her family’s restaurants in New York City), archival conversations with Hung, Biao, and Wong, and Hong Kong and US trailers for both “Hapkido” (retitled “Lady Kung Fu” in the States) and “Lady Whirlwind (tastelessly retitled “Deep Thrust” in America).
“The Mexico Trilogy” * (1992-2003, Arrow Video) Three-disc set tracing the arc of both writer-director Robert Rodriguez’s career from Texas-based industry hopeful to studio filmmaker and the rise of independent filmmaking in the ’90s and 2000s. The energetic and inventive action-drama “El Mariachi” (1992) put Rodriguez on the map, and its support from Columbia Pictures helped in part (along with efforts by Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Sam Raimi, and Richard Linklater, among others) to draw the movie industry’s attention to indie film as a potential and fresh source of inventiveness and financial gain. “Desperado” (1995) was a bigger-budget re-do/extension of “Mariachi” with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek as the titular pistolero and his inamorata, respectively, and showed that Rodriguez could work within the system and retain his signature style; its success led to his assumption to studio dependable with a third (and to date, final) entry, “Once Upon a Time in America,” with Banderas and Hayek pitted against psychopathic U.S. agent Johnny Depp and name players like Mickey Rourke and Willem Dafoe. The Mexico Trilogy remains Rodriguez’s most consistently satisfying work and a high water mark for the indie class of the early ’90s, and is properly feted by Arrow’s presentation, which presents “Desperado” in 4K and “Mariachi” and “America” and “Mariachi” in 2K. The respective discs are loaded with new and vintage extras, including commentary for all three films by Rodriguez, interviews with many of the primary production team for each film, an appreciation of “Desperado” by Gareth Evans, Rodriguez’s entertaining “Ten Minute Film School” featurettes (and a “10 Minute Cooking School” for puerco pibil), deleted scenes, his 1991 short “Bedhead” which led to “El Mariachi,” and numerous trailers.
“Challenge of the Tiger” * (1980/82, Severin Films) Secret agents Huang Lung (Bruce Le) and Richard Cannon (Richard Harrison) are tasked with retrieving a powerful sterility formula (!) before it falls into the hands of either an international crime cartel or Vietnamese Communists led by dependable Hong Kong screen villain Hwang Jeong-Lee. Delirious martial arts thriller courtesy of exploitation producer Dick Randall, who appears as a member of the Western crime organization; Le, who is credited as director, co-producer, and fight choreographer, does well in the punch and kick department (though his fight with superkicker Hwang is underwhelming) but registers as utterly lost behind the camera, eating up minutes of screen time with visits to the Macau Jockey Club (where he manages to capture footage of Jack Klugman, Morgan Fairchild, and Jane Seymour) and endless screen trysts between Harrison and the majority of the female cast (including Nadiuska from “Conan the Barbarian”). The film’s hormonal overdrive is particularly tiresome, especially in an extended, slow-motion tennis match between Harrison and female partners without their sportswear, but the fights are plentiful, the cameos eclectical and enjoyable (Bolo Yeung and Brad Harris, who like Harrison, starred in countless European action films), and the camera’s attention deficit lends a not-unpleasant sense of a waking dream or mild narcotized state (this is also the first of two films on this list in which a person fights a bull – see below). Severin’s Blu-ray – part of its massive “Game of Clones: The Brucesploitation Collection Vol. 1 – offers a English-language audio track and bemused commentary by writer C. Courtney Joyner and martial arts expert Michael Worth, who also provides an enthusiastic introduction.
“Karate Bullfighter” (1975, Eureka Films) One of three films ’70s action star Sonny Chiba (“Kill Bill, Vol. 1) made about his martial arts instructor, Mas Oyama, who created the hard-hitting, full-contact Kyokushin style of karate. As with the cycle of Brucesploitation titles from this period, biographical facts take a backseat to apocrypha and hyperbole (the film is actually based on a manga inspired by Oyama’s life), but does encompass a loose interpretation of Oyama’s early life and rebellion against staid, traditional forms of karate, which puts him at odds with its leading proponents. Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi’s primary focus is to provide Chiba with plenty of opportunities to display his brutish signature fighting and brooding acting styles, though some of the showcases – the ugly titular fight with a (sometimes) real bull and a distasteful assault sequence – are designed more to keep grindhouse fans alert and engaged when the biopic machinery takes over. Chiba and Yamaguchi teamed for two more Oyama films, “Karate Bearfighter” (and yes, he does fight a ratty-looking man in a bear suit) and “Karate for Light,” and the former title is included with “Bullfighter” in 88 Films’ double-disc Limited Edition “Beast Fighter” set; restored image, Japanese and English (on “Bullfighter only) audio options, commentaries by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, and a video essay on Oyama are included.
