tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post2114284123359617319..comments2024-01-09T04:01:00.672+00:00Comments on Breakfast In The Ruins: Deathblog: Rutger Hauer (1944 – 2019)Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14951955227326548340noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-35756763830396967042019-08-01T12:31:09.684+01:002019-08-01T12:31:09.684+01:00Yes! He was great in that one! I still only have &...Yes! He was great in that one! I still only have '..Gemini' on a dodgy old VHS-sourced bootleg actually... definitely due for an upgrade and re-watch!Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14951955227326548340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-36203593907554111572019-08-01T09:17:57.587+01:002019-08-01T09:17:57.587+01:00Rutger. I got messaged this whilst out with friend...Rutger. I got messaged this whilst out with friends and was most upset at the news. Split Second was my choice of memorial film, as I'd rewatched Jugger not too long ago.<br /><br />One of those who always cheers a film up.<br /><br />And then find out about Freddie going too, the master of stealing a scene. There is nothing I enjoy more than the sudden appearance of Freddie in something, no matter how short or long. Think a watching of Goodbye Gemini is in order.<br />Maurice Mickelwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05415253943533672436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-34173920950545189852019-07-29T04:44:59.661+01:002019-07-29T04:44:59.661+01:00To be honest, there's a three-minute clip of &...<br />To be honest, there's a three-minute clip of 'Hobo with a Shotgun' on Youtube that contains just about everything that's amusingly inventive about the film -- particularly Rutger Hauer using a toaster to ward off an ice-skate-slashing psycho. Otherwise, it is, as you say, pretty Troma-y and very much a matter of taste. Not really my taste, unfortunately.<br /><br />Regarding Freddie Jones, his death was easy to miss as reporting of it was heavily distorted by the fact that he'd appeared in 'Emmerdale' for the past 13 years. Many of the headlines were along the lines of DEATH OF BELOVED SOAP OPERA STAR, with scant reference to his remarkable film, TV and stage career. Actually, 'Emmerdale' has become something of a horror movie hang-out, as its cast also includes the venerable Patrick Mower from 'The Devil Rides Out' and 'Cry of the Banshee' and Dominic Brunt, director of 'Before Dawn' and 'Adult Babies'.<br /><br />Yes, Freddie was wonderful in 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'. I'm surprised that no black / doom / goth metal band has sampled his 'Evil rules' soliloquy at the beginning of a song: "Nothing is too vile. Nothing is too dreadful, too awful... You need to feel the threat of disgust, the beauty of obscenity...” Come on, Cradle Of Filth! Raise your game...<br />Ian Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-39374346536994245312019-07-28T13:43:35.866+01:002019-07-28T13:43:35.866+01:00Hi Ian -
Thanks so much for posting such a great ...Hi Ian -<br /><br />Thanks so much for posting such a great tirbute here! It's much better than the one I managed. <br /><br />Sadly, I have to confess I've not seen many of the films you mention (what can I say, I had a deprived childhood when it came to access to the VCR), but I'm confident that everything you say about them is probably spot on, and I look forward to catching up on the rest of the Hauer filmography as soon as the opportunity arises.<br /><br />I likewise skipped 'Hobo with a Shotgun' - it just looked a bit too... shall we say, 'Troma-y'?... for my tastes, but you actually make it sound quite interesting, so maybe I should belatedly give it a shot.<br /><br />Also - I had no idea Freddie Jones had died! That's terrible news, and I'm saddened that none of my usual sources informed me of this. ALWAYS, without exception, loved his performances - another name that instantly makes me happy when it pops up towards the end of a set of opening credits; he was one of thoose actors who could build a completely original character in about three seconds of screen-time. Just the other week, I was watching 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula', of all things, and thinking that the scene he shares with Cushing is about 500 times better than it has any right to be. R.I.P.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14951955227326548340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-67146748560133572402019-07-28T04:54:33.766+01:002019-07-28T04:54:33.766+01:00
Thank you for that tribute. Allow me to indulge ...<br />Thank you for that tribute. Allow me to indulge in a bit of Rutger Hauer-related nostalgic wallowing.<br /><br />I know the conventional wisdom is that Hauer reached iconic status in Hollywood in the early-to-mid-1980s with ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘The Hitcher’ but then went into decline as he made increasing numbers of exploitation and / or straight-to-video movies. But wherever they figured on the quality scale, a huge number of his films were truly enjoyable. Before the supposed decline, there’s Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Eureka’, Richard Donner’s elegiac and criminally underrated ‘Ladyhawke’ and Paul Verhoeven’s delicious medieval gore-and-tits epic ‘Flesh + Blood’. I also like that he turned up in Sam Peckinpah’s final movie ‘The Ostermann Weekend’ which, while a mishmash of ideas, themes and styles, is still a blast because it features Peckinpah’s much-loved scenes of slo-mo carnage… and Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Dennis Hopper and Meg Foster. <br /><br />And as for his later films, I defy anyone to say a seriously bad word against Philip Noyce’s ‘Blind Fury’ or Lewis Teague’s ‘Wedlock’. I’m actually very partial to the latter film, which has Hauer escaping from a futuristic prison with an explosive collar around his neck and grappling with the sublimely villainous Joan Chen and Stephen Tobolowsky (who as the prison governor gets to utter the movie’s best line: “You nonconformists are all alike!”). As you say, Tony Maylam’s ‘Split Second’ is splendidly mad and I love how it allows Hauer to strut his stuff alongside craggy British character actors like Alun Armstrong and Pete Postlethwaite. Plus Kim Cattrall is in it, although I bet it isn’t given prominence in Kim’s acting CV these days.<br /> <br />I’m not a great fan of his supposed exploitation comeback movie, Jason Eisner’s ‘Hobo with a Shotgun’ in 2011, though with its medievally clad bikers and general 1980s-style trash aesthetic it looks now like a rough, cheap prototype for Panos Cosmatos’ ‘Mandy’. And I like the premise that Hauer’s elderly vagrant just wants to buy a lawnmower and start a grass-cutting business, but has to spend the whole film fighting against a family of murderous scumball psychos who are terrorising the city. Well, if you get between Rutger Hauer and his dreams of a lawnmower, you deserve to die. <br /><br />One other reason I have for loving Hauer is that in the early 1990s he was the face of the advertising campaign for my favourite alcoholic brew, Guinness. Dressed in black, and sporting a shock of blonde hair, he did subliminally resemble a pint of Guinness. Indeed, when I went to see ‘Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut’ in a London cinema in 1992, there was a roar of laughter when one of his Guinness ads popped up before the main feature.<br /><br />And dear old Freddie Jones died just a few weeks ago too. July 2019 has truly been a cursed month for my favourite actors. <br />Ian Smithnoreply@blogger.com