sgspires Reviews

Space: Above and Beyond: Ray Butts (1995) Season 1, Episode 5

Makes you want to eat some pancakes and listen to Johnny Cash

[5 February 2006]

A spoiler doesn't really follow, but I've outlined the plot a little. To me, "Ray Butts" marks the point where this series gained its legs. A viewer can see in the pilot episode and the first couple after the show debuted, that the actors were getting to know each other and the writers were kind of figuring out how the military works. By "Ray Butts," the production had settled in pretty well. "Ray Butts" is about one Lt. Col. Raymond T. Butts. He's a hard charging, hard drinking and well, just hard, person and Marine who spouts off funny sayings like "Easy as eating pancakes." A lifer who holds some sort of Recon or special forces "black" (meaning he doesn't exist) position within some command or other, Butts comes along and spirits off the 58th on a special mission. The mission is pretty standard fare. Recover some "Hammerheads," the show's spacecraft/aircraft combo that they use to fight the "Chigs" (insect type bad guys the Earth is at war with). Butts has his own ideas and his own mission. Of course, those wiley "Chigs" are out there trying to stop them. Throw in a black hole that could pull everybody apart in space during a dogfight, and you've got some pretty good tension and drama. Mostly the plots of Space Above and Beyond are World War II driven. It's pretty much the Pacific in space. That's cool. Lot's of interesting drama and heroism happened in the Pacific theater. So it's a rich vein to mine. "Ray Butts" isn't entertaining or classic television because of the plot, though. It's the performances and the characters that drives this episode. Vansen comes to Butts cabin after a pretty bad day of Butts' specialized training and confronts him about his intentions with the 58th. Butts is tired, drinking and sitting in his cabin like a man who doesn't care who lives or dies (something Lt Col. McQueen has just told him a scene or two before). Vansen: (With Johnny Cash's "So Doggone Lonesome" in the background) What do you think about in the dark? Butts: (Swallows his shot of whiskey and breathes a tired sigh) I think about the first man I ever killed. Vansen: What about him? Butts: I wonder what he's doing now (looks at his whiskey he just poured) . . . and if he got the better end of the deal. Now that's good writing anyway you slice and dice them pancakes. The special effects of the 58th fighting the "Chig" fighters is pretty good. Still holds up today more than a decade after this episode was created. For a television show that says something, to me. The DVD's of Space Above and Beyond are out now, and this episode, along with the two about "Chigi" Von Richtofen are worth the price of the set. These war dramas are mini-movies and marks a time when Fox programmed good television. I wish this production team (actors, writers, producers) would reunite and produce a television mini series or show about World War II in the Pacific.

Hanover Street (1979)

Watch this movie and avoid something like Pearl Harbor

[8/10 · 12 December 2005]

"Hanover Street" is the kind of movie people like to pick apart because the SS Sgt. didn't render the proper Hitler salute or the uniforms were wrong or because the B-25 wasn't flown over Europe but mostly in North Africa. Well, I imagine the B-25 sets were left over from Catch 22, which used B-25s, and there was a shortage of SS uniforms at Elstree Studios when this movie was filmed. It doesn't really detract from the film. These are bits of entertainment -- not a masters level thesis. I have to say this is an "adult" movie that probably wouldn't be made today. If filmed today (late 2005), then there'd be a lot more emphasis on wise-ass remarks to the commanding officer and silly, stilted lines like "If I lost you then I'd just die ... oh I'd just die." Pretty much along the lines of 2001's awful Pearl Harbor. The love story is really more about honor and sacrifice than love, and reflects closely wartime England when many single, and probably married, English women dashed off with "heroic" Yanks -- which gave way to the British saying about Americans: "Over paid, over sexed and, bloody well, over here." There's a lot of action in this movie and a lot of tension that builds up at the right moments. Is it a big, blockbuster movie like "Raiders of The Lost Ark?" No, but it's got a good script, the cinema-photography is outstanding and the score is perfect. Aside from Catch 22, there's not a lot of places you can see REAL B-25s lining up for takeoff in a film (sorry, again the Pearl Harbor CGI doesn't cut it for me) and the fear-laced banter between Ford's bomber crew seems closer to the real thing than the heroic bull from other movies. If there's a gripe I've got about this film it's Ford's haircut. You can see a lot of detail and expense in the Hanover Street set, the Blitz and even the airfield. Everybody looks up to 1940s standards and the set has that smoke-filled, perpetual autumn look that seems to be what people associate with early color films from the World War II era. However, Ford's 1978 shag kind of ruins the mood. Maybe he couldn't cut his hair because "Empire Strikes Back" was due to start lensing soon after "Hanover Street" went into post production ... who knows, but it detracts from the detail paid to the extras and the set. Still, "Hanover Street" is a good film.

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Great spy and action movie with twisting plot

[10/10 · 30 November 2005]

Take Alistair MaClean's "Guns of Navarone" and "Ice Station Zebra" then you have the recipe for "Where Eagles Dare." Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton are sent on an Alpine spy/sabotage mission behind enemy lines aimed at confusing and delaying the Germans. It's interesting to see Eastwood take seconds to Burton's acting in this picture. Eastwood was just coming off his major success with the Italian westerns and was an international star, but wasn't an American leading man. This film marks the last time he wasn't in the star/leading man part. Dotted throughout the movie are wonderful actors who turn in solid performances. Accomplished thespians Patrick Wymark, Donald Houston and Derrin Nesbitt, to name a few, are faces many will recognize from UK television roles. An interesting point made in the film is the ordinary German soldier's sometime disdain for the fanatic Nazi SS or Gestapo trooper. This is shown through one German officer's unwillingness to comply with the local Gestapo major. It's rare to see that kind of "layer" added to the German side of a plot in an American picture. Generally, they are always just treated as bad guys to be dispatched in hails of lead or burning explosions. The film holds up well over time, and there's little to date it to 1969, save for the youthful faces of many of the actors. Some 36 years after its release, "Where Eagles Dare" continues to be entertaining. It certainly beats the current crop of "big gasoline driven explosion" movies that have no plot. It is heavy on action and plot, but it has a running time of 155 minutes -- plenty of time to develop plot and action.

Chinatown (1974)

Chinatown is a film not a movie

[12 February 2004]

I think the fact that this a very well written, potted movie is why most

film-goers find it entertaining. It's not a bubble gum or popcorn,

blow up the car, laugh at the boob movie. It tells a story. The story of a detective who does well for himself in

a town prospering in spite of the fact the rest of the nation is going

through a depression. Jake Gittes is involved in a world that most

people don't like to think existed in a time many consider a golden

age. It's not dark. It's realistic. I think the fact that people still return to

this movie three decades after it was released illustrates what a

quality work it is. Other posts allude to this not being entertainment, but I think

entertainment is not knowing what the end of the film will be until it

ends. Who can't figure out how Home Alone 55 or Rush Hour 12

will end?

MI-5 (2002–2011)

Intelligent work on intelligence work

[31 December 2003]

I've seen these on A&E in America and from the first I was hooked. The pressure cooker atmosphere and the modern day dot-com look puts this show about "counter intelligence" on another level than today's so called spy shows.

It's not the eye-candy of Alias and frankly its better than the flat delivery of the now canned Agency or Threat Matrix (both of which strive to be too PC in their "diverseness").

The writing is very well layered. It pulls the viewer in, and there's enough original material that many times you can't "skip ahead" to the fourth act in your mind. Meaning, you haven't figured out the end by the second break.

MI-5, or Spooks, puts enough plot twists in for any true fan of the genre. Well worth the time and effort to watch. Too bad American network television can't produce a show of this caliber.

(11/17/05 comment) Also, I was so intrigued by the UK version of Spooks, that I got into downloading the shows via the Internet, and I have to say it's an even better experience. I wish A&E would run the entire episode and not a chopped up version. The editing has to do with advert breaks more than content. If you only see this on A&E then I would suggest downloading it or renting/buying the DVD sets.

Sword of Justice (1978–1979)

Really bad television

[13 March 2003]

This isn't as bad as SuperTrain -- which came out about the same time -- but it has an awful concept. Jack Cole, framed for a crime he didn't do (who hasn't been???), picks up a lot of criminal and not-so criminal skills in the slam. Lock picking and forgery are a stretch but I suppose you could do this in prison. But every week the opening credits would have a guy say "You never know when precision gymnastics might come in handy." And so, Jack Cole practices gymnastics in the joint. What a crock. It was the 70s and this is 70s television in all its glory.

The Rat Patrol (1966–1968)

This series was in "living color"

[21 September 2002]

To disagree with a previous post, The Rat Patrol was filmed in color. As a mater of fact, the tag before the show aired showed a background of the two jeeps roaring through the desert with The Rat Patrol -- In Color superimposed on the shot. Being that it was filmed in 1966-1968, color was one of the selling points of the series -- hence all those wonderful shots of military half tracks and trucks blowing up in huge fireballs. (Combat was aired in black and white. ) As for the show itself, it wasn't so bad. Sure, some of the scripts were kind of escapist. However, there were several episodes that were well done. One involved Sergeant Jack Moffitt (Gary Raymond) coming to grips with the death of his brother; other episode teamed the Rat Patrol up with the Germans a couple of times. Once they had to save a little girl who fell into a well, and another time Americans and Germans had to fend off an Arab tribe attacking them in some kind of old ruins in the middle of the desert.

Anyway, point being the show was escapist, but is still on the air today. WGN in Chicago airs the show sometimes and other outlets air it, too.

UFO (1970–1971)

Poltical infighting interesting

[14 December 2001]

The common thread of this show was not only the aliens (ok, the spinning top spaceships they used were a little bit of a stretch even in 1969) but the politics of funding and running SHADO. Straker was always fighting the aliens and Gen. Henderson -- his superior. That's never really been done on American TV before. It's good to see the Brits don't shrink from it. The political support element added to the drama and realism because here in reality and on Earth ALL these guys have to fight for funding and scramble for resources. I think Anderson did a great job including this in UFO, in Journey To The Far Side of the Sun (a movie) and in Space 1999's first season. I wish Anderson would harness some of the talents he had back in the 60s and 70s and put a new television show on the air.

The Secret Empire (1979)

Pre-dated Raiders of the Lost Ark

[16 November 2001]

This was a great escape for me as a teen in the late 70s. Although the mists of time may tempered this somewhat, but I remember the production values and scripts were of a higher quality than some TV shows at the same time (CHIPS and SuperTrain). Part of the Cliffhangers television show, The Secret Empire was kind of like The Wild Wild West meets The Fugitive and Star Wars. At the time it was novel to have each show end in a cliffhanger, ala Saturday serials. If I remember right, three shows, one about Susan Anton (Stop Susan Williams) and one about Dracula were given 20 minute segments in an hour long show. Each one ended in a cliffhanger and was resolved the next week.

It was the right mix of sex appeal (Susan Anton) science fiction (Lost Empire) and horror (Dracula), and it came about two years before Raiders of the Lost Ark made it to the silver screen. Too bad it hasn't made it to DVD/VHS yet. With the current "release anything" mentality perhaps this show will make it to tape/DVD soon.

Space (1985)

Although fiction, it's a good overview of early spaceflight

[16 September 2000]

Before Tom Hanks took us from the Earth to the moon, the adaptation of Michner's Space ran in the spring of 1985 on the CBS network.

Most movies, TV shows have concentrated on the original seven astronauts, or the Apollo spaceflights, Space shows the early history of rocket development through the work of Michael York's Dieter Kolf is based on Wehrner von Braun, who headed the team which developed the concept and the rockets which lofted American men into space. The mini-series concentrates on Harry Hamlin's John Pope, a Navy aviator, who ends up a Gemni astronaut. Lot's of good stuff on the often overlooked Gemni program, which was used to write the playbook to get us to the moon. Hamlin eventually is part of the Apollo program, and lands on the moon which is where the series diverges -- Hamlin is part of an accident on the moon and ends up dying in an explosion. Great drama, but we know it didn't happen. James Garner is great as a senator who bolsters the space program.

I wish somebody would release this on video. Seems there would be a market for it given all the recent space related programs and movies of late.