The Indian Runner
As a director, Sean Penn has an art-house eye (and ear) for scenery and silence. His 1991 directorial debut, The Indian Runner, shows he’s also a decent storyteller. Inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s “Highway Patrolman,” the movie concerns brothers, good guy Joe (baby-faced David Morse) and hellion Frank (Viggo Mortensen doing his best Sean Penn). The setting is heartland America circa 1970, populated by a cast that includes Patricia Arquette as Frank’s “old lady.”
“The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson”
Generations have had fun with low-budget British sci-fi television series such as “UFO” and “Thunderbirds.” This two-DVD set collects rarities from the creator of those shows. Characteristic is “The Investigator,” in which the voice of an unseen space alien encourages a pair of Barbie and Ken-type teens to thwart the machinations of a ruthless criminal. The set also includes a European travelogue, a children’s puppet show and a stop-motion comedy, “Dick Spanner, P.I.”
Sting: Live at the Olympia Paris
Looking fit, healthy and happy to be there, Sting performed to an attentive audience in Paris for this 2017 concert. The show was formatted as expected with numbers from his latest album interspersed with songs dating back to the emergence of The Police in the late ’70s. Live at the Olympia Paris is an agreeable sonic package given Sting’s gift for marrying catchy melodies to meaningful lyrics in songs such as “Spirits in the Material World.”
Roy Colt & Winchester Jack
Italy’s Mario Bava made his name in B-horror flicks. With Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (1970), he wandered off site into spaghetti westerns, spoofing the genre popularized by countryman Sergio Leone and American expat Clint Eastwood. Bava loads the production with electric twang, laughter, mock violence, hard-charging women and desperados whose gallantry sets them one rung above the bad guys. He recruited a pair of Yankee actors for the lead roles, Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood.
