Well, hello there, kind folks. If you’re visiting this blog of mine, I presume that you have a certain interest in the cinema. As for me, even since my early childhood, I have had a deep love of everything related to movies and television. As far as I can remember, I have been more at ease in front of a screen than in the yard, outside, playing. It is a great way to travel, though other people’s stories, without having to foot any kind of steep bill. Over the years, I feel that movie-watching has even fuelled my own creativity.

All that being said, I welcome you in my Cinephile’s Nest. I hope you enjoy it here, feel free to come back at any time. Here you will find reviews of current movies and older ones. TV shows also. Some classics that have remained some of my favourites, some that have disappointed me. I will use a very basic star (*) system to grade them from 1 to 5 (5 being sliced bread level). Remember, these are just my tastes. I will try to explain in each review what I liked about these particular movies, without giving spoilers.

Il y aura aussi des critiques en français pour les films francophones, car j'aime également le cinéma dans ma langue maternelle. Avant d'apprendre l'anglais, plus jeune, je louais des tonnes de films traduits en français, surtout ceux de Bud Spencer et Terrence Hill. Ma mère a eu le choc de sa vie lorsqu'un jour, dans la boîte d'un de ces films, Deep Throat avait malencontreusement inséré. Une expérience formatrice pour le jeune cinéphile que je suis.

Bienvenue à tous, amusez-vous bien.

I welcome you all here, enjoy yourself.

Monday, June 27, 2016

The Swap (1979)

Genre: Thriller
Directed by: Jordan Leondopoulos (credited as John Shade)
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jennifer Warren, Anthony Charnota
Time: 88 minutes



After getting out of jail for an unspecified crime, Vito Nicoletti decides to investigate the murder of his brother Sam, a porn film director. Vito’s clear intent here is to find the culprit and avenge his dead brother, in what he refers to as an Italian thing.

In 1969, movie director Jordan Leondopoulos made a film called Sam’s Song, starring a young Robert De Niro, who was relatively unknown at that point, as a political filmmaker. Ten years later, Leondopoulos could no longer afford the star for his new film, so he decided to take archive footage from the original film and reuse it in a new story.

The story of The Swap is interesting enough, though the acting from Anthony Charnota, who plays Vito, is not very good. And you can see a clear disconnect between the old and the new footage. That was a very cheap tactic by the movie director to take footage from one movie to make another without the actor’s permission.

In the footage from 1969, you can catch a glimpse of what De Niro would become, and that is a great thing to see. It is too bad that these images were given such an unfair treatment to serve one film director’s purpose.
Rating: ««

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