SLITHER (1973)

SLITHER (1973). Director: Howard Zieff.

Dick Kanipsia (James Caan) is fresh out of prison and goes home with his jail buddy, Harry Moss (Richard B. Shull), who is promptly murdered. This leads Dick to go on a hunt for the man who knows where Moss left some considerable cash, leading him to Barry (Peter Boyle) and his wife, Mary, (Louise Lasser), who team up with him to find the man with the money. Added to the mix is Kitty (Sally Kellerman), a crazy lady who holds up a diner not long after she first meets Dick. But who is in that sinister black van that keeps following the quartet ... ? I have a feeling that Slither was originally meant to be a serious crime drama that was turned instead into a half-serious light-hearted quasi-caper movie without the caper. There's a touch of whimsy (not to mention immorality) to the movie, and it holds your attention, but it never really amounts to much. Caan [Games] is excellent, however, playing in just the right note; Boyle [Outland], Lasser, and Alan Garfield as a lawyer are also good, but Kellerman was still in that weird, off-putting mode she was in early in her career. There are a couple of laughs and some suspense of a minor kind. An ugly moment occurs when Kitty refers to a black character as "some dumb spade," an unnecessary slur even given the craziness of her character. Surely Kellerman, one of the stars of the movie, had enough clout at the time to insist on a change?

Verdict: Rather pointless when all is said and done. **1/2.

OUTLAND

Frances Sternhagen

OUTLAND (1981). Writer/Director: Peter Hyams.

In the future, a mining colony has been established on Io, the third moon of Jupiter. The new Marshall, William O'Neil (Sean Connery), investigates when there is an increase in grisly suicides, and discovers something rotten in the state of Io: illegal drugs are being offered to workers to increase their productivity but it eventually makes them psychotic. When Sheppard (Peter Boyle), the head of the operation, realizes that O'Neil is out to shut him down, he enlists the aid of two hit men to come to Io and finish off the Marshall, who can expect no help from anyone, including his men. The only exception is the feisty Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen). This is basically High Noon in outer space. Connery is okay although it might be said that he's just going through the motions, betraying no sense of moral outrage over what's happening to the miners. Sternhagen is simply terrific. The special effects are solid and still hold up thirty years later. Fine score by Jerry Goldsmith.

Verdict: Not exactly original but an interesting variation on a theme. ***.