Friday, May 23, 2008

Horsemen of the B


The Four Horseman, a sincere low budget coming home from Iraq drama directed by veteran filmmaker Sidney J Furie, prove that B movies (not "indys" or "indies") are still made in this millenium. And maybe it takes a veteran director to prove that fact.

Four high school fellow football stars go off to war as Marines in Iraq together and return home one of the group who was killed. The remaining trio consists of the haunted hispanic, the noble double quad, and the black guy with the hot redhead girlfriend who plans to go AWOL. B movies can't take much time for character development. They have 90 minutes max to take you in and out of the situation, in this case intercutting sepia toned combat footage away from the struggles at home.

Sidney J. Furie is a 75 year old Canadian director with over 50 screen directorial credits. He did the original Ipcress File, a Superman sequel, the Iron Eagle films, and has also revisited men and war prior with The Boys in Company C and Purple Hearts. He has made many B movies and I appreciate his efforts with this low budget coming home story. Is it very good? Probably not. But you can't doubt the sincerity of the effort. In particular, there is Mark O'Brien, a non-actor and double quad Marine veteran who plays a character based on himself sixty years after veteran Harold Russell won an Academy Award for a character similar to his own fate in another coming home melodrama, The Best Years of Our Lives, sixty years prior.

I believe there is a difference between a low rent independent film and a full on B movie. There is likely a fine line between them, but in the case of Four Horsemen, a veteran director takes us from plot point to plot point with the limited acting, budget and other resources, and what results is a completed effort, topical and within the classic tradition of movie making. No long takes or excessive camera moves here! The result is not greatness, or maybe not even that good in the eyes of most, but is still worth giving an acknowledgement. May there always be B movies.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:04 PM
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