Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)

Lee Chan, Jr. (Richard Hatch) was an aspiring detective and a well-established klutz.  His ability to suffer cringe-inducing slapstick silliness knew no bounds.  Worse, he was engaged to marry Cordelia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who proved to be his equal in uncoordinated pratfalls.  Lee worships his grandfather, the great detective Charlie Chan (Peter Ustinov).  As a series of bizarre murders have plagued San Francisco, the police chief (Brian Keith) has summoned Charlie Chan to consult on the case.  The chief is an ill-tempered hypochondriac who spends most of his time yelling.  Lee's grandmother, Mrs. Lupowitz (Lee Grant), is desperate to spend time with her grandson and convince him that detective work is not for him.  Often, she fondles and caresses her husband's urn, explaining how she needs him.  His murder by the Dragon Queen (Angie Dickinson) was detailed in a black and white flashback.  Yes, Charlie Chan solved the case.

The mystery is hardly a mystery and the comedy is atrocious.  Charlie Chan spends most of his time making fortune cookie observations and marveling at the incompetence of his grandson.  When the climax arrives to reveal the killer, Charlie exposes most of the characters for this or that, all of which is meaningless.  Great, the chauffeur is an African prince.  So what?  This character is not really confined to a wheelchair.  Impressive deduction, but meaningless.  The big twist - such as it is - was revealed earlier to a casual viewer.

Despite an excellent cast, this movie is barely watchable.  Skip!

The Mountain Men (1980)

Bill Tyler (Charlton Heston) is a trapper in the Rocky Mountains in the late 1830s and has an impressive collection of beaver pelts that he plans to sell at the next Rendezvous; Rendezvous was an annual event, usually in Wyoming, where the trappers could sell their pelts to fur companies and purchase goods.  On the way, he runs into an old friend, Henry Frapp (Brian Keith).  Frapp is escorting Nathan Wyeth (John Glover), to the Rendezvous.  Enroute, the trio have an encounter with Crow Indians and a battle with Blackfoot Indians.  In the ruckus, Bill finds himself with a squaw, Running Moon (Victoria Racimo).  Heavy Eagle (Stephen Macht) is determined to reclaim Running Moon and kill Tyler.  Though Tyler tries to return to his trapping, Blackfoot warriors are constantly on his tail.

The movie has plentiful cursing and quite a bit of violence, especially considering the era in which it was made.  This doesn't seem like an R-rated film, but the plentiful profanity, frequent violence, and occasional nudity would merit it.  By modern standards, it's pretty tame.  Though the main storyline follows Tyler and Heavy Eagle's quarrel over Running Moon, the more interesting part is the comradery of Bill and Henry.  Brian Keith is terrific as a cheerful yet grumbly mountain man, an excellent foil for Charlton Heston's cantankerous loner.  Their banter was the best part of the movie.  The plot reminded me a lot of Jeremiah Johnson: mountain man gets into a feud with an Indian tribe.

The cinematography benefits from the mountainous setting.  Doubtless, the Wyoming scenery was magnificent on the big screen but is still pretty impressive on the small screen.  Some of the shots with the Tetons in the background were outstanding, overshadowing the actors in the foreground.

As far as the history, it's very good.  There are some small qualms (e.g., the casting of all white actors for the Indians) but the time period is well-represented.  Indeed, the days of beaver trapping were on the way out because of the popularity of silk.  The wagon trains were just getting started for the Oregon territory though the trail was not yet blazed by John C Fremont.  Tyler's miraculous escape by hiding in a beaver lodge really happened, though it was John Colter (1770-1813) who did it.

Just okay.

Meteor (1979)

Astronomers have spotted a new comet that is streaking toward the asteroid belt.  Calculations show that it is going to hit Orpheus, a massive asteroid.  NASA redirects the Challenger 2 spaceship (a manned mission to Mars) to observe.  Sure enough, the comet impacts and sends the shards on a course to hit Earth!  Dr. Paul Bradley (Sean Connery), an MIT professor, is hastily brought to NASA.  He had been key in the Hercules program, which was designed for exactly this purpose.  NASA administrator Harry Sherwood (Karl Malden) provides details and sends Bradley to Washington.  The Hercules satellite doesn't have enough missiles to counter the largest chunk of Orpheus from impacting.  The President (Henry Fonda) calls upon the Soviet Union for help.  Dr. Dubov (Brian Keith) and his interpreter, Tatiana (Natalie Wood), arrive in New York to discuss detente in the face of this global emergency.

Following the 1970s love of disaster movies, this one is single-minded in following the efforts to stop the meteor.  There is a lightly-touched and unrequited romance between Dr. Bradley and Tatiana.  There is some character development and plenty of tragedy.  To insert some action, there are multiple meteor fragments that arrive ahead of the big one.  Hong Kong gets washed away by a tidal wave, a Swiss resort is buried after a strike, and Manhattan is partially flattened.  Trevor Howard has a series of cameos via video conference as the man tracking the incoming fragments.  Martin Landau is a general who views cooperation with the Russians as a bad idea and Orpheus as no cause for concern.  Huh?  You were at the meeting with the President!  Yes, that was bad writing and really damaged his character.  He was just a blowhard buffoon.

The science is atrocious.  A manned-mission to Mars could not possibly reroute to the asteroid belt and still be able to return to Mars.  We don't have that technology today!  Worse, what did NASA expect to happen when sending the Challenger 2 in the vicinity of a comet colliding with an asteroid?  The missiles that were fired at the meteor had their rockets burning the entire time; that's a lot of fuel.  Modern SpaceX rockets have about 3 minutes of fuel; the ones here just go on and on.  In fact, when the fuel runs out, the rocket just dies and drifts away.  No, it should continue on the same flight path.  One of the reasons that both the US and the USSR needed to combine forces was because neither had enough firepower alone.  Okay, but the closer it gets to Earth, the more firepower is needed.  They waited until Orpheus was just a couple of hours from Earth before firing their missiles.  Gah!  Their goal was to vaporize the meteor when it should have been to deflect the meteor.

Both Natalie Wood and Brian Keith were fluent in Russian, which surely helped in their casting.  Wood's parents were Russian immigrants.  I have no idea why Keith was fluent in Russian.  Having an interpreter for central characters is awkward and just slows the story.

Overall, mediocre.  It falls closer to Armageddon (1998) than Deep Impact (1998).  Even so, Armageddon, though even more ludicrous than Meteor, was more entertaining.  If you are looking to watch a disaster movie in this genre, Deep Impact is the one to see.

The Wind and the Lion (1975)

It is 1904 when a band of Berbers ride into Tangier, Morocco, and kidnap Eden Pedicaris (Candice Bergen) and her two children.  The leader of the kidnappers is Raisuli (Sean Connery), the brother of the Bashaw and the uncle of the Sultan.  News of the kidnapping reaches President Roosevelt (Brian Keith) and he demands "Pedicaris alive or Raisuli dead!"  While Eden and her children are 'guests' of Raisuli, the American ambassador attempts diplomacy with the Bashaw, who claims powerlessness.  Next, he bribes the Sultan with a pair of lions.  The Sultan likewise claims powerlessness.  It is clear that the European powers are courting the Sultan, making American efforts to recover Pedicaris difficult.  Roosevelt calls for gunboat diplomacy and soon several American warships and two companies of Marines arrive in Tangier.

The portrayal of Theodore Roosevelt is outstanding.  Though each scene advances the story, it also details the character of Roosevelt.  The change in setting is glorious: archery range, campaign whistle stop, Yellowstone hunting camp, boxing, shooting range, and the White House.  Keith is outstanding in the role and I have always wished he had another opportunity to play TR.  Of course, Milius must have felt the same as he cast Keith in his next TR movie, Rough Riders, but as President William McKinley.

Sean Connery is an unusual choice for a Berber.  According to IMDb, efforts to teach him an Arab accent were abandoned after 3 days.  Oddly enough, he was cast as an Arab in The Next Man the following year.  Nonetheless, he is quite entertaining in the role and has good chemistry with Candice Bergen.

As for historical accuracy, it drifts further and further from the truth as the movie progresses.  Pedicaris - which should be Perdicaris - was an American expat in his mid-60s.  His stepson, who was in his 40s, was kidnapped with him.  Kidnapped in mid-May, they were released by the end of June.  By contrast, the movie takes place in October 1904 to allow the kidnapping to be a campaign issue for Teddy's re-election campaign.  Though American warships arrived at Tangier, the Marines did not capture the Bashaw's palace.  This was a case of speaking softly and carrying a big stick.  Likewise, the Marines did not have a battle with Germans outside Rabat.  However, it does an excellent job in depicting Roosevelt.  As for Raisuli, the movie implies that he lost everything from the incident, but in fact he won many concessions, including a governorship and the release of many of his imprisoned followers.

Very entertaining and recommended.