ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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Costner's follow-up to Waterworld (95) as no less than star and director was this pic, a lengthy post-holocaust tale of a wanderer (Costner) and his mule.

He gets by on his wits and his cons, revolving around performing flawed Shakespeare for his supplies at small settlements. Then he's forcibly conscripted into the growing army of General Bethlehem (Will Patton) and his mule is destroyed for food.

Escaping, he finds shelter for one night in an old mail truck. There, he finds a bag of old mail; this is his avenue for a new con — also donning an old uniform, he passes himself off as the representative of a new government and a newly-established postal service.

This little Kabuki Theater of his expands far beyond anything he envisioned, mostly due to the efforts of his young, idealistic 2nd-in-command (Larenz Tate).

The Postman, as he's later known, also gets involved with a woman (Olivia Williams). General Bethlehem, who has his own visions of an empire, becomes frustrated by this supposed 'other' government which has settlements defying Bethlehem's will.

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This film may have suffered from the backlash against Costner and his perceived ego in the wake of Waterworld.

There were a couple of short scenes here which hinted at this ego, a pretentiousness in setting up his Postman character as this great legend, but I didn't have too many problems with it.

There were a few weak parts, but certainly not enough to revile it as the worst film of the year. It may have had too much ambition and was too long by perhaps 20 minutes, all part of Costner's plan to craft an epic. Larenz Tate's character is problematic — he's almost as fanatical as Patton's General Bethlehem in ensuring the continuation of the postal service, but there's never a clue as to his reasoning or lack of same.

Patton wasn't that bad as the villain, suggesting megalomania and even some delusion — though I never pictured him as this great fighter (the reason he keeps his command). Late scenes feature Tom Petty as himself — perhaps another miscalculation. It takes one out of the film.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10

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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Pow]

An open mining pit located in Tucson, AZ, was one of the largest film sets ever dressed in order to create Bethlehem's camp.

It was 2~miles wide & 1200 feet deep.

Bridge City was built on the face of the Seattle dam.

[Bud Brewster]

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The Postman is in my Netflix list and I'll get it next week. I'm looking forward to finally seeing it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I watched this movie today for the first time and I enjoyed it. The early scene with the renegade army riding into to a post-apocalyptic town reminded me of The Magnificent Seven, but after that the story went it's own way pretty quickly.

The religious nut villain with the obsession with "pure blood people" isn't much fun to watch, simply because he was such a good example of how horrible people can be. And the fact that he'd raised an army of idiots who idolized him is an accurate statement of just how low men can sink.

When you think of how much of our history is filled with crazed despots who convinced witless looser to follow them, this movie is does a bang up job of portray a situation which has caused the world an incredible amount of grief.

Naming a religious nut "General Bethlehem" seemed a bit much, though . . .

On a more positive note, the "drive-in" movie the renegades set up in the abandoned strip-mining canyon was well done. I was amused by the fact that the brutal mercenary soldiers almost stoned the poor projectionist when he tried to run Universal Soldier because they wanted to watch The Sound of Music — which they watched almost every night.

By the time the renegade general orders Kevin to go into the bushes and recover the body of a soldier a lion had killed, I was hooked. And the way Kevin took advantage of the situation to escape was very satisfying.

The locations for this scene are spectacular, a remarkable Midwestern location with a canyon spanned by a suspension bridge above a raging river.

It was soon after that dramatic and dangerous escape from the renegade general that Kevin found the abandoned US Mail truck with the dead driver whose clothes were dry (unlike his soaking wet ones from the rain he'd staggered through for hour, shivering and miserable). The old letters he began to read gave Kevin the idea that he could use them to inspire people to believe that civilization could be restored.

And that, folks, is the heart, the soul, and the saving grace of this unique story.

I loved Kevin's bold and imaginative pitch to the frightened residence of Pineville, Oregon, when he walks up to the sentries around their fort-like town and proclaims that he represents the newly restored US Government, and that they've authorized him to re-establish communications with communities like Pineville.

The sheriff appears at the sentry tower and is all set to gun him down when Kevin desperately dumps out his mail sack on the ground and grabs several letters, calling out the names of the recipients . . . hoping that one them is still alive in the town and desperately wants to get the letter!

Thankfully, Kevin succeeds.

Kevin delivers a letter to an elderly blind lady who's attractive younger friend reads it to her, and she's moved by the fifteen-year-old news from her family, before the war destroyed civilization.

The grateful residence of this stable and reasonably prosperous community show the gratitude by feeding him, washing his clothes, and allowing hime to have the first bath he's had in years.

But at a happy social gather that evening, Kevin is forced to answer their desperate questions about the state of civilization by giving them fabricated answers which feed their hopes and insure their continued generosity towards him.

Kevin realizes that he has sparked a new hope in these people, and if they find out he's been making it all up for their benefit, it will have a devastating effect.

How far all this goes was very satisfying, and so was the climax. At two hours and fifty-seven minutes, this movie would have been an endurance test if it hadn't done such a fine job of staying interesting.

All in all, this movie seems seriously underrated.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 40 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text.
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~ The crew referred to the film as "Dirt World". /color]

Note from me: Funny . . .

[color=darkblue]~ It was the extras that referred to the production as "Dirt World". This was never to be spoken within earshot of Kevin Costner, because he would fire anyone he heard saying it.

Note from me: Hmmm . . . not so funny to Kevin, obviously.

~ The cities of Pineview and Benning were both filmed in the small town of Metaline Falls, Washington. Tons of dirt were brought in to turn the paved roads into dirt roads and a lot of work was put in to make the buildings look old and distressed.

Note from me: Wow, no wonder it had that funny unofficial title.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)