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Feature Four Frames

Four Frames: Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)

James Dickey’s novel opens with a map being unrolled. Disconcerting – “curling and snapping back whenever one of us turned it loose” – then, revealing – “All this in here will be blue … this whole valley will be under water.” John (Point Blank) Boorman’s movie version unveils the river itself through a curtain of […]

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Feature Thousand Words

Thousand Words: “No man is an island” (Hell in the Pacific, 1968)

The great outdoors – here a maritime space – is a protagonist in its own right in John Boorman’s two-character film Hell in the Pacific (1968). The two marooned soldiers, played by Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune, fight for survival on an uninhabited atoll and fight each other before facing together the hazards of the […]

Categories
Feature Four Frames

Four Frames: Excalibur (John Boorman, 1981)

Sex, violence, betrayal, revenge – these are the ingredients of a film producer’s wet dream, and the legend of King Arthur has them in spades. It’s no surprise, then, that Arthur has continued to serve as an influence, direct or otherwise, for countless forms of art and entertainment. His latest cinematic incarnation is due to hit […]