GOD TOLD ME TO

Tony Lo Bianco

GOD TOLD ME TO (1976). Written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen.

In New York City a sniper crawls atop a water tower and starts picking off innocent pedestrians. Another man goes berserk with a knife. A uniformed cop (Andy Kaufman in a very early role) starts shooting people at the Irish parade. In each case the perpetrator says "God told me to" and then commits suicide. Detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) investigates the multitude of murders and discovers that one particular individual may link them all: Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch), a man whose mother (Sylvia Sidney of Death at Love House) was possibly taken aboard an extraterrestrial spaceship! Phillips is a hermaphrodite with strange mind control powers. Confronting the man, Nicholas realizes that he, too, may have an extraterrestrial origin. 

Richard Lynch as Phillips

God Told Me to has some interesting notions and a decidedly interesting cast: in addition to those named, we also have the ever-quirky Sandy Dennis as Nicholas' estranged wife; Deborah Raffin as his live-in girlfriend; Mike Kellin as the dyspeptic Deputy Commissioner; Sam Levene as businessman Everett Lukas; and John Heffernan as a man named Bramwell. Larry Cohen has assembled a great cast, but if only he had spent more time on his half-baked screenplay, which drops in some intriguing ideas but never develops them in any compelling fashion. This is especially a shame because the characterizations are well-delineated, Frankly the movie only works at all because of the score by Frank Cordell, which consistently imbues scenes with suspense and tension that would not have existed without it. (Ironically, the film is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Herrmann, who actually worked on one of Cohen's films, It's Alive.) Richard Lynch (of Miner's Massacre) probably has the most unusual role of his career. Tony Lo Bianco's performance is solid, but the script lets him down.

Verdict: A little too odd for its own good. **1/4. 

PERRY MASON: THE CASE OF THE POISON PEN

Raymond Burr as Perry Mason

PERRY MASON: THE CASE OF THE POISON PEN (1990 telefilm). Director: Christian I. Nyby II.

Bradley Thompson (David Warner) is a slightly obnoxious bestselling author whose most recent work is a non-fiction study of a murder case that Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) worked on, successfully defending the accused. Thompson named a different suspect in his book, which led to the man's suicide. When Thompson is poisoned at a literary conference, there are numerous suspects, one of whom is arrested: ex-wife Martha (Barbara Babcock); author Rita Sue Bliss (Cindy Williams); former protege Michael Garcia (Tony Lo Bianco); assistant Rebecca (Katherine Moffat); bartender Chris Fulmer (Don Reilly); and others. Most of these suspects have secrets, and most of Thompson's output may well have been written by others. 

William R. Moses as Ken Malansky

The Case of the Poisoned Pen is decidedly one of the better Perry Mason movies, with a strong hook, a good plot, and lots of motives. Burr is as excellent as usual as the defense lawyer, and there are especially good performances from Warner, Babcock, and Williams. Theater actor Don Reilly also makes a positive impression. The ever-likable William R. Moses plays private detective Ken Malansky, but he never seems quite as solid as Paul Drake, literally or figuratively -- Bill Hopper had those football-type shoulders after all! However, Moses is good and is still a busy actor today. 

Verdict: Quite entertaining and well-acted. ***. 
 

TOO SCARED TO SCREAM

TOO SCARED TO SCREAM (1984). Director: Tony Lo Bianco. Produced by Mike Connors.

Lt. Alex Dinardo (Mike Connors), his partner Frank (Leon Isaac Kennedy), and undercover policewoman Kate Bridges (Anne Archer of Fatal Attraction) investigate a series of gruesome murders at the tony Royal Arms high rise apartment house in Manhattan. Their one and only suspect is doorman Vincent (Ian McShane), who is decidedly strange, was there at the time of all of the killings, and lives with his crippled mother (Maureen O'Sullivan in a silent role). But could someone else be responsible for these slayings?

Too Late to Scream isn't quite what you could call a slasher film, because the murders are as tasteful as anything on television, and despite the use of a knife and mentions of dismemberment in one of the killings, nothing distasteful is ever shown. With a scarcity of suspects the film only begins to work up real suspense in the final few minutes when the killer and the motive behind the murders are  finally revealed. Mike Connors, who also produced the film, offers an acceptable if listless performance, Archer is better, there are some good character actors in vignettes, and Ian McShane basically walks off with the movie. The main problem with the flick is that the screenplay betrays little real knowledge of police methods and everything just seems rather perfunctory. Working as director, Tony Lo Bianco offers a workmanlike, if uninspired, job, although some of the very brief murder sequences aren't badly handled. One could argue that the motive and solution to this is borderline homophobic.

Verdict: Interesting cast and situations, an exciting climax, but there's something missing here. **1/2.