Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, This Time Its More Respectable

As a boy, the future despotic emperor Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was nicknamed “Caligula,” meaning “Little Boots.” You could say he was the original “Kinky Boots.” This time, however, he is a little less kinky. The 1979 historical drama sort of directed by Tinto Brass was fatefully financed by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, who notoriously added excessively graphic scenes of sex and violence. As a result, Brass and most of the cast disowned the grotesque final product. Years later, Thomas Negovan reconstructed an entirely new cut that more closely follows Gore Vidal’s original screenplay. Consisting of alternate takes and outtakes, 100% of Negovan’s edit never appeared on-screen before (having duly jettisoned all of Guccione’s footage). It is still very mature, but the viewing experience is more coherent when Caligula: The Ultimate Cut opens this Friday in theaters.

Guccione spared no expense, hiring Peter O’Toole and Sir John Gielgud for roles the great actors were probably grateful were mercifully short. O’Toole plays Emperor Tiberius, Caligula’s STD-riddled great-uncle, who has reluctantly groomed the orphan to succeed him. Following in the time-honored Roman tradition, Caligula decides to succeed him earlier than Tiberius intended, but he needs the ambitious Macro to do his dirty work. Of course, Caligula realizes anyone willing to kill one emperor is capable of killing two.

Some things have not changed, definitely including Caligula’s incestuous relationship with his sister Drusilla. However, she is shrewd enough to insist her brother wed a proper, socially elite wife. Almost perversely, he chooses the scandalous Caesonia, who rather turns out to be a good match for him. They both have their appetites. She also learns to live with his lunacy and fits of rage, even when they start to interfere with his ability to rule the empire.

It is still pretty mind-blowing to see Dame Helen Mirren participating in a threesome with Malcolm McDowell (who currently plays a grouchy grandpa on Son of a Critch) and Teresa Ann Savoy, but judging from the 1979 film’s reputation, a great deal of the erotic content has been toned down, particularly in the second half. It is still more explicit than Those About to Die, but most viewers will not feel unclean after watching Negovan’s cut.

It is too bad Guccione’s edit became what it was, because when seen in the proper light, McDowell’s gloriously unhinged performance should have solidified his reputation as the boldest thesp of his generation. Supposedly, the new reconstruction better illustrates Lord Acton’s maxim of absolutely power corrupting absolutely, but there is not much of a slide into corruption. McDowell’s Caligula arguably starts at deranged and tyrannical—and steadily grows more intensely so.

One of the real discoveries is the performance of Savoy as Drusilla. Originally, Maria Schneider had been cast in the part, but she exited due to the sexually charged content. She clearly did the right thing, especially considering her troubling memories of Last Tango in Paris. Nevertheless, Savoy probably served up the performance of her career as the ruthless shrewd but ambiguously sensitive Drusilla. It is also nice to fully see John Steiner (the English actor who was a mainstay of Italian genre cinema for years) scheming as Longinus, the chancellor of the treasury.

Yor, the Hunter from the Future: 35 Years Young

It was an Italian adaptation of an Argentinian comic book, filmed in Turkey, starring a former USC star fullback best-known for playing Captain America. It is definitely a product of its time—1983—so it does its best to rip-off both Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian. Yes, it is cheesy, but it is nostalgic cheese for viewers who bite into Antonio Margheriti (a.k.a. Anthony M. Dawson)’s Yor, the Hunter from the Future (trailer here), which releases today in a “special” 35^th Anniversary BluRay edition, from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Yor just happened to be ambling along when he saved Kala from a demonic stegosaurus. Since she is the daughter of the late chieftain, her tribe welcomes Yor with open arms, especially Pag, her grizzled protector. Unfortunately, Yor will not be enough to save her people when a tribe of pseudo-Morlocks launches a sneak attack. Technically, the Blue Meanies abducted Kala fair and square, but Yor doesn’t cotton to their ways, so he rescues her right back. Yet, just when Kala is starting to feel it between them, he lights out in search of Tarita, a reputed witch, who wears an amulet identical to the one Yor sports.

Alas, the love triangle will not last long, but another oppressed tribe points Yor towards an outpost of futuristic scientists, from whom he and Tarita are descended. Sadly, the post-apocalyptic survivors are subjugated by the accurately titled Overlord, who rules with the help of an army of clones, whose armor ever so coincidentally resembles Darth Vader. Of course, there is a resistance movement that has been waiting years for a stone age barbarian to come lead them to the promised land.

Reb Brown never really caught on, but his pageboy-loincloth-and-mukluk look as Yor is weirdly iconic. Corinne Cléry is most famous for playing the lead role in Story of O and a Bond Girl in Moonraker, so it shouldn’t be rocket science to figure out why she was cast as Kala. Ironically, one of the biggest names in the film at the time was British Giallo veteran John Steiner, who is practically unrecognizable as the Overlord. Poor Luciano Pigozzi (often billed as “Alan Collins,” as he is here) always looks like he is on the brink of a heart attack, but somehow he survived his stint as Pag.

Good old Yor is definitely more cult than classic, but it still brings back fond memories of early 1980s science fiction. It would make a great triple feature with Krull and Spacehunter: Adventures of the Forbidden Zone, which also originally released in 1983. In terms of aesthetics and craftsmanship, Yor is the least of the three, but it has its cornball appeal (everyone keys in on the theme song, so we won’t even go there). Recommended nostalgic riffing, Yor, the Hunter from the Future is now available in the unfussy anniversary BluRay edition it so richly deserves, from Mill Creek Entertainment.