Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageWelcome to Blood City (1977)
Director: Peter Sasdy
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
An utterly spineless sci-fi Western. The plot premise has possibilities: Dullea is hauled out of some unspecified urban crisis and into an equally unspecified laboratory, where a 'Western drama' is computer-programmed into his brain to test his ruthlessness quotient. The main dramatic problem is the feebleness of the Western (which occupies most of the running time); even Jack Palance as an urbane, unbeatable sheriff can't lend it more credibility than a playground version of Gunfight at the OK Corral. But what finally sinks the film is Sasdy and his writer Stephen Schneck's refusal to commit themselves to any social or political meaning; the way they trot out some newsreel atrocity footage to fuel a supposedly common paranoia about the Horrors of the Modern World is both facile and deeply offensive.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Peter Sasdy
Producer: Marilyn Stonehouse
Cast: Jack Palance, Keir Dullea, Samantha Eggar, Barry Morse, Hollis McLaren, Chris Wiggins full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 96 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now