TITLE-Death Brings Roses
SOURCE-Severin Jack Weis Double Feature Blu Ray
Jack Weis has went from being a director I hadn't heard of,to now being one I want to see everything he did.
First I saw the great Mardi Gras Massacre. Then I got in this double feature Blu Ray.
Death Brings Roses isn't a horror film. It is a drama. Set in mid 70s New Orleans,Chuck is the money man for a local "talent Agent". Chuck goes to all the clubs,bars and pubs in the infamous French Quarter and collects their "dues".
He makes good money doing this. Has a woman he would love to date. But she isn't happy with his job. Also we find out him and his best friend are on the run. Seems some pool hall fight went wrong and they accidentally killed someone in Memphis. Now they are hiding in the Big Easy.
Chuck gets sent to one strip club. The owner is weeks behind on dues. And all the strippers are refusing to sign the new contract.
Chuck goes into the dressing room and in a scene that is badly acted but at the same time sleazy and real,Chuck slaps and beats down and harrasses the dancers until they sign the new contract.
The boss is so happy with this and all the work Chuck has put in he makes him his full partner. Yep 50/50. Which means Chuck needs to find his replacement. And he hires his buddy of course.
Then the boss is killed,shot,right outside the offices one morning. Chuck is now in charge,is seeing the girl that he wanted to. Then starts learning his old boss was mobbed up.
The Higher ups like Chuck,make him an offer. He can retired from the business now with enough money to move away and live a quiet life. Or he can stay and really see how far the boss man's tendrils went.
Sleazy and cheap and you can feel the Louisiana humidity coming off the screen. Death Brings Roses was a movie I wasn't looking forward to. The description sounds like piles of other films I have seen.
A combination of just the era it was made and the locations helped make this much more than it should be for me. I spent my second viewing pausing it anytime they were outside and in the city. Looking at what streets it was and seeing places I knew. But from 75 or so. Which means the names are different.
The insides of the various clubs and bars looks like I remember places like that looking in the late 90s. Which would be the last time I was going out drinking in the French Quarter.
Yea this is nothing special of a film. Still it caught my attention and kept it the entire under 80 minute running time.
Death Brings Roses gets a C+.
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