Current release: CHE PART 1

CHE PART 1 is an odd beast to review. I'm sure you know the story of the film by now - over four hours in total, mixed reception at Cannes despite Benicio Del Toro picking up the acting gong for his efforts as the titular revolutionary hero / commie troublemaker (delete depending on your political views).

Split down into two parts for cinema release, it is undoubtedly more palatable (at least I assume that, having only seen the first part) and more likely to draw the crowds than a bum-numbing four hours.

Unfortunately it also leaves you with the feeling that you're only seeing half a film. The consequence of this is that director Steven Soderberg, while presumably wanting to leave you hungry for more, ends up creating a finale that is rather an anticlimax.

Sure, the final battle scene's spectacular and delivers value for money - but then you're left hanging for what comes next.

On the more technical side of things, Del Toro certainly does deliver a terrific performance but for me just as much of a star is the gorgeous photography.

I'm not talking about the grainy, black and white hand held footage which covers Che's visit to the USA - undoubtedly conjuring up a documentary style as intended, the excessive shaky-cam just got on my nerves after a while - but rather the action on Cuba itself.

Whether it's the bright white houses or the dense green foliage, the colour just seems to burn right off the screen. Helped no end by the fact that in most cinemas that are suitably equipped the film is being digitally projected, it looks absolutely terrific.

At the moment I still think this is a terrific film and urge you to see it... but I reserve the right to alter my opinion when the second chapter is released next month and I can see the whole picture.

If nothing else, it'll still be interesting to contrast it with Richard Fleisher's CHE!

VHS Lives! CHE!

Ah, look at that picture, doesn't it just make you misty? Well, okay, it also looks a bit misty itself, but it didn't look that blurred on my camera. Honest. Anyway, these are the five tapes I've been using to relive the VHS glory days with you this week, with today's oddity at the front. And yes, I realise I forgot to post it yesterday. Again. Sorry.

This last film (for the moment) in my VHS series is the one film out of all of them that I actually went out of my way to track down, due to its almost legendary status. In fact, the tape I eventually managed to get my hands on is an old pre-cert copy from 25 years ago, which cost me about... well, more than I should have paid for it anyway but what's eBay for if not for wasting money on rubbish. (For those of you who don't know about "pre-certs" and such things, that means it predates the Video Recording Act 1984, after which all videos had to carry a BBFC certificate)

Imagine if you will, a film with the following talent involved. It was directed in 1969 by Richard Fleischer. It was co-written by Michael Wilson. It had music by Lalo Schifrin. It co-starred Omar Sharif and Jack Palance. Sounds quite promising, doesn't it?

Well let's not forget that none of the above were infallible. Let's now say that it starred Omar Sharif and Jack Palance... as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. That's right, Jack Palance as Fidel Castro. I am not making this up.

This bio-pic of Guevara tends to be talked about more than seen - it's rarely on TV (I've certainly never seen it aired) and it remains unavailable on DVD, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. It's become almost mythical and, to be totally honest, it's probably better that it stays that way.

For you see, it's a pretty bad film. And yet, it's not quite so bad that it's good. It's just bad. It begins with Che's death in Bolivia at the hands of the US government, then goes back and examines his time with Castro and his quest to free South Americans that eventually ended up with the aforementioned assassination.

This scattershot approach would seem to lend itself to covering a lot of territory but in truth it covers very little but seems to take an age to do so. Indeed, the box for my VHS release states 113 minutes in length, yet it only lasts for 93 minutes. I can only assume the extra 20 minutes is a result of the fact that it feels that long.

Sharif is neither bad nor good in the role and in the end, despite small appearances by the likes of Woody Strode and Sid Haig or the strange switch to documentary-style interviews, the only real highlight is provided by Palance.

Every time Palance is on screen, he chews up the scenery, spits it out, then chews it up again - in other words, it's a hammy performance worthy of Palance at his enjoyable best. His Castro comes off as a mixture of the real Castro and the Castro you'd expect if he was being played by an escaped lunatic. It's ironic that during the film it's supposed to be Che that has the health problems and yet it's Palance who throws his arms around and launches into crazed spasms that suggest it's really he who is having a fit.

All in all, the film is not good enough to recommend for any reason but not as bad as legend would suggest. It's certainly a curiosity though, and one that I advise you to keep an eye out for in the TV listings and second hand shops - because it really doesn't look like Fox will be dusting it down for a DVD release any time soon.