CHEAP WINE MOVIE

[Jerry D Mead]

Somehow I had missed seeing a film called "Blood Red," starring Eric Roberts, Giancarlo Gianinni, Dennis Hopper (in a perfectly slimy villain's role)and Bert Young. It's old enough that Julia Roberts has an unbilled, non-speaking (I think she says, "Yes, Poppa," at one point) part as her brother Eric's younger sister.

Imagine a Saturday night western where the evil railroad people want to cut across the rancher's land...only he don't want to sell...so they send in these thugs to beat up, kill and generally terrify all the cattlemen and their families...and of course the young good looking son of one of the old ranchers who is killed fights back against impossible odds.

Well, take that same script and turn the cattlemen into immigrant Sicilian vintners in California, who do vendetta on the railroad guys for being bad, and you've got the story.

www.reel.com was selling used copies for $5 last week. Worth checking out for a "fin."

Some interesting old sepia-tome photos of wineries and vineyards while the opening credits are rolling.

JDM