Milius (2013)

John Milius has had his hand in more major movies than you could possibly imagine. Every inch the alpha male, he's never been a shy man, which makes him a great subject for a documentary. This particular examination of his life chooses to relate various anecdotes in between allowing other people to heap praise upon the main man.

Francis Ford Coppola, George Hamilton, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Oliver Stone, Steven Spielberg, Sam Elliott - that's a great list of names. Each and every one of those men have plenty of compliments for the larger-than-life Milius, and every one of them does a good job of reminding viewers just why they should love the cinematic output of someone who is so often neglected by film fans. There are also quotes from his children, and various studio executives, as well as some others (too many for me to mention here).

If I listed all of the films that the man helped to craft I would be here all day, and you would get bored. Suffice to say, Milius is more than just the man who gave Conan The Barbarian a decent movie. But even if he hadn't done much more, that alone would have been enough to win him a fairly big fanbase.

As a look at the man, and his movies, this is good stuff. There are no major revelations here, and no probing insight into the life that turned Milius the boy into Milius the man he is today. Although it doesn't paint Milius as a saint, something that I'm sure he would have strenuously objected to anyway, it does serve as nothing more than an outright celebration of the man, warts and all. There's nothing wrong with that, it's a fun watch and this man deserves to have some more people appreciate his work, but it's worth noting for the benefit of anyone after anything a bit deeper.

Recommended for anyone who grew up with no small amount of affection for macho flicks from the '70s and '80s, from Apocalypse Now to Red Dawn, and from Dirty Harry to Dillinger, this is fun for fans, and anyone who might become a fan after remembering how much pleasure they have derived from the featured films over the years.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Milius-DVD-Joey-Figueroa/dp/B00ECVPP62/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399737995&sr=8-1&keywords=milius

And while shopping around, don't forget my book that I won't let people forget.

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.