Interview: Mark L. Lester,
director, "Commando"
If any director deserves credit for creating the prototypical Arnold Schwarzenegger action thriller, it’s Mark L. Lester. His 1985 Commando turned the antihero of Conan the Barbarian and the villain of The Terminator into a larger-than-life muscle-bound man of action by tapping into his inherent charm and charisma and arming him a barrage of memorable one-liners that 29 years later we can recite by heart. The ticking-tock thriller Commando followed the efforts of Schwarzenegger’s John Matrix to rescue his kidnapped daughter Jenny from an exiled South American dictator who is plotting to overthrow his nation’s government. Commando also stars a 12-year-old Alyssa Milano stars as Jenny Matrix, Rae Dawn Chong as John Matrix’s initially reluctant sidekick Cindy, and Vernon Wells, Bill Dukes, and David Patrick Kelly as three of the mercenaries hired by Dan Hedaya’s dictator. Before Commando, Lester cut his teeth on such drive-in cult classics as Truck Stop Woman, Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, Stunts and Roller Boogie. He came to prominence in 1982 with Class of 1984, which courted controversy due to its depiction of high school violence. He followed Class of 1984 with his adaptation of the Stephen King novel Firestarter, which starred a 9-year-old Drew Barrymore. Commando led to the John Candy comedy Armed and Dangerous, the Class of 1984 sequel Class of 1999, the Dolph Lundgren-Brandon Lee action comedy Showdown in Little Tokyo, and a pair of Scott Glenn thrillers, Extreme Justice and Night of the Running Man. Lester’s new film, the creature-feature Poseidon Rex, will be available via iTunes on April 18. Commando will screen in 35mm at 7:05 p.m. April 4 at the Alamo Ritz with Lester in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.
Aired: April 3, 2014 Web sites: http://drafthouse.com/austin and http://www.titanglobal-ent.com/ |
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