Bone (1972) ****
On the surface, Bone (1972) appears to be a darkly comic home invasion satire of race relations. But when Larry Cohen is involved, you know that it's going to be so much more. There's plenty of material here (including racism and rape) that may prove offensive to a good number of viewers but that's intentional. Cohen is playfully pointing a finger at stereotypes and touchy topics—in particular making a comment regarding fear of minorities from "liberal" white society.
Bone was obviously made to be controversial in 1972, and while today this film would never be made the way it was, its subject matter is still very topical. A few aspects are no doubt cringy by 2020 standards but the overall message remains compelling. To quote Letterboxd user DBC's review: "The rich white couple are defined by privilege, racial guilt, and moral decay, while Bone is portrayed as some kind of a funky blaxploitation Alex from A Clockwork Orange (1971) antihero who dislikes racial progress because he'd really gotten into the kinky mystique of being the big bad black rapist." Wow. Problematic? Yes, but that's the point—it's ridiculous and satirical.
Yaphet Kotto is magnetic and charismatic as the titular Black man who takes unhappy white Beverly Hills couple Bill and Bernadette (Andrew Duggan and Joyce Van Patten) hostage. Both Duggan and Van Patten are superb as well—along with Cohen's weird and frantic trademark direction and editing, they create an artsy, hallucinatory comedy. Here's an interesting take by Letterboxed user Joe: "Bone was created by the central husband and wife as a manifestation of their own fears and paranoia, brought their own internal and external conflicts to a simmer and vanished just in time to absorb the blame for all of their sins."
To quote DBC again: "As tempting as it is to dismiss Bone as just outmoded satire best left in the past, there's something in the way the film teases us over its perspective that makes you question just whose point-of-view this whole story comes from, and what it's really saying. The nature and perspective of its racism adds another dimension to the film, and it's a type of pathology still active in our present day. And like Dr. Strangelove (1964), a dark satire that's born of one very specific set of circumstances can still feel relevant once you find its echo in today."
Having revisited a number of Cohen's films and watched a few for the first time recently, and as much as I love horror (The Stuff (1985) (review) had long reigned at the top of my Cohen rankings), this revisit of Bone made it clear to me that the b-movie maverick's debut is in fact his best film—one that makes you uncomfortable, one that makes you think, and one that stays with you after viewing.
You can find my Larry Cohen Feature Films Ranked list here.
Bone was obviously made to be controversial in 1972, and while today this film would never be made the way it was, its subject matter is still very topical. A few aspects are no doubt cringy by 2020 standards but the overall message remains compelling. To quote Letterboxd user DBC's review: "The rich white couple are defined by privilege, racial guilt, and moral decay, while Bone is portrayed as some kind of a funky blaxploitation Alex from A Clockwork Orange (1971) antihero who dislikes racial progress because he'd really gotten into the kinky mystique of being the big bad black rapist." Wow. Problematic? Yes, but that's the point—it's ridiculous and satirical.
Yaphet Kotto is magnetic and charismatic as the titular Black man who takes unhappy white Beverly Hills couple Bill and Bernadette (Andrew Duggan and Joyce Van Patten) hostage. Both Duggan and Van Patten are superb as well—along with Cohen's weird and frantic trademark direction and editing, they create an artsy, hallucinatory comedy. Here's an interesting take by Letterboxed user Joe: "Bone was created by the central husband and wife as a manifestation of their own fears and paranoia, brought their own internal and external conflicts to a simmer and vanished just in time to absorb the blame for all of their sins."
To quote DBC again: "As tempting as it is to dismiss Bone as just outmoded satire best left in the past, there's something in the way the film teases us over its perspective that makes you question just whose point-of-view this whole story comes from, and what it's really saying. The nature and perspective of its racism adds another dimension to the film, and it's a type of pathology still active in our present day. And like Dr. Strangelove (1964), a dark satire that's born of one very specific set of circumstances can still feel relevant once you find its echo in today."
Having revisited a number of Cohen's films and watched a few for the first time recently, and as much as I love horror (The Stuff (1985) (review) had long reigned at the top of my Cohen rankings), this revisit of Bone made it clear to me that the b-movie maverick's debut is in fact his best film—one that makes you uncomfortable, one that makes you think, and one that stays with you after viewing.
You can find my Larry Cohen Feature Films Ranked list here.
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