#7: Flings and Arrows (1981)

Description

Bryce Crisp’s sophomore effort is the true beginning of the Crisp era, where even the opening theme changed from blaring trumpets to soothing saxophones. This film introduces Lady Grey, Brand’s mercenary equal who always exits having won the upper hand. Crisp comes into his own as a gentlemen lover, whose Brand relies more on an array of gadgets and marksmanship than Connor Shaw’s rough-and-tumble approach.

As reported and confirmed by crew members decades later, the Spanish guitar in the dances-with-blades ballroom sequence between Brand and Lady Grey was composed after the fact, to better fit the established choreography. The actors performed the sequence to castanets only.

JOVE BRAND IS NEAR DEATH