How to Murder Your Wife.
1965 United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Terry-Thomas, Claire Trevor, Sidnely Blackmer, Max Showalter
Director: Richard Quine
Available at Amazon as a single DVD or as part of the Jack Lemmon Star Collection with Some Like it Hot, Avanti and The Apartment.
Jack Lemmon is cartoonist and swinging bachelor Stanley Ford, who lives in a luxurious townhouse with his valet, Charles Firbank (Terry-Thomas). Ford is the creator of the comic strip Bash Brannigan, a secret agent vehicle with a surprising amount of realism in it, as Ford never depicts the lead character doing anything physically impossible or using far-out gadgets. Instead, Ford will hire actors and set up future storylines, playing Brannigan himself while Charles takes photographs.
One night, at a bachelor party for his friend Tobey Rawlins (Showalter), Stanley gets plasters and proposes to the bikini-clad Italian girl (Lisi) who emerges from the cake. An equally inebriated judge (Blackmer) performs a wedding ceremony. The next morning, Stanley wakes up with the woman in his bed, and they are legally married. What's worse, during a visit to a lawyer named Harold Lampson (Eddie Mayehoff), Stanley is told that getting a divorce would be impossible without any legal justification. Stanley's new bride, billed simply as Mrs. Ford, doesn't speak English, but she catches on by spending time with Harold's wife Edna (Trevor), and watching a lot of television, which is left on all night to Stanley's chagrin.
Charles takes a job with Rawlins, since he refuses to work for a married couple. Meanwhile, Mrs. Ford informs Stanley that her mother will be moving in with them. However, Stanley tries to adjust to married life, even changing his comic strip drastically: it's now lighthearted comedy and Bash Brannigan is now a bumbling idiot. Mrs. Ford still intrudes on Stanley's lifestyle, and after he's kicked out of an all-male health club when she shows up one day, Stanley needs an outlet to vent his frustration. He kills off Mrs. Brannigan in the comic strip, depicting her drugged on "goofballs" and buries her in wet cement. Stanley also re-enacts this in real life with a mannequin. Unfortunately, this storyline in the comics gets Stanley in huge trouble: first, Mrs. Ford runs off, convinced she isn't wanted. Secondly, Stanley is arrested and put on trial for murder after the police read the comics in the papers and conclude that Stanley really murdered Mrs. Ford!
Can Stanley Ford beat the rap and prove that life didn't imitate art?
Recommended comedy. Jack Lemmon won a Golden Laurel for Male Comedy Performance for his role at the 1965 Laurel Awards. He earned it, folks.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Roadie
Roadie.
1980 Alive Enterprises and United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Meat Loaf, Kaki Hunter, Art Carney, Gailard Sartain, Rhonda Bates, Joe Spano, Don Cornelius, Hamilton Camp
Also appearing: Alice Cooper, Blondie, Asleep at the Wheel, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., etc.
Director: Alan Rudolph
Available from Amazon for under four bucks right now...
Meat Loaf stars as a good ol' boy from rural Texas named Travis Redfish, who lives with his disabled father Corpus (Carney) while working as a beer truck driver. During a run with his pal B.B. (Sartain), they stop to fix a stalled tour bus, and Travis is smitten by a groupie along for the ride named Lola (Hunter), who is looking to bed Alice Cooper. Travis ends up joining Lola on the road, traveling the country as an exceptional roadie with a knack for restoring electronic equipment. He meets Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., Asleep at the Wheel, and Blondie during his misadventures, all the while trying to prove his love for Lola.
Eventually, Lola does get to meet her idol Alice Cooper, but mainly at the insistance of Travis, who is so fed up with the groupie stringing him along that he literally drags Lola to New York City where Cooper is playing, and storms into the arena during the sound check. Cooper asks them both to dinner, but Lola insists he appear in full stage costume, complete with the boa constrictor. In exchange for a bus ticket back home, Travis fixes Cooper's sound system before the big show.
Roadie has its moments, but it was an underwhelming film as a whole. Not recommended.
1980 Alive Enterprises and United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Meat Loaf, Kaki Hunter, Art Carney, Gailard Sartain, Rhonda Bates, Joe Spano, Don Cornelius, Hamilton Camp
Also appearing: Alice Cooper, Blondie, Asleep at the Wheel, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., etc.
Director: Alan Rudolph
Available from Amazon for under four bucks right now...
Meat Loaf stars as a good ol' boy from rural Texas named Travis Redfish, who lives with his disabled father Corpus (Carney) while working as a beer truck driver. During a run with his pal B.B. (Sartain), they stop to fix a stalled tour bus, and Travis is smitten by a groupie along for the ride named Lola (Hunter), who is looking to bed Alice Cooper. Travis ends up joining Lola on the road, traveling the country as an exceptional roadie with a knack for restoring electronic equipment. He meets Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., Asleep at the Wheel, and Blondie during his misadventures, all the while trying to prove his love for Lola.
Eventually, Lola does get to meet her idol Alice Cooper, but mainly at the insistance of Travis, who is so fed up with the groupie stringing him along that he literally drags Lola to New York City where Cooper is playing, and storms into the arena during the sound check. Cooper asks them both to dinner, but Lola insists he appear in full stage costume, complete with the boa constrictor. In exchange for a bus ticket back home, Travis fixes Cooper's sound system before the big show.
Roadie has its moments, but it was an underwhelming film as a whole. Not recommended.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
MST3K #505: The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #505: The Magic Voyage of Sinbad.
Original Comedy Central airdate: August 14, 1993.
One-fourth of the 20th MST3K set, available from Amazon.
A Russian film originally entitled Sadko, Roger Corman's Filmgroup released it in America with a new dubbed soundtrack and the title "The Magic Voyage of Sinbad"...even if there's absolutely nothing remotely Arabian depicted in the film. Regardless, Sinbad promises the citizens of his hometown wealth and happiness, only to get mocked publicly. With some assistance from Neptune's daughter, Sinbad catches a golden fish, which doesn't exactly set his town alight with happiness. So, Sinbad recruits a crew of locals to travel to India to seek out and bring back the Bluebird of Happiness. They do find what they're looking for, but Sinbad has an epiphany enroute: there is no better land than where you were born, and one doesn't have to travel far in search of happiness.
It's the S.O.L.tie Awards, and Crow T. Robot wins an award that Tom Servo (and Joel!) feel like they were more worthy of. The prize involved an incident involving Servo's out-of-control hoverskirt, so there may have been some fixing going on behind the scenes. The Mads introduce "Chin-derwear" for your chin; up in space, Joel and his robots come up with the Rat Pack Chess Set, which would probably sell millions if it were a real game. Ol' Blue Eyes also delays movie sign until he says it's okay. Soon after, the meeting of the Junior Jester Club is called off due to exhaustion after much fooling around. A city council meeting follows, where Joel and the 'bots don ridiculous beards and debate the ongoing Sinbad issue. Later, Crow abandons the experiment to embark on an epic quest like Sinbad, shooting himself out an air lock. It goes horribly. After the movie, Crow and Tom are impressed by Joel's Channel Cat puppet...and TV's Frank gets slugged by a different puppet named "Fisty". HEE!
A truly funny episode here. Highly, highly recommended.
Original Comedy Central airdate: August 14, 1993.
One-fourth of the 20th MST3K set, available from Amazon.
A Russian film originally entitled Sadko, Roger Corman's Filmgroup released it in America with a new dubbed soundtrack and the title "The Magic Voyage of Sinbad"...even if there's absolutely nothing remotely Arabian depicted in the film. Regardless, Sinbad promises the citizens of his hometown wealth and happiness, only to get mocked publicly. With some assistance from Neptune's daughter, Sinbad catches a golden fish, which doesn't exactly set his town alight with happiness. So, Sinbad recruits a crew of locals to travel to India to seek out and bring back the Bluebird of Happiness. They do find what they're looking for, but Sinbad has an epiphany enroute: there is no better land than where you were born, and one doesn't have to travel far in search of happiness.
It's the S.O.L.tie Awards, and Crow T. Robot wins an award that Tom Servo (and Joel!) feel like they were more worthy of. The prize involved an incident involving Servo's out-of-control hoverskirt, so there may have been some fixing going on behind the scenes. The Mads introduce "Chin-derwear" for your chin; up in space, Joel and his robots come up with the Rat Pack Chess Set, which would probably sell millions if it were a real game. Ol' Blue Eyes also delays movie sign until he says it's okay. Soon after, the meeting of the Junior Jester Club is called off due to exhaustion after much fooling around. A city council meeting follows, where Joel and the 'bots don ridiculous beards and debate the ongoing Sinbad issue. Later, Crow abandons the experiment to embark on an epic quest like Sinbad, shooting himself out an air lock. It goes horribly. After the movie, Crow and Tom are impressed by Joel's Channel Cat puppet...and TV's Frank gets slugged by a different puppet named "Fisty". HEE!
A truly funny episode here. Highly, highly recommended.
MST3K #501: Warrior of the Lost World
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #501: Warrior of the Lost World.
Original Comedy Central airdate: July 24, 1993.
Available on the sixteenth MST3K set from Shout! Factory. Maybe if you're lucky, you can get one with the limited edition Tom Servo figurine.
A particularly crummy post-acopalyptic film from the 1980 starring Robert "the Paper Chase guy" Ginty as a nameless motorcycle rider with an advanced, but very annoying motorcycle called Einstein. The Paper Chase guy is picked to lead a rebellion against the Omega government led by Prossor, who is played by Donald Pleasence. The bike rider also meets Nastasia (Persis Khambatta), who urges him to rescue her captured father, McWayne, alias Jimmy Carter. The rescue is successful, but Nastasia is accidentally left behind, and Prossor brainwashes her. It's up to the Paper Chase guy, Einstein, Jimmy Carter, and their lovable band of Outsiders to strike back against Omega and reintroduce the "New Way": freedom, equality, justice. Fred Williamson also stars, as does the real breakout talent of the movie: Megaweapon.
Up on the Satellite of Love, Tom Servo gets his dream opportunity: a formal opening to the show that gets disrupted by Crow, who is then forced to eat Servo's prepared speech. Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank introduce the Square Master as part of the invention exchange, a simple piece of exercise equipment that takes advantage of nature's own gravity. Joel and the robots introduce Bittersweet Hearts, with such touching messages as "Get Out", "My Needs", and "Still Mad". Inspired by the movie's first chase scene, Joel outfits Tom and Crow with slot cars. Crow has a blast on the track, but Servo can't seem to get moving, and when he finally does, he wrecks. Next, Servo (as Steve Allen) introduces a sketch where Joel plays the Paper Chase guy had he not had his drivers' license when the apocalypse hit. The skit kind of runs out of steam just in time for movie sign. Later on, Joel and the 'bots discuss fun things you could do in the event of an apocalypse, like playing stickball on an interstate, among other things. Just be sure to have a spare pair of eyeglasses. After the movie, Joel and the robots call up Megaweapon, who is now living in Tampa with his sister; down in Deep 13, the Mads enjoy an active lifestyle.
Highly recommended episode, and the DVD contains an interview with the movie's director, David Worth, who is a self-professed MST3K fan, and he enjoyed the treatment his film got on the show.
Original Comedy Central airdate: July 24, 1993.
Available on the sixteenth MST3K set from Shout! Factory. Maybe if you're lucky, you can get one with the limited edition Tom Servo figurine.
A particularly crummy post-acopalyptic film from the 1980 starring Robert "the Paper Chase guy" Ginty as a nameless motorcycle rider with an advanced, but very annoying motorcycle called Einstein. The Paper Chase guy is picked to lead a rebellion against the Omega government led by Prossor, who is played by Donald Pleasence. The bike rider also meets Nastasia (Persis Khambatta), who urges him to rescue her captured father, McWayne, alias Jimmy Carter. The rescue is successful, but Nastasia is accidentally left behind, and Prossor brainwashes her. It's up to the Paper Chase guy, Einstein, Jimmy Carter, and their lovable band of Outsiders to strike back against Omega and reintroduce the "New Way": freedom, equality, justice. Fred Williamson also stars, as does the real breakout talent of the movie: Megaweapon.
Up on the Satellite of Love, Tom Servo gets his dream opportunity: a formal opening to the show that gets disrupted by Crow, who is then forced to eat Servo's prepared speech. Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank introduce the Square Master as part of the invention exchange, a simple piece of exercise equipment that takes advantage of nature's own gravity. Joel and the robots introduce Bittersweet Hearts, with such touching messages as "Get Out", "My Needs", and "Still Mad". Inspired by the movie's first chase scene, Joel outfits Tom and Crow with slot cars. Crow has a blast on the track, but Servo can't seem to get moving, and when he finally does, he wrecks. Next, Servo (as Steve Allen) introduces a sketch where Joel plays the Paper Chase guy had he not had his drivers' license when the apocalypse hit. The skit kind of runs out of steam just in time for movie sign. Later on, Joel and the 'bots discuss fun things you could do in the event of an apocalypse, like playing stickball on an interstate, among other things. Just be sure to have a spare pair of eyeglasses. After the movie, Joel and the robots call up Megaweapon, who is now living in Tampa with his sister; down in Deep 13, the Mads enjoy an active lifestyle.
Highly recommended episode, and the DVD contains an interview with the movie's director, David Worth, who is a self-professed MST3K fan, and he enjoyed the treatment his film got on the show.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Some Kind of Monster
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.
2004 IFC Films; distributed to DVD by Paramount Pictures.
Metallica: James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich
Leaves Metallica: Jason Newsted
Joins Metallica: Robert Trujillo
Also appearing: Bob Rock, Phil Towle, Dave Mustaine, Torben Ulrich, Danny Lohner, Jeordie White (as Twiggy Ramirez), Pepper Keenan, Scott Reeder, Chris Wyse, Eric Avery, Joel Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky (last two uncredited)
Directors: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Available from Amazon.
In 1996, directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky released the documentary Paradise Lost about the West Memphis Three. Metallica allowed their music to be used for the film, a first for the band. A few years later, Berlinger and Sinofsky began work on this documentary. By then, Metallica itself was in a state of crisis. Jason Newsted left the group after fourteen years. He was unhappy with the direction Metallica was going, and proposed a year-long break where he'd focus on his side project Echobrain. The rest of the band, particularly James Hetfield, objected, so Newsted departed. A "performance enhancing" coach named Phil Towle is brought in to moderate therapy sessions to help the remaining members of Metallica understand one another. After rehearsals for the next record go nowhere, Hetfield walks out and checks himself into a rehabilitation center, leaving Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Bob Rock in limbo for the next several months. Well, they get a lot of talking to Towle done...
After Hetfield returns, sessions for what become the 2003 Metallica album St. Anger resume, although Hetfield can only work four hours a day as part of rehabilitation, so he can continue to repair his relationship with his wife and children. This four hour window annoys Ulrich, who sees it as another example of Hetfield needing to control everything, along with his lengthy absence tying up the rest of the band. Ulrich and Hetfield have been best friends and bandmates for twenty years at that point, but they really don't know one another that well...unless they're obliterated on alcohol.
In the meantime, Towle oversees frequent sessions with the group, and it appears that he starts believing that he's a member of Metallica; he even tries contributing lyrics at one point. Eventually, the group decides to inform Towle that his services will no longer be required; Towle disagrees, claiming that there are some "trust issues" that needed to be sorted out. But, while Towle was still being paid by the band, he brought in former Metallica guitarist and Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine to talk to Ulrich about the time he was kicked out of the group for drinking too much. After all of this time, and for all of the success he attained with Megadeth, Mustaine is still resentful that he was fired without ever being given a chance to redeem himself with a stint in rehab, not to mention that he still gets Metallica fans ridiculing him on the street. There were a few more years of bickering in the press between Mustaine and Ulrich, but all parties involved have completely settled their differences.
As St. Anger nears completion, Metallica auditions new bass players (producer Bob Rock handled bass duties in the studio). Robert Trujillo, of Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne's backing band, is hired as the new bass player, just in time for an MTV tribute special. Earlier, rumors circulated that Newsted expressed interest in returning, but he denied this, saying that he definitely does not regret leaving Metallica to concentrate on Echobrain and a little later, Voivod.
Some Kind of Monster is an interesting and compelling documentary that is also unintentionally funny at times, such as the scene where Lars Ulrich sells his art collection for millions of dollars, along with some of the really bad lyrics that ended up getting used on St. Anger. Oh, and the whole idea that a group of multimillionaire heavy metal musicians heavily utilizing a therapist to understand themselves better, and to express their feelings and emotions for their bandmates does seem hilarious, but hey, whatever works for Metallica. Recommended.
2004 IFC Films; distributed to DVD by Paramount Pictures.
Metallica: James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich
Leaves Metallica: Jason Newsted
Joins Metallica: Robert Trujillo
Also appearing: Bob Rock, Phil Towle, Dave Mustaine, Torben Ulrich, Danny Lohner, Jeordie White (as Twiggy Ramirez), Pepper Keenan, Scott Reeder, Chris Wyse, Eric Avery, Joel Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky (last two uncredited)
Directors: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Available from Amazon.
In 1996, directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky released the documentary Paradise Lost about the West Memphis Three. Metallica allowed their music to be used for the film, a first for the band. A few years later, Berlinger and Sinofsky began work on this documentary. By then, Metallica itself was in a state of crisis. Jason Newsted left the group after fourteen years. He was unhappy with the direction Metallica was going, and proposed a year-long break where he'd focus on his side project Echobrain. The rest of the band, particularly James Hetfield, objected, so Newsted departed. A "performance enhancing" coach named Phil Towle is brought in to moderate therapy sessions to help the remaining members of Metallica understand one another. After rehearsals for the next record go nowhere, Hetfield walks out and checks himself into a rehabilitation center, leaving Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Bob Rock in limbo for the next several months. Well, they get a lot of talking to Towle done...
After Hetfield returns, sessions for what become the 2003 Metallica album St. Anger resume, although Hetfield can only work four hours a day as part of rehabilitation, so he can continue to repair his relationship with his wife and children. This four hour window annoys Ulrich, who sees it as another example of Hetfield needing to control everything, along with his lengthy absence tying up the rest of the band. Ulrich and Hetfield have been best friends and bandmates for twenty years at that point, but they really don't know one another that well...unless they're obliterated on alcohol.
In the meantime, Towle oversees frequent sessions with the group, and it appears that he starts believing that he's a member of Metallica; he even tries contributing lyrics at one point. Eventually, the group decides to inform Towle that his services will no longer be required; Towle disagrees, claiming that there are some "trust issues" that needed to be sorted out. But, while Towle was still being paid by the band, he brought in former Metallica guitarist and Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine to talk to Ulrich about the time he was kicked out of the group for drinking too much. After all of this time, and for all of the success he attained with Megadeth, Mustaine is still resentful that he was fired without ever being given a chance to redeem himself with a stint in rehab, not to mention that he still gets Metallica fans ridiculing him on the street. There were a few more years of bickering in the press between Mustaine and Ulrich, but all parties involved have completely settled their differences.
As St. Anger nears completion, Metallica auditions new bass players (producer Bob Rock handled bass duties in the studio). Robert Trujillo, of Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne's backing band, is hired as the new bass player, just in time for an MTV tribute special. Earlier, rumors circulated that Newsted expressed interest in returning, but he denied this, saying that he definitely does not regret leaving Metallica to concentrate on Echobrain and a little later, Voivod.
Some Kind of Monster is an interesting and compelling documentary that is also unintentionally funny at times, such as the scene where Lars Ulrich sells his art collection for millions of dollars, along with some of the really bad lyrics that ended up getting used on St. Anger. Oh, and the whole idea that a group of multimillionaire heavy metal musicians heavily utilizing a therapist to understand themselves better, and to express their feelings and emotions for their bandmates does seem hilarious, but hey, whatever works for Metallica. Recommended.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Pink Floyd: The Wall.
1982 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; distributed to DVD by Sony.
Starring: Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, Eleanor David, Alex McAvoy, Bob Hoskins, Michael Ensign
Written by Roger Waters
Director: Alan Parker
Buy the 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition from Amazon.
Oh, and feel free to peruse this fine site.
Pink Floyd's The Wall (the album, of course) was conceived as a concept by Roger Waters after the final date of the "In the Flesh" tour in Montreal in July of 1977. Waters spat in the face of a young fan, after singling him out as part of a particularly rowdy but small crowd near the stage. Horrified by his behavior onstage, and increasingly disillusioned by playing concerts in enormous football stadiums, Waters came up with the idea of constructing a wall across the stage, between the audience and the performers. The band always intended to produce a feature film about The Wall, in addition to the record. Alan Parker was tapped as director, and Roger Waters originally planned to play the lead role of Pink, before screen tests showed that he was better off not trying to act on top of his other duties producing the film. Also, the band intended to incorporate live concert material into the film, but this plan was shelved once Waters gave up any role appearing onscreen. Bob Geldof was cast as Pink, even after he expressed his contempt for Pink Floyd and their music.
Alienation, and the construction of a metaphorical wall, is the driving theme of the film. Pink, the central character and rock star, had it tough growing up. His father died in World War II, and he always longed for a father figure in his life. His mother is overprotective, and Pink is also humiliated in school one day when his teacher halts the class to read some lyrics that Pink is writing (the lyrics to "Money"). He does get married, but retreats into a life of material possessions and groupies when he learns that his wife is having an affair while he's on tour. But, when Pink snaps and destroys his hotel suite, he slowly goes off the deep end. Later on, after having shaved his entire body, Pink's manager (Hoskins) and the hotel manager (Ensign) discover him, and he's injected with drugs to help him perform. Pink, lost in a cloud of drugs, fantasizes he is a neo-Nazi dictator and his concert is a rally. His followers riot and attack minorities.
After a second rally, Pink screams "Stop!" and hides in a restroom, where he recites poetry and puts himself on trial, where the judge orders that his wall be torn down. Pink's fate is unclear, but it's implied that the cycle he was on will repeat itself for a different small child.
The Wall employs fantastic animation, surreal and sometimes frightening images, and of course, the music of Pink Floyd to produce one of the great rock and roll films. Highly recommended.
1982 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; distributed to DVD by Sony.
Starring: Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, Eleanor David, Alex McAvoy, Bob Hoskins, Michael Ensign
Written by Roger Waters
Director: Alan Parker
Buy the 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition from Amazon.
Oh, and feel free to peruse this fine site.
Pink Floyd's The Wall (the album, of course) was conceived as a concept by Roger Waters after the final date of the "In the Flesh" tour in Montreal in July of 1977. Waters spat in the face of a young fan, after singling him out as part of a particularly rowdy but small crowd near the stage. Horrified by his behavior onstage, and increasingly disillusioned by playing concerts in enormous football stadiums, Waters came up with the idea of constructing a wall across the stage, between the audience and the performers. The band always intended to produce a feature film about The Wall, in addition to the record. Alan Parker was tapped as director, and Roger Waters originally planned to play the lead role of Pink, before screen tests showed that he was better off not trying to act on top of his other duties producing the film. Also, the band intended to incorporate live concert material into the film, but this plan was shelved once Waters gave up any role appearing onscreen. Bob Geldof was cast as Pink, even after he expressed his contempt for Pink Floyd and their music.
Alienation, and the construction of a metaphorical wall, is the driving theme of the film. Pink, the central character and rock star, had it tough growing up. His father died in World War II, and he always longed for a father figure in his life. His mother is overprotective, and Pink is also humiliated in school one day when his teacher halts the class to read some lyrics that Pink is writing (the lyrics to "Money"). He does get married, but retreats into a life of material possessions and groupies when he learns that his wife is having an affair while he's on tour. But, when Pink snaps and destroys his hotel suite, he slowly goes off the deep end. Later on, after having shaved his entire body, Pink's manager (Hoskins) and the hotel manager (Ensign) discover him, and he's injected with drugs to help him perform. Pink, lost in a cloud of drugs, fantasizes he is a neo-Nazi dictator and his concert is a rally. His followers riot and attack minorities.
After a second rally, Pink screams "Stop!" and hides in a restroom, where he recites poetry and puts himself on trial, where the judge orders that his wall be torn down. Pink's fate is unclear, but it's implied that the cycle he was on will repeat itself for a different small child.
The Wall employs fantastic animation, surreal and sometimes frightening images, and of course, the music of Pink Floyd to produce one of the great rock and roll films. Highly recommended.
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
2006 Sony Pictures Classics.
Starring: Daniel Johnston
Also featuring: The Johnston Family (Bill, Mabel, Dick and Margie), David Fair, Jad Fair, Matt Groening, Gibby Haynes, Thurston Moore, Laurie Allen
Director: Jeff Feuerzieg
Available at Amazon.
Visit the official site.
If you remember seeing Kurt Cobain in the early 1990s wearing a white T-shirt with an odd looking cartoon character on it saying "Hi, how are you?", that shirt was designed by Daniel Johnston, a gifted singer, songwriter, and visual artist, and he's also the subject of this 2006 documentary.
Johnston has suffered all of his life from manic depression, and his first attack may have occured in junior high school, when his mother Mabel described Daniel as "losing all of his wonderful confidence". This might have been caused by his parents trying to force him to live a strict, religious upbringing, and suggesting that he place God above everything else (Daniel has had many religious-triggered incidents in his life, usually where he rants nonstop about the Devil). However, this didn't halt him from pursuing his passions of playing the piano, filming home movies, and drawing constantly, despite the disapproval of his mother, who Daniel recorded yelling at him to add to his first home recorded albums like Songs of Pain and Don't Be Scared. (Note: Daniel constantly recorded his thoughts to cassette tape, and we get to hear many of his thoughts as he struggles to cope with his mental condition.)
After a failed stint at Abilene Christian University, Daniel enrolled at the East Liverpool branch of Kent State to study art, where he met the love of his life, Laurie Allen. While Laurie did seem to enjoy Daniel's attention from the home video that he recorded of her, Laurie married an undertaker, fueling Daniel's passion for her and giving him a reason to focus his pain and confusion into his music. The DVD includes a reunion of Laurie and Daniel as an extra, and as heart warming as it is, Laurie still turns down Daniel's marriage proposal. Poor guy...someday, he'll get the girl (or not).
Relocating to Austin, Texas, Daniel gets a job at a local McDonald's, where he passes out copies of his homemade albums, and appears on an episode of MTV's The Cutting Edge that highlighted local Austin musicians. This, and an appearance at the 1985 Woodshock music festival gives him increased attention. Daniel also starts smoking marijuana, and drops acid at a Butthole Surfers concert (which were already weird enough without the aid of chemical enhancement). Things go downhill from there. Daniel is institutionalized after a violent incident with his family at Christmas, goes on medication, and spends a year in bed. Afterwards, Daniel takes a trip to New York City as the guest of members of Sonic Youth, where his problems escalate, but he refuses to go home or acknowledge anything may be wrong.
Even after Daniel causes his father's plane to crash (still a very emotional topic for his father Bill), and is put back in a mental hospital again, major record labels start trying to sign him. Elektra Records offers Daniel the most beneficial, one-sided contact for eight records, including a clause that he can't be dropped from the label due to poor record sales, but he turns it down because Metallica is also on the label, and he's afraid that they'll come after him and kill him. Well, maybe not, but Metallica might have sued him for what have you... (Kidding) Instead, Daniel signs with another company, who drops him after his only major label release Fun sells less than 10,000 copies.
Regardless, with the help of his parents, Daniel stabilizes the best he can, living with them in a small Texas town, where he continues to write and record music, draw nonstop, and perform live. Daniel usually stops using his medications before a performance, because he feels that it will make the show "better". Still, there's always a few in every audience who try goading Daniel into a meltdown onstage.
Recommended documentary, but Daniel Johnston's music isn't for everyone, of course.
2006 Sony Pictures Classics.
Starring: Daniel Johnston
Also featuring: The Johnston Family (Bill, Mabel, Dick and Margie), David Fair, Jad Fair, Matt Groening, Gibby Haynes, Thurston Moore, Laurie Allen
Director: Jeff Feuerzieg
Available at Amazon.
Visit the official site.
If you remember seeing Kurt Cobain in the early 1990s wearing a white T-shirt with an odd looking cartoon character on it saying "Hi, how are you?", that shirt was designed by Daniel Johnston, a gifted singer, songwriter, and visual artist, and he's also the subject of this 2006 documentary.
Johnston has suffered all of his life from manic depression, and his first attack may have occured in junior high school, when his mother Mabel described Daniel as "losing all of his wonderful confidence". This might have been caused by his parents trying to force him to live a strict, religious upbringing, and suggesting that he place God above everything else (Daniel has had many religious-triggered incidents in his life, usually where he rants nonstop about the Devil). However, this didn't halt him from pursuing his passions of playing the piano, filming home movies, and drawing constantly, despite the disapproval of his mother, who Daniel recorded yelling at him to add to his first home recorded albums like Songs of Pain and Don't Be Scared. (Note: Daniel constantly recorded his thoughts to cassette tape, and we get to hear many of his thoughts as he struggles to cope with his mental condition.)
After a failed stint at Abilene Christian University, Daniel enrolled at the East Liverpool branch of Kent State to study art, where he met the love of his life, Laurie Allen. While Laurie did seem to enjoy Daniel's attention from the home video that he recorded of her, Laurie married an undertaker, fueling Daniel's passion for her and giving him a reason to focus his pain and confusion into his music. The DVD includes a reunion of Laurie and Daniel as an extra, and as heart warming as it is, Laurie still turns down Daniel's marriage proposal. Poor guy...someday, he'll get the girl (or not).
Relocating to Austin, Texas, Daniel gets a job at a local McDonald's, where he passes out copies of his homemade albums, and appears on an episode of MTV's The Cutting Edge that highlighted local Austin musicians. This, and an appearance at the 1985 Woodshock music festival gives him increased attention. Daniel also starts smoking marijuana, and drops acid at a Butthole Surfers concert (which were already weird enough without the aid of chemical enhancement). Things go downhill from there. Daniel is institutionalized after a violent incident with his family at Christmas, goes on medication, and spends a year in bed. Afterwards, Daniel takes a trip to New York City as the guest of members of Sonic Youth, where his problems escalate, but he refuses to go home or acknowledge anything may be wrong.
Even after Daniel causes his father's plane to crash (still a very emotional topic for his father Bill), and is put back in a mental hospital again, major record labels start trying to sign him. Elektra Records offers Daniel the most beneficial, one-sided contact for eight records, including a clause that he can't be dropped from the label due to poor record sales, but he turns it down because Metallica is also on the label, and he's afraid that they'll come after him and kill him. Well, maybe not, but Metallica might have sued him for what have you... (Kidding) Instead, Daniel signs with another company, who drops him after his only major label release Fun sells less than 10,000 copies.
Regardless, with the help of his parents, Daniel stabilizes the best he can, living with them in a small Texas town, where he continues to write and record music, draw nonstop, and perform live. Daniel usually stops using his medications before a performance, because he feels that it will make the show "better". Still, there's always a few in every audience who try goading Daniel into a meltdown onstage.
Recommended documentary, but Daniel Johnston's music isn't for everyone, of course.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Song Remains the Same
The Song Remains the Same. 1976 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Featuring: Led Zeppelin, Peter Grant, Richard Cole
Directors: Peter Clifton and Joe Massot
Two disc special edition available from Amazon.
Re-released in 2007 to DVD with all fifteen live performances included, and containing a newly remixed and remastered soundtrack (among other goodies), Led Zeppelin's live concert slash fantasy film is still an exciting two hours and seventeen minutes, even if the members of the band have admitted that this performance was an "off night" for them. The live performances were filmed at Madison Square Garden on July 27th through the 29th in 1973, with further footage filmed at Shepperton Studios in August of 1974, after director Peter Clifton noticed there were gaps in the concert footage already completed. This caused a minor continuity problem, as John Paul Jones had cut his hair short in the period between filming (he simply wore a wig at Shepperton), and Robert Plant had undergone dental surgery since the MSG performance. Also included in the film is Zeppelin manager Peter Grant chewing out a concert promoter while using two of the seven words you can never say on television quite often. Warner Bros. agreed only to release the movie if this scene's dialogue was censored.
The fantasy sequences are interesting, but one can suppose that they probably could have been left out of the film in favor of more live concert scenes. Grant and Richard Cole (Led Zeppelin's tour manager) play two armed hitmen attacking a business meeting filled with "greedy millionaires". After a scene where he reads Jack and the Beanstalk to his children, and receives a message requesting his presence in America, John Paul Jones stars in a reinterpretation of Doctor Syn, where he plays a masked gentleman named The Scarecrow, who travels at night on horseback with three others before returning home to his life as an ordinary family man. Robert Plant is a sword-wielding knight who rescues a maiden while on a quest for the Holy Grail. Jimmy Page climbs a mountain on a night with a full moon to seek out the Hermit in a quest for self enlightenment. However, when he reaches the top, Page discovers that somehow, the Hermit is him! John Bonham's fantasy sequence is quite ordinary: he simply spends time at home with his family, plays a game of snooker, and goes drag racing.
Recommended movie capturing Led Zeppelin at the peak of their popularity, and a good example of the excesses of the music and show business industries during the time. But, if you want a superior Zeppelin concert DVD, by all means pick up 2003's Led Zeppelin DVD, which contains more footage from the 1973 MSG concert that wasn't used in the movie.
Featuring: Led Zeppelin, Peter Grant, Richard Cole
Directors: Peter Clifton and Joe Massot
Two disc special edition available from Amazon.
Re-released in 2007 to DVD with all fifteen live performances included, and containing a newly remixed and remastered soundtrack (among other goodies), Led Zeppelin's live concert slash fantasy film is still an exciting two hours and seventeen minutes, even if the members of the band have admitted that this performance was an "off night" for them. The live performances were filmed at Madison Square Garden on July 27th through the 29th in 1973, with further footage filmed at Shepperton Studios in August of 1974, after director Peter Clifton noticed there were gaps in the concert footage already completed. This caused a minor continuity problem, as John Paul Jones had cut his hair short in the period between filming (he simply wore a wig at Shepperton), and Robert Plant had undergone dental surgery since the MSG performance. Also included in the film is Zeppelin manager Peter Grant chewing out a concert promoter while using two of the seven words you can never say on television quite often. Warner Bros. agreed only to release the movie if this scene's dialogue was censored.
The fantasy sequences are interesting, but one can suppose that they probably could have been left out of the film in favor of more live concert scenes. Grant and Richard Cole (Led Zeppelin's tour manager) play two armed hitmen attacking a business meeting filled with "greedy millionaires". After a scene where he reads Jack and the Beanstalk to his children, and receives a message requesting his presence in America, John Paul Jones stars in a reinterpretation of Doctor Syn, where he plays a masked gentleman named The Scarecrow, who travels at night on horseback with three others before returning home to his life as an ordinary family man. Robert Plant is a sword-wielding knight who rescues a maiden while on a quest for the Holy Grail. Jimmy Page climbs a mountain on a night with a full moon to seek out the Hermit in a quest for self enlightenment. However, when he reaches the top, Page discovers that somehow, the Hermit is him! John Bonham's fantasy sequence is quite ordinary: he simply spends time at home with his family, plays a game of snooker, and goes drag racing.
Recommended movie capturing Led Zeppelin at the peak of their popularity, and a good example of the excesses of the music and show business industries during the time. But, if you want a superior Zeppelin concert DVD, by all means pick up 2003's Led Zeppelin DVD, which contains more footage from the 1973 MSG concert that wasn't used in the movie.
Don't Look Back
Don't Look Back.
1967 Leacock-Pennebaker Productions; distributed to DVD by Docurama.
Featuring: Bob Dylan, Albert Grossman, Bob Neuwirth, Joan Baez, Alan Price, Tito Burns, Donovan, Derroll Adams, Horace Freeland Judson, Marianne Faithfull, Allen Ginsberg, John Mayall (last three uncredited)
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
The 1965 Tour Deluxe Edition of this movie is available from Amazon.
D.A. Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan across the pond to England to cover his three week tour in 1965, where he made the transition from acoustic folk to rock music played with electric instruments. Opening with the now famous "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, we follow Dylan as he (among other things) plays several shows, including one at the Royal Albert Hall, picks on Time journalist Horace Freeland Judson, verbally jousts with student and future record mogul Terry Ellis, and befriends his British counterpart, Donovan. The film was also shot at the tail end of Dylan's relationship with Joan Baez, and even though they do collaborate on a song that came out in 1968, the tension between them is obvious.
The 2007 DVD release also includes the new documentary 65 Revisited, comprised of unused material shot in 1965, outtakes, and full song performances of seven tracks, including a duet with Baez.
Highly recommended film.
1967 Leacock-Pennebaker Productions; distributed to DVD by Docurama.
Featuring: Bob Dylan, Albert Grossman, Bob Neuwirth, Joan Baez, Alan Price, Tito Burns, Donovan, Derroll Adams, Horace Freeland Judson, Marianne Faithfull, Allen Ginsberg, John Mayall (last three uncredited)
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
The 1965 Tour Deluxe Edition of this movie is available from Amazon.
D.A. Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan across the pond to England to cover his three week tour in 1965, where he made the transition from acoustic folk to rock music played with electric instruments. Opening with the now famous "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, we follow Dylan as he (among other things) plays several shows, including one at the Royal Albert Hall, picks on Time journalist Horace Freeland Judson, verbally jousts with student and future record mogul Terry Ellis, and befriends his British counterpart, Donovan. The film was also shot at the tail end of Dylan's relationship with Joan Baez, and even though they do collaborate on a song that came out in 1968, the tension between them is obvious.
The 2007 DVD release also includes the new documentary 65 Revisited, comprised of unused material shot in 1965, outtakes, and full song performances of seven tracks, including a duet with Baez.
Highly recommended film.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
MST3K #423: Bride of the Monster
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #423: Bride of the Monster (with short, Hired!, Part One).
Original Comedy Central airdate: January 23, 1993.
This episode is available on the 19th MST3K collection at Amazon.
In part one of the Jam Handy Organization short made for Chevrolet in 1940, we see two new door-to-door salesmen named Jimmy and Henderson, and his frustrated supervisor, Mr. Warren, wondering why they're not panning out. Mr. Warren lives with his parents and complains to his elderly father (who sips lemonade when he isn't swatting at insects and having hankerchief-related "episodes") that the new generation doesn't work as hard as the older folks. Dad sets his son straight by reminding him that he wasn't always perfect and made mistakes as a younger salesman. Part two of Hired! opens MST3K episode 424, Manos.
It's an Ed Wood movie, folks. Bear with us. Bride of the Monster stars Bela Lugosi as mad scientist Dr. Eric Vornoff, who is experimenting with nuclear power with help from his lumbering mute assistant Lobo, played by Tor Johnson. Vornoff is looking to create an army of superhuman soldiers to conquer the world with, and he lives in a house guarded by a giant mutant octopus. The octopus has been responsible for a string of deaths in the region, and a reporter named Janet Lawton (Loretta King Hadler) investigates further into the situation, becoming a prisoner of Vornoff. There's giant rubber snakes, two-foot deep human traps, and stock footage of alligators, not to mention an official from Vornoff's home country demanding that he return home. Oh, and Ed Wood himself might have taken a cameo role as a female secretary in one scene. He loves him some angora.
Opening the episode, Joel utilizes Cambot to analyze Crow's dream. Things are all right until a horrified Tom Servo discovers that he's in the dream as a...candy-striper? Invention exchange: The Mads introduce and demonstrate the Tough Love Seat, equipped with metal studs and painful shocks of electricity. Joel introduces microwavable Faith Popcorn, which predicts upcoming pop culture trends, such as Jerry Reed getting elected to public office (Well, when you're hot, you're hot). Next, the Satellite of Love Community Theater presents the excellent Hired! The Musical which goes off without a hitch until commercial sign, when everyone finally gets annoyed. Later, Joel and the 'Bots discuss how lucky the monster octopus is because its victims literally fall into its grasp, and it segues into a discussion about which other food products could be used as a lame movie monster. Tom Servo next wishes for a world with no advertising, and Willy the Waffle (Crow) shows up to grant that wish. No springs? To end the show, Cambot re-edits the end of the film, Joel and the robots do their best Bela Lugosi evil look, and down in Deep 13, Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank are playing Bela and Tor.
Great episode. The riffing is spot on, and the host segments are great, especially Hired! The Musical. Highly recommended episode!
"He tampered in God's domain..."
Original Comedy Central airdate: January 23, 1993.
This episode is available on the 19th MST3K collection at Amazon.
In part one of the Jam Handy Organization short made for Chevrolet in 1940, we see two new door-to-door salesmen named Jimmy and Henderson, and his frustrated supervisor, Mr. Warren, wondering why they're not panning out. Mr. Warren lives with his parents and complains to his elderly father (who sips lemonade when he isn't swatting at insects and having hankerchief-related "episodes") that the new generation doesn't work as hard as the older folks. Dad sets his son straight by reminding him that he wasn't always perfect and made mistakes as a younger salesman. Part two of Hired! opens MST3K episode 424, Manos.
It's an Ed Wood movie, folks. Bear with us. Bride of the Monster stars Bela Lugosi as mad scientist Dr. Eric Vornoff, who is experimenting with nuclear power with help from his lumbering mute assistant Lobo, played by Tor Johnson. Vornoff is looking to create an army of superhuman soldiers to conquer the world with, and he lives in a house guarded by a giant mutant octopus. The octopus has been responsible for a string of deaths in the region, and a reporter named Janet Lawton (Loretta King Hadler) investigates further into the situation, becoming a prisoner of Vornoff. There's giant rubber snakes, two-foot deep human traps, and stock footage of alligators, not to mention an official from Vornoff's home country demanding that he return home. Oh, and Ed Wood himself might have taken a cameo role as a female secretary in one scene. He loves him some angora.
Opening the episode, Joel utilizes Cambot to analyze Crow's dream. Things are all right until a horrified Tom Servo discovers that he's in the dream as a...candy-striper? Invention exchange: The Mads introduce and demonstrate the Tough Love Seat, equipped with metal studs and painful shocks of electricity. Joel introduces microwavable Faith Popcorn, which predicts upcoming pop culture trends, such as Jerry Reed getting elected to public office (Well, when you're hot, you're hot). Next, the Satellite of Love Community Theater presents the excellent Hired! The Musical which goes off without a hitch until commercial sign, when everyone finally gets annoyed. Later, Joel and the 'Bots discuss how lucky the monster octopus is because its victims literally fall into its grasp, and it segues into a discussion about which other food products could be used as a lame movie monster. Tom Servo next wishes for a world with no advertising, and Willy the Waffle (Crow) shows up to grant that wish. No springs? To end the show, Cambot re-edits the end of the film, Joel and the robots do their best Bela Lugosi evil look, and down in Deep 13, Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank are playing Bela and Tor.
Great episode. The riffing is spot on, and the host segments are great, especially Hired! The Musical. Highly recommended episode!
"He tampered in God's domain..."
MST3K #417: Crash of the Moons
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #417: Crash of the Moons (with an old clip from General Hospital).
Original airdate: November 28, 1992.
Available on MST3K, Volume XVIII, on sale at Amazon.
In a clip from an ancient episode of General Hospital, ABC's last surviving soap opera, Cynthia and Phil argue about who Cynthia is in love with. Phil wants Cynthia to love him and not the poor schmuck she loves. Or something. Truth be told, I couldn't follow what was going on. It ends with Cynthia and Phil engaging in liplock in a car. The repercussions of this kiss are still being felt today on the show.
The main feature is pieced together from episodes of the old sci-fi series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Here, Rock and his crew Winky, Professor Newton, Vena and a kid named Bobby are trying to evacuate the planet Ofecious before it collides with another planet. Queen Cleolanta of Ofecious would alternately rather die on her doomed planet, or at least try to destroy the rogue planet first. This second planet is the home of Kwotanda, Bwavarro, and their son, the Little Prince, who won't stop crying. In addition to many bad special effects of rocketships taking off and landing perfectly vertical, we also have John Banner of Hogan's Heroes fame in one of his more memorable roles. Boopie!
On the SOL, Tom Servo tries tackling macrame, and Crow sells Grit to keep kids like him off of the streets. Apparently, Crow has a history of ordering things in bulk that he keeps trying to sell to Joel, Servo and Gypsy. The invention exchange sees the Mads introduce Deep 13 Toothpaste, a sugary product that is great for teeth, I tell you! Meanwhile, Joel introduces the Rock 'n' Wreck Guitar for poor musicians who can wreck it and put it back together to their heart's content...and TV's Frank won't stop bogarting the toothpaste. Later on, introduced by Mr. Robinson, Crow and Tom serenade Gypsy with a song called "The Gypsy Moon", and leave it to Crow to ruin it by getting too dirty at the end. Next, Joel and the 'Bots introduce the Banner-gram in honor of John Banner, which you can send to anyone in the country, Denver in particular. Crow ends up sending a John Byner-gram and a David Mamet-gram by accident. Crow makes up for it next with his new sci-fi teleplay, with a ton of nonsensical, made-up words. Tom Servo isn't exactly impressed. After the movie, after Joel reads a letter, the Satellite receives a Banner-gram. Thinking quickly, Joel and the 'Bots send one down to Deep 13, and Dr. Forrester is not exactly appreciative.
A fun season four episode made even better by Trace Beaulieu's performance at the end of the show. Dr. F's freakout upon learning he's just been sent a Banner-gram is classic. I can't forget to mention Mike Nelson's hysterical John Banner, too. Highly recommended episode.
Original airdate: November 28, 1992.
Available on MST3K, Volume XVIII, on sale at Amazon.
In a clip from an ancient episode of General Hospital, ABC's last surviving soap opera, Cynthia and Phil argue about who Cynthia is in love with. Phil wants Cynthia to love him and not the poor schmuck she loves. Or something. Truth be told, I couldn't follow what was going on. It ends with Cynthia and Phil engaging in liplock in a car. The repercussions of this kiss are still being felt today on the show.
The main feature is pieced together from episodes of the old sci-fi series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Here, Rock and his crew Winky, Professor Newton, Vena and a kid named Bobby are trying to evacuate the planet Ofecious before it collides with another planet. Queen Cleolanta of Ofecious would alternately rather die on her doomed planet, or at least try to destroy the rogue planet first. This second planet is the home of Kwotanda, Bwavarro, and their son, the Little Prince, who won't stop crying. In addition to many bad special effects of rocketships taking off and landing perfectly vertical, we also have John Banner of Hogan's Heroes fame in one of his more memorable roles. Boopie!
On the SOL, Tom Servo tries tackling macrame, and Crow sells Grit to keep kids like him off of the streets. Apparently, Crow has a history of ordering things in bulk that he keeps trying to sell to Joel, Servo and Gypsy. The invention exchange sees the Mads introduce Deep 13 Toothpaste, a sugary product that is great for teeth, I tell you! Meanwhile, Joel introduces the Rock 'n' Wreck Guitar for poor musicians who can wreck it and put it back together to their heart's content...and TV's Frank won't stop bogarting the toothpaste. Later on, introduced by Mr. Robinson, Crow and Tom serenade Gypsy with a song called "The Gypsy Moon", and leave it to Crow to ruin it by getting too dirty at the end. Next, Joel and the 'Bots introduce the Banner-gram in honor of John Banner, which you can send to anyone in the country, Denver in particular. Crow ends up sending a John Byner-gram and a David Mamet-gram by accident. Crow makes up for it next with his new sci-fi teleplay, with a ton of nonsensical, made-up words. Tom Servo isn't exactly impressed. After the movie, after Joel reads a letter, the Satellite receives a Banner-gram. Thinking quickly, Joel and the 'Bots send one down to Deep 13, and Dr. Forrester is not exactly appreciative.
A fun season four episode made even better by Trace Beaulieu's performance at the end of the show. Dr. F's freakout upon learning he's just been sent a Banner-gram is classic. I can't forget to mention Mike Nelson's hysterical John Banner, too. Highly recommended episode.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Jandek on Corwood
Jandek on Corwood. 2004 Unicorn Stencil.
Featured: John Trubee, Phil Milstein, Katy Vine, Dr. Demento, Gary Pig Gold, Richie Unterberger, Calvin Johnson, Douglas Wolk
Director: Chad Freidrichs
Available on Amazon.
Visit the official website.
Among the dozens of records released in the year 1978, one came out from an act calling itself "The Units" from Houston, Texas. That record, Ready for the House, is forty-four and a half minutes of uncomfortably out of tune acoustic guitar playing (except for the last track) accompanied by a haunting, wavering voice. This unusual album came out on a label called Corwood Industries, which anyone could contact by writing to its post office. Ready for the House turned out to be the only album released by The Units, as another New Wave band from San Francisco with claims to that name stopped the Texas musician from using that name. One thousand copies of the album were pressed, and initially, just two copies were sold.
Three years later, Six and Six came out on the Corwood label, and now the musician was known as Jandek. This name is a combination of the month of January, and a man named Decker, who the man from Corwood spoke to on the telephone. Jandek is generally assumed to be a man named Sterling Richard Smith, although this has never been confirmed, and anyone at Corwood Industries isn't telling.
Very little is known about Jandek, aside from what little information that Corwood shared in letters to WFMU disc jockey and music historian Irwin Chusid, and in a fifty minute interview with former Spin Magazine writer John Trubee (which is included on the DVD in its entirely as an extra)*. So, how does one make a 90 minute documentary about a subject who has revealed very little about himself to the public, but he did sanction and cooperate with director Chad Freidrichs?
Utilizing many, many interviews with people discussing their interpretation of Jandek and his music, as well as mixing images of Jandek album covers and other random photographs, Freidrichs manages to present the whole Jandek story in 88 minutes in a way that can easily be grasped and appreciated by any newcomers to one of the most willfully obscure and private musicians out there. Highlights include Dr. Demento (who will probably be the only person most of the world would even recognize in this documentary) discussing his interactions, or lack thereof with Corwood, and Texas Monthly reporter Katy Vine, who tracked down a man who looked like the one on several of Jandek's album covers one day in 1999 intending to interview him about the music. Vine and the Corwood representative enjoyed an afternoon at a nearby tavern, but the man made it clear he didn't wish to talk about Jandek or the music.
So, over the course of the film, you will find that it's very possible to create a film about a subject who keeps to himself most of the time.
At the time that Freidrichs completed Jandek on Corwood, Corwood has issued 32 records under the name Jandek, included a re-issued Ready for the House with any reference to The Units replaced. Five more albums were recorded and issued after the film's completion (a bonus feature highlights these five new records), and most surprisingly, Jandek made his first onstage appearance at a music festival in Glasgow in October of 2004. Billed as a "representative of Corwood Industries", the man (who is the same as the one on the album covers) played an hour of abstract and largely improvised music with two backing musicians. Over the next several years, Jandek has released another thirty albums, including several live recordings from his concerts, played several dozen more live shows, and Corwood Industries finally opened an official website in 2010. Even if Jandek is now willing to make live appearances, and occasionally socialize with fans after the gigs, the mystery still remains about exactly who he is...or why.
Recommended music documentary.
* In Trubee's interview, the Corwood representative admitted he worked as a machinist at the time, and among other things, admitted that his guitars were not in fact, detuned, but instead tuned to unique keys that sounded good to him. At the time, Jandek estimated that he had sold only 150 copies total.
Featured: John Trubee, Phil Milstein, Katy Vine, Dr. Demento, Gary Pig Gold, Richie Unterberger, Calvin Johnson, Douglas Wolk
Director: Chad Freidrichs
Available on Amazon.
Visit the official website.
Among the dozens of records released in the year 1978, one came out from an act calling itself "The Units" from Houston, Texas. That record, Ready for the House, is forty-four and a half minutes of uncomfortably out of tune acoustic guitar playing (except for the last track) accompanied by a haunting, wavering voice. This unusual album came out on a label called Corwood Industries, which anyone could contact by writing to its post office. Ready for the House turned out to be the only album released by The Units, as another New Wave band from San Francisco with claims to that name stopped the Texas musician from using that name. One thousand copies of the album were pressed, and initially, just two copies were sold.
Three years later, Six and Six came out on the Corwood label, and now the musician was known as Jandek. This name is a combination of the month of January, and a man named Decker, who the man from Corwood spoke to on the telephone. Jandek is generally assumed to be a man named Sterling Richard Smith, although this has never been confirmed, and anyone at Corwood Industries isn't telling.
Very little is known about Jandek, aside from what little information that Corwood shared in letters to WFMU disc jockey and music historian Irwin Chusid, and in a fifty minute interview with former Spin Magazine writer John Trubee (which is included on the DVD in its entirely as an extra)*. So, how does one make a 90 minute documentary about a subject who has revealed very little about himself to the public, but he did sanction and cooperate with director Chad Freidrichs?
Utilizing many, many interviews with people discussing their interpretation of Jandek and his music, as well as mixing images of Jandek album covers and other random photographs, Freidrichs manages to present the whole Jandek story in 88 minutes in a way that can easily be grasped and appreciated by any newcomers to one of the most willfully obscure and private musicians out there. Highlights include Dr. Demento (who will probably be the only person most of the world would even recognize in this documentary) discussing his interactions, or lack thereof with Corwood, and Texas Monthly reporter Katy Vine, who tracked down a man who looked like the one on several of Jandek's album covers one day in 1999 intending to interview him about the music. Vine and the Corwood representative enjoyed an afternoon at a nearby tavern, but the man made it clear he didn't wish to talk about Jandek or the music.
So, over the course of the film, you will find that it's very possible to create a film about a subject who keeps to himself most of the time.
At the time that Freidrichs completed Jandek on Corwood, Corwood has issued 32 records under the name Jandek, included a re-issued Ready for the House with any reference to The Units replaced. Five more albums were recorded and issued after the film's completion (a bonus feature highlights these five new records), and most surprisingly, Jandek made his first onstage appearance at a music festival in Glasgow in October of 2004. Billed as a "representative of Corwood Industries", the man (who is the same as the one on the album covers) played an hour of abstract and largely improvised music with two backing musicians. Over the next several years, Jandek has released another thirty albums, including several live recordings from his concerts, played several dozen more live shows, and Corwood Industries finally opened an official website in 2010. Even if Jandek is now willing to make live appearances, and occasionally socialize with fans after the gigs, the mystery still remains about exactly who he is...or why.
Recommended music documentary.
* In Trubee's interview, the Corwood representative admitted he worked as a machinist at the time, and among other things, admitted that his guitars were not in fact, detuned, but instead tuned to unique keys that sounded good to him. At the time, Jandek estimated that he had sold only 150 copies total.
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.
1987 Universal Pictures and Delilah Films.
Featuring: Chuck Berry
The band: Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Leavell, Bobby Keys, Joey Spampinato, Steve Jordan, Ingrid Berry
Guest musicians: Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt, Julian Lennon, Etta James, Joe Walsh (uncredited)
Also appearing: Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon (archival footage)
Director: Taylor Hackford
Available from Amazon as a two-disc edition, or as a four-disc box set.
One of the architects of rock and roll stars in a decent documentary slash concert film to celebrate his 60th birthday. The live concert footage was filmed at the Fox Theater in St. Louis on October 16, 1986, although only about half of the movie is live music. For the first hour, we see interview clips from some of Chuck Berry's contemporaries, footage of Keith Richards rehearsing the backing band (with an argument between Berry and Richards in the middle of it), and plenty of footage of the star of the show; whether he's visiting old St. Louis landmarks from earlier in his life, or embarking to Columbus, Ohio to play a concert during the production of his film. Taylor Hackford accompanied him on this trip, where we learn that Berry only travels with his guitar (which he checks at the gate), and a briefcase with just a few toiletries inside it.
The concert footage, as expected, is excellent, as Keith Richards put together a decent band for Berry to lead, although Richards ends up playing nearly every guitar solo while Chuck dances around on stage. Despite being somewhat difficult during the production of the film and at the rehearsals, Chuck Berry is clearly having the time of his life onstage. All of the guest musicians shined, particularly Eric Clapton and his rendition of "Wee Wee Hours", which was the only song performed that wasn't an uptempo one.
This is an easy recommendation from me, and if you have to ask, get the four disc set. As of now, it's on sale for Amazon for very cheap right now, and worth every penny. In addition to the main film, the set includes extra rehearsal footage with Berry, Richards, Clapton and others. Disc two has a feature called "The Reluctant Movie Star" where Hackford and his crew discuss some of the problems they had with Chuck during production, including a filmed phone call where Berry demands an immediate cash payment, or he's leaving the film. Disc three has "Witnesses to History", essentially an extended interview with Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard where they discuss the ups and downs of their careers in music. Also, the third disc features "The Burnt Scrapbook" with Berry and The Band's Robbie Robertson. Disc four contains "Witnesses to History, Part II", three and a half hours of interviews with nearly every surviving early rock and roller, including the ones who had been showcased in the main film.
Get this one!
1987 Universal Pictures and Delilah Films.
Featuring: Chuck Berry
The band: Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Leavell, Bobby Keys, Joey Spampinato, Steve Jordan, Ingrid Berry
Guest musicians: Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt, Julian Lennon, Etta James, Joe Walsh (uncredited)
Also appearing: Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon (archival footage)
Director: Taylor Hackford
Available from Amazon as a two-disc edition, or as a four-disc box set.
One of the architects of rock and roll stars in a decent documentary slash concert film to celebrate his 60th birthday. The live concert footage was filmed at the Fox Theater in St. Louis on October 16, 1986, although only about half of the movie is live music. For the first hour, we see interview clips from some of Chuck Berry's contemporaries, footage of Keith Richards rehearsing the backing band (with an argument between Berry and Richards in the middle of it), and plenty of footage of the star of the show; whether he's visiting old St. Louis landmarks from earlier in his life, or embarking to Columbus, Ohio to play a concert during the production of his film. Taylor Hackford accompanied him on this trip, where we learn that Berry only travels with his guitar (which he checks at the gate), and a briefcase with just a few toiletries inside it.
The concert footage, as expected, is excellent, as Keith Richards put together a decent band for Berry to lead, although Richards ends up playing nearly every guitar solo while Chuck dances around on stage. Despite being somewhat difficult during the production of the film and at the rehearsals, Chuck Berry is clearly having the time of his life onstage. All of the guest musicians shined, particularly Eric Clapton and his rendition of "Wee Wee Hours", which was the only song performed that wasn't an uptempo one.
This is an easy recommendation from me, and if you have to ask, get the four disc set. As of now, it's on sale for Amazon for very cheap right now, and worth every penny. In addition to the main film, the set includes extra rehearsal footage with Berry, Richards, Clapton and others. Disc two has a feature called "The Reluctant Movie Star" where Hackford and his crew discuss some of the problems they had with Chuck during production, including a filmed phone call where Berry demands an immediate cash payment, or he's leaving the film. Disc three has "Witnesses to History", essentially an extended interview with Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard where they discuss the ups and downs of their careers in music. Also, the third disc features "The Burnt Scrapbook" with Berry and The Band's Robbie Robertson. Disc four contains "Witnesses to History, Part II", three and a half hours of interviews with nearly every surviving early rock and roller, including the ones who had been showcased in the main film.
Get this one!
Monday, June 20, 2011
It Might Get Loud
It Might Get Loud. 2008, 2009 Sony Pictures Classics.
Featuring: The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Available from Amazon as a standard DVD or on Blu-ray.
Visit the official site.
Davis Guggenheim, who has directed such documentaries as An Inconveinient Truth and Waiting for "Superman", takes on a much less political topic here: the electric guitar. Highlighted here are The Edge from U2, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, and the uncredited session guitarist on numerous mid '60s pop records, and Jack White from The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. All three guitarists discuss extensively their history as a guitarist: Page talks about his background in a childhood skiffle band, falling in love with the blues, working extensively as a session guitarist in the '60s, his time in the Yardbirds, and most famously, Led Zeppelin. The Edge discusses putting together a guitar with his brother Dik and reminisces about forming U2 during a visit to Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. Jack White remembers growing up in southwest Detroit with a bedroom so filled with musical equipment that he had to get rid of his bed to make room for more instruments. White also discusses how it was considered "uncool" to be seen playing any kind of instrument in his predominantly Latino neighborhood, since many of his peers preferred hip-hop and house music to Jack's preference of rock and roll and old blues records.
During the film, Jimmy Page visits Headley Grange, where he and Led Zeppelin recorded their fourth album, taking time to describe exactly how they got the legendary drum sound for "When the Levee Breaks". The Edge demonstrates his playing technique, where he makes use of elaborate echo and delay effects to make it sound like there's a second guitarist onstage and in the studio. Jack White admits that he deliberately sets up obstacles creatively to force himself to write and perform that much harder.
At "The Summit", Page, White and the Edge get together to talk shop, play their favorite records, and jam. The three guitarists also show each other how to play "I Will Follow", "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", and "In My Time of Dying" before getting out their acoustic guitars to perform a cover of "The Weight" by The Band. During this session, Page sheepishly admits that he can't join in on the high vocal harmonies in the song's chorus.
There's a lot of interesting footage here, and you will get enough archive footage of old U2, White Stripes, Raconteurs and Zeppelin concerts to be completely satisfied. Two scenes I enjoyed were Jack White putting together a homemade guitar out of a glass bottle, wire, and pieces of wood; and the visit to Jimmy Page's music room, where he still gets a big kick out of playing "Rumble" by Link Wray. Page plays air guitar and can barely contain his enthusiasm for the song, nearly fifty years after it was first released.
Highly recommended film!
Featuring: The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Available from Amazon as a standard DVD or on Blu-ray.
Visit the official site.
Davis Guggenheim, who has directed such documentaries as An Inconveinient Truth and Waiting for "Superman", takes on a much less political topic here: the electric guitar. Highlighted here are The Edge from U2, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, and the uncredited session guitarist on numerous mid '60s pop records, and Jack White from The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. All three guitarists discuss extensively their history as a guitarist: Page talks about his background in a childhood skiffle band, falling in love with the blues, working extensively as a session guitarist in the '60s, his time in the Yardbirds, and most famously, Led Zeppelin. The Edge discusses putting together a guitar with his brother Dik and reminisces about forming U2 during a visit to Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. Jack White remembers growing up in southwest Detroit with a bedroom so filled with musical equipment that he had to get rid of his bed to make room for more instruments. White also discusses how it was considered "uncool" to be seen playing any kind of instrument in his predominantly Latino neighborhood, since many of his peers preferred hip-hop and house music to Jack's preference of rock and roll and old blues records.
During the film, Jimmy Page visits Headley Grange, where he and Led Zeppelin recorded their fourth album, taking time to describe exactly how they got the legendary drum sound for "When the Levee Breaks". The Edge demonstrates his playing technique, where he makes use of elaborate echo and delay effects to make it sound like there's a second guitarist onstage and in the studio. Jack White admits that he deliberately sets up obstacles creatively to force himself to write and perform that much harder.
At "The Summit", Page, White and the Edge get together to talk shop, play their favorite records, and jam. The three guitarists also show each other how to play "I Will Follow", "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", and "In My Time of Dying" before getting out their acoustic guitars to perform a cover of "The Weight" by The Band. During this session, Page sheepishly admits that he can't join in on the high vocal harmonies in the song's chorus.
There's a lot of interesting footage here, and you will get enough archive footage of old U2, White Stripes, Raconteurs and Zeppelin concerts to be completely satisfied. Two scenes I enjoyed were Jack White putting together a homemade guitar out of a glass bottle, wire, and pieces of wood; and the visit to Jimmy Page's music room, where he still gets a big kick out of playing "Rumble" by Link Wray. Page plays air guitar and can barely contain his enthusiasm for the song, nearly fifty years after it was first released.
Highly recommended film!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
This is Elvis
This is Elvis. 1981 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Narrated by Ral Donner
Produced by David L. Wolper
Directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt
Two-disc special edition of This is Elvis available from Amazon.
Directors Leo and Solt piece together an interesting Elvis Presley documentary utilizing a ton of film clips, television appearances, and quite a bit of authentic home movies of Elvis and friends. There are also some filmed reenactments, notably in the beginning of the picture, which opens with a segment where Elvis walks into Graceland on what will be the last night he was alive, and the following day in Portland, Maine where he was scheduled to perform on the day he was found dead. Honestly, the filmed reenactments do distract from the rest of the documentary, and they might have been better served as either cut from this project, or at least, saved for a fictional movie about Elvis. My opinion.
There are a plethora of highlights included here; notably Elvis appearing on Ed Sullivan, where the host gave him a warm sendoff; Steve Allen arranging for Presley to sing "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound while dressed in a tux, the Welcome Home, Elvis special put together by Frank Sinatra in 1960 where Elvis interacts with the entire Rat Pack, and of course, quite a bit of footage from the 1968 comeback special. As the documentary reaches its conclusion, there's also enough filmed concert footage of an overweight and drugged out Elvis struggling through songs while performing in Las Vegas. His voice is still strong, but everything else is falling apart for the king of rock and roll. Leo and Solt do deserve credit for not sugarcoating anything, and presenting Elvis as he was in the end.
Recommended music documentary, except for the faked scenes.
Narrated by Ral Donner
Produced by David L. Wolper
Directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt
Two-disc special edition of This is Elvis available from Amazon.
Directors Leo and Solt piece together an interesting Elvis Presley documentary utilizing a ton of film clips, television appearances, and quite a bit of authentic home movies of Elvis and friends. There are also some filmed reenactments, notably in the beginning of the picture, which opens with a segment where Elvis walks into Graceland on what will be the last night he was alive, and the following day in Portland, Maine where he was scheduled to perform on the day he was found dead. Honestly, the filmed reenactments do distract from the rest of the documentary, and they might have been better served as either cut from this project, or at least, saved for a fictional movie about Elvis. My opinion.
There are a plethora of highlights included here; notably Elvis appearing on Ed Sullivan, where the host gave him a warm sendoff; Steve Allen arranging for Presley to sing "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound while dressed in a tux, the Welcome Home, Elvis special put together by Frank Sinatra in 1960 where Elvis interacts with the entire Rat Pack, and of course, quite a bit of footage from the 1968 comeback special. As the documentary reaches its conclusion, there's also enough filmed concert footage of an overweight and drugged out Elvis struggling through songs while performing in Las Vegas. His voice is still strong, but everything else is falling apart for the king of rock and roll. Leo and Solt do deserve credit for not sugarcoating anything, and presenting Elvis as he was in the end.
Recommended music documentary, except for the faked scenes.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
T.A.M.I. Show
T.A.M.I. Show (a.k.a. Teen Age Command Performance).
1964 Screencraft International & American International Pictures; distributed to DVD by Shout! Factory.
Featuring: The Barbarians, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Miracles, Rolling Stones, The Supremes
House Band: The Wrecking Crew (Jack Nitzsche, Hail Blaine, Jimmy Bond, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Aken, Glen Campbell, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Plas Johnson, etc.)
Also appearing: Toni Basil, Teri Garr
Producer: Bill Sargent
Director: Steve Binder
Available at Amazon.
Released at the end of 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) is a groundbreaking concert film, and incredibly influential in the development of music videos. It's almost criminal that such an influential movie didn't receive an uncut release to home video until 2010. Rights issues saw the Beach Boys' performances cut from most prints of the film, but Shout! Factory restored the lost footage to the film for their definitive DVD release. As expected, since that segment was captured from another print and not the master, there is some minor film damage present, but seeing a rare Brian Wilson live performance with his legendary band more than makes up for it.
The concert lineup is nothing short of spectacular; only the Barbarians never had a Top 40 hit before or after the movie was first released, but they still did a fine live version of their first single, "Hey Little Bird", complete with their one-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton nearly stealing the show with his own frantic drumming. Chuck Berry trading licks and songs with Gerry & the Pacemakers to open the show was fun to watch, and there are stellar performances from the Motown representatives the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, and of course, the Supremes.
And then, we have James Brown. Anything I write cannot even begin to describe just how over the top and magical his four songs were, especially "Please, Please, Please" and "Night Train". Everything is here: the energy, the inspired dancing, the passionate singing, and the gimmick with the cape. Producer Rick Rubin once said that Prince had Brown's T.A.M.I. Show performance running in a loop on a television in the lobby of his offices, and he called it the single greatest rock and roll performance ever captured on film. He's completely right. The Rolling Stones close the show, and while their performance is raw and energetic, it's not going to even approach what James Brown did onstage just a few minutes earlier. Keith Richards has admitted in interviews that going on after Brown was the biggest mistake the Stones ever made in their careers.
Get this one, folks. There are no better concert films out there.
1964 Screencraft International & American International Pictures; distributed to DVD by Shout! Factory.
Featuring: The Barbarians, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Miracles, Rolling Stones, The Supremes
House Band: The Wrecking Crew (Jack Nitzsche, Hail Blaine, Jimmy Bond, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Aken, Glen Campbell, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Plas Johnson, etc.)
Also appearing: Toni Basil, Teri Garr
Producer: Bill Sargent
Director: Steve Binder
Available at Amazon.
Released at the end of 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) is a groundbreaking concert film, and incredibly influential in the development of music videos. It's almost criminal that such an influential movie didn't receive an uncut release to home video until 2010. Rights issues saw the Beach Boys' performances cut from most prints of the film, but Shout! Factory restored the lost footage to the film for their definitive DVD release. As expected, since that segment was captured from another print and not the master, there is some minor film damage present, but seeing a rare Brian Wilson live performance with his legendary band more than makes up for it.
The concert lineup is nothing short of spectacular; only the Barbarians never had a Top 40 hit before or after the movie was first released, but they still did a fine live version of their first single, "Hey Little Bird", complete with their one-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton nearly stealing the show with his own frantic drumming. Chuck Berry trading licks and songs with Gerry & the Pacemakers to open the show was fun to watch, and there are stellar performances from the Motown representatives the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, and of course, the Supremes.
And then, we have James Brown. Anything I write cannot even begin to describe just how over the top and magical his four songs were, especially "Please, Please, Please" and "Night Train". Everything is here: the energy, the inspired dancing, the passionate singing, and the gimmick with the cape. Producer Rick Rubin once said that Prince had Brown's T.A.M.I. Show performance running in a loop on a television in the lobby of his offices, and he called it the single greatest rock and roll performance ever captured on film. He's completely right. The Rolling Stones close the show, and while their performance is raw and energetic, it's not going to even approach what James Brown did onstage just a few minutes earlier. Keith Richards has admitted in interviews that going on after Brown was the biggest mistake the Stones ever made in their careers.
Get this one, folks. There are no better concert films out there.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Amarcord
Amarcord [I Remember] (Criterion #4).
1973 Janus Films and F.C. Produzioni.
Starring: Magali Noel, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia
Director: Federico Fellini
Buy Amarcord from Amazon.
The winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1974 Academy Awards (among other accolades), Fellini's Amarcord is a delightful coming of age film set in the late 1930s in Rimini, Italy. Largely set around a year in the life of the Biondi family, where the boys are out of control deliquents, mother is ill, father is unable to cope with all of the changes happening in his personal life; not to mention any Mussolini-related issues, and the grandfather is growing senile. Another uncle has been institutionalized, but is allowed to spend a day in the country with the rest of his family...where he climbs to the top of the only tree for miles around and bellows "I want a woman!" over and over.
Chaos, violence, and confusion lie just ahead in the near future, but the Biondi family and the rest of the townspeople have one year to establish some long-lasting memories, and they all make the most of it.
Highly recommended film.
1973 Janus Films and F.C. Produzioni.
Starring: Magali Noel, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia
Director: Federico Fellini
Buy Amarcord from Amazon.
The winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1974 Academy Awards (among other accolades), Fellini's Amarcord is a delightful coming of age film set in the late 1930s in Rimini, Italy. Largely set around a year in the life of the Biondi family, where the boys are out of control deliquents, mother is ill, father is unable to cope with all of the changes happening in his personal life; not to mention any Mussolini-related issues, and the grandfather is growing senile. Another uncle has been institutionalized, but is allowed to spend a day in the country with the rest of his family...where he climbs to the top of the only tree for miles around and bellows "I want a woman!" over and over.
Chaos, violence, and confusion lie just ahead in the near future, but the Biondi family and the rest of the townspeople have one year to establish some long-lasting memories, and they all make the most of it.
Highly recommended film.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Last of the Red Hot Lovers. 1972 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Alan Arkin, Sally Kellerman, Paula Prentiss, Renee Taylor
Screenplay by Neil Simon
Director: Gene Saks
Available from Amazon.
A film adaptation of Neil Simon's stage play that first opened in 1969.
Barney Cashman (Arkin) is 45 years old, married, and he owns a restaurant in downtown Manhattan. One morning, he wakes up with the urge to stray, and have at least one great extramarital affair before he dies. After discovering that his mother's apartment will be empty one day a week, Barney decides to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, Barney simply isn't the kind of person who could engage in an affair, and he fails miserably in each of the three women he attempts to seduce: Elaine (Kellerman), who seems to be more interested in scoring a cigarette than actually scoring and who quickly grows annoyed at Barney's inexperience; Bobbi (Prentiss), an aspiring actress who might be more than a little bit crazy and who gets Barney to smoke a joint with her, and Jeanette (Taylor), the best friend of Barney's wife. By the time Jeanette comes over, Barney has acquired a new confidence after Jeanette made a pass at him at a social outing, but she reveals that she suffers from depression due to her husband's serial adultery, and spends most of the afternoon either crying or taking anti-depressants.
In the end, Barney has struck out three times, and realizes that he's not one to have an affair. So, he contacts his wife to come over to the apartment for a nice rendezvous.
Funny movie, with a decent performance from Alan Arkin, but Paula Prentiss definitely stole the show during her segment. Recommended.
Starring: Alan Arkin, Sally Kellerman, Paula Prentiss, Renee Taylor
Screenplay by Neil Simon
Director: Gene Saks
Available from Amazon.
A film adaptation of Neil Simon's stage play that first opened in 1969.
Barney Cashman (Arkin) is 45 years old, married, and he owns a restaurant in downtown Manhattan. One morning, he wakes up with the urge to stray, and have at least one great extramarital affair before he dies. After discovering that his mother's apartment will be empty one day a week, Barney decides to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, Barney simply isn't the kind of person who could engage in an affair, and he fails miserably in each of the three women he attempts to seduce: Elaine (Kellerman), who seems to be more interested in scoring a cigarette than actually scoring and who quickly grows annoyed at Barney's inexperience; Bobbi (Prentiss), an aspiring actress who might be more than a little bit crazy and who gets Barney to smoke a joint with her, and Jeanette (Taylor), the best friend of Barney's wife. By the time Jeanette comes over, Barney has acquired a new confidence after Jeanette made a pass at him at a social outing, but she reveals that she suffers from depression due to her husband's serial adultery, and spends most of the afternoon either crying or taking anti-depressants.
In the end, Barney has struck out three times, and realizes that he's not one to have an affair. So, he contacts his wife to come over to the apartment for a nice rendezvous.
Funny movie, with a decent performance from Alan Arkin, but Paula Prentiss definitely stole the show during her segment. Recommended.
A Safe Place
A Safe Place (Criterion #548).
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Tuesday Weld, Orson Welles, Phil Proctor, Jack Nicholson, Dov Lawrence, Gwen Welles
Produced by Bert Schneider
Written and directed by Henry Jaglom
Available only as part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set. Amazon: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Henry Jaglom's first movie is a big screen adaptation of a stage play he wrote and produced in the 1960s starring Karen Black, and Tuesday Weld on occasion. BBS Productions gave Jaglom the opportunity to produce a film version, and Jack Nicholson appeared in it as a favor to the director (Jaglom appeared in Nicholson's Drive, He Said), only expecting a new color television set as compensation. When A Safe Place was shown at the 1971 New York Film Festival, audience reaction was so divided that a riot nearly broke out.
A Safe Place is a surreal and somewhat confusing film where Tuesday Weld portrays a hippie woman named either Susan or Noah, and she seems caught between adolescence and adulthood, which is why she frequently retreats (seemingly) into her imagination. She is dating a somewhat nerdish man named Fred (Proctor), when she isn't having an affair with a wealthy married man, Mitch (Nicholson). Also appearing frequently is an older magician (Welles), and we're unclear as to who he really is, if he isn't a figment of Susan's imagination. Phil knows that Susan is whacko, but he puts up with her stories and other nonsense. Ultimately, neither Phil nor Mitch can completely satisfy Susan.
This one rivals Head as the oddest BBS production (they also produced and released The Last Picture Show in 1971). Still, Tuesday Weld gave a decent performance, and she looked gorgeous in this one. You can also tell Orson Welles was happy, as he got to essentially portray himself as the magician. Henry Jaglom uses plenty of unrelated jump cuts and other bizarre imagery to create a truly unique film. Recommended, although do not expect to get it the first time. This one may require more than one viewing, folks.
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Tuesday Weld, Orson Welles, Phil Proctor, Jack Nicholson, Dov Lawrence, Gwen Welles
Produced by Bert Schneider
Written and directed by Henry Jaglom
Available only as part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set. Amazon: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Henry Jaglom's first movie is a big screen adaptation of a stage play he wrote and produced in the 1960s starring Karen Black, and Tuesday Weld on occasion. BBS Productions gave Jaglom the opportunity to produce a film version, and Jack Nicholson appeared in it as a favor to the director (Jaglom appeared in Nicholson's Drive, He Said), only expecting a new color television set as compensation. When A Safe Place was shown at the 1971 New York Film Festival, audience reaction was so divided that a riot nearly broke out.
A Safe Place is a surreal and somewhat confusing film where Tuesday Weld portrays a hippie woman named either Susan or Noah, and she seems caught between adolescence and adulthood, which is why she frequently retreats (seemingly) into her imagination. She is dating a somewhat nerdish man named Fred (Proctor), when she isn't having an affair with a wealthy married man, Mitch (Nicholson). Also appearing frequently is an older magician (Welles), and we're unclear as to who he really is, if he isn't a figment of Susan's imagination. Phil knows that Susan is whacko, but he puts up with her stories and other nonsense. Ultimately, neither Phil nor Mitch can completely satisfy Susan.
This one rivals Head as the oddest BBS production (they also produced and released The Last Picture Show in 1971). Still, Tuesday Weld gave a decent performance, and she looked gorgeous in this one. You can also tell Orson Welles was happy, as he got to essentially portray himself as the magician. Henry Jaglom uses plenty of unrelated jump cuts and other bizarre imagery to create a truly unique film. Recommended, although do not expect to get it the first time. This one may require more than one viewing, folks.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger.
1959 Woodfall Film Productions, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Mary Ure, Edith Evans, Gary Raymond, Donald Pleasence
Director: Tony Richardson
Buy Look Back in Anger from Amazon.
This 1959 film adaptation of a John Osborne play is also Tony Richardson's directoral debut.
Richard Burton is Jimmy Porter, an aspiring, lower class musician who tries to support himself and his upper class wife Alison (Ure) by working as a street vendor. Jimmy is incredibly angry at everything, particularly the status gap between he and his wife, who he constantly berates verbally. Jimmy's partner Cliff and friend (Raymond) also lives with them, trying to portray the calm voice of reason whenever Jimmy starts to abuse his wife with words.
There's also a further complication: Alison is pregnant with Jimmy's baby, and she's waiting for the right time to tell him. In the meantime, Alison's friend Helena (Bloom) has showed up to help out. Unfortunately, Jimmy hates Helena for her upper class background, and she advises Alison to leave Jimmy temporarily and stay with her parents. This doesn't stop Jimmy from beginning an affair with Helena in Alison's absence.
Cliff eventually strikes out on his own, and Helena ends her affair with Jimmy after an unexpected run-in with Alison. But there's a happier surprise awaiting our man who's angry at the world.
Recommended film. Another fine example of the British kitchen sink drama with an outstanding performance from Richard Burton, who may have been a little too old to play Jimmy...
1959 Woodfall Film Productions, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Mary Ure, Edith Evans, Gary Raymond, Donald Pleasence
Director: Tony Richardson
Buy Look Back in Anger from Amazon.
This 1959 film adaptation of a John Osborne play is also Tony Richardson's directoral debut.
Richard Burton is Jimmy Porter, an aspiring, lower class musician who tries to support himself and his upper class wife Alison (Ure) by working as a street vendor. Jimmy is incredibly angry at everything, particularly the status gap between he and his wife, who he constantly berates verbally. Jimmy's partner Cliff and friend (Raymond) also lives with them, trying to portray the calm voice of reason whenever Jimmy starts to abuse his wife with words.
There's also a further complication: Alison is pregnant with Jimmy's baby, and she's waiting for the right time to tell him. In the meantime, Alison's friend Helena (Bloom) has showed up to help out. Unfortunately, Jimmy hates Helena for her upper class background, and she advises Alison to leave Jimmy temporarily and stay with her parents. This doesn't stop Jimmy from beginning an affair with Helena in Alison's absence.
Cliff eventually strikes out on his own, and Helena ends her affair with Jimmy after an unexpected run-in with Alison. But there's a happier surprise awaiting our man who's angry at the world.
Recommended film. Another fine example of the British kitchen sink drama with an outstanding performance from Richard Burton, who may have been a little too old to play Jimmy...
Drive, He Said
Drive, He Said (Criterion #547).
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: William Tepper, Karen Black, Michael Margotta, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne, Henry Jaglom, Michael Warren, Charles Robinson, David Ogden Stiers, Cindy Williams
Produced by Steve Blauner and Jack Nicholson
Screenplay: Jeremy Larner, Jack Nicholson, Terrence Malick (uncredited)
Director: Jack Nicholson
Drive, He Said is only available as part of Criterion's box set America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Amazon listings: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Jack Nicholson's directoral debut not surprisingly features basketball as one of the central plotlines. It's also an interesting, but disorganized film. I still found it compelling enough.
Hector Bloom (Tepper) is a star college basketball player from California who has found himself at a small university somewhere in Ohio (modeled after Kent State). His roommate Gabriel (Margotta) is from a well off family, but he's still harboring radical feelings and getting involved with campus protests. Both Hector and Gabriel are both facing the draft: Hector to the NBA, while Gabriel will do just about everything to not go to Vietnam. And Hector, as the film goes on, seems more and more unhappy at the thought of turning professional.
Hector is also having an affair with the wife of his favorite professor, Olive (Black), which comes to an end once he realizes that he's in love with her. And then, Olive reveals she's pregnant. Coach Bullion (Dern) does his best to run the team and keep Hector motivated while slowly realizing that his star player may not have the heart for the game and the rest of the team anymore.
Drive, He Said has one notable standout performance, from Margotta as the increasingly crazed radical Gabriel, and the film itself is good, but not great. Interesting, I felt nonetheless, even if the finished project came across more as a series of unrelated, episodic sketches that are only tied together by the main characters. Recommended movie.
1971 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: William Tepper, Karen Black, Michael Margotta, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne, Henry Jaglom, Michael Warren, Charles Robinson, David Ogden Stiers, Cindy Williams
Produced by Steve Blauner and Jack Nicholson
Screenplay: Jeremy Larner, Jack Nicholson, Terrence Malick (uncredited)
Director: Jack Nicholson
Drive, He Said is only available as part of Criterion's box set America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Amazon listings: Standard DVD. Blu-ray.
Jack Nicholson's directoral debut not surprisingly features basketball as one of the central plotlines. It's also an interesting, but disorganized film. I still found it compelling enough.
Hector Bloom (Tepper) is a star college basketball player from California who has found himself at a small university somewhere in Ohio (modeled after Kent State). His roommate Gabriel (Margotta) is from a well off family, but he's still harboring radical feelings and getting involved with campus protests. Both Hector and Gabriel are both facing the draft: Hector to the NBA, while Gabriel will do just about everything to not go to Vietnam. And Hector, as the film goes on, seems more and more unhappy at the thought of turning professional.
Hector is also having an affair with the wife of his favorite professor, Olive (Black), which comes to an end once he realizes that he's in love with her. And then, Olive reveals she's pregnant. Coach Bullion (Dern) does his best to run the team and keep Hector motivated while slowly realizing that his star player may not have the heart for the game and the rest of the team anymore.
Drive, He Said has one notable standout performance, from Margotta as the increasingly crazed radical Gabriel, and the film itself is good, but not great. Interesting, I felt nonetheless, even if the finished project came across more as a series of unrelated, episodic sketches that are only tied together by the main characters. Recommended movie.
Almost Famous
Almost Famous.
2000 DreamWorks Pictures and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin, Noah Taylor, Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon
Director: Cameron Crowe
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or the "Untitled" directors' cut.
Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film features a 15-year-old aspiring writer named William Miller (Fugit) who idolizes Lester Bangs (Hoffman) who lives with his overprotective mother Elaine (McDormand). William is unpopular with his peers, so he writes for underground papers about his love for rock music, and the record collection given to him by his older sister Anita (Deschanel), who left home because she could no longer cope with Elaine's beliefs. Bangs gives William a $35 assignment to review a Black Sabbath concert, and Lester advices him to "honest and unmerciful"...without mentioning how he can get into the show or meet the band. Unable to get into the arena, William meets a group of "Band-Aids", who are not "groupies". William strikes up a conversation with their leader, Penny Lane (Hudson), and he eventually does get backstage with the opening act, Stillwater. Their guitarist, Russell Hammond (Crudup), takes a liking to William.
Most of the story that follows sees William, who eventually gets a prime assignment for Rolling Stone trying to interview Russell, which usually never happens for whatever reason, even if Russell continually promises to talk to him "soon". William also develops a friendship with Penny Lane, who also has genuine feelings for Russell. William ends up spending more time on the road chasing this story than what he had promised his overprotective mother, who wanted him home "four days later".
Highly recommended movie.
2000 DreamWorks Pictures and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin, Noah Taylor, Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon
Director: Cameron Crowe
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or the "Untitled" directors' cut.
Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film features a 15-year-old aspiring writer named William Miller (Fugit) who idolizes Lester Bangs (Hoffman) who lives with his overprotective mother Elaine (McDormand). William is unpopular with his peers, so he writes for underground papers about his love for rock music, and the record collection given to him by his older sister Anita (Deschanel), who left home because she could no longer cope with Elaine's beliefs. Bangs gives William a $35 assignment to review a Black Sabbath concert, and Lester advices him to "honest and unmerciful"...without mentioning how he can get into the show or meet the band. Unable to get into the arena, William meets a group of "Band-Aids", who are not "groupies". William strikes up a conversation with their leader, Penny Lane (Hudson), and he eventually does get backstage with the opening act, Stillwater. Their guitarist, Russell Hammond (Crudup), takes a liking to William.
Most of the story that follows sees William, who eventually gets a prime assignment for Rolling Stone trying to interview Russell, which usually never happens for whatever reason, even if Russell continually promises to talk to him "soon". William also develops a friendship with Penny Lane, who also has genuine feelings for Russell. William ends up spending more time on the road chasing this story than what he had promised his overprotective mother, who wanted him home "four days later".
Highly recommended movie.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tron: Legacy
Tron: Legacy. 2010 Walt Disney Pictures.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, James Frain, Beau Garrett
Music: Daft Punk
Produced by Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver and Steven Lisberger
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Available from Amazon on Disney DVD.
In 1989, ENCOM CEO and wizard software engineer Kevin Flynn (Bridges) disappears. Twenty years later, his son Sam (Hedlund) is ENCOM's controlling shareholder, and he has almost little interest in the firm except for pulling an annual prank on the board of directors. After the most recent stunt, Sam gets a visit from Kevin's old friend and ENCOM executive Alan Bradley (Boxleitner), who reports a mysterious page emitting from Kevin's old, disconnected office deep in his long abandoned arcade. Activating a computer in the dusty office, Sam accidentally projects himself into the Grid, a cold and dangerous virtual world within the computer. Captured immediately, Sam is taken to the game arena, where he faces off with a warrior called Rinzler. After discovering that Sam is a "user" and not a "program", Rinzler takes Sam before Clu, the now corrupted digital copy of Kevin Flynn. Clu attempts to kill Sam in a light cycle duel, but he is rescued by Quorra (Wilde), who takes Sam to a distant hideout off the grid, where he is finally reunited with his father.
Kevin informs Sam that he, Clu and Bradley's security program called Tron, were creating a new "perfect" system, and that Kevin discovered something called sentinent "isomorphic algorithms" (ISOs), which spontaneously evolved in the world, and they had the keys to unlock the mysteries in science, religion, and medicine. Clu rebelled against Kevin and Tron, destroyed the ISOs (Tron sacrificed itself to allow Flynn the opportunity to get away), and took control of the entire Grid, making a long term plan to raise an army big enough so that it could invade and "perfect" the "outside world", i.e. Earth. Quorra, though, is the last surviving ISO, who was rescued by Kevin.
It's up to Sam, Kevin and Quorra to find a way out of the Grid before Clu and its army does, where Sam can delete Clu. Also, is Rinzler simply a reprogrammed version of Tron? Wait and see...
Recommended movie, although I prefered the first film more.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, James Frain, Beau Garrett
Music: Daft Punk
Produced by Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver and Steven Lisberger
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Available from Amazon on Disney DVD.
In 1989, ENCOM CEO and wizard software engineer Kevin Flynn (Bridges) disappears. Twenty years later, his son Sam (Hedlund) is ENCOM's controlling shareholder, and he has almost little interest in the firm except for pulling an annual prank on the board of directors. After the most recent stunt, Sam gets a visit from Kevin's old friend and ENCOM executive Alan Bradley (Boxleitner), who reports a mysterious page emitting from Kevin's old, disconnected office deep in his long abandoned arcade. Activating a computer in the dusty office, Sam accidentally projects himself into the Grid, a cold and dangerous virtual world within the computer. Captured immediately, Sam is taken to the game arena, where he faces off with a warrior called Rinzler. After discovering that Sam is a "user" and not a "program", Rinzler takes Sam before Clu, the now corrupted digital copy of Kevin Flynn. Clu attempts to kill Sam in a light cycle duel, but he is rescued by Quorra (Wilde), who takes Sam to a distant hideout off the grid, where he is finally reunited with his father.
Kevin informs Sam that he, Clu and Bradley's security program called Tron, were creating a new "perfect" system, and that Kevin discovered something called sentinent "isomorphic algorithms" (ISOs), which spontaneously evolved in the world, and they had the keys to unlock the mysteries in science, religion, and medicine. Clu rebelled against Kevin and Tron, destroyed the ISOs (Tron sacrificed itself to allow Flynn the opportunity to get away), and took control of the entire Grid, making a long term plan to raise an army big enough so that it could invade and "perfect" the "outside world", i.e. Earth. Quorra, though, is the last surviving ISO, who was rescued by Kevin.
It's up to Sam, Kevin and Quorra to find a way out of the Grid before Clu and its army does, where Sam can delete Clu. Also, is Rinzler simply a reprogrammed version of Tron? Wait and see...
Recommended movie, although I prefered the first film more.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
MST3K #303: Pod People
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #303: Pod People.
Original Comedy Central airdate: June 15, 1991.
Part of the second MST3K DVD set, which looks to be out of stock at Amazon...
Chief? McCloud!!
This episode showcases a trainwreck of a film where an unsuspecting rural family, an unlikeable trio of poachers who constantly argue with one another, and a really bad pop band on vacation are all on a collision course with wackiness in a foggy region. A meteor crashes in the area, and a stash of glowing eggs are found by one of the poachers and a youth named Tommy from the unsuspecting and somewhat unlikeable rural family. An alien mother goes on the hunt looking for her eggs and offspring, killing off several characters. Tommy's egg hatches into something he dubs Trumpy, who unlike his mother, is not at all homicidal. Trumpy's mother eventually comes to the house, and Tommy escapes with Trumpy in tow, not willing to let all of the mean adults shoot his goofy looking pet. After all, Trumpy can do magical things. The ending is kind of depressing, not to mention foggy.
We open on the Satellite of Love where Joel, Servo and Crow are hosting an "arts chautauqua" where Crow debuts a monologue from his one-robot show Robot on the Run, and Tom Servo breaks down in hysterics during his own spoken word piece. The invention exchange is a musical one: Joel demonstrates his explosive new guitar chord, and the Mads debut their concept of public domain karaoke. Inspired by the crappy band in the recording studio, Joel and the 'Bots sing "Idiot Control Now", and Joel declares that it stinks. A wall of keyboards is set up and Joel explains to Tom and Crow about how they can create New Age music simply by holding down two keys for hours on end. Somehow, Windham Hill doesn't come through with a recording contract for "Music from Some Guys in Space". After a wild demonstration of the magic Trumpy can perform, Joel and the 'Bots sing a sad ballad, "Clown in the Sky", and the Mads cheerfully help out by saying that it also stinks.
Another fan favorite, and a great episode to me personally. Highly recommended.
Original Comedy Central airdate: June 15, 1991.
Part of the second MST3K DVD set, which looks to be out of stock at Amazon...
Chief? McCloud!!
This episode showcases a trainwreck of a film where an unsuspecting rural family, an unlikeable trio of poachers who constantly argue with one another, and a really bad pop band on vacation are all on a collision course with wackiness in a foggy region. A meteor crashes in the area, and a stash of glowing eggs are found by one of the poachers and a youth named Tommy from the unsuspecting and somewhat unlikeable rural family. An alien mother goes on the hunt looking for her eggs and offspring, killing off several characters. Tommy's egg hatches into something he dubs Trumpy, who unlike his mother, is not at all homicidal. Trumpy's mother eventually comes to the house, and Tommy escapes with Trumpy in tow, not willing to let all of the mean adults shoot his goofy looking pet. After all, Trumpy can do magical things. The ending is kind of depressing, not to mention foggy.
We open on the Satellite of Love where Joel, Servo and Crow are hosting an "arts chautauqua" where Crow debuts a monologue from his one-robot show Robot on the Run, and Tom Servo breaks down in hysterics during his own spoken word piece. The invention exchange is a musical one: Joel demonstrates his explosive new guitar chord, and the Mads debut their concept of public domain karaoke. Inspired by the crappy band in the recording studio, Joel and the 'Bots sing "Idiot Control Now", and Joel declares that it stinks. A wall of keyboards is set up and Joel explains to Tom and Crow about how they can create New Age music simply by holding down two keys for hours on end. Somehow, Windham Hill doesn't come through with a recording contract for "Music from Some Guys in Space". After a wild demonstration of the magic Trumpy can perform, Joel and the 'Bots sing a sad ballad, "Clown in the Sky", and the Mads cheerfully help out by saying that it also stinks.
Another fan favorite, and a great episode to me personally. Highly recommended.
MST3K #208: Lost Continent
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #208: Lost Continent.
Original Comedy Channel airdate: November 24, 1990.
Available on the eighteenth MST3K DVD collection from Shout! Factory.
Rock climbing.
Cesar Romero, Hugh Beaumont, Sid Melton and Acquanetta star in this 1951 film about an expedition to find a missing atomic rocket. The expedition's flight crashes on a remote island with a big old mountain where a lone native girl indicates that something unusual landed there. After twenty straight minutes of ROCK CLIMBING, the top of the mountain is reached, where a lush jungle inhabited by dinosaurs is found. Two out of the six explorers die, but the survivors salvage crucial rocket parts and escape (thankfully the trip down the mountain isn't depicted in such excruciating detail) before a volcanic eruption destroys the island, dinosaurs and all. The highlight? Hugh Beaumont cracking up in the background while Cesar Romero hauls Sid Melton onto a plateau by the seat of his pants.
The show opens with Joel in a cyan jumpsuit as a tough football coach giving his robots a lively pep talk. Beat 'em, beat 'em, beat 'em! In Deep 13, Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank introduce their exercise treadmill on wheels (which Frank immediately runs into the nearest wall), but sadly, we don't have time for Joel's invention this week. Joel's gadget, a translator that converts language into sign language, would appear again in the next episode (The Hellcats). Hugh Beaumont, having become a Horseman of the Apocalypse, stops by the satellite with his scary, but friendly message of death. Joel and the 'Bots perform their version of Quinn Martin's The Explorers which turns from adventure program to police drama just in time for the epilogue. Later, the gang witnesses "The Cool Thing"* out in space, and they encourage their viewers to send in their ideas of what exactly it is for a contest, and why it's cool. After the film, Joel and his robots recite little known facts about the film, including the knowledge that Cesar Romero may have had ties to the Nazis.
A great episode from season 2, although Shout! Factory's DVD transfer is less than stellar due to the condition of the master tapes they were given. Just make like you're watching someone's second or third generation VHS dubbed tape and enjoy. Highly recommended episode.
...rock climbing.
* The "Cool Thing" was later revealed to be Mexican stoplight candy in a third season episode, although the show did show some viewer submitted pictures at the end of season two. Okay? Fifteen minute break, everyone!
Original Comedy Channel airdate: November 24, 1990.
Available on the eighteenth MST3K DVD collection from Shout! Factory.
Rock climbing.
Cesar Romero, Hugh Beaumont, Sid Melton and Acquanetta star in this 1951 film about an expedition to find a missing atomic rocket. The expedition's flight crashes on a remote island with a big old mountain where a lone native girl indicates that something unusual landed there. After twenty straight minutes of ROCK CLIMBING, the top of the mountain is reached, where a lush jungle inhabited by dinosaurs is found. Two out of the six explorers die, but the survivors salvage crucial rocket parts and escape (thankfully the trip down the mountain isn't depicted in such excruciating detail) before a volcanic eruption destroys the island, dinosaurs and all. The highlight? Hugh Beaumont cracking up in the background while Cesar Romero hauls Sid Melton onto a plateau by the seat of his pants.
The show opens with Joel in a cyan jumpsuit as a tough football coach giving his robots a lively pep talk. Beat 'em, beat 'em, beat 'em! In Deep 13, Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank introduce their exercise treadmill on wheels (which Frank immediately runs into the nearest wall), but sadly, we don't have time for Joel's invention this week. Joel's gadget, a translator that converts language into sign language, would appear again in the next episode (The Hellcats). Hugh Beaumont, having become a Horseman of the Apocalypse, stops by the satellite with his scary, but friendly message of death. Joel and the 'Bots perform their version of Quinn Martin's The Explorers which turns from adventure program to police drama just in time for the epilogue. Later, the gang witnesses "The Cool Thing"* out in space, and they encourage their viewers to send in their ideas of what exactly it is for a contest, and why it's cool. After the film, Joel and his robots recite little known facts about the film, including the knowledge that Cesar Romero may have had ties to the Nazis.
A great episode from season 2, although Shout! Factory's DVD transfer is less than stellar due to the condition of the master tapes they were given. Just make like you're watching someone's second or third generation VHS dubbed tape and enjoy. Highly recommended episode.
...rock climbing.
* The "Cool Thing" was later revealed to be Mexican stoplight candy in a third season episode, although the show did show some viewer submitted pictures at the end of season two. Okay? Fifteen minute break, everyone!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Slacker
Slacker (Criterion #247).
1991 Detour Filmproduction and Orion Classics.
Starring: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan, Marc James, Stella Weir, John Slate, Louis Mackey, Teresa Taylor, and many others
Written, produced and directed by Richard Linklater
Buy Slacker at Amazon today!
Along with sex, lies and videotape, this film is considered the genesis of the independent film movement of the 1990s, and it was a major influence on Kevin Smith, who has often stated Slacker was the inspiration for Clerks. Also, this movie supposedly popularized the term "slacker" to describe any person "characterized by apathy, aimlessness, and lack of ambition".
Over a 24 hour period in Austin, Texas, Linklater showcases dozens of mostly twenty-somethings all doing their part in keeping Austin weird. We see one or two characters converse about just about everything for a few minutes before we start to follow someone completely different and unrelated to the previous characters. The only common thing all of the movie's players have is that they might pass by one another on the streets during their daily routine, or perhaps, their lack of routine.
Highlights include Linklater as a chatty taxi passenger who just completed a long bus trip, the UFO "expert" in the Batman T-shirt trying to convince a complete stranger that the United States has really been traveling to the moon since the 1950s, yet another JFK conspiracy buff, someone who is really into collecting television sets (he even walks around with one strapped to his back!), an elderly anarchist who talks a younger man out of robbing his home with stories about where he was during Charles Whitman's rampage in 1966, and most bizarrely, the odd woman (Taylor) who walks up to a random couple offering to sell them a genuine "Madonna pap smear".
Highly recommended.
1991 Detour Filmproduction and Orion Classics.
Starring: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan, Marc James, Stella Weir, John Slate, Louis Mackey, Teresa Taylor, and many others
Written, produced and directed by Richard Linklater
Buy Slacker at Amazon today!
Along with sex, lies and videotape, this film is considered the genesis of the independent film movement of the 1990s, and it was a major influence on Kevin Smith, who has often stated Slacker was the inspiration for Clerks. Also, this movie supposedly popularized the term "slacker" to describe any person "characterized by apathy, aimlessness, and lack of ambition".
Over a 24 hour period in Austin, Texas, Linklater showcases dozens of mostly twenty-somethings all doing their part in keeping Austin weird. We see one or two characters converse about just about everything for a few minutes before we start to follow someone completely different and unrelated to the previous characters. The only common thing all of the movie's players have is that they might pass by one another on the streets during their daily routine, or perhaps, their lack of routine.
Highlights include Linklater as a chatty taxi passenger who just completed a long bus trip, the UFO "expert" in the Batman T-shirt trying to convince a complete stranger that the United States has really been traveling to the moon since the 1950s, yet another JFK conspiracy buff, someone who is really into collecting television sets (he even walks around with one strapped to his back!), an elderly anarchist who talks a younger man out of robbing his home with stories about where he was during Charles Whitman's rampage in 1966, and most bizarrely, the odd woman (Taylor) who walks up to a random couple offering to sell them a genuine "Madonna pap smear".
Highly recommended.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Fear Strikes Out
Fear Strikes Out. 1957 Paramount Pictures
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Adam Williams, Perry Wilson
Director: Robert Mulligan
Buy the DVD from Amazon.
Robert Mulligan's first feature length film is a loose adaptation of the autobiography by baseball player Jimmy Piersall, who is known for his problems with bipolar disorder. Piersall (Perkins in the film), in real life, played a seventeen year career filled with many notable and bizarre incidents with a lifetime batting average of .272 and 104 home runs before embarking on a career in broadcasting.
Piersall would later disown the film adaptation of his book, since he felt that the screenplay distorted facts, and it also made it appear that his father (played by Malden) pushed his son too hard, helping contribute to Jimmy's on-screen breakdown, following his first home run as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
Still, Fear Strikes Out as a film is a decent popcorn movie, and an easy recommendation from me. Just be sure to keep in mind that it's another baseball movie, not a true biopic of an interesting ball player.
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Adam Williams, Perry Wilson
Director: Robert Mulligan
Buy the DVD from Amazon.
Robert Mulligan's first feature length film is a loose adaptation of the autobiography by baseball player Jimmy Piersall, who is known for his problems with bipolar disorder. Piersall (Perkins in the film), in real life, played a seventeen year career filled with many notable and bizarre incidents with a lifetime batting average of .272 and 104 home runs before embarking on a career in broadcasting.
Piersall would later disown the film adaptation of his book, since he felt that the screenplay distorted facts, and it also made it appear that his father (played by Malden) pushed his son too hard, helping contribute to Jimmy's on-screen breakdown, following his first home run as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
Still, Fear Strikes Out as a film is a decent popcorn movie, and an easy recommendation from me. Just be sure to keep in mind that it's another baseball movie, not a true biopic of an interesting ball player.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
This Sporting Life
This Sporting Life (Criterion #417).
1963 Janus Films and The Rank Organisation
Starring: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell, Colin Blakely, Vanda Godsell
Produced by Karel Reisz
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Buy This Sporting Life from Amazon.
Lindsay Anderson's feature length debut is an outstanding example of the kitchen sink realism (the "British New Wave") that British cinema was producing between the late 1950s and early '60s. Richard Harris made his film debut here, and he won the Best Actor Award at the 1963 Cannes Film festival for his portrayal as the angry Yorkshire miner Frank Machin, who is recruited into a local rugby club after the team's manager witnesses a drunken fight between Machin and several of his players. Frank takes time to mature into a decent player, but he is signed to the premier team when the owner, Gerald Weaver (Badel) is impressed by Machin's aggressive play. In due time, Frank Machin has wealth and fame, but he finds that it's not enough to win the affections of his landlady, Mrs. Margaret Hammond (Roberts).
Margaret is the struggling mother of two young children, and her husband is recently deceased after an accident at Weaver's engineering firm which was ruled a suicide. At first, she rejects Frank's advances, but does begin a relationship with him that seems doomed from the start. Machin uses Margaret for sex, and she is still grief-stricken enough that she cannot return affection. Margaret, meanwhile, is upset at Frank's lack of social graces during a dinner date at a fancy restaurant. The affair ends, but a reconciliation is not in the cards. Margaret dies following a brain hemorrhage, and Frank finally realizes that his rugby career is probably no better than working all of his life operating machinery in a mine: both choices ultimately feels like an inescapable prison.
This Sporting Life also features William Hartnell as "Dad" Johnson, a rugby scout who is devoted to Frank to an uncomfortable degree even after Machin abandons him after his first taste of success. Hartnell's appearance here gained the attention of the first Doctor Who producer, Verity Lambert, and he would become the first Doctor that same year.
Get this DVD! Highly, highly recommended film.
1963 Janus Films and The Rank Organisation
Starring: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell, Colin Blakely, Vanda Godsell
Produced by Karel Reisz
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Buy This Sporting Life from Amazon.
Lindsay Anderson's feature length debut is an outstanding example of the kitchen sink realism (the "British New Wave") that British cinema was producing between the late 1950s and early '60s. Richard Harris made his film debut here, and he won the Best Actor Award at the 1963 Cannes Film festival for his portrayal as the angry Yorkshire miner Frank Machin, who is recruited into a local rugby club after the team's manager witnesses a drunken fight between Machin and several of his players. Frank takes time to mature into a decent player, but he is signed to the premier team when the owner, Gerald Weaver (Badel) is impressed by Machin's aggressive play. In due time, Frank Machin has wealth and fame, but he finds that it's not enough to win the affections of his landlady, Mrs. Margaret Hammond (Roberts).
Margaret is the struggling mother of two young children, and her husband is recently deceased after an accident at Weaver's engineering firm which was ruled a suicide. At first, she rejects Frank's advances, but does begin a relationship with him that seems doomed from the start. Machin uses Margaret for sex, and she is still grief-stricken enough that she cannot return affection. Margaret, meanwhile, is upset at Frank's lack of social graces during a dinner date at a fancy restaurant. The affair ends, but a reconciliation is not in the cards. Margaret dies following a brain hemorrhage, and Frank finally realizes that his rugby career is probably no better than working all of his life operating machinery in a mine: both choices ultimately feels like an inescapable prison.
This Sporting Life also features William Hartnell as "Dad" Johnson, a rugby scout who is devoted to Frank to an uncomfortable degree even after Machin abandons him after his first taste of success. Hartnell's appearance here gained the attention of the first Doctor Who producer, Verity Lambert, and he would become the first Doctor that same year.
Get this DVD! Highly, highly recommended film.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Don't Look Now
Don't Look Now. 1973 Paramount Pictures
Starring: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Sharon Williams, Massimo Serato, Hilary Mason, Renato Scarpa, Clelia Matania
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Buy Don't Look Now at Amazon.
An occult thriller where director Roeg employs several recurring themes: notably water, the color red, glass being used as an omen of bad things to come, and plenty of flashbacks and flash-forwards. Don't Look Now is also well remembered for its graphic sex scene with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, which included a rare depiction of cunnilingus. The scene obviously caused controversy with censors on both sides of the Atlantic, and it led to rumors that Christie and Sutherland engaged in unsimulated sex, with outtakes allegedly being passed between screening rooms. The film, after some minor editing, ended up getting an R rating in the United States; the uncut version was declared to be "tasteful and integral to the plot" by the British Board of Film Classification. Also, producer Michael Deeley claimed on the BBC that Warren Beatty, who was seeing Christie at the time, flew to England to demand the sex scene cut from the film. Unlike the unsimulated sex rumor, this one was confirmed many years later.
After the accidental drowning of their young daughter Christine (Williams) at their country home in England, John Baxter (Sutherland) and his wife Laurie (Christie) are staying in Venice where John is help restoring an old church at the request of a bishop (Serato). At lunch one afternoon, Laura meets two eldery sisters, one of whom (Mason) is blind, claims to be psychic, and she--Heather--informs Laura that she is in contact with Christine, describing the attire she wore on the day of her death, and asserting she is happy. Laura is shaken enough that she faints at her table, and she tells John what the sisters told her at the restaurant. John is skeptical, but seems to be happy at his wife's new positive demeanor. Later that evening, they go out to dinner, become separated, and John sees what looks like a small child wearing a similar red coat that Christine was wearing when she drowned. The following day, Laura meets with the sisters, and Heather supposedly makes contact with Christine, who says that John is in great danger and must leave Venice.
Laura ends up leaving after a telephone call comes from England saying that their son has been injured in an accident. John, though, is shocked when he sees Laura later that day on a barge along with the two sisters that's part of a funeral procession. John reports his wife's disappearance to the police, worried about her obsession with Christine, and influenced by reports of a serial killer stalking Venice, but finds himself followed by a police inspector (Scarpa) who is suspicious of him. The misunderstanding with Laura is soon cleared up, but John has another vision of the child in the red coat again. Heather and her sister are taken in for questioning, so John brings them back to the hotel...where Heather enters a trance, and John again sees the figure in red, and this time decides to pursue him/her...
What could it mean?
Interesting movie where Nicolas Roeg pays homage to the work of Alfred Hitchcock while perfecting his unique editing style seen before in Performance and Walkabout. Recommended film.
Starring: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Sharon Williams, Massimo Serato, Hilary Mason, Renato Scarpa, Clelia Matania
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Buy Don't Look Now at Amazon.
An occult thriller where director Roeg employs several recurring themes: notably water, the color red, glass being used as an omen of bad things to come, and plenty of flashbacks and flash-forwards. Don't Look Now is also well remembered for its graphic sex scene with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, which included a rare depiction of cunnilingus. The scene obviously caused controversy with censors on both sides of the Atlantic, and it led to rumors that Christie and Sutherland engaged in unsimulated sex, with outtakes allegedly being passed between screening rooms. The film, after some minor editing, ended up getting an R rating in the United States; the uncut version was declared to be "tasteful and integral to the plot" by the British Board of Film Classification. Also, producer Michael Deeley claimed on the BBC that Warren Beatty, who was seeing Christie at the time, flew to England to demand the sex scene cut from the film. Unlike the unsimulated sex rumor, this one was confirmed many years later.
After the accidental drowning of their young daughter Christine (Williams) at their country home in England, John Baxter (Sutherland) and his wife Laurie (Christie) are staying in Venice where John is help restoring an old church at the request of a bishop (Serato). At lunch one afternoon, Laura meets two eldery sisters, one of whom (Mason) is blind, claims to be psychic, and she--Heather--informs Laura that she is in contact with Christine, describing the attire she wore on the day of her death, and asserting she is happy. Laura is shaken enough that she faints at her table, and she tells John what the sisters told her at the restaurant. John is skeptical, but seems to be happy at his wife's new positive demeanor. Later that evening, they go out to dinner, become separated, and John sees what looks like a small child wearing a similar red coat that Christine was wearing when she drowned. The following day, Laura meets with the sisters, and Heather supposedly makes contact with Christine, who says that John is in great danger and must leave Venice.
Laura ends up leaving after a telephone call comes from England saying that their son has been injured in an accident. John, though, is shocked when he sees Laura later that day on a barge along with the two sisters that's part of a funeral procession. John reports his wife's disappearance to the police, worried about her obsession with Christine, and influenced by reports of a serial killer stalking Venice, but finds himself followed by a police inspector (Scarpa) who is suspicious of him. The misunderstanding with Laura is soon cleared up, but John has another vision of the child in the red coat again. Heather and her sister are taken in for questioning, so John brings them back to the hotel...where Heather enters a trance, and John again sees the figure in red, and this time decides to pursue him/her...
What could it mean?
Interesting movie where Nicolas Roeg pays homage to the work of Alfred Hitchcock while perfecting his unique editing style seen before in Performance and Walkabout. Recommended film.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H. 1970 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Gary Burghoff, Fred Williamson, Bud Cort, Kim Atwood, Marvin Miller
Screenplay: Ring Lardner, Jr.
Director: Robert Altman
Availavle from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Robert Altman Collection.
Based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, and set during the Korean War in 1951, Robert Altman's M*A*S*H was a huge hit in 1970, when many Americans were confused, weary, and angry about the ongoing conflict in Vietnam. M*A*S*H was also Altman's first project employing his filmmaking trademarks of widescreen photography, zoom lenses, overlapping sounds and dialogue, and a large ensemble cast largely improvising when the cameras were on. It also inspired the sitcom on CBS that ran for eleven years, even if Altman hated the show, and would only refer to it as "that series".
The film itself has several different ongoing storylines surrounding the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital; namely the arrival of the rebellious and mischievous new surgeons Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Sutherland) and Captain Duke Forrest (Skerritt) to the 4077th, who arrive in a "borrowed" Jeep, flirt with the nursing staff, and begin feuding with their tent mate Major Frank Burns (Duvall).
* A new thoracic surgeron named "Trapper" John McIntyre (Gould) comes to the unit, and Hawkeye is absolutely convinced he knows him from somewhere, even if Trapper John isn't talking about who he is, or where he came from. Trapper John also witnesses Major Burns blame another private for a patient's death, which leads to Burns getting punched out in front of another newcomer: Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Kellerman). Burns and Hot Lips find that they have repressed sexual tension for one another, which leads to a publicly broadcast tryst over the camp's PA system. Hawkeye taunts him the next day, and Burns attacks him, which gets him sent back to the United States.
* Meanwhile, Father Mulcahy (Auberjonois) discloses to Hawkeye later on that the unit's dentist Painless Pole (John Schuck) believes he is homosexual and decides he's going to kill himself. Hawkeye and company stage an impromptu Last Supper where Painless takes a "black capsule", which is actually a sleeping pill. Hawkeye then arranges a sexual encounter between Painless and another nurse who is returning to America soon, thus curing Painless of his "problem".
* Duke and Hawkeye make a bet that Hot Lips isn't a natural blonde, so they come up with a plan to see if the curtains match the drapes, so to speak, publicly humiliating Hot Lips after she's caught by the boys in the shower. She goes to Colonel Blake ranting and raving, and ultimately threatens to resigns her goddamn commission. There's also an ongoing plot featuring Ho-Jon (Atwood), who is drafted into South Korea's army, but after Hawkeye drives him to an induction center, he is found to have high blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat, but he is not disqualified from service. Instead, it's insinuated that Hawkeye gave Ho-Jon medicine to induce those symptoms to keep him from being conscripted.
* Trapper and Hawkeye are sent to Japan to operate on the son of a U.S. congressman...and to play golf on decent courses. They arrive and order the man into surgery immediately, so they can get on the links that much faster, not to mention enjoying a decent lunch. Hawkeye and Trapper also encounter problems with the hospital's commander, who can't stop the "Pros from Dover" from returning with a Japanese-American baby with serious medical issues. The commander is sedated, and then blackmailed when he is photographed in bed with a prostitute.
* The 4077th plays a friendly football game with General Hammond's (G. Wood) unit, where some money is thrown into the pot to make it interesting. Hawkeye enlists a neurosurgeon, Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones (Williamson), a former pro player, to play for their side while wheeling and dealing with the money bet on the game. Jones is kept out of the game until the second half. Even with Jones on their side, the 4077th does win the game on the last play of the game in a "semilegal" play, leading to a big ol' brawl after the game.
M*A*S*H is also well known for the song "Suicide is Painless", with lyrics written by Altman's son Mike, who ultimately made more money than his father got for directing the film in royalties. The making of the movie was reportedly difficult, thanks to tension between Altman and his cast. Donald Sutherland claimed he was the only principal cast member not using drugs during filming, and he along with Elliot Gould spent a third of their time on the set trying to get 20th Century Fox to fire Altman, who at the time had not earned the credentials to justify his unique filmmaking process. The film also earned one Academy Award, for Ring Lardner, Jr., who had spent twelve years blacklisted by the Hollywood studios (1954-66) by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which went along with another Oscar that he wrote under a pseudonym during his twelve year ban (he never revealed for what movie).
Highly, highly, highly recommended film.
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Gary Burghoff, Fred Williamson, Bud Cort, Kim Atwood, Marvin Miller
Screenplay: Ring Lardner, Jr.
Director: Robert Altman
Availavle from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Robert Altman Collection.
Based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, and set during the Korean War in 1951, Robert Altman's M*A*S*H was a huge hit in 1970, when many Americans were confused, weary, and angry about the ongoing conflict in Vietnam. M*A*S*H was also Altman's first project employing his filmmaking trademarks of widescreen photography, zoom lenses, overlapping sounds and dialogue, and a large ensemble cast largely improvising when the cameras were on. It also inspired the sitcom on CBS that ran for eleven years, even if Altman hated the show, and would only refer to it as "that series".
The film itself has several different ongoing storylines surrounding the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital; namely the arrival of the rebellious and mischievous new surgeons Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Sutherland) and Captain Duke Forrest (Skerritt) to the 4077th, who arrive in a "borrowed" Jeep, flirt with the nursing staff, and begin feuding with their tent mate Major Frank Burns (Duvall).
* A new thoracic surgeron named "Trapper" John McIntyre (Gould) comes to the unit, and Hawkeye is absolutely convinced he knows him from somewhere, even if Trapper John isn't talking about who he is, or where he came from. Trapper John also witnesses Major Burns blame another private for a patient's death, which leads to Burns getting punched out in front of another newcomer: Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Kellerman). Burns and Hot Lips find that they have repressed sexual tension for one another, which leads to a publicly broadcast tryst over the camp's PA system. Hawkeye taunts him the next day, and Burns attacks him, which gets him sent back to the United States.
* Meanwhile, Father Mulcahy (Auberjonois) discloses to Hawkeye later on that the unit's dentist Painless Pole (John Schuck) believes he is homosexual and decides he's going to kill himself. Hawkeye and company stage an impromptu Last Supper where Painless takes a "black capsule", which is actually a sleeping pill. Hawkeye then arranges a sexual encounter between Painless and another nurse who is returning to America soon, thus curing Painless of his "problem".
* Duke and Hawkeye make a bet that Hot Lips isn't a natural blonde, so they come up with a plan to see if the curtains match the drapes, so to speak, publicly humiliating Hot Lips after she's caught by the boys in the shower. She goes to Colonel Blake ranting and raving, and ultimately threatens to resigns her goddamn commission. There's also an ongoing plot featuring Ho-Jon (Atwood), who is drafted into South Korea's army, but after Hawkeye drives him to an induction center, he is found to have high blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat, but he is not disqualified from service. Instead, it's insinuated that Hawkeye gave Ho-Jon medicine to induce those symptoms to keep him from being conscripted.
* Trapper and Hawkeye are sent to Japan to operate on the son of a U.S. congressman...and to play golf on decent courses. They arrive and order the man into surgery immediately, so they can get on the links that much faster, not to mention enjoying a decent lunch. Hawkeye and Trapper also encounter problems with the hospital's commander, who can't stop the "Pros from Dover" from returning with a Japanese-American baby with serious medical issues. The commander is sedated, and then blackmailed when he is photographed in bed with a prostitute.
* The 4077th plays a friendly football game with General Hammond's (G. Wood) unit, where some money is thrown into the pot to make it interesting. Hawkeye enlists a neurosurgeon, Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones (Williamson), a former pro player, to play for their side while wheeling and dealing with the money bet on the game. Jones is kept out of the game until the second half. Even with Jones on their side, the 4077th does win the game on the last play of the game in a "semilegal" play, leading to a big ol' brawl after the game.
M*A*S*H is also well known for the song "Suicide is Painless", with lyrics written by Altman's son Mike, who ultimately made more money than his father got for directing the film in royalties. The making of the movie was reportedly difficult, thanks to tension between Altman and his cast. Donald Sutherland claimed he was the only principal cast member not using drugs during filming, and he along with Elliot Gould spent a third of their time on the set trying to get 20th Century Fox to fire Altman, who at the time had not earned the credentials to justify his unique filmmaking process. The film also earned one Academy Award, for Ring Lardner, Jr., who had spent twelve years blacklisted by the Hollywood studios (1954-66) by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which went along with another Oscar that he wrote under a pseudonym during his twelve year ban (he never revealed for what movie).
Highly, highly, highly recommended film.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Tron
Tron. 1982 Walt Disney Pictures.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes, Dan Shor
Director: Steven Lisberger
Tron is available on Disney DVD from Amazon. Tell 'em Clu sent you...
The origin of Tron dates back to 1976 when director Steven Lisberger became fascinated with the video game Pong, and he envisioned a movie based on video games. Originally intended to be a completely animated movie, Lisberger and producer Donald Kushner decided to incorporate live action sequences. Disney eventually green-lit the project after being rejected by several other Hollywood studios (Warner Bros., MGM, Columbia). At the time, Disney seldom employed outsiders to produce movies for them, so Lisberger and company were given less than a warm welcome by Disney employees. The finished product may look primitive and cheesy now, but in 1982, it was something else to behold.
Jeff Bridges is Kevin Flynn, a software engineer who is trying to hack into the mainframe of his former employers at ENCOM, seeking evidence that a senior executive named Ed Dillinger (Warner) stole his coding and passed it off as his own, leading to Dillinger's rapid rise in the company, and to Flynn being fired, taking a job running a video arcade filled with the games he wrote and designed. Flynn is blocked by the Master Control Program that controls ENCOM's mainframe. The same program is blackmailing Dillinger, threatening to reveal to the world that he truly stole Flynn's codes after the executive tried to halt the program from hacking into the Pentagon and Kremlin.
ENCOM employees Alan Bradley (Boxleitner) and Lora Baines (Morgan) drop by Flynn's arcade one night to tell him about Dillinger's new tighter security clearances after Flynn's attempts to break in. Flynn convinces them both to let him into ENCOM so he can get around the security clearances for Bradley's security program called "Tron" to monitor communications between the Master Control Program and the outside world. At the labratory, Flynn attempts to break into the system, but the MCP takes control of a nearby laser for "quantum teleportation", and digitizes Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe. Inside of the mainframe, Programs appear in the likeness of the real world Users who created them, but the MCP and its commander Sark (Warner) have run roughshod over the Programs, who have given up their belief in the Users, and the MCP has assumed near complete control over input and output within the mainframe.
While being forced to engage in gladitorial games where the loser is destroyed, Flynn meets Tron (Boxleitner), and the two escape deeper into the system during a Light Cycle match. The two are split up, but Flynn discovers that as a User, he can manipulate the physical laws of the digital world. With help from another program called Yori (Morgan), our digital heroes make their way to the core of the MCP and battle Sark. Sark is briefly destroyed, but he is restored by the MCP, which gives him all of its functions. After Flynn jumps directly into the MCP, it lets its guard down long enough for Tron to throw his disc into its core, destroying it and Sark, freeing the digital world. Flynn is then sent back to the real world, along with printed evidence that Dillinger has "annexed" his code. Dillinger arrives at work the next morning, finding the MCP non-functional and evidence of his crime displayed on his computer screen. Some time after this, Flynn becomes the CEO of ENCOM...
...until his disappearance in 1989, but that's a different movie, which will be reviewed here later this week.
Another great sci-fi classic movie that may look dated, but it's still great. Highly recommended.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes, Dan Shor
Director: Steven Lisberger
Tron is available on Disney DVD from Amazon. Tell 'em Clu sent you...
The origin of Tron dates back to 1976 when director Steven Lisberger became fascinated with the video game Pong, and he envisioned a movie based on video games. Originally intended to be a completely animated movie, Lisberger and producer Donald Kushner decided to incorporate live action sequences. Disney eventually green-lit the project after being rejected by several other Hollywood studios (Warner Bros., MGM, Columbia). At the time, Disney seldom employed outsiders to produce movies for them, so Lisberger and company were given less than a warm welcome by Disney employees. The finished product may look primitive and cheesy now, but in 1982, it was something else to behold.
Jeff Bridges is Kevin Flynn, a software engineer who is trying to hack into the mainframe of his former employers at ENCOM, seeking evidence that a senior executive named Ed Dillinger (Warner) stole his coding and passed it off as his own, leading to Dillinger's rapid rise in the company, and to Flynn being fired, taking a job running a video arcade filled with the games he wrote and designed. Flynn is blocked by the Master Control Program that controls ENCOM's mainframe. The same program is blackmailing Dillinger, threatening to reveal to the world that he truly stole Flynn's codes after the executive tried to halt the program from hacking into the Pentagon and Kremlin.
ENCOM employees Alan Bradley (Boxleitner) and Lora Baines (Morgan) drop by Flynn's arcade one night to tell him about Dillinger's new tighter security clearances after Flynn's attempts to break in. Flynn convinces them both to let him into ENCOM so he can get around the security clearances for Bradley's security program called "Tron" to monitor communications between the Master Control Program and the outside world. At the labratory, Flynn attempts to break into the system, but the MCP takes control of a nearby laser for "quantum teleportation", and digitizes Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe. Inside of the mainframe, Programs appear in the likeness of the real world Users who created them, but the MCP and its commander Sark (Warner) have run roughshod over the Programs, who have given up their belief in the Users, and the MCP has assumed near complete control over input and output within the mainframe.
While being forced to engage in gladitorial games where the loser is destroyed, Flynn meets Tron (Boxleitner), and the two escape deeper into the system during a Light Cycle match. The two are split up, but Flynn discovers that as a User, he can manipulate the physical laws of the digital world. With help from another program called Yori (Morgan), our digital heroes make their way to the core of the MCP and battle Sark. Sark is briefly destroyed, but he is restored by the MCP, which gives him all of its functions. After Flynn jumps directly into the MCP, it lets its guard down long enough for Tron to throw his disc into its core, destroying it and Sark, freeing the digital world. Flynn is then sent back to the real world, along with printed evidence that Dillinger has "annexed" his code. Dillinger arrives at work the next morning, finding the MCP non-functional and evidence of his crime displayed on his computer screen. Some time after this, Flynn becomes the CEO of ENCOM...
...until his disappearance in 1989, but that's a different movie, which will be reviewed here later this week.
Another great sci-fi classic movie that may look dated, but it's still great. Highly recommended.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Logan's Run
Logan's Run. 1976 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Roscoe Lee Brown, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Michael Anderson Jr., Peter Ustinov
Director: Michael Anderson
Available from Amazon for cheap right now...
Logan 5 (York) is a Sandman, operating within a large domed city in the 23rd century. This domed city contains survivors of "war, overpopulation and pollution". Infants are implanted with a "Lifeclock" in their hands, a device that changes color as they grow older. When a citizen reaches their "last day" at age 30, the Lifeclock blinks red, then blacks, and they must report to "Carrousel", where they are told that there is hope of Renewal, a form of reincarnation. Those who refuse to submit to Carrousel are labeled "Runners", and the Sandmen are responsible for hunting down and terminating them. Logan and his friend Francis 7 (Jordan) attend a Carrousel ceremony, leaving briefly to hunt down and kill a Runner. This particular Runner was carrying a silver ankh.
After hours, Logan meets Jessica 6 (Agutter) who is also wearing a similar ankh. She declines his sexual advances, but they still discuss why it's wrong to run. The next day, Logan turns in the ankh at Sandman headquarters, and the supercomputer within the complex reveals that the ankh is a symbol for a group of outsiders assisting Runners trying to reach "Sanctuary". Logan is assigned to find Sanctuary and destroy it, and the computer advances his Lifeclock so he can pass as a runner. The computer ignores Logan's questions about whether or not he'll need assistance from another Sandman, or if his Lifeclock will be reset after the fact. Logan goes to recruit Jessica, seeking her help in reaching Sanctuary; she is reluctant to join Logan until she sees him assisting a Runner instead of killing her. Unfortunately, Francis also witnesses this, and he's unaware of Logan's undercover assignment, so he kills the Runner, then starts chasing Logan and Jessica.
From there, Logan and Jessica make their way through the bowels of city with Francis on their heels, encountering a bizarre robot named Box (Browne) whose job is preserving any food that comes his way, Runners included, and eventually, they escape the domed city entirely. Upon discovering the ruins of Washington, D.C. outside after a long journey in the outdoors, Logan and Jessica realize there is no Sanctuary. There is, though, an old man (Ustinov) living in the old Senate building with a roomful of cats, to their surprise. While there is no Sanctuary, there is now the knowledge that life does not have to end at age thirty...as the rest of the domed city's inhabitants will soon discover.
A great sci-fi popcorn movie. Highly recommended film.
Starring: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Roscoe Lee Brown, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Michael Anderson Jr., Peter Ustinov
Director: Michael Anderson
Available from Amazon for cheap right now...
Logan 5 (York) is a Sandman, operating within a large domed city in the 23rd century. This domed city contains survivors of "war, overpopulation and pollution". Infants are implanted with a "Lifeclock" in their hands, a device that changes color as they grow older. When a citizen reaches their "last day" at age 30, the Lifeclock blinks red, then blacks, and they must report to "Carrousel", where they are told that there is hope of Renewal, a form of reincarnation. Those who refuse to submit to Carrousel are labeled "Runners", and the Sandmen are responsible for hunting down and terminating them. Logan and his friend Francis 7 (Jordan) attend a Carrousel ceremony, leaving briefly to hunt down and kill a Runner. This particular Runner was carrying a silver ankh.
After hours, Logan meets Jessica 6 (Agutter) who is also wearing a similar ankh. She declines his sexual advances, but they still discuss why it's wrong to run. The next day, Logan turns in the ankh at Sandman headquarters, and the supercomputer within the complex reveals that the ankh is a symbol for a group of outsiders assisting Runners trying to reach "Sanctuary". Logan is assigned to find Sanctuary and destroy it, and the computer advances his Lifeclock so he can pass as a runner. The computer ignores Logan's questions about whether or not he'll need assistance from another Sandman, or if his Lifeclock will be reset after the fact. Logan goes to recruit Jessica, seeking her help in reaching Sanctuary; she is reluctant to join Logan until she sees him assisting a Runner instead of killing her. Unfortunately, Francis also witnesses this, and he's unaware of Logan's undercover assignment, so he kills the Runner, then starts chasing Logan and Jessica.
From there, Logan and Jessica make their way through the bowels of city with Francis on their heels, encountering a bizarre robot named Box (Browne) whose job is preserving any food that comes his way, Runners included, and eventually, they escape the domed city entirely. Upon discovering the ruins of Washington, D.C. outside after a long journey in the outdoors, Logan and Jessica realize there is no Sanctuary. There is, though, an old man (Ustinov) living in the old Senate building with a roomful of cats, to their surprise. While there is no Sanctuary, there is now the knowledge that life does not have to end at age thirty...as the rest of the domed city's inhabitants will soon discover.
A great sci-fi popcorn movie. Highly recommended film.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The King of Marvin Gardens
The King of Marvin Gardens (Criterion #550).
1972 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson, Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers, Charles LaVine, Josh Mostel
Director: Bob Rafelson
Available as a single DVD, or part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set (standard DVD) (Blu-ray).
This 1972 film directed by Bob Rafelson was reissued last year in one of the most (IMHO) exciting home video releases of 2010, Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Originally, the project was supposed to be released by Sony with the generic "New Hollywood" title in fall of 2009, but at some point, Sony licensed the set to Criterion, who worked their unique brand of magic on the seven films included, and the plethora of extras found on each disc. BBS Productions was formed in 1968 by Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, financed by the success of the Monkees' TV series. Over the next four years, BBS would create and release some undisputed classic films which were distributed by Columbia Pictures, notably Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, and The Last Picture Show. BBS was also responsible for the Academy Award winning 1974 Vietnam documentary Hearts of Minds, which is not included on the BBS set, but it has its own Criterion release.
The King of Marvin Gardens stars Jack Nicholson, playing against type as a depressing and almost passive radio host named David Staebler, also known as "The Philosopher", who spends his evenings depressing and boring the hell out of anyone who's listening in or around Philadelphia. One of his favorite topics to discuss on the air is his older brother Jason (Dern), who at the time, is in jail, allegedly for stealing a car. After one memorably bad show, David is called upon to bail Jason out of the hoosegow, with the help of a shady businessman named Lewis (Crothers). Arriving in Atlantic City, the bold and outgoing Jason ropes his brother into an outrageous scheme: buying a small island near Hawaii, and turning it into a resort. Jason is also living with two girlfriends in a once-grand Atlantic City hotel; the aging beauty queen Sally (Burstyn) and her stepdaughter Jessie (Robinson). Sally starts to grow paranoid that Jason will abandon her once his "upcoming success" in Hawaii becomes a reality.
The tension between Sally and Jessie gradually increases over the course of the movie, and David seems to realize that Jason's plans simply aren't going to happen, especially after a debacle of a lobster dinner with two potential investors from Japan, who do not come through. Also, Jason seems to be confident that he can get financial support from Lewis, who isn't buying in, as David will find out one evening. Tragically, Jason's grand scheme never gets out of Atlantic City, as Sally shoots him to death following a loud argument between the two of them and David.
A great movie, even if it was a bleak and depressing one at time. Its violent ending seemed almost appropriate in this character study of four people with no real future to their lives or any chance to escape Atlantic City, New Jersey. Recommended movie.
1972 BBS Productions and Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson, Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers, Charles LaVine, Josh Mostel
Director: Bob Rafelson
Available as a single DVD, or part of Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set (standard DVD) (Blu-ray).
This 1972 film directed by Bob Rafelson was reissued last year in one of the most (IMHO) exciting home video releases of 2010, Criterion's America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. Originally, the project was supposed to be released by Sony with the generic "New Hollywood" title in fall of 2009, but at some point, Sony licensed the set to Criterion, who worked their unique brand of magic on the seven films included, and the plethora of extras found on each disc. BBS Productions was formed in 1968 by Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, financed by the success of the Monkees' TV series. Over the next four years, BBS would create and release some undisputed classic films which were distributed by Columbia Pictures, notably Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, and The Last Picture Show. BBS was also responsible for the Academy Award winning 1974 Vietnam documentary Hearts of Minds, which is not included on the BBS set, but it has its own Criterion release.
The King of Marvin Gardens stars Jack Nicholson, playing against type as a depressing and almost passive radio host named David Staebler, also known as "The Philosopher", who spends his evenings depressing and boring the hell out of anyone who's listening in or around Philadelphia. One of his favorite topics to discuss on the air is his older brother Jason (Dern), who at the time, is in jail, allegedly for stealing a car. After one memorably bad show, David is called upon to bail Jason out of the hoosegow, with the help of a shady businessman named Lewis (Crothers). Arriving in Atlantic City, the bold and outgoing Jason ropes his brother into an outrageous scheme: buying a small island near Hawaii, and turning it into a resort. Jason is also living with two girlfriends in a once-grand Atlantic City hotel; the aging beauty queen Sally (Burstyn) and her stepdaughter Jessie (Robinson). Sally starts to grow paranoid that Jason will abandon her once his "upcoming success" in Hawaii becomes a reality.
The tension between Sally and Jessie gradually increases over the course of the movie, and David seems to realize that Jason's plans simply aren't going to happen, especially after a debacle of a lobster dinner with two potential investors from Japan, who do not come through. Also, Jason seems to be confident that he can get financial support from Lewis, who isn't buying in, as David will find out one evening. Tragically, Jason's grand scheme never gets out of Atlantic City, as Sally shoots him to death following a loud argument between the two of them and David.
A great movie, even if it was a bleak and depressing one at time. Its violent ending seemed almost appropriate in this character study of four people with no real future to their lives or any chance to escape Atlantic City, New Jersey. Recommended movie.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Talk Radio
Talk Radio.
1988 Cineplex Odeon Films and Universal Pictures.
Starring: Eric Bogosian, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, John Pankow, Michael Wincott
Music: Stewart Copeland
Director: Oliver Stone
Available for purchase at Amazon.
Talk Radio is based on Eric Bogosian's stage play, and portions of the screenplay was based on the 1984 assassination of Denver radio personality Alan Berg at the hands of neo-Nazis.
Bogosian is Dallas radio personality Barry Champlain, a host of a nightly Dallas program called Night Talk. Champlain's trademark is arguing with and insulting his callers, an audience of freaks, losers, racists, homophobes, and more than a few people who wouldn't think twice of ending Champlain's life because his nightly tirades infuriate them so much. Champlain usually hangs up on many of his callers, and they usually call back for another round of verbal fisticuffs with the host. Barry Champlain, despite his brash public persona, is actually a very insecure, self-loathing man. He was a clothes salesman who somehow lucked into a radio gig one fateful afternoon, and as his fame and audience grew, Barry started to live his outrageous radio persona off the air as well.
One Friday night, Champlain learns that his show will be picked up for national syndication, and the first nationwide show is scheduled for the following Monday. While being syndicated nationally will potentially mean more money, more fame, and a country filled with would-be listeners for him, Barry is less than thrilled at the news. He's dealing with the end of his relationship with a younger female producer named Laura (Hope), and the possibility that his new syndication bosses will neuter his show and his on-air persona. Barry's supportive ex-wife Ellen (Greene) flies into town to be on hand for what is supposed to be his first national program, but what she witnesses instead is completely the opposite of what should be a celebration: her former husband crashing and burning spectacularly on the air.
Great, great, GREAT movie. Eric Bogosian's performance was incredible. Highly, highly recommended film.
1988 Cineplex Odeon Films and Universal Pictures.
Starring: Eric Bogosian, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, John Pankow, Michael Wincott
Music: Stewart Copeland
Director: Oliver Stone
Available for purchase at Amazon.
Talk Radio is based on Eric Bogosian's stage play, and portions of the screenplay was based on the 1984 assassination of Denver radio personality Alan Berg at the hands of neo-Nazis.
Bogosian is Dallas radio personality Barry Champlain, a host of a nightly Dallas program called Night Talk. Champlain's trademark is arguing with and insulting his callers, an audience of freaks, losers, racists, homophobes, and more than a few people who wouldn't think twice of ending Champlain's life because his nightly tirades infuriate them so much. Champlain usually hangs up on many of his callers, and they usually call back for another round of verbal fisticuffs with the host. Barry Champlain, despite his brash public persona, is actually a very insecure, self-loathing man. He was a clothes salesman who somehow lucked into a radio gig one fateful afternoon, and as his fame and audience grew, Barry started to live his outrageous radio persona off the air as well.
One Friday night, Champlain learns that his show will be picked up for national syndication, and the first nationwide show is scheduled for the following Monday. While being syndicated nationally will potentially mean more money, more fame, and a country filled with would-be listeners for him, Barry is less than thrilled at the news. He's dealing with the end of his relationship with a younger female producer named Laura (Hope), and the possibility that his new syndication bosses will neuter his show and his on-air persona. Barry's supportive ex-wife Ellen (Greene) flies into town to be on hand for what is supposed to be his first national program, but what she witnesses instead is completely the opposite of what should be a celebration: her former husband crashing and burning spectacularly on the air.
Great, great, GREAT movie. Eric Bogosian's performance was incredible. Highly, highly recommended film.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
International House
International House.
1933 Paramount Pictures; owned and distributed to DVD by Universal.
Starring: Peggy Hopkins Joyce, W.C. Fields, Stuart Erwin, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Sari Maritza, Lumsden Hare, Bela Lugosi, Franklin Pangborn, Edmund Breese, Colonel Stoopnagle and Budd
Also featuring: Rudy Vallee, Cab Calloway, Baby Rose Marie, Sterling Holloway
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Available as part of the first W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, on sale at Amazon.
A star studded sketch film built around Dr. Wong (Breese) inventing a dandy contraption called a "radioscope", which features elements of television, and it also can pick up and zoom in on anything or anybody around the world. Not only that, the radioscope also provides snapshots of popular stage and radio performers. Wong plans to reveal his invention to the rest of the guests at the International House Hotel in Wuhu, China, and many of those guests make no secret that they hope to buy, or steal, the radioscope for themselves.
After the unexpected arrival of Professor Henry R, Quail (Fields), who had intended to travel to Kansas City, another guest named Tommy Nash (Erwin) becomes ill, leading to the hotel being quarantined. Nash is having a streak of bad luck, since he gets sick every time he attempts to marry his fiancee Carol (Maritza). Quail stays the night after disrupting the entire hotel and radioscope demonstration as only W.C. Fields can, and he leaves the next morning with Peggy Hopkins Joyce, escaping her ex-husband Nicholas Petronovich (Lugosi), who is at the hotel hoping to profit by stealing the radioscope for himself.
Great performances from everyone involved, particularly Fields, Lugosi, Burns and Allen. Highly recommended comedy from the era before the Motion Picture Production Code was implemented, hence the inclusion of a performance of Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing a wonderful ditty entitled "Reefer Man". Rock!
1933 Paramount Pictures; owned and distributed to DVD by Universal.
Starring: Peggy Hopkins Joyce, W.C. Fields, Stuart Erwin, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Sari Maritza, Lumsden Hare, Bela Lugosi, Franklin Pangborn, Edmund Breese, Colonel Stoopnagle and Budd
Also featuring: Rudy Vallee, Cab Calloway, Baby Rose Marie, Sterling Holloway
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Available as part of the first W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, on sale at Amazon.
A star studded sketch film built around Dr. Wong (Breese) inventing a dandy contraption called a "radioscope", which features elements of television, and it also can pick up and zoom in on anything or anybody around the world. Not only that, the radioscope also provides snapshots of popular stage and radio performers. Wong plans to reveal his invention to the rest of the guests at the International House Hotel in Wuhu, China, and many of those guests make no secret that they hope to buy, or steal, the radioscope for themselves.
After the unexpected arrival of Professor Henry R, Quail (Fields), who had intended to travel to Kansas City, another guest named Tommy Nash (Erwin) becomes ill, leading to the hotel being quarantined. Nash is having a streak of bad luck, since he gets sick every time he attempts to marry his fiancee Carol (Maritza). Quail stays the night after disrupting the entire hotel and radioscope demonstration as only W.C. Fields can, and he leaves the next morning with Peggy Hopkins Joyce, escaping her ex-husband Nicholas Petronovich (Lugosi), who is at the hotel hoping to profit by stealing the radioscope for himself.
Great performances from everyone involved, particularly Fields, Lugosi, Burns and Allen. Highly recommended comedy from the era before the Motion Picture Production Code was implemented, hence the inclusion of a performance of Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing a wonderful ditty entitled "Reefer Man". Rock!
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