Shampoo (1975) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series

 

I wrote about this film just a couple of years ago on the 1975 Throwback Thursday Project that I did. You can read those comments here. I don’t know that my opinion has changed much on the film, it is still a mildly humorous look at mores of the era (set in 1968 but easily applicable to the 70s). Warren Beatty Produced, Co-Wrote and stars in this film from Director Hal Ashby. The events all take place on election day in 1968, but not a single character is shown to participate in the election process. There are a few news clips in the background, some of which are meant to carry irony, given the passage of time from when the film is set, to the time that the film was released.

George is a hairdresser in Beverly Hills, who styles himself as an artist, and not just a barber. From the very beginning, we know that he is straight, and it is clear from the number of women he beds, that he also wants to be Warren Beatty in real life. Near the end of the picture we learn that the main thing that drew him to the field was the target rich environment that the hairdressing industry would be. Whereas he might have been admired as a “player” fifty years ago, today he would be seen as a predator. He is not malicious but he is selfishly using his partners instead of developing a relationship with them. Julie Christie and Lee Grant are able to defend themselves to some degree, but they are hurt by George in spite of their insights about him. The character we are going to feel the most empathy for is Goldie Hawn’s Jill.

Jack Warden plays a powerful businessman, Lester, married to Grant, while carrying on an affair with Christie. George is a former lover of Christie’s Jackie, but Lester does not know that and thinks George is gay. George is sleeping with Felicia, Lee Grant’s character. So George is involved with two of the women that Lester is involved with, and the confusion over how they all play out the dance is the stem of the story. All of the events take place over a 48 hour period, so there are lots of awkward moments surrounding chance meetings, hair appointments, business deals and political events.

Both George and Lester are manipulators, and although he is sometimes harsh in assessing women, Lester may be the more honest and respectable of the two. George is a nicer guy to know, but he is callous in a way that is unexpected and wounds the women more deeply than the shallow hurts that Lester inflicts.

Everyone ends up at two different parties on the same night. The uptight election watching party forces everyone to deny their feelings for each other, while the second party that is hosted at a Playboy style mansion, seems freer but is just as deadly to true love as anything else in the film. Both parties give us glimpses of the cultural divide that was rising in the period. Race and the War are barely mentioned, this is a clash over ethics and how we manage our romantic feelings. The film does not have a clear answer, but it is clear that George ends up with the short end of the stick, and he has no one to blame but himself.

Legally Blonde (2001)/ Clueless (1995) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series Double Feature

A rare Wednesday double feature at the Paramount this week with a screening of "Legally Blonde" and "Clueless". Both films have elements of female empowerment in them, and both of them have completely silly components, which keep them firmly in the comedy category and diminish any social commentary. Not that that's a bad thing.

What both films have going for them are charming leads, and comic scenarios that get resolved with happy endings. In other words they are audience fantasies that deliver what people want from their entertainment

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LEGALLY BLONDE

Legally Blonde was the Breakthrough movie for Reese Witherspoon, and it's success catapulted her to the ranks of Highly sought after actresses in the first decade of the century. Playing a high school senior who is pursuing her boyfriend to Harvard Law School, Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a fashion merchandising 4. 0 student who manages to excel on the LSAT after cramming very hard. The fact that she's a cute blonde in a bikini in her video essay doesn't with the admissions committee either. So when the film makes a point about the importance of female accomplishments over appearance, that is going to be undermined by this plot point. Okay that's the last serious thing I'm going to say about Legally Blonde.

What I will say is that it is delightfully droll, Witherspoon is a blast playing a perky Fish Out of Water in an elitist cultural niche which judges you by your family in source of wealth more than your character or even income. Harvard I'm sure appreciates being portrayed as an exclusive Miley sought after admission, but the movie shows us some of the most stereotypical intellectual snobs that you can imagine, as being the sort of students that Elle will have to compete with.

The courtroom antics are fine, but you will actually get a better sense of legal procedure by watching My Cousin Vinny. Legally Blonde resorts to an old Perry Mason trick to finish off this Underdog Story. But no one will care because Elle Wood is a good person who wins out in the end, and all of the other good guys win as well. Cue the Applause from the overwhelmingly female audience that attended Wednesday's performance.

CLUELESS 

Cher, the heroine in this reimagined version of Emma, is played by Alicia Silverstone. This was another one of those films that established young actors as the Bedrock of '90s and early 2000 films. In fact we're still getting Paul Rudd, who looks pretty much like he did back in 1995, starring in movies. Silverstone is the quintessential spoiled dumb blonde of classic film. Although she sees herself as the authority in the story, the rest of us recognize quite early on that she is the one who is out of Step.

I can't tell you how authentic the relationships between teen girls in Beverly Hills are represented by this film. It is however easy to imagine Petty jealousies and misunderstandings creating broken friendships or lost romantic opportunities. The themes in Clueless are actually a little bit more serious than the legal drama of Legally Blonde. Everybody engages in some kind of manipulation, sometimes we have the best of intentions when doing so, but in the long run we should really reassess the choices we make. Like Jane Austen's Emma, Cher is manipulating others in what she sees is an altruistic attempt to help them out. The problem is she puts her own vision ahead of what is best when it comes to her friends.

Once again it all works out, and there are serious laughs to be had throughout the film. I've always liked Dan Hedaya who plays Cher's dad, and even in the small role that he has here he puts his grumpy but sympathetic persona to good use. Wallace Shawn shows up as the stern but naive debate coach, and I see too much of myself in this role, fortunately I can laugh at myself.

About a third of the audience left after Legally Blonde, but those who remained embraced Clueless almost as enthusiastically and we all shared a laugh as we left later in the night than we usually do during the week.

Nobody 2 (2025)

 

Weapons (2025)

 

While I was watching this movie, I was not sure if I liked it or not. There were a number of things about it that were intriguing, but it also seemed to be taking a long while to get to the point. I like a Slow Burn, after all I grew up on the films of the '70s, where everything was a Slow Burn. Weapons however, seem like every time it got to second gear it downshifted again. The reason for this is the storytelling structure of the film. In the end I've come down on the side that this is a terrific way to tell the story and I should get over my occasional sense of impatience.

I don't think it gives away too much to tell you that the story is told around six distinct characters. Also the narrative path is a little bit like memento, where the previous sequence means more after we've seen the follow-up sequence. Stories are interlocking, but they rarely repeat the same Beats. There might be a brief moment or two, that is repeated in each of the sequences, but for the most part they stand alone and give us the kind of context that make the events feel more real and a heck of a lot more interesting.

Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, and Benjamin Wong, are all terrific in their roles as players in this horror scenario. As an unjustly maligned teacher, Garner is sympathetic but she is also not perfect. Her flaws make her a better protagonist. The only character who doesn't have an obvious flaw is Benjamin Wong, as the school principal Marcus. He is the epitome of an effective principal would be like. That of course makes it particularly disturbing when we see the first truly horrific scene in the film. Up until the part where Marcus loses it, our main horror element was dread. When the turn here takes place, it is fear and revulsion that take over.

There is a major character in the story that I'm not going to talk about, because it feels like it would be a spoiler. Although seen around the edges of two or three of the opening sequences, it is only when this character steps into one of those stories openly, that we start to figure out what the hell is going on with the children who have vanished. 

Director Zach Cregger, who previously made the film Barbarian, has interesting ideas and fun Concepts in his stories. And well they are admirable I'm not going to buy into the hype that these films are exceptional. There are still narrative problems, and inconsistencies, but Cregger does have the ability to direct the film well enough to distract us from those flaws , and still deliver something highly entertaining to watch.

For the first two thirds of the film this feels like a melodrama, posing as a horror film. Once we get to the final character story, The Narrative plays itself out straight, and the usual horror elements do appear. The climax of the film does feature several deaths, and disturbing images, and surprisingly a little bit of Hope for some of the characters who are left. I do need to say however that the film starts off telling us a lie, which distracts us from what's really happening, and then ignores the lie at the end of the film. As long as you don't mind being Hoodwinked into seeing a film that is not what is advertised in the opening moments, weapons will satisfy your Jones for a summer horror flick. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn great.

Robert Rodriguez Presents: Double Feature Robocop and Starship Troopers-Paramount Summer Classic Film Series

 

Sunday was a double dose of Paul Verhoeven satire and action. The first movie was the perfection that is "Robocop". I don't know if I can count the number of times I have seen this film. I do know that I have seen it at least a half dozen times on the big screen, including a 2023 screening right here at the Paramount Theater. Quentin Tarantino apparently agrees with me that the script is perfect. What is also perfect are the performances from the main actors in the film. Dr. Peter Weller fully commits to the persona of the cyborg, but only after charming us as the eager to please Dad and new partner.

Kirkwood Smith, sneers his way thru the movie as the repulsive Clarence Boddicker, the crime boss of old Detroit. Although they don't all get as much time to display their horrendous sides to us, the four toadies that make up his crew are equally loathsome, with special emphasis on Paul McCrane as Emil, the one bad guy who gets a deservingly nasty end to his story.  

I have always loved stop motion animation when it is integrated into real life surroundings. Ray Harryhausen was a cinema hero to me. Phil Tippet and his crew do a great job with ED-209, with little touches everywhere that add to the humor and tension of the film.

Richard Kirkham · 2025_08_03_19_02_28

 

Robert Rodriguez Presented both films and his opening remarks are in the message above.

Starship Troopers came out a decade after "Robocop" but it contained a lot of the same bitter satire that the earlier movie did. The hostility to fascism is clear, but of course it is largely missed because we get engaged in Johnny Rico's story and we can admire his mentors in spite of their authoritarian tendencies. Michael Ironside and Clancy Brown are terrific as the older generation, trying to mold the youth of this world into soldiers and subsequently citizens.  It also doesn't help the anti-fascist theme to have Rico's parents be a couple of mealy mouthed characters that today might be revered to as woke.

The Special Effects in the film were pretty impressive for 1997. The vast numbers of bugs that the Mobile Infantry has to face is intimidating. Anyone who has dealt with an ant infestation will recognize how much we are outnumbered. In this world however, the bugs are not small and you can't just stomp on them. 

Our host is friends with the star of the film and got him on the phone when it was time to go to the second movie. 

Richard Kirkham · 2025_08_03_21_11_17

The Sound of Music (1965)-Revisit Paramount Summer Classic Film Series

 

You already know a few of my favorite things, so I will spare you my singing about them and instead praise Julie Andrews for singing about a few of her favorite things. The Sound of Music is one of those films that inspires both love and derision from film aficionados. Cynics object to the sugary take on the Von Trapp family story. They would say the children are too upbeat, the songs are treacle, and the pretty people facing Nazis is a misuse of History. I'm cynical about a lot of things, but "The Sound of Music" isn't one of them. This is just a joyful experience with Sweet Moments, terrific staging, and some of the best songs of the 20th century.

The movie is a love story, but it is not just a story about a love between a man and a woman. Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews portray the adults who fall in love in perilous times and difficult circumstances. There are however still seven children who also need to fall in love, at first with a governess and finally a new mother. The way in which Maria wins over all of the children, by exhibiting more patience  than is imaginable, and singing about their very needs, makes for a great story. Don't forget it's also a story about people who love their country, and see it being torn apart by the events of the day. I can understand if you don't like "The Sound of Music" because you don't care for musicals, or if Julie Andrews just isn't your cup of tea, but if you don't like this movie because of the themes or the story( which for the most part is true), then you are missing the point. And I feel sorry for you because you're going to lead a less fulfilling life.

The exuberance of some of the dancing sequences, which really aren't about dancing at all but just about children playing at being adults, is part of the fun. The world is full of people who don't like it when kids appear in movies, they should probably stay away from this as if it were the plague. I on the other hand am perfectly content to try to remember the names of each of the children, like Maria does when she says her prayers. By the way, I didn't forget Kurt. 

The synchronization between the helicopter shot and the introduction of Maria on the hillside is a miracle a filmmaking at the time. Today it would be accomplished with drones and computer adjusted shots. Yet it wouldn't be any better. A lot of sequences go on for a while, without the heavy editing of a director who is trying to hard to show off. Robert  Wise knows exactly what he is doing when telling this story. It may have moments of suspense in the Final Act, but it is not a thriller that requires Quick Cuts and close-ups of sweaty faces. This is a character piece with music, something that Wise has already shown he can handle.

Once again I cannot recommend highly enough seeing a film like this on the big screen with a receptive audience. This was one of the family films for the Paramount classic summer film series, and there were plenty of families there to experience this film on its 60th anniversary. The world is a better place for it.

Psycho (1960) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-2025

 

One of the great masterpieces of Cinema played on the Paramount screen last Wednesday, and once again I was there to appreciate it. What I was really flabbergasted by though, was the fact that so many people in the audience were seeing "Psycho" for the first time. Our host, the programmer of the Paramount Classic Summer Film Series, asked for a show of hands for people who had never seen "Psycho". It was hard to believe that almost a third of the audience in attendance that night raised their hands.

The rest of us, who are seeing "Psycho" for the umpteenth time, waited in glee for the many twists and turns that take place during the story. In the long prologue to the violence, Marion Cranes transaction with the used car dealer got a lot of laughs, but you could also sense a great deal of tension in the audience. In fact the laughter that came from the audience almost certainly was generated by people who had seen the movie before and knew the irony of a particular statement, we're waiting for the turn that comes very quickly.

Once again I think the best scene in the movie takes place in the parlor as Norman Bates tries to relate to Marion, but marks himself as a strange fellow with every sentence he utters. We can still empathize with Norman at that moment, because of the brilliance of Anthony Perkins performance. We can also see the moment of redemption when Marion decides to face her mistakes and return to Phoenix and try and clear up the horrible decision she had made. This is the moment where the movie turns from being a mere thriller to a tragedy, and the two actors in the scene are both brilliant in the way they play their parts.

It must be nearly impossible in modern culture to be on the outside of the big twist in Psycho. 25 years ago I tried to keep my kids from knowing about Norman Bates and his mother, until they had a chance to see the film for themselves. Social media, YouTube, endless memes, all results in fewer surprises for film audiences. That's too bad. One of my friends on the Lambcast refuses to watch trailers for films, and I completely understand her perspective. I just wish trailers didn't give so much away. But I still need to have some sense of what a film is about if I'm going to decide to watch it. I think we could use more trailers like the one above, famous for Alfred Hitchcock walking us through the set of his movie.

Anytime you can watch "Psycho" from beginning to end, you should take advantage of it. Anytime you can see it with an audience in a real theater, the real crime would be skipping it.