Cool Hand Luke-Paramount Summer Classic Film Series

 

I was once a guest on the Lambcast when we discussed this movie. Some of the other guests seemed befuddled at why the film is so iconic and loved. I recall that one person said that Paul Newman's character did not have a story arc and he was the same at the end of the film as he was at the beginning. That my friends is the point! Luke Jackson was a non-conformist in the days when conforming was to be expected. The story is set in the 1950s, but the film came out in 1967. The social revolution was in full swing, and here was a movie that celebrated it's spirit, even if Luke was not a hippie. He was anti-establishment, ant-authoritarian and the friendliest misanthrope you are ever likely to encounter.

Paul Newman was one of our great actors and he excelled in all sorts of parts where his laconic delivery, crooked smile and deep blue eyes could make even a weak script sing. Here the script is not weak, it is powerful with a defiant message about the soul crushing influence of conformity. At one point, the idea is made extremely clear when it looks like Luke has been broken by the repeated torments of the guards. He confesses to Dragline, his friend played by George Kennedy, that he was broken, but as we see in the last act, he returns to his defiant manner and mocking tone. Luke was a world shaker, in the small world that he occupied, but most of us live in such small worlds. It is our own lives that we need to be accountable for. Newman could smirk at God and still seem humble. Whether winning at cards, losing in a fight, succeeding at escaping or failing to elude captors, Newman let's us know that Luke is not going to be changed by the events of his life. The closest he comes to any such movement was the death of his Mother, but it took the unjust act of the prison captain, to put him in the isolation box to discourage running, that provokes the exact opposite reaction.

If you look at the cast list, you will see a bench so deep as to be unbelievable. The character actors in this film are a who's who of great film and TV actors of the 60s and 70s. Even the ones who have no lines and are just seen in the background, add so much to the ambience of the work camp. Hell, Dennis Hopper and Harry Dean Stanton are in this film, and they are swamped by some of the other talent on the scree. George Kennedy deservedly won the Supporting Actor Oscar this year for his character of Dragline. It's a performance that when coupled with Newman almost sucks the air out of the film for any other actor. Almost.

Reader's of this site know that there is a companion site devoted to the great character actor Strother Martin. I would encourage you to visit there and find some other indelible performances, but let me add a few sentences here before I move on to other contributors. The Captain, is one of the most evil characters Martin would ever play, but on the face of it, he seems almost compassionate towards the prisoners. Of course what he says and what he does are two different things. He gives a speech of welcome to the incoming prisoners and he seems mildly interested in them, but allows the man guarding them to abuse the men without any reprimand or reservations. Much of his performance is silent, as he stares at the prisoners and the guards from his porch, taking in the cruelty and abuse from both the inmates and their jail keepers. His gentile voice and disarming twang, suggest some humanity, but look at the dispassionate expression on his face when Dog Boy, played by Anthony Zerbe, breaks down over the death of one of his beloved bloodhounds. The Captain couldn't care less. The façade of  compassion is only broken when Luke mouths off after being captured and beaten. His ego having been attacked sets loose an inner rage that we don't ever see again. It is when Martin tries to restore the image of humanity to the Captain that the famous quote from the movie emerges from his mouth. Not a reprimand but an attempt at explanation. "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."

When Stephen Jannise, the programmer who introduces the films, noted that Stuart Rosenberg is not a household name when it comes to film directors, he is right. but he was nominated five times for DGA Awards, including a nomination for Best Director for this film. Watching the scenes fade in and out, using crane or helicopter shots, is pretty impressive. The sequences where Newman is escaping and trying to throw off the scent that the hound dogs are following, are staged very cleverly and a entertaining as heck. The race of the prisoners to finish tarring the road is a collaboration between Editor Sam O'Steen , Cinematographer Conrad Hall, and Composer, Lalo Schifrin. The visual and music elements are great but Director Rosenberg should get some credit for putting it all together. I think the more often I see the film, the more I am impressed with the technical aspects of the film and not just the performances. Even the title scene deserves some attention for setting up the theme of the film right from the start.

Once more, watching the film with an audience is a treasure to be savored. I heard laughter and groans and intakes of breath for a dozen scenes in the movie. People responded to Like' resilience in the fight scene, they were horrified by the egg eating sequence, and they were cheering the ways Luke tried to outfox the hounds. I have watched this movie dozens of times at home, but the three times I've seen it on the big screen with an attentive audience, are the screenings that will always stand out to me. Classic film fans will always show up for this kind of event, but the rest of the movie going world needs some encouragement. Remember, if you haven't seen it before, it's a new movie for you, regardless of when it was made. So "get your mind right", and make the effort. 

The Great Escape-Paramount Summer Classic Films Series

 

One of the reasons I took the approach I have for this blog, was so I can do exactly what I am doing now, writing about a film I love, because I saw it in a theater. I have watched "The Great Escape" dozens of times, I own it on Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray, but I have never seen it in a theater on the big screen, what a magnificent film! The story of the biggest prisoner escape during WWII is told in a straight forward narrative with plenty of suspense and great characters along the way.

Take a look at this cast, it is very impressive. There are a ton of British actors that you will recognize, even if you don't know their names, and the American cast is stacked with legendary stars like Steve McQueen and James Garner. The film is nearly three hours long but never feels too long because all the pieces are put together so well. The plan is laid out for us, we know who everyone is and what their responsibilities are. There are great character points and a bit of humor here and there, but no one simply exists as comic relief. The one plot line that suggests it was designed to amuse us with humor, ends tragically and sets one of the characters on a different trajectory. 

Donald Pleasance, who had made dozens of things before this, first appeared on my radar as Blythe in this film. His fish out of water forger was sympathetic and ultimately tragic, which I think made him stand out for me for the rest of his career. He was Blofeld in "You Onley Live Twice", he was in "Fantastic Planet", "THX1138", a terrific TV Movie version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and he is Dr. Loomis in the "Halloween" series. Heck, I even liked his parody of Robert Stigwood in "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The relationship he and James Garner develop in the film is one that will resonate well with people who come together under trying circumstances.  Garner is great as a scrounger, he basically played the same character the next year in "The Americanization of Emily". Garner's aw shucks flim flam style will sustain him through a dozen future feature films and the television show "The Rockford Files". 

For a decade,  I was was sure that Charles Bronson was once an Academy Award Nominee for supporting actor for this picture. It wasn't until sometime in the 1990s, when I looked it up on line, that I discovered I was mistaken. Watching his performance however, I can easily see why I thought it was true. His character, Danny, The Tunnel King", is a man of strength who has a weakness that he faces repeatedly, but has finally reached a tipping point. His temporary abandonment of the tunnel as the escape route has some great moments of close up and voice performance. He is so solid in this part, and he mostly is stoic for the rest of his career, I see so much more that did not get played out as it could have in lesser films in his future. 

I don't know if anyone has ever talked about "The Great Escape" without mentioning Steve McQueen, and if they have, how could they do it and Why? McQueen is the top billed star in this film, but it is an ensemble picture, and he is not in it any more than many of the other actors. The reason everyone remembers him in the movie is because he is magnetic. His character is a defiant iconoclast,  who never the less fits into the military structure very effectively. His casual interplay with Richard Attenborough and Gordon Jackson contrasts nicely with the defiant reminder to the German Commandant,  that he is Captain Hilts. That was a moment of charisma so important, that it is reimagined for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Of course the biggest moment for him in the film is the motorcycle escape. My wife and I used to joke that if we watched the film one more time, this time he will make it over that second fence. 

Director John Sturges had a way with masculine adventure stories that seemed to peak in the 1960s. In addition to this film, he made "The Magnificent Seven" (also with Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson) and "Ice Station Zebra" the baby boomers gateway drug to submarine movies. Sturges often used Elmer Bernstein to score his films and in addition the his theme for The Magnificent Seven",  his iconic score for this film is well loved. I read somewhere, probably on IMDB, that soccer fans hum it during games. (I would have thought whistling Colonel Bogey's March would make more sense).

The fact that this is based on a true story and the techniques used by the prisoners were pretty closely followed in the film, give rise to even greater respect fore the fighting men of the Allied forces in WWII. The film makers do what must always be done in creating an entertainment, they romanticize some things, ignore the inconvenient, and have to change characters around. Still the film feels very honest, in part by the fact that there are no speaking roles for women in a P.O.W. camp. Hogan's Heroes would fix that later. This is one of those thousand films you must see before you die. so I have several lifetimes worth of viewing it to my credit.

Valley Girl-Paramount Summer Classic Films Series

 

This entry will sometimes be less review and more nostalgia piece. I never shy away from sharing personal experiences about movies, that is why I started writing in the first place. If you don't know or care about me, it will be easy to ignore a lot of what I am going to talk about here. If you have a little patience and a forgiving heart, you may find some stories worth reading. 

Seeing this film on the big screen was always going to be a challenge for me, this is one of my late wife's two favorite films. She loved this movie from the first time we saw it in theaters, where we sat through it twice, separated by a bad Cheech and Chong film. After that, it was complete surrender. We saw it a few more times while it was in first run, and then it became a perennial favorite around the house. When the company with the rights was slow to put it out on DVD, I won an out of print Laserdisc copy on an ebay listing, by paying $70, more than twice what the original price would have been. 

It's easy to see why this movie can remain popular forty years after bursting into our consciousness, it's a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending. The mismatched cultural divide is pretty significant in the teen years. Young people are struggling to find a place where they fit in and that's why Julie, our heroine, is having a tough time. Even though her peer group acknowledges that Randy, our hero, is hot, they see him as an outsider. Different clothes, different music, different lifestyles mean that the divide is substantial enough to drive a wedge between two lovebirds that have been growing together for a time. 

The audience today, swooned at Randy at the beach, but laughed at his appearance when he and his buddy crash the party. The punk aesthetic embraced by Randy is a rejection of all that she and her friends use to create their identities. Nicolas Cage plays Randy like a smitten puppy dog who has a bone he won't give up, even to be with his dream girl. At one point he even verbalizes his distain for her culture when they venture to the club that is his second home. However, it begins to dawn on him that he needs to live in her world as well as hers. Cue the montage that has them at the mall, the club, the movies and all after he concedes that her parents seem to be ok. All of this takes place while the world embraces Modern English's one big hit "I Melt with You". The new wave band may have had the apocalypse on their minds when they wrote it, but after it's use in this film, it will always be a romantic song. 

There is so much humor in the film, it is easy to forget some dark moments. Tommy, Julie's old boyfriend, is a manipulative bully, who is likely to make her life miserable if she stays with him. It's true that the film introduced us to Nicolas Cage, but some other fine actors are in the movie as well. Michael Bowen who plays Tommy here, goes on the play the loathsome neo-Nazi Uncle Jack in the last season of Breaking Bad and a go to for Quentin Tarantino when an ass is needed. I can't say that Cameron Dye as Fred went on to stardom, but he has worked steadily. Fred was the perfect comic foil for Randy and the kind if  who pushes the right buttons in the wrong way. Dye's performance here delights me. If there is an underappreciated contributor to the film, it is the late Fredrick Forrest, who plays Julie's hippie Dad. He offers an adult view of what the kids are going through and he is supportive without getting maudlin. Forrest is also quite funny and matches up well with Collen Camp as Julie's Mother.

There are some side stories that were never going to go anyplace major in the film, but which offer some good background on the teen culture. Suzie likes Skip, who has a Mrs. Robinson interest in her step mother. Loryn gets used by Tommy and glares at him for the rest of the movie. Stacey never quite warms up to Fred, but does get to feel the sting of disappointment in her efforts to thwart Randy and Julie as a couple.

The soundtrack for this movie is filled with nostalgia from my years working in the Valley and commuting around L.A. while listening to KROQ. Sparks, Gary Myrick, The Plimsouls and Josie Cotten are all heard  in the film, and the Plimsouls and Cotten get substantial screen time, cementing my image of the music scene of 1983. 

I teared up a couple of times at the memory of how much my wife and I loved hearing "Monster of Love" as the soundtrack of a surprise seduction. That montage scene also provoked some water works, just because young love is precious and the sequence reminded me of my own life, enough that I could feel the moments even though I was older when the film came out. 

The audience at the State Theater was packed, I ended up sitting in the third row, a little close but fine. Everyone laughed and cheered and cried at the right moments. Maybe like me, they were remembering an earlier time, or maybe it's just that romance never dies. 

Blade-Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

Once again, there is nothing like seeing a film with an appreciative audience. Last nights group gathered for a screening of Blade, was not massive like the Rocky Horror and Road Warrior Screenings have been, but they were loud and enthusiastic. From the moment that Wesley Snipes enters the picture, his every move was marveled at, cheered and certainly appreciated. "Blade" may be the coolest superhero to ever don tactical gear, sunglasses, and a katana. 

The back story does not matter much, let's just say that Blade is a vampire and a vampire hunter. This movie was a Marvel film a decade before the start of the Cinematic Universe they created. It has the trappings of most of the comic book movies of that era, techno music, early CGI and some story shorthand that is needed to get things rolling right to the action. The villain is a young handsome upcoming actor, Stephen Dorff, the plot gives Blade a female counterpart and a sidekick, and there is a conspiracy with the real authorities. Oh, and the climax of the film involves some mumbo jumbo about a Vampire God. 

Sometimes last night's audience was hooting at some of the outdated moments. The villain for instance uses a computer with some primitive graphics that might have been cutting edge in their day but now look quaint. Kris Kristofferson  plays the withering sidekick to Blade, and his indifference to the gasoline he is pumping while lighting a cigarette provoked howls because it was supposed to. By the way, Kristofferson is the spitting image in this film of my buddy Don Hayes.

Snipes gets to kick ass several times in the film. His opening salvo involves silver infused bullets that cause the vampires to explode. There is a nice scene with some stakes, a knife and the sharp edged boomerang that is supposed to have been designed by his partner. The main battle at the end however is a sword fight that would be impossible for him to win because of the supercharged nature of the villain. That might be a problem but the cool part is that Blade gets to perform what would have been the coup de grace several times in the scene. 

There are two sequels to this film, I don't think I have seen either of them. This is only the second time I saw this film, and it felt a lot like a first time since I remembered very little about it. I think the reboot should be pretty good, but let's face it, no one is going to replace Wesley Snipes. Mahershala Ali will be cool, but he won't be cool in the same 90's way. 

The Big Chill-Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

 

This year makes the 40th Anniversary of some of our favorite films. The Summer Classic series is featuring several of them and that makes me pretty happy, as does this film. "The Big Chill" is not the kind of film you see much anymore. It is a character piece, dependent on a good script and a talented cast. There are several incidents in the story, but the major event that brings all of the characters together, happens at the start of the film and mostly off screen.

When you look at the cast of the film, it is pretty impressive. Kevin Kline, future Oscar winner, William Hurt, future Oscar winner, Glenn Close, multiple Oscar nominations, Tom Berenger, future Oscar Nominee, Jeff Goldblum, film icon with no nominations, Mary Kay Place, Emmy winner, Meg Tilly future Oscar Nominee and JoBeth Williams, fresh off her triumph of "Poltergeist". This was a talented cast for sure. (Oh Yeah, Kevin Costner was famously cut from the film) They were gifted with the chance to work with screenwriter/director Lawrence Kasdan, who would be nominated for the screenplay of this film. The film would also be nominated for Best Picture.

What most people of my generation and a little earlier, will most vividly remember about the film is the soundtrack. The film is filled with needle drops that will evoke a smile, a winsome memory or outright want to make you start dancing yourself. The story centers on a group of college friends, from the radical 1960s, who, fifteen years later, come together and question the choices that they have made. It is sometimes sorrowful and not everyone is convivial about connecting again. The suicide of one of their friends is the catalyst for everything that happens, but it is the sincerity of the characters and especially the actors that make it work. When they dance in the kitchen, you can believe for a moment that they have recovered some common ground. The Motown classics on the stereo probably echo even more for them since they are all graduates from the University of Michigan.

Everyone who had a close group of friends in their teens or college years, knows that even though your lives may have diverged, that common experience was something that shaped you and keeps you connected in spite of long periods of absence. Sitting together on the couch after a funeral, commiserating about the decedent and your past, is exactly the way most of us would give a group hug to get through the moment. The fact that it sometimes becomes tense does not diminish the importance of the relationships.

In addition to the music, the thing that most makes this film memorable is the humor. Tom Berenger's Hollywood TV star trying to make the leap into a convertible like he does in the opening of his show is sure to get a laugh. Mary Kay Place offering sardonic commentary on the clients she represented as a criminal attorney was priceless. And throughout the film, Jeff Goldblum steals every scene he is in, even the ones where his character is passed out. There is a lot to relish about "The Big Chill" which is why it is so great to see it again with an audience on the big screen.  

House of Wax and Theater of Blood Double Feature-Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

 

We had started the day with "Disney's Sleeping Beauty", but we finished it with two Vincent Price Horror Classics. A pretty good juxtaposition for a Saturday spent in a movie theater. 

HOUSE OF WAX 

Vincent Price started his career as a horror icon with this 1953 production. Up to this point he had been a reliable secondary character who sometimes got a chance to steal a scene, but this is the film where his melodious voice starts being used for terrifying purposes. If you watch the trailer above, Price gets a small mention. but the thing that was being used to sell this movie was the 3-D presentation. I know that I saw this in 3-D at one point, because I remembered a couple of the obvious gimmicks they included to make the 3-D pop. I had this on my itinerary for the TCM Festival this year, but when we had to cancel our attendance at the last moment because our dog had to have life saving surgery, it went by the wayside, along with all of my other plans and money. 

Fortunately, The Paramount Classic Summer Film Series programmed it for this year. Maybe as a result of Steve, the main programmer having seen it himself at the TCMFF, which he referenced in his introduction of the films. Unfortunately this was not a 3-D screening, but the film doesn't really need that gimmick to work, it is very solid on it's own. Price is Professor Henry Jarrord, a sculptor who works in wax back in NYC around the turn of the 20th Century. He has great artistic pretentions and is a little too enamored by his Marie Antionette. When his business partner tries to murder him in an act of arson, he appears to have survived, but his hands are so injured that he cannot sculpt anymore. How does he compensate? Ah, that is where the mystery comes in.

The plotting is a little old fashioned but it moves along at a solid pace and the actors are interesting enough for us to follow along. Especially delightful is Carolyn Jones who most people will recognize from the 1960s version of the Addams Family. She plays the roommate of the main female lead, a girl who is a little free for the times and ends up like a lot of sexually liberated teens do in modern slashers. Her friend and the main character Sue is played by Phillis Kirk (pretty close to my Mom's Name, they both had SAG cards in the early fifties). The movie plays out as Sue is stalked by a mysterious lurker, and a boy she is romantically involved with, takes a role as sculptor for Jarrod's revived House of Wax. 

There are several grim scenes that might bug sensitive souls, but there is no gore in the film. The Wax figures are interesting but the set up is primitive compared to the way later exhibits would take on the sensational and macabre scenes that draw people in addition to celebrity's figures. Price is just great as a talented but demented figure, driven mad by the loss of his life's work and his talents. You will get a kick over his enthusiastic line readings when he talks about the sculptures as if they are real. He romanticizes his work to the nth degree. 

THEATER OF BLOOD

To the best of my recollection, I saw this while I was in High School. My friend Don Hayes seems to remember going with me, and that is quite possible. I know we saw "The House That Dripped Blood" together and so it's very likely we saw this one as well.  Vincent Price himself thought of this as one of his favorite films, and it is easy to see why. In addition to playing a mad actor wreaking revenge on critics who had maligned him, he gets a chance to quote liberally from the works of Shakespeare and it is a bit like a compilation reel for a stage actor to have when called for. His range is very good.

Like most horror films, it is the kills that the audience is waiting for and the trick here is that Edward Lionheart, the actor Price is playing, uses scenes from the Shakespeare plays he performed in his last repertory season. The film is as much a comedy as it is a horror film, so the gruesome deaths are often accompanied by a quip or two that might have come from either the Bard himself, or a stage critic. Either way, the justice that Lionheart feels he is doling out is poetic as a result. 

The film might very well encourage you to seek out some of the plays featured, because they are not all the best known of Shakespeare's works. One of the critic's continues to be dismissive of Lionheart, even after several murders when he points out that "The Merchant of Venice" has no murder in it, he declares " It's him, all right. Only Lionheart would have the temerity to rewrite Shakespeare!". Of course others have been doing so for years before and after this film, but it is still a funny line. 

As we encounter the critics, we can begin to see the coarseness of their opinions and the way those words might have a deeper impact than merely being playful metaphors in a review. Although it is one of the more creative murders in the story, the death of Robert Morely's character feels a little sadder because it is not just he who suffers the wrath of Lionheart. I heard several intakes of breath at the screening when audience members suddenly realized what was about to be revealed. It was a cruel moment with a horrifying visual exclamation point, but it is also completely memorable and in keeping with the thrust of the film. 

The band of addicts that make up Lionheart's new troupe of actors are the strangest part of the story, but I am willing to go along with their crazy behavior as long as it makes the film interesting. Diana Rigg plays Edward's loyal daughter and biggest fan. She bounces between scenes as a member of the crazed troupe and as a tech working on films, who provides some exposition for the chief critic that will be the last target of Lionheart. There are several very recognizable actors who play the guest victims if the film, and they also seem to be having some fun. 

Another patron with Amanda's Shirt

Our Usual Pose with the Marquee in the Background

Sleeping Beauty-Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

 

In a complete turnaround from the previous night's Rocky Horror extravaganza, the Paramount had this Walt Disney Classic Scheduled, complete with Princess Aurora in the lobby to take pictures with for all the little princesses who came to the screening. Amanda was wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress, but I could not convince her to pose with Aurora. 

Disney's Sleeping Beauty was the last of the strictly hand drawn animation films, other processes using different technologies have followed. It is a fabulous looking movie with vivid colors, detailed backgrounds and  characters with very distinctive features. The three fairies  Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are delightful in their differences, and the color scheme becomes a running joke in the film, which ties them to the vision of the movie as well as the plot. 

In fact, the good fairies are really the main characters in the movie even though there is a love story and a hero. Merryweather is able to change the evil spell that Maleficent, an evil fairy has cast, so that it is sleep rather than death which ensnares the princess. The fairies are the ones who take the princess as an infant and hide her. When they discover that the young man that Briar Rose (Aurora) has fallen in love with, it is they who come to his rescue when he is captured by Maleficent. They give him weapons to fight her and cast spells to assist him. Aurora and Prince Phillip are almost secondary characters to the story of the fairies.

The film uses a score adapted from the Tchaikovsky's ballet "Sleeping Beauty." The music then feels completely familiar. The main theme which becomes the song "Once Upon a Dream" is lovely and very recognizable, even for neophytes of the ballet world. The style of the castles seems to be authentic of mediaeval European eras but my guess is that is was most closely based on the castle that was already at Disneyland and called Sleeping Beauty's castle, even before the film was finished.  

Maleficent is an evil and compelling villain and her look was so effective that when the reimagining of fairy tales fad took over a few years ago, she was a natural. I did not really think it was needed, and I am happy with this iteration of her character. The animals in the film are well used, including three birds who reflect the colors of the good fairies and the raven which is Maleficent's familiar. The two kings are great contrasts visually, one being stout and the other quite lean. 

Just as an aside, this is one of the most beautiful LaserDisc packages of a movie. 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

 

I would like, ...if I may.

The greatest cult movie of all time was featured in the Summer Classic Film Series at the Paramount Theater in Austin last night. The theater was packed with over 900 unconventional conventioneers. 

I wrote about this film back in February on my Throwback Thursdays 1975 Project. You can click here for that post.  

It may have been almost forty years since I saw this in a theater with an enthusiastic crowd. Thank goodness for this opportunity, because I'm not sure I will ever make it to a midnight screening again. Last night's show was at 9 pm, and I don't think waiting another three hours would have made the crowd any less raucous. 

Almost a third of the crowd had some kind of costuming. Some were quite elaborate and accurate to the screen characters, others just went with the spirit of the film without trying to do literal cosplay. I myself has a medical coat, I could just not bring myself to only wearing my underwear underneath. I think I spared the rest of the audience some trauma as a result. 

The Paramount is an older Movie Palace, so in deference to maintaining her condition, many of the props I remember from my days of Midnight screenings were missing. No Cards, Toast, Rice, Squirt Guns were present, and I did not see a Janet Umbrella, although it would be fine to use those. Maybe the fact that no one reads newspapers is the explanation for that. 

Many of the call backs, shout outs and interjections that were from my days, were still being used. Brad is still an Asshole, Janet is a Slut and Rocky Responds "What!" at several points. There were new comments being shouted as well, and a few audience members were over doing it because they insisted that everything have a commentary. That might have been a little irritating if not for the fact that the audience also joyfully sang along with most of the songs. The biggest response was of course when Tim Curry descends in the elevator for his big reveal, the audience response go even wilder.

It was so much fun being out with fans who really want to get into the experience.

 

The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2) Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

 

The Video clip above was shared with us on Saturday Night by Director Robert Rodriguez. He has been hosting a set of five films during the Paramount Classic Film Series, and he was there to share some enthusiasm about this movie. As he explained it, he picked films to talk about because he'd had a chance to meet the film makers responsible for these movies that he loved. Miller was a guest on a talk show that Rodriguez hosts called "The Director's Chair". It was a visit by miller to SXSW a few years ago that gave Rodriguez a chance to sit down with Miller and talk about this film. I have included a video of that interview below.

The few minutes that our host spent talking with us about this film was plenty to get everyone stoked to see "The Road Warrior" as it was known in the States. I first saw this film in 1982, during one of the great cinema summers of all time. I had not seen the original "Mad Max" at that point, so the marketing of the film to an audience as if it were a stand alone feature seems to have worked, since the U.S. was the one territory that "mad Max" was not a big hit in. Rodriguez attributes the failure to the version that played in the states which had a dreadful dubbing, supposedly because we Americans would have a hard time making out the Australian dialect. There was very little chance for that to be a problem with this movie, which is told so visually, you could just about forgo the dialogue.

A dystopian story of survival, where fuel is the most precious resource and gangs of marauders kill and destroy their way across the countryside seeking it, "the Road Warrior " feels like a samurai movie, with a lone outcast coming to the rescue of a town of innocents besieged by the desert pirates. This movie is full of inventive moments and ideas. The Gyro Captain is an antagonist at first, and then an ally. The very idea of the mini-helicopter in this setting was really creative. Max has a symbiotic relationship with a dog that is paralleled by the Gyro Capitan and his snake. Of course the dog is a lot more appealing, and when he exits the story (off screen thankfully) the audience responds sympathetically. 

The film is forty years old but I still want to avoid spoilers if any of you have not seen it yet. I do need to say that the twist in the plot to escape at the end was very effective, and another one of those inventive elements that make this movie rise to a level far above the other exploitation material that it could be compared to from the era. In addition to the clever plot moments, the film has some of the greatest car stunts you are likely to encounter. They were done in camera, on set, not in a computer while someone was working from home. The video clip above hints at the dangerous nature of the stunts, but the real breathtaking moments are in the film. Cars levitate due to explosions. Bodies are thrown spinning through the air because of collisions, and jump scares pop out at 70 miles an hour. 

The climax of the film is a long chase sequence that is deservedly legendary. Mel Gibson is the stoic hero who drives a tanker seemingly filled with the black gold. as it is pursued by a horde of ruffians that are so distinctive, as to have been copied by a dozen other dystopian movies ever since. The whole chase is accentuated by a propulsive score from Australian composer Brian May. In an aside to the audience, Robert Rodriguez advised us not to listen to it when we are behind the wheel of a car, it might propel us to hit the accelerator inappropriately. 

I can rewatch this movie endlessly, it works so well and never feels like it gives you a moment to breathe, even though there are some interludes where there is no action taking place. The poster you see here, was one of two that I helped my friend Dan Hasegawa mount so he could display them in his office at Cal State Fullerton while he was in grad school. I never owned a copy of it and frankly that is to my shame because it is really spectacular. [The other Poster was for "Red Dawn" which I also wish I had.]

Max is an anti-hero in the traditional sense of the word. He does things that are heroic, but he does them for his own reasons, never out of a sense of altruism. One of the points that this movie makes is that such a world view is likely to be the end of civilization, so we ought to give a damn about something, even if it is cool on screen to be a little nihilistic. 

Rodriguez displaying a gift he received from Road Warrior Director George Miller. 

Mary Poppins Paramount's Summer Classic Films Series

 

There is nothing so wonderful as embracing an old friend that you have not seen for years, and discovering all over again, why you loved them in the first place. There were two screenings at the Paramount Theater yesterday, and no it was not a double feature. In the evening we were seeing "The Road Warrior" but first up, we went downtown early so we could enjoy "Mary Poppins" on the big screen. It was an absolute delight and a good tonic to help overcome the dreck that is "Barbie". While  both "Mary Poppins" and "Barbie" are fantasy films, one is a delivery system for a ambiguously described political point of view, and the other is an entertainment who has as it's purpose bringing people together instead of driving them apart. 

I never read any of the Poppins books, so other than the references made in the film "Saving Mr. Banks", I can't speak to the fidelity of Walt Disney's film to the source material. I can say that Julie Andrews' interpretation is not all sweetness and light, in spite of the clip of her duetting with a bird perched on her finger. She may not be the hard as nails character that appears in the original stories, but she still has a stern visage at times, that said, it does alter in the right circumstances.  This may account for why she won the Academy Award for this picture, that and of course her musical talents.

The structure of the film does tend to be very episodic, moving from one musical number to the next. The numbers however do advance the storyline indirectly and lead us to the final evolution of Mr. Banks as a more engaged and attentive father. I was impressed by all of the performers but I was surprised by how well Michael Tomlinson stands up next to the two leads. He has a strong voice and his exuberance in the closing number is the satisfying exclamation point that this film is looking for. 

 You might think that some of the old style special effects and humorous moments would fall flat with today's audiences and children. We are supposedly more evolved now than we were almost sixty years ago. I however, heard laughter repeatedly, in the right spots, and the audience was eating up some of the funny lines in the script. This was not a jade group getting hipster joy out of nostalgia. This was an audience of families who were sharing something that they could each relate to in the same way.  The three year old in front of us was having his first visit to a movie theater, and except for moving onto his Mom's lap in the last hour of the film, was quite taken with what he was seeing. As was I. 

The film looks wonderful and the long animated sequence was delightful. Even though Dick Van Dyke is hamming it up at times, it was all in the way of entertaining us, not in showing off. When as Mr. Dawes Senior, he pratfalls slightly with his cane and steps, everyone knew it was meant to be funny and responded in a manner befitting the moment, we all laughed together. Maybe part of the joy I felt was because there was nothing divisive about what we were seeing. This film made me want to revisit the sequel that came out just a few years ago, which I enjoyed immensely. It is a happy thing when a film prompts you to stick with a character, way too often, that is a mistake, but in this case, Mary Poppins is timeless. 

Enter the Dragon (2023 Visit)

 

I wrote about "Enter the Dragon" on my original project and you can read that post here. I can pretty much stick with what I said then, although I may have been a little harsh on the story structure and the acting. It is true that the evil fighters working for the villain Han, seem to get more menacing as we go along. The level of loathsome is ramped up to make us feel the catharsis that comes when an injustice is addressed, and that happens several times in the movie. I probably should not have been so harsh on those aspects of the film. One of the things that has led me to this conclusion, is the reaction of the audience in last night's screening at the Paramount Theater. 

Paramount Theater's Summer Film Classic Series is drawing a lot of movie fans like me. People who have seen a film before and are looking to recreate their first experience by seeing it on the big screen again. I last watched this movie just a couple of years ago for an Episode of The Lambcast. We had a terrific time talking about the movie and you can listen here:

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2021-09-15T11_45_43-07_00

I had watched the film on my Special Edition Laserdisc, which was pretty darn good, but it is nothing compared to seeing the movie in a real theater with an audience, amped up to see the Mater kick some butt. I was barely prepared for the grunts and ahhs and cheers that I heard from my fellow movie goers last night. When an amazing moment from Bruce Lee happened, you could hear a collective WOW from the audience. There were enough people with pain empathy in the audience to insure that there was a groan whenever Bruce executed a groin kick, head slap, or leg break. It was all enhanced by the sound system last night. I never realized how much the foley in this picture makes the fight scenes so intense. The volume of the punches to the solar plexus, the slap echo from a hand across an opponents face, all of it may seem like a cartoon out of context, but it works when we are in our seats together. Oh, and you should have heard the audience howls of anger and fear when it looked like Blofeld's cat was going to get guillotined. 

Listen, I know we have to suspend disbelief occasionally in a movie and I willingly do so on a regular basis, but someone needed to cast the guys in the black gees in the scenes in the prison cells. Those are two completely different sets of prisoners and it undermines the final battle royale for a minute. None of it undermines the main attraction however, Bruce Lee is as amazing as you remember. The speed of his strikes against O'Hara was incredible. It looked like a magic trick. The nun chuck display that Lee puts on is also flawless and speedy. This is part of why his legend continues. The cool factor of Bruce Lee comes out repeatedly. The corner of his mouth moves up only slightly when he has mentally bested his enemy before there is even a hit. When he tastes his own blood in his fight with Han at the end, we know that Han has just sealed his own fate. Maybe there is a little too much Eastern Philosophy in some of the early sequences, but there is nothing inscrutable when the three leads are in fighting form.

Jim Kelly gets a pretty good fight scene before he is required to get his ass kicked by a guy he easily outmatches, it's just the way the script goes and Director Robert Clouse can only do so much to sell it. Although you might think John Saxon is an actor who had to be carried through the fight scenes, nothing could be further from the truth. He is great in the action, getting off kicks and punches that don't look like movie fighting but seem like real martial arts. He did have training and you can see it in the movie.  

Bruce Lee moves like a silent cat when he is in those scenes where his character is spying on the inner workings of Han's island. He dances nimbly around the furniture, machinery and guards, as if he were a ballet dancer, on point and filled with helium. The loss of Bruce Lee was a tragedy, but his legacy is secure as long as people can see this movie. Lucky for me, I also got to see it in a theater. 

Lawrence of Arabia (2023 Visit)

 

Those of you who are regulars know the score here, If "Lawrence of Arabia" is on the big screen within throwing distance, I am going to go and see it. 

Yesterday was a return trip to the The Paramount Theater in Austin, where I will be spending most of my summer. They have a great film series and they have included an essential film for me. 

I have written about Lawrence many times before, you can find links to most of those posts on the Top Ten List I did a couple of years ago HERE. 

As usual it was a great experience, I was impressed by the turnout, the theater was packed. When the host asked who was seeing it for the first time, about 20% of the audience responded, so that was a surprise. 

Whenever I see the film, I try to pay attention to something new and this time it was the sky. Of course there is the famous edit where we go from a burning match to the sun rising on the horizon. There are some wonderful moments of the moon and stars as well. Seeing the flare streak across the sky to signal a stop to hostilities in one of the attacks looks pretty as well. The night swallowing Ali as Lawrence is being tortured is relieved by a brief glow of moonlight on his face as he awaits the outcome of the assault on Lawrence. 

By the way, the Sky here in Austin was beautiful and clear, and the temperature seemed to match the desert when Faisal's army is crossing the Sun's Anvil. "No Prisoners!"

Paramount Theater Summer Classics Father's Day Double Feature: The Maltese Falcon and the Treasure of the Sierra Madre

 


The Paramount Theater planned a nice Father's Day for me, of and a couple hundred other lucky dads, by showing two films from the great John Huston. It was actually a Huston Family Weekend because Angelica Huston starred in yesterdays film, "The Royal Tenenbaums. 

I have been lucky enough in my life to see "The Maltese Falcon" on the big screen a number of times. Almost certainly, the first time was a screening at the Rialto Theater in South Pasadena in the early seventies when that theater was a revival house. I'd bet a dollar that it was on a double bill with the same film from today. The one time that I have written about it was from a Fathom Event from 2016. 

Humphrey Bogart is simply great as Sam Spade. There are so many wonderful moments where he gets to demonstrate what a formidable actor he was. The sly half smile he shows, every time he manages to one up another of the characters is just deviously perfect.. The momentary hand tremor when he feigns outrage as a way to get Gutman off balance was also a nice touch. All the interactions with Mary Astor as the duplicitous  Bridget O'Shaughnessy, come off well, including the famous ending where he promises to wait for her. 

Bogart's part in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is perhaps less subtle but it is certainly a tour de force. Fred C. Dobbs is a figure of pity, a man of action, a self centered loser and a good partner, and that's all before he starts to go made while he is out prospecting for gold. This is another film that I wrote about as a result of a Fathom Event in 2018. As great as he is in "Falcon", and even though I adore that movie slightly more than "Treasure", it is his character in this film that I think might be his best remembered role outside of "Casablanca".  Dobbs is haggard and filthy at the start of the film, and he cleans up nicely a couple times during the story, but ultimately, he returns to the gutter in spite of the riches that come from working with two partners who teach him lessons of humanity that he just can't take to.

Tim Holt as Curtain, and Walter Huston as the grizzled Howard, hold up their ends incredibly well. Walter Huston , indulged by his son the director, steals the picture with his wise, tough and ultimately moral character. His ebullient laugh and dance when they do find gold was a perfect moment in the film before things start turning really dark. His whole "take it as it comes" philosophy is a nice counterpart to the driven intensity of his two partners. None of the men are Saints, they do choose at one point to murder the intruding Bruce Bennett, simply because they foresee accepting his offer of partnership as a power failure.  They are saved from that moral lapse by the intervention of truly evil men. Still Hobb's paranoia gets the better of him, and the moral of the story is sealed.

As usual, my advice is to always see these movies in a theater with an audience. The collective atmosphere and the required focus on the films, will give you a greater appreciation of their talents of the artists than if you watch it on video. 

The Royal Tenenbaums

 

When I first saw this movie on it's original release, I have to admit that I did not quite get it. There is a vibe to Wes Anderson's film making style that I was not tuned into. The arch, dry, detached story telling left me less engaged than I thought I should be. I did not dislike the film, I was simply indifferent to it. Flash forward twenty years and I have evolved a bit when it comes to Anderson's style. I have seen more of his films, adjusted to the off kilter approach and I have embraced the absurdity of the production design with enthusiasm.

"The Royal Tenenbaums" is Anderson's most commercially successful film, but it is not my favorite. "Isle of Dogs" the stop motion animated film, was my number one film of it's release year and contains most of the mannerisms that this film has, but it adds more heart to the story, which is where I think "Tenenbaums" shoots for but only partially succeeds at. The film is not meant for us to love the characters, they are all deeply flawed and that is the joke. We do understand them a bit better by the end and we don't wish them ill, but we can also see that they are still problematic human beings. Laughing at Royal's clueless cruelty and self centered behavior was easy, seeing him as a figure of redemption is a little harder but the steps he took seem right in retrospect.

As always there is an impressive cast in a film from Anderson, and the thing that helps me re-evaluate this film more positively is the presence of my favorite actor, Gene Hackman. As the patriarch of the family, Royal is a passively malevolent figure in his children's lives. As the lead character, he is a delightful figure to watch with jaws dropped as he utters the cluelessly cruel comments about his own family. Hackman sells this narcissistic persona flawlessly. His rapid delivery of the lines may finish before we even realize how thoughtless his words are. At this stage in his career, it pleased me to note that I was not put off by those flashbacks where he is made up to look younger. Although the image is imperfect, the acting was spot on.

If I have a reservation about the film, it is that there is a scene that involves the death of an animal. It takes place off screen, and there is some acknowledgement that it is supposed to be in a humorous context. Unlike the same sort of scene in "A Fish Called Wanda", we had a bit of a connection with this dog and that makes the film a little more sensitive for us animal lovers. Maybe this is the reason we got Isle of Dogs", if that's the case than the fiction is worth it.   

Robocop Revisit 2023

 

One of the great films from the 1980s, and my personal favorite from 1987, "Robocop" is a tough, violent, near dystopian satire on capitalism, the justice system, and technology, all in a package that is action filled and funny as hell. If for some reason you have never seen "Robocop", stop reading, go watch it now. Every minute of your life without this film in it already, is a waste. 

The last time I wrote about this movie, it was based on a special presentation of the film in tribute to Miguel Ferrer who had passed just a few weeks before that screening. (Robocop: Miguel Ferrer Remembered With Dr. Peter Weller). That crowd was very enthusiastic as was the audience yesterday at the Paramount Theater in Austin. I will be going to a number of classic films this summer at the Paramount, and if you follow Social Media, you should be able to see the traditional photo I take each time in front of the marquee. I don't have tee shirts for all of the films I will be seeing this summer, but for some of them, I have more choices than are really necessary.

I have spoken about the film multiple times on podcasts and in conversation. The first time I saw the film was in a sneak preview, and the audience reaction sounded like a freight train. The movie is assembled so much more artfully than anyone hearing the title is likely to expect. I am just going to mention a few things for this post, at some point I will include this on my Movies I Want Everyone to See list, and then I will do a real deep dive.

Kurtwood Smith, as Clarence Boddicker, is the kind of villain that every movie fan longs for. He has personality and is sometimes appealing, but in a repellant manner. We want him to keep acting in the outrageous manner he does, but we are also impatient for him to get what is coming to him because he is so loathsome. Smith smirks his bad guy smile through crimes, meetings, murders and everyday social moments. We know from looking at him that he is an asshat, but he is a fascinating one. Ronny Cox is the real big bad of the story, but I will save him for next time.

Dan O'Herlihy, as "The Old Man", the chair of Omni Consumer Products, is not an evil character in this film. In fact, despite some callousness in the face of a demonstration mishap, he really seems concerned about doing something to restore Old Detroit. It was not until the sequel that his indifference is extended to evil subterfuge. His gravitas goes a long way in selling the corporate climate that director Paul Verhoeven  is shooting for. The script even gives him some warmth at the conclusion of the film, and that is the right choice for this particular story. 

I am a big fan of stop motion effects, and I think they look so much more interesting when used the right way, than some of the excessive CGI that you see in movies nowadays. It is strange that something that is so clearly artificial; can feel more real than the computer images that replicate the real world that actors surrounded by green screens are forced to exist in. The legendary Phil Tippet, working with designer Craig Hayes, created the ED 209 sequences in the film. Robocop fighting Ed 209 is the highlight of the technology in the film, but it is the battle with Boddicker's gang that provides the emotional component of the film. 

I return to Robocop at least annually, and having just experienced it, I am ready to do it again. 

Escape from New York-Presented By Robert Rodriguez

 

Apparently, I should have chosen 1981 for my Summer Movie Season debate claim from the Lambcast a couple of weeks ago. After all, 1981 had "An American Werewolf in London", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Superman II" and this film, the one that turned Kurt Russell from a Disney kid into an action star. I saw "Escape From New York" in the Summer of 1981 at the El Rey Theater on Main Street in my hometown of Alhambra California. I'd been married for a year and I had summer off between semesters, while my poor wife had to work, so I saw this at a matinee by myself. I had to take her to see it the next week, because I knew she would love it, and sure enough, she fell completely for Kurt Russell.

This was a low budget film that made the most of every dollar they had to spend. John Carpenter was a viable director after his success with "Halloween" and he had made a TV biopic about Elvis with Kurt Russell, so it feels a little inevitable that they would work together in a completely original project. The premise is a simple one, Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison, where the convicts are dumped to make out the best they can. In the middle of an international crisis, the President's plane goes down in the area, and someone has to go in and recover him and the McGuffin he in possession of. Former military hero, now convict Snake Plissken, is given the job as a way of gaining his freedom.

Russell does his best Clint Eastwood impression throughout the film, and that makes sense because when Carpenter originally wrote the screenplay years earlier, he had envisioned Eastwood in the part. Snake is an anti-authoritarian, like John Carpenter himself, so the movie is full of middle fingers extended toward the government, convention, and anything else that was pissing off the director at the time. Russell plays Snake as a sullen outsider, who wisely trusts no one and is a lot more of a strategic thinker than he is given credit for.  He snarls and growls his way through the plot, remaining cool in the face of every obstacle he ends up against. 

The action scenes are not complicated but they are fun. As Snake tries to get away from a swarm of crazies at one point, he uses his weapon to improvise a door through a wall. It's a terrific looking action piece and emblematic of the kinds of creative moments Carpenter brings to the film. I combat sequence in a boxing ring is brutal without getting as gory as it would be if this film were made today. The nihilism evinced by Snake is downright compelling, even if it runs contrary to the world's best interest. He is so indifferent that he even puts off a moment of personal revenge because he is tired. His final FU to the whole affair is completely fitting with the character and the semi-dystopian world that all of the characters are operating in. 

Four years ago, we got to see the movie at the TCM Film Festival, with both Carpenter and Russel in attendance.

Richard Kirkham · Escape From New York TCM Interview

 

I'd been a fan of the TV critics Siskel and Ebert since I'd discovered their show on PBS a couple of years before this film came out. While putting this post together I came across their reviews for this film, and if you have a few minutes you can watch it here:

As much as I respected Roger Ebert, I usually found myself on the same side of the equation as Gene Siskel. This may have been the tipping point for me way back in 1981, and lasting until Siskel's death in 1999. 

Last night's screening was presented by Austin based film maker Robert Rodriguez. Before the movie screened he did a brief introduction and he surveyed the house on the number of people seeing the movie for the first time, for the first time on the big screen, and who had seen it in theaters in 1981. A couple people up front were given some nice gifts, one of which were some personal sketches done for the film and signed to Rodriguez by production designer Joe Alves (the production designer of Jaws also). He shared a bit about his personal relationship to the movie, and how he came to be acquainted with Carpenter and worked with Kurt Russell on "Grindhouse". He promised a few stories after the film as well. 

The most amusing one involved Kurt Russell. Rodriguez was showing off his love of "Escape From New York" to Russell when they were together one time by showing that the wallpaper on his phone was an image of Snake Plissken. Russell responded by getting out his own i-phone, fumbling with it for a minute and then asking Suri "Who am I" , to which Suri replied, "You are Snake Plissken". Kurt laughed and said, I'm the only one in the world who can do that. 

Jaws (2023 Entry #1)

 

I've posted the trailer for Jaws a dozen times before, so I am changing it up a little for this post. Chief Brody is the character in the film with the most important story arc, and the sequence above explains that his instincts are really headed in the right direction. The fact that Mayor Vaughn talks him out of closing the beaches does not make him the bad guy. Martin Brody has a huge about of guilt poured on him when Alex Kitner is killed by the shark, but remember, his kids were on the beach, and he was trying to be cautious in pursuing his responsibilities as Chief of Police for this community. The fact that he gets bull rushed by the Mayor and Selectmen about closing the beaches a second time, shows that he is not the one ultimately responsible, but he shoulders that burden anyway. 

His wife Ellen, tells Hooper about Martin's fear of the water and dislike of being on the ocean. It takes an act of courage, fueled by his own guilt, to get Brody onto the Orca and to join the fight to end the shark. Once on the boat, Brody is made a figure of ridicule by both Hooper and Quint. Their jabs are subtle, sometimes condescending, but all of them are attempts to assert dominance in the triumvirate that is on this odyssey. Martin is the realist, who believes they are outmatched when he sees the shark and utters the famous line from the film. Some might see it as cowardice, Quint certainly does, but it turns out he was entirely correct. The good man, who is not blinded by his fear from thirty years earlier, or by the intellectual superiority that Hooper assumes, is the one who had the best advice, and he was ignored because of the other two men's assumptions. 

I have seen this film well over a hundred times, and every experience bring satisfaction. Sometimes it is for the inventiveness of the director, sometimes I am awed by an actor's performance, occasionally I marvel at a technical achievement. This time, it is the spine of the script that I was noticing the most. Chief Brody is the glue that holds the film together. He is an average family man faced with extraordinary circumstances. We watch him get out of bed, struggle with mundane issues like feeding the dogs and chastising his kids, before he gets slapped in the face with the remains of Chrissie Watkins. He finds the fortitude to try to do what is right. he defers to authority when it is necessary, and defies authority when it is clear that someone else has to act. 

Roy Scheider's Chief is the odd man out on the Orca. Both Quint and Hooper are experienced sailors. Maybe their experiences are different, but they are comfortable on the water. We know Brody is not. Quint is Ahab, chasing the White Whale. Hooper is an academic, determined to prove his superiority to the old fashioned ways of the senior fisherman. Brody just wants to kill the shark, however it can be done. It is his responsibility to take care of the extended family of the Amity Community. He is not trying to prove himself or impress anyone, he just wants to get her done. 

I have written about Scheider's performance before. He is excellent in this film, but Dreyfuss gets the funny lines and Shaw has the mic drop moment in the film. Brody is the everyday hero that a family and a town need.