A Face in the Crowd

(1957)

"A guitar beats a woman every time!"

The film many (including myself) consider to be Elia Kazan's masterpiece is a searing political drama and satire of commercialism that is still relevant today. "A Face in the Crowd" tells the story of Lonesome Rhodes (Griffith), a charismatic guitar-playing drifter who is discovered by radio executive Marcia Jeffries (the husky-voiced and classy Patricia Neal) while in jail on a public drunk charge.





He catapults to radio and TV stardom under the guise of being an aw-shucks homeboy who loves his fans, while in fact, Lonesome Rhodes is a greedy, egotistical, manipulative womanizer with underhanded political aspirations and nothing but contempt for his gullible audience.



The film was far ahead of its time in its theme and telling, and Andy Griffith, in his pre-Mayberry days, gives a blazing performance. That "A Face In The Crowd" wasn't even nominated for any awards is very surprising.



The stellar supporting cast includes Patricia Neal, who shines in an Oscar-worthy performance, perfectly balancing Griffith's Lonesome Rhodes; Walter Matthau, Tony Franciosa, and a breathtaking Lee Remick in her first film role.





"A Face in the Crowd" is a must-see film, and should eradicate any opinion you may have that Griffith was only capable of his wholesome TV roles of Sheriff Taylor and Ben Matlock. He has said that the part was very difficult for him, depicting such an unsavory character, and he did not want to do another like it...and the rest is TV history.

The DVD of "A Face In The Crowd", released in 2005 (I had been waiting for years for this film to be released on DVD), also features a fascinating documentary about the HUAC (House UnAmerican Activities Committee).

Elmer Gantry

(1960)

"You're all sinners! You'll all burn in hell!"

"Elmer Gantry" is an amazing film that has lost none of its bite or appeal with the passing of time. Taken from the classic Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name, director Richard Brooks garnered an Oscar for Best Screenplay for his adaptation, and Burt Lancaster won his sole Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Elmer Gantry. Gantry is an over-the-top opportunistic traveling salesman who teams up with evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) to promote religion in 1920's America. Gantry turns out to be the perfect publicity compliment to Sister Sharon, who, unlike him, is a true believer. Where she is quiet and gentle with her manner of preaching, he is all fire and brimstone, literally throwing himself about the audience and inflaming them into repentance.

Burt Lancaster commands the screen: all flashing teeth, athletic energy, charisma, and wild hair, using his own physical prowess to great advantage.



The angelic and lovely Jean Simmons, who had legions of adoring male fans when she was in her ethereal prime, portrays Sister Sharon (loosely based on a well-known real-life revivalist of the early 1920's, Aimee Semple McPherson, about whom I'd heard from my grandmother) in a manner reminiscent of her character in "Spartacus" - she was the perfect choice for this role, as was Lancaster for his.



Shirley Jones was awarded the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her vivacious portrayal of prostitute Lulu Bains, whose past history with Gantry comes back to haunt him - gleefully laughing as she dances about a room full of her fellow prostitutes, she recounts that "He rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!"



Burt Lancaster's natural grace and athletic ability in his prime (he was a circus acrobat before he became an actor) helps make his performance truly electrifying. He also manages to believably evolve Elmer Gantry from loud-mouthed salesman to sympathetic and honest human being over the course of the film.

The top-notch supporting cast includes Arthur Kennedy, Patti Page, Dean Jagger, and John McIntire.

Viva

(2007)

"She was a housewife seeking kicks, in a world of swingers, drugs, playboys and orgies in the lurid '70s!"

Director, writer, artist, and organ-playing independent filmmaker Anna Biller has created a visual feast of a film with "Viva." Set in 1972 Los Angeles, it tells the story of a bored, neglected housewife who decides to find some adventure in life in the midst of the sexual revolution.

"Viva" is a film one might imagine as a campy, comical version of the classic film "Belle De Jour", as it might have been in part envisioned by Russ Meyer (director of such camp classics as "Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!”), with sing and dance numbers, nudity, and a dash of (soft-core) sex thrown into the mix.



What struck me first about "Viva" were the visuals: specifically, the amazing usage of color in every scene, and the authenticity of the decor and clothing. I'm 51, so am of the age to have been a teen in the 1970s. Watching the film has a lot of deja-vu moments for me, in that sense. I have watched it several times and still get caught up completely in Biller's use of color.

Every scene has the colors tied in to each other, in some way, from the colors of the clothing, down to the smallest detail, for instance a loud necktie in one scene is well-coordinated with the wall hanging behind the person wearing it. The colors and sets in films of the 1960s and 1970s had a look and a texture, almost, that is very recognizable, and Biller has gone to great lengths to revisit the look of the time, including a lot of crochet, and other obviously vintage items and clothing from the time. Many of the paintings shown in the movie were painted by Biller and other cast members.

The film is very funny in general, with campy dialogue and great delivery by the entire cast (Biller has mastered the perfect raised eyebrow/pouty lip expression), including the musical numbers (songs written by Biller), and the appropriately 1970s cheesy elevator music in the background adds to the overall effect. If viewing the film without knowing otherwise, it would be easy to think that "Viva" was filmed in 1972.



"Viva" is an instantly classic camp film, and a creative tour de force - I'm looking forward to seeing more of Biller's work.

Note: this review is of the unrated version of "Viva". I first saw the film in its theatrical version when I rented it. The version I bought is the unrated one. Unless memory fails me, the main difference between the two is that the unrated version has more nudity, specifically in a nudist camp sequence. I don't find the nudity offensive; it fits in with the theme of the time depicted, and in fact is funny at times. I personally find the image of Biller's dressed character sitting primly while a couple of naked men standing behind her sway unself-consciously to music irreverantly hilarious, while at the same time relevant to the depiction of her character. It never fails to amaze me that the public can easily view actual photos of brains blown out and other acts of real and simulated violence on regular TV, much less mainstream films, but nudity and sexual themes still never fail to get the censors in a huff.

Click on the link below to go to Anna Biller's website:
LIFE OF A STAR

It's Halloween Month!

I consider October to be "Halloween Month", and the prime month to watch scary movies all month long. We own over 700 movies, and half of them are films we categorize under Horror/Sci-Fi/Ghost/Thriller.

Below are my top 20 must-see Halloween month movie picks, not in any particular order. The clickable links in the first group will take you to reviews I've written; the links in the second group will take you to the IMDB page for each film:

Westworld (1973)
When A Stranger Calls (1979)
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane (1962)


Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Psycho (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
The People Under The Stairs (1999)
Trick 'R Treat (2008)
The Evil Dead (1981)
The Exorcist (1973)
Halloween (1978)
Ghost Story (1981)
Phantasm (1979)
Alien (1979)
Frailty (2001)
The Grudge (2004)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1945)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

(2008)

"In May, the adventure continues."

First off: ponderous title, weak tagline.

I have to agree with many of the reviews I've read...too much CGI, not enough human interest/interactions. The warmth was lacking, and the script too. It seemed forever before Karen Allen came into it (I loved her in the first installment of the series), and she provided the *spark* here, she's still a sassy woman!

And, although Harrison Ford still looks pretty good, and I know he did a lot of his own stunts, he seemed overly grumpy and somewhat humorless this time around. Shia LaBeouf was okay, but his character seemed obviously just thrown in the film to either (1) attract a younger audience or (2) to hint at sequels with him in the title role - let's hope not! I think the series needs to give it up for good now.

There were some great scenes (loved the fight scene in the diner!) and many that seemed to really drag on - the dialogue-driven scenes just weren't written very well, they were...boring. And ALIENS? What a dopey plot twist. I was waiting for someone to say "ET! Phone home!" towards the end.

Actually, my first thought when I saw the plastic uhhhh "crystal skull" was that it looked like it could have been the skull from the monster in "Alien."

A lot of depth in the film was lost in what seemed to be a big push for show-offy CGI. That being said, I really had hoped to see Cate Blanchett's character go out in a more sensational manner, like the guy whose face melted in the first one. She just sort of went *poof* after a lot of buildup. That wouldn't have required any CGI, just a wax melting head like they used in the first one. And it certainly would have been more interesting.

Oh, and Blanchett's accent! I know it's been said but I have to reiterate it, I kept waiting for her to say "MOOSE AND SQUIRREL! MOOSE AND SQUIRREL!" I had trouble keeping from laughing every time she spoke.

As for the installments overall, the original Raiders Of The Lost Ark is still the best, although I do love The Last Crusade. Temple of Doom was truly awful, and not helped by Kate Capshaw's annoying character....a weak, stupid, shallow, whining bimbo. I liked the strong female characters in these films; Capshaw's was an insult to the series. And I won't go into a diatribe about the screechy kid.

Anyway, entertaining enough, but a big letdown I think for most Indy fans.

Films made in high school, circa 1975

"Mattel Place" - a Super8 movie made in 1975 for Film Class in my senior year of high school, using stop-motion animation with Barbie dolls, a Johnny West doll, a Skipper doll, a Francie doll, and other plastic people and assorted accessories such as my *official* Barbie doll convertible sports car, some fireworks that happened to be handy, and a very small model gun. P.S. My maiden name is listed, in case the credits confuse you.

Filmed in my childhood home's basement using sets made from cardboard boxes; also filmed in various outdoor locations such as the street in front of our house. Created very painstakingly over the course of three weeks. Transferred from the original (degraded, yes, the original footage was much sharper than what you see here) Super8 footage to DVD, with some sound added, in 2004.

It may seem rather crude, but this was filmed in 1975 with rather crude technology, including the dolls themselves, which had an extremely limited range of motion.

This was before computer animation etc, and the dolls I had weren't very "bendy". So I used a Johnny West doll as the man in it, since he had more bendable parts. The mustache is something I drew on with a permanent Sharpie when I was even younger. And unfortunately his "clothes" were permanent. No chest-baring scenes for him!

The title is a take-off on the classic "Peyton Place" which was a book, a movie, and also went on to become the first TV soap opera, starring Mia Farrow.

You can see my Monty Python-esque humor was fully developed at a very young age.

Anyway, enjoy!





...and on a more serious note...
THE IMPLOSION OF THE DURHAM HOTEL, 1975
This is the other film from my high school film class; it was a collaboration with 3 other students/friends. I had the film transferred from its original Super8 film onto DVD at the same time I had the Mattel Place one done. However, with Mattel Place, I had someone else do the credits and add some sound, as I didn't myself have the capability for adding credits and music at that time.

For this film I added the credits at the beginning and end myself in 2006, along with the music (a mix I made from the soundtrack of "To Kill A Mockingbird", my favorite film). The Durham Hotel was a landmark of downtown Durham and held a lot of memories for a lot of people...the day it came down was a sad one. And guess what? A parking lot went up in its place, yippee. Turn your sound on first before clicking to play it, but the music doesn't start until the beginning credits are over, just so you know.

Born To Be Bad

(1950)

"Baby-faced savage in a jungle of intrigue!"

What a great movie poster! That's almost enough, right there. Why see the film?

But, no, really you should see it - if you can find it. My husband and I were flipping channels recently, and happened upon this film just as it was beginning. Neither of us had seen it before...and within minutes we wished we'd known about it beforehand, and had recorded it (I don't like to record a movie after it's already started). "Born To Be Bad" is basically a really bad variation on the classic Bette Davis film "All About Eve", without the theater background, and it is not a good movie. It's a really bad film in fact, but bad in a great way. It's a cheesy 1950's B-film, hilarious without intending to be - the best kind of classic camp.

"Born To Be Bad" has a surprisingly stellar cast, including Joan Fontaine (in the lead as the conniving Christabel Caine), Zachary Scott, Robert Ryan (at his hunky bad-guy best), Joan Leslie, and Mel Ferrer. The story centers around Christabel Caine, who seems innocent on the outside...but is pure opportunistic bitch on the inside.

That's about all the plot line you need.

Joan Fontaine is her usual melodramatic self, complete with her signature eyebrow antics - her left eyebrow always seemed to have a mind of its own - also apparent in her performances in films such as "Rebecca", "Suspicion" and well, every film she was ever in, come to think of it), but her role in "Born to Be Bad" suits her mannerisms well. She makes a great little sweet-faced bitch. The dialogue is completely over-the-top, and coupled with the melodramatic mannerisms of most of the cast (Robert Ryan and Joan Fontaine's scenes together are some of the best), makes for a very entertaining camp film.

Nicolas Ray (who 5 years later directed the classic "Rebel Without A Cause") has created a total bomb, a classic of camp film that is worthy viewing for lovers of the genre.

A few days late, but....scary movies I recommend

I should have done this at the beginning of October, which I consider to be "Halloween Month", and the prime month to watch scary movies all month long (which I did), but I've been busy painting and working, plus am having trouble typing for any length of time these days, due to the problems with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my left hand. *throws self-pity party*

Anyway...these are my top 20 scary movie picks, not in any particular order, except for the first two. The majority were made in the '60's and '70's...this probably has something to do with my age, as many of these were films that scared me in my childhood and teen years, but really I think it's because I have been watching films, especially scary films (my favorite genre) for 40+ years, and most of the newer ones seem to be weak variations on what has come before. Not many newer horror/thriller films surprise me. The standout exceptions to this are "The Grudge" and "Frailty". Anyway here's my list:

Psycho (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Frenzy (1972)
Night Of The Hunter (1955)
The Evil Dead (1981)
The Exorcist (1973)
Halloween (1978)
When A Stranger Calls (1979)
Jaws (1975)
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane (1962)
Trilogy of Terror (1975, made for TV)
Phantasm (1979)
Alien (1979)
Frailty (2001)
The Grudge (2004)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1945)
Westworld (1973)

The Ring Two (unrated edition)

(2005)

"Fear comes full circle."

New rentals! We are prone to avoiding the theater and waiting to rent, and I grabbed this sequel, newly avaialable to rent, thinking "Oh, this will be good!"

Well, I'll make this brief and to the point. First off, in order to even begin to understand "The Ring Two", you need to have first seen the original. Which I did, and I thought the original one was scary as hell, and a very good film. But just because you saw the first one that doesn't mean you need to waste your time seeing this boring, un-scary sequel, which suffers most from poor direction and editing.

The plot: Naomi Watts reprises her role from "The Ring", determined to make a new life with her son, but the evil Samara returns. SURPRISE!

I don't know what "chilling new scenes" (as it says on the DVD box) this unrated version contains, but if the unrated version is supposed to be scarier than the rated one, that makes it even worse. This film is just not scary. In fact, my husband and I found ourselves laughing at many of the supposedly-scary scenes.

For instance: in the first film the director wasn't trying to scare the audience with computer-animated deer. And the only thing less scary than deer are computer-animated deer. That whole scene seemed to be just a lame imitation of the final scene from the Hitchcock classic "The Birds". We were laughing the entire time.

And how did Naomi Watts' character keep her (creepy-looking) little boy clean, if he's so damn phobic of tubs, showers, toilets and even faucets? Damn, kid, take a bath and wash your stanky little self! Oh no! Scared of the bath tub too? Well, Mom will just leave you alone in the tub, you'll be fine. What could happen?

This slow, predictable, boring, barely-a-horror-movie movie is long on closeups of Watts' face, and short on scary Samara.

See the original, but skip this one.

Gia (unrated edition)

(1998)

"Everyone Saw The Beauty, No One Saw The Pain."

"Gia" is based on the real life story of late 1970's supermodel Gia Marie Carangi; starting with her life as a young girl, we see her watch tearfully as her mother (Mercedes Ruehl) leaves her father and her, for another man. We next see her as a spike-haired, pink-haired punk of 18, working in her father's diner, who becomes a model after an impromptu photo shoot one evening. As her fame rises, she falls under the influence of heroin, and dies from AIDS in 1986, aged 26. Gia Carangi was one of the first women in America whose death was attributed to AIDS. Taken from interviews with people who knew her, and her own journals, "Gia" is a film that catapulted Angelina Jolie, in the lead role, into stardom, and for which she earned the Golden Globe Award, and also helped bring to attention the growing epidemic of women with AIDS.

Gia Carangi could possibly be described as the brunette Marilyn Monroe of the modeling world; another woman famous for her beauty, whose emotional vulnerabilities ultimately led to her death. Angelina Jolie is electrifying and completely believable, possibly drawing from her own modeling past, and empathy for the woman she portrays. She almost eerily seems to embody the tragic supermodel - I remember very well the model Gia from her heyday, her ads, her covers, and I had wondered what happened to her - until I saw this film. Her celebrity is illustrated by the fact that supermodel Cindy Crawford, who resembles Gia Carangi, was often referred to as "The Next Gia", and "Baby Gia", when she first started modeling.

This unrated version (I have both) has 5 minutes more footage in it than the rated. I haven't watched my other version in awhile, but there seem to be more drug/needle scenes in this one, and possibly a little more nudity.

Gia starts off as a very sexy film, making Gia's sexuality evident in the earliest scenes - at her first, informal modeling shoot, she shows her preference for women, and later on when asked if she's ever had sex with a man, replies "Yeah, once. I could have done that with a German Shepherd". But the film soon must delve into Gia's downward spiral into drugs and depression, after the death of Wilhelmina Cooper, her first modeling agent and a close friend/mother figure. As Gia says, "People keep going away from me. It hurts."

The film is a study in greys, punctuated with flashes of bright colors, such as red. A mournful Jazz soundtrack for the titles and parts of the film, and classic rock and roll songs of the time contribute greatly to the atmosphere.

With a strong supporting cast, including Mercedes Reuhl as her mother, Elizabeth Mitchell as her lover, Eric Michael Cole as her friend T.J, and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, HBO Pictures brought to TV one of the best of the made-for-TV film genre.

Profit - (TV series, complete DVD set)

(1996)

"Profit - A Name You Can't Trust."

I don't usually review TV shows but I had to make an exception for "Profit".

Recently released for the first time ever, and on DVD, this deliciously evil short-lived series from 1996 was far ahead of its time. Today, in the era of HBO and shows such as "The Sopranos", the then-outrageous TV show "Profit" would fit right in. Lasting a mere season because of the uproar over its subject matter and its in-your-face handling of same (for example, the relationship between Jim Profit and his drug-addled trashy stepmother, wonderfully portrayed by Lisa Blount, sent conservatives into a tailspin), when I first saw the show I was immediately hooked, and was floored when it was cancelled.

My husband had heard me lament the demise of the show (he had never seen it). When he saw in a magazine that it was going to be released, and on DVD - the pilot, the 3 episodes that were aired in the USA, plus the 4 episodes I never got to see, that were released in France - he said "Isn't that the show you're always talking about that was cancelled that you loved so much?" - I looked at the article and literally made a beeline to my computer, credit card in hand. The DVD set includes some great interviews with the different people involved in the creation of the show.

As soon as it arrived, my husband started watching it with me and was even more hooked than I had been, especially at the pilot's amazing ending (I won't spoil it). After the pilot he said "That just makes me want to watch more!" It was everything I remembered: handsome, suave, charismatic, and completely evil Jim Profit (wonderfully portrayed by Adrian Pasdar), a warped product of insane parents and a horrible upbringing (his father made him live and sleep in a carboard box with a hole cut out so that he could just see a TV screen) uses any means in his power to get ahead in his quest to attain ownership of Gracen & Gracen, a powerful corporation. To say much more than this would spoil the story.

Watching the entire series, my husband and I treated it like a miniseries...and as we neared the last episode, I found myself saying, "Soon, there will be no more Profit! We're almost through it all!" I found myself suggesting after it was all over, that they bring the series back...hey, what's Adrian Pasdar doing these days?

Maybe HBO could pick it up, get at least some of the original cast back to participate - they'd have to have Pasdar - and do a "9 years later" and start the ball rolling again with a "9 years later" episode. What's the rest of the original cast up to these days (including Lisa Zane, actor Billy Zane's sister, as Joanne Meltzer, Jim Profit's arch-nemesis)? HBO should get some smarts and grab it up and run with it! FOX was smart enough to snatch it up back then; today it'd be perfect for cable TV.

"Profit" only suffered from its timing, as that there were no cable networks back then such as HBO, and apparently it was just too much for most of mainstream America. Brilliantly written and cast, one of the best TV shows I have ever seen, and as relevant now as it was then, "Profit" is a sheer masterpiece of film noir TV, and there has been nothing like it before or since. Buy it and watch it over and over - two words describe it better than any long review of it could: "Deliciously evil."

Alexander

(2004)

"Fortune favors the bold."

This is a prime example of bad filmmaking that needn't have been...Oliver Stone was way out of his element/genre directing this kind of film, and Colin Farrell was a poor choice for the lead; I like him well enough but he just couldn't carry this role, and with the blonde mullet he sports in it I just kept thinking, "Fabio! Fabio!"

A lot of great actors in the cast: Angelina Jolie, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins...all underused. Rosario Dawson is great too...and her performance was spicy! Jared Leto just wandered around with his big blue eyes, looking like a puppy, and Val Kilmer was, as usual, a complete ham. Jolie is in her element here as Alexander's vixen mother (yes, mother), playing with snakes, her black kohl-rimmed eyes brimming with mischief, although I must say that I found her use of a Russian accent a bit perplexing. Expanding Jolie's and Dawson's roles would have helped the film immensely; those two were the only really interesting characters.

Basically, this film suffers from (1) poor direction and (2) poor choice of leading man and (3) bad acting. That's a lot of major problems, isn't it? And if battle scenes are flat-out boring....! Good choice of narrator though - Anthony Hopkins has a great voice. And it's a good thing someone does narrate, because the film often needs explanation.

Watching this dud just made me want to re-watch really good epics such as "Lawrence of Arabia", "Gladiator", or "Ben-Hur".

Raising Arizona

(1987)

"A comedy beyond belief."

"Raising Arizona" is one of what I consider to be the five instantly classic films by the team of Ethan and Joel Coen, the others being "Blood Simple", "Fargo", "Oh Brother Where Are Thou", and "The Big Lebowski".

But "Raising Arizona" is my personal favorite, and one the most quotable films I have ever seen, with some of the best dialogue ever written for film.

I usually watch "Raising Arizona" at least once a year, and was just about in the mood to see it again when I happened to be waiting in a very slowly-moving line at my cell phone provider's store, and out of the blue, a man behind me asked me if I'd ever been to Green Bay. I replied "No, why?" He said I looked exactly like someone he knew there. I replied, "No, never been. But in the late 1980's a lot of people told me I looked like Holly Hunter in "Raising Arizona". (I am almost the same height, age, frame of build, somewhat similar facial features and general mannerisms, I also wore my hair like hers back then, and she's from Georgia and I'm from North Carolina, so we have similar accents.) His face lit up at the mention of the film, and he said to me:

"They've got a name for people like you. That name is 'Recidivism.'"

To which I immediately retorted: "That ain't me any more, no sir".
and the exchange went on...
"You're not just telling us what we want to hear?"
"No, sir, no way."
"Cause we just want to hear the truth."
"Well, then I guess I am telling you what you want to hear."
"Boy, didn't we just tell you not to do that?"
"Yes, sir."
"Okay, then."

We continued our "Raising Arizona" quotefest with each other, as I spouted out lines such as "Ah'm BARREN!!" (with the appropriate Holly Hunter facial expression) and "Yew go back in there and git me a youngun! They GOT more than they can handle!" While he came back with lines such as "Why are you lookin' for my son in the one place I know he ain't AT?!?"

...as the other people in line just looked at us as if we were crazy, except for one woman who daintily stepped forward and asked us "Uhm, I need to see a really funny movie. What's that one?"

In unison: "Raising Arizona!"

The story in brief: H.I. (Nicholas Cage) and "Ed" (Holly Hunter, in one of my favorite roles of hers) portray, respectively, an ex-con and a cop who meet when he keeps getting arrested for robbing convenience stores. They fall in love, get married, decide that "there is just too much love" between them, and they need a "critter to share it with". Upon finding that "Edwina's insides were a rocky place" where H.I.'s "seed could find no purchase", they try to adopt, but are turned down because of H.I.'s record. Then they read in the newspaper about local unpainted furniture storeowner Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson), owner of "Unpainted Arizona", and his wife having quintuplets as a result of fertility pills, and who joke that "They got more than they can handle". The couple hatch a plan to take one of the babies and raise it as their own.

What results is an ongoing, fast-paced, hilarious set of misadventures, complicated by the appearance of a ruthless, heartless outlaw named Leonard Smalls (Randall "Tex" Cobb) Nathan Arizona hires to find the missing baby, and two felon friends from H.I.'s past (John Goodman and William Forsythe), who make a childbirth-like escape from prison. Sam McMurray (the smarmy dad in "Drop Dead Gorgeous") is H.I.'s....smarmy boss, Glen. Frances McDormand (real-life spouse of Joel Coen, and star of other Coen films such as "Blood Simple" and "Fargo") is his excitable wife Dot. M. Emmet Walsh ("Blood Simple") has a scenery-chewing cameo role as H.I.'s talkative co-worker.

When Ed finally opens up her 5'2" can of Southern-fried whup-ass, throwing her badge to the dirt, striding towards Leonard Smalls as she bellows with all her might, "Gimme back that baby, you warthog from HELL!!!" I always fling my arms up and shout "You go girl! Kick his ass!"

And the way Hunter cries is hilarious.

Holly Hunter was great in this role, as one would expect. She's a very talented actress, in both serious and comedic roles.

Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter made a great onscreen couple, Cage with his hair standing out in every direction, looking like a hapless, browbeaten puppy half of the time, and Hunter as his diminuitive firecracker of a wife who loves him and tries to keep him honest (oh yeah except for that little kidnapping excursion).

I could go on and on about this film but suffice to say that so far I haven't met anyone who didn't find "Raising Arizona" hilarious. And as any great Coen brothers film, it has a certain mythic quality that's hard to describe, but is present all of of the brothers' best efforts. When I was single, I often used Coen brothers films as a barometer of sorts for prospective boyfriends. For instance, I remember seeing "Fargo" on a first date, and when we came out of the theater, the guy (whose name I have since forgotten anyway) remarked "Huh, I didn't think much of that", while I was thinking how blown away I was by the film! I immediately thought to myself "So much for him! This relationship won't last long."

For more great Coen comedy, check out "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" (2000), which is loosely based on Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey". Another great Coen comedy is "The Big Lebowski" (1998), which also includes my favorite singer/songwriter Aimee Mann in a brief cameo, and boasts a cult following that has resulted in an annual "Lebowskifest" for fans of the film.

"Blood Simple" (1984) is probably my favorite film noir modern-day classic tale of lust and betrayal, and is my personal second-favorite Coen brothers film. "Fargo" (1996), which won the Screenwriting Oscar, and an Oscar for Frances McDormand, is another must-see Coen classic.

Psycho Beach Party

(2001)

"Party 'til you drop. Dead."

"Psycho Beach Party" is a parody of teen slasher horror films, taking place in the 1960's. It's a combination of beach movie, horror film, and camp. It's really not a very good movie for the general public, but as a cheesy camp flick it has its appeal, and it's worth at least a rent, at least for people who like this kind of John Waters-esque camp. My main complaint is that it seems to try a bit too hard. But it's a great movie if you're in a certain kind of relaxed mood. Anyway, we have a copy of it in our collection, and re-watched it yesterday.

Florence "Chicklet" Forrest (Lauren Ambrose, of "Six Feet Under") is the highlight of the whole movie, and makes the film worthwhile just on her merits alone. Her character has multiple personalites, the main two being the nice, peppy Florence, but the hilarious one is her alter-ego "Anne Bowen", a dominiatrix minx. Ambrose switches back and forth seamlessly and hilariously between these two personalities (and a minor third one).

The story: Florence and her best friend Berdine (Danni Wheeler) get involved in a series of murders after Florence starts hanging out with the all-male surfers' club, wanting to be part of the group. Captain Monica Stark (played by writer, actor and novelist Charles Busch, who for some reason saw fit to be cast in this female part - he is not really funny, and the character is treated as if she were really female, instead of a obvious man in drag) is the officer in charge of the case. Add to the mix a sequestered B-horror film actress, Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies), Florence's picture-perfect mother, Ruth (Beth Broderick), psychology major dropout Starcat (Nicholas Brendon, of the TV series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"), the catty Marvel Ann (Amy Adams, of "Drop Dead Gorgeous"), Swedish exchange student, Lars (Matt Kessler), Kathleen Robertson as the bitchy, wheelchair-bound Rhonda, whom you really just want to literally push out of her chair, and the supposedly omnipotent Kanaka (Thomas Gibson), a great soundtrack, and you've got a completely silly, fun film for lovers of the cheesy camp genre.

The Avengers - The Emma Peel Megaset

1965-1967

(TV Series)

This is supposed to be just a movie review blog, but I can't resist adding this one TV show. I watched The Avengers when it was originally aired, but I hadn't seen any of the episodes since then until about a year ago, when I felt a sudden nostalgic yearning to own copies of the episodes that featured Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. I found out this set was available, and pulled out my charge card.

I didn't remember the show very well except for Emma Peel, having been a child when the episodes first aired. But I sure remembered Mrs. Peel - I wanted to grow up to be Emma Peel! She karate-chopped, sword-fought, out-smarted her foes, solved mysteries and crimes, wore great 60's clothes, had the perfect flip hairstyle, and saved her male partner John Steed from certain death as often as he saved her! All with a wry sense of humor, collected, the epitome of classy, and beautiful.

The episodes with Emma Peel comprised only a 2-year time frame of the series, but what a memorable time! The Megaset also includes galleries of rare, high-quality production stills from the archives of The Avengers. All the Avengers episodes ever made featuring Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel are in the set. I've been trying to watch them in sequence, but my husband prefers to pull out his personal favorites to watch, such as "The Queen of Sin", "The Winged Avenger", and "The Cybernauts".

Playful, stylish, classy, campy...and visually, these digitally remastered epsiodes are amazing. The black and white ones are very clear, and the color ones are extremely rich, lush in color. The beautiful and captivating theme music was some of the best of the times in TV shows. As for the scripts, as an adult, I can actually understand and appreciate the tongue-in-cheek humor inherent in the show! What a fun show. And with Patrick MacNee as the suave, jovial and warm John Steed, her partner in crime-solving, MacNee and Rigg - who had wonderful chemistry on-screen - made for some of the best years of "The Avengers."

Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

(1962)

"Sister, sister, oh so fair, why is there blood all over your hair?"

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford portray sisters with a history of competitiveness with each other: Davis is Jane Hudson, or "Baby Jane" Hudson, as she was known when she was a child vaudeville star. Crawford is her sister Blanche, who became famous as an acclaimed actress while Jane's star went down. Jane, who was bratty and selfish as a child star, makes an even worse adult, much less a drunken, nasty, kabuki-makeup wearing, slovenly, crazy old woman.



Having suffered a mysterious car accident years before, Blanche's career as an actress was ended, and Jane takes care of her. Well, not really.



Blanche: (calmly) You wouldn't be able to do these awful things to me if I weren't still in this chair.
Jane: (screeching) But ya AAH, Blanche! Ya AAH in that chair!

A melodramatic combination of dark comedy, camp, and thriller, "Whatever Happened To baby Jane" is one of the all-time classics of camp horror.



The legendary hatred and competitiveness between the two stars is well-documented, and the film used it well, also rejuvenating the careers of both stars. Crawford insisted that a doll be used as a stand-in for the scene were Davis kicks her. Crawford's hatred of Davis was not lessened by Davis' nomination for Best Actress for her role (her 10th nomination). The image of the aged and horrific "Baby Jane" dressed in a childlike dress, performing "I've Written A Letter To Daddy" is probably one of the creepiest images in film. Footage from one of Davis' own early film flops is shown in a scene meant to illustrate how lousy an actress "Baby Jane" becomes as an adult.

Maidie Norman as maid/helper Elvira gives a great performance in a supporting role, and the classy Anna Lee (best known in later years as Lila Quartermaine on the TV soap "General Hospital"} portrays the sisters' gracious and inquisitive neightbor.

The film received five Academy Award nominations including Best Actress (Bette Davis), Best Supporting Actor (Victor Buono, in his screen debut), Best B/W Cinematography, and Best Sound, with one win for Best B/W Costume Design.

Giant

(1956)

"The legendary epic that's as big as Texas!"

The plot: Texas ranch owner Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) travels to purchase a prize horse, but falls in love at first sight with the owner's pampered daughter Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor). He woos and wins her quickly, they marry, then travel back to his isolated ranch.



Leslie, after a rough start, proves herself quite the force of nature.



Ranch hand Jett Rink (James Dean) falls into unrequited love with Leslie -



Uttering, in the shot above, one of my favorite lines in the film, it goes something like, "Mrs. Benedict, you sure do look right good enough to eat, yeah, good enough to eat...." (voice trails off and he looks like he's going to lick his lips) - and then when he strikes it rich with oil, he takes his bitterness out in several ways.

With a stellar supporting cast including Mercedes McCambridge, Sal Mineo, Carroll Baker, and Dennis Hopper, "Giant" is the original miniseries before anyone knew what a miniseries even was...except this is of course a classic film of the big screen, not a TV movie.



Directed by George Stevens, the sprawling epic (201 minutes, but it goes fast, believe me) beautifully covers two generations of family and a variety of issues, including marriage, family, childraising, social snobbery and racism, the latter two being covered especially well. When in the mood for a well-paced, involved, alternately funny, sad, heartwarming, and emotionally fulfilling epic, "Giant" always fits the bill for me.

The Pride Of The Yankees

(1942)

"It's the Great American Story!"

First off, my favorite actor of all time is Gary Cooper. I love his acting, and the gawkiness he often used in his screen roles, in addition of course to the fact that I thought he was absolutely gorgeous in his prime. Cooper's appeal is only enhanced for me by the distance of his onscreen persona from his real-life one...he was quite the ladies' man in real life, not awkward with women as the characters he often portrayed onscreen, and his smoldering sexuality shows from his piercing blue eyes. His lively offscreen affairs with stars such as Clara Bow (who famously declared "He's hung like a horse and he can go all night!"), Lupe Velez aka "The Mexican Spitfire", and of course Patricia Neal, are the stuff of old Hollywood legend.

Kevin Costner and Ralph Fiennes in their primes had nothin' on Coop. He was the man. Cooper, who started off wanting to be an artist, fell into acting instead, first as a stunt man in westerns, but quickly getting leading roles. He continued to do most of his own riding and stunts even into his later years, carving himself quite a name as a star of westerns, including the western classic "High Noon" (1952), but my favorite films of his were films such as "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town" (1936), "Meet John Doe" (1941), "Ball Of Fire" (1941), "Sargeant York" (1941), and of course "The Pride Of The Yankees". My husband understands my adoration of Gary Cooper; and/but we had this brief discussion before we watched my recently purchased DVD of the film (I'd seen it before, but didn't own a copy of it):

Husband: "I don't mind watching it with you as long as you don't make those noises you always make when you watch a Gary Cooper movie."

Me: "What noises?"

Husband: "Those noises like the ones Homer Simpson makes when he looks at a stick of butter...'Mmmmmmmm'...."

Me: "What? I didn't know I did that. Okay, I won't make any weird noises while we watch it."

So I was quiet (except for of course choking up in tears when Cooper delivers Gehrig's legendary "Today, I consider myself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth" farewell speech) -



- Gehrig's retirement speech helped immortalize him as a hero and an all-American role model.

"The Pride of the Yankees" is the blueprint for the sports biopic, and is generally considered to be the best movie about baseball ever made. Teresa Wright stars as his wife Eleanor. Wright, who just passed away this March, was an excellent actress, and a beautiful woman. The last film I saw her in was in a small part in "Somewhere In Time", and she had aged wonderfully. She and Cooper had great chemistry onscreen, holding her own ground as he towered over her petite 5'3" frame.



Walter Brennan, a frequent Cooper co-star and real-life friend, and Babe Ruth as himself (shown below with Cooper) are two other co-stars who contribute much to the film.



The film traces the rags-to-riches story of Gehrig, as his childhood dream comes true when he's signed to the New York Yankees, and his untimely retirement when he is stricken with the fatal, neurological disease ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) which was afterwards simply called "Lou Gehrig's Disease". Cooper, although a bit of an odd choice for the part (one reason being his height, he was about 6'4"), gives an endearing, heartfelt, dignified performance, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Gehrig was left-handed, Cooper right-handed, which was further complicated by the fact that Cooper himself wasn't a capable baseball player. For the filming, his uniform had "New York" printed backwards on it, he ran to third base when he hit a ball, and then the print was reversed.

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards in all, and receiving 1 (for Film Editing), "The Pride Of The Yankees" still stands as a must-see film for baseball fans and fans of classic cinema alike.

Some Like It Hot

(1959)

"The movie too HOT for words!"

I recently picked up a special edition DVD of the classic "Some Like It Hot", and upon arriving home with it, tossed out my old battered fullscreen VHS version. I watched this film again last night, with the added bonus of seeing it for the first time in widescreen, and was immediately struck once again by how perfect a movie it is.

You've got a Billy Wilder film with female impersonators played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe with a screen name that reeks of porn and/or strippers - "Sugar Cane". What more could you ask for? This wondrous mix combined to make one of the greatest comedies in the history of film.

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon portray down-and-out musicians who accidently witness a mob massacre and immediately flee from the mob, as George Raft's character says, "I don't like no loose ends." In desperation, they disguise themselves as women -



- Curtis as "Josephine", and Lemmon as "Daphne", in order to join an all-girl band and leave town.

Once "Sugar Cane" (Monroe) sashays past the pair on the way to the train they're about to board, all bets are off. Staring after her as she walks away, Lemmon, as "Daphne" exclaims, "Would you look at that...that's just like jello on springs!"

I'll omit the rest of the plot summary. What I will remark on is how really filthy this movie is for its time. And very gay! The innuendos and double-entendres are priceless. Jack Lemmon, who had one of the most expressive faces in film, gives an amazing performance. Tony Curtis looks scarily convincing as a woman (Lemmon just looks really ugly), and Marilyn Monroe is hypnotically beautiful and funny at the same time.

Marilyn Monroe - a woman whom the camera truly loved. Pregnant during the making of the film, she looks just slightly more voluptuous than usual for the time - in fact gorgeous - and in closeups, ethereal, vulnerable, and breathtaking in a way that almost brings tears to the eyes.



Joe E. Brown gives a hilarious performance as "Daphne's" suitor -



- and Tony Curtis gets to give his (passable, but still very funny) Cary Grant impression. Side note: There has been the legendary rumor for years that Curtis said that "Kissing Marilyn Monroe was like kissing Hitler" because of problems on the set with her erratic behavior. In recent years Curtis has claimed that he never made that statement. Whatever the truth, the pair do exhibit really wonderful chemistry in their love scene together, and the skin-colored/sequined dress Marilyn Monroe wears for that sequence is absolutely perfect. Here she is shown in between takes in it; she couldn't sit down well in it, so a special board/rest was set up for her:



This is a film that still stands the test of time; a true ten-star classic.

Jaws

(1975)
(30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD)

"You'll never go in the water again!"

This is the movie that really reminds me of high school; it came out the summer before I started my senior year, the summer I turned 18.

"Jaws" was the "Psycho" of my generation. I don't apply this term to "Halloween", another equally scary film of the '70's involving pointy things that can kill you, because "Jaws" and "Psycho" have too very important elements in common with each other, and "Halloween" somehow seems to fall into a different horror genre.

Both "Psycho" and "Jaws" are about ordinary people doing something ordinary and enjoyable, two activities one would normally never find dangerous: showering, and splashing about in the shallows of the ocean.

I don't remember, but I can't imagine that this movie made people very happy whose livelihood depended on beach tourism, as it was released in the early summer.

Seeing "Psycho" made many people afraid to take showers (including actress Janet Leigh, who starred in it and claimed she never took another shower afterwards), and "Jaws" made many people afraid to swim in the ocean. It scared the hell out of us teenagers and made for endless pranks at the beach that summer (hey, I was 17 when it came out in the theater, what can I say)? Two of my friends would take turns pretending to be an approaching shark in the water, using his hand as a fin, while humming the classic "Jaws" soundtrack, or pretending to be the first victim in the film (minus the screaming, which upset the lifeguards), thrashing and flailing about in the waves as if being attacked and dragged underwater.

"Jaws" was also Steven Spielberg's first (and I think best) blockbuster. It could only help boost the careers of the 3 lead male actors in the film: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss (this was the role that made Dreyfuss a star). It spawned one of the most classic and oft-quoted lines in film history: "You're gonna need a bigger boat." It was also technically a very innovative film, with a mechanical shark that by all accounts was a great deal of trouble.

I hadn't seen this film in several years, having seen it umpteen times when it first came out, and several times on VHS, as I owned an old VHS copy of it. But I recently got the 30th Anniversary Edition, and saw it again last night, in the dark, in widescreen, through the stereo (gone is the full-screen only old tape).

Suffice to say that when the head pops out of the boat...I still jump just as much as I did the first time I saw it in the theater.

The ultimate, and best, of the "Scary Summer Movie" genre.

This "Special Edition 30th Anniversary Edition" (widescreen, of course) of the film includes some great special features such as deleted scenes and outtakes, a never-before-available interview with Spielberg, archives, and a two-hour documentary of the making of the film. The deleted scenes and outtakes are a riot; I can certainly see why the shot of Robert Shaw's clog-sheathed foot stepping out of a big black car with the words "QUINT" in white and a white outline drawing of a shark on its door were cut! Shaft! We never knew ya!