This one's a bit of a puzzler. I'm pretty sure I saw The House of Wax in a theater in 3D, but I couldn't find a listing for any local theater that was showing it on May 5th, in 1982. Perhaps it was somewhere outside of San Francisco?
Whatever the case, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the first time I had seen the movie, as I recall being really creeped out as a younger kid after seeing some of the moments featuring wax figures ablaze and melting.
Of course for me, the most memorable scene, and its most silly, is the paddle ball sequence. And to this day, I firmly believe that every 3D movie should be required to have at least one scene a featuring paddle ball. (Or, at the very least, ping pong.)
A few weeks ago I reviewed a movie that was a complete and total ripoff of Escape From New York. I actually kind of liked the movie, but it reminded me how awesome the real thing is, and I eagerly took an opportunity to rewatch it.
Escape From New York came out in 1981, and I couldn't find any theater listings showing it was screening anywhere on May 1st, 1982, so I am assuming this was another VHS rental. Which is a shame, because like most of John Carpenter's movies, Escape is very widescreen, which means until I saw it on LaserDisc many years later, I had never actually seen the "entire" movie.
I loved everything about Escape on that first viewing: John Carpenter's self-composed synth score, (I would listen to it on my Walkman many times that summer); the cheesy but still impressive effects; Kurt Russell's Clint Eastwood impersonation; (although I don't think I completely realized that was what he was doing until I watched Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns a few years later); and most especially, this guy:
What was probably most significant about this movie at this time was it made me realize I really, really liked John Carpenter movies, and really, really liked Kurt Russell in them. And I knew that in a few months, I would be treated to another of their collaborations in The Thing, and I. Could. Not. Wait!
Let me end this post with one more fave moment from the movie. Words to remember.
Scanners is a movie I didn't really like when I saw it as a twelve-year-old, and because of that first impression, it's not one of the Cronenberg movies I've ever felt the need to come back to again and again. I've seen it again once or twice over the years, and while I can admire parts of it now, I'm still kind of turned off by its cheapness, bad acting, and overall...Canadianness. (And I don't mean that in a purely negative way. Canada is awesome! Just that it has a kind of foreignness that's a tad off putting and depressing to me. I have the same reaction to a lot of British movies.)
As far as I can tell, we didn't go see this in a theater. It came out in 1981, but I couldn't find a listing for it at any rep houses on April 24th, so I likely saw it on video.
Ultimately, I probably watched the movie just for that one famous moment--we all know what it is--and that is certainly my go-to image whenever I get a migraine, and anyone asks what that feels like.
So, with that, please to enjoy the best 10 seconds found in the movie Scanners.
The above trailer is hopelessly murky, but I had to post it because the voiceover kind of illustrates why I love the movie Swamp Thing. "Monsters and midgets!...An incredibly adventure that grows on you!" Surely, this is one of director Wes Craven's masterworks!
Now, I am a huge fan of the Alan Moore "Swamp Thing" comics; they're what got me into comics in the 80's. And while the movie has absolutely nothing to do with those comics, I think it is because of the movie that DC decided to revamp the series in the first place, so it at least deserves our thanks, if not our love.
And yeah, I do love it. I remember it being a really fun day at the movies. I think by the time we saw it on April 17th, it had moved to the second run theaters, (it opened in February), and we saw it at the 4 Star for a mere three bucks.
I'm pretty sure that at first, I was a little confused about it. Was it intentionally funny? Was I laughing at it, or with it? But by the time I saw it again, most likely on video, it was clear it wasn't a movie that was taking itself too seriously. I mean, you can practically see the zipper running up the Swamp Thing's back.
And it's that goofy humor that made me love it. Indeed, there is a midget monster in it, and there's a completely awesome moment when Swamp Thing starts to grow a new arm, after it's chopped off by bad guys, and during the process we see this tiny little twig hand start to pop out of his shoulder and make a fist.
Also, Adrienne Barbeau runs around in a wet shirt a lot, and what's not to love about that?
And I wasn't the only one who liked it. I remember watching Siskel and Ebert talk about the movie on their show, and I know they both loved it, even while they were cracking up about it. I can't find that original show, but they do talk about it in an episode about "Buried Treasures." I'd include the video here, but it can't be embedded without autoplay turned on, (annoying!), so go here to view the episode, and skip to the 18 minute mark to see the Swamp Thing discussion. (It also includes, right before that, some discussion of a previous Mulled Movie, The Wanderers.)
Only have a few things from my "book" for this one. First is a newspaper ad...
And the second is a couple of review clips, including another from "Trashola"...
I didn't get to re-watch the movie before posting this, but am happy to report it is available on Netflix Instant, and it's also available on Amazon as a cheap rental, (free to Prime customers). A re-watching is definitely in my future.
For whatever reason, April 9th's movie completely slipped my mind, and thus this entry is showing up several days late. Fortunately, I don't really have a lot to say about Richard Pryor Live On the Sunset Strip, or my experience of seeing it. One thing that was enlightening was finding out I saw it at a theater I had forgotten even existed: The Metro II (later, the Mercury) on Union Street. It was smaller than the Metro, (also on Union Street), and located about two blocks away in a building that is now gone.
Anyway, there's no denying the movie is a classic in the stand-up comedy genre, a genre that seems mostly relegated to cable TV now. (What was the last hit stand-up movie? The Kings of Comedy?) It's probably best remembered for the extended bit he did about his freebasing accident, in which he caught on fire and ran down the street. So I'll leave you with a little of that.
In 1982, there were a couple of movies I loved so much, I went to see them again and again. Cat People was one of them.
Now, Cat People is kind of a hard film to admit you love. I can understand seeing it and laughing at its cheesiness and complete implausibility; you either go along with it, and view it as a sort of adult fairy tale, or you don't. And if you don't, I get it, believe me.
But I did go along with it, and still do. Sure, watching it in recent years I am a little less able to look past its flaws, but I still find it extremely watchable, and will still willfully admit to loving it.
Since this is a movie I ended up seeing several more times over the course of the year, I think I'll break up my thoughts on it into several different posts. I also have a lot of ephemera related to the movie that I'll have to try and dig up, and hope to post that stuff too. So for today, I'll talk about the experience of seeing it for the first time.
On Saturday, April 3rd, 1982, my parents and I ventured out to the Plaza 1&2 Theater, which was by Serramonte in Colma. Even though it was a two-screen theater, it was pretty big, and had a parking lot, which was always an added bonus on a weekend. I'm pretty sure the theater wasn't very crowded, despite the movie being released the day before, (it wasn't exactly a blockbuster), but I do remember there were two women sitting behind us who had a lot to say about Annette O'Toole's naked breasts during the movie's swimming pool scene.
So, initial thoughts first: I knew I liked Nastassja (then "Nastassia") Kinski after seeing her in One From the Heart the month before, and she was just as watchable in Cat People. Indeed, I can't imagine anyone else doing the role justice; the character of Irena has to feel almost other-worldly; you can't place where she's from, but she certainly doesn't look or sound like someone you'd meet in every day life.
Pair an actress I already knew I liked, with a genre, horror, that I was a long-standing fan of, and you've got something twelve-year-old me was almost guaranteed to love. Set the thing in New Orleans--a city I had, at that point, not been to, but held fascination for me because of family ties to the area--and bingo; I was hooked to the point of near obsession.
I'll get into some other possible explanations for loving it so much in future posts. I will say that the purchasing of things related to the movie began right after we left the theater, as we drove to a record store on Geary Street and bought the theme song single by David Bowie. (I believe the actual soundtrack LP, which I would also end up buying, hadn't been released yet.) You gotta love a song that has leopard roars in the mix!
I added quite a few newspaper ads and reviews to my "Genre Book," so let's end this with a look at those. (As always, click the images to see larger versions.) In May, I'll more to say about the movie, so stay tuned!
Here's the first part of a review from the East Bay Express...
You can read the rest of the review here, along with some other shorter pieces and listings, including another from Trashola.
This is an interview with director Paul Schrader from BAM Magazine (remember that?!). I'll have to put it in here in four parts since the original clipping is pretty large...
This weekend, I read the book Left In the Dark, a collection of photos of some of San Francisco's oldest movie theaters, accompanied by a variety of essays. Some of the essays are more entertaining and informative than others, but needless to say, it plays right into this here blog, and brought back even more memories about the theaters of my youth. Thesepictures of the Coronet actually brought tears to my eyes; I still can't believe a theater that was home to so, so many pivotal movie moments in my life is...just not even there any more.
But reading the book also reminded me that many of these theaters are still around, and in operation. And the fact that any time I make the effort to see a movie of my own volition, (which is to say, anytime I go to a movie that isn't a preview or press screening), I automatically just go to a multiplex, well, that's kind of inexcusable. Yes, it is the easier choice; I can easily walk to all of the city's multiplex theaters, and most of them are comfortable, with good seating. But they're also soulless, and more often than not, filled with assholes.
Of course, assholes can go to older theaters too, but I just have a feeling that audiences in a neighborhood theater might be a bit more civil. And that's a theory I hope to test very soon. Sadly, a lot of these still-in-operation-theaters have been split into double plus screens, something I'll never be a fan of. But if it's that or closure, I'll settle for that. So, the next time I make a plan to see a new release, I'm going to check the local theaters first, and if it's playing at one of them, I'm going to do my best to go there.
For the record, those theaters include the Presidio, the Bridge, the Clay, the Four Star, the Vogue, the Balboa, and the Marina, which was formerly the Cinema 21, the theater in which I saw today's movie back on April 19th, 1982. (Once again, my ledger says the date was the 19th, although that was actually a Monday, so in all likelihood, I actually saw it on the 18th...)
One From the Heartis the film that drove Francis Ford Coppola to bankruptcy, and was deemed a disaster and so much folly by critics and audiences alike. But it's a film I loved then, and still do now. (At least, in its original version. But we'll get to that in a bit.)
The plot is pretty simple: Frederic Forrest and Terri Garr play a couple who have been together for years, and feel the spark has left their relationship. On the Fourth of July, they break up, and venture off on their own, looking for excitement, magic, and maybe new love, ultimately meeting some exotic new love interests along the way, (played by Raul Julia and Nastassja Kinski).
Perhaps what the movie is best known for is its artifice. Set in Las Vegas, none of it was actually filmed in Las Vegas. Instead, Coppola recreated the Vegas of the day, (which you can now find at the "Fremont Street Experience" in Downtown Vegas), completely in a studio. All that neon and light you see in the movie? It's all on a studio set. That ending scene that takes place at the airport? He built an airport, complete with a jumbo jet, (or at least, the nose of one). The desert? Not actual desert.
Yeah. It's pretty nutso. But it also makes sense, given the genre of the movie. It's a musical--albeit one in which the main characters don't really sing--and like the classic musicals of Hollywood, none of it is really meant to look real. It's supposed look movie real.
He also presents much of the film like a stage musical, with lots of scenes shot in front of screens, (or scrims?), with lighting that then fades to reveal an entirely different room or set behind it. You can see the effect here...
When you think about the logistics of the thing, it's actually really impressive.
The music was written by Tom Waits, and it's performed by him and Crystal Gayle. It's the only Tom Waits album I can stand to listen to, (sorry, I think he's hilarious, and love him in movies, but I just can't deal with most of his music), and all the songs work great within the context of the movie. And because most of the characters don't burst into song, it doesn't have the off-putting awkwardness that tends to bug me with most musicals.
There is one person that sings in the film, and kind of badly. But it's also charming and appropriate, given her character...
I'm pretty sure this is the movie that introduced me to Nastassja Kinski, an actress I would become pretty obsessed with in 1982. (And I wasn't the only one; that was really her biggest year). I really can't explain why she captured me so much; I mean, she's obviously stunningly beautiful, but it was more than that. She also had genuine screen magnetism, combined with a foreign weirdness that was different from most of the movie stars of the day. (A lot of that was her accent which, being that she could speak at least five languages, was never really placeable. Sandra Bernhard did a hilarious bit about her back in her stand-up days, making special note of the way Kinski says the line "Like spit on a griddle!" in the movie.)
My favorite scenes featuring her aren't on YouTube, (including that "spit on a griddle" one), but in this one, you can see her putting her tightrope-walking skills to work, (she plays a girl who performs in a family circus).
Her character is kind of sad, and is ultimately the one you end up feeling the most sorry for. I don't know if it was written that way, or if it's the vulnerability she brings to the role, but she's really heartbreaking...
For most of the movies I write about here--assuming they are movies I actually liked--I make an attempt to re-watch them before posting. And unlike some of them, One From the Heart is a movie I actually own on DVD and could watch.
And yet, I can't bring myself to re-watch it.
When Coppola decided to release the movie in a special edition DVD back in 2004, he also took the opportunity to rework some of it. And in so doing, he almost ruined the damn thing.
I suppose someone who hasn't seen the movie as often as I have might not even notice the changes, but I did, and it really irked me. The biggest thing he did was re-edit much of it. Long takes and impressive tracking shots are instead broken up into multi-edited shots, thus ruining the fluidity, (and musicality), of many moments in the film. He also restructures much of the story, so that overlapping scenes and bits of dialogue are turned into completely separate scenes.
Why he would choose to do this is beyond me, (was he trying to modernize it?), because what was once a technically inspiring piece of filmmaking becomes something completely standard.
While I do own a VHS copy of the original movie, it is, being VHS, pretty crappy to look at, but I do like knowing I have the version of the movie that originally captivated me back in 1982.
If only I could run out to a nice old movie theater and watch it again right now...
