view
La ragazza con la pistola [The Girl with a Pistol] (Mario Monicelli, 1968)
Jul
28
Assunta Patanè (Monica Vitti) seated between two dinner tables on a long, padded bench. She's clutching her purse and appears to be waiting for something. On the table to her right a sugar bowl and a branded ashtray. DP: Carlo Di Palma.
“Ah, well, if you love somebody, shoot!”
– Dr. Tom Osborne
view
Culloden [The Battle of Culloden] (Peter Watkins, 1964)
Jul
27
Bagpipe Appreciation Day
John Hunt Leigh in Culloden, pìobaireachd “ceòl mór” (litt. piping “great music”). DP: Dick Bush.
Great Highland #bagpipes, or a' phìob mhòr as they're called in Scottish Gaelic, are traditionally played on the battlefield. Peter Watkins' Culloden moves the senseless bloodshed from 1960s Vietnam to the Scottish Highlands of 1746.
“And wherever he went, he took with him his music, his poetry, his language and his children… thus within a century of Culloden, the English and the Scottish lowlanders had made secure forever their religion, their commerce, their culture, their ruling dynasty.”
– narrator
view
Festival panafricain d'Alger [The Panafrican Festival in Algiers] (William Klein, 1969)
Jul
26
One Voice Day
Black hands holding each other. In translation the caption reads “Down with colonialism! Down with imperialism!”. DP: William Klein et al.
In typical Western fashion the credits for William Klein's Festival panafricain d'Alger focusses on the French and American participants. After Algeria regained its independence in 1962, it became Africa's – and the #AfricanDiaspora's – centre for postcolonial and liberation moments.
“À bas le colonialisme ! À bas l'imperialisme !”
The 12-day Festival panafricain attracted 5000 people from all over the African continent, as well as liberation fighters from the United States.
view
L'homme qui ment [The Man Who Lies] (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1968)
Jul
25
soup
The titular man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) at a dinner table, observed by Sylvia (Sylvia Turbová) and Maria (Sylvie Bréal). The room is white and sparsely furnished. DP: Igor Luther.
view
The Mask [Eyes of Hell / The Spooky Movie Show] (Julian Roffman, 1961)
Jul
22
Jaws 3D release day
strobe warning: click to toggle image

Rudi Linschoten as Dr Allan Barnes' alter ego in one of the jaw-dropping 3D scenes. With red/cyan glasses you can see the 3D effect in all its eye-popping glory! DP: Herbert S. Alpert.
“Put the mask on, now!”
– recurring on-screen prompt
Julian Roffman's The Mask is an extremely watchable psychotronic affair. The 3D effects during the nightmarish Andreas Vesalius-inspired sequences are well implemented and yes, there's stuff flying at you for all the right reasons. Not quite #WilliamCastle gimmicky, but made with lots of love for the potential of 3D.
view
Where the Boys Are (Henry Levin, 1960)
Jul
21
Legal Drinking Age Day
While chatting up TV Thompson (Jim Hutton), Tuggle Carpenter (Paula Prentiss) presents a fake ID to prove that with her “25” years of age she's old enough to drink. The ID also states that despite her 5'10” (1,78m) frame, she's a petite 5'2” (1,57m). DP: Robert J. Bronner.
Where the Boys Are is chock-full of characters whose names appear to be straight space-travel-lifted from various #JohnWaters' movies: Tuggle Carpenter! TV Thompson! Lola Fandango! Dr. Raunch for Chrissakes!
“The boys come to soak up the sun, and a few carloads of beer. The girls come, very simply, because this is where the boys are.”
– narrator
We follow four female midwestern college students on #SpringBreak in Fort Lauderdale. Their objective is boys boys boys (and an even tan) and nothing, including being too young to drink, can stop them. This was one of the first post-Hayes Hollywood movies to address teenage sex yet despite all the innuendo (“What's your shoe size?” “13.” “Get in the car!”), it's all pretty clean. But without these girls, there wouldn't be any Dawn Davenport. And that would've ruined everybody's Christmas.
view
Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1959/1960)
Jul
21
Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) “watching TV”. Ann Carlyle (Kate Manx) stripping for her husband is on. DP: Ted D. McCord.
Date watched, not the date in the movie. The quote was too good to leave it off this blog.
– He's got a calendar in there.
– What day is it?
– It's a broad in a cowboy hat.
– Scooby doo bi doo ba ba.
view
Ikarie XB 1 [Icarus XB 1] (Jindřich Polák, 1963)
Jul
20
Space Exploration Day
Two astronauts weightlessly pushing themselves through a round airlock. Their suits are very similar to the ones seen in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). DP: Jan Kališ.
Both anticapitalist and pre-Stanley space odyssey. Based on Stanislaw Lem's Obłok Magellana [The Magellanic Cloud] (1955).
view
Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1960)
Jul
20
lemonade
A blonde lady (Kate Manx) holds a wicker ray with a pitcher of lemonade and several glasses. Her anxious look contrast with the carefree promise of summer sky and cool drinks. DP: Ted D. McCord.
“I'm looking for the Hitchcock residence.”
– Duke
view
L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Jul
19
fruit
“I still can't figure out if it's an office, a market place, or a boxing ring. And maybe I don't even need to.”
– Vittoria