settima

USA

200 Motels (Tony Palmer + Frank Zappa, 1971)

Mar

23

200 Motels (1971)

Ringo Starr dressed up like Frank Zappa, with Frank Zappa dressed up like Frank Zappa in the background. Both wear identical blue jeans and turtleneck sweaters and sport the same shoulder-length hairstyle and moustache/goatee combination. DP: Tony Palmer.

I'm sure the people at home would be interested to know why such a large force as you is all dressed up like Frank Zappa. Tell us Larry, whats the deal?

– Rance Muhammitz speaking to Larry The Dwarf

Cockfighter (Monte Hellman, 1974)

Mar

15

Cockfighter (1974)

Frank Mansfield (Warren Oates) holding up a reluctant, wildly flapping white rooster. DP: Néstor Almendros.

Bell Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958)

Mar

12

Bell Book and Candle (1958)

Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) and her Siamese, Pyewacket. DP: James Wong Howe.

“I sit in the subway sometimes, on buses, or the movies, and I look at the people next to me and I think… 'What would you say if I told you I was a witch?'”

– Queenie

Hell Bound (William J. Hole Jr., 1957)

Mar

12

Saturday

Hell Bound (1957)

A man writes a name in the 9:30 a.m. time slot of the calendar page for Saturday March 21. DP: Carl E. Guthrie.

“Three days ago, at exactly 0600 – because that is really not the time – on February 5 – because that is really not the date – this freighter, which shall be nameless, sailed from a certain Far Eastern port. Its destination: The Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington, California. This is fact.”

– narrator

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? (Stuart Hamisch, 1958)

Feb

24

technology

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? (1958)

Straight after dinner, the child returns to his teevee while his mother stands silently in the doorway.

A film about technology on what would've been Steve Jobs' 70th birthday

“The most precious thing that we all have with us, is time.”

– Steve Jobs

A nuclear family goes about their machine-driven day while slowly forgetting to communicate.

Trash (Paul Morrissey, 1970)

Feb

23

freebie: Paul Morrissey born

Trash (1970)

Jane Forth, Paul Morrissey, and Joe Dallesandro in a publicity photo for Trash. DP: Paul Morrissey.

Freebie: Paul Morrissey born (1938 – 2024)

“Just because people throw it out and don't have any use for it, doesn't mean it's garbage.”

– Holly

Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)

Feb

14

St. Valentine's Day

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Sugar, Josephine, Daphne, and Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators rehearse Runnin’ Wild on the sleeper train to sunny Florida. DP: Charles Lang.

A movie about romance, of the Mafia, for St. Valentine's Day.

 

Musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) witness a killing by the Mob at the St. Valentine's Dance where they were hired to perform. In an attempt to escape the Chicagoan gangsters, they go overcover as Josephine and Daphne (“Well, I never did like the name Geraldine.”) in an all-gall jazz band, and fall head over heels for ukelele player Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe).

“Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!”

– Sugar Kane Kowalczyk

The opening shootout was directly inspired by the February 14 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre (graphic), and shares an actor from one of its most famous adaptations, Scarface (1932); George Raft as the wonderfully named Spats Colombo.

Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook, 1963)

Feb

8

Boy Scouts of America

Lord of the Flies (1963)

Using Piggy's glasses, the boys light their first signal fire. DP: Tom Hollyman.

Someone prepares something for the founding of the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.

“His specs — use them as burning glasses!”

William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)

The boys collectively gather firewood to light a beacon, then come up with the idea to light the fire with the help of one of the kid's glasses.

Madam Satan (Cecil B. DeMille, 1930)

Feb

4

Charles Lindbergh's born

Madam Satan (1930)

You're cordially invited to Mr. James Wade's “Masquerade”, aboard the Zeppelin – CB – P – 55. Do wear a mask. DP: Harold Rosson.

A movie about aviation for that eugenicist Charles Lindbergh's birthday.

“I don't want your husband. I want a parachute!”

– Trixie

America America (Elia Kazan, 1963)

Feb

2

New Amsterdam

America America (1963)

Stavros (Stathis Giallelis) and other passengers on the ship. Their faces are reflected in a glass pane, showing dozens waiting at what appears to be Ellis Island. DP: Haskell Wexler.

A film about New York to commemorate the incorporation of New Amsterdam. The official Bales' rule states the year 1624, but that is the year of settlement, and even that is one year off. To cut a long story short, New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653.

“My name is Elia Kazan. I am a Greek by blood, a Turk by birth and an American because my uncle made a journey.”

– Elia Kazan, voice-over

America America tells the story of director Kazan's grandfather through the life of the Greek Stavros Topouzoglou (Stathis Giallelis), who was adamant to start anew, in New York.