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The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953)
Aug
5
International Hangover Day
After a horrible birthday alone followed by a lovely night out, Norah wakes up with a terrible hangover and a hunch of being a murderess.
“How about you slip into something more comfortable, like a few drinks and some Chinese food?”
– Harry
The Blue Gardenia is Lang's hard-bitten take on the gruesome Black Dahlia murder case and part of his newspaper noir trilogy together with While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, both from 1956.
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His Wife's Mistakes (Roscoe Arbuckle, 1916)
Aug
4
National Water Balloon Day
Janitor Roscoe uses the comedy staple seltzer bottle to fill a balloon with some spritz!
The great Roscoe Arbuckle just can't help himself while at the wonderfully hedonistic Oriental Café in this delightful short slapstick.
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Canon City (Crane Wilbur, 1948)
Aug
1
Colorado Day
Counting the inmates. DP: John Alton.
They've been planning this for months, Canon City's Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility's toughest inmates. It's going to happen on December 30, and all men are ready to go.
“Nice guys.”
Fascinating about Canon City is the usage of some of the actual locations, ánd people, involved in the 1947 #prison break.
Also striking, unfortunately, is the unevenness of the affair. John Alton's cinematography, while wonderful, wanders between noir and stuck camera shutter. And that voice-over… well, lets not mention that at all.
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Canon City (Crane Wilbur, 1948)
Jul
31
grub
A close-up of two prisoners' hands. One is handling grub with a spoon from a stainless steel soup bowl. DP: John Alton.
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Serpico (Sidney Lumet, 1973)
Jul
30
National Whistleblower Day
The cover of the Austrian film magazine “Neues Filmprogramm”. A red-filtered lobby card of Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) and his partner (F. Murray Abraham, uncredited) during police proceedings. DP: Arthur J. Ornitz.
In the late 1960s, Frank Serpico worked as a plainclothes cop for the #NYPD. He spoke out when he uncovered systematic, widespread #corruption within the force, but his findings were ignored. In 1970, Serpico cowrote a page 1 article for the New York Times about the problem, which led to the instalment of the Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption aka the Knapp Commission.
“The reality is that we do not wash our own laundry; it just gets dirtier.”
– Frank Serpico
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Swirlee (James Lorinz, 1989)
Jul
23
National Vanilla Ice Cream Day
Newspaper clipping. Mr Softy's roommate (David Caruso) and Mr Softy (James Lorinz), a man with a softee for/as a head, pose for a picture.
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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.
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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.
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The Sniper (Edward Dmytryk, 1952)
Jul
21
chow mein
Dr. James G. Kent (Richard Kiley) discussing the case during lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After scratching his temple with his chopsticks, he attempts to eat his noodles with the utensils' grip. DP: Burnett Guffey.
“You know how much coffee I've had today? 17 cups. The Brazilians ought to give me a medal.”
– ER doctor
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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