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Rat Fink [My Soul Runs Naked / Wild and Willing] (James Landis, 1965)

May

11

World Ego Awareness Day

Rat Fink (1965)

Real-world teen pop idol Schuyler Hayden as Lonnie. He's very pretty, and pensive, sitting in front of a potted palm and balloons, this thumb up to his chin. His face and eyes are lit in such a way that he looks strangely sinister. DP: Vilmos Zsigmond.

Pretty boy Lonnie gets what he wants. And he wants to be out of where he came from, and he wants to be wanted and rich. And he's got the looks and the voice and the ego. So he gets it, the getting out and the love and the money. And then some. And then some. And then.

“It's not my fault that opportunity came my way.”

– Lonnie

Rat Fink is not your pop-idol-turned-movie-star vehicle. Something's off, no good vibrations here. It's dark – not in the least thanks to cinematographer Vilmos “The Deer Hunter” Zsigmond's doings – and gritty – real-world pop singer Schuyler Hayden doesn't hold back in his portrayal of egomaniacal pretty boy Lonnie.

 

If it hadn't been lost for half a century you may be fooled to believe that it spawned a certain, fictional 80s investment banker.

The Slender Thread (Sydney Pollack, 1965)

May

10

National Washington Day

The Slender Thread (1965)

Lobby card. Psychology student Alan Newell (Sidney Poitier), hands in pockets, phone tucked between ear and shoulder, pacing up and down his office in the Crisis Clinic. DP: Loyal Griggs.

Expecting an uneventful night at the Seattle Crisis Clinic, volunteering psychology student Alan Newell is left to his own devices. Alan takes his books to study, it is quiet after all. Then a call, a woman. We learn she's called Inga (Anne Bancroft). She's drowsy. She has taken barbiturates and wants to talk while slipping away. While Alan fights to keep the woman on the line, attempts are made to trace the call.

“Do you think that not getting caught in a lie is the same as telling the truth?”

– Mark Dyson

The Slender Thread is an excellent example of picturing the invisible. The two leads never meet, both bound to their setting. The call tracing scene, a very technical affair, bears echos of Soviet Montage. The warm #jazz soundtrack by Seattle's own Quincy Jones tones down the mechanics, making the human aspect even more harrowing, almost physical.

You the Better (Ericka Beckman, 1983)

May

8

VE-Day

You the Better (1983)

One of the players, an handsome young white man, celebrates a score. He wears blue pants with a yellow string, a blue shirt with a blue T-shirt underneath. On his head a red and white hat. The bill hides part of his face. He's got his right arm raised in victory. Behind him other players in identical kits. On the back of shirts a a symbol that looks like a surprised smiley, or a bowling ball.

They say, the house always wins. In You the Better, the House is an unseen character. The other character – a constantly changing team of athletes wearing blue uniforms and caps and coached by artist Ashley Bickerton – play a baffling hybrid of craps, dodgeball, and roulette while arcade game noises and Brooke Halpin's catchy chants accompany the players. While You the Better suggests repetitiveness, a theme of winning, losing, and competitiveness reveals itself.

“HANDS UP PUT YOUR HANDS UP GIMME MORE GIMME GIMME MORE BETTER GIMME MORE”

– recurring chant

You the Better is part of Beckman's The Super-8 Trilogy, a multimedia art project that explores play in Western society.

The Swimmer (Frank Perry + Sydney Pollack, 1968)

May

6

Beverage Day

The Swimmer (1968)

Swimmer Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) reaching for a drink handed to him by someone offscreen. DP: David L. Quaid.

At a poolside #CocktailParty, the swimmer appears. He notes that the houses in between his hosts' and his are connected by a “river” of #pools and decides to swim home, from one pool to the other, superficially meeting people, crashing suburban pool parties, in an increasingly irrational state.

“And the water up there. Remember? That transparent, light green water. It felt different. God, what a beautiful feeling. We could've swum around the world in those days.”

– Ned Merrill

Last Chants for a Slow Dance (Jon Jost, 1977)

May

3

National Montana Day

Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977)

Tom Blair as Tom Bates. We see him through a rest stop's window with the reflection of the word ƎᖷAƆ in red neon over his face. Tom's reading a newspaper. DP: Jon Jost.

Last Chants for a Slow Dance is shocking in its simplicity. Tom (Tom Blair) is out there looking for work. Out of the way of his wife and into the heart of Montana. On a slow moving road trip, as scorching and dragging like hot tar, we accompany him and some of the vapid interactions with others out there. The heat, pursuit of sex, and inter-human exchanges are endless.

 

Things do break.

Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

Apr

30

Hairstyle Appreciation Day

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

A promotional photo for Rosemary's Baby. Sassoon cuts Farrow's hair while she looks intensely in an offscreen mirror. Around them, several pressmen with recording equipment are visible. DP: William A. Fraker.

Wild with today's eyes, it is not. Yet Rosemary's “very in” Vidal Sassoon #PixieCut was a shocking affair in 68. Director Roman #Polanski flew in Vidal Sassoon – the world's hottest hairdresser – all the way from London, to cut Mia Farrow's hair in a boxing-ring-turned-pressroom. All of a sudden, in her lunch break, Mia/Rosemary transformed from timid waif to women's lib.

“It's by Vidal Sassoon. It's very in.”

– Rosemary Woodhouse

Both the lady's movie husband Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) and real-world husband Frank Sinatra were incensed by the bold move. Of course, in Rosemary's Baby the haircut is Rosemary's attempt to make sense of the changing world around her. Moving to a new city, an unexpected pregnancy, all those lovely new neighbours to socialise with… a girl needs to feel in control!

Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968)

Apr

28

Clean Comedy Day

Yellow Submarine (1968)

A Blue Meanie pirouetting on a blossoming flower that pushes itself up into the sky. The sky is white while the flower and clouds are multicoloured.

A Gen X-er, I grew up in a completely different world where so many films and TV that kids watched – if watched with today's eyes — were not particularly kid-oriented at all. I fondly remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and reenacting the Black Knight scene in the school grounds. Yul Brynner as a faceless, rampaging cyber cowboy in Westworld (1973)? Sure, bring it on! Not that the official kid's movies were “clean”. Did you spot the chicken decapitation in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)? Well, you will now.

“Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland. 80,000 leagues beneath the sea it lay, or lie. I'm not too sure.”

– narrator

Alright, I'll keep it clean and suggest a dose of Yellow Submarine. A fantastic adventure starring The #Beatles (well, their likeness mostly) who are summoned to save utopian, music-loving #Pepperland from the music-hating Blue Meanies. Trippy fun, and lots to discover the older you get.

Distant Drums (Raoul Walsh, 1951)

Apr

24

Scream Day

Distant Drums (1951)

The Scream happening to Judy Beckett (Mari Aldon) and Capt. Quincy Wyatt's (Gary Cooper) dismay. DP: Sidney Hickox.

One joyous day, Pvt. Wilhelm gave his dear life for movie geeks everywhere. The Gary Cooper (super duper!) western Distant Drums (1951) is the origin of what's known as the Wilhelm #scream. During a dramatic action scene, our dearly beloved private is hit in the thigh with an arrow.

– GATORS! GATORS!! – AAH! – AH!

That bloodcurdling scream was part of a sounds effect reel voiced by Sheb Wooley, known better for his 1958 rock 'n roll novelty song The Purple People Eater than fighting off hostile natives. Later, other screamers popped up in anything from A Star Is Born (1954) to Reservoir Dogs (1992).

 

And yes, even a long time ago. In that galaxy far far away.

Afternoon (Andy Warhol, 1965)

Apr

19

National Hanging Out Day

Afternoon (1965)

Fabulous Factory people hanging out. Edie interacts with the camera, the rest looks mostly bored. Image owned by the Warhol Foundation yadda yadda for educational purposes only.

Part of the never-realised #SuperStar-studded The Poor Little Rich Girl Saga, #Warhol's Afternoon documents a day in the life of doomed socialite Edie Sedgwick. Miss Sedgwick and her entourage (Ondine, Dorothy Dean, Arthur Loeb, and Donald Lyons) spend an afternoon at #Edie's place. The superstars, the bored and the beautiful, chat, drink and do drugs.

“Isn’t it wonderful that we can be just friends?”

Jerry's Deli [Jerry] (Tom Palazzolo, 1974)

Apr

17

National Stress Awareness Month

Jerry's Deli (1974)

Jerry Meyer in his sandwich place, taking orders.

Stressed?‽ Who's got time to be stressed when there's a business to be run!!? Tom Palazzolo's Jerry’s Deli is a great character study of not only a character, but a whole time period inhabited by characters. The titular Jerry is Jerry Meyer, owner and proprietor of a Chicagoan deli that happened to be right next to Palazzolo's film lab. You wanna eat? Now, eat! Wanna order? Whaddaya waiting for?? Order!! Roast beef on rye please.

“On RYE!?!”

– Jerry Meyer