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The Slender Thread (Sydney Pollack, 1965)
May
10
National Washington Day
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.
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You the Better (Ericka Beckman, 1983)
May
8
VE-Day
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.
“HANDS UP
PUT YOUR HANDS UP
GIMME MORE
GIMME GIMME MORE BETTER GIMME MORE”
– recurring chant
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The Swimmer (Frank Perry + Sydney Pollack, 1968)
May
6
Beverage Day
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
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Last Chants for a Slow Dance (Jon Jost, 1977)
May
3
National Montana Day
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.
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Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
Apr
30
Hairstyle Appreciation Day
“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!
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Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968)
Apr
28
Clean Comedy Day
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.
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Distant Drums (Raoul Walsh, 1951)
Apr
24
Scream Day
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.
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Afternoon (Andy Warhol, 1965)
Apr
19
National Hanging Out Day
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?”
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Jerry's Deli [Jerry] (Tom Palazzolo, 1974)
Apr
17
National Stress Awareness Month
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
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Boy on a Dolphin (Jean Negulesco, 1957)
Apr
14
National Dolphin Day
Phaedra (Sophia Loren) posing victoriously on the bow of a sailboat, with the statue, still in its ropes after hoisting it off the ocean floor, behind her. DP: Milton R. Krasner.
Shot on location in Greece, sponge diver Phaedra (Sophia Loren) makes a splash when she finds an ancient statue of a boy on a dolphin, rumoured to bring good luck to her town. Her attempts to sell it to the highest bidder makes not only the bronze but also her the object of desire of an honest archaeologist and an unscrupulous antiques dealer playboy.
“Our paths have crossed and re-crossed: in Dresden, Rotterdam, Florence – wherever the Nazis looted. Raphaels, Rembrandts, even down to a dreary little china pot, which belonged to Madame Pompadour… there was always Captain Jim Calder of the U.S. Army, restoring priceless objects to their rightful owners – a typical middle-class gesture.”
– Victor Parmalee
Boy on a dolphin is not only the title of this movie but also possibly a reference to #Arion, son of the inhabitants of Lesbos (would that make this movie a bit too wild for 1957?), or #Taras, son of Poseidon and Satyrion. According to Greek legend, both mythological characters were saved by #dolphins.