The Monday Movie Quiz #175

It's another behind-the-scenes picture clue, featuring the movie's star and director.

The star is in costume, and even though his career goes back to the forties, he's still alive and even worked as recently as four years ago. The director is in the white socks, and while he's not that recognizable even to many film buffs, it's agreed that he's one of the finest filmmakers who ever lived. (Alas, he died in 1999.) Although this candid pic is black-and-white, the film was in glorious, epic Technicolor.

And that's it for the clues. If you know the film these two were making, send me an email by late Sunday with the title-- if you're right, you'll experience the glory of seeing your name in next week's revolting winner's circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 12, 2008 2:14 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Even some seasoned quiz winners admitted that they'd forgotten Gene Wilder was in this week's movie in question, the 1967 classic Bonnie and Clyde. (That's why I added the second, easier picture clue with Faye Dunaway.) It was Wilder's first film, Dunaway's first lead role, and the breakthrough movie for Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons, as well as the picture that made Warren Beatty a superstar. It was also the film that is usually credited as the first "new" American film that broke away from the older studio conventions, as well as the introduction of realistic film violence.

After it became a hit, kids all over the country were gouging fake bullet holes in their clothes and pretending to get shot to pieces, but it took a long time for Bonnie and Clyde to reach that point of popularity. The script by Robert Benton and David Newman (their first) was turned down by all the studios, even though it drew the interest of both Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. (Truffaut even added a scene, Bonnie's poem recitation.) Beatty eventually bought it to produce himself (another first-- actors didn't usually do that, especially young ones) and brought in director Arthur Penn. Penn liked the New Wave approach of the script but felt that to actually make it like a French film would be a mistake, and gave it the period 1930s American look and feel that it's remembered for today.

Penn's choices for his cast were impeccable. After turning down other, better known stars for the role of Bonnie (and being turned down by his first choice, Jane Fonda), Penn cast Faye Dunaway after meeting her briefly at Beatty's suggestion. The alien-looking Michael J. Pollard (in the second picture clue with Faye) was given the role of sidekick C.W. Moss because he seemed to move and talk so differently than everyone else. (No kidding-- as one quiz winner put it, "Did he ever play anyone that wasn't fucked in the head?") Everyone in the cast was nominated for an Oscar, and Estelle Parsons won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

The violence in Bonnie and Clyde made it controversial, primarily for two reasons: the way the film combined comedy and brutality in the same scene, and the way Penn filmed gun shots. Blending laughs and bloodshed is old stuff today, but reviewers at the time railed against the film for the way it went from comedy to tragedy so abruptly. This was made more jarring by Penn's breaking with Hollywood tradition when it came to filming a gun fight-- until Bonnie and Clyde, Hollywood films would only show the gun being shot, then cut to the actor getting hit. Penn insisted that the gunshot and the injury occur in the same frame with no cutting. And of course, nothing like the final gundown had ever been seen before.

Congratulations and a ride with Parker and Barrow to the following quiz winners: Wayne Palmer, Song-Un Lee, Bob Redwing, The Mississippifarian, Jack Sparks, Nancy Louise Rutherford. Kenneth Gramer, Bill Kelly, Dean Carlson, Joe Rosenberg, Michael Mattson, Fred Lorence, Christina O'Sullivan, Thomas Miller, John Seffl, Bill Hearne, Dave Mallow, Spencer Abbe, Kent Hofmeister, Aaron R. Teschner, E. Yarber, Kevin Musolino, Vince Tuss, Denny Lynch, Paul Rignell, and Corey Anderson.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 12, 2008 12:45 AM

 

Bad marketing ideas of the past

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 7, 2008 3:04 AM

 

The Monday Movie Quiz #174

There's enough imdb info for anybody in those two pics, so that's it for clues. Besides, if you consider yourself well-versed in classic American movies, you must know this. Send me an email with the title by late Sunday-- if you're right, you'll know the exciting feeling of seeing your name in next week's criminal winner's circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 5, 2008 2:37 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

The cheeky woman in last week's picture clue was The Lady in the Radiator from David Lynch's first feature film, Eraserhead (1977). She dances and sings on a stage inside Henry's radiator while stepping on squishy things that fall from above. Henry's the big-haired guy in the poster-- he looks that way because his wife left him alone with their sick mutant baby. No wonder one quiz winner wrote, "All I remember about that movie is the weird music and bizarre dreams I had after seeing it."

"So many scenes of discomfort," wrote another, "like the seizure at dinner, with the main course spurting black ooze." (The meal referred to is a delicious-looking artificial chicken that moves around on the plate.) "And how about that baby?" How about it, indeed?

David Lynch has refused for over thirty years to discuss what, exactly, the animated little cutie pictured above was made out of. (Let's just say animals weren't harmed, but they were probably used.) Lynch refuses to talk about the movie altogether, for the most part, at least regarding the big questions about it, like, "What the hell does it mean?" (Lynch only says no one's gotten it right.)

He did talk about the making of the film for a special feature on the DVD, and it's a pretty strange story by itself. Lynch spent five years working on Eraserhead, with (mostly) the same people throughout. (Jack Nance, who played Henry, had to keep his hair like that for half a decade!) The film was funded by The American Film Institute (!) and was shot at an old estate the AFI controlled, and Lynch actually lived there in the stables for three years. When he says that The Lady in the Radiator came to him during that time, it makes a little more sense.

Incidentally, Lynch is a transcendental meditator and is quite involved with the scene at Maharishi University in Fairfield, Iowa (the only spot in the state where the director of Eraserhead can be seen giving a ride to the author of "Mellow Yellow"). Last month, he presided over "A David Lynch Weekend," with Donovan and Moby, where organic vegetarian meals were served in a smoke-free environment. (Reportedly, Lynch goes out back for his tobacco fix-- he must be there most of the day.)

This would be the place for the Eraserhead youtube video, and of course the best one would be The Lady in the Radiator performing her greatest hit, "In Heaven Everything is Fine." Unfortunately, the only (good) one that's there is too long and gives away a little too much for my liking. (Not that you can spoil the ending of an indecipherable movie.) So, instead, here's David Lynch today in an "ad" that's been around for awhile, but it's good enough to look at again. (WARNING: Watch out if you're at work, the F-word is used at the end.)

Not the usual bounty of winners-- in fact, some checked in to admit they were stumped-- so special congratulations and something squishy to step on to the following Midnight Movie mavens: Thomas Miller, Wayne Palmer, John Seffl, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Bill Kelly, Dean Carlson, The Mississippifarian, Brad Cook, Josefina Avila, E. Yarber, Michael Mattson, Bill Hearne, Kevin Musolino, Fred Lorence, and Christina O'Sullivan.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 5, 2008 12:51 AM

 

Couch Pundit's Sunday Funnies

Michael aka M. Kupperman does the kind of comics art I like best: indescribable. I could tell you about his crimefighting team of Snake 'n' Bacon (they're exactly what their name suggests, a serpent and a talking slice of fried meat), or his superhero, The Mannister, whose power is to assume the shape of a bannister-- but why? Words don't come close to doing Kupperman's deadpan art and dialogue justice.

So here's an example of what he does. See if you can describe it.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 3, 2008 10:53 PM

 

My movie year (so far)

Nezulla, the Rat Monster (2002 - Japan), directed by Tagawa Mikita. It's been argued that this Grade-Z biohorror dud was the inspiration for the great recent Hong Kong film, The Host, but its story-- arrogant American military pollutes irresponsibly, creating both a deadly virus and a giant mutation-- has been around since the '50s. Too bad Nezulla didn't have any of the things that made The Host so much fun, like exciting action scenes, interesting characters, and, especially, a title creature that looked scary, not like a goo-covered plastic bunny. The subtitles, on the other hand, appear to have been composed by someone who enjoyed the work-- besides the above declaration, there are plenty of lines like, "Damn these white people! It's like they planted a bomb inside us!"

Gam gai aka Golden Chicken (2002 - Hong Kong), directed by Leung Chun 'Samson' Chiu. It's not every romantic comedy that features its female star as a blow-up doll on the movie poster. Sandra Ng plays a prostitute who gets stuck in an ATM kiosk with a guy who just tried to mug her, and she keeps him amused with Sheherazade-like stories of her colorful past. Ng is a pleasure to watch, and does a fantastic impersonation of Jackie Chan. Besides, how could any movie with a shot like this not be funny?

Le Cochon danseur (1907 - France). Also known as The Dancing Pig, it's a four-minute vaudeville bit committed to film, that now (100 years later!) looks like genuine magic. Best of all, at the very end, the charming little routine turns abruptly into a horror movie, with the pig's costume becoming almost Giger-esque!

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 2, 2008 6:41 PM

 

Scenes from the 21st century

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 1, 2008 12:56 PM

 

Great moments in 3-D movie history

The truth about 3-D movies is that only a few of them are even okay, and most of them were really boring and bad. That makes perfect sense-- if the movies had been good, they wouldn't have needed the special 3-D effects. For every House of Wax, Creature from the Black Lagoon, or even Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, there were many more duds like Bwana Devil and Robot Monster.

I think 3-D is much better suited to jokes about the process itself, like SCTV horror parodies Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Slave Chicks and sequels 3-D House of Pancakes and 3-D House of Representatives. And, best of all, this trailer for Albert Brooks' first feature, Real Life. It has absolutely nothing to do with the movie itself (other than a brief 10-second spiel in the middle), and is a classic Brooks short film all by itself. Don't worry if you don't have a pair of 3-D glasses-- just borrow some red and blue cellophane from the person next to you.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 1, 2008 12:12 AM

 

The Monday Movie Quiz #173

She may not be the star of the movie, but once you see her, you never forget her. And what a voice!

Know the film she was in? Then send me an email by late Sunday-- if you're right, you'll see your name in next week's heavenly winner's circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at April 28, 2008 3:25 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

One winner spoke for nearly all the others with his one-sentence review of last week's quiz movie-- "Light of Day is exactly what that movie should not see." Maybe it's not that bad, but it's not very good, and today the only real reason to watch it is for Joan Jett in her first feature film.

While it was sold as a Michael J. Fox movie, the real star of Light of Day was Jett. She was completely believable as a rock singer and single mom who can't handle both at once. While that description makes it sound like a role for Shirley Jones, Jett had to handle some pretty grim scenes-- lost custody, dying mother-- and was surprisingly good. I'd even say she was better than Fox, but how hard is that?

(One winner wrote, "Seeing Joan Jett in the flower of her youth was interesting-- it's hard to remember her fresh and un-weathered." Maybe so, but she seemed to be holding up pretty well in the pics of her performance at the Roseau County Fair in 2006. And she seems to be pretty accessible to her fans.)

Light of Day was written and directed by the author of Taxi Driver, and as another reader noted, "Good ol' Paul Schrader-- he couldn't make a feel-good hit if his life depended on it." Schrader may have also planned on making a slighty different movie, because he was originally counting on using a different Bruce Springsteen song for the title. Or, as a quiz winner summarized, "Springsteen was asked to write a song for the original title, 'Born in the USA,' then decided that the results were too good to toss away on the likes of Paul Schrader. Schrader got a new song and title, while the rest of us got . . . well, Light of Day."

The song is a good one, though, and Jett's duet with Springsteen himself is probably the best version of all. Joan outsings him easily-- these days, Bruce hoots and screeches like a hillbilly with a hotfoot-- but Springsteen's guitar work is the best part. I'm a longtime non-fan when it comes to The Boss, and even I like this.

Even if they didn't like the movie, a fair number of people knew what it was, so congratulations and a picture of an unweathered Joan to the following: Vince Tuss, Wayne Palmer, Song-Un Lee, John Seffl, Jim Moomey, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Bob Redwing, Shaun Faulkner, Michael Mattson, ron frigstad, Dave Mallow, Thomas Miller, Bill Hearne, Kevin Musolino, Kenneth Gramer, E. Yarber, Fred Lorence, and Denny Lynch.

Posted by Steve Monaco at April 27, 2008 10:54 PM

 

Couch Pundit's Sunday Funnies

The writer of the following one-page '60s gem was Dell Comics' resident genius, John Stanley. Stan Lee may have written the adventures of both Spider-Man and Millie the Model (admittedly, quite the creative stretch, and all hail to Stan the Man!) but keep in mind as you read the following that it's by the same guy who was responsible for one of the sweetest kids' comics ever created: Little Lulu.

Posted by Steve Monaco at April 27, 2008 3:37 AM

 

Great moments in movie history

It's a double feature of clips that could be called pioneers of the music video, directed by two of the movies' all-time greats.

The first is "Drum Boogie" from Ball of Fire (1941), directed by the immortal Howard Hawks. Barbara Stanwyck is lust-alicious singer Sugarpuss O'Shea, and the bandleader is WWII-era superstar drummer Gene Krupa. The first half is amazing-- big-band rock-and-roll, really-- but it's the hushed second half that stuns, when you realize Krupa really is playing with matchsticks.

A couple decades later, a movie could get away with more than just the name "Sugarpuss," but even so, Erica Gavin's "fish dance" from Russ Meyer's Vixen! really pushed it. Today, it would be rated PG, at the most, but it was eye-popping in its day, and even now some of you might not want to watch it at work. Let's just say that the symbolism is blatant. (And note the Shatner-ish guy who's loving every smelly moment.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at April 24, 2008 3:04 AM

 

The Monday Movie Quiz #172

Talk about movie trivia! It's hard enough to believe these two people were in a movie together, let alone come up with the title. But if you know it, send me an email by late Sunday, and if you're right, we'll sing your praises in next week's winner's circle. (You talkin' to me?)

Posted by Steve Monaco at April 21, 2008 2:47 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Last week's quiz movie in question was Bob Roberts, Tim Robbins' 1992 political satire (and directorial debut), and it inspired a fair amount of commentary. "For all its flaws, I love this movie-- it still gives me the chills about how prescient it was about the direction of Republican politics." "I rewatched it a few years back and if anything, it's more relevant today than it was in the early '90s." "Oh my God-- that's Jack Black in pic #3!"

Even those who don't love it have to admit that the film's political prescience is indisputable. Robbins played the title character, an ultra-rightwing entertainer who's running for the Senate, and the film is done as a mockumentary detailing his campaign. Much of what Robbins parodied was the twisted directions that politics and media coverage were going at the time, but watching it today is like seeing an almost quaint prediction of the politics/news nightmare that we live with now.

Like this:

Robbins took many chances with his film (just making it at the tail-end of the Reagan-Bush years was a huge one), but the biggest gamble was also his masterstroke: using Gore Vidal for the role of Bob's senatorial rival, Brickley Paiste. What Vidal lacked as an actor, he more than made up for with his wonderful improvised dialogue. And Vidal was in on the main joke: that his old-school liberal character (speaking Vidal's own words and thoughts) was the loser.

Even though the email this week was fairly political, there was just as much from people who were surprised to see Jack Black in the clues. Actually, the cast of Bob Roberts is full of recognizable names and faces, like Alan Rickman (clue #2), James Spader, John Cusack, Helen Hunt, Susan Sarandon (of course), and David Strathairn, just to name a half-dozen. But yes, it was Jack's first feature film, and even then, he stood out as one of Bob's super-fans. "I remember those creepy kids, and to realize it was Jack Black-- man, that's too much." Here, then, is Jack's first movie closeup:

So congratulations and a Bob button to the following winners: Vince Tuss, Thomas Miller, Wayne Palmer, Song-Un Lee, Jack Sparks, Corey Anderson, Dean Carlson, Michael Mattson, Bob Redwing, ron frigstad, Jim Moomey, Fred Lorence, Bill Hearne, Kenneth Gramer, Dave Mallow, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Joe Rosenberg, E. Yarber, Kevin Musolino, and Stacy Sarrette.

Posted by Steve Monaco at April 21, 2008 12:37 AM