365 Films in 365 Days

#61 Coffy

February 27, 2021
Coffy (1973) ** 1/2
TCM
Free
Wildcard

“You want to spit on me and make me crawl? I’m gonna piss on your grave tomorrow!”

I do like a ’70s Blaxploitation flick, and Coffy was one that I needed to catch up with, thanks TCM!

It’s kind of terrible, but in a fun way. Pam Grier really was not the best actress in town, she got much better when it came time to do Jackie Brown, but she has more than her share of charisma, and you’re on her side no matter what. At one point, she pretends to be Jamaican to fool the pimpiest pimp who ever pimped, who must also be either stupid or stone deaf, because her accent mostly consists of saying “mon” at the end of each sentence.

100% the funniest part is Alan Arbus playing the mobster, Arturo Vitroni, because anyone of my generation only sees Dr. Sidney Freedman from M*A*S*H, even with the black suit, red tie, and perm that makes his scrawny chicken neck look even scrawnier. It looks like he had a lot of fun, though! He wasn’t surrounded by nearly so many naked bosoms in M*A*S*H!

There is a wonderful multiple girl-on-girl catfight where every. Single. Girl. Ends up with her tits out, as what always happens in all fights, as we all know. Though it helps when it’s 1973 and bras are seemingly illegal, and also it’s a bunch of whores dressed rather flimsily, because why wear a suit of armor when you have to keep taking it off all the time. See? Perfectly logical how every punch or throw, and it’s titties akimbo!

I was looking up the writer/director, Jack Hill, and he also wrote and directed Spider Baby, a film I really like, and his whole oeuvre is just a bunch of wonderful genre and exploitation films, many of which are playing for free on these weird little Roku channels, so I might need to start a Jack Hill film watch project, because I don’t have enough projects, but come on, none of the others include Switchblade Sisters or The Swinging Cheerleaders!

#60 Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

February 26, 2021
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) ****
Netflix
Free
Wildcard

“Not every sardine was meant to swim, son.”
“I don’t understand fishing metaphors!”

This is one of those movies that I am not certain why it never occurred to me to watch. When I think about it, people who like it are people to whom I have similar tastes, but for some reason, my brain just sailed on by for the past twelve years.

Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) is an inventor whose inventions always go wrong. It’s not that they don’t work, they do, they just work in an unexpected manner. He lives in a town called Swallow Falls, where the local sardine factory shuts down, and thus, there is nothing to eat but sardines, which are super gross.

He invents a machine that turns water into food, which is a terrible idea any way you look at it, and it definitely works in an unexpected manner when the machine accidentally gets blasted up into the sky over Swallow Falls, making it rain food.

There are some marvelous characters, like Flint’s taciturn father (James Caan), who doesn’t understand him, and just wants him join him in the sardine fishing supply business; the town cop (the awesome Mr. T) who isn’t putting up with any trouble in his town; Sam, the aspiring TV weathergirl (Anna Faris), who spends all her time trying to hide how smart she is; and the town’s sleazy mayor (Bruce Campbell), who definitely doesn’t see the looming problems with the machine that turns water into food and just wants to turn the town into a money-making enterprise.

The relationship between Flint the inventor and his dad, the fisherman, is the heart of the movie. Dad can only speak in fishing metaphors, which Flint is utterly confused by. All Flint wants is his dad to tell him that he is proud of him, which he can’t manage to do no matter how much he wants to.

This is one of those animated movies that you really cannot look away from, because so many visual jokes are lurking in the corners of the screen. The continual callbacks to the ratbirds, for instance, made me laugh every time. And everything comes back around in an unexpected manner. This movie is a real treat. Pun intended.

Week 8 wrap-up 2/19-2/25

An excellent week, it’s going to be tough to pick a worst again, as everything was up to a pretty high standard.

There were eight this week, as I had Bollywood Club and a Secret Movie Club drive-in on the same day, which meant that I could keep exactly on track for my goal with 50% Disney films: four Disney, four not.

And speaking of 50%, there were four four star films, The Point, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Lady and the Tramp, and Harold and Maude. Then there was one three and a half star, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, and three three star, Treasure Island, The Saint Strikes Back, and The Living Desert.

Of the eight films, I had seen The Point, Lady and the Tramp, and Harold and Maude before, the others were knew to me. Although it is likely that I had seen The Saint Strikes Back and The Living Desert before, but I just don’t remember. They have to go with new to me, just with an asterisk.

Now comes the thought part, best and worst of the week. For best I think I must go with The Point, as it is such a classic of my childhood, and for worst…Treasure Island, if only because of Bobby Driscoll’s slightly ropey performance. Though I still like and recommend the movie!

#59 The Living Desert

February 25, 2021
The Living Desert (1953) ***
Disney +
Free
Disney other

If you were a child growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, you saw a lot of Disney nature documentaries, they were always beautiful to look at, and very good at anthropomorphizing the animals, which makes things interesting for children!

The Living Desert was the very first of these nature films, and I couldn’t tell you if I had seen it or not, as it seems familiar, but then, they all are familiar. I’m going with not, because even if I had, it’s not as though I particularly remember it.

The real trick with nature, that is, as we all know, red in tooth and claw is to not make it seem as though the prey always gets away, because then the predators would all die, and they have to eat too. But neither do you want to traumatize children by having them identify with an adorable animal then see it carried away and devoured. The Living Desert does a good job with this, and it shows just how hard it is to stay alive, and, conversely, just how hard it is to find food to eat in a barren environment.

Generally, if an animal snatched off to be food it doesn’t happen in a giant close up, unless it’s insects being eaten by a lizard or something. Nobody’s going to be that sad about some ants in a big bunch of ants going down a lizard’s gullet. in this case, the lizard is the cuter animal.

We see the cycle of life in the desert, including the rains and the quick flowering after the rains, we see how much life is capable of in what looks like an impossible situation. Also, we see the desert as it looked in the 1950s, in the back of our minds knowing it probably isn’t quite so wild nearly 70 years later.

#58 Harold and Maude

February 24, 2021
Harold and Maude (1971) ****
Secret Movie Club Drive-In
$31
Wildcard

“The earth is my body, my head is in the stars. Who said that, Harold?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I suppose I did, then!”

I saw Harold and Maude for the first time in my freshman year at NYU, in a double bill with The King of Hearts at (I think) the late, lamented Bleeker Street Cinema. The King of Hearts was okay, if a little twee, but Harold and Maude was terrific then and terrific now.

Harold is a death-obsessed young man, forever pretending to commit suicide in order to get some kind of reaction from his socialite mother, and Maude is a life-obsessed, nearly 80 year old woman, who finds every way in which to honour living a bold life fully, even if you have to break a few minor laws along the way.

The film is filled with the music of Cat Stevens, which frankly should be enough for anybody, and also has wonderful performances by Vivian Pickles as Harold’s mother, Charles Tyner as Harold’s Army officer uncle, and my dad’s friend Eric Christmas as the priest, who has a monologue for the ages that still makes me howl. But most important of all are the stellar performances by Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon.

Ruth Gordon is the heart of the film, and she is so funny and joyful, without being a manic pixie dream octogenarian. Her quiet, heartfelt moments are done so simply and subtly, and she just has the gentlest touch. I was reminded that now this is a stage play, and I shudder to think of some of the over-the-top renditions that I am sure are being performed over Zoom this very minute.

Bud Cort never had the career he should have, and nobody wants to be remembered exclusively for a 50 year old film that he did when he was 23, but he is so perfect in the role, I cannot imagine the movie working half as well with any other young actor of the era, he and Ruth Gordon are a perfect pair.

It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s oh so early ’70s. Watch it. And if you want to sing out, sing out!

#57 The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men

February 23, 2021
The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) *** 1/2
Disney +
Free
Disney other

“Stand aside, fellow.”
“Wherefore?”
“To let the better man pass.”
“Then you stand aside!”

Robin Hood and His Merrie Men is the very first Disney film to not only be fully live action without even the smallest bit of animation, but also with a fully grown-up cast! No more Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten, instead we have Richard Todd in the first of his three Disney leads in a row, Peter Finch 25 years before he was Howard Beale in Network, as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the great Martita Hunt as Queen Eleanor, whom I know from being Alec Guinness’ acting teacher (from his autobiography), and, of course, as Miss Haversham in Great Expectations,

The film starts at a different point than any other version I have seen, i.e. with Richard the Lion Heart heading out to the Crusades with Marion’s father, leaving Prince John in charge of the kingdom, Marion going to the castle to be in the care of the Queen Mother, Eleanor, so much setup! And the movie is only an hour and 23 minutes, it seems that the actual Robin Hood bit might be on the tight side.

The various scenes of Robin gathering his crew are great, particularly Little John and Friar Tuck, it is a very playful group of Merrie Men, they are extremely well-named.

Having Eleanor as a character works so well, it makes me wonder why she isn’t normally in these stories. Except that she does pull focus from Robin’s story as she gives Prince John what for for not contributing to the ransom to rescue King Richard from jail in Austria.

Joan Rice makes for a headstrong and tomboyish Maid Marion, with more agency than in some other films, and with great chemistry with Robin.

All in all, definitely worth a watch.

#56 The Saint Strikes Back

February 22, 2021
The Saint Strikes Back (1939) ***
TCM
Free
Wildcard

“I’m very sorry, but under certain conditions, I simply can’t resist the temptation to be a cad.”

Here is good old George Sanders again, as seen in The Falcon and His Brother recently, playing a very similar role of a louche amateur detective. These films came first, and The Saint was always a more popular character than The Falcon, but the studio got in a dispute with Leslie Charteris, the creator of The Saint, so they basically made the same films with a different name until Sanders had enough and moved on.

Simon Templar, aka The Saint, comes to the aid of a woman who doesn’t want his aid a bit, she is the daughter of a late policeman who was framed as a baddy and is determined to take her revenge on the people who wronged him. Simon wants, instead, to prove he was innocent and bring the real villains to justice, while always appearing to be a villain himself and having to trick Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale), his sort of friend, but sort of foe (but really friend, but kind of foe) who really just wants to arrest Simon and make his life easier.

Appearing as a safe cracker is Barry Fitzgerald, whom I am used to being old and twinkly in Going My Way and The Quiet Man, though I had forgotten he was Cyfartha in How Green Was My Valley, and Going My Way was only five years later than this. Maybe I meant that I am used to him playing older. Anyway, my point is that he was a mere sprite of 51 here, and I hadn’t seen him so callow before.

Wendy Barrie plays the woman who seems like a bad guy but really is good, and she appears in two other Saint films, and then two Falcon films, always as a different character, so I guess the chemistry she has with George Sanders was noticed and they kept seeing if they could light those sparks.

This is a funny and charming film, though there is a lot of guff about how beautiful women should be decorative and so on, but it’s got an unusual plot, and the back and forth between the Saint and the Inspector is a real treat.

#55 Lady and the Tramp

February 21, 2021
Lady and the Tramp (1955) ****
Secret Movie Club Drive-In
$31
Disney animation

“As my grandpappy, Ol’ Reliable used to say… I don’t recollect that I’ve ever mentioned Ol’ Reliable before?”
“Aye, you have, laddie. Frequently.”

Unlike a lot of these Disney animated features, this one I had seen relatively recently, in that they show it every year at the El Capitan for Valentine’s Day, and i saw it in 2018. However, I went to the drive-in with Blake, and he was the one who got that experience of knowing he had seen it at some point, but not remembering practically anything about it. We both agreed that it is super charming.

Lady (voiced by Barbara Luddy, Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty recently) is a cocker spaniel from the fancy side of town, and Tramp (Larry Robert’s, a stage actor and singer who never made another film) is a mutt from the other side of the tracks, so of course everything works out, after some difficulties. Spoilers!

I must say, I kind of love the trope of having each dog have the accent of wherever their breed came from. This is an American dog with American dog parents who lives in an American city, but if it’s a Scottie, that Scottish burr is forever! We both particularly loved the old hound dawg with the Southern drawl.

The film alap has the gift of Peggy Lee, which is utterly glorious, especially when she is playing Peg, singing about the Tramp. Yes, the Siamese cats are a trifle problematic, but they do fit in with the rest of the film, and the fact that they are the bad guys is more anti-cat than anything else.

All in all, this is a lovely film, with animation and vocal work only to be expected at the level that Disney always put out, then and now.

#54 Jab Tak Hai Jaan

February 21, 2021
Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) ****
Amazon Prime
Free
Bollywood Club

“I will not forget you,
Not as long as I breathe,
Not as long as I live…”

Bollywood Club! Bollywood Club! The third Sunday of every month is Bollywood Club, and I look forward to it all month.

January was an anomaly, because we watched a different leading actor, but in February we are back to Shah Rukh Khan. SRK is just about the biggest male Bollywood star there is, and we loves him and nearly always watch one of his movies. This month it was Jab Tak Hai Jaan (As Long As I Live).

Okay, buckle up, because this film, like most Bollywood films has All the Plot and All the Genres. Very few of them are just one thing for three hours, and Jab Tak Hai Jaan is a war/action/comedy/romance/tragic/drama/musical/amnesia film.

The film starts out as The Indian Hurt Locker, and SRK plays Samar, a bomb disposal expert who never smiles or wears any protective gear. He meets Akira (Anushka Sharma) by saving her from drowning, giving her his jacket, and then just riding away on his motorcycle. She finds his diary in the pocket, so there is an hour long flashback where we find out why he is a gloomy Gus.

And a decade go, there was no gloom! He was a happy street busker in London who meets a gorgeous rich Indian woman, Meera (Katrina Kaif), and falls in love with her. She is engaged to be married to a man she likes, but does not love, to please her father, because he was so sad when her mother left him for another man, years before.

She is kind of a tight-ass, but Samar loosens her up by taking her to an underground club where there is much singing and dancing, and she falls in love with him, but is still going to go through with the marriage. But then, plot happens!

This is maybe a third of the plot, there is just a shed load of stuff that happens, including SRK’s very first screen kiss after over 70 films! Until recently there was no kissing in Bollywood films, but SRK avoided it even after it was allowed, because he felt uncomfortable. But the smooch is integral to the plot, so it happens, and is awesome.

How I judge how much I love a Bollywood film is whether I say, “I could watch this every day!” at the end of it, like I did with War and Rab Ne Baba Di Jodi (the first one I saw). I don’t know that I particularly want to watch Jab Tak Hai Jaan every day, but I’d watch it three times a week, maybe four. And that ain’t bad.

#53 The Point

February 20, 2021
The Point (1971) ****
DVD
Wildcard

“Sit beside the breakfast table
Think about your troubles
Pour yourself a cup of tea
And think about the bubbles”

The Point is a film I was going to watch awhile ago, but then I noticed that there was a Blu-ray made of a restored 16mm print, with loads of cool extras, and I literally bought a portable Blu-ray player so I could watch it, and tonight was the night.

This is a favourite film of childhood that doesn’t seem to have trickled down to the later generations, but it should have, because it is lovely. I talk to people in their 40s who have never heard of it, let alone younger people, but if you are within a couple of years of my age, you know The Point.

In a land where everyone must have a point, and it’s right there on the top of their heads, a little boy called Oblio is born with no point! He wears a pointed cap, but the evil Count has him banished to The Pointless Forest, where he discovers that nothing is really pointless.

Harry Nilsson came up with the concept while on an acid trip, and you can kind of tell, but it is a lovely film with a terrific soundtrack, delightful animation, and some of the best voice actors of the era. It does move at a slower pace than more recent kids films, as us kids of the 1970s had a different attention span, but it is definitely worth watching by viewers of any age.