Opening Night
Directed by John Cassavetes
Written by John Cassavetes
1977/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

Bobby: I’ve seen a lot of drunks in my day, but I never seen anyone as drunk as you and still be able to walk. You’re fantastic.

The fantastic acting makes up for the somewhat contrived plot.

Sarah Goode (Joan Blondell) has written a semi-autobiographical play about an aging actress. The legendary Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands has been cast as the lead. The play is in rehearsal under the guidance of director Manny Victor (Ben Gazzara). Maurice Aarons (John Cassavetes) has a small part.

Myrtle is having a very hard time getting into her role. Problem is she does not want to be seen as an aging actress. Then a beautiful teenager gets killed when she darts into traffic to get an autograph from her idol. Myrtle’s solution is to drink even more than usual. In her delirium, the girl keeps appearing to her in physical form.

The rehearsals are constantly interrupted by Myrtle’s antics. Sarah tries to counsel her but nothing seems to be sinking in.

Inevitably opening night arrives.  Myrtle shows up very late and completely blotto.  I will end here.

This movie is much less raw and real than Cassavetes usually is.  In fact, you might class it as something like a very emotional comedy.  It sure does allow the actors, particularly Rowlands, to pull all the stops out.  So much so that you can’t take your eyes away from the screen.  There is a fabulous scene at the very end where Cassavetes and Rowlands improvise together.  It is hilarious and makes the movie definitely worth a watch for fans of the director.

That Obscure Object of Desire (Cet obscur objet du desir)

Directed by Luis Buñuel
Written by Louis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carriere inspired by a book by Pierre Loouys
1977/France/Spain
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Conchita: I belong to no one but myself, and I’ll stay my own.

Luis Buñuel’s last film and one of his very best.  This is the one where the object of desire is played by two different actresses, both of whom tease Fernando Rey beyond the limits of endurance.

As the story begins, Mathieu (Fernando Rey) is in Sevilla arranging a train home to Paris. Soon thereafter, Conchita (Carole Bouquet) attempts to board and Mathieu dumps a bucket of water on her head.  The events leading up to this unusual event are related in a flashback as told by Mathieu to the passengers in his first-class compartment.

Conchita first catches Mathieu’s eye after she has been hired to work for him as a maid. He immediately suspects this is something she has never done before.  He is overtaken by lust for the young beauty and tries to lure her with presents and hand outs to her mother. She starts living with him but covers her nether regions with an impenetrable corset. Eventually she leaves him but they continually run into each other throughout the story.

Mathieu follows Conchita (Angela Molina) to Seville where she is working as a flamenco dancer – one who gives private nude dance performances to tourists in a back room.  The pair make up.  Conchita says her one wish is for a little house of her very own.  There she will be able to give herself to Mathieu.  It doesn’t quite work out that way, hence the bucket of water.  Bouquet and Molina change places constantly throughout the film.

Frustration of desire is one of Buñuel’s eternal themes and it is portrayed beautifully and comically here.  The screenplay pays homage to feminism, revolution, terrorism, mid-life crisis, the bourgoisie, flirtation, and machismo. It is also filled with hilarious, if black, humor. I love this movie and cannot understand why it is not on the List.

Sad to say goodbye to someone who has been on this journey since 1929.  What a career!

Fan-made trailer

The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
Directed by William Sachs
Written by William Sachs
1977/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun
Woah, but mama that’s where the fun is. Bruce Springsteen “Blinded by the Light”

The only incredible thing about this movie is FX genius Rick Baker’s make-up job on the melting man.

Three astronauts orbit Saturn in preparation for a mission that will land on the ringed planet.  They get a chance to look at the Sun through Saturn’s rings.  Immediately two are struck dead.  The third, Steve West, survives and returns to earth.  He quickly escapes his hospital bed and starts wreaking havoc on a small town.

The space mission’s physician is sent on a quest to locate his friend.  But all he can find is molten body parts that have fallen off. The death toll mounts.  I did not expect the ironic ending,

The story is not so different from hundreds of B-grade creature features throughout the history of cinema.  It might even be cornier than most.  But, wow, what a disgusting and disturbing creature.  And as he melts, his look changes so this meant several make-up jobs for the same character.  Rick Baker pulled it off brilliantly.

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (L’une chante l’autre pas)
Directed by Agnes Varda
Written by Agnes Varda
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman – Simone de Beavoir

Leave it to Agnes Varda to make the ultimate feminist film so happy and life-affirming.

The story starts in 1960’s Paris.  Pauline (Valerie Mairesse) goes by the name Apple and is a free-spirited seventeen-year-old who lives at home and aspires to be a singer.  One day she passes the studio/gallery of a photographer who takes artistic portraits of women. She is fascinated by the photos and recognizes a woman who was once a neighbor in one of them.

It turns out that this is Suzanne (Therese Liotard), the common law wife of the photographer and the mother of his two children.  Although she is only a few years older than Apple she already looks haggard.  They become friends and she soon confesses to Apple that she is afraid to tell her husband that she is again pregnant.  Apple encourages her to get an abortion and gives her money to go to Switzerland for a safe and legal one.  She gets the money by telling her parents she needs to travel to sing in a choir competition.  When the parents discover Apple’s deceit they kick her out of the house and she becomes a street performer with a women’s troupe who sings feminist songs.

The friends keep in touch through post cards.  Apple continues with the group.  She eventually falls madly in love with an Iranian and goes with him to Iran.  They get married and have a baby boy.  Suzanne goes on to establish a family planning clinic.

After their marriage, Apple’s husband expects her to perform all the household chores. Apple decides Iran is not for her and she, her husband and the baby return to Paris.  She refuses to go back to Iran.  He leaves with their son but not before he gets her pregnant with the daughter that will be “hers”.  Meanwhile Suzanne, who becomes more and more beautiful, attracts the attention of a married doctor.  She refuses to get involved with him but he gets divorced and eventually they marry.  The two women stay fast friends through long distances of location and time.

I thought this was delightful.  The many songs reminded me of Jacques Demy though they do not exactly tell the story.  The story made me glad to be a woman despite the ups and downs of the protagonists.  Sisterhood rocks!

Clip

Running Fence
Directed by Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, and David Maysles
1977/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time – “Take It to the Limit” by Randy Meisner, Don Henley and Glenn Frey

So awe-inspiring seeing the mountains and ocean of Northern California through new eyes thanks to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 24.5 mile fabric fence.

The documentary has no narration.  We watch as the artists struggle to get permission to use ranchers’ land to construct their fence and battle the hostility of environmentalists and local zoning official for permits.  Many of these people thought it would not be art.

Then we watch as battalions of workers put up the 18-foot high fence section by section in the roaring winds and heat.  When people looked at the result, even doubters could not deny it was beautiful.

The artists paid all the costs of the fence, took it down in two weeks as promised, and gave the poles and fabric to the ranchers.  They made their money through selling artists’ renderings and a book.

This documentary is the next best thing to seeing the fence, maybe better.The fence looks beautiful and different as the light changes and reveals the sinuous twists and turns of the dry Northern California hills before disappearing into the sea.  If you have the same affection for the California landscape as I do I would say it is a must see.  If you don’t, it is still a beautiful and inspiring documentary.

Clip

House (Hausu)
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Written by Chiho Kasura; original story by Chigumi Obayashi
1977/Japan
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
One of the 1,000 Greatest Horror Films on They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They

Oshare: The girls will wake up… when they are hungry.

Comedy mixed with a special effects horror extravaganza made for an interesting watch.

Gorgeous and Fantasy are high school girls and best friends.  School is letting out for summer.  Gorgeous had plans to go to the beach with her father, a widower.  At the last minute, dad introduces her to the woman he says will be her new mother and announces she will be joining them on vacation.  Gorgeous still misses her long-dead mother and hates the usurper on site.  So she decides it is time to visit her spinster aunt who lives in the family mansion in the country side.  She brings Fantasy and her other friends Prof, Mac, Melody and Sweet with her.  She also brings her white Persian cat, Blanche.

The aunt is thrilled to see her visitors.  But before you know it some very weird things start happening.  Blanche the cat becomes possessed and usually signals some very gruesome phenomenon.

It becomes clear the house is haunted and the girls are visited with horrifying apparitions and physical harm.  This movie is big on dismemberments and fiery possessions.

This is half broad candy-colored comedy (which extends into some of the house sequences) and special effects which were state of the art for Japan at that time but now seem pretty tame.  Something about Japanese comedy does not compute with me and I was not wowed by the movie.  Part of the problem is that I was expecting a Japanese ghost story and got more of a ghost sit-com with some good effects but no real scares. Or at least I wasn’t scared.  Your mileage may vary and certainly there is something bizarre to look at the entire time.

Who Are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get 19 Kids?
Directed by John Korty
Written by Janet Peoples
1977/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

The only disability in life is a bad attitude. — Scott Hamilton

If you need to feel lifted up, you could not do better than this documentary.

Bob and Dorothy DeBolt had children of their own but room in their hearts for more.  They adopted the ones that needed them most – severely disabled children, many from war torn backgrounds.  We get an inside view of their unusual household.  It’s sort of a well disciplined mayhem with plenty of laughing and singing.  The parents help the kids surpass their limitations and the kids help each other in the same way.

This is an excellent and engrossing documentary.  It felt so good to watch something with truly kind people behaving lovingly to each other.  Highly recommended.

Who Are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get 19 Kids?  won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.