Monthly Archives: April 2024

Gilda Live
Directed by Mike Nichols and Lorne Michaels
Written by Gilda Radner, Don Novello, Paul Shaffer, etc.
1980/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime renta

Gilda Radner: So, let me conclude and summarize and wrap this thing up real quick by saying: It just goes to show you. It’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

I had a lot of fun with the film version of Gilda Radner’s one-woman show on Broadway.

The film contains a number of sketches including some beloved characters from the late 70’s version of Saturday Night Live including Emily Litella (“never mind”), Rosanne Rosannadanna, and Candy Slice.  Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) appears frequently between these.

This sure brought back a lot of memories.  I can’t believe it was 44 years ago.  I had a steady date every Saturday night during the time Radner, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray etc. were on the show.  Radner was certainly multi-talented and shows off skills such as tap dancing, acrobatics, singing, and piano playing. Recommended for devotees.

Sorry for the print quality. The full version on streaming looks fine.

Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers
Directed by Les Blank
1980/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

I love Les Blank’s documentaries about food and music.  Here we explore garlic and the people who love it.  We also learn about the history, health benefits, culinary uses and psychotropic properties of the stinking rose.  We also visit the Gilroy Garlic festival, which I have been to.  I love garlic and I wanted to disappear into all the folksy, hippie-esque fun.

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Toothache (Dandan Dard)
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Written by Abbas Kiarostami
1980/Iran
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

This is a didactic, cautionary tale about what suffering awaits those who do not attend to their oral hygiene.  It would be extremely dry if not for Kiarostami’s wry take on the experience of his child exemplar.  Not must see viewing by any means.

No clip so here is an interview with the director.

Tried to squeeze in two more for 1980.  Had to go for two documentary shorts.

Dworzec (Railway Station)
Directed by Krzyszof Kieslowski
Written by Krzysztof Kieslowski
Poland/1980
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

This is a portrait of the Warsaw railway station.  I don’t know if it was commissioned by the Polish Government.  If so, I don’t see how they would have approved.  Kieslowski makes this station seem like a non-stop exercise in frustration.  I loved the [security? spy?] cameras on the wall.  We get many shots of them, always with ominous music swelling up. It’s got kind of a low rating but I thought it was amusing.

Gadajace glowy (Talking Heads)
Directed by Krzyszof Kieslowski
Written by Krzysztof Kieslowski
Poland/1980
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

This one was by far the more profound.  Kieslowski asked people from age 1 to 100 these three questions:  When were you born?  Who are you?  What do you want from life?  The Poles mostly want something to change in society.  It’s a very interesting exploration of the human condition.

Stardust Memories
Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Woody Allen
1980/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Sandy Bates: But shouldn’t I stop making movies and do something that counts, like-like helping blind people or becoming a missionary or something?

 

Voice of Martian: Let me tell you, you’re not the missionary type. You’d never last. And-and incidentally, you’re also not Superman; you’re a comedian. You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes.

This is a comic tribute to Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963) with Woody Allen in the Marcello Mastroianni part.  I am on the fence about whether it worked or not.

Sandy Bates (Allen) is a director of comedy films but has decided to make something different.  Well not so different because Fellini had already made something quite similar.  Anyway, Bates is beset by annoying fans and meddling studio executives.

In the meantime he looks back at his relationships with Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling), Isabel (Marie-Christine Barrault) and Daisy (Jessica Harper).

Comedy klnd of trivializes what makes 8 1/2 so great and Allen doesn’t really have the gravitas to put anything deeper over.  He does get at the Fellini imagery with some stunning B&W cinematography and found extras with the Master’s freakish “interesting” faces.  There is much to enjoy here but it is not top-tier Allen.

This is the only Woody Allen film between 1973 and 1993 not to star Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow.  Sharon Stone made her film debut as Allen’s (wordless) starlet dream girl.

Missing theme song

Gloria
Directed by John Cassavetes
Written by John Cassavetes
1980/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Phil Dawn: I am the man. I am the man. I am the man, do you hear me? I am the man! I am the man! Not you, you’re not the man! Do you hear me? I’ll do anything I can. I am the man!

Instead of watching the next DW Griffith on the List, I picked a movie I knew I would like.  And I liked it even better than I remembered!

The setting is New York City.  Gloria (Gina Rowlands) is a friend and neighbor to the Dawn family.  She happens to come over to borrow some coffee while the family is waiting in terror for mob hitmen. Accountant Jack Dawn (Buck Henry) has been skimming from the top of the organization’s earnings and, worse, has kept a record of its finances in a secret book.  Gloria very reluctantly agrees to take the family’s six-year-old son Phil (John Adames).  Dad gives Phil the book, believing it will provide for the boy’s future.  This could not be further from the truth.  Gloria and Phil, the only surviving Dawn, are on the run from hitmen for the remainder of the story.

Gloria doesn’t like kids and Phil is quite a handful.  They spar throughout.  It turns that she was formerly the mob boss’s moll and knows just exactly how ruthless it is.  The same history has left her mighty handy with a gun and she is not hesitant to use it.

The incredible Oscar-nominated performance of Gena Rowlands as the pistol-packing heroine is an excellent reason to watch. She manages to be tough and tender, sometimes at the same time.  I had forgotten most of the details and enjoyed this all over again. It is violent but oh so amusing. It’s not the usual Cassavetes fare but you can still detect the hand of a master filmmaker.

Within Our Gates
Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Written by Oscar Micheaux
1920/US
Micheaux Book and Film Company
IMDb page
First viewing?/YouTube

Jasper’s Wife: Justice! Where are you? Answer me! How long? Great God almighty, How Long?

The earliest known surviving film directed by an African-American is kind of a mixed bag.

School teacher Sylvia Landry is a proper, educated lady who is visiting the North to unite with the soldier she is engaged to.  She is duped by her trashy friend who wants Sylvia’s man for herself and coveted by the hussy’s criminal brother.  Her engagement is destroyed by these two and she returns to the South.

Sylvia gets more bad news when she returns.  The school she teaches in is running out of money due to the many children seeking an education and the Government’s failure to provide funding for them.  So Sylvia heads back North again to raise money.  In the process she is robbed by a Black scoundrel and rescued by a kindly Black idealist.  Later, she is hit by a car bearing a wealthy White philanthropist, who decides after much dilly dallying to save the school.  But nothing but sorrow awaits Sylvia when she returns home due to the perfidy of ignorant Blacks and racist Whites.

This is an interesting film that gives us a peek at what people of color were suffering 100 years ago.  It’s not particularly great however.  In fact, it features many stereotypical characters played by people who seem to have attended the Stepin Fetchit School of Acting.  Of course, most of the Whites are just as bad,  The story also suffers from a slow pace and melodramatic tone.  But I’m very glad to have caught up with it.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Directed by Robert Wiene
Written by Carl Meyer and Hans Janowitz
1920/Germany
Decla-Bioscop AG
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube

Francis: You fools, this man is plotting our doom! We die at dawn! He is Caligari!

I had forgotten how groundbreaking this film is.

Two young friends are in love with the same woman.  A carnival comes to town.  One of the main attractions is Dr. Caligari and his somnambulant slave Cesare (Conrad Viedt), who can predict the future when wakened by the good doctor. Cesare tells one of the friends he will not live to see the next dawn.

Cesare’s prediction comes true.  The surviving friend spends the rest of the story trying to get the goods on Caligari.  But things are not as they seem …

This has the distinct expressionist style of the German Weimar films and was one of the first horror films.  I really like the theatrical sets and the stylized acting.