RIDE THE PINK HORSE (1947)

December 6, 2020

(Criterion) Filmed directly after Robert Montgomery’s extraordinarily gimmicky first-person POV adaptation of Chandler’s THE LADY OF THE LAKE, Montgomery jumped back in the noir saddle again with an adept take on the lesser-known Dorothy B. Hughes (IN A LONELY PLACE, THE EXPENDABLE MAN) novel RIDE THE PINK HORSE. This adaptation doesn’t try anything fancy — no first-person perspectives here, just quality lighting and framing. While it alters Hughes’ gritty noir in a handful of places, it mostly follows a similar path for the same purpose until, well, it doesn’t.

The story is simple: a stranger known as Gagin (Robert Montgomery, directing himself) arrives in San Pablo, New Mexico, looking for a mobster named Frank Hugo.

Unfortunately, Gagin arrives in San Pablo during its annual weekend-long fiesta. The streets are packed with people partying and every single hotel is booked, turning what Gagin thought would be a simple overnight act of catharsis into a sleepless game of endless pursuit, which only grows more surreal when he encounters an FBI agent from his past.

One can’t discuss RIDE THE PINK HORSE without noting that, given it’s a late-1940s production depicting indigenous festivities, they didn’t really take the time to get it right which, sadly, contrasts with Hughes’ novel, explicitly drawn from her time spent in Santa Fe. The brownfacing of Wanda Hendrix of is especially egregious, not to mention she’s also far too old for the role. (She’s a pre-teen in the novel and the film’s script tries to abide by that, but Montgomery’s gaze says otherwise.) Regardless, she still manages to steal just about every scene she appears in, as does Thomas Gomez who plays Gagin’s guide.

While the performances are top-notch, it’s the overstuffed frames from cinematographer Russell Metty (who at this point had shot many classics, but would also go on to shoot TOUCH OF EVIL and SPARTACUS) that really bring RIDE THE PINK HORSE to another level. Cramped and sweaty, Metty is able to deftly handle shooting a noir that often takes place in broad daylight.

One last qualm about the adaptation: my favorite part of the novel is that the protagonist is essentially homeless and constantly fretting about his appearance, wondering how he’ll clean himself up, trying to hustle his way into bathrooms or temporarily empty hotel rooms. Sadly, this facet is mostly lost in the film.

“That’s the kind of man I like — the man with no place!”

If you’d like a bit more background, Eddie Muller’s TCM Noir Alley introduction is well worth five minutes of your time:

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (2019)

December 5, 2020

(VOD) For far too many years, I’ve habitually trawled through the entirety of the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) yearly schedule and shot off a list to a few friends to map out what we wanted to see together. The list would include not just a list of film titles and descriptions, but also trailers not linked in the CIFF schedule, additional context, interest level, and a list of potential screening times/conflicts.

It’s never been a fun job, but it’s a necessary one because CIFF is surprisingly daunting for reasons best left for another time, and most folks I know don’t bother with CIFF unless someone else puts in a bit of effort. Every year, I’m rewarded by finding a gem I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, and had I not put in the effort, I probably would have missed out on THE TWENTIETH CENTURY last year. Thankfully, unlike many films that screen once at CIFF and are never heard from again, THE TWENTIETH CENTURY was picked up by Oscilloscope and can be purchased today!

The description I sent off in the yearly missive was: “It may be puerile, but I keep hearing that it’s like Maddin meets John Waters, and I’m down for that.”

Upon watching it, yes, Guy Maddin is an obvious inspiration, with its extreme Soviet-inspired camerawork, choppy editing/frame-gaps, kink, and scrutiny of Canada. However, director Matthew Rankin’s use of color, tempo, and symmetry makes it very much the work of a new auteur instead of something simply derivative. Yes, it’s weird but, despite its eccentricities, it’s rarely off-putting, and it’s supremely entertaining. The trailer will immediately inform you as to whether it’s something in or out of your wheelhouse. If it tickles you, please, pick up a copy.

THE FRONT PAGE (1974)

December 4, 2020

(DVD) I love adaptations. Give me an adaptation of a work I’ve previously seen or read, and I’ll always glean something interesting from it. Consequently, I was curious about Billy Wilder’s THE FRONT PAGE, which has its roots in the 1928 stage play of the same name about a Chicago newspaper writer trying to escape the business and get married and the boss who tries to thwart him, all under the umbrella of a hanging. THE FRONT PAGE became a reasonably successful film in 1931, but then Howard Hawks and Charles Lederer gender-swapped newspaper writer Hildy Johnson, threw away half of the script and let the cast riff, and created the classic screwball rom-com HIS GIRL FRIDAY.

Wilder’s FRONT PAGE is a glossier, overtly bluer, more expansive Cinemascope version of the original 1931 film — as you can immediately tell from the gorgeously crafted title sequence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwuo9NjflGs — and that is not a compliment. The tightly-wound anarchic feeling of both the original FRONT PAGE and HIS GIRL FRIDAY is what made them feel vibrant, and that’s missing from this production due to its over-produced adherence to the initial film.

While there are a few grander comedic moments and set-pieces, Wilder’s version often feels hum-drum and sluggish, completely antithetical to what one should expect from a FRONT PAGE adaptation. However, it includes one notable bit of interplay between boss Walter Matheu and writer/Wilder regular Jack Lemmon: Lemmon says ‘Cigarette me!’ and Matthau obliges by popping a cigarette into his own mouth and lighting it for his favored employee. He then slips it into Lemmon’s mouth, all while Susan Sarandon — Lemmon’s fiancée — watches. It’s is a cute Hays Code callback back to when swapping cigarettes was shorthand for fucking, but it doesn’t resonate nearly as much as Wilder thinks it does.

While I wish Wilder had extended himself further, he’s never wasted my time. Sure, it’s the lesser of the three major versions, but it has its moments and worth a watch if you’re into scrutinizing the machinations of adaptations.

THE FRONT PAGE’s (1931) opening scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlsW0qbbcjs

HIS GIRL FRIDAY trailer:

THE FRONT PAGE (1974) trailer:

NATE: A ONE MAN SHOW (2020)

December 3, 2020

(Netflix) Natalie Palamides’ comedy special is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Plenty will compare it to Hannah Gadsby’s NANETTE or the original theatrical production of FLEABAG, but it’s completely different; it’s extraordinarily audacious, often puerile, but always surprising and challenging. I’ll mention that it’s EXTREMELY NSFW, both aurally and visually, but if you’re okay with that, do yourself a favor and go in cold and watch to the end.

If you’ve watched it, she was recently interviewed by uber-comedy nerd Jesse David Fox on his exceptional weekly deep dive into a comedian’s joke, GOOD ONES: https://www.vulture.com/2020/12/good-one-podcast-natalie-palamides-talks-nate.html

Helen Shaw also has an insightful interview with her in Vulture, which digs deeper into clown comedy than FX’s BASKETS: https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/natalie-palamides-nate-netflix-comedy-special.html

THE LIFE OF REILLY (2007)

December 2, 2020

(YouTube) Charles Nelson Reilly’s one-man show. Yes, most folks know him from the ‘funny’ (a.k.a. best) episodes of THE X-FILES. People with too much time on their hands know him from the best episodes of MILLENNIUM. Game show dorks and people like me also know him from TV schlock like HOLLYWOOD SQUARES. However, he was far more than that — he was one hell of an individual, a queer pioneer. He made his own space in his own way, and THE LIFE OF REILLY features him regaling us about his life, his trials, tribulations, and trailblazing in his own words, on the stage for one last time.

“The things we go through when we’re young… it’s amazing.”

For reasons beyond me, it’s not available to stream or buy, either digitally or physically, so I feel no compunction about sharing the link below.

The film, as a YouTube playlist (better than nothing! Think of it as a series of vignettes.):

BORN IN FLAMES (1983)

December 1, 2020

(kanopy/VOD)? An electric 80s NYC ’10 years in the future’ dystopian film from Lizzie Borden (yes, the director legally changed her name) shot in the vein of Godard’s ALPHAVILLE in which nothing about the city is changed apart from the context. In this case, it’s: ‘what if socialism occurred in the US, but it ultimately sidelines all women, compromising their health and their right to work?’ Nearly 40 years later, it’s still shamefully relevant.

The end result is a vibrant exploration of activism helmed by a DJ and divergent feminist movements trying to organize and radicalize women to upend the machine, all pasted together from a mixture of pre-shot footage, on-the-street footage, and documentary footage, and paired with an amazing array of proto-punk feminist songs.

Warning: the end of the film coincidentally mirrors real events and might be painful to watch. To say why would spoil matters, but you’ll see it coming well before you actually have to watch it.

Please note: the following trailer is briefly NSFW.

12 MONKEYS (2014-2016)

November 30, 2020

(Hulu/VOD) I had very low expectations for a TV adaptation of 12 MONKEYS. I simply didn’t think the film’s inevitability and nihilism lent itself to serialized storytelling. I’m happy to admit that I was wrong.

12 MONKEYS is — by far — one of the most audacious and human time travel TV shows to make it to air and, despite the fact that I re-watched it during the pandemic, the hurt and twinges I felt while re-watching weren’t because of a portrayal of plague death, but because the ensemble were literally breaking the laws of time and space to rectify these deaths, whereas far too many people in real life right now aren’t fucking willing to wear a mask to save themselves and others.

That said, the plague is only a small part of this show; it’s used as a springboard towards some of the most high-concept plotting I’ve ever seen in a TV series. (Yes, I watched and loved FRINGE.) Where the characters are and what they’re trying to do in the first season is so far removed by the end of season four that it’s astounding, but it still works!

While the show is so high-concept, and so inventive, what really makes it work are the women. The men are mostly soldiers, grunts — disposable — although they all have their own quirks, emotions, and interesting character arcs, the women are the ones that propel the series:

The show gender-swaps Brad Pitt’s Jeffrey Goines to Emily Hampshire’s Jennifer Goines, which was a stroke of brilliance. It ramps up the pop culture riffs while giving her an autonomy and agency all her own. (She also gets some of the best set-pieces, and the writers clearly love writing her, sometimes a little too much.) Time scientist Katarina Jones is my favorite character: so driven, but so aware that she’s toeing an exceedingly dangerous line, while still trying to be mindful of her own humanity and what’s at stake and -juggling causality-. With apologies to Tracy Kidder, she’s the show’s soul of a new machine. Cassandra Railly hews close to Madeline Stowe’s character from Gilliam’s film in the first season, but becomes something radically different after, and someone far more interesting.

Better yet, just about every episode in the four seasons is satisfying — there’s not a single episode in the bunch where you feel the characters acted in a way that betrayed themselves, or that there was some sloppy plotting just to find some feel-good closure — and the show sticks the landing in ways you wouldn’t believe. And the lighting! In these days of under-lit, over-dramatic works like OZARK, it’s refreshing to see a show that leans into bright bursts of light, a show that pays attention to hues, that tints appropriately instead of painting everything in shapeless grays.

Most importantly, the show has a command over tone that comes along so rarely: it’s propulsive and smart, but it’s also poignant and — perhaps most importantly — surprisingly funny. The characters quip and throw barbs at each other like family, but you’re familiar enough with ‘em to get the inside jokes and swatches of character building they provide. For a show about the end times, you’ll find yourself laughing far more than you’d expect.

Ultimately, 12 MONKEYS is so satisfying is because it reckons with the fact that it -is- a serialized show, and that their time machine — simply because of the nature of TV -and- because they created a fucking time machine — can never bestow a proper ending for these characters. There can never be catharsis, and they use that self-awareness as a prop to the utmost effect. Everyone believes their mistakes and missteps are reversible, but causality/narrative gets in the way. The stakes escalate, rippling into more mistakes, more grief, which results in more attempts to rectify human missteps. (The show quickly shakes up its endgame to address this, but to reveal how would be cruel.) It’s brilliantly and profoundly tragic in a way I’ve rarely seen in a sci-fi show, which is what makes it so special, and so worth your time.

S1 Trailer:

Fan-based S1 Trailer:

One caveat: sadly that I need to mention that the show’s pretty myopic when it comes to representation. The few times you do see anyone that isn’t white, they’re part of a ramshackle tribe, a servant, or a prop.

A fortunate thing about 12 Monkeys is: you can watch any clip and still have no idea when/where it happened, so spoilers don’t exist! (That said, watching these will detract from the surprise from encountering them in the show, but if you’re on the fence about the show, they may convince you that it’s something special. That said, they’re mostly Jennifer clips, because she’s so entertainingly erratic, even out-of-context.)

U + Ur Hand:

Related:

Admittedly, this traffics in a fair amount of fan-service, but in-context it’s not as bad as it looks.

Jennifer in the bunker:

Endless Jennifer lines:

Life Isn’t Measured By Clocks (Spoilers for the entire series, but it’s endless heartbreak):

Many Endings. It was… is… a Love Story. (Spoilers for the entire series/ibid):

I love/miss this show.

ENLIGHTENED (2011-2013)

November 29, 2020

(HBO Max/VOD) The tagline for the first season of ENLIGHTENED was: ‘A woman on the verge of a nervous breakthrough,’ which does a damn fine job of succinctly setting up lead character Amy Jellicoe’s (deftly portrayed by co-creator Laura Dern) trajectory as a woman who thinks she has it all together, then a corporate affair destroys her world.

Mike White* (CHUCK & BUCK, SCHOOL OF ROCK), the other co-creator and head writer, does a great job of showcasing Amy’s attempts at becoming well-adjusted, trying to re-insert herself into her old positions only to find that they don’t fit. While flailing to find some kind of constant to hold onto, she reaches out to her addict ex, Levi (Luke Wilson).

What follows is a melancholy story of growth that, to some, may feel overwrought, but you’re seeing life through Amy’s eyes, and Amy is so well-realized between Dern and White that it’s worth enduring a few wide-eyed, over-earnest monologues. In fact, my favorite moment of the show occurs four episodes into the first season. She reflects on her life during an outdoor weekend retreat that doesn’t quite go the way Amy had hoped, and it’s the first time that she opens up to the audience:

(This is a combination of three monologues, just in case the segues feel abrupt.)

(The score really heightens that monologue, so it shouldn’t surprise you that Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO) was responsible for it.)

ENLIGHTENED is Amy trying to course-correct her life, trying to become a better person, but frequently screwing it up with her own navel-gazing and endless hope for external accolades to tell her she’s on the right path. It’s a mature character study that’s rarely told through TV nowadays.

Dern & White had hoped to tell a three season arc, but the critical acclaim wasn’t enough to make up for the paltry ratings, so they only received two seasons. Nonetheless, the second season ends satisfyingly enough.

“There’s time. There is time. There is so much time.”

Season one trailer:

Season two trailer:

  • Fun fact: Mike White was on two seasons of THE AMAZING RACE with his father, and they were delightful although — spoiler alert — they never came close to winning.

DR. KATZ, PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST (1995-2002)

November 28, 2020

(DVD) ‘Improvised animation’ from Tom Snyder (no, not THE LATE LATE SHOW’s Tom Snyder — a completely unrelated Tom Snyder) featuring Jonathan Katz as a therapist to a litany of stand-up comedians, and father to man-child H. Jon Benjamin. While I think DR. KATZ is probably best known for the controversial SQUIGGLEVISION animation process (I’ve personally never had any issue with SQUIGGLEVISION) it still lasted seven years, and even had a syndicated cartoon strip, which was oddly antithetical to the premise of the show. I remember upon first moving to Chicago, I cracked open my first copy of the Sun-Times and was shocked to see it in print.

While the show’s built around extraordinarily deadpan jokes from some of the best era’s best stand-ups (Ray Romano, Joan Rivers, Steven Wright, Emo Philips, Andy Kindler, Mitch Hedberg, to name just a few), the animators always managed to insert more than a few amusing visual flourishes and gags, a stylistic tic that’s worked its way to future Snyder and Snyder-inspired shows, such as HOME MOVIES and BOB’S BURGERS. Additionally, while most of the characters — guests and otherwise — are stunted in many ways, there’s a warmth and acceptance that underlies the show.

The show’s endlessly re-watchable and perfect fodder to work or fold laundry to, especially if you love word play and stand-up.

No trailer, obviously, but in the spirit of the season, here’s their Thanksgiving ep:

THE GHOST & MRS MUIR (1968-1970)

November 27, 2020

(YouTube) Ah, the 60s, the heyday of high-concept TV shows! As you might surmise from the title, this is a belated TV adaptation of the novel/film, starring Hope Lange — in her first recurring TV role — as Carolyn Muir, and Edward Mulhare as Captain Gregg, the pirate captain who haunts the house that the widow Muir has moved her son, daughter, and moppet pup to. To inject a bit more conflict, Charles Nelson Reilly — also his first recurring TV role — is Captain Gregg’s very nervous great-grand-nephew Claymore Gregg, who is reluctantly renting the property — Gull Cottage — to Mrs. Muir.

The show was the brainchild of Jean Holloman, who also penned the epic melodrama MADAME X (1966) and, apart from the inclusion of Reilly and one more kid, the show hews pretty close the source material(s), centering mostly around the tension (albeit less sexual and more about sharing a space) between Mrs. Muir and Captain Gregg. However, it’s been modernized a bit — Carolyn’s already an established writer, she wears pants, and she takes no guff. That said, they needed to ramp up the conflict, which usually meant random folks and guest stars would drop by, and hijinks would ensue.

It only lasted for one season on NBC, but then ABC picked it up for a second season — handsomely pairing it with THAT GIRL and BEWITCHED, but it still failed to catch on and ABC canceled it after the second season.

I won’t pretend that the show is brilliant, but it’s a comfortable oddity, admirably performed, and perfect for a lazy long holiday weekend. I don’t believe it received an official US DVD release — my copy consists of bootlegs acquired from eBay — but nowadays the entire series can be found on YouTube.

Pilot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YDacElh-0&list=PL7rmJN-Yze4q4rrOE9YE7k8_12LbTWhpp