SUMMERFEST '22: Witney and the Three Georges

In a kind of continuation of last week’s theme, I wanted to familiarize myself with some of the names dropped in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Namely, William Witney – who Rick and Cliff discuss over margaritas at Casa Vega – and the “three Georges” that Rick says (along with him) were up for the role of Hilts in The Great Escape during the brief period Steve McQueen was possibly not going to do it (in the order Rick named them – Peppard, Maharis and Chakiris). All of these are also first watches.

House of Cards (1968)

Trailers: P.J., The Groundstar Conspiracy

The first of my two Peppards, and I liked this a lot. Peppard is a classic semi-ordinary guy who gets mixed up in a complicated and deadly situation. His character Reno is a retired boxer who has decided to become a writer. He takes a job as a tutor for a young boy and it turns out to be way more trouble than he bargained for because the boy’s family is connected to a fascist group that’s planning to take over Europe (one of whom is played by The Orson Welles, who is in the movie for like five minutes). Finding himself framed for his best friend’s murder, Reno and the boy’s mother try to find her now kidnapped child while being hunted all around France. This was really engaging and Peppard is a great leading man.

Pendulum (1969)

Trailers: 23 Paces to Baker Street; Sleep, My Love

The plot of this movie resembles a whole lot of the erotic thrillers of the 80s and 90s, though this is no erotic thriller – if only the defense attorney had been a woman. This moves kind of slow, and I could take or leave the whodunit plot, but there’s still some good stuff going on and it really kicks into gear by the third act. Madeleine Sherwood (who I’d only ever seen as Sister Woman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) is by far the MVP of this movie, playing the mother of a convicted and recently released rapist and murderer. What a performance!

The Happening (1967)

Trailers: The Deadly Trap, Fargo

My goodness, this was silly! And reminded me a bit of the Star Trek episode “The Way to Eden” (the one with the space hippies). George Maharis, who is the real life person Rick Dalton is a proxy for, was less interesting to me here (until the final scene) than the other three actors who play his accomplices – Faye Dunaway (just a few months before Bonnie & Clyde), Michael Parks (a Tarantino regular), and Robert Walker Jr. (who I remembered from the “Charlie X” episode of Star Trek). Everyone seems to be having a good time here and “understands the assignment,” as they say – especially Michael Parks, who is the most entertaining of the four young characters. He and Maharis, Dunaway and Walker play beach bums who, out of boredom and through a series of misunderstandings, end up kidnapping a former gangster who is now a respectable businessman. Things get more complicated when it turns out no one is that interested in paying the ransom. And it mostly looks like little more than an excuse to poke fun at Middle America and people who are no longer young.

Land Raiders (1969)

Trailers: Two Flags West, Rio Conchos

I liked this one, even though it has its problems, and I feel like it’s a much better showcase for what kind of actor George Maharis is than The Happening (Land Raiders was Tarantino’s inspiration for “Red Blood, Red Skin” – one of Rick Dalton’s Italian movies). Maharis costars with Telly Savalas and they play estranged brothers of Mexican descent (ahem). Savalas plays a real sumbitch who puts out bounties on Indian scalps and then buys up the land that has been made cheap due to all the conflict. Maharis’s character is adrift, unable or unwilling to return to his home due to the tragic end met by his lover (an end that many people think he caused). There’s some good story here and definitely some good acting, but the movie has inconsistent quality and sometimes looks like it was made for TV. Then there are the Native Americans. I appreciate that the movie acknowledges that these characters have genuine grievances but the movie doesn’t portray them as much more than violent vigilantes.

Diamond Head (1963) 

Trailers: The Hawaiians, 55 Days at Peking

I actually liked this quite a bit. I got weary of Charlton Heston’s character pretty quickly, but I think that’s the idea here – that he’s a fossil, stuck in outdated norms, and he’s also a hypocrite. It’s a pity he’s the main character and we have to spend so much time with him. (He’s actually a teddy bear compared to his sister-in-law, though, and I was thrilled when she was no longer in the movie.) Yvette Mimieux has the same charm she has in Three in the Attic, but the stakes are much higher here. It was nice to see Star Trek: DS9’s James Darren in this, even if he’s in brownface. And George Chakiris is the best part of the movie to me. Every moment he is on screen, I was riveted, and I was very pleased to have called his true role in the film early on. It’s always touchy to deal with white people living in Hawaii, especially when those white people have lived on the land for over a century and feel like they’re just as entitled to it as true natives. This movie deals with a lot of those issues (including Hawaii’s then-new statehood) in a surprisingly thoughtful way. (Side note: I'm bummed I had to use a black and white photo, but just about everything else was either too small or watermarked.)

The Big Cube (1969)

Trailers: Bunny Lake Is Missing, Strait-Jacket

There’s a pretty cool story here buried in a lot of psychedelic silliness. Chakiris plays a drug-dealing womanizing villain here, but the star of this show is Lana Turner. She plays an actress who is retiring from the stage to get married (to Dan O’Herlihy, archvillain of Halloween III). When her wealthy husband dies, it falls to her to give consent for his adult daughter to marry (at least if the daughter expects to inherit her share of daddy’s fortune). When Stepmom Lana refuses, the daughter and her fiance dose her with psychedelic drugs to have her declared mentally incompetent so they can get married *and* get the money. I liked some of this, especially the ending. A few of the characters wore on my nerves, but Chakiris is a pretty good villain who meets a fitting end.

The Golden Stallion (1949)

Trailers: The Crimson Ghost, The Adventures of Captain Marvel

This is a fun little (just under an hour) Roy Rogers western, with some good action sequences. I just wish there were a better version of it to watch. As far as I can tell, there’s no physical version available (except the actual film reels someone is selling on eBay). The only version on streaming (same version on all the platforms) is a TV broadcast, with lots of interstitials of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Gene Autry. Which is great, but the fact that it’s a TV broadcast means the movie looks like it was shot on a toaster. I imagine a lot of people don’t like this kind of western, with its total moral clarity and lack of nuance and ambiguity (I found it cloying at times myself), but it’s fascinating to think that there was a time when this was perfect entertainment. All hail Trigger, king of horses!

SUMMERFEST '22: Once Upon a Time ... in Easter Eggs

A few years ago, I fell hard for Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s a movie chock full of references – even more so than his previous films – and I wanted to at least make a dent in the mountain of nostalgia. So all of this week’s films were referenced in OUATIH in some way (billboards, radio/TV ads). And most were either still in theaters or coming to theaters when the movie was set. (And they’re all first watches.)

The Boston Strangler (1968)

Trailers: Copycat, Helter Skelter

Overall I liked this. It had its slow moments, particularly in the second half, and I’m not sure exactly what the movie was trying to accomplish. Obviously, there’s only so much perspective a filmmaker could have had so soon after the real life events took place. I appreciate that they wanted to humanize Albert DeSalvo, and I more than appreciate that they didn’t want this to be a lurid film that was too exploitative. It’s much more of a psychological movie. It seems wild to see a world where women apparently thought nothing of letting a strange man into their homes, often for fear of being impolite or causing the man inconvenience. That’s a commentary and a half on 1960s America. The cast is second to none. Tony Curtis is pretty amazing, especially in the final scene, and I loved seeing Henry Fonda, William Marshall, George Kennedy and Murray “Jaws Mayor” Hamilton. And I always love seeing Mike Kellin in anything (he was the “NOT YOU, MEG!” head counselor in Sleepaway Camp). But I think the biggest star here is the editing, which employs split screens (and multi-screens and screens-within-screens) years before Brian DePalma became known for them, and it’s a fascinating way to move through the facts of the case without letting the movie get too dry.

Three in the Attic (1968)

Trailers: John Tucker Must Die, Plaisir D’Amour

The theme song from this movie – “Paxton Quigley’s Had the Course” – is one of my favorite tracks on the Once Upon… soundtrack. The premise intrigued me and instantly reminded me of both of the movies whose trailers I watched before this movie. And I liked … some of it. I’m all for the idea of female revenge, and especially in a situation like the one in this film, where three wronged women band together against a common f***-boy. But the way they take their revenge is bizarre and seems like throwing this young man right into the briar patch, so to speak. It also sends a chill down my spine to think what it would look like if the genders were reversed and it was three men against one woman. In fact, we see a very similar situation play out in our protagonist’s frat house, in the moment that finally gives him his conscience. That’s not to say there’s not worth in exploring how different it looks for women to treat a man this way. I just wish their revenge had been more clever and less sex crime. Also, this movie has one of the weirdest credit sequences I’ve ever seen.

The Illustrated Man (1969)

Trailers: The Terminal Man, Memories

I was not wild about this. The trailer makes it sound so ominous and awesome and the movie is just kind of dull. Rod Steiger plays a man whose body (or most of it) is covered in “skin illustrations” (it is Very Important to him that you don’t call them tattoos). The framing story, where he meets a man in the woods and starts telling the stories behind some of his skin illustrations didn’t make sense to me at all. Why was either of them there? Why does Rod Steiger keep his dog in a sack? (Spoiler alert: Nothing bad happens to the dog, thank goodness, except that he’s in a bag for a minute before being let out, which is weird and never explained.) The stories themselves are decent as far as sci-fi stories go, but it’s not clear whether these things actually happened to the illustrated man (in the future?) or the illustrations are prophecies (which would seem a plausible conclusion given the ending of the movie). It’s just kind of nonsense. I know Zack Snyder signed on to do a remake of this about 15 years ago, but I never heard anything else about it. It seems ripe for a remake. There are some good ideas in here, but they deserve a better movie.

Hammerhead (1968)

Trailers: Crossplot, Smashing Time

A swinging ‘60s Bond knock-off with an Amicus budget. Not as fabulous or ostentatious as pretty much any Bond movie, but still pretty fun. A movie that is trying really hard to be Goldfinger, including a theme song that’s trying really hard to be “Goldfinger” – sung by someone trying really hard to be Shirley Bassey (she doesn’t have the range, darling). The producer, Irving Allen, made The Wrecking Crew that same year – a Matt Helm movie with Dean Martin in the title role and Sharon Tate as his helper and love interest. This isn’t nearly as silly (or fun) as The Wrecking Crew but it has a similar style. A wild Kathleen Byron appears (though not as wild as she was in Black Narcissus two decades before) as the mother of a piano prodigy. Tarantino is a fan of this movie, but not of the star Vince Edwards, and I have to agree – he’s pretty forgettable. The villain of this movie is especially eccentric and travels to and from his helicopter in this tiny closet-like device. He does meet an amazingly abrupt end at the hand of a character I had been annoyed by up until that very moment.

They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968)

Trailers: Model Shop, Machine Gun McCain

I really liked this. It’s a kind of heist movie I’ve not seen too often before, though it reminded me a bit of Ocean’s Thirteen, where it’s a heist as revenge and the money (at least for the main character) doesn’t matter that much. Gary Lockwood, despite some unfortunate near-Will-Byers-level bad hair, is quite good in this, as is Elke Sommer, and Jack Palance and Lee J. Cobb are always welcome presences. I love the idea of these two different generations of robbers. Gary Lockwood’s character turns down a job because the mark has more modern security and the job will take more sophisticated planning. And we see just how sophisticated it is when he finally decides to do it. There’s a lot of inherent tension in the job itself, taking place largely in one space, with the main obstacle being just having the patience to let things play out in the robbers’ favor. And even though you know how it’s probably going to end, the movie still gets you on the criminals’ side and makes you want them to succeed.

Lady in Cement (1968)

Trailers: Tony Rome, Fathom

This was a bit meh. It was part of a new breed of hard-boiled detective movies that were previously hot in the 40s – not quite neo-noir but getting there. Frank Sinatra reprises his role from the movie’s predecessor, Tony Rome. And while the opening is pretty spectacular and the twists and turns are kind of fun, this movie never quite knows what it wants to be. It’s sillier and more nudge-nudge humor than most movies of this type (including Tony Rome), but it also tries to be serious and gritty and the two tones don’t go together (or perhaps the filmmakers just don't know how to make them go together). It felt like a cross between a spoof and a genuine detective story and sadly ended up being pretty forgettable. That opening is the thing that will stick with me.

Pretty Poison (1968)

Trailers: Play It as It Lays, Petulia

This one is probably my favorite of the week. It played as the second half of a double bill with Lady in Cement at the fictional Van Nuys Drive-In in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and it’s definitely the fairer of the two. Starring Anthony Perkins, eight years after Psycho (his first film since then, in fact), and Tuesday Weld. It doesn’t surprise me that people at the time compared Perkins’s character to Norman Bates, but they’re not that similar at all. His character has just been released from a mental institution (end of similarity, and that it shares more with Psycho II), and is going through all the usual parole stuff. He meets Tuesday Weld’s character – a high school student – and falls in love. Having an active imagination that his parole officer warns him about indulging, he pretends to be a CIA agent, “recruiting” this girl to help him with supposed missions, and she gets a little too into the excitement of it all and turns out to be a real piece of work. I do wonder if she would be where she is as a character in the end if she’d never met the Perkins character. I love the tone of this and the moments of dark comedy, and it’s an all-around gorgeous film. Also, look out for Ken Kercheval (of TV’s Dallas) in a small role, a decade before he played Cliff Barnes.

Krakatoa, East of Java (1968)

Trailers: Crack in the World, Hell and High Water

I looooove a good 1960s special effects disaster flick with a healthy dose of soap opera thrown in! This takes a while to get going, and while I can see what they were going for in trying to establish a wide array of characters that we’re supposed to care about, it’s just not terribly compelling until the second half. It also could use a more robust leading man than Maxamilian Schell, who I can’t see without seeing his performance in the German TV Hamlet that appeared on MST3K (“Damn, I’m interesting.”). I feel like Burt Lancaster would have been a better fit. I wish I could have seen this in a theater since it was made for 70mm Cinerama. The practical effects are pretty impressive and were nominated for an Oscar. Not a game-changer, by any means, but still pretty entertaining.

SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features VII - Fighting Fascists Double

One of these movies caused an international incident and was pulled from most theaters. The other played a month after the 2016 election, when America had just elected its own fascist.

The Interview (2014) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 16 (2014)

Trailers: American Ultra, Team America: World Police

Haters gonna hate. And ainters gonna ain’t. We saw this at BNAT riiiiiight before the shit hit the fan – three days before all the theaters started pulling the movie. So this turned out to be one of the more infamous screenings of the event, although there’s not much in the film that is actually infamous. The plot revolves around a celebrity talk show host who gets the opportunity to interview North Korean president Kim Jong-un; meanwhile, the CIA sees this as a chance to "take him out." Some aspects of this movie aren’t as funny now as they were eight years ago (not in an offensive way, just a bit stale), but it mines its pop culture references better than most comedies. The skewering of “celebrity news” is as sharp as ever, though. It also brought the term “honey-dick” into all of our lives, and for that I am grateful. And on a personal note, because of this fanfic, I laughed way harder at “you just got f***ed by Robocop” than anyone else.

#theyhateuscuztheyaintus

'Pimpernel' Smith (1941) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 18 (the last, 2016)

Trailers: The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Great Dictator

BNAT 18 was about a month after the 2016 election and some feared it would be the last BNAT – which would turn out to be true, but not for the reason suspected. In any case, after living through that election and facing at least four years in which America’s worst person was going to be in charge, this movie was something I needed very much. Directed by Leslie Howard, who also stars, this movie takes the character of the Scarlet Pimpernel (which Howard also played previously) and places him (or rather a Cambridge professor facsimile) in WW2, where he surreptitiously helps artists, scientists and other notable figures escape Nazi Germany. There's a romantic element that I loved, particularly as Smith seems to have a lot in common with Pygmalion (Howard also previously played GB Shaw's version of *that* character -- better known as Henry Higgins). The final scene is incredible, particularly the “You are doomed” speech. Howard’s practiced aloofness makes the movie funnier than you might expect, given the subject matter. And his character is practically porn for sapiosexuals like myself.

SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features VI - Bros on a Mission Double

"Men on a mission" has been a time-honored trope of adventure movies since just about the beginning of movies. And today's movies are a couple of great ones.

(No link to a BNAT 17 LJ post because I did not attend that year; I did an HPNAT with a friend that weekend instead.)

Gunga Din (1939) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 17 (2015)

Trailers: Soldiers Three, Kelly’s Heroes

There’s no doubt this movie is well made and that the actors are great in it. And the story is certainly well told. But the story itself gets on my nerves, not only because of what it has to say about the Indian people (not to mention that Gunga Din is portrayed as a hero for betraying them) but also because the whole story only happens because these soldiers want to see some action (which they think will convince their friend to not get married and stay in the army – which is actually what ends up happening!) and so that Cary Grant’s character can steal some gold. These three/four guys just go off half-cocked and write checks the British Army has to cash. It all seems so unnecessary to me. Having said that, I do love this movie in spite of itself. It has also obviously inspired many other filmmakers, perhaps especially George Lucas, who based Jar-Jar Binks on the title character (even giving his race the name "Gungan") and apparently originally planned to give Jar-Jar a similar character arc. The extreme backlash to the character convinced him to drop it. This one is a classic, but with a LOT of asterisks. Hardly the only one of these to play BNAT (or indeed this week’s doubles).

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 5 (2003) (Theatrical Cut)

Trailers: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

(Please note that the BNAT 5 post linked above was written in 2003, when I felt somewhat differently about the final film and before most of us had learned many unpleasant things about its director.)

This one is well into the mission, but a mission nonetheless (I didn't have time for all three). Another one about which everything has already been said (and I’ve said plenty myself in other places). Yes, I watched the theatrical cut because it’s the one we saw at BNAT (and Wahleecon, incidentally -- still LOLing at "His name is Faramir," Emily). Don’t worry; I’ve seen the extended edition many many times. My favorite moments are still the lighting of the beacons (*happiest sobs*) and that silent moment with the hobbits in the Green Dragon at the end, but there are so many more noteworthy and iconic moments that it is fruitless to even start listing them. I do feel the need to shout-out both the Pelennor Fields battle sequence and the Black Gate battle sequence as absolute master classes in editing and the way they both push forward ALL of the competing story threads and character beats more effectively than just about any action movie (or any other kind) I’ve ever seen. And I love watching the credits roll with Alan Lee's excellent drawings of the cast, remembering how the whole room at BNAT 5 applauded each name like it was a curtain call. Well, except John Noble, poor guy. Fringe didn't exist yet and most people only knew him as this shitty father. :P

SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features V - Family Values Double

I hope I haven't opened a portal to a dark dimension by watching these two back-to-back.

Night Warning (1981) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 4 (2002)

Trailers: Next of Kin (1982), Pieces

Still probably my favorite vintage movie that played at any BNAT. There is no reason for this to be as good as it is. A former “video nasty” powered by two absolutely unhinged performances (Susan Tyrrell and, to a lesser degree, Bo Svenson), it’s part slasher, part after-school special. It’s also an uncharacteristically sympathetic (certainly for the time) portrayal of gay characters. Coach Landers is the real hero of the movie and it’s the homophobes who are the villains. It starts with an almost Final Destination-esque action/horror sequence. It has one of my favorite lines EVER (“College is for rich kids and people with brains. You wouldn’t fit in there.”). And every single moment after Aunt Cheryl cuts her hair is 24 karat GOLD. I finally cracked the seal on my Code Red Blu of this, and it looks incredible (though I'm still partial to the VHS version, which seems like the most appropriate way to experience this).

Toys Are Not for Children (1972) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 6 (2004)

Trailers: The Corruption of Chris Miller, Angel (1984)

I’m always surprised by how thoughtful and artistic this actually is because I always lump it in with other exploitation movies and the story seems ripe for exploitation. But as shocking as so much of this movie is, it takes its characters and story dead serious. And the filmmakers are flexing their muscles and being inspired by all the new wave films coming out of the 60s, which you can see in the editing and the nonlinear storytelling. (I just had a thought that this would make an interesting double with Poor Pretty Eddie, but I don’t think I could bring myself to do it. :P) I recently got the Blu-ray, which really brings out how beautiful and colorful it is. Marcia Forbes, in her only film role, gives a genuinely great performance and plays the lead role with a childlike naivety that is never over-the-top or a joke. The ending is one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve EVER seen. Still. Unforgettable.

SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features IV - "Woke Nonsense" Double

Remember when movies were pure entertainment and didn't have all that woke crap? Yeah, me either. Here are a couple that ring my SJW bells.

Inherit the Wind (1960) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 8 (2006)

Trailers: 12 Angry Men, Judgment at Nuremberg

I first saw this 16 years ago, and I wish it were not even more relevant now than it was then. Based on the stage play, it’s a fictionalization of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial and -- having come out in 1960 -- a pointed response to the McCarthy era. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March are titans, obviously, and Gene Kelly is an amusing sort of troll in this. But the standout for me is Dick York, who plays the beleaguered schoolteacher on trial for breaking the law by teaching evolution. Nonetheless, Tracy gets all the good dialogue (though Kelly’s “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” is truly a gem), and his questioning of March’s character on the witness stand is legendary. The only strange thing to me is what’s so special about sour apple trees – the mob is determined to hang every heathen on one.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 12 (2010)

Trailers: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

If the only version of this story you’ve ever seen is the Disney version (which I also love, in its own way), you should check this one out. Not quite as depressing as Hugo’s novel but much closer to it than the Disney film, which can barely touch on the darkness of the story (though wow, Frollo’s song “Hellfire” certainly goes there). Charles Laughton as Quasimodo gives one of the all-time great performances, conveying so much through heavy makeup and not much dialogue. While the protagonist of the novel is Esmeralda, most adaptations center more on Quasimodo, and this film is no exception – though one could argue the poet Gringoire is a secondary protagonist and gives the movie most of its message. This is such a wonderful movie, and there are few moments more triumphant than Quasimodo’s rescue of Esmeralda from the gallows. Just as there are few things more heartbreaking than the movie's final moments.

SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features III - "All Out of Bubblegum" Double

Today's movies have come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And they're all out of bubblegum.

The Dragon Lives Again (1977) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 15 (2013)

Trailers: Sting of the Dragon Masters; Fist of Fear, Touch of Death

I love this wild-ass movie. One of many “Brucesploitation” movies to come out in the wake of Bruce Lee’s death, this one sees "Bruce Lee" arriving in the afterlife. They explain that when you die, your body changes, which is why our Bruce Lee doesn’t look like the real one. Off-brand Bruce meets a bunch of other off-brand cultural icons (James Bond, The Godfather, Popeye, Caine from Kung Fu, Dracula, The Exorcist, and even Emmanuelle). Bruce teams up with some of them and fights against others, and the whole thing is peppered with Bruce Lee dick jokes. Two drawbacks to this rewatch. First, this is a movie best experienced with a group, which made my solo viewing not as awesome as it could have been. Second, this movie is in dire need of a higher-quality home version. The DVD is ripped from a VHS and it is near unwatchable.

Kick-Ass (2010) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 11 (2009)

Trailers: Lucky Seven, Kingsman

This was such a blast to see at BNAT and I still remember all the beats we went nuts for all those years ago. After recently seeing Thor: Love and Thunder and its use of “November Rain,” I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of sadness that that needle drop couldn’t be used in this movie (that and “Planet Krypton” as Dave looks at himself in the mirror with the suit on – both music cues were part of the working print we saw). I still can’t get over all the pearl-clutching from when this movie first came out from people who did not understand the tone of this movie at all. Maybe the biggest change between when I first saw this and today’s rewatch is that I have become a devoted Sparks fan in the years since. I did not like “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” at ALL when I heard it in this movie. It was too weird and I didn’t understand the lyrics and what was that falsetto all about ... bleh. I can’t tell you how differently I feel now. In a movie full of happy moments, hearing the opening strains of that song is one of my happiest.

Side Note: If you've never seen it, by all means check out the trailer for Lucky Seven, which I played before Kick-Ass and which is one of the more hilarious and insane trailers I've ever seen for a mind-bogglingly brutal kids movie.

SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features II - Ambiguous Baddies Double

I love a good complex character who challenges my expectations of whether I'm supposed to root for them or not, and today's movies have some great ambiguous baddies.

I've also included links to my old LJ posts about the relevant BNATs, where they're mentioned underneath the photos. You know, in case you really need a life. :P (I didn't do it for yesterday's post because I didn't attend either of those BNATs.)

Pickup on South Street (1953) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 9 (2007)

Trailers: The Naked Kiss, Night and the City

This is an interesting Cold War noir from Samuel Fuller. Jean Peters plays Candy, a woman who is running an errand for her ex-boyfriend and is unaware that she is actually passing sensitive information to the Russians. Things get even more complicated when her wallet (containing the item she was to deliver) is stolen by a pickpocket (played by Richard Widmark). Widmark and Peters are both excellent, but the absolute MVP of this movie is Thelma Ritter in maybe her best role – the stool pigeon (and necktie saleswoman) Moe, who’s saving up money for her funeral. This is genuinely great, and a rare noir that has a relatively happy ending.

The Professionals (1966) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 7 (2005)

Trailers: The Wild Bunch, The Dirty Dozen

Ralph Bellamy assembles a team of tough guys to rescue his wife from a Mexican revolutionary-turned-bandit (played by Jack Palance). We follow Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode and Robert Ryan as they face all kinds of obstacles to get to the woman in question (played by Claudia Cardinale). As one might expect, things turn out to be more complicated than they bargained for, both in terms of the trouble they experience trying to complete the job and the question of whether the woman needs rescuing in the first place (and from whom). This is a great movie, maybe my favorite Lee Marvin role. And he has an incredible final line in the movie, delivering one of the sickest burns I’ve ever heard.