thomandybish Reviews

Fern Hill (2005)

admirable attempt at a coming of age drama

[18 September 2011]

This film shows just how far the "faith-based" film has come. Four 13-year old friends venture into the Rockies in search of one friend's missing father, who was lost years before while flying his airplane. Of course, there are realizations about friendship and life. Yup, it riffs heavily (and shamelessly) on STAND BY ME, even to the point of one of the characters observing that their adventure is similar to the movie. The movie also suffers from some weak writing and acting, giving it an uneven feel. Despite these factors, the film does have some powerful moments, like one of the boys pulling a gun on his mom's abusive boyfriend and ordering him out of their single-wide, or a later scene by a river, when the same boy and the boy whose father they're looking for discuss their absent fathers. There's also some great cinematography of blue Colorado skies, mountain meadows, and craggy slopes--definitely one of the film's strengths. While it lacks the punch of STAND BY ME or other such films, FERN HILL is go for one go-round.

The Day After Halloween (1979)

potential cult film

[10 January 2011]

This Aussie flick from the early 80s never found the audience it deserved. Marketed in the US to coat-tail on the success of the then-popular HALLOWEEN and other slasher flicks, SNAPSHOT(or THE NIGHT AFTER HALLOWEEN)is hardly in the same league. In fact, SNAPSHOT bears more of a resemblance to the sleazy, psycho-sexual exploitation flicks of guys like Harry Novak and Barry Mahon than John Carpenter and Wes Craven. The story, about a Melborne hairdresser who falls into the world of modeling with unexpected consequences, seems to parallel the set-up of many a grind house flick. Take a fresh young thing, put her in the unfamiliar environs of the big city, and watch while an assortment of predators, pimps, pervs, and pornographers have their way with her. What is almost never in question in those flicks is the innocence of the fresh young thing, or the corruption of those using her. SNAPSHOT takes that convention and twists it with no small amount of sadistic glee. The movie is rather slow-moving by today's standards, being essentially a grimy character study, but it leaves many tantalizing possibilities for the intelligent viewer. Nobody is what they seem, from the seemingly innocent Angela, to her weepy boyfriend Daryl, to Angela's too-cool-for-everything friend Madeline. Virtually everyone Angela encounters wants a piece of her sexually, commercially, psychologically. In fact, the only seemingly benign character she encounters, the kooky photographer Linsey, makes no demands on her whatsoever. He simply smooths out the sheets on a bed previously occupied by some transient acquaintance's and invites Angela to stay in his communal studio/crash pad, a domicile occupied by various helpers, hangers-on, and sex partners (it's interesting to note the mural on the brick facade prominently displays the title, "Paradise") The movie's packed to the gills with great characters, from the eccentric Linsey (who shoots dead animals in his spare time), to Madeline's pervy, film producer husband, to a bizarre nightclub performer who looks like a refugee from a community theater production of CABARET. The final scene has Angela acting on her initial wish to depart the country and start over, although one may feel that, given what has just happened prior, her reaction indicates a serious emotional disconnect. And given who is helping her, the outcome may be nothing like Angela anticipated.

Peopletoys (1974)

Creepy kid killers

[15 February 2009]

DEVIL TIMES FIVE suffers from barely-competent direction and editing so bad, you wonder if it was done by trained simians. What could have been a genuinely chilling movie about child psychotics victimizing a group of unsuspecting adults is sabotaged by some glaring continuity problems, most noticeably a minor character who is played by one actor in outdoor scenes and an entirely different actor in indoor scenes and Leif Garrett's famous goldy locks being natural in some scenes and a wig in others. Psycho children are scary, but we don't get any back stories to heighten our horror. Maybe that was the point. This flick has some pretty nihilistic adults, spouting soap opera exposition about failed marriages, infidelities, and non-committed relationships. It may be like trying to polish a cow pie, but it might be observed that the adults and their trashy grown-up "games" are a revolting counterpoint to the homicidal "games" of the junior wackos. Both are disgusting, but the adults and their "games" are socially sanctioned. I just wish some details were followed up on. Leif Garrett is shown engaging in some behavior that may have been filmed to establish a split personality element that the director abandoned or didn't explore. I won't detail what it is, but it's something that, given the theme of the movie and the fact that a pubescent boy is doing it, still serves to give viewers the creeps.

Mark of the Witch (1970)

interesting regional rarity

[5/10 · 14 January 2009]

This film, while not a classic, avoids being a schlockfest for several reasons. The script, about a 17th century English witch being summoned back from the dead by a spell and inhabiting the body of a college co-ed, is a cut above. It's all opinion, but the acting is uniformly good, considering the usual stock of talent that populates these films. The filmmakers must have raided the best of the local collegiate theater majors and community theater talent, because the actors all give competent performances. The low budget enhances the film in some ways. The prologue, showing the hanging of the titular witch, is an effective montage of tight shots of the witch's and executioners' feet walking through muddy sludge to the gallows and the aforementioned characters' faces as the execution transpires. The film then cuts to the opening titles, shown over silent footage of windy autumnal Dallas streets as a singer performs a witch's "rune" acapella. It's an unsettling performance that creates some much-needed atmosphere and, hopefully, gives one an inkling of what will follow. I'm not a filmmaker, but the style exhibited in these opening moments made me hope that what I was about to watch would be, at least, competent and, at most, a great lost film. MARK OF THE WITCH is not a lost classic, but it is an effectively made little horror flick, made on the cheap by people who show not a little raw talent. Some will be disappointed that it's not a train wreck of bad acting and threadbare production values, while others will rue the fact that the movie isn't packed with blood and gore. What MARK OF THE WITCH is is a movie that moves toward it's ending methodically at a pace more in keeping with early 70s TV movies than modern slashers. But that's a good thing. Just train yourself to wait for the payoff.

Silent Night, Holy Night (1976 TV Movie)

praise be for the bargain bin!

[27 December 2008]

Recently, I discovered a VHS copy of this forgotten animated Christmas program in the bargain bin of my local discount retailer (Roses)and I must say that, while the viewing quality was not great (I had to use my tracking buttons frequently just to watch the thing), watching this fossil brought back many fond memories. "Silent Night, Holy Night" is the kind of thing that local stations used to put on to fill up broadcast time between pro wrestling and the nightly news (In fact, I remember seeing it late one Saturday afternoon during the Christmas season 25 or more years ago). I've never seen it since, which almost made me believe I'd imagined it. Back in those pre-cable days, I'd hope something like this would come on, and sometimes I'd be surprised by this, or an animated version of "A Christmas Carol", or "The Stableboy's Christmas". Glad to find this!

She-Man: A Story of Fixation (1967)

early low rent effort from Bob Clark

[2/10 · 23 March 2008]

This early effort from Bob Clark trods the hoary old boards of the sexploitation flick by bookending the actual film with pseudo-authoritative commentary by an MD that purports to give information to dispel myths and educate the audience about the pressing issues portrayed in the film. Yeah right. People really need a 70 minute PSA about the dangers of malevolent transvestites who blackmail people into indentured servant-hood and forced cross-dressing. Something else this movie has in common with the sexploitation flicks of old is the sheer cheesiness of the sets: the same wood-paneled room is used again and again for an office, a bedroom, and a "gender reassignment" room, where the hapless victims are alternately shaved, plucked, made up, or bound with ace bandages, depending on which gender they are to become. Necessity is the mother of invention!

A Christmas Without Snow (1980 TV Movie)

above average holiday flick

[8/10 · 10 December 2005]

This seemingly forgotten telefilm is far and away better that the current crop of yuletide dreck being offered by the likes of the Hallmark Channel and various others. A Christmas Without Snow offers a great cast, intelligent writing, and characters we care about. As other reviews have stated, Michael Learned plays a divorcée starting over in San Francisco who, in an attempt to find some stability, joins a church choir which is about to attempt an ambitious mounting of Handel's Messiah. John Houseman is the no-nonsense director who demands perfection from his choir. As the choir progresses toward its performance of the musical masterpiece, we gain insight into the lives and personalities of various members. What other reviewers have missed is the sense of community among the diverse parishioners/choir members, something that reflects positively on the traditional Christian church. In almost vignette-type fashion, we get to know these people, their loves, hopes, hurts, and see them rally together to tackle the Messiah and also the various problems they encounter as a church and as individuals. There are no quick fixes, no tidy happy endings. Yet these people have each other and the satisfaction of working hard at their endeavors. There's support, there's love, and there's a lot that is healthy and thriving and growing. Intelligent and life-affirming without being syrupy. Recommended.

The Hardy Boys (1969–1971)

Saturday morning rockers produced some great tunes

[29 January 2005]

Back in the late sixties,enterprising rock music executives used children's shows as springboards for promoting pop and rock records, broadening the appeal of the music to an ever-younger audience. The Archies were the first and most successful example, but there were other, lesser entries that produced excellent, if not successful, records. Such is the case of the Hardy Boys, one of numerous efforts that coat-tailed in on the Archies'success. Filmation, something of an animation sausage factory in the 70s (and the Archies' production company as well), produced the show. Despite the trivia claim, Don Kirshner had nothing to do with the Hardys, although the powers that be did use live musicians in promotions and to perform live. Bill Traut and Jim Golden of Dunwich Productions acted as musical supervisors and producers of the records. The Hardys produced two albums and three singles, all to negligible notice. This is not to say they were bad; the records are good compared to some of the other offerings from Saturday morning groups, especially the second Lp,"Wheels", which boasts some some of the best country/blues/pop hybrids ever put on wax by cartoon characters. Speaking of cartoon characters, the show itself wasn't that great; it was produced on the cheap and shows its seams 36 years later. Camera zooms and quick cuts create a sense of movement where there is none, a necessity when one is limited by time and money to use limited cell animation. Some of the voice over actors affect grating accents--the actor voicing Chubby Morton is particularly annoying--and it often is hard to differentiate between different character's voices, giving the impression the same guy is doing all the voice-overs. Still, the "videos" for the songs are jewels of late sixties kitsch, with lots of pulsating, psychedelic backgrounds, shifting designs, quick cuts, spinning frames, etc. High art it ain't, but surely a pleasant, although rather dated, diversion.

Snowman in July (1944)

brings back fond memories

[25 November 2004]

Years ago, this whimsical short cartoon played heavily on "The Mr. Bill Show", Asheville, North Carolina's locally broadcast "kiddie" show that aired mornings all through the week. Local celebrity Bill Norwood would host a live-action segment that included kid-related news (i.e. school closings), safety tips, weather, and cartoons, usually ancient black and white numbers like "Snowman in July". Many fondly remember the pretty story of the snowman who longs to see the summer and accomplishes this dream by hibernating in the refrigerator of an empty house, even though the fulfillment of his wish means his inevitable demise. Apparently, WLOS, the local station that originally ran the cartoon, got an earful from wistful viewers, because they run it on Thanksgiving day, right after broadcasting footage of the Asheville Christmas parade. How interesting to see all the sight gags that went over my head as a kid, like the way the snowman's derriere breaks off when he rises from his winter sleep in the fridge. Undaunted, he simply reduced the temperature in the icebox, then sits back down to re-attach his backside. Or the way a summer rose caresses the snowman's nose as he smells it, the flower's petals briefly forming fingers. Certainly, it stands toe-to-toe with other offerings from Disney, Warner Brothers, and all the other animation outfits of the time. What surprised me was to learn that this gentle story was the product of the Nazi propaganda machine, an attempt by the SS to create product to compete with Disney. Too bad such talent was subverted for such an evil cause.

Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things (1971)

Sometimes Aunt Martha makes dreadful movies

[24 August 2004]

**potential spoilers**Despite the relegation of this film to the horror section of my local independent video store, this film is more of a warped gay psychodrama with some knife murders thrown in for good effect. Paul and Stanley are the lovers in question who flee Baltimore for a Miami suburb after a jewel theft gone horribly wrong. To complete their charade, Paul poses as Stanley's Aunt Martha, complete with dime store wig and the best that Lane Bryant has to offer. If there's anything dreadful, it's the sick relationship between Stanley and Paul, a freaky pseudo-incestuous dynamic that suggests the relationship between Norman Bates and his mother (in addition to Paul's donning the Aunt Martha get-up to off Stanley's potential female conquests). Paul alternately scolds and babys Stanley, who willingly plays along. This bizarre fantasy world is definitely one of the more fascinating aspects of this movie, which has as many holes swiss cheese. A middle-aged junkie shows up midway through the movie and encroaches on the domestic bliss of the two, either to snag the stolen jewels for himself or to blackmail Paul in to giving him a crash pad in exchange for not revealing his true identity. It's not clear. What is clear is that, as Paul's psychosis grows more lethal, the movie drifts further and further out to sea. Thrown in some more murders, a still-born baby delivered by Stanley via Cesarean, a corpse in a trunk dumped in a river, and a deranged finale in an old movie studio, and you have one brain-boiler of a movie!

The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. (1976–1977)

Saturday morning shenanigans

[28 July 2004]

The other reviewer who has seen this show speculated that the Kids were a Sid and Marty Krofft product. They weren't. Don Kirshner, former musical supervisor for the Monkees, oversaw both the music and the show, so it's only natural the Kids seemed not a little like the Pre-Fab Four. It's not hard to make that mistake: the Kroffts had the live-action Saturday morning market cornered, in addition to having a couple of pre-fab groups themselves, like the Bugaloos and Kaptain Kool and the Kongs. I have the Kids' sole Lp: it ain't great, even by bubblegum standards(perhaps because bubblegum music peeked about six years earlier). However, there were some noteworthy names involved. Neil Sedaka contributed a song, and Paul Schaffer (David Letterman's band leader)functioned as musical arranger, I believe.

One Minute Before Death (1972)

hack work, but good for a Sunday afternoon

[12 November 2003]

What can be said about this forgotten flick, which gratuitously uses Edgar Allen Poe's name (on the British and home video release)in an attempt to punch up it's marquee value, employs an actress who is 50 if she's a day as the leading ingenue, and is lensed by Mexican filmmakers in what looks like the American Northwest? Quite a bit.

The movie concerns a mother and daughter who have come for the reading of a will to the mother's brother's house. Soon the daughter becomes possessed by the spirit of her dead cousin and all sorts of weirdness happens. We learn from the faithful housekeeper that her former employer was a Union Commander and left his daughter alone to go off to war. Unbeknownst to him, their was a renegade Confederate soldier hiding in his house, and his daughter had fallen in love with him. The soldier is recaptured (as he and the girl almost exchange wedding vows), the now-pregnant daughter is thrown out by her father when he learns of this, she loses the baby and her mind, the father goes crazy and dies, and the daughter dies. Whew! and that's the backstory! Certainly no plot deficiencies here!

In it's better moments, ONE MINUTE BEFORE DEATH(or ONE MINUTE BEFORE MIDNIGHT or THE OVAL PORTRAIT, take your pick)plays like a lesser entry in the Hammer Studios catalog. In it's worse moments, the movie comes on like a particularly overripe episode of DARK SHADOWS. The premise, concerning a deceased woman who possesses the body of a cousin, is rather weak and the film slips into weirdness near the end. The movie resorts to flying objects and mummified corpses to carry the last 30 or so minutes. The post-Civil War setting details are shakey; some of the dresses and hats the actresses wear look to be from a vintage some 20-40 years after the time of the setting. Still, there is some pretty scenery and some luxurious antebellum sets. Not high art, or even frightening, but clean and okay for passing an interminable Sunday afternoon.

Dead Last (2001)

potential cult hit failed to connect

[17 November 2002]

Interesting, short-lived series that never found the audience it deserved. The premise seems like something Sid and Marty Kroftt might have cooked up for one of their live-action shows: A rock and roll trio come to possess a magical medallion that enables them to communicate with ghosts and send the troubled spirits on the the other side. Along the way, the two guys and girl who make up this little group struggle to make it in the music biz and deal with their various personal and family problems. What keeps this from turning into a 1970s Saturday morning cartoon is some pretty hip, rapier-sharp dialogue of the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER variety and the then-current rage of "seeing dead people" ala THE SIXTH SENSE. BUFFY fans might have liked it, if they had seen it. Too bad more people didn't.

Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

Very much a product of its time

[13 October 2002]

Actually, there had been a few attempts to portray vampires in contemporary settings, but they either came off as silly (DRACULA A.D. 1972)or used vampirism as an outer wrapping for violence and sex (VAMPYRES). COUNT YORGA(or COUNT IORGA, as the opening credits read)makes an attempt to bring the vampire into a modern setting, with all the modern attitudes. Not sure if this flick was meant as a straight-up sex flick or just a scary movie with alot of sex, but the presence of Marsha Jordan, a regular in sex films of the sixties, would suggest some hanky-panky was planned. Still, Jordan also did legitimate dramatic acting in TV shows like GUNSMOKE and STAR TREK, so it's all up for grabs. What is certain is that this is not like any vampire flick that has come before. The pace is quick, almost choppy; we're not allowed to linger anywhere for long. There's a feeling of alienation, as if there's no refuge or place of comfort. Perhaps this is meant to reflect the emptiness of modern living, or the rootlessness of comtemporary values that have no basis in tradition or past ideals. Or maybe it's the result of limited budgets and shooting schedules. Anyhoo, this flick has some problems, one being the death scene of the Count, which might have looked scary in 1970 but now looks campy and overdone. The character of Donna and her mother look the same age, a credibility factor that the makers of this film must have overlooked. The plot is threadbare, but it seems positively Dickensian in comparison to the sequel THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA. Even with its whittled-down sex scenes, COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE must have been a hit with the kiddies, because the afore-mentioned sequel boasted a diabolically-inspired boy who had a pivotal role in the action, a bit of comedy in the presence of a relatively unknown Craig T. Nelson, and no salacious sensuality. But, like the first film, RETURN offers an ending that smashes viewers expectations of traditional vampire movie endings to smithereens, leaving them hanging with no sense of closure or justice. No one's soul has been saved, and the world has not been spared some great evil. The end is simply that. To quote seventies vernacular, "Bummer".

Spencer (1984–1985)

yet another casualty in a long line of teen TV shows

[19 September 2002]

What is it about really good TV shows centering around teens? Despite the under 25 crowd being a significant segment of the viewing population, and the given assumption that most TV programmers would be clamoring to create more shows revolving around their concerns, very few shows portraying the teen experience with any level of intelligence and/or sensitivity last for long. ROOM 222, JAMES AT 15, THE WHITE SHADOW, THE BRONX ZOO, THE MARSHALL CHRONICLES, MY SO-CALLED LIFE--none of these shows had the runs they deserved. Even the vaunted THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS, admittedly a hipper show than MY THREE SONS and FATHER KNOWS BEST, only lasted two or three seasons(one of the longer runs). Getting to my point, we have SPENCER, a notch or two above fare like IT'S YOUR MOVE, a concurrent offering about a teenage boy. Spencer tries to navigate the jungle of high school life with humor and a little insight, and occasionally we get some poignancy. Case in point: Spencer(who was forever getting sent to the guidance counselor by exasperated teachers)ends up visiting the G.C. in one episode with a zany new girl with multicolored hair. Come to find out this free-spirited girl is really a troubled runaway, and Spencer has the sensitivity to help her by contacting her parents against her wishes. Not earth-shattering, but better by far than most representations of teens at the time. Pity that it didn't last longer(it's demise was hastened, no doubt, by the fact that actor Chad Lowe vacated the roll of the title character mid-way through the first and only season) O Great TV Land, grant our prayer and run this show over a teen-TV themed marathon weekend. Amen

Circle of Fear (1972–1973)

decent little anthology series

[18 September 2002]

This series apparently was supposed to give Rod Serling's Night Gallery a run for its money. The show only lasted a season, but what a season! I first saw this show on an independant VHF channel about 15 years ago, in that age when independent channels had to conceive their own programming, and the result of this UPN and WB network-free environment was the broadcasting of little-known gems like this show. Best episode I remember: Martin Sheen playing a construction worker who, while demolishing an old house, stumbles upon a strange box with a mirrored interior containing a toy horse on wheels. Once the horse is out of the box, all kinds of weirdness ensues! This episode was heavy on symbolism and kinda esoteric--I remember not really understanding the entire episode at the time, although a sorta explanation is given for the horse's being in the box. The whole episode was bizarre and was that much creepier because it wasn't really explained. More challenging than your average anthology show episode. Kinda far out for the seventies.

Please Don't Hit Me, Mom (1981 TV Movie)

afterschool cautionary tale courtesy of Patty Duke and Sean Astin

[27 August 2002]

This movie, which I believe was originally an afterschool special, concerns a family dealing with the reality of child abuse. Patty Duke is a single mother dealing with the difficulties of raising two sons alone in a new community. She hires teen Nancy McKeon to babysit her youngest son (Sean Astin in his first film appearance). Through the course of the movie, as McKeon gets to know her young charge, she realizes that he is, in fact, being physically abused by his mother. Duke, as usual, turns in a great performance as the conflicted mother, struggling to control the rage that prompts the abuse and feeling guilty over the results. While it may have seemed cutting edge 20 years ago, the film comes across now as a bombastic public service announcement, watering down the complexities of the nature of abuse presumably to make the situation understandable to kids and teens. It might be shown somewhere like the LIFETIME network, which seems to have a soft spot for Patty Duke TV movies.

Blood and Lace (1971)

addition to previous review

[14 August 2002]

Recently I had the opportunity to view, in its complete form over 15 years after my initial viewing, BLOOD AND LACE, the penultimate 1970s horror cheapie, and I had to clock in with my observations. My first reaction was how cheap the entire film seemed, even more than I remembered, even more than the usual fare from AIP. Static medium shots, a musical soundtrack that sounds as if it was cribbed from one of Bela Lagosi's poverty row flicks, noticeably uneven dubbing(is that June Foray's voice coming out of Melody Patterson's mouth in that initial hospital scene?). Yes, memories fade and blur with time, including some plot details like the girl in the attic being tied up for running away instead of not folding her napkin at the dinner table(I hope the little girl who saw fit to call me a "dumb***" in her review has a better memory when she's my age). However, the overall sense of over-the-top mean-spiritedness and psychodrama has not diminished--the slapping scene between Ellie and Mrs. Deere in the cottage, the "love scene" between Ellie and Walter that quickly degenerates into soap opera-like histrionics, the catfight between Ellie and Bunch, and on and on. And that sick, sick ending . . . you're left with the feeling that all these characters are sickos, which they are. A movie this disturbed couldn't end any other way.

Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol (1979 TV Movie)

odd spin on A Christmas Carol

[23 July 2002]

It's hard to think of a story in English literature that has inspired as many filmatic adaptations as A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Dickens' sentimental statement on Victorian social ills. Setting aside the more than numerous animated versions, we still have countless live-action versions, with many more undoubtably to come. One of the strangest is this, a seemingly forgotten TV effort that, to my knowledge, only aired once during the 1979 Christmas season. It was the basic story, with the kicker being that the setting was transposed from Victorian London to present day Tennessee, and the cast was populated by Country/Western singers! Really. Hoyt Axton as Scrooge, Mel Tillis and Lynn Anderson as the Cratchits, Tom T. Hall as Marley, and I believe Barbara Mandrell as the girl Scrooge left behind. I'm sure there were more, but can't think of them. Since I'm a fan of the story(and love tracking down all the film versions and variations), this one sprang to mind while I was watching scenes from the George C. Scott version(truly the best version in the past 20 years). With the rise in cable availability it seems like this forgotten version would rise to the surface(given all the channels vying for holiday programming), but that hasn't been the case yet. Maybe someday TNN or CMT will show it again.

In Search of... (1977–1982)

documentary series still fascinates

[19 July 2002]

This series explored various phenomena, legends, and mysteries and still holds up 20 years after it left the air. I just loved this show as a grade schooler in the seventies, because I was heavy into monsters and ghost stories and the show frequently profiled legends like vampires, werewolves, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and it did introduce me to subjects like the Hope Diamond, the Mary Celeste, and the burial of Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius' eruption. While hardly authoritative(the History Channel disclaimer informs viewers that the show is primarily conjecture), the show is intriguing to watch now. Leonard Nimoy's calm, detached narration is comforting in a nostalgic sort of way, and the entire show has a resolutely objective feel. Funny, but I thought the show only lasted a couple of seasons, not the six indicated. Oh well, the show must have alot of fans, because it has run on A&E and now resides on the History Channel. Lucky us!

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)

authentic portrayal of adolescence

[17 July 2002]

THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS, based on the only novel of the late author Chris Fuhrman, gives a great portrayal of the ups and downs of adolescence. Despite veering wildly away from the novel, the film does a great job of transposing moments of boredom-inspired adolescent lunacy with aching transcendence (the scene in which Francis, the protagonist, akwardly talks to his dream girl Margie for the first time made MY heart flutter, and I haven't been 14 for a while!)Still, I wished that the scriptwriters had stuck closer to the book in some respects, especially detailing Francis' home life, which would have given greater insight into WHY he uses his drawing as an escape(and he has a heavy-duty reason to escape). For the guy who wondered in his review about Tim and Francis' home lives, let's just say that Francis' parents are WAY more disfunctional in the book than in the movie. Even with the parents' virtual absence from the movie, there are still great momemts that were more or less transferred from book to screen: the scene in Margie's bedroom(although a bit more explicit in the book);Tim and Francis' finding the dying dog by the highway and Tim's subsequent soliloqy; the fateful journey into the wildlife preserve. Painful, beautiful, and true. See this one.

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)

authentic portrayal of adolescence

[17 July 2002]

THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS, based on the only novel of the late author Chris Fuhrman, gives a great portrayal of the ups and downs of adolescence. Despite veering wildly away from the novel, the film does a great job of transposing moments of boredom-inspired adolescent lunacy with aching transcendence (the scene in which Francis, the protagonist, akwardly talks to his dream girl Margie for the first time made MY heart flutter, and I haven't been 14 for a while!)Still, I wished that the scriptwriters had stuck closer to the book in some respects, especially detailing Francis' home life, which would have given greater insight into WHY he uses his drawing as an escape(and he has a heavy-duty reason to escape). For the guy who wondered in his review about Tim and Francis' home lives, let's just say that Francis' parents are WAY more disfunctional in the book than in the movie. Even with the parents' virtual absence from the movie, there are still great moments that were more or less transferred from book to screen: the scene in Margie's bedroom(although a bit more explicit in the book);Tim and Francis' finding the dying dog by the highway and Tim's subsequent soliloquy; the fateful journey into the wildlife preserve. Painful, beautiful, and true. See this one.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981 TV Movie)

As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

[28 May 2002]

***possible mild spoilers****

Effective made-for-television horror flick that provides quite a few shocks and food for thought. Bubba(Larry Drake), a hulking, docile mentally retarded man, is tormented by a band of local rednecks headed up by postman Otis Hazelrigg(Charles Durning in an sleazy role)an outwardly teetotaling bachelor who harbors a venomous hatred toward Bubba and an unhealthy interest in his young playmate Marylee(Tonya Crowe). When they believe that Bubba has killed Marylee(who was actually attacked by a dog), the vigilantes take justice into their own hands and end Bubba's life. A preliminary hearing finds the charges dropped for lack of evidence, but for Hazelrigg and his friends, a different kind of justice will be enacted, with a most unusual judge. And jury. And executioner . . .

At the time, this was one of the most creepy scary movies on TV. Looking at it now, it is manipulative(especially the music), but the tension is very well constructed and sustained, and the horror of Bubba's death at the hands of these stupid, close-minded bigots is displayed with an irony that would make Rod Serling proud. That reference is not accidental; the writer(s) must have been big-time fans of Serling, because the whole movie plays out like a big TWILIGHT ZONE episode, from the moralizing on down to the dialogue(the exchange between Hazelrigg and Bubba's elderly mother at the screen door seems like something Serling could have written). Joycelyn Brando(sister of Marlon)is great as the mother, as is Crowe as the unnervingly calm Marylee. Durning's Hazelrigg is utterly revolting as a calculating, perverted hypocrite; one enjoys watching him squirm as the boom is lowered. Overwrought at times, it is nevertheless a great cautionary tale. Catch it if you get the chance.

Sins (1986)

toothsome trash

[7 May 2002]

Joan Collins was at the height of her popularity when she made this monument to gaudy excess. Collins plays a young French woman who suffers at the hands of the Nazis in occupied France, sees her mother die, loses her brother and sister, becomes a fashion designer, builds her own couture house, falls in and out of love, and uses her fortune from peddling fashion to seek out her lost siblings. All, of course, while looking fabulous in period and couture costumes(can't disappoint all the DYNASTY fans, after all!)Melodramatic and hammy, but engaging if you're in the mood for glitzy trash.

Beulah Land (1980)

engaging antebellum drama

[7 May 2002]

This miniseries, based on a series of supermarket novels, concerns the lives and travails of a southern family from the antebellum days on up past the Civil War. A TV version of "Gone With The Wind", cast with many well-known actors(Hope Lang, Meredith Baxter, Lesley Anne Down), as well as up-and-comers(Jonathan Frakes, Madeleine Stowe). Recommended.