Shiftless Jeeter Lester (Charley Grapewin) and his family of hillbilly stereotypes live in a rural backwater where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank’s plans to take over the land for more profitable farming; subplots involve the affairs and marriages of son Dude (William Tracy) and daughter Ellie May (Gene Tierney).Read More »
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The siblings Patty and Joe live in an industrial suburb. While Patty’s ambition is their rock band “The Barbusters” only, Joe also cares for the family and the upbringing of Patty’s young son Benji. Their pious mother reproaches them for their way of life, especially when they quit their jobs and go on tour, taking Benji with them.
The original title of the script was “Born in the USA.” ‘Paul Schrader’ asked Bruce Springsteen to write a title song for the movie. After Springsteen wrote it, he liked the song so much, he used for his multi-platinum album of the same name instead. As a replacement, Springsteen later wrote the song “Light of Day”. That is why Springsteen thanks Schrader in the liner notes of the album.
[Trent Reznor] Nine Inch Nails’ frontman plays keyboard for featured band ‘The Problems’. His voice can be heard during their song.Read More »
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John Waters made bad taste perversely transcendent with the forever shocking counterculture sensation Pink Flamingos, his most infamous and daring cinematic transgression. Outré diva Divine is iconic as the wanted criminal hiding out with her family of degenerates in a trailer outside Baltimore while reveling in her tabloid notoriety as the “Filthiest Person Alive.” When a pair of sociopaths (Mink Stole and David Lochary) with a habit of kidnapping women in order to impregnate them attempt to challenge her title, Divine resolves to show them and the world the true meaning of the word “filth.” Incest, cannibalism, shrimping, and film history’s most legendary gross-out ending—Waters and his merry band of Dreamlanders leave no taboo unsmashed in this gleefully subversive ode to outsiderhood, in which camp spectacle and pitch-black satire are wielded in an all-out assault on respectability.Read More »
“Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach” (English translation: “The Virgin on the Roof”) is a comedy film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Carl Zuckmayer is a German language translation of the script for “The Moon is Blue” by F. Hugh Herbert, based on his 1951 play.
A comedy of manners, the film centers on virtuous actress Patty O’Neill, who meets playboy architect Donald Gresham on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and accepts his invitation to join him for drinks and dinner in his apartment. There she meets Donald’s upstairs neighbors, his ex-fiancée Cynthia and her father, roguish David Slader.Read More »
From Amos Vogel’s Film as a Subversive Art:
One of the most shocking documentary films ever made. A young anti-war American, to avoid the draft, calmly aims a rifle at his foot and shoots. For several, endless minutes he thrashes about the floor in unbearable pain, in his own blood. The filming continues. ‘There was no attempt to alter the proceedings that took place.’Read More »
From Amos Vogel’s Film as a Subversive Art:
The explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their aftereffects are among the most widely photographed and most thoroughly suppressed events in history. While hundreds of thousands of feet were shot by scientific, military, and medical personnel, most of this material remains secreted in official archives. Significantly, this first official record (released only on a restricted basis) is confined to structural damage, and completely omits visual evidence of human casualties. The initially routine interview with a survivor (a Jesuit priest, also described in John Hersey’s book) becomes a horrifying reliving of the event when he recounts the actual bombing.Read More »
Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Julie is most enjoyable if one doesn’t take it too seriously. Doris Day plays Julie Benton, whose off-the-coop musician husband Lyle Benton (Louis Jourdan) confesses that he in fact killed Julie’s first husband. She immediately recognizes that he is so possessive of her that he would sooner rub her out than lose her altogether, and leaves Lyle, seeking protection under the wing of a country club acquaintance, Cliff Henderson (Barry Sullivan).Read More »
Leaving small town life in her dust, Adele (Vanessa Ray) moves wide eyed to New York City, and her best friend Sara (Megan Guinan) stuck in their hometown. Separate for the first time in their lives, the film charts new relationships with boys, girls and eccentric old ladies (Adam Driver, Isabelle McNally, and Lynn Cohen). Beautiful music sequences capture fleeting emotions as their lives move in unexpected directions. “Not Waving But Drowning” is paired with “The Most Girl Part of You” a dark, but sweet short film. This piece stars newcomers Lili Reinhart and Ryan Munzert and is also directed by Devyn Waitt. “The Most Girl Part of You” is based on a short story of the same name by acclaimed author Amy HempelRead More »
In this chronicle of a vaudeville family, Myrtle McKinley (class of 1900) goes to San Francisco to attend business school, but ends up in a chorus line. Soon, star Frank Burt notices her talent, hires her for a “two-act”, then marries her. Incidents of the marriage and the growing pains of eldest daughter Miriam are followed, interspersed with nostalgic musical numbers.Read More »