Diana Rigg Merges With the Infinite

Diana Rigg, actor and icon, has passed at the age of 82.  

Rigg was a cult favorite in the U.S. and a bonafide star in the U.K., and would have been well remembered just from her work on the UK whack-a-doodle adventure show The Avengers as Emma Peel - which laid the foundation for about 10,000 imitators and arguably indirectly to the most popular iterations of Black Widow in the Marvel Universe.  She also has the most solid of Bond-girl credits as Traci, the woman who Bond would marry in On her Majesty's Secret Service (and a favorite of the PodCast).  Most recently she'd been on Game of Thrones (which I didn't watch, but I know she's a fan favorite).  

She, of course, did so much more and was just one of those actors it seems everyone could agree upon.

Bear Watch: Grizzly (1976)

 

Watched:  09/07/2020

Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1970's

Director:  William Girdler

So, I very much remember this VHS box fading on the shelf of pretty much every video rental place I went from the mid-80's to the late 90's.  I think it was usually in the horror section, which is an inaccurate place to put the movie, but it's not action, either.  But I never thought much about it - I just didn't rent it.  Looked like a movie about a large bear eating people, and I was pretty far into my 30's before I realized I liked movies about large animals giving humanity a bad time.

So, apparently there's a sequel that was never released, and it includes actors like Louise Fletcher, John Rhys Davies, George Clooney and.. most importantly.. Laura Dern.  Shot in 1983, it's just NOW about to get a release.  And I figured "well, I don't want to not know what happened in the first one...", and even though the original is 100% Laura Dern-free, Jamie and I fired it up.  

Friends: what if Jaws, but bear?  

That is the question posited by Grizzly, the highest earning independent movie ever when it was released in 1976.  And I'm not exaggerating - someone went to see Jaws and wrote down the events of that movie, and tried to map their own script onto the story of Jaws.  But instead of a 25 foot shark, we have a 15' grizzly bear.  Instead of a Sheriff, we have a Captain of the Park Rangers.  

They even include scenes like the Captain getting drunk when someone gets killed, and a spooky monologue about a herd of grizzlies eating people.  There are three main characters, but one of them (played by "that guy" actor Richard Jaeckel) is a mix of Hooper and Quint (he even wears Hooper's little hat).  

There's a Park Manager who doesn't want to shut the park down, invites in hunters... you're maybe familiar with the plot.

Anyway - it's also kind of plodding and gives you an idea what Spielberg and his editors did so well that this movie did not.  But, again, wildly successful!  

Anyhoo... I want to podcast this with Simon at some point.  So, more to come.

Friday - Amazon Watch Party Watch: Johnny Guitar (1954)

Day:  Friday 09/11/2020

Time:  8:30 PM Central

AMAZON WATCH PARTY LINK 

I'm calling this a co-presentation with Jenifer, who finally pushed me to do this one before we roll into the Halloween season.

Johnny Guitar is one of those movies that isn't what you think it will be, is staffed with top tier talent - Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden and directed by Nicholas Ray - and is not entirely the camp fest you'd assume.  For those who think they know a Western when they see one - this turns that notion on its ear.

I genuinely hope you'll like it.  This movie is going through a bit of a renaissance and rediscovery, so jump on the film-twitter hep-kids train and be conversant in a sort of off-kilter classic.  

Ann Miller/ Lucille Ball Watch: Too Many Girls (1940)

Watched:  09/08/2020

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  George Abbott

I'd forgotten this was living on my DVR and I needed something to watch on the elliptical - and it starred Lucille Ball.

Too Many Girls (1940) is a particular breed of Hollywood musical that was about big dance numbers loosely tied together with characters working through a paper-thin plot, and really an excuse to get a whole bunch of characters on screen at one time for song and dance numbers.  The better ones are the ones choreographed by Busby Berkeley, and then there's stuff like this with dancers sort of just running around a lot.

Noir Watch: The Unfaithful (1947)

 

Watched:  I dunno.  A couple of months ago.

Format:  Noir Alley on TCM

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director: Vincent Sherman

I just totally forgot to write this one up and realized that today whilst thinking about Zachary Scott.  As you do.

The Unfaithful (1947) is essentially a domestic version of The Letter, the extraordinary William Wyler film starring Bette Davis.  This version transplants the action from rubber farms in the Maylay Peninsula to suburban Los Angeles just after WWII and puts Ann Sheridan in the lead.  None of that is a problem, and were The Letter not such a bombshell of a movie, The Unfaithful would shine brighter.  

Super Watch: Superman - Man of Tomorrow (2020)

Watched:  09/07/2020
Format:  Blu-Ray

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Chris Palmer

The best thing about a movie shouldn't be the trailer for an upcoming Batman Kung-Fu movie that happens to be on the disc you're watching.  

Watch Party Watch: Girls Just Want to have Fun (1985)

Watched:  09/04/2020

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Decade:  so, so 1980's

Director:

Sort of like Teen Witch from roughly the same era, Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) feels a bit like the people putting it together didn't really know how to make a movie.  Or else they didn't have the money to do what they intended to do, which is probably evidenced by the lack of ability to license the Cindy Lauper version of the titular song of the movie.  

A very young Sarah Jessica Parker plays a Catholic High School girl who has just moved to Chicago.  She's moved around a lot, but is excited by this move as Chicago is the home of a very famous dance show she watches religiously, and she wants to try out to be ON the show as a regular featured dancer.  She immediately becomes besties with Helen Hunt, who is struggling to play rebellious and daffy and maybe punk?  But who dreams of being the "music news" portion of the show.

Anyway - there's a rich girl who is mean, a dopey looking biker guy who just wants to DANCE, and nuns.  Oh, and Jonathan Silverman playing an 80's-excess-loving entrepreneurial teen/ a dork.  

This is why 80's kids gravitated to John Hughes movies.  Even when they were maybe problematic or kind of hand-wavy when it came to stories, they felt competent, and the teens weren't just shrieking and running from place to place.  Parents were occasionally more than cardboard cut outs.  Kids have recognizable issues, like "I just want someone to like me" or "see me".  

But this movie has weird issues like being unsure if the main character lives in an apartment or house.  Her dad is so blandly written he feels like a goddamn monster, cowing daughter and wife.  And Helen Hunt is acting mostly through hair clippies.  

I dunno.  I am not a 10 year old girl in 1985, and that's who this was meant for.  

Concert Film Watch: The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

Watched: 09/07/2020 

Format: TCM on DVR 

Viewing: First 

Decade: 1960's 

Director:  Steve Binder

A concert film featuring Jan & Dean as hosts, you get a look at 1964 as a watershed year in American music.  The show features performances by:

• Chuck Berry
• Gerry and the Pacemakers
• Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
• Marvin Gaye
• The Blossoms (group featuring Signal Watch patron saint Darlene Love)
• Lesley Gore
• Jan and Dean
• The Beach Boys
• Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas
• The Supremes
• The Barbarians
• James Brown and the Famous Flames
• The Rolling Stones

There's a 10,000 word essay on what was happening in America in 1964 (Civil Rights Act), what Chuck Berry did to music in 1958, what co-option of R&B and  Rock and Roll by white kids and white kids from England meant and what happened to the genres as a result.  

But for the TAMI Show, it's looking at the past, present and future of music on one stage in a tight package.  Not all of the acts will become legendary or household names - I never even heard of Billy J Kramer before this - and not everyone is amazing.  The awards show was the Teenage Awards Music International - or, essentially, Teen-Choice Awards.  Which is also a reminder that these genres were in the process of being turned into music for kids.  Which is an idea people respond to violently, but when you see a room full of teenage girls screaming themselves hoarse at the mere sight of Mick Jagger, it's a reminder that your parents dragged that music into adulthood with them and institutionalized it.*  This was new in the 1950's and 60's, when the very idea of a "teenager" was new in the wake of WWII and post-war prosperity/ marketing.  

But that said - I'm a product of the generation that was screaming its head off at these acts (my mother graduated high school in '64, for example).  All of this was more than a decade in the past by the time I was even born, but it was what was on the radio and in our parents' vinyl collections and played on soundtracks of movies as we were growing up, so it became our music, too.  

Anyway - it's a hell of a movie.  And if you want to see a very young The Supremes and James Brown before he became weighed down with legal issues and drama, or a chance to see The Stones as they seem to be realizing the extent of their power - this is an amazing bit of film.

Fun bonus - Toni Basil and Teri Garr are in this as dancers.  I spotted Basil, but not Garr.  

*And there's a pretty similar model for what happened to comics in the 1980's

PODCAST: "Pride & Prejudice" (2005) - a Jamie Cinema Classic, w/ Ryan

Watched:  09/03/2020
Format:  Netflix
Viewing:  First
Decade:  00's
Director: Joe Wright

For More Ways to Listen


It's not all-genre-all-the-time at The Signal Watch! We jump on a literary classic translated to a very well received film from 15 years ago. We uncover Jamie's secret passion for this film, Ryan gets out of character discussing Jane Austen, and it's time to talk 19th-Century norms, fantasies that don't include being Batman, and much, much more!

The Signal Watch PodCast · 118: "Pride & Prejudice" (2005) - A Jamie Cinema Classic w/ Ryan

Music:

Dawn - Dario Marianelli, Pride & Prejudice OST
Mrs. Darcy - Dario Marianelli Pride & Prejudice OST


Jamie's Cinema Classics Playlist:

The Signal Watch PodCast · Jamie's Cinema Classics

Watch Party Watch: The Red House (1947)

Watched:  09/02/2020
Format:  Amazon Watch Party
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Director:   Delmer Daves

In a lot of ways, I'd categorize The Red House as "American Gothic".  The story has DNA in Jane Eyre and other books about recluses living with a mystery. 

The film stars Edward G. Robinson as a a farmer who keeps mostly to himself (he cohabitates with a niece and his sister, played by Judith Anderson of Rebecca fame).   His niece brings a classmate over to see if he can work the farm to assist Robinson, who is aging and can't do what he used to, especially as he has an artificial leg.  The teen is warned to stay away from some woods near the house, and not cut through them for an obvious shortcut.

In general - I liked the film.  It's got a sort of twisty mystery, and at least the female heroine was likable (jury is out on the male lead).  Robinson and Anderson are terrific, and Rory Calhoun is a lot of fun as a dick-swinging country boy after the male lead's girl (played by chanteuse Julie London, who seems like 10x too much woman for the male lead). 

Glad Jenifer chose it because I might have easily missed this one.