80's Cult Watch: Eating Raoul (1982)

Watched:  05/17/2021

Format:  TCM on DVR from forever ago

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Paul Bartel

Well, I loved this movie.  

Ridiculous, mean-spirited and a lot of fun - what else can you want from a 1980's pop black comedy made on the edge of the Hollywood studio system?  It's also a fascinating time capsule of the long-gone sub-cultures of the 1980's - the Boomer's own fascination with pop-nostalgia and the fetishization of everything from the 50's and early 60's in everything from media to decor to glassware.  

But also the fascination with the oddities of conformity often at odds with the excesses of the 70's and into the 1980's.  

Writer/ Director Paul Bartel plays one half of a husband and wife team - the other half played by former Warhol-girl Mary Woronov.  If I had to explain what the two are playing to a Millennial or Gen-Z'er, it'd be a little difficult to get the full context across, but they're weirdly like two drones from a 1950's sitcom in a sexless marriage sleeping in separate beds - and totally happy-ish.  If only they could raise the money they need for their restaurant.  

Unfortunately, Paul and Mary live in an apartment building that is also filled with swingers parties, which they see as perverse and beyond the pale - but where else could they move with so little money?

One night fate deals them a hand in the form of a swinger's party guest who Paul kills (somewhat nonchalantly) with a cast iron pan when the guest tries to force himself on Mary.  Pocketing the man's money and easily disposing of the body, and inspired by a dominatrix who was at the swinger's party they realize - hey, this could be a business.  And place an ad as a honeytrap so they can knock off "degenerates" and take their money.  Soon, the titular Raoul is involved and assisting in removing the bodies.

Anyway - it's all pretty nuts, and sold completely through Paul and Mary's even-keeled deadpan delivery.  Of course everyone along the way is, in contrast, not matching their energy and LA over-the-top, and it makes for phenomenal intentional camp. 

It's some seriously dark comedy, and the tone is not going to sit well with everyone.  There's also constant and unremarked upon threat of sexual assault to Mary.  And, of course, sociopathic murder every few minutes.  So, just be aware of what you're getting into.

The movie has cameos by Buck Henry, Edie McClurg and Ed Begley Jr.  But, it also stars Robert Beltran as Raoul before he'd go on to play Chakotay on Star Trek Voyager.  

btw - I was actually familiar with the Paul and Mary characters from their brief appearance in opening scenes from the Corman-produced goofy "horror" favorite, The Chopping Mall.  

Thriller Watch: The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

Watched:  05/16/2021

Format:  TCM on DVR from forever ago

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  Peter Godfrey

Well, we often talk about how you can see the roots of Lifetime movies in the films of the past, and I'd certainly argue The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) absolutely fits the bill here.  

SPOILERS

This one wants to be a slow-burn gothic thriller/ murder story, and has a collection of the pieces necessary, but it's so... wacky, it plays better as near-camp in 2021.  Stanwyck is a woman inperiled, but, by god, she's going to look like a million bucks in Edith Head gowns while bed-ridden and menaced by her own husband.  

Knowing nothing about the movie ahead of time, I thought I'd signed us up for a melodrama - which is fine, but not my jam so much - about a man stuck in a loveless marriage who meets a woman he does love.  Instead, we figure our Mr. Carroll has, instead, murdered his first wife with whom he has a ridiculously precocious child, so he will be free to marry Stanwyck.  The slow death of his wife as he poisons her also gives him fuel for a now famous painting of his wife as "The Angel of Death".  

Well, all is well til Bogart starts a tryst with Alexis Smith (who looks amazing here in some outstanding outfits), and he starts up on the "better murder the wife" scheme again.  

I mean, it's the kind of movie where I confidently shouted, "lady, get outta there" at the TV, and felt fine doing so.  It's not that Stanwyck isn't doing a good job of look terrified that her husband is likely slowly murdering her, but that the whole set-up feels kind of bananas and complete with a set of supporting characters that feel like someone shook them out of a pre-war comedy.  

Also - everyone but Bogart is supposed to be English, and for some reason Stanwyck just sounds like Stanwyck.  

I had a good time watching the film - it's paced well, has a lot of tension baked in, and you certainly feel for Stanwyck as she figures out what's happening.  And Smith and Stanwyck's outfits in the overly ornate set are something to behold.  But Bogart is playing wild-eyed crazy and hoo-boy, did he need to dial it back some.   And, of course, his character is The King of Red Flags.

But, at least he got to just be crazy and not have a lot of goofy "we explain crazy as a brain science problem!" couching like we'd see soon after.

And, hey, Alexis Smith can really rock a leopard print coat, is my big takeway from the movie.

Neo-Noir Watch: The Limey (1999)

Watched:  05/16/2021

Format:  Amazon Prime Streaming

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1990's

Director:  Steven Soderbergh

This is a catch-up watch, one of about ten crime movies from this era I didn't see because life is not always what it should be. 

Anyway, I was so distracted, I didn't know who was in the cast or that this was a Soderbergh movie - and I like Soderbergh movies.  All I knew was "Terence Stamp tearing shit up for 90 minutes".  And, indeed, that is true.  But, The Limey (1999) also features Peter Fonda, the perpetually underutilized Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, and an uncredited but terrific Bill Duke.