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.  

Noir Watch: I Love Trouble (1948)

Watched:  05/12/2021

Format:  TCM Film Fest

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:   S. Sylvan Simon

I'd actually had a bit of trouble tracking down I Love Trouble (1948), a film I'd seen often referenced in writing about noir, but it just never crossed my path.  I've seen reference to the film being lost for a few decades, but TCM was able to air it as part of the 2021 TCMFF.  Honestly - the print is not great, but I've seen worse.  

The plot itself is a windy murder mystery and from the same school as a Chandler mystery, but with more than a hint of Hammett.  The cast is headlined by Franchot Tone, a guy who was a bug movie star at one point, but I tend to know as "that guy who was married to Joan Crawford in the 1930's"*.  

I absolutely cannot talk about the plot without spoiling the movie - other than it's very much a quality gumshoe caper with all the trimmings.  Tone as our shamus is actually rock solid here.  I liked what he did as "Stuart Bailey" - an enjoyable riff on a familiar sort of tune, and playing the fast-talking PI with the moral code working his way through the underbelly of society.  

He's joined by a bunch of actors you've likely never heard of - although noiristas will remember Janis Carter from Night Editor, Adele Jergens from Armored Car Robbery, Glenda Farrell from Little Caesar, Steven Geray from Gilda, and Tom Powers from... everything.  

I'd love to see this one again sometime to enjoy watching it work rather than keeping up with details of the mystery.  

*I mean, well done sir

Watch Party Watch: Space Truckers (1996)

 

Watched:  05/11/2021

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First (complete viewing)

Decade:  oh, so 1990's

Director:  Stuart Gordon

Way back around 2001 or 2002, one day I noticed a movie called Space Truckers (1996) was showing on HBO.  If you've been hanging around this blog since 2003, then you know:  I immediately tuned over and caught something like 30 minutes of it.

I was shocked to see name actors Stephen Dorff, Dennis Hopper and Debi Mazar in what appeared to be a mid-budget sci-fi comedy that I'd never heard of, galivanting around space in a long-haul space-truck.

80's Watch: Fletch (1985)

Watched:  05/11/2021

Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  unknown

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Michael Ritchie

I mean, it's Fletch (1985).  

I think eventually we're supposed to do this on the podcast, so I'll hold thoughts til then.

Noir Watch: The Won't Believe Me (1947)

Watched:  05/08/2021

Format:  TCM Film Fest 

Viewing:  Second

Decade:  1940's

Director:   Irving Pichel

I actually watched a cut of this film fairly recently (just in October), so I'm not inclined to write this up again.  What I will say is that this was a more fully restored cut with several extra minutes that fleshed out the characters and whatnot.  And - as happens often - while I certainly liked it the first time, I enjoyed the film even more on a second go-round, which confirmed my feelings on it from the first viewing.  

Honestly, I thought the movie flew by at the extended 95 minutes from 80 and I figure this is the cut I'll reach for if I'm watching the film again.  

Watch Party Watch: The Apple (1980) - @#$% this movie

Watched:  05/07/2021

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First (and last)

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Menahem Golan

Well, I've now seen The Apple (1980), the sci-fi, near-future dystopian musical religious and political allegory.  And while watching, this is roughly how I felt:

PODCAST: Amadeus (1984) - a Signal Watch Canon Episode w/ Alfredo and Ryan

Watched:  05/03/2021

Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  Unknown

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Milos Foman

For more ways to listen

Alfredo returns to discuss a movie that goes way back to make a household name a lot more understandable to us modern folk. It's a fabricated fantasia of a biopic about two guys with very different skill levels at their jobs, competition in the workplace, and what happens when you get notes on too many notes. Join Alfredo and Ryan as we take on a cinema classic, and get a little classical ourselves.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 147: "Amadeus" (1984) - a Signal Watch Canon episode w/ Alfredo and Ryan

Music:  

Written by WA Mozart, scored by Neville Mariner, performed by St. Martin in the Fields

Symphony No. 25 in G Minor. K. 183 & Requiem Confutatis

Rock me Amadeus - Falco, Falco 3

Signal Watch Canon:

The Signal Watch PodCast · The Signal Watch Canon

Doc Watch: The Last Blockbuster (2020)

Watched:  05/08/2021

Format:  Netflix

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

This one was kind of weird.  And this post is mostly about how much I hated Blockbuster and didn't care when it folded.

Look, by the time Blockbuster Video went out of business, I'd intentionally not gone of my own free will into a Blockbuster in 10 years and had pretty much broken with Blockbuster as far back as the mid 1990's.  

So, a feature length doc talking about the death of Blockbuster as some sort of tragedy that was just an accident but something we all loved?  I was pausing the movie and making Jamie listen to me as I debated the film's non-stop nostalgia and love of the corporate behemoth, which - starting in the summer of 1994, I saw as actually very bad for movies when I tried to rent Breakfast at Tiffany's and (a) the clerk had never heard of it, and (b) looked it up and explained to me they used to have it, but they got rid of it.  But they did have 45 copies of Pauly Shore in Son In Law.  

Like, you don't have to be a snob to find that a little sad.