Max’s Drive-In Movie – Page 2 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Devil Rides Out …..(Hammer Horror)

The two horror movie studios that were great in the sixties and seventies were Hammer and Amicus. They shared two actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee who appeared in many films of both studios. The difference between the two studios was that Amicus was mostly set in modern times and many were anthology films. Hammer was the best known out of the two and they were usually set in a certain time period (this movie was set in the 1920s)…but not always.

Place the speaker on your window and hold your date close for this one. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. A very eerie film with some creepy characters. It was nice to see Christopher Lee in a hero role. Horror, fantasy, and a nifty bit of time travel.

Back in 1975, we moved to another town for a short while. It was a town named Dickson and we actually lived near the city. That was the only time in my young life that I lived within walking distance of a city unless I was visiting my dad. My sister would take me to a movie theater there (sigh…not a drive-in) in a small shopping mall to see movies. They would sometimes show a double feature…and I remember some of the Hammer films shown as the first feature. I would hide my eyes watching these classic horror movies.

Hammer Horror films from the ’60s and ’70s are great popcorn horror films. It was directed by Terence Fisher and produced by Hammer Film Productions, known for their gothic horror films. This 1968 movie is based on Dennis Wheatley’s 1934 novel of the same name. It’s one of Hammer’s more famous supernatural thrillers and features themes of black magic, satanism, and occult rituals.

This one is thrilling and exciting and they dive straight into the satanic rituals starring the great Christopher Lee. Lee puts his fangs away in this movie and plays the sane figure trying to save his friends from the satanic faction that is fighting to get who they can. These movies have an atmosphere that is almost impossible to duplicate now. The film stock, the acting, and the great sets.

The film is considered one of the most authentic portrayals of occultism in popular cinema in the 1960s. It deals with black magic rituals, demonic summoning, and protective spells. Someone did their homework with this movie. The movie was a success at the time but not a blockbuster. It has gained a huge loyal following as well as the other Hammer films.

Plot

The story is set in the 1920s and follows Duke de Richleau (played by Christopher Lee) as he discovers that his friend’s son, Simon Aron, is involved with a satanic cult. Richleau must battle the cult leader, Mocata (played by Charles Gray), to save Simon and a young woman named Tanith, who is also under the cult’s influence. Using his knowledge of the occult, Richleau protects his friends from Mocata’s supernatural powers and attempts to thwart the cult’s plans, which include summoning the devil himself.

Quotes

Duc de Richleau: I’d rather see you dead than meddling with Black Magic!

______________________________________

Rex Van Ryn: You’ve got nothing to worry about.
Tanith Carlisle: I’ve got everything to worry about.

______________________________________

Duc de Richleau: [rising] I tell you, these people are devil worshippers.
Rex Van Ryn: That’s ridiculous.
Duc de Richleau: These are facts, Rex, not superstition. The final proof was in the hamper. They were about to practice the age-old sacrifice to their infernal master: the slaughter of the black cockerel and the white hen.

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Birds

I watched this 1963 movie growing up and it scared the hell out of me. For a while when I passed a tree full of birds…I always did a second take. Alfred Hitchcock was the master of suspense and the movie works today. Tippi Hedren (Melanie), Rod Taylor (Mitch), Jessica Tandy (Mitch’s mom Lydia), and Suzanne Pleshette (Annie) starred in this movie.

Like The Shining…it’s a movie where you can find deeper meanings or just sit back and enjoy a great film. There is a lot of ambiguity in this movie…everything is not spelled out for you. Why are the birds so angry? Why are they attacking people?

Hitchcock built suspense probably better than anyone. I’ll use this one scene for an example. In one scene you see Tippi Hedren waiting outside of the school. You hear the kids singing a song. She looks around and there are some Monkey Bars and you see one bird landing on them. She sits down on a bench and smokes. After a few drags she looks around and there are 3 birds on the bars…repeat this a few times and more and more birds are on them. Then the bars are full of Birds and this is when she gets concerned and asks Pleshette’s character to evacuate the school as birds start dive-bombing the kids. It goes from 0 to 100 in a matter of 2-3 minutes.

That scene set up the action in the cafe that followed soon after… when all hell broke loose in the town of Bodega Bay. No one really believed Hedren’s character Melanie when she told people about the birds attacking. That is until it started to happen outside and they all saw what was going on. This was after the kids from the school were attacked while running toward their homes.

Hitchcock used silence and stillness in scenes better than anyone else not named Buster Keaton. His scenes would draw out the tension and then he would strike. Sometimes he didn’t strike and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. The direction and the acting were great obviously. This movie is 61 years old this year and it still works.

Pleshette’s character Annie was an ex-girlfriend of Mitch and the dynamic between her and Melanie was fantastic. I also have to mention Lydia, Mitch’s possessive mom, who has a fear of being abandoned. You see the bond between her and Melanie grow as the film goes on.

Most of those birds were real and sometimes tied to Hedren by thread. Many of the cast had some injuries while making this movie.

The Plot from IMDB

Melanie Daniels is the modern rich socialite, part of the jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favor. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends the weekends with his mother Lydia and younger sister Cathy. Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. A seagull attacks Melanie as she is crossing the bay in a small boat, and then, Lydia finds her neighbor dead, obviously the victim of a bird attack. Soon, birds in the hundreds and thousands are attacking anyone they find out of doors. There is no explanation as to why this might be happening, and as the birds continue their vicious attacks, survival becomes the priority.

Quotes

Boy in Diner: Are the birds gonna eat us, Mommy?

______________________________________

Cathy Brenner: [crying] When we got back from taking Michele home, we – we heard the explosion and went – went outside to see what it was. All – all at once the the birds were everywhere. All at once, she pushed me inside – and they covered her. Annie! She pushed me inside!

Animal Trainer Ray Berwick: “We had about 12 or 13 crew members in the hospital in one day from bites and scratches,” he said. “The seagulls would deliberately go for your eyes. I got bitten in the eye region at least three times, and Tippi got a pretty nasty gash when one of the birds hit her right above the eye.”

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Frankenstein 1931

This one was released way before Drive-In Movies but yes it was shown as the second feature at many drive-ins in the day…and probably still is!

I loved this movie as a kid. This one along with The Wolfman, Dracula, and the original King Kong. I went to school the next day saying “It’s Alive It’s Alive It’s Alive!” This movie was directed by James Whale and produced by Universal Pictures, is one of the most iconic films in the horror genre and a cornerstone of early Hollywood cinema. Based loosely on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus.

I always considered it one of the most iconic films ever made. The story moves fast and there are no slow moments. They said all they needed to say in this movie with an hour and eleven minute run time. Jack Pierce, a legendary makeup artist, created the Monster’s look, which included the now-iconic flat head, heavy brow, bolts in the neck, and large boots. This visual representation of the Monster is what we remember now when Frankenstein gets mentioned in pop culture.

The big guy in this movie is film legend Boris Karloff. This is the film he is best remembered for and the sequels. The role was originally offered to Bela Lugosi but he declined it. Karloff also was in The Mummy in 1932. Frankenstein was frightening and a big reason was his eyes. They were menacing along with his slow movements.

The monster could be gentle but Dr Frankenstein’s assistant Fritz (better known as Igor later on) accidentally drops the normal brain and the brain that the doctor used was an abnormal one. After the monster is alive, Fritz can’t help himself and tortures the poor guy with a torch…big mistake by the late Fritz.

I never had much sympathy for Dracula but for Frankenstein I do. He never asked to be born or reborn. The scene with the little girl showed that the monster had a good side but was also heartbreaking. She showed him flowers and how flowers floated in water. He really enjoyed that but he didn’t know any better and threw the girl in to see her float…she didn’t. After the girl, the village chases the monster down.

Making a human being from spare parts… I’m reminded of a quote from Jurassic Park… Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Plot IMDB

Henry Frankenstein is a brilliant scientist who has been conducting experiments on the re-animation of lifeless bodies. He has conducted experiments on small animals and is now ready to create life in a man he has assembled from body parts he has been collecting from various sites such as graveyards or the gallows. His fiancée Elizabeth and friend Victor Moritz are worried about his health as he spends far too many hours in his laboratory on his experiments. He’s successful and the creature he’s made come to life is gentle but clearly afraid of fire. Henry’s father, Baron Frankenstein, brings his son to his senses, and Henry agrees that the monster should be humanely destroyed. Before they can do so, however, the monster escapes, and in its innocence, it kills a little girl. The villagers rise up intent on destroying the murderous creature.

Quotes

Henry Frankenstein: Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive… It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!
Victor Moritz: Henry – In the name of God!
Henry Frankenstein: Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Gone In Sixty Seconds (1974)

I won’t only review classic movies or cult movies…sometimes car chase movies will get in here. This movie is special to me because parked in the lobby of the Nashville Theater I saw this movie in… was Eleanor the car that was actually in the movie. I got to touch it and it was like touching gold to a 7-year-old. I remember watching the trailer and my aunt taking me to see it. My mom would not have approved of me seeing this movie but my rebellious aunt took my sister and me to see it.

This is not the best-acted film but the spirit of it is awesome. It was made on a low budget of $150,000 but made 40 million at the box office. It was written, directed, produced, and starring H.B. “Toby” Halicki. It became famous for its car chases and destruction scenes, especially the lengthy, chaotic chase near the film’s conclusion.

There is a 40-minute car chase in this movie. Any mistakes stayed in and they added to the action. In one scene Eleanor hits a telephone pole and the pole falls on Eleanor and it wasn’t planned…they just keep going which adds to the realism. During the filming of the final chase, Eleanor sustained over 90 accidents and collisions. Halicki, who performed most of his own stunts, was injured multiple times.

There was a remake in 2000 with Nicolas Cage (who I like) and Angelina Jolie but NO…the original was so much better. Why was it better Max? Because the crashes and everything was real. The wrecks were real and there was nothing faked. Some of the actors were actual cops and some thieves were real in this movie as well. Halicki wanted everything to feel as real as possible, so there were no special effects or green screens for the action scenes. All the stunts were performed live, which added to the film’s authenticity.

With the exception of a few extras, the bulk of the bystanders/members of the public in the movie are real people just going about their business who had no idea that a film was being made. This caused several incidents where people assumed a real police pursuit was in progress, with many trying to help the accident “victims”. This was guerilla filmmaking at it’s best.

I’ll give you a quick plot line. The movie follows a group of car thieves led by insurance investigator Maindrian Pace (played by Halicki) as they attempt to steal 48 high-end cars in five days. The plot itself is secondary to the car action.

This is not Gone With The Wind by any stretch of the imagination but if you want to see some very cool muscle and sports cars… this is the movie for you. He showed you exactly how to steal cars in the 70s and get away with it. The first half of the movie can drag at times but it sets you up for the last 40 minutes of that chase.

I will watch this movie every couple of years and I get caught up in the chase and how they switched Vin numbers, and motors, and hid what they were doing.

The FULL Movie

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Shining

Jack Nicholson on Stanley Kubrick: Everyone pretty much acknowledges that he’s the man and I still feel that underates him.

This movie keeps you coming back. If you ask 15 people on what the movie meant…you would get 15 different answers. The movie is so much more than the quoted lines like REDRUM and Here’s Johnny! Every time I watch it I get something different out of it. This won’t be the last Kubrick movie I feature on here.

In 2016 or so…we saw this movie on the big screen on Halloween and it changed the movie completely for me. It made me appreciate it more than I did and that is saying a lot. The film drips with ambiguity. The Shining has to be one of the most dissected movies ever filmed. The cast was absolutely perfect. I also connect to the movie in different ways. It was released in 1980 and they filmed it in 1978 and 1979 and the hotel reminds me of that time so well.

Stanley Kubrick directed this movie and we see Jack Torrance slowly go insane and the drama builds throughout. There are no wasted scenes in The Shining…each scene has a purpose and it’s not wasted. The scenes are hard to explain. There is an open space of silence in many of them so you focus on what’s going on. The bathroom scene with Jack and Grady is careful and deliberate. Nothing else matters in the story except right now in each scene.

Stephen King wrote the book but did not like Kubrick’s interpretation of it. Usually 9/10 times I’m a book guy…on this movie/book, I’m not. I liked Stanley’s vision for the movie over the book. Kubrick didn’t explain everything to you and it’s stronger because of that. You also get isolation, madness, and the supernatural, leaving viewers with many questions about the true nature of the Overlook Hotel.

I have read complaints about Nicholson’s performance being too far over the top. I totally enjoyed his performance and I think Shelley Duvall is seriously underrated in this movie. I can’t imagine what she went through…she had to stay on edge and hysterical through half the movie. Danny Lloyd (5 years and turned 6 through filming) was great as Danny in the film. Kubrick kept Lloyd very reserved in the right spots and he doesn’t overact like some child actors do. The additional character actors fit their roles perfectly. Who would have thought Scatman Crothers would be cast in a movie like this? He was great at his role as was Philip Stone as Delbert Grady and Joe Turkel as Lloyd the Bartender.

Now the music…it makes it. Very few films I’ve seen where the music flows with the dialog. In one scene featuring Jack and Danny sitting on a bed…the orchestration goes up with a question and falls with an answer. The atmospheric synthesizer they used in this movie and A Clockwork Orange adds to the movie greatly. When you are watching the film you feel isolated like Jack, Wendy, and Danny and the music again adds to that.

The two scenes that still scare me when I see it in the movie? A simple scene really but when Wendy finds Jack’s novel she finds out what he’s been typing on a typewriter for a very long time. It sends chills up me when I see that. What a perfect way to show someone has gone insane without saying any dialogue.

The other one is when Danny is riding his Big Wheel or Trike down the hallways and you hear the wheels changing from carpet to hardwood floors…what will be around the next corner? Then the twins appear…that gives me the creeps…forever and ever and ever.

I’ve read a lot of Shining theories and all are all different. There are so many theories like… There were no ghosts at all, it was all in Jack’s head and what happened is what he wrote, it was all in Wendy’s head, the Hotel is really hell, it’s a reminder of the Holocaust, and even down to viewing the film forward and then backward. I think most (there are plenty more) of these are too far out there but that shows you what Kubrick built into this film…you WANT to watch it again and again. I watched it twice before writing this.

Plot IMDB

A psychological horror film centered around the Torrance family: Jack (Jack Nicholson), his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd). The story follows them as they move into the isolated Overlook Hotel for the winter, where Jack takes a job as the hotel’s caretaker. The hotel’s eerie history, which includes murder and supernatural occurrences, begins to affect Jack, who is struggling with writer’s block and a history of alcoholism. Meanwhile, Danny, who has psychic abilities called “the shining,” starts experiencing terrifying visions of the hotel’s past, including the ghostly Grady twins and a river of blood flowing from an elevator.

As time passes, Jack descends into madness, influenced by the hotel’s malevolent forces. He becomes increasingly violent and erratic, eventually attempting to murder his family. The film culminates in a tense chase through the hotel’s hedge maze

Quotes:

Wendy Torrance: Well, I’m very confused, and I just need time to think things over!
Jack Torrance: You’ve had your whole fucking life to think things over, what good’s a few minutes more gonna do you now?

__________________________________________

Lloyd: Women: can’t live with them, can’t live without them.
Jack Torrance: Words of wisdom, Lloyd my man. Words of wisdom.

___________________________________________

Jack Torrance: Hi, Lloyd. Been away. Now, I’m back.
Lloyd: Good evening, Mr. Torrence. It’s good to see you.
Jack Torrance: It’s good to be back, Lloyd.
Lloyd: What’ll it be, sir?
Jack Torrance: Hair of the dog that bit me.
Lloyd: Bourbon on the rocks.
Jack Torrance: That’ll do ‘er!

I remember this trailer back in 1980…it’s one of the best trailers I’ve seen of any movie. Modern trailer makers should study this one.

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I love Spaghetti Westerns and this is one of the very best. Let’s see…great writing, great acting, and great music. The Good (Clint Eastwood – Blondie), The Bad (Lee Van Cleef -Angel Eyes or Sentenza), and The Ugly (Eli Wallach – Tuco) is a classic movie with a great film score by Ennio Morricone.

While I was re-watching the movie my son Bailey came in and asked me…so you are watching the best movie ever again? Where do I begin with this movie? I like the story and the atmosphere draws me in for repeat viewings. In 1964 Sergio Leone started his trilogy of westerns starring Clint Eastwood. It’s sometimes called the Dollars Trilogy. A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For A Few More Dollars More (1965), and finally this one…The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966).

This is not your typical John Wayne-style Hollywood western…although I love a lot of his movies. Funny, in the early 2000’s I never thought much about Westerns or really liked them…but this one changed my mind about the entire genre…it’s that good.

This film has an epic scope and therefore covers a lot of ground. There is not a dull spot in this film. From the beginning, we are guessing and it all leads up to one of the very best suspenseful endings ever filmed. As much of an Eastwood fan as I am…Eli Wallach grabbed my attention before anyone did. His character is such a wild card. I can’t say enough about his acting in this. He IS Tuco. All three leads were fantastic.

What exactly is a Spaghetti Western? I was asked this before when I would talk about them to different people about Westerns. I think the biggest difference between a regular Western and these would be the realism and the grittiness of the Spaghetti Western. Also with regular Westerns, you have good vs evil…Spaghetti Westerns often feature the in-between anti-heroes, huge stark landscapes, and a more cynical tone. But that is just my opinion.

These films were primarily made in Italy (hence the term “Spaghetti”) during the 1960s and 1970s. They were often directed by Italian filmmakers like Sergio Leone and featured international casts, including American actors.

There is one more thing I would like to say about the movie. On top of everything else…the cinematography is some of the best I’ve ever seen. You also have Eastwood in probably his most iconic role. Out of all of the movies I’ve featured…I have probably watched this one the most.

My favorite scene was the last bit between Blondie and Tuco.

Plot from IMDB

During the American Civil War, three men set off to find $200,000.00 in buried gold coins. Tuco and Blondie have known each other for some time now, having used the reward on Tuco’s head as a way of earning money. They come across a dying man, Bill Carson, who tells them of a treasure in gold coins. By chance, he reveals the name of the cemetery and the name of the grave where the gold is buried. Now rivals, the two men have good reason to keep each other alive. The third man, Angel Eyes, hears of the gold stash from someone he’s been hired to kill. All he knows is to look for someone named Bill Carson. The three ultimately meet in a showdown that takes place amid a major battle between Confederate and Union forces.

Quotes:

Blondie: You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

______

[Tuco is in a bubble bath. The One Armed Man enters the room]
One Armed Man: I’ve been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left.
[Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam]
Tuco: When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.

______

Tuco: I’m very happy you are working with me! And we’re together again.
[pause]
Tuco: I get dressed, I kill him and be right back.
Blondie: Listen, I forgot to mention… He’s not alone. There’s five of ’em.
Tuco: Five?
Blondie: Yeah, five of ’em.
Tuco: So, that’s why you came to Tuco.
[pause]
Tuco: It doesn’t matter, I’ll kill them all

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Enter The Dragon

I remember black velvet paintings in the 1970s. Two of the biggest subjects of those paintings were Elvis Presley and Bruce Lee and at one time I had a Bruce Lee painting. Lee was one of my non-musical and non-baseball childhood heroes. This guy was the MAN. Bruce Lee was Rambo, Rocky, and the Terminator rolled into one…but with one difference…he was real. He also had a coolness about him.

After watching his movies when I was young I also purchased some nunchucks when I was a teenager and konked my noggin enough times to realize I was no Bruce Lee. Lee was the first actor to bridge East and West. He understood how to speak to both audiences no one else ever had. Enter the Dragon was the first film co-produced in Hong Kong and Hollywood. Bruce greatly influenced the action movie genre from the 70s to now.

Bruce would run into nut cases at times. Some ~~person~~ idiot would call him out and want to challenge him to a fight while he would be walking down the street and Bruce would have to defend himself while teaching the person a lesson. Imagine being the dolt who saw Bruce Lee and thought it would be a good idea to fight him. A boxer who sparred with him said “Body of a lightweight with a hit stronger than a heavyweight.”

Bob Wall who appeared in some of Bruce Lee’s movies said this.

One day, while filming Enter the Dragon, an extra taunted Bruce Lee and challenged him to fight. The extra told Bruce he was just an actor, not a martial arts expert… The whole thing went won like this. This kid was good. He was no punk. He was strong and fast, and he was really trying to punch Bruce’s brains in. But Bruce just methodically took him apart.

I mean Bruce kept moving so well, this kid couldn’t touch him…Then all of a sudden, Bruce got him and rammed his ass into the wall and swept him, he proceeded to drop his knee into his opponent’s chest, locked his arm out straight, and nailed him in the face repeatedly.

This 1973 movie was Bruce Lee’s final completed film before his death. The movie contributed to martial arts’s global popularity and helped make Bruce Lee’s legacy. I also want to include John Saxon in this. I’ve always been a fan of Saxon in whatever movie he was in. He plays a character named Roper in this flick. Saxon was also a student of Bruce Lee.

The movie’s plot is about a British intelligence agent named Braithwaite to participate in a martial arts tournament organized by the mysterious and reclusive crime lord named Han. Han is suspected of being involved in illegal activities such as prostitution, and human and drug trafficking, and the tournament is a cover for these operations. Lee’s mission is to gather evidence against Han and bring down his criminal empire.

It’s a good story movie with plenty of action scenes. I’ve seen some martial arts movies that dump the story and just go for action. This one is not like that…quality writing and acting throughout the film. It influenced many of the action films that came later. The film keeps the action, drama, and some comedy flowing. It’s worth it to see Bruce Lee with his almost balletic moves.

While filming Bruce in fight scenes Bruce had to slow down his movements so the camera would catch it. His training methods were legendary and some say he was the fastest human they had ever seen.

Before this, Bruce had problems finding acting jobs after the TV series The Green Hornet. He became a private instructor to the stars such as Steve McQueen, John Saxon, and more. He moved to Hong Kong in 1971 and made three Asian movies, Fists of Fury, The Chinese Connection, and Return the Dragon.

The next movie was a joint production between Hong Kong and US production companies. The movie was Enter the Dragon and it was Bruce’s breakthrough movie. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee died six days before the film’s Hong Kong release.

Quotes:

Lee: Teacher?
Shaolin Abbott: I see your talents have gone beyond the mere physical level. Your skills are now at the point of spiritual insight. I have several questions. What is the highest technique you hope to achieve ?
Lee: To have no technique.
Shaolin Abbott: Very good. What are your thoughts when facing an opponent?
Lee: There is no opponent.
Shaolin Abbott: And why is that ?
Lee: Because the word “I” does not exist.
Shaolin Abbott: So, continue…
Lee: A good fight should be like a small play, but played seriously. A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit. It hits all by itself.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Bruce created a jambalaya of martial arts, adding and discarding moves that were less effective. No wasted movements I took it to heart, I dedicated myself to preparation by maintaining complete focus during basketball practice and my training with Bruce. As a result, I became stronger, faster and a much more intense player. Bruce was an innovator and caused martial arts to move forward. … The skyhook is the embodiment of an efficient shot that requires minimal movement but sudden speed.

…

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Superfly

When the idea of the drive-in movie posts came up…this was one of the first ones I thought of. You get a glimpse of the 1970s drug dealing life in New York. I will eventually hit some other eras rather than just the early to mid-seventies.

I saw this movie at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville in 2018. It was like being in a time warp and back in 1972. This movie has some padding and some wooden acting (but there is a reason) but you can tell where Quentin Tarantino was inspired. I’ve always liked the movie and seeing it on the big screen made it that much better. I do think Tarantino’s Jackie Brown was hugely influenced by this movie.

They filmed Superfly on the cheap with some real criminals in the movie to add authenticity. The character “KC” was a pimp in real life and the famous car from the movie is, in fact, KC’s car. The car is no longer with us…it was seized by the IRS when KC got into trouble.

“Fat Freddie”(Charles McGregor) in real life was a reformed criminal. He helped the realism and went on to appear in more blaxploitation films in the 1970s. He also ended up going to schools and counseling children on the dangers of a life in crime.

I had some sympathy for the lead character Youngblood Priest played by Ron O’Neal. He lived well financially but knew he was living on borrowed time. He was a cocaine dealer who knew the walls were closing in. He wanted out but was in a cycle that was almost impossible to break. He needed a great plan to get out of it. It reminds me of mafia members wanting out but are trapped.

The highlight of the movie, of course, is the music. Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack is great. Curtis does appear in the movie playing in a bar. The movie’s budget was under 500,000 but grossed over 30 million at the box office. The film was shot in only 19 days! This led to some creative choices, like using a car’s headlights for lighting in certain scenes. The film was celebrated but also condemned by civil rights groups who said it glorified drug dealers. I didn’t see that as much. Yeah, Priest had a lot of money but at what cost?

One quote got a laugh from the 2018 audience…and it was because of the mention of an eight-track. You’re gunna give all this up? Eight Track Stereo, color T.V. in every room, and can snort a half a piece of dope everyday?! That’s the American Dream.” I’m glad they didn’t clean the film up too much. It had some grainy elements and it fit the atmosphere perfectly. It’s not a great, great movie but the story is good with a nice twist… and it did make a cultural impact.

Quotes:

Georgia (Priest’s Girlfriend): Look maybe you should get out now, now before something really bad happens. I could be happy with a plain life, a poor one if only you were.

Youngblood Priest: Look what would I do? With my record I can’t even work civil service or join the damn army. If I quit now, then I took all this chance for nothing and I go back to being nothing. Working some jive job for chump change day after day. Well if that’s all I’m supposed to do then they gonna have to kill me ’cause that ain’t enough.

From IMDB

The plot revolves around Youngblood Priest, an African-American cocaine dealer in New York City who is looking to make one last big score before getting out of the drug business for good. The film is a defining example of the blaxploitation genre and became iconic for its gritty portrayal of the urban drug trade and its anti-hero protagonist.

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Mean Streets

I like movies that are directed and written by the same person. That is the reason I like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin movies. You won’t find this much anymore unless it’s an indie movie. Movies that are written by a committee are sometimes slick and predictable. We need more movies and music like this. I talked about this last Friday in the comments with different people about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and remembered I wrote it about this one as well.

You will hear one word in many of these reviews…and that word is gritty. The 1970s movies set in New York have grit, filth, and realism. The way these were made looks like they were made on the fly. I mean that in the best way. The characters look as if they were lifted off the streets and filmed. There is a good reason for that. It had a small budget so they couldn’t afford a union-shot movie. Many scenes were shot with natural lighting, and guerrilla filmmaking techniques were employed to save costs. They shot it in 26 days and made excellent use of a handheld camera.

This 1973 film opens with a famous monologue by Charlie, played by Keitel, which sets the tone for the character’s internal conflict. This introspective voice-over became a signature element of Scorsese’s storytelling style. Mean Streets is set in New York City’s Little Italy and follows Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a small-time hood trying to make his way in the local Mafia, and his reckless friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro), who owes money all over town. The film explores the struggling street life and the demands of mob life…along with a lot of guilt.

It’s directed by Martin Scorsese and I think this is one of the best movies of its kind. He would later make other mob movies that are more well-known such as Goodfellas, Casino, and The Irishman but none of them are as, here is that word again, gritty as this. Scorsese knew the vibe well, growing up in his New York City neighborhood and dealing with a formative period in his life during the early 60’s. He shot this movie with Roger Corman’s crew with 6 days of location in New York and with most of the interiors done in Los Angeles. Scorsese edited much of the movie in his bedroom. It was written by Scorsese and his childhood friend Mardik Martin. What lends to the atmosphere is many of the film’s scenes were improvised. Scorsese encouraged his actors to ad-lib their lines to create a more authentic and natural feel.

The actors were fantastic. Harvey Keitel, De Niro, Amy Robinson, Victor Argo, and many more. Keitel stands out to me in this like he does in most of the films he made. Here he balances out toughness with vulnerability. He got this part because Jon Voight had dropped out.

Let’s talk about the music a little bit here. Not many directors are as good as Scorsese at placing music in movies. In the first few minutes of this movie, you hear two Stones songs and Derek and the Dominos as he fits the scenes beautifully.

The movie is not action-packed…it’s almost like a day in the life of these characters. You can see parts of Scorsese’s later movies in this one as well. Much like you can see Pulp Fiction in Reservoir Dogs for Quentin Tarantino.

Quotes:

Voice in Charlie’s Mind: You don’t make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit, and you know it.

Charlie: You know what the Queen said? If I had balls, I’d be King.

Charlie: It’s all bullshit except the pain. The pain of hell. The burn from a lighted match increased a million times. Infinite. Now, ya don’t fuck around with the infinite. There’s no way you do that. The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart… your soul, the spiritual side. And ya know… the worst of the two is the spiritual.

I saw this review about a book on mobster films that talks about this movie.

Over time, Scorsese would make “slicker, better-crafted movies,” according to authors George Anastasia and Glen Macnow in The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies, “but the nuts and bolts of who he is and what he’s about are here.” The authors rank Mean Streets No. 14 of the Top 100 gangster movies, just behind Léon: The Professional and ahead of Reservoir Dogs. “On one level, watching Mean Streets is like finding some old film of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays during their first seasons in the big leagues,” the authors wrote. “The raw talent is there. There are sparks and smoldering potential.”

…

Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Today I’ll feature a double feature…sort of. The B-Horror movie It’s Alive had a commercial that scared me to death when I was a kid. I would hear that baby scream at night. Both of these movies came out in 1974 so I’m sure they were billed together at some places. I reviewed It’s Alive a while back if you want to follow that link…now to our featured movie…The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

This is the first film I think of when I think of Drive-In Theaters…

The spoken intro:

The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Who spoke these words? Future Night Court and film star John Larroquette. So would this also be one of the first mockumentaries?

I don’t like slasher films unless they are smart or good. This one was probably the first one. Just like Animal House was the first of its kind of comedy…I didn’t like the bad copy movies that kept coming after but I love this original.

I saw this 1974 movie in the 1980s at a theater when they reissued it. It was sadly not a drive-in theater. My dad had me for that weekend and asked me what I wanted to see. There it was…The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was on the marquee and of course, I picked it. A wonderful father and son movie? Probably not but it worked for us.

Ok… let’s get on with the movie. The look of it is wonderful…and not in a clear way but in a 1970s film way. The look sets the mood for this movie. It has a long look…what I mean is everything seems to be just a tiny bit stretched and everything looks taller than life in some parts. Also, the sun in the seventies was singled out in films. The film has a soft look to it and the sun glows. I’m not sure if it was the camera lens, the development of the film, or if the sky was clearer than now.

We have 5 teenagers in a van…we know where this was heading. That is now days though after the bad slasher movies followed the same blueprint. This was fairly new to the viewers back then. Everything seemed so realistic in this film not cartoonish. The actors and actresses talked like real life…not a Hollywood script. The first taste of the bizarre was a hitchhiker they picked up. A guy that slowly gets crazier as the ride continues until they throw him out.

They get to their destination and that is when things start going sideways. I’m going to save you all of the gory details but it is thrilling, suspenseful, and scary. The closing scene to me, is one of the most famous in horror movie history. Notice the sun in the shot above and how it radiates.

The film’s raw and realistic style, combined with its disturbing themes of cannibalism, madness, and sadism makes you feel for the characters… It’s like you are stuck in the film with them. The state of Texas is a character also…the oppressive Texas heat and desolate rural landscape contribute to a sense of isolation and vulnerability. Even for a fifty-year-old movie… it can still shock and disturb you.

Tobe Hooper directed this movie and went on to direct Poltergeist and other well-known horror movies.

The Plot:

The story follows a group of friends who travel to rural Texas to visit an old homestead. Along the way, they encounter a family of cannibals, including the iconic character Leatherface, who wears a mask made of human skin and wields a chainsaw. The group is systematically hunted and killed in gruesome ways.

Quotes:

Old Man: I just can’t take no pleasure in killing. There’s just some things you gotta do. Don’t mean you have to like it.

Old Man: [to Sally] Why, old Grandpa was the best killer there ever was. Why, it never took more than one lick, they say. Why, he did sixty in five minutes once. They say he could’ve done more if the hook and pull gang could’ve gotten the beeves out of the way faster.

You can see the complete movie below and the trailer at the bottom.

…