Tag Archives: 1960’s

#271- Planet of the Apes

Quick recap: An astronaut lands on a mysterious planet where Man is the inferior race, ruled over by Apes.

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Fun (?) fact: Actors were required to keep their ape-masks on at all times during filming because makeup took so long. As a result, lunch was mostly liquified and fed through straws. Yum!

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My thoughts: My gift to you, dear readers, is that I promise not to mention a certain ape who was cruelly taken from our lives just a few months ago in Cincinnati. EVEN though evidence suggests he was most likely an ape from the future, here to warn us about Man’s destructive path. #ripHarambe

Moving on, Planet of the Apes is probably the best B-movie that’s not supposed to be a B-movie. The main plot about apes ruling over Man is so ridiculous yet it works. There is SO much to laugh at: the overacting by Charlton Heston, the crazy rubber masks that creeped me out, and I still left the theater that night knowing that I had watched something truly profound.

As much as I hated Charlton Heston in this film, and BOY did I hate Charlton Heston, he was still the absolute best choice for the role. It’s his anger and impulsiveness that only remind the apes that they have made the right decision in reducing Man to a wild species, yet he was supposedly the ‘hero’ in all of this. It’s what makes this movie so much more than just a Science Fiction story- the idea that who we hail as ‘hero’ may actually be the opposite. I never really liked him to begin with, although that may also be because I knew about the big reveal beforehand. It could also be because I was really creeped out by his and Nova’s relationship. I mean, yes, she was a human, but in this future, she was basically a wild animal. And he wanted to restart society with her? I guess someone has to be the one to bite the bullet but on the other hand, ew.

Please hold me, you damn dirty apes.

           Please hold me, you damn dirty apes. ( If you get this reference, I love you, whoever you are)

Final review: 5/5. I know the sequels are just plain ridiculous but now I want to see them

Up next: Vinyl

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#267- Shock Corridor

Quick recap: A journalist pretends to be insane so that he can solve the murder of a patient in a psychiatric ward.

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You mean there really is a Bart? Good Lord!!

 

Fun (?) fact: Because he had a small budget, director Samuel Fuller hired little people to hang out in the background of the hall to produce a greater sense of depth for the audience.

My thoughts: Before Shock Corridor, someone could’ve presented me with a movie about being in a mental institution and I would be all over it. So many directions to go! So many points to make! So many complex yet endearing characters! But now I know better, thanks to this movie. See, this is why we can’t have nice things.

The film starts with Johnny Barrett rehearsing his story to a psychiatrist to ensure that the police take him seriously and lock him up in this place. Before I go any further, I want you to imagine what story you would come up with in that situation, knowing that you would be subjected to any kind of technique to cure you and this would most likely stay on your criminal record. What did Barrett and his boss come up with? Incest, of course! And not just incest, because apparently that isn’t crazy enough. Let’s add in a hair fetish! It’s one thing to want to go full into the role and all, but that’s taking it a little too far, I think. Oh, and to make it extra creepy, they added in Barrett’s girlfriend to play the sister. I’ll let you in on how that turned out later on. Hint: not well.

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But, you might be saying, Barrett was trying to solve a murder! He had to concoct a crazy story to make sure he got in and stayed in. I suppose that’s true, although we as the audience never meet who was murdered or see the murderer or get any hint that there is still a threat. Granted, the mental institution does some crazy stuff, but wasn’t that par for the course in the 50s and 60s? By the time the murderer is revealed, I realized that I had never been invested to being with.

So, what to take from this movie? Is it that the insane deserve a voice and a sympathetic ear? No, because the characters themselves are about as stereotypically insane as you can get: A man who sings opera in the middle of the night, a guy who things he is a general in the Civil War and my personal favorite, the black guy whose racist against black guys. Each person shows flashes of sanity at some point, but then retreat back into their world and are of little help in solving the murder. And what does Barrett gain from all of this? He goes insane, too! Turns out, it might not have been the best idea to turn your girlfriend into your sister, buddy. After getting electroshock therapy and intensive counseling sessions to cure him of wanting to molest his sister, Barrett wants nothing to do with his girlfriend.

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There’s a nympho ward!

Final review: 2/5

Up next: The 39 Steps

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#256- Blow-Up

Quick recap: A photographer believes he has witnessed a murder as evidenced by close ups of photos he recently shot.

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Watching Blow-Up gave me a newfound appreciation for Austin Powers

Fun (?) fact: Blow-Up features a performance by the Yardbirds, back when both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were still in the band.

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The movie also basically brought about the end of the Production Code. The rating system was installed a couple of years later.

My thoughts: As noted above, Blow-Up was a huge influence on the Austin Powers movies, which I always thought just parodied James Bond. And Coppola’s The Conversation, one of my favorites,also plays homage to this film. On paper, Blow-Up has everything I could ever want in a movie, yet I just didn’t care for it very much.

Although it wasn’t my cup of tea, Blow-Up is a beautiful, complicated film and one that I think people should try out. Each scene felt like its own set of photographs pieced together, from the antique shop to the analysis of the pictures to the party. Everything was woven together beautifully and it added to the mystery of whether or not Thomas witnessed a murder. Thomas himself I didn’t care for, but I don’t think I was meant to. It makes more sense for him to be a pretentious artist whose work is so important that it solves murders. I won’t give away what I think about the reality of the body, but one of my favorite quotes from the film says it all:

‘They don’t mean anything when I do them…just a mess. afterwards I find something to hang on to…like that leg. Then it sorts itself out and adds up. It’s like finding a clue in a detective story.’

I can’t put a finger on why the film didn’t do much for me, which is frustrating. It might be because it is slow moving or maybe because there is no resolution, sort of like Two-Lane Blacktop. Or it could just be because I hate mimes. At any rate, if I watched it again with an audience, maybe in a theater, I might have a different opinion.

Final review: 3/5, although it really is an essential film to watch

Up next: She’s Gotta Have It

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#238- La Notte

Quick recap: An unhappy married couple become more unhappy and less married during the course of an evening.

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It’s hard for me to believe that anyone would be unhappy while married to Marcello Mastroianni, but I may be biased

Fun (?) fact: The film is referenced during the end credits of Life of Brian – ‘If you have enjoyed this film, why not go and see La Notte?’

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If you love a movie with a ton of brooding, then this is the film for you!

My thoughts: Before starting this review, I’d just like to note that this is my 5th black and white film and I miss color so very much. I think that’s partly why this movie seems more dreary and depressing than it might actually be. Then again, it’s premise is about the end of a marriage so I don’t think I’m too far off.

The acting in La Notte was wonderful, but I already loved Marcello Mastroianni in 8 1/2 so it’s not a surprise that I would love him in this. Love is a strong word, though, to describe his character Giovanni, who was sort of a terrible person. I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to figure out who was at fault in the marriage, but it didn’t really matter because they were both equally awful. Lidia is unhappy the entire time, which is understandable considering her close friend is dying and her husband is literally having an affair in front of her. But she makes a point to look as miserable as possible, at a party no less. I get where she’s coming from, I really do, because the people at the party were all airheads, but sometimes you just have to suck it up a little or just leave because she really brought the vibe down. Giovanni, as I mentioned, had a random affair with the daughter of the guy throwing the party, which I think is just really bad manners. Have these people ever actually been out in public before?

I can’t say I was really invested in the marriage, although I generally root for things working out between people. But these two obviously needed a break. The ending, when Lidia admits to not loving Giovanni anymore is really sad, but then she reads a piece that he wrote for her many years ago and Giovanni has absolutely no recollection of writing it.If that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. The movie ends with him kissing her passionately while she tries to push him off of her and get away. She kind of gives up though and rolls around with him in a sand dune in the saddest sex scene I have seen in a long time.

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I guess I hope those two crazy lovebirds make it?

Final review: 3/5. This movie is apparently loved by many, but I don’t think I was in the mood to watch something so depressing

Up next: Memento

 

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