New Beginnings in the Old Hometown

I was looking for an appropriate film to post on Easter Sunday.  I, as per my wont, was looking for something a little quirky, but instead found this film.  It's definitely not one that would have appeared on my radar, since it has all the earmarks of a Hallmark movie, (egad!).  But the message of it appealed to me.

I invited my sister to watch it with me, She is a much more dedicated Christian than I am, and she liked it. I didn't have a whole lot of nitpicking to go with it myself.  The redemption message that is typical in Christian movies is a bit subdued, if you ask me, although I admit I haven't had much experience with these kinds of movies.  Do most of them wait until the last 10 minutes for the complete transformation of the main character? (I mean, in the end, despite all the change that seems to have been happening to Stone, he is STILL willing to ditch it all for his own purposes, up until the final 10 minutes, anyway.)

The film has mostly people I never even heard of, but it does have former wrestling star Shawn Michaels. It also had D. B. Sweeney as the pastor of the church for which the main character ends up doing community service.  Now Sweeney is a somewhat familiar face, especially if you've seen what is my favorite sports movie, Eight Men Out. (Sweeney plays Shoeless Joe Jackson in that one.)

The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (2017):

Gavin Stone (Brett Dalton) was a former child actor, who had been a darling of the TV world as the star of a TV series when he was young.  But as often happens (at least "often" in the Hollywood world of child actors), Stone has had some bad luck as an adult.  He is currently on trial for having done some bad things, including trashing a hotel room.  As his probation, he is required to do community service, which is to be done in his hometown at a local church.

The pastor of the church, Allen Richardson (D. B. Sweeney), lays down the law from the outset.  Gavin isn't going to just be able to waltz through his community service.  Pastor Allen expects Gavin to actually work. Which means, at the beginning his is pushing a mop....

In addition Gavin has to move in with his estranged widower father, Waylon (Neil Flynn), who is also not going to let Gavin just ride the easy wave.  

Gavin, of course, is still a bit manipulative, a leftover attribute from the easy life he had as an actor.  When he finds out that the church is going to put on a play on the life of Jesus, he does his best to get into it, because, not only is he an actor, but this would represent an easy way to get through his community service.

The play is being run by Kelly (Anjelah Johnson), who, eventually turns out to not just be another member of the church, but is in fact the pastor's daughter.  (Which makes it a bit difficult when Gavin tries to work his charms on her).  

Not to mention, one of the rules for being able to play a role in the play is that each member has to be a Christian and give his testimony.

Of course, Gavin is not a Christian.  But he is an actor, so he CAN pretend to be one. (Although how the rest of them aren't wise to his subterfuge from the outset is a bit perplexing.)

Gavin keeps trying to change the script and direction to put more emphasis on himself as the actor, this all despite the fact that he is cast as Jesus Christ, and his self-promotion as an actor is in direct contrast with the image that the person he is playing would exhibit.

Gavin eventually starts to come around to Kelly's way of thinking and it would seem that maybe, just maybe, he is having a change of outlook. Except that he gets a call from his agent that a primo part is available for him in L.A.  Despite all the effort he has put into the play, he decides to abandon it for the L.A. gig.

But, as usually happens in such movies, he finds the old Christian style luring him back and he deserts L.A. to go back to the church. Where, wonder of wonders, does he not only give a bravura performance as Jesus, but he may just decide to stay on for a bit longer. And probably will be a good real Christian in the mix.

Once again, the story does not rank in the kind of movies I usually do for this blog, but if you are among those of my readers with Christian values you might find this one a pretty good movie, whether for Easter or not.  For my part, I am going to spread it around tomorrow at church. Yes, I do go to church... hope you aren't surprised...

Quiggy

 

 

Hey! I Know That Guy Episode #4

 

 

Hey! I know that guy!

 

Here we go with another installment of the ongoing series.  To refresh your memory, the plan is to discuss an episode of The Twilight Zone and highlight one of the actors or actresses appearing in the episode and talk about their career before and after their role in the episode.  Usually I will be taking a secondary character as my focus, not one of the stars.

In the last two installments I went with major characters in the episode.  But this time I found a treat. 

A Hundred Yards Over the Rim was a second  season episode, and once again, a bit of time travel was a major part of the story.  Except, as opposed to the previous episode (Hey! I Know That Guy Episode #3), the time travel is in the reverse, with a guy from the 1840's who stumbles into modern day and fortuitously changes his future.

On a trip across the desert dividing Chris Horn (Cliff Robertson) and a group of settlers from Ohio to the promised fabled land of California things are looking rather bleak.  They are almost out of water and there is a bit of dissension  among the travelers.  Some are considering going back, but Chris insists they will be dead before they reach Ohio if they do that.

Among those advocating for a return to the safety of home is Charlie, played by our focal actor for this episode, John Astin. 

Astin (2nd from right) w/ Cliff Robertson et. al.

 

Astin, who is probably more well remembered for his comedic roles, played a fairly sedate and serious character in his albeit short screen time here. But as most of you will remember, he is much more well-known for such roles as Gomez Addams in the classic The Addams Family TV series, as well as later in life as the father (and part-time mental patient) Buddy Stone to Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson).  And, in case you didn't know, he took over the role of The Riddler in season 2 of the 60's camp superhero series Batman.

What you may not know, and it's one of my fondest memories of childhood, he played the lead role in a comedy western TV movie, Evil Roy Slade.  This was a comedic take on the Old West theme, one which followed a notorious bad guy as he struggled to become a good guy to win the love of a goody goody schoolmarm who had just moved to town.

Astin, who is still with us as of this writing (95 years young), has had a phenomenal career, He got is start as a secondary character in a film version of one of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct detectives along side the star Robert Lansing. Much of his subsequent output was in TV, sometimes as a guest character on such shows as Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. But between 1962 and 1966 he was the headliner for two of his own TV shows. The first was I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, which failed to find an audience and lasted only one season. (Have never even seen one episode, but it might be the role that really got him into primarily comedic roles afterwards).

The second, of course, was The Addams Family. As lead character Gomez Addams, he garnered a cache of recognition, even though the show lasted only two seasons. It was one of two attempts to connect with an emerging fan base of people who were discovering (or re-discovering) the classic Universal Monsters from the 30's and 40's, which had just started airing for free on TV at the time/ (The other was CBS's The Munsters, both of which aired in a brief period from 1964-66).

In the second season of The Twilight Zone a group of people, in the late 1800's,  are journeying across the desert heading to a new life in California. But hard times are pressing on them. They are out of water, not much luck in finding food, and to top it off, the leader, Chris' (Cliff Robertson) son is sick. Most of the band, including Charlie (John Astin) is pressuring Chris to give up and go back to civilization. But Chris is still hopeful.  He finally agrees to turn back, but he is going to try one lass ditch effort bay going across a nearby rim to see if there is any hope on the other side.

What happens is Chris crosses the rim and into the future (or present day).  Seeing many odd things, like a huge behemoth of a monster (a semi) and a way station (a gas station), Chris is as confused as the modern day people,  He gradually comes to realize he is in the future and tries to escape back to his own time, and ostensibly a saner world.  When he finally gets back to the wagon train he is told he has only been gone a few minutes (even though at least a half a day passed while he was in the future. With medicine (penicillin) he brings back with him he is able to cure his son (and proceeds on to California, where we now know his son will become a famous doctor).

Astin's role here is brief, but it's interesting to see what he has the potential to become,

In only a few more years (after his stint as Gomez Addams), Astin starts to really become a presence in the industry.  He gets one of his first film star roles on 1972 in a made-for TV western comedy called Evil Roy Slade. Both my sister and I fondly remembered seeing this when it aired (we were just barely 10, so memory of that is impressive, at least it is for me,)

Roy is a kid whose family was attacked by Indians, leaving him the only survivor.  As the narrator (played by Pat Buttram) tells us "nobody wanted this child". He is rejected not only by the Indians, but even by the wild animals, so he grows up on his own. Even learning how to change his own diapers. (Did I mention this was a comedy?)

Un the present day, Roy and his gang survive by robbing banks. Especially the ones owned by Nelson Stool (Mickey Rooney). Stool makes several attempts to lure a famous lawmen named Bing Bell {was that the doorbell?}  (Comedy... remember?) 

Roy meets up with the new local schoolmarm, Betsy (Pamela Austin) and falls head over heels in love.  And because he is in love, and she is dead set against him continuing in his life of lawlessness, he decides to go straight.  

But after a lifetime of just plain orneriness, he has a tough time of it.  But you gotta give him credit for trying.  You have to see him trying to be a respectable salesman.  (Threatening people to make them buy the product is probably not the best bet...)

With guest appearances by the likes of Milton Berle, Henry Gibson, Dom DeLuise, Penny Marshall and John Ritter, the film has a wealth of talent to compete with Astin, but I think, as well he should, that Astin takes home the prize for the best portrayal.

This is a cheesy TV comedy (and a comedy from the early 70's to boot), so some of it comes off a little dated by today's standards, but it will warm your heart. And who wouldn't want Pamela Austin for an enamorata...?

Well, until next time, safe journeys.

Quiggy   

Can't Stop the Laughter

 

 

 

Imagine you are an up and coming producer.  Imagine that you got your start as a promotional consultant for a rock opera by a popular group, the Who, and their rock opera movie extravaganza, Tommy. Imagine that you do such a good job at that, that the producer who gave you that job invited you to promote the next big feature, Saturday Night Fever.  Imagine that your success at that job was so good that you were given a chance to turn a hit Broadway play into a film.  That film, Grease, is such a huge and resounding success that your cache as producer is pretty much sealed.  Your next production is pretty much green-lighted and you can do what you want.

So what is the next "guaranteed success" that you put your fingers into the pie? Why not take what are two of the most popular things of the day and put them into a film?  I'm talking about that phenomenal popular fad of the day, disco music, and the most popular disco act of the day,  The Village People.  Disco will never die. And The Village People are sure to be a big drawing act well into the 21st century.  It's a dynamite combo, and the money it brings in will be enough to finance every major picture the studio wants to produce for the next decade, right?

It's too bad nobody told the producers that disco was already in it's death throes by the time cameras started rolling. (Which makes the original title that Carr and company wanted to call this film, Discoland: Where the Music Never Ends! seem like a joke..) Fortunately, for at least some of the people involved in the production, it wasn't the death throe for their respective careers.  Steve Guttenberg, the ostensible star of the film, went on to become a major presence in films of the 80's, including several Police Academy films, as well as Three Men and a Baby and Cocoon (and the sequels to both), and still gets roles even today.  Valerie Perrine worked well into the mid-2000's herself.  

One particular benefactor (maybe) of the process was Olivia Newton-John.  She asked for WAY too much money to appear in the film (the role eventually played by Perrine), and instead went on to do Xanadu  (and you can write your own opinion on her choice there,,,)

On the other hand, some careers basically died in the operating room.  By the time of this film, The Village People had become passe in the music world. Their attempt at a renaissance (with an album, aptly titled Renaissance) signaled the end for them. Nancy Walker, an actress with a healthy resume never got another chance to direct a feature film.  And Allan Carr, the producer only got a couple more chances to be producer, but never found the success of Grease again.  (See Grease II and Cloak and Dagger for proof of this,)

As I stated in my review of Xanadu a few years ago, this film and that one were a double feature that was  the inspiration for John Wilson to create the Razzies, the annual award given to the worst movies of the year.  And while I have mixed feelings about Xanadu even today (see my review), I can honestly say that Wilson had justification for his inspiration.

Can't Stop the Music (1980):

Jack Morell (Steve Guttenberg) is a put upon wannabe musical genius, forced to do the 9-5 thing at a record store. (Just a side note, OK, so this is New York City, but I can't imagine a place with this much space devoted only to music. The place must be as big as a Wal-Mart...) Anyway, the boss insists that Jack work over time that night helping with inventory, but Jack already has plans to make a big showing at the local disco as a guest D.J., where he already has plans to slip in one of his own productions into the music show. And thus insuring his resounding success as a musical ingenue. So, what choice does he have?  He quits (or is fired... take your pick.)

Which brings up the first laughable scene.  During the opening credits Jack roller skates through New York to a tune called "Sound of the City" by a guy named David London.  The enthusiasm Jack exudes as he skates is what makes this so funny. Jack meets up with Sam (Valerie Perrine), who is either his roommate, or his girlfriend, or some other significant person in his life (sister, maybe...?) Sam is a retired model who, in her previous life, posed for poster ads. In one scene, she actually defaces her own likeness on a bus,

Jack tells Sam about his change in life, but is insistent that it doesn't matter about his lack of income, because he is going to be a big shot imminently. (Oh, for the positivity of youth...)

At the disco (called Saddle Tramps, which sounds more like it ought to be a country western bar), Sam wanders the floor and dances with every guy in the place, including a few who probably wouldn't look twice at her if it wasn't necessary for the film.  (A couple of them are future Village People members...)

Jack finally gets to play the song he composed "S-s-s-s-Samantha!", which, of course, is a big hit. At least to the crowd in the bar.  But remember, it's a bar.  People drink in bars...

Sam tells Jack that his music is good, but that his voice "sounds like someone crying for help".  But it costs money to get together some background singers and some time in a real recording studio. So Sam looks around to try to wheedle a few village locals who are willing to work cheap. (As in free.) Sam gets neighbor Felipe (who likes to wear Indian headdresses) and Randy (who has an infinity for Cowboy hats), and David (who works as a construction worker) to drop by her place.

(Just wondering.  How the hell small is New York City?  It seems to me like everybody knows everybody here. With the exception of when Jenner's Ron White comes on the scene it seems like all of the characters, even the incidental ones, are familiar with each other...)

The first musical sequence is a song called "I Love You to Death" in which David sings about love to a passel of very hot female models.  (Note: there is only one of the Village People's popular songs in this film.  The rest are ones that you never heard on the radio, and unless you are a diehard fan, probably never even heard outside of the radio...)

In between all of this action is Sam's former manager, Sydney (Tammy Grimes), trying to lure her out of retirement for a lucrative ad campaign for, of all things, MILK...  And Sydney's assistant, Lulu (Marilyn Sokol), who is so hard up for a man that she'll take anything that comes along.  Added to the mix is a lawyer, Ron (Bruce Jenner), who just seems to have been added to the film as an afterthought.

Ron seems to be the outsider in all this mess.  While everyone else is a late 70's/early 80's free spirit, Ron is the equivalent of an "uptight square" (a term he is called in the movie).  But then again, he may be meant to be the barometer of acceptability in a world that seems to be teetering on the edge of chaos. 

The assemblage of initial prospects that Sam ropes in to do a demo tape (made in the good old-fashioned tradition of a pizza party / recording session). On hand are the characters of the Indian, Felipe (Felipe Rose}. the Construction Worker, David (David Hodo) and the Cowboy, Randy (Randy Jones). A late addition is a cop, Ray (Ray Simpson) who shows up to take information on a mugging of Ron earlier, but abandons his job to become the lead singer of this impromptu group.

Sam takes the demo to an old boyfriend, Steve (Paul  Sand), who coincidentally happens to be a producer at Marrakesh Records. So they've got a start, but they need to add a few more singers, and thus enter the G.I., Alex (Alex Briley) and a guy dressed in leather, Glenn (Glenn Hughes) who auditions with a version of "Danny Boy" (which, although well done, comes off as one of the more humorous parts of the movie). 

Now they just need a name for the group.  Well, all the members reside in Greenwich Village, so what else COULD they call them...? The Village People.

By now, if it's not apparent if you've been watching, everyone involved in this movie is acting like the are "acting to the back of the auditorium". In other words, there is so much over-acting, I was waiting for Jim Carrey to pop out of a cake. There is a lot of stuff in this movie that is just ridiculous.  And I started to see what caused John Wilson to go off and form the Razzie Awards. (And the movie is only half over).

The Village People are basically playing themselves (heterosexual versions of themselves, but still themselves...) Except, at least by this point, none of their well-known hits have even been featured...

BUT WAIT! 

Just after they finish signing a contract on what is sure to be mega-stardom the gang is out on the street which seques to a scene in the local...wait for it....

Y.M.C.A.

Finally! Something we've been waiting for.  And a song that sums up the whole Village People appeal. This part makes the whole previous hour or so of the film pay off in my opinion.  Great song but the scenes in this part are uproarious! (BTW, in case you don't have the stamina to sit through this movie just to see this one scene, you can thank me, because I'll give you to you here...)

(Well, I tried, anyway.  Apparently you can't watch that clip unless you prove you are of an appropriate age.  But to be honest, it does verge a little into PG13 or R status, even if the movie was released as PG...)

OK, so Sam finally gets her ex-boyfriend to give the band a listen, but, while singing a song I hadn't heard of before "Liberation" (and guess what that song is about), they pretty much bomb and turn off the potential producer.  So they decide the only way to get an album is to produce their own. But that requires money.  So Sam serves up her pride on another plate and calls her old boss to agree to go back to the model world and do a commercial for... milk. And doing another deep cut song "Milkshake".

The Village People make an appearance in the commercial to help (including a band of child actors who are supposed to be younger versions of themselves.  And one wonders how badly that scarred those kids lives...)

Eventually the movie comes together at the end with a concert featuring the group performing the title track "Can't Stop the Music" (looking quite a bit like the end of Xanadu, if you ask me.) And the whole screen fills with dancers, extras and all the cast members appearing on stage. complete with a shower of glitter (befitting a band that was more about performance than actual musicianship).

Looking back, this review seems to be saying I agreed with the critics in saying this film was just fluff. Actually it's entertaining as long as you are willing to not take it too seriously. The movie is definitely not for all ages, however. As I noted above, it's rated PG, but if the same movie were released today it would probably be a strong P!3, maybe even an R, for sexually suggestive scenes.

I can't end this before I list some of the "memorable" dialogue from this movie.  Most of it is just as hilarious as the plot.  Whether or not it was intentional, some of it just zings with kitsch.

"This place is gonna be a regular Studio 54. You know Halston, the big designer? His seamstress was in here the other night with Calvin Klein's chauffer.  Lot's of biggies..." -Benny (delivered with smarminess befitting the character).

"I've seen you plastered all over New York."

"Well, don't spread it around." -Benny and Sam

"Anyone who could swallow two Snowballs and a Ding Dong should have no problem with pride." -Jack

"I adore San Francisco. My favorite ex-husband lives there." - Sydney

"Housework is like bad sex. Every time I do it I swear I'll never do it again. Until the next time company comes." -Lulu

Well, time to fire up the old Plymouth. I got company coming...

Quiggy

Save the Drive-In

 

So, some of you may know I recently changed locations of residency. I now live with my sister in Pottsboro, just south of the Oklahoma border.  The move has been a bit stressful, in terms of library access.  Pottsboro, a town of only about 2000, has a small library (in what used to be the post office when I was growing up, although the town got big enough it built a bigger post office.) The two nearest towns, Denison (pop. 25,000) and Sherman (pop. 44,000) each have their own libraries, although the combined 3 libraries only have maybe 1/4 of what was available in the library of my last residence in south Texas.

As such, my resources are limited.  But as I was looking through the available DVDs at the Sherman library  I came across this gem.  I had never even heard of it, although it has won a few awards in the film community albeit mostly local... For instance one of the awards for it was Best Local Feature at the Philadelphia Film Festival (fitting since  the subject drive-in is a Philly drive-in).

The dedication of the people involved and their love of the drive-in experience really shines through here.  And, at least currently, it is still going strong. Their Facebook page has updates often (I just found it).  Unfortunately, from my perspective, they don't dwell too much with the 50's and 60's themes.  Much of what I saw in the film, as well as what I saw in my brief scan of the FB page, the movies tend to be 70's, 80's and some 90's stuff.  But that's a far cry from some of the more recent "new wave" drive-in theaters which are showing current run movies. The Stars and Stripes Theater which opened down the road from my old stomping grounds in New Braunfels fits that category. 

(Note: I realize that in it's heyday drive-ins ran first run films. I just wish there was a retro drive-in that ran that same stuff now.)

Of course, if you know this blog from it's beginnings, I grew up here in north Texas, where I now reside, and the Sherman and Denison area had two twin theaters (Coincidentally located directly across the highway from each other; The She-Den Twin and The Twin Cities Twin). I spent quite a bit of my early teens and twenties going to just such theaters.

At the Drive-In (2017):

The film basically opens at the start of the 2016 season. Jeff Mattox, the owner of the Mahonic Drive-In in Lehighton is preparing for the new season.  He says he got his start at showing films while still serving in the Armed Forces.  After his term of service he got involved with the local drive-in.

One of the problems he ran into prior to the start of the current season was trying to get keep theater running with the new digital age, but he found that the cost of doing so was prohibitive. So he made a decision to run movies that were still available in the old 35MM format. Of course, that meant only older movies.

The first few weeks they were sometimes showing these old movies to only 4 or 5 cars. And they ran in the red for a while.    The film points out that their first double feature was The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder version). That apparently is now a tradition that they run those first two films on opening night.

Jeff managed to get two helpers who had the same dedication as he and whom eventually became partners in his venture, Matt and Virgil.  He also had a holdover from the days when it was still running newer movies, Jessica. These 4 people are the driving force behind keeping the Mahonic a going concern.

The Mahonic managed to acquire many dedicated advocates including several people who went on to volunteer helping out, including one guy who drove 6 1/2 hours one way because of his dedication. One of the guys says he is a fan of the place because he loves old "shitty" movies. (Sounds like a fellow I would enjoy spending a few hours with in conversation). A few of them spend their entire weekend at the Mahonic, going so far as to crash at the place to save $$ so they can get up in the morning to do the necessary maintenance of the place. 

The ultimate end for me is I now would like to put a trip to the drive-in some day on my bucket list. An interesting little piece for anyone interested in the background in this classic movie venue.

Quiggy

Announcing The Back to 1985 Blogathon

 

Just in case you weren't aware... This is 2025.

That means it's been 40 years since Marty McFly took Doc Brown's souped up DeLorean back to 1955 and tried to hook up with his own mother (Back to the Future). Four whole decades since a band of five misanthropes had to spend their Saturday making life a living hell for a poor shmo of an assistant principal (The Breakfast Club). In other words, a long time ago.

Some films of 1985 are probably a fondly remembered part of your childhood or early adulthood. Not long ago I looked at a list of 1985 films and I figured I must have spent a great part of the year in theaters that year. I counted no less than 36 movies I saw in the theater, which means I was in the theater around 3 out of every 4 weeks of the month.

Is 1985 the best year ever for movies?  It's debatable, but there were some really good ones that year. 

So Rachel (Hamlette) and I have banded together to delve into that "monumental" year. For the Back to 1985 blogathon we are going to experience some of the highs (or lows, your choice) from that year.  Here are some ground rules to consider:

1. You can pick any movie (or if you prefer, a TV show or individual episode of one) that was released in the calendar year of 1985.  We will make an exception to include films that came out in December of 1984, since they most likely would still be in theaters in 1985, but we draw the line at Dec. 1, 1984. And absolutely nothing that was released after Dec. 31, 1985. 

2. Post your review sometime around the date of the blogathon.  Only new entries please.  No fair reposting something you've already written.

3. Grab one of the banners below we have for use on your post to promote the blogathon.  

4. Let one of us know when your post goes live so we can include it in the wrap-up.

5. As always, have fun. And party like it's 1985... (OK, so I'm stealing Prince's song... sue me.)

Quiggy

The roll call so far:

The Midnite Drive-In: Science Class 1985 (an overview of Weird Science, Real Genius and My Science Project)

Hamlette's Soliloquy: Clue and Young Sherlock Holmes

Realweegiemidget Reviews: Letter to Brezhnev

Whimsically Classic: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer

Dubism: Brewster's Millions

Taking Up Room: Jewel of the Nile