Monthly Archives: December 2017

4 Shots From 4 Films: Happy 80th Birthday Barbara Steele

Posted on by gary loggins

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking. British-born Barbara Steele, who shot to fame in a series of Italian lensed horror films during the 1960’s, celebrates her 80th birthday today. She’s the last of the iconic classic horror film stars, and in her honor here’s 4 shots from the career of Scream Queen Barbara Steele:

Black Sunday (1960, directed by Mario Bava)

The Long Hair of Death (1964, directed by Antonio Margheriti)

Nightmare Castle (1965, directed by Mario Caiano)

The Crimson Cult (1968, directed by Vernon Sewell)

A Movie A Day #354: Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973, directed by Richard C. Sarafian)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In the backwoods of Hicksville, USA, two families are feuding.  Laban Feather (Rod Steiger, bellowing even more than usual) and Pap Gutshall (Robert Ryan) were once friends but now they are committed rivals.  They claim that the fight started when Pap bought land that once belonged to Laban but it actually goes back farther than that.  Laban and Pap both have a handful of children, all of whom have names like Thrush and Zeb and Ludie and who are all as obsessed with the feud as their parents.  When the Gutshall boys decide to pull a prank on the Feather boys, it leads to the Feathers kidnapping the innocent Roonie (Season Hubley) from a bus stop.  They believe that Roonie is Lolly Madonna, the fictional fiancée of Ludie Gutshall (Kiel Martin).  Zack Feather (Jeff Bridges), who comes the closest of any Feather to actually having common sense, is ordered to watch her while the two families prepare for all-out war.  Zack and Roonie fall in love, though they do not know that another Feather brother has also fallen in love with Gutshall daughter.  It all leads to death, destruction, and freeze frames.

Lolly-Madonna XXX is a strange film.  It starts out as a typical hicksploitation flick before briefly becoming a backwoods Romeo and Juliet and finally ending up as a heavy-handed metaphor for both the Vietnam War and the social upheaval at home.  Along with all the backwoods drama, there is a fantasy sequence where Hawk Feather (Ed Lauter) briefly imagines himself as an Elvis-style performer.  (Hawk also dresses up in Roonie’s underwear.)  Probably the most interesting thing about Lolly-Madonna XXX is the collection of actors who show up playing Feathers and Gutshalls.  Along with Steiger, Ryan, Martin, Bridges, and Lauter, everyone from Randy Quaid to Paul Koslo to Scott Wilson to Gary Busey has a role to play in the feud.  Lolly-Madonna XXX is too uneven and disjointed to really be considered a good movie but I can say that I have never seen anything else like it.

One final note: Lolly-Madonna XXX was directed by Richard Sarafian, who is best known for another early 70s cult classic, Vanishing Point.

In Memoriam 2017: Sports & Other Pop Culture

Posted on by gary loggins

gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

Since I’m a Massachusetts-based writer and unrepentant Boston sports fan, I’m dedicating this final “In Memoriam” post to two legends in their respective sports. The Red Sox’ Bobby Doerr was MLB’s oldest living player when he died in November at age 99. Doerr was a Hall of Fame second baseman, 9 time All-Star, and one of the best hitters and fielders at his position. Hockey Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt played 16 years with the Boston Bruins, eight of them on the feared “Kraut Line” alongside Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer. Schmidt also coached the Bruins from 1954-66, and passed away in January at 98.

Boston Celtic Fab Melo

Perhaps the saddest loss in Boston sports was former Boston Celtic first round pick Fab Melo, who died at the tender age of 26 from a heart attack in his native Brazil. Quincy, MA native Sam Mele (98) roamed right field…

View original post 857 more words

The “In Memoriam” Roll Call Just Got Longer…

Posted on by gary loggins

gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

Rose Marie, whose career spanned from Vaudeville to the Internet, passed away at age 94. She began in show biz as a 3 year old child singer, featured in early talkie shorts and the 1933 film INTERNATIONAL HOUSE, along with W.C. Fields, Burns & Allen, Bela Lugosi, and a host of other luminaries of the era. Rosie opened for Jimmy Durante at Las Vegas’ brand new hotel/casino The Flamingo in 1946, ushering in that city’s birth as an entertainment destination. She’s best known as man-crazy Sally Rogers on THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW (1961-66), and was a featured regular for years on THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES. The word “legend” gets bandied about all too frequently, but in this case it’s more than appropriate. Rest in peace, Rose Marie; thanks for the laughter.

View original post

Music Video of the Day: To The End by Blur (1994, directed by David Mould)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Actually, we haven’t quite made it to the end.  There’s still another weekend to go before 2017 turns into 2018.  However, considering that it’s going to be New Year’s weekend, I’m sure that many people will just remember it as being a blur.

(See what I did there?)

(Anyway….)

This video was shot in Prague in 1994 and, if it looks familiar, that’s probably because the video is an homage to the 1961 French New Wave film, Last Year at Marienbad.  (That said, while many of the visuals are taken straight from Marienbad, the subtitles are not.)  The voice that is heard signing in French belongs to Lætitia Sadier.  (Blur later recorded another version of this song with Françoise Hardy.)

The song itself deals with the end of a relationship but I find that it works well for the end of just about anything.

Enjoy!

A Movie A Day #353: The Public Eye (1992, directed by Howard Franklin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

New York in the 1940s.  Leon “Bernzy” Bernstein (Joe Pesci) is nearly a legend in the city, a freelance news photographer with a police radio in his car and a darkroom in his trunk.  Bernzy is a solitary man who lives for his work, the type who has many acquaintances but few friends.  He gets the pictures that no one else can get but his dream of seeing a book published of his photographs seems to be unattainable.  As more than one snobbish publisher tells him, tabloid photographs are not art.

Bernzy is invited to a meeting with Kay Levitz (Barbara Hershey).  Kay is the widow of one of Bernzy’s few friends.  She has inherited a nightclub but now a mysterious man is claiming to be a former partner of her husband and says that he owns half of the club.  She asks Bernzy to discover who the man is.  Bernzy agrees and soon finds himself a suspect in a murder.  Even as Bernzy tries to clear his name, he never stop looking for the perfect shot.

Joe Pesci made this neo noir shortly after winning an Oscar for Goodfellas.  The Public Eye was an attempt to elevate Pesci from being a character actor to a leading man.  It may not have accomplished that but it is still one of the better neo noirs of the 90s.  Howard Franklin does such a good job of recreating the style of film noir that the movie seems like it’s in black-and-white even though it’s in color and Barbara Hershey is perfectly cast as a sultry femme fatale.  The tough but eccentric Bernzy turns out to be a perfect role for Joe Pesci, who gives one of his best performances.  This overlooked film is one to watch for.

In Memoriam 2017: Music

Posted on by gary loggins

gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

The world of rock’n’roll lost two of its architects in 2017, giants who can never be replaced. Chuck Berry (90) was rock’s poet laureate, a smooth showman who chronicled the life and times of 50’s teens with songs like “Johnny B. Goode”, “School Days”, “You Never Can Tell”, and the anthem “Rock and Roll Music”. New Orleans pianist Fats Domino (89) contributed his barrelhouse, let-the-good-times-roll sound on hits like “Blueberry Hill”, “Blue Monday”, “I’m Walkin'”, and “Ain’t That a Shame”. Music will not see the likes of these two originals again, and Cracked Rear Viewer respectfully dedicates this post to their memories.

Gregg Allman & Tom Petty

Rock music suffered another one-two blow when Gregg Allman (69), who helped usher in the Southern Rock style with The Allman Brothers Band, passed away in May. Five months later, superstar Tom Petty died at age 66, taking his beautifully jangling guitar sounds…

View original post 677 more words

Music Video of the Day: How Soon Is Now? covered by t.A.T.u. (2003, dir by t.A.T.u.)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The song is by The Smiths but the cover version is by t.A.T.u., the Russian duo who became famous by allowing people to (falsely) assume that they were a couple.  When I first met my BFF Evelyn one of the things that we immediately bonded over was our shared appreciation for the absurdity of t.A.T.u.

(Men, we realized, will listen, watch, or pay for anything if there’s a chance they’ll get to see two hot girls kiss at some point during it.  That’s good information to have, by the way.)

As far as the cover goes, it’s not that bad.  t.A.T.u. has frequently been criticized for lacking vocal range but, here, that doesn’t really become an issue until the end of the song, when Julia struggles to make it through the part about waiting too long.  That said, I like this version.  It’s all about that guitar chord at the beginning.

As far as the video goes, it’s made up of a mix of footage of Julia and Lena performing on stage and some “candid” backstage stuff.  By “candid,” I mean obviously staged.  “Wow,” the viewer is supposed to say, “there’s Julia and … OH MY GOD, IT’S LENA!  THEY’RE IN THE SAME ROOM TOGETHER!  And now they’re in a hallway together!  And now they’re in the same bedroom!  Are they about to kiss … oh wait, we’ve cut to a different scene now…”

Here’s what Morrissey had to say when he was asked about t.A.T.u.’s cover:

Interviewer: Did you hear t.A.T.u’s version of ‘How Soon Is Now’?
Morrissey: Yes, it was magnificent. Absolutely. Again, I don’t know much about them.
Interviewer: They’re the teenage Russian lesbians.
Morrissey: Well, aren’t we all?

Enjoy!