The TSL’s Grindhouse: Bucktown (dir by Arthur Marks)

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to the town of Buchanan!

It’s a small Southern town, popularly known as Bucktown. It’s a town where you can literally get anything, as long as you know who to pay off. Upon arriving, don’t be surprised if a little kid approaches you and asks you what you’re looking for. He can get it for you. That kid had connections!

The population of Buchanan is almost entirely African-American but all of the cops are white. Under the leadership of the redneck police chief (Art Lund), the cops have turned Buchanan into their own private kingdom. If you want to do anything in Buchanan, you have to be ready to pay the cops for protection. Refuse and you’ll get arrested. Continue to refuse and you’ll probably end up getting shot.

Obviously, someone needs to clean up Buchanan? But who!?

How about Duke Johnson (Fred Williamson)? Duke’s brother owned the hottest nightclub in Bucktown, Club Alabama. Or, at least he did until he announced he wasn’t going to pay anymore protection and he ended up getting gunned down by the cops. When Duke arrives in town, he thinks that he’s just going to stay long enough to attend the funeral and sell his brother’s bar. However, when Duke find out that he has to wait 60 days until he can sell the bar, he decides to stick around. Not only does he move in with his brother’s former lover, Aretha (Pam Grier), but also reopens the Club Alabama.

Soon, the cops are coming around and demanding their share. However, they quickly discover that no one tells Duke Johnson what to do. Like all good action heroes, Duke has friends all over the country. He places a call to Roy (Thalmus Rasulala) and soon, Roy, TJ (Tony King), and Hambone (Carl Weathers) show up in Bucktown. They quickly wipe out the corrupt police force. The local citizens are so happy that they make Roy the new police chief and his men the new police force.

Unfortunately, that turns out to be a mistake. Apparently, giving some totally random dude complete and total authority to enforce the law in whatever he sees fit isn’t always the best way to handle things. Roy and his men quickly become just as corrupt as the old redneck policemen. The only thing protecting Duke is his friendship with Roy but even that is endangered when T.J. decides that he wants Aretha for himself. T.J. decides to turn Roy and Duke against each other. It all eventually leads to an epic fist fight, with the winner earning the right to remain in Bucktown…

(Of course, you may be wondering why anyone would want to remain in Bucktown as the place is kind of a dump, regardless of who’s in charge.)

Released in 1975, Bucktown is a pretty basic action film but I liked it because it appealed to all of my anti-authoritarian impulses. There have been so many movies about what it takes to clean up a town but there haven’t been many made about what actually happens after all of the corrupt cops and greedy businessmen have been kicked out. Thalmus Rusulala was great as the charismatic but dangerous Roy and Tony King, a favorite of Italian exploitation fans everywhere, was an effective villain. Pam Grier doesn’t get to do much but she does the best with what she’s provided. Of course, the entire film is dominated by Fred Williamson, who may not have been a great actor but who had an undeniable screen presence. Williamson struts through the film like the hero of stylish Spaghetti western.

Bucktown is an entertaining 70s action film. Though it doesn’t deeply explore any of the issues that it raises, it still deserves some credit for raising them. If nothing else, it’s a film that shows why Fred Williamson retains a cult following to this day.

Insomnia File #32: Smooth Talk (dir by Joyce Chopra)

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!

If you were having trouble getting to sleep around one in the morning last night, you could have turned over to This TV and watched Smooth Talk, a disturbingly creepy coming-of-age film from 1985.

Connie Wyatt (played by Laura Dern in one of her first film roles) is fifteen years old and ready to discover the word. It’s the summer and, for Connie and her friends, that means going to the mall, trying to capture the attention of the cute boys who go to their school, and lying to her parents about where she goes at night. (She tells them that she and her friends have been going to the same movie, night-after-night.) She likes it when the boys in the mall smile at her but not when the stranger honk their car horn at her whenever she walking at night. Connie thinks of herself as being an independent adult, even though she’s not sure what that means.

Connie does know that she doesn’t want to be like her mother (Mary Kay Place). Her mother, who claims that she was once a great beauty herself, complains that all Connie does is indulge in “trashy daydreams.” Her mother tells Connie to be careful about who she flirts with and constantly demands that Connie stay home and help to paint the house.

Connie also doesn’t want to be like her older sister, June (Elizabeth Berridge). June is obviously her mother’s favorite. June never sneaks out. June never rebels. Whenever Connie and her mother argue, June always take their mother’s side.

In fact, the only member of her family that Connie’s close with is her father (Levon Helm). Her father is always cheerful and always in a good mood. Somehow, the constant tension in the house never seems to get to him and he never seems to be worried about anything. He’s nice but he’s hardly an authority figure.

And then there’s an older man (Treat Wiliams). When we first see him, he’s sitting outside of a diner and casually watching all of the teenage girls as they walk by. (We all know the type.) When he sees Connie and her friends, he looks over at Connie and tells her, “I’m watching you.” Later, when Connie is alone at her house, the man pulls up in front of her house and starts to talk to her.

His name, he explains, is Arnold Friend. “A. Friend,” he puts it. That’s what he wants to be to her. When she asks how old he is, he says that he’s 18, though he’s clearly closer to 30. He’s handsome and he’s charming but there’s something off about him. He shows Connie his car. “Arnold Friend” is written on the side. “33, 19, 17,” is written on the back. Written next to a dent: “A woman driver did this.” Sitting in the car is a friend of Arnold’s, a man who hides his face behind a portable radio.

“He’s strange,” Arnold explains with a sly smile, before suggesting that Connie get in the car with them…

Smooth Talk is based on a short story by Joyce Carol Oates and, oh my God, is it ever creepy! The first half of the movie plays out like a typical coming-of-age teen film but then Arnold shows up in that car and the film turns into a nightmare. I spent almost the entire movie cringing, mostly because I once was Connie Wyatt, the only real difference being that I was even younger when I decided that I understood how the world worked better than my parents and I started rebelling. As I watched the movie, I found myself wondering what I would have done if Arnold Friend had pulled up in front of my house. Would I have gotten in the car or what I would have run back into the house, locked the door, and called the police? I’d like to think I would have done the smart thing but … no. Doing the smart thing would have meant admitting that the adults were right and there were situations that I couldn’t control or even really understand.

Laura Dern was 18 years old when she played 15 year-old Connie and she gave an amazing and naturalistic performance. When Treat Williams first appeared as Arnold, I thought that he was overacting but, as the film progressed, I came to see that he was actually perfectly cast and giving exactly the type of performance that the movie’s story needed. Arnold Friend, who speaks in outdated slang and always seems to be trying just a little bit too hard, has to be a slightly ridiculous figure because otherwise, no one would drop their guard enough to get into his car. As I watched the movie, I realized that it was a mistake to think of Arnold as being a human being. Instead, he’s a nightmare come to life.

Smooth Talk was a deeply unsettling film about growing up in an increasingly dangerous world. It’s right up there with Out of The Blue, Christiane F, and Blue Velvet among nightmarish coming-of-age stories.

Previous Insomnia Files:

Artwork of the Day: The Hero (by Earle Bergey)

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Dazzling Erin

by Earle Bergey

Music Video of the Day: Nimble Bastard by Incubus (2017, dir by James Larese)

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh no! A bunch of dogs have targeted Incubus for elimination!

However, what those dogs didn’t count on was the ability of Incubus to turn into a bunch of cats!

It’s a cute video, okay? I love cats and I’m actually starting to get over my fear of dogs.

Enjoy!

It’s Love, Part 4

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Dazzling Erin

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today is the day that we all celebrate a wonderful thing called love!

Valentine’s Day is not easy for everyone.

As we all know from Mr. Shakespeare, the course of true love never did run smooth.

Are you feeling hopeless this Valentine’s Day? Maybe these vintage romantic comic book covers will help!

Don’t worry. Love always wins.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day From The Shattered Lens!

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Doc Bowman

Happy Valentine’s Day from all the humans and the cat at the Shattered Lens!

Love is all around!

Artwork of the Day: It Must Be Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Dazzling Erin

by Erin Nicole

Music Video of the Day: Little Of Your Love by Haim (2017, dir by Paul Thomas Anderson)

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Sorry, everyone. This is one of those videos where you going to have to click on “Watch on YouTube” to actually watch it. I know. That sucks. Didn’t we fight a revolution and write a constitution to prevent stuff like this from happening? Oh well. Anyway…)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This fun little video from Haim features a lot of dancing and was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson! Someday, Anderson needs to direct a feature-length musical. Spielberg can produce that West Side Story remake if he wants but he needs to hire Anderson to direct it.

(Some may point out that it would have made more sense to have picked Anderson’s video for Haim’s Valentine for today’s music video of the day. They would be right, except for the fact that the Valentine video lasts 14 minutes while this one is a brisk 3 minutes and 39 seconds.)

Enjoy!

The TSL’s Grindhouse: Death Journey (dir by Fred Williamson)

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Imagine being caught up in the following situation.

You’re the district attorney of Manhattan. You’ve got a chance to convict the city’s most powerful mob boss on some pretty serious charges. In fact, you’ve got three eye witnesses who are willing to testify against him. Sounds pretty good so far, right?

But wait a minute! One of your eyewitnesses just died. Oh well. You’ve still got two left and surely, the police can protect two… oh wait. Hold on. Okay, you know that second witness that you had? Well, he just got blown up or something. Now, you’ve only got one witness left. He’s a weaselly little mob accountant named Finley (Bernard Kirby). He’s really not a bad guy, once you get past all of the Hawaiian shirts and his obsession with candy. The only problem is that Finley is in California and you’re in New York. How are you going to get Finley across the country without him getting blown up by the mob?

Well, let’s see. You could ask the government for help but when was the last time government managed to do anything without screwing it up. You could reach out to the FBI or something like that. Maybe Finley could go into witness protection. I mean, it’s worked for a countless number of other mob associates…

But no. There’s no way Finley could survive in witness protection. He’d probably give himself away as soon as someone offered him a candy bar. Seriously, Finley is really obsessed with chocolate.

No, what you’re going to do is you’re going to call up Jesse Crowder (Fred Williamson). Crowder used to be a cop but now he’s a private eye. He’s a lot like Shaft, except he doesn’t ever get political. There’s really nothing that Jesse Crowder can’t do. He’s a marksman. He’s a fighter. He’s a lover. When we first see him, he’s doing kung fu in slow motion. If you really needed proof that Jesse Crowder is the ultimate badass, consider this: he smokes cigars. You read that correctly.

Now, you may be asking yourself: why would the Manhattan district attorney know a Los Angeles private eye? Because everyone knows Jesse Crowder, that’s why.

Anyway, Jesse agrees to take the case. He’ll escort Finley to New York, on the condition that he get paid $25,000 upon arrival. Of course, if he has to kill a lot of people, Jesse expects to be paid $50,000.

Needless to say, Jesse does end up having to kill a lot of people. It’s not really his fault, of course. They just keep popping up and getting in his way. Jesse tries all sorts of ways to get Finley to New York. He tries to drive him. He tries to take the train. No matter what he does, the mob shows up. Is it possible that the mob had someone inside the district attorney’s office?

Fred Williamson not only starred in 1976’s Death Journey but he directed it as well. Though it’s obvious that Williamson didn’t have much of a budget to work with, he still did a fairly good job with Death Journey. Certainly, his direction here feels stronger than it did in Mean Johnny Barrows. In its own undeniably dumb way, Death Journey‘s a fun action movie. Williamson may not have been a great actor but he had a strong screen presence and it’s impossible not to be amused by the fact that, no matter what he does or where he goes, somewhat inevitably pops out of the shadows and tries to kill him. With the exception of that opening kung fu sequence that goes on forever, Death Journey is a fast-paced action film. The film only last 74 minutes so, right when you start to wonder if Williamson’s ever going to show any personality beyond being a cocky badass, the movie ends.

If you’re a fan of low-budget 70s action films, you’ll probably enjoy Death Journey. If you don’t enjoy it, just make sure Jesse Crowder doesn’t find out. After all, he knows karate.

An Olympic Film Review: Goldengirl (dir by Joseph Sargent)

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1979 film Goldengirl is a film that I had wanted to see ever since I first came across this trailer on one of the 42nd Street Forever compilation DVDs:

Wow, I wondered. What was Goldengirl’s secret and why was she ordering James Coburn to kiss her feet? For that matter, why did James Coburn have a haircut that made him look exactly like this old lady who used to live next door to my grandma in Fort Smith? What did it all have to do with the villain from The Spy Who Loved Me and just how drunk was Robert Culp when he shot his scenes? Even more importantly, why did Goldengirl keep running into that wall? That looked painful!

I did some research. (That’s a fancy way of saying that I looked the movie up on Wikipedia.) I discovered that Goldengirl was made in 1979. It was originally meant to be a television miniseries that would not only air during the 1980 Summer Olympics but which would feature Goldengirl competing at those Olympics! However, during production, it was decided to just use the material for a feature film instead. (Hmmmm, I thought, behind-the-scenes drama! Intriguing!) The film was released in June of ’79 and, despite one rave review from Vincent Canby in the New York Times, the film failed at the box office. Add to that, the U.S. ultimately boycotted the 1980 summer games, which made Goldengirl‘s Olympic-set climax a bit awkward.

I also discovered that Goldengirl is nearly impossible to see. It’s never been released on DVD or Blu-ray or any digital or streaming service. So, I resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably never see Goldengirl and, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really didn’t care that much.

However, for the past few days, I have been absolutely obsessed with the Winter Olympics. Even though it was a Summer Olympic movie, I decided to go on YouTube and see if anyone had uploaded Goldengirl since I last checked.

And guess what?

They had!

Now, here’s the problem. The two guys who uploaded Goldengirl also talked over the entire movie. Don’t get me wrong. The movie looked about as good as a VHS copy of a movie from 1979 is ever going to look. And I could still follow Goldengirl‘s story, even if I sometimes had to really strain to hear the dialogue over the two guys “commenting” on it. Still, it meant that I had to put a bit more effort into watching this movie than it perhaps deserved. It was kinda hard not to resent that.

Anyway, I have finally seen Goldengirl and I can now tell you that it’s a pretty lousy movie. Goldengirl is Goldine (Susan Anton). Her father is a German scientist who used to work for the Nazis. When he came to the United States, he decided to prove that his theories of eugenics were correct by adopting a daughter and breeding her to be the world’s greatest athlete. Working with a psychiatrist named Dr. Lee (Leslie Caron, for some reason), they have not only turned Goldine into the world’s greatest athlete but they’ve also turned her into a bright, smiling media personality. (Dr. Lee has trained Goldine, through the use of a vibrator, to always give the right answer when she’s asked a question.) Now, they just need Goldine to win three gold medals at the Summer Olympics and for PR agent Jack Dryden (James Coburn) to make Goldine into a star. Dryden is the only person who really cares about Goldine as something other than an experiment or a way to make money.

Goldine spends almost the entire movie running. There’s one running montage that seems to go on forever. Susan Anton was a model when she was cast as Goldine. She’s got the right look to be a celebrity but she’s never convincing as an Olympic-class athlete. Whenever Goldine competes, we either get a close-up of Anton running in slow-motion with no other runners around her or else a long-shot that’s designed to keep us from noticing that Anton isn’t really on the track.

Really, that’s entire film. On the basis of the trailer, I was expecting that Goldengirl would turn out to be a robot or something like that. Instead, it just turns out that her stepfather has spent years injecting her with vitamins and hormones and now, as a result, she has diabetes. Seriously, that’s it. She gets pretty mad when she finds out that her handlers have put her health at risk just so she could win a race. But then she goes ahead and runs the race anyway so I guess it was all for the best. Seriously, that’s the entire freaking movie. It doesn’t help that Anton’s acting is amateurish and the rest of the cast seems bored. Only Curt Jurgens really makes much of an impression, mostly because he’s too sinister not to be memorable.

The trailer is better than the movie. That’s the secret of Goldengirl.