As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 10 pm et, #FridayNightFlix presents 2010’s MacGruber!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
Today’s scene that I love comes from my favorite Greydon Clark movie, 1990’s The Forbidden Dance!
Yes, this scene is technically a spoiler. It’s got music! It’s got dancing! It has some deeply questionable stereotypes and some obvious virtue signaling! It has that classic line, “We should just boycott their ass!” It’s got Sid Haig! It’s got everything you could ever hope for!
And remember — this film is dedicated to the preservation of the rain forest.
4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.
Today, Through the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 82nd birthday to the one-of-a-kind director, Greydon Clark! And that means that it’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Greydon Clark Films
Angels Brigade (1979, dir by Greydon Clark, DP: Dean Cundey)
Without Warning (1980, dir by Greydon Clark, DP: Dean Cundey)
Final Justice (1985, dir by Greydon Clark, DP: Nicholas Josef von Sternberg)
The Forbidden Dance Is Lambada (1990, dir by Greydon Clark, DP: R. Michael Stringer)
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
It’s time to work at another youth center!
Episode 3.12 “Oh Lucky Man!”
(Dir by Dan Gordon, originally aired on December 10th, 1986)
Jonathan and Mark are working at a youth center …. again!
Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with Jonathan and Mark working at a youth center. From what I’ve seen of this show, Michael Landon seemed to have a natural rapport with kids and Victor French’s grouchiness was always put to good use whenever he had to deal with someone younger. It’s just hard not to notice that Jonathan and Mark seemed to go to several youth centers each episode and they almost always dealt with exact same issue. Some kid is angry or insecure. He may not have a father in his life. Jonathan helps the kid admit his anger and learn to trust whoever wanted to adopt him. Usually, this seemed to involve helping the kid find the courage to play a sport or something similar.
In this episode, the youth center is run by an ex-con named Jake (Thalmus Rasulal). Mark was the one who arrested Jake and sent him to prison but Jake so impressed Mark with how he turned his life around that Mark ended up testifying in favor of giving Jake parole. Jake opened up a youth center to “keep the kids out of the gangs.” And again, there’s nothing wrong with that. I admire anyone who comes out of prison and attempts to do something good for their community. One of the truly shameful things about our justice system is that it’s been forgotten that prison is meant to rehabilitate. We focus so much on punishment that we end up forgetting that we’re supposed to be a nation built on second chances. Jake has made something out of himself and now, he’s giving back.
(And yes, that is your When Did Lisa Marie Become A Bleeding Heart? moment of the week,)
The problem is that his youth center desperately needs money. It looks like everything is going to be alright when Mark wins $5,000,000 while taking the kids out for lunch. Mark plans to give the money to the youth center. He also plans to be there for a troubled kid named Brady (Ian Michael Giatti). But when Mark is approached by Nina Van Slyke (Shannon Tweed), those plans change. Nina claims to be the head of a charity and she convinces Mark that her charity could do a lot more good with the money than the youth center. Mark finds himself falling in love with Nina and he even tells Jonathan that they’re partnership might be over. However, Nina is actually a con artist who just wants to take Mark’s money for herself.
Will Mark see the error of his ways? Of course! And he’ll apologize to Brady for missing Brady’s big game and he’ll keep the youth center open by giving the money to Jake. This is Highway to Heaven. There’s not a cynical note to be found in this show.
That said, this episode was a bit uneven with the soap opera-like scenes of Nina and her partner (Roy Thinnes) plotting to cheat Mark never gelling with the more earnest scenes of Jonathan helping out at the youth center. As always, this episode was well-intentioned and about as sincere as you can get. The strength of this show is that it’s so sincere. But Shannon Tweed felt like she was acting in a totally different show from Highway to Heaven. As a result, this episode never quite came together as a cohesive unit.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 94th birthday to actress and singer, Mamie Van Doren! Here she is performing today’s song of the day, The Girl Who Invented Rock and Roll!
Today’s scene that I love features future President Ronald Reagan, giving what he considered to be his best performance in 1942’s Kings Row. He liked one of the lines in this scene so much that he used it as the title for autobiography.
On what would have been Ronald Reagan’s 114th birthday, here is today’s scene that I love.
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!
Today, on what would have been his 93rd birthday, TSL pays tribute to the great Francois Truffaut. No one captured the act of falling in love in life, people, and cinema with the skill, sensitivity, and humor of Francois Truffaut. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Francois Truffaut Films
The 400 Blows (1959, dir by François Truffaut, DP: Henri Decae)
Shoot the Piano Player (1960, dir by François Truffaut, DP: Raoul Coutard)
The Story of Adele H. (1975, dir by Francois Truffaut, DP: Nestor Almendros)
The Last Metro (1980, dir by François Truffaut, DP: Nestor Alemndros)
Today’s music video of the day is a rather moody piece of nightlife from Shower Curtain. Watching this video really took me back to the day when they was nothing better than going out at one in the morning and being jaded.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.
(Dir by John Strysik, originally aired on November 18th, 1990)
Tom (played by a young Matt LeBlanc) stands in front of an old timey barbershop and remembers when he was a teenager and he learned the truth about the place. His friend, Kevin (Wil Wheaton), lived across the street from the barbershop and was convinced that the two elderly barbers who owned the place were actually vampires. Kevin pointed out the customers were going inside with big jars of blood and then coming with little jars of blood. Tommy remained skeptical. I’m not sure why. Jars of blood are a HUGE red flag. Still, Tommy warned Kevin that if he continued to follow his vampire theory, he would probably get kicked out of all of his honors classes. That was a risk that Kevin was willing to take.
Tommy and Kevin snuck into the barbershop one night and searched for evidence of vampires. Kevin was serious while Tommy treated the whole thing as just being a big joke. They were caught by the two barbers, Mr. Innes (John O’Leary) and Dr. D’Onofrio (Al Mancini), who revealed that they were not vampires. Instead, they were just two guys who worshipped a giant slug creature who lived in the basement. The slug creature stayed alive by drinking the blood that was brought into the barbershop. In return, it offered up a smaller amount of its blood for the donors to drink. The blood apparently allowed to people to live for a very long time. So, I guess they were vampires but not really.
In the present, Tom gets a shave and a haircut and allows Kevin to draw some of his blood. Then Kevin gets in the barber chair and Tom picks up the razor blade. They both have noticeable scars on their neck.
This was an odd episode. It was full of atmosphere and Tom’s voice over contributed to the creepy vibe. It was generally well-acted. Not even Wil Wheaton was too annoying. The premise of the episode was intriguing but the episode’s pay-off fell a little flat. I was happy that the show did something other than vampires but the weird slug creature really wasn’t that compelling either. It felt like something out a Lovecraft short story but Lovecraft’s style of horror always works better when it’s something that the reader has to imagine as opposed to actually seeing. This episode played out like an odd dream. Even the ending feels like a fragment from a bigger narrative that has been lost to time.
Overall, though, I liked this episode and I appreciated the strange atmosphere. Monsters was always the most fun when it was weird and this episode was definitely that.
Through the Shattered Lens 