Well, the calendar over the crack on my wall tells me that it was 15 years ago today that I felt the twitch of the bored nerve that led to the launching of Video WatchBlog. Those early years were an exciting time, and sometimes it still is. What I like most about blogging is that it allows a group of readers to be present when a new enthusiasm, a new question or pursuit is at its most fresh and intoxicating, before the rough edges of a rushed delivery are smoothed away. Thanks to everyone who is still accompanying me on this (I hope) useful journey - much appreciated.
Here's a look at the movies that were opening in the Greater Cincinnati area a half century ago this week:
I didn't see this film till a few years later, but I was very attentive to the ads for PERFORMANCE when they first appeared. Some ads told me, "Somewhere In Your Head There's A Wild Electric Dream - See It In PERFORMANCE." I knew I had a wild electric dream in my head and I wanted to see it! But I was not yet of age. I soothed my wounds by latching onto the Original Soundtrack Album, which was an incredible experience and remains so. I still think "Memo From Turner" is far and away the most interesting song Jagger/Richards have penned. When I later managed to see PERFORMANCE for the first time, it was a nearly private screening of a 16mm print with a crummy soundtrack - it was impossible to understand the dialogue, but it didn't matter. Focusing on the adventures in editing, framing, contrasting it proposed were startling enough for a first go-around. It would be years before I started exploring the meaning of it all. So this ad represents a paradigm shift in what one might avail in a small neighborhood cinema. Life had changed.
I can never forgive the company that distributed DARKER THAN AMBER for omitting any reference in this ad to the film's stars (Rod Taylor, Suzy Kendall, William Smith) or its director (Robert Clouse), much less best-selling author John D. MacDonald, without whom. Needless to say, if you went to see this on the big screen (if a drive-in really counts as a big screen), you had plenty to smile about the next day.
Not a Streisand fan, but this is more watchable than most of her vehicles. Bonus: Jack Nicholson sings and plays the sitar. Bob Newhart, Irene Handl, Roy Kinnear, and Pamela Brown are also present.
I saw this once at a drive-in and probably shouldn't trust my memory, which was much younger and more clueless. What I remember is that it was well-produced and shot, but - aside from Franco Nero - it was cast with second stringers. And director Christopher Miles is no Ken Russell.
I've never seen THE SWAPPERS, but the IMDb tells me it was British, originally titled THE WIFE SWAPPERS (for those who might stumble in expecting a story about a flea market), and directed by Derek Ford (KEEP IT UP JACK, WHAT'S UP NURSE?). The story? "Six unconnected stories involving wife and husband swapping, or swinging, are described in a titillating way while analyzed by a pseudo psychologist." I've never seen BORA BORA either, but its poster boasts that it was "Twice Banned In Europe!" It was directed by the interesting Italian writer-director Ugo Liberatore (whose scripts include Damiano Damiani's THE EMPTY CANVAS and THE WITCH IN LOVE) and stars Haydée Politoff (imminent star of Eric Rohmer's LA COLLECTIONEUSE and Javier Aguirre's COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE). It's not the mondo movie it sounds, but is rather a sexy romantic drama about an estranged couple forced to confront their differences while stranded on a desert island. Tie on RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP, with Mimsy Farmer's classic slo-mo acid freakout and music by The Seeds and The Chocolate Watchband, and you've got a pretty fabulous drive-in menu at hand.
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