SIXTY YEARS AGO TODAY

Sixty Years Ago Today was Wednesday, September 25, 1963….Dominican Republic President Juan Bosch was overthrown in a military coup, only seven months after he had become the nation's first democratically elected leader. Military leaders installed a group of three civilians, headed by Emilio de Los Santos as President, to preside over the nation….The U.S. House of Representatives voted 271-155 to approve the reduction of the federal income tax rate. The bill would pass the U.S. Senate, and be signed into law on February 26, 1964. (Wait! What’s that? Does that mean I’ll pay less tax when I file for 1963??? Sweeeet!)...But here’s yer top story…

Top song in the country was BLUE VELVET, crooned by Bobby Vinton. In the UK, the top song was SHE LOVES YOU by some band with a misspelled insect name….

BOBBY VINTON-BLUE VELVET

  

Local TV that night featured THE VIRGINIAN, MYSTERY THEATER, THE ELEVENTH HOUR, CBS REPORTS, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE DANNY KAYE SHOW (this was the premiere episode of this show, which probably wasn’t that good, but which I watched each and every time it was on. So there.), THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET, THE PATTY DUKE SHOW “Paul Lynde gives intelligence test to Patty and the computer rates her a genius.”, THE PRICE IS RIGHT, BEN CASEY, and CHANNING (“Noreen Corcoran plays pretty co-ed who accuses professor [Leslie Nielsen] of making improper advances.”  Hmm. Wonder if young David Mamet watched this??).

Here’s what was playing in Louisville movie theaters on the day in question…

So there I was, sixty years ago, no longer a grade school kid, now a big ol’ Junior High kid. Thirteen years, eight months, five days old, and didn’t know a damn thing about nuthin’. 

I have one memory of my first day of 7th grade… when 6th grade ended, girls were still ooky. They were still the enemy: cootie-ridden, long-haired, doll-playing pests. Everybody knew that. Well, all us guys anyway. But in 7th grade--the very first day--the change was obvious. Guys had girlfriends. And the guys who didn’t have girlfriends wanted girlfriends. Guys were talking to girls as much as to the guys. What the hell was going on? I thought maybe an official letter had been sent to all 13 year old boys and mine had gotten lost in the mail.

I didn’t understand it and I didn’t much like it. Maybe I would have joined into the festivities myself--I mean…girls weren’t THAT bad-- but my horrible, innate shyness kept me right where I was. And where I would stay for an embarrassing length of time.

My movie today came on the late show, Channel 11. The fact that this was a school night made no difference to my viewing plans. Since my dad had split four years earlier, I was always staying up late. My poor sweet soft-hearted mom couldn’t and wouldn’t make me go to bed. Sometimes she’d say, “Rickie, you shouldn’t stay up, you need some sleep.”  I’d say, “No, Momma, I’m fine.” and that was it. No arguments, no doubts. I’d stay up. If there was a movie worth watching, I watched it. If not, I’d watch The Tonight Show. First my idol, Jack Paar, later the new kid, Johnny Carson. 

Tonight it was a movie and that is why we are assembled here. That night I saw, for the first time…

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

Yeah, a high-class biggie. This was, I think, the third Val Lewton film for me. I’d already seen THE BODY SNATCHER and ISLE OF THE DEAD, so this would mean I’d have seen one-third of Lewton’s horror output. Three of the nine.

I loved this one, as who wouldn’t? Another winner from Lewton. But I don’t think it hit me like those other two already seen. I have strong, specific memories from my first viewings of both THE BODY SNATCHER and ISLE OF THE DEAD. My 60 year-old recollections of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE are much more sparse. I remember that there was some calypso music and I remember a general impression of the famous walk through the canefields, and that’s it. 

I’ve seen this one at least three or four times in the last 60 years, but it’s been quite a while since my last look, so I’m ready and excited to watch it again. Roll ‘em!

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The music under the opening credits sounds more suited to THE GHOST SHIP or THE SEA WOLF. I guess Roy Webb saw a boat and figured, “hey, sea music!”...

“Any similarity to actual persons, living, dead, or possessed, is simply coincidental.” Cute…

James Ellison would never be mistaken for a great actor. He’d hardly be mistaken for an actor at all. This, however, is probably his best work ever. That’s what a really good script does for you. Does TO you…

Apparently, in prior viewings, I’d simply taken Frances Dee for granted. But it’s easy to see now that this is a terrific performance…

Boy oh boy…the studio hands you the title I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and you turn it into the poetry of nightmare. Hats off to you, Mr. Lewton…

I thought I had a good memory of Sir Lancelot, but I was a little surprised by his somewhat sinister presence…

I wonder if the author of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES took any of his inspiration from this--JANE EYRE AND ZOMBIES…

Frances Dee is quite beautiful but when shot in direct profile, care should be taken. Her uber-strong jawline and seriously jutting jaw need caution in pictureizing…

Of course, the most famous sequence in the film is the walk through the canefields, the scene in which our leading lady actually does “walk with a zombie”. And it earns its fame....

It’s the lulls in Lewton--the frequent quiet sections of civil conversation and uncivil silence--which turn off some viewers. But the lulls are intentional. Lewton treasures his set-pieces of horror, so he nestles them in a comfortable blanket of calm, allowing them to burst or, more often, slither out into the light…

Carrefour (Darby Jones) is an incredibly impressive zombie…

I’m thinking that this is the only Hollywood voodoo ceremony which feels even halfway real. (Though I may be shortchanging BLACK MOON and/or SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW. Need to take a second look.)...

The character shift in Tom Conway’s “Rochester” is maybe a mite quick, a bit unsupported, a little too easy. Perhaps a more subtle change is too much for a 68 minute horror movie, however high-minded…

I’m bothered that “Rochester” stands by while his mother grieves the death of her other son, and makes no move to comfort her…

The watery denouement of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a romantic ending for a horror film only equalled, or likely surpassed, by the final scene of SON OF DRACULA….

I’ve known since I was 13 years old that this was a terrific horror film. Every viewing over the years has only reinforced that. So it’s particularly interesting, and sort of gratifying, that this latter-years look actually shows an even better movie than I’d always thought. That was a nice gift.

  We have arrived at the final installment of our ground-mending, non-thought provoking, utterly pointless review of YouTube Movie Reactions. What I like to call THE BOYS’ OWN GUIDE TO STUFF PEOPLE SAY NO MATTER HOW STUPID.

This episode covers the 1980 laugh-fest AIRPLANE. I think, along with THE BIG LEBOWSKI, and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, this is the most-reacted-upon comedy of them all. 

I first saw AIRPLANE on the big screen on the very day it opened over 40 years ago. Going in, I knew it was a comedy, but that’s all. I loved it that day and laughed so often and so hard (in an almost-empty theater) that I wasn’t sure if this was a hilarious movie or if I’d lost my freaking mind.

Before watching any of these reactions, I thought I had a fair idea how the movie would play to these youngsters. There would be some things which would seem dated, some references which might not register, and some things which would be familiar to them from other sources (“Don’t call me Shirley” most notably.) But all-in-all, I thought this was pretty basic 10-jokes-a-minute-comedy and would play now just about as it did then. But there were some surprises for me, and some belated awareness.

Some people who were so familiar in ‘80 didn’t register now: Ethel Merman…”is that really her?”  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar…one lady recognized him, uh, maybe. “I think that’s him. I think so.” Others had no idea who he was. Barbara Billingsley: not surprising I guess, but not a single person recognized the elderly lady who “speaks jive” as the mother of Wally and the Beav.

The ancient commercial being mocked by “Jim never vomits at home” does not, of course, mean a damn thing now.

There’s a mild laugh or two at George Zipp, “the Zipper”, but only for the funny name itself. Nobody here had ever heard of Knute Rockne’s “win just one for the Gipper.” Of course, in ‘80, Ronald Reagan was running for President and he had played George Gipp in the old movie and was nicknamed “the Gipper”.

The smoking airline ticket got some chuckles but was mostly lost in the reactors’ disbelief that there had EVER been smoking on an airplane.

Is the Mayo Clinic still around? Nobody seemed to realize that it was a genuine place being joked about. 

Nobody got the parody of the FROM HERE TO ETERNITY beach scene, while it was about 50-50 on the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER bit. Most recognized the music, only about half knew it was from “some movie”, nobody got the title or mentioned Travolta.

There was a disturbing amount of “that’s just silly”, “that’s stupid”, “why does he…” and such. I fear for the national sense of humor.

Unsurprising sign of the times: “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” gets the expected “Eeeuuw…that’s not funny.”

Saddest of all--one of the true genius aspects of AIRPLANE was the casting. Using such familiar folks as Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen in comic versions of the kinds of roles we’d seen them play a hundred times over the years. 

Now, though, Bridges and Stack are simply nameless old actors. Nielsen is sometimes recognized, but always as a comedy guy, a role he never played till AIRPLANE took him there. And, of course, he wasn’t ALWAYS recognized. “Hey, look, it’s Steve Martin!”

All told, the movie still got big laughs from all of them (except for one young lady who, I fear, has never laughed and doesn’t know of the possibility of laughter.) It was a little sad to note just how much of what seemed permanent memory has become just…nothing.

 

Here we are again in the world of YouTube movie reactions. As before, most of these “reactors” are young women, and all of them claim (and I believe them on this front) to have not seen the movie before.

This time the movie is SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. I’d guess, not having taken a headcount, that this might be THE single most often reacted-to movie on YouTube. Here’s what folks had to say…

…Almost all of them are initially confused by Clarice running through the woods. “Don’t run in the wilderness by yourself!”  “Is somebody chasing her?”  “It’s too muddy.”  Only when we see “FBI” on the trainer’s cap does the truth occur to them.

….The reaction to Dr. Chilton is immediate and strong. “I hate him”  “Ugh, what a creep.”  And ultimately, nobody minds at all that Hannibal is “having an old friend for dinner.”

…”Hannibal Lecter was a real person…right?”

….”What? Is it possible for a person to swallow his own tongue?”

….Maybe a third of them recognize Anthony Hopkins’ name. Maybe a couple of those know who he is. And who is he? Why, he’s Thor’s dad. Of course.

…I especially loved the one lady who didn’t know Hopkins from Adam. After his first couple of scenes, she nods approvingly and says, “They chose a good actor.”  Glad you approve, sweetheart.

….Almost all of them are very curious about just how Lecter got his hands on Chilton’s ballpoint pen. They were so unanimously curious that I started to wonder myself. I did come up with a simple possibility which satisfied me. But, ultimately, we don’t need to know. We just go with the flow, you know?

….When Buffalo Bill is about to grab his next “special lady”, there is clear certainty that she absolutely should not fall for the ploy of a guy needing help with a sofa. There is no question of this. They just can’t believe she’d be that stupid. With one exception. One lady said, “oh, go help him…look at him, he’s having a hard time. I’d help him. I’d go help him right away.”  You have to appreciate her kindness and question her gullibility.

….Everybody loves animals, right? Well, all these ladies certainly do. They seem to care much more about the cat in the window waiting for the kidnap victim than they are about the victim herself. “Oh, no, not in front of the cat?”  As the kidnap victim is beaten, abused, and carried off, at least two of the ladies were really concerned: “What’s going to happen to the cat?”  “Who’s going to feed the cat?”

….On one of our visits to Buffalo Bill’s cellar, when we see the victim down in the well, one daring lady had a suggestion for her:  “What if you PRINCE OF PERSIA up the side of the well?”

….I’d say that two out of three are adamant that Clarice must not go down in the cellar alone after Bill.  “No, no, go get backup.”  “Don’t go down there, you don’t know the place.”

A couple of the ladies felt otherwise:  “Yeah, she’s gotta go down there. That poor girl needs help.”  

….And finally, the FBI cake, which gets a nice closeup, is highly approved.  “Oh, nice cake.” “Wow, look at that cake.”  “I could do with some cake.”  And best of all, from a few of the ladies… “CAKE!”

I understand that it’s unlikely that these “reactors” are going to go all negative on the movies. I also understand that most of the movies chosen are well worthy of high praise, but still, as I read it, all these “reactors” were genuinely taken with SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. As they well should be.

 

We're back to the subject of YouTube movie reactions (see previous post for additional

twaddle). One of the most-reacted-to movies is the classic PSYCHO. Of course, it's

natural that young folk wouldn't have seen this 1960 release, might know nothing about

it. Still, to an oldtimer like me, it's an ongoing surprise that ANYONE can be ignorant of

this great movie. But it's true.

Here are some notable reactions.

Every single one has heard of Hitchcock, but some are not sure what his first name is.

"Albert?" "Alford?" And some aren't sure why they've heard of him, just that his name

is familiar.

Most of the folks know that there’s a shower scene, or at least, something to do with a

shower.

Everyone recognizes the shrieking violin music.

And Bernard Herrman’s music gets all of them right from the first note. Lots of “this

music is great” “this music is so tense/scary/driving”.

About half of them didn’t know the movie would be in black and white, and more than

half tell us that it will be their first monochrome film.

Several comment on the peeping Tom notion of Hitch’s camera entering through the

hotel window, but none of them connect it with Hitch making the audience into voyeurs.

Here’s a sign of the changing times: almost all of them are quite confused why Sam and

Marion would keep their affair secret. I want to gently inform these children that once

upon a time--including 1960--even the simplest, most uninvolved extra-marital sex was

a no-no.

Probably another thing not particular to the 21st century, but certainly more

pronounced: all the women (and nearly all these “reactors” are women) are genuinely

repulsed by Frank Albertson’s character, the contributor of the $40,000 to the story, the

man who buys off unhappiness, and the guy who flirts (to put it nicely) with Janet

Leigh. I’m sure he was never seen as a pleasant character, but now he’s a Me Too

nightmare.

When we first meet Norman Bates, everyone agrees that “he’s so cute” or “he’s so

sweet”. It’s the dinner scene in the stuffed birds room when everybody realizes he’s

not so sweet after all.  One lady blurted out “he reminds me of Andrew Garfield!”

And I guess I can see that.

Another example of 21st century women’s view: Norman reveals the peephole and

spies on Janet Leigh. I expected this reaction, but I didn’t expect it to be this universal.

I figured the reactions would range from “Ugh, what a creep!” to “oh, that’s scary.”

Instead, every single reaction started this way, “Eeuuwwww!”

Each and every one assumes that Janet Leigh is the star (even though most don’t know

who the actress was) and no way she’ll be killed. A couple of them were even certain

that she wasn’t really dead. One reactor wasn’t sold till her body was locked in the trunk,

and even then she said, “Is she…is she REALLY dead?” And when the car sank in the

swamp, she offered, “maybe she’s going to come back as a zombie.”

They also all totally bought into the importance of the 40K and all were surprised,

shocked that the money went into the swamp. One young lady, in truth, seemed much

more shocked by the loss of the money than by the murder of Marion.

One person’s main complaint about the movie: Too little blood in the shower scene.

Everybody was shocked--like “jump scare” shocked--by the murder of Arbogast.

But they were already shocked that the detective entered the Bates home without

knocking.

Hitch would have been so happy. Even after the “who’s that woman in Greenville

Cemetery?” scene, nobody catches on. Almost all assume that Mrs. Bates is truly

still alive and not a single one yet suspected Norman.

And the so-often criticized wrap-up by psychiatrist Simon Oakland, actually pleases

EVERYONE. Even the one girl who seemed to understand Norman’s psychosis as

soon as she saw him in the dress still needed Oakland’s help to get it all straight.

The only complaint any of them expressed about that monologue was one lady who

thought Oakland “was so full of himself.”

All in all, each and every one of them thought it was a genuinely great movie.

And it played, to all these folks who didn’t know what to expect, just exactly as

Hitchcock would have hoped it to play 63 years earlier.

Congratulations, Albert!