Ornette: Made in America (1985)

Tonight, we see the legendary free jazz player Ornette Coleman at Massey Hall. His warm reception was a delightful change from all those years of being a scourge to the jazz world.

In fact, this thunderous applause he was receiving for every song reminded me of the opening of Shirley Clarke's impressive documentary of the man. The film opens in the present tense with his band Prime Time (which adapted his theories to jazz fusion)- and it is ironically amusing seeing him play before a black-tie crowd in his native Texas. Yes, Coleman has come home again.... and to open arms, however this warm greeting was hard won. In Coleman's own words, the sudden appreciation of his work is this: "I guess if you live long enough, you get to be an elder statesman."

40 years on, the jury is still out on Ornette Coleman. His "harmolodic" theory was/is one of the foundations of the free jazz movement. His original quartet (with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins) was the scourge of the jazz world in the late 1950's... and even today the revolutionary sax player is still a hot topic for debate. The beauty of ORNETTE: MADE IN AMERICA is that it doesn't try to change one's mind about him. It is however a fascinating study of a figure who really sacrificed a lot for his unique voice.

It is enough to see Coleman practice his music in one of the most unholy places in Urbana (an abandoned building often populated by addicts and knife-wielding crazies)- fittingly working on outlaw music among other societal outcasts. However, this film pushes Ornette's legacy even further-- he often comes across as some kind of pop icon or superhero (as best exemplified by the cartoonish image of his likeness flying across a starry backdrop)- while he may be more mainstream than ever, this silly bit pushes it a little too far.

Sadly, ORNETTE MADE IN America is not widely available. My one and only screening of this in 2001 at Toronto's Cinematheque was made available by a film print which came and went under the arm of someone from New York the same day. It is a revealing, complex and somewhat moving portrait of a person who stands by his art regardless of its interpretation.

Supernatural (1933)

Here is a real treat- Carole Lombard, best known for her comedy roles like NOTHING SACRED, MY MAN GODFREY and TO BE OR NOT TO BE, has an early and unconventional role in this underrated thriller made by the brothers Halperin (Victor and Edward) after their surprise hit WHITE ZOMBIE (a great public domain favourite that still enchants us today). Thus, once they were called to the Paramount backlot, they made what is probably their most polished piece of work in a technical standpoint. Perhaps it lacks that unique mood and atmosphere of their earlier feature, but this entertaining piece of B movie chiller conventions is very well done.

Carole Lombard sees a phony spiritualist who claims that he can contact her dead brother... and even offers up the notion that the young man was murdered! Thus, complications evolve from this twist, naturally, and the result is a very entertaining 65 minutes, which has a marvelous ending. This is one of those horror movies that acts rather ambigiously about its supernatural quotient- rather, it plays like a melodrama and mystery with vaguely otherworldly elements. In this case, it works better, because we're never sure if some peculiar moments are due to outside forces or just weird coincidences. Also fun to see Randolph Scott as the love interest, when he had not yet found his cowboy image.

Strange Behaviour (1981)

When this came out amidst all those dead teenager movies, some may have written it off as such (especially when it was released with the alternate title of DEAD KIDS), but a cult has developed for this movie (I am among them), as it is a strange melange of horror and 50's sci-fi. Kids get money to undergo experiments at the local university, and then end up being programmed to kill. Michael Murphy is the top cop in the archetypal small town who investigates the murders and opens more than a few skeletal closets. While rooted in 50's milieu, it is still very contemporary, not least helped by a thick Tangerine Dream score. In fact, this movie would make a perfect double bill with BLUE VELVET, as both take a picture perfect piece of Rockwell and distort the hell out of it. In another age, Michael Laughlin produced films like TWO LANE BLACKTOP. This, and his sister film STRANGE INVADERS (pushing the 1950's evocation even further), show his promise as a unique director in his own right. I wish he had done more.

Alien Contamination (1980)

I haven't been big on Italian fantasy cinema since Mario Bava left this planet, but oh brother, this one is just hilarious trash that is perfect viewing for this time of year. In fact, throughout this week, my films du jour are highlighting some lesser known scary movie. For me, it is the second-tier films that are so fun to watch around now- there's so many of them to discover! Anyway, some egg things break open, and before long we have yet another ALIEN clone, with lots of goo and a thundering score by Goblin. I love the dubbed voices that have studio echo, yet we're supposed to be hearing their muted voices when they have space helmets on. Now you've got an idea of its goofy charm. I know its on DVD and everything, but for me, this is the perfect title to watch on the old ratty Paragon VHS transfer.

The Dead Don't Die (1974)

George Hamilton investigates some suspicious goings-on at a morgue, and soon finds out the title truth. I saw this on the late late late show 20 years ago, and dismissed it, but today it looks better than ever. What Curtis Harrington has done in the made-for-TV chiller is make it entirely in the look and style of a 1930's programmer, right down to the art deco credits. And if the plot is somewhat hoary for the 1970's, well it is perfect pulp for the then 40-year old world it creates. I've always felt that Harrington (an important figure in 1940's avant-garde cinema) had the career that Kenneth Anger wishes he could have had in Tinseltown. Harrington's features are often melodramas which evoke a style of of old Hollywood moviemaking. This one is a real winner.

The Fog (1980)

Forget about the remake, see this one instead. I grew up close to a lakeside port town, so perhaps that's why this movie has a special resonance for me. In any case, if you're looking for Halloween fare, you can't go wrong with this. 100 year-old ghosts come back to wreak vengeance in a small beachside town, as a weird fog drapes over the place. What makes this movie work for me is John Carpenter's mastery of atmosphere and offscreen imagery. This is movie that would have done Val Lewton proud. It is a minor classic of the genre. I can't believe that Carpenter himself produced the remake, and who is to say, perhaps it is worth it's salt, but this remake madness just has to stop somewhere. I hope he doesn't decide to remake DARK STAR into stoner big-budget space movie with Will Ferrell.

Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

Today I picked up the DVD of HOUSE OF WAX- a film I've never particularly been all enthused about. But I bought it because the bonus feature on the disc was the movie that it remade (and tried to bury)- MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, featuring the great Lionel Atwill as the madman who runs the museum, Fay Wray who snoops around the mysterious goings-on at the attraction (namely pondering why these wax bodies are so lifelike), and Glenda Farrell as a wise-cracking reporter. I used to watch it every Halloween weekend, and now I have a darn good reason to again. Shot in two-strip Technicolor, this is a melange of horror, crime and newspaper genre pictures of the early 1930's and it is very entertaining. To me, it is still miles ahead of the Vincent Price 3D remake.

Nunzio (1978)

One of my favourite buried treasures of the 1970's, this wonderful film features David Proval (whom you may remember as one of the four guys in MEAN STREETS, and "The Sopranos") as a mentally-handicapped grocery delivery man who thinks he is Superman. This character-driven movie is full of lovely vignettes, like where he falls in love with a girl at the pastry shop, and those very moving scenes with his tough brother Jamesy (James Andronica, who wrote the script). It is touching and honest. I couldn't believe me eyes when I saw it in a Bravo TV listing last year, and after seeing it again after 20 years, I remembered the movie as though I saw it the week before, so much has this affected me. I'm happy to have a tape of it, but hopefully someone will wise up and put this on DVD (and while they're at, the rest of the movies made by Paul Williams... and no, I don't mean the singer).

Someone To Love (1987)

One of the few Henry Jaglom films I've ever sat through more than once, I've always had a soft spot for this low-key comedy-drama. The actor-director more or less plays himself, and invites his friends to an empty movie theatre so they can sit around and talk about love and loneliness. The director is more or less himself too, and delivers a fascinating and maddening montage of moments with little regard to structure or continuity. Even so, as much as his films typically infuriate me, I do admire how he makes these little movies on his own terms and they do carry some noble truths in the baggage. Andrea Marcovicci has a lovely role, and Jaglom's mentor, Orson Welles, is posthumously tacked in as a spirit or muse or something, whom Jaglom chats with periodically, often nodding at any kind of philosophy that comes from this great sage.

There's Always Vanilla (1972)

Yesterday was the official street date of this, but because we had other plans for Oct. 18, we're honouring today with this title-- a long-lost George Romero counterculture film which has never been legitimately released on video. This movie is the only non-horror effort of the famed zombie director, and he has always refused to talk about this film. I don't know why, because I've always liked this seriocomic study of a freewheeling man's courtship with an actress leading to unhappiness. While sometimes the structure doesn't work, Romero's direction and editing are top-notch. This is released on one side of a double sided DVD which headlines SEASON OF THE WITCH. This under-appreciated horror film has been released by Anchor Bay before, but kudos to these guys for releasing this missing link in George Romero's filmography. Considering how rare this film is, the DVD transfer is actually quite good, considering it comes from a scratchy print source.

Space is the Place (1974)

Tonight we saw the Sun Ra Arkestra at the Lula Lounge, now being led by Marshall Allen. Even though Sun Ra left this planet years ago, it is nice to see this band carrying on the tradition- it was a phenomenal concert. Thus, it's only fitting that tonight's feature is this whacked-out space opera featuring Sun Ra landing on Earth to free the black population. Equal parts Sun Ra autobiography, blaxploitation vehicle and civil rights anecdote, this movie obviously isn't for everyone, with its gritty footage of the Arkestra playing full blast, LSD-drenched visuals and overplaying, but it's a memorable hour to be sure.

Calendar (1993)

Atom Egoyan directs and even stars in this "little movie" which I think is his masterpiece. He plays a man who every month has a dinner date with a different Armenian woman that perfoms precisely the same actions. This repetition is a cathartic way for him to come to turns with the departure of his wife, who ran away with their Armenian tour guide while they were travelling on a photo assignment. Basically a three-person character study (not counting the fleeting 12 women in the calendar year), a fourth character can be considered to be the camera itself which recorded a lot of the images from the shoot that Eogyan watches obsessively. In Egoyan's world, video images are not only memories but surrogate companionship. And despite that this is a film of even smaller scale than those he was making at the time, it is still very complex, and assembled in Egoyan's typical non-linear style.

More American Graffiti (1979)

Nobody really wanted this sequel to the George Lucas blockbuster, but any 70's movie with Paul LeMat is worth your time, as far as I'm concerned. This followup features Paul LeMat, Candy Clark, Charlie Martin Smith, Cindy Williams and Ronny Howard each in vignettes of a New Years Eve of a different year in the 1960s. Cindy is somehow caught up in a demonstration, Candy falls in with the Haight Ashbury crowd, Charlie is in Vietnam, and Paul? Well, he wants to win a stock car race. Each story thread, while taking place years apart from each other, is told simultaneously. It doesn't disguise how rather thin each of the four stories are, but interweaving these different dramas show how in multi-faceted ways how the Vietnam war affects them. The LeMat sequence represents the age of innocence that is completely lost int he other segments.

Whatever happened to director Bill Norton (he also gave us CISCO PIKE at the beginning of the 70's- what a guy.)

Sunday (1997)

The best film of 1997 for me was NOT that low-budget boat movie.... what was it? Oh never mind...

SUNDAY headed my list that year. It is an outstanding story of an unemployed man who lives in a men's hostel, who one afternoon is mistaken by an over-the-hill actress for being an renowned film director... and the man goes along with the mistaken identity. Equal parts cinema verite and an Antonioni-esque web of isolation, this movie is about the lies that people create, and others who let them live those lies. This drama is intercut with footage of men first seen in the hostel, out making their daily jaunts. In this world, it seems everyone is lost and empty. Overall, this movie is a complex mood piece which gives us a haunting portrayal of urban life seldom seen in an "art movie". Miss it at your peril;

Life on Earth (1998)

Remember the big Y2K scare, where you stocked up on water, batteries and Playboy? Yeah me neither. Anyway a couple of years prior to the turning of the millenium, a world wide collective of filmmakers made some films in the "2000 seen by..." series, each offering a unique vision of life at the beginning of January 1, 2000. For my money, the best of these is this mesmirizing and charming film by Abdermahne Sissako.

This quiet meditation of life in an African village is a celebration of simplicity, clashing with the crazy modern world we see in the film's opening. This is a place where one stands in line to use "the phone", and where the day's activity is moving one's chair as the shade recedes. I do not want to give the impression that the film itself is in any way simplistic. It actually has a very dense narrative structure, as people talk to the camera as though they are the words written on a letter.

LIFE ON EARTH is also a pleasant reminder of how in the last millenium one still had a chance to see a movie like this in a theatre. It is one of the true treasures of the international cinema of the 1990's.

92 in the Shade (1975)

Warren Oates and Peter Fonda are two rival tour boat guides in some godforsaken frog puddle in Florida, in this hilarious farce directed by Tom McGuane, who wrote the original novel. And the result is as eccentric as anything else from McGuane's pen that's ended up on the screen. Elizabeth Ashley steals the movie as the housewife who always wants to wear a majorette uniform. How's this for a 70's cast: Harry Dean Stanton (in one of his best roles), Margot Kidder, and Joe Spinell (who, of all things, shows he can play comedy!)

Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961)

Since this is Thanksgiving in Canada, there should be some turkey in order, right? Well here at the screening room, I'm offering up this abomination from Roger Corman. And by the way, I use that term "abomination" with the utmost of respect.

If you know about the Corman filming process, they would first come up with the title, then the poster, then the movie. I'd like to know where along the line they decided that the monster in this movie was going to be some ridiculous potato sack thing with golf ball eyes. Good thing this film is intended to be a spoof. As such, for a grimy 500 dollar back alley movie, it's actually a lot of fun, with its hip narration, and plot of some gangsters looking for treasure in a lake where this high school pageant monster abides. You could call it a lighter cousin to LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and as such, it's not at bad a way to kill an hour or so while waiting for the stuffing to get done in the oven.

Summer (1986)

I've only seen a handful of Eric Rohmer films, most of which I've liked. This fable concerns a rather miserable young woman who leaves Paris in the hope of finding some happiness on a seaside getaway. The film is less about her finding someone who can love her, than about her allowing herself to be loved. To be certain, the central character is rather abrasive, sometimes too much so, that one may not care whether she finds love or not. As always, Rohmer's film is a complex study of relationship, full of the attraction-repulsion towards people that harkens back to LA COLLECTIONEUSE (1967). I also love the diary structure to this movie. One to remember. The actual title for this film is LE RAYON VERT, or The Green Ray, as there is a pivotal scene where characters talk about the elusive green ray of sunlight seen at dusk.

Hell on Wheels (1967)

No film with Marty Robbins and John Ashley as brothers can be ALL bad, right? Gosh, no. This Cain and Abel update to the race track and the moonshine racket features the rival siblings as they clash over their hot rod cars, and then righteous Robbins wants to set Ashley straight over his dalliance with the old fire water. Hey, Marty even gets to sing! This old-fashioned fun played at my third-floor deck drive-in during the summer. Man, I almost wish the heat was back so I could go back and re-open the drive-in with my patronage of two! Anyway, HELL ON WHEELS is brought to us by the great Will Zens, who did a fare share of Southern regional drive-in fare for nearly three decades (CAPTURE THAT CAPSULE, TRUCKERS WOMAN), and of the ones I've seen, this seems his most competent and straight-ahead.

Something Weird (1968)

I might watch an HG Lewis film a year- tops. But if any more of them are as fun as this one, I might watch them more often.

This hilarious gutter trash features a psychic whose disfigured face can be healed by a witch, who at first emerges as a drop-dead gorgeous blonde, but then reveals herself as the old hag she really is (actually a man in a wig), and the poor guy must be her lover to retain his good looks! Then this crazy duo are enlisted to help solve a murder....

Filmed for about 100 bucks, but still looking pretty good for what it is, this is a real treat for Halloween, and miles above the other miserable movies I've seen from its director.

So Wrong They're Right (1995)

Oh man, this is a movie made for me. Russ Forster, the man behind the fanzine, "8 track mind" made a cross-country tour to interview a whole lot of enthusiasts who in this day and age still collect 8 track tapes! This film is a scream- I love those musicians that have a huge pile of roughly 30,000 of the bloody things, and they're like kids in a candy store when the camera is on. Every single person we meet is completely unique, and Forster never turns these ladies and gentlemen into goofs (unlike Alan Zweig's movie VINYL, about anti-social record collectors)- they are funny, personable, exciting. I'd have dinner with any one of them to discuss things like "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage." It is also a revealing look at a discarded piece of pop culture that we still have an affection for, and in fact in this age of information, many of these folks consider the act of snapping up these archaic things as an act of rebellion. Rock on!

Short Cuts (1993)

This is one of my favourite films of the 1990's. I never did plunk down the 50-some-odd dollars for the Criterion disc last year, but I'm happy with the 15 dollar one that Alliance put out. Then as now, this is a smorgasbord of a movie, following 22 characters, whose little dramas interweave in Los Angeles. At 68, Robert Altman is at the peak of his powers, showing an energy, experimentation and scope that some directors half his age can only dream about. It helps too that most of the performances are absolutely superb, and justly so, since most of the characters are so pathetic, helpless or just plain ugly... we are glued to the screen follwing their Chinese puzzle lives in this three-hour epic. Now the DVD is part of my SHORT CUTS collection, right next to the published screenplay, the soundtrack album and the collection of stories originally penned by Raymond Carver. It is funny, horrifying, and heartbreaking all at once... well, much like life.

Black Orpheus (1959)

The myth of Orpheus is transposed to South America in this beautiful, carnivalesque treat... absolutely breathtaking in colour. I took my wife to see this at a free screening years ago, and was embarrassed because the print they showed was so faded that it was almost black and white! But it's on Criterion now, so rejoice! This movie single-handedly launched the bossa nova craze in North America, and the music is full of the exotica that one can find in this picture... the natural world and the fantastic blend seamlessly in this pageant of a movie. Buy it today!

The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)

Lee Van Cleef is the man, so this film has been seen on my TV set about 2 dozen times... no jive. He fits comfortably in this fourth go-round for the seven as they prortect a town full of widowed women from Mexican bandidos. It is refreshing to see a Van Cleef vehicle in the 1970's that isn't embarassing to watch (the direction is competent, but light years from the hacks that employed him around the same time), and his tough anti-hero is a joy to watch. The movie has the feel of a TV movie (because George McCowan has directed many), but that is part of its warmth. It was never on video, so I was thrilled to see it on DVD last summer. The disc comes with a superb trailer, too. This used to play on TV so often when I was a teenager, that I could quote most of it. I still can... my poor wife.

Guantanmera (1995)

After the surprise success of STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE, the legendary Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea (with his co-director Juan Carlos Tabio) managed to do one last film before he passed away, and it is a beauty. This woefully underappreciated delight is a road movie of Cuba, as a woman tags along with her ineffectual husband who follows the Cuban bureaucratic rules (or lack thereof) to the letter, as they transport a deceased relative across the country. Along the way she constantly runs into a trucker, one of her former pupils. This road trip presents a world that is largely unseen to Americans thanks to the embargo: along the Cuban highways, there are always shortages, but a surplus of robust people- it is a bittersweet paradox. The film aloso has a stunning scene set in a rainstorm. For me, it was one of the surprises of the 1990's, and it still holds up beautifully after repeat viewings.

Ariel (1989)

Continuing much in the same vein of his previous "loser" film SHADOWS IN PARADISE, Aki Kaurismaki gives is another down and out fable featuring a coal worker who is suddenly out of a job, and his legacy thereafter on the road, and in a relationship with a single mother is an odyssey of one misfortune after another. The Finnish director still pulls the rug from us by tacking on a wild ending that contradicts everything we've seen. This is great deadpan fun, beautifully made. One of his better achievements.

Men (1985)

In Dorris Dorrie's hysterical comedy, a man discovers that his wife is cheating on him. Not only does he find out who her lover is, he even becomes his new roommate under a pseudonym, so he can try to figure out what she likes about him and basically what went wrong with their marriage. The fun really takes off when his wife comes to visit her boyfriend, and the husband wears a rubber gorilla mask to disguise himself. That's but one of maby delightful moments in this wise movie. See it before someone remakes it with someone like Hugh Grant and Meg Ryan.

Red Morning (1935)

Another CBC Saturday morning discovery (see yesterday's comment). Steffi Duna, a B-unit Claudette Colbert, and a definite candidate for the "Whatever Happened To...?" sweepstakes, is shipwrecked on an uncharted island, and before long, is seen wearing a sarong, hanging around with the natives. Thank you RKO! Charles Middleton co-stars in this entertaining bit of time-filler. As with yesterday's YELLOW DUST, I'd love to see it again after all these years.

Couldn't find any stills of RED MORNING, but here's to you, Steffi Duna.

Yellow Dust (1936)

When I was in my early teens, I used to watch CBC's Saturday morning programming, in which they often strung together a couple of long-forgotten second features from the Saturday matinee days. One of my most joyous discoveries was this wonderful B western starring Richard Dix as a white-hatted cowboy who gets implicated in a stagecoach robbery. While a crisp, well-made little movie (with a neat climax in a dust storm), it is also played for a couple of laughs, as the real bandits simultaneously spit beer out of their mouths when someone mentions the stage being robbed. Sadly, I haven't seen this movie since, but I hope someone finds a print of this someday.

Submarine Alert (1938)

In this irresistible second feature, a man gets a job in a radio factory and discovers that this place is being used by German spies to transmit radio signals to a Japanese sub! This hour-long romp is great fun, with a gallery of B-movie faces: Richard Arlen, Marc Lawrence, Wendy Barrie and Dwight Frye! I found this for cheap on the Alpha Video label. I love this company for what it does (namely resurrecting a lot of old Saturday matinee titles or even later drive-in films), but often I've been disappointed in the quality. For instance, my Rhino VHS of THE SADIST is better than their DVD. However I'm happy to report that this is a rather nice transfer, it not perfect.

Renaldo and Clara (1978)

This bloated home movie directed by Bob Dylan runs for 4 hours, but you know what? I never got tired of it, simply because you're always curious where this thing is going to go (or not). Dylan concert footage is mixed with interviews of musicians discussing their lives and influences, and wobbly fictional, yet pseudo-real scenes of guys like Ronnie Hawkins warning their women about life on the road, peppered with numerous shots of Joan Baez fawning over Mr. Zimmermann at every conceivable opportunity. THis is a vanity project to be sure, but I was hooked. Leonard Maltin gave it a BOMB rating in his firewood -I mean, movie review book- so you know it has to be good, right? Roger.

News From Home (1976)

In Chantal Akerman's diary film, she fills a feature-length movie of images of the most loneliest places one could ever find in New York City, while on the soundtrack she reads letters received from her native Belgium. This essay on detachment is another affecting piece of isolation by a filmmaker whose works are often shrugged off as being "cold". I don't agree at all- I find her films tremendously moving, and this remains (for me) her finest work (admittedly, I still haven't seen JEANNE DIELMAN). I saw this movie just days before 9/11. And when we saw the images on the TV of the towers falling, I thought back to the long single take that completes this film. We see the New York skyline from the viewpoint of a boat that leaves the concrete jungle- that landscape has abruptly changed.

YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS

Today, Hollywood Canteen (the movie collectibles, books and video shop here in Toronto) ran their Show of Shows at a hotel downtown. I had been curious about attending this venue as a vendor ever since I began this publication, and this year I finally remembered to sign up early enough to do just that. Well, ten minutes in there, I realized I was in bigtrouble. All the other booths were selling lobby cards, posters, magazines, etc. so ESR was a unique thing to have at this fair... and not in a good way. The clientele here didn't come to read, but collect. I'm disappointed, but not bitter about the experience- these are the gambles we take when we try to take our work anywhere. I did manage to sell a few of the noir issues, though, so the day wasn't a total loss. With enough pocket change, I browsed through the one dollar lobby card bin and found some stuff for some obscure 70s flicks, which is of course my bread and butter.

Every year, Hollywood Canteen revolves the fair around a celebrity appearance as a draw, so people can collect autographs and memorabilia in addition to the fair getting a shot of star power. This year, our guest was Priscilla Barnes, known for her roles in "Three's Company", MALLRATS, and (for me) THE CROSSING GUARD. My booth was next to hers, and she is a completely charming lady- as exciting and funny in person as she is onscreen. In fact, I've confirmed my suspicion that there is a lot of untapped talent that supersede her usual requirements in her slate of B-movies.

After the show, I had coffee with John Reed, the director of FUDDLEBE- one of the films I showed in February. This was one of the little morsels of the day that remind me to hang in there, and keep on doing what I'm doing, even in an umbrella of disappointment.

EAR TO THE GROUND.. CANCELLED

After a dismal first half of the year, I was hoping I wouldn't have to write a third part to my "...Scene is Going to Ratshit" series, but here it is. Much my delight, and I'm sure to that of others in the independent scene, there was an announcement made for a weekend-long engagement at the CNE. Under one roof, people could see and hear works by visual artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers. If this didn't spell community for independent artists of any persuasion being able to come together, well, nothing would. And sadly, nothing did. This week all of the vendors got the e-mail that Ear to the Ground had been cancelled due to lack of funding. The venue that sounded too good to be true... was. I am uncertain if it was an issue of expanding far too quickly for a first-time attempt at a venue or what, but alas, the very thing that could give the independent community its sorely needed shot in the arm is another of too many casualties with big ideas and small prospects. Am I disappointed? Certainly. But I do hope they learned from this, and continue to get on the saddle and try again. It is worth doing.

Claudine (1974)

Made during the time when most cinema featuring African Americans had to star in "blaxploitation" vehicles to make a living, this lovely and charming film concerns a single mother (Diahann Carroll) who finds romance with a garbageman (James Earl Jones). Some people dislike the upbeat ending (set to the tingling strains of Gladys Knight's "Make Yours a Happy Home"- we can do it, we can do it now baby), but it is a welcome relief from the hardship that always seems to greet this group. I've never forgotten the seen where Carroll's older son (played by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, AKA Washington from "Welcome Back Kotter") gets a vasectomy because he doesn't want to bring kids into this world.

The Overnight Man

This Tom Weinberg-produced short is a great half-hour documentary about newsman Joe Cummings, and his usual "beat" on the graveyard shift, collecting stories from the firemen and the police blotter, and occasionally stopping off to get his beloved chewing gum. We also get a lovely portrait of the man off-hours, with his (very camera shy) wife in a restaurant, and a candid look of Cummings at his AA meetings. This was made on the then-radical videotape technology of half-inch video, better known to you and I as VHS! As such, the washed out quality of the picture seems to add to its feel, and the shots of the desolate, snow-swept streets of Chicago are quite haunting. It's a keeper.

Promises! Promises! (1963)

Dion Conflict, an old friend to ESR, began showing some outdoor movies as of last Sunday, in his parking lot. Last week he showed APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS, as a "test screening" (a last-minute kind of thing to try it out and see if such a venue would work)... and then continued with tonight's film PROMISES PROMISES, the notorious Jayne Mansfield sex comedy which featured the fading starlet in the buff. So desperate is this movie that it has to show this fleeting footage again and again.. and again. But it almost works as a Dada-ist nightmare, as the movie almost acts as some kind of dream logic, with these incongruous cut-ins, and weirdo dream sequences. In its day, the plot for this film was quite vulgar- two couples on a ship play around with each other, and then a pregnancy makes them wonder who the father is. Jayne's husband Mickey Hargitay, former Mr. Universe, is one of the hubbies in this confusion of sexual mores, and then good old Tommy Noonan, the gimpy lead who starred with both Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren, adds Jayne Mansfield to his troika of starlet vehicles in which he is unlikely paired off to a bombshell.

The Ballad of Andy Crocker (1969)

This low-key, character driven TV-movie features Lee Majors as a Vietnam vet returning to his hometown in Texas to find that everything has changed. While this plot line may not sound original by any means (as it has been re-used for two decades since), who is to say that this film didn't invent it? Joey Heatherton plays his ex-girlfriend, and there's even a supporting role for Marvin Gaye as Lee's war buddy! Less concerned with Vietnam politics, this movie is also a precursor to a lot of theatrical films of the 1970's with a similar feel of wandering and "What now?"

WJR: One of a Kind (1966)

This delightful short, which you can find on the Internet Archives, is a 15-minute documentary about what makes Detroit's AM radio station, WJR, so unusual. While perhaps in this day and age, one may be hard-pressed to see what is so unusual, but it is an entertaining piece nonetheless- perfect viewing for audiophiles and radio nerds. My favourite is the guy who teaches musical theory on the air, and then plays out the chords on the piano right in the soundbooth. You also see J.P. McCarthy, long-standing WJR personality, right up until his death in 1995. And they get the atmosphere of the station right down to the money-- the control booth is littered with ashtrays, crumpled paper and styrofoam coffee cups. This movie also features hilariously stilted shots of people doing everyday activities, like shaving and housecleaning, while listening to the radio, plus some cool images of mid-1960s suburbia. Lots of fun.

Panic in the Streets (1950)

In remembrance of Barbara Bel Geddes, who just passed away, today's movie is Elia Kazan's amazing noir thriller PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950). Although TV Nuts from the last 30 years will best remember her as JR's mom in "Dallas", classic movie fans possibly best recall her as the woman who stood by Jimmy Stewart while he messed around with Kim Novak in VERTIGO (1958). Prior to that, however, this stage actress did a string of classic films noir in the late 1940s- Max Ophuls' CAUGHT and Anatole Litvak's THE LONG NIGHT (1947). Ms. Geddes' roles on film seemed to typefy the all-American woman that men would eventually come home to after venturing in the dark side.

Richard Widmark is a doctor racing against time to find a murderer who is also the carrier of a plague! Film also features some great work by Jack Palance and Zero Mostel as the heavies, plus superb use of sweaty seedy New Orleans locations to add to the authenticity. Also a plus is the expert use of long single takes. Despite a lot of the success accorded his later years (STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, EAST OF EDEN), Kazan nonetheless remained a controversial figure because he named names at the McCarthy hearings to save his own hide. Therefore, it is ironic in the way that Widmark makes a speech in front of some dock workers for someone to come forth and name someone they are looking for as they are a danger to society! For all that, though, when his day's work is done, Dr. Widmark comes home to his wife (Ms. Geddes) in nice boring 1950's suburbia. Not only that, but Tommy Rettig (from TV's "Lassie") plays their son! How's that for 1950's wholesomeness?

Rip-Off (1971)

Out of respect to the passing of Richard Leiterman (see below), I decided that today's movie would be his and Don Shebib's followup to GOIN' DOWN THE ROAD.... the wonderful hippie road movie RIP-OFF (1971). This was also released on VHS way back in the early days of video rentals with the title VIRGIN TERRITORY, which makes it seem like a PORKY'S ripoff, which it certainly is not.

Don Scardino (today a TV director) stars as a hippie high school student who goes on an odyssey to check out this commune property that he has appropriated out in the sticks, chiefly just so he can get into bed with a classmate (played by the angel-eyed Susan Petrie). Don't let this synopsis fool you- this is a very funny, wise, and even rather touching movie. Yes, adolescent growing pains have been an oft-filmed subject for eons, but when the result is as engaging as this, why carp?

Not only are the small group of young men on the verge of being adults, they are also being seduced by the archetypal image of the hippie, so that they can forsake their prep school ties and jackets. You get to see some great footage of a rock concert in Nathan Phillips Square, a poster in a school hallway advertising a Friday night dance with music by Sonny Greenwich (!!!), as well as people with a lot of bushy sideburns. Scardino had just been in HOMER, a Canadian-lensed counterculture movie where he again plays a restless hippie youth, and he was an enjoyable presence in 1970's movies. After making a handful of pictures in the 1970's (including Cronenberg's SHIVERS, and one of my favourites, LIONS FOR BREAKFAST), the charming and talent Susan Petrie just seemed to disappear. Ah, Ms. Petrie, where are you now?

Richard Leiterman 1935-2005

I just learned the night before that Richard Leiterman passed away last month. Mr. Leiterman is an institution in Canadian cinema. This very busy cinematographer is perhaps best known for his work on the classic GOIN' DOWN THE ROAD. However, he had done several films for its director Don Shebib and also several features for Allan King. among others.

An important early credit in his career was as DOP for Frederick Wiseman's cinema verite masterpiece HIGH SCHOOL (1968). Wiseman was/is one of the Godfathers of the Direct Cinema movement, which brought a fresh new approach to documentary filmmaking (filming on the moment, no voiceover narration) that still stands miles above the diluted version of the format seen in all of that horrible Reality TV. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Leiterman was hired by Allan King for his Direct Cinema classic, A MARRIED COUPLE (1969), a searing documentary in which an all-too-candid camera shows us the crumbling marriage of Billy and Antoinette Edwards. When King went on to fictional narrative films, he often employed Leiterman as well (specifically, WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND and SILENCE OF THE NORTH).

ESR REALLY IS A SCREENING ROOM

Not that you may have missed us, but we're back. After a perfectly dreadful first half of 2005, which featured a couple of personal meltdowns, general malaise, compounded with "What Now"isms at my day job, I've completely lacked motivation- not only for writing ESR, but working on the show, and doing a couple of other writing projects I've committed to.

I've decided to finally pick myself up from the floor and make sure that the final six months of this year don't go for naught. The first six months were quite arid; however, there is one shining moment to talk about, and it is long overdue for my inclusion on this page.

In the past calendar year, ESR has expanded its operations into other media in order to reach out to this ragtag film community in order to try and form a sense of, well, community. Last fall, we released our first DVD, Retro Shorts #1, which was a hit at a couple of fairs I attended in 2004.

On Tuesday Feb. 22nd, I pushed ESR into another direction by holding our first ever screening in order to get people out to pick up a new issue of our fine publication. Thanks to the fine folks at Innis Town Hall, namely James King and Danielle Dornellas, we were able to hold a fun evening of films: Brian Random's mockumentary POP CARTS, Skot Deeming's collage film P2P, John Reed's FUDDLEBE and Bill Heath's POROROCA: SURFING DOWN THE AMAZON filled the first hour. Since these were all DVD's that were projected, I made sure that the last half of the evening featured something with sprocket holes. (People know my general dislike of video projection, but I will concede that it is getting as years go by, and if there's no film print to show instead, well it's better than nothing. However, I do tip my hat to Innis, for their video projection system is brilliant!) Thus, thanks to the assistance of my good friend Dion Conflict, we were able to show a 16mm print of the Roger Moore peplum ROMULOUS AND THE SABINES.

Both of my faithful readers might recognize the name of Skot Deeming, who has been a semi-regular contributor to our publication. His short film P2P was a collage of footage featuring space or extraterrestrial phenomenon appropriated solely from file sharing. Skot showed me this film two years ago, and I still think it's his best work that he's done to date. His was a last minute addition to the programme, and I was happy to screen it- however I can help to get more people to see this unique movie. Anyway, last December Skot and I bumped into Brian Random at Dion's "Hunkajunk" festival at The Royal. Brian (one of my best customers) invited us to his place, and showed us his recent work, POP CARTS- a hilarious mockumentary of some bored Brampton youths who bring some meaning to their life with an unusual urban sport.. I won't ruin the gag-- just see the bloody thing.

Last December, I happened to witness Bill Heath's spellbinding half-hour documentary POROROCA on his showreel (about world-class surfers who brave the mighty waves of the Amazon river), and he graciously allowed me to show it for this evening. The "draw" for the show was surely John Reed's beautiful short film FUDDLEBE, a breathtaking melange of German Expressionism, Tim Burton, and Guy Maddin, done with the perfect balance of black humour. Since this was a premiere for its cast and crew, they were the ones who made up most of the 70-odd spectators. (In fact I overheard one whining thespian grouse at the beginning of the night- "How many films do I have to see before this one?") Thus, at half time, there was a mass exodus, as I predicted there would be, and perhaps one to two dozen brave souls stuck around to see the gloriously cheesy sword and sandal epic ROMULOUS AND THE SABINES.

This peplum, featuring Roger Moore paying his dues way before The Saint and 007, is full of bad dubbing, heavy-breathing dialogue, and a real "huh" of an ending to keep us giggling for an hour. The people whom I spoke with seemed to have a good time throughout the evening, and if anything, this, forgive me, "eclectic" cross-section of pictures demonstrated my own philosophy that "all film matters", and even though I knew a picture like Skot's would be the least audience friendly, it is testament to my insistence that people be introduced to all aspects of cinema.

On top of all that, we had giveaways- congrats to Betty Pearson, Barry Price and John Porter (one of ESR's best customers), for they will receive a year's worth of ESR delivered right to their doors.

To be sure, this very first screening was a trial by fire, as I knew it would be, but I learned a whole lot and had a great time. Somehow the issue got done in the days prior to the screening during my really bad cold, but I survived. Oh yes, one weirdo coincidence before I go-- the Sunday night before the screening, I watched GODS ANGRY MAN twice. This Werner Herzog documentary about the hotheaded televangelist Gene Scott was reviewed for that issue. I later found out he died the next day.

PS- in my four-year uphill battle of keeping this publication afloat, despite the support from my contributors and readers, it took this screening for me to receive something in my PO box that I had never ever gotten before... I got a thank-you card from one of the performers in FUDDLEBE.

It's worth it.