I love the winter months but when the temperature starts to drop and the nights get longer I often enjoy relaxing with some lighthearted movies that don’t require a lot from me. SKI PARTY (1965) is the kind of mindless entertainment that fits the bill perfectly. SKI PARTY was one of the first films to team up aging teen idols Frankie Avalon (star of the Beach Party movies) and Dwayne Hickman (star of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis; 1959-1963). The two went on to make How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), Sergeant Dead Head (1965) and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) together but SKI PARTY is one of the best movies of the bunch. That minor distinction might not be enough to hold your interest but SKI PARTY has some other worthwhile attributes that may appeal to viewers with more discriminating tastes than my own.

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I was able to see more movies during the year than this guy. To honor him, I’m going to run down my favorite Genre Films of 2010. As top-ten lists rain down upon us, a general consensus emerges and recurring titles get chewed over like regurgitated cud. So while I greatly admire The Social Network (#2 on my year-end list here), I feel no need to spill more metaphorical ink over it. What doesn’t get recognized during the awards season hullaballoo are the disreputable action/sci-fi/horror movies that earn profits and low Rotten Tomatoes scores. I’m using the colloquial definition of “genre films”, of macho flicks with b-movie scenarios, but in reality everything that’s produced slots into one genre or another (David Bordwell persuasively argues that even the art film is one). So forgive my semantic fudging for the sake of headline-writing brevity. In any case, anonymous disfigured corpse from The Crazies, this is for you.

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Recently, I have been thinking about the nature and function of film criticism and movie reviewing, which was prompted by the last episode of Moguls and Movie Stars. Episode 7, “Fade Out, Fade In” noted the influence of a new generation of critics during the 1960s and 1970s. Many college-age movie-goers were excited by the film s of the era and enthusiastically read the reviews of such critics as Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, and Stanley Kaufmann. Their reviews featured thoughtful comparisons to the other arts and a general regard for film style and aesthetics—something missing from the writing of the old guard of movie reviewers.  [See last week’s post.]

Then, while searching online for a specific review by Roger Ebert for another project, I came across several blogs and forums that vehemently attacked the country’s best-known critic.  Basically, these bloggers/commentators were irked because Ebert had panned several of their favorite movies.  From the nature and writing level of their comments, I deduced that these detractors were teenagers and/or college-age kids. I couldn’t help compare their negative attitudes and immature perspectives on film criticism with those of young movie-goers during the Film School Generation.

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You might not know the name but you have probably heard his music and the unmistakable sound of his harmonica on countless Italian film scores. The plaintive wail of his instrument on ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) was used as a musical motif for Charles Bronson’s avenging angel, who was identified simply as “the man with the harmonica” in Sergio Leone’s landmark film. Yet that nickname really belongs to Franco De Gemini who has brought his distinctive sound from the background to the foreground in more than 800 movie scores in his lifetime.  His talent for expressing conflicting emotions through his music in both minimalist and operatic arrangements is a composer’s secret weapon. READ MORE

Well, sort of, at least: billy_west-3_stooges_xmas_session

The MP3 recording posted above is actually voice artist Billy West “as” Larry, Moe and Curly-Joe allegedly circa 1959, from A Site Called Fred

Have a wonderful day everybody!

The Horror Dads are taking a break from untangling Christmas lights, assembling bikes and scooters, spiking the eggnog and catching up on THRILLER episodes to discuss the Val Lewton-produced THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944), one of the strangest sequels ever burned to film. READ MORE

Peter Lorre’s Christmas Card from 1937

“To my small boy’s mind, no other event could compare in grandeur and enchantment with the thrill of Christmas. For nights my dreams were filled with wonderful thoughts of a bag of beautiful toys and luscious candies dropped down our chimney by the ever-thoughtful Kris Kringle. But always I was doomed to disappointment. My family was thrifty and exceedingly practical. My father and mother realized how much wiser it was, if not so pleasing, to supply their son with a pair of extra warm boots, or a new pair of pantaloons, than to give him something which would fill his heart with joy but not further material welfare.”
- Peter Lorre from The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

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That’s a lot of Van Dykes. This rather frightening menagerie was arranged by Norman Lear, who wrote and directed the slapstick satire Cold Turkey in 1971. A cult item that used to circulate solely on out-of-print VHS tapes, now MGM has released it through Amazon on a burned-on-demand DVD as well as through their video-on-demand service (rental is $2.99, purchase is $9.99). It’s amazing how quickly a film can go from rare to ubiquitous these days.

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The last episode of TCM’s Moguls and Movie Stars, “Fade Out, Fade In,” chronicled the Film School Generation and its impact on Hollywood history. The episode also noted the impact of young movie critics of the era, many of whom supported the then-radical films against the old guard of reviewers who were vexed by the New Hollywood. A major incident of the era was the battle among the critics over Bonnie and Clyde, with grand old man Bosley Crowther of The New York Times remarking about the film, “This blending of farce with brutal killings is as pointless as it is lacking in taste, since it makes no valid commentary upon the already travestied truth. And it leaves an astonished critic wondering just what purpose Mr. Penn and Mr. Beatty think they serve with this strangely antique, sentimental claptrap.” Coincidentally, the reviewer for Time magazine also declared Bonnie and Clyde to be “claptrap.” Either Time’s critic had read Mr. Crowther’s review, or “claptrap” was a very popular word at the time.

Crowther’s intense hatred for the film became a rallying point for supporters of the Film School Generation, who felt the movies of these young, college-educated directors were not understood by older critics of the establishment. Crowther wrote three negative reviews and repeatedly criticized the film in other articles, and then in the spring of 1968, he was dismissed from The New York Times. Many assume that Crowther was let go after 27 years because his opinion of Bonnie and Clyde revealed him to be too far behind the times. After hearing the incident recounted in Moguls and Movie Stars, I couldn’t help recall other films that were wrongly maligned by critics upon initial release. With the aid of some helpful resources, including The Critics Were Wrong: Misguided Movie Reviews and Film Criticism Gone Awry, I thought I would share a few examples that I found particularly thought-provoking. This week, I will focus on reviews of movies from “old Hollywood,” including the silent era through the 1960s. Next week, I will dig up reviews of contemporary films, including those of the Film School Generation. I was going to comment on the quotes, or group them together into fun categories, but I decided they are more telling without adding my two cents. Draw your own conclusions.

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