A Beginner’s Guide to the End of Everything

Posted by Richard Harland Smith on December 30, 2011

When younger, I always had the rum luck to come in at the end of something good. When I got to Southern Connecticut State College (now University) as a freshman in 1980, the smart money in the Theatre Department said that a mini Golden Age had just ended and that they were running on fumes; when I got to New York City in 1986, I just missed out on the heyday of the Grindhouse that guys like Bill Landis and Mike Weldon wrote books about — soon, Times Square would be shuttered and still, like a boardwalk during the off-season. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2004, locals told me how traffic used to be okay around town but now… fuhgeddaboudit! For a long time I thought I was doomed to be a natural born dust-kicker, scowling at my poor fortune to never being in the middle of anything good. I turned 50 this year and the more I turn around and look back the more I see that I’ve lived through some pretty good stuff. And you, young reader, can, too.

Because I long nursed the subjective impression that I was born too late, I’ve always been especially attuned to endings. Growing up in the 70s, when endings were (it seemed) 65% downbeat, I became a fatalist. Cynical, even. Movies like OPERATION CROSSBOW (1965), EASY RIDER (1969), BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969), VANISHING POINT (1970), THE LOSERS (1970), BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970), THE OMEGA MAN (1971), ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE (1973), SOYLENT GREEN (1973), DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY (1974), RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1975) — I could go on and on but I’ve spoiled enough movies for you — taught me that life is unfair, rigged, stacked against you, and the only satisfaction you’re likely to get out of life is to take as many of the sonsofbitches down with you when you go. So, okay… maybe that was a bit harsh. I was like 12, so I had yet to experience the full flower of life. And I mention all this in a purely past-is-prologue vein to explain, perhaps, why I’ve always felt especially hard hit by year’s end. And by “hard hit” I mean that I expect way too much of December 31st. Movies are to blame, in large part. Not downer ending movies, as discussed, but holiday films that leave you with the impression that Christmas and New Year’s Eve make time stop and the world stand still. There’s still a part of me that expects everything to change come the holidays, that the Yuletide will flip the script, wipe the slate clean, perform some kind of magestical switcheroo that erases standing concerns and long-term obligations and kill the old me like the hero of a film noir. But it never does.

And that is good and as it should be… right? It’s really kind of juvenile to expect that your life will change dramatically every twelvemonth. When I catch myself entertaining that fancy, I can hear my wife’s sage counsel in my ear, reminding me “The world doesn’t know it’s New Year’s Eve. The world doesn’t know it’s midnight.” And she’s right. We divvy up time in the way we do for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with the true order of things. The Roman Senate be damned – there’s no real difference between December 31st and January 1st, however we may cloud that reality with crockpots full of Hoppin’ John and brand new clothes worn to augur prosperity. For all our talk of resolutions and turning a new leaf, we each of us wake up on New Year’s Day the same person that we were crawling into bed the night before. In saying this, I don’t mean to depress or disempower you. I’m hoping this declaration will give you, as it gives me, hope.

As happens every year, there were several significant deaths within the film community. Turner Classic Movies always does such a crackerjack job of saying farewell to (most of) these people that anything I might write now just seems superfluous… though the passing of Peter Falk, James Arness, Michael Gough and Harry Morgan were particularly poignant for me. Another news item that you might have noticed concerned the imminent death of celluloid, of actual film, as a medium of exhibiting motion pictures… in short, the end of movies as we know them. As hard as that news hit, it made me grateful to have been born (late though it always seemed) at a time when celluloid retained primacy. My family took pictures on 35mm film, shot home movies in 8mm and Super 8, and I even had my own film collection of Super 8 “cut-downs” during the 1970s. In addition to being a moviegoer for 40-plus years before this unfortunate milestone was announced, I’ve also handled film, cut it, spliced it, edited it, and smelled it in its course through the projector, past the lamp, and up the takeup reel. I also held the delicate, thin strips of film up to the light to marvel at the progression of seemingly identical images that change ever so slightly, frame by frame, if you pay the proper attention.

I know a great many people in the film blogging community (hell, in the film industry) who cannot say they have done these things. Even those who are pushing 40 now missed the heyday of the Hollywood studios, were oblivious to the innovations and variations of the New Hollywood, and were but snot-nosed preteens at the advent of video cassette. These poor souls missed out. I’m proud to say I’m old enough to remember a time when there was no real substitute for the movies, when people showed up at their local one-screen movie house to watch and listen, when they didn’t have to check a website before going to the cinema but just showed up, to see whatever was playing, and sat not with eyes glued to a glowing cellphone screen but with hands folded in lap waiting for the movie to start, lost in their own thoughts and percolating expectations. I’m proud to have grown up, in part, at the drive-in, not in its current incarnation as a retro event, but as a downmarket vehicle for seeing movies pig-a-back and meeting people in an almost festival atmosphere of exhaust fumes and lowered expectations… God, it was thrilling, and I cherish those memories and the mystery and wonder of not knowing quite what you were about to see. (But then again, no introduction was necessary for movies with titles such as CAULDRON OF BLOOD, NIGHTMARE IN WAX, BLOOD OF DRACULA’S CASTLE and BRIDES OF BLOOD.) I’m glad to have come of age at a time in which movies were not instantly available and you had to wait and dwell on the memory or anticipation of them for years before seeing them again or for the first time, when you filled the gap between viewings by reading about the movies or talking about the movies, and following the films to revival houses or making a weekly study of the TV Guide to know when they’d be shown again. I’m especially happy that Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney, Jr., Vincent Price and Peter Cushing were all still living during some part of my life. If I’ve felt I missed out on a lot of things, if I showed up late to too many good parties, at least I hit this target right in the middle.

To my younger friends and readers who have not had quite the same face time with film as I’ve had and may be feeling as if they’re late to the party, let me just say this… have faith. Epochs end, fashions fade, styles are rethought, retooled, revamped. Silent film gave way to sound, black and white to color, Technicolor yielded to Eastmancolor, and now film frames have stepped aside for pixels. Soon digital will be all anyone has ever known and celluloid will seem as creaky and forgotten as the daguerreotype. Throughout these changes one thing has remained constant… movies matter. It’s okay to be sad, to mourn, to be outraged, even to protest that celluloid is being phased out but let’s not write off the process because of a change in media. Let’s consider first principles. Light. Shadow. Image. Angle. Perspective. Velocity. Stillness. Faces. Words. Silence. These are the building blocks of cinema. If we feel that these essential things have been degraded in recent years, let’s not inflate that industrial tendency into the death of cinema. I have faith that good films will endure and you should, too. Sometimes it takes the end of an era to appreciate its true and enduring value. I’m in that place now. I’ve lived through wonderful times. Good things are still possible. Happy New Year.

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20 Responses A Beginner’s Guide to the End of Everything

Posted By Suzi : December 30, 2011 2:45 pm

A thoughtful and insightful post. Being approximately the same age as you, I am also happy to have lived through eras of film history that in retrospect were downright amazing. There are terrific filmmakers out there doing good things with digital cinematography so cinema is certainly not going to die.

What angers me is the impact of the hastened end of celluloid on repertory cinema and on attitudes toward classic films. I dislike the “throw the baby out with the bath water” mentality of younger generations, who for a myriad of reasons have little respect for the past and become all glassy-eyed at any new technology with the fervor of religious zealots. I believe there should be places to see classic films in the way they are intended to be seen–projected as films on a big screen. And, these places should be nurtured financially and culturally, like museums or art centers. Instead they are marginalized as places only for film buffs or scholars.

Posted By Pierre Fournier : December 30, 2011 4:04 pm

Another extraordinary piece by an extraordinary writer. Thank you, rhs. Happy New Year.

Posted By quicksand : December 30, 2011 4:08 pm

I will not stop to be hungry and foolish :):):):)

Posted By Peter Nellhaus : December 30, 2011 4:33 pm

When I moved to NYC in 1969, I was told how I came too late for the best time to be in Greenwich Village.

I think the lesson is that it’s all a mixed bag, that there’s always a trade-off.

I might not be seeing films in theaters like I use to, or projected celluloid where it may still be available, but there is a wider range of films available that I might have at best only read about in the past. The technology is of course subject to change, but with the advent of the DVD, I have been able to see more films, past and present, from filmmakers around the world. With said exposure, I’ve been able to destroy some of my assumptions of the past, and made a few “discoveries” of my own.

Posted By Temple of Schlock : December 30, 2011 4:38 pm

At the end of the rainbow
there ain’t no pot of gold
And the light in the morning
hardly ever shows
Ain’t no easy living
everybody knows
that it’s all around us…
The ’70s scenario

– Hall & Oates

Posted By chris : December 30, 2011 5:00 pm

great article. Being 51, I know just what you’re talking about(the pleasures of seeing an image when you hold the film up to light, the drive-in, etc.). I miss the sound of a 16mm projector at a film screening, threading the projector myself. I’m sorry I never owned at least one 16mm print of a favorite movie(hey, I was in college, I could barely afford a cheeseburger). A friend of mine discovered a company that sold dvd’s of old drive-in features that gave you the option of listening to the audio as if it were coming through the drive-in speaker you used to hook to your window.

Posted By Juana Maria : December 30, 2011 10:03 pm

“Dr. Strangelove”:”Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb” is one of my sister’s favorite movies. Her other favorite movies usually star Christopher Lee or Rudolph Martin. I am personally quite a fan of Slim Pickens, I remember first seeing him in “The Apple Dumpling Gang”, later in the Disney series “Andy Burnett”, which I called “The Mountain Man Show”. It was great; funny and exciting. That and I really like mountain men and cowboys. If any one knows how to survive just look to people who really know about survial. Those reality shows make me sick! They got a camera some one’s face all the time, making people pick fights, that is NOT survial is just being rude. Any way, I like to give a big YEE HAW! to all the western fans like me who have watched Slim Pickens in many, many movies.”We’ll head ‘em off at the pass”..”I hate that cleche!” That is so funny. They really do say that in Westerns, like Roy Rogers & Gene Autry. Adios amigos!

Posted By Jenni : December 30, 2011 11:24 pm

I remember my parents making a double-date with the neighboring couple, and then my brother and I, and the neighbors’ kids, all being hustled into our jammies, sitting in the back of the neighbors’ station wagon, with pillows and blankets, and popcorn made at home. We kids played and laughed and eventually fell asleep while our folks watched whatever the Drive-In was offering that night. I also recall having to learn how to thread film projectors as part of my teacher training. I doubt that class even exists anymore for teachers to be!

Posted By Greg Ferrara : December 31, 2011 10:11 pm

Great piece, Richard. A few quick things:

1. I never get that kind of praise from Pierre [hangs head low, makes sad eyes]

2. Temple of Schlock is just so awesome.

3. This, that Suzi said – “What angers me is the impact of the hastened end of celluloid on repertory cinema and on attitudes toward classic films… I believe there should be places to see classic films in the way they are intended to be seen–projected as films on a big screen.” A-MEN!

I got no problem with digital taking over. Fine, I get it. But the films shot on celluloid need to be available that way, forever. First of all, small art and revival houses can’t afford to replace their equipment with new digital equipment and if no one ever makes new celluloid prints for them, the ones they have will get worse and worse. Second of all, it just seems fitting to take something intended to be spooled through a projector and, by God, spool it through a projector!

Finally, I made so many movies on 16mm and Super 8 that are now lost to the ages, not because I threw them out but because I edited them to their death. I couldn’t stop once I started. I LOVED IT!

Posted By Tanya : January 1, 2012 10:43 am

Thank you for another great article and tripping this 49 year old back down memory lane!

Happy New Year!

Posted By Pierre Fournier : January 1, 2012 5:33 pm

Oh, Greg, you big baby.

Posted By Glen Curole : January 3, 2012 5:23 pm

I hope you (collectively) can help in my search. When I was younger I watched a movie that has stayed with me but that I cannot find via my IMDB searches and it has not been shown on TCM. What I recall is that there were people searching for a treasure or mine in the dry southwest – possibly the Lost Dutchman Mine. They followed the clues but could not find the treasure. The last clue called for them to find ‘the cross’ and they couldn’t find it until finally one of the characters stood in a arched space with his arms outstretched thus forming the cross. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
A fellow film fan – Glen

Posted By Juana Maria : January 3, 2012 9:15 pm

Glen, I think I can! I love movies a lot too. I hope you can answer a film question for me too. The film you discribe sounds like it could be:”Lust for Gold”(1949) with Glenn Ford,Ida Lupino,Edgar Buchanan,Will Greer,Arthur Hunnicutt,and Jay Siverheels. I have never seen it personally, that I remember. Sounds interesting, I love Westerns. Could you help me please, I have done some research and decided that Lee Marvin’s uniform in “Paint Your Wagon” is in fact a Marine uniform from the Mexican-American War. My question that remains is what rank is he? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Muchas Gracias, amigo!

Posted By Glen : January 5, 2012 11:10 am

Juana,

Thank you for the lead on my search. I’ll check it out. I’d love to help you. Paint Your Wagon is not one of my favorites though. I’ll check out the stills on IMDB and see what I can find. Best of luck and Thanks again.

Glen

Posted By Juana Maria : January 6, 2012 4:53 am

Glen, you are most welcome. Why is “Paint Your Wagon” not one of your favorites? May I suggust looking at TCM’s media room for scenes from “Paint your wagon”,also http://www.videodetective.com/movies/paint-your-wagon/5048. It is always a pleasure to help a fellow film fan. Adios!

Posted By Glen : January 7, 2012 7:43 pm

Juana,
Not being one to give up I watched the trailer several times. My best guess is that it is an officer’s uniform for the northern army just after the civil war. Army of the north because it is blue (Southern army wore gray) officer because of the epaulette on his left shoulder and the gold sash (non-officers wore neither. Hope this helps. google civil war uniforms for the army of the north and you should be able to find a match.
Regards, Glen

Posted By Juana Maria : January 8, 2012 9:39 pm

Glen, I really appreciate your help, however I realized the an uniform was that of an officer because of the epaulette on the left shoulder. It could not be a uniform from the American Civil War, since “Paint Your Wagon” takes place durring the 1849 Gold Rush in California. The most recent war of the time was the Mexican-American War(1846-47). I had previously suspected the uniform might belong to the War of 1812,but his pants are blue and not white as he would have worn in 1812. I majored in history during High School. I watch “History Detectives” on PBS when I can. I also avidly watch the History Channel, especially for the histories of the Mtn. Men; pioneers, cowboys & outlaws, the Native Americans, how the states got their shapes. I am particuliarly fond of Western history. I love Westerns. It is an obsession I think I inherited from my grandparents. They watched Westerns all the time! Gracias for your help amigo, but try a little harder, pretty please. Vaya con Dios!

Posted By ann : January 9, 2012 10:26 am

looking at your site makes me feel like going to the cinema more
i think you do get lazy poping in the dvd nothing like the night out at the cinema.
ann

Posted By Glen : January 31, 2012 11:53 am

To Juana,

Just wanted you to know that ‘Lust for Gold’ was the movie I had been searchiing for. Stared Glen Ford, Ida Lopino and Gig Young. It was about the Lost Dutchman mine in the Superstition Mountains outside of Phoenix. Wasn’t quite the way I remembered it but I was only about 8 to 10 years old. Still a goos fllick and I did enjoy seeing it an adult. More than I can say for some movies made today. Thanks you again and best wishes.

Glen

Posted By Juana Maria : January 31, 2012 6:08 pm

Glen,you are most welcome! I have pretty much ceased my inqiry on Lee Marvin’s uniform in “Paint Your Wagon”. I seemed to be one of very few people who enjoy that film. I have to explain again and again on these blogs that I grew up watching Westerns with my family(and I still do!) It’s an obession,I know. There is something very satisfying for me in Westerns. I like “Paint Your Wagon” because 1.I LOVE Westerns(CAPs on purpose),2.I’m a fan of Lee Marvin,Clont Eastwood,Jean Seburg,&Ray Walston.3.This is one of those Western spoofs,it is just silly and fun. I love “The Apple Dumpling Gang”,”The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again”,”Hot Lead & Cold Feet”,”The Shakiest Gun in the West”,”Support Your Local Sheriff!”,”Support Your Local Gunfighter”,”Cat Ballou”,”Along Came Jones”,”Alias Jesse James”,”The Paleface”,”The Son of Paleface”,”The Ballad of Josie”,”The First Traveling Saleslady”,”The Over the Hill Gang”,and “Where the H—’s that Gold!” I’m not one to use profanity if I can help it. Gracias for writing me back,amigo!

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