Weird and Forgotten Movies

[V.C. Brunswick]

More Good Guys Gone Bad
Gregory Peck as Joseph Mengele in The Boys From Brazil (1978).

Even for the All Around Good Guy, the lure of the Dark Side must have been quite irresistible. And since we're talking Gregory Peck, no run of the mill heavy would suffice for an actor of his stature. Nuh uh! Nothing less than the world's most notorious Nazi war criminal would do as the vehicle for Greg to go in new directions and push the thespian envelope of which he does in all his manic, arm-waving, foaming at the mouth glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVQmU8n3mcI

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

****land
(Argentina, 2000)

I came upon this strange film in the course of an insomniac 2:00 AM YouTube trawl. You can pretty much guess at the actual title, a double entendre which is also what the Argentine pronunciation of Falkland would sound like. When I came across it I thought it was going to be a documentary about the 1982 Falklands Conflict told from the Argentine point of view.

Instead, done in documentary style, the story is about Fabian (Fabian Stratas), a 33-year-old Argentine, who visits the Falkland Islands. But it's not merely a vacation but part of Fabian's harebrained patriotic scheme to retake the Falklands one step at a time by meeting and impregnating a British woman. He believes that if enough of his countrymen follow his example the Falklands (or Malvinas) would eventually be repopulated with their half-Argentine offspring. However, the theory has a major flaw in that it underestimates the power of language and culture as the offspring of such liasons would be born and raised in the British culture of the Falklands. The whole movie was actually shot in the Falkland Islands with a hidden camera as photography in many parts of the islands is prohibited. Except for Fabian's narration most of the movie is in English (with Spanish subtitles).

A good part of the film is made up of vignettes of Fabian interacting with real Falkland islanders as he attends a church service, visits a pub, gets a haircut, goes shopping, and visits the hospital to have his blood pressure checked. In an internet cafe he strikes up a conversation with Camilla (Camilla Heaney) whom he had first glimpsed in the church. They hit it off very well and Camilla takes Fabian on a tour of Port Stanley in her Land Rover and it seems like their relationship is blossoming. Later on they have a passionate tryst on a rocky beach. Symbolically the scene is rapidly interspersed with that of Fabian visiting one of the old battlefields and a guide describing the battle that took place almost twenty years before. Towards the end of his stay Camilla is a bit sad that Fabian has to go back home and as he boards the plane he calls himself a "pioneer" and congratulates himself on accomplishing his so-called mission. Months later Fabian, back in Argentina, is reviewing the footage he had shot when he discovers that Camilla, now pregnant, has left a scathing video message telling him what she really thinks of him. The movie ends again symbolically (at least that's my interpretation) with an unconcerned Fabian taking a shower while Camilla (on video) drones on.

 

[Edward]

That sounds fascinating - I must try to see it. The point re the influence of language and culture is certainly true, bearing in mind the apparent strength of the islander's self-identified "Britishness", despite geographical distance and the rest of it.

 

[BigFitz]

Seeing this thread reminded me of "Fade to Black", a horror/sociopathic killer movie from 1980 that I saw when it came out(I was 14) but haven't seen since. Dennis Christopher is the main character who is obsessed with old movies and turns to murder when he is rejected by a Marilyn Monroe look alike. He begins killing people who he believes have wronged him or stand in his way.

I thought the movie was a bit overly creepy at the time but I might have to give it another look now that I've remembered it. Watch out for the people obsessed with old movies!
[video=youtube;0zaIQu1mZ4E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zaIQu1mZ4E&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

 

[TM]

Well it’s taken me some time to go through all 35 pages of this thread. What a great selection of weird and forgotten films! Here’s my comments:

Zabriskie Point. This one can be a hard slog. At first I found the opening student unrest section hard to get through. But after watching it a few times, I love it! Of course, the exploding house at the end is perfect – especially with the Pink Floyd cut “Careful with that axe Eugene”. It’s also interesting to examine the early shots of Los Angeles billboards. Compare those to the photography of the late Dennis Hopper. Curiously, lead actress Daria Halprin was later kidnapped from a cult by Dennis Hooper and deprogrammed. They later married.

Zardoz. What can one say about that misguided film? It’s fun to run it with the director’s commentary. He remains confused and bewildered as to why the audience didn’t understand the film. I remember talking to a marketing guy at 20th Century Fox about the film after the initial release. He said that Boorman had just done “Deliverance” and so the studio just let him do whatever he wanted. To their dismay.

The Last Wave and Picnic at Hanging Rock. Peter Weir used to make films with atmosphere. The Last Wave is stunning. Picnic at Hanging Rock is a very odd film where almost nothing happens, but happens with vague dread. Well worth watching.

The Loved One. A really good adaptation of the novel by Evelyn Waugh. Very faithful to the book. Always liked the poem read by the poet at the funeral of his uncle: “Dear uncle, they say they found you hung, with dead protruding eyes and black protruding tongue”.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Written by Roger Ebert! With such great lines as “I’d like to strap you on some time!”

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Point Blank".

Lee Marvin and Angie Dickenson. A bizarre Film Noir with very strange surrealistic scenes right out of nowhere. Mean and violent. If you haven’t seen it – see it! Directed by John Boorman!

Tony

 

[Edward]

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a classic - one of Meyer's better efforts. I loved the original The Producers, which was really a cult thing before the musical brought it to wider attention again. Has anyone mentioned Rock and Roll High School yet? (I'm on a s-l-o-w connection).