9/16/05 Quentin Tarantino Festival - Day 8 - Grindhouse Triple Feature
Hello from Austin. I'm Micah and this is coverage of the Grindhouse Triple Feature from the Alamo Drafthouse. We've had a lot of new readers find Dumb Distraction through this Festival Coverage, and I wanna encourage you to check us out after the festival is over. We run movie reviews every Friday, ranging from older obscure classics like Sun Ra: Space is the Place to recent direct to video bombs like the Gunman. We even sneak in some recent Hollywood movies that we deem worthy. Basically anything that we think is cool or interesting we'll post.
I'm also proud to announce the beginning of a new column at Dumb Distraction: Tarantino Approved Movies. During the course of QT6 I've been compiling an ever growing list of movies, directors, and actors that Tarantino mentioned and for the forseeable future, I'll be reviewing all of them that I can get my hands on. It'll probably take me at least until QT7 to get through them all, but I'll do my best. I'm not ready for the festival to end just yet, and now it doesn't have to. Next Friday I'll have reviews of Sergio Corbucci's Navajo Joe (1966) and Fernando Di Leo's Wipeout! (1973).
Tonight was among the most anticipated nights of the festival for me. I'm an exploitation junkie, but was born too late to ever experience the wonder that was Grindhouse Theaters. I was looking forward to see just how QT would recreate the experience. And with amazing movies from three totally different genres, Tarantino did not disappoint. (Although the Grindhouse experience was also made a little more realistic by the fact that the AC at the Alamo Drafthouse was on the fritz tonight. More on that later.) By now you know what's coming...
Nicky Katt Update #7: I didn't see Katt until after the final film finished tonight. I'm not sure if he was hiding the rest of the night, or if he just showed up super late. For legal reasons, I'm not going to say that the Pink Escalade parked in front of the Drafthouse tonight was Katt's car. But I'm not going to say it wasn't his either... hint, hint.
Also, I wanted to take the chance to point out a feature of the Drafthouse that most people never notice: the amazing movie poster/food item parodies they have painted on the second story windows. I snapped a picture of The Seven Beer Itch, Dial 'Y' For Yummy, and Was Cravin's iceCream, but there's several others hidden up there. I have no idea who painted those, but they are a great hidden bonus for the observant movie fan. Next time you're there be sure to check it out.
Tarantino Update #2: I had a chance to speak with Tarantino before the movies started today about my all-time favorite trailer: Duke Mitchell's Massacre Mafia Style. The trailer is this 2:30 masterpiece, featuring two hitmen running through an office building killing everyone they see... secretaries, delivery boys, repairmen... everybody. They even electrocute one guy by exposing him to live wires they had attached to the urinal he was using. And what takes this seqence from the level of great to truly legendary is that the whole thing is accompanied by the most upbeat Italian ditty you've ever heard. I've never acually seen the movie and had never ran into anyone who had. Of course, as soon as I say the title Tarantino starts telling me how much he likes Duke Mitchell, how he was 1/2 of a Martin & Lewis ripoff team, and how I should check him out in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. The guy is truly amazing.
Click For Wallpaper Size Windows
Crack House (1989)
Directed by: Michael Fischa
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Jim Brown
Louis Black Introduction:
Onstage first tonight is Lewis Black, top guy at the Austin Chronicle, legendary founder of the Austin Film Society, and all-around good guy. He said that he had been asked why Tarantino would come all the way to Austin for 9 days to show old movies. Black said the answer is simple. Tarantino is a bona fide collector, and what a collector wants to do more than anything else in the world, is show off his collection to people who 'get it.' Very classy intro.
Tarantino Introduction:
Tarantino tells us that the festival is a little different this year. There's no Spaghetti Western Night, no Kung Fu Night, no Blaxploitation night... but that doesn't mean those genres aren't getting a shout out. And it's very fitting to throw these three movies all together in one night, because that's exactly what a grindhouse experience used to be. Double and Triple features of movies that may or may not play well together. When they don't, at least you saw three cool movies... but when they do, it can be a truly transcendental experience.
Crack House isn't a full out blaxploitation, but Tarantino says it definately has the 80's urban vibe (although he hesitates to use the word urban). A few years back Tarantino ran a double feature for his friends with Crack House and True Romance, and apparently they played together great! It was made in the late 80's by Cannon Pictures... and for London readers, the BFI is going to be doing a Cannon Pictures retrospective. If you make it to any of the retrospective, be sure to drop me a line with what you think.
Tarantino asks us to give this movie 10-15 minutes to get past the Awful 80's Exploitation Look that this movie has... the bad hair, music and clothes that we've tried so hard to forget. Speaking of 80's movies Tarantino gets sidetracked and starts praising Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. "What you losers out there think is Goonies... no man... Electric Boogaloo. Don't talk to me about Goonies when you could be watching Electric Boogaloo. Everyone in fucking Electric Boogaloo could kick everyone in Goonie's ass. Shabba-Doo... fuck all them up. Boogaloo Shrimp? Forgetabout it. Wipe his ass with Sean Astin!
He gets back on track and tells us that after we get past the initial 80's suckiness, you reach a certain point where it gets a little better. He compares it to climing a mountain where each step gets a little bit better, a little more entertaining... and while you may not be committed to saying it's a good movie yet, at least you're being entertained.
"Then, in the last 40 minutes, a sequence happens that's so fucking satisfying...alright... the kind of scene that you've never seen before in this type of movie and it just totally delivers, that during that scene you decide 'YES... this is definately a good movie. It's a good movie. I'm into this movie!' "
Most of the young main leads in this movie haven't been in much else, but there are a few vetran actors thrown in the mix. Anthony 'Luke from General Hospital' Geary playing "probably the most crazily conceived high school principal in the history of any cinema ever. By the time you see the end of the movie, just remember that's the fucking principal." Then you've got Richard Roundtree and Jim Brown. Tarantino tells us that Jim Brown may end up being the best villain of the festival. "He's so fantastic in this movie. He doesn't show up until the last half of the movie, but once he shows up... he just takes it over and you are watching a Jim Brown movie for the next 40 minutes."
Trailers:
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
Thomasine & Bushrod - Step Aside Bonnie & Clyde... Thomasine & Bushrod Have Arrived!
The Black Godfather
Force Four - This is a great blaxploitation/kung fu movie starring four guys who know ZERO kung fu. Hell, they may not have ever even SEEN any kung fu.
The Movie:
Crack House is the story of Melissa and Rick. Melissa is white high-school girl from a middle-class background being raised by an alcoholic mother. She's fairly on the straight and narrow, and has dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She is madly in love with, and later becomes engaged to Rick Morales, a former barrio gang-banger who has abandoned his gang connections to appease Melissa. (At one point a kid at school is stabbed and she naggingly asks Rick 'Were you in on the knifing?')
Sadly, Rick's cousin, the leader of the chicano gang, is killed by a rival gang in a drive-by shooting, causing Rick to lead a counter attack on the other gang. There's a little scene here that I got a kick out of with Rick solemnly putting on his old Barrio Bandana once more to symbolize his return to his roots. The counter-attack is intercepted by the cops and Rick gets tossed in the slammer for Attempted Murder, Assault With a Deadly Weapon, and various Drug Charges. Rick is screwed.
While Rick's on the inside, Melissa falls into the comforting arms of BT, a local smalltime crack dealer. Melissa starts taking crack with BT, and before too long BT gets heavy into debt to Steadman (Jim Brown) the top drug guy in the city. As a down payment, Steadman takes Melissa. In one of the best scenes of the festival Steadman shows up at BT's house and finds Melissa, fresh out of a shower, wrapped in a towl. He looks at her and asks BT "This your bitch?" When BT says yes, Steadman pulls open Melissa's towl, gives her a onceover, smiles and says "Used to be." That may be the Quote of the Night.
Actually, the quote of the night may come from the next scene where Melissa is at Steadman's house. She's locked in the house, basically there for Steadman to screw or beat whenever he feels like it. After the first few days she's seriously jacked. She's got a busted lip, swollen eye, big welts all over, and she's going through heavy withdrawal symptoms. She timidly asks Steadman for some drugs, and he yells at his flunkies in the next room "Hey! Get this bitch a speedball!" That line could be heard echoed around the theater the rest of the night.
When word of Melissa's new home gets to Rick, he convinces the chief of police (Richard Roundtree) to let him go undercover to bust Steadman and get Melissa free. In the film's most preachy moment Roundtree, with great gravitas, asks Rick "What's the facination you kids have with gangbangin'? Is it the shirts?"
The final third of the movie has Rick getting closer and closer to Steadman, Melissa getting more and more messed up, and the eventual police raid. Just before the raid, Steadman starts to realize that something weird is going on. He grabs Rick and says "Either you're saving up to start your own crack house or you're working with the badge boys. Either way... I'm not enthused." If nothing else, Jim Brown knows how to be menacing.
Tarantino was right, once this movie starts rolling, and especially once Jim Brown shows up, it totally kicks ass. I'll even forget the fact that Rick, supposedly a chicano gang member, is clearly as white as Al Gore. He's not even a little chicano. Hell, the guy only remembers to use his latin accent every third scene!
Steadman is a badass mother in this movie... an unstoppable mad dog who takes what he wants when he wants it. What I wouldn't give for an all-Steadman flick. Crack House was definately a crowd pleaser.
The Dirty Outlaws (1967)
Directed by: Franco Rossetti
Tarantino Introduction:
The director of this movie, Franco Rossetti is described by Tarantino as one of the best screenwriters in the western genre, forever being known as the man who created Django. He wrote both the original and the only true Django sequel (the Terence Hill classic Django, Prepare a Coffin).
The movie also stars an actor named Andrea Giordana who has one of the worst American pseudonyms ever: Chip Gorman. He wasn't in that many movies, but Tarantino really likes his style. There's also a female voice actress in this movie that Taranino considers the best of all the dub-artists. Apparently her voice is in a ton of giallos and spaghetti westerns. QT doesn't know her name, but she's one of his favorite actresses nevertheless.
Trailers:
The Stranger and the Gunfighter - Lee Van Cleef & Lieh Lo together in one movie. When Van Cleef showed up onscreen he was greeted with thunderous applause from the audience. Austin loves its Van Cleef.
... And Sartana Killed Them All!
The Movie:
I've gotta be honest... this movie didn't really work for me. Part of this may be attributed to the fact that, as I mentioned before, the AC at the Alamo Drafthouse wasn't working very well. This temperature for this movie in particular was almost unbearable for me... it had to be upper 80's. So I was sitting there, sweltering, and I kept getting distracted from the film. Also, for some reason, I got really kinda sleepy during this movie. I didn't fall asleep or anything, but that, combined with the womb-like temperature got me in a mood that wasn't very condusive to watching movies.
That's not to say that I think this was a bad movie. In other circumstances I think I really could have liked it. Giordana plays an outlaw who comes across a dying confederate soldier. The soldier asks him to deliver a message to his blind father, the last resident of a town wiped out by typhoid: "Use the money I sent you to buy a ranch!" With that the soldier dies, and Giordana, recognizing an opportunity when he sees one, puts on the dead man's uniform and heads to the ghost town to steal the old man's money.
Once he gets there, he finds the town isn't as deserted as the soldier made it seem. A young girl has begun living with the old man, taking care of his needs and giving him companionship in his waning years. There is also a payroll wagon scheduled to pass through soon, and a group of bandits has arrived to steal the gold.
Giordana alternately works with and the against the bandits, and has a romantic tryst with the young girl. Giordana is definately cool in this movie, and I can see why Tarantino choose it. But tonight... just didn't hit me right. I'll have to give it a chance at a later date.
This is the line of people trying to get tickets for the 1AM showing of Fistful of Talons.
Fistful of Talons (1983)
Directed by: Chung Sun
Starring: Billy Chong
Tarantino Introduction:
The final film of the night is a Kung Fu movie directed by Chung Sun, a director Tarantino describes as the Stanley Kubrick of the Shaw Brothers Stable. He didn't do a ton of movies and didn't really get along with much of the filmmaking community. However, he was so good that they all let him do his thing. Sun directed some of Tarantino's favorite Kung Fu movies... Avenging Eagle, Kung Fu Instructor and City Wars.
The movie also stars one of QT's favorite martial arts actors of all time: Billy Chong. Chong, an Indonesian actor, became a star in a movie from an earlier festival Jade Claw. After his Hong Kong roles dried up Chong went back to Indonesia, reclaimed his birth name Willy Dozan, and continues to make movies to this day. Tarantino draws some interested murmurs when he notes that Chong still looks pretty good these days, and can still fight. "He's good to go man... you could put him in a movie tomorrow!"
Tarantino tells us that the main heroine in this movie is a 'dead ringer for Cher', which becomes very interesting when you realize that Chong is a dead ringer for David Cassidy. "So we've got the Kung Fu Cher and the Kung Fu Keith Partridge in one movie!"
Before he leaves, Tarantino tells us to pay attention to the final shot of the movie. In a bold statement, he hypes this final shot as one that can give Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre's final shot a run for it's money. As he walks off he reminds us that this is an Asian movie, so "No animals were not not harmed in this movie!"
Trailers:
Sting of the Dragon Masters
Lightning Swords of Death - The 3rd installment of the Lone Wolf and Cub series: In the Valley of Hell They Threw and Army At Him... And He Threw It Back One Piece At A Time!
Bodyguard - The trailer is so good. It starts off with Sonny Chiba kicking ass as a bodyguard, then in the background you start to hear the tribal chant Viva Chiba, Viva Chiba. The chant gets louder and louder as Chiba kicks more and more ass before finally reaching critical mass and just exploding. It's amazing. Huge crowd response for this one.
The Movie:
What a kick in the ass Fistful of Talons ended up being, with some of most beautifly choreographed fight scenes I've seen in a while... reminded me a lot of Legend of the Drunken Master or Tsui Hark's The Blade. Just full out, balls-to-the-wall badness... we're talking nonstop thug flying-furniture splintering-bodies crashing battles. There were several scenes where I knew I had to be looking at wire-fu, but couldn't spot a single wire anywhere. Truly breathtaking stuff. And, as an added bonus, it even took the time to cook up a semi-engrossing plot.
The movie starts 6 years after the Republic has defeated the evil Ching Dynasty (think 6 years after Return of the Jedi) but the Ching Dynasty hasn't been completely wiped out. There is still a strong faction that wants to return to power. If you end up watching this movie, it helps to know up front that the hierarchy of the Ching Dynasty were known for their long ponytails. It had to figure that out for myself and I spent a while trying to figure out why half the people in this movie really hated ponytails.
The Ching faction has just been dealt a harsh blow when one of their top members defects to the Republic, taking all of the Emperor's papers and insignias with him. We soon find out that this man is the Uncle of Billy Chong, and an incredible kung fu master. When the Ching faction comes to take their revenge on the Uncle (I never caught his full name... or anyone else's name for that matter... bear with me), Uncle must teach everything he knows to Chong, and the two of them must keep the Emperor's paraphernalia from falling back into the hands of the Ching faction.
They are helped by Uncle's daughter, a kickass martial artists in her own right, who just happens to control an army of trained eagles! I'm not sure about this, but I think that Uncle isn't actually related by blood to Chong, because at the beginning of the movie, he tries to arrange a marriage between Chong and his Eagle Training daughter. Chong meets her... she's this amazingly beautiful girl, smart, kicksass, controls eagles... everything you'd want in a wife, right? Not Chong. He trys to run away from Uncle's house in the middle of the night, and when Eagle Trainer confronts him, Chong tells her "I don't understand... you're such a pretty girl... but you've got so many eagles." They tone of his voice when he said it was pretty funny, you could have substituted 'oozing genital warts' for 'so many eagles' and it would have made perfect sense. Chong just can't get past those eagles.
The Eagle Army doesn't come into play until the final showdown in the movie... and by that time we were all foaming at the mouth to see the eagles kick some ass. And ass they do kick, grabbing the evil Ching leader by the eyeballs and tossing him around the set like a bloody ragdoll. And Tarantino was right about the final shot... if you made that into a poster it'd be in more Freshman dormrooms that that Belushi College picture.
Fistful of Talons wrapped up around 3, and as I was walking out I realized there were less than 24 hours left before QT6 would be over. I'm trying not to think too much about it, instead focusing all my attention on guessing what films Tarantino will throw out tomorrow night. Tarzoon?... No Way Out?... Blue Water, White Death?... or something new that we haven't seen yet... cam anyone say Confessions of a Young American Housewife? I don't know, and if you want to find out, you gotta come back tomorrow. See you then!
- Micah
