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1980s Street kids movies
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Film Gris
Reviews
The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (1970)
Surprisingly good and certainly worth seeking out
I've only seen the supposed re-released, re-titles, shortened version of the original release. I would love to find out if the unedited version exists. Regardless, the version that I watched was surprisingly good and offers a unique insight into that critical era of malaise between Altamont and Disco. A period that is often forgotten, as it was bookended by the two much more memorable eras. This is not to say that Pigeons is the only example of this era. More noteworthy are Five Easy Pieces, Midnight Cowboy, Panic in Needle Park, and Last Picture Show.
Many books have covered this subject in depth, such as A Cinema of Loneliness by Robert Kolker and Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam by David A. Cook.
What I particularly like about Pigeons is that the protagonists are mid-20s New Yorkers. As expected, they are aimless and alienated. The film reflects the emotional zeitgeist that took hold in America.
What is particularly interesting to me is the hindsight that disco, fern bars, swinging singles, and the pinnacle of the sexual revolution was lying dormant, ready to explode, wiping away any trace of this malaise. One character is the 24-year-old virgin. Sad as that may be in 1970, his love-life will significantly change once 1973 rolls around.
The movie is chock full of wonderful period set pieces. There is the groovy party, the not so groovy party, the falling-in-love montage, slow-mo joyful Central Park mischief, the intimate dope-smoking session, and even a set piece on petty larceny, similar to the shoplifting sequence in Breakfast at Tiffany's. That alone is going to be worth the price of admission for any passionate early 70s movie fans.
Many of these elements and other classic movie clichés are extremely fulfilling, and in many ways surpass similar sequences in other films. Notable is the groovy party sequence, which is not rushed, but shows the slow build of the party's energy. It features a large number of gay characters. While stereotyped by necessity, it gives the party an honest, mixed gathering. In that sense Pigeons surpasses the more constrained groovy party sequences in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Midnight Cowboy.
A fine example that should be added to the early 70s alienation films cannon.
After Last Season (2009)
This Movie is a Fake
After watching this one and reading many reviews and many comments it all comes down to one thing – the "clock radio". You can see a picture of the clock radio in the reviews from "Geek Juice Media" and "Hard Sensations". The discussion of the clock radio has no bearing on the plot. It is not difficult to get a clock radio. The only reason to have that discussion in the movie is to show the poorly made fake "clock radio".
The fake MRI machine can be explained away because it may be difficult to get a real MRI machine. But so many other scenes are complexly devoid of easily obtained props like computers, phones, desks, tables, beds, and bookcases.
Another point is the many mixed up sets. The MRI scene was obviously shot in someone's bedroom. So if they had a real bedroom available, why didn't they shoot the bedroom scene in the same bedroom without all the papers covering the walls? This movie is not like the films of Ed Wood, Tommy Wiseau, or Neil Breen. This movie was designed from the start to be bad. My guess is that the filmmaker thought he could cash in on the camp/bad movie genre. Even the film's reported budget of $5,000,000 is suspiciously close to Wiseau's oft-mentioned $6,000,000 budget.
If you love bad movies, you might like this too. But remember, this is not an auteur film where the director's heart is bigger than his filmmaking skills. Entertaining or not, this one is a sham.
Frankie & Alice (2010)
A Great Film.
Don't be swayed by the negative reviews. I knew nothing about this film before I watched it. Afterward I thought it had been nominated for a bunch of awards. I can't believe it didn't get any nominations, and even got negative reviews from some critics. I'm not sure if this one makes it into my top 10 for the year, but it's definitely in my top 20.
Sure, the subject matter has been covered before, but that shouldn't matter. So has divorce, bank robberies, and most recently, the death of a child. Just because a subject has been covered before in a film doesn't mean the film should be dismissed.
I thought this movie was way better than Rabbit Hole. While Rabbit Hole gets all the recognition, Frankie and Alice gets ignored. I'm not even any sort of huge Halle Berry fanatic. I just know a good movie when I see one and it makes me angry when good films are ignored.
Birds Do It (1966)
Unbelievably Bad (but firmly in the so-bad-it's-good category)
This movie is absolutely incredibly. I consider myself a connoisseur of bad films and this is up there with the best of them. It's got all the key elements, bad acting, confusing plot, poor direction, lame attempts at humor, etc. But without a doubt it is worth seeking out. I couldn't believe that they actually released this film. Who paid money to see it and why? Did they stay to the end? It's filled with so many wonderful clichés. It's got a great hippie dance party scene. (Best gag: The music on the radio ends and the weather report comes on, but those cats are soooo cool that they dance to the weather report too.) There's a lot of pointless chase sequences which are loads of fun. A monkey that's good for a bunch of gags. The bumbling criminals sadly didn't add that much to the film, primarily because the script was so confusing you had no idea what they were attempting to do and why.
The only problem is the ending. For me, a real good bad film has to keep you glued to your seat throughout the whole thing. They dragged out the ending so much that I kept grabbing the remote to see how much time was left. It's just this dumb, one-joke gag about Soupy Sales flying around. I don't know why they felt the need to pad the ending out so much. They kept on reusing shots, speeding things up, slowing them down, using the same pointless gags. The only thing that kept me going was trying to spot the wires holding the stuntman up in the air.
If you like 'em so bad that they hurt, seek this one out. It will keep you entertained until the final sequence. You can then just fast forward when it gets too painful.