TV Bites: Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud)

THE SNACK:
Miles Davis' South Side Chicago Chili Mack


A version of this post can be found at The Criterion Collection website
Finally we arrive at the long-delayed (also procastinated) second half of the Paris, France double bill. And what a treat it is. With this movie, you get two wonderful things at the same time. First, the movie itself, but also you have one of the most wonderful soundtracks ever created for a film. Miles Davis (no relation to my new kitten) was intrigued to make an improvised recording for the film's soundtrack, but the outcome of that experiment would change not just his musical direction and influence the direction of jazz music in general. (More about this in the Background & Context section.)

And independent of the soundtrack, Elevator to the Gallows changed the cinema landscape, as well. The brilliant cinematography, the editing, the low budget simplicity of it.... The film was released merely moments before the first wave of the French New Wave films came out (though there is a lot of debate as to whether Malle was a member of this group, an honorary member, or not one at all). If Malle is not a card-carrying member of the New Wave (and he himself will argue that he isn't), he nevertheless set the stage for it and busted the doors open so that Truffaut and Goddard could saunter through. Malle's film is the bridge between the French films of the 1950's (Robert Bresson, Jean-Pierre Melville, and others) and the New Wave.

Otherwise, I hope the new year is doing you well. I just sent the Chef du Cinema book proposal out to an agent. Let's hope for the best. I'll be back shortly with the second half of the "good/bad" double bill.

TV Bites: Quadrophenia

THE SNACK:
Beef Pie & Mash w/Liquor


A version of this post appears on the Criterion Collection site
On June 10, 1974, I was standing on a platform with some friends waiting for the Long Island Railroad train to arrive to take us to see The Who live at Madison Square Garden. I was a high school drop out, my father had just died, my mother's second husband had just run out on her, and nothing much made sense. In the outside world, there was Watergate, Patty Hearst, the Oil Crisis, and terrorists had recently bombed a building in New York. When the train, which may well have been the 5:15 (or close to it), pulled into the station, the trainman stepped out and announced: “Who train! Get on The Who train!” And we eagerly jumped aboard.

Just four years earlier, I had been unwillingly replanted from Manhattan to a small suburb on the southwestern tip of Long Island. We lived a block from the ocean, and since I was a stranger in that strange land, it was there on the beach where I spent much of my time.

I'm sure we could find a more perfect poster boy for teenage angst and alienation, but if we could all go back in time and observe me in my shoddy parka, standing on the edge of a jetty, alone, on a cold and misty twilight, asking big questions to the sea and sand, wondering why nothing ever went as planned, I would definitely be a likely candidate.

TV Bites: His Girl Friday

THE SNACK:
Hot Open-Faced Roast Beef Sandwich w/Roasted Shallot Brown Gravy



So, I'd say it's hot here in Montreal, but considering how horrible it is elsewhere I won't. Working hard on assignment for National Geographic (links here) and seeing some great music here at JazzFest. But I've got some good films and good food as this here's part one of a two part classic romantic/screwball comedy double bill.

Wow. Back to Howard Hawks. I had no idea when I started this adventure I would be covering so many of Hawks' films so soon. I always thought I loved his work, but it certainly seems as if it's more than I thought. Hitchcock, of course. But this was a surprise for me. (The previous picks were Rio Bravo and To Have and Have Not.) I mean, I have yet to write about one Stanley Kubrick film, you know? It's also my fourth film to feature Cary Grant - and that's no surprise to me.

Also, there's Ben Hecht. He was the first screenwriter I think I recognized. I started reading up about him, reading his essays, novels, nonfiction, articles - whatever I could get my little hands on. Actually, I'm gonna say it started when I first saw Gaily, Gaily (based on Hecht's life) which I saw as a young man. I wanted to live the exciting life of a writer. (Ah, the sweet naivety of youth.) Seriously, if you want to know about screenwriting, he's the man to study. Jean-Luc Godard once said Hecht "invented 80 percent of what is used in American movies today."

TV Bites: A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)

THE SNACK:
Ash-e Reshteh (Persian Noodle Soup w/Meatballs)



So, I'm pushing back the Bogart double bill and bumping what was to be the mid-March post up because of A Separation's Oscar win on Sunday. The second Bogart film will appear in its place later this month.

As you know if you've been following this adventure, I typically don't do films currently in the theaters. But occasionally I find myself wanting to share something new I really like. (The last time was for the Vik Muniz documentary Waste Land.) Plus, in this case, it's an opportunity to make some Persian food. And it seemed perfect timing in that March 20th is Norouz, the Persian New Year.

I had heard about this film back in November and I was interested in it, but I thought, "Oh, a family drama. It could be kind of boring." But then I watched it in December and I was just so taken by it.

TV Bites: Crumb

THE SNACK:
Crumb Family Spaghetti Sauce Recipe a la Veronica


A shorter version of this post was originally published on the Criterion Collection website.

In August of this year, Robert Crumb was scheduled to give a talk at the Sydney Opera House in Australia as part of an exhibition of his work at their Graphic Arts Festival. The first issue arose as the federal Attorney General noted, according to an article in the Sunday Telegraph: "that Crumb's work cannot be shown in Australia unless he submits his illustrations for classification. The spokesman said his work would almost certainly be refused classification."

If that wasn't enough to set the publicity and, in general, human shy Crumb off, the article went on to quote an "anti-child abuse campaigner" (as if there are pro-child abuse campaigners? Who knows? I've never visited Australia) who declared with the authority of someone who must spend her life writing dissertations on art history when not abuse campaigning: "These cartoons are not funny or artistic - they are just crude and perverted images emanating from what is clearly a sick mind.... Of all the brilliant artists, cartoonists and writers the Opera House and council could have supported, you have to wonder why they chose Robert Crumb."

The 67 year-old Crumb, of course, now had the perfect excuse to stay at home in his French retreat. He told the Australian, "It was strong stuff and it made me look very, very bad.... All it takes is a few people who overreact to something like that to show up and cause unpleasantness. I have a lot of anxiety about having to confront some angry sexual assault crisis group.... I do these crazy cartoons, I have no defense. I just have to throw up my hands.... I told [the festival co-curator] that I'm not coming and to cancel the whole thing."

TV Bites: The Lady Eve

THE SNACK:
Roast Beef with Ale Jus



A shorter version of this post was originally published on the Criterion Collection website.

I'm a little surprised that I'm back to writing about Preston Sturges so quickly. But it's in the Criterion Collection, and the Museum of Modern Art had an afternoon screening of it while I was up in the New York City last month, and so here we are. Not that I'm complaining, but I haven't even written up one Welles, Kubrick, or even a Scorsese film yet, just saying. But interesting to note, that the only other directors so far to have two films here are Wim Wenders, and Billy Wilder - with Wilder being another writer at Paramount who suffered through having his scripts hacked, I mean directed, by Mitchell Leisen and decided he needed to direct himself.

TV Bites: A Hard Day's Night

THE SNACK
Scouse (Beef & Lamb Stew) w/ Sir Paul McCartney's Mashed Potatoes



Earlier last year, the Vatican decided to "forgive" the Beatles with this odd pronouncement written in the L'Osservatore Romano, the official Pope newsletter: "It's true they took drugs, lived life to excess because of their success, even said they were bigger than Jesus and put out mysterious messages that were possibly even Satanic, [but] what would pop music have been like without the Beatles?"

TV Bites: Some Like It Hot

THE SNACK:
Tony Curtis' Stuffed Cabbage (Töltött Káposzta)



I'm sure one could easily write a master's thesis on the subject of how in American society, where male sexuality is so filled with issues and general weirdness, that the top 2 films on AFI's 100 YEARS - 100 LAUGHS list are Some Like it Hot and Tootsie - two films about cross-dressing men.

TV Bites: Mad Max

THE SNACK:
Australian Beef & Mushroom Pies



It's the end of September here in Austin and that means one thing -- FANTASTIC FEST!!! So, I'm going deep for the next week watching films and to tie in with it, I decided to go with one of the great genre action films of all time, a film that redefined and reinvigorated the genre.