nicorama

Clearly a very low-budget film where certain action needs to take place in order to move the story towards its intended climax or to explicate what is happening at the expense of narrative logic — certain narrative elements make little sense, but this doesn’t matter — this film is meant to have actors perform generic parts not become the parts. There isn’t an intention to make this believable in any way. The film can be appreciated as kitsch not camp — there is never a wink here. The filmmaking is honest, tries to capture a bit of box-office through teenagers who were probably just interested in having a great night of fun.

(TCM)

Recommend: for its kitsch and its representation of low-fare Hollywood exploitation film in the tradition of Universal in the early 1930s / although here closer to American International Pictures film.

A young Clarke Gable without a mustache — before It Happened One Night — with a young Barbara Stanwyck / a pre-code film.

(TCM)

Recommend: for its Pre-code content, Stanwyck, Gable, Wellman.

With Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunnaway — actors with great productivity in the 1970s.

(DVD)

(DVD)

Wonderful dark humor — incredible that the film was produced — a film that perhaps would only have been made at Paramount in the 1970s / unlikely that such a film would be produced today at Paramount, perhaps distributed but not financed and produced.

And, the Cat Stevens soundtrack!

(DVD)

Incredible, highly exciting compositions, color tones, sound effects and montages (Walter Murch has got to be one of the most interesting editors and sound maker), music — the issue is the story — too much art cinema inspiration for it to have become a major hit. Nevertheless a fantastic film — it’s an art piece with some sense of a story.

(DVD)

Going through this retrospective chronologically reveals the way in which Flavin went from making minimalist sculptures with florescent lights to creating environments which affect space, architecture, design, and perception. Seems straight forward, but this is art (as most) that must be physically seen to be fully experienced. Great work, and art that can also be appreciated by kids.

Natalie Wood and a young Warren Beatty.

Does Bud pass out because of his sexual drive? He has such needs he must fulfill that he destroys the relationship he so cherishes. Having to wait until marriage in this film is not the way to go.

What an ending! Moral: follow your instincts and not what you are told to do — if she had allowed herself to sleep with him, and if he had allowed himself not to go to Yale as his father wanted, they would be living the Hollywood ending. But the ending is not what is expected — it’s a complete downer. They love each other, but because of their constructed circumstances cannot be together.

Coming out in the early 1960s, this represents the beginning of the breakdown of past moral values and traditions leading to the sexual revolution, women’s lib, etc. This is the precursor to the late 1960s films which would destroy all that Hollywood had done from the 1920s to the early 1960s.

(DVD)

Dispersed throughout this films, stability is provided through the composition and the limited movement of the camera. This sense of durability allows the ellusive story and friendship between the two main characters to appear to be just part of the world, as opposed to the whole world of the film. The film is now larger in scope and more meaningful simply because the camera exists and glides over the action an the world — the center of the film is not only the character we are following, but also the world that surrounds them. As a viewer, the whimsical nature of the story because more profound simply because of this lack of movement of the camera in the moments of interlude, the sort of pillow shots that exist between the lives of these characters that we follow. The story is simple, but it’s because of these shots that the film is more complex. A stable shot, here, provides a stronger, meaningful and polyvalent film.

(DVD)

(TCM)