Aug 13, 2009
Trailer 320 of 692
Although it stirred little notice on its US release in 1968, the late Michael Reeves' final film (of three and a half) has attained deservedly classic status as one of the darkest, most bleak historical treatments of human ignorance and misery on film. Price plays a true historical character, although the real one was much younger. We prefer the faux-Poe US version only for the devastating poem Price reads at the end: "The play is the tragedy, Man. And its hero, The Conqueror Worm." Get out the sleeping pills!
In 1960, my very first job was as an usher at the Apollo Theater on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey where "Psycho" played for most of that summer. I probably saw the film more than fifty times and could recite it from memory...
I was about eight years old when I first was exposed to the wonderful Ealing comedies starring Alec Guinness, "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "The Ladykillers", "The Lavender Hill Mob" and most memorably "The Man in the White Suit". The idea that something so obviously beneficial as this miraculous new fabric could pose such a threat to both business and labor interests was a mind-blowing idea then and still resonates all these years later...
One of my all-time favorites, although I never really thought about it as a 'gay' film. I think it's just plain hilarious, skewering pretention and pomposity with both style and bohemian sensibility...
Came here this morning looking for Bad Timing, but it's not posted yet. I like the irony of that.
Amazing film, saw it years ago, and it inspired me to eventually to my own walkabout, a 3-day trek through the outback of Kakadu in Northern Australia with an Aboriginal guide who grew up in the area (and knew David Gulpilil). Saw a lot of the wildlife depicted in the film (snakes, lizards, spiders, wallaroos--kind of a cross between a kangaroo and a wallaby--wild horses, water buffalo, crocodiles)...
For a second there I thought Soul Pilot typed "The Jeffersons" instead of "The Jetsons". I guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing dry cleaning fluid.
Comments
Login Now to add a comment
Not yet a member? Register Now