BOSS NIGGER
SEP 1, DIR. JACK ARNOLD, 1975, 35MM, RITZ
Can we even print that title? It must have been a really tough choice for exhibitors back in the day to decide whether or not to include the verbal equivalent of a thousand sticks of dynamite in their newspaper ads and on their marquees. But here you go. It's blaxploitation icon Fred Williamson in the old west. And you better believe The Hammer rights a few wrongs while he’s there. Williamson and his comic-relief sidekick D’Urville Martin play bounty hunters who become sheriff and deputy of a small racist town. It’s kind of like an ass-kicking, more serious version of BLAZING SADDLES. As a special bonus the bad guy is played by muscular reptile William Smith, who always charges into a role with maximum intensity. You'll have nightmares about him. Oh, and if you think the title is offensive, that's just an appetizer. This movie drops more bombs than the Screaming Eagles. Wait until you hear the theme song, it’s got like twenty or thirty in there. You won’t believe it. (Lars)
SEXUS
SEP 8, DIR. JOSE BÉNAZÉRAF, 35MM, RITZ
In the early 60s a lot of sleepy arthouse theaters suddenly started turning a profit. Instead of the 20 or 30 people who would trickle in to see GRAND ILLUSION and sip espresso, there were lines around the block to see Brigitte Bardot or Harriet Andersson show a little skin in subtitled European imports. As hard as it is to believe now, when we can watch donkey shows on our cellphones, this was the only way to see skin on screen in those days. So Joe Sixpack and Sal the plumber would sit and watch some of the most obtuse films ever made just to see the side of a boob. Pretty soon distributors and filmmakers were scrambling to meet the demands of exhibitors and audiences. SEXUS is a fake art film. It has all the handheld camera work and bongo playing you’d expect from a real art film but it exists for the sole reason of providing titillating scenes of sex and violence. The thing is, director José Bénazéraf draws strength from vulgarity and makes a film that, on balance, constitutes better art than a lot of the “real” art films it displaced. SEXUS is undeniably cheap and the siege/kidnap plot won’t win any awards for originality but it has a great visual vitality, almost every frame could stand alone as a work of art, and the score by Chet Baker is cooler than a polar bear. Almost by accident it is one of the best Beat Generation films. A rare treat for enthusiasts of cinema history, jazz music, naked women and wraparound sunglasses. (Lars)
THE BEES
SEP 15, DIR. ALFREDO ZACARIAS, 1978, 35MM, RITZ
As the world seemingly began falling apart in the '70s, a new kind of movie spectacle appeared to help audiences focus their anxiety and freak the fuck out together as a culture. These "disaster movies" as they became known depicted frightening scenarios ranging from the sinking of a luxury liner to a catastrophic high rise fire. And they were box office boomers for most of the decade. It shouldn't come as any surprise that low-budget filmmakers were waiting in the wings to foist inferior product onto unsuspected audiences whipped into a disaster frenzy. THE BEES is one of those cheap knock-offs but we wouldn't trade it for a dozen of the bloodless big-ticket spectaculars that spawned it. John Saxon brings his distinctive brand of macho confidence to the role of John Norman, the undisputed champion of bee experts on Planet Earth. He puts his superior bee knowledge to the test when a rare strain of killer bees escapes from an experimental killer bee facility. Fortunately he's able to develop a "gay bee serum" that turns bees gay. Ludicrous, wildly incompetent, wholly entertaining; this is a legendary classic of fun. With elderly John Carradine, who passed away shortly before his scenes were filmed but did them anyway. (Lars)
CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE
SEP 22, DIR. JOSEPH W. SARNO, 1974, 35MM, RITZ
Nobody made adult movies like the late, great Joe Sarno. Starting in the mid-60’s, Sarno created his own unmistakable style of stylish, ultra-imaginative psychodramas. Regular Weird Wednesday viewers have seen some pretty over-the-top sex movies but there aren’t many sex movies that work on you like this one. Sarno, master of the kinky situation, concocts a whopper: a pair of swinging couples, neighbors; are dreading the arrival of their new houseguest, the attractive mother of one of the wild wives. They’ll all have to stay dressed and stop their round-the-clock boneathon... or will they? The attention Sarno pays to characterization and context really pays off. It’s an amazing experience that should not be missed. Bring a date, a raincoat, or both. (Lars)
TWILIGHT PEOPLE
SEP 29, DIR. EDDIE ROMERO, 1973, 35MM, RITZ
I’m glad nobody told Filipino B-movie god Eddie Romero that he should really have a budget if he wanted to make a movie about an island full of monstrous half-human, half-animal beasts. Then we’d be deprived of the spectacle of the ghetto goat-boy, the badly-conceived bat man or the embarrassed-looking panther woman (played by Pam Grier!). Also, Romero probably would have done something foolish with that extra money like hiring somebody other than John Ashley for the lead role. Ashley had parlayed a semi-successful stateside career as a teen actor and rockabilly singer into what passed for super-stardom in the Philippines, where he produced and starred in countless action and monster films as “the white guy”. He’s generally pretty bad, but he will start growing on you after a while, like an exotic island fungus. The whole film exudes an ambiance of sleazy tropical languor that’s quite appealing in its humid way. (Lars)
HOUSE ON STRAW HILL
OCT 6, DIR. JAMES KENELM CLARKE, 1976, 35MM, RITZ
Few actors have ever delivered as much lunacy on such a regular basis as Udo Kier. His performances as the lead fiends in BLOOD FOR DRACULA and FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN had made him one of the top maniacs on the scene long before he started making Lars Von Trier and Werner Herzog movies even stranger. Here he plays a misanthropic novelist who retreats to a rural farm to do a bit of writing and a lot of hetero sexing with his three beautiful women companions. Soon, he’s having vivid hallucinations and a bunch of people stop being alive! Promoted as a tour de force of Hitchcockian suspense, it’s not. But if you love watching that funny little man go berserk as much as I do, you’ll be here. (Lars)
VIOLENT CITY
OCT 13, DIR. SERGIO SOLLIMA, 1970, 35MM, RITZ
This colorful, violent noir, made by one of the most skillful Italian genre directors has a lot going for it. It's made in a pop art, post-POINT BLANK style; the pacing is clean and tight; the music is by Ennio Morricone; how could it get any better than that? Well you could sprinkle some Charles Bronson on that bitch. When it comes to ice-cold killing machines, Charles Bronson is the man for the job. He looks like a rage in a track suit. The plot is in the mode of Jacques Tourneur's OUT OF THE PAST with Bronson seeking revenge, killing a lot of people and acting smoother than Jason Statham’s balls. Telly Savalas plays the effeminate mob boss Bronson has to join up with. One of the best scenes in the film features Savalas offering Bronson a flowery cocktail. Not surprisingly Bronson refuses, and the tiny, underplayed way he turns his nose up at the drink is one of the best acting flourishes you'll see in a long time. Vicious, brutal, essential. (Lars)
WONDER WOMEN with Director Robert Vincent O’Neill Live
OCT 20, DIR. ROBERT VINCENT O’NEILL, 1973, 35MM, RITZ
As the weather cools off, we can warm ourselves with the tropical heat of this made-in-the-Phillipines drive-in exploitation classic. You can feel the warmth of the sun radiating from every island-lensed frame. Every cockfight, every weird hand-painted jeep, every purple, orange and green polyester shirt proclaims that the days are long, the UV rays are potentially deadly and that summer is roasting us with its awesomeness! This is possibly the oddest duck of all Filipino movies, and there have been some real mind-bogglers. This one stars lovely Asian-American Nancy Kwan as a transplant doctor who does a brisk business grafting the sex organs of healthy young male athletes onto the bodies of over-the-hill millionaires. She’s aided by a lightly clad army of sexy kung-fu amazons and Sid Haig as an effeminate penis salesman. Do I seriously need to keep typing? (Lars)
THRILL OF THE VAMPIRES
OCT 27, DIR. JEAN ROLLIN, 1971, 35MM, RITZ
The druggy surrealist sex vampire movies of Jean Rollin are considered a bit excessive by more traditional horror movie fans. Screw those mama’s boys. Jean Rollin's movies are so great I would personally go to war for them if I had to. For years I've gotten weird looks every time I rave about Rollin's Man Ray inflected pulp art masterpieces like THE NUDE VAMPIRE, CAGED VIRGINS, SCHOOLGIRL HITCHIKERS and this. Rollin's films are virtual encyclopedias of fetishistic sex and horror movie imagery, lashed together under the flimsiest dime novel pretexts of plot. But they garnered an enthusiastic following among students in Paris, who watched these bizarre films alongside the skid row popeyes in Pigalle nudie theaters. In this regard they form a continuity across generations with the silent serials of Louis Feuillade, which also had tiny budgets and played in flea-bitten theaters for enthusiastic audiences of pickpockets and Bolsheviks in the '20s. Featuring the gorgeous French sex star Sandra Julian (I AM A NYMPHOMANIAC) and a beautiful vampire who sleeps in a grandfather clock. Music by high school prog rock band Acanthus. An essential movie experience. (Lars)
SEP 1, DIR. JACK ARNOLD, 1975, 35MM, RITZ
Can we even print that title? It must have been a really tough choice for exhibitors back in the day to decide whether or not to include the verbal equivalent of a thousand sticks of dynamite in their newspaper ads and on their marquees. But here you go. It's blaxploitation icon Fred Williamson in the old west. And you better believe The Hammer rights a few wrongs while he’s there. Williamson and his comic-relief sidekick D’Urville Martin play bounty hunters who become sheriff and deputy of a small racist town. It’s kind of like an ass-kicking, more serious version of BLAZING SADDLES. As a special bonus the bad guy is played by muscular reptile William Smith, who always charges into a role with maximum intensity. You'll have nightmares about him. Oh, and if you think the title is offensive, that's just an appetizer. This movie drops more bombs than the Screaming Eagles. Wait until you hear the theme song, it’s got like twenty or thirty in there. You won’t believe it. (Lars)
SEXUS
SEP 8, DIR. JOSE BÉNAZÉRAF, 35MM, RITZ
In the early 60s a lot of sleepy arthouse theaters suddenly started turning a profit. Instead of the 20 or 30 people who would trickle in to see GRAND ILLUSION and sip espresso, there were lines around the block to see Brigitte Bardot or Harriet Andersson show a little skin in subtitled European imports. As hard as it is to believe now, when we can watch donkey shows on our cellphones, this was the only way to see skin on screen in those days. So Joe Sixpack and Sal the plumber would sit and watch some of the most obtuse films ever made just to see the side of a boob. Pretty soon distributors and filmmakers were scrambling to meet the demands of exhibitors and audiences. SEXUS is a fake art film. It has all the handheld camera work and bongo playing you’d expect from a real art film but it exists for the sole reason of providing titillating scenes of sex and violence. The thing is, director José Bénazéraf draws strength from vulgarity and makes a film that, on balance, constitutes better art than a lot of the “real” art films it displaced. SEXUS is undeniably cheap and the siege/kidnap plot won’t win any awards for originality but it has a great visual vitality, almost every frame could stand alone as a work of art, and the score by Chet Baker is cooler than a polar bear. Almost by accident it is one of the best Beat Generation films. A rare treat for enthusiasts of cinema history, jazz music, naked women and wraparound sunglasses. (Lars)
THE BEES
SEP 15, DIR. ALFREDO ZACARIAS, 1978, 35MM, RITZ
As the world seemingly began falling apart in the '70s, a new kind of movie spectacle appeared to help audiences focus their anxiety and freak the fuck out together as a culture. These "disaster movies" as they became known depicted frightening scenarios ranging from the sinking of a luxury liner to a catastrophic high rise fire. And they were box office boomers for most of the decade. It shouldn't come as any surprise that low-budget filmmakers were waiting in the wings to foist inferior product onto unsuspected audiences whipped into a disaster frenzy. THE BEES is one of those cheap knock-offs but we wouldn't trade it for a dozen of the bloodless big-ticket spectaculars that spawned it. John Saxon brings his distinctive brand of macho confidence to the role of John Norman, the undisputed champion of bee experts on Planet Earth. He puts his superior bee knowledge to the test when a rare strain of killer bees escapes from an experimental killer bee facility. Fortunately he's able to develop a "gay bee serum" that turns bees gay. Ludicrous, wildly incompetent, wholly entertaining; this is a legendary classic of fun. With elderly John Carradine, who passed away shortly before his scenes were filmed but did them anyway. (Lars)
CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE
SEP 22, DIR. JOSEPH W. SARNO, 1974, 35MM, RITZ
Nobody made adult movies like the late, great Joe Sarno. Starting in the mid-60’s, Sarno created his own unmistakable style of stylish, ultra-imaginative psychodramas. Regular Weird Wednesday viewers have seen some pretty over-the-top sex movies but there aren’t many sex movies that work on you like this one. Sarno, master of the kinky situation, concocts a whopper: a pair of swinging couples, neighbors; are dreading the arrival of their new houseguest, the attractive mother of one of the wild wives. They’ll all have to stay dressed and stop their round-the-clock boneathon... or will they? The attention Sarno pays to characterization and context really pays off. It’s an amazing experience that should not be missed. Bring a date, a raincoat, or both. (Lars)
TWILIGHT PEOPLE
SEP 29, DIR. EDDIE ROMERO, 1973, 35MM, RITZ
I’m glad nobody told Filipino B-movie god Eddie Romero that he should really have a budget if he wanted to make a movie about an island full of monstrous half-human, half-animal beasts. Then we’d be deprived of the spectacle of the ghetto goat-boy, the badly-conceived bat man or the embarrassed-looking panther woman (played by Pam Grier!). Also, Romero probably would have done something foolish with that extra money like hiring somebody other than John Ashley for the lead role. Ashley had parlayed a semi-successful stateside career as a teen actor and rockabilly singer into what passed for super-stardom in the Philippines, where he produced and starred in countless action and monster films as “the white guy”. He’s generally pretty bad, but he will start growing on you after a while, like an exotic island fungus. The whole film exudes an ambiance of sleazy tropical languor that’s quite appealing in its humid way. (Lars)
HOUSE ON STRAW HILL
OCT 6, DIR. JAMES KENELM CLARKE, 1976, 35MM, RITZ
Few actors have ever delivered as much lunacy on such a regular basis as Udo Kier. His performances as the lead fiends in BLOOD FOR DRACULA and FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN had made him one of the top maniacs on the scene long before he started making Lars Von Trier and Werner Herzog movies even stranger. Here he plays a misanthropic novelist who retreats to a rural farm to do a bit of writing and a lot of hetero sexing with his three beautiful women companions. Soon, he’s having vivid hallucinations and a bunch of people stop being alive! Promoted as a tour de force of Hitchcockian suspense, it’s not. But if you love watching that funny little man go berserk as much as I do, you’ll be here. (Lars)
VIOLENT CITY
OCT 13, DIR. SERGIO SOLLIMA, 1970, 35MM, RITZ
This colorful, violent noir, made by one of the most skillful Italian genre directors has a lot going for it. It's made in a pop art, post-POINT BLANK style; the pacing is clean and tight; the music is by Ennio Morricone; how could it get any better than that? Well you could sprinkle some Charles Bronson on that bitch. When it comes to ice-cold killing machines, Charles Bronson is the man for the job. He looks like a rage in a track suit. The plot is in the mode of Jacques Tourneur's OUT OF THE PAST with Bronson seeking revenge, killing a lot of people and acting smoother than Jason Statham’s balls. Telly Savalas plays the effeminate mob boss Bronson has to join up with. One of the best scenes in the film features Savalas offering Bronson a flowery cocktail. Not surprisingly Bronson refuses, and the tiny, underplayed way he turns his nose up at the drink is one of the best acting flourishes you'll see in a long time. Vicious, brutal, essential. (Lars)
WONDER WOMEN with Director Robert Vincent O’Neill Live
OCT 20, DIR. ROBERT VINCENT O’NEILL, 1973, 35MM, RITZ
As the weather cools off, we can warm ourselves with the tropical heat of this made-in-the-Phillipines drive-in exploitation classic. You can feel the warmth of the sun radiating from every island-lensed frame. Every cockfight, every weird hand-painted jeep, every purple, orange and green polyester shirt proclaims that the days are long, the UV rays are potentially deadly and that summer is roasting us with its awesomeness! This is possibly the oddest duck of all Filipino movies, and there have been some real mind-bogglers. This one stars lovely Asian-American Nancy Kwan as a transplant doctor who does a brisk business grafting the sex organs of healthy young male athletes onto the bodies of over-the-hill millionaires. She’s aided by a lightly clad army of sexy kung-fu amazons and Sid Haig as an effeminate penis salesman. Do I seriously need to keep typing? (Lars)
THRILL OF THE VAMPIRES
OCT 27, DIR. JEAN ROLLIN, 1971, 35MM, RITZ
The druggy surrealist sex vampire movies of Jean Rollin are considered a bit excessive by more traditional horror movie fans. Screw those mama’s boys. Jean Rollin's movies are so great I would personally go to war for them if I had to. For years I've gotten weird looks every time I rave about Rollin's Man Ray inflected pulp art masterpieces like THE NUDE VAMPIRE, CAGED VIRGINS, SCHOOLGIRL HITCHIKERS and this. Rollin's films are virtual encyclopedias of fetishistic sex and horror movie imagery, lashed together under the flimsiest dime novel pretexts of plot. But they garnered an enthusiastic following among students in Paris, who watched these bizarre films alongside the skid row popeyes in Pigalle nudie theaters. In this regard they form a continuity across generations with the silent serials of Louis Feuillade, which also had tiny budgets and played in flea-bitten theaters for enthusiastic audiences of pickpockets and Bolsheviks in the '20s. Featuring the gorgeous French sex star Sandra Julian (I AM A NYMPHOMANIAC) and a beautiful vampire who sleeps in a grandfather clock. Music by high school prog rock band Acanthus. An essential movie experience. (Lars)
