One of my favorite TV characters was Andy Kaufman’s sweet, but clumsy Eastern European garage mechanic Latka Gavras on the the terrific late 1970s/early 1980s situation comedy “Taxi.” One of my favorite arcs on the show was when Latka, frustrated with his lack of success with women, started reading Playboy magazine. Latka not only buys the Playboy philosophy hook, line, and sinker, but transforms completely into the smug, hip 1970s ladies man Vic Ferrari.
This clip is not the best quality but it’s still watchable.
Oh … my … God! Ostensibly, a modern film noir erotic suspense thriller, “Wild Things” is one of the most deliriously nasty and hysterically funny films ever made. If you aren’t laughing your ass off throughout this movie, you either have no sense of humor or are dead.
Before “Wild Things,” director John McNaughton was best known for the intense classic “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” and the critically acclaimed, but under-appreciated thriller “Normal Life” (discussed earlier on Dave’s Strange World). However, “Wild Things” wound up becoming McNaughton’s most popular and best-known film. While “Basic Instinct” is the magna carta of erotic thrillers, “Wild Things” is its disreputable punk rock cousin, pissing all over whatever “class” “Instinct” had.
Recounting the plot is pointless. Mainly because there are double, triple, quadruple, quintuple … ad nauseum crosses with added red herrings that extend even into the credits. The fact that a new (and frequent) plot twist completely changes the meaning of everything you saw before it is part of the fun.
To call “Wild Things” sleazy is damning it with faint praise. Of course it’s sleazy … but trust me, it takes a lot of talent to make something this disreputable so much fun. The performances by Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Denise Richards, Neve Campbell, and Bill Murray are pitch perfect for the insanity you’ll experience while watching it. As much as I love “Color of Night” for its bats–t craziness, “Wild Things” delivers everything “Color of Night” has in a much cooler, confident manner. If you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a major, major treat. Like a bad (but still enjoyable) one-night-stand, you’ll hate yourself the next day … but only to a certain extent.
One of the most disturbing films ever made, Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible” contains a classic movie trope (rape and then revenge for the rape), but completely undermines it by telling the story in reverse. Instead of seeing a horrible crime and its aftermath, you see the aftermath first … then the trauma … the events leading up the trauma … and then life when the trauma would not even be conceivable for its characters. The decision to show this sequence of events in reverse is positively devastating. While this film contains scenes of near-unwatchable graphic violence and sexual brutality, the film’s final scene … which is a peaceful scene set in a park with the lead female protagonist … is arguably, the most painful to watch … mainly because we know what’s ahead and it’s unbearable to watch someone who has no idea what physical and psychic devastation lays ahead for them.
“Irreversible” was the most notorious film of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, prompting walk-outs and severe denunciations. I can completely understand this, because the film is one of the most brutalizing cinematic experiences you’ll ever see. But it’s not only thematically ballsy, but artistically so. This is a great, great film, but not a film that you’d want to watch more than once. I would not find fault with anyone who would refuse to watch this on principle. Even if you think you have a strong stomach, “Irreversible” will go beyond what you think you can handle. But don’t let the severe subject matter dissuade you from thinking this is a great film. It is a devastating masterpiece, but please proceed with extreme caution. This is an NC-17 film that makes “Showgirls” look like “E.T.” I’m not kidding at all in saying this. The film stars internationally renowned actors Monica Belluci and Victor Cassel.
A very primitive, but charming punk music video for Black Flag’s “TV Party”. Yes, that’s Henry Rollins on vocals … and in the video with the short black hair … I think.
More highlights from New Wave Theater, this is the band Killer Pussy with their song “Pocket Pool.” You may not believe this, but their most famous song is called “Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage” … which was actually a hit on LA’s KROQ-FM back in the early 1980s.
I discussed watching this seminal punk cable TV show in a previous Dave’s Strange World entry … along with the impact of seeing the Dead Kennedys doing “Holiday in Cambodia” on the show had on me personally. If you haven’t read it, you can catch it at the link below. You will not only see the performance, but the post goes into more detail about the show and host Peter Ivers:
However, since then, someone generously uploaded an entire episode of “New Wave Theater” broadcast sometime in the first half of 1984 from the legendary late-night USA cable network show “Night Flight.” This was broadcast right after host Peter Ivers’ untimely murder. For better or worse, commercials from the day were not edited out, so you can reminisce … or drag your mouse along the bottom of the visual to fast forward. To get the proper perspective of this, imagine watching this at 1:30 am, a little sleep deprived. To say it was mind-blowing back in the day is coming up short.
This acid-rock cover of “House of the Rising Sun” reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Pop Charts in 1970 and sold over a million copies … and then went into oblivion. Why this hasn’t been resurrected in some indie crime film is the hipster God’s private mystery … Immensely cool s–t!
First a disclaimer. The film “Bully” being discussed here is not the critically acclaimed documentary released in 2012, but a docudrama released in 2001. With that out of the way …
Like most of Larry Clark’s films, “Bully” is a hard film to recommend to people, let alone admit that you liked or admired it. If you know what I’m talking about, then you know Clark tends to let his camera linger a little too long on things that would prompt most rational people to call the police.
“Bully” is no exception. Like Clark’s earlier, better-known, and arguably more notorious debut film “Kids,” “Bully” is a disturbing look at young people with no values, no moral compass, and, if truth be told, no brains. The kids of Clark’s films aren’t misunderstood lost souls battling adults who don’t understand them or who live in an environment that will never let them get ahead. In “Bully,” the kids are comfortably middle-class, but aside from working minimum wage jobs in strip malls, don’t appear to have any ambition other than getting high or getting laid.
“Bully” is a tale about the murder of a real-life teenage bully and rapist named Bobby. There’s no doubt that Bobby is a loathsome individual. However, what makes the film “Bully” so interesting is how the plot to murder him by the people he abused is planned, executed, and then concluded. It doesn’t take a criminologist to conclude that most violent crime is committed by people who are not that smart. Clark’s film is one of the most vivid portrayals of extremely stupid people carrying out a heinous act and then practically giving themselves away. It’s not a matter of someone snitching, but with all the insanely dumb things that are done before, during, and after the act, you’re actually shocked that their plot isn’t found out earlier.
Please believe me when I say that “Bully” is one of the most disturbing films you’ll ever see. It’s the only film I’ve ever seen that made me want to shower afterwards … with the help of a wire brush and Comet cleanser. The movie hit home for me in a lot of ways, mainly because the Florida setting and aimlessness of the characters reminded me a lot of the people I knew in the beach community where I grew up. However, as graphic and as sickening as the unrated film often is (its NC-17 rating was surrendered), you may think on first glance that this is just another Clark perv-fest. (The notorious “crotch cam” shot doesn’t help dispel this notion). However, not only is “Bully” based on a true story and fairly accurate (at least as far as the events as portrayed in the Jim Schutze true crime book of the same name are concerned) but that, if anything, Clark showed “restraint” in making his film, because the real version of events are even more disturbing and harrowing that what’s depicted here.
The film contains some brilliant performances, especially by Brad Renfro as Marty, Bobby’s best friend, biggest victim, and someone Bobby has a homoerotic fixation on; Leo Fitzpatrick as the moronic suburban “hitman” hired by the crew; Rachel Miner as Marty’s girlfriend Lisa, who is raped (and may be pregnant) by Bobby; Bijou Phillips as Ali, Bobby’s sometime girlfriend and rape victim; and last, but certainly not least, Nick Stahl as Bobby, the loathsome bully of the film and victim of doltish mob justice.
“Bully” in my opinion, is not only Clark’s masterpiece, but one of the best true crime films ever made.
Please note that the trailer attached here is not safe for work.
AKA “California Uber Alles Part Deux” … Only this time focusing on Ronald Reagan, instead of Jerry Brown. This is some really cool studio footage of the Dead Kennedys performing this classic from “In God We Trust, Inc.” 30+ years on, it’s easy to forget what an authentically provocative and dangerous band the Dead Kennedys were back in the day. But this brings it all back in spades.
Dave's Strange World 