Newsletter Six of the Newsletter That is Zack’s!
Coleslaw! Ghostbusters Sexism! Pow'Ful Mendacity!
Hey everyone! Finalizing my newsletter on my day off. I wound up putting together some links for a different one after Ed Asner passed the other day; I’ll send that out later.
Onward! There is much to see!
MOVIES I HAVE SEEN RECENTLY THAT WERE WORTH SEEING
-I quite enjoyed the one I mentioned in the last newsletter, LE CIRCLE ROUGE. It’s a fascinating French crime film about a couple criminals who meet by chance, the cop tracking one down, and the ex-cop who joins up with them. I avoided reading anything on it beforehand, but as I was watching it I KNEW every review was going to mention the 30-minute near-silent heist sequence and sure enough I was right. If there was an American remake…these things happen…I could of all people see the Coen Brothers doing it, as it’s not quite as broad as some of their work but does have that sense of fate and cosmic justice. Anyway, it’s available to rent on most outlets and I don’t recommend reviews because most of them give away the good bits.
-On HBO Max, watched Harvey Fierstein’s film version of his long-running Broadway play TORCH SONG TRILOGY, a thinly-veiled look at his romantic and personal relationships as an out gay man and professional drag queen in NYC in the 1970s. The film was criticized by some for not even mentioning AIDS (the crisis was at its peak when the film came out, though the story takes place before it was an issue), but I thought it did a good job of showing that the complications of relationships, be they romantic, paternal, or otherwise, are universal things regardless of orientation. Kind of a nice snapshot of a moment in time in the evolution of gay culture, and a good character piece to boot.
-Finally, been watching a number of old-school TV movies on YouTube. Some are more fun for nostalgia than the content or the historical curiosity. One I admired for the writing and directing was THE JERICHO MILE, the first feature-length film by Michael Mann, who’d go on to do the likes of THIEF, MANHUNTER, and HEAT (plus producing MIAMI VICE and CRIME STORY on TV). Filmed on location at Folsom Prison (where there were 13 stabbings during the 19 days they shot there), it’s the tale of a lifer (an Emmy-winning Peter Strauss) whose skill on the prison track begins to attract rumors of Olympic glory. Scored to an instrumental version of “Sympathy for the Devil,” it avoids melodrama for a look at day-to-day life in a desperate environment and the danger of “expectations.” It took me years to get around to watching this, but worth the wait!
(another TV movie that was good was THE DOLLMAKER with Jane Fonda, but it’s nearly three hours and might legally qualify as Misery Porn. My mom could not get through 15 minutes)
I HAVEN’T RECOMMENDED ANY WEIRD COMICS IN A WHILE:
Found through a Facebook share: “Fish,” a silent short by Japanese artist Koike Keiichi, whose work unsurprisingly often deals with drugs and visions. It’s a literal mindblower that I suggest you not read before lunch.
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/Y3aCa
BUT WHEN YOU DO HAVE LUNCH, OR DINNER, OR A PICNIC:
Continuing my recipe recommendations, here’s a duplicate of the coleslaw at KFC, which I admit was the only reason why my parents kept getting dinner from there as the years wound on and the quality declined. This recipe works, and you can use higher-quality ingreedients than what you get at the restaurant.
https://dinnerthendessert.com/kfc-coleslaw-copycat/
WHO YOU SHOULDN’T CALL?
In my new job, I’ve dealt with a few larger consulting firms, which reminded me of this story from the 1980s about how several Saturday morning cartoons were, well, ruined by consultants. Chiefly hit was THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, which dumbed down the plots and such characters as Janine the receptionist, who was ordered to be made more “feminine” and “motherly,” things the show later lampshaded once the consultants were gone in an episode that explained she’d been transformed by a fairy godmother.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-03-ca-5843-story.html?_amp=true
(The whole story of why it was called THE *REAL* GHOSTBUSTERS is a bit complicated and I’ll explain it later)
On a similar note, veteran animation writer Buzz Dixon posted a moving piece that wonders if the G.I. Joe cartoon he worked on in the 1980s contributed to young people joining the army with unrealistic expectations. I think he’s too hard on himself, but it’s often unsettling to imagine the implications of what’s intended as innocent entertainment.
https://buzzdixon.com/home/christianity/how-much-responsibility-do-i-bear?fbclid=IwAR2fQwUIoTxIfgfvuhkLswntavIXu8-nmbV_pCBJ2gMxGUEP30DQI52moD8
BUT ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:
ABC did a short documentary about John Ritter for its SUPERSTAR series this past week (you can watch it on Hulu). While a bit fawning and skipping over some of his best work, such as the Blake Edwards film SKIN DEEP (whose best scenes I am not comfortable posting in a public forum) (one involves hiding from a jealous boyfriend in a pitch-black hotel room, and um, glow-in-the-dark prophylactics are involved), it was nice to see Ritter recognized as a diverse talent and nice guy. He was one of the first actors I ever recognized as a “face” on live-action TV shows, and he was equally good at comedy and drama, nice guys and not-as-nice guys, leading man and supporting player.
One clip they showed that I was just sharing a few months ago is this hysterical bit from THREE’S COMPANY — and for all the sex jokes, that show was an amazing showcase for Ritter’s gift for slapstick. In this bit — and this is Season Six of the show, more than 120 episodes, you wouldn’t blame him for phoning it in at that point — Jack Tripper gets wonked out on tranquilizers in preparation for a flight he’s dreading, and does something like a half-dozen different homages to classic dance sequences, bouncing off every surface, and just when you think it’s done, he comes back with something even funnier. This bit is guaranteed to brighten your day — something Ritter did many, many times with his work.
AND NOW ON THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM FROM “THREE’S COMPANY:”
If you have HBO Max (it keeps crashing my Roku, but I THINK I’ve got it figured out), it’s worth catching up on SUCCESSION, which takes the old-school “Horrible Rich People” soap trope and enlivens it with allegories for such real-world clans as the Murdochs and some of the greatest creative profanity this side of VEEP/THE THICK OF IT (which creator Jesse Armstrong wrote for, along with some unproduced screenplays about such figures as the aforementioned Rupert Murdoch, holler at the boy if you want some PDFs).
Here’s a terrific profile from THE NEW YORKER that talks about Armstrong and the creative process behind the show and OH MY GOD THEY READ SO MUCH STUFF FOR RESEARCH HOW DO THEY DO THAT:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/30/the-real-ceo-of-succession
If you haven’t watched the show yet (and I’ll admit, the first couple of episodes are a mite slow), a good way to prove the time investment is worth it is the following very not safe for work compilation of the best insults from the show. Unsurprisingly, in real life Brian Cox has complained people keep asking him to tell them to F off. I mean, why would you NOT…?
BUT LET’S SHIFT TO CLASSICAL TRASH TRAGEDY:
Continuing my rummaging through filmed plays I found on YouTube, here’s a 1984 production of Tenessee Williams’ CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF from Showtime with Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange! Have not watched yet, but I suspect some sweltering might be involved.
Incidentally, was first exposed to Williams’ work through THE SIMPSONS, both the “A Streetcar Named Marge” episode and the very specific parody of CAT and STREETCAR when Smithers recalls how he was once married:
AND FINALLY:
Via Facebook: The odd poetry of a knockoff Batman figure’s box description:
There was actually some other stuff, but I’ll just paste this into the NEXT newsletter. After I do the Asner Tribute one. It’s good to have too much stuff!
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