The Return of J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

I have revived my film column in an attempt to earn some extra loot. Since I get about a penny per page view, please visit early and often, and share these links via the social media. Thank you.

Weird Wednesday at Alamo Drafthouse: 'The Hellcats' (1968)

'Dirty O'Neil' a/k/a 'The Love Life of a Cop' (1974)

Diane McBain is completely insane in 'The Mini-Skirt Mob' (1968)

 

Dig this: 'The Todd Killings' (1971)

'Texas Chainsaw' Man: My Interview with Tobe Hooper

'Texas Chainsaw' man: Director Tobe Hooper on Leatherface, 'Lifeforce,' and more

Austin native Tobe Hooper is best known for writing and directing one of the most influential horror movies ever made, 1974's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." In conjunction with the release of "Texas Chainsaw 3D," the latest entry in the controversial franchise, Hooper sat down with the Austin Classic Movies Examiner to discuss the new film, his career, and his beginnings as a filmmaker in the late '60s.

"I was in Austin, making a lot of TV commercials, PSAs, documentaries. We had a little company called Film House, about five of us. We could even do post-production, although we had to get the 16-millimeter film developed in Dallas or over at channel seven. We did Farrah Fawcett's first professional work...We made a film called 'Eggshells' [a restored version screened at the 2009 South by Southwest Film Festival], a true hippie film, from the sandals up! It was about the beginning and end of a subculture."

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was banned in several countries upon its release. England banned the film for 23 years. The visceral terror evoked by the movie comes not from explicit gore and violence, but from Hooper's use of POV, the power of suggestion, and his creation of an all-encompassing atmosphere of dread. In the wake of the Newtown school massacre, film violence has once again become a hot-button issue. Hooper is not sold on the connection between screen violence and the violence endemic in American society: "I don't know how to respond. It's all a part of the same thing. The dark side of human nature...I don't think a horror movie is going to inspire a copycat, certainly not one running around with a chainsaw..."

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More, More, More J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Stripper in love: 'A Cold Wind in August' (1961)

Teenage rebellion: 'Riot on Sunset Strip' (1967)

Bury my heart in Scottsdale: 'The Ransom' (1977)

 

Bad trip: 'Angel, Angel, Down We Go' a/k/a 'Cult of the Damned' (1969)

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' at Violet Crown

Hit man Pitt: 'Killing Them Softly' (2012)

'Try and Get Me!' a/k/a 'The Sound of Fury' (1950)

Swampsquatch: 'The Legend of Boggy Creek' (1972)

In Sickness or in Hell: 'The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave' (1971)

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J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner Facebook Page

Even More of J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Music Monday at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz: Ken Russell's 'Lisztomania' (1975)

'The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas 1978' tonight at Alamo Lake Creek

A twit's progress: 'Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush' (1968)

 Rock star Nazi hunter: 'This Must Be the Place'

'The Triple Echo' a/k/a 'Soldier in Skirts' (1972)

For the birds: 'The Girl' (2012)

  The greatest zombie movies ever made

Robert Aldrich's 'The Legend of Lylah Clare' (1968)

Herbert Lom's greatest hits

Masterpiece: 'The Master' (2012) 

Of drapery and dementia: 'The Cobweb' (1955)

Phyllis Diller's greatest hits

To subscribe to the Austin Classic Movies Examiner, click HERE.

J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner Facebook Page

J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner on Facebook, Twitter

The movie column is back.

J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner now has a page on Facebook for fans and friends of the column to post about their favorite movies and upcoming classic film happenings in Austin.

In addition to linking the latest review and features from the Austin Classic Movies Examiner, the Facebook page will also feature evergreens from the first three years of the columnm including the "Greatest Hits" series (Natalie Wood's Greatest Hits, Marlon Brando's Greatest Hits, Martin Scorcese's Greatest Hits, etc.).

The regular screenings of rare 35mm prints at the Alamo Drafthouse and the Paramount Theatre's classic film series will continue to drive the column's Austin-centric approach.

'Like' It: J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner Facebook Page

To follow the A.C.M.E. on Twitter, subscribe to the posts of his rock n' roll alter ego Mal Thursday (twitter.com/#malthursday). The latest episode of The Mal Thursday Show podcast, "The Ballad of Mal Thursday, Pt. 5" is currently available free on iTunes and on GaragePunk Pirate Radio.

Recommended reading:

• Scenes from a Marriage on the Rocks: Two for the Road (1967)
• Lady in a Rage: David Cronenberg's 'The Brood' (1979)
• Cannibalism, Savagery, and Unconditional Love: Jack Hill's Spider Baby (1968)
• To Put Out or Not to Put Out: The Young Lovers (1964)
• Ken Russell's Greatest Hits
• Dennis Hopper's Greatest Hits
• Paul Newman's Greatest Hits
• The Greatest Biker Movies Ever Made
• The Greatest Horror Movies of the '60s
• Made in Texas: Giant (1956)
• Angry Young Bastard: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961)
• Fun and Games with George and Martha: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
• Don't Look Back, Ollie: I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname (1967)
• Natalie Wood's Greatest Hits

TEEN A-GO-GO and The Ugly Beats Tonight at the Alamo

From the Alamo blog:

People Let’s Freak out! TEEN A-GO-GO this Monday w/ The Ugly Beats LIVE!

by George Bragdon

With very special LIVE performance by Austin’s own THE UGLY BEATS before the film!

Get a taste of what’s in store this Monday with this Mal Thursday’s Texas Tyme Machine podcast featuring guest DJ Melissa Kirkendall, director of TEEN-A-GO-GO!

Every meaningful change in rock music started with some teenagers, alone in their parents’ garage, banging away at three chords. This rampaging doc features original recordings, never-before-seen Super 8 movies, rare archival footage, photographs and interviews with musicians, fans and industry experts on early rock & roll.

TEEN A-GO-GO takes the viewer on an entertaining, nostalgic ride into the teen scenes of the mid-’60s and into the lives of the people who lived it. The British Invasion played an undeniable role on this uniquely American musical genre when on February 9, 1964 the Beatles premiered live on the Ed Sullivan Show. An estimated 73 million viewers (over 40% of the entire U.S. population) tuned in. Teens all across America were glued to their TV sets as they witnessed a true turning point in rock history. On February 10, 1964, it would seem that 10 million teens had something new to do. With their jaws still on the floor and inspiration stirring within, thousands of youngsters knew that their destiny lay in rock and roll and the A Go-Go Teen Scene was born.

Music Monday: TEEN A-GO-GO with The Ugly Beats live – Mon, April 11 at Alamo Ritz.

Mal Thursday's Texas Tyme Machine #8 featuring guest DJ Melissa Kirkendall

The Return of the Austin Classic Movies Examiner

After a month-long hiatus, I am back to writing my daily Classic Movies column. Partly due to my frustration with the Examiner's new "pub tool," and partly due to having to work extra schlep jobs and temp gigs to keep my family fed and sheltered, I sort of took October off. Luckily, most of the stuff I've written for the column is "evergreen," so I still managed to get page views.

Anyway, here are the best of the columns I wrote in September and November:

This Week's Classic Movie Screenings in Austin (Nov. 12-18)

Don't Look Back, Ollie: I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname (1967)

The Killers (1946) vs. The Killers (1964)

Weird Wednesday: The Twilight People (1973)

New on Blu-Ray: Tommy (1975)

Art Smut: Sexus (1964)

Air Farce: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)

A Head of His Time: Zachariah (1971)

Still Yet More from JM Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

The recent site redesign at Examiner.com has been playing havoc with links to both old and new articles (and my page views, dammit). Things seem to have settled down, so you should be able to click on the links below to read these recent pieces Austin Classic Movies column:

Weird Wednesday: Village of the Giants (1965)

Master Pancake Theater Takes on 'The Breakfast Club' at the Alamo

Joe Bob Briggs Pays a Call on the Alamo Drafthouse

Weird Wednesday: Freebie and the Bean (1974)

Director William Grefé on 'Mako: The Jaws of Death' (1976)

Jack Nicholson Is a Far-Out Stud in 'The Wild Ride' (1960)

The Pistols' Last Stand: The Great Rock & Roll Swindle (1980)

The King in Vegas: Elvis - That's the Way It Is (1970)

Elvis, Dude: Tickle Me (1965)

Elvis Rocks Spring Break: Girl Happy (1965)

Elvis Presley's Greatest Movies

Audrey in Paris: Funny Face (1957)

Exile on Madison Avenue: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)

Bob Fosse's 'Lenny' (1974) and 'All That Jazz' (1979) at the Paramount

The Greatest Horror Movies of the 30s, 40s, and '50s

Weird Wednesday presents 'Hollywood High' (1976)

'American Grindhouse' at the Alamo

Double Noir: Where Danger Lives (1950)/Tension (1949)

Beach Bomb: The Fat Spy (1966)

Subscribe to the Austin Classic Movies Examiner HERE.

Subscribe to the British Music Examiner HERE.

My Alamo Drafthouse Host Audition

The Alamo Drafthouse had an open call for potential hosts. I waited until the last day and uploaded this less-than-stellar, lo-fi audition. The best part about it is that it looks like Oliver Reed is holding a gun to my head.

I watched some of the other audition videos -- some people went whole hog and obviously spent hours and hours on theirs, with martial arts sequences, multiple edits, etc. -- I just hope that this gets me in the door for the live audition.

Bastards of Horror!

This week, I've been doing a series called "Bastards of Horror" for my Austin Classic Movies column, dedicated to the many sequels and knock-offs that followed in the wake of Universal Pictures' early '30s horror classics. These pieces were all adapted from scripts I wrote for my old TV show "Surreal Cinema," so there are a lot more jokes than in my usual reviews. Click on titles and/or images below to read the columns:

Bastards of Horror: Son of Frankenstein (1939) vs. Son of Dracula (1943)

Bastards of Horror II: House of Frankenstein (1944) vs. House of Dracula (1945)

Bastards of Horror III: Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)

Bastards of Horror IV: The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) vs. The Mummy's Ghost (1944)

More, More, More from J.M. Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Alamo Cinema Club presents 'The Prowler' and 'Cry Danger' with Eddie Muller

Pseudo-Noir on Sunset: The Strip (1951)

Film Writer Kim Morgan talks 'Night Nurse,' Pre-Code Cinema, and Barbara Stanwyck

Swamp Things: Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

Dennis Hopper's Greatest Hits

Death Trip: Vanishing Point (1971)

The Greatest Horror Movies of the '60s

The Greatest Horror Movies of the '70s

Lady in a Rage: David Cronenberg's 'The Brood' (1979)

Get Wrecked!: Stingray (1978)

Paul Newman's Greatest Hits

Dennis Hopper 1936-2010

One of my heroes has died.

Hollywood Rebel: Dennis Hopper 1936-2010

My Interview with Kim Morgan

The image conjured up by the term "film writer" is generally that of a pale, bespectacled, balding, middle-aged guy in a rumpled suit. Kim Morgan is not your typical film writer: blonde, beautiful, funny and effervescent, with a ferocious intelligence, she is also an authority on Film Noir and "Pre-Code" cinema.

To paraphrase the late, great Lux Interior of the Cramps, "She got good taste."

In addition to writing movie columns for L.A. Weekly, The Huffington Post, the MSN Movies blog, and her own Sunset Gun, Morgan has been working the festival circuit, most recently presenting and moderating screenings of Barfly with director Barbet Schroeder and Synedoche, New York with writer/director Charlie Kauffman at Ebertfest in Chicago.

This Sunday May 2nd, Morgan will introduce the Alamo Cinema Club's presentation of 1931's Night Nurse, directed by William Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, and Clark Gable, and preside over the Q&A with the Alamo's Lars Nilsen.

Kim sat down with the Austin Classic Movies Examiner to discuss 'Night Nurse,' Pre-Code Cinema, and the great Barbara Stanwyck.

The period between the dawn of the talkies and the enforcement of the production code produced a lot of great films, many of which were much grittier, racier, and more realistic than the ones that followed. What do you find most compelling about pre-code cinema?

So much. There’s a fascinating mixture of gritty realism and beauty, thoughtful explication of society, particularly regarding the depression, and then, flat out exploitation (but good exploitation, and there is good exploitation). There’s unique faces, young actors revealing the charisma that will make them enormous movie stars in the near future. There’s cinematic invention -- the talkies produced so many challenges for filmmakers and some of them, Wellman included, created some staggeringly beautiful moments (look at those gorgeous faces in his silent film Wings, look at that innovative, moving opening shot of the hospital in Night Nurse). These movies are old, but they feel new to me. They move. They’re fast. They’re funny and smart and usually beautifully crafted. And they’re still relevant today

What makes Night Nurse such a great example of pre-code filmmaking?

Night Nurse is about breaking rules. Pre-code is, essentially, about breaking rules. There’s so much discussion of ethics vs. humanity in Night Nurse that is especially interesting and again, remains timeless. And then all of the “salacious” elements. From Stanwyck and Blondell constantly dressing and undressing, Gable slugging and drugging women, starving children for money, the bootlegger as hero. And that ending! The ending is one of the greatest pre-code endings – ever. I don’t want to give it away here.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

The Alamo Cinema Club presents Night Nurse, presented by film writer Kim Morgan, Sunday May 2nd at 7 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, 320 East Sixth Street in downtown Austin.

Still More from JM Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Stephanie Rothman: Grindhouse Feminist

Natalie Wood's Greatest Hits

Rock n' Roll Faust: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Marlon Brando's Greatest Hits

Made in Texas: Giant (1956)

Fatal Femmes: Girls on the Loose (1958)

Teenage Rampage: The Runaways (2010)

Subscribe to the Austin Classic Movies Examiner HERE.

Yet More from JM Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Hudson Rocks 'Weird Wednesday': Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)

Teenage Rampage: The Runaways (2010)

A History of Exploitation: American Grindhouse (2010)

SXSW Film Fest: Jonathan Furmanski, Tom Bowker Talk 'The Weird World of Blowfly'

Major Scoop: QT Fest is Coming Back to Austin

SXSW Film Fest: Director Elijah Drenner on 'American Grindhouse'

The Bowery Boys Are Back!

The Greatest Biker Movies Ever Made

Cassavetes on Wheels: Devil's Angels (1967)

Made in Texas: Roadie (1980)

Like, Crazy, Man: The Wild Party (1956)

Hollywood Hell: The Big Knife (1955)

James Bond's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: The Sean Connery Era

Dennis Hopper's Greatest Hits

Crash-o-Rama: Jack Hill's Pit Stop (1969)

Subscribe to the Austin Classic Movies Examiner HERE.

A Highly Subjective Guide to the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, Pt. 1

Beginning this Friday, March 12th, through Saturday, March 20th, Austin plays host to the South by Southwest Film Festival, which The Onion A.V. Club has called "one of the least stuffy film festivals in the country, as evidenced in its unabashed taste for mainstream comedy and weird passion projects to go alongside the usual arthouse fare."

Among the buzz-worthy films that will be screened during SXSW are such titles as MacGruber, which promises to be the first "Saturday Night Live" spin-off since Wayne's World not to be terrible (although some consider The Ladies Man a guilty pleasure), and The Runaways, the story of the all-girl '70s hard rock band starring Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett.

What follows is a highly subjective day-by-day list of some of most compelling movies being screened during SXSW 2010...

CLICK TO READ MORE

Still More from JM Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Cannibalism, Savagery, and Unconditional Love: Jack Hill's Spider Baby (1968)

'Look, Ma, No Arms!': Tod Browning's The Unknown (1927)

This Week's Classic Movie Screenings in Austin (Feb. 26-March 4)

Spy vs. Spy: Casino Royale (1967) and Casino Royale (2006)

Martin Scorcese's Greatest Hits

It's 'Weird Wednesday' at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

Turner Classic Movies' '31 Days of Oscar' for February 23-March 3

Devil in disguise: Angel Face (1952)

Sexy Beast: The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

Oliver Reed's Greatest Hits

The Wolf Man (1941) vs. The Wolfman (2010)

Seaside Seducers: The System a/k/a The Girl-Getters (1964)

Love and Life and Death: Harold and Maude (1971)

Second City Sci-fi: The Monitors (1969)

Even More from JM Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Clint Eastwood's Greatest Westerns

Doom Noir: Blast of Silence (1961)

Turner Classic Movies' '31 Days of Oscar' for February 8-15

'Terror Tuesdays' at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966) and Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

Subscribe to my Classic Movies column HERE.

I promise to come up with a new blog post soon...

More from JM Dobies, Austin Classic Movies Examiner

Ann-Margret's Greatest Hits

Decadenza Italiano: Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960)

Hassle at the Castle: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

Blaxploitation classics at the Alamo: J.D.'s Revenge (1976) and Black Caesar (1973)

Amadeus (Director's Cut)

Double Feature Midnight Movies at the Spider House February 2010

"Garbo Laughs!": Ninotchka (1939)

Jack Nicholson's Greatest Hits

To Put Out or Not to Put Out: The Young Lovers (1964)

Magnum Fascist: Dirty Harry

Angry Young Bastard: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Tuesday Weld's Greatest Hits

Teenage Pygmalion: Lord Love a Duck

Racing for Nowhere: Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop

Angry Young Bastard: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

After banging out a few items for my Celebrity Headlines column, I published a piece about something good, which is Karel Reisz's film of Alan Sillitoe's Angry Young Man drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, starring a young, charismatic Albert Finney. Here 'tis:

Angry Young Bastard: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Subscribe to the Austin Classic Movies Examiner HERE. Your comments, suggestions, and requests are welcome.

Recent articles by JM Dobies:

Tuesday Weld's Greatest Hits

The Action Pack presents the Pulp Fiction Quote-Along at Alamo Drafthouse

Teenage Pygmalion: Lord Love a Duck

Racing for Nowhere: Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop

A Streetcar Named Desire