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)

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

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.

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.

Alamo Weird Wednesday Presents Lord Love a Duck

The Austin Classic Movies Examiner (that'd be me) previews this week's Weird Wednesday selection at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, George Axelrod's 1966 satire Lord Love a Duck, starring Roddy McDowall and the luscious Tuesday Weld.

Click HERE to read it.

Click HERE to subscribe to the column.

Other recent articles by JM Dobies:

Tuesday Weld's Greatest Hits

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

Racing for Nowhere: Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop

Alamo Iron Chef VI: A Streetcar Named Desire