the groundhog day project

I don't think that I knew that Bridgette Andersen died from a drug overdose back in 1997. Back when I was a kid, her Savannah Driscoll was basically an absolute innocent. And, while I know that Savannah Smiles is a deliberate mix of childish innocence and tragic circumstance, I remember the film as quite innocent even in its worst moments...           We start with a prison break, of course. Would be totally serious but there's just enough silliness with the camouflage car and the branches sticking out of it, and it being amphibious. Plus, Alvie (Mark Miller, who also wrote the screenplay) is getting "paroled on Friday" but Boots (Donovan Scott) breaks him out anyway. Boots tries to steal a chicken, and there's an old lady who shoots at the two of them with a shotgun with very little prompting. And then we meet Savannah (Andersen), sitting alone on the stairs as her parents host a dinner party. Savannah's father Richard (Chris Robinson) is run...

First of all, to my sister Brooke, yes they do have sex. I was thinking of the bit by the campfire when she's wrapped in the blanket and no, they have done nothing untoward just yet. But, after the camera pans up and away, Jim and Jessica act all awkward when next we see them. So, yeah, unlike Matilda and Spur, Jim and Jessica do consummate their relationship. Of course, it's all not only offscreen but presumably quite chaste. Which, it might have been better if there had been more passion to it. As Roger Ebert says of the two stars, There is... Real chemistry between Burlinson and Thornton, as the young lovers. But it's handled so innocently we never really feel their passion. I'm not asking for torrid love scenes-- Coming off of An Officer and a Gentleman , I must interrupt Roger and say, some torrid love scenes would have gone over quite well with these two. Burlinson and Thornton are both fairly attractive and it would have made an otherwise wholesome film quite...

It barely matters that The Man from Snowy River is Australian; the messaging fits right in with American films of the time--a lot of masculinity on display in various levels of toxicity, men being men, women being submissive to those men even when they're not. Seriously, Jessica stands up to her father, he hits her, and she runs away and falls off a cliff to be rescued by Jim. (And, to be fair, as I have learned just now online, Australia also had a part in Vietnam, and in the 70s was undergoing a wave of nationalism.) And then, there's the overdramatic musical cues which almost ruin the lovely music everywhere else in the film. Brumbies arrive and the music lets us know their dangerous if we can't figure that out from the exposition-filled dialogue. The new Colt gets spooked by a dog and the dramatic musical cues jump in. The Stallion leader of the Brumbies tramples over Jim and we not only get overdramatic musical cues, we get insane freeze-frame closeups. And, ther...

Another soundtrack that played a lot in our house when I was a kid: The Man from Snowy River . Bruce Rowland's score is iconic to me, more so than some of the great film scores out there that I know are great but just didn't get repeat play in the house I grew up in. And, then the credits end with Directed by George Miller and I am 1) shocked because I never knew George Miller directed this, even after all the times I've seen it (far more times than I have ever seen The Road Warrior , a film I prefer), and 2) disappointed because apparently Australia's film industry rules allow two different directors called George Miller. I mean, that Mad Max George Miller also made Babe: Pig in the City and Happy Feet , so that guy could direct pretty much anything, and horse stampedes and cheesy close ups of angry horse eyes actually seemed right up his alley. But no, this George Miller directed Andre and A Mom for Christmas , which an ex of mine was rather cheekily obsessed wi...

Something I didn't know: a Broadway revival of The Pirates of Penzance had apparently done quite well in 1981. Universal pushed for a film version, but it wouldn't come out until 1983. In the meantime, Fox pushed out the send-up The Pirate Movie , beating the straight adaptation to the big screen. But, I really didn't want to talk about the pillaging of the theater but rather the pillaging of women, the patriarchy, and all the usual stuff I might talk about. The "noble custom" that dictates that the eldest daughter marry first, the youngest marry last, with nary a question of whether or not any of them want to marry. But, even on the other side, Frederic asks of Ruth (apparently before he's met other women, even though I'm sure he and his shipmates have raped and pillaged and plundered plenty) if she's beautiful. Almost immediately after meeting Mabel, he declares that he loves her and may want to marry her, because that is what he thinks non-pirate...

I figure most people reading this (unless of course you found it while scouring the Internet for reference to The Pirate Movie ) have never seen The Pirate Movie , probably haven't even heard of it. Generic spoof titles get lost in time. But, The Pirate Movie was actually #5 at the box office its opening weekend. I did not, however, see this movie in the theater. I don't rightly recall when I first saw it, but it was probably as soon as it was on video (not sure how fast that happened in 1982). Apparently, quite a few people saw it in the theater. The weekend, by the way: E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial in its 9th week. I definitely saw that on the big screen. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in its 3rd, and I swear, I'm pretty sure I saw that on the big screen. Things Are Tough All Over , opening that weekend, and no, I have never heard of it either. An Officer and a Gentleman , in is 2nd week, and obviously, I saw that one. The Pirate Movie Rocky III , in its 1...

          I often get lost as these old movies from my childhood play, but I didn't expect to get lost in The Pirate Movie as soon as it got started. But, "Victory" starts playing over pirate ship battle footage and I'm in. And then the main plot gets going pretty quick and Ninjas attack the pirate ship and it's on. This was what really got me when I was a kid, the action and the romance. I talked about the military side of An Officer and a Gentleman was just as much rooted in fantasy as the love story yesterday --but the actual action in something like this is an easy in for a kid. Pirate adventure, plus ninjas, and later cops, plus the romance and songs.           I had yet to see a production of The Pirates of Penzance when I first saw this film, though I would see it later, so I didn't know a lot of the basic specifics being spoofed. But, unlike some more recent spoof films, this one keeps a main plot that makes sense...