Metapost: Vacation.

Desuko Movie Spot is currently sunning itself on the shores of Aruba, getting into trouble with the native women. Expect more reviews in the first week of September.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953).

The Scoop:
Until the release of Jim Carrey's version of "The Grinch" in 2000, this held the distinction of being the only live action Dr. Seuss film ever made. And it's easy to see why -- what is charming in animation comes across as just plain creepy when live people do it. The 500 kids with little hands sticking out of their beanie caps, the old men with interlocking beards, the miniature atomic bomb -- it's just all too reminiscent of a bad nightmare... or a freaky drug trip. Watch it stoned, and it's an experience you'll never forget.

The story, by the way, involves a young boy who is disgruntled with his piano lessons and escapes into a fantasy world in which his piano teacher is an evil dictator bent on world domination. Theodor Geisel -- Dr. Seuss himself -- was heavily involved with scripting and production design, so lots of Seussian touches have made it to the screen here. But it's just a bizarre, surreal viewing experience, both for the visuals and the dialogue.

Best Line:
"The work for the happy finger method must go on!"

Side Note:
Hans Conried, who plays the evil piano teacher Dr. Terwilliker, is better known as the voice of Snidely Whiplash from the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoons.

Companion Viewing:
"Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964) and any other nightmarish children's entertainment.

Links:
IMDB.
Retroland.

Take a Look:
The trailer:


Hid doe-me-doe duds are FABULOUS!


Elevator to the dungeon:


Showtime in the dungeon:

Driller Killer (1979).

The Scoop:
Allow me to quote Juliette Lewis in "Natural Born Killers" -- "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!"

This film isn't a movie so much as it is a series of vaguely connected scenes. Abel Ferrera started his pretentious arthouse filmmaking career by directing and starring in this pretentious, inept slasher wannabe and "Taxi Driver" clone. Ferrera (using the screen name Jimmy Laine) stars as Reno, an uptight Soho painter who is working on a painting of a buffalo while living next door to the world's worst punk band. While the band plays the same damn song over and over, Reno argues with his two live-in girlfriends and slowly goes insane. Eventually (far too late into the movie), he finally snaps and starts killing random transients with an electric drill. Some of the vague, interchangable supporting characters eventually get the drill, too, but unfortunately, the band survives.

The scenes do not even hang together very well. What thin narrative thread there is branches off into too unresolved loose ends. What are we to make, for instance, of the old man in the church, the argument in the ladies' room, the pointless band auditions? Getting to the gore a lot earlier and sustaining it throughout the movie might have helped improve the film, but probably not much.

God, what a stinker this is. But somehow totally worth it if you're a bad movie maven.

Best Bit:
The disclaimer at the beginning, "This Film Should Be Played LOUD."

Side Note:
This is one of the infamous "video nasties," films barred from video release in Great Britain until 1999 because of their graphic violence. "Driller Killer" is probably the least deserving of the group, though, because its gore quotient is so low.

Companion Viewing:
"Taxi Driver" (1976).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
The trailer:


The critic hates the painting. Don't you?


The oh-so-horrid, banned-in-Britain head drilling scene:


A fan video for Iron Maiden's "Killers" using footage from the movie:

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974).

The Scoop:
One of the best, if underrated, action movies of the '70s, "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" stars Walter Matthau playing against type to excellent effect as a shrewd New York subway cop who must outsmart a gang of thugs (led by the always terrifically villainous Robert Shaw) who hijack a train car full of passengers.

Director John Sargeant and screenwriter Peter Stone (working from John Godey's novel) tell this gripping story with equal parts suspense and humor. Matthau and Shaw get plenty of great support from a cast that includes Martin Balsam, Hector, Elizondo, Dick O'Neil and Jerry Stiller. But more than that, the city of New York itself, in all its dysfunctional '70s glory, becomes a central player in the drama, creating a vivid record of a specific time and place. Watch this one as much for the vibe of the city as for the story.

(And if the the hijackers' colorful codenames sound familiar, it's because they were later used by Quentin Tarantino in "Reservoir Dogs.")

Best Bit:
That last ironic shot, and the look on Matthau's face.

Side Note:
The New York Transit Authority was so paranoid about copycat crimes that they wouldn't let the film be shot on location unless the studio purchased anti-hijacking insurance. It turned out not to be needed, but they neglected to take the same precautions later with the very-derivative "Money Train" (1995), which did spawn an imitative subway hijacking.

Companion Viewing:
"The French Connection" (1971).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
The trailer (dig that yellow tie on Matthau!):

The Doom Generation (1995).

The Scoop:
This middle film of Gregg Araki's nihilistic teen alienation trilogy -- sandwiched between "Totally Fucked Up" and "Nowhere" -- features plenty of sex, violence, humor, cool images and the ultra-hot Rose McGowan.

The plot follows three disaffected kids -- conveniently named Xavier Red (Jonathan Schaech), Jordan White (James Duval) and Amy Blue (McGowan) -- who go on an aimless sex and murder spree before meeting their own inevitable end. The supporting cast is filled with plenty of familiar faces from the world of indie cinema (Parker Posey, Margaret Cho), '70s television (Lauren Tewes, Christopher Knight) and alternative music (Perry Farrell, Skinny Puppy). There's even a cameo by Heidi Fleiss.

Araki bills "The Doom Generation" as his "heterosexual movie," although there's plenty of homoerotic subtext (and not-so-subtext) between Red and White to keep everyone happy. It's disenfranchised-teens-on-the-road theme fits it squarely in the tradition of "Bonnie and Clyde" (1969), "Badlands" (1973) and "Natural Born Killers" (1994). But what sets it apart from those others is its unrelenting darkness. The violence and desperation serve no greater purpose and aren't tools to send a larger artisitic message about our modern society. Instead, they are an end in themselves, a last cry in the urban wilderness before total annihilation. Even the humor is nihilistic.

It's kind of rough around the edges, but this is still great, powerful, psychotic moviemaking -- but only for those with stomachs strong enough to handle the violence, the sex and the bleakness.

Best Line:
"You're like a life support system for a cock!"

Side Note:
Jordan Ladd was originally cast to play McGowan's character, but withdrew at the last minute when her mother, Cheryl Ladd, decided she didn't like the script. The end credits conclude with, "No thanks to Cheryl Ladd." Jordan, however, defied her mom and went on to star in "Nowhere."

Companion Viewing:
"Totally Fucked Up" (1993) and "Nowhere (1997).

Links:
IMDb.
dOOMED.the doom generation fanlisting.

Take a Look:
The trailer...


Here's the first five minutes...


"Like a chicken head!"

Wizards (1977).

The Scoop:
The friend who turned me on to this obscure little film years ago admitted to me that it scared her -- quite a feat for an animated feature. But Ralph Bakshi is a very talented animator, and he pulls out all the stops for this futuristic political fable of warring wizard brothers whose escalating conflict pushes their world over the edge.

He also pulls no punches -- the fantasy fairyland setting is a backdrop for a fairly brutal indictment of facism and violence. This is definitely one cartoon that is not for the kiddies. Bakshi executes the artwork with his usual flair -- a far cry from both Disney and Japanese anime -- and ably incorporates photographs and newsreel footage. The buffoonery of the good wizard character dilutes the power of the message, though, but this is still a noble effort. And certainly the sort of issues-oriented experimentation you're not likely to see made today.

Best Line:
"Fritz! Get up for God's sake, get up! They've killed Fritz, they've killed Fritz! Those lousy stinking yellow fairies, those horrible atrocity filled vermin, those despicable animal warmongers, they've killed Fritz! Take that, take that, take that you green slime! You black hairy short bowlegged..."

Side Note:
Bakshi wrote the "They've killed Fritz" scene as a protest against R. Crumb killing off Fritz the Cat in his comics. Crumb's Fritz-killing, in turn, was prompted by what he was as the bastardization of his work in the "Fritz the Cat" film made by Bakshi.

Companion Viewing:
"The Hobbitt" (1978).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
The trailer: