Cynical C links to When An Audience Member Had To Fill in on Drums for a Passed Out Keith Moon. It starts getting emotional about half-way through. Townsend is invigorated. When the band takes a bow, John Entwhistle congratulates the guy in what I think is a hand-painted, long-sleeved, button-up, high-collared skeleton shirt.

From Matt Yglesias:

We still don’t have a good answer to the question posed by Sen. Warner the last time Gen. Petraeus appeared: How has this effort in Iraq made us safer and how do we expect it will make us safer in the long run?

The next step.

Congratulations to my sister-in-law, Gaby, and my new brother-in-law, Dana, on their recent marriage in Costa Rica (or, Why I Haven’t Been Writing For The Past Week - thanks, Jayson, for filling in). Congratulations also to Barack Obama for his current 10-in-a-row winning streak. Quick notes: I saw Michael Clayton recently and liked it quite a bit - a great look at law, corporate malfeasance, and the intersection of the two, it features pitch-perfect performances from George Clooney and Tilda Swinton in particular (had a nice back-and-forth about it with Dan Sallitt over at his blog); Mr. Untouchable was a solid documentary about Nicky Barnes, the man at the center of the Harlem heroin trade in the 1970s and the high-level players he betrayed - it brought to mind the excellent Cocaine Cowboys, a doc about the Miami cocaine wars that peaked a little bit later. 

So this isn’t a review of the film, but more a reason to show our faithful readers (blogateers, ho!) a trailer that would/could make you download in your pants. This is a 1971 Mario Bava masterpiece more popularly known as “Bay of Blood” but released initially in the US with the title “Twitch of the Death Nerve” (which wins the award for best movie title of all time (next to “Fast and Furious : Tokyo Drift” of course)). This is the film that laid the groundwork for all of those 80s giant body count slashers we’ve come to know and… well… sometimes love, but mostly watch out of obligation.  In fact a number of kills in “Friday the 13th” were taken directly from “Death Nerve.” Suck on that. But don’t blame Bava too hard for creating a genre that kills fun teens (aka ones who like beer and doing it) and rewards nerds (aka the ones that don’t) - he didn’t know how weird America would be in the 80s.  Anyfart, here’s the trailer and I’d have to say it might be my fav based on aesthetics alone.   Oh yeah, the Italian title is “Reazione a Catena.”

If anyone can save Woody Allen, it’s Larry David.

Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is barely out of prison when his girl, Bett (Karen Black), tells him his brother’s been killed. Worse, she’s partially responsible. Worse yet, he’s next. When his would-be killer comes through the door, Macklin jumps him, ties him up and puts the proverbial screws to him. Turns out he and his brother robbed the wrong bank, and the organization whose money went missing wants payback. So begins Earl’s epic excursion against the Outfit, a crime syndicate that controls half of the country. 

Before the real dirty work begins, Earl hooks up with his old partner-in-crime, Cody (Joe Don Baker); then, with Bett along for the ride (he’s forgiven her), they start to rob the Outfit one money-laundering operation at a time, sending word that, come a $250,000 payoff, they’ll stop. At first, they’re a minor annoyance, something for the hired guns to handle; but when they get within spitting distance of the boss, Mailer (Robert Ryan), it’s war. After agreeing to the payoff, Mailer double-crosses Earl and Cody, setting up an ambush at what was supposed to be the drop point. Big mistake: the payoff would have gotten Mailer off cheap; instead, Earl and Cody escape and redouble their efforts, risking everything in their attempt to tumble the Outfit.

This is a really good gangster movie, with a wonderful only-in-the-Seventies cast. In addition to the stars, it’s got some great character actors, including Elisha Cook and Marie Windsor (both from Kubrick’s The Killing). It’s taken from a novel by Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark), who also provided source material for Point Blank, The Grifters and The Stepfather (as well as Godard’s Made In U.S.A., which I haven’t seen). Its aesthetic minimalism (due to funding issues, apparently) only adds to the feeling of authenticity - ratty motel rooms, dive bars, chop shops… you can almost smell the cigarettes and cheap cologne. The underdog, guerilla quality of Earl and Cody, two relatively small-time hoods engaged in a battle of principle against an extremely well-funded, well-armed organization, makes them immensely appealing, and gives The Outfit a buddy film aspect you might not expect. Unfortunately, The Outfit is only available on VHS, an issue that MGM should really rectify in the near future.

Following is a take on the new Rambo by my buddy, Jayson Green, hopefully a frequent contributor:

Rambo, Or, Why I Have an Uncomfortable Ramboner

A Play In One Act

A glassy-eyed ME sits, staring into the middle-distance. YOU enter.

You: How was Rambo?

Me: I don’t think I can answer that question. I guess I can say it’s amazing, but I don’t necessarily mean that as a compliment.

You: Was it violent?

Me: They throw a newborn baby into a burning building. And what I mean when I say that is, you see someone THROW A TINY BABY INTO A FIRE! 

You: …

Me: I know - and it somehow manages to get more insane from there. This film is like a less politically responsible version of Cannibal Holocaust, even down to utilizing actual news footage without any real context, making the “actual” images of death squads and piles of dead bodies just another element of the movie while we hoot and cheer for the deaths of the “unreal” characters who we’re to believe are responsible in some way for the actual murder of real people which of course devalues the “actual” deaths while not lending any gravitas to the “unreal” deaths except to couch them in some sort of pseudo-moralistic or political terms. Phew!

You: That’s confusing.

Me: You’re telling me, sister. Plus his arms look like two giant, gross, vein-y penises which are always holding something that’s spraying something that kills everyone. Oh yeah, there’s lots of raping too.

You: Who is Rambo fighting?

Me: Uhhh, well he’s in Burma, so… There are these soldiers who are totally killing these other non-soldiers… uhmmm. They actually never really say who he’s fighting, but trust me they are not nice.

You: Oh. Is there a message?

Me: Yeah, definitely. Rambo tells a bunch of Christians, who want to help the oppressed peoples of Burma, that they won’t make a difference. BUT if they still want to try, even though it’s pointless, they need to have guns. The Christians refuse to use weapons and go anyway and of course are kidnapped/killed/tortured. So Rambo and a bunch of dudes go in with guns and try to save them with varying degrees of success. So in the end nothing changes except a lot of people die.

You: So the moral is don’t do anything?

Me: Pretty much, yeah.

You: Woah. Do you think it’s just a really cynical take on what’s happening in Iraq?

Me: Oh shit I didn’t think of that, but probably not. Oh did I say that I loved the movie? Because I did. I really loved it.

CURTAIN

Jay also wanted to show everyone Turkish Rambo. In addition to the awesome karate that opens this scene, keep an eye out for the rocket launcher that enters at about 45 seconds. Where does Turkish Rambo keep getting rockets for that thing? Oh, wait, I see: they pop out of his feet whenever he looks down. Cool.