Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.
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I remember this one. It's definitely worth seeing.
According to wiki, its use of "Rock Around the Clock" is the first appearance of "Rock 'n' Roll" in an American film. What struck me is the song's progress over three major uses. In 1955, it represented danger and youthful rebellion. In American Graffiti (1973), it was nostalgic, but still rowdy and rebellious. Happy Days (1974) used it as the theme song its first season, as a nostalgic nod to a supposedly more innocent time, though I suppose in the first season there was a still a touch of edge to it.
ClarkKent_DC > Richard WillisMay 4, 2026 at 8:10pm
I saw Blackboard Jungle a while back. My interest in it is that it's based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter, which was inspired by his three-week stint as a substitute teacher in an inner-city New York high school.
That and Evan Hunter is also Ed McBain, author of the 87th Precinct series of police procedural novels. This was Hunter's first novel, after writing short stories for pulp magazines starting during his days in the Navy. He used a few different pen names, as the pulp magazines didn't want readers to see that one guy was writing most (or even all) of the stories.
Eventually, he dropped the other pen names save for McBain and legally changed his name to Hunter. McBain and Hunter then went on to be very prolific writers. In theory, McBain wrote fast-paced crime stories and Hunter wrote more literary fare, as well as movie and TV scripts. To prove the point that the two authors had different styles, they "collaborated" on the novel Candyland. In the first half of the story, written by Hunter, a Los Angeles architect on a visit to New York, who is somewhat of a sex fiend, tries to hook up with different women and evenutally visits a brothel; in the McBain half of the story, a homicide detective tries to solve the murder of a woman who had crossed paths with the architect the previous night.
I just found out that my friend Joe Edwards, mentioned above, recently passed away. He had to be 20 - 21 in 1955 in the movie, which means he lived until at least 90.
THE 'BURBS (1989): After watching the first season of The 'Burbs TV show (2026), Tracy wanted to watch the Tom Hanks/Carrie Fisher (and others) movie it was based on. She had seen it before, I had not. It is to the TV show the way the Parenthood movie is the the Parenthood TV show, that is, the same title and premise, but otherwise unrelated. Tracy's favorite line: "I've never seen anyone drive their trash to curb then beat it with a stick." Dark suburban comedy.
(With Stand By Me, Still the Beaver and The Burbs, I've seen more of Corey Feldman in the last few weeks than in the last 30 years.)
Also, having recently watched all six seasons of Leave It to Beaver, I immediately recognized that it was filmed on the same studio lot with the street where the Cleavers lived. Tracy later confirmed this on the internet.
TICKLE ME (1965): Never ones to pass up an Elvis flick, Tracy and I watched this one last night. there is a "sameness" to most of his films, I admit, a comforting sameness. Tracy recognized that we had seen it before, together, five minutes in. (It took me 35.)
Ah, if only Elvis Presley had been cast as Conrad Birdie, the movie would have been nigh perfect (but I imagine the part was too small for "The King").
Ann-Margret got her chance to act opposite Elvis in Viva Las Vegas the following year.
Finally watched A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More. I saw The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in my youth, and a few times since, but never saw the rest of the "trilogy." I have corrected that.
I didn't expect to be blown away -- these are sixtysomething-old movies, and foreign B-movies at that. But they are famous, so I wanted to check them off the list.
The first one was a bit clumsy -- it was obviously based on something else, the way it would work in stuff that seemed pointless, and I looked it up to be sure (Yojimbo).
And the second one seemed to never end. One plot extension after another. The effort to make the chief bad guy, El Indio, a genuine character fell flat for me, which may have contributed to my impatience. (There's enough subtextual overlap with Once Upon a Time in the West in the flashback scenes that I think it serves as a warm-up.) And it occurred to me that virtually all of Col. Mortimer's cunning schemes were terrible. (The Lee Van Cleef character.) Also, given the plot twist at the end, his efforts did not really serve his purpose. Spoiler, he wanted revenge on El Indio. He could have done that a bit more directly, and ended the movie in the first reel. Once the big reveal is revealed, virtually all of Van Cleef's machinations stop making sense. Also, El Indio tells a subordinate he pegged Mortimer and Monco (Eastwood's character) as bounty hunters straight away -- which means none of his actions make sense, retrroactively, either. He should have just shot them.
That's not to say I hated the movies. I can see why they became famous. The cinematography in establishing shots is excellent; I assume they were shooting in Spain and Sergio Leone makes the Pyrenees just as beautiful as John Ford made his Western locations. The weird, Euro-humor shootouts are fun (let's see how far I can shoot that hat down the street). The excessive sweating, and the director's preoccupation with it, just makes me laugh.
And, of course, there's Eastwood. He's not just following the script, he's creating a character he will embody for years to come. The poncho. The way he smookes his cheroot. The squint. These things are what hold the "trilogy" together (which otherwise are not connected, and actually run in reverse order, chonologically). Some of these mannerisms also carry over into High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, Outlaw Josey Wales, and possibly others I'm not thinking of at the moment. It made him a star, and rightly so.
Weirdly, there's a location that shows up in both movies that I found distracting. It's a street bordered on both sides by all-white, plaster pueblos with no distinguishing features. I assume it was cheap to build, but I don't know what it's supposed to represent. I know of no street in the world that looks like that.
Replies
I remember this one. It's definitely worth seeing.
According to wiki, its use of "Rock Around the Clock" is the first appearance of "Rock 'n' Roll" in an American film. What struck me is the song's progress over three major uses. In 1955, it represented danger and youthful rebellion. In American Graffiti (1973), it was nostalgic, but still rowdy and rebellious. Happy Days (1974) used it as the theme song its first season, as a nostalgic nod to a supposedly more innocent time, though I suppose in the first season there was a still a touch of edge to it.
I saw Blackboard Jungle a while back. My interest in it is that it's based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter, which was inspired by his three-week stint as a substitute teacher in an inner-city New York high school.
That and Evan Hunter is also Ed McBain, author of the 87th Precinct series of police procedural novels. This was Hunter's first novel, after writing short stories for pulp magazines starting during his days in the Navy. He used a few different pen names, as the pulp magazines didn't want readers to see that one guy was writing most (or even all) of the stories.
Eventually, he dropped the other pen names save for McBain and legally changed his name to Hunter. McBain and Hunter then went on to be very prolific writers. In theory, McBain wrote fast-paced crime stories and Hunter wrote more literary fare, as well as movie and TV scripts. To prove the point that the two authors had different styles, they "collaborated" on the novel Candyland. In the first half of the story, written by Hunter, a Los Angeles architect on a visit to New York, who is somewhat of a sex fiend, tries to hook up with different women and evenutally visits a brothel; in the McBain half of the story, a homicide detective tries to solve the murder of a woman who had crossed paths with the architect the previous night.
I just found out that my friend Joe Edwards, mentioned above, recently passed away. He had to be 20 - 21 in 1955 in the movie, which means he lived until at least 90.
Good man!
THE 'BURBS (1989): After watching the first season of The 'Burbs TV show (2026), Tracy wanted to watch the Tom Hanks/Carrie Fisher (and others) movie it was based on. She had seen it before, I had not. It is to the TV show the way the Parenthood movie is the the Parenthood TV show, that is, the same title and premise, but otherwise unrelated. Tracy's favorite line: "I've never seen anyone drive their trash to curb then beat it with a stick." Dark suburban comedy.
(With Stand By Me, Still the Beaver and The Burbs, I've seen more of Corey Feldman in the last few weeks than in the last 30 years.)
Also, having recently watched all six seasons of Leave It to Beaver, I immediately recognized that it was filmed on the same studio lot with the street where the Cleavers lived. Tracy later confirmed this on the internet.
TICKLE ME (1965): Never ones to pass up an Elvis flick, Tracy and I watched this one last night. there is a "sameness" to most of his films, I admit, a comforting sameness. Tracy recognized that we had seen it before, together, five minutes in. (It took me 35.)
BYE BYE BIRDIE (1963): Ann-Margret in her second most famous role.
BYE BYE BIRDIE (1963): Ann-Margret in her second most famous role.
And also jump-started my puberty.
THIS ONE jump-started mine.
Ah, if only Elvis Presley had been cast as Conrad Birdie, the movie would have been nigh perfect (but I imagine the part was too small for "The King").
Ann-Margret got her chance to act opposite Elvis in Viva Las Vegas the following year.
Finally watched A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More. I saw The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in my youth, and a few times since, but never saw the rest of the "trilogy." I have corrected that.
I didn't expect to be blown away -- these are sixtysomething-old movies, and foreign B-movies at that. But they are famous, so I wanted to check them off the list.
The first one was a bit clumsy -- it was obviously based on something else, the way it would work in stuff that seemed pointless, and I looked it up to be sure (Yojimbo).
And the second one seemed to never end. One plot extension after another. The effort to make the chief bad guy, El Indio, a genuine character fell flat for me, which may have contributed to my impatience. (There's enough subtextual overlap with Once Upon a Time in the West in the flashback scenes that I think it serves as a warm-up.) And it occurred to me that virtually all of Col. Mortimer's cunning schemes were terrible. (The Lee Van Cleef character.) Also, given the plot twist at the end, his efforts did not really serve his purpose. Spoiler, he wanted revenge on El Indio. He could have done that a bit more directly, and ended the movie in the first reel. Once the big reveal is revealed, virtually all of Van Cleef's machinations stop making sense. Also, El Indio tells a subordinate he pegged Mortimer and Monco (Eastwood's character) as bounty hunters straight away -- which means none of his actions make sense, retrroactively, either. He should have just shot them.
That's not to say I hated the movies. I can see why they became famous. The cinematography in establishing shots is excellent; I assume they were shooting in Spain and Sergio Leone makes the Pyrenees just as beautiful as John Ford made his Western locations. The weird, Euro-humor shootouts are fun (let's see how far I can shoot that hat down the street). The excessive sweating, and the director's preoccupation with it, just makes me laugh.
And, of course, there's Eastwood. He's not just following the script, he's creating a character he will embody for years to come. The poncho. The way he smookes his cheroot. The squint. These things are what hold the "trilogy" together (which otherwise are not connected, and actually run in reverse order, chonologically). Some of these mannerisms also carry over into High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, Outlaw Josey Wales, and possibly others I'm not thinking of at the moment. It made him a star, and rightly so.
Weirdly, there's a location that shows up in both movies that I found distracting. It's a street bordered on both sides by all-white, plaster pueblos with no distinguishing features. I assume it was cheap to build, but I don't know what it's supposed to represent. I know of no street in the world that looks like that.
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