Decision at Sundown (1957, dir. Budd Boetticher) [Out of Print]

Decision at Sundown (1957, dir. Budd Boetticher)

What About It?: Yet another unavailable-in-any-rentable-form Budd Boetticher/Ranown Western that is happily available via ON DEMAND.

What About It?: The smallest of the previously mentioned Ranown-cycle films -- this one plays almost like a chamber piece -- this is another psychological meditation on the motivations of revenge by Boetticher. And it's another winner. Randolph Scott plays against type as someone blinded by his own rage and hatred, wanting payback from a lothario who -- Scott feels -- caused the suicide of his wife. Scott makes plenty of mistakes, learns from none of them, but his single-minded will inspires a town to rid itself of a malignant growth of a man (Tate Kimbrough). While playing, the movie can feel somewhat slight, but it sticks with the viewer as Scott's performance resonates past the lean 77 minute running time.

Why Should I See It?: A great puzzle of a character study flick with fine work by Scott and John Carroll, as Tate Kimbrough, there is more than enough here for any classic movie lover and a must-see for anyone who fancies a good Western of any kind.

What Else Is It Like?: The Gunfighter, The Man From Laramie, The Outrage.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 11/30/06

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast Cable.

-- ddt/pdx

Added Note: The Lost Classic just watched The Tall T again last night and we just have to say that you need to watch these movies. Seriously.

Wild Bill (1995, dir. Walter Hill)

Wild Bill (1995, dir. Walter Hill)

What Is It?: A post-modern semi-spoof of Westerns -- but still with the engaging conventions of a traditional Western -- that was wildly misunderstood when it was released.

What About It?: Coming as it did in the wake of Unforgiven -- a traditional Western dressed up in revisionist Western garb -- most audiences wanted more of the same. Where Unforgiven had realist violence married with a satisfying narrative, Wild Bill has a surreal quality with a strong comic streak that's pretty funny if you know Westerns at all. Hill directs with a sure hand, extracting colorful performances without veering into parody. The opiate dream sequences took the Lost Classic out of the film when they happened, but we think that's small potatoes. The playful series of set pieces opening the film are both great cinema and truly amusing. In addition, this film will appeal to fans of Deadwood, as it tells the tale of Wild Bill echoed in the season one arc of that show. In fact, Hill directed the pilot of the show and was chosen for the gig due to David Milch's admiration of this movie.

Why Should I See It?: Hill makes compelling, self-referential genre pictures. It seems surprising sometimes that he doesn't have more of a following among film lovers like, say, De Palma does. Both directors crib from their predecessors and both love film deeply and can't help themselves from commenting on the movies they're making, during the narrative. Wild Bill is no different. That, and it's a rollicking post-modern good time.

What Else Is It Like?: Dead Man, The Ballad of Little Jo, Little Big Man.

When Is It Showing ON DEMAND Until?: 4/26/07

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast Cable.

-- ddt/pdx

What's New This Week That's Worth Watching (To One Degree Or Another)?: The Sugarland Express, Alien Nation, The Snow Walker, Things Change, Showgirls (!), In the Company of Men, Benny & Joon, The Brinks Job.

French Connection II (1975, dir. John Frankenheimer)

French Connection II (1975, dir. John Frankenheimer)

What Is It?: The sequel to the 5-time Oscar winner (also available ON DEMAND until 11/16) following NYC detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle as he goes to Marseilles to find Heroin Distributor Alain Charnier, last seen getting away in the first film.

What About It?: An unusual sequel, not so much about more action or more chases but more about burrowing into Popeye's character. Allegedly much of the dialogue was improvised and it does have that feel -- Gene Hackman really wears Doyle's skin, but it makes for a somewhat ugly film. Shot with what feels like entirely telephoto lenses, rendering everything flat and in focus. Marseilles is depicted as gritty and urban and the audience is thrust into this confusing, unpleasant world just as Doyle is. When he's kidnapped by Charnier's coolies and, while imprisoned in some flop house, forced to shoot heroin, the film comes alive as we become invested in Doyle and the case.

Why Should I See It?: Primarily for Hackman's striking performance, up there with his best for sure. Also for the big set-piece chase scene. The first had the amazing car chase through Bensonhurst and though Frankenheimer is known for chase scenes -- he made the greatest race car movie of all time, Grand Prix, and Ronin has some of the best chases ever put on film -- he went with a riveting foot race.

What Else Is It Like?: Sudden Impact, Frantic, Rush.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 11/16/06.

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

-- ddt/pdx

Dark Days (2000, dir. Marc Singer)

Special Bonus Thursday Edition:

Dark Days (2000, dir. Marc Singer)

What Is It?: A documentary about the "mole people" who lived in the closed tunnels beneath New York City. No alligators make the scene.

What About It?: A fascinating document about homeless people who carve out a place for themselves underneath the city and the continued efforts to find them a place to live by various social agencies. Shot in grainy Black and White largely because the director was told that he would make fewer mistakes as a rank amateur (which is true), visually, the film becomes a metaphor of sorts of how we view those who fall through the cracks of our families and our society. Singer not only got lucky with some amazing sequences -- see the train arriving when his guide is first taking him underground -- he clearly has a knack for framing his subjects. In addition, those selfsame subjects helped him make the film -- the crew was largely homeless people that Singer hired on to assist him.

Why Should I See It?: Because you like your Vérité straight up and you like creepy, dark documentaries. And you like the great DJ Shadow, who composed an incredibly effective score for the film.

What Else Is It Like?: Brother's Keeper, Streetwise, Down and Out in America.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 12/15/06

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

-- ddt/pdx

Mad Dog and Glory (1993, dir. John McNaughton)

Mad Dog and Glory (1993, dir. John McNaughton)

What Is It?: An off-center romantic comedy-drama about a cop who saves a mobster's life and is rewarded by said mobster "loaning" him a gal for a week. Hilarity/drama ensues.

What About It?: Remember the 90's? Bubba was in power, there was (relatively) no war and every comedy was "off-beat"? Well, this was one of 'em, made before Robert De Niro started whoring himself (that didn't really happen until 1999's Analyze This) and before most people realized that Bill Murray could act (1998's Rushmore). Written by the estimable Richard Price, the film is suffused with a realism that gives it whatever heft it does have. The initial critical reaction was that the casting against type (De Niro is the schlub cop, Murray the mob boss) was stunt casting, but both actors acquit themselves nicely. David Caruso also shines in a small part as De Niro's cop buddy -- it's easy to see why he (and others) thought that he could make it as a lead. He had some spice in this one (his flop, Kiss of Death, also written by Price, is totally worth watching, too).

Why Should I Watch It?: For the numerous small pleasures that the movie affords. The realist touches that Price and McNaughton put on the film are rousing: the first awkward sex that De Niro and Uma Thurman nervously have, the plot shifts that turn on subtly hurt feelings, that the whole enterprise is suffused with a palpable loneliness. An underrated gem.

What Else Is It Like: Sleep With Me, Dogfight, Gun Shy.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 11/23/06

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

-- ddt/pdx

What's New This Tuesday (That's Worth Watching to One Degree or Another)?: Crimson Tide, Stripes, The Magnificent Ambersons, Ghostbusters, An Ideal Husband, The Criminal, The Front Page (1974), The Tree Behind the Church.

The Harder They Come (1972, dir. Perry Henzell)

The Harder They Come (1972, dir. Perry Henzell)

What Is It?: A nifty outlaw/folk-hero story that introduced reggae to much of the Western world.

What About It?: Jimmy Cliff vaulted to the international music scene with this little low budget thriller, the first feature film to be made in Jamaica and one of the more popular "midnight movies" of the 70's. What's the big deal? Well, it's the music, mainly, as the outlaw tale is fairly well stripped from standard Western genre tropes -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Jimmy Cliff is charismatic as the anti-hero and the realism of the film -- the poverty and squalor of the shanty towns of Kingston -- is affecting. The many chase scenes are shot with a grittiness that leads to an urgency for the whole enterprise.

Why Should I See It?: Because you have a thing for movies with such heavily-accented English that you need subtitles? No, you're seeing this for the great musical numbers by Cliff, Desmond Dekker and Toots & the Maytals, terrific all.

What Else Is It Like?: Third World Cop, White Heat, Countryman.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 01/05/07

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

--ddt/pdx

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Bonus MP3:
Many Rivers To Cross - Jimmy Cliff (from The Harder They Come Soundtrack)

The Last Waltz (1978, dir. Martin Scorsese)

The Last Waltz (1978, dir. Martin Scorsese)

What Is It?: Maybe the most acclaimed concert documentary of all time, filmed at the Thanksgiving Day, 1976 farewell concert of The Band.

What About It?: It's Music Week here at the Lost Classic and what better way to start it off than with this classic concert Rock Doc. Wildly overrated and far from perfect, there is still much amusement to be gleaned from many of the performances. Dr. John is ageless and terrific and Muddy Waters -- clearly enjoying himself -- hands in a great reading of "Mannish Boy". Hell, even Neil Diamond's inclusion, though somewhat baffling, makes some historical sense and the Lost Classic actually digs the tune (from Beautiful Noise, produced by Robbie Robertson a couple of years previous). Robertson, a close friend of Scorsese', is the embarrassingly obvious focus of the film: he's the only one having the time of his life, lucid in his anecdote-telling and visually ecstatic in his playing and singing (unheard -- allegedly his mic was turned off). This is his show and the handful of awkward scenes, misbegotten studio set pieces, and treacly and pretentious overtures it slows down, otherwise ...

Why Should I See It?: ... it's terrific. It was quite a party backstage and everyone is up, up, UP. Neil Young sings a vibrant "Helpless" with a rock of cocaine lodged in his nose (rotoscoped out for release), a disapproving Joni Mitchell sings "Coyote" and Bob Dylan comes off aloof and angry in an awesome hat. That, and The Band play all of their greatest songs, with a phenomenal performance of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" being the highlight.

What Else Is It Like?: Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock N' Roll, The Grateful Dead Movie, Festival Express.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 9/30/06

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

--ddt/pdx

What's New This Tuesday (That's Worth Watching to One Degree or Another)?: The Bounty, The Housekeeper, It Came From Beneath the Sea, The French Connection II, Kingpin, The Terminator, The Great Escape.

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Bonus MP3:
The Weight - w/ Bob Dylan, Neil Young & The Band (03-23-75 San Francisco, CA) (from Move Around Brown)

Buchanan Rides Alone (1958, dir. Budd Boetticher) [Out of Print]

Buchanan Rides Alone (1958, dir. Budd Boetticher)

What Is It?: A dryly funny, kinda cruel Western by the cult hero Budd Boetticher, about a good man stumbling into an evil town.

What About It?: The last of the aforementioned Ranown cycle of Westerns Boetticher made with Randolph Scott and Producer Harry Joe Brown. Typically brutal with killing demanded with no thought but the joy of it and brothers betraying brothers as casually as changing one's clothes, we know we're in Boetticher Country. The difference is the smiling visage of Scott as Buchanan, who not only doesn't "Ride Alone," he stumbles through the film like an affable fool, rather than the usual taciturn Superman.

Why Should I See It?: 1. Because it's breezy and fun, worth it for the plot machinations alone. And you get to see Scott seemingly enjoy himself, a rare enough treat. 2. ON DEMAND is interestingly trotting out these great Westerns that have never been released on video in any form, so jump on this one!

What Else Is It Like?: High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, Support Your Local Sheriff!

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 9/28/06

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

--ddt/pdx

The Hill (1965, dir. Sidney Lumet) [Out of Print]

The Hill (1965, dir. Sidney Lumet)

What Is It?: A WWII military prison drama about a cruel warden and his 5 new inmates. Currenty out of print on any format.

What About It?: A excellent addition to the prisoner-done-wrong/evil warden subgenre, this Sean Connery vehicle was intended to show the world his non-Bond range. And Connery does turn in a exemplary performance as a British Trooper who is thrown in the clink for striking an officer after rejecting his orders. Typically atypical early Lumet with marvelous claustrophobic camera work by Oswald Morris (who shot The Spy Who Came In From the Cold the same year) and choice editing reminiscent of the groundbreaking cutting on one of the Lost Classic's favorites, 1964's The Pawnbroker.

Why Should I See It?: For the tremendous performance of Connery, Ian Hendry as the maniacal guard, a young Ossie Davis (who the Lost Classic was unaware was ever young) and the titular Hill, looming over all of the inmates like an angry God. A true Lost Classic.

What Else Is It Like?: Full Metal Jacket (the first half), The Last Castle, The Music of Chance.

When Is It Showing Until ON DEMAND?: 9/15/06

Watch It ON DEMAND on Comcast cable.

--ddt/pdx

What's New This Tuesday (That's Worth Watching to One Degree or Another)?: Annie Hall, Mr. Mom, The French Connection, Cliffhanger, Brewster's Millions, Joe and Max.

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As a brief aside, the Lost Classic will now be updating every Tuesday (the day that ON DEMAND releases new movies) and Friday (to give you a movie to watch over the weekend).