Summer Blockbusters of 1985: The Color Purple

Back again movie fans and welcome back for Day 3 of Summer Blockbusters of 1985. It is a hot time in the old town today as the A/C is running like mad and folks are hitting the swimming pools and watering holes. This day we have a bit more grim look on life. Okay I am watering down the suffering committed in this film. The racist and sexist content is not for everyone but it is based on the same name novel by Alice Walker (The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian, To Hell With Dying, The Color Purple, Finding the Green Stone, Possessing the Secret of Joy) and directed Steven Spielberg brings the story of two women in rural Georgia in the 1900s and the struggles that their friendship got them through. This is The Color Purple.

Yard needs mowin'.

Our story is narrated by the trials and tribulations of a good christian woman name of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg of Jumpin' Jack Flash, Burglar, Fatal Beauty, Ghost, The Player, Sister Act, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Toy Story 3) and her childhood friend Sophia (Oprah Winfrey of Native Son, Lincoln, There Are No Children Here, Beloved, Our Friend, Martin, Bee Movie and Selma) as they have grown, they have experienced so much evil as her own father Alphoso molested and impregnated her twice. With her sister Nettie (Akosua Busia of A.D., Late Starter, Badge of the Assassin, Crossroads and Low Blow) as her constant friend the two remain close as sisters can be until she ages, a plantation widower Mister Albert (Danny Glover of Hill Street Blues, Silverado, Lethal Weapon, Lonesome Dove, Predator 2, Buffalo Soldiers, 2012 and Death at a Funeral) scoops her up to raise his children and treat her as a personal servant. Nettie is booted off Albert's land told never to return.

Yeah no creeper creeper vibe there.

With her letters and close ties to God is all that gives Celie strength. Albert's old flame, a jazz singer Shug (Margaret Avery of Terror House, Magnum Force, The Rookies, Miami Vice, Blueberry Hill, Night Trap and White Man's Burden) sick with fever and delirous, calls Celie ugly the first time they meet. Getting to know her, Shug and Celie start forming a bond and become very close. Sophia refusing to let men walk all over her like Celie does, allows herself to be bated into a fight with a racist mayor and his wife where she is dropped into jail with little to no trial and beaten regularly. Umm what crazy times??? Yeah I have no comedy for this one folks.

With Sophia free from jail, Shug with her boyfriend Grady(Bennet Guillory of Dark Justice, Babylon 5, Star War: Jedi Knight- Dark Forces II, Charmed and NCIS) and house servant Squeak (Rae Dawn Chong of Quest for Fire, Fear City, Commando, Soul Man, The Principal, Chaindance, Hideaway and Wild Card) all want to leave Albert's farm and do so after Celie gives that man a verbal ass whipping he needed so desperately. With the ladies ingenuity they manage a haberdashery that brings the community together and outfits to walk about town.

Will Celie and Albert ever reconnect? Is Nettie even alive? Will Celie's monstrous father die and burn in the flames of Hell?

A few tidbits on the flick now.

This is comedienne Whoopi Goldberg's first feature film, proving she mastered comedy so drama was a cake walk for her and this was also Oprah Winfrey's first movie ever.

In spite of 11 nominations for the Oscar this film did not receive a single win. Shame on you, Oscars.

As producer, Quincy Jones had to coax Speilberg into directing when Speilberg said he didn't know a fraction of the racial barriers or what the history of the South was not deft enough that someone of color should tackle this given they would relate to the source material when Jones pointed " No I want you to do it. And besides, did you have to be an alien to direct ET?" Can't fault the man's logic.

Handful of youngins to watch there.

George A. Romero Week: Night of the Living Dead

Good day all and welcome to Day 1 of George A. Romero Week and what better way to start the week off right than with his original work? I have seen this film no less than 75 times because it has been made fun of, marveled after and even used as a project viewing for film students. From the grainy texture of the black & white 35mm Spherical, to the wooden acting of summer stock folk to the desolate farm house that has clearly been abandoned and second hand furniture has been brought in, this movie put the audience on edge about a group of strangers all hiding from the same threat and forced to work together to fend them off. This is Night of the Living Dead.

I'll set the table, you coat yourself in barbecue sauce for the zombies.

Field Reporter: Chief, do you think that we will be able to defeat these spoilers?

Sheriff McClelland: Well, we killed nineteen of them today right in this area. The last three, we caught them trying to claw their way into an abandoned shed. They must have thought someone was in there, but there wasn't though. We heard them making all kinds of noises so we came over, beat 'em off and blasted them down.

Johnny (Russell Streiner of Night of the Living Dead, There's Always Vanilla, The Majorettes and Night of the Living Dead 1990) and his sister Barbara (Judith O' Dea of Night of the Living Dead, The Pirate, Claustrophobia, October Moon and Women's Studies) have trekked out deep into rural Pennsylvania to a yearly visit to their father's grave. Barbara does not seem comfortable around gravestones as Johnny teases her prior to be attacked by a strange man with tattered clothes. No, it is not a zealous hobo but in fact a reanimated body that wrestles with Johnny before bashing his head into a gravestone. Barbara lunges for the car after performing the flattering ankle twist and hurling herself in the dirt which most feminists are probably irate at this point, dives in the car and manages to wreck a slow moving car be simply not steering worth a tinker's damn. Now in her defense she just saw her brother murdered and a shambling weirdo chase her.

Jimmy Carter: the hidden drunken years.

She flees across the countryside spotting a farmhouse and scurries into it. A quick discovery around the house she finds a mangled corpse of a woman and prepares to flee yet again when a truck arrives with a man dressed in a neat cardigan flogs a couple of zombies allowing him to get into the house and slam the door shut. Barbara mentally checks out for a good chunk of the film as Ben (Duane Jones of Night of the Living Dead, Ganja & Hess, Losing Ground, Beat Street, Vampires and To Die For) proceeds to drown Barbara in a vat of exposition to kill time while he does his Bob Villa impression and fortifies the house... with a few nails and boards. So instead of taking spare doors off of rooms and barricading the windows and believe you me there are a lot of windows in this place, we find there are more people hiding out in the fruit cellar. Can we all get along in this time of crisis or will we all be zombie chow in no time flat?

A few interesting facts of the film now. 200 extras were cast to be the townsfolk as well as zombies back to back and given how dimly lit our movie is and the makeup work did obscure more than a handful of our extras.

The ground breaking aspects to this film are one of the first movies to graphically depict violent murders on screen, first film shot in Pittsburgh and the first truly successful independent films ever made. Casting a black man (Duane Jones) as lead role having to slap sense into a woman, being violent and judgmental to the rest of his cast in the late sixties is considered an edgy choice by many but Romero didn't look at this with racist glasses as viewed it as shooting a flick with a friend.

Due to the lack of knowledge of distribution, Romero did not see a fraction of the money the distributors might as well just sauntered by him with the gross takings.

George A. Romero co-wrote this with John A. Russo who later went on to pen for The Return of the Living Dead film in 1985 with writer/director Dan O' Bannon.

One step closer and your crotches are toast!

Douglas Sirk Week: Imitation of Life

Welcome back boys and girls to Day 3 of Douglas Sirk week as we continue sensitive matters of life, the struggles that can occur during and how to better one’s life the pursuit of dreams.  So grab for the stars, stop at nothing and push for the gold.   This is Imitation of Life.

Oh and raise my child whilst I chase my dreams, deary.

I’m somebody else. I’m spoiler…spoiler…SPOILER!  

Lora Meredith (Lana Turner of The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Bad and the Beautiful, Latin Lover, Betrayed and Madame X) a struggling widow with the want and desire of becoming a Broadway actress manages to lose track of her daughter Susie at the beach.  Needing help to finding her daughter she asks a fellow Steve Archer (John Gavin of Raw Edge, Four Girls in Town, A Breath of Scandal, Spartacus and Midnight Lace) to go looking for her.  Susie is found by a lady name of Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore of Skirts Ahoy!, The Royal African Rifles, Women’s Prison,  Queen Bee, Ransom!, The Opposite Sex and The Girl Can’t Help It) an African American divorcee with her own little girl Sarah Jane and unlike her mother, her skin is so light she could pass for white of which she does appreciate the option.  Lora takes Annie in as a nanny to allow her to pursue an acting career and have care for Susie. 

Sorry sweetie but it is a rectal thermometer. 

In spite of the struggles along the way Lora becomes a fairly successful star in comedy with Alan Loomis (Robert Alda of Rhapsody in Blue, The Beast with Five Fingers, Cloak and Dagger, The Girl Who Knew Too Much and The Serpent) as her agent and David Edwards (Dan O’ Herlihy of The Long, Hot Summer, Man From UNCLE, Death Ray 2000, Robocop, Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Robocop 2) as her playwright.  As she attempts a romantic relationship with Steve Archer, their relationship begins to fall apart as Steve feels Lora is too ambitious to be a star and how her focus seems to be heavily on her career instead of spending time with her daughter.  Susie and Sarah Jane seem to be establishing a rapport to the levels like sisters and Annie almost like a mother to them.

 11 Years Later… Lora is considered the cream of the crop Broadway star living in this gorgeous brownstone in Upstate New York and Annie remains with her as nanny, housekeeper and best friend.  After shooting down both David’s screenplay and marriage proposal, Lora meets Steve a decade later and the duo rekindle their relationship.  Teenagers Susie (Sandra Dee of Gidget, If a Man Answers, I’d Rather Be Rich, That Funny Feeling and Rosie!) and Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner of To Hell and Back, The Gene Krupa Story, The Big Fisherman, Going My Way and Route 66) are re-introduced to Steve.  Susie feels all tingly around Steve and Sarah Jane is still passing for white. 

White people do be different.

A few notes about this film.  This shows a level of racism and skin color is a crutch or a benefit.  The issues of mixed relationships are in many perspectives a thing of the past but set the tone for back in the day.   Sarah Jane could not be honest enough with her boy Frankie because she is afraid of his narrowed mindedness and frankly I found it to be sad and no foundation for a relationship.   All emotions are taxed throughout this movie and you will feel the twists and turns but this is also a good thing.