RUTZ Classic Movies: Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your Juice in the Hood

Directed by Paris Barclay 

Line that stays with me: “Loc Dog was America's worst nightmare, raised in a house with three generations of hopelessness, poverty... and profanity."

Essay Warning: There are no spoilers or story details. I want to offer the emotion that a film can access within us. Plus I think the best way to watch a film is by not knowing anything about it. Just Go In…So if you haven’t watched this film yet please don’t read this essay. Read it afterwards so we can enjoy the “feeling” together.

When most critics speak about “important” films in America you usually get a list of boring Oscar winners like “Beautiful Mind” or “Crash”. Famous films that are supposedly important because they are taking their subject matter seriously and seem to be tackling an important issue. I think most of that is hogwash; I mean really how many films have had a quantifiable positive impact in society? I remember when “Passion of the Christ” was released, you had people crying and walking out saying “That’s it I am going to Church every Sunday and I will become a better person”.  Of course two months later those same people forgot all about that. I do not think it is a film’s job to better society or create guidelines for human beings. Film is an art form, and art should make complex ideas simple to grasp while enlightening or entertaining us. Films shouldn’t be the reason we want to create a better society, if that is the case something is terribly wrong with us as people.  The movies I think are important entertain you with hard work and a clear set of ideas, which will resonate for a very long time. I believe “Don’t be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood” is one of those films. It was a made by a family of filmmakers and the dedication put forth to make it speaks volumes. I do not go to films looking for a “message”, I go to see a great film. The power of a great film is amazing, it gives you great conversations with your friends, and you can watch it ten times and still be excited to watch it again. Films are magical in that way, they make you laugh, cry, reflect, and I think that’s enough. Human beings are stubborn animals who will not learn from reading or watching someone fail. Nope, human beings only seem to learn from tough experiences so why treat movies with ultra-importance?  Instead of searching for a gimmick message we should be taking a good look at the films we watch and realize this is where we are as people. Take it all in and maybe you will find some truths within the film that will be much more powerful than some standard message about good will and cheap hope. 

“Don’t be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood” is a great parody film. It comes from a family that has dedicated themselves to comedy as much as the Marx Bros. did. From “I’m Gonna get you Sucka” to “Scary Movie”, this is what the Wayans Bros. do. The parody genre is under-appreciated, but when it’s done right it can be very successful as “Scary Movie” proved.  Most people have no idea how hard it is to do a parody film. They are hard to write due to the fact that they have to be consistently funny, silly yet without deflating the main story. All the silliness has to fit for it to work. Great parody films also shine in areas most films fail in doing so like using production design to enhance the reality of that world or visual gags on the corner of the screen that you won’t catch till the third time you watch the film. That is a great incentive for a viewer, but one that takes a lot of dedication from a filmmaker to achieve.  Parody films have more pure cinematic moments than most for that reason. They make your eyes wander to find something in the background, and you find yourself judging how close the parody came to the real thing. Those are great visual techniques; film is a visual medium so I refuse to judge it as poetry. I will always judge films on how they enticed me visually as a viewer and the interaction in that format. Yes, dialog is important, but if visually you cannot make me believe that the story I am watching is happening, what’s the point? From beginning to end “Don’t be a menace...” lets you look into a fully created world designed with precision ,which is something that you rarely see from any film, plus it’s a truly hilarious parody film and the first of its kind.

I am the kind of person that respects hard work. I have problems with people who do not respect hard work. You do not have to like it but please respect it. “Don’t be a menace..” may not be your cup of tea but these artists were not lazy. Soon as Ashtray walks into his young father’s home, we see a crazy amount of production design on display. Everything is covered in plastic from the couches to the book shelves, which is a great visual joke. Throughout the film every set is treated in this manner. When Loc Dog and Ash Tray go to “40’s and Nines” you see all types of funny signs, posters, “Robopimp” being  my favorite. My favorite set is the “Rufus Deep Fried Chicken and Oil Change” set, which is a stupid silly idea that could only exists in a parody film. That’s the classic scene where Ashtray and Locdog “Vogue” and get arrested for being black on a Friday night. It would have been enough for the filmmakers to just show the sign of “Rufus Deep Fried Chicken and Oil Change” ,but during Loc Dog and Ashtray’s conversation you can actually see the clerk serving soda with a gas pump. All this extra work just to make this silly world come to life and to keep our eyes ready for the next joke. I love films that have purpose. A film that says this is what I am and is not ashamed one bit. The Wayans Bros. set out to make a great parody film. They did not try to please everybody, but to make a film that can stand next to the likes of “Airplane” and “Naked Gun”.  They achieved that visually with this film, with visual gags that you can only catch if you pause the film, and classic moments like gang leader “Toothpick” jumping in a new member using a jump rope. 

Top Ten Dialog Moments (Tribute to Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Phil Beauman) 

•   Tray, I don't want you hangin' out in the streets. I want you to finish school, 'cause without an education the only kind of work you're gonna get is sellin' drugs, pimpin' women, or workin' security for Eddie Murphy.

•  Ashtray! You little bitch ass motherfucker! Come over here and give your grandma a hug!

• Well, I see your hobbies include "drinkin', smokin' weed, and all kinds of ill shit."

•  If you hit a man, in time his wounds will heal. If you steal from a man, you can replace what you steal. But always cross in the green, never in between. Because the honorable Elijah Muhammed Ali floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. And always remember my brother, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, knick knack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone, two thousand, zero, zero, party, oops! Out of time, my bacon smellin' fine.

• Name: Loc Dog, baby. Height: Six-deuce! Age: 19. Father's name: mmm... I dunno. Sex: hell yeah, nigga! Salary desired: 3 million dollars! Cash!

• You ain't so tough now, little nigga. I hate your black bastards, you *stink*! I hate your black skin. I hate your black pants. I hate black pepper. I hate black keys on a piano. I hate my gums, because they're black. I hate Whoopi Goldberg's *lips*. I hate the back of Forrest Whittaker's neck. AHH! Most of all, I hate that black-ass Wesley Snipes.

• Loc Dogg, turn down that loud ass mothafuckin music down, you wakin up the fuckin babies, mothafucka. This still my mothafuckin house, mothafucka...

•  And that's what God expects from His sheep, here at the Greater Ebenezer New Revival Tree of Life Institutional Double Rock on the Side of the Road to Jericho Missionary Baptist Church of Zion! And I said Mount Cavalry! Huh! Y'all gonna help me!

• Uh uh, fool. That's the baby's lunch.

• Trying to win best actor at the Soul Train awards.

You have to go frame by frame to catch all the jokes on the screen in “Don’t be a menace”, but what makes the film even more impressive is that it also has a great set of one-liners and performances. Everybody remembers the famous line from the film “Are you my daddy” ,which is still very funny ,but now I find myself laughing at so many more lines of dialog, which are very thought out. For example, when Ashtray’s father says “I’m about to have some breakfast” and holds up a Hershey Bar or the late great Bernie Mac as Officer Self Hatred, saying things like “I hate black keys on a piano” ,that scene alone is worth the price of admission. There’s a fine tuning in the dialog that I just love.  It sounds natural, but the dialog is so rich that it had to be thought out in order for the audience to enjoy the punch line. It is in this manner that Wayans Bros. and their writing partners separate themselves from the competition. Perfect example is the scene where Ashtray’s dad gives him some advice while they’re fishing. Ashtray’s father tells him “Give up hope, dreams are for suckers! There ain’t no world for you!”  That is classic Wayans Bros. dialog filled with blunt truths and honest comedy.  This is a silly movie; this is not about righting the world’s wrongs. This is about laughing, and a crook pointing a gun at some old lady saying “Hey that’s a nice walker lady” is very funny, unless you’re uptight of course. The comical performances in this film are amazing, whether you single out Marlon's Wayan's classic physically heavy performance of "Loc Dog" or Sulli McCullough infectious laugh as "Crazy Legs", the performances alone in various moments throughout the film are very special.

“Don’t be menace…” may not seem like a big deal anymore but I know the truth. This film came out before “Chappelle Show” before “The Boondocks” before every other film or TV show started using the word nigga as a punch line. Even before Hip-Hop as a whole became one big inside joke for many. The Wayans Bros. were the first to put it all on the table for better or worse. It included every stereotype hood joke you can think of and created some new ones. They took it there, a grandma smoking out all day, Ashtray’s father being only a couple of years older than him, the MAN! (Who in the film is responsible for setting up OJ Simpson). The film did not hold back in sharing these very taboo jokes about real people in poor neighborhoods.  Now what’s amazing to me is how much more power this film has to brighten people’s day or open their eyes than the original films it is based on. People who live in poor neighborhoods do not need a reminder of how bad things have gotten. “Boyz N the Hood” did not make the ghetto a better place, it just became a film for the media to "enlighten"  better off people on how bad some kids have it in these impoverished neighborhoods . Is that important? I don’t think so. At least “Menace II Society” tried to scare kids to death by killing it’s hero in the end, but even the Hughes Brothers have admitted that they don’t think “Menace II Society” will change someone’s life in a positive way.  I think “Don’t be a menace...” has a better shot of making ignorant people wise up, due to the fact that it makes them look like a bunch of clowns. Loc Dog is an exaggeration of O -Dog from “Menace II Society” but it is not that far fetch.  To me, the whole film is one big joke of how ignorant and pathetic most urban communities have become. To the point where we can poke fun at them all the time, from the way they dress, to the way they speak, the ghetto is one big joke. I think someone laughing at your short comings is a very powerful way to tell someone to get it together. It’s like when you’re on a diet and someone calls you fatty, it hurts your feelings, but I bet you the next day you will be working out even harder to escape ridicule. Yet,somehow the basic fact that being overweight is very unhealthy and dangerous is not a good enough motivation, go figure. I think this film works in a similar way, and if these people don’t mind being looked at as clowns or the butt to many jokes, then I say let it be more jokes for me.   

ABOUT RCM: RUTZ Classic Movies is dedicated on writing film essays for films that in Rutz's opinion, have not gotten the credit they deserve. Next Essay: Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" 

 

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RUTZ Song: Table Manners

Table Manners is a song I made when I experimented on creating songs in ONE TAKE (No writing lyrics, just freestyle, saying what ever honestly comes to mind) this song I thought was one of the stronger songs from those recordings. I want to say thank you to everybody who has checked out and supported my work. It is a very exciting time for me thanks to you! On the way is my 2nd Hip-Hop EP "No Parachutes, No Routes" , a music video and my 35 min short film "KRAZY". I hope you enjoy this song, I think it is over 3 years old. I look forward to your thoughts on this ONE TAKE song...

RUTZ Classic Movies: Starship Troopers

Directed by Paul Verhoeven    

Line that stays with me: “Figuring things out for yourself is practically the only freedom anyone really has nowadays.”

Essay Warning: There are no spoilers or story details. I want to offer the emotion that a film can access within us. Plus I think the best way to watch a film is by not knowing anything about it. Just Go In…So if you haven’t watched this film yet please don’t read this essay. Read it afterwards so we can enjoy the “feeling” together.

In film history the fall of 1997 will always belong to Titanic but the film I was most excited about that autumn was “Starship Troopers”. I was 13 when I watched the Starship Troopers trailer for first time on some Live Entertainment straight to video movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme I rented. I thought it was going to be the BEST MOVIE EVER! It had everything most young American boys want in movies, amazing special effects, intense action, and the promise of childhood dreams coming to life. That’s what amazes me about the film now, the film seems to know more about the audience than the audience know about themselves. When I watched “Starship Troopers” the first time, I wasn’t aware of Paul Verhoeven’s style. I found his over the top satirical style hilarious even though I wasn’t ready to catch all the jokes at the time.  The first time I watched the film I loved it for being the great Sci-Fi War film romp that it is. Now, I love it for many more reasons, but mainly how intelligent it is in figuring out ways to involve audiences in conversations most Americans do not have. This film is a dedicated satirical look on America’s righteous belief in fighting wars with enemies most Americans have never seen except maybe in the movies or TV. You never truly know what you are watching in “Starship Troopers”, which is one of Paul Verhoeven’s secret of success for his career.  In “Total Recall” you don’t know if you are watching Arnold’s reality or Arnold’s implanted experience. “Basic Instinct” keeps you guessing till the final shot and even then there are no answers. It is a very special gift in cinema when a director can play with your head in that manner and not piss you off but excite you with all its ideas and themes. In “Starship Troopers” we are never sure if we are watching a “movie –movie” or a Propaganda film created for the young people in the movie’s reality. This adds a staggering amount of complexity and fun for those who catch on.  I didn’t catch on till I realized that the first shot of the movie is a title card that says “Federal Network”, like we are watching a TV signal broadcast from the future.

If you do not pick up on the idea that we are watching a Propaganda film for some future generation, “Starship Troopers” is still a blast to watch. It has a very simple straightforward story and the filmmakers were not lazy in any area. But knowing about the “Propaganda” aspect does get me excited about watching the movie again just to discover more of its secrets and discreet intentions. At this moment and time I do believe that the whole film is a “Propaganda” film for the young people in the movie’s future.   I am not going to lie, when I first watched the film as a kid, the propaganda worked on me. In my head I could see myself battling the bugs for the glory that all propaganda war films promise and that’s the whole point. Propaganda films are supposed to desensitize you to the point that war is hell and make you feel that there is no other way. You could also become a war hero. Some say the movie is so bloody, that it couldn’t possibly be a propaganda film. Wouldn’t that scare people away? My answer is no. This generation is very much desensitized to violence; we watch terrible tragedies on the news while we enjoy our dinner without flinching. That is us people today, so it is safe to think that future generations will be even less disturbed. Try and speak to a couple of 12 year olds today about what they’re into. Ask them, what videogames they play and you’ll see what I am getting at. I truly believe for better or worse that the Call of Duty series might be the best form of Propaganda ever created.  “Starship Troopers” has found a way to express to audiences how propaganda works and it is not as straightforward as most people think.  

To me, “Starships Troopers” is the Federation’s film to entice young men to join the Mobile Infantry like Johnny Rico, and for young women to become a pilot like Carmen Ibanez. Near the end of the film they even tell you to join so you can become successful like them. The film starts with Johnny and Carmen in High School even though the actors playing the roles look like they finished high school a decade ago, which goes back to my “Propaganda”  film theory.  Throughout the high school scenes we are informed how this society views citizenship, which is very interesting and simple: IF YOU DO NOT FIGHT IN THEIR WAR YOU ARE NOT A CITIZEN.  Their teacher Lt. Jean Rasczak in a great fun performance by Michael Ironside talks about Hiroshima and how violence has solved many of the world’s conflicts. “Starship Troopers” has Sci-Fi elements but at the end of the day it is a war film. The classic war film story, about a young recruit whose home was destroyed by the ENEMY and now realizes that there is no turning back. He must go to war. It reminds me of those Marine commercials from the 90’s that they played all the time, with a Marine running through fire and other heroic obstacles that have nothing to do with the real horrors of war but I thought it was cool all the same.  I’ve spoken to a few people who have lived through war and the feeling of heroism or glory is not really what comes across. Usually you feel they have seen things they rather not talk about for fear that talking about it may make them remember. Still propaganda works, World War Two and Vietnam proved that. “Love it or Leave it” is one of scariest phrases I ever heard.  

Throughout “Starships Troopers” the propaganda continues to do its job and that’s the reason the film works. As a child, I clearly remember dreaming of the glory of war. Rolling around on the floor pretending to take out a whole fleet or dying bravely in some fantastic explosion.  Even though I had no real concept of what bullets can do to human flesh. “Starship Troopers” lets you have fun with those very natural immature feelings. You watch Johnny Rico ride a giant bug, shoot a hole on its back, drop a grenade in there, and jump to safety before it explodes in spectacular fashion. Another scene gives us the heroic sacrifice death, which couldn’t be cooler because our dying hero Sugar Watkins actually says “Just give me the Nuke!” I love that line, it is freaking hilarious, I love how it plays on our American psyche of a war hero taking one for the team and the fact that things have gotten so bad in the future that he couldn’t say give me the grenade, he said “give me the NUKE”, wow.  The film uses irony in ways that fascinates me and makes me ask over and over, what is this film trying to say. It talks about the power of ideas, and pushing ideology and beliefs on people who do not know the whole story. You just have to take the Federation’s word for it. For all we know there is no such thing as a “Brain Bug”. We don’t even know if the bugs ever truly attacked “Buenos Aires”. The Federation Network showed crushed buildings and bodies but we didn’t see one bug. They said it was a spore the bugs sent from space, which sounds ridiculous when you think about it. The whole invasion of Klendathu, could have been one big set up for the “Federation” to take over a new inhabitable planet they just found, all they have to do is kill all the bugs first. The “Federation” knows that they will find very little public support if they sell the war with their true intentions so of course they lied. That’s where the “Brain Bug” comes to play; the “Federation” needs to sell to their citizens the idea that these bugs are evil and are purposely out for their destruction.  The “Brain Bug” setting a trap for the troopers was the best way to sell that idea, it proves that the bugs are evil and must be destroyed before they destroy us. Now if you can’t read between the lines and figure out what the movie is truly talking about, I do not know what to say. I find the message to be loud and clear now. To make a nation of people believe they were attacked, when no such thing happened, is a very dangerous idea and one that has a prominent ugly solid track record in human history. 

The hardest thing for me to understand about “Starship Troopers” is the fact that it was not a box office success. Maybe it was because it had no real star power or just bad timing but as a film for action fans I don’t think it gets any better. The film’s craftsmanship is impeccable, the tone is perfect, the acting never really falters, but instead I think it hits all the notes that Paul Verhoeven planned to hit. The special effects at the time were the best there was and it was actually one of the few hardcore action movies around. The film’s box office failure will always be a mystery to me but the film has continued to gain respect year after year. It has so much to offer. The melodrama in the story works great, we get a great sense of camaraderie and once we get to know these characters we start to like them in all their simplicity. Casper Van Dien, does a great job of transforming from naïve young man to rugged solider. Michael Ironside, makes me laugh with lines like “Here’s the entertainment! Here’s the beer!”  I love how smart the filmmakers are right from beginning, as there is no score in the high school scenes which forces the audiences to truly pay attention to the dialog. This technique gets you deeply involved in the story as there is no other notion to hold on to. You got Clancy Brown screaming “Solider put your hand on that wall”. The film is very funny; Paul Verhoeven has a very unique style which is primarily based on attitude. An attitude that is in all his films, whether it’s pushing the threshold of film eroticism, or strange jokes like, why did he chose a black man to give Johnny Rico 10 lashes? Paul Verhoeven has a very controversial approach to cinema, but it also has purpose and it is not just for show. With “Starship Troopers” he shared with us the dangers of propaganda in a very brilliant way, so brilliant most people didn’t even notice. He got to ask us, where does our belief in war as a righteous way to solve our problems come from and question if the origins of those beliefs are true at all.  

ABOUT RCM: RUTZ Classic Movies is dedicated on writing film essays for films that in Rutz's opinion, have not gotten the credit they deserve. Next Essay: Paris Barclay's  "Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood"      

  

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RUTZ Rant #3

 

Last time I saw you is where my heart went. The dark places the people that take care of us represent. A world filled with anger for reasons no one wants write to down. I will watch with the rest as everybody seems to enjoy the safari. The things we want so badly. The things people already have. The things that can be taken away from you and the people who are taken away from us. What do we really want? And who the hell is we? Last time I checked it was every man for himself out here. We have plenty of time to figure out new exciting ways to destroy each other. Maybe I will pay attention to politics again. Maybe I can help. I don’t have enough money to pay “them” off so there goes plan A. The only thing this generation understands is CASH. Everything else is a placebo.  Ugly desires in the night that can lead sane people to turn around and shoot you in the face. We Americans act as GODS, boring ourselves to the point that we have to go online and type into the mural of internet Twitter history “I am bored”. People are starving and being bombed in other places, be glad you are bored. I’ll take boredom any day over dodging bullets in my own house. We have a good thing going in this country and some greedy crooked fuckers who want absolute control. They want their families to live longer than yours, so they send your seeds to wars not their own children. We give these powerful people whom we elect an amazing array of comfort which upsets me due to the fact that their job should not be making them feel comfortable. Maybe public office should be a hard job like construction. Let’s put all these pigs in the sun where we can see them and hopefully get an idea what country they will send our seeds to next, to fight a war that will mean EVERYTHING to them and mean nothing to you. 

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RUTZ Classic Movies: Pet Sematary

Directed by Mary Lambert    

Line that stays with me:  “No fair, no fair”


Essay Warning: There are no spoilers or story details. I want to offer the emotion that a film can access within us. Plus I think the best way to watch a film is by not knowing anything about it. Just Go In…So if you haven’t watched this film yet please don’t read this essay. Read it afterwards so we can enjoy the “feeling” together. 

The first time I watched “Pet Sematary” I was seven years old. I will never forget it. It gave me nightmares for 3 or 4 years. The blood-ridden face of Victor Pascow appearing in my mind every time I closed my eyes and the terrible vicious sound of those roaring trucks racing down “that road” as the most famous character from the film Jud Crandall put it. I believe this is a very special film. It is by far my favorite American horror film of 80’s or the 90’s. (Pet Sematary was released in 1989) Today it is a very hit or miss film with audiences. Like me some viewers saw the film at a very young age and it probably put the fear of death into them like nothing they have ever experienced before.  “Pet Sematary” is one of those films that you truly enjoy when you get on the film’s wave length. Meaning, the mind set you have in the sense of life and death before viewing the film will either allow you to take this tragic reality in emotionally and get caught up in the horror, or merely view the film as boring melodrama.  I’ve heard that comment from teenagers these days who have watched the film, “It’s boring” “It’s slow”.  There is defiantly a wide generational gap when it comes to horror films. Now it’s all about the frenzy, the Rob Zombie horror films, which are great in their own right. But there’s something special about a horror film that creeps up on you. It is very essential for a horror film to have great pacing, to deliver some sort of spookiness without really showing us anything at all. Horror films are supposed to mess with our heads, not just our stomachs.  “Pet Sematary” achieves this level of spookiness and so much more. It is a special film for many people for reasons better left unsaid. 

The writing of the film is the first thing I have to get into. As a young person watching the devastating scenes of honest horrible deaths in this film, and not knowing anything about the horrors of REAL life truly shakes you up the first time. The deaths you were watching were very possible; anybody can get hit by a truck. Stephen King loves to create horror stories that disrupt your sleep. This day and age a cynical young viewer watches that scene of the baby getting crushed by a truck and might not even wince. Ten years later that same person has children, will catch the film again and have trouble sleeping at night. The story of “Pet Sematary” will never get old, it is perfect. A horror story built to allow so many grand ideas of death and the horror genre itself. From beginning to end Stephen King’s story engulfs you in with the always reliable fear of death. The film opens with those perfectly unsettling shots of Pet Sematary, and Elliot Goldenthal’s creepy score settling us into the film’s very calm eeriness. The story begins with images of death and sends us into a new beginning for a nice looking family. That combination really makes you worry about that nice looking family. Throughout the film you are bombarded with some depressing truths about death. If you are emotionally in tuned with the film there are many times the film will remind you of your scars. The loss of your favorite pet or, watching your own son die; I can only imagine how horrible it would feel if I lost my son in a similar way and later watched this film. A person could really breakdown watching some of the moments in this film. It also reminds us that sometimes in life things get so nasty; we want death to happen, very terrible truths confronting you for the first half of the film and then it turns into a nightmare. 

The film gets to strike at you with the everyday real life horrors of losing a child like the classic film “M”, but when it all goes crazy; the supernatural aspect of the story takes hold showing us how hard it is for us as human beings to accept death. Early in the film Rachael Creed is scared to speak about death with her daughter, the film’s main concern is death and coming to terms with it. In the beginning of the story the parents treat death as a taboo subject but behave as they have death “under control”. Of course soon as they are confronted by death everything changes. The mother goes to pieces and the father cannot accept it. He goes insane when he loses son. Can you really blame him after what he witnessed? Watching your child get destroyed right before your eyes is the sort of event that can alter your personal ideology of right and wrong. Fairness is thrown right out the window as you become a mirror of the hell living within yourself. Watching this poor father crumble is very horrifying for we know there is no real solution to his problems. That’s why I love that scene near the end after Cage Creed gets his DEATH SHOT and starts saying “no fair, no fair”. Sometimes that’s all that can be said when death makes an appearance in our life. “That wasn’t fair” we will say but there is nothing we can do about it. The empathy this story makes us feel for its lead character Dr. Louis Creed is sad, but it also helps you take it all in. It involves you in a way that’s truly personal as you got to know the doctor before he went insane. He went insane for something that could happen to anyone of us. That’s why I think for some people this film exists as an important milestone in their horror film viewing history. It was the horror film that forced you to come face to face with death and not just cover your eyes.

Pet Sematary’s story and themes can be broken down in several ways and I am sure someone can write a great thesis on the story of the film alone.  What makes this film special is that the story is great and the filmmakers paid a great deal of attention to other areas most films just slightly care about. Now the film is not perfect, for one thing Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed is the only sore thumb in an otherwise perfectly casted movie. I mean there are scenes when Miko Hughes, the two year old playing Gage outshines her. There are also some improbable death scenes, which are the only real flaws I found but, the film’s energy is too strong for those small blemishes to wither this film’s overall effect. One area I think director Mary Lambert put a lot of thought into is the film’s pacing. The pacing of a film can make it or break it. It is a very delicate thing, depending on the story you are telling and the length of time available to tell that story. Like a great song a film has to get you on a steady tempo and once you get used to that tempo, it gives the director options on how to pleasantly surprise you by switching the tempo. “Pet Sematary” has a really slow pace in the sense of shots. It is slowing everything down so you can take in the reality. Perfect example, is in the beginning of the film when the Creed family arrives to their new home. The sweeping creepy score that makes you feel like you are watching someone’s twisted version of a Hallmark movie. The shots of the family getting out of their station wagon feels like someone’s photo album came to life. Big smiles of happiness and the cat in her plastic cage in the trunk, on a beautiful sunny day somewhere in Maine and baby Gage wondering about it. The filmmakers are making sure they slow you down and bring you into Louis Creed’s reality of having a family, of having  a beautiful life, so when it comes crashing down you are right there suffering with him. This slow pacing technique gives the filmmakers more room to excite us or surprise us with quick cuts or intense sequences due to the fact that you get use to the slow steady pace. When the director decides to turn things up to INTENSE MODE, as a viewer you don’t know what to do with yourself. Perfect example of this is the scene where Dr. Louis Creed fails to stop his son from getting on the road. 

One of my favorite things about this movie is Fred Gwynne’s performance of Jud Crandall. Sometimes when I watch it, it is my favorite thing. The film wouldn’t be special without Fred Gwynne’s performance. It is now a very famous performance; it has been parodied on “South Park” and other places. I think the reason people remember this performance is because it is not something we can calculate. The performance is perfect to me and I do not care to know why. I just know I think it is amazing. The way he delivers the lines, his tone of voice, his facial expressions, his body language, it is a performance of the perfect actor for the part creating classic moments and not even knowing it. Some moments make me smile like a little kid at the pleasure of watching an actor deliver a line that just sounds perfect coming out of his mouth. Fred Gwynne saying “It was the ragman that told me about the place” can put me in a hysterics of joy, I love that moment in the film, and Fred Gwynne’s grand delivery very much in the style of classic horror films, sets us up perfectly for the back story of the cursed Indian Burial ground.  Fred Gwynne saying “that road” is special, there is no other performance like it and his performance grounds the film in a very important way.  After all Jud Crandall is the lead character’s only neighbor and the man that leads Louis Creed to his doom.  It is a legendary performance. 

 The neighbor aspect is also very important to the story’s overall effect. The friendly neighbor is not supposed to tell you how to bring your daughter’s dead cat back to life. The way Louis Creed blindly follows Jud’s advice is a constant reminder to me of how easy it is for us human beings to be lead astray especially in moments of grief. I think the film is talking about something else altogether in that regard. It is talking about, the dark places we can allow to take ourselves if life only gives us a push. When Jud tells Louis Creed that a man’s heart is stonier, he is exposing Louis to a very dark side of human nature, a foul darkness that will hide the truth and lead a good man to disaster. Dale Midkiff’s performance as Dr. Louis Creed is great and at times stunning. I love how the filmmakers decided to give Rachael Creed a short haircut as it projects the image of a MOTHER very quickly to the audience. If the mother would’ve looked like a Hollywood model, it would have been way too distracting. Denise Crosby delivers a simple strong performance and I think the filmmakers casted her for that reason. You care about her as a person, and she is not eye candy but a mother who we feel terrible for. “Pet Sematary” also delivers the horror goods as it should. You get ghosts, foggy nights, great make-up effects, jolting moments involving a once dead cat, a dead rat covered in blood near Louis Creed’s feet and other moments that in real life would make you scream at the top of your lungs. I will never  forget how I felt when I first saw that devastating scene where Louis Creed loses his son, till then I never saw any film where a child was killed in that manner.  I think all those elements will give “Pet Sematary” a long shelf life. The film’s unblinking insight of what could happen if the most important person in your life is taken away and the brutal fact that there’s nothing you can do about it. It is such a natural fear. I think this film truly understood that fear at the core of the story which deals with the inevitability of death and the lack of comprehension any human being can have when death does arrive.

ABOUT RCM: RUTZ Classic Movies is dedicated on writing film essays for films that in Rutz's opinion, have not gotten the credit they deserve. Next Essay: Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers

 

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RUTZ: "Champagne"

Thanks for checking out my work! This new song is called "Champagne" Enjoy!




Lyrics


You said come over tonight

I need you by my side

I try to hide and play games

But I realize you're Champagne


Baby I feel no shame

Telling you I'm insane

When I look at your face

I see a place where my spirit can fly

FREE

Girl you comin over tonight

I need you by my side

I try to hide and play games

But I realize you're Champagne

RUTZ Classic Movies: The Black Dahlia

Directed by Brian De Palma    

Line that stays with me:  “Who are these men who feed on others?”


Essay Warning: There are no spoilers or story details. I want to offer the emotion that a film can access within us. Plus I think the best way to watch a film is by not knowing anything about it. Just Go In…So if you haven’t watched this film yet please don’t read this essay. Read it afterwards so we can enjoy the “feeling” together. 

Of all the underrated films on my RUTZ classic movies list “The Black Dahlia” is the one that mystifies me. I do not understand how anyone can label this film mediocre. The only reason I could find for this sad error is that critics always harshly review directors like Brian De Palma. Directors with filmographies so stunning critics expect them to reinvent the wheel every time.  The perfect example of this is Jackie Brown directed by one of Brian De Palma’s accidental creations Quentin Tarantino. When Jackie Brown first came out very few claimed it was excellent (which it is) and now everybody loves it. In a recent Tarantino poll it was voted his best film. So what happened? Why didn’t audiences love Jackie Brown in 1997? I think audiences and critics were too caught up by some of the nuances of Tarantino’s style. It took Tarantino 3 years to deliver another film after “Pulp Fiction”. During that time I am guessing he wanted to grow as an artist and create something new, change the canvas a bit before it gets stale. Of course people were expecting something else. I think the same goes for “The Black Dahlia”. I suppose Critics were expecting the narrative to be epic, rather than the confusing story of a poor broken down hero. Audiences were probably expecting something more straightforward or something like the film “Seven” because that’s how the studio sold it in the trailers. At the end of the day it is a film that is never going to instantly please critics or audiences. Critics were unhappily confused and audiences didn’t have the patience. I think the film is classic film noir. I love it.

First off, if you are a film nerd and you love film noir, you get very excited when you hear about a new film noir type of movie. Not many crime film noir movies are being made these days. As filmmakers we love the genre because it lets you play with so many cool elements. The cold stares with voiceovers, shadowy figures and sexy dames, and fantastic imagery all driven by basic human desire.  I love the film noir genre; it is a great playground for filmmakers who have developed their style and love genre films. That’s why I love Brian De Palma’s work; he respects every genre he’s ever worked in. He’s done almost every genre except a western, wouldn’t that be something, a Brian De Palma western.  Many critics think Brian De Palma is all style and no substance, but in films style is substance. Film is a visual medium and like any other artist producing images, creating your style is very important. Unfortunately, when these directors style make other films pale in comparison, critics will call directors like Brian De Palma or Wes Anderson “showy”. I think that sort of media criticism is really making many run to the internet for REAL film criticism. I don’t understand it. When I go watch a Wes Anderson film I am expecting to watch a film that truly cared about its production design, costumes that match their characters and basically wonderful imagery all around. If I went to a Wes Anderson film and it turns out that he decided to make his film look like a Brett Ratner movie, I would be furious! Style is substance, these filmmakers are unique because they have developed a style that fits the stories they want to tell. “The Black Dahlia” is a Brian De Palma film noir and unfortunately audiences were not ready for it. 

Right from the beginning of the film we have the marriage of film noir and Brian De Palma’s style in full force as Bucky Bleichert catches us up on the story. The opening takes us to flashbacks upon flashback as we get used to Bucky Bleichert’s voice, very effective. I can understand how people got confused by this film; I mean it is something De Palma loves to do anyway. This is a movie you have to keep up with, but not in an overly intense manner the whole way through.  The film is a first person account through the eyes of Bucky Bleichert. It may not seem that way the first time you watch it but the whole film is a first person account. That’s what surprised me in my last viewing; it really made me care about Bucky Bleichert’s journey to the Hollywood hells. Watching Bucky throw a fight so his father can have a home was a perfect way to show us the (audience) what kind of character our hero is. Now that is of course attributed to the writing, but the way De Palma handled those scenes is what makes it special. Perfect example is the Mr.Fire VS Mr.Ice boxing scene, where De Palma made sure to show Bucky blocking punches, so when we notice Bucky move his arm out the way in the knockout scene we would know what will happen next. That’s a director thinking things out; setting us up and it works, that scene is extremely effective. Another director would have just shown Bucky getting knocked out, and CUT to next scene. Brian De Palma’s style gave it weight. It is a great set piece, something not many directors do anymore but something Brian De Palma is famous for.

What is a set piece?  To me, it is a complex sequence created to be a grand moment in a film. You are not going to instantly remember every scene in a film but you are going to remember the set pieces. One of my favorite set pieces ever to show a clear example of what a set piece is comes from “Jurassic Park”. The scene where the T-Rex attacks for the first time is one of the best set pieces ever put together.  It goes from BOOM, BOOM, water in cups shaking, to kids screaming, to T-Rex chasing Jeff Goldblum, to T-Rex eating man hiding in the bathroom, to more kids screaming, to T-Rex pushes a Jeep with a kid still screaming for his life inside, EXCELLENT. Everybody remembers those ten minutes or so, it is an excellent set piece of high intensity.“The Black Dahlia” has a good amount of amazing set pieces. One of the set pieces features a sexy lesbian song and dance number. How rare is that? My favorite set piece involves Bucky meeting Madeleine Linscott’s bizarre wealthy family, that scene is hilarious. The screenplay by Josh Friedman is perfect in my opinion. The dialog feels right and there’s several moments of dark humor sprinkled throughout, which is another Brian De Palma staple that makes you reevaluate what you are watching. While I watch all these strong ideas and great execution on display, because of the film’s reputation, I continue to try and find faults in the film in any area. I couldn’t find anything truly wrong. I can understand if Brian De Palma’s style doesn’t match your interest but to call it a bad film because you don’t like its style is very cheap. The film looks amazing; the cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond is incredible, it makes your average film look like a reality show. Great production design, a perfect film noir-ish score by Mark Isham, top-notch performances and a story that develops never quite the way you thought it would.

The film’s noir-ish elements set the perfect the tone for Bucky’s tragic tale of resolution.  Knowing about Brian De Palma’s anti-authoritarian attitude I always wonder what he is truly trying to convey with this film. The first thing I noticed is that Bucky’s character is always being lied to or forced to live a lie. That theme and others throughout the film, to me, expresses the terrible reality of the American dream. What better setting than “Hollywoodland” the place where dreams are made and dreamers flock to make their dreams a reality. This is bait for girls in the middle of Nebraska somewhere with nothing to do and nothing exciting to look forward to. Poor girls like Elizabeth Short who were lead to believe that Hollywoodland is worth the trip only to find out how horrible people can truly be. That’s one of my favorite things about the film; it shows how we Americans deal with corruption. In the film Bucky’s partner Lee Blanchard uses corruption to keep a large amount of dirty money, and get his face in the papers. Mr. Linscott, corrupted the city with shoddy homes which he made a fortune from.  When Mrs. Linscott kills herself we see that the newspapers labeled her death as “accidental”. Throughout the film, Bucky becomes a man who is sick of being lied to and, sick of the dark world of lies around him. His partner Lee lied to him, the women in his life, and his boss made him lie about the death of his partner. The only explanation people give him is that there is no other way. Thus that is where we are at as Americans today; the lies will never stop because this country has deemed the truth to damaging to their position of power. The truth gets people fired and we can’t have that happening can we?  That’s why I love the ending with that terrible quick glimpse of Elizabeth Short appearing on the lawn of Kay’s house. Bucky has seen the ugly truth, a truth that he now has to live with, and even if it disappears he knows it’s there.

The film ends with Bucky entering Kay’s house, trying to find relief from the horrors he has uncovered. Not quite the standard tragic film noir ending, but “The Black Dahlia” ends on the hope of personal survival by means of not letting cynicism get the best of you.  A beautiful ending for a film that showed us awful human behavior from a time and place that would shape American dreams of glory for the next fifty years. It offers the hope and tranquility of coming home. The performances in this film are also great in every category. I think this is Josh Harnett’s best performance, Aaron Eckhart kills every scene he’s in, Scarlett Johansson makes her character work using her sultry voice and terrific facial expressions, and Hilary Swank playing a sexy role I think for the first time, is in full control of her talents. She is amazing to watch. The supporting roles are all performed by great character actors like Partrick Fischler, John Kavanagh, and Mike Starr. Plus let me not forget Mia Kirshner who played the role of Elizabeth Short, many still think she should have been nominated for an Oscar. That’s why I am scratching my head when it comes to this film’s poor rating. I mean if I read a book that’s well written but isn’t my favorite genre I am not going to say it sucks. I’ll say it was excellent writing but it’s not my thing. Unfortunately “The Black Dahlia” didn’t even get that sort of respect, maybe because it doesn’t have a grand message. Maybe because the truth the movie has to offer is too bold and the truth is something we have never been allowed to value as American citizens.

ABOUT RCM: Rutz Classic Movies is dedicated on writing film essays for films that in Rutz's opinion, have not gotten the credit they deserve. Next Essay: Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary 

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