Tag Archives: backyard movie

Reviews

1975 Psycho From Texas Bluray is Drive-In Worthy

Leave a comment

NOTE- this article has adult themes and language.

A backyard movie night with one of those Blu-rays that are courteous enough to program a drive-in style evening, featuring two movies with an intermission.

The first film, PSYCHO FROM TEXAS (1975), was new to me. It’s about a criminal drifter named Wheeler who arrives in small town Arkansas to take on a kidnap/ransom job. The victim turns out to be the very same kindly old man who treated Wheeler earlier that day to a free Coke *and* a cup of coffee.

But we immediately find out that Wheeler is as cold as they come, and he doesn’t care what the old man did for him, he is actually looking forward to killing him once the money comes through. It turns out Wheeler’s Texas psychopathy stems from having a shitty mom who would beat him in between getting fucked by random dudes who pay her in stockings.

Filmmaking-wise, this is total amateur hour, featuring clumsy transitions and mostly bad acting, even the music suddenly changes back & forth between scenes. After the first half-hour, it meanders with an endless foot chase that is alternately funny and tiresome.

There are also whiplash-inducing shifts in tone, going from dumb good ‘ol boy comedy (complete with country bumpkin music) to ultra-grimy sleaze (Linnea Quigley appears in this, and I don’t think her visual discomfort is all acting, either).

But I can’t deny that I found the overall story kinda intriguing, and the filmmakers sure as hell knew how to end a movie on a high note. I’ve been re-reading the Parker novels recently, and Wheeler reminded me of one of those despicable sadists that Parker occasionally worked with (and who usually ended up fucking over Parker and his partners).

Plus, I’m a sucker for regional drive-in fare; I always felt these movies were better representations of their time & place than bigger budget fare. Probably because they couldn’t afford sets and back-lots. There’s a scene where a sheriff is explaining how a young boy found a very important piece of evidence; the boy is Black, and the sheriff begins to say “You know that young n-” and the print suddenly jump-cuts a couple seconds ahead to “…boy from so-and-so found…”, sparing us that very real Arkansas-in-the-1970s moment. I had to laugh.

Also, Wheeler drives a pretty sweet Dodge Dart Swinger 340, which is something I thought you would appreciate, if you were me.

There was a 13-minute intermission with classic snack bar ads and trailers for movies like COP KILLERS and THE GRIM REAPER (U.S. cut of ANTHROPOPHAGOUS), before moving on to the second feature, THE GATES OF HELL (1980) which is the U.S. cut of Fulci’s CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. There are much better-looking versions available under the original title, but I appreciated the grind house charm of this scratched up print (I’m pretty sure this was the same print I’ve seen at various all-night marathons).

https://youtu.be/06c1xXYlu5Y

I’ve rambled about this one before; it’s not my favorite Fulci, but it’s good times all the same and it was fun to watch it outside at night, wondering if the creepy sounds I heard behind me were possums, gatos, or some evil zombie priest who wants to bring about the end of the world. (And yet, despite the bleeding eyeballs and puked-up entrails and living dead walking around, that priest *still* refuses to acknowledge his colleagues molesting the altar boys behind closed doors.) For the Silo, E.F. Contentment.

Reviews

ODDBALL CINEMA: CONVOY

Leave a comment

Errrr breaker one. This here’s the Rubber Duck.

CONVOY (1978): Maybe because I knew that director Sam Peckinpah was pretty much reaching new depths of being an irresponsible drug-addled drunk during production, that I figured maybe it would show in this movie, and maybe that’s why I’ve avoided it for so long.


I mean, it’s one thing to have that kind of thing seep into your films about violent assholes defeated-by/defiant-at life, but it seems like something that would fuck up what should otherwise be a fun movie about truckers outrunning the law — based on a fuckin’ hit novelty song, of all things.


And yet, that’s not really the case here. It is a fun movie about truckers outrunning the law, with just the right amount of Peckinpah’s cynical boozy edge to make this stand-out from other similar joints playing at the drive-in around this time. Occasionally, I’d be surprised as I felt the edge poke me, and it was pretty sharp too, with its attitudes towards The Law and the dangers of being Black in America.

But they were welcome surprises.


Of the truckers, Franklyn Ajaye’s “Spider Mike” gets the worst of it from Johnny Pig, on account of his dark skin; Ajaye, by the way, is known mostly as a comedian, and he’s one of those dudes who I’m sure is living well, but I feel should be/should’ve been much bigger. I’m guessing he’s one of those “comedian’s comedian” types, in that he’s super-respected in his field, if not necessarily recognized by the general public.


I’m sure once he’s dead, he’ll become The Most Popular Comedian In The World on social media and everybody and their mother is going to go on about how great he was, the way everybody and their mother suddenly made Mr. Paul Mooney the most popular comedian in the world on social media after he died.


Kris Kristofferson’s “Rubber Duck” is very much a Peckinpah kind of protagonist, with his own code of conduct that might not make sense to others, but allows him to enter his house justified. He also goes shirtless for what seems like half the running time, which made me imagine if Matthew McConaughey ever considered starring in a remake somewhere along the way.


I don’t believe in heroes, but I suppose if I had to pick one, Mr. Kristofferson wouldn’t be a bad one to emulate: Rhodes Scholar, boxer, Army Ranger. He flew helicopters, swept floors, worked on an oil rig, and wrote some of the greatest goddamn songs in the history of music. He was also “Whistler” in the BLADE movies.


Ernest Borgnine plays such a bastard in this one, “Dirty Lyle” is his name, and he’s an oinker of the worst kind: A corrupt cop who shakes down the truckers unlucky enough to drive down his highway.


In real life, Borgnine revealed in an interview that his secret to long life was that he masturbated a lot; later, he said in another interview that he said that because the interviewer wouldn’t let up with that question, and he figured that answer would shut the dude up. In reality, he said, his long life was probably the result of becoming a vegetarian 35 years prior. Now that’s just disgusting and uncalled for, Ernie, you dirty old man.

Anyway, this was good times, man. I think this movie, SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, and a six-pack of Coors will cure whatever ails ya.


It’s just so 70s in the best of ways, that old-school vibe with dudes talking to each other on the CB, taking showers together in their underwear. Maybe that’s why Ali MacGraw had short hair in this, to mix in easier with the rest of the dudes. #backyardmovienight For the Silo, E.F. Contentment.