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Couch Festival - April 2005
It's Raining Cats and Dogs!
By Jennifer Hearne
Rainy days and Monday's never get me down. With so much cinema and so little time, a good bout of rain can be the cinephile's best friend. April showers may bring May flowers, but they also keep me indoors and glued to the tube. If damp spring weather is soaking your spirit, a dry spell on the couch might be in order. Let it rain cats and dogs both onscreen and off.
This month, it's all about umbrellas, especially if you find yourself in a little French town named Cherbourg. Jacques Demy's poignant examination of first love lost introduced audiences to the legendary beauty of Catherine Deneuve. As Genevieve, a young woman who asks "why is absence so heavy to bear," Deneuve's film debut could not have been more memorable. Arguably the most beautiful film ever made, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is more than a singular work of art, it seems to defy comparison as an achievement not only in color and set decoration but as a musical milestone - the entire script is sung! It is impossible for me to watch Umbrellas and not hum the music from this masterpiece for days afterward. Simply put, a black and white world would need no more definition of color than a screening of this film.
Although Joan Crawford's body of work is staggering, the unfortunate fallout of her daughter's biography left a bad taste for Joan in the collective consciousness. Dismissing this great American actress as the Mommie Dearest monster only serves to deprive the viewer from some satisfying cinematic experiences. 1932's Rain is a necessary introduction to the real Joan Crawford. Based on the Somerset Maugham short story about a tyrannical man of God hell bent on reforming the loose living Sadie Thompson, there was too much truth in it for audiences to take and Rain bombed upon its initial release. As Sadie, Crawford's talent is formidable - she imbues the desperate party girl initially with a raging defiance before yielding to a melancholy pathos. Crawford's face lends itself so beautifully to the black and white era that I gasp out loud the first time she appears on screen and many times after. I have a hard time recalling an actress since Joan Crawford who demands so much from the silver screen. Rain’s brutal cautioning against religious hypocrisy seems more relevant now than ever.
The new wave of 80s nostalgia makes Prince's Purple Rain a film whose time has come again. The honest (and autobiographical?) depiction of a sensitive musician from an abusive home was a surprise hit in 1984. Prince's subsequent cinematic efforts never matched his initial success - revisiting Purple Rain reminds us that sometimes the first effort is the best effort.
Another abused protagonist makes our list in 1965's Baby The Rain Must Fall, a lesser known, but essential, entry into any well rounded Steve McQueen collection. As Henry Thomas, McQueen nails his role as a tormented convict who sees his salvation in a much delayed singing career while those who control his fate want him to avoid the lifestyle of roadhouses and their temptations. As his estranged wife Georgette, Lee Remick is wistfully sweet and sincere. The scarce moments that a reunited Henry and Georgette share with their daughter leave even the most jaded wishing they will succeed. But as the title warns, a happy ending for Henry Thomas may never be in the cards.
The back stories of screen legends Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor usually read better than most of their scripts; in Raintree County, Clift and Taylor are paired onscreen in a civil war drama often overlooked by fans of the more illustrious Gone With The Wind; off-screen Taylor and Clift bonded - she literally rescued him from a car accident that left him disfigured during filming. While the length of Raintree County might be too tedious for some, the supporting cast is impressive as are the stellar performances of Clift and Taylor which seem to be fueled by their real life personal dramas.
Next, the key "rain" and "cat" scene crosses our path. In the final immortal moments of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a wet cat is the catalyst (no pun intended) for two lovers who finally realize that they are both “after the same rainbow's end.”
Back on dry land, Jane Fonda tops our list of clever cats in a comedic Western about a schoolteacher named Catherine who is forced to reinvent herself as the gutsy Cat Ballou. And while you're in the Western section, look for Sam Wanamaker's Catlow, a film that inexplicably tried to make Yul Brynner plausible as a cowboy rogue. Borrowing from dialogue in Ghost World, my impression of this good natured but horrible film is that it's so bad it goes past good and back to bad again - the only reason to justify one viewing of this turkey is to witness Leonard Nimoy in the buff! Yes - Leonard Nimoy shows up as Catlow's nemesis and it is an awkward bathtub showdown that allows us to see Nimoy in the nude, a scene about as far from Spock as a Trekkie could ever imagine.
Our examination of cats in film appropriately continues with a pride of papas in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Lion in Winter. Stormy weather punctuates key scenes in Tennessee William's classic tale about Maggie the cat and her husband Brick. Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman succeeded in immortalizing this bickering couple on the big screen but it is Burl Ives as Big Daddy, the bellowing patriarch of this very Southern and very dysfunctional family that gets the lion's share of my attention. As a dying man needing to uncover years of familial "mendacity" Ives makes the imperious Big Daddy tangible and vulnerable; important, if we are to then decipher the mysteries that have distanced Brick and Maggie.
The opening shot of Peter O' Toole in The Lion in Winter is magnificent foreshadowing for all the roaring to come. As Henry II, O'Toole is perfectly matched against Katharine Hepburn as his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of Henry's three sons - all of whom he finds unsuitable as his successors. Anthony Hopkins delivers a ferocious performance as Henry's most headstrong offspring, Richard the Lionheart. The extraordinary dialogue in this exceptional film serves to remind us that even a royal family can fight like cats and dogs.
The child in us can curl up on the couch with The Three Lives of Thomasina, the story of a reincarnated cat made once upon a time, when Disney was not afraid to enchant us with themes of a more metaphysical milieu and Born Free, based on Joy Adamson's accounts of her time in Kenya with Elsa the lioness. For the adults in the room, I recommend Russ Meyers indulgent celebration of female violence and décolletage, Faster Pussycat Kill, Kill, as well as Fritz The Cat, Ralph Bakshi's animated x-rated novelty on 60's zeitgeist. If none of the above strikes your fancy, you know you can't go wrong with The Pink Panther Film Collection, four DVDs worth of Peter Sellers’ bumbling but beloved Inspector Clouseau.
Next, we go to the dogs with The Company of Wolves, Neil Jordan's Freudian twist on the Red Riding Hood story. A young girl’s burgeoning sexual desire surfaces in demented dreams of devilish dogs, the climax being an erotic encounter with a very virile wolf. Two of the many pleasant surprises in Wolves are Angela Lansbury turning up as Granny and overlooked 80s icon Danielle Dax as an injured she-wolf.
It's A Dog’s Life for Charlie Chaplin as he reprises his role as the little tramp; this time he's got a four legged friend named Scraps with whom to share his hard luck. You're guaranteed the happy ending after our downtrodden heroes find a female friend and a wallet full of money in this good natured short from the silent film era.
Often credited as the best detective story ever, Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog is a terse examination of the moral dilemmas plaguing a rookie detective involved in his first real case, the shameful search for his own stolen pistol. The older inspector who is his mentor likens a criminal on the run to a stray dog, reminding the young man that analyzing what turns a man to a life of crime comes second to protecting people from him. Considered a god among directors, Kurosawa's brilliant pacing imbues Stray Dog with enough excitement and character development to make this black and white treasure from 1949 just as profound today.
1971's Straw Dogs finds Dustin Hoffman as a mild mannered American in a rural British town forced to defend his wife and home against a murderous mob of townsfolk. Initially banned in the UK for its graphic violence, Straw Dogs might be an interesting double bill with The Wicker Man, another film that explores the inherent danger of being an outsider when the locals decide to turn on you.
Raised by hippie parents, River Phoenix strayed from his heritage in his portrayal of a patriotic jarhead in Dogfight. As Corporal Eddie Birdlace, Phoenix selects unsuspecting Rose Finney, a geeky fan of folk music, to be his entry in a mean spirited contest for the ugliest date. Lili Taylor is endearing as Rose, the only person who can expose the war ready marine to a more peaceful point of view. Set in 1963, the unlikely couple share one life changing night in San Francisco before he is shipped overseas. They meet again upon Eddie's dejected return to the US after his crushing defeat in Vietnam. In light of current events, those who missed Dogfight’s release in 1991 might be pleasantly touched by it now.
Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon and Lasse Hallstrom's My Life as a Dog may have been obvious choices this month but it is the more obscure Baxter that I most recommend. Released in France in 1989, the tagline for this dark story about an unfortunate bull terrier named Baxter and his many different homes read "beware of the dog who thinks." Certainly not intended for children, what happens to Baxter makes us wonder, with plenty of guilt, how many dogs endure this kind of life; ultimately Baxter offers us some important, albeit unpleasant lessons about human behavior.
Our couch closes with a few films that demand to be taken "Siriusly". Obsessed dog owners go for the gold in the brilliant mockumentary Best In Show, Randy Quaid offers dead dog for sale in Cold Dog Soup and Kenneth Branagh's bark is worse than his bite in How To Kill Your Neighbors Dog.
This month, when discovering great films it's best not to let sleeping dogs and cats lie. And, as you shake out your umbrella, try not to wish away the rain. Remember, on a clear day you can see forever, but on a rainy day you can see nothing but films.
Next month, school's nearly out but it's apparent that THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT!
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