cinema history class: the american nightmare

Session: Documentary Month, Week 2
Movie: The American Nightmare (2000)
Directed by Adam Simon
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

In some ways, The American Nightmare picked up where The Horror Of It All left off. It also was an interesting contrast in that it didn;t try to be some grand survey over a large genre. So the movies that were discussed -- notably Night of the Living Dead and Last House on the Left got a lot more attention.

I liked that, but...There was too much politicizing. For example, John Landismade a big deal about racism as he saw it in Night of the Living Dead. He drew parallels between the scenes of posses trying to hunt down the zombies and the then-recent footage of Southern sheriffs with bloodhounds enforcing segregation. You know, you can find parallels between any two things if you look hard enough, but that doesn't mean the parallel was intentional or should be taken seriously. To make matters worse, Landis had fun talking about the overweight sherrif and the rolls of fat -- clearly reveling in the invoking the stereotypical fat Southern racist. As long as he's being all social justice warriorry, he should police his own looksism.

Another thing that annoyed me about this film was the way they identified (or in some cases failed to identify) the talking heads. Now, I'm a big believer in documentaries doing all they can to let me, the viewer, know who's talking. As long as a talking head is onscreen talking, his or her name should be displayed. I don't like it when, as they all-too-often do, show the name a little bit at the beginning, and then never again. But this was even worse. At the beginning, they showed a talking head. Then, when he was offscreen, they displayed his name. Then another head. Then another name, etc. And that's how they introduced it all to us. By the third (or so) person, I was getting confused -- does the name go with the face that appears afterwards? Or does the face go with the name that appears before. And what's more, some talking heads were never even identified. Some yutzo talked about the horror movie  at his bar mitzvah reception (Seriously -- WTF?), and we never even were told who he is.

Now, that last point -- identifying talking heads -- led to some of the liveliest discussion we've had. Joe agreed with me, but Sean feels that it somehow detracts if the name is displayed too much. Seriously -- I don't understand his perspective. Even if you don't need the name to be displayed the whole time, does it actually detract from the experience if it is? I don;t think so. Sean does. Whatever.

But getting back to Night of the Living Dead, we were supposed to see the ending as somehow racist because Ben, the black character, gets shot by one of the authorities after surviving the night. And then his body is disposed of as if it were just so much trash. Gimme a break. Anyone viewing the movie fairly sees that as a tragedy -- kind of an ironic Black Mirror type of ending. He survives the horror only to be mistaken for a zombie and killed like one. But it's clearly about being mistaken for a zombie. It's not some statement about racism.

And that attempt to read some grand statement into a movie (and other attempts like it) just hurt this in my mind.

On the other hand, there were some elements to appreciate. I loved the way this started, interspersing scenes from horror movies with scenes from real life. It forced the viewer to try and discern what was real and what wasn't. In fact, there was one scene where a voice said something about the President calling for a nuclear bomb to be brought in over "the town." When that came on, I was surprised -- I don't remember hearing about our actually bringing nukes to Vietnam. Finally, I realized that that was a scene from The Crazies. I felt wonderfully fooled.

It was also really interesting hearing Tom Savini talk about his experiences in Vietnam, and how they affected his makeup artwork.

SO, yeah...a mixed bag.

cinema history class: the horror of it all

Session: Documentary Month, Week 1
Movie: The Horror of It All (1983)
Directed by Gene Feldman and Suzette Winter
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

For my writeups of documentary month films, I am abandoning the my usual format. These are documentaries, so there's no real plot as such. And we decided not to rate these.

I was looking forward to documentary month more than I recall looking forward to any other session -- with the possible exception of "Bring Your Own Movie Month," which is a perennial favorite. I think that's because, of the guys in the class, I'm the one who is least into horror movies. I mean, I enjoy them -- but at this point the bigger attractions of the class (for me) are the social aspect and the fact that Ethan is really into it. But, while I'm not necessarily into horror movies, I do find the subject fascinating. And a good documentary about an interesting topic sounds great.

The Horror of It All featured a really good mix of clips, narration and interviews, giving a really good overview of horror movies, going back to 1920's The Golem and The Cabinet of Caligari. I think what I liked most about it was the way they tried to tie the themes in movies into the popular cultures of the time. Notably, the nuclear fears of the 1950s are tied into the monster movies of the time. And the mechanism behind the Jeckyl/Hyde transformation (a drink) is tied into prohibition.

I would have preferred though, for it to cover trends that got closer to the documentary's 1983 release date. In fact, near the end, the interviewees -- Robert Bloch and Gloria Stuart among them -- decry the spatter films that were then the rage. Now, there's some merit to their criticism. But I think the documentary would have worked better if the trend had been noted and some clips presented.

Two themes that are touched on repeatedly, are the idea that playing God -- even with the best of intentions -- ends in disaster and that the leading man is always ineffectual.

The production was bookended with clips of the old haunted mansion in Long Branch, NJ (which closed due to fire in 1987. The conceit was that this nostalgic trip through horror history paralleled a walk through the mansion.It was kind of cute in a hokey way.

As an extra, Keith showed us a segment of Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show from the 1970s. In honor of a horror film festival in New York, Snyder hosted a 45 (or so?) minute conversation with film star Peter Cushing, and film experts Forest Ackerman and Leonard Wolf. That segment was great for showing off Cushing's sense of humor. Wolf struck me as being a little too stiff. Keith, Ethan and Joe noted that he made a bunch of mistakes. But in an era before you could read up on any topic on the internet, or watch and rewatch movies at will.

Overall, a great experience.

ben's best: i go out on top

As I mentioned in my prior post, Ben's Best is closing at the end of the month. Much sadness. We felt we had to have one last dinner out there. And we wanted to have it sooner rather than later, on the theory that they'd start running out of stuff.*

The big decision for me was to try the Big Ben's challenge. Like other restaurant challenges, it's an exercise in gluttony. With BB's challenge, it's a sandwich with a pound of deli meat, french fries, cole slaw, pickles, matzoh ball soup and a soda. For years they've had the challenge available. I've thought about taking it up, but I'm generally not into restaurant challenges. I like to eat food because it's food I want to eat, rather than just eating it to prove that I can.

But this would probably be my last chance, so what the hell.

It was actually easier to eat the entire meal than I expected, and I was able to add a slice of seven layer cake for dessert.

UNlike other restaurant challenges, this one isn't free for those who complete it. But I do have my souvenir soup mug, and my name is up on their wall of fame. Also, at the end of the month I'll be enterred in a drawing for a $100 gift certificate...which I believe will be worthless after the month ends. So, it was really about the pride.

It's possible that I'll be back at BB. But in some ways it seems poetic to go out winnin
g their challenge.

*When I spoke to Jay Parker later, he told me that he is not going to limp out. They'll keep getting stuff and have the full menu until the end.

goodbye, old friend

I just learned that Ben's Best, the Jewish deli in Rego Park, is closing for good at the end of the month.

BB has, for many years, been my absolute favorite pastramiteria, and this marks the end of an era. A 73-year era, counting from when the place opened.

I first became aware of BB when I was trying to call Ben's (in Bayside), which is one in a chain of deli-themed diners.

"Hello. Ben's Best"

"Uh, is this Ben's in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center?"

(sigh) "No, we're not affiliated with them. We're on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park."

Apparently that was a conversation that they had many many times. That evening I went to Bay Terrace, but at some point I found my way to Rego Park, and was immediately hooked.

I would hear people swear by Katz's (whose pastrami I don't like), or Carnegie (which had good pastrami but has also closed). But I would always argue that BB was the best the city had to offer. And it was a must for out of town guests -- whether we brought them to the restaurant or placed an order for pickup. And I would proudly declare that they were getting the best pastrami in New York.

It's not as if New York is left without any good pastrami. There's still Sarge's on Third Avenue. Liebman's in Riverdale. And the pastrami at the aforementioned Ben's chain is good too.There are others, but I'm not going to try to name them all. The fact is that good pastrami -- good Jewish deli in general -- is getting harder and harder to find. Demographics change. That's life. But it's not just a demographic shift. Under Mayor DeBlasio (and Mayor Bloomberg before him) there has been a push for more and more bicycle lanes. One of the prices of those bike lanes is reduced parking. Queens Boulevard in Rego Park has long had a shortage of street parking, and the added bike lanes have exacerbated the problem. I would be surprised if BB is the only business closing.

Blair the kids and I will go back this month for one final meal there. Probably with our neighbors.

A few random thoughts about Ben's Best:

• Whenever I would place an order for pickup, I would leave a tip. For some reason, they always called it a "subway." I never found out why.
• I would occasionally chat with Jay Parker, the owner. If I'm not mistaken, it was his father who founded the business. Jay has some connections to politics. I believe he is friendly with former governor George Pataki. I'm pretty sure that Jay was, at one time or another, called on to provide the deli meat to satisfy a governor's (or mayor's?) bet regarding a sports championship.
• There was a stretch of time when I was going for acupuncture in Forest Hills. On occasions when I took the subway, I would have to walk to the subway afterwards. Some of those times I would make my way to the local station by Ben's Best so I could grab a quick sandwich. Don't tell Blair.
• I remember seeing the episode of DD&D featuring Ben's Best. I watched it with father-in-law, proudly telling him that that's my favorite patramiteria. I don't remember much about the episode, but Jay showed off his recipes for meatballs (it included white vinegar) and kreplach.
• One of my favorite pictures of Ethan is of him as a toddler, wrestling a piece of corned beef into his mouth. That's it at the top of this post.

I will miss Ben's Best.

d-day + 74

In honor D-Day, I am sharing this post from PJMedia:

Six Facts you didn't know about D-Day

herb davis, rip

Today was the 30th anniversary of my grandfather's death.

Grandpa Herb died a little bit shy of my 23rd birthday. I was in Ann Arbor at the time, having just finished my first year of graduate school at the University of Michigan. I got the call on Sunday morning, and was in New York that afternoon. I spent a week in New York while my mother sat shiva.

When I got back to Ann Arbor and went through my mail, I found the birthday card Herb had sent me the evening before he died. I still have that card.

I miss you, Herb.

maybe joe has a point

Reading about Roseanne Barr's offensive tweets and the ensuing hoo-hah reminded me of some of the discussions we've had in my cinema history class.

Joe, from the class, is a big collector of DVDs and CDs. He loves video entertainment, and wants to watch what he wants to watch when he wants to watch it. By comparison, I don't have a large collection of videos on physical media. With the wide range of material available on the various streaming services, I'm more or less willing to settle with watching what I can. I want to see some old episodes of Big Bang Theory, but can't find it on Amazon Prime or Netflix? Whatever...I'll watch something else instead.

Joe's big thing, of course, is that if you own a copy of a particular movie or TV show then you're at the mercy of the streaming services; they can decide at any time that they won't be showing something anymore. Or that they'll only show a modified version.* I get the point. And the truth is we don't really argue about it. We're both aware that video entertainment is more important to Joe than it is to me, and that difference drives the differences in our behavior.

So, after Barr made the headlines, and it came out that her TV show had been removed from the rerun lineups and from all streaming services, I thought of Joe's perspective and wondered if that was a show he liked. Further, I wondered if, assuming it was a show he liked, he had it on disc.

A few hours later I got an email from him, addressing that very issue. As if he had read my mind, he put the show's removal in the context of our conversations. He noted that he had seen a few episodes of the old show and liked it. In fact, he had recently bought a DVD set of the series' entire run (it was on sale at Wal-Mart and he couldn't resist).

I read the email and chuckled to myself.

*Star Trek, I'm talking about you.