Cinema Retro columnist David Savage gives us his top two DVD picks for the month: two worthy films that were largely overlooked during their theatrical runs in the 1970s.
The Other (1972) dir. Robert Mulligan. This Late Show creeper from
the early 70s from the same director as Summer
of ’42 (1971) seems like it was made for TV, but research seems to indicate
it did have a theatrical release (does anyone out there remember seeing it at
the theater?) In fact most people remember it from its annual broadcast on
television during that decade, after which it seemed to disappear altogether
and become something of a bad dream remembered by a handful of night owls. A
few years ago it was released on DVD and it's well worth a revisit. Based on
Thomas Tryon's taut, psychological novel, the story examines the lives of a
pair of twins -- one boldly evil, the other sweet but a follower – who are part
of a large farm family in Depression-era
Connecticut. They run rampant
around the farm with assorted cousins and neighbor kids, inventing games and
pulling mean pranks. Their loving grandmother, Ada (played by Uta Hagen, here in Method
overdrive) teaches them something called 'the game' as a way to escape the
mental pain caused by their bedridden mother's condition. Horrible accidents
start to befall neighbors and family members (look for a very young John
Ritter), all of which seem to result from the twins' actions, prompting Ada to intervene in a
final mortal decision. Even if it weren't for a few dreadful scenes involving
live rats, pitchforks in the haystack and drowned babies, the film would still
be disturbing in that it suggests something far more troubling: can a child be
born evil? The sunny, horror-in-broad-daylight cinematography of Robert Surtees
(Ben Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Graduate) adds to the
atmosphere. Identical twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky, here in their only
film, play the roles of the twins Niles
and Holland Perry.
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Smile (1975), dir. Michael Ritchie. This largely forgotten mid-70s
slice-of-life from Michael Ritchie, who had a respectable run in the Seventies
with Downhill Racer, The Candidate, and The Bad News Bears
(sadly dying in 2001 at the young age of 62) is a deadpan delight in the
tradition of Nashville.
Indeed, Ritchie's style is often called "Altman-esque" for its flat
gaze upon the ridiculous at the center of everyday life. Here, the context is a
teen beauty pageant in a small California
town, which Ritchie appears to simply let unfold in all its folly and sad
hilarity, proving that there are some things in life which are so intrinsically
comic that its better to just watch rather than direct. There is not so much a
plot as several intersecting storylines, giving the impression of a camera
catching a thousand mini-tragedies and humiliations with each random turn.
There are the inauspicious rehearsals, a local salesman in mid-life crisis,
horny, ogling teens (led by Eric Shea of The Poseidon Adventure), and a
hilarious "pre-pageant interview" sequence before the judges.
And this being the mid-70s, the hair, clothing and interior décor are reason
enough to watch, mouth agape. With Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon (Get Smart)
in lead roles, supported by a smashing Annette O'Toole as the most seasoned of
all the pageant's contestants. Also look for an older and foxier Denise
Nickerson of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory whom I would love
it interview one day, and a very young Melanie Griffith in one of her first
roles.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Gobble
gobble!
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(Look for an interview with David Picker, the producer of Smile in an upcoming issue of Cinema Retro)