p e n g u i n d e v i l

I watched Pretty in Pink. Yes, that one. It is always fun and refreshing to watch those mid-80’s John Hughes teen comi-dramas. It was as entertaining as ever, filled with those familiar fresh faces and horridly hard to look at fashion. God, did I actually spend years in that period? I was (well, would have been) a Senior when most of those came out, luckily they don’t remind me personally of any experience, but they sure do bring to mind the environment. Regardless, it is a darn fun movie. If anyone doesn’t know, it tells the story of: a “geeky” girl who has fallen for some rich boy, the girls best friend “Duckie” who has fallen for her and the rich guys friends who don’t think she’s good enough. So, it’s her after the rich boy, Duckie after her and the rich boys friends against her. Standard high school tale, but quite charming and Harry Dean Stanton is in it, along with a bunch of young actors who were stars for a while.

On a more gritty angle, I took in a movie I’ve been wanting to see for quite a while. Due to subject matter, setting and when it was made, it is hard to not compare Southern Comfort with Deliverance. Sad to say, because it sorely lacks all of what makes Deliverance great. This movie features bad acting, a terrible script and dull cinematography. It comes across like a cheaply made horror movie without any horror. It does have a cast that includes some great second tier actors as in Fred Ward and Powers Booth who really take the film, their acting is most of what makes this watchable… They are two members of a group of Louisiana National Guardsmen who are lost on maneuvers in the swamp when they do wrong by some of the locals. Of course, the locals don’t take kindly to this and then, when those city slickers add wrong upon wrong, things get rather nasty. Featuring a rapidly dwindling bunch of lost Guardsmen, some great locals who have really fun accents and an endless swamp that could all be the same acre, for all that I could tell. It’s not really too good.

But, it was an odd one. It had some good down home music and a fun party, though they were a bit too graphic with the pig slaughter.

And then, finally… I saw Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia… Now this is a movie, one of those that I have to think “how have I not seen it before now”. It is a great Peckinpah classic, and I found it to be completely engrossing. When a wealthy Mexican landowner’s daughter is knocked up by old Al Garcia (whom dad considered like a son) he puts a million dollar price tag on his head, literally. One of the groups who sets out in pursuit is a bunch of gringos (including Gig Young) who end up in a shabby bar where they encounter Bennie (an awesome Warren Oates) who is sitting around, drinking and playing piano and always on the lookout for some financial betterment. It turns out that not only does he know Al Garcia, but the guy has some romantic history with his lady friend… and had recently been seen in her company. He jealously confronts her only to hear that Al has died in a car accident.

Then the fun really begins as Bennie heads off in his old red chevy with a gun and his girl and some tequila in a quest to find that corpse and get that head. Of course, you would think with the target already dead, there wouldn’t be much death to come but this is Sam Peckinpah and, as with the Leone westerns which this bears more than a slight resemblance to, this is something to do with death. Quite a bit of it, in fact… generally in slow motion.. As are all the car crashes and near car crashes…

Anyway, Bennie gets drunk and shoots and other folks get drunk and shoot and cars crash and people slowly pinwheel to the ground for the last time and Mexico, once again, looks very unpleasing (but then all I know about it is from movies).

our hero…

the prize…