| DVD Roundup May 2007
Guilty Pleasures on DVD
 After the death of Gene Siskel,
the famous film critic of the Chicago Tribune, his longtime friend and business
partner, Roger Ebert, stated that John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever was
Siskel’s favorite film. As far as I know, no explanation was given for Siskel’s
love of Saturday Night Fever. Siskel never claimed it was the best film ever made
-- it just meant something to him. Perhaps he loved disco music; perhaps he wished he
could swoop across a stage with a beautiful woman in his arms; or maybe he liked wearing a
white suit. We don’t know. But I suspect that, for Siskel, Saturday Night Fever
was a guilty pleasure.
When reflecting on my own viewing habits, I came up with
five titles I love at whose mention some film aficionados might cringe. I have watched
these movies so many times that I could edit the raw footage myself and replicate the
originals. They are my guilty pleasures. Some of them, or portions thereof, simply satisfy
unfulfilled fantasies; others appeal to some subconscious aspect of my nature that
otherwise rarely surfaces. Here I try to explain what makes each of these films special to
me.
Above the Law (1988) and Marked for Death
(1990)
Above the Law and Marked for Death were
aikido master Steven Seagal’s first and third films, respectively. Seagal’s
violent, bone-snapping brand of aikido had not previously been featured in martial-arts
films in any meaningful way, and in 1988 it amazed audiences. His irreverent approach to
martial arts was refreshing; while other martial artists used Asian philosophy and
mumbo-jumbo to refrain from fighting, Seagal never let a proverb get in the way of
manhandling a thug. And while the traditional martial artist required that his house be
burned down, his girlfriend attacked, and his dog kicked before he would spring into
action, Seagal would slap a guy in the face just for making a smart-aleck remark.
Seagal’s demeanor and ultraviolent use of aikido was so antithetical to the spirit of
traditional martial arts that the instructors at the aikido club where I trained many
years later refused to speak his name. Several of the scenes in Above the Law, and
especially Marked for Death, rival the famous underground fight scene in Warner
Bros.’ Enter the Dragon, which featured the great Bruce Lee. While Seagal has
since descended into buffoonery, these early films remain my favorite martial-arts films
of all time.
American Gigolo (1980)
Julian Kaye (Richard Gere) is a gigolo -- a male prostitute
-- who escorts and seduces rich, older women. Amply rewarded for his work, Julian lives in
a chic hotel apartment, drives a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and wears the best clothes.
Despite his comfortable life, he’s lonely, and one evening he meets Michele (Lauren
Hutton), the wife of a prominent local politician. As Julian begins to fall in love with
her, a former client is found dead and Julian is suspected of murder. Julian finds himself
no longer operating below the police radar, and his world begins to come down around him.
Both praised and panned by critics, American Gigolo
was written and directed by Paul Schrader, who has an uncanny ability to describe and
illustrate the seamy side of life. While successfully re-creating the glitz of L.A. even
as he laid bare its ugly underbelly, Schrader made a film of incredible style. Glossy and
gritty, American Gigolo made household names of Gere and of Giorgio Armani, who
designed all of Julian’s clothes. Beginning with a great opening song by Blondie,
"Call Me," American Gigolo has a superb techno soundtrack by Giorgio
Moroder that perfectly captures the sultry mood of Los Angeles at night. It remains one of
my favorite films.
Bitter Moon (1992)
Bitter Moon is Roman Polanski’s fascinating
examination of a love affair gone terribly wrong. Based on the French novel Lunes de
fiel, by Patrick Bruckner, the film traces the relationship of Oscar (Peter Coyote), a
failed American writer living in Paris, and Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner), a Parisian dancer,
as they move from infatuation and sexual obsession to boredom, sadomasochism, and
humiliation, and ultimately to mutual dependence and depravity.
What helps make Oscar and Mimi’s story so entertaining
is the voiceover narration by Oscar, who analyzes and explains their relationship in
excruciating detail and colorful, often bad metaphors. There are so many memorable scenes
that I doubt it’s possible to see this film and remain unaffected by it. Critics
lambasted Polanski when Bitter Moon was released, calling it pornographic,
tasteless, and over the top. I just call it great.
Bitter Moon is recommended viewing for any young,
unmarried couple who think that love is all they need. It’s the perfect antidote to a
sappy chick flick or vapid Hollywood love story. In this version of the mating game, there
is no happily ever after.
Hotdog . . . The Movie (1984)
This is one of the best, funniest, campest ski movies of
all time. The plot of director Peter Markle’s Hotdog . . . The Movie is
moronically simple: a ski competition pits the good Americans against the evil Europeans
(who all sport bad German accents) for domination of the world freestyle tour.
Hotdog . . . The Movie has everything a ski film
should: great skiing, luxurious chalets, hot-tubs, wet T-shirt contests, sex, and the
naked Shannon Tweed. Need I say more? Each fall, in preparation for the upcoming ski
season, I get out my Hotdog DVD and -- believe it or not -- fast-forward through
the skin scenes to get to the skiing sequences, which are pretty fantastic. While many
different stuntmen performed the skiing maneuvers, the lead was taken by Frank Beddor III,
a former world freestyle champion. One of the most graceful skiers you’ll ever see,
he steals the show from everyone else.
If you ski and are in the mood for mindless entertainment, Hotdog
. . . The Movie is hard to beat.
Summer Lovers (1982)
This was the film in which I first saw Daryl Hannah, who
epitomized my ideal girlfriend at that time: long, leggy, and blonde. To this day, I still
have a soft spot for Hannah, even though I’ve discovered that she likes to shop at
flea markets and collects stray animals from the roadside.
Writer-director Randall Kleiser created the ultimate summer
movie in Summer Lovers. A young couple, Michael Pappas (Peter Gallagher) and Cathy
Featherstone (Hannah), just graduated from college, travel to Santorini, Greece, for a
vacation before returning to the US to begin their careers. There they hook up with Lina
(Valérie Quennessen), an exotic, free-spirited beauty with whom they quickly form a
ménage-a-trois. The three party, drink, walk around topless, and have sex, all against
the backdrop of magnificent Santorini and the azure Aegean.
Summer Lovers is visually stunning, thanks in part
to cinematographer Timothy Galfas. The soundtrack is infectious, with original music by
Basil Poledouris and songs performed by Tina Turner, Elton John, the Pointer Sisters,
Chicago, and Depeche Mode, to name a few. Seen for the first time today, Summer Lovers,
I suspect, would not affect me the same way -- but in 1982 I was a 22-year-old college
student, and it made an indelible impression.
None of my vacations has ever lived up to the fantasy
vacation depicted in Summer Lovers, but, 25 years later, I’m still hopeful.
Note: All of these films are available on DVD, Hotdog .
. . The Movie and Summer Lovers only in fullscreen versions.
...Mischa Hayek
mischah@hometheatersound.com |
