- nemo
-
Godard is a big Smithee fan. I have to plow through my old Film
Structuralism course notes, but I'll dig up an article I had to read on
this stuff.
- Al Dekker:
-
Great---perhaps this can shed some light on the story about how Smithee
and Sam Fuller almost acted together in the same Godard film.
- x. trapnel:
-
It was no doubt Godard's fondness for Brecht that sparked his interest in
Smithee. After all, aren't Smithee's films distinguished most of all by
the way in which they call attention to their own cinematic nature?
Smithee seems psychologically compelled to leave his films riddled with
plot lacunae, obvious lapses of logic, continuity, and taste, questionable
casting decisions, the use of extraneous or unrelated stock footage,
etc.-- much as ancient persian weavers would always leave a flaw in their
carpet designs in the belief that perfection was the province of Allah
alone. Looked at in this way, we can see that Smithee is not at all
restricted by his shortcomings, he is in fact defined by them.
Case in point:
NIGHT OF THE BRAINSNATCHERS (1986)
, Smithee's
idiosyncratic remake of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. One might think
that setting the story in a post-nuclear-holocaust wasteland would severely
diminish the effect and relevance of Wilde's satirical jabs at Victorian
social mores -- and one would be absolutely correct, although to do so
would be to voluntarily blind oneself to Smithee's accomplishments.
Although a critical and financial failure on its initial release, Smithee's
attempts to combine splatter and farce (two genres that have more in
common than many might think) seems in retrospect downright visionary.
After all, the cognitive dissonance generated by the sight of the cast --
made up as it is of such Smithee stalwarts as "rowdy" Roddy Piper as
Algernon, the ubiquitous John Saxon as Jack, Linnea Quigley and Brinke
Stevens as Gwendolyn and Cecily, Sybil Danning as Lady Bracknell, and Dick
Miller as Reverend Chasubel -- discussing the finer points of etiquette
whilst trading automatic weapons fire says more about the madness at the
heart of fin de siecle America than any number of Baudrillard essays could
ever hope to do.
This is not to say that BRAINSNATCHERS is a perfect film -- even for
Smithee there are scenes which are problematic, to say the least. For
instance, although the stunt and f/x work in the garden party scene are
impressive given the bugetary restraints under which he was working, his
decision to "beef up" the action by intercutting stock footage from his
1969 Civil War musical
STARS AND BARS FOREVER
(UK title: CARRY ON MANDINGO!)
seems particularly ill-conceived, and the double-entendre-laden
dialogue between Piper and Quigley as they discuss the concept of
"bunburying" goes on far longer than even the most patient of audience
members may be willing to tolerate. Nevertheless, the Smithee afficionado
will find much to like here: Danning not only kicks ass, but is finally
given the chance to demonstrate her superb comic timing; the chainsaw duel
between Stevens and Quigley is impeccably choreographed, and, in its own
way, quite poignant; and the scene in which Miller reveals the secret of
Saxon's origin all the while trying to remove a Bowie knife buried in his
back in the exact spot that neither of his hands can reach is a minor
comic masterpiece....
- nemo:
-
[presents The Seme-y Seams of Seem:
The Artifice language of Alan Smithee], which mentions
the two Nouvelle Vague films
THE STORY OF 'N' and
L'OEUF.
You can see that Andy Warhol stole a lot of his ideas from Smithee!
- x. trapnel:
-
I remember seeing
THE STORY OF 'N' and
back when I was an undergraduate. It
had a profound effect on me then -- one I can still feel from time to time
(particularly when the weather is damp).
- Grey Zone 1:
-
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Seth Grendlesen, a
researcher at Film Europa, the following diary (most
likely by Smithee focus puller Angus MacSnit) of the
shooting of an unknown Smithee film (possibly 1979's
unfinished ROSARY OF THE DEAD) has been unearthed.
We invite all to examine this delicious segment of the
mystery that lies at the core of the Smithee legacy.
[The aforementioned diary]
, which claims in passing that Smithee studied in Bucharest.
- x. trapnel:
-
Grey -- wotta find! In addition to the priceless descriptions of the
Master at work, I'm glad to find a specific cite for Smithee's remark
about "fresh nun footage", which really gives one an insight into such
scenes as Bettie Page's cameo as Sister Felicity in
DEATH IN THE CHEAP SEATS (1958),
and Clu Gulager's vision of St. Catherine (Drew Barrymore) in
RETURN OF SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1991)
-- not to mention the mysteriously
interpolated stock footage of penguins in the Phillipines-set WW2 horror
classic
FLESH EATERS OF BATAAN (1967),
one of the highlights of Smithee's
too-vain-to-wear-glasses period..
- Al Dekker:
-
Too vain, x. trapnel, or too frightened? Smithee's relationship to
eyeglasses is odd indeed. Just look at his use of eyeglasses as a symbol of
death in
EYES OF THE STRANGLER (1965)
in which the sunlight's glint from
the murderous Rod Steiger's glasses cuts through the blackness of Sandy
Dennis's hiding place; in
BIG BUST ON PRINCE STREET (1966)
with its
climatic shootout between Broderick Crawford and Akim Tamiroff in the
optometrist's office; and especially in
DEFENESTRATORS FROM MARS (1967)
wherein Earth is destroyed by invaders concentrating the Sun's rays through
a gigantic crystal lens. And what of the director's policy during the
'60s, banning eyeglasses from the sets of all Smithee productions?
Yet another mildewed geegaw from the cluttered basement that is Smithee.
- x. trapnel:
-
Smithee is a complex and tortured individual -- second-guessing his
motivations is indeed a risky business.
- nemo:
-
Exactly! What was he thinking when he re-released Kurosawa's IKIRU as
JAPANESE HOLIDAY
with intercut scenes seemingly hoisted from cornflakes commercials?
- Island Goth:
-
Or his attempt to rescue his early documentary,
THE RUNS? When it was
clear that the world wasn't ready for an earnest three-hour account of
diarrhea and its tragic consequences in the Third World, Smithee engaged a
South African a capella group to leaven the piece with cheerful
spontaneous dance and song. But even the insertion of a reasonably
credible love story -- Harrison Ford does some of his best work as the
harried proctologist, hopelessly in love with an older hunchbacked
administrator from the Red Cross (Audrey Hepburn, bearing up remarkably
well beneath the complex prosthetic) -- is not sufficient to erase the
overwhelming sense that this really isn't a promising premise for a light
romantic comedy. THE RUNS remains an honest if ultimately unsuccessful
curiosity.
- Erin a.k.a. EB:
-
Just an aside, but casting Lee Van Cleef in any of his films was
among the most praiseworthy acts of Smithee's career!
- toxic shakti:
-
No sign of Lee Van Cleef in Smithee's
SEPIA (1975), his audacious and
sadly premature attempt to create a mini-niche within the then-burgeoning
Blaxploitation market--namely the Quadroon opus. Starring the redoubtable
and statuesque Valerie Perrine (w. afro wig) as Sepia Washington,
Magnum-slinging, karate-kicking massage therapist cum private eye, with
John Saxon as the love interest, Pretty Marvin, the mack with the heart of
gold, and John Forsyth as the sinister fed who is secretly running a
worldwide heroin network. The film had everything going for it, including
a phat percolating score by Buddy Miles, but was sunk by marketing at
the studio
- Grey Zone 1:
- presents:
- Blues for SEPIA,
from "Recording Worlds Magazine" (issue 247, July)
- Part of
Smithee: Temporality and Gender in "POSSESSION", a scholarly work on the Showtime film
LAST POSSESSION ON MANDROID STREET(1988)
-An Article on the public reaction to "POSSESSION"
- Al Dekker:
-
GZ, I'm delighted to see Smithee's work get the exegesis it deserves.
I would love to see Verso or Routledge take a look at some of
this stuff...
- Grey Zone 1:
-
In re: POSSESSION...
Recently, the 1" master tapes of set recordist Lothar
Clutch were discovered in the back room of a San
Fernando Valley Taco Bell. Though the reason for the
tape being found in this odd location are as yet
unexplained, we can all just be grateful for this
opportunity at hearing the great Smithee at one on one
of his most legendary films.
Transcript from the set of LAST POSSESSION ON
MANDROID STREET
- x. trapnel:
- Actually, the reason the tape turned up at that particular Taco Bell is
not so mysterious -- Lothar Clutch is the uncle of writer/director Roger
Avary (KILLING ZOE).
not long after he had finished LAST POSSESSION,
Clutch stopped off at the Taco Bell to borrow some money (Smithee's check
having bounced) from his nephew who was working there at the time. as
avary mentioned in his March '95 "Cahiers" interview, he left his trusty
Nagra as collateral, with that piece of tape still in it. Avary became
obsessed with the tape, listening to it over and over until the manager
fired him and he had no choice but to go into the film biz.
Those of you who saw last year's Acadamy Awards may remember that when
Avary and Quentin Tarantino accepted the best original screenplay award for
PULP FICTION,
Tarantino blathered on incoherently for several minutes until
avary simply leaned over to the mic and said "I gotta pee."
This was his way of thanking the man to whom he owed his career.
- Grey Zone 1:
-
And they say gratitude is a stranger in Hollywood.
- x. trapnel
-
it usually is, but there are times like that that just warm the cockles of
one's heart ....
Excellent commentary as usual, Grey, although you are not entirely correct
in saying that the Showtime broadcast was this film's only showing -- it
was released theatrically in certain overseas venues (in fact, it was the
closing night selection at the 1989 Tirana film festival). In addition,
the foreign version was approximately 18 minutes longer than the US one --
additional footage mostly focused on the Kirkland character's backstory and
how she, a suicidal call-girl, acquired her unique, ah, appendage, as a
result of being seduced by a devious genetic researcher (Pam Grier) shortly
before the meteor struck.
- Grey Zone 1:
- What I would do to see those excised 18 minutes! The Grier character in my
viewed copy has always had a cypher-like quality (a frequent Smithee
commentary on the shallows of the human soul)--but now!
I always did wonder how Kirkland got her, um, growth.
- Erin a.k.a. EB:
-
It is pertinent to point out here that the mesmerizing stasis of Fahey's
performance in MANDROID was brilliantly underscored in the preternatural
glow of his icicle blue orbs, which Smithee's camera captured in more than
one electrifying ECU.
- ngraham:
- May I just say that I hate Jeff Fahey?
- toxic shakti:
-
Actually, mes confreres, there's a very good reason why Jeff Fahey's eyes
are that unnerving blue. They're contacts. Their real color, of course, is
brown, for the obvious reason that Fahey is black. Note his initial
appearance as a child player in Smithee's Demi-Blaxploitation,
SEPIA (1975)
- Grey Zone 1:
-
My God, shakti, you're right! I always wondered who the little runt who
played Tommy Twobones was.
- ngraham:
-
Toxic Shakti touched on an important point re LEAR --
the recurring theme of the split personality in Smithee's work.
I came across this last night in Amos Vogel's "Film as a Subversive Art":
FIGURE AT THE WINDOW (1969)
Smithee's uncompromising reworking of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde undertook a risky exploration of the tale's homoerotic
subtext.
Though the grotesque Hyde and his tortured counterpart (played
with alternating frenzy and maddening passivity by Dirk Bogarde) never
appear within the same frame, we sense the aftermath of violent sex acts
(whether onanistic or homosexual is left ambiguous) in several scenes of
such force that FIGURE AT THE WINDOW has rightly earned its reputation as
a classic of subversive cinema.
Smithee masterfully creates an air of evil (implying that the true evil
is sexual repression and the politics of the 'closet') and erotic
disturbance through composition (in an oft-excerpted mirror sequence),
high-contrast lighting and vertiginous pans beginning and ending on
Bogarde's face. Most impressive is his use of lack-of-focus to keep the
viewer in a perpetual state of desire for clarity and truth, decentered and
anxious. The screenplay, credited to "Boris Smithee," was in fact written
by Harold Pinter, who detested Smithee's treatment of the material so much
that he insisted his name be removed from the final product.
Oh, and I found this entry in Maltin this morning while looking up the
year of YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH:
YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY (1971)
I guess this was Diane Keaton's second role, before THE GODFATHER, but
YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY isn't listed under the Diane Keaton entry in
Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion.
I've never heard of this film and see no reference to it in any of my
other books. Is it some kind of joke? Has anyone else seen it?
- Al Dekker:
-
I know nothing about YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY,
ngraham, but your note about
the compositional method used in the score lends support to the story that
Smithee studied with Arnold Schoenberg during the composer's Hollywood
years.
- ngraham:
-
Yes! My advisor told me that story tonight when I went in to propose a
dissertation topic on Smithee. I'll be focusing on his films from
1967-1975, so any stuff anyone has on him from this period, please email me
about it. Also, I'm flying to Rotterdam in August to give a paper on him!
Suddenly this is such a hot topic I'm almost tempted to go back to my
original intention of doing a biography of French film pioneer Alice Guy
Blache, but I'm determined to bring a fresh perspective to Smithee.
By the way, Grey Zone, I've always thought LAST POSSESSION ON MANDROID
STREET lent itself to a much more interesting class analysis than gender,
but I don't quarrel with the points you make.
- Grey Zone 1:
- No conflict here, Ms. Graham: what I cited here is merely a portion of
the entire LPOM essay. Later, class analysis is covered, though still from
a slightly Lacanian gender/mirror effect/multi-species angle.
But I'm sure you were expecting that.