This week on The Movie Gourmet – some great Memorial Day Weekend recommendations on TCM, and be sure to watch Pee-Wee Herman as Himself on HBO Max, beginning today.
A few years ago, this platform used to be HBO and then rebranded itself as HBO Max, on its way to just Max; having undoubtedly spent millions on the branding from HBO Max to Max, they are now rebranding back to HBO Max. Go figure.
I caught the coming-of-age film The Summer of 69 on Hulu, but it’s not worth a full review. It’s a raunchy “lose your virginity before high school graduation” comedy , but from the female point of view, which is refreshing. It also gets the teenage awkwardness and embarrassment just right. “Have you kissed him yet?” “No but I’ve practiced on the back of my hand.” Unfortunately, the plot thread about saving an insolvent strip club is hackneyed. The key character of a stripper/escort/sex coach is not written well, and the performance is worse. Too bad.
CURRENT MOVIES
- The Count of Monte-Cristo: you think you’ve seen a revenge movie? kanopy (free), Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- We Want the Funk: Tear the Roof Off the Sucker. PBS.
- Art for Everybody: a contradiction revealed. Rolling out in theaters.
- Thank You Very Much: provocateur explained. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s: real, uplifting, essential. PBS and the PBS YouTube channel.
- John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger: locking gazes. kanopy.
- The Trouble with Jessica: a diverting farce. In theaters and soon on VOD.
- Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius): rise, fall and legacy of a groundbreaking prodigy. Hulu.
- Bob Trevino Likes It: without dad’s encouragement, she’s stuck. In theaters.
- Bix Biederbecke: Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet: rediscovering a lost jazz legend. Amazon, YouTube.
ON TV
On this Memorial Day Weekend, Turner Classic Movies brings us another of marathons of war movies. I’m recommending three less well-known war films that deserve your attention. TCM is screening all three on May 24.
- Men in War: An infantry lieutenant (Robert Ryan) must lead his platoon out of a desperate situation. He encounters a cynical and insubordinate sergeant (Aldo Ray) who is loyally driving a jeep with his PTSD-addled colonel (Robert Keith). In conflict with each other, they must navigate through enemy units to safety. Director Anthony Mann is known for exploring the psychology of edgy characters, and that’s the case with Men in War.
- The Steel Helmet (Friday, May 24): This is a gritty classic by the great writer-director Samuel Fuller, a WWII combat vet who brooked no sentimentality about war. Gene Evans, a favorite of the two Sams (Fuller and Peckinpah), is especially good as the sergeant. American war movies of the period tended toward to idealize the war effort, but Fuller relished making war movies with no “recruitment flavor”. Although the Korean War had only been going on for a few months when Fuller wrote the screenplay, he was able to capture the feelings of futility that later pervaded American attitudes about the Korean War.
- Men Must Fight is a cultural curiosity, a stridently anti-war film from 1933, reflecting the widespread revulsion against the avoidable horrors of World War I. Men Must Fight predicts many aspects of World War II with unsettling accuracy. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a trip.
