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Richard Pryor Live
On the Sunset Strip Gooden Worsted's Bitable Bytes: |
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Gooden Worsted's sick weekend PART II
Here's the sequel to last weekend's convalescence. Seven videos in one weekend were too many to review in a sitting, so let's continue where we left off, shall we? Here's your opportunity to avail yourself of some advice when browsing the video shelves. Don't make the same mistakes I've made.
ndicative of more than a change in wardrobe, Richard Pryor wears the blood-red jacket in this one-man comedy concert that he refused to wearbut joked aboutin his "prior" Live from Bourbon Street. What it indicates is more compliance with the expectations of his producers and his audience. He begins the show by talking aboutof coursesex. And he resignedly agrees to recreate a retired character at the behest of an audience member. The punchlines zinged right by my memory banks. I couldn't repeat a one. But Pryor lovers will doubtlessly love this because he's still Pryorand he discusses his notorious self-immolation incident for readers of People.
If you rent this, and it's not a bad idea, you won't need me to tell you that Vince Gallo did almost everything. His name is omnipresent, and his face is prominent. Across between Nicolas Cage, Tom Waits, and Woody Allen, Gallo plays Billy Brown, a nobody loser fresh out of the pen who forcibly convinces a lovely stranger to pose as his wife. Slowly, but surely, and despite his being a whiny, self-absorbed pisser, she falls in love with him. Her story is as extraneous to the film as it is to Billy Brown's experience, and I kept wondering, "Why? Where'd she come from? Doesn't she have a job?" But despite this omission, the film was fascinating enough in its stark chilliness to completely obliterate from my mind any memory of any sceneand even the titleof Henry Fool. Though I personally would not want to hang out at Denny's with Gallo, I will admit that there's something likeable there. Not as good as Down By Law, but then, few films are.
Great viewing, this. An animated cult classic.
Now let me try to disrobe myself of my geeky adoration of cartoons. Still worth 9 1/2 stars for the humorfeaturing the voices of John Candy, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, and others. And for classic lines like "If you refuse, you die, she dies, everybody dies." Oops, I've become a geek again. Heavy Metal is a charming collection of six sci-fi vignettes about greed, with a distinctly "Dungeons and Dragons" air, and a nerdily objectifying portrayal of women. Get back to junior high everyone! The soundtrack's also a nice reminiscence.
At last, I've witnessed the headwaters of pornographic film. I'm going
to make the unorthodox observation that a porno fan is not necessarily an
unintelligent person. I happen to know by their own confessions that both
Steven Banks and Penn Gillette like porno, and they both seem
to be bright people with many interests. So, porn watchers, if you have
an interest in film history, this is as close to a "must see"
as you can get. It's shot like a regular movie. The lengthy opening credits
roll over Linda Lovelace driving a car all around town. Harry
Reems clearly wishes to be a comedian as well as a stud as he resurrects
Grouch Marx's lines for his silly doctor character. The plot device
is so laughableeven by porn standardsthat I just have to reveal
it here: Lovelace's clitoris has inexplicably switched places with her uvula.
More silly than steamywith an unbeatable musical and lyrical scorethis
film captures a playfulness and positivity that have greatly vanished from
video sex.
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©1999 by Randy Shandis Enterprises. All rights happily reserved.