The Vile One's Dungeon: The Hot Fuzztival
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 04.11.2007
March 31st, 2007. Yes James Earl Jones in the 21st century, "things will 'splode."
March 31st, 2007. The ORIGINAL Alamo Drafthouse. Austin, Texas.
Here is a quick little 101 for the uninformed: the Alamo Drafthouse is a little movie theatre chain for film lovers by film lovers and it's located only in the state of Texas. The original "Drafthouse" theatre is in Austin and has recently expanded to Houston and San Antonio. The signature of the Alamo Drafthouse is in showing films and obscure works you can never see elsewhere, including classic live shows such as Mister Sinus (now called Master Pancake). The theatre also hosts big event specialty shows ranging from Spaghetti Western festivals and horror-fests hosted by Quentin Tarantino, to the Butt-Numb-A-Thon, and now The Hot Fuzztival.
The added appeal of the Drafthouse is that you can enjoy fine foods and yes -- alcoholic beverages -- while watching a movie. You guys ever think "Man a beer would make this movie a lot better," or "take a shot every time such and such happens." You can actually do this at the Drafthouse instead of just joking about it.
Unfortunately, the original location that started it all is closing soon. Their lease is about to be up and they've decided to pack it up and move on. Soon this little landmark of cinema will be moving to the Ritz.
On to the show. Tim League, owner and founder of the Drafthouse, moonlighted as MC for the day. He started things off talking about the Drafthouse move and how this event (being the Fuzztival) would be one of the last big events to be held at the original Alamo Drafthouse. Tim discussed the programming by Edgar Wright, Harry Knowles (of Ain't It Cool News.com), and Tim himself for this event, and how it let them get away with showing movies like Freebie And The Bean at the Drafthouse. Tim then introduced Edgar Wright, writer/director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of The Dead, who appeared throughout the special one day only event, to open the first film. The theme for the show is classic cop movies from the ‘70's and ‘80's of course, with all four movies having significance to the main event Hot Fuzz. Wright and League mentioned that they probably made a mistake leaving Bad Boys II out of the lineup. The group talked about programming all the vintage cop movie trailers as well. Yup, even at the Drafthouse the trailers are programmed especially for the shows. Wright also expressed his sadness about the Drafthouse having to leave and said he couldn't imagine it not being there.
(Picture's a little fuzzy, I apologize, but this is Edgar Wright.)
ELECTRA GLIDE AND BLUE (1973)
Wright noted that Hot Fuzz was about small things happening in a small place, yet this movie was about "small things happening in a big place." In this film, (the only movie directed by James William Guercio), Robert Blake (in his "greatest performance besides court," according to Master Wright) plays officer John Wintergreen, a motorcycle cop in the Arizona desert with aspirations of retiring his helmet and seat for a suit and hat as a detective. With the mysterious death of a local hermit, Wintergreen sees a chance at the big time and assists Detective Harve Pool (Mitch Ryan) with the investigation. Unfortunately, Wintergreen finds the corruption he loathes embodied by the people he tries to emulate. I knew very little about this movie at first, but I found it strangely captivating. You can tell it was made by a first time director, but the cinematography is amazing and has some real depth. I spoke with Cargill (Massawyrm of AICN) after the movie, and I think he said it best in summing up the movie as "Easy Rider for conservatives." Heck -- at one point in the film Beretta is taking shots at Hopper and Fonda's mugs at a shooting range. There's much at work here, between trying to capture the angst of post-war Vietnam vets like John Wintergreen, the tension between the dying conservative movement and the growing liberal hippie movement, as well as the people who take out their loneliness and depression on those who are closest to them. Being lonely is something every character in this flick seems to share. Blake's performance is indeed fantastic and at times oddly humorous and charming (my buddies kept elbowing me in the scene where he's talking up two young ladies, "That's how you talk to a girl!"), I'd recommend the film for the Blake's performance alone, and a shocking ending indeed. My favorite line from John Wintergreen to a failing truck driver and fellow Vietnam vet whom he stops and writes a ticket for:
"I'm gonna do for you in six weeks what it took someone six months to do for me: nothin'!"
POLICE STORY 2 (1988)
Before the screening, Wright dubbed this film "Jackie Chan Cum Shots Delight." This is the second installment of the series that would later be repackaged in the USA as Supercop and Jackie Chan's First Strike as the third and fourth movies respectively. In this film Jackie's Ka-kui Chan has to deal with a case of terrorist bombers who blackmail a big corporation while also dealing with the rocky relationship with his girlfriend, May (Maggie Cheung). In addition, the punks from the first film keep coming after Chan and his loved ones. Old school Chan is always fun to watch and this is no exception. We saw the Chinese version (not sure if it was Cantonese or Mandarin) with both Chinese and English subtitles. The highlight was the playground fight which involves Chan fighting on monkey bars, a swing set, and a jungle jim. The story itself is pretty disposable. However, the heart of the film -- the relationship between Ka-Kui and May, and how Ka-Kui's dangerous life affects May -- is strong and touching at times.
SUDDEN IMPACT (1983)
Wright earlier talked about really wanting to see this film with an audience for the first time ever, so I hope he was not disappointed in seeing it with one of the best film audiences on the planet. This is the fourth in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry series, the first of two released in the '80's, and the only one in the series that Clint directed. This flick combines a Dirty Harry story with a rape/revenge flick, as Sondra Locke's Jennifer Spencer is targeting the group of scumbags that raped her and turned her little sister into a vegetable. Harry's taking tons of heat after causing a mob boss to have a heart attack. Harry retreats to work the case of the murders that Spencer is committing when they both end up in the town where the original atrocity took place. This movie was made during Eastwood's and Locke's bizarre romantic relationship (it's all been documented; read an Eastwood biography). Lots of fun one-liners and action scenes in this one, but the original will always remain my favorite. As far as style goes, of all the Harry films, this movie is the most "Eastwood." The highlights of this film: Harry's British bulldog sidekick, Meathead; Albert Popwell who played a stereotypical black criminal in the past movies now as Harry's cop partner, Horace; and the line that President Ronald Reagan quoted in speeches. Harry's line about not eating hot dogs with ketchup had the crowd roaring. When I watched this movie as part of an Eastwood film class I took at UT, no one else in the class seemed to get it.
Freebie And The Bean (1974)
This was a classic cop movie featuring Alan Arkin and James Caan as an Italian/Hispanic odd-couple cop duo. This film was most likely the starting point of many of the buddy cop action/comedies that came afterward such as Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, and Bad Boys to name a few. Caan is Freebie and Arkin is Bean (the most Jewish Mexican I've ever seen). The pair must keep a fat cat San Francisco crook alive from assassin hits over the weekend so they can book him on Monday, and hijinx will ensue. The politically incorrect humor was refreshing, the action scenes especially. The car chases were top notch and ahead of their time for the ‘70's, and none of it is computer generated crap. By the end of the movie you know why Freebie and Bean are perfect for each other.
Hot Fuzz
Before the grand finale, Edgar Wright brought in Nick Frost and Simon Pegg dressed in western fatigues, and Pegg indeed delivered the UT Longhorns motto as promised in our earlier interview during the introduction to their flick. As for Hot Fuzz . . . well, you'll have to wait for the full review. But for the people who are excited, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Wright, Frost, and Pegg all stayed for a question and answer session after the flick. Unfortunately I had to book earlier than expected due to travel arrangements, but Frost's anecdote about a failed Princess Di bit was pretty amusing.
I'm glad I got to be a part of this event while the Drafthouse was still located at 4th in Colorado. A big shout out to Drafthouse employee, Tim Doyle, and the great job he did selling the Fuzztival posters and the $5 dollar t-shirts.
NEXT: The full review of Hot Fuzz, you know you want it.
