“Film lovers are sick people…” –
Do you know who made that striking, outrageous observation? François Truffaut. He directed some of the world’s greatest, most viviedly brilliant films ever conceived. The 400 Blows. Breathless. Fahrenheit451. All prolific pictures that stand the test of time as among the Cinema’s best and will forever be discussed among film scholars and pure lovers of this art form. So what in the HELL did he mean by referring film lovers as “sick people”? In a 2014 article on the 30th anniversary of Truffaut’s death in Arts&Culture – The National, it surmises that the French filmmaker classified film lovers as “neurotic” escapists. In his eyes, film enthusiasts are so enthralled by the cinema, that they must so bored or tired of reality, that they find that right kind of release from the drudgery of life through this medium. The article goes on to quote Traffaut as saying, “When you don’t love life, or when life doesn’t give you satisfaction, you go to the movies.” In a way, he’s right. For true cinephiles, what better temporary solution is there to life’s problems than to fly away with the fantasies of the movies? I’ve always been a cinephile. In fact, I’ve loved film so much that I can readily remember significant firsts in my life which involve the cinema. In late 1987, I was four years old when I had my very first movie theater experience. At that age, I was a HUGE fan of the Masters of the Universe television show and collected the entire official action figure set. So my father Len took me to see the Masters of the Universe big-screen adaption. You can imagine just how cool it was for a preschooler to watch the young muscular, mullet-sporting Dolph Lundgren destroy futristic evildoers as He-Man. At age six, I first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in all its Spielbergian high-adventure glory. I’ll never forget just how epically badass Harrison Ford looked as legendary daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones. This was THE experience that would forever seal my passion for film. A few years later, I caught the tail end of Dirty Harry with my father beside me once again. My mother Susan forbade me to see the movie in its entirety due to its hyper-violent content. Surely, it was not for a ten-year-old’s young, delicate eyes. Yes, I know; Raiders has some equally graphic violence as well, and I saw that one in kindergarten, for God’s sake! But I digress. I recall the few pivotal seconds leading to the the powerful climactic showdown between two-fisted cop Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan and his nemesis, the psychopathic murderer Scorpio. The killer had hijacked a school bus full of innocent kids, and as he stares out the bus’ windows, he sees the dark image of a sunglass-sporting man watching back to the bus. It’s none other than that crazy San Francisco cop Callahan. Minutes later, their gunfight comes to an abrupt crash. Harry has Scorpio in his gun-sights.The way Clint Eastwood scrunched his face with his signature scowl and gave that fearsome growl, “You have to ask yerself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well do ya…PUNK?!” Seconds later, Scorpio tries in vain to kill his police pursuer, only to get his chest caved in by a massive .44 magnum-caliber round fired by Harry and “the most powerful handgun in the world.” At the time, it was the most shocking movie climax I had ever laid eyes on, and will forever lead to my personal love for intense, gritty guy films. As you can plainly see, I have an especially deep admiration for classic manly films. Specifically, my preferred favorite film eras lie between the years 1957 to 1982, from the time of the vintage Film Noir movement to the heyday of the testosterone-heavy guns and brawn time of Arnold and Stallone. If the movies are filmed in non-digital 35MM film, and nothing overly computerized and glossy (like a majority of today’s popcorn flicks), I’m sure as hell there to watch them with popcorn and alcoholic libation in both hands! Why do I appreciate these older flicks, you ask? My parents, Len and Susan, certainly helped feed my cinematic passions, simply because they are cinephiles as well. They introduced me to great movies as a child as we all sat around the living room TV and watched a variety of classics ranging from the great musical comedy Singing in the Rain to the gory late-period Akira Kurosawa classic Ran (the blood geysers from that film surprisingly did not react badly to my then seven year old psyche). My dad, in particular, got me started in my vintage tough guy flick passions since he loves those as well. A chip off the old block, I suppose. Now at 37 years of age, I’ve finally started a blog where I can share with the world the great curious intricacies of classic cinema. And it wouldn’t strictly so-called “popular cinema” I’ll be writing about, no sir. Everyone knows how impactful great films are. Most millennials way younger than me should at least know of Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, or at least Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, let alone seen them. They are called great films due to their artistic landmark achievements that are ingrained in modern pop culture history. These films are talked about and talked about until the point comes where we are all jaded by their status as “great.” But what about forgotten movies? Those films that only a handful of film buffs would know of, and enthusiastically chat about at the drop of a hat during a party, no matter how geeky they appear? There are some awesome, little-known movies that, for some reason, have faded into obscurity due to a number of reasons: they suffered from low-budgets, or poor early reviews, or little fanfare upon their original releases. Many have been reduced to direct-to-video distribution and never saw the light of box office day. Hence this blog you are reading before you today. This blog is predominately dedicated to forgotten, obscure, and criminally underrated films. You’re probably wondering why would I care about these flicks that, for all intents and purposes, nobody truly gives a shit about. I’ll tell you why: because many of these movies are just DAMN AWESOME. They just have the quirkiest, most insane stories, cast with coolest, hippest old-school character actors and movie stars of bygone eras, filmed with cheap yet neatly-practical special effects that may seem laughable to current audiences used to this CGI-encrusted era of big budget movies. These flicks might not appear to be great to the average mainstream moviegoer, but that’s simply because they’re not used to these vintage films. What I hope to accomplish with my Retrospectives page is to re-introduce these forgotten but not gone film treasures to unsuspecting movie audiences. I highly encourage the younger sets of movie-watching eyes to experience the black magic of vintage, underrated movies. They haven’t lived until they witness the Tojo Studio-produced rubber-suit Godzilla destroy scale models of Tokyo, or Italian Spaghetti Western icon Franco Nero unleash his gatling gun that he keeps hidden in a coffin he drags about in the desert. Non-discriminating viewers should walk away from watching these with great giddiness and joy of watching something out of the ordinary, and out of the box, unlike a vast majority of movies today that the Hollywood studio system insists on dolling out just for bucks. My blog will also dedicate the same homage throwbacks to underrated television programs, musical acts, and other forms of pop culture that have unfairly gone the way of the dodo. But not for long. Not while I’m at the helm of this blog! On a final note: if you’re wondering about the significance of my blog’s name, “Rane’s Hook Retrospectives,” it is an homage to my second favorite film all time, the 1977 Grindhouse crime classic, Rolling Thunder. The film is a grimy revenge piece about shell-shocked Vietnam Veteran Major Charles Rane (William Devane) as he embarks on a vendetta ride against the murderous killers of his ex-wife and child. Major Rane’s bloodlust gets a major boost through the use of a prosthetic hook which replaced his right hand after the aforementioned killers shove his limb through a garbage compactor. Crazy-sounding stuff, huh? Well, if you saw Rolling Thunder and can recognize its old-school action badassery, you will hopefully comprehend its namesake to my throwback blog! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for some awesome retrospective analyses to great lost pop culture treasures!
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About Yours Truly
Unearthing great forgotten and criminally underrated pop culture mediums is my specialty! Whether the topic be about cinema, television, music, or other fun bits of obscure minutiae, I love analyzing and unleashing these lost treasures to the unwitting public! Archives
October 2020
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