COULD IT BE THE HOLY GRAIL OF GREAT BAD CINEMA?!?!?!?

There are so many films which are so very bad that they come around again to being great fun to watch! It is my opinion that the best bad films are the ones that were meant to be good because somewhere in the mess which has been poured on to celluloid -- there is a heart just bursting with really bad art! Like a velvet Elvis --- how can one resist the tacky charm!

Among the many films you might find me watching at any given time are MOMMIE DEAREST (featuring a fairly fierce impersonation of Joan Crawford by Faye Dunaway --- the only problem is that in her zest to bring Joan to life she brought more up than what was needed. Faye Dunaway has essentially been a drag queen ever since. However, don't mess with her. This ain't her first time at the rodeo, boys!) VALLEY OF THE DOLLS --- a true train wreck of a film! And, afterall, who among us has not roamed the streets belching on about "boobies, boobies, boobie!" ...You can just tell that Patty Duke knew she was going to win that gold again! And, poor Ms. Parkins just seems to be demanding movie star respect with each exaggerated gasp of a line! BEYOND VALLEY OF THE DOLLS --- scripted by Roger Ebert. Let's just say that this little fat man has no business judging the work of other artists after putting those words into motion. Then again, it was his scene and it was freaking him out, man! THUNDERCRACK! ...A great blogger by the name of Trash Addict (see my links to the left) turned me on to this gem of painfully odd and bad cinema. I do not know even what to say about THUNDERCRACK except that you really need to see it if you think you've already seen the very best that bad cinema has to offer. Trust me. Go ahead. Do a few searches --- you will find it out there on DVD. There are so many other great bad films.

...However, I think I may have finally seen The Holy Grail of bad cinema gone good. I have always heard of it, but it is not in print for VHS, PAL or DVD. But, if one looks hard enough --- one will find what is wanted. Yes, kids --- you can find an exceptional quality transfer to DVD of 1968's infamous WILD IN THE STREETS. This may be the best/worst movie I have ever seen. It really lives up and beyond its reputation! Filmed at the height and the collapse of the flower child dream, this odd big budget movie offers us the story of hippies and mods gone wild. Yes, they really do go wild in the streets. In fact the teens take over the country and eventually put all Americans over the age of 30 in LSD Camps. One does not know the pain of watching a briliantly-trained method actress play out her vision of an LSD/Acid trip until one sees Shelley Winters do it. I mean, this turn as the mother of the 24 year old mod leader of the US makes her death scene in THE POSEIDEN ADVENTURE look believeable. And then, we have Richard Pryor on the drums. Yes, the way-cool president has a rock band too --- and he is the lead singer! The music and sets are so fucking hip they are square! And poor Diane Varsi deserves some sort of medal for her winning speach to congress that the age of consent is being changed to 14. Why, in the first 3 minutes of this film we get to see a pre-Brady Bunch Greg get bitch slapped by Shelley Winters -- in stop action!!!! Is it a message film? Is it meant to serve as a warning to the over 30's of the late 60's or a rally cry to the kids who, at that time, were the majority of the population? Or is it a pro-drug movie? I suspect it is an example of a big studio trying to cash in on those cool moves being made by Peter Fonda and Roman Polanski. They failed in a very big way.

...but I am so very glad that they did ---- and that I found and own WILD IN THE STREETS on DVD. I think it may be the best. Don't attempt to debate it with me unless you've seen Shelley Winters trip on acid! ...in an LSD concentration camp. I do not think it can be beat! ...and, I haven't even mentioned the musical numbers and mind-numbing editing!!!