Last year I participated in my first Junesploitation - F This Movie's annual film challenge where they provide 30 prompts and we all do our level best to watch at least one movie per category. I had a great time with it so I didn't think long or hard before taking the dive again this year. I often travel in June which can complicate my Junesploitation schedule (of course last year I made it out to Ex-Fest which was actually pretty helpful in knocking out some categories) but I still managed to watch 29 Junesploitation movies and hit all 30 categories. One of the great things about this particular viewing challenge is the openness in the attitudes of its participants. If you need to hop around the schedule or double up or don't have time to watch everything, it's no problem. As long as you're down to indulge your genre proclivities in some way during the month of June, you're invited. I know there's a lively community of commenters over on F This Movie! and I've done some social media posts for Junesploitation before, but I was really happy to have the Unsung Horrors discord server to blab about what I was watching and follow along with other participants. It's a cool community of movie fans (with interests much wider than horror) so you should definitely be listening to the podcast and then check out their other links.
Me being me, I watched a lot of non-Junesploitation movies in June as well so I think I'll break up this post into challenge related first time watches, other movies that really struck me in June, and then some notes on theatrical screenings I managed to catch. There's plenty to talk about!
Best of Junesploitation 2023
Gina (1975) A vitally potent blend of labor politics, pseudo-documentary, and genre elements set in a very specific time and place. Gina was a "free space" pick for me but would also work for the "revenge" category. It is a rape/revenge film which I realize is not going to work for everyone. Still, I don't think it feels particularly exploitative. Part of that is the storyline parallel to Gina's: an indie film crew trying to make a documentary on the textile workers in the small Canadian town in which it's set. Director Denys Arcand got his start as a documentarian and employs both his experiences and filmmaking techniques to this part of the film. Not only is this a smart way to manage a low budget, but it adds some gritty reality to the proceedings. I don't want to make this sound like a kitchen sink drama, though. Gina delivers the genre goods when it comes to Céline Lomez' dancing (choreographed by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal founder Eva Von Gencsy), moments of intense violence, or the absolute crackerjack snowmobile chase towards the end of the film. Between this and La Gammick, Canadian International Pictures is becoming a favorite smaller blu ray label of mine and I'm very much here for more Quebecois crime classics!
Freedom (1981) - My choice for the "Teenagers" category this year. Who knew that I would become such a tv movie fan? It helps when you have absolute killers like Joseph Sargent and Barbara Turner behind the scenes and actors the quality of Mare Winningham and Jennifer Warren in front of the camera. Freedom isn't a particularly gritty take on teenage independence or the life of a carny - but it does feel genuine. Turner based the script on her actual experiences with her older daughter and Winningham and Warren really do seem to embody that familial friction so believably. Sargent doesn't do anything too flashy here, but he shoots a carnival midway just as ably as he does a Manhattan street scene. He also includes some nice handheld montages that give this a pseudo-documentary feel in a few sequences. I dragged my feet on Fun City Edition's first set of made for tv movies but have truly enjoyed them after picking it up. I'll be first in line for the new set!
The Last Run (1971) "Cars" can be a tricky category for me. To say I'm no gearhead is a vast understatement and while I love a good chase sequences, I'd just as soon see a bunch of disposable Fiats careening around then any kind of fancy sportscar. Still, there's no shortage of crime films that intersect with driving and The Last Run has been on my watchlist for ages. It's a fantastic slab of European set hardboiled crime action featuring George C. Scott at the height of his powers. Alan Sharp (Night Moves) wrote the script and he had such a gift for this brand of downer 70s neo-noir. There was a bit of behind the scenes hijinks on this film but Richard Fleischer eventually took the helm and delivers the goods very competently. The Last Run has been languishing in Warner Brothers dvd limbo for as long as I can remember and would make for an ideal blu ray upgrade. I almost hope someone else can take the reigns on this as WB tends to do barebones discs and I think there's some great bonus feature potential here.
Take a Hard Ride (1975) - I had initially picked another movie for the "Fred Willimson" category but swerved towards this Antonion Margheriti western after it was recommended to me due to its dummy drop content! Presumably meant to capitalize on the success of the previous year's Three the Hard Way - Hard Ride transplants Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly into a fairly straightforward western tale of a man traveling with some money while everyone tries to take it from him. The plot doesn't break new ground, the details make for some wild viewing. Fred Williamson plays a fancy gambler who throws bags of snakes at people, Jim Kelly is a mute martial artist in a Billy Jack hat, Lee Van Cleef is essentially playing his usual role but teams up variously with corpse-robbing henchmen, religious war criminals, and a pack of mutinous bandits. It's not a profound film, but it's an incredibly entertaining one. Also, dummy drops!
For A Cop's Hide (1981) - Pour la peau d'un flic is not a "great" movie, but it was a fantastic surprise for me. It's the first of Alain Delon's directorial efforts during a period where he was only doing these hyper-masculine crime/action films. This was my "80s Action" pick and I assumed it would be something more along the lines of the Belmondo films from the same period (which I do like). Instead Cop's Hide is more in line with the shaggy, pulpy private eye stories that gained some traction in the 70s. Delon isn't well cast as the hard luck type but the film eventually sidesteps that characterization and he's able to play the kind of charming rogue he's better suited towards. There are twists galore as a missing persons case gives way to murder, crooked cops, conspiracies, drugs, and various unsavory activities. I was fully taken with the mystery though the version I watched had some synching issues with the subtitles. It's a great looking movie - shot by veteran Jacques Tournier - and the supporting cast is terrific. Anne Parillaud as Delon's secretary has to weather some generally shitty behavior and plays the dopey dame to an extent - but her screen presence is still there and she would go on to play some badass ladies (Nikita, for one). I'm curious to see her in Delon's other directorial effort, Le Battant. Brigitte Lahaie also turns up randomly as a nurse - though she never gets the chance to deliver any sinister injections!
The Bride Wore Black (1968) - I still need to shore up some major holes in my Nouvelle Vague filmography and was happy to finally catch up to Truffaut's genre flex for my actual "revenge" choice. Obviously a Hitchcock homage but also incredibly entertaining in its own right. I found Bride to be darkly funny and totally absorbing and I'm still thinking about the final gag. I confess that it has additional layers of interest for me due to the clear influence it had on other filmmakers. Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino are the most obvious examples though one would gladly tell you so with a wink and the other claims he'd never seen it (bleargh)
The Dion Brothers (1974) - My "Hicksploitation" choice had been languishing on my watchlist for a while and came heavily endorsed by Erica of Unsung Horrors so I decided to go for it. Unfortunately it also coincided with the recent passing of Frederic Forrest but what better way to celebrate his life than to dig into one of his great co-starring roles. Forrest is great in this along with the excellent Stacy Keach as two rural brothers telling the man to shove it and trying to make it as professional robbers. Crammed with awesome 70s actors, memorable dialogue, and some wild set pieces (shoot out in a building that's being demolished?) - this movie DEMANDS rediscovery, restoration, and re-release. The online copies look like deep fried shit, but you can still see the greatness. Somebody save this one!
Best of the Rest
Cisco Pike (1972) - Another long time watchlist denizen that turned up kind of randomly on YouTube. I've been having good luck with that lately and don't mind if it continues (though I would totally pick this up on blu-ray if I could). The cast for Cisco is the stuff of my 70s obsessed dreams - Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black, Gene Hackman, Harry Dean Stanton, Joy Bang, and others - but this isn't a movie about powerhouse performances. Even though Kristofferson's Cisco is tasked with selling 100 kilos of weed in a single weekend, there's not much urgency in the film. It's a naturalistic, hangout movie about a pack of losers doing what they think they have to and results in some wonderful scenes and moments. Maybe the ultimate 60s hangover movie and very much my kind of deal.
House Calls (1978) - I think it was ultimately my obsession with Art Carney's career in the 70s that led me to track down a dvd for House Calls and I'm so glad I did. This brand of sad/funny/charming love story propelled by amazing performances by Matthau and Glenda Jackson is so completely up my street and I absolutely loved it. Carney and Richard Benjamin are solid here as well but they're truly supporting characters. In an unfortunate theme of this month, I was saddened to hear of Glenda Jackson's passing. She positively lights up the screen in everything she did.
Middletown (1982) - I have not watched all six parts of this public television documentary series but the two I've watched were outstanding. Family Business focuses on a man and his family trying to make a Shakey's Pizza franchise successful. It's a rather striking portrait of people doing all the "right" things and still struggling to keep the lights on in the face of corporations and banks that don't value much of anything beyond the bottom line. My dad worked in pizza parlors like Shakey's in the 80s so it was a deeply nostalgic trip for me as well. Seventeen focuses on a group of high school students in their final year and has to be some of the rawest "coming of age" footage I've ever seen. The kids, though charismatic and kind of sweet, often come off as little sociopaths trying to understand the limits of their own agency. There is some deeply fraught racial context on display as well and some of the things said left me with my mouth hanging open. It was pulled from PBS before it aired for being too controversial and then went on to win the documentary Grand Jury Prize at Cannes a couple of years later. Essential stuff.
Little Murders (1971) - Hilariously nihilistic stage play adaptation that could only exist in those strange transition years between the 60s and 70s. While I find Elliot Gould's apathetic Alfred relatable, nobody is particularly admirable in this one and it goes really dark towards the end. While their characters are mostly terrible, everyone involved in the production is fantastic. Again, this was an unfortunate memorial watch for Alan Arkin who both directed this and makes a phenomenal appearance as a neurotic police detective.
Theatrical Screenings!
New Jack City (1991) - I was able to catch a screening of this in NYC as part of the Tribeca Film Festival (a first for me) with a filmmakers Q&A. The film holds up beautifully and Mario Van Peebles is impossibly charismatic in person. Listening to Fab 5 Freddy and the RZA talk about 90s hip-hop has to be one of the raddest things to happen for me.
The Dragon Lives Again (1977) - Not only is this a Brucesploitation flick, but it also features low-rent, occasionally inexplicable knock-offs of the Godfather, Clint Eastwood, Zaitoichi, Caine from Kung-Fu, the One-Armed Swordsman, Dracula, Emanuelle(!), the Exorcist, James Bond, and even Popeye. Completely bonkers tale of a post-mortem Bruce Lee who enters the underworld only to get mixed up with this motely crew of weirdos and the horny king who rules over them. I'd definitely recommend seeing this with a crowd and (maybe more importantly) seeing a version with the original scope aspect ratio. By all accounts, the pan and scan bootlegs are horrendous. I was able to see the AGFA scan but there is a new Severin scan/restoration which will probably look even better.
Asteroid City (2023) - I'll probably have to sit with this another time before I have anything really substantive to say about it. I really did enjoy it though and I haven't been quite as enamored with Anderson's last couple films (which I still enjoyed so maybe I'm just a hopeless fanboy). While the puzzle box structure of Asteroid City may be the most convoluted in Anderson's filmography, it's noticeably less frantic and I think that's a good thing.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - I was able to catch a 16mm screening of this Harryhausen classic thanks to our local Cult Film Collective. If you're local to the Twin Cities, you love weird movies, and you're passionate about seeing films on actual film, you owe it to yourself to look the CFC up and become a member. Sinbad isn't my favorite Harryhausen but it has an absolute banger of a skeleton fight and how about that Star Wars chasm swing?
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