Hey folks, Harry here... Yes, even on Christmas. I know this is the time of the year where we gather with our friends and family - and absolutely - my immediate family are all asleep, and in about 8 hours we'll gather and tear into ornately wrapped loot, share stories and smile big happy smiles. However, first - I must wish all of you the best of times.
It's 4:24am and I'm listening to 1930's & 1940's Big Band Jazz & Swing Christmas - Louis Armstrong & The Commanders, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, etc. I'm that sort of Christmas Geek. While I'm not necessarly the most religious fella in the world - I do have my own geek ritual for Christmas. I compulsively watch things like that wonderful Art Carney episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE - The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth. Then there's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. This year I discovered John Ford's THREE GODFATHERS - which is a Western Parable for the 3 Wise Men story... only with John Wayne, Harry Carey Jr and Pedro Armendariz. It was produced by Merian C Cooper - yes, the man responsible for KING KONG (1933) - and the lush Technicolor is sumptious - just watching Wayne and crew go from rough and tumble bank robbers to caring for a newborn child that was placed in their care by a dying woman... it's sublime. I couldn't stop thinking of films like THE PACIFIER or KINDERGARTEN COP - only here's Wayne and John Ford just really doing it great. Death Valley is just not the place to have to walk through with a child. Oh Man! Great little film. My real Christmas Discovery this year. If you get a chance to check it out - it might very well end up in your cycle of Christmas faves in years to come.
Ah, Burl Ives - and now Artie Shaw... There's something about Christmas that just turns me into a little kid. I can't wait to begin unwrapping things and seeing folks open the stuff I've gotten for them. But for now - Let's talk about the films out there at the moment. I've been incredibly delinquent this holiday season with writing up reviews of several films that I absolutely went gaga for. And now that you're sitting around with friends and/or family and you're contemplating what to rush out to see this Christmas day - I'd like to hurl a few suggestions.
Families this X-mas will likely choose between NARNIA and KING KONG for the big Christmas movie. And on the surface - NARNIA is the more likely choice - given it's a thinly veiled Christ tale with a big mane. Of course - You could claim the same thing with KING KONG - and you'd be seeing a better film. Certainly - Kong is one of the most charismatic and loving characters portrayed on screens this year. He certainly sacrifices himself and dies for the sins of every character on screen - is tormented and put through a very harsh end - and through it all - there's those sad eyes and the love he has for the innocent Ann Darrow. Heck - it's even got an oh so abbreviated moment taken, to me, from THE BISHOP'S WIFE - though Cary Grant's Dudley was never so hairy - though Loretta Young's Julia was everybit as joyfully caught up in the ice shenanigans as Naomi. Obviously - this is a pretty simple choice. Kong is a great family film - that is a full fledged cinematic experience. NARNIA isn't a bad movie, I like it - it just doesn't earn many of its relationships or emotions. Which is a shame.
Now - if you haven't any Children and you're either going to see a film alone this Xmas Day - I'd suggest you see any of these three films: MUNICH, MATCH POINT or BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. What you have there to choose from is Spielberg's absolutely riveting tale of revenge - which oddly, to me was comforting by the time it was all over and done. Then there's Woody Allen's finest film in ages. The less you read about this the better. Essentially - it is Woody doing what he does best, which is building realistic adult relationships and dealing with the inevitable fork in the road that we sometimes come across when choosing between loves and passions. However, none of the self-effacing mockery is here. By taking Woody out of New York, the British Accents - actors that absolutely do not imitate his line delivery... well what you're left with is an absolutely emotionally raw story that if you're the type of filmgoer that really gets into movies - you'll find yourself in quite a rollercoaster set of shifts and panics. Really great film. Then there's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - of all the films in theaters right now - this is the most human tale of love and dedication in the harshest of situations. Drop the Beavis & Butthead routine and you'll find yourself seeing a heartbreaking film - that Ang Lee has coated with a great deal of love.
Then there's a few of you that have a chance to see THE NEW WORLD - I don't get to see this till Tuesday - but of all the films out - it's the one I'm dying to see. It's a film that I'm dying to just let go of my grip on the here and now and just let Malick take me back to the age of discovery - when the European world found itself in this New World so many of us call home today. For those of you that can see it - I envy you. Enjoy.
Lastly - I've a little thing here about a gift I got at BNAT 7. Some attendee that came that had worked on the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre outing had a magical prop to give me. I wrote a little piece about it that I published on my little MySpace Blog - but as I began thinking about gifts - and that thing you give to someone else - I kept thinking about this and the look on my face in the picture. To me, the gifts we give are at their best - something that resonates deeply for the person whom you give it to. In 7 hours - as the Knowles family begins to unwrap presents - the moment I most look forward to is when Dad opens up a big box, impossibly light. Inside is a single item - that cost me $9 - but it's an object that he doesn't even realize how much joy he'll get when he sees it. It's something lost from his youth. A "rosebud" if you will. Oddly, for me this gift at BNAT 7 had that sort of personal resonance for me.
There are many chainsaws, but this one is mine. I love my chainsaw with it's crimson karo'd blade. It once belonged to Leatherface himself. It chased hot sweaty babes through the Texas mesquite underbrush in faux terror. It dripped for the camera. It sputtered for the camera. It is an awesomely violent creation. A blood and viscera dripped monstrosity... yet it brings me such glee. It wants to project the image of blood caked death and disfigurment - but all I can see is the toy. The prop-maker that made this smiled as he made it look like a deathbringer. After every take it was carried off with love and affection and a bit of awe. Jason had his machete. Freddy had his glove. Michael Myers had his butcher knife. Pussies. Leatherface had the saw, and the saw was family.
Sure this isn't the original saw from the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre - this is the one from next year's prequel to the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre - called TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING. But in the pantheon of Leatherface - that would technically perhaps make this "his first saw" - and if that's the case... giddy giggles... this saw is special. Of course any saw of Leatherface's is a special saw.
I just, I can't really express what was going through my head at the end of BUTT-NUMB-A-THON 7 when I unwrapped the butcher paper covered Chainsaw with a blood smeared "harry" on the outside - tied with a bit of string. But when two teachers from Los Angeles asked for a photo - I hefted the incredibly heavy saw - and this was the look on my face. What can I say? Was it the Nativity Shirt, the sleep deprived mania - or the power of the "SAW" that was coarsing through my grey matter?
My fourth birthday party was the wrap party for the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. I've got flashes of memories of it. I remember Gunnar Hanson in full Leatherface mode come roaring through the front door of my victorian home at 4526 Red River - chainsaw sputting out carbon monoxide and the guests going crazy. There was no chain on the blade, but when you see Leatherface roaring into a 4 year old's birthday party with a running chainsaw wielded by a human-skinned masked maniac... well you generally panic and laugh.
Somehow they knew my parents and they gave me a playskool vibrating kid chainsaw. It had a yellow engine casing and an orange throbbing blade. I chainsawed my birthday cake with it... I ran the vibrating blade beneath the skirts and into the asses of the various adult women at the event. I went on a "calvin-istic" manic kill frenzy at that birthday party.
I think you can see a bit of that 4 year old in this 34 year old's birthday glee. Eh?
Whatever you get this day - if it's just a heartfelt hug or an Xbox 360 or an animatronic monkey from Satan - I hope you get a touch of the manic glee that this present gave me. Merry Christmas everyone. Be safe - wherever you are!
