Father Geek looks into THE BIG DOLL HOUSE and THE BIG BIRD CAGE

Well fellow Geeks tonight was sheer Heaven at SXSW for FATHER GEEK. I got to meet and talk with at length one of the men who helped give me my love for motion pictures, and my appreciation for the Exploitation film genre in paticular. Tonight in the Austin Convention Center Theater we were treated to screenings of Jack Hill's legendary landmark genre establishing masterworks THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971) and THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972). Director/Authour Hill was present before and after each film to make comments and answer questions, and he brought Sid Haig a star in nearly all of Jack's movies along with him as a special treat. During the 1/2 hour break between films Jack stood around with your writer and 3 or 4 other fans and informally talked about filming with no budget and only 12 days of shooting time. He talked about stuntmen who would cover themselves with rubber cement and light themselves on fire with absolutely NO protective gear. He talked of how his father, who designed much of DISNEYLAND including it's world famous theme-symbol castle, came out of retirement to build the "Big Bird Cage" with it's fanciful gears and pulleys just for the fun-of-it. He told of Sid belting down glass after glass of flaming native brewed coconut moonshine without once setting his mustache on fire. He told how Pam Grier, Carol Speed, Judy Brown and Roberta Collins did all their own stunts. It was a real trip, I only wish I'd brought my collection of Hill 1-sht movie posters with me to have him sign them. My inter-geek was crying out in anguish, "Fool, why didn't you bring SPIDERBABY, BIG BIRD CAGE, and COFFY with you?" and I could have had Sid sign them too. Oh well, we "professionals" must surpress such geekiness, right?

First up was THE BIG DOLL HOUSE. I saw this double featured with WOMEN IN CAGES (not a Hill film) at the LONGHORN DRIVE-IN back in 1972. "Soft young girls behind hard prison bars... They'd do anything for a man- or to him!!!" the Doll House poster declared. That's all we needed to know, and we were there. We packed up our lawn chairs, filled our coolers with brew, stopped off for some burgers and plopped down our $1.50 a car-load admission. Pam Grier, Judy Brown, and Roberta Collins were in both those flicks years ago, and if memory serves me correct Harry, his mother and I with various groups of friends made the journey out to the Longhorn 3 times to see these that summer. "They caged their bodies, but not their desires!" YEAH, let's hear it for truth in advertising. Jack Hill delivered then, and on the big SXSW screen with it's big sound he delivered again tonight, big time. This film is chock-full of rip-roaring tongue-in-cheek FUN!!! It cost next to nothing to make, made a ton of money, and introduced the world to Pam Grier. It is the most influential of the modern Women-In-Prison exploitation genre and it set down the formula that is still in use today. It was so successful that some regional distributors would retitle it and send it back to the Drive-ins over and over again. A couple of these new names was WOMEN'S PENITENTIARY and THE BAMBOO DOLL HOUSE. Still others would constantly double-bill it with one of it's many lesser imitators and re-release it to the B-film houses, BUT TONIGHT...

We lucky SXSW badge holders were treated to the correct double-feature by the pairing of Doll House with Jack Hill's second and in Father Geek's opinion superior effort in the genre, THE BIG BIRD CAGE. Now this movie returned the fantastic Sid Haig in a major role along with Pam Grier, but also featured Carol Speed who would thrill us as the title character of '74's ABBY, the all-black "Exorcist" film which we have on 16mm. I can't say enough about Haig in this feature, he's got a large meaty part and is a joy to watch throughout. He's been in the business for over 40 years playing villians on dozens of TV shows as well as films like POINT BLANK, JACKIE BROWN, and 6 of the Hill films showing here this week. Like the earlier film Bird Cage is loads of fun. That's what Jack Hill films are suppose to be, over the top fun. His style in most all of his exploitation features is one of exaggeration, the sex, the violence, the comedy are all overstated. His camera angles are the exaggerated framings of comicbook panels. His editing style features elaborated quick cuts from scene to scene. It's all setup to move the film along at a break-neck pace so you don't worry about reality, you're just having too much fun, and that's what the audience had tonight. I watched with glee as Quint and Johnny Wad almost fell out of their chairs on several occasions because they were laughing so hard, not laughing at a bad movie, but laughing at Sid Haig's fantastic comedic performance. Harry was sitting there like some giant Cheshire Cat, all grin. I only wish these had been shown at the Alamo Drafthouse instead of at the sterile, soulless, cavernous Convention Center. When promoters book films they need to pay close attention to the ENVIROMENT that they are to be showed in. In Austin, Gala Premieres should always be at the Uber-plush historic Paramount, Small Interest films should be at the intimate Dobie screens not some airplane hanger sized hall, and films that need that old Drive-in or Grind-house feel; exploitation in-paticular, are always best served up at the Alamo were beer, pop and food are piled up in front of you and the atmosphere is ripe for a rollickin' good time. Well that's all from Father Geek for tonight, see you tomorrow with a report on the chilly, multi-story roof top showing of Hill's immortal SPIDERBABY. Just TOOOOO COOOOOL!!!