Thank God It’s Friday

I don’t quite recall how I came to buy this movie. I think it’s either because somebody said that it was the worst movie ever made, or somebody was interviewed in The Wire and said that they liked it even though everybody thinks it’s the worst movie ever made.

That sounds like something I’d respond to. A challenge!

So here we are.

But this is a 2K remaster, so it can’t be that disliked, so perhaps I totally misremember.

Hey! It’s him!

Heh heh.

The humour is very broad. It’s basically a series of under-developed skits about these characters we’re following — two dozen of them — in this discotheque.

The musical choices are confusing. There’s a few recognisable hits, like From Here To Eternity by Giorgio Moroder, but there’s mostly just a bed of “generic string disco” going on beneath all the gags.

Hey, is that Donna Summer!?

That’s the speaker I want in my living room.

OK, the music is getting better now.

Heh heh. From the director of Weekend at Bernie’s II.

He’s written some other movies, but nobody let him direct another movie for fifteen years after this one.

I can totally see what they’re going for. The script for this movie is a totally zany thing where you spend a couple minutes with each group of people, and zany, funny stuff is going on, and it all builds to a totally hilarious movie.

But it’s just directed and edited so ineptly — there’s no comedic timing, and there’s no feeling of that escalating madness this thing needs.

Instead things constantly devolve into this sort of scene where all sense of urgency is missing.

You can see why they’d think he’d be good for the Weekend at Bernie’s sequel.

By any reasonable estimation, this is a ⚀ movie. But… it’s like… I kinda enjoyed this? It’s like the movie has good bones? It looks good, and some of the performances are fun, and there’s some good jokes. It’s just so horribly directed! It’s embarrassing! It’s not good!

But still. I’m not going to be reasonable. I was kinda fascinated by how much of a train wreck it is. It’s charming in that way.

Thank God It’s Friday. Robert Klane. 1978. ⚃

Being There

That’s some name.

Lorimar! That brings back memories! Or… er… not actual memories of anything, but…

Oh, Peter Sellers?

Anyway, this is another Hal Ashby movie. These Ashby movies are films I read about back when I was a teenager — mostly in old copies of Mad Magazine — but I never saw any of them. I quite liked Harold & Maude, but I didn’t much take to Shampoo.

Perhaps this is gonna be more Maudish?

I feel seen!

Oh deer — this is my absolutely least favourite movie genre: “The naif faces the world”. These things are always Oscar bait…

Hah! I amaze myself!

But I guess Shirley MacLaine is gonna take care of him and learn a valuable lesson?

There she is. That was a lot faster than I expected.

Not only is this the dreaded “naif in society” genre — but it’s also a BITING SATIRE!!! There’s nothing I hate more than a BITING SATIRE.

(Satire is code for “not actually funny”.)

So is Chance going to end up being elected president or something? I betcha that’s biting.

It’s nice set design.

But, OK, for a biting satire it’s kinda funny.

The bit is that Sellers says random things about gardening, and then these people interpret that as profound things about life in general.

Yes, it’s also a biting satire about TV.

Scathing commentary!

A brutal look! That gently lifts! And smashes! To the jugular!

A gentle smashing to the jugular.

Watching this, I’m similarly confused — I’m basically bored in general, but I’m amused by a lot of the scenes. There’s a lot of really solid performances, but the general thing is *rolls eyes*.

Indeed.

I mean, the movie looks good and stuff — it’s well made — but it’s just not my thing. Like… if you were to design a movie to appeal to me less, you could probably do it — but this would be a good attempt. So it’s just me! This movie is probably brilliant and stuff.

Being There. Hal Ashby. 1979. ⚂

The Big Sleep

Well, this is odd. A few years later, Mitchum had success with the Chandler adaptation Farewell, My Lovely, so it makes sense to do another one. But this one is set in England? In the countryside? I don’t think that’s the original setting?

See? Very English.

Hey, it’s her.

It’s probably just me, but I’ve never seen an explanation about what happened to British movies in the 70s. They had a really good thing going on until the 60s — lots of classics. And then in the 60s there were a bunch of interesting experimental stuff.

But this is basically filmed like a Carry On movie.

So… what happened to the British film industry in the 70s? Why did it die off? This is just so badly done — I mean, on a technical level. Echoey sound, boring set designs, actors that just stand there spouting off lines at each other.

Heh, there were several years where every British TV crime-related TV series and movie had this exact shot. It went out of style? Or did they get a new sign?

It’s such a frustrating movie. Above you have a car chase, and you’d think they’d use the opportunity to show some interesting sights, but it’s just this — driving around in nondescript environs. So it doesn’t even work on the “well, I’d like to see the UK in the 70s” level.

So, it’s totally what I’d expect of an 70s British movie — a bit inept.

I’m waiting for the movie to stabilise at some level… but it just gets worse and worse!

Shots like this… is this meant to be a joke? Is this entire movie a send-up of noir movies? Did they try to make a “camp” movie? Or is it just really stupid?

I have no idea! But Captain Ockham says “it’s really stupid”.

Well, you can’t say that this movie doesn’t have big names.

Rude!

That is some hairdo.

Should have gotten an Oscar for Best Light Reflector Usage, though.

It’s a really, really bad movie, but I’m upping the die because it’s a well lit movie. And because of this interview with Sarah Miles in the extras:

She really didn’t like the movie at all, and I love the way she goes (at the end) “And Michael Winner went on to do lots of movies! Good for him”. It’s the snarkiest actor interview I’ve ever seen on a disc.

The Big Sleep. Michael Winner. 1978. ⚁