Pizza with arterial spray

[randy_byers]

holyoutlaw came over last night with the DVD of Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, and we ordered a large Agog from Pagliacci and sat back to watch the carnage. I can see that the image of a samurai pushing a pram has a built in frisson. The bit where he has to have sex with the prostitute to save her life was a masterstroke of something or another. Not wish-fulfillment exactly -- or perhaps it is that exactly, but it's so odd and unexpected. I mean, did Clint Eastwood ever have to do that? The movie is full of odd little details like that, amidst the more formulaic business of vengeance and limb-lopping. I enjoyed it. And I immediately started thinking about which exploitation samurai film I should shower on Luke in return. I'm thinking Samurai Reincarnation, which features a Yagyu in a different role. (The Yagyu Clan are the bad guys in Lone Wolf and Cub.)

Comments

Re: Dixieland Daimyo

[(Anonymous)]

Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago

They're w*a*y out there.

Chicago is not a great movie town, but there is an undisputed handful of great, first-rate venues. The Film Center is all by itself, though.

Personal example -- (just checked. it's really five years?) One time we went out to see a movie. Suzy's taste is strongly oriented to mainstream escapism, and so we saw Barbershop (excellent. I was startled later that her son had also spotted Cosby in his cameo.).
But
a couple of generations ago, there was an entire segregated parallel movie industry making "race movies. Several years ago, someone discovered half a barnful (literally) of old movies from, I guess, mostly the Forties, and some of them have been restored. I saw a few at the Film Center.
So here we were, almost the only whites in the audience (d'oh! not like it's a problem, just I hadn't really thought about it) and I know more about the roots of this movie about roots than almost anyone else in the theater.
odd


But not as odd as Dixieland Daimyo. If you can find it, grab it. It's not a pinnacle of the cinematic art, but you _will_ remember it, and talk about it.

Re: Dixieland Daimyo

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I'll certainly keep an eye out for it. I'm somewhat aware of race movies only because Edgar Ulmer made a few of them, including Moon over Harlem, which is available on DVD, and at least one Yiddish film, Grine Felder.

I saw Barbershop when my nephew played it for me, but I didn't spot the Cosby cameo. Was he wearing an Eddie Murphy bodysuit?