Towering Inferno y la era del desastre

El canal Retroplex se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos debido a su gran cantidad de películas de los 70 y 80 que pone en su cartelera. Esas películas me transportan a la época de mi niñez y adolescencia cuando visitaba los cines de Santurce.

"Towering Inferno" es el magnus opus de la era de las "películas de desastre" que comenzaron con "Airport" y que continuó con "Poseidon Adventure" y "Earthquake" y que terminó con el desastre taquillero de "When Time Ran Out"(o "When Ideas Ran Out" como se le conoció en la industria).

La fórmula era la misma. Unir un elenco de estrellas, incluyendo actores populares del momento, añadir actores muy mayores para el factor nostalgia y rellenar todo lo demás con actores de televisión.

"Towering Inferno" tiene a Paul Newman, Steve McQueen y Faye Dunaway como las estrellas, Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones y William Holden como los veteranos y Robert Wagner y Bobby de "The Brady Bunch" como los actores de tv.

La película es entretenida. Una de esas en las que podemos jugar el juego de "quién morirá?". Y al ser un film de los 70 en plena era de Watergate en la cual nadie creía mucho en la autoridad, los malvados son los arquitectos e ingenieros que construyeron la torre, cortando esquinas, sabiendo que el edificio no era seguro. En ese tiempo, todo era una conspiración, el "establishment" era corrupto. Algo que cambiaría al final de la década con los films inocentones de "Star Wars".

"Towering Inferno" es una película "popcorn", no hay que pensar mucho, sólo ver a los actores correr y decir líneas terribles de diálogo. Lo único que empaña algo todo ésto es que ver un edificio en llamas, le hace a uno recordar 9/11. Pero, al final, uno puede volver a olvidarse y entretenerse con ver a todos esos actores, muchos de ellos que ya han fallecido, ganarse el dinero de una manera fácil. Y eso es, para mi, es suficiente.

my day at a nude beach

A couple of Sundays back I met with a friend from NYC at Haulover Beach, a nude beach in North Miami. I have not visited a nude beach in maybe 20 years, so I figured it would be a cool experience.

So Sunday at 1pm, I arrived at Haulover. First thing I noticed was this was not the secluded nude beaches I had visited in St.Martin. There were thousands of people there. Wall to wall nudity. Mostly male, unfortunately. Although there were some women. I guess it was 70-30 men-women ratio.

I said hello to my friend and met her friend who was there with her beautiful baby. They were being slightly annoyed by a tanned, nude middle aged guy talking to her. Luckily, he realized he was not welcome and went away.

I must say, it felt really cool being there. Like they say, it is the least sexual experience you can have. All these people nude. young,old, good looking, bad looking, make it a wonderfully normal experience. Nobody seems to be checking other people. It is so wonderfully civilized.

Yes, I did take everything off and went skinny dipping with my friend. And again, it was such a non-sexual experience The setting and the feeling at the beach make it such an innocent, cool thing. So we're nude! And it is great! I felt like a little kid who is allowed to run naked everywhere.

Summing up. Beaches with people in swimsuits are sexual. They are a tease and completely completely based on voyeurism. Nude beaches are not. They are simply fun.

National Velvet

Hace par de meses TCM exhibió un festival de películas de Mickey Rooney. Y no sé por qué razon las grabé y he estado disfrutando mucho de ellas. Comencé con la serie de Andy Hardy, unos films en los cuales el presidente de MGM quería presentar un cuadro idílico de un típico pueblo pequeño norteamerican. Son películas B, son sentimentales y cursis, sin embargo, y aquí esta el genio de MGM, son sumamente entretenidas.

En este weekend vi "National Velvet", una película de Rooney con una Elizabeth Taylor de 12 años de edad. Está basada en un libro de clásico sobre el amor de una niña por un caballo, al que decide llevar a la comptencia más importante en Inglaterra. Esta no es una producción B, sino una película donde MGM puso todos sus recursos. Es en Technicolor, y en 1944 eso no era tan común. La película es realmente maravillosa. Una de esas en las que MGM demuestra la magia del sistema de estudio de la época de oro de Hollywood.Todas las actuaciones están excelentes, incluyendo a un Mickey Rooney controlado, algo no muy común. Es una de esas pocas películas que realmente son para toda la familia.

TCM la vuelve a poner el día 10 de abril como parte de un festival de 24 horas dedicado al cine de Elizabeth Taylor. Vale la pena dejarla grabando.

Five: primera pelicula post-nuclear

En el 1950 Columbia Pictures distribuyó la primera pelicula que trataba sobre un mundo luego de una guerra nuclear. Su título "Five". Su presupuesto, extramadamente bajo. Sin embargo, con ese poco dinero se hizo un film relativamente interesante, aunque lleno de huecos en su trama.

La película comienza escenas de ciudades importantes siendo afectadas por bombas atómicas. Y luego vemos escenas algo clichosas de periódicos dejándonos saber de una inevitable guerra nuclear. Luego vemos una mujer caminando por una carretera rural.
¿Será la última persona en la tierra? Bueno, resulta que no lo es. Y a través de la película nos damos cuenta que hay 4 personas más vivas. Cuatro hombres.

De ahi, el fim pasa a ser un estudio de estas cinco personas aún vivas. Uno de los hombres es una persona mayor que muere. Otro es un personaje de la raza negra que sirve para presenatr el problema racial y los otros dos compiten por la mujer. Es interesante que el personaje negro, aunque presentado de una manera favorable, nunca se ve como alguien que pudiera competir por la mujer blanca.

La pelicula no es una maravilla. Nunca se cuestiona la idea de que si en esas pocas millas habian 5 personas, las probabilidades serían buenas de mas sobrevivientes. Y el hecho de que todos eventualemente morirían de envenenamiento por radiación tampoco se explora. Pero, claro, estamos en 1950. A penas 5 años después de Hiroshima.

"Five" anticipa mucho a films como "Night of the Living Dead" y "Omega Man" y aún con sus fallas grandes, sigue siendo una película interesante. Está en DVD como parte de una serie de películas llamadas "Martini Movies" por Sony.

Elizabeth Taylor movies

Up to yesterday I had seen two Elizabeth Taylor movies in my whole life. I really can't explain why, maybe because I didn't find her an exciting actress. Maybe because there was something old fashioned about her look and her movies. When I was a kid I saw one of her minor 1970's movies called "Night Watch", a pretty nifty thriller with a twist that seemed surprising at the time.

A year ago, I saw "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on DVD, from a Taylor DVD set I had given my mother a while back. It was a really good movie. And I can imagine how scandalous it must have been for its time, in spite the fact the homosexual aspect of it was truly low key. Still, it was plain it was there. She was excellent in it and she was obviously at her most alluring and beautiful.

Last night, I got another movie from that set called "Butterfield 8, in which she plays a call girl who falls for one of her clients. It is truly over the top movie, every character was completely unbelievable. It seemed like one of those telenovelas one sees on Hispanic TV. But one can enjoy it simply because of Taylor's presence. I saw the movie on a 42" set, but I can imagine how hypnotizing she must have been on a giant movie theater screen. Maybe that was her the reason for her success. Those eyes on Cinemascope on dark movie theater.It must have been something.

Miami thoughts

This weekend I am making my annual Miami weekend getaway. I used to go more often a few years back. I guess, being younger, I found the whole Miami sexy scene really attractive. Now I tend to visit cities that offer a wider array of things to do. But I still love Miami. I love sitting at a cafe in Ocean Drive and watch the women go by. I love the fact that I can enjoy the Latin culture while still enjoying the relative discipline of a US city. I enjoy the fact that you get to meet people from all over the world there.

I do not agree with people who say Miami lacks culture. Go to the Miami Herald and you get more classical concerts, pop concerts than you get here in San Juan. Miami just opened an 600 million dollar Opera House and is the home of the New World Orchestra. You get Broadway plays, Art Basil and so many art happenings.

I think Puerto Ricans who say bad things about Miami may be expressing a slight envy of how things work there. They don't like the fact that "Lo Mejor de Dos Mundos"is not Puerto Rico. It is actually a city in a US state. Sorry to spoil the party.

Michael Gough RIP

It's interesting seeing today's obituaries for actor Michael Gough. They all emphasize he was Alfred the Butler in Batman movies. In a way, those will probably be the movies he'll be remembered for. But to my generation, he was a great villain in some outlandish horror movies. I remember him in many movies I saw as a child on tv, "Berserk!"and "Horrors of the Black Museum". And I'll never forget the night I went to see "Horror Hospital"with my parents at the Cinerama in Santurce. It was a truly over the top movie, full of violence, nudity. But it was Gough who stole the show as the most insane of mad villains. A couple of years ago, it finally came out on DVD and I was able to appreciate the sheer insanity of his portrayal. So, let younger audiences remember him as Alfred, to me, he'll always be the loony guy from "Horror Hospital".

Seven Percent Solution- a 1970's Sherlock Holmes

Last week I saw once again one of the most interesting Sherlock Holmes movies ever. It's "The Seven Percent Solution" from 1976, written by Nicholas Meyer (based on his best-selling novel) and directed by Herbert Ross. It's an incredibly fun movie about Watson (Robert Duvall) devising a plan to have Holmes (Nicol Williamson) kick his cocaine habit by receiving treatment from Freud (Alan Arkin). Throw in Prof. Moriarty (played by Sir Lawrence Olivier!) and Vanessa Redgrave and you have a terrifically acted gem.

The movie has all the traditional touches of classic Holmes movies, but it adds the interesting element of Holmes addiction to cocaine (93% water, 7% cocaine, hence the title of the movie). In this movie Holmes is brilliant, but flawed and Watson is not the bumbling sidekick of previous movies. It all adds up to a truly original movie that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have probably loved.

The movie adds the element of action towards the end of the film. But it does so in a charming way, without turning Holmes into an full action figure like the recent movie did. This movie realizes we are not in Victorian England and that modern audiences demand thrills, but it does so in an adult, thoughtful way.

This is a movie really worth seeing. A forgotten gem. See it if you get the chance.