More Unexpected Movies: My Favorite Pleasant Surprises

In the recent past, I regaled you, my constant readers, with a list of my worst movie disappointments. To make that list, a film must not only have stunk unto the heavens above, but been one I thought was going to be a whole lot better. They covered quite a range, having only the disappointment factor in common. Being the knee-jerk liberal that I am, I also threw in my worst let-down of a live show. Feel free to pursue the above link if you somehow imagine your memory needs refreshing, or even if you don't. It's all the same to me.

Now, as I said I would in that earlier article, I am going to do a complete about-face and give you a half-dozen films for which I had little expectation, but which turned out to be excellent. And, yes, I'll throw in a stage show that wildly exceeded my expectations, as my generosity with your valuable time knows no bounds.

I might have added Frederico Fellini's Amarcord to a slightly longer list. One reason why I left that one off, in favor of the ones I included, is that I have already yakked extensively about the film in an earlier article on My Favorite Foreign Language Films (Another plug! Have you no shame, sir?). And, if I cannot yak extensively about a listed item, then, what is the point of listing it?

I will list the films in chronological order of their release. I will also list the live show in chronological order of its release.

The Honeymoon Killers, 1970, American International Pictures

One of the hardships about being a GI overseas was that the Army provided the troops with a free movie, just about every night. Yes, yes, war is hell. The films covered quite a gamut, from the well-known (such as Patton, but also Mash and Woodstock, in which the Army came out looking surprisingly good) to the obscure. With so many different, separated units in the various commands, the military needed as big a grab-bag as they could accumulate to fill the needs.

That being the case, while some of the movies we saw were top-notch, others were gobbling turkeys. When this one, The Honeymoon Killers came up-and a black-and white movie at that-I thought seeing it was going to be a waste of time. As I sat down to watch it, I reminded myself that my time might be better spent shoveling down a big plateful of spaghetti at the local trattoria, and washing it down with some fine Italian rotgut. I'm glad I did not sell myself on the prospect, though. The spaghetti would be there another night, but we only had a film for 24 hours.

The Honeymoon Killers turned out to be the film adaptation of a true story, involving a couple named Martha Beck (played by Shirley Stoler) and Raymond Fernandez (played by Tony Lo Bianco). Their original plan had been to swindle money from single women in a lonely-hearts type of scam, but the operation got complicated in a big hurry, and fraud quickly turned to murder on a repeated basis. The actual couple killed twelve people during their crime spree, although the film does not depict that many murders.

Still, it does show enough to be as grisly as it is fascinating. The actors were little-known, including Lo Bianco, who was just beginning his film career. He and Shirley Stoler both turned in superb work as the title characters, and the women who played the victims were completely believable, making their situations all the more horrifying.

No, this is not a "slasher" movie or even a suspense film. You know good and well what is going to happen, fairly early on. It is, on the other hand, a compelling story, superbly told through the craft of the screenwriters and the actors. Skip it if you're squeamish; see it if you're not.

Hard Times, 1975, Columbia Pictures

I do not know what possessed me to rent this movie. Goodness knows, its star, Charles Bronson, was highly unlikely to be standing on stage in a tux saying he'd like to thank the Academy. I think it came down to both of the movies I had in mind already being out on rental when I went to Erol's to pick out a flick for the night.

I am glad that I settled for this one. I put it behind only Mr. Majestyk (another overlooked excellent movie, by the way) as Bronson's best work. In addition, it features James Coburn overacting, to be sure, but doing so in a manner you can't help but like.

Although bare-knuckle boxing, at the higher professional level, was either banned or allowed to die a deserved death at the turn of the twentieth century, fights without gloves existed in the sporting underworld. This film, set in New Orleans, deals with a down-and-out drifter (Bronson) who, nevertheless, has the skill to knock people down, generally, in a big hurry.

He comes into town, alone and nearly broke He has all of $6, which he gives a small-time hustler called "Speed" (Coburn) to bet on him in a pickup fight against a younger, tougher-looking guy, whom he then flattens with one punch.

As the movie progresses, Speed tries, with varying success, to get the best of the top hustler in town, a fellow named Chick Gandil (Maybe or maybe not coincidentally, the name of the ringleader among the ballplayers who threw the 1919 World Series) through the amazing new "hitter" he has discovered. Throughout Bronson's many fights (all of them magnificently staged) against tougher and tougher foes, he somehow manages to find time for an awkward romance with a married woman named Lucy Simpson, played by his real-life wife, Jill Ireland, in an understated but compelling performance.

Strother Martin also put in an excellent performance as the fighter's drug-addicted "cut man," but my favorite character in the film was the shameless Cajun hustler, Pettibon, played by Edward Walsh.

I have watched this movie again and again. I think you may enjoy seeing it at least once.

All of Me, 1984, Universal Pictures

I had seen Steve Martin as a very entertaining host on Saturday Night Live and caught one of his stand-up performances, so I was expecting unbounded hilarity when I saw his first major movie, The Jerk. I was not tremendously impressed.

Because of that let-down, I had little in the way of expectations for this later film, starring Martin and Lily Tomlin. I was wrong. The film was a stitch.

The premise is that the very wealthy, but eccentric, Edwina Cutwater (Tomlin) is dying and has sold herself on a seeming load of hokum that her soul, at the point of bodily death, can transfer itself to the body of a younger woman. For that assignment, Edwina has selected the daughter of her stable master (a conniving young minx with a taste for being spanked), played very well by Victoria Tennant.

Steve Martin is on hand as an attorney Edwina does not even know and seems to dislike at first site, to make sure of the legalities. Well, at the time of the great lady's passing, there seems to have been a cosmic mix-up, as a result of which, her soul finds itself sharing space, not with the young lady, but with the attorney.

The complications that result from this arrangement are laugh-til-it-hurts funny. I will not spoil a one of them. Go see the movie.

So I Married an Axe Murderer, 1993, TriStar Pictures

I generally like to watch Mike Myers, the star of this movie, at work (not so much for Austin Powers, but certainly for the rest of his stuff). Still, the trailers for this movie did not impress me, so I gave it the go-by when it first came out.

When my sister-in-law's family raved about the movie, several years later, I first attributed their positive reviews to their Scottish ancestry, inasmuch as the film is set in that locale. Then, I figured, what the heck, it's only a rental, so I checked it out. I am very glad I did.

In a film replete with fine performances, I especially liked Myers in his alternate role, that of his own loutish, insensitive father.

As a comedy, no, it was not one that inspired laughter to the point of vomit-suppression, but, if I had to use one word to describe it, I'd say it was one of the most delightful movies I had seen in a very long time.

If you have not seen this one yet, why not give yourself a chance to be delighted? You can throw up some other time.

Payback, 1999, Paramount Pictures

Okay, this film stars Mel Gibson, who is very much out of favor these days, for a number of reasons. Still, this is not an article about Mel Gibson's behavior, it is about pleasant surprises, one of which happens to feature the guy.

When Payback came out, the critics were dead-set against it. The only kind thing any publication had to say was that Lucy Liu was unbelievably hot as a high-class hooker. Well, that was inducement enough for your narrator to put up with what was supposed to be a rotten movie.

For starters, the writers of that article (in Rolling Stone) were right about Ms. Liu, even though, as a call-girl, her modus operandi turns out to be a lot different from the simple lie back and think of England...or I guess Hong Kong, in this case. You will have to see the movie to learn about her special skills.

But there was so much more to the film than the antics of an expensive hooker. There are no good guys. It is a struggle of scoundrels (Gibson certainly among them) against yet even worse scoundrels. Even the police stink of corruption.

Gibson's main love interest in the story is played by the lovely Maria Bello, who is at her sexiest, even if she does keep her clothes on this time. The really bad guys are all truly menacing in an intriguing variety of ways, and there is just the right amount of action.

If you don't mind a little violence, you should check it out. I think the critics totally fumbled the ball on this one.

And now the bonus (Big deal.): My unexpectedly good stage show

Sometime in the summer of 2009, I amused myself momentarily with the notion that I was retiring from the stage. In fact, I have largely given up going to auditions, but my career of treading the boards was not quite over.

I was in my favorite piano bar (No, I wasn't quite ready to stop singing) when God approached me and asked me to be in a local performance of a show called Children of Eden. When I say that God recruited me for the gig, I mean the fellow who was cast in that role for the show.

As what he imagined to be an inducement, he mentioned that Stephen Schwartz had composed the music. Far from being an inducement, it was almost a deal-breaker. I was familiar with Schwartz's work and considered him a hack, to put it in the kindest possible terms.

He was most noted for having scored the shows, Pippin, a very overrated show whose only redeeming moments come in the dialogue, not the draggy music, and Godspell. I mean no disrespect to the actual Lord, but Godspell stank on ice. All in all, not much of a track record. Frankly, my only inducement for joining the cast was to maintain good relations with the piano bar crowd, many of whom-including the host-had close ties to the theatre that was putting the show on.

The story, as the title implies, tells two of the most important tales in the Old Testament: the expulsion from Eden (Act I) and the Flood (Act II).

Imagine my surprise when I discovered this was a delightful show with outstanding music. To be sure, the music was complicated and, coming into the production in the midst of its rehearsal schedule did not make learning that complicated music any easier.

Still, I had one of the most enjoyable experiences ever doing this show. For some reason, it never made it to Broadway (although it had a good run in London). Nevertheless, it is a popular show for local theaters throughout the nation. That being the case, you could do worse than to catch a performance if it comes to your locale. In fact, if you have the talent and the nerve, you should try to be in it. You too may have as much fun as I did.

Meanwhile, I cordially invite you to check out the links to the show's music (two numbers from the first act, one from the second) in the Resources section.

And that, he said with a proscenium arch of his eyebrow, is that.

Sources

The actual shows

Wikipedia