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Film history teaches us that before 1967 movies were tame and censored and then all hell broke loose post-censors. It also teaches us that Sidney Poitier movies were buttoned up affairs because he was standing up against so much intolerance it had to come incrementally. These were the two notions I carried into tonight's screening.

This movie blows the lid off both of those expectations. It's a sentimental film yes, but it pulls real punches. The depiction of abuse of the disabled is as intense as anything I've seen regardless of its age, probably more so because of it. It's painful and raw; I was so tense throughout it. It makes the happy moments feeling so much more earned because of how cruel what we've seen before it is. And in many other places, the film goes into brave places surrounding unexpectedly mature topics.

I was expecting something a little milquetoast but went because I wanted to see a Sidney performance. In the first few minutes I was actively hating it, only then to realize that discomfort was deliberate and deftly done. By the end I was engrossed and moved, quite a turn from the beginning.

Certainly, elements are dated. But the raw emotion is as fresh as ever. Consider. My history expectations subverted and my heart full.

This is a hard film to track down, seeing as it is unavailable on home media platforms and potentially was never released on DVD. However, given my work on another film with "Ski Bum" in the title, I felt compelled to seek it out and give it a watch. I waited until ski season which ended up being a good decision: I watched it with my dad who knew all the filming locations in Vail, Colorado, and so it turned into a fun nostalgia trip adjacent to the actual quality of the movie.

Let it be known this is a B movie closer in line with exploitation cinema than a traditional movie would be. It's trippy but not in a characteristically fun way. The lead actor, Zalman King, plays Johnny, a ski bum fed up with the yuppie affluence around him. But he plays with little charisma, mumbling his way through the whole runtime, and the film does little to enhance itself cinematically. There is no plot to speak of, the film follows Johnny as the world around him engulfs him and he rejects it in slacker fashion. Mixed in with some cool ski action, great locations, trippy sound effects, and electronic music.

The most recognizable actor in the film is Charlotte Rampling in her bombshell days. But despite second billing, she's not given much to do. There's some thin plot about her relationship with Johnny, but the majority of the film is situations where Johnny is unhappy in the ski world. Doesn't make for a great story. But it would've been a very fun film to work on.

There's a big moment that probably ensured this film would never receive a major release: a 12-year-old girl attempts to seduce Johnny in a scene that really doesn't hold back on that premise considering the taboos (and legal dilemmas) involved. The fact that there's no written controversy about it implies that the movie probably never got a major release, therefore never caused a stir. It cements it as a film for grindhouse audiences, not the mainstream theaters, despite an otherwise tame picture.

Ultimately, this is a great time capsule of Vail circa early 1970s, but beyond that a poor film even for ski fans or even exploitation fans.

A special title: I had to go across the pond to retrieve it! Because this film has never been released on home video in the US, I bought the film on eBay in the UK and shipped it to my friend Darren in Scotland, who ripped it into a Quicktime file to send to me. I would safely say it is the most difficult film to acquire I have ever tracked down!

First, the negative: this process caused a messy, glitchy version of the film that was admittedly harder to watch. I could handle it, but I wouldn't show this copy to friends unless they were warned. It makes the case for why having restorations and good quality picture matters.

Nonetheless, the feature debut of Ken Russell is truly a delight. It's a short and sweet 80 minutes and impressively has a fair share of humor and stylistic wow moments. He knows how to create beauty and wonder in cinema form like few other filmmakers I've ever seen. Despite its reputation as being Russell's least innovative project (had to start somewhere) it still has a few brilliant set pieces and photography to ogle at (not even just of the bikini-clad movie star). I laughed out loud, I was moved by some of its beauty. There's something to this late-era black and white that's really magnificent. You can see it as a contemporary to "A Hard Days Night," released the same year to much greater success. Some of its humor has aged, some of it remains relevant today toward the objectification of women, especially in regards to how it is shown in film. And it's surprisingly blunt at times, perhaps this is why it's been impossible to find in the US.

I hope to one day see this movie again in a proper restoration, or at least the unpixelated version as described. Yet despite some visual setbacks, I could still relish in 'French Dressing' and can't wait to see the next entry in Russell's filmography.