vcravens

I've always loved this movie. It is so not completely true to the book.

If Capote had had his way, Marilyn would have done Holly as an

outright hooker and Paul would have been openly gay. Be a good

remake to do it that way, actually.

Whatever. It's a much sweeter movie for those edges being

blurred, and the sub-text obscured. It's a moment in time, so it

really does seem to capture something about the transition from

late fifties to early sixties, from small-town striving to big-city life,

from hidden sexuality to more openness. But I don't know that, I'm

too young.

My favorite parts are actually the Buddy Ebsen scenes, and

whenever Holly talks about her brother Fred. They're very corny, but

they are sort of the glue that makes the film work. Besides all the

small bits - "giving the cat a name, " the shop-lifting scene, the

party scene. Those are all good story-telling.

There's a reason this movie has staying power, maybe because

its meaning has shifted from whatever it was meant to be in 1964.

It's a great movie for thoughtful and creative kids, which is to say all

of them. Its surrealist, with the heightened sense of absurdity seen

with Ed Wood films, or early John Waters... just with content that is

kid-safe and kid-friendly.

Little kids watch holiday classics like "Wonderful Life," or "Miracle

on 34th," which are great, but they are targeted to adults. SCCM

seems also less condescending to the kid intellect than major

studio holiday releases - imagination has much to do with being

ridiculous and silly, and its there in the DIY sets and play-acting

aspect, the music and bad make-up and props. Kids can't imitate

cgi effects or elaborate scenes, but they can run around and

pretend to be martians or what-not.

I saw it in middle school, thought it super-cool, and most of my

college friends had fond memories to share of sneaking in to see

it. The subject would come up over a game of quarters or

something.

Porky's isn't brilliant and maybe deserves a lot of socio-critical

dissection, but I just thought it was funny at the time. I don't know it

deserves film-critic attack - wasn't it low-budget and lucky to get

some mainstream distribution?

Anyway, my memories of Porky's made American Pie a lot more

funnier, too. The two would be a good movie night double feature.