Tonight for Sure

Just like in The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (1990), just when I thought I was done with Francis Ford Coppola's filmography, he pulls me back in. So, now I just finished watch Tonight for Sure (1962), this was another movie from his early days and it was awful.

Positives for Tonight for Sure (1962): It's always interesting for me to watch a movie from any filmmaker in their early days. The acting is good enough for what they had to work with. And finally, the movie is only 69 minutes long

Negatives for Tonight for Sure (1962): I have no idea what this movie was trying to do and for that I didn't care about what was happening at all.

Overall, Tonight for Sure (1962) is another bizarre movie from a filmmaker who I respect a lot in their early days in Hollywood. I'm just happy that Coppola eventually made better movies later on.

Tonight for Sure (1962)

** (out of 4)

The Las Vegas strip is the setting as a high class man and a poor miner sit down and tell each other stories. All of these stories center around naked women.

That's pretty much the only "story" there is to this nudie that is best remembered today for it being an early film by Francis Ford Coppola. Yes, the man who would go on to make THE GODFATHER trilogy got his start with a nudie. In case you're not familiar with what that is, it's basically an ultra-cheap and low-budget movie that's only made to show women naked so that men will pay money to see it.

This film certainly isn't any different than the dozens of other nudies out there. We barely have any sort of story and instead of one we just get countless reasons for women to appear naked. There's all sorts of nudity scattered throughout the 65-minute running time but I will give Coppola some credit as he at least tried to make the film "look" better than your typical nudie. Jack Hill served as cinematographer and his work is certainly a notch above what you'd normally see.

Yes, it's true, Coppola made "Nudie Cutie" before "Dementia 13"! It's no worse or better than other skinflicks of the late 50's/early 60's but it's certainly ain't no "Immoral Mr. Teas" or "Kiss Me Quick". This western angle is interesting cuz Russ Meyer made "Wild Girls Of The Naked West" the same year! B-movie god, Jack Hill ("Spider Baby", "Big Doll House", "Coffy" etc.), helped Francis with this one. Ah, nothing is funnier than diggin' up major directors' "well buried" skeletons. He shouldn't be ashamed, though, cuz at least it's better than the pathetic "Jack"!!

Everyone has their roots, you and I have them, and quite clearly, Francis Coppola has his. Pretty typical of the nudie cuties made in the early sixties... I would say this is 'better' than many made titty films made then, clearly not Russ Meyers though; but he was a freak. It's better 'made' than many titties churned out then, by which I mean he was already showing that he new how to film, make it look good even on a low budget. Good to see Jack Hill's name on the credit. I wonder if they still talk? Maybe Francis could chip in a few bucks to get Mr Hill's career back on track; loved Jack's drive in movies of the seventies. As for Coppola, I've got to agree with another reviewer; this is better than 'Jack'. What was he thinking when he made that crud? Did he have a thing for Fran Drescher or something? Anyway, this is cute, looks tame these days, just some flouncy boobs and stuff, innocent times.....