75 Degrees in July

I saw this wonderfully directed and well written film at the Montreal World Film Festival, in August- on the date which happened to be the Movie's world premiere. I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for this film. The cast was wonderfully selected, the directing was superb, and the acting was magnificent. (Kudos to Shirley Knight- she always manages to pull me into her character, no matter how large or small her part!)

I hope that this film eventually finds its way to a theatre- I am certainly a critic when it comes to film (I'm quite picky with what I like and don't like), and this film gets my vote!

A fight breaks out in a local tavern. I leap into the fray and ask "what were the issues?" Then I laugh. There are never any real issues in tavern brawls.

The issue here is there was supposed to be a love affair between the manacled cowboy son-in-law of the King Ranch Sized mogul, and the returning artist daughter. That's what the audience wanted. With the affair would be the terrible, tangled web of why the two must have the affair and why it must fail.

All jinxed romances must fail. They often have a nice moral even when they do fail. The film was acted in something like daytime soap opera slow motion. The filming was gorgeous, the actors second tier, the net effect something like a classy Lifetime Channel romance film.

But the last word on 75 Degrees is "Where's the Beef?"

If the director could get in touch with me, maybe we could see what could be done about taking this back into the editing room, try to clean it up and make something of the film.

From the opening shots of a child at play, I found myself enraptured by this film. Director Hyatt Bass (I think this is the only film she's made) has a terrific eye for location and landscape. The story is in many senses a pretty typical family drama, but it works because of the tenderness with which Bass depicts this world, and thanks to the sensitivity of the actors in the main parts. Particularly Karen Silas and Harris Yulin were excellent. At times the film's flow reminded me of another favorite, "Tender Mercies". I'm surprised this one did not play in more festivals and get shown in theaters. It deserves to be seen on a big screen. I think this is an exceptional movie and hope that more people will be able to see it one day.

I enjoyed this movie, and think the actors did a great job, but there was no real point to the film. Perhaps the point is that nothing much happens in West Texas, but I was hoping for more insight into the character's past lives, or some resolution to the tension built up in the plot.