TIKI CULTURE

Bucket of Blood, 1959 & House of Wax, 1953 for Mod Movie Monday

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OK Swingers, the leaves are falling, the air is turning chilly (for most of you kats) and Halloween is just around the corner. So you know what that means… It’s time for some vintage horror flicks! So from now until Halloween, Mod Movie Mondays will feature some creature double features to get your blood flowing…possibly into the fangs of a vampire…Let’s kick it off with one of my favorite B&W dark comedies,

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Staring Dick Miller (You’ll know him when you see him) as a mildly mentally-handicapped busboy working in a Bohemian cafe, who learns somewhat by accident that he has a talent for sculpture. But his talent, you’ll see, isn’t as amazing as one might think, as this modern-era Michelangelo sort of…well…cheats.

Beatniks, jazz, pretty girls and ‘innocently’ unintentional murder for the sake of art. This early Roger Corman film is as dark as dark comedy can get. Creepy, BW & even an actual bucket with blood in it. This is one of those movies where you’ll be saying “They got away with THAT in 1959?”

The idea and outline of the film was developed in one day, and the whole thing was shot in less than a week on a very limited budget, but Corman’s concept to stray from mainstream horror films of the time and create a dark comedy routed in Beatnik culture puts this film as one of my favorites as a truly enjoyable, kookie and fun flick from one of our favorite eras.

House of Wax, 1953

In 3-D! Starring Vincent Price, this classic horror flick embodies the spirit (all puns intended) of the movies we love. A far-out story, creepy effects and VINCENT PRICE. Plus it was the first mainstream studio film to be made in glorious 3-D, opening up a trend in movie making that would have its highs and lows and finally come full-circle 50 years later when the technology finally caught up with the idea.

Even if you don’t watch it in 3-D, its such a gory flick for the time that you’ll be amazed, once again, that they got away with this stuff in the puritan ’50s. As a point of trivia interest, this film and the above-mentioned Bucket of Blood share some story ideas…and an actual line: “(He sure) knows his anatomy.” Crazy.

-Tiki Chris P. swingin’ in the balcony of the movie palace down the block from the Tiki Bar. Dig it, Daddy-O!

Mod Movie Monday Time! This Week, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, 1970

Here’s a truly Mod movie for Mod Movie Monday…What do you get when you mix late ’60s Hollywood with stacked chicks, Russ Meyer and a young Roger Ebert? Just what you’d expect…a classless, confusing, wild and oh-so-fun-to-watch flick with a cast of hot chicks and a good old fashioned X rating.

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls

from 1974 is NOT a sequel to The Valley of the Dolls. In fact, other than some shared costumes and Manson-style murders, there’s nothing to do with Valley of the Dolls. But hey, everyone was juiced up on acid in 1970 so who cares, right? Diggit.

I’m not even going to try to explain the plot of this movie beyond four hot, mod chicks in a rock band decide to head out to LA to make it big, and everything goes nuts from there. The girls get naked a lot. There’s ’60s-style lipstick lesbian sex. Kool cars. Drugs. Music by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Crazy swingin’ Hollywood parties. Styles, decor and music that will send you far out, baby. It’s the scene. It’s also funny (intentionally) and has some wacky, out-there scenes (especially the ending) that writer Roger Ebert (yeah, the thumbs guy) and director Russ Meyer cooked up on-set. (Funny note: Russ Meyer didn’t know the film was getting an X rating, which is pretty much equivalent to an NC-17 today. He said if he’d known it he would have added a lot more sex and nudity to the film).

Dinner & Cocktails: There’s actually a drink called LSD, which I think is fitting for this flick:

0.5 oz  Banana Liqueur
0.5  oz Vodka
1 wedge  Lemon
1 sprinkle  Sugar
0.25 oz  Sambuca

Pour banana liqueur and vodka into shot glass. Place lemon wedge over shot glass. Sprinkle with sugar and add float of Sambuca.

Sounds kinda disgusting, but who knows. Maybe it’s better if you do the real LSD first. As for food…anti-establishment all the way! You have to fight the man…the chef..man…and go against the grain of society to make your own voice heard, baby…put a hot dog on a hamburger bun…eat your steak with your hands…radical ideas like that. You know where I’m comin’ from, brothers and sisters. Lay down that groovy flower power. Or something.

Anyway while you’re enjoying your hippiefest I’ll be at the Tiki Bar having a Zombie. Later kids!

-Tiki Chris P, like, sitting in the center of the cosmos, listening to sitar tunes and watching the pretty swirly colors of the tropical flowers.

Tiki Lounge Talk features a new Mod Movie Monday every week. Check it out, kats  & kittens!

Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!

Straight out of hell comes three krazy hot roddin’ chicks out for kicks. From 1965 here comes Russ Meyers’

Faster Pussycat! KILL! KILL!

Starring Tura Santana, Haji and Lori Williams.

It’s been said that Russ Meyer named this movie Faster Pussycat! KILL! KILL! because he believes that a movie has everything when it contains speed (faster), sex (pussycat) and violence (KILL! KILL!). Well, there’s plenty of all of it in this Black & White B-Beauty.

First off, I don’t think there were three hotter chicks to zoom out of the ’60s. Santana is so stacked it’s a wonder she can fit behind the wheel of that sportster. Of course I have a thing for the blonde stripper.

What’s the flick about? Three sleazy, badass girls that like to race hot European sports cars and start brawls go too far and commit murder. It gets more insane from there. Some of it is so violent you’ll wonder how they got away with it in the ’60s. Some of it is funny, intentionally. Some of it is krazy sexy, even by today’s standards. The flick is such a cult classic that one of our favorite retro-lovin’ kats, Quintin Tarantino has his own version in the works, slated for 2012 release. If anyone else were re-making the flick I’d say hell no. But with QT at the wheel, it’s got to be good (but still no match to the original). In the mean time see the original in all its black and white glory, and get ready to experience the dirty, gritty, sleazy side of the 1960’s.

Dinner & Drinks: If you can get your hands on some moonshine, go for it. And Southern cooking all the way…fried chicken, biscuits, you catch my drift. If you’re brave you can try a Tura Santana Cocktail: three parts moonshine, one part hi-test gasoline, with a dash of blood. Light it up. (Tiki Lounge Talk not responsible for burnt eyebrows or damaged organs)

-Tiki Chris Pinto reporting from the back seat of the ’53 Chevy Hot Rod, at the drive-in movies behind the Tiki Bar.

Tiki Lounge Talk - The swingin’ retro & tiki culture blog for red-blooded vintage hipsters, man.

Mod Movie Monday: Midnight Cowboy, 1969

Midnight Cowboy

Look at the Poster on the left kids, to the bottom left corner. Notice the ‘X’ Rating. Back in the ’60s an X-rating was given to movies the way NC-17 ratings are given today. The X-rating was adopted by the adult film industry as “XXX” and didn’t last long in mainstream films. So don’t let the rating throw you. This is no stag reel. It’s one of the greatest dramas ever put on film. Here’s the first and only X-Rated movie to win an Oscar (three, actually)…

Midnight Cowboy, 1969

Starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman (along with performances by Brenda Vaccaro, Sylvia Miles and John McGiver).

Note from the Tiki Bar: NO SPOILERS HERE. Read on, but be careful if you’ve never seen Midnight Cowboy and search the web for info…since the movie is over 40 years old, there are spoilers everywhere. And believe me, you want to see the movie cold.

The Movie: This movie is gritty, rough, funny, poignent and fantastic. And because it’s filmed on-location, it’s got lots of great shots of the way things looked and the way people lived back in the late 1960s. From Joe Buck’s solid-state radio that he loves so much to the Cadillacs and old Checker cabs on the streets of New York, it’s like a time capsule waiting to be discovered.

Midnight Cowboy was adapted from a 1965 book by James Leo Herlihy. The director, John Schlesinger wanted to bring the story to the silver screen with Dustin Hoffman in the role of Ratso Rizzo, a small-time conman living on the streets. Actors like Warren Beatty were considered for the role of Joe Buck, the Texas ‘cowboy’ who moves to New York City to make it rich as a hustler…a male prostitute to rich women. Schlesinger finally chose Jon Voight, a relatively unknown actor for Joe Buck, feeling that by doing so the character would be more believable. A magic combination was born.

"I'm walkin' here!"

There’s no way I can lay down  how powerful this movie is here, especially if you’ve ever been broke with dreams of living in paradise. There are several themes going on in this flick. One is of Joe Buck trying to be something better than a dishwasher, and relying on his looks to get rich. Another is of Ratso Rizzo, looking for someone who will help him get off the streets and down to Miami, where he believes he can live out the rest of his days in luxury (and even overcome his handicap). And of course there’s the bond that forms between the two, so strong that it’s sometimes mistakenly interpreted as a homosexual relationship (spoiler: it’s not a homosexual relationship).

The Cinematography: This movie wasn’t shot, it was crafted. From the camera angles to the background music to the imagery of the cold winter juxtaposed with the bright Miami Beach scene, every frame in this movie has something to say. Plus it’s got one of the craziest, best mod-psychadelic sequences in any movie to come out of the era…the party scene, a la Village 1968, which actually includes cameos by ‘Warhol Superstars’ Viva and Ultra Violet. Drugs, strange imagery, weird music, far-out people and lunch meats make this one of the best scenes in a flick full of great scenes.

Midnight Cowboy Parodied in Futurama

The Icons: Even if you’ve never caught this movie chances are you’ve seen or heard something that references it. The line “I’m Walkin’ Here!” was first shouted by Ratso Rizzo in this film. The iconic image of the cowboy, out of place and down on his luck has been copied time and again. Hell, he even gets ketchup on his new blue jeans. References to scenes and characters have been made in numerous movies and TV shows including Forrest Gump, Back to the Future II, Futurama, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and Rizzo the Rat from The Muppet Show.

The Music: “Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me” is the song most associated with this movie, with the haunting Midnight Cowboy Theme running a close second. Originally “Everybody’s Talkin’” wasn’t supposed to be in the movie. Harry Nilson had written the song “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City” for the movie, and “Everybody’s Talkin’” was used as a stand-in song during editing. It stuck. It’s hard to imagine what this movie would be like without it. The sorrowful end theme was written by John Barry and again, has become iconic. (Note: Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” was considered for use in the film. Just wouldn’t have been the same.)

Why this post is so damned long: Cheers to you if you’ve made it this far. Ok, I know I usually promise to keep things short. I got a little carried away with this one because out of all the Mod Movie Mondays, this is probably the most serious, well made and definitely one of the best. It’s got three Oscars to prove it, too…Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Picture…plus 23 other wins and 12 nominations including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. But it’s more than that to me.

I first saw this movie when I was around ten or so. It was edited for TV, and since they edited down the sex scenes to only the slightest suggestions, most of it seemed like more of dark comedy than a drama. My parents loved this movie (on a different level) and for the remainder of their lives would quote things like “Gimme some soup” and “Dumb cowboy”.

This scene in Midnight Cowboy was shot in Hollywood, FL in front of the Great Southern Hotel. This is a few blocks from where I work. Bottom images shows the Hotel as it sits today, closed.

When I was a little older I got to see the uncut version, (which confused the hell out of me). What I picked up from it the second time around was the desperateness of the characters to get out of cold, mean city and down to Florida, where everything was bright and sunny and beautiful.  That stuck with me for years, and when I saw the movie again in my twenties, I understood all of it…and the idea of the Sunshine State being the escape from drudgery became a sleeping giant in the back of my mind.  Hell, even the theme song unintentionally refers to Florida: “I’m goin’ where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain, goin’ where the weather suits my clothes”. If anyone ever felt the desperation Enrico did, it was yours truly, kats.

In 2000 I finally “hopped on the bus” and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to start a new life with my wife Colleen. “Everybody’s Talkin’ at Me” went through my head as we crossed the border from Georgia into Florida, and the sun actually was shining through the pouring rain. And believe me, the weather suits my clothes.

Dinner & drinks: Wait ’til the end of the movie. You’ll thank heavens for anything you’ve got in the kitchen.

-Tiki Chris, AKA ChrisPFlorida reporting from where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain…