I LUV VIDEO - An Austin Original Since 1984 - Desert Island Movies

Desert Island Movies - October 15, 2008

DESERT ISLAND MOVIES - October 15, 2008

LARS NILSEN

Alamo Drafthouse

Weird Wednesday Guru

Lars Nilsen is a longtime programmer at the Original Alamo Drafthouse Theaters. He has been a cabdriver, short-order cook, prizefighter and bullfighter. "You Need A Door That Locks To Play This Game" is his first novel.

Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
I'll want something that encapsulates everything I love about the art form. This has got the mise en scene, the montage, the performers... it's the total movie.

Road to Salina (Georges Lautner, 1970)
I don't want to forget about the aching, bittersweet taste of romance, and this (almost unknown) movie is the greatest evocation of doomed young love I can think of on the screen. And it has Mimsy Farmer in it - and I'll need that.

The Bellboy (Jerry Lewis, 1960)

Greatest concentration of gags ever in a feature. I'll want to laugh a lot - and I have a theory that as I get more and more isolated on my island I'll be able to laugh heartily even (hey - especially!) at the rudimentary gags in this movie.

Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
The characters in this movie will be like my imaginary friends. It's such a loose, indulgent immersion in the lives of these totally unbelievable people. But they're very likable. And I will want to have Angie Dickinson in my life too. I will walk around singing "My Rifle, Pony And Me". Guaranteed.

Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together (Stevenson Palfi, 1982)

Speaking of music, there are a lot of music films I could choose. Monterey Pop crossed my mind. But this wins out because it captures my beloved New Orleans in the musical crosstalk of Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint and Tuts Washington. These magicians transfigure the blues of everyday sadness and disappointments into the most joyous music ever made.

SCOTT STEVENS

Proprieter/Curator

Smut Putt Heaven

Along with the Cathedral of Junk, Smut Putt Heaven Holiness Church of Wonders & Signs Following (509 Gate Tree Lane, in South Austin) is one of our city's most fascinating roadside oddities, visited by pilgrims from all over the world with an eye for the weird. It's assembled & run by a true Austin eccentric, Scott Stevens. Stevens is an ordained minister, artist, yardist, story teller & raconteur. He paints, collects bottle caps, and loves cats.

Smut Putt Heaven is described by Texas.net as "a giant cactus garden with plenty of the bizarre stuck on its spines, or just in the ground. Perhaps the oddest bit is this giant papershell pecan tree laden with baby dolls and CDs instead of leaves." That doesn't nearly do it justice.

Here's my Desert Island Movie list. I hope they have San Pedro cactus there so I can drink tea with my movies!

1) It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963)
I absolutely love this movie. Funny as can be in a non-hateful/hurtful way. Loads of stars, loads of sight gags, loads of cameos.

2) House of 1000 Corpses (Rob Zombie, 2003)

A mindblowing surrealist cartoon of a horror movie. Bill Moseley as Otis and Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding rule. A great soundtrack too! This one drove my stepdaughter nuts!

3) Pee-wee's Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985)

My introduction to Pee-wee Herman's crazy world. I especially enjoy the
preparation of PeeWee's breakfast in the very beginning. Madcap comedy that has spun some great oneliners..."There's no basement at the Alamo!"

4) Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964)
Classic Bond cinema with Sean Connery at his best. Oddjob and Pussy Galore add to the fun. Loads of great gadgets...especially his Aston Martin. Probably my all-time favorite Bond movie.

5) Dogtown and Z-Boys (Stacy Peralta, 2001)
A truly inspiring documentary of people creating a culture that still persists to this day. I have never skated but I love the intense personalities of the people interviewed here.

MR. TRASH

Anonymous Pundit

of the Cinematic Underworld

Forbidden Zone (Dir: Richard Elfman, 1980)
I became an Oingo Boingo fanatic because of this underseen classic, but it's really the pure insanity of Squeezit's floating head, the Yiddish Charleston, Herve Villachez as the philandering King of the 6th Dimension, and the absolutely astonishing presence of the one and only Susan Tyrell that keeps me watching Forbidden Zone over and over again. I probably could live without it, but I wouldn't want to.

Zombi 2 (Dir: Lucio Fulci, 1979)
It ain't Fulci's classiest horror/gore flick, and probably not even his best (I think most would agree on The Beyond for those honors), but a zombie wrestles a fucking shark underwater (!!) and Olga Karlatos suffers the second most realistic eye-gouging ever filmed. (For trivia's sake, the most realistic was featured in They Call Her One Eye, since it was real. I ain't foolin'!)

The Cheerleaders (Dir: Paul Glickler, 1973)
Something of an unexpected anomaly in the history of sex flicks, the 70s sexploitation picture was the fallout of the roughie's transformation into porn and the apparent niche market for sex without the "open heart surgery" motif XXX tends to flaunt. The finest example of the subgenre, in my opinion, is the drive-in classic The Cheerleaders, which is as stupid, raunchy, and fun as it should be. Plus, this is the only chance you'll ever get to feast your eyes on the mysterious Stephanie Fondue, which is worth the price of admission alone. If only it included the strip-powder-puff-football sequence from H.O.T.S., then this would be a 100% perfect movie.

Blood Feast (Dir: Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1963)
"Have you ever had…..an Egyptian Feast?" The Godfather of Gore's first horror outing, I guess this is sort of the genesis of the pornography of violence in horror films. And for that, Mr. Lewis, I solemnly salute thee! Fuad Ramses caters the meat of his human victims to nice middle-class white people, who gobble up his offerings with relish. Ex-centerfold Connie Mason looks appropriately dumb and pretty while HGL regular William Kerwin solves the case. This made the slasher possible folks, and it's still better than any of 'em.

Mudhoney (Dir: Russ Meyer, 1965)
My personal favorite among Meyer's brief white trash saga cycle, Mudhoney is all hillbilly hijinks replete with whorin' skinny dippin', drinkin', preachin', and lynchin'. Hal Hopper is magnificently malignant (as he was in the previous Lorna), and Rena Horten is a lovely example of the Russ Meyer girl before he lost his damn mind in the 70s and unleashed Kitten Natividad upon the unsuspecting world at large.