Tuesday, September 11, 2007

"It's times like this that I'm glad to be a robot."


Truer words were never spoken. The Coalition for Cinematic Conservation and Preservation - Southern California Chapter (CCCP-SCC) is the umbrella organization under whose aegis the Thrift Store Movie screenings at the the Hammer and numerous programs at The Echo Park Film Center (including Mormon Media and Wienergeist 1: The Cinema of the Hot Dog) are organized. On occasion our organization will endorse a film of not particularly ephemeral or educational nature. One such film is 'Starcrash' (original title: 'Scontri Stellari Oltre la Terza Dimensione'), a 1979 Roger Corman-produced Italian Star Wars ripoff that was found on VHS in a thrift store in Oroville.

Starring Marjoe Gortner, Hammer beauty Caroline Munro, permanently beleagured Christopher Plummer, and featuring the screen debut of David Hasselhoff, 'Starcrash' has been reissued on DVD and developed a considerable cult following, as evidenced by this dissertation on salon.com, this page featuring downloadable sound samples and stills as well as a tart but glowing review, and this over-the-top fansite. All questions of condescending "so bad its good" critiques aside, some of the visuals in this film are transcendent in their beautiousness. And I'm an art critic. (And I think I'm getting an idea for my next curatorial project... Omaggio a Armando Valcauda!)

Gortner's B-movie career was kicked off by the Oscar-winning documentary 'Marjoe' which followed the former Pentecostal child evangelist in his ambivalent attempt to reconcile his youthful experiences with his adult counterculture worldview through an awkward return to the revival tent circuit. His last role to date was as a preacher in Walter Hill's 'Wild Bill' (1995). He was briefly married to Candy Clark, on whom David Bowie vomited in 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'. Most recently Gortner has been sponsoring charity golf tournaments.



The Great John Barry - who was tricked into scoring 'Starcrash' - later reused the haunting theme music for 'Out of Africa', which earned him an Oscar. All roads lead to the Academy.

5 comments:

Mr. Homegrown said...

Time for another screening at the EPFC!

Jacques de Beaufort said...

hey Doug
I clicked on you from Kulturedrome
nice blog.
I read your essay in the Steve Canaday catalog.
Here's a piece I wrote about Steve last year, you might find it interesting:
http://jacquesdebeaufort.blogspot.com/2006/12/steve-canaday.html
Best,
Jacques de Beaufort

Jacques de Beaufort said...

...oh and some photos from the opening:
http://jacquesdebeaufort.blogspot.com/2007/09/steve-canaday-at-black-dragon-society.html

DougH said...

Merci Jacques, i'll post a bit from my essay shortly and link to your piece.

sroden said...

finally watched starcrash this evening... silence is usual, but extended due to marfa visit... holy crap some of the images and colors are stunning, like thomas wilfred did the lighting design, and the john barry score is incredible, i can't imagine how sappy it must've been in out of africa, because it kicked butt in this, shifting the entire mood of the film, it should be shown in all film scoring classes to show how much good music can effect cinema under any circumstances! now i'll have to read the links, i'm hooked... great stuff. (by the way, what the hell was the robot's voice... and david hasselhoff with mascara...). the dvd looks like it was ripped from a vhs tape, so everyone should pester criterion to do it up right :-).