My father has this saying lately - everything old is new again. Maybe it's just a phrase to help him sleep better at night, knowing the 60's are now 5 decades behind us, but he does have a point. If you wait long enough, everything old is new again...just to a whole new generation of people. Enter stage left - the TMMC Classic Collection. Time and again, TMMC will dig deep into the movie vault...before Johnny Depp grew a crustache, before Pee Wee had his big adventure, before Liz Taylor started howling at the moon...and pull out an oldie for your consideration. Maybe you've seen it, maybe you haven't - but hopefully it'll turn you on to a generation of movies that passed you by.
First up in the TMMC Classic Collection - the 1967 movie Wait Until Dark. Based on the 1966 play of the same name, the movie is the story of a recently blinded woman, Audrey Hepburn, who's psychologically terrorized by drug dealers as they search for a stash of heroin they believe is hidden in a doll in her apartment.
I began watching this movie thinking it's from the 60's, of course it can't be scary - and for a good hour I took pride in thinking I was right. But like that feeling you get in your bowels an hour after eating Red Lobster, all of a sudden I started getting this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Luckily it was just anxiety. This movie surprisingly sneaks up on you until you realize your white knuckling the pillow on your lap.
Audrey Hepburn is fantastic in her Oscar nominated performance and an unrecognizable Alan Arkin, Grandpa in Little Miss Sunshine, is, dare I say, sublime as the psychopathic villain. Ironically both characters have an affinity for smack, coincidence? Watching this truly sick character screw around mentally with a blind woman is not only nauseating at times, but truly terrifying. Could you imagine being recently blinded and fighting for your life against intruders in your house!? And we're not talking about some kinky role-playing here. The entire movie is really set up for the last 45 minutes, which is cinematic genius, with superior lighting and direction decisions.
A few times I had to ask myself if this movie could even be made in today's PC world, particularly because at times they made the main character seem so helpless that it might seem offensive by those affected by blindness. That said, SPOILER ALERT, when you see who gets the last laugh, or deathblow, you finally see her portrayed as a genius, a la Kevin from Home Alone. Joe Pesci gets off easy in comparison.
To truly enjoy this movie, you do have to suspend some reality or understand you're watching a movie from a different time. A time where, apparently, no one locked their doors and it was common to let someone into your home when they say they're a friend of your husband's. What times those must've been. I mean, I give the mailman suspicious looks if he lingers around the hall too long and ask any repair man for two forms of i.d. There were other parts of the movie that I just didn't understand, either due to some odd writing decisions or 60's references long past their expiration date, but it really didn't matter. They weren't integral to the storyline and certainly weren't distracting enough to be a problem.
An old school thriller, it may not compare to Hannibal Lecter's antics, but it proves you don't have to rip off someone's face to instill fear in audiences. Just some good actors, writers and directors. By today's standards, it's probably not terrifyingly scary, but if I saw it in the theater I bet I'd be clutching the nearest person, no matter how awkwardly uncomfortable for the stranger next to me.
I made the mistake of watching this alone in the dark one night and, in all honesty, I slept with the t.v. on that night. It may be more than 40 years old, but Wait Until Dark is still worth a good sleepless night and girlie gasp to this day, deserving a DO A MATINEE!
Give yourself the chills and check it out!
To truly enjoy this movie, you do have to suspend some reality or understand you're watching a movie from a different time. A time where, apparently, no one locked their doors and it was common to let someone into your home when they say they're a friend of your husband's. What times those must've been. I mean, I give the mailman suspicious looks if he lingers around the hall too long and ask any repair man for two forms of i.d. There were other parts of the movie that I just didn't understand, either due to some odd writing decisions or 60's references long past their expiration date, but it really didn't matter. They weren't integral to the storyline and certainly weren't distracting enough to be a problem.
An old school thriller, it may not compare to Hannibal Lecter's antics, but it proves you don't have to rip off someone's face to instill fear in audiences. Just some good actors, writers and directors. By today's standards, it's probably not terrifyingly scary, but if I saw it in the theater I bet I'd be clutching the nearest person, no matter how awkwardly uncomfortable for the stranger next to me.
I made the mistake of watching this alone in the dark one night and, in all honesty, I slept with the t.v. on that night. It may be more than 40 years old, but Wait Until Dark is still worth a good sleepless night and girlie gasp to this day, deserving a DO A MATINEE!
Give yourself the chills and check it out!
1 comment:
Gosh, it just gets keeps getting better. Do more TMMC Classic Collection reviews - I want to hear more about these films!
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