Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Otto Preminger

First off, let me just say that this film has one of the greatest posters, not to mention opening credits sequences, I have ever seen in my life. Man with the Golden Arm was directed by noir master Otto Preminger. It stars Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak plays his woman on the side. Watch closely for Darren McGavin of Billy Madison and A Christmas Story fame as one of the most evil drug dealers in film history. Yeah, you heard me. This is a drug movie. Starring Frank Sinatra. In 1955. Mind blown yet?

Sinatra plays Frankie Machine, an aspiring jazz drummer and full time card shark, fresh out of rehab for heroin addiction. Zosch, his high-strung, constantly nagging, wheelchair-bound wife is sort of the femme fatale of the film. No wonder he runs right into another less annoying, much more attractive, presumably younger woman's (Novak) arms. He may be able to escape his wife, but he can't seem to shake the bad influences in his life. Just when he thinks he is out, they pull him back in. Soon he is back dealing cards to in a shady poker game, with his former H dealer practically breathing down his neck. How's a guy supposed to practice the jazz drums and make it with his broad under that kinda pressure?

Extremely controversial at the time of it's release (delayed a year due to the MPAA being a bunch of tightasses), Sinatra is surprisingly convincing as a helpless junkie. Almost a little too convincing, if you ask me. Reportedly, he literally jumped at the chance to play Frankie Machine, ousting the studio's original choice of Marlon Brando. I bet if Brando was in this movie, it would be a bit less obscure.

The entire thing was obviously filmed on a soundstage. Some would consider this a drawback, but in my opinion, it just adds to the claustrophobic feeling of the film. It's one of the first movies of its kind, as most drug movies up to that point were of the "roadshow" variety: preachy, holier-than-thou, horribly written/acted/shot. This is more like a proto-Requiem For a Dream. Man With the Golden Arm is now in public domain, so it can be easily and cheaply obtained. I saw a copy at Big Lots, for Christ's sake. However, this also means that most copies are pretty poor quality. Like, sub-VHS quality. If you can overlook that, I think you'll be pretty pleased!

Grade: A

The Trip (1967), Roger Corman

If you felt that you had to have a dude spot you while you were tripping, wouldn't you want it to be Bruce Dern? That beard, that voice... soooo soooothing. There's NO WAY you could possibly have a bad trip, right? Not if you're Paul Groves (Peter Fonda), a stressed-to-the-max commercial director in the midst of a soul-crushing divorce.

Things start off well enough. Paul asks his acid guru pal John (Dern) if he can assist him in his quest for mind expansion, so John takes Paul over to Max's (played by Dennis Hopper!) fully stocked and tricked out hippie pad. Paul's trip begins as a mighty good one, until bad thoughts start creeping in. He begins to see death, torture, and various unsavory-looking people. He freaks out and runs around the streets of Los Angeles. Can John catch up to him before he, I don't know... jumps off a bridge?

Not much plot to speak of here, as 90% of the movie consists of Paul's hallucinations. I couldn't decide if it was supposed to be for or against acid, so it's definitely not calling morals into play, as most drug movies do. It was written by Jack Nicholson(!), and he, Roger Corman, Peter Fonda, and Dennis Hopper participated in a group trip before production started. They really don't make movies like this anymore.

Grade: B+

Bad Lieutenant (1992), Abel Ferrara

"Bad" is an understatement. The nameless lieutenant, played to near perfection by Harvey Keitel, drops his kids off at school, then spends the rest of his day smoking crack, snorting coke, shooting heroin, obsessively gambling, having three ways with anonymous lesbians, and jerking off to underage girls. His whole life changes when a nun is raped in his district, forcing him to question everything he knows about Catholicism and the power of forgiveness in this modern-day allegory of Jesus Christ.

It's not an easy movie to watch. It's rated NC-17, if that tells you anything. The copious instances of drug abuse were very clinical and matter-of-fact in nature, which I found profoundly disturbing. The viewer is given no indication as to how long he had been using drugs, which is somewhat disorienting when his family is shown to basically just ignore it (and him). Clearly, this man is a walking cry for help. The only people who seem to see anything wrong with his behavior are his dealers. It's very hard to believe he can hold down a job, let alone one as a police lieutenant in NYC.

When he assists in the nun's rape investigation, he sees a chance at redemption. He wants to take it upon himself to find the rapists and bring them to his own brand of justice. The nun has been astonishingly unhelpful in the investigation thus far. She knows who raped her, but refuses to tell. He confronts her about this in what I thought was the most heart-wrenching scene in the whole film. The nun explains to Bad Lt. that she doesn't want any more attempts at justice, because she has already forgiven her attackers. He explains to her that she is not the only woman in the world, she's not even the only nun, and she is sending these rapists the message that they can rape whomever they please and get away with it. He experiences a moral metamorphosis of sorts, and finds the redemption he has been seeking all along.

I highly recommend this film, and I would say that for people who are unfamiliar with Ferrara's work, Bad Lieutenant is a good place to start. I also think it's funny that Harvey Keitel was in three films in '92: this, Reservoir Dogs, and Sister Act. (One of these things is not like the others...) Keitel's performance was very convincing, even the part where he cries. When you think of how a tough, musclebound junkie would cry, I'd say it sound pretty close to that. The ending is pretty rough, but not totally unexpected. Abel Ferrara's song over the end credits is... uhhhh... interesting, and certainly not to be missed.

Grade: A

Less Than Zero (1987), Marek Kanievska

A couple of wealthy kids get into coke, heroin, and prostitution. Their apparently straight edge friend has to pull them out of it. Apparently love conquers coke addiction, but not crack/heroin? Hmm.

A very loose adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis book of the same name, although it is more a vehicle for Brat Pack-ers Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, and Robert Downey Jr. than an honest attempt at a book-to-movie adaptation. You'd be hard pressed to find any evidence that Clay is bisexual and also takes part in the "festivities," or that Rip keeps preteen girls chained to his bed? But it was the first BEE book to be made into a movie, and they have gotten far better, thankfully. Tarantino has expressed his interest in a remake of Less Than Zero. I must admit, although I am morally opposed to remakes, that is one I would actually like to see.

I doubt that RDJ was ever even given a script. Kanievska was probably like, "Hey, Bob. Workin' on a new movie here. How 'bout you just let us follow you around with a camera for a few days?" His performance was a little too convincing is all I'm saying. Also, since it was long before I was into boys, perhaps someone a bit older than myself can enlighten me as to the appeal of Andrew McCarthy? Am I to believe he was a teen idol or something? He seems like the fucking king of the Brat Pack, because he is inexplicably in like 80% of the "good" Brat Pack movies. But he is just so blah, so bland. Not to mention a horrifically awful actor. He also laughs before he cries (in basically EVERY movie he is in), and it really disturbs the shit out of me.

So, to sum it up: Read the book.

Grade: C

Altered States (1980), Ken Russell


Eddie Jessup, a Harvard professor, has been conducting experiments to prove his theory that schizophrenics are not "crazy," their minds merely process in a different level of consciousness which non-schizos will never know. He utilizes sensory deprivation tanks, and hallucinogenic drugs to carry out his experiments. He becomes so engrossed in his research that he begins to test himself. He hears of a drug used by a tribe in Mexico, which they claim can take them back to not only their own first memory, but the first memory of the first man. They allow him to join in on their ritual, and he has the strangest hallucinations he has ever experienced. He convinces them to allow him to return to America with a good amount of the substance, and continues to experiment on himself. He ingests so much of the drug that he actually begins to genetically devolve.

Would you believe this idiot has a hot wife and two adorable little girls (one of which just happens to be Drew Barrymore)? Well he does, and therein lies the other problem. He basically abandons his family because the experiment takes over his life. Love no longer matters to him, only the pursuit of knowledge. He also calls himself an atheist, so there is a lot of really awesome, really blasphemous imagery in his hallucinations. However, I think he wants to believe in God, but God has given him nothing to believe in, and his faith or rejection of it has been a major lifelong struggle for him. In the end, he discovers the "ultimate truth," the meaning of life. I won't share it with you, but it is a damn powerful ending.

This was a really weird movie. It was written by Paddy Chayefsky, the same gentleman that wrote the media-skewering classic, Network. However, finding someone to direct it was nearly impossible. Ken Russell was actually the 27th director approached about the project. While in production, Chayefsky was so displeased with the way things had turned out that he removed his name from the project before the film was even finished. Ken Russell is kind of a weird choice, because he is most known for his work in softcore pornography, and campfests like Tommy and The Devils. I must say, I was rather impressed by the hallucination sequences. I think I got high just from watching this film. I also love the fact that William Hurt's film career started with this movie.

I would recommend this to lovers of campy science fiction or drug movies. It's definitely not for everyone.

Best Line: "I'm a man in search of his true self. How archetypically American can you get? We're all trying to fulfill ourselves, understand ourselves, get in touch with ourselves, face the reality of ourselves, explore ourselves, expand ourselves. Ever since we dispensed with God we've got nothing but ourselves to explain this meaningless horror of life."

Grade: B+