From the Couch Hole: It’s Quiet When the Tide is Low

Previously on FTCH, Baby Jane was watching “I Love Lucy” while eating Chex. The Adventures of Tintin couldn’t hold a candle to Scott Pilgrim vs. Jaws. This week I turned over another year. Thank you for all of the birthday messages. This week the postman rang twice, once for a book and again for a movie. We take a look at Scott Pilgrim’s precious little life down by the sea with the Ant Man and lemon pepper potato chips. Remember, you can get 0% APR for 60 months for well-qualified FTCH readers.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• James M. Cain – The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) (Knopf): “Not drunken kisses. Kisses with dreams in them. Kisses that come from life, not death.” Last year I was on a Dashiell Hammett Noir kick with the Continental Op stories. I dove back into the noir genre with a shorter piece from generally the same era with author Cain’s first novel. This book is short enough to be completed in a long afternoon of a fall weekend. The plot has elements of about every noir story. Drifter arrives in a small town and gets a job at a diner. He falls for the wife of the owner and they plan to off the husband. Add to the mix a few characters like the insurance investigator; another strong, independent woman; and some bumbling blackmailers. Inspired by an Emile Zola novel, this updates the plot to the tough-guy subgenre of noir stories. The story is told in the form of a confession which takes away some of the suspense, except that it manages a few nice twists. Don’t let the short length lull you, there’s quite a bit of social commentary packed into a small package.

Buy The Postman Always Rings Twice paperback

• Scott Pilgrim Takes Off – “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life” (2023) (S.1 E.1) (Netflix): “My last job is a really long story filled with sighs. Maybe we can get into it in a later episode.” – Scott Pilgrim. There were the Bryan Lee O’Malley comic books in 2004 in the manga style. Those were followed by the movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) directed by Edgar Wright. This Netflix series is the unique hybrid that’s in a weird world between remake and sequel. This episode follows the first book much closer than I’m sure the rest of the series will be able to. The anime style resembles the art style of the book and gives the series an interest that it would never have had as a traditionally animated series. Almost all of the original cast is back as vocal actors, another angle that makes this unique. I’m excited to see where they go with this crazy idea.

Buy Men at Work – Business As Usual CD

• Men at Work – “Down by the Sea” (1981) (from Business As Usual): “Just you and me / We overdosed on pleasure” It took some time for this first album to gain traction in the United States, thanks mostly to early MTV rotation. I had been interested in the album cover before I knew “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under.” This song is haunting and evocative of life by the sea (Scotland and Australia). It’s the last song on the second side of the album and a fitting finale. It’s the best drum work on the album.

• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) (Directed by Tay Garnett): “Stealing a man’s wife, that’s nothing, but stealing a man’s car, that’s larceny.” – Frank Chambers. This noir classic does something that the book didn’t manage to do – explain the title. This is a faithful adaptation in many aspects. Since the story is being told by Frank, the book gives us a good idea of the wanderlust of his character that isn’t conveyed by John Garfield. Lana Turner is beautiful and well cast. In fact, maybe she is too beautiful when compared to her husband. Making the husband a “Smith” instead of “Papadakis” takes away a very real theme of racial implications in the book. The center of the book is the true noir portion during the nighttime car trip that may or may not end up in a murder. The tension of that ride holds the beginning and end of the book together. The scene is also a key to the film, but the elements of the plan working and not working aren’t played out over the same amount of time. The film is a full two hours, but it still feels rushed. It’s a great introduction to the noir genre in film, but it’s different because the investigation of the murder isn’t the centerpiece that it would be coming from a different author.

Buy The Postman Always Rings Twice DVD

• Ant-Man (2015) (Directed by Peyton Reed): “Wait I didn’t steal anything! I was returning something I stole!” – Scott Lang. Edgar Wright’s writing credit on this film feels about the size of tiny Ant-Man. I knew at the time the importance of this character to the Avengers history and the MCU. I left the theaters declaring it the start of the end of the MCU. While the funeral might still be long in coming, this is symbolic of how the films have lost their way, with notable exceptions. The origin story is simply an espionage film. Paul Rudd is engaging as Scott Lang. The cast isn’t an issue here. The film as a standalone entity isn’t terrible either. The story in the context of the MCU is low stakes. The villain, Yellowjacket, isn’t one to carry a full film. The action happens outside of the plot at all points except the final battle. CGI is cool, but I get it, you can get big and get small, over and over and over. I find it hard to put any of this, good or bad, on Edgar Wright’s writing. I don’t think my initial opinion has changed much, it just looks better against some of the crap that followed.

Buy Ant-Man Blu-ray

Best of the Rest

• The holiday ads will start dropping faster than I can keep up in the next few weeks. Early to the game is this very pleasant Gap ad. Much like the quality basic clothing of the Gap, this ad doesn’t try to do anything other than have a sweet a capella version of Janet Jackson’s “Together Again.” The harmonies make me feel good.

• You had me at “Crunch Tators.” The beloved Lay’s chips are returning to Dollar General stores this month. As you watch Home Alone (1990) and see Kevin eating his junk food, you’ll want to match him with your own bag of Crunch Tators. There will be three flavors – Original, Mighty Mesquite, and Hoppin’ Jalapeno. I’d suggest two bags of each.

• Entertainment Weekly (3/28/97): “Best Commercials of All-Time” #44 – “Bic – Flick Your Bic”: “Why just light up when you can flick your Bic.” First mentioned in 1972 and debuting in 1973, the Bic lighter advertised to light at least 3000 times. Previously known as primarily a pen company, this lighter and brand became ubiquitous for smokers. I love the risque aspect to this ad campaign. I couldn’t find my favorite one, “Myron and I have a liberated marriage. I flick his Bic as often as he flicks mine.”

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• On the Sunday Morning Tuneage from 5/31/2009, it had been a long week of baseball for the boys. I had at least one game each night. We were attending Woofstock for Dee to dance. Little did we know at the time that we were mere months from getting our beloved Miles. My #47 Favorite Film of All-Time was Duck Soup (1933). The last of the five Marx Brothers films that Paramount would release was one of the first ones that I saw in the ’80s. This is a comfortable ranking for one of the funniest films of the century. Rufus T. Firefly is my favorite Groucho character. The plot still feels current. According to Jim (ABC) was having a Series Finale when most people thought it had ended years before. So You Think You Can Dance (FOX) was my favorite summer show running. The Dick Cavett Show was running on TCM as a great alternative to the summer programming. The Quick List of the Week definitely needs a second look.
  • BEST FILMS SET IN TEXAS (2009)
    • 10.  Suburbia (1996).  Richard Linklater will fare well on this list.
    • 9.  Giant (1956).  Pretty stereotypical Texas here – but James Dean is what every Texan would want to be.
    • 8.  The Last Picture Show (1971).  About as much Texan as you can get.  This film feels like a documentary.
    • 7.  No Country for Old Men (2007).  You got that right, friendo.
    • 6.  Blood Simple (1984).  The Coens have as good a feel for Texas as they do Minnesota.
    • 5.  The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).  Can’t leave out this one – the original, please.
    • 4.  Slacker (1990).  Linklater captures the weird Austin spirit perfectly.
    • 3.  Rio Bravo (1959)
    • 2.  Bottle Rocket (1996).  Shows the laid-back, not-so-serious side of North Texas.
    • 1.  Dazed and Confused (1993).  That’s an easy one and it’s surprising how much of my Michigan high-school experience that it mirrors too.
  • BEST FILMS SET IN TEXAS (2024)
    • 10. Giant (1956): This film is the reason that a trip out to Marfa is still on my Bucket List. This beautiful film needs to be seen in a theater.
    • 9. Friday Night Lights (2004): It doesn’t take long to live here to see that this is just about every town in Texas.
    • 8. Blood Simple (1984): This film could have been set in Minnesota as opposed to Texas. When they set it in the Hill Country, it just took on a new level of meaning.
    • 7. Rio Bravo (1959): It would be easy to just make a list of the Top Ten Westerns set in Texas. This Howard Hawks isn’t rife with beautiful long shots of the Texas countryside. Instead it’s a nice reflection of the spirit of the Texan people.
    • 6. No Country for Old Men (2007): Cormac McCarthy has a good instinct for dialog and the dusty West Texas environment. Paired with the Coen Bros sense of pacing, this is a pretty perfect film.
    • 5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): I can attest to this ranking based upon a recent theatrical viewing. The script and filming perfectly capture that small-town Texas of the era.
    • 4. Fandango (1985): A late entry into the race, since my first viewing of the film was just a couple of years ago. Once again, for all the attraction of the big cities of the Eastern half of Texas, nothing captures the imagination like West Texas.
    • 3. The Last Picture Show (1971): The longer I live here, the more I feel in sync with the themes and nostalgia.
    • 2. Hud (1963): This story of the death of the West, told in terms of generational cattle ranching, has taken on even larger meaning as the oil industry dries up in modern times.
    • 1. Dazed and Confused (1993): Nothing has happened in 15 years to knock this film off its perch. In fact, I’d say that it’s run up the score by showing staying power across generations of viewers.
  • The list has dual criteria for me. It needs to be a good film, that’s at least half of the rank. It needs to use the Texas setting as a key element to the themes and plot for the second half of the ranking. There are films that I really wanted to find room for here like Tender Mercies (1983) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967) where the Texas setting didn’t seem as germane to the story. There are films that might make a future list that I just haven’t watched yet including Boyhood (2014) and American Sniper (2014).

1974 in Review

• November – The Brave and the Bold #115 (DC Comics): Cover and Interior Art by Jim Aparo. Written by Bob Haney. The original story, “The Corpse That Wouldn’t Die” has Batman dead from an electrical current. He is brought back to life by the Atom reviving his molecules. The rest are reprints including The Atom #4 which features a very Ant-Man-ish story. The Atom just couldn’t gain the same traction in the DC Universe.
• November 11 – After Taiwan won the 1974 Little League World Series for the fourth time in five years, the League banned International teams from the competition. In 1976, they would rescind the ban, but International teams would be put in their own bracket to insure an American team appeared in the Finals.
• November 13 – Ronald Joseph DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed all six members of his family as they slept in their beds at 112 Ocean Ave in Amityville, NY. The Lutz family would purchase the home in 1975. Their supernatural experiences became the basis for the 1977 book, The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson and the 1979 film adaptation.

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“Listen to your heart
Screamin’ at the sky
Can’t you feel it tremble?
Don’t you wonder why?” – Men At Work

Stay hard.

Shawn