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The Big Heat (1953), Fritz Lang. March 25, 8pm. View count: One.
Ido zero daisakusen (aka Latitude Zero) (1969), Ishirô Honda. March 27, 10:15pm. View count: 0.9.
The Big Heat is probably one of those movies which is more instructive than it is straightforwardly enjoyable (although it is enjoyable) if only because of how systematically it has been ripped off. "[Cop's Last Name], hand in your badge! I, the Commissioner, have given you every chance, but you will not be reasonable and ignore all the bad things going on in this town!" (Cop throws down badge and storms out, premeditating his execution of vigilante law enforcement.) As far as I can tell, this is the (or a) progenitor of this trope, which, while fun to know, is still a wee bit tedious. All of the best things in this movie are better when you keep in mind how trailblazing they were, though, and this is a pretty ahead-of-its-time picture for 1953. It also has a really young Lee Marvin, before his hair turned white. Bonus: he's totally psychotic.
Latitude Zero is pretty terrible. It's MST3K fodder, not in the fun way, but in the way that means that it would be nice to have someone telling jokes over it. We fast-forwarded through the end because we had ceased to care. The best things about it are that it has a man-in-a-suit version of the king of the Island of Misfit Toys (the internet tells me that said man also was inside Godzilla's suit!), and also Cesar Romero.
Ido zero daisakusen (aka Latitude Zero) (1969), Ishirô Honda. March 27, 10:15pm. View count: 0.9.
The Big Heat is probably one of those movies which is more instructive than it is straightforwardly enjoyable (although it is enjoyable) if only because of how systematically it has been ripped off. "[Cop's Last Name], hand in your badge! I, the Commissioner, have given you every chance, but you will not be reasonable and ignore all the bad things going on in this town!" (Cop throws down badge and storms out, premeditating his execution of vigilante law enforcement.) As far as I can tell, this is the (or a) progenitor of this trope, which, while fun to know, is still a wee bit tedious. All of the best things in this movie are better when you keep in mind how trailblazing they were, though, and this is a pretty ahead-of-its-time picture for 1953. It also has a really young Lee Marvin, before his hair turned white. Bonus: he's totally psychotic.
Latitude Zero is pretty terrible. It's MST3K fodder, not in the fun way, but in the way that means that it would be nice to have someone telling jokes over it. We fast-forwarded through the end because we had ceased to care. The best things about it are that it has a man-in-a-suit version of the king of the Island of Misfit Toys (the internet tells me that said man also was inside Godzilla's suit!), and also Cesar Romero.
