THE MOVIE OF MY LIFE PHASE ONE: Candidates for 1977

CROSS OF IRON
Those of you who were fans of Better In The Dark know my reverence of Sam Peckinpah.  Some people say this rather unique anti-war film as his last great movie, and I can understand that given it was followed by Convoy, The Osterman Weekend and some Julian Lennon videos.  What intrigues me is that this movie’s hero is James Coburn as a Nazi, and he’s fighting against the Russians.  I don’t think this take on war was common in the 70‘s, and I’m seriously intrigued to see how Peckinpah handles it.

PETEY WHEATSTRAW, THE DEVIL’S SON IN LAW
You fans of The Honeywell Experiment have heard me sing Rudy Ray Moore’s praises, who is one of the Towering Figures of Outsider Cinema.  This is the fourth feature to star Moore and is a dramatization of one of his ‘party album’ stories.  It features the flabby Moore kung-fuing his way through the plot with the aid of The Devil’s Pimp Stick. I expect a lot of swearing, a lot of rhyming, usage of the phrase 'rat soup eating muthafucker’ and the kind of nonsensical plotting that made Dolemite a glorious experience.

GOGOL 13: ASSIGNMENT KOWLOON
One of the earliest mangas that intrigued me was this epic about a super-efficient, super-cool assassin.  I knew they had made anime and a video game about the character, but I did not know--decades before we started putting comic book adaptations front and center--about this movie casting the legendary Sonny Chiba in the role.  Considering how I was impressed with Baby Cart on The River Styx, I’m curious to see how this IP is portrayed.

WHICH WAY IS UP?

I think we can all agree that if there is a Mount Rushmore of Comedy, Richard Pryor’s face deserves to be on it.  He is one of the true Icons of Comedy.  This is the film he made as a follow up to the first of his collaborations with Gene Wilder, Silver Streak.  He plays three roles, including a preacher that is supposedly one of his legendarily funny performances...and yet, it’s not talked about.  A lot of Pryor’s films are not talked about, except for the bad ones and the ones done with Wilder.  So I want to experience some of Pryor’s film work outside of the ones everyone knows...and there you are.

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