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Movie Review of the Day:

UHF

UHF... one of the splendid films of my youth. I remember when this movie came out and the television station was giving away tickets and there was going to be a huge event at the theater that weekend. I really wanted to be there, yet my family was going out of town that weekend and I had no choice but to envy those that attended. When we got back home, I was surprised to read the reviews that said that this film was a travesty and an insult to comedies. I waited until it came out on video (since going to the movies required a few hours of begging my parents for a ride into town). When I finally did see this film, I was amazed at how funny it was. The reviewers are just morons, I concluded.

These days, film studios are releasing all of their films that are loved and adored by fans. And with the advent of cable television, UHF has done something many films in this position have: become a cult classic. Sure, its following is small, but it's savage. Essentially, UHF is a vehicle for the God of Musical Parody, 'Weird' Al Yankovic, probably intended to promote him as a movie funnyman a la Leslie Nielsen. Despite being riddled with great jokes and a funny premise, the film never made Yankovic a leading man.

George Newman (Yankovic) is given control of a UHF station by his gambling Uncle Harvey. Under the control of the innovative young man, U62 goes from a constant relayer of reruns to a powerhouse of original programming. Leading the pack is the children's show hosted by U62's wacky janitor, Stanley Spadowski (a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards), but other great programs include "Wheel of Fish," "Strip Solitaire," "Celebrity Mud Wrestling" (with special guest Mikhail Gorbachev).

When the little station-that-could starts threatening the ratings of network affiliate Channel 8, sadistic head honcho Kevin McCarthy starts making plans to stomp on the competition, with any means necessary.What makes this work is that there are literally thousands of jokes in this film, ranging from quick physical bits to minor film references (George makes a mountain out of his potatoes and starts exclaiming that it means something) to full-out movie parodies (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rambo: First Blood, Part II get a good grilling).

There's no complicated jokes, no long set-ups - just gag after gag after gag.And therein lies what is also very wrong with UHF; It tries too hard, and forgets the number one rule of great comedy - "Timing is everything." There's no relief from the deluge of funny stuff, and it becomes just this huge long squawk of somewhat amusing material. It can become mind-numbing.

I recommend watching the film in half-hour increments, pausing for a few moments to cleanse the palate, so to speak.Yankovic, for all his brilliance in crafting jokes of hit pop singles, cannot carry a film very well. His comic acting consists of battering his head against things, making weird faces, and speaking in a voice that defines "geeky." However, you really have to admire his earnestness. You can tell that he desperately wants to make you laugh. It may not work, but the effort is certainly appreciated.UHF will not be everybody's cup of tea.

Rent it and give it a try. You'll probably either absolutely love it or savagely hate it. It's one of those kind of divisive films. It's good a few minor chuckles, perhaps a guffaw here and there, but it will never be a classic of the comedy genre, like My Man Godfrey or even There's Something About Mary. It just is what it is, and you may have to discover whether that's good or bad for yourself.

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Garbage Pail Kids and Baoding Balls

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Movie Review of the Day:

GARBAGE PAIL KIDS THE MOVIE

Oh my God. That is exactly what I said when I first heard about this film while I was in seventh grade. I was an avid GPK collector and I had stacks and stacks of series 2 and 3 at the time. In fact, I had every single card in both of those series' and the 4th series was about to debut. It was a magical time for a kid like me who enjoyed gross-out humor and photos of babies doing disgusting acts, such as pooping and barfing.

So there I was, lined up at the theater on opening day with all of my tattered GPK cards in hand (I have no idea why I had to bring the cards with me). My dad was shopping at Orchard Supply Hardware, so I was able to hitch a ride and spend my allowance on this film. It was such a wonderful moment to find myself the first person in line for the 12:00 showing. Then I was troubled. I was the only person in line when the usher unlocked the door. Surely I was not going to be the only one in the theater for this fine cinematic gem!

I paid my $3.50 and headed for the auditorium as giddy as a pig sitting in fresh poop. I sat down and watched the stupid previews as I noticed that nobody was coming into the theater. Then the movie started and I forgot about the lack of viewers. Oh my God.

Here are my recollections of that film. You see, movies can come from many inspirations and sources. There are novels, plays, true stories, comic-books, video games and...trading cards? You may never have seen a Topps Rated Rookie Movie or a Hot Rod Film, but Garbage Pail Kids seemed to have the personality to make this movie work. A lower-lever trading card (such as the knockoff Trash Can Tots) would not make great cinema, but GPK could pull it off, in my young mind.

Barf, poop, farts, drool, and a crocodile-headed kid were the stuff dreams are made of. I watched with great glee as my favorite star, the young and super-cool Mackenzie Austin (of Facts of Life fame), came out and made me believe that the Garbage Pail Kids were real. I don't remember much about the movie except that there was a really hot 80's girl named Tangerine in it, a fashion show, and one psuedo-sexual scene where the girl named Tangerine takes off her shirt and reveals... a purple bra.

I remember Messie Tessie getting snot all over everything the movie; I remember Windy Winston farting all of the time; I remember Nat Nerd peeing all over the place; I remember Ali Gator trying to bite people; I remember Greaser Greg being a puppet-headed dunce; I remember Foul Phil, the smoking baby, who has bad breath; I remember Valarie Vomit who pukes all over the place.

The producers should have asked kids which GPK characters were the most popular. The Kids picked for this film were not even popular cards on the playground. I guess it is asking too much when I go into these philosophical debates with movie studios. Well, let's continue.

There was also some plot about Tangerine being a bad girl and locking the kids in the basement so her goons are able to kidnap and sell them off to the State Home For the Ugly. Once inside, we find out that all the other Garbage Pail Kids were murdered, and our heroes are next on the kill list. They're locked up in a cage alongside some of the world's other uglies: Santa Claus (too fat), Ghandi (too thin), and a clown, because he's 'too funny.' Trust me, it's much worse than it sounds. Finally, the Kids escape and let everyone else from their cages. Now they're ready for REVENGE!

The other day I rented this old chestnut from Nextflix. All I could say was Oh My God. After rewatching this film, I have come to two conclusions: either my parents did a lot of drugs while I was in the womb, or I was mentally retarded when I watched and enjoyed this film as a kid. Where can I start? The animatronics make Howard The Duck look like George Lucas-quality CGI. Where the hell is Jim Henson when you need him? So bad is the puppetry that the kids cannot even close their mouths and no one even bothered to lip-sync the dialogue.

The Kids are also disgusting beyond reason (as one who is familiar with the trading cards would expect). But after while they tend to grow on you (like an ulcer) and if you switch your brain off you might find that the film is alright. There's nothing magical here. Even for a film packed with horrendously 80's fashion and production design there isn't even much nostalgic appeal.

After seeing this film on DVD, I have decided that I would rather watch The Ewok Adventures back-to-back for a week with my eyes help open (a'la Alex on A Clockwork Orange) than watch Garbage Pail Kids The Movie again. The simple fact that the film was left with an open-end (oh God, please don't let there be a sequel) just pains me and I am extremely happy that films that leave the theater in one week are usually not allowed to have sequels.

I have kids now and I understand why parents did not want their children to see this film. It is not because the content is offensive; it is because the movie is just plain idiodic and the producers of this film must have believed that all children are mentally retarded. This film is one of the worst pieces of cinematic junk that I have ever seen. Thank God I survived after watching this mess.

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Sssssss and Baoding Balls

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Movie Review of the Day:

Sssssss

What can I say about this film? The title and poster say "schlock" about as loudly as I can imagine. Is this film good? Not really. Is it fun to watch? I would give that a yes.

I first saw this movie on channel 26's Creature Feature on a Saturday afternoon. My local station used to show schlocky monster movies at 12:00pm on Saturdays (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMWkqRFbHTk&feature=related) and I did whatever I had to do to be home and in front of the TV to catch a glimpse of the not-so-scary monster movies that were showcased at this time.

I was treated to my first viewing of "Night of the Living Dead" during this show, as well as "Son of the Blob" and "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". It was with great gusto that I sat down on that July afternoon and watched "Sssssss!"

Snakes... my wife hates them and when I say "hate", I mean she loathes them to the point where she won't even look at images of them. She is scared of cartoon snakes and will maul me to death if I even mention the word 'snake'. In fact, if I just start making a "sss" sound, I will be punched, slapped, or similarly maimed. As you can guess, I cannot even ask for the "salt" because it starts with an S. Myself, I have a fear of zombies, particularly those lumbering, George Romero ones (I think it has to do with the slow moving, large groups that will eat you to death), but at least I can enjoy films that feature them. Needless to say, Sssssss is a film I'd never be able to get her to watch with me... at least not without tying her to a chair and holding her eyes open with toothpicks like Alex on A Clockwork Orange.

Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski (Attack of the Giant Leeches, Krakatoa, East of Java), the film stars Strother "What we have here is a failure to communicate" Martin (Cool Hand Luke, The Wild Bunch), Dirk Benedict ("Battlestar Galactica", "The A-Team"), and Heather Menzies (Hawaii, Piranha), probably best known for her role as Louisa von Trapp from the film The Sound of Music (1965). Also appearing is Richard B. Shull (Splash), Tim O'Connor (Across 110th Street), Jack Ging (High Plains Drifter), and former USC football player and professional boxer Reb Brown ("Captain America", Yor, the Hunter from the Future), in his first silver screen appearance.

Strother Martin plays Dr. Carl Stoner, a herpetologist (one who studies reptiles) who specializes in the filed of ophiology (snakes), assisted by his daughter Kristina (Menzies), both of whom live on the outskirts of a small college town. Seems when the good doctor isn't collecting venom samples or engaging in snake handling demonstrations for the slack jawed yokels, he's busy working on a serum derived from snake venom whose purpose has yet to be determined. In need of a new assistant (his previous one `left' under mysterious circumstances), Stoner contacts an acquaintance at the college, a professor named Dr. Ken Daniels (Shull) who offers up a young student named David Blake (Benedict). David accepts the opportunity and moves in with Stoner and his daughter, where the doctor immediately begins David on a series of `inoculations', supposedly intended to build up his immunity to snake venom for protection in the event he gets bitten (yeah, right).

Anyway, David and Kristina start getting chummy (precipitated by a skinny dipping incident in a nearby lake, one that includes some carefully placed foliage), and David starts noticing some very subtle changes in his body to which Stoner brushes off as perfectly normal side effects to the inoculations (oh, those scales are the result of an allergic reaction...sure). After some business with a local jocko a-hole college football star (Brown) who's got the hots for Kristina, David soon finds himself in a world of trouble as the changes, while still occurring, aren't so subtle anymore.

Stoner, learning of Kristina's involvement with David, tries to warn her off, but she sees the attempt as purely interference from an overprotective father (seems she's unaware of her father's experimental activities). As you can imagine, things start going seriously downhill from here... While Sssssss was a feature film, it does have a made for 1970s TV feel about it most likely due to the fact most of the performers (with the exception of Martin) and the director previous experiences were limited to television work. I did enjoy this film, but there really wasn't a huge mystery in terms of what was going on or where the film was headed as the story, especially the opening sequence, tended to give away enough for an experienced viewer make their own conclusions early in the feature.

Despite this I still thought the film was a lot of fun, as it moved along well and featured enough creepiness to keep me engaged throughout (the transformation bit at the end was seriously warped). I thought Strother Martin did pretty well, as he wasn't really an evil scientist, but a seriously demented figure who took the whole naturalism gig a little too far, able to rationalize his activities (to himself, at least) for the sake bettering mankind. I did learn a number of things from this film including the following...

1. Old men and snakes enjoy a nip of booze now and again.

2. Never go sticking your grubby mitts into a herpetologist's car.

3. People tend to fear snakes for same reason they fear minority groups.

4. In terms of snakes, the king cobra seems the most uppity.

5. The Leather Tuscadero mullet hairstyle seemed oddly popular with women in the early 1970s.

6. The ability to shoot accurately apparently isn't a prerequisite for becoming a law enforcement official in a small town.

7. Never get into a tussle with Reb Brown as he'll toss you around like a rag doll.

8. Reb Brown doesn't have to pay for it...never has, and never will.

9. Nothing gets a woman you don't know in the mood for action like climbing up the side of her house and sneaking in through her bedroom window at night while she's sleeping.

10. Never get on the bad side of a herpetologist as they may just toss a poisonous snake in the shower with you.

11. Snakeman have a really annoying preponderance towards whimpering.

12. Strother Martin had a lot more guts than I ever will as far as his willingness to mess about with poisonous snakes.

It should be noted most all the snakes depicted in the film were real. Whether or not any were harmed during filming is unclear. The film is rated PG so the violence is pretty low key i.e. safe for television broadcast, but there are a couple of nekkid sequences involving the showing of male bumcakes (primarily Reb Brown in a shower with a semi-opaque shower curtain). There's a really funny bit where David and Kristina go skinny dipping, and both strip down, most of their naughty bits obscured by some strategically placed leaves, Austin Powers style.

I thought the makeup, specifically in relation to David developing reptilian features, quite good, at least for the time the film was made. One aspect of the film did seem a little strange, and that was the ending. While it was downbeat, it also felt abrupt as if perhaps the writers had painted themselves into a corner and had nowhere left to go, so they just ended it as best he could. Regardless, the film is still a lot of fun, especially if you dig on ookie creature films of the 1970s.

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Little Darlings and Baoding Balls

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Movie Review of the Day:

Little Darlings

Ok, I admit that I am a lover of trashy B-movies. I love the old drive-in flicks of my youth and I miss the old local grindhouse (Fresno's Manchester Cinema) where you could see two trashy B-movies for $2 or the drive-in (Fresno's Drive In next to Malibu Grand Prix) where you could see a double-feature for $5 a carload. I miss the sticky floors, the stale popcorn, the dazed-eyed ticket girls, and the ushers that didn't dare try to quiet people down or make them act civilized. It was a grand old time.

You see, that was the appeal of grindhouses and drive-ins. You could watch movies with friends on the cheap and have a rip-roaring good ol' time. The experience was more than movies... it was almost like a right-of-passage and it gave many young folks an appreciation for trashy cinema with scratched negatives and mis-synched sound. Plus, you got to socialize and hang out, which gave you something to look forward to on the weekends.

Today's kids don't have any of that in their lives. They rush home from school to check out some message board or social networking site and spend all weekend on the computer instead of eating stale popcorn, sticky Mike and Ike's, and drinking flat soda while watching a couple of exploitation flims with friends. So sad.

Do you remember going to school on Monday and reenacting the movie or spoiling the ending for those lamers who didn't go to the movies? How about telling everybody about who was making-out, who got in a fight, and who got dumped at the movies? Today kids just text-message the news or upload some stupid viral video. The art of story-telling and exaggeration has been lost on this generation. I pitty the fools.

Now on to the movie. Little Darlings is a guilty pleasure if I ever had one. Christy McNichol was the girl of my dreams when I saw this movie for the first time and she has continued to be quite an attractive woman throughout her troubled life. Her "butch" attitude, while being totally femenine, was what grabbed me. She was cute but you knew that she would probably slap the hell out you if you got out of line. I like that in a woman.

The story is about a group of teenage girls that go to summer camp and bet on which of the two of them will lose their virginity first. After that, they choose targets, or guys they want to be the ones they lose the virginity with. Unbeknownst to the adults, all the girls in camp bet money on the contest and divide into two "teams," each rooting and egging on either Ferris or Angel. At the same time, the girls engage in typical teenager acts of fun, such as food fights and other activities.
The girls involved in the contest are opposites and rivals: cynical, suspicious and streetwise poor girl Angel Bright (McNichol) and romantic rich girl Ferris Whitney (O'Neal). Both girls discover that "it" is not what they thought it was.

Tatum O'Neal was cute, but too stuck-up for my tastes. Her role was McNichol's foil, but at the hands of another girl who seemed to be the shrewdest of instigators. The contest was well-played and the entire film seemed totally plausable. I enjoyed the tension, the dialogue, and the conclusion. In all, it is a very solid film.

The young Cynthia Nixon (the Flower Child) was a plesant surprise and I rather enjoyed the fact that the girls in the film appeared to be the ages of the roles they were portraying. Much like the newer (and more shocking) film "Kids", this movie plays with the audience's perception of youth and innocence. It is pure exploitation at its finest.

Whenever this film comes on cable, I must stop what I am doing and watch it. I'll relive the night when I saw this movie at the Drive-in with my friends and we were praying for a nudie-shot that never came. I remember the $5 pizza that I bought from the snack bar that was not worth $1 and the flat and tepid Pepsi that I bought. I remember Josh, Alex, and Danny all making moves on their girls and me being too wrapped up in the movie to pay my girl too much attention.

I remember the drive up to Sky Harbor Road (the local Make-Out spot) in Josh's 1964 Chevy Impala and the fizzy pony-keg in the trunk. The view from Sky Harbor Road was beautiful (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1005/1425482016_e7fdb51958.jpg?v=1190503278) and the evening was filled with laughter during that hot August night. Those were the times of my life and Little Darlings was there to guide me through it. I give this film an A+.

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Movie Review of the Day:

Death Proof

Death Proof is a 2007 film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, about a psychopathic stunt man who targets young women, murdering them with his "death proof" stunt car. The film, a tribute to the muscle car movie genre of the 1970s, stars Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Sydney Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rose McGowan. Death Proof was released theatrically in the United States as part of a double feature with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror under the title Grindhouse in order to replicate the experience of viewing exploitation films in a "grindhouse" theater.

While this film aims to emulate the B-movies of the late 70's, I hold this movie far and above anything produced in that period. Don't get me wrong, this flick is pure schlock, but it is engrossing, fun, and the dialogue makes it almost like slam-poetry. The way the characters talk and the vocabulary (not to mention the plethora of pop-culture refrences) is pure music to my ears.

The girls are well-cast and each is used to their maximum potential. In particular, Zoe Bell is my favorite because she is so real. Tracy Thoms is one of my fantasy-girls and so is the too-hot-to-hold Rosario Dawson. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is the weakest of the second set of girls, but somebody had to be.

The first set of girls is great. I think the only lag in the film happens when the girls act out the "Butterfly moment". It is a necessary part of the film but I felt bored while I watched that part. And how could I forget... Sydney Poitier is just plain freakin' hot. Her character is a skeezeball, but I have seen her in other films and she can be very alluring.

I really dig the opening credits since they bring up such a nostalgic feeling for 70's schlock. The music for this scene, provided by the legendary Jack Nitzsche, is pure fun. The way that Tarantino shot the film is incredible and I commend him for really getting to the heart of what 70's exploitation films are and then making a really classy version of one.

Now we head on to Stuntman Mike, played with great pleasure by Kurt Russell. He is Snake Plissken with human vulnerabilities. He is not pure instinct and he is totally human. If I saw Rosario Dawson's feet sticking out of a car window, I would probably do what he did if I could get away with it. He is THE MAN!

My only regret is a double-edged sword. I wish that Sylvester Stallone had been able to play Stuntman Mike, as was originally planned. The only problem with that scenario is that we would not have been party to Kurt Russell's take on the character. Oh well, maybe next time.

This film flopped at the theaters. It was a major disappointment for all parties involved except for the audience. From my research, this film has had an excellent second life on DVD and cable tv broadcasts. I know I own the DVD but I still tune in when it comes on Starz. The Grindhouse version is adequate, but the full DVD version is awesome. If you have not seen the DVD version, snap yourself with a wet towel and then go rent this version. You will not be disappointed.

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MOVIE REVIEW OF THE DAY:

Two of a Kind

No, I am not reviewing that John Travolta/Olivia Newton John turd that effectively ruined Travolta's career until Quentin Tarantino rediscovered him. I hated that film and I wish I could wash the memory from my mind. It was terrible.

The film I am reviewing today is the George Burns/Robby Benson flick Two of a Kind. This movie is something that I remember from my fifth grade "Movie Day" with my cute teacher, Mrs. Ashlock. She popped this movie into the VCR and we sat back and watched it with home-popped popcorn and tepid Pepsi poured from a two liter bottle.

In this film, Nolie Minor (Robby Benson) and his elderly grandfather, Ross Minor (George Burns), are two of a kind in that nobody seems to believe in them but each other. Nolie, a mentally retarded 21-year-old man with the intelligence of a child, goes to a special school for the mentally retarded and lives at home with his parents, who can't seem to agree on how to raise their son.

His father (Cliff Robertson) struggles with embarassment over Nolie's disability and wants to see him independant as an adult, while his overprotective mother (Barbara Barrie) is unwilling to let him go and still treats him like a child. Meanwhile, 81-year-old Ross is left by Nolie's parents in a nursing home, where he is given medications that seem to take all the life out of him.

When Nolie goes to the home to visit his grandfather for the first time in two years, he is shocked and heartbroken to find him bound to a wheelchair, unable to respond or communicate. However, he is determined to bring his grandfather back to the old "Papa Ross" that he has once known. Nolie visits him frequently in the home to do exercises with him and spend time with him, and gradually sees Ross improve back to the way he was.

At the same time, Nolie learns some valuable lessons about life from his grandfather, who frequently calls him "Einstein" and encourages him to always believe in himself. In summation, this movie has its funny moments and its sad moments, but is basically a poignant story of the power of love between a boy and his grandfather, and how believing in someone can truly make a difference in their lives.

I really dug the way that the movie played and upon my viewing of it today, it was every bit as sappy-sweet as I remember it. It was a blast.

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Bamboozled and Baoding Balls

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Movie Review of the Day:

Bamboozled

Bamboozled is a 2000 satirical film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the violent fall-out from the show's success.

The content is intended as satirical, with its show within a show featuring its characters, all in blackface, performing in a watermelon patch. The Roots, a hip-hop band from Philadelphia, have a role as the show's house band, The Alabama Porch Monkeys. The audiences within the movie, initially baffled, come to love the show, and after a few episodes even elderly white women show up in blackface and proclaim themselves "niggers".

The script expresses rage and grief at media representations of black people, largely through the eyes of its moral center, Sloan Hopkins (played by Jada Pinkett Smith). It also satirizes many icons of black culture including Ving Rhames, Will Smith (real-life husband of Jada Pinkett Smith), Johnnie Cochran, and Al Sharpton (Cochran and Sharpton appear as themselves in the film, protesting against the television series).

The movie also stars Savion Glover as "Manray" (stage name Mantan, after Mantan Moreland), Tommy Davidson as Womack (stage name Sleep n' Eat, after Willie Best), Thomas Jefferson Byrd as Honeycutt, and Mos Def, Canibus, MC Serch and Charli Baltimore as four of the activist/hip hop group The Mau Maus. Mos Def's character, who calls himself "Big Blak Afrika" (refusing to spell the word "black" with the "c" because "they don't even pronounce that shit!") is also Sloan's unemployed older brother, Julius.

Pierre Delacroix (stage name for Peerless Dothan), played by Damon Wayans, is an uptight Harvard-educated black man who speaks in a nasal voice, working for a television network that routinely rejects his proposals for what he sees as intelligent shows involving black people. He is further tormented by his boss Thomas Dunwitty (played by Michael Rapaport), a tactless, boorish white man who proudly proclaims that he is more black than Delacroix and that he can use the word "nigger" since he is married to a black woman.

Facing the necessity of either coming up with a hit black-centric show or being fired, Delacroix decides to aim for the latter. If the network fires him, he rationalizes, it will release him from his employment contract, allowing him to seek work at another network. With help from his personal assistant, Sloan Hopkins (played by Jada Pinkett Smith), Delacroix decides to pitch a minstrel show, complete with black actors in blackface, in the belief that the network will reject such over-the-top racism and fire him on the spot.

Delacroix and Hopkins recruit two impoverished street performers, Manray and Womack, to star in the stage show. While Womack is horrified when Delacroix tells him about the show, his best friend Manray willfully agrees to star in the show, seeing it as his big chance to become rich and famous.

To Delacroix's horror, not only does Dunwitty enthusiastically endorse the show, it also becomes hugely successful. Manray and Womack become big stars while Delacroix, contrary to his original stated intent, defends the show as being satirical. Delacroix quickly embraces the show and his newfound fame, while Sloan becomes horrified at the racist nightmare she's helped to unleash. In the meantime, a frustrated rap group called the Mau Maus, led by "Big Blak Afrika" (Mos Def) become increasingly angry at the content of the show, and plan to use violent criminal action to express their disapproval. Eventually, Womack finally has enough of the show and its racist nature, as well as Manray's increasing ego due to his new-found stardom and quits after a heated argument with Manray. This causes Manray and Sloan to grow closer, which angers Delacroix. Delacroix tries to break up Manray's relationship with Sloan by accusing her of sleeping with Manray to further her career. Then Delacroix reveals that Hopkins only got her position as his assistant by sleeping with him (Delacroix).

The move backfires and drives Manray and Sloan even closer together. Sloan creates a tape of offending racist footage culled from assorted movies, cartoons, and newsreels to try to shame Delacroix into stopping production of the show, but he refuses to view the tape. After an argument with Delacroix over all these differences, as well as realizing he is being exploited, Manray defiantly announces that he will no longer wear blackface. He appears in front of the studio audience during a TV taping and does his dance number in his regular clothing. The network executives immediately turn against Manray, and Dunwitty personally fires him from the show and throws him out of the studio.

After the studio kicks Manray out, Sloan's brother Julius aka Big Blak Afrika and the Mau Maus kidnap him. They then announce a plan to publicly execute Manray on a live internet webcast. The authorities work feverishly to track down the source of the internet feed, but Manray is assassinated (as a sort of sacrificial figure at his death). The police quickly catch The Mau Maus, shooting them down in a hail of bullets. They leave only one survivor, a white member known as "One-Sixteenth Black", who tearfully proclaims that he is "black" and demands to die with his groupmates instead of being arrested. Furious, Sloan confronts Delacroix at gunpoint and demands that he watch the tape she prepared for him. Delacroix refuses and tries to get the gun, but is shot in the stomach. Sloan, horrified, flees while proclaiming that it was Delacroix's own fault that he got shot. Delacroix, after positioning the gun to make the wound appear self-inflicted, watches the tape as he lies dying on the floor.

The film concludes with a long montage of racially insensitive and demeaning clips of black characters from Hollywood films of the first half of the 20th century. Among the films used in the sequence are The Birth of a Nation, The Jazz Singer, Gone with the Wind, Babes in Arms, Holiday Inn, Ub Iwerks' cartoon Little Black Sambo, Walter Lantz's cartoon Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat, the Merrie Melodies short All This and Rabbit Stew, and, from the Hal Roach comedy School's Out, Our Gang (Little Rascals) kids Allen "Farina" Hoskins and Matthew "Stymie" Beard.

This film is so good that it is actually frightening. Lee is able to make you believe that this could actually happen (and I believe that it could). It is so troubling to see the events unfold and how readily the American public accepts this type of production. I was sickened and saddened at the same time. With strong visuals and a satirical edge, Lee has awoken me from my sleep. All I can say is BRAVO.

Baoding Balls:

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