Sony’s Martini Movies label is a great excuse to dig into the vault for films that have found themselves rarely run on TV. It’s not really a genre like horror or Godzilla. It’s just relaxing way to enjoy the selected films. The five films included in this third wave are ones that you don’t exactly hear hyped during critics roundtables or repeated to death on cable. Unlike Wave Two, there’s a connecting theme of the five films and exactly who needs to be drinking a martini while watching the on screen action. When The Graduate became a box office sensation in 1967, it launched numerous films with similar protagonists. All five films in Martini Movies Wave Three feature rich white young men who rebel against their conservative families when it comes to future plans by having zero plans for their futures. Their rebellion is based completely in denial and procrastination. If anyone needs a stiff drink while watching these DVD, it’s the parents of these semi-heroes.
Model Shop (1969 – 97 minutes) brings the French sensibilities of director Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) to the streets of Los Angeles. Gary Lockwood (the other astronaut in 2001) is a guy doing next to nothing in Malibu. He’s got a crummy beach house next to an oil well. He’s lost interest in his hot girlfriend that he won’t marry or knock up. He’s quit his job, but isn’t sure what to do next since he’s waiting to hear from the draft board. The only thing he cares about is his MG convertible and that’s about to get repossessed. He bumps into Anouk Aimee (La Dolce Vita) while cruising around Los Angeles looking to get the money to save the car. He keeps debating whether to get cash from his wealthy folks. Finally he gets a sense of direction. He stalks Anouk to her job as a bedroom photography model in a twisted little shop. Supposedly they don’t show skin in this establishment. He’s not happy taking snapshots. He must know her. She’s French and needs cash to return home. Will he sacrifice his car money for her freedom? Most of the film is footage of Lockwood driving around Los Angeles. There is a visit to a hippie house owned by the band Spirit. They were riding high on the charts with “I Got A Line On You.” This film goes down better with a touch of booze.
The Buttercup Chain (1970 – 95 minutes) appears that it won’t be about a shiftless rich boy in denial of his roots. Hywel Bennett is a rich English kid who doesn’t mind living the good life. However he’s hung up on his cousin, Jane Asher. She’s not merely a cousin since their mothers were twins. They could possibly be genetically half siblings. In order to avoid some sort of disgusting semi-incest, Hywel finds Jane a random new boyfriend in Sven-Bertil Taube. He’s a goofy Swede who likes her. They also randomly encounter Leigh Taylor-Young (Can’t Stop the Music), an American photographer. The two new couples bounce around Europe at properties owned by a rich pal. Since Jane is a bit of a prude, Leigh figures it’s good for the Swede to have an affair with her. When she gets pregnant, they play guess the daddy. This game pretty much ends the party. Hywel goes from being a bon vivant to a pathetic fool who can’t help, but want to hook up with his cousin. Can Jane have him restrained? Robert Ellis Miller (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter) really lets the film shine as a Euro trash epic. Hywel’s beard does seem to be the father of that icky flesh colored beard sported by that dork on The Hills.
The Pursuit of Happiness (1971 – 93 minutes) has nothing to do with Will Smith’s Pursuit of Happyness. This time our meandering youth is ‘70s icon Michael Sarrazin (Gumball Rally and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud). He’s a society drop out still in college. He doesn’t want to get drafted. His girlfriend (Beaches‘s Barbara Hershey) is a student radical. He prefers to be real and sail his remote control sailboat. But on a rainy night, his life changes when a local woman steps out into the road and he hits her in his battered sportscar. His dad hires E.G. Marshall to be his lawyer. Sarrazin gets all the good advice on how a rich person beats a murder rap. Sarrazin refuses to play the conservative rich boy game and promptly gets sent to prison. His cellmate is David Doyle (Bosley on Charlie’s Angels). He can’t deal with a few days behind bars while waiting for his appeal. He escapes from custody during a courthouse visit. His main help while hiding out in Manhattan is Robert Klein. He’s forced to use family connections to keep a step ahead of the law. Sarrazin’s big hope is a private plane piloted by the flighty William Devane. Director Robert Mulligan (To Kill A Mockingbird) doesn’t give us a comeuppance reel. This film has a semi-happy ending when it comes to beating the man.
Summertree (1971 – 89 minutes) has an extremely young Michael Douglas in the distracted rich boy role. He’s not sure what to do with his life. His college time is a farce since he doesn’t believe in a sociology degree. He’s more into his music. That’s right, Michael Douglas will be plunking around on an acoustic guitar. He ends up being a big brother to a dirty talking black kid (Kirk Callaway) in what seems like the precursor to the recent Role Models. His father (Jack Warden) does well selling insurance. Against his dad’s wishes, he drops out of school. His playing hooks him up with Brenda Vaccaro (tampon spokesmodel). He likes her, but their relationship is tested by her husband. This isn’t the only shake up in his life since he’s now draft eligible. Director Anthony Newley is best known as a songwriter on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He will remain best known that way. This film needs at least a shot of Jack Daniels to make you believe Douglas is going to be a guitar star.
Love Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973 – 110 minutes) has the rich aimless white boy get shipped off to Spain to get a sense of direction. Timothy Bottoms’ father books him for a biking tour, but the kid can’t keep up with the pedaling. He hops a bus and explores the foreign land with a little comfort. He ends up sharing a seat with Maggie Smith (Harry Potter‘s Professor Minerva McGonagall). Their little trip turns into a vacation romance with hilarity provided by a strange locals, edgy hotels and difficult campers. The light fun is smashed with a horrifying truth. You’ll need a stiff martini to make it through the finale. Alan J. Pakula (All the President’s Men) could have made this film more memorable going too heavy in the big reveal. This would have been so nice as merely a goofy tourist film about Bottoms and Smith bouncing around Spain.
The Martini Movies Wave Three presents five films that aren’t completely goofy and boozy like a Dean Martin flick. The running theme of the aimless rich boys makes these films more serious in tone than rollicking fun promised by the label. Although a lot of the gloom and doom depicted by these men burden by youth is comical by today’s standards. Did anyone really take Gary Lockwood seriously as he kept riding around in his car? There had to be at least one plucky soul in the audience that cried out, “Get over yourself!” These Graduate wannabes don’t quite earn their diplomas even though they’re fine as elective courses. There’s no need to deduct points for such an inconsistency being labeled as “The Disillusioned Trust Fund Boys” wouldn’t be as catchy a title. Either way, you might want to pour a stiff one before approaching these rebels who deny their trust funds.
The video on Buttercup Chain is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The other four are 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfers are top notch without too much debris. The ‘70s fashions do dazzle with the detail. The audio is Dolby Digital Mono. The levels are fine so you won’t have to turn up the volume to hear these men meander through their lives. The subtitles are in English.
Theatrical Trailers are given for each film on their retrospective DVD. Amazing how they juiced up each film by not quite showing the guys as so indecisive.
Martini Movies Wave Three isn’t completely booze drenched, campy entertainment. There’s too many downer moments to let you get completely smashed while watching the various films. Even the Euro trash nature of The Buttercup Chain gets undercut with too heavy of a tone. Love Pain and the Whole Damn Thing could have been a better film without the super-serious twist. Pursuit of Happiness doesn’t give us a heavy handed, you can’t beat the man ending. Summertree will make you laugh while watching Michael Douglas transform into a serious musician. Model Shop comes the closest campy fun with the hippie house and the photography club. Martini Movies Wave Three is a libation for the hardcore movie freak.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents The Model Shop. Starring: Anouk Aimée and Gary Lockwood. Directed and Written by: Jacques Demy. Running Time: 97 Minutes. Released on DVD: September 8, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents The Buttercup Chain. Starring: Hywel Bennett, Jane Asher, Sven-Bertil Taube and Leigh Taylor-Young. Directed by: Robert Ellis Miller. Running Time: 95 Minutes. Released on DVD: September 8, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents The Pursuit of Happiness. Starring: Michael Sarrazin, Barbara Hershey, E.G. Marshall and Robert Klein. Directed by: Robert Mulligan. Running Time: 93 Minutes. Released on DVD: September 8, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Summertree. Starring: Michael Douglas, Jack Warden and Brenda Vaccaro. Directed by: Anthony Newley. Running Time: 89 Minutes. Released on DVD: September 8, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Love Pain and the Whole Damn Thing. Starring: Timothy Bottoms and Maggie Smith. Directed by: Alan J. Pakula. Running Time: 110 Minutes. Released on DVD: September 8, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
