QT4: BIG PIMPING FRIDAY with THE MACK, SAINT JACK and THE CHINESE MACK!
Published at: Sept. 6, 2000, 8:12 p.m. CST by staff
BIG PIMPING FRIDAY.... a triple bill of films
celebrating the world of pussy for sale and the men
that push it.
I brought my own harem of hot women to this night...
On staff tonight are Annette Kellerman, Dorothy
Parker, Glenda the Good Witch, Ivory and even a
Moon Fairy. The 2nd row of the Drafthouse
screening room is pimped out in style. I have my
leopard spotted creepers on, and Mouth is on hand
with his pimp hat with peacock feather at full length.
The Drafthouse is serving up 40 oz bottles of various
labels of Malt Liquor in a brown paper bag... And
the theater is packed to the point of folding chairs on
the side of the hall.
Ya see... the power of pussy compels and fills the
house. The funny part of it is.... I’d say the room had
a higher percentage of women than on any other night
of the festival. WHERE DID THEY COME
FROM? There was this group of three supermodel
gorgeous babes sitting on the front row to my left that
were just stunning. And later in the evening I hear
from Dorothy Parker that she’s sick and tired of
hearing conversations in the women’s room talking
about getting Quentin’s cock and holding on to it.
She was disgusted. This... I suppose brought out the
honeys that think... Hmmm... the films will be sexy...
I’ll be able to latch on to Quentin. Sad... really.
But it has no real bearing on the night... there’s just
lots of tight dresses and miniskirts in the hall tonight.
It’s like the screen was spilling with talents.
Quentin hits the stage excited... he loves the name of
the night... BIG PIMPING FRIDAY...
“When I called up Rebecca at the Film Society to
give her the rundown on tonight, I told her that for
BIG PIMPING FRIDAY there was going to be THE
MACK, SAINT JACK and THE CHINESE
MACK.... She said, ‘so there will be four movies?’...
(laughter from the room)... No, that’s just the name
of the night man! But how cool is that? Can you
imagine what sort of film you would have to make to
live up to the name BIG PIMPING FRIDAY? That’s
actually how I came up with RESERVOIR DOGS... I
was like, I’d see a movie called RESERVOIR DOGS,
and then had to write the film.”
And that is how the night began.
The crowd was wound up tight... Quentin didn’t have
to do much introducing for THE MACK... it is a well
known film in these parts... but he did have some
notes about his print. You see... he paid a mint for his
print of THE MACK... He got home, put it on the
projector... sat down and watched it and it was
gorgeous... pristine... looked like it had never seen a
projector. Only... there is stuff missing... but not like
the raunchy stuff... just things that were a little slow...
It’s like some professional editor went in and decided
to pick up the pace a bit. Not only that but Quentin
said that somebody put the ‘Player’s Ball’ in there
twice. Quentin has just bought a scope 16 print of the
original cut of THE MACK... but he’ll hold on to this
print which he calls the ‘genius cut’ of the film.
Now, you folks that have been with me for a while,
might remember that I reviewed THE MACK back in
1997... but on that particular night, I had ingested 2 or
3 40 oz Malt Liquors and was feeling no pain and all
my details and thoughts were put on retardomode....
so this time out, I decided to let the film intoxicate
me... and boy did it.
I love THE MACK.... This time while watching it, I
realized that most of the pimps in the film are real
live Oakland Pimps according to Quentin... and that
adds an entirely new layer to the film.
Ya know.... the movie is very much Blaxploitation,
but at the same time this is a document of such an
era... such a time period where you can’t not look at
it. The film takes place in Oakland... in the time
period where Urban Ghetto Crime was spiking...
When the U.S. really started to first pay attention to
ghetto crime.... started labeling it BLACK CRIME
and began to start filling the jails with Blacks... and
the filmmaking at the time began reacting. Heroes
switched positions... Suddenly the cops became the
bad guys... the pimps and the drug dealers became the
heroes... THE MAN was being labeled as exactly
that.
In THE MACK... our hero is GOLDY played by Max
Julien... and the film begins with him basically upside
down bleeding... while a pair of cops ponder whether
to save him, arrest him, kill him or simply leave him
to bleed.
Julien is a completely delusional ego-maniacal
control freak and an all around loathsome character....
but ya know what... besides that... he’s ok. He’s got
rules and ethics within his realm of existence. And
somehow this film makes you completely root for him
to acquire more women and turn them to whores.
You like him even after he throws the girl that taught
him the ropes to the street and shacks up with a
higher class White Woman.
His partner in crime is Slim, played by Richard
Pryor... and he’s pretty much scum too... but he’s
Richard Pryor... you have to be on his side.
THE MACK also has some of the best damn dialogue
you’ll ever see in a film.
“When you hear grown people talking, you shut the
fuck up!” is now so completely in my library of put
downs it ain’t even funny.
The film has the straight and narrow followers of
righteousness... but they are portrayed as beating a
dead horse... They are fools for playing the man’s
game. The rules of the street exist because that is all
there is on this side of town. When hypocrisy is
pointed out to Goldy... he doesn’t see a problem with
it.
He’s peddling pussy and that’s been a game since the
dawn of time. When you watch his planetarium mind
control journey through space for his women... You’ll
stare at amazement. I mean... Our world was once...
so much cooler in the pre-Reagan years....
Pre-Politically Correct.
Here you could show a charismatic mind-controlling
pimp as a hero of a film... You would be KILLED
today releasing this movie. The world is so damn
uptight now. But man, this movie has a heartbeat... it
has a pulse.... and it rules.
Now, I don’t know how on Earth you could follow up
THE MACK with anything... but Quentin knows how
to do it.
The next film on the list was... Peter
Bogdanovich’s SAINT JACK.... We’d seen the
trailer twice during the festival... and Father Geek had
been going on about his anticipation to see this film
again... He last saw the film in 1979 and his memory
was of a wonderful film.
Well... When all was said and done, SAINT JACK
won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor at the
QT QUATTRO. Bogdanovich and Ben Gazzara took
the prizes and it wasn’t even close.
Personally, I had to agree. SAINT JACK is a
fantastic movie... (Not available currently on Video,
Dvd or Laserdisc! Though a search of ebay revealed
one copy available there from a video release in the
early eighties)
Quentin’s intro stated that had this film came out
today... exactly as is... and was released by
Miramax... Bogdanovich, Gazzara and
Bogdanovich&Sackler would all be nominated and
possibly win the Academy Awards for Directing,
Acting and Writing.... but that when this film came
out... Independents just didn’t get any respect at all...
there was no push...
This was a film being produced by Roger Corman
and Hugh Hefner... there was no way ‘legitimate’
awards circles would look twice at the film. They
probably saw the names of the producers and figured
it to be whacking material... certainly... this is a
movie that isn’t thought ill of... it is simply not
thought of at all.
HOWEVER, that should change. This movie is
fantastic in structure, story-telling, dialogue,
characters, atmosphere, acting and just about any
other area you can think of.
First... the structure is brilliant. The film is told
through a series of glimpses upon Saint Jack’s life...
Saint Jack is in fact, Ben Gazzara in what must be...
alongside his character of Cosmo Vitelli in
Cassavetes’ THE KILLING OF A CHINESE
BOOKIE.... his best role on screen. Now ol Jack
Flowers is a pimp in Singapore. Now the reason for
the glimpses on Jack Flowers’ life is that he is asked
to pick up an accountant played by Denholm Elliot
(Marcus Brody of INDIANA JONES fame), who
flies in once a year from Hong Kong to handle the
books for a pair of drug dealer types in Singapore.
Jack and Denholm’s character of William Leigh
become friendly acquaintances...
I love this structure... You get a glimpse of where
this pimp is in his life every now and again... And it
is such a effortless structure. It reminds me in a way
of how these festivals of Quentin’s play into my life.
The first one, I’m near crippled, starting out on the
net for the first time... and now... well I’m not
crippled anymore and my site is whatever it is. But
it’s a great structure for examining a life of someone
through an occasional acquaintance...
You see Jack go from low level pimp to moderately
successful whorehouse operator... to pimping for the
U.S. Government at R&R camps during Vietnam... to
back to having nothing. GREAT STRUCTURE.
The story telling is flawless... the movie didn’t start
till around 11:30 to Midnight... It moved like a
dream. The photography so completely capturing
late seventies Singapore. The prostitutes and Billy
Boys (transvestites) are all real. The cab drivers are
real cab drivers. Bogdanovich shot this film very low
budget and with the maximum level of freedom.
You’ve never seen Denholm Elliot as good as he is
here... I will never look at Marcus Brody quite the
same. He’s brilliant here. Gazzara is Bogart’s full
equal here... making a harder and tougher film than
Bogart’s Hay’s Committee regulated career would
allow. But Gazzara is perfection here.
Best scene for me is a sequence in the R&R camp.
You see a Singapore whore knocked out of a room by
a naked young soldier. He’s beating the shit out of
her. People pour out of every room trying to stop
him. They are separated. Jack Flowers arrives...
checks out the girl... gets her some help. He then
looks at the door where the guy who did this awaits.
As an audience member... you are expecting a really
mean and violent scene. Instead... You watch as
Jack enters the room... Looks at the boy... can’t
possibly be older than 19. When Jack first arrived
we see him glance where the boy is being held... we
get an ever so brief glimpse at the boy full frontal.
You can’t help but notice he has a very small penis.
In Gazzara’s eyes... as he looks at the boy, you see
the whole story. This girl must’ve giggled.... the
boy’s fragile ego and violent military life caused him
to strike out.... Gazzara can see regret and frustration
in the boy’s face... and he just turns and walks out.
THIS IS SUCH AN HONEST AND REAL
MOMENT. I was actually stunned by how well
Bogdanovich handled this moment. And the film is
filled with them. Just fantastic vignettes about Jack
Flowers’ life and his moments with his friend from
Hong Kong... William.
Even Bogdanovich himself plays a guy working for
the military that works with Jack... Great little
performance from Peter here.
This is a great indie film. It really deserves the
Criterion Treatment. It’s just a fantastic film. The
audience erupted in applause afterwards. Great great
great unknown film. SEEK IT OUT IF YOU CAN!!!
“People make love for so many crazy reasons, why
shouldn’t money be one of them.” What a great
line.... Man... SEE THIS MOVIE... Keep your eyes
on E-BAY for video prints. GREAT FILM.
After SAINT JACK many people left... they figured
that THE CHINESE MACK was going to simply be a
terrible film and decided to hit the road.
FOOLS! These people have no faith in Quentin as a
programmer... and are sleepyheaded fools!
CHINESE MACK was soooooo much fun.
Quentin comes out.... tells us how he figured that this
was a product of some Hong Kong producer wanting
to capitalize on the success of THE MACK by
making a Chinese version with kung fu to slap into
theaters in the Black Community (which during the
seventies dug the hell out of Kung Fu movies)... but
when Quentin got his print, he was happy to see that
not only was that not the case, but they made a pretty
damn good kung fu film that really has a real reason
to have MACK-ing going on.
Folks... the kung fu and the Hijinks were grand in the
film... but there is ONE REASON THAT YOU
MUST SEEK OUT THIS FILM!!!
The Dog Fight.
I can not believe that I have seen with my own eyes in
35 mm the dogfight that I have seen. These two dogs
rip into one another. This is no holds barred fight to
the death animal violence. Some people got up and
left... it was simply too much... I was in stunned
silence as one dog is ripping the ear off the other,
while the other is ripping the front haunch off.. the
whole time... you hear the popping and twisting of
cartilage, the barks and screams of pain from both
dogs while they continue to entwine in painful death
throes... ASTOUNDING. I was just.... stunned.
And the penis kung fu death blow..... and the
“Mother?”.... OH MY GOD.
Quentin pulled off an absolute perfect night of film.
BIG PIMPING FRIDAY was a great fucking night of
film. I left with such a buzz... I can’t even say.
man.... GREAT DAY...
The next night is GOOD OL BOY flicks with
WALKING TALL : The trilogy!!!
Muhahahahahaaaa!!!!