There's Hope for Nerds Yet: Christine

I have about a million things to say about this film but will try to let the images do the talking. Lotta history; lotta nostalgia. It's one of my favorites. It was definitely my dad's favorite film. I think Charlie and I probably watched this (and The Blues Brothers) about once daily for an entire summer when we first got our Beta; they were the only two films we had, of course, but we didn't mind. I'll never forget rewinding (and rewinding and rewinding) the scene where the newly rebuilt-after-the-trashing Christine charges Moochie; the close up on the back right tire seemed to really amuse Charlie; we laughed at it, a lot.  My dad had a 1957 Chevy in aqua green that he restored, I have a feeling it was his  Christine. We once very nearly got the tar beaten from us when he thought we had flung drops of black spray paint onto the driver's side door--my mother saved us by showing him it was some sort of excrement, NOT spray paint. . .

Anyway, my own personal feelings aside, this film (story) is in a way a very pertinent tale about bullying. True, Arnie takes things a little too far and is sucked into the Stephen King world of bizarre evil that happens to good people, but let's face it, Arnie wouldn't have been vulnerable to any of it if he didn't start out the story as a genuine nerd. I'm not saying nerds should all go out and seek revenge upon their attackers, (I have a few rotten bitches I'd like to see squirm a bit from my junior high years) but Arnie got even, oh boy did he! Like I said, I'm not advocating bully-murder at all, I'm just saying, this story probably carries a lot of resonance for anyone who's ever dealt with a Buddy Reparton. The book and the film are quite different in this respect as the novel deals much, much more with Roland LeBay (Christine's previous owner), his obsession with the car, and the way his ghost physically comes back and begins to take over Arnie and his actions; the film just kind of alludes to that by changes in Arnie (physically he becomes more attractive, eventually chooses the car over Leigh, the use of the word "shitter," etc.) but never really portrays LeBay's ghost as a factor.

Speaking of LeBay: That brother, George, who sells Arnie the car? This is probably the most digusting image of an old person I've ever seen in my life. That back brace? And cigar? And in the following scene he has, the back brace UNDER A BLAZER? ("I'm gonna sell this shit-hole and buy me a condo") Ewwww. I can almost smell him from here. The film itself does not scare me but if I had to choose between Christine and LeBay, I'd choose Christine.

Already I'm saying too much. The film is a beautiful collection of images, many of the actors are quite attractive (I thought Dennis was smokin' hot back in the day), and John Carpenter, in addition to being able to roll out a reel of film, has a fine, fine musical sense. The scene after the Reparton Gang trashes the car where Arnie is diddling around at the counter is one of my favorites; the music (a cross between the Halloween theme and the instrumental used in the credits of The Exorcist) together with the little mechanical noises as Christine "fixes" herself really, really thrill me. I also love the scene prior to the trashing where Arnie embraces the steering wheel as Christine plays "I'll Forever Love You" on the radio. Come to think of it, any time there is some link to events happening and songs on Christine's radio, it's awesome (Christine won't start outside of Leigh's house; "It's all right, baby, everything is the same."--"I LOVE YOU LIKE I DO!")

I really, really love this film. Aces, all the way.

Revision

As much as it annoys me to do this, I'm having to make some adjustments to the October Film List due to availability problems on Netflix and the fact that I'm running out of time. I'm eliminating the Saw films, I promise to do them next year, cross my heart. I'm ending King with Christine and The Shining, as they were the only ones I could get. After that it'll be Hitchcock, The Birds and Psycho, followed by II and III if I can get them. My loyalty to Jeff Fahey isn't quite equal to my loyalty to King or Kubrick or Carpenter, but I really feel I need to represent with Psycho III. Plus it's (secretly) one of my favorites from the original list.

So, to reiterate, the rest of the month looks like this:
1. Christine
2. The Shining
3. The Birds
4. Psycho
5. Psycho II
6. Psycho III
and if by some freak chance I have ninety minutes to spare after this list, 7. Phantasm II.

Ugh, I hate scribble-outs. But for your viewing pleasure in the meantime:

Dwayne Duke, friends just call me Duke. I'm a singer.

Memories of our first betamax VCR tapes

The first two videos my father brought home were CHRISTINE and THE BLUES BROTHERS. I was ten years old, my brother would have been six during the summer of 1986. We had no idea what either of the two films were about but we were excited to finally have a VCR nontheless. We had seen many films by then, mostly on cable or satellite, and out of those, most were horror films like Pscyho, Pscycho 2, and Friday the Thirteenth (the final chapter, or so we thought then). When Dewey popped in Christine we were excited and scared because he told us it would be a film about a car that KILLS PEOPLE!!!!

Wow.
I remember feeling a bit moved by many of the music selections in Christine, none of which would have been popular or current for the time (the film was released in 1983 and I believe to have taken place in the here and now): Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Ritchie Valens; along with some stuff that would have been current then, like Thorogood and The Rolling Stones. Really, has any other song been as well placed in a film as "Bad to the Bone?" That song alone was probably enough to win my father's approval, despite the fact that it's a scary Stephen King adaptation that was actually picked up by a cool director.....

My brother and I watched this film (along with the other one) at least once a day every day that summer. It would be a long time before quoting films in social settings would be cool but we seriously could have started at the beginning and performed it to the end if anyone would have posed such a challenge. Our favorite parts all had to do with the car. Killing Moochie and the close up on the tire squeal when Christine floors a good smoke show and starts chasing him, rebuilding herself while Arnie stands in front of her, watching, and the fire-y blaze that chases after Buddy Reperton down the highway after completely crashing into the gas pumps and his camaro (SOME SHIT HEAD IS FOLLOWING ME!!). We also really got into the character of Darnell, that guy definitely had the best lines of the film, which, if I remember correctly, stayed pretty true to King's novel. It would be a few years before I tackled THAT.


The Blues Brothers we loved mostly for the car chases but I think we actually (secretly) enjoyed the music in that as well. My mother HATED us watching that, probably because she hated the movie herself, but really, what's so bad about your elementary aged children getting a few curses in while absorbing ACTUAL music history? Aretha Franklin? Cab Calloway? Ray Charles? John Lee Hooker? I knew who all those people were way before anyone else my age. Double for my brother. I see that film as a cheesy exercise in music that probably shaped a lot of my tastes that would follow down the line. Plus, those car chases were ACTUAL DEMOLITION IN ACTION. You just don't see that anymore, not that we knew it at the time. I love it. Favorite scene, hands down though, is the bit with the penguin.
YOU GOTTA GO UP THERE AND VISIT THE PENGUIN.
NO....FUCKING.....WAY.