Tuesday TV Testimonials #2…

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Hunter (1984 – 1991)

p404795_b_v8_acI loved this show when I was growing up. Actually, let me qualify that: I liked the show a lot – I loved Stepfanie Kramer, the co-lead who played Sergeant Dee Dee McCall. She was my first celebrity crush! Oh yeah… Fred Dryer played the other lead, but everyone knows it was really Kramer’s show.

Hunter was one of a slew of cop shows that swamped television in the eighties. It really was difficult to escape the genre at the time. It had its original 150+ episode run from 1984 to 1991. The show was without Ms. Kramer for the final season, and I didn’t see any of those episodes, but I spent a good while with the six seasons that preceded her departure.

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Hot girl with a gun – what’s not to like?

There was nothing particularly special about this series: two LA homicide cops chase down the bad guys every week. It didn’t have a flashy car like some other cop shows, and it didn’t boast cartoon violence and slapstick comedy like some of the others of the era. Hell, it didn’t even have a particularly memorable theme tune.

But what it was, was a gritty police show at a time when that really wasn’t the norm. Hunter gave us a more realistic take on the genre, and allowed for (relatively speaking) more mature themes and storylines that you just didn’t see playing out anywhere else. It has been overshadowed by other flag-bearers of the genre, but if you like your cop shows aimed at mum and dad rather than the children, give it a whirl.

And if that’s not enough, just watch it for Stepfanie.

Monday Movie Mentions #2…

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House (1986)

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“Say your prayers.” Roger’s ex-wife gets a makeover.

Horror and comedy are polar opposites, and although a lot of movies have tried to marry the two genres, only a select few have managed to create something worthwhile.

House was released in 1986 and was the first in a disjointed quadrilogy of films. The series was somewhat unique in that there was no uniformity or overarching tone. But don’t bother with the others, and don’t let the generic title fool you – do yourself a favour and just watch this one.

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A great scene featuring former Miss World, Mary Stavin, in a bathing suit.

The special effects may be cheap and rubbery, but that’s because the movie never takes itself too seriously, and that’s okay. Horror doesn’t have to be realistic evicerations and computer-assisted effects that are indistinguishable from real life. Sometimes it’s all right for horror to just be a little bit of mindless fun.

The premise is simple. After his aunt commits suicide, divorced horror author Roger Cobb moves in to the house where his young son disappeared. Struggling to come to terms with that as he writes his next book about his experience in the Vietnam War, things start to go bump in the night.

Harold: Hey, it’s great to have a new neighbor. Woman lived here before you was nuts. Biggest bitch under the sun. Just a senile old hag really. Wouldn’t be surprised if someone just got fed up and offed her. Know what I mean?
Roger: She was my aunt.
Harold: Heart of gold though. Just uh, a saint really. And uh such a beautiful woman, for her age.

House is an underappreciated movie that has never been given the love it deserves, and you’ll probably have to speak to a lot of people before you find someone else who has seen it, but give this low budget gem a chance – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Sunday Song Suggestions #2…

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Toxicity – System of a Down – 2001

I started my first serious relationship at the tail end of 2002, and the girl I was with enjoyed hard rock music. I did too, but my melodic tastes were a little more retro than her modern preferences. System of a Down was her favourite band, and it’s fair to say my knowledge of them at the time was limited at best.

Toxicity comes from the 2001 album of the same name, and is probably the song I think of when my mind wanders to that period of time. My ex-girlfriend’s younger brother used to play guitar and I would often find him perfecting the intro to this one in his bedroom.

Halfway through 2003 and the relationship was no more, but she left me with a soft spot for this particular track. It’s also untrue that I look like lead singer Serj Tankian, so no comments about that please.

Friday Fiction Fixes #1…

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The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton – 1943

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The version I own today.

I’ve read a lot of stories in my life – certainly more than most my age – and the fascination with words started when I was very young.

I was probably about nine or ten when I read The Magic Faraway Tree, originally published in 1943. I didn’t know it at the time but this novel is the second part of a quadrilogy, and I never got around to reading the other three, but fortunately it works as a standalone novel as well. I read and enjoyed other stories by Enid Blyton when I was a child – some of the Famous Five and Secret Seven mysteries – but The Magic Faraway Tree was the only story of hers that really captivated me.

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The version I read as a child.

Each day, during the school holidays, sistersBessie and Fanny, along with their brother Jo and cousin Dick (yes, those were their names) would climb to the top of the titular tree, where they would join the residents, including Saucepan Man and Moon Face. Each day the tree would play host to a differently themed Land. The Land of Dreams. The Land of Do-As-You-Please. The Land of Topsy-Turvy. That kind of thing. Which kid wouldn’t want a tree like that in their back garden?

I don’t remember much about the ebb and flow of the plot, and I recall even less about the actual narrative details – only that it was adventure-fantasy at its purest – but the essence of the novel has stuck with me for over thirty years, and that probably says more than any multi-page review could. I’ve still got this book sitting at home, and I was going to go back and read it again for this little tribute, but I decided against it. I don’t want to spoil the memory I have of this one.

Tuesday TV Testimonials #1…

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Full House (1987 – 1995)

It’s probably fair to say that I come from the last generation of true television watchers. Nowadays it’s all YouTube, Netflix, and various other means of entertainment, but I grew up in a time when you watched a twenty-six inch wood veneer box in the corner of your living room… and – for better or worse – Full House was one of the shows that bled through my childhood.

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Full House was an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from 1987 until 1995, and just short of 200 episodes. I didn’t watch the entire run, in fact, I probably jumped ship about halfway through.

At the time I thought it was pretty good, but I revisited it recently and… no. Memory can be a cruel beast, and nostalgia – certainly in this instance – is sometimes overrated. Full House is the most saccharine, family-friendly, let’s-all-hug-each-other-at-the-end-of-the-episode, twenty-two minutes I’ve ever seen, and although there were a lot of eighties offenders that you could probably throw into the same category, Full House was one of the biggest culprits.

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The series spawned these two fashionistas, so it’s not all bad, right?

It hasn’t aged well, but as with a lot of shows then, it was a product of its time. I can accept that: not all television is timeless.

Unfortunately I can’t say the same for the atrocious sequel, Fuller House, which somebody had the bright idea of producing in 2016. It picks up the story twenty years later, but plays as if the world around it hasn’t moved on at all.

Still, as disappointing as all that is, Full House can lay claim to one of the greatest sitcom theme tunes of all time.

Monday Movie Mentions #1…

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The Warriors (1979)

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The Warriors came out in 1979. It was one of my dad’s personal favourites, but he would never let me see it when I was a child. It was too violent, he said. Not for kids. This, of course, only added to its mystique.

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Would you want to be chased through a park at night by one of The Baseball Furies? No, me neither.

Years later when I was finally able to watch it I realised it was not quite the bloody extravaganza my dad had led me to believe. In fact, by modern standards it’s really very tame. But he was right about one thing – it’s a great movie.

Ostensibly, an action film about gang culture in New York, The Warriors – which rocks a brilliantly evocative seventies soundtrack – is nowhere near as dark as its reputation would have you believe, although it certainly has its brutal moments. The plot structure has a lot in common with video games, and follows the group of misfits as they travel from one borough to the next, battling gangs of varying abilities along the way, in the hope of trying to clear their tainted name.

Swan: You recognize them?
Fox: Orphans. So far down they’re not even on the map. Real low class.
Swan: Numbers?
Fox: Full strength: maybe thirty?
Vermin: Thirty. A lot more than eight.
Ajax: Not if they’re wimps!… and I’m sick of this running crap.

The Warriors is endlessly quotable, infinitely watchable, and has rightfully gained a cult following since its release. Definitely one to check out if you haven’t done so.

Can you dig it?

Sunday Song Suggestions #1…

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One Summer – Daryl Braithwaite – 1989

I’m starting this series off with something a little more… parochial.

This single came out in 1989, when I was just about to hit my teens in Sydney, so even before the first note kicks in, it’s steeped in nostalgia for me. Having said that, Daryl Braithwaite wasn’t quite the Australian national treasure that some of his peers were, and I was never a great fan of his work, but this shameless pop track – which never pretends to be anything other than just that – always raises a smile and reminds me of barbecues and beaches and all that good stuff.

I would doubt that the song reached many ears beyond the shores of Australia – and perhaps the feel of it doesn’t translate – but give it a click and have a listen anyway. It’s three minutes and twenty-five seconds of pure eighties pop. If you’re feeling down, One Summer may just cheer you up.

These Are a Few of My Favourite Things…

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…well, not exactly.

Beginning tomorrow I’ll be starting a series of recommendations, four times a week, if for no other reason than it forces me to stick to a schedule with my blog, because I’ve been notoriously erratic with my updates lately. There will be a song each Sunday, a movie every Monday, a television show on Tuesday, and I’ll even throw in some fiction for Friday. What can I say? I’m a fan of alliteration.

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As I indicated, these are not necessarily my favourites, in fact I will be doing my best to steer clear of the obvious ones. There’s no fun in that. I want to focus on those examples that – for whatever reason – I have connected with over the years, so some of them may be obscure and will not resonate with others, but such is the beauty of art.

The world would be a boring place if we all liked ham and pineapple pizza, right?

Snaps of the Dead…

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I was looking through a collection of old, black and white family photos that my grandma has under her bed. I recognise the faces in some of them, but a lot of the subjects are unfamiliar to me, and there are no names on the back to help me out either. Some of them have an eerie quality about them, and they remind me of the old practice of post-mortem photography. You know, the tradition from the nineteenth century where families would take pictures of their loved ones shortly after death. For all I know this is the case here.

My aunt – my grandma’s daughter – is in all likelihood, the only person left who may have been able to help with their identities, but I showed them to her and she doesn’t know either… meaning the trail is cold and who these people are has possibly been lost to time forever.

I’m going to keep the pictures. Maybe I will be able to piece the puzzle together someday. To what end I don’t know, but I would hate to throw out history, and I am a sentimental shit when it comes to things like that.