I guess each new macro-blog has to tie into the last. I don't have the format down yet, folks. Like America, this is a blog in search of itself. One feature you, the reader, can count on is me talking about what I set up in the most round-about way possible. Here's an example:
Last night I watched Angel, expecting something like Vice Squad or The Mad Bomber. I ended up liking Angel more than those films. But not because of the lead actress. Like Florence Pugh in Little Women (my second favorite film of last year), she wasn't convincing playing a younger person.
But, as mentioned, my main criteria for a good movie is whether it's a gateway to other good things. And Angel had two (!) great character actors. The first is Rory Calhoun. Calhoun played an aged Western hero like Randolph Scott in Ride the High Country. I first noticed Calhoun in Motel Hell, which, if you haven't seen, is a real gem of 80s horror.
Backwoods horror is hit-or-miss. My Mount Rushmore is Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Race with the Devil, Death Stalk and Motel Hell. Eaten Alive might be my favorite Tobe Hooper film. But Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 has even more unbridled Texan insanity. Race with the Devil combines murderous, LaVey-like cults with swanky RVs and motocross. (A great double feature would be Race with the Devil and The Devil's Rain).
And Death Stalk is a post-Deliverance TV movie that outdoes Deliverance (in my opinion). (Death Stalk also has Vince Edwards from The Mad Bomber). But Motel Hell is not about Texas, Satanism, or canoeing convicts. It's about small business owners.
Calhoun is so good in Motel Hell because he's playing two characters in one. As a front-facing, boutique butcher, Calhoun is beyond charming. But off of the clock (see above), his character is a Great Muta-level maniac. Unlike Psycho or The Intruder (a film that made my honorable mention list from last year), Calhoun doesn't hint at his tendencies in public.
You know as soon as you meet Norman Bates that that guy is a freak. Same goes for Dennis Quaid's character (and in real life). You don't realize Calhoun is a freak until he pulls a 180 next scene, no transition or hints needed. I need to watch Hell Comes to Frogtown (which stars a wrestler) to see more of his later work. And also River of No Return, which Eve Babitz hated.
The other great character actor from Angel is Susan Tyrrell. I recognized her in Angel from Forbidden Zone. But I forgot until later she's also in Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker. I don't recommend Forbidden Zone because of its unacceptable use of blackface. From interviews, it sounds like Danny Elfman spent the Seventies entrenched in 1938 (and all the evil that entails).
But I would recommend Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker for Tyrrell's performance alone. Calhoun is deft in when he lifts the character's mask. In comparison, Tyrell is mask-off, going full-on Mommie Dearest. If you remove Tyrell, the whole movie would collapse. Another warning: a detective in the film is a virulent homophobe, but the film does not take his view.
Hey, at least Angel has a likable, well-presented-for-the-time trans character! But speaking of another, contemporary character (?) actor . . .