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Baring it All
aka Utterly Without Redeeming
Social Value (1969)
The late Paul Bartel is a seminal figure in the development of
independent cinema in America. While many people were testing the waters of
independent financing in the 60s and 70s, Bartel and Robert Downey Sr. were just
about the one ones doing comedies. Between 1972 and 1985 Bartel wrote and/or
directed such offbeat, raunchy comedies as Death Race 2000, Eating Raoul, Lust
in the Dust, and Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills.
Baring it All is kind of a predecessor to that canon of work.
Bartel essentially scripted a soft-core drive-in film, probably in a very few
days, just to provide a loose framework to get people naked on camera. That was
pretty standard operating procedure back then. The nudity had to have some
context, for legal reasons, but also to provide some entertainment and to
differentiate one sex film from another. Because Bartel was an odd duck with a
good sense of humor, this film is a bit better than par for the course. Not only
was Bartel one of the few in his generation to write independent comedies, but
this writing credit establishes him as just about the only guy writing comedy
stag films! He chose as his framing device a group therapy session for people
with sexual aberrations. Bartel himself plays a psychologist who asks each
member of the group to tell the reason why he or she is there. Their stories are
then pictured as flashbacks.
There's good news and bad news about seeing these clips.
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The good news is that you are seeing material that neither you
nor anyone else has ever seen, for the most part. The film's IMDb page has no
reviews, no comments, and no votes. This film has never been on DVD. To my
knowledge, it's never even been on VHS! These clips from are a taped cable
broadcast. (And the quality is surprisingly good, all things considered.) The
footage has some real curiosity value, and some real period flavor. Some of the
situations are even sexy. There are even a few spread shots here and there, and
that was a rarity in 1969, especially in color films.
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The bad news is that there's a very good reason why this film
has fallen into oblivion. It's filled with non-actors, many of whom are as
unattractive as they are untalented. Most of the women in the clips have no
other IMDb credits, and some of the situations are downright repulsive.
The only people in the film with any kind of career are Bartel,
Liz Torres, and a veteran character actor named Don Calfa, who made a career out
of playing small roles as spooky-looking low level thugs, and whose distinctive
face you would immediately recognize. This was the first film Torres ever made,
and the second for Calfa, and they are both still going strong today, 38 years
after their appearances in this film. In both cases, Baring it All probably
represents the low point on their resumes. Torres played a prostitute, but kept
her clothes on in a strange outdoor scene with Bartel himself.
Here are some zipped .wmv clips:
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* Yellow asterisk: funny (maybe).
* White asterisk: expanded format.
* Blue asterisk: not mine.
No asterisk: it probably sucks.
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OTHER CRAP:
Catch the deluxe version of Other Crap in real time, with all the bells and whistles,
here.
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The Gulf War
The Gulf War (1998) is a Showtime mini-series in two parts addressing Gulf
War Syndrome, and the alleged attempt by the VA, the military, and others to
pretend it didn't exist and hope it would go away. IMDb lists this under the
ironic title "Thanks of a Grateful Nation."
The story is told from the perspective of a young special forces lifer and
his wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a civilian contractor who also contracted the
disease during cleanup operations, a senator's aide who became obsessed with
exposing what was really going on, and the senator he worked for. Parallels
were drawn to the Vietnam era Agent Orange diseases, and also to WW II vets
with radiation sickness.
I can't evaluate the accuracy of the cover-up content, but the medical
effects of Gulf War Syndrome, as well as the most likely causes, were
accurately presented. I did some internet research, and the probable causes of
Gulf War Syndrome include exposure to chemical warfare agents released when US
attacks destroyed chemical warfare plants, an anthrax vaccination forced on
soldiers, depleted uranium dust, or oil fire fumes. While critics would still
like to claim there is no such disease, and hence the VA has no financial
obligation to treat the problems, it is beginning to seem pretty clear that
something about serving in the gulf caused these medical problems among all
who served there, not just Americans.
It makes its points while remaining mostly entertaining, but because it
dragged in places, it would have been a better project if it either cut the
running length by an hour or used the existing length to work in additional
scientific evidence.
C.
IMDb readers say 6.0.
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The Gift
It's a short one today, I am in the middle of a snowstorm and not one of
you guys offered to help shovel, so here are the perfect breasts of Katie
Holmes.
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Notes and collages
The Ladies of
Sci-fi/Fantasy
The 5th Element
I took a day off from work for my birthday, which I have done all my
working years, and spent my time putting together these collages. Great color
in this film, The one thing I would have changed if I was the costumer is the
color of Bruce Willis' shirt from orange to blue (to further accentuate Ms.
Jovovich's hair color) but perhaps his shirt color was intended as a plot
element since he was bonded with her from the time they met.
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"The Hunger"
Episode "NO RADIO"
A very peculiar story about a married woman (Amanda De Cadenet), who
gets a call one night from a man who is asking for Amanda, but she tells
him that's not her name, however she keeps taking to him and meets him
the next day and has an affair with him. Later she becomes his kidnap
victim, or at least that what he thinks. The title seems derived from a
sign in her car window that states that she has no radio. I've always
like Amanda de Cadenet, and she is topless in the episode, so I liked
it.
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Lance et Compte
... the new generation
Otherwise known as Lance et Compte 4, this is the first season of the revival of
the classic 80s hockey series, as broadcast in 2002.
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