"Cult Movies are special films
which for one reason or another have
been taken to heart by segments of the
movie going audience, cherished,
protected, and, most of all,
enthusiastically championed... They see
them repeatedly and are intent on
persuading anyone who will listen that
they should be appreciated regardless of
what the [critics] think."
I
remember as if it were yesterday...
Back
in high school (circa
1985),
during a study hall, I was diligently
finishing up my Algebra assignment so I
could turn my attention to this wonderful
new book that I had just purchased. I
didn't notice, but Mrs. Barger -- the Nurse
Ratchet of study hall monitors, was making
her rounds. She saw the book -- and it's
lurid title, and quickly snatched it up thinking
it was evil (as
the word "cult" often implies)
or some kind of porno film book.
The
old battle-axe thought she had me dead to
rights, but
luck
was with me that day as she sneered and
flipped through the pages. I say lucky
because she didn't see the entry for Behind
the Green Door,
and the huge naked picture of Marilyn
Chambers. Instead, her facial expression
quickly changed as the first page she
stopped on was the entry for the Christmas
classic It's
A Wonderful Life,
and then the John Wayne masterpiece The
Searchers.
She asked me what it was, and I explained
that it was a serious book on film and
filmmaking. After mumbling something about
James Dean, and pointing out some pictures
from Rebel
Without a Cause,
she snorted, gave the book back, and then
moved on to torment someone else. Quickly
burying it under another text book, I
breathed a huge sigh of relief and went
back to work. The book would have to wait
until I got home.
Author
Danny Peary presents an eclectic bunch of
films covering everything from the obscure
to the well known. From Citizen
Kane
to El
Topo,
Eraserhead
to The
Maltese Falcon,
Caged
Heat to
The
Wizard of Oz
and beyond. In all, one hundred films are
broken down with a credit list, a detailed
plot synopsis and are beautifully
illustrated with photos and publicity
stills. And then it gets really
interesting with lengthy and thoughtful
dissertations on the film's particulars,
and why the particular film enjoys it's
cult status.
With
all due respect to the other B-Movie
websites that helped inspire 3B
Theater, Peary's style and
presentation has been the most influential
in the shaping and molding of what it is
today. I've always loved weird movies and
read a lot of books and magazines on
monster movies and other strange films. But it
wasn't until after I bought this book that
I became truly fascinated by the carnal
knowledge of movies: Behind the scenes
scuttlebutt, gonzo directors,
idiosyncratic stars with hidden agendas or
messages in films that make the production
almost as interesting as the film itself.
Peary
has three volumes of books dedicated to
these weird, wonderful and sometimes
gonzoid pieces of cinema. He also has a great book
on alternate Oscars, dedicated to films
that probably should have won the Academy
Award for best picture since it's
inception. And any serious
film scholar who would nominate The
Thing from Another World for Best
Picture in 1951 is a freakin' genius in my
book.
Coming
out fifteen years before the internet made
anything and everything about a film
available -- BEFORE IT'S EVEN RELEASED,
Peary's books were
(and still are)
a gold mine.
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