SoulSonicCinema #3

Last night was SoulSonicCinema's third night of retro film fun, at the Rainbow pub in Digbeth. Although armchairs and sofas weren't provided as promised, it was free and friendly. After a DJ set, playing soundtracks from exploitation hits such as Cleopatra Jones and The Thing With Two Heads, we were treated to a selection of trashy 70s trailers, including the decidedly monotonous Massacre: Mafia Style :-



I know what you're thinking. Why are John Candy and Bruce Forsyth shooting up the Rotunda? It's best not to ask.
This was followed by an episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show - this show is great. Way ahead of its time and absolutely hilarious. The dialogue is minimal, and often non-sensical, so the animation can have a free range that delves to a worrying extent into the psychosis of the characters. Some people have described it as being 'too gross', but...well, yeah, okay, if you don't like cartoon violence then you'll find it too gross. Really, though, it's no worse than Itchy and Scratchy. Just drawn better.
After this was the main feature - Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin.


I was actually surprised by this film - given the trashy nature of everything else, this was damn good. It captured that specialist fashion and visual flair that could only have belonged to 1960s LA.
Marvin stars as Walker, a thief who gets double-crossed and left for dead. Then he returns, a dead man walking, looking for his money, and vengeance on those who pulled the strings...
It was very stylish and sexy, and refreshingly free of unintentionally funny moments. The more 60s/70s crime films I see, the more I realise that people will never be as cool as they were.