Legacy
Legacy 1975, R, 88 min. Directed by Karen Arthur, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Joan Hotchkis, George Mcdaniel, Sean Allan, Dixie Lee. Legacy is the first feature film made by Karen Arthur, a director who subsequently worked primarily in television, directing series such as Cagney & Lacey and Remington Steele before developing into…
The Public Enemy
This criminal tale excited audiences and landed the kinetic Cagney on the movie map. Now a classic, this is the movie in which Cagney famously crams a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face.
White Heat
White Heat 1949, NR, 114 min. Directed by Raoul Walsh, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien, Margaret Wycherly. Talk about your baby boys – Cagney takes the cake here as a psychopathic gangster with a seriously perverse mother complex. A gangster classic.
Bullitt
Bullitt 1968, PG, 113 min. D: Peter Yates; with Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Duvall. One of the cinema’s very best car-chase sequences – set amid the hilly, windy San Francisco streets – caps this quintessential Steve McQueen policier.
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry 1971, R, 102 min. D: Don Siegel; with Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino. Are you feeling lucky, punk?
Yor, the Hunter From the Future
Yor, the Hunter From the Future 1983, PG, 88 min. Directed by Anthony M. Dawson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Reb Brown, Corrine Clery, John Steiner, Carole Andre, Alan Collins. Glaciers, dinosaurs, and a hero named Yor: This Italian terror is universally acknowledged as one of the most incoherent movies on the planet.…
The Muppet Movie
The Muppet Movie 1979, G, 94 min. D: James Frawley; with Jim Henson, Frank Oz. The first Muppet feature showcases Kermit on the road to Hollywood. Dozens of movie-star cameos are included.
Articulations
Flood relief is on the way for Houston arts organizations devastated by Tropical Storm Allison and a memorial service is being held for longtime Austin actress Judi Sklar Becker.
Food-o-File
Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood remembers Ninfa Laurenzo, the founder of the popular Ninfa’s Tex-Mex chain, who passed away last week, and updates readers on the culinary news around Austin.
Record Reviews
Legendary Crystal ChandelierBeyond Indifference (Quality Park) Peter Schmidt has lived several musical lifetimes over 15-plus years in Dallas’ musical microverse. His mid-Eighties act Three on a Hill predated even the New Bohemians as the Deep Ellum scene’s “Next Big Thing.” In the Nineties, it was the Schmidt-fronted Funland knocking on success’ door. Now, Schmidt is…
Slack Where We Started
Richard Linklater and John Pierson Ponder ‘Slacker’ and Its Aftermath
Exhibitionism
Wayne Alan Brenner’s friend Sylvia has an opinion about the Vortex Repertory Company’s workshop performance Uncaged: The public deserves more for its money than an end-of-the-workshop variety show unless what’s onstage is well-performed and original, and except for a handful of pieces by a few participants — most notably the emcee Ratgirl — she thinks…
Not Your Mother’s Hockey Puck
Austin’s Women’s Hockey Team, the Roadrunners, Face Off Against the Gender Gap.
Record Reviews
The Impossibles4 Song Brick Bomb (Fueled By Ramen) Initially founded in the mid-Nineties as a local ska-punk enterprise with just enough pop chops to appeal to wayward Weezer fans, the Impossibles have matured into something a bit less obvious on 4 Song Brick Bomb. If you’re willing to forego the easy hook and indulge them,…
What We Said Then
SLACKER Director: Richard Linklater Starring: A Cast of Hundreds (1 hr., 37 min.) Slacker: The title of Richard Linklater’s stroll through a day in the lives of a hundred-odd Austin limbo dwellers started as a joke shared by the first-time director and his tireless, unpaid crew — “Get to work, you slacker!”– and grew into…
The Road Home
The Road Home 1999, G, 100 min. Directed by Zhang Yimou, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Zhang Ziyi, Zheng Hao, Sun Honglei, Zhao Yuelin. The first images of Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home are startling — a jittery, through-the-window vantage on an unplowed mountain road winding through desolate rural China, photographed in flat,…
Exhibitionism
Although Austin Playhouse’s revival of The Fantasticks is burdened with more than a few trips and stumbles, the show has evident charms, and here familiarity breeds not contempt but something warmer.
Right Man for the Job
Charlie Robison says ‘fuck everybody.’
Record Reviews
PunchyJust My Type (Pinch Hit) Punchy, eh? Is that as in “marked by vigor” or “dazed as if from a blow”? Doesn’t matter, one supposes, as either definition applies to the local quartet heard on Just My Type. Punchy delivers a solid set of essentially timeless rock that generally finds its basis in the Rumour/Attractions…
Short Cuts
To auteur or not to auteur, a fabulous gay movie awards ceremony, kraut-rock!, and now boarding for Lonesome Dove.
Exhibitionism
As Victor, a septic tank salesman burying a shitload of anger in Daniel MacIvor’s solo show House, Ken Webster brings the house down, then builds new theatre for the audience.
Dancing About Architecture
Butthole Surfers and Austin City Limits suffer set backs while Riverfest marches on.
Record Reviews
RainravensOne Last Saturday Night (Rainravens) It’s tempting to say that Rainravens frontman and songwriter Andy Van Dyke has matured on the local trio’s latest, One Last Saturday Night. It probably makes more sense, though, to simply say that the band’s fourth full-length is better than their previous efforts (Rose of Jericho, Diamond Blur, and the…
Video Reviews
A tribute to Gowns by Adrian
Burning Down the Sixties
They don’t normally let dogs in the LBJ Library and Museum, but after Chronicle writer Jesse Sublett explained that he was talking about James Ellroy, the demon dog of American literature, they graciously made an exception.
Record Reviews
Ray Wylie HubbardEternal & Lowdown (Philo) In the past decade, Ray Wylie Hubbard has become one of the best singer-songwriters of our time. Since 1992, he’s released a series of albums, each more impressive than the last, filled with songs and stories that are pensive, witty, and filled with vivid imagery, all hung on musical…
Record Reviews
Albert & GageBurnin’ Moonlight (Moonhouse) The engaging singer-songwriter team of Christine Albert and Chris Gage demonstrate the art of good album making so effortlessly on Burnin’ Moonlight, it’s a lesson to remember. Moonlight follows the reissued Jumpin’ Tracks, originally recorded under the name Boxcars in 1997 to unanimous critical acclaim, and proves the Austin duo…
TV Eye
Remembering Carroll O’Connor, the man who immortalized Archie Bunker, and giving chickens their due.
Postscripts
First Marco Perella told us about the apparently very funny experience of being a nobody in his Adventures of a No Name Actor; now Bruce Campbell wants us to know what it’s like to be both a B-movie king and a regular Joe.
Record Reviews
Willie NelsonRainbow Connection (Island)Jackie King with Willie NelsonThe Gypsy (Indigo Moon) The latest additions to Willie Nelson’s canon are two, a children’s album, Rainbow Connection, and a jazz date, The Gypsy, the LP for grown-ups. With Nelson doing his best Kermit the Frog on the title track to Rainbow, there’s no mistaking the two. The…
Record Reviews
Radney FosterAre You Ready for the Big Show? (Dualtone) Recorded at the one and only Continental Club in September 2000, Radney Foster’s Are You Ready for the Big Show? isn’t your standard live album. Instead of just reprising his hits in front of an audience of fans, Foster mixes new arrangements of some better-known tunes…
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence 2001, PG-13, 146 min. D: Steven Spielberg; with Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law. There’s nothing more frustrating than a posthumous work from your favorite filmmaker that doesn’t quite live up to expectations. In this case it’s Stanley Kubrick, who had been working on A.I. for over a decade before his death. Unable…
Readings
The Collected Stories of Richard Yates by Richard Yates; introduction by Richard Russo Holt, 472 pp., $28 Though literary giants Richard Ford, Robert Stone, and Andre Dubus have long praised his work, Richard Yates’ short stories have been out of print for 12 years. It took novelist Stuart O’Nan’s eloquent appeal in the Boston Review…
Record Reviews
Asleep at the WheelThe Best of Asleep at the Wheel (MCA)Asleep at the WheelThe Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel (Madacy) Wait a minute. The Best, and The Very Best? Which is best? If you want the more obvious hits, the songs that helped Asleep at the Wheel get a row of Grammys across…
Record Reviews
Ian Moore Action CompanyVia Satellite (Hablador) On his second live album and sixth album to date, former Austinite, now Seattle resident Ian Moore continues his journey as a former six-string slinger-turned-songwriter. Early Nineties Austin residents may remember the multi-instrumentalist vying for the blues-rock guitar god title, but after throwing off those shackles — and in…
Baby Boy
Baby Boy 2001, R, 129 min. Directed by John Singleton, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tyrese Gibson, Omar Gooding, A.J. Johnson, Taraji P. Henson, Snoop Dogg, Tamara Laseon Bass, Ving Rhames. In Baby Boy, writer/director/producer John Singleton puts forth a lot of provocative ideas regarding our culture’s infantilization of African-American men, not least…
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Record Reviews
More Songs of Route 66 (Lazy SOB) Old Route 66 isn’t what it used to be. Back in the pre-Interstate days, in the time of self-serve gas stations, that California trip was a rollicking drive across Americana. As such, More Songs of Route 66 is a great little reflection of the journey. Marcia Ball kicks…
Record Reviews
Young Guitar Slingers … Texas Blues Evolution(TMG) For a peek at the latest crop of Texas young guns making the rounds with their Stratocasters, Young Guitar Slingers — Texas Blues Evolution is a fine place to start. As the title implies, there’s been an evolution in Texas blues, and if the players of previous generations…
Crazy/beautiful
Crazy/beautiful 2001, PG-13, 95 min. Directed by John Stockwell, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Lucinda Jenney, Miguel Castro, Taryn Manning, Herman Osorio, Bruce Davison, Jay Hernandez, Kirsten Dunst. As far as movies marketed at a youthful demographic go, crazy/beautiful is a surprisingly mature and delicately rendered entry into the teen sweepstakes. If only…
Page Two
Even being in Slacker didn’t prepare Chronicle Editor Louis Black for the film’s eventual impact.
Record Reviews
Lee Roy ParnellTell the Truth (Vanguard) Lee Roy Parnell always had country in him — he is a Texas boy, after all — yet never seemed to fit into Nashville’s pretty-boy mold while he recorded for labels there. He saw some degree of success, yet his style always leaned toward blue-eyed soul topped off with…
Now Serving … Time
Robert Conran sat down to dinner at Furr’s, and walked out in handcuffs. After four years in prison on a shaky conviction, he’s got a chance of parole — then he faces deportation
Sexy Beast
Sexy Beast 2001, R, 91 min. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Atiko, James Fox, Alvaro Monje, Julianne White, Cavan Kendall, Amanda Redman, Ian Mcshane, Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone. A boulder, a gun, a bank heist … it’s hard, at first, to tell where Sexy Beast is going. The…
Public Notice
Free wheelchairs, fan-tasic, and Grrrrrrrrly Action: What a hot summer it’s heating up to be in Austin’s public-service community.
Record Reviews
The FencecuttersHorses and Asses (MakeYour OwnDamnRecords) There are plenty of country-fried South Austin bar bands, but thanks to this collection of 15 original tunes that display maturity, humor, and subtlety, the Fencecutters rise above the mundane fray. The fivepiece sounds as if it started playing acoustically minded bluegrassy country, but then the beer kicked in,…
Naked City
The end of the road has come for what may have been the last pocket of truly affordable houses west of I-35, with the sale of 11 tracts in the Alta Vista neighborhood — a cluster of 107 modest homes tucked behind the bustling Chili’s/ Starbucks complex at 45th and Lamar — to developers Carter…
Songcatcher
Songcatcher 2000, PG-13, 105 min. Directed by Maggie Greenwald, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Emmy Rossum, Pat Carroll, E. Katherine Kerr, Jane Adams, Aidan Quinn, Janet Mcteer. The Appalachian music that propels Songcatcher sounds sweet as honey, but the non-musical aspects of this independent film smell an awful lot like pork product. Songcatcher…
Mr. Smarty Pants
If information’s a microbrew, here’s your favorite pub.
Record Reviews
Grand ChampeenBattle Cry for Help (Expansion Team) Here’s some advice for Grand Champeen: don’t get involved with Tabitha Soren or Winona Ryder. If these kids adhere to that dictum, everything else should be cream cheese. Why? Well, when li’l Davie Pirner got mixed up with those two, his band started sucking wimpy power-ballad ass. Seeing…
Naked City
Two historically opposed neighborhoods along Manor Road find a common enemy in plans to expand neighborhood arterials to make room for traffic into the redeveloped Mueller Airport site.
Day Trips
Meet the grill of your dreams at the New Braunfels Smoker Company.
Record Reviews
The American PeopleBecause We Can (Pez) No energy crisis here! Because We Can squeezes 17 songs into 50 minutes of mod-leaning garage groove, with a lyrical slant that comes across like the Weathermen disguised as the Banana Splits. Frontman Mike McCoy (Cher UK) supplies bon mots that target cell-phone-era bugaboos (“American Businessman,” “Ozone Day”) and…
Naked City
As more and more people have abandoned Austin, the feral cat population has soared.
After a Fashion
Ubermodels take the stage at a local bar. Why? Why is the Austin fashion scene so divided? Work with me, baby …
Record Reviews
Teen CoolAdolessons (Pelado) Within the pantheon of Austin’s beer-spitting gutter garage scene, Teen Cool deftly repositions itself as the local equivalent of the New York Dolls sans makeup with this six-song cherry bomb. Though Adolessons is a sneering exercise in punk-rock shit-heaving, the EP benefits from here-and-there touches of conventional rock production. For one thing,…
Naked City
Employees across the country received notices last week that thanks to the new federal tax “reform” law, effective July 1, “new withholding tables may reduce the amount of income tax withheld from your wages.” Emphasis on may: Under the new withholding rules, married wage-earners with a family of four have to make more than $61,500…
Fun With Frugality
Cuisines writer Barbara Chisholm challenged her colleagues to host a dinner party for $50 or less; here’s what each of them came up with.
To Your Health
A friend recently had the silver fillings in her teeth removed and replaced with ceramic fillings. Although it set her back over $2,000, she says she is feeling better already. Is this something I should do?
Record Reviews
Blunt Force Trauma I’m not a licensed therapist, but something tells me these guys could use some serious anger-management training. Following in the skull-cracking bootsteps of acts like D.O.A., Suicidal Tendencies, and Sick of it All, Austin’s Blunt Force Trauma is an old-school hardcore band swimming in vintage Y-chromosome aggression. And frankly, the local punk…
The Hightower Lowdown
Jeffords and the Lobby, Karl Rove’s ethics & the New Fast Track
Second Helpings: Local Pizza Takeout
Where to order Austin-made pizza.
About AIDS
Condom Ads Conspicuously Absent from TV
Record Reviews
QuatropawFlight Since the self-loathing smashes by Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, and tra-la-la throwaways from the likes of Smash Mouth and the Bloodhound Gang, it’s now taken for granted that no modern rocker can be positive and substantive at once. Just like the old saw that says any act flirting with folk music will inevitably reek…
Capitol Chronicle
Governor Perry and his 82 vetoes: Government by Negation
Hearts and Violins
Jennifer Bourianoff has found happiness playing chamber music and living in Austin.
Coach’s Corner
A few observations on the U.S. Open and Wimbledon
Record Reviews
The American Analog SetThrough the 90s: Singles and Unreleased (Emperor Jones) Summer heat, cool AC, soothing melodies, simple, sparse songs, and the Farfisa organ’s mellow-yellow beauty: It’s either a lazy Sunday dream or the American Analog Set. This best-of/rarities album is both a wonderful escape from the hot, cruel world, and for longtime fans, a…
The Father’s Day Massacre
A brief analysis of a number of Gov. Perry’s vetoes
