Twenty-four hours of Peter Billingsley almost shooting his eye out may have been a yuletide blast when you were still old enough to appreciate (and, admit it, covet) that Red Ryder BB Gun, but let’s be honest: Isn’t it time for the real thing? Unfortunately, short of Italian goremeister Lucio Fulci returning from the beyond for one last hurrah, Ted Turner’s unlikely to fill your holiday viewing bill with anything other than A Christmas Story and assorted wonderful lives. And King Kong? The line’s longer than your greedy little nephew’s letter to Santa, and you know how much postage that took to get off the ground.
Lucky for you then that the fine folks at the Alamo Drafthouse have stepped in to take the heat and offer you, among other post-holiday diversions, some Head. Whoa there, grandma. We’re talking about director Bob Rafelson’s 1968 psychedelic meta-flick starring the Monkees, which is being presented in all its Marshall McLuhan-inspired madness by Rhino Releasing and High Times magazine just in time to help that lingering tryptophan in your bloodstream melt away into good old-fashioned trippiness.
Playing as part of the Alamo’s annual High for the Holidays event, programmer Kier-La Janisse says, “It’s in the private collection of Rhino and is the print they used to make all their DVDs from. Plus, no one ever plays it, and, if you haven’t seen it, you really should check it out.
“People should also check out our annual Air Guitar 2006 Championship competition,” she adds. “If last year’s competition proved anything, it’s that there’s no bigger spectacle all year than the air guitar competition. Last year’s winner, a guy named Glitter, ended up going to the nationals in Los Angeles, and although he didn’t win, [Drafthouse owner Tim League] is convinced that someone from Austin can take it this year. Of everyone he saw there, he thinks we were the best. We also have a lot more preliminary rounds, so we can weed out a lot more people along the way. If people have not checked out air guitar before, they have to see it at least once.”
What else? Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash, the Alamo’s decidedly bizarre compilation of real-life Japanese television madness will be screening just as your New Year’s Eve hangover is evaporating. Tim and Karrie League have spent time in Tokyo since last year’s sold-out Monkey Bashing – with a TiVo running constantly in their hotel, no less – so expect enough new Oh, Mikey! episodes to sate even the most refined of Dadaist palettes.
There’s more, of course, but that, insatiable Austin film friends, is how the Alamo rocks your Yule log. And trust us, no one’s going to even think of stopping you from shooting your eye out, should you be so inclined. They’ll just film it and put it up on the screen for all to enjoy.
For admission information and more, see www.originalalamo.com.
This article appears in December 23 • 2005.