Happy Endings: Late Summer Movie Season Entries that Helped Make the Dog Days Just a Little Cooler

 by Michael Lyons     

 

I guess we can avoid the inevitable no longer.  Soon, all the kids will head back to school, the bathing suits will be packed away, and pumpkin spice will be added to everything from a cappuccino to marinara sauce.

Summer, that glorious season of fair weather days and endless nights, is ending.  Sure, the summer of 2022 wasn't perfect, as it was filled with travel woes that made vacation almost seem like a four-letter word and weather so intense that it seemed as if the Heat Miser was real.  

But, admit it, you'll miss summer.  The carefree-no-school-flip-flop-wearing time of year brings a unique sense of relaxation.  And it's own form of movies, too.

After two years dormant, Hollywood's all-important summer movie season made a tremendous comeback this year, thanks to hits like Top Gun: Maverick.  The record-breaking Tom Cruise "legacy sequel" was an excellent "flashback" to summer movie seasons that brought us some of the movie industry's most famous films.

And during those past summer movie seasons, some late entries hit theaters just before summer took its final bow and provided one last blast for movie fans.

As "Screen Saver" did in 2018, here's another look at some late entries in past summer movie seasons:

 

Cop Land (1997)

A Western-style story set in contemporary New Jersey, this was an "Eastern" and a compelling, well-crafted one.  Sylvester Stallone plays Freddy Heflin, a quiet, mild-mannered Sherrif of a small Jersey suburb, where a number of New York City cops live.

When an internal affairs officer (Robert DeNiro) begins investigating corruption among the residents, Freddy has to decide between his loyalty to the cops who live in the town and doing what's right.

Written and directed by James Mangold, Cop Land  (released twenty-five years ago) is one of the most underrated movies of the 90s, expertly made, with echoes of the best of Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet.

With a supporting cast that includes Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Cathy Moriarity, Janeane Garofalo, and Michael Rapaport, Cop Land is bristling with talent and features Stallone in one of the best performances of his career (and one for which he was robbed of an Oscar nomination).

 Single White Female (1992)

Thirty years ago, the movie thriller was still "a thing." Audiences flocked to films that showed how evil could lurk in our everyday lives, including a new roommate.  This is the premise of Single White Female, in which New Yorker Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) places an ad looking for a roommate, and she gets Hedra Carson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) answering it.

It turns out that Hedra, who has a disturbing history, wants more than just a room; she wants Allison's life.

Single White Female had shades of the classic Rosemary's Baby, as it creates an eerie atmosphere out of an old Manhattan apartment.  While it may not bring with it too many surprises, it's still an effective thriller, thanks to compelling performances by Fonda and Jason Leigh.

 Stakeout (1987) 

This is a complete and utter '80s audience pleaser.  Released thirty-five years ago this month, Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez have great chemistry as police detective partners forced to go on the graveyard shift of a stakeout.  Dreyfuss' character then finds himself falling for the woman (Madeline Stowe) that they're watching.

Directed by John Badham (WarGames), Stakeout is the perfect comedy-action-thriller that seems to be a genre that's disappeared. Estevez showed nice comedic skills, and Dreyfuss was at his manic best.

Stakeout was a surprise, late-summer box-office hit, and deservedly so.

 

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

Want to see the trailers for "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble?"  or "A Fistful of Yen?"  How about a movie that's advertised in the immersive "Feel-a-Round?"

They're all in this irreverent sketch comedy that plays like Saturday Night Live: The Movie. Still funny and fun to watch, this unique comedy is most notable for the careers it launched.

Director John Landis would go on to helm Animal House and Trading Places, among others, and writers Jim Abrahams and David & Jerry Zucker would later bring us Airplane! And the Naked Gun movies. Forty-five years ago, at the end of "Star Wars Summer," they all cut their comedic teeth on The Kentucky Fried Movie. 

 

And so, as we cling to every last sun-drenched day of August and hurtle headfirst into Labor Day, let's remember these films that gave the Summer Movie season its last-minute due.

Soon, those leaves will be changing.  And, remember, they're only pretty to look at when you don't have to rake them! 

Looking for a good Labor Day Weekend "beach read?"  Check out my book Drawn to Greatness: Disney's Animation Renaissance now available on Amazon.

Tired of social media, but don't want to get off of your phone?  Head over to my website Words From Lyons for more of my writing and podcasts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Next "Wave" in Animation: Classic Cartoons Go to the Beach

 

By Michael Lyons

 

It's August, time to ignore those "Back-to-School" commercials and remember that it's still summer.  Oh sure, everyone wants to start picking out just the right sweater and add pumpkin spice to everything, but it's still sweltering outside, people!

Let's hold on to these glorious warm weather months for as long as possible and head to the beach!  And, to get us in the right mood, like an animation sommelier, what follows is just the right pairing of classic cartoons to accompany your trip to the sea shore.

Here are some brief trips to the beach, featuring iconic characters from the golden age of animation, when litter wasn't allowed on the sand, but good ol' fashioned cartoon sight gags were permitted.

 Beach Picnic (Disney, 1939)

When it comes to classic Disney Donald Duck cartoons, they don't come more iconic than this.

With Pluto in tow, Donald, in his full-piece, old-fashioned bathing suit, and straw hat, embarks on a day at the beach.  They are both met with the standard frustrations, as Donald's inflatable beach toy (a horse he's nicknamed Seabiscuit) misbehaves, and an army of ants make short work of the multi-course spread of picnic food that Donald has displayed on his beach blanket.

Among the richly designed Disney comedic moments, there is an excellent sequence in which Pluto gets stuck to fly paper.  Then, of course, Donald's frustrations and tantrums are relatable to all of us who have embarked on a day at the beach this summer.

 Wackiki Rabbit (Warner Bros, 1943)

As far from Beach Picnic as you can get is this Merrie Melodies outing with Bugs Bunny.

Two castaways (voiced by story artists Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce) are stranded at sea, floating on a raft, and starving.  They drift onto the shore of a small island with one inhabitant: Bugs Bunny.

The two men then spend the remainder of the cartoon attempting to eat Bugs, and the Bunny uses his smart-aleck wit to get the best of them continually.

Directed by animation icon Chuck Jones (billed here as Charles M. Jones), Wackiki Rabbit features his trademark, perfectly timed comedy (Bugs speaks as an island native in what seems like a long speech but translates to: "What's up, Doc?").  There's also that classic, cannibalistic cartoon gag where characters are so ravenous they begin to imagine each other as food.

Wackiki Rabbit also features beautifully stylized backgrounds by layout and background artists John McGrew, Gene Fleury and Bernyce Polifka which have a Polynesian and breezy summer flair.

 Beach Peach (Famous Studios, 1950)

"Oh, Popeye!  The beach just sands me!" says Olive Oyl at the start of this Popeye cartoon, where the two love birds embark on a day at the beach.  All is serene until the lifeguard (who sounds like Bluto but is blonde and a little more fit than Popeye's usual nemesis) spends the remainder of the cartoon attempting to steal Olive away from Popeye.

Is there the standard finale with Popeye downing his spinach and getting the best of the lifeguard?  There sure is, and here the sailor man even turns himself into a torpedo to do in his enemy.

Some solid gags follow, like Popeye tripping into setting up his place on the sand or a lifeguard having so little to do that he's drinking beer and watching TV.  Beach Peach may be a traditional Popeye outing, but it manages a few nice, satirical jabs at the perfect day at the beach.

 

Muscle Beach Tom (MGM, 1956)

 

In glorious, widescreen Cinemascope comes this Tom & Jerry short, where Tom attempts to impress his girlfriend by taking her to the beach.  However, when he disrupts Jerry's day, the expected fight between the two ensues.

Additionally, one of the weightlifting cats on the muscle beach gets into it with Tom.  There's the usual cartoon violence that follows, but also a good amount of clever sight gags.  The opening shot of a non-stop array of cats attempting to lift weights in several ways is very well done.

The animation here is also fully realized as the gags play out in Muscle Beach Tom against some beautifully rendered beach backgrounds by the studio's masterful artist Robert Gentle.

 

Although these classic shorts may take place in the unrealistic world of cartoons, each has the same to say about how we all revel in the relaxation that comes with a day at the beach.  Let's soak it up while we still can before those Halloween costumes arrive in stores.

 

Happy August to all!

 

 My book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney's Animation Renaissance is now available on Amazon!

Enjoy more of my articles and podcasts at my website, Words From Lyons