Yep, the Brian De Palma film from 1974. I saw it more than once in the theater with my mother because she liked Paul Williams and the soundtrack. This returns to me today because on my drive home I was listening to satellite radio and Jason Schwartzman (he of many Wes Anderson films, Phantom Planet, and Talia Shire’s womb) has a recurring show called “Coconut Records,” where he plays songs and talks. Today, he opened his show with “The Hell of It,” from Phantom of the Paradise.
Did you get all that? It was a lot of information–titles, dates, people, radio shows–so I would completely understand that you might not understand. No big deal that you are not in my 70’s-movies-Brian-De-Palma-Paul-Williams-satellite-radio circle. Circles, though, are a big deal to me, to which I will return.
Even though my mother and father raised me and I spent an incredible amount of time with them, I don’t remember many things we had in common. I was into sports, music, and media while they weren’t. But, about every month, I was able to see just about any movie with my mom. She didn’t really have an idea of what most of the movies were about (or maybe she did and was just being mom-savvy), but we saw a ton of them together. Some were awful, others turned out to be iconic, while more of them were just movies of the time that you might see on cable today.
Phantom of the Paradise might be R. There is kind of an orgy scene in there along with some violence. Come on, it’s Brian De Palma learning his eventual craft. But we sometimes saw hard-R B-movies on a double feature, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, plus other movies that I would have had to sneak into with my friends. Either way, hearing the song reminded me that we had many things in common, especially when it came to movies. And, since we did see many movies of the early to mid-70’s, we exposed each other to some crappy movies, but also ones that defined that generation of change, disengagement, and/or disgust. I saw Five Easy Pieces with her.
In class today I had an easy lesson. Students had to upload a favorite scene from a movie, write a little summary of it, and tell why it’s a favorite scene of theirs. We decided in our PLC meetings that students should write a summary of something. Me, not wanting to read 100 Chapter 2 summaries of Lord of the Flies, decided to do things differently.
They were loud, they were quiet, they talked to others, they laughed–and they did it. We didn’t have to pretend that they had read a Chapter; instead, they got to choose something from that huge databank that is their brains, and recollect something they actually enjoyed. They showed me their scenes, asked if I knew them, and I mostly did, for I know many of their circles, which gives us that common ground. Stover, for the WIN.
So I got through a Thursday. And, if my mom is reading this somewhere, thanks for letting me see some 70’s movies that I probably shouldn’t have, but am glad I did. Turn up one of your favorite Paul Williams songs and enjoy it again with me.