09-27-2018, 10:56 PM
Based on a lifetime of movie-watching, an exclamatory title is, for me, a near guarantee of quality entertainment. I remember how, back in my teens while channel-surfing (3 channels) late-night TV for the oh-so-rare SF movie, I came across Them! (1954). Giant radioactive ants? What's not to like! That was the first gem, to be followed over the years by others in no particular order: Gas, Inspector Palmu! (1961), The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), Top Secret! (1984), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Airplane! (1980), Zombie Strippers! (2008), 2000 Maniacs! (1964), Attack the Gas Station! (1999)...
There was, of course, the occasional misfire, most notably Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), perhaps the worst war movie ever made. But even that had a silver lining, as it led to my discovery of Laura! Laura! Laura!, a porn flick of similar title (for whatever good it might do) that turned out to be deeply passionate, profoundly uplifting, and which marked the start of my love affair with porn flicks with one-off titles: Village of the Rammed, Everyone I Did Last Summer, A Beautiful Behind, Womb Raider, White Men Can't Hump, On Golden Blonde, Shaving Ryan's Privates...
But I'm drifting.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention My Dinner with Andre -- a special case, as it doesn't have an exclamation mark. But midway through watching that bore-fest I had the sudden epiphany that all it really lacked was an exclamation mark, and that tiny change alone would make it a masterpiece. Subsequently I petitioned the studio, director, producer and the two leads Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn to make that title change ... to no avail. Which is their loss, as the movie never managed more than meager arthouse residuals. (As an aside, My Dinner with Vagina! is an outstanding, tastefully-done porn flick.)
Eventually I hit the mother lode of exclamatory titles. I refer to Khoisanywood, the little-known film studios of the bushmen of southern Africa. Ah, the beauty of their Khoisan language with its click consonants, and the prodigious number of cinematic masterpieces it gave rise to -- movies such as Put! Another! Twig! on! the! Fire!, Do! We! Have! Any! More! Maggots!, My! Spear! Is! Dull! , The! Pot! Is! Lukewarm!, I! Made! a! Bow! and! Arrow!, There's! Another! Ant!, Where! Is! My! Loincloth!, The! Grass! Is! Not! Even! Yellow!
The exclamation mark often gets a bad rap. Granted, it is often overused -- in magazines, literature, and especially online. Way way overused at times. Still, it does have its place, and that is in movie titles, as a designation that it is something that Cranefly would greatly enjoy.
There was, of course, the occasional misfire, most notably Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), perhaps the worst war movie ever made. But even that had a silver lining, as it led to my discovery of Laura! Laura! Laura!, a porn flick of similar title (for whatever good it might do) that turned out to be deeply passionate, profoundly uplifting, and which marked the start of my love affair with porn flicks with one-off titles: Village of the Rammed, Everyone I Did Last Summer, A Beautiful Behind, Womb Raider, White Men Can't Hump, On Golden Blonde, Shaving Ryan's Privates...
But I'm drifting.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention My Dinner with Andre -- a special case, as it doesn't have an exclamation mark. But midway through watching that bore-fest I had the sudden epiphany that all it really lacked was an exclamation mark, and that tiny change alone would make it a masterpiece. Subsequently I petitioned the studio, director, producer and the two leads Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn to make that title change ... to no avail. Which is their loss, as the movie never managed more than meager arthouse residuals. (As an aside, My Dinner with Vagina! is an outstanding, tastefully-done porn flick.)
Eventually I hit the mother lode of exclamatory titles. I refer to Khoisanywood, the little-known film studios of the bushmen of southern Africa. Ah, the beauty of their Khoisan language with its click consonants, and the prodigious number of cinematic masterpieces it gave rise to -- movies such as Put! Another! Twig! on! the! Fire!, Do! We! Have! Any! More! Maggots!, My! Spear! Is! Dull! , The! Pot! Is! Lukewarm!, I! Made! a! Bow! and! Arrow!, There's! Another! Ant!, Where! Is! My! Loincloth!, The! Grass! Is! Not! Even! Yellow!
The exclamation mark often gets a bad rap. Granted, it is often overused -- in magazines, literature, and especially online. Way way overused at times. Still, it does have its place, and that is in movie titles, as a designation that it is something that Cranefly would greatly enjoy.
I'm nobody's pony.
