GRINDHOUSE! I've been really saddened about the jeering and handwringing and second-guessing over Grindhouse's "disappointing" box office. I saw the movie last week and, like loads of other people, I had a blast! At the time of this posting, Grindhouse has scored a whopping 8.3 out of 10 at IMDB, where it's ranked the 122nd-best movie ever--right between The Sixth Sense and Annie Hall, and way better than Fellini's La Strada (242), Truffaut's The 400 Blows (243), and Franklin J. Schaffner's Planet of the Apes (247). Impressive!

Of course, I realize that Grindhouse isn't for everyone's taste. Basically, you've got to have some tolerance for gory zombie flicks to sit through Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, the first of the two movies in this pseudo double-bill. If you can get over that one bloody hump (with or without a vomit bag--BYI), you're set to get a kick out of the whole package!

Now, there's just one other consideration for those going to see Grindhouse: the total length. Like a lot of movies these days, it's long, clocking in at more than 3 hours. The good news is that you get your money's worth; the bad news is that (also like a lot of movies these days), Grindhouse is something of an endurance test due to its lack of an intermission. Sure, there's a faux intermission between Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino's relatively tame but still clever car stalker flick Death Proof, but it's filled with faux trailers you might not want to miss. Which could leave you and your bladder struggling with the dilemma of figuring out when to pee.

I suspect Tarantino might have been very aware of the potentially urgent peeing predicament--Death Proof has a couple-three moments that seem to indicate as much. Yet, in this age of YouTube, I think I've got a decent, um, solution to the problem--the intermission trailers themselves! There's a little more to the intermission material, but if you must take a bathroom break between the main features, at least you won't miss the following.



Source (1:54)




Source (1:32)




Source (2:59)


My other Grindhouse tip: For the full experience, make sure you see it in a theater where people will be likely to call out jokes and such. If necessary, bring your own posse for this purpose. (I saw it on 42nd Street, for old time's sake.)

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING My favorite trailer is Don't.

B MUSICALS AT THE FILM FORUM. Think of it as the Bruce Goldstein challenge: Goldstein crams more than 45 obscure musicals into a three week series, leaving it to the rest of us to try to identify the ones we most want to see. [Flash: The series will be covered on WNYC's Soundcheck at 2 pm today.]

One way to figure it out is to comb through the series for the talent: Frank Loesser, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Douglas Sirk--they're all represented. Buffs will want to set aside the Sunday, April 15 Vitaphone Varieties program featuring rare short subjects paired with the rediscovered Song of Love (1929), notable for a rare film appearance by Belle Baker as well as the debut of Eve Arden (billed as Eunice Quedens). Thursday, April 12 is a triple bill including the Marilyn Monroe movie Ladies of the Chorus and Minstrel Man, with Joseph H. Lewis (Mr. "Always Steal from the Best") directing Benny Fields and John Raitt. If you want a triple dose of the nearly forgotten hillbilly craze, try the Monday, April 9 Judy Canova mini-festival featuring Joan of Ozark, Sis Hopkins, and Hit the Way.

But over here at Blog About Town, I've run the material through IMDB looking for the top-ranked movies. A bunch haven't received ratings yet, but here are some of the IMDB ratings-based highlights. (Note that the single highest-ranked movie is Mister Big, showing on the April 16 program.)

Tuesday April 10
7.9 Start Cheering (Broderick Crawford, Jimmy Durante, Three Stooges)
7.2 Hips, Hips, Hooray (Pre-Code with Thelma Todd and Ruth Etting)
6.7 Crazy House (pictured, top; Tarantino favorite with Count Basie, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce)
7.3 AVERAGE

Monday April 9 (Andrews Sisters)
7.9 Give Out, Sisters (with Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan)
7.1 Buck Privates (with Abbott & Costello)
6.6 Argentine Nights (with the Ritz Brothers)
7.2 AVERAGE

Saturday March 31
7.4 Sweater Girl (Eddie Bracken, with music by Jule Styne and Frank Loesser)
6.8 Double or Nothing (Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, William Frawley, Andy Devine)
7.1 AVERAGE

Monday April 16 (Donald O'Connor-ama, with Peggy Ryan and Gloria Jean)
8.6 Mister Big
7.5 The Merry Monahans
4.2 Get Hep to Love
6.8 AVERAGE

Sunday April 1
7.0 Torch Singer (pre-Code Claudette Colbert)
6.5 Sitting Pretty (Jack Haley, Jack Oakie, Ginger Rogers, Thelma Todd)
6.75 AVERAGE

Wednesday April 4
7.0 Moonlight and Pretzels (pictured, right)
6.5 Melody Cruise (Phil Harris, Charles Ruggles)
6.75 AVERAGE

Friday April 13
7.0 King of Burlesque (Alice Faye, Fats Waller)
6.1 Hooray for Love (Ann Sothern, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Fats Waller)
6.55 AVERAGE

Also of note: San Antonio Rose (IMDB 7.2 with Eve Arden, Shemp Howard, and Lon Chaney, Jr.) on the Monday, April 2 triple bill and Eadie Was a Lady (IMDB 7.0) on the Ann Miller triple bill (also featuring Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Mills Brothers, and Frank Sinatra) in Reveille with Beverly on Tuesday, April 3.

Here are stills (courtesy Film Forum/Photofest) from Ladies of the Chorus, Hit the Hay, and Reveille with Beverly.