Union City (1980)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Marcus Reichert

Writers:

Cornell Woolrich (short story "The Corpse Next Door")
Marcus Reichert (written by)

Release Date:

18 March 1982 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

A man is so obsessed with finding the person responsible for stealing his milk bottles that he ignores his beautiful young wife, who has other ideas on her mind.

Plot Keywords:

Paranoia | Masturbation | Adultery | Art | Corpse

Cast

Sam McMurray	...	Young Vagrant
Dennis Lipscomb	...	Harlan
Terry Walsh	...	Paper Boy
Cynthia Crisp	...	Wanda
Taylor Mead	...	Walter
Charles Rydell	...	Cab Driver
Deborah Harry	...	Lillian
Sally MacLeod	...	Woman In Bar
Irina Maleeva	...	The Contessa
Terina Lewis	...	Evelyn
Everett McGill	...	Larry Longacre
Wolfgang Zilzer	...	Ludendorff (as Paul Andor)
Arthur McFarland	...	Mr. Lewis
CCH Pounder	...	Mrs. Lewis (as C.C.H. Pounder)
Asha Robinson	...	Daughter, Lewis Family

Runtime:

87 min | Canada:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (re-rating) (1986) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:M | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Union City, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Cantina Blues Films

Quotes:

Lillian: I guess I'm just not a nice person.

Movie Connections:

References How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

The fall of the Dolacoids or Blondie in touching lingerie

Wonderful low key film about a husband so obsessed with having a few sips of his milk stolen that he fails to pleasure his beautiful young wife for so long that she does it herself in a wonderfully touching scene. This was the standard artists' claim against the materialism of the 50's in which this story seems to be set. It's typical film student's protest against straight society's misplaced priorities in which the starving artist appears the hero, but is imaginative enough and with the right mix of humanity, suspense, plot twists and lingerie touching to make it pleasant to watch. And the ending is satisfying.

The Dolacoids refers to the Nazi theory of racial superiority based on the shape of the skull in which the long headed or dolacoid race is destined to rule. The former Stanford professor Thorsten Veblen, more known for his "Theory of the Leisure Class" -- the groundbreaking analysis of conspicuous consumption, wrote a brilliant satire of Nazi race theory entitled The Rise and Fall of the Dolocoid Race in which he proves that Dolocoids are destined for extinction because they are so concerned with their status and conspicuous consumption that they fail to have time to perform their filial duties, and hence produce no offspring, while the roundheads seem to make that a priority.

This movie does a great job of working this theme. And I do mean that the scene in which a beautiful young woman like Blondie, is neglected for the sake of a sip of milk is tragically moving. Boy some guys really know how to screw up.