superbish Reviews

Pardon My Past (1945)

MacMurray's Tribute to his Home

[7 November 2004]

While Fred MacMurray had always held warm feelings for the hometown where he had always been a star, regardless of his Hollywood career, he used Pardon My Past to deliver his most direct tribute to the small Wisconsin community of Beaver Dam.

During MacMurray's childhood, Beaver Dam was relatively isolated at the center point between Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay. Before the advent of the freeway, none of these cities were any less than a day's travel one-way. So, the budding star had to make due with his limited audience, and never disappointed his hometown.

Pardon My Past was the only movie MacMurray ever produced himself. It is the story of two GIs coming back to America after World War II, heading to Beaver Dam to start a mink farm. The city is made reference to no fewer than eight times, or once every eleven minutes, in the movie.

Fred never forgot his roots, he never grew too far away from his home. He adored the friends he made and he loved the city of Beaver Dam up until the day of his death in 1991. He was truly a rarity from any era of Hollywood, and, speaking as a fellow graduate of Beaver Dam High School, we are proud to have called him our own.

The Crow (1994)

Not Just a "Goth" Movie

[31 October 2004]

Some accuse The Crow of being nothing more than a cult Goth movie with nothing to offer anyone else, but in that I completely disagree.

Some criticize the script for not developing the story or characters, I commend the scriptwriter for not bogging the movie down with the details we can understand without having them explicitly disseminated.

Why do we need it explained that Erick Draven is upset over the murder of himself and his fiancée? That's pretty easy to understand on its own. Why must the motives of his vendetta be explained, when they are so easy to comprehend? I am grateful this movie simply got to the point, without losing the emotion.

The other element where this movie shines is in the juxtaposition of the mood against the theme. The mood and the setting are black and high-contrast, with a noir-influenced design element. But the theme is hopeful and even happy, and are summed up in the movies final phrase: "true love is forever."

The Crow is not the best action movie ever made, nor is it the most profound, but it is a very good movie with plenty of action and an engaging story which was very adequately acted by Ernie Hudson and the late Brandon Lee.

The Fantastic Four (1994)

The Worst Bootlegged DVD I've Ever Encountered

[1/10 · 28 November 2003]

Stan Lee himself said this movie was made to be not released. In Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels he reveals this to Kevin Smith. Now, if they could have only passed this on to the bootleggers. I picked up a copy of this in a computer game/general geekery store because of the mountains of intrigue and mystique surrounding the "lost" FF movie. The one question everyone asked was "Why was it never released?" Having now seen the movie, the answer is plainly obvious: this movie is the worst conglomeration of pieced together incongruities ever committed to cellophane. Literally every element of this movie is bad. I can not pick out one thing worse than another, because it is all so terrible. If you are a connoisseur of bad movies, as I am, perhaps it is worth viewing with a couple other like-minded individuals, but even by the standards of bad movies, this one was nearly intolerable.

The Pit (1981)

Historical Documentation

[5 February 2003]

Let's get this straight... Simply put, this movie is terrible. The plot holes are tremendous, the acting is five shades past suspect, and the only redeeming qualities are the gratuitous boobie shots. But, nonetheless, I do have an emotional connection to this movie, because it was filmed almost entirely in my hometown of Beaver Dam, WI. That fact cannot (as much as some residents wish) be denied, because the landmarks are unmistakable, least of all William's Free Library, where Jaime cuts out the pictures of the nudes from the art books. Its now the Dodge County Historical Museum. Oddly enough, a copy of The Pit is missing from their collection of local history. A block away, however, there is a copy of The Pit for all to enjoy in the 2/$1 section of Family Video. The location of the actual Pit is a spot where I used to go sledding, by my best friend's house (it had been long filled-in), and not far from my house. Edith Bedker, who played Louise, I believe (scroll up to double-check) was the grandmother of a kid I went to school with for 13 years. I wouldn't recommend a non-area resident to watch this movie in a million choices, but if you know south central Wisconsin, you have to see it, just to be in the loop.