B-Movie Gazette: TOMMY'S 11th ANNUAL PICK-FIVE GREAT SUMMER MOVIES #5 - EDWARD BURNS RECREATES 1982 ON LONG ISLAND IN "SUMMER DAYS, SUMMER NIGHTS" (2018)

B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - WITHOUT WARNING (1980)

Greetings All - It would be cool to do a post one time called the ten most essential B-flicks, sort of a B-Movie 101 thing. If that ever happened I would have to include this sci-fi horror classic from Graydon Clark (Black Shampoo, Satan's Cheerleaders.) This one's a don't pass go and don't collect $200 folks, just see it, Or watch it again. I'm not even going to begin to explain the plot except you have these flying disc things that attach themselves to people, in this case campers on an outing and kill and feed on them. Eventually these discs are tied to an alien, a hungry alien. A forerunner to 1987's Predator sort to speak and with a flat-out goofy cast. Jack Palance and Martin Landau, say what? And looking drugged out I might add but the real surprise here is veteran character actor Larry Storch, from the '60's, a guy who knew 150 dialects and here he is in this as a boy scout leader lol. Also known as It Came Without Warning, this gem is streaming free now only on Plex. 2.75 stars/2.75

Sunday, June 5, 2022

TOMMY'S 11th ANNUAL PICK-FIVE GREAT SUMMER MOVIES #5 - EDWARD BURNS RECREATES 1982 ON LONG ISLAND IN "SUMMER DAYS, SUMMER NIGHTS" (2018)

If you've been around the blog a while then you probably already know I'm a big Edward Burns fan. Especially as a filmmaker. He's very smart in that he follows a filmmaking business model that was first perfected by Burt Lancaster - use your acting talents to star in the lucrative big Hollywood pictures and then use those funds to finance your little indie that you really care about. Rinse and repeat.

Creation number twelve for him is in familiar territory, the rom-com. It's 1982 and summer on the Island and Burns runs a little beach resort, his son and various friends work there. Everyone knows everyone in the beach community and the film is basically an interweaving characters thing, another Burns trademark. The film is very different compared to his others in that all the characters are young college folk, lots of bikinis and summer shorts. Burns ties all the character's stories together nicely with a three-act structure introduced with the title cards Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day.

The year being '82 there is nice expected eighties music throughout although a scene where partygoers are dancing to the Go-Go's "We Got The Beat" is a little overdrawn. Originally titled Summertime, this isn't one of my favorites of his, those being Nice Guy Johnny and the severely overlooked Looking For Kitty. But it's a good one, his films always have such a nice easy-going, good-natured feel to them. Keep 'em coming Mr Burns! 3.0 stars/5