Another Chance at Nine Lives: Cat Adoption

CLASSICS FOR THE COUCH:

Renamed and Revisited

by Jeff Boudreaux

What makes a film a classic? I once posited that it was any theatrical film released before the 1970’s, but I later realized that such an absolute edict as this would exclude timeless films such as The Godfather, Dirty Harry, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Today, I believe that a “classic” film is whatever you want it to be. Perhaps it is one that keeps you coming back to it, or in this case, an old movie that deserves rediscovery simply because it lent its name to a 2021 movie release. Here are four such films that are just begging to be unearthed:

From Top: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

The King got top billing, but the God won the box office as the most profitable of all Godzilla movies—a remake was as inevitable as their battle.

Godzilla vs. King Kong (2021)

The names have changed but the Battle of the Titans remains the same. First up is the monster smackdown that inspired the first true blockbuster of the COVID-era box office (Godzilla vs. Kong), 1962’s epic first meeting known as King Kong vs. Godzilla. Top billing in the early Sixties went to the towering simian, even though he hadn’t actually appeared in cinemas since 1933. Godzilla, on the other hand, was introduced to American audiences just eight years prior in Godzilla, King of the Monsters alongside Raymond Burr (Perry Mason). I admit it may seem weird to watch two obvious men in costumes do battle after being weaned on CGI for so long, but this is good stuff…trust me. Featuring King Kong throwing rocks and showing off his grappling skills against Godzilla’s trademark screech (which has sadly been missing from the Warner Bros/Legendary films) and his deadly atomic heat ray, this is the movie that got the Showa era Gojira films off the ground after a seven-year hiatus. See it in vibrant technicolor and Tohoscope!

You say you can’t wait until Marvel’s Black Widow descends upon cinemas (fingers crossed) in July? Well, why not feast on a classic film noir that more deservingly shares its name with the deadly spider queen–1954’s Black Widow. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson crafted a thrilling whodunit with a Broadway backdrop that boasts generous portions of blackmail, illicit sex, and, of course, murder. Screen heavyweights Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, Van Heflin, and George Raft act opposite then-newcomer Peggy Ann Garner, the latter as a seemingly innocent writer who just happens to turn up dead from an apparent “suicide.” Detective Lt. Bruce (Raft) soon suspects foul play, with the list of suspects growing larger by the day. With no shortage of panache, Black Widow is worth watching if only to see Ginger Rogers hamming it up to Norma Desmond-levels as an aging, yet unrelenting Broadway star. Despite popular belief, this film also proves that a film noir doesn’t have to be shot in B&W and 4:3 ratio. Available on virtually every streaming service for less than $4.

Not to be outdone by the MCU (although they probably will), a sequel/reboot straight out of the DCEU the following month is James Gunn’s highly-anticipated The Suicide Squad, its very name a chest puff-out along the lines of “(The) Ohio State University” and owing more than its salt to Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. But enough about that film,