I was watching the Partridge Family at hulu earlier, and I didn’t know what episode number it was before, but I watched the episode where Danny gets in trouble with the mob guys… That’s the episode Clarence sited as his reason for not going ahead with killing himself when he was three. Just thought it was cool that I found it online for free. I’d actually forgotten how much fun this show is. If anyone wants to watch, it’s here… <LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.hulu.com/watch/6835/partridg … s-p4-so-i0”>http://www.hulu.com/watch/6835/partridge-family-danny-and-the-mob#s-p4-so-i0</LINK_TEXT>
Don’t make fun of me for being old. Such great memories get sparked while watching this show.
I don’t know if someone post this already, but this is a great review of My bestfriend birthday. It’s from Steven Puchalski’s Shock Cinema, my favorite zine ever:
MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY (1986).
My Best Friend's Birthday
The trailers for KILL BILL proudly proclaim that it’s Quentin Tarantino’s fourth film. Technically, that’s correct, because nobody would consider his first, uncompleted 16mm project (made when he was still clerking at Video Archives) to be a finished work. This b&w screwball comedy was written by Tarantino and acting-class comrade Craig Hamann, photographed by Roger Avery, and funded by his video store pals. But after numerous technical problems, Quentin scrapped the project and moved onto bigger and better things. After all these years, 37 minutes of this legendary film have finally surfaced. At first glance, it’s just a bunch of jumbled scenes, as crude as any Richard Kern flick, with comedy that rivals MEATBALLS PART II. But when it was over, I was hooked. I wanted to see more of these eccentric characters, as they dealt with love, loss, potential violence, and their unending obsession with the movies. Most of the footage is from early portions of the film, beginning with a shockingly-young Quentin (sporting Stray Cats hand-me-downs) as motor-mouthed radio-d.j. Clarence Pool, who recalls how – at the tender age of 3 – he was saved from suicide by The Partridge Family. But when Clarence snorts a Baggie full of coke during a commercial break, he has an on-air meltdown. In another subplot, Mickey (Craig Hamann, who directed the 1997 Mark Dacascos thriller BOOGIE BOY) discovers his ex-girlfriend in his apartment and is thrilled – until he learns that she’s just there to collect her shit and has a new Yuppie boyfriend. Meanwhile, it’s poor rejected Mickey’s birthday and Clarence, his best friend, needs a suitable present. How about hiring a novice call-girl named Misty (Crystal Shaw, who went onto write and star in the 1998 short film HAVE A PERIWINKLE DAY)? These scenes might be raw and disconnected, but they also display the same snappy dialogue and oddball characters that energize Tarantino’s current work. In fact, this often seems like the Rosetta Stone of his future career. All of the influences and answers are here, crammed together into one big hodgepodge. There are obscure film-references galore, Aldo Ray jokes, discussions about the genius of DePalma, and Quentin gives himself a romantic scene with Misty, whose career choice was inspired by Nancy Allen’s whore in DRESSED TO KILL! Allen Garfield (who was Tarantino’s acting teacher at his Beverly Hills’ Acting Shelter) turns up as a bakery owner, when Clarence buys a cake for Mickey and argues about Elvis Presley’s limited acting abilities. Plus, a background one-sheet collection includes cool, cult-movie faves like THE FURY, SISTERS, BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY, THE NINTH CONFIGURATION, and (of course) a Sonny Chiba flick. He even squeezes in a lame martial arts showdown between Mickey and Misty’s black pimp, Clifford, and includes background tunes like “Ballroom Blitz” (long before Quentin could actually afford to buy the rights).
© 2003 by Steven Puchalski.
Hey anybody, i’ve only seen bits and pieces of the flick where i could find it but is there anywhere I can get the whole thing (or what’s left of it) uncut and maybe burn it onto a disc or something?
It’s on youtube, and another site… scroll back in this thread to find the link. That is apparently all there is to it. The third reel was supposedly lost or destroyed or something.
[quote=“Geoi”]
It’s on youtube, and another site… scroll back in this thread to find the link. That is apparently all there is to it. The third reel was supposedly lost or destroyed or something.
[/quote]
Thanks.
Apparently it was in a film lab fire is what I’ve read on it.
yeah not only was it never completely filmed, but of the footage that existed, only 40min or so survived… and that’s all you can get on the net, too
[quote=“Sebastian”]
yeah not only was it never completely filmed, but of the footage that existed, only 40min or so survived… and that’s all you can get on the net, too
[/quote]
What I’ve read is that when he finally had some dough to process the footage it wasn’t so great then the fire destroyed what most of it there was.
Just read your gonna be hospitalized (be wary of blonde one-eyed beauties whistling up and down the halls) hope all goes well and you get your ass back soon.
i understood the fire destroyed 2 or 3 reels… and also that the 40 minutes we have are from the first year of shooting… the rest of the footage has never been edited
That’s shocking, because what we do have, is a pretty good little short film. I wish we had the actual script.
My favourite part is Quentin’s voice as “Eddie” on the answering machine. LMAO ;D
I read a review where the guy said My Best Friend’s Birthday stole stuff from other movies (he still loved the short though) and I was wondering, what exactly did he steal? I’ve seen the short numerous times and can’t recall anything stolen from other films. Any ideas?