Favorite First-Time Watches of September 2023
September was quite a busy month. I went on my first work trip and took a much-needed week-long vacation with my wife. I still got my movies in, gotta keep those priorities straight.
Some months are more fruitful with good movies than others are. I only have three movies from this month that I found worth writing about. Maybe I’ll mix in a couple of films with these but not full write-ups.
The Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) – Mervyn LeRoy, Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley is one of the most acclaimed choreographers of stage and screen. He has inspired countless filmmakers, including the Coen brothers who have done multiple Busby Berkeley-style musical numbers, The Big Lebowski anyone?
I’ve only ever seen Busby rip-offs and only one of his films he helped direct. 42nd Street. So, when I saw this would be airing on TCM I figured there was no better time to watch it than now, and why not start with arguably his most famous musical?
What I loved most about this film, aside from the great musical numbers and the comedy, was being surprised by the fact that this was filmed before the Hays code went into effect. I don’t want to explain the entirety of the Hays code here but I’ll link a great write-up about what it was and how it affected Hollywood for 30 years.
Bottoms (2023) – Emma Seligman
Emma Sigelman announced herself and Rachel Sennott to most of the world in 2020 with the anxiety-inducing Shiva Baby. Since then, the world has been waiting for Emma and Rachel’s reuniting and we got it just three years later with Bottoms.
It’s about two high school lesbians (Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) who are losers and start a female fight club disguised as a self-defense club, to get closer to their crushes. It’s a smart 2023 take on the high school sex comedy. Superbad changed the game with this genre, showing issues of consent and how sex is not as important. Bottoms changed the genre again.
It’s a brilliant screenplay penned by both Emma and Rachel. It’s endlessly quotable, so much so that Madison and I haven’t stopped quoting it. The entire film plays as an absurdist comedy, Emma knew the tone she wanted for her film and kept it throughout. That was always my problem with Booksmart, it’s tonally incongruent. It’s my favorite comedy of 2023 and of recent years.
Prime Cut (1972) – Michael Ritchie
Quentin sure knows some cool movies and I watched a couple of films this month that feel QT-inspired. It’s a gritty crime drama starring Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, and Sissy Spacek in her screen debut. Lee Marvin is hired to go take care of Gene Hackman’s Mary Ann.
Mary Ann is a big-time slaughterhouse operator in Kansas City who is in debt $500,000 to the Irish Mob in Chicago. Lee Marvin’s Nick Devlin is sent to either settle him up or take him out. While there Nick saves Poppy (Sissy Spacek) who was being prostituted by Mary Ann.
It’s a cool little crime thriller that runs 90 minutes and has tons of practical effects like a semi-truck taking out a greenhouse. Gene Hackman’s Mary Ann is one of the most vile bad guys ever put on screen and deserves to be talked about as the worst villains in movie history.
It’s a film that feels like inspired by Quentin as a young guy. Another film I watched this month that Quentin watched was White Lightning.
It stars Burt Reynolds as a man who gets let out of prison early to go undercover and work with the police to take down the corrupt cop who killed his brother. It’s a cool movie and it’s theme was re-used by Quentin for Inglorious Basterds. Now I need to watch Gator.
