#Gary Nelson

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Joseph Bottoms - The Black Hole (1979)

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Anthony Perkins-Yvette Mimieux "El abismo negro" (The black hole) 1979, de Gary Nelson.

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Freaky Friday pt1: Original, Jodie Foster/Barbara Harris (1976) v Remake 1, Shelley Long/Gabby Hoffmann (1995)

The original source material was a children's book; Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers (who was the '76 screenwriter)

You do not have to see both to vote, but it might have been helpful.

Feel free to share opinions or explanations with comments/tags/rbs

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Movie Review | Freaky Friday (Nelson, 1976)

Gave this a rewatch to celebrate the birthday of the great Jodie Foster. While it's unlikely anyone would cite this as their favourite of her performances, she's always been a tremendously talented actress even from this age. And while I've unfortunately neglected much of Barbara Harris' filmography, that's something I definitely need to change, and I'm open to the argument that she's one of the great unsung actresses of the 1970s. Don't point me to any reviews praising her work. Those are written. The praises need to be sung. Anyway, given that their characters pull a switcheroo and end up in each others' bodies, the movie mines both Foster's precociousness and Harris' impishness for a good deal of comedic mileage.

But aside from nicely showcasing both actresses, another reason this holds up nicely is it doesn't feel as rigorously commercial and calibrated for mass appeal as Disney's output in more recent years. I wouldn't go so far as to call it transgressive (although there is at least one gag that likely had parents spilling their popcorn, pretending not to hear and then pulling the "ask your mother" card when they took their kids to the theatre), Gary Nelson, here and in The Black Hole, directs without caring to colour too neatly within the lines. There is the expected gentle satire about the expectations both mother and daughter are subject to and the accompanying life lessons and positive messages. But unlike in the remake (which is pretty good, for what it's worth, although it would be nice if they brought Foster back for the new one), the father, as played by John Astin, is allowed to be genuinely off putting in a multitude of ways. And what recent children's movie would cast Patsy Kelly as a maid and make a punchline out of her alchoholism? None. Because she's dead. But also because Bob Iger is a COWARD.

And while this goes big and zany in the climax as many a family friendly film tends to do, it packs in an impressive number of gags, including another jab at Patsy Kelly's drinking problem. There is the expected mugging against rear projection, but I'm not gonna pretend I'm above laughing at Harris pretending to water-ski.

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Freaky Friday (1976)

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Now watching:

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The Black Hole Gary Nelson USA, 1979 ★★ Things start off great with a terrific theme, an extremely goofy vibe and some enjoyable mishaps.

Then the movie stops dead in the middle and I was worried that the fun was gone, but then it picks up again and ends up in a very entertaining and silly non-ending.

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Nighthawks (1981)

My rating: 5/10

Competently, even well-made, but man, the copaganda in this - there is actually a scene in this movie where the mentor figure outright states that the NYPD(!) isn't heavily armed or trigger happy enough. Yeesh.

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Freaky Friday

Gary Nelson

1976

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Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone - Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)

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Barbara Harris-Sparky Marcus "Un viernes alocado" (Freaky friday) 1976, de Gary Nelson.

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Movie Review | The Black Hole (Nelson, 1979)

Mindboggling that Disney funded and released a Star Wars cash-in this weird and slow and actually a gothic horror rather than a space opera that also goes full on psychedelic in its last twenty minutes. It's like a bunch of Disney execs decided to drop acid in a boardroom and say, "What if we made 2001 for the kiddies?" Unimaginable that they'd release something this idiosyncratic today. You think Bob Iger has ever dropped acid? You think Bob Iger ever let a weird thought pass through his head without actively suppressing it out of fear of the shareholders? Nah man, he's just got his finger on the button, a big red button that says "$$$". We have to go back.

Truth be told, this is pretty slow for around two thirds of its runtime, but in that final stretch it really goes off the rails. This was presumably made for children, but the bulk of the production design and special effects suggests it was made for those who watched 2001 zonked out of their minds, and the last few minutes feel like all your favourite prog rock and metal album covers all mashed together. And there are a couple of things that would be way too disturbing to put in the children's movie these days, but I guess back then filmmakers didn't care about sanding off the edges from these things or whether they'd accidentally traumatize an entire generation. I'm a grown ass man watching this in 2024, and let's just say I'm glad I came to it at this age.

This also has a pretty impressive cast, although the bulk of them don't have much to do. The only ones that do make an impression are Maximillian Schell playing the Most Interesting Man in the Universe, and Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens as the voices of V.I.N.CENT. and B.O.B., a pair of adorable wide-eyed levitating robots who it must be said compare favourably to their counterparts in Star Wars in some respects. V.I.N.CENT. especially distinguishes himself with his combat prowess, and without giving too much away, I must report that I was eventually quite moved by the two robots' relationship. You think anyone cried over C-3PO? You think anyone sympathized when R2-D2 started beeping and booping in his absence? Nah man, they've just got their finger on the button, a big red button that says "Kill C-3PO."

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Freaky Friday (1976)