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PUB NOTES
HUSH. HUSH. VALL
Well. I got a review (free) copy of the new Oxford American
"Southern Movie Issue." The Oxford American is "The Southern
Magazine of Good Writing," and after failing to mate it in the mar
ketplace while located in Oxford, MS (the Southern town of good
writing?), the OA was resuscitated by a sustaining connection with
the University of Central Arkansas, in Conway, AR. The 04 annu
ally puts out a Southern musk issue, complete with a "mix tape"
CO, whkh is always a keeper filled with an eclectic collection of
Southern sides. Now this first-ever Southern movie issue includes
a OVD "mtxtape" containing 16 short films and excerpts compos
ing a wildly eclectk sampling of "Southern" films—some of whkh
apparently are Southern only in the fact that their maker grew up
somewhere in the South.
This new movie issue fails to get down to the level of local
filmmakers (Darius Goes West got rolling long after this issue
was assigned), and maybe the assumption in Conway is that
people out there aren't really interested in what's being done in
Georgia, or maybe the rationale is just that if you're going to talk
Southern, you've got to eschew the local accents and aim for a
broader dialect that everybody can recognize. (This issue does in
troduce us to the DuPlass brothers and their film. The Puffy Chair,
with a short excerpt on the DVD. See www.flagpole.com for a full
review of the film.)
Even so, this movie issue is all over Dixie, with some pretty
broad stretches to justify inclusion in something Southern. There
is so much in this magazine, though, that you can just pick and
choose what interests you. ignoring some of the rest and stiU get
plenty of value for your money. Even though some of the stuff
doesn't fit my idea of a Southern
Some of it is riveting; "*>** interest
ing: there's far more than I ever
SOme Of it is puzzling, wanted to know about the various
versions of the film Showboat, for
instance, and a long, rambling piece on the actor Dick Powell, the
hook being that he's from Arkansas. There's also a long piece on
Paul Newman and all the Southern parts he played in films like The
Long, Hot Summer and them other vehicles.
There's a lot in this issue about how Hollywood demeaned
Afrkan-Americans for so many years, relegating them to servile
buffoonery (see especially Gerald Early's 'Race, Sex, The South,
and Exploitative Cinema"), and a good bit about how Hollywood
has always viewed and depicted the South's most extreme charac
teristics, not to mention accents.
This issue also has some of the usual suspects, Roy Blount, Jr..
John T. Edge and Hal Crowther, for instance. They're contributing
writers for OA, so they found an angle on the movies for this issue.
Food writer Edge gives us a famous Hollywood restaurateur who re
tired to Hogansville, GA, qualifying him for inclusion here. Blount
does his usual Southerner-up-North shtkk with deep praise for
Tyler Perry's Madea (!), and Crowther, always thoughtful, gives us a
nicely turned meditation on how Robert Altman nailed the future
of the South and the nation with his 1975 film, Nashville.
But that is far from all. William Cavertee tells us in some detail
how Bonnie And Clyde differs from Bonnie and Clyde; Phillip lopate
explains why the great director John Ford liked showing the South,
and Contributing Writer Jack Pendarvis contributes a long discourse
on Baby Doll, the Southern potboiler written by Tennessee Williams.
For comic relief, we get a piece by Adel, GA. native Ray
McKinnon on "How To Act." His piece is sort of thrown together
for the occasion, but McKinnon is the genuine artkle, a real
Southerner who went to Hollywood and became an actor's actor,
a director's director and a writer's writer, while remaining one of
the most popular people in the industry and a joy to work with (so
says our hometown movie sound guy Jim Hawkins, who has worked
with McKinnon on several projects). "Deadwood" heads will recog
nize Ray as the crazy preacher during the first season, and those
lucky enough to have seen it will never forget McKinnon's work in
The Accountant, his darkly comic film which won the 2002 Oscar
for Best Short Film. (A scene is included on the DVD.)
There's a whole lot more in here worth reading: Betty Davis in
Jezebel; the weird films of Phil Chambliss (one excerpted on the
DVD), Lindsay Lohan, an interview with the little-known African-
American filmmaker Charles Burnett (his film Killer of Sheep starts
at Cin£ on Apr. 27; see Movie Dope); mini-reviews of "13 More
Essential Southern Documentaries," and assorted other short takes
and wry observations on Southern movies.
The DVD its own self? Let's just say that it is all over the map.
Some of it is riveting; some of it is puzzling. You'll get it bundled
with your copy of the OA, so you can explore the it yourself. Or
you can drop by the 40 Watt Club for a screening of the DVD or
ganized by Donn Cooper, one of the contributors to the OA movie
issue (see Movie Dope for more info): Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m.,
and the S10 ticket goes to support The Oxford American.
Ptte McCommons Editor & Publisher editor@flagpole com
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
Get Out The Hay Bales 8
Athens’ Famous Downtown Race Hits The Streets Again
The TwitofM CntenuM puts fans as etna la the sped as they can get
ARTS & EVENTS
Grub Notes 17
Steaks, Shakes and r ongue Tacos
Mmary checks out tongue tacts at tiaeni El SW Re Zacatecas
and oh Happy Days' she mds Hate's Gnd in WhttewvHto
Theatre Notes 18
A Night at the Playhouse
TVs week famous cross dressers several vacates o* men a shinny pantafeans
and the theatncei tntecta of tee death and Gad
MUSIC
A New Hope? 31
Membership Changes Define The Latest Episode
Of Hope For Agoldensummer’s Saga
The local foto charmers carry on as a more amorphous tno
Liner Notes 33
The Imperishability Of Je Suts France
formerly Athenian now scattered across the country, the band drops its new album Afntsn MM
#
LETTERS 4
CITY PAGES 6
CAPITOL IMPACT 7
ATHENS TWILIGHT 8
HIP MAMMA 9
OUT THERE' 10
GRUB NOTES 1/
THEATRE NOTES 18
MOVIE DOPE 20
MOVIE PICK 22
LOST PICTURE SHOW 23
ABC 24
ABCGATL 30
HOPE FOR AGOLDENSUMMER 31
LINER NOTES 33
SUMMERBIRDS IN THE CELLAR 34
RECORD REVIEWS 35
THAT BEAT IN TIME 36
THREATS & PROMISES 37
COMICS 38
REALITY CHECK 39
CLASSIFIEDS 40
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VOLUME 21
ISSUE NUMBER 16
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