let the circle be unbroken

What I like particularly about Alison Colbert's collection of poems, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, is how of the time it was written it is. Published by Women Writing Press in 1976 and with poems dated between 1970-1974, Colbert addresses topical subjects of the era including protests against Nixon and the Vietnam War. These poems, mostly distinctly-set in the city, are written in a way that feels immediate. They also address concerns of female artists. In "Anne Sexton a Suicide," there's a push-and-pull, repetitive nature in the poem of praise and also hope to move past "women famous for violence of poetry, selling self-hatred." "The circle" becomes a place for women to "sit upon the ground and tell sad tales about the death of queens." 

Perhaps the most potent pieces are towards the end which are elegies for her brother who died in an car accident. That push-and-pull continues here as well in the vacillating between the tragedy itself and the mundane objects that surround it: bills for the plot, clergy gratuities, limos.

I picked up this tiny, teal paperback, with its plain cover and an open-faced, grinning Colbert on the back, second-hand in Provincetown. I like finding books like this, especially when the poems are as skillfully rendered as these--books that belong to another time but still feel alive.


-Jeffery Berg

to stepford we go by karen g.

We’ve all had that moment – fleeting or no – where we decided we’ve had it with life in the big, bad city and that the only thing to make ALL our problems go away, is a fresh start in a quaint little town, somewhere not too far away.

Director Bryan Forbes’ 1975 cult classic, The Stepford Wives, brings Ira Levin’s novel to life in this extremely unconventional horror movie.  At first you’re not even sure why it’s billed as a horror movie, but stay for the ride, the eerie journey soon makes you realize why this movie works so well.
When Joanna Eberhart (Katharine Ross) and her husband move away from the grit and crime of the city, she soon finds that she is bored to death by the picturesque conformity of Stepford.  She finds a kindred spirit in Bobbie Markowe (Paula Prentiss) and soon starts to bear life in the quiet, little town.  They also befriend another newcomer, Charmaine, who is also settling into her new life.

At first, Stepford is exactly as it seems, provincial and safe.  There is however, “The Stepford Men’s Association” where no are women allowed.  Also, the women of Stepford are only interested in cleaning products, cooking, and looking perfect for their husbands.  Joanna is baffled as to why her husband insists on spending time at the Men’s Association, especially with the stodgy president of the club, a computer and electronics expert who used to work at Disneyland.

When Charmaine – a self-proclaimed lover of tennis, has her tennis court bulldozed and, confesses that she has been selfish in wanting to devote her time to tennis when there is so much housework and cooking to do – Bobbie realizes that something is very wrong in the town of Stepford.

This is not your standard horror by any means and some may find the pacing of the film excessively slow, however, it serves a dramatic purpose.  Bobbie’s slow realizations about the people of Stepford allow us to immerse ourselves into her persona, as it might be with us when we discover and realize new things.  The social satire of the movie and the idea that the perfect wife needs to wear heels, bake cookies and wait for her husband to return from the office works remarkably well in 1975 America when the Women’s Liberation Movement was in full swing.

There might be a long wait but the twist ending and effectively creepy final scene is worth the wait.  The entire movie is bathed in sunshine and vibrant colors while veiling the strangely dark subject matter within.  Katharine Ross and Paula Prentiss offer remarkably entertaining performances which move the film even during the slower moments.

This one is definitely worth a rewatch (or a first watch) especially for us city dwellers who believe the grass is greener on the other side.  With a little reprogramming, who knows, maybe it is.

-Karen G.

switchblade sisters

"I lost my eye for this gang, remember?"

Exploitation auteur Jack Hill's (Foxy Brown, Coffy) Switchblade Sisters is a spunky and crude Shakespearean female gang drama centering upon the Dagger Debs. Ringleader Lace (Robbie Lee) recruits newbie Maggie (Joanne Neil) to their clan, much to the dismay of Lace's longtime sidekick Patch (Monica Gayle). Lace's man, the leader of the Silver Daggers (Asher Brauner) has his eye on Maggie and inevitably, envious Patch stirs up stories and exaggerations to cause strife.

It's easy to see why this film is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorites. From the humor and casualness of its violence (guns and blades galore; rollerink massacre scene) down to Elle Driver's eyepatch, there's a lot of referencing in Tarantino's work from this movie. Teeth-gnasher Robbie Lee, with her gravely birdsong voice (she'd later voice for Rainbow Brite!), is able to convey both toughness and vulnerability.  She first appears steely in her leather newsboy cap and high-boots; as she loses power throughout the film, she takes on the plain attire of any ordinary schoolgirl. Maggie is cool, quick and confident and beautiful with bruise-like purple blushed cheeks.  Patch is the most interesting character, her butterfly-adorned eyepatch suggesting deeper symbolism about duality and bias; Tarantino has referred to her as the Iago of the story.  This, along with some of Hill's 1970s exploitation movies are notable and unique for their complicated, clashing characters and their strong female perspective. It smartly upends its bag of male-driven traditional references (50s and 60s motorcycle movies, Shakespeare tragedies) and creates its own universe. ***

-Jeffery Berg

hustling

Hustling is a 1975 TV movie based upon writer Gail Sheehy's expose on prostitution which was published as a book of the same name and also as a 1971 series for New York Magazine entitled "Redpants and Sugarman."  It's hard to believe that this gritty--though tame and not very sexually explicit--look at midtown streetwalkers was on ABC; it's likely it would be relegated to Lifetime these days.  Lee Remick (who would memorably figure a year later as the mother in The Omen) is excellent as the serious and well-meaning trench-coated reporter Fran Morrison (loosely based upon Sheehy) with a wavy bob of grayish blonde hair.  Her interest relaying the stories of the prostitutes is compassionate at first, out of a sort of emotional pity. Quickly Fran learns the economic impact of these women and the danger they're in when she begins interviewing the boisterous and emotionally bruised Wanda (Jill Clayburgh).



Director Joseph Sargent (his crime classic The Taking of Pelham One Two Three from 1974 is glimpsed in a theater marquee in the opening of Hustling) does well with the material, offering a sensitive portrait of Wanda and her cohorts.  Clayburgh was a phenomenal actress, the kind who just naturally offered more in her eyes than what's in the script, and she certainly disappears here (she was nominated for an Emmy Award). Unfortunately she puts on a New Yawk accent in a nasally pitch that's both slightly annoying and artificial.  But the contrast between Remick and Clayburgh is still emotionally rewarding.  There's also a scrappy supporting cast of familiar 70s faces.  The movie is benefited by on-location shots of a New York in its gritty, sex-shop heyday (I believe some additional shots were filmed in Los Angeles as well).  A year later NYC would be portrayed almost like a circle in Hell by Martin Scorsese in the much more hard-hitting Taxi Driver.  **1/2