Oddball Films Media
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Dec 31, 2011
Oddball Films and guest curator Christine Kwon present Bad Boys: White Men Can Jump. Who needs colonialism when the coming-of-age of the white man is so much more hilarious? Boxing babies, women-shaking ranchers, and paratrooping snipers were just some of the media-loving models of both good and bad white boys. Spanning the ‘40s to the ‘80s, this program boasts guilty pleasures including a trailer of Chinatown Squad (1935), featuring matinee idol Lyle Talbot, an excerpt from the awe-inducing Bing Crosby Show (‘60s) with special guests the “Young Americans” (think Children of the Corn in choir format), and a medley of confounding psyche shorts teaching young men how to deal with everything from passive-aggressive parents, in Separation/Divorce: It Has Nothing To Do With You (1974), to raging hormones, in A Night Out (1981). Top that off with some droll anti-communist propaganda in A Motion Picture History of the Korean War (1950) and the ever-popular men-at-sea genre in The Voyage of the Mayflower II (1957) to witness a bizarre evolution of the white boy.
Date: Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Featuring:
Trailers from Black Eagle (1945, B+W), Chinatown Squad (1935, B+W), To L.A. Dangerous Game (1940s, B+W), Diamond Frontier (1940, B+W).
Highly dramatized trailers from westerns and noirs feature the likes of Lyle Talbot in Black Eagle and former South African resident Victor McLaglen in Diamond Frontier, as men who ride, stab, kill, stare and smolder their way into the hearts of mid-century Americans.
Highly dramatized trailers from westerns and noirs feature the likes of Lyle Talbot in Black Eagle and former South African resident Victor McLaglen in Diamond Frontier, as men who ride, stab, kill, stare and smolder their way into the hearts of mid-century Americans.
The Day When Nothing Made Sense (1980s, Color)
A young and undisciplined boy experiences the retribution of bizarro world when he refuses to acknowledge the importance of logic. That’s right. Simple, plain old logic. The wrath of bizarro world manifests in a basketball game that ends without beginning, scores that are got without the throwing of a baseball, and a match of chess that’s won before it even starts. This puzzling PSA unknowingly predicts the destiny of the white privileged male, who can learn just the basics to get ahead in the world.
A young and undisciplined boy experiences the retribution of bizarro world when he refuses to acknowledge the importance of logic. That’s right. Simple, plain old logic. The wrath of bizarro world manifests in a basketball game that ends without beginning, scores that are got without the throwing of a baseball, and a match of chess that’s won before it even starts. This puzzling PSA unknowingly predicts the destiny of the white privileged male, who can learn just the basics to get ahead in the world.
The World of Kids (1940s, B+W)
Babies, babies, babies! Doing weird things in groups. Like riding bulls, teeing off on the golf course, bowling strikes, water skiing and ultimately wondering, aren’t we a little young for this? A truly disturbing look at young boys socialized as fighting, driving, club-swinging miniature adults.
Babies, babies, babies! Doing weird things in groups. Like riding bulls, teeing off on the golf course, bowling strikes, water skiing and ultimately wondering, aren’t we a little young for this? A truly disturbing look at young boys socialized as fighting, driving, club-swinging miniature adults.
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The history of Korea never looked so promising in this nasal-narrated Department of Defense film. Combining good ole’ fashioned anti-communist ideology with authentic footage from the Korean War, the film chronicles the war from its inception to the 1953 truce agreement, heralding America, its soldiers, and President Truman as godsends to the Republic of Korea.
Separation/Divorce: It Has Nothing To Do With You (1974, Color)
A young boy returns home only to find his mother crying and his father acting impossibly passive-aggressive. After some bumbling investigation, he discovers that his parents are, gulp, divorcing! Cornered by his mom and dad to choose between living with his mother or living with his father, he realizes the pain is too great, and decides to strike out on his own. The “awww, ma” PSA gets even stranger with a contemplative epilogue that challenges viewers to consider the meaning of marriage and divorce.
A young boy returns home only to find his mother crying and his father acting impossibly passive-aggressive. After some bumbling investigation, he discovers that his parents are, gulp, divorcing! Cornered by his mom and dad to choose between living with his mother or living with his father, he realizes the pain is too great, and decides to strike out on his own. The “awww, ma” PSA gets even stranger with a contemplative epilogue that challenges viewers to consider the meaning of marriage and divorce.
The Most Important Person: Getting Along With Others, Part 2 (1970s, Color)
Two kids, a young white boy and a young African-American girl, approach a giant bird who is cleaning someone’s yard. The bird explains that helping others, like picking up their trash, is a good thing. Skeptical, the girl stands back and watches first while the Justin Timberlake mini-me dives in to help. The lesson? Your guess is as good as mine in this bubbly, multicultural animation.
Two kids, a young white boy and a young African-American girl, approach a giant bird who is cleaning someone’s yard. The bird explains that helping others, like picking up their trash, is a good thing. Skeptical, the girl stands back and watches first while the Justin Timberlake mini-me dives in to help. The lesson? Your guess is as good as mine in this bubbly, multicultural animation.
The Voyage of the Mayflower II (1957, B+W)
A dippy and endearing portrait of seamen sailing a replica of the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Complete with greeters dressed as pilgrims, this group of brave men travel back in time by sailing the ship the same way it was operated in 1620.
A dippy and endearing portrait of seamen sailing a replica of the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Complete with greeters dressed as pilgrims, this group of brave men travel back in time by sailing the ship the same way it was operated in 1620.
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Julie and Tom are both young, freewheeling students at a deaf school. When Tom, a “nice guy,” asks Julie out for a date, Tom’s friends goad him into taking advantage of the “foxy lady.” After all, he reasons, she does owe him for the dinner and movie. Talk about a bad education.
News Parade of the Year 1947 (1947, B+W)
A silent and moving portrait of the year in 1947 as seen from the Western perspective. The British Royal Family visits the “Dark Continent,” President Truman is all grins in his goodwill tour around the world, natural disasters plague Florida and the East Coast, and the Yankees capture the World Series. A disturbing and all-too familiar slice of politics, sports, and crisis.
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Anthony Newly opens this impossibly sweet excerpt from Bing Crosby’s comedy show, in which Crosby joins “The Young Americans” in a jolly and sentimental medley. With just one POC on the stage of hundreds of American youth, it seems it really has been a white Christmas.
Curator’s Biography
Christine Kwon is the Managing Director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, where she is a senior film curator. She is also producing a feature-length documentary on community leader Eddy Zheng, and is currently developing a comedy series for the Center for Asian American Media.
Christine Kwon is the Managing Director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, where she is a senior film curator. She is also producing a feature-length documentary on community leader Eddy Zheng, and is currently developing a comedy series for the Center for Asian American Media.