Oddball Films and guest curator Joe Garrity present Is This Love?: Uncertain Hearts and More Certain Parts. You’ll-know-it-when-you-feel-it in the program that shelves the rose-colored glasses and examines love as it really is: ambivalent, compulsive, and defying definition. From first dates to free love, sex to sects, we search far and wide for that most elusive feeling. The program includes George Kaczender’s cool 1966 gem The Game, featuring mod rocking teens fumbling for play, and Richard Williams’ animated morality tale Love Me, Love Me, Love Me (1962), where when it comes to love, “no one really has it good.” Also, Chuck Jones unleashes his Lothario-skunk, Pepe Le Pew, in the Oscar-winning cartoon For Scent-imental Reasons (1949). Finally, youth wrestle romantic problems in The Dating Scene (1972), and newlyweds examine cultural mores in the classic Social Sex Attitudes in Adolescence (1953). Plus! Indulge in A Quickie (1969) by Dirk Kortz, and say you do in Love, Honor, and Oh Boy! (1960). Join us for an evening of dubious dates, nervous nuptials, and much more!
Date: Friday, February 17th at 8PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Featuring:
The Game (B&W, 1966)
Garage-rocking teens gamble on girls in this hip 60s short from George Kaczender, later director of the Palm d’Or nominated feature, Don’t Let The Angels Fall (1969). When suave eleventh-grader Peter Miller is dared to score the innocent Nicky, the oversexed suitor rises to occasion. Rock-n-roll, fast cars, and faster girls--what a game!
For Scent-imental Reasons (B&W, 1949)
“It is love at first sight, is it not?” asks Pepe Le Pew of his tortured love object in this early entry in the beloved Merrie Melodies cartoon series. The distraught Penelope Pussycat flees Pepe’s unabashed advances until a change of heart turns the tables on our odorous friend. Oddball’s print of the film includes an often-censored sequence of Pepe threatening suicide! With the iconic voice work of Mel Blanc, the cartoon won legendary animator Chuck Jones his first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The Dating Scene (Color, 1972)
This sequel to the camp classic and Oddball favorite Dating: Do’s and Don’ts (1949) follows a web of would-be couples on a day at the beach as they dish gossip and share problems of the heart, wallet, and loins. More amusing than informational, the film of youth in pursuit at least offers some lessons in what not to do.
Love Me, Love Me, Love Me (Color, 1962)
Academy Award-winning animator Richard Williams, who served as animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), presents a quest for love by the lovelorn and hopelessly stout Squidgy Bod. He may be a klutz with bad style, but at least he’s loved by his cuddly stuffed alligator, Charlie. Following the advice a bogus guru, Squidgy and his only friend meet a dubious end. The charming illustrations and off-color moral make this one a rare treat!
Social Sex Attitudes in Adolescence (B&W, 1953)
Lorne Greene, of Bonanza fame, narrates this quintessential 1950s sex education film caught between old fashioned modesty around s-e-x and the emerging openness of post-war youth. The film charts the sexual development of Bob and Mary as they grow from boy and girl to husband and wife, including a bizarre aside concerning the homosexual “phase.” A fascinating look back at a society in transition!
Plus! Have A Quickie (B&W, 1969) with Dirk Kortz and catch wacky weddings in Love, Honor and Oh Boy! (B&W, 1960).
Curator’s Biography:
Joe Garrity is a graduate of UC Berkeley and has studied film at NYU Tisch and La Universidad de Chile in Santiago. An aspiring writer and filmmaker, he has worked with the Pacific Film Archive, NBC’sSaturday Night Live, and the Telluride Film Festival.
