DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS and the Unexpected MacGuffin

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS (Blu-ray)

2024 / 83 min

FROM UNIVERSAL

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

Leave it to one of the Coen Brothers (and his wife) to come up with the most unexpected MacGuffin I've ever seen, which I won’t even hint at. But when it’s revealed, chances are you’ll laugh, if for no other reason than Ethan Coen & Tricia Cooke’s audacity. 

Even without Joel co-writing/co-directing, Drive-Away Dolls reflects the brothers’ quirky sensibilities, though even longtime, unsuspecting Coen fans might be initially blindsided. For one thing, the film is raunchy as hell, often hilariously so, though the humor occasionally feels a bit too calculated. Still, we kinda need a movie like this…a screwball comedy featuring two protagonists who happen to be lesbians. Their orientation is certainly part of the narrative, with a ton of jaw-droppingly frank dialogue and ample sex scenes (which are more comedic than erotic), but that isn’t what drives the plot. 

Drive-Away Dolls is a road movie with elements the Coens have visited before. Margaret Qualley & Geraldine Viswanathan play Jamie and Marian, two close friends who take a road trip to Tallahassee in a drive-away car. However, stashed in the trunk is a briefcase containing the aforementioned MacGuffin. The problem is that the car was supposed to be picked up by a couple of criminals to deliver the case to the same town. Those guys, Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J. Wilson), are ordered by their boss (Colman Domingo) to track the girls down and retrieve the case.

The movie's two clean gags.

Of the two protagonists, Jamie is more free-spirited and uninhibited (to say the least), bent on spending a good deal of this trip hitting lesbian bars while trying to get perpetually-uptight Marian to loosen up a little. During their episodic journey, we get to know both pretty well and their relationship is often amusing, ultimately endearing. Elsewhere, the segments with Arliss and Flint chasing down the girls - usually a step or two behind - are frequently hilarious, while Beanie Feldstein threatens to steal the movie as Jamie's disgruntled ex, Sukie (and also a cop).

I’ve avoided specifics because much of what makes Drive-Away Dolls fun is not knowing what’s going to happen next…or what’ll fly out of someone’s mouth, especially Jamie’s. Overall, it’s an entertaining film with excellent performances by the entire cast. Though never quite as clever as the Coens’ best comedies, there are enough oddball characters and off-the-wall moments to remind us who’s behind the camera. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - The Drive-Away Gang; Drive-Away Dolls: An Ethan and Tricia Project; Road Trip Essentials.

DVD & DIGITAL COPIES

LOONEY TUNES COLLECTOR’S CHOICE, VOL. 3: More Obscurities From The Golden Years

LOONEY TUNES COLLECTOR’S CHOICE, VOL. 3 (Blu-ray)

1934-1964 / 177 min (25 shorts)

FROM WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

This third volume in Warner Archive’s Collectors Choice series continues raiding the vaults for more Looney Tunes obscurities from the golden years (and a few which aren’t). Like Volumes 1 & 2, it showcases 25 shorts, some of which haven’t been available on home video for years…if ever.

The disc contains a few pivotal pieces of Looney Tunes’ history. In “A Feud There Was,” a character known as Egghead in previous shorts is finally given a name: Elmer Fudd, while “Elmer’s Pet Rabbit” is director Chuck Jones’ first cartoon to feature Bugs Bunny. Elsewhere, the 1964 Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner short, “War and Pieces,” was Jones’ last before being fired by Warner Brothers.

Familiar faces pop up here and there in some lesser-known cartoons. Bugs stars in the hilarious “Wet Hare” and the comparatively lame “Dumb Patrol.” Daffy Duck plays a private dick in “China Jones,” which has seldom been seen in its entirety for good reason…its depiction of Asian stereotypes is a little shocking in this day and age. But for historical posterity, it’s here uncut (and also one of the reasons these discs come with a reminder they are intended for adult collectors).

A tender moment from "Sheep Ahoy."

Sylvester & Tweety show up once, as does the always funny Foghorn Leghorn, but the real treasure might be “Sheep Ahoy.” Some of you might remember Sam Sheepdog & Ralph Wolf, who punch the clock in the morning before squaring off against each other like it’s their 9-to-5 job. I always loved those and am happy they finally saw fit to include one. 

Elsewhere, there are a lot of one-off shorts by various directors dating as far back as 1934. Subjectively, most are more interesting than funny. However, “Punch Trunk,” about a 5-inch elephant sending New York into a panic, is a forgotten gem, while “There Auto Be A Law” is a gag-filled look at modern driving in the ‘50s.

Like the previous two releases, Looney Tunes Collectors Choice Vol.3 is a revealing collection of seldom seen cartoon shorts. Few would rank among the studio’s best, but collectors and completists will find a lot to like.

Litter Box Treasures: THE RED TENT (1969)

In Litter Box Treasures, we focus on a variety of older films which aren’t necessarily classics, but are well-worth discovering.

THE RED TENT (1969)

Starring Peter Finch, Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale, Hardy Kruger, Massimo Girotti. Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. (121 min)

BY D.M. ANDERSON💀

The Red Tent is a lavish, expensive Russian-Italian co-production that died at the box office in 1969. Too bad, really, because aside from a pretentious narrative framework, this is a tense & exciting adventure story of survival and rescue based on an ill-fated 1928 airship expedition to the North Pole. For those who enjoy such survival stories as The Flight of the Phoenix or Alive, the movie is well-worth checking out.

Peter Finch plays the stoic General Nobile, an Italian explorer who leads his team on a dirigible flight to the North Pole, more for national pride than any scientific purpose. When the airship crashes, Nobile and the surviving members of his team must brave the worst elements on Earth, their chances of survival dwindling every day. As the days pass with no contact, few back home hold much hope of their chances for survival, save for Valeria (Claudia Cardinale), a lovely nurse whose boyfriend, Malmgren (Eduard Martsevich) is among the team members. 

After determining the team’s location could be anywhere in a 2 million square mile area, the Italian government believes it’s futile & dangerous to organize a search party. Valeria doesn’t give up, enlisting the aid of slimy mercenary pilot Einar Lundborg (Hardy Kruger), then eventually begging famed arctic explorer Roald Amundsen (Sean Connery) to search for them, though the latter is pessimistic that anyone is still alive. Once it’s discovered there are survivors, there’s the monumental dilemma of how to get to them. Meanwhile, Nobile and his men are dealing with bitter cold, hunger, bears, dwindling hope, dissension (some want to attempt the walk out of there, while Nobile thinks its suicide) and the continually shifting, cracking ice cap on which they’re stranded.

"Yay! Snow day!"

The Red Tent tells a great story with one narrative drawback...it is told in flashback. Framing the survival & rescue tale are segments in which Nobile, 40 years later on a sleepless night, recalls the events as the other characters appear as apparitions to judge his actions. It’s a personal trial he has repeatedly subjected himself to since the tragedy. Those scenes are not really necessary and simply aren’t as exciting as the rest of the movie, adding an arty, pretentious air to the proceedings. They could easily be removed and the film would still remain an intense tale of survival.

The performances are all uniformly great. Finch is terrific as Nobile, displaying strength & vulnerability in the face of adversity. Kruger is also effective, with a cocky selfishness that gives the audience someone to hate. Even though he’s top-billed, Connery is more of a supporting player and really isn’t in the film all that much, not even appearing until the last 45 minutes.

While the special effects are fairly phony (check out the tethers supporting a model plane during a crash scene), the movie benefits from great location work, with northern Russia subbing for the North Pole, so you get a great feel for the isolation the survivors experience. For the most part, Ennio Morricone provides a suitably dramatic & sweeping music score, save for the goofy synthesizer interlude during a horse-riding scene. And despite the G rating, the movie is sometimes pretty violent, particularly in a scene in which a polar bear is shot and eaten.

The needless flashback framework notwithstanding, The Red Tent is an intense and fascinating tale of survival in the worst possible conditions, with great performances from its international cast. A forgotten minor gem that deserves a second life.