Saturday, January 06, 2007

Late to the Prom Again!


"Suck the dog dick of Annubis, ass wipe..."
— Bubba Ho-Tep
From the movie of the same name


It is really nice when you discover a great movie classic you were only vaguely aware of. With the Sweetie out of the house for the evening, I segued seamlessly from Gone in 60 Seconds to the Bruce Campbell/Ossie Davis buddy movie from hell Bubba Ho-Tep, adapted from the fevered alternative consciousness of Joe R. Landsdale.

Landsdale, who apparently writes books by the pound, appears to the casual reader to be Raymond Chandler channeling Hunter S. Thompson after a few hits of really crappy acid. I once obsessively read his series featuring Hap Collins and Leonard Pine...I'd pick up a book at an airport bookstore, furiously read it on the plane and not know where I was when I landed. Which is ia huge plus for me. I believe many of the fundamental truths of ife can be found in Two-Bear Mambo.

Quick plot summary: Elvis — the real, now-old Elvis, who didn't die but cut a deal with an Elvis impersonator to get his life back — played by B-movie legend Bruce Campbell, and J.F.K. — now dyed black by the CIA, who replaced parts of his missing brain with a bag of sand — played by by the great "real" actor Ossie Davis are trapped in a decrepid East Texas nursing home beset upon by an evil ancient Egyptian mummy dressed in an oversized cowboy hat and boots, hence the name "Bubba Ho-Tep."

Have I ever led your wrong before?

It was damned inspiring for a movie with no car chases...although the powered wheelchair sequences were brilliantly done. It's worht noting that when the movie came out in 2003, no less than NPR suggested that Bruce Campbell should get an Oscar for his protraylal of Elvis...sadly, if I remember correctly, the Academy gave their little icon to that punk-ass poseur Sean Penn for whatever whiney dipshit role he had that year!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

she needs to get back home

Anonymous said...

Doesn't get any better than the King, JFK, and a mummy all in one movie

Anonymous said...

One question about BubbaHotep.

How does it compare to Six-String Samurai?

Wbdrey said...

While no cinematic master piece, Bubba Ho-TEP was an enjoyable little film. Ossie Davis was great in it.