Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Swiss Model Airplane Glue will never replace Famo Hair Remover

A rite of passage for male chowderheads worldwide

Bottled right here at the source!
Bottled right here at the source!

A cinematic counterpart to word association, this trio of films came to mind spontaneously and without reflection while watching The Garden Store trilogy.

Cookoo Cavaliers (1940)

Sponsored
Sponsored
Video:

Cookoo Cavaliers clip

Hey, Jan Hřebejk — steal from the Stooges and you’re gonna get caught, I’m warning you! Where’d you get the idea to stage a beauty parlor scalping in Deserter? Nice try, but Swiss Model Airplane Glue will never replace Famo Hair Remover, the age-old follicle unfixative bottled here at the source in San Diego. (Visit YouTube if you won’t take my word for it.) Kudos to Hřebejk for properly punching the gag with a closeup. That’s more than can be said of Curlean photographer Jules White, who forced his poor Stooge starlets to suffer together in long shot. Seriously, somewhere in his formative years, Mr. Hřebejk must have been exposed to the work of Tři Stoogové. It’s a rite of passage for male chowderheads worldwide, no matter their country of origin.

My Favorite Wife (1940)

Video:

My Favorite Wife trailer

Imagine Cary Grant’s shock when Irene Dunne, the shipwrecked wife he had long given up for dead, washes ashore just weeks after he’s taken a second bride (the haughty Ms. Gail Patrick) — and with Randolph Scott, her hunky castaway companion of seven years, in tow. (In reality, Cary and Randy would have ditched the girls to spend quality time together in their Santa Monica beach house.) My Favorite Wife was to have been the original title of Leo McCarey’s screwball anthem The Awful Truth (1937). Grant and Dunne returned for this unofficial sequel, with McCarey producing and receiving a co-screenwriting credit. (What? No Ralph Bellamy!) This time, the capable Garson Kanin took the helm, but it proved to be a case of the team’s inability to reheat a souffle. Still, with this cast and crew, it would be impossible not to find something to entertain.

Cactus Flower (1969)

Video:

Cactus Flower trailer

A single dentist (Walter Matthau) with commitment issues tells his much younger girlfriend (Goldie Hawn) that he’s married. Comedy happens when his spinsterish nurse (Ingrid Bergman) is recruited to play pretend wife. Because I wasn’t looking to obscure fond memories of numerous teenage viewings, the snapcase for this one sat shelved in its original shrink wrap for lo these many years. (Beads of sweat materialized even before the title card hit the screen.) A hippie strolls the streets of New York, planting daisies under windshield wipers. After the second car, he falters and stares directly into the camera, as if to say, “What now?” Call it the Gene Saks Touch, named for a master of canned Broadway comedies, maestro of the shoot-now-figure-it-out-later school of visual storytelling, and Auteur du Mame. From the opening meet-cute — neighbor Rick Lenz smells gas seeping from under the suicidal Hawn’s door — unseemliness follows at every turn of this comedy of adultery. It was to be Hawn’s first movie; the carefully conceived dumb-blonde character she designed for Laugh-In paved the way for her to win an Oscar right out of the gate. The highlight here will forever be Vitto Scotti’s lecherous count, whose Swiss Bank accounts almost outnumber his witty asides.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Bottled right here at the source!
Bottled right here at the source!

A cinematic counterpart to word association, this trio of films came to mind spontaneously and without reflection while watching The Garden Store trilogy.

Cookoo Cavaliers (1940)

Sponsored
Sponsored
Video:

Cookoo Cavaliers clip

Hey, Jan Hřebejk — steal from the Stooges and you’re gonna get caught, I’m warning you! Where’d you get the idea to stage a beauty parlor scalping in Deserter? Nice try, but Swiss Model Airplane Glue will never replace Famo Hair Remover, the age-old follicle unfixative bottled here at the source in San Diego. (Visit YouTube if you won’t take my word for it.) Kudos to Hřebejk for properly punching the gag with a closeup. That’s more than can be said of Curlean photographer Jules White, who forced his poor Stooge starlets to suffer together in long shot. Seriously, somewhere in his formative years, Mr. Hřebejk must have been exposed to the work of Tři Stoogové. It’s a rite of passage for male chowderheads worldwide, no matter their country of origin.

My Favorite Wife (1940)

Video:

My Favorite Wife trailer

Imagine Cary Grant’s shock when Irene Dunne, the shipwrecked wife he had long given up for dead, washes ashore just weeks after he’s taken a second bride (the haughty Ms. Gail Patrick) — and with Randolph Scott, her hunky castaway companion of seven years, in tow. (In reality, Cary and Randy would have ditched the girls to spend quality time together in their Santa Monica beach house.) My Favorite Wife was to have been the original title of Leo McCarey’s screwball anthem The Awful Truth (1937). Grant and Dunne returned for this unofficial sequel, with McCarey producing and receiving a co-screenwriting credit. (What? No Ralph Bellamy!) This time, the capable Garson Kanin took the helm, but it proved to be a case of the team’s inability to reheat a souffle. Still, with this cast and crew, it would be impossible not to find something to entertain.

Cactus Flower (1969)

Video:

Cactus Flower trailer

A single dentist (Walter Matthau) with commitment issues tells his much younger girlfriend (Goldie Hawn) that he’s married. Comedy happens when his spinsterish nurse (Ingrid Bergman) is recruited to play pretend wife. Because I wasn’t looking to obscure fond memories of numerous teenage viewings, the snapcase for this one sat shelved in its original shrink wrap for lo these many years. (Beads of sweat materialized even before the title card hit the screen.) A hippie strolls the streets of New York, planting daisies under windshield wipers. After the second car, he falters and stares directly into the camera, as if to say, “What now?” Call it the Gene Saks Touch, named for a master of canned Broadway comedies, maestro of the shoot-now-figure-it-out-later school of visual storytelling, and Auteur du Mame. From the opening meet-cute — neighbor Rick Lenz smells gas seeping from under the suicidal Hawn’s door — unseemliness follows at every turn of this comedy of adultery. It was to be Hawn’s first movie; the carefully conceived dumb-blonde character she designed for Laugh-In paved the way for her to win an Oscar right out of the gate. The highlight here will forever be Vitto Scotti’s lecherous count, whose Swiss Bank accounts almost outnumber his witty asides.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.