The other day, someone on social media posted this challenge: Name something that most people consider to be a masterpiece but you don’t like. Upon reading that, I immediately blurted out: “Journey to Italy.”
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Author Archives: Phil Hall
The Bootleg Files: Uncle Walt
BOOTLEG FILES 927: “Uncle Walt” (1964 student film that was unavailable for many years).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Internet Archive.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A student film made without the clearance of the rights owners of the original classic.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.
One of the sad truths of locating films that are either lost or have been otherwise unavailable for decades is that the discovered titles are often far less interesting than the mystique that surrounded them during their absence from view.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bonanza Bugs (1959)
It is a winter’s night in Dawson City during the midst of the 1896 Gold Rush when a snow-covered Bugs Bunny walks into a saloon and orders a glass of carrot juice. He is carrying a bag of large gold nuggets, but believes they have no value – he mistakes the “karats” of the rocks with the carrots that make up his diet. The villainous Blacque Jacques Shellacque – who is wanted for such crimes as for claim-jumping, pogo-sticking, and square-dance calling – makes multiple attempts to take Bugs’ bag of gold nuggets, but ultimately winds up running off a with a bag of gunpowder that Bugs ignites. Bugs ultimately admits the rocks were merely covered in paint and he drives off in a sled powered by a chihuahua.
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The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar (1968)
Most Americans have probably never heard of this movie, which is considered a classic of Canadian cinema. If you’re among those who know nothing of this work, please seek it out – it might be one of the best films you’ve never seen.
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The Bootleg Files: Metropolis 2027
BOOTLEG FILES 926: “Metropolis 2027” (Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction classic, updated with color and a dialogue track).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A fan film made without the clearance of the rights owners of the original classic.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nein.
The other day, I received an email from a person named Garrett Guynn, who reminded me that I wrote a Bootleg Files review in September 2019 of “MetropolisRemix,” which took Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent black-and-white classic and reimagined it as a color film with spoken dialogue. Mr. Guynn included a link to my review, which was helpful because I had no memory of his film. And when I reread my review, I could only vaguely recall the production.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)
Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis
Music by Milt Franklyn
“Wild and Woolly Hare” starts off with a wonderful parody of “High Noon” as the scruffy denizens of an Old West saloon nervously await the arrival of a gunslinging villain – in this case, it is Yosemite Sam in his first cowboy cartoon since “High Diving Hare” in 1949. The bellicose Sam declares his presence by bellowing, “Any one of you lily-livered, bow-legged varmints care to slap leather with me? In case any of you get any idee-ers, ya better know yer dealin’ with. I’m the hootinest, tootinest, shootinest, bobtail wildcat in the West! I’m the fastest gun north, south, east annnnnnnd west of the Pecos!”
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Hoofs and Goofs (1957)
Notable as the first Three Stooges short with Joe Besser as part of the zany trio, “Hoofs and Goofs” is one of the most delightfully bizarre things ever captured on camera.
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