From: gbradley@uks197.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Bradley)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Barton Fink
Date: 14 Aug 92 11:52:20 GMT
Reply-To: gbradley@uks197.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Bradley)

In article <1992Aug13.192851.7605@sol.UVic.CA>, mmcalees@cs16.UVic.CA
(Michael McAleese (One of 'Those Dudes')) writes:
|>
|>  One thing that was mentioned in Barton Fink that sort of rang false to
|>me was the idea of "wrassling films" as if they were a real genre, like
|>westerns, for example.  I was sure such a genre never existed.
|>  I was wrong.
|>  In fact, there have been many wrasslin' films.  There's apparently even
|>a sub-genre of female wrasslin' films!  I thought I'd seen it all, until
|>a friend of mine showed me an 18 film list from a book on B-movies about
|>the Mexican films starring Santos, the Man in the Silver Mask.  Yes, Santos
|>is a heroic masked wrestler and the star of his own film series.  I *have*
|>to get my hands on some of these.  Examples include Santos battling 
|>gangsters, Santos saving Christmas, and Santos building a time machine and
|>travelling back in time so he can fight Count Dracula. (!)
|>
|>-- 
|>*     mmcalees@csr.uvic.ca (Michael McAleese) : I speak only for me...
*
|>  "Man can believe the impossible, but never the improbable." - Oscar Wilde
       
   Yes I've seen a few of the Santos film. Pretty crap, but enjoyable
because they are so ridiculous. Santos' nemesis is the Blue Demon
(another masked wrestler). They take this stuff really seriously in
Mexico! The stars of the film remain masked at all times - their
identities are secret: are rather they ARE Santos and Blue Demon in real
life! I remember when the original Santos either died or got too old
(these films have been going for a long time!), and his real-life son
took over the persona. Bizarre. Actually I would have guessed there were
a lot more than 18 Santos films.
   Anyway...the point. These do not fall into the wresting genre
portrayed in Barton Fink. They are much more cult/underground films than
the B picture type that Barton was supposed to write. The BF stuff
looked more the wrestling equivalent of the old 30s (40s?) boxing films
- and no I don't know if such a genre exists either. Santos films have
horror/schlock overtones.

   Incidently, I reckon Barton Fink was the poorest film from the Coens
thus far. I found it very mediocre compared to the wondrous "Miller's
Crossing" or the classic "Blood Simple". For some reason, I think John
Turturro was the problem. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a brilliant
actor and thoroughly enjoyed his performances in "Do the Right Thing",
"State of Grace" and, of course, "Miller's Crossing", I just think he
doesn't come across well in such a large role as in Barton Fink, if you
see what I mean. He grates after a while. Annoys even.
        
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| Gary Bradley        |   "You receive a love letter from me and |
| ORACLE Corp, UK     |                  you're f*cked forever!" |
| Edinburgh, SCOTLAND |        - Frank Booth ("Blue Velvet")     |
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| "God damn the censor man"                                      |
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