Counter-Currents
1,509 words 
I recently watched an interview of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. He was asked what he would consider a perfect movie. He gave a few examples such as The Godfather, Back to the Future, and Jaws. All three are excellent films, but perfect? When I considered the question the first movie to pop into my mind was the little known, little talked about Atlantic City.
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11 comments
Good review! I like those films that capture the desperate, gritty street, underbelly of urban existence. The only thing that seems off is that they don’t seem to make a lot of money off the cocaine, if it’s cut three ways at $4000 a cut that’s only $12,000 for the whole deal. Still, if you have nothing, something is better than nothing. I am going to order this movie on Thursday. 👍
Funny movie, which is unusual coming from the French who are not known for their sense of humor, hence their love of Jerry Lewis.
I’ve seen two other Louis Malle movies. My Dinner with Andre which was just a conversation between two guys. And Pretty Baby. Another Susan Sarandon flick that features her pimping out her daughter Brooke Shields.
Thanks for the reminder. It didn’t occur to me that this film was now ‘little known.’ It played so often on HBO (or maybe Cinemax?) back in 1981-82 it was like a continuous loop. Well worth re-watching, and so I did a number of times. Pretty darn close to perfect.
Some lines stick with me after 43 years. The chorus girls singing, “On the boardwalk, In Atlantic City, Life will be peaches and cream.”
Or:
“And I don’t know Boomer in Vegas.”
“Atlantic City was something then!”
“Italian baby laxative!”
Another 1980 film that got a second wind on cable in early 1982 was Caddyshack. Unlike the widely praised Atlantic City, Caddyshack was roundly panned on release. But when it turned up on Cinemax, playing over and over again, it not only gained a great cult following, but favorable pocket reviews in newspaper TV listings. I think the New York Times‘s was something like “Intriguing innovative comedy.” Do newspapers still run TV listings?
I think a more realistic question is, “Does anybody buy newspapers anymore?” 🙃
Are there still such things as newspapers??
Yes, they still sell them at supermarkets. You made me realize that I cannot remember the last time I saw someone running a paper route. Can you remember the last time you saw someone delivering newspapers? I also realized that it has been years since I have seen a residential paper box; they used to put them right next to mailboxes. 🙃
As I recall the last paper routes were adults in their cars that would be in your driveway and throw the paper as close to your porch as they possibly could. It’s been at least 25 years since I’ve seen one of those
There was a guy that lived in the apartment next to mine who had a paper route when I lived in Memphis, but that was around 25 years ago. It was a second job for him and I remember that he had to get up at 3:00 am to go do it.
The last time the newspapers kinda mattered to people was when some kid on a corner in the hat saying “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” in Dolores and Eddie Valiant’s time.
In my building the NYTimes and Wall Street Journal still have early-morning routes. A few years ago you could hear them going *thwap* *thwap* out in the corridor around 6:22 am. Thinning out now. We took both. They were hard to get rid of. You had to stack them up, tie them up or put them in poly bags, take them out to the trash bay. I tell you, it was a nightmare. And those vodka bottles!
I watched the movie a couple of days ago, I had seen it before, back in 83 and had forgotten about it. It was still pretty good though. I thought Dave (Robert Joy) looked like Jessie Pinkman from “Breaking Bad.” I wonder why they made Dave and Chrissie look like refugees from some middle eastern country.
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