Bigger Than Life vs. Bigger Than Life

I totally forgot to relate this HI-larious story courtesy of a student of mine (yes, I have his blessing to tell it here).

My student was writing a paper on one of the films I screened during the course I taught in the spring. He wound up calling all over town because the easier to find titles were gone from most of the video stores. But finally he found a place on 5th St. that had Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life for rent. "That's odd," I thought because I assumed Vulcan Video was the only place in town that would carry such a rare title.

So he goes to this video store on 5th St. and immediately notices that there are no video/DVD boxes visible. He approaches a guy who works there and says that he called about Bigger Than Life. The guy fishes out the video and it turns out to be a gay porno. And suddenly, I know exactly where my student is. He's at Tape Lenders, one of at least two exclusively gay porn shops in Austin. And I know exactly which Bigger Than Life he's talking about. It's the 1991 opus starring Jeff Stryker!

All turned out well in the end. But as a public service to my students past and future, I present the following visual aids to help you distinguish between the two Bigger Than Lifes. :)

































Just lookin' out for y'all.