Feel That New Hollywood Train Comin'

A double feature I call Feel That New Hollywood Train Comin'! Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966) is a Twilight Zone episode stretched to feature length. But a damn gripping one every frame of the way. More shocking than the shots of peen in the grape-stomping Bacchanal scene (since it was apparently cut from the American first run) was the mention of a microwave oven. I had no clue they were around that early even as a status symbol. Then, oh boy, Reflections in a Golden Eye (John Huston, 1967) in the version slathered with golden caterpillar guts. Lawd. I found the secondary coupling of the de facto spinster Alison (Julie Harris, incredible as always) and screaming Filipino queen Anacleto (Zorro David*) far more intriguing than Liz/Brando's gothic S/M. Not a terribly likeable film but a fascinating example of how haywire things can get (so everyone was okay with that preposterous final shot, huh?) when "dealing with" homosexuality. As for Robert Forster, dat ass! *IMDb lists this as his only film. He died on my birthday in 2008 in one city over from where I was raised!