Scenes from Hot Fuzztival

A couple of weeks ago, Alamo Drafthouse Downtown decided to hold a cop-movie marathon, the Hot Fuzztival -- that name ought to give you a big hint as to what the centerpiece movie of the marathon would be. (I noticed that other cities also did Hot Fuzztivals in preparation for this particular movie.) I have a confession to make: I went to the Hot Fuzztival not because I was psyched about Hot Fuzz, although I was looking forward to the cop-movie spoof from the Shaun of the Dead guys. I figured I'd have plenty of chances to see Hot Fuzz.

I went to the Hot Fuzztival primarily to see one of my guilty pleasure movies, which isn't available on DVD and which is very hard to get to see: Freebie and the Bean. I was amazed that Alamo was able to find a print. I rented the VHS copy at Vulcan Video last year (right before Alamo's Richard Rush double-feature, in fact -- Rush also directed this film) and the video quality was poor, but the film was still hilarious. The storyline is sexist and homophobic and some scenes don't make any sense to me, but James Caan and Alan Arkin are so wonderful together that it makes up for everything.

I did not mean for this article to be a love letter about Freebie and the Bean, but the point is that I spent nearly $40 to see that particular movie, and considered the other films to be lagniappe, if top-notch lagniappe. I was also looking forward to seeing the Hot Fuzz filmmakers/stars in person at the Alamo -- they were scheduled to appear right before Hot Fuzz, which was the last film to be shown in the five-movie marathon.­

One of the pleasant surprises of the Hot Fuzztival was that Edgar Wright, the director of Hot Fuzz, introduced every single one of the movies that day. The order in which the films were shown was shifted around a bit so he could watch Sudden Impact with us (the three guys were doing local interviews that afternoon). I almost regretted not having a notebook because Wright had some witty things to say about all five movies. Also, did I mention earlier that I hadn't seen him before and didn't realize he was such a good-looking man? Here's a shot of him introducing one of the films (probably Police Story 2, although I'm not entirely certain).

Another pleasant surprise was that Alamo showed six cop-movie trailers before every film, which added significantly to the fun. Again, I almost wish I'd taken notes, because the range was amazing -- everything from Serpico and Nighthawks to Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs. to Point Break and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

The first movie we saw was Electra Glide in Blue, about which I knew very little. Robert Blake stars as the shortest highway patrolman in an Arizona town, and his dream is to become a detective on the police force. He gets his big break when he stumbles onto a potential homicide, but everything doesn't go quite as expected. It's an odd movie, and has what I used to consider a stereotypical Seventies movie ending.

After Electra Glide in Blue, the Alamo gave us all donuts so we could get more into the cop-movie spirit. It's funny, though, we watched five cop movies and I don't think we saw a single donut onscreen. The second movie was Police Story 2, a Jackie Chan movie I'd seen before, years ago, when UT used to show Jackie Chan movies on Sunday afternoons at Hogg Auditorium. I remembered the sequences in the fireworks warehouse. The difficulty with Police Story 2 was that the subtitles were very low on the screen and I had trouble seeing them, but let's face it -- you watch Jackie Chan movies for the onscreen action scenes, not for the dialogue.

The third movie turned out to be Sudden Impact, which is the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series. I watched the trailers beforehand and a little bit of the film (enough to hear "Make my day"), then headed out to the lobby for a break. I took my migraine pills, checked my email, and bought entirely too many t-shirts, since it turned out that Mondo Tees was having a clearance sale that afternoon. I needed the break time, because I wanted to get ready for the fourth movie. Here's a shot of the audience between films:

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Seeing Freebie and the Bean in a full theater was worth the price of admission. I feel bad for embracing a movie that's been cited in The Celluloid Closet for its nasty stereotyping of gay characters, but that's certainly not why I like the movie. I love the chase scenes and the bit where the car crashes into the apartment, and the fight scene in the restaurant kitchen, and the dentist's office, and Caan and Arkin roughhousing on the lawn of the guy they're supposed to be guarding, and every single argument the two characters have with each other. I wish the movie were on DVD -- but then I don't, because if I could watch it any time I wanted, it would be a little less special. Let's just say I wish Alamo would show it every year.

As if Freebie and the Bean were not enough, after a short break, Tim League called the Hot Fuzz guys out on stage: Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg.

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"We went to Shepler's!" they told us ... all three were dressed in black Western shirts with fancy white trim. (Maybe they should spoof the Western next.)

Hot Fuzz was a lot of fun, enough that I'd see it again when it opens in Austin theaters later this month. Simon Pegg is an overly ambitious London cop who's sent to a small town where everyone's a little strange. The cast includes Nick Frost as one of the small-town policemen, who has seen every cop movie ever made; Jim Broadbent as Frost's dad and head of the local police force; Timothy Dalton as a local businessman; and Bill Nighy in a small but amusing role as the chief inspector in London. The movie takes a little too long to end, but is funny throughout.

After the movie, Wright, Pegg, and Frost stuck around to do a Q&A, and even though it was past midnight, they then agreed to sign autographs out in the lobby. Scott Weinberg (one of my Cinematical colleagues) managed to get some photos with the guys. It was the last movie Scott attended before heading back to Philly for awhile; we're all hoping he'll come back to Austin soon. In addition, the Reel Distraction guys were at Hot Fuzztival (and took better notes than I did), so you can read reviews from both Micah and Brian. Matt Dentler was around for the last part of the marathon and wrote about the movies he saw. Freddie Avalos posted tons of photos (including the donut) to Flickr. And finally, YouTube has video of Edgar Wright at Alamo, introducing the Hot Fuzztival films ... until someone takes it down, that is.