366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 109

The Date: January 17

The Movie: Dawn of the Dead (1979)

What Is It?: 11 years after Night of the Living Dead, George Romero returns to make the dead walk again, and the shopping mall setting makes room for some truly brilliant satire about our consumerist culture.

Why Today?: On this day in 1983, the world’s tallest department store, Hudson’s flagship store in Detroit, closes for business. I’m not sure if it was closed due to zombies.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 108

The Date: January 16

The Movie: Enter the Dragon (1973)

What Is It?: Sure, Bruce Lee Kung-Fu's a good game in this picture, but it’s his disarming charisma that makes Enter the Dragon truly enduring.

Why Today?: Today is Appreciate a Dragon Day. I have no idea what that means.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 107

The Date: January 15

The Movie: Full Metal Jacket (1987)

What Is It?: Stanley Kubrick constructs a horrifying before-and-after portrait of the military as young recruits are turned into mindless machines of war by a cruel drill sergeant before being set loose in Vietnam to put their programming to work. The first half is impossible to top, but the second half ends with satisfying dread and awesome use of "Paint It Black".

Why Today?: On this day in 1973, Nixon announces the end of America’s offensive action in Vietnam.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 106

The Date: January 14

The Movie: Imitation of Life (1959)

What Is It?: With Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk wanted it all and he had it all. On one end, it’s an overwrought soap opera with gorgeously overwrought color and fifties aesthetics; on the other end, it’s a subtle exploration of race and racism unusually empathetic for its time. Look out for Mahalia Jackson as a choir soloist.

Why Today?: On this day in 1987, Douglas Sirk dies.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 105

The Date: January 13

The Movie: After Hours (1985)

What Is It?: A rare Martin Scorsese comedy casts Griffin Dunne as an uptight Alice lost in a SoHo Wonderland of thieves, drug overdoses, punks, leather bars, and everything else fun about mid-eighties NYC that would scare the Dockers off the average schmuck. A Teri Garr cameo includes a winking acknowledgement of her appearance in Head.

Why Today?: 10013 is a SoHo zip code, and today is 1/13.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 104

The Date: January 12

The Movie: Apocalypse Now (1979)

What Is It?: Francis Ford Coppola adapts Heart of Darkness as a Vietnam War movie and a demented and immersive metaphor for the insanity of the war, itself. He gives himself and his film crew a taste of that insanity too.

Why Today?: On this day in 1962, Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission in Vietnam, takes place.

Farewell, David Bowie

When talking about David Bowie, it's often tempting to bypass the music and go straight for the cultural impact, and as far as pop stars transforming the larger culture goes, Bowie is in that rare class that includes Elvis and The Beatles. In a lot of ways, Bowie built on a lot of The Beatles' innovations with the way his music evolved radically from disc to disc, how he created and embodied characters (though there was much more commitment behind his Ziggy Stardust than there was behind Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts club Band), and how he blew up gender stereotypes (though, once again, claiming he was gay at a time when that kind of thing was almost guaranteed to ruin careers was even more courageous than men wearing their hair long ten years earlier). These aren't just the kind of things that make biographies and history books fatter; they actually changed the way artists made their art and altered the way people in all walks of life live. 

Still, David Bowie would not have had such seismic effects if his music wasn't so incredible, and as is also the case with The Beatles, it's the music that will continue to have the most profound affect on the world: the storytelling of "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes", the follow-me-if-you-dare experimentation of Low, the you-have-no-choice-but-to-follow-me transcendence of "Heroes" and "Life on Mars?" There's so much to discover and rediscover in David Bowie's vast catalog of music, and so little of it has aged. Although we have sadly lost the man to cancer at the age of 69, that music remains deathless and timeless. Spin some today. I know I will.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 103

The Date: January 11

The Movie: The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)

What Is It?: In 1971, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar staged Rock’s first big all-star benefit concert. The proceeds may not have all gone to the Bangladesh refugees who deserved them (perhaps it should have been called The Concert for Allen Klein), but the show did produce a major album and motion picture featuring luminaries such as Harrison, Shankar, Bob Dylan, and Ringo Starr.

Why Today?: On this day in 1972, East Pakistan officially becomes Bangladesh.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 102

The Date: January 10

The Movie: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

What Is It?: In a turn of events weirder than a Roger Corman horror-comedy, a Roger Corman horror-comedy becomes an off-Broadway hit musical then becomes a major mainstream movie musical starring Rick Moranis and Steve Martin. Ellen Greene makes a smooth transition from stage to screen as Audrey I and Levi Stubbs slays as murderous space plant Audrey II.

Why Today?: Today is Houseplant Appreciation Day.

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 101

The Date: January 9

The Movie: The Color of Pomegranates (1969)

What Is It?: Director Sergei Parajanov relays the major beats of Armenia poet Sayat-Nova’s life through a series of beautiful, meticulously organized tableaux. I’d recommend turning down the sound and cranking Their Satanic Majesties Request if I wasn’t afraid that cineastes and Stones fans would club me to death for suggesting such a thing.

Why Today?: On this day in 1924, Sergei Parajanov is born.