The Werewolf Of Washington

Just as vampires and zombies are turning up in all sorts of films these days, werewolves were seen prowling around in different films.  There were motorcycle riding werewolves in Werewolves On Wheels and just like seventies’ icon the Happy Hooker, the werewolves decided to go to Washington DC as well.  The Werewolf of Washington was made during the time of Viet Nam, peace protests, and Watergate. 

Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) is a White House correspondent who after being involved in a relationship with the president’s daughter is shipped off to Hungary.  The president decides to hire him as an assistant to the press secretary and as he prepares to leave the country, he is bitten by a werewolf and has the curse passed on to him.  Once he is back in America, the change occurs and Jack begins murdering people.

I’m not sure if the film played as a politically tinged horror movie when it first came out, but as I watched it in 2010, I couldn’t help but think it was as much political satire as horror film.  One of the political big wigs blaming the media and young people for the murders while the real killer is working with him side by side might have played like a thriller in 1973, but today it works as satire.  Stockwell’s werewolf is also able to be viewed both ways.  Stockwell plays the werewolf with many of the canine traits other werewolves tend to ignore.  When he has a victim trapped inside a phone booth, he sniffs and licks at the glass like a playful puppy more than a crazed killer.

The Werewolf of Washington is a wonderful burst of nostalgia even if it’s not the best made film.  I found myself really enjoying it.  I was previously only really acquainted with Stockwell through Quantum Leap and Blue Velvet, so this role was a big change.  It’s also worth noting that the werewolf makeup and costuming is very nicely done and has an original look to it.  My biggest gripe was the way the script had him continually putting himself in situations where he would try to isolate himself to protect people and then let the president talk him into joining in on a late night strategy session or a moonlight plane ride with a representative from China.  Maybe this was to show how Whittier the person was really weak while Whittier the werewolf simply kills whoever is in his path.

The Werewolf of Washington gets 2 1/4 stars.  Unfortunately the DVD transfer isn’t the greatest on the copy I watched.  Some of the scenes had color and lighting issues that didn’t appear to be from the way the movie was shot, but from the source material that was used.  However since I got 6 movies for only $5, I’m not inclined to complain too much about that.  I figure I got what I paid for.  Never the less, I would love to find a better transfer.  Maybe there will be a Blu-ray release somewhere down the road.  Or with a title like The Werewolf of Washington, maybe not.

Bill Maher Be More Cynical

Did you ever look at an old picture of someone and think, “Wow, they look totally different”?  Or maybe you see your son getting serious about a girlfriend and you think about how it was only a few short years ago that the only thing he was serious about was collecting Pokemon cards.  That’s the way I felt when I sat down to watch Bill Maher Be More Cynical.  Be More Cynical was shot in 2000 before the election.  Clinton was still in office.  We weren’t at war in Iraq or Afghanistan.  George W. Bush was a fairly unknown commodity.  The twin towers were still standing, and Bill Maher was still the host of Politically Incorrect. 

The world was a different place and so was Bill.  Many of the more controversial stances he would take were not fully formed or else were hidden because of the state of the world and his presence as a late night network talk show host.  He discusses in the show how the network forbade them from making jokes about drugs.  They had to make sure that nothing they did or said might possibly cause children to experiment with drugs.  He also had a toned-down approach to religion.  On Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, Maher openly states that he is an atheist.  He even made a documentary with Larry Charles that dealt with the world’s religions and his stance as a non-believer.  During a section in Be More Cynical concerning religion it is shocking to hear him state, “I believe in God.”  Not because it’s such a radical concept, but because Maher has been so outspoken on his belief that there is not a God in recent years.

Another topic where Maher’s views have changed is on the subject of Al Gore.  In Be More Cynical Maher tells the audience that he “hate(s) Al Gore”, but during the run up to the 2008 election he spoke highly of Gore and even had him on the show to discuss climate change.

Of course people don’t watch a comedy special just to see how a performer has changed over the years.  They watch to laugh at the performer’s material.  So does Be More Cynical score in this area?  Yes, it does.  Maher is a gifted stand up in the tradition of Lenny Bruce and George Carlin that can mix social commentary with humor.  He has sections in his show dealing with then candidate Bush as well as then president Clinton, but he also has sections dealing with drugs and religion, as I mentioned, and with women and death among other topics. 

This was one of Maher’s earliest stand up shows for HBO.  His next special was Victory Begins at Home which was filmed 3 years later.  I picked it up at Big Lots but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.  I figure I’ll be catching it fairly soon while this performance is still fresh in my mind just so I can compare.

Bill Maher Be More Cynical gets a pretty solid 9 on the Night Flight scale.  It’s a funny show, and it’s also helped by the nostalgia factor for a time when we were more concerned with the sexual indiscretions of the commander-in-chief and had a booming economy as opposed to today where the economy is in the toilet and people have to make up presidential controversies (the birthers for example) because no one has gotten a blow job in the White House since Clinton left office.