“Don’t get goofy on me.”
Ed Wood arrived on home video today in 1995, after pulling the shtrink on an October 7th, 1994 theatrical release.
Tim Burton’s infectiously earnest love poem to the work of a certain Edward D. Wood Jr. – and his entourage of ‘misfits and dope addicts’ – has been a perennial favourite since I first rented it on this day back in ’95. Sure it’s more than a bit apocryphal, but I love this quotable and quirky exploration of the marginal side of 50’s Hollywood. The cast is picture perfect – from Martin Landau’s Oscar winning turn as Lugosi to Max Casella as Paul Marco – and the black and white photography grabs you by the eyelids and keeps you firmly planted in the era.
By the time the credits roll, it hurts to leave that perfect little microcosm of unbridled optimism.
It also holds the distinction of being that rare Burton project without music from our favourite Oingo Boingo frontman, but Howard Shore does an incredibly evocative Theremin-laced beatnik score. It’s pure magic.
Spook details: Every year in early September, I marathon it with the ‘Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora’ Rhino documentary (by the late, great Ted Newsom) and a few choice Wood flicks. It officially sparks off my Halloween season… I then spend the next several weeks trying to scare the socks off myself.
And also, because of Bill Murray, I now always pronounce “Sure” as though I’m rejecting Satan and all his evils.