Moving Pictures

An alternative to the holiday classics to watch this Thanksgiving

BY JOE NOLAN

If you’re like me, movies play a big role in your holiday celebrations. I devoured Rob Zombie’s Halloween remakes in October as an appetizer for his The Munsters reboot on Netflix. And now I have an appetite for films smothered in turkey gravy and family drama. I won’t let the season pass without a viewing of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), but this year I’m tweaking traditional recipes to prepare a feast of lesser-known cinematic Turkey Day celebrations that will satisfy any finicky cinephile’s cravings for unique filmic flavors this Thanksgiving.

The Wiz (1978) is Hollywood’s version of the 1974 hit Broadway musical that remade L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a funktastic musical with an all-Black cast. The movie is helmed by the great Sydney Lumet with the also great Quincy Jones handling the music. It features Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow and Richard Pryor as The Wiz. The movie opens with Dorothy’s family celebrating Thanksgiving in their apartment in Harlem. The film was a critical and commercial flop, but it’s become a cult classic with Oz fans and we want to see The Wiz in its rightful seat at the table this Thanksgiving. Stream The Wiz for $3.99 on numerous platforms or grab the DVD at Nashville Public Library.

Movie fans around the world were saddened by the death of Milwaukee-based musician Mike Schank on Oct. 14. Schank was the best friend of film director Mark Borchardt. Borchardt and Schank became indie film legends when the making of Borchardt’s horror film, Coven (1997) became the subject of an award-winning Sundance Film Festival hit, Chris Smith’s American Movie (1999). The documentary captures the highs and lows of independent filmmaking while also spotlighting the relationship between the pair of oddball creatives. In one of the film’s most hilarious scenes, Mike arrives at Mark’s place for Thanksgiving dinner after buying a winning lottery ticket. Rent American Movie for $2.99 on Vudu or pick-up the DVD at Nashville Public Library.

Growing up in Michigan, no Thanksgiving trip to my grandmother’s place was complete unless we heard Arlo Guthrie’s hilarious “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” on the radio. After I became a teenager, I learned that “Alice’s Restaurant” was a Vietnam War protest song based on mostly-true events, and that the tune had been made into a movie by Arthur Penn shortly after he helped to launch the New Hollywood era with Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Alice’s Restaurant (1969) is a counterculture curio released just days after Arlo Guthrie played his set at the Woodstock Festival, and both the song and the film feature a Thanksgiving dinner as the starting point for their satirical misadventures. I find Alice’s’ less-than-officially posted to YouTube all the time, and the DVD is at Nashville Public Library.

In Werner Herzog’s Stroszek (1977) an alcoholic street musician is released from a Berlin prison before he joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in their dream to leave Germany and start a new life in Wisconsin. Stroszek is a tragicomic fish-out-ofwater story about an unlikely family trying to make a home in an unfamiliar land — it also ends with one of the most unforgettable Thanksgiving scenes ever put to film. This one is required viewing after dinner at my house. Stroszek is streaming for free on the Tubi platform. You can also rent the DVD or stream the movie courtesy of the Nashville Public Library. Happy Thanksgiving!