the heatwave lasted four days (1975)

[miscellanium]

there are a lot of unexpectedly striking shots, but this rare vantage point of habitat 67 is a real winner.
everyone say thank you to lawrence dane for contributing to preserving a visual record of this brutalist masterpiece

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 5/5

but first, a quick note: this is a dreamwidth exclusive for 3weeks! often i liveblog these reviews elsewhere but i kept heatwave mostly to myself because. well. you'll see.

the plot: gordon pinsent plays a tv reporter prone to the classic male vices of the 1970s: booze, young women, and oversized gold chain necklaces.  he's not necessarily ambitious but won't hesitate to seize an opportunity when it arises. there's an escaped drug runner on the loose, played by lawrence dane, and pinsent learns that he inadvertently filmed the guy while trying to do a puff piece on girls in swimsuits at the local beach. lawrence dane offers money so the footage won't air and blow his cover, which pinsent agrees to and then tries to up the ante as an easy way to make a tidy profit on the side. dane's situation is more complicated than just a prison break, though, and before long it's clear that pinsent has gotten himself in over his head.

the movie itself is just as much of a fascinating time capsule as the fashion and interior decor it presents, since it was intended as both entertainment and an educational film for english-as-second-language students (adult ones, presumably). this isn't apparent in the cut that circulates on sites like rarefilmm or that i received from the NFB when i contacted them for a copy back in 2023, but the transcript that the NFB staff kindly shared with me makes it clear since it says "classroom version" on some pages. (the transcript itself was not clear, lol, so it was a welcome surprise when i learned that vinegar syndrome's canadian-specific imprint released the film on blu-ray quite recently with full-fledged closed captioning.)

this is a solid movie, especially for a made-for-tv production. the character development does suffer a bit from its truncated run-time, but the pacing is breezy and the performances are convincing. as one moderately positive review from the time put it, "the story is a bit thin and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, but so are all the stories in these 90-minute TV films." i might be biased but dane's a bit of a scene-stealer here, with pinsent playing his everyman character laid back enough that dane has plenty of space to take up breathing room in their shared moments without smothering the scene. the female actors do well with the little they're given, though i would have liked some more screentime for joan blackman as pinsent's wife. looks like she isn't credited for much else on imdb, which is a shame. at least it was fun seeing ken james (abel in rituals) even if i didn't recognize him at first without the glasses!

my partner (unbiased third party) says that the movie would probably rate a 3/5 overall: adequately average. my 5/5 is specifically because dane is a co-star here, for all intents and purposes, and does a believable job. not as finely nuanced as his turn in rituals (the peak of his career, lbr) but still well worth the watch. also, the visuals, my god. i can count on one (maybe two) hands the films i've seen that are this aggressively 1970s. i adore it.

one of the more amusing reviews i found for this was someone claiming with confidence that lawrence dane must be italian because he does a good job as jerry cuozzo (??? i mean, according to the italians i know he does a convincing job speaking the language in the misfire titled "only god knows", but...). can he not just be a decent actor? i think he can, and is. do give this a try if you're at all curious.

as i mentioned above, this is on blu-ray now! if you're interested, please consider buying a copy to support an indie film distributor. it comes with multiple versions of the film (regular tv release, slightly longer release, and the version that would have been used in classrooms with intertitles) and a commentary track. alas, the commentary track is not subtitled so i cannot speak to the quality or entertainment value of it, but it's there for those who can enjoy it. (if you check it out, please do let me know what fun info it has!) tbh i do think it says something that lawrence dane is more prominent than gordon pinsent on their unique cover for the home media release. they know what's up.

highlight: foaming at the mouth. gnashing my teeth. you get the idea

this is literally how the movie starts. a long, slowly zooming in shot of him diving from a speedboat and then walking ashore. incredible.


pouting at pinsent. kawaii.








my icon. bc it's iconic. douglas jackson had a pretty workman-like approach to cinematography but he had a great sense for how to frame a guy. specifically larry.


yeah he was typecast as a baddie but it's easy to see why when he could so easily embody casual menacing sexuality.


same. hard same.


[insert image of person on all fours shaking blorbo violently with jagged teeth]






gap moe!!!!






so. his character has ulcers and folk wisdom at the time had it that drinking milk would help. which means he has several scenes where he's tummy hurty and/or drinking white fluid. drives me crazy 




exploding cat emoji gif


this is the closest he got to a sex scene before being in julia and it's why i took so long to make this post. going through the screencaps was too much. but it's a great passionate kiss and the floral wallpaper makes it feel even more like a fantasy, like there's something unreal about this moment, and i guess you could say that applies to their romance in light of their fates.












the things i would do if i had that photograph in my hands

(mgmt voice) he dies, and words don't do anything.
fr tho i like how bleak the ending is. for all that it might have seemed like a man's fantasy of trying to be cool, the film ends in a way that scolds you if you got swept up in the drug-dealing glamour. just a real solid production. not as ambitious narratively as rituals but certainly up there in terms of production value and the performances. a film that i would gladly watch any time just for him and the 1970s groove of it all, and recommend you do too.