Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Director: Don Coscarelli

What a great flick. Here’s the run down: Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and JFK (Ossie Davis) are in rest home in Mud Creek, TX just waiting to die. People at the rest home, though, are going quicker than natural due to a soul sucking mummy who has been dining on the souls of the elderly. When Elvis and JFK discover this they have to step it up and prepare to do battle with the ancient Egyptian creature. I know that it sounds like a campy thing that someone makes in their final year of film school, but its really good. A must for those of us obsessed with the King . . . and probably for those of you obsessed with Egyptology or JFK.

Hunk a hunk a burnin law:

1. Elvis is in this rest home because at the height of his fame he traded places with an Elvis impersonator Sebastian Huff. They signed a contract that if ever Elvis got tired of being Elvis he would be able to reassume the identity. Unfortunately for Elvis, his copy of the contract burned up in a BBQ accident leaving him devoid of an evidence.

2. More political than legal, but JFK insists that his assasination (an subsequent color change) was part of a Government conspiracy led by none other than LBJ. We should live by his words (later on in life that is): “Ask not what your rest home can do for you. Ask what you can do for your rest home.”

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Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Director: Larry Charles

Borat, as I’m sure you’ve heard, is pure comic gold. Sacha Baron Cohen, plays the loveable yet offensive Kazak reporter as he travels America searching for love and that cultural piece of apple pie to take back to Kazakhstan. About the time the movie premiered in London I actually got to see the Kazakhstan amabassador to Great Britain speak. With all the uproar coming out of Kazakhstan about the movie at the time, he was of course questioned about it. He replied that he’d gone to see it and found it quite funny. His view was that it made fun of Americans not Kazaks, and he’s right. Of course, I’ve found that alot of people over here think thats whats so great about it, and granted it had great political timing, but it ought to be remembered the same movie could have been made in the UK (complete with the racists).

Law to make benefit:

1. Borat while recieving a driving lesson is admonished that it is against the law to drink and drive and also to yell and cuss at other drivers.

2. Borat interviews numerous law makers in Washington, D.C. including Bob Barr (former representative from Georgia and also a lawyer) and also Alan Keyes a prospective republican presidential candidate and political scholar.

3. Later in this same vein he sees Charles Pickering (House – MS) preaching to a Penecostal revival meeting. In his sermon, Pickering targets, the teaching of evolution in schools.

4. Borat is at one point given advice on how not to look like a Muslim Terrorist. This might be handy in case of some racial profiling.

5. This movie has spawned a lot of litigation. Khazakhstan reserved the right to take legal action against Borat, and numerous people have filed suit claiming damages to their reputation, job etc. Most notably the two fraternity boys (suit dismissed) and the etiquette coach in Alabama. He has even been sued by the Romanian village he used as his home town at the beginning of the film. Poor Borat, he just can’t get a fair break can he.

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Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)

Director: Art Linson

Before there was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas there was Where the Buffalo Roam. The film follows the hey day of Hunter S. Thompson’s journalism career. Bill Murray, as Thompson, is no Johnny Depp in the role, but he’s damn good. Where the Buffalo Roam focus’s on Thompson’s interactions with with his attorney Carl Lazlo (Peter Boyle). He’s not exactly the lawyer we all want to be, but there is something to his renegade ways, his pursuit of justice, and the way that he can throw a D.A. at a judge (don’t say you’ve never wanted to). I must apologize, my notes are sketchy and I’ve definitely missed some stuff.

Gonzo Law:

1. Thompson describes Lazlo as a “man I used to keep me out of jail in those years,” additionally Lazlo is “sometimes a good lawyer.” In the movie, he is working on an article entitled “My Attorney v. American Justice” (catchy ain’t it?). Carl Lazlo is based on real life Mexican-American attorney and activist Oscar Zeta Acosta, whom Thompson travelled with and wrote about.

2. When Thompson is in a clinic Lazlo arrives and states (in true Lazlo fashion), “as your attorney I advise you to leave this room at once.”

3. Lazlo is representing kids that have been taken in on drug charges. He is defending them all on fourth amendment grounds (protecting us from illegal search and seizure). He claims that the kids’ civil rights are violated and that the judges are handing out ridiculous sentences.

4. We see Lazlo in court working these cases. He tells his clients that there can be no “grab ass” in court. The D.A. declares that he wants to oppose a different lawyer. The case is called (“People v. Kramer”), and it is a marijuana possession case. Lazlo tells the judge that he will take all the cases to trial and clog the system for 6 years. Thompson meanwhile is cheering him to “hit them with the fourth amendment Laz.” In the case, the police caught the defendant with marijuana inside a cigarette pack. The cop declares that he suspected a bomb. Lazlo points out the ridiculousness, but because the defendant won’t give up his source for the weed he gets five years. Instead of appealing, Lazlo throws the D.A. at the judge.

5. Lazlo sees another Lawyer who says that Laslo should be working divorces or property. Lazlo refuses claiming he’s not in it for the money.

6. Lazlo’s career is later ended by arrest. He begins running guns to Mexico. He leaves us with some good advice though: “as your exattorney I advise you not to worry.” Well said, Lazlo.

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Ed Wood (1994)

Director: Tim Burton

This is a charming little film about Hollywod’s favorite cross dressing B movie director, Ed Wood. Wood, portrayed by Johnny Depp was a film director with a dream: too make movies. That’s exactly what he did too. The movies he made though were so atrocious that they’ve gone down in history as classics (we here at visual evidence certainly appreciate such film). Burton’s biographical film, shot in black and white, captures the manicness of the sets that Wood ran. It’s a definite A movie for B movie fans.

Cross dressin’ law:

1. At one point the crew must stop filming and hit the road because the police are spotted and they don’t have a permit.

2. Bela Lugosi’s unemployment gets cancelled by the government.

3. Bela also includes in his will that he be buried in his Dracula cape.

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Bachelor Party (1984)

Director: Neal Israel

What a classic. Rick Gassko (Tom Hanks), a catholic school bus driver, is ready to marry his upper crust girlfriend, thus his friends throw him a raging bachelor party. Her father disagrees with the whole marriage and is set to destroy the couple’s happy existence by throwing in the stereotypical blonde 1980’s exboyfriend to woo her back. Luckily, though, this movie goes easy on the love and heavy on the party, and we even get to see a donkey overdose.

It also goes light on the law.

1. The police shut the party down due to a noise complaint. This sends everyone on a wild chase through the city.

2. The movie ends with a wedding ceremony in which a “lawful wife” is declared by the officiant, who has “powers vested” in him by the state.

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