Holidays as Backdrop: The Silent Partner (1978, Daryl Duke)

The Daryl Duke directed and Curtis Hanson scripted The Silent Partner is one of my favorite "new to me" films I discovered this year. Shot in Canada and featuring a superb world weary performance by Elliot Guild and a great evil turn by Christopher Plummer, the film finely balances suspense, humor, romance, and plight of the middle class worker drone insight, not to mention a severed head scene that would make Tom Savini proud. And much of the first half is set during the holiday season, making it bound to become one of my Christmas perennials. Of course my Christmas favorites have the horror film Black Christmas, also a Canadian film, at the top for what it's worth. And like another Canadian film that was featured on a "Holiday as Backdrop" entry, it combines a mall Santa and firearms. Oh those Canucks!

The Holidays as Backdrop: Hardcore (1979, Paul Schrader)

The Holidays As Backdrop: Rabid (1977, David Cronenberg)

WARNING: Do not scroll to the last frame if you are still a child of an impressionable age or work in the North Pole!

The Holidays as Backdrop: Grand Illusion (1937, Jean Renoir)

Halloween as Backdrop: Freaks and Geeks

While I normally focus on movies here, I thought I'd dedicate a post to one of my favorite episodes from one of my all time favorite television series.

Here's some selected frames from the "Tricks and Treats" episode of Freaks and Geeks from 1999. Directed by Bryan Gordon. The product design, per usual for the show, does an amazing job of capturing the essence of middle class suburbia circa 1980.

Halloween as a Backdrop: E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg)

As a companion piece to my Christmas themed Holidays as Backdrop series, I decided I'd like to post occasional scenes from films that are not generally associated with being of the Halloween season. The big problem is that I can only really think of two pieces off the top of my head (the one below and a beloved television show), so if you can think of any, please leave the suggestion in my comment field. My rigid guideline means no horror movies! I was considering Lady in White, but Halloween is such an essential component of the film that it should be considered cheating.

Today let's take a gander at what Halloween looked like in Spielberg's Californian suburbs of 1982 in E.T., the unfucked with edition, by the by.