3 movies to ID from very few details.

Cafe Society
1

Hi,

I’m trying to ID three movies. Sorry for the long OP, but I figure I’ll just do one long one, rather than start 3 threads.

I recall very little from each movie, and google/imdb have failed me. I think these would only be identifiable by someone who has actually seen them. Keep in mind the timeframes, and that for the first two they could be memories of a 5 to 10 year old. Maybe a bit unreliable.

  • Broadcast on a commercial TV station in Australia, around 1983 to 1987.
  • Colour movie.
  • There was a scene that looked like it was set in a desert landscape with a small group of white buildings.
  • There was a lone man stumbling around the settlement.
  • The thing I remember most was the noise, which was the reason I switched the movie off. As the guy is stumbling around, the ‘music’ playing is a really annoying screeching/buzzing sound. I figure they were trying to impart a feeling of unease in the audience.
  • I would like to see this again for two reasons: I’m actually interested in finding out what was going on. Was it a ‘last man on earth’ type movie, or ??
  • The second reason is I want to see if that ‘music’ is really as annoying as I remember. Surely it couldn’t be as painful to listen to as I remember it.

Broadcast on a commercial TV station in Australia, maybe between 1982 and 1988.

  • Colour movie.
  • Movie starts.
  • There’s a car speeding along a country road. Maybe a blue car.
  • Cut scene to a couple making out in a shack. Him: dark hair, blue jeans, a blue and white check shirt. Her: blue denim shorts, and a red check shirt.
  • Cut scene to the car speeding down the road.
  • Cut scene to couple making out.
  • Cut scene to the car again.
  • Cut scene to the couple, now rather frisky. I’m sure her top was open and boobies out, and then…
  • SNERKY! GET TO BED! NOW!!
  • That isn’t in the movie, that was my mom when she came up behind me and saw what I was watching.
  • So I’ve always wondered what was going on. Was it the lady’s husband in the car? A psycho axe murderer? Did he catch them? What happened next? etc.
  • Broadcast on Australia’s foreign language TV station, between 1997 and 2002.
  • Colour movie.
  • I was channel surfing. I’m pretty certain I saw 3 parts of the same movie, although it does seem like a very disjointed story.
  • I switched on.
  • There was a scene with what looked to be news footage of rebel fighters engaged in a gun fight in a war torn city.
  • I changed the channel.
  • I switched back.
  • There was an office scene, shot documentary style. A stereotypical black tribal chief was sitting at a desk. The way he was dressed made me think of PNG…maybe his head dress and general look just reminded me of documentaries I’ve seen about tribes in PNG.
  • A woman comes into the office. She’s a pale redhead, wearing a large, blue, sleaveless shirt. Maybe a basketball shirt? Anyway, she had nothing on underneath - although she kept the top on, it left nothing to the imagination. She may as well have been naked.
  • She seemed to want to meet the chief and goes and sits on his lap.
  • For some reason I switched the channel.
  • I switched back.
  • There was a guy standing next to a ship. He was dressed in a uniform, singing opera style to the ship. There were no other people in the scene. I figure he was either singing a national anthem, or a love song to the boat. I couldn’t say for sure.
  • If I had to guess, I’d say he was either Russian, Polish, or German…maybe Swiss. Or Scandinavian.
  • That scene was shot in a usual movie style, not like the previous news footage and documentary style.
  • I changed the channel.
  • I switched back.
  • The credits were scrolling. Maybe Polish. Maybe Russian. Maybe anything other than English or an Asian language.

So, I know these are long shots, but are anyone’s bells ringing?

2

(1) Might be The Andromeda Strain, though it’s been, like, 40 years since I saw it.

(2) Very dim memories of White Lightning from 1976 or '77. The thing I remember best about it was seeing Valerie Perrine’s bare boobs.

(3) Black African chief being interviewed in his office reminds me of The Passenger with Jack Nicholson and that chick from Last Tango in Paris.

Proviso: All of the above are WAGs based on films I saw in the '70s.

3

#3 is definitely not THE PASSENGER, but otherwise have nothing else to add.

4

Thanks for the suggestions. I just looked all those up on IMDB and, while I can’t confirm any are right, they all sound like movies I’d like to see anyway. I’m a little surprised I had never heard of White Lightning and The Passenger before. Both seem like movies that should have popped up on my radar at some point. I read The Andromeda Strain a few years ago and meant to try to find the movie, but must have forgot to.

They all go on my list of films to track down and watch over the semester break.

Thank you very much.

ETA: Just saw MovieMogul’s reply while I was previewing.

Thanks for mentioning that. I’ll still have a look at it though - it sounds like an interesting movie.

5

No one sings opera in the The Passenger… and yes by all means check it out. It is an awesome movie.

6

When I read number 1, my first thought was Phase IV.

7

Phase IV is also what I thought of for the first one. The other two don’t sound at all familiar.

8

HAH!

I was going to suggest Phase IV, but figured it was too long a shot to be correct.

I’d suggest checking out the movie anyway.

9

…maybe Pirates of the XXth Century, for the third one? (Probably not, but hey, who knows)