Topical Paradise

The Lawn Chair Drive-In series is old enough to drink.

by Shaun Brady

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

"Fourteen years into our marriage, I still consider every time I go out on the town with my wife to be a date," says Todd Kimmell, founder and curator of the Lawn Chair Drive-In series. "So while there are all sorts of reasons why a film makes the list or not, the bottom line has always been, 'Is this a film that's worth spending a beautiful summer evening projecting onto a screen in the park with my wife — and a couple hundred friends?'" Kimmell has been hosting the series for 21 years now, and given the eclectic mix of titles that comprise the program each year, there's no reason to believe his wife will be disappointed on date night anytime soon.

But the film that kicks off this year's series this Tuesday is itself a schizophrenic melding of genres all on its own. Brian De Palma's utterly insane horror/melodrama/rock opera Phantom of the Paradise (pictured) combines elements from Faust and Phantom of the Opera into a hyperactive frenzy equal parts Rocky Horror and Sgt. Pepper — the misguided Bee Gees movie, not the high-concept Beatles record.

While its maddening treats include William Finley's shrieking performance as songwriter-turned-Phantom Winslow Leach, Jessica Harper's spastic dancing and De Palma's frenetic split-screening, the film's trump card is the involvement of the great and small Paul Williams.

The diminutive songwriter and actor plays Swan, a record producer with the star-making prowess and towering ego of Phil Spector. Even better is Williams' contribution to the soundtrack. He's one of the '70s' quintessential pop songwriters, but his knack for writing solid tunes within the context of varied eras and styles made him vital to the sound of the Muppets. For Phantom, he writes Leach's sensitive, Carpenters-like ballads, '50s-throwback tunes for the Sha Na Na-esque Juicy Fruits and glam metal screamers for Gerrit Graham's fey Frankenstein rocker Beef.

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Lawn Chair Drive-In 2008 | Tuesdays, June 17-Aug. 19, dusk, free, Liberty Lands Park, Third and Poplar streets, lawnchairdrivein.com.