It’s been about a quarter of a century, give or take, since I first discovered the peaks and valleys of late night television. In those pre-cable days—cruelly, we got wired just as I left for college—that meant a lot of Monty Python, Larry David and Michael Richards’ pre-Seinfeld sketch show Fridays, and a handful of garish music video shows. It was a scattershot affair that often left you wondering why you stayed up at all.
The reason, mostly—crucially—was Johnny Carson. The legend’s show was so solidly built that one was always assured of finding something worth watching (something that can’t be said, sadly, for the lowest common denominator humor of the Leno-era version). And on those nights when Johnny wasn’t behind the desk, he still knew what he needed to keep the show on track: a brassy New York accent in the form of Joan Rivers.
Rivers had already had quite a career by the time Carson anointed her his permanent guest host, including stints in Vegas and onstage in Seawood, a play in which she played a lesbian lover of the then-unknown Barbara Streisand. Now in her 70s, the comedienne has rarely slowed down, appearing in everything from pre-award show shows to QVC jewelry sales.
Her whirlwind career and her determination to carry on are at the heart of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, whose title pokes fun at its subject’s fondness for plastic surgery. The film’s directors, Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, follows Rivers as she tries to pump new life into a dimming career, touching on the details of her everyday life—the endless search for the next paying gig, her relationship with her grandson—and the private tragedies, such as her husband’s suicide following the cancellation of Rivers’ own late night show (he was also her producer), that fueled her drive to work. It opens on Friday at Amherst Cinema.
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Also this week: The Northfield Drive-In is open for business, proving again that the summer movie experience isn’t always about the air conditioning. Straddling the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border in Hinsdale, the 60-year-old theater is one of fewer than 20 drive-ins remaining in the New England area, but has already been preserved on film—it was used for several scenes in the Oscar-winning The Cider House Rules.
The theater is dedicated to providing “an affordable, family-friendly, entertaining night out,” and this week presents screenings of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Toy Story 3 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Eclipse shows first, at 8:50 p.m., and remember: they don’t take credit cards.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
