Flick Pick

Seconds, which screens at the Boulder Public Library today, holds a bizarre place in rock history. According to legend, the 1966 flick helped trigger the mental collapse of Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, who was reportedly so traumatized by it that he didn’t see another movie in a theater until 1982’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Unless contemporary viewers gobble LSD like Cheetos, they’ll probably avoid a similar fate. Still, there’s no doubt that the John Frankenheimer-directed film is among the most twisted Hollywood products of its era.

The plot revolves around a company that uses plastic surgery and faked deaths to help clients sick of their current lives to become someone entirely different — like, for instance, a swinging artist named (naturally) Wilson, played by an unexpectedly edgy Rock Hudson. The plot’s nightmarish twists find their visual corollary in trippy cinematography by veteran lensman James Wong Howe and amusingly excessive Method acting of the sort on view in an epic party scene filmed when Hudson was drunk, at Frankenheimer’s request. No wonder Brian freaked out.

The BPL is at 1000 Canyon Boulevard. The lights dim at 7 p.m. and admission is free; no tickets are required to attend. Learn more at 303-441-3100 or www.boulder.lib.co.us.
Thu., Feb. 19, 7 p.m., 2009