It's the only film he created that has no otherworldly elements. Instead, it's very much a view of America — and Pittsburgh, Romero's adoptive hometown — at the start of the 1970s. While Vietnam and the looming Watergate scandal would erode the nation's trust that the world would remain bright and cheerful and expected, Western Pennsylvania always had certainty in the face of uncertainty — surely the mills and mines of our region would constantly offer work, so even after the military was done with you or college didn't fulfill you, you could always come back home, always find a job that paid more than well. I personally remember tales in grade school of the holiday parties for the kids of mill workers — every boy got a train set, every girl an Easy-Bake oven. My grandfather put forty plus years into the blast furnace; his friends all worked there or in other mills, gathered around the bar drinking Pabst or Iron City, telling tale of dealing with foremen or how much they could make off a double or triple shift.
There's more of this erosion to come in Romero's work as the 1970s go on in Season of the Witch and particularly Martin, which is a grisly reminder of how it only took eight years to make the Steel City look like the end of the world.
Also known as The Affair, Romero would say that this film was a "total mess" and that the budget hampered what could have been a better film. He's also claimed that the writer was lazy and left halfway through the process of making the movie. Much like the aforementioned Witch, it concerns how women's roles are changing in society, from providing emotional and monetary support to finally realizing — again in Witch — that their predestined roles are fading away, perhaps never to return.
Vanilla opens on some art that likens America to a machine, as well as the comments of local citizens as they walk past. The gray, dark skies of Pittsburgh — a marked contrast to the post-industrial age clean skies we enjoy now — is noticeable. We meet Chris Bradley, a soldier who's had a variety of jobs, from pimp to guitar player. He feels like he's lost the ability to think from all the noise of rock and roll music, so he's going back home to Pittsburgh.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2l2xIIU
There's more of this erosion to come in Romero's work as the 1970s go on in Season of the Witch and particularly Martin, which is a grisly reminder of how it only took eight years to make the Steel City look like the end of the world.
Also known as The Affair, Romero would say that this film was a "total mess" and that the budget hampered what could have been a better film. He's also claimed that the writer was lazy and left halfway through the process of making the movie. Much like the aforementioned Witch, it concerns how women's roles are changing in society, from providing emotional and monetary support to finally realizing — again in Witch — that their predestined roles are fading away, perhaps never to return.
Vanilla opens on some art that likens America to a machine, as well as the comments of local citizens as they walk past. The gray, dark skies of Pittsburgh — a marked contrast to the post-industrial age clean skies we enjoy now — is noticeable. We meet Chris Bradley, a soldier who's had a variety of jobs, from pimp to guitar player. He feels like he's lost the ability to think from all the noise of rock and roll music, so he's going back home to Pittsburgh.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2l2xIIU