Commented one skeptical reader on a Facebook post about Ski Films: A Comprehensive Guide, Bryan Senn’s latest book, “Ski films!?! Uhh … I’m not knocking it but I think people are running out of genres to write about??! Just an observation.”
A fair observation, but one that misses the point. The majority of Senn’s bibliography explores the niche of the niche, from voodoo and werewolves to human-hunting and horror/sci-fi double features. Each of those subjects holds tremendous interest for him — more than evident by the passion on each page, even in each review. So naturally, Ski Films finds Senn traversing an equal path of adoration, this one down the slopes!
At a heavy 400-plus pages, the McFarland & Company trade paperback looks at more than 200 titles in depth. The books is neatly sliced into halves: full ski films (for which the sport is “integral”) and semi-ski films (for which it is not). Of course you have your top-of-mind usual skiing suspects, including Downhill Racer, Aspen Extreme, Better Off Dead and, as the action-packed cover colorfully promises, James Bond working On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
But you also get 005 other 007 adventures, a third of Olympic skater Sonia Henie’s filmography and scads more T&A on the menu beyond Hot Dog … the Movie. Plus, you’ll find several beach parties in snowbound settings, natural disasters, slashers, Bigfoot films, Roger Corman cheapies and Hallmark rom-coms. When Abbott and Costello, Greta Garbo, Jackie Chan, Klaus Kinski, Inspector Clouseau, Pope John Paul II and a pig named Scrapple have popped on planks, it’s clear more movies qualify as “ski films” than one assumes.
Even if you have zero interest in skiing (as I do), Ski Films isn’t alienating. Doling out background info and thoughtful, often humorous criticism, Senn first covers each film as if the entry could be published anywhere, then considers the quality of athleticism — or lack thereof — on display. Speaking as someone who will never shove his feet into the sticks, it’s still highly amusing to read major studio productions called out for using improper equipment.
Because movie guides are ultimately about discoveries, Ski Films can be judged on whether you found any on your way to the finish line. My short answer is “many,” capped by the 1972 heist movie Snow Job and the 1974 thriller The Ultimate Thrill, both featuring some of the best skiing in fictional film, per Senn. (The worst? xXx.) If you haven’t seen Adam Green’s Frozen, the terrifically tense thriller about a three friends stuck on a ski lift overnight in subzero temps, Senn makes a case for its greatness I wholeheartedly second. I’m also eager to see a few of the failures, like former Bond Roger Moore in the misguided Fire, Ice and Dynamite.
Although he’s far more forgiving on lodge-set sex comedies than I, Ski Films: A Comprehensive Guide is yet another solid, illustrated and well-researched effort by the ever-reliable author — one of cult film’s best critics. He clearly knows his crud. —Rod Lott