Welcome
to the 185th Edition of my series. I am still working on getting a role
in a community theater show now that my work seems to be allowing it.
So far I am 0-2 where I tried out for both RENT and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
but no luck so far. Tomorrow I am trying out for BIG RIVER which is a
musical about Huck Finn so I keep you all posted there.
Rope (1948): I start out this with the "Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock. This is loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb case. A couple weeks ago, I used another movie based on the case called COMPULSION. It is based on a play by Patrick Hamilton. John Dall and Farley Granger play two college students who concoct the "perfect crime" by strangling a fellow classmate and put the body in a small chest in the apartment. They then proceed to have a party to challenge the perfection of their crime. James Stewart plays Rupert Cadell, a former teacher of the students who inadvertingly teaches them what they know and becomes very suspicious. Almost this whole movie was filmed inside the house where the party was taking place. Hitchcock wanted a theatrical feel for this film which used very little cuts. There was also a lot of indirect references to homosexuality which made the film very controversial and banned in some cities. This was not the most suspenseful since the crime is done in the beginning but still very entertaining to see where we go with it. Each character was written very carefully and each person pulled off their parts.
Oliver and Company (1988): This is my tribute to Dom Deluise who recently left us. The Disney shorts I have shown the past two weeks come from this one. This is the Disney version of OLIVER TWIST where we find Oliver is a cute little kitten, which is done by BLOSSOM alum Joey Lawrence. He is recruited by a dog named Dodger, done actually by singer Billy Joel, who brings him into a group of other animals who survive by leading a life of crime led by Fagin, done by the late Deluise, who is in deep debt to Bill Sykes and his great danes. In one of the crimes, Oliver meets a young, wealthy girl named Jenny who takes in Oliver but Sykes threatens their relationship. This has some pretty good music and funny moments. Good for the family. Other voices include Cheech Marin and Bette Midler plus an opening theme song sung by Huey Lewis.
Friday Night Lights (2004): This is my football movie for the week which is directed by Peter Berg. This takes place in a small town in Texas where high school football is everything. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Coach Gaines who is under a lot of pressure from the town to win. He always wants his team to be "perfect" and has an interesting description about what he means by it. His SLING BLADE co-star Lucas Black stars as the quarterback who is also under a lot of pressure with the team and his troubled mom. Country singer Tim McGraw co-stars as one of the fathers who is an alcoholic and is overbearing on his son and wants him to have the same success that he had in high school. This is actually a true story of a town who needed hope. Derek Luke also stars as the running back that becomes injured. It seems to be a pretty accurate portrayal of Texas high school football and them being the most important part of a town. The tv series KING OF THE HILL shows a lot of serious high school football.
Sheba, Baby (1975): I got this as a free birthday rental at Hollywood video and wanted to take a look at some more Pam Grier from the 70s. This is a Blaxploitation film which has most of the white people as either a villain or a lazy cop who won't do anything. There are always stereotypes towards the blacks but that is to be expected in this movie. I felt Pam Grier diverted from most of the stereotype. She plays the title character who is a private detective in Chicago and must go back to Louisville to help her father whose loan business is being muscled. She uncovers a plot that goes to each level of corporate greed. There is not much else to say. It has a pretty good music score, if you can get past the stereotypes, you might like it. I can usually watch Pam Grier in most things.
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988): Robert Redford went behind the camera on this movie about Northern New Mexico. It is a town that is poor but very proud. Chick Vennera stars as a farmer named Joe who illegally diverts water to his home but gets support from the town who feels wronged by the government. Christopher Walken co-stars as Kyril Montana, who is sent to try to stop the town and starts quite an eruption when everyone unites to keep the big business away. It is a very nice look at a small town that will never be rich but likes where they are. Other actors include Daniel Stern, John Heard, Melanie Griffith, James Gammon, and M. Emmet Walsh.
First Knight (1995): The Facebook friend I selected for this one was Katie who I went to school with from middle school up to high school graduation. Jerry Zucker directed this much different adaption of the Arthurian legend. In this one, Sean Connery is the noble King Arthur who seems to have already gotten Excalibur from the stone and in fact, I do not believe it is even mentioned in the film and is set to marry Guinevere, played by Julia Ormond. Richard Gere is the care-free Lancelot who happens to save Guinevere who slowly becomes one of the knights and has a thing for Guinevere. Their biggest conflict is a knight named Prince Malagant, played by Ben Cross, who left the round table for his own path and has a vendetta against Arthur. There is no Merlin in this one so no wizardry, nor does he have his conniving sister Morgana or his illegitamate son Mordred. Maybe he already conquered both of them. The leads play their parts well making for a decent Arthur film.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Sergio Leone directed this first of the Man With No Name trilogy which is a western remake of Akira Kurasowa's 1961 film YOJIMBO. Kurasowa ended up suing for breach of copyright and states he made more off this than YOJIMBO Clint Eastwood stars in his star-making role as a drifter who roles into a town with two feuding families where he pits them both against each other and getting more money in the process. There is really not much to say here. Ennio Morricone wrote a great music score for this and in researching this, apparently Steve Reeves, known for HERCULES turned down the lead role saying he was making more money in other things. What would have happened if Reeves had accepted the role and where would we be today? Eastwood fans need to check this out and western fans as well. Just about everyone should.
A Sailor-Made Man (1921): This is my silent film for the week which includes "The Third Genius" Harold Lloyd. He wanted to marry a girl, played by his future wife Mildred Davis, but her father told him that he had to get a job first so he goes into the Navy. In the Navy, he finds that he does not fit in all too well but leads to some pretty funny situations. When the girl and her family dock at a Middle Eastern Kingdom and she is kidnapped and he must try to save her. This movie was originally intended to be about 20 minutes but Lloyd added on so much that they did not want to cut it making it around 45 minutes which was considered a "feature" film in those days making his first. Through the years I have tried to give Lloyd some exposure on here and hope if you like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, that you will look into him as well. His thing seems to be the average guy doing everything he possibly can to impress a girl which worked very well.
Carry On Nurse (1959): I had to go to the library and make a more random selection since AMC and TCM were showing non-stop military movies and the last one was based on the Navy so I didn't want anything more that deals with military. I was looking at this and these were two different comedies and it sounded rather interesting. This is a British comedy that takes place at a hospital where a men's ward is wreaking a lot of havoc where they try to get payback on a nurse and even do their own surgery on someone. Shirley Eaton is one of the nurses. This was a satire of a hospital and what it was like in there. There is really not much to say except I laughed quite a big.
Spider Man 3 (2007): This is in tribute to actress Lucy Gordon who recently died. She played reporter Jennifer Rubin towards the end of the film. I might takes some heat for this one but while it was quite flawed, it had its moments for me and I liked it better than TERMINATOR: SALVATION which I had just seen. Sam Raimi took the helm once again as director with Tobey Maguire reprising his role as the web slinger. He has much to fight here. First, Thomas Haden Church plays the Sandman who I felt stood out in the movie which is a tough opponent for Spider Man. James Franco reprises his role as Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn, who is very bitter towards him and follows in his father's footsteps as the New Goblin. THAT 70S SHOW alum Topher Grace co-stars as Eddie Brock, a rival photographer to Peter who later becomes Venom. Not only did he have those three to contend with but he also had to contend with himself when a black entity got to Peter Parker/Spider Man and turned his suit black. The black suit enhanced his abilities and also brought out a very dark side of Peter. I did like the Peter Parker/Eddie Brock rivalry though I felt they dealt with the Venom character way too quickly. I also did not believe the special effects of Spider Man when he was web-slinging around and looked too computerized like in THE HULK. I can always watch Bruce Campbell who makes a cameo as a French waiter. Kirsten Dunst, OZ alum J.K. Simmons, Dylan Baker, Rosemary Harris, Willem Dafoe, Bryce Dallas Howard, and many others co-star. Now we have the Broadway musical of Spider Man to look forward to so if you hate this one, let it be known but please at least make comments on the other nine. I liked the first two better but as I said, this had its moments for me and enough to feature here.
Well, that is it for this week, tell me what you like and what you do not like and stay tuned next week for the 186th Edition. Only on here does Joey Lawrence get to be on the same boat as people such as Hitchcock, James Stewart, Eastwood, Harold Lloyd and so on. And to the filmmakers out there, give me a link and I will view your movie with a possibility of being featured here. Stay tuned next week for Audrey Hepburn and Mark Hamill and no I don't have STAR WARS for next week.
FUN LITTLE TRIVIA
Cedric Hardwicke (Rope) and Sean Connery (First Knight) have both played King Arthur and Allan Quatermain
-Hardwicke plays King Arthur in the 1949 film A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT. Connery plays the role in this week's feature FIRST KNIGHT. FIRST KNIGHT co-star John Gielgud played King Arthur in the 1996 film DRAGONHEART which was uncredited
-Hardwicke plays Allan
Quatermain in the 1937 film KING SOLOMON'S MINES. Connery plays the role
in the 2003 film THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.
Cheech Marin (Oliver and Company) played Joe Dominguez in the 90s tv series NASH BRIDGES. James Gammon (Milagro Beanfield War) played Nick Bridges, the father to the title character.
Bette Midler (Oliver and Company) was Rose in the 1993 tv movie GYPSY. My Facebook friend Joanne played the role in a production at Anderson Mainstage Theatre.
ANGEL FRANCHISE
-Christian Kane (Friday Night Lights) played Lindsey McDonald, an attorney for Wolfram and Hart which was Angel's nemesis much of the show.
-Alexis Denisof (First Knight) played Wesley Wyndam-Price, who fought alongside Angel and his character started out on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER for a brief stint as the new watcher.
JAMES BOND FRANCHISE
-Christopher Walken (The Milagro Beanfield War) plays villain Max Zorin in the 1985 Bond film A VIEW TO A KILL, the last of the Roger Moore era-Sean Connery (First Knight) plays James Bond in the 60s to the early 70s.
-Shirley Eaton (Carry on Nurse) plays "Golden Girl" Jill Masterson in the 1964 Bond film GOLDFINGER which started rumors that she died from the gold paint which could not be further from the truth.
Melanie Griffith (Milagro Beanfield War) plays actress Marion Davies, a ex-girlfriend of William Randolph Hearst and the biggest source for his hatred of CITIZEN KANE on her portrayal in the 1999 film RKO 281. Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man 3) plays the part in the 2001 film THE CAT'S MEOW.
Ben Cross (First Knight) plays Cardinal Richelieu in the 2001 film YOUNG BLADES. My facebook friend John plays the role in a recent Muncie Civic Theater production of THE THREE MUSKETEERS.
Clint Eastwood (Fistful of Dollars) cites James Stewart (Rope) as one of his favorite actors
Rope (1948): I start out this with the "Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock. This is loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb case. A couple weeks ago, I used another movie based on the case called COMPULSION. It is based on a play by Patrick Hamilton. John Dall and Farley Granger play two college students who concoct the "perfect crime" by strangling a fellow classmate and put the body in a small chest in the apartment. They then proceed to have a party to challenge the perfection of their crime. James Stewart plays Rupert Cadell, a former teacher of the students who inadvertingly teaches them what they know and becomes very suspicious. Almost this whole movie was filmed inside the house where the party was taking place. Hitchcock wanted a theatrical feel for this film which used very little cuts. There was also a lot of indirect references to homosexuality which made the film very controversial and banned in some cities. This was not the most suspenseful since the crime is done in the beginning but still very entertaining to see where we go with it. Each character was written very carefully and each person pulled off their parts.
Oliver and Company (1988): This is my tribute to Dom Deluise who recently left us. The Disney shorts I have shown the past two weeks come from this one. This is the Disney version of OLIVER TWIST where we find Oliver is a cute little kitten, which is done by BLOSSOM alum Joey Lawrence. He is recruited by a dog named Dodger, done actually by singer Billy Joel, who brings him into a group of other animals who survive by leading a life of crime led by Fagin, done by the late Deluise, who is in deep debt to Bill Sykes and his great danes. In one of the crimes, Oliver meets a young, wealthy girl named Jenny who takes in Oliver but Sykes threatens their relationship. This has some pretty good music and funny moments. Good for the family. Other voices include Cheech Marin and Bette Midler plus an opening theme song sung by Huey Lewis.
Friday Night Lights (2004): This is my football movie for the week which is directed by Peter Berg. This takes place in a small town in Texas where high school football is everything. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Coach Gaines who is under a lot of pressure from the town to win. He always wants his team to be "perfect" and has an interesting description about what he means by it. His SLING BLADE co-star Lucas Black stars as the quarterback who is also under a lot of pressure with the team and his troubled mom. Country singer Tim McGraw co-stars as one of the fathers who is an alcoholic and is overbearing on his son and wants him to have the same success that he had in high school. This is actually a true story of a town who needed hope. Derek Luke also stars as the running back that becomes injured. It seems to be a pretty accurate portrayal of Texas high school football and them being the most important part of a town. The tv series KING OF THE HILL shows a lot of serious high school football.
Sheba, Baby (1975): I got this as a free birthday rental at Hollywood video and wanted to take a look at some more Pam Grier from the 70s. This is a Blaxploitation film which has most of the white people as either a villain or a lazy cop who won't do anything. There are always stereotypes towards the blacks but that is to be expected in this movie. I felt Pam Grier diverted from most of the stereotype. She plays the title character who is a private detective in Chicago and must go back to Louisville to help her father whose loan business is being muscled. She uncovers a plot that goes to each level of corporate greed. There is not much else to say. It has a pretty good music score, if you can get past the stereotypes, you might like it. I can usually watch Pam Grier in most things.
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988): Robert Redford went behind the camera on this movie about Northern New Mexico. It is a town that is poor but very proud. Chick Vennera stars as a farmer named Joe who illegally diverts water to his home but gets support from the town who feels wronged by the government. Christopher Walken co-stars as Kyril Montana, who is sent to try to stop the town and starts quite an eruption when everyone unites to keep the big business away. It is a very nice look at a small town that will never be rich but likes where they are. Other actors include Daniel Stern, John Heard, Melanie Griffith, James Gammon, and M. Emmet Walsh.
First Knight (1995): The Facebook friend I selected for this one was Katie who I went to school with from middle school up to high school graduation. Jerry Zucker directed this much different adaption of the Arthurian legend. In this one, Sean Connery is the noble King Arthur who seems to have already gotten Excalibur from the stone and in fact, I do not believe it is even mentioned in the film and is set to marry Guinevere, played by Julia Ormond. Richard Gere is the care-free Lancelot who happens to save Guinevere who slowly becomes one of the knights and has a thing for Guinevere. Their biggest conflict is a knight named Prince Malagant, played by Ben Cross, who left the round table for his own path and has a vendetta against Arthur. There is no Merlin in this one so no wizardry, nor does he have his conniving sister Morgana or his illegitamate son Mordred. Maybe he already conquered both of them. The leads play their parts well making for a decent Arthur film.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Sergio Leone directed this first of the Man With No Name trilogy which is a western remake of Akira Kurasowa's 1961 film YOJIMBO. Kurasowa ended up suing for breach of copyright and states he made more off this than YOJIMBO Clint Eastwood stars in his star-making role as a drifter who roles into a town with two feuding families where he pits them both against each other and getting more money in the process. There is really not much to say here. Ennio Morricone wrote a great music score for this and in researching this, apparently Steve Reeves, known for HERCULES turned down the lead role saying he was making more money in other things. What would have happened if Reeves had accepted the role and where would we be today? Eastwood fans need to check this out and western fans as well. Just about everyone should.
A Sailor-Made Man (1921): This is my silent film for the week which includes "The Third Genius" Harold Lloyd. He wanted to marry a girl, played by his future wife Mildred Davis, but her father told him that he had to get a job first so he goes into the Navy. In the Navy, he finds that he does not fit in all too well but leads to some pretty funny situations. When the girl and her family dock at a Middle Eastern Kingdom and she is kidnapped and he must try to save her. This movie was originally intended to be about 20 minutes but Lloyd added on so much that they did not want to cut it making it around 45 minutes which was considered a "feature" film in those days making his first. Through the years I have tried to give Lloyd some exposure on here and hope if you like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, that you will look into him as well. His thing seems to be the average guy doing everything he possibly can to impress a girl which worked very well.
Carry On Nurse (1959): I had to go to the library and make a more random selection since AMC and TCM were showing non-stop military movies and the last one was based on the Navy so I didn't want anything more that deals with military. I was looking at this and these were two different comedies and it sounded rather interesting. This is a British comedy that takes place at a hospital where a men's ward is wreaking a lot of havoc where they try to get payback on a nurse and even do their own surgery on someone. Shirley Eaton is one of the nurses. This was a satire of a hospital and what it was like in there. There is really not much to say except I laughed quite a big.
Spider Man 3 (2007): This is in tribute to actress Lucy Gordon who recently died. She played reporter Jennifer Rubin towards the end of the film. I might takes some heat for this one but while it was quite flawed, it had its moments for me and I liked it better than TERMINATOR: SALVATION which I had just seen. Sam Raimi took the helm once again as director with Tobey Maguire reprising his role as the web slinger. He has much to fight here. First, Thomas Haden Church plays the Sandman who I felt stood out in the movie which is a tough opponent for Spider Man. James Franco reprises his role as Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn, who is very bitter towards him and follows in his father's footsteps as the New Goblin. THAT 70S SHOW alum Topher Grace co-stars as Eddie Brock, a rival photographer to Peter who later becomes Venom. Not only did he have those three to contend with but he also had to contend with himself when a black entity got to Peter Parker/Spider Man and turned his suit black. The black suit enhanced his abilities and also brought out a very dark side of Peter. I did like the Peter Parker/Eddie Brock rivalry though I felt they dealt with the Venom character way too quickly. I also did not believe the special effects of Spider Man when he was web-slinging around and looked too computerized like in THE HULK. I can always watch Bruce Campbell who makes a cameo as a French waiter. Kirsten Dunst, OZ alum J.K. Simmons, Dylan Baker, Rosemary Harris, Willem Dafoe, Bryce Dallas Howard, and many others co-star. Now we have the Broadway musical of Spider Man to look forward to so if you hate this one, let it be known but please at least make comments on the other nine. I liked the first two better but as I said, this had its moments for me and enough to feature here.
Well, that is it for this week, tell me what you like and what you do not like and stay tuned next week for the 186th Edition. Only on here does Joey Lawrence get to be on the same boat as people such as Hitchcock, James Stewart, Eastwood, Harold Lloyd and so on. And to the filmmakers out there, give me a link and I will view your movie with a possibility of being featured here. Stay tuned next week for Audrey Hepburn and Mark Hamill and no I don't have STAR WARS for next week.
FUN LITTLE TRIVIA
Cedric Hardwicke (Rope) and Sean Connery (First Knight) have both played King Arthur and Allan Quatermain
-Hardwicke plays King Arthur in the 1949 film A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT. Connery plays the role in this week's feature FIRST KNIGHT. FIRST KNIGHT co-star John Gielgud played King Arthur in the 1996 film DRAGONHEART which was uncredited
Cheech Marin (Oliver and Company) played Joe Dominguez in the 90s tv series NASH BRIDGES. James Gammon (Milagro Beanfield War) played Nick Bridges, the father to the title character.
Bette Midler (Oliver and Company) was Rose in the 1993 tv movie GYPSY. My Facebook friend Joanne played the role in a production at Anderson Mainstage Theatre.
ANGEL FRANCHISE
-Christian Kane (Friday Night Lights) played Lindsey McDonald, an attorney for Wolfram and Hart which was Angel's nemesis much of the show.
-Alexis Denisof (First Knight) played Wesley Wyndam-Price, who fought alongside Angel and his character started out on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER for a brief stint as the new watcher.
JAMES BOND FRANCHISE
-Christopher Walken (The Milagro Beanfield War) plays villain Max Zorin in the 1985 Bond film A VIEW TO A KILL, the last of the Roger Moore era-Sean Connery (First Knight) plays James Bond in the 60s to the early 70s.
-Shirley Eaton (Carry on Nurse) plays "Golden Girl" Jill Masterson in the 1964 Bond film GOLDFINGER which started rumors that she died from the gold paint which could not be further from the truth.
Melanie Griffith (Milagro Beanfield War) plays actress Marion Davies, a ex-girlfriend of William Randolph Hearst and the biggest source for his hatred of CITIZEN KANE on her portrayal in the 1999 film RKO 281. Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man 3) plays the part in the 2001 film THE CAT'S MEOW.
Ben Cross (First Knight) plays Cardinal Richelieu in the 2001 film YOUNG BLADES. My facebook friend John plays the role in a recent Muncie Civic Theater production of THE THREE MUSKETEERS.
Clint Eastwood (Fistful of Dollars) cites James Stewart (Rope) as one of his favorite actors
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