James Sanders with Matt Ducharme (of Woods Bagot) at the Rizzoli book launch in New York of Renewing The Dream: The Mobility Revolution And The Future Of Los Angeles Photo: Anne Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with architect, author, filmmaker James Sanders (co-writer with Ric Burns on the PBS series New York: A Documentary Film), we discuss the Billy Wilder connection to producer Jeremy Thomas and Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder And Me; Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch and The Apartment (co-written with I.A.L. Diamond and starring Jack Lemmon); Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Mariel Hemingway, and apartment sounds; Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and the stoop; the office building and Jean Negulesco’s The Best of Everything; Daniel Mann’s Butterfield 8 and and the canopy; Blake Edwards’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and how certain stories can...
In the second instalment with architect, author, filmmaker James Sanders (co-writer with Ric Burns on the PBS series New York: A Documentary Film), we discuss the Billy Wilder connection to producer Jeremy Thomas and Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder And Me; Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch and The Apartment (co-written with I.A.L. Diamond and starring Jack Lemmon); Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Mariel Hemingway, and apartment sounds; Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and the stoop; the office building and Jean Negulesco’s The Best of Everything; Daniel Mann’s Butterfield 8 and and the canopy; Blake Edwards’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and how certain stories can...
- 12/29/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
If Frank Sinatra had his way, Angela Lansbury would never have given her finest film performance. For the role of Eleanor Iselin, a dead-hearted Communist agent plotting a series of assassinations that will result in the ascension of her alcoholic, McCarthyite husband to the White House, the Chairman of the Board favored Lucille Ball. In conversation with Alec Baldwin at the 2016 TCM Film Festival's screening of "The Manchurian Candidate," the actor confessed a bit of curiosity for this alternate bit of casting. "I mean, that could've been fascinating. You wouldn't have believed that she could be this devil incarnate."
For 1962 audiences, when "The Manchurian Candidate" was initially released, it would've been staggering to see the beloved First Lady of comedy play a cunning matriarch who has the barely suppressed hots for her brainwashed, trained-killer son Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey). But, trust me, when the film was re-released in 1988, it was...
For 1962 audiences, when "The Manchurian Candidate" was initially released, it would've been staggering to see the beloved First Lady of comedy play a cunning matriarch who has the barely suppressed hots for her brainwashed, trained-killer son Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey). But, trust me, when the film was re-released in 1988, it was...
- 10/12/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
A relatively streamlined DVD release, it has the original theatrical trailer, an an interview with Sinatra, George Axelrod, and John Frankenheimer, and Frankenheimer's director's commentary. There's eleven languages in the subtitles, as well as additional hard of hearing captions. There are also three additional soundtrack options.
That commentary is enlightening. It starts with an early exhortation: "the important thing to remember about this movie is it was turned down by every studio in Hollywood". There's excellent insight into the mechanisms of film-making, great discussion of lenses, focus, rehearsal. All this becomes even more compelling given the impact of one particular scene and its blurring. It's possibly one of the happiest accidents in cinema, at least excluding any involving Jackass or Jackie Chan.
Frankenheimer is able to explain where scenes originated, particularly entertaining when partnered with the origin of one of Iselin's numbers. He's particularly interesting talking about Sinatra as an actor.
That commentary is enlightening. It starts with an early exhortation: "the important thing to remember about this movie is it was turned down by every studio in Hollywood". There's excellent insight into the mechanisms of film-making, great discussion of lenses, focus, rehearsal. All this becomes even more compelling given the impact of one particular scene and its blurring. It's possibly one of the happiest accidents in cinema, at least excluding any involving Jackass or Jackie Chan.
Frankenheimer is able to explain where scenes originated, particularly entertaining when partnered with the origin of one of Iselin's numbers. He's particularly interesting talking about Sinatra as an actor.
- 3/5/2022
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It’s been said that American women of the 1950s admired Marilyn Monroe, but they wanted to be Audrey Hepburn, who projected an entirely different appeal. Hepburn had talent, grace, a dazzling smile and the strength to overcome any obstacle. Paramount now rounds up their Audrey Hepburn holdings to release this seven-picture ode to the great actress, the sentimental favorite. Several are near-perfect entertainments, great films everybody should see. All are handsomely remastered in HD, in their proper aspect ratios. I’d consider this definite holiday gift-giving material.
Audrey Hepburn 7 – Movie Collection
Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles, My Fair Lady
Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment
1952-1964 / Color + B&w / Street Date October 5, 2021
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Mel Ferrer, Fred Astaire, George Peppard, William Holden, Rex Harrison.
Directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards,...
Audrey Hepburn 7 – Movie Collection
Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles, My Fair Lady
Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment
1952-1964 / Color + B&w / Street Date October 5, 2021
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Mel Ferrer, Fred Astaire, George Peppard, William Holden, Rex Harrison.
Directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards,...
- 10/19/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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By Fred Blosser
In George Axelrod’s “Lord Love a Duck” (1966), Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld play high school seniors in Los Angeles. McDowall was 38 at the time, Weld 23. Such casting, where actors in their twenties or older play teenagers, is typical for Hollywood, then and now. In “Lord Love a Duck,” which Axelrod produced, co-wrote, and directed from a novel by Al Hine, neither McDowall nor Weld exactly looks like an 18-year-old, nor do the actresses who play their classmates. They include Jo Collins, 21, then a recent Playmate of the Year. But here the disconnect doesn’t really detract from the film. It simply underscores its overall cartoonish surrealism. McDowall plays Alan, the genius-level valedictorian of his class, who fixates on his classmate, pretty but vacuous Barbara Ann (Weld). “Her deepest and most heartfelt yearnings express with a kind of touching...
By Fred Blosser
In George Axelrod’s “Lord Love a Duck” (1966), Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld play high school seniors in Los Angeles. McDowall was 38 at the time, Weld 23. Such casting, where actors in their twenties or older play teenagers, is typical for Hollywood, then and now. In “Lord Love a Duck,” which Axelrod produced, co-wrote, and directed from a novel by Al Hine, neither McDowall nor Weld exactly looks like an 18-year-old, nor do the actresses who play their classmates. They include Jo Collins, 21, then a recent Playmate of the Year. But here the disconnect doesn’t really detract from the film. It simply underscores its overall cartoonish surrealism. McDowall plays Alan, the genius-level valedictorian of his class, who fixates on his classmate, pretty but vacuous Barbara Ann (Weld). “Her deepest and most heartfelt yearnings express with a kind of touching...
- 12/4/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
On Nov. 8, Norman Lloyd will celebrate his 106th birthday, which is just one more accomplishment for a man whose nearly-100-year career is filled with amazing milestones. Lloyd worked as an actor, director and/or producer in theater, the early days of radio, film and TV. He wasn’t a household name, but he has always been well known and respected within the industry — not only for his work, but for the people he worked with. That list includes Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Elia Kazan, Jean Renoir, Robin Williams, Martin Scorsese, Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz, Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer.
As his contemporary Karl Malden summed up in 2007, “He is the history of our industry.”
Lloyd was born Norman Perlmutter Nov. 8, 1914, in Jersey City, N.J. He took singing and dancing lessons and was a paid professional by the age of 9. He performed with...
As his contemporary Karl Malden summed up in 2007, “He is the history of our industry.”
Lloyd was born Norman Perlmutter Nov. 8, 1914, in Jersey City, N.J. He took singing and dancing lessons and was a paid professional by the age of 9. He performed with...
- 11/8/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
This mid-‘sixties black comedy from the mischievous George Axelrod defines and dissects ‘crazy California culture’ just as West Coasters were being slandered as godless weird-oh hedonists. It’s partly a sarcastic put-down, citing anecdotal extremes like drive-in churches (how 2020 can you get?), perverse youth encounter groups and mindless beach party movies. But Axelrod’s paints indelible images of maladjusted women of three age groups: Tuesday Weld, Lola Albright and Ruth Gordon. Where Roddy McDowall fits in is anybody’s guess — he’s meant to glue the satire together and instead turns it into a big Question Mark.
Lord Love a Duck
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1966 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date September 22, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld, Lola Albright, Martin West, Ruth Gordon, Harvey Korman, Sarah Marshall, Lynn Carey, Donald Murphy, Max Showalter, Joseph Mell, Dan Frazer, Martine Bartlett, Jo Collins, Judith Loomis, Gay Gordon,...
Lord Love a Duck
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1966 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date September 22, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld, Lola Albright, Martin West, Ruth Gordon, Harvey Korman, Sarah Marshall, Lynn Carey, Donald Murphy, Max Showalter, Joseph Mell, Dan Frazer, Martine Bartlett, Jo Collins, Judith Loomis, Gay Gordon,...
- 9/22/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Martin West, who starred in Lord Love a Duck and other 1960s teen comedies before appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot and John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, died on New Year's Eve, his family announced. He was 82.
West also is known to veteran General Hospital fans for playing Dr. Phil Brewer on the ABC soap from 1966 to 1975. He was the fourth and last actor to play the role that originated with the daytime serial's debut in 1963.
In United Artists' wacky Lord Love a Duck (1966), directed by George Axelrod, West portrayed the love ...
West also is known to veteran General Hospital fans for playing Dr. Phil Brewer on the ABC soap from 1966 to 1975. He was the fourth and last actor to play the role that originated with the daytime serial's debut in 1963.
In United Artists' wacky Lord Love a Duck (1966), directed by George Axelrod, West portrayed the love ...
Martin West, who starred in Lord Love a Duck and other 1960s teen comedies before appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot and John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, died on New Year's Eve, his family announced. He was 82.
West also is known to veteran General Hospital fans for playing Dr. Phil Brewer on the ABC soap from 1966 to 1975. He was the fourth and last actor to play the role that originated with the daytime serial's debut in 1963.
In United Artists' wacky Lord Love a Duck (1966), directed by George Axelrod, West portrayed the love ...
West also is known to veteran General Hospital fans for playing Dr. Phil Brewer on the ABC soap from 1966 to 1975. He was the fourth and last actor to play the role that originated with the daytime serial's debut in 1963.
In United Artists' wacky Lord Love a Duck (1966), directed by George Axelrod, West portrayed the love ...
Blake Edwards. Courtesy of Paramount.“[Blake] Edwards has become a stylistic influence in the cinema,” Andrew Sarris would write of the filmmaker in 1968, “And his personality and script dominate Ralph Nelson’s Soldier in the Rain the way Lubitsch’s personality once dominated Cukor’s One Hour With You.” Sarris would dub himself an “Edwardian”in his support of the film director and the inclusion of Edwards in his foundational book, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968, still remains the most serious scholarship on him. Edwards’ distinction in the book included him in “The Far Side of Paradise,” the category that “falls short of Pantheon,” the highest distinction. Edwards would be categorized alongside the likes of Capra, Cukor, Minnelli, Preminger, and Fuller—strong company, but characterized as such for Sarris because there is fragmentation or disruption within their careers. This high distinction by Sarris would have the great film critic come...
- 10/18/2019
- MUBI
With his exaggerated visuals, eye-popping color and frantic characterizations, Frank Tashlin has been promoted to a genuine ‘fifties icon. This freewheeling comedy hits on the Top Tashlin fetish subjects: Hollywood glitz, Madison Avenue neurosis, dynamic women, wimpy men and… and… bosoms, dammit. As the bubbly yet calculating sex symbol Rita Marlowe, Jayne Mansfield places career issues way ahead of anything to do with sex. Tony Randall receives his first leading film role as a Mad Man who’ll jump through hoops to keep an account. But the surprise is Betsy Drake, who more than anyone represents the conflicts facing the pre-feminist ’50s woman: she defines success her own way.
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date Feb 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Mickey Hargitay.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Film...
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date Feb 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Mickey Hargitay.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Film...
- 3/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Every Friday, we’re recommending an older movie that’s available to stream or download and worth seeing again through the lens of our current moment. We’re calling the series “Revisiting Hours” — consider this Rolling Stone’s unofficial film club. This week: Scott Tobias on Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
It never sounded like a good idea to remake The Manchurian Candidate. Majors studios are always looking to plunder the vaults, eager to turn yesterday’s properties into tomorrow’s surefire hits, but John Frankenheimer’s...
It never sounded like a good idea to remake The Manchurian Candidate. Majors studios are always looking to plunder the vaults, eager to turn yesterday’s properties into tomorrow’s surefire hits, but John Frankenheimer’s...
- 9/28/2018
- by Scott Tobias
- Rollingstone.com
Neil Simon, the creator of such Pulitzer and Tony award-winning plays as The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park and Lost in Yonkers, has died at 91. He died last night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City from complications from pneumonia.
Simon was a giant of popular content creation, the playwright behind works that were performed worldwide by high schools, local theater groups and Broadway, where he was dominant in the last half of the 20th century. Simon’s unparalleled career in the theater included more than thirty plays and musicals that opened on Broadway over a span of four decades.
He made his playwriting debut in 1961, with Come Blow Your Horn and concluded his Broadway run with 45 Seconds From Broadway in 2001.
“No playwright in Broadway’s long and raucous history has so dominated the boulevard as the softly astringent Simon,” wrote John Lahr in The New Yorker in 2010. “For almost half a century,...
Simon was a giant of popular content creation, the playwright behind works that were performed worldwide by high schools, local theater groups and Broadway, where he was dominant in the last half of the 20th century. Simon’s unparalleled career in the theater included more than thirty plays and musicals that opened on Broadway over a span of four decades.
He made his playwriting debut in 1961, with Come Blow Your Horn and concluded his Broadway run with 45 Seconds From Broadway in 2001.
“No playwright in Broadway’s long and raucous history has so dominated the boulevard as the softly astringent Simon,” wrote John Lahr in The New Yorker in 2010. “For almost half a century,...
- 8/26/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Fritz Lang and Nunnally Johnson take a deep dive into Psych 101 and come up with a winner: a milquetoast-meets-murderous-femme tale that pays off marvelously, even with its trick ending. Entranced more by his own gentle dreams than the allure of Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson imagines a perfect dalliance, and follows it up with a self-imposed punishment.
The Woman in the Window
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 107 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Dan Duryea.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editors: Gene Fowler Jr., Marjorie Fowler
Original Music: Arthur Lange
Written by Nunnally Johnson from a novel by J.H. Wallis
Produced by Nunnally Johnson
Directed by Fritz Lang
Considered a top noir and one of Fritz Lang’s very best American films, The Woman in the Window is a dreamlike meditation on crime and guilt, distilled to...
The Woman in the Window
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 107 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Dan Duryea.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editors: Gene Fowler Jr., Marjorie Fowler
Original Music: Arthur Lange
Written by Nunnally Johnson from a novel by J.H. Wallis
Produced by Nunnally Johnson
Directed by Fritz Lang
Considered a top noir and one of Fritz Lang’s very best American films, The Woman in the Window is a dreamlike meditation on crime and guilt, distilled to...
- 6/16/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It was a serious sucker punch to all film fans when we lost Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds within a day of each other. There have been many tributes to Carrie Fisher and rightfully so. I have not seen that many for Debbie Reynolds so I would like to pay her tribute by reviewing one of her lost gems of a movie, Goodbye Charlie from 1964, based on a play by George Axelrod and directed by Vincent Minnelli.
I can recall seeing this on a network movie night in the late 60s or early 70s, I remember liking it but seeing it again after this many years I was astonished at how funny it really is, and how touching.
The setup is simple, Charlie Sorrell is a writer, sometime screen writer and notorious womanizer. At a Hollywood party on a yacht he is shot by a jealous husband (Walter Matthau in...
I can recall seeing this on a network movie night in the late 60s or early 70s, I remember liking it but seeing it again after this many years I was astonished at how funny it really is, and how touching.
The setup is simple, Charlie Sorrell is a writer, sometime screen writer and notorious womanizer. At a Hollywood party on a yacht he is shot by a jealous husband (Walter Matthau in...
- 6/15/2017
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Blake Edwards: Director of the 'Pink Panther' movies – and Julie Andrews' husband for more than four decades – was at his best handling polished comedies and a couple of dead serious dramas. Blake Edwards movies: Best known for slapstick fare, but at his best handling polished comedies and dramas The Pink Panther and its sequels[1] are the movies most closely associated with screenwriter-director-producer Blake Edwards, whose film and television career spanned more than half a century.[2] But unless you're a fan of Keystone Kops-style slapstick, they're the filmmaker's least interesting efforts. In fact, Edwards (born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 26, 1922) was at his best (co-)writing and/or directing polished comedies (e.g., Operation Petticoat, Victor Victoria) and, less frequently, dramas (Days of Wine and Roses, the romantic comedy-drama Breakfast at Tiffany's). The article below and follow-up posts offer a brief look at some of Blake Edwards' non-Pink Panther comedies,...
- 5/29/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
A military coup in the U.S.? General Burt Lancaster’s scheme would be flawless if not for true blue Marine Kirk Douglas, who snitches to the White House. Now Burt’s whole expensive clandestine army might go to waste – Sad! John Frankenheimer and Rod Serling are behind this nifty paranoid conspiracy thriller.
Seven Days in May
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date May 8, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Martin Balsam, Andrew Duggan, John Houseman, Hugh Marlowe, Whit Bissell, George Macready, Richard Anderson, Malcolm Atterbury, William Challee, Colette Jackson, John Larkin, Kent McCord, Tyler McVey, Jack Mullaney, Fredd Wayne, Ferris Webster.
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Rod Serling from the book by Fletcher Knebel, Charles W. Bailey II
Produced by Edward Lewis
Directed by John Frankenheimer...
Seven Days in May
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date May 8, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Martin Balsam, Andrew Duggan, John Houseman, Hugh Marlowe, Whit Bissell, George Macready, Richard Anderson, Malcolm Atterbury, William Challee, Colette Jackson, John Larkin, Kent McCord, Tyler McVey, Jack Mullaney, Fredd Wayne, Ferris Webster.
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Rod Serling from the book by Fletcher Knebel, Charles W. Bailey II
Produced by Edward Lewis
Directed by John Frankenheimer...
- 5/5/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It's the classic paranoid conspiracy that won't go away... and that seems less impossible with every passing year. Laurence Harvey is a remote-controlled assassin, and Frank Sinatra seems to be under a little hypnotic influence himself... or are we just imagining it? John Frankenheimer and George Axelrod concoct a masterpiece from the novel by Richard Condon, a movie about conspiracies, that may be hiding more secrets in plain sight. The Manchurian Candidate Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 803 1962 / B&W / 1:75 widescreen / 126 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 15, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish, John McGiver, Khigh Dhiegh Cinematography Lionel Lindon Production Designer Richard Sylbert Film Editor Ferris Webster Original Music David Amram Written by George Axelrod from the novel by Richard Condon Produced by George Axelrod, John Frankenheimer, Howard W. Koch Directed by John Frankenheimer
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
- 3/22/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Director John Frankenheimer.
I'm often asked which, out of the over 600 interviews I've logged with Hollywood's finest, is my favorite. It's not a tough answer: John Frankenheimer.
We instantly clicked the day we met at his home in Benedict Canyon, and spent most of the afternoon talking in his den. A friendship of sorts developed over the years, with visits to his office for screenings of the old Kinescopes he directed for shows like "Playhouse 90" during his salad days in live television during the 1950s.
We hadn't spoken for nearly a year in mid-2002 when the phone rang. It was John, who spoke in what can only be described as a "stentorian bark," like a general. "Alex!" he exclaimed. "John Frankenheimer." He could sense something was amiss with me. It was. My screenwriting career had stalled. My marriage was progressing to divorce. I had hit bottom. John knew that...
I'm often asked which, out of the over 600 interviews I've logged with Hollywood's finest, is my favorite. It's not a tough answer: John Frankenheimer.
We instantly clicked the day we met at his home in Benedict Canyon, and spent most of the afternoon talking in his den. A friendship of sorts developed over the years, with visits to his office for screenings of the old Kinescopes he directed for shows like "Playhouse 90" during his salad days in live television during the 1950s.
We hadn't spoken for nearly a year in mid-2002 when the phone rang. It was John, who spoke in what can only be described as a "stentorian bark," like a general. "Alex!" he exclaimed. "John Frankenheimer." He could sense something was amiss with me. It was. My screenwriting career had stalled. My marriage was progressing to divorce. I had hit bottom. John knew that...
- 7/6/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson on the Oscars' Red Carpet Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson at the Academy Awards Eli Wallach and wife Anne Jackson are seen above arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The 95-year-old Wallach had received an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2010. See also: "Doris Day Inexplicably Snubbed by Academy," "Maureen O'Hara Honorary Oscar," "Honorary Oscars: Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo Among Rare Women Recipients," and "Hayao Miyazaki Getting Honorary Oscar." Delayed film debut The Actors Studio-trained Eli Wallach was to have made his film debut in Fred Zinnemann's Academy Award-winning 1953 blockbuster From Here to Eternity. Ultimately, however, Frank Sinatra – then a has-been following a string of box office duds – was cast for a pittance, getting beaten to a pulp by a pre-stardom Ernest Borgnine. For his bloodied efforts, Sinatra went on...
- 4/24/2015
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will open the 2014 edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival with the world premiere of a brand new restoration of the beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! (1955). TCM’s own Robert Osborne, who serves as official host for the festival, will introduce Oklahoma!, with the film’s star, Academy Award®-winner Shirley Jones, in attendance. Vanity Fair will also return for the fifth year as a festival partner and co-presenter of the opening night after-party. Marking its fifth year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will take place April 10-13, 2014, in Hollywood. The gathering will coincide withTCM’s 20th anniversary as a leading authority in classic film.
In addition, the festival has added several high-profile guests to this year’s lineup, including Oscar®-winning director William Friedkin, who will attend for the screening of the U.S. premiere restoration of his suspenseful cult classic Sorcerer (1977); Kim Novak, who...
In addition, the festival has added several high-profile guests to this year’s lineup, including Oscar®-winning director William Friedkin, who will attend for the screening of the U.S. premiere restoration of his suspenseful cult classic Sorcerer (1977); Kim Novak, who...
- 2/14/2014
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It’s a bit disheartening looking at the cast of Breakfast At Tiffany’S and realizing that of its main stars, only Mickey Rooney is still alive. Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, John McGiver, Alan Reed Jr., Stanley Adams, and Dorothy Whitney are all gone, as well as director Blake Edwards, screenwriter George Axelrod, and no doubt the cats who played “Cat”.
Based on the novel by Truman Capote (also deceased), Breakfast At Tiffany’S tells the story of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) a well-scrubbed bohemian girl who lives how she wants to live – she has all-night parties, the world’s longest cigarette holder, and owns a cat with no name. She meets her new neighbor Paul(George Peppard) in the apartment building she lives in and the two become friends and later in the film find themselves falling in love.
Though I’ve never seen it,...
Based on the novel by Truman Capote (also deceased), Breakfast At Tiffany’S tells the story of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) a well-scrubbed bohemian girl who lives how she wants to live – she has all-night parties, the world’s longest cigarette holder, and owns a cat with no name. She meets her new neighbor Paul(George Peppard) in the apartment building she lives in and the two become friends and later in the film find themselves falling in love.
Though I’ve never seen it,...
- 9/17/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Billy Wilder movies, Johnny Carson interviews tonight on TCM Billy Wilder is Turner Classic Movies’ Director of the Evening tonight, July 8, 2013. But before Wilder Evening begins, TCM will be presenting a series of brief interviews from The Tonight Show, back in the old Johnny Carson days — or rather, nights. The Carson interviewees this evening are Doris Day, Charlton Heston, Tony Curtis, Chevy Chase, and Steve Martin. (See also: Doris Day today.) (Photo: Billy Wilder.) As for Billy Wilder, TCM will be showing the following: Some Like It Hot (1959), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Spirit of St. Louis (1958), and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Of course, all of those have been shown before and are widely available. Some Like It Hot vs. The Major and the Minor: Subversive and subversiver Some Like It Hot is perhaps Billy Wilder’s best-known film. This broad comedy featuring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis...
- 7/8/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The National Film Registry has added 25 more films that will be preserved in the Library of Congress. To be included in the registry the film needs to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” They have to be at least ten years old and are chosen from a list of films nominated by the public.
There's some great films that have been added this year. We've got the original 3:10 to Yuma, The Matrix, A Christmas Story, A League of Their Own, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several more.
Check out the full list of films that were added this year below, and you can head over to the Registry website to nominate films that you think should be added in 2013!
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, “3:10 to Yuma” has gained in stature since its original release as...
There's some great films that have been added this year. We've got the original 3:10 to Yuma, The Matrix, A Christmas Story, A League of Their Own, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several more.
Check out the full list of films that were added this year below, and you can head over to the Registry website to nominate films that you think should be added in 2013!
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, “3:10 to Yuma” has gained in stature since its original release as...
- 12/20/2012
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Whether you measure your movies by box office, reviews, or popular appeal, Sony’s $125 million remake of the 1990 Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger interplanetary action fest Total Recall looks like a strike-out. The movie opened with a lethal softness; a $25.7 million first weekend meaning Recall won’t even come close to making back its budget during its domestic theatrical run. In fact, despite 22 years of ticket price increases, it’s doubtful the movie will even match the original’s $119.3 million haul.
And for those of you who think maybe the problem is Total Recall was outgunned opening while The Dark Knight Rises was still sucking up box office coin, entertain, at least for a moment if you will, the possibility the movie just plain sucks. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ canvas, almost 70% of reviewers – and over three-quarters of “top critics” – gave Total Recall a thumbs-down. Those who went to see the movie didn’t...
And for those of you who think maybe the problem is Total Recall was outgunned opening while The Dark Knight Rises was still sucking up box office coin, entertain, at least for a moment if you will, the possibility the movie just plain sucks. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ canvas, almost 70% of reviewers – and over three-quarters of “top critics” – gave Total Recall a thumbs-down. Those who went to see the movie didn’t...
- 8/15/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Los Angeles — There is the well-honed Marilyn Monroe screen persona – the breathy, girlish voice, the glamorous curves and the flirty sex appeal – and then there are the films that allowed her to stretch, or at least allowed her to try. A devout Method actress, Monroe took her craft seriously, dug deep in search of motivation and worked harder than her effortless screen presence would suggest. For a while, that is, until her demons took over.
On the 50th anniversary of her death, here's a look at five of her most memorable film performances, the ones that stand out over her prolific but sadly short career:
_ "Some Like It Hot" (1959): This was the first title that came to mind when I began pondering this list. Maybe because it's the best film she was ever in – the Billy Wilder classic is listed as the greatest comedy ever by the American Film Institute – but also,...
On the 50th anniversary of her death, here's a look at five of her most memorable film performances, the ones that stand out over her prolific but sadly short career:
_ "Some Like It Hot" (1959): This was the first title that came to mind when I began pondering this list. Maybe because it's the best film she was ever in – the Billy Wilder classic is listed as the greatest comedy ever by the American Film Institute – but also,...
- 8/3/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
We've updated our Film4 Fright Fest line-up story with tons of images. Read on to see what you may have missed and what's brand spanking new! Dig it!
Programme - Screen 1
Thursday Aug 23
Opening Film - The Seasoning House (World Premiere)
Special make-up prosthetics and splatter genius Paul Hyett makes his directorial debut with a harrowing exploration into tense claustrophobia, hard-hitting action and rollercoaster suspense. In a Balkan brothel, where girls kidnapped by soldiers in war-torn zones are prostituted to the military and civilians alike, Angel (Robin Day) is the deaf mute orphan enslaved to care for the inmates. But unbeknownst to her captors, she moves between the walls and crawlspaces of the seasoning house planning her escape. Psychological horror in the nerve-shredding Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski style but with an ultra-modern twist.
89 mins Director: Paul Hyett UK 2012
Rosie Day – Angel
Sean Pertwee – Goran
Kevin Howarth – Viktor
David Lemberg...
Programme - Screen 1
Thursday Aug 23
Opening Film - The Seasoning House (World Premiere)
Special make-up prosthetics and splatter genius Paul Hyett makes his directorial debut with a harrowing exploration into tense claustrophobia, hard-hitting action and rollercoaster suspense. In a Balkan brothel, where girls kidnapped by soldiers in war-torn zones are prostituted to the military and civilians alike, Angel (Robin Day) is the deaf mute orphan enslaved to care for the inmates. But unbeknownst to her captors, she moves between the walls and crawlspaces of the seasoning house planning her escape. Psychological horror in the nerve-shredding Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski style but with an ultra-modern twist.
89 mins Director: Paul Hyett UK 2012
Rosie Day – Angel
Sean Pertwee – Goran
Kevin Howarth – Viktor
David Lemberg...
- 7/3/2012
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
The Manchurian Candidate 2004: Denzel Washington The Manchurian Candidate (2004). Director: Jonathan Demme. Cast: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Kimberly Elise, Bruno Ganz, Ted Levine, Vera Farmiga, Miguel Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Simon McBurney. Screenplay: Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris; from George Axelrod’s 1962 screenplay and Richard Condon’s 1959 novel. While keeping the framework of the 1962 original, Jonathan Demme’s remake of John Frankenheimer’s political thriller The Manchurian Candidate has revamped the plot so as to create parallels between what takes place on screen and current events. The results are mixed at best. In the new version, adapted by Daniel Pyne [...]...
- 6/23/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Manchurian Candidate: Denzel Washington The Manchurian Candidate (2004). Director: Jonathan Demme. Cast: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Kimberly Elise, Bruno Ganz, Ted Levine, Vera Farmiga, Miguel Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Simon McBurney. Screenplay: Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris; from George Axelrod’s 1962 screenplay and Richard Condon’s 1959 novel. While keeping the framework of the 1962 original, Jonathan Demme’s remake of John Frankenheimer’s political thriller The Manchurian Candidate has revamped the plot so as to create parallels between what takes place on screen and current events. The results are mixed at best. In the new version, adapted by Daniel Pyne and [...]...
- 6/23/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"Oh, golly gee damn!" It appears the place Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) called home in the 1961 classic "Breakfast at Tiffany's" has found a seller. The house, where Golightly lived alongside Paul Varjak (George Peppard) , was put on the market back in December. According to the New York Observer, 169 East 71st Street has just been sold to a Cyprus-based buyer -- a company called Costalea Holdings Limited -- for $5.97 million. The house's previous owner, Peter E. Bacanovic, bought the house back in 2000 for $1.88 million. The movie, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last October, is still considered one of the best films in history. "Tiffany's" went on to win two Oscars at the 34th Academy Awards, for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. (Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress, and writer George Axelrod for Best Adapted Screenplay.) You can check out photos of the townhouse in the gallery below. [via Nyo and Cocoran] Photos...
- 4/25/2012
- by Alex Suskind
- Moviefone
You can't show war as it really is on the screen, with all the blood and gore. Perhaps it would be better if you could fire real shots over the audience's head every night, you know, and have actual casualties in the theater. -- Sam Fuller, film director and author
War is a grisly business, a horror of epic proportions. In terms of human carnage alone, war's devastation is staggering. For example, it is estimated that approximately 231 million people died worldwide during the wars of the 20th century. However, this figure does not take into account the walking wounded -- both physically and psychologically -- who "survive" war. Eventually, war will be our undoing. As Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent and author Chris Hedges observes: War is like a poison. And just as a cancer patient must at times ingest a poison to fight off a disease, so there are times...
War is a grisly business, a horror of epic proportions. In terms of human carnage alone, war's devastation is staggering. For example, it is estimated that approximately 231 million people died worldwide during the wars of the 20th century. However, this figure does not take into account the walking wounded -- both physically and psychologically -- who "survive" war. Eventually, war will be our undoing. As Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent and author Chris Hedges observes: War is like a poison. And just as a cancer patient must at times ingest a poison to fight off a disease, so there are times...
- 3/1/2012
- by John W. Whitehead
- Moviefone
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the romantic comedy that gave us one of the most iconic images of the American cinema of the 20th century: Audrey Hepburn as Holly carrying an oversized cigarette holder. Not only that, it also gave Audrey Hepburn the role that she will always be remembered for– Holly Golightly, the naïve and eccentric society girl who is both sexy and vulnerable.
Made in 1961, the film tells the story of a struggling writer Paul (George Peppard) who moves into a new apartment in New York and encounters his strange neighbor Holly Golightly. He is intrigued by her life and soon develops a romantic interest in her.
The film is loosely based on the novella by the same name penned by Truman Capote. But there are some interesting differences. Like in the novella there was no romance between Holly and Paul. There couldn’t have been one as...
Made in 1961, the film tells the story of a struggling writer Paul (George Peppard) who moves into a new apartment in New York and encounters his strange neighbor Holly Golightly. He is intrigued by her life and soon develops a romantic interest in her.
The film is loosely based on the novella by the same name penned by Truman Capote. But there are some interesting differences. Like in the novella there was no romance between Holly and Paul. There couldn’t have been one as...
- 1/21/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
"I'm not one of those people who sits in the dark, looking at their work from 70 years earlier," Angela Lansbury insists. "I'm really not."
Still, the widely loved stage and screen star is pleased that many of her films are about to be showcased by Turner Classic Movies. The channel has named the "Murder, She Wrote" television icon its Star of the Month for January, with Lansbury festivals running each Wednesday.
The titles range from her screen debut in 1944's "Gaslight" (Jan. 4) to her chilling portrayal of one of movie history's most manipulative mothers in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate" (Jan. 18) -- both Oscar-nominated performances.
"When I see it now," Lansbury tells Zap2it of her "Gaslight" work, "I say, 'How did you ever have the chutzpah to play that role as you did, at that age?' I'm enormously interested in how I arrived at that performance, but I also...
Still, the widely loved stage and screen star is pleased that many of her films are about to be showcased by Turner Classic Movies. The channel has named the "Murder, She Wrote" television icon its Star of the Month for January, with Lansbury festivals running each Wednesday.
The titles range from her screen debut in 1944's "Gaslight" (Jan. 4) to her chilling portrayal of one of movie history's most manipulative mothers in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate" (Jan. 18) -- both Oscar-nominated performances.
"When I see it now," Lansbury tells Zap2it of her "Gaslight" work, "I say, 'How did you ever have the chutzpah to play that role as you did, at that age?' I'm enormously interested in how I arrived at that performance, but I also...
- 12/28/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Chicago – With her gamine physique and ageless radiance, it’s easy to see why many cinephiles regard Audrey Hepburn as the greatest of all screen beauties. Yet it isn’t merely her unconventional appearance that continues to keep moviegoers mesmerized. It’s her utter lack of vanity and unmistakable sweetness that ground her in an earthy reality unoccupied by fellow icons like Monroe.
Her persona is so inherently engaging that it can even turn a gold-digging kleptomaniac like Holly Golightly into an irresistible heroine that has stood the test of time. Though fans of Truman Capote’s edgier and more nuanced novella have rightfully criticized the film for softening its source material, Blake Edwards’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” works entirely on its own terms as classy entertainment, albeit with one major exception.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Golightly is a Manhattan socialite with mob ties and a penchant for endless witty chatter.
Her persona is so inherently engaging that it can even turn a gold-digging kleptomaniac like Holly Golightly into an irresistible heroine that has stood the test of time. Though fans of Truman Capote’s edgier and more nuanced novella have rightfully criticized the film for softening its source material, Blake Edwards’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” works entirely on its own terms as classy entertainment, albeit with one major exception.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Golightly is a Manhattan socialite with mob ties and a penchant for endless witty chatter.
- 9/30/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Tuesday Weld will not be attending the Film Society of Lincoln Center's retrospective American Girl: Tuesday Weld, running from September 21—25, which will showcase 10 performances by the unconventional actress." Louis Jordan, who's working on a biography of Weld, at the House Next Door: "For a tantalizing moment, the reclusive Weld agreed to be interviewed at the Walter Reade Theatre in an event called 'An Evening with Tuesday Weld,' but later suddenly cancelled. Weld hasn't made a public appearance in more than a decade. Perhaps she's gone into self-imposed exile a la Marlene Dietrich, wanting to preserve the public's memory of the brazen, luminous beauty that made her an icon of the '60s and turned the heads of everyone from Elvis Presley to Pinchas Zukerman. But then again, Weld has made a career of not giving the public what they want, or expect."
"As an actress, Weld is famous for...
"As an actress, Weld is famous for...
- 9/21/2011
- MUBI
And who doesn’t love Tuesday Weld?
George Axelrod’s unclassifiable satire is one of the oddest Hollywood movies, which over the years has engendered passionate support and derision. For some it’s an incisively bizarre portrait of sixties America, for others it’s a sloppily made, undisciplined mess (with more boom mikes visible in full frame than even Play It Again Sam). However, nothing can dim the luster of the incredibly perverse scene where Tuesday Weld’s horny dad (Max Showalter) practically ejaculates while watching his sexy daughter try on sweaters.
Click here to watch the trailer.
Not many cooler, absurd sentences than one that starts with “Roddy McDowall as a high school student…”
Meanwhile, if you want to get captured in more absurdities resulting from this film meeting the internet, a site called Gastro Cinema has 3 pages (three pages!) of looping animated .GIFs featuring people in this film eating things.
George Axelrod’s unclassifiable satire is one of the oddest Hollywood movies, which over the years has engendered passionate support and derision. For some it’s an incisively bizarre portrait of sixties America, for others it’s a sloppily made, undisciplined mess (with more boom mikes visible in full frame than even Play It Again Sam). However, nothing can dim the luster of the incredibly perverse scene where Tuesday Weld’s horny dad (Max Showalter) practically ejaculates while watching his sexy daughter try on sweaters.
Click here to watch the trailer.
Not many cooler, absurd sentences than one that starts with “Roddy McDowall as a high school student…”
Meanwhile, if you want to get captured in more absurdities resulting from this film meeting the internet, a site called Gastro Cinema has 3 pages (three pages!) of looping animated .GIFs featuring people in this film eating things.
- 8/22/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Let’s get funny.
On Monday, August 22, join John Landis for the trailer to Lord Love a Duck.
George Axelrod’s unclassifiable satire is one of the oddest Hollywood movies, which over the years has engendered passionate support and derision. For some it’s an incisively bizarre portrait of sixties America, for others it’s a sloppily made, undisciplined mess (with more boom mikes visible in full frame than even Play It Again Sam). However, nothing can dim the luster of the incredibly perverse scene where Tuesday Weld’s horny dad (Max Showalter) practically ejaculates while watching his sexy daughter try on sweaters.
On Wednesday, August 24, join Josh Olson for the trailer to Bedazzled.
The New Yorker called Stanley Donen’s Python-esque take on the Faust story “the intellectual’s Hellzapoppin’”. Of course that was back when people were actually familiar with Olson & Johnson’s brilliantly Brechtian, now sadly obscure comedy.
On Monday, August 22, join John Landis for the trailer to Lord Love a Duck.
George Axelrod’s unclassifiable satire is one of the oddest Hollywood movies, which over the years has engendered passionate support and derision. For some it’s an incisively bizarre portrait of sixties America, for others it’s a sloppily made, undisciplined mess (with more boom mikes visible in full frame than even Play It Again Sam). However, nothing can dim the luster of the incredibly perverse scene where Tuesday Weld’s horny dad (Max Showalter) practically ejaculates while watching his sexy daughter try on sweaters.
On Wednesday, August 24, join Josh Olson for the trailer to Bedazzled.
The New Yorker called Stanley Donen’s Python-esque take on the Faust story “the intellectual’s Hellzapoppin’”. Of course that was back when people were actually familiar with Olson & Johnson’s brilliantly Brechtian, now sadly obscure comedy.
- 8/22/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
For some people there's nothing worse than being caught in a small, confined area. Hell, enough time spent in one is enough to rattle just about anybody. However, what if getting stuck was the least of your worries? Strap in, kids! It's time to learn about another good reason to take the stairs.
Below you'll find the first details and artwork (designed by Gravillis) for Elevator from director Stig Svendsen and writer Marc Rosenberg.
Christopher Backus, Anita Briem, John Getz, Shirley Knight, Amanda and Rachel Pace, Devin Ratray, Joey Slotnick, George Axelrod, Tehmina Sunny, and Waleed Zuaiter star.
Synopsis
Nine people stuck on an elevator – one has a ticking bomb - the other eight will do absolutely anything to survive. The bomb cannot be defused. There is no escape and no promise of rescue. The unthinkable becomes the only reasonable solution.
In a suspense thriller, both classic and contemporary, the...
Below you'll find the first details and artwork (designed by Gravillis) for Elevator from director Stig Svendsen and writer Marc Rosenberg.
Christopher Backus, Anita Briem, John Getz, Shirley Knight, Amanda and Rachel Pace, Devin Ratray, Joey Slotnick, George Axelrod, Tehmina Sunny, and Waleed Zuaiter star.
Synopsis
Nine people stuck on an elevator – one has a ticking bomb - the other eight will do absolutely anything to survive. The bomb cannot be defused. There is no escape and no promise of rescue. The unthinkable becomes the only reasonable solution.
In a suspense thriller, both classic and contemporary, the...
- 8/12/2011
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Statue paying homage to late Hollywood actor's notorious leg-flashing scene labelled 'sexist', 'hideous' and 'creepy'
Citizens of Chicago have been variously panicked, enraged and excited by the appearance of a 26ft-statue of Hollywood actor Marilyn Monroe. Unveiled earlier in July, the statue pays homage to Monroe's notorious leg-flashing scene from The Seven Year Itch. Critics have lined up to label it "sexist" and "creepy". Tourists, meanwhile, have lined up to take pictures.
Designed by artist Seward Johnson, Forever Marilyn stands accused of pandering to the worst instincts of passers-by. "Even worse than the statue itself is the photo-op behaviour it inspires," claimed Richard Roeper, a columnist on the Chicago Sun-Times. "Men (and women) licking Marilyn's leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh," Roeper added, for good measure, that the statue was "hideous".
Elsewhere, Abraham Ritchie of the Chicago Arts Blog dismissed it...
Citizens of Chicago have been variously panicked, enraged and excited by the appearance of a 26ft-statue of Hollywood actor Marilyn Monroe. Unveiled earlier in July, the statue pays homage to Monroe's notorious leg-flashing scene from The Seven Year Itch. Critics have lined up to label it "sexist" and "creepy". Tourists, meanwhile, have lined up to take pictures.
Designed by artist Seward Johnson, Forever Marilyn stands accused of pandering to the worst instincts of passers-by. "Even worse than the statue itself is the photo-op behaviour it inspires," claimed Richard Roeper, a columnist on the Chicago Sun-Times. "Men (and women) licking Marilyn's leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh," Roeper added, for good measure, that the statue was "hideous".
Elsewhere, Abraham Ritchie of the Chicago Arts Blog dismissed it...
- 7/20/2011
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
This is a great Bluray. It includes all the extras off the 2004 edition and looks considerably better than the film has in the past. If you've been waiting for an upgrade this is worth it. Much detail that was previously muddled pops nicely here and although I wouldn't call the transfer pristine, it is a significant step up. The most significant of the extras are an audio commentary with director John Frankenheimer, an 8 minute interview with Sinatra, George Axelrod and Frankenheimer, and 3 featurettes. The Manchurian Candidate was remade in 2004 directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Denzel Washington, but while that film has sunk into oblivion the original is every bit as provocative and timeless as ever. Conspiracy theories aside this is...
- 7/18/2011
- Screen Anarchy
The Manchurian Candidate Blu-RayMGM Home Entertainment1962/Rated PG-13/126 MinsList Price: $19.99 – Now AvailableIn 1952, an American unit on patrol in Korea is captured by the Chinese. Brainwashed, they perform a demonstration of the effectiveness of the Communists' techniques, while all the time imagining that they are at a meeting of the Ladies' Garden Club. Repatriated to America, Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor in rescuing the platoon. But the other survivors of the patrol, including Major Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra), are plagued with dreams that seem to suggest things did not occur as they remember. Shaw's mother (Angela Lansbury) is a highly political woman, pushing and controlling his stepfather Senator Iselin (James Gregory) at the expense of everything and everyone else. Shaw rejects her and goes to work for a publisher, but Communist agents have expertly programmed him and two years later are about to...
- 6/30/2011
- LRMonline.com
Beverly Hills, CA . The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will showcase a new digital restoration of .Breakfast at Tiffany.s,. in celebration of the film.s 50th anniversary, on Friday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
With her giant sunglasses, Givenchy dresses, pearls and cigarette holder, Audrey Hepburn.s Holly Golightly set the stage for the glamour of the 1960s and ushered in a new notion of femininity in .Breakfast at Tiffany’s.. Directed by Blake Edwards, this popular and acclaimed film adaptation of Truman Capote.s bestselling novel provoked discussion, laughter and controversy, and established the archetype of the independent single girl in the city.
Hepburn.s performance earned her a Best Actress nomination. Composer Henry Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer won the Academy Award® for Best Song for .Moon River,. and Mancini.s score also received an Oscar®. The...
With her giant sunglasses, Givenchy dresses, pearls and cigarette holder, Audrey Hepburn.s Holly Golightly set the stage for the glamour of the 1960s and ushered in a new notion of femininity in .Breakfast at Tiffany’s.. Directed by Blake Edwards, this popular and acclaimed film adaptation of Truman Capote.s bestselling novel provoked discussion, laughter and controversy, and established the archetype of the independent single girl in the city.
Hepburn.s performance earned her a Best Actress nomination. Composer Henry Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer won the Academy Award® for Best Song for .Moon River,. and Mancini.s score also received an Oscar®. The...
- 6/29/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
DVD Playhouse June 2011
By
Allen Gardner
Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion) Robert Aldrich’s 1955 reinvention of the film noir detective story is one of cinema’s great genre mash-ups: part hardboiled noir; part cold war paranoid thriller; and part science- fiction. Ralph Meeker plays Mickey Spillane’s fascist detective Mike Hammer as a narcissistic simian thug, a sadist who would rather smash a suspect’s fingers than make love to the bevvy of beautiful dames that cross his path. In fact, the only time you see a smile cross Meeker’s sneering mug is when he’s doling out pain, with a vengeance. When a terrified young woman (Cloris Leachman, film debut) literally crossed Hammer’s path one night, and later turns up dead, he vows to get to the bottom of her brutal demise. One of the most influential films ever made, and perhaps the most-cited film by the architects...
By
Allen Gardner
Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion) Robert Aldrich’s 1955 reinvention of the film noir detective story is one of cinema’s great genre mash-ups: part hardboiled noir; part cold war paranoid thriller; and part science- fiction. Ralph Meeker plays Mickey Spillane’s fascist detective Mike Hammer as a narcissistic simian thug, a sadist who would rather smash a suspect’s fingers than make love to the bevvy of beautiful dames that cross his path. In fact, the only time you see a smile cross Meeker’s sneering mug is when he’s doling out pain, with a vengeance. When a terrified young woman (Cloris Leachman, film debut) literally crossed Hammer’s path one night, and later turns up dead, he vows to get to the bottom of her brutal demise. One of the most influential films ever made, and perhaps the most-cited film by the architects...
- 6/11/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
The Movie Pool casts its vote for The Manchurian Candidate on Blu-ray!
Blu-ray Specs
Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1 (1080p high definition)
Running Time: 126 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-hd Master Audio, Spanish Mono, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Spanish, French
Special Features: Interviews with Frank Sinatra, George Axelrod, and John Frankenheimer; "Queen of Diamonds" featurette; "A Little Solitaire" featurette; "How to Get Shot" featurette; Original Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary: By director John Frankenheimer
The Set-up
A Korean War veteran (Frank Sinatra) discovers one of his men (Lawrence Harvey) has been brainwashed to become a dangerous assassin with a deadly mission.
Written by: George Axelrod
Executive Producer: Howard W. Koch
Director: John Frankenheimer
The Delivery
This chilling political thriller from celebrated director John Frankenheimer was controversial when it was released in 1962, but it is now widely considered a modern masterpiece and was named to the...
Blu-ray Specs
Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1 (1080p high definition)
Running Time: 126 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-hd Master Audio, Spanish Mono, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Spanish, French
Special Features: Interviews with Frank Sinatra, George Axelrod, and John Frankenheimer; "Queen of Diamonds" featurette; "A Little Solitaire" featurette; "How to Get Shot" featurette; Original Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary: By director John Frankenheimer
The Set-up
A Korean War veteran (Frank Sinatra) discovers one of his men (Lawrence Harvey) has been brainwashed to become a dangerous assassin with a deadly mission.
Written by: George Axelrod
Executive Producer: Howard W. Koch
Director: John Frankenheimer
The Delivery
This chilling political thriller from celebrated director John Frankenheimer was controversial when it was released in 1962, but it is now widely considered a modern masterpiece and was named to the...
- 6/3/2011
- Cinelinx
MGM/Fox will release the Blu-ray edition of the classic 1962 espionage thriller movie The Manchurian Candidate starring Frank Sinatra (Concert for the Americas) and Angela Lansbury (Harlow) on May 10, following its three-month exclusive availability through retail giant Best Buy.
Angela Lansbury is the ruthless Queen of Diamonds in The Manchurian Candidate.
Directed by John Frankenheimer (Grand Prix) and George Axelrod, the film revolves around a platoon American soldiers in the Korean War who may or may not have been captured by the enemy. Major Bennett (Sinatra) can’t seem to remember. As he searches for the answer, he discovers threads of a diabolical assassination plot orchestrated by the ruthless Mrs. Iselin (Lansbury) involving her war hero son (Laurence Harvey, Summer and Smoke), her senator husband (James Gregory, TV’s Barney Miller) and a clandestine consortium of enemy leaders.
The Blu-ray will carry the list price of $19.99.
All of the bonus...
Angela Lansbury is the ruthless Queen of Diamonds in The Manchurian Candidate.
Directed by John Frankenheimer (Grand Prix) and George Axelrod, the film revolves around a platoon American soldiers in the Korean War who may or may not have been captured by the enemy. Major Bennett (Sinatra) can’t seem to remember. As he searches for the answer, he discovers threads of a diabolical assassination plot orchestrated by the ruthless Mrs. Iselin (Lansbury) involving her war hero son (Laurence Harvey, Summer and Smoke), her senator husband (James Gregory, TV’s Barney Miller) and a clandestine consortium of enemy leaders.
The Blu-ray will carry the list price of $19.99.
All of the bonus...
- 4/11/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
This Saturday and Sunday at Lamar and next weekend at Lake Creek, we’re having a special Brunch screening of the classic Audrey Hepburn romance Breakfast At Tiffany’S. Presented in glorious 35mm, the screenings are a final send-off to the great writer/director Blake Edwards, whose recent passing left a great cavity in the film.
Chef Chris Kincaid has prepared a menu of sublime treats for your early-afternoon noshing. Each of these items are priced separately and are theoretically optionally, although practically necessary:
Spiced apple danish with whipped cream
Strawberries and cream topped with local honey and pecan granola pieces
Smoked salmon and goat cheese on toasted bagel crisps with lemon, chives, dill and capers
Freshly poached farm egg (over medium) on toasted ciabatta with country ham and hollandaise
While you salivate over the thought of fresh hollandaise, remember the splendor of Audrey Hepburn’s most dramatic and colorful role,...
Chef Chris Kincaid has prepared a menu of sublime treats for your early-afternoon noshing. Each of these items are priced separately and are theoretically optionally, although practically necessary:
Spiced apple danish with whipped cream
Strawberries and cream topped with local honey and pecan granola pieces
Smoked salmon and goat cheese on toasted bagel crisps with lemon, chives, dill and capers
Freshly poached farm egg (over medium) on toasted ciabatta with country ham and hollandaise
While you salivate over the thought of fresh hollandaise, remember the splendor of Audrey Hepburn’s most dramatic and colorful role,...
- 3/30/2011
- by Daniel Metz
- OriginalAlamo.com
1957, U, Eureka
Frank Tashlin (1913-1972) was a cartoonist, gagman and screenwriter before becoming a director in the 1950s, working with Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and, most especially, Jerry Lewis. He was extravagantly admired by the Cahiers du cinéma critics, especially Truffaut, Godard and Rohmer. Extolling his gift for caricature and defending his undoubted vulgarity, they thought him the creator of "the new American comedy" as opposed to the classicism of Capra, Lubitsch and McCarey. Remotely based on a play by George Axelrod (author of The Seven Year Itch), this is a verbally and visually clever satire on television and the New York advertising world. Tony Randall stars as Rockford Hunter, the eponymous adman who saves his ailing agency by exploiting a dimwitted Hollywood star (Jayne Mansfield). Randall is brilliant, Mansfield (in her second film with Tashlin) is cruelly mocked and there's a guest appearance by Groucho Marx, for whose A Night in Casablanca...
Frank Tashlin (1913-1972) was a cartoonist, gagman and screenwriter before becoming a director in the 1950s, working with Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and, most especially, Jerry Lewis. He was extravagantly admired by the Cahiers du cinéma critics, especially Truffaut, Godard and Rohmer. Extolling his gift for caricature and defending his undoubted vulgarity, they thought him the creator of "the new American comedy" as opposed to the classicism of Capra, Lubitsch and McCarey. Remotely based on a play by George Axelrod (author of The Seven Year Itch), this is a verbally and visually clever satire on television and the New York advertising world. Tony Randall stars as Rockford Hunter, the eponymous adman who saves his ailing agency by exploiting a dimwitted Hollywood star (Jayne Mansfield). Randall is brilliant, Mansfield (in her second film with Tashlin) is cruelly mocked and there's a guest appearance by Groucho Marx, for whose A Night in Casablanca...
- 1/2/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Blake Edwards, the writer and director of "The Pink Panther" and one of the most prolific comedy filmmakers of the 1960s and '70s, has died.
Edwards, 88, died early Thursday (Dec. 16), Variety reports.
Edwards is probably best known for the "Pink Panther" series of films he made with Peter Sellers, but he also directed "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "10," "The Party" and "Victor/Victoria," among many others. Aside from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which was written by George Axelrod, he also penned the screenplays for those films and most of the other movies he directed.
He was nominated for an Oscar in 1983 for his "Victor/Victoria" screenplay, and the academy gave him an honorary Oscar in 2004.
Edwards started his career writing scripts for radio dramas and wrote a number of screenplays before making his directing debut on the TV series "Four Star Playhouse" in 1954. He also created the private-eye series "Peter Gunn" in...
Edwards, 88, died early Thursday (Dec. 16), Variety reports.
Edwards is probably best known for the "Pink Panther" series of films he made with Peter Sellers, but he also directed "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "10," "The Party" and "Victor/Victoria," among many others. Aside from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which was written by George Axelrod, he also penned the screenplays for those films and most of the other movies he directed.
He was nominated for an Oscar in 1983 for his "Victor/Victoria" screenplay, and the academy gave him an honorary Oscar in 2004.
Edwards started his career writing scripts for radio dramas and wrote a number of screenplays before making his directing debut on the TV series "Four Star Playhouse" in 1954. He also created the private-eye series "Peter Gunn" in...
- 12/16/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
The Alamo Guide
for January 14th, 2010
Hello again, friends. I hope your days are well. I am here, once again, to tell you how your days could be better: with the Alamo! We are packed full of new release films from the past week or two, and still we find time for specialty programming! How Do We Do It?! Lots and lots of work hours, that’s how…If you haven’t gone out to see Crazy Heart yet, tomorrow is the perfect opportunity to do so. Local country honky-tonkers The Derailers are playing an after show at The Highball and you can get tickets for both events! If you’re one of those over-planner people, you might want to make some Valentine’s Day plans Now because our Valentine’S Day Feasts go On Sale Friday At Noon! Those sell out super fast and are pretty damn romantic and delicious.
for January 14th, 2010
Hello again, friends. I hope your days are well. I am here, once again, to tell you how your days could be better: with the Alamo! We are packed full of new release films from the past week or two, and still we find time for specialty programming! How Do We Do It?! Lots and lots of work hours, that’s how…If you haven’t gone out to see Crazy Heart yet, tomorrow is the perfect opportunity to do so. Local country honky-tonkers The Derailers are playing an after show at The Highball and you can get tickets for both events! If you’re one of those over-planner people, you might want to make some Valentine’s Day plans Now because our Valentine’S Day Feasts go On Sale Friday At Noon! Those sell out super fast and are pretty damn romantic and delicious.
- 1/14/2010
- by caitlin
- OriginalAlamo.com
DVD Playhouse—June 2009
By
Allen Gardner
The International (Sony) An Interpol agent (Clive Owen) joins forces with a Manhattan D.A. (Naomi Watts) to bring down an arms dealing ring and a corrupt global banking cartel that’s funding them. Superlative thriller was oddly ignored by critics and audiences alike, but expertly blends intelligence (courtesy screenwriter Eric Warren Singer’s masterfully-crafted script) and full-throttle action (director Tom Tykwer stages one of the great film shoot-outs in New York’s iconic Guggenheim Museum), making this dynamite thriller reminiscent of the best work from masters such as John Frankenheimer and Robert Aldrich. Armin Mueller-Stahl is wonderful as a world-weary covert op. Bonuses: Extended scene; Featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
The Jack Lemmon Film Collection(Sony) Five films from the two-time Oscar winning actor, focusing on his early career: Phfft! is a zippy comedy from 1954, one of Lemmon’s earliest films, in which...
By
Allen Gardner
The International (Sony) An Interpol agent (Clive Owen) joins forces with a Manhattan D.A. (Naomi Watts) to bring down an arms dealing ring and a corrupt global banking cartel that’s funding them. Superlative thriller was oddly ignored by critics and audiences alike, but expertly blends intelligence (courtesy screenwriter Eric Warren Singer’s masterfully-crafted script) and full-throttle action (director Tom Tykwer stages one of the great film shoot-outs in New York’s iconic Guggenheim Museum), making this dynamite thriller reminiscent of the best work from masters such as John Frankenheimer and Robert Aldrich. Armin Mueller-Stahl is wonderful as a world-weary covert op. Bonuses: Extended scene; Featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
The Jack Lemmon Film Collection(Sony) Five films from the two-time Oscar winning actor, focusing on his early career: Phfft! is a zippy comedy from 1954, one of Lemmon’s earliest films, in which...
- 6/3/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
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