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Barack Obama and John McCain name their favorite movies

August 8th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Bambi and Born Free. After years of George Bush, doesn’t America deserve a grown up for a President?

If the next Commander in Chief was elected strictly on the basis of their favorite films I’d write in Richard Nixon. At least the old fascist bastard had the courage to name the M rated Patton. When asked what film he prized most, Johnny McCain chose Walt Disney’s Bambi!

Bambi? What a load of politically correct, family values crap. Unless the scene where the hunter blows Bambi’s mommy to smithereens has a similar effect on McCain as Viagra, I can’t imagine him coming home after a hard day stumping the War on Terror and unwinding with a bunch of adorable animated woodland creatures. He probably looks to Triumph of the Will for laughs.

Not that I have anything against Bambi, and while it’s one of Disney’s crowning achievements, something tells me Johhny isn’t in it for the artistry. He wouldn’t know a multi-plane camera from an F16. McCain said it brought him to tears. Me too. It’s a great film, but a calculated selection that’s safe for grandma and grandpa as well as their gun-totin’ grandkids.

Obama’s choice of movies seems even more calculated and less heartfelt. His pick is a film set in Kenya so his African American constituents won’t feel slighted. Not unlike Bambi, it’s an inoffensive, family safe tearjerker. At least he didn’t choose Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

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Emulsion Compulsion curates SDMA’s SCREEN ON THE GREEN

July 30th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Let’s Get Together!

For the second year in a row, the San Diego Museum of Art was gracious enough to ask me to curate their annual Screen on the Green series.

Five weeks out of the year, SDMA transforms Balboa Park into a gorgeous outdoor theatre. Admission is free (San Diegans love free), so even though all of the movies are older, most are even in primitive black and white, we manage to attract a huge crowd. If you are planning on attending, I suggest you get their early with your lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets in tow.

All of the films are family friendly (sadly, no Russ Meyer) and if I do say so myself, this year’s lineup offers a great escape for the next five Thursday evenings. The schedule is as follows:

July 31 Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

August 7 Billy Wilder’s Sabrina (1954)

August 14 David Swift’s The Parent Trap (1961)

August 21 Sing along with George Sidney’s Bye, Bye Birdie (1963)

August 28 Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon (1973)

As is my habit, each feature will begin with a vintage cartoon. Screen on the Green: Summer Movies at Balboa Park plays every Thursday at 8 pm through August 28. The screening is located on the East Lawn, near the Botanical Building and Casa del Prado. For more info, call 619-232-7931 or visit the SDMA website.

Screen on the Green is brought to you through the generous support of Phil and Lyn Gildred. Hope to see you all there!

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Richard Roeper no longer at the movies

July 21st, 2008 by Scott Marks

It’s a beautiful day in Filmland!

Richard Roeper, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist turned film reviewer said that the eighth season of Ebert and Roeper At the Movies will be his last. Roeper says that he and the show’s producer were unable to reach an agreement. Roeper said in a statement Sunday that he had failed to agree on a contract extension with Disney-ABC Domestic Television. His last appearance on the show will air the weekend of Aug. 16-17.

Roger Ebert and his late partner Gene Siskel helped to sink film criticism to an all-time low in September of 1975 when they pioneered their now famous television movie review format. Sneak Previews first aired on Chicago’s PBS affiliate WTTW and almost instantly film writing as an art form was knocked for a loop by a pair of thumbs. Siskbert transformed film reviewing into a form of televised tip sheet journalism. Why stop to savor nuance when it’s so much easier to giggle out one-liners, show a clip, and position your thumbs accordingly?

The show initially aired on a monthly basis under the name Opening Soon at a Theatre Near You and was retitled Sneak Previews when it went weekly in 1977. Two years later, the show was nationally syndicated and became the highest rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting.

In 1982, after coming to blows with WTTW, the boys jumped ship to Tribune Entertainment. WTTW was allowed to keep the name so Rog and Gene began a new life At the Movies. This lasted until Disney decided to open their deep pockets in 1986. Siskel’s parent compant The Chicago Tribune, owners and operators of Tribune Entertainment, was none too pleased. The retooled Siskel and Ebert at the Movies went on while Siskel remained under contract to the newspaper. By way of punishment the Trib hired rival Reader critic Dave Kehr as their main reviewer, allowing Gene a small box on the front page of the Friday section for “Siskel’s Flick Pick of the Week.”

Dave Kehr’s first review for the Reader was a double disembowelment of Bergman’s Cries and Whispers and Fellini’s Amarcord. It was love at first sight! I’ll never forget the headline: “Fellini and Bergman Step in Two Sacred Pies.” Having no use for Siskel as a critic, it had been ages since I bothered to read one of his reviews. With Dave on board, I couldn’t wait for the Friday edition to see the frequently hilarious juxtaposition of the two dramatically differing voices . Writing for a more commercial audience caused Dave to soften a bit in the star department, but those of us who bothered to actually read the review, his contempt for most mainstream releases remained unflagging.

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Rick Moranis refuses to participate in GHOSTBUSTERS video game

July 6th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Rick Moranis as (clockwise) Skip Bittman, Gerry Todd, Linsk Menjuvic and Dick Cavett

Kudos to my old SCTV buddy Rick Moranis’ for having the integrity not to participate in the asinine video game restatement of Ghostbusters.

The game’s producer told Wired Magazines Das Gamer, “He made so much money off of Honey I Shrunk The Kids that he retired. He just doesn’t want to work anymore.” Well, that’s not 100% true. The five times this decade that he agreed to leave his house in search of gainful employment as an actor found him voicing cartoons.

Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson have agreed to re-team for the upcoming vidiocy. Moranis was not the only hold out. Sigourney Weaver also refused join in the game.

Moranis gained showbiz immortality for his sterling participation in 25 episodes of SCTV, still the funniest show television has yet to produce. He joined the show in its third season after it became apparent that Tony Rosato and Robin Duke weren’t clicking.

In Dave Thomas’ 1996 tome SCTV: Behind the Scenes, Moranis remarked, “I was the only guy ever to join the show from outside the little Second City world.” Moranis initially felt some resistance coming from Joe Flaherty’s corner. “I think he resented me because I hadn’t in his mind, paid my dues by coming up from the theatre. We never came to blows or anything, but if you look through the whole catalogue, there isn’t a lot of stuff that Joe and I did together.”

Catherine O\'Hara, Joe Flaherty, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Andrea Martin & Dave Thomas as The Beaver

Catherine O’Hara, Joe Flaherty, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Andrea Martin & Dave Thomas as The Beaver

Thomas met Moranis at a party where both took to the stage and jammed with the band. “He had a good reputation,” Thomas recalls, “and seemed sharp, smart and funny.” Prior to that fateful meeting, Moranis worked as a deejay in addition to working alongside John Candy on 90 Minutes Live, the Canadian answer to SNL.

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Dig A Hole: Character actor Henry Beckman, Hollywood cop

July 1st, 2008 by Scott Marks

Henry Beckman

Clockwise: Cmdr. Paul Richards in Flash Gordon (1955), Peyton Place’s George Anderson (1964) and as Alf Skully in Check It Out (1985)

Character actor Henry Beckman, a prolific 50s and 60s television staple, died June 17 in Barcelona, Spain. He was 86.

Mr. Beckman appeared in hundreds of TV shows, movies and commercials in the U.S. and Canada. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he served in the Canadian military during WWII and survived the Normandy invasion. After the war he married Cheryl Maxwell, a one-time actress and Broadway producer. She remained his bride up until the time of her death in 1998.

His first television appearance was in the Pretend I Am A Stranger episode of The Philco Television Playhouse (1951). Following their 1955 marriage, Henry and Cheryl eventually purchased The Dukes Oak Theatre in Cooperstown, New York. Two years after that, they sold the theatre and moved to Hollywood where Henry pursued an on-camera career.

His first recurring television role was as Cmdr. Paul Richards on six episodes of the ultra-cheapo TV version of Flash Gordon (1955). His two longest running TV hits were roles as George Anderson on Peyton Place and Colonel harridan in “McHale’s Navy.

Mr. Beckman was known for playing heavies or small roles that required regional dialects or foreign languages. Great gunsel that he was, Henry was at his best when he wore a badge and answered his call on the Hollywood squad roll. He played just about every type of hard-line lawman one could imagine: a Motorcycle Cop (Niagara), a Beat Cop (The Twilight Zone, Tashlin’s The Man from the Diner’s Club, I Dream of Jeannie, Sweet Charity), Lieutenants (My Favorite Martian and the mind altering Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre), Sheriffs (Mannix, The Rockford Files, Quincy), Detectives (Hitchcock’s Marnie, The X-Files), a Narc (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) even the D.A. in an episode of The Monkees!

In 1977, Henry and Cheryl were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal for “contributions to Canadian culture and the esteem in which they were held by their peers”. (I wonder what the Queen thought of his performance in David Cronenberg’s The Brood?) His work in Canada earned two Canadian film awards in best-supporting actor category including a Genie in 1978 for Blood and Guts.

1979 the journeyman actor wrote and published How to Sell Your Film Project, a guide on how to make and market independent films.

Beckman also wrote film scripts, and was a member of the Writer’s Guild of Canada, the Screen Writers Guild of America, SAG, AFTRA, ACTRA and the Director’s Guild of Canada.

He is survived by two sons, Brian and Stuart.

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Movie dads that won’t make father’s day

June 15th, 2008 by Scott Marks

1. The Butcher in Gaspar Noé’s I Stand Alone (1998)

Part of the reason I adore this movie is because I have always believed it to be a revisionist version of Taxi Driver only darker. This baby takes everything Travis has to give, pumps up realism — when The Butcher (Philippe Nahon) goes to a porn theater, you’ll witness more than some R-rating-friendly shadows dancing on the screen — and never stops moving towards its ghastly conclusion(s). Everybody steals from Scorsese, but few are capable of making it their own, thereby demonstrating an advanced state of cinematic enlightenment. Transplant Travis to Paris, have him hack meat instead of fares, give him a retarded daughter and ouila - out pops one of the vilest, most repugnant movies ever made (and my vote for feel-good picture of eternity!). After pulling a Joe Kennedy and throwing his daughter in a mental institution, The Butcher returns to Paris to find her. Alone in a hotel room with his daughter, the director provides his audience with two alternate conclusions: rape or murder. Rent the DVD and play along at home.

2. “The Lieutenant” in Abel Ferrara’s The Bad Lieutenant (1992)

If you haven’t already, go back and study the dialog during the opening car ride. We know nothing about “The Lieutenant” (Harvey Keitel) and Ferrara and screenwriter Nick St. John want to make a solid first impression. “The Lieutenant” and his two young sons (both sporting blazers that scream parochial school) make a hurried dash for the car. The boys whine that they were late because Aunt Wendy keeps hogging the bathroom. Turning on them as though they were refugees from Police Academy 5, Harvey barks,

“Hey — Listen to me. I’m the boss, not Aunt Wendy. When it’s your turn to use the bathroom, you tell Aunt Wendy to get the f–k out of the bathroom! What are you, men or mice?…Call me. I’ll throw her the f–l out!”

A few reels later he’s buck naked, smoking crack and crying like a baby. When was the last time you really saw your father?

3. Joey LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980)

Jake (Robert DeNiro) is by no means Judge Hardy, but the father of the year award goes to the younger LaMotta brother. Unfortunately there isn’t enough quality screen time devoted to Joey (Joe Pesci) and his kids, but the thirty seconds we do get to spend around the family dinner table is magic. Joey points a knife at his young son and threatens, “If I see you put your hand in the plate one more time I’m gonna’ stab you with this knife. You hear me?” We never learn if Joey, Jr. got the message for no sooner is his dad about to bludgeon the tot with a butter knife, Uncle Jake saves the day by bursting into the house and putting his brother’s head through a glass door. Every day is Father’s Day in the LaMotta household, ya’ son of a bitch!

4. Wade Hunnicutt in Vincente Minnelli’s Home From the Hill (1960)

There were two venal Minnelli patriarchs to choose from, neither of whom had Liz Taylor as their on-screen daughter. Arthur Kennedy is pure scum in Some Came Running. On the surface he’s Parkman, Indiana’s #1 son, but his heart pumps silt. As much as he sickens me (in a good way), he is no match for Mitchum in Home From the Hill. Minnelli asks us to accept George Hamilton in the role of Robert Mitchum’s son. (And I goof on spielberg’s inability to suspend disbelief!) It’s great to watch Mitchum belittle the ever-fledgling actor, but all roads lead to Bob’s heated moment of comeuppance. Eighty-seven minutes in, Hamilton enters dad’s study/arsenal to make it known that he’s hip to the fact that one of the ranch hands is his half brother. Cool Bob easily deflects the news. After all, he sewed some oats with a tramp that gave birth by the side of a ditch. Hamilton follows with the line of his career: “She must have been some pig to crawl into bed with you.” Thawing momentarily, Bob stammers, “We’ll just let that…We’ll just let that pass in the heat of the moment.” Flustered Mitchum seldom appears on the menu. When it does savor it!

5. Jasper Hadley in Douglas Sirk’s Written on the Wind (1956)

“A great man! A giant of a man!” To hear his family speak you’d half expect Glenn Langan to walk in the room with Jonas Salk in hand. (Which reminds me, look at the size of the gusher on that guy! Talk about being oil-well hung!) Instead of a titan, Douglas Sirk portrays Jasper Hadley (Robert Keith) as an emaciated mouse. The inheritors to his throne are an impotent lush (Robert Stack) and a slutty daughter (Dorothy Malone) that makes Mitchum’s “sand hill tacky” look like Amanda Bynes. Halfway through the picture Old Man Hadley’s ticker gives out forcing him to take a fatal plunge down the family’s grand staircase. If a puny man falls in the middle of a mansion, does anybody hear? Are the chances worsened if his harlot daughter is blasting a molten version of Temptation on her Victrola? In honor of the day, let us end with a bit of patroclinous trivia: Milquetoast Robert Keith is the real life sire of strapping TV father (and dad to both Hayley Mills), Brian “Uncle Bill” Keith. Hmmm…Does that mean a Hamilton can father a Mitchum?

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