New Photos Added: Grace Kelly, Buster Keaton, BLAZING SADDLES, Sexy Smokers, Robert Mitchum, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.
July 20th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Fraser Heston visiting Jack Hawkins and his father Charlton on the set of Ben-Hur.
Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974) - New Gallery with 13 Images Added.
Paul Mazursky’s Blume in Love (1975) - New Gallery with 9 Images Added.
Humphrey Bogart - 2 New Photos Added.
Jamie Lee Curtis - 2 New Photos Added from John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980)
Buster Keaton’s The General (1927) - New Gallery with 26 Images Added
Grace Kelly - New Gallery with 99 Images Added
Tags: 8 x 10, Alfred Hitchcock, BEN-HUR, BLAZING SADDLES, BLUME IN LOVE, Buster Keaton, Carole Lombard, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Gene Wilder, George Segal, Grace Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, Images, Jamie Lee Curtis, Laetitia Casta, Lauren Bacall, Lon Chaney, Madonna, Mel Brooks, Olivia Newton John, Photos, Pictures, promotional stills, publicity photos, Publicity stills, REAR WINDOW, Robert Mitchum, Scarlett Johansson, SHERLOCK JR., Stills, THE FOG, THE GENERAL, The Marx Brothers, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOTFiled Under Image Blog
Review: THE WACKNESS / Jonathan Levine (2008)
July 13th, 2008 by Scott Marks
The Wackness (2008)
Written & Directed by Jonathan Levine
Starring: Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen, Jane Adams, Method Man and one of The Olsen Twins
Running Time: 95 min.
Aspect Ratio: 
Rating: 
Occasionally The Wackness will take a misstep and whack away at plausibility. Not for one nanosecond did I believe a street smart New York kid would peddle pot out of an ice cream wagon, particularly when he leaves his keef-filled cart chained to a tree while making house calls. Why not leave a “Help Yourself” sign propped on the handlebars?
Nor does The Wackness excel at waxing nostalgia. The film tries too hard to jam its precious period recreation down viewers’ throats. Set in 1994, the film’s titles and chapter breaks are spray painted across the screen, our hero Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) speaks fluent “wigger” and bus ads scream Forrest Gump.
There is so much Rudy Giuliani bashing going on you’d swear that during the creative process screenwriter/director Jonathan Levine was certain that his film would open to find the former Mayor of New York positioned as the Republican party’s presidential front runner. And for such a long, hot summer there is very little evidence of pit-stains and sweaty brows.
I can’t say in all good conscience that I am completely sold on the look of the film either. The Panavision frames are desaturated and mud-colored. It’s not exactly an endless flow of suffocating close-ups, but there are enough that it would have been better had Levine showed even more restraint by pulling the camera back.
In spite of everything I find myself thoroughly enchanted by these scummy characters and the honest, perceptive manner in which Levine writes dialogue. There’s none of the phony fast-talking, set-up/punch line/set-up patter that thrilled millions in Juno. In The Wackness, characters laugh, break, swoon and self-medicate just like normal people.
In the 80s, John Hughes made a fortune depicting precocious charmers that were wise beyond their years and infinitely smarter than their parents. When Luke learns that his parents are about to be evicted, he does more than just slap his palms against his cheeks. He’s already been slipping his mother money from his drug revenue and decides to increase his sales in order to bail his family out.
Luke’s best customer is also his shrink, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), who gladly waves his fee in exchange for Glad sandwich bags filled with weed. His is the only office in New York that comes equipped with a bong. In one session, Luke talks about snorting Ritalin in the bathroom and hints at suicide. In a vain attempt to be both topical and hip, Squires questions whether or not Luke’s darkness may have been influence by Kurt Cobain. Luke confides that he’s a virgin that can’t get laid and the doc plies him with all the romantic tricks of the trade never once dreaming that Luke would use them on his stepdaughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby).
Continue reading Review: THE WACKNESS / Jonathan Levine (2008)
Tags: Ben Kingsley, Film, Film Review, Jonathan Levine, Josh Peck, Kurt Cobain, Movie Review, New York, Olivia Thirlby, Photos, Pictures, Review, THE WACKNESSFiled Under Reviews, Theatrical
Dig A Hole: Evelyn Keyes
July 12th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Evelyn Keyes & Van Heflin in Joseph Losey’s The Prowler (1951)
Evelyn Keyes, whose four tempestuous marriages and affairs with Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn and producer Michael Todd frequently eclipsed her acting career, died of uterine cancer at her home in Montecito on July 4. The news was withheld until a death certificate was issued. She was 91.
Professionally, Ms. Keyes was best known for playing Scarlett O’Hara’s sister Suellen in Gone With The Wind, but it was her marriages to Barton Bainbridge (1938 - 1940), director Charles Vidor (1943 - 1945), John Huston (1946 - 1950) and Artie Shaw (1957 - 1985) transformed her into the stuff gossip columns are made of.
“I have no roots,” she told The New York Times in 1977. ”I deliberately set out to destroy them, and I did. If there’s any such thing as a hometown for me, it’s Hollywood. I was formed here as an adult.”
Ms. Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1916, and later moved to Atlanta where she grew up fatherless and poor. A striking blonde with a comely figure, she began her career dancing in nightclubs and set her sites on Hollywood at the tender age of 17.
In 1999, Keyes told an interviewer, “To become a big movie star like Joan Crawford you need to wear blinders and pay single-minded attention to your career. Nobody paid attention to me, including me. I was the original Cinderella girl, looking for the happy ending in the fairy story. But my fantasy prince never came.”
She was discovered by Cecil B. DeMille who signed her to a seven-year contract and cast her in his 1938 pirate epic The Buccaneer. She appeared in five bit roles for Paramount and a featured part in DeMille’s Union Pacific before gaining Hollywood immortality as Scarlett’s younger sister in Gone With the Wind.
Continue reading Dig A Hole: Evelyn Keyes
Tags: Actress, Artie Shaw, Cecil B. DeMille, Evelyn Keyes, Gone with the Wind, Hollywood, Images, Irv Kupcinet, John Huston, Marriage, Michael Todd, Mike Todd, Movie Star, Photos, Pictures, Stills, The ProwlerFiled Under Obituaries
New Photos Added: JERRY LEWIS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, Liv Tyler, CLUTCH CARGO, Goldie Hawn, WHAT’S MY LINE?, Ernest Borgnine, etc.
July 7th, 2008 by Scott Marks
THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 5 Photos Added
Jerry Lewis’ THE BELLBOY (1960) - 8 Lobby Cards Added
BORGNINE IN BANLON!!!
Ernest Borgnine in The Split (1968) - 3 Color Stills Added
CLUTCH CARGO, with his pals Spinner & Paddlefoot! - 5 Photos Added
Tags: 8 x 10, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, Brigitte Bardot, CLUTCH CARGO, Dorothy Kilgallen, Ernest Borgnine, Evan Rachel Wood, Frank Tashlin, Goldie Hawn, Howard Hawks, Images, Jerry Lewis, John Charles Daly, Liv Tyler, Liza Minnelli, Lobby Cards, Marlene Dietrich, New Photos, Paddlefoot, Photo, Photos, Pictures, PLUNKETT AND MacLEANE, promotional stills, publicity photos, Spinner, Still, Stills, The Addams Family, The Bellboy, THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY, the incredible hulk, the lady is willing, THE STRANGERS, Whats My LineFiled Under Image Blog
Fritz Lang’s original cut of METROPOLIS found in Buenos Aires museum
July 5th, 2008 by Scott Marks
In May, rumors that an uncut, 131 minute print of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons was discovered at the São Paulo Cinematheque. A fellow named Roberto posted this tidbit on the Turner Classic Movies website adding, “cans labeled correctly but ignored by over-worked local preservation staff which assumed it was regular print of film.”
Recently, staff members of the Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken in Buenos Aires, found a 16mm negative of what was thought to have been long lost missing scenes from Fritz Lang’s 21st Century masterwork Metropolis.
On Thursday, the recently discovered material was shown to journalists for the first time in decades. Museum director Paula Felix-Didier said theirs is the only copy of German director Fritz Lang’s complete film.
All this talk of Brazil and Buenos Aires being the meccas of lost movies prompted compulsive Emulsion Compulsion loyalist ‘Bushido’ John Decapias to slide back his porkpie hat, scratch his head and muse, “Boy, everything is being rediscovered in South America. Let’s see if they find anything else.”
How about unearthing the missing reels to Greed, the pie fight from Dr. Strangelove and a copies of London After Midnight and Don Siegel’s Baby Face Nelson while they’re at it?
The last time anyone saw the complete version of Lang’s futuristic tale of man vs. machine was in May of 1927. According to Zeit Online, “At the time it was the most expensive German film ever made. It was intended to be a major offensive against Hollywood. However the film flopped with critics and audiences alike.”
Fanning flopsweat, American reps from Paramount took a scissors and started snipping away at Lang’s creation. The plot was restructured to the point of oversimplification and many crucial scenes excised. In their wake, all that remained of the original Metropolis was an incomplete original negative and copies of shortened and reedited release prints. For eighty years, over a quarter of Lang’s original vision had been considered missing in action.
Continue reading Fritz Lang’s original cut of METROPOLIS found in Buenos Aires museum
Tags: Argentina, Argentine, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Cinemateque, Complete, Film Preservation, Film Restoration, Fritz Lang, Images, Martin Koerber, METROPOLIS, Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken, Original Cut, Original Version, Orson Welles, Paula Félix-Didier, Photos, Pictures, Preservation, Restoration, São Paulo Cinemateque, Science Fiction, South America, The Complete METROPOLIS, The Magnificent Ambersons, Uncut, VideoFiled Under News
Dig A Hole: Larry Harmon, the Architect of Bozo
July 3rd, 2008 by Scott Marks
If you listen carefully, you can almost hear Ringmaster Ned blow his whistle and ask that time honored question, “WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE DEAD CLOWN?”
BOZO!!!
But wait, this isn’t some franchised clown clone sporting the traditional red, white and blue jumpsuit and sugar-cone-tipped orange hair. We’re talking the progenitor, apex and architect of Boz, Larry Harmon.
Well, not really. I mean the clown kicked, but to my surprise Larry Harmon was not Bozo’s creator. That dubious distinction goes to Disney voice artist Pinto “Goofy” Colvig who originated Bozo the Clown when Capitol Records introduced a series of children’s records in 1946. Harmon first met his future alter ego (or was it the other way around?) while answering a casting call to make personal appearances dressed as Bozo T. Clown to help promote the record.
On Thursday, Larry Harmon died at his home in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. He was 83.
Harmon eventually bought the rights to Bozo, added a few personal touches to the costume and became a clown guru and Boz’s biggest supporter. And you know what they say about a man who wears a size 47EEE shoe!
According to the Associated Press, Harmon’s place in history was challenged in 2004 by Milwaukee’s International Clown Hall of Fame. (Sounds like the vacation destination from hell.) The bastards removed a plaque honoring him as Bozo and formally endorsed Colvig for creating the role. Harmon denied ever misrepresenting Bozo’s history.
He said he was claiming credit only for what he added to the character — “What I sound like, what I look like, what I walk like” — and what he did to popularize Bozo.
“Isn’t it a shame the credit that was given to me for the work I have done, they arbitrarily take it down, like I didn’t do anything for the last 52 years,” he told the AP at the time.
Before John Wayne Gacy delivered a black eye to clowns everywhere, Harmon personally trained over 200 full grown men who wanted to wear a funny costume, hang around small children all day and sing about Bozo’s “pocket rocket.”
What did it take to make a good Bozo? Harmon said, ” “I’m looking for that sparkle in the eyes, that emotion, feeling, directness, warmth. That is so important.” The records, cartoon spin-off, merchandising, character licensing and personal appearances made Harmon a very wealthy man.
He was fiercely covetous of his stolen creation, going so far as trying to have the more derisive connotation of the word “bozo” stricken from the record. And woe unto those who donned a similar costume. Harmon’s crack legal team would be on them like yellow on Frazier Thomas’ sport coat.
Bob Bell
Harmon’s most successful pupil was WGN-TVs Bob Bell who assumed the role of Chicago’s favorite clown between 1960 until he hung up his (artificial) red nose 1984. Bell and Bozo were so popular that there was a ten-year wait for tickets to a live taping of the lunchtime show. I went with my fourth grade class, but sadly the tips, and the tips only, of the magic arrows never landed on me, but I did get a free Bun (by Wayne) candy bar.
If there is a God, funeral services will be held at 2501 W. Bradley Pl. The notable pall bearers, including Oliver O. Oliver, Sandy the Clown, Mr. Ned, Bob Trendler, Cooky the Clown and Golly the Gorilla, will carry Mr. Harmon’s remains to the studio where he will forever be interred in Bucket #6.
Links:
Classic Chicago TV and Radio Memoribilia
Bozo le Clown
Tags: Bob Bell, Bozo, Bozo the Clown, Bozo's Circus, Chicago, Chicago TV, Children's Show, Clown, Golly the Gorilla, Larry Harman, Larry Harmon, Obituary, Photos, Pictures, Pinto Colvig, Video, WGN, WGN-TVFiled Under Obituaries
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Twitter Feed- scottmarks: Apart from decrepit whoremaster Hugh Hefner's line readings, there is nothing to laugh at in THE HOUSE BUNNY.
- scottmarks: Are the fucking Olympics over yet? Unless Leni Riefenstahl is the DP I have zero interest.
- scottmarks: WTF? THE HOUSE BUNNY is about Playboy sluts and it's rated PG-13. Who wants to see soft core for prepubescent minds? Rent a porno instead!
- scottmarks: indiana jones and the media temple of doom...lousy tin horn server. Hurry up, fellas. I have to dig a hole for George Furth!!!
- scottmarks: A Question of VERTIGO: Last week I received a frantic late night call from my friend Herb Ross asking.. http://tinyurl.com/5kz92w
- scottmarks: Even an unending stream of close-ups and sandpaper cinematography can't CHOKE the brilliance (and hilarity) of Chuck Palahniuk.
- scottmarks: Another Ben Kingsley film? YAAAAAAAY!!! Will "Transsiberian" be "Transamerica" with a Russian tranny?
- scottmarks: “The Adventures of Jerry Lewis” Comic Book No. 112: While hastening to find suitable read.. http://tinyurl.com/62ec9b
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