Sweet. The senate has suddenly discovered global warming.
Heck, even some Republicans.
McCain said today there’s no denying it any more.
Even W. mentioned it, sort of, in his State of the Union fakery.
By golly. I guess that son of a gun Gore was right all along.
Who would have thought a guy who actually helped make the internet what it is now, volunteered for Viet Nam even though as the son of a Senator he could have gotten out of it like some other “fortunate ones” did, and ended up winning the presidency and then bowing out gracefully when it was clear his opponents meant to tear the country apart if they didn’t get their way, and who had written a book about global warming and other ecological damage needing to be stopped and when possible reversed, would be the honest one in all this?
And the DUI achieving, momma’s boy Yalie cheerleading wartime no-show national Guard pilot lied about everything from the get go son of a gun who stole two elections would turn out to be full of shit?
I’m shocked. Shocked!
But gee, it sure is sweet to see how on time all these Senators were today, finally noticing that half the scientists working for the government were coerced by oil company lobbyists into changing wording in their reports so as to never use the term “global warming.”
Who knew they’d been doing that for years?
Besides me and any anybody else paying any fucking attention at all.
And the media plays right along with it. OOOhhh, look what’s news today: global warming!
No kidding, schmucks.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
HMMMM…
“Just don’t get too complicated, Eddie. When a guy gets too complicated he’s unhappy. And when he’s unhappy—his luck runs out…”
—Raymond Chandler from
THE BLUE DAHLIA
—Raymond Chandler from
THE BLUE DAHLIA
Sunday, January 28, 2007
WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED
Guess who’s the main speaker at the White House Correspondents’ dinner this year? Last year Stephen Colbert roasted W. so badly, the audience of correspondents and celebrities—as well as W. and Laura and “honored guests”—forgot to laugh.
Rich Little.
He said in a New Yorker interview: “…believe me, you won’t hear the word ‘Iraq’ out of my mouth the whole evening. They know I’m a safe bet over there at the White House.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association said the White House put no pressure on them, which I believe, because they didn’t have to.
The correspondents themselves were embarrassed by Colbert’s performance after it became one of the most popular YouTube videos.
Because, after initially laughing at Colbert’s barbs at W. and Dick and their gang, they began to laugh less and less. Some in the audience continued to get, and obviously enjoy, the direct hits on W.’s hypocrisy and narcissism, but most quieted down, either not getting the joke or not wanting to embarrass junior any more.
The choice of Rich Little is just another sign of their bending over for this administration’s lethal media manipulation.
But it is also a sign of something else I’ve ranted about before, that the whole Hollywood-Liberal connection is a smokescreen used to manipulate voters who feel envy or resentment toward celebrities and their seeming power.
The reality of my almost twenty years experience working in “Hollywood” is: there are as many, or more, conservative Republicans in “show business” as there are liberal Democrats. Especially among comedians.
Little says he’s a Republican. Drew Carey did too. Colin Quinn is blatantly anti-Liberal, pro-Conservative as his supposedly topical comedy show on TV in recent years made clear, giving a platform to rightwing perspectives sold as reality and all else as elitism.
That’s the perspective Nixon’s dirty trick team came up with in his bid to win over “the silent majority”—a rightwing invention to begin with. The idea was to redirect working peoples’ anger over the circumstances of their lives, getting worse every year under the growing power of corporations.
To divert attention from the true source of the growing disparity in incomes and power in this country, the Nixon political machine successfully redirected voters’ resentment toward the Kennedys and what they represented—East Coast, Harvard-educated, ethnic/immigrant up from poverty recently rich (as opposed to the WASP Walkers and Bushes W. descends from who’ve been wealthy and powerful for centuries) and their Hollywood friends.
Of course they also redirected that resentment toward blacks and the poor, which strategy was later perfected by Reagan and his minions, using so-called “welfare queens” as the symbol of what was wrong with the country, rather than the newly minted “homeless” families that hadn’t existed since the depths of the Depression until Reagan took power.
W. and his cronies have extended this mis-information of whose to blame for the troubles of ordinary folks by blaming homosexuals, feminists non-Christians (or rather non-their-kind-of-“Christians”) etc., and most obviously, Hollywood.
But that’s just as much a myth as “the welfare queen’ was. Most Hollywood producers I’ve worked with are Republicans, and at least half or more of the directors and writers and comedians I’ve known are Republicans, as well as many of the stars.
Yes, the “liberals” seem more represented in the monologues of comedians at awards events, or in the acceptance speeches of some of the recipients. But that too is an illusion. When Clinton was president, or Gore running for office, comedians, even ones allegedly “liberal Democrats” skewered them just as readily, and were easily manipulated into doing it on the basis of the misinformation propagated by the right-wingers.
Like Gore’s alleged claim of starting the internet, which he never said, only taking credit for his part in making it what it became, which is fact not fiction, and so on.
The rightwing Republicans are as good at manipulating the myth that Hollywood is somehow more liberal than the real people out there in the middle of the country, despite the evidence of so many, including comedians from Bob Hope to Rich Little to Drew Carey to Dennis Miller to Colin Quinn et. al.
And “the media” goes right along with it, as it continues to do with everything else, taking the administration’s word on Iran’s supposed interference in Iraq with infiltrators and bombs etc., setting up familiarly false rationalizations for military action against Iranians, first in Iraq and soon in Iran itself, repeating meaningless body counts (today it was “250 insurgents killed” in a battle no news person was witness too, so why exactly are they repeating that figure as fact?) et-fucking-cetera.
Rich Little. It’s come to that.
Rich Little.
He said in a New Yorker interview: “…believe me, you won’t hear the word ‘Iraq’ out of my mouth the whole evening. They know I’m a safe bet over there at the White House.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association said the White House put no pressure on them, which I believe, because they didn’t have to.
The correspondents themselves were embarrassed by Colbert’s performance after it became one of the most popular YouTube videos.
Because, after initially laughing at Colbert’s barbs at W. and Dick and their gang, they began to laugh less and less. Some in the audience continued to get, and obviously enjoy, the direct hits on W.’s hypocrisy and narcissism, but most quieted down, either not getting the joke or not wanting to embarrass junior any more.
The choice of Rich Little is just another sign of their bending over for this administration’s lethal media manipulation.
But it is also a sign of something else I’ve ranted about before, that the whole Hollywood-Liberal connection is a smokescreen used to manipulate voters who feel envy or resentment toward celebrities and their seeming power.
The reality of my almost twenty years experience working in “Hollywood” is: there are as many, or more, conservative Republicans in “show business” as there are liberal Democrats. Especially among comedians.
Little says he’s a Republican. Drew Carey did too. Colin Quinn is blatantly anti-Liberal, pro-Conservative as his supposedly topical comedy show on TV in recent years made clear, giving a platform to rightwing perspectives sold as reality and all else as elitism.
That’s the perspective Nixon’s dirty trick team came up with in his bid to win over “the silent majority”—a rightwing invention to begin with. The idea was to redirect working peoples’ anger over the circumstances of their lives, getting worse every year under the growing power of corporations.
To divert attention from the true source of the growing disparity in incomes and power in this country, the Nixon political machine successfully redirected voters’ resentment toward the Kennedys and what they represented—East Coast, Harvard-educated, ethnic/immigrant up from poverty recently rich (as opposed to the WASP Walkers and Bushes W. descends from who’ve been wealthy and powerful for centuries) and their Hollywood friends.
Of course they also redirected that resentment toward blacks and the poor, which strategy was later perfected by Reagan and his minions, using so-called “welfare queens” as the symbol of what was wrong with the country, rather than the newly minted “homeless” families that hadn’t existed since the depths of the Depression until Reagan took power.
W. and his cronies have extended this mis-information of whose to blame for the troubles of ordinary folks by blaming homosexuals, feminists non-Christians (or rather non-their-kind-of-“Christians”) etc., and most obviously, Hollywood.
But that’s just as much a myth as “the welfare queen’ was. Most Hollywood producers I’ve worked with are Republicans, and at least half or more of the directors and writers and comedians I’ve known are Republicans, as well as many of the stars.
Yes, the “liberals” seem more represented in the monologues of comedians at awards events, or in the acceptance speeches of some of the recipients. But that too is an illusion. When Clinton was president, or Gore running for office, comedians, even ones allegedly “liberal Democrats” skewered them just as readily, and were easily manipulated into doing it on the basis of the misinformation propagated by the right-wingers.
Like Gore’s alleged claim of starting the internet, which he never said, only taking credit for his part in making it what it became, which is fact not fiction, and so on.
The rightwing Republicans are as good at manipulating the myth that Hollywood is somehow more liberal than the real people out there in the middle of the country, despite the evidence of so many, including comedians from Bob Hope to Rich Little to Drew Carey to Dennis Miller to Colin Quinn et. al.
And “the media” goes right along with it, as it continues to do with everything else, taking the administration’s word on Iran’s supposed interference in Iraq with infiltrators and bombs etc., setting up familiarly false rationalizations for military action against Iranians, first in Iraq and soon in Iran itself, repeating meaningless body counts (today it was “250 insurgents killed” in a battle no news person was witness too, so why exactly are they repeating that figure as fact?) et-fucking-cetera.
Rich Little. It’s come to that.
Friday, January 26, 2007
HERE WE GO AGAIN
“Five Iranians were detained by U.S.-led forces earlier this month after a raid on an Iranian government liaison office in northern Iraq. The move further frayed relations between the two countries, already tense because of U.S.-led efforts to force Tehran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program.
The administration said at the time that U.S. forces entered an Iranian building in Kurdish-controlled Irbil because information linked it to Revolutionary Guards and other Iranian elements engaging in violent activities in Iraq.
But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, contended the Iranians were working in a liaison office that had government approval and that the office was in the process of being approved as a consulate. In Iran, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the U.S. raid constituted an intervention in Iranian-Iraqi affairs.”
Think Bush has changed? Only the language, from “I am the decider” to today’s “I am the decision maker.”
He wants to leave a legacy of toughness, to make up for being a cheerleader at Yale, a no show as a National Guard pilot during war time, a failure as an oilman (as well as at any other business venture without the bailouts of his father’s friends), and a failure as a president (without another bailout from his father’s friends).
In his ongoing failed competition with his father—who wasn’t much better in terms of policies and politics, but even only a little better means many thousands of lives spared—others have to pay for his failures.
In the time he has left, how many more will be sacrificed on the altar of his faltering ego? Too fucking many.
The administration said at the time that U.S. forces entered an Iranian building in Kurdish-controlled Irbil because information linked it to Revolutionary Guards and other Iranian elements engaging in violent activities in Iraq.
But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, contended the Iranians were working in a liaison office that had government approval and that the office was in the process of being approved as a consulate. In Iran, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the U.S. raid constituted an intervention in Iranian-Iraqi affairs.”
Think Bush has changed? Only the language, from “I am the decider” to today’s “I am the decision maker.”
He wants to leave a legacy of toughness, to make up for being a cheerleader at Yale, a no show as a National Guard pilot during war time, a failure as an oilman (as well as at any other business venture without the bailouts of his father’s friends), and a failure as a president (without another bailout from his father’s friends).
In his ongoing failed competition with his father—who wasn’t much better in terms of policies and politics, but even only a little better means many thousands of lives spared—others have to pay for his failures.
In the time he has left, how many more will be sacrificed on the altar of his faltering ego? Too fucking many.
LAST FILM FIRSTS (T-Z)
Brad Pitt in THELMA & LOUISE (1991) First time I noticed him and was impressed
Everyone in THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT NO CHASER (1988) First time I saw, off the bandstand, the interaction between Monk and other musicians—a master class in jazz with a genius of the art
War-torn Vienna in THE THIRD MAN (1949) When I first saw this film at seven, I knew it was unique, it has only become more so with time
Robert Donat in THE 39 STEPS (1935) Another early Hitchcock lesson in how to balance humor and suspense
Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942) First pairing of these two, my favorite movie stars as a kid, and still are in this, and THE BLUE DAHLIA (is that on dvd yet?)
Everyone in THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984) Still the best “mockumentary”
Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975) First movie to expose the dirty dealings of secret government organizations as the impetus for a great boy-meets-girl story, with much help from their odd chemistry
Raquel Welch in THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1974) First time she impressed me, in a fun flick full of terrific performances
The Fords in THUNDER ROAD (1958) First movie to feature car(s) as stars, at least to teenagers at the time, and Robert Mitchum was pretty cool too
William Saroyan’s writing in THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (1948) James Cagney’s honorable attempt to capture the magic of Saroyan’s play intact—unlike the Hollywood adaptation of Saroyan’s novel THE HUMAN COMEDY—but a failed attempt alas
“The people” in TO DIE IN MADRID (1965) Solid documentary about the Spanish Civil War includes crowds giving the Loyalist fist salute early on and giving Franco and his followers the Facist salute at the end
Lauren Bacall in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944) Her inimitable debut
Albert Finney in TOM JONES (1963) Still a pretty face, but a consummate actor already, in what seemed a metaphor for the sudden sexual liberation “the pill” ignited
Dustin Hoffman in TOOTSIE (1982) His half-in-drag performance was a revelation in one of the best-written boy-meets-girl screenplays ever
TOP HAT (1935) May be Astaire/Rogers best—my introduction to the comedy of mistaken identities as a kid
Matthew Broderick in TORCH SONG TRILOGY (1988) Broderick was in the play, only fifteen or so, when I first saw it downtown around ’81, before it became a smash, I was thoroughly impressed by his understated style, already a very fine actor
Robert Blake and Bogart in TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) Didn’t understand the power of Bogart’s performance when I saw this as a kid, it was the first time I saw him play scary demented, but I recognized the kid actor Robert Blake as the Mexican boy in the opening
James Dunn in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) Though a little overdone, okay sometimes a lot, still, as a kid, this take on Irish drunks and immigrants hit home, especially Dunn as the alcoholic father
Brian Deacon in TRIPLE ECHO (1973) Overlooked and underrated movie, amazing in its originality and performances, especially from Deacon, who transforms himself like no one else had through the arc of the story, has to be seen to be believed, one of Oliver Reed’s and Glenda Jackson’s best as well
Rebecca De Mornay in TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (1985) Proved the breadth of her talent, as well as beauty, after making her mark as the hooker in RISKY BUSINESS, another unfortunately undervalued actor
Half the cast of 12 ANGRY MEN (1957) I felt very sophisticated getting the power of this drama when I was fifteen, and impressed by the acting from half a cast I’d never seen or noticed before
Carole Lombard in TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934) I grew up near the tracks and always loved trains, and movies that take place on them—this was the first I remember seeing Carole Lombard in, and getting how terrific she was
Everyone in 28 UP (1985) The first one I caught in the ongoing series of true-life stories unfolding over seven-year periods, under the direction of Michael Apted, they’re all riveting
Richard Tyson in TWO-MOON JUNCTION (1988) You’ll have to wait for me memoirs for the whole story, [or see VENICE CA (1980S) in IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE] —the short version is: originally to be filmed years earlier with a different title and me in the role Tyson did, with an older cast playing characters in their thirties and older, but just before filming started the financing pulled out, then it was revived after Hollywood discovered the “youth demographic” and movies were rewritten for casts in their teens and twenties. There’s a lot more to it, but like I said…
Everyone in THE WANDERERS (1979) I objected to the treatment of the Irish in the novel and the movie adaptation, but the cast was terrific, almost all of whom I never saw before, except for Karen Allen, beautiful and memorable, as always
Redford and Streisand in THE WAY WE WERE (1973) Who would have thought of them together? Maybe you still don’t, but their competing styles of acting—and being—worked perfectly for their characters, the scene where he passes out on top of her and she’s lying there staring at the ceiling I can’t imagine anyone doing better
Nick Nolte in WEEDS (1987) I knew he was a powerful screen presence, but this is the movie where I got he was a great actor, the love scene after his character gets out of prison is worth the whole movie, I’ve rarely seen anything as brilliantly realistic as his reactions in that scene
George Chakiris et. al. in WEST SIDE STORY (1961) One of my favorite musicals, miscast on the white gang side and Natalie Wood as a Puerto Rican, though they all give it their best shot and ultimately I think it works, since you have to suspend so much sense of reality for musicals anyway, but Chakiris and his gang, as well as Rita Moreno and the Latinas, brought something new and vibrant and stylish to the screen for that time, and it was needed, still is
Hayley Mills and Alan Bates in WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1961) No, this is the first time I saw him, but both were a revelation in this beautiful parable, another overlooked and underrated perfect film
The animation-human mix in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988) After leaving the theater in Hollywood and driving home down Sunset Boulevard, I couldn’t keep the cars and lights from morphing into cartoons, keeping me jittery all the way home
Burton and Taylor in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966) Scary the way they seemed to not be acting, it made you wonder if this was what their relationship was really like, first show-biz, glamour couple to seem so exposed in their work
Ernest Borgnine in THE WILD BUNCH (1969) More than a decade after he first impressed me in MARTY, and seemingly having sold out to TV and shlock, he is the best thing in this movie full of powerful performances, especially from the aging movie stars William Holden and Robert Ryan, but Borgnine makes it all real
Lee Marvin in THE WILD ONE (1954) First time I remember seeing him, holding his own in the face of Brando’s revolutionary acting style
Gene Wilder in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) An unexpected portrayal that only gets more interesting with time
Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk in WINGS OF DESIRE (1988) Inspired by Rilke, co- authored by Peter Handke, directed by Wim Wenders and starring one of my favorite film actors, Bruno Ganz—plus Falk breaks out of the straight jacket of his mannerisms to become real in a way I never saw before—what a wonderfully original movie
Ray Bolger and Burt Lahr in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) An incredible performance by a child actor of any time, Judy Garland makes the movie, but Bolger and Lahr impressed me most as a kid, their commitment to their two-dimensional storybook roles shows, though Lahr later regretted always being associated with the Cowardly Lion, in my book, he should be grateful
Gena Rowlands in WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974) One of the most original and strangest performances on film, the first time I realized how much she towered over other actors
Norma Shearer in THE WOMEN (1939) First time I got her leading a cast of great performances—but every time I see it I’m surprised again that there are no men, their presence is felt in the dialogue so powerfully, it’s hard to recognize their actual physical absence
Everyone in WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (1988) First Almodovar film I saw and was giddy with delight for days after
Lisa Eichorn in Yanks (1979) A mixed bag, but she was moving and beautiful and I was sorry she didn’t go on to become a big star
Streisand in YENTL (1983) First and only time I saw a woman pushing middle age play a young boy, which maybe didn’t work so well, but what other “artist” would have the moxie to try it—if it was a performance piece on the downtown Manhattan scene she would have been cheered for breaking taboos and female stereotypes and taking risks etc.
The housemates in YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938) First movie I saw that reflected some of the variety in my own household and neighborhood as a kid
Phew, that was a little too much of a compulsive thing, but at least now I can throw that 1995 movie guide out, and replace it with a current one, hmmmmm…
Everyone in THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT NO CHASER (1988) First time I saw, off the bandstand, the interaction between Monk and other musicians—a master class in jazz with a genius of the art
War-torn Vienna in THE THIRD MAN (1949) When I first saw this film at seven, I knew it was unique, it has only become more so with time
Robert Donat in THE 39 STEPS (1935) Another early Hitchcock lesson in how to balance humor and suspense
Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942) First pairing of these two, my favorite movie stars as a kid, and still are in this, and THE BLUE DAHLIA (is that on dvd yet?)
Everyone in THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984) Still the best “mockumentary”
Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975) First movie to expose the dirty dealings of secret government organizations as the impetus for a great boy-meets-girl story, with much help from their odd chemistry
Raquel Welch in THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1974) First time she impressed me, in a fun flick full of terrific performances
The Fords in THUNDER ROAD (1958) First movie to feature car(s) as stars, at least to teenagers at the time, and Robert Mitchum was pretty cool too
William Saroyan’s writing in THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (1948) James Cagney’s honorable attempt to capture the magic of Saroyan’s play intact—unlike the Hollywood adaptation of Saroyan’s novel THE HUMAN COMEDY—but a failed attempt alas
“The people” in TO DIE IN MADRID (1965) Solid documentary about the Spanish Civil War includes crowds giving the Loyalist fist salute early on and giving Franco and his followers the Facist salute at the end
Lauren Bacall in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944) Her inimitable debut
Albert Finney in TOM JONES (1963) Still a pretty face, but a consummate actor already, in what seemed a metaphor for the sudden sexual liberation “the pill” ignited
Dustin Hoffman in TOOTSIE (1982) His half-in-drag performance was a revelation in one of the best-written boy-meets-girl screenplays ever
TOP HAT (1935) May be Astaire/Rogers best—my introduction to the comedy of mistaken identities as a kid
Matthew Broderick in TORCH SONG TRILOGY (1988) Broderick was in the play, only fifteen or so, when I first saw it downtown around ’81, before it became a smash, I was thoroughly impressed by his understated style, already a very fine actor
Robert Blake and Bogart in TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) Didn’t understand the power of Bogart’s performance when I saw this as a kid, it was the first time I saw him play scary demented, but I recognized the kid actor Robert Blake as the Mexican boy in the opening
James Dunn in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) Though a little overdone, okay sometimes a lot, still, as a kid, this take on Irish drunks and immigrants hit home, especially Dunn as the alcoholic father
Brian Deacon in TRIPLE ECHO (1973) Overlooked and underrated movie, amazing in its originality and performances, especially from Deacon, who transforms himself like no one else had through the arc of the story, has to be seen to be believed, one of Oliver Reed’s and Glenda Jackson’s best as well
Rebecca De Mornay in TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (1985) Proved the breadth of her talent, as well as beauty, after making her mark as the hooker in RISKY BUSINESS, another unfortunately undervalued actor
Half the cast of 12 ANGRY MEN (1957) I felt very sophisticated getting the power of this drama when I was fifteen, and impressed by the acting from half a cast I’d never seen or noticed before
Carole Lombard in TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934) I grew up near the tracks and always loved trains, and movies that take place on them—this was the first I remember seeing Carole Lombard in, and getting how terrific she was
Everyone in 28 UP (1985) The first one I caught in the ongoing series of true-life stories unfolding over seven-year periods, under the direction of Michael Apted, they’re all riveting
Richard Tyson in TWO-MOON JUNCTION (1988) You’ll have to wait for me memoirs for the whole story, [or see VENICE CA (1980S) in IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE] —the short version is: originally to be filmed years earlier with a different title and me in the role Tyson did, with an older cast playing characters in their thirties and older, but just before filming started the financing pulled out, then it was revived after Hollywood discovered the “youth demographic” and movies were rewritten for casts in their teens and twenties. There’s a lot more to it, but like I said…
Everyone in THE WANDERERS (1979) I objected to the treatment of the Irish in the novel and the movie adaptation, but the cast was terrific, almost all of whom I never saw before, except for Karen Allen, beautiful and memorable, as always
Redford and Streisand in THE WAY WE WERE (1973) Who would have thought of them together? Maybe you still don’t, but their competing styles of acting—and being—worked perfectly for their characters, the scene where he passes out on top of her and she’s lying there staring at the ceiling I can’t imagine anyone doing better
Nick Nolte in WEEDS (1987) I knew he was a powerful screen presence, but this is the movie where I got he was a great actor, the love scene after his character gets out of prison is worth the whole movie, I’ve rarely seen anything as brilliantly realistic as his reactions in that scene
George Chakiris et. al. in WEST SIDE STORY (1961) One of my favorite musicals, miscast on the white gang side and Natalie Wood as a Puerto Rican, though they all give it their best shot and ultimately I think it works, since you have to suspend so much sense of reality for musicals anyway, but Chakiris and his gang, as well as Rita Moreno and the Latinas, brought something new and vibrant and stylish to the screen for that time, and it was needed, still is
Hayley Mills and Alan Bates in WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1961) No, this is the first time I saw him, but both were a revelation in this beautiful parable, another overlooked and underrated perfect film
The animation-human mix in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988) After leaving the theater in Hollywood and driving home down Sunset Boulevard, I couldn’t keep the cars and lights from morphing into cartoons, keeping me jittery all the way home
Burton and Taylor in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966) Scary the way they seemed to not be acting, it made you wonder if this was what their relationship was really like, first show-biz, glamour couple to seem so exposed in their work
Ernest Borgnine in THE WILD BUNCH (1969) More than a decade after he first impressed me in MARTY, and seemingly having sold out to TV and shlock, he is the best thing in this movie full of powerful performances, especially from the aging movie stars William Holden and Robert Ryan, but Borgnine makes it all real
Lee Marvin in THE WILD ONE (1954) First time I remember seeing him, holding his own in the face of Brando’s revolutionary acting style
Gene Wilder in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) An unexpected portrayal that only gets more interesting with time
Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk in WINGS OF DESIRE (1988) Inspired by Rilke, co- authored by Peter Handke, directed by Wim Wenders and starring one of my favorite film actors, Bruno Ganz—plus Falk breaks out of the straight jacket of his mannerisms to become real in a way I never saw before—what a wonderfully original movie
Ray Bolger and Burt Lahr in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) An incredible performance by a child actor of any time, Judy Garland makes the movie, but Bolger and Lahr impressed me most as a kid, their commitment to their two-dimensional storybook roles shows, though Lahr later regretted always being associated with the Cowardly Lion, in my book, he should be grateful
Gena Rowlands in WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974) One of the most original and strangest performances on film, the first time I realized how much she towered over other actors
Norma Shearer in THE WOMEN (1939) First time I got her leading a cast of great performances—but every time I see it I’m surprised again that there are no men, their presence is felt in the dialogue so powerfully, it’s hard to recognize their actual physical absence
Everyone in WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (1988) First Almodovar film I saw and was giddy with delight for days after
Lisa Eichorn in Yanks (1979) A mixed bag, but she was moving and beautiful and I was sorry she didn’t go on to become a big star
Streisand in YENTL (1983) First and only time I saw a woman pushing middle age play a young boy, which maybe didn’t work so well, but what other “artist” would have the moxie to try it—if it was a performance piece on the downtown Manhattan scene she would have been cheered for breaking taboos and female stereotypes and taking risks etc.
The housemates in YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938) First movie I saw that reflected some of the variety in my own household and neighborhood as a kid
Phew, that was a little too much of a compulsive thing, but at least now I can throw that 1995 movie guide out, and replace it with a current one, hmmmmm…
Thursday, January 25, 2007
STILL MORE FILM FIRSTS (Q-S)
I’ve gotten some e mails and comments on this seemingly never ending list I compulsively began compiling when I started browsing through that old 1995 movie guide. It seems we all have our memories of movie moments when we first noticed someone or something on film. So here’s the latest installment of mine (I’ve given up the asterisks which were pretty distracting and eventually meaningless in context):
Maureen O’Hara in THE QUIET MAN (1952) Not the first time I saw her in a film, but the first time I saw her romantically, despite the sexism of the story—still one of my favorite films
Joe Pesci in RAGING BULL (1980) De Niro was impressive, but I couldn’t help being distracted by his famous weight gain in the role, it looked odd and unnatural to me, but Pesci’s performance knocked me out
Karen Allen in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) Obviously not the first time I saw her in a film, but first time I got the power she could bring to the screen, in her role as a hard drinking, hard fighting, match for Ford’s Indiana Jones—the only female match, I thought, in the entire series
Most of the cast of A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961) Pretty stilted in some scenes, but powerful in others, and a first on many levels in terms of “race”
Leila Schenna in RAMPARTS OF CLAY (1971) Incredible
Me in THE RAPTURE (1991) Not the first film I was in, but the first one I was cut close to entirely out of, in the role of the President of the U.S., ending up as a silent face on a TV screen
Jim Backus in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) First time I noticed the man behind the voice of the animated Mister Magoo, in a role that impressed me as a kid because I knew no fathers like that in my neighborhood, nor kids like Sal Mineo or even the one Dean played—to my just-turned-teenaged eyes he looked way too old to be playing a high school kid, but I fell in love with the way Natalie Wood took the cigarette from his lips in the driveway scene before he accidentally lit the filter end, I wanted me a woman who would do that, instead of let me light it and die laughing
Montgomery Clift in RED RIVER (1948) First time I saw Clift when I was a kid, in this seminal Western with a classic Hollywood cast led by John Wayne, who later admitted the only time he was nervous on a movie was the first scene he acted in with Clift, who rattled Wayne with his intensity
Berry Berenson in REMEMBER MY NAME (1978) Anthony Perkins’ wife in a highly underrated and overlooked film, one of my favorites that year, Berry was Marisa’s sister, both from a famous family, Marisa a successful model who began her acting career in the film CABARET, which I forgot to mention as another first, I dug Marisa from afar, but got to know Berry who was extremely down to earth and treated me with great warmth and respect—I know I wasn’t the only one devastated by her death in one of those planes that hit the towers on 9/11
Catherine Deneuve in REPULSION (1965) Roman Polanksi’s first international success, in which Deneuve mesmerized a lot of us
Half the cast of RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) Once I got over my envy of them getting roles in this movie I’d heard about but couldn’t get seen for
Married couple bed scene in RESURRECTION (1980) with Ellen Burstyn, always excellent, as the wife—the first time I saw a truly realistic end-of-the-day-in-bed conversation between a married couple
Nathalie Baye in THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE (1982) First time I noticed her, in one of the best movies I know of, and one of Gerard Depardieu’s best too
Richard Pryor in RICHARD PRYOR—LIVE IN CONCERT (1979) I’d seen him on TV in his earlier tamer days and dug him even then, but this was his peak, the best comedy concert film ever
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers in ROCK, ROCK, ROCK! (1956) And everyone else except for Teddy Randazzo, the lead in many early rock’n’roll flicks who Alan Freed kept trying to turn into a star, but we teenagers weren’t buying—Lymon, around my age at the time, stole the movie for me, along with Chuck Berry and LaVern Baker, I didn’t even notice Tuesday Weld, yet
Olivia Hussey in ROMEO AND JULIET (1968) The best film version
Helena Bonham in A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985) First time I dug her, and only the second or third time I’d seen Daniel Day-Lewis, and I didn’t recognize him, so deeply into the role he was of the less than leading man
Dexter Gordon in ROUND MIDNIGHT (1986) First time I saw him act, and very well, a man I’d hung around a little, when I was a young wannabe jazz musician
Shafiq Syed in SALAAM BOMBAY! (1988) Not unlike PIXOTE only in India
Me in the audience at SALVADOR (1986) When they uncover the bodies of the nuns I heard someone in the audience make a sound of anguish so wrenching I felt sorry for them, and then realized it was me, also one of James Woods best performances in what was the first film I saw to really capture the vileness of the repression our government supported in many so-called “Third World” countries
Richard Jaeckel in THE SANDS OF IOWA JIMA (1949) Saw it at seven and identified most with the baby-faced Jaeckel, who I later watched work out at a gym I belonged to in Venice Beach when he was an “old man” but still had that same baby face
Everyone in SAPPHIRE (1959) In love with a “black girl” and “black” culture as a teenager at the time, I knew that “Sapphire” was black street slang then for a black woman so went to see this British flick that indeed was about a “colored” girl passing for white who is murdered—somewhat “square” but interesting take on mixed-race culture of the time
Miyoshi Umeki in SAYONARA (1957) I saw this in Florida when segregation was still the law throughout the South, including Miami where the movie theater was—the white teenagers who I was on a double date with, while my father was at the track, didn’t get the connection, or dig the film, though I did
Steven Bauer in SCARFACE (1983) Probably not his film debut, but first time I dug him, one of the nicest actors I ever met, and an underrated one, whose performance as Pacino’s partner in this flick helped give balance to what otherwise seemed to me an almost campy over-the-top performance by Pacino
John Wayne in THE SEARCHERS (1956) When I saw it again at a revival in the Carnegie Hall Movie theater in the 1970s, I began to let go of my anger at Wayne’s politics and remember why he moved me as a kid, and recognized his acting skill
Toshiro Mifune in THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) Always near the top of my all time favorite flicks, with great performances throughout, but Mifune excels among them
Carrie Fisher in SHAMPOO (1975) A hot but cynical teenager, she stole the scene she was in, but everyone in this flick was terrific
Brandon de Wilde in SHANE (1953) First time I saw him, a boy almost my age who became a movie star and was dead in a car accident before he was out of his teens
Spike Lee in SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT (1986) The most auspicious film debut of a director/actor in my life maybe, couldn’t stop laughing at the character’s insistent raps
Chloe Webb in SID AND NANCY (1986) Gary Oldman is great too, but I don’t think this is the first time I dug him
Donald O’Conner in SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) Maybe not the first time I saw him, but the first I remember, and for me one of the funniest scenes ever in a film is his “Make’em Laugh” number
Susan Berman in SMITHEREENS (1982) Susan Seidelman’s directing debut, in which I was cast and dropped out, to my regret, because of a conflict with the Screen Actors Guild that I had just become a member of—Berman was terrific in it
Marilyn Monroe in SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) I already dug her, as well as Lemmon and Curtis, but this was the first film she was in where I got the magnitude of her accomplishment as an actor, not just as an incredibly beautiful and sexy woman
Michael York in SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE (1970) I first noticed him in CABARET but this film is the first in which his almost Brechtian detached acting style worked perfectly for me, one of my favorite overlooked movies, totally worth seeing
James Baskett in SONG OF THE SOUTH (1946) Now thought of as “racist” but as a boy it broke racial barriers for me with Baskett’s performance as “Uncle Remus” a screen presence that came as close to what the nuns were teaching me saints were supposed to be like than anything else I’d ever seen (still not available on dvd in the U.S.)
Everyone in THE SORROW AND THE PITY (1970) The best documentary, about WWII as told by survivors, some exposing their experiences for the first time, worth every minute of its over four-hour length
France Nuyen in SOUTH PACIFIC (1958) I fell in love with her in this
Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov in SPARTACUS (1960) It’s almost a series of vignettes the way it’s filmed, but what vignettes!—each scene is a master class in acting by the assembled great, starting with Kirk Douglas and including Tony Curtis’ Brooklyn accent, what else would the Roman plebes have sounded like? Uppercrust Brits?
Eve Arden in STAGE DOOR (1937) Arden was a TV star by the time I saw this in the 1950s, she played a sarcastic high school teacher in a weekly black-and-white show, but had been in many movies I didn’t notice until I saw her in this as part of a great cast of Hollywood comediennes, including the young Lucille Ball, in a movie full of great performances by women, especially Katherine Hepburn, as always
William Holden in STALAG 17 (1953) I’d seen him before, but this is the film that made me sit up and notice him, in a movie that hit home back then
Sharon Stone in STARDUST MEMORIES (1980) In a silent cameo, her first movie role, as the stunning blonde in the train Woody’s not on, her beauty was instantly imprinted on my heart
Some scenes in STARTIME (1991) I wrote after a rough cut was completed, to help with the story, I hope
Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in STAR WARS (1977) First time either of these guys starred in a movie, as I remember it, and a memorable pairing it was
Robin Wright in STATE OF GRACE (1990) A lot in this flick I found unbelievable, having some knowledge of the setting and characters the story is based on, but Wright was impeccably realistic in it, one of the best performances in any film that year, and a great surprise to me after having fallen in love with her in THE PRINCESS BRIDE in a much lighter role
Robert Shaw and Charles Durning in THE STING (1973) Led by one of the all-time greatest screen pairings, Redford and Newman, Shaw did his usual fantastic turn as the bad guy, and Durning, who I’d never seen before, brought what became his usual dose of real guy presence
Robert Walker in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) One of my favorite actors in one of my favorite Hitchcock movies
John Lurie and Richard Edson in STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984) Lurie I’d seen around the downtown scene, but he and Edson both brought a contemporary reality to this sometimes brilliant, sometimes a little too indulgent flick
Morgan Freeman in STREET SMART (1987) First time I saw him not on a kids TV show, playing a pimp and the best thing in a not great movie
Everyone in STRICTLY BALLROOM (1992) First time I recognized Baz Luhrmann’s film chops, is this his directorial debut?
Steve Railsback in THE STUNT MAN (1980) One of my all time favorites, with a great cast headed by Peter O’Toole and lots of terrific performances including Barabra Hershey’s, but it’s Railsback’s movie, his best.
Gerry Mulligan in THE SUBTERRANEANS (1960) First time I saw jazz great Mulligan on screen in a horrible adaptation of Kerouac’s novel about an inter racial romance, only Hollywood changed the black woman in the novel into a white French woman (!) played by Leslie Caron, while George Peppard changed Kerouac’s alter ego into his usual whitebread blandness—how did Peppard end up playing the pseudo-Beat writers in this and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, when he was so fucking boring as an actor and screen presence, to make the studios feel safe from moral charges?
Goldie Hawn in THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (1974) First time I saw her not doing a straight out comedy, although there’s comic moments in this first feature directed by Speilberg, and unlike anything else he did after it, a pleasant surprise
Veronica Lake in SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941) My first movie star crush, though I saw her in film noirs (films noir?) before I saw this, it was the first comedy I saw her in and loved her even more
Gloria Swanson in SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) First time I realized who she was, in one of my favorite films
Chico Hamilton in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957) he added a touch of jazz reality to the street-and-huckster reality of black-and-white 1950s Manhattan in a great film pitting Tony Curtis and Burt Lancastar against each other’s acting styles—a draw!
Fred Astaire and Giner Rogers in SWING TIME (1936) First movie I saw them in where they were shot in that full body, full sequence, flowing kind of dance cinematography that Astaire helped create
Maureen O’Hara in THE QUIET MAN (1952) Not the first time I saw her in a film, but the first time I saw her romantically, despite the sexism of the story—still one of my favorite films
Joe Pesci in RAGING BULL (1980) De Niro was impressive, but I couldn’t help being distracted by his famous weight gain in the role, it looked odd and unnatural to me, but Pesci’s performance knocked me out
Karen Allen in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) Obviously not the first time I saw her in a film, but first time I got the power she could bring to the screen, in her role as a hard drinking, hard fighting, match for Ford’s Indiana Jones—the only female match, I thought, in the entire series
Most of the cast of A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961) Pretty stilted in some scenes, but powerful in others, and a first on many levels in terms of “race”
Leila Schenna in RAMPARTS OF CLAY (1971) Incredible
Me in THE RAPTURE (1991) Not the first film I was in, but the first one I was cut close to entirely out of, in the role of the President of the U.S., ending up as a silent face on a TV screen
Jim Backus in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) First time I noticed the man behind the voice of the animated Mister Magoo, in a role that impressed me as a kid because I knew no fathers like that in my neighborhood, nor kids like Sal Mineo or even the one Dean played—to my just-turned-teenaged eyes he looked way too old to be playing a high school kid, but I fell in love with the way Natalie Wood took the cigarette from his lips in the driveway scene before he accidentally lit the filter end, I wanted me a woman who would do that, instead of let me light it and die laughing
Montgomery Clift in RED RIVER (1948) First time I saw Clift when I was a kid, in this seminal Western with a classic Hollywood cast led by John Wayne, who later admitted the only time he was nervous on a movie was the first scene he acted in with Clift, who rattled Wayne with his intensity
Berry Berenson in REMEMBER MY NAME (1978) Anthony Perkins’ wife in a highly underrated and overlooked film, one of my favorites that year, Berry was Marisa’s sister, both from a famous family, Marisa a successful model who began her acting career in the film CABARET, which I forgot to mention as another first, I dug Marisa from afar, but got to know Berry who was extremely down to earth and treated me with great warmth and respect—I know I wasn’t the only one devastated by her death in one of those planes that hit the towers on 9/11
Catherine Deneuve in REPULSION (1965) Roman Polanksi’s first international success, in which Deneuve mesmerized a lot of us
Half the cast of RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) Once I got over my envy of them getting roles in this movie I’d heard about but couldn’t get seen for
Married couple bed scene in RESURRECTION (1980) with Ellen Burstyn, always excellent, as the wife—the first time I saw a truly realistic end-of-the-day-in-bed conversation between a married couple
Nathalie Baye in THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE (1982) First time I noticed her, in one of the best movies I know of, and one of Gerard Depardieu’s best too
Richard Pryor in RICHARD PRYOR—LIVE IN CONCERT (1979) I’d seen him on TV in his earlier tamer days and dug him even then, but this was his peak, the best comedy concert film ever
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers in ROCK, ROCK, ROCK! (1956) And everyone else except for Teddy Randazzo, the lead in many early rock’n’roll flicks who Alan Freed kept trying to turn into a star, but we teenagers weren’t buying—Lymon, around my age at the time, stole the movie for me, along with Chuck Berry and LaVern Baker, I didn’t even notice Tuesday Weld, yet
Olivia Hussey in ROMEO AND JULIET (1968) The best film version
Helena Bonham in A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985) First time I dug her, and only the second or third time I’d seen Daniel Day-Lewis, and I didn’t recognize him, so deeply into the role he was of the less than leading man
Dexter Gordon in ROUND MIDNIGHT (1986) First time I saw him act, and very well, a man I’d hung around a little, when I was a young wannabe jazz musician
Shafiq Syed in SALAAM BOMBAY! (1988) Not unlike PIXOTE only in India
Me in the audience at SALVADOR (1986) When they uncover the bodies of the nuns I heard someone in the audience make a sound of anguish so wrenching I felt sorry for them, and then realized it was me, also one of James Woods best performances in what was the first film I saw to really capture the vileness of the repression our government supported in many so-called “Third World” countries
Richard Jaeckel in THE SANDS OF IOWA JIMA (1949) Saw it at seven and identified most with the baby-faced Jaeckel, who I later watched work out at a gym I belonged to in Venice Beach when he was an “old man” but still had that same baby face
Everyone in SAPPHIRE (1959) In love with a “black girl” and “black” culture as a teenager at the time, I knew that “Sapphire” was black street slang then for a black woman so went to see this British flick that indeed was about a “colored” girl passing for white who is murdered—somewhat “square” but interesting take on mixed-race culture of the time
Miyoshi Umeki in SAYONARA (1957) I saw this in Florida when segregation was still the law throughout the South, including Miami where the movie theater was—the white teenagers who I was on a double date with, while my father was at the track, didn’t get the connection, or dig the film, though I did
Steven Bauer in SCARFACE (1983) Probably not his film debut, but first time I dug him, one of the nicest actors I ever met, and an underrated one, whose performance as Pacino’s partner in this flick helped give balance to what otherwise seemed to me an almost campy over-the-top performance by Pacino
John Wayne in THE SEARCHERS (1956) When I saw it again at a revival in the Carnegie Hall Movie theater in the 1970s, I began to let go of my anger at Wayne’s politics and remember why he moved me as a kid, and recognized his acting skill
Toshiro Mifune in THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) Always near the top of my all time favorite flicks, with great performances throughout, but Mifune excels among them
Carrie Fisher in SHAMPOO (1975) A hot but cynical teenager, she stole the scene she was in, but everyone in this flick was terrific
Brandon de Wilde in SHANE (1953) First time I saw him, a boy almost my age who became a movie star and was dead in a car accident before he was out of his teens
Spike Lee in SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT (1986) The most auspicious film debut of a director/actor in my life maybe, couldn’t stop laughing at the character’s insistent raps
Chloe Webb in SID AND NANCY (1986) Gary Oldman is great too, but I don’t think this is the first time I dug him
Donald O’Conner in SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) Maybe not the first time I saw him, but the first I remember, and for me one of the funniest scenes ever in a film is his “Make’em Laugh” number
Susan Berman in SMITHEREENS (1982) Susan Seidelman’s directing debut, in which I was cast and dropped out, to my regret, because of a conflict with the Screen Actors Guild that I had just become a member of—Berman was terrific in it
Marilyn Monroe in SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) I already dug her, as well as Lemmon and Curtis, but this was the first film she was in where I got the magnitude of her accomplishment as an actor, not just as an incredibly beautiful and sexy woman
Michael York in SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE (1970) I first noticed him in CABARET but this film is the first in which his almost Brechtian detached acting style worked perfectly for me, one of my favorite overlooked movies, totally worth seeing
James Baskett in SONG OF THE SOUTH (1946) Now thought of as “racist” but as a boy it broke racial barriers for me with Baskett’s performance as “Uncle Remus” a screen presence that came as close to what the nuns were teaching me saints were supposed to be like than anything else I’d ever seen (still not available on dvd in the U.S.)
Everyone in THE SORROW AND THE PITY (1970) The best documentary, about WWII as told by survivors, some exposing their experiences for the first time, worth every minute of its over four-hour length
France Nuyen in SOUTH PACIFIC (1958) I fell in love with her in this
Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov in SPARTACUS (1960) It’s almost a series of vignettes the way it’s filmed, but what vignettes!—each scene is a master class in acting by the assembled great, starting with Kirk Douglas and including Tony Curtis’ Brooklyn accent, what else would the Roman plebes have sounded like? Uppercrust Brits?
Eve Arden in STAGE DOOR (1937) Arden was a TV star by the time I saw this in the 1950s, she played a sarcastic high school teacher in a weekly black-and-white show, but had been in many movies I didn’t notice until I saw her in this as part of a great cast of Hollywood comediennes, including the young Lucille Ball, in a movie full of great performances by women, especially Katherine Hepburn, as always
William Holden in STALAG 17 (1953) I’d seen him before, but this is the film that made me sit up and notice him, in a movie that hit home back then
Sharon Stone in STARDUST MEMORIES (1980) In a silent cameo, her first movie role, as the stunning blonde in the train Woody’s not on, her beauty was instantly imprinted on my heart
Some scenes in STARTIME (1991) I wrote after a rough cut was completed, to help with the story, I hope
Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in STAR WARS (1977) First time either of these guys starred in a movie, as I remember it, and a memorable pairing it was
Robin Wright in STATE OF GRACE (1990) A lot in this flick I found unbelievable, having some knowledge of the setting and characters the story is based on, but Wright was impeccably realistic in it, one of the best performances in any film that year, and a great surprise to me after having fallen in love with her in THE PRINCESS BRIDE in a much lighter role
Robert Shaw and Charles Durning in THE STING (1973) Led by one of the all-time greatest screen pairings, Redford and Newman, Shaw did his usual fantastic turn as the bad guy, and Durning, who I’d never seen before, brought what became his usual dose of real guy presence
Robert Walker in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) One of my favorite actors in one of my favorite Hitchcock movies
John Lurie and Richard Edson in STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984) Lurie I’d seen around the downtown scene, but he and Edson both brought a contemporary reality to this sometimes brilliant, sometimes a little too indulgent flick
Morgan Freeman in STREET SMART (1987) First time I saw him not on a kids TV show, playing a pimp and the best thing in a not great movie
Everyone in STRICTLY BALLROOM (1992) First time I recognized Baz Luhrmann’s film chops, is this his directorial debut?
Steve Railsback in THE STUNT MAN (1980) One of my all time favorites, with a great cast headed by Peter O’Toole and lots of terrific performances including Barabra Hershey’s, but it’s Railsback’s movie, his best.
Gerry Mulligan in THE SUBTERRANEANS (1960) First time I saw jazz great Mulligan on screen in a horrible adaptation of Kerouac’s novel about an inter racial romance, only Hollywood changed the black woman in the novel into a white French woman (!) played by Leslie Caron, while George Peppard changed Kerouac’s alter ego into his usual whitebread blandness—how did Peppard end up playing the pseudo-Beat writers in this and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, when he was so fucking boring as an actor and screen presence, to make the studios feel safe from moral charges?
Goldie Hawn in THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (1974) First time I saw her not doing a straight out comedy, although there’s comic moments in this first feature directed by Speilberg, and unlike anything else he did after it, a pleasant surprise
Veronica Lake in SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941) My first movie star crush, though I saw her in film noirs (films noir?) before I saw this, it was the first comedy I saw her in and loved her even more
Gloria Swanson in SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) First time I realized who she was, in one of my favorite films
Chico Hamilton in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957) he added a touch of jazz reality to the street-and-huckster reality of black-and-white 1950s Manhattan in a great film pitting Tony Curtis and Burt Lancastar against each other’s acting styles—a draw!
Fred Astaire and Giner Rogers in SWING TIME (1936) First movie I saw them in where they were shot in that full body, full sequence, flowing kind of dance cinematography that Astaire helped create
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
WEBB’S REBUTTAL
Don’t know about you, but I was impressed with Webb’s response to Bush’s State of the Union address last night.
There have been other Democratic responses to other State of the Union speeches by Bush since he took office that maybe made as much sense, and were maybe as simple and direct, but none spoken with so much authority (and not just his referencing of his father’s service during the Cold War, and his own in Viet Nam, and his son’s right now in Iraq, though that sure added to his obvious confidence in dressing down the “president”).
The guy seemed more ‘presidential” than anyone has in many years, on either side of the aisle. I hope he lives up to the promise of that rebuttal. He may even be a last minute viable candidate in ’08, if the others fizzle out or cancel each other out.
Not that they’re not competent. Charles Gibson on ABC tried to paint Hilary into a corner last night in an interview with her after Bush’s speech and Webb’s rebuttal, but she not only didn’t let him, she counterattacked with an incredible command of the facts, without sounding completely wonky, in fact, she impressed me more than she ever has. Maybe that’s what she needs, confrontation from twits like Gibson, who never seem to confront Bush and Bushies like that (does anyone else miss Peter Jennings as much as I do?).
And Obama on CNN with Anderson appeared equally informed and articulate, but not quite as natural at it. He seemed to be second guessing his own answers in the split second before he answered or in the pauses and grammatical glitches between answers. He came across as serious and smart and with his heart in the right place, but a little too conscious of his words and image, like Kerry often did, that constant calculating of effect that comes across as just that.
Whereas Hilary, at least on ABC, came across as not giving a damn about anyone’s spin on the past six years of Bush Republican rule, she had the facts to disprove all that, and did satisfactorily, for me.
But Webb, in the end, was the most impressive. We’ll see where he goes from here.
There have been other Democratic responses to other State of the Union speeches by Bush since he took office that maybe made as much sense, and were maybe as simple and direct, but none spoken with so much authority (and not just his referencing of his father’s service during the Cold War, and his own in Viet Nam, and his son’s right now in Iraq, though that sure added to his obvious confidence in dressing down the “president”).
The guy seemed more ‘presidential” than anyone has in many years, on either side of the aisle. I hope he lives up to the promise of that rebuttal. He may even be a last minute viable candidate in ’08, if the others fizzle out or cancel each other out.
Not that they’re not competent. Charles Gibson on ABC tried to paint Hilary into a corner last night in an interview with her after Bush’s speech and Webb’s rebuttal, but she not only didn’t let him, she counterattacked with an incredible command of the facts, without sounding completely wonky, in fact, she impressed me more than she ever has. Maybe that’s what she needs, confrontation from twits like Gibson, who never seem to confront Bush and Bushies like that (does anyone else miss Peter Jennings as much as I do?).
And Obama on CNN with Anderson appeared equally informed and articulate, but not quite as natural at it. He seemed to be second guessing his own answers in the split second before he answered or in the pauses and grammatical glitches between answers. He came across as serious and smart and with his heart in the right place, but a little too conscious of his words and image, like Kerry often did, that constant calculating of effect that comes across as just that.
Whereas Hilary, at least on ABC, came across as not giving a damn about anyone’s spin on the past six years of Bush Republican rule, she had the facts to disprove all that, and did satisfactorily, for me.
But Webb, in the end, was the most impressive. We’ll see where he goes from here.
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