It was 34 years ago on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon that Frank Sinatra reunited Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. This poignant clip from that telethon depicts one of the most memorable moments in the history of showbiz. Enjoy it as you remember all that Jerry gave -- and all that he did -- for the MDA!
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Video: Sinatra Reunites Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
It was 34 years ago on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon that Frank Sinatra reunited Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. This poignant clip from that telethon depicts one of the most memorable moments in the history of showbiz. Enjoy it as you remember all that Jerry gave -- and all that he did -- for the MDA!
Brooks & Cavett Together September 9 On HBO!
You won't want to miss this: Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again, an hour-long special featuring the two comedy greats in conversation onstage before a live audience, will debut Friday, September 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
Mel Brooks, Dick Cavett, Together On HBO, 9/9
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again, an hour-long special featuring the two comedy greats in conversation onstage before a live audience, will debut FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
For four decades, comic genius Mel Brooks and talk-show king Dick Cavett have partnered to give the world scintillating conversation and sidesplitting humor. On Dec. 7, 2010, they reunited onstage at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles to share show-business memories and hilarious stories for loyal fans and a new generation of viewers.
Mel Brooks won an Oscar® for writing the 1968 film “The Producers.” Among his other classic comedy films as director, writer and sometimes actor are “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “High Anxiety,” “History of the World Part 1,” “Spaceballs” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Brooks was a frequent guest on Cavett’s program. Dick Cavett hosted his own late-night program on ABC from the late-‘60s to the mid-‘70s; from 1977 to 1982, “The Dick Cavett Show” appeared five times a week on public television. “Talk Show,” his most recent book, was published in 2010. Cavett will be seen on an episode of the HBO comedy series “Bored to Death” this fall.
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For four decades, comic genius Mel Brooks and talk-show king Dick Cavett have partnered to give the world scintillating conversation and sidesplitting humor. On Dec. 7, 2010, they reunited onstage at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles to share show-business memories and hilarious stories for loyal fans and a new generation of viewers.
Mel Brooks won an Oscar® for writing the 1968 film “The Producers.” Among his other classic comedy films as director, writer and sometimes actor are “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “High Anxiety,” “History of the World Part 1,” “Spaceballs” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Brooks was a frequent guest on Cavett’s program. Dick Cavett hosted his own late-night program on ABC from the late-‘60s to the mid-‘70s; from 1977 to 1982, “The Dick Cavett Show” appeared five times a week on public television. “Talk Show,” his most recent book, was published in 2010. Cavett will be seen on an episode of the HBO comedy series “Bored to Death” this fall.
Crazy Stupid Love = Crazy Stupid Guys
The title is clever.
The story involves modern relationships. It's a comedy. And it's got great stars: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei and (surprise!) Josh Groban in a non-singing role.
And the movie does have some genuinely funny moments.
But this flick should really be titled Crazy Stupid GUYS because at heart it's just another stupid guys movie. The guys in this movie are really depicted as dumb, dumb, dumb and dumber. And there's absolutely nothing original about that.
The movie begins with the divorce of the characters played by Carell and Moore and it ends with their reconciliation, sot of. Carell plays his typical nerdy/schlumpy/somewhat clueless role but remains nonetheless appealing, if not downright lovable. Moore is full of doubt, angst, and sometimes breathless intensity. She wants a divorce but we never really understand (beyond her own boredom) exactly why. Groban plays a lawyer/jerk; Tomei plays an all-but-deranged, sex-crazed middle school teacher; Bacon is a co-worker who Moore has an affair with and Gosling is little more than a hunky babe magnet until the very end when he suddenly becomes loving, sensitive and almost painfully three-dimensional, falling in love with Stone who plays Carell and Moore's daughter.
Thrown into all this is the couple's precocious and terminally annoying 13-year-old son played by Jonah Bobo.
The players do the most with what they have. But it's not much.
It is fun to watch the broad comic acting of Carell, Tomei and Gosling, however. Carell just has a way of bringing modern-day relationships to life, triggering knowing nods and real bellylaughs. Tomei is a classic comic actress who would have been great in the screwball comedies of the 1930s. And Gosling beings a lot more than eye-candy to what might have been a paper-thin role.
But all this is just not enough. Not for me, anyway.
Catch 'Catch Me' Before It Disappears!
Maybe it was that we found ourselves mesmerized by the electrifying Tony Award-winning performance of Norbert Leo Butz.
Maybe it was because we finally got around to discovering one of the brightest, most talented, most appealing new leading men on Broadway -- Aaron Tveit.
Or maybe it was just the way Kerry Butler belts out a song or the mere presence of the great Tom Wopat.
For whatever reason, we loved the new Broadway musical Catch Me If You Can and we urge you to catch it on Broadway (if you can) before it closes on Sunday, September 4. Because, if you don't catch this show you'll have to wait till 2012 or 2013 to see a traveling production when the whole thing goes on national tour.
We had heard so much about "Catch Me" and we suspected that the show might be a lot better than some of the critics said it was.
We were right.
If you saw the 2002 movie (based on a true story) starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abingale, Jr. you know that Catch Me If You Can is a fascinating tale. So, the musical automatically benefits from a good, strong book -- and that's rare for a musical.
Plus, the adaptation for the stage is written by Terrence McNally and the words and music are by Mark Shaiman and Scott Wittman. This is a Tony-winning dream time that has given us several other blockbuster hits.
But this this show ain't no happy-tooting lark. This is a dark story -- a story of deceit, abandonment, crime and loneliness. Which makes it all the more incredible that the creative team and the fine company of actors and musicians on stage have still managed to send the show soaring with up-to-the-minute humor, retro sixties trendiness and a huge dollop of hope -- all based on fact.
Criticisms? Well, the show is way too loud at times. But most current Broadway shows are over-amplified these days and tunes (even ballads) are frequently oversold. And sometimes the breathlessness can't keep up with the sheer volume and weight of this stranger than fiction story. Plus, I wondered if the show might have been improved without the device of the full orchestra on stage. It seemed to cramp the production values at times.
But no shortcomings warranted the less-than-fair deal that this show got from some critics and the Broadway cognoscenti. Surely it was worthy of more than the four Tony nominations (and one Tony) that it received.
In many ways, this type of entertainment is (or should be) what Broadway is all about.
Catchy and notable songs include: Live In Living Color; Butler's magnificent Fly, Fly Away; Little Boy, Be A Man; the darkly humorous Christmas Is My Favorite Time Of Year; Seven Wonders and Norbert's show-stopping Don't Break The Rules.*
And we need to mention that from Tveit and Butz and Wopat and Butler right down to every chorus member the cast is wonderful. This too: Miraculously, the second act is even stronger than the first.
Catch it. Hurry! Or hope to see it on the road.
The touring company is set to open in Providence in fall, 2012.
*I've already purchased the album.
'Mad As Hell -- Not Gonna Take It Anymore!'
Here's a clip from the 1976 movie 'Network.'
If you've never seen this film (or if you haven't seen it lately) you owe it to yourself to download it or rent it and watch it promptly.
In 2000, this film was selected for preservationin the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2002, it was inducted into the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame as a film that has "set an enduring standard for U.S. American entertainment." In 2006, Chayefsky's script was voted one of the top-ten screenplays by the Writers Guild of America, east In 2007, the film was 64th among the Top 100 Greatest American Films as chosen by the American Film Institute, a ranking slightly higher than the one AFI had given it ten years earlier.
Hitchcock's Lost First Film Discovered
alas, it has been found!
We're talking about Alfred Hitchcock's very first film.
Here's an excerpt of the story from London's Telegraph:
All copies of The White Shadow, a silent feature film released by Hollywood in 1924, had been thought lost to posterity, and cinema historians have described the discovery as "priceless".
Three dusty reels containing the first half of the film – about 30 minutes of footage – had been stored deep in the bowels of the New Zealand Film Archive, where the search is continuing for the other three reels.
The acclaimed director was 24 when he worked on what was billed as a "wild, atmospheric melodrama" starring actress Betty Compson as twin sisters, one angelic and the other "without a soul". He was credited as assistant director and also wrote the scenario, designed the sets and edited the footage.
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We're talking about Alfred Hitchcock's very first film.
Here's an excerpt of the story from London's Telegraph:
All copies of The White Shadow, a silent feature film released by Hollywood in 1924, had been thought lost to posterity, and cinema historians have described the discovery as "priceless".
Three dusty reels containing the first half of the film – about 30 minutes of footage – had been stored deep in the bowels of the New Zealand Film Archive, where the search is continuing for the other three reels.
The acclaimed director was 24 when he worked on what was billed as a "wild, atmospheric melodrama" starring actress Betty Compson as twin sisters, one angelic and the other "without a soul". He was credited as assistant director and also wrote the scenario, designed the sets and edited the footage.
Marilyn Monroe And Joan Crawford? . . . Really?
Others think it's just so much gossip.
To some it's a fantasy.
But a lot of people still haven't heard about it. I'm talking about the one-night-stand that Marilyn Monroe reportedly had with Joan Crawford.
This story gained such credibility that a few years ago it was actually written about in the Los Angeles Times. According to accounts based on transcripts of tapes recorded by Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn Monroe was propositioned by Joan Crawford and Monroe apparently accepted.
But Monroe said the session with Crawford left her cold. Monroe supposedly explained it this way: "Next time I saw Crawford, she said she wanted another round. I told her straight-out I didn't much enjoy doing it with a woman. After I turned her down, she became spiteful."
One would presume that all this happened before Crawford turned churlish told Monroe, later publicly characterizing her as "vulgar" because she didn't wear a girdle. This could have been the trigger for that public rebuke.
Oooooh, that was Hollywood's golden age!
The Bikini: How It Was Born; Why We Like It
Two Frenchmen are known as the inventors of the bikini, Jacques Heim and Louis Réard. In 1946, Louis Réard, an engineer, named his design "Bikini" after a Pacific Ocean atoll and Jacques Heim named his design "atome", the French word for atom, which he said was the world's smallest bathing suit. In response, Réard created a bathing suit with only 30 inches of fabric – it was so small, he couldn't find a model to wear it in public (eventually he hired a nude dancer who was photographed wearing one).Click here for more.
The bikini was considered too controversial and was banned in many European beaches, but during the 1950s many movie actresses, such as Diana Dors, Marilyn Monore and Jayne Mansfield were photographed wearing them and the bikini's popularity grew.
Movies: Top Ten Summer Blockbuster Flops
Here are the top ten summer blockbuster flops as compiled by various sources:
"Catwoman"
Starring: Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt
July 2004
"Stealth"
Starring: Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Josh Lucas
July 2005
"Speed Racer"
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci
May 2008
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
June 2009
"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"
Starring: Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Marlon Wayans
August 2009
"Jonah Hex"
Starring: Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich
June 2010
"Grown Ups"
Starring: Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek, Kevin James
June 2010
"The Last Airbender"
Starring: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone
July 2010
"Green Lantern"
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard
June 2011
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"Catwoman"
Starring: Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt
July 2004
"Stealth"
Starring: Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Josh Lucas
July 2005
"Speed Racer"
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci
May 2008
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
June 2009
"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"
Starring: Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Marlon Wayans
August 2009
"Jonah Hex"
Starring: Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich
June 2010
"Grown Ups"
Starring: Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek, Kevin James
June 2010
"The Last Airbender"
Starring: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone
July 2010
"Green Lantern"
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard
June 2011
Video: Look Up Marilyn's Dress; OooohhLaLa!
A New Jersey artist who is famous for his real life sculptures has created a giant Marilyn Monroe that now graces the magnificent mile in Chicago.
Chicagoans are not quite sure what to make of the massive public work of art which will be on display through next spring.
Maryilyn is depicted in the iconic pose (with that famous plunging neckline/pleated bottom dress) from the movie The Seven Year Itch. The J. Seward Johnson sculpture is attracting its share of gawkers -- including many tourists and men who enjoy having their photos taken between MM's legas, looking straight up.
Marilyn is 26 feet high so (just as she was in life) she's hard to miss.
'Kennedys' Snags Ten Emmy Nods
This morning nominations for the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards were announced and The Kennedys was recognized in 10 categories, including Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. Both Greg Kinnear (JFK) and Barry Pepper (RFK) are up for Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, and Tom Wilkinson (Joe Kennedy Sr.) was nominated for Supporting Actor. Here's the full list of The Kennedys nominations.
BTW: We were among the first to alert everyone to this miniseries and we thank REELZ for acquiring it and airing it when other networks (and outside interests) tried to snuff it out.
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– Outstanding Miniseries or MovieIf you missed the series the first time REELZ aired it, The Kennedys will re-air this November, starting November 6. Sign up here to get alerts, including airdates and times for your satellite or cable provider.
– Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie — Greg Kinnear
– Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie — Barry Pepper
– Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie — Tom Wilkinson
– Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie
– Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie
– Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie
– Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries or a Movie (Non-Prosthetic)
– Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
– Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie
BTW: We were among the first to alert everyone to this miniseries and we thank REELZ for acquiring it and airing it when other networks (and outside interests) tried to snuff it out.
Two Big Stars Produce Big Fat Bellyflop
Two of the biggest stars in Hollywood have managed to give us a Big Fat Bomb -- a big fat summer flop.
I'm talking about Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
Hey, Hanks seems to be a nice enough guy -- even though he's hopelessly misguided politically. Ditto, Roberts. But despite her equally kooky political ideas (near epidemic in Hollywood) Roberts is till entertaining and great fun to look at. And Hanks is Hanks -- the actor who seem feel is the modern-day equivalent of Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart.
Anyway, word is that their new movie (Larry Crowne) is a flop. The box office receipts have been limp.
Since neither of these superstars has made a movie in years, this film was widely awaited. There were high expectations. Very high. But the flick fizzled.
Well, big stars making bad movies is nothing new in Hollywood. Every major star has wound up in a bomb from time to time. Some "stars" (like Robin Williams) seem to make strings of flops and still survive. Beats me.
Other stars don't seem to be able to survive even one bomb. Go figure,
Hooray for Hollywood!
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I'm talking about Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
Hey, Hanks seems to be a nice enough guy -- even though he's hopelessly misguided politically. Ditto, Roberts. But despite her equally kooky political ideas (near epidemic in Hollywood) Roberts is till entertaining and great fun to look at. And Hanks is Hanks -- the actor who seem feel is the modern-day equivalent of Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart.
Anyway, word is that their new movie (Larry Crowne) is a flop. The box office receipts have been limp.
Since neither of these superstars has made a movie in years, this film was widely awaited. There were high expectations. Very high. But the flick fizzled.
Well, big stars making bad movies is nothing new in Hollywood. Every major star has wound up in a bomb from time to time. Some "stars" (like Robin Williams) seem to make strings of flops and still survive. Beats me.
Other stars don't seem to be able to survive even one bomb. Go figure,
Hooray for Hollywood!
Sinatra's Salacious Secrets - But Only Till 1954
It's a tome of a book.
At more than 700 pages you would think that James Kaplan's big new book on Sinatra entitled Frank, The Voice would cover the entirety of Sinatra's life.
That's what I thought.
But I didn't bother to read the book jacket very carefully. This book only covers the years from 1915 to 1954. It chronicles Sinatra's rise and fall and then his amazing comeback via his Oscar-winning performance as Maggio in From Here To Eternity. The book proves the truth of an old saying: A setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback.
I've lived that saying -- but that's another story.
And wow, did Sinatra have to work for his comeback. Still, his then-wife, the ravishing Ava Gardner really helped him to achieve his goal.
But Frank and Ava were just too much alike -- and too combustible. True, they were very much in love and their love was passionate. Yet, it was not to be. The fights were legendary and invariably involved wandering eyes, vivid imaginations and petty jealousies. She was so beautiful and alluring to men and he was so charismatic and attractive to women that they just couldn't seem to trust one another.
The stress of being one of the most famous couples in the world also got to them.
Was Ava an alcoholic? She could through them back alongside any man, that's for sure. She could match most men one-for-one. Was Frank bipolar? Even though the term didn't exist then, his mood swings were huge. He was volcanic one moment and sullen and introspective the next. He had to take downers late at night and uppers when he finally awoke in the afternoon.
Ava once said that the problems between the two of them were not in the bedroom. Rather, she explained the problems arose "on the way to the bidet."
Indeed, they were both said to be remarkably adept sexually, if only by virtue of their endowments. And those endowments allowed them to gain a good deal of early experience in the boudoir before they even hooked up. Ava was undeniably voluptuous and Frank, though relatively short and pencil-thin, was big in just the right place.
In this book there's a story about a reporter peppering Ava backstage during one of Frank's performances at a point in his career when Frank was hard-pressed to fill the seats in even a medium-sized auditorium.
"What do you see in him, Ava?" The reporter asked. "He's just a 119-pound loser."
"Yeah," Ava answered, "but he's 19-pounds of c - - k."
That was enough to silence the reporter.
And in early 1950s America, no reporter could print such a quote.
Anyway, it wasn't until I was more than 550 pages into this book that I realized that it only covered the first portion of Sinatra's life. I have a habit of picking up a book and reading the first 20 or 30 pages and if I like it, I just keep reading. I never look to see how many pages it has and I never jump ahead or skip pages.
I've always been this way with every book I've ever read ever since I was a child.
So, I was worried for the author because I could tell that I was about three-quarters of the way (or more) through the book and Kaplan was still chronicling the events of 1952. I should have known.
I presume that Kaplan will produce another volume. I hope so. He's a damned good writer.
Oh, here's another interesting fact from the book: While she was married to Sinatra, Ava Gardner slept with director John Farrow who was then directing her in one of her films. Farrow was the father of Mia Farrow who later hooked up with Sinatra for a notorious May-December pairing. So, Sinatra eventually married the daughter of one of his wife's lovers.
Ahhh . . . . . Hollywood!
Read More...
At more than 700 pages you would think that James Kaplan's big new book on Sinatra entitled Frank, The Voice would cover the entirety of Sinatra's life.
That's what I thought.
But I didn't bother to read the book jacket very carefully. This book only covers the years from 1915 to 1954. It chronicles Sinatra's rise and fall and then his amazing comeback via his Oscar-winning performance as Maggio in From Here To Eternity. The book proves the truth of an old saying: A setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback.
I've lived that saying -- but that's another story.
And wow, did Sinatra have to work for his comeback. Still, his then-wife, the ravishing Ava Gardner really helped him to achieve his goal.
But Frank and Ava were just too much alike -- and too combustible. True, they were very much in love and their love was passionate. Yet, it was not to be. The fights were legendary and invariably involved wandering eyes, vivid imaginations and petty jealousies. She was so beautiful and alluring to men and he was so charismatic and attractive to women that they just couldn't seem to trust one another.
The stress of being one of the most famous couples in the world also got to them.
Was Ava an alcoholic? She could through them back alongside any man, that's for sure. She could match most men one-for-one. Was Frank bipolar? Even though the term didn't exist then, his mood swings were huge. He was volcanic one moment and sullen and introspective the next. He had to take downers late at night and uppers when he finally awoke in the afternoon.
Ava once said that the problems between the two of them were not in the bedroom. Rather, she explained the problems arose "on the way to the bidet."
Indeed, they were both said to be remarkably adept sexually, if only by virtue of their endowments. And those endowments allowed them to gain a good deal of early experience in the boudoir before they even hooked up. Ava was undeniably voluptuous and Frank, though relatively short and pencil-thin, was big in just the right place.
In this book there's a story about a reporter peppering Ava backstage during one of Frank's performances at a point in his career when Frank was hard-pressed to fill the seats in even a medium-sized auditorium.
"What do you see in him, Ava?" The reporter asked. "He's just a 119-pound loser."
"Yeah," Ava answered, "but he's 19-pounds of c - - k."
That was enough to silence the reporter.
And in early 1950s America, no reporter could print such a quote.
Anyway, it wasn't until I was more than 550 pages into this book that I realized that it only covered the first portion of Sinatra's life. I have a habit of picking up a book and reading the first 20 or 30 pages and if I like it, I just keep reading. I never look to see how many pages it has and I never jump ahead or skip pages.
I've always been this way with every book I've ever read ever since I was a child.
So, I was worried for the author because I could tell that I was about three-quarters of the way (or more) through the book and Kaplan was still chronicling the events of 1952. I should have known.
I presume that Kaplan will produce another volume. I hope so. He's a damned good writer.
Oh, here's another interesting fact from the book: While she was married to Sinatra, Ava Gardner slept with director John Farrow who was then directing her in one of her films. Farrow was the father of Mia Farrow who later hooked up with Sinatra for a notorious May-December pairing. So, Sinatra eventually married the daughter of one of his wife's lovers.
Ahhh . . . . . Hollywood!
Peter Falk 'Columbo' Dies At 83; Details
Peter Falk seemed born to play the role of Columbo on the TV series of the same name. But the fact is that he was a multi-talented actor who even played classic roles and was a standout in live drama.
Word out of Hollywood is that Falk has died at 83. He died peacefully in his sleep.
Falk became famous for his shambling manner and rumpled raincoat as detective Lt. Columbo.
Falk earned two Oscar nominations in the early '60s and won an Obie (an off-Broadway honor) for his performance in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh".
But who can forget him as that polite, raincoat-wearing, Peugeot-driving Los Angeles police detective who always wanted to know "just one more thing."
That line became so popular that Falk used it as the title of his memoir.
The character, which originated with "Columbo" writers and producers William Link and Richard Levinson, was given a unique spin by the actor.
"Before we ever had a script or anything, I was attracted to the idea of playing a character that housed within himself two opposing traits," Falk told CNN's Larry King in 2005. "On the one hand (he was) a regular Joe, Joe Six-Pack, the neighbor like everybody else. But, at the same time, the greatest homicide detective in the world. Now that's a great combination, and you can do a lot with that combination."
Here's an excerpt from Falk's story as reported by CNN:
Read More...
Word out of Hollywood is that Falk has died at 83. He died peacefully in his sleep.
Falk became famous for his shambling manner and rumpled raincoat as detective Lt. Columbo.
Falk earned two Oscar nominations in the early '60s and won an Obie (an off-Broadway honor) for his performance in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh".
But who can forget him as that polite, raincoat-wearing, Peugeot-driving Los Angeles police detective who always wanted to know "just one more thing."
That line became so popular that Falk used it as the title of his memoir.
The character, which originated with "Columbo" writers and producers William Link and Richard Levinson, was given a unique spin by the actor.
"Before we ever had a script or anything, I was attracted to the idea of playing a character that housed within himself two opposing traits," Falk told CNN's Larry King in 2005. "On the one hand (he was) a regular Joe, Joe Six-Pack, the neighbor like everybody else. But, at the same time, the greatest homicide detective in the world. Now that's a great combination, and you can do a lot with that combination."
Here's an excerpt from Falk's story as reported by CNN:
Peter Michael Falk was born in New York City on September 16, 1927, and raised in Ossining, New York. After military service, he earned a master's in public administration and went to work for the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford as an efficiency expert.Click here to read more on this story.
"I was doing exactly what I was born not to do," he wrote in his memoir.
However, Hartford had a small theater troupe, and Falk immediately joined, which led to participation in other companies. Within a couple years -- while still working as a civil servant -- he was set to play Richard III at a summer workshop in Westport when, he says, a statement from acting teacher Eva Le Gallienne changed his life.
As Le Gallienne upbraided him for his chronic lateness -- he had to drive 45 minutes from Hartford every week -- Falk confessed that he wasn't really an actor. "Well, you should be," Le Gallienne replied, and that was enough for Falk to quit his job.
Video: Ryan Dunn Viewing, West Chester
Friends and relatives arrived this afternoon for the Ryan Dunn viewing in West Chester, PA. From afternoon into the evening, family and friends filed into a local funeral home.
Dunn, resided in West Chester and was a daredevil and prankster on the MTV series “Jackass” and three movies with the same title. His co-star, “Bam” Margera, reportedly entered the funeral home through a back entrance
Dunn and a companion in his Porsche were killed in a fiery car crash early Monday morning just outside of West Chester.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Ryan’s memory may be made to his favorite charity, The Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation, www.teammatesforkids.com.
Click here for more on this story.
Confirmed: 'Jackass' Star Was Drunk During Crash
It's now being reported that "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn had a blood-alcohol content that was more than twice the legal limit when he and a passenger died in a fiery one-car crash near West Chester, PA. this week
The confirmation comes via a police toxicology report.
Authorities say that Dunn's Porsche may have been traveling as fast as 140 mph in a 55 mph zone The Porsche jumped a guardrail, flew into a wooded area, struck a tree and then burst into flames, according to police.
Dunn's 0.196 at the time of the crash, according to the toxicology report. The legal limit for drivers is .08.
The report was released today by West Goshen (PA.) Township Police.
Dunn, 34, and his passenger Zachary Hartwell, 30, died early Monday after leaving a bar in West Chester. Hours before the crash, Dunn tweeted a photo from the bar showing the pair and a third man drinking. The photo has since been taken down.
Click here for more on this story.
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The confirmation comes via a police toxicology report.
Authorities say that Dunn's Porsche may have been traveling as fast as 140 mph in a 55 mph zone The Porsche jumped a guardrail, flew into a wooded area, struck a tree and then burst into flames, according to police.
Dunn's 0.196 at the time of the crash, according to the toxicology report. The legal limit for drivers is .08.
The report was released today by West Goshen (PA.) Township Police.
Dunn, 34, and his passenger Zachary Hartwell, 30, died early Monday after leaving a bar in West Chester. Hours before the crash, Dunn tweeted a photo from the bar showing the pair and a third man drinking. The photo has since been taken down.
Click here for more on this story.
Is This Really Paris? Or Is It Just A Dream?
Where do you want to begin? Paris When It Sizzles, Last Tango In Paris, Two Days In Paris, An American in Paris, The Last Time I Saw Paris, From Paris With Love, Is Paris Burning?, April In Paris, Paris, J'Taime, An American Warewolf In Paris, Paris 36 and even the film simply titled Paris. Plus, let's not forget Paris, Texas.
Okay, so you get the idea.
The word "Paris" and movies (especially movies about love, romance and maybe even danger) seem to naturally go together. Paris is endlessly dreamed, imagined, reinvented, romanticized.
Now along comes Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris, set in the City of Lights and starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Mimi Kennedy, Kurt Fuller, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Marianne Cotillard and Adrien Brody among others.
Yes, this is billed as a "romantic comedy" and it boasts a large and notable cast. In fact, France's First Lady Carla Bruni is also in this film -- and let the record show that she does not play herself.
As you might guess, Woody Allen's fingerprints are all over this film and that gave me pause as I entered the theater. I don't like paying to see Woody Allen films -- not since Le Scandale and Allen's disgraceful treatment of Mia Farrow and his hooking up with his stepdaughter Sun Yi. Suffice it to say that Allen himself is endlessly unappealing and I'm grateful that he and his cohorts only reaped five bucks of my money via a bargain matinee.
Thankfully, Allen isn't in this film. He's nowhere to be seen -- not even via a Hitchcockesque walk-on.
Instead, the protagonist is the charmingly appealing Owen Wilson. Let's face it: Wilson is way easier on the eyes and ears than Allen and he's easier to identify with as well. Wilson plays a successful American screenwriter named Gil who specializes in Hollywood formula flicks. He makes a nice living but he would really like to get serious and write The Great American Novel.
The real love affair in this movie is between Gil and Paris -- not the Paris of today but the Paris of the 1920s, the era of the Lost Generation. So, in the course of the film we meet writers, artists and musicians such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, Salvatore Dali, Gertrude Stein and others. They're all here and they're all marvelously creative, indulgent, unpredictable and sometimes downright reckless.
Not that the story is placed in the 1920s. It's really a modern day tale -- sort of.
Rachel McAdams plays Gil's American fiance while Marianne Cotillard plays his 1920s love interest and Lea Seydoux portrays his in-the-moment Paris-loving soulmate. McAdams is trendy and attractive, Coutillard is steamingly seductive and Seydoux is wonderfully fetching. A guy almost doesn't know where to turn first: past, present or future?
Of course everything eventually gets sorted out but along the way you'll have to overlook Allen's scripted cheap shots at George W. Bush, Republicans, conservatives and Middle America. Hey, just chalk it up to the little's guy's hopelessly ingrained prejudices.
That way you'll be able to get past those inappropriate moments since there's much else to enjoy.
Lush is the only word to describe the sets and cinematography. The film is bathed in sunny yellows, rich greens and dreamy blues. And the scenes of Paris bring to life Hemingway's magical description of the city as "a moveable feast." Which means you can sit back and soak in the beguiling sights, the cool jazz, the vivid characters, the fine performances, the nostalgic patina and the whimsy of a story that for all its continental pretensions remains uniquely and distinctly American.
But then again -- where would our irrepressibly romantic images of Paris be without Hollywood? Indeed, where would Paris be without the Paris that lives in our minds?
Phone Texting, Yapping Warrants Boot In Texas
It seems The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas takes its no texting/no talking during movies policy very seriously. Alamo warned a woman twice to stop playing with her phone.
When she apparently didn't adhere to the policy, the Alamo kicked her out.
Don't mess with Texas!
Malick Films In Exclusive Screenings This Week
The Philadelphia Film Society and Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design presents a two-day retrospective of the films by Terrence Malick, in anticipation of the Philadelphia Premiere of Malick’s new feature, The Tree of Life on June 10.
This three film retrospective, made possible thanks to Fox Searchlight Pictures, takes a rare look at Malick’s past cinematic masterpieces, returning his most critically-acclaimed films to the big screen. The retrospective begins on Wednesday, June 8th with a double feature of Days of Heaven at 7pm followed by Badlands at 9pm. The Thin Red Line, the film that granted Malick Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writing, will screen on Thursday, June 9th at 7pm.
All screenings will be held at the Mandell Theater at Drexel University, located at the corner of 33rd and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $5 to the Philadelphia Film Society in support of the upcoming 20th Philadelphia Film Festival in October.
About the Films:
Days of Heaven is a 1978 American romantic drama. Set in the early 20th century, it tells the story of two poor lovers, Bill and Abby, as they travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest crops for a wealthy farmer. Bill encourages Abby to claim the fortune of the dying farmer by tricking him into a false marriage. This results in an unstable love triangle and a series of unfortunate events. Starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. (Wednesday, June 8; 7pm.)
Badlands is a dramatization of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950's, in which a teenage girl and her twenty-something boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands. Starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri. (Wednesday, June 8; 9pm.)
The Thin Red Line is a 1998 American war film which tells a fictional story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. It portrays men in C Company, and in particular, those soldiers played by Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, and Ben Chaplin. (Thursday, June 9; 7pm)
The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, though the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tried to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.. Also starring Jessica Chastain. (Premieres in Philadelphia on June 10th) The Philadelphia Film Society is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization that values film as a unique form of artistic expression and as a reflection of cultural, social, and economic diversity. It is the mission of the Philadelphia Film Society to promote film as a powerful means for strengthening community education, understanding, and engagement.
PFS achieves its mission through various year-round film events, including the annual Philadelphia Film Festival, scheduled for October 13-23, 2011, the Philadelphia Film Festival Spring Preview, and the three screening series, filmadelphiaCLASSICS, filmadelphiaDOCUMENTARY, and filmadelphiaINDEPENDENT, which serve to extend the Philadelphia Film Festival throughout the year.
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This three film retrospective, made possible thanks to Fox Searchlight Pictures, takes a rare look at Malick’s past cinematic masterpieces, returning his most critically-acclaimed films to the big screen. The retrospective begins on Wednesday, June 8th with a double feature of Days of Heaven at 7pm followed by Badlands at 9pm. The Thin Red Line, the film that granted Malick Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writing, will screen on Thursday, June 9th at 7pm.
All screenings will be held at the Mandell Theater at Drexel University, located at the corner of 33rd and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $5 to the Philadelphia Film Society in support of the upcoming 20th Philadelphia Film Festival in October.
About the Films:
Days of Heaven is a 1978 American romantic drama. Set in the early 20th century, it tells the story of two poor lovers, Bill and Abby, as they travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest crops for a wealthy farmer. Bill encourages Abby to claim the fortune of the dying farmer by tricking him into a false marriage. This results in an unstable love triangle and a series of unfortunate events. Starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. (Wednesday, June 8; 7pm.)
Badlands is a dramatization of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950's, in which a teenage girl and her twenty-something boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands. Starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri. (Wednesday, June 8; 9pm.)
The Thin Red Line is a 1998 American war film which tells a fictional story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. It portrays men in C Company, and in particular, those soldiers played by Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, and Ben Chaplin. (Thursday, June 9; 7pm)
The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, though the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tried to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.. Also starring Jessica Chastain. (Premieres in Philadelphia on June 10th) The Philadelphia Film Society is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization that values film as a unique form of artistic expression and as a reflection of cultural, social, and economic diversity. It is the mission of the Philadelphia Film Society to promote film as a powerful means for strengthening community education, understanding, and engagement.
PFS achieves its mission through various year-round film events, including the annual Philadelphia Film Festival, scheduled for October 13-23, 2011, the Philadelphia Film Festival Spring Preview, and the three screening series, filmadelphiaCLASSICS, filmadelphiaDOCUMENTARY, and filmadelphiaINDEPENDENT, which serve to extend the Philadelphia Film Festival throughout the year.