Rickspade
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Posts posted by Rickspade
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> I THINK the Jack Warden line from "The Verdict" is;"
> He's the F***ing Prince of Darkness"!
Right you are, Ken123. This is a sad loss; Warden was a terrific character actor, capable of giving fine comedic and dramatic performances. In addition to his role in The Verdict, noted by others, my own two other personal favorites of his are, as the suicidal judge who tries to advise Al Pacino in the great black comedy, And Justice For All (1979), and as Warren Beatty's friend, and the Los Angeles football team's trainer, in Heaven Can Wait (1978). Another great character actor, James Gleason, played the latter role in the original film version, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and Warden did the part great justice by his wonderful performance in the remake. Rest in peace, Mr. Warden.
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>
> Rickspade, that was interesting about the Brooklyn
> Paramount and LIU. It's nice to know that the
> original seats remained intact. I would imagine that
> some of the decor including walls and ceilings were
> left intact? It was once quite a theatre.
Mongo,
Absolutely. The corridors leading to the lecture halls were filled with plush carpeting and many floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The students used to joke all the time about what a drag it was to attend a fairly boring lecture when we all felt like sitting down to a great double-feature like audiences did years before!
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> I'm also a Brooklyn Bum, and proud of it.
> I recall that the Brooklyn Paramount (good Rock &
> Roll shows) was directly across Flatbush from
> Junior's, and the Dimes Savings Bank around the
> corner near the RKO Albee which was my favorite movie
> theatre. Those were the days.
>
> You're right about where the Paramount was located; it became part of my college's campus: Long Island University, the Brooklyn Campus. (See my previous note below).
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Sorry, I didn't mean to "age" you beyond your years. Now that you've described them a bit more completely, I know the shows you're talking about, and they definitely took place well into the 1960's. As a very early teenager (mid-1960's) who didn't live in that area, I never got to any of those shows, but I remember them being publicized. I especially remember Murray the K's downtown Brooklyn rock n' roll shows, which I would have loved to have gone to, but and my friends and I were just a bit too young to go by ourselves, and our parents certainly weren't interested in seeing them! Anyway, they really brought a bit of excitement to Brooklyn in those days.
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Yes, LIU was my school (late 60's-early 70's), and I spent many nights eating sandwiches and burgers (and cheesecake) from Junior's. I worked on the college newspaper for three years, and we spent many late evenings at the school, and someone always went across the street and brought back dinner, such as it was. Anyway, I'm not familiar with Senior's or Wolfie's because I didn't hang out in Flatbush. We had our own favorite places in Bensonhurst/Bay Ridge. As for those movie palaces and the music shows, I never went to any because I was a little too young (they took place in the 1940s and 1950s), but I don't know if you know that the old Brooklyn Paramount became part of LIU's campus. I always said we had the coolest gym in the world--the old theater, with its plush seats intact, was where the basketball team played its home games. Some of the lecture halls were located in that building as well, and to get to some classes, you had to walk on plush carpeting past full-length mirrors in brightly-lit corridors. It was quite a trip. Well, I suppose all this reminiscing is boring the regular posters who come here for classic movie-chats, so I better end this now. Nice to know there are many ex- and present Brooklynites on these threads.
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> Do I remember Juniors??? You bet I do!!! There
> cheesecake was better than the "Stage" Delicatessen
> in Manhattan!! Do you remember the Century College
> Movie Theatre or Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor on 86th
> Street!! Glad to meet Brooklyn People on this
> thread!! It's like a reunion!!
Hi there, fellow ex-Brooklynite!
I don't recall the Century College Movie Theater (where was it located?), but I used to frequent Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor all the time. It was the preferred hangout for students from two nearby high schools: my own (New Utrecht) and our chief rival, Lafayette. Our favorite movie theaters in the neighborhood were the Loew's Oriental (at 86th and 18th avenue), and the RKO Dyker (86th and 5th Avenue). Saw a lot of real good late 50's, 60's, and 70's movies at those two places (nice, large single theaters, way before the days of the crummy multi-plexes we're subjected to these days). Nice to chat with some fellow native Brooklynites!
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> Don't get defensive about Brooklyn!! I was born in
> Kings County Hospital and LOVE the place!! In the
> 80's it was the down trend for SheepsHead Bay!! I'm
> from Brooklyn and proud of it and I'll defend it to
> the end!!!!!
>
> TOOMANYNOTES
I entered this thread out of curiosity just to see why Teresa Brewer's name was a topic. . .and suddenly everyone here is reminiscing about my old hometown, too.. . .Brooklyn. I can't say I remember eating at Lundy's, although I certainly knew about it. I was raised in the Bensonhurst/Bay Ridge section and we didn't get into Sheepshead Bay very much. However, I went to college in downtown Brooklyn, right across the street from Junior's Restaurant. Anybody out there remember Junior's? Great hamburgers and fabulous cheesecake. My friends back there tell me it's still going pretty strong, although the entire downtown area around Flatbush and DeKalb has really changed. Ah, great memories of Brooklyn.
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> I think I like the ?31 version better because all the
> characters are more sleazy. I don?t like sleazy
> people in real life, but in movies it allows me to
> see how the criminal world works without having to
> get inside it.
>
> Bogart himself was very good in the ?41 version, but
> I didn?t care much for Mary Astor. She seemed like a
> school teacher on summer vacation, rather than a
> killer and a seductress. But Bebe Daniels in the ?31
> version seemed like she could seduce men and kill
> them rather frequently. She seemed very dangerous.
>
> Lorre and Greenstreet seemed to be playing their same
> ol? duo that I?ve seen them play in several other
> films. I think the Dr. Cairo character in the ?31
> version was an interesting guy. I read somewhere that
> that actor was killed in a car wreck a couple of
> years after he made the movie. The actor who played
> Gutman in the ?31 version, Dudley Diggs, did an
> excellent job and he seemed more sleazy and realistic
> than the Greenstreet version.
>
> I think Miles Archer in the ?31 version was a better
> character, being a really tough guy with a young
> wife, and the wife, Thelma Todd, seemed more like
> someone Sam Spade would date for a while and then try
> to get rid of. In the ?41 version, I didn?t care for
> either of the Archer characters.
>
> Richardo Cortez was a great leading man. I wish he
> had made a series of Sam Spade movies.
>
> I guess discovering the ?31 version is like being
> familiar with some modern opera stars performing La
> Traviata for years and then suddenly discovering a
> rare complete recording of a 1931 version with Caruso
> and Amelita Galli-Curci.
Well, Fred, I screened the 1931 version yesterday, so I thought I'd sum up my views on comparing it with the Bogart version. Frankly, the Bogart version is so much more faithful to the novel that the earlier version just totally pales next to it. The chief failure for me is in the writing (although Ricardo Cortez never for one minute convinced me he was a serious private detective); the entire tone and tenor of the script is not anywhere near as hard-boiled as the book; it seems to go back-and-forth from a mystery to a drawing-room comedy/romance. Parts of it for me were laughable. I certainly will admit that both Bebe Daniels and Thelma Todd (whom I always loved in her appearances in Marx Brothers movies) are very easy on the eyes, as they say; and I think with a better script Daniels' performance could have convinced me that she was indeed a seductress and a murderess. As it is, the script seems more interested in portraying Spade as a total womanizer, who barely has time to (a) find the murderer of his partner and (
solve the mystery of the Black Bird, because he's too busy juggling his romances. As another poster mentioned here, Cortez spends the entire film smirking and smiling, as if he's trying to impress women, even when there aren't any women in the scene! In addition, the "liberties" the script took with the story (A "witness" to Archer's murder? and if the Chinese man did see who killed Archer, and he told Spade right after the killing, why didn't Spade go to the cops right away?) As far as the Gutman-Cairo-Wilmer characters, in this film Wilmer is almost a non-entity, whereas in the 1941 film, Elisha Cook is memorable; and I didn't care for Dudley Digges or the Cairo actor nearly as much as Lorre and Greenstreet who in my mind were definitive and slimy and dangerous. Finally, the entire ending was so false as to be unbelievable. Where is all the great dialogue about why Spade is turning Wonderly over (a man's partner is killed, etc.), and combined with that phony visit to her in jail, where she's still pining away for him, and he feels guilty enough to ask the prison maiden to supply her with cigarettes, etc. and bill the D.A.'s office? Holy toledo!
Anyway, everyone's entitled to their opinion, and maybe I'm such a hard-boiled person myself, I can't be objective about any other version of the Falcon. I will say, this, it was fun seeing another pre-code movie and the things they were able to get away with in 1931, that became taboo just two years later. Like the great scene of Daniels in the bathtub, and the fact that she and Spade have clearly slept together. Ah, those were the days! OK, that's my opinion, Fred; we just disagree. I'll bet we can agree on a lot of other films, particularly The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; it's number four on my all-time list. I just hope no one ever tries to make another version of that one!
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> On that's not been mentioned yet, I don't think, is
> John Garfield, who basically got his career ended
> because he refused to participate in the "Big
> Brother" tactics of the U.S. government and 'name
> names' to the Committee on Unamerican activities.
>
> For this reason alone, I have tremendous respect for
> the man.
I agree 100 percent! His refusal not only ended his career, but was mostly responsible for his tragic early death of a heart attack at the age of 39. A great talent, and by all accounts a wonderful man, all gone because of those lousy red-baiting witch-hunters from HUAC. By the way, did you ever see TCM's really good documentary on Garfield, which I believe ran sometime last year? It was excellent. He may be gone, but certainly not forgotten.
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> Well, what did you think of the 1931 version?
Fred,
I taped it last night, and haven't had a chance to see it yet. Hope to play it sometime in the next day or two, and then I'll let you know. I'm looking forward to making the comparison.
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OK, Fred, that's a fairly concise, yet descriptive, rationale for your preference. For now, I have no point of comparison; I hope to see the 1931 version over the weekend, (or shortly thereafter if I go the taping route), and then I'll get back to you via this thread. However, since the 1941 film is my Number 2 all-time favorite movie (right behind Casablanca), the Cortez-Daniels film has some "tall shoes to fill," as the saying goes. To be continued. . .
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> Hey! The original 1931 ?Maltese Falcon? is coming on
> Sunday morning at 2 AM Eastern time, July 9th.
> I like this version better than the Bogart version.
> Also, it?s pre-code.
I've never seen the 1931 version, so I'm looking forward to seeing (or taping) it. Just curious, Fred, I've read a lot of your comments on several threads, and obviously from your poster name you're a Bogart fan, so why do you like the 1931 film better? I've read a lot about it, and the consensus is that while it's fairly well-done, no one ever has said it comes even close to the Bogart-Huston 1941 film.
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> Hi Kim and Ken,
> There's no shortage of Ann Sheridan fans on these
> boards. Wish that they'd make her a star of the month
> soon. I'm particularly fond of her performances in
> two disparate films that the divine Miss S. made
> simultaneously--King's Row and The Man Who
> Came to Dinner. She's also a delightfully
> sardonic foil for Gary Cooper's Good Neighbor
> Sam act, (if only TCM or somebody would show this
> movie!).She always comes across as a big-hearted
> beauty who's been knocked around in this old world.
> Lovely, lippy ole gal.
I wholeheartedly agree! I've been a HUGE Ann Sheridan fan since my youth in the 1960s, when I first discovered her in the many films she did for Warners in the late 1930s-early 1940s. I saw It All Came True a few years back, and have it as part of my taped Sheridan collection. Last night, TCM showed one of her best films---Torrid Zone--in which she and Cagney create absolute screen magic. . .with able assistance from Pat O'Brien. Hope all you Sheridan fans who had never seen got a chance to catch it. If not, TCM shows it fairly regularly, so make a note of it.
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I love Cagney! Recently I watched "The Bride Came
C.O.D. for the first time, and it was so funny! He
was an incredibly talented actor.
For all James Cagney fans everywhere, one of his best comedies is on TCM tonight--Torrid Zone, with Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien. If you enjoyed The Bride Came C.O.D., you'll love this one; it's fast-paced, with terrific performances, especially by Annie, with whom Cagney has great screen rapport. It's on at 9:00 p.m., PST, so for all you Cagney lovers on the East Coast who have never seen it, set the recording devices because it's definitely worth taping.
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> That's an interesting question. Playing characters
> multiple times isn't terribly common, and I can't
> think of anyone who did it over a 28-year period, as
> Hale did.
>
>
The only one who comes closest, to my knowledge, would be Paul Newman, as "Fast Eddie" Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), for a span of 25 years.
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Great idea for a thread! My nominations for "worst outrage" in four major categories are as follows:
Best Picture: 1953: The Greatest Show on Earth (easily the worst Best Picture winner ever!) won out over two classics--High Noon and The Quiet Man.
Best Actor: (Several candidates here, but this one has always stuck in my craw.) 1974: Art Carney in Harry and Tonto (help!!) over Jack Nicholson, in one of his greatest understated performances, for Chinatown.
Best Actress: 1981: Katherine Hepburn in On Golden Pond (a great actress, but this was hardly an Oscar-worthy performance), over Meryl Streep, who played two roles brilliantly in The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Best Director: 1990: Kevin Costner (Yikes!) for the terribly overrated Dances With Wolves, instead of Martin Scorsese for the brilliant Goodfellas.
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Anything James Gleason is in I
> like and watch, sometimes just for him!
I'd like to add my voice to you and all the others who have mentioned the great James Gleason. I've loved him in everything I've seen him in; he could be very funny and even turn in a terrific dramatic performance as well. I think his three best roles are: as Robert Montgomery's manager in the great Here Comes Mr. Jordan; as the newspaper editor in Meet John Doe; and as James Cagney's recovering alcoholic friend in Come Fill the Cup. One other great character actor to add to the list: Paul Douglas. Terrific in comedy or drama, he could even carry a movie as a lead/featured actor, as in Letter to Three Wives and Clash by Night. A wonderful actor in any role he played.
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> Thanks, patful! That was with Virginia. And, I
> haven't ever seen it. I have seen previews, and he
> was somethin' else. Up on top of that tank at the
> end! Whew!
Whew! is right. That finale has got to be the greatest ending to any gangster movie in history. Filmed by the great director Raoul Walsh, and with terrific editing, it really appeared as if Cagney was on top of the tank. (Spoiler alert: In addition, the last line of dialogue right after the explosion is just classic.
John Archer ( BTW, the father of actress Anne Archer): Cody Jarrett.
Edmond O'Brien: He finally made it to the top of the world. And it blew right up in his face.
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> Garbomaniac:
>
> In the scene Cagney has stuffed somebody into the
> trunk of his car. He forgets about him and as Cagney
> walks by the guy in the trunk complains that it is
> hard to breathe in there. Wishing to accommodate the
> man he promptly shoots two holes into the trunk.
> Cagney walks away to go on about his business. In a
> way it's almost funny. It is a good scene to show how
> ruthless his character is.
What makes the scene even more "ruthless" (and comical, frankly) is that when Cagney is walking by the trunk, and then stops to shoot the poor guy inside, he's eating a chicken leg! After he shoots the guy, he keeps right on eating as he walks away! Only Cagney could pull that off.
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> The film was released as a silent in 1925. Later, in
> 1942, Chaplin added music and his own voice to a
> narration track.
I knew if I checked the threads this morning someone would have some information about last night's showing of The Gold Rush. Thanks, Fred for the info. I have to say I was bitterly disappointed in the version TCM showed. This film was one Chaplin classic I hadn't seen (I absolutely loved City Lights and Modern Times), and I was very much looking forward to all the classic physical comedy bits with the usual subtitles. Instead, that darned narration and voice-over absolutely ruined the comedy, at least for me. What was Chaplin thinking when he did it? I guess he felt that since silent films were long gone, they could re-release the film with the narration and get current(1942) audiences to go and see it again. Wrong move! Although the print TCM showed last night was nearly pristine, the whole "silent movie" experience was just killed. If you guys at programming are looking at this, please show the original version the next time, subtitles and all, so we can appreciate it the way movies audiences did in 1925!
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> John Wayne to James Cann?
>
> RockyRoad
You beat me to the punch, RockyRoad. I never saw your response; I was too busy typing my own answer. That's what I get for not being brief!
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> You are partially correct, Inglis. John Wayne is Good
>> Now that I think of it, maybe AMC ran this more than
> TCM. Here's another exchange:
>
> Wayne: Now just a minute son
> Good Guy #2: I... AM NOT... YOUR SON. My name is Alan
> Bourdillion Traherne.
> Wayne: ...Lord Almighty...
> #2: Yeah
>
> This is one of Good Guy #2's first major roles.He hit
> it big a few years later in a made-for-TV bio, and
> working on another film with Coppola.
>
> Message was edited by:
> LuckyDan
LuckyDan,
Good Guy #2 is James Caan in the Howard Hawks' western, El Dorado, (1967) which was very similar to the Hawks/Wayne 1959 collaboration, Rio Bravo. Caan's character closely resembles the young gunfighter who helps Wayne in Rio Bravo, played by Ricky Nelson. BTW, the other Caan movies your'e referring to obviously are Brian's Song, the TV movie about the football star Brian Piccolo, and or course, The Godfather.
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> I've got one. Who said,
>
> "We serve hard liqour in here for men who want to get
> drunk fast. And we don't need any characters around
> to give the joint 'atmosphere."
It sounds very much like the line Sheldon Leonard (as the bartender) says to Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life, during the sequence when Clarence shows George what life would be like in his hometown if he'd never been born.
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Just to set the record straight on my suggestion, They Saved Hitler's Brain, I know the IDMB lists it as a TV movie, however, in doing some further digging (Google) I don't find any other evidence that it was a made-for-TV film. The detailed descriptions from some reviewers who obviously know the film and how it was put together don't mention it as a made-for-TV movie. In addition, in 1963, there were no original made-for-TV movies being made; more than likely this film was a B-movie and went directly to drive-ins or was used as a second feature for theaters that used to show double-bills.
solve the mystery of the Black Bird, because he's too busy juggling his romances.
Cagney vs. Bogart which is your favorite?
in Your Favorites
Posted
> Although I have seen more Bogart movies,I appreciate
> the talent of Cagney.....I'm afraid that it's a tie
> for me as well.Can anyone tell me if they played in a
> movie together?
Yes, they appeared in three movies together: The Oklahoma Kid (1939); Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and The Roaring Twenties (1939). In each movie, Cagney was the "good guy," so to speak, and Bogie the heavy. . .even when they both played gangsters. And in each movie. . .well I don't want to give away the endings, so I won't. As for who my own personal favorite is, I have to admit when I first fell in love with classic films as a kid in the 1960s, Cagney was my guy. Then, in later years I discovered Bogie, and his cool persona just won me over. However, every time I see Cagney in a movie, especially his early-to-mid 1930's films where he has an unbelievable amount of energy and screen presence, I confess I begin to waver. If pressed to make a choice, it would be Bogie. . .but just by a whisker, see, sweetheart?