jdb1

"Sin City" was on over the weekend on one of my cable channels. I watched a bit of it. It's not really something I think I could get into - it was very interesting, visually, of course, but all the frantic, violent, overblown plot points -- just too much for linear little me. So very much hitting and maiming and limb-twisting. A guy thing, I guess. I'd actually like to try to get through it again, just for the technical stuff - that was pretty amazing to look at. I've never seen the written version. Does it live up to that?

I've got one --- I think. An Asian-American actor. A career spanning almost 50 years. In movies, very often played villains of a national background different from his own, or members of yet another national group, rarely did he get to play a character who reflected his real self. Only later in his career did he get to play characters of his own background more frequently, generally on TV. Always calm and dignified, always articulate, no matter what the role. He holds a distinction in this country among members of his own "hyphenated" national group. Who is this actor, and what is his "other" claim to fame?

No, No - it wouldn't be much fun if it were too easy. Frankly, I don't find IMDb all that helpful for locating quotes. They pick up some really weird words as keywords. Try searching "boat train." I just mean you shouldn't get so frustrated when answers don't spring up. Your selections *are* difficult ones. I'm thinking that many posters are attracted to the thread because of the name, and then back off when they see what tough questions you ask. My suggestion was to change the name of the thread, which I think is a bit misleading as it stands. Just as there's a thread called "Trivia Quiz for Beginniners," perhaps there should be degrees of movie quote difficulty as well. That way, the real pros can home in on your challenges. I'm not one of those - I have to stay on the Donald Duck slope of quotation trivia. Now, if you want to know what any three actors have in common, I'm there!

I think that's a good description, Sandy. To me a period piece is a film (or whatever media) that attempts to replicate, as closely as possible, what everyone looked like, talked like, did, etc. Many films of the 40s and 50s, which were about the "old days" didn't really try very hard to make their actors look like they belonged to that period. I like "Meet Me in St. Louis" as a period piece, because it tries to capture the look, feel, and any other senses that respond, of life for a family in early 20th Century America. "Little Women" is another (the Hepburn version) which tries to be true to the book, and thereby capture the feeling of mid 19th Century life. My favorite of that type is "The Old-Fashioned Way," a W.C. Fields film about a theatrical company in the late 19th Century, which company even performs a play in the style of that time. I don't think "Period Piece" means necessarily only that a movie is about a former time, but that it tries to make the audience feel the "zeitgeist." All you have to do is look at a film of 50 years ago, and you can see that people moved differently because of the kind of clothing they wore, and men and women spoke differently, etc. For me, this is why so many contemporary films about the past don't work -- even if the scenery and costuming are accurate, the actors are still in the present -- they don't speak, look or even move the way people did in the past. The whole exercise isn't as easy as it looks.

Thanks for spotlighting one of my very favorites, mongo. I'd like to point out that early in his career, Chandler was given the pepper and salt hair so that he'd look more appropriate with his co-stars, who tended to be the more "mature" actresses on the lot. After a time, the hair effect could be achieved naturally. Here he is goofin' around with Sammy Davis.

Well, Dan, dear, if I may point out -- the title of this thread is "Famous" lines from movies. I'm just not very good at memorizing every line of dialog from every film I've ever seen. To me, a "famous" line from a movie would be "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn," or "E.T. phone home," and possibly something like "I'm a bad boy," from every Abbott & Costello movie ever made. I don't think I've heard anyone quoting any lines from "Deep in My Heart" for many years, now. I've seen that movie, and I don't remember those particular lines being spoken. I researched this quote, but I couldn't find it. Maybe if you change the title of this thread from "Famous" to "Obscure Lines from (Possibly Obscure) Movies" you'll get more players, and I don't mean that sarcastically. When people come onto this thread, they probably expect they are going to know the lines, since the line should be "famous." If you cued them from the outset that this is going to be more of a challenge, you'd get a more appropriate audience. I think I know old movies pretty well, and I rarely recognize the quotes most recently given here. (I think you're lucky to have such a prodigious memory.) Regards, Judith

Happy New Year everyone! January 2. Today's birthday: Oscar Micheaux

I recall Neal saying that later in life, after Cooper passed on, she and Rocky and Gloria became friends, or at least, friendly.

I don't think I'm going to get very far in this AIW610 thing. I looked on several websites devoted to Sin City, the graphic novel and the film, and gosh, they just go on and on, don't they? I don't have the time or the inclination to steep myself in Basin City lore. There probably are many people who thrive on such things, but in this case I'm not one A general look-up gave me the fact that AIW has something to do with wrestling, and that A1W (the numeral "1") is a prototype nuclear reactor used by the Navy. Not wanting to get too far into the Navy's business through my computer, I didn't pursue that avenue. Anyway, all this probably has nothing to do with the matter at hand. I didn't see anything in the reams and reams of Sin City and Dwight McCarthy sites I skimmed that mentioned those initials, or that number, or their equivalents. It may very well be something really simple, as such things tend to be, like the production company for X Files being "TenThirteen," which is Chris Carter's birthday. This one may be too trivial even for me to want to follow up on. Sorry, Dan.

Correct! More, please.

I don't see this picture, Ayres. Can anyone else? I've found that any online photo that says "probertencyclopedia," "geocities," or "tripod" (among several other sources) won't post properly.

Look at MM -- she looks like a little prom queen. From a photo like that, you can understand why so many of those who knew her used the word "sweet" to describe her!

Me, I like the "what do they have in common" questions. Here's one: What to the following actors have in common? Hoot Gibson Mel Torme Danny Kaye

Is it Ethel Waters?

Another December 29 birthday: Emory Parnell

Well, therein lies the problem, Mr. Sage. If you really are intending your posts to be amusing, it should be obvious to you by now that they don't read that way to the rest of us. A few qualifying, anodyne phrases, such as "in my opinion," or "I'm afraid I disagree with you on that" would be helpful to let us know you don't mean to be dogmatic in your opining (assuming that you don't mean to be dogmatic). I'm not very fond of those icon things, the ones that are intended to show that you're just kidding, and I use them sparingly. But I try to keep my words gentle with my fellow posters, unless the situation calls for something else. I'm afraid your words don't read very "gentle," my friend. And surely you have learned by now, if you are indeed living in the real world, that most people don't really appreciate having their words thrown back at them. Are you really reading the posts of others, or are you just trawling for errors you feel the need to correct for us? If you are reading our posts, you can take lesson in how to differ civilly, how to correct curteously, and how to inform gracefully, rather than hamhandedly. Actually, it's nice to hear you say that you at least think you are being "light-hearted." However, we don't always achieve what we intend, and perhaps even your fine writing (and you have given us some very interesting posts) needs a bit of fine-tuning. JDB

Thanks for the clarification, Lynn. I think I heard about bumpers long ago in relation to "Laugh-In" -- the little bits of music and shtick in between the sketches were referred to in something I read as the "bumpers." Message was edited by: Me, 'cause I got your name wrong the first time. jdb1

The show got excellent reviews. Last week one of our local cable theater talk shows had Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson (stars of the show), who discussed the musical and showed some clips. It looks wonderful. They made the point that even audience members who aren't familiar with the film liked the show, anyway. Here's hoping. I'll let you know.

December 29. Today's birthday: Ed Flanders Flanders ® shown with Howard Hughes' #1 Assistant, Noah Dietrich, who Flanders portrayed in "The Amazing Howard Hughes"

eafrn, if you use the Search box on the home screen for the Message Boards (type in "gray gardens"), you'll see a thread devoted to the screening of the documentary by TCM. The movie generated lots of opinions from us. Oh, by the way, I'm seeing the Broadway musical "Gray Gardens" on Jan. 13th. Has anyone seen it yet?

I agree. I think Brando was one of the best we've ever seen, but I think there was something "big" in Dean as well. You catch a glimpse of it in "Rebel Without a Cause," in Dean's climactic confrontation scene with his father. It shows us just how gripping an actor he could be, even in a Hollywood-ized, melodramatic movie such as "Rebel." Dean always rose above his material. I thought he was excellent in "East of Eden," capturing the longings of an unloved son. He was terrific in "Giant" as well. His scenes of awkward love with Elizabeth Taylor are very touching, and he was just fine as the older Jet, too. In that movie, he *was* a Texan - certainly much moreso that Rock Hudson was, although Hudson was good as well. What has been said below is true: part of the mystique of James Dean is due to the fact that he left us when he was so young and still relatively untested. I think that had he lived, as he matured, and given worthy material, he would have been a definite contender for King of the Screen.

So, Dan, I googled this number, and I get hits for Frank Miller's "Sin City." Since I know nothing about Frank Miller, this movie, or graphic novels in general, that's as far as I got. Is this the one? It so, why are license plates significant? Events in Miller's life? Tributes to friends? Astrology? Numerology? Lotto numbers? I just hate it when things like this crop up, 'cause then I can't stop until I find an answer. Guess I'm just the sad product of a traditional education. Most kids these days wouldn't give a damn if finding the answer required the slightest effort.

Another instance of personal preference - but then, that's what these discussions are all about. For me, James Dean possesses that undefinable, unnameable "something." He is one of those screen actors who commands my attention, even when others are in the scene. It's one of those "either you've got it, or you haven't" qualities that we like in our favorite stars, something they must be born with, and to my taste, James Dean had it in abundance. I suspect that many compelling stars may not be all that impressive in person but, like a seemingly plain fashion model who blossoms in front of the lens, these stars jump off the screen, and into your brain and heart. I think the camera definitely loved James Dean. He was not a physically big man, but he seems a huge presence on screen. Maybe it was because he studied Method Acting, but there always seemed to be much more going on inside him than his character showed overtly. But maybe not, since other powerful screen actors could do the same, whether they studied with Lee Strasberg or not. It's something inside, is all I can say. Inside the actor, and inside you - it makes a connection. In short, my answer to your question is - I don't know. He just was.

Oh, yes, and I forgot Klavan & Finch's other famous shtick, sung in close harmony: "We are the joy boys of radio - Hello, hello, hello, hel -low - o -o!"

I was wondering when someone was going to mention Gene Klavan. He had been a DJ on WNEW-AM radio in NYC for years. However, I was always a bit disappointed in his stint as a host on AMC -- he wasn't particularly informative, as the other two hosts were. Klavan was more of just, well, a host. I loved him on the radio, though. In the 50s he was part of a gently wacky morning team, Klavan and Finch, which had started out as Rayburn and Finch (with Gene Rayburn). One of their catchphrases was "Morning there, you!" Klavan played a group of funny characters, with Finch as the straight man. When Dee Finch passed on, Klavan remained on the air solo for a long time, and then turned up on AMC. Klavan himself is gone now.