mrroberts
-
Posts
4,611 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
5
Posts posted by mrroberts
-
-
Just a quick reminder for those still in the Halloween spirit, tonight at 10pm est on Metv *Frankenstein* !
Edited by: mrroberts on Nov 2, 2013 4:02 PM
-
*The Hallelujah Trail* was a film Burt made with my fav gal Lee Remick and is supposed to be a comedy. Its one of those films that for me has all of the pieces for being great but somehow falls way short. I love the casting (and I believe they all worked well together) and John Sturges (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral) directed it so what gives? I watch it over and over but always find it somewhat disappointing (I don't blame Burt for this). Maybe my expectations are too high, all of the parts are first rate but the sum is second rate. Another film that does this to me is *Two Rode Together* with James Stewart and Richard Widmark and John Ford directing. Often 2 2 equals a 4 or even a 5. But sometimes 2 2 only equals a 3.
-
Fred, you watch all of the "old" movies, what about the "skeleton key" that the cops and guys like Nick Charles always seem to carry around?
-
Metv has shown the 1931 *Dracula* recently and *Frankenstein* is scheduled this Saturday night 10 pm est on "Svengoolie" . TCM did show *Bride Of Frankenstein* and *The Mummy* last Saturday and then there were all of the Vincent Price films this month, etc. Don't they count at all? One film I always wish would get more air time is the 1960 Barbara Steele classic *Black Sunday* , that is one great scary flick.
Edited by: mrroberts on Oct 31, 2013 1:42 PM
-
I'm surprised that none of the major studios got more involved into television production when tv was still in its early stages. My question; were there any legal roadblocks that kept the movie industry from being more directly involved in television production, or what prevented a major studio (Paramount, for example) from actually starting their own tv network?
-
1
-
-
*Tough Guys* is a fun film to watch. Both Burt and Kirk are around 70 years old here but both still have a lot of spunk and remind us of what real movie stars were like. A lot like Lemmon and Matthau in the *Grumpy Old Men" films. Anyone know if Burt ever appeared on the Carson Tonight show?
-
*Criss Cross* , a very underrated, not often seen noir (fortunately I have the dvd). Burt did very well working with EGR in *All My Sons* , Cooper in *Vera Cruz* , Gable in *Run Silent, Run Deep* , Tracy and many others in *Judgment at Nuremburg* , etc, etc.
-
Boston had the fourth highest payroll this year and the Yankees still outspent them by 70 million. The St Louis payroll was about one half of the Yankees, and several teams made the playoffs with very low payrolls. I love it when the Yankees spend real big and then flop. They never really win a championship, they just buy one.
-
Burt Lancaster is never going to be thought of for doing comedy but I believe he had the capacity for it. He seemed to enjoy self parody and it shows in his performance from time to time. Burt could really shift gears in his performance as he does in *Elmer Gantry* . One moment he is so over the top , almost too much "ham" , the next minute he is so serious, subdued. Like another favorite of mine, Charles Laughton, Burt knows when to take center stage and when to stand aside and give the other actors their moment. Burt had a reputation of being rather difficult to work with at times but I really believe it was because of his passion for wanting to make a good film. What some would call having ego I believe was more just having self confidence. I have the Lancaster book, it has a lot of fascinating detail (I believe mostly accurate) and shows that this man really enjoyed his life and welcomed challenging opportunities. I don't believe he did a lot of talk show interviews but I remember him being very open and honest on a Phil Donahue show.
-
Nice start to a thread for one of the movies greatest actors , Burt Lancaster truly did it all. He could have easily built a career just being the athletic action hero (and he was one of the very best at that) but he constantly looked to broaden his range as an actor and never disappointed us. I tend to like Burt best as the action hero, my favorite film of his is *The Train* , he really worked hard to do that film and as John Frankenheimer said, Burt was one of the greatest stunt men in films. And anytime he teamed with Kirk Douglas made for a great film. *Seven Days In May* is an exceptional film and has Burt working with Fredric March as well. *Gunfight at the O.K. Corral* may take a lot of liberties with real history but it is a lot of fun watching Burt and Kirk in one of the best "buddy" films of all time. From his early "noir" films right up to the end of his career Burt was always giving us a fine performance (and lets not forget his Oscar for *Elmer Gantry* )
-
Ben Alexander also was on the late sixties tv show *The Felony Squad* with Howard Duff and Dennis Cole . I watched that show often, one night my father told me "that guy was on Dragnet". If he hadn't been on "Felony Squad" maybe Jack Webb would have brought him back on the "new" Dragnet series. That's when Harry Morgan became Friday's new partner.
-
If game 6 goes extra innings the Red Sox are bring in Carlton Fisk as a pinch hitter
-
*Duel* was based on a short story by Richard Matheson, who also gets credit for the movie screenplay. No one ever knows what the motive was for the truck driver , who we never really see. Did he just suddenly go nuts, or has he done this kind of thing before? Why did he target this one driver/car? Once he did, he was relentless in his pursuit of that ,driver/ car. So many questions, which never really get answered, but that makes the story that more interesting I think. At the end of the movie, I wonder just what Dennis Weaver was going to tell the authorities and if they would ever believe him? Would you believe his story?
-
In the last week I have been looking through my very extensive ( big laugh) film collection of DVDs and tapes, and reviewed the 1947 EGR film *The Red House* . Definitely a low budget film and I have a rather poor quality DVD issue of it. But it is an intriguing little mystery (with a young Julie London in a supporting role) and just shows how a great actor like Robinson can take a film and raise it a notch or so above the normal. He starts out as a very decent normal man but he has a deep dark secret in his past. When his young adopted daughter gets a little too curious about the old red house in the woods, Eddie slowly starts behaving more and more erratic until he's literally gone mad at the films ending. I'm not sure if TCM has ever aired this one but its worth seeking out for viewing (you may still find a DVD copy in the $2.99 bin at your local discount store).
-
This is just speculation on my part but Tyrone Power had just completed filming *The Long Gray Line* with John Ford directing. (A favorite film of mine I might add). Since Power had played already Mister Roberts on stage in England , and with great success, and if Henry Fonda had not wanted to do the film version John Ford might have then pushed for Ty Power to do the role. Warner Bros reportedly wanted Marlon Brando or William Holden (2 of the biggest box office younger men at the time) but director Ford wanted Fonda over anyone else. So Fonda got the part and the film was very successful with him in the lead. An awful lot of behind the scenes wheeling and dealing often goes on before you get a final cast and crew together.
-
This one is easy, first you take out a BIG insurance policy, ...
-
Ollie may have been the best singer of the bunch
"Shine on harvest moon ... " -
Always make sure you have about a dozen cans of Raid (industrial strength) on hand, just in case.
-
Henry Fonda was cast in the movie of *Mister Roberts* at the insistence of John Ford who made that a condition of his (Ford's) taking the directors job. Ford said essentially "No Fonda, no Ford". Ironic considering the clashes that the two men then had during the filming (which we have covered rather thoroughly in previous discussions). The studio felt Fonda (pushing 50 years old) was too old for the part, and Fonda had been out of movies for some time and would the public have any interest in seeing him. I mention this because guys like Tracy and Cagney (and Bogart and many others) were all getting up in years and would the public accept any of these old men in young man roles. Time has shown that the public would often give a lot of slack to these older male actors and accept them in these parts. The gals weren't so lucky , many were "over the hill" before they reached mid 30's. I have misplaced my Cagney auto biography book (that's driving me crazy) and I have little recollection about the situation with the film Tribute To A Bad Man and Tracy's removal from it.
-
We can always speculate about different actors being considered for roles in films, I'm sure a lot of names get thrown around as possibilities so its a question of how far into the casting process an actor's name gets brought along. Were there screen tests made, formal contracts drawn up, etc. We know there were times when a few scenes may have actually been shot and then something causes a change in plans and one guy's out and another's in. Hopefully the end result is still a good match of actors and roles. About Bogart and Cagney having common friends, considering that both had long service with Warner Bros they worked with a lot of the same people so I'm sure they had many common friends .
-
So who plays the role of "Fatso" Judson?
-
Tracy couldn't even get a license to prescribe an aspirin yet alone take care of an entire ships crew.
-
Right around this time period Tracy dropped out of *Mister Roberts* (he was going to play "Doc") , never exactly clear about why that happened. And if Tracy had a problem with high altitudes he made *The Mountain* with Robert Wagner in 1956, that certainly had some location filming. Something here doesn't add up. If Tracy had any hard feelings toward Cagney about being Tracy's replacement that would seem very childish (I have to believe that wasn't the case). Tracy certainly had some great film work yet to come, but his declining health (or his careless attitude towards taking care of himself) must have had some impact.
-
It looks like Cagney was in 3 films that can be classified as Westerns, *The Oklahoma Kid* , *Tribute To A Bad Man* , and *Run For Cover* . As we look back over his long career he just seems out of place in a Western. That's not to say that he lacked the ability to play those parts. If he had made a serious commitment (like James Stewart) to play the cowboy for awhile in his career we might be thinking of Cagney in a different way.
"Shine on harvest moon ... "
Bogart Vs. Cagney Vs. Robinson
in General Discussions
Posted
Tom, I have that Cagney bio book somewhere ( **** I can't find it). Going by memory here. I don't think that Cagney was a big fan of Mervyn LeRoy. Cagney wasn't thrilled when LeRoy was the man to step in and replace John Ford for Mister Roberts. Poor Cagney , he gets rid of one headache and gets another. Interestingly in your Cagney quote he lists Ford as one of the directors to be respected for their work. I don't know if LeRoy would necessarily be the guy that Cagney is talking about at the end of your Cagney quote.