Film_Fatale

June 24, 2008

Geez, you just can't please some people....

Here's a little something extra: an op-ed tribute by Jerry Seinfeld:

Op-Ed Contributor

*Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder.*

By JERRY SEINFELD

Published: June 24, 2008

THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: ?I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they?ve had a crash. It improves your odds.?

I called him to compliment him on his most recent special on HBO. Seventy years old and he cranks out another hour of great new stuff. He was in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for his show. He was a monster.

You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn?t even count the number of times I?ve been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, ?Carlin does it.? I?ve heard it my whole career: ?Carlin does it,? ?Carlin already did it,? ?Carlin did it eight years ago.?

And he didn?t just ?do? it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.

But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about ?Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,? or ?FM & AM.? To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.

I became obsessed with him in the ?60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.

I know George didn?t believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I?m spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, ?Carlin already did it.?

Jerry Seinfeld is a writer and a comedian.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/opinion/24seinfeld.html?

June 24, 2008

I'd recorded this a while back, but for some reason never got to watch it until just today, after the very sad passing of Cyd Charisse. Although she may not get as much screen time as Margaret O'Brien, Cyd really was absolutely magnificent as the up-and-coming ballerina O'Brien admires so very much.

All in all, a pretty good movie, maybe not nearly as good as *The Red Shoes* but almost certainly guaranteed to delight any ballet fan.

June 24, 2008

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote}

> By the way, yeah, this is a free country but Stephen, if you don't want to get lambasted or tarred and feathered in the future, you might want to think about sticking to classic films on a message board about classic films. I'm just sayin'.

Oh I don't know about "tarred and feathered" but it does make me wonder what the point is of having at least one major bulletin board dedicated primarily to classic movies, and then someone comes here to discuss a recent release that could probably bring about more interesting discussions in any of the 1,000's of movie forums that are about, you know, new movies.

Once in a while there'll be a movie that has an obvious connection to classic cinema, like *The Good German*, which tried very hard (and perhaps unsuccessfully) to look like a movie actually shot in the 40's.

I could even see the point of bringing up the latest remake of *Nancy Drew* as a point of comparison with the old series.

Although I do watch more than my share of new releases, it's not something I particularly enjoy discussing here. Having said that, I see MNS as being somewhat of a one-trick pony, and think at least 75% of his movies are a complete bore and perhaps a total waste of time. His latest film is perhaps one of the very worst, only slightly less a catastrophe than the one that came before it.

Now, can we go back to discussing the classics?

June 24, 2008

tl;dr -- but I agree they're great compilations.

June 24, 2008

> {quote:title=CineSage_jr wrote:}{quote}

> Shameful. Paramount's entire film library staff should be tossed out into the street tomorrow morning.

Amen to that. Maybe Spielberg or someone else can give those kids a good smack in the head?

June 24, 2008

I love this movie, not just for its message, its compelling story and very fine performances, but also because it represents an amazing technical accomplishment due to the fact that, as others already mentioned, it was all done in sound stages. It's amazing what they could accomplish with the technology available at that time. And of course it goes to show the range of Ford as a director.

It's a shame this movie is out of print on DVD.

June 23, 2008

Please don't bother replying to anything I post, CK. I've had you on ignore for months.

June 23, 2008

What does this movie have to do with the classics that are shown on TCM?

June 23, 2008

Happy B-Day, Bob Fosse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(June 23, 1927-Sept. 23, 1987)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002080/

June 23, 2008

I can only guess that date was a typo!

June 23, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/arts/24carlin.html?hp

June 24, 2008

*George Carlin, Irreverent Comedian, Dies at 71*

By MEL WATKINS

George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like ?Seven Words You Can Never Use on Television,? died in Los Angeles on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.

The cause of death was heart failure, according to Mr. Abraham.

Mr. Carlin began his standup comedy act in the late 1950s and made his first television solo guest appearance on ?The Merv Griffin Show? in 1965. At that time, he was primarily known for his clever wordplay and reminiscences of his Irish working-class upbringing in New York.

But from the outset their were indications of an anti-establishment edge to his comedy. Initially, it surfaced in the witty patter of a host of offbeat characters like the wacky sportscaster Biff Barf and the hippy-dippy weatherman Al Sleet. ?The weather was dominated by a large Canadian low, which is not to be confused with a Mexican high. Tonight?s forecast . . . dark, continued mostly dark tonight turning to widely scattered light in the morning.?

Mr. Carlin released his first comedy album, ?Take-Offs and Put-Ons,? to rave reviews in 1967. He also dabbled in acting, winning a recurring part as Marlo Thomas? theatrical agent in the sitcom ?That Girl? (1966-67) and a supporting role in the movie ?With Six You Get Egg-Roll,? released in 1968.

By the end of the decade, he was one of America?s best known comedians. He made more than 80 major TV appearances during that time, including the Ed Sullivan Show and Johnny Carson?s Tonight Show; he was also regularly featured at major nightclubs in New York and Las Vegas.

That early success and celebrity, however, was as dinky and hollow as a gratuitous pratfall to Mr. Carlin. ?I was entertaining the fathers and the mothers of the people I sympathized with, and in some cases associated with, and whose point of view I shared,? he recalled later, as quoted in the book ?Going Too Far? by Tony Hendra, which was published in 1987. ?I was a traitor, in so many words. I was living a lie.?

In 1970, Mr. Carlin discarded his suit, tie, and clean-cut image as well as the relatively conventional material that had catapulted him to the top. Mr. Carlin reinvented himself, emerging with a beard, long hair, jeans and a routine that, according to one critic, was steeped in ?drugs and bawdy language.? There was an immediate backlash. The Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas terminated his three-year contract, and, months later, he was advised to leave town when an angry mob threatened him at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club. Afterward, he temporarily abandoned the nightclub circuit and began appearing at coffee houses, folk clubs and colleges where he found a younger, hipper audience that was more attuned to both his new image and his material.

By 1972, when he released his second album, ?FM & AM,? his star was again on the rise. The album, which won a Grammy Award as best comedy recording, combined older material on the ?AM? side with bolder, more acerbic routines on the ?FM? side. Among the more controversial cuts was a routine euphemistically entitled ?Shoot,? in which Mr. Carlin explored the etymology and common usage of the popular idiom for excrement. The bit was part of the comic?s longer routine ?Seven Words That Can Never Be Said on Television,? which appeared on his third album ?Class Clown,? also released in 1972.

?There are some words you can say part of the time. Most of the time ?****? is all right on television,? Mr. Carlin noted in his introduction to the then controversial monologue. ?You can say, well, ?You?ve made a perfect **** of yourself tonight.? You can use **** in a religious sense, if you happen to be the redeemer riding into town on one ? perfectly all right.?

The material seems innocuous by today?s standards, but it caused an uproar when broadcast on the New York radio station WBAI in the early seventies. The station was censured and fined by the FCC. And in 1978, their ruling was supported by the Supreme Court, which Time magazine reported, ?upheld an FCC ban on ?offensive material? during hours when children are in the audience.? Mr. Carlin, refused to drop the bit and was arrested several times after reciting it on stage.

Mr. Carlin released a half dozen comedy albums during the ?70s, including the million-record sellers ?Class Clown,? ?Occupation: Foole? (1973) and ?An Evening With Wally Lando? (1975). He was chosen to host the first episode of the late-night comedy show ?Saturday Night Live? in 1975. And two years later, he found the perfect platform for his brand of acerbic, cerebral, sometimes off-color standup humor in the fledgling, less restricted world of cable television. By 1977, when his first HBO comedy special, ?George Carlin at USC? was aired, he was recognized as one of the era?s most influential comedians. In the years following his 1977 cable debut, Mr. Carlin was nominated for a half dozen Grammy awards and received CableAces awards for best stand-up comedy special for ?George Carlin: Doin? It Again (1990) and ?George Carlin: Jammin?? (1992). He also won his second Grammy for the album ?Jammin?? in 1994.

During the course of his career, Mr. Carlin overcame numerous personal trials. His early arrests for obscenity (all of which were dismissed) and struggle to overcome his self-described ?heavy drug use? were the most publicized. But in the ?80s he also weathered serious tax problems, a heart attack and two open heart surgeries. His greatest setback was the loss of his wife, Brenda Hosbrook, who died in 1997. They had been married for 36 years. Mr. Carlin is survived by wife, Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; son-in-law, Bob McCall; older brother, Patrick Carlin; sister-in-law, Marlene Carlin and long time manager, business partner and best friend Jerold Hamza.

June 23, 2008