[Pardon my obtuseness.. . .]

While the following "neo-noir" classic was made 6 years after the Production Code went the way of the Dodo and was replaced by the MPAA film rating system(and so I'm not really sure why I'm mentioning it, but I will anyway), if you folks think about it, Noah Cross(John Huston) here...

 

...sure gets away with one of the biggest "thefts" in cinematic history.

 

(...like almost the whole San Fernando Valley before it was turned into what it is today)

If Karl Malden had played Jake Gittes, they would have had to blow the budget for bandages.

[Robert/Ben Movie Introductions?]

Some of the TCM Imports air without introductions.

 

I presume this  means that Ben Mankiewicz has not seen those movies.

I doubt whether having seen a movie was ever a requirement for Robert or Ben to do an intro for that movie.

[Rise, Decline and Fall]

Almost every entity that has existed has a strong period, followed by a bit of loss of prestige and then finally destruction.

 

Many cause their own downfall, as in the Roman Empire which had reasons like a lack of understanding of their core values, which led to invasions by outside forces, with over-expansion and usage of cheap labor to make up for overspending at the top echelon. This type of internal corruption caused the migration of barbarians and a weakening of their initial supporters who felt betrayed.

 

A rather simplistic version of events but such things happen still whether it be in business, or in government or in the movies. Or even at a cable tv conglomerate or places like that depicted in the film "Network".

 

Even a performer can go through these stages witness the career of Early Elvis, Middle Elvis and Late Elvis.

 

Name a movie which personifies such a rise and decline.

The early gangster classics LITTLE CAESAR and PUBLIC ENEMY?

[Don't Knock the Rock]

Is a movie connection still required for questions on this thread?

[Pardon my obtuseness.. . .]

It could be said that perpetrators profit by heist in: How to Steal a Million (1966). They steal a statue which has no value but purpose of the crime is to steal it before authorities learn that it has no value.

 

One of the perpetrators in: Gambit (1966) will clearly profit quite handsomely by combination of crimes. They plot to steal priceless bust. They succeed. 

 

Spoiler Alert!

 

Following paragraph contains plot information which is very important to ending:

 

 

 

 

 

It is revealed then that they do not want it and had left it where owner could recover it safely. They had stolen it only to generate newspaper headlines concerning its theft because they planned to sell fakes to collectors who sought illicit works of art. One of those in the plot walks away before collecting but other one is shown preparing to deliver a fake to a buyer and had other fakes ready for sale. 

In THE HOT ROCK, Redford's group is ultimately successful, no?

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

I remember my mother had one of those ugly plastic shoe

holders in her closet. Back then I didn't think much about

it, but now I'd do a Norman Bates--Mother, mother, what

have you done? She also used moth balls. Haven't seen

those in a long time.

Moth balls have been put into mothballs.

[Tom Ewell]

"Redheaded bombshell" doesn't have any alliteration. How about "redheaded rocket"?

..or, if she's also smart, "redheaded rocket scientist".

[*Sinatra vs (or) Elvis-(please cast your vote)?]

just rewatching  Elvis in his swan song concert-(l977) & actually he wasn't that heavy.

Mostly in his face though

People are so quick to be mean?  Though at his finale he needed a lil' guy to hold the mike up to him, he was BITSZED

 

But, more "OPERATIC" than ever!

 

he was pouring sweat & towards  the end could barely open his eyes

 

 

But, HE WAS STILL IN FORCE AS A SINGER/ENTERTAINER!!!

 

(P.S. wish woulda' starred in that 1970 film "CC & Company" opposite Ann-Margret & William Smith though, instead of Namath)

I was under the impression that when you got fat, it was pretty proportional between body and face.

[Crazy maniacal laugh: the most memorable in cinema history (new)]

I think the most memorable (and most imitated) would be the laugh of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) in THE WIZARD OF OZ.

 

Widmark in KISS OF DEATH.

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

Wow! Didn't know those suckers ever grew on trees???

 

So, do ya wait and pick 'em just as they grow to be the size of your feet?

 

(...and is there ever a worry about either under OR over watering them?)

Maybe Tiffany Vazquez can use a shoe tree to hang all her shoes. Imelda Marcos would need one the size of a giant redwood.

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

I don't think they're big sellers much anymore...

 

In the same category, do they still sell "shoe trees"?

[Name a Celebrity - Name a Movie]

Holly Hunter was in Broadcast News with Albert Brooks.

Brooks was in TAXI DRIVER with Cybill Shepherd

[Tom Ewell]

Ya sure don't hear that phrase much, to be sure DGF.

 

But IF there is such a thing, the first name that comes to mind would be Jane Russell, I'd think.

"Redheaded bombshell" doesn't have any alliteration. How about "redheaded rocket"?

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

I always thought Steverino's many talents were bigger, MUCH bigger, than a bread box, anyway.

I don't even know what a bread box is.

[Tom Ewell]

FOX also cast Ewell opposite another blonde bombshell Sheree North in THE LIEUTENANT WORE SKIRTS.

Is there such a thing as a "brunette bombshell"?

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

I dreamed I saw Steve Allen last night,

alive as you or me.

 

I thought Allen was a very funny guy, but if he was

only a songwriter, I doubt he would be remembered

very much today. TCBTSOSB is a good song.

It's actually a GREAT song.

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

Oh gosh, I shoulda known what I was starting here.

 

Uh, Down, just wondering what are you doing on Mammarial Day this year?

 

Oops, I mean Memorial Day.

I'm having dinner at Hooters.

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

Uh, he wrote "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" right, for Big Tiny Little wasn't it?

 

Lawrence Welk would be proud.

I thought that "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" was written for a woman about to get a breast implant.

[Movie Titles-AKA]

"Artists and Models"?

DJ gets the thread.

[Movie Titles-AKA]

there ya go, DGF

 

& your thread....

Peter Max, Salvador Dali, Christie Brinkley, and Lauren Hutton.

[Retro Trivia]

Fra-- I love this question about a classic rock song--

 

Actually I had this record and I'll have to go way back for it--

 

Shirley and Lee--

 

But I believe they did Let the Good Times Roll, a real classic.

 

But I don't know her last name and I'm too lazy to Google it.LOL

Shirley Goodman. She also headed Shirley & Company. Marsha gets the thread.

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

You are so absolutely right, Rayban. I own that mondo documentary with Jayne, called "The Wild Wild World of Jayne Mansfield" and it is upsetting to see what she was reduced to at that time.

 

I try to forget her latter career and just focus on earlier times but those career downturns probably affected her most adversely ending in her demise. Sad but true.

She was the victim of a tragic accident. What connection did that have to her career downturn?

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

Although I can't think of their titles, there have been other films similar to THE GIRL AN'T HELP IT in which the "dissing" of rock'n'roll as a valid musical genre was blended into the story.

 

That a busty woman emitting a high pitched squeal can become a rock'n'roll "sensation" , or that O'Brien's character with his banal "Rockpile Rock" tune can be a "smash" goes to the core of Hollywood's appealing to the "anti rock'n'roll" sentiment still encompassing the nation at that time, and any opportunity to make the music look simple minded was seized upon.   But their inclusion of the genre's "giants" at that point in time is the movie's saving grace.

 

Hard to admit, but those cheaply budgeted ALAN FREED rock'n'roll flicks, in which the music finds a hard row to hoe but in the end triumphs were short on story, but long on presentation of how GOOD the genre was and is.  And did it more favors than TGCHI.

 

But retrospectively, I think the films show that although Mansfield was by no means that period's Meryl Streep, she WAS more than just her bustline.  AND incredibly gorgeous to boot!

 

 

Sepiatone

More than her bustline? She was billed as having an IQ of, like, 170, which is more than 4x her bustline.

[Retro Trivia]

DJ - For me this is tough. I can only come up with 2 - Shirley Ellis ("The Name Game", "The Nitty Gritty") and Shirley Owens of "The Shirelles" who became Shirley Alston Reeves ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Tonight's The Night", "Mama Said", "Baby It's You"). So, I can't complete the thread with a third Shirley.

Good. The third one recorded with a male partner and later with a backup group.

[I Dreamed I Was in Rock and Roll Heaven]

Thanks, Down! I'm glad we agree that the rock and roll was magnificent [except maybe for stuff like the Three Chuckles].

 

That type of film always had to insert a few non-rockers to appease the public who were scared of the wild antics of people like Little Richard. Putting in young guys in a tux to pretend to sing a rock and roll song was the panacea for such fears.

 

The Three Chuckles were more like a group that would have fit right in on "Your Hit Parade" or "The Lawrence Welk Show" and later I think had typical mainstream vocalist Teddy Randazzo as their lead.

 

We can agree to disagree about the quality of the movie in general, because as you know I am much shallower than you could ever hope to be and I was enjoying all Jayne's, Frederick's of Hollywood type couture and watching the poodle's hair bow change color to match, scene to scene. To me, these things are so important to a film.

For me, it's basically Ingmar Bergman or nothing.