JonnyGeetar

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote} > *The Wiz* just paved the way to box office doom for all involved and boredom for all of us who saw the movie on its release. I know. What the hell happened to Sidney Lumet after this?! I don't get how you make three of the best movies of the 70's boom, boom, boom: Murder on the Orient Express , Dog Day Afternoon , and Network then you make The Wiz and it's all downhill from there, with a brief uptic for The Verdict Shame. Maybe he bought some cursed Indian talisman at a garage sale or something. ps- the whole Guys and Dolls thing has brought back a memory of one of the first posts I did a while ago in the Films and Filmakers Forum titled Joe Makiewicz is REALLY Overrated . Feel free to look it up, it really **** some people off pss- I still stand by that post.

i don't understand why "Song of the South" has been banished to the salt mines while "White Christmas" STILL has the "Ole Abe Lincoln" blackface number and they sell the damn DVD at Starbucks. Someone correct me if my facts are wrong.

everyone with Netflix, check out the Rifftrax DVD of "HOHH"...they're (deservedly, if you ask me) kind of hard on the movie, but it's very funny. they also write a great song to play over the menu: "There's a party tonight on Haunted Hill Vincent Price is gonna try to kill His lusty, busty champagne swillin' spouse And you'll be tortured, you'll be taunted Trying to figure out which one's haunted Is it the hill, or actually the house?" ps- I prefer the remake. (don't hurt me)

I know, I know. Kind of a "which would you rather gnaw off: your hand or your foot?" type question. Hopefully it'll never come to that.

I came thisclose to mentioning Camelot as well. My God, what did Jack Warner have against Julie Andrews? Still Man of La Mancha is the worst movie musical ever. Period. (wait- just remembered that I haven't seen The Wiz , but I'll still bet La Mancha is worse.)

> {quote:title=Sprocket_Man wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=JonnyGeetar wrote:}{quote} > > Said it before, say it again: Makiewicz is overrated. > > > > ps- I'm sure I misspelled the man's name > > Too bad Joe Mankewicz isn't around to size you up. As long as anything he had to say was shorter than any one of his movies, I'd be fine with it.

> {quote:title=stjohnrv wrote:}{quote} > shame on you GIGI has my beloved Leslie and while i'm on the subject the music is great and the cast stellar even that nazi collaborating S.O.B. Chevalier. stumbled over your quote in reading this. don't want to get all non sequitor on the thread, but i have also heard the Nazi story about Chevalier and have read sources that say his performing for the Germans in WWII was more to spare the lives of some of his country men. I don't know if that's true or not, but figured I'd just toss that out. Anyone know for sure?

Man of La Mancha with Peter O'Toole is actually _the_ dullest movie musical ever made, but I'd put Guys and Dolls not far behind. Said it before, say it again: Makiewicz is overrated. ps- I'm sure I misspelled the man's name

this film, is very much an acquired taste...i'm fine with it , but i get anyone who's not into it. Ethel Waters is amazing, I wish she would've gotten a nomination (she would have been the first black actress to have been nominated twice for the oscar.) i think Harry Cohn refused to campaign for her or Harris. i gots to throw in: according to every bio I've read of Waters, she was a egocentric, fire-breathing **** from hell. Glad Julie Harris got nommed as well (her only Oscar shot, if I recall) It's a trip to see her name after Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's and right before Susan Hayward on the 1952 best actress list.(all three for standardly glossy Hollywood pics) Shirley Booth won. (I'm not going to re-ignite that fight here.)

damn. i still say she should've won the 1960 best actress oscar for Elmer Gantry she is also great in Baby Face and the only good thing about Guys and Dolls I even liked her on the revival of Dark Shadows in the early nineties. I know it happens to us all, but damn.

I have never been able to decide whether Raymond Massey was a great actor or the most perfectly cast stick-in-the-mud in the history of film. Sorry if I'm being all "buttinsky" with this. Feel free to go back to your Nietzche (sic, I'm sure)

> {quote:title=annelovestcm wrote:}{quote} > but what a crappy movie and I cannot believe Carroll Baker got an academy award nomination I've only seen the movie once, and I gots to say, I'm kind of with you on the first part- but disagree on the second. I need to see it again (or attempt to at least) because it may be an acquired taste like Dr. Strangelove , or olives. It influenced a lot of important filmakers I like (ie John Waters), but I found it to be tedious as all-get-out when last it was on. Wallach is miscast and I am of the few who hath never knelt before the altar of Karl Malden, but I'm glad Baker and Dunnock got nominated for their work. I liked both and they spiced up a rather milquetoast bunch of noms in '56. ps- check out the song "Babydoll" by The Mopes off their record Accident Waiting to Happen

For the seventies remake: Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen For the eighties remake: Chistopher Walken and Grace Jones (she could've torn down the building with her bare hands, awesome!) For the (standardly awful) contemporary remake: Harrison Ford at his most joyless and Sandra Bullock at her cutesey-pooiest.

NICE IDEA about Anne Baxter! Neal is terrific, but yeah, this would've been right up Baxter's alley. Would've made her work in The Ten Commandments seem subtle and restrained. Failing her, the only other person I'd like to see more than Neal is Jane Russell.

it's strange that you mention this movie as a similar thread on the bat elsewhere on the boards made me think of it earlier today. to answer your questions: yes, i have seen it; no, i do not like it; yet: I have no probs with TCM playing it as it is short and, I believe, in the public domain. in fact you can get it on a lot of those "50 awesome horror movies" DVDs where about 48 of 'em are total crap... I don't know if you're a fan of RiffTraxx, but they do a terrific running commentary on the house on haunted hill , the DVD of which you can rent via netflixx or order off amazon. it also has a brilliant song they wrote about the movie which is catchy as hell.

sigh ,those were the days... When burglers, murderers and kidnappers really put a lot of thought in devising their "look." Can you imagine a guy nowadays dressed like a giant bat trying to rob a WaMu in Pomona? It's just not the same.

Even better: can you imagine if they'd hired Ayn Rand to do the script for The Poseidon Adventure ? (quite frankly, it seems right up her alley.)

> {quote:title=GreatMoviesFan wrote:}{quote}However, if memory serves, The Circular Staircase was written about 1914, but The Bat was written in 1926. Then I'll rephrase, The Bat is a shameless, but much improved, re-tread of The Circular Staircase. I recall being astounded by the similarities. Non sequitor note: The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White is a terrific book as well (better than the movie, to me) but The Lady Vanishes (also her book) _sucks_ (the movie is magnificent though.) Edited by: JonnyGeetar on Jan 21, 2010 1:09 PM Edited by: JonnyGeetar on Jan 21, 2010 1:10 PM

Can you imagine the absolute laugh riot it would've been if (let's say) the legal dept. had effed up big time and they ended up getting Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson for the Cooper/Neal roles?

His second Oscar for his 5 minute turn in Lust For Life has always been one of the bigger "huhs?" in A.A. History for me...His later in life work also comes in on the heels of Rod Steiger and Brod Crawford for truly embarassing turns by Oscar winners. But hey, you gots to eat.

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote} > These people didn't belong in jail, they belonged in the psycho ward of a major hospital (hopefully, one without balconies). ****. I wish you could've been the D.A. at that trial.

I have to add that I watch The Fountainhead every time it is on and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it. I wish they would put Duel in the Sun on ice for a year and trot this out once a month instead.

Dobbsey, I could not agree with you more. In fact the only movie I can think of from the 1940's that is funnier is Tomorrow: The World! It is quite ironic to me that the theme of the movie: "I am an artiste, so HANDS OFF, no collaboration, no messing with MY STUFF, IT'S MINE MINE, MINE! " Is hampered by the script, which if Ayn Rand had allowed someone else to work on, would maybe not have been so laughably ridiculous. Major props to Cooper and Neal, who handle the ham-fisted dialogue brilliantly and shine in rather odd and thankless roles. Ray Massey is a hoot and I also love the eeeeeeeee-ville architect who rips on Cooper's stuff. Edited by: JonnyGeetar on Jan 21, 2010 11:16 AM

the novel the movie is based on by Mary Roberts Reinhardt (sp?) is a really, really fun read. I'm sure it can be found on amazon. i remember, quite fondly, reading it one stormy summer afternoon while on vacation years and years ago. avoid the circular staircase by the same author though, it's a shameless retread of the exact same story.

> {quote:title=casablancalover wrote:}{quote} > This was fun Jonny. But The Towering Inferno ain't Casablanca.... > This quote of yours has stuck with me. Obviously, from a mechanical standpoint, it is far from Casablanca and yet... Both deal with a disparate group, caught in a dangerous place, waiting and praying to get out, willing to do anything for a "ticket" out...And also they deal with (one of the best themes ever): the true nature of men (and women) when things get, um, hairy (for lack of a better word.) As far as squandered story potential goes, The Towering Inferno is up there with Shadow of the Vampire in my book.