AddisonDeWitless

The plot synopsis of The Maltese Bippy (1969) as per the TCM schedule: *A porn star think he's become a werewolf.* Della, cancel my 6:30.

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}Yes. Agnes is one of my favorite character actresses, even though she really hammed it up. I particularly enjoy Moorehead in 1941's Tomorrow: The World! - aka the one where Fredric March and Priscilla Lane adopt a psychotic Nazi youth named Emil. Fred and Priscilla look so ill-at-ease with the INSANE OVERRACTING from the kid, but Aggie takes one look at him, her eyes flash for a nanosecond, then she says "okay kid, you want to overract? *HERE'S SOME OVERRACTING!!!! BLA-BLA-BLA-BLUPPITY, a-OOGa, a-OOGa, HONK HONK!!!"* Then she stands on her head and spits nickels. It's awesome. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 6, 2012 10:44 AM

you might want to try reading the novel on which Dark Passage is based, also called Dark Passage. It's by David Goodis, who I've only read one other thing by- Shoot the Piano Player, which I found very disappointing. He also wrote Night Squad and...oh crap, the name alludes me, I want to say Nightfall, it was made into a decent movie with a pre-Oscar Anne Bancroft and Aldo Ray.... I was surprised by how faithful an adaptation of the book the movie is, I'd be hard pressed to name a single difference...which is why it wasn't the most exciting reading experience, but., hey, if you really like Dark Passage the movie (I have to admit, I don't think it works, but I do think it's inn-teresting) you might like the book or some of David Goodis' other works...or anything from the defunct(?), but still quite findable, Black Lizard/ Vintage Crime publishing outfit.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}She has been already........... Meaning Bacall has already been Star of the Month? It seemed like she had....I know she had a tribute during the 2009 31 Days. When was she SOTM last?

I like vampire movies, I like a lot of Polanski films, but (oh God) Fearless Vampire Killers...aka Where Exactly am I Supposed to Laugh and What Exactly in this is Hah-Hah Funny? that movie *hurts me.* But hey man, it's a free country.

Big Fan of Joan here, but I have to say that I find The Best of Everything kind of meh. The real story with Everything that interests me is this: it was *the first time that CRAWFORD condescended to take a supporting role.* Husband four: Mr. Pepsi Al Steel, had died and her finances were in shambles: she had to do it. She's (I think) last in the billing, and not featured prominently in ads for the film circa 1959. Also, her *BIG, EMOTIONIAL DRUNK SCENE* (a small part of which can be seen in the trailer) was *CUT* and has, to date, never been found. Fast forward some forty years, when the film is released on video (and later on DVD) who do you think is FRONT AND CENTER on the box? Who do you think is the one mentioned first in reviews, in write-ups and synopsis? Can anyone name all three of the protagonists off the top of their heads this second? Although it is notable that one of them, Diane Baker, later had a supporting role in a CRAWFORD picture made five years later.

> {quote:title=UniversalHorror wrote:}{quote}Addy, isn't it a featurette called "All Eyes On Sharon Tate"?... It's in black & white...or am I thinking of a different short? No, no, you got it right. As many times as I've seen it on the schedule, you'd think I'd get the damn title right. You actually own The Fearless Vampire Killers on laserdisc? You must be some kind of masochist. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 3, 2012 10:49 AM Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 3, 2012 10:50 AM

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}I feel this thread is in poor taste.These films and short promos are part of Hollywood history. They should continue to be aired. I don't think it's in poor taste (not that I have any issues with poor taste.) The OP didn't point this out, but the Sharon Tate: Star of Tomorrow featurette runs *a lot* , even when they're not showing a Tate movie, a Deborah Kerr movie, a Niven movie, a David Hemmings movie or Eye of the Devil (sic?) which they do show from time to time on TCM, but rarely after this promo, which runs *all the time* (same issue with the Making of Dr. Zhivago featurette that shows up a lot, even on those rare occasions TCM isn't showing Dr. Zhivago ) I would dare say the Tate featurette has played almost 12 times this year, often as filler between late night airings. I don't know if it's that complicated to score some Traveltalks docs or (shudder) Pete Smith Presents, but at this juncture, I roll my eyes EVERY time I see the Tate featurette crammed between films that it has NOTHING TO DO WITH and I too think it's time to let it sit in the vault.

> {quote:title=lavenderblue19 wrote}{quote}: Just finished watching for the 100th time another guilty pleasure *The Opposite Sex*. While *The Women* is on my favorite all time film list, I still love this remake. Only wish that Dolores Gray had some songs( besides the theme song) instead of June .No arguments please. LOL No arguments at all, the less we see (and hear) of June Allyson, the better. I wish they'd reworked The Women as The Woman and had the whole thing revolve around Delores Gray just doing all the parts herself. That would've been worth seeing. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 2, 2012 1:51 PM

i went to imdb and read the pistachio ice cream incident. dreadful. it sounds to me like typical binge-drinker behavior, alcohol turns people into literal monsters who often put the ones in the Universal horrors to shame. I do respect Chaney and think he was a good actor (see High Noon and Mice and Men and The Wolfman ), and you have to admire the way he throws himself in to even the most bargain basement crap (see: everything post- High Noon ). if treading a little whiskey helped him do it, I'm not saying I approve, but I understand.

Evelyn Ankers hated Lon Chaney Jr.?

I say *Vincent Price for full-on* *star of the month,* but I'll take a SUTS day too. At least Price has been on SUTS once, I don't think Christopher Lee ever has (that could be a wild day no doubt.)

*No* James Caan.

I have also hoid the story about Ulmer punishing the actress who rebuffed him, *but...* I have also heard that Ulmer went and stole the wife of someone very high-up at Universal, and as such was blackballed at all the major studios. For the rest of his career he worked on poverty row, directing such crud as The Amazing Transparent Man (later parodied on MST3K) However, he did manage to do Detour , which has become regarded as one of the more inn-teresting bargain-basement pics of the 1940's and is on many people's short list of the finest film noirs ever made.

HUGE fan of all the movies here, well- less so 2, but I have a fondness in my own way for even 3D and The Revenge (tip: for some reason there is an audio option available on all the Jaws the Revenge DVDs where you can watch the whole film dubbed En Francais. Try it: I swear it becomes this genius, post-modern, outrageous comedia del arte of sorts...with a bad shark puppet) Anyhoo, bored, needed to read, picked up a copy of *the Peter Benchley novel* - I've seen the 1975 film 100 times easy - so figured, why not? I knew of nearly all the astounding differences between the plots of novel and book already, so was not shocked by that. What I was shocked about it how RACIST and OFFENSIVE the novel is in so many instances. And in others, it is just *tacky* enough to make Jaqueline Susann say, "oh no honey, lose that, it's too trashy." I should've highlighted as I read, but here are some choice nuggets I culled from memory: p10: "last year, a bunch of f****ts staged a dance out by the club- a nude dance." p148: Ellen Brody: "I've heard some women have fantasies about being raped by black men, I never do." p24 "if every house was not rented, there wouldn't be enough work for Amity's blacks, most of whom were gardeners, butlers, bartenders and maids...and two or three bad summers in a row...could create a cycle that could wreck the town." p150 "I'd send you in to the ladies room so you could take off your panties...so I could explore you on the way home." also p 150 "she wanted to squirm back and forth, to move her legs up and down, but she was afraid of leaving a stain on the seat."- *OMG*. P169 "I'm supposed to hire two delivery boys for the summer...I can only hire one, one's black, one's white....(I'm hiring) the black one, I figure he needs the money more. I just thank God the white one isn't Jewish." p44 ( *my favorite* ) "teen-agers lay serried in tight, symmetrical rows. The boys enjoying the sensation of grinding their pelvises in the sand, thinking of pudenda and stretching their necks to catch a brief glimpse of some, exposed, wittingly or not, by girls who lay on their backs with their legs spread." I can't write anymore for now, this took too long. But *f-real,* am I overreacting here or does anyone else see something rather appalling here? I was SO rooting for the shark by the end. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 1, 2012 4:00 PM Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 1, 2012 4:01 PM the F-bomb slipped thru. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 1, 2012 4:03 PM You just don't ever need to use the word "pudenda" ever, (unless you're quoting that last quote there.)

> {quote:title=ginnyfan wrote:}{quote}If you look at the marionettes closely their heads shake sort of like Katharine Hepburn in her later years. That's hilarious. God, and the fact that this thing came out in one of the most volatile years in the history of America: *1968.* Oh to have been in a theater when this thing was playing...

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}I've always liked Marsha Mason. I don't know a whole lot about *Marsha Mason*, other than I'm not a fan of The Goodbye Girl, although she's fine in it and I thought she was fine on Frasier...but I cannot think of a more *major* actress (FOUR Best Actress Oscar nominations and no wins) who has been more ignored as time went past. I know it's not like anyone's knocking down Streisand's or Dunaway's or Hawn's doors with offers these days, but not only has Marsha not been in any major films, it's like she's not even written about or discussed, the way Tuesday Weld and Jill Clayburgh still are by some...And while none of the names mentioned in this paragraph are setting the film world afire these days, there's a very good chance they'd be recognized by even film newbies, I don't think that's the case with Mason. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she seemed to star exclusively for her then-husband Neil Simon, I dunno... Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 1, 2012 12:35 PM

I still say Nicholson deserves a SUTS or even SOTM- The Last Detail, Ironweed, Chinatown, the rarely-shown Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Reds.... But then again the m*****f***** language may be a problem for the daylight hours.

been working REALLY hard lately, and my allergies are awful- so I took a couple of Benadryl last night and died. came back to life circa 9:45 this morning. went into kitchen, put toaster strudel in oven, put water on to boil (coffee.) turned on TCM. took a look at this Thunderbirds thing, which I have never seen or heard of, or if I did, I blocked it out mentally.... "AAAAAAGH! WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT THE HELL?!!! THE DEVIL! THE DEVIL!!!! IT'S EVIL, KILL IT!!!!! " I was whacking my TV with a spatula when I realized what was going on. I am not a morning person.

All joking aside, I think *DeNiro, Nicholson or Hoffman* would've been better choices for the "mod slot". I also think part of the problem here is the Warren William Whiplash we feel from going straight from WW's day to James Caan day. I think having Eva Marie Saint's day yesterday would've helped buffer the jarring and putting Warren William back a ways with Kay Fwancis makes more sense. The whole parade of SUTS entries had a "names from a hat" quality to it...with the notable exception of Marilyn's day (the high point for me) Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Aug 31, 2012 1:40 PM

Andrew Sarris on James Caan in 1991's For the Boys: "The burned-out James Caan serves in much the same capacity here as he did opposite Kathy Bates in Misery - as the George Brent of the nineties, setting up his ferocious leading ladies for Oscars."

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote} TCM has been featuring a contemporary star (relatively) for a few years now, though I think they could've come up with someone better than Caan. Elliot Gould? Michael Sarrazan? Tovah Borgnine?

Ah yes, I was waiting for a thread like this to emerge since I saw the schedule yesterday...and yet, I find myself at a strange loss for words this is such an utter curveball. I could not be more surprised if Francis the Talking Mule had gotten his own day...although in that case I would be a lot more enthused. It's not just the fact that it's a stunning non sequitor with not just this, but every Summer Under the Stars and with their programming in general...it's not that it's a "modern" "film" "actor" who's getting this attention, and you note the quotes which are indeed intended to be snarky...and the film choices themselves, while all terrible, don't even get to me...I just...uh, eh...er... *JAMES CAAN?! FOR EFFING REAL?* This may actually be the most esoteric and inscrutable decision made by the TCM ever. Either that or Caan has the hardest working publicist EVER who also has naked pictures of someone, possibly in bed with Francis the Talking Mule. I do not get this.

I looked Black Narcissus up on wikipedia. Some actress named May Hallet plays "Angu Aya" who I assume is the colorful domestic with the Cher-feathers in her hair and the fondness for the belt...as many times as I've seen Narcissus, the only name from the film that sticks with me is "Sister Honey" possibly because its BRILLIANCE eclipses all the others. I ever get kicked off the boards or decide to kill Addison deWitless, I'm coming back as "Sister Honey."

Really?