Gorch
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Posts posted by Gorch
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St. Peter himself - Royal Dano.
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James Griffith. Always enjoyed him.
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Winters was the funniest man there ever was. I had LP records of his comic routines and used to lose sleep on school nights when he was on with Johnny Carson. Small price to pay.
The scene when he deconstructs a gas station in Mad World is the best.
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Dargo2, that is just amazing! Now that I see the packaging, I can recall ripping the gun out of it and loading the white plastic bullets. I received it for my tenth birthday and my folks also gave one to my younger brother, obviously for self defense reasons.
Thank you for sharing that image.
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And the critters still are winning over new fans, albeit little ones. My six year old grandson likes "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts". When we have sleepovers, he loves it when I show one of these with the lights out and the popcorn warm. No nightmares or trouble sleeping either.
He's seen several CGI movies with transformers and dinosaurs, but just shrugs them off.
Can't wait to show him more of Ray's wonderful work.
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Judging by the number of times I've sat through his films - Steve McQueen. It may just be attributed to the year I was born, 1949. I was about 10 when I thought he was great on Wanted: Dead or Alive and even had a toy gun modeled after the one he used in the series.
Saw "The Magnificent Seven" when I was eleven and very impressionable but Steve had his biggest effect on me when I saw "The Great Escape" three years later. I spent half of high school trying to be The Cooler King and even looked forward to detention.
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I'm the proud owner of over 500 LDs and two working players. I have replaced some tiltes with DVDs and Blu Rays if they have been remastered or if they contain new extras.
The packaging of the LDs is often quite superior and the artwork alone is a good enough reason to keep it. For example, "Platoon" has a large booklet with photos and the making of the movie text.
"The Dirty Dozen" arrived with 8x10 stills and a one sheet poster. The Criterion "The Great Escape" has an audio commentary by John Sturges and others, although this will finally be included in the upcoming 50th anniversary Blu Ray.
John Wayne's "The Alamo" has the restored road show widescreen version that is shown on TCM but will never be in Blu Ray format due to deterioration. It also contains the full, long version of the Brian Huberman documentary.
Good thing I have a lot of room and a wonderful wife.
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To my everlasting regret, I have no clue about the stunning woman in the blue dress, but wanted to point out that two of the previous faces shared a scene. Whit Bissell and Bing Russell played the undertaker and a traveling drummer in "The Magnificent Seven". Val Avery was also a drummer. The scene sets up the hearse ride with Brynner and McQueen.
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Vaya con Dios, Roger. I'm sure that Gene saved you an aisle seat.
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I'm pretty sure he's Percy Helton. I believe that he played Byron's father in Ride the High Country.
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Miles, that's Frank Ferguson. He must have been in 50 westerns back in the day.
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Deal me in as a fan of this little known film.
This is the second time that Brynner's exotic look was described as a Cajun gunslinger, the first being "The Magnificent Seven". The scene when he explains his name on the chalkboard to the local populace is a hoot.
The supporting cast - Strother Martin, Mike Kellin and Yul's buddy, Brad Dexter - all contribute to the fine acting by the leads.
There are worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.
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Burt Mustin, a staple on The Andy Griffith Show.
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J. Pat O'Malley?
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Jamesjazzguitar rightly pointed out that most black and white films were filmed as a matter of economic necessity rather than artistic choice. I should have been clearer. As far as using B&W as an artistic option, I was thinking of "Schindler's List".
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Almost three hours into "The Great Escape" all the tension and excitement are flattened by the end results. The audience has identified with the POWs - their ingenuity, determination and humor, but now fifity have been shot, eleven recaptured and three have escaped. Some "great" escape.
Then Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) is also returned to the camp. His cuffs are removed, he steps forward and grins at the new camp commander and starts marching toward the cooler for the fourth time in the film.
Elmer Bernstein's march accompanies the walk, providing a jaunty in-your-face mood. The cooler door closes behind Hilts and you hear the ball bouncing against the cooler wall and, with the music rising, you know that it is a celebration of the prisoners' indomitability.. These guys will keep on with their escape attempts.
When I saw this in 1963, audiences cheered and clapped.
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I was huge fan of McQueen after having had enjoyed him on his TV western and viewing "The Magnificent Seven" at the age of twelve. Even met and spoke with him in San Antonio in 1972 while I was stationed at Fort Sam and he was filming "The Getaway".
But ''Le Mans" was Steve's ultimate crash and burn. He and John Stuges had earlier planned a race film but were aced out by Frankenheimer and James Garner with "Grand Prix". They regrouped and after the success of "Bullitt" decided to deliver a day in a racer's life. But Steve's drug use and infedelity had caused a marital breakup and he emerged into a paranoid narcissist. Sturges bailed, McQueen split with producing partner Bob Relyea, and the filming limped to its conclusion with substitutes.
The result is what Joefilmone accurately describes and questions.
What a waste.
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I'll take the fifth and drink it. Black and white to me is an art form. I say this because I don't see in black and white but can appreciate the nuances that grades of shadow and grey can evoke that color cannot deliver.
I would never watch a colorized film without having first seen it in its original intended format. Curiousity has prompted viewing of a few colorized films, but the colorization has been pretty banal and discouraging. I did appreciate the "King Kong" color edition but it may have been the novelty after a lifetime without it.
If a colorized version compels a younger person to seek out an older film that wouldn't have been otherwise not seen, I'm for it. If the film is appreciated, perhaps the original will be sought.
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Same with me.
Gorch
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I'm aware of the controversy about the Satan/Obama resemblence, but the producers of the series are loyal supporters of the Prez. It's possible that some makeup people decided to enhance their work since the real photos of the actor look nothing like Mr. Obama.
It could have been a juvenile form of payback for the incident when a severed head in the Game of Thrones series was admitted to be based on G. W. Bush.
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Hello Jack.
I'm with you about the character actors. In the '60s I used to see a film just because Claude Akins (with the perpetual furrow in his forehead), Strother Martin, R.G. Armstrong, Ben Johnson, Hank Worden, or Harry Carey, Jr. was way down in the cast.
Spent a lot of time at the drive ins, at first in the back seat in pajamas and then in the front seat with a sixpack and a date.
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I also liked Bronson better before he became famous. When he played native Americans in "Apache" or "Drum Beat" he was pretty good. But I always preferred him as one of the gaggle of bad guys heading for a cheap funeral, like "Vera Cruz" or "Riding Shotgun".
All those actors who started out as the third bad guy on the horse were great - Jack Elam, Warren Oates, James Coburn, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Bruce Dern, James Best, Harry Dean Stanton, Slim Pickens, and many I'm not recalling now. There just aren't any actors to take their places.
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Well, like any other story telling device, it has to be used artfully. As you may have figured from my user name here, I'm a fan of Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" and thought his speed changes in that film were inspired. Eventually though, in some of later and lesser films, even he over used slow motion and it became a bit of a cliche.
I also was impressed by Kurosawa's use of slo mo in "Seven Samurai".
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I think it's Sian Barbara Allen, or something close to that. I recall seeing her in Billy Two Hats, a mediocre western with Gregory Peck.
Oh, that face, that fabulous face. Whose is it?
in General Discussions
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The one and only Arthur Hunnicutt. Best line from "Last Command - "Well, I been persuaded."