lzcutter

Wonder if he ever thought of becoming a Hollywood star himself? >> Not sure what your criteria for star is but to many of us Johnny Carson was a Hollywood star. He hosted his late night show, performed in Vegas, hosted the Oscars and kept us laughing through some very traumatic times. His face and voice were as recognizable as any classic era actor or actress.

Charlie, I don't remember it being a television series. I thought it was a Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcast with Jimmy Stewart and Jessie White reprising their roles from Broadway and the film.

Will no one rid me of this meddlesome pest, er, I mean... priest?>> Oh but if I could, you know I would.

Mongo, But only TCM shows those 1950s westerns uncut, commercial free and in their original aspect ratio. It has to be a special showing for Encore Westerns to show a post-1950s film in its original aspect ratio. They show Major Dundee and often show the Peckinpah westerns in their OAR but those are the only ones they seem to adhere the OAR policy to.

Anne, You betcha! But if I had a family like his (oh, wait, I do!) and couldn't communicate my feelings (as Grant seems incapable of doing outside his immediate family), I can understand why Mr Cutter starts to watch this film and begins to put his hands over his ears and scream for silence while I laugh all through it. A little elderberry wine might help, I sometimes think..... Message was edited by: lzcutter

Yes, hun, but they aren't techniques. A technique is something different from a thematic point or counterpoint>> I don't know about anyone else, but having been called "hun" by you I have noticed that when you start to use the term "hun", it's not a term of endearment but one of exasperation. You might want to put that one to rest as most of don't like to be referred to as "hun" by anyone we know, much less someone who doesn't know us.

Filmlover, Kyle and Fred, When I was in film school a thousand years ago, okay more like 25 years ago, as part of our Bad Movie Marathon we ran a soundie by Remo Germani, an Italian singer. He was doing a cover of "Da Doo Run, Run" by the Beach Boys. Of course, Remo did not speak English or sing in English. The soundie was the hit of our first 24 hour Bad Movie Marathon. When ever a movie was exceptionally bad we would thread up Remo's soundie, hit the change over button and suddenly there would be Remo among a Italian villa garden singing. Of course, everyone in the audience would sing along. The most memorable movies from that first Marathon were the Terror of Tiny Town and the short on Midget Wrestlers, the Creeping Terror and Plan 9. But Remo was by far the hit of the event and for at least three years when ever we held a Bad Movie Marathon, Remo was there.

Martin and Lewis' last appearance was at an MD telethon. They did their act, left the theatre and said goodbye. Or so the story goes.>> They were brought together by Sinatra who was appearing on the Telethon. Lewis says it brought around a reconciliation of him and Dean that lasted until Dean's death. I believe that Lewis went to the funerals for Dino Jr. as well as Dean.

Do I understand why someone would be offended by the actions in A Clockwork Orange? Definitely. But I can't take their outrage seriously if they ever found the scene in Deliverance something to laugh about OK, so why the comment about not taking someone's outrage seriously if they found the Deliverance scene something "to laugh about"?>> You are not reading what Kyle wrote. He is NOT saying the scene from Deliverance was something to laugh at. He is saying that there is a double standard for rape against women and rape against men. No one would ever dream of using a female rape as the basis of a comedic routine or use humor to address that issue. But ever since Deliverance debuted, people have been using that scene as a comedic punch line. So, what I see Kyle saying is that if we are going to say that rape is not a funny subject then we should not laugh when comedians or anyone else uses the Deliverance scene to elict laughter.

Hollywood Kyle wrote: The "experience" of Ned Beatty's character has been the basis of many a comedic riff ever since Deliverance came out. And people have laughed at it. It was describing a rape and people laughed at it. Cinemascope replied: And just who found the scene in Deliverance to be "something to laugh about"?>> Lzcutter says: If you read Kyle's post carefully, you will note that he is not talking about the scene in the movie. He is talking about all the people, famous and not, who have used that scene for comedic laughs . Even Burt Reynolds when talking about shooting that scene and the effect it has on Beatty to this day, uses humor to tell that story. I have never watched Clockwork Orange with an audience that laughed out loud in hysterical laughter watching the scene in question. I remember a great deal of uneasiness and tension in the theater as the scene played out but no one laughing hysterically. Either way, that's not what Kyle implied or said in his post. Message was edited by: lzcutter because that word never is really important in that sentence.

But I never bought into the whole "noble cowboy" thing. My favorite Western is Blazing Saddles, because it's more grounded in the truth than many John Wayne films.>> Many of Wayne's best Westerns are not about the noble cowboy but feature complex, flawed characters trying to find common ground and honor in a lawless land. I don't know that Tom Dunson or Tom Doniphon or Ethan Edwards are what would be called noble but each in their own way is trying to come to grips with personal demons. I hope you get a chance to watch some more Wayne westerns, especially the ones he did with Ford and Hawks. There's a great deal of truth in them not only about the characters but us as a society. I hope that you will find them worth your time.

If you look at rape, its's so silly and dumb and funny. >> I have never heard a victim of rape describe it as such. I like black comedy as much as the next person. Again, I don't think Kubrick's intent was to find humor in the rape scenes in Clockwork. Surreal yes. Funny, no. What happens to McDowell's character is not funny but incredibly ironic.

Malkat, I would respectively ask which films you have seen him? I would also suggest watching: Stagecoach, The Long Voyage Home, They Were Expendable, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, Sands of Iwo Jima, Red River, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, Liberty Valance, The Cowboys, True Grit and The Shootist. He became an icon and in some ways was stereotyped. But his talent was true as evidenced by his work with Howard Hawks, Alan Dwan and especially, John Ford.

Shane, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, Stagecoach, Liberty Valance, Red River or The Ox Bow Incident might fit the bill.

Not depressing enough, no peole dying or being raped.>> There is nothing funny about rape and I don't think Kubrick's intent in Clockwork Orange was to make fun of that situation.

A Clockwork ORange is dark comedy. >> Kbuff, For what its worth, I don't consider all of Clockwork Orange to be a dark comedy. I find what happens to McDowell's character at the end, more ironic than funny. Dark humor is supposed to have a bite to it. That's why many consider The Producers to be funny. It's one of the few films from that era that looks at the post war German stereotype and infuse it with humor. Kenny Mars character in The Producers is a relative of Sellars' Strangelove in that they both use comedy to get their messages across. Message was edited by: lzcutter

So, here is the question: do you believe the current film stock is really that good? Can we now get the same quality once only provided by 3-strip or not?>> NX, Today's film stocks are good. Look at what Scorcese accomplished with The Aviator two years ago. He was going for an early Technicolor look in some of the scenes and accomplished that quite well. The restorations of many musicals from Technicolor's glory days suggests that if done right, the colors are still eye-popping. As for movies today and Technicolor, we seem to be in an era of desaturated colors or monochromatic look for many films. Michael Mann and his cinematographer on Collateral did a terrific job of making the looking of the film as part of the story. The Matador does a wonderful job of incorporating color into each frame. While we no longer have the 3-Stripe process, there is (was) the dye transfer process which was almost as eye popping. With digital enhancements and color timing, we can get a similar quality but not every film these days wants or should have eye popping color.

I mean his movies are a little funny but nothing more, I don't think that they are masterpieces.>> KBuff, I think Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are comedic masterpieces. Also, Mel Brooks as a producer, took a flyer on David Lynch and Elephant Man. That movie would likely not have gotten made had it not been Brooks. He has also produced: My Favorite Year (a wonderful movie and send up to his time working with Sid Caesar), 84 Charing Cross Road and the Frances Farmer bio-pic, Frances. He is much more than his comedic roots suggests. As for The Producers, the original film, I love the film and many of the moments have stayed with me all these years. In some ways, it is very much of its time and in other ways it is timeless. Mostel and Wilder are terrific together and their friendship becomes the heart of the film. Is it an Essential? To me it is.

Matt, Thanks for suggesting Becket! Despite the haggling over the price of beans, as many of us know these suggestions get read and often they find their way onto the schedule somewhere down the line. I shake my head sometimes at the turns so many of these threads seem to take these days.

Delores, United Artists was a good company when it was run by Arthur Krim. In 1951, Krim and Robert Benjamin went to Pickford and Chaplin with a wild suggestion. Let them run UA for five years and if they were successful, they would buy UA. Well, they were incredibly successful. UA became the first studio without a building. They offered money to independent producers in exchange for releasing the films. Because they only leased space from the Pickford/Chaplin lot, they did not have the high over-head maintenance costs that owning the lot would have encumbered on them. They turned out some good, even great films, over the years: The African Queen, Moulin Rouge, Hard Day's Night,Help, Dr No and many other Bond films, Blake Edwards Pink Panther series and Leone's westerns starring Clint Eastwood. They formed relationships with Billy Wilder, Hecht-Lancaster, Otto Preminger, the Mirisch Brothers, Harry Saltzman and Cubby Brocolli. Mary Pickford was so happy that she sold the company to them for 1.5 million dollars. UA produced a number of television shows and as the 1960s grew to a close they sold the company to Transamerica Insurance. Krim and company stayed on running the business and producing some of the big hits of the 1970s: Rocky, Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and others. In 1978, in a dispute over business, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and four others quit UA and left to form their own company: Orion Pictures where they continued to produce some of the best films of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Without Krim and Company at the helm, UA quickly ran into financial trouble on Heaven's Gate and began its downward spiral. Under Kirk Kirkorian it became a shell of its former self and due to its link with MGM during the late 1980s and 1990s, was often mixed in with MGM's financial woes. In 2000, its lucrative franchises, Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky were sold to MGM leaving UA with very little to offer. Will Cruise turn it around? Likely not (just my opinion). In its early days, UA was a good company that was responsible for some good, even great films. But by the mid-1940s, it was basically not producing any films. I felt it important in this thread to honor the men who worked so hard to keep the UA name and brand alive for over 25 years when it needed it most. On a side note, Arthur Krim's wife was one of the pioneering doctors in AIDS research.

Klondike, I had to laugh reading your post. Here in Los Angeles, you would think we all live in mid century homes designed by Neutra or Eichler. Only in the movies can you from Downtown to the beach in Santa Monica in under 10 minutes. Cars and people being chased go through the tunnel and come out in a completely different area, suburb or sometimes even, a different city. Maybe it's a magical tunnel that we have all been missing all these years!! Las Vegas is another city known for its cinematic geographic hiccups. Only in the movies is Downtown within 5 minutes of the Strip. You can go from Green Valley to Summerlin in a blink of an eye ( a car trip that will take at least a half hour, sometimes an hour and a half depending upon the time of day). You can walk through the door of the International Hotel (now the Hilton) and be in Caesars Palace. (see Diamonds are Forever) and that's not the only movie that does that. If only we could get around cities as quickly as they do in the movies. No one would ever be complaining about traffic again!

Dimitrios, There is a way. At the top of the thread on the left hand side of your screen there is a link: Reply to this thread. If you click on it, you will be responding to the original poster of the thread. Many people do this to avoid the very issues you are trying to.

By classic i mean the period rather than the quality, I Come to TCM to see old Movies. of course there are bad and great movies in all eras. There are obviously ,modern movies that I think and great and classic. My point is simply that I want old movies from TCM not modern ones which you can see very were else. >> Mr Dash, TCM's mission statement from day one of their website has been "showing films from the 1920s to the 1990s." Hollywood Kyle fired up the Wayback Machine last year and found the original home page where that statement figured prominently. Pre-1959 films make up the bulk of their programming. Some years the majority of films shown are from the 1930s, other years the bulk of films shown come from the 1940s and 1950s. The Oscar Salute is not indicative of TCM's overall programming.

Well doesn't it make it even worse when the quality of the movie isn't even a consideration, since it's all just an excuse for the merchandising? >> But it isn't a recent phenom. It's been that way since the post war era. Disney's Davey Crockett series and especially the movie were built around the merchandising. Much of what appeared on the Wonderful World of Disney in the 1960s was to entice families to visit Disneyland. Star Wars is probably the modern equivalent and showed Hollywood and film makers just how lucrative the licensing could be.

It was the early 1960s in Las Vegas. I was either four or five. It was either my mom taking me to see Disney's Dumbo or my bio-dad taking me to see To Kill a Mockingbird. I wouldn't remember much of Mockingbird until five years later when I was watching the Late Night Movie on KLAS and saw the movie again. It wasn't until I saw Scout dressed as a ham and Jem walking her home that I realized I had seen the movie when I was younger. Dumbo I always remembered because of the scene with his mom rocking him in her trunk.