Herman Bricks

The other night I watched BULL DURHAM (1988) which features one of the most realistic (Kevin Costner) and one of the least realistic (Tim Robbins) attempts by an actor to play professional baseball on-screen. In real-life professional baseball, players and prospects are rated on a scale of 20 to 80 for their abilities to hit, hit with power, run, field and throw. 20= terrible- no potential 30= well below average 40= "fringy" 50= average 60=above average 70= outstanding 80= top of the scale, like in today's MLB, Juan Soto might be an 80 Hit, Aaron Judge an 80 hit with power. American League MVP Shohei Ohtani is 70 or 80 in every category. How would you rate actors/actresses as baseball players in movies? I will add a category- Looking good in a baseball uniform, because sometimes in baseball movies there is not much baseball action, but the actor should at least look like they could play. My ratings from BULL DURHAM? Kevin Costner, hit 60, hit with power 70, run 50, field 70, throw 70, looking good in the uniform= 50. Overall about a 60. Although Costner flashed very good good baseball skills, I did not think he quite looked right in his baseball uniform. He played a catcher, and catchers (especially 15 year veterans like Crash Davis) typically are bigger through the thighs and butt than Costner was. To me, that is the only flaw in his performance, though it is not his fault. Tim Robbins, we only saw him throw (I give him a 20 for this pitching- well below average, not credible) but I give him credit for wearing the uniform well, and if I may add points for his playing Nuke LaLoosh as being very **** and semi-intellectual (could be a plausible portrayal of a fringy athlete), I give him a 45 (not that bad). One of my least favorite actors as a baseball player? Robert DeNiro, BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY (1973) Poor DeNiro looks like he weighs 145 pounds (he does not resemble an athlete in any type of sport). Why does he chew tobacco in his hotel room, but not on the field? And his pitiful Southern drawl? I give him a 20. Terrible, not credible.

Joanne Woodward next: played Professor Moriarty

Robert Conrad next: The Bat (1959)

RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP (1967) HALLS OF ANGER (1970) THE STRAWBERRY STATEMENT (1970) FORT APACHE, THE BRONX (1980)

WILD IN THE STREETS (1968) KELLY'S HEROES (1970) SERPICO (1973) HAIR (1979)

CYBORG 2087 (1966)

Heaven Can Wait (1978) Warren Beatty plays the QB/owner of the Rams. Fred Dryer was a real LA Ram as was Bernie Casey and Rosey Grier

Errol Flynn fans, here is how his household was recorded in the 1950 US Census. https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?county=Los Angeles&ed=66-211&name=eddington&page=1&state=CA

DESPERATE JOURNEY (1942) TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1949) FATE IS THE HUNTER (1964) THE FLESH EATERS (1964)

Bruce Willis? Top-notch guy. We played on opposing softball teams in Central Park, NYC in the early 1990's. And so did a hundred other guys. I would have assumed that he did not know me from jack. Until one day I was with my GF on the sidewalk at 23rd and 8th, waiting for the stoplight to change. Mr. Willis pulled up to the curb on his bicycle and while waiting at the the light, he saw me and said "How ya doin?". While my GF was awe-struck we chatted for about a half a minute about our softball league, and he talked to me like we were old friends. "See ya at the park!" What a nice man.

I watched The Sting (1973) recently for the first time in a long while. I was struck by the amount of product placement that appears in this film. Every scene seems to have a Coca-Cola sign or an Ezra Brooks Bourbon billboard in the background. I enjoyed seeing Hine Cognac (first pic) and Old Bushmills Irish Whisky (second pic) being consumed. I was surprised to see Hine depicted. Hine is a very old Cognac house that as far as I know, never had a major marketing presence in the U.S. (but I could be wrong). A boutique brand if you will, as opposed to the commercial Cognac monoliths like Hennessy and Remy Martin. Bushmill's on the other hand, was at that time and still is a big brand. You may recall that it is placed in quite a few movies. Burt Reynolds may have had a direct relationship with Bushmill's, I recall it appearing in several of his movies. Does anyone out there know how Hine and Bushmill's wound up in The Sting? Or have any thoughts on liquor product placements? It seems to me that these placements began to be commonplace starting in the 1970's.

Mighty Joe Young (1949) Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) next: delicious-looking food on display

Beverly Simmons and..... Nat Pendleton (The Escape Artist (1982) = Desi Arnaz next: The Return of Count Yorga (1971)

Lon Chaney Jr as Lawrence Talbot/The Wolfman The great Mantan Moreland as "Birmingham" Brown Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny

Aline MacMahon in Kind Lady (1935), Gold Diggers of 1933, One Way Passage (1932) next: Spats Hunter "The Schemer" Flapjack Simms

Albert Dekker next: Buck Privates Come Home (1947)

On an Island With You (1948) I Love Lucy Lolita (1962) Viva Las Vegas (1963) Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965)

Julie Adams next: his/her name is a type of animal

Mary Grace Canfield next: MacKenna's Gold (1969)

Joan Blondell in Gold Diggers of 1933, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) Desk Set (1957) next: Frank Wiecek Anthony Bergdorf Don Barzini

Timothy Carey in Poor White Trash a.k.a. Bayou (1957) Tommy Lee Jones in Jackson County Jail (1976)

If I may digress, that reminds me of one of the best (or most revolting) putdowns that I have ever heard in real life. Used to work with a bartender named Murph (Bronx Irish guy 60+ years in age at the time) and his partner Antonio (Harlem guy by way of Mississippi, about 30 years old) . Their arguments and insults were classic. One day while they were going at it, I tried to inflame a truce by telling Murph, "How can you two argue like this! Antonio is old enough to be your son! Imagine if he was your son!" Murph: "If he was my son, I would have saved the placenta and flushed HIM down the toilet!" Murph was an impatient and dark sort of bartender. One day, while he was slicing limes and lemons, I remember a pair of tourists asking him for his suggestions for an enjoyable afternoon in New York City. Murph handed them his knife and said "take this to Central Park and kill the mimes."

You're right, that certainly helped. Her relationship with Selznick (thank you posters for educating me) seems to have provided her career a significant boost. She was a lead by her fourth film (Song of Bernadette). She also became a star in an era when woman-centric, eponymous films was a genre (Mildred Pierce, Nora Prentiss etc.)

Rashomon (1950) next: a great Italian film