"You've got your slavery, and little good may it do you! Now vote, damn you!"

Today, being the first Monday in November is traditionally Election Day. And like the quote from 1776 used to title this posting, I'd like to hearken back to a point made in a previous posting about that film. (See "Mr. Secretary, New York abstains-courteously." from 7/4/2006) We used any excuse to exploit a theme when running films on the monitors in our store, be it a holiday or celebrity death or even the start of a war. I remember during the run-up to the second Gulf War, when the country was sharply divided over calls to invade or not to, films like Battleground, Sands of Iwo Jima and even anti-war films like Paths of Glory all made the rounds on our TV screens. I recall one irate customer storming out because I chose to run the latter film starring Kirk Douglas. I meant no disrespect, I just though if we were going to do this we might as well be fair to all sides of the argument. And of course Election Day was no exception. From presidential biopics like, Abe Lincoln in Illinois and political corruption films like All The President's Men to comedic looks at the election process in films like The Candidate and Dick, there was no shortage of films to show on the subject of politics. One of my all-time favorites was the 1964 film version of the Gore Vidal play, The Best Man. Starring Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson, The Best Man is a darkly satiric look at the election process in this country back in the days when national party conventions actually meant something and served a purpose. Henry Fonda plays liberal candidate for President, William Russell, who faces a fight for the party nomination against an opportunistic reactionary politician in the form of Cliff Robertson. The two vie for the endorsement of a former president played brilliantly by Lee Tracy, who earned an Oscar nomination for reviving the role he also played on the Broadway stage. Of course there are skeletons in both men's closets and whether or not each will use the damaging information he has on each other is the basis for the film's plot. Fonda's unique resolution is one that students of politics today should watch just to see how the outcome of political conventions could bring surprises back in those days. I often think of The Best Man every four years when the now two-hour paid political advertisements that disguise themselves as party conventions bore us all to tears. I sit and watch these pre-approved candidates from both parties who are so rarely as interesting as the men who have come before them both on and off screen.

Halloween Haunts!

I had originally intended to do a series of postings during the last few weeks in honor of the spooky holiday that concludes the month of October. There are no shortage of horror movies to comment on and we certainly had a wide variety of scary films that were played at our store. With my brother Mike passing away last month, I wasn't sure when I would find the desire to post again. But, when I remembered how much my love of scary movies was fostered by my eldest brother when we were growing up, I knew now was as good a time as ever. My brother Mike was a big fan of the early Universal horror movies. He introduced me to them all, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and all their sequels and other incarnations. When I was a kid I knew who Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains were long before I knew the names of the muppets on Sesame Street. I have my brother to blame for that! But thanks to Mike, I also knew who some of the heroes were behind the scenes as well. The visionary director James Whale, composers Hans J. Salter & Frank Skinner and of course the pioneering make-up artist, Jack Pierce. Pierce was the man responsible for the legendary make-up created for Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster, and Lon Chaney, Jr.'s Wolf Man among others. My brother Mike would often comment on how Pierce had died in virtual obscurity in 1968, the man who was responsible for creating so many legendary images had been almost completely forgotten. Mike even tried his hand at make-up in the early 80s. I often was his guinea pig for some of his make-up experiments. I even one a prize in a Halloween contest one year thanks to his artistry with the grease paint. Every time I find myself staring in front of a mirror putting on a mustache or age lines before walking out on a stage, I can see my brother's face leaning over me with his brushes.

Mike Ryan 1954 - 2006

Dear friends. I am sorry for the long delay in posting on this blog. My eldest brother Mike passed away last week following a severe stroke. Today was his funeral and this is the first time I've had a chance to post let alone have a moments rest. I loved my brother dearly and we both shared a lot of memories watching movies. It was Mike who took me to see Superman The Movie 22 times in the theaters back in 1978. I do think it will be sometime before I find the strength and desire to post here again. At that time I hope you will all still find some interest in what I have to say. In the mean time if interested I have set up a memorial website for my brother at www.rememberingmike.com

History on film, redux!

In recent weeks Time Warner announced that they were going through their library of Tom and Jerry and Flintstones cartoons and cutting out any scenes that show the cartoon characters smoking. No word as of yet as to the fate of scenes graphically depicting falling anvils and violent blows to the head with extremely large hammers. All this nonsense reminded me of something that happened in the first few weeks that I began working in video retail almost twenty years ago to the day. In 1986 Walt Disney re-released it's 1946 classic, Song of the South to movie theaters. In those days it took about 8 to 12 months following a theatrical release for a film to come out on videotape. But Song of the South would be different. That would mark the last time Song of the South would be released commercially in the US. Around that time Jesse Jackson and other notable African Americans along with the NAACP had voiced their objections to the racial stereotypes presented in the film. I had not seen the film at that time and was not aware of the controversy. I was aware however of the fact that the majority of customers looking for Song of the South on videotape were black. Some time later a similar circumstance arose concerning the release of the 1950s TV series Amos and Andy. Again complaints were made by prominent African Americans, the tapes were pulled and again a majority of black customers were asking for the films. This lead to discussions with many of the customers which in turn lead me to believe that at times the leaders of the black community may be out of touch with the people they are said to represent. I am not defending the racial stereotypes put forth in some of these dated programs, but do these guardians of the public good have such little faith in us the average viewer and our abilities to decipher what is offensive and to make judgments of our own? I can remember my father often telling me of his youth spent in a movie theater on Saturday afternoons watching three or four different films in a row for only 12 cents a ticket! One of his favorite movie series were the Charlie Chan films of the 1940s. He didn't go to see Sydney Toler or Warner Oland - the two actors who portrayed Chan on film - but rather to see the films' "real" star, Mantan Moreland. Moreland portrayed Birmingham, the befuddled chauffer to Charlie Chan, and although his dialogue and takes were at times politically incorrect to say the least, he was also very endearing and funny. My father swore that his name was presented larger in the credits than either actor portraying Chan. And although I can easily see why his work could upset those who objected to his subservient "manservant-like" portrayal in these films, why wasn't anyone upset about the character of Chan himself? Neither actors portraying Chan were of Asian ancestry. Oland was Russian and Toler of Scottish descent. Weren't they putting forth racial stereotypes? I happened upon a late night showing of one of the Chan films some years ago, and I'll be damned if my father wasn't correct. Mantan Moreland was the only reason to watch the movie. The story was predictable and at times more offensive towards Asians then Africans, and his name was bigger in the credits at the start of the film. So what are we supposed to do, edit out all three of these actors from the films? What would we be left with? Why can't we as viewers be trusted to figure out these things for ourselves and make judgements as to their merits today . Do we now go back and rewrite the Bible passages dealing with slavery and pretend it never happened? And in closing for the record, I never once wanted to smoke a cigarette because a cartoon character was doing so on screen. And as for racial and religious stereotypes, I learned everything I need to know about them from Mel Brooks.

Adult Tail, Part II

WARNING! This posting is not for the faint of heart! Everything you are about to read is absolutely true! In order to present it in the most delicate way possible, it shall be done in the form of a multiple choice question! QUESTION: What was the worst thing we ever found in the adult section at our video store? A.) A fresh pile of human feces? B.) A used condom? C.) A teenaged boy masturbating in front of the male adult section? D.) All of the above? If you answered "D.) All of the above" then you were correct. At one time or another over 15 years all of those items were found in the adult section at our store. (The teenaged boy masturbating was actually at one of our other locations, but who's counting! By the way, they say he was using a bottle of shampoo for lubrication.) I apologize for the sleaziness of this posting, but as they often say ... the truth shall set you free!

Video on Demand, Part IV

It, starring Roddy McDowall was made in 1966 by Seven Arts Productions, a joint US and British release.
Filmed in England, McDowall plays Arthur Pimm, a sort of British Norman Bates. At home he speaks to his deceased decomposed mother propped up in a rocking chair complete with a wig and dress. At work, Pimm serves as a museum curator who discovers a secret scroll that brings to life a real Golem. Presented here as an ancient curse from Jewish folklore, the Golem is made out of mud and stone and is controlled by placing the tiny sacred scroll in its mouth. Of course McDowall uses the Golem for sadistic and devious purposes, and in a odd way to help him woo the heart of sexy costar, Jill Haworth. Herbert J. Leder wrote and directed the film, and like his cult classic, Fiend Without A Face, It! is often an intense creepy horror movie, yet at times it comes off cheesy and laughable. When I first saw the film as a child I thought it was absolutely frightening. But watching it 40 years later, it's script and special effects haven't aged very well, but it's still a lot of fun with a great looking monster and a fun and campy performance by it's star, Roddy McDowall. The film has never been released to home video, not even in England. With the recent release of a Hammer Horror Collection box-set, maybe in time some of the lesser known British gore films from the 60s and 70s will find the light of day on DVD.

Roddy McDowall Movies

Summer Reading!

Every year around this time the ailes at the video store would be full with frantic parents and their children looking for the last copy of The Scarlet Letter to rent. Or maybe someone would rent that old VHS copy of John Steinbeck's The Pearl we had. No, these weren't eager students of classic literature looking to view Hollywood's take on the classics, but rather an angry mob of parents and their kids hoping to find movie versions of all the books they were supposed to read over the summer. When I first started to work in video retail in 1986, their were a handful of parents renting the movie versions of books for their kids. They would always claim that their child had read the book but now wanted to see the movie. But by the time we closed in 2004, the parents just came out and admitted that their kids didn't even bother to read the books that they were assigned. The new excuse was that they didn't understand what they were reading. Well, if that's the case then perhaps there is a bigger problem then just not wanting to read. Maybe the child doesn't know how to read, and if so why aren't the parents concerned? What would amaze me was when the parents would get on waiting lists for a movie that we only had one copy of, like The Invisible Man. The Invisible Man was one of my favorite books to read when I was a kid. I am also a fan of the 1933 Universal Studios film version starring, Claude Rains. And it is that version that parents would rent for their children. That film is almost nothing like the book. And secondly, the book is so short and such a quick read, that in the time the parent waits for the only film to become available, their child could have read it twice over. While parents are partly responsible for this lack of interest in the written word by their children, some teachers are to be blamed as well. In my time behind the counter I saw many teachers who would rent films to show in their classrooms, and not all were part of the lesson plan. Teachers would flat out tell me that one day a week would be set aside to show movies in class. These were not films related to certain lessons that were being taught, but just a movie or two that the teachers felt would keep them occupied. That kind of laziness is really absurd. Have teachers adopted a defeatist attitude? "If you can't beat them, join them!" Is that what they think! No wonder the educational system is in such disrepair in this country. But at the same time I must admit that the sudden surge in popular children's books like the Harry Potter series brings me hope. Maybe things will start to turn around and future generations raised on Potter and Narnia will actually want to read first and then go see the movie.

Glenn Ford 1916 - 2006

Glenn Ford began his acting career in 1937. After a few bit parts and some leading man roles he emerged a star in 1946 along with Rita Hayworth in the film noir classic, Gilda. As Hayworth's ex-lover in the film, their on-screen chemistry was so popular that they went on to star together in several other films including The Loves of Carmen and Affair in Trinidad. But Ford found his place in dozens of Hollywood westerns including The Desperadoes, The Man from Colorado, Jubal, The Americano, 3:10 to Yuma and Cimarron. They called him the fastest gun in Hollywood. He could draw his weapon in .04 seconds - faster than John Wayne. In 1958, he was voted Hollywood's number one box office star. Yet in between his time in the saddle, Ford gave some truly stand-out performances in films like Blackboard Jungle, playing a middle-aged high school teacher up against inner city kids opposite a young Sidney Poitier. As a tough cop willing to take on a politically powerful crime syndicate in The Big Heat, Ford worked for legendary director Fritz Lang. Ford only stumbled once or twice on screen, he was miscast as Damon Runyon's gangster in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. For me, I first encountered Glenn Ford in 1978 as Jonathan Kent in Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie . Ford brought a sense of humanity to the small role of Superman's Earth father, and his naturalistic style of acting made his on-screen heart attack one of the most realistic I've ever seen portrayed on film. Ford retired from the screen in 1991 and then suffered a series of strokes that left him in poor health. TCM is planning an all-day tribute to Glenn Ford on Sunday, September 10th. I'm sure the TV monitors in our store would have been playing our own tribute right along with them.

Glenn Ford Movies

Sound the Freak Alarm!

In our store we had all sorts of props lying around. There were old promotional materials, unused video boxes, books, magazines and an assortment of discarded holiday decorations. One such ornament was a pair of plastic rats left-over from Halloween. These rats can be found every year at most holiday specialty stores like Halloween Adventure. The rats had a device inside that made a high-pitched squeak sound when squeezed. At our store the pair of rodents became an unofficial alarm to be sounded whenever a new or resident freak customer entered the store. Our store attracted many freaks in all shapes and sizes. There were the usual time-bandits, we had many of those. Time-bandits in our store usually came in bearing long lists of movies, all of which had never been or never will be available on home video. Then there were the truly freakish customers with actual physical or mental defects. Don't get me wrong, we were tolerant at our store and treated everyone with respect, but some of our freaks were truly unique. There was "Decaying Woman", an elderly lady who was literally decaying before our eyes. Each week she would leave not only old yellowed newspaper articles on the counter, but she would also leave bits of dead skin. Honestly! You had to see it to believe! Technically she was also a time-bandit as well, due to the large amounts of movie reviews (those discarded newspaper articles) she would go through looking for a movie to rent. Then there were the freakish customers who wanted physical contact of some kind. An obese unkempt man once asked me to help pull his pants up after his suspenders had become unattached. That was truly memorable! Elvis fans almost always lead to the sounding of the rat alarm. I have nothing against the "King", but his fans can be peculiar to say the least. Body odor and proud porn customers always justified a hardy squeeze of the rat. (Proud porn customers were those who showed no shame when announcing their adult title selections very loudly.) Luckily, the customers in question never caught on to the sound of a squeal or two emanating from behind the counter. But to us the staff, it was a reassuring way to offer solidarity to each other in times of great peril!

TV Movies, Part I

Bad Ronald aired on October 23rd, 1974 just a week before Halloween. I was eight years old and it scarred the hell out-of-me! It was one of those creepy TV movies from the 1970s that relied on mood, atmosphere and truly great writing to scare viewers without the need for unnecessary gore. Scott Jacoby -a favorite on 1970s TV often playing nerds and underdogs- plays Ronald Wilby, a socially awkward teen who accidentally kills a 12-year old girl who teases Ronald calling him "weird!" Ronald's overbearing mother, played by Kim Hunter convinces Ronald to construct a fake wall over the door to a spare bathroom in their large house and hide inside. A trap door leading to the pantry allows Ronald to escape from time-to-time. Mom Hunter tells the police that Ronald ran away in order to avoid his pending second-degree murder charge. All works well for a short time until his mother dies in the hospital following a gall bladder operation. That's when things start to get creepy. When a family with three young daughters move in, no one ever notices that a strange young man is peering out at them through peepholes in the wall. Ronald spends most of his time in a fantasy world of his own making filled with princesses and goblins that inspire Ronald to illustrate them in giant demonic-looking paintings. His growing obsession with one of the new young residents leads to the film's shocking conclusion. Based on the novel by Sci-fi writer, John Holbrook Vance, Bad Ronald also features a cast including Dabney Coleman and Pippa Scott. It was directed by TV veteran, Buzz Kulik who directed many classic TV films from the 1970s including Brian's Song. Oscar-winning composer Fred Karlin, provides a creepy score to go along with the odd and frightening images. Bad Ronald did enjoy a VHS release in the early 1980s on USA Home Video. We had a copy at our store for years until it was stolen by some creep who managed to rip us off twice with a bad credit card. In fact, he kind of looked a lot like the creepy Ronald portrayed in the film. But I digress. The video has been out-of-print for almost twenty years and a DVD release is still wishful thinking. Bootlegs can be found on ebay, but the quality is bound to be poor. If you're lucky enough to catch this film on late night TV or find an early VHS copy lying around be sure to give it a look. But when it's over don't be surprised if you find yourself checking all the walls in your house for small holes with a pair of eyes peering out back at you.

In Reference To...

From time-to-time customers would approach the counter looking for movies with only vague recollections of what the film was called or about. Someone once asked..."Do you have the one where the guy with a fast car likes the girl who is being chased by the cops?" Well, with such little to go on, a little cross-referencing was necessary to find the answer to the customer's question. Back in the days before online databases like IMDB.com, several different books were needed to do this. In our store three books were extremely helpful in helping customers identify movie titles they were looking for. First among them was Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Originally published in 1969 as TV Movies and then annually in 1988 as Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, the book is one of the most impressive listings of movies and reviews that can be found. The earlier printings boasted well over 7,000 titles including made-for-tv films, and star and director indexes. But as each year's volume got bigger and bigger, the indexes and tv movie listings were dropped. Maltin, who has been seen on the syndicated Entertainment Tonight television program for the last 24 years as it's resident film critic, edits the book annually, providing reviews along with other critics like USA Today's Mike Clark. What made the Maltin book indispensable, was it's listing of all movies including those that were not available on home video. In the early 1990's a similar reference book would be published called VideoHounds Golden Movie Retriever. A larger book in size, but not necessarily in volume, the retriever restricted itself to movies that were only available on home video. But what made the VideoHound so valuable was it's plethora of indexes. Cross-referencing with the VideoHound was a breeze. There are indexes by actor, director, composer, cinematographer, writers and a whole lot more. Like the Maltin guide the VideoHound is also published and updated annually.
The last of the books we used in our video store was The Film Encyclopedia originally published in 1979 by filmmaker, Ephraim Katz. Katz, who also updated his book annually until his death in 1992, was a film critic and documentary filmmaker. The Katz book is not an index of film titles, but rather an alphabetical listing of actors, producers, directors, composers, writers and their biographical information as well as a dictionary of film jargon and industry terms. The Katz book, which is still published annually today, was a great help coming up with weekly trivia questions for our store. (See earlier posting Trivial Pursuits 6/13/06) So in the end I'm happy to report that we did find the film the customer was looking for about "...the guy with the fast car who likes the girl." It was Smokey and the Bandit of course!

Bruno Kirby 1949 - 2006

Bruno Kirby was a busy character actor over the last 30 years. For me, if he hadn't made any other movies besides The Godfather, Part II, I still would have been saddened to hear of his passing last week at the young age of 57. As the Young Clemenza in Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant 1974 sequel to The Godfather, Kirby was perfectly cast as the younger version of Richard Castellano's Clemenza from the original film. Having grown-up in a large Italian family (on my mother's side) The Godfather films were like home movies for us and the Clemenza character could have been one of my uncles. The scene where Kirby and Robert De Niro (as the young Vito Corleone) steal a carpet for the Corleone family is one of the film's few truly hysterical moments. Kirby often played scenes for laughs in his films. His roles in films like When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers and Tin Men were all memorable. But his scene-stealing scenes as the Sinatra-loving chauffeur in This Is Spinal Tap, and the D.J. wannabe in Good Morning, Vietnam are righteously funny. Kirby would later spoof the Godfather films along with Marlon Brando in 1990's The Freshman. His few dramatic turns were in TV films and on the Broadway stage, but his work in Donnie Brasco, Sleepers and as the creepy coach in The Basketball Diaries were all testament's to the depths of his abilities. Had he had more years ahead of him as an actor we would have seen so many more memorable characters to come. So his death this past Monday in Los Angeles from complications related to leukemia was a tragic loss and a sad surprise.

Bruno Kirby Movies

Saturday Nights with Mr. T!

Saturday nights were often the busiest night of the week in the video retail business. Customers craving the latest releases crowded the aisles looking for the hottest titles. It was always the same last minute customers who would show up shortly before closing and take their time choosing a movie. I was all for providing quality customer service, but when we realized it was the same people each week who were taking up our time, I had very little patience for them. Of course I couldn't tell these slugs what I was truly feeling about them, but in time we did find the perfect way to deal with these last minute time bandits. Enter Mr. T! Yes, the very same "I pity the fool!" Mr. T of 1980s A-Team fame! In the early days of home video the educational video was a popular new tool for marketing legitimate lessons for the home. But as with all things popular, abuses would soon follow. Our educational video section was full of titles dealing with childbirth, foreign language lessons, cooking videos, computer instruction and auto repair. We had our share of celebrity driven instructional videos including titles like; Playing Bridge with Omar Sharif, Swayze Dancing (with Patrick Swayze), and an all-star fiasco called The Celebrity Guide to Entertaining. The guide consisted of personal testimonies by the likes of Jackie Collins, Merv Griffin, Rod Steiger, Dudley Moore, Henry Winkler, Steven Seagal and many many more on tips for fine entertaining. It was just one of the many videos of the time that falls under the category of "having to be seen to be believed!" But the granddaddy of all celebrity educational or instructional videos has to be Mr. T.'s Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool! Made in 1984 during the height of Mr. T's popularity, this 60 minute feast for the eyes and ears has become something of a cult classic through the years. In what can only be described as truly bizarre, Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud) dressed in his trademark gold chains and Mohawk haircut, teaches kids of all ages about the dangers of drugs, dealing with peer pressure, and being somebody. It is one of the strangest motivational videos ever conceived. New Edition, the vocal group featuring a young Bobby Brown are on hand to supply cheesy musical interludes between each of Mr. T's lessons. One of these lessons is about "Roots!" declares Mr. T. "You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you're from!" Continuing..."My folkses come from Africa! And they was from the Mandinka tribe! And they wore they hair like this," referring to his famous Mohawk. I fully understand where they were going with this, but was Mr. T and his peculiar use of the English language the right messenger for the job?
When pointing out the gold chains around his neck he tells the kids, "And these gold changes I wear, they symbolize the fact that my ancestors, they was brought over here as slaves!" Changes? Did he mean Chains? Wow! Despite countless examples like the one I just mentioned, the highlight of the video are the musical numbers. Songs about love, peer pressure and T's rap-like tribute to his own mother are why we played this little gem from the 80s during the last hour on Saturday nights at the store. Most people stared at the screens in disbelief. Some got the joke and as for the intended targets, the time bandits, well they eventually grew tired of the same songs every week and soon stopped coming in at the last minute. So in the end just like Mr. T's lesson on anger presented in the video, I didn’t let my frustrations towards the time bandits get the best of me. As in the immortal words of Mr. T... "The best way of dealing with ang-uh is to think nice thoughts! That way, you challenge all negative energies into something useful!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

Mr. T Movies

Merry Christmas, Mr. Jiggs!

In 1986 I started working in the video retail business. Our company had three video rental stores and a popular mail-order business. That Christmas, the owner threw a lavish holiday party at a big restaurant in northeast Philadelphia. Paper invitations went out to all the employees featuring an artist's rendition of King Kong on top of the Empire State Building. At first I just figured it was symbolic of the thousands of classic movies we had in our catalogue. But as I and my fellow employees would soon find out, that great ape would make a personal appearance that none of us would ever forget. Following dinner and some short speeches by management, the entertainment for the evening had arrived. As we all sat at round tables digesting our Christmas feast, the doors to the ballroom swung open and in skated a chimpanzee wearing a tuxedo. We all did double-takes as the monkey named, Mr. Jiggs rolled across the floor doing tricks at the request of his trainer. Jiggs danced with a few frightened female employees and drank a can of Pepsi all to the audience's amusement. The monkey seemed old, but was actually only 26 years old. Following his performance, Mr. Jiggs saved his most impressive trick for those of us watching the trainer being paid by the company's owner. With only a nod from his master, Mr. Jiggs -still wearing his roller skates- threw his tux coat over his shoulder and grabbed his suitcase full of props and started to climb a set of stairs towards the exit. As we eagerly followed the chimp up the staircase, we watched the frightened customers stare with amazement at the site of the hardworking chimp rolling through the lobby. In the end Mr. Jiggs went to his trainer's car, openened the door, sat in the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt. The trainer got in and drove away with the primate entertainer who I was convinced was actually a midget in a costume. But many years later I was surprised to learn that Mr. Jiggs was in fact a real chimpanzee, only he was a she. Mr. Jiggs came to the United States from Africa in 1965. With her front teeth pulled and an electric shock device under her clothing, she worked shows as an artificial human until her recent retirement. Sadly, Mr. Jiggs had passed away in July of 1995 at the age of 33, about half a chimp’s life expectancy. Jiggs was dropped off at a home for retired performing animals outside Los Angeles by her lifelong trainer and companion, who never came back. The cause of death was undetermined, but a worker for the sanctuary for chimps called it “a broken heart.” Once while watching late-night TV I saw one of those infomercials for a set of Ed Sullivan videos featuring clips from the famed variety program. To my surprise there was Mr. Jiggs and her trainer performing for Ed some of the same routines she had at our Christmas party. There was something nostalgic yet tragic about seeing the young chimp at the beginning of her showbiz career. I wondered if she had any idea where it would all end some 30 years later. Did she really feel a loss for a trainer who had shocked her into submission to make money from her novelty? Or was it the loss of a routine that had been part of her life for so long that she so missed. I supposed we'll never know.

Video on Demand, Part III

In 1962 Jackie Gleason made a a film for 20th Century Fox called GIGOT! ("Pronounced Gee-Go" so declared the film's poster.) Directed by Gene Kelly and written by Gleason, John Patrick and A.J. Russell, Gigot tells the story of a mute pauper in early twentieth century Paris. In what could have been dismissed as a vanity picture by a star at the top of his popularity, Gigot turns out to be one of Gleason's most endearing film performances. As a simple minded man with a great heart and a love for others, Gleason's naive Gigot becomes an easy target for the local villagers. A constant object of ridicule and a target for being taken advantage of, Gigot works as a janitor for next to nothing. Following a chance encounter with a Parisian streetwalker and her young daughter, Gigot shares what little he has with the ungrateful woman. At the heart of the film is Gigot's relationship with the little girl with whom he becomes fast friends. Gleason's portrayal is Chaplinesque in its use of pathos and humor, and the entire film is reminiscent of the silent era. In one scene after the little girl is seriously hurt and Gigot is unable to communicate with those who could help, he begins to strike himself out of frustration. Gleason the funny man becomes Gleason the great actor able to break your heart and make you feel his gut-wrenching frustration. I have never quite forgotten that scene. Gigot is a movie of simplistic beauty and and one that reaches its audience on so many levels. Gleason composed the film's soundtrack along with Mitchel Magne who was nominated for an Oscar for adapting Gleason's original music. Surprisingly Gleason was not nominated for any awards for his gentle, perceptive, and deeply profound work on the film. More amazingly the film has never enjoyed a VHS release and to this day is still not available on DVD. Occasionally the film pops up on late night TV and some cable channels. In 2004, William H. Macy remade the film for Cable TV updating it's story to a modern day big city in the USA. Re-titled The Wool Cap the remake benefited from Macy's insightful performance but gave in to the usual movie-of-the-week cliches that bogged the film down in the end. Like many fans of the original film, I first saw it as a child. It's tenderness and big-heart portrayal by Gleason would easily appeal to the children of today who could use a film like this for a change.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

With the release of Superman Returns this summer, I had anticipated devoting an entire post to reviewing the film on this blog. But after seeing the new Bryan Singer film this month, I had decided to pass. You must understand that I saw the original 1978 film, Superman: The Movie 22 times in the theaters. Most of those viewings were at the Fox Movie Theater in center city Philadelphia. The Fox was one of the last true big-screen movie palaces in Philadelphia. It was torn down only three years after Superman played there. I was 12 years old and had never seen a film on a big-screen like that. The Fox had one of those old Cinemascope screens that projected a 70mm print film larger than it did on a average movie theater screen. I was blown away by the film. I was not a comic book fan, and my only prior knowledge of Superman was the old 50s TV series starring George Reeves. When I sat down in the Fox theater on December 24, 1978, and saw those opening credits zoom out across the screen I was in awe. Coupled with that marvelous John Williams score blasting away in Dolby Digital sound, I thought I had died and gone to movie heaven. The film was of an epic-like proportion. Stars like Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Glenn Ford, Trevor Howard, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Margot Kidder and of course a newcomer named Christopher Reeve, created a fantasy world that truly captured the imagination of my 12 year old mind. The film's director, Richard Donner had one word that described his take on the material he was bringing to the screen: verisimilitude. The film's tag line on all the posters read "You'll believe a man can fly!" And Donner's insistence on verisimilitude -making the story seem as real as possible no matter how unbelievable- had payed off. Bryan Singer who brought us X-Men to the big-screen tried to recapture that same Donner-like quality in his film Superman Returns. Early scenes in the film capture the hometown feel of Clark Kent's Kansas boyhood as did Donner back in '78, and the first big super rescue of Lois Lane from a crashing plane is a nice homage to the original film's helicopter sequence. But as Superman Returns drags along it gets bogged down in dark, almost depressing sequences that resemble today's brooding comic book heroes and not the upbeat Superman that Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel created. It certainly beats Superman III and IV, less successful sequels that all but buried the franchise over 20 years ago. Which brings us to this postings title: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. While Donner was making the original Superman film, his original budget doubled from 22 million to 44 million. Donner had actually filmed 80 percent of the film's sequel in hopes of releasing it the following year. When Superman: The Movie premiered in December of 1978, the film's blockbuster success was to be enjoyed by all but Donner. Donner and producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind had clashed over budget and direction of the film's sequel and Donner was replaced by Richard Lester who had directed the profitable Three Musketeer films for the Salkinds. Lester who was quoted saying that he did not want to do "the David Lean thing"(referring to Donner's original take on the material) ended up reshooting much of the film adding a more slapstick comic book style of humor. About 30 percent of what Donner shot ended up in the theatrical version of the film released in America in 1981, but combined with the Lester footage the movie at times seemed disjointed. Although Superman II was successful, fans of the original were upset and always hoped of a reissue of Donner's original sequel. Some of the footage shot by Donner that was not in the final cut of the film had been added for network television showings and reconstructed in bootlegs available online. But not all of the original Donner work was available. Due to a court case between Marlon Brando and the Salkinds an original opening sequence shot by Donner for the sequel had been locked away in a London vault. Rumors had persisted for years that a cut by Donner had existed with over 70 percent of the unused scenes. And now Warner Brothers has announced that it will be available towards the end of the year as part of the new Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition on DVD. In a press release issued by Warner Brothers it claims that Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is the "first time" a director has been allowed to go back and reconstruct his work on a film he was fired off of. Although when Donner was asked recently about the project he replied..."They're doing it. I'm not doing it. They're doing it. Michael Thau, who used to be my assistant and is a good little editor - [said that] there were so many requests to Warner Brothers to see my cut that he went to them and they authorized it. He's been working for about four or five months now getting all the negatives and cuts out of England. A lot of it's been destroyed, a lot of it wasn't kept. But everything that he was able to [get], he said it will probably be about 70 percent my footage." So for those of us fans or fanatics who have been hoping for this for over a quarter of a century, mark your calanders for a November 28 release date. Also a four-disc Superman: The Movie will include two versions of the film: The 1978 theatrical original and the 2001 director's cut.

Richard Donner Movies

Jack Warden 1920 - 2006

Jack Warden was one of my favorite actors. He starred in many of my favorite films; 12 Angry Men, Brian's Song, Shampoo, All The President's Men, Heaven Can Wait, Death on the Nile, ...And Justice For All, Being There, The Verdict and Bulworth. These are just a sampling of the many films and TV appearances Warden made throughout his long career as one of Hollywood's most endearing character actors. A former boxer (he once fought on the same bill with Charles Durning at Madison Square Garden) and WWII paratrooper with the 101st Airborne, he became an actor after reading a play by Clifford Odets. 1950s television made him a household name with appearances in dozens of shows like The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables and 77 Sunset Strip. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscars for two out of the three films he made with Warren Beatty... Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait. He won an Emmy for his supporting role as Coach George Halas in the 1971 TV film, Brian's Song. His weekly series, Crazy Like A Fox in the 1980s, brought him two more nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Warden always reminded me of the great character performers who worked for the studios back in the 1930s and '40s. Men like Alan Hale, Ward Bond, Edward Arnold and Thomas Mitchell. Like his 12 Angry Men costar, E.G. Marshall, Warden was one of those irascible yet likeable characters who emerged from the early days of television into a reliable steadfast performer. He will be sorely missed.

Jack Warden Movies

Jesus Saves! (At our Store!)

I've only seen Jesus twice in my life, once at a rest stop on I-95 in Maryland and the other while behind the counter at the video store. Back in 1990 my parents and I were driving from Virginia to PA. While at a rest stop we stopped off for something to eat at Burger King. While in line we saw Jesus in his long white tunic and red coat coming out of the restroom. My mom started laughing, the long ride had finally gotten to her. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing there, and I was too afraid to approach him and ask for directions or make some other kind of small talk. As we were driving away in our car we again saw Jesus talking to some people pumping gas at the Mobil station. It would be several years till I saw Jesus again. This time I was working a Saturday night at the store when a man with long hair in a ponytail and a small goatee approached the counter. He was dressed in jeans and a plain shirt and looked to be in his late fifties. He looked familiar but I could not place him. He asked to rent several movies all about or dealing with Rasputin. We had a few titles in stock... Rasputin, Rasputin and the Empress, Rasputin the Mad Monk. I asked the gentleman if he had ever rented at our store before, he said "no". So I asked for some identification and he produced a driver's license. While taking the info off of his card I noticed his name was Theodore Neeley. Neeley? I know I've seen that name before. Theodore? Ted? Ted Neeley? That's it, he was Ted Neeley who played Jesus in the 1973 film, Jesus Christ Superstar. He confirmed this to me and was quite surprised that I knew who he was. A coworker and I both chatted up his performance in the film, and he obliged nicely. It turned out he was rehearsing a new musical in development about Rasputin and he needed the films for research. I at the time was understudying a role in a play at a theatre where his director was the current artistic director. We chatted, I even sold him a membership to our club, but it was short lived since he was only in town while the play rehearsed. To this date I have not run into Jesus anyplace else but will keep you all posted as to his next sighting!

The 39 / Thirty-Nine Steps

Back in the early days of home video, the idea of public domain movies was something new to me. The fact that certain films had lost their original copyrite and were now available to anyone with a print seemed almost impossible. I didn't think certain movies were old enough to have lost their copyrite. Movies like It's a Wonderful Life were not even fifty years old back in 1986, and yet there were dozens of cheap VHS versions on the market. Many of which were mastered from faded washed-out 16mm prints and often colorized. In 1993 Republic Pictures claimed copyrite to the film thanks to a Supreme Court ruling (Stewart v. Abend) which had to do with the film, Rear Window. NBC now licensed the film for holiday showings, the colorized versions have been withdrawn, and Republic now has exclusive rights to the film. Another classic film which for years had only been available in cheap VHS copies with hard-to-watch grainy washed out prints was Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 classic, The 39 Steps. Based on the 1915 novel by John Buchan, the film is now beautifully restored and released through the Criterion DVD Collection. Robert Donat stars as Richard Hanny who stumbles on a political assassination conspiracy and eventually becomes both the pursuer and the pursued. For years I would try to watch the film but could never get through it because of the almost unwatchable prints. When I viewed the Criterion disc a few years back I was astounded. It was like seeing a brand new film. Sharp vivid images and a high quality sound transfer made it enjoyable for the first time. Another version of the John Buchan story was filmed in 1978 starring Robert Powell as the Hanny character. That film, The Thirty-Nine Steps is actually a lot closer to the Buchan novel, although it's ending departs from the books conclusion. With a cast that also features John Mills and David Warner, this later film blends intrigue and black humor rather nicely. A delightful score by Ed Welch helps move things along and it's final scene is somewhat of a tribute to Hitchcock. Like the master of suspense did so often in his films, this movie places the final action in a world renowned location familiar to all. This 1978 British-made version only saw a VHS release in America, and is now out-of-print. A DVD release can be found in the UK. As for public domain films, they now have made the jump to DVD. Many titles can be found in the bins at local dollar stores. Most are B-picture quality but among them are often gems like D.O.A. and Night of the Living Dead.

R.I.P.

With the passing of Red Buttons so soon after Barnard Hughes this past week, I couldn't help but think of a former customer at our store. His name was Dave, and he would only rent movies when someone famous died. At first we thought this was a bit strange, but in time this practice became the norm among many renters. And after a while we ourselves started to run films on our in-store TV monitors as a tribute whenever a famous actor died. So it is in that spirit that I will continue noting the passing of favorite film stars on this blog. Red Buttons surprised many with his Oscar-winning turn in the 1957 film, Sayonara . Originally a "Borscht Belt" comedian he had much success on TV as the star of his own show on NBC from 1952 to 1955. After receiving his Oscar he continued to work in films and TV never fully giving up his stand-up comedy career. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in 1969's They Shoot Horses Don't They. One of my own favorites was his role of "Mr. Martin" in the original Poseidon Adventure (1972.) (See Disaster in the making! post from June 12th) At the store one of the staff's all-time guilty favorites was Viva Knievel, from 1977. Red Buttons plays a shifty promoter to the legendary motorcycle stuntman Evel Knievel, who appears as himself. A true campy classic from the 70s which also stars Gene Kelly as Knievel's drug-addicted mechanic. I'll have more to say about the film at a later time for it deserves it's own posting. Buttons went on to be nominated for an Emmy and two more Golden Globes during his career. A true Hollywood original and the last of dying breed of comedians.

Red Buttons Movies

Barnard Hughes 1915 - 2006

One of my favorite performances by Barnard Huges who died this past Monday morning just six days short of his 91st Birthday, was a made-for-TV film from 1975 called The UFO Incident. Also starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons, it told the true-life story of Betty and Barney Hill, the New England couple who were plagued by crippling anxiety and horrific nightmares over an alleged alien abduction in 1961. Based on the novel, The Interrupted Journey by John G. Fuller, the film has a stage like quality that is befitting it's cast of New York theater veterans. Hughes plays Dr. Benjamin Simon, the psychiatrist trying to get to the bottom of the Hill's nightmarish recollections of what happened on September 19, 1961 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The scenes depicting the troubled couples' hypnosis sessions cleverly utilizes real transcripts that are at times chilling, powerful and overwhelming. These are fully realized performances in what could have been a forgetful movie-of-the-week. To this day the film has never been released to Home Video, and is barely seen on late night TV. Luckily, many of Barnard Huges' memorable performances are available on VHS and DVD. Among his many big-screen performances were Midnight Cowboy, Cold Turkey, The Hospital, Oh, God!, First Monday in October, Tron and The Lost Boys. And some of his TV appearances include: The Guiding Light, Route 66, Dark Shadows, As the World Turns, Hawaii Five-O, The Bob Newhart Show, All in the Family, The Cavanaughs, Day One, Blossom, and Lou Grant for which he won an Emmy Award in 1978. Huges was most prolific on stage winning a Tony in 1978 for his starring role in Da on Broadway, a role he would later repeat in the 1988 film version. Hughes was one of those recognizable faces on stage and screen who brought an abundance of charm and wit to every role he played.

Barnard Hughes Movies

Norman...Is That You?

Every retail store has it's colorful cast of customers. The ones who usually spark debate among the clerks long after they've left the building. One of the most notorious at our store was a man named, Norman. Norman was an elderly gentleman who always dressed the same; a long tan overcoat, Stetson hat and heavily stained shirt and tie. He was one of those remnants from the past whose observations and comments were always tainted with outdated expressions and beliefs. He often used the words "colored" and "Negro" when referring to African Americans. And his obsession with the Nazi regime in Germany was disturbing and suspicious at times. He loved to make thinly veiled racist comments in the store. His ignorance came close to getting him banned from the premises, but Norman was still with us by the time we closed our doors in 2004. He once showed-off a photo of himself standing alongside a road pointing to something. With the photo was a news article baring the same photo with the caption..."Norman points to the spot where the body of his friend was found." It was creepy to say the least, and his explanation of the story was vague and strange as well. But for all of Norman's quirks and awkwardness with the staff, the one thing he did well was leave little gifts following his weekly visits. They usually were hand-drawn or photocopied bits of paper containing everything from local movie theater listings to anniversary notices for not-so-famous historical events. But my favorite was a diagram of what he called a "Rockin' Video Theater", a screening room in our store where customers could sit and watch movies in comfortable rocking chairs. He was sure this was a unique money-making idea for us, even though it had been tried and had failed by local pizza parlor's in our area. I could fill this blog with Norman stories for years to come, but in the interest of variety I will post them sparingly. But you can be sure that future posting will include stories and exhibits left by Norman for you all to enjoy and ponder.

"Mr. Secretary, New York abstains-courteously."

Holidays were often the most enjoyable times to work at a video store. Often the television monitors throughout the store would feature all day showings of many classic holiday films, be it Christmas, Easter, or Halloween. In our store we often took things to the extreme, showing films with barely a passing reference to a particular holiday like New Years Eve, Groundhog Day and even Superbowl Sunday! And of course the Fourth of July was no exception. When you think about it, there are very few films that came out of Hollywood that actually dealt with the American Revolution. In recent years cable television has tried to play catch-up with films like The Crossing and Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor, but in the early part of the 20th century, Hollywood was more concerned with French revolutions then home grown ones. But one film that fit the bill perfectly each and every Independence Day was 1776, made by Columbia Pictures in 1972. The big-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical from 1969, stars William Daniels as patriot John Adams, Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson. 1776 follows the Founding Fathers efforts to liberate America from British tyranny in the early days of July, 1776. Written by Oscar-winner Peter Stone and based on a story by Sherman Edwards (a former history teacher) who also wrote the music and lyrics, 1776 brings the boldest moments in our national history together with gripping drama and joyous song. Da Silva's Ben Franklin is a riot at times, and it's ironic that Da Silva, blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s during the communist witch hunt, went on to portray one of our most beloved national heroes. The casts earthy approach to the characters closes the distance between us and the Founding Fathers, they no longer appear as statues in stone but real people with every day hopes and concerns. The film saw little box-office business in 1972, the fact that it had been drastically cut by producer Jack L. Warner prior to release didn't help. Over the years the film has grown in popularity thanks to a Broadway revival, television airings and various home video incarnations. It's debut on VHS and Laser Disc in the early 1980s featured the cut 142 minute version with a simulated stereo soundtrack. Although sixteen-track master tapes were recorded for the film, they were never mixed and only a mono version ever made it to the movie theaters. In 1992 Pioneer released what has become the Holy Grail of all Laser Discs when it painstakingly restored a full 180 minute version of the film. Using recently found film and soundtrack elements from a storage facility in Kansas, Pioneer pieced together bits of film fragments including a completely new song "Cool Considerate Men" which had been excised from the film prior to it's theatrical release. Rumor had it that Jack L. Warner had cut the song due to negative reaction from the Nixon White House , but Director Peter Hunt discounts this as myth in his commentary on the disc. According to Hunt, the forty minutes cut by Warner had to do with trimming it for additional showings and daily schedules at movie theaters. At the time the Laser Disc was produced, no negative was believed to exist for the restored sequences. Some scenes appear grainy and even in black & white, but the final cut is as close to the original Broadway show as you'll ever see. "Cool Considerate Men" was restored thanks to editor Florence Williamson who had taken the film home in her purse shot by shot in fear that it would be destroyed by producer Warner, which was his practice over the years with unused footage. Then in 2002 Columbia released a DVD version billed as the restored Director's Cut, which featured a 166 minute version of the film. It restored some but not all of the original excised scenes, using a newly found negative which did away with the grainy and black & white footage contained in the Laser Disc. But the new cuts made by director Hunt are tragic. Whole musical reprisals and additional verses of songs are gone. For those lucky to have the Pioneer Laser Disc hold on to it, for it remains the only complete version of the film. Maybe sometime down the road Columbia Pictures or Pioneer will grant fans of the film a reprieve and release a final DVD version with the complete 180 minute cut of the film. Nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar, the film is beautifly shot by Harry Stradling Jr., and both the Pioneer Laser Disc and Columbia DVD versions are in the Widescreen format. Whatever version of the film you see this Fourth of July, you're sure to enjoy a lovingly told and superbly acted tale of our nations birth.

1776 [DVD](1972) DVD
Broadway's rousing musical celebration of the Founding Fathers and the birth of America was brought to the screen by legendary producer Jack L. Warner. The raucous, rancorous debate over independence comes to life with a cast that includes William Daniels as John Adams, Howard Da Silva as Ben Franklin and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson; with Blythe Danner, David Ford, Donald Madden. Restored director's cut includes the "Cool Considerate Men" sequence. 166 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English, French; audio commentary; theatrical trailers; screen test; interactive menus; scene access.

"Who Loves Ya, Baby?"

Telly Savalas is the answer to the trivia question asked in the prior posting Trivial Pursuits (06/13/06). Savalas was born Aristotle Savalas in Garden City, New York in 1924. Injured as a GI in WWII, he was awarded a Purple Heart. He then joined the Information Services of the State Department, then went to work for ABC News, where he won a Peabody Award for his "Your Voice of America" series. He turned to acting in his late 30s playing villains in dozens of films and went on to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor opposite Burt Lancaster in Birdman Of Alcatraz(1962).
Then in the 1970's he was awarded a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his weekly series, Kojak.

Video on Demand, Part II

As the second installment in my Video on Demand feature, I would like to offer up for consideration the 1978 independent film, Nunzio. Written by and starring actor James Andronica, Nunzio tells the story of a mentally challenged grocery delivery boy in Brooklyn, NY. Played brilliantly by Sopranos star David Proval, Nunzio has a Superman fixation, and even delivers his groceries wearing a fake pair of glasses with a make-shift Superman costume beneath his street clothes. Under the watchful eye of his older brother Jamesie, played by Andronica, Nunzio's quiet demeanor and gentle personality make him a frequent target by local bullies and harlots. Andronica's Jamesie recalls The Godfather's Sonny, but is played here more for laughs. But there are also times in this film that Jamesie's love and protection of Nunzio is a startlingly real and honest display of brotherly affection. Morgana King who played Mrs. Vito Corleone in the Godfather films plays Nunzio's hard-working mom who often clashes over his care with son Andronica. Released the same year as Warner Brothers' Superman The Movie, the rest of the cast is rounded out by Tovah Feldshuh, Theresa Saldana and Joe Spinell. The excellent cast and NYC atmosphere add a considerable amount of realism and grit to the film, and Lalo Schifrin's quiet score balances the more tender moments for Nunzio and punctuates the pseudo-superhero aspects of it's storyline. As glowing as it's reviews were in 1978, the film garnered no Oscar nominations and is all but forgotten today. It occasionally shows up on late night television, but no video release was ever made. In 1988 Orion Pictures released Dominick and Eugene, a film that owes much to its predecessor, Nunzio. When I first saw Dominick and Eugene back in '88 I was so convinced that I was watching a bonafide remake, that I couldn't believe my eyes when James Andronica's name appeared nowhere in the writing credits. The film's protagonists are almost identical to say nothing of it's climax which seems to be taken right from the pages of Nunzio's script. A DVD release would be a nice surprise but until then late night TV or ebay bootlegs may be your only recourse to see this little gem of a movie.

Grandma Porn!

In the early 1980s, when video stores were the new thing and the novelty of being able to rent pornography on VHS was all the rage, the majority of customers renting adult titles were 99% male. By the time we closed our store in 2004, it was not surprising to see a female or two browsing the shelves in the "back room"! But in the early days, you would never see female customers surveying the shelves in the "porn section". Except that is for one brave soul. "Grandma' Porn!", as she was known to the staff was a sweet, gentle old lady in her eighties who would often rent adult, and soft adult titles on a regular basis. Her favorite were films with the words "teenage" or "cheerleader" in the title. She would march bravely into the secluded adult section often startling the male customers who would almost always exit upon her arrival. I never quite knew for sure if they left because they feared she would chastise them or hit on them. In any case this aging suffragette took the first brave steps in opening doors and knocking down barriers for all women who would someday know the feeling of renting porn without shame! Illustration by Dave Perillo.

With a name like Juano...

Juano Hernandez may not be a household name, certainly not like that of Sidney Poitier, but Poitier in many ways has benefited from the film career of Juano Hernandez. Born in Puerto Rico, Hernandez moved and grew up in Brazil where he joined the circus at a young age to work as an acrobat. After emigrating to New York City, without a formal education he learned to speak English by studying Shakespeare which with his perfect diction landed him a job as an actor on the radio. He starred in the first all-black radio soap opera, We Love and Learn, which then led to a role in the original 1927 Broadway production of Showboat. The role caught the attention of pioneering black filmmaker, Oscar Micheux who cast Hernandez in his first film role in The Girl from Chicago (1932). By 1949, Hernandez starred in his first mainstream film for MGM as the lead in Intruders in the Dust. The role won him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. Hernandez never took a role that he felt was demeaning or stereotyped. One of my favorite films of his was the 1950 Warner Brothers film, Young Man With A Horn, starring Doris Day, Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall. Loosely based on the life of trumpet player, Bix Beiderbecke portrayed by Douglas and renamed Rick Martin in the film, Hernandez portrays Art Hazzard, a jazz trumpeter who practically raises Martin from childhood. A controversial move by Warner Brothers in 1950, Hernandez portrays a strong African male in the role of surrogate father to a white child. I first saw the film as a kid and was instantly drawn to Hernandez's patience and kindness towards the young Martin character. When Douglas grows into a man and has a successful musical career of his own, it is Hernandez who resurfaces later in the film trying to prevent Douglas' spiral downward into alcoholism. Doris Day also shines in one of her first film roles as the wide-eyed band singer who watches Douglas as he slowly throws away his career and marriage with Bacall. It is Bacall's character which is the most confusing in the film. As Douglas' tortured wife, her motivations are unclear, and her jealousies towards Doris Day's character, Jo Jordan are equally fuzzy. A possible lesbian relationship has often been the explanation by film historians, but it remains unspoken on film. Day performs many standards including With A Song In My Heart, all lovingly orchestrated by Ray Heindorf, Max Steiner and performed by Harry James but all are uncredited in the film. Hernandez went on to appear in many films and on tv, and starred along Sidney Poitier in his last film, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs. He would die in his native country later that year, but remains one of the first Black Hispanics to achieve stardom in early Hollywood.

Trivial Pursuits

During the last few years that our store was open, we instituted a weekly trivia question that was much loved by our clientele. The store manager, Mark had found a small dry erase board lying around unused and so he came up with the idea of posting a weekly movie related trivia question. If the customers correctly guessed the answer to the question, they received a free rental coupon. It was a challenge each week to think of something obscure, yet film related to keep the minds of our customers working to win the coveted prize. Well, as always something as fun as our weekly trivia question brought out the worst in a few of our more jaded customers. It soon was obvious that certain customers would answer the question correctly receive their free rental, and then send their wife or kids in another day with the same answer. We tried keeping a list of the customers who answered each week, but they were determined to rip-us-off and found a way to do so. In the end we had to stop the weekly trivia question which was disappointing to many, but I must admit it was funny to see how innocent the weekly perpetrators acted when told their free ride was over. One of my favorite questions we had along the way was ....Name the World War II Purple Heart winner who also won a Peabody award for directing ABC News programs and then went on to be nominated for an Academy Award as an actor and also star in a successful TV series? (If you know the answer feel free to place it in the comment file on this page. I'll post the correct answer some time next week. And no, you do not get a free rental!)

Disaster in the making!

Saturday nights were often the most enjoyable times to work at our video store. To deal with the hustle of customers stocking up on films for the weekend, we would usually run some of our favorite films on the tv sets throughout the store. One of our all-time favorites was the 1972 disaster classic, The Poseidon Adventure. What a cast! Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Stella Stevens, Jack Albertson, Carol Lynley and of course, Shelley Winters. Based on the novel by Paul Gallico and written for the screen by Stirling Silliphant, The Poseidon Adventure was the top grossing film at the box office in 1972. Audiences flocked to see the all-star cast struggle and argue with each other as they made their way through the capsized ocean liner. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards including a best supporting Oscar nod for Winters. She lost the award to Eileen Heckart (Butterflies are Free), but over thirty years later it is Winters' performance as an overweight Jewish grandmother, that is so fondly remembered. With the success of films like Titanic, and the advent of CGI digital effects it is no wonder that Hollywood decided to crank out another big screen adaptation of Poseidon. In fact two re-makes were made in the last two years, a TV remake starring Steve Guttenberg, and now the Warner Brothers film starring Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas and Richard Dreyfuss. The tv version was almost unbearable to watch, a ripped-from-the-headlines plot capitalizing on post 9/11 terrorism fears, had terrorist bombs responsible for capsizing the ill-fated cruise ship. The big-screen remake fares little better, the digital effects make for a dazzling 4 minute capsizing sequence, but the additional 90 minutes of unmotivated and uninteresting dialogue make the short running-time seem like an eternity. Dreyfuss gives it his best trying to fill his role of a grieving elderly gay man with a few moments of thoughtful insight, but the script fails him as well as the rest of the cast. So many questions linger throughout the film over many of the characters motivations and backgrounds, that it is hard even by the end of the film to remember many of the characters names. It is hard not to compare the re-makes to the original, but when the original is so memorable for it's broadly drawn characters, and often camp-filled dialogue, it is hard not too. One of the reasons the original film works so well, is that by the time the ship turns over the characters are all so broadly drawn and their relationships to each other so well known to the audience, that you can't help but be taken in regardless of the absurdity of the plot. What seems missing from the new film is that conflict of wills that was so prevalent in the original. Borgnine vs. Hackman was the fight you witnessed throughout the struggle to make it out alive, a struggle that is missing in the 2006 version. And despite the big budget and digital effects on hand in the new film, the interiors of the original films ship are much more realistic and convincing. Often in the new Poseidon, sets don't appear to be much different upside down from when they appeared right side up! Re-makes like Poseidon seem to be following a trend in movie making these days. A trend that seeks only to fill seats in movie theaters. Bigger is better in Hollywood. The updated computer wizardry is utilized to re-make the beloved films of the past bigger and better for today's young audiences. Although Wolfgang Petersen is a skilled director and handles most of the action sequence well-enough in the new version, he could have taken a page from Peter Jackson's playbook. When Jackson updated the legendary 1933 classic King Kong much reverence was paid to the original, and great care was taken in presenting its cast along side a mammoth CGI character. In Petersens' case the mammoth ocean liner sank his characters too fast, for what remains for them to discover is just plain dull. While watching this most recent update, somewhere in the back of my head I swear I could hear the faint cries of Shelly Winters yelling soulfully throughout the new ship...."Manny, Manny I'm stuck on this boat!"

Humphrey Bogart meets the Bowery Boys!

One of my favorite movies that I discovered on vhs while working at the video store was Dead End. Made in 1937 and starring Humphrey Bogart, the movie was adapted from the Broadway play which starred and introduced the world to the Dead End Kids. Later to become known as The Bowery Boys in a successful series of films in the 1940s and '50s, Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Billy Halop, and Gabriel Dell all got their start with this original more serious urban drama. Bogart who was on loan from Warner Brothers to Sam Goldwyn turns in one of his best performances of his early film career. As 'Baby Face' Martin, Bogart plays a gangster on the run returning to his childhood home on the banks of the east river in NYC. While there he hopes to see his forgotten mother (Marjorie Main) and old girlfriend played by Claire Trevor. Trevor won an Oscar nomination for her brief performance, but it is Main who steals the movie with a startlingly tragic cameo, one that will surprise any fan who grew up thinking of her as only Ma' Kettle. The film also stars Joel McCrea, one of the most underrated film stars of all time. McCrae plays a a struggling architect who like Bogart's character grew up on the mean streets of the old neighborhood, but he chose the righteous path instead of a career in crime. The film was directed by William Wyler, the most nominated film director of all time with 12 Best Director nods. Wyler takes a stagy screenplay and adapts it nicely to fill his movie screen. Often working with female stars like Bette Davis, Wyler projects strong independent women in his films, as is the case with Sylvia Sydney in Dead End. Sydney plays a working single woman trying to keep her younger brother, Halop out of trouble in the streets. For 1937, none of the female characters come off as simple or vampy as in other gangster pictures of the time. Greg Toland, who shot Citizen Kane pulls off another visual feast for the eyes with his black & white photography of Art Director Richard Day's convincing recreation of east side New York. Legendary composer Alfred Newman underscores memorable opening and closing title sequences, but his music is scarce throughout the rest of the fim. Available now on DVD,

Dead End [DVD](1937) DVD
Landmark drama of life in the crime-ridden slums of Depression-era New York stars Humphrey Bogart as a hoodlum who returns to his old neighborhood and is idolized by the local youths (the Dead End Kids, in their film debut). William Wyler's classic crime tale, scripted by Lillian Hellman, also stars Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, Wendy Barrie. 92 min. Standard; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital mono, Spanish Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English, Spanish, French.

Late Charges

Over the past few years much has been made about the practice of charging late charges for overdue video rentals. This is mostly due to several law suits filed against the Blockbuster rental chain. I have to admit, I have very little sympathy for those who complain that late fees are unfair. In the eighteen years that I worked in the video rental business, most of the customers who complained about late fees were often habitual offenders. It seemed they were more upset about having been caught returning late videos, than the actual cost of a few dollars extra. My favorite charge by repeat offenders was to infer that I or one of my colleagues were calling them a liar. Often they would claim to not have rented a title on a date the computer or receipt stated, and so we the clerks had the audacity to accuse the customer of lying! Well, yah' you are lying! You got caught returning a tape late, and now you refuse to admit that you were wrong. And that's the real problem isn't it! While your SUV is illegally parked in the fire lane in the front of the store, you're arguing a lousy $2.00 late charge because you're used to getting everything your way. And no, I don't believe you had a death in the family, because you've used that excuse three time before. And don't blame your kid, he didn't rent the three porn tapes, you did. Have you no shame? Does it mean that much to you that you would use your own kids as a ploy to get out of paying for your crime? Wow, that felt good. Now, if I only had said that to the hundreds of liars who never returned their films on time.