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.