D'oh! That Damn Bee Overtakes The Gangsta! That And A Couple Of Docs

"Movie? Who's talkin' about a movie? This is not a movie - this is my fuckin' LIFE!!!!"
- Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) THE COOLER (Dir. Wayne Kramer, 2003)

The news is: BEE MOVIE just hit #1 over not just AMERICAN GANGSTER but even beating out movies that opened last Friday (LIONS FOR LAMBS and FRED CLAUSE). Well that kinda deflates my post from about a week ago. I wanted to see LIONS, which Tom Cruise is already bitchin' about flopping, but just about every critic is telling me not to - though I probably still will. Looks like the real prestige (or Oscar wannabe) picture season has not yet begun.

I thought I'd clean out my notebook and post a few documentary reviews - a couple of new release DVDs that deserve some words:

CRAZY LOVE (Dirs. Dan Klores & Fisher Stevens, 2007)

The saying "love is blind" has never been so chillingly played out than it is here. A tale torn from old New York Post headlines about prominent lawyer/mogul Bert Pugach's wooing gone wrong of young beauty Linda Riss is best described by veteran journalist Jimmy Breslin: "It was a big story...3 black guys throw acid in a white girl's face on behalf of her spurned boyfriend - a white lawyer in the Bronx ...sensational! The 3 blacks will go away forever, now we'll get the white lawyer - he'll go...and we'll sympathize with the woman forever." That sums up the first engrossing amusing half - the second half (which is just as engrossing) is where it gets weird. After 14 years in prison (the prison was Attica - where the titanically tumultuous 1971 riots occurred, mind you) Paguch is released and lo and behold, gets back together and actually marries the blinded bewigged Linda Riss! I can't say that this scandalous story, told in interviews with Pugach and Riss as well as a bunch of their old acquaintances - all in heavy make-up, is a "you've got to see to believe" spectacle because I've seen and still don't believe. Paguch is well spoken and has some charm but not enough charm to pull off this deal - most women would consider hired goons throwing lye in the face to be a deal breaker but what are you going to do? Woody Allen said something once about the heart being a resilient little muscle - I just never have seen it so blatantly displayed as something only about the size of the rock on Linda Riss's finger.

MANUFACTURING DISSENT (Dirs. Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk, 2007)

A documentary about a documentarian. There have been many works that have criticized Michael Moore * and his methods, in books like "Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man", counter-point documentaries like CELSIUS 41.11, MICHAEL MOORE HATES AMERICA, MICHAEL AND ME and FAHRENHYPE 9/11 as well as numerous anti-Moore websites like Moorewatch (which was featured in SiCKO) so what's another? Well, this sober overview of Moore's career and the premise of what really is accountable in docu-journalism presented here is far above the before-mentioned mostly manufactured by the right wing product. Many who haved worked with Moore are interviewed and many reputable talking heads (including Roger Ebert, Errol Morris, and Christopher Hitchens) make pretty damning statements while at the same time praising his ideals and his piercing place in pop culture. In the spirit of ROGER AND ME, Debbie Melnyk tries futilely and exhaustingly to get an interview with Moore - she actually corners him a few times in 2004 but he's elusive, preoccupied with getting Bush out of office, and at one point he smarmingly gets her to hug him for a photo-op, which in her narration she regrets and is obviously embarrassed by. The background on Moore being fired from his Mother Jones magazine editor gig, his famous fudging of the getting a gun at the bank in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE timeframe, and his dissing of Ralph Nader are seriously things to ponder in this new light.

A lot I can excuse and laugh off because I believe Moore is fighting the good fight - idealistically he's got the goods but one thing that's increasingly hard to get over is the account of the backstory of ROGER AND ME. I've known since a Premiere Magazine article in 1990 that he actually spoke to Roger Smith (there's a full transcript of the interview) prior to the film but that he allegedly tried to talk friends into denying it had happened so he could retain the "I could never get to him" premise really gets to me. But then this is just another biased documentary that should be taken like a grain of salt as well. If I believe everything it says - Moore is a backstabbing asshole and I don't believe that's true. He seems not to be a film journalist at all - more like a comedian who hi-jacked the documentary format in order to stage his routines. MANUFACTORING DISSENT has many valid statements and necessary views on Moore and his oeuvre - some are revelatory and provoking as Hell - but it's not nearly as funny or as entertainingly in your face as Michael Moore's movies are. Therin lies the rub.

* As film babble readers know I've written quite a bit about Moore - like last summer's post The Evolution Of Michael Moore (June 26, 2007) and I went with my family to see him speak in person at the Carolina Theater in Durham - A Night With Michael Moore 4/3/2004 - so yeah, I admit I'm way biased.

More later...

Clooney Is The New Redford & 5 Pivotal Sydney Pollack Parts

It's official - George Clooney is to this decade (sorry - I hate calling it the Aughts or Aughties) what Robert Redford was to the 70's. He's the gruff but good looking beacon that guides us through the dark corridors of misappropriated power and serves as the conscience of poli-sci centered cinema. In a run of ambitious films (excluding the OCEAN'S series, that is) like SYRIANA, THE GOOD GERMAN, and GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, Clooney is coming close to matching Redford's run in the Nixon-Ford-Carter era - a run that included such classics as THE CANDIDATE, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, and BRUBAKER.



MICHAEL CLAYTON cements the case that Clooney has definitively assumed Redford's role as symbol of liberal unrest and righteous though mostly impotent outrage against the machine. So here's the Film Babble review :



MICHAEL CLAYTON (Dir. Tony Gilroy, 2007)



As the title character Clooney brings a doomed demeanor to a once prominent NY lawyer who now acts as a "fixer" that is a hatchet or bag man to do his large firm's dirty work. Called a "miracle man" by some but self described as a "janitor", Clayton can't quite clean up the mess made by a fellow tormented litigator - Arthur Edens played to intense perfection by Tom Wilkinson. Edens threatens to sabotage his firm's handling of a multimillion dollar lawsuit against a agrichemical company. Clayton struggles to protect Edens and grapples with overwhelming ethical dilemmas while juggling his own personal set-backs - financial insecurity brought on by divorce and a former gambling problem recently replaced by a risky restaurant venture.



Some of the narrative turns can be seen coming at a fair distance and there are some drawbacks with a few undeveloped characters - specifically Chief Counsel for the bad guys Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) and also the unnecessary druggie brother heavily implies there was some cut material. Sydney Pollack (one of the film's producers) as Clooney's boss does add some clout though it's a character he's played slight variations on before (see below). Tony Gilroy's direction, decorated by hushed grey tones and a overcast aura, is impressive for a first time director (Gilroy scripted the BOURNE series). There's a lot to admire in this anti-slick suspense flick. So as long as Clooney doesn't pull a ELECTRIC HORSEMAN on us - we're heading in a good direction.



After seeing MICHAEL CLAYTON I realized something - I like Sydney Pollack as an actor more than I do as a director. Sure, he mostly plays incidental side parts - giving a folksy gravitas to the proceedings in a the Yoda you may worry 'bout trusting sorta way. Also he re-inforces this blogpost's conceit because of his collaborations with Robert Redford, so continuing my blog's HIGH FIDELITY obsession with lists here goes :



5 Pivotal Sydney Pollack Parts :



1. TOOTSIE (Dir. Sydney Pollack, 1982) It's hard to imagine what TOOTSIE would've been had Hal Ashby (who was originally signed on but after what Wikipedia calls "two years of laborious negotiations" - was axed from the project) directed it. I mean there would have been no hilarious arguments between Pollack and Dustin Hoffman both on and off screen! Pollack signed on to direct but resisted Hoffman's idea that he play the blunt agent character in the film. He finally gave in and it's a great thing too because his part really makes the movie. Priceless moment - Hoffman in drag runs in to an oblivious Pollack, who had told Hoffman's Michael Dorsey character that "no one will hire you" earlier, at the Russian Tea Room. After fooling Pollack with his Dorothy Michaels persona for a few minutes, Hoffman drops his voice low and reveals himself. Pollack : "Michael, I told you to get some therapy!"



2. HUSBANDS AND WIVES (Dir. Woody Allen, 1992) Pollack's biggest role to date and one he excels in though at first glance it's a stock best friend who's having an affair part - a role usually reserved in Woody Allen movies for the likes of Tony Roberts or Michael Murphy. Pollack plays a man constantly on the verge of crumbling during his separation from wife Judy Davis but somehow holding it together. A misguided affair with a ditsy aerobics trainer (Lysette Anthony - pictured on the right) gives some funny yet dark insights into his nature. We're left liking the guy in the end though we don't know why - perhaps because he's just a flawed fucked-up human like the rest of us.



3. EYES WIDE SHUT (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1999) Another best friend/mentor/would be Yoda role in this troubled and troubling movie. I won't go into the details about this notoriously comprised Kubrick project - that's well documented elsewhere - I'll just say that Pollack pulls no punches in his portrayal of Victor Ziegler. Woody Allen was originally considered for the role of Ziegler but he claims that Kubrick "came to his senses".



4. CHANGING LANES (Dir. Roger Mitchell, 2002) put this one in the "guys the main character shouldn't trust" file. A fairly lame Ben Affleck / Samuel L. Jackson dueling NY commuters thriller (as if that's an actual genre) features a rare Sydney Pollack as complete bastard role as yet another corrupt lawfirm boss (see above). Especially, in a moment that will come back to haunt him, when he tells Affleck - "at the end of the day I think I do more good than harm... what other standard have I got to judge by?" At the end of the day this guy is judged pretty harshly.



5. RANDOM HEARTS (Dir. Sydney Pollack, 1999) Another flawed as fuck film (only 18% on the Rotten Tomatometer - pretty much consensus says it's a stinker) that nonetheless gives good Pollack. Sure it's another advisor/mentor character but when it boils down to it - he's one of the only interesting elements in this failure of his own making. If Pollack can shine when Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas appear drab and unconvincing then maybe the guy really is a genius director! Nah, I'm just blogging out of my ass again.



Okay! Another post - another list. Next time out : the countdown to my first blog convention - Converge South 2007 - continues and more babble 'bout movies of course.



More later...

1408 And A Cry For Quality Cusack

“But you wouldn’t be sleeping with a person. You’d be sleeping with a whole sad single-person culture. It would be like sleeping with Talia Shire in ROCKY if you weren’t Rocky.” *
- Rob Gordon (John Cusack) HIGH FIDELITY (Dir. Stephen Frears, 2000)

* A friend emailed me this quote not long ago and asked "what does this mean?" I honestly have to say I don't know.

I avoided 1408 upon its original run in theaters earlier this year because I suspected that the explanation (or lack of) for the supernatural premise would really piss me off. However I ordered the new release DVD on up from Netflix because my curiosity got the best of me but also because I like John Cusack (see below) and knew he'd at least deliver. So here's my review:

1408 (Dir. Mikael Håfström, 2007)

The premise (based on a short story by Stephen King) is simple - John Cusack gets trapped in a hotel room from Hell. He's tortured by apparitions of the many who were killed or killed themselves there and by images of his own deceased daughter (no, she didn't die in the room).

The angle is that he's an extremely skeptical writer of anti-ghost books - guides to hotels that are believed to be haunted that he stays in to debunk. So naturally when he hears (by way of a cryptic postcard) about a hotel room in the Dolphin Hotel in New York City that nobody has lasted more than an hour in and that has been closed off to the public, he gets his publisher to cut through some legal red tape and book the room.

He first has to listen to a series of lectures from hotel manager Samuel L. Jackson (whose role is essentially an extended cameo) about the history of grisly deaths interspersed with repeated attempts to talk Cusack out of staying in the room. "It's an evil fucking room" Jackson concludes in the grimmest most intense manner he can muster as Cusack cynically and drolly rolls his eyes. This is where the plot description ends and I just bitch about the movie in full.

As for lasting an hour - the first hour of 1408 is pretty good - sharp and genuinely creepy. The second half however is really ludicrous - literally throwing every horror movie cliché at Cusack as he is almost burned, frozen, stabbed by ghosts, drowned, chased by a corpse in a heating duct, and he almost falls to his death hanging from the ledge when he tries to escape to the next room's window which of course disappears.

These are technologically savvy ghosts - they outdo the AMITYVILLE HORROR's screwing with the bedside alarm clock ploy, though they do that too. Yes Siree - these ghosts can manipulate Cusack's lap-top's video messenger screen and broadcast their own satellite cable transmissions on the room's television. They sometimes even tap into surveillance camera and old family camcorder feeds somehow to better scare Cusack. They can also appear in black and white complete with old film scratches or in technicolor depending on when they died craftily enough.

But of course it's not the ghosts but the room itself as the title implies and Jackson said - it's evil and can take control of everything including time, space, bed, bathroom and beyond. How could that be? You can't have a Indian burial ground beneath a rented space in the sky so what gives? Then we have to filter in the estranged wife (Mary McCormack) and dead daughter (Jasmine Jessica Anthony) - who the room and the film use as heartstring pulling psyche-out set-up punches.

It's the kind of movie that boils down to "we've traced the call - it's coming from inside of your brain!" That said, this is an amusing time waster that has a better than the material performance by Cusack who carries pretty much the whole show. Like those movies depicting plane crashes that are banned by airlines, I think this would be a good one to censor from hotel-chain pay-per-view. I doubt I could sleep in a hotel room after watching it - just sayin'.

Postnote : Not that it affects my review but I only saw the unrated version of 1408 which is disc 2 of the Special Ed. DVD. I wasn't aware that there was an alternate ending that is completely different to the theatrical release's. I thought that the unrated version would be everything, you know? As readers of film babble must know I hate when there are alternate endings - cop-outs based on test screening panic for the most part.

A Cry For Quality Cusack

So how long since the last really good John Cusack movie? Uh, let's go back through the bad ones - MUST LOVE DOGS, which was a real dog, was 2005, before it there was RUNAWAY JURY which was beneath the bottom of the bail and IDENTITY (another failed supernatural thriller like 1408) were both 2003, and SERENDIPITY and AMERICAN SWEETHEARTS which both seriously sucked so the last really good John Cusack movie was HIGH FIDELITY (2000). Wow, 7 years!

HIGH FIDELITY is one of my favorite movies (as the Nick Hornby novel it was based on is one of my favorite books) so because of Cusack's top notch work as heartbroken music snob/geek Rob Gordon (named Rob Fleming in the book) in that film as I read somebody say on The Onion The A.V. Club he gets a free pass. However it looks like the pass is going to expire soon unless he takes some action. It looks like there's possibilities ahead for the upcoming films MARTIAN CHILD (by Menno Meyjes who directed Cusack in MAX - which was decent but unmemorable) and the drama GRACE IS GONE (pictured below) so with hope the 7 year itch will be scratched.

Now I don't want to write one of those "open letter to..." or any smarmy "here's some career tips Mr. Big Star", I mean how moronic would that be for me - a lowly blogger to even slightly think I know what really goes on with choosing scripts and signing on to projects but damnit I wish Cusack would do 2 things:

1. Work with Stephen Frears again - 2 of Cusack's best films (THE GRIFTERS and HIGH FIDELITY) were with Frears directing and it seems like a good time for them to hook up again. Also Cusack was great in Woody Allen's SHADOWS AND FOG and BULLETS OVER BROADWAY so another collaboration with him would be great too. How about this being a plea for Cusack to work with better directors in general? The last seven years smell of behind the camera hackery.

2. Host Saturday Night Live - That's right, Cusack has never hosted SNL despite the fact that his sister Joan Cusack used to be a cast member. In his friend Tim Robbin's excellent mock poli-doc BOB ROBERTS Cusack played an actor doing a SNL-type show called "Cutting Edge". Just credited as "Cutting Edge Host" Cusack had a great anti-corporation/anti-right wing folk-singing senate candidate Bob Roberts (Robbins) rant. It would be a great actor exercise for him to do a string of different characters all live on SNL and I bet it would refresh his comedic facilities.

But like I said who am I to say such things - nobody that's who! As long as Cusack still makes movies with his sister - the very funny above-mentioned Joan Cusack (they've been in 5 movies together and 2 more coming up) and Jeremy Piven (6 films) I'll stop complaining. In fact I bet Joan would made 1408 quite a bit better if she would've appeared as the voice of the hotel phone operator and Piven as the bell hop - man, that would've added a more chilling effect to the proceedings.

So in conclusion - I have to do right by HIGH FIDELITY's Rob Gordon and his obsession with top-5 lists and name:

The Film Babble Blog Top Five John Cusack Movies

1. HIGH FIDELITY (2000) - No surprise there.

2. SAY ANYTHING (1989) - Excellent Cameron Crowe high school relationship movie. Best known for the boom box blaring Peter Gabriel held to the skies by Cusack's immortal Lloyd Dobbler character - no, I'm not going to post that picture. I'll go with the one with the Clash t-shirt on the left.

3. THE GRIFTERS (1990) - A con man (Cusack) and a few con women (Annette Benning, Angelica Houston) and a dark uncompromising comic tone that never lets up make this essential on my blog.

4. BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994) - One of Woody Allen's best screenplays with Cusack spot-on as a troubled neurotic playwright in 1920's New York who has to deal with mafiaso control of his project. A pleasure from start to finish.

5. THE SURE THING (1985) - Very underrated Rob Reiner helmed comedy originally billed as a college-kids-on-the-road-sex-farce but it has better intentions and results. It makes the Top 5 because it was the first full-length that cemented the Cusack persona - he's one of the only guys who can get away with a line like: "How would you like to have a sexual experience so intense it could conceivably change your political views?" Great Tim Robbins cameo to boot.

Came close but didn't make the cut : BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (Dir. Spike Jonez, 1999)

That's all for now - next time I'll try not to come anywhere near giving celebrities career advice. I'll leave you with this nice montage of Cusack in the rain which sort of says it all.

More later...

10 Reasons The 30th Anniversary Of OH, GOD! Should Be Celebrated

Jerry Landers (John Denver) : "If you wanted to see me, why didn't you just appear over my bed?"
God (George Burns) : "Ah, Hollywood. Next question."

The film forums were flowing with tributes to the 30th anniversary of STAR WARS last summer but I think another little movie released that same year should get a shout-out. I’m talking about OH, GOD! – the Carl Reiner directed comedy that had God come to Earth in the form of a wise-cracking smug smiling George Burns. He appears to John Denver, of all people, in Denver's only cinematic acting role and asks him to give his message of hope to the world. Wackiness doesn't ensue like in lesser broader comedies (BRUCE ALMIGHTY - I'm looking in your direction) - no, a measured witty thoughtful tone carries Denver's supermarket manager everyman character through the motions of his doubting wife (Teri Garr), his stern unforgiving bosses, and the scolding from the entire religious community that result.

Released on October 7th, 1977 to good box office and much critical acclaim, OH, GOD! is still not really considered a classic these days. It's not on the American Film Institute's 100 greatest movies list and it only gets a IMDb user rating of 6.2/10 but its Critics Tomatometer 82% approval rating shows there are a lot of fans out there. So, since I'm one of the film's biggest fans I thought it would be fun to celebrate the 30 year anniversary and honor OH, GOD! so here are :

10 Reasons the 30th Anniversary of OH, GOD! Should Be Celebrated

1. George Burns (1896-1996) As God – On the DVD commentary (recorded in 2002) Carl Reiner says "somebody came to me and said 'how about George Burns for God?' and I said 'who else?'" Despite this comment reportedly Mel Brooks was asked first to take the role but as Reiner joked Brooks didn't want to take the demotion. Burns brings a crafty confident component to his portrayal of the grand deity and nails every line. Especially when he takes the stand at the concluding trial scene - "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me me."

2. John Denver (1943-1997) - As Brooks was originally considered for God, Woody Allen was the first choice to play Jerry Landers - the grocery store manager chosen to spread God's word. Allen turned the part down because he had his own take on God and that wasn't it as the story goes. So they went to a top 40 folk singer who had never acted before - good ol' boy John Denver. Not sure how they arrived there but I'm glad they did because Denver had the chops and plays no false notes here. His exasperating defenses to the skeptical ones around him - "I'm not some kind of nut!" and tense talks/fights with his wife Bobbi (Teri Garr) all show a range though not polished was still perfect for this project.

3. Teri Garr - As the disbelieving worried wife - a role she would perfect in her next film CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND Garr holds her own here. She recounts on the commentary - "around the time of this movie I also made CLOSE ENCOUNTERS... and I remember I used to do interviews and I'd say I just did 2 movies - one in which God is revealed as a cabdriver and one in which God is revealed as a chandelier!" Incidentally Barbara Harris was the original choice - glad they went with Garr.

4. Paul Sorvino - Way before he was an established powerhouse actor in such pivotal films as GOODFELLAS and NIXON, Sorvino had done little besides TV series work and bit parts in a few movies but when he took on the part of Reverend Willie Williams people started to take notice. Williams is a popular evangelist described as "God's personal quarterback" who draws the real God Burn's scorn. God considers him a phony and instructs Denver to tell him so. The Shrine Auditorium sermon that Denver interrupts to bring him that message is show-stopping largely due to Sorvino's invigorated scenery chewing.

5. Great If Largely Unused Supporting Cast - From William Daniels (Benjamin's father in THE GRADUATE, the voice of K.I.T.T. on TV's Knight Rider) to David Ogden Stiers (Major Winchester on M*A*S*H - the TV series) and Ralph Bellemy as Williams' lawyer every part is extremely well cast. Unfortunately a lot of performances appear to have been cut - Donald Pleasance (Blofeld in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the President in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK among other mostly villainous roles) is given very little screen time and has only one or 2 lines. A montage during the trial sequence indicates there was a lot more material but until a special edition DVD comes along we'll just have to make do.

6. Great Story - Adapted from the book by Avery Corman (who also wrote the original novel of Kramer Vs. Kramer) by Larry Gelbert (M*A*S*H, TOOTSIE) the premise is sound and well plotted out even though it follows a formulaic path it's one well worth taking. Even the courtroom showdown ending which was well worn by '77 comes across as fresh and necessary.

7. Great One-liners - Of course if you've got George Burns you would expect an arsenal of Vaudevillian one-liners and Gelbert's Oscar nominated screenplay doesn't leave him unarmed. Some examples - "The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you have to go back to the Red Sea" and this literary gem "you know Voltaire may have had me pegged right? He said I was a comedian playing to an audience who's afraid to laugh."

8. Minor Miracles - As the before mentioned rip-off - sorry, uh...homage BRUCE ALMIGHTY and especially its lame sequel EVAN ALMIGHTY (with a budget of approximately $140 million - the most expensive comedy movie ever made) prove with their extensive use of CGI - money doesn't equal funny. OH, GOD! shows this by giving us a God who bemoans special effects and considers major miracles beneath him and his message. When a still skeptical Denver insists on a sign to fully convince him - God makes it suddenly rain. The thing is - he only makes it rain in Denver's car. He gets pulled over and tells the cop that he must have gone through a car wash with the windows open. The cop (John Ashton - talk about casting) buys it in a stormtroopers buying Luke by way of Obi Wan's Force tricks way. The only other miracles that our Lord Burns perform is a vanishing card trick and disappearing himself by way of cheap editing in his final court appeal. Those work fine so why bother with big-time spectacle that never really pays off?

9. The Carl Reiner Cameo - Sure, it's not in the league of director doing a cameo in their own film as say Hitchcock but Reiner's appearance alongside Denver on The Dinah Shore show is still good stuff. As further Reiner self referencing goes - on a hotel room television set an episode of the Reiner created The Dick Van Dyke Show plays. God - this time dressed as a bus boy turns off the TV and remarks "so many repeats."

10. A Sincere Positive Message - Yes, shut your mouth you cinematic cynics - it's true, this film has a good solid message that believers and non-believers can embrace - that our world can work and it's up to us. Best said by God himself: "you can love, cherish and nurture each other or you can kill each other."

Okay! So put it in your Netflix queue and honor thy OH, GOD! with me - won't you?

Postnotes :

I've got to at least mention the sequels as inessential as they are. It has been a while since I've seen them but the 2002 DVD of OH, GOD! has trailers for them and they trigger my memory. The thing that has always bothered me about making a sequel to this film is simply this - Burns tells Denver when he first appears - "I picked a look you could understand. For somebody else I would've looked different." The sequels - OH, GOD! BOOK II (Dir. Gilbert Cates, 1980) and OH, GOD! YOU DEVIL (Dir. Paul Bogart, 1984) ignore this and just settle on God being George Burns. BOOK II pretty much repeats the same story as the first substituting a little girl (Tracy Richards) for Denver for extra cheesy results but at least OH, GOD! YOU DEVIL attempts a new premise - Burns plays the Devil as well and pulls off some amusing moments. Still, neither needs celebratory re-appraising - that's for sure.

Then there's the remake tentatively scheduled for 2008. According to my trusty Wikipedia source "there is currently a remake starring Ellen DeGeneres planned, which was confirmed by DeGeneres in a Time magazine interview." It even has an IMDb page and original producer Jerry Weintraub is involved but it looks like no progress has been made since it has been announced and I hope it stays that way. Hey, I like Ellen but this is a bad idea and I'm not alone in that thinking - this John Denver tribute page has a petition you can sign to stop it. I just signed it - hope you do too.

More later...

Westerns, Lovers In Paris And Media Circuses Are Doing Fine Thank You

"I feel like Dorothy - everything just turned to color."
- Don Draper (Jon Hamm) Mad Men (AMC Original Series 2007)

Got some recent moviegoing to babble 'bout so let's get at it :

3:10 TO YUMA (Dir. James Mangold, 2007) I don’t want to spend much of this review addressing the state of the modern Western – I’ll just say that it’s a genre that will never die (see Deadwood and the upcoming THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES). Those prematurely eulogizing it are discounting the allure of that period of history - tales with a backdrop of a lawless land that stretches to infinity will always be told. The tale told in James Mangold’s (WALK THE LINE) 3:10 TO YUMA is told very well – especially for a remake. I haven’t seen the original so I can’t compare but reasonably I am very skeptical about remakes so I was pleasantly surprised at how strong a movie this was. Christian Bale plays a down on his luck rancher who takes on the daunting task of transporting a villainous fast drawing outlaw (Russell Crowe) across country. The film’s title is their destination – a scheduled train with a prison car that will supposedly take Crowe to be tried and hung.

Obstacles aplenty surround Bale and his posse (including a wonderfully grizzled Peter Fonda) – Crowe’s murderous gang close behind set on freeing him, dangerous Indian territory, and the conniving overly confident Crowe himself. As Ben Wade –you’ll know him from the trail of the dead – Crowe does a career best performance. He perfects the kind of evil man who laughs through bloody teeth when being punched in the face, quotes ominous Bible passages, and never flickers for an instant in any hostile predicament. As an actor though he’s surely met his match with Christian Bale. Adding another sharp intense performance to an incredibly impressive roster, Bale really shines and should be rewarded come Oscar time. Far more than a genre exercise or a modernized re-imagining – 3:10 TO YUMA is one of the best films of the year. So forget about all the “death of the Western” diatribes and just savor the scenery.

2 DAYS IN PARIS (Dir. Julie Delphy, 2007) Looks at a distance like another BEFORE SUNRISE/SUNSET love story travelogue but a closer look reveals that Delphy's directorial debut is fairly removed from those chatfests. Of course there is considerable Richard Linklater influence in the dialogue and use of tracking shots but there is an offbeat dynamic that is all Delphy. The premise is simple - a couple (Delphy, Adam Goldberg) spend a few days in the city of love during what appears to be a rough patch in their 2 year old relationship. She's a photographer; he's an interior decorator though during this trip he's the one taking pictures - a lot of pictures. They seem to run into a former lover of Delphy's at every turn which makes the already extremely neurotic Goldberg's heavily tatooed skin crawl. Goldberg's Woody Allenesque asides provide the humor throughout especially in one of the best scenes - a dinner with Delphy's real-life parents (Albert Delphy & Marie Pillet). Some funny affecting moments but maybe would've worked better as a short film - even at 96 minutes it feels a bit drawn out. Better yet - condense the best moments from 2 DAYS IN PARIS into a montage and it would've made a kick ass segment of PARIS JE T'AIME! Nah, I'm just blogging out of my ass - Delphy's film may be only fair but as a first time effort it's on the good end of fair.

FILM BABBLE DVD PICK OF THE MONTH
ACE IN THE HOLE * (Dir. Billy Wilder, 1951) It's amazing that Wilder's follow-up to the inarguable classic SUNSET BLVD. has been missing in action (never available on home video until now) and undocumented for so many years. I've picked up movie guides from the last decade that didn't have a listing for it (not even in Wilder's filmography!) and when I've mentioned it to my other film buff friends it got no recognition. Well, this spiffy new Criterion collection edition should change all that. Kirk Douglas stars as a wild-eyed hard drinking newspaper man who arrives in Albuquerque, New Mexico to revive his troubled career. Stopping at a trading post on the way to a rattlesnake hunt he hears of a man (Paul Benedict) trapped in a mine because of a cave collapse. He milks the story for all its worth even delaying the man's rescue and it becomes the definition - possibly where the phrase came from - of a media circus. With Douglas at his most intensely vicious and Wilder's gloriously cynical but insightful script - it's so nice that this film comes back to bite us on the ass and show us how little has changed. After watching it I turned off the DVD player to see pundit after pundit espouse about the latest O.J. caper on cable. Hard to look at that pointless blather the same way again after seeing ACE IN THE HOLE. You can't get a higher film babble recommendation than this.

* After its original poorly received release the film was re-titled THE BIG CARNIVAL and re-released. Apparently this didn't help - the film was still deemed too dark and it failed to gain an audience. Until now...

More later...

10 Rarely Seen Deleted Scenes Not On DVD

"If this was a movie, you'd be on the cutting room floor" - Second Hood (Jon Polito) THE SINGING DETECTIVE

These days, nearly every DVD has some deleted scenes on the special features menu. Most of the time with few exceptions we can see that they were deleted for a good reason. But what about those scenes we hear talk of and maybe see a random clip or photo of here or there but are currently unavailable on DVD? The ones that have some cache of history or interest that may actually make them worth seeing?

Well, I decided to round up some of the most interesting cinematic suspects right here:

1. The War-room pie-fight that was extracted from DR. STRANGELOVE 

“Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has been struck down in his prime!” General Turgidson (George C. Scott) exclaims after President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) gets hit in the face by a pie.

This moment occurring in the pie-fight that was originally intended to end Stanley Kubrick's 1964 classic DR. STRANGELOVE was thought to be potentially offensive to the Kennedy family for obvious reasons. The original test screening of the film was slated for November 22, 1963 and had to be re-scheduled, again for obvious reasons but that wasn’t the only problem: Kubrick said that the scene was “not consistent with the satiric tone of the rest of the film” and others thought that the actors covered in cream pie were indistinguishable - therefore ineffective.

The pie-fight, which would be replaced by a stock film sequence of nuclear explosions, is well known to fans and film buffs because photographs of it have shown in the bonus features of nearly every edition of the DVD but the scene itself remains missing in action. Wikipedia reports that “the only known public showing of the footage was in the 1999 screening at the National Film Theatre in London following Kubrick's death” but then there’s that telling [citation needed] notation.

So will this scene that Kubrick once called “a disaster of Homeric proportions” ever see the light of a DVD player’s laser? Probably not any time soon though I think when they’re preparing the 50th Anniversary edition on whatever format will be popular at the time - it’ll be a prized bell and whistle selling-point.

2. Luke's bonding with his long-time buddy Biggs being edited out of STAR WARS

When I was a kid I was perplexed by the pictures (including the one above) in THE STAR WARS STORYBOOK (Scholastic 1978) – which I still have by the way - of 2 scenes that weren’t in the movie I saw many times at the theater. The stills were of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamil) viewing the space battle the movie opens with on his binocs and his chat with Biggs Darklighter (Garrick Hagon) that helped inspire his adventuresome spirit. 



Lucas has said that he cut the scene because he wanted the film to center on the droids' mission from their point of view so we as an audience wouldn’t meet Luke until the droids met Luke. It would be nice to have the full sequence of Luke on Tatooine pre-C3PO & R2-D2 as a bonus on a non-special edition 1977 theatrical cut of STAR WARS (not calling it A NEW HOPE damnit!). This would be great because apart from Biggs we would all get to see some of Luke’s other friends – Deak, Camie and Fixer. Camie, incidentally was played by Koo Stark – later a British soft-porn actress who dated Prince Andrew.



The footage known as "the Anchorhead scene" (because it took place at the Toshi power station in Anchorhead - got it?) was screened for the first time at the San Diego Comic Con in 1998 and released at the same time on a CD-ROM “Behind The Magic”. Now it can be found in many different cuts on YouTube – I would link it here but Lucasfilm constantly cracks down on copyright violations so it probably wouldn’t last long. Just type in “Luke and Biggs” in the YouTube search engine and you’re bound to find it. Just why this isn’t available on any of the many editions of STAR WARS is unknown. When the bank calls and tells Lucas they’ve located another vault in which he can store more money – he may consider its release.



3. Steve McQueen as Sam Spade on THE LONG GOODBYE's cutting room floor:



In the short documentary “Rip Van Marlowe” on the DVD for this Robert Altman should-be classic the words “deleted scene” flash on black and white production stills of McQueen, Elliot Gould, and Altman while Gould reminisces:

“The first day when I walk in to see what was going on – I think Sam Spade was going up in an elevator and I think some of this may have been edited…”

Wait Elliot, sorry Mr. Gould - are you saying McQueen had a cameo as Sam Spade?!!? Are you kidding? No research on the internets will confirm or deny this and I doubt this scene will ever surface because it’s most likely destroyed like much Altman footage of that era so I can only sigh.



4. The original Audrey II eats everybody ending from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS:





Many demographic-tested endings have been changed through the years but none more notorious than this one from Frank Oz's 1986 sci-fi comedy musical masterpiece. 



It is the definitive “alternate ending” - a 23 minute sequence which cost 5 million and was true to the stage production’s narrative, in which Seymour (Rick Moranis) is defeated by the ever-growing plant and even feeds Audrey II the dead Audrey (Ellen Greene) before getting eaten himself. 



Audrey II and its many clones take over the planet as the song “Don’t Feed The Plants” serenades or better yet - warns the audience. This sequence was actually released in black and white without sound or special effects on a Warner Bros. Special Edition in 1998 but yanked off the market by producer mogul David Geffen. Early this year according to Wikipedia – “Warner Bros. hinted that a DVD re-issue featuring the original ending may be on its way” so it looks like we may be able to finally see the mean green mother from outer space in all its destructive glory at some point on the horizon.



5. Kevin Costner As The Dead Guy In THE BIG CHILL




The most significant character in Lawrence Kasdan's 1983 baby boomer cinema standard we never see. Well, we see parts of his body as it is being dressed for the funeral but never his face. So what was to be Costner’s big break turned out to be extra-work as a corpse. Costner was cast as Alex, the charismatic college glue that all the other characters (including William Hurt, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berrenger, and Jo Beth Williams) are forever stuck to.



Costner was supposed to be seen in flashbacks but those were cut and despite much protest were not included in the 10 minutes of deleted scenes on the 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD. Even if you hate Costner, and I know that many of you do, I think it would be interesting to see how he relates to that particular ensemble cast. Maybe he didn’t live up to his character’s implied charm and his deletion helped better ground the movie – I dunno. 25th anniversary maybe? Post-note: Kasdan cast Costner in his next film SILVERADO to make up for the Alex omission. 



6. Halloran's Death Done Differently Deleted From THE SHINING 



Another scene taken from a Kubrick classic. According to the IMDb:

“Halloran's (Scatman Crothers) death scene as filmed is not the one we actually see. The one filmed depicts a much longer, much more graphic death. In its entirety, the scene lasts almost seventy seconds, and is full of gore. Rather then just run up and hit him as seen in the released version, Jack (Jack Nicholson) runs up, hits him in the back of the head. Halloran screams. 



Jack pulls the ax back, and then slams the spike on the back of the ax into the base of Halloran's spine. Halloran screams and recoils, and then Jack slams the ax into his back and he falls down. Halloran rolls onto his back and is looking up, and Jack starts to beat him with the ax before he "hears" something and leaves.”

This is a scene I believe we will be soon able to appraise because the 2 disc Special Edition DVD will be released October 23rd this year. With hope we will also be able to see the scene that was originally at the end where Wendy (Shelly Duvall) is told her husband’s body was never found. This scene actually appeared when the film was first released but cut by Kubrick a week later.



7. Odd Promotional Photo Indicates Odd Outtake From ANNIE HALL 

None of Woody Allen’s movies on DVD have any extras other than a trailer so the prospect of ever seeing anything resembling a deleted scene is pretty slim. Too bad because this photo issued as a publicity still to promote his 1977 Oscar winner ANNIE HALL implies some juicy cut material. No dialogue is known but it looks like it takes place during Alvy and Annie’s first break-up when Alvy is randomly questioning people on the street about their love lives and they all have great one-liner answers. Can’t imagine what this guy's was. Funny how a shot from a scene unused in the movie makes the rounds as advertising but even funnier that 30 years later a blogger like me would assign such significance to it. Another sigh.
 



8. Alternate Jim Garrison Wins The Clay Shaw Trial Climax in JFK



According to Robert Sam Anson in Esquire Magazine (November 1991) as “a joke” JFK Director Oliver Stone filmed “a not-to-be used scene showing Shaw’s (Tommy Lee Jones) jury bringing in a guilty verdict.” In complete contrast to Woody Allen, Stone has had his DVDs loaded with extras – director’s cuts, commentaries, documentaries, and scores of deleted scenes so where is this gem? It would be rather amusing to see Garrison (Costner *) triumphant from the victory of being the first person to bring a trial in the murder of John Kennedy. With all the special editions of the film we’ve seen so far it’s pretty likely that we will one day see this “joke.”

* Funny how somebody whose average movie is 3 hours long still makes me want to see more footage! Long live Costner! 




9. Enid Sleeps With Josh in GHOST WORLD



This scene, which comes directly from the Daniel Clowes graphic novel that Terry Zwigoff's 2001 film was adapted from, takes place in the third act  after Seymour (Steve Buscemi) and Rebecca (Scarlet Johanssen) shun Enid's (Thora Birch) company one sad day. According to the published screenplay, Enid shows up at Josh’s (Brad Renfro) meager hotel room/apartment and shyly but slyly seduces him. It seems this was omitted because we would have even less sympathy for Enid as she goes on to sleep with Seymour causing a harmful ripple effect. Still since the GHOST WORLD DVD has such inessential deleted scenes involving incidental characters it would be nice to see such an actual major discarded plot point. The movie has never been re-released in any form so its official appearance it still a possibility but I’m not holding my breath. 



10. The Spiderwomen, Myrtle & Beryl, Removed From TIME BANDITS



There was a lot in the published screenplay – evidenced in Gilliam’s doodles, production stills, and full pages of dialogue that were not used in TIME BANDITS. This is typical of his work – all the published Python scripts are the same way (MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL has page after page crossed off in crayon) so this is no surprise but where is the actual footage? Especially of the scene from the Time of Legends sequence in which the time travelling dwarfs encounter two spinster spider-women (Myrtle and Beryl) who knit webs in which to catch passing knights. 



Gilliam recalls:

"That was another desperate moment, mainly because that sequence was an afterthought. Mike Palin and I had originally written another whole sequence about two spider women who ensnare some of the bandits in their web. We actually filmed this - and it was marvelous. But it now required a scene on either side to get us from the giant to the fortress, and we had run out of money.”

Fairly certain this bit will show up – Gilliam never seems to throw away footage (or any idea) and the many formats in the years to come will have special feature capabilities beyond our wildest dreams (or at least beyond mine) so I bet this will someday make the cut. 


The spider-women are named Myrtle and Beryl according to many sources but only Myrtle Devenish as Beryl is credited on the IMDb which makes me think that this is incorrect info. Devenish plays a game show contestant on the game show satire "Your Money Or Your Life" seen early in the film on a background television. It’s conceivable she also played one of the spider-women but the names seem off. Anybody know the deal here?

I know this is only scratching the rarely seen scenes surface so please leave your comments below or email:

boopbloop7@gmail.com






This post is dedicated to Merv Griffin Merv as a broadcaster wore many hats – game show host, talk show host, real-estate magnate, pop-crooner, etc. and while he did relatively little film work Film Babble would like to highlight his clever cameo as himself (billed as the Elevator killer) in THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (Dir. Carl Reiner, 1983). Dr. Hfuhruhurr (Steve Martin) confronts him right after a killing and asks “why?” 



Merv’s answer:

“I don't know. I've always just loved to kill. I really enjoyed it. But then I got famous, and - it's just too hard for me. And so many witnesses. I mean, everybody recognized me. I couldn't even lurk anymore. I'd hear, "Who's that lurking over there? Isn't that Merv Griffin?" So I came to Europe to kill. And it's really worked out very well for me.”



R.I.P. Merv Griffin (1925-2007)





More later…