Passages

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jbeall
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
Location: Atlanta-ish

Re: Passages

#3926 Post by jbeall » Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:45 pm

Bodybuilding magnate Joe Weider, who got a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger his first role in Hercules in New York.

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GaryC
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:56 pm
Location: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK

Re: Passages

#3927 Post by GaryC » Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:02 pm

Rick Hautala, US writer mostly in the horror genre, most often with novels and short fiction, but with some screenplay credits as well.

jdcopp
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2005 9:34 pm
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Re: Passages

#3928 Post by jdcopp » Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:41 pm

Ruth Ann Steinhagen whose shooting of Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus inspired Bernard Malamud's novel "The Natural" which was filmed by Barry Levinson in 1984.

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Donald Brown
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:21 pm
Location: a long the riverrun

Re: Passages

#3929 Post by Donald Brown » Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:21 am

Journalist Anthony Lewis.

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Polybius
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:57 pm
Location: Rollin' down Highway 41

Re: Passages

#3930 Post by Polybius » Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:58 am

He clearly had a long and full life but I'm still saddened that a man who did so much to make the world a better place has left it.

Gideon's Trumpet has a justifiably high reputation but Make No Law is a really fine book, as well.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Passages

#3931 Post by zedz » Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:56 pm

Legendary Motown producer Deke Richards. Apart from his individual credits, Richards was the key member of the writing / producing collectives The Clan and The Corporation, which means he's basically responsible for any Jackson 5 recording worth remembering, plus The Supremes' 'Love Child'.

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dx23
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:52 pm
Location: Puerto Rico

Re: Passages

#3932 Post by dx23 » Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:20 pm

Simpsons writer-producer Don Payne

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

Re: Passages

#3933 Post by Perkins Cobb » Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:28 pm


Arthur House
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:20 pm

Re: Passages

#3934 Post by Arthur House » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:56 pm

Writer Paul Williams, Father of Rock Journalism & Early Champion of Philip K. Dick.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Passages

#3935 Post by knives » Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:01 pm

I thought that was the other Paul Williams for a second there.

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Roger Ryan
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city

Re: Passages

#3936 Post by Roger Ryan » Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:47 pm

Arthur House wrote:Writer Paul Williams, Father of Rock Journalism & Early Champion of Philip K. Dick.
Williams wrote some marvelous pieces for his magazine CRAWDADDY in the late 60s/early 70s; material that stands up today as quality rock journalism. His writing on the Beach Boys' (then-unreleased) SMiLE sessions was critical to understanding how the project fell apart and what it might have been.

He wrote me a very pleasant e-mail in March, 1999 complimenting me on a review I had done of the opening show of Brian Wilson's first solo tour. By that time he was in the very early stages of Alzheimer's, but his comments indicated he was still thrilled by the music that inspired him as a young man.

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Passages

#3937 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:59 pm

Robert Zildjian, who oddly enough was the founder of Sabian. You know these names likely because you went to high school with band geeks.


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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#3939 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Mar 29, 2013 7:57 am

dx23 wrote:Simpsons writer-producer Don Payne
That's terrible news. He is on the commentaries for a couple of episodes on the most recent Simpsons DVD set, the 15th. I'd particularly recommend his commentary on the "Simple Simpson" episode (i.e. where Homer becomes an avenging superhero, the "Pie Man") for Don Payne's contribution, as he really seemed to be the driving force behind the comic book antics of that episode. Sadly, the commentators all talk there about how much they would like to revisit the characters from this episode (along with Bart as "the Cupcake Kid"), which I guess will not happen now.
Duncan Hopper wrote:Richard Griffiths
I know people will bring up his rapacious Uncle Monty in Withnail & I ("I mean to have you even if it must be burglary!")or his role in The History Boys, but for me his most memorable performance was as a bound and gagged foil to Frank Drebin in Naked Gun 2 1/2!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sat May 18, 2013 12:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Passages

#3940 Post by Forrest Taft » Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:19 am

colinr0380 wrote:
Duncan Hopper wrote:Richard Griffiths
I know people will bring up his Uncle Monty in Withnail & I or his role in The History Boys, but for me his most memorable performance was as a bound and gagged foil to Frank Drebin in Naked Gun 22 1/2!
That's the first Griffiths role I thought of too. The first meeting between wheelchair bound Dr Manheimer and Frank Drebin always makes me laugh: "Don't get up".

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#3941 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:30 am

Or the moment when his bad guy impersonator strips off his bald cap to reveal a mane of long blonde hair, which he tosses back while laughing evily!

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Roger Ryan
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city

Re: Passages

#3942 Post by Roger Ryan » Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:23 am


flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Passages

#3943 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:47 pm


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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#3944 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:37 pm

I've only just stumbled across this whilst reading through Glenn Kenny's blog - Ric Menello, co-director of the Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right To Party" video and screenwriter of the most recent James Gray films including Two Lovers and the upcoming Lowlife (EDIT: Now officially titled The Immigrant for its Cannes screening).

Here's the interview from Glenn Kenny's site reminiscing with a friend about Menello.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sat May 18, 2013 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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MichaelB
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Re: Passages

#3945 Post by MichaelB » Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:41 am

Jesus Franco.

No great surprise, given recent health reports.

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Duncan Hopper
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Re: Passages

#3946 Post by Duncan Hopper » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:12 am

This did indeed seem inevitable, but still very sad news.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Passages

#3947 Post by knives » Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:32 pm

That's unfortunate. I always assumed he'd live to ridiculous lengths.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: Passages

#3948 Post by Finch » Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:37 pm

Any films of his you'd recommend to the uninitiated like me?

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#3949 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Apr 02, 2013 9:18 pm

He did lose long time partner Lina Romay early last year, so it was kind of sad to think of him being on his own without her support.

Finch, I've only seen a small handful of his films but it might be worthwhile tracking down The Awful Dr Orloff from his early period (which takes the basic theme from Eyes Without A Face and puts it into a Hammer-style gothic setting) and then compare it against the 1988 Faceless (which is also an Eyes Without A Face adaptation set in contemporary Paris and features an eye-popping cast including Telly Savalas, Stephan Audran, Helmut Berger, Brigite Lahaie, Caroline Munro and Anton Diffring!)

Virgin Among The Living Dead is often regarded as one of his best achieved films. It certainly has a wonderful dreamy atmosphere and an excellent twinkly-creepy soundtrack!

A lot of his films fall into different 'eras', so it depends what you most respond to: there is the Christopher Lee era (The Bloody Judge, the last two Fu Manchu films, Count Dracula, Eugenie)

The Soledad Miranda period - I would highly recommend Vampyros Lesbos as one of Franco's best films - it features a nightclub sex show in front of a polite middle class audience (soon to be kind of a Franco trademark! But most effectively done here as one woman is undressing and moving another like a mannequin to the fantastic score) Soledad Miranda is stunning and the film also features Dennis Price, the lead opposite Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets, in a small part. Unfortunately Soledad Miranda died quite young after only a couple of films with Franco (she is kind of the exploitation film equivalent of the similarly gone-too-soon Françoise Dorléac).

Then the Lina Romay period begins with the pretty good Female Vampire and never really ended!

Otherwise it sort of comes down to whether you want to see relatively famous faces taking a career slide into some quite weird films! Do you want to see Rita Moreno (West Side Story, Singin' In The Rain) in Voodoo Passion? Or Klaus Kinski as Jack The Ripper in the film of the same name, or playing the Marquis de Sade in the framing scenes of Justine? How about Mercedes McCambridge (Johnny Guitar, All The King's Men, the voice of the devil in The Exorcist) playing against Herbert Lom as the butch warden of the women in prison movie 99 Women (she is also in Justine as well, trying to seduce the heroine!) Plus don't forget that at any time Franco himself could pop up in an acting role! He's not great, but not quite as bad as Tarantino's acting appearances in his own films are!

Franco basically tried his hand at every genre in his career, usually with a hefty injection of sex: from spy thriller to cannibal film, to goofy comedy (Killer Barbys features the titular pop group in what can only be described as an attempt to do a live action Scooby Doo film with gore and lesbianism!), women in prison films; tie in entries to the Fu Manchu, Emanuelle and Ilsa series; lesbian vampire films; period pieces, voodoo films, etc. It is probably best not to tackle any of the more recent "One Shot" films, which are apparently quite poor but the 80s Franco has a few high points (Devil Hunter and the fantastically goofy slasher film Bloody Moon were notorious video nasties in the UK).

EDIT: Forget the above, for a good primer watch this Eurotika episode dedicated to Franco from back in 1999.

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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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Re: Passages

#3950 Post by MichaelB » Wed Apr 03, 2013 6:20 am


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