Passages

[swo17]

Oh man, he was so good in Taking Off

[FrauBlucher]

Buck Henry

Wapo obit

[colinr0380]

He's absolutely fantastic in The Man Who Fell To Earth (with his character even apologising to the thugs coming to kill him when they fail in their first attempt!) and the commentary track on that disc is well worth listening to for Henry's anecdotes, particularly how proud he was of blowing that spit bubble!

It seems that Buck Henry was in quite a few of the quirkier, rather satirical films as an actor, particularly a couple of Kurt Vonnegut adaptations: the ill fated Breakfast of Champions and the really rather good Canadian TV movie adaptation of Harrison Bergeron with a pre-Lord of the Rings Sean Astin!

[Buttery Jeb]

Edd "Kooky" Byrnes

[Buttery Jeb]

Ivan Passer

[hearthesilence]

Ivan Passer

Terribly sad. I just saw Cutter's Way projected in 35mm for the first time at Lincoln Center back in late August - it kicked off the program of double-features tied in with Jim Hoberman's book on American films in the age of Reagan, and it was an appropriate opener. It may have signaled the death of the '60s, but as Hoberman mentioned in his opening remarks, it feels like an apt reflection of today. Probably moreso - the sane part of the world feels encapsulated in that final shot.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

He was local to Los Angeles and had seem him speak numerous times. Intimate Lighting is one of those rare films I’ve never seen at home, but have seen at least three times in the theater. My personal favorite is his excellent shaggy comedy Law and Disorder which has some un-PC jokes that haven’t aged the best (like Alan Arbus’ scene on how to fight off rapists), but like Taking Off (another film I’ve never seen at home but have seen three times in the theater), has the right element of American seventies cinema and the carefree quality of the Czech New Wave. The cast is phenomenal and bring so much personality. It also feels like a transitional New York film that brings humor to criminality and vigilante groups before the seventies would run rampant with films critical of it (Taxi Driver) or embracing it (Death Wish). It also features an early score by Angelo Badalamenti (as Andy Badale) that features those gorgeous string harmonics you would similarly hear in Blue Velvet. It’s a personal favorite of mine that I’ve been lucky enough to see in the theater, but has been long out of print. It’s been up on YouTube now for many years and doubt the rights holder for the film care much about it, similarly to Passer’s Born to Win. I coincidentally watched the very funny opening montage of crimes two nights ago chuckling to myself.

[swo17]

Law and Disorder sounds interesting. It was a Columbia film so I wonder if Indicator might have it on their radar

[Mr Sausage]

Neil Peart discussion moved here.

[MichaelB]

Producer Tony Garnett, an incalculably important innovator in British television drama (especially via The Wednesday Play in the 1960s), who was also responsible for launching Ken Loach’s career - he produced much of Loach’s early work, including Cathy Come Home and Kes, and fought countless corporate battles on his behalf.

Garnett's output as a feature director was both comparatively late and distinctly lower-key, but both Prostitute (1980) and Handgun (1982) are worth seeking out.

[MichaelB]

...and here's a much more detailed overview of Garnett's career, which neatly encapsulates the qualities that a great producer needs to possess in order to get anywhere in a notoriously brutal business.

Great TV drama is often attributed to writers and directors, the role of producer being hard to see on screen. Garnett made huge artistic contributions to his projects – spending months on casting, to find actors with the desired level of realism – but a large part of his greatness was as a player of the TV system.

A calm and charming man, speaking softly in a voice that never lost the Brummie hum of his childhood, he was adept at operating on a “need to know” basis, tactically omitting information executives might later wish they had known. Garnett skilfully prevented his superiors from knowing quite how brave they were being. A particular trick was to take advantage of the holidays of bosses to find a slot for especially contentious shows.

Importantly, the rows over Garnett shows typically involved objection to stance – how dare they say that about the Queen/the government/a charity? – rather than accuracy. It is a measure of Garnett’s meticulousness that Days of Hope, The Spongers and The Price of Coal stood up to brutal fact-checking from detractors.

Garnett also had the vital skill of self-reinvention. After a relatively fallow 1980s, he set up World Productions in 1990. Garnett was among the first in Britain to understand what had long been seen as common sense in the US – a producer has more power as an outsider selling in than as an employee of networks.

[L.A.]

Steve Martin Caro of the The Left Banke.

[FigrinDan]

Son and literary executor of J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien.

[Lemmy Caution]

Wrestler Rocky Johnson, father of Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

[MichaelB]

Derek Fowlds, who started out as the epitome of a jobbing actor (he began in traditional British theatrical rep, and his filmography goes back to 1960) but became a household name - at least in Britain - thanks to the triple whammy of being "Mr Derek" in The Basil Brush Show in the 1970s, Oscar Blaketon in Heartbeat in the 1990s/2000s, and, between those two, the sardonic civil servant Bernard Woolley in Yes, Minister in the 1980s, which is the part most likely to grant him immortality.

[dwk]

Joe Shishido

[therewillbeblus]

Joe Shishido

RIP: The epitome of Japanese New Wave 'Cool.' Guess I'm watching A Colt is My Passport tonight.

[Lemmy Caution]

Jazz Saxophonist Jimmy Heath, 93. He played with everyone, was sometimes called "Little Bird". His older brother Percy Heath was a famous bassist.
Not many of the old post-war jazz musicians left.

[mfunk9786]

Terry Jones discussion moved here

[MichaelB]

Ringo Lam.

[Mr Sausage]

Ringo Lam.

I thought he died a couple years ago.

[MichaelB]

You're absolutely right - someone flagged it up on Twitter without checking, and I did likewise.

Apologies.

[domino harvey]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco

[flyonthewall2983]

Jack Kehoe

[Reverend Drewcifer]

Sonny Grosso