Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the great William Friedkin. As a director, William Friedkin revolutionized both the horror genre and the crime genre. The car chase from 1971’s The French Connection has been much imitated but rarely equaled.
A few years ago, I attended a showing of The French Connection at the Alamo Drafthouse. As exciting as this chase is, it’s even more amazing when viewed on a big screen.
I came across this on YouTube yesterday. I’m not really a fan of either Happy Days or The Brady Bunch but put them together and you have …. well, you have this performance from The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
This is somehow so bad that it actually becomes brilliant. And what a great way to begin the week! These days are ours!
A few things that I noticed about this video:
Supposedly, of all the Bradys, Robert Reed was the most enthusiastic about doing the Variety Show because he always wanted to be on Broadway and this was his chance to sing and dance. Unfortunately, Reed had no experience with either singing or dancing and it’s kind of obvious. But, at the same time, it’s kind of sweet how much he throws himself into it. Plus, he keeps looking at Florence Henderson for encouragement. It makes for a nice moment.
Speaking of trying really hard, Barry Williams was apparently told that he would be the star of the show and that it would help him launch his musical career. It didn’t work, of course. That said, he and Maureen McCormick always seem to really throw themselves into the song. They’re trying really hard. Maybe a little too hard, to be honest. Fake Jan, on the other hand, could really sing and dance.
Finally, Alice appears to be a little …. off. Supposedly, Ann B. Davis was pretty much retired and spending all of her time working as a church secretary when she was contacted about the show. She wasn’t particularly enthused about it but she did it as a favor to “the kids.” My first reaction, when I saw this video, was to assume that she was drugged up before going on stage but, on second viewing, it just seems like she’s trying to get it over with as quickly as possible.
Happy days indeed, I guess.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes actor and comedian Steve Martin a happy 77th birthday. Originally from Texas, Martin has been a cultural mainstay for longer than I’ve been alive. He’s a master of both comedy and drama, as anyone who has watched Only Murders In The Building can tell you.
And he can sing too!
Here he is, performing Maxwell’s Silver Hammer in 1978’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Though this was not Martin’s film debut, it was his first “big” role. Steve Martin was 33 years old here. Remarkably, he only seems to have aged a few years in the decades since appearing in this film.
Happy birthday, Steve Martin!
Today, the Shattered Lens observes the 141st birthday of filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.
Today, if Cecil B. DeMille is known at all, it’s for directing Biblical epics like The Ten Commandments. However, there was much more to DeMille’s career than just that one film. DeMille got his start during the early silent era and he quickly established himself as one of Hollywood’s first superstar directors. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he survived the transition to sound and he remained a force in Hollywood at a time when many of the other silent directors were fading into obscurity. DeMille played a key role in the founding of what would become the American film industry. He began his career in 1914 and he made his last film in 1958. That’s quite a legacy.
In 1950, when filming Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder needed someone to play the key role of one of Norma Desmond’s former directors. Who better to represent the old style of Hollywood than Cecil B. DeMille? In the scene below, DeMille plays himself. Norma Desmond is, of course, played by Gloria Swanson, an actress whom DeMille had directed in the past.
From Sunset Boulevard, here’s a scene that I love.
Today would have been the 91st birthday of Tom Laughlin, the independent film pioneer who gave the world Billy Jack.
In honor of the day of his birth, here’s a scene that I love from Billy Jack. The townspeople think that they can get away with humiliating the students from the Freedom School. Well, Billy Jack’s got something to say about that and, as always, it starts with him taking off his shoes.
I just read that Olivia Newton-John passed away earlier today. She was 73 years old.
Here she is, performing You’re The One That I Want with John Travolta at the climax of 1978’s Grease. No matter what else you may think about this film (and, to be honest, it’s not one of my favorite musicals, just because of the way that director Randal Kleiser framed most of the dance numbers), you can’t deny that both Olivia and Travolta poured their hearts into this climax.
Today, the Shattered Lens wises director James Gunn a happy 56th birthday!
My favorite James Gunn film remains 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Not coincidentally, that’s also my favorite comic book film. A good deal of that love has to do with the film’s absolutely brilliant introduction of Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord. In the scene below, both the film and Gunn announce that this is a comic book movie that actually has a sense of humor. Let the other franchises specialize in depressed heroes and grim themes. The Guardians of the Galaxy are all about dancing.
Here’s a scene that I love, directed by James Gunn:
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Sam Mendes!
Now, it’s true that Sam Mendes won an Oscar for directing American Beauty and he probably came close to winning a second one for his work on 1917. However, my favorite Mendes film remains Skyfall. Skyfall is one of the best of the Bond films and I say this as someone who was not really a fan of Daniel Craig’s mopey interpretation of the character. Based on his previous films, Sam Mendes may not have been the first name that come to mind when people talked about someone who could make a great Bond film but, with Skyfall, he did just that.
Here, in a scene that I love, James Bond pursues Silva (Javier Bardem) through the London Underground. It’s very suspenseful, very droll, and, most importantly, very British.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 62nd birthday to Texas’s own Richard Linklater!
In order to celebrate this day, here’s one of my favorite scenes from Linklater’s 1993 film, Dazed and Confused. Not only does this montage introduce the viewer to the suburban Texas nightlife of 1976 but it’s also perfectly set to War’s Low Rider.
And, of course, it features that classic line, “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”
It (1927, directed by Clarence Badger)
Today, we celebrate the birthday of my pre-code, silent film role model, the amazing Clara Bow! Clara was born 115 years ago, on this date, in Brooklyn, New York. As an actress, she was one of the biggest stars of the silent era. She came to represent the the Roaring 20s in all of their glory. She also co-starred in the first film to ever win the Oscar for Best Picture, Wings!
Below is a scene from my favorite Clara Bow film, 1928’s It. Playing a poor but confident shopgirl who falls in love with her wealthy boss, Bow was so popular with audiences that she became known as the “It Girl.”
In the scene below, she prepares for a date with her boss. She may not be as rich as her romantic rivals but she doesn’t let that stand in her way. She’s Clara Bow. She’s got it and she knows it.
Through the Shattered Lens 