We’ll be coming into Los Angeles in another 12 hours or so. And then, it’ll be onto Dallas. It was a good vacation but I’m definitely ready to jump back into things. I have to say thank you to my fellow writers here at the Shattered Lens and especially my wonderful sister, the one and only Dazzling Erin Nicole, for keeping the site thriving while I was gone.
Here’s today’s song of the day. For the record, I will not be bringing in a couple of keys. I still love Arlo, though!
Yesterday, #ScarySocial watched House of the Devil, one of my favorite horror flicks. Here’s my favorite scene from that film!
I love this scene because I usually do the exact same thing whenever I have the house to myself.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
95 years ago today, Robert Evans was born in New York City. He started out working in his brother’s clothing business but a chance meeting with actress Norma Shearer led to him becoming an actor. And while Evans, by his own account, was not a particularly good actor, he did prove himself to be very skilled at playing the games of Hollywood. Evans eventually moved from acting to production, first as an executive at Paramount and then as an independent producer.
He lived a life as glamorous and tumultuous as the stars of his pictures and his memoir, The Kid Stays In The Picture, is considered to be one of the classic show biz autobiographies. He hung out with cinematic rebels like Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne and counted Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as a friend. He suggested that Francis Ford Coppola should direct The Godfather and, when Paramount put pressure on Coppola to cut the film down to two hours, it was Evans who famously announced that a two-hour Godfather was nothing more than a trailer. He lost Ali MacGraw to Steve McQueen and, again by own account, he lost a lot of potentially productive years to cocaine. (The Cotton Club scandal is one of the wildest in the history of Hollywood, though it should be noted that Evans himself was never charged with any wrongdoing.) But, for all that he lost, Evans continues to gain admirers as being the epitome of the producer who was willing to take chances. For all of his flamboyance, Evans had an eye for good material and the willingness to protect his directors. In many ways, he was as important to the cinematic revolution of the 70s as the directors that he hired. When Evans passed away in 2019, it was truly the end of an era.
Here, in honor of the birth and legacy of Robert Evans, are 8 Shots from 8 Films that Evans produced, either as studio chief at Paramount or as an independent producer.
8 Shots From 8 Robert Evans Films
Rosemary’s Baby (1968, dir by Romnn Polanski, DP: William A. Fraker)
Love Story (1970, dir by Arthur Hiller, DP: Richard Kratina)
The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
Chinatown (1974, dir by Roman Polanski, DP: John A. Alonzo)
Marathon Man (1976, dir by John Schlesinger, DP: Conrad Hall)
The Cotton Club (1984, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Stephen Goldblatt)
The Two Jakes (1990, dir by Jack Nicholson, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
Sliver (1993, dir by Phillip Noyce, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)
by John Vernon
This cover is from 1958.
Today’s music video of the day is heaven in a box!
Geri Halliwell’s boyfriend doesn’t appreciate her so she drugs him and then brainwashes him. Whatever works! Her boyfriend is played by Aiden Turner, who also played Aiden Devane on All My Children. Aiden left the show in 2009 and it was canceled two years later. Coincidence? I think not.
Back in the day, Lisa and I would annoy the rest of our family by singing this song at the top of our lungs. The only part that we really knew was the part about bagging it up.
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and Peacock!
This week, Christian’s mother comes to visit.
Episode 3.20 “Smotherly Love”
(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on January 31st, 1988)
Christian’s mother (Marilyn Peppiatt) flies from Florida to Canada so she can visit her favorite son. It turns out that Christian has been lying to his mother, telling her that he’s the manager of Cobb’s and that Marlene is his fiancée! Howard and the rest of the staff reluctantly play along with Christian’s lies but when it turns out that his mother is planning on sticking around, Howard tells Christian that he needs to tell her the truth.
(Christian doesn’t tell her the truth but it comes out anyway after she overhears him talking to Howard and Edna about how he doesn’t want to disappoint her.)
Meanwhile, the very pregnant Mrs. Viker (Marcia Bennett) hangs out at the story until her water breaks and it’s time for Viker to rush her to the hospital. Later, Edna reveals that Viker actually took his wife to the Holiday Inn.
This was a good episode because it focused on two of the most consistently funny characters on the show, Jeff Pustil’s Jack Christian and Gordon Clapp’s Viker. Pustil is always at his best in those rare scenes where Christian reveals that he has a conscience while Gordon Clapp’s portrayal of Viker’s sincere stupidity has always been one of the best things about the show. Viker’s joy over being a father mixed with Christian’s relief upon learning that his mom didn’t hate him made this a surprisingly heartfelt and sweet episode.
As for Christian telling his mom that he and Marlene are engaged, Jeff Pustil and Kathleen Laskey actually did get married after the show ended. Personally, I’ve always found them to be a cute couple whenever they interacted with each other on the show, even if their characters were supposed to be mortal enemies.
Two more episodes to go!
Alessandro Nivola has some good credits in movies like MANSFIELD PARK (1999), AMERICAN HUSTLE (2013), and THE BRUTALIST (2024), but he’ll always be special to me as Pollux Troy, the younger brother of Nicolas Cage’s Castor Troy, in John Woo’s most awesome American film FACE/OFF!
In celebration of Nivola’s 53rd birthday, enjoy this little taste of late-90’s coolness (the link can only be watched on YOUTUBE, and it’s worth it):
Overlong, wildly uneven, gimmicky too a fault, and often laugh out loud funny with a mix of jokes that range from the crude to the sublimely clever to the surprisingly sentimental, The History of the World, Part I is the ultimate Mel Brooks films.
Narrated by Orson Welles and featuring five historical stories and a collection of coming attractions, The History of the World Part I follows man from his caveman origins to the French Revolution and the thread that ties it all together is that humanity always screws up but still finds a way to survive. Moses (Mel Brooks) might drop and break one of the three tablets listing the 15 Commandments but he’s still able to present the other ten. Stand-up philosopher Comicus (Mel Brooks) might make the mistake of poking fun at the weight of Emperor Nero (Dom DeLuise) but he still makes his escape with Josephus (Gregory Hines), Swiftus (Ron Carey), and Miriam the Vestal Virgin (Mary-Margaret Humes) and ends up serving as the waiter at the Last Supper. (“Jesus!”) The Spanish Inquisition may have been a catastrophe but it also gave Torquemada (Mel Brooks) a chance to show off his performance skills. The French Revolution may have been a bloodbath but the future still held promise. Ask for a miracle and he’ll show up as a white horse named Miracle, no matter what era of history you’re living in.
The humor is very Mel Brooks. During the Roman Empire sequence, Madeline Kahn plays Empress Nympho. Jackie Mason, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Spike Milligan, Jan Murray, Sammy Shores, Shecky Greene, Sid Caesar, Henny Youngman, and Hugh Hefner all make cameo appearances. Carl Reiner is the voice of God. John Hurt plays Jesus. The film ends with the promise of a sequel that will feature “Jews in Space.” Not every joke lands. The entire caveman sequence feels forced. But when the film works — like during The Inquisition production number — it’s hard not get caught up in its anything-goes style. The entire Roman Empire sequence is probably more historically accurate than the typical Hollywood Roman epic. That’s especially true of Dom DeLuise’s naughty performance as Emperor Nero.
Mel Brooks is 99 years old today and he says that he has at least one more film to give us, a sequel to Spaceballs. I’m looking forward to it! I’m also looking forward to rewatching and enjoying all of the films that he’s already given us. The History of the World, Part I may not have initially enjoyed the critical acclaim of his earlier films but, in all of its anarchistic glory, it’s still pure Mel Brooks.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing The American Short Story, which ran semi-regularly on PBS in 1974 to 1981. The entire show can be purchased on Prime and found on YouTube and Tubi.
This week, we have an adaptation of a Richard Wright short story.
Episode #4 “Almos’ A Man”
(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired in 1976)
David (LeVar Burton) is a black fifteen year-old living in the Deep South in the 1930s. He works on his family’s farm and takes care of a mule named Jenny. He considers himself to be almost a man. His mother (Madge Sinclair) and his father (Robert DoQui) disagree.
David knows the one thing that he need to make himself a man. He needs a gun and, this being the 1930s, he finds one that he can order from a Sears & Roebuck catalogue. His mother says that there’s no way she’s letting him get a gun. His father is a bit more open to it. David secretly sends away for the gun and, as you can probably guess, tragedy ensues.
This was a downbeat adaptation of a similarly downbeat Richard Wright short story. David obsession with being a man makes sense when you consider that he lives in a world where everyone — from his parents to the menacing white people who show up towards end — calls him a “boy.” The white people even call his father “boy” and it’s a reminder of how that term was used to dehumanize and degrade black men, even someone like David’s father who has raised a family, takes care of his farm, and who is, in every way imaginable, a man.
Nicely done, this one, with good performance from Burton, Sinclair, and Doqui. As for Richard Wright, he had been dead for 16 years by the time this premiered. He died in Paris, having left the United States in 1946. He’s remembered for his novel Native Son and his memoir, Black Boy. Personally, I would add that he should also be remembered for his essay that appeared in the anti-Communist collection, The God That Failed. This adaptation of Almos‘ A Man does a good job paying tribute to Wright’s voice and legacy.
I think it’s fair to say that I wanted to be the karate kid when I was a growing up. The movie THE KARATE KID (1984) came out when I was 10 years old, and it changed my life. I’ve been a fan of Ralph Macchio, Elizabeth Shue and Pat Morita ever since then. I loved the relationship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, and I always thought Pat Morita was so funny. But honestly, I had never seen Pat Morita do a stand-up routine until today. In honor of Pat Morita’s 93rd birthday in cinematic heaven, I’m sharing a stand-up clip from his performance on Redd Foxx’s show back in 1977. It’s definitely politically incorrect, but it’s also playful and fun!
Happy Birthday, Pat! Thanks for the memories!
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