4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Michael Anderson Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.

105 years ago today, Michael Anderson was born in London.  Anderson may have never become a household name but he directed some memorable movies.  Around The World in 80 Days proved that audiences love spectacle and celebrity cameos and it won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1956.  (Though Anderson was nominated for best director, the award went to George Stevens for Giant.)  However, I think that Anderson’s best-remembered film is probably Logan’s Run.  Whenever I shout, “I hate outside!” or I reply to a simple question with, “There is no sanctuary,” people always seem to automatically know which film I’m referencing.  Anderson followed up Logan’s Run with Orca, which is one of the better Jaws rip-offs.

Today, we honor the career and legacy of Michael Anderson with….

4 Shots From 4 Michael Anderson Films

Around The World in 80 Days (dir by Michael Anderson, DP: Lionel Lindon)

Logan’s Run (1976, dir by Michael Anderson, DP: Ernest Laszlo)

Orca (1977, dir by Michael Anderson, DP: J. Barry Herron and Ted Moore)

The Martian Chronicles (1980, directed by Michael Anderson, DP: Ted Moore)

Happy 95th Birthday to Gene Hackman! And some personal info about HOOSIERS (1986)! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Gene Hackman is a tremendous, multiple Oscar winning actor who has been in some of the best movies ever made. Of all that great work, the movie that means the most to me is HOOSIERS (1986). If you don’t believe me, just go ahead and follow me on X. I’m easy to find. My handle is @Hoosiers1986. I’ve shared before that my dad was a high school basketball coach at small schools here in Arkansas that weren’t much different from the one in Hickory, IN depicted in the film. Growing up in the Crain household, basketball was my life and my dad and HOOSIERS have always been such inspirations to me. 

On his 95th birthday, I wanted to share this video I found of Hackman discussing his role as Coach Norman Dale in HOOSIERS, which includes clips from behind the scenes and of the film itself. I had never seen this material before so I found it especially interesting. He tells a really special story about a lady he met while on location. It was quite touching. Happy Birthday, Mr. Hackman! Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 3.7 “Small Blessing”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, comedians Julie Brown, Kevin Nealon, and David Spade deal with a baby who was born with a lot of very sharp teeth.  Is it a demon or is it just a little blessing?  Let’s find out.

Episode 3.7 “Small Blessing”

(Dir by Roger Nygard, originally aired on November 11th, 1990)

Julie Brown plays the mother of a three-month old baby and, like a lot of new mothers, she is exhausted.  The baby is constantly doing things like crying, crawling out of its crib, and walking on the ceiling.  The baby was also born with over 30 razor sharp teeth and it likes to eat meat.  (I’m going to assume Julie bottle-feeds.)  Julie’s husband (Kevin Nealon) insists that there is nothing wrong with their baby and he gets angry at his wife for constantly being exhausted.  Julie doesn’t know how much longer she can stand being around her carnivorous baby.  When a serial killer (David Spade) shows up at the house, the baby proves its worth.  Julie’s husband comes home to find her holding the baby and talking about how much she loves him.  Awwwww!

This episode was goofy but enjoyable.  It started out as a story about the exhaustion that every mother has felt and then it becomes a comedy in which Julie Brown is the only person who seems to notice that there is anything strange about her baby.  While her husband makes excuses for all of the baby’s odd behavior, Julie knows that it’s not normal for a baby to devour raw meat, climb on a ceiling, and bust its way out of its crib.  But then David Spade shows up with a big knife and the baby proves itself.  Go, Baby!

The main problem is that the baby looked really bad.  It wasn’t a real baby, of course.  It was obviously a puppet and, when I say obviously, I mean it was so clearly a fake baby that it actually worked against the show’s effectiveness.  There was a lot of good things about this episode, including the performances of Julie Brown, Kevin Nealon, and David Spade.  But that fake baby was just too fake to be as effective as it could have been.

Still, this episode proves that even mutant babies deserve love.

 

Happy 80th Birthday to Tom Selleck – Celebrate with this clip from QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER (1990)!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Tom Selleck has been a part of my life almost as far back as I can remember. I was seven years old when MAGNUM P.I. premiered on T.V., so I literally grew up on the adventures of Hawaii’s best private eye! Selleck is such a likable and charismatic screen presence.

My wife and I are celebrating his birthday by watching my very favorite Tom Selleck movie, QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER (1990). I love this scene where Wyoming cowboy Matthew Quigley first arrives at the Australian ranch of Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman), and then proceeds to prove his prowess with a long distance rifle to a bunch of smirkers. 

Enjoy, my friends, and Happy Birthday, Mr. Selleck! 

Life Stinks (1991, directed by Mel Brooks)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks), the massively wealthy CEO of Bolt Enterprises, wants to buy up a huge area of Los Angeles’s slums and tear them down, transforming the area into a chic neighborhood and moving all of the poor residents and street people out.  Rival businessman Vaughn Craswell (Jeffrey Tambor), who grew up in the slum and dreams of destroying it himself, has the same plan.  He and Bolt make a bet.  If Bolt can survive for 30 days on the streets, Craswell will allow Bolt to have the property.  Bolt agrees and soon, he is penniless and sleeping in alleys.  While Bolt befriends Sailor (Howard Morris) and Fumes (Theodore Wilson) and falls in love with a former dancer named Molly (Lesley Ann Warren), Craswell schemes to take over Bolt’s company and keep Bolt on the streets permanently.

Life Stinks was one of Mel Brooks’s attempts to make a straight comedy that wasn’t a parody and which had a serious message underneath the laughs.  The mix of comedy and drama doesn’t really gel,  because the drama is too dark and the comedy is too cartoonish.  Life Stinks is often guilty of romanticizing living on the streets.  With the exception of two muggers, everyone whom Bolt meets is a saint.  It is still interesting to see Brooks creatively at his most heartfelt and humanistic.

Life Stinks does feature some of Mel Brooks’s best work as an actor and it’s also features an excellent turn from Lesley Anne Warren.  At first, I thought Warren would be miscast as a woman who spent her days in a soup kitchen and her nights sleeping in an alley.  But she actually gives a very sweet and believable performance.

No matter what else, Mel Brooks is a true mensch.

 

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 5.15 “I Don’t Play Anymore/Gopher’s Roommate/Crazy For You”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week, Gopher thinks that he recognizes a passenger!

Episode 5.15 “I Don’t Play Anymore/Gopher’s Roommate/Crazy For You”

(Dir by Bob Sweeney, originally aired on January 23rd, 1982)

When Rachel (Mackenzie Phillips) boards the ship, Gopher is sure that they’ve met before.  Rachel tells Gopher that he must be mistaken and, in fact, she goes out of her way to avoid him.  Since no one on this ship has ever stopped to consider that getting the cruise line sued would be bad for their career, Gopher continues to follow Rachel around.  Rachel finally tells Gopher the truth.

She does know him.

In fact, they were once quite close.

In college, Rachel was Gopher’s roommate and she played for the football team.  However, after graduating college, she had gender-affirmation surgery and now, she goes by the name of Rachel.  Gopher is stunned and I know what you’re probably thinking.  You’re probably looking at the 1982 air date and assuming that the whole storyline becomes consumed with gay panic as Gopher grapples with having been attracted to his former roommate.  (Doc also hits on her but then again, Doc hits on anyone.)  Well, believe it or not, The Love Boat handles this storyline with a surprising amount of sensitivity.  Yes, Gopher is stunned at first.  But he soon comes to respect and support Rachel’s decision, even if he doesn’t fully understand it.  Physically, the rather slight Mackenzie Phillips is not particularly believable as a former football player but still, both she and Fred Grandy gave good performance in the story.  This week was a case of The Love Boat really taking me by surprise.

Meanwhile, psychiatrist Lisa Lessing (Joanna Cassidy) boards the boat to observe David Jackson (Dick Shawn), an exec who is asking for worker’s compensation because he claims to be mentally ill.  Lisa (hey!) is on board to check on David’s sanity.  Lisa comes to believe that David is not faking but — surprise! — David actually is faking and now he feels bad because he and Lisa have fallen in love.  Lisa decides to pretend to be crazy too.  Uhmmm, okay.

Pianist Paul Krakauer (James MacArthur) has retired from playing because of the crippling arthritis in his hands.  When he meets Irene (Donna Pescow), a maid on the ship, he falls in love and decides to give one last performance so that he can make a quick $25,000 and give it to Irene so she can get an operation to fix her ankle.  Turns out that Doc has some ‘medicine” that allows Paul to play the piano but it takes several hours to take it effect so Paul misses a date that he previously set up with Irene.  Irene is ready to dump David until she finds out why he stood her up.

So, this episode had one surprisingly sensitive and two kind of bland storylines.  (The pianist storyline was ultimately saved by Donna Pescow’s performance as Irene.)  And I’ve got a massive headache and a cold.  Bleh.  That said, this was actually an above-average cruise, featuring some good performances on the part of the passengers and the cruise.  This week’s trip on The Love Boat was worth it.

Scenes That I Love: Meet Rick Deckard in Blade Runner

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Continuing our theme of dystopian noir, today’s scene of the day comes from 1982’s Blade Runner.  In this scene, we not only meet Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) but we also get a look at the future of Los Angeles, from both the sky and the ground.

(Of course, the film takes place in 2019 so its future is our past!)

This is one of the best world-building scenes that I’ve ever seen, one that works because it takes place in a world we can recognize but which has obviously developed and changed over the years.  Plus, I just like Harrison Ford wearing a trench coat and looking grumpy.  He should have done more noirs.