Today would have been the 89th birthday of the great British actor, Albert Finney!
And today’s scene that I love features Albert Finney in the role of history’s most famous miser. In 1970’s Scrooge, Finney played the title role and, early on, his worldview was perfectly captured by a song called I Hate People. Finny was only 34 when he played Ebenezer Scrooge but he does a wonderful job of bringing the character to life and he’s just as convincing when he’s being good as he is when he’s being bad. Finney is the main reason why Scrooge is my personal favorite of all of the versions of A Christmas Carol.
4 Shots From 4 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!
Today, we wish a happy birthday to the great Spanish director, J.A. Bayona! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 J.A. Bayona Films
The Orphanage (2007, dir by J.A. Bayona, DP: Oscar Faura)
The Impossible (2012, dir by J.A. Bayona, DP: Oscar Faura)
A Monster Calls (2016, dir by J.A. Bayona, DP: Oscar Faura)
Society of the Snow (2023, dir by J.A. Bayona, DP: Pedro Luque)
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week brings us a touching episode.
Episode 3.22 “A Father’s Faith”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 4th, 1987)
Jonathan and Mark visit an old friend of Mark’s, a fisherman named Gene Malloy (Eli Wallach). The Malloy family has been struggling ever since Gene’s son slipped into a coma after risking his life to save Gene’s daughter, Michele (Katherine Wallach), from drowning. Gene neglects his business and his family to spend all of his time visiting his comatose son. Gene’s wife (Anne Jackson) is feeling neglected and, because she blames herself for the accident, Michele has never visited her brother. Everyone tells Gene that his son is never going to wake up but Gene has faith.
This was a simple but effective episode, one that worked largely because of the cast. Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson were married in real life and Katherine Wallach was their daughter. Watching this family drama being played out by a real family made it all the more touching. In the end, Gene’s faith is rewarded. It’s a little bit implausible but it doesn’t matter. I still teared up a little. For that matter, so did Michael Landon and Victor French and I’m pretty sure those tears were real. Eli Wallach really poured his emotions into his performance as Gene. This was a very heart-felt episode where the sincerity of the emotions carried the viewer over any rough spots in the narrative.
As I watched this episode, it occurred to me that, if it was made today, the story would probably be used to promote assisted suicide or euthanasia. For whatever reason, there’s a lot of people who have really fallen in love with the idea of killing people who are sick or disabled. Personally, I prefer this episode’s approach. Sometimes, good things do happen.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999. Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.
Where was I when the new Pope was revealed? I was watching this stupid show.
Episode 2.11 “The Best Man”
(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on January 15th, 2000)
Finally, after weeks of posting apologetic notes and an imdb summaries, I have reached a second season episode of Malibu, CA that has actually been uploaded to YouTube. In fact, it appears that most of the rest of season 2 has been uploaded so I’ll be able to do real reviews now as opposed to just snarky speculation.
Normally, I’d celebrate but this is Malibu, CA. It is, by far, the worst show that I’ve reviewed here at the Shattered Lens. This week’s episode was especially stupid and the only thing that’s keeping me from really getting mad about having wasted 30 minutes of my life on it is the fact that we have a new Pope and he’s American!
The plot of this week’s episode is dumber than dumb. Murray’s best friend is marrying Lisa’s friend. How Lisa (the character, not me!) has any friends, I’m not really sure. She just moved to California at the start of the season, she acts like a condescending bitch to just about everyone she meets, and she’s continually talking about how better she is then everyone. Regardless, Scott has a crush on her …. then again, Scott also treats everyone he knows like crap so maybe that explains it. Anyway, Murray is the best man and Lisa is the maid of honor and Traycee says that means they’re destined to fall in love. Murray decides that Lisa is his girlfriend and, for some reason, neither Scott nor Lisa can find the courage to tell Murray the truth.
Meanwhile, Jason, his father, and new lifeguard Alex (Suzanne Davis) go into the piemaking business together. They’re using Alex’s grandmother’s recipe and everyone loves the pie! It’s so popular that they even set up a conveyer belt in the kitchen to make boxing the pies up go quicker. But then Jason gets distracted, the conveyer starts moving too quickly, and — hey, there’s pie everywhere!
(Hmmm…. this seems familiar….)
Uh-oh! There’s a lawyer in the restaurant and he’s threatening to sue. It turns out that Alex’s grandmother got her recipe from the pies that were being made by a professional bakery. And now, Jason and his Dad are getting sued, unless they stop making and selling the pies….
Wait a minute! SCREECH’S SPAGHETTI SAUCE! This whole thing is just a remake of an episode of SavedByTheBell! They didn’t even bother to come up with new ending!
Seriously, screw these lazy writers! I don’t ask for much, especially when the show is produced by Peter Engel. I’m certainly not expecting or demanding a hard-hitting drama or a ground-breaking comedy. But come on — DON’T JUST PLAGAIRZINE YOURSELF, YOU MORONS! MAKE SOME SORT OF FREAKING EFFORT!
We have a new pope and he’s from Chicago! Which brings us to today’s song of the day….
Now, this could only happen to a guy like me And only happen in a town like this So may I say to each of you most gratefully As I throw each one of you a kiss, this is
My kind of town, Chicago is My kind of town, Chicago is My kind of people, too People who smile at you
And each time I roam, Chicago is Calling me home, Chicago is Why I just grin like a clown It’s my kind of town
My kind of town, Chicago is My kind of town, Chicago is My kind of razzmatazz And it has all that jazz
And each time I leave, Chicago is Tuggin’ my sleeve, Chicago is The Wrigley Building, Chicago is The Union Stockyard, Chicago is One town that won’t let you down It’s my kind of town
Today’s scene that I love comes from Rome, OpenCity:
Filmed in 1945, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City was one of the first films to be made about life under the Nazis. What set this film apart from others is that the majority of the cast actually had lived under the occupation. While there were a few professional amongst the cast, Rossellini also used many nonprofessional actors, who brought a weary authenticity to their roles and their portrayal of life in occupied Rome.
4 Shots From 4 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!
119 years ago, on this date, the great Italian neorealist director (and husband of Ingrid Bergman and father of Isabella Rossellini), Roberto Rossellini was born in Rome. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Roberto Rossellini Films
Rome, Open City (1945, dir by Roberto Rossellini, DP: Ubaldo Arata)
Europe ’51 (1952, dir by Roberto Rossellini, DP: Aldo Tonti)
Fear (1954, dir by Roberto Rossellini, DP: Carlo Carlini, DP: Heinz Schnackertz)
Journey to Italy, (1954, dir by Roberto Rossellini, DP: Enzo Serafin)
This was Victoria Justice’s debut solo single. It took seven people to write this song. Personally, I think Victoria has sounded better in just about every other song she’s ever performed but at least she got to flirt with Colton Haynes in this music video.
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, Monsters makes even less sense than usual.
Episode 3.17 “Leavings”
(Dir by John Tillinger, originally aired on January 20th, 19991)
Two cops (played by Tony Shalhoub and John Christopher Jones) are concerned about something that they’ve noticed on the streets. Homeless people who are missing limbs are showing up. The cops know that the homeless people had all their limbs just a few days ago but now, they’re gone. There’s no sign of surgery or any sort of trauma. The limbs are just disappearing apparently. Meanwhile, there’s some new homeless guy wandering around who appears to be made out of limbs that don’t really seem to go together.
They go to their boss (Clifton James) with this concerns. Their boss tells them not to worry about it. However, the cops continue to worry about it. This leads to their boss revealing the truth of what’s happening. It turns out that their boss has been stealing body parts and building new people for years. He’s trying to create a policeman who will be loyal and who won’t ask questions. (We only see one of these constructed cops in the show. He wears a jacket that identifies him as being Officer S. Partz.) The boss then kills the two cops because they’ve seen too much.
This was a weird episode. How exactly did their boss learn how to remove body parts without leaving any sort of obvious signs of trauma? How did he learn how to bring his constructed people to life? How did …. well, it just doesn’t make any sense. It’s true that a 30-minuet anthology show doesn’t necessarily have to make perfect sense but this episode really does stretch things a bit too far. The three actors all give good performances but, otherwise, this episode just falls a bit flat.
The House on the Edge of the Park (1980, dir by Ruggero Deodato)
Today’s song of the day is a deathless little disco song that comes from the soundtrack of Ruggero Deodato‘s legendarily tacky film, The House On The Edge Of The Park. This was one of many songs composed by Riz Ortolani, the John Williams of Italian exploitation cinema.
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