Bill Hayes, the actor and singer who with his real-life wife, Susan Seaforth Hayes, starred on NBC’s Days of Our Lives as the beloved first couple of daytime television, died Friday in Los Angeles, a rep from the show told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 98.
Before he was known as a soap opera legend, Hayes was a regular on Sid Caesar‘s famed live TV variety program Your Show of Shows, and in 1955 he had the No. 1 song in America, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”
He also partnered in a nightclub act with future Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson; they were known as “The Singing Sweethearts” and sang about Oldsmobiles on TV commercials, many of them performed live.
Hayes joined Days of Our Lives to play con artist/lounge singer Doug Williams in February 1970. Seaforth Hayes, who portrayed the spoiled heiress Julie Olsen Banning Anderson Williams, had joined the show 15 months earlier.
Before he was known as a soap opera legend, Hayes was a regular on Sid Caesar‘s famed live TV variety program Your Show of Shows, and in 1955 he had the No. 1 song in America, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”
He also partnered in a nightclub act with future Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson; they were known as “The Singing Sweethearts” and sang about Oldsmobiles on TV commercials, many of them performed live.
Hayes joined Days of Our Lives to play con artist/lounge singer Doug Williams in February 1970. Seaforth Hayes, who portrayed the spoiled heiress Julie Olsen Banning Anderson Williams, had joined the show 15 months earlier.
- 1/13/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Later in life, Raquel Welch would occasionally acknowledge that Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) provided her with the best reviews of her career. And it’s hard to argue. Prior to those successful, and slyly subversive, reworkings of Alexandre Dumas’ most famous novel, Welch was known as the sex symbol of the ’60s. She was the redhead in the fur bikini of One Million Years B.C. (1966); the poster image that was so iconic her figure became the primary sales pitch for a movie about dinosaurs!
The bombshell persona opened the doors of Hollywood, but for a woman who was already a mother of two at the time and had to change her name to hide her Bolivian heritage, it was a mirage. She ran with it throughout the ‘60s, leaving a legacy that lingered on in movies which ranged from The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to Belfast...
The bombshell persona opened the doors of Hollywood, but for a woman who was already a mother of two at the time and had to change her name to hide her Bolivian heritage, it was a mirage. She ran with it throughout the ‘60s, leaving a legacy that lingered on in movies which ranged from The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to Belfast...
- 2/18/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Double W. C. Fields”
By Raymond Benson
Kino Lorber has been releasing the W. C. Fields catalog in high definition, upgraded from previous releases on DVD, and two more have come to the fore—You’re Telling Me! and Man on the Flying Trapeze, two titles that don’t immediately come to mind when one thinks of top tier, classic Fields pictures, but never fear—they’re hilarious and worth a look.
You’re Telling Me! preceded The Old Fashioned Way and the brilliant It’s a Gift (both previously reviewed here at Cinema Retro), all three of which appeared in 1934, while Fields (real name—William Claude Dukenfield) still had a working contract with Paramount Pictures. Man on the Flying Trapeze was released in 1935, a return to a “Fields comedy” after the actor took a sidetrack sojourn, courtesy of Paramount, into more high-brow fare.
“Double W. C. Fields”
By Raymond Benson
Kino Lorber has been releasing the W. C. Fields catalog in high definition, upgraded from previous releases on DVD, and two more have come to the fore—You’re Telling Me! and Man on the Flying Trapeze, two titles that don’t immediately come to mind when one thinks of top tier, classic Fields pictures, but never fear—they’re hilarious and worth a look.
You’re Telling Me! preceded The Old Fashioned Way and the brilliant It’s a Gift (both previously reviewed here at Cinema Retro), all three of which appeared in 1934, while Fields (real name—William Claude Dukenfield) still had a working contract with Paramount Pictures. Man on the Flying Trapeze was released in 1935, a return to a “Fields comedy” after the actor took a sidetrack sojourn, courtesy of Paramount, into more high-brow fare.
- 4/25/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The creators of HBO Max’s Search Party join Josh and Joe to talk about their favorite films.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Tenet (2020)
Piranha (1978)
Piranha 3D (2010)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jaws (1975)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Looker (1981)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Waiting For Guffman (1996)
True Stories (1986)
Another Year (2010)
Abigail’s Party (1977)
Brazil (1985)
The Pink Panther (1963)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Network (1976)
Idiocracy (2006)
A League Of Their Own (1992)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
About Schmidt (2002)
Please Give (2010)
Duck Soup (1933)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Love Potion No. 9 (1992) – Sarah
The Birdcage (1996) – Charles
Mandy (2018)
Other Notable Items
Search Party TV series (2016- )
The Coen Brothers
The DGA
Jon Favreau
Garry Marshall
Christopher Nolan
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation TV series (2000-2015)
Jurassic Park series
Laura Dern
Jeff Goldblum
Sam Neill
Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Tenet (2020)
Piranha (1978)
Piranha 3D (2010)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jaws (1975)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Looker (1981)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Waiting For Guffman (1996)
True Stories (1986)
Another Year (2010)
Abigail’s Party (1977)
Brazil (1985)
The Pink Panther (1963)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Network (1976)
Idiocracy (2006)
A League Of Their Own (1992)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
About Schmidt (2002)
Please Give (2010)
Duck Soup (1933)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Love Potion No. 9 (1992) – Sarah
The Birdcage (1996) – Charles
Mandy (2018)
Other Notable Items
Search Party TV series (2016- )
The Coen Brothers
The DGA
Jon Favreau
Garry Marshall
Christopher Nolan
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation TV series (2000-2015)
Jurassic Park series
Laura Dern
Jeff Goldblum
Sam Neill
Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton...
- 10/13/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1941 /77 min.
Starring W.C. Fields, Franklin Pangborn, Leon Errol
Cinematography by Charles Van Enger
Directed by Edward Cline
If Larsen E. Whipsnade ever laid eyes on Harold Bissonette, his mouth would water. Bissonette, a mild-mannered grocer for whom no good deed goes unpunished, is the perfect target for a con man like Whipsnade. W.C. Fields performed variations on both of those diametrically opposed characters throughout his career but in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break he synthesized them into one complicated but equally funny cat: himself. Released by Universal in 1941, the movie was Fields’ last starring role. It’s hilarious, unmanageable and a shambles – in other words a self-portrait of the comedian at the sunset of his career. He would not exit without a fight.
The working title was The Great Man (in some countries it was known...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1941 /77 min.
Starring W.C. Fields, Franklin Pangborn, Leon Errol
Cinematography by Charles Van Enger
Directed by Edward Cline
If Larsen E. Whipsnade ever laid eyes on Harold Bissonette, his mouth would water. Bissonette, a mild-mannered grocer for whom no good deed goes unpunished, is the perfect target for a con man like Whipsnade. W.C. Fields performed variations on both of those diametrically opposed characters throughout his career but in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break he synthesized them into one complicated but equally funny cat: himself. Released by Universal in 1941, the movie was Fields’ last starring role. It’s hilarious, unmanageable and a shambles – in other words a self-portrait of the comedian at the sunset of his career. He would not exit without a fight.
The working title was The Great Man (in some countries it was known...
- 7/7/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Dana Gould, Daniel Waters, Scott Alexander, and Allison Anders.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
Suparpie
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Hello Down There (1969)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Thirteen Days (2000)
Stalker (1979)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
No Exit (1962)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Sleeper (1973)
The Tenant (1976)
Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
La classe américaine (1993)
The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
Soylent Green (1973)
Knives Out (2019)
The Hunt (2020)
Banana Split (2020)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Monkey Business (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
Susan Slade (1961)
My Blood Runs Cold...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
Suparpie
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Hello Down There (1969)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Thirteen Days (2000)
Stalker (1979)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
No Exit (1962)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Sleeper (1973)
The Tenant (1976)
Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
La classe américaine (1993)
The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
Soylent Green (1973)
Knives Out (2019)
The Hunt (2020)
Banana Split (2020)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Monkey Business (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
Susan Slade (1961)
My Blood Runs Cold...
- 3/27/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The great Larry Wilmore joins us to share some very personal double features.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
1917 (2019)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Duck Soup (1933)
My Little Chickadee (1940)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Parallax View (1974)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Jaws (1975)
The Stepford Wives (1975)
The Party (1968)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)
Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Lenny (1974)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
Lolita (1962)
Caligula (1979)
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
The Elephant Man (1980)
What Would Jack Do? (2020)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Apartment (1960)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Sting (1973)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
1917 (2019)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Duck Soup (1933)
My Little Chickadee (1940)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Parallax View (1974)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Jaws (1975)
The Stepford Wives (1975)
The Party (1968)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)
Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Lenny (1974)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
Lolita (1962)
Caligula (1979)
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
The Elephant Man (1980)
What Would Jack Do? (2020)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Apartment (1960)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Sting (1973)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...
- 3/10/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
We need to talk about Kevin, don’t we?
In one of those odd coincidences of timing, we’re getting The Upside, a buddy dramedy that the stand-up comedian/mega-movie star/tireless showbiz workhorse Kevin Hart signed up for a little over four years ago; shot two years ago; saw premiere in Toronto in September of 2017; watched get shelved indefinitely as collateral damage in the Harvey Weinstein sexual-harassment scandal; and sat back as this cinematic orphan was released, dead-of-January-style, right on the heels of his Oscar-host controversy. The man has...
In one of those odd coincidences of timing, we’re getting The Upside, a buddy dramedy that the stand-up comedian/mega-movie star/tireless showbiz workhorse Kevin Hart signed up for a little over four years ago; shot two years ago; saw premiere in Toronto in September of 2017; watched get shelved indefinitely as collateral damage in the Harvey Weinstein sexual-harassment scandal; and sat back as this cinematic orphan was released, dead-of-January-style, right on the heels of his Oscar-host controversy. The man has...
- 1/11/2019
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
The Marx Brothers – mustachioed, stogie-smoking ring-leader Groucho, chatty, Italian-accented con man Chico, silent skirt-chaser Harpo and, early on, relatively “normal” matinee idol Zeppo – first got their start as a vaudeville comedy act at the turn of the 20th century. They would go on to conquer the Broadway stage before landing in films when “talkies” took off.
Zeppo would drop out of the act after five films, becoming an engineer and a talent agent. But his older siblings would continue their frenzied verbal and visual hilarity on the big screen until 1949, when the medium of television beckoned and competed for eyeballs. Groucho would host a TV version of his radio game show, “You Bet Your Life,” for 11 seasons on NBC and appeared on Dick Cavett’s TV talk show in the late ‘60s. That is when their Marx Brothers’ anarchistic approach to humor and word-play takedowns of hypocrites and stuffy high-society...
Zeppo would drop out of the act after five films, becoming an engineer and a talent agent. But his older siblings would continue their frenzied verbal and visual hilarity on the big screen until 1949, when the medium of television beckoned and competed for eyeballs. Groucho would host a TV version of his radio game show, “You Bet Your Life,” for 11 seasons on NBC and appeared on Dick Cavett’s TV talk show in the late ‘60s. That is when their Marx Brothers’ anarchistic approach to humor and word-play takedowns of hypocrites and stuffy high-society...
- 10/2/2018
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
The American press, or the “The Fourth Estate,” is under steady attack throughout the first episode of this documentary series for Showtime. Director Liz Garbus takes us inside the newsroom of the New York Times during the first months of the scandal-ridden Trump administration, and she reveals the challenges that the reporters face on a daily basis.
A lot of what we see in the first scenes looks like impotent wheel-spinning, as the journalists try to figure out how to cover a president who is openly hostile to them. We see them patting themselves on the back a lot, and this expresses the insecurity of their position. The New York Times is in competition with the Washington Post, and we watch how they try to beat each other on stories, but there is little genuine excitement in what we see these reporters doing; there is instead a constant low-level sense of dread.
The conversation we hear is peppered with the qualifying words and phrases that have crept into and degraded American vernacular: “kind of” and “sort of” turn up all the time in meetings. And the man who became president doesn’t qualify anything, unless he’s trying out one of his verbal evasions that are reliant on conspiracy theories or worse.
Also Read: How Tom Petty Became the Key to HBO's Elvis Presley Documentary
White House correspondent Maggie Haberman is heavily relied on in the Times newsroom as a source for Trump information and Trump character analysis because she has been covering him since she worked at New York tabloids in the 1980s. He used to give her quotes to “juice” her articles then, and it is clear that she is beyond tired of having to deal with him.
Haberman often openly admits to being drained of energy, and she is stuck in a disbelieving, defensive persona. What she really wants to do is get back to her children, and she talks about how she thought her coverage on the Trump beat would finally end when he lost.
Garbus shows Haberman having to take a call from one of her children while she tries to do an interview for a podcast, and the way Haberman crouches on the floor of the office while she attempts to reassure her child is an image of helplessness that epitomizes what most of the people in this movie are feeling.
Also Read: Gilda Radner Documentary 'Love, Gilda' to Open Tribeca Film Festival
If there is a star in “The Fourth Estate,” it may be Washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller, a very tough, skeptical journalist who knows how to separate what is important from what isn’t, which turns out to be a particularly crucial skill for covering this particular White House. There’s an exciting scene where Bumiller reacts incredulously when she sees that her lede has been watered down, and we see her defiantly trying to get some of her original intent back into the top of the story.
It says something about this administration that the scandals covered in “The Fourth Estate” feel like they happened in an already distant past even though they occurred just a little over a year ago. There is the start of the scandal about Russian interference with the 2016 election, and then the turnovers and resignations of officials close to Trump, and the reporters write about these things in all seriousness and with all due diligence.
It is made clear that the New York Times needs money, and that Facebook and Google are eating into their business. “We’re not driven by clicks,” says Time publisher A. G. Sulzberger. “We think in decades.” But there is the very uneasy sense that the foundation of newspapers like the Times is fragile, especially when we see Trump attacking the press as any dictator would.
Also Read: Netflix Partners with BuzzFeed for New Documentary Series
Trump himself is seen giving speeches throughout, and we hear him on the phone with Haberman, who has to listen to his off-the-record profane anger. The thing that makes Trump so hard to fight is that he is such a comic figure on the surface. His face often takes on the supercilious look of a grand female dowager, like Margaret Dumont, before it folds back into the cartoonish grin of a minor fat-cat capitalist. Haberman says that Trump’s greatest dream is to be taken seriously, and she says that he is searching above all for respectability.
“The Fourth Estate” ends on a cliffhanger that is supposed to whet our appetite for future episodes, but surely many of us are waiting for this whole thing to be finished. Everyone in this movie seems to be wondering how long we have to wait for the end of this publicity stunt gone wrong. But if we are in for a long haul, it feels as if Bumiller is the one who can best lead us through it.
Read original story ‘The Fourth Estate’ Film Review: Inside Look at NY Times Reveals Low-Level Dread in Trump Era At TheWrap...
A lot of what we see in the first scenes looks like impotent wheel-spinning, as the journalists try to figure out how to cover a president who is openly hostile to them. We see them patting themselves on the back a lot, and this expresses the insecurity of their position. The New York Times is in competition with the Washington Post, and we watch how they try to beat each other on stories, but there is little genuine excitement in what we see these reporters doing; there is instead a constant low-level sense of dread.
The conversation we hear is peppered with the qualifying words and phrases that have crept into and degraded American vernacular: “kind of” and “sort of” turn up all the time in meetings. And the man who became president doesn’t qualify anything, unless he’s trying out one of his verbal evasions that are reliant on conspiracy theories or worse.
Also Read: How Tom Petty Became the Key to HBO's Elvis Presley Documentary
White House correspondent Maggie Haberman is heavily relied on in the Times newsroom as a source for Trump information and Trump character analysis because she has been covering him since she worked at New York tabloids in the 1980s. He used to give her quotes to “juice” her articles then, and it is clear that she is beyond tired of having to deal with him.
Haberman often openly admits to being drained of energy, and she is stuck in a disbelieving, defensive persona. What she really wants to do is get back to her children, and she talks about how she thought her coverage on the Trump beat would finally end when he lost.
Garbus shows Haberman having to take a call from one of her children while she tries to do an interview for a podcast, and the way Haberman crouches on the floor of the office while she attempts to reassure her child is an image of helplessness that epitomizes what most of the people in this movie are feeling.
Also Read: Gilda Radner Documentary 'Love, Gilda' to Open Tribeca Film Festival
If there is a star in “The Fourth Estate,” it may be Washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller, a very tough, skeptical journalist who knows how to separate what is important from what isn’t, which turns out to be a particularly crucial skill for covering this particular White House. There’s an exciting scene where Bumiller reacts incredulously when she sees that her lede has been watered down, and we see her defiantly trying to get some of her original intent back into the top of the story.
It says something about this administration that the scandals covered in “The Fourth Estate” feel like they happened in an already distant past even though they occurred just a little over a year ago. There is the start of the scandal about Russian interference with the 2016 election, and then the turnovers and resignations of officials close to Trump, and the reporters write about these things in all seriousness and with all due diligence.
It is made clear that the New York Times needs money, and that Facebook and Google are eating into their business. “We’re not driven by clicks,” says Time publisher A. G. Sulzberger. “We think in decades.” But there is the very uneasy sense that the foundation of newspapers like the Times is fragile, especially when we see Trump attacking the press as any dictator would.
Also Read: Netflix Partners with BuzzFeed for New Documentary Series
Trump himself is seen giving speeches throughout, and we hear him on the phone with Haberman, who has to listen to his off-the-record profane anger. The thing that makes Trump so hard to fight is that he is such a comic figure on the surface. His face often takes on the supercilious look of a grand female dowager, like Margaret Dumont, before it folds back into the cartoonish grin of a minor fat-cat capitalist. Haberman says that Trump’s greatest dream is to be taken seriously, and she says that he is searching above all for respectability.
“The Fourth Estate” ends on a cliffhanger that is supposed to whet our appetite for future episodes, but surely many of us are waiting for this whole thing to be finished. Everyone in this movie seems to be wondering how long we have to wait for the end of this publicity stunt gone wrong. But if we are in for a long haul, it feels as if Bumiller is the one who can best lead us through it.
Read original story ‘The Fourth Estate’ Film Review: Inside Look at NY Times Reveals Low-Level Dread in Trump Era At TheWrap...
- 4/29/2018
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Okay, have you added your jack-o-latern to the compost heap and packed away all the cardboard witches, black cats, and ghosts? Good, cause it’s time to grab the decoration box for the next big holiday (sorry Thanksgiving, aside from the fold-out table top turkey, you’re mainly a big lavish meal followed by hours of football). December will be here before you know it, and this new release tries to add some laughs along with the wreaths. Plus it’s that rare two-for-one flick in that it’s a seasonal celebration and a sequel, just as with The Best Man Holiday from four years ago. And while the holiday is one for families to get together, this new movie is really aimed at the older revelers. It’s rated “R” for raw and rowdy, with jokes and gags much raunchier than the Parkers (from the classic A Christmas Story...
- 11/1/2017
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Steve Martin brings down the house with this adoring, hilarious pastiche of mad doctor and disembodied brain motifs — surely the epitome of cultured comedy. Under Carl Reiner’s direction Martin is marvelous, and he’s aided and abetted by the daring sexpot-turned comedienne Kathleen Turner — who has a better handle on outrageous sexy comedy than they do. It’s class-act nonsense and inspired silliness. Where else can a crazed surgeon proclaim his special screw-top skull surgery method, and utter the immortal words, “Scum queen?!”
The Man with Two Brains
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1983 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 90 93 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner, David Warner, Paul Benedict, Richard Brestoff, James Cromwell, George Furth, Peter Hobbs, Jeffrey Combs.
Cinematography: Michael Chapman
Film Editor: Bud Molin
Production Design: Polly Platt
Original Music: Joel Goldsmith
Written by Carl Reiner, George Gipe, Steve Martin
Produced by William E. McEuen,...
The Man with Two Brains
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1983 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 90 93 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner, David Warner, Paul Benedict, Richard Brestoff, James Cromwell, George Furth, Peter Hobbs, Jeffrey Combs.
Cinematography: Michael Chapman
Film Editor: Bud Molin
Production Design: Polly Platt
Original Music: Joel Goldsmith
Written by Carl Reiner, George Gipe, Steve Martin
Produced by William E. McEuen,...
- 8/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
What a Way to Go!
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis
Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis
Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!
- 1/31/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
On the surface, Stephen Frears’ “Florence Foster Jenkins” looks like one of those soft, middlebrow, costume pictures aimed straight at the smart adult demo. Fine.
But it’s more than that. It’s a delicious, immersive escape into a lost New York of period cars and “men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns,” as Frears told me in an interview. He reveled in recreating that vintage Manhattan in London, and giving Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant a chance to shine.
Directors count on three-time Oscar-winner Streep to deliver for them, but this particular role marks an especially high degree of difficulty. Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy middle-aged music lover who couldn’t sing on key, but insisted on performing for increasingly larger audiences, who loved her anyway. She was infectiously entertaining.
“The script [by Nicholas Martin] was more or less what we shot, very good,” said Frears. “They sent me the link to YouTube.
But it’s more than that. It’s a delicious, immersive escape into a lost New York of period cars and “men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns,” as Frears told me in an interview. He reveled in recreating that vintage Manhattan in London, and giving Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant a chance to shine.
Directors count on three-time Oscar-winner Streep to deliver for them, but this particular role marks an especially high degree of difficulty. Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy middle-aged music lover who couldn’t sing on key, but insisted on performing for increasingly larger audiences, who loved her anyway. She was infectiously entertaining.
“The script [by Nicholas Martin] was more or less what we shot, very good,” said Frears. “They sent me the link to YouTube.
- 8/12/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
On the surface, Stephen Frears’ “Florence Foster Jenkins” looks like one of those soft, middlebrow, costume pictures aimed straight at the smart adult demo. Fine.
But it’s more than that. It’s a delicious, immersive escape into a lost New York of period cars and “men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns,” as Frears told me in an interview. He reveled in recreating that vintage Manhattan in London, and giving Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant a chance to shine.
Directors count on three-time Oscar-winner Streep to deliver for them, but this particular role marks an especially high degree of difficulty. Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy middle-aged music lover who couldn’t sing on key, but insisted on performing for increasingly larger audiences, who loved her anyway. She was infectiously entertaining.
“The script [by Nicholas Martin] was more or less what we shot, very good,” said Frears. “They sent me the link to YouTube.
But it’s more than that. It’s a delicious, immersive escape into a lost New York of period cars and “men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns,” as Frears told me in an interview. He reveled in recreating that vintage Manhattan in London, and giving Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant a chance to shine.
Directors count on three-time Oscar-winner Streep to deliver for them, but this particular role marks an especially high degree of difficulty. Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy middle-aged music lover who couldn’t sing on key, but insisted on performing for increasingly larger audiences, who loved her anyway. She was infectiously entertaining.
“The script [by Nicholas Martin] was more or less what we shot, very good,” said Frears. “They sent me the link to YouTube.
- 8/12/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Some actors were just born to be typecast.
“This man has no dick.” And neither do the movies anymore.
If you’re going to write a part specifically for William Atherton, it’s probably going to be inspired by his three most famous roles. That was clearly the case when he was cast for an episode of the TV series Lost, in which he plays a slimy high school principal character who was conceived with him in mind. It was a throwback to the assholes he embodied in Ghostbusters, Real Genius, and the first two Die Hard movies. Another one of his dicks.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough people writing dick parts specifically for Atherton to play on the big screen. It’s been 20 years since his last (slightly) memorable movie continuation of the type, in Bio-Dome, and many of his fans probably aren’t even aware that he’s still alive and working regularly. Mostly...
“This man has no dick.” And neither do the movies anymore.
If you’re going to write a part specifically for William Atherton, it’s probably going to be inspired by his three most famous roles. That was clearly the case when he was cast for an episode of the TV series Lost, in which he plays a slimy high school principal character who was conceived with him in mind. It was a throwback to the assholes he embodied in Ghostbusters, Real Genius, and the first two Die Hard movies. Another one of his dicks.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough people writing dick parts specifically for Atherton to play on the big screen. It’s been 20 years since his last (slightly) memorable movie continuation of the type, in Bio-Dome, and many of his fans probably aren’t even aware that he’s still alive and working regularly. Mostly...
- 7/14/2016
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant are on top form as the ‘diva of din’ and her dutiful manager in an enjoyable biopic from Stephen Frears
As Les Dawson proved with such precision, any fool can play the piano badly, but it takes real skill to play it brilliantly badly. Similarly, Morecambe and Wise knew that the perfect way to mangle “Grieg’s piano concerto by Grieg” was to play “all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order”. Now, to the august list of superbly maladroit comedic musicians we may add Meryl Streep, who takes centre stage in this very likable, frequently hilarious, yet still poignant tragi-comedy from director Stephen Frears. Streep plays the titular songbird, a New York socialite and eager patron of the arts whose enthusiasm for a good tune is matched only by her inability to sing one. Not that it stops her from trying.
As Les Dawson proved with such precision, any fool can play the piano badly, but it takes real skill to play it brilliantly badly. Similarly, Morecambe and Wise knew that the perfect way to mangle “Grieg’s piano concerto by Grieg” was to play “all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order”. Now, to the august list of superbly maladroit comedic musicians we may add Meryl Streep, who takes centre stage in this very likable, frequently hilarious, yet still poignant tragi-comedy from director Stephen Frears. Streep plays the titular songbird, a New York socialite and eager patron of the arts whose enthusiasm for a good tune is matched only by her inability to sing one. Not that it stops her from trying.
- 5/8/2016
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant are on top form as the ‘diva of din’ and her dutiful manager in an enjoyable biopic from Stephen Frears
As Les Dawson proved with such precision, any fool can play the piano badly, but it takes real skill to play it brilliantly badly. Similarly, Morecambe and Wise knew that the perfect way to mangle “Grieg’s piano concerto by Grieg” was to play “all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order”. Now, to the august list of superbly maladroit comedic musicians we may add Meryl Streep, who takes centre stage in this very likable, frequently hilarious, yet still poignant tragi-comedy from director Stephen Frears. Streep plays the titular songbird, a New York socialite and eager patron of the arts whose enthusiasm for a good tune is matched only by her inability to sing one. Not that it stops her from trying.
As Les Dawson proved with such precision, any fool can play the piano badly, but it takes real skill to play it brilliantly badly. Similarly, Morecambe and Wise knew that the perfect way to mangle “Grieg’s piano concerto by Grieg” was to play “all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order”. Now, to the august list of superbly maladroit comedic musicians we may add Meryl Streep, who takes centre stage in this very likable, frequently hilarious, yet still poignant tragi-comedy from director Stephen Frears. Streep plays the titular songbird, a New York socialite and eager patron of the arts whose enthusiasm for a good tune is matched only by her inability to sing one. Not that it stops her from trying.
- 5/8/2016
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
A bravura dramedy that beautifully balances tragedy and comedy and asks a tricky question: Is it better to be cynical about art, or happily undiscriminating? I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Very loosely inspired by the dubious art of American amateur opera signer Florence Foster Jenkins — soon to be the subject of a Stephen Frears biopic starring Meryl Streep — Marguerite is a marvel, a bravura dramedy that beautifully balances tragedy and comedy to the point where you can’t be sure which is which.
In Paris, 1920, socialite Marguerite Dumont (Catherine Frot, who won the César, the French Oscar, for her performance) does not see the sarcasm in a review by newspaper music critic Lucien Beaumont (Sylvain Dieuaide) of her screeching operatic performance at a private charity event. An ardent music lover and profoundly passionate collector of theatrical costumes,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Very loosely inspired by the dubious art of American amateur opera signer Florence Foster Jenkins — soon to be the subject of a Stephen Frears biopic starring Meryl Streep — Marguerite is a marvel, a bravura dramedy that beautifully balances tragedy and comedy to the point where you can’t be sure which is which.
In Paris, 1920, socialite Marguerite Dumont (Catherine Frot, who won the César, the French Oscar, for her performance) does not see the sarcasm in a review by newspaper music critic Lucien Beaumont (Sylvain Dieuaide) of her screeching operatic performance at a private charity event. An ardent music lover and profoundly passionate collector of theatrical costumes,...
- 3/31/2016
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
French actress Catherine Frot gives a touching, masterful performance as the title character in director Xavier Giannoli’s tragicomic Marguerite. The lavish 1920s costume film centers on a wealthy baroness who loves music and fancies herself an opera singer. The problem is that she cannot sing and seems unable to hear her own off-key screeching. With her great wealth, generous support of causes and social position, no one tells her the truth.
Marguerite is a fictional film but the title character was inspired by real person, Florence Foster Jenkins, an American heiress famous for her awful singing and delusional belief in her talents who gave invitation-only concerts in elaborate costumes, which audiences viewed with a “so bad its good” appreciation. A biopic about Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and directed by Stephen Frears, is due out later this year.
Giannoli and co-writer Marcia Romano move their story to 1921 France – the Roaring Twenties.
Marguerite is a fictional film but the title character was inspired by real person, Florence Foster Jenkins, an American heiress famous for her awful singing and delusional belief in her talents who gave invitation-only concerts in elaborate costumes, which audiences viewed with a “so bad its good” appreciation. A biopic about Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and directed by Stephen Frears, is due out later this year.
Giannoli and co-writer Marcia Romano move their story to 1921 France – the Roaring Twenties.
- 3/25/2016
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Xavier Giannoli on the lie of Charlie Chaplin: "Everything is true in the Dada performance." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Tristan Tzara, Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx, Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton in Sydney Pollack's Out Of Africa by Karen Blixen, Salieri and Mozart in Milos Forman's Amadeus, and Caruso the peacock helped to compose Xavier Giannoli's Marguerite, starring Catherine Frot with André Marcon, Aubert Fenoy, Michel Fau, Denis Mpunga, Sylvain Dieuaide and Christa Théret.
Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, the next Steven Spielberg, Jeff Nichols, Midnight Special in Paris, Broadway Danny Rose, Woody Allen and Danny Kaye in Carnegie Deli and Carnegie Hall in New York excited the director during our conversation.
Hazel (Christa Théret) singing with Nedda (Petra Nesvacilová)
Anne-Katrin Titze: When did you first hear of Florence Foster Jenkins?
Xavier Giannoli: 15 years ago on the radio. I heard this...
Tristan Tzara, Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx, Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton in Sydney Pollack's Out Of Africa by Karen Blixen, Salieri and Mozart in Milos Forman's Amadeus, and Caruso the peacock helped to compose Xavier Giannoli's Marguerite, starring Catherine Frot with André Marcon, Aubert Fenoy, Michel Fau, Denis Mpunga, Sylvain Dieuaide and Christa Théret.
Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, the next Steven Spielberg, Jeff Nichols, Midnight Special in Paris, Broadway Danny Rose, Woody Allen and Danny Kaye in Carnegie Deli and Carnegie Hall in New York excited the director during our conversation.
Hazel (Christa Théret) singing with Nedda (Petra Nesvacilová)
Anne-Katrin Titze: When did you first hear of Florence Foster Jenkins?
Xavier Giannoli: 15 years ago on the radio. I heard this...
- 3/25/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Xavier Giannoli: "The importance of Billy Wilder for me was tenderness and cruelty." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
My conversation with the Marguerite director ranged from Erik Satie's food habits, Salieri in Milos Forman's Amadeus, tribute to Jean Renoir's The Rules Of The Game, John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King, Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Boulevard, Robert Redford in Sydney Pollack's Out Of Africa and Karen Blixen, Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose, Danny Kaye and the Carnegie Deli, Charlie Chaplin, Tristan Tzara to Margaret Dumont and the Marx Brothers.
Catherine Frot as Marguerite: "It's the story of a woman who needs love."
When I brought up Michael Shannon and Jeff Nichols' latest film, Midnight Special (after Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter and Mud), Xavier Giannoli said that in Paris there are posters...
My conversation with the Marguerite director ranged from Erik Satie's food habits, Salieri in Milos Forman's Amadeus, tribute to Jean Renoir's The Rules Of The Game, John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King, Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Boulevard, Robert Redford in Sydney Pollack's Out Of Africa and Karen Blixen, Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose, Danny Kaye and the Carnegie Deli, Charlie Chaplin, Tristan Tzara to Margaret Dumont and the Marx Brothers.
Catherine Frot as Marguerite: "It's the story of a woman who needs love."
When I brought up Michael Shannon and Jeff Nichols' latest film, Midnight Special (after Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter and Mud), Xavier Giannoli said that in Paris there are posters...
- 3/12/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
By 1935, the Marx Brothers already had five movies to add to their already extensive Broadway and Vaudeville resume, among them the legendary Duck Soup and the near-classics Animal Crackers and Monkey Business. As we’ve often seen, however, some of our most beloved Hollywood favorites flopped upon first release. 1933’s Duck Soup, specifically, was the last of a five-picture deal the Brothers had at Paramount, and its commercial failure would spell a parting of the ways between the studio and the iconic comedy team.
Enter Irving G. Thalberg, the wunderkind who helped build MGM into a powerhouse. Perhaps best known today for the namesake honor given to producers at each year’s Academy Awards, Thalberg left an indelible mark on Hollywood before his untimely death in 1937 at the age of 36. In addition to launching such innovations as the first production code and the use of audience response questionnaires to hone...
Enter Irving G. Thalberg, the wunderkind who helped build MGM into a powerhouse. Perhaps best known today for the namesake honor given to producers at each year’s Academy Awards, Thalberg left an indelible mark on Hollywood before his untimely death in 1937 at the age of 36. In addition to launching such innovations as the first production code and the use of audience response questionnaires to hone...
- 11/15/2015
- by M. Robert Grunwald
- SoundOnSight
He's back and he's funnier than ever. The mischievous, cagey entertainer William Claude Dukenfield starred in some of the best comedies ever. This five-disc DVD set contains eighteen of his best, all the way from Million Dollar Legs in 1932 to Never Give a Sucker an Even Break in 1941. And we get to see all sides of W.C's talent -- he was a top-rank juggler, of just about anything. W.C. Fields Comedy Essentials Collection DVD Universal Studios Home Entertainment 1932-1941 / B&W / 1:37 Academy 1316 minutes (21 hours, 46 min) Street Date October 13, 2015 / 99.98 Starring Larson E. Whipsnade, T. Frothinghill Bellows, Egbert Sousé, Eustace P. McGargle, Harold Bissonette, Professor Quail, Augustus Winterbottom, Mr. Stubbins, Sam Bisbee, Ambrose Wolfinger, Cuthbert J. Twillie, Humpty-Dumpty. Written by Charles Bogle, Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Otis Criblecoblis
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the late 1960s there were these things called Head Shops, see, where various hippie consumer goods were sold.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the late 1960s there were these things called Head Shops, see, where various hippie consumer goods were sold.
- 10/27/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Tony Sokol Oct 2, 2019
Groucho Marx's Duck Soup soliloquy makes a sap out of Hamlet.
When I was a teenager, I had to learn the “to be or not to be” speech for honors English. I had two weeks to commit Willie “The Bard” Shakespeare’s words to memory and on the day I was called to recite, I choked like I had TB, or not TB, that was congestion. I think I finished with the George Carlin “spare hair is fair” poem and slunk back to my desk.
I didn’t think I had a problem with my memory. When I was nine, I could toss off Rufus T. Firefly’s preface to the big finale of Duck Soup on command. And this was in the days before video tape. It was easier to remember because it is the best monologue ever performed in theater or film.
Groucho Marx...
Groucho Marx's Duck Soup soliloquy makes a sap out of Hamlet.
When I was a teenager, I had to learn the “to be or not to be” speech for honors English. I had two weeks to commit Willie “The Bard” Shakespeare’s words to memory and on the day I was called to recite, I choked like I had TB, or not TB, that was congestion. I think I finished with the George Carlin “spare hair is fair” poem and slunk back to my desk.
I didn’t think I had a problem with my memory. When I was nine, I could toss off Rufus T. Firefly’s preface to the big finale of Duck Soup on command. And this was in the days before video tape. It was easier to remember because it is the best monologue ever performed in theater or film.
Groucho Marx...
- 9/1/2015
- Den of Geek
Groucho Marx in 'Duck Soup.' Groucho Marx movies: 'Duck Soup,' 'The Story of Mankind' and romancing Margaret Dumont on TCM Grouch Marx, the bespectacled, (painted) mustached, cigar-chomping Marx brother, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 14, '15. Marx Brothers fans will be delighted, as TCM is presenting no less than 11 of their comedies, in addition to a brotherly reunion in the 1957 all-star fantasy The Story of Mankind. Non-Marx Brothers fans should be delighted as well – as long as they're fans of Kay Francis, Thelma Todd, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Allan Jones, affectionate, long-tongued giraffes, and/or that great, scene-stealing dowager, Margaret Dumont. Right now, TCM is showing Robert Florey and Joseph Santley's The Cocoanuts (1929), an early talkie notable as the first movie featuring the four Marx Brothers – Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. Based on their hit Broadway...
- 8/14/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Screwball comedy movies, rare screenings of epic box office disaster: Library of Congress’ Packard Theater in April 2014 (photo: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in ‘The Awful Truth’) In April 2014, the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia, will celebrate Hollywood screwball comedy movies, from the Marx Brothers’ antics to Peter Bogdanovich’s early ’70s homage What’s Up, Doc?, a box office blockbuster starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. Additionally, the Packard Theater will present a couple of rarities, including an epoch-making box office disaster that led to the demise of a major studio. Among Packard’s April 2014 screwball comedies are the following: Leo McCarey’s Duck Soup (Saturday, April 5) — actually more zany, wacky, and totally insane than merely "screwball" — in which Groucho Marx stars as the recently (un)elected dictator of Freedonia, abetted by siblings Harpo Marx and Chico Marx, in addition to Groucho’s perennial foil,...
- 3/27/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
TMZ, the New York Post, and their ilk have had a lot of fun with Alec Baldwin over the years. A lot of fun. But the embattled former 30 Rock star has had enough, he says in a new New York Magazine cover story: he’s quitting public life. Just think how much the tabloids are going to be missing: They don’t have Alec Baldwin to kick around any more.
The last year has been rough on Baldwin professionally. Privately, it’s been a time of great joy, as he and his wife, Hilaria, welcomed a baby daughter. But even...
The last year has been rough on Baldwin professionally. Privately, it’s been a time of great joy, as he and his wife, Hilaria, welcomed a baby daughter. But even...
- 2/24/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW.com - PopWatch
By Doug Gerbino
In an episode of the Jack Benny radio show from 1948, Jack and Mary Livingstone are being driven to the Warner Bros. studios in his "trusty" Maxwell by his manservant, Rochester. They are stopped at the gate by the studio guard, voiced by the wonderful Mel Blanc. When the guard demands identification in order to be admitted, Jack tells him that he is Jack Benny. The guard still demands ID. Benny pleads with him to recognize him: "…after all, I made a film here a few years ago, The Horn Blows at Midnight…I am sure you remember that!" "Remember it??? I directed it!!!" replies Blanc as the guard. Such amusing set-ups became some of Jack Benny's most famous self-deprecating jokes. The Horn Blows at Midnight has become legendary because of Benny's making fun of it but as we can now see with its release on DVD, the...
In an episode of the Jack Benny radio show from 1948, Jack and Mary Livingstone are being driven to the Warner Bros. studios in his "trusty" Maxwell by his manservant, Rochester. They are stopped at the gate by the studio guard, voiced by the wonderful Mel Blanc. When the guard demands identification in order to be admitted, Jack tells him that he is Jack Benny. The guard still demands ID. Benny pleads with him to recognize him: "…after all, I made a film here a few years ago, The Horn Blows at Midnight…I am sure you remember that!" "Remember it??? I directed it!!!" replies Blanc as the guard. Such amusing set-ups became some of Jack Benny's most famous self-deprecating jokes. The Horn Blows at Midnight has become legendary because of Benny's making fun of it but as we can now see with its release on DVD, the...
- 1/5/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
You want funny? We got funny! From Airplane to Duck Soup, here are the Guardian and Observer critics' pick of the 10 best rib-ticklers
• Top 10 romantic movies
• Top 10 action movies
Peter Bradshaw on comedy
Notionally, one of the most loved of genres, comedy persistently finds that it is somehow ineligible for greatness. Comedies rarely get Oscars. Charlie Chaplin, the great comic, was one of cinema's first international superstars. Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy produced sublime gems of film-making, arguably cherished more now than at the time. Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot is one of the most loved films of all time, with a miraculously light touch and a glorious romantic chemistry between Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe. In Hollywood, the screwball tradition came to be supplanted in public taste by Woody Allen, whose DNA can be traced through the cerebral creations of Charlie Kaufman.
Recently, Hollywood comedy...
• Top 10 romantic movies
• Top 10 action movies
Peter Bradshaw on comedy
Notionally, one of the most loved of genres, comedy persistently finds that it is somehow ineligible for greatness. Comedies rarely get Oscars. Charlie Chaplin, the great comic, was one of cinema's first international superstars. Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy produced sublime gems of film-making, arguably cherished more now than at the time. Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot is one of the most loved films of all time, with a miraculously light touch and a glorious romantic chemistry between Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe. In Hollywood, the screwball tradition came to be supplanted in public taste by Woody Allen, whose DNA can be traced through the cerebral creations of Charlie Kaufman.
Recently, Hollywood comedy...
- 10/11/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
With movies like Bridesmaids and The Heat killing it at the box offices and Tina Fey’s memoirs topping the bestseller lists, it seems that the boy’s club of comedy has finally dropped their “no girls allowed” rule. But as a handful of funny women get their time in the limelight, a whole host of comediennes seem to languish under the surface, like an iceberg. An iceberg of women. (It’s a weird metaphor, but roll with me here.)
It’s time to dig beyond the frigid peak of Amy Poehler to find the icy hidden treasures of female comedy. Which is good, because this iceberg metaphor isn’t really going to hold much longer.
10. Margaret Dumont
“Who the hell is Margaret Dumont?” you’re probably thinking. That’s fair, this is an article about the unsung heroines of comedy, after all. Margaret Dumont was the woman who was the straight man (woman?...
It’s time to dig beyond the frigid peak of Amy Poehler to find the icy hidden treasures of female comedy. Which is good, because this iceberg metaphor isn’t really going to hold much longer.
10. Margaret Dumont
“Who the hell is Margaret Dumont?” you’re probably thinking. That’s fair, this is an article about the unsung heroines of comedy, after all. Margaret Dumont was the woman who was the straight man (woman?...
- 8/15/2013
- by Katherine Koba
- Obsessed with Film
Wow, can it really be 23 years since Billy Crystal was sitting across from Meg Ryan at the deli as she really, really enjoyed her lunch?! Yup and he’s playing a grandpa’ in the new family flick Parental Guidance. And guess who’s grandma’? The Rose herself, the still divine Bette Midler! The perennial Oscar host’s daughter is played by Oscar winner Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny). These showbiz powerhouses have joined forces for this family friendly (just in time for the holidays) comedy all about..well…families. Here comes the incredibly cute kids and the big generational conflicts. Will they find a happy medium (and eventual ending)? Whatta’ you think?!
Artie Decker (Crystal) and his wife Diane (Midler) are getting ready to enjoy their golden years in sunny California. Life throws them a curve when Artie is fired from his long-standing job as the play-by-play man for a local minor league baseball team.
Artie Decker (Crystal) and his wife Diane (Midler) are getting ready to enjoy their golden years in sunny California. Life throws them a curve when Artie is fired from his long-standing job as the play-by-play man for a local minor league baseball team.
- 12/25/2012
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It came as a great surprise to me last week when Christina Applegate was confirmed to be returning for Anchorman 2 (tentatively titled Anchorman: The Legend Continues). It's not just that her absence from the teaser trailers hinted that Veronica Corningstone would also be gone from the Channel 4 newsroom. The character didn't immediately seem necessary to me. I guess I'm just used to female leads not always carrying over to sequels, and if anyone has that love 'em and leave 'em attitude of James Bond and Indiana Jones, it's Ron Burgandy. But there's also the possibility that her departure would leave Ron, Champ, Brick and Brian as lost as the Marx Brothers without Margaret Dumont. Okay, maybe that's a bit much. Throughout the history of film...
Read More...
Read More...
- 6/5/2012
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
In what continues to be "Mad Men's" season of the women (aka Season 5), three of the show's female favourites -- Megan (Jessica Paré), Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Sally (Kiernan Shipka, finally returning to the timeline after a noted absence) learn a tough lesson about the world: It's dirty. One is accepting, one resigned and one usettled.
The Accepting
Peggy is a complicated character. Amidst all of her ambitious angst and banter with Rizzo and Ginsberg, it's easy to forget that this is a woman who comes from a deeply religious Catholic family and just a few short years ago gave birth to a child fathered by her co-worker, Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser). Like most good lapsed Catholics, she's got major issues with guilt and self-esteem. So much so that while she was momentarily blinded enough to believe that Abe was on the cusp of a marriage proposal, she quickly...
The Accepting
Peggy is a complicated character. Amidst all of her ambitious angst and banter with Rizzo and Ginsberg, it's easy to forget that this is a woman who comes from a deeply religious Catholic family and just a few short years ago gave birth to a child fathered by her co-worker, Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser). Like most good lapsed Catholics, she's got major issues with guilt and self-esteem. So much so that while she was momentarily blinded enough to believe that Abe was on the cusp of a marriage proposal, she quickly...
- 4/30/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Leo McCarey, 1933
About 10 months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, Duck Soup opened. Is there any way of reconciling (or separating) these two events? Which moustache was the more dangerous or absurd? In the movie, Groucho played Rufus T Firefly, president of Freedonia, ready to defend the honour of Mrs Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) – if he could find it – by going to war with Sylvania. It is respectable to claim that anti-war films of the early 30s are really important and frightening. But I'm not sure the blithe pro-war stance of Duck Soup hasn't lasted better as a clue to how crazy the 30s were.
McCarey didn't actually want to make Duck Soup. He only renewed his contract at Paramount when told the Marx brothers had quit. But then they sneaked back and he was trapped. "The most surprising thing," he said later, "was that I succeeded in not going crazy,...
About 10 months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, Duck Soup opened. Is there any way of reconciling (or separating) these two events? Which moustache was the more dangerous or absurd? In the movie, Groucho played Rufus T Firefly, president of Freedonia, ready to defend the honour of Mrs Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) – if he could find it – by going to war with Sylvania. It is respectable to claim that anti-war films of the early 30s are really important and frightening. But I'm not sure the blithe pro-war stance of Duck Soup hasn't lasted better as a clue to how crazy the 30s were.
McCarey didn't actually want to make Duck Soup. He only renewed his contract at Paramount when told the Marx brothers had quit. But then they sneaked back and he was trapped. "The most surprising thing," he said later, "was that I succeeded in not going crazy,...
- 10/18/2010
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
Every Sunday, Film School Rejects presents a movie that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents: Duck Soup (1933) Duck Soup may be the funniest movie of all time. It deals with war, politics, fear, corruption - and it does so without taking any of it seriously. Not in the slightest. But unfortunately, I really won't be able to talk about it. The reason for this is because the comedy is incredible experiential. Like a comic strip, the value of it can't simply be read to a person and be expected to translate at all. I wish I could share with you each scene, but it's something that stumbles off the screen and lands flat on its face right into a cream pie. Something you just have to see and laugh at yourself. It is, in my humble opinion, the...
- 11/16/2009
- by Dr. Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The William Castle Film Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $80.95) includes eight pictures produced and directed by master showman Castle. In Part One of this lengthy DVD review, I dissected four of them—13 Ghosts, Homicidal and the two best, The Tingler and Mr. Sardonicus. Believe you me, it was a ghastly business! As Sardonicus would say, “I have known a ghoul—a disgusting creature that opens graves and feeds on corpses.” Like a DVD reviewer. See here.
In this epic conclusion, I am fitted out with a Strait-jacket (about time!) and also chronicle Zotz!, 13 Frightened Girls and The Old Dark House, the three Castle entries new to DVD (which lack the short, individual “making of” documentaries accompanying the other five). Only two of these eight flicks were shot in color (Girls, House); theatrical trailers are included with all of the movies. And that’s all you need to know as we continue—in amazing Screamarama,...
In this epic conclusion, I am fitted out with a Strait-jacket (about time!) and also chronicle Zotz!, 13 Frightened Girls and The Old Dark House, the three Castle entries new to DVD (which lack the short, individual “making of” documentaries accompanying the other five). Only two of these eight flicks were shot in color (Girls, House); theatrical trailers are included with all of the movies. And that’s all you need to know as we continue—in amazing Screamarama,...
- 10/21/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (David McDonnell)
- Starlog
The other night I went to the top of Hotel deLuxe in downtown Portland for an open-air screening of Duck Soup, which kicked off the Northwest Film Center's summer series of rooftop movies. I was under the impression that I'd seen every Marx Brothers movie when I was in high school, but it turns out that apart from clips (such as the legendary mirror scene), Duck Soup was new to me. It's an easy mistake to make, as those early Marx films have titles -- Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, etc. -- that don't give you any clue what they're about.
Duck Soup is the one with Groucho playing Rufus T. Firefly, the newly appointed leader of the country of Freedonia. Released in 1933, it was the fifth and last feature that the Marxes made for Paramount before going to MGM, and it was also the last film that Groucho, Chico, and...
Duck Soup is the one with Groucho playing Rufus T. Firefly, the newly appointed leader of the country of Freedonia. Released in 1933, it was the fifth and last feature that the Marxes made for Paramount before going to MGM, and it was also the last film that Groucho, Chico, and...
- 7/18/2009
- by Eric D. Snider
- Cinematical
There is something insanely romantic about a movie on a city rooftop. And I’m not just talking taking a hold of your girl’s hand. It’s the night air, the hint nostalgia for drive-in movies, and hopefully stars in the sky as well as the screen.
Here is Portland’s schedule thanks to the Northwest Film Center …
The Northwest Film Center presents: Top Down: Rooftop Films July 16-August 27 This summer the Northwest Film Center’s Top Down rooftop cinema event is back for a fifth season. Warm starry nights in downtown Portland are filled with entertaining films, culinary treats, live music and spectacular city views, all atop the panoramic parking rooftop at the Hotel deLuxe (Sw 15th at Yamhill). The evenings begin at 8pm with local music and refreshments. Gracie’s Restaurant will offer easy-to-juggle meals, snacks and cocktails, and additional beverages will be available from Tazo and BridgePort Brewing.
Here is Portland’s schedule thanks to the Northwest Film Center …
The Northwest Film Center presents: Top Down: Rooftop Films July 16-August 27 This summer the Northwest Film Center’s Top Down rooftop cinema event is back for a fifth season. Warm starry nights in downtown Portland are filled with entertaining films, culinary treats, live music and spectacular city views, all atop the panoramic parking rooftop at the Hotel deLuxe (Sw 15th at Yamhill). The evenings begin at 8pm with local music and refreshments. Gracie’s Restaurant will offer easy-to-juggle meals, snacks and cocktails, and additional beverages will be available from Tazo and BridgePort Brewing.
- 7/9/2009
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
NEW YORK -- As one views the terrific claymation opening credits of ''Brain Donors, '' the fear creeps in that this might be the best part of the film. It's not. The closing claymation credits are the best part. Fortunately, the stuff that comes between the credits is surprisingly, if at times embarrassingly, funny also.
But then again, when you borrow heavily from the Marx Brothers, chances are you'll successfully drum up a lot of laughs. It seems obvious that writer Pat Proft must have felt it unfair that he wasn't born in time to write for the legendary Marx clan. So with the aid of director Dennis Dugan, Proft tries to rectify that fateful error by taking ''A Night at the Opera'' and turning it into his own silly, slapsticky ''A Night at the Ballet.
Strangely, though, the acknowledgment of that Marx Brothers classic doesn't come until the very end of the closing credits, which mistakenly causes the viewer to sit through the film in enjoyable disbelief that anyone would so brazenly rip off the funniest team of all time.
Yet somehow, even through our incredulity, we come to appreciate this film as the often hilarious and energetic film that it is. In spite of some lascivious and sexual innuendos, ''Brain Donors'' is definitely aimed at the kid market, what with its simple-minded physical humor and fast-paced Marxian dialogue. Kids will howl throughout, and their parents, even if it's against their high-minded standards, will laugh through most.
''Brain Donors'' is total escapist fare, with absolutely no pretensions of being anything but the mindless entertainment that it is. For pure, gut-level laughs it is hard to beat.
John Turturro, with his ''Barton Fink'' hairdo intact, plays Roland T. Flakfizer (the most Groucho-type name we've ever heard), a manic, ambulance-chasing, scruple-less lawyer.
For some reason, the wealthy Lillian Oglethorpe (Nancy Marchand), a Margaret Dumont clone, requests his presence at the reading of her husband's will. She sends wacky servant Jacques (Bob Nelson) to fetch the ''lawyer'' and when it turns out the licenseless cabdriver, Rocco Melonchek (Mel Smith), has murderous intentions toward Flakfizer, the three of them engage in the first of many slapstick schticks.
It's obvious that Turturro is Groucho, the British Smith is Chico and the innocent Nelson is Harpo, even though he talks. Each does what he can, which is considerable, to live up to their counterparts, and though it's a foregone conclusion that they will come up short by comparison, without comparison they all succeed marvelously.
Nelson, a standup comic by trade, is the funniest in the physical department. He is relentless and tireless in his uninhibited gag after gag after gag. While Smith's semi-dry British humor occasionally feels a bit out of place within this topsy-turvy world, Turturro seems to be having the most fun, which is infectious. His comic timing is a surprising treat.
The storyline involves Turturro and company somehow taking charge of Ms. Oglethorpe's new ballet company, which leads to a vicious rivalry between them and Oglethorpe's other lawyer, the villainous Lazlo (John Savident). The actual ballet stuff serves as a laugh-breather for the kids, but is mostly just used as a setup for a series of running and falling gags.
''Brain Donors'' is certainly not brain food, nor does it want to be. But as a good intentioned, more-hit-than-miss, unabashedly comic throwback to the Marx Brothers' era, it is a welcome laugh fest.
BRAIN DONORS
Paramount
Director Dennis Dugan
Writer Pat Proft
Director of photography David M. Walsh
Editor Malcolm Campbell
Music Ira Newborn
Executive producers David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Color
Cast:
Roland T. Flakfizer John Turturro
Jacques Bob Nelson
Rocco Melonchek Mel Smith
Lillian Oglethorpe Nancy Marchand
Lazlo John Savident
Volare George De La Pena
Lisa Juli Donald
Running time -- 79 minutes
MPAA Rating -- PG
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
But then again, when you borrow heavily from the Marx Brothers, chances are you'll successfully drum up a lot of laughs. It seems obvious that writer Pat Proft must have felt it unfair that he wasn't born in time to write for the legendary Marx clan. So with the aid of director Dennis Dugan, Proft tries to rectify that fateful error by taking ''A Night at the Opera'' and turning it into his own silly, slapsticky ''A Night at the Ballet.
Strangely, though, the acknowledgment of that Marx Brothers classic doesn't come until the very end of the closing credits, which mistakenly causes the viewer to sit through the film in enjoyable disbelief that anyone would so brazenly rip off the funniest team of all time.
Yet somehow, even through our incredulity, we come to appreciate this film as the often hilarious and energetic film that it is. In spite of some lascivious and sexual innuendos, ''Brain Donors'' is definitely aimed at the kid market, what with its simple-minded physical humor and fast-paced Marxian dialogue. Kids will howl throughout, and their parents, even if it's against their high-minded standards, will laugh through most.
''Brain Donors'' is total escapist fare, with absolutely no pretensions of being anything but the mindless entertainment that it is. For pure, gut-level laughs it is hard to beat.
John Turturro, with his ''Barton Fink'' hairdo intact, plays Roland T. Flakfizer (the most Groucho-type name we've ever heard), a manic, ambulance-chasing, scruple-less lawyer.
For some reason, the wealthy Lillian Oglethorpe (Nancy Marchand), a Margaret Dumont clone, requests his presence at the reading of her husband's will. She sends wacky servant Jacques (Bob Nelson) to fetch the ''lawyer'' and when it turns out the licenseless cabdriver, Rocco Melonchek (Mel Smith), has murderous intentions toward Flakfizer, the three of them engage in the first of many slapstick schticks.
It's obvious that Turturro is Groucho, the British Smith is Chico and the innocent Nelson is Harpo, even though he talks. Each does what he can, which is considerable, to live up to their counterparts, and though it's a foregone conclusion that they will come up short by comparison, without comparison they all succeed marvelously.
Nelson, a standup comic by trade, is the funniest in the physical department. He is relentless and tireless in his uninhibited gag after gag after gag. While Smith's semi-dry British humor occasionally feels a bit out of place within this topsy-turvy world, Turturro seems to be having the most fun, which is infectious. His comic timing is a surprising treat.
The storyline involves Turturro and company somehow taking charge of Ms. Oglethorpe's new ballet company, which leads to a vicious rivalry between them and Oglethorpe's other lawyer, the villainous Lazlo (John Savident). The actual ballet stuff serves as a laugh-breather for the kids, but is mostly just used as a setup for a series of running and falling gags.
''Brain Donors'' is certainly not brain food, nor does it want to be. But as a good intentioned, more-hit-than-miss, unabashedly comic throwback to the Marx Brothers' era, it is a welcome laugh fest.
BRAIN DONORS
Paramount
Director Dennis Dugan
Writer Pat Proft
Director of photography David M. Walsh
Editor Malcolm Campbell
Music Ira Newborn
Executive producers David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Color
Cast:
Roland T. Flakfizer John Turturro
Jacques Bob Nelson
Rocco Melonchek Mel Smith
Lillian Oglethorpe Nancy Marchand
Lazlo John Savident
Volare George De La Pena
Lisa Juli Donald
Running time -- 79 minutes
MPAA Rating -- PG
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 4/20/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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