MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Discussion of the actors, directors and film-makers who 'made it all happen'
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Andree
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Andree »

Bronxgirl48 wrote: January 27th, 2023, 11:52 am

Then of course we have Al Pacino. ("She can't even be a mother because her womb is so POLLUTED!")
Yes, Al has played his share of gangsters of various descriptions. Al, try to find out from "Big Boy" Caprice where
Jimmy Hoffa is buried, even if it would be anachronistic.

I try not to think of Frenzy whenever someone says lovely. Lovely........lovely.........looovvveeellllyyyy. :smiley_sick:
Every man has a right to an umbrella.~Dostoyevsky
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Dargo
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Dargo »

EP Millstone wrote: January 27th, 2023, 5:00 pm
laffite wrote: January 27th, 2023, 4:24 pm When living NYC they were annoying on account of being so ubiquitous. Then one day walking Bleeker Street I ran across a fellow who was playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, sans orchestra, first movement beginning to end. That didn't change anything in street entertaining chez moi but it was certainly a refreshing change of fare.
Do street musicians in NYC often recruit passersby to accompany them? I might be willing to swing Beethoven's Fifth on the kazoo -- but, again, only for a piece of the action ($$$), Yehudi!
LOL

(...wasn't his name used for a Jerry Colonna catchphrase?) ;)
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Bronxgirl48
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Bronxgirl48 »

I wonder if Michael Caine was considered for FRENZY.
Last edited by Bronxgirl48 on January 27th, 2023, 8:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Bronxgirl48
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Bronxgirl48 »

I know, right? I could never watch Barry Foster in anything after that without chills running down my spine.
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laffite
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by laffite »

Swithin wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:54 pm Delete duplicate (why do I always do this?)
Because you're post are so good, you probably want us to read it twice.
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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laffite
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by laffite »

Bronxgirl48 wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:34 pm laffite, you are fickle with Hank!

But that new avatar is wonderfully surreal.

Stanwyck I do believe reaches near-shriek levels while simultaneously yelling and blubbering at her Golden Boy in EXECUTIVE SUITE.
EXECUTIVE SUITE : Got it. Got it. Got it.

HANK : Don't got it. Don't got it. Don't got it.

Pray tell my lady, who is Hank? (you say things like this that I don't understand. But don't stop, I may finally get one by the year 2525 (if mankind is still alive).
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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laffite
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by laffite »

EP Millstone wrote: January 27th, 2023, 5:00 pm
laffite wrote: January 27th, 2023, 4:24 pm When living NYC they were annoying on account of being so ubiquitous. Then one day walking Bleeker Street I ran across a fellow who was playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, sans orchestra, first movement beginning to end. That didn't change anything in street entertaining chez moi but it was certainly a refreshing change of fare.
Do street musicians in NYC often recruit passersby to accompany them? I might be willing to swing Beethoven's Fifth on the kazoo -- but, again, only for a piece of the action ($$$), Yehudi!
If you can swing de Fifth of Beethoven on the kazoo, I say forget the street entertainers and go to a mall or department store and create a flash mob. It would be a solo effort for you and you might haul in gobs of $$$ and get to keep all of it. Some one of the mob would shoot a video that could go viral. You will be one of the world's most famous kazooist.
Sabine Azema in Sunday in the Country
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Andree
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Andree »

Foster was indeed very creepy in that role. I wonder if Caine was ever considered for the part. It was right in his old
backyard and Foster even looks a bit like Caine. At least the bad guy in Sleuth was more palatable than the necktie
killer.

I did see Frenzy when it first came out. By that time things that couldn't have been shown five years earlier were
allowed, so Hitchcock could have a freer hand in that respect. As shocking as the rape scene was it was not out of the
ordinary for that time. It's not quite as bad when it's taken as one part of the whole film and not by itself.
Every man has a right to an umbrella.~Dostoyevsky
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CinemaInternational
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by CinemaInternational »

I am pretty sure that Michael Caine was considered for the role of the killer in Frenzy. I know that there was one other pretty graphic venture that Hitchcock never managed to do with Caine as a villain, so he probably went after him for Frenzy as well. The ill-fated female roles were offered at one point to the Redgrave sisters, and one of the the two roles had Helen Mirren considered for it, although Mirren was turned off by the violence. (Four decades later, she would play Alfred's wife in a movie) It is interesting to note that although the reviews for Frenzy were solid and the film was embraced by the Golden Globes, the Oscars completely gave it the cold shoulder.

I don't know if I could say that that death scene in Frenzy is tempered by the rest of the film. It is due in part to the fact that much of the rest of the film is somewhat stagy that the offending scene pops out even more. In a way I am surprised the film wasn't more controversial, but maybe that trio in 1971 of The Devils, A Clockwork Orange, and Straw Dogs had lessened the shock. Clockwork Orange really sickened me. Straw Dogs has a very nasty scene too, but Frenzy's still felt more traumatizing to me.

Michael Caine did end up playing a bloody killer in Dressed to Kill, but from most accounts, it was a stand-in used in the scenes where his character attacked.

Even though it has a boxy feel (the visual look of an episode of The Rockford Files), I feel as though Family Plot was the best of the post-Psycho Hitchcock films due to a wonderfully delineated script and strong performances from Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, and William Devane). It also has a very playful musical score from John Williams that is delightful.

Lafitte brought up a drowning scene in Deliverance. That wasn't the only film around that time with such an agonizing drowning. Another was Sometimes a Great Notion where a logger is partially trapped under a giant cut down tree in the water, and as the tide rises, the water overtakes him and drowns him as his friend is helpless to save him. Very disturbing scene, and one that resulted in an Oscar nod for the actor playing the doomed man.
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by TikiSoo »

CinemaInternational wrote: January 28th, 2023, 4:29 am a logger is partially trapped under a giant cut down tree in the water, and as the tide rises, the water overtakes him and drowns him as his friend is helpless to save him. Very disturbing scene, and one that resulted in an Oscar nod for the actor playing the doomed man.
Nice post, CI.
That last part reminds me of Spencer Tracy at the end of CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS '37. Same scenario used in the unintendedly hilarious JEOPARDY '53.
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HoldenIsHere
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by HoldenIsHere »

CinemaInternational wrote: January 28th, 2023, 4:29 am
Even though it has a boxy feel (the visual look of an episode of The Rockford Files), I feel as though Family Plot was the best of the post-Psycho Hitchcock films due to a wonderfully delineated script and strong performances from Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, and William Devane). It also has a very playful musical score from John Williams that is delightful.

I also enjoy FAMILY PLOT. The opening scene with Barbara Harris is one of my favorite movie openings.

Image
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Bronxgirl48
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Bronxgirl48 »

laffite wrote: January 27th, 2023, 10:01 pm
Bronxgirl48 wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:34 pm laffite, you are fickle with Hank!

But that new avatar is wonderfully surreal.

Stanwyck I do believe reaches near-shriek levels while simultaneously yelling and blubbering at her Golden Boy in EXECUTIVE SUITE.

Pray tell my lady, who is Hank?














The Mad Miss Manton's Henry Fonda!
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Bronxgirl48
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Bronxgirl48 »

Why are my answers ending up in the poster's box?

Please forgive my low-techness.
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Bronxgirl48
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Bronxgirl48 »

Andree, yes, I always thought Barry Foster bore a physical resemblance to Michael Caine. I had never seen Foster in anything before his Bob Rusk but as I mentioned before, I always froze with icy fear whenever he popped up afterwards.
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Andree
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Re: MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

Post by Andree »

Especially if Foster has blond hair. The carrot top look in Frenzy takes away from the MC resemblance.
I looked at the Frenzy entry in Wiki and Caine was Hitch's first choice for the role of Bob Rusk. Caine
turned it down, as one might expect, because he found the character and apparently the whole movie very
repellant. And who can blame him. And it's also hard to see how it would have done anything positive for
his career. I looked at Barry Foster's filmography and I don't think I've seen him in another movie other than
Frenzy. Sorry, Barry baby. I'm presuming that that is the role he is best known for. Kind of a good news/
bad news type of situation.
Every man has a right to an umbrella.~Dostoyevsky
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