Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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moira finnie
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Wasn't George Chakiris a fine dancer to begin with when West Side Story came along? I suspect that the discipline he acquired in that art form probably accounts for his looking so well--though genes don't hurt a bit either.

Too bad they didn't show Kings of the Sun (1963) at the festival, since it is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, with George and Yul Brynner going mano y mano in ancient Mexico, even if the movie's story did seem like a draft of an early Star Trek episode at times.

But then, Walter Mirisch probably didn't want to recall or see that one again. He lost a bundle on it!

I hope you'll keep these memories coming as long as you can, Christy.
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Oh, Moira! You have hit upon one of my guilty loves, too! Since I have steeped myself in Mayan and Aztec history since my travels through Mexico with my parents, I also found much to commisserate with in Kings of the Sun. Did you know that Balam means Jaguar in Maya? And Ix-Chel (only one word in the credits) really is the Goddess of the Moon, and she was suppposed to have come from Cozumel at some time, with effigies in her image also being found on Isla Mujeres, as I recall...

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Brynner also had that virile "take no prisoners alive unless it happens to be a woman I want" approach. Hubba-bah-bubbabah...

I loved those silly hairdos, and if you ever saw Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, there is a little of the Kings of the Sun scenery, clothes, and environs that survive there, too. I was absolutely fascinated by the city that Gibson created on screen with the temples, the types of tatoos and turquoise inlays the natives sported, the clothes, jewelry, foods, icons, and housing, and even the typical merchants in the marketplace...all those marketplaces always had a man who settled disputes sitting on a big chair in the plaza somewhere, and he would decide who was guilty, for instance, of counterfeiting cocoa beans (by using mud, etc.)...

But I digress.....Big Time! :lol:

Shirley Anne Field is still acting! How cool is that! Ix-Chel still reigns....
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276043/


Kingme, Thanks again for the kind words! I love encouragement.
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Go ahead--digress away.

The bold attempt to imagine pre-history, blending known facts with supposition in Kings of the Sun was very venturesome for a commercial movie, even though Yul's...uh, positive self-image (yeah, that's the phrase!)...seemed more on display than entirely verifiable Mayan and Aztec culture. I wrote about this movie a couple of years ago, so I think it must be time for a return visit. Hope it shows up on the TCM schedule again. I really like Chakaris, but asking him to compete with a guy like Yul on screen just wasn't fair. At least I smile whenever I think of Brad Dexter wearing the radiator cap as a headdress. I must admit that I loved this movie's audacity.
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I've seen a few minutes of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto on cable, but wasn't absorbed by it (and kept fearing blood-letting any minute). Perhaps I could find it more intriguing if I saw it from the beginning. Despite his myriad "issues," the guy has talent.
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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I saw this film last year or in 2009, can't recall well...I enjoyed it also as a guilty pleasure. Entertaining, especially Brynner's portrayal.
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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One of my favorite moments at the Vanity Fair party occured toward the end of the evening when I met Peter O'Toole in one of the VIP sections. Robert Osborne and Leslie Caron had just passed through the milieu, and I inched over to the enormous leather sofa. Kate Phillips O'Toole, seated on her father's left, was smiling and seemed happy to be in attendance. I introduced myself, and said that I wanted to let Mr. O'Toole know how much I admired his abilities and his "body of work." Then, he shook my hand and said "Thank you." He was patient, and kind with all the guests, and his family certainly stayed close to him during the Vanity Fair Party, and the Grauman's ceremony.

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I was also glad that I was able to attend the taping of his interview with Robert Osborne at the Music Box Theater. Everyone in the audience was attentive, interested in the questions presented by Robert Osborne and obviously enraptured and amused by Mr. O'Toole's responses, stories, and manner.
I felt very lucky indeed.

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I can't wait until the interview is aired on TCM. It was a wonderful experience, and everyone in the audience was so energized by Peter O'Toole's presence.

Next: My encounter with Chilean Director Patricio Guzman
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Follow this link if you want to see a lobby card showcasing that lovely headpiece shaped like a radiator in Kings of the Sunthat Moira mentioned.
http://cgi.ebay.com/KINGS-SUN-YUL-BRYNN ... 0499869708

Here are some more headpieces from the murals at Bonampak in Chiapas...
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I think some of them look like a combination saxophone/weed wacker...
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Sue Sue Applegate wrote:I introduced myself, and said that I wanted to let Mr. O'Toole know how much I admired his abilities and his "body of work." Then, he shook my hand and said "Thank you." He was patient, and kind with all the guests, and his family certainly stayed close to him during the Vanity Fair Party, and the Grauman's ceremony.
Isn't it amazing that Peter O'Toole is such a hardy soul when so many of his contemporaries are already leaning on the heavenly bar awaiting his ascension to Valhalla? I think he quit drinking before many of them, fortunately. I just saw Troy (2004) for the first time recently, and he was the very best thing about that epic, and the only one who really made me believe he'd just stepped out of ancient Greece.
I can't wait until the interview is aired on TCM. It was a wonderful experience, and everyone in the audience was so energized by Peter O'Toole's presence.
I haven't spotted any of these interviews on the next three months worth of schedules for TCM yet, but maybe they are saving it for a Holiday treat.

I think that you must have beautiful manners, Christy, enabling you to introduce yourself to people without being intrusive. Many people would not be able to do this as well.
Sue Sue Applegate wrote:Next: My encounter with Chilean Director Patricio Guzman
I hope that Fernando sees this post!!
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Christy & Moira, I'm reading your posts with utmost interest! :D
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Moira, thank you for the kind words. I think you know I'm a chatterbox! :lol:
Hola, 'Nando!
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Hola querida Christy...un gusto verte por aqui :D
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Muchisimas gracias, amigo!
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Dodging the hectic pace at the Hollywood Roosevelt one afternoon, I slipped away for a quiet lunch at Miceli's on Las Palmas. It had a typically old-world feel deep in the heart of the Turner Classic Movie Festival environs.

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I was seated on the first level at a table next to the corner booth, and I was so hungry that the smells of garlic bread and simmering sauces were assaulting my senses like mad. I had zoomed to the first screening and skipped breakfast.

Lunch prices for pasta, salad, and a beverage are unbelievably reasonable and the fare at these prices didn't have to be sooooo tasty. The four gentleman seated at the next table were just finishing their lunch, and I noticed that they were speaking Spanish.

The gentleman in the corner was definitely treated with reverence and also spoke Spanish with an accent not usually attributed to California or Texas. A young man, who introduced himself as Shannon Kelly, works with the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and he introduced Director Patricio Guzman to me.

And of course I gushed and oohed and aahed.

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Evidently, Mr. Guzman was in LA for a retrospective of his films. The following excerpt is from the UCLA Film and Television Archives website concerning Patricio Guzman:

“The only eternal lesson to be had is to study the past, so that we won’t repeat it.”— Patricio Guzmán.

In a remarkable 40-year career, Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán has crafted a unique legacy among documentarians: cataloguing the cataclysmic modern events of his country in a body of work not only timely, but timeless. Influenced early on by the non-fiction work of Chris Marker, Frédéric Rossif and Louis Malle, Guzmán began his career in 1971, documenting the sweeping social and economic reforms enacted by Chile’s then-president, Salvador Allende, Latin America’s first democratically elected socialist head of state. In 1973, Allende’s government was brought down in a bloody coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power and Guzmán was forced to leave Chile for Europe where he completed The Battle of Chile, Parts 1-3 (1975-1979), a searing account of the Allende government’s final year. Guzmán has returned to the events of 1973 and their aftermath several times throughout his career while also expanding his field of inquiry to explore the very natures of cinema, history and memory. In his latest film, Nostalgia for the Light (2010), Guzmán orchestrates a dazzling meditation on the insistent presence of the past in all our lives. UCLA Film & Television Archive is pleased to present Nostalgia for the Light in a special preview screening on Friday, April 15 and to welcome Mr. Guzmán in person to the Billy Wilder Theater on Friday, April 29.


Mr. Guzman is definitely one of those observant, quiet talents who seems to be continually scanning the environment and patiently sizing up those around him. Born in 1941 in Santiago, one of my favorite quotes from Guzman is that "we are not scientists, we are poets."

Guzman also appeared at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. To read more about him on Independent Lens, follow this link:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/insi ... /flaherty/

He was very kind, and seemed genuinely pleased that I knew of his work. He gave me his autograph!
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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feaito, I hope you enjoyed learning about my encounter with Patricio Guzman!

I am working on my Marge Champion column next!
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Re: Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

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Yes Chris I did thanks! Although I'm not a fan of his work, I admire the place he has won in the industry as a documentalist...
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Sorry, 'Nando! I wish it could have been someone you enjoyed! I couldn't wait to tell you more than anyone else...
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