I Just Watched...

[Hibi]

There's quite a few PERRY MASON episodes where I get the impression that the reason LT. TRAGG is so DEAD-SET on charging THE FIRST PERSON HE CAN WITH THE MURDER is because they're serving BAKED POTATOES at "THE HOME" tonight and he wants the 4:00 seating.

I couldn't stand Tragg. A smug SOB know it all. I think he dropped out of the series midway due to health reasons. They added Wesley Lau (couldn't stand him either. Those hats!) and that Anderson actor.

I'M SURPRISED how ANTAGONISTIC and inept they made THE POLICE/DA on PERRY MASON, for a 1950s show, it pushes the envelope with that.

I'm also amused by how much TRAGG OPENLY DESPISES PERRY MASON and/or PAUL DRAKE every time he sees either of them. It's full DOROTHY ZBORNAK "I COULD VOMIT JUST LOOKING AT YOU!" vibes.

I know. You can tell he LOATHES them! Probably because all the people who he arrests are eventually freed by Perry! How did Burger keep his job???????? He only won a case that one time! (I guess he must've won other cases when he wasn't up against Perry!)

[CinemaInternational]

I'll add in to the chorus of praise for The Day of the Locust (1975). It's truly the lost masterpiece of the 70s. Perhaps the hellish, high intensity ending scared people away, but the film is extraordinary.

[Lorna]

Someone somewhere lit a candle at the altar of OUR LADY OF UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY, because I saw GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE (1972)- a film I have avoided even though I love terrible 1970's vampire movies because I incorrectly assumed it was run-of-the-mill dull bad, which it is not.

it is deliciously, audaciously bad- the kind of movie where the "college students" invited to the home of the titular vampire seem to all be in their mid-forties and one informs him before a seance "you make a groovy medium, Professor."



**did i miss something somewhere in VAMPIRE LORE about them having GERMAN SHEPHERD TEETH?

It's DARK SHADOWS meets COUNT YORGA, but DUMB AS HELL- the first half actually has some legit creepy scenes, but things go off the rails in the second half, and frankly I enjoyed the HELL out of it (honest to God, I had to pause and rewind several scenes I was laughing so hard.)

the titular vampire is played by MICHAEL PATAKI- who speaks in a voice that I can't describe- he's like a FERAL MR BURNS, mixed with a dash of TOM WAITES.

THE HERO SHOUTS ALL HIS LINES IN THE LAST ACT AND IT IS UTTER HILARITY.

the print i saw was terrible, which was perfect- this movie is in the public domain and it is on youtube in full- the print there is better than the one I saw but it is ONE OF THOSE LOW BUDGET 1970S FILMS that has PORNO LEVELS of SATURATION.

[HoldenIsHere]

Which is a shame, because The Day of the Locust is one of the best films about Hollywood, and Karen Black gave an excellent performance. Among many other virtues, the film is noteworthy for Donald Sutherland's best performance.

I love THE DAY OF THE LOCUST.
I'm a big fan of John Schlesinger's movies, and this is one of his best.
I was eager to see this movie for a long time and I ended up purchasing a digital copy on Amazon.
I thought that Geraldine Page's role as as the radio evangelist would be bigger.

A few years after his performance as Adore in THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, Jackie Earle Haley would go on to play the bad-ass Bear in THE BAD NEWS BEARS (a very entertaining 1970s movie).

I think the reason Geraldine Page's character (Big Sister) was not that big in the movie is because it's not in the novel. Great scene though.

I didn't realize that the BIg Sister character was created just for the movie.

I have to give a lot of credit to Jackie Earle Haley for fully committing to his performance as Adore.
He would have only been 13 o4 14 years old during the production of THE DAY OF THE LOCUST so for a boy of that age to really go for it the way he did is amazing.
His "Come on up and see me sometime, big boy" to William Atherton's character near the beginning of the movie always ceacks me up.

[CinemaInternational]

Rewatched some films in the last few days that were either on demand or were airing live on the channel.... Charade was still as good as ever, The Major and the Minor is still very amusing, Agatha wasn't quite as good as i remembered although Vanessa Redgrave still gave a deeply committed performance, and I had forgotten just how good the script to Two for the Road was. It's a very good film.

[Andree]

I will put in a good word for Arty Tragg. I never got the impression that he loathed
Perry and Paul. Naturally they were on opposite sides, but for the most part Tragg
kept his cool. In some episodes he would come to Perry's office at the end and pass
along something that had made Burger mad and all of them would have a good laugh
at that. He was basically going behind Burger's back and telling tales out of school.
One of Tragg's funniest scenes was when he came to Perry's office at the end of a trial
that involved beatniks and he was leaving he said something like Don't crowd me granny
(referring to Della). I'm one of the hip ones. Dig? See you later, daddy-o. And Tragg was
much more interesting than the vanilla on white bread duo of Anderson and Drumm.

[Bronxgirl48]

I do not understand one word that comes out of Marlon Brando's mouth in SAYONARA. It's always a puzzlement to me that we are supposed to believe his Japanese lady love does.

TCM is certainly hit-and-miss with the wokeness. Nothing was mentioned, for better or worse, about Ricardo Montalban, lol.

Or even Marlon himself in TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON.

[Bronxgirl48]

...a commercial even more disgusting than the Lume lady.

Sheba cat food. A mother sits enthralled with the family feline in their living room when young son calls out to her upstairs. "Mom, I fell!" -- "There are bandages in the cabinet" -- "Mom, I'm bleeding!" -- "Get two"

[Bronxgirl48]

Dateline, The People vs. OJ Simpson

Nobody benefitted more from those two brutal murders in my opinion than Chris Kardashian and her trashy family.

[CinemaInternational]

...a commercial even more disgusting than the Lume lady.

Sheba cat food. A mother sits enthralled with the family feline in their living room when young son calls out to her upstairs. "Mom, I fell!" -- "There are bandages in the cabinet" -- "Mom, I'm bleeding!" -- "Get two"

Yes, a deeply disturbing commercial. Lume might be in your face about bodily areas that shouldn't be so bluntly addressed, but the Sheba commercial is heartless, cruel, and dehumanizing. And you're far from the only one that picked up on it.

[CinemaInternational]

Dateline, The People vs. OJ Simpson

Nobody benefitted more from those two brutal murders in my opinion than Chris Kardashian and her trashy family.

Someone else might have benefitted too in an indirect way. The murders occurred in a house that was right across the street from where 30s actress Gloria Stewart lived. Her name got somehow dragged into the press frenzy as living nearby and that attention caused her to get fielded that offer to appear in Titanic, which of course she took and rode to an Oscar nomination.

[Bronxgirl48]

I've read that some people think that Sheba commercial is "amusingly over-the-top" but not me. And I am not a special snowflake/school monitor/politically correct type.

[Lorna]

I think the reason Geraldine Page's character (Big Sister) was not that big in the movie is because it's not in the novel. Great scene though.

I didn't realize that the BIg Sister character was created just for the movie.

the "novel" THE DAY OF THE LOCUST is based on is the thinnest little sliver of a book- maybe a little longer than THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY? It still deserves to be called a novel because it's a FULL STORY, but I could see the term novella or "story" being used. it's been a LONG TIME since I read the book and saw the movie, but I recall loving both- and actually thinking the movie (at 2 hours plus) didn't actually add a whole lot, it's still the same story, just fleshed out.

(i could be recalling wrong though)

[CinemaInternational]

I think the reason Geraldine Page's character (Big Sister) was not that big in the movie is because it's not in the novel. Great scene though.

I didn't realize that the BIg Sister character was created just for the movie.

the "novel" THE DAY OF THE LOCUST is based on is the thinnest little sliver of a book- maybe a little longer than THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY? It still deserves to be called a novel because it's a FULL STORY, but I could see the term novella or "story" being used. it's been a LONG TIME since I read the book and saw the movie, but I recall loving both- and actually thinking the movie (at 2 hours plus) didn't actually add a whole lot, it's still the same story, just fleshed out.

(i could be recalling wrong though)

A listing of the book on Amazon shows it's a lean 103 pages, so yes, the film obviously has some extra padding in it. I recall reading They Shoot Horses Don't They years ago and being surprised that it was basically a two character story, as the memorable supporting characters from the movie were not in the story.

[Bronxgirl48]

Dateline, The People vs. OJ Simpson

Nobody benefitted more from those two brutal murders in my opinion than Chris Kardashian and her trashy family.

Someone else might have benefitted too in an indirect way. The murders occurred in a house that was right across the street from where 30s actress Gloria Stewart lived. Her name got somehow dragged into the press frenzy as living nearby and that attention caused her to get fielded that offer to appear in Titanic, which of course she took and rode to an Oscar nomination.

Wow, I never knew this at all.