I Just Watched...

[Sepiatone]

Jim, I watched both GILDA Live and VALERIE with both a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. I loved Gilda Radner. Her being a Detroit, MI native aside, she was one energetic powerhouse talent that left us all too soon.

And what the beautiful and also talented woman Valerie Perrine is enduring now isn't fair. I can think of nothing she's ever done to deserve her plight.
And for me, My first sight(no pun intended) of Ms. Perrine was her brief nude appearance in the PBS broadcast of the play STEAMBATH(as you also brought up). She lit up the screen regardless of what the movie she was in was about.


Sepiatone

[laffite]

Double Jeopardy (1999) An appalling story. The second most least entertaining movie that has ever been my displeasure to get through all the way to the finish. It 'has the usual requisite number of disgustingly nasty human beings and and contains the single most morbidly disturbing scene of any I have ever witnessed and is so awful that peace of mind is in jeopardy if ambushed by the thought. The makers of this piece of crap don't even know what the title means. They think, in effect, that if you are acquitted of murder, it's okay to commit another one with impunity. Double Jeopardy, you know. The movie is rated R. Pretty stringent for the lack of gore. We have a scene like that early, but mere blood doesn't bother me. It's the more creative aspects of murder and cruelty that can affect me. I attribute this to old age. The older one gets, the more vivid one identifies. I could have tossed this off without a qualm in earlier days.//

[Intrepid37]

I just watched Camille Claudel (1988) starring Isabelle Adjani.

What a sad story. Immensely talented but so severely neurotic about what she felt was unjustifiably withheld recognition that she let herself go nearly feral. Good movie and well-acted - but such an ultimately depressing one.

[laffite]

I just watched Camille Claudel (1988) starring Isabelle Adjani.

What a sad story. Immensely talented but so severely neurotic about what she felt was unjustifiably withheld recognition that she let herself go nearly feral. Good movie and well-acted - but such an ultimately depressing one.

To be an artist, O Woe. Depressing yes, a little ... but artistically so, and by that I don't refer to sculpture but the artistry of the film. I would loathe to overlook the beauty of the finale to Tchaikovsky's Sixth by being too aware of a surface depressive quality.

[Swithin]

I just watched Camille Claudel (1988) starring Isabelle Adjani.

What a sad story. Immensely talented but so severely neurotic about what she felt was unjustifiably withheld recognition that she let herself go nearly feral. Good movie and well-acted - but such an ultimately depressing one.

To be an artist, O Woe. Depressing yes, a little ... but artistically so, and by that I don't refer to sculpture but the artistry of the film. I would loathe to overlook the beauty of the finale to Tchaikovsky's Sixth by being too aware of a surface depressive quality.

My favorite movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth (the "Pathetique") is the second, "Allegro con grazia." It's used to great effect in Maurice (1987). Appropriate, of course, for a gay movie to reference the Pathetique. The excerpt appears, from about the 12 to 13 minute point in the film, although it's mentioned earlier.

[CinemaInternational]

I admit I haven't been posting as much here recently, and I apologize about that. It's partially due to schedules, but its also partly due to my going on another TV show binge watching period, after I crossed the threshold of having seen 6,000 films throughout my lifetime on Pentecost/Memorial Day weekend.

Most of the TV shows I have been going through are generally regarded as high quality network shows (St. Elsewhere, NYPD Blue, Northern Exposure, LA Law, Newhart, Hill Street Blues, The Bob Newhart Show) or ventures into exploring series I hadn't tried before on YouTube (Julia, Reasonable Doubts, Anything but Love, Hooperman, The Tracey Ullman Show), but my morbid curiosity about one of TV's biggest ever fiascos has put me in a pickle, for my reaction didn't match its reputation.

The show is 1990's Cop Rock, from Steven Bochco, the creator of Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, and LA Law. The show was a tough-minded piece about urban decay, crooked politicians, dirty cops, racism, and interpersonal tensions that just happened to make room for five musical performances (ranging from rock through rap, power ballads, country, Motown style, etc.) in every episode; it managed to become a complete laughingstock in 1990 during its brief 11-episode-run on ABC where every episode cost $2 million, and later was picked by TV Guide as one of the 10 worst shows ever made in 2002.

It is tempting just to save face and say that it is the fiasco that was claimed, and it is true that the dancing (when it does appear, usually only once an episode) is exceedingly terrible , some of the musical numbers are hopelessly campy and cheesy, and some of the lyrics can make one wince (namely "Bigger is better/when it's under a sweater" in a plastic surgery themed production number or the number where a black market baby dealer sings about his trade). But it is the strangest thing. The show's go-for-broke sincerity won me over. Most of the songs actually do work, being intensely personal songs exposing the innest-most emotions of the characters, their frustrations, fears, and their longings. The story surrounding the songs is astonishingly hardboiled with almost all of the characters being morally compromised, from cold-blooded murder, through political corruption, to the more garden variety such as insane jealousy. And not only cops sing, so do politicians, crooked lawyers, gangs, junkies, homeless people, juries, and criminals. It's an extremely bold vision, and more often than not, it is compulsively watchable and alarmingly timely in its storyline (it also seems to catch extremely well the high tension mood of LA 2 years before the 1992 chaos). And there are a few haunting moments (such as one in the pilot where a junkie sings to her baby girl before selling her to the black market or one in episode 8, when a group of women mourn the passing of a child in a drive-by shooting) that are astonishing television that are enough to make anyone reconsider. Those on the lookout for future stars should note that Bochco reused a couple of players on NYPD Blue and that Sheryl Crow is front and center in the opening production number in the final episode as an undercover police woman on the trail of a rapist.

It's somewhat hard to go out on a limb this far, with something that was and is so plainly hated, and I'm pretty sure that most, if not everyone else here will find it just as bad as its reputation. But there is something so flat out honest and brave about it (the final scene literally has everyone in the cast break the fourth wall by singing about the show being cancelled) that I admired its sheer chutzpah. And its also thrilling to see such gutsy TV from a basic network, from a period when the channels were still taking great risks.

[Masha]

The show is 1990's Cop Rock, from Steven Bochco, the creator of Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, and LA Law. The show was a tough-minded piece about urban decay, crooked politicians, dirty cops, racism, and interpersonal tensions that just happened to make room for five musical performances (ranging from rock through rap, power ballads, country, Motown style, etc.) in every episode; it managed to become a complete laughingstock in 1990 during its brief 11-episode-run on ABC where every episode cost $2 million, and later was picked by TV Guide as one of the 10 worst shows ever made in 2002.

This brings to my mind how surprised and curious I was when introduced to: Phineas and Ferb (2007-2015). Each episode had a musical extravaganza. I thought at first that it was a trifle over the top but they did integrate it well and there was never a song simply for the sake of having a song. I do not recall a classical piece but I believe they had every other genre and style of music.

I believe the musical numbers may have been conceived to induce children to sing and dance along to engage them in the: 'you can do anything' motif of the series. It was usually only the young characters performing. The only character with any musical background was the mother/step-mother Linda who had been a one-hit wonder in the 1980s as Lindana singing: "I'm Lindana and I Wanna Have Fun". The animators perfectly captured the look on her face when she heard her song being played as elevator music! It was just so precious!

[Hibi]

I happened to see the last twenty minutes or so of Lenny while I was waiting for Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in The Verdict. It's often interesting to see parts of a film out of context. Lenny is the kind of film I feel like I ought to see rather than one I genuinely want to see. I would never have wanted to go see Lenny Bruce perform.

What I gleaned from the last twenty minutes: the film is as arty as all get-out, well-made by some talented people. Cinematography and editing are excellent. Valerie Perrine was very believable, much better in these scenes than Dustin Hoffman, who was Dustin Hoffman. At some point I should see the whole thing. Maybe.

Yes, that was how I felt when watching it. Something I should see, but didn't enjoy watching. It was well made, but I didn't like the film and wouldn't watch it again (didn't see it when it was released for whatever reason).

[Hibi]

This is the first time in a long time I watched a whole block of films one after the other, starting last night at 8:00PM EST



Gilda Live (1980) TCM -6/10

A filmed performance of Gilda Radner's Broadway revue.

I had seen this years ago, it was a hit and miss show with Gilda doing some of her most famous SNL characters, which are the best parts. Director Mike Nichols chose to film some backstage stuff which I don't think was needed. Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) is given a bit too much footage.
But Gilda provides some hilarious moments with characters like Judy Miller, the little Brownie who does her own fantasy TV show in her room, nerdy Lisa Loopner playing "The Way We Were' at a high school recital, Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci ("Aren't I cute?") and gross newscaster Rosanne Rosannadanna making a guest speech at a journalism school graduation. Some good musical moments like the vulgar "Let's Talk Dirty To The Animals' and the sweet "Honey" at the end.



Valerie (2019 TCM 6/10

A documentary short about actress Valerie Perrine.

Since this is a short, it doesn't get too much into Perrine's career. She is now in very ill health suffering from Parkinsons and it is heart breaking to watch this once energetic and cheerful lady no longer able to walk or fend for herself. Some good clips of her performances in Lenny (1974) and one of my favorite PBS performances of the play Steambath (1973). Some of her celebrity friends like Angie Dickinson, George Hamilton and Loni Anderson have nice things to say. Those scenes of her now take up most of the time and are hard to watch.



Lenny (1974)TCM 7/10

A look at comedian Lenny Bruce's (Dustin Hoffman) battles with the law over his comedy act.

I had seen this before but couldn't remember much. The acting by Hoffman and Valerie Perrine as his stripper wife is excellent. Bob Fosse's direction is good, the B&W photography fits the story well. I usually don't like to compare older films to modern times but I was really struck by one scene where Lenny lets loose with some racial slurs on stage to show that suppression of a word gives it power. It made me think if Lenny Bruce were alive and active today he would get censored and harassed again.

Yes, sadly, I'm sure Bruce would be in trouble again if he were around today with all the book banning and bluenoses trying to "protect us". I had no idea what Valerie Perrine was dealing with in her life. She had such a promising career in the beginning. I never knew what had become of her. Really sad. I'm glad TCM decided to air it.

[CinemaInternational]

Strange Days (1995) was a big financial flop when it first opened, but it has seemingly been getting a second life recently due to increased interest in its director (Kathryn Bigelow, years before she won the Oscar) and for its portrayal of LA as a warzone , but the film is definitely not a very good experience. Sure, Ralph Fiennes is always good, and Angela Bassett is exceptional here, but despite that its always absorbing and often visually striking, it is also frankly very distasteful, especially in the scene where a woman is tortured, raped, and killed, with the camera in the rapist's point of view. That would be sick in any context, but that it is in a film directed by a woman makes it feel even queasier.

[Intrepid37]

Strange Days was wild. It's not a rape that made me think so - it's the cops. I remember mentioning this movie to a buddy the day after I watched it on Pay TV.

I have it now in my disc collection.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Battles Of Chief Pontiac (1952) Youtube-4/10

An Army scout (Lex Barker) tries keep peace between the whites and the Indian tribe of Chief Pontiac (Lon Chaney Jr.)

A standard Western of the time, more talk than battles. I saw it for Chaney and he gives a restrained, dignified performance as Pontiac. Only other interesting thing about it is Barry Kroeger as an evil Hessian soldier who wants to wipe out the "savages". He gets his comeuppance in an unusual way at the end.

[Intrepid37]

Battles Of Chief Pontiac (1952) Youtube-4/10

An Army scout (Lex Barker) tries keep peace between the whites and the Indian tribe of Chief Pontiac (Lon Chaney Jr.)

A standard Western of the time, more talk than battles. I saw it for Chaney and he gives a restrained, dignified performance as Pontiac. Only other interesting thing about it is Barry Kroeger as an evil Hessian soldier who wants to wipe out the "savages". He gets his comeuppance in an unusual way at the end.

Lon Chaney Jr.

Big fan!

[Allhallowsday]

THE APPLE (1980) on TCM last night...  



Leftover Glam Rock costumes with moth holes and bad bad bad songs.  It ranks... well, just rank.  Made me laugh unintentionally several times, but it's a cardinal sin for a movie : BORING!  

No singing, no acting, no songs!  Marginally musical, worth a few laughs at it's cheapo crappiness, but just dreadful.   MANOS is more entertaining.

[Intrepid37]

THE APPLE (1980) on TCM last night...  



Leftover Glam Rock costumes with moth holes and bad bad bad songs.  It ranks... well, just rank.  Made me laugh unintentionally several times, but it's a cardinal sin for a movie : BORING!  

No singing, no acting, no songs!  Marginally musical, worth a few laughs at it's cheapo crappiness, but just dreadful.   MANOS is more entertaining.

It has a reputation as being possibly the worst movie ever made. I just had to see it.

But I fell asleep last night before 2 - and I missed it!

I'm really bummed about that.