Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 56
Sign: Aquarius
City: Upstate
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
Signup Date: 4/23/2006
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Thursday, June 18, 2009
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Haven't been around these parts much lately.
Sorry, folks. Guess you can blame some of
that on daughter Julie being home and demanding
a lot of my time, time I'm happy (mostly)
to give. You know what they say about people
on their deathbeds--they all wish they'd've
spent more time with their families. As of
yet, there are no recorded instances of someone's
last words being. "I wish I'd blogged
more!..."
That said, let's just briefly run down some
of the things that have occurred in the Hembeck
household these last few weeks, shall we?
Went to see "I Love You, Man",
the funniest film I've seen in a long, long
time, and the only one in recent times, aside
from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall",
that made me laugh out loud consistently
throughout (usually, I'm good for a chuckle
or two, and some smiles, tops, when I see
a comedy). With all due respect to Paul Rudd,
I give the lion's share of credit to Jason
Segel, Rudd's costar in the former, and the
star--and writer--of the latter. The funniest
man on screen today, to my way of thinking,
and my favorite of all the "Freaks and
Geeks" alums. His Lou Ferrigno impression
while Rudd's on the phone was merely one
of the flick's hilarious highlights!!
Spent an afternoon watching nearly two hours
of firetrucks from various fire companies,
both near and far, parade up a local street
in celebration of the 60th anniversary of
our local fire department. Went back later
that night to watch a great firework's show.
The next day, with Julie, I climbed my first
mountain. Not the kind where you need ropes
or equipment, but still fairly steep at the
precipice. Nifty view of the Hudson River
up top. Coming down, we ran into a young
British fellow carrying his bike on his shoulder--apparently,
he thought he'd be able to access the path
via peddling. He wasn't--he passed us on
the way down, never having reached the summit.
Maybe next time a unicycle?...
I've read the second (and final) volume of
the Human Torch Marvel Masterworks, Fantagraphics
Blazing Combat collection, and the sumptuously
oversized Best of Simon and Kirby compendium,
absolute delights, each and every one!! Y'know,
Bob Powell sure had one odd stint at Marvel
during the sixties (see also, Giant-Man Marvel
Masterworks, volume two)...
Julie's friend Cara brought over her Beatles
version of Monopoly for a sleep-over a few
weeks back, which I thought was pretty neat,
seeing as how (yes, believe it or not) I
don't own one. However, it launched Julie
onto a Monopoly playing frenzy, a game which
is fun to play, oh, once every few years,
and maybe tolerable once every few months--but
every few DAYS? Yeesh. She's roped me in
several times, but I'm gonna take a pass
until her boyfriend Alec comes down to visit
next month--I need a break. Luckily, for
my sanity and hers, she can play the game
online with equally enthusiastic strangers...
There's been a recent rash of unexpected
contact with folks I went to college with,
to high school with, and even grade school
with!! Some very interesting back stories
included with these surprise emails, but
nothing I'm prepared to share with you here.
Think I'll save it for my memoirs. (wait
a second--isn't THIS my memoirs?...)
Watched this episode of The Outer Limits on YouTube. Martin Landau sure does sell
this creaky old sci-fi chestnut--and hey,
who knew Shirley Knight was such a cutie
back in the day?
Did the usual drudge work to get the pool
into shape for swimming, and then didn't
swim. This has got to be the rainiest, coolest
June in recent memory around these parts.
You'd think that by June 17th, you could
leave your windows open at night. You'd think
that, but you'd be wrong.
I endured this past weekend's annual Mets/Yankees
match-up at The New House Ruth Financed.
Yanks take two of three, with the first game
going the Bombers way thanks to Luis Castillo's
already infamous dropped pop-fly at second
in the bottom of the ninth with two outs,
thrusting victory into the arms of a stunned
Yankee team 9-8, as two men score, down 8-7
only seconds earlier. And then watching ace
Johan Santana having the worst start of his
career, eventually losing 15-0 on Sunday.
But at least journeyman Fernando Nieve, as
an emergency fill-in for ailing John Maine,
stopped the pinstripers, 6-2, in the middle
game. And, along with rookie outfielder Fernando
Martinez and super-sub Fernando Tatis playing
first, set a major league record--the first
time three players named Fernando had ever
played in the same game, much less been in
the starting line-up together! As there have
only been 13 other players named Fernando
in all of MLB history, I'd say that's quite
an accomplishment. Hey, I'm a Mets fan--I
gotta find SOMETHING to cheer about!...
Julie and I watched all 13 episodes of "Wonder
Falls" on DVD, a terrific little TV
show that Fox axed after four episodes a
few years back. I caught two of 'em at the
time, and then picked up the DVD when it
came out, but never quite got around to watching
it. I'm glad Julie finally goaded me into
doing so, as it has to qualify as one of
the most inventive and entertaining shows
ever to grace a television screen. Netflix
it--you won't be disappointed (Julie's already
seen the first episode three times, playing
it for various friends, who've responded
just as enthusiastically).
Oh, and in case you don't know the basic
premise, it's about a semi-hostile 24 year
old retail clerk at a Niagara Falls souvenir
shop who starts receiving unwanted cryptic
advice from various inanimate animals, such
as Teddy bears and wax lions! Sounds crazy,
huh? But it works, oh yes, it most surely
does. But hey, don't take MY word for it--see for yourself!!...
Currently, we're making our way through the
first season of "The Office" (American
version). I've seen them before, Julie hasn't,
but I'm especially enjoying all the deleted
scenes that are entirely fresh to me.
Dug out a tape which had "Galaxy Quest"
on it, watched it with Lynn. A pleasant,
smile-worthy comedy. No Jason Segel anywhere
in sight, tho....
Then there's Der Bingle. Alan Plessinger
pointed me towards this link on YouTube for "The Country
Girl", a film which featured an Oscar winning
performance from co-star Grace Kelly (and
a nom nod to Crosby, who lost out to a fellow
named Brando). This was one of those flicks
that I'd heard about repeatedly ever since
I was a kid, but still knew very little about.
Yes, I knew Bing played an alcoholic, yes,
I knew hs character was married to Grace
Kelly, and yes, I knew about the various
Academy Awards it garnered. But I thought
it took place in the country, and since it
was a drama, that there wasn't any music.
Wrong on both counts--Bing plays a washed-up
singer getting one last chance to headline
a Broadway show thanks to the play's director,
William Holden. Man, can Bing ACT!! He really
surprised me, effortlessly falling into a
haunted gaze whenever the script warranted
it--which was often. Conversely, Kelly seems
a bit stiff, not nearly as natural as Crosby,
and many of the script's attitudes seem outmoded
today (particularly Holden's regarding Kelly).
The movie is nonetheless engrossing and worth
seeing simply for the old crooner's performance.
I was thus prompted to dig out an unwatched
TCM VHS tape featuring several of Crosby's
films, beginning with "Going Hollywood",
a 1933 flick made 21 years before the previously
discussed movie. I found this notable because
I'd never seen top-billed Marion Davies,
one time gal pal to William Randolph Hearst,
in anything but "Citizen Kane"
documentaries before. Not a horrible talent,
but clearly not a great one, either.But hey,
here's a truly unique trivia note--there's
no mistaking Sterling Holloway in an early
scene as a sound technician despite the fact
that he utters but only a single word with
that distinctive voice of his, but it took
me a trip over to imdb to figure out who
the familiar sounding--but unfamiliar looking--actor
was playing the part of the casting director.
Turns out it was a young Phil Tead, who,
twenty some odd years later would play Professor
Pepperwinkle in six episodes of "The
Adventures of Superman", taking over
in spirit for Holloway, who portrayed a similar
(if variously named) character three times
earlier during the run of the George Reeves
starrer!! BOTH crackpot professors in one
movie!! Wow! Well, I was impressed anyway...
Lastly, I should mention that the 7th issue
of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY was scheduled
to be released to comics stores today, featuring
my "Petey" story guest-starring
the Drumm Brothers, the eventual Sorcerer
Supreme of the Marvel Universe (at least,
that's what my spies tell me. I've also heard
that Captain America is alive!! ALIVE!! Gosh,
whoda thot?...). I certainly hope a few of
you pick up the issue and enjoy the story.
And it looks as if there'll be another "Petey"
episode coming along soon!! Yay!
Now, if I could just untangle myself from
that nasty Marvin Gardens housing scandal
and get down to work on it...
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
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Current mood:  animated
Where's There's Hope, Part Two
Dolores Hope, widow of the legendary Bob
Hope, celebrated her one hundredth birthday
today, six years after her husband had previously
reached the century mark on his own (passing
away under just slightly two months later).
We here at Hembeck.com salute this remarkable
achievement, one that no doubt has the four
Hope children singing, "Thanks For The
Memories--AND The DNA!!"...
(Well, maybe if they weren't all adopted
it would, but hey, I wanna tell ya...)
Hall of Infamy
One of the most unforgettable experiences
of my life was a watching a movie called
"The Sadist" with my mom when I
was eleven years old.
(Well, sure--how could it NOT be?...)
The year was 1964. As sometimes happened,
I found myself sitting in the same room as
my mom as she channel surfed while I paid
scant attention, instead focused intently
on my comic book de jour. Usually she'd catch
a late night "Perry Mason" rerun
or an old Hollywood chestnut, and the action
up on the screen would barely make an impression
on yours truly.
But somehow, this night was different.
Maybe it was seeing the name Arch Hall, Jr.
in the credits--hey, wasn't he the guy from
"Eegah!" (with Richard Kiel in
the non-Geico caveman title role) and "Wild
Guitar"? Those movies were fun--maybe
this one would be too.
Boy, was I ever wrong THERE!
I don't think I even knew what a sadist was
going into this movie, but I sure did afterwards.
The plot is simple: three schoolteachers,
two male, one female, are on their way to
see a game at Dodger Stadium when some minor
car trouble diverts them to an out of the
way gas station in search of help, but instead
have the extreme bad fortune to stumble across
Charlie Tibbs (Hall) and his teen-aged girlfriend,
Judy (Marilyn Manning). The psychopathic
Tibbs had already killed several innocent
people before making his initial screen entrance,
and it's very quickly established that he
has absolutely no compunction about adding
these three to his grim total.
The remainder of the film plays out largely
in real time, a nerve-wracking game of cat
and mouse (with, as expected, the cat winning
more often than the mouse). Hall's performance
may appear cartoonish at times, but it's
that very quality that makes it so thoroughly
effective as a portrayal of a man totally
devoid of empathy for other human beings.
The film is harrowing, brutal, and absolutely
unforgettable--especially if you're eleven
years old and watching it in the company
of your mother!!
I don't recall what I may've said to mom
when the end credits mercifully filled the
screen--I probably mumbled a few vaguely
non-committal comments, not wanting to let
on just how shook up I was--but from that
moment on, I was curious to see it again,
just to make sure I actually saw what I saw!!
It never played on TV again.
Well, at least not in my area. And believe
me, I checked--each week, when we got the
latest issue of the TV Guide, I'd read through
the listing of that week's upcoming movies
(remember when TV Guide actually had helpful
features like that?...), always to no avail.
Except for a single capsule review nestled
away in an issue of CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN,
I never saw any reference whatsoever to the
movie in print. But I sure never forgot it,
and one of the first things I did when I
dove headfirst into surfing the net about
a decade back was Google it.
Seems as if it made an impression on OTHER
folks as well, and is now considered something
of an overlooked classic. And NOT--trust
me--one of those "so bad it's good"
type classics (despite some of the ripeness
of Hall's acting). This movie still packs
a jolt. I know--thanks to it being issued
as one of those cheap, public domain type
DVDs awhile back, I finally watched it a
second time a few years back, and it STILL
left me drained afterwards.
Ten years after "The Sadist" first
hit the drive-ins in 1963, a movie called
"Badlands' was released to great critical
acclaim, starring a young Martin Sheen and
an even younger Sissy Spacek. Like "The
Sadist", the scenario and the characters
were suggested by the real life killing spree
Charlie Starkweather and his high-school
aged girl friend, Caril-Ann Fugate, embarked
on in 1958. I saw "Badlands" back
when it originally came out--not since--and
remember it as a well-done flick, but, despite
the obvious violence included in the story's
course, nowhere near as disturbing as the
Arch Hall Jr. version. The approach here
was to get somewhat into the heads of Sheen
and Spacek. You NEVER get into the head of
Hall's character--you just wanted to get
AWAY from him!
Aside from the classic monster flicks of
the thirties and forties--and the cheesy
sci-fi of the fifties--I'd hardly call myself
a horror movie fan. My familiarity with modern
day cinematic terror is pretty much limited
to "Psycho", the original "Night
Of The Living Dead", the first "Halloween",
"The Exorcist", and "Alien"--never
witnessed a chainsaw massacre, visited Elm
Street or the last house on the left, or
wandered into the theater on Friday the 13th,
so I may not be one to judge, but for my
money, "The Sadist" is the most
frightening film I've ever seen. Because
there's absolutely nothing in it that's unbelievable--given
the right circumstances, it could play out
all too easily in real life. Never has a
movie set almost entirely outdoors seemed
so claustrophobic, the so-called wide open
spaces providing almost no chance for escape.
Four decades went by between my pair of viewings.
A little over ninety minutes pass for the
hapless trio who innocently set out to see
a ballgame on a warm sunny day in California.
In the intervening years, I'd naturally forgotten
some of the film's specific details, but
what I never forgot was the ironic juxtaposition
found in the final scene that hammers home
the palpable sense of senseless loss which,
in the end, is what this film is all about.
And after hearing me go on and on about "
The Feel Bad Flick of 1963", if there
are still a few of you out there who'd like
to actually see it for yourselves--well,
you're in luck (sorta...)! You CAN, as just
the other day I noticed that YouTube has
recently posted it for your viewing unenjoyment
on their official full-length movie page
(as well as a pair of other, campier Arch
Hall, Jr. classics, both of whose links I
include simply as the relief you'll no doubt
eventually crave from the unrelentingly grim
nature of "The Sadist")!
Here they are...
"The Sadist"(1:32)
"Eegah!"(1:30)
"Wild Guitar"(1:34)
Like I said, while this sure ain't a happy
movie, and though there's virtually no onscreen
blood or gore spilled, it's not an easy movie
to watch--or to turn away from once you begin.
Hey, even mom would have to agree--it sure
was a lot more horrifying than your run-of-the-mill
episode of "Perry Mason", that's
for certain!!...
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Friday, May 22, 2009
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Before I get down to wheeling and dealing
today's ten new illos, I'd like to make a
few publishing announcements and offer a
few links of personal interest.
First off, I've been informed by several
readers out there that the 50th issue of
CAPTAIN AMERICA with my two page tribute
to the Sentinel of Liberty (colored ever
so niftily by Chris Giarusso--I've seen scans,
if not the actual comic) hit the stands this
very week!! It may be only a scant pair of
pages, but remember--one Hembeck page promises
double (and sometimes triple) the reading
enjoyment of most other scribe's single pages,
so if you're so inclined, I suggest you seek
it out, and I sure do hope you like it!!
(And if you do, TELL someone! Like, hmm,
maybe Tom Brevoort?...)
I'm doubly delighted to report that my ten
page "Petey" epic, "Loa and
Order", guest starring the Drumm brothers,
is scheduled to appear in the very next issue
of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY, number seven,
out in one short month!! Again, while there
are high hopes and tentative plans for more
such stories (you DO want to witness young
Petey Parker's first meeting with Johnny
Storm, don't you?...), it wouldn't hurt my
chances any if you'd drop a line saying as
much to one of the Mighty Marvel Big-Wigs!!
Beyond that, I'd like to take a second to
officially congratulate my buddy, Roger Green, and his lovely missus, Carol, on chalking
up a full decade of marriage--to each other, even!! This notable event
took place last week whilst I was off-line
and visiting--oddly enough--the honeymoon
capital of the world, Niagara Falls!! Significant
of nothing, I suppose, both worth a mention
just the same!! In any event, big-time congrats
to both Roger and Carol--and as long as you
two stay clear of Angelina Jolie, I'm sure
everything will be fine!...
Then there's my OTHER old buddy, Rocco Nigro,
who's finally joined the internet revolution
with a blog of his own, "On The Rocs"! He's just getting started up, but you can
still go check out some of his intriguingly
surrealistic art, as well as a review of
that recently published collection of Golden
Age Boody Rogers stories!! Nice job, fella--now
we just need to get you on Facebook where
you can mingle with the likes of yours truly
and the faux Bob Crumb...
Well, that brings our pre-commercial commercial
announcements to an end--now, LET THERE BE
ART!! (Um, but you'll have to go over to today's Fred Sez blog entry to see it...)
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
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Lucky Seven?
I've been remiss. Below you'll find my seven most recent Fred Sez
blog entries (save for a few featuring new Hembeck illos and one
focusing on some ridiculous Rawhide Kid panels--use the link if you're
curious, and scroll down). I'll try to not get so far behind again. In
the meantime, if you haven't read these before, enjoy...
Boris, Boris, Boris!! (..And A Pair Of Belas...)
Well, I finished watching the other three
Boris Karloff films that were on that TCM
tape with the "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome"
flick I told you about the other day. Y'know,
I find it pretty hard to believe, but as
best I can figure, I'd never actually seen
"The Black Cat" or "The Raven"
before--though the latter's climactic "pit
and the pendulum" sequence seemed awfully
familiar, likely because it was featured
in a documentary about co-star Bela Lugosi
that I caught on PBS years ago. Inasmuch
as both of these films garnered heavy visual
coverage in the sixties' era monster mags
I was briefly obsessed with, finally seeing
them produced an odd sense of deja vu. Images,
burned into my impressionable pre-teen mind,
were finally playing themselves out on my
TV screen, four and a half decades later!!
Very odd sensation.
As for the movies themselves, the pre-Hays
Code "The Black Cat" is easily
superior to the following year's (1935)
"The
Raven". Both have little to do
with
Edgar Allen Poe, both offer enough
blatantly
implied torture to keep any and all
of Lon
Chaney's distant relatives happy, and
both
feature the scene-chewing thespian
technique
of Bela Lugosi, an acting approach
that doesn't
differ much whether he's playing the
bad
guy in "The Raven" or the
good
guy in "The Black Cat".
Karloff, on the other hand, displays
an admirable
versatility--though he's mostly wasted
with
a largely mute role in "The Black
Cat"
(as well as being made to suffer a
less than
classic make-up job). By contrast,
as the
urbane devil worshiper in "The
Black
Cat", he oozes menace even when
traipsing
about his futuristic act deco mansion
in
his dressing gown!!
But the real surprise for me was the OTHER
Karloff-starrer, 1937's "West of Shanghai",
a movie I was frankly totally unfamiliar
with. The story isn't much--several Americans
travel to China in hopes of making claims
on a recently discovered oil field, only
to run into a Chinese warlord, who takes
them all as his prisoners. Boris, the aforementioned
warlord, doesn't actually show up until about
15 minutes into this zippy 64 minute programmer,
but once he does, things REALLY start to
cook!!
I was fully expecting him to be a total brute,
an unfettered Ghengis Khan type. Instead,
delivering his lines rapid-fire in broken
English, always with an underlying sense
of amusement, Karloff's General Fang is more
Charlie Chan by way of Damon Runyon!! Like
I said, the plot's nothing much, but there's
more than enough enjoyment to had listening
to Karloff trade snappy patter with the rest
of the cast to more than justify catching
the flick if you ever get the chance!!
Going along with that line of thinking, I
had sincerely hoped the whole thing was up
on YouTube somewhere, but alas, 'tis not
the case. However, there IS the original trailer for the film
posted, and the two-and a half minutes it takes
to eye-ball it may give you a taste of what
I'm talking about. (Notice how even the on-screen
blurbs are tongue -in-cheek, with the star
billed as "Boris "Baby-scarer"
Karloff"). Oh, and if the previews make
ol' Boris out to be a bit more blood-thirsty
than I described, please not that most of
his threats encapsulated there-in were empty
(though the two characters he does kill--or
has killed--during the film truly had it
coming.).
"West of Shanghai" gave me new
and deeper appreciation for Karloff's acting
prowess. Too bad he was usually type-cast
as a baddie--there's evidence here that he
could've done very nicely supplied with some
dryly comedic material.
Bela on the other hand? Well, many of his
later movies WERE funny. Trouble was, they
generally weren't supposed to be. Oops...
The End--Or The Beginning?....
Yesterday, we went to see the Oscar
nominated
Best Picture contender, "The Reader",
featuring Kate Winslet's Best Actress
winning
performance. As these sorta things
go--former
female SS officers seducing underage
boys,
using sex to con them into reading
Homer's
"The Odyssey" and Tintin
comics
out loud to them--it was pretty good.
Winslet
truly deserved her prize, not only
for her
acting (which was exemplary) but also
for
the sheer guts it took to perform so
casually--and
convincingly--naked for most of the
first
third of the film!! Whoda ever thought
so
much skin and simulated sex could get
past
the old fogeys in the Academy and still
garner
you an Oscar? I guess the story's Holocaust
connection didn't hurt any...
But we're not here to talk about that. Decent
movie--go see it. No, I want to complain
about a trend I've been noticing of late,
one that "The Reader" was especially
guilty of:
Credits banished to the very end of
the movie.
And not just credits, but the actual
title
as well!
Look, I'm not a TOTAL idiot, okay?
I generally
KNOW what film I've just seen, but
still...
The movie ends, the screen goes black,
and
first up is the director's name (natch),
then the writer, then the author of
the original
source material. Fine, I say, if somewhat
begrudgingly. THEN the producers--of
course.
But if by now, you're expecting to
see names
of the stars of the film--much less
the actual
NAME of the thing, well, you're not
even
close!1.
No lie--the names of the HAIRDRESSERS
rolled
across the screen before the cast made
an
appearance--themselves preceding the
godforsaken
title, no less!! it had to be a good
three
or four minutes after the last scene
played
out before any of us still in the theater
learned that that was Ralph Fiennes
playing
the male lead and not Liam Neeson (hey,
an
easy mistake to make, y'know?...).
And I got a newsflash for you, Hollywood--THERE
WEREN'T HARDLY NO ONE LEFT IN THE THEATER
BY THAT TIME!!!
There never is. It's amazing to see
folks
flee these darkened arenas as soon
as the
lights come up but before the credits
begin
to role in earnest--you'd think people
were
afraid that the last one out would
be obligated
to pay for the Best Boy's college education
or somesuch!!
The truth is, you'd think the film-makers
would WANT the folks watching their
movies
to know exactly WHO was responsible
and put
the credits--at least SOME of the credits
(catering can wait til' later--no objections
THERE...) at their flick's outset.
But no.
Someone. sometime decided it was way
cooler
to list the credits at the conclusion
of
a film, and now EVERYONE does it!!
I was
struck by the fact that "Coraline"
DIDN'T resort to this now-tired device,
and
actually let the audience know who
was responsible
up front--because, god knows, even
with some
nifty animation accompanying the end
credits,
fully two-thirds of the patrons in
the theater
that afternoon fled their seats as
soon as
the curtain came down on the story
proper.
So, c'mon, you cinematic artistes out
there--put
your masterpiece's name right up front.
We
won't think less of you, promise. Don't
be
shy--Kate Winslet certainly wasn't,
and look
what it got HER!...
Hang In There, Harold!!
When it comes to the so-called golden age
of silent comedy, is there any single image
more iconic than Harold Lloyd dangling precipitously
from the hands of a building's clock, high
above the streets below?
And yet, it was only recently that I FINALLY
saw the film that contains this famous sequence,
1923's "Safety Last". Fact is,
until I dug out an eight hour tape made back
in 2003, when TCM broadcast an entire day's
worth of his movies, I'd pretty much never
seen a Harold Lloyd movie PERIOD!! Not really
my fault, though--as indicated here, Lloyd owned a majority of his own films,
and back in the sixties--when I would've
been most likely to have viewed them--he
was asking too much money to broadcast 'em,
so most station managers chose chump change
for Chaplin over loads of largess for Lloyd.
Makes sense, I guess--but it also deprived
me from appreciating the bespeckled comedian
for way, WAY too long!!
The tape I had on hand was arranged chronologically,
beginning with several shorts made in the
late teens, then onto to a few Roaring Twenties
era features (including his other classic,
"The Freshman"), finishing up with
an early pair of sound vehicles, "Welcome
Danger" (1929) and "Movie Crazy"
(1932). (Check out this fascinating article about
"Welcome Danger'', Lloyd's first talkie. Originally filmed
as a silent picture--AND clocking in at an
astonishing 2 hours and 45 minutes!!--a majority
of the picture was refilmed with sound after
Lloyd witnessed the amazed reactions of audiences
to other early talkies, adding dubbed dialog
to the rest, while shaving off over an hour
of the original's bloated running time. Frankly,
it's a bit of a mess, but an interesting
mess that's not with out it's bright spots.
Right from the get-go, though, Lloyd comes
across as tremendously comfortable speaking
on screen. In fact, opposite the delightful
Constance Cummings in "Movie Crazy",
Lloyd makes for a very appealing romantic
(albeit comedic) leading man.)
But forget all that for now. Let's talk "Safety
Last". It's one of those universally
accepted classics of the silent era. Hey,
I've SEEN some of those universally accepted
classics in my time, and I'm often left scratching
my head afterwards, wondering just what all
the fuss was about. Not this time. It's a
wonderfully conceived film, and far more
than the few famous seconds used in every
compilation of famous film clips ever compiled.
That whole climbing up the side of a building
bit? It lasts nearly a half hour--and is
set up very nicely, storywise, in the time
preceding it. I wasn't a Harold Lloyd fan
before popping this tape into the VCR, but
"Safety Last" sold me.
And if you're not already sold, thanks
to
YouTube, you can take a look for yourself,
and maybe it'll sell YOU too!!
Safety Last Part 1
Safety Last Part 2
Safety Last Part 3
Safety Last Part 4
Safety Last Part 5
Safety Last Part 6
Safety Last Part 7
Safety Last Part 8
Amazing what you can do with a pair of glasses
and a whole lotta nerve...
Boys Will Be Boys
The other night, while searching unsuccessfully
for a tape containing a bunch of early Bing
Crosby flicks, I instead located that previously
elusive tape housing the 2000 telefim, "The
Beach Boys: An American Family", the
one I couldn't find a few weeks back, so
I instead watched "Return To The Batcave".
Well, this time around, I figured it was
fate, so simply I abandoned my quest for
Bing and inserted this tape into the VCR
instead.
Aside from The Beatles, The Beach Boys are
my all-time favorites, so you might wonder
why it took me so long to get around to watching
this particular bio-pic. Well, one reason
is, this ABC production hit the airwaves
a mere ten years after NBC's "Summer
Dreams: The Story of The Beach Boys".
That was the one that starred Bruce Greenwood
as Dennis Wilson, the wild brother, focusing
inordinately on his antics and limiting brother
Brian to second-banana status, ending with
the drummer's tragic drowning death. It was
also the film in which the Al Jardine character--Beach
Boy number 5, for those of you keeping score
at home--didn't merit a single line in the
teleplay!! Not one!! So maybe, back there
in the year 2000, I felt it was a bit too
soon to revisit once again this all too familiar
story (well, all too familiar at least to
ME).
But I'm glad I did!! Not only was proper
emphasis of this sprawling sage restored--composer
Brian Wilson being the focal point, followed
by his tyrannical father Murry, cousin (and
collaborator ) Mike Love, with Dennis coming
in a semi-distant fourth (though of course
he naturally gets the spotlight during the
recounting of his dalliance with the Manson
Family). Amazingly, THIS Al Jardine gets
plenty of dialog!! Even David Marks, his
brief early era replacement, gets several
scenes!! Frankly, I was amazed at the film's
excessive attention to the group's genesis.
I shouldn't have been--and wasn't, not once
the words "To Be Continued " flashed
across the screen!! This was TWO-PARTER!!
Four hours, not two!! D'oh--I totally forgot!
when i began watching! But at that point,
I was firmly committed (not to mention enthralled),
so I kept on going, taking in the whole thing
in one glorious single sitting.
Y'know, it's kinda pointless reviewing an
otherwise unavailable TV flick from nearly
ten years ago, except to say, if you're a
Beach Boys fan--or even harbor a minor interest
in the group--this flick is worth checking
out (if you can FIND it...).
The only scene available on the YouTube was
apparently posted by Nick Stabile, who portrayed
Dennis (him again!...). In it, lip-syncing to Dennis's actual vocal,
he performs the lovely "Forever"
for dad Murry (4: 32). This is perhaps the only scene in the entire
four hours in which Father Wilson comes off
agreeably. Likely that's because the very
next scene he's in (not included here), he
falls out of bed and suffers a fatal heart
attack. But at least Mr. Wilson made nice
with Dennis first...
Unlike the 1990 teleflick, this one ends
on an up note, focusing on a triumphant 1974
concert appearance of the revitalized Beach
Boys (with each member's eventual fate written
in text across close-ups of the various actors).
This ending mirrored the finale of The Three
Stooges ABC bio-pic of a year or so later
(the one with Michael Chiklis as Curly),
another recent--and belatedly--viewed hunk
of VHS tape by yours truly (and a much sillier
flick, as the flick's writers unconvincingly
tried to work Stoogisms into their protagonist's
everyday lives). That one had the rediscovered
comics meeting their new-found TV bred audience
for the first time, performing a live stage
show for their new generation of fans in
1959. Nice ending--BOTH times ABC used it.
But The Boys story didn't come to a halt
in 1974, not by a long-shot, as shown on
a special two hour edition of A&E's "Biography:
Brian Wilson", broadcast just a few
days before the ABC mini-series, and seemingly
done in conjunction with it (which I watched
AFTER the fictionalized version). Seeing
several of the anecdotes from the bio-pic
in turn verbalized by various interviewees--gee,
Brian really DID spill hot chocolate on his
future wife when he first met her!!--was
an odd experience, lemme tell ya! The last
quarter century of Brian's largely Beach
Boyless life is given due coverage, and it's
not always a pretty picture. In fact, it
rarely is. Against all odds, he survived.
But even if he didn't, his music will. I
go in and out of cycles--and up until I watched
all six hours of this tape, I'll admit, I
was on an "out" cycle. But y'know,
I ALWAYS come back to Beach Boys music eventually.
I never stay away for long, and thanks to
a little video nudging, everything from "Pet
Sounds" to "Sunflower" to
"Keepin" The Summer Alive"
is getting prime time play on the ol' CD
machine!! Can't say I'm going surfing anytime
soon--and these days, I really DON'T get
around--but that's okay. I'm more than happy
to simply sit in my room and enjoy the good
vibrations!!
I'm Ba-aaack!!
Pardon the absence.
Lynn and I left for Geneva last Monday, making
the five hour drive upstate to pick up daughter
Julie, who successfully completed her freshman
year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
It took us about two days to pack up all
her stuff, and what we didn't leave at her
boy friend Alec's apartment (like winter
coats and such), we barely managed to stuff
into our car--
AND THEN DROVE NORTH TO BUFFALO!!
Yup, it was time for a short vacation in
Buffalo, New York. Know that thirty-five
years ago this very month, I first met Lynn
Moss there, a freshman who'd been living
in the very same dorm as yours truly, though
we'd blissfully ignored each other for the
entire year until the waning weeks of the
spring semester. I don't need to tell you
how THAT came out! So naturally, Buffalo
equals good memories, and we wanted to share
those vibes with our offspring (the last
time we'd been in town was way back in 1988,
a couple years before Julie was hatched).
Big mistake.
The SUN Y Buffalo campus had changed significantly
even by 1988, eleven years after we had left--the
short of it is, there was an old, Main Street
campus where we had both lived and attended
most of our classes, and a new, just emerging
(circa 1974) campus located out in the middle
of nowhere about a twenty minute shuttle
ride away from the original campus, very
little of which was built while we attended
the school. NOW the new campus is the main
campus, a sprawling city in and of itself
(and almost totally unfamiliar to us alumni)
while the Main Street campus is now devoted
entirely to medical and dental grad students.
Norton Hall--once the bustling student union
of yore, has since been renamed, rebuilt,
and now houses dentists of the future and
is no longer open to indiscriminately wander
through!! And Cooke Hall--our beloved dorm?
The name has since been transferred over
to the no-longer-not-so-new campus, with
the front door locked to previous residents.
To add injury to insult, we were caught in
a sudden rainstorm during our trudge down
memory lane, a suitable end to a decidedly
imperfect tour.
(And things looked even more dire while reinvestigating
the various off-campus dwellings we rented
back in the day. Just about every familiar
landmark on Bailey Avenue was either gone
completely or regrettably run down. Main
Street was only slightly better--everything
changed, save for Parkside Candies remaining
intact, as well as--remarkably--Queen City
Comics!! (Though Queen City was originally
located on Bailey--by '88, it was on Main.
It was the first bona fide comics store I
ever regularly patronized--I can still recall
walking down there my first weekend on campus
and buying, among other books, the very first
appearance of Master of Kung Fu in Marvel
Special Edition. I never chatted much with
the folks behind the counter, though, and
my loyalties switched over to Grant Books
across town mid-way through my stay in Buffalo,
but it's nice to know they're still there.
Yes, I stopped in. No, I didn't recognize
anyone--unlike back in '88--I didn't buy
anything, and as per usual, didn't identify
myself. No point at this point, y'know?...)
So we spent a few hours with one of
Lynn's
aunts (another reason to visit the
area--my
wife has relatives in town) and visited
the
Albright Knox Art Gallery, and had
a mostly
good time. But going back to the old
school
in search of the past? Not the best
idea
we ever had.
Going to Niagara Falls on Friday? THAT was
a GREAT idea!! Remind me to tell you about
it sometime!
(And if you're Facebook friends with Lynn,
check out the three photo albums of 60 pics
each that she's already posted, with the
Buffalo chapter still to come. Ah, ain't
digital cameras grand? I'll try and share
a handful of the 200 plus that we took here
in the coming days, so don't say you haven't
been warned!...)
Saturday, after a seven hour trek down
the
New York Thruway, we finally arrived
home.
It was fully my intention to share
these
personal endeavors with you later that
self-same
evening, but with only minutes of Monday
left, I've FINALLY managed to bore
you with
the details of my mini-vacation in
Buffalo!!
Vacation in Buffalo?
Well, it SOUNDED like a good idea at the
time...
We Watched "Watchmen"!
Lynn, Julie and I just got back from the
theater, having viewed the film adaptation
of--as the credits would have it--the "graphic
novel co-created and illustrated by Dave
Gibbons", Mr. Moore apparently opting
to eschew any credit for the original scenario.
Without knowing specific details--I didn't
read any reviews (and still haven't) before
seeing the flick--I was nonetheless fully
aware that this big screen version did not
win universal plaudits from either folks
familiar with the source material or from
those blissfully unaware of it.
Me, I liked it.
Let me explain.
In the thirteen months it took DC to issue
the original limited series back in 1986/1987,
I read each of the twelve issues as they
came out--and haven't since. I have a paperback
collection of the whole thing I bought a
long time back, with the plan in the back
of my mind being to someday sit down and
enjoy the whole thing in a far more concentrated
period of time--but , well, I haven't, y'know?
But I have paged through it in recent times,
mostly looking for costume reference to do
up my own versions of the main cast. So,
I kinda knew the plot, having read the story
once twenty two years ago, and looking at
it, been reminded of some of the key visual
cues, but oh so many of the finer points
have long ago faded from my memory banks.
And the two hours and forty five minutes
I spent watching the, well, YOU know who--THAT
was the very first time I experienced the
story in toto without waiting a month in
between each chapter, and it sure makes a
difference.
Whether or not the film deviated from some
key elements of the comics, I couldn't truly
say. All I can say is that it worked for
me as a movie, mostly. Yes, it lacked some
of Moore's sublime verbiage, and while Gibbons
art was masterfully replicated in general,
the subtle artistry of his panel by panel
breakdowns--a particular strong point of
the original series--couldn't help but be
totally lost. But there's a lot of story
to be told, and it unfolds in segmented yet
mostly smooth fashion. I had no trouble following
it, and in fact, appreciated the ending more
than I did when I finally read the twelfth
and final issue (y'see, I had been anticipating
the greatest finish of all time, which is
fairly hard to deliver; sorta knowing what
was actually gonna happen made it far easier
to swallow). Lynn and Julie--neither of whom
knew the first thing about the storyline--both
proved up to the task of following the at
times convoluted plot, and enjoyed it, mostly.
About the aforementioned mostlys. The movie's
a bit on the violent side at times. Being
familiar with the comic, I knew this going
in. But you know what? A six panel sequence
of a thug being killed to so as to facilitate
another crook's access to a jailed Rorschach
is a whole lot more intense when amplified--and
expanded upon--on the big screen. The violence
in the comic book version of Watchmen never
seemed to be intended to titillate--I'm not
sure I can say the same for the movie version.
That was Lynn's big objection to the film,
and as someone who doesn't particularly care
for excessive bloodletting, it made me squirm
at times as well. I could more easily tolerate
the rudimentary fisticuffs favored by Nite
Owl and Silk Spectre as opposed to the Grand
Guigol-fueled antics of The Comedian and
Rorschach, even if the actual point was to
contrast their opposing approaches.
The actors? All fine. No one's gonna get
nominated for an Oscar, but no one embarrassed
themselves, either (though I thought that
nose hastily puttied onto the actor playing
Nixon WAS distracting at times...). I liked
the music, especially the clever way they
worked in Jimi Hendrix's version of "All
Along The Watchtower" (not nearly as
subtle a drop-in as the fleeting use of a
Supertramp ditty in the first Superman movie,
but decidedly more appropriate).
Overall, the so-called greatest graphic novel
of all time made for a decent movie--and
I think THAT'S why it failed to connect more
with either the general public or to devoted
Moore/Gibbons fans. "THIS was the greatest
graphic novel of all time?", the uninitiated
no doubt wondered, and to those to whom it
WAS the greatest graphic novel of all time,
well, it clearly wasn't the greatest movie
of all time, so they had to be disappointed
as well. Me, I know movies are movies and
comics are comics, and I try not to expect
them to be one and the same. So, it was a
decent movie. Now, I'm hoping to find some
time to finally reread the limited series--and
maybe then, I'll realize just how bad a movie
it was! But for tonight, save for witnessing
a little more blood splattered than I may've
liked (and I am ever so thankful we didn't
see it in IMAX!!...), I had a good time.
Better than I did at "The Dark Knight",
"The Hulk", or yes, even at "The
Spirit"--but nope, not "Iron Man".
On a side note, the theater was fairly full
(it was dollar day, reduced to a single showing
in the film's second and final week), and
unfathomably, someone brought a BABY to see
"Watchmen"! Forget who's watching
the Watchmen--who's watching those parents??
Geez, at least the kid was mostly quiet--and
may well've left midway through, as nary
a peep was heard after awhile--but still,
WHAT were they thinking?...
Another Day, Another Movie
We all went to see "Adventureland"
today (paid the full two dollar admission
as well--wanted to make sure we caught it
before it left the multiplex). Seeing that
this romantic teen comedy set at a run-down
amusement park, circa 1987, received a surprisingly
high average of 89% over at Rotten Tomatoes was impetus enough to get me to see a flick
I likely otherwise would've passed on (plus,
truth is, I'm a sucker for the amusement
park milieu).
It wasn't bad, but I sorta felt I'd already
seen it a few months back, as "Nick
and Norah's Infinite Playlist", whose
plot was very similar (and which I liked
a whole lot better--and not just because
I saw it first). Star Jesse Eisenberg--who
looks like a cross of SNL's Andy Samberg
and the aforementioned "Nick",
Michael Cera"--portrays a sensitive,
intellectual college grad (who also happens
to be a virgin) working a summer job at a
cheesy amusement park, before going off to
grad school in the fall. There he meets fellow
employee, the worldly Kristen Stewart (the
female star of the "Twilight" series).
Eventually (and inevitably), this mismatched
pair fall in love, but not without enduring
a fair amount of complications both before
and after.
Very few laughs, though--anybody expecting
a raunchy teen sexfest (which is how the
TV commercials tried to sell this) will be
sorely disappointed. Despite the obligatory
swearing, drinking, drugging, and (off-screen)
copulating, the heart of the story is sweet.
It's just that I must be going to too many
movies these days, as it sure feels as if
I've seen it all before. Stewart and Eisenberg
make for an attractive couple, but that's
ANOTHER thing--do girls like Stewart (or
Kat Dennings in "Nick and Norah")
REALLY wind up with guys like Eisenberg or
Cera, or are these movies as preposterous
fantasies as "Watchmen"? I mean,
these kinda stories have a certain appeal
to guys like ME, but I wonder how the LADIES
in the audience are feeling? "Oh great--the
geek gets the hot girl--be calm my pitter
pattering heart." Where are the movies
in which the geeky GAL gets the hunk? (Not
that I really need to rush out to see said
film, mind you--just curious...).
SNLer's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have
supporting roles as the married couple who
run the park, but only Hader has the opportunity
to generate any laughs. Wiig--currently the
funniest and most used cast member of the
venerable sketch show--has little to do,
and does it very quietly. Someday she'll
get a proper big-screen showcase, but this
sure ain't it.
One other quibble--when it comes to teen
romcoms, I've come to expect a certain amount
of boozing and drugging, but I kinda thought
this movie went a bit over the line into
irresponsible territory. I seem to recall
that the two lead characters in "Nick
and Norah" eschewed both, leaving the
drinking entirely to their friends in the
back of the van, as the group drove all around
Manhattan on one eventful night. Conversely,
in "Adventureland", everyone--including
our sensitive, intellectual leading man--is
shown repeatedly smoking pot and drinking
alcohol--
AND THEN BLITHELY GETTING BEHIND THE
WHEEL
OF A CAR!!
Again and again. With no real consequences,
save for (SPOILER WARNING) late in the flick
when, bummed by his break-up with Stewart,
Eisenberg grabs a bottle of hard liquor his
dad has stashed in the glove compartment,
guzzles it while driving, swerves to miss
another car, hits a tree, and wakes up the
next morning to be berated by his mother,
ultimately relinquishing all the money he
earned at the park to pay for the auto's
damages!! Well, THAT'LL sure teach HIM!!
In relation to cinematic substance abuse,
there have been more responsible Cheech and
Chong flicks! Geez...
Otherwise, not a bad movie, just not nearly
as good as I expected it to be--and given
the choice, I'd easily recommend the superior
"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist".
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
|
Another two-fer!
Check out the April 28th Fred Sez for five new Hembeck illos for sale--and five accompanying gags to gag on!
And below is my latest movie review..
Gran Pa
We went to see Clint Eastwood's "Gran
Torino" yesterday..
Up until a few months back, when we took
in "Changeling"--featuring Angelina
Jolie's Oscar nominated performance--I'd
never seen a movie directed by Eastwood.
Heck, aside from the initial "Dirty
Harry" movie, which I saw back when
it first came out, I'd hardly ever even seen
Clint the ACTOR!! But I was so impressed
with "Changeling"--which I gather
isn't even close to being his best film--that
I made it a point to check out him pulling
double-duty on "Gran Torino" as
soon as it hit our local budget theater.
Whereas not all that long ago, I woulda let
it pass by without even thinking twice.
The plot? Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, an
embittered Korean War vet. The film opens
at his wife's funeral, and we soon see that
this is a man who doesn't let anyone get
close to him, even his two adult sons and
their families--and especially not the Asians
who've moved in next door. Kowalski spews
racist nomenclature easily and freely, and
initially, wants no part whatsoever of his
neighbors. However, after foiling a botched
attempt to steal his pristine mint 1972 Gran
Torino as part of an initiation forced upon
the reluctant Thao (Bee Vang) by a gangbanger
cousin, an unlikely bond develops between
the two, one largely facilitated by the boys
older sister Sue (Ahney Her).
Now, this could just as easily be the plot
of a sappy, ABC After School Special, as
it could be of a really good movie.
Guess what? Chalk me up for coming down on
the side of "really good movie"--heck,
make that "really, REALLY good movie".
Somehow, "Gran Torino" missed out
on getting any Oscar noms (maybe they figured
Clint had already raked in his share?...),
but for my money (merely one thin dollar,
admittedly), I found this flick to be more
moving than several of the films that did
gather a few Academy nods. There's no doubt,
for instance, that given the choice, I'd
pick this one over "Doubt". But,
as noted in the past, I don't get a vote,
so sorry Mr. E. I'm thinking he deserved
to be in the mix for the acting award, and
the work of his two young Asian co-stars
(newcomers both, this being their only credit
on both their individual imdb pages) is exemplary
as well. The predictable story unfolds unpredictably,
with sweet moments, funny moments, thought-provoking
moments, and yes, a few pivotal violent moments.
In the end. the character of Kowalski somehow
all makes sense, and as unlikable as he appears
in the movie's opening minutes, you'll find
yourself rooting for him in the film's final
moments.
Hey, how can you NOT love a guy who, three
decades after turning "make my day"
into a national catch phrase, does his level
best to claim "get off my lawn"
as his own, simply by snarling it so unforgettably?...
(Note to comics fans: one of three executive
producers on the project is Jenette Kahn.
Yes, THAT Jenette Kahn. Guess old Warner
Brothers connections don't fade easily...)
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Monday, April 27, 2009
|
Current mood:  cheerful
Been a little lax in copying over my Fred Sez blogs lately, so here's two at once--dig in, MySpacers!!
Boris Sure Is Bad Enough
Last night, I went on another one of
my VHS
fishing expeditions--I came across
an eight
hour tape that simply had "Dick
Tracy
Meets Gruesome" scrawled on it.
I popped it into the VCR, and then
went about
discovering what else was recorded
there.
Made up entirely of Turner Classic
Movie
material from 2003, the aforementioned
Gould
meets "Ghoul" programmer
led things
off, followed by "West Of Shanghai",
"The Raven", "The Black
Cat",
"Freaks", and "M".
Boris
Karloff was the featured star of the
first
four films (the two Poe flavored flicks
i
saw long, long ago, the other two not
at
all), "Freaks" I actually
remember
watching shortly after taping it off
TCM,
mostly to satisfy a decades old curiosity,
and "M" I've yet to see.
But just to keep things simple, I decided
to start at the beginning and scope
out Karloff's
1947 performance as Gruesome. He receives
top-billing over Ralph Byrd's Dick
Tracy,and
he truly deserves it. Not only is he
afforded
substantial screen time (something
that was
not always the case when tuning into
a lesser
forties' Karloff or Lugosi vehicle),
but
he's far a more interesting character
as
well!! Truth is, I'd never seen a Tracy
film
before (save for the Warren Beatty
update).
After several earlier serials starring
Byrd,
this was the last of four feature films
(the
initial pair starring Morgan Conway),
though
Byrd would be back in 1950 to film
39 episodes
of a "Dick Tracy" TV program,
and
would've filmed more if he hadn't died
suddenly
of a heart attack (yes, I've been doing
my
internet homework!). From what I've
been
able to gather, contemporary critics
found
this last Tracy film, while enjoyable,
more
cartoonishly campy than the three that
preceded
it. Was it the appearance of Dr. A.
Tomic
that did it, or was it his comely assistant,
professor
I.M. Learned? Beats me, but
for
an alleged chuckle-fest, the final
half of
this thing features enough indiscriminate
homicide to pass for an episode of
"24"!!
And of course, Boris is right in the
thick
of it all!! (Naturally, he gets his
eventually--gosh,
is that a spoiler, or simply a foregone
conclusion?--but
wait'll you see HOW he's dispatched!!
Not
exactly cricket, Dick...
(Trivia note: Tarzan of the (near)
future,
Lex Barker, has the unbilled role of
an ambulance
driver who gets slugged in the flick's
final
minutes--gee, you can hardly recognize
the
guy with his shirt on!!)
And you CAN share in all the fun, thanks
to YouTube!! Yup, it's another in our ever-popular
series of "First Fred watches it on
tape, then he passes it along to YOU via
the YouTube!" blog entries. It's in
six parts, and runs a total of 65 minutes.
Watch for the scene where, as the police
are rapidly closing in, the big boss asks
Gruesome to look after and protect his lady
friend for him, prompting Boris to smile
and answer reassuringly. What happens next
AIN'T for the faint of heart, lemme tell
ya!
Anyway, enjoy! I did!!
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Part 1
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Part 2
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Part 3
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Part 4
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Part 5
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Part 6
Oh, Mother--Times Two
Thanks to the internet, one of my favorite
things to do after watching a movie or an
old--or even not all that old--TV show is
to Google the names of the various supporting
actors and actresses seen in the end credits,
cuz you never know what you're gonna find.
Take, for instance, the case of Irene Tedrow.
That's exactly what i did after watching
her in the pivotal--yet peripheral--role
of Congresswoman Geddes in one of my very
favorite episodes of "The Mary Tyler
Moore Show", "The Dinner Party".
That's the one, you might recall, where Mary
throws a disastrous dinner-party for her
Congresswoman friend, a party where there's
more guests than portions of food (Rhoda
unexpectedly brings along a pre-Fonz Henry
Winkler as her date). Most memorable is the
moment when a hungry Lou Grant casually takes
what amounts to two full portions, only to
have to put half of it back at Mary's panicky
behest!! Funny, funny scene!!
So anyway, following the cat's final meow,
I checked out Irene Tedrow's imdb page. Some impressive credits there, but I found
a pair that would be of particular interest
to the comics fans amongst us (which is pretty
much all of you, I'm guessing).
In 1975, Ms. Tedrow essayed the role of Martha
Kent in the TV adaptation of the quasi-hit
Broadway show, "It's A Bird, It's A
Plane, It's Superman!".
A few years later, in 1978, on the short-lived
Nicholas Hammond "Spider-Man' program.
she played Aunt May!!
That's right, folks--this lady holds the
unique distinction of being the ONLY actress
to play the adoptive mother-figure to both
Superman AND Spider-Man on the tube!! Now
THAT'S an internet era factoid if ever I
saw one!!
Y'know, if only Bill Dozier hadn't jettisoned
the role of Martha Wayne on the old "Batman"
show. Who knows? Maybe Irene Tedrow coulda
qualified for a triple-header!!
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
|
As you may've heard, the fine folks over
at YouTube have recently instituted a section
of their site devoted to both full-length
movies and entire episodes of various television
programs. These are NOT the user-posted clips
that have made YouTube famous, but high-quality,
officially sanctioned, all-in-one videos.
You can go here to see what you can
see.
Lotsa good stuff, huh? And with all
the top-quality
goodies available for one's viewing,
just
WHERE do you think I gravitated towards?
Uh huh. The so-called "Worst Program
In Television History", "My
Mother
The Car".
I hadn't seen the show since it ran its single
season back in 1965, and I actually recall
liking it. Of course, I WAS 13 at the time,
so I figured it was past time to take another
look.
YouTube has five episodes of "My
Mother
The Car" available, including
the very
first one.
Over the last few days, I watched all
five
of them. So, is it THAT bad? No. Is
it in
fact sorta good, the way I remember
it? Also
no. Let me explain...
The production values are high, with a fair
amount of the scenes filmed outside. The
car looks way spiffy. The entire cast gives
it all they've got. Those are the pluses.
The minuses? It's just not very funny.
Star
Jerry Van Dyke appears to be obliged
to amp
down the natural gregariousness he
displayed
earlier on brother Dick's show. And
the concept
is not only silly, it's stifling.
Look, "Bewitched", "I Dream
Of Jeanie", "My Favorite Martian",
and "Mr. Ed" were all of the same
era as "My Mother The Car", and
all shared a central conceit with it--one
character, and one character only, is aware
of a magical totem right smack dab in the
middle of things. A witch. A genie.A martian.
A talking horse. All were big hits. All were
just as fanciful as having your dead mother
come back, reincarnated, as a talking car,
maybe, but far more manageable, storywise.
Viewers found the notion of a pair of attractive
young women performing magical tricks, a
faux uncle who's really a man from outer
space, and even a horse that talks, far easier
to believe. For one thing, each of them could
casually interact with those in the cast
unaware of their special abilities, even
the horse. But David Crabtree's (Jerry Van
Dyke) mother? There wasn't much she (the
voice of early sitcom icon Ann Sothern) could
do but squawk at her son via the radio when
he--and he alone--was sitting in the car.
Sorta limited the plot possibilities...
Which is probably why, of the five episodes
up on YouTube (numbers 1,2, 4, 5, and 6,
out of 30), three concern themselves with
recurring foil (and easily the funniest thing
about this whole misbegotten enterprise)
Captain Manzini (played by Avery Schreiber,
aided by his distinctive walrus mustache
and essayed with all the subtlety of a silent
film villain), a rich car collector who's
desperate to own the rare (and in reality,
non-existent) 1928 Porter that for some reason
he can't pry away from Crabcake.
"Crabtree!"
"Whatever..."
And THAT folks, is the recurring gag that
occurs not only in every episode that Schreiber
appears in, but in virtually every SCENE
he appears in!! Geez, talk about running
a gag into the ground...
The Captain isn't involved at all in the
second episode, but the premise there has
Jerry worried so much about some car strippers
that have been plaguing the neighborhood,
he eventually winds up sleeping in the garage
with mom!! And I guess that's brings us to
the subliminal (for 1965) ick factor. Dave
complains early in the episode that he doesn't
want his mother stripped! In another show,
he hoses her down with cold water, declaring
"I'm gonna give you a bath, mom",
and gets a big giggle when she complains
the water is too cold! And there's that whole
bit about sleeping in the garage with her.
Dave's wife (Maggie Pierce, in a thankless
role) eventually shows up with pillow in
hand to join her seemingly vastly over-concerned
hubby, and as they snuggled in the front
seat, I couldn't help but think, after forty
subsequent years of sit-com coarsening, how
things might've played out if this same episode
were filmed today. The oblivious wife would
likely look in the back seat, and remind
her flustered husband of what they used to
do in their younger days in just such a situation,
and suggestively suggest for old times sake
that--well, I think you see where I'm going
here!! Freudian hilarity ensues!! Ick factor,
notched to the max!
That said, I want to make special mention
of episode 5, "Burned At The Steak".
This particular story could've played on
any other sit-com of the day--the car plays
a small, mostly incidental role this time
around, being most notable for tipping Dave
off that the newlyweds next door have been
fighting. It's all about her bad cooking--including
that charred hunk of steak--and Crabtree
tries his best to reunite the pair. Of course,
things backfire, and instead the couple head
for divorce court!! Turns out Dave's a lawyer
(a fact I hadn't gleaned in the previous
three episodes), so he gets to represent
the wife and her Laura Petrie hairdo. More
amazingly, though, hubby (a young, subdued
Charles Grodin) has a ridiculously aggressive
Lee Van Cleef handling his briefs!! Even
without a talking car factoring into the
proceedings, events unfold in a surreal manner
that, even for mid-sixties sitcoms, is--like
the aforementioned steak--hard to swallow!!
But Van Cleef is a real hoot, no doubt about
it.
You'll also see Bill Daily, James Sikking,
and Barbara Bain pop up in various episodes,
should you be able make it through all five
shows. No, I certainly can't say it's a good
show, but I can't deny being strangely fascinated
by it either. There's no laugh track, so
you're on your own there (me, I chuckled
out loud only once, when mom complained of
her "CARthritis"--your milage may
vary).
Now, if I could only get that blasted theme
song out of my head!!
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
|
Last night, Lynn and I saw (in regular ol'
2-D) "Coraline", the stop-motion,
computer-enhanced, animated adaptation of
Neil Gaiman's award-winning children's novel.
What follows is less a review than a confession...
It almost put me to sleep!!
Literally. After about fifteen minutes
in,
it was all I could do to keep my eyes
open.
As faithful readers of this blog are
well
aware, over the last 13 months or so,
me
and the missus have been taking in
pretty
much a movie a week, and in all that
time,
a similar, inexplicable bout of grogginess
occurred only one other time.
When? While watching "Wall-E".
Not during the extended, mostly silent opening
sequence, but once the story shifted over
to that spaceship with all the computer generated
humans milling about? THAT'S when I found
myself continually fighting to keep my eyelids
in the upright and locked position!! At the
time, I figured my reaction was just one
of those things--"Wall-E' was among
the flicks I never quite got around to blogging
about, so I never mentioned my curious reaction
here. And y'know, I liked it well enough--though
obviously couldn't work up the type of enthusiasm
for it that a fair amount of folks who considered
it an instant classic did.
But now there seems to be case building for
me to admit--first to myself, and then to
you--that, geez, I simply can't become viscerally
engaged with computer animated feature films!
This newly discovered personal blind spot
may explain my past less than delighted reactions
to beloved fan-favorites such as "The
Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo",
both of which I originally viewed on the
small screen. (And no, I've never seen "The
Nightmare Before Christmas", "James
and The Giant Peach", or "The Corpse
Bride", though I had always wanted too.
Maybe not so much anymore...). Still, rather
inexplicably, I distinctly recall being totally
enchanted by both of the "Toy Story"
films, and easily managed to stay awake for
"Shrek" 1 and 3 (missed 2), so
perhaps there's still hope for me. Guess
we'll find out when "Monsters vs. Aliens"
comes to our local theater in a few weeks).
Y'know, I have no problem with hand drawn
animated films (or ones that LOOK hand-drawn
anyway). When Julie was younger, the whole
family enjoyed the likes of "The Little
Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast",
"Pocahontas", "The Hunchback
of Notre Dame", and "Aladdin",
to name just a few--even if they began to
seem pretty formulaic eventually. And I certainly
loved the big-screen escapades of SpongeBob
and The Simpsons! But apparently, there's
something about computer generated cartoon
images that just don't click for me (or puppets
either--I've never harbored the least bit
of affection for The Muppets, truth to tell).
Because, c'mon--I'm nodding off during the
sumptuous visual fest that is "Coraline"
and yet I'm sitting in rapt attention on
my couch, never missing a single beat of
that less than remarkable JLA teleflick?
I'll be the first to admit it, friends--clearly,
there's something WRONG with me!!
So pay me no mind--go see "Coraline".
If you're a fairly normal person, you're
likely to enjoy it (even if the storyline
isn't nearly as full of stunning surprises
as I was led to believe from reports posted
elsewhere. If you've actually read a Gaiman
comic or two--and back when I kept up, I
polished off the entire SANDMAN run--the
shocks will be few).
Just gotta remember the NoDoz next
time!...
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
|
Things That Were Never Meant For Me To See...
...I FINALLY saw.
Yup, been doing more rooting through old,
previously unwatched video-tapes, and I came
up with two--you should pardon the expression--gems
these last couple of nights (both made for
me, long ago, by a close buddy--thanks big
guy!! Can "Black Adder" be very
far over the horizon now?...)
First into the VCR was the ill-fated 1994
"Fantastic Four" movie that was
never released. (For the curious, this page does an admirable job summarizing
the whole sorry situation, and then some). Produced purely to maintain the rights
to Marvel's oldest family, with apparently
no intention of EVER seeing the light of
day--a salient fact that was kept from the
actors, director, crew, and--he'd have you
believe--even hired gun producer Roger Corman
himself--what you have is one of the cheapest
looking movies you're EVER likely to see!!
But is it WORTH the seeing?
I'd say have to say yes, but with reservations.
The special effects are almost nonexistent
and the script is simply pedestrian. Despite
these flaws, the filmmakers do a decent job
of capturing the comics series proper spirit
(even if the scene, pre-rocket launch, in
which Sue and Johnny's mom dubs the quartet
"The Fantastic Four:" for no discernible
reason, IS cringe-worthy). When I mentioned
that I'd seen this flick recently over on
my Facebook page, a LOT of positive comments
came in from folks, some even preferring
it to the later, big-budget version!! I'm
not prepared to go THAT far, but I will say
I thought that their Dr. Doom. looked truer
to the comics version that his latter day
doppelganger (though the decision to record
the actors lines while wearing that metal
mask was, in the final analysis, the wrong
one. Or as Reed might've said to Doc in the
heat of battle, "What? WHAT did you
say? Could you repeat that threat, please?...").
And look, I LOVE Jessica Alba, honest, but
Rebecca Staab looks EXACTLY the way Jack
Kirby drew Sue Storm (even if she and the
rest of the group were wearing the John Byrne
designed outfits...).
It's a fun curio--and the very last image
is a true hoot! It's just as well it was
never released, though, as it might well've
killed the audience's potential appetite
for any future FF flicks.
And speaking of appetites...
Did you know there was a two hour pilot made
for a proposed "Justice League of America
" series back in 1997? And that, from
what I've been able to ascertain looking
around the 'net, unlike the relatively warmly
received FF movie, THIS unreleased piece
of cinema is basically reviled? Yup, it's
true.
But for all it's faults--and there are many--i
found it just as entertaining, and maybe
even a smidgen bit more so, than the FF flick.
I can see why fans didn't like it, though,
as it strays way, WAY far away from the source
material. Guy Gardner is Green Lantern, for
instance, but while he's outfitted in Guy's
costume, his mask--and his persona--come
directly from Kyle Rayner. Barry Allen is
The Flash--but this isn't any Barry Allen
WE'VE ever seen in the comics. And while
this production is much spiffier than the
FF one--and the special effects marginally
better--the costumes are just plain awful!!
Fire and Ice, the two female members--and
unassailable evidence that the producers
were attempting to emulate the light-hearted
Giffen/DeMatteis JLA era--pass muster, clotheswise
(two attractive women in skin tight outfits--tough
to botch THAT up!), but the male members
range from barely passable (GL), mostly right
with key elements way wrong (The Flash's
mask and gloves), to impossibly dorky looking
(The Atom). David Ogden Stiers as J'onn J'onnz
actually looks fairly decent--until the camera
catches a sideways silhouette of him! From
MASH to mashed potatoes--way. WAY too many
mashed potatoes, apparently!!
Storywise, the plot revolves around what
is more or less the origin and induction
into the League of Ice (she's decked out
in costume only briefly, in the show's final
seconds) as the group takes on the mysterious
Weather Man. Interspersed throughout are
interview clips with the various members,
making pithy observations on their day-to-day
lives as super-heroes. Truth to tell, I thought
this added quite a bit of personality to
the proceedings and liked the conceit quite
a bit. There were even some mildly witty
lines sprinkled throughout these segments,
and combined with the fairly decent acting
(particularly from the thespians portraying
Ice, Ray Palmer, and big-browed Green Stiers
himself (though if you look closely, his
neck is continually in need of a tad more
emerald make-up...)). I can see where this
may not've been the best direction for a
JLA telefilm to head in, but--aside from
those truly horrendous outfits--it's a mildly
interesting approach. it sure made me appreciate
the Ice character far more than I ever had
before, that's for sure!!
Anyway, that's the way I feel about things.
If you wanna judge for yourself, well, no
need to scrounge up an overpriced bootleg
copy of either previously suppressed super-hero
epic--merely go look for YOURSELF!! (Yup
that means YOU, John Firehammer!) BOTH of 'em are are on the YouTube!; links
to follow...
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 1
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 2
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 3
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 4
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 5
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 6
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 7
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 8
JLA TV pilot 1997 Part 9
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 1
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 2
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 3
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 4
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 5
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 6
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 7
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 8
Fantastic Four 1994 Part 9
Enjoy! (Well, if you can...)
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Sunday, April 19, 2009
|
Got a couple of Hembeck-centric links
for
you folks today.
A while back, Rob Kelly over The Aquaman Shrine, commissioned yours truly to come up with
a brand new gag in the tradition of my long-ago
cartoon strips featured in DC's Daily Planet
promo pages (a fair number of which can be
viewed over at Neil Polowin's The Hembeck Files), giving me carte blanche to scribble out
whatever silly joke came to mind, the only
condition being that it feature (natch) Aquaman!
An intriguing challenge, and after
thinking
about it for a bit, this--lovingly colored by Rob himself--is
what I came up with! (And here's a link to the blog entry detailing how the
whole thing came to be). Having far more room to play with than
I did back in the old DC days, the art is
far more expansive than what was usually
found down on the outer corners of the Daily
Planet pages, but the gag? Not a whole lot
different. Check it out--I hope it'll make
you groan AND grin!
Then there's the latest Five For Friday survey
over at Tom Spurgeon's The Comics Reporter. The question: Name Five Specific Superhero
Serial Storylines Of Which You're Fond (In
Other Words, You Don't Have To Be Able To
Make A Case For Them, You Just Have to Like
Them)
View my response by going here, which includes the very first series of
continued stories I ever came across in my
many, many years of reading comics.
And come back HERE again soon, for more fun-filled
opportunities to waste your precious time!!
See ya!!
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