Now watching BomberBoys on Yesterday
It Was the terror of Jazz Music
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Now watching BomberBoys on Yesterday
It Was the terror of Jazz Music
Tonight, is Leone night with "Giů la testa" (1971) being the film of choice. AKA "Duck You Sucker" , AKA "Once Upon A Time In The Revolution" , AKA A Fistful of Dynamite. Written by Luciano Vincenzoni, plus Sergio's, Donati and Leone, and starring Rod Steiger and James Coburn in the main roles.
When James Coburn (who had been offered roles in Sergio Leone's For a Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)) was offered the role of John(Sean) Mallory by Leone, he was initially reluctant. He had dinner with Henry Fonda (star of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)) and asked him what he thought of Leone. Fonda told him that he considered Leone the greatest director he ever worked with. Coburn then took the part. (Similarly, Fonda himself had been reluctant to take the part Leone offered hims, but was persuaded by his friend, Eli Wallach.) The film was initially planned to have been directed by Leone's assistant Giancarlo Santi, but both Rod Steiger and James Coburn demanded that Sergio Leone direct the picture, so Santi was out.
A nice line or two on revolution; I know what I am talking about when I am talking about the revolutions. The people who read the books go to the people who can't read the books, the poor people, and say, "We have to have a change." So, the poor people make the change, ah? And then, the people who read the books, they all sit around the big polished tables, and they talk and talk and talk and eat and eat and eat, eh? But what has happened to the poor people? They're dead! That's your revolution. Shhh... So, please, don't tell me about revolutions! And what happens afterwards? The same fucking thing starts all over again!
My favourite line : As Sean opens his coat to reveal the explosives strapped to his body he says "If you shoot me, they will have to change all the maps" :rfl:
In Revolution-torn 1913 Mexico, Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger), a Mexican outlaw leading a bandit family, robs a coach of wealthy men and rapes a female passenger (Maria Monti) who insulted him. Passing by on a motorcycle is Seán (John) Mallory (James Coburn), an early Irish Republican explosives expert on the run from the British.
The inspiration for the firing squad scene came from Francisco Goya, and in particular from his set of prints The Disasters of War. Leone showed the prints to director of photography Giuseppe Ruzzolini in order to get the lighting and colour effects he wanted. The film is believed to have been influenced by Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, and it shares some plot elements with Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, a western also starring Coburn and released a year later.
Music as always is by Ennio Morricone.
Moving on to the mini series of Mary Wesley's book, "The Camomile Lawn" starring Felicity Kendal, Claire Bloom, Jennifer Ehle, Paul Eddington, Virginia McKenna, Tara Fitzgerald and Toby Stephens to name just a few..
Lush and totally engaging series with fabulous performances all round. Set during the war and then up to present day, and seen during flashbacks from the people involved at a funeral. Thought Paul Eddington was fantastic, as is Rebecca Hall(Iron Man 3) in the role of Sophy as a child (played by Claire Bloom as an adult
One of Channel 4's best productions, this follows the book pretty much to the letter. I'll be engrossed in this for quite some time as I can never stop once I start it. Probably the only program that really takes me to the place and time.
What a cast line up! Sad to think it was probably Paul Eddington's last appearance.Quote:
Originally Posted by struth
And with Claire Bloom (one of my first 'crushes'), and Tara Fitzgerald and Rebecca Hall (two of my later 'crushes' - Goodness, I'm too old for all this!), could one ask for more?
If you like The Camomile Lawn, you will probably like Brideshead Revisited. Also starring Claire Bloom and a rather young Jeremy Irons.
Got a Raoul Walsh cracker from 1949 for viewing tonight. White Heat starring James Cagney as Arthur "Cody" Jarrett, Virginia Mayo as Verna Jarrett, Edmond O'Brien as Hank Fallon AKA "Vic Pardo" and Margaret Wycherly as "Ma" Jarrett. Inspiration was said to have been Fred Barker and Arthur Barker, gangsters of the 1930s, famously devoted to their domineering mother Ma Barker.
White Heat was filmed between May 5 and mid-June 1949. Filming locations included the Southern Pacific railroad tunnel in the Santa Susana Mountains near Chatsworth, California, and the Shell Oil plant at 198th Street and Figueroa in Torrance, California, where the final climactic shoot-out was filmed. The outdoor theatre that Cody, Verna and Ma duck into is the now-demolished San Val Drive-In at 2720 Winona Avenue in Burbank, California - the second drive-in theatre to open in California, after the "Drive-In Theatre" on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. White Heat is ranked no 4 in the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest gangster films.
If the surprise expressed by James Cagney's fellow inmates during "the telephone game" scene in the prison dining room appears real, it's because it is. Director Raoul Walsh didn't tell the rest of the cast what was about to happen, so Cagney's outburst caught them by surprise. In fact, Walsh himself didn't know what Cagney had planned; the scene as written wasn't working, and Cagney had an idea. He told Walsh to put the two biggest extras playing cons in the mess-hall next to him on the bench (he used their shoulders to boost himself onto the table) and to keep the cameras rolling no matter what. At the time of filming of White Heat (1949), Special Effects were not yet using squibs (tiny explosives that simulate the effects of bullets). The producers employed skilled marksmen who used low velocity bullets to break windows or show bullets hitting near the characters. In the factory scene, James Cagney was missed by mere inches.
"TOP OF THE WORLD MA!"
James Cagney received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Charlton Heston, in announcing that Cagney was to be honoured, called him one of the most significant figures of a generation when American film was dominant.
He received the Kennedy Centre Honours in 1980. In 1984, Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 33 cent stamp honouring Cagney.
Cagney was among the most favoured actors for the director Stanley Kubrick and the actor Marlon Brando, and was considered by Orson Welles to be maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera. Warner Bros. would arrange private screenings of Cagney films for Winston Churchill.
Cody Jarrett was one stone cold fruit loop psycho.
Back now to the second disc of the Camomile Lawn
Tonight it is The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) Directed by Joseph Sargent (real Name Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente.), who was infamous for Jaws....the revenge :doh:
Stars Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Julius Harris who was in Cagney & Lacey seeing as we have been into cop series :eyebrows: Scored by David Shire, the soundtrack was rated one of the best in movie history.
From the Book by John Godey, who also did the book and screenplay for Never a Dull Moment starring Dick Van Dyke, Edward G. Robinson.
The Transit Authority (TA) of New York at first refused to allow the film to be shot on the actual New York subway. They feared it would lead to imitative crime (it didn't, but their position was shown to be reasonable when the later film Money Train (1995) apparently did). When they did the remake you can see why it was important as they didnt.
The meaning of "Pelham One Two Three" refers to the New York subway timetable terminus and time of departure schedule radio call sign. As explained in the movie, "Pelham" is the name of the station of origin where the subway train departs whereas "One Two Three" refers to the time of departure i.e. 1.23 pm. Ever since the release of the film, no6 train has never been scheduled to leave Pelham Station at either 13:23 or 01:23 by the New York City Transit Authority. This was the practice for many years until the policy was discontinued but generally as a kind of tradition and caution, trains are still not scheduled to leave the Pelham at either 1.23 am or pm although the ban was rescinded.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was released on October 2, 1974. It grossed $16,550,000 at the box office and was filmed with a $5,000,000 budget.
Now about to watch "Tomkinson's Schooldays"- A Ripping Yarn starring Michael Palin............
Dont think I've seen Brideshead funnily......might try it
If you like The Camomile Lawn, you will probably like Brideshead Revisited. Also starring Claire Bloom and a rather young Jeremy Irons.[/QUOTE]
"gesundheit..." :)Quote:
Originally Posted by struth
Jo Sargent also directed some of the best episodes of Star Trek's first Season, thought to be its best.
Live long n' prosper dudes.