Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[Roy S]

[struth]

Time Bandits, 1981.. Written and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Peter Vaughan, and David Warner.






In the original script, King Agamemnon was introduced as: "The warrior took off his helmet, revealing someone that looks exactly like Sean Connery, or an actor of equal but cheaper stature." To writer, producer, and director Terry Gilliam's surprise, the script ended up in Connery's hands. He expressed interest in the part, and his agent approached them for the role.

[struth]

Joe Kidd, 1972. Directed by John Sturges and starring Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall.





Writer Elmore Leonard certainly did know something about classic firearms. From Frank Harlan's (Robert Duvall's) Custom Savage 99 (1899), Olin Mingo's (James Wainwright's) Remington-Keene sporter (1880) in .45-70, Lamarr Simms' (Don Stroud's) Mauser C-96 (1896) broomhandle, and Joe Kidd's (Clint Eastwood's) Cased Ross Rifle sporter model M-10 (1910) in .280 Ross. Leonard took special care to ensure all weapons (even the optics) were period accurate for that movie, being set in pre-statehood New Mexico territory (1912).

[walpurgis]

Saw that again recently, not a bad movie. Was there ever a film where Don Stroud didn't play a baddie?

[struth]

Saw that again recently, not a bad movie. Was there ever a film where Don Stroud didn't play a baddie?

lol yeah he has the face of a real baddie. still alive and lives in hawaii. still surfs i think.

[struth]

Prime Cut, 1972 again, and also featuring Gregory Walcott as Weenie.(who was the Sheriff in Joe Kidd) Stars Lee Marvin, Sissy Spacek and Gene Hackman(all 3 Oscar winners).





The submachine gun used by Nick Devlin in the last part of the film is the now rare Smith & Wesson model 76, a near copy of the Swedish M/45. It was produced in very small numbers in the late 1960s, and it was eventually discontinued due to lack of interest in such a weapon by military and law enforcement agencies. In US service, it was largely known as the "Swedish-K" or "K-Rifle. It was used by US special services (like Navy SEALS and CIA operatives) during the Vietnam War.

Lee Marvin had a serious feud with director Michael Ritchie, because Ritchie wanted him to have love scenes with the too young actress Sissy Spacek. Marvin hated Ritchie for this lack of respect for Spacek. Actually she was 22 at time so not"TOO Young", but Marvin was a bit of a dick at times.

[walpurgis]

Very rarely shown and not well known now. One of my favourites!

[struth]

Very rarely shown and not well known now. One of my favourites!

a class film geoff.. its on my plex drive; ex a dvd. as you say fairly rarely shown

[struth]

Back to the Future, 1985. directed by Robert Zemeckis.






Universal Pictures head Sid Sheinberg did not like the title "Back to the Future", insisting that nobody would see a movie with "future" in the title. In a memo to Robert Zemeckis, he said that the title should be changed to "Space Man From Pluto", tying in with the Marty-as-alien jokes in the film, and also suggested further changes like replacing the "I'm Darth Vader from planet Vulcan" line with "I am a spaceman from Pluto!" Sheinberg was persuaded to change his mind by a response memo from Steven Spielberg, which thanked him for sending a wonderful "joke memo", and that everyone got a kick out of it. Sheinberg, too proud to admit he was serious, gave in to letting the film retain its title.

[struth]

Back to the Future Part II, 1989. again directed by Robert Zemeckis .






To commemorate the release of a 30th anniversary Back to the Future Blu-ray box-set, a short movie called Back to the Future: Doc Brown Saves the World (2015) was filmed with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role of Doc Brown. In the movie, Doc tapes a video message, explaining that he travelled to the 2040s in a rebuilt DeLorean, and discovered that inventions such as the Hoverboard and hydrated food will cause people to become massively overweight; even worse, a simultaneous glitch in every nuclear Mr. Fusion device on the planet will cause a nuclear holocaust that decimates the world's population. He subsequently travels back in time, and successfully prevents such dangerous devices from ever being invented, thus explaining why the future 2015 as seen in this movie did not come true in reality.