Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

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My Fellow Americans, 1996. Directed by Peter Segal.





Star Jack Lemmon did all of his own stunts for this movie, except for one brief horse riding scene.
At the Russell P. Kramer Presidential Library in Ohio, there is a life size cutout of President Kramer in a U.S. Naval officer's uniform. Jack Lemmon really served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

In his memoirs, Garner wrote that he enjoyed working with Lemmon but felt the director "was a self appointed genius who didn't know his ass from second base and Jack and I both knew it."

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The League of Gentlemen, 1960. Director Basil Dearden... remastered bluray version.





The portrait of Hyde's wife (he comments "I regret to say the bitch is still going strong.") is a portrait of Deborah Kerr that was originally used in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943).

Jack Hawkins was ill with cancer during filming. Shooting was shut down for several days. Jack Hawkins, a chain smoker, underwent cobalt treatment after filming ended for what was described as a "secondary condition of the larynx". After undergoing cobalt therapy when filming had ended Jack Hawkins cut back from smoking 60 cigarettes a day to five. However his cancer returned in 1964 while he was filming "Guns at Batasi".

The Army raid was inspired partly by a real I.R.A. raid when I.R.A. members impersonated officers and stole weapons from a barracks.

This was originally planned as a Carl Foreman production, and he may have written a version of the screenplay (there are characters named Weaver and Grogan in this movie, a trademark of Foreman's) before hiring Bryan Forbes to write the movie as a planned vehicle for Cary Grant. When Forbes presented his version, Foreman said it was not good enough to present to a star of Grant's magnitude, and the project went into suspension for a while. When Forbes formed Allied Film Makers with Michael Relph, Basil Dearden, Sir Richard Attenborough, and Jack Hawkins, they obtained the necessary rights and made the movie. It was a great critical and financial success.

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The Train, 1964.





Burt Lancaster took a day off during shooting to play golf when the production was about half completed. On the links, he stepped in a hole and re-aggravated an old knee injury. In order to compensate for the injury, John Frankenheimer had Lancaster's character shot in the leg, thus enabling him to limp through the rest of the shooting.

Burt Lancaster performs all of his own stunts in this movie. Albert Rémy also gets into the act by performing the stunt of uncoupling the engine from the painting train on a real moving train.

The budget doubled under John Frankenheimer, due to an emphasis on action and the filming of train wrecks, eventually reaching $6.7 million. United Artists felt compelled to step in and assert its completion rights, demanding that principal photography be finished in seven weeks.
John Frankenheimer said of this film, "I wanted all the realism possible. There are no tricks in this film. When trains crash together, they are real trains. There is no substitute for that kind of reality."

The engine that crashes into a derailed engine was moving at nearly sixty miles per hour. The crash was staged in the town of Acquigny, with extensive safety precautions and special insurance. Only one take was possible, and seven cameras were used.

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Operation Crossbow, 1965. Directed by Michael Anderson.






For the section of this movie where Royal Air Force Bomber Command raids the Peenemunde rocket research site, the producers used the Avro Lancaster PA474 used by the Cranfield institute of technology. PA474 was painted in 83 squadron colors in the summer of 1964 for this movie. PA474 now flies as part of the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain memorial flight.

The parachute instructor seen in the jump tower scenes was Frank Foley. He's an Irishman who was, in fact, a Parachute Instructor.

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Monty Python's Life of Brian, 1979. ... Originally financed by EMI, who backed out because they considered the script blasphemous. The Pythons sued EMI and settled out of court. George Harrison, a huge Monty Python fan, thought it was the last chance to have another Python movie. He created Handmade Films, and "pawned" (his words) his home in London and his office building to raise the £4 million needed. When asked why, he said "because I want to go see it." Eric Idle joked that it was the highest price ever paid for a cinema ticket.






Six cast members played forty characters.

In the interview section of Monty Python's Flying Circus: Live at Aspen (1998), John Cleese said that because of the massive protests against this movie from all denominations of Christianity, he would joke with Michael Palin, "We've brought them all together for the first time in two thousand years!"

Interesting that at time it was checked by locl authorites etc and banned by many; the rest allowed it as an X cert. Nowadays its a 12.. how times and attitudes have changed in only 40 years.


QUOTE...
Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.

Reg: But you can't have babies.

Stan: Don't you oppress me.

Reg: Where's the fetus going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?

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Throw Momma from the Train, 1987. Director, Danny Devito.




Anne Ramsey's speech impediment was caused by operations she underwent in order to treat throat cancer. During filming, Ramsey was undergoing additional oral surgery and endured intense pain. However, according to director Danny DeVito, she never requested to be excused from work. "Momma" went on to become Ramsey's most critically-lauded performance, culminating with Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1988. In the scene which Owen and Larry save Momma Lift from falling off the train, Anne Ramsey performed the stunt herself without the use of a stunt double.

The tunnel in the film is Observatory Tunnel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. This is the same tunnel that was seen in Back to the Future (1985) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). All three films were released within the four-year period of 1985 to 1988.

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The Blue Planet. 2001. Attenborough.






The series took almost five years to make, involving nearly 200 filming locations. The fact that most of the ocean environment remains a mystery presented the production team with many challenges. Besides witnessing some animal behaviours for the first time, the crew also observed some that were new to science. The producers were helped by marine scientists all over the world with state-of-the-art equipment.

[Pigmy Pony]

The Blue Planet. 2001. Attenborough.






The series took almost five years to make, involving nearly 200 filming locations. The fact that most of the ocean environment remains a mystery presented the production team with many challenges. Besides witnessing some animal behaviours for the first time, the crew also observed some that were new to science. The producers were helped by marine scientists all over the world with state-of-the-art equipment.

Just great. Hard to believe it's over 20 years old.

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Deep Impact, 1998.





After discovering the comet, one of the astronomers is killed in an automobile accident. This mirrors the real-life automobile accident death (July 18, 1997, in the Australian outback) of astronomer Eugene Shoemaker, who helped discover the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994 and was a source of inspiration for this film.

Morgan Freeman wanted his character (President Beck) to be wearing an earring. Director Mimi Leder turned him down. Later, we see the President addressing the nation from the oval office. His sleeves are rolled up, and one of Freeman's tattoos is showing. The director liked this. She felt it gave the President an everyman look.

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The Mask of Zorro, 1998. Antonio Banderas stars.






At the end, when Zorro confronts Captain Love, he pulls out his sword, and the sun glints off the blade running the full length. This was not CGI, and was suggested by Antonio Banderas. He had to tilt the sword to catch the sun without breaking eye contact with Matt Letscher. It only took three takes.
Antonio Banderas was extremely adamant about performing many of his own stunts for authenticity.

Legendary sword trainer Bob Anderson, who trained Errol Flynn, remarked that Antonio Banderas was the most gifted swordsman with whom he had worked since Flynn. Banderas had also trained with the Spanish Olympic team for four months.

In order to accomplish the effect of Elena's (Catherine Zeta-Jones') dress falling off from being sliced up by Zorro, a wire was attached to the dress to pull it off.