Hey folks, Harry here with the first part of May's releases. This month being a 5 Tuesday has pushed the Peeks & Picks column to a very lengthy endeavor that best is taken in a pair of doses. The box sets in the first two weeks inspired longer writing than usual. But soon I will have more! You will see next Monday, the rest! Now, let's get to the first 2 weeks of month that ends new Star Wars at a theater near you and me...
May 3rd
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING
Ok this one is a sudsy soap opera about 3 hot young women that hit the big city each with particular dreams of stardom, the picket fence and the dream lover. They meet in a snake pit secretarial pool at a publishing house and bond over being tormented by the she-demon known as Joan Crawford amongst her bitchy best. There’s the older womanizer and the misunderstood stud. It is pure melodrama and wash the dishes fun, but damn if most soap operas ain’t in technicolor or nominated for Academy Awards like this finger wrinkler. And Hope Lange is just… dreamy. This is the film to show your daughter to scare her away from the life of being a secretary, then show her PRETTY WOMAN! That’s how to raise kids! (Sarcasm Alert)
HEART O’ THE HILLS
I love Mary Pickford, she’s got like one of the greatest smiles in film history. Typically she’s thought of in urban settings comedically putting off suitors of a variety of sorts, or tearfully soldiering on alone till the silver lining shows. This is a major change of pace. HEART O’ THE HILLS was made just prior to the formation of UNITED ARTISTS which she did with Chaplin & Fairbanks. This last ‘for hire’ gig really took her out and into the candy rock mountains of Kentucky for a story of land poaching and abject poverty. The film is brutal and stark. In addition you get an extra Pickford short flick called M’LISS – a very fun little 5 minute short that I’m sure if you love silents and Mary Pickford – you’ll enjoy greatly.
HERBIE THE LOVE BUG Collection (THE LOVE BUG / HERBIE GOES TO MONTE CARLO / HERBIE GOES BANANAS / HERBIE RIDES AGAIN)
Ya know – it’s easy to forget how wonderful that first Herbie flick was. THE LOVE BUG is truly one of the jewels in Walt Disney’s live action library. The shots of Dean Jones wandering the foggy streets of San Francisco looking for a dejected Volkswagen… well the artistry of Disney’s matte painting crew is on full display – giving a look to San Francisco’s night that no camera could ever capture as beautifully. Having said that – I love all the Herbie feature films thus far. I grew up on them and Buddy Hackett – and seeing those pudgy cheeks and crazed eyes and all that mugging of his… and then the very nice little mechanical gags of Herbie’s. Well, they’re fun. I’ve had a blast introducing Herbie to my nephew – He especially dug HERBIE GOES TO MONTE CARLO – but I think it was because of Don Knotts – he rules! Having said that – the last Herbie film – it’s pretty much a cinematic cadaver of entertainment – save for the bull fighting, that ruled. If you have a family of kids and plan on taking them to the new one… educate them wee ones proper with the originals!
McQ
I fucking love McQ! Wayne didn’t wield nearly enough automatic weapons dammit! Cuz here he is pretty damn awesome with one. This came out as a reaction to DIRTY HARRY – and while it certainly isn’t at that level – John Sturges was definitely no hack director. Wayne made two of these types of films, and I prefer the utter badass of this flick, but I have to admit to loving BRANNIGAN which he made the year after, which has Wayne kicking Brit ass!
NATIONAL TREASURE
Ok – so the movie has all the wit of a juvenile detective yarn, and the fury of a Bruckheimer produced act of mayhem… well I like it. I do. It’s not gonna win any awards, but there’s something about Nick Cage as an action hero that just cracks me up, it always has. Disney’s done an ok job with the disc here. You get deleted scenes, an animatic and goofy interactive games and a veeeery deep feature on Treasure hunters. But it is all in good fun.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2-Disc Special Edition)
I genuinely liked Schumacher’s adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Having said that, I prefer almost every previous adaptation of Gaston Lerouix’s original novel. In particular, my favorite is the Claude Rains. And I am critical of Schumacher’s film. I feel he was too tied to the original theatrical production, losing opportunity after opportunity to enhance and embrace the spirit of the theatrics, but envisioned as only film could. I wanted the Phantom to be more magical, as if empowered by the devil himself. I also feel that the white mask, which is so powerful in a stage environment wound up looking unfortunately ridiculous in close ups and medium shots… and the quarter mask in particular being profoundly debilitating to the delivery of heartfelt emotion. However, it is one of the most lush productions of this story, and will join my Phantom of the Opera shelf which has I believe about 10 different versions on it already.
SPACEBALLS (Collector’s Edition)
I don’t know if the world was screaming for a 2-Disc DVD set of SPACEBALLS, but it certainly is getting it. Isn’t it amazing what THE PRODUCERS’ Broadway success has done for Mel Brooks. I mean, am I the only one that remembers the run of fucking dreadful comedies that began right after the release of this movie? In the making of SPACEBALLS – it’s as if he were Buster Keaton or Charles Chaplin. Don’t get me wrong, I love vintage Mel Brooks to death, and in a goofy way I love SPACEBALLS. Usually they’re scenes with either John Candy or Rick Moranis. But Mel’s scenes, Bill Pullman and Daphne… so unfunny to me. Actually, I’ve always felt it was horrifying how badly cast Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga were in this film. I mean, can you imagine if instead of Bill Pullman and John Candy – had this been Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi? And had the princess been Gilda Radner. I enjoy this film more out of nostalgia than for actual laughs – and the special features on the second disc are pretty fun. Especially the John Candy feature. Haven’t made it through the Mel Brooks commentary yet. Don’t know if I will.
SPLASH (20th Anniversary Edition)
I love SPLASH! I must have seen this sucker like 20 million times on Cinemax and HBO. I’m also looking forward to M Night’s remake. I just don’t think he’ll use Wooly Bully the same way! I remember at the time laughing my ass of at John Candy’s dream of getting a letter published in PENTHOUSE, and having just discovered PENTHOUSE wanting to read it. This was in the Pre-Oscar hunting stage of Ron Howard’s career when he was all about just pure entertainment. I think that’s why this movie holds up as well as it does. Every actor in it is just there to entertain with everything they have. Of particular fascination are Hanks and Hannah’s auditions and the making of.
TURK 182
This is another one of those High School films of mine, that I watched over and over on cable and introduced me to the whole concept of Tag-names. This is one of those films from the bizarre filmography of Bob Clark – whose particular talent as a director is to make movies that I seem to watch compulsively over and over again. Even if it does star Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich and Kim Cattral… who I admit at the time being utterly be smitten with. I wonder if it holds up, haven’t seen it in years, Anchor Bay is putting it out cheap – I’ll bite.
World War II Collection – European Warfare (THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE / BATTLEGROUND / THE BIG RED ONE SPECIAL EDITION / THE DIRTY DOZEN / WHERE EAGLES DARE)
Now this is a fucking great set of movies. I was shocked to find that Quint had only ever seen THE DIRTY DOZEN from this set… and while THE DIRTY DOZEN is a damn fine film, in my book – it is only the third best film on this set.
#1 is THE BIG RED ONE Special Edition! This extended cut of this film is an absolute jaw-dropping masterpiece. I have always loved the film. As a kid, Luke Skywalker put a face to the horror of the concentration camps – and his emptying of his rifle into that oven is still one of the most haunting fucking things I’ve ever seen. But as I aged, and in particular as I discovered Sam Fuller’s other films, this movie dimmed a bit. However, this special edition based upon his shooting script and a full 40 minutes longer is absolutely brilliant. I got to watch this theatrically at the Alamo Drafthouse and folks… Jesus – you could hear a pin drop throughout. The audience was in church, Fuller was our pastor and THE BIG RED ONE was his message. What a great movie! Where did Lee Marvin go? Cuz he sure as hell can never die.
#2 is WHERE EAGLES DARE. Whenever I am on my way to get something unpleasant done with, I hum the theme to this movie. This is my favorite Richard Burton film and Clint Eastwood is totally Boba Fett cool in this. Now it seems, that I have a great many friends that have managed to almost reach manhood that have not seen this film. This DVD set will go a long ways towards letting their balls drop. This is the classic Nazi Castle at the top of an impenetrable unscalable mountain – men on a mission flick. From the air drop through all the many twists and turns – this film just kicks ass and keeps ya guessing. Great widescreen film!
#3 is THE DIRTY DOZEN – which is also just a fucking great men on a mission flick. Only Lee Marvin could be the badass in charge of a group like this. If you love this movie, check out the Korean film SILMIDO – you’ll love it. Problem with doing any men on a mission flick today is – do we have men of the caliber of Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Clint Walker? I guess Tarantino will have to find em!
#4 is BATTLEGROUND – is one of the WWII films I grew up on. This sucker logged 6 Oscar noms including Best Picture and features Van Johnson in a pretty desperate set of situations with Ricardo Montalban in an early great role for him. For you history monkeys – it’s the Battle Bastogne – and it’s great.
#5 is THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE… One of those huge productions, not that any of the 4 above were wee ones mind you, but this is the Battle of the Bulge and it’s gigantic! You’ll see Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan and ROBERT SHAW going at it and this is a really good film. Particularly for Robert Shaw.
May 10th
ALONE IN THE DARK
Quint says you ain’t got the balls to weather this shit. This is the masochistic turd blossom of the month. If nailing your penis to a two by four has stopped hurting, give this a try. Quint says it is “It Is All Clear”
APPLESEED (Limited Collector’s Edition with Metal Case & Action Figure)
Produced by the brilliant director of PING PONG – this 100% CG ANIME is a beauty to behold. This isn’t one of the most brilliant anime films, but it is an evolutionary step in anime. We will begin to see more and more that has this motion capture animation look to it, and frankly this is quite fun and beautiful… just doesn’t quite have the right story in place. But for Anime fans it is definitely worth picking up.
ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13
I love this version of Carpenter’s classic. Now saying that does not diminish Carpenter’s film, this one is a fairly radically different film from characters, to music, to the very visual look of it all. This snowed in precinct on the outskirts of Detroit is quite a setting. The film does have the logic flaw of how on earth do they plan on making all these dead cops simply disappear, even if they wipe everyone out. But damn if I care – I just take it that these guys plan on doing whatever it takes to kill Fishburne. I feel that this is a film that I’ll watch in tandem with the original many a gun-cleaning night.
BURDEN OF DREAMS – Criterion Collection
This entire film… that’s getting the Criterion treatment is what amounts to being a brilliant extras regarding the making of FITZCARRALDO – the brilliant Werner Herzog film. There are films of legendary effort and pain, FITZCARRALDO along with APOCALYPSE NOW are perhaps the two most powerful. Les Blank was there to capture the making of Herzog’s film, and in so doing actually captured an even more stunning document to passion and story-telling. Werner, in his gloriously stubborn dream to capture the reality of his plot. Epic, Towering and ultimately frustrating as you can’t help but want to watch every minute of the making of FITZCARRALDO – every cut is a lash to the reality, this is insanity, this is filmmaking.
Controversial Classics Collection (ADVISE AND CONSENT / THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY / BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK / BLACKBOARD JUNGLE / A FACE IN THE CROWD / FURY / I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG)
Of all the Warner Box Sets they’ve put out thus far, this is probably the most interesting selection of titles and subject matters. This goes well beyond typical star sets or even basic genre groupings. This is an exploration of a genre you won’t find in Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. This is CONTROVERSY! Heh. Regularly – you’d find these films in that big clunky genre known as DRAMA. It’s where corporate lazy brainers put ‘the rest of it.’ Back in E.C. Comics’ heyday they called em ShockSuspense stories – and in a way – that’s kinda what we got here.
I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG – Stars the greatest Actor that unfortunately most of you have never heard of. Paul Muni, the original SCARFACE and Louis Pasteur. Muni is a towering actor, whom I hope Benicio DelToro models his career after. This is that rare film that made a difference. So captivating, heart-wrenching and powerful was Muni’s performance and Mervyn LeRoy’s direction that nationwide changes were implemented and even the real-life escapee that the film’s story was written by… his sentence was commuted. Muni lost the Best Actor Oscar to Charles Laughton’s THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII – I’ve kinda always been a bit bitter about that. Muni blew Laughton away in my opinion.
ADVISE AND CONSENT – Speaking of Laughton, this film has his last performance. This is one of Otto Preminger’s most powerful films. With a cast starring the aforementioned Charles Laughton, Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Burgess Meredith, Lew Ayres, Franchot Tone and Walter Pidgeon. Preminger originally offered a role to Martin Luther King Jr. MLK turned it down, concentrating on the path he had before him. The film deals with a nominee for Secretary of State (Henry Fonda) going through the approval process and being roasted and turned over an open flame by a hostile Senate committee that digs into every unsavory point in the man’s life. BRILLIANT film.
FURY – Brilliant German expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lang made this his first American film and holy shit what a debut. First he nails Spencer Tracy as his lead, Joe Wilson, a man jailed wrongfully. The “kill the monster” mob comes to burn him alive and he is thought dead when the place he is at is burnt to the ground. If you don’t know what Fritz could do with the angry mob scene, check out M. Heh. Here he kind of tops himself. This disc has a wonderful commentary by Peter Bogdanovich which includes samples of his interviews with Fritz Lang. If you got that Hitchcock set with Peter’s interviews with Hitch laid in… Heaven.
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK – Looky here – Spencer Tracy back for more Controversy! Heh. That devil! One of the early great John Sturges directed films and what a cast he put together. Tracy hits town with a private reason for coming… the town, doesn’t take kindly to strangers… and what type of men are there in this town? Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Walter Brennan and Ernest Borgnine. And it gets plenty ugly. Tracy got nominated for this performance and it is a damn fine one.
THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY – A great early film by Arthur Hiller – who has a great commentary on this disc. The film stars Julie Andrews, James Garner and James Coburn. Garner’s great in this flick, mainly because of lines he’s given – take a gander at this monologue: “War isn't hell at all. It's man at his best; the highest morality he's capable of. It's not war that's insane, you see. It's the morality of it. It's not greed or ambition that makes war: it's goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we've managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we'll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It's not war that's unnatural to us, it's virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall all be saved.”
A FACE IN THE CROWD – is one of those films that makes you take a look at a beloved friendly actor’s face and think of it in a completely different way. This was Andy Griffith’s film debut and in the hands of Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg… they tell the story of a TV actor’s rise to fame and then absolute nose dive into the seediest side of life. Film features Lee Remick, who is yummy as hell in this – but also has great cameos by Mike Wallace, Walter Winchell and Burl Ives. This dvd has a great Documentary with Andy Griffith, among others, talking about the making of this great film.
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE – The last film in the set is a doozy. When you see what type of teacher ol Pa Kent was, boy let me tell you what – you’ll really look at Glenn Ford differently. Other than the hair cuts, clothes and music – every single issue facing this teacher of High School kids is still alive and kicking unfortunately. Great film from Richard Brooks. BTW – this is where Sidney Poitier launched from. Oh this film is also held accountable for launching that minor form of music known as Rock-n-Roll… heard of it?
DASTARDLY & MUTTLEY IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES – THE COMPLETE SERIES
I can hear Muttley’s snicker now and Dick Dastardly’s sniveling too. This is one of the few times that a series existed solely from the point of view of THE BAD GUY! I loved it. Ultimately this was perfected to super genius with PINKY & THE BRAIN… but when I was a kid – I didn’t have that as a choice. Dammit. I wish I could send entertainment back in time to a younger version of myself. That’d be really fun.
HOOP DREAMS – CRITERION COLLECTION
This is one of those films that Siskel & Ebert pushed and pushed and pushed – and then the fucking Academy Awards ignored. A brilliant and utterly enthralling documentary about 2 inner city basketball kids pursuing a dream to make it in Basketball to escape their own rather impoverished lives. Shot over 6 years and over 10 and a half days of footage – literally. This 3 hour look at these two lives… it’s amazing. Features commentaries from the subjects as well as the filmmakers. Typical great Criterion job!
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS
I got to see this film during the AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL at the Paramount theater on the big screen and absolutely loved seeing it projected with an audience. Unfortunately it never got much further than that theatrically speaking – However, it did pick up some Golden Globe activity and now it’s hitting on DVD. This is not really a biography – rather this is an experimental film that purports to be the autobiographical film that the cinematic persona known as Peter Sellers might have made about himself had he the resources or the inclination. Having said that, had Sellers done it, it probably would have been more funny and less hurtful, but you never know with Sellers. Anchored by 4 great performances by Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Charlize Theron and John Lithgow – the movie I found to be delightful. The DVD has deleted scenes, making ofs and all manners of fun to be had.
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (2-Disc Special Edition) – Criterion Collection
I’m very much looking forward to getting this disc. Mainly for the 10 deleted scenes. I felt while watching THE LIFE AQUATIC in theaters that there was an awful lot missing from the film. However, I got the feeling that these deleted scenes won’t be the scenes I’m hoping for. I’m also looking forward to the Albert Maysles documentary called THIS IS AN ADVENTURE that is on the dvd – along with the other insane amount of extras and insights that Criterion is including in this 2 DVD set.
THE PORNOGRAPHER
A French Art Film about a Serious Pornographer who had retired when Pornography was attempting to be more than jack material and returns to make another film to find the industry completely changed. A film that attempts to give a pornographer meaning and nuance and soul. It also features a full on blowjob, but frankly – though I watched that scene 20 or 30 times… they kept doing all this aggravating art shit. Dammit. So frustrating. Heh.
TREASURES FROM AMERICAN FILM ARCHIVES
If you have the original edition of this, there is nothing new here. I’m listing this though, because the original edition had sold out, and for those of you that have been seeking this astonishing first collection from the American Film Archives – here’s your chance to not get jacked on Ebay for it. First off – this 2nd pressing is being issued at nearly $30 cheaper than the original set and you still get all 11 hours of material on 4 discs, the 4 booklets and over 50 films. Including John Huston’s documentary THE BATTLE OF SAN PIETRO, William S Hart’s HELL’S HINGES which just kicks ass like you won’t believe for a 1916 film. There’s even the only known film footage of Orson Welles’ Haitian set version of MACBETH that he produced while also doing the Mercury Radio Program. We may never have a time machine, but with sets like this, we don’t need em.
The Next 3 weeks of DVD Picks Will be up shortly - but this elongated report cried for a break, both for my sad fingers and for your dear eyes. There's some great stuff yet to come, it will be here soon enough, I promise! No later than next Monday.
#1 is THE BIG RED ONE Special Edition! This extended cut of this film is an absolute jaw-dropping masterpiece. I have always loved the film. As a kid, Luke Skywalker put a face to the horror of the concentration camps – and his emptying of his rifle into that oven is still one of the most haunting fucking things I’ve ever seen. But as I aged, and in particular as I discovered Sam Fuller’s other films, this movie dimmed a bit. However, this special edition based upon his shooting script and a full 40 minutes longer is absolutely brilliant. I got to watch this theatrically at the Alamo Drafthouse and folks… Jesus – you could hear a pin drop throughout. The audience was in church, Fuller was our pastor and THE BIG RED ONE was his message. What a great movie! Where did Lee Marvin go? Cuz he sure as hell can never die.
#2 is WHERE EAGLES DARE. Whenever I am on my way to get something unpleasant done with, I hum the theme to this movie. This is my favorite Richard Burton film and Clint Eastwood is totally Boba Fett cool in this. Now it seems, that I have a great many friends that have managed to almost reach manhood that have not seen this film. This DVD set will go a long ways towards letting their balls drop. This is the classic Nazi Castle at the top of an impenetrable unscalable mountain – men on a mission flick. From the air drop through all the many twists and turns – this film just kicks ass and keeps ya guessing. Great widescreen film!
#3 is THE DIRTY DOZEN – which is also just a fucking great men on a mission flick. Only Lee Marvin could be the badass in charge of a group like this. If you love this movie, check out the Korean film SILMIDO – you’ll love it. Problem with doing any men on a mission flick today is – do we have men of the caliber of Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Clint Walker? I guess Tarantino will have to find em!
#4 is BATTLEGROUND – is one of the WWII films I grew up on. This sucker logged 6 Oscar noms including Best Picture and features Van Johnson in a pretty desperate set of situations with Ricardo Montalban in an early great role for him. For you history monkeys – it’s the Battle Bastogne – and it’s great.
#5 is THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE… One of those huge productions, not that any of the 4 above were wee ones mind you, but this is the Battle of the Bulge and it’s gigantic! You’ll see Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan and ROBERT SHAW going at it and this is a really good film. Particularly for Robert Shaw.
I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG – Stars the greatest Actor that unfortunately most of you have never heard of. Paul Muni, the original SCARFACE and Louis Pasteur. Muni is a towering actor, whom I hope Benicio DelToro models his career after. This is that rare film that made a difference. So captivating, heart-wrenching and powerful was Muni’s performance and Mervyn LeRoy’s direction that nationwide changes were implemented and even the real-life escapee that the film’s story was written by… his sentence was commuted. Muni lost the Best Actor Oscar to Charles Laughton’s THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII – I’ve kinda always been a bit bitter about that. Muni blew Laughton away in my opinion.
ADVISE AND CONSENT – Speaking of Laughton, this film has his last performance. This is one of Otto Preminger’s most powerful films. With a cast starring the aforementioned Charles Laughton, Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Burgess Meredith, Lew Ayres, Franchot Tone and Walter Pidgeon. Preminger originally offered a role to Martin Luther King Jr. MLK turned it down, concentrating on the path he had before him. The film deals with a nominee for Secretary of State (Henry Fonda) going through the approval process and being roasted and turned over an open flame by a hostile Senate committee that digs into every unsavory point in the man’s life. BRILLIANT film.
FURY – Brilliant German expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lang made this his first American film and holy shit what a debut. First he nails Spencer Tracy as his lead, Joe Wilson, a man jailed wrongfully. The “kill the monster” mob comes to burn him alive and he is thought dead when the place he is at is burnt to the ground. If you don’t know what Fritz could do with the angry mob scene, check out M. Heh. Here he kind of tops himself. This disc has a wonderful commentary by Peter Bogdanovich which includes samples of his interviews with Fritz Lang. If you got that Hitchcock set with Peter’s interviews with Hitch laid in… Heaven.
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK – Looky here – Spencer Tracy back for more Controversy! Heh. That devil! One of the early great John Sturges directed films and what a cast he put together. Tracy hits town with a private reason for coming… the town, doesn’t take kindly to strangers… and what type of men are there in this town? Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Walter Brennan and Ernest Borgnine. And it gets plenty ugly. Tracy got nominated for this performance and it is a damn fine one.
THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY – A great early film by Arthur Hiller – who has a great commentary on this disc. The film stars Julie Andrews, James Garner and James Coburn. Garner’s great in this flick, mainly because of lines he’s given – take a gander at this monologue: “War isn't hell at all. It's man at his best; the highest morality he's capable of. It's not war that's insane, you see. It's the morality of it. It's not greed or ambition that makes war: it's goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we've managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we'll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It's not war that's unnatural to us, it's virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall all be saved.”
A FACE IN THE CROWD – is one of those films that makes you take a look at a beloved friendly actor’s face and think of it in a completely different way. This was Andy Griffith’s film debut and in the hands of Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg… they tell the story of a TV actor’s rise to fame and then absolute nose dive into the seediest side of life. Film features Lee Remick, who is yummy as hell in this – but also has great cameos by Mike Wallace, Walter Winchell and Burl Ives. This dvd has a great Documentary with Andy Griffith, among others, talking about the making of this great film.
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE – The last film in the set is a doozy. When you see what type of teacher ol Pa Kent was, boy let me tell you what – you’ll really look at Glenn Ford differently. Other than the hair cuts, clothes and music – every single issue facing this teacher of High School kids is still alive and kicking unfortunately. Great film from Richard Brooks. BTW – this is where Sidney Poitier launched from. Oh this film is also held accountable for launching that minor form of music known as Rock-n-Roll… heard of it?
