“Staff Notes” Archive
George D. Allen | Staff Notes
Remember your first R-rated movie?
For young movie fans, it’s a major rite of passage whether you see your first “Restricted” title on the big or small screen. At least it used to be. Who knows what's going on with those darn kids today?
As for me, I have very particular memories of first experiencing works branded “No One Under 17 Admitted Without Parent or Guardian” as a big deal on the big screen.
In fact, I not only remember seeing my first R-rated movie, I remember my first three.
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George D. Allen | Staff Notes
Holy cow, look at all those people in the streets. You’d think it was the Great Depression!
Or the 1960s.
Maybe a mixture of both?
Some time ago, I offered readers a primer of films designed to illuminate the Tea Party phenomenon, so it’s only fitting to now bring about a new list that participants and observers of the Occupy Wall Street (Philadelphia, Oakland, take your pick of locations, they’re growing fast) movement can benefit from viewing or revisiting.
Whether you regard the OWS folks as vanguards of a new American revolution or as “urine-soaked deadbeats,” the movies of the past and present can always help us better understand the real world that exists outside the confines of the screen.
These gatherings are large and strong but they are also diffuse in purpose, which is a 99%-er’s way of saying they appear not to know exactly what they want in a broadly agreed-upon manner. That said, there are common themes that have emerged from the dissent. So, call their activities the protest of patriots or the chaos caused by crackpots—these are the films we should be looking at now:
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Irv Slifkin | Staff Notes
The new film Mozart’s Sister puts an unprecedented spin on the legend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, focusing on the life of his older sister Maria Anna, known familiarly as “Nannerl.” Herself a musical prodigy, Nannerl’s expertise at composition and violin were stifled by her father. She was forced to forgo her virtuoso violin playing to back her younger brother on harpsichord as he impressed the courts of 18th century Europe. She’s told by her father that she cannot become a composer because she’s a woman, a restriction common at the time. The film makes the point that Nannerl could have made a significant contribution to musical history if sexual politics were different in her place and time.
The premise is intriguing and, as handled by director Rene Feret (father of delicate lead actress Marie Feret), makes for a fascinating companion piece to Milos Forman’s Oscar-winning Amadeus, which featured Tom Hulce as the childish genius and F. Murray Abraham as his composer rival Antonio Salieri.
Of course, both views of Mozart take ample liberties with the facts. This seems to be commonplace, with Hollywood biopics in general, and screenplays about composers specifically.
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Jay Steinberg | Staff Notes
Deserved of his iconic status as an American leading man, this handsome and imposing performer built an impressive screen resumé over nearly 50 years, primarily (but hardly exclusively) on winning characterizations of fundamentally decent men looked to as a moral compass. The son of a San Diego druggist, Eldred Gregory Peck's youthful ambition was to become a doctor, but the acting bug bit hard in the course of his pre-med studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Years later he reminisced about his days at Berkeley, saying, "it was a very special experience for me and three of the greatest years of my life. It woke me up and made me a human being." Peck would later donate $25,000 to the Berkeley rowing crew in honor of his renowned coach, Ky Ebright.
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Jason Marcewicz | Staff Notes
It's been awhile since my last visual quiz. Since Halloween is almost upon us I thought I'd do something in that vein.
Sixteen inanimate objects of horror are to follow. Can you name them and the film that they're from? (Answers below.)
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George D. Allen | Staff Notes
MovieFanFare Fiends, we are approaching that most sacred of calendar days for horror film buffs. It can be a trying affair indeed, poring through your cobweb-strewn video cupboards and that messy movie meat locker in search of just the right combination of ingredients to blend together for the perfect fright flick feast. It can be a grueling challenge even for a shock-xpert like our own Ghouly Irv.
Fear not!
You are now guaranteed to have an enjoyably eerie holiday meal. Just choose wisely from the following menu designed by your horrorday gourmand (gore-mand?), and after the lights come back up, you will no doubt lean back from your TV table sated with a belly full of butterflies, the delightful clacking of teeth, and the mood music of your gasps, shrieks, and howls.
Have you come with a hearty appetite? I bid you welcome. Let’s dig up—uhm, that is, dig in:
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Irv Slifkin | Staff Notes
Alex de la Iglesia is out of control. Again, thank goodness.
The Spanish director with a small but devoted cult in the States is back to his old tricks in his latest film The Last Circus. Set in Spain throughout the reign of Generalissimo Franco—and even featuring a cameo by the dictator—the wacko film is the saga of a happy clown with a nasty vicious streak and a well-meaning sad clown at war over the affections of a beautiful aerialist. The film is grotesquely beautiful and filled with bursts of kinky sexuality and disturbing violence. You truly never know where it is going. Although it is strikingly original in its execution, it remains reminiscent of the works of David Lynch, Federico Fellini, Luis Bunuel, the Coen Brothers and Guillermo del Toro.
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George D. Allen | Staff Notes
They are defeating the meaning of the screen.—Charlie Chaplin, reacting to the development of “talkies”
Now here’s a challenge that comes along in a big way every few decades, whenever the nature of cinema appears poised to undergo some sort of seismic transformation:
Look into your crystal ball now and predict the future of motion pictures—we can’t really call it “film” anymore and have that be a legitimate term, can we?—even if that seems like a daunting task. After all, it would be tough to make a less accurate prediction than (the great) Chaplin made about how sound would defeat, rather than enhance, the storytelling power of the movies.
I have a few ideas of my own about how cinema will change. None of them involve 3-D.
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Irv Slifkin | Staff Notes
“Let’s eat with the working folks,” said Charles Napier between drags on a cigarette. “We’re not going to that hoity-toity fish joint Robards goes to. S—t, he can afford it.”
We were in Philadelphia’s dark and dank City Hall sometime in 1992, while the movie Philadelphia was being shot. Napier, who played the judge in Jonathan Demme’s AIDS drama, was discussing dinner, and the hoity-toity eatery he referred to is Philly’s legendary, now-closed Bookbinder’s. And Robards, of course, was Jason, Jr., who played the law firm mentor of Oscar winning Tom Hanks’ Andrew Beckett, the man stricken with the HIV virus.
The food buffet was set up in Wanamaker’s Crystal Tea Room, which was attached to the department store John Wanamaker’s on Market Street. The place was buzzing with activity. Napier got a kick out of pointing out some of the people in the film as they walked by with their prime rib, roasted potatoes and veggie medley on their plate.
“There’s Robert Ridgely,” Charles noted. “He’s been at it for a long time—worked with a lot of the greats.”
Other familiar faces floated by. Charles appeared to be getting fidgety halfway through his meat and potatoes. Time for another smoke.
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George D. Allen | Staff Notes
Have you found yourself asking this question...of your friends...of your relatives...even, in a fleeting moment of self-doubt, of yourself?
Some people think it's all about liking Citizen Kane. Others believe that you can tell a lot about a person's status by the Desert Island Movies they choose.
Yet other cinephiles place a lot of value on the kind of movie books you own...what you think about screen performers like Tom Cruise......or J. Lo......or W.C. Fields. Whether or not you think The Tree of Life is silly...or significant.
There are people ready to disqualify you if you Never Saw That Classic Movie—not taking into account, of course, that most of us will miss almost everything, in the grand scheme of things.
Who knew it was actually quite easy to figure out if you're a true-blue Movie Lover? Six questions, and we're there.
Take the quiz:
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Irv Slifkin | Staff Notes
An email came in after the publication of my earlier article on double features. The letter asked about films which were re-released in theaters. I had mentioned in the article that reissuing films in a number of screens was a common practice in the good ol’ days before video and 3-D reconfigurations; as a for instance, the James Bond films were commonly teamed up and usually received a warm box-office reception from 007-worshipping audiences.
But how do I figure out what the most popular revivals have been over the years?
I turned my attention to my good friend David Bleiler, who keeps track of such things. Dave has an unusual but fascinating hobby; he keeps track of the popularity of films through ticket sales, and says that this is the one true way to tell how the true success of films. Dave is an old pro, having written about films for several magazines and authoring a few books as well.
I had mentioned the predicament to him: How can you tell the most popular films that were re-released in theaters? And, sure enough, he went to his stats and formulas and ticket counting charts and sure enough, he offered me an extensive chart of “the most popular re-released films in history.”
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Irv Slifkin | Staff Notes
In the midst of celebrating the 100th birthdays of Lucille Ball, Ronald Reagan, Broderick Crawford and other show business luminaries, we almost forgot that this year, the great Vincent Price would have blown out the candles on his 100th as well.
Price, in his sinister state, had such an impact on kids growing up in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, giving them decades of the willies with his shudder-inducing performances in countless horror movies. His erudite demeanor usually camouflaged the menace within. Only on occasion would he don heavy makeup or prosthetics ala Karloff or Chaney or Lee. With his pencil-thin mustache, sadistic sense of humor, impeccable dress and precise elocution, he was often cast as the human monster. Price brought class to a genre often filled with crass.
So, in celebration of Vincent Price’s belated birthday (a Gemini, he was born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 27), we’ve chosen ten Price-plus performances. And if you dare, let us know some of your faves.
Laura (1944): Before he was the master of the macabre, Price was a much-in-demand character actor. One of his best-known pre-terror tale efforts was in Otto Preminger’s noir classic, in which he played Shelby Carpenter, sweet-talking opportunist fiancé of the late advertising expert Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), whose death is being investigated by Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews).
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