A fun, readable blend of gossip (omg, Rex Harrison! and his wife!! Mike Nichols and Elaine May duking it out live on stage!), the dying travails of the old studio system, the intricacies of distribution, and all the weird stuff that goes on w/r/t getting a movie made (like options on scripts and how the $$ gets scraped together, etc etc). Major subplots of the blatant bigotry and racism of the times (also prudishness) and the death of the Production Code.
Jaq OTM. Less hungup on nostalgia than Peter Biskind's book on the seventies generation. The bits dealing with Spencer Tracy's failing health and the awful crossroads in which Sidney Poitier found himself are worth a read.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 24 April 2008 17:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Dede Allen, editor, dies at 86.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-dede-allen18-2010apr18,0,1409759,full.story
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2010/04/the_great_dede.php
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 19 April 2010 01:07 (thirteen years ago) link
rip.
i think this movie is kind of uneven, but the opening sequence is fucking incredible, and 85% of it is the editing.
― by another name (amateurist), Monday, 19 April 2010 14:16 (thirteen years ago) link
She did The Hustler too. RIP
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 19 April 2010 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link
damn, rip indeed.
― call all destroyer, Monday, 19 April 2010 20:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Arthur Penn RIP.
― State Attorney Foxhart Cubycheck (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 29 September 2010 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
probably deserves his own thread. besides b&c and little big man, i forgot that he made penn and teller get killed, which is pretty great.
― a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 29 September 2010 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Hackman is sure good in this. And, yes, the editing is the star here.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 15 October 2011 02:40 (twelve years ago) link
The soundtrack contributes so much to the mood of this film it's ridic.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Saturday, 15 October 2011 04:05 (twelve years ago) link
what's with the weird colour in that bit where they meet her ma?
― piscesx, Saturday, 15 October 2011 06:44 (twelve years ago) link
Kevin Costner Is...Ranger Frank Hammer
― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 22:44 (five years ago) link
Michael J Pollard is the first of the 5 principal actors to die.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 November 2019 06:02 (four years ago) link
RIP
Great in Star Trek too
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 23 November 2019 06:19 (four years ago) link
Always think of this scene when I see a good parking spot open up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1N5TcA5to
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 23 November 2019 06:39 (four years ago) link
This is great too, the closest they got to having the threesome scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A61nJCd8hvc
"Coo-pey"
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 23 November 2019 06:45 (four years ago) link
the very worst thing about the script is that Clyde regains his erectile function just before they die.
it looks great throughout, tho the oldskool DP grumbled about Penn's style. (DP then won Oscar)
Dede Allen credited her assistant with handling most of the final scene.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 28 December 2019 19:10 (four years ago) link
Reading the BFI book (just finished the one for Sweet Smell of Success). Never knew that Arthur Penn directed one-third of the Nixon-Kennedy debates. (They had four, so I'm not sure what that means--maybe he got fired partway through one of them.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 18:35 (one year ago) link