Stan The Man

Today, Stanley Baker would have been 86. Born William Stanley Baker in the Rhondda Valley on February 28th 1928. He came from rugged Welsh mining stock, but like his friend and fellow Welshman Richard Burton, he escaped the mines by heading for the stage and screen. His father lost a leg in an accident in the mine and was thereafter unemployed until the Second World War took men away into the services. His elder brother Freddie, a miner, died of pneumoconiosis early in 1976 after many years of debilitation and sickness. He headed for the stage and the learning curve negotiated, the big screen called, with Raoul Walsh casting him in Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)  then Home To Danger (1951) and the delightfully named Whispering Smith Hits London (1952) and at the tender age of 25 he appeared in The Cruel Sea (1953) with Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott, Virginia McKenna, Megs Jenkins and Sam Kydd.

The Red Beret (1953), Knights of the Round Table (1953) with Ava Gardner and Robert Taylor (Stanley played Modred) and then  Hell Below Zero (1954)

Slideshow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti4KcsbE_hs

Again with Alan Ladd with whom he had featured in The Red Beret. The same year he made The Good Die Young (1954) with Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Joan Collins, John Ireland, Richard Basehart and Robert Morley.

Beautiful Stranger (1954) saw him team up with Herbert Lom and Ginger Rogers then Laurence Olivier’s Richard III (1955). In 1956 he stepped into sandals as Achilles in Helen of Troy. 

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXB5s-ihclM

He kept the sandals on for Alexander the Great (1956) with old friend Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Michael Hordern, Peter Cushing, Harry Andrews, and Freric March. A Hill in Korea (1956), Checkpoint (1956) and then Hell Drivers (1957)

 

Theatrical Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV9Vs9tOEaI

Teaming up with Herbert Lom (again), Patrick McGoohan, William (Dr Who) Hartnell, Sid James, Jill Ireland, Alfie Bass, Gordon Jackson, Sean Connery and directed by Cy Endfield (Zulu) this is a cracking crime thriller.

Clips from the film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpRz4hKffSA

Campbells Kingdom (1957), Violent Playground (1958), Sea Fury (1958) and Yesterday’s Enemy (1959)  which earned him a BAFTA Nomination then Robert Aldrich’s The Angry Hills (1959) with Robert Mitchum, Leslie Phillips and Donald Wolfit.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng0JwexnTPI

Blind Date (1959) with Hardy Kruger rouded out the 50’s.

The 1960’s started with a bang, he starred in Hell is a City (1960) directed by Val Guest.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb_xIOC4n8A

and then into the superb The Criminal (1960) directed by Joseph Losey.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LLVygSrbbA

Then The Guns of Navarone (1961) with David Niven, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quaye, Irene Papas, James Robertson Justice, Richard Harris, Bryan Forbes from Alistair MacLean’s novel of the same name.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQvkPMNt70

A Prize of Arms (1962) with Tom Bell, Patrick Magee, Glynn Edwards (who both joined him on Zulu to years later), Fulton Mackay and Geoffrey Palmer.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTyPB8_7nc

Zulu (1964) For many people his defining film but there is so much more to choose from, but this is an all time classic film and an epic style that is never bettered even now with all the fancy gadgetry and CGI. “Zulus, thousands of them”.

He was warned not to address a CND rally prior to the release of Zulu (1964), in case his left-wing political activism hurt the film’s performance in the United States.

In a floral tribute sent to Stanley Baker’s funeral, Zulu leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi who had worked with him in Zulu (1964) described him as “the most decent white man I have ever met”.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zoPJCuTBA

Zulus Attack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-lDY02DThk

Sands of the Kalahari (1965)

Accident (1967) Directed once again by Joseph Losey this Harold Pinter script was a BAFTA winner.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gynxyeU7a14

The simply wonderful Robbery (1967). Directed by Peter Yates (a year before he struck gold with Bullitt, and who had been Assistant director on Guns of Navarone. Yates also directed the incomparable Friends of Eddie Coyle so I’ll always be grateful to him.

Media Presentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeWffLBGI-8

A weird hybrid directed by Michael Winner – The Games (1970) made primarily so Winner could swan around the world having fun (his words from his autobiography).

Then Perfect Friday (1970) with the delicious Ursula Andress.

Ursula and Stanley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTs-SLjkXv8

Lizard in a Women’s Skin (1971)

Zorro (1975)

How Green Was My Valley (75-76)

Awarded a knighthood in Harold Wilson’s  resignation Honour’s List in June 1976. At the time his knighthood was announced, Baker thought he had beaten his lung cancer following surgery in February of that year. However, although the tumour in his lung had been removed, it had spread into his chest and attached itself to his heart. Since no further surgery was possible, he had only a maximum of nine weeks to live anyway. Three weeks after the announcement of his knighthood, Baker was hospitalized in Spain with pneumonia. As he had died without making the journey to be formally knighted at Buckingham Palace, he cannot be referred to as Sir Stanley, but the Queen  agreed that his widow Ellen Martin could use the title “Lady Baker”. A dedicated socialist, he made political broadcasts for Harold Wilson’s Labour Party in Wales and was active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).  He was awarded the freedom of Ferndale, and in a ceremony which he attended in 1970, the local council placed a plaque on the house where he was born. He had intended to produce Zulu Dawn (1979).

He was offered the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962), but turned it down because he was unwilling to commit to a three-picture contract.

Stanley Baker Personal Quotes

      It’s impossible to direct yourself in a movie.

      I’m a dedicated Socialist first of all, I suppose, because … I saw the things that happened to … my family, and to the people around me. That sort of existence must stay in your mind.

      I made up my mind years ago, that the best parts in films always went to the villain. I was determined to corner the bad man’s market.

      If it hadn’t been for one man, just one man who luckily took me up, I would have always hated school and I would probably have ended up as one of the criminals I’ve played too many times on the screen.

One of our greatest actors. If you haven’t seen Hell Drivers or Robbery or The Criminal, do so as quickly as possible.

Godfrey Cambridge

There are not many black actors that played a white racist, drew a comment from Idi Amin when he died, and worked with Phil Silvers. Well, Godfrey Cambridge was that man.

 

Born Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge on 26th February 1933 (this would have been his 81st birthday) he won a four-year scholarship to study medicine but decided, instead, to become an actor, leaving college in his third year. He acted in many off-Broadway productions, winning the Village Voice’s Obie Award in Jean Genet’s  “The Blacks”; and, on Broadway, he gained a Tony Award Nomination in “Purlie’s Victorious”. It was as a comedian that he broke into television, initially on The Jack Paar Tonight Show  (1957). Then a spot on The Red Skelton Show and The Phil Silvers Show in 1957.

The Monkees (1967)

A Nice Place to Visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg5COREXems

He established himself in films in the late sixties.

He played Benjamin “Benny” Brownstead in The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)

A small role in Sidney Lumet’s 1968 Bye Bye Bravermanand then Cotton Comes To Harlem (1970) and his turn as Gravedigger Jones, cop and partner to Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St Jaques) in Ossie Davis’ cracking Blaxploitation comedy action flick.

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/cotton-comes-to-harlem-168-p.asp

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYjkAkJNBNM

He played both comic and straight roles but is likely remembered for such portrayals as that of the white bigot Jeff Gerber who wakes up one morning to find himself turned black in Watermelon Man (1970) with Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde)

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC_rYYnD05s

A cracking sequel to Cotton Comes to Harlem came out in 1972, Come Back Charleston Blue with Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed chasing a Harlem gangster, dead for more than four decades who appears to be slitting the throats of his rivals. (Phillip Michael Thomas – Tubbs from Miami Vice – has a role as a Minister).

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/come-back-charleston-blue-167-p.asp

Promo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3LIgTyZwH8

A few episodes of Police Story, then Whiffs (1975) Elliott Gould, Eddie Albert, Harry Guardino and Jennifer O’Neill.

Preview Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq94M9nFvAE

The same year he teamed up with the stupendous Pam Grier and much missed Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt and Scatman Crothers in Friday Foster (1975).

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNg1XLaTBdo

A TV Movie, Scott Joplin with Billy Dee Williams, Seymour Cassel, Art Carney and Sam Fuller was his final film.  His compulsive eating probably contributed to his untimely death at 43 on the set of the television film Victory at Entebbe (1976) in which he was to have played General Idi Amin He died of heart attack on set. Amin claimed Cambridge’s death was “punishment from God.” Julius Harris (Tee Hee in Live and Let Die, played Amin in the finished film).

When Cambridge died he was just 43 years old.

Vernon Drive

24th February 1932, the birth date of John Vernon, stalwart character actor who appeared in almost 200 films and TV programmes. Bloody hell.

Where to start? No idea. This is a man who played Tony Stark aka Iron Man in 1966 when Robert Downey Jnr was one year old! It’s so hard to decide what to look at so I’ve selected my favourite 15 films of his, no TV (as Gene Hackman stated in Get Shorty).

So, after quite a few TV appearances John Boorman selected him to play the double – crossing mob middle man Mal Reese, Walker’s (Lee Marvin’) pal who made Angie Dickinson’s flesh crawl and ended up taking a nose dive over the balcony wearing only a sheet in the wonderful Point Blank (1967)

 

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/point-blank-16-p.asp

 

This site has some incredible behind the scenes shots from Point Blank. Amazing stuff.

http://theeditroomfloor.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/unseen-photos-from-point-blank-part-6.html

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd8-DlfHghg

Topaz (1969) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Dirty Harry (1971)

Vernon was the Mayor of San Francisco.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBNldYiUmg

Fear Is The Key (1972)

Charlie Varrick (1973)

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/charley-varrick-133-p.asp

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f85Fb7QBmM

Black Windmill (1974)

The opening 9 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TtwQ4uzSA

Brannigan (1975)

The Best Bits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdk0xdamuE

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShTtkSRAurU

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en9rfsUGDkc

Don’t Piss Down My Back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfdpcrOgUp4

 

AnimalHouse (1978)

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/animal-house-227-p.asp

Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tfK_3XK4CI

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoS3-yHoaSY

Airplane 2 (1982)

The Best bits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVTmqsS32q8

Chained Heat (1983)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-GwUHreqW4

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQ3AGzeB_0

I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BddDCZwWkw0

Oh, and the reason I called this blog Vernon Drive is that is the name of the road I lived in for the first 12 years of my life.

That Obscure Object – Bunuel

Today, Luis Bunuel would have been 114 years old. Born 22nd February 1900. The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of film. Born Luis Bunuel Portoles in Calanda, Aragon, Spain he was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behaviour), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the university there, where his close friends included Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca.
After moving to Paris he did a variety of film-related odd jobs in Paris, including working as an assistant to director Jean Epstein (The Fall of the House of Usher). Using his Mother’s money and the creative juices of Dali, he made his first film, the 17  minute Un Chien Andalou (1929).

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/un-chien-andalou-160-p.asp

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/un-chien-andalou-239-p.asp

and immediately catapulted himself into film history thanks to its shocking imagery (much of which – like the sliced eyeball at the beginning – still packs a punch even today). It made a deep impression on the Surrealist Group, who welcomed Buñuel into their ranks.

The following year, sponsored by wealthy art patrons, he made his first feature, the scabrous witty and violent L’Age d’Or  (1930).

It mercilessly attacked the church and the middle classes, themes that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career. That career, though, seemed almost over by the mid-1930s, as he found work increasingly hard to come by and after the Spanish Civil War he emigrated to the US where he worked for the Museum of Modern Art and as a film dubber for Warner Bros.
Moving to Mexico in the late 1940s, he teamed up with producer Oscar Dancigers and after a couple of unmemorable efforts shot back to international attention with the lacerating study of Mexican street urchins in Los Olividados  (1950), winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBDgOrB76Rk
and Bunuel promptly bit the hand that fed him by making Viridiana (1961), which was banned in Spain on the grounds of blasphemy, though it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Trailer (with English subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hTSjfh7Y0

He followed Viridiana with The Exterminating Angel (1962)

In competition in Cannes and winner of a Bodil Award, Jaqueline Andere won a Silver Goddess Award from Mexican Cinema Journalists.

This inaugurated Buñuel’s last great period when, in collaboration with producer Serge Silberman  and writer Jean-Claude Carriere  he made seven extraordinary  masterpieces, starting with Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) starring Jeanne Moreau and Michel Piccoli.

the extraordinary Simon of the Desert (1965)

Belle de Jour (1967)

 

Trailer for Belle de Jour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJXLCYZMGQ8

The Milky Way (1969)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAn2DMkIEHg

The following year came Tristana (1970)

Tristana trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcW2EKnzXxE

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

The Phantom of Liberty (1974)

That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

 
After saying that every one of his films from Belle de our (1967) onwards would be his last, he finally kept his promise with That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)  after which he wrote a memorable (if factually dubious) autobiography, in which he said he’d be happy to burn all the prints of all his films, a classic Surrealist gesture if ever there was one.  A one – off. A director like no other with a vision, a passion and the talent to back it up.

French TV Programme about Bunuel (with blue subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjVpviB2gp4

Happy Bithday Luis.

I bet you’re a big Lee Marvin fan

So said Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. Well, who isn’t. Today would have been the late, great, Lee Marvin’s 90th birthday. One of the truly great character/lead actors of this or any generation. A hard drinking, tough looking hombre who graced our screens in over 100 films. I could pick so many great performances but I’ll select my favourites here.

Named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who was his second cousin three times removed. Prematurely white-haired character star who began as a supporting player of generally vicious demeanor, then metamorphosed into a star of both action and drama projects, Lee Marvin was born in New York City to Lamont Waltman Marvin, an advertising executive, and his wife Courtenay Washington Davidge, a fashion writer. The young Marvin was thrown out of dozens of schools bad behaviour. His parents took him to Florida, where he attended St. Leo’s Preparatory School near Dade City. Dismissed there as well, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the beginning of World War II. In the battle of Saipan in June 1944, he was wounded in the buttocks by Japanese fire which severed his sciatic nerve. He received a medical discharge and got menial work as a plumber’s apprentice in Woodstock, NY. While repairing a toilet at the local community theater, he was asked to replace an ailing actor in a rehearsal. He was immediately stricken with a love for the theater and went to New York City, where he studied and played small roles in stock and Off-Broadway. He landed an extra role in Henry Hathaway’s – You’re In The Navy Now and found his role expanded when Hathaway took a liking to him.

Lee Marvin on Henry Hathaway and the war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz1N-ClLvhM

Returning to the stage, he made his Broadway debut in “Billy Budd”, and after a succession of small TV roles, moved to Hollywood, where he began playing heavies and cops in roles of increasing size and frequency. Given a leading role in Eight Iron Men  (1952), he followed it with enormously memorable heavies in:

The Big Heat (1953) opposite Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Carolyn Jones (Morticia from The Addams Family TV series) and directed by Fritz Lang.

The Wild One (1953) opposite Marlon Brando.

He could not ride a motorcycle at the time The Wild One was filmed but, determined not to be bettered by the star, Marlon Brando,  he quickly learned. He later became a keen competitor on his Triumph 200cc Tiger Cub in desert races.

He respected Brando “Brando is not exactly a generous actor, he doesn’t give. But he does make demands on you and if you don’t come through then he’ll run right over the top of you.”

Lee Marvin on M Squad and Marlon Brando

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiwNc_OBd7g

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) where he took on a one-armed Spencer Tracy (and lost). John Sturges directed a cracking cast that included Robert Ryan and Ernest Borgnine, both of whom would work with Lee in the future.

Attack (1956) directed by Robert Aldrich with Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Richard Jaeckel, Buddy Ebsen, Strother Martin.

Lee Marvin on Robert Aldrich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ-7yEfC1vA

They  established Lee as a major screen villain, and he began shifting toward leading roles with a successful run as a police detective in the TV series M Squad (1957). A few TV shows (Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Bonanza, Wagon Train) and a few small films (Raintree County, The Rack, and The Comancheros with John Wayne) led to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ((1962) with The Duke, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Ed O’Brien, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef, and Denver Pyle.

Another film with John Wayne in 1963, Donovan’s Reef. Marvin played Thomas Aloysius “Boats” Gilhooley, what a great character name.

The Killers (1964) directed by Don Siegel featured Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, Claude Akins and an actor called Ronald Reagan (who didn’t really do very much with the rest of his life!)

An Oscar for his dual role as a drunken gunfighter and his evil, noseless brother in the western comedy Cat Ballou one really saw coming. A fabulous cast, Jane Fonda as the eponymous Cat, a Greek chorus of Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye.

Quite a line up for the main Oscars, Lee Marvin, Best Actor for Cat Ballou, Julie Christie, Best Actress for Darling, Shelley Winters, Best Supporting Actress for A Patch of Blue and Martin Balsam, Best Supporting Actor for A Thousand Clowns.

Lee Marvin Oscar Speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKtvctsFV94

Ship of Fools in 1965 and then director Richard Brooks (who also produced) assembled a cracking cast for The Professionals (1966). Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Claudia Cardinale, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy. Shot outside Las Vegas in dreadful weather conditions, it remains one of the great westerns.

Properly in his stride, next up was a seminal war film, The Dirty Dozen (1967)

While serving in the Marine Corps he became best friends with John Miara of Malden, MA. Miara became Marvin’s model for the character of Maj. Reisman in  The Dirty Dozen.

Robert Aldrich assembled an amazing cast, headed by Marvin with old pal Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown, Richard Jaekel, George Kennedy, Trini Lopez, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker.

He was not always complimentary about the films he made, he said this about The Dirty Dozen:

” I studied violin when I was very young. You think I’m a dummy, right? I’m only in dummies. The Dirty Dozen  was a dummy moneymaker, and baby, if you want a moneymaker, get a dummy.”

The following year he made one of the great noir thrillers of all time, Point Blank 91967) a truly superb film directed by John Boorman,

Point Blank trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2sKgsKTeEM

 

Donald Westlake writer of Point Blank

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/point-blank-16-p.asp

John Boorman  film about Lee Marvin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soA0_5oZ8LY

Hell in the Pacific, in 1968 was a two hander with Toshiru Mifune set on a deserted island. Directed again by John Boorman, a stunning tale of survival. a suoerb anti-war film.

Marvin on his performance in Hell in the Pacific – “Well, I tried to deliver the most realistic performance I could. It’s a story of survival in the South Pacific during World War II – not what berry to pick or what root to gnaw on but the psyche of survival, which is what really keeps you alive, aside from water and food. The plot concerns the confrontation between an American Marine fighter pilot and a Japanese naval officer who have been marooned on a deserted Pacific island. They’re men at war who have to learn to live with each other in order to survive, despite the barriers of race, ideology and language.”

Maybe he needed a break from the tough guy films of recent times.

Clint Eastwood singing? Enough to drive a man to drink. Well, also to the top of the charts. Wandering Star from Paint Your Wagon (1969) hit the top of the charts all over the world earing him a gold record for sales over 1 million.

Lee Marvin – Wandering Star http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnbiRDNaDeo

Marvin then teamed up with old pal Jack Palance who starred with him in Attack and The Professionals for Monte Walsh.

Monte Walsh clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuFRqHwzY5o

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/monte-walsh-471-p.asp

In 1972 he teamed up with Gene Hackman to star as a mob enforcer settling a debt with rancher Hackman. Violent and nasty, this also saw Sissy Spacek make her film debut a year before Badlands.

Prime Cut trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxzQ1MEhzUg

Next came his role as A No 1 , super tramp in Emperor of the North (also known as Emperor of the North Pole). Once again teamed with Ernest Borgnine and a young Keith Carradine..

Emperor of the North Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jn-ZS7g8xs

In 1974 he made one of his most controversial films, Klansman, directed by Terence Young (Dr No, Thunderball) treading similar themes to In the Heat of the Night with racial tension, Marvin plays the local sheriff trying to keep the peace when O.J.Simpson is accused of rape. Strong supporting cast with Richard Burton, Linda (Dynasty) Evans and The Staple Sisters! Banned for years due to it’s racist content and use of language, it now serves as the sort of film that should never be made again.

Lee Marvin on filming The Klansman with Richard Burton, who was very sick.  “It was a wonder he [Burton] could move at all, but you have to hand it to him, he had guts, and I admired that. He never complained of being in pain. I’d say “Rich, are you okay?” and he’d say, “Just a little discomfort.” Discomfort! Jesus, the guy was in fucking agony…. I said to him, “Rich, you can’t go on like this.” He gave me that defiant Welsh look of his and said “Just watch me”, but I could see tears in his eyes. He was crying out for help and I couldn’t do anything for him.”

The Klansman trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wS9PSQWhEM

Shout at the Devil in 1976 teamed Marvin with Roger Moore and the drop dead gorgeous Barbara Parkins.

Great Scout and Cat House Thursday (1976) with Oliver Reed and Robert Culp, Avalanche Express (1979) with Robert Shaw and once again Linda Evans, The Big Red One (1980) featuring world superstar Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, Death Hunt with old pal Charlie Bronson then Gorky Park (1983).

A softer role, as an American “fixer” in Moscow with William Hurt and Brian Dennehy, Michael Elphick and Joanna Pacula.

Lee Marvin talks about Gorky Park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTratKzFctw

He then lined up with Chuck Norris for The Delta Force (1986) alongside Martin Balsam, Robert Forster, Joey Bishop, George Kennedy, Bo Svenson, Robert Vaughn, Shelley Winters (three out of the four Oscar winning stars from 1965).

Almost as interesting as that list of great films is the list of films he turned down:

He was Steven Spielberg’s first choice to play Quint in Jaws. He turned down the lead role of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. in Patton (1970) because he did not want to glorify war (George C Scott won the Oscar that year for his portrayal of Patton).

 He was offered the role of Col. Douglas Mortimer in For A Few Dollars More (1965), but turned it down to star in Cat Ballou. Lee Van Cleef did a great job in that role thankfully. He was offered the lead in The War of the Worlds (1953).

He turned down William Holden’s role in The Wild Bunch (1969) in order to make Paint Your Wagon  (1969), for which he had been offered $1 million plus a percentage of the profits. However, the movie was a notorious failure on release. He turned down the role of Col. Trautman in First Blood  (1982), as he didn’t want to play a colonel. He turned down two movies directed by William Friedkin, The French Connection and Sorceror (1977). He turned down Salvador  (1986). He turned down Dirty Harry (1971) and Death Wish  (1974), both vigilante-themed movies. Marvin was director Sidney Lumet’s first choice for Paul Kersey in “Death Wish”, but Lumet dropped out and Marvin was no longer interested because of it.

Michael Winner took over directorial duties, in came Charles Bronson and hey presto, massive hit.

     

Sadly, Lee Marvin died of a heart attack on 29th August 1987. Just 63, he could have made some great films in later life.

 

Jumping Jack Palance

Born Vladimir Palahniuk in Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania, Jack Palance had one of the most memorable of filmic faces. Today would have been his 88th birthday. Few people know that he was a professional heavyweight boxer in the early 1940s. Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance  won his first 15 fights, 12 by knockout before losing a 4th round decision to future heavyweight contender Joe Baksi on Dec. 17, 1940. With the outbreak of World War II, Jack Palance’s boxing career ended and his military career began. Wounded in combat, he received the purple heart, good conduct medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. After the war he began his long and famous motion picture career. After a couple of roles in TV series he landed the role of Blackie, a gangster on the run who may, along with the wonderful Zero Mostel, be carrying a deadly plague.

Jack Palance on What’s My Line

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHcjVgDGffo

Panic in the Streets (1950) Directed by Elia Kazan.

Panic in the Streets Trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx5NTgtz6U8

John Landis on Panic in the Streets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdKXJ2D3tXk

Shane (1953) Starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Ben Johnson, Elisha Cook Jnr.

Shane Trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTq75HIEjro

The Big Knife (1955)

Attack (1956)

Trailer for Attack (1956)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Iag6SAfKI

Le Mepris (1963).

Starring Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Palance and Fritz Lang as himself.

Trailer for Le Mepris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wjDWnKTROI

Possibly an unusual choice by Jean-Luc Godard to use Palance but as he spoke numerous languages fluently a smart one.

Once A Thief (1965)

Starring Alain Delon, Ann-Margret, Van Heflin alongside Palance.

Once A Thief clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vBp3szdZM0

The Professionals (1966)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE7MSE0bDe8

Monte Walsh (1970)

 

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/monte-walsh-471-p.asp

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDZ2-iZouEw

Chatos Land (1972)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svc2xiESFmk

Baghdad Café

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G2MEszpox0

 

Young Guns (1988)

Batman (1989)

Tango and Cash (1989)

City Slickers (1991)

Jack’s hilarious Oscar speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGxL5AFzzMY

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpxVp1g8xMQ

Jack Palance Tribute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuK4hTRuPfA

Jack Palance on Letterman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Pi8D2ClmA

Bloody Sam

February 21st, Sam Peckinpah’s birthday. He would have been 89. Sadly, he died of heart failure in 1984, there were so many other great films in him, I’m certain.

Moving Pictures Documentary on Sam Peckinpah in 6 parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr1G-lh7mJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRYj5G4X3U0

http:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbFZUbympxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZR2mswtRvA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_vq5TnJXWc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mz3l2xrqS8

David Samuel Peckinpah was born and grew up in Fresno, California, when it was still a sleepy town. Young Sam was a loner. The child’s greatest influence was grandfather Denver Church, a judge, congressman and one of the best shots in the Sierra Nevadas. Sam served in the US Marine Corps during World War II but – to his disappointment – did not see combat. Upon returning to the US he enrolled in Fresno State College, graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in Drama. He married Marie Selland in Las Vegas in 1947 and they moved to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the graduate Theater Department of the University of Southern California the next year. He eventually took his Masters in 1952.

After drifting through several jobs — including a stint as a floor-sweeper on The Liberace Show (1952) — Sam got a job as Dialogue Director on Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) for director Don Siegel.

He worked for Siegel on several films, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), in which Sam played Charlie Buckholtz, the town meter reader.

Peckinpah eventually became a scriptwriter for such TV programs as Gunsmoke (1955) and The Rifleman (1958) (which he created as an episode of Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater (1956) titled “The Sharpshooter’ in 1958). In 1961, as his marriage to Selland was coming to an end, he directed his first feature film, a western titled The Deadly Companions (1961) starring \Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara. However, it was with his second feature, Ride the High Country (1962), that Peckinpah really began to establish his reputation. Featuring Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott (in his final screen performance), its story about two aging gunfighters anticipated several of the themes Peckinpah would explore in future films, including the controversial “The Wild Bunch”.

Ride the High Country (1962)

 

Following “Ride the High Country” he was hired by producer Jerry Bresler to direct Major Dundee (1965), a cavalry-vs.-Indians western starring Charlton Heston. It turned out to be a film that brought to light Peckinpah’s volatile reputation. During hot, on-location work in Mexico, his abrasive manner, exacerbated by booze and marijuana, provoked usually even-keeled Heston to threaten to run him through with a cavalry sabre. However, when the studio later considered replacing Peckinpah, it was Heston who came to Sam’s defence, going so far as to offer to return his salary to help offset any overages. Ironically, the studio accepted and Heston wound up doing the film for free.

Post-production conflicts led to Sam engaging in a bitter and ultimately losing battle with Bresler and Columbia Pictures over the final cut and, as a result, the disjointed effort fizzled at the box office.

Major Dundee (1965)

 

He was hired by Warner Bros. to direct the film for which he is,
justifiably, best remembered. The success of “The Wild Bunch”
rejuvenated his career and propelled him through highs and lows in the 1970s.

The Wild Bunch (1969)

“If they move”, commands stern-eyed William Holden, “kill ’em”. So begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam Peckinpah’s bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old West. “Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah explodes the bottle”, observed critic Pauline Kael. That exploding bottle also christened the director with the nickname that would forever define his films and reputation: “Bloody Sam”.

The Wild Bunch opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrgSz2DGxBY

Robbery Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i9KBsOfUPI

In His Own Words: “The point of [The Wild Bunch] is to take this facade of movie violence and open it up, get people involved in it… and then twist it so that it’s not fun anymore, just a wave of sickness in the gut.”

L.Q.Jones on Peckinpah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uayweIIDG2Q

The Final Shootout

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iFT7hTZCMk

Video Discussion on The Wild Bunch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXfiR-ez1U

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL5ZGzn53eQ&list=PLgF_yX8htts2j7m3Bz4Z8e4IDE_XDAZ1z

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD4UawK_k90

Stella Stevens . Wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL5ZGzn53eQ

Straw Dogs (1971)

Behind The Scenes of Straw Dogs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2-4qdh7TbM

Susan George on Straw Dogs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kupqle-_RUs

Junior Bonner (1972)

The Getaway (1972)

   

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JTkmBc1JRc

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)

Knocking On Heaven’s Door

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjR7_U2u3sM

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-48J_x23ZE

The Killer Elite (1975)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuJAUa04wLM

Shooting Scene. James Caan and Bo Hopkins, Burt Young and Robert Duvall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woYhefJKuOo

Cross Of Iron (1977)

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/cross-of-iron-258-p.asp

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGtGzwZla2E

Quentin Tarantino on the influence of Cross of Iron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EpXEqn6AXE

Convoy (1978)

Music Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbLNUuCnggc

The Osterman Weekend (1983)

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/the-osterman-weekend-328-p.asp

Peckinpah lived life to its fullest. He drank hard and abused drugs, producers and collaborators. At the end of his life he was considering a number of projects including the Stephen King-scripted “The Shotgunners”. He was returning from Mexico in December 1984 when he died from heart failure in a hospital in Inglewood, California, at age 59. At a standing-room-only gathering that held at the Directors Guild the following month, Coburn remembered the director as a man “who pushed me over the abyss and then jumped in after me. He took me on some great adventures”. To which Robert Culp added that what is surprising is not that Sam only made fourteen pictures, but that given the way he went about it, he managed to make any at all.

What a legacy. One of the truly great directors of all time. If you could choose only one Sam Peckinpah film, which one would you choose?

Slaughter Boy

Today is Jim Brown’s birthday. He is 78. A gifted sportsman he is often mentioned as the greatest player in NFL history.

This ruggedly handsome African American fullback for the Cleveland Browns first appeared on movie screens in the western Rio Conchos (1964)

followed by a strong supporting role as convict commando “Jefferson” in the terrific WW2 action film The Dirty Dozen (1967) alongside legends Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Clint Walker and my favourite named actor Thick Wilson (a bit part player but what a handle).

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE-m6zUNKH0

Jim Brown in The Dirty Dozen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGqXkrIMrs

He was kept busy with additional on screen appearances in other action films including Ice Station Zebra (1968)

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYptT5qFCUA

100 Rifles (1969)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlRYOdsHwy4

and El Condor (1970).

 

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9kbYCP3V3o

Brown’s popularity grew during the boom of “blaxploitation” cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough “no nonsense” characters in

Slaughter (1972)

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/slaughter-166-p.asp

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzkEwKAk_4

 

Black Gunn (1972)

Slaughter’s Big Rip Off (1973)

 

The Slams (1973)

Three the Hard Way (1974) with legends Jim Kelly and Fred Williamson

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/three-the-hard-way-101-p.asp

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25RdRdiw2Uo

Take a Hard Ride (1975)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RWnud0rCw

One Down, Two To Go (1976)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zI6qHKMc2s

His on-screen work in the latter part of the 1970s and 1980s was primarily centered around guest spots on popular TV shows such as CHiPs (1977) and Knight Rider (1982).

However, he then resurfaced in better quality films beginning with his role as a fiery assassin, Fireball in The Running Man (1987)

He parodied the blaxploitation genre along with many other African-American actors in the comedy I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E97wjtbiad0

He played an ex-heavyweight boxer in the sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks! (1996)

Jim hits the Martians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq8BS9Ra_3s

and ironically played an ex-football legend in the Oliver Stone directed sports film Any Given Sunday (1999).

Additionally, Jim Brown was a ringside commentator for the first six events of the Ultimate Fighting Championships from 1993 through to 1996. A bona fide legend in American sports and a successful actor, he continues to remain busy in front of the camera with recent appearances in various sports shows & TV productions.

 

I’m Funny How? How Am I Fucking Funny?

Well, today is the great Joe Pesci’s birthday. He is 70 today, yeah, I know, it doesn’t seem possible. The little lunatic from Goodfellas is 70 years old! Compact Italian-American actor born February 9, 1943, in Newark, NJ, who first broke into entertainment as a child actor and by the mid-50s was starring on the series “Star Time Kids” (no, I’ve never seen it either) In the mid-’60s he released a record under the stage name of “Joe Ritchie” titled “Little Joe Sure Can Sing”, and was also playing guitar with several bands, including Joey Dee and The Starliters. He even joined with friend Frank Vincent to start a vaudeville-style comedy act,

but met with limited success (interestingly, Pesci and Vincent would later go on to co-star in several gangster films together, including Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995))

   

Pesci’s first film role was as an uncredited dancer in Hey, Let’s Twist! (1961)

and then he had to wait another 15 years for a minor part in The Death Collector (1976). His work in the second film was seen by Robert De Niro, who convinced director Martin Scorsese to cast him as “Joey LaMotta” in the epic boxing film Raging Bull (1980),

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/raging-bull-211-p.aspa

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/raging-bull-358-p.asp

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/raging-bull-136-p.asp

which really got him noticed in Hollywood. He played opposite Rodney Dangerfield in Easy Money (1983), was with buddy DeNiro again in Once Upon Time in America (1984).

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/once-upon-a-time-in-america-145-p.asp

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/once-upon-a-time-in-america-110-p.asp

JP nearly stole the show as con man Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

and scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing the psychotic Tommy DeVito in “Goodfellas”.His Oscar speech for Best Supporting Actor in Goodfellas was, how can one put it, brief. “It’s my privilege. Thank you.” It would have been interesting if he had accepted it in character as Tommy DeVito. The bleep machine would have been working overtime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Q_nyjuEak

 

       

His comedic talents shone again in the mega-popular Home Alone (1990)

and he put in a terrific performance as co-conspirator David Ferrie in JFK (1991).

Pesci was back again as Leo Getz for Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and was still a bumbling crook in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

He put in a nice turn as Leon Bernstein, a photographer based on the legendary Weegee.

and had a minor role in the Robert De Niro-directed A Bronx Tale (1993). He was lured back by Scorsese to play another deranged gangster named Nicky (based on real-life hood Tony Spilotro [aka “The Ant”]) in the violent Casino (1995)

and starred in the comedies 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997)

and Gone Fishin’ (1997), although both failed to fire at the box office. He returned again as fast-talking con man Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).

A consummate actor, he always brings quality to every role he plays. Happy Birthday Joe.

 

Jack Lemmon

Today would have been the late, great Jack Lemmon’s birthday. He would have been 89.  His father was the president of a doughnut company. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers Country Day School, then located in nearby Brookline. After RCDS, he went to high school at Phillips Andover Academy. Jack was a member of the Harvard class of 1947, where he was in Navy ROTC and the Dramatic Club. After service as a Navy ensign, he worked in a beer hall (playing piano), on radio, off Broadway, TV and Broadway. His movie debut was with Judy Holliday in It Should Happen to You (1954).

He won Best Supporting Actor as Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts (1955).

He received nominations in comedy (Some Like It Hot (1959),

Possibly the best closing line to a film, ever –

The Apartment (1960))

 

and drama (Days of Wine and Roses (1962),

The China Syndrome (1979)

The Odd Couple

He won the Best Actor Oscar for Save the Tiger (1973)

and the Cannes Best Actor award for “China Syndrome” and “Missing”. He made his debut as a director with Kotch (1971) and in 1985 on Broadway in “Long Day’s Journey into Night”. In 1988 he received the Life Achievement Award of the American Film Institute.

He appeared in The Simpsons

The Front Page

http://www.filmposterart.co.uk/the-front-page-386-p.asp

One of the most loved actors of all time, a Billy Wilder staple and one of the best.

Sad that he is no longer with us.