She Shines in PAPER MOON

 When I was in high school and soon to transition to my early college years, there were three young film directors anointed to be the future kings of New Hollywood. They were Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich. Bogdanovich gave us three memorable films -- his 1971 masterpiece, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, his 1972 screwball comedy, WHAT'S UP, DOC? and his 1973 Depression Era comedy/drama, PAPER MOON. Unfortunately, he did not go on to make a handful of other critical and box office hits like Spielberg and Scorsese did. However, he did remain a respected director to film journalists. He acted. Bogdanovich had a regular role on HBO's THE SOPRANOS. He played Bennett Cerf, one of Truman Capote's friends, in INFAMOUS, the under-appreciated 2006 drama about Capote. He was a noted film historian and wrote books about classic film directors. He acquired a tremendous reputation as a raconteur who'd tell tales during interviews of his encounters with famous Old Hollywood figures such as Orson Welles and Cary Grant. His amusing stories and vocal imitations of Old Hollywood figures seemed to be what interviewers craved. The interviewers let them dominate the interviews.

Did I love Peter Bogdanovich's big three hits early in his directorial career? I sure did. When I was in high school, I loved reading articles he wrote about directors such as Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock. But there was something about his films that put a big question mark in my mind, a question that did not appear when I saw films by Spielberg and Scorsese. It started when I saw his 1976 film, NICKELODEON. It's sort of a valentine to the very early days of Hollywood moviemaking. The silent movie years. I went to see it because it starred Burt Reynolds. I was a fan. I loved how he was serious about his career and took on roles that challenged him. For instance, he starred in Bogdanovich's 1975 swanky musical comedy, AT LONG LAST LOVE. It was packed with Cole Porter songs but the movie did not pack theater seats. Neither critics nor filmgoers took it despite its talented cast. that included Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn and Eileen Brennan.

In NICKELODEON, Burt Reynolds played a clueless but lovable aspiring actor. In one scene, he gets a brief role in a movie theater stage piece. He shows up and has to wear a costume. And he has to ride a horse across the stage. He has no idea that the costume is a Ku Klux Klan outfit. As he rides across the stage, the packed audience breaks out into enthusiastic applause. The last 15-20 minutes of the film are practically a salute to D.W. Griffith's 1915 box office blockbuster, THE BIRTH OF A NATION. That silent era film was ripe with racist images. Look at the reminder of its racism that director Spike Lee gave us in the opening minutes of 2018's BlacKkKlansman. Near the end of Bogdanovich's NICKELODEON, a movie audience sees the premiere of that 1915 film. We see an extended clip from the film, a clip that includes white actors in blackface. In Griffth's epic, the KKK is presented as heroic. THE BIRTH OF A NATION ends and the premiere audience breaks out into thunderous applause.

I thought to myself, "Does Peter Bogdanovich know that Black people go to see his movies?" No national magazine or TV film critic prepared me for the racial discomfort I'd feel watching that finale sequence. But then that field of film critics was predominately White. There was no critic of color to present a different viewpoint.

Which brings me to PAPER MOON, my favorite of Bogdanovich's big three early films. In Los Angeles, in Milwaukee and in New York City I have been with friends and co-workers who also love that comedy. We quoted lines from it. The majority of lines that we quoted from PAPER MOON were lines said by Imogene, the sassy and subversive teen maid to Madeline Kahn's Trixie Delight floozie character. Imogene was played brilliantly by P.J. Johnson. In that supporting role, P.J. Johnson proved she could whip out a wisecrack with the best of them -- like Lucille Ball and Eve Arden in 1937's STAGE DOOR, a classic that Bogdanovich had surely seen. P.J. Johnson broke through the confines and stereotypes of the Black maid role that Old Hollywood gave Black actress to play in the 1930s and 40s. Her wits upscaled the character. Johnson's comic timing was delicious.

To this day, P.J. Johnson in 1973's PAPER MOON is the only Black actor I can think of who had a significant role in a big screen Peter Bogdanovich film. Why? Spielberg had parts for Black actors in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, 1941 and THE COLOR PURPLE. Scorsese had parts for Black actors in TAXI DRIVER and NEW YORK, NEW YORK. Bogdanovich used stars and non-stars more than once in his films. He directed Burt Reynolds, Madeline Kahn, Cybill Shepherd, Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal in more than one film. He directed supporting players John Hillerman, Austin Pendleton and Randy Quaid more than once. Why didn't talented P.J. Johnson get another significant, memorable character to play in a Bogdanovich film? She was a stand-out in PAPER MOON. Has she ever been invited to be interviewed as a guest for a Turner Classic Movies Film Festival? She and Madeline Kahn had fabulous chemistry in PAPER MOON.

From what I saw as a moviegoer, Black actors had little -- if anything -- to do in Peter Bogdanovich films after 1973's PAPER MOON. No Black actor even had a sizeable role in his 1981 comedy/romance THEY ALL LAUGHED, a story that takes place in 1980s Manhattan. The same goes for his screwball comedy, SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY, which takes place in the Manhattan of 2014. That film is now available to see on Netflix.

Bogdanovich directed and wrote the 2018 feature, THE GREAT BUSTER, a fine documentary about Buster Keaton. In all the actors, film historians and movie hosts who gave soundbites about Keaton, not a one was Black. We saw film critic Leonard Maltin, comedian Richard Lewis, Dick Cavett, Quentin Tarantino, Dick Van Dyke and Johnny Knoxville, host of MTV's JACK-ASS. We did not see Wesley Morris or Hilton Als, Black writers who won Pulitzer Prizes for arts criticism that included film criticism. They won their awards between 2012 and 2016. Morris won in 2012 and again in 2021. We did not see the popular Elvis Mitchell.

These are points I can't recall being brought up when White film journalists and TV hosts interviewed and wrote about Peter Bogdanovich. I would have asked him about actress P.J. Johnson and how she came to land that role in PAPER MOON. When the Elder Statesman filmmaker got on a roll as a raconteur, interviewer adoration tended to just let him go.

For them, the career of director Peter Bogdanovich was like the line from John Ford's classic western, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

New Kaepernick Doc

 "There is power in symbolism." Those are the words of CNN anchor Don Lemon on athlete/activist Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick smoothly hosted a mini-series biopic on Netflix about his youth as a Black child adopted by White parents in Northern California. It's a fine, well-acted series. Some of my favorite parts of it are when young Colin discovers and embraces his Black cultural roots thanks to friends and acquaintances. One such moment involved food. At home, his mother prepares meals that are very -- shall we say -- middle class suburban. When he enters a home of Black folks, as a guest, and sees the spread the wife has laid out on a table, his eyes shine. He sees down-home soul food. When the wife greets teen Colin and says "Fix yourself a plate," you can just hear his tastebuds shout "Thank you, Black Jesus!"

Now comes a documentary, with Don Lemon as executive producer, that focuses on Kaepernick's adult life, his years as an NFL star and how his taking a knee made him a symbol of American protest against social injustice. It also delves into how his youth as someone who benefited and -- at times -- was under-served culturally as a child of trans-racial adoption effected how some members of the press and millions of members of White America reacted to his protest.

He did not hate America. He was protesting the rash of unarmed Black men being shot and killed by armed cops who claimed that they feared for their lives. I've been living in the Twin Cities area (near Minneapolis) for three years now. GOP politicians and such would bray that Democrats "want to take your guns away!" and have no respect for the 2nd Amendment rights.

Think of Minnesota citizen Philando Castile. A peaceful Black man who admitted to being a gun owner. He was on the passenger side in the front seat of a car driven by his girlfriend. Castile's child was in the back seat. They had committed no crime but were followed by a cop who felt that they were suspicious. The cop stopped them, approached the driver's window and was verbally aggressive. Castile was compliant, speaking in a tranquil tone as if in church, revealing that he was a gun owner and was not reaching for it. However, when he reached to produce identification for the policeman, he was shoot multiple times at close range and killed.

The cop who killed him claimed that he feared for his life. Minneapolis residents of all colors were shaken. Citizens and local news anchors alike. What did not come out in the network news reports of the crime and the court trial in which the cop was cleared of the murder was Castile's reputation here in the Twin Cities, a reputation that had occasionally made local news reports before his death.

Philando Castile was known for his good deeds. He was known for helping others. Did you see the classic film IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE? Remember Jimmy Stewart's character? Well, Philando Castile was like the George Bailey of his Minneapolis community. 

Last month, an outdoor weekend event in his memory was held in Minneapolis. Folks of all colors attended and contributed money to the Philando Castile Scholarship fund, started in his honor. That story made local TV news. Philando Castile should be alive today.

And then came the death of George Floyd. A Black man in Minneapolis. Unarmed and killed by a White cop who took a knee to the neck of Floyd and ended his life.

Kaepernick didn't hate America. He didn't hate our flag. He took a knee to protest this repeated social injustice and the national inaction to stop it.

The powerful, informative documentary is KAEPERNICK & AMERICA. It's a strong exploration of race, privilege, prejudice and responsibility in the country today. It streams on demand starting September 2. It runs 1 hour 20 minutes and it's worth your time. I liked how interviews and footage showed the progression of Colin's life from San Franciso 49ers sports star and sex symbol of sorts (there's a shot of Kaepernick's bare butt as he poses for a sports magazine) to a controversial Black figure of social activism that calls to mind the days of Muhammad Ali. Kaepernick used his sports celebrityhood to tell America that Black Lives Matter.

How many times since the 2014 shooting and killing of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri have we heard of an unarmed White man being shot multiple times and killed by a Black cop who claimed to have feared for his life and was pretty much cleared of the killing? 

Here's a bit of Kaepernick from Netflix's COLIN IN BLACK AND WHITE limited series biopic.

Here's a link to the trailer for KAEPERNICK & AMERICA:

https://youtu.be/oQ3d1qRxm9g.

 

UNCOUPLED on Netflix

 I like actor Neil Patrick Harris. Because of that coupled with the fact that he plays an openly gay male in a new Netflix series, I watched the first two episodes of UNCOUPLED. Halfway through the first episode, I thought "Does the writing improve as the show progresses?" A writer and co-creator of the series is Darren Star, one of the talents behind HBO's SEX AND THE CITY. 

UPCOUPLED is basically Gay White Male SEX AND CITY at middle-age. This show is so Caucasian. Make that Upscale Caucasian. 

I'm a Black queer male. I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. I lived and worked in Milwaukee for years before I got a TV job offer that, blessedly, relocated me to New York. I lived and worked in New York for 20 years. Some of my gay male friends were supermarket managers, postal employees, carpenters, auto mechanics, high school teachers, travel agents, health care workers and cops. In UNCOUPLED, the premiere episode opens with the *typical" gay Caucasian male couple in bed. Their apartment, of course, is spotless and looks ready to be photographed for an issue of Architectural Digest. Cheerful Michael (Neil Patrick Harris) and Colin (Tuc Watkins) have been together for 17 years. They are both handsome and slim. Michael is chipper because it's Colin's birthday. Colin is not as happy because he just turned 50. When you hit an age like that in the gay male big city community, you might as well wear a button that says "Ask Me About the Aztecs. I Was There." Michael has planned a deluxe surprise party -- with live entertainment -- for Colin. Michael is in the high-end real estate business, showing and helping Park Avenue types sell their apartments for big money. Colin is a hedge fund manager. See what I mean? How any hedge fund managers do you know?

That night, as they're about to enter the party, Colin tells Michael that he's leaving him. He's already had some items moved out of their apartment. The items include bottles of wine and Hermes towels. Now Michael, who is under 50 yet middle-aged, must go it alone in a youth-obsessed community. He confides in his Black gal pal co-worker, played by Tisha Campbell, and two gay male buddies -- a chubby and chatty art dealer and a handsome Black TV weatherman. When these types of gay male characters in a Darren Star-involved series like SEX AND CITY get together in Manhattan to grab a quick bite and talk, it's never in a good neighborhood diner where you can get a cheeseburger deluxe. They always meet in a fancy joint where a cheeseburger is served on an English muffin, topped with Brie cheese and accompanied by a half-dozen Julienne fries hiding under a piece of Bibb lettuce like they're Anne Frank.

In the second episode, Michael feels a ray hope when Colin agrees to meet for a session of couples therapy. The wonderful Marcia Gay Harden is a hoot as a newly-single middle-aged Park Avenue socialite Michael hopes to claim as a client. There's a lot of real estate eye candy in this series that, again like SEX AND THE CITY, displays Manhattan as the playground of Upscale Caucasians.

I do have to say that Michael is a sweet guy, so far, and I can feel his pain. Maybe he is too talkative in couples therapy, but Harris plays him with an undeniable warmth.

About Colin's surprise party -- the live entertainment is the songwriting duo of Broadway's hit, HAIRSPRAY. The duo is Mark Shaiman (on piano) and Scott Wittman. I have a Shaiman story for you. I met him when I worked on VH1 in the 80s. I had mentioned that he was heavily involved with 1989 soundtrack to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY.

A friend had worked with him back in the day. Shaiman was holding a birthday party for her at his place. He lived a couple of blocks away from me in the Chelsea section of New York City. She asked me to go with her as her guest to the party. What hit me was the visual of the moment. For nearly one hour, I was the only Black guest at the well-attended party. But not the only Black person there. The other Black people were wearing uniforms and serving appetizers on trays to the predominantly White crowd. Then there were Black images. Shaiman had framed small posters of Blaxploitation movies on one wall -- movies such as COFFEY, SUPERFLY, SHAFT and TRUCK TURNER.

About Colin -- he was privileged and lucky. The last time friends in New York tossed me a birthday party Reagan was president. Colin was a handsome, rich, hedge fund manager with a partner who loved him dearly. What the hell else did he want? Did he leave the relationship just because he turned 50? The issue of gay men becoming "invisible" in the community when they hit middle-aged -- definitely age 50 -- comes up in UNCOUPLED. It's a valid issue. But it's not like Colin was single, had a dad bod and worked as a butcher at the Pavilions supermarket in West Hollywood. He was a desirable and very lucky man in Manhattan.

On my 50th birthday, a friend was going to take me to dinner. She worked for an agency that represented artists and had to go to Connecticut with a few artists that day for a special festival. On the way back, their van broke down. They had to wind up spending the night there. Regretfully, she called me with bad news, but I totally understood. However, I had no other plans. Other friends called to wish me a Happy Birthday, but they had plans. My mother and I, at that time, had a nervous relationship. She was livid that I'm gay. Even though I'm gay and I was paying her big bills -- like her moving expenses and new monthly mortgage -- she was ashamed that I was not a Married Heterosexual Best-Selling Novelist. 

She mailed me a birthday present. Inside the box was a loaf of hard, homemade bread. Why was it hard? I opened the birthday Hallmark card also enclosed in the box. In the card was a handwritten recipe from Mom on how to turn the hard loaf of homemade bread into croutons.

I kid you not.

At 9:00 that night, I took myself out to dinner at the excellent diner down the block where I was a regular. That was my 50th birthday. Colin on UNCOUPLED was lucky and he didn't realize it.

My birthday is coming up next month. I have no plans.