What's not to love about a movie that has lines such as "That's the hourly dong" and "You're still holding on to his titties!"? Not only that. In the first 15 minutes, we see cameo appearances from Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim. I saw GLASS ONION, the newest murder mystery starring Daniel Craig as the show tune loving, Southern detective named Benoit Blanc. If you're up for some Greek action, you must see this feature. It played in theaters and it's now on Netflix.
I will not spoil anything. I will give you a little of the set-up. We go back to the year 2020, a year that...to put it frankly,..sucked. Benoit, along with some A-list people, gets invited to a murder mystery game weekend held on a Greek island by a technology billionaire named Miles Bron. He's played by Ed Norton. As you can probably guess, during the weekend of the billionaire's planned game, someone really gets murdered.
GLASS ONION is just too much fun. It has a solid ensemble cast that includes Kate Hudson, moon-faced beefcake wrestler/actor Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom Jr. Big applause goes to Janelle Monáe who has a juicy role and really bites into it. She and Daniel Craig connect quite well.
As for Daniel Craig, he's faaaaaabulous. I loved him as James Bond. However, I totally dig him now that he can stretch himself by getting laughs and being less macho. As soon as I saw Benoit in a bathtub with a yellow rubber ducky, I was hooked by this KNIVES OUT mystery. Here's a trailer.
This would have been a great date movie had I seen it in a cinema. And if I had a date. Nonetheless, I saw it by myself on Netflix and had a delightful time. Director and screenwriter Rian Johnson gave us a smart, entertaining who-done-it with beautiful production design, a brisk pace and good acting. I hope GLASS ONION gets an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Speaking of Oscars, here's a tune from a Paramount movie starring Alan Ladd called CAPTAIN CAREY, U.S.A.
"Mona Lisa" won the Oscar for Best Song of 1950. Nat King Cole had a hit recording with it that you'll hear in GLASS ONION. Enjoy.
It is New Year's Eve and I totally wish you all the very best for 2023. I kept my resolution this year. I took time to let those who are significant in my life know that they are significant in my life. It didn't take a lot. A phone call, a note, a visit, a hug. As I wrote before, let loved ones know that they are loved -- even if they occasionally work your last good nerve. Be kind. Think about how you'd like to be treated. Take the time before there is no time.
But enough about me. Let's swing into New Year's Eve with June in December. The late, great June Christy was a cool jazz vocalist who started her celebrated career by singing with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. I hope you'll dig this trio of her tunes.
Here is "Give Me The Simple Life."
She celebrated the holiday season with "The Merriest."
Now let's wind it up with "Sorry To See You Go."
May all your sweet dreams for the new year come true. Happy New Year.
It's one of my favorite works of art. Movie-wise. The Billy Wilder classic, THE APARTMENT, touches me every time I see it. Director, co-writer and producer Wilder won Oscars for his work. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1960. Stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine landed Oscar nominations.
Weekend NPR host, Scott Simon, has an online feature called OPEN BOOK that many of us follow on Twitter. On Thursday, Dec. 29th, I had the terrific opportunity to be his guest for a discussion of Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT. I loved doing that show with Scott. We discussed things about the movie that you don't often hear discussed -- for instance, positive racial images in the movie, the British film starring Petula Clark that was the source of the music that later become known as the Theme to THE APARTMENT and how the wonderful 2000 film from Cameron Crowe, ALMOST FAMOUS, is a valentine to Billy Wilder's classic. Crowe interviewed and was inspired by Billy Wilder. He wrote a book about their conversations and Billy Wilder saw ALMOST FAMOUS.
If you've seen THE APARTMENT, I do not have to explain the plot and characters to you. If you have not seen THE APARTMENT, I urge you to find it and watch it before reading the rest of this. blog post. You can return to it after you've seen the movie.
Here's another image that warms my heart in the movie. A great image and a sublime piece of acting from Shirley MacLaine as Fran Kubelik. After being humiliated and suicidal from her affair with Mr. Sheldrake, she falls again for his phony professions of love and goes out with him on New Year's Eve. She wears a paper party hat that resembles a crown. She comes to realize that he's a philandering jerk and she's right back where she started -- until comes the other realization that someone truly does love her. He's C.C. Baxter, the man who rescued her. The camera stays on Fran as the crowd sings "Auld Lang Syne." You can see her spirit resurrect and live again. In another shot, Mr. Sheldrake sees that Fran has departed. Her crown-like paper hat is on her chair as if she's abdicated her position of being Queen of Nothing in that relationship.
The new year starts with a renewed Fran Kubelik running to the apartment of the man who loves her. The man who saved her life on Christmas Eve. He's alone. And lonely. The mensch who assumes Fran has gone back to his ex-boss, Mr. Sheldrake.
What a tender and memorable holiday movie. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
What a year. The road got rocky but the trip was worth it. One lesson I re-learned and wish to pass on is this: Make the people in your life who are significant feel significant. Let your loved ones know they are loved -- even if they occasionally work your last good nerve. Make a call, send a note, give a hug...whatever. If there are folks who don't make you feel significant or loved -- move on. Gain the strength to be kind. Now let's have some music that's perfect for this weekend.
"What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" was written by Frank Loesser, the man who gave us the terrific classic Broadway score to GUYS AND DOLLS. Here, it's sung by Margaret Whiting. She was a very popular recording star of the 1940s & 50s. I've got some movie trivia. Margaret and Judy Garland were pals in the 40s. In the 60s, Judy was hired to play a veteran Broadway musical star in the film version of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. She pre-recorded a song written for her to do. Judy was fired and replaced by Susan Hayward. Margaret Whiting dubbed Hayward's singing voice doing the song originally written for Judy.
Irving Berlin won a Best Song Oscar for "White Christmas." Bing Crosby introduced it in Paramount's hit 1942 musical comedy, HOLIDAY INN, co-starring Fred Astaire. The movie is full of music by Berlin. Here's another one he wrote for Bing to sing. Fred dances with Marjorie Reynolds.
Songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote songs for Liza Minnelli to introduce in a Martin Scorsese movie. The movie was 1977's NEW YORK, NEW YORK co-starring Robert De Niro. She played a former big band singer who becomes a top Hollywood movie star. On her way to that stardom, she marries and divorces an abusive musician. Liza sings the title tune, a tune that went on to become enormously popular -- especially in New York.
Every year, when the Times Square ball drops to bring in the new year, ABC TV always plays the Frank Sinatra cover of the song which landed in many jukeboxes. However ... Frank flubbed a lyric line or two. Here's Liza in Scorsese's film introducing the song and getting all the lyrics correct.
Hard to believe this tune did not get a Best Song Oscar nomination. The Oscar winner for that year was "You Light Up My Life." Here's Liza in NEW YORK, NEW YORK.
Have you ever seen someone laugh so hard that it caused a happy tear or two to roll down the person's face? Well, I did. And the first person I saw hit with such a strong fit of laughter was my father. This was back in South Central Los Angeles when I was boy. I was sitting on the living room floor, Dad was sitting in his favorite chair and he was watching a movie on local Channel 9 -- then KHJ TV -- one Friday night. On Friday nights, independent station Channel 9 would air indie movies such as ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO, Judy Garland and Burt Lancaster in A CHILD IS WAITING and NOTHING BUT A MAN. On that particular night, the movie airing was a comedy. A Civil Rights era comedy based on a Broadway play written by and starring Ossie Davis. In the play and in the film version, he played a character inspired by his friend, Dr. Martin Luther King. The play was called PURLIE VICTORIOUS, the name of the clever preacher played by Davis. Reverend Purlie returns to his Georgia hometown to build an integrated church and preach some fresh ideas. His main obstacle is the white man who runs the local cotton plantation.
The title of the 1961 play was changed to GONE ARE THE DAYS! for the 1963 film adaptation. All the original Broadway cast members repeated their roles in the movie. The cast included Ossie's wife, Ruby Dee, plus Beah Richards, Godfrey Cambridge and Alan Alda. After one Broadway performance, the cast was visited by and photographed backstage with Dr. Martin Luther King. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were with Dr. King at the historic March on Washington in 1963.
My dad was a quiet, reserved guy. Not outgoing and chatty like Mom. He was kind of shy. To this day, I'm surprised our neighbors on East 124th Street and Central Avenue were not startled hearing Dad's loud bellows of laughter at some of the lines delivered by Godfrey Cambridge. Cambridge plays the resident stuck in his cotton pickin' ways which frustrates the young preacher. Ruby Dee, remarkable dramatic actress of stage and screen, proved that she could do comedy with her performance as the luscious and slightly ditzy Lutiebelle. Ossie Davis wrote the screenplay.
Ossie Davis's GONE ARE THE DAYS! should be added to the respected Criterion Collection. The fabulous Carla Hayden of the Library of Congress should have Ossie Davis's GONE ARE THE DAYS! added to the National Film Registry.
I want you to take time to watch this preview clip that runs 7 1/2 minutes. It has Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Godfrey Cambridge and Hilda Haynes in GONE ARE THE DAYS! based by the Broadway play PURLIE VICTORIOUS written by Osssie Davis. This indie movie has been an overlooked gem for too long a time. If he was alive today, my dad would agree.
PURLIE VICTORIOUS, the 1961 play written by Ossie Davis, was adapted into a hit 1970 Broadway musical called PURLIE. The late Cleavon Little won a Tony Award for his performance as Purlie. Melba Moore took on the role originated by Ruby Dee. Melba won a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award.
In the 1960s and 70s, Hollywood was scooping up hit Broadway musicals to turn into movies. But Hollywood ignored the hits starring Black actors. Famous Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway shows such as OKLAHOMA!, SOUTH PACIFIC, FLOWER DRUM SONG and THE SOUND OF MUSIC got the Hollywood treatment. After the death of Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers scored a musical by himself. It was NO STRINGS, the 1962 musical that gave us the great song "The Sweetest Sounds." It was a sophisticated musical set in Paris with an interracial love story at its heart. A romance between a Black high fashion model from New York and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Paris, glamorous fashions, romance, music. History was made when its female lead, Diahann Carroll, became the first Black woman to win the Tony for Best Actress in.a musical. Leslie Uggams starred on Broadway in the 1967 musical HALLELUJAH, BABY! about a talented Black woman, like Lena Horne, determined to have equality in a showbiz career. The story occurs in an America that was changing in its embrace of Civil Rights. It made a star of Ms. Uggams. It won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. The music was by Jule Style (later of FUNNY GIRL fame) with the celebrated Betty Comden and Adolph Green (ON THE TOWN, BELLS ARE RINGING). Sammy Davis, Jr played a prizefighter from Harlem in a musical version of GOLDEN BOY, based on the classic play by Clifford Odets. The 1939 film version starred Barbara Stanwyck with William Holden as the boxer. The musical made the romance between those two characters a controversial interracial one. The score was by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams. Those two also wrote the score to BYE BYE BIRDIE.
Melba Moore wowed audiences when she sang "I Got Love" in PURLIE. Did Hollywood gives us big musical screen versions of NO STRINGS, HALLELUJAH, BABY!, GOLDEN BOY and PURLIE like it did with BYE BYE BIRDIE, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, THE MUSIC MAN, FUNNY GIRL and SWEET CHARITY? No. Hollywood ignored the Broadway musicals starring Black talent.
Here's Melba Moore singing "I Got Love" from PURLIE based on a play and film written by Ossie Davis.
Thanks for taking time to read this post and watch the clips. I truly appreciate it. And let's bring some attention to that Ossie Davis classic. Happy New Year.
This show is one of my favorite offerings on HBO. There's a lot of empathy, good will and surprise on WE'RE HERE. Three drag queens, all graduates of RuPAUL'S DRAG RACE, travel across the country, meet people, get to know neighborhoods and put on a drag show at the end of each episode. Performing with them in the drag shows are some of the folks they've met along the way, folks willing to step out of their comfort zones.
There was a long hiatus after the show premiered. I'm sure that was because of the pandemic. Also, a member of the trio --Shangela -- became the most recent winner on ABC's DANCING WITH THE STARS. Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O'Hara are the host/queens. I knew about Shangela and Bob the Drag Queen for years when I lived in New York. They are popular drag queens and serious entertainers. Polished performers.
This show is highly entertaining. It can also break your heart. It always makes you think. It's different from other shows that highlighted openly gay men going into neighborhoods, meeting folks and introducing them to new things. I'll use QUEER EYE as an example. That show, in its first incarnation, was basically about pushing product. You had the all-white Queer Eye crew -- featuring Carson Kressley with his pre-written ad libs -- going into homes and recommending cosmetics, clothing, home furnishings, kitchenware and such to improve your life. WE'RE HERE is pushing tolerance, acceptance, compassion -- and fabulous drag performances.
This week, WE'RE HERE presented a one-hour episode, part one of a two-part presentation. That hour-long part one, airing this week, is perhaps the most moving edition of WE'RE HERE I've seen. The trio goes to Florida and immediately shows us the irony of being accepted in places of entertainment -- like DisneyWorld -- but places outside of that have residents holding up anti-LGBTQ signs, wearing Trump shirts and they have a governor pushing a "Don't Say Gay" agenda.
The trio introduces us to a schoolteacher who has a trans daughter. The teacher was always a straight ally for LGBTQ people but was never one to speak at rallies or march holding a supportive sign because, understandably, she feared for her job. But now things are different. Her little girl could be denied health care. We meet this huggable family. The brawny, working class dad broke my heart when he started to cry as he talked about how "loving" and "confident" his daughter is and how she has to face discrimination.
We meet a man (a handsome man) in his late 50s who lives alone. His longtime partner died. His mother is very Catholic and feels that her son, who once played football and dated women, made his gayness a "choice" versus him living his authentic self.
Shangela visits a young Puerto Rican fellow who survived the horrible Pulse gay nightclub shooting of 2016. I dare you not be moved by that interview. 49 people were killed in that mass shooting in Orlando. Being a survivor of that nightmare changed his attitude towards being *out* in his city.
Also, we learn more about Eureka and her personal journey that was riddled with pain.
If you can, look for that one-hour edition of WE'RE HERE on HBO. Here's a trailer for the series.
Part 2 airs this coming Friday night at 10:00. I'll be watching,.
This film moved me in a way I did nor expect. It's a coming-of-age story centered on young Sammy Fabelman who falls in love with movies when he's a little boy. The story takes us from a New Jersey suburb to Arizona to Southern California. We follow Sammy from his little boyhood to his late teens. As you probably know, this film is based on the life of its director and co-writer, Steven Spielberg. It's about the power of film and thespark that ignites a creativity within us, It's about art versus family and about myth versus reality. THE FABELMANS also shows you that, even though a movie may not be a darling with the critics, even though it may be pretty much forgotten today, there can still be something in it extremely special to somebody. It may not be significant to a high-tone film critic, but it's cherished by a movie-lover somewhere.
The story starts with little Sammy going to the movies with his parents. He's a bit scared of what the experience may be. The movie they're seeing is Cecil B. De Mille's colorful and action-packed circus epic, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. Sammy's mathematical and practical dad explains how the movie projector works. Sammy's musical and playful mother tells him, "Movies are dreams that you never forget." THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1952. Even today, critics feel that De Mille's crowdpleaser was mediocre and the Oscar should have gone to Stanley Kramer's HIGH NOON or John Ford's THE QUIET MAN.
The intense train collision scene in the circus epic, a scene full of special effects, is what ignites the artistic creativity in Sammy, a creativity that will lead to an emotional collision with his parents. We love watching him recruit his sisters to help him make his amateur home movies. We love seeing his movie interest and creativity grow. We watch how it affects his family. His mother loves it. Dad sees it as just a hobby even though Sammy gets older still telling his dad that it's not just a hobby. It's his passion. The seed for all this came from a film no one talks about today. But it was special to Sammy. His passion for the art of filmmaking will cause him to see his parents as the imperfect people they are -- loving yet making wrong choices or not making a choice at all. Little Sammy leaves THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH knowing what he wants for Hanukkah.
Sammy loved that movie. He loved John Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. At the dinner table, with lots of chatter and laughter, his Uncle Benny says something about licorice that classic filmlovers will recognize as a line Spencer Tracy says in the George Cukor comedy, ADAM'S RIB. Uncle Benny supports Sammy's desire to make films. He's not really a relative. He's the best friend of Sammy's dad. Uncle Benny has special feelings for Sammy's mom. Sammy loves his mom yet he sees her as "selfish" and always needing to be the center of attention.
The emotional depth of this film shook me. I watched it on Christmas Eve. Certain scenes made me cry. I chalked that up to me being gripped by the sentimentality of the holiday season and being rather tired. I watched it again Christmas night. I cried more. Why? Because I saw bits of my mother in Sammy's mother and I saw some of myself in Sammy. I fully understood the pull between art and family that Sammy's wise Uncle Boris warned him about during a visit. I didn't expect that from this Steven Spielberg film.
When little Sammy went to see THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, I had become a classic film fan at that same age. I wanted to learn how films were made. I wanted to know about the actors. I wanted to be in movies or on TV talking about movies with moviemakers. Mom, however, had other plans for my life and that tension would last well into my adult years.
The TARZAN movies Johnny Weissmuller made for MGM would air on a local L.A. station on Saturday afternoons when I was a youngster. I loved those movie -- especially the ones that had Tarzan, Jane and their little boy living in sort of a jungle moderne home. In one, Jane made Tarzan breakfast. She had a treehouse kitchen and an egg the size of a volleyball.
During my school vacation before I started 3rd grade, Mom was adamant that I got to summer camp for 8 days in the San Bernardino mountains courtesy of the local Boys' Club. I said "No." I didn't want to go to camp for 8 days. I wanted to stay home in South Central L.A. where I could see old movies on TV. Mom had Dad coax me to say "Yes."
I went to camp. I disliked it the moment we boys arrived. A few days later, we campers went to a lake. I ventured into the water, got carried out by a current and also drowned, I tried to yell for help. I was going under. Did my life flash before my eyes? No. And this is the hand-to-Heaven truth. What flashed before my eyes was Johnny Weissmuller swimming, as he always did, in his TARZAN movies. I copied his moves. That kept me afloat and visible until a hand reached in, grabbed me and I was rescued.
Those old Tarzan family adventures from MGM saved my life when I did something I did not want to do just to please my mother. Old movies saved my life. Here's a trailer for THE FABLEMANS.
Michelle Williams, as Sammy's mother, left me awe-struck. She is sensational. This is the same Michelle Williams we saw as Ennis Del Mar's country wife in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, as Marilyn Monroe in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN and as Gwen Verdon in FOSSE/VERDON. His role may not be a large one but Judd Hirsch really punches through the screen as the wise Uncle Boris warning Sammy that art demands sacrifice and can lead to family turbulence. What a performance. Both Williams and Hirsch will probably be in the running for Oscars next year. David Lynch as the crusty veteran director John Ford was an inspired piece of casting. The whole cast, which includes Paul Dano and Seth Rogen, is strong. Some of the high schools scenes could've been trimmed. Nonetheless, this is a very, very good film.
My heart was deeply touched by THE FABLEMANS. I will be seeing it again before Oscar nominations are announced on January 24th.
