Colman Domingo in RUSTIN

In the first ten minutes of Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN, we see Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln talking to two Black soldiers on a Civil War battlefield. One of those soldiers was played by actor Colman Domingo. For his performance as Lincoln in that 2012 release, Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Oscar for Best Actor, Today, Colman Domingo is receiving well-deserved Best Actor Oscar buzz for his lead performance in a film that is also a biopic.

Domingo plays the brilliant, influential and greatly overlooked mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bayard Rustin was called "the Architect of the March on Washington" headed by Dr. King in 1963. That's where King made his historic "I have a dream" speech. 

I am admittedly old enough to recall being a little boy and watching the March on Washington with my parents when it was a live telecast on CBS. I remember seeing tall, slim Bayard Rustin with his salt and pepper hair and wearing horn-rimmed glasses speak forcefully and passionately and then stand behind Dr. King. In my adult years, I learned that he was highly-educated, a Quaker, a singer of spirituals who had recorded albums and performed on Broadway, an outspoken Civil Rights activist -- and an openly gay man in the days when one could be arrested for simply having a cocktail in a gay bar.  When I learned that fact, I realized why the famous Rustin became a very minor character -- if seen at all -- in modern-day biopics about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. For all his achievements and contributions, Rustin had been pushed into the shadows because of his sexuality.  Back in July 2020, I blogged a post about our need for a Bayard Rustin biopic. Well...now we have one, And it was worth waiting for. Barack and Michelle Obama are executive producers. It was directed by George C. Wolfe. Actor Colman Domingo gives an extraordinary performance as the controversial and complicated American activist. Domingo commands the screen and seems to have been born to play Bayard Rustin. He did his homework extremely well. Also, he's made Hollywood history. He is an openly gay Black actor playing an openly gay Black historical figure.RUSTIN is in theaters and now on Netflix. This is a remarkable, stirring must-see biopic. 

Glynn Turman, Jeffrey Wright, CCH Pounder and, in a dramatic role, Chris Rock co-star. This is a film that our LGBTQ community needs to see and support. As for Mr. Colman Domingo, I am so proud of him and I add to the praise that he deserves to be an Oscar nominee for Best Actor.

Dear Eddie Muller of TCM...

...We all make mistakes. That written, I must disagree politely with something you said on TCM back in July. It's in a clip that I viewed this morning on the Turner Classic Movies: TCM page on Facebook.

Eddie is a noted author, a film noir historian and an extremely popular, dapper host of film noir classics that air weekly on TCM. (My aunt back in L.A. loves him.) Occasionally, he's pulled from out of the film noir shadows of TCM's Noir Alley on weekends to introduce something brighter. Such is the case when, back in July, he hosted films selected by guest programmer, Shari Belafonte. One of her selections was the 1950 comedy, HARVEY, starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull as his character's ditzy sister, Hull won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. About that win, Eddie Muller said: "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences never gives Oscars for comedy performances. They don't."

If I had been a TCM segment producer working on those segments, I would have gracefully edited that statement out before it aired to his benefit -- and I would have, also gracefully, explained why to Mr. Muller.

The same year Josephine Hull won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for HARVEY, Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar for BORN YESTERDAY.

Some other actors who took home Hollywood gold for performances in film comedies are --

Walter Matthau, Best Supporting Actor for Billy Wilder's THE FORTUNE COOKIE

Goldie Hawn, Best Supporting Actress for CACTUS FLOWER

Lee Marvin, Best Actor for the comedy western CAT BALLOU

Glenda Jackson, Best Actress for A TOUCH OF CLASS

Julie Andrews, Best Actress for the musical comedy MARY POPPINS

Barbra Streisand, Best Actress for the musical comedy FUNNY GIRL

George Burns, Best Supporting Actor for Neil Simon's THE SUNSHINE BOYS

Maggie Smith, Best Supporting Actress for Neil Simon's CALIFORNIA SUITE

Richard Dreyfuss, Best Actor for Neil Simon's THE GOODBYE GIRL

Diane Keaton, Best Actress for Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL

Dianne Wiest, Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's HANNAH AND HER SISTERS

Dianne Wiest, Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY

Mira Sorvino, Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's MIGHTY APHRODITE

Kevin Kline, Best Supporting Actor for A FISH CALLED WANDA

Sir John Gielgud, Best Supporting Actor for ARTHUR                                                                    

Olympia Dukakis, Best Supporting Actress for MOONSTRUCK

Cher, Best Actress for MOONSTRUCK

...and Whoopi Goldberg, Best Supporting Actress for GHOST

There you have it. Some actors who got laughs and then got Oscars for their work.

There's a Bayard Rustin Biopic.

 July 19, 2020. That's the date of my blog piece titled "We Need a Bayard Rustin Biopic." I'm old enough to recall seeing Bayard Rustin speak at the historic March on Washington in 1963. My parents watched as it was a live network news telecast on CBS. I was a little boy and watched with them. Bayard Rustin was a gifted singer, a Quaker, an intellect and a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was Dr. King's top advisor and was called "the Architect of the March on Washington." 

In my July 2020 post, I wrote: "He was a key figure in the Civil Rights movement. The late Bayard Rustin was also an openly gay man. This is why his monumental contributions to the Civil Rights movement were unjustly overlooked and downplayed. Tell Hollywood that we are in major need of a well-done Bayard Rustin biopic."

Well, finally....finally we're getting one. It was directed by George C. Wolfe. The executive producers are Barack and Michelle Obama. RUSTIN opens in theaters come November and it will air on Netflix. Colman Domingo stars as Rustin. He is no stranger to big screen biopics. He has a key scene as a soldier talking to President Abraham Lincoln in the first ten minutes of Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN (2012) and he played activist Ralph Abernathy in Ava DuVernay's Martin Luther King biopic, SELMA (2014). 

I've read a few reviews of RUSTIN written by respected, professional film critics and I'm thrilled that there is Best Actor Oscar buzz for Mr. Domingo's performance. We've seen hetero actors such as the William Hurt, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal get Oscar nominations or win Oscars for playing gay men. In RUSTIN, we are graced with an openly gay Black actor portraying an openly gay Black historical figure. That's history too. Here's a trailer.

Following RUSTIN, Colman Domingo will also be seen in the film adaptation of Broadway's hit musical version of THE COLOR PURPLE.

Coming Attractions

 I'm currently living with a sweet relative in the Twin Cities area.  I truly, madly, deeply miss New York City. We live in a downtown civic center with tall business business buildings and I'm a short walk away from a deluxe hotel and a gorgeous library. However -- this area has no Chinese restaurant hat delivers, no good Mexican or Italian restaurant, the coffee shops are closed on weekends and there is no nearby movie theater. Again -- I truly, madly, deeply miss New York City.

One thing I loved about going to the movies was seeing the trailers of coming attractions. Here are some I found online.

Woody Allen has received rave reviews for his new film which is subtitled and in French. It's a drama called COUP de CHANCE.

I've been a Randall Park fan ever since 2011 when I lived in San Francisco and noticed him in national TV commercials. He's just got the gift -- acting talent and charisma. I loved him as the dad on the ABC sitcom, FRESH OFF THE BOAT.  He's wonderful in the fabulous Netflix romantic comedy, ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE.  Randall Park now makes his directorial debut with SHORTCOMINGS, a story set in the Bay Area.

In the 70s and 80s, the newest Woody Allen film was always on the A-list of movies for New Yorkers to see. In the 90s, critics began to tire of the lack of minority representation in his films -- films that we set in the ethnically-diverse city of New York. With that in mind, compare Park's SHORTCOMINGS to Woody Allen's 2013 Oscar winner, BLUE JASMINE.  Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the New York socialite who flees to San Francisco when her privileged life starts to fall apart. Many scenes were shot in San Francisco. Some were shot near where I lived. I interacted with and/or was around Asian-American people every single day in San Francisco. BUT -- in Woody Allen's BLUE JASMINE -- not one Asian-American actor is seen in a role that has at least 5 lines or more. Randall Park could've played the role done by Louis C.K. John Cho or Daniel Dae Kim would've been perfect for the role played by Peter Sarsgaard. Ken Jeong could've played Jasmine's San Francisco dentist.

Helen Mirren deservedly won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in THE QUEEN (2006). Mirren plays another strong woman of historical note who had the world's attention. She's Israeli Prime Minister Gold Meir in GOLDA.

It's out now and making a lot of money.  In fact, director/writer Greta Gerwig is the first female filmmaker whose film has grossed $1 billion globally. BARBIE, the comedy movie in the pink, has the iconic doll becoming human and experiencing an existential crisis.  Margot Robbie is getting Oscar buzz for her performance as Barbie and so is Ryan Gosling as the rather clueless Ken. If I lived near a cineplex, I would've seen it by now.  But I don't. For you -- here's a taste of Ken.

STRANGE WAY OF LIFE from that fabulous director, Pedro Almodovar, runs only 30 minutes. His short feature has been called an answer to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal are the stars. It opens soon.

Have fun at the movies, 

Rita Hayworth Was More Than Just GILDA

 GILDA, the 1946 drama from Columbia Pictures, was surely the film that made Hollywood star, Rita Hayworth, an international screen legend. I have been in awe of Rita Hayworth's talent ever since I was a pre-teen growing up in Los Angeles. Acting-wise, Hayworth was never mentioned in the same category with Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn or Barbara Stanwyck. But, like Stanwyck, she could effortlessly go from comedy roles (in her case, musical comedy roles) to being a femme fatale in film noir thrillers such as Orson Welles' THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947).

Welles had Hayworth dye her hir blonde for that role.

When I was a kid watching her old movies on television, this was back in the day before VHS tapes, DVD rentals, streaming and cable. I saw her movies on local stations. The night I saw her dance with Fred Astaire in YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH (1941) with an original score by Cole Porter, I felt like I was experiencing a joyful out-of-body experience.

Their 1942 musical comedy, YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER, also thrilled me. They introduced the Jerome Kern & Jonny Mercer song, "I'm Old-Fashioned." Nan Wynn sang for Rita.

With her famous red hair getting the Technicolor treatment in the 1944 musical, COVER GIRL, she was once again fabulous as she danced with Gene Kelly.

Then came the glove strip number to "Put the Blame on Mame" in GILDA, a noir love story. (Rita's singing voice was usually dubbed in her musicals. Anita Ellis did Rita's vocals in GILDA.)

In later years, Rita Hayworth showed her sensitive dramatic skills in MEET SADIE THOMPSON (1953), SEPARATE TABLES (1958) and the murder trial courtroom film, THE STORY ON PAGE ONE (1959). In that courtroom drama, she had scenes opposite famed acting teacher Sanford Meisner and was directed by Clifford Odets. I've long felt that Rita Hayworth deserves more appreciation for her acting. She was really quite good and versatile. 

I love Rita Hayworth's film work. I've mentioned it in my decades of entertainment reporter on radio and national TV -- work that started in the 1970s.  This week on Twitter, I tweeted that Hayworth may not have been in a league with Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn (acting-wise), but she was a good, sincere and talented actress -- as she displayed in GILDA. GILDA was airing on TCM at the time.

This post is for all those who are tweeting me the information that she was also a dancer.

Some Essential Sinatra.

One of the most thrilling moments of my life occurred in Chicago in the 70s. On Saturday mornings, when I had recently graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee and living in a campus area apartment, I would listen to the Roy Leonard Show on WGN out of Chicago. One morning, Roy had a movie trivia contest. I called in -- and I won! I won two tickets to see Frank Sinatra in concert in Chicago. That was fantastic but it got even better when my date and I arrived at the theater. We were smack dab in the front row, a few feet away from the stage.

Sinatra, radiating charisma, was in terrific voice with a full orchestra behind him. I was in Heaven. My date and I seemed to be the youngest couple in that sold out audience. As Sinatra was taking his bows to a standing ovation after one of his encores, he looked at me in the audience and motioned me over to shake his hand before he walked into the wings. I felt my soul leave my body. The experience was the awesome.

When I was a kid growing up in Los Angeles, a local radio station had.a weeknight program called "Sinatra at Seven." At 7pm, the host would play a half-hour of recordings by Frank Sinatra. I loved that show and was a regular listener -- yes, even though I was in high school. The singer/actor was a revered talent in our household.

I think it's time we were reminded of what a supreme singer he was. Here are four cuts of his from movies he did.  "All My Tomorrows" is a song he sang in his 1959 comedy, A HOLE IN THE HEAD. 

Frank Sinatra gave one of his strongest film performances in the 1920s era drama, THE JOKER IS WILD. He introduced the song, "All The Way," in that 1957 release and it was a big hit for him. "All The Way" won the Oscar for Best Song.

Cole Porter penned all the tunes heard in the 1956 MGM musical comedy, HIGH SOCIETY. It's a musical version of the 1940's THE PHILADELPHIA STORY with Frank Sinatra taking on the role originally done onscreen by James Stewart and Grace Kelly taking on the role first done by Katharine Hepburn. I love this Cole Porter tune, "Mind If I Make Love To You."

I close it out with Sinatra being ultimately cool as the bad boy nightclub crooner/ladies' man in 1957's PAL JOEY co-starring Rita Hayworth as a wealthy widow. Here he sings "The Lady Is A Tramp." 

And there you have it. I hope you liked my picks for some Essential Sinatra.

About 80 FOR BRADY

 "It would be a shame to retire when you feel like you still got it."  A line from 80 FOR BRADY.

This fluffy comedy stars four heavyweight female talents now in their senior years -- Oscar winners Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and the remarkable Oscar nominee Lily Tomlin. Inspired by a true story, it's about four friends determined to go to the Super Bowl and to meet Tom Brady. This is the kind of feature that, back in the day, would have been a made-for-network TV movie. It's the kind of inoffensive feature that makes for a good airplane movie. I happened to see it this weekend -- and I enjoyed it! Some of it's predictable. Personally, I could've done with less scenes that included Guy Fieri of Food Network. However, the four female stars still have it. They know how to make this unchallenging material work. And they look great. Jane Fonda seems to be wearing a 1970s Connie Stevens wig collection, but she's still cool.

I really lit up to see Tony winner Billy Porter have a fun scene with the ladies as a Super Bowl show choreographer. Yes, he gets all four to dance. I've been a fan of Billy's for over 20 years-- going back to his stage work and his scene-stealing role in the 2000 movie, THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB: A ROMANTIC COMEDY. It's a comedy about a group of gay male friends, members of a weekend baseball team, as they try to find love in West Hollywood. One of the things I love about the movie as that the group of friends is race and age inclusive. I met Billy in 2008 at a SAG-AFTRA job networking event in New York City, attended by many of us who were in need of employment. I stunned to see Billy standing next to me at one booth, also taking pamphlets and other information. With his set of skills and talents, I couldn't believe he was unemployed. But he was. He could not have been more gracious and supportive speaking with me. After that, if I saw him on the street, he'd stop and chat with me. Then things turned around for him. Came a Broadway musical version of the British comedy film, KINKY BOOTS. Billy got a top role in it. And he won a Tony. He is a walking lesson in perseverance. 

Here's a bit of the movie.

Lily Tomlin has a dramatic scene in a locker room with Tom Brady -- and he's very good in it. I had a most enjoyable pastime watching five people I've had the privilege to meet in my career -- Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin and Billy Porter.