This year, Cupid is wearing a face mask. Love during a pandemic. That's Valentine's Day 2021 for you. But the great thing is -- love still endures. Maybe we can't go outside because of freezing temperatures. Maybe we can't kiss with the carefree abandon we had a couple of years ago at this time, but we can still show and give love. Ain't that grand?
To add a little brightness to the background of your Valentine's Day activities, here's some music for you. First up is Lena Horne from her 1950s Waldorf Astoria nightclub engagement. She's swingin' the tune "I Love to Love."
It's one of my favorite films of the 1980s. From THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (1989), Michelle Pfeiffer sings the classic "My Funny Valentine."
From the 1942 musical, HOLIDAY INN, with a bunch of songs all written by Irving Berlin, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds dance to "Be Careful, It's My Heart" sung by Bing Crosby.
Here's the great jazz vocalist, Carmen McRae, singing "Isn't It Romantic?"
And finally...a number from Disney LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955). Singer Peggy Lee got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her dramatic performance as an alcoholic 1920s band singer in PETE KELLY'S BLUES (1955). She should've also gotten a Best Song Oscar nomination for co-writing this lovely tune for LADY AND THE TRAMP, "Bella Notte."
I hope you have some romance in your life. I had some years ago -- and it was wonderful. Happy Valentine's Day.
A popular 1980s CBS series starring British actor Edward Woodward that inspired two movie versions starring Denzel Washington, THE EQUALIZER has been rebooted for CBS. This time, the Equalizer is being played by a woman -- Queen Latifah. I read a review of the premiere episode in The Hollywood Reporter. The critic pretty much concentrated on the script which he/she found average and felt the episode was entertaining but gave us nothing new. I have a different opinion. First of all, Queen Latifah is that rare Black actress who received an Oscar nomination and then didn't have to go to TV for steady employment because Hollywood offered no follow-up scripts. As I've mentioned in previous posts, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Angela Bassett, Alfre Woodard, Taraji P. Henson, Gabourey Sidibe and even Viola Davis had to turn to television when Hollywood disappointed them after they achieved an Oscar nomination. Except for Viola Davis, all those other Black actresses have only one Oscar nomination to their credit. White actresses like Julia Roberts, Amy Adams, Michelle Williams and Jennifer Lawrence had their choice of script offers after receiving their first Oscar nomination and went on to get other Oscar nominations. Queen Latifah was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for the musical CHICAGO (2002). After that, she starred on the big screen in BEAUTY SHOP (2005) and LAST HOLIDAY (2006) which is a remake of a classic 1950 British film of the same name with Latifah portraying the lead character previously done by Alec Guinness. She was very good in the under-seen comedy/drama STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006) with Will Ferrell and she played Motormouth Maybelle in the musical HAIRSPRAY (2007). Now she stars in a crime/action TV series.
In the genre of action/heroine features, few Black women have gotten those lead roles. Queen Latifah has such a lead role. She's Robyn McCall, an Army veteran who served in the Middle East and then worked for the CIA. She left that organization after something went wrong on a mission in Venezuela. She's still valued by the CIA. Today she's a single and unemployed mom with a teen daughter. Robyn is contacted secretly to do some Equalizer work. Robyn's motto will be: Got a problem? Odds against you? I can help. In the premiere episode, she helps a young Black woman who witnessed a murder dodge the clutches of the bad guys. There is a touch of the NCIS franchise in this reboot, but you are getting something vastly different with a single Black mother who's a war vet in the lead role. She doesn't have a British demeanor and accent like Edward Woodward. She's more vulnerable than the constantly stoic Denzel Washington. There's a fine scene near the end in which Robyn and her daughter, a smart kid who did something highly irresponsible, are seated in car outside a women's detention center. Robyn explains to her daughter why she got into the army and why young Black women don't really have the luxury to be irresponsible in America. She points to the detention center. It's a strong and meaningful scene. Since her Oscar nomination, Queen Latifah's acting has grown richer. As Robyn McCall, our new Equalizer, there's something complicated behind her eyes. There is the Latifah swagger in the action scenes. There's a;so complexity in her dealings with her daughter. The movies I mentioned in the first paragraph that Latifah did after CHICAGO are all comedies. The dramatic premiere episode of THE EQUALIZER had her in fine form and doing some of her best acting. She's also one of the executive producers for the series.
Give it a look. THE EQUALIZER will air Sunday nights at 8p on CBS.
It's like the Oscars for straight guys. Today is Super Bowl Sunday. By the way, whenever my hetero buddies complain about the length of the Oscars telecast, I always remind them about the Super Bowl game and the pre-game shows. One year on a Super Bowl Sunday, I flew from New York to Minneapolis to visit my sister. The game was on when I arrived at the airport for my departing flight. When I arrived in Minneapolis and got into my sister's apartment, the game was still on. So, don't complain about the Oscars. For the gay community, that awards show is OUR Super Bowl.
For movie entertainment before the big game, there are some movies that are ripe for watching today. There's 1932's HORSE FEATHERS starring the Marx Brothers in a football game...
...there's the 1940 biopic, KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL AMERICAN with Pat O'Brien as the famed football coach, there's 1974's THE LONGEST YARD with Burt Reynolds in a prison football game and there's 1979's NORTH DALLAS FORTY starring Nick Nolte in one of his best comedy/drama roles as the veteran, non-conformist NFL star. Add to them the 1982 musical comedy THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Parton stars as Miss Mona, the sweet and shapely lady who runs a...business...that's very popular with local football players in need of hormonal recreation. 1986's WILDCATS stars Goldie Hawn as a high school football coach in the Chicago area. Woody Harrelson's film debut. Screen newcomer Wesley Snipes is in it too. Hawn was a producer of this comedy, Notice, in the speaking roles, that there is way more racial diversity among the actors than we saw in the John Hughes teen comedies also set in the Chicago area during the 1980s. The Hughes teen comedies were predominantly Caucasian. Then there's the inspirational sports drama REMEMBER THE TITANS, a 2000 release with Denzel Washington as a high school football coach.
But, for me, required viewing every Super Bowl Sunday is a Debbie Reynolds musical number in 1953's I LOVE MELVIN. It's been noted that Debbie was one of the few women in film who danced with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Bob Fosse. Debbie Reynolds was the only woman in film to use an Oscar as a nutcracker in movie -- 1954's SUSAN SLEPT HERE. Well, she was also the only woman to dance in a musical number as a football. Here she is in the "Saturday Afternoon Before the Game" number from I LOVE MELVIN.
Enjoy your Sunday Bowl Sunday. Save me some Buffalo wings.
Lord, what a bold and muscular movie. I am so glad it's being released during this Black History Month. There is Black history and Black tragedy in this late 1960s story that takes us to the life and assassination of community activist and Illinois Black Panther Party chairman, Fred Hampton. He was shot and killed in 1969 at age 21 on Chicago's West Side. This was the same decade in which Black civil rights activists Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King were also shot and killed. The film is JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, directed with a strong 1970s style by Shaka King. London-born actor Daniel Kaluuya is the British son of Ugandan parents. He was a Best Actor Oscar nominee for the 2017 horror film from Jordan Peele, GET OUT. I was absolutely amazed at the performance from Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton. It's a thing of power and beauty.
In a way, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, could be a companion piece to GET OUT. In the Jordan Peele socio/horror film, Kaluuya plays the young man determined to hold on to his Blackness and not have it stolen and overpowered by White America. LaKeith Stanfield played the Black man obviously bewitched by White society and favoring it over Black identity and Black bonding. That is, until the flash of a camera pointed at him breaks the spell. Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield are the two main figures in JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH. Kaluuya, as I mentioned, plays Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton, a man who became a strong, powerful voice of change in Chicago's Black community. LaKeith Stanfield plays Bill O'Neal, the Black FBI informant who worked with White FBI agents and helped bring about the assassination of Hampton. The real O'Neal is seen in TV documentary interview footage at the beginning of the movie.
You almost ache at the unignorable relevance this film about a 1960s incident has to our modern times in America -- especially the times we endured with previous White House administration. It's very much a "Black Lives Matter" story. The Black Panthers want to get meals to underprivileged Black children in homes that can't always afford three meals a day. The organization is demonized by White political factions. Unarmed Black men are shot multiple times and killed by police. This look at 20th century history is a reflection of our current 21st century racial history.
Director Shaka King delivers a memorable film that's not always easy to watch. The final shoot-out with Chicago cops opening relentless gunfire on the building in which Fred Hampton lies in bed unarmed and the aftermath of the shoot-out made me gasp. Also in the building with Hampton was his very pregnant girlfriend. And there's the real-life FBI informant/Judas seen in documentary interview footage at the beginning and the end. LaKeith Stanfield hits the right tone as the man at emotional odds with his own Blackness. The excellent Jesse Plemons (OTHER PEOPLE and THE POST) stars as the FBI agent who bewitches O'Neal into betraying one of his own kind. If JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH brings Daniel Kaluuya another Oscar nomination for Best Actor, I will not be surprised.
I was on Twitter today and saw that someone had posted a photo from 1972's THE GODFATHER. In the photo was Mama Corleone.
A popular singer had an acting role in the movie. He was Al Martino. He played Johnny Fontane.Back in the early 70s, radio was a top source of entertainment. Singers got plenty of airplay and Martino was one of those singers. Did you ever see the 1964 Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland thriller called HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE? In those closing credits, Martino sings the title tune.
Then was another singer in THE GODFATHER. A sensational jazz singer. My parents had her records and I grew up listening to her sublime vocals. The singer was the late Morgana King. She played Mama Corleone. To give your ears a treat, here's one of the album cuts I heard many times in our house when I was a kid. Morgana King sings the theme to another movie -- 1961's A TASTE OF HONEY.
Here's another quartet of good movies you may have missed when they were in theatrical release. My first recommendation comes as it's now Black History Month. The film marked the directorial debut of Ryan Coogler, an African American director, and boasts a predominantly Black cast. It's based on a true story, a story that I saw covered in TV newscasts. From 2013, the film is FRUITVALE STATION. The title is a mass transit train stop in the Bay Area of northern California. It's an Oakland/San Francisco stop. I was living in San Francisco when the movie opened. I had an urge to see it after reading a promotional poster for it in a cineplex lobby. The poster was filled with rave reviews from prestigious film critics. My first thought was, "Wow. Those are reviews that lead to Oscar nominations." FRUITVALE STATION was honored and the cast received a tremendous ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. However, when Oscar nominations were revealed, there was no mention of FRUITVALE STATION. Not a single nomination. This was an oversight that eventually led to the "Oscars So White" social media hashtag and controversy about the Oscars' lack of racial diversity in the top categories. FRUITVALE STATION stars the gifted Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer. She was a Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for 2011's THE HELP. FRUITVALE STATION should've brought Spencer her second nomination. Michael B. Jordan is excellent.
Jordan and Spencer play son and mother. Jordan plays Oscar Grant, a Black man in his early 20s, had done time in prison. Now out, he wants to be a responsible citizen, son and parent to his child. The essential thing we need to know about his character is translated in the opening scene. Notice how he treats a dog. In flashbacks, we see his life and his tragic death. An unarmed Oscar Grant was shot to death by a transit cop while Grant and his girlfriend, the mother of his child, were on their way to a New Year's Eve celebration. Director/screenwriter Ryan Coogler tells the story with grace and subtlety. His is an outstanding directorial debut. Here's a clip.
I saw FRUITVALE STATION one weekday afternoon in San Francisco. Shortly before the feature started, about five young White women entered and sat in the row right in front of me. They looked to be giggly 20-somethings and I considered moving to a different row to be away from their chattiness. Not only were they quiet and respectful during the movie, they and I were in tears at the end of it. Director Ryan Coogler went on to make 2018's BLACK PANTHER which was such an international box office blockbuster that the Academy could not ignore it. His Afro-centric action/fantasy hit was an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. FRUITVALE STATION, a 90-minute feature, is currently on Netflix.
He may not be a major movie star like a Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep, but actor James Cromwell definitely has lots of fans. I love the tall, lean, versatile actor in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, THE GREEN MILE, THE ARTIST, THE QUEEN and, of course, BABE, the adorable pig story that brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. James Cromwell hit a major home-run in a good, little-seen indie drama of 2012. I saw this one with a Black buddy of mine, both of us middle-aged, and we were awed at how good Cromwell and co-star Genevieve Bujold were. Bujold was a Best Actress Oscar nominee for playing the doomed Anne Boleyn in the historical epic, 1969's ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS. Cromwell plays a farmer in STILL MINE who fights back when local corporate-minded authorities block his efforts to build a cottage for him and his longtime wife who's been diagnosed with oncoming dementia. Ultimately, STILL MINE is a love story. Here's a trailer.
STILL MINE is a must-see for James Cromwell fans. It's available to watch for free on IMDb TV.
Mike Sargent, co-president of the Black Film Critics Circle, had me on his film review TV show back in 2014 and we both raved about a new film from Great Britain. We were stunned that it was based on a true political story during the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher years that we never heard about here in the U.S. This was another very good but little-seen movie. PRIDE stars Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Paddy Considine and Dominic West. The film focuses on a group of gay and lesbian activists that raises money to help the families hit hard financially by the British miners strike of 1984. This would become a major campaign. Heterosexual miners were forced to changed their attitudes towards gays and some gays had to change their attitudes about the tolerance of straight people. PRIDE is a good, surprising, entertaining film. Here''s a trailer.
PRIDE is available to stream on Amazon Pride video.
If you're in the mood for a somewhat naughty, socially impolite comedy, I've got a recommendation. This is another film Mike Sargent and I reviewed on his film review TV show. It's the first film directed by actor Jason Bateman. He stars in it, too, playing the kind of crusty character W.C. Fields would've played in a 1930s comedy. The movie is called BAD WORDS and Bateman plays a 40-year old, often insufferable, man who finds a loophole in the rules for a prestigious regional spelling bee. He becomes a grown-up contestant in the field of schoolkids. On a plane, he encounters the outwardly friendly kid who will be his fierce competitor. Mike and I went into the screening of BAD WORDS expecting it to be a loud, kind o' crude comedy full of frat boy humor. We were surprised. There's a reason why the 40-year old wants to enter the spelling bee. Underneath all the naughty humor is a story about the power of words, how we use them and the impact our words have on others. Here's a trailer.
BAD WORDS is available to stream on Amazon Prime video. Enjoy the movies!
It's the first day of Black History Month and I've got some history about one of my favorite actors for you. He's the late, great Ossie Davis. How I loved and appreciated his work in fine films such as Sidney Lumet's THE HILL (1965) and Otto Preminger's THE CARDINAL (1963). In that film, I was thrilled to see a representation of myself. I saw Preminger's movie when I was a kid -- a Black Catholic kid growing up in South Central Los Angeles. I saw Black priests in Sunday masses at church, but I never saw any on TV or in movies. Ossie Davis played a Black Catholic priest in THE CARDINAL.
I'm sure that millions of serious film lovers know him from the classic 1989 Spike Lee production, DO THE RIGHT THING. The Ossie Davis show biz history goes way back. In fact, he was not just an actor. He was also a director (1970's COTTON COMES TO HARLEM and 1973's GORDON'S WAR), a screenwriter and a playwright. His name was not included in the credits, but we see Ossie Davis play a relative to the Sidney Poitier hospital doctor character in the 20th Century Fox race drama, NO WAY OUT, a 1950 feature starring Poitier and Richard Widmark. With Ossie Davis in that drama, we see Ruby Dee. Ruby Dee was his wife and frequent acting partner. When Sidney Poitier finished his original cast run in the lead role of Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking Broadway play, 1959's A RAISIN IN THE SUN, also starring Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis succeeded him in the part.
Davis wrote a Broadway comedy, a comment on the Civil Rights movement and what is was fighting for in the early 1960s. He starred in his play and his co-star leading lady was Ruby Dee. Ossie Davis played the robust, subversive and sexy preacher named PURLIE VICTORIOUS. The 1961 play was adapted into a 1963 film with most of the original Broadway cast recreating their roles.
The majority of film and TV roles that Ruby Dee got were dramatic. In PURLIE VICTORIOUS, we got to see her comedy skills -- and they were delicious. There's a touch of Judy Holliday whimsy in her portrayal of the sweet, guileless and lovable Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins. Lutiebelle catches the eye of Reverend Purlie when he returns to his hometown in Georgia. Here's a photo of the Broadway cast getting a backstage visit from a real Civil Rights activist preacher -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the back on the right side wearing black eye make-up is cast member Alan Alda.
I first saw the 1963 comedy film on local Channel 9 in Los Angeles. Back then, the station's call letters were KHJ-TV. Channel 9 had a Friday night movie show that highlighted independent and foreign films. One night it showed GONE ARE THE DAYS!, the alternate title for PURLIE VICTORIOUS. My dad was a brawny World war 2 veteran, a somewhat reserved man who was nowhere near as loquacious and animated as Mom. Dad watched GONE ARE THE DAYS! and howled with laughter so hard at the Godfrey Cambridge performance that tears rolled down his cheeks. I love that memory.
Why GONE ARE THE DAYS! aka PURLIE VICTORIOUS has not been rediscovered, I have no idea. It stars two of the several Black actresses who got one Oscar nomination but should've received more. If only Hollywood had more good script opportunities for Black actresses after they received an Oscar nomination. In this Ossie Davis comedy, the two actresses are Ruby Dee (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for 2007's AMERICAN GANGSTER) and Beah Richards (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for 1967's GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER).
To see GONE ARE THE DAYS!, the Ossie Davis work that broke my dad up with laughter, click onto this YouTube link: 👇
Ossie Davis' play was adapted into the hit 1970 Broadway musical comedy, PURLIE, starring Cleavon Little and Melba Moore. The performances made the two actors Tony winners. Ossie Davis wrote the book for PURLIE. Happy Black History Month.
