A Christmas Query

Dear Producers of E!'s new reality show "Bridalplasty",

Why do you make the Baby Jesus cry?

Exclusive No More: Review of The Social Network

It was the Summer of 2006, and I found myself in the position of needing to sublet a room in my apartment.  After an impassioned plea on his behalf, I rented the room to a young college grad who had just moved to LA in the hopes of working for an agency.  The arrangement was congenial enough, and when he found himself permanent housing, I suggested that we stay in touch. 
"Are you on MySpace?" I asked, not knowing that I had just betrayed my age.
"I'm on facebook", he corrected me.
The message was simple.  facebook was cool, and I was not.

One of the reasons that David Fincher's new film, The Social Network, has touched a nerve with so many people is that all kids want to be cool, and facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was no exception.   The opening scene of the film lays out the dramatic stakes in no uncertain terms.  Unaware that he's about to be dumped, Zuckerberg condescendingly informs his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara) that she'll have the privilege of being his date when he's invited to join one of Harvard's most exclusive final clubs.   Wanting more than just to be arm candy around Cambridge, she informs him that their relationship is over.  When Zuckerberg reacts with anger and confusion, she elaborates.  She wants it made perfectly clear that she's not leaving him because she's a nerd.  She's leaving him because he's an asshole. End of story.

Except for Mark, it's just the beginning.  He returns to his dorm room, and drunkenly blogs some very mean things about his ex, and then uses his computer brilliance to hack his way into the Harvard computer system,  where he creates a program called the "facemash" where students can rank the attractiveness of their female classmates.  That's right.  According to The Social Network, the only thing that separated the early facebook from sites like "hot or not.com" is that all the women involved were Ivy League.  Like all great ideas, things evolved.  The facemash became the facebook, which eventuallyjettisoned its definite article to become the ubiquitous site we know today. 

On paper, The Social Network seems an unlikely candidate to be an end of the year awards front-runner.  David Fincher has a distinctively dark vision, which has resulted in an output that's exciting, but uneven.   Fortunately, his style meshes well with the machiavellian workings on display here, and the end result is more Tyler Durden than Benjamin Button.  Whether this would mesh with the aesthetic of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who had a smash with The West Wing and crashed and burned with Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip, was anybody's guess.   Add an eclectic cast which leans heavily on Justin Timberlake and a story which attempts on examine the incredibly volatile world of the internet, and you have a project not without risk.

But everyone's at the top of their game here, and The Social Network turns out to be a thilling examination of an intriguing twenty first century tale. Jesse Eisenberg somehow manages to make the facebook founder's maneuverings understandable, if not exactly endearing, and Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake make excellent adversaries.  Sorkin also acquits himself well, turning in a tight but nuanced adaptation of Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires without sacrificing his fast paced pithy dialogue.  Add in a subtly menancing score from Trent Reznor, and the film appears formidable indeed.

One of the ironies on display is that in designing a site that's all about connecting with people, a site that made him rich beyond dreams of avarice, Mark Zuckerberg forces out the one true friend he has.  Edward Saverin (Andrew Garfield), who helped Zuckerberg launch facebook with a modest, but important investment on the ground floor, finds himself pushed aside in favor of the more charismatic Sean Parker (Timberlake).  Parker comes sniffing around facebook when his own internet venture, Napster goes under.  In spite of a business track record that's shaky at best, Parker talks a good game, and he effortlessy exploits Zuckerberg's insecurities until he finds himself owning nearly 10 pecent of the company.  Meanwhile, Edward trusts that his friend will do the right thing, and finds himself having to sue his friend to get what he deserves.

The biggest irony, of course, is that in 2010 facebook is the farthest thing from cool.  It has long since given up any pretense of exclusivity, and everyone from your mom to your local Subway has a page.  It has been the subject of multiple lawsuits over privacy concerns, and it's a multi billion dollar concern which allows advertisers to salivate over the oceans of demographic information gushing from its users.

The Social Network has drawn more comparisons to Citizen Kane than any modern film in memory.  While it's not hard to see the parallels, it's also more than a little difficult to see Mark Zuckerberg as a tragic figure. Orson Welles begins and ends Kane with death, with Charlie Kane clinging desperately to memories of his youth; Fincher's film gives us a character who's changed the world with his whole life still ahead of  him.

In real life, Zuckerberg has been making the talk show rounds in a slightly defensive, but mostly good natured fashion. The world's youngest billionaire obviously knows a mountain of free publicity when he sees it, and ultimately the film doesn't exactly make him look bad.  He also just announced that he was donating $100 million to aid Newark public schools, which puts him in a way more exclusive club than the ones he craved at at Harvard.

What Makes Jeffy Run On the Run

I am now capable of posting to my blog via mobile phone. Oh, the humanity!

The Cinematic Dustbin: Special "Buddy Buddy" Edition

In the inaugural post of What Makes Jeffy Run's new "Cinematic Dustbin" series, I listed "films that probably shouldn't exist, but do" as the only criteria for inclusion.  To argue that any film directed by the legendary Billy Wilder shouldn't exist seems foolish, especially when said film was co-written by Wilder's long time collaborator I.A.L. Diamond.  But we're making an exception for 1981's "Buddy Buddy", Wilder's final film, due to the following:

1. Wilder himself has disavowed the picture.  Whether wistfully declaring that "you hate to strike out on your last picture" or flatly stating that if he met a personified group of his pictures on the street he'd ignore "Buddy Buddy", it's clear that Wilder had little affection for the film, even looking back at it years later.

2. Klaus Kinski disavowed the picture, and he was insane(for evidence of this see the documentary "My Best Fiend" or read the memoir "Kinski Uncut"). Kinski had a supporting role in the film and proclaimed: "The only good thing about Buddy Buddy is that very few people saw it."

3. It pains us to say it, but Billy and Klaus are correct.  In spite of the presence of famed comedy duo Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the film never manages to wrest more than an occasional chuckle from its grim subject matter.  Matthau is a hired killer setting up shop in a hotel room across the street from the courthouse so he can take out a mob informant.  Lemmon has checked into the room next door and is distracting Matthau from his work with his repeated attempts to kill himself.  Meanwhile, Lemmon's wife has checked herself into a sex clinic run by a lunatic doctor played by Kinski.  Some of this might have been funny if it were handled properly, but instead nearly all of it falls flat.

4. The film has never been released in the U.S. on DVD, and now Netflix has apparently decided to squelch it completely.  In a very odd turn of events, I happened to be looking around for a copy of this film for some research into Billy Wilder's last few films.  I was able to track down a VHS rental copy from the fabled Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee in North Hollywood, and then have it bumped up to DVD.  After all this, I came home to discover, two nights ago, that suddenly "Buddy Buddy" was available on Netflix instant streaming.  Having been warned that the VHS was a pretty scuzzy pan and scan version, I was excited to discover that Netflix was streaming the film in its original widescreen format.  Fast forward to the next evening, less than 24 hours later, and "Buddy Buddy" seemed to have vanished entirely from the Netflix site.  The only trace of it I was able to find was when I looked in my Instant Streaming history.  The title had been entered incorrectly as "Buddy, Buddy" and there was a grey box in the corner of the screen which read "unavailable."

I can think of three potential reasons for this.  Netflix is constantly forging new licensing deals for instant streaming on their site and it's possible that the license for this film may have expired.  Why a license would expire on September 8th, I don't know, but I suppose it's possible.  The second possible reason is that MGM, who produced and distributed the film, has been fighting a losing battle with bankruptcy for the better part of two years, and maybe "Buddy Buddy" fell victim to those negotiations.

But I prefer to think that Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, Klaus Kinski, and Wather Matthau were sitting around playing poker in the afterlife and all agreed that it was time for "Buddy Buddy" to join them. 

International Beer Day!

As if you needed another excuse to drink beer, August 5th has apparently been designated International Beer Day.




In honor of this ever so durable and delicious intoxicating beverage, I give you a list of the best beer bars in LA.  The fact that such a list can even be compiled here is a testament to the rapid growth of craft beer culture in these parts. Over half of the places on this list have opened their doors in the last five years.

1. Blue Palms Brewhouse, Hollywood *
2. The Surly Goat, West Hollywood
3. Verdugo Bar, Glassell Park
4. Father's Office, Culver City & Santa Monica*
5. Tony's Darts Away, Burbank*
6. The Daily Pint, Santa Monica
7. Lucky Baldwin's, Pasadena*
8. Wurstkuche, Little Tokyo/Arts District*
9. Beachwood BBQ, Seal Beach*
10. Laurel Tavern, Sherman Oaks*

Blue Palms nabs the top spot both for quality and proximity (I can walk there), but every one on this list merits repeat visits.  Locations marked with a star also serve excellent food, which is also what makes Beachwood worth the drive.    Verdugo often has food trucks parked outside the premises and has a great backyard patio.  Blue Palms and Verdugo also get extra points for their beer fridges, which are stocked with excellent bottles to go.

Prost!

The Cinematic Dustbin: Heartbeeps

Editor's Note: This entry will mark the first in a semi-regular series dedicated to films that probably shouldn't exist, but do.

A mere six years ago, you would've needed a VCR and a video store that never updated its inventory in order to watch Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters in Heartbeeps. Thank God for Netflix instant streaming, because now you can watch this curiosity without getting off the couch. Released in 1981, Heartbeeps tried to ride the wave of success Kaufman had enjoyed with Taxi and his appearances on Late Night with David Letterman. Rumor has it that Kaufman was pitching a feature starring his cinematic alter ego, Tony Clifton (brought to life by Jim Carrey in Milos Forman's Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon")and that the studio asked that he first appear in Heartbeeps as a test to see if he could open a film. In spite of this airtight logic, Heartbeeps failed to captivate audiences in 1981, and Kaufman was dead three years later.

Nearly 30 years later, the film hasn't aged well, but still remains an interesting curiosity, especially for fans of the two leads. Peters' involvement in the film is even more puzzling, considering she was still fresh off of a huge success opposite Steve Martin in 1979's The Jerk. Hollywood waters must have been as murky to navigate then as they are today, because she followed that triumph with a turd trifecta in 1981. In addition to Heartbeeps, she re-teamed with Martin for a stillborn musical version of Dennis Potter's Pennies From Heaven, and capped it all off by appearing in Tulips, whose poster features Peters in roller skates clutching Gabe Kaplan for dear life as the two of them dangle from a girder. Oh, and Kaplan's also appears to be holding a tuba. She would bounce back in 1982 with the movie musical version of Annie, and not a moment too soon.

Heartbeeps features Kaufman and Peters as robots designed by GM and then stuffed on a shelf. They manage to break free, along with a robot named Catskill, who's designed to look and act like a comic from...the catskills. (GM leading the pack in the 80's, just like they do now) Along the way they create their own robot child, dodge a young Randy Quaid and giant crime robot who appears to be on loan from Dr. Who, and eventually settle in a junkyard run by a young Christopher Guest. If all this sound interesting, it sort of is. Stan Winston got an Oscar nomination for his robot make-up, and Kaufman and Peters do their best with a lackluster script. But even at a scant 78 minutes, Heartbeeps drags, and I would've much rather seen the Tony Clifton movie.

LAFF: Leopards and Lions

Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale in The Leopard


Christopher Morris' Four Lions

This year's Los Angeles Film Festival truly had something for everyone, and for the true cinephiles, nothing could top the North American Premiere of the fully restored "Il Gattapardo" at the historic Orpheum Theatre. In the age of the multiplex, venues like the Orpheum have all but disappeared, and I don't think I've ever had an experience where the aesthetics of a film and the room it was shown in were so perfectly matched. Following a nearly $5 million restoration, the Orpheum is a gorgeous art deco palace, complete with balcony boxes and a downstairs lounge and bar. The auditorium itself has great sight lines, and the sound was mixed just right the venue's acoustics. The Orpheum has mainly been reborn as a live music venue, so it was a rare treat to be able to see a movie there.

And what a movie! Directed by Visconti, "Il Gattapardo" (translated as The Leopard) is an epic from another age. Released in 1963 and winner of the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the film is an elegiac tribute to a bygone era of decadence. Set in the 1860's, the film's casting of Burt Lancaster as a Sicilian prince seems strange at first, but it's not long before we realize we're watching the actor at the top of his game. In spite of the fact that Lancaster spoke no Italian, he completely inhabits this role and invests it with an unquestionable regal bearing. The language barrier is less daunting than you'd expect, as it was common practice in the Italian film industry to re-record dialogue in post production. Lancaster was not alone in his isolation either, Alain Delon is featured in a major role and only spoke French. Yet somehow, they all understood Visconti's vision and were able to produce a staggering work of art.

The film was shot using the Technirama process, which was Techicolor's answer to widescreen Cinerama. This process required the use of a special camera, where the film would run through horizontally rather than vertically, and the end result was a sharper, more color saturated image. The restorers of The Leopard worked hard to maintain the integrity of this process, and they also consulted with the film's original cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno. Very few films exist today that contain such a richness of color and image, and the newly released Criterion Blu-Ray of The Leopard is a transfer from the restored version.

Lancaster's character in the film can see his world of privilege slipping away as the Italian people strive to form a new government. But like the Leopard, he refuses to change, and therefore assures his obsolescence in the new order. The film's famous ballroom sequence, which takes up a full 45 minutes of screen time, is one of the most elaborate party sequences ever committed to celluloid. Hundreds of extras were used (in full costume dress), and the lighting was provided by candles which had to be changed once an hour. Technology has insured that filmmakers don't have to do this kind of painstaking work anymore, which makes the fruits of these labors a wonder to behold. Maintaining his worldview and his dignity in spite of the change brewing all around him, Lancaster's prince literally walks off into the shadows. The ending is both powerful and almost unspeakably sad.

It hardly seemed possible that anything could top the film experience of "The Leopard", but that was before I saw "Four Lions", which proved that if it's done right, comedy can be just as potent as drama.

While Visconti's film depicts a man who refuses to accept a changing social order, the characters in Christopher Norris' "Four Lions" are desperate to change the status quo. Following four muslims living in contemporary London who are hellbent on jihad, Four Lions applies the sharp needle of satire to an extremely sensitive subject.

Combining elements of classic British farce with Kubrickian satire is no mean feat, but Norris pulls it off here. The characters in Four Lions are all varying degrees of stupid. Barry wants to bomb a mosque so that "the moderates will be radicalized" resulting in "Full Jihad"; Faisal is convinced that he can train a crow to deliver bombs at his behest, while the only way that Waj can comprehend what they're doing is to think about the operation in terms of his favorite theme park. Omar, the smartest of the bunch, explains to him that by becoming a martyr, he'll go straight to heaven, much like being able to skip the line for his favorite ride, Rubber Dinghy Rapids.

As the film unfolds, the would be jihadists plans backfire spectacularly. Faisal survives the exploding crow, but is not so lucky when he trips, fully wired, over a sheep. Barry explodes when some poor soul tries to give him the heimlich, and the others meet equally undignified ends with the help of the British police.

Norris doesn't let the western authorities off the hook either. Faced with picking out a terrorist in a bear costume among a field of innocent marathon runners, a London cop guns down a guy in a wookiee costume instead. Another scene shows a suspected terroist being interrogated in a large metal container identified as "the sovereign territory of Egypt." Filled with hilarious dialogue and sharp performances, Four Lions provides a constant stream of laughs while also making you ask serious questions about the so-called war on terror. "Four Lions" won the audience award for best narrative feature at the festival this year; let's hope this will lead to a wider release.

Two completely different but brilliant films, and a fitting conclusion to a fantastic festival.

100th Post: Werner and Whit

To mark the auspicious occasion of my 100th post to this blog, let the record reflect that over the course of June 18th-21st 2010, I met both Werner Herzog and Whit Stillman. I watched Cane Toads: The Conquest: In 3D while sitting next to Herzog. He told me that the New Jersey edition of his Rogue Film School had been "very extreme." Whit Stillman very graciously granted me an impromptu interview after I spotted him at a screening of Aaron Katz's film "Cold Weather."

For someone who went out on a weeknight to see Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and who is a member of a yet to be formed Stillman themed band called The Polly Perkins Composite, these encounters were very thrilling indeed.

The all too brief Stillman interview can be found here,and although I wasn't able to conduct a formal interview with Herzog, he did tell me that he'd just finished shooting a 3D film that took place entirely inside a cave. You might think twice if you're contemplating a similar production, as Werner described the experience as "very difficult".

Rip Taylor: It Ain't All Confetti!

Life is filled with happy accidents. While walking around the North Hollywood Arts District a few weeks ago, I happened to walk past the El Portal theatre, and saw that comedian Rip Taylor would soon be performing a one man show there. A quick scan of discount ticket site Goldstar revealed that tickets were available for the last preview show May 16th. My wife and my friends from our Beachwood Canyon Breakfast Club (BCBC) gamely agreed to come along, and we showed up at the El Portal on a sunny Sunday afternoon with little idea of what to expect.

The performance began in predictable fashion, with an announcer prepping us for "the man who exposed Watergate and exposed himself in the parking lot..." and suddenly, there he was, sparkling buckle, bad wig, moustache and all. After beginning the show with a hefty dose of prop comedy (including a dis of Carrot Top), the wig came off, and Taylor settled into the rest of the show; an unexpectedly poignant series of recollections about his long and storied career in show business.

Beginning with tales of being molested in foster homes as a child and moving on through a consistent schedule of beatings in high school, Taylor revealed how he learned to cope with being an outsider through humor. "If they're laughing, they're not hitting you!", he discovered. His career as an entertainer began with a career putting on soldiers shows when he was drafted during the Korean War, and continued through stints in the strip clubs of DC and Atlantic City, the resorts of the Catskills, and finally a national televison debut on the Ed Sullivan Show.

It was during an appearance on The Merv Griffin Show that Taylor unintentionally stumbled on what was to become his trademark. After bombing badly while reading jokes off of cards, he tore up the cards and threw the pieces in the air. Walking over to join the host, he stumbled and knocked over Griffin's desk. Later that night he received a call from Griffin's people claiming the audience had loved his crazy chaotic routine and he was booked on the show again the following night.

Closing with an emotional plea that we all "keep looking toward the light," Taylor closed his show with a very reasonable amount of confetti.

If you're in L.A., Rip Taylor's one man show continues at the El Portal Forum Theatre through May 30th. He's a walking sparkling piece of show biz history.

Soon to Be a Major Motion Picture: Magic 8-Ball

This just in from Deadline New York:



http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/paramount-seeks-film-fortunes-from-mattels-magic-8-ball/

I'm gonna have to agree with the 8-ball on this one.

TCM Film Fest: Day 4: SUNNYSIDE UP, THE KING OF COMEDY, and METROPOLIS

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post originally appeared on FilmRadar.com.

Anyone who's seen Janet Gaynor's great silent work in F.W. Murnau's Sunrise knows that she's a wonderfully expressive performer with great screen presence. Singing and dancing is a different story, however, and with the advent of sound, Gaynor was among many stars of the era who had to prove themselves to audiences all over again. 1929 musical "Sunnyside Up" proved that Gaynor could not only make an effective tranistion to talkies, but that she also had a great flair for comedy. One of the first movie musicals, "Sunnyside Up" screened at the TCM fest on Sunday in a print beautifully restored by the Museum of Modern Art. A simple story of a girl from the tenements who falls in love with a man of means from Southampton(Charles Farrell), the film tells the story at a leisurely pace that allows the viewer to become fully immersed in both worlds.



"Sunnyside Up" is pretty innocent stuff, with one exception. At Ferrell's request, Gaynor's character and her friends agree to perform at a summer seaside charity show. The first number we see is called "Turn On the Heat", and that's exactly what the pre-code company proceed to do. Beginning as an eskimo number set on an ice flow, the performers shed their parkas for bikinis, the ice gradually melts into a tropical paradise complete with inflatable bananas, and by the end of the number, the entire company is writhing on the ground in ways that would have had the Production Code censors turning somersaults. Fortunately for those who missed the screening, the sequence is available on YouTube, embedded below. FilmRadar site owner Karie Bible described the sequence perfectly as "pre-code on crack".






Of course, in the end, true love prevails, and everyone definitely leaves the theatre with their sunnyside up.


Martin Scorsese's 1983 gem "The King of Comedy" opens with Ray Charles' "Come Rain or Come Shine", but there's not much light that streams through in this look at the perils of celebrity. Jerry Lewis turns in what's easily his most accomplished dramatic performance as the Carson-esque talk show host Jerry Langford, and Robert DeNiro manages a unique comic creepiness as "self-styled" stand up comic Rupert Pupkin. Lewis had been scheduled to introduce the screening, but cancelled for undisclosed reasons after the TCM Fest programs went to press. Regardless, the film was screened in a sparkling new print, and Scorsese's tale of of a comic who kidnaps a talk show host in order to get on national television seems even more relevant now than it did on its original release.

Perhaps due to Lewis' cancellation, there were a lot of empty seats in Grauman's Chinese for "The King of Comedy" screening. Not so for the final festival screening at the historic venue. The influence of "Metropolis" on both film culture and the culture at large can hardly be overstated, and TCM closed their first festival with the North American premiere of the most complete version of Lang's film yet available. Upon it's original release, nearly an hour of footage was immediately cut from Lang's film, and over the film has resurfaced in a number of different restored versions. The most definitive version to date was released by Kino in 2002, and it seemed like that was the closest thing to "Metropolis" that modern audiences were likely to see. All that changed in 2008, when a 16 mm print of Lang's original version was discovered in Argentina. In the entire film, only one scene was damaged beyond repair, and the audience at Sunday's premiere was treated to an epic 2 1/2 hour version of the film. The 16 mm footage was incorporated into the earlier Kino version, and the whole film was lifted to new heights by live acccompaniment from the Alloy Orchestra.

TCM host Robert Osborne introduced the screening, and set a poignant tone for the evening by mentioning some of the encounters he'd had with TCM fans over the course of the festival. Where Osborne revealed he'd always thought of TCM as fine entertainment, he revealed that he'd been approached by viewers who'd turn the channel on for comfort in the face of unemployment, or illness, or a bad divorce. Osborne seemed genuinely moved by these interactions, and he got the whole theatre fired up by officially announcing that the TCM fest would return to Hollywood for another run in 2011. The audience erupted in applause, but once the lights went down and the music began, Fritz Lang had their undivided attention.

TCM Film Fest Day 3: Joan Crawford, Illeana Douglas and Temple Drake

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post originally appeared on FilmRadar.com

More than 30 years after her death, Joan Crawford continues to fascinate. A capacity crowd turned out at the Blossom room at the Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday (aka “Club TCM”) to watch Crawford’s grandson Casey LaLonde present highlights from the icon’s home movie collection. LaLonde, the son of Crawford’s adopted daughter Cathy, approached TCM with the films, and was then invited to come and present a selection of the films for festival passholders. Festival programmers had wanted to show a Crawford films anyway, so they also gave Lelonde the opportunity to select which one. His choice “A Woman’s Face”, directed by George Cukor, was an inspired one, and features a Crawford performance ripe for rediscovery.


The home movies offer a fascinating glimpse into Crawford’s personal life. Known as “Jojo” to her grandkids, much of the material centers around scenes of Crawford’s domestic life, which is as extravagant as you might expect. There’s an extended sequence of one of young Christina Crawford’s backyard bithday parties at Crawford’s Westwood home. In addition to pony rides, Christina and her friends got to enjoy a clown performing tricks with trained pig, an amusement park ride, and a ten layer cake served with ice cream elephants. As an adult, Christina went on to write her memoir “Mommie Dearest”, which painted a picture of Joan Crawford as both physically and emotionally abusive. While stopping short of insulting Christina, Casey LaLonde made it clear he doesn’t believe her claims. LaLonde claimed that his primary focus is to restore Joan Crawford’s reputation in the wake of the damage caused by Christina’s account. LaLonde concluded the presentation by revealing that a DVD release of the Crawford Home Movies is in the works.


Regardless of her domestic squabbles, Crawford gave some indelible performances, and her role in 1941’s “A Woman’s Face” deserves more recognition. A remake of a 1938 Swedish Film starring Ingrid Bergman, Crawford convinced Irving Thalbeg to option the property. Thalberg told her that the role would ruin her career, but Crawford insisted on taking the part. As a small time crook in Sweden whose nature is changed when she has plastic surgery to remove a disfiguring scar from her face, Crawford has the opportunity to be both tough and vulnerable, and she hits all the right notes. Melvyn Douglas provides great support as the plastic surgeon who falls in love with her, and there’s also a truly chilling performance from Conrad Veidt, who would appear the next year as the Nazi general in Casablanca.


LaLonde was on hand to introduce the screening, and he was joined by Illeana Douglas, the granddaughter of Melvyn Douglas. Beginning with tales of spending time on the sets of Melvyn on his last couple of films, she spent a few minutes paying tribute to her grandfather’s storied Hollywood career. The elder Douglas started in Vaudeville, then transitioned into film, where he worked with a long line of great directors from Ernst Lubitsch to Hal Ashby. Douglas and his wife were also actively involved in progressive politics. Illeana Douglas talked of how her grandfather consistently spoke out against the House Unamerican Activities Comittee, and revealed how her grandmother had run an unsuccessful Senate campaign against Richard Nixon. By the end of the campaign, she had coined Nixon’s infamous nickname “Tricky Dick.”


For many film classic film fans, 1933’s “The Story of Temple Drake” has long been something of a holy grail. Based on William Faulkner’s novel, “Sanctuary”, the story of a young Southern debutante with a wild side created a huge scandal upon its original release. The film was quickly pulled from release and went largely unseen for decades. Now the Museum of Modern Art in New York has taken on the restoration of the film, and Saturday night’s TCM screening was the premiere of their work in progress. The restoration work must be close to done because the print that was screened for the festival was gorgeous. Struck from the original camera negative, the film’s stunning black and white images looked crystal clear. “Temple Drake” features a phenomenal performance by Miriam Hopkins in the title role, and the role itself is much more complex than many of the parts offered to women in studio films today. If there’s any justice, the MOMA restoration of ‘The Story of Temple Drake’ will get a proper DVD release, but until then, Saturday’s screening should help to rescue the film from obscurity.

NEXT: Janet Gaynor in SUNNYSIDE UP, Scorsese’s THE KING OF COMEDY, and the latest and greatest restoration of Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS.

TCM Film Fest Day 2: THE STUNT MAN, NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH, and THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post originally appeared on FilmRadar.com.

“It’s better tonight than it’s ever been,” was Barbara Hershey’s response after watching Friday night’s TCM Fest screening of Richard Rush’s 1980 film “The Stunt Man.” Director Rush, also in attendance, agreed. “Damn right, for me too,” Rush said. Co-star Steve Railsback was also on hand, and it was striking how much affection all three seem to have for the film to this day. To hear Rush tell it, some of this may stem from the film’s difficult birth. A full ten years passed before the completed Stunt Man script made it to the screen, and it was only picked up for distribution by Fox after a brave theatre owner in Seattle took a chance on it and played it for a year. The film does’t fit easily into any genre category, and Rush as director takes it on faith that the audience will be able to follow The Stunt Man’s film within a film plotline.

The movie features an incredible stunt set piece on the roof on the historic Hotel de Coronado in San Diego, and also features a stunning performance by Peter 0’Toole as an egomaniacal director modeled loosely after David Lean. An anecdote Rush told after the screening suggests that O’Toole may have had other directors in mind as well. O’Toole was always professional on set, and had a habit of checking in with Rush each day for approval after he’d gotten into costume. Rush checked out the actor’s wardrobe, and enthusiastically approved it. It was only later in the day that he realized that O’Toole had managed to mimic what Rush was wearing down to the last belt buckle. For more pure undiluted Richard Rush, check out the making of documentary “The Sinister Saga of Makng The Stunt Man”, available on DVD.


As far as rarities go, 1948’s “No Orchids For Miss Blandish” was high on the list for the TCM fest, surpassed only by Saturday’s screening of “The Story of Temple Drake” (more on Temple Drake in our Day 3 recap). Coincidentally, both films feature nearly identical performances by Jack La Rue as the main thug, and both may have been based on William Faulkner’s novel, Sanctuary, although ‘No Orchids” is more of an unofficial adaptation. What really drew the crowd for this film is what a scandal the film created in the UK upon its initial release. Bruce Goldstein from New York’s Fillm Forum introduced the film and provided a laundry list of quotes from the British press of the day. Critic Dilys Powell assiged it a rating of “D for Disgusting”, while C.A. Lejune wrote that “it had all the morals of an alley cat and the fragrance of a sewer.” Both of these attacks pale in comparison though to another paper which declared the film “thoroughly un-British.”


Today the film registers as more of a curiosity than anything else. One of the earliest British attempts at Film Noir, “No Orchids” boats an almost entirely British cast for a ganster tale set in New York. Actor Tim Roth was also on hand for the screening, no stranger to the crime film genre himself. After first marvelling that he felt like he could have been cast in one of the roles, he defended the film as a love letter from the Brits to an American genre they adored. “I"m sorry we weren’t very good at Film Noir,” Roth said. ‘But we did love you!”


One of the things TCM has been pushing hard at this festival is the importance of film preservation. The midnight screening on Friday of 1963’s “The Day of the Triffids” provided a shining example of what a damaged film can look like when it’s restored to its former glory. Michael Hyatt, one the main architects of the restoration, was on hand for the screening to give the audience a glimpse into the painstaking process of bringing a film back to life. In the case of “Triffids”, the film had literally been cleaned in dirty water, resulting in countless specks of dust that grafted themselves to the film.


For those who think that everything has gone digital these days, think again. Hyatt used a modified jeweler’s scope and the sharpest needles he could find to remove every individual speck of dust from “Triffids”. At the rate he worked he was able to get through about three seconds of footage a day, and the film’s complete restoration took close to four years. A midnight screening crowd who had doubtless been watching movies all day started to get a little restless as Hyatt explained his process, but few complaints were heard after the film’s newly pristine technicolor images unspooled.


As for the film itself, it’s still a potent reminder that if you go blind from looking directly at a meteor shower, it’s really tough to avoid killer plants that are trying to eat you.


NEXT: TCM FEST DAY 3: Joan Crawford’s Home Movies, A Woman’s Face, and The Story of Temple Drake.

TCM Classic Film Festival: Day 1: NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following post originally appeared on FilmRadar.com, but the photo is original to whatmakesjeffyrun!

With TCM main host Robert Osborne down the street introducing “A Star Is Born” at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, it was up to weekend host Ben Mankiewicz to preside over a longstanding Hollywood tradition, the poolside screening. And what better film to screen by the pool than 1949’s Esther Williams vehicle “Neptune’s Daughter”? Williams made a career out of swimming in movies, and in “Neptune’s Daughter” not only does she get to perform fancy aquatic routines, she’s also a successful swimsuit designer. Turner Classic Movies is pulling out all the stops for this festival, so it’s no surprise that both Esther Williams and her co-star Betty Garrett both appeared with Mankiewicz at the screening. Although now confined to a wheelchair, Williams is as enthusiastic about swimming as ever. Initially apologizing that her voice was a little hoarse, she deferred to Garret, and mentioned that Betty could still swim. “If you can still swim,” Williams said, “it doesn’t matter how you talk. The line got a big laugh, and Williams added, “Everyone sounds better underwater.”


The brief discussion with the two stars was followed by a brief but elegant performance by Aqualillies, a local synchronized swimming troupe. It was a perfect introduction to the film, and the members of the troupe were even wearing vintage suits from the Esther Williams collection. They swam to a few carefully chosen songs, including “It’s Cold Outside”, the Oscar winning song from “Neptune’s Daughter.”


Which only leaves the film, which is an enjoyable piece of fluff. It features a young Ricardo Montalban, who plays the very improbably named Jose O’Rourke, a champion polo player from South America. Although it seems that half the film consists of people commenting on the love life of this “Romeo from the Amazon”, Betty Garrett’s character somehow manages to confuse him with Red Skelton. No matter. Add in Mel Blanc doing a modified Speedy Gonzales and some wacky polo shenanigans that arrive just in time to set up the happy ending, and voila, we’re back in the pool watching Esther Williams doing what she did best.

Record Store Day 2010: Blow by Blow

(photo taken by Jack Cozzi using the Lomo app for iphone)

2008 saw the launch of the first Record Store Day, which was designed to boost sales for independent record stores across the country. To help with this effort, a number of indie artists released limited edition singles just for the occasion. A friend and I met at Amoeba Music in Hollywood that day around the time they opened and found a very laid back scene. A few enthusiastic collectors, but nothing out of the ordinary. No longer. Record Store Day 2010 was truly an event, with Amoeba featuring an instore appearance by Slash and a performance across the street by Smashing Pumpkins. Amoeba opened at 10:30; my friends and I showed up at 10 to find there was already a line around the block to get in. Once the doors were open, a feeding frenzy ensued that was somewhere between the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange and the running of the brides at Filene's Basement.

Miraculously I managed to walk away with a couple of this year's exclusives, but we were all much happier when we escaped to smaller less crowded stores. Rockaway Records in Silver Lake proved to be filled with treasures, and Origami Vinyl in Echo Park Vacation Vinyl in Hollywood both proved well worth the trip.

Oh, and lest I forget, I won a $20 record store gift certificate on Bob Ham's excellent blog, The Voice of Energy.

Here's how it all went down...

Stores visited:

Amoeba Music (Hollywood)
Rockaway Records (Silver Lake)
Origami Vinyl (Echo Park)
Vacation Vinyl (Hollywood)
Atomic Records (Burbank)
Penny Lane Records (Pasadena)
Poobah Records (Pasadena)


Record Store Day Exclusives acquired:

Neko Case-Middle Cyclone (Clear Vinyl)
R.E.M.-Chronic Town (Reissue, Blue Vinyl)
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band-Wrecking Ball/Ghost of Tom Joad 10"
Elvis Presley-That's All Right, Mama/Blue Moon of Kentucky 7" (Reissue)
Peter Gabriel/Stephen Merritt Split 7"
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings/Budos Band Money/Day Tripper 7"
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists North Coast 7"
The Mountain Goats-Life of the World to Come DVD

Misc. New Vinyl purchased just because:

Titus Andronicus-The Monitor

Used LPS bought/deals found:

Grover Sings the Blues ($1 @ Vacation!)
Saturday Night Fever OST
The Byrds-Younger Than Yesterday
David Bowie-Christiane F OST
Elvis Presley Sings for Children & Grown-Ups Too
Supertramp-Breakfast In America
Ella Fitzgerald-Ella: songs in a mellow mood (50 cents @ Atomic!)

Used Singles:

XTC-Wake Up 10 "
Prince and the Revolution-I would Die 4 U/Another Lonely Christmas 12"
Pat Benatar-Love Is A Battlefield/Hell is For Children 7 "


Elusive Holy Grails not obtained:

Rolling Stones-Plundered My Soul 7"
Elvis Costello & The Attractions-Live from Hollywood High 7"
The Hold Steady-Heaven Is Whenever LP

Free schwag received:

"Whip It" mini movie poster
Record Store Day record bag
Origami Vinyl record bag
Noah and the Whale "Blue Skies" 7"
CD sampler featuring Jeff Bridges, Jimmy Buffett, Deep Purple among others
2 "Urban" record store day CD samplers
She and Him luggage tag
Puddle of Mudd keychain bottle opener
1 cassette sampler
3 record cleaning cloths
Stickers and postcards too numerous to mention

Fingers lost in the mob scene at Amoeba:

None, but it could have gone either way. Place was INSANE.

Award for nicest, most enthusiastic staff:

Origami Vinyl

Reason for not punching out Amoeba patron and stealing their Rolling Stones Single:

Too many witnesses.

Reason for drinking two cans of Colt 45:

It was free!

Soon to Be A Major Motion Picture: Gilligan's Island

This will be the first entry in a new series here at What Makes Jeffy Run. While it's true that Hollywood is occasionally capable of producing sophisticated artful entertainment, they're usually much more interested in cranking out schlock aimed at twelve year olds. Familiarity is the magic word here. Why spend millions producing and marketing films with original ideas that viewers will have to take a chance on, when you can just do big screen versions of old TV shows that have instant name recognition? In recent years, the field has expanded to include movies based on board games, toys and theme park rides. This series will serve as a public service to movie lovers over 12.

Enter Gilligan's Island: The Movie:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/gillgans-island-the-movie,38823/

94 year old executive producer Sherwood Schwartz hopes to convince Michael Cera to commit career suicide by playing Gilligan. Hilarious screenplay to be provided by the writer of Wild Hogs. Consider yourself warned.

WFMU Marathon Is On

Over the summer I became addicted to The Best Show On WFMU with Tom Scharpling. If you've never listened to this show (and many of you probably haven't, as it's broadcast out of New Jersey), do yourself a favor and go to www.friendoftom.com and check out the Best Show archives.

If music, mirth and mayhem aren't your style, WFMU offers a ton of eclectic free-form programming, all of it completely listener supported and commercial free.

www.wfmu.org






Tbe WFMU fundraising marathon continues through March 14th.

In Praise of the New Beverly Cinema

Quentin Tarantino has been in the news a lot recently, as he and Harvey Weinstein try to steer Inglorious Basterds toward Oscar gold. Christoph Waltz seems a lock for best supporting actor, and QT may very well win his second for original screenplay (the first was for Pulp Fiction.) But none of this means as much as the news last week that Quentin Tarantino is now the landlord of the New Beverly Cinema.

Located near the intersection of Beverly Blvd and La Brea Ave in Los Angeles, the New Beverly is one of the last of a dying breed: the revival theatre. Since 1978, the theatre has been showing double features of cult and classic films. They change their programming 2 to 3 times a week, and over the years have expanded their repetoire to include second run, independent and midnight shows. It's not the most luxurious moviegoing experience you can have-the theater is old and could use some cosmetic enhancements-but it's a true gift for movie lovers. It's also a really cheap date. Even now, in 2010, double feature admission plus popcorn and soda for two will run you around $20.

Tarantino has vowed to mostly let the New Beverly stay the same. He plans to upgrade some light fixtures and equip the booth for digital projection. But he also wants the Beverly to keep showing 35 mm prints. "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be showing double features in 35mm," Tarantino delcared.

Like Tarantino, I've had a long love affair with the New Beverly, dating back to the early 90's, which was my first time around in LA. I remember going there one night to see Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" and seeing Wayne Knight from Seinfeld and Bobcat Goldthwait a couple rows ahead of me. I had a friend who was a big Bobcat fan, so I got him to autograph a New Beverly calendar for me.

I dragged my visiting younger brother to the New Bev for a working class British Double bill in 1994. He remembers it as a Mike Leigh double bill, but I'm pretty sure it was Leigh's "Naked" following "Riff Raff" by Ken Loach.

Fast forward to late 2006, where I took in a screening of the original "Black Christmas", introduced by the director, Bob Clark. Clark died in a car crash a few months later.

I took my future wife there for a Billy Wilder double bill of "Ace in the Hole" and "Sunset Blvd". She didn't know that this invitation probably amounted to some sort of a test, but she accepted, and so she passed. I let it slide when she fell asleep during "Ninotchka" during another Wilder double bill I dragged her to a few months later.

But my favorite New Beverly story happened the night that Sherman Torgan gave me a ride home. Sherman started the whole operation in 1978, and ran it faithfully until his unexpected death in 2007. His son Michael then took over, and continues to run the theatre to this day. Back in those days(circa 1994), I went to the New Bev A LOT, and for at least a portion of this period, I didn't have a car. So one night I was standing outside on Beverly after a double bill, aimlessly waiting for a bus that was probably never going to show up, when Sherman pulled up in his brown BMW and asked me if I needed a lift. We didn't know each other by name, but I'm sure he recognized my face as a regular New Bev patron. I told him where I was going, and he told me to hop in and delivered me to my front door. I was already well sold on the New Beverly Experience by this time, but after that, they had a customer for life. So thanks to Quentin for keeping a great LA institution alive. See you at the movies...

Partial list of films I've seen at the New Beverly Cinema:

Reservoir Dogs (it played midnight Saturdays for years)
True Romance
Badlands
The Bad and the Beautiful
Touch of Evil
Naked
Riff Raff
Three Colors: Red
Three Colors: Blue
The Double Life or Veronique
Andrei Rubelev
Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Black Christmas
Ace in the Hole
Sunset Blvd
Ball of Fire
Ninotchka
Manhattan
Annie Hall

www.newbevcinema.com

Seven Years to Glory

I'm a little late to this party, as this video was apparently resurrected in honor o the Portland Trail Blazers' 40th anniversary in 2009, but better late than never. Why am I posting an ancient NBA video during Super Bowl Week? Call it counterprogramming, if you will. But just to show that we're paying attention, here's an awesome video that will show which team this blog's supporting in the big game on Sunday:



And seriously, if any readers out there know how to get a hold of an audio recording of "Seven Years to Glory", please post a link below!

Farewell J.D. Salinger

The author J.D. Salinger died yesterday at the ripe old age of 91. In addition to being one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century, he was also one of the top five recluses of all time. In fact, he may be number one. Who's ever been more reclusive than J.D. Salinger? He was such a legendary hermit that he was once used as a plot device on a very mediocre NBC sitcom. On an episode of "The Single Guy", Ernest Borgnine's lovable bellhop was roped into pretending to be J.D. Salinger to impress one of Jonathan Silverman's dates. Nobody's seen this guy in 50 years, how can they prove it's not him? Get it?

I'm hoping that in all of the soon to be published Salinger tributes that I'll be the only one to mention this pop culture gem. But in all seriousness, Salinger's desire to be out of the public eye has generated almost as much discussion as his small body of published work. A fascinating example of this came when British author Ian Hamilton attempted to write and publish a serious biography of Salinger. The book begins with Hamilton's repeated attempts to contact the man which resulted in him...receiving an ACTUAL LETTER from Salinger himself! The letter essentially said that he supposed he couldn't stop Hamilton from writing a book about him, but that he wished he wouldn't. Taking this to mean that he wouldn't be sued, Hamilton moved forward, only to have Salinger emerge from seclusion to...that's right, sue to stop publication. The book ended up being published in a different form, and Hamilton's account of the lawsuit really ends up being the highlight. You can find it on Amazon, and I would say it's required reading for any true Salinger fan.

All of that aside, I have been and continue to be a real lover of Salinger's work, and if any posthumous works emerge, you can bet I'll be first in line to buy them. In the meantime, all of Salinger's New Yorker short stories can be accessed (for a fee) at

www.newyorker.com

This includes "Hapworth 16, 1924", from 1965. This was Salinger's last published story and was also the one that the writer very nearly published in book form several years ago, only to pull the plug at the last minute.

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

Amazingly, the new Insane Clown Posse western is still seeking a distributor.

Bold and Fresh Spin

Considering that Bill O'Reilly is the self-proclaimed godfather of "no spin", I'd have to say that this press release lays it on pretty thick. We generally steer clear of politics here at What Makes Jeffy Run, but I happened to stumble across this today and am both fascinated and confused by it. My most pressing questions at the end of this post.



Bold & Fresh Tour 2010

There's no shortage of people talking about what's going on in the world today, but there are far too few who are actually saying anything of substance. Faceless pundits talk around the issues, not about them... celebrity gossip passes as breaking news... and the liberal bias spewed by the mainstream media makes them less like a public service and more like an extension of the White House Press Office. Enough is enough—it's time for the truth from somebody who'll give it to you straight, whether you like it or not. Actually, make that... somebodys—Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck. This January, they're coming out from behind their desks and going on tour. Your town may never be the same...

Bill O'Reilly is the godfather of "no spin" and in-your-face television. For years he's been the centerpiece of the Fox News lineup with his unmistakable style and unflinching commitment to truth as he sees it. In Bill's world, brutal honesty beats hypocrisy every time. And you know how they say that some men's "bark" is worse than their "bite?" With Bill... yeah, not so much. As Bill puts it, "My teeth are in good shape."

Glenn Beck is the new kid on the block, the fastest rising star in cable news. Through humor, raw emotion and the tenacity of a pit bull, Glenn has become the new voice of conservative America. Steeped in the teaching of our forefathers, Glenn wears his heart on his sleeve, and no matter what he says—whether it's about politics or pop culture—you can bet he's got the facts to back it up. He's less a TV host and more like, say... a force of nature. "There is really no better way to start the new year than by joining Bill on stage for the first time ever," says Glenn. "Wait...should I be worried?"

Don't miss out on the rare opportunity to see these two men live on stage. It's an event that makes professional wrestling seem like a night at the opera. You'll hear from Bill, you'll hear from Glenn, and then... they'll take the stage together. What happens then? Heaven only knows, but one thing is for sure—you'll want to see it with your very own eyes.


???????

Let's agree that the Bold and Freah Tour will "give me the truth whether I like it or not." If I don't like, it, why would I be paying over $100 to hear it?

"My Town May Never Be the Same" Are Glenn and Bill going to set fire to downtown Pasadena?

"Steeped in the teachings of our forefathers?" Is this a reference to teabagging?

"You can bet he's got the facts to back it up." Are there bookies laying odds on this? If so, I'll take a piece of that action.

"It's an event that makes professional wrestling look like a night at the opera."

Does this mean it's not over til the fat pundit sings? They do know that pro wrestling is fake, right?

Finally, aren't these two guys on the same network? Why is this being promoted like it's some sort of conservative celebrity death match?

Truly, "Heaven Only Knows" what the outcome of each TWO HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTE performance will be.

Hope For Haiti

This blog has about 6 readers. I'm guessing most of you have already made some sort of donation to help ease the suffering in Haiti. But if you haven't, here's your chance:



If you'd prefer to make your donation sparkle by giving via celebrity phone operator, George Clooney has organized tonight's Hope For Haiti telethon, which will feature everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Jack Nicholson to the Jonas Brothers working the phones. If you turn on your teevee tonight at 8, you'll see it's on every channel. Here's the link for the Hope For Haiti site:

www.hopeforhaitinow.org


Everyone's trying to do their part, and if celebrities want to make up for their usual boorish behavior by making extravagant donations to Haitian relief, I say let them. Finally, because everyone needs to let off a little steam in the midst of all this tragedy, here's a treasury of all-star charity videos for your enjoyment. Please give what you can.