Netflix Streaming Theatre: End O’ The Year Edition

Which means nothing more than it’s been awhile and I’ve been gorging on Netflix Instant Watch lately as they’re finally upping the ante on desirable films with better prints, some even in HD. With Netflix being added to home systems, I expect more title variety and better streaming in the future. So without ado, here’s twelve for the year’s finale.

SWEET CHARITY (1968) – One of the cinematic nails in the coffin to the bloated Road Show musical genre, along with the year’s other critical and commercial multi-million dollar disappointments like STAR! and PAINT YOUR WAGON, this is probably the best of the lot, at least in terms of style and panache. Bob Fosse helmed his first motion picture after years of Broadway success, bringing his pop eye to create a dazzling visual tapestry starring Shirley Maclaine. The simple story by Neil Simon of a woman who keeps ending up with the wrong men (including Ricardo Montalban), the excess weight on light stories doomed the over-priced musicals of the period and is in full bloom here, though sometimes to stunning effect, such as Sammy Davis Jr’s show-stopper, “Rhythm Of Life.” Watching Sammy tear up the screen as the psychedelic sham shaman makes me bemoan how underused he was in film. And in HD, the colors are eye-popping and apropos for this 60′s show-tune behemoth that stands as another relic for a dying studio era.

TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE (2005) – Haskell Wexler is my favorite cinematographer, not just for his ability to capture the poetry of the mundane or highlight the metaphor, but because of his dedicated political activism. He wrote and directed IMHO the greatest American film of the 1960′s, MEDIUM COOL, a brilliant treatsie on the nature of media in the age of pop and war that still holds revelations. Despite his Hollywood pedigree, he’s spent years on the sidelines for lesser known projects, and this documentary by his son, Mark Wexler, is a fascinating account of the divide between the private and public. Not surprisingly, Wexler’s son is rather conservative, and has little interest in his father’s progressive politics, which leads to a few of their debates. But Haskell Wexler doesn’t want the documentary to be about his work in Hollywood, but about him or them. So while we don’t get the inside skinny on working with Mike Nichols, etc., there are insights from his best friend Conrad Hall and even Jane Fonda. Milos Foreman does go into detail about how Wexler was fired from ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST after a week or so of filming, tho Wexler blames it on politics and Foreman blames it on Wexler. The documentary has a sad, touching finale with the father and son visiting their Alzheimer’s ridden mother, and this says more about their relationship than any words.

MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982) - I watched this every time it was on HBO back in the cable day, and it was fun to revisit this charming nostalgic look back at the chaotic days of live TV starring Peter O’Toole as Alan Swan, an Errol Flynnesque drunken, swashbuckling star. Directed by one of my favorite actors, Richard Benjamin, the film takes place at 30 Rock in the studio womb of a “Your Show Of Shows” style comedy revue as Swan must navigate sobriety and a doe-eyed writer (Mark Linn Baker) charged to take care of him. O’Toole received a deserved Academy Award nomination and he’s the major reason to see the film, although the supporting cast have their own moments, especially Joe Bologna as the Sid Ceaser-like TV star, and Lanie Kazan as the archetypal Brooklyn Jewish mother. Good to see Cameron Mitchell too in one of his few non-exploitation titles of the decade. It’s mawkish and rose-colored, but that’s what the past is about. Benjamin has a kind spirit as does the film. There’s also a terrific musical theme that would have worked in any action movie of the day.

GRAND PRIX (1966) – I would love to have seen this MGM John Frankenheimer Super Panavision 70 mm Cinerama Road Show epic of Formula 1 and formula drama in a theater upon release. A technical virtuouso, Frankenheimer insisted on no process shots and keeping the 70 mm camera on actual speeding cars, including the one helmed by James Garner, who did most of his driving. GRAND PRIX was a big hit but panned for the rote theatrics between the still spectacular racing scenes. The three hour film is ponderous in that 60′s Road Show manner, but I always loved the intimate spectacle of these superproductions. The big problem is the laying of a heavy existential template over a speed sport, however deadly, doesn’t necessarily equal substantive answers or metaphors. Though I like Garner’s tortured driver and Jessica Walter’s opportunistic wife. Also good to see Toshiro Mifune though his voice was shamefully dubbed by Paul Frees. Worth watching for the Cinerama effort along with Saul Bass titles and Frankenheimer’s excellent kinetic compositions. The print here looks great.

USED CARS (1980) – Roger Zemeckis’s second feature after the wonderful I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND (1978) was also produced by mentor Steven Spielberg, an unusual black comedy about competing  brothers (both ably played by Jack Warden) and crooked salesman Kurt Russell’s attempt to make a political name for himself. Breaking into the Super Bowl’s television signal, Russell launches a raunchy guerilla ad campaign for his lot. When one of the brothers dies, vehicular hijinx ensue. Although this may seem far removed from Zemeckis later effects-heavy output, the seeds of his hi-tech future are here (and in I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND) as video editing is used to trick the television audience. There’s a fun cast of familiar faces (a few who would next turn up in 1941), such as Gerritt Graham as another superstitious salesman, and even Al Lewis as a hangin’ judge. Between this and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981), Kurt Russell found his leading man metier, showing his broad range. Although USED CARS wasn’t a hit, Pauline Kael particularly loved it and while I don’t find it as fulsome as others, it’s open acceptance of avarice was a prophecy of the 1980′s.

SNL: BEST OF WILL FARRELL – I find Farrell funny in small doses and this is just the right amount. I’m including this here for his brilliant Robert Goulet music ad, “The Coconut Banger’s Ball: It’s A Rap.” Goulet crooning rap. One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, God knows why. Goulet!

SOLARIS (1972) – I, uh, have a confession to make. I’ve never seen…a Tarkovsky film. Before you toss me out of the cinephillic’s lounge, let me tell you why I’ve never seen a Tarkovsky film: they’re too long and too Russian. Joking. I’ve been meaning to watch this science fiction classic ever since the Criterion Collection release, and happily, Netflix has added quite a few Criterion selections over the past months, including this one. Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem about a space station orbiting a liquid planet called Solaris, the crew have been driven mad with personal hallucinations that may or may not be manifested in reality. A psychologist sent to probe the mystery finds himself trapped within the memories of his deceased wife as she lives once again. I recall reading about SOLARIS in the early 70′s when it was confusingly screened at the 1972 Los Angeles Filmex festival (DVD Savant’s Glenn Erickson was there), and it seemed to match what I later learned about Andrei Tarkovsky and his arctic-paced meditations. In other words, Tarkovsky makes Ozu look like Robert Rodriguez. And yes, I’ve seen Soderbergh’s honorable version of SOLARIS, so I was prepared for the story, if not the lassitude. Watched in the right frame of mind and on the right day (in my case a perfect drizzly afternoon), SOLARIS is magnificent, its unbroken framing creating a hypnotic rhythm which carries you into the character’s subconscious and oceanic world beyond. The effects are more minimal and less impressive than DARK STAR, but their lo-fi nature adds to the stark sci-fi Russian ambiance. I am particularly taken with a controversial scene that tests or rewards the viewer, an extended journey by car through the neon freeways of Tokyo that either represents a memory trip to Solaris or a meditative travelogue. The nice thing about Russian science fiction is that there is no definitive answer.

ISHTAR (1987) – What was once hilariously synonomous with excess Hollywood budgets (30 million dollars) for a Hope/Crosby style road comedy is now a sub-cult favorite of the unaware and the hipster. Written and directed by legendary satirist Elaine May, the film’s delays and reshoots were reported with TITANIC-like disdain. I think the film is pretty funny, and I love the opening scenes with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty as the Ed Woods of New York lounge music (with music by Paul Williams). They play opposite types, and their dimwit status is solidified by Hoffman’s totally 80′s headbands. May’s gift is in loose conversational skits and ISHTAR has plenty, even more when Charles Grodin shows up with his sorely missed dry humor. The problem is that the desert adventure grafted onto the team’s mishaps aren’t as interesting as their New York stories, though I like the jab at CIA-intervention policies. Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography might be too lush, but it looks good in anamorphic wide-screen on Netflix.  In the end, there’s nothing wrong with this misunderstood 80′s comedy. As Beatty tells Hoffman, “It takes a lotta nerve for a guy at your age to have nothing.”

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD (2008) – Presented in glorious, eye-fucking High Definition, this detailed, fascinating look by Mark Hartley at the rise of the Australian exploitation film industry is my pick for best documentary of last year. I was unaware of the existence of a few of these films, especially popular sex comedies such as STORK featuring Bruce Spence, but it was good to learn the backstory of such drive-in treats like MAD MAX, STONE; ROAD GAMES; THE MAN FROM HONG KONG; PATRICK; RAZORBACK and of course, the notorious STUNT ROCK. This is a fast-paced, well-edited documentary with a bevy of great talking heads such as Quentin Tarantino, Richard Franklin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Stacey Keach, Russell Mulcahy, Dennis Hopper and even George Lazenby. Now I’m dying to check out these Ozploitation movies.

MY NAME IS NOBODY (1974) – This international hit produced — and clearly co-directed — by Sergio Leone made a brief star of smilin’ Terence Hill as the titular character. Henry Fonda returned to the Leone stable as an aging gunfighter coaxed into final glory by the lightning fast but peaceful warrior “Nobody.” A comedic variation of themes from his other mythic westerns, the film also carries a jovial Ennio Morricone score that sometimes riffs on his past work. While Leone didn’t want to entirely hand off the directorial reins, his visual stamp is felt in many scenes, particularly the awesome wide shot of the camera rising over Fonda as he waits for a phalanx of galloping bad guys on horses. I was always lukewarm to Terence Hill, whose antics were a pasta dish short of Franco and Ciccio — although I admit to a strangelove for his kiddie film SUPERFUZZ (1982). Yet Hill kinda grows on you here since he comes across as a kinder, gentler Man With No Name crossed with Jackie Chan. The movie’s sped-up slapstick is what will most test your patience, but since this is ostensibly a comedy, it’s acceptable. The somewhat faded print here is in widescreen anamorphic, but the German DVD release is the one to view for sharpest color and clarity.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW (2004) – I missed this in the theater (as did a few of you) but I was always intrigued by the loving 1940′s pulp sci-fi magazine design of writer/director Kerry Conran. I love the story of how he turned an obssessive visual effects demo into a multi-million dollar film starring Jude Law, Gwenyth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. So why doesn’t it totally work? I think it does as a dead-on recreation of the Buck Rogers World War II era, but the script and characters don’t fully engage us the way STAR WARS or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK did with similiar tropes. Still, the film is retro-eye candy of the highest order, and I love the look of this world inhabited by molls, scientists, pilots, reporters, zeppelins and giant robots. I find Law and Paltrow engaging and even Sir Laurence Oliver shows up in a clever moment. In the end, some of the spfx have been surpassed by cut-scenes in video games, but I still tip my cap to Conran for his dedicated vision. The film is presented in HD and as such looks fantastic.

RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN (1980) – John Sayles is my favorite living screenwriter. He first came to my young attention with his smart scripts for THE HOWLING; PIRANHA; THE LADY IN RED; BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS; and ALLIGATOR. The secret to Sayles’ exploitation success comes from the fact he never talked down to the genres, but created a reality base so the mundane would seem more fantastic. Politics also inform all his work, the subversive medicine within the sugary exploitation. He took his Roger Corman cash and used it to finance his first feature for 60 grand about a reunion of college friends and activists using one house and local theater actors. The result was a surprising box-office hit that changed the face of post-70′s American cinema by launching the first wave of genuine independent films. What’s also interesting is that for a story steeped in the protest politics of the 60′s, the film is almost an elegy due to the ascenscion of Ronald Reagan and the coming legacy of 1980′s greed and consumption.

Though THE BIG CHILL (1983) was later accused of thieving Sayle’s premise, the films are quite different in theme and execution: Lawrence Kasdan’s confused yuppie characters are trying to find their better selves from days gone; John Sayle’s earnest group are trying to transition into adulthood while keeping their ideals alive. Although raggedly shot and acted, I’ll take the Secaucus Seven over the Big Chill anyday. I like these characters, especially Gordon Clapp as a naive Democratic speechwriter and Mark Arnott, the stand out actor of the group and the most interesting (he even explicates prog-rock — or “heavy metal goes to college” — in an amusing bar scene). David Strathairn makes his debut here as a goofy local who doesn’t have much in common with the Seven anymore. Sayles is a generous screenwriter, giving everybody an insight or moment to flesh out the roles, and he has an absolute knack for witty, naturalistic dialogue. The politics are subsumed and my favorite moment is when the group is wrongly arrested and you find out exactly what happened in their past protest life. Even better, there are no life or death revelations, and the twining friendships will probably last forever, as will their political dedication. IFC has added 56 titles to the Netflix Streaming, including all of John Sayles’ early titles, so this is a nice way to close the curtains on this streaming movie year.

Green Revolution

Meanwhile, in Iran:

The revived student protests, begun on 7 December, gained broader footing with the death of the noted reformer, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. The regime’s decision to turn loose Basiji militia on mourners, many of whom were not protesters, at memorial ceremonies in mosques in Qom and Isfahan appears to have shocked and alienated erstwhile supporters.

The unexplained killing on Sunday of Ali Mousavi, nephew of the reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, has created a new totem and a new series of flashpoint ceremonies, following today’s funeral, that will mark, as is customary, the third, seventh, and 40th day of his death. Also in prospect are 15 more national religious holidays following Ashura and a number of political anniversaries – all possible focal points for anti-government protests.

As the Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst Meir Javedanfar has pointed out, more killings of demonstrators will entail more funerals and yet more protests – a tested cycle of dissension that preceded the Shah’s downfall. “The protests now seem to carry the potential to turn into a full-scale civil disobedience campaign, not unlike the first intifada the Palestinians initiated against Israel in 1987.”

Friday Song: Stereolab

Stereolab takes me back to Long Beach bike rides and Berkeley college life rooms. I adore the twining of hard 70′s Euro-synth and airy 60′s Pan-Am lounge, especially their 1994 disc, “Mars Audiac Quintent.” I think it’s superior even more than the more critically praised “Emperor Tomato Ketchup.” It was a tragedy when singer Mary Hansen was killed in an accident, but the band continued on until “Chemical Chords” in 2008 (for the 4AD label naturally). Here’s the second video from that release, a lovely Stereolab ditty called “Neon Beanbag.”

Merry John Waters Christmas

From a man who understands the true meaning of the season:

UPDATE: Apparently John Waters is on the ball and this you should go buy a copy of FEMALE TROUBLE immediately.

Forgotten Films: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

To my heirs:

In my lifetime, I have recorded some sixty cases demonstrating the singular gift of my friend Sherlock Holmes — dealing with everything from The Hound of the Baskervilles to his mysterious brother Mycroft and the devilish Professor Moriarty. But there were other adventures which, for reasons of discretion, I have decided to withhold from the public until this much later date. They involve matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature, as will shortly become apparent.

Since Arthur Conan Doyle’s perennial deductive literary creation is making a big-screen comeback, I thought it high time to dip into the dusty tincture of other celluloid Holmes and examine an artifact from another era. Of course, I speak of Billy Wilder’s THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, his truncated 1970 Road Show glimpse into the man, the myth and the pipe. Wilder and favored screenwriter I.A.L Diamond envisioned the film as a three hour epic, with four separate episodes connected by a larger story. Peter O’Toole and Peter Sellers were set to star but the whims of fate led Wilder to settling for little-known actors Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely, who he thought would be more vulnerable than well-known stars.

This brave but suicidal box-office decision led to the film receiving far less attention than it should have, and the real death-blow came with United Artist’s decision to reduce the three-hour Road Show with intermission down to two-hours, mucking up the intricate screenplay and Wilder’s intent to create a “symphony in four movements.” Originally, there were to be four stories showing Holmes and Watson in various deductive modes, from comedy to melancholy, but the original prologue and two of the tales were trimmed — and sadly lost — forever. We can still read the complete screenplay to see how it would have played, and one is unsure whether the addition of “The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners” or “The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room” would have given the film more depth, but it likely would have given the characters resonance and completed the symphony.

Although I’ve yet to read any of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed series, I’ve always liked the Holmes mythology for its British eccentricities, such as his devotion to a seven-percent solution of cocaine. This is the first time the movies would deal with his addiction, and does so in a low-key humorous manner. Wilder and Diamond play with sub-textual aspects of his life and adventures, specifically why he mistrusts women so (we find out in one of the excised flashbacks to his college days) and the exact nature of his relationship with Watson. This leads to film’s most risque, amusing segment, wherein the deductive duo attend a Russian ballet and to get out of fathering a Countess’s child, Holmes admits that Watson is more than just his partner in crime. Especially funny is Watson dancing with a chorus of beautiful ballerinas only to be replaced one by one with painted male dancers. To Wilder and Diamond’s credit, the gay humor here is subtle and witty, and there’s no attempt to demean the characters with this “false” revelation. In fact, the episode ends on an amazing hint that Holmes might in fact not be what he seems.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is also Billy Wilder’s most expensive (10 million dollars) and opulent film, with exquisite widescreen photography by Christopher Challis and a beautiful Miklos Roza score. Though there are few “stars” on display, Christopher Lee is a delight as Mycroft, Holmes’ smarter brother, and Lee counts this as a turning point in his genre-straddled career. There’s even an appearance by the Loch Ness Monster. Robert Stephens is a wonderful actor, though due to personal stress and strain, he was unwell during filming and sometimes it shows in his pale countenance and shaky hands. Colin Blakely is a lively Watson, yet he often seems like a stand-in for Jack Lemmon. They all know how to deliver the screenplay’s urbane dialogue, which is one of the real joys of the film. If you read the screenplay, you’ll see that it’s all there on the page, and Diamond was unwavering in the idea that no word could be changed or improvised during filming. If the actors veered from the script, he was actually allowed to say, “Cut.” Writers.

Though it was seen as old-fashioned upon release (not hardly except in directorial style and presentation), THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES reputation has grown over time, and remains one of my favorite Billy Wilder films and likely the definitive cinematic version of the Holmes mythos. It’s elegiac, melancholy, and as Kevin Jack Hagopian from the Media Studies at Penn State accurately stated, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is “…a valentine with a syringe in its hand.” Anything but elementary.

“I’m too much.”

My favorite moment from the Rankin-Bass Christmas special catalog:

Favorite Xmas Scene Theatre: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

It wouldn’t be Christmas without bringing up my favorite James Bond film. As THE FUTURIST! reminds us, December 18 marked the 40th anniversary of the release of ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, everybody’s beloved oddjob-man out of the series, featuring the sole appearance of George Lazenby as 007. I’ve gone on record here before about this singular entry in the Bond series, coming at the tail end of the 1960′s, reflecting that year’s darker tinge to the fading psychedelic glow from the Summer Of Love. From my previous OHMSS post:

Major kudos must go to Peter Hunt for sticking close to the novel, yet giving the film all the exotic glamour the series was known for. His handling of the obligatory “M” and Moneypenny scenes is terrific, with Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell getting a chance to flesh out their usual stock parts. I also love the introductory conversation between Bond and the gangster Draco (straight from the book and well-played by Gabrielle Ferzetti), with even Lazenby pulling his weight. Richard Maibum’s script is smart and solid, sticking close to Fleming’s narrative. I also dig the most risque line of the series up to that point: “Just a slight stiffness coming on.” OHMSS is also the most seasonal Bond outing, with a palatable Christmas ambiance that gives the movie a wintery texture missing from the others. Aptly, this is the last time that the films would have that defining 1960’s Panavision style courtesy of cinematographer Michael Reed.

Next to Peter Hunt’s audacious direction, the most original of the series, the key ingredient to OHMSS is John Barry. Unarguably his finest Bond score, Barry outdoes even himself with an epic soundtrack filled with lyrical melodies and rousing action cues, utilizing disparate sonics from Louis Armstrong to Moog synthesizers (even the opening gunbarrel theme is performed on a synth). There’s even a wonderfully cheesy children’s song, “Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Born?” that’s a yuletide favorite of mine and Craig Kennedy…And for the first time, Maurice Binder’s famous main titles would play without a pop vocal as the producers wisely let Barry come up with a magnificent instrumental theme driven by fuzz guitars and brassy horns. Preceded by George Lazenby’s great ice-breaking line, “This never happened to the other fella,” the credit sequence is a perfect example of the brave experimentation that characterized the film. The theme is also perfectly used in the “Escape From Piz Gloria” ski chase that IMHO is still the greatest shot and edited action sequence in the series.

And I stand by that claim. Even Pauline Kael was bowled over by this kinetic ski chase that stands as the action peak of OHMSS, especially since the film keeps Bond trapped and disguised in Piz Gloria for a long section. So the escape acts as a cathartic release for 007 and the audience. Despite some obvious process shots, it’s a thrilling sequence with audacious ski stunts and of course, John Barry’s best James Bond soundtrack.

Arnold Stang RIP

One of the most unique voices of yesteryear has passed on. Arnold Stang, whose nerd countenance graced such films as THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM; IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD; HERCULES IN NEW YORK (co-starring in Arnold Schwarzenneger’s first film); and a little thing called SKIDOO, had a distinct high-pitched whine, which served him well as the cartoon character TOP CAT, and to modern audiences as the Buzz Bee for Honey Nut Cheerios. He had a long career in radio, television and film. And did I mention he was in SKIDOO? “Tony, I think it’s one of them hippies!”

Experience The Magic

Birthday Goat Boy

The late great Bill Hicks was born on December 16, 1961, so he gets his usual reserved post to celebrate America’s last great comedian. He would have had a field day with the past decade. Here he was in 1992:

“So scary, watching the news. How they built it all out of proportion. Like Iraq was ever, or could ever, under any stretch of the imagination, be any threat to us whatsoever. But, watching the news, you never would have got that idea. Remember how it started? They kept talking about ‘the élite Republican Guard’ in these hushed tones, like these guys were the bogeyman or something. ‘Yeah, we’re doing well now, but we have yet to face . . . the élite Republican Guard.’ Like these guys were twelve-feet-tall desert warriors—’Never lost a battle. We shit bullets.’ Well, after two months of continuous carpet bombing and not one reaction at all from them, they became simply ‘the Republican Guard’—not nearly as élite as we may have led you to believe. And after another month of bombing they went from ‘the élite Republican Guard’ to ‘the Republican Guard’ to ‘the Republicans made this shit up about there being guards out there.’”

RIP Brittany Murphy

Very sad. She’ll always be forever in my heart as Luanne:

Avatar

It’s some kind of evolutionary leap in filmmaking, if not storytelling, and clearly, the years James Cameron has spent on his underwater explorations gave him a more holistic, immersive vision. The first shot of the movie gave me a jolt of cognitive dissonance, as I tried to fathom the depth and scope of the breathtaking 3-D images. This world doesn’t look green-screened in around actors, as Cameron knows how to give weight to the integration of WETA’s astounding CG with Stan Winston’s crack design team. The scale is apropos epic and mythic and I accept AVATAR as pure techno-eco-fable, a distillation of every science fiction/fantasy book cover of the past 80 years.

I Can’t Forget

My favorite Leonard Cohen song. I think of an endless night in Berkeley way back when…

RIP Dan O’ Bannon

This saddens me. Legendary screenwriter Dan O’Bannon, who gave birth to ALIEN among other genre classics (DARK STAR; HEAVY METAL; BLUE THUNDER; RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD; TOTAL RECALL), has passed onto the cosmic realm (or possibly even the Phoenix Asteroids…). I’ll have more to say about O’Bannon later, but this upstart storyteller and raconteur was a possible genius and true visionary. We are in his gratitude.

Here’s his finest moment in John Carpenter’s 1974 debut, DARK STAR, a genuine sci-fi satire with a clever script, unique effects, a beach ball alien and O’ Bannon stealing the movie as Pinback:

Friday Song: Sinatra

To celebrate The Chairman’s birthday week, here’s one of his classics from his excellent 1965 TV special, “A Man And His Music.” And away we gooooo….