"It's not a cradle-to-the-grave traditional portrait of the consecutive events in a man's life," Shulman said. "Instead it's more of a collage and, in many ways, it will feel like an album itself. It's a collection of various moments and impressions in his life and together we hope they'll tell the full story and present full themes."
Wonder who he'll cast as Ava?
Big and Little Nancy? Dean? Sammy? He needs to talk to Tura Satana! I hope she gets her book out soon, because she has some great Frank dish ... but I won't spill the beans.
Lumet is relentless, both in his career and his direction. This is two hours of, "Why did I do this?!?!? Not the characters, ME." There's poetry buried deep in the dialogue by first timer Kelly Masterson. That guy who cheated on Uma does a great job, and looks like a first class hapless dope through most of the film. Philip Seymour (did-you-know-I'm-in-every-movie?)Hoffman's pink carcass in the beginning acts as an allegory for his overall persona - florid and heaving, not sanguine, yet remaining in the act, yet remaining as relentlessly as Lumet;'s presence until the end..
I can't do obituaries, but he had a great voice. Whenever I think of the words 'make' and 'love' (together and in that order), I'll always be reminded of Isaac Hayes.
They may not be Moon Dolls or come from the Valley or Beyond, but these super violent Dolls know how to assault the senses (and anyone who stands in their way), and look good doing it. You even get a few glimpses of Donna's pal.
PS from DL: DREAMS DO COME TRUE! It's playing here next week!
This is one of Mark and my favorite movies. Actually, I think Mavis and I first saw it at the Film Forum years ago! How on earth can I describe it? Otto Preminger made a film about LSD that stars Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon, Groucho Marx (as crime kingpin "God,"), Mickey Rooney; several of the Batman villians - of which Preminger was one: Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, and Cesar Romero; Arnold Stang (!), Michael Constantine as Gleason's cellmate who proudly declares, "I'm a rapist!" ... Carol Channing doing a striptease on Frankie Avalon's swinger bed while hubby Gleason trips on acid for for the first time, demanding, "Give me a flower!" Watching it demands a group experience: you can't help but blurt out "Norton!" after almost every one of Gleason's lines, such as his grilling of daughter's boyfriend John Philip Law: "What is he, a faggot?" Not only that, Slim Pickens and Harry Nilsson (who sings the film's credits!) are the prison guards. Imagine Slim Pickens on acid.
Here's Nilsson on "Playboy After Dark" promoting the film. Otto Preminger is already there on Hef's couch:
The great thing is that TCM is now showing it, so I don't have to resort to my badly bootlegged copy to show people this unbelievable film.
We watched this the other nite and I can't get this woman out of my head! She's fascinating ... I wish there was another documentary just about her friends. There's even a woman named "Francine" in it. Rent it now if you haven't seen it:
