Heads of studios

Thinking of Bob Evans, who would be the famous heads of studios that Hollywood have had over the years? The ones people remember?

Disney - Walt Disney (30s-67), Eisner (80s-90s)
MGM - Thalberg (20s-36), Mayer (20s-51), Schary (48-56), James Aubrey (69-73)
Paramount - Walter Wanger (20s-31), Bob Evans (60s-70s), Barry Diller and his gang (70s-80s), Sherry Lansing (90s - noughties)
Columbia - Harry Cohn (20s-50s), David Begelman (70s), David Puttnam (late 80s)
United Artists - Krim and Benjamin (50s-70s), David Picker (60s), Mike Medavoy (70s)
RKO - Howard Hughes (50s)
Fox - Zanuck Snr (35-56), Zanuck Jnr (63-71), Murdoch (80s -)
Warners - Zanuck (20s-30s), Hal Wallis (30s-40s), I guess Semel-Daly (70s-80s)
Universal - Carl Laemle Jnr (30s), Wasserman (50s-80s)
AIP - Arkoff (50s-70s)

The last period when there were a bunch of real legends was around Evans time, when Zanuck, Evans, Wasserman and Aubrey were running loose.

Glenn Ford

Glenn Ford is dead, which may surprise many to hear he was still alive. Ford was a capable actor for his career, who bizzarely was number one box office star in 1958. He was at his peak in the 50s, when he was under contract to MGM and his kindly yet conservative persona fitted the Eisenhower era. A typical Ford character would be a war veteran who is a married man living in the suburbs who comes under some sort of turmoil - like he did in The Big Heat. One would think Ford would have been a nice modest star but during his hey day he could be as big headed as they come, insisting on his make up man and arriving on sets late - I read reports as such during the making of Fate is the Hunter in 1964. He also refused to shake the hand of Doug McLelland at the 1973 Logies (where Ford was guest presented) - because McLelland supported an Australian film industry.

Stars

On the NY Times again a recent article discusses stars - they're overpaid. Gee, you think so? This sort of argument is cyclical in Hollywood, comes up every now and then during the slump. Stars are one of the reasons why Hollywood became Hollywood - they are vital. But most of them are overpaid. Right star in a right role is gold.

My definition of a star is someone with a particular persona strong enough to create a vehicle: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Tom Cruise a few years ago. Matthew McHoganey in a girly chick flick in a star; anything else he isn't. Tom Cruise playing s yuppie who gets redemption is a dar; anything else he's just another actor.

The kicker is with all these semi names charging over a million bucks - Matt Dillon, Val Kilmer, even Heath Ledger. Very few of them are worth it. But Jim Carrey in a comedy will probably add $20 million to the gross.

Bob Evans

The NY Times ran a fun article on Robert Evans who is still plugging away at 70 odd years. It doesn't quite pinpoint why he's still so beloved: the guy is cool. Retro chic, what you will - but in modern Hollywood with its MBAs and Scientologists, Evans is a glorious throwback to an earlier hedonistic age: all the cocaine and prostitutes and a beautiful actress wife and legions of famous lovers (including Grace Kelly and Lois Chiles) and also producer of some striking credits as well as being a head of studio whom people remember. Evans perpetrated his legend with his book and the movie made from it - but also the memoirs of Joe Eszterhas and Phil Noyce. I mean, who wouldn't want to work with Bob Evans, even if only for a bit? It would be worth it for the stories alone. And his credits post 1991 comeback aren't bad - it seems he does little hands on producing but he obviously still has an eye for a "property".

Vale Shirley Ann Richards

Shirley Ann Richards has passed away - I was said although, admittedly, I was unware she was still with us. Richards really enlivened Australian cinema in the late 1930s, a rare actor under contract to a studio (Cinesound, who later signed Jean Hatton). She never played a lead role but was an important ingenue - bright, cheerful, athletic yet classy, she managed to convey a combination of virtuousness with a spark in her eye. You knew she would hold out for the right chap but when it was on it was going to be on. She fitted in perfectly at the studio, and enjoyed reasonable success in Hollywood in what turned out to be a short lived career. For me her best performance was in Dad and Dave Come to Town where she was paired with the sprightly Billy Raze, a more suitable match for her than John Longden, Lloyd Hughes or Frank Leighton. Vale Shirley.

Book review - "Aussiewood" by Michaela Boland and Michael Bodey

Bright, not quite satisfying but important book on the recent success of Australian actors overseas: Nickers, Naomi, Geoffrey Rush, La Paglia. Some of the rises were meteoric (eg Bana), others took forver (eg La Paglia). There are some irritating factual errors indicating an over reliance on IMDB (eg Rod Taylor's first two films weren't British, they were Australian and American). It also too often takes the opinions of actors too unchallengingly - actors can sometimes be a bit overly paranoid and insecure.

Book review - "Rolling Stones Songs"

I think that's the correct title, I don't have the book in front of me, but its worth a look if you're a Stones fan, taking you through every song they made. Some drawbacks - for instance it doesn't really give the stories behind the recording of every song (this is far from a definitive work) and is a little thing on discussing the contributions of people other that Jagger and Richards; Mick Taylor's work is often discussed, but Bill Wyman hardly ever and Watts not nearly enough. Also it goes according to albums - which means that they don't get around to some singles which weren't on albums until the end. Considering this includes some of the Stones' main track, eg Jumping Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Woman - it makes a mess of the chronology.

Movie review - "Face of Fu Manchu" (1965) ***

Crackerjack thriller about the famous doctor who had been in film hibernation for a number of years until revived by Harry Alan Towers (perhaps inspired by the popularity of the Fu Manchu-like Dr No). Towers himself wrote the script and hired Don Sharp to direct - its one of Sharp's best films, fast paced and unpretentious.

Christopher Lee is perfect in the title role, all silky menace. Nigel Smith is a strong Nayland Smith, dogged and intense, and Tsai Chin is terrific as Fu Manchu's daughter. Some strong scenes: the opening execution of Fu Manchu, visiting the town that's been wiped out. Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor are a bit bland in support, the film's story seems to lose momentum at the end when they visit Tibet. Also at times it feels more like a collection of set pieces than a smooth narrative. But it is enormous fun. Followed by four sequels.

Movie review - "Pitfall" (1948) ***

Tight film noir from Andre de Toth that is heavily admired (as such films usually are) by the French. One of its strongest features is the domestic scenes (between Dick Powell and Jane Wyatt) are really bright and funny. Also the femme fetale (Lizabeth Scott) isn't a femme fetale at all, but a genuinely nice person unlucky in love. And she and Powell really have sex - and his wife forgives him. Its all done believably and indicates Hollywood was growing up. 

Powell offers solid work (his character complains about his dreary life - but I note he only works 9 to 5). I'm not a big Lizabeth Scott fan, but she's OK. Raymond Burr gives the stand out performance as a sleazy detective. The film seemed to lose some momentum in the last third when the action shifted from Burr to Scott's jealous boyfriend in gaol. I enjoyed it.

An interview with de Toth is here.

Movie review - "Day of the Dolphin" (1973) **1/2

A famous big flop in its day, helped Joe E Levine packed it in for a few years and seems to have hurt the career of Mike Nichols and Buck Henry. But dammit I quite enjoyed it. Glossy and intelligent, beautiful scenery and some attractive cast members as George C Scott teaches some dolphins to talk... only to see them recruited for an assassination plot. A critic pointed out that Nichols and Henry were working outside their genres, which means the film is treated intelligently but perhaps lacks a little schlocky excitement - I'd support that, while it pulls off stuff that you would think is tricky, like making it believable for dolphins to chat, but not maxing the most out of the race-against-time-to-save-the-president stuff. 

The conspiracy stuff is OK not as good as Alan Pakula's conspiracy though. The ending could have been a bit more emotional if it was a little clearer what was happening. Who are the people in the plane? OK I get that we're not supposed to know but... why not? And I wish the pretty Trish van dere had been given something to do.

Movie review - "Skin Game" (1971) ***

A powerful idea for a serious comedy - James Garner and Lou Gosset Jnr (with hair!) travel through pre Civil War US making money by selling Gosset and him escaping. Garner has played a conman forever and is the star - which kind of throws off the balance of the film since the stakes are so agnoizingly high for Gossett. 

Gossett is a good actor and it's a wonderful part that he treats with respect - possibly too serious (though how could it not be?), I didn't really believe him as a conman, someone who loved the life - his pain is a bit too strong. I couldn't help wishing someone like Richard Pryor had been cast - the piece would have been funnier but not lost any power. 

The story is full of good ideas - Susan Clarke is a rival conner, John Brown appearing to rescue Gossett, Gossett winding up on a real plantation, finding real Africans. The handling is a bit TV - it feels a bit too much like a 70s TV Western (the blacks seem very contemporary like they did in Roots). They never seemed to quite get the tone right - drama vs comedy. Ripe for a possible remake if cast properly.

Movie review - Beach Party #5 - "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" (1965) *

A low point of the Beach Party series - conversely one of the best known because of its name. It suffers from having Frankie out of the picture for most of the film but they still try to incoporate him into the plot - the male lead is Dwayne Hickman (replacing Tommy Kirk who was to play the lead but was fired because of his arrest), who is ideally cast in goofy comic roles but not so ideal as a supposed "perfect man", a playboy.

The plot involves him hitting on Annette who for most of the film veers between saying 'go away I'm taken' then going 'oh OK take me out to dinner' - she considers giving in a few times. Because Frankie's still around the edges they never get together - it means the film is hollow at its core. Mickey Rooney plays an ad man with customary energy - but the role seems written for someone younger. John Ashley and Joel McCrea are around but have little to do without Frankie - they should have made them friends with Hickman or something.

The film recycles elements of Beach Blanket Bingo including a featured beautiful girl who makes all the guys go ga-ga (Beverly Adams, quite likeable) who is chased after by Eric von Zipper, who is involved with an evil pool hall owner (Len Lesser, playing brother of the character played by Tim Carey in the previous film).

It feels tired - Annette is not in good form - since she doesn't really like Hickman there is not much for her character to do - and its distracting she's in flowing clothes because she was pregnant in real life. And she's always eating (there's a hilarious KFC product placement with her and Hickman.)

The songs are awful - with this sort of boomy sound, none of the jauntiness of other Les Baxter scores. Having said that the Kingsmen perform an energetic number and I didn't mind one or two of the tunes - just the bad ones were really bad. Brian Donlevy beems through the movie as if he's just glad to have a job, which he probably was. There are some bright spots: the opening claymation titles, Buster Keaton as a Hawaiian, Bobbi Shaw as another Hawaiian, Eric von Zipper turning respectable.

Movie review - "Ride the Wild Surf" (1964) **1/2

This has a reputation as one of the better surf pictures. It doesn't start too well, with the trio of Fabian, Tab Hunter and Peter Brown not really believable as friends, and the surf footage suffering from some awkward back projection and intercutting between location and studio stuff. (There is a lot of location footage but it appears none of the leads went to Hawaii - so lots of doubles, some of it quite ingenious). But as the film goes on it improves - the three love stories all work, the players having charisma with each other.

Straight-laced Brown (a likeable actor, with a long list of undistinguished credits), hooks up with kookie Eden (who even beats him up as a meet cute - which partially makes up for the fact that for the rest of the film the girls watch the action sitting on towels). Working class Hunter hooks up with local Hawaiian Susan Hart (a very winning performance, without the stiffness that sometimes marked her AIP efforts) whose mother hates surfers. Chip on his shoulder Fabian (a sub-Elvis performance with even a semi-Elvis snarl, but for all that not bad) romances the enchanting Shelley Fabares - they have a particularly effective scene in a deserted shack after a rain storm. 

Jim Mitchum displays some charisma as a rival surfer and Aussie swimmer Murray Rose plays a sympathetic Aussie surfer called "Swag" (he gets a few lines, too). The surfing footage becomes more impressive the bigger the waves; the final surfing contest goes on a bit (though it did establish the "must conquer the big wave" template later used in Blue Crush). Why not play the Jan and Dean title song til the end?

Some interesting trivia from Tom Lisanti's book on beach movies
- Jan and Dean, then riding high with "Surf City", were meant to support Fabian - but after their friend kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jnr (partly using funds unknowingly loaned by Dean) they were kicked off the film and replaced with Hunter and Brown
- the producers, the Napoleons, went and shot two and half months of surf footage in Hawaii in late 1963/early 1964 then pitched the project to Coumbia who gave the go-ahead
- Art Napoloeon was the original director but shooting became a mess - the cast and crew complained and Napoleon was sacked as director - production was shut down and he was replaced by Don Taylor. Production later had to cease because of an impending tidal wave (which ended up missing the island).

Movie review - "Swiss Family Robinson" (1960) ****

A high point of Disney's live action filmmaking, and they were rewarded with a magnificent success. The studio took the classic novel and reworked it along the lines of "let's put everything in the film that would be really cool to do if you were on an island".
So there's a mini-zoo of animals conveniently on the boat, a race on zebras, elephants and ostriches, a pair of hyperactive dogs, a tiger to capture, plenty of food, a treehouse with mod cons, waterfalls with slippery dips, vines to swing on, a beautiful shipwrecked girl to rescue, some pirates to fight off with lots of booby traps. There is location footage and excellent animal work.
It's enchanting... for the most part. The main draw back could have been easily fixed - the characters of the Robinsons are a little annoying - mother just wants to make curtains and doesn't like the island, Fritz (James MacArthur) shows dictatorial tendencies, little Francis (Kevin Corcoran) is a bit of a whiner who puts his family in danger several times and rather nastily turns from his studious middle brother Ernst, the girl (Janet Munro) when pretends to be a boy is a whimp who falls over running away from the pirates and pulls a gun on boys to avoid having to show her skin. It's a shame these rough qualities couldn't have been "sandpapered" over a little.
I found the most likeable the Tommy Kirk character - a smart guy who genuinely likes Munro but is dumped in favour of his hunky brother. (NB just realised when they leave her and MacArthur on the island together... they're not married. A bit saucy for disney.) Corcoran is more irritating here than normal - but what an audience surrogate for little boys
NB See the cover of the 2002 video release features everyone of the family except for Kirk. Bit narky!

Movie review - "Old Yeller" (1957) ****

What a terrific movie! I never saw this as a kid, so it doesn't have the emotional pull that it would have for those who did, but its quality is evident throughout: from the glorious scenery shot in rich colour, the evocative story, the mixture of humour and toughness, the excellent lead performances from Yeller and Tommy Kirk as the boy who learns to love, then has to kill the dog.
Most of all there is the constant presence of death throughout - the two boys almost die once (one from a bear, one from pigs), Yeller is threatened with death. This makes it a grown up kids film. Kirk is spot on in the lead role - the film is about maturity, "being a man".
Kevin Corcoran is winning as his brother, and their are some bright support performances from actors such as Chuck Connors. Fess Parker is appropriately granite like as Paw, Dorothy Maguire is alright as Mom, but the only real weak link is the girl who plays Kirk's pseudo-girlfriend. But it's marvellous.

Movie review - "Miami Vice" (2006) ***1/2

An episode of Stingers directed by Michael Mann - the story isn't much, cops go undercover, one of them falls in love with a Bad Girl, one of them has his Woman threatened and goes looking for revenge - but those things are cliches because they work and they work here. Colin Farrell snarls as Sonny and Jamie Fox is a smooth Tubbs - both are charismatic movie stars, as is Gong Li as the bad Woman. Mann knows how to pick actors capable of an effective close up - the Cuban bad guy was really good, the one who you think is smart, then seems dopey then turns out to be smart again. I also loved the blonde girl who was part of the gang - she has real presence. One wishes Mann didn't re-use elements of his own films, even bits of music (Moby), and scenes (a meeting in a deserted lot watched by people with guns - something that appeared in Thief and Heat), a scene where a person turns traitor to save his wife and they kill his wife anyway. And characters talk on their mobile phones too much. But no one shoots a movie like him. It's fascinating.

Movie review - "Transamerica" (2006) **

Ok look at transgender lifestyle as played by Felicity Huffman. She goes on a road trip before her final operation with a long lost teenage son. It's not without interest, especially the group of Christian transgender-ists, but the film generally seems to lack a bit of warmth. Huffman is skilled but so obviously pained it isn't fun to spend much time in her company.

Movie review - "Che!" (1969) **

Some people think Hollywood will make a movie out of anything if there's a buck in it - which might explain why 20th Century Fox spent millions on a biopic on the famous Cuban revolutionary. Che's appeal lives on today, mostly because of that iconic picture - one was found on Lindsay Lohan's bedroom wall in Herbie: Fully Loaded for crying out loud.
The film is an attempt to tackle Guevara seriously - it doesn't work for a variety of reasons (the pseudo documentary approach with people who knew Che talking to the screen, miscasting, a seeming lack of reality) but they should get points for trying. \
Omar Sharif is OK as Che, better than I thought he would be - he comes across as a real wanker, a fanatic who deserves to die, really. Maybe this is why the film was not embraced by audiences of the day.
The most effective moments are the ones of Che's final days leading up to his death in Bolivia - tension and drama is reduced by cutting away to all that narration. Jack Palance is also better than you might think as Castro, though he has too many lover's tiff type conversations with Sharif.

Movie review - "The Absent Minded Professor" (1961) ***

Disney have always been a highly conservative studio politically, but even at their whitest period they weren't afraid to give a few digs to society. This film for instance pokes fun of colleges who buy sports stars, and the military Fred MacMurray is ideal in the title role and he is well supported; Nancy Olsen is very likeable as his fiancee, Keenan Wynn an expert villain and Tommy Kirk has a small role as Wynn's dopey son. The special effects still succeed in raising a laugh and there are some genuinely clever moments, such as the camera work when Wynn is bouncing up and down and the cut at the end for "I do". The film was a large hit. It was poorly colourised.

Movie review - "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" (1964) **

A low budget Disney film which plays like two parts of a TV series became one of the biggest hits in its year (in the top 20), making $4 million. Why? Well, the Disney brand was highly potent at the time and teen audiences might have been keen at the time for something a bit more wholesome. 

The lead character, super nerd Merlin Jones, was engagingly played by Tommy Kirk, and Annette Funicello offered pleasing support. (These two had previously teamed for Disney TV in The Horsemasters and Escapade in Florence). 

The first half has Merlin develop the ability to read minds, the second has him able to hypnotise people; both sections involve a judge (Leon Ames), the second half involves a chimpanzee. It feels a little run of the mill; still, it was popular. There was a sequel, The Monkey's Uncle.

Movie review - Beach Party #7 - "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" (1966) **

A long way from being the best movie in the world but it has its charm, chiefly due to the cast and the fact that this was the last Beach Party movie. There's no beach in sight, it takes place at a haunted house - but there is a pool, and a bus load of kids complete with band (the Bobby Fuller Four) rock up and use it. The two nominal leads, Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley, don't have very large parts. It's more of an esemble film - Kirk shares the lead male duties with Aron Kincaid, who is fine (not as comfortable in front of the camera as Kirk), who AIP had under contract.

The story has an odd structure - the first half is part-Scooby Doo (unseen forces try to kill people) part Beach Party (a few songs); the second half is all Scooby Doo consisting of one scare gag after another, and ending with a good old fashioned buzz saw.

The perks of the film include the beautiful-but-can't-act Susan Hart in the title role (er... if she has all these powers why doesn't she just kill off the baddies at the beginning), Boris Karloff as her husband (he spends the whole movie in a coffin - he was too ill to stand - one gets the feeling the script was written around things like actor availabilities and titles), Basil Rathbone in fine form, Eric Von Zipper and the gang also in fine form (indeed the great joy of the film is the sheer professionalism of the cast), Nancy Sinatra looking very fetching in a bikini, Quinn O'Hara looking similarly fetching (why did they clothe Deb Walley?), the man in a gorilla suit, a neat haunted house, and a fair amount of energy.

The film was originally meant to be called Pajama Party in a Haunted House then Slumber Party in a Haunted House then Bikini Party in a Haunted House, its title during production. Although the movie was shot in the autumn of 1965, AIP weren't happy with it. James Nicholson came up with the idea of a sexy ghost in a bikini and had the Hart-Karloff scenes shot and incorporated into the film (Hart's scenes were shot in two weeks, Karloff's in a day). It did some business but not enough to save the series.

NB - on a more sombre note, the film was marked by tragedy - a grip fell to his death during production, Bobby Fuller died soon after the film was finished, ditto Peter Sachse, Francis X Bushman, Boris Karloff, Patsy Kelly and Basil Rathbone.

Fabian at the Box Office

A brief overview of the box office success of Fabian films...

In 1957, the 14 year old Fabian was sitting on the doorstep of his South Philadelphia home by Bob Marcucci. As described by the New York Times, "to Marcucci, he looked a bit like Elvis Presley or Ricky Nelson, but with the down-to-earth-quality of a boy next door". Despite Fabian's insistence he could not sing, Marcucci began to call regularly at the house to get him to try it. "Ma, that crazy guy's here again," Fabian supposedly called out one night.

Eventually Fabian relented and sang along to a Ricky Nelson record. He could obviously not sing, so Marcucci sent him to a voice teacher, who sent him back with a note: "Don't waste your money". A second teacher said the same thing, so Marcucci sent him to a third teacher, saying "Don't tell me not to waste my money. Just work on the kid for a few months and try to teach him to sing a little."Apparently the teacher managed to open up Fabian's voice slightly, though was unable to inaculate any sense of pitch.

Fabian and Marcucci cut a single - which bombed. But then he began appearing on Bandstand.
His second record sold a quarter of a million copies. Then "Turn Me Loose" reached the top ten. He began appearing on The Perry Como Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.

"It is his physical attraction rather than his voice which has carried him up so fast," said the NY Times. "Part of this attraction may lie in the fact that he is the opposite of the stereotyped conception of the rock'n'roll singer. He does not wiggle. He simply stands up and tries to sing and, in the view of his fans, 'projects a kind of joy of living'. He dresses neatly but informally and he is well-mannered."

There was a backlash: Alan Drake, a comedian, withdrew from a scheduled appearance on a bill which included Fabian because he did not wish to be associated with the singer. "A gifted singer takes literally years of painstaking work to become a polished entertainer," said Drake. "While someone like Fabian comes along with a gimmick in place of true talent and is immediately foisted on the public for purely monetary gain, offering nothing in the way of constructive entertainment in return. I feel it is an insult to the public to pass these wonderless wonders off as artists and I refuse to have any part of Fabian or his ilk."

Fabian was signed to a film contract by 20th Century Fox, who had enjoyed success with films for Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. In July 1958 he began filming his debut. He moved into a Hollywood apartment with Marcucci, Marcucci's mother and her sister. In the apartment below was another Marcucci client, Frankie Avalon.

Hound Dog Man was given a $1.045 million budget, a skilled director in Don Siegel, and several Fox contract players, including Carol Lynley and Stuart Whitman. However, the film performed poorly at the box office, not making the list of top grossing films of the year.

Fox did not lose heart; they thought Fabian might have some use in support of an older actor, and so it proved when the John Wayne vehicle North to Alaska pulled in $5 million (cost $3.8 million).

Fabian was mentioned in Congressional "payola" hearings by the House Committee on Congressional Oversight. Noted DJ Dick Clark came under attack from various politicians. Representative Steven B Derounian cross examined Clark on the topic of Fabian, quoting an article which said the young man was "Apollo-like in stature, with curly hair and a seductive eye" but who could hardly sing at all.

The Congressman suggested to Clark that "you get a big hunk of young man with a lot of cheesecake to appear on your program. It's his appearance that counts, not his voice." Clark denied this, saying that was "an unkind thing to say".

Fox kept busy with Fabian. The put him, along with youngsters Richard Beymer and Tuesday Weld, in support of Bing Crosby in High Time, which earned $2.5 million on its $2.815 million budget. Supporting James Stewart in the $4.1 million Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) resulted in another hit, earning $4 million.

The formula wasn’t infallible, though, as proved when Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) earned only $1.2 million on a cost of $2.34 million. Fabian played a small role in The Longest Day, which earned $17.5 million on its $7.75 million budget.

Fabian’s best known performance for Fox was in an episode of the TV series Bus Stop. In “A Lion Walks Amongst Us” the singer played a psychopath. Jack Gould in the Times called the episode "a disgraceful and contemptible flaunting of decency, an indescribably coarse glorification of vulgarity to win an easy rating." Around 25 affiliate stations are said to have refused to run it. The timing of the episode was bad: shortly after airing, in Jan 1962 ABC's president, Oliver Treyz, was brought before a Senate Subcommittee investigating juvenile delinquency and the impact of television crime and sex shows on teenagers. Treyz said he admitted considering cancelling the show but had decided not to for fear of offending creative talent. Questions were raised in Congress and the show was thought to have led to Treyz's resignation of ABC’s president.

Columbia borrowed Fabian for Ride the Wild Surf (1964). His original co-stars were to be Jan and Dean, but they were fired after it turned out Dean (unknowingly) leant money to an old friend who used it to help fund his kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jnr. They were replaced by Tab Hunter and Peter Brown. Most of filming took place on location in Hawaii.

Brown remembers Fabian struggled with surfing. "I really liked Fabian as a person but he couldn't comb his hair and walk at the same time. He was the most uncoordinated guy. I think he went through about five rental cars while we were over there."

Despite the pleasing locations, production was troublesome - the director, Art Napoleon, ended up being fired and replaced by Don Taylor. The film ended up earning $1.074 million, considered somewhat of a diappointment, though it has a reputation today as one of the best surf movies (it certainly treats surfing more seriously than the beach party movies of the time).

Fabian’s contract with Fox ended with Dear Brigitte (1965), where he supported James Stewart. The film earned $2.2 million on a cost of $2.47 million (other figures say it earned $2.92 million but required $4.5 million to break even).

AIP had wanted to sign Fabian for its Beach Party series but been unable due to the Fox contract. Now the actor was available AIP promptly teamed him with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in Fireball 500 (1966), which earned $2 million – then a further $1.5 million when it was re-released the following year. He made some more films for that studio: another stock car drama, Thunder Alley (1967) earned $1.25 million, while the tormented drug drama Maryjane (1968) $1 million.

Fabian played two depression era gangster films, A Bullet for a Pretty Boy (1970) and Little Laura and Big John (1973) Neither set the world on fire and Fabian drifted into support roles.

Pat Boone at the Box Office

Pat Boone established himself as a box office force to be reckoned with with his first film, Bernadine. Made for $1.23 million it went on to earn $3.75 million in the US It was followed that year by the equally popular April Love, which made $4 mill (cost of $1.425 million). His popularity dipped slightly the following year with the still respectable Mardi Gras ($ 2.5million cost $1.69 million).

He was put into a supporting actor in order to ensure a teen audience for the $3.44 million Journey to the Centre of the Earth and the decision seems to have been the right one, the film earning a cool $5 million.

He did not make a film for two more years, the poor All hands on Deck which nonetheless returned $1.5 million on a $1.115 million budget. He was one of several names in a $4.4 million remake of State Fair, which returned only $3.5 million.

The Main Attraction and The Yellow Canary received a lukewarm welcome, but Goodbye Charlie (1964) earned $3.7 million on its $3.5 million cost. That was Boone's last real box office splash, though he continued as a lead for a while longer.

Lazenby leaves Bond

Fans of George Lazenby should check out this website which explains the shennanigans behind why Laz didn't return. It wasn't as simple as he quit - though it does still boil down to the fact that he blew it.

Book review - "My Movie Business" by John Irvin

A book only really of interest to fans of Irving and the book/film The Cider House Rules. Irving is a good writer, and the book only short, but his displays a bewildering inability to come up with a decent showbiz anecdote. Instead we get a lot of stuff about streamlining narrative and changing characters around which is interesting... but how about a bit more saliciousness? He is also a bit of a whinger - despite having director approval, cast approval, script approval... he still complains he doesn't have approval over marketing. And when his son isn't cast in a lead role. Its filmmaking John!!

Book review - "You see I haven't forgotten"

Biography of Yves Montand, singer best known to Western movie fans for having an affair with Marilyn Monroe on the set of Let's Make Love. Montand never quite made it as a film star in Hollywood films - Warners spotted his talent in the 1940s and tried to sign him when he was just an emerging singer; he returned when a superstar and made a series of films for Fox and later musicals such as On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. But he really hit his straps as a leading man for Costa Gravas. This book is probably definitive account of his life - it is particularly fascinating on the politics.
Montand was actually Italian - his family fled to France in the 1920s to escape fascism. His dad became a commie, which you can understand; so did his sons; but his son Julien remained a die hard commie for most of his life, which I'm sorry makes you a moron esp after post WW2 and 1956 and 1968. Montand remained very pro communist until around the 60s and 70s (its weird that this could be the case but this was France) but then became anti-communist, causing a split. His opinions were valued in France - in the early 80s some polls said 30% of the population wanted him to run for president!
The book accounts all this brilliantly; it also has useful descriptions of Montand's singing and acting (which is a little tricky to those such as myself unfamiliar with them - but how else do you do it in a book?)
It's no surprise to see Montand was a lady's man, despite being married to Simone Signoret for around 30 years - he was slim, had all his hair, could sing, dance and act, grew up in Marseilles in poverty so had working class street cred, worked as a wharf labourer so had even more cred, worked for a year in his sister's hairdressing salon so learned a lot about women quickly. Never had much of a war service, but no body's perfect. One can't feel he had some attraction to famous ladies, his paramours including Edith Piaf, Signoret and Monroe.

Movie review - "Ten Canoes" (2006) ***1/2

The strengths of this film lie in its evocation of a non-Anglo Australa, an Australia where aboriginals live their lives as they have for ages. It took a while for me to adjust with the story telling - the old man who tells the story keeps interrupting it to do various jobs - but I did. It was harder to get used to Gulpilil's narrtion - there is too much of it, they could have cut it back and let the story and actors speak for themselves. The cast have genuine stage presence and skill; especially the fat honey-lover.

Movie review - Sopranos - pilot ***1/2

Never seen a full episode of this before - on at too many odd times and when I did start watching it felt like a show that needed attention. It does but is worth it - this is a strong powerful drama with terrific premise and the excellence of the cast is apparent from the first ep.

TV review - "West Wing" Season 7 - more thoughts

Just read up to episode 14 and its about to be the election - and I've run out of transcripts!! It's been gripping stuff, apart from the episode written by Bradley Whitford which was a bit flabby.

They are pushing two love subplots in this series, which is a good thing since the West Wing has lost a little of the warmth that it started off with. Early seasons of the West Wing drowned in warmth - you had Donna and Josh, and Sam being young and fresh-faced and idealistic, and Leo and the President loving each other, and Charlie and the president loving each other, and Toby's idealism. But then it changed - Donna and Josh's relationship grew downright abusive, CJ had one dud relationship too many, Sam left and Will as never allowed to be as idealistic, Leo and the President effectively broke up, Charlie left his job and had nothing to do, and Toby had twins who disappeared. They shy away from Vinick's idealism and Santos doesn't have a strong bond with anyone, not even his wife (she doesn't seem to want him to be president), certainly not Josh. A bit more heart and maybe the ratings would have been stronger.

TV review - "West Wing" - Season 7

I haven't seen the final season yet - the DVD doesn't go on sale until Sept and I haven't figured out how to illegally download stuff off the internet. But transcripts of the episodes are up on this great website. Knowing the actors and the visual style its almost as good as watching it.

Some comments so far

- it feels like a spin off of the West Wing rather than the West Wing - kind of a "Joanie Loves Chachi" on the campaign trail - the show now is really about Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda and Josh and Janine Garofolo, with occasional cameos from Martin Sheen
- occasionally the stories become a bit formulaic - things start promising for Santos, then become messy, then look disastrous - then he pulls it around with an inspirational moment/speech at the end
- the debate was terrific - a full on argument for an hour - really good
- Kate and Will are having urst at the moment - very much approve of this
- Charlie you never should have stopped being the president's aide! At least then you had some screen time
- it was nice to see Josh having a few wins, being useful for a change - but you can tell the writers get bored with that and around eight eps in he starts getting hits
- I don't like Bruno Gianelli working for the Republicans - he was a terrific character but to have him change sides is a bit yuck - realistic, maybe, but yuck
- America would be better off adopting our political system

Elvis' Women

If you're into Elvis fans you should check out this excellent website about the women in Elvis films. Two overwhelming things lept out at me (a) too many of them died young (b) so many of them have their own websites.

Watching late night TV

It's 12:45 am and channels seven, nine and ten have late night phone in quiz shows. This is no ad for free to air TV. What happened to out of copyright movies?

Book review - The Onion Annual 2001

Another hilarious installment from the brilliant paper. They do struggle to quite the get post Sept 11 tone. My favourite bit was about the Rolling Stones fans rioting because the band don't play 'Harlem Shuffle'.

Movie review - "Superman Returns" (2006) ***

Most of the publicity on this film was negative - budget overruns, shooting overruns - but in the end it was pretty good. The story is strong, the special effects amazing. That it doesn't quite work simply comes down to good old fashioned misacting.
When the film started I thought it was going to be fantastic - using John Williams' wonderful score, Marlon Brando's voice (the film is a sequel to the Christopher Reeve movies). Then it got going and I thought "uh oh". Not the fact that it starts a bit gay - the first ten minutes have a nude Superman, Kevin Spacey as a gigolo, Spacey and Parker Posey and corgis - that disappears.
The main problem lies in the leads. Brandon Routh tries, at least has the physique - but tries to evoke Christopher Reeve and it only makes you recall how much better Reeve was.
The killer is Kate Bosworth - Lois Lane is a terrific role, torn between two men, a brave gutsy woman - but she has a blank expression, the lights are on but no one's home.
Then as the film goes along it starts to improve. Kevin Spacey stops phoning in his performance and starts to cut loose a little, the kid playing Lois Lane's film is pretty good, the sfx of the raised island are incredible (this segment is really well done - but who is going to pay to live on rock? And also they never satisfactorily explain why New York isn't destroyed), and most of all the story has genuine emotional pull because of the love triangle thing.
With decent actors in the leads this could have been excellent; thinking over it a bit more it's not really Routh's fault, Bryan Singer had a limited pool of actors to pick from because of the Superman curse, but he needed a strong Lois Lane.
Some moments are magical - Superman taking Lois for a ride, Superman's moments of solitude, the crash of the plane. Lex Luthor needed some better henchmen (they have no personality, he needs a Ned Beatty - Ian Roberts has a decent role, no lines but he's always holding a video camera, something which you keep expecting to pay off but it never does). Richard Branson is in the cast. And two actors from the Old Fitzroy Theatre in Sydney - David Webb and Ansuya Nathan.

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson was a goose with what he did - I mean, drink driving - but it has to count that he didn't injure anyone and he apologised. Fair cop for the police to scrap it from the record, it was a decent use of discretion. But the matter won't go away for the while - people love to get self righteous and they love to hate, and Gibson is an easy target at the moment. I don't think it will affect Gibson's career, that's entirely due to his movies. Remember Hugh Grant? That was a bigger story than this.

Movie review - "The Miracle" (2005) ***

I love a good inspirational sports movie and this Disney effort hits all the right buttons. It's the story of the US ice hockey Winter Olympics gold medal victory in 1980 (I remember watching the Karl Malden TV version). Yes, I know it's got the "US is great" thing (apparently the event saw the emergence of the "USA! USA!" chant), but the film puts it in historical context with the US getting its arse kicked constantly through the 70s so you can't begrudge them a triumph. The film is well made, particularly well directed in its hockey scene and benefits from the fact that the coach (Kurt Russell, good accent, good hair work) is shown to be a prick. The most featured hockey player is played by Eddie Cahill, who they were pushing as a star a while back - he had solid guest roles on Friends and Sex in the City but he never quite made it. It does hit the cliches - "you're mad! it can't be done", "you're pushing these boys too hard" "why are you never home?" "i know you can give me more" - but they all hit the spot!

Movie review - "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" (2006) **

One of the best ideads for a comedy in the last decade: a man finds out his girlfriend is a super hero, dumps her, and has to deal with her rage. Main problem - they make it Luke Wilson's story, and while it's funny to have him run from a mad woman, Uma Thurman plays a super hero so she's inherently sympathetic, so he's a prick. I mean, she just wants to find a nice guy and she really likes him, it can't be easy, she has to spend all her spare time fighting crime. And he decides it's too much and goes off for his pretty co-worker. 

The character of Uma is so strong - it's out of whack not to have her at the centre. And why didn't they use Eddie Izzard more, have him plan some evil scheme? Do something evil? They could have adjusted the script, kept the gags - have Uma as the main character, and she mistakenly thinks Luke is cheating on her and goes a bit crazy, then turns good. 

Maybe they were keen not to go with the obvious - but what they have instead isn't satisfying. Another alternative would be to make Uma's character evil, then we mightn't hate Luke Wilson as much when he sells her out. Or have Luke be a bit more of a prick. 

Also irritating are the subplots at Luke's work - the lecherous best friend and the boss worried about sexual harrassment. These go nowhere. 

Two fantastic scenes: one where Uma doesn't want to leave Luke Wilson alone with his friend from work even though there is an emergency (it makes Uma so sympathetic - see what I mean?), and the one where she throws a shark through his window. That is brilliant.