Dirty Old New York aka Fun City, Part V

This is the conclusion of the Dirty Old New York Subway / aka Fun City series that I started working on nearly two years ago.  I think I've got the obsession--at least in this format--out of my system.

Barbara Streisand ventures out to Fun City in Irvin Kershner's Up the Sandbox.

The video begins with a Rocky-style recap of the previous segments, with new footage inserted to represent some of the motifs explored in the earlier videos.  The effectiveness of this recap is dependent on viewers having seen and remembered Parts I - IV.

In this latest edition, viewers will note my continued pre-occupation with now-obsolete, antiquated, and/or analog technologies--tube televisions (and static), vinyl records and turntables, 3/4" video cassettes, top loading VCRs, etc.

There is some nudity in Part V so it may be NSFW depending on where you work.

Master playlist from Subway thru Fun City I, II, III, IV, & V: 

A Fine Madness

Aaron Loves Angela

Across 110th Street

After Hours

All That Jazz

American Pop

An Unmarried Woman

The Angel Levine

Arthur

Author! Author!

Bad Timing

Badge 373

Bananas

Basket Case

Beat Street

Blank Generation

Bloodbrothers

Born to Win

The Boys in the Band

The Brother From Another Planet

Bye Bye Braverman

Bye Bye Monkey
C.H.U.D.

Contract on Cherry Street

Coogan’s Bluff

Coonskin

Cops and Robbers

Cotton Comes to Harlem

Crazy Joe

Cruising

David Holzman’s Diary

Death Wish

Defiance

Desperate Characters

Devil’s Express

Dog Day Afternoon

The Dogs of War

Downtown ‘81

Dressed to Kill

The Driller Killer

Dutchman

The Education of Sonny Carson

Emanuelle Around the World

Emanuelle in America

Exorcist II: The Heretic

The Exorcist

The Exterminator

Eyes of Laura Mars

Eyewitness

Fame

The Fan

Fatso

Fear City

Fingers

The First Deadly Sin

Fort Apache The Bronx

The French Connection

Fritz the Cat

From Corleone to Brooklyn

The Gambler

The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

Girlfriends

Gloria

God Told Me To

Going in Style

The Goodbye Girl

Greetings

Hair

Hanky Panky

Harry and Tonto

Heavy Metal

Heavy Traffic

Hell Up in Harlem

Heroes

Hey Good Lookin’

Hi Mom!

The Hot Rock

The Hunger

Husbands

I, the Jury

The Incident

Jeremy

Joe

John and Mary

King Kong

The King of Comedy

King of the Gypsies

Kiss Me Goodbye

Klute

Kramer vs. Kramer

The Landlord

The Last Detail

The Last Horror Film

Law and Disorder

Liquid Sky

Little Murders

Loving

Loving

Maniac

Marathon Man

Massage Parlor Murders

Mean Streets

Midnight Cowboy

Ms. 45

Network

New Order's "Confusion" video

New York Ripper

Night Shift

Nighthawks

Nightmare

The Odd Couple

One Trick Pony

Oriental Blue

The Panic in Needle Park

The Possession of Joel Delaney

Prince of the City

Putney Swope

Q: The Winged Serpent

Report to the Commissioner

Rich Kids

Rosemary’s Baby

Saturday Night Fever

Scarface

The Sentinel

Serpico

The Seven-Ups

Shaft

Shamus

Sisters

Smithereens

So Fine

Splash

Staying Alive

The Stone Killer

The Super Cops

Superbitch

Superfly

Superman

Superman II

The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3

Taking Off

Taxi Driver

The Telephone Book

They All Laughed

Three Days of the Condor

Three the Hard Way

Times Square

To Find a Man

Tootsie

Trash

Up the Down Staircase

Up the Sandbox

Variety

Vigilante

The Wanderers

The Warriors

Where's Poppa

Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

Who’s That Knocking at My Door? 

Wild Style

Willie and Phil

Windows

Winter Kills

Wolfen

You’re a Big Boy Now

Zombie

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City, Part III

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City continues with the third, but not final, installment.  Parts I and II have been updated recently.  Dirty Old New York Subway is here.

As it turns out, there will be a Part IV, which is already about halfway done.  Perhaps that will be a good place to stop.  I will continue to augment previous pieces, if I come across footage that fits too well to exclude.

Movie Tie-In: Eyewitness

Discovered that the movie tie-in / novelization section is still intact at Montclair Book Center.  My find for the day:

I like that the cover features completely different artwork than what was ultimately used to promote the film.  The face appears to be based on William Hurt's features.  I suspect this artwork was one of several designs that was intended to promote the film itself, but was bypassed in favor of this now-familiar campaign:

Now that I have the book in my hand, I notice the billing on the poster advising viewers to look out for the "Avon Paperback."

TV Spot Not on the DVD: Eyewitness (1981, Peter Yates)

Peter Yates and Steve Tesich followed up their award-winning Breaking Away collaboration with this early 1981 NYC-set thriller starring William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, and James Woods.  Eyewitness (aka The Janitor) was not the critical or financial success that Breaking Away was and it's not a top-grade mystery by any means.  What it does offer, however, is an outstanding collection of leading and character players in well-written, interesting roles and, of course, some choice New York locations, circa 1980.  This is the kind of character-driven, slightly offbeat, mid-range studio picture that went out years ago.  Those looking for an edge-of-your-set, nail-biting suspense picture will be disappointed, as this moves at a leisurely pace and revels in the quirks of its characters more than the machinations of the plot.  The narrative revolves around a Vietnam-vet janitor (a largely sympathetic Hurt, playing one of his few working-class characters) who discovers the murdered body of a wealthy (and criminally-connected) Vietnamese businessman in the office building where he works.  The janitor pretends to know more than he does in order to gain favor with the television newswoman (Weaver) he loves from afar, thereby arousing the interests of the killer, the associates of the murder victim, and the police.

Christopher Plummer co-stars as Weaver's Israel-lobbying fiancé and James Woods is Hurt's unstable best pal and fellow vet.  The cast is filled out by Steven Hill and Morgan Freeman as the lead detectives on the murder case, Pamela Reed as Woods' sister and sometime lover of Hurt, Kenneth McMillan and Alice Drummond as Hurt's parents, Irene Worth and Albert Paulsen as Weaver's parents, Jimmie Ray Weeks as a tv producer, and Chao Li Chi (memorable from Big Trouble in Little China) as Mr. Wong, the murdered man at the center of the story.

The film, Hurt's second, came in the middle of a very impressive 8-month run for the actor, which included his feature film debut, Ken Russell's Altered States (released Christmas '80) as well as Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat (released late August '81).  Meanwhile, as Eyewitness opened in theaters, he starred in the Circle Repertory's production of Childe Byron.

For those who are interested, as I am, in practical locations (i.e. real locations used for filming), as well as set design, Hurt's workspace was built at the Kaufman-Astoria Studios (formerly Paramount Studios) by production designer Philip Rosenberg.  You can see that very impressive set in the below lobby card: