More Film Bulletin: Coscarelli's First

AKA Jim, the World's Greatest.

More from the Files of Film Bulletin

What a treasure trove for movie imagery back issues of this trade journal are.  I wish it wasn't so hard to find.  The Philadelphia-based publication once employed Joe Dante as a reviewer and managing editor so they knew what they were doing.

The best pre-Golan / Globus Cannon release and perhaps the most potent and important release in the company's entire history, including the more celebrated cartoon action extravaganzas of the '80s.

I am Sam

Mark Robson, known to some as "Sam Fuller," talks with his star Lee Marvin on the set of Avalanche Express.

Joe Don takes direction

"You packin' heat, Joe Don?"

Dealin' in '81-'82

1981 was a little kinder to Avco Embassy than '82, despite the presence of Vice Squad and Time Bandits.

This makes it readily apparent that the end was near for Filmways:

If they'd been able to hold on to some more of these, history might have been a little different:

Quite a banner year that Universal had for itself in '81-'82. Not all of these are classics, but there are only a few duds (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas stands out in this regard) or completely forgotten films (Green Ice; Evil Under the Sun). Most of the non-classics are cult items today and / or boast notable directors.

I'd say Columbia went 3 for 5 in the Summer of '81:

"I've seen your smile in a thousand dreams."

I sure do wish we'd seen more of "fem lead" Lois Chiles in the movies. Audiences might also remember her for a later turn as a hit and run driver haunted by her victim's corpse in Creepshow 2..."Thanks for the ride, lady!"

Back in the saddle!

This announcement is interesting because it still credits original director Philip Kaufman, who was fired and replaced by Clint early in production. Also, Clint is clean-shaven here whereas he wears a beard throughout the finished film.

"River Deep - Mountain High"

After seeing an amazing clip of Tina performing (with Ike) "River Deep - Mountain High" in the superb new Phil Spector doc, I must track down this Soul To Soul:How fantastic is it that Tina's "top" was deemed family-friendly enough to get the much sought-after G rating?:

Toback (in beard)

A prequel.

Dog Days, indeed.

As New York experiences a heatwave more intense than we've seen in awhile, what better time than now to pay homage to one of the most accurate depictions of what can happen in the city when it gets overheated...

The recently acclaimed documentary about Dog Day co-star John Cazale, I Knew It Was You has been picked up by Oscilloscope Laboratories who will release the DVD.

"You Shoulda Been There!"

I've just heard that Floyd Mutrux will be in New York later this summer at the Walter Reade, in tandem with filmmaker / scholar Thom Andersen (Los Angeles Plays Itself), to discuss Mutrux's American Hot Wax and Dusty and Sweets McGee, both of which will be screened together. I can only imagine we New Yorkers will be treated to an enlightening discussion of Mutrux's portrayal of Los Angeles in Dusty and Sweets. American Hot Wax is a New York movie, Brooklyn to be exact, although the only location listed on the IMDb is the Wiltern on Wilshire Blvd. I'm guessing this stood in for the Brooklyn Paramount on Flatbush Ave. I would imagine that this will come up in during the Mutrux / Andersen discussion..."When Los Angeles Plays New York."

Voor 99% koud gemaakt

You can still get copies of Intrada's new, limited edition release of Henry Mancini's score to John Frankenheimer's 99 and 44/100% Dead, but they're almost gone. It's an oddball crime film not dissimilar in tone to Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut starring Richard Harris (seemingly made up to look just like his contemporary Michael Caine), Edmond O'Brien (already suffering the effects of Alzeimer's Disease in this, his last film), Bradford Dillman, Ann Turkel (soon to be Mrs. Richard Harris), and "Chuck Connors as Claw Zuckerman." Interestingly, some elements of the script by Robert Dillon were originally part of an early draft of Once Upon a Time in America that he worked on with Sergio Leone. Frankenheimer's film shows up now and then on Fox Movie Channel in 'scope, but remains unreleased on DVD.

This Belgian poster features the title in Dutch and French, something I don't recall seeing on another poster, but which makes perfect sense for a bi-lingual nation such as Belgium.

The key art that should have been used for the soundtrack CD, and which should be utilized for a DVD, should one ever materialize:

The comic-style posters are reminiscent of this bad boy:

EDIT: I just checked out Mr. Peel's site and see that he recently wrote a typically fine piece on 99 and 44/100% Dead!.

Going Native

I will aspire to do as Mr. Kleiser and friends did, while I'm there. See you again in a couple weeks...

No Beast So Fierce

Long one of my favorite films of the '70s ever since I saw the big clamshell box, with a picture of Dustin Hoffman's hairy mug, sitting on my video store shelf, Straight Time remains criminally under exposed. This was remedied somewhat by the DVD that was released a few years back, before Warner Bros. abandoned the idea of pressed catalog DVD releases. Based upon on criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker's semi-autobiographical first novel, No Beast So Fierce, the property is one of the few that I think was actually better served by the film than the book.

Originally slated to direct and star in Straight Time, Hoffman eventually ceded directorial reins to old friend Ulu Grosbard (who directed Hoffman in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?) after determining that the twin stresses of starring in and mounting a production were too much for him to handle on his own. Later, Hoffman sued production company First Artists and distributor Warner Bros. for illegally taking the right of final cut from him. As it stands, Straight Time is pretty damn riveting cinema and it seems that Hoffman has finally come around to this fact, as he participated in an audio commentary on the DVD and, several years earlier, appeared at a screening held by the phantom-like "Movie Club." At that time, Hoffman revealed that a famous scene involving a very public de-pantsing of co-star M. Emmet Walsh was based upon one of Hoffman's painful childhood memories.

I wonder if the below picture pre-dates star Dustin Hoffman's abandonment of directing duties on Straight Time. Great still regardless. Looks like bigger crowds showed up for the shooting of the film than to actually see the film.

I can't find any evidence of the still online, but, IIRC, in John Willis' Screen World from 1979 (each volume featured the previous year's films), there was an image of a fully dressed Max Dembo (Hoffman) laying on the sand with a bikini-clad Jenny Mercer (Theresa Russell). I imagine it's one of many Hoffman-shot scenes that did not end up in the final picture. If they still existed in some form, I would have loved to have seen these on the DVD.

Fleischer x 2

Just watched two Richard Fleischer films this week, The Narrow Margin and The Don is Dead. The former is a model of efficiency, a taut, tough noir. The latter is an interesting, if somewhat by the numbers, mafia film made to capitalize on the success of The Godfather.

I love this promo artwork for The Last Run and would like to track the film down. It's never been released on home video, but has apparently appeared letterboxed on TCM. The script is by Alan Sharp who wrote 3 of the era's best scripts: The Hired Hand, Ulzana's Raid, and Night Moves before trying his hand at directing once with 1985's Little Treasure, remembered mostly for the ugly episode in which Burt Lancaster and co-star Margot Kidder got into a dust-up on set.

The Last Run has its own messy production history in that original director John Huston left the project in a huff after repeated fights with star Scott. Gun-for-hire Fleischer was quickly called upon to finish the deed. In the meantime, French star Tina Aumont also left the film after a row with Scott and was replaced with the actress who would become his third wife, Trish Van Devere. Also, in the film was Scott's second wife Colleen Dewhurst. Making lots of friends, this Scott...

Mandingo is finally easy to track down on home video after Legend Films licensed it from Paramount and released it on DVD a couple years back. I still haven't caught up with this one-time cause celebre, but where the film was mostly critically reviled upon release, the DVD release brought out some staunch defenders including Dave Kehr who called it "Fleischer's last great crime film."

"Let us Entertain you."

I love the Columbia Pictures logo in all its permutations even the "Lady-less" mid-70s - early-'80s one pictured above. Interestingly, the Lady-less design didn't last long, in spite of the quote in the caption about the difficulties the marketing department apparently encountered with the lady.

Incidentally, the Philly soul band First Choice had a hit album on the R & B charts in 1976 entitled "So Let Us Entertain You." The album opened with the marvelous "First Choice Theme," with a chorus of "Let us entertain you," which hit #5 on the Disco Charts and #4 on the Dance Charts and which went through my head when I saw this clipping.

"The fright begins..."

Rupert, aka Brian, tells me that Joe Dante at one time worked for Film Bulletin, the magazine from which these clippings come. He's got a great interview he conducted with Dante from a few months back, which you can read in the latest issue of Paracinema.

Taking the reins...

I hadn't heard of The Savage is Loose before coming across this still, but I was always intrigued by Hide in Plain Sight when I saw it on video store shelves years ago. Never did get around to it and it has not appeared on DVD yet. One of my long-gestating ideas for a film series was "Actors in the Director's Chair" or something like that, from the most well-known examples such as Laughton's The Night of the Hunter to less celebrated ones like the above two films. The "one and dones, " as I like to call them, meaning those who directed only 1 film, are of particular interest.

"...over 1,500,00 feet of film..."

Just digging into my new Godfather Blu-ray box set, which I got from Amazon.uk for what amounted to about $30 total. About halfway thru Part II and it's been like watching these movies for the first time, it's been so long since I saw them. I'm appreciating them a lot more than I did the first time I saw them, at a much younger age, many moons ago. Boy, do I love Al Pacino when his legendary histrionics are in check as they have been up to the point that I'm at in the films. Well, there was that moment when he yells at Michael V. Gazzo, "In my HOUSE!," but of course that scene is all the more affecting because Al's been so composed up until that point, allowing older brother James Caan to take the role of family hothead.

My favorite moments were Brando's wordless reaction to son Pacino's words of re-assurance in his unprotected hospital room and, later, his pained look when informed of Pacino's participation in the pivotal double hit in the restaurant. Brought a lump to my throat both times. Did I mention that I respond much more to quiet (i.e. "real") performances rather than ACTING and speech-making?

"Si, my name is Enrico Gimondi."

Man, that Peter Yates is tall! Looks like God talking down to Moses.

One of my favorite performances is Dennis Christopher's in Breaking Away, one of my favorite films. I love the whole cast in this film and am so happy to see Jackie Earle Haley's amazing resurgence, yet I wonder why Christopher never got another film role as good as Dave Stohler in Breaking Away, while the rest of his pals in the movie went on to prominent careers. What would have happened if Christopher hadn't followed up with this?:

I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a chuckle out of the fact that Christopher who spends much of Breaking Away pretending to be Italian, much to the consternation of his old man ("numero uno King Papa" Paul Dooley), was born in Philadelphia as Dennis Carrelli. "Dave, try not to become Catholic on us."

"Mr. Tarantino, he's been well-received at your wonderful theater...perhaps there's a place for him in your movie universe?"