Cinema Society (2025)

08/11/2025

Edward Herrmann, in 2012, on filming "The Lost Boys" (1987): "Boy, that was a ball. Joel [Schumacher] is a very witty and charming guy, very hip, and it was a cast of young, bright, interesting kids. And I was working with Dianne Wiest, who was an old friend. We knew each other from Williamstown, where we performed onstage a number of times. And Barnard Hughes was there as well, so the old folks were seasoned. And we took it all with a grain of salt, but it was fun. We were up on that coastal town in California, and we were told, 'Don’t go out after 6.' And I said, 'Wait a minute, I lived in New York, don’t tell me about what’s dangerous!' But the fact is, the bushes were full of burned-out ex-hippies, so it was a very dangerous town! [Laughs.] So we just kept to the movie set. But, no, it was a lot of fun, and, you know, with the special effects, it was goofy and terrific. I had a great time."

Interviewer: "Still, it’s a little ironic to be told not to go out after 6 p.m. on a movie where you’re playing a vampire."

EH: "Exactly! Yes, well, I think they did at least say, 'You can hang close to the arc lights or hang close to the chuck wagon. Just stick with the guys.'”

Interviewer: "What was your familiarity with the vampire mythos before doing the film?"

EH: "Not much. Growing up as a kid in Detroit, way back, there was a movie station that would show old kinescope reproductions of old movies, and I remember seeing Bela Lugosi for the first time and being duly frightened out of my wits. But I was never drawn to the world of the vampire that has exploded so, turning them into romantic heroes. I just always thought of them as diabolical, and you avoided them like the plague. I like sunny stories. You know, my favorite girls in the ’50s were Debbie Reynolds, Doris Day, and Esther Williams. Looking at Esther Williams now, I can see why: She was a real dish! [Laughs.] But, no, at the risk of disappointing the vampire clan, I was not personally drawn to them. I just thought it was a hell of a lot of fun to play one, because I’d never done it." (AV Club)

Happy Birthday, Edward Herrmann!

07/11/2025

Norman Jewison said that he was attracted to the script for "...And Justice for All" (1979) because it clarified for him the reality that the courtroom is a kind of stage where a drama is played out. He was intrigued by the satirical possibilities of the scenario. He also drew parallels to contemporary politics. "There was a time when the legal profession was inviolate," he said. "Then came Watergate...We're starting to realize that being in the law doesn't mean being above the law."

He was careful to delineate the film's genre. "It's difficult at times to pull the audience back. Sometimes they start to go with the film as a melodrama. We were then able to pull them back with something almost absurd, to shock them out of it because I didn't want it to become a message picture."

Screenwriter Barry Levinson's high school friend Donald Saointz, a practicing attorney, advised him on the script. When the production got off the ground, Saointz served as an advisor for Al Pacino and John Forsythe. He appears in the film as a defense attorney.

Lee Strasberg took a small role as a way of helping his student and friend. He was worried that Pacino was being typecast and wanted to see him branch out. Pacino liked the fact that his character, Arthur Kirkland, "was a part of things, not a loner. The sort of characters I usually play are anti-heroes."

Jewison: ""It's an unusual role for Al Pacino. In past films, like 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975) and even 'Serpico' (1973), he's been the eccentric, cut off from a sane world. This time, he's the most rational person in the picture. It's everyone around him, and his environment, which is bizarre."

During filming, Pacino frequently ad libbed and improvised. Pacino liked to do this because he was slow learning lines as well as to be spontaneous. This however can interfere with another actor's performance. Reportedly, Strasberg said, "Al, learn your lines, dollink!" Pacino years later recognized that this was good advice.

Kirkland's opening statement during the film's climax contains its most famous moment, including the outburst, "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!" This scene has been parodied many times in popular media. Film critic Charles Champlin viewed this scene as the most "rousing finale since 'Rocky I'" (1976) and Filmsite named this scene one of the Best Film Speeches and Monologues. MSN Canada noted that the whole phrase is one of the top 10 "misquoted movie lines" (often misquoted as "I'm out of order! You're out of order! This whole courtroom is out of order!") (Wikipedia/IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Norman Jewison!

07/11/2025

On this date in 1989, "UHF" was released.

"Weird" Al Yankovic and his manager Jay Levey had discussed the idea of a movie for Yankovic around 1985, after his second major successful album; his popularity at that time led the two to thinking what other venues would work for the musician. The story concept they created was based on Yankovic's approach to his music videos, making parodies of other works. After sketching out a number of such parodies for a film, the concept of Yankovic being the owner of a small-time UHF station broadcasting these parodies as shows was born, as this would not require having any significant plot to string the parodies together, in a manner similar to "Airplane!" (1980).

The two attempted to shop the script around Hollywood film agencies for about three years without luck. They were surprised when one of their agents had shown the script to the founders of a new production company, Cinecorp, who were interested in the script and had given it to producers Gene Kirkwood and John W. Hyde; Kirkwood stated he has previously seen Yankovic's videos and wanted to make a movie with him. Kirkwood and Hyde had connections with Orion Pictures, who offered to fund the production as long as they could keep it under $5 million.
The title of the film was selected to refer to, at the time of the film's writing, the predominance of local television stations operating on ultra-high-frequency broadcasts in the United States, which were typically known for quirky, low-cost production shows, which the film spoofed.

For the U.S. market, Orion insisted on "UHF," but for the overseas release, they wanted to use Yankovic's suggestion, "The Vidiot," while still tying the name to the U.S. title, so in most foreign markets the movie was called "The Vidiot from UHF." Weird Al says in the DVD commentary that he would go on a foreign television show and would be asked, "Why did you name your movie 'The Vidiot from UHF?" to which he felt like replying, "I DIDN'T! The studio did! I hate that title!" Interestingly, in Mexico the movie was released as "Los Telelocos," which translates roughly as "The TV Crazies."

After extremely positive feedback from test screenings, the struggling Orion Pictures concluded that this film was their sure-fire summer blockbuster. Unfortunately, the film was released during the summer of 1989 against huge films like "Lethal Weapon 2" (1989), "Batman" (1989) and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989). "UHF" was subsequently crushed at the box office. Although it made $6.5 million domestic box office on a $5-million production budget, this estimate does not take into account that studios only take in generally half of its theatrical gross, the rest going to exhibitors. Following another string of box-office flops, Orion went bankrupt in the early 1990s.

07/11/2025

Howard Hawks had bet Ernest Hemingway that he (Hawks) could make a good film even out of Hemingway's worst novel. Hawks chose "To Have and Have Not" (1944) and proceeded to win the bet by deleting most of the story, including the class references that had justified the book title, and shifting to an earlier point in the lives of the lead characters.

Hemingway's novel was set in Cuba and the Florida Keys in the 1930s and his Harry Morgan (played by Humphrey Bogart) was a booze runner. Jules Furthman's early drafts retained this setting. The Office of Inter-American Affairs raised an objection to the filming of the novel because of its depiction of deep corruption and violence in Cuba. Part of the Roosevelt administration's "Good Neighbor Policy" was to encourage positive cooperation among the American nations to discourage the infiltration of Axis influence. The Inter-American Affairs office carefully monitored popular culture, especially motion pictures, and encouraged upbeat depictions of cooperation. Warners and Hawks were not about to cancel the film outright. By most accounts, it was William Faulkner who saved the picture by suggesting a shift to the Vichy-controlled island of Martinique, which was not only out of the influence of the Inter-American office, it also afforded the opportunity to add Gestapo-influenced villainy.

The most famous scene in the film is undoubtedly the "you know how to whistle" dialog sequence. It was not written by Hemingway or either of the credited screenwriters Furthman or Faulkner, but by Hawks. He wrote the scene as a screen test for Bacall, with no real intention that it would necessarily end up in the film. The test was shot with Warner Bros. contract player John Ridgely acting opposite Bacall. The Warners staff, of course, agreed to star Bacall in the film based on the test, and Hawks thought the scene was so strong he asked Faulkner to work it into one of his later drafts of the shooting script. (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Ernest Hemingway!

07/11/2025

Robin Williams on working with Al Pacino on "Insomnia" (2002): "I loved working with Pacino. Al does this Method thing where before every take he roars like a lion. So my first day working with him I bleated like a goat. 'What was that?!' 'Hi Al, I'm here, it's just Robin, just playing.' Playing scenes with him was a little surreal, because I was like, 'I'm watching Al Pacino!' and then I'd realize I had to act, too. I loved talking to him offset. He plays all these incredible characters, but he claims most of the time he just wants to be in the Village having coffee and discussing Aristotle. Having worked with Robert De Niro (on 'Awakenings' (1990)) I was kind of prepared for the idea of someone who's that intense. If I ever get to work with Robert Duvall, I'll have the entire 'Godfather' collector's set. Except for Brando. But I got to meet Brando once, so I guess that qualifies. But like Christopher Nolan, even though he's very focused, he's also prepared to try anything. At that time, Al was flying back and forth from L.A. because his twins were just born, so I think he was way beyond Method acting: he really wasn't getting any sleep. He was completely ragged, and that was perfect."

Nolan told Time Magazine that he had to deal with leading actors with highly different approaches. Pacino insisted on meticulous preparation, serious talks about character motivation and lots of takes, Williams preferred hardly any rehearsal, but many takes, and Hilary Swank wished to do just a few takes to stay completely focused. Nolan therefore let Pacino and Williams freely experiment and work things out together, in order to get attuned to each other.

The scene in which Pacino's character Dormer meets Williams' character Finch on the ferry was done without rehearsals between the two actors, so that their unfamiliarity with each other would benefit the performance of their characters in meeting face-to-face for the first time.

Nolan on Williams's acting: "What I thought of Robin, was, well he is an extraordinary guy to work with and he really gave what I consider to be a flawless performance. I wound up watching the film hundreds of times as we cut it, and I never hit that point with the performance where you start to see the acting. Most performances, at a point, bits start to peel off and away, but with Robin's he was very much in that character. Not that he's a very dark person to work with – he's very lively and friendly and amusing to work with. He really found something within himself. I think it's a very underrated bit of work on his part." (IMDb/Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday, Robin Williams!

07/11/2025

On this date in 1984, "The NeverEnding Story" was released in the United States.

Noah Hathaway was hurt a few times during the making of the movie. While learning to ride a horse, his horse threw him off, then stepped on him. While shooting the drowning sequence in the "swamp of sadness," his leg got caught on the elevator and he was pulled under water. He was unconscious by the time he was brought to the surface. In addition, healmost lost an eye during the fight-scene versus Gmork. One of the claws on his giant paws poked him in the face. The robot was also so heavy that he lost his breath as well when he was hit to the ground by it. They only made one shot due to the risk that he would get seriously wounded.

Contrary to Internet rumor, the horse did not really die during the filming of the Swamp of Sadness scene. As confirmed by German magazine interview with Noah Hathaway shortly after the movie, and in the years since at conventions, the horse was given to Noah at the end of filming but due to the cost of transportation, need for quarantine, and sterilization, the horse was left behind in Germany.

Two scenes from the book were written in the script but ultimately scrapped due to special effects limitations. The first was the initial appearance of Falcor, where Atreyu rescues him from Ygramul the Many, a swarm of poisonous wasps taking the form of a giant spider. This is where Bastian's scream being heard by the characters in the book was to have taken place, and also explained why Atreyu and Falcor are later seen being given medicine by the Gnomes. The second cut scene involved Atreyu and Falcor encountering the Wind Giants, giant creatures made of clouds, and being caught in a fight between them. This was re-edited into their close encounter with the Nothing before Atreyu falls into the sea.

Author Michael Ende decided that he was unhappy with the film's version of his story, and refused to have his name placed in the opening credits. A small credit appears at the end with his name. He also asked if the movie title would be changed or cancelled. After the studio declined both options, he filed a lawsuit and ultimately lost.

07/11/2025

He fought bravely with every ounce of strength he had — against addiction, against despair, against the slow erosion of joy that fame can bring. Dick Van D**e, the man who made the world laugh, once came dangerously close to losing himself. Few knew it then, but behind that dazzling grin in Mary Poppins was a man quietly falling apart.
It was 1963, and Van D**e was living the dream. The Dick Van D**e Show had turned him into America’s favorite husband — charming, funny, a symbol of wholesome optimism. Yet every night, that same man who made millions laugh drank alone just to sleep. “I was drinking just to get through the day,” he admitted years later. “I was the life of the party — and dying inside.”
When Walt Disney cast him as Bert in Mary Poppins, it was both a miracle and a test. He was hungover on set more times than he’d ever admit, his infamous Cockney accent mocked for decades — and yet, the camera loved him. The sparkle in his eyes wasn’t just acting; it was defiance. “He had this innocence you couldn’t fake,” Julie Andrews said. “Even when he was breaking, he glowed.” That glow came at a price.
Born in West Plains, Missouri, in 1925, Van D**e came from a time when joy was a luxury. The Great Depression forced him to grow up fast — stealing pies, patching shoes, dreaming of laughter in a world that had none. He served in the Air Force during World War II, not as a soldier with a rifle, but as a performer. “They needed someone to make people forget the bombs,” he once said. “So I danced.”
After years of rejection and hunger, his big break came with Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway in 1960. One year later, The Dick Van D**e Show made him a household name. But success, he’d later confess, “didn’t fill the hole I thought it would.” The bottle became his silent co-star. By the 1970s, it nearly killed him. “I’d look in the mirror,” he recalled, “and not recognize the man who smiled back.”
Rehab saved him — barely. “I’d made too many people laugh to die a joke,” he said. And he didn’t. He fought his way back, step by trembling step. In time, laughter stopped being a mask and became a medicine.
Even in his nineties, Van D**e refuses to slow down. He danced again in Mary Poppins Returns at 91 — no stunt doubles, no excuses. “I’ve waited fifty years for this sequel,” he told the crew, grinning ear to ear. To this day, he sings, trains, and drives himself to rehearsals. When asked how he stays so young, he smiles: “Just keep moving. When you stop moving, you stop living.”
Dick Van D**e’s story isn’t about effortless joy — it’s about survival through joy. He taught the world that optimism isn’t born of ease but forged in pain. He didn’t just make us laugh — he showed us that laughter itself can be an act of courage.

07/11/2025

Not only is "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) the only film in which George Lazenby played James Bond, and the only one where the Bond character marries, but it is additionally the only Bond film to have been directed by Peter R. Hunt (with this serving as his directorial debut), who had served as a film editor and second unit director on previous films in the series.

For the character of Tracy Draco, the producers wanted an established actress opposite neophyte Lazenby. Brigitte Bardot was invited, but after she signed to appear in "Shalako" (1968) opposite Sean Connery, the deal fell through, and Diana Rigg—who had already been the popular heroine Emma Peel in "The Avengers"—was cast instead. Rigg said one of the reasons for accepting the role was that she always wanted to be in something she considered to be an epic film. In addition, having played Peel for several years on "The Avengers" television series, she was keen to play a role that didn't require her to hold a gun (though she actually does briefly in this movie).

The notoriously harsh British tabloids wrote up unfavorable stories about Lazenby and how he fails to measure up to Connery, thereby swaying public opinion against the movie before it was released. One incident cited by Lazenby was during an interview with a reporter in the commissary in which Rigg jokingly yelled from across the room "I'm having garlic for lunch, darling! I hope you are too!" This lead to an article in which Rigg supposedly hated Lazenby so much that "She eats garlic before love scenes."

A double was used for Rigg at the ice rink, as the actress did not know how to skate.

07/11/2025

Sally Ann Howes will always be most fondly remembered and loved around the world for her portrayal as the very lovely Truly Scrumptious in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968). Producer Albert R. Broccoli wrote of her, "We wanted a typical English beauty. And to me, Sally Ann represents that ideal. She is also one of the finest musical comedy stars today, a rare combination of the right kind of beauty and the right kind of talent." Dick Van D**e said of her in his documentary "Remembering Chitty Chitty Bang Bang": "They couldn't have picked a better Truly Scrumptious than Sally. They came up with Sally Ann and I heard her voice, and it was the richest contralto. She auditioned with "The Lovely Lonely Man," and I thought, 'My God, this girl is great and then she was stunningly beautiful.' She loved those kids and they loved her, which I think comes across on the screen. They just thought a great deal of her, and she spent a lot of time with them, you know, between shots... telling stories and playing games during all those long waiting periods."

Filming took place in England, France and Bavaria over 14 months. Critics were mixed about the film, but children were fanatical about it. The movie spawned a mass marketing phenomenon with everything from Truly Scrumptious Barbie dolls, to Jemima dress patterns, lunch-boxes, countless toys, and many other things all of which still enjoy a thriving collectible life on the secondary market. The Truly Scrumptious costumes in the film even sparked a mini-revival in Edwardian fashions, especially reflected by designer Laura Ashley.

Unfortunately, the movie came out at a time when musicals were beginning to be box office dead weight, including Julie Andrews' "Star!" (1968) and "Darling Lili" (1970), which nearly sank Paramount. This nailed the lid shut on filmed musicals for a long time, leaving no filmed musical outlet for performers like Howes. Her film roles became very sporadic after "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." She was a frequent and popular guest panelist on many game shows throughout the 1960s, and even up until the early 1980s, and she made several guest appearances on television series during the early 1970s. However, the theatre called her back, and with the exception of a few films, she has devoted her career almost entirely to the musical stage. (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Sally Ann Howes!

07/11/2025

John Travolta recommend Randal Kleiser (a former college roomate of George Lucas) to direct "Grease" (1978) after having worked with him on "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" (1976).

"Greased Lightning" was supposed to be sung by Jeff Conaway's character, Kenickie, as it is in the stage version. Travolta used his clout to have his character sing it. Kleiser felt it was only right to ask Conaway if it was okay. At first, he refused, but he eventually gave in.

Travolta argued with Kleiser over the end of the song "Sandy" (below). He wanted a close-up of himself instead of the cartoon shot of a hot dog diving into a bun. Kleiser got his way.

"Hopelessly Devoted to You" was written and recorded after the movie had wrapped. Olivia Newton-John's contract for Grease stipulated that she should have a solo song. However, nobody had any ideas for a song for her character, Sandy, until Olivia's producer John Farrar came up with "Hopelessly Devoted To You" halfway through the shoot. Kleiser wasn't wholly convinced by the song at first and had to come up with an entirely new scene to fit it in. It was eventually filmed and recorded after the movie had wrapped and it earned the film's only Oscar nomination.

The final musical scene, "You're the One That I Want," was filmed with the help of a traveling carnival. Kleiser decided the next day that additional shots were needed for close-ups. The carnival had left town, so set decorators were called in to build replica backgrounds that matched the carnival rides' construction for the close-ups. (IMDb)

Happy Birtdhay, Randal Kleiser!

07/11/2025

In the early 2000s while staying at an El Paso motel with his young son, Cormac McCarthy looked out the window late one night and imagined what the city might look like in fifty or one hundred years and saw: "fires up on the hill and everything being laid to waste." He wrote two pages covering the idea; four years later in Ireland he expanded the idea into his tenth novel, "The Road." It follows a lone father and his young son traveling through a post-apocalyptic America, hunted by cannibals. Many of the discussions between the two were verbatim conversations McCarthy had had with his son. Released in 2006, it won international acclaim and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Viggo Mortensen nearly turned down the role of Man, because he had planned a break from film work. After completing his work as Man, Mortensen took roughly two years off from acting. To live the role, Mortensen would sleep in his clothes and deliberately starve himself. At one point, he was thrown out of a shop in Pittsburgh, because they thought he was a homeless man. Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee (who played Boy) reportedly bonded by eating crickets to help them get into character.

Director John Hillcoat filmed the soft drink vending machine scene with Man and Boy several times, each with a different brand beverage, out of concern that Coca-Cola executives would not want their product to appear in this movie. A telephone call, from Mortensen to the President of Coca-Cola, secured permission for a can of Coca-Cola to appear, consistent with the source novel.

Writer Joe Penhall said that Mortensen was "dead against" doing a voiceover, but that McCarthy was quite pleased with its addition. In an interview, Mortensen explained that his interpretation of the voiceover was the thoughts in his character's head. "So even if I'm so weak that I can barely talk, or if I'm upset, it isn't a real voice. So I thought, well, it's not a real voice - so how does it sound? It's just matter-of-fact. It's really just what McCarthy wrote."

07/11/2025

"You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady."

Natalie Wood was first considered too naive and wholesome for the role of Judy in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). She began changing her looks and eventually attracted the notice of director Nicholas Ray, who began an affair with her but still would not guarantee her the part, though he eventually relented. Both Ray and Wood later claimed that he changed his mind after she was in a car accident with Dennis Hopper and someone in the hospital called her a "g*dd*mn juvenile delinquent". Wood soon yelled to Ray, "Did you hear what he called me, Nick?! He called me a g*dd*mn juvenile delinquent! Now do I get the part?!"

Margaret O'Brien tested for the role of Judy but was rejected by Ray after he described her answers to his probing questions as "too pat." Jayne Mansfield also tested, but Ray declined to film her audition, considering her "an hallucination" from the Warners casting department.

Dennis Hopper and Wood had a brief relationship during filming. Wood also had an affair with Ray, which was scandalous due to the fact that she was only 16 while he was 43 and older than her father. The arguments Hopper and Ray had over their affairs with Wood resulted in most of Hopper's lines being cut. Ray wanted him fired but his contract with Warner Bros. studio wouldn't allow it.

The film was in production from March 28 to May 26, 1955. When production began, Warner Bros. considered it a B-movie project, and Ray used black-and-white film stock. When Jack L. Warner realized James Dean was a rising star and a hot property, filming was switched to color stock, and many scenes had to be reshot in color. It was shot in the widescreen CinemaScope format, which had been introduced two years previously. With its densely expressive images, the film has been called a "landmark...a quantum leap forward in the artistic and technical evolution of a format."

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