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Here's a lightly intriguing bit of Hollywood history that involves "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," "Gilligan's Island" and Arthur Penn's New Hollywood masterpiece "Bonnie and Clyde."

Like most showbiz lore, it begins with Bob Denver's physical condition. If you're reading this, there is a very good chance that you've never seen an episode of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," let alone heard of it. Created by humorist Max Shulman, whose other major claim to fame is having written "The Tender Trap", the sitcom aired for four seasons on CBS and quickly became a showcase for Denver, whose Maynard G. Krebs brought beatnik culture into America's living rooms.

Krebs was a hepcat with an affinity for jazz and a hatred of work. He spoke via a too-cool-for-school patois, and, being too young to know much of what he was talking about, often made an ass of himself in doing so.

Tony Mordente, the actor, dancer and choreographer who starred in the original Broadway and big-screen versions of West Side Story before carving out a long career as a TV director, has died. He was 88.

Mordente, who lived in Henderson, Nevada, died Tuesday, his family announced.

Mordente also worked on Broadway as an actor, understudy and/or assistant choreographer in Li’l Abner, Bye Bye Birdie and Ben Franklin in Paris.

The Brooklyn native portrayed A-Rab on stage in West Side Story, which premiered at the Winter Garden Theatre in September 1957, and played Action, another member of the Jets gang, in the 1961 United Artists adaptation. (David Winters was given the part of A-Rab in the movie.)

He married West Side Story castmate Chita Rivera, who of course played Anita, in December 1957. “A Jet marrying a Shark. It was quite a thing,” he said in a 1963 interview. (Rivera died in January.)

Mordente began...

Jerry Herman’s musical “Hello, Dolly!” dominated the 18th Tony Awards which took place at the New York Hilton on May 24, 1964. “Hello, Dolly!” entered the ceremony with 11 nominations and walked out with ten awards including best musical, best actress for Carol Channing, original score for Herman and for Gower Champion’s choreography and direction.

Other musicals in contention for multiple awards that year were “High Spirits,” based on Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit,” “Funny Girl,” which transformed Barbra Streisand into a Broadway superstar, and “110 in the Shade,” based on the straight play “The Rainmaker.”

Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” won lead actor in a musical for “Foxy,” based on Ben Jonson’s “Volpone.” The musical was not a hit closed after 72 performances. Also nominated in the category was Bob Fosse for a short-lived revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey.

She’s back, back, back again! Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose will once again return to host the 77th Annual Tony Awards live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on Sunday, June 16. This marks her third consecutive year emceeing Broadway’s biggest night.

In addition to working the crowd, DeBose will also serve as a producer and choreograph the show’s opening number. The actress has always opened the show with a bang. But this will mark the first time she has crafted a dance number herself for the telecast. DeBose was nominated for an Emmy for hosting the 75th Annual Tony Awards ceremony, in the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category. She could compete in that race again, but it looks like the 2024 telecast may also find the triple-threat performer eligible for the Emmy’s choreography category.

Watch 2024 Tony Awards slugfest: ‘Illinoise’ throws musical predictions into disarray

The...

With the 96th Academy Awards in the history books, it’s time to become obsessed over the 77th Tony Awards. Nominations are April 30th with the awards set to air on CBS on June 16 from Lincoln Center. Among the contenders for Tony nominations are many musicals based on movies including “Back to the Future,’ “The Notebook,” “Water for Elephants” and “The Outsiders”: high profile revivals such as Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” with Jeremy Strong; “Cabaret” with Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne and the Who’s “Tommy”; imports from London and transfers from off-Broadway.

Do you remember the Tony landscape 50 years ago? The 28th annual honors took place April 21, 1974, at the Shubert Theater and aired on ABC. And to say it was a star-studded affair is something of an understatement. Robert Preston, Peter Falk, Cicely Tyson, Florence Henderson hosted; presenters included Al Pacino –-let’s hope he had better...

The actors from the current revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along” have skyrocketed in Gold Derby’s combined odds for the 2024 Tony Awards nominations. The prediction center displays commanding leads for Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe to win their respective categories. This is an understandable result considering this revival is the hottest ticket in town and this trio of performers has been ever-present in the media. But how often does a trio of actors from the same production pull off three separate acting victories at the Tony Awards?

It’s quite common for a musical to grab two acting trophies, but three awards is much rarer. To date, only 15 musical productions have earned three acting wins. The first time this feat occurred was at the 1956 ceremony, which was ironically the first time the Tony Awards ever announced a slate of nominees (previously...

A fun thing about getting into old musicals after watching "The Simpsons" your whole life is that you'll find yourself experiencing a never-ending string of realizations like, "Oh, so this is where that 'Simpsons' scene came from." Such is the case for "The Music Man," the 1962 musical about a conman who goes into a naive small town, stirs up a moral panic, and then uses said panic to sell them band instruments. This is all encapsulated in the musical number "Ya Got Trouble," where main character Harold Hill (Robert Preston) uses his charisma to get the town fully on board with his money-making scheme.

To a "Simpsons" fan, the song's tone, meaning, and rhythm should quickly feel familiar. That's because it's the same basic song Lyle Lanley (voiced by Phil Hartman) sings to the town of Springfield to get them to invest in a monorail they don't need.

Director Nick Castle’s 1984 sci-fi film The Last Starfighter is one of the most revered cult classics of the 1980s, so it has been no surprise to hear that the film’s screenwriter Jonathan R. Betuel is eager to revive the property is some way. Eight years ago, it was announced that Betuel was working on a spin-off TV series called The Starfighter Chronicles, which would focus on alien law enforcement. That project has never made it into production. Five years ago, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story writer Gary Whitta revealed that he was working with Betuel on a reboot called The Last Starfighters. That one even got a sizzle reel, but still didn’t make it into production. Now, during an interview with Gizmodo, actor Wyatt Russell revealed that he’d love to see a remake of The Last Starfighter.

While doing the press rounds with his father...

After a dearth of new releases worth discussing in the few months since Barbenheimer, it’s been refreshing to see the response to Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon as it enters a wide release. While we’ll have our own extensive discussion coming soon on The Film Stage Show, the director himself has now provided some welcome homework as he’s highlighted six key films to watch that influenced the making of his David Grann adaptation.

Courtesy of TCM and Letterboxd, the director has joined the latter platform and provided nearly 60 companion films that he studied in preparation for making all of his features. While that entire list is well worth checking out, particularly the accompanying notes the director has provided, we’re keying in on the influences for Killers of the Flower Moon. Find the list below, including where to watch each film, as well as Scorsese’s full commentary.

Anyone who loved Mary Tyler Moore as Laurie Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as the thoroughly modern career woman Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and as the brittle, distant Beth in her Oscar-nominated turn in 1980’s ‘Ordinary People,” will love the new Max documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore.” Moore, who died in 2017 at the age of 80, narrates the story of her life which had incredible triumphs but also great tragedy. But one aspect of her storied career it doesn’t really delve in as her work in telefilms, miniseries and even an “PBS Hollywood Presents” that reunited her with Dick Van Dyke.

Did you know that two years before she went to Broadway winning a special Tony for her performance in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” and did “Ordinary People,” she unveiled her dramatic chops in the 1978 CBS TV movie “First, You Cry.” Based on...

Clockwise from top left: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (MGM), Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures), The Birdcage (MGM), Moonlight (Lionsgate)Graphic: AVClub

June means Pride Month, and Pride Month means celebrating queer art—which we could all use more of given the current state of things. In the spirit of 2023 Pride,...

Of all of Hollywood’s attempts to cash in on the video game craze of the 1980s, The Last Starfighter trails only Tron as the decade’s most fondly nostalgized entry in the video game movie’s micro boom. Like Tron, Nick Castle’s film is a demonstration of then-new CGI technology, which means that inevitably its heavy reliance on wireframe animations and blocky, thickly pixelated objects has very much aged, though the fact that its visual effects are tethered to the game technology of the day further highlights it as a relic of its era. Perhaps the one area in which it’s ahead of its time is in its conceit of an arcade game being used as a military recruiting tool.

At the center of The Last Starfighter is a teenager named Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), who lives in a trailer park at the dusty outskirts of his hometown.

What do the 55th annual Academy Awards which took place April 11, 1983 have in common with the upcoming 95th Oscars?

Steven Spielberg and John Williams.

Back in 1983, Spielberg’s beloved “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” was nominated for nine Academy Awards including film, director and score. This year, the 76-year-old Spielberg and Williams, 91, are both nominated for “The Fabelmans.” The filmmaker’s semi-autobiographical drama is in contention for eight Academy Awards including film, director, screenplay and score.

The 55th Oscars made history with Ben Kingsley becoming the first actor of Indian descent to win the best actor Oscar for his extraordinary portrayal of “Gandhi” while Louis Gossett Jr. become the first black actor to win in the supporting category with his iconic turn as tough-nosed D.I. in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” This year, history could be made again in the best actress category. Malaysian Chinese performer Michelle Yeoh has the chance...

At the top of "Simpsons" fans' lists of their favorite episodes is usually the season 4 classic "Marge vs. the Monorail." Written by Conan O'Brien, the episode is "The Simpsons" at perhaps its sharpest and most energetic. There are a million jokes per minute here, all of them hits. And even if you don't find them all funny, at least you can enjoy the catchy musical number the show uses to introduce Lyle Lanley, the smooth-talking salesman who tricks the town into spending all their money on a monorail that doesn't work. 

It's not a full-on parody or anything, but the song Lanley sings is inspired by "Ya Got Trouble," from the 1962 film "The Music Man," a sequence where a con-man (played by Robert Preston) stirs up a moral panic and uses it to convince the townsfolk to let him start a marching band. Just like Lyle, the guy plans to...

The world was at war 80 years ago. The United States was grieving over the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 by the Japanese military and the defeat of our forces that month at Wake Island. And then the beloved Carole Lombard, her mother, servicemen and the crew perished in a plane crash west of Las Vegas on January 16, 1942. She was returning to Hollywood after raising 2 million in a war bond drive in Indianapolis.

How would Hollywood and audiences respond to World War II? They certainly didn’t shy away from the war. If you look at the top 10 films of the year, there are some escapist films but also movies dealing with the global conflict.

In fact, the No. 1 film of the year William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver” broke records at Radio City Music Hall in New York playing 10 weeks. Production began on the stirring, sentimental drama about a British...

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On July 13, 1984, Universal debuted Nick Castle’s sci-fi actioner The Last Starfighter in theaters. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review, headlined “‘Starfighter’ summer tonic for youthful sci-fi film enthusiasts,” is below:

The Last Starfighter is a fight science-fiction adventure that may prove a summer tonic to young viewers whose heads swirl with notions of alien planets, forces and intergalactic warriors. For others, this Universal/Lorimar production may be an all-too-familiar trek through familiar plot terrain and special effects wizardry.

Lance Guest stars as a recent high school grad who’s a videogame whiz. Guest lives in a trailer park and aspires to bigger things. He wants to go away to school, not just the local community college, but doesn’t have the funds. The best thing about his life is his frisky girl friend (Catherine Mary Stewart) and the escapist time he spends,...

James Rado, who along with his friend and writing partner Gerome Ragni created Broadway’s seminal Age of Aquarius musical Hair, died peacefully Tuesday evening of cardio respiratory arrest in New York City, surrounded by family. He was 90.

His death was announced by his longtime friend, publicist Merle Frimark.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Rado and Ragni, who died in 1991, wrote the book and lyrics to the landmark musical (full title: Hair – The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical), with music composed by Galt MacDermot, who died in 2018. In addition to its hugely influential insertion of a ’60s counterculture sensibility into Broadway’s mainstream, the musical contributed a score of songs that would become radio hits (often in cover versions) and stage musical standards: “Aquarius,” “Let The Sunshine In,” “Hair,” “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Easy To Be Hard,” among others.

In addition to co-creating the musical,...

by Cláudio Alves

This past Sunday, the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League celebrated the 75th Annual Tony Awards. Considering past intersections of Tony gold and Oscar success, it's fun to speculate which honorees might one day reprise their roles on the big screen and play a part in a different sort of awards season. Not that repeating an acclaimed stage performance for film leads to a surefire triumph with the Academy. For every Yul Brynner in The King and I and Viola Davis in Fences, there's a Robert Preston in The Music Man and Bea Arthur in Mame. That latter film saw 2022's Lifetime Achievement Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury ditched by Warner Bros. in favor of Lucille Ball, despite having originated the role to great acclaim on stage and already being a film star. It was a move everyone involved grew to regret.

Thankfully, the studios didn't...

Click here to read the full article.

Ahead of the 75th Tony Awards, which will be held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter gathered five of this Broadway season’s acting nominees for a conversation about the challenges and rewards of working on Broadway, generally, and specifically this season, in the middle of a global pandemic.

Two already have Tonys to their name: Australian Hugh Jackman, a best actor in a musical nominee for The Music Man, in which he plays a conman who brings trouble to small-town Iowa (the Hollywood A-lister, who played Wolverine in the X-Men film franchise, previously won for the musical The Boy from Oz in 2004 and received a special Tony in 2012); and American Mary-Louise Parker, a best actress in a play nominee for How I Learned to Drive, in which she plays a woman recounting childhood molestation at the hands of...

What do the 25th and 75th Tony Awards have in common? The landmark Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical “Company,” Angela Lansbury and the beloved tuner “The Music Man.”

The gender-bender revival of “Company” is considered the front-runner for the Tony for Best Musical Revival as well as featured actress for Broadway legend Patti LuPone who brings down the house with “Ladies Who Lunch.” Elaine Stritch originated the LuPone’s character of Joanne; her rendition of “Ladies Who Lunch” is considered one of the indelible show-stopping numbers in Broadway history. Stritch was considered a shoo-in for lead actress but lost to Helen Gallagher for the revival of -the 1920s musical “No, No Nanette.” Go figure. Gallagher was good, but she wasn’t as great as Stritch.

The original “Company” waltzed into the Tony Awards — which took place at the Palace Theatre on March 28, 1971 — with a whopping 14 nominations and won six including Best Musical,...

Covid has caused a lot of uncertainty around Broadway. Several shows have had to suspend performances, go on hiatus, or close permanently. And the American Theatre Wing hasn’t announced key dates for this year’s Tony Awards yet. Though with that being said, we are now about halfway through the Broadway season, and there are six productions of musicals set to open this spring. Could we see any of them contend at the next Tonys? Below is a look at the plot of each musical as well as the awards history of their authors, casts, and directors, plus the opening and (where applicable) closing dates.

See‘Mj The Musical’ reviews: Myles Frost ‘mesmerizing’ as Michael Jackson, but musical is ‘surface-skimming’

“Mj the Musical”

This jukebox musical follows the life and career of singer Michael Jackson. Centered around the making of his 1992 Dangerous World Tour, the show offers a rare...

When people who dislike musicals talk about the musicals they dislike, there’s a decent chance they’re talking about musicals like The Music Man – whether they’ve ever actually ever seen The Music Man or not. Meredith Willson’s nostalgic slice of Americana was already proudly old-fashioned when it debuted in 1957, with “Seventy-Six Trombones” leading Broadway down a cornpone path that shows like the moody Carousel or the finger-snapping West Side Story were trying so hard to avoid. Not even The Beatles could make Music Man‘s lilting “Till There Was You” sound cool.

Now, many decades later – and several years after directors Ivo van Hove and Daniel Fish reimagined West Side Story and Oklahoma! in thrilling ways unthinkable when those musicals were young – director Jerry Zaks, producers Barry Diller, David Geffen and Kate Horton and a well-rehearsed cast headed by Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster deliver a high-gloss...

Mel Brooks has been set as the 2021 recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award.

He’s the latest in a distinguished line of artists to receive the honor, joining the likes of John Huston, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Myrna Loy, Robert Preston, Roger Corman, cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and composer Ennio Morricone.

Lafca’s members will decide on other honorees December 12. They will be honored alongside Brooks early next year.

Brooks is a prolific writer, director, producer and actor with a career spanning more than seven decades, whose iconic films include The Producers (1967), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).

Brooks began his career as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety series Your Show of Shows. Later, with Carl Reiner, he...

Leslie Bricusse, Oscar- and Grammy-winning songwriter whose songs for Broadway and Hollywood include “What Kind of Fool Am I?” and “Pure Imagination,” died Tuesday in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. He was 90.

Bricusse wrote the lyrics for James Bond theme songs “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice,” as well as songs for movies including “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (including “The Candy Man”), “Scrooge,” “Hook,” “Doctor Dolittle” and “Superman.”

His close friend, Dame Joan Collins, announced the death on Instagram this morning, calling him “one of the giant songwriters of our time.” Bricusse’s son Adam also announced it on Facebook; neither indicated a cause of death.

Over seven decades, the London-born writer-composer was in demand for his clever, witty and tuneful songs, sometimes in collaboration with others and sometimes serving as both lyricist and composer.

“The music illuminates the meaning of the lyric, just as the lyric can have only that melody and no other,...

Cecil B. DeMille delivers a satisfying western epic starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy & Akim Tamiroff; the story of the building of a railroad is historically bogus but highly entertaining and action-filled. Joel McCrea is our favorite ethical frontier lawman; here he’s a troubleshooter keeping crooks, Indians and proto-Bolsheviks from delaying construction. The huge cast includes scores of favorite supporting actors — although the screen is so busy some of them will be hard to spot.

Union Pacific

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1939 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 135 min. / Street Date August 3, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Henry Kolker, Anthony Quinn, Lynne Overman.

Cinematography: Victor Milner

Art Directors: Hans Dreier, Roland Anderson

Film Editor: Anne Bauchens

Special Effects: Gordon Jennings, George Tomasini, Loren L. Ryder, Barney Wolff, Jan Domela, Paul K. Lerpae

Original Music: Sigmund Krumgold, John Leipold

Written by Jack Cunningham,...

“Oh, god… there’s nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold.”

Paris in the ’30s is the setting for Blake Edwards’ 1982 screwball sex comedy Victor Victoria. The fun comes to life on the big screen when it plays at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, Il at 7:00pm Tuesday July 20th. $3 Tickets available starting at 3pm day of movie at Wildey Theatre ticket office. Cash or check only. Lobby opens at 6pm.

In 1934 Paris, trained coloratura soprano Victoria Grant (Dame Julie Andrews), a native Brit, can’t get a job as a singer and is having trouble making ends meet. She doesn’t even have enough money for the basics of food and shelter. Gay cabaret singer Carole “Toddy” Todd (Robert Preston) may befall the same fate as Victoria, as he was just fired from his singing gig at a second-rate club named “Chez Lui”. To solve their problems,...

As theme park attractions reopen across Southern California, Warner Bros. announced on Tuesday that its massively revamped Studio Tour will welcome back guests on June 26.

Five years in the making, the expanded set tour utilizes a new building devoted completely to the tour center, in addition to a lot tour and a stop at the iconic Stage 48. The tour highlights the nearly 100 years of TV and movie-making at the studio, and specifically spotlights the DC Universe and Harry Potter. The tour also now welcomes families with children five years and older.

Key additions include the “Storytelling Showcase,” where guests can explore the evolution of Warner Bros.’ long history; “Action and Magic Made Here,” the new grand finale experience featuring the DC Universe and Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series; an expanded new Warner Bros Studio Store, which will be open to the public without a Studio Tour ticket purchase.

“Entertainment...

Welcome to this week’s Monday Night Raw review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have Maya Angelou here to speak with us about reverence. Maya Angelou: I have reverence. I am in awe of the eye of child that sees for the first time and knows all too well what is in sight. I venerate those who weather a storm when there’s no hope of escape. I respect… The Noid: Naaaaaaaah!!!!!! Ma: What the f—k is that little bastard doing here? Noid: Gaaaaaaaah!!!! Ma: I am trying to speak to these people, you red-rocket looking muthafugga! Noid: Waaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!! Ma: I have reverence…for how far my foot is going up your ass! Noid: Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!! Ma: Come here you piddly sumbitch! Wanna know why the caged bird sings? ‘Cuz I beat its ass! Noid: Pizzzzzzaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Ma: I want a pizza…a pizza that ass!

“Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.”

For those of you who remember seeing director Nick Castle’s sci-fi gem in theaters during the summer of 1984, those words are ingrained in your memory!

The Last Startfighter tells the story Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), an arcade game whizz-kid whose wildest dreams comes true when he finds himself enlisted to fight in an interstellar war. The movie also starred Dan O’Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart and the great Robert Preston as “Centauri”. It’s still a fun, great film to watch!

Now screenwriter Gary Whitta has revealed the sizzle reel for The Last Starfighters, the sequel which fans have long been waiting for.

Here’s the sizzle reel for the Last Starfighter sequel I’ve been working on with original creator Jon Betuel. Thanks so much to Matt Allsopp (Rogue...

In this series by Christopher James we investigate the 'Gay Best Friend' trope in movies.

More movies should end with a gay best friend performing drag, like Robert Preston in Victor/Victoria.Many of the gay best friends in movies we've discussed to date have been supporting characters to give color to the protagonists, act as a sounding board, or fill out the world of the story. Rarely are they actual plot drivers who get to carry their own subplot. In only one film that we've discussed to date, My Best Friend’s Wedding, do they also get to be the ultimate hero of the story.

Blake Edwards 1982 musical comedy Victor/Victoria, like most gender-flipping movies, relies a bit too much on the gender binary. However, it uses its queer characters to help the straights find their own unique shading on the sexuality spectrum. This was my first time watching Victor/Victoria and...

Ron Gilbert, an Emmy-nominated producer and partner with David Susskind in the indie production company Talent Associates Ltd that was behind TV series like Get Smart and movies including Straw Dogs and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died of heart failure December 4 at his Los Angeles home. He was 87.

Talent Associates was a major force in the 1960s and ’70s, producing series including East Side, West Side starring George C. Scott, NYPD, The Glass Menagerie starring Katharine Hepburn, Eleanor and Franklin, Blind Ambition starring Martin Sheen and Get Smart. Gilbert served as executive in charge of production on several shows including Get Smart, the spy comedy that was hatched in the mid-1960s at the then New York-based company by two of its young writers, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. It premiered on NBC in 1965, ran five seasons and established Talent Associates’ L.A. base.

On the feature side, Talent Associates produced Straw Dogs,...

Never heard of Wake Island? Its fall terrified Americans at Christmas of 1941. The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and the assignment was to make a movie about a tragic defeat that might be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-builder doesn’t exaggerate or sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny atoll in the Pacific, and stands as an example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.

Wake Island

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 88 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix, Albert Dekker, Walter Abel, Mikhail Rasumny, Rod Cameron, Bill Goodwin, Damian O’Flynn, Frank Albertson, Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Britton, Hillary Brooke, Dane Clark, Frank Faylen, Mary Field, Alan Hale Jr., Richard Loo, James Millican, Jack Mulhall, Keith Richards, Phillip Terry, Mary Thomas,...

The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and your assignment is to make a movie about a tragic defeat that could be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-building war drama doesn’t exaggerate or over-sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny island in the Pacific. John Farrow directs a fine group of actors who knew the film ‘had to say the right things.’ It stands as a fine example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.

The first WW2 Hollywood combat film based on an actual battle is the beautifully made Wake Island. It’s even more beautifully conceived to achieve multiple public relations aims in a time of great crisis. Until 1941 Wake Island had been little more than a stop for Pacific-hopping Pan-American clipper ship airplanes; Japan bombed it a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Today’s noir forecast is vice, kidnapping, murder, suicide, narcotics and a sleazy stolen baby racket! Kino’s third volume of Universal-International pix contains two seldom-screened quality urban noirs. Expect genuine dark themes in these sizable-budget location noirs filmed before Universal pulled most production back onto its one-size-fits-all backlot sets. Barbara Stanwyck dominates one show, while noir stalwarts Richard Conte and Dennis O’Keefe anchor the other two dramas, with dynamic showings by Coleen Gray, Edith Barrett, Peggy Dow, Jeanette Nolan, Meg Randall and especially Gale Storm.

Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema III

Abandoned, The Lady Gambles, The Sleeping City

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1949-50 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 79,99,86 min. / Street Date June 9, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.99

Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau, Jeanette Nolan, Mike Mazurki, Will Kuluva, David Clarke; Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett, John Hoyt,...

Robert Mitchum intercedes in a range war in this ‘A’ western, and he’s got the pro team of director Robert Wise and cameraman Nicholas Musuraca on his side. All but one action scene plays out at night, which is why this is sometimes called a Noir Western. The dark visuals fit that mold but the story values are strictly traditional, starting with the hero’s laconic do-it-don’t-say-it sense of personal honor. Partly filmed in Arizona, the fine production further advanced the laid-back Mitchum persona, this time as an honest cowpoke, not a cool-dude hipster.

Blood on the Moon

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 88 min. / Street Date April 28, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Frank Faylen, Tom Tully, Charles McGraw, Clifton Young, Tom Tyler, George Cooper, Harry Carey Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, Chris-Pin Martin.

Cinematography: Nicholas...

Robert Mitchum in Blood On The Moon is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering info can be found Here

Robert Mitchum and Barbara Bel Geddes star in this taut Western thriller about a gunslinging drifter who realizes he’s been hired to be a villain. Out on the Texas frontier, Jim Garry (Mitchum) rides into town, quickly getting caught in a simmering confrontation between homesteaders and cattle ranchers. After accepting employment from an old mercenary friend, Tate Riling (Robert Preston), Garry comes to realize that Riling has been manipulating the tensions between rancher John Lufton (Tom Tully) and the local settlers in a bid to swindle the Luftons out of their livestock. Garry becomes torn between his conscience and his greed until he finds himself falling for John Lufton’s daughter, the formidable Amy (Bel Geddes). Soon, the two old friends will face off in a bloody showdown from...

Actress Shirley Knight, star of “Sweet Bird of Youth,” and “As Good As It Gets” has died, her daughter actress Kaitlin Hopkins announced in a facebook post. She was 83.

Knight received two Oscar nominations for her work in her third and fourth films, “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” and “Sweet Bird of Youth, and appeared in numerous movies such as “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” and television shows such as “Thirtysomething” and “NYPD Blue.”

A native from Kansas, Knight received a Tony Award in 1976 for her portrayal as an alcoholic actress in “Kennedy’s Children,” and received a second nomination again in 1997 in Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Young Man From Atlanta.” Knight won two Emmys in 1995 and a Golden Globe, the first Emmy was for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie in the the television movie “The McMartin Trial,” where she starred as Peggy Buckley,...

Shirley Knight, who was twice Oscar nominated for best supporting actress, for “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” (1960) and “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1962), and won a Tony and three Emmys, died on Wednesday of natural causes in San Marcos, Texas. She was 83.

Her daughter, actress Kaitlin Hopkins, paid tribute to Knight in a lengthy Facebook post.

Knight continued to work as she approached 80, reprising her role as Mom in “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” in 2015 after appearing in the 2009 original.

In 1997’s “As Good as It Gets,” starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, Knight played the mother of Hunt’s character; the New York Times called her performance “tenderly funny.”

Other film credits of recent vintage include Luis Mandoki’s “Angel Eyes” (2001), starring Jennifer Lopez; thriller “The Salton Sea” (2002); “Grandma’s Boy” (2006); Rebecca Miller’s “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” (2009), with Robin Wright; “Our Idiot Brother” (2011), toplined by...

“A Gallant Gesture”

By Raymond Benson

The novel Beau Geste by Percival Christopher Wren was published in 1924 and has been adapted to film no less than four times and parodied a few instances as well. It’s a classic story of the French Foreign Legionnaires set in the years between the turn of the 20th Century and the First World War, and for nearly a hundred years it has been deemed one of the great adventure tales.

The 1939 adaptation, directed by William A. Wellman, was the second filmed version and is generally considered the best and certainly most well-known variation (the first was a silent picture made in 1926 and starring Ronald Colman). With an outstanding cast that includes Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Broderick Crawford, Albert Dekker, and even a young Donald O’Connor, Beau Geste is indeed a rousing “Arabian” action flick,...

It’s a classic from the Golden Year of 1939, directed in fine style by Wild Bill Wellman and well cast with Paramount stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston, and with Brian Donlevy as one of the movies’ most hissable villains. The popular story has been remade and spoofed innumerable times, yet this remains the indelible best version. A commentary with William Wellman Jr. and Frank Thompson points out many things we didn’t notice before, including where some excised scenes belong, and what originally happened in them.

Beau Geste

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 112 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Stephenson, Heather Thatcher, George P. Huntley, Donald O’Connor, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Francis McDonald.

In 1977 Burt Reynolds was on top of the Hollywood world, a bankable star whose popularity knew no bounds. In between his payday Smokey and the Bandit vehicles, he tried working with directors Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Aldrich, Stanley Donen … and with this film, the highly entertaining, somewhat unpredictable Michael Ritchie. The adaptation of Dan Jenkins’ NFL football book takes a left turn into social satire (or honest reportage), and centers on a romantic triangle with Jill Clayburgh and Kris Kristofferson. You might not remember all of its non- PC rough edges … which were already Sop for comedies of the ’70s.

Semi-Tough

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1977 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date January 21, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Preston, Brian Dennehy, Bert Convy, Roger E. Mosley, Lotte Lenya, Richard Masur, Carl Weathers, Mary Jo Catlett, Ron Silver.

Cinematography: Charles Rosher Jr.

Film Editor: Richard A.

This Gun For Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) screens Tuesday February 4th. The film begins at 7:00pm. This is the opening film in a 3-film ‘Lake and Ladd’ series that continues February 11th with The Glass Key and February 18th with The Blue Dahlia. A Facebook invite can be found Here.

The first pairing of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake wasn’t meant to be so—Ms. Lake’s love interest in the film is played by Robert Preston (The Music Man)—and yet all of the chemistry is between her nightclub singer and Mr. Ladd’s hit man. Based on the Graham Greene novel A Gun for Sale, This Gun for Hire shot Ladd to instant stardom and immediately had audiences clamoring for more Lake/Ladd films.

Admission is:

$7 for the general public

$6 for seniors, Webster...

On the second season of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the title character’s father, Abe Weissman, undergoes a transformation both personally and professionally, much like his stand-up comic daughter as she seeks what was once a secret career in showbiz.

As played by Tony Shalhoub, there is more than a bit of the obsessive-compulsive behavior left over from his super-smart detective character on ABC’s “Monk” as Abe similarly clings to a series of rituals as if they were a life preserver in a metaphysical sea of constant change. Given that the actor earned an Emmy nomination as a lead in a comedy series for each of the show’s eight seasons – winning three times – “Monk” fans can’t help but expect similar behavior from Shalhoub, even on a different series. Yes, it’s a jungle out there now that his only daughter is split from her husband.

Actor Hugh Jackman will return to Broadway in an upcoming revival of Meredith Willsons "The Music Man". It marks Jackman's first musical role in more than a decade. His last one, "The Boy From Oz", resulted in a Tony Award for best actor.

Jackman will play con man Harold Hill, a role made famous on screen and stage by the late Robert Preston. The show follows Hill's latest scheme, one that finds him posing as the head of

boys' marching band. Scott Rudin will produce the revival, reports variety.com. On Twitter, Jackman said, "The Music Man" will come to Broadway on October 22, 2020.

John Cassavetes springs forth as a major 1950s talent in these two ‘Primetime Special’ dramatic plays broadcast live on ABC and CBS. Crime in the Streets is the Reginald Rose classic directed by Sidney Lumet; No Right to Kill is a ‘culture for the masses’ adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Cassavetes’ co-stars are Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Terry Moore and Robert H. Harris.

Television’s Lost Classics

Volume One John Cassavetes

Crime in the Streets; No Right to Kill

Blu-ray

Vci

1955-’56 / B&W / 1:33 Kinescope / 2 x 60 min. / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 18.99 (Amazon)

Starring: John Cassavetes, Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Mark Rydell, Terry Moore, Robert H. Harris.

Directed by Sidney Lumet and Buzz Kulik

Remember the movie Network, when William Holden’s character says he’s going to write a glowing memoir about his ‘good old days’ in the Golden Era of Live TV in New York? That was in 1975, just...

” I’m thrilled by the style and wit of each jest that you make. It’s bracing to me. Trade quips with my bosom buddy. You Woolcott, you Benchley, you snake.”

Exciting news for Lucy fans! Mame (1974) is now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives! Ordering information can be found Here

You’re invited to party hearty – and in fabulous style – with this lavish 1974 screen version of the beloved Broadway musical. Lucille Ball brings star sparkle to the title role, a high-living grande dame who’s outlandishly eccentric and, when suddenly faced with raising an orphaned nephew, fiercely loving. Veterans of the New York stage original join her: Beatrice Arthur as best friend Vera, Jane Connell as prim governessAgnes, choreographer Onna White and director Gene Saks. As Mame’s husband Beauregard, Robert Preston (The Music Man) sings “Loving You,” written specially for the film. Jerry Herman’s songs, from “It...

Happy Robert Preston Centennial! He was born on this day in 1918 and went on to  screen immortality via The Music Man (1962, Tony win for the stage version) and Victor / Victoria (1982, Oscar nomination). Other famous films include: Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), Mame (1974) and his last feature film The Last Starfighter (1984). We had planned a whole thing but this week has been bu-sy.

Here's what else was happening on this day in showbiz history...

Each year we struggle to rev back up during the Post Oscar malaise but I think we're finally getting there. Be kind, June! Herewith highlights from April and May in case you missed 'em. xo

18 Highlights

• Soundtracking: Burlesque "Show me how you ____"

• Actors Who Should Be More Famous Elise, Rains, DeWitt, Taghmaoui, etcetera

• Ashley Judd, Pulp Queen

• We The Animals watch out for this great movie coming in August

• Michelle Williams in I Feel Pretty ... and other scene-stealers

• Months of Meryl: Postcards from the Edge Meryl's first great comedy

• Smackdown 1970 Five Easy Pieces, Airport, and more

• A Fantastic Woman A Dreamy Awakening

• Pfandom: Scarface Michelle's inner great actress breaks out

• Isle of Dogs and Japanese Culture Riff, love letter, appropriation

• Natalie Wood ♥︎ The Boys... Her connection to the seminal gay play/film

• Blueprints: Love Simon two emotional scenes

• Bernstein's Legacy now in the hands of Gyllenhaal and Spielberg?

• Contrarian Corner...

Rogue One scribe Gary Whitta has taken to social media to share concept art for a reboot of Nick Castle’s 1984 sci-fi film The Last Starfighter, announcing he is working on the project with co-writer Jonathan Betuel.

Whitta stated on the post via twitter: “You might recognize the ships. Thanks to the amazing Matt Allsopp for creating these images for us.” He was also asked if it was a reboot or a sequel to which he only responded: “Forgot to cc @Sethrogen since I know he’s a fan :)… Okay, back to work… might have a bit more for you later”

Also in the news – Scarlett Johansson in final talks to star in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit

Okay, probably shouldn’t show you this so early but here’s a little something I’ve been tinkering on with my co-writer Jonathan Betuel. You might recognize the ships.

This article marks Part 4 of the 21-part Gold Derby series Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.

After “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” in 1981, Meryl Streep lined up two exciting projects for the following year, both lead turns and both given prime late-year release dates for Academy Awards consideration.

First on tap was Streep’s much-anticipated reunion with “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) director Robert Benton. “Still of the Night” would mark her first big screen thriller to date, pairing Streep with two-time Oscar nominee Roy Scheider. Exciting, right? Well, the Benton picture came and went that November in the blink of an eye, failing to even crack the box office top 10. Not only were reviews for the film itself lukewarm but critics argued both...