Thursday, March 22, 2007
Manly movies with Craggy heads
Jim "Bob" Smith here with the picks of the week. Check out Jack Palance in "The Silver Chalice" with Lorne Greene and Paul Newman, 1954. Jack can also be seen in "Attack" with Buddy Ebsen and Eddie Albert, 1956. Then we have Richard Boone in "Hombre" with Paul Newman, 1965. Boone is also starring in "The War Lord" with Charlton Heston, 1967, and "The Shootist" with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, 1976. And not to be missed is Kirk Douglas in "In Harm's Way" with John Wayne and Burgess Meredith, 1965. As a special added attraction we have Kirk in "The War Wagon" co-starring John Wayne. Enjoy!
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32 comments:
OK!
i think it was 'shane' where i first saw a young evil jack palance. (was it 'shane'?)
i think i'm mixing it up with memories of 'man who shot liberty valance'.
either way, i've been meaning to get in on some more jack as a youngen... good times.
also: "craggy heads" ??
hilarious.
incidentally, i think someone in the blog world should work on some kinda big analysis on the consistent EXPLOSIONS of repressed emotion that kirk douglas gives us almost. every. damn. movie.
i bring this up because although after a while you kinda expect an emotive explosion from kirk, i was sorta suprised to see one in 'bad & the beautiful'. sorta unexpected. didn't think he was going to do it.
also: mr horse is basically kirk douglas, isn't he? can someone verfiy that?
Sure will!
I just watched detective story for the first time and was blown away!
I'm embarrassed to say I've only seen "The Shootist" out of this great list of films. Time to visit the video store post-haste! Thanks for the recommendations, Jim!
Yes, sir! But first, I'm gonna warch The Departed. Does anyone else think Leonardo Di Caprio looks like the sterotypical image of Lucifer/Satan/The Devil?
To ecto: Yes it was Palance in "Shane" Lee Marvin was Liberty Valance. Check out "Sign of the Pagan" with Palance as
Attila the Hun and he played really scary animalistic Dracula in one movie from the mid-70s, though I've forgotten the exact title. I think it was just called Dracula. Did anyone else see that? He also played a great Jeckyl and Hyde in the 70s.
Mr Horse is sort of John K. combined with the basic man on the street, (or horse on the street). You know the guy in tv commercials whose always being asked his opinion about some new product.
Kirk just seems to fit in everywhere.
There was something in the way Mr Horse says: "But I'm a HORSE!"
in Ren Seeks Help. It sounded really Kirk-like. Comparing it with "How many more other MEN?" in Detective Story.
To ecto: You must understand that by the time the horse came along John had been into Kirk for years. John's Brik Blastoff from the mid 80's is basically Kirk. He shows up in a Mighty Mouse episode called "The Littlest Tramp" and speaks in an English accent. In Ren and Stimpy the Kirk bit would appear frequently. Ask John. He's the one who knows for sure since it's his character. At one point Nickelodeon sent a memo telling him to change the horse to giraffe.
To trevour: Boone also plays a great villian, sorry, villain in "Big Jake" also with Wayne.
To trevour: Boone also plays a great villain in "Big Jake" with Wayne, about 1973, I think.
Just had an attack of deja vu.
Big Jake, why I think we have that on tape around here somewhere! Better give it a view - haven't seen that one in years!
Lee Marvin also appears in "Attack"
To jorge: Leo might do a good Peter Pan
I remember when the fanboys all had a collective conniption over the possibility of Leo DiCaprio as Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones. But who did we get? Little Wooden Boy, aka Hayden Christensen. Hayden looks pretty on camera. He also seemed to "get" how to do swordplay. However, when asked to act...he can't. He can't. He has as much ability to act as a solid wooden puppet, hence my pet name for him. (It's also a reference to The Tick comic and animated series.)
If there's one thing DiCaprio CAN do, it's ACT. Even though Titanic was mushy and oversentimental and designed for the fantasies of pubescent girls, he didn't do too bad in that. And before Titanic there was What's Eating Gilbert Grape (a convincing mentally challenged boy) and The Basketball Diaries (a preteen to teenage junkie turned poet...very good) to prove he could do it.
He is coming into his own as one of the best pretty boys-turned-capable-character-actors since Johnny Depp. He proved he could "become" a character in The Aviator. He's become a favorite actor for Martin Scorcese, who knows good acting when he sees it. I haven't seen The Departed or Blood Diamond but everything I hear about the two movies sounds great.
It is likely that DiCaprio wouldn't have done Gangs Of New York, the first movie he did for Scorcese, if he had been picked (over loud fanboy objection) as Anakin Skywalker. However, I think he would have made the character darker, more convincingly dangerous, and more subtle.
I think he would have also had enough of a pair of big brass ones to tell Lucas exactly what to do with some of the more egregiously bad dialogue in Episode II and Episode III. Apparently Ewan McGregor saved Obi-Wan from some real howlers by speaking up. Unfortunately Natalie Portman was not so assertive, apparently.
Oh well, one can dream, can't one...
>To jorge: Leo might do a good Peter Pan
Yeah, in the theatres Ms. Di Caprio could be a wonderful Peter Pan.
haha these are great recommendations! thanks!
To david: Any movie with Jack Palance or Richard Boone is ok in my book.
Thanks for the recommendations. I've seen "Attack", "The Shootist" and "In Harm's Way", and will look up for the rest. Jack Palance as Dracula?!? I absolutely must see that!
Speaking of Palance... Jim, have you seen him in "The Big Knife" and "Ten Seconds to Hell"? Robert Aldrich directed both movies, and they're really good, highly recommended. Palance came very close to Kirk Douglas scale of intensity in "The Big Knife".
To hammer: Thanks for the recommend. I've never seen the Big Knife. Is Ten Seconds... about bomb defusing after WWII? Check out Palance in Panic in the Streets with Richard Skidmark.
To Palance fans: The Dracula movie is from 1974 and was made for TV. Directed by Dan Curtis. The script is by Richard Matheson, veteran sci-fi writer for Star Trek. I'd love to see it again though it is likely not on dvd yet. How do we find it?
Panic in the Streets...
Yes! I knew I've seen more young Palance stuff. Yeah, yeah, he was real great in that.
And I dig Widmark too. He's the god of Fuller's Pickup on Southstreet. So slick.
Although I like those two actors, why wasn't that movie good enough? Panic in the Streets, I mean. I remember it having some real good premise/story idea. It came out kinda weak.
Interesting Widmark comes up, what's that movie he did with Marilyn Monroe? I only just heard about that.
In other news: here's this:
http://accel3.mettre-put-idata.over-blog.com/0/08/10/98/jack-palance.jpg
Anyone see Last Sunset? Where Kirk is referred to in the film as the man with a hole in his chin??
To ecto: In the War Wagon Kirk explains how he got that hole in his chin. Guess you'll have to watch it to find out cause I'm not telling. This will be on your final exam.
>> Is Ten Seconds... about bomb defusing after WWII? <<
Yeah, that's it.
>> Check out Palance in Panic in the Streets with Richard Skidmark.<<
I will, very soon. That one is already on my top priority list of films to watch.
>> Dracula
>> I'd love to see it again though it is likely not on dvd yet. How do we find it? <<
I just checked out, and it is available on DVD, as a part of a box set "The Dan Curtis Macabre Collection". Dr.Jekyll with Palance is also included there.
>> Interesting Widmark comes up, what's that movie he did with Marilyn Monroe? I only just heard about that. <<
"Don't Bother To Knock". Haven't seen it yet, but I heard it's quite interesting, and Marilyn's performance was described as really strong and unusual. Also don't miss "Clash by Night", another of the early Monroe films.
>>Anyone see Last Sunset? Where Kirk is referred to in the film as the man with a hole in his chin?? <<
Yes, I saw it last year. Pretty good western, really worth watching. It deserves to be much better known than it is.
... and since we talk about Kirk, Jim can you please check out the Kirk Douglas caricature on my blog. I would love to hear your opinion and suggestions how to improve it.
To hammerson: You young folks and your google! I swear you can find anything. Could find out where Jimmy Hoffa is? Just joshin'. Thanks pal. Is that dvd available on the web?
>> To hammerson: You young folks and your google! I swear you can find anything. Could find out where Jimmy Hoffa is? <<
HAHA... no I can't. It takes something much more powerful than Google to unravel this.
>>Just joshin'. Thanks pal. Is that dvd available on the web? <<
Do you mean can it be ordered somewhere on the web? Yes, Amazon.com has it. Here are the direct links:
Dan Curtis' Dracula (Jack Palance)
Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde (Jack Palance)
Dan Curtis Macabre Collection (includes Dracula, Dr.Jekyll and two more films)
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