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Jason talks about the increase in customs revenue under Trump's policies, highlighting a significant rise from $4 billion in 2015 to $22.3 billion, though he noted it would not solve government debt issues. He predicted a likely decrease in interest rates due to the disappearance of the inflation threat, which could lead to a surge in home buyers, potentially wiping out current inventory if rates drop by half a percent. Jason emphasized the importance of focusing on fundamentals and staying in the market long-term for success, even during a "boring" time in real estate with moderate appreciation and flat rents. He also mentioned opportunities in note investing for high returns and encouraged listeners to explore this option. Then Jason and Paul Moore of WellingsCapital.com discuss the concept of "boring investors" who focus on long-term, passive investing strategies that prioritize consistent returns and personal fulfillment over speculative trading and quick profits. They explore how successful investors like Warren Buffett demonstrate the benefits of careful, methodical investing through steady growth and avoidance of emotional decision-making, while emphasizing the importance of diversification within proven asset classes like real estate. They conclude with reflections on legacy investing and social impact, highlighting the value of disciplined, boring investment approaches that prioritize long-term happiness and meaningful contributions to society. Join the fight against human trafficking AIMFree.org #BoringInvestor #Investing #WealthBuilding #FinancialFreedom #RealEstate #Diversification #PassiveIncome #WarrenBuffett #Consistency #LongTermInvesting #AvoidFOMO (FearOfMissingOut) #EmbraceJOMO (JoyOfMissingOut) #CharlieMunger #WellingsCapital Key Takeaways: Jason's editorial 1:36 Aaron Russo on democracy 3:48 America's monthly customs revenues 5:18 Buying power and sensitivity 7:32 Words to live by 9:31 Note investing Paul Moore's interview 10:25 The Boring Investor 17:30 Charlie Munger & Warren Buffet- learning from our mistakes 20:25 Invest in diverse, boring assets 22:15 Sponsor: https://www.monetary-metals.com/Hartman 24:13 Shiny objects, simpletons FOMO 28:20 Imitate patterns, Not outliers 32:38 Crystal balls, patience and saying NO 36:17 Relationships and the unseen realm Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class: Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com
Don't Kill the Messenger with movie research expert Kevin Goetz
Send Kevin a Text MessageIn this episode of "Don't Kill the Messenger," host Kevin Goetz sits down with George Folsey Jr., the legendary film editor and producer whose illustrious career spans over five decades. Folsey Jr. has collaborated with acclaimed directors like John Landis, Eli Roth, and Paul Feig and is known for his work on films including Trading Places, An American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers, and Michael Jackson's groundbreaking music video, Thriller. Growing Up in Hollywood's Golden Age (02:00)George recalls his childhood experiences at MGM Studios, including encounters with stars like Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, and Esther Williams.Learning the Craft (05:36)George discusses his entry into film editing, starting at KABC and learning from mentor Henry Berman at MGM. The Making of Trading Places (10:07)The conversation turns to Trading Places, which George considers one of his favorite projects. He discusses the challenging relationship with producer Aaron Russo and filming in Philadelphia.The Twilight Zone Tragedy (11:53)George and Kevin discuss the tragic accident on The Twilight Zone set and its impact on George's life and career.The Art of the "Fix" (15:42)George explains his approach to "fixing" troubled films, emphasizing the importance of collaboration rather than alienating the original filmmakers.The Animal House Experience (20:44)In a fascinating revelation about one of comedy's most beloved films, George discusses how Animal House was made without traditional test screenings.On Test Screenings and Audience Feedback (26:22)George strongly advocates for the test screening process, arguing that understanding audience reactions is crucial given the massive investments in both money and careers at stake. He demonstrates this philosophy in his work on Cheaper by the Dozen.Working with Michael Jackson on Thriller (37:18)George shares personal stories about working with Michael Jackson, including anecdotes about their time together during the editing of Thriller and family visits to Jackson's home.George Folsey Jr. offers a masterclass in film editing and production. His candid insights into working with directors like John Landis and Paul Feig, collaborating with Michael Jackson on Thriller, and helping shape classics like Trading Places and Animal House offer listeners a glimpse into the craft of film editing. His honest discussion of career challenges, including the Twilight Zone tragedy, and his philosophy on film editing and test screenings reveals not only his technical expertise but also his passion for storytelling and audience engagement. Host: Kevin GoetzGuest: George Folsey Jr.Producer: Kari CampanoWriters: Kevin Goetz, Darlene Hayman, and Kari CampanoAudio Engineer: Gary Forbes (DG Entertainment)For more info about George Folsey Jr.:Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Folsey_Jr.IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284390/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-folsey-jr-93951283For more info about Kevin Goetz:Website: www.KevinGoetz360.comAudienceology Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Audi
G'day Folks, On today's show we reunite the lads for Episode 16 of Season 6. The boys are back together to discuss the state of affairs within Australia and the world. It's great to have both Andy and Ethan back with me for another great discussion of current events and identifying the tip-toe steps towards the technocratic dystopia that our governments are moving us closer to. One of the main things we've been seeing lately is the push towards the digital agenda. Not just currencies but digital I.D's as well. We talked about it back in November of 2022 nearly 2 years ago and the creep towards that Agenda goes on. Simply do a search of TOTTnews for 'Digital Identity' and you will be met with heaps of articles by Ethan documenting each move our fascist government makes to achieve this goal. His latest piece (linked below); Australian government unveils “world-leading” Digital ID system, shows us how Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has unveiled the "Trust Exchange", or "TEx", a new framework that will usher in Australia's long-envisioned digital identity agenda on a federal level. The pieces are being put in to place to make this a reality folks. Be ready. They want the power to simply 'Turn off your chip' as Aaron Russo put it in his interview with Infowars nearly 20 years ago. We briefly discuss the Olympic ceremonies including the 2012 one in London which was predictive programming for the plandemic. The current Paris games which showed us Greek mythology and their occult symbolism. Plus much more. Don't forget i've got a bunch of new stickers for sale as well. Links: https://tottnews.com/2024/08/14/australia-digital-id-system/ https://tottnews.com/2024/01/15/dna-folding-nanobots/ https://www.bitchute.com/video/Mo5hAPRclaDb https://www.bitchute.com/video/BoM7HVNmjlnA +++++++++++++++++ Remember the Bonus Content shows are available now to all Patreon supporters for just AU$8 a month! Now 44 Bonus shows are available just for those who see value in what we do. Including a 5 part series on the Port Arthur Massacre, The Electric Universe with Physicist Wal Thornhill, The Moon Landing Hoax & The Titanic Conspiracy! PLUS!!!... every Patreon member gets a video version of every episode of the regular show too! Instead of donating money to a charity that most likely won't pass on your full donation to whomever needs it, why not sign up as a patron over at our Patreon account for all the bonus content and extra podcasts! https://www.patreon.com/RealNewsAustralia PayPal donations can be made me here at RealNewsAustralia.com to help pay for costs associated with bringing you this show if you don't want any extra bonus content for your support. As always make sure you subscribe and give us a 5 star rating on iTunes with a nice little review to help us out! Please consider sharing on social media to ensure we reach a bigger audience! We're relying on YOU! Links: https://www.patreon.com/RealNewsAustralia - Join Today! BUY ME A COFFEE! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GeneralMaddox/membership http://paypal.me/LeeMaddox79- Support today!
America: Freedom to Fascism is a 2006 film by filmmaker and activist Aaron Russo, covering a variety of subjects that Russo contends are detrimental to Americans. Topics include the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the income tax, Federal Reserve System, national ID cards (REAL ID Act), human-implanted RFID tags, Diebold electronic voting machines,[1] globalization, Big Brother, taser weapons abuse, and the use of terrorism by the government as a means to diminish the citizens' rights.
A rebroadcast of BOR #296, Nov 9, 2006 Aaron Russo (February 14, 1943 – August 24, 2007) Producer, Filmmaker, Director, - Watch the Film Here: America: Freedom to Fascism There is no law that requires people to pay an income tax on their labor "Supreme Court decisions do not apply to the IRS" Aaron's website was "freedomtofascism.com" Habeas Corpus, H.R. 6166, get out into the market place, DVD, Google 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment The Supreme Court ruled, that while corporate gains are taxable, labor isn't 1913, the Federal Reserve Act Tax the labor of the people to pay the Federal Reserve System interest The Democrats just won, nothing's gonna change, totalitarian policies A central bank and graduated income tax are planks of the Communist Manifesto A One World government, money controlling governments America has become a Facist country run by the corporations Have everybody "Chipped", Radio Frequency Identification, RFID chips Women's Lib, tax half the population, indoctrinate the children The difference between a Democracy and a Constitutional Republic "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch" Fiat Money, making money out of thin air, is a curse Congress has the legal authority to shut the Fed down They can't control us unless we allow them to, stop cooperating If you care about your freedom, fight back, wake people up
In this installment, Dan and Jordan take a trip to the past to take in the episode where Alex spoke to Libertarian political hopeful, alleged friend of someone who claimed to be a relative of the Rockefellers, and former showbiz player Aaron Russo for the first time.
The Army Suddenly, and Chaotically, Told Hundreds of Soldiers They Have to Be Recruiters Immediatelyhttps://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/01/army-suddenly-and-chaotically-told-hundreds-of-soldiers-they-have-be-recruiters-immediately.htmlHezbollah leader set to weigh in on Middle East warhttps://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-leader-set-weigh-middle-east-war-2023-11-02/Selective Servicehttps://www.sss.govAaron Russohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Russowebsite: thefacthunter.comEmail: thefacthunter@mail.comSnail Mail:George HobbsPO Box 109Goldsboro, MD 21636
GUEST OVERVIEW: Jake Jackson is a US Army veteran who served honorably from 1985-1989 in the Presidential Honor Guard in Washington, DC, and was also a member and soloist of the illustrious US Army Drill team. He realized over 35 years ago that there was something just not quite right about government, but it would take another 2 decades to fully awaken to the nature of our reality. In late April of 2007, he fully awakened after watching Aaron Russo's, “America: Freedom to Fascism, ”His prolific work is a blueprint and roadmap of how We, The People UNITE and take back our power peacefully and without a single act of violence.
The first of a two-part series on the short-lived 80s American distribution company responsible for Dirty Dancing. ----more---- The movies covered on this episode: Alpine (1987, Fredi M. Murer) Anna (1987, Yurek Bogayevicz) Billy Galvin (1986, John Grey) Blood Diner (1987, Jackie Kong) China Girl (1987, Abel Ferrera) The Dead (1987, John Huston) Dirty Dancing (1987, Emile Ardolino) Malcolm (1986, Nadia Tess) Personal Services (1987, Terry Jones) Slaughter High (1986, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten and George Dugdale) Steel Dawn (1987, Lance Hook) Street Trash (1987, Jim Muro) TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. Have you ever thought “I should do this thing” but then you never get around to it, until something completely random happens that reminds you that you were going to do this thing a long time ago? For this week's episode, that kick in the keister was a post on Twitter from someone I don't follow being retweeted by the great film critic and essayist Walter Chaw, someone I do follow, that showed a Blu-ray cover of the 1987 Walter Hill film Extreme Prejudice. You see, Walter Chaw has recently released a book about the life and career of Walter Hill, and this other person was showing off their new purchase. That in and of itself wasn't the kick in the butt. That was the logo of the disc's distributor. Vestron Video. A company that went out of business more than thirty years before, that unbeknownst to me had been resurrected by the current owner of the trademark, Lionsgate Films, as a specialty label for a certain kind of film like Ken Russell's Gothic, Beyond Re-Animator, CHUD 2, and, for some reason, Walter Hill's Neo-Western featuring Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe and Rip Torn. For those of you from the 80s, you remember at least one of Vestron Pictures' movies. I guarantee it. But before we get there, we, as always, must go back a little further back in time. The year is 1981. Time Magazine is amongst the most popular magazines in the world, while their sister publication, Life, was renowned for their stunning photographs printed on glossy color paper of a larger size than most magazines. In the late 1970s, Time-Life added a video production and distribution company to ever-growing media empire that also included television stations, cable channels, book clubs, and compilation record box sets. But Time Life Home Video didn't quite take off the way the company had expected, and they decided to concentrate its lucrative cable businesses like HBO. The company would move Austin Furst, an executive from HBO, over to dismantle the assets of Time-Life Films. And while Furst would sell off the production and distribution parts of the company to Fox, and the television department to Columbia Pictures, he couldn't find a party interested in the home video department. Recognizing that home video was an emerging market that would need a visionary like himself willing to take big risks for the chance to have big rewards, Furst purchased the home video rights to the film and video library for himself, starting up his home entertainment company. But what to call the company? It would be his daughter that would come up with Vestron, a portmanteau of combining the name of the Roman goddess of the heart, Vesta, with Tron, the Greek word for instrument. Remember, the movie Tron would not be released for another year at this point. At first, there were only two employees at Vestron: Furst himself, and Jon Pesinger, a fellow executive at Time-Life who, not unlike Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire, was the only person who saw Furst's long-term vision for the future. Outside of the titles they brought with them from Time-Life, Vestron's initial release of home video titles comprised of two mid-range movie hits where they were able to snag the home video rights instead of the companies that released the movies in theatres, either because those companies did not have a home video operation yet, or did not negotiate for home video rights when making the movie deal with the producers. Fort Apache, The Bronx, a crime drama with Paul Newman and Ed Asner, and Loving Couples, a Shirley MacLaine/James Coburn romantic comedy that was neither romantic nor comedic, were Time-Life productions, while the Burt Reynolds/Dom DeLuise comedy The Cannonball Run, was a pickup from the Hong Kong production company Golden Harvest, which financed the comedy to help break their local star, Jackie Chan, into the American market. They'd also make a deal with several Canadian production companies to get the American home video rights to titles like the Jack Lemmon drama Tribute and the George C. Scott horror film The Changeling. The advantage that Vestron had over the major studios was their outlook on the mom and pop rental stores that were popping up in every city and town in the United States. The major studios hated the idea that they could sell a videotape for, say, $99.99, and then see someone else make a major profit by renting that tape out fifty or a hundred times at $4 or $5 per night. Of course, they would eventually see the light, but in 1982, they weren't there yet. Now, let me sidetrack for a moment, as I am wont to do, to talk about mom and pop video stores in the early 1980s. If you're younger than, say, forty, you probably only know Blockbuster and/or Hollywood Video as your local video rental store, but in the early 80s, there were no national video store chains yet. The first Blockbuster wouldn't open until October 1985, in Dallas, and your neighborhood likely didn't get one until the late 1980s or early 1990s. The first video store I ever encountered, Telford Home Video in Belmont Shores, Long Beach in 1981, was operated by Bob Telford, an actor best known for playing the Station Master in both the original 1974 version of Where the Red Fern Grows and its 2003 remake. Bob was really cool, and I don't think it was just because the space for the video store was just below my dad's office in the real estate company that had built and operated the building. He genuinely took interest in this weird thirteen year old kid who had an encyclopedic knowledge of films and wanted to learn more. I wanted to watch every movie he had in the store that I hadn't seen yet, but there was one problem: we had a VHS machine, and most of Bob's inventory was RCA SelectaVision, a disc-based playback system using a special stylus and a groove-covered disc much like an LP record. After school each day, I'd hightail it over to Telford Home Video, and Bob and I would watch a movie while we waited for customers to come rent something. It was with Bob that I would watch Ordinary People and The Magnificent Seven, The Elephant Man and The Last Waltz, Bus Stop and Rebel Without a Cause and The French Connection and The Man Who Fell to Earth and a bunch of other movies that weren't yet available on VHS, and it was great. Like many teenagers in the early 1980s, I spent some time working at a mom and pop video store, Seacliff Home Video in Aptos, CA. I worked on the weekends, it was a third of a mile walk from home, and even though I was only 16 years old at the time, my bosses would, every week, solicit my opinion about which upcoming videos we should acquire. Because, like Telford Home Video and Village Home Video, where my friends Dick and Michelle worked about two miles away, and most every video store at the time, space was extremely limited and there was only space for so many titles. Telford Home Video was about 500 square feet and had maybe 500 titles. Seacliff was about 750 square feet and around 800 titles, including about 50 in the tiny, curtained off room created to hold the porn. And the first location for Village Home Video had only 300 square feet of space and only 250 titles. The owner, Leone Keller, confirmed to me that until they moved into a larger location across from the original store, they were able to rent out every movie in the store every night. For many, a store owner had to be very careful about what they ordered and what they replaced. But Vestron Home Video always seemed to have some of the better movies. Because of a spat between Warner Brothers and Orion Pictures, Vestron would end up with most of Orion's 1983 through 1985 theatrical releases, including Rodney Dangerfield's Easy Money, the Nick Nolte political thriller Under Fire, the William Hurt mystery Gorky Park, and Gene Wilder's The Woman in Red. They'd also make a deal with Roger Corman's old American Independent Pictures outfit, which would reap an unexpected bounty when George Miller's second Mad Max movie, The Road Warrior, became a surprise hit in 1982, and Vestron was holding the video rights to the first Mad Max movie. And they'd also find themselves with the laserdisc rights to several Brian DePalma movies including Dressed to Kill and Blow Out. And after Polygram Films decided to leave the movie business in 1984, they would sell the home video rights to An American Werewolf in London and Endless Love to Vestron. They were doing pretty good. And in 1984, Vestron ended up changing the home video industry forever. When Michael Jackson and John Landis had trouble with Jackson's record company, Epic, getting their idea for a 14 minute short film built around the title song to Jackson's monster album Thriller financed, Vestron would put up a good portion of the nearly million dollar budget in order to release the movie on home video, after it played for a few weeks on MTV. In February 1984, Vestron would release a one-hour tape, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, that included the mini-movie and a 45 minute Making of featurette. At $29.99, it would be one of the first sell-through titles released on home video. It would become the second home videotape to sell a million copies, after Star Wars. Suddenly, Vestron was flush with more cash than it knew what to do with. In 1985, they would decide to expand their entertainment footprint by opening Vestron Pictures, which would finance a number of movies that could be exploited across a number of platforms, including theatrical, home video, cable and syndicated TV. In early January 1986, Vestron would announce they were pursuing projects with three producers, Steve Tisch, Larry Turman, and Gene Kirkwood, but no details on any specific titles or even a timeframe when any of those movies would be made. Tisch, the son of Loews Entertainment co-owner Bob Tisch, had started producing films in 1977 with the Peter Fonda music drama Outlaw Blues, and had a big hit in 1983 with Risky Business. Turman, the Oscar-nominated producer of Mike Nichols' The Graduate, and Kirkwood, the producer of The Keep and The Pope of Greenwich Village, had seen better days as producers by 1986 but their names still carried a certain cache in Hollywood, and the announcement would certainly let the industry know Vestron was serious about making quality movies. Well, maybe not all quality movies. They would also launch a sub-label for Vestron Pictures called Lightning Pictures, which would be utilized on B-movies and schlock that maybe wouldn't fit in the Vestron Pictures brand name they were trying to build. But it costs money to build a movie production and theatrical distribution company. Lots of money. Thanks to the ever-growing roster of video titles and the success of releases like Thriller, Vestron would go public in the spring of 1985, selling enough shares on the first day of trading to bring in $440m to the company, $140m than they thought they would sell that day. It would take them a while, but in 1986, they would start production on their first slate of films, as well as acquire several foreign titles for American distribution. Vestron Pictures officially entered the theatrical distribution game on July 18th, 1986, when they released the Australian comedy Malcolm at the Cinema 2 on the Upper East Side of New York City. A modern attempt to create the Aussie version of a Jacques Tati-like absurdist comedy about modern life and our dependance on gadgetry, Malcolm follows, as one character describes him a 100 percent not there individual who is tricked into using some of his remote control inventions to pull of a bank robbery. While the film would be a minor hit in Australia, winning all eight of the Australian Film Institute Awards it was nominated for including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and three acting awards, the film would only play for five weeks in New York, grossing less than $35,000, and would not open in Los Angeles until November 5th, where in its first week at the Cineplex Beverly Center and Samuel Goldwyn Pavilion Cinemas, it would gross a combined $37,000. Go figure. Malcolm would open in a few more major markets, but Vestron would close the film at the end of the year with a gross under $200,000. Their next film, Slaughter High, was a rather odd bird. A co-production between American and British-based production companies, the film followed a group of adults responsible for a prank gone wrong on April Fool's Day who are invited to a reunion at their defunct high school where a masked killer awaits inside. And although the movie takes place in America, the film was shot in London and nearby Virginia Water, Surrey, in late 1984, under the title April Fool's Day. But even with Caroline Munro, the British sex symbol who had become a cult favorite with her appearances in a series of sci-fi and Hammer horror films with Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee, as well as her work in the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, April Fool's Day would sit on the proverbial shelf for nearly two years, until Vestron picked it up and changed its title, since Paramount Pictures had released their own horror film called April Fools Day earlier in the year. Vestron would open Slaughter High on nine screens in Detroit on November 14th, 1986, but Vestron would not report grosses. Then they would open it on six screen in St. Louis on February 13th, 1987. At least this time they reported a gross. $12,400. Variety would simply call that number “grim.” They'd give the film one final rush on April 24th, sending it out to 38 screens in in New York City, where it would gross $90,000. There'd be no second week, as practically every theatre would replace it with Creepshow 2. The third and final Vestron Pictures release for 1986 was Billy Galvin, a little remembered family drama featuring Karl Malden and Lenny von Dohlen, originally produced for the PBS anthology series American Playhouse but bumped up to a feature film as part of coordinated effort to promote the show by occasionally releasing feature films bearing the American Playhouse banner. The film would open at the Cineplex Beverly Center on December 31st, not only the last day of the calendar year but the last day a film can be released into theatres in Los Angeles to have been considered for Academy Awards. The film would not get any major awards, from the Academy or anyone else, nor much attention from audiences, grossing just $4,000 in its first five days. They'd give the film a chance in New York on February 20th, at the 23rd Street West Triplex, but a $2,000 opening weekend gross would doom the film from ever opening in another theatre again. In early 1987, Vestron announced eighteen films they would release during the year, and a partnership with AMC Theatres and General Cinema to have their films featured in those two companies' pilot specialized film programs in major markets like Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston and San Francisco. Alpine Fire would be the first of those films, arriving at the Cinema Studio 1 in New York City on February 20th. A Swiss drama about a young deaf and mentally challenged teenager who gets his older sister pregnant, was that country's entry into the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race. While the film would win the Golden Leopard Award at the 1985 Locarno Film Festival, the Academy would not select the film for a nomination, and the film would quickly disappear from theatres after a $2,000 opening weekend gross. Personal Services, the first film to be directed by Terry Jones outside of his services with Monty Python, would arrive in American theatres on May 15th. The only Jones-directed film to not feature any other Python in the cast, Personal Services was a thinly-disguised telling of a 1970s—era London waitress who was running a brothel in her flat in order to make ends meet, and featured a standout performance by Julie Walters as the waitress turned madame. In England, Personal Services would be the second highest-grossing film of the year, behind The Living Daylights, the first Bond film featuring new 007 Timothy Dalton. In America, the film wouldn't be quite as successful, grossing $1.75m after 33 weeks in theatres, despite never playing on more than 31 screens in any given week. It would be another three months before Vestron would release their second movie of the year, but it would be the one they'd become famous for. Dirty Dancing. Based in large part on screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein's own childhood, the screenplay would be written after the producers of the 1980 Michael Douglas/Jill Clayburgh dramedy It's My Turn asked the writer to remove a scene from the screenplay that involved an erotic dance sequence. She would take that scene and use it as a jumping off point for a new story about a Jewish teenager in the early 1960s who participated in secret “Dirty Dancing” competitions while she vacationed with her doctor father and stay-at-home mother while they vacationed in the Catskill Mountains. Baby, the young woman at the center of the story, would not only resemble the screenwriter as a character but share her childhood nickname. Bergstein would pitch the story to every studio in Hollywood in 1984, and only get a nibble from MGM Pictures, whose name was synonymous with big-budget musicals decades before. They would option the screenplay and assign producer Linda Gottlieb, a veteran television producer making her first major foray into feature films, to the project. With Gottlieb, Bergstein would head back to the Catskills for the first time in two decades, as research for the script. It was while on this trip that the pair would meet Michael Terrace, a former Broadway dancer who had spent summers in the early 1960s teaching tourists how to mambo in the Catskills. Terrace and Bergstein didn't remember each other if they had met way back when, but his stories would help inform the lead male character of Johnny Castle. But, as regularly happens in Hollywood, there was a regime change at MGM in late 1985, and one of the projects the new bosses cut loose was Dirty Dancing. Once again, the script would make the rounds in Hollywood, but nobody was biting… until Vestron Pictures got their chance to read it. They loved it, and were ready to make it their first in-house production… but they would make the movie if the budget could be cut from $10m to $4.5m. That would mean some sacrifices. They wouldn't be able to hire a major director, nor bigger name actors, but that would end up being a blessing in disguise. To direct, Gottlieb and Bergstein looked at a lot of up and coming feature directors, but the one person they had the best feeling about was Emile Ardolino, a former actor off-Broadway in the 1960s who began his filmmaking career as a documentarian for PBS in the 1970s. In 1983, Ardolino's documentary about National Dance Institute founder Jacques d'Amboise, He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin', would win both the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Entertainment Special. Although Ardolino had never directed a movie, he would read the script twice in a week while serving on jury duty, and came back to Gottlieb and Bergstein with a number of ideas to help make the movie shine, even at half the budget. For a movie about dancing, with a lot of dancing in it, they would need a creative choreographer to help train the actors and design the sequences. The filmmakers would chose Kenny Ortega, who in addition to choreographing the dance scenes in Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, had worked with Gene Kelly on the 1980 musical Xanadu. Well, more specifically, was molded by Gene Kelly to become the lead choreographer for the film. That's some good credentials. Unlike movies like Flashdance, where the filmmakers would hire Jennifer Beals to play Alex and Marine Jahan to perform Alex's dance scenes, Emile Ardolino was insistent that the actors playing the dancers were actors who also dance. Having stand-ins would take extra time to set-up, and would suck up a portion of an already tight budget. Yet the first people he would meet for the lead role of Johnny were non-dancers Benecio del Toro, Val Kilmer, and Billy Zane. Zane would go so far as to do a screen test with one of the actresses being considered for the role of Baby, Jennifer Grey, but after screening the test, they realized Grey was right for Baby but Zane was not right for Johnny. Someone suggested Patrick Swayze, a former dancer for the prestigious Joffrey Ballet who was making his way up the ranks of stardom thanks to his roles in The Outsiders and Grandview U.S.A. But Swayze had suffered a knee injury years before that put his dance career on hold, and there were concerns he would re-aggravate his injury, and there were concerns from Jennifer Grey because she and Swayze had not gotten along very well while working on Red Dawn. But that had been three years earlier, and when they screen tested together here, everyone was convinced this was the pairing that would bring magic to the role. Baby's parents would be played by two Broadway veterans: Jerry Orbach, who is best known today as Detective Lenny Briscoe on Law and Order, and Kelly Bishop, who is best known today as Emily Gilmore from Gilmore Girls but had actually started out as a dancer, singer and actor, winning a Tony Award for her role in the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Although Bishop had originally been cast in a different role for the movie, another guest at the Catskills resort with the Housemans, but she would be bumped up when the original Mrs. Houseman, Lynne Lipton, would fall ill during the first week of filming. Filming on Dirty Dancing would begin in North Carolina on September 5th, 1986, at a former Boy Scout camp that had been converted to a private residential community. This is where many of the iconic scenes from the film would be shot, including Baby carrying the watermelon and practicing her dance steps on the stairs, all the interior dance scenes, the log scene, and the golf course scene where Baby would ask her father for $250. It's also where Patrick Swayze almost ended his role in the film, when he would indeed re-injure his knee during the balancing scene on the log. He would be rushed to the hospital to have fluid drained from the swelling. Thankfully, there would be no lingering effects once he was released. After filming in North Carolina was completed, the team would move to Virginia for two more weeks of filming, including the water lift scene, exteriors at Kellerman's Hotel and the Houseman family's cabin, before the film wrapped on October 27th. Ardolino's first cut of the film would be completed in February 1987, and Vestron would begin the process of running a series of test screenings. At the first test screening, nearly 40% of the audience didn't realize there was an abortion subplot in the movie, even after completing the movie. A few weeks later, Vestron executives would screen the film for producer Aaron Russo, who had produced such movies as The Rose and Trading Places. His reaction to the film was to tell the executives to burn the negative and collect the insurance. But, to be fair, one important element of the film was still not set. The music. Eleanor Bergstein had written into her script a number of songs that were popular in the early 1960s, when the movie was set, that she felt the final film needed. Except a number of the songs were a bit more expensive to license than Vestron would have preferred. The company was testing the film with different versions of those songs, other artists' renditions. The writer, with the support of her producer and director, fought back. She made a deal with the Vestron executives. They would play her the master tracks to ten of the songs she wanted, as well as the copycat versions. If she could identify six of the masters, she could have all ten songs in the film. Vestron would spend another half a million dollars licensing the original recording. The writer nailed all ten. But even then, there was still one missing piece of the puzzle. The closing song. While Bergstein wanted another song to close the film, the team at Vestron were insistent on a new song that could be used to anchor a soundtrack album. The writer, producer, director and various members of the production team listened to dozens of submissions from songwriters, but none of them were right, until they got to literally the last submission left, written by Franke Previte, who had written another song that would appear on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, “Hungry Eyes.” Everybody loved the song, called “I've Had the Time of My Life,” and it would take some time to convince Previte that Dirty Dancing was not a porno. They showed him the film and he agreed to give them the song, but the production team and Vestron wanted to get a pair of more famous singers to record the final version. The filmmakers originally approached disco queen Donna Summer and Joe Esposito, whose song “You're the Best” appeared on the Karate Kid soundtrack, but Summer would decline, not liking the title of the movie. They would then approach Daryl Hall from Hall and Oates and Kim Carnes, but they'd both decline, citing concerns about the title of the movie. Then they approached Bill Medley, one-half of The Righteous Brothers, who had enjoyed yet another career resurgence when You Lost That Lovin' Feeling became a hit in 1986 thanks to Top Gun, but at first, he would also decline. Not that he had any concerns about the title of the film, although he did have concerns about the title, but that his wife was about to give birth to their daughter, and he had promised he would be there. While trying to figure who to get to sing the male part of the song, the music supervisor for the film approached Jennifer Warnes, who had sung the duet “Up Where We Belong” from the An Officer and a Gentleman soundtrack, which had won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and sang the song “It Goes Like It Goes” from the Norma Rae soundtrack, which had won the 1980 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Warnes wasn't thrilled with the song, but she would be persuaded to record the song for the right price… and if Bill Medley would sing the other part. Medley, flattered that Warnes asked specifically to record with him, said he would do so, after his daughter was born, and if the song was recorded in his studio in Los Angeles. A few weeks later, Medley and Warnes would have their portion of the song completed in only one hour, including additional harmonies and flourishes decided on after finishing with the main vocals. With all the songs added to the movie, audience test scores improved considerably. RCA Records, who had been contracted to handle the release of the soundtrack, would set a July 17th release date for the album, to coincide with the release of the movie on the same day, with the lead single, I've Had the Time of My Life, released one week earlier. But then, Vestron moved the movie back from July 17th to August 21st… and forgot to tell RCA Records about the move. No big deal. The song would quickly rise up the charts, eventually hitting #1 on the Billboard charts. When the movie finally did open in 975 theatres in August 21st, the film would open to fourth place with $3.9m in ticket sales, behind Can't Buy Me Love in third place and in its second week of release, the Cheech Marin comedy Born in East L.A., which opened in second place, and Stakeout, which was enjoying its third week atop the charts. The reviews were okay, but not special. Gene Siskel would give the film a begrudging Thumbs Up, citing Jennifer Grey's performance and her character's arc as the thing that tipped the scale into the positive, while Roger Ebert would give the film a Thumbs Down, due to its idiot plot and tired and relentlessly predictable story of love between kids from different backgrounds. But then a funny thing happened… Instead of appealing to the teenagers they thought would see the film, the majority of the audience ended up becoming adults. Not just twenty and thirty somethings, but people who were teenagers themselves during the movie's timeframe. They would be drawn in to the film through the newfound sense of boomer nostalgia that helped make Stand By Me an unexpected hit the year before, both as a movie and as a soundtrack. Its second week in theatre would only see the gross drop 6%, and the film would finish in third place. In week three, the four day Labor Day weekend, it would gross nearly $5m, and move up to second place. And it would continue to play and continue to bring audiences in, only dropping out of the top ten once in early November for one weekend, from August to December. Even with all the new movies entering the marketplace for Christmas, Dirty Dancing would be retained by most of the theatres that were playing it. In the first weekend of 1988, Dirty Dancing was still playing in 855 theaters, only 120 fewer than who opened it five months earlier. Once it did started leaving first run theatres, dollar houses were eager to pick it up, and Dirty Dancing would make another $6m in ticket sales as it continued to play until Christmas 1988 at some theatres, finishing its incredible run with $63.5m in ticket sales. Yet, despite its ubiquitousness in American pop culture, despite the soundtrack selling more than ten million copies in its first year, despite the uptick in attendance at dance schools from coast to coast, Dirty Dancing never once was the #1 film in America on any weekend it was in theatres. There would always be at least one other movie that would do just a bit better. When awards season came around, the movie was practically ignored by critics groups. It would pick up an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, and both the movie and Jennifer Grey would be nominated for Golden Globes, but it would be that song, I've Had the Time of My Life, that would be the driver for awards love. It would win the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The song would anchor a soundtrack that would also include two other hit songs, Eric Carmen's “Hungry Eyes,” and “She's Like the Wind,” recorded for the movie by Patrick Swayze, making him the proto-Hugh Jackman of the 80s. I've seen Hugh Jackman do his one-man show at the Hollywood Bowl, and now I'm wishing Patrick Swayze could have had something like that thirty years ago. On September 25th, they would release Abel Ferrera's Neo-noir romantic thriller China Girl. A modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet written by regular Ferrera writer Nicholas St. John, the setting would be New York City's Lower East Side, when Tony, a teenager from Little Italy, falls for Tye, a teenager from Chinatown, as their older brothers vie for turf in a vicious gang war. While the stars of the film, Richard Panebianco and Sari Chang, would never become known actors, the supporting cast is as good as you'd expect from a post-Ms. .45 Ferrera film, including James Russo, Russell Wong, David Caruso and James Hong. The $3.5m movie would open on 110 screens, including 70 in New York ti-state region and 18 in Los Angeles, grossing $531k. After a second weekend, where the gross dropped to $225k, Vestron would stop tracking the film, with a final reported gross of just $1.26m coming from a stockholder's report in early 1988. Ironically, China Girl would open against another movie that Vestron had a hand in financing, but would not release in America: Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride. While the film would do okay in America, grossing $30m against its $15m, it wouldn't translate so easily to foreign markets. Anna, from first time Polish filmmaker Yurek Bogayevicz, was an oddball little film from the start. The story, co-written with the legendary Polish writer/director Agnieszka Holland, was based on the real-life friendship of Polish actresses Joanna (Yo-ahn-nuh) Pacuła (Pa-tsu-wa) and Elżbieta (Elz-be-et-ah) Czyżewska (Chuh-zef-ska), and would find Czech supermodel Paulina Porizkova making her feature acting debut as Krystyna, an aspiring actress from Czechoslovakia who goes to New York City to find her idol, Anna, who had been imprisoned and then deported for speaking out against the new regime after the 1968 Communist invasion. Nearly twenty years later, the middle-aged Anna struggles to land any acting parts, in films, on television, or on the stage, who relishes the attention of this beautiful young waif who reminds her of herself back then. Sally Kirkland, an American actress who got her start as part of Andy Warhol's Factory in the early 60s but could never break out of playing supporting roles in movies like The Way We Were, The Sting, A Star is Born, and Private Benjamin, would be cast as the faded Czech star whose life seemed to unintentionally mirror the actress's. Future Snakes on a Plane director David R. Ellis would be featured in a small supporting role, as would the then sixteen year old Sofia Coppola. The $1m movie would shoot on location in New York City during the winter of late 1986 and early 1987, and would make its world premiere at the 1987 New York Film Festival in September, before opening at the 68th Street Playhouse on the Upper East Side on October 30th. Critics such as Bruce Williamson of Playboy, Molly Haskell of Vogue and Jami Bernard of the New York Post would sing the praises of the movie, and of Paulina Porizkova, but it would be Sally Kirkland whom practically every critic would gush over. “A performance of depth and clarity and power, easily one of the strongest female roles of the year,” wrote Mike McGrady of Newsday. Janet Maslim wasn't as impressed with the film as most critics, but she would note Ms. Kirkland's immensely dignified presence in the title role. New York audiences responded well to the critical acclaim, buying more than $22,000 worth of tickets, often playing to sell out crowds for the afternoon and evening shows. In its second week, the film would see its gross increase 12%, and another 3% increase in its third week. Meanwhile, on November 13th, the film would open in Los Angeles at the AMC Century City 14, where it would bring in an additional $10,000, thanks in part to Sheila Benson's rave in the Los Angeles Times, calling the film “the best kind of surprise — a small, frequently funny, fine-boned film set in the worlds of the theater and movies which unexpectedly becomes a consummate study of love, alienation and loss,” while praising Kirkland's performance as a “blazing comet.” Kirkland would make the rounds on the awards circuit, winning Best Actress awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Golden Globes, and the Independent Spirit Awards, culminating in an Academy Award nomination, although she would lose to Cher in Moonstruck. But despite all these rave reviews and the early support for the film in New York and Los Angeles, the film got little traction outside these two major cities. Despite playing in theatres for nearly six months, Anna could only round up about $1.2m in ticket sales. Vestron's penultimate new film of 1987 would be a movie that when it was shot in Namibia in late 1986 was titled Peacekeeper, then was changed to Desert Warrior when it was acquired by Jerry Weintraub's eponymously named distribution company, then saw it renamed again to Steel Dawn when Vestron overpaid to acquire the film from Weintraub, because they wanted the next film starring Patrick Swayze for themselves. Swayze plays, and stop me if you've heard this one before, a warrior wandering through a post-apocalyptic desert who comes upon a group of settlers who are being menaced by the leader of a murderous gang who's after the water they control. Lisa Niemi, also known as Mrs. Patrick Swayze, would be his romantic interest in the film, which would also star AnthonY Zerbe, Brian James, and, in one of his very first acting roles, future Mummy co-star Arnold Vosloo. The film would open to horrible reviews, and gross just $312k in 290 theatres. For comparison's sake, Dirty Dancing was in its eleventh week of release, was still playing 878 theatres, and would gross $1.7m. In its second week, Steel Dawn had lost nearly two thirds of its theatres, grossing only $60k from 107 theatres. After its third weekend, Vestron stopped reporting grosses. The film had only earned $562k in ticket sales. And their final release for 1987 would be one of the most prestigious titles they'd ever be involved with. The Dead, based on a short story by James Joyce, would be the 37th and final film to be directed by John Huston. His son Tony would adapt the screenplay, while his daughter Anjelica, whom he had directed to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar two years earlier for Prizzi's Honor, would star as the matriarch of an Irish family circa 1904 whose husband discovers memoirs of a deceased lover of his wife's, an affair that preceded their meeting. Originally scheduled to shoot in Dublin, Ireland, The Dead would end up being shot on soundstages in Valencia, CA, just north of Los Angeles, as the eighty year old filmmaker was in ill health. Huston, who was suffering from severe emphysema due to decades of smoking, would use video playback for the first and only time in his career in order to call the action, whirling around from set to set in a motorized wheelchair with an oxygen tank attached to it. In fact, the company insuring the film required the producers to have a backup director on set, just in case Huston was unable to continue to make the film. That stand-in was Czech-born British filmmaker Karel Reisz, who never once had to stand-in during the entire shoot. One Huston who didn't work on the film was Danny Huston, who was supposed to shoot some second unit footage for the film in Dublin for his father, who could not make any trips overseas, as well as a documentary about the making of the film, but for whatever reason, Danny Huston would end up not doing either. John Huston would turn in his final cut of the film to Vestron in July 1987, and would pass away in late August, a good four months before the film's scheduled release. He would live to see some of the best reviews of his entire career when the film was released on December 18th. At six theatres in Los Angeles and New York City, The Dead would earn $69k in its first three days during what was an amazing opening weekend for a number of movies. The Dead would open against exclusive runs of Broadcast News, Ironweed, Moonstruck and the newest Woody Allen film, September, as well as wide releases of Eddie Murphy: Raw, Batteries Not Included, Overboard, and the infamous Bill Cosby stinker Leonard Part 6. The film would win the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture of the year, John Huston would win the Spirit Award and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, Anjelica Huston would win a Spirit Award as well, for Best Supporting Actress, and Tony Huston would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. But the little $3.5m film would only see modest returns at the box office, grossing just $4.4m after a four month run in theatres. Vestron would also release two movies in 1987 through their genre Lightning Pictures label. The first, Blood Diner, from writer/director Jackie Kong, was meant to be both a tribute and an indirect sequel to the infamous 1965 Herschell Gordon Lewis movie Blood Feast, often considered to be the first splatter slasher film. Released on four screens in Baltimore on July 10th, the film would gross just $6,400 in its one tracked week. The film would get a second chance at life when it opened at the 8th Street Playhouse in New York City on September 4th, but after a $5,000 opening week gross there, the film would have to wait until it was released on home video to become a cult film. The other Lightning Pictures release for 1987, Street Trash, would become one of the most infamous horror comedy films of the year. An expansion of a short student film by then nineteen year old Jim Muro, Street Trash told the twin stories of a Greenpoint, Brooklyn shop owner who sell a case of cheap, long-expired hooch to local hobos, who hideously melt away shortly after drinking it, while two homeless brothers try to deal with their situation as best they can while all this weirdness is going on about them. After playing several weeks of midnight shows at the Waverly Theatre near Washington Square, Street Trash would open for a regular run at the 8th Street Playhouse on September 18th, one week after Blood Diner left the same theatre. However, Street Trash would not replace Blood Diner, which was kicked to the curb after one week, but another long forgotten movie, the Christopher Walken-starrer Deadline. Street Trash would do a bit better than Blood Diner, $9,000 in its first three days, enough to get the film a full two week run at the Playhouse. But its second week gross of $5,000 would not be enough to give it a longer playdate, or get another New York theatre to pick it up. The film would get other playdates, including one in my secondary hometown of Santa Cruz starting, ironically, on Thanksgiving Day, but the film would barely make $100k in its theatrical run. While this would be the only film Jim Muro would direct, he would become an in demand cinematographer and Steadicam operator, working on such films as Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, Sneakers, L.A. Confidential, the first Fast and Furious movie, and on The Abyss, Terminator 2, True Lies and Titanic for James Cameron. And should you ever watch the film and sit through the credits, yes, it's that Bryan Singer who worked as a grip and production assistant on the film. It would be his very first film credit, which he worked on during a break from going to USC film school. People who know me know I am not the biggest fan of horror films. I may have mentioned it once or twice on this podcast. But I have a soft spot for Troma Films and Troma-like films, and Street Trash is probably the best Troma movie not made or released by Troma. There's a reason why Lloyd Kaufman is not a fan of the movie. A number of people who have seen the movie think it is a Troma movie, not helped by the fact that a number of people who did work on The Toxic Avenger went to work on Street Trash afterwards, and some even tell Lloyd at conventions that Street Trash is their favorite Troma movie. It's looks like a Troma movie. It feels like a Troma movie. And to be honest, at least to me, that's one hell of a compliment. It's one of the reasons I even went to see Street Trash, the favorable comparison to Troma. And while I, for lack of a better word, enjoyed Street Trash when I saw it, as much as one can say they enjoyed a movie where a bunch of bums playing hot potato with a man's severed Johnson is a major set piece, but I've never really felt the need to watch it again over the past thirty-five years. Like several of the movies on this episode, Street Trash is not available for streaming on any service in the United States. And outside of Dirty Dancing, the ones you can stream, China Girl, Personal Services, Slaughter High and Steel Dawn, are mostly available for free with ads on Tubi, which made a huge splash last week with a confounding Super Bowl commercial that sent millions of people to figure what a Tubi was. Now, if you were counting, that was only nine films released in 1987, and not the eighteen they had promised at the start of the year. Despite the fact they had a smash hit in Dirty Dancing, they decided to push most of their planned 1987 movies to 1988. Not necessarily by choice, though. Many of the films just weren't ready in time for a 1987 release, and then the unexpected long term success of Dirty Dancing kept them occupied for most of the rest of the year. But that only meant that 1988 would be a stellar year for them, right? We'll find out next episode, when we continue the Vestron Pictures story. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again next week. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
The first of a two-part series on the short-lived 80s American distribution company responsible for Dirty Dancing. ----more---- The movies covered on this episode: Alpine (1987, Fredi M. Murer) Anna (1987, Yurek Bogayevicz) Billy Galvin (1986, John Grey) Blood Diner (1987, Jackie Kong) China Girl (1987, Abel Ferrera) The Dead (1987, John Huston) Dirty Dancing (1987, Emile Ardolino) Malcolm (1986, Nadia Tess) Personal Services (1987, Terry Jones) Slaughter High (1986, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten and George Dugdale) Steel Dawn (1987, Lance Hook) Street Trash (1987, Jim Muro) TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. Have you ever thought “I should do this thing” but then you never get around to it, until something completely random happens that reminds you that you were going to do this thing a long time ago? For this week's episode, that kick in the keister was a post on Twitter from someone I don't follow being retweeted by the great film critic and essayist Walter Chaw, someone I do follow, that showed a Blu-ray cover of the 1987 Walter Hill film Extreme Prejudice. You see, Walter Chaw has recently released a book about the life and career of Walter Hill, and this other person was showing off their new purchase. That in and of itself wasn't the kick in the butt. That was the logo of the disc's distributor. Vestron Video. A company that went out of business more than thirty years before, that unbeknownst to me had been resurrected by the current owner of the trademark, Lionsgate Films, as a specialty label for a certain kind of film like Ken Russell's Gothic, Beyond Re-Animator, CHUD 2, and, for some reason, Walter Hill's Neo-Western featuring Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe and Rip Torn. For those of you from the 80s, you remember at least one of Vestron Pictures' movies. I guarantee it. But before we get there, we, as always, must go back a little further back in time. The year is 1981. Time Magazine is amongst the most popular magazines in the world, while their sister publication, Life, was renowned for their stunning photographs printed on glossy color paper of a larger size than most magazines. In the late 1970s, Time-Life added a video production and distribution company to ever-growing media empire that also included television stations, cable channels, book clubs, and compilation record box sets. But Time Life Home Video didn't quite take off the way the company had expected, and they decided to concentrate its lucrative cable businesses like HBO. The company would move Austin Furst, an executive from HBO, over to dismantle the assets of Time-Life Films. And while Furst would sell off the production and distribution parts of the company to Fox, and the television department to Columbia Pictures, he couldn't find a party interested in the home video department. Recognizing that home video was an emerging market that would need a visionary like himself willing to take big risks for the chance to have big rewards, Furst purchased the home video rights to the film and video library for himself, starting up his home entertainment company. But what to call the company? It would be his daughter that would come up with Vestron, a portmanteau of combining the name of the Roman goddess of the heart, Vesta, with Tron, the Greek word for instrument. Remember, the movie Tron would not be released for another year at this point. At first, there were only two employees at Vestron: Furst himself, and Jon Pesinger, a fellow executive at Time-Life who, not unlike Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire, was the only person who saw Furst's long-term vision for the future. Outside of the titles they brought with them from Time-Life, Vestron's initial release of home video titles comprised of two mid-range movie hits where they were able to snag the home video rights instead of the companies that released the movies in theatres, either because those companies did not have a home video operation yet, or did not negotiate for home video rights when making the movie deal with the producers. Fort Apache, The Bronx, a crime drama with Paul Newman and Ed Asner, and Loving Couples, a Shirley MacLaine/James Coburn romantic comedy that was neither romantic nor comedic, were Time-Life productions, while the Burt Reynolds/Dom DeLuise comedy The Cannonball Run, was a pickup from the Hong Kong production company Golden Harvest, which financed the comedy to help break their local star, Jackie Chan, into the American market. They'd also make a deal with several Canadian production companies to get the American home video rights to titles like the Jack Lemmon drama Tribute and the George C. Scott horror film The Changeling. The advantage that Vestron had over the major studios was their outlook on the mom and pop rental stores that were popping up in every city and town in the United States. The major studios hated the idea that they could sell a videotape for, say, $99.99, and then see someone else make a major profit by renting that tape out fifty or a hundred times at $4 or $5 per night. Of course, they would eventually see the light, but in 1982, they weren't there yet. Now, let me sidetrack for a moment, as I am wont to do, to talk about mom and pop video stores in the early 1980s. If you're younger than, say, forty, you probably only know Blockbuster and/or Hollywood Video as your local video rental store, but in the early 80s, there were no national video store chains yet. The first Blockbuster wouldn't open until October 1985, in Dallas, and your neighborhood likely didn't get one until the late 1980s or early 1990s. The first video store I ever encountered, Telford Home Video in Belmont Shores, Long Beach in 1981, was operated by Bob Telford, an actor best known for playing the Station Master in both the original 1974 version of Where the Red Fern Grows and its 2003 remake. Bob was really cool, and I don't think it was just because the space for the video store was just below my dad's office in the real estate company that had built and operated the building. He genuinely took interest in this weird thirteen year old kid who had an encyclopedic knowledge of films and wanted to learn more. I wanted to watch every movie he had in the store that I hadn't seen yet, but there was one problem: we had a VHS machine, and most of Bob's inventory was RCA SelectaVision, a disc-based playback system using a special stylus and a groove-covered disc much like an LP record. After school each day, I'd hightail it over to Telford Home Video, and Bob and I would watch a movie while we waited for customers to come rent something. It was with Bob that I would watch Ordinary People and The Magnificent Seven, The Elephant Man and The Last Waltz, Bus Stop and Rebel Without a Cause and The French Connection and The Man Who Fell to Earth and a bunch of other movies that weren't yet available on VHS, and it was great. Like many teenagers in the early 1980s, I spent some time working at a mom and pop video store, Seacliff Home Video in Aptos, CA. I worked on the weekends, it was a third of a mile walk from home, and even though I was only 16 years old at the time, my bosses would, every week, solicit my opinion about which upcoming videos we should acquire. Because, like Telford Home Video and Village Home Video, where my friends Dick and Michelle worked about two miles away, and most every video store at the time, space was extremely limited and there was only space for so many titles. Telford Home Video was about 500 square feet and had maybe 500 titles. Seacliff was about 750 square feet and around 800 titles, including about 50 in the tiny, curtained off room created to hold the porn. And the first location for Village Home Video had only 300 square feet of space and only 250 titles. The owner, Leone Keller, confirmed to me that until they moved into a larger location across from the original store, they were able to rent out every movie in the store every night. For many, a store owner had to be very careful about what they ordered and what they replaced. But Vestron Home Video always seemed to have some of the better movies. Because of a spat between Warner Brothers and Orion Pictures, Vestron would end up with most of Orion's 1983 through 1985 theatrical releases, including Rodney Dangerfield's Easy Money, the Nick Nolte political thriller Under Fire, the William Hurt mystery Gorky Park, and Gene Wilder's The Woman in Red. They'd also make a deal with Roger Corman's old American Independent Pictures outfit, which would reap an unexpected bounty when George Miller's second Mad Max movie, The Road Warrior, became a surprise hit in 1982, and Vestron was holding the video rights to the first Mad Max movie. And they'd also find themselves with the laserdisc rights to several Brian DePalma movies including Dressed to Kill and Blow Out. And after Polygram Films decided to leave the movie business in 1984, they would sell the home video rights to An American Werewolf in London and Endless Love to Vestron. They were doing pretty good. And in 1984, Vestron ended up changing the home video industry forever. When Michael Jackson and John Landis had trouble with Jackson's record company, Epic, getting their idea for a 14 minute short film built around the title song to Jackson's monster album Thriller financed, Vestron would put up a good portion of the nearly million dollar budget in order to release the movie on home video, after it played for a few weeks on MTV. In February 1984, Vestron would release a one-hour tape, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, that included the mini-movie and a 45 minute Making of featurette. At $29.99, it would be one of the first sell-through titles released on home video. It would become the second home videotape to sell a million copies, after Star Wars. Suddenly, Vestron was flush with more cash than it knew what to do with. In 1985, they would decide to expand their entertainment footprint by opening Vestron Pictures, which would finance a number of movies that could be exploited across a number of platforms, including theatrical, home video, cable and syndicated TV. In early January 1986, Vestron would announce they were pursuing projects with three producers, Steve Tisch, Larry Turman, and Gene Kirkwood, but no details on any specific titles or even a timeframe when any of those movies would be made. Tisch, the son of Loews Entertainment co-owner Bob Tisch, had started producing films in 1977 with the Peter Fonda music drama Outlaw Blues, and had a big hit in 1983 with Risky Business. Turman, the Oscar-nominated producer of Mike Nichols' The Graduate, and Kirkwood, the producer of The Keep and The Pope of Greenwich Village, had seen better days as producers by 1986 but their names still carried a certain cache in Hollywood, and the announcement would certainly let the industry know Vestron was serious about making quality movies. Well, maybe not all quality movies. They would also launch a sub-label for Vestron Pictures called Lightning Pictures, which would be utilized on B-movies and schlock that maybe wouldn't fit in the Vestron Pictures brand name they were trying to build. But it costs money to build a movie production and theatrical distribution company. Lots of money. Thanks to the ever-growing roster of video titles and the success of releases like Thriller, Vestron would go public in the spring of 1985, selling enough shares on the first day of trading to bring in $440m to the company, $140m than they thought they would sell that day. It would take them a while, but in 1986, they would start production on their first slate of films, as well as acquire several foreign titles for American distribution. Vestron Pictures officially entered the theatrical distribution game on July 18th, 1986, when they released the Australian comedy Malcolm at the Cinema 2 on the Upper East Side of New York City. A modern attempt to create the Aussie version of a Jacques Tati-like absurdist comedy about modern life and our dependance on gadgetry, Malcolm follows, as one character describes him a 100 percent not there individual who is tricked into using some of his remote control inventions to pull of a bank robbery. While the film would be a minor hit in Australia, winning all eight of the Australian Film Institute Awards it was nominated for including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and three acting awards, the film would only play for five weeks in New York, grossing less than $35,000, and would not open in Los Angeles until November 5th, where in its first week at the Cineplex Beverly Center and Samuel Goldwyn Pavilion Cinemas, it would gross a combined $37,000. Go figure. Malcolm would open in a few more major markets, but Vestron would close the film at the end of the year with a gross under $200,000. Their next film, Slaughter High, was a rather odd bird. A co-production between American and British-based production companies, the film followed a group of adults responsible for a prank gone wrong on April Fool's Day who are invited to a reunion at their defunct high school where a masked killer awaits inside. And although the movie takes place in America, the film was shot in London and nearby Virginia Water, Surrey, in late 1984, under the title April Fool's Day. But even with Caroline Munro, the British sex symbol who had become a cult favorite with her appearances in a series of sci-fi and Hammer horror films with Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee, as well as her work in the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, April Fool's Day would sit on the proverbial shelf for nearly two years, until Vestron picked it up and changed its title, since Paramount Pictures had released their own horror film called April Fools Day earlier in the year. Vestron would open Slaughter High on nine screens in Detroit on November 14th, 1986, but Vestron would not report grosses. Then they would open it on six screen in St. Louis on February 13th, 1987. At least this time they reported a gross. $12,400. Variety would simply call that number “grim.” They'd give the film one final rush on April 24th, sending it out to 38 screens in in New York City, where it would gross $90,000. There'd be no second week, as practically every theatre would replace it with Creepshow 2. The third and final Vestron Pictures release for 1986 was Billy Galvin, a little remembered family drama featuring Karl Malden and Lenny von Dohlen, originally produced for the PBS anthology series American Playhouse but bumped up to a feature film as part of coordinated effort to promote the show by occasionally releasing feature films bearing the American Playhouse banner. The film would open at the Cineplex Beverly Center on December 31st, not only the last day of the calendar year but the last day a film can be released into theatres in Los Angeles to have been considered for Academy Awards. The film would not get any major awards, from the Academy or anyone else, nor much attention from audiences, grossing just $4,000 in its first five days. They'd give the film a chance in New York on February 20th, at the 23rd Street West Triplex, but a $2,000 opening weekend gross would doom the film from ever opening in another theatre again. In early 1987, Vestron announced eighteen films they would release during the year, and a partnership with AMC Theatres and General Cinema to have their films featured in those two companies' pilot specialized film programs in major markets like Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston and San Francisco. Alpine Fire would be the first of those films, arriving at the Cinema Studio 1 in New York City on February 20th. A Swiss drama about a young deaf and mentally challenged teenager who gets his older sister pregnant, was that country's entry into the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race. While the film would win the Golden Leopard Award at the 1985 Locarno Film Festival, the Academy would not select the film for a nomination, and the film would quickly disappear from theatres after a $2,000 opening weekend gross. Personal Services, the first film to be directed by Terry Jones outside of his services with Monty Python, would arrive in American theatres on May 15th. The only Jones-directed film to not feature any other Python in the cast, Personal Services was a thinly-disguised telling of a 1970s—era London waitress who was running a brothel in her flat in order to make ends meet, and featured a standout performance by Julie Walters as the waitress turned madame. In England, Personal Services would be the second highest-grossing film of the year, behind The Living Daylights, the first Bond film featuring new 007 Timothy Dalton. In America, the film wouldn't be quite as successful, grossing $1.75m after 33 weeks in theatres, despite never playing on more than 31 screens in any given week. It would be another three months before Vestron would release their second movie of the year, but it would be the one they'd become famous for. Dirty Dancing. Based in large part on screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein's own childhood, the screenplay would be written after the producers of the 1980 Michael Douglas/Jill Clayburgh dramedy It's My Turn asked the writer to remove a scene from the screenplay that involved an erotic dance sequence. She would take that scene and use it as a jumping off point for a new story about a Jewish teenager in the early 1960s who participated in secret “Dirty Dancing” competitions while she vacationed with her doctor father and stay-at-home mother while they vacationed in the Catskill Mountains. Baby, the young woman at the center of the story, would not only resemble the screenwriter as a character but share her childhood nickname. Bergstein would pitch the story to every studio in Hollywood in 1984, and only get a nibble from MGM Pictures, whose name was synonymous with big-budget musicals decades before. They would option the screenplay and assign producer Linda Gottlieb, a veteran television producer making her first major foray into feature films, to the project. With Gottlieb, Bergstein would head back to the Catskills for the first time in two decades, as research for the script. It was while on this trip that the pair would meet Michael Terrace, a former Broadway dancer who had spent summers in the early 1960s teaching tourists how to mambo in the Catskills. Terrace and Bergstein didn't remember each other if they had met way back when, but his stories would help inform the lead male character of Johnny Castle. But, as regularly happens in Hollywood, there was a regime change at MGM in late 1985, and one of the projects the new bosses cut loose was Dirty Dancing. Once again, the script would make the rounds in Hollywood, but nobody was biting… until Vestron Pictures got their chance to read it. They loved it, and were ready to make it their first in-house production… but they would make the movie if the budget could be cut from $10m to $4.5m. That would mean some sacrifices. They wouldn't be able to hire a major director, nor bigger name actors, but that would end up being a blessing in disguise. To direct, Gottlieb and Bergstein looked at a lot of up and coming feature directors, but the one person they had the best feeling about was Emile Ardolino, a former actor off-Broadway in the 1960s who began his filmmaking career as a documentarian for PBS in the 1970s. In 1983, Ardolino's documentary about National Dance Institute founder Jacques d'Amboise, He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin', would win both the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Entertainment Special. Although Ardolino had never directed a movie, he would read the script twice in a week while serving on jury duty, and came back to Gottlieb and Bergstein with a number of ideas to help make the movie shine, even at half the budget. For a movie about dancing, with a lot of dancing in it, they would need a creative choreographer to help train the actors and design the sequences. The filmmakers would chose Kenny Ortega, who in addition to choreographing the dance scenes in Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, had worked with Gene Kelly on the 1980 musical Xanadu. Well, more specifically, was molded by Gene Kelly to become the lead choreographer for the film. That's some good credentials. Unlike movies like Flashdance, where the filmmakers would hire Jennifer Beals to play Alex and Marine Jahan to perform Alex's dance scenes, Emile Ardolino was insistent that the actors playing the dancers were actors who also dance. Having stand-ins would take extra time to set-up, and would suck up a portion of an already tight budget. Yet the first people he would meet for the lead role of Johnny were non-dancers Benecio del Toro, Val Kilmer, and Billy Zane. Zane would go so far as to do a screen test with one of the actresses being considered for the role of Baby, Jennifer Grey, but after screening the test, they realized Grey was right for Baby but Zane was not right for Johnny. Someone suggested Patrick Swayze, a former dancer for the prestigious Joffrey Ballet who was making his way up the ranks of stardom thanks to his roles in The Outsiders and Grandview U.S.A. But Swayze had suffered a knee injury years before that put his dance career on hold, and there were concerns he would re-aggravate his injury, and there were concerns from Jennifer Grey because she and Swayze had not gotten along very well while working on Red Dawn. But that had been three years earlier, and when they screen tested together here, everyone was convinced this was the pairing that would bring magic to the role. Baby's parents would be played by two Broadway veterans: Jerry Orbach, who is best known today as Detective Lenny Briscoe on Law and Order, and Kelly Bishop, who is best known today as Emily Gilmore from Gilmore Girls but had actually started out as a dancer, singer and actor, winning a Tony Award for her role in the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Although Bishop had originally been cast in a different role for the movie, another guest at the Catskills resort with the Housemans, but she would be bumped up when the original Mrs. Houseman, Lynne Lipton, would fall ill during the first week of filming. Filming on Dirty Dancing would begin in North Carolina on September 5th, 1986, at a former Boy Scout camp that had been converted to a private residential community. This is where many of the iconic scenes from the film would be shot, including Baby carrying the watermelon and practicing her dance steps on the stairs, all the interior dance scenes, the log scene, and the golf course scene where Baby would ask her father for $250. It's also where Patrick Swayze almost ended his role in the film, when he would indeed re-injure his knee during the balancing scene on the log. He would be rushed to the hospital to have fluid drained from the swelling. Thankfully, there would be no lingering effects once he was released. After filming in North Carolina was completed, the team would move to Virginia for two more weeks of filming, including the water lift scene, exteriors at Kellerman's Hotel and the Houseman family's cabin, before the film wrapped on October 27th. Ardolino's first cut of the film would be completed in February 1987, and Vestron would begin the process of running a series of test screenings. At the first test screening, nearly 40% of the audience didn't realize there was an abortion subplot in the movie, even after completing the movie. A few weeks later, Vestron executives would screen the film for producer Aaron Russo, who had produced such movies as The Rose and Trading Places. His reaction to the film was to tell the executives to burn the negative and collect the insurance. But, to be fair, one important element of the film was still not set. The music. Eleanor Bergstein had written into her script a number of songs that were popular in the early 1960s, when the movie was set, that she felt the final film needed. Except a number of the songs were a bit more expensive to license than Vestron would have preferred. The company was testing the film with different versions of those songs, other artists' renditions. The writer, with the support of her producer and director, fought back. She made a deal with the Vestron executives. They would play her the master tracks to ten of the songs she wanted, as well as the copycat versions. If she could identify six of the masters, she could have all ten songs in the film. Vestron would spend another half a million dollars licensing the original recording. The writer nailed all ten. But even then, there was still one missing piece of the puzzle. The closing song. While Bergstein wanted another song to close the film, the team at Vestron were insistent on a new song that could be used to anchor a soundtrack album. The writer, producer, director and various members of the production team listened to dozens of submissions from songwriters, but none of them were right, until they got to literally the last submission left, written by Franke Previte, who had written another song that would appear on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, “Hungry Eyes.” Everybody loved the song, called “I've Had the Time of My Life,” and it would take some time to convince Previte that Dirty Dancing was not a porno. They showed him the film and he agreed to give them the song, but the production team and Vestron wanted to get a pair of more famous singers to record the final version. The filmmakers originally approached disco queen Donna Summer and Joe Esposito, whose song “You're the Best” appeared on the Karate Kid soundtrack, but Summer would decline, not liking the title of the movie. They would then approach Daryl Hall from Hall and Oates and Kim Carnes, but they'd both decline, citing concerns about the title of the movie. Then they approached Bill Medley, one-half of The Righteous Brothers, who had enjoyed yet another career resurgence when You Lost That Lovin' Feeling became a hit in 1986 thanks to Top Gun, but at first, he would also decline. Not that he had any concerns about the title of the film, although he did have concerns about the title, but that his wife was about to give birth to their daughter, and he had promised he would be there. While trying to figure who to get to sing the male part of the song, the music supervisor for the film approached Jennifer Warnes, who had sung the duet “Up Where We Belong” from the An Officer and a Gentleman soundtrack, which had won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and sang the song “It Goes Like It Goes” from the Norma Rae soundtrack, which had won the 1980 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Warnes wasn't thrilled with the song, but she would be persuaded to record the song for the right price… and if Bill Medley would sing the other part. Medley, flattered that Warnes asked specifically to record with him, said he would do so, after his daughter was born, and if the song was recorded in his studio in Los Angeles. A few weeks later, Medley and Warnes would have their portion of the song completed in only one hour, including additional harmonies and flourishes decided on after finishing with the main vocals. With all the songs added to the movie, audience test scores improved considerably. RCA Records, who had been contracted to handle the release of the soundtrack, would set a July 17th release date for the album, to coincide with the release of the movie on the same day, with the lead single, I've Had the Time of My Life, released one week earlier. But then, Vestron moved the movie back from July 17th to August 21st… and forgot to tell RCA Records about the move. No big deal. The song would quickly rise up the charts, eventually hitting #1 on the Billboard charts. When the movie finally did open in 975 theatres in August 21st, the film would open to fourth place with $3.9m in ticket sales, behind Can't Buy Me Love in third place and in its second week of release, the Cheech Marin comedy Born in East L.A., which opened in second place, and Stakeout, which was enjoying its third week atop the charts. The reviews were okay, but not special. Gene Siskel would give the film a begrudging Thumbs Up, citing Jennifer Grey's performance and her character's arc as the thing that tipped the scale into the positive, while Roger Ebert would give the film a Thumbs Down, due to its idiot plot and tired and relentlessly predictable story of love between kids from different backgrounds. But then a funny thing happened… Instead of appealing to the teenagers they thought would see the film, the majority of the audience ended up becoming adults. Not just twenty and thirty somethings, but people who were teenagers themselves during the movie's timeframe. They would be drawn in to the film through the newfound sense of boomer nostalgia that helped make Stand By Me an unexpected hit the year before, both as a movie and as a soundtrack. Its second week in theatre would only see the gross drop 6%, and the film would finish in third place. In week three, the four day Labor Day weekend, it would gross nearly $5m, and move up to second place. And it would continue to play and continue to bring audiences in, only dropping out of the top ten once in early November for one weekend, from August to December. Even with all the new movies entering the marketplace for Christmas, Dirty Dancing would be retained by most of the theatres that were playing it. In the first weekend of 1988, Dirty Dancing was still playing in 855 theaters, only 120 fewer than who opened it five months earlier. Once it did started leaving first run theatres, dollar houses were eager to pick it up, and Dirty Dancing would make another $6m in ticket sales as it continued to play until Christmas 1988 at some theatres, finishing its incredible run with $63.5m in ticket sales. Yet, despite its ubiquitousness in American pop culture, despite the soundtrack selling more than ten million copies in its first year, despite the uptick in attendance at dance schools from coast to coast, Dirty Dancing never once was the #1 film in America on any weekend it was in theatres. There would always be at least one other movie that would do just a bit better. When awards season came around, the movie was practically ignored by critics groups. It would pick up an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, and both the movie and Jennifer Grey would be nominated for Golden Globes, but it would be that song, I've Had the Time of My Life, that would be the driver for awards love. It would win the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The song would anchor a soundtrack that would also include two other hit songs, Eric Carmen's “Hungry Eyes,” and “She's Like the Wind,” recorded for the movie by Patrick Swayze, making him the proto-Hugh Jackman of the 80s. I've seen Hugh Jackman do his one-man show at the Hollywood Bowl, and now I'm wishing Patrick Swayze could have had something like that thirty years ago. On September 25th, they would release Abel Ferrera's Neo-noir romantic thriller China Girl. A modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet written by regular Ferrera writer Nicholas St. John, the setting would be New York City's Lower East Side, when Tony, a teenager from Little Italy, falls for Tye, a teenager from Chinatown, as their older brothers vie for turf in a vicious gang war. While the stars of the film, Richard Panebianco and Sari Chang, would never become known actors, the supporting cast is as good as you'd expect from a post-Ms. .45 Ferrera film, including James Russo, Russell Wong, David Caruso and James Hong. The $3.5m movie would open on 110 screens, including 70 in New York ti-state region and 18 in Los Angeles, grossing $531k. After a second weekend, where the gross dropped to $225k, Vestron would stop tracking the film, with a final reported gross of just $1.26m coming from a stockholder's report in early 1988. Ironically, China Girl would open against another movie that Vestron had a hand in financing, but would not release in America: Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride. While the film would do okay in America, grossing $30m against its $15m, it wouldn't translate so easily to foreign markets. Anna, from first time Polish filmmaker Yurek Bogayevicz, was an oddball little film from the start. The story, co-written with the legendary Polish writer/director Agnieszka Holland, was based on the real-life friendship of Polish actresses Joanna (Yo-ahn-nuh) Pacuła (Pa-tsu-wa) and Elżbieta (Elz-be-et-ah) Czyżewska (Chuh-zef-ska), and would find Czech supermodel Paulina Porizkova making her feature acting debut as Krystyna, an aspiring actress from Czechoslovakia who goes to New York City to find her idol, Anna, who had been imprisoned and then deported for speaking out against the new regime after the 1968 Communist invasion. Nearly twenty years later, the middle-aged Anna struggles to land any acting parts, in films, on television, or on the stage, who relishes the attention of this beautiful young waif who reminds her of herself back then. Sally Kirkland, an American actress who got her start as part of Andy Warhol's Factory in the early 60s but could never break out of playing supporting roles in movies like The Way We Were, The Sting, A Star is Born, and Private Benjamin, would be cast as the faded Czech star whose life seemed to unintentionally mirror the actress's. Future Snakes on a Plane director David R. Ellis would be featured in a small supporting role, as would the then sixteen year old Sofia Coppola. The $1m movie would shoot on location in New York City during the winter of late 1986 and early 1987, and would make its world premiere at the 1987 New York Film Festival in September, before opening at the 68th Street Playhouse on the Upper East Side on October 30th. Critics such as Bruce Williamson of Playboy, Molly Haskell of Vogue and Jami Bernard of the New York Post would sing the praises of the movie, and of Paulina Porizkova, but it would be Sally Kirkland whom practically every critic would gush over. “A performance of depth and clarity and power, easily one of the strongest female roles of the year,” wrote Mike McGrady of Newsday. Janet Maslim wasn't as impressed with the film as most critics, but she would note Ms. Kirkland's immensely dignified presence in the title role. New York audiences responded well to the critical acclaim, buying more than $22,000 worth of tickets, often playing to sell out crowds for the afternoon and evening shows. In its second week, the film would see its gross increase 12%, and another 3% increase in its third week. Meanwhile, on November 13th, the film would open in Los Angeles at the AMC Century City 14, where it would bring in an additional $10,000, thanks in part to Sheila Benson's rave in the Los Angeles Times, calling the film “the best kind of surprise — a small, frequently funny, fine-boned film set in the worlds of the theater and movies which unexpectedly becomes a consummate study of love, alienation and loss,” while praising Kirkland's performance as a “blazing comet.” Kirkland would make the rounds on the awards circuit, winning Best Actress awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Golden Globes, and the Independent Spirit Awards, culminating in an Academy Award nomination, although she would lose to Cher in Moonstruck. But despite all these rave reviews and the early support for the film in New York and Los Angeles, the film got little traction outside these two major cities. Despite playing in theatres for nearly six months, Anna could only round up about $1.2m in ticket sales. Vestron's penultimate new film of 1987 would be a movie that when it was shot in Namibia in late 1986 was titled Peacekeeper, then was changed to Desert Warrior when it was acquired by Jerry Weintraub's eponymously named distribution company, then saw it renamed again to Steel Dawn when Vestron overpaid to acquire the film from Weintraub, because they wanted the next film starring Patrick Swayze for themselves. Swayze plays, and stop me if you've heard this one before, a warrior wandering through a post-apocalyptic desert who comes upon a group of settlers who are being menaced by the leader of a murderous gang who's after the water they control. Lisa Niemi, also known as Mrs. Patrick Swayze, would be his romantic interest in the film, which would also star AnthonY Zerbe, Brian James, and, in one of his very first acting roles, future Mummy co-star Arnold Vosloo. The film would open to horrible reviews, and gross just $312k in 290 theatres. For comparison's sake, Dirty Dancing was in its eleventh week of release, was still playing 878 theatres, and would gross $1.7m. In its second week, Steel Dawn had lost nearly two thirds of its theatres, grossing only $60k from 107 theatres. After its third weekend, Vestron stopped reporting grosses. The film had only earned $562k in ticket sales. And their final release for 1987 would be one of the most prestigious titles they'd ever be involved with. The Dead, based on a short story by James Joyce, would be the 37th and final film to be directed by John Huston. His son Tony would adapt the screenplay, while his daughter Anjelica, whom he had directed to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar two years earlier for Prizzi's Honor, would star as the matriarch of an Irish family circa 1904 whose husband discovers memoirs of a deceased lover of his wife's, an affair that preceded their meeting. Originally scheduled to shoot in Dublin, Ireland, The Dead would end up being shot on soundstages in Valencia, CA, just north of Los Angeles, as the eighty year old filmmaker was in ill health. Huston, who was suffering from severe emphysema due to decades of smoking, would use video playback for the first and only time in his career in order to call the action, whirling around from set to set in a motorized wheelchair with an oxygen tank attached to it. In fact, the company insuring the film required the producers to have a backup director on set, just in case Huston was unable to continue to make the film. That stand-in was Czech-born British filmmaker Karel Reisz, who never once had to stand-in during the entire shoot. One Huston who didn't work on the film was Danny Huston, who was supposed to shoot some second unit footage for the film in Dublin for his father, who could not make any trips overseas, as well as a documentary about the making of the film, but for whatever reason, Danny Huston would end up not doing either. John Huston would turn in his final cut of the film to Vestron in July 1987, and would pass away in late August, a good four months before the film's scheduled release. He would live to see some of the best reviews of his entire career when the film was released on December 18th. At six theatres in Los Angeles and New York City, The Dead would earn $69k in its first three days during what was an amazing opening weekend for a number of movies. The Dead would open against exclusive runs of Broadcast News, Ironweed, Moonstruck and the newest Woody Allen film, September, as well as wide releases of Eddie Murphy: Raw, Batteries Not Included, Overboard, and the infamous Bill Cosby stinker Leonard Part 6. The film would win the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture of the year, John Huston would win the Spirit Award and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, Anjelica Huston would win a Spirit Award as well, for Best Supporting Actress, and Tony Huston would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. But the little $3.5m film would only see modest returns at the box office, grossing just $4.4m after a four month run in theatres. Vestron would also release two movies in 1987 through their genre Lightning Pictures label. The first, Blood Diner, from writer/director Jackie Kong, was meant to be both a tribute and an indirect sequel to the infamous 1965 Herschell Gordon Lewis movie Blood Feast, often considered to be the first splatter slasher film. Released on four screens in Baltimore on July 10th, the film would gross just $6,400 in its one tracked week. The film would get a second chance at life when it opened at the 8th Street Playhouse in New York City on September 4th, but after a $5,000 opening week gross there, the film would have to wait until it was released on home video to become a cult film. The other Lightning Pictures release for 1987, Street Trash, would become one of the most infamous horror comedy films of the year. An expansion of a short student film by then nineteen year old Jim Muro, Street Trash told the twin stories of a Greenpoint, Brooklyn shop owner who sell a case of cheap, long-expired hooch to local hobos, who hideously melt away shortly after drinking it, while two homeless brothers try to deal with their situation as best they can while all this weirdness is going on about them. After playing several weeks of midnight shows at the Waverly Theatre near Washington Square, Street Trash would open for a regular run at the 8th Street Playhouse on September 18th, one week after Blood Diner left the same theatre. However, Street Trash would not replace Blood Diner, which was kicked to the curb after one week, but another long forgotten movie, the Christopher Walken-starrer Deadline. Street Trash would do a bit better than Blood Diner, $9,000 in its first three days, enough to get the film a full two week run at the Playhouse. But its second week gross of $5,000 would not be enough to give it a longer playdate, or get another New York theatre to pick it up. The film would get other playdates, including one in my secondary hometown of Santa Cruz starting, ironically, on Thanksgiving Day, but the film would barely make $100k in its theatrical run. While this would be the only film Jim Muro would direct, he would become an in demand cinematographer and Steadicam operator, working on such films as Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, Sneakers, L.A. Confidential, the first Fast and Furious movie, and on The Abyss, Terminator 2, True Lies and Titanic for James Cameron. And should you ever watch the film and sit through the credits, yes, it's that Bryan Singer who worked as a grip and production assistant on the film. It would be his very first film credit, which he worked on during a break from going to USC film school. People who know me know I am not the biggest fan of horror films. I may have mentioned it once or twice on this podcast. But I have a soft spot for Troma Films and Troma-like films, and Street Trash is probably the best Troma movie not made or released by Troma. There's a reason why Lloyd Kaufman is not a fan of the movie. A number of people who have seen the movie think it is a Troma movie, not helped by the fact that a number of people who did work on The Toxic Avenger went to work on Street Trash afterwards, and some even tell Lloyd at conventions that Street Trash is their favorite Troma movie. It's looks like a Troma movie. It feels like a Troma movie. And to be honest, at least to me, that's one hell of a compliment. It's one of the reasons I even went to see Street Trash, the favorable comparison to Troma. And while I, for lack of a better word, enjoyed Street Trash when I saw it, as much as one can say they enjoyed a movie where a bunch of bums playing hot potato with a man's severed Johnson is a major set piece, but I've never really felt the need to watch it again over the past thirty-five years. Like several of the movies on this episode, Street Trash is not available for streaming on any service in the United States. And outside of Dirty Dancing, the ones you can stream, China Girl, Personal Services, Slaughter High and Steel Dawn, are mostly available for free with ads on Tubi, which made a huge splash last week with a confounding Super Bowl commercial that sent millions of people to figure what a Tubi was. Now, if you were counting, that was only nine films released in 1987, and not the eighteen they had promised at the start of the year. Despite the fact they had a smash hit in Dirty Dancing, they decided to push most of their planned 1987 movies to 1988. Not necessarily by choice, though. Many of the films just weren't ready in time for a 1987 release, and then the unexpected long term success of Dirty Dancing kept them occupied for most of the rest of the year. But that only meant that 1988 would be a stellar year for them, right? We'll find out next episode, when we continue the Vestron Pictures story. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again next week. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
If you havn't begun starting to insulate yourself from the future effects of being completely banned from all aspects of society, you need to start yesterday. Once this digital ID is in place - which will be by the end of 2023 in many western countries - your ability to resist in any meaningful way will be over if you can't even buy food. Aaron Russo warned everyone back in 2006. Probably should have started then.
Enjoy this FULL teaser episode of Strange Sauna! For new weekly episodes, sign up on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pardonmyamerican Clay Clark joins Greg to discuss executive order 14067, which paves the way for the US to adopt the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) on December 13th, 2022. Clay discusses the dangers of CBDC and illustrates how it is a programable tool used to enforce complete control and surveillance. They discuss.... Aaron Russo, the Hollywood producer who exposed the Rockafeller's plan to implant everyone with RFID chips The Queen lighting the Tree of Knowledge via a triple helix at her Jubilee Patents for the detection of Covid-19 and Moderna/NIH co-ownership of the vaccine
@Here For The Truth podcast hosts @Joel Rafidi and Yerasimos Stilianessis beam in for episode 71 of Far Out with Faust. This truth-seeking duo specializes in inspiring consciousness, optimal health, self-realization and personal insight. Their Rise Above the Herd self-actualization course coaches curious knowledge seekers to become the most authentic version of themselves.On the episode, we're talking about the importance of grappling with conflicting ideas — not only to seek the truth but to embody it.Synchronicity always plays a part — hear the stories of how they all met. Joel, also a musician, reveals his work with the divination arts. Listen in as he explains a bit about tarot, astrology, kabala and numerology and his association with Unslaved podcast host Michael Tsarion, of The Taroscopic Mystery School.Though these three were all raised in different Christian traditions, their religious upbringings have some surprising commonalities. The questions get interesting: what is hell, really?Joel and Yerasimos delve into the details of their 8 week course, which includes creating a human design chart for each participant. In case you're not familiar, it's a system — also. called a BodyGraph — that incorporates Taoism, astrology, chakras, Kabbalah and physics. The chart, based on your birth date, time and place, provides profound insights into your body's true nature. Faust takes a turn and mentions filmmaker Aaron Russo, a truth seeker who had ties to the Rockefeller family. Find out why we're not supposed to be a democracy — and what the founding fathers instead intended. The problem today, the three agree, is this at we've been conditioned to believe we must always subvert ourselves for the greater good. But who's greater good?The three go far out toward the end, Joel talks about his crazy experience with his newborn daughter, and the time he saw a UFO. Yerasimos also shares some funny sleepwalking stories. Don't miss Faust's description of connecting with ETs through the CE5 work of Dr. Steven Greer.Keep following down the rabbit hole as Faust discusses free energy and what happens to pioneers like the late Stan Meyer. He also explains to Joel and Yerasimos his theory of the impending false flag UFO operation.Stay tuned till the end when the truth seekers share their ultimate book recommendations.Yerasimos also shares a profound story of realizing his love for his parents during a plant ceremony in the jungle of Peru — don't miss it.Listen to Faust's appearance on the Here for the Truth podcast: https://youtu.be/VXejMhDCkxkExplore Here for the TruthYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HereForTheTruthWebsite: https://www.hereforthetruth.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areyouhereforthetruth/Connect with Yerasimos StilianessisFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yerasimosInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_yerasimos/Connect with Joel RafidiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/joelrafidi/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JoelRafidiFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/joelrafidi
Dr. Ott goes back to the basics - the origins of cellular health and Antoine Beachamp's Terrain Science is discussed as far as basic cellular mineral needs are concerned. What makes Gold and Silver valuable? Could it be they are essential mineral elements needed for a healthy cellular terrain in addition to being Yah's ordained form of monetary valuation? A short tribute to Dr. Ott's friend, filmmaker Aaron Russo was also rendered - Is America's "freedom" in fact turning into fascism?
We're still not over the fact that Israel was actually a blessing that was bestowed upon Jacob by God and it means "overcome" and that the proof of Israel is 12 tribes - Jacob had 12 sons who eventually became the 12 tribes and Jesus had 12 disciples who are addressed as "12 tribes" in James 1:1. But is there a third Israel to be created according to the book of Revelation? Bonus: numbers in the Bible and their significance!
WEBSITE https://sites.google.com/view/alientom/home RUMBLE https://rumble.com/AlienTom ODYSEE https://odysee.com/@AlienTom GAB - https://gab.com/AlienTom PODCAST - https://anchor.fm/alien-tom 052022 • MONKEYPOX Vaccines, Covid 19, WHO Treaty, Rockefeller Friend Aaron Russo Tells All Before His Death, Tampons in Boys Room, Pregnant Inmates, Incorrect-Pronouns Crime, Biden's Fake Twitter Followers, Putin Captured Azov Nazis & More #monkeypox #NWO #WEF #covid #covid19 #covidvaccine #vaccine #vaccinemandate #WHO #WorldHealthAssembly #worldhealthorganization #worldeconomicforum #elite #evil #communism #fascism #tyranny #slavery #dystopia #dystopianworld #dystopianfuture #thegreatreset #NWO #Agenda2030 #Rothschilds #Rockefeller #BillGates #wokeism #LeftistHypocrisy #LeftistLogic #IDEOLOGY #gender #gendertheory #pronouns #biden
Mica is a host, actress, model, vlogger and restaurant-owner who even has a day job and we're still wondering how she found the time to join us on the pod but she did! She swings by to share her born-again moment and ask Instructor Aaron questions about prayer - would it speed up God's answer if I prayed more? Does sin hinder blessings? Does God change His mind? Pray tell!
Jerusalem and Babylon are two places that appear from the Old Testament all the way to the book of Revelation in the Bible. We understand that these are actual places where a lot of significant events took place in the past but what are they doing in a book of prophecy for the second coming, especially Babylon when it no longer exists as such? Many claim and fear that a physical war will be the beginning of the end but the Scriptures make it clear that we do not wage war as the world does (Eph 6, 2Cor 10) so it's all a little confusing but that's why we're here. Come on in and let's talk about it!
The girls get a little QT with Instructor Aaron today because, you know, maybe he feels like he just gets grilled about the book of Revelation all the time (which we're sure he doesn't even mind!
It's part 2 of our conversation with journalist and TV host Mariz Umali on the parables of bridegroom, bride, widow and orphan and she has questions!
As we roll into Holy Monday, our friend Migo Ybañez sits down with us to talk about how his chase for money led him to a 5-million-peso debt which was really just the beginning of how he was stripped of everything he deemed valuable - a relationship, his car, his laptop, even his phone! We're sure a lot of you have been reflecting on your idols this Lenten season and if not, this episode is sure to help you meditate on the things that we put before God and how the enemy uses these things to distract us from Him. We wish you a meaningful and blessed Holy Week and we'll see you next Monday! ✨
In an historic final interview, filmmaker and music promoter Aaron Russo goes in depth on the insider-knowledge given to him by a member of the Rockefeller family. Russo was told (prior to 9/11) of plans to stage terror attacks, invade foreign nations, and kickstart a high-tech police state control grid that would track the populations' every move with implantable R.F.I.D. microchips. This information-packed presentation is filled with never-before seen footage. Throughout the film, Alex Jones breaks down the latest activities of the New World Order and how it ties into what Russo predicted. Aaron explains how the elite created the women's liberation movement to break up the family and tax working women. Russo breaks down the deception of democracy — which is nothing more than mob rule guaranteed to produce tyranny. Russo also exposes the IRS & Federal Reserve. He blasts the unconstitutional and predatory institutions that have crippled the American Republic and crushed the people with bogus taxes, inflation and loss of privacy. Russo explains that he himself was persecuted in the late 80s by a criminal retroactive tax scheme that attempted to levy new taxes on years already passed. As night falls on the Republic, Aaron Russo delivers a powerful call for the forces of liberty to rise and crush tyranny. Only then can the Republic be restored.www.thefacthunter.comNever stop searching for the truth.
Our weekly podcast will be airing on Wednesday night instead of Tuesday for the rest of April. Our other programming will remain unchanged:Wednesday's 10 AM-Noon ET: Revolution RadioWednesday Night 8 PM ET: Fact Hunter PodcastThursday Night 9 PM ET: Listener Call In ShowThursday Night 11 PM ET: The Free Your Mind ReportBonus audio: Reflections & Warnings - An Interview with Aaron Russo Part 1. Part 2 will drop April 8 noon ET. In an historic final interview, filmmaker and music promoter Aaron Russo goes in depth on the insider-knowledge given to him by a member of the Rockefeller family. Russo was told (prior to 9/11) of plans to stage terror attacks, invade foreign nations, and kickstart a high-tech police state control grid that would track the populations' every move with implantable R.F.I.D. microchips. This information-packed presentation is filled with never-before seen footage. Throughout the film, Alex Jones breaks down the latest activities of the New World Order and how it ties into what Russo predicted. Aaron explains how the elite created the women's liberation movement to break up the family and tax working women. Russo breaks down the deception of democracy — which is nothing more than mob rule guaranteed to produce tyranny. Russo also exposes the IRS & Federal Reserve. He blasts the unconstitutional and predatory institutions that have crippled the American Republic and crushed the people with bogus taxes, inflation and loss of privacy. Russo explains that he himself was persecuted in the late 80s by a criminal retroactive tax scheme that attempted to levy new taxes on years already passed. As night falls on the Republic, Aaron Russo delivers a powerful call for the forces of liberty to rise and crush tyranny. Only then can the Republic be restored.
Alright Door-itos, this one's gonna be off the scales!
On our last episode with Nikko, we established that the trumpets that appear in the book of Revelation are actually a parable or figurative language for people and the sound of these trumpets is actually a testimony. But why is the seventh and last one different and important? And are we hearing it today? We also took a couple of side trips on this episode - Are the book of Revelation, Mt 24 and Gn 1 supposed to fit together? ('Cause you'd be right to think that Gn 1 as a creation story doesn't quite add up) And once and for all - who run the world?? (Aside from girls
Nikko Ramos is host of the Call to Arms podcast and editor-at-large of Slam Online. He's joining us today and Sam has zero chill because since their radio days together, Nikko has gotten engaged, married and become a parent all during the pandemic (while Sam has had none of the above happen to her). What better way to reunite than over a conversation about the book of Revelation, second coming and parables?
Alright Door-itos, we're legit back on the Road to Revelation! Ever notice how mountains are poppin' in the Bible? The Garden of Eden is called the holy mount of God (Ez 28:13-14), Noah's ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat, Abraham bound his son Isaac in Mt. Moriah, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses in Mt. Sinai, Jesus was transfigured on a mountain. These may be physical mountains but what is its spiritual meaning when used in prophecy? In Mt 24 where Jesus gives instructions for the second coming, he said to flee to the mountains when we see the abomination standing in the holy place. And sure enough, we see Mt. Zion in Rv 14 and Heb 12:22-23 says that Mt. Zion is a church. Interestiiiiiiiing. Shouts to our favorite dwedgie RikiFlo for joining us on this convo and the durian for its pungent cameo which singed off all of Sam's nose hairs on this recording. The Week Sauce https://open.spotify.com/show/7r4rpfgkyDKJVyA1VnQIUz Saved https://open.spotify.com/show/38Djv25rwvzvdEo1jSp4Qa Mother of Fact https://open.spotify.com/show/1leh0fDKqAZwccoXMetJH8 Healing Leaves with Aaron Russo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7RX9NAv310 scjinternational1984@gmail.com The Dog Behind the Human with Tina Ryan https://open.spotify.com/show/56KAcq0k2TyEzpLUSbQhqO?si=594a00db3a4c4759
I have to thank Vention MGTOW for his donation for this video. He sent me some bit coins in a way I can actually use them and it's much appreciated. Thank you very much! If and when I finish my MGTOW book I'll have to send him a copy as a thanks. In the city I live in there are quite a few old free masons lodges and temples that are scattered around. For today's video I went around and took these pictures. Three of them are of lodges and temples and one of the buildinsg I'm going to show you has sacred Masonic geometry. More specifically the histogram. Many people think of it as the Star of David in the Jewish Religion but it's used in many cultures. According to the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry ""The interlacing triangles or deltas symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe ... The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of apparent opposites in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life." So essentially Freemasonry recognizes that men and women are opposite or like Ying And Yang. And the first printed constitution of free masonry apparently bans women from the practice. But there are many cases where women were admitted as well in masculine only masonic bodies. One woman Salome Anderson was put in American papers in 1892 as the only female Freemason in the world. Apparently she hid in lodge room in her uncles house and learned the masonic secrets so she was pledged into secrecy. I don't really believe this idea of a woman hiding in a Masonic Lodge and then being discovered and brought into Masonry. And that story has been used in order to excuse free-masonry as an institution for choices to include women in the practice. It's nearly impossible for a woman dressed like a woman to enter a Masonic Lodge without the obvious fact that she's a woman. There is even a tale about a French Madame that dressed up as a man to enlist in the French Army. Again this is a story and not verifiable. But the idea that she was willing to sacrifice her life by joining the army must have meant that she was seen as an equal by men and made a member of a male only secret society. Personally I think that male secret societies even if they have rules that forbid women from joining will often let women join because many men are weak when it comes to having women around. And in many cases with things such as freemasonry it's often the wives and the daughters of the men in the lodges that are selected to become members. It's a form of nepotism. If the women that were being selected were the most rational and possibly even Nawalts then I wouldn't be bringing any of this up. Instead it seemed like family choice to bring women into male only free masonry. There is also Co-Freemasonry for both men and women. And there were also exclusive female lodges. But the ironic thing is women have co-freemasonry and exclusive women's lodges and yet that's not enough. They still have to go and force their way into the male only freemasonry groups.Aaron Russo talks Rockefeller Elite (12 Minutes)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gwcQ...Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/mgtow/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Hey stunads! Ryan and Joe celebrate St. Patrick's Day by watching an Italian mob comedy - 1986's Wise Guys! Directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Aaron Russo from a screenplay written by George Gallo and Norman Steinberg. It stars Danny DeVito, Joe Piscopo, Harvey Keitel, and the amazing Captain Lou Albano! Ryan dives into the filmography of director Brian De Palma, while Joe gives his thoughts on watching Scarface for the first time! Support us on Patreon for exclusive bonus discussions, voting rights for our upcoming episodes, and early access to all of our content: www.patreon.com/AlmostCultClassics
The Master number 33, fake alien agenda, Kobe, Aaron Russo ,
In this episode I talk about how the CV is being used for control, and the economic impact it has. Why Gavin Newsome should not be trusted, Bill Gates and Margaret Sanger being eugenicists and being prepared for a possible economic reset. Show Notes: "The Smoking Gun: Where is the Corona Virus?" Link 1: (Page 39 pdf) https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download Link 2: https://jamesfetzer.org/2020/10/jon-rappoport-the-smoking-gun-where-is-the-coronavirus-the-cdc-says-it-isnt-available/#comments Link 3: https://principia-scientific.com/cdc-study-majority-of-covid19-sufferers-always-wore-masks/. Link 4: The Great Reset https://principia-scientific.com/beware-the-great-reset-for-a-post-covid-world/ Link 5: Aaron Russo https://youtu.be/N3NA17CCboA Link 6: Gavin Newsome https://deadline-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/deadline.com/2020/10/disneyland-coronavirus-theme-park-new-guidelines-vaccine-gavin-newsom-california-1234599805/amp/?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=16032544459403&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadline.com%2F2020%2F10%2Fdisneyland-coronavirus-theme-park-new-guidelines-vaccine-gavin-newsom-california-1234599805%2F --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ace2050/support
In 1987 a small Connecticut-based direct-to-video company made their first feature film for a true theatrical release. With low expectations from investors due to a female-driven plot in the midst of a testosterone-heavy Summer blockbuster season, this small movie became a word of mouth sleeper hit, made a dancing football player turned actor into a bonafide sex symbol movie star, and birthed the world-wide phenomenon called, “Dirty Dancing”. On this episode, Tim Williams and guest co-host Tyra Williams share their memories of this 80's romantic classic. They also share favorite characters, movie moments, and behind the scenes trivia along the way. Here are additional behind the scenes trivia we were unable to cover on this episode: Cynthia Rhodes asked Eleanor Bergstein to write the scene where Penny tells Baby that she doesn't sleep around. It was written the night before it was filmed, and David Chapman built the locker room for it on such short notice that it was a surprise to Eleanor Bergstein. In the last scene, Baby's mother, Marjorie Houseman (Kelly Bishop), says of Baby's dancing, "I think she gets it from me." This is a two-fold "in-joke". First of all, Jerry Orbach and Kelly Bishop (Baby's parents) appeared together on Broadway in 1968 in the original cast of 'Promises, Promises', for which ORBACH won the Tony Award. In 1976, Orbach was again nominated for a Tony for originating the role of Billy Flynn in 'Chicago'. He did not win this time but Kelly Bishop DID win the Tony for originating the role of Sheila in 'A Chorus Line'. The song "She's Like The Wind", co-written and performed by Patrick Swayze was originally written for his first feature film role, Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), but was used in this movie instead. The shooting wrapped on October 27, 1986, both on-time and on-budget. No one on the team, however, liked the rough cut that was put together, and Vestron executives were convinced the film was going to be a flop. Thirty-nine percent of people who viewed the film did not realize abortion was the subplot. In May 1987, the film was screened for producer Aaron Russo. According to Vestron executive Mitchell Cannold, Russo's reaction at the end was to say simply, "Burn the negative, and collect the insurance." Sources: Wikipedia, Imdb, Rotten Tomatoes, "The Movies That Made Us: Dirty Dancing" (Netflix Original Documentary Series), "I Am Patrick Swayze" (Paramount Network Documentary) Intro & Outro Music: “Total Eclipse” by Nathaniel Wyver Send us an email or reach out to us on social media to let us know what you liked, what you loved, what we may have missed, or what 80's movie we should watch next! Email - moviviewspodcast@gmail.com Facebook - Moviviews Presents 80's Flick Flashback Podcast (Fan Page) & Moviviews News & Reviews (Group Page) InstaGram - Moviviews --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/moviviews80sff/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/moviviews80sff/support
This is a show John and I filmed at anarchapulco with Sherry Peel Jackson. MRS Jackson was part of the Aaron Russo film "From Freedom To Facism" which is the first documentary I watched to help get me down this rabbit hole. Youtube link: https://youtu.be/VtcXfg43wWU Please check out my podcast feed which has links to the Banned video. www.thelibertyadvisorshow.com for all the places you can find the feed.
Today we’re talking about taxes and ranting about random shit by the campfire. Come hangout with us and lend your ear! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @ campfire_freedom_fighters or on Twitter @CampfireFreedom. Also, here are links to things we talked about in the podcast. https://youtu.be/CyWH8NJGRsA freedom to fascism: a film by Aaron Russo https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Rights-Destruction-American-Liberty/dp/0312123337 “Lost Rights” by James Bovard https://youtu.be/oQbei5JGiT8 and the funny tea consent video!
Illuminati Hit Jobs: Are Truthers Being 'Wacked' For Speaking The Truth? ~ Dan HennenFrom Kate Spade, Seth Rich, Scalia, Aaron Russo, JFK, Crowley, and the most recent Isaac Kappy ALONG WITH MANY MORE, People / Whistleblowers who have stood up for THE TRUTH & LIGHT (good side of the fight) have found themselves 6-feet under! Dan Hennen takes on this serious topic & PHENOMENON! It's rather strange, and we are determined to get to the bottom of it. THE TRUTH ALWAYS PREVAILS! Join the conversation on social media using hashtag #EATruthRadioIf you feel led, please consider supporting our Independent Media Operation & Truth Ministry with a small donation, or whatever you can give. It is GREATLY NEEDED & APPRECIATED! THANK YOU! Support the show (https://patreon.eamedia.online)
Want to hear more? Drop me an email nhsilverfarm@gmail.com
Today, Dan tells Jordan all about a very important 2006 interview Alex Jones did with "movie producer turned conspiracy theorist" Aaron Russo. This interview is a very large piece of Alex's mythology, and upon closer analysis, it is actually a document that may offer a troubling insight into Alex himself.
The NSA, Facebook, Google and all the rest are creating a tyranny which rests on the data they collect from us. Aaron Russo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGAaPjqdbgQ See: Brazil directed by Terry Gilliam I would argue that a lot of people make some fundamental mistakes when thinking about this and the form (i.e. things seem ergonomic and convenient … Continue reading "The Tyranny of Data Collection – Big Brother Is Saving Everything We Do Online" The post The Tyranny of Data Collection – Big Brother Is Saving Everything We Do Online appeared first on QuraniteCast.
On tonight's episode of "The Crypto Show," our first guest is Sherry Peel Jackson, businesswoman, author, speaker, former CPA, former IRS agent, former political prisoner, and IRS/income tax protestor, who was featured in Aaron Russo's film "America: From Freedom to Fascism." She tells us about her experiences at the IRS, her time in jail and Congressman Ron Paul's personal intervention on her behalf while behind bars, her adventures as a tax protestor, the several books that she has written, and her business and how it relates to tax protesting. She also explains the illegitimacy of the IRS and income tax, beginning with the faulty ratification of the 16th Amendment, the dubious passing of the Income Tax Act, and the non-existence of any specific law that compels Americans to pay an income tax. In the last two segments we talk to Scott of guncompensator.com. We discuss his online and brick-and-mortar gun parts and accessories business and his clientele, California laws towards guns and the State's business environment, how he met Danny and got introduced to the GhostGunner, and the GhostGunner's immediate popularity and success once he signed on to become a distributor.
This post does have affiliate links. A long time mentor of mine in the reselling space. But in this episode we do not talk about reselling! Instead we discuss religion, dating, self improvement, and conspiracy theories. Things Jamison and myself discuss when we're not talking business. Jamison mentions Darren Hardy's 'The Compound Effect' as a book which he was currently listening to at the time. He gives a great example from the book on how 'The Compound Effect' can make positive changes in your life over time. When we begin talking about conspiracy theories, he brings up an interview done by Alex Jones, of Aaron Russo(click here to see the video). He says this particular video really changed his outlook on the world and what is good and what is evil. If you are a fan of Mr. Philippi's, check out this interview. Also check out his interview on the E-commerce Momentum podcast. Incredible stuff. Related: Interview with Josh Mendez ______________________________________________________ the blog at pvpfromnj.com If you've enjoyed this, please support this podcast by doing any, all your shopping through my eBay link: eBay or my Amazon link: Amazon Any shopping through these links will be at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
Dr. Katherine Albrecht author of spychips, is a dynamic radio personality with a syndicated show whose views have been featured in thousands of radio, television, and print news stories, She’s been featured in a number of films, including Aaron Russo’s award-winning film “America: From Freedom to Fascism.” The Doctor of Digital Privacy talks about the worldwide movement of RFID tracking and implant technologies, and her new book "I Won't Take the Mark
The New World Order is the Antichrist's one world government or “Beast” prophesied of in the Book of Revelation, and it will soon affect everyone in the world. This 26 part series explains the NWO and exposes its spiritual and religious belief system.
This is the "Director's Final Cut" authorized version of Aaron Russo's documentary, America: Freedom To Fascism (AFTF). Aaron put this documentary up "for free" on YouTube knowing that the hour has come for Americans to either be awakened to restore the Republic or be swept aside by the dark global forces of fascism that seeks to enslave mankind. Please be sure to visit http://www.freedomtofascism.com where you will soon be able to view a much higher quality "pay per view" Internet version of AFTF, buy the DVD and sign up as an affiliate to sell/distribute DVDs to others.Additionally, if you find yourself agreeing with most of the documentary's findings, please consider researching the principles of the Libertarian Party, at http://lp.org. The tax and spend stranglehold of the US two party system must be put to a stop once and for all. Vote these criminals out of office! Protect the Constitution... Protect your Freedom... Vote Libertarian!(Thanks for reading....-EKG
Mail Bag:Dennis has a nice thought for the day article.Patrick on Aaron Russo. America: Freedom to Fascism.The Rest of the Show:1) Dan makes kind of a retraction. His penance, a different view on Terri Schiavo.2) How to think like a conservative.3) The Omar Knhadr case.4) The Vulcans are under attack.
This week's Live and Direct, episode number 10, is about the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) and the illegal and unconstitutional federal income tax. This podcast version is 1:00:47 long and the file size is 21.9MB. The podcast includes an extra 7 minute clip at the end about so-called tax criminals who were harassed and brutalized by the IRS, including a family whose small business and personal life was scrutinized mercilessly by the IRS, though they had done no wrong and had in fact paid their taxes, and a historic celebrity boxer during WWII named Joe Lewis whose winnings, though donated entirely to others, were taxed by the IRS, putting him so deeply into debt that his once-hated opponent paid for his funeral.Some talking points from the clips I played follow. Remember:The 16th Amendment was never legally ratified by the states.The federal income tax is a direct, unapportioned tax, which is illegal as per the Constitution.As Catherine Fitts (former Assistant Secretary of Housing) explained, the government's use of tax money is not reported, nor will they disclose the breakdown of their expenditures upon request, as they are legally required to do.The federal income tax money you pay only goes to the U.S. debt, as Reagan's investigative commission found."Income" is undefined in the tax code, though it is defined in the Constitution (the definition of which the tax code contradicts).Income is not wages or labor, it is gains from corporate activity (as defined in the Constitution).Your labor is your private property, as per the Supreme Court.The 16th Amendment (which was never legally ratified, remember) gave no new powers of taxation.So, if former IRS agents and government officials are no longer paying taxes, why are we? If tens of millions of people do not pay taxes (so says Sherry Jackson, former IRS agent) because they do not wish to continue propping up this illegal and unconstitutional perversion of governmental authority, why should we?Also, I missed this the first time: If you are audited, put in a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request asking to be shown applicable statutes and laws under which your income is taxed and the records substantiating the audit.Check out filmmaker Aaron Russo's site freedomtofascism.com. As I previously mentioned, there are news updates, blog entries, and video interviews there. You can watch the film online if you have a broadband connection. You may also rent or buy the movie on DVD. You should also check out David Champion's site nontaxpayer.org. An article on the America Patriot Friends Network site has some interesting things to say about taxation. Googling "How to STOP the IRS" cd will turn up some interesting research that a fellow named Eugene Kernan has compiled on exactly what to send the government to get them off of your trail as far as taxes. He wants $400 for the CD of materials, research, and instructions. While I understand he has gone to some effort to make this information available, $400 is expensive for a CD. I'll try to see if I can turn it up for less than that; I'll keep you posted. Furthermore, as you can see by searching the Internet, there have been many individual victories over the IRS as well as Supreme Court decisions recognizing the illegality of the federal income tax. The problem is that the lower courts do not recognize this. The more people that help make their others, the media, and their elected officials aware of this sham, the closer we will come to turning the tide of coercion foisted upon the American people.Some people say two things are inevitable: death, and taxes. Myself, I'm not so sure about the latter.Thanks for listening. Please weigh in with your thoughts on this or any of my topics.
=Live and Direct episode #8 has arrived. It features background and critical analysis concerning the Federal Reserve System, why it is illegal and unconstitutional, and why it must be abolished. This episode runs for 55:33, and is 50.9MB. For your convenience, the times listed below in parentheses indicate the start and end of each segment.The song I played is Money For Nothing, by Dire Straits (it's between 01:12 and 09:12).I then played the intro to Aaron Russo's documentary "America: Freedom to Fascism" (09:48 to 13:30). "Freedom to Fascism" is a timely, shocking expose of the duplicitous and corrupt nature of not only the Federal Reserve, but also the IRS and the federal income tax. You may watch a low-quality version of it here on Google Video, see it in select theatres, rent it, or buy it directly from Aaron's site. Aaron also maintains a blog on the site with timely news, interviews, and commentary.Next up is a 2002 speech before Congress by Ron Paul, current Presidential hopeful and monetary-reform advocate (14:05 to 19:22). You may watch it on YouTube or read it at the House's web site as well.I followed Ron Paul's speech with another excerpt from "Freedom to Fascism" detailing the creation of the Federal Reserve, its unconstitutionality, and the ways in which it harms the American people and government (20:24 to 33:44). Lastly I read from Dr. Cleon W. Skousen's publication "The Urgent Need for a Comprehensive Monetary Reform". I have included it here on my site (in an easy to read and print PDF format) as the original at the National Center for Constitutional Studies seems to be defunct. You may check out the table of contents, the first section "Development of the United States Monetary System", the second section "How the Federal Reserve System Operates and Why it Has Failed", or the third and final section "Providing the United States with a Sound Money System". I retrieved the above linked pages with the help of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, mentioned in my show as a handy online research tool.I continue to delve into the conspiracies by a powerful few elite bent on controlling and dominating the rest of the people, aided by money-hungry politicians, complicit industries, and helped along here and there by a few sad historical accidents. Please stay tuned to Live and Direct for more provocative and imperative issues. Listen to WRFR locally in Midcoast Maine at 93.3 and 99.3FM, online, or subscribe to my podcast and listen at your convenience using your computer, iPod, or other MP3 player. As always, please email me with what's on your mind. It's a pleasure to produce this show, and I'd love your feedback.