Podcast appearances and mentions of Richard C Sarafian

Send us a textWas there ever an era in cinema history when the obsession with cars, speed, and outrunning the law—whether you were a hick, a hippie, or a world-weary urbanite—captured the public's imagination more than in the early 1970s?That's what we aim to ponder on this, our 106th episode of the Triple FFF as we discuss not one, not 2 but THREE POWERHOUSE mainstream movies of muscle-car mayhem starting with 1971's Vanishing Point directed by Richard C. Sarafian and starring Barry Newman, Dean Jagger, Paul Koslo, Severn Darden, Anthony James, John Amos and Cleavon Little followed by 1974's Gone in 60 Seconds directed and starring the great HB Halicki, his brother Ronald, Jerry Daugirda and Marion Busia. And topped off with Dirty Mary Crazy Larry also released in '74 directed by John Hough  and starring Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Roddy McDowell and Vic Morrow. My guests this week are car and driving averse bookworm Roseanne Caputi, and the actor photographer and funnyman who heavily encouraged this topic of road burning revelry, a man who spent his formative years at the local theater in Ketchikan Alaska with a dazed smile on his face while his chin and his elbows rested on the seat in front him, whether there was someone seated in front of him or not, Gordon Alex Robertson. Before we cue the getaway banjo music and yell, “Kiss my Grits!” the synopses: Vanishing Point: Kowalski, a Nam vet and former cop turned delivery driver, is tasked with transporting a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T from Colorado to San Francisco in record time. As he speeds across the desert, he becomes a symbol of freedom and defiance, pursued by a relentless law enforcement apparatus.  Gone in 60 Seconds (1974): Maindrian Pace, an insurance adjuster and skilled car thief, is tasked with stealing fifty cars in a single night for a dangerous crime syndicate. As the clock ticks down, Pace races against time and evades the law against every possible odd to complete his impressive score.    Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry: After pulling off a daring yet disturbing home invasion and supermarket safe heist, two over the hill race car drivers, Larry and Deke, hit the California highways while on the run from the law.  They run into a setback when they are joined by Mary, a feisty and free spirited former one night stand of Larry's. The oddball trio then speed through the CA Delta backroads pursued by the shrewd and determined Captain Everett Franklin.   Which film laps the others in the Grand Prix and stands as an indelible classic? Or do all three win the Championship? Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/nSQrMM2TnsQ

Journey into the 5th Dimension as Trivial Theater, Jacob Anders Reviews, Alex Carson and Movie Emporium as we discuss the iconic television show created by Rod Serling. This Week The 5th Dimension discuss Season 5 Episode 6 titled: Living Doll. The Episode is Directed by: Richard C. Sarafian and Stars: Terry Savalas, Mary La Roche, Tracy Stratford and June Foray You Can Find Alex Carson at: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AlexCarson You Can Find Jacob Anders Reviews at: YouTube: www.youtube.com/JacobAnders YouTube: www.youtube.com/@retrojakexy Twitter @Redneval2 You can find Trivial Theaters content at: YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/TrivialTheater Twitter: @trivialtheater You can find Movie Emporium's content at: YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/MovieEmporium Twitter: @Movie Emporium Intro Created by Trivial Theater Music Created by Dan Jensen #TheTwilightZone #MovieEmporium #TrivialTheater #JacobAndersReviews #AlexCarson --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/5thdimension/support

Tune in, rev up and drop out. It's all about vehicular mayhem this week, as Joe and Rob fire up Vanishing Point (1971), directed by Richard C. Sarafian. and Highway Racer (1977), directed by Stelvio Massi. Honda blondes, Ferrari wheelies and Dodges not dodging enough for their own good - this episode has more car-based existentialism than you can throw a Renault down the Spanish Steps at! We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for each. For Vanishing Point you can then skip ahead to the 1:00:59 mark, and for Highway Racer, potential spoilers end at 1:34:13. Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp

“My name is Talky Tina and I love you!”

Ce DRS est né d'une pulsion. Celle de Stefan, qui, en pleine préparation de notre épisode sur Speed Racer avec Mr. Bobine me contacta pour me dire "Antoine, il va me falloir un DRS spécial, je ne peux plus me retenir". Devant l'urgence et le danger de la situation, nous avons donc convoqué une réunion de crise pour enregistrer ce DRS autour des films qui bourrent préférés de notre fringuant pilote. Au programme donc, un passage en revu non exhaustif de ses films préférés consacrés au vroum-vroum, à la bagnole, aux moteurs et aux crissements de pneus. Vous trouverez la liste ci-dessous avec les timecodes correspondant. En espérant que ce nouveau format DRS vous plaise et en attendant vos recommandations en la matière, nous vous souhaitons une très agréable écoute. Entourloupement vôtre.    Timecodes :  00:00:00 Générique 00:05:14 Point limite zéro, Richard C. Sarafian, 1971 00:08:48 Jour de tonnerre, Tony Scott ,1990 00:13:19 Fast and furious : Tokyo drift, Justin Lin, 2006 00:20:58 Grand Prix, John Frankenheimer, 1966 00:28:38 Mentions diverses 00:37:03 C'était un rendez-vous, Claude Lelouch ,1976          

Welcome to our first episode of the new year, which is also our first episode of Season 5. Thank you for continuing to join us on this amazing journey. On today's episode, we head back to Christmas of 1980, when pop music superstar Neil Diamond would be making his feature acting debut in a new version of The Jazz Singer. ----more---- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the entertainment capital of the world, this is The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   It's 2023, which means we are starting our fifth season. And for our first episode of this new season, we're going back to the end of 1980, to take a look back at what was supposed to be the launch of a new phase in the career of one of music's biggest stars. That musical star was Neil Diamond, and this would end up becoming his one and only attempt to act in a motion picture.   We're talking about The Jazz Singer.   As I have said time and time again, I don't really have a plan for this show. I talk about the movies and subjects I talk about often on a whim. I'll hear about something and I'll be reminded of something, and a few days later, I've got an episode researched, written, recorded, edited and out there in the world. As I was working on the previous episode, about The War of the Roses just before my trip to Thailand, I saw a video of Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline on opening night of A Beautiful Noise, a new Broadway musical about the life and music of Mr. Diamond. I hadn't noticed Diamond had stopped performing live five years earlier due to a diagnosis of Parkinson's, and it was very touching to watch a thousand people joyously singing along with the man.   But as I was watching that video, I was reminded of The Jazz Singer, a movie we previously covered very lightly three years ago as part of our episode on the distribution company Associated Film Distribution. I was reminded that I haven't seen the movie in over forty years, even though I remember rather enjoying it when it opened in theatres in December 1980. I think I saw it four or five times over the course of a month, and I even went out and bought the soundtrack album, which I easily listened to a hundred times before the start of summer.   But we're getting ahead of ourselves yet again.   The Jazz Singer began its life in 1917, when Samson Raphaelson, a twenty-three year old undergraduate at the University of Illinois, attended a performance of Robinson Crusoe, Jr., in Champaign, IL. The star of that show was thirty-year-old Al Jolson, a Russian-born Jew who had been a popular performer on Broadway stages for fifteen years by this point, regularly performing in blackface. After graduation, Raphaelson would become an advertising executive in New York City, but on the side, he would write stories. One short story, called “The Day of Atonement,” would be a thinly fictionalized account of Al Jolson's life. It would be published in Everybody's Magazine in January 1922.   At the encouragement of his secretary at the advertising firm, Raphaelson would adapted his story into a play, which would be produced on Broadway in September 1925 with a new title…   The Jazz Singer.   Ironically, for a Broadway show based on the early life of Al Jolson, Jolson was not a part of the production. The part of Jake Rabinowitz, the son of a cantor who finds success on Broadway with the Anglicized named Jack Robin, would be played by George Jessel. The play would be a minor hit, running for 303 performances on Broadway before closing in June 1926, and Warner Brothers would buy the movie rights the same week the show closed. George Jessel would be signed to play his stage role in the movie version. The film was scheduled to go into production in May 1927.   There are a number of reasons why Jessel would not end up making the movie. After the success of two Warner movies in 1926 using Vitaphone, a sound-on-disc system that could play music synchronized to a motion picture, Warner Brothers reconcieved The Jazz Singer as a sound movie, but not just a movie with music synchronized to the images on screen, but a “talkie,” where, for the first time for a motion picture, actual dialogue and vocal songs would be synchronized to the pictures on screen. When he learned about this development, Jessel demanded more money.    The Warner Brothers refused.   Then Jessel had some concerns about the solvency of the studio. These would be valid concerns, as Harry Warner, the eldest of the four eponymous brothers who ran the studio, had sold nearly $4m worth of his personal stock to keep the company afloat just a few months earlier.   But what ended up driving Jessel away was a major change screenwriter Alfred A. Cohen made when adapting the original story and the play into the screenplay. Instead of leaving the theatre and becoming a cantor like his father, as it was written for the stage, the movie would end with Jack Robin performing on Broadway in blackface while his mom cheers him on from one of the box seats.   With Jessel off the project, Warner would naturally turn to… Eddie Cantor. Like Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor was a Jew of Russian descent, although, unlike Jolson, he had been born in New York City. Like Jolson, he had been a star on Broadway for years, regularly performing in and writing songs for Florenz Ziegfeld' annual Follies shows. And like Jolson, Cantor would regularly appear on stage in blackface. But Cantor, a friend of Jessel's, instead offered to help the studio get Jessel back on the movie. The studio instead went to their third choice…   Al Jolson.   You know. The guy whose life inspired the darn story to begin with.   Many years later, film historian Robert Carringer would note that, in 1927, George Jessel was a vaudeville comedian with one successful play and one modestly successful movie to his credit, while Jolson was one of the biggest stars in America. In fact, when The Vitaphone Company was trying to convince American studios to try their sound-on-disc system for movies, they would hire Jolson in the fall of 1926 for a ten minute test film. It would be the success of the short film, titled A Plantation Act and featuring Jolson in blackface singing three songs, that would convince Warners to take a chance with The Jazz Singer as the first quote unquote talkie film.   I'll have a link to A Plantation Act on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, if you're interested in seeing it.   Al Jolson signed on to play the character inspired by himself for $75,000 in May 1927, the equivalent to $1.28m today. Filming would be pushed back to June 1927, in part due to Jolson still being on tour with another show until the end of the month. Warners would begin production on the film in New York City in late June, starting with second unit shots of the Lower East Side and The Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, shooting as much as they could until Jolson arrived on set on July 11th.   Now, while the film has been regularly touted for nearly a century now as the first talking motion picture, the truth is, there's very little verbal dialogue in the film. The vast majority of dialogue in the movie was still handled with the traditional silent movie use of caption cards, and the very few scenes featuring what would be synchronized dialogue were saved for the end of production, due to the complexity of how those scenes would be captured. But the film would finish shooting in mid-September.   The $422k movie would have its world premiere at the Warner Brothers theatre in New York City not three weeks later, on October 6th, 1927, where the film would become a sensation. Sadly, none of the Warner Brothers would attend the premiere, as Sam Warner, the strongest advocate for Vitaphone at the studio, had died of pneumonia the night before the premiere, and his remaining brothers stayed in Los Angeles for the funeral. The reviews were outstanding, and the film would bring more than $2.5m in rental fees back to the studio.   At the first Academy Awards, held in May 1929 to honor the films released between August 1927 and July 1928, The Jazz Singer was deemed ineligible for the two highest awards, Outstanding Production, now known as Best Picture, and Unique and Artistic Production, which would only be awarded this one time, on the grounds that it would have been unfair to a sound picture compete against all the other silent films. Ironically, by the time the second Academy Awards were handed out, in April 1930, silent films would practically be a thing of the past. The success of The Jazz Singer had been that much a tectonic shift in the industry. The film would receive one Oscar nomination, for Alfred Cohn's screenplay adaptation, while the Warner Brothers would be given a special award for producing The Jazz Singer, the “pioneer outstanding talking picture which has revolutionized the industry,” as the inscription on the award read.   There would be a remake of The Jazz Singer produced in 1952, starring Danny Thomas as Korean War veteran who, thankfully, leaves the blackface in the past, and a one-hour television adaptation of the story in 1959, starring Jerry Lewis. And if that sounds strange to you, Jerry Lewis, at the height of his post-Lewis and Martin success, playing a man torn between his desire to be a successful performer and his shattered relationship with his cantor father… well, you can see it for yourself, if you desire, on the page for this episode on our website. It is as strange as it sounds.   At this point, we're going to fast forward a number of years in our story.   In the 1970s, Neil Diamond became one of the biggest musical stars in America. While he wanted to be a singer, Diamond would get his first big success in music in the 1960s as a songwriter, including writing two songs that would become big hits for The Monkees: I'm a Believer and A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.   And really quickly, let me throw out a weird coincidence here… Bob Rafelson, the creator of The Monkees who would go on to produce and/or direct such films as Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces, was the nephew of Samson Raphaelson, the man who wrote the original story on which The Jazz Singer is based.   Anyway, after finding success as a songwriter, Diamond would become a major singing star with hits like Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon, Sweet Caroline, and Song Sung Blue. And in another weird coincidence, by 1972, Neil Diamond would become the first performer since Al Jolson to stage a one-man show at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.   By 1976, Neil Diamond is hosting specials on television, and one person who would see one of Diamond's television specials was a guy named Jerry Leider, an executive at Warner Brothers in charge of foreign feature production. Leider sees something in Diamond that just night be suited for the movies, not unlike Elvis Presley or Barbra Streisand, who in 1976 just happens to be the star of a remake of A Star Is Born for Warner Brothers that is cleaning up at the box office and at records stores nationwide. Leider is so convinced Neil Diamond has that X Factor, that unquantifiable thing that turns mere mortals into superstars, that Leider quits his job at Warners to start his own movie production company, wrestling the story rights to The Jazz Singer from Warner Brothers and United Artists, both of whom claimed ownership of the story, so he can make his own version with Diamond as the star.   So, naturally, a former Warners Brothers executive wanting to remake one of the most iconic movies in the Warner Brothers library is going to set it up at Warner Brothers, right?   Nope!   In the fall of 1977, Leider makes a deal with MGM to make the movie. Diamond signs on to play the lead, even before a script is written, and screenwriter Stephen H. Foreman is brought in to update the vaudeville-based original story into the modern day while incorporating Diamond's strengths as a songwriter to inform the story. But just before the film was set to shoot in September 1978, MGM would drop the movie, as some executives were worried the film would be perceived as being, and I am quoting Mr. Foreman here, “too Jewish.”   American Film Distribution, the American distribution arm of British production companies ITC and EMI, would pick the film up in turnaround, and set a May 1979 production start date. Sidney J. Furie, the Canadian filmmaker who had directed Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues, would be hired to direct, and Jacqueline Bisset was pursued to play the lead female role, but her agent priced their client out of the running. Deborah Raffin would be cast instead. And to help bring the kids in, the producers would sign Sir Laurence Olivier to play Diamond's father, Cantor Rabinovitch. Sir Larry would get a cool million dollars for ten weeks of work.   There would, as always is with the case of making movies, be setbacks that would further delay the start of production. First, Diamond would hurt his back at the end of 1978, and needed to go in for surgery in early January 1979. Although Diamond had already written and recorded all the music that was going to be used in the movie, AFD considered replacing Diamond with Barry Manilow, who had also never starred in a movie before, but they would stick with their original star.   After nearly a year of rest, Diamond was ready to begin, and cameras would roll on the $10m production on January 7th, 1980. And, as always is with the case of making movies, there would be more setbacks as soon as production began. Diamond, uniquely aware of just how little training he had as an actor, struggled to find his place on set, especially when working with an actor of Sir Laurence Olivier's stature. Director Furie, who was never satisfied with the screenplay, ordered writer Foreman to come up with new scenes that would help lessen the burden Diamond was placing on himself and the production. The writer would balk at almost every single suggestion, and eventually walked off the film.   Herbert Baker, an old school screenwriter who had worked on several of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies, was brought in to punch up the script, but he would end up completely rewriting the film, even though the movie had been in production for a few weeks. Baker and Furie would spend every moment the director wasn't actively working on set reworking the story, changing the Deborah Raffin character so much she would leave the production. Her friend Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, would take over the role, after Cher, Liza Minnelli and Donna Summer were considered.   Sensing an out of control production, Sir Lew Grade, the British media titan owner of AFD, decided a change was needed. He would shut the production down on March 3rd, 1980, and fire director Furie. While Baker continued to work on the script, Sir Grade would find a new director in Richard Fleischer, the journeyman filmmaker whose credits in the 1950s and 1960s included such films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Compulsion, Fantastic Voyage and Doctor Doolittle, but had fallen out of favor with most studios after a string of flops. In fact, this would be the second film in a year where Fleischer was hired to replace another director during the middle of production, having replaced Richard C. Sarafian on the action-adventure film Ashanti in 1979.   With Fleischer aboard, production on The Jazz Singer would resume in late March, and there was an immediate noticeable difference on set. Where Furie and many members of the crew would regularly defer to Diamond due to his stature as an entertainer, letting the singer spiral out of control if things weren't working right, Fleischer would calm the actor down and help work him back into the scene. Except for one scene, set in a recording studio, where Diamond's character needed to explode into anger. After a few takes that didn't go as well as he hoped, Diamond went into the recording booth where his movie band was stationed while Fleischer was resetting the shot, when the director noticed Diamond working himself into a rage. The director called “action,” and Diamond nailed the take as needed. When the director asked Diamond how he got to that moment, the singer said he was frustrated with himself that he wasn't hitting the scene right, and asked the band to play something that would make him angry. The band obliged.    What did they play?   A Barry Manilow song.   Despite the recasting of the leading female role, a change of director and a number of rewrites by two different writers during the production, the film was able to finish shooting at the end of April with only $3m added to the budget.   Associated Film would set a December 19th, 1980 release date for the film, while Capitol Records, owned at the time by EMI, would release the first single from the soundtrack, a soft-rock ballad called Love on the Rocks, in October, with the full soundtrack album arriving in stores a month later.   As expected for a new Neil Diamond song, Love on the Rocks was an immediate hit, climbing the charts all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.   Several days before the film opened in 241 theatres on December 19th, there was a huge, star-studded premiere at the Plitt Century Plaza Cinemas in Los Angeles. Peter Falk, Harvey Korman, Ed McMahon, Gregory Peck, Cesar Romero and Jon Voight were just a handful of the Hollywood community who came out to attend what was one of the biggest Hollywood premieres in years. That would seem to project a confidence in the movie from the distributor's standpoint.   Or so you'd think.   But as it turned out, The Jazz Singer was one of three movies Associated Film would release that day. Along with The Jazz Singer, they would release the British mystery film The Mirror Crack'd starring Angela Lansbury and Elizabeth Taylor, and the Richard Donner drama Inside Moves. Of the three movies, The Jazz Singer would gross the most that weekend, pulling in a modest $1.167m, versus The Mirror Crack'd's $608k from 340 screens, and Inside Moves's $201k from 67 screens.   But compared to Clint Eastwood's Any Which Way You Can, the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, and Dolly Parton/Lily Tomlin/Jane Fonda comedy 9 to 5, it wasn't the best opening they could hope for.   But the film would continue to play… well, if not exceptional, at least it would hold on to its intended audience for a while. Sensing the film needed some help, Capitol Records released a second single from the soundtrack, another power ballad called Hello Again, in January 1981, which would become yet another top ten hit for Diamond. A third single, the pro-immigration power-pop song America, would arrive in April 1981 and go to number eight on the charts, but by then, the film was out of theatres with a respectable $27.12m in tickets sold.   Contemporary reviews of the film were rather negative, especially towards Diamond as an actor. Roger Ebert noted in his review that there were so many things wrong in the film that the review was threatening to become a list of cinematic atrocities. His review buddy Gene Siskel did praise Lucie Arnaz's performance, while pointing out how out of touch the new story was with the immigrant story told by the original film. Many critics would also point out the cringe-worthy homage to the original film, where Diamond unnecessarily performs in blackface, as well as Olivier's overacting.   I recently watched the film for the first time since 1981, and it's not a great movie by any measurable metric. Diamond isn't as bad an actor as the reviews make him out to be, especially considering he's essentially playing an altered version of himself, a successful pop singer, and Lucie Arnaz is fairly good. The single best performance in the film comes from Caitlin Adams, playing Jess's wife Rivka, who, for me, is the emotional center of the film. And yes, Olivier really goes all-in on the scenery chewing. At times, it's truly painful to watch this great actor spin out of control.   There would be a few awards nominations for the film, including acting nominations for Diamond and Arnaz at the 1981 Golden Globes, and a Grammy nomination for Best Soundtrack Album, but most of its quote unquote awards would come from the atrocious Golden Raspberry organization, which would name Diamond the Worst Actor of the year and Olivier the Worst Supporting Actor during its first quote unquote ceremony, which was held in some guy's living room.   Ironically but not so surprisingly, while the film would be vaguely profitable for its producers, it would be the soundtrack to the movie that would bring in the lion's share of the profits. On top of three hit singles, the soundtrack album would sell more than five million copies just in the United States in 1980 and 1981, and would also go platinum in Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. While he would earn less than half a million dollars from the film, Diamond's cut of the soundtrack would net him a dollar per unit sold, earning him more than ten times his salary as an actor.   And although I fancied myself a punk and new wave kid at the end of 1980, I bought the soundtrack to The Jazz Singer, ostensibly as a gift for my mom, who loved Neil Diamond, but I easily wore out the grooves of the album listening to it over and over again. Of the ten new songs he wrote for the soundtrack, there's a good two or three additional tracks that weren't released as singles, including a short little ragtime-inspired ditty called On the Robert E. Lee, but America is the one song from the soundtrack I am still drawn to today. It's a weirdly uplifting song with its rhythmic “today” chants that end the song that just makes me feel good despite its inherent cheesiness.   After The Jazz Singer, Neil Diamond would only appear as himself in a film. Lucie Arnaz would never quite have much of a career after the film, although she would work quote regularly in television during the 80s and 90s, including a short stint as the star of The Lucie Arnaz Show, which lasted six episodes in 1985 before being cancelled. Laurence Olivier would continue to play supporting roles in a series of not so great motion pictures and television movies and miniseries for several more years, until his passing in 1989. And director Richard Fleischer would make several bad movies, including Red Sonja and Million Dollar Mystery, until he retired from filmmaking in 1987.   As we noted in our February 2020 episode about AFD, the act of releasing three movies on the same day was a last, desperate move in order to pump some much needed capital into the company. And while The Jazz Singer would bring some money in, that wasn't enough to cover the losses from the other two movies released the same day, or several other underperforming films released earlier in the year such as the infamous Village People movie Can't Stop the Music and Raise the Titanic. Sir Lew Grade would close AFD down in early 1981, and sell several movies that were completed, in production or in pre-production to Universal Studios. Ironically, those movies might have saved the company had they been able to hang on a little longer, as they included such films as The Dark Crystal, Frances, On Golden Pond, Sophie's Choice and Tender Mercies.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 99 is released.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Neil Diamond and The Jazz Singer.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Welcome to our first episode of the new year, which is also our first episode of Season 5. Thank you for continuing to join us on this amazing journey. On today's episode, we head back to Christmas of 1980, when pop music superstar Neil Diamond would be making his feature acting debut in a new version of The Jazz Singer. ----more---- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the entertainment capital of the world, this is The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   It's 2023, which means we are starting our fifth season. And for our first episode of this new season, we're going back to the end of 1980, to take a look back at what was supposed to be the launch of a new phase in the career of one of music's biggest stars. That musical star was Neil Diamond, and this would end up becoming his one and only attempt to act in a motion picture.   We're talking about The Jazz Singer.   As I have said time and time again, I don't really have a plan for this show. I talk about the movies and subjects I talk about often on a whim. I'll hear about something and I'll be reminded of something, and a few days later, I've got an episode researched, written, recorded, edited and out there in the world. As I was working on the previous episode, about The War of the Roses just before my trip to Thailand, I saw a video of Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline on opening night of A Beautiful Noise, a new Broadway musical about the life and music of Mr. Diamond. I hadn't noticed Diamond had stopped performing live five years earlier due to a diagnosis of Parkinson's, and it was very touching to watch a thousand people joyously singing along with the man.   But as I was watching that video, I was reminded of The Jazz Singer, a movie we previously covered very lightly three years ago as part of our episode on the distribution company Associated Film Distribution. I was reminded that I haven't seen the movie in over forty years, even though I remember rather enjoying it when it opened in theatres in December 1980. I think I saw it four or five times over the course of a month, and I even went out and bought the soundtrack album, which I easily listened to a hundred times before the start of summer.   But we're getting ahead of ourselves yet again.   The Jazz Singer began its life in 1917, when Samson Raphaelson, a twenty-three year old undergraduate at the University of Illinois, attended a performance of Robinson Crusoe, Jr., in Champaign, IL. The star of that show was thirty-year-old Al Jolson, a Russian-born Jew who had been a popular performer on Broadway stages for fifteen years by this point, regularly performing in blackface. After graduation, Raphaelson would become an advertising executive in New York City, but on the side, he would write stories. One short story, called “The Day of Atonement,” would be a thinly fictionalized account of Al Jolson's life. It would be published in Everybody's Magazine in January 1922.   At the encouragement of his secretary at the advertising firm, Raphaelson would adapted his story into a play, which would be produced on Broadway in September 1925 with a new title…   The Jazz Singer.   Ironically, for a Broadway show based on the early life of Al Jolson, Jolson was not a part of the production. The part of Jake Rabinowitz, the son of a cantor who finds success on Broadway with the Anglicized named Jack Robin, would be played by George Jessel. The play would be a minor hit, running for 303 performances on Broadway before closing in June 1926, and Warner Brothers would buy the movie rights the same week the show closed. George Jessel would be signed to play his stage role in the movie version. The film was scheduled to go into production in May 1927.   There are a number of reasons why Jessel would not end up making the movie. After the success of two Warner movies in 1926 using Vitaphone, a sound-on-disc system that could play music synchronized to a motion picture, Warner Brothers reconcieved The Jazz Singer as a sound movie, but not just a movie with music synchronized to the images on screen, but a “talkie,” where, for the first time for a motion picture, actual dialogue and vocal songs would be synchronized to the pictures on screen. When he learned about this development, Jessel demanded more money.    The Warner Brothers refused.   Then Jessel had some concerns about the solvency of the studio. These would be valid concerns, as Harry Warner, the eldest of the four eponymous brothers who ran the studio, had sold nearly $4m worth of his personal stock to keep the company afloat just a few months earlier.   But what ended up driving Jessel away was a major change screenwriter Alfred A. Cohen made when adapting the original story and the play into the screenplay. Instead of leaving the theatre and becoming a cantor like his father, as it was written for the stage, the movie would end with Jack Robin performing on Broadway in blackface while his mom cheers him on from one of the box seats.   With Jessel off the project, Warner would naturally turn to… Eddie Cantor. Like Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor was a Jew of Russian descent, although, unlike Jolson, he had been born in New York City. Like Jolson, he had been a star on Broadway for years, regularly performing in and writing songs for Florenz Ziegfeld' annual Follies shows. And like Jolson, Cantor would regularly appear on stage in blackface. But Cantor, a friend of Jessel's, instead offered to help the studio get Jessel back on the movie. The studio instead went to their third choice…   Al Jolson.   You know. The guy whose life inspired the darn story to begin with.   Many years later, film historian Robert Carringer would note that, in 1927, George Jessel was a vaudeville comedian with one successful play and one modestly successful movie to his credit, while Jolson was one of the biggest stars in America. In fact, when The Vitaphone Company was trying to convince American studios to try their sound-on-disc system for movies, they would hire Jolson in the fall of 1926 for a ten minute test film. It would be the success of the short film, titled A Plantation Act and featuring Jolson in blackface singing three songs, that would convince Warners to take a chance with The Jazz Singer as the first quote unquote talkie film.   I'll have a link to A Plantation Act on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, if you're interested in seeing it.   Al Jolson signed on to play the character inspired by himself for $75,000 in May 1927, the equivalent to $1.28m today. Filming would be pushed back to June 1927, in part due to Jolson still being on tour with another show until the end of the month. Warners would begin production on the film in New York City in late June, starting with second unit shots of the Lower East Side and The Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, shooting as much as they could until Jolson arrived on set on July 11th.   Now, while the film has been regularly touted for nearly a century now as the first talking motion picture, the truth is, there's very little verbal dialogue in the film. The vast majority of dialogue in the movie was still handled with the traditional silent movie use of caption cards, and the very few scenes featuring what would be synchronized dialogue were saved for the end of production, due to the complexity of how those scenes would be captured. But the film would finish shooting in mid-September.   The $422k movie would have its world premiere at the Warner Brothers theatre in New York City not three weeks later, on October 6th, 1927, where the film would become a sensation. Sadly, none of the Warner Brothers would attend the premiere, as Sam Warner, the strongest advocate for Vitaphone at the studio, had died of pneumonia the night before the premiere, and his remaining brothers stayed in Los Angeles for the funeral. The reviews were outstanding, and the film would bring more than $2.5m in rental fees back to the studio.   At the first Academy Awards, held in May 1929 to honor the films released between August 1927 and July 1928, The Jazz Singer was deemed ineligible for the two highest awards, Outstanding Production, now known as Best Picture, and Unique and Artistic Production, which would only be awarded this one time, on the grounds that it would have been unfair to a sound picture compete against all the other silent films. Ironically, by the time the second Academy Awards were handed out, in April 1930, silent films would practically be a thing of the past. The success of The Jazz Singer had been that much a tectonic shift in the industry. The film would receive one Oscar nomination, for Alfred Cohn's screenplay adaptation, while the Warner Brothers would be given a special award for producing The Jazz Singer, the “pioneer outstanding talking picture which has revolutionized the industry,” as the inscription on the award read.   There would be a remake of The Jazz Singer produced in 1952, starring Danny Thomas as Korean War veteran who, thankfully, leaves the blackface in the past, and a one-hour television adaptation of the story in 1959, starring Jerry Lewis. And if that sounds strange to you, Jerry Lewis, at the height of his post-Lewis and Martin success, playing a man torn between his desire to be a successful performer and his shattered relationship with his cantor father… well, you can see it for yourself, if you desire, on the page for this episode on our website. It is as strange as it sounds.   At this point, we're going to fast forward a number of years in our story.   In the 1970s, Neil Diamond became one of the biggest musical stars in America. While he wanted to be a singer, Diamond would get his first big success in music in the 1960s as a songwriter, including writing two songs that would become big hits for The Monkees: I'm a Believer and A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.   And really quickly, let me throw out a weird coincidence here… Bob Rafelson, the creator of The Monkees who would go on to produce and/or direct such films as Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces, was the nephew of Samson Raphaelson, the man who wrote the original story on which The Jazz Singer is based.   Anyway, after finding success as a songwriter, Diamond would become a major singing star with hits like Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon, Sweet Caroline, and Song Sung Blue. And in another weird coincidence, by 1972, Neil Diamond would become the first performer since Al Jolson to stage a one-man show at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.   By 1976, Neil Diamond is hosting specials on television, and one person who would see one of Diamond's television specials was a guy named Jerry Leider, an executive at Warner Brothers in charge of foreign feature production. Leider sees something in Diamond that just night be suited for the movies, not unlike Elvis Presley or Barbra Streisand, who in 1976 just happens to be the star of a remake of A Star Is Born for Warner Brothers that is cleaning up at the box office and at records stores nationwide. Leider is so convinced Neil Diamond has that X Factor, that unquantifiable thing that turns mere mortals into superstars, that Leider quits his job at Warners to start his own movie production company, wrestling the story rights to The Jazz Singer from Warner Brothers and United Artists, both of whom claimed ownership of the story, so he can make his own version with Diamond as the star.   So, naturally, a former Warners Brothers executive wanting to remake one of the most iconic movies in the Warner Brothers library is going to set it up at Warner Brothers, right?   Nope!   In the fall of 1977, Leider makes a deal with MGM to make the movie. Diamond signs on to play the lead, even before a script is written, and screenwriter Stephen H. Foreman is brought in to update the vaudeville-based original story into the modern day while incorporating Diamond's strengths as a songwriter to inform the story. But just before the film was set to shoot in September 1978, MGM would drop the movie, as some executives were worried the film would be perceived as being, and I am quoting Mr. Foreman here, “too Jewish.”   American Film Distribution, the American distribution arm of British production companies ITC and EMI, would pick the film up in turnaround, and set a May 1979 production start date. Sidney J. Furie, the Canadian filmmaker who had directed Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues, would be hired to direct, and Jacqueline Bisset was pursued to play the lead female role, but her agent priced their client out of the running. Deborah Raffin would be cast instead. And to help bring the kids in, the producers would sign Sir Laurence Olivier to play Diamond's father, Cantor Rabinovitch. Sir Larry would get a cool million dollars for ten weeks of work.   There would, as always is with the case of making movies, be setbacks that would further delay the start of production. First, Diamond would hurt his back at the end of 1978, and needed to go in for surgery in early January 1979. Although Diamond had already written and recorded all the music that was going to be used in the movie, AFD considered replacing Diamond with Barry Manilow, who had also never starred in a movie before, but they would stick with their original star.   After nearly a year of rest, Diamond was ready to begin, and cameras would roll on the $10m production on January 7th, 1980. And, as always is with the case of making movies, there would be more setbacks as soon as production began. Diamond, uniquely aware of just how little training he had as an actor, struggled to find his place on set, especially when working with an actor of Sir Laurence Olivier's stature. Director Furie, who was never satisfied with the screenplay, ordered writer Foreman to come up with new scenes that would help lessen the burden Diamond was placing on himself and the production. The writer would balk at almost every single suggestion, and eventually walked off the film.   Herbert Baker, an old school screenwriter who had worked on several of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies, was brought in to punch up the script, but he would end up completely rewriting the film, even though the movie had been in production for a few weeks. Baker and Furie would spend every moment the director wasn't actively working on set reworking the story, changing the Deborah Raffin character so much she would leave the production. Her friend Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, would take over the role, after Cher, Liza Minnelli and Donna Summer were considered.   Sensing an out of control production, Sir Lew Grade, the British media titan owner of AFD, decided a change was needed. He would shut the production down on March 3rd, 1980, and fire director Furie. While Baker continued to work on the script, Sir Grade would find a new director in Richard Fleischer, the journeyman filmmaker whose credits in the 1950s and 1960s included such films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Compulsion, Fantastic Voyage and Doctor Doolittle, but had fallen out of favor with most studios after a string of flops. In fact, this would be the second film in a year where Fleischer was hired to replace another director during the middle of production, having replaced Richard C. Sarafian on the action-adventure film Ashanti in 1979.   With Fleischer aboard, production on The Jazz Singer would resume in late March, and there was an immediate noticeable difference on set. Where Furie and many members of the crew would regularly defer to Diamond due to his stature as an entertainer, letting the singer spiral out of control if things weren't working right, Fleischer would calm the actor down and help work him back into the scene. Except for one scene, set in a recording studio, where Diamond's character needed to explode into anger. After a few takes that didn't go as well as he hoped, Diamond went into the recording booth where his movie band was stationed while Fleischer was resetting the shot, when the director noticed Diamond working himself into a rage. The director called “action,” and Diamond nailed the take as needed. When the director asked Diamond how he got to that moment, the singer said he was frustrated with himself that he wasn't hitting the scene right, and asked the band to play something that would make him angry. The band obliged.    What did they play?   A Barry Manilow song.   Despite the recasting of the leading female role, a change of director and a number of rewrites by two different writers during the production, the film was able to finish shooting at the end of April with only $3m added to the budget.   Associated Film would set a December 19th, 1980 release date for the film, while Capitol Records, owned at the time by EMI, would release the first single from the soundtrack, a soft-rock ballad called Love on the Rocks, in October, with the full soundtrack album arriving in stores a month later.   As expected for a new Neil Diamond song, Love on the Rocks was an immediate hit, climbing the charts all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.   Several days before the film opened in 241 theatres on December 19th, there was a huge, star-studded premiere at the Plitt Century Plaza Cinemas in Los Angeles. Peter Falk, Harvey Korman, Ed McMahon, Gregory Peck, Cesar Romero and Jon Voight were just a handful of the Hollywood community who came out to attend what was one of the biggest Hollywood premieres in years. That would seem to project a confidence in the movie from the distributor's standpoint.   Or so you'd think.   But as it turned out, The Jazz Singer was one of three movies Associated Film would release that day. Along with The Jazz Singer, they would release the British mystery film The Mirror Crack'd starring Angela Lansbury and Elizabeth Taylor, and the Richard Donner drama Inside Moves. Of the three movies, The Jazz Singer would gross the most that weekend, pulling in a modest $1.167m, versus The Mirror Crack'd's $608k from 340 screens, and Inside Moves's $201k from 67 screens.   But compared to Clint Eastwood's Any Which Way You Can, the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, and Dolly Parton/Lily Tomlin/Jane Fonda comedy 9 to 5, it wasn't the best opening they could hope for.   But the film would continue to play… well, if not exceptional, at least it would hold on to its intended audience for a while. Sensing the film needed some help, Capitol Records released a second single from the soundtrack, another power ballad called Hello Again, in January 1981, which would become yet another top ten hit for Diamond. A third single, the pro-immigration power-pop song America, would arrive in April 1981 and go to number eight on the charts, but by then, the film was out of theatres with a respectable $27.12m in tickets sold.   Contemporary reviews of the film were rather negative, especially towards Diamond as an actor. Roger Ebert noted in his review that there were so many things wrong in the film that the review was threatening to become a list of cinematic atrocities. His review buddy Gene Siskel did praise Lucie Arnaz's performance, while pointing out how out of touch the new story was with the immigrant story told by the original film. Many critics would also point out the cringe-worthy homage to the original film, where Diamond unnecessarily performs in blackface, as well as Olivier's overacting.   I recently watched the film for the first time since 1981, and it's not a great movie by any measurable metric. Diamond isn't as bad an actor as the reviews make him out to be, especially considering he's essentially playing an altered version of himself, a successful pop singer, and Lucie Arnaz is fairly good. The single best performance in the film comes from Caitlin Adams, playing Jess's wife Rivka, who, for me, is the emotional center of the film. And yes, Olivier really goes all-in on the scenery chewing. At times, it's truly painful to watch this great actor spin out of control.   There would be a few awards nominations for the film, including acting nominations for Diamond and Arnaz at the 1981 Golden Globes, and a Grammy nomination for Best Soundtrack Album, but most of its quote unquote awards would come from the atrocious Golden Raspberry organization, which would name Diamond the Worst Actor of the year and Olivier the Worst Supporting Actor during its first quote unquote ceremony, which was held in some guy's living room.   Ironically but not so surprisingly, while the film would be vaguely profitable for its producers, it would be the soundtrack to the movie that would bring in the lion's share of the profits. On top of three hit singles, the soundtrack album would sell more than five million copies just in the United States in 1980 and 1981, and would also go platinum in Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. While he would earn less than half a million dollars from the film, Diamond's cut of the soundtrack would net him a dollar per unit sold, earning him more than ten times his salary as an actor.   And although I fancied myself a punk and new wave kid at the end of 1980, I bought the soundtrack to The Jazz Singer, ostensibly as a gift for my mom, who loved Neil Diamond, but I easily wore out the grooves of the album listening to it over and over again. Of the ten new songs he wrote for the soundtrack, there's a good two or three additional tracks that weren't released as singles, including a short little ragtime-inspired ditty called On the Robert E. Lee, but America is the one song from the soundtrack I am still drawn to today. It's a weirdly uplifting song with its rhythmic “today” chants that end the song that just makes me feel good despite its inherent cheesiness.   After The Jazz Singer, Neil Diamond would only appear as himself in a film. Lucie Arnaz would never quite have much of a career after the film, although she would work quote regularly in television during the 80s and 90s, including a short stint as the star of The Lucie Arnaz Show, which lasted six episodes in 1985 before being cancelled. Laurence Olivier would continue to play supporting roles in a series of not so great motion pictures and television movies and miniseries for several more years, until his passing in 1989. And director Richard Fleischer would make several bad movies, including Red Sonja and Million Dollar Mystery, until he retired from filmmaking in 1987.   As we noted in our February 2020 episode about AFD, the act of releasing three movies on the same day was a last, desperate move in order to pump some much needed capital into the company. And while The Jazz Singer would bring some money in, that wasn't enough to cover the losses from the other two movies released the same day, or several other underperforming films released earlier in the year such as the infamous Village People movie Can't Stop the Music and Raise the Titanic. Sir Lew Grade would close AFD down in early 1981, and sell several movies that were completed, in production or in pre-production to Universal Studios. Ironically, those movies might have saved the company had they been able to hang on a little longer, as they included such films as The Dark Crystal, Frances, On Golden Pond, Sophie's Choice and Tender Mercies.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 99 is released.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Neil Diamond and The Jazz Singer.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

VANISHING POINT #19 - The Hitch-Hiker (Into the Wild, The Hitcher, The Brown Bunny et... Vanishing point !) Dix-neuvième épisode de Vanishing Point, le podcast itinérant qui vous invite à voyager sur les routes imaginaires du Cinéma, sans gps ni direction assistée, avec comme seule boussole : notre passion, nos échanges et nos envies. Piloté par Mad, Ben et Franck. Accompagné par notre impromptu auto-stoppeur Max Retrouvez Max sur Twitter (@dichael_grey) et sur Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWNyNDxMFdxk9rlXbMoqa8Q Les films abordés dans cet épisode : 00:01:23 : Skip générique (on juge pas promis) 00:06:40 : Into the Wild, Sean Penn (2007) 01:02:52 : The Hitcher, Robert Harmon (1986) 01:49:48 : BLINDTEST - OST à reconnaitre ! 01:56:50 : The Brown Bunny, Vincent Gallo (2003) 03:01:58 : Vanishing Point, Richard C. Sarafian (1971) Les réponses au blindtest précédent (Episode 18 Viva Las Vegas) : Very Bad Trip, Les diamants sont éternels, Rain Man, Le Parrain, Blade Runner 2049, Lune de miel à Las Vegas, Ocean's Eleven Rejoignez-nous sur les réseaux sociaux : TWITTER : https://twitter.com/vpoint_podcast FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/podcast.vanishingpoint PODCASTICS : https://www.podcastics.com/podcast/vanishing-point/ Et sur votre plateforme de podcasts préférée ! Abonnez-vous

Links www.youtube.com/mrparka https://www.instagram.com/mrparka/ https://twitter.com/mrparka00 http://www.screamingtoilet.com/dvd--blu-ray https://www.facebook.com/mrparka http://shutupbrandon.podbean.com/ https://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-up-brandon-podcast/id988229934?mt=2 https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podbean-70/shut-up-brandon-podcast ​https://letterboxd.com/mrparka/ ​https://www.patreon.com/mrparka   ​ ​Time Stamps 0:00 “The Brotherhood of Satan” Review – 0:11 “Blind Beast” Review – 5:17 “Puzzle” Review– 10:21 “Incident in a Ghostland” Review– 14:19 Patreon Pick “Woyzeck” Review – 20:11 1970 “A Quiet Place to Kill” Review – 23:06 1970 “How Awful about Allan” Review  – 31:03 1970 “House of Dark Shadows” Review – 33:26 1970 “The Mind of Mr. Soames” Review  – 37:44 1970  “Fragment of Fear” Review– 40:19 1970 “Scream of the Demon Lover” Review – 43:35 Blindspot “Day of the Triffids”– 45:55 Questions/Answers/ Question of the Week “Great performance in a movie that isn't necessarily great?” – 1:11:13 Update – 1:23:11  22 Shots of Moodz and Horror – https://www.22shotsofmoodzandhorror.com/ Video Version – https://youtu.be/GP17B6WR3TQ Podcast Under the Stairs – https://tputscast.com/podcast Screamingtoiletcontest@gmail.com Links of Interest More Info – https://www.screamingtoilet.com/video/mrparkas-video-reviews-for-the-week-of-august-28th-episode-224 Arrow Video – https://arrowfilms.com/ “The Brotherhood of Satan” Blu-Ray – https://mvdshop.com/products/the-brotherhood-of-satan-blu-ray “Blind Beast” Blu-Ray – https://mvdshop.com/products/blind-beast-blu-ray VCI Entertainment – https://www.vcientertainment.com/  “Puzzle” Blu-Ray – https://mvdshop.com/products/puzzle-luomo-senza-memoria-4k-restoration-blu-ray-dvd “Incident in a Ghostland” Blu-Ray – https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/incident-in-a-ghostland-blu-ray/FCD1792 BFI Herzog Blu-Ray Collection – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Werner-Herzog-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B00I7TXG7U/ Severin Films – https://severin-films.com/ “The Complete Lenzi/Barker Collection” Blu-Ray – https://severin-films.com/shop/lenzi-baker-collection/ “How Awful About Allan” YouTube – https://youtu.be/To4jBX5jV68 “House of Dark Shadows” Blu-Ray – https://www.amazon.com/House-Dark-Shadows-BD-Blu-ray/dp/B008JLBNJE/ Powerhouse Films – https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/ “The Mind of Mr. Soames” Blu-Ray – https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/products/the-mind-of-mr-soames-le “Fragment of Fear” Blu-Ray – https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/products/fragment-of-fear-le “Scream of the Demon Lover” DVD – https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Castle-Erna-Schurer/dp/B00007KK2Q/ “Day of the Triffids” DVD Import – https://www.amazon.com/Day-Triffids-DVD-Nicole-Maurey/dp/B01N21QHEQ/   Update Blu-Ray Sundown The Borrower The Bermuda Depths Films Notes The Brotherhood of Satan – 1971 – Bernard McEveety Blind Beast – 1969 – Yasuzō Masumura Puzzle – 1974 – Duccio Tessari Incident in a Ghostland – 2018 – Pascal Laugier Woyzeck – 1979 – Werner Herzog A Quiet Place to Kill – 1970 – Umberto Lenzi How Awful About Allan – 1970 – Curtis Harrington House of Dark Shadows – 1970 – Dan Curtis The Mind of Mr. Soames – 1970 – Alan Cooke Fragment of Fear – 1970 – Richard C. Sarafian Scream of the Demon Lover – 1970 – José Luis Merino Day of the Triffids – 1962 – Steve Sekely/ Freddie Francis

In this episode of the show we are travelling all the way back to the 70s to discuss Richard C. Sarafian's Vanishing Point, a counterculture cult classic about a man barrelling down the road at breakneck speeds in an iconic white Dodge Challenger. Over the course of our conversation we touch on the unique qualities of the film's main character played by Barry Newman, obsess over the film's vibes and its music and cut into the social commentary running beneath its narrative. And of course, we do end up sliding into a tangent where we try to list the most iconic movie cars in history. Tune in and enjoy! Hosts: Jakub Flasz, Carson Timar, Nicolo Grasso & Ewan Gleadow Intro: Infraction - Cassette Outro: Infraction - Daydream Follow The Uncut Gems Podcast on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod) and Instagram (@UncutGemsPod)! Support the show with a one-off donation! Also, be sure to subscribe to our Patreon over for more podcast content! The Uncut Gems Podcast is a CLAPPER production

The new Bob Odenkirk-starring revenge thriller NOBODY could be read as commentary on the revenge thriller form, but that may be an overly generous reading — or it may just be because we’ve paired it this week with Steven Soderbergh’s THE LIMEY, which is much more overtly reflective about its fantasies of violence and retribution. After working through what did and didn’t work for us about NOBODY, we put it into conversation with THE LIMEY — and by extension the long cinematic tradition of the revenge movie — to discuss the films’ respective approaches to violence, motivation, and middle age, and how they use music and location work to different effect. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE LIMEY, NOBODY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Your Next Picture Show: Scott: Michael Verhoeven’s THE NASTY GIRL Keith: Richard C. Sarafian’s VANISHING POINT Tasha: George Romero’s THE CRAZIES Outro music: Steve Lawrence, ‘I Gotta Be Me’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cult film podcast with Mat Colegate (aka Lord Nuneaton Savage) & Dan White (aka The Beast Must Die). The Savage Beast No.12: Moviedrome In this Very Special Episode episode, we take a slightly different approach and discuss the idea of curation in cinema, focusing on the beloved British cult film show Moviedrome. Films discussed include: Terminator (James Cameron, 1984) Jabberwocky (Terry Gilliam, 1977) Assault On Precinct 13 (John Carpenter, 1976) Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971) Manhunter (Michael Mann, 1986) A great Moviedrome resource can be found at https://moviedromer.tumblr.com Matrin Scorsese interview https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/il-maestro-federico-fellini-martin-scorsese Check out The Savage Beast tumblr, for some visual accompaniment to the discussion: https://savagebeastpodcast.tumblr.com/ Follow us on Twitter @SavBeastPod

The legendary trumpeteer talks his unparalleled career as studio musician in Hollywood and his journey with composer John Williams as principal trumpet on 40+ films between 1973 and 2011, including some of the Maestro's most beloved scores such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones films Among the musicians who performed for John Williams in Los Angeles, trumpet legend Malcolm McNab has certainly a place of honour. This incredibly talented musician started to perform for the composer in 1973, playing lovely lyrical solos in the score for the film The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (directed by Richard C. Sarafian, starring Burt Reynolds and Sarah Miles). His exquisite playing immediately became a benchmark and, from that moment onward, McNab became principal trumpet for virtually all John Williams's recordings in Los Angeles from 1973 until 2011, becoming one of the longest-serving members (if not the single longest) in his pick-up orchestra: a grand total of 46 film scores, including some of the Maestro's most iconic works like Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, The Witches of Eastwick, Home Alone, Hook, Far and Away, Minority Report, plus several television projects (including Amazing Stories, Great Performances and the theme for the NBC Nightly News programs) and other special projects such as the live-to-picture performance of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the film's 20th anniversary in March 2002. He also had lovely lyrical solos in Stanley & Iris (1990). Malcolm McNab's career highlights don't stop however just at his many successful collaborations with John Williams. The trumpeteer has also been the first-call principal trumpet for many other great Hollywood composers including Jerry Goldsmith, Alex North, James Horner, Randy Newman, James Newton Howard, Bruce Broughton, Michael Kamen, with many of them writing beautiful solo parts especially for him. McNab's truly impressive list of credits includes many of Hollywood's most famous movies of the last 45 years. His playing can be heard in hundreds of memorable soundtracks, including the Rocky series, several Star Trek movies, Pretty Woman, The Karate Kid, Spider-Man 1 and 2, The Sixth Sense, Silverado, Edward Scissorhands, Independence Day, the Lethal Weapon films, Pirates of the Caribbean, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Pixar's Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, Cars and Monsters, Inc., and many, many others. He can be heard as featured soloist in John Barry's Dances With Wolves, Randy Newman's Avalon, Jerry Goldsmith's L.A. Confidential and The Last Castle, James Horner's Glory, just to name a few. In this rich, in-depth conversation, Malcolm talks about his career as studio musician legend, performing for virtually every great composer in Hollywood and performing both exquisite solos and virtuosic trumpet parts in many film scores. He talks at length about his many years performing for John Williams, from the first gig in 1973 to the success of scores like Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, reflecting on the evolution of the trumpet section in Williams's scores and the challenges of performing very difficult parts on many occasions, but also the fun and the joy of recording source music for Jaws and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. McNab also recollects his experiences with rock legend Frank Zappa, his friendship with Uan Rasey and his many collaborations with Jerry Goldsmith. For more information visit https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2020/09/23/malcolm-mcnab-podcast

¡Bienvenidos a un nuevo episodio de El Calabozo del Reverendo Wilson! Vanishing Point de Richard C. Sarafian es la obra diseccionada en este capítulo. Pisamos fuerte el acelerador para desgranar una película que explora y expone muchas de las coyunturas contraculturales de esos convulsos inicios de la década de los 70, dentro de los territorios menos explorados de Estados Unidos. Sarafian propone una película concepto, un viaje sin retorno donde su héroe, Kowalski, escapa de las ramas del sistema a bordo de su precioso Dodge Challenger blanco, en una obra soterrada pero altamente representativa para el estado socio-político yankie de aquel decenio que lo cambió todo. El Reverendo se une al Sr. Darth, alma máter de un podcast hermano como es El Sótano de Radio Belgrado, para inmiscuirse por carreteras secundarias y parajes desérticos conociendo de la mano del jinete Kowalski y su majestuoso caballo blanco todas las claves intrínsecas de una película que merece un inmediato rescate. Enjoy camaradas!

3-2-1 and they are off ladies and gentleman and welcome back to TWGTF where this week we are doing two car films. Up first from 1971 Two-Lane Blacktop directed by Monte Hellman. Second from 1971 as well directed by Richard C. Sarafian Vanishing Point. The boys have a fun informed talk about two movie about revolution and existentialism. Spoiler alert: These cars go fast. Best thing Tyler watched: The History of the Seattle Mariners Best thing Ben watched: Bone 00:00-04:38: Intro 04:39-15:33: Best thing we watched this week. 15:34-16:24: Two-Lane Blacktop introduction 16:25-18:37: “How you doin'?” 18:38-45:27: Two-Lane Blacktop discussion 45:28-46:12: Vanishing Point intro 46:13-49:09: “Super Soul needs no introduction...” 49:10-1:05:08: Vanishing Point discussion 1:05:09-1:18:07: Coming Attractions/Outro

Dans cet épisode un peu spécial, nous allons retracer les influences du cinéma sur la production vidéo ludique passée et actuelle. Quels sont les films dont les univers ont le plus inspiré les éditeurs de jeux  vidéo ?   Tout un programme… Alors mets toi bien, insère ta pièce, enfile ton casque et presse Start ! Liste des œuvres mentionnées : Plusieurs jeux des Editeurs suivants:  Atari – Sega- Nintendo- Capcom- Konami- SNK - Taito- Mindscape - Sony- Midway - Visceral Games -Human Entertainment - Rockstar Games –Bethesda Softwork - Hydravision- Behaviour Interactive- Naughty Dog – Epic games- Bungie Studios - Electronic Arts –Acclaim – Infogrames –Ubisoft - Activision Films: Les Dents de la mer -Steven Spielberg (1976) Les Aventuriers de l'arche perdue - Steven Spielberg  (1981) Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan - Steven Spielberg  (1998) Star wars – George Lucas (1977) Rambo – Ted Kotcheff (1982) Les Guerriers de la nuit –Walter hill (1980) Conan le Barbare - John Milius (1982) Kalidor - Richard Fleischer (1985) Excalibur  - John Boorman (1981) Willow - Ron Howard (1988) Le Bras armé de Wang Yu contre la guillotine volante - Jimmy Wang Yu - (1976) Capitaine Kronos, tueur de vampires - Brian Clemens (1974) Le Bon, la Brute et le Truand – Sergio Leone (1966) Le Cauchemar de Dracula -Terence Fisher  (1958) Mad Max -  George Miller (1979) Bloodsport - Paul Hertzog (1988) Robocop - Paul Verhoeven (1987) Opération Dragon – Robert Clouse  (1973) Terminator - James Cameron (1984) New York 1997 – John Carpenter  (1981) The Thing – John Carpenter  (1982) Ghosts of Mars - John Carpenter  (2001) Les aventures de Jack Burton – John Carpenter (1986) Alien le huitième passager – Ridley Scott (1979) Blade Runner – Ridley Scott (1982) Legend - Ridley Scott (1985) Scarface - Brian De palma (1983) L'impasse - Brian De palma (1989) Les Affranchis  - Martin Scorsese  (1990) Dracula -  Francis Ford Coppola (1992) Menace to society - Allen Hughes & Albert Hughes (1993) Dune - David Lynch (1984) Do The Right Thing - Spike Lee (1989) La Cité de Dieu - Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund (2003) The Killer – John Woo (1989) Heat - Michael Mann (1996) L'Invasion des profanateurs - Philip Kaufman (1979) Jeepers Creepers - Victor Salva (2001) The revenant -Alejandro González Iñárritu (2015) Les Huit Salopards - Quentin Tarantino (2016) Collatéral - Michael Mann (2004) Matrix - Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski (1999) Suspiria – Dario Argento (1977) Phenomena –Dario Argento (1985) Vendredi 13 : Chapitre 2  -  Steve Miner (1981) Carnage - Tony Maylam (1981) La Nuit des morts-vivants -  George A. Romero (1968) L'Invasion des profanateurs - Philip Kaufman (1979) Shining - Stanley Kubrick - (1980) The Faculty – Robert Rodriguez (1999) Massacre à la tronçonneuse - Tobe Hooper (1974) La Mouche -David Cronenberg (1987) Lost Highway -David Lynch (1997) Twin Peaks- David Lynch (1992) Macadam à deux voies -Monte Hellman (1971) Point limite zéro -Richard C. Sarafian  (1971 ) Bullitt - Peter Yates (1968 ) L'Equipée du Cannon Ball - Hal Needham (1981) La colline a des yeux –Alexandre Aja (2006) Podcast cinema Le Spectrum Intro: Hazebeatzs  | Outro: Jeremz Pou | Design Logo: Sebcha      

STEROIDS – LE PODCAST passe la seconde ! Et pour bien se distinguer de FAST & FURIOUS : HOBBS & SHAW, Rafik Djoumi et Stéphane Moïssakis s’attaquent à un sacré morceau du cinéma américain des années 70, à savoir POINT LIMITE ZÉRO de Richard C. Sarafian. Kowalski traverse le désert Californien à toute vitesse au volant de sa Dodge Challenger, car il doit rejoindre San Francisco en un temps record pour livrer sa cargaison. Ses excès de vitesse lui valent d’être poursuivi par la police, et de devenir au fil des infractions l’ennemi public n°1, mais aussi une véritable icône auprès de la population. Malgré une carrière en dents de scie, Richard C. Sarafian s’impose comme un réalisateur majeur avec POINT LIMITE ZÉRO (VANISHING POINT en vo) d’autant qu’il propose ici un véritable film d’action conceptuel en forme de longue course-poursuite. Œuvre culte et véritable classique parfois oublié du cinéma Continue Reading

Linkswww.youtube.com/mrparkahttps://www.instagram.com/mrparka/https://twitter.com/mrparka00http://www.screamingtoilet.com/dvd--blu-rayhttps://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/https://www.facebook.com/mrparkahttp://shutupbrandon.podbean.com/https://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-up-brandon-podcast/id988229934?mt=2https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podbean-70/shut-up-brandon-podcast ​https://letterboxd.com/mrparka/ ​https://www.patreon.com/mrparka Time Stamps “The Brink’s Job” Review - 0:42 “The First Power” Review– 8:30 “The Beast Within” Review – 15:23 “Revenge of Billy the Kid” Review –21:35 “The Golden Glove” Review – 28:06 “Citizen X” Review – 35:00 “Mother Goose Rock ’N Rhyme” Review  – 42:12 “Lolly-Madonna XXX” Review – 48:02 “Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini” Review – 56:14 “The Forest of Love” Review– 1:02:13 “Ghost Stories” Review – 1:07:12 Hammer Time “Vampire Circus” with Jeremy – 1:16:21 Questions – 1:34:46 Answers– 1:40:01 Question of the Week “What is the biggest correction you have ever received on a film?” – 1:46:49 Update – 1:47:27 Video Version - https://youtu.be/gClP-69sWKE Links of Interest More Info, Ask a Question/Answer a Question – https://www.screamingtoilet.com/video/mrparkas-video-reviews-for-the-week-of-january-25th-episode-141-hammer-time-week-37   Kino Lorber – https://www.kinolorber.com/   “The Brink’s Job” Blu-Ray – https://www.kinolorber.com/product/the-brinks-job-blu-ray   Scorpion Releasing – http://scorpionreleasing.com/   “The First Power” Blu-Ray – https://www.kinolorber.com/product/the-first-power-dvd   Shout! Factory – https://www.shoutfactory.com/   “The Beast Within” Blu-Ray – https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-beast-within?product_id=3043 “Revenge of Billy the Kid” DVD Import – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revenge-Billy-Kid-Michael-Balfour/dp/B00004VVSO   Strand Releasing – https://strandreleasing.com/   “The Golden Glove” DVD – https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Glove-Jonas-Dassler/dp/B07ZLK69ZL/   “Citizen X” Amazon Prime Streaming – https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-X-Stephen-Rea/dp/B00KG2P7SM/   “Mother Goose Rock ‘N Rhyme” YouTube – https://youtu.be/fPeBKaZoX-g   “Lolly-Madonna XXX” Streaming Amazon HD Rental – https://www.amazon.com/Lolly-Madonna-XXX-Rod-Steiger/dp/B01DPWNM4K/   “Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini” Shudder Streaming – https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/smoke-and-mirrors-the-story-of-tom-savini/5400004   “The Forest of Love” Streaming Netflix – https://www.netflix.com/TITLE/81133621   “Ghost Stories” Streaming Netflix – https://www.netflix.com/title/81088083   Synapse Films – https://synapse-films.com/   “Vampire Circus” Blu-Ray/DVD Combo - https://synapse-films.com/dvds/horror/vampire-circus/ Update Blu-Ray Bloodstalkers Friday the 13th Killer Cut/ Nightmare on Elm Street Remake/ Freddy vs Jason DVDS Videoman   Film Notes The Brink’s Job – 1978 – William Friedkin The First Power – 1990 – Robert Resnikoff The Beast Within – 1982 – Philippe Mora               Revenge of Billy the Kid – 1992 – Jim Groom   The Golden Glove – 2019 – Fatih Akin Citizen X – 1995 – Chris Gerolmo               Mother Goose Rock ’N Rhyme – 1990 – Jeff Stein Lolly-Madonna XXX – 1973 – Richard C. Sarafian Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini – 2015 – Jason Baker The Forest of Love – 2019 – Sion Sono Ghost Stories – 2020 – Karan Johar/Zoya Akhtar/ Anurag Kashyap/Dibakar Banerjee Vampire Circus – 1972 – Robert Young

Linkswww.youtube.com/mrparkahttps://www.instagram.com/mrparka/https://twitter.com/mrparka00http://www.screamingtoilet.com/dvd--blu-rayhttps://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/https://www.facebook.com/mrparkahttp://shutupbrandon.podbean.com/https://www.facebook.com/screamingpotty/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-up-brandon-podcast/id988229934?mt=2https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podbean-70/shut-up-brandon-podcast ​https://letterboxd.com/mrparka/ ​https://www.patreon.com/mrparka Time Stamps Burnt Out – 0:10 “American Horror Project Vol. 2: Dream No Evil” Review – 2:25 “American Horror Project Vol. 2: Dark August” Review–14:07 “American Horror Project Vol. 2: The Child” Review – 22:25 Contest for American Horror Project Vol. 2 and Tote Bag – 30:18 “My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga and Julie” Review – 31:54 “Victor Crowley” Review – 39:41 Hammer Time Episode 5(“The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll” and “Brides of Dracula”) W Jeremy – 46:46 / 1:00:59 Pick a Movie “Man in the Wilderness” Review  – 1:14:26 Questions – 1:22:55 Answers “What would you like me to do for next season’s special segment?” – 1:25:18 Question of the Week “What is your favorite regional horror/exploitation flick?” – 1:27:28 Update – 1:27:47 Patreon Shout Out – 1:30:39 Thralls of Metal Interview – 1:31:24 “Deathgasm” Review with Thralls of Metal – 1:38:50 “This Is Spinal Tap” Review with Thralls of Metal – 1:51:48 Heavy Metal Horror Movie Discussion with Thralls of Metal – 2:05:41   Enter Contest by sending an email to screamingtoiletcontest@gmail.com   Thralls of Metal YouTube Channel Subscribe Here – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8VqWeeSTw2nwksWKUArTvA Video Version – https://youtu.be/S0JQ0wq7_QY   Links of Interest More Info, Ask and Answer a Question, Written Review of “My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga, and Julie” – https://www.screamingtoilet.com/video/mrparkas-video-reviews-for-the-week-of-june-22nd-episode-110-hammer-time-week-6   Arrow Video – https://www.arrowvideo.com/   “American Horror Project Vol. 2” Blu-Ray – https://mvdshop.com/products/american-horror-project-volume-2-limited-edition-blu-ray   Cult Epics – http://www.cultepics.com/   “My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga, and Julie” Blu-Ray/DVD Combo – http://www.cultepics.com/product-detail/my-nights-with-susan-sandra-olga-julie/   Dark Sky Films – https://darkskyfilms.com/   “Victor Crowley” Blu-Ray/DVD Combo – https://www.amazon.com/Victor-Crowley-Blu-ray-Parry-Shen/dp/B078C51DL9/   Mill Creek Entertainment – https://www.millcreekent.com/   “The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll” and “The Gorgon” Blu-Ray Set – https://www.amazon.com/Hammer-Film-Double-Feature-Blu-ray/dp/B01IDHQZ2I/   Hammer Horror Collection (Including Brides of Dracula) Blu-Ray – https://www.amazon.com/Hammer-Horror-8-Film-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B01I048O8W/   Warner Archive – https://www.wbshop.com/collections/warner-archive-blu-ray   “Man in the Wilderness” Blu-Ray – https://www.wbshop.com/products/man-in-the-wilderness-bd   “Deathgasm” Blu-Ray – https://www.amazon.com/Deathgasm-Blu-ray-Milo-Cawthorne/dp/B016LR962I/   “This Is Spinal Tap” Blu-Ray – https://www.amazon.com/This-Spinal-Tap-Blu-ray-Reiner/dp/B000Y5JFN4/   Update 4K Arizona Blu-Ray Cold Fish Overlord Leprechaun Returns Slaughter of the Innocents Platoon Vengeance of She The Witches Frankenstein Created Woman   Film Notes Dream No Evil -1970 – John Hayes Dark August – 1976 – Martin Goldman The Child – 1977 – Robert Voskanian My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga, and Julie – 1975 – Pim de la Parra Victor Crowley – 2017 – Adam Green The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll – 1960 – Terence Fisher Brides of Dracula – 1960 – Terence Fisher Man in the Wilderness – 1971 – Richard C. Sarafian Deathgasm – 2015 – Jason Lei Howden This Is Spinal Tap – 1984 – Rob Reiner

Welcome to another glorious episode of the GGtMC!!! This week we have another round of Kickstarter shows and we have brought Demise in for her pick Nightbeast (1982) directed by Dan Dohler and we also cover Shiftless Jeff's pick Lolly Madonna XXX (1973) directed by Richard C. Sarafian with a cast that is amazing to say the very least... Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com Voicemails to 206-666-5207 Adios!!! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ggtmc/message

During this episode we talk to Filmmaker Richard C. Sarafian (1930-2013.)  Mr. Sarafian’s directing credits included Vanishing Point, a classic episode of The Twilight Zone “Living Doll,” and Man in the Wilderness. Get More Legends of Film Subscribe to Legends of Film by RSS | iTunes