Podcast appearances and mentions of Vittorio Gassman

Una volta Vittorio Gassman disse: “L'attore è un bugiardo al quale si chiede la massima sincerità”. E aveva ragione. Fonti: estratti dal film "Amadeus" diretto da Miloš Forman nel 1984 e disponibili su YouTube; video "Mozart - Requiem in re minore kv 626 (Claus Peter Flor )" pubblicato sull'account YouTube del Teatro La Fenice il 30 novembre 2021; estratto del video "Storia e musica di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" pubblicato sul sito di Sky Arte, estratto del film "The Social Network" diretto da David Fincher nel 2010 e disponibile su Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Il giovane Tino si reca a Venezia dagli zii, allo scopo di studiare arte e perfezionare il suo talento pittorico. Nell'enorme e antica dimora dei parenti, il ragazzo sentirà strani rumori notturni, provenienti dalla soffitta, scoprendo così che il fratello dello zio, ormai fuori di mente, vive in quel piccolo e angusto luogo, dopo un tragico avvenimento passato, che ha ancora un terrificante alone di mistero, verso il quale il giovane vorrà scoprire la verità. Film completamente dimenticato e orgogliosamente italiano, che Risi dirige con sempre grande maestria. Nonostante una parte centrale forse un po' troppo tirata, Anima Persa è un film che merita di essere recuperato, per la grande atmosfera che ha dalla sua, le magnifiche performances di Vittorio Gassman e Catherine Denevue e il finale struggente e sorprendente. Splendida la colonna sonora di Francis Lai.

Bruno Quaranta"Un'anima persa"Edizioni Cliquotwww.cliquot.itTino, appena uscito dal collegio, giunge a Torino per gli esami di maturità, accolto con cerimoniosa letizia nella signorile villa degli zii. Ma non ci vuole molto prima che la finta atmosfera di rilassata e innocua agiatezza alto-borghese si diradi al punto da lasciar intravedere situazioni equivoche, impenetrabili e morbose con zelo occultate fra le quattro mura. A cominciare dalla presenza del “Professore”, fratello gemello dello zio che, impazzito in Africa, è ora rinchiuso da anni in una stanza isolata: sinistro inquilino che Tino può osservare con batticuore e raccapriccio soltanto dallo spioncino della porta. E tutta la feroce realtà di cui il giovane sarà, allo stesso modo, accidentale ma indiscreto testimone è tale da farlo sprofondare in un maelström di eventi che, in pochi giorni appena, stravolgeranno la sua vita e quella di tutti.Pubblicato per la prima volta da Mondadori nel 1966, Un'anima persa è una delle opere meno note ma più rappresentative di Giovanni Arpino: romanzo disperato e tragicomico insieme, scritto in uno stile asciutto e diretto, è l'espressione di quanto degrado e sozzura possano nascondersi dietro rispettabili facciate e, in un senso più ampio, di cosa significhi davvero scoprire il mondo, in tutti i suoi orrori e le sue forme di abiezione. Dino Risi ne trasse un film con Vittorio Gassman nel 1977.Prefazione di Bruno Quaranta.Illustrazione di copertina di Maurizio Ceccato IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itIL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

Mit beszélt Peter Falk a román állami tévében? 24.hu     2023-10-15 19:57:06     Bulvár Románia Columbo Peter Falk állítólag 1974-ben a román állami tévén jelentkezett be, románul beszélve, elmagyarázva: az állam minden Columbo-epizódot leadott, ami elérhető volt, ne aggódjon senki. A színész később könyvében és tévéinterjúkban is úgy idézte fel az esetet: megállított egy kisebb polgárháborút a szomszédunkban. De mi igaz ebből? 4 európai Netflix-sorozat, amit mindenképp látnod kell, ha még nem tetted Hamu és Gyémánt     2023-10-16 04:48:01     Film USA Netflix Az ősz beköszöntével egyre több időt töltünk otthon, a meleg takarónkba burkolózva a tévé képernyője előtt. Ilyenkor nincs is jobb, mint egy izgalmas sorozat, amely elrepít minket egy más világba. Ám abban az esetben, ha unod már az amerikai sorozatokat és inkább európai produkciókat néznél, akkor ez a négy sorozat neked való – ha még esetleg nem l Meghalt Éri Péter, a Muzsikás együttes tagja 444.hu     2023-10-15 17:08:13     Zene Muzsikás 1978 óta volt a Muzsikás együttes tagja volt, brácsán, kontrán, különböző furulyákon és mandolinin zenélt, énekelt. 69 éves volt. Nagy Gabriella tíz éven keresztül kutatta Cinkota pszichopata gyilkosának ügyét Könyves Magazin     2023-10-16 09:48:41     Könyv Elviszlek Amerikába című legújabb regénye margós bemutatóján Valuska László úgy konferálta fel Nagy Gabriellát, hogy vannak írók, akik írnak, és vannak írók, akik nem írnak eleget, utalva arra, hogy a szerző utoljára 2013-ban jelentkezett új regénnyel. A dermesztő témát feldolgozó, de jó hangulatú beszélgetésen szóba kerültek hordóba zárt női teste Három napig keresték az erdőben eltűnt kislányokat, de a legrosszabb még hátravolt Blikk     2023-10-15 19:15:29     Film Fél évszázada mutatták be minden idők legjobb horrorfilmjét, Az ördögűzőt. Az évfordulót nem élte meg a rendező, William Friedkin, ahogy nem élte meg a jubileumra készült legújabb feldolgozást sem. Az ördögűző: A hívő egyfelől tisztelgés a klasszikus előtt, másfelől új fejezet nyitánya. Három és fél óra, minden perce kincs Telex     2023-10-16 10:32:47     Film Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese új filmje, a Megfojtott virágok egy kompromisszumot nem ismerő eposz lett az Egyesült Államok egy különösen sötét korszakáról, amikor az oszázs nemzetséget szisztematikusan gyilkolták az olajukért. "Hideg volt meg fáztunk" – Koltai Róbert száműzetésének éveiről mesélt rtl.hu     2023-10-15 19:57:14     Film Kaposvár Koltai Róbert Tudták, hogy Koltai Róbert országos hírneve Bencze Ferenc trombózisának köszönhető? Vagy hogy Gyuszi bácsi akár Vittorio Gassman is lehetett volna? A kaposvári száműzetésből a Halhatatlanok Társulatába kerülő színész hiába rendezett közönségsikereket, mégis úgy érzi, hivatalosan nem ismerték el munkásságát. Szondi Vanda filmje Koltai Róbert történe Túlélnének a mai „semmirekellő, nyikhaj” fiatalok egy lakatlan szigeten?  port.hu     2023-10-16 06:00:00     Film Survivor És mennyire viselik méltósággal a szenvedést, az egymásra utaltságot, az árulást a 40 év feletti tapasztalt, bölcs “öregekkel” szemben? A választ a Survivor adja meg és meglepőbb, mint gondolnánk.  Magyar borítót kapott az új Zafír Pöttyös, az Ariadné Sorok között     2023-10-15 21:24:58     Könyv Görögország TikTok Még idén megjelenik a TikTok kedvenc Ariadné című regény, ami a görög mitológiát kedvelőknek igazi telitalálat lesz. A magyar borító pedig valami elképesztően gyönyörű lett, én legalábbis imádom. Ugye nem vagyok vele egyedül? Jennifer Saint – Ariadné A görög mitológiából jól ismert Thészeusz és a Minótaurosz történetének igéző újramesélése. A félel Rujder Vivien: “Biztonságban, jókedvvel, lendülettel, minőséggel szeretnénk dolgozni” Színház.online     2023-10-16 09:17:19     Film Míg sokan évekig próbálkoznak, őt elsőre felvették a Színművészetire: mint mondja, bevált az esélytelenek nyugalma. Azóta két fronton is kitört skatulyáiból: színpadon mélyül, filmen lágyul. A méregdrága Hunyadi-sorozat mindig hidegnek tűnő, de belül tomboló Szilágyi Erzsébetével is talál közös pontokat, de leginkább mégis a Katona maratoni hosszús Kurtizánok, intrikusok, talpnyalók és a XV. Lajosként visszatérő Johnny Depp Origo     2023-10-16 06:26:34     Film Johnny Depp Ilyen lett a XV. Lajos francia király utolsó hivatalos szeretője életéről készült Jeanne du Barry - A szerető. Kritika.

Mit beszélt Peter Falk a román állami tévében? 24.hu     2023-10-15 19:57:06     Bulvár Románia Columbo Peter Falk állítólag 1974-ben a román állami tévén jelentkezett be, románul beszélve, elmagyarázva: az állam minden Columbo-epizódot leadott, ami elérhető volt, ne aggódjon senki. A színész később könyvében és tévéinterjúkban is úgy idézte fel az esetet: megállított egy kisebb polgárháborút a szomszédunkban. De mi igaz ebből? 4 európai Netflix-sorozat, amit mindenképp látnod kell, ha még nem tetted Hamu és Gyémánt     2023-10-16 04:48:01     Film USA Netflix Az ősz beköszöntével egyre több időt töltünk otthon, a meleg takarónkba burkolózva a tévé képernyője előtt. Ilyenkor nincs is jobb, mint egy izgalmas sorozat, amely elrepít minket egy más világba. Ám abban az esetben, ha unod már az amerikai sorozatokat és inkább európai produkciókat néznél, akkor ez a négy sorozat neked való – ha még esetleg nem l Meghalt Éri Péter, a Muzsikás együttes tagja 444.hu     2023-10-15 17:08:13     Zene Muzsikás 1978 óta volt a Muzsikás együttes tagja volt, brácsán, kontrán, különböző furulyákon és mandolinin zenélt, énekelt. 69 éves volt. Nagy Gabriella tíz éven keresztül kutatta Cinkota pszichopata gyilkosának ügyét Könyves Magazin     2023-10-16 09:48:41     Könyv Elviszlek Amerikába című legújabb regénye margós bemutatóján Valuska László úgy konferálta fel Nagy Gabriellát, hogy vannak írók, akik írnak, és vannak írók, akik nem írnak eleget, utalva arra, hogy a szerző utoljára 2013-ban jelentkezett új regénnyel. A dermesztő témát feldolgozó, de jó hangulatú beszélgetésen szóba kerültek hordóba zárt női teste Három napig keresték az erdőben eltűnt kislányokat, de a legrosszabb még hátravolt Blikk     2023-10-15 19:15:29     Film Fél évszázada mutatták be minden idők legjobb horrorfilmjét, Az ördögűzőt. Az évfordulót nem élte meg a rendező, William Friedkin, ahogy nem élte meg a jubileumra készült legújabb feldolgozást sem. Az ördögűző: A hívő egyfelől tisztelgés a klasszikus előtt, másfelől új fejezet nyitánya. Három és fél óra, minden perce kincs Telex     2023-10-16 10:32:47     Film Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese új filmje, a Megfojtott virágok egy kompromisszumot nem ismerő eposz lett az Egyesült Államok egy különösen sötét korszakáról, amikor az oszázs nemzetséget szisztematikusan gyilkolták az olajukért. "Hideg volt meg fáztunk" – Koltai Róbert száműzetésének éveiről mesélt rtl.hu     2023-10-15 19:57:14     Film Kaposvár Koltai Róbert Tudták, hogy Koltai Róbert országos hírneve Bencze Ferenc trombózisának köszönhető? Vagy hogy Gyuszi bácsi akár Vittorio Gassman is lehetett volna? A kaposvári száműzetésből a Halhatatlanok Társulatába kerülő színész hiába rendezett közönségsikereket, mégis úgy érzi, hivatalosan nem ismerték el munkásságát. Szondi Vanda filmje Koltai Róbert történe Túlélnének a mai „semmirekellő, nyikhaj” fiatalok egy lakatlan szigeten?  port.hu     2023-10-16 06:00:00     Film Survivor És mennyire viselik méltósággal a szenvedést, az egymásra utaltságot, az árulást a 40 év feletti tapasztalt, bölcs “öregekkel” szemben? A választ a Survivor adja meg és meglepőbb, mint gondolnánk.  Magyar borítót kapott az új Zafír Pöttyös, az Ariadné Sorok között     2023-10-15 21:24:58     Könyv Görögország TikTok Még idén megjelenik a TikTok kedvenc Ariadné című regény, ami a görög mitológiát kedvelőknek igazi telitalálat lesz. A magyar borító pedig valami elképesztően gyönyörű lett, én legalábbis imádom. Ugye nem vagyok vele egyedül? Jennifer Saint – Ariadné A görög mitológiából jól ismert Thészeusz és a Minótaurosz történetének igéző újramesélése. A félel Rujder Vivien: “Biztonságban, jókedvvel, lendülettel, minőséggel szeretnénk dolgozni” Színház.online     2023-10-16 09:17:19     Film Míg sokan évekig próbálkoznak, őt elsőre felvették a Színművészetire: mint mondja, bevált az esélytelenek nyugalma. Azóta két fronton is kitört skatulyáiból: színpadon mélyül, filmen lágyul. A méregdrága Hunyadi-sorozat mindig hidegnek tűnő, de belül tomboló Szilágyi Erzsébetével is talál közös pontokat, de leginkább mégis a Katona maratoni hosszús Kurtizánok, intrikusok, talpnyalók és a XV. Lajosként visszatérő Johnny Depp Origo     2023-10-16 06:26:34     Film Johnny Depp Ilyen lett a XV. Lajos francia király utolsó hivatalos szeretője életéről készült Jeanne du Barry - A szerető. Kritika.

Lorenzo Jovanotti's serenade on Dante's death anniversary, not creepy at all.- Credits : “Serenata rap” by Cherubini/Centonze/Celani (1994) - Vittorio Gassman reads Dante's Inferno (1997)

In the conclusion of our "Summer Abroad" world cinema series, comedian and writer Sean O'Connor (Solar Opposites, Norm Macdonald Live) returns to discuss the 1962 Italian road comedy IL SORPASSO starring Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Dino Risi directed this primo example of commedia all'italiana, a genre of socially astute, highly successful comedies that coincided with Italy's economic boom of the 1960s. Gassman gives an indelible performance as Bruno, a smooth-talking alpha male who manhandles a mild-mannered stranger, Roberto (Trintignant) into having the best day of his life. Hitch a ride with our discussion of IL SORPASSO, with a few pit stop diversions into Al Pacino, Austin Butler, Letterboxd, Bottoms, Ava DuVernay, Willy Wonka, the "art of the steal" and much, much more! IL SORPASSO is available to stream with subscription to The Criterion Channel.

Chris' man-crush, Burt Reynolds, directed and starred in this week's pick. "Sharky's Machine" is a 1981 crime thriller film directed by and starring Burt Reynolds. The movie is based on a novel of the same name written by William Diehl. The production was significant for Reynolds as it marked his directorial debut. The film was shot on location in Atlanta, Georgia, and the city's distinct urban landscape plays a crucial role in creating the gritty atmosphere of the movie. Reynolds was determined to showcase his versatility as an actor and director. He saw "Sharky's Machine" as an opportunity to helm a project that combined elements of hard-boiled detective stories with thrilling action sequences. The casting process was critical in bringing the story to life, and Reynolds managed to assemble a talented ensemble cast, including Rachel Ward, Vittorio Gassman, Charles Durning, and Brian Keith. Each actor contributed to the film's success with their captivating performances. "Sharky's Machine" had a production budget of around $11 million and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Despite mixed critical reviews, the film performed well at the box office, solidifying Reynolds' position as a bankable star and proving his ability as a director. Over the years, "Sharky's Machine" has gained a cult following, appreciated for its engaging plot, thrilling action sequences, and Reynolds' charismatic performance. The film remains a notable entry in the crime thriller genre and a significant milestone in Burt Reynolds' illustrious career in Hollywood. If you enjoy the show we have a Patreon, become a supporter. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/thevhsstrikesback⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Plot Summary: Tom Sharky (Reynolds) is a tough vice cop in Atlanta with a penchant for getting results by any means necessary. After a drug bust goes awry, he's assigned to a surveillance team to monitor a high-class prostitution ring. However, his mission takes an unexpected turn when he becomes enamored with Dominoe (Rachel Ward), a call girl involved in the operation. As Sharky delves deeper into the case, he unravels a web of political corruption involving powerful figures in the city. Determined to bring down the criminal network, he assembles a rogue team and embarks on a dangerous and action-packed journey through the dark underbelly of Atlanta. "Sharky's Machine" is a gripping crime thriller filled with suspense, thrilling action sequences, and a powerful tale of justice and redemption. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thevhsstrikesback@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/vhsstrikesback⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thevhsstrikesback/support

Nel 2016 gli astrofisici hanno rilevato per la prima volta le onde gravitazionali, increspature dello spazio-tempo ipotizzate da Albert Einstein un secolo prima. Ora gli scienziati hanno captato onde gravitazionali che abbracciano l'intero universo: un brusio di sottofondo, eco di grandi catastrofi cosmiche e, forse, anche del Big Bang. Abbiamo trovato la chiave per capire come è nato l'Universo? Ne ho parlato con Simona Romaniello astrofisica di Infini.to, il Planetario di Torino. Con le voci di Davide Gorla e addirittura di Vittorio Gassman che legge Dante. Le fonti. Lo spazio mormora. Voci dall'infinito. Cosa sono le onde gravitazionali. Einstein lo aveva detto. I gemelli LIGO e VIRGO. I film. "Amarcord" di Federico Fellini, 1973. "2001: Odissea nello spazio" (2001: A Space Odyssey) di Stanley Kubrick, 1968. News Theme 2 di Audionautix è un brano concesso in uso tramite licenza Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cosa c'entra è un podcast del Post condotto da Chiara Alessi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we talk about the great American filmmaker Robert Altman, and what is arguably the worst movie of his six decade, thirty-five film career: his 1987 atrocity O.C. and Stiggs. ----more---- 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.   On this episode, we're going to talk about one of the strangest movies to come out of the decade, not only for its material, but for who directed it.   Robert Altman's O.C. and Stiggs.   As always, before we get to the O.C. and Stiggs, we will be going a little further back in time.   Although he is not every cineaste's cup of tea, it is generally acknowledged that Robert Altman was one of the best filmmakers to ever work in cinema. But he wasn't an immediate success when he broke into the industry.   Born in Kansas City in February 1925, Robert Altman would join the US Army Air Force after graduating high school, as many a young man would do in the days of World War II. He would train to be a pilot, and he would fly more than 50 missions during the war as part of the 307th Bomb Group, operating in the Pacific Theatre. They would help liberate prisoners of war held in Japanese POW Camps from Okinawa to Manila after the victory over Japan lead to the end of World War II in that part of the world.   After the war, Altman would move to Los Angeles to break into the movies, and he would even succeed in selling a screenplay to RKO Pictures called Bodyguard, a film noir story shot in 1948 starring Lawrence Tierney and Priscilla Lane, but on the final film, he would only share a “Story by” credit with his then-writing partner, George W. George. But by 1950, he'd be back in Kansas City, where he would direct more than 65 industrial films over the course of three years, before heading back to Los Angeles with the experience he would need to take another shot.   Altman would spend a few years directing episodes of a drama series called Pulse of the City on the DuMont television network and a syndicated police drama called The Sheriff of Cochise, but he wouldn't get his first feature directing gig until 1957, when a businessman in Kansas City would hire the thirty-two year old to write and direct a movie locally. That film, The Delinquents, cost only $60k to make, and would be purchased for release by United Artists for $150k. The first film to star future Billy Jack writer/director/star Tom Laughlin, The Delinquents would gross more than a million dollars in theatres, a very good sum back in those days, but despite the success of the film, the only work Altman could get outside of television was co-directing The James Dean Story, a documentary set up at Warner Brothers to capitalize on the interest in the actor after dying in a car accident two years earlier.   Throughout the 1960s, Altman would continue to work in television, until he was finally given another chance to direct a feature film. 1967's Countdown was a lower budgeted feature at Warner Brothers featuring James Caan in an early leading role, about the space race between the Americans and Soviets, a good two years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. The shoot itself was easy, but Altman would be fired from the film shortly after filming was completed, as Jack Warner, the 75 year old head of the studio, was not very happy about the overlapping dialogue, a motif that would become a part of Altman's way of making movies. Although his name appears in the credits as the director of the film, he had no input in its assembly. His ambiguous ending was changed, and the film would be edited to be more family friendly than the director intended.   Altman would follow Countdown with 1969's That Cold Day in the Park, a psychological drama that would be both a critical and financial disappointment.   But his next film would change everything.   Before Altman was hired by Twentieth-Century Fox to direct MASH, more than a dozen major filmmakers would pass on the project. An adaptation of a little known novel by a Korean War veteran who worked as a surgeon at one of the Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospitals that give the story its acronymic title, MASH would literally fly under the radar from the executives at the studio, as most of the $3m film would be shot at the studio's ranch lot in Malibu, while the executives were more concerned about their bigger movies of the year in production, like their $12.5m biographical film on World War II general George S. Patton and their $25m World War II drama Tora! Tora! Tora!, one of the first movies to be a Japanese and American co-production since the end of the war.    Altman was going to make MASH his way, no matter what. When the studio refused to allow him to hire a fair amount of extras to populate the MASH camp, Altman would steal individual lines from other characters to give to background actors, in order to get the bustling atmosphere he wanted. In order to give the camp a properly dirty look, he would shoot most of the outdoor scenes with a zoom lens and a fog filter with the camera a reasonably far distance from the actors, so they could act to one another instead of the camera, giving the film a sort of documentary feel. And he would find flexibility when the moment called for it. Sally Kellerman, who was hired to play Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, would work with Altman to expand and improve her character to be more than just eye candy, in large part because Altman liked what she was doing in her scenes.   This kind of flexibility infuriated the two major stars of the film, Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, who at one point during the shoot tried to get Altman fired for treating everyone in the cast and crew with the same level of respect and decorum regardless of their position. But unlike at Warners a couple years earlier, the success of movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider bamboozled Hollywood studio executives, who did not understand exactly what the new generation of filmgoers wanted, and would often give filmmakers more leeway than before, in the hopes that lightning could be captured once again.   And Altman would give them exactly that.   MASH, which would also be the first major studio film to be released with The F Word spoken on screen, would not only become a critical hit, but become the third highest grossing movie released in 1970, grossing more than $80m. The movie would win the Palme D'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival, and it would be nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Ms. Kellerman, winning only for Best Adapted Screenplay. An ironic win, since most of the dialogue was improvised on set, but the victory for screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. would effectively destroy the once powerful Hollywood Blacklist that had been in place since the Red Scare of the 1950s.   After MASH, Altman went on one of the greatest runs any filmmaker would ever enjoy.   MASH would be released in January 1970, and Altman's follow up, Brewster McCloud, would be released in December 1970. Bud Cort, the future star of Harold and Maude, plays a recluse who lives in the fallout shelter of the Houston Astrodome, who is building a pair of wings in order to achieve his dream of flying. The film would feature a number of actors who already were featured in MASH and would continue to be featured in a number of future Altman movies, including Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, John Schuck and Bert Remson, but another reason to watch Brewster McCloud if you've never seen it is because it is the film debut of Shelley Duvall, one of our greatest and least appreciated actresses, who would go on to appear in six other Altman movies over the ensuing decade.   1971's McCabe and Mrs. Miller, for me, is his second best film. A Western starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, was a minor hit when it was first released but has seen a reevaluation over the years that found it to be named the 8th Best Western of all time by the American Film Institute, which frankly is too low for me. The film would also bring a little-known Canadian poet and musician to the world, Leonard Cohen, who wrote and performed three songs for the soundtrack. Yeah, you have Robert Altman to thank for Leonard Cohen.   1972's Images was another psychological horror film, this time co-written with English actress Susannah York, who also stars in the film as an author of children's books who starts to have wild hallucinations at her remote vacation home, after learning her husband might be cheating on her. The $800k film was one of the first to be produced by Hemdale Films, a British production company co-founded by Blow Up actor David Hemmings, but the film would be a critical and financial disappointment when it was released Christmas week. But it would get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score. It would be one of two nominations in the category for John Williams, the other being The Poseidon Adventure.   Whatever resentment Elliott Gould may have had with Altman during the shooting of MASH was gone by late 1972, when the actor agreed to star in the director's new movie, a modern adaptation of Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel The Long Goodbye. Gould would be the eighth actor to play the lead character, Phillip Marlowe, in a movie. The screenplay would be written by Leigh Brackett, who Star Wars nerds know as the first writer on The Empire Strikes Back but had also adapted Chandler's novel The Big Sleep, another Phillip Marlowe story, to the big screen back in 1946.   Howard Hawks and Peter Bogdanovich had both been approached to make the film, and it would be Bogdanovich who would recommend Altman to the President of United Artists. The final film would anger Chandler fans, who did not like Altman's approach to the material, and the $1.7m film would gross less than $1m when it was released in March 1973. But like many of Altman's movies, it was a big hit with critics, and would find favor with film fans in the years to come.   1974 would be another year where Altman would make and release two movies in the same calendar year. The first, Thieves Like Us, was a crime drama most noted as one of the few movies to not have any kind of traditional musical score. What music there is in the film is usually heard off radios seen in individual scenes. Once again, we have a number of Altman regulars in the film, including Shelley Duvall, Bert Remsen, John Schuck and Tom Skerritt, and would feature Keith Carradine, who had a small co-starring role in McCabe and Mrs. Miller, in his first major leading role. And, once again, the film would be a hit with critics but a dud with audiences. Unlike most of Altman's movies of the 1970s, Thieves Like Us has not enjoyed the same kind of reappraisal.   The second film, California Split, was released in August, just six months after Thieves Like Us. Elliott Gould once again stars in a Robert Altman movie, this time alongside George Segal. They play a pair of gamblers who ride what they think is a lucky streak from Los Angeles to Reno, Nevada, would be the only time Gould and Segal would work closely together in a movie, and watching California Split, one wishes there could have been more. The movie would be an innovator seemingly purpose-build for a Robert Altman movie, for it would be the first non-Cinerama movie to be recorded using an eight track stereo sound system. More than any movie before, Altman could control how his overlapping dialogue was placed in a theatre. But while most theatres that played the movie would only play it in mono sound, the film would still be a minor success, bringing in more than $5m in ticket sales.   1975 would bring what many consider to be the quintessential Robert Altman movie to screens.   The two hour and forty minute Nashville would feature no less than 24 different major characters, as a group of people come to Music City to be involved in a gala concert for a political outsider who is running for President on the Replacement Party ticket. The cast is one of the best ever assembled for a movie ever, including Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Ronee Blakely, Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert DoQui, Shelley Duvall, Allen Garfield, Henry Gibson, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Barbara Harris, Cristina Raines, Lily Tomlin and Keenan Wynn.   Altman would be nominated for two Academy Awards for the film, Best Picture, as its producer, and Best Director, while both Ronee Blakely and Lily Tomlin would be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Keith Carradine would also be nominated for an Oscar, but not as an actor. He would, at the urging of Altman during the production of the film, write and perform a song called I'm Easy, which would win for Best Original Song. The $2.2m film would earn $10m in ticket sales, and would eventually become part of the fourth class of movies to be selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 1991, the first of four Robert Altman films to be given that honor. MASH, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and The Long Goodbye would also be selected for preservation over the years.   And we're going to stop here for a second and take a look at that list of films again.   MASH Brewster McCloud McCabe and Mrs. Miller Images The Long Goodbye Thieves Like Us California Split Nashville   Eight movies, made over a five year period, that between them earned twelve Academy Award nominations, four of which would be deemed so culturally important that they should be preserved for future generations.   And we're still only in the middle of the 1970s.   But the problem with a director like Robert Altman, like many of our greatest directors, their next film after one of their greatest successes feels like a major disappointment. And his 1976 film Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, and that is the complete title of the film by the way, did not meet the lofty expectations of film fans not only its director, but of its main stars. Altman would cast two legendary actors he had not yet worked with, Paul Newman and Burt Lancaster, and the combination of those two actors with this director should have been fantastic, but the results were merely okay. In fact,  Altman would, for the first time in his career, re-edit a film after its theatrical release, removing some of the Wild West show acts that he felt were maybe redundant.   His 1977 film 3 Women would bring Altman back to the limelight. The film was based on a dream he had one night while his wife was in the hospital. In the dream, he was directing his regular co-star Shelley Duvall alongside Sissy Spacek, who he had never worked with before, in a story about identity theft that took place in the deserts outside Los Angeles. He woke up in the middle of the dream, jotted down what he could remember, and went back to sleep. In the morning, he didn't have a full movie planned out, but enough of one to get Alan Ladd, Jr., the President of Twentieth-Century Fox, to put up $1.7m for a not fully formed idea. That's how much Robert Altman was trusted at the time. That, and Altman was known for never going over budget. As long as he stayed within his budget, Ladd would let Altman make whatever movie he wanted to make. That, plus Ladd was more concerned about a $10m movie he approved that was going over budget over in England, a science fiction movie directed by the guy who did American Graffiti that had no stars outside of Sir Alec Guinness.   That movie, of course, was Star Wars, which would be released four weeks after 3 Women had its premiere in New York City. While the film didn't make 1/100th the money Star Wars made, it was one of the best reviewed movies of the year. But, strangely, the film would not be seen again outside of sporadic screenings on cable until it was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection 27 years later.   I'm not going to try and explain the movie to you. Just trust me that 3 Women is from a master craftsman at the top of his game.   While on the press tour to publicize 3 Women, a reporter asked Altman what was going to be next for him. He jokingly said he was going to shoot a wedding. But then he went home, thought about it some more, and in a few weeks, had a basic idea sketched out for a movie titled A Wedding that would take place over the course of one day, as the daughter of a Southern nouveau riche family marries the son of a wealthy Chicago businessman who may or may not a major figure in The Outfit.   And while the film is quite entertaining, what's most interesting about watching this 1978 movie in 2023 is not only how many great established actors Altman got for the film, including Carol Burnett, Paul Dooley, Howard Duff, Mia Farrow, Vittorio Gassman, Lauren Hutton, and, in her 100th movie, Lillian Gish, but the number of notable actors he was able to get because he shot the film just outside Chicago. Not only will you see Dennis Christopher just before his breakthrough in Breaking Away, and not only will you see Pam Dawber just before she was cast alongside Robin Williams in Mark and Mindy, but you'll also see Dennis Franz, Laurie Metcalfe, Gary Sinese, Tim Thomerson, and George Wendt.   And because Altman was able to keep the budget at a reasonable level, less than $1.75m, the film would be slightly profitable for Twentieth Century-Fox after grossing $3.6m at the box office.   Altman's next film for Fox, 1979's Quintet, would not be as fortunate.   Altman had come up with the story for this post-apocalyptic drama as a vehicle for Walter Hill to write and direct. But Hill would instead make The Warriors, and Altman decided to make the film himself. While developing the screenplay with his co-writers Frank Barhydt and Patricia Resnick, Altman would create a board game, complete with token pieces and a full set of rules, to flesh out the storyline.   Altman would once again work with Paul Newman, who stars as a seal hunter in the early days of a new ice age who finds himself in elaborate game with a group of gamblers where losing in the game means losing your life in the process. Altman would deliberately hire an international cast to star alongside Newman, not only to help improve the film's ability to do well in foreign territories but to not have the storyline tied to any specific country. So we would have Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, Spaniard Fernando Rey, Swedish actress Bibi Andersson, French actress Brigitte Fossey, and Danish actress Nina van Pallandt.    In order to maintain the mystery of the movie, Altman would ask Fox to withhold all pre-release publicity for the film, in order to avoid any conditioning of the audience. Imagine trying to put together a compelling trailer for a movie featuring one of the most beloved actors of all time, but you're not allowed to show potential audiences what they're getting themselves into? Altman would let the studio use five shots from the film, totaling about seven seconds, for the trailer, which mostly comprised of slo-mo shots of a pair of dice bouncing around, while the names of the stars pop up from moment to moment and a narrator tries to create some sense of mystery on the soundtrack.   But audiences would not be intrigued by the mystery, and critics would tear the $6.4m budget film apart. To be fair, the shoot for the film, in the winter of 1977 outside Montreal was a tough time for all, and Altman would lose final cut on the film for going severely over-budget during production, although there seems to be very little documentation about how much the final film might have differed from what Altman would have been working on had he been able to complete the film his way.   But despite all the problems with Quintet, Fox would still back Altman's next movie, A Perfect Couple, which would be shot after Fox pulled Altman off Quintet. Can you imagine that happening today? A director working with the studio that just pulled them off their project. But that's how little ego Altman had. He just wanted to make movies. Tell stories. This simple romantic comedy starred his regular collaborator Paul Dooley as  Alex, a man who follows a band of traveling bohemian musicians because he's falling for one of the singers in the band.   Altman kept the film on its $1.9m budget, but the response from critics was mostly concern that Altman had lost his touch. Maybe it was because this was his 13th film of the decade, but there was a serious concern about the director's ability to tell a story had evaporated.   That worry would continue with his next film, Health.   A satire of the political scene in the United States at the end of the 1970s, Health would follow a health food organization holding a convention at a luxury hotel in St. Petersburg FL. As one would expect from a Robert Altman movie, there's one hell of a cast. Along with Henry Gibson, and Paul Dooley, who co-write the script with Altman and Frank Barhydt, the cast would include Lauren Bacall, Carol Burnett, James Garner and, in one of her earliest screen appearances, Alfre Woodard, as well as Dick Cavett and Dinah Shore as themselves.   But between the shooting of the film in the late winter and early spring of 1979 and the planned Christmas 1979 release, there was a change of management at Fox. Alan Ladd Jr. was out, and after Altman turned in his final cut, new studio head Norman Levy decided to pull the film off the 1979 release calendar. Altman fought to get the film released sometime during the 1980 Presidential Campaign, and was able to get Levy to give the film a platform release starting in Los Angeles and New York City in March 1980, but that date would get cancelled as well. Levy then suggested an April 1980 test run in St. Louis, which Altman was not happy with. Altman countered with test runs in Boston, Houston, Sacramento and San Francisco. The best Altman, who was in Malta shooting his next movie, could get were sneak previews of the film in those four markets, and the response cards from the audience were so bad, the studio decided to effectively put the film on the proverbial shelf.   Back from the Mediterranean Sea, Altman would get permission to take the film to the Montreal World Film Festival in August, and the Telluride and Venice Film Festivals in September. After good responses from film goers at those festivals, Fox would relent, and give the film a “preview” screening at the United Artists Theatre in Westwood, starting on September 12th, 1980. But the studio would give the film the most boring ad campaign possible, a very crude line drawing of an older woman's pearl bracelet-covered arm thrusted upward while holding a carrot. With no trailers in circulation at any theatre, and no television commercials on air, it would be little surprise the film didn't do a whole lot of business. You really had to know the film had been released. But its $14k opening weekend gross wasn't really all that bad. And it's second week gross of $10,500 with even less ad support was decent if unspectacular. But it would be good enough to get the film a four week playdate at the UA Westwood.   And then, nothing, until early March 1981, when a film society at Northwestern University in Evanston IL was able to screen a 16mm print for one show, while a theatre in Baltimore was able to show the film one time at the end of March. But then, nothing again for more than another year, when the film would finally get a belated official release at the Film Forum in New York City on April 7th, 1982. It would only play for a week, and as a non-profit, the Film Forum does not report film grosses, so we have no idea how well the film actually did. Since then, the movie showed once on CBS in August 1983, and has occasionally played on the Fox Movie Channel, but has never been released on VHS or DVD or Blu-Ray.   I mentioned a few moments ago that while he was dealing with all this drama concerning Health, Altman was in the Mediterranean filming a movie. I'm not going to go too much into that movie here, since I already have an episode for the future planned for it, suffice to say that a Robert Altman-directed live-action musical version of the Popeye the Sailor Man cartoon featuring songs by the incomparable Harry Nilsson should have been a smash hit, but it wasn't. It was profitable, to be certain, but not the hit everyone was expecting. We'll talk about the film in much more detail soon.   After the disappointing results for Popeye, Altman decided to stop working in Hollywood for a while and hit the Broadway stages, to direct a show called Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. While the show's run was not very long and the reviews not very good, Altman would fund a movie version himself, thanks in part to the sale of his production company, Lion's Gate, not to be confused with the current studio called Lionsgate, and would cast Karen Black, Cher and Sandy Dennis alongside newcomers Sudie Bond and Kathy Bates, as five female members of The Disciples of James Dean come together on the 20th anniversary of the actor's death to honor his life and times. As the first film released by a new independent distributor called Cinecom, I'll spend more time talking about this movie on our show about that distributor, also coming soon, suffice it to say that Altman was back. Critics were behind the film, and arthouse audiences loved it. This would be the first time Altman adapted a stage play to the screen, and it would set the tone for a number of his works throughout the rest of the decade.   Streamers was Altman's 17th film in thirteen years, and another adaptation of a stage play. One of several works by noted Broadway playwright David Rabe's time in the Army during the Vietnam War, the film followed four young soldiers waiting to be shipped to Vietnam who deal with racial tensions and their own intolerances when one soldier reveals he is gay. The film featured Matthew Modine as the Rabe stand-in, and features a rare dramatic role for comedy legend David Alan Grier. Many critics would note how much more intense the film version was compared to the stage version, as Altman's camera was able to effortlessly breeze around the set, and get up close and personal with the performers in ways that simply cannot happen on the stage. But in 1983, audiences were still not quite ready to deal with the trauma of Vietnam on film, and the film would be fairly ignored by audiences, grossing just $378k.   Which, finally, after half an hour, brings us to our featured movie.   O.C. and Stiggs.   Now, you might be asking yourself why I went into such detail about Robert Altman's career, most of it during the 1970s. Well, I wanted to establish what types of material Altman would chose for his projects, and just how different O.C. and Stiggs  was from any other project he had made to date.   O.C. and Stiggs began their lives in the July 1981 issue of National Lampoon, as written by two of the editors of the magazine, Ted Mann and Tod Carroll. The characters were fun-loving and occasionally destructive teenage pranksters, and their first appearance in the magazine would prove to be so popular with readers, the pair would appear a few more times until Matty Simmons, the publisher and owner of National Lampoon, gave over the entire October 1982 issue to Mann and Carroll for a story called “The Utterly Monstrous Mind-Roasting Summer of O.C. and Stiggs.” It's easy to find PDFs of the issues online if you look for it.   So the issue becomes one of the biggest selling issues in the history of National Lampoon, and Matty Simmons has been building the National Lampoon brand name by sponsoring a series of movies, including Animal House, co-written by Lampoon writers Doug Kenney and Chris Miller, and the soon to be released movies Class Reunion, written by Lampoon writer John Hughes… yes, that John Hughes… and Movie Madness, written by five Lampoon writers including Tod Carroll. But for some reason, Simmons was not behind the idea of turning the utterly monstrous mind-roasting adventures of O.C. and Stiggs into a movie. He would, however, allow Mann and Carroll to shop the idea around Hollywood, and wished them the best of luck.   As luck would have it, Mann and Carroll would meet Peter Newman, who had worked as Altman's production executive on Jimmy Dean, and was looking to set up his first film as a producer. And while Newman might not have had the credits, he had the connections. The first person he would take the script to his Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols, whose credits by this time included Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff?, The Graduate, Catch-22, and Carnal Knowledge. Surprisingly, Nichols was not just interested in making the movie, but really wanted to have Eddie Murphy, who was a breakout star on Saturday Night Live but was still a month away from becoming a movie star when 48 Hours was released, play one of the leading characters. But Murphy couldn't get out of his SNL commitments, and Nichols had too many other projects, both on Broadway and in movies, to be able to commit to the film.    A few weeks later, Newman and Altman both attended a party where they would catch up after several months. Newman started to tell Altman about this new project he was setting up, and to Newman's surprise, Altman, drawn to the characters' anti-establishment outlook, expressed interest in making it. And because Altman's name still commanded respect in Hollywood, several studios would start to show their interest in making the movie with them. MGM, who was enjoying a number of successes in 1982 thanks to movies like Shoot the Moon, Diner, Victor/Victoria, Rocky III, Poltergeist, Pink Floyd - The Wall, and My Favorite Year, made a preemptive bid on the film, hoping to beat Paramount Pictures to the deal. Unknown to Altman, what interested MGM was that Sylvester Stallone of all people went nuts for the script when he read it, and mentioned to his buddies at the studio that he might be interested in making it himself.   Despite hating studio executives for doing stuff like buying a script he's attached to  then kicking him off so some Italian Stallion not known for comedy could make it himself, Altman agree to make the movie with MGM once Stallone lost interest, as the studio promised there would be no further notes about the script, that Altman could have final cut on the film, that he could shoot the film in Phoenix without studio interference, and that he could have a budget of $7m.   Since this was a Robert Altman film, the cast would be big and eclectic, filled with a number of his regular cast members, known actors who he had never worked with before, and newcomers who would go on to have success a few years down the road. Because, seriously, outside of a Robert Altman movie, where are you going to find a cast that included Jon Cryer, Jane Curtin, Paul Dooley, Dennis Hopper, Tina Louise, Martin Mull, Cynthia Nixon, Bob Uecker, Melvin van Peebles, and King Sunny Adé and His African Beats? And then imagine that movie also featuring Matthew Broderick, Jim Carrey, Robert Downey, Jr. and Laura Dern?   The story for the film would both follow the stories that appeared in the pages of National Lampoon fairly closely while also making some major changes. In the film, Oliver Cromwell “O.C.” Oglivie and Mark Stiggs are two ne'er-do-well, middle-class Phoenix, Arizona high school students who are disgusted with what they see as an omnipresent culture of vulgar and vapid suburban consumerism. They spend their days slacking off and committing pranks or outright crimes against their sworn enemies, the Schwab family, especially family head Randall Schwab, a wealthy insurance salesman who was responsible for the involuntary commitment of O.C.'s grandfather into a group home. During the film, O.C. and Stiggs will ruin the wedding of Randall Schwab's daughter Lenore, raft their way down to a Mexican fiesta, ruin a horrible dinner theatre performance directed by their high school's drama teacher being attended by the Schwabs, and turn the Schwab mansion into a homeless shelter while the family is on vacation. The film ends with O.C. and Stiggs getting into a gun fight with Randall Schwab before being rescued by Dennis Hopper and a helicopter, before discovering one of their adventures that summer has made them very wealthy themselves.   The film would begin production in Phoenix on August 22nd, 1983, with two newcomers, Daniel H. Jenkins and Neill Barry, as the titular stars of the film. And almost immediately, Altman's chaotic ways of making a movie would become a problem. Altman would make sure the entire cast and crew were all staying at the same hotel in town, across the street from a greyhound racetrack, so Altman could take off to bet on a few of the races during production downtime, and made sure the bar at the hotel was an open bar for his team while they were shooting. When shooting was done every day, the director and his cast would head to a makeshift screening room at the hotel, where they'd watch the previous day's footage, a process called “dailies” in production parlance. On most films, dailies are only attended by the director and his immediate production crew, but in Phoenix, everyone was encouraged to attend. And according to producer Peter Newman and Dan Jenkins, everyone loved the footage, although both would note that it might have been a combination of the alcohol, the pot, the cocaine and the dehydration caused by shooting all day in the excessive Arizona heat during the middle of summer that helped people enjoy the footage.    But here's the funny thing about dailies.   Unless a film is being shot in sequence, you're only seeing small fragments of scenes, often the same actors doing the same things over and over again, before the camera switches places to catch reactions or have other characters continue the scene. Sometimes, they're long takes of scenes that might be interrupted by an actor flubbing a line or an unexpected camera jitter or some other interruption that requires a restart. But everyone seemed to be having fun, especially when dailies ended and Altman would show one of his other movies like MASH or The Long Goodbye or 3 Women.   After two months of shooting, the film would wrap production, and Altman would get to work on his edit of the film. He would have it done before the end of 1983, and he would turn it in to the studio. Shortly after the new year, there would be a private screening of the film in New York City at the offices of the talent agency William Morris, one of the larger private screening rooms in the city. Altman was there, the New York-based executives at MGM were there, Peter Newman was there, several of the actors were there. And within five minutes of the start of the film, Altman realized what he was watching was not his cut of the film. As he was about to lose his stuff and start yelling at the studio executives, the projector broke. The lights would go up, and Altman would dig into the the executives. “This is your effing cut of the film and not mine!” Altman stormed out of the screening and into the cold New York winter night.   A few weeks later, that same print from New York would be screened for the big executives at the MGM lot in Los Angeles. Newman was there, and, surprisingly, Altman was there too. The film would screen for the entire running length, and Altman would sit there, watching someone else's version of the footage he had shot, scenes put in different places than they were supposed to be, music cues not of his design or consent.   At the end of the screening, the room was silent. Not one person in the room had laughed once during the entire screening. Newman and Altman left after the screening, and hit one of Altman's favorite local watering holes. As they said their goodbyes the next morning, Altman apologized to Newman. “I hope I didn't eff up your movie.”   Maybe the movie wasn't completely effed up, but MGM certainly neither knew what to do with the film or how to sell it, so it would just sit there, just like Health a few years earlier, on that proverbial shelf.   More than a year later, in an issue of Spin Magazine, a review of the latest album by King Sunny Adé would mention the film he performed in, O.C. and Stiggs, would, quote unquote, “finally” be released into theatres later that year.   That didn't happen, in large part because after WarGames in the early summer of 1983, almost every MGM release had been  either an outright bomb or an unexpected financial disappointment. The cash flow problem was so bad that the studio effectively had to sell itself to Atlanta cable mogul Ted Turner in order to save itself. Turner didn't actually want all of MGM. He only wanted the valuable MGM film library, but the owner of MGM at the time was either going to sell it all or nothing at all.   Barely two months after Ted Turner bought MGM, he had sold the famed studio lot in Culver City to Lorimar, a television production company that was looking to become a producer and distributor of motion pictures, and sold rest of the company he never wanted in the first place to the guy he bought it all from, who had a kind of seller's remorse. But that repurchase would saddle the company with massive bills, and movies like O.C. and Stiggs would have to sit and collect dust while everything was sorted out.   How long would O.C. and Stiggs be left in a void?   It would be so long that Robert Altman would have time to make not one, not two, but three other movies that would all be released before O.C. and Stiggs ever saw the light of day.   The first, Secret Honor, released in 1984, featured the great Philip Baker Hall as former President Richard Nixon. It's probably Hall's single best work as an actor, and the film would be amongst the best reviewed films of Altman's career.   In 1985, Altman would film Fool For Love, an adaptation of a play by Sam Shepard. This would be the only time in Shepard's film career where he would star as one of the characters himself had written. The film would also prove once and for all that Kim Basinger was more than just a pretty face but a real actor.   And in February 1987, Altman's film version of Beyond Therapy, a play by absurdist playwright Christopher Durant, would open in theatres. The all-star cast would include Tom Conti, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Guest, Julie Hagerty and Glenda Jackson.   On March 5th, 1987, an article in Daily Variety would note that the “long shelved” film would have a limited theatrical release in May, despite the fact that Frank Yablans, the vice chairman of MGM, being quoted in the article that the film was unreleasable. It would further be noted that despite the film being available to international distributors for three years, not one company was willing to acquire the film for any market. The plan was to release the movie for one or two weeks in three major US markets, depending on its popularity, and then decide a future course of action from there.   But May would come and go, without a hint of the film.   Finally, on Friday, July 10th, the film would open on 18 screens, but none in any major market like Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City. I can't find a single theatre the film played in that weekend, but that week's box office figures would show an abysmal $6,273 worth of tickets were sold during that first weekend.   There would not be a second weekend of reported grosses.   But to MGM's credit, they didn't totally give up on the film.   On Thursday, August 27th, O.C. and Stiggs would open in at least one theatre. And, lucky for me, that theatre happened to be the Nickelodeon Theatre in Santa Cruz. But despite the fact that the new Robert Altman was opening in town, I could not get a single friend to see it with me. So on a Tuesday night at 8:40pm, I was the only person in all of the region to watch what I would soon discover was the worst Robert Altman movie of all time. Now, I should note that even a bad Robert Altman movie is better than many filmmakers' best movies, but O.C. and Stiggs would have ignobility of feeling very much like a Robert Altman movie, with its wandering camera and overlapping dialogue that weaves in and out of conversations while in progress and not quite over yet, yet not feeling anything like a Robert Altman movie at the same time. It didn't have that magical whimsy-ness that was the hallmark of his movies. The satire didn't have its normal bite. It had a number of Altman's regular troop of actors, but in smaller roles than they'd usually occupy, and not giving the performances one would expect of them in an Altman movie.   I don't know how well the film did at the Nick, suffice it to say the film was gone after a week.   But to MGM's credit, they still didn't give up on the film.   On October 9th, the film would open at the AMC Century City 14, one of a handful of movies that would open the newest multiplex in Los Angeles.   MGM did not report grosses, and the film was gone from the new multiplex after a week.   But to MGM's credit, they still didn't give up on the film.   The studio would give the film one more chance, opening it at the Film Forum in New York City on March 18th, 1988.   MGM did not report grosses, and the film was gone after a week. But whether that was because MGM didn't support the film with any kind of newspaper advertising in the largest market in America, or because the movie had been released on home video back in November, remains to be seen.   O.C. and Stiggs would never become anything resembling a cult film. It's been released on DVD, and if one was programming a Robert Altman retrospect at a local arthouse movie theatre, one could actually book a 35mm print of the film from the repertory cinema company Park Circus.   But don't feel bad for Altman, as he would return to cinemas with a vengeance in the 1990s, first with the 1990 biographical drama Vincent and Theo, featuring Tim Roth as the tortured genius 19th century painter that would put the actor on the map for good. Then, in 1992, he became a sensation again with his Hollywood satire The Player, featuring Tim Robbins as a murderous studio executive trying to keep the police off his trail while he navigates the pitfalls of the industry. Altman would receive his first Oscar nomination for Best Director since 1975 with The Player, his third overall, a feat he would repeat the following year with Short Cuts, based on a series of short stories by Raymond Carver. In fact, Altman would be nominated for an Academy Award seven times during his career, five times as a director and twice as a producer, although he would never win a competitive Oscar.   In March 2006, while editing his 35th film, a screen adaptation of the then-popular NPR series A Prairie Home Companion, the Academy would bestow an Honorary Oscar upon Altman. During his acceptance speech, Altman would wonder if perhaps the Academy acted prematurely in honoring him in this fashion. He revealed he had received a heart transplant in the mid-1990s, and felt that, even though he had turned 81 the month before, he could continue for another forty years.   Robert Altman would pass away from leukemia on November 20th, 2006, only eight months after receiving the biggest prize of his career.   Robert Altman had a style so unique onto himself, there's an adjective that exists to describe it. Altmanesque. Displaying traits typical of a film made by Robert Altman, typically highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective and often a subversive twist.   He truly was a one of a kind filmmaker, and there will likely never be anyone like him, no matter how hard Paul Thomas Anderson tries.     Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again in two weeks, when Episode 106, Mad Magazine Presents Up the Academy, is released.   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.  

On this episode, we talk about the great American filmmaker Robert Altman, and what is arguably the worst movie of his six decade, thirty-five film career: his 1987 atrocity O.C. and Stiggs. ----more---- 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.   On this episode, we're going to talk about one of the strangest movies to come out of the decade, not only for its material, but for who directed it.   Robert Altman's O.C. and Stiggs.   As always, before we get to the O.C. and Stiggs, we will be going a little further back in time.   Although he is not every cineaste's cup of tea, it is generally acknowledged that Robert Altman was one of the best filmmakers to ever work in cinema. But he wasn't an immediate success when he broke into the industry.   Born in Kansas City in February 1925, Robert Altman would join the US Army Air Force after graduating high school, as many a young man would do in the days of World War II. He would train to be a pilot, and he would fly more than 50 missions during the war as part of the 307th Bomb Group, operating in the Pacific Theatre. They would help liberate prisoners of war held in Japanese POW Camps from Okinawa to Manila after the victory over Japan lead to the end of World War II in that part of the world.   After the war, Altman would move to Los Angeles to break into the movies, and he would even succeed in selling a screenplay to RKO Pictures called Bodyguard, a film noir story shot in 1948 starring Lawrence Tierney and Priscilla Lane, but on the final film, he would only share a “Story by” credit with his then-writing partner, George W. George. But by 1950, he'd be back in Kansas City, where he would direct more than 65 industrial films over the course of three years, before heading back to Los Angeles with the experience he would need to take another shot.   Altman would spend a few years directing episodes of a drama series called Pulse of the City on the DuMont television network and a syndicated police drama called The Sheriff of Cochise, but he wouldn't get his first feature directing gig until 1957, when a businessman in Kansas City would hire the thirty-two year old to write and direct a movie locally. That film, The Delinquents, cost only $60k to make, and would be purchased for release by United Artists for $150k. The first film to star future Billy Jack writer/director/star Tom Laughlin, The Delinquents would gross more than a million dollars in theatres, a very good sum back in those days, but despite the success of the film, the only work Altman could get outside of television was co-directing The James Dean Story, a documentary set up at Warner Brothers to capitalize on the interest in the actor after dying in a car accident two years earlier.   Throughout the 1960s, Altman would continue to work in television, until he was finally given another chance to direct a feature film. 1967's Countdown was a lower budgeted feature at Warner Brothers featuring James Caan in an early leading role, about the space race between the Americans and Soviets, a good two years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. The shoot itself was easy, but Altman would be fired from the film shortly after filming was completed, as Jack Warner, the 75 year old head of the studio, was not very happy about the overlapping dialogue, a motif that would become a part of Altman's way of making movies. Although his name appears in the credits as the director of the film, he had no input in its assembly. His ambiguous ending was changed, and the film would be edited to be more family friendly than the director intended.   Altman would follow Countdown with 1969's That Cold Day in the Park, a psychological drama that would be both a critical and financial disappointment.   But his next film would change everything.   Before Altman was hired by Twentieth-Century Fox to direct MASH, more than a dozen major filmmakers would pass on the project. An adaptation of a little known novel by a Korean War veteran who worked as a surgeon at one of the Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospitals that give the story its acronymic title, MASH would literally fly under the radar from the executives at the studio, as most of the $3m film would be shot at the studio's ranch lot in Malibu, while the executives were more concerned about their bigger movies of the year in production, like their $12.5m biographical film on World War II general George S. Patton and their $25m World War II drama Tora! Tora! Tora!, one of the first movies to be a Japanese and American co-production since the end of the war.    Altman was going to make MASH his way, no matter what. When the studio refused to allow him to hire a fair amount of extras to populate the MASH camp, Altman would steal individual lines from other characters to give to background actors, in order to get the bustling atmosphere he wanted. In order to give the camp a properly dirty look, he would shoot most of the outdoor scenes with a zoom lens and a fog filter with the camera a reasonably far distance from the actors, so they could act to one another instead of the camera, giving the film a sort of documentary feel. And he would find flexibility when the moment called for it. Sally Kellerman, who was hired to play Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, would work with Altman to expand and improve her character to be more than just eye candy, in large part because Altman liked what she was doing in her scenes.   This kind of flexibility infuriated the two major stars of the film, Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, who at one point during the shoot tried to get Altman fired for treating everyone in the cast and crew with the same level of respect and decorum regardless of their position. But unlike at Warners a couple years earlier, the success of movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider bamboozled Hollywood studio executives, who did not understand exactly what the new generation of filmgoers wanted, and would often give filmmakers more leeway than before, in the hopes that lightning could be captured once again.   And Altman would give them exactly that.   MASH, which would also be the first major studio film to be released with The F Word spoken on screen, would not only become a critical hit, but become the third highest grossing movie released in 1970, grossing more than $80m. The movie would win the Palme D'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival, and it would be nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Ms. Kellerman, winning only for Best Adapted Screenplay. An ironic win, since most of the dialogue was improvised on set, but the victory for screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. would effectively destroy the once powerful Hollywood Blacklist that had been in place since the Red Scare of the 1950s.   After MASH, Altman went on one of the greatest runs any filmmaker would ever enjoy.   MASH would be released in January 1970, and Altman's follow up, Brewster McCloud, would be released in December 1970. Bud Cort, the future star of Harold and Maude, plays a recluse who lives in the fallout shelter of the Houston Astrodome, who is building a pair of wings in order to achieve his dream of flying. The film would feature a number of actors who already were featured in MASH and would continue to be featured in a number of future Altman movies, including Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, John Schuck and Bert Remson, but another reason to watch Brewster McCloud if you've never seen it is because it is the film debut of Shelley Duvall, one of our greatest and least appreciated actresses, who would go on to appear in six other Altman movies over the ensuing decade.   1971's McCabe and Mrs. Miller, for me, is his second best film. A Western starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, was a minor hit when it was first released but has seen a reevaluation over the years that found it to be named the 8th Best Western of all time by the American Film Institute, which frankly is too low for me. The film would also bring a little-known Canadian poet and musician to the world, Leonard Cohen, who wrote and performed three songs for the soundtrack. Yeah, you have Robert Altman to thank for Leonard Cohen.   1972's Images was another psychological horror film, this time co-written with English actress Susannah York, who also stars in the film as an author of children's books who starts to have wild hallucinations at her remote vacation home, after learning her husband might be cheating on her. The $800k film was one of the first to be produced by Hemdale Films, a British production company co-founded by Blow Up actor David Hemmings, but the film would be a critical and financial disappointment when it was released Christmas week. But it would get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score. It would be one of two nominations in the category for John Williams, the other being The Poseidon Adventure.   Whatever resentment Elliott Gould may have had with Altman during the shooting of MASH was gone by late 1972, when the actor agreed to star in the director's new movie, a modern adaptation of Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel The Long Goodbye. Gould would be the eighth actor to play the lead character, Phillip Marlowe, in a movie. The screenplay would be written by Leigh Brackett, who Star Wars nerds know as the first writer on The Empire Strikes Back but had also adapted Chandler's novel The Big Sleep, another Phillip Marlowe story, to the big screen back in 1946.   Howard Hawks and Peter Bogdanovich had both been approached to make the film, and it would be Bogdanovich who would recommend Altman to the President of United Artists. The final film would anger Chandler fans, who did not like Altman's approach to the material, and the $1.7m film would gross less than $1m when it was released in March 1973. But like many of Altman's movies, it was a big hit with critics, and would find favor with film fans in the years to come.   1974 would be another year where Altman would make and release two movies in the same calendar year. The first, Thieves Like Us, was a crime drama most noted as one of the few movies to not have any kind of traditional musical score. What music there is in the film is usually heard off radios seen in individual scenes. Once again, we have a number of Altman regulars in the film, including Shelley Duvall, Bert Remsen, John Schuck and Tom Skerritt, and would feature Keith Carradine, who had a small co-starring role in McCabe and Mrs. Miller, in his first major leading role. And, once again, the film would be a hit with critics but a dud with audiences. Unlike most of Altman's movies of the 1970s, Thieves Like Us has not enjoyed the same kind of reappraisal.   The second film, California Split, was released in August, just six months after Thieves Like Us. Elliott Gould once again stars in a Robert Altman movie, this time alongside George Segal. They play a pair of gamblers who ride what they think is a lucky streak from Los Angeles to Reno, Nevada, would be the only time Gould and Segal would work closely together in a movie, and watching California Split, one wishes there could have been more. The movie would be an innovator seemingly purpose-build for a Robert Altman movie, for it would be the first non-Cinerama movie to be recorded using an eight track stereo sound system. More than any movie before, Altman could control how his overlapping dialogue was placed in a theatre. But while most theatres that played the movie would only play it in mono sound, the film would still be a minor success, bringing in more than $5m in ticket sales.   1975 would bring what many consider to be the quintessential Robert Altman movie to screens.   The two hour and forty minute Nashville would feature no less than 24 different major characters, as a group of people come to Music City to be involved in a gala concert for a political outsider who is running for President on the Replacement Party ticket. The cast is one of the best ever assembled for a movie ever, including Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Ronee Blakely, Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert DoQui, Shelley Duvall, Allen Garfield, Henry Gibson, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Barbara Harris, Cristina Raines, Lily Tomlin and Keenan Wynn.   Altman would be nominated for two Academy Awards for the film, Best Picture, as its producer, and Best Director, while both Ronee Blakely and Lily Tomlin would be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Keith Carradine would also be nominated for an Oscar, but not as an actor. He would, at the urging of Altman during the production of the film, write and perform a song called I'm Easy, which would win for Best Original Song. The $2.2m film would earn $10m in ticket sales, and would eventually become part of the fourth class of movies to be selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 1991, the first of four Robert Altman films to be given that honor. MASH, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and The Long Goodbye would also be selected for preservation over the years.   And we're going to stop here for a second and take a look at that list of films again.   MASH Brewster McCloud McCabe and Mrs. Miller Images The Long Goodbye Thieves Like Us California Split Nashville   Eight movies, made over a five year period, that between them earned twelve Academy Award nominations, four of which would be deemed so culturally important that they should be preserved for future generations.   And we're still only in the middle of the 1970s.   But the problem with a director like Robert Altman, like many of our greatest directors, their next film after one of their greatest successes feels like a major disappointment. And his 1976 film Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, and that is the complete title of the film by the way, did not meet the lofty expectations of film fans not only its director, but of its main stars. Altman would cast two legendary actors he had not yet worked with, Paul Newman and Burt Lancaster, and the combination of those two actors with this director should have been fantastic, but the results were merely okay. In fact,  Altman would, for the first time in his career, re-edit a film after its theatrical release, removing some of the Wild West show acts that he felt were maybe redundant.   His 1977 film 3 Women would bring Altman back to the limelight. The film was based on a dream he had one night while his wife was in the hospital. In the dream, he was directing his regular co-star Shelley Duvall alongside Sissy Spacek, who he had never worked with before, in a story about identity theft that took place in the deserts outside Los Angeles. He woke up in the middle of the dream, jotted down what he could remember, and went back to sleep. In the morning, he didn't have a full movie planned out, but enough of one to get Alan Ladd, Jr., the President of Twentieth-Century Fox, to put up $1.7m for a not fully formed idea. That's how much Robert Altman was trusted at the time. That, and Altman was known for never going over budget. As long as he stayed within his budget, Ladd would let Altman make whatever movie he wanted to make. That, plus Ladd was more concerned about a $10m movie he approved that was going over budget over in England, a science fiction movie directed by the guy who did American Graffiti that had no stars outside of Sir Alec Guinness.   That movie, of course, was Star Wars, which would be released four weeks after 3 Women had its premiere in New York City. While the film didn't make 1/100th the money Star Wars made, it was one of the best reviewed movies of the year. But, strangely, the film would not be seen again outside of sporadic screenings on cable until it was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection 27 years later.   I'm not going to try and explain the movie to you. Just trust me that 3 Women is from a master craftsman at the top of his game.   While on the press tour to publicize 3 Women, a reporter asked Altman what was going to be next for him. He jokingly said he was going to shoot a wedding. But then he went home, thought about it some more, and in a few weeks, had a basic idea sketched out for a movie titled A Wedding that would take place over the course of one day, as the daughter of a Southern nouveau riche family marries the son of a wealthy Chicago businessman who may or may not a major figure in The Outfit.   And while the film is quite entertaining, what's most interesting about watching this 1978 movie in 2023 is not only how many great established actors Altman got for the film, including Carol Burnett, Paul Dooley, Howard Duff, Mia Farrow, Vittorio Gassman, Lauren Hutton, and, in her 100th movie, Lillian Gish, but the number of notable actors he was able to get because he shot the film just outside Chicago. Not only will you see Dennis Christopher just before his breakthrough in Breaking Away, and not only will you see Pam Dawber just before she was cast alongside Robin Williams in Mark and Mindy, but you'll also see Dennis Franz, Laurie Metcalfe, Gary Sinese, Tim Thomerson, and George Wendt.   And because Altman was able to keep the budget at a reasonable level, less than $1.75m, the film would be slightly profitable for Twentieth Century-Fox after grossing $3.6m at the box office.   Altman's next film for Fox, 1979's Quintet, would not be as fortunate.   Altman had come up with the story for this post-apocalyptic drama as a vehicle for Walter Hill to write and direct. But Hill would instead make The Warriors, and Altman decided to make the film himself. While developing the screenplay with his co-writers Frank Barhydt and Patricia Resnick, Altman would create a board game, complete with token pieces and a full set of rules, to flesh out the storyline.   Altman would once again work with Paul Newman, who stars as a seal hunter in the early days of a new ice age who finds himself in elaborate game with a group of gamblers where losing in the game means losing your life in the process. Altman would deliberately hire an international cast to star alongside Newman, not only to help improve the film's ability to do well in foreign territories but to not have the storyline tied to any specific country. So we would have Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, Spaniard Fernando Rey, Swedish actress Bibi Andersson, French actress Brigitte Fossey, and Danish actress Nina van Pallandt.    In order to maintain the mystery of the movie, Altman would ask Fox to withhold all pre-release publicity for the film, in order to avoid any conditioning of the audience. Imagine trying to put together a compelling trailer for a movie featuring one of the most beloved actors of all time, but you're not allowed to show potential audiences what they're getting themselves into? Altman would let the studio use five shots from the film, totaling about seven seconds, for the trailer, which mostly comprised of slo-mo shots of a pair of dice bouncing around, while the names of the stars pop up from moment to moment and a narrator tries to create some sense of mystery on the soundtrack.   But audiences would not be intrigued by the mystery, and critics would tear the $6.4m budget film apart. To be fair, the shoot for the film, in the winter of 1977 outside Montreal was a tough time for all, and Altman would lose final cut on the film for going severely over-budget during production, although there seems to be very little documentation about how much the final film might have differed from what Altman would have been working on had he been able to complete the film his way.   But despite all the problems with Quintet, Fox would still back Altman's next movie, A Perfect Couple, which would be shot after Fox pulled Altman off Quintet. Can you imagine that happening today? A director working with the studio that just pulled them off their project. But that's how little ego Altman had. He just wanted to make movies. Tell stories. This simple romantic comedy starred his regular collaborator Paul Dooley as  Alex, a man who follows a band of traveling bohemian musicians because he's falling for one of the singers in the band.   Altman kept the film on its $1.9m budget, but the response from critics was mostly concern that Altman had lost his touch. Maybe it was because this was his 13th film of the decade, but there was a serious concern about the director's ability to tell a story had evaporated.   That worry would continue with his next film, Health.   A satire of the political scene in the United States at the end of the 1970s, Health would follow a health food organization holding a convention at a luxury hotel in St. Petersburg FL. As one would expect from a Robert Altman movie, there's one hell of a cast. Along with Henry Gibson, and Paul Dooley, who co-write the script with Altman and Frank Barhydt, the cast would include Lauren Bacall, Carol Burnett, James Garner and, in one of her earliest screen appearances, Alfre Woodard, as well as Dick Cavett and Dinah Shore as themselves.   But between the shooting of the film in the late winter and early spring of 1979 and the planned Christmas 1979 release, there was a change of management at Fox. Alan Ladd Jr. was out, and after Altman turned in his final cut, new studio head Norman Levy decided to pull the film off the 1979 release calendar. Altman fought to get the film released sometime during the 1980 Presidential Campaign, and was able to get Levy to give the film a platform release starting in Los Angeles and New York City in March 1980, but that date would get cancelled as well. Levy then suggested an April 1980 test run in St. Louis, which Altman was not happy with. Altman countered with test runs in Boston, Houston, Sacramento and San Francisco. The best Altman, who was in Malta shooting his next movie, could get were sneak previews of the film in those four markets, and the response cards from the audience were so bad, the studio decided to effectively put the film on the proverbial shelf.   Back from the Mediterranean Sea, Altman would get permission to take the film to the Montreal World Film Festival in August, and the Telluride and Venice Film Festivals in September. After good responses from film goers at those festivals, Fox would relent, and give the film a “preview” screening at the United Artists Theatre in Westwood, starting on September 12th, 1980. But the studio would give the film the most boring ad campaign possible, a very crude line drawing of an older woman's pearl bracelet-covered arm thrusted upward while holding a carrot. With no trailers in circulation at any theatre, and no television commercials on air, it would be little surprise the film didn't do a whole lot of business. You really had to know the film had been released. But its $14k opening weekend gross wasn't really all that bad. And it's second week gross of $10,500 with even less ad support was decent if unspectacular. But it would be good enough to get the film a four week playdate at the UA Westwood.   And then, nothing, until early March 1981, when a film society at Northwestern University in Evanston IL was able to screen a 16mm print for one show, while a theatre in Baltimore was able to show the film one time at the end of March. But then, nothing again for more than another year, when the film would finally get a belated official release at the Film Forum in New York City on April 7th, 1982. It would only play for a week, and as a non-profit, the Film Forum does not report film grosses, so we have no idea how well the film actually did. Since then, the movie showed once on CBS in August 1983, and has occasionally played on the Fox Movie Channel, but has never been released on VHS or DVD or Blu-Ray.   I mentioned a few moments ago that while he was dealing with all this drama concerning Health, Altman was in the Mediterranean filming a movie. I'm not going to go too much into that movie here, since I already have an episode for the future planned for it, suffice to say that a Robert Altman-directed live-action musical version of the Popeye the Sailor Man cartoon featuring songs by the incomparable Harry Nilsson should have been a smash hit, but it wasn't. It was profitable, to be certain, but not the hit everyone was expecting. We'll talk about the film in much more detail soon.   After the disappointing results for Popeye, Altman decided to stop working in Hollywood for a while and hit the Broadway stages, to direct a show called Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. While the show's run was not very long and the reviews not very good, Altman would fund a movie version himself, thanks in part to the sale of his production company, Lion's Gate, not to be confused with the current studio called Lionsgate, and would cast Karen Black, Cher and Sandy Dennis alongside newcomers Sudie Bond and Kathy Bates, as five female members of The Disciples of James Dean come together on the 20th anniversary of the actor's death to honor his life and times. As the first film released by a new independent distributor called Cinecom, I'll spend more time talking about this movie on our show about that distributor, also coming soon, suffice it to say that Altman was back. Critics were behind the film, and arthouse audiences loved it. This would be the first time Altman adapted a stage play to the screen, and it would set the tone for a number of his works throughout the rest of the decade.   Streamers was Altman's 17th film in thirteen years, and another adaptation of a stage play. One of several works by noted Broadway playwright David Rabe's time in the Army during the Vietnam War, the film followed four young soldiers waiting to be shipped to Vietnam who deal with racial tensions and their own intolerances when one soldier reveals he is gay. The film featured Matthew Modine as the Rabe stand-in, and features a rare dramatic role for comedy legend David Alan Grier. Many critics would note how much more intense the film version was compared to the stage version, as Altman's camera was able to effortlessly breeze around the set, and get up close and personal with the performers in ways that simply cannot happen on the stage. But in 1983, audiences were still not quite ready to deal with the trauma of Vietnam on film, and the film would be fairly ignored by audiences, grossing just $378k.   Which, finally, after half an hour, brings us to our featured movie.   O.C. and Stiggs.   Now, you might be asking yourself why I went into such detail about Robert Altman's career, most of it during the 1970s. Well, I wanted to establish what types of material Altman would chose for his projects, and just how different O.C. and Stiggs  was from any other project he had made to date.   O.C. and Stiggs began their lives in the July 1981 issue of National Lampoon, as written by two of the editors of the magazine, Ted Mann and Tod Carroll. The characters were fun-loving and occasionally destructive teenage pranksters, and their first appearance in the magazine would prove to be so popular with readers, the pair would appear a few more times until Matty Simmons, the publisher and owner of National Lampoon, gave over the entire October 1982 issue to Mann and Carroll for a story called “The Utterly Monstrous Mind-Roasting Summer of O.C. and Stiggs.” It's easy to find PDFs of the issues online if you look for it.   So the issue becomes one of the biggest selling issues in the history of National Lampoon, and Matty Simmons has been building the National Lampoon brand name by sponsoring a series of movies, including Animal House, co-written by Lampoon writers Doug Kenney and Chris Miller, and the soon to be released movies Class Reunion, written by Lampoon writer John Hughes… yes, that John Hughes… and Movie Madness, written by five Lampoon writers including Tod Carroll. But for some reason, Simmons was not behind the idea of turning the utterly monstrous mind-roasting adventures of O.C. and Stiggs into a movie. He would, however, allow Mann and Carroll to shop the idea around Hollywood, and wished them the best of luck.   As luck would have it, Mann and Carroll would meet Peter Newman, who had worked as Altman's production executive on Jimmy Dean, and was looking to set up his first film as a producer. And while Newman might not have had the credits, he had the connections. The first person he would take the script to his Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols, whose credits by this time included Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff?, The Graduate, Catch-22, and Carnal Knowledge. Surprisingly, Nichols was not just interested in making the movie, but really wanted to have Eddie Murphy, who was a breakout star on Saturday Night Live but was still a month away from becoming a movie star when 48 Hours was released, play one of the leading characters. But Murphy couldn't get out of his SNL commitments, and Nichols had too many other projects, both on Broadway and in movies, to be able to commit to the film.    A few weeks later, Newman and Altman both attended a party where they would catch up after several months. Newman started to tell Altman about this new project he was setting up, and to Newman's surprise, Altman, drawn to the characters' anti-establishment outlook, expressed interest in making it. And because Altman's name still commanded respect in Hollywood, several studios would start to show their interest in making the movie with them. MGM, who was enjoying a number of successes in 1982 thanks to movies like Shoot the Moon, Diner, Victor/Victoria, Rocky III, Poltergeist, Pink Floyd - The Wall, and My Favorite Year, made a preemptive bid on the film, hoping to beat Paramount Pictures to the deal. Unknown to Altman, what interested MGM was that Sylvester Stallone of all people went nuts for the script when he read it, and mentioned to his buddies at the studio that he might be interested in making it himself.   Despite hating studio executives for doing stuff like buying a script he's attached to  then kicking him off so some Italian Stallion not known for comedy could make it himself, Altman agree to make the movie with MGM once Stallone lost interest, as the studio promised there would be no further notes about the script, that Altman could have final cut on the film, that he could shoot the film in Phoenix without studio interference, and that he could have a budget of $7m.   Since this was a Robert Altman film, the cast would be big and eclectic, filled with a number of his regular cast members, known actors who he had never worked with before, and newcomers who would go on to have success a few years down the road. Because, seriously, outside of a Robert Altman movie, where are you going to find a cast that included Jon Cryer, Jane Curtin, Paul Dooley, Dennis Hopper, Tina Louise, Martin Mull, Cynthia Nixon, Bob Uecker, Melvin van Peebles, and King Sunny Adé and His African Beats? And then imagine that movie also featuring Matthew Broderick, Jim Carrey, Robert Downey, Jr. and Laura Dern?   The story for the film would both follow the stories that appeared in the pages of National Lampoon fairly closely while also making some major changes. In the film, Oliver Cromwell “O.C.” Oglivie and Mark Stiggs are two ne'er-do-well, middle-class Phoenix, Arizona high school students who are disgusted with what they see as an omnipresent culture of vulgar and vapid suburban consumerism. They spend their days slacking off and committing pranks or outright crimes against their sworn enemies, the Schwab family, especially family head Randall Schwab, a wealthy insurance salesman who was responsible for the involuntary commitment of O.C.'s grandfather into a group home. During the film, O.C. and Stiggs will ruin the wedding of Randall Schwab's daughter Lenore, raft their way down to a Mexican fiesta, ruin a horrible dinner theatre performance directed by their high school's drama teacher being attended by the Schwabs, and turn the Schwab mansion into a homeless shelter while the family is on vacation. The film ends with O.C. and Stiggs getting into a gun fight with Randall Schwab before being rescued by Dennis Hopper and a helicopter, before discovering one of their adventures that summer has made them very wealthy themselves.   The film would begin production in Phoenix on August 22nd, 1983, with two newcomers, Daniel H. Jenkins and Neill Barry, as the titular stars of the film. And almost immediately, Altman's chaotic ways of making a movie would become a problem. Altman would make sure the entire cast and crew were all staying at the same hotel in town, across the street from a greyhound racetrack, so Altman could take off to bet on a few of the races during production downtime, and made sure the bar at the hotel was an open bar for his team while they were shooting. When shooting was done every day, the director and his cast would head to a makeshift screening room at the hotel, where they'd watch the previous day's footage, a process called “dailies” in production parlance. On most films, dailies are only attended by the director and his immediate production crew, but in Phoenix, everyone was encouraged to attend. And according to producer Peter Newman and Dan Jenkins, everyone loved the footage, although both would note that it might have been a combination of the alcohol, the pot, the cocaine and the dehydration caused by shooting all day in the excessive Arizona heat during the middle of summer that helped people enjoy the footage.    But here's the funny thing about dailies.   Unless a film is being shot in sequence, you're only seeing small fragments of scenes, often the same actors doing the same things over and over again, before the camera switches places to catch reactions or have other characters continue the scene. Sometimes, they're long takes of scenes that might be interrupted by an actor flubbing a line or an unexpected camera jitter or some other interruption that requires a restart. But everyone seemed to be having fun, especially when dailies ended and Altman would show one of his other movies like MASH or The Long Goodbye or 3 Women.   After two months of shooting, the film would wrap production, and Altman would get to work on his edit of the film. He would have it done before the end of 1983, and he would turn it in to the studio. Shortly after the new year, there would be a private screening of the film in New York City at the offices of the talent agency William Morris, one of the larger private screening rooms in the city. Altman was there, the New York-based executives at MGM were there, Peter Newman was there, several of the actors were there. And within five minutes of the start of the film, Altman realized what he was watching was not his cut of the film. As he was about to lose his stuff and start yelling at the studio executives, the projector broke. The lights would go up, and Altman would dig into the the executives. “This is your effing cut of the film and not mine!” Altman stormed out of the screening and into the cold New York winter night.   A few weeks later, that same print from New York would be screened for the big executives at the MGM lot in Los Angeles. Newman was there, and, surprisingly, Altman was there too. The film would screen for the entire running length, and Altman would sit there, watching someone else's version of the footage he had shot, scenes put in different places than they were supposed to be, music cues not of his design or consent.   At the end of the screening, the room was silent. Not one person in the room had laughed once during the entire screening. Newman and Altman left after the screening, and hit one of Altman's favorite local watering holes. As they said their goodbyes the next morning, Altman apologized to Newman. “I hope I didn't eff up your movie.”   Maybe the movie wasn't completely effed up, but MGM certainly neither knew what to do with the film or how to sell it, so it would just sit there, just like Health a few years earlier, on that proverbial shelf.   More than a year later, in an issue of Spin Magazine, a review of the latest album by King Sunny Adé would mention the film he performed in, O.C. and Stiggs, would, quote unquote, “finally” be released into theatres later that year.   That didn't happen, in large part because after WarGames in the early summer of 1983, almost every MGM release had been  either an outright bomb or an unexpected financial disappointment. The cash flow problem was so bad that the studio effectively had to sell itself to Atlanta cable mogul Ted Turner in order to save itself. Turner didn't actually want all of MGM. He only wanted the valuable MGM film library, but the owner of MGM at the time was either going to sell it all or nothing at all.   Barely two months after Ted Turner bought MGM, he had sold the famed studio lot in Culver City to Lorimar, a television production company that was looking to become a producer and distributor of motion pictures, and sold rest of the company he never wanted in the first place to the guy he bought it all from, who had a kind of seller's remorse. But that repurchase would saddle the company with massive bills, and movies like O.C. and Stiggs would have to sit and collect dust while everything was sorted out.   How long would O.C. and Stiggs be left in a void?   It would be so long that Robert Altman would have time to make not one, not two, but three other movies that would all be released before O.C. and Stiggs ever saw the light of day.   The first, Secret Honor, released in 1984, featured the great Philip Baker Hall as former President Richard Nixon. It's probably Hall's single best work as an actor, and the film would be amongst the best reviewed films of Altman's career.   In 1985, Altman would film Fool For Love, an adaptation of a play by Sam Shepard. This would be the only time in Shepard's film career where he would star as one of the characters himself had written. The film would also prove once and for all that Kim Basinger was more than just a pretty face but a real actor.   And in February 1987, Altman's film version of Beyond Therapy, a play by absurdist playwright Christopher Durant, would open in theatres. The all-star cast would include Tom Conti, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Guest, Julie Hagerty and Glenda Jackson.   On March 5th, 1987, an article in Daily Variety would note that the “long shelved” film would have a limited theatrical release in May, despite the fact that Frank Yablans, the vice chairman of MGM, being quoted in the article that the film was unreleasable. It would further be noted that despite the film being available to international distributors for three years, not one company was willing to acquire the film for any market. The plan was to release the movie for one or two weeks in three major US markets, depending on its popularity, and then decide a future course of action from there.   But May would come and go, without a hint of the film.   Finally, on Friday, July 10th, the film would open on 18 screens, but none in any major market like Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City. I can't find a single theatre the film played in that weekend, but that week's box office figures would show an abysmal $6,273 worth of tickets were sold during that first weekend.   There would not be a second weekend of reported grosses.   But to MGM's credit, they didn't totally give up on the film.   On Thursday, August 27th, O.C. and Stiggs would open in at least one theatre. And, lucky for me, that theatre happened to be the Nickelodeon Theatre in Santa Cruz. But despite the fact that the new Robert Altman was opening in town, I could not get a single friend to see it with me. So on a Tuesday night at 8:40pm, I was the only person in all of the region to watch what I would soon discover was the worst Robert Altman movie of all time. Now, I should note that even a bad Robert Altman movie is better than many filmmakers' best movies, but O.C. and Stiggs would have ignobility of feeling very much like a Robert Altman movie, with its wandering camera and overlapping dialogue that weaves in and out of conversations while in progress and not quite over yet, yet not feeling anything like a Robert Altman movie at the same time. It didn't have that magical whimsy-ness that was the hallmark of his movies. The satire didn't have its normal bite. It had a number of Altman's regular troop of actors, but in smaller roles than they'd usually occupy, and not giving the performances one would expect of them in an Altman movie.   I don't know how well the film did at the Nick, suffice it to say the film was gone after a week.   But to MGM's credit, they still didn't give up on the film.   On October 9th, the film would open at the AMC Century City 14, one of a handful of movies that would open the newest multiplex in Los Angeles.   MGM did not report grosses, and the film was gone from the new multiplex after a week.   But to MGM's credit, they still didn't give up on the film.   The studio would give the film one more chance, opening it at the Film Forum in New York City on March 18th, 1988.   MGM did not report grosses, and the film was gone after a week. But whether that was because MGM didn't support the film with any kind of newspaper advertising in the largest market in America, or because the movie had been released on home video back in November, remains to be seen.   O.C. and Stiggs would never become anything resembling a cult film. It's been released on DVD, and if one was programming a Robert Altman retrospect at a local arthouse movie theatre, one could actually book a 35mm print of the film from the repertory cinema company Park Circus.   But don't feel bad for Altman, as he would return to cinemas with a vengeance in the 1990s, first with the 1990 biographical drama Vincent and Theo, featuring Tim Roth as the tortured genius 19th century painter that would put the actor on the map for good. Then, in 1992, he became a sensation again with his Hollywood satire The Player, featuring Tim Robbins as a murderous studio executive trying to keep the police off his trail while he navigates the pitfalls of the industry. Altman would receive his first Oscar nomination for Best Director since 1975 with The Player, his third overall, a feat he would repeat the following year with Short Cuts, based on a series of short stories by Raymond Carver. In fact, Altman would be nominated for an Academy Award seven times during his career, five times as a director and twice as a producer, although he would never win a competitive Oscar.   In March 2006, while editing his 35th film, a screen adaptation of the then-popular NPR series A Prairie Home Companion, the Academy would bestow an Honorary Oscar upon Altman. During his acceptance speech, Altman would wonder if perhaps the Academy acted prematurely in honoring him in this fashion. He revealed he had received a heart transplant in the mid-1990s, and felt that, even though he had turned 81 the month before, he could continue for another forty years.   Robert Altman would pass away from leukemia on November 20th, 2006, only eight months after receiving the biggest prize of his career.   Robert Altman had a style so unique onto himself, there's an adjective that exists to describe it. Altmanesque. Displaying traits typical of a film made by Robert Altman, typically highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective and often a subversive twist.   He truly was a one of a kind filmmaker, and there will likely never be anyone like him, no matter how hard Paul Thomas Anderson tries.     Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again in two weeks, when Episode 106, Mad Magazine Presents Up the Academy, is released.   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.  

We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox)   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.   At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes.   Surely, things could only go up from there, right?   Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries.   But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins.   In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies.   In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired.   And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher.   Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights.   Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres.   BUT…   The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon.   Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films.   The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country.   Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival.    Convenient, eh?   Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold.   The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k.   When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman.   Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales.   Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives.   Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America.   In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role.   Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office.   When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being.    The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories.   On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night.   We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels.   Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video.   The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.   That's pretty darn cool, actually.   Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba.   The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II.   The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity.   The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn.   Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty.   Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release.   There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word.   The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role.   The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres.   Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days.  There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services.   Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market.   Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death.   Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days.   Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron.   But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed.   The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.   Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory.   The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August.   When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989.   If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career.   One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse.   When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold.   The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other.   Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold.   By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers.   Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate.   This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough.   In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then.    New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund.    Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone.   Not one of them survived.   The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle.   As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   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.

We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox)   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.   At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes.   Surely, things could only go up from there, right?   Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries.   But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins.   In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies.   In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired.   And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher.   Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights.   Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres.   BUT…   The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon.   Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films.   The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country.   Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival.    Convenient, eh?   Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold.   The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k.   When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman.   Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales.   Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives.   Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America.   In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role.   Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office.   When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being.    The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories.   On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night.   We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels.   Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video.   The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.   That's pretty darn cool, actually.   Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba.   The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II.   The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity.   The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn.   Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty.   Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release.   There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word.   The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role.   The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres.   Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days.  There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services.   Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market.   Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death.   Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days.   Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron.   But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed.   The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.   Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory.   The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August.   When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989.   If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career.   One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse.   When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold.   The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other.   Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold.   By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers.   Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate.   This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough.   In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then.    New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund.    Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone.   Not one of them survived.   The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle.   As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   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.

Hoy te traemos los mejores cotis de otras épocas para que los disfrutes. Jane Birkin y sus historias de amor con hombres fríos, la verdadera reacción de Ava Gardner ante el despecho por Frank Sinatra, el daño que hizo Mad Men en los dos mil, la inteligencia de Lorrie Moore, la amistad criticona de Marcelo Mastroianni y Vittorio Gassman, y muchísimo más. No te lo pierdas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entre el 3 y el 13 de noviembre se llevará a cabo la 37° Edición del Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata, el único calificado como “clase A” de América latina. En esta ocasión incluirá un homenaje al cineasta Leonardo Favio a diez años de su partida. Su origen se remonta a la muestra de 1948 y a la primera edición de 1954. A lo largo de su historia recibió y premió a estrellas como Vittorio Gassman, Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Vincent Minelli, Vittorio de Sica y Luis Buñuel, entre muchos otros. Escuchá “Luz, cámara, Mardel: un festival de cine con historia”, la columna de la historiadora @eugeniayounis “Pequeñas grandes historias bonaerenses”.

En el programa de hoy celebramos los 60 años de “¿Qué fue de Baby Jane?”, una película que puso frente a frente el talento, el ego y la mala leche de Bette Davis y Joan Crawford siendo una cinta paradigmática en lo referente a rivalidades de cine. Hace unas semanas se cumplió el centenario de Vittorio Gassman y toca hablar de un actor emblemático de una cinematografía como la italiana. Estrenos, un recuerdo a Claudio Biern Boyd, las recomendaciones del streaming en Colgados de la plataforma con Mary Carmen Rodríguez (también editora del podcast), las fotos sonoras del Festival de Sitges 2022 con Imogen y la crítica de las favoritas “Argentina, 1985” y “Moonage daydream” completan el programa. ¡Muchas gracias por escucharnos!

Sessanta anni fa usciva Il sorpasso, capolavoro di Dino Risi con Vittorio Gassman e Jean-Louis Trintignant: un film per il quale, una volta tanto, l'aggettivo ‘iconico' non è usato a caso. Il Sorpasso è infatti molte cose: primo road movie della storia del cinema, istantanea nitida e dolceamara di un'Italia inebriata dal miracolo economico (rappresentato e sintetizzato dalla libera spavalderia di una lancia Aurelia B24 convertibile), spietata fotografia dei vizi irriducibili di una società ancora omofoba e razzista, profezia su un Paese che, vivendo con superficialità al di sopra delle proprie possibilità, stava in realtà correndo verso un burrone (per qualcuno l'immenso debito pubblico per qualcun altro addirittura Tangentopoli), svolta seminale della commedia all'italiana (con un finale tragico e quindi inaspettato che non piaceva al produttore), prima, urticante riflessione sulla famiglia disfunzionale borghese italiana, perfino romanzo di formazione dal punto di vista dl personaggio del timido studente universitario interpretato da Trintignant (ammesso che questa definizione abbia un senso per un personaggio che alla fine muore).

Fatica, balli, desiderio, sfruttamento, illegalità...tutto questo è "Riso amaro" uno dei film più hollywoodiani dell'era neorealista, un opera indimenticabile diretta da un grande Giuseppe De Santis con Silvana Mangano, Vittorio Gassman e Raf Vallone

Vite Utopiche, storie di donne e uomini con una visione!Sara Signori intervista Andrea Chimento, Docente di Storia del Cinema all'Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, giornalista di Cinema per il Sole 24 Ore e Direttore del sito www.longtake.it, per raccontarvi la vita, le storie, i momenti più importanti di Vittorio Gassman!by Radio Utopia. 

L'alienazione in frac La prima clip e l'immagine sono tratte dal film “Il sorpasso” (regia Dino Risi, con Vittorio Gassman e Jean-Louis Trintignant-produttore Mario Cecchi Gori-1962 all rights reserved). L'intervista di Gianni Minà a Dino Risi è del 1998 e i diritti sono riservati alla Rai. Nella traccia finale: la prima clip è un estratto da “Vecchio frac” scritta e cantata da Domenico Modugno (etichetta RCA italiana-1955 all rights reserved); le ultime due clip a confronto sono “Don Raffaè” cantata da Fabrizio De André (autori De André, Bubola, Pagani-etichetta Ricordi, Fonit Cetra-1990 all rights reserved) e “O café” cantata da Domenico Modugno ( autore testo Riccardo Pazzaglia, musica Domenico Modugno-1958 all rights reserved)

Esta semana la iniciamos con una de las películas familiares más esperadas, Tadeo Jones 3. La tabla esmeralda. Con Tadeo viajamos nuevamente por el mundo disfrutando de la acción y lo hacemos de la mano de su director Enrique Gato que visita estos micrófonos para hablarnos de la aventura más grande y complicada. No dejamos pasar la ocasión de hablar de una de las series más vistas, La unidad, los creadores Dani de la Torre y Alberto Marini junto la actriz protagonista Nathalie Poza se pasaron por nuestros estudios dónde comentamos la segunda temporada y avanzamos que habrá una tercera. Ana Vega Toscano rinde homenaje a uno de los mejores actores que ha dado el cine italiano, Vittorio Gassman que nacía en Génova el 1 uno de septiembre de 1922. De Película se adelanta a su centenario La segunda hora la dedicamos a uno de los actores por excelencia del cine español José Luis López Vázquez y lo hacemos desde uno de los enclaves cinematográficos con más historia de Madrid, el Cine Doré, donde se rindió un cariñoso homenaje a José Luís López Vázquez en el centenario de su nacimiento. Compartimos mesa con Joaquín Casanovas, comisario de la exposición ‘Del escenario a la pantalla. Los diseños de José Luis López Vázquez’, con José Luís López Vázquez Maguerus, su hijo, quien nos muestra a través de un documental Las Mil caras del talento de este gran actor. Con él hablamos del padre y también del actor. No podía faltar Julieta Serrano, amiga y compañera de reparto en Mi Querida Señorita, la película que dejó boquiabierta a la España de 1972 y se ganó a la de 1973 en Hollywood. Y en un punto importante de la mesa Antonio Mercero guionista, escritor e hijo del conocido director Antonio Mercero, artífice La Cabina protagonizada por José Luís López Vázquez. Escuchar audio

In questo audio il prezioso incontro con Luca Tommassini coreografo Daniela Bortoletto fisica.L'intervista è nel podcast Contemporaneamente di Mariantonietta Firmani, il podcast pensato per Artribune.In Contemporaneamente podcast trovate incontri tematici con autorevoli interpreti del contemporaneo tra arte e scienza, letteratura, storia, filosofia, architettura, cinema e molto altro. Per approfondire questioni auliche ma anche cogenti e futuribili. Dialoghi straniati per accedere a nuove letture e possibili consapevolezze dei meccanismi correnti: tra locale e globale, tra individuo e società, tra pensiero maschile e pensiero femminile, per costruire una visione ampia, profonda ed oggettiva della realtà.Con Luca Tommassini e Daniela Bortoletto parliamo di danza e fisica delle particelle, tra scienza e incontri. In un'intervista quanto mai straniata e divertente, due mondi apparentemente lontani confluiscono nella necessità di amare e rispettare l'essere umano. È importante trovarsi al posto giusto nel momento giusto, ed avere la fortuna di incontrare persone capaci di ispirarci. La possibilità di esplorare l'ignoto tiene viva la passione, e l'arte ha un ruolo nella felicità superiore a quanto riconosciuto. Ogni particella lascia un segnale speciale in un luogo specifico dell'esperimento, il lavoro sarà fatto da robot e certo questi cambiamenti creano ansietà. In uno spot pubblicitario vendi l'anima al cliente mentre in un film racconta la storia di esseri umani, ma bisogna essere sempre innamorati. Scienza e cultura si muovono assieme e le società dinamiche promuovono innovazione. Il quark top ha la massa di un atomo di oro e molto altro.ASCOLTA L'INTERVISTA!!BREVI NOTE BIOGRAFICHE DEGLI AUTORILuca Tommassini Ballerino, attore, coreografo, regista, direttore artistico. Dopo il diploma in danza classica al Balletto di Roma, vince una borsa di studio per New York e Los Angeles. Stabilitosi negli Stati Uniti ottiene prestigiosi premi tra cui: SAG Awards, American Choreography, Top of the Pops, Vittorio Gassman. Collabora con moltissimi artisti come: Prince, Michael Jackson, Bjork, Whitney Houston, Ricky Martin, Jamiroquai, Phil Collins, Robbie Williams. Jovanotti, Ramazzotti. Direttore artistico e coreografo in talent show come: MTV Europe, Academy Awards, le edizioni Regno Unito, Spagna e Italiana di XFactor, Amici. Inoltre lavora anche nella moda con: Armani, Dolce e Gabbana, Missoni, Fendi, Cavalli, Versace, David La Chapelle. Autore in show musicali e programmi televisivi, regista pubblicitario e di videoclip, firma 46 spot per: Coca Cola, Mazda, Tic Tac, Pepsi, Carpisa, TIM. Nel cinema cura coreografie di film come: "The tourist" con Angelina Jolie e Johnny Depp. “Evita” con Madonna con cui collabora 4 anni. Ed anche “La Dea Fortuna” di Ozpetek. “Un bacio” di Ivan Cotroneo, interpreta ruoli in film come: “Piume di Struzzo”, “Lord of Illusions” e “Sister Act 2”. Nel teatro e nel musical, realizza spettacoli come: “Volevo fare il ballerino e non solo” con Fiorello, “Sola me ne vò” con Mariangela Melato. Ed anche “Ali della Liberta'” di Andrea Bocelli, il Tour di Laura Pausini e Biagio Antonacci 2019, nel 2020 Cura la coreografia di Aperol #TogetherWeCanDance. Daniela Bortoletto è un fisico delle particelle sperimentale e ha partecipato alla scoperta del bosone di Higgs e del quark top. Attualmente sta studiando le proprietà del bosone di Higgs e svolge un ruolo importante nello sviluppo della strumentazione per la misura delle particelle elementari. Già Edward Mills Purcell Distinguished Professor of Physics, alla Purdue University, ne 2013 approda all'Università di Oxford dove ora dirige della fisica delle particelle elementari. Infatti ha ricevuto numerosi premi, tra cui un Early Career Award della US NSF and la Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. Inoltre è stata eletta Fellow of American Physical Society, dell'American Association Advancement of Science e Honorary Fellow dell'Istituto di fisica del Regno Unito. Ed anche è autrice di oltre 1000 articoli pubblicati su giornali scientifici. È stata membro di molti comitati consultivi per agenzie di finanziamento e laboratori del Regno Unito e degli Stati Uniti. Tra suoi ruoli: Particle Physics Projects Prioritization Panel (P5) degli Stati Uniti, il Detector Strategic Review Panel del Regno Unito e la PAC del Fermilab. In fine difende con passione l'importanza di aumentare la eguaglianza e la partecipazione femminile nella fisica e nelle tecnologie avanzate.

Robert Altman's Chicago set A Wedding from 1978 tells the story of two families and the lavish and chaotic day they marry off young Dino (Desi Arnaz Jr.) and Muffin (Amy Stryker).  An all star cast of 70's luminaries,  including Carol Burnett, Paul Dooley, Mia Farrow, Lillian Gish, Dina Merrill, Vittorio Gassman and Geraldine Chaplin, is joined by some background players who would later become stars in their own right.  Look closely for Windy City actors Laurie Metcalf, John Malkovich, Jeff Perry, Gary Sinise, Joan Allen, George Wendt and Dennis Franz! Dan and Vicky discuss this comedy with it's ensemble of 48 speaking parts and Altman's trademark improv sensibilities.  Also on deck is some recently seen including Alex Garland's Men, 1955's Bad Day at Black Rock, Girl Interrupted, Icelandic fable Lamb, Hulu's Candy, and Prime's The Boys season 3. Check us out at hotdatepod.com Or visit us on social media: FB:  Hot Date Podcast Twitter: @HotDate726 Insta:  hotdatepod

Riunione con Roma Oltre Le Mura e Dannati Architetti – in ondaaaa!!!!La bella stagione porta con sé un sacco di belle attività da fare tra le quali i concerti all'aperto! Scopriamo insieme l'Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma con un ospite speciale: Chiara di Dannati Architetti!Parleremo dell'amato architetto Renzo Piano e delle sue opere architettoniche, Erik ci delizia con sei consigli cinematografici con Vittorio Gassman e Marta si gode il sole romano e i concerti.Musica: Ho Hey– The Lumineers Seguite Roma Oltre le Mura su Instagram @roma_oltrelemura – Per ancora più fatti e curiosità su ogni puntata – E per chiacchierare direttamente con i conduttori Erik e Marta.Il primo Podcast di Roma: Roma oltre le muraRoma è sì Fontana di Trevi e Colosseo, ma è anche molto di più. Roma oltre le mura focalizza sugli aspetti della città che spesso sfuggono al primo sguardo Roma oltre le mura spinge gli ascoltatori di fermarsi e guardare Roma con occhi nuovi e scoprire tutto quello che si trova a Roma - oltre le mura. Roma Oltre le Mura e una produzione CapraBalodis. Per informazioni o collaborazioni contattate: ciao@caprabalodis.it

In the thirteenth episode of Season 6 (Heists, Cons, & Grifters) Kyle is joined by fellow podcaster Ben Thelen for a one-on-one discussion on Mario Monicelli's hysterical heist parody about a group of relatable losers and their ill-fated attempt to change their lot in life in Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958).

Peter SteinGianluigi Fogacci"Un'altra prospettiva"La vita e il teatro di un MaestroManni Editorihttps://www.mannieditori.it/"Io non voglio vedere su un palcoscenico ciò che posso vedere per strada, o sul mio pc, io voglio vedere una cosa diversa, voglio essere trasportato in un sistema di pensiero differente, non in quello dell'oggi in cui sono immerso; io voglio che il teatro mi regali un'altra prospettiva". Peter Stein, nato nel 1937 a Berlino, è uno dei registi teatrali più importanti e innovativi del teatro contemporaneo.In questo dialogo con Gianluigi Fogacci per la prima volta si racconta, e racconta una vita straordinaria e intensa che attraversa il Novecento fino ai giorni nostri: il lavoro, il privato, la politica.L'infanzia durante la Seconda guerra mondiale, il rapporto con il padre e con la generazione del nazismo, gli studi di letteratura e storia dell'arte per crearsi una “biblioteca interna”, il Sessantotto in Germania, la Schaubühne – esperimento di teatro collettivo nella Berlino Ovest degli anni Settanta e Ottanta –, i maestosi spettacoli portati in giro per il mondo, l'arrivo in Italia nel 1987 e l'approdo alla lirica. E poi le relazioni con il potere e le istituzioni, i tragici greci e Shakespeare e Checov, la visione del teatro che è visione dell'arte e della società e dell'esistenza.Un libro che racconta come il teatro sia imprenditoria, sia letteratura, sia tecnica, sia impegno civile, sia prospettiva. Una storia personale che si intreccia con quella collettiva, in cui Stein si mette a nudo, e rivela uno dei grandi maestri della nostra epoca.Peter SteinNato nel 1937 a Berlino, è uno dei maggiori registi contemporanei. Vive in Italia, tra San Pancrazio in Umbria e Roma.Gianluigi FogacciÈ nato a Bologna nel 1966. Attore e regista, si è formato alla Bottega teatrale di Vittorio Gassman e ha lavorato con i maggiori registi teatrali italiani, oltre che con Peter Stein. Ha partecipato anche a produzioni cinematografiche e televisive. Svolge attività di insegnamento in varie scuole di teatro.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Oggi, martedì 8 marzo 2022, al microfono Bruno Montesano, dottorando in scienze sociali e collaboratore della rivista Gli asini. Si parla di sciopero globale transfemminista attraverso l'appello di Non una di meno e di quello delle femministe russe, di Resistenza femminista contro la guerra. Si leggono passaggi dei testi di USB, COBAS e CUB, i sindacati aderenti allo sciopero. Si fa una rassegna della copertura della giornata del 8 Marzo nelle pagine locali e degli stupri di capodanno nella villa sulla Cassia. Si parla inoltre del programma presentato da Gualtieri e della vittoria di Petrangeli alle primarie a Rieti. C'è spazio infine per un ritratto del nuovo padrone de l'Espresso, Iervolino, e per una segnalazione della mostra su Vittorio Gassman all'Auditorium

Fabio Bussotti"La ragazza di Hopper"Mincione Edizionihttps://www.mincionedizioni.com/“La ragazza di Hopper” è la settima avventura del commissario Bertone che si ritrova in un quadro di Hopper con la paura di non uscirne più.Roma, lunedì 7 settembre 2020. La cameriera di notte Nora Rednic viene strangolata nella stanza 684 dell'albergo Massimo D'Azeglio. Il commissario Flavio Bertone, osservando attentamente il cadavere sul letto, pensa che la bella ragazza di origini rumene si sia lasciata uccidere senza opporre resistenza…Il lenzuolo ancora intatto, le scarpe appaiate davanti alla poltrona, le tende alla finestra, la canottiera rosa, tutto gli ricorda il quadro di Hopper Stanza d'Albergo…Ma il cielo era blu cobalto. La radio annunciava condizioni atmosferiche perfette e una fiducia incondizionata nel futuro prossimo e anche in quello venturo. L'oceano era una tavola piatta, senza schiume e con nessuna voglia di ruggire. I gabbiani si facevano fatti loro. I cormorani parlottavano tra le dune. Il vento soffiava leggero, felice di non avere una direzione precisa. Il bianco delle spiagge atlantiche era a tratti abbagliante e misterioso come la fronte di Moby Dick o un muro di una casa in un quadro di Hopper.“Perché non mi spari subito? Hai paura di svegliare qualcuno dell'albergo o hai semplicemente paura?”“Non ho paura di ammazzarti. Voglio solo farlo bene.”"Ma la vita vera accade fra il buio e la luce:-Ho chiuso a chiave la porta-, dicesti,un'importante frase, gradiva di fato. Ricordo le parolema ho scordato da che lato le dicevi,se dentro casa o fuori della porta."da "Sempre gli uomini vedono nel buio" di Yehuda AmichaiFabio Bussotti attore, drammaturgo, sceneggiatore e traduttore, è nato a Trevi e vive tra Roma e Madrid. Si è diplomato alla Bottega Teatrale di Firenze diretta da Vittorio Gassman. Ha vinto il Nastro d'Argento come migliore attore non protagonista per il film Francesco diretto da Liliana Cavani. La ragazza di Hopper è la settima avventura del Commissario Bertone che si ritrova dentro un quadro di Hopper con la paura di non uscire più. Le prime due, L'invidia di Velázquez e il Cameriere di Borges sono disponibili in audiolibro grazie a Fabler Audio Edizioni.https://www.mincionedizioni.com/https://www.ibs.it/ragazza-di-hopper-libro-fabio-bussotti/e/9782931144107http://www.fabiobussotti.it/IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

durée : 01:25:00 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Philippe Garbit - Dans ce numéro des "Mardis du cinéma" de janvier 1993, Mario Serenellini, Aldo Tassone, Michel Serceau et Sandro Bernardi font tomber les masques de la comédie à l'italienne. "La  comédie à l'italienne des années 1950-1960 est avant tout une fantastique aventure collective" s'enthousiasme Michel Serceau, l'un des quatre invités de ces "Mardis du Cinéma". Rien à voir avec le cinéma hollywoodien d'avant 1960 fortement taylorisé et basé sur des schémas théâtraux. Rien à voir non plus avec le cinéma d'auteur de la Nouvelle Vague, _"la comédie à l'italienne est un spectacle populaire immergé dans le quotidien, et une expérience artistique basée sur l'observation du réel" : _ * Aldo Tassaone :  La comédie à l'italienne, c'est le néoréalisme devenu populaire, visible par le grand public.  Cette tradition de la comédie "où l'on se moque de tout avec une rage terrible", se perpétue, depuis des siècles en Italie, depuis  Boccace via Machiavel, et la commedia dell'arte, selon les mots du réalisateur italien Mario Monicelli : _"La comédie est notre tradition et notre vérité". _ Si l'on essaie de faire une  phénoménologie de l'italien dans la comédie italienne, on peut dire  qu'il est au-delà des lois et à la fin il est toujours vaincu et humilié. Dans cet exercice d'archéologie de la commedia all'italiana, où sont évoqués réalisateurs, scénaristes et acteurs légendaires, les invités rappellent quelques-uns des grands chefs d'ouvres du genre, tels que : L'Amore in citta  (L'Amour à la ville), film à sketches de 1953,  I Soliti ignoti (Le Pigeon) de Mario Monicelli (1958), ou encore Il sorpasso (Le Fanfaron), de Dino Risi en 1962, "un fanfaron digne d'une figure de Corneille" selon Aldo Tassone. La  comédie à l'italienne pourrait être considérée comme une seule  histoire, dont les films ne sont que des épisodes.  Et  pour mieux se plonger dans ces comédies aux fins "douces amères", rien de tel que de savourer les voix et les intonations si particulières du grand quatuor de comédiens italiens : Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi et Nino Manfredi. Par Francesca Isidori  Réalisation : Claude Giovannetti Mardis du cinéma - La comédie à l'italienne (1ère diffusion : 12/01/1993) Indexation web : Sylvain Alzial,  Documentation Sonore de Radio France Archive Ina-Radio France

No episódio de estreia do podcast da página Cinema Italiano (do Facebook), Alexandre e Tony começam a conversar sobre a vida e a obra de Mario Monicelli (1915-2010), roteirista e diretor fundamental no cinema italiano do pós-guerra, um dos responsáveis pela criação de um gênero (a chamada "commedia all'italiana"), capaz de ressignificar a carreira de diversos atores já consagrados (Totò, Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi, Monica Vitti...), e um dos grandes cronistas da Itália do século XX.

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Tal dia com avui parlem de com el "Reading is sexy" "strikes again", de Joan Clos, de Vittorio Gassman llegint "La Divina Com

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Bienvenidos a vuestra cita semanal con la Gran Evasión, esta noche vamos a pasar una velada deliciosa con una comedia universal, un clásico italiano dirigido por Mario Monicelli en 1958. I soliti Ignoti, estrenada en España como Rufufú. Un título que la emparentó claramente, en clave de parodia, con el mítico Rififí de Jules Dassin, todo un referente del cine negro francés. Monicelli rueda esta hilarante y esperpéntica historia de perdedores como un thriller. Sitúa el relato, basado en uno de los cuentos de Italo Calvino, en la Roma menos conocida y glamurosa, nos movemos por los arrabales, pero la ciudad es retratada con una elegancia exquisita. Magistral ese blanco y negro neorrealista donde se mezclan gags, con esencia de Keaton o Chaplin, con la vida cotidiana. Para describir las andanzas de estos desconocidos de siempre, los invisibles, los delincuentes/supervivientes del pueblo italiano, y por ende, de todos los pueblos. Vaya reparto: Vittorio Gassman, el apuesto Peppe, una pantera con mandíbula de cristal; Memmo Caroteno, el desgraciado Cosimo; Renato Salvatori, el joven Mario, acomplejado por ser huérfano y perdidamente enamorado de Carmelina; Una de las primeras apariciones de la imponente Claudia Cardinale; Carla Gravina como Nicoletta; el inolvidable Capanella, interpretado por Carlo Pisacane, ese viejo desdentado que no para de comer durante toda la película; Marcelo Mastroianni, el fotógrafo que carga con su hijo pequeño; o el gran Totó, dando vida al profesor, al maestro cerrajero. Rufufú es una comedia que cuenta la vida a través de la risa, porque en cada carcajada caben todas las emociones, desde las mas patéticas, a las mas hermosas; de fondo tenemos denuncias camufladas de torpeza y esperpento, que dejan bien patente las desigualdades sociales. Nuestro Luis Garcia Berlanga, Azcona o José María Forqué, sabían bastante de eso, Monicelli y los demás maestros italianos, también. Dos cines llenos de costumbrismo y calidez, que se influían y retro-alimentaban mutuamente. Esta noche nos paseamos por los suburbios romanos para preparar un robo al Monte de Piedad, el golpe que cambie nuestra suerte. Con un boxeador sin encaje, un fotógrafo sin cámara, un siciliano que guarda bajo llave la honra de su hermana, un viejo sin dientes que solo piensa en comer, un huérfano de buen corazón, un profesor de delincuentes que exige su recibo por alquilar las herramientas, una chica de servir…el pueblo llano, que a menudo come mejor y con mas asiduidad, en la cárcel. Compartimos risas y un potaje de cine, Zacarias Cotán, Raúl Gallego, Gervi Navío y Salvador Limón. Gervasio Navío Flores.

CONTATTI:Se avete domande, richieste o suggerimenti scrivete a: info@italianosi.comTRASCRIZIONE DEL PODCAST:Puoi sostenere il mio lavoro con una donazione su Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/italianosi?fan_landing=truePer €2 al mese riceverai le trascrizioni di tutti i PodcastPer €3 al mese riceverai, oltre alle trascrizioni, anche una lista dei vocaboli più difficili, con la loro traduzione in inglese.CONTENUTIFollow up: Guadeloupe, Guadalupe, Guadalupa (???) che confusione.Dove sono gli show notes? (se state leggendo qui, già lo sapete!)UNA REGIONE ITALIANA: Le Marche: Nome al pluraleInformazioni generaliCuriosità e tradizioniCucinaLeopardiLA CANZONE DELLA PUNTATA:Questa volta nessuna canzone, ma una poesia: L'infinito di Leopardi, letta da Vittorio Gassman. IL MODO DI DIRE DELLA PUNTATA:Fare una figuraccia / fare una brutta figura / fare una figura di merda *volgare*Attaccare un pipponeIL SUGGERIMENTO DELLA PUNTATA:Vocabolario online di slang, linguaggio giovanile, colloquiale e regionale: slengo.it LINK:Vittorio Gassman legge L'Infinito: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Je7YiOEo0&t=3sInno delle Marche di Giovanni Allevi, testo di Giacomo Greganti:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFPY3tOzVTcVocabolario di slang: https://slengo.it/ 

Ricorre l'Anno di Dante, 700 anni dalla sua scomparsa, 751 dalla sua nascita. Dante naque a Firenze nel 1265 e scomparve nella notte tra il 13-14 settembre 1321 a Ravenna. Pur occupandoci di radio e mondo dei media, ne approfittiamo spesso per spaziare in altri ambiti, trovando il punto d'incontro con la nostra passione che è la radio. Oggi abbiamo voluto sciaquare i panni nell'Arno, parlando di Dante con Luigi Cobisi in collegamento da Firenze, giornalista, membro del consiglio direttivo tesoriere dell'Associazione Giornalisti Europei, già in passato collaboratore della Deutschlandfunk, e di quotidiani importanti come La Nazione, e soprattutto grande appassionato di radio, in quanto ha collaborato alla nascita della Associazione Italiana Radioascolto e del Portale Italradio. Cobisi ci parla di come radio e media che usano la nostra stessa lingua stanno cominciando a parlare di Dante Alighieri. Ed egli inizia citando innanzitutto l'attività delle radio appartenenti alla Comunità Radiotelevisiva Italofona, riunita in videocoferenza a fine aprile e che raccoglie RAI,Radio Svizzera Italiana, Radio Vaticana, Radio Capodistria, RadioTV San Marino, Radio Romania, ed altre. Inoltre ci si sofferma anche sull'attività e aneddoti di altre emittenti come quello raccontato durante una trasmissione in Italiano della SBS Australia e degli speciali dedicati a Dante dalla Radio Polacca. Nel corso della trasmissione viene riproposta la lettura di alcuni passi dalla Divina Commedia ad opera dell'attore Vittorio Gassman. **Al termine spazio alle notizie dal mondo delle comunicazioni. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/notewebradio/message

Liana Orfei"Romanzo di vita vera"Baldini + Castoldihttps://www.baldinicastoldi.it/Quella di Liana Orfei non è stata certo una vita ordinaria: nata “per miracolo” dentro un caravan in una notte di tempesta, di salute gracile e precaria, da bambina ha sofferto a causa di una malattia che l'ha costretta a letto per molti anni. Tuttavia, il suo temperamento e la sua buona stella (è nata con la cosiddetta “camicia della Madonna”) non le hanno mai permesso di lasciarsi andare e anzi l'hanno portata a cimentarsi in sfide sempre nuove. Dal mondo del circo, suo ambiente naturale, insieme ai fratelli Nando e Rinaldo, alla vita difficile durante la guerra; dall'esperienza del cinema, quando Fellini la scoprì, al teatro e alla televisione; dall'Europa al Nuovo Mondo e all'Oriente, sempre alla ricerca di nuove avventure e di stimoli per il suo amato circo. Oggi, guardandosi alle spalle, Liana Orfei si racconta con minuzia di particolari e un misto di tenerezza e nostalgia. In questo memoir, come in un romanzo, appunto, scorre la storia di una donna tanto reale quanto, al tempo stesso, iconica, una vicenda in cui perdersi e ritrovarsi.Liana Orfei (San Giovanni in Persiceto, 6 gennaio 1937) è l'unica persona al mondo che, da figlia del circo, ha ottenuto successo mondiale in altre arti: dal cinema al teatro alla televisione. Interprete di oltre 40 film, tra cui I clowns di Federico Fellini che la scoprì, ha recitato, tra gli altri, al fianco di Orson Welles, Victor Mature, Mickey Rooney, Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Totò, Ugo Tognazzi. Nel teatro ha lavorato con alcuni dei più grandi au- tori e registi, tra cui Eduardo De Filippo, Luca Ronconi e Ghigo de Chiara. È stata anche conduttrice di importanti show televisivi su Rai Uno, nonché autrice e regista di famosi spettacoli circensi conosciuti nel mondo. A riconoscimento della sua straordinaria carriera, ha ricevuto quattro Maschere d'Argento, una Maschera d'Oro e innumerevoli premi cinematografici, teatrali e circensi. Il 4 aprile 1993 è stata insignita del titolo di Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana per meriti artistici dal Presidente della Repubblica, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. È inoltre cittadina onoraria di Marano sul Panaro: il paese, in provincia di Modena, dove aveva trovato ospitalità presso una famiglia contadina durante la seconda guerra mondiale.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Oggi parliamo di Vittorio Gassman, un attore, regista, sceneggiatore e scrittore italiano. Le 3 parole sono: recitare, frequentare e cavaliere.Supporta Oggi Parliamo: www.patreon.com/oggiparliamoPrenota una lezione con me: www.oggiparliamo.as.me

Born on this Day: is a daily podcast hosted by Bil Antoniou, Amanda Barker & Marco Timpano. Celebrating the famous and sometimes infamous born on this day. Check out their other podcasts: Bad Gay Movies, Bitchy Gay Men Eat & Drink Every Place is the Same My Criterions The Insomnia Project Marco's book: 25 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started My Podcast Celebrating birthday's on this day: Zendaya, Boyd Holbrook, Zoe Lister-Jones, Yvonne De Carlo, Scott Speedman, Lily Tomlin, Burn Gorman, Padma Lakshmi, Richard Farnsworth, James Rebhorn, Ludwig Goransson, Susan Backlinie, George Maharis, Craig Gillespie, Gloria Estefan, Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, Dr. Phillip Calvin McGraw, Vittorio Gassman, William Peter Blatty, Rocco Francis Marchegiano, Rocky Marciano. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/born-on-this-day-podcast/message

Una diosa rubia, voluptuosa, penetra en la Fontana de Trevi. Un hombre "vivido", aburrido, periodista de "sociedad" acude a sus cánticos de sirena arrebatada. "La Dolce Vita", un babélico mundo filmado por Federico Fellini en la Roma de los 60, una exclusiva fauna social como protagonista. Marcello Mastroianni como hilo conductor, Anita Ekberg como punto y aparte. Esencia de "dolce vita" también en "La Escapada" de Dino Risi. La Italia del Twist, las vacaciones de verano, la aventura al volante con Vittorio Gassman y Trintignant, víctima propiciatoria de la inconsciencia y el exceso. No hay "chicas Almodóvar" ni siquiera argumento, pero sobrevivirán a cualquier "modernidad" de cualquier época. De Nino Rota a Edoardo Vianello ("Guarda come Dondolo") en la BSO, pero hay más. Mucho más. Escuchar audio

Io e Frankie sezioniamo la sua hit "Quelli che benpensano", parliamo dei Beastie Boys, del suo rapporto con Vittorio Gassman, di un poltergeist... e di molto altro ancora!

Un ricordo dell'attore a 20 anni dalla scomparsa

Alex Zanardi è un esempio di resilienza incredibile per tutti noi. Suo figlio Niccolò sta dimostrando una grande forza, standogli vicino in questo momento difficilissimo. Affrontiamo questa situazioni triste per tutti noi con Alberto Infelise, giornalista de La Stampa, che ha scritto un articolo a questo riguardo. Sono passati alcuni anni dalla morte di Marco Simoncelli, grande pilota della MotoGP. I suoi genitori Paolo e Rossella hanno dato vita alla Fondazione Marco Simoncelli e alla casa famiglia Casa Marco Simoncelli. Ne parliamo con lo stesso papà Paolo Simoncelli. Sentiamo spesso parlare di professioni e passioni tramandate di padre e in figlio. Questo è il caso di Massimo Calamari che, qualche mese fa, ha deciso di riaprire l'attività di calzolaio che era stata di suo padre e, ancor prima, di suo nonno materno. Ci racconta com'è nata questa passione. Il Covid-19 e il conseguente lockdown hanno segnato profondamente i nostri figli. Dovremo, sicuramente, fare i conti con importanti ripercussioni a livello psicologico. Parliamo di questo argomento con Massimo Ammaniti, psichiatra dell'infanzia e dell'adolescenza, che ha appena pubblicato 'E poi, i bambini: I nostri figli al tempo del coronavirus'. Il 29 giugno 2020 è una ricorrenza particolare, soprattutto nel mondo del cinema: sono vent'anni che il grande Vittorio Gassman ci ha lasciato. Parliamo di lui e della sua figura di padre con sua figlia Paola Gassman.

Alex Zanardi è un esempio di resilienza incredibile per tutti noi. Suo figlio Niccolò sta dimostrando una grande forza, standogli vicino in questo momento difficilissimo. Affrontiamo questa situazioni triste per tutti noi con Alberto Infelise, giornalista de La Stampa, che ha scritto un articolo a questo riguardo. Sono passati alcuni anni dalla morte di Marco Simoncelli, grande pilota della MotoGP. I suoi genitori Paolo e Rossella hanno dato vita alla Fondazione Marco Simoncelli e alla casa famiglia Casa Marco Simoncelli. Ne parliamo con lo stesso papà Paolo Simoncelli. Sentiamo spesso parlare di professioni e passioni tramandate di padre e in figlio. Questo è il caso di Massimo Calamari che, qualche mese fa, ha deciso di riaprire l'attività di calzolaio che era stata di suo padre e, ancor prima, di suo nonno materno. Ci racconta com'è nata questa passione. Il Covid-19 e il conseguente lockdown hanno segnato profondamente i nostri figli. Dovremo, sicuramente, fare i conti con importanti ripercussioni a livello psicologico. Parliamo di questo argomento con Massimo Ammaniti, psichiatra dell'infanzia e dell'adolescenza, che ha appena pubblicato 'E poi, i bambini: I nostri figli al tempo del coronavirus'. Il 29 giugno 2020 è una ricorrenza particolare, soprattutto nel mondo del cinema: sono vent'anni che il grande Vittorio Gassman ci ha lasciato. Parliamo di lui e della sua figura di padre con sua figlia Paola Gassman.

Alex Zanardi è un esempio di resilienza incredibile per tutti noi. Suo figlio Niccolò sta dimostrando una grande forza, standogli vicino in questo momento difficilissimo. Affrontiamo questa situazioni triste per tutti noi con Alberto Infelise, giornalista de La Stampa, che ha scritto un articolo a questo riguardo. Sono passati alcuni anni dalla morte di Marco Simoncelli, grande pilota della MotoGP. I suoi genitori Paolo e Rossella hanno dato vita alla Fondazione Marco Simoncelli e alla casa famiglia Casa Marco Simoncelli. Ne parliamo con lo stesso papà Paolo Simoncelli. Sentiamo spesso parlare di professioni e passioni tramandate di padre e in figlio. Questo è il caso di Massimo Calamari che, qualche mese fa, ha deciso di riaprire l'attività di calzolaio che era stata di suo padre e, ancor prima, di suo nonno materno. Ci racconta com'è nata questa passione. Il Covid-19 e il conseguente lockdown hanno segnato profondamente i nostri figli. Dovremo, sicuramente, fare i conti con importanti ripercussioni a livello psicologico. Parliamo di questo argomento con Massimo Ammaniti, psichiatra dell'infanzia e dell'adolescenza, che ha appena pubblicato 'E poi, i bambini: I nostri figli al tempo del coronavirus'. Il 29 giugno 2020 è una ricorrenza particolare, soprattutto nel mondo del cinema: sono vent'anni che il grande Vittorio Gassman ci ha lasciato. Parliamo di lui e della sua figura di padre con sua figlia Paola Gassman.

Vincenzo Mollica, giornalista .

Vincenzo Mollica, giornalista .

"Photo Action per Torino"Guido Harariwww.photoactionpertorino.orgSuperati il lockdown e la prima fase dell'emergenza Covid-19, purtroppo permangono o emergono problematiche di lungo periodo. U.G.I. Onlus e Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino le stanno affrontando con la creazione di un Fondo Straordinario Covid-19.Da oggi fino al 21 maggio “Photo Action per Torino”, il progetto ideato dai fotografi Guido Harari e Paolo Ranzani insieme a Wall Of Sound Gallery, vuol essere una “chiamata alle arti” per contribuire alla creazione del Fondo Straordinario Covid-19.All'appello hanno aderito più di 100 fotografi italiani e internazionali che a titolo gratuito hanno messo a disposizione del progetto una loro immagine che verrà stampata in un'edizione proposta per l'occasione alla cifra di 100 Euro.Si tratta di fotografie classiche e inedite, rese disponibili per la prima volta in una “collezione” esclusiva per “Photo Action per Torino” che include:- grandi icone del XX° secolo (Marilyn Monroe di Douglas Kirkland, David Bowie di Masayoshi Sukita, Salvador Dalì di Mimmo Dabbrescia, Maria Callas di Gianni Greguoli)- musica (Bruce Springsteen di Frank Stefanko, Eddie Vedder di Danny Clinch, Patti Smithe Robert Mapplethorpe di Norman Seeff, John Coltrane di Joe Alper, Ezio Bosso di Roberto Serra, Lucio Battisti di Gered Mankowitz, Mick Jagger di Robert Whitaker, Fabrizio De André di Luca Greguoli, Lou Reed e Laurie Anderson di Guido Harari, Pino Daniele di Cesare Monti, Lucio Dalla di Carlo Massarini, Liam Gallagher di Alessio Pizzicannella)- spettacolo (Federico Fellini di Franco Bellomo, Massimo Troisi e Pino Daniele di Luciano Viti, Robert De Niro di Adolfo Franzò, Johnny Depp di Maurizio Galimberti, Vittorio Gassman di Claudio Porcarelli, Tilda Swinton di Fabio Lovino, Hanna Schygulla di Fulvia Farassino, Luca Zingaretti di Marina Alessi, il teatro di Lelli e Masotti)- cultura (Eduardo De Filippo e Carmelo Bene di Angelo Turetta, Mario Rigoni Stern di Bruno Murialdo, Irvine Welsh di Alessandro Albert)- reportage e travel (Uliano Lucas, Paola Agosti, Francesco Radino, Franco Pagetti, Eric Meola, Cristina Arrigoni, Franco Carlisi, Paolo Verzone, Renzo Chiesa, Roger Corona, Enzo Obiso, Anna Rosati, Vittore Buzzi, Matteo Fantolini, Marco Turatti, Annalisa Vandelli, Valentina Tamborra, architettura industriale di Gabriele Basilico, vita rurale di Mario Giacomelli, tradizioni religiose di Mario LaPorta, il circo di Mauro Raffini, il subcomandante Marcos di Maki Galimberti)- moda (immagini di famose campagne internazionali e ricerche personali di Art Kane, Franco Turcati, Toni Thorimbert, Paolo Ranzani)- arte (Lello Esposito di Riccardo Piccirillo)- ricerca (nudi d'autore di Franco Fontana, Settimio Benedusi e Gabriele Rigon, scomposizioni fotografiche di Joe Oppedisano, reinvenzioni di celebri opere d'arte di Mauro Balletti, meditazioni visive di Simone Bramante, Oberto Gili, Piero Gemelli, Carlo Orsi, Maurizio Beucci, Maria Vittoria Backhaus, Sophie-Anne Herin, Bart Herreman, Peter Andrewartha, Efrem Raimondi, Laila Pozzo, Ottavio Maledusi).Un'opportunità unica per acquisire opere di grandi autori italiani e internazionali ad un prezzo speciale per sostenere insieme un progetto a scopo benefico.Durante le due settimane dell'iniziativa, da sabato 9 maggio un'intensa attività sulla pagina Instagram di “Photo Action per Torino” sarà arricchita da dirette giornaliere in cui Guido Harari e Paolo Ranzani dialogheranno a turno con diversi fotografi del progetto.IN QUALE MODO SI PUÒ DARE UN AIUTO?Accedendo al sito www.photoactionpertorinorino.org entro e solo fino al 21 maggio 2020, si potrà consultare l'archivio delle immagini e scegliere una o più stampe fine art donando 100 Euro ciascuna (più 10 Euro per spese di spedizione).Le stampe saranno realizzate in formato 21x29cm (A4) su Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper da Wall Of Sound Gallery. Saranno in edizione aperta con timbro a secco, certificate con un'apposita etichetta sul retro della stampa ma non firmate né numerate.L'intero ricavato della raccolta fondi “Photo Action per Torino” verrà devoluto a U.G.I. Onlus per il Fondo Straordinario Covid-19.IL FONDO STRAORDINARIO COVID-19Il Fondo Straordinario Covid-19 è destinato a sostenere le famiglie assistite da U.G.I. Onlus la cui situazione economica sia stata aggravata dall'emergenza sanitaria Covid-19 e ad erogare borse di studio per giovani medici impegnati nella unità di crisi Covid-19 della Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino.Il Fondo, che ha una natura straordinaria, erogherà contributi una tantum a famiglie selezionate dal Comitato Assistenza di U.G.I. Onlus su proposta della Assistente Sociale che opera all'interno della Città della Salute con particolare attenzione al reparto di Oncoematologia pediatrica dell'ospedale Infantile Regina Margherita, diretto dalla professoressa Franca Fagioli. Quest'ultima segnalerà eventuali emergenze nell'ambito del team medico a cui destinare una borsa di studio.“PHOTO ACTION PER TORINO”I fotografi che hanno aderito offrendo una loro immagine a titolo gratuito:Paola AGOSTI / Alessandro ALBERT / Joe ALPER / Marina ALESSIAlberto ALIVERTI / Vittoria AMATI / Peter ANDREWARTHACristina ARRIGONI / ALEX ASTEGIANO / Maria Vittoria BACKHAUS / Isabella BALENA / Mauro BALLETTI / Erika BANCHIO Gabriele BASILICO / Franco BELLOMO / Maya BEN FREJ / Settimio BENEDUSI Maurizio BEUCCI / Niccolò BIDDAU / Simone BRAMANTE / Alberto BUZZANCAVittore BUZZI / Luca CACCIAPUOTI / Marianna CAPPELLI / Franco CARLISI Renzo CHIESA / Lorenzo CICCONI MASSI / Roberto CIFARELLI / Danny CLINCH Marco CORBO Roger CORONA Lucia COVI / Mimmo DABBRESCIAEnrico DE LUIGI / Matteo FANTOLINI / Fulvia FARASSINO / Barry FEINSTEIN Franco FONTANA Adolfo FRANZÒ / Ugo GALASSI / Maki GALIMBERTIMaurizio GALIMBERTI Piero GEMELLI / Mario GIACOMELLI / Oberto GILIElena GIVONE / Gianni GREGUOLI / Luca GREGUOLI /Guido HARARI / Sophie Anne HERIN / Bart HERREMAN / Claudio ISGRÒ Raymond JACOBS / Art KANE / Douglas KIRKLAND / COSMO LAERAMario LAPORTA / LELLI e MASOTTI / Cristina LE NOCI / Fabio LOVINOUliano LUCAS / Laura MAJOLINO / Ottavio MALEDUSIGered MANKOWITZ / Carlo MASSARINI / Eric MEOLA Margherita MIRABELLA Cesare MONTI / Bruno MURIALDO / Patrizia MUSSA / Zoltan NAGY / Pino NINFA Enzo OBISO / Joe OPPEDISANO / Carlo ORSI / Franco PAGETTI / Gianni PEZZANIRiccardo PICCIRILLO / Alessio PIZZICANNELLA / Claudio PORCARELLILaila POZZO / Francesco RADINO / Mauro RAFFINI Efrem RAIMONDIPaolo RANZANI / Maurizio REBUZZINI / Ugo RICCIARDI / Gabriele RIGON Patrizia RIVIERA Sylvie ROMIEU / Anna ROSATI / Norman SEEFFRoberto SERRA / Frank STEFANKO / Masayoshi SUKITA / Valentina TAMBORRAAllan TANNENBAUM / Toni THORIMBERT / Marco TURATTI / Franco TURCATI Angelo TURETTA / Annalisa VANDELLI / Paolo VERZONE / Luciano VITIRobert WHITAKER / Mattia ZOPPELLAROLink Ufficiale: www.photoactionpertorino.orgInstagram photoactionpertorinoPer info su “Photo Action per Torino”, sulle stampe in acquistoe per richieste di interviste e foto: info@wallofsoundgallery.comPer info su Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino:Per info su Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino: www.cittadellasalute.to.itwww.cittadellasalute.to.itAddetto stampa:Addetto stampa: Pierpaolo BerraPierpaolo BerraPer info su U.G.I. ONLUS e i suoi progetti: www.ugi-torino.itIL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.it