Tribute to Martin Ransohoff Earlier This Year and Another Take on the Polanski Case

I didn't know that Ransohoff was being honored this year?  I found this article from May 15, 2009:

A recent photo of Ransohoff

A Tribute to Producer Martin Ransohoff  May 3, 2009

This is an Egyptian Theatre Exclusive

Producer Martin Ransohoff started out in television and, after an incredible success story with the original "The Beverly Hillbillies" beginning in 1962, graduated to producing hit motion pictures the same year with BOYS’ NIGHT OUT and THE WHEELER DEALERS. A string of critically acclaimed and successful movies came in their wake, including THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY, THE SANDPIPER, THE CINCINNATI KID, THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, DON’T MAKE WAVES, ICE STATION ZEBRA, CATCH-22, 10 RILLINGTON PLACE, SAVE THE TIGER, SILVER STREAK, THE WANDERERS and JAGGED EDGE, to name just a few of his many hits! He was also partly responsible for helping to launch the careers of such actresses as Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret and Sharon Tate. Join us for some of producer Martin Ransohoff’s favorite films. He’ll be here in-person for two out of the three evenings!  

Here are the highlights of the films they showed:

http://www.egyptiantheatre.com/archive1999/2009/Egyptian/Martin_Ransohoff_ET2009.htm

Another mention announces it this way:

Director Arthur Hiller & Producer Martin Ransohoff In Person at the Egyptian

Producer Martin Ransohoff is the subject of a tribute this weekend at the Egyptian Theatre. Though himself, not a household name, his films are quite famous. He got his start in television producing "The Beverly Hillbillies" and went on to produce THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY (starring Julie Andrews & James Garner (forever Jim Rockford of "The Rockford Files" to TV fans), helmed by LOVE STORY director Arthur Hiller. Hiller, a former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, will appear in person with Ransohoff to reminisce about making 'EMILY' in 1964. MARY POPPINS starring Andrews was also released in 1964.

Director Arthur Hiller today

Ransohoff will be joined by Robert Loggia for a look at JAGGED EDGE on Sunday, May 3rd. Loggia was Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as investigator Sam Ransom. Another highlight is ICE STATION ZEBRA on May 2nd, the film that eccentric, compulsive billionaire Howard Hughes watched repeatedly in his private screening room (remember the days before video let alone DVD???) Join us for some big screen action. Also screening are, SAVE THE TIGER and THE CINCINNATI KID with Steve McQueen.

For more on the films they showed go to the 2nd article here:

http://americancinematheque.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything about if anyone present asked about Sharon.  But here is a summary of the events from a fan that was there:

Mister, we could use a producer like Martin Ransohoff again. And again and again.

Sunday the Egyptian played host to the final night of the Martin Ransohoff tribute. Joining Mr. Ransohoff on stage were the evening’s host, Alan Rode and one of the truly great veteran Hollywood actors, ROBERT LOGGIA.

Much of Friday’s bloggery was taken up with war’s ugliness. Sunday’s double bill encompassed far less grave subject matter, namely murder, betrayal, gambling, small-fry in comparison. All encased in a pair of classic films that continue to mature, recruit new fans to the table, and send the rest of us reeling back in timed-release-capsules.

How such a diverse career? A filmography from which any handful of titles will yield the same results: stories seemingly world’s apart – polar opposites (ICE STATION ZEBRA was Saturday). If anything holds true in an overview, it is this extreme diversity of thematic commitment. And a handling of the material that was –don’t say it, don’t say it – edgy! A producer who exhibited more than just a token willingness to take chances, but real desire and as we heard Friday, one that was willing to go up against studio bosses, to fight for an artistic choice, despite the box office impaction. It is testament to Ransohoff’s guiding hand and diligence that the films are both timelessly entertaining and revelatory of their respective “times.”

The “knife with the jags” certainly holds up, clearly if tonight’s audience was any indication. Collective gasps and a “yeah” when the killer gets “his,” same as the day it was made. Pure 80s gold, prototypical of an entire subgenre, sporting a razor sharp script by the screenwriter who virtually defined the era’s potboiler, Joe Eszterhas, very quickly into the Q&A one begins to realize, that this is one more movie whose story belongs to the man who first conceived of the basic idea, none other than Martin Ransohoff. Not stated in some vanity mirror-moment-of-reflection, rather matter-of-factly in the first moments of discussing the project. “Basically the original idea for the movie was mine.”

Much like the way Mr. Ransohoff refers to himself as a “creative producer,” completely lacking in pretense. He is in fact un-credited on EDGE as he was, we learn, on much of his earlier work.

He mentions it in passing, like the CINNCINNATI KID’s locale being shifted from St. Louis where Richard Jessup’s novel is set, to New Orleans and a more bygone era. Ransohoff: “I’m from New Orleans.” If you’ve seen KID you know how pivotal the Big Easy’s setting is to the movie. If you haven’t seen it, than where the heck were you Sunday Night?

Between films, Mr. Ransohoff took a seat on stage between Robert Loggia and Alan Rode, the Q& A having commenced while he was returning from the lobby and Mr. Loggia recounting a dinner at Spago’s and nearly begging for the role of Sam Ransom. A performance which would land him an Oscar nom., the part had originally been set for Jason Robards, a much older actor. It was Loggia’s input that led to the character’s incorporation of the “F” carpet-bombing, and other major changes that were eventually embraced by both the director, Richard Marquand and Ransohoff.

Repeatedly, as audience, we bear witness to producer Ransohoff’s openness to the collective give and take of the creative process. Loggia said, “Marquand listened and was a gentleman.” The same holds true in spades for Ransohoff.

Ransohoff stated that as a producer, “after my first five or six pictures, I spent very little time on the set. My bonus to a director was not to have to see me.” To the “director who was doing his job… if dailies looked good, if we were on budget, my gift was to stay away… Plus, sitting around on a film set, watching films being made is like watching paint dry.”

Watching a Ransohoff movie is nothing like latex. Also, make note, “director doing his job.”

What might stand out the most in reviewing Ransohoff’s credits (he made the number at 41) is the sheer span of time – the post war 50s, the 60s, and on into the 80s – Mega eras of cultural and social upheaval, shifting norms and taboos, all reflected in shades of nuanced entertainment, engaging and more often than not, challenging, work. Culled from some of the greatest literary sources of the day, “I bought the rights to the book,” and so it would start.

Loggia remarked that he had recently turned 79 years of age, and with Ransohoff at somewhere in the low 80s, both gentlemen were still “ambling,” as Loggia put it, albeit at a somewhat leisurely pace. And this here is one darn glad moviegoer – I’m thinking next month for another six of the 41!

Wonder who I can ask about that?

Wish I could have asked Hiller if Sharon was really in "The Wheeler Dealers" and "The Americanization of Emily" like I have heard?  And there would endless questions to ask Ransohoff.

Another Take on the Polanski Case now that Roman is on house arrest.  It also talks about when Roman lost Sharon:

http://www.pamil-visions.net/polanski-flees-chalet-can-he-escape-conviction/28643/

Head of the Class: An Education

How many times at the movies have we watched the plight of a young girl coming of age? And how many times have we watched that not-quite-a-woman tiptoe between the expectations of her parents and the life her heart desires? Countless times. Too many times. And yet for all the ways that An Education should be tediously familiar, here is a picture that time and again feels refreshingly new. It doesn’t reinvent any formulas, let’s be clear. It revitalizes them. For that, don’t heap praise upon the memoirist, Lynn Barber, or the screenwriter, Nick Hornby, or even the director, Lone Scherfig. Credit the star. An Education is powered by an absolutely enchanting performance by Carey Mulligan as Jenny that’s as familiar as a birth and as thrilling as one, too. That’s fitting, actually, because in An Education a young woman comes to life and a star is born before our eyes.

You read that last part correctly. Mulligan’s performance is so impressive that it’s hard to keep from imagining what’s next. But let’s save the future for later, because there’s too much to enjoy in the present. If Mulligan’s portrayal here isn’t 2009’s best performance by an actress, it’s at least the most intoxicating. Her Jenny oozes a spirit that’s impossible to put down. Younger audiences are likely to identify with Jenny, sharing her desire to break free of the partial reality of schoolbooks and to engage with life – exploring romance, seeing the world, becoming someone. Older audiences, meanwhile, are likely to fall in love with Jenny, recognizing with bittersweet nostalgia that period of life when crisp perception and virginal ignorance act as partners in the same dance. Jenny is a rose just starting to bloom. You can resist her charms if you’re so determined, confident in the knowledge that these petals of optimism will eventually wither and fall, but why? Better to enjoy the spring. If Jenny’s verve can illuminate the dark and damp corners of Twickenham, England, circa 1961, she can certainly brighten your day. All you need to do is part your curtains of cynicism for a while and let the sunshine in.

Believe me, it’s worth it. Like Ellen Page in Juno, Mulligan commands the screen with unusual grace. Also like Page in Juno, Mulligan doesn’t do it alone. Where Page had Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Michael Cera and J.K. Simmons, Mulligan has Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour and Emma Thompson. As with Mulligan’s principal Jenny, these supporting characters don’t feel particularly new, but the performances behind them are distinctive enough that they don’t remind of anyone else either (except perhaps Seymour’s soft and squeaky mother, who could be an amalgam of several Brenda Blethyn characters). In instances when believing in the plot feels like walking a tightrope, it’s the conviction and warmth of these performances that keeps us from looking down. Of course, credibility isn’t everything. Colorfulness is worthwhile, too. Reined in a bit, Molina’s constantly exasperated father might have been more convincing, sure. But would he have been as entertaining? Not likely. Expect Molina to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and to have a fair shot at winning. It’s that kind of performance.

The only shame in giving praise to Molina is losing Sarsgaard in the shuffle. Of the supporting characters in this film, Sarsgaard doesn’t act most, but he acts best. Sarsgaard’s only mistake in playing David, the mysterious older man who (mostly openly) courts the 16-year-old Jenny and sweet-talks her parents into endorsing the relationship, is making it look too bloody easy. Sarsgaard’s David is everything the film needs him to be: assertive and yet easygoing, responsible and yet a bit dangerous, smooth and yet not so smooth that we always distrust him. The film’s romance works not just because we can see all the reasons why the schoolgirl would fall for the older man but also because we recognize all the reasons why the older man would fall for the schoolgirl (and not in a twisted, predatory Roman Polanski kind of way, to be clear). If it’s true that Jenny’s life was “boring” before she met David, the reverse is doubly true. We see that, of course. Jenny doesn’t. We also see something else: Jenny might be taking advantage of David as much as he’s taking advantage of her. This is the girl who yearns to live more than she yearns to love, remember. David is Jenny’s ticket to adventure more than he’s her destination. An Education might not be a complicated film, but nuances like these keep it from being dim.

For striking this nice balance, credit of course goes to Scherfig, who brings together these terrific performances and marries them to a lively soundtrack that’s as delightful as Hornby’s screenplay. An Education is polished without being showy. It has a brisk pace and cinematography that finds energy in its subject instead of creating it with camera movements. An Education’s only significant misstep is its final 10 minutes, in which the movie finally becomes too trite for us to pretend otherwise. Thankfully, Mulligan’s performance is so rich and satisfying that the bitter taste of the lackluster conclusion doesn’t last long. This is a performance to cherish. What’s next for Mulligan is difficult to guess because the sad truth is that actresses in 2010 have only a few more choices than working women of 1961. More often than not, female movie characters come of age, get lost in love or are reduced to sexual props. Still, An Education reminds that what’s old can feel new again.

Another Reporter Remembers Sharon and Roman Plus Vampires and Beautiful Women

CAD Magazine February 1970

Our Life is our Jungle by Bruce Harper

When I encountered vibrant and intense Roman Polanski at Paramount Studios he was in the midst of editing Rosemary’s Baby, the brilliant film on satanism and witchcraft in our time that was to bring worldwide acclaim.

It was the spring of 1968 and the slight, intense, lean, young man who sat next to me at the small table was as happy as he possibly would be in his life.

He was thirty-four and looked ten years younger. He was already a world renowned festival prize winning film director, of Polish origin but now very mobile in the far-flung film world – Paris, London, Rome and now the heart of the industry, Hollywood.

But above all Roman Polanski had just wooed, won and married the unbelievably beautiful and talented young film star, Sharon Tate. If there was one young couple among the beautiful people who had everything going for them – love, immensely successful talent, exciting careers and the unlimited admiration of their peers – it was Sharon and Roman.

At this point a reddish-haired movie-star handsome, turtleneck-sweatered young fellow stopped to say hello to Roman. “Krysztof Komeda,” Roman said, “my composer. He is also a doctor. I told him he better leave the hospital, always rushing for an operation or something, and really stay in music. So he abandoned, of course, the study of medicine.” Polanski pointed to a mark on his upper lip. “I had a cut here,” he said. “He pulled my stitches out. I had a fight in Paris a few days ago, I came back with the stitches and I said, ‘I must have it pulled.’ Kris said ‘All right, I’ll pull it.’ He sat down and cooked the scissors and pulled it out. ‘You can do it so fast,’ I said, ‘I’m going to start being in doubt about the music!’”

I wanted to know about the fight. Did it have anything to do with moviemaking? “The fight?” Polanski responded dryly. “No, I just had a fight on the street. I got married, you know, I was in Paris on my honeymoon with my wife Sharon Tate. We were just going to the cinema. On the street there were three guys going in the opposite direction, and one stuck his hand under my wife’s skirt, so I punched him. And he had the stupid idea to punch me back. He had a little ring on his finger and he cut my lip.” This was instantly more than I expected, this insight into the contrasts shadowing Roman Polanski’s life. He was newly rich, famous, ensconced in that room at the top of his profession, just happily wed to fabulous Sharon Tate – and he had to fight with his fists against three toughs on the streets of Paris!

In Hollywood and London Polanski met Sharon Tate, and his life took on a new radiance. She was five-foot-five, a stunning ash-blonde--so glamorous that producers and directors kept discovering her. First it was director Martin Ritt who met her as a sixteen-year-old nymphet in Venice, where her father was then posted as a colonel in Army Intelligence. “You ought to be in pictures!” Ritt told Sharon, but Papa was against it. But later on a visit to Hollywood she remembered Ritt’s advice and went to agent Hal Gefsky. “All I know is,” he has said of that encounter, “when she walked into the my office she was the most beautiful girl in the world.”

She began making her own way, appearing in TV commercials, trying to break in the hard way. “I was just a piece of merchandise,” she said of that difficult period. “No one cared about me, Sharon.” The producer Martin Ransohoff saw her, signed her and groomed her for a superstar.

Now fate twisted together the bright-and-dark strands of Roman and Sharon’s lives. He was bewitched by the stunning, hypnotic witch (she played one in Eye of the Devil) on the screen and cast Sharon in a film he was then about to make that spoofed the vampire films, titled The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck! She romped through this wild satire in a red wig –and nothing else in a fantastic nude scene! This is how Cynan Jones saw her at that buoyant time of her life:

Sharon is the eternal woman, yet paradoxically she twists and turns her lithe body in the eager coltish manner of a careless tomboy. She affects the no-make-up Italian look, except for black eyeliner which serves to emphasize her wide hazel eyes and thick natural eyelashes. She has high cheekbones in an oval pre-Raphaelite face and her coloring is fresh and vivid with natural glowing cheeks. Her usual attire when not working is a huge oatmeal-colored sweater and skin tight jeans… She apparently cares little for clothes – and why should she with such an exquisite healthy body?

Sharon herself once said, “I’m really different underneath. All my life I’ve been told that I’m beautiful. But beauty has nothing to do with me – the real me. Anyway, you can stay covered up to your neck and still be sexy, you know. I would like my image to be somewhat secretive, simple and down-to-earth. I adore the little girl look." But when Roman Polanski entered her life he had still a different idea of her potential. “I’m trying to make her a little meaner,” he said. “She’s too nice and everyone walks all over her. She’s embarrassed by her own beauty.”

For her part, Sharon was fascinated by her brilliant young husband. “When I first met Roman,” she said, “I couldn’t believe he was a director because he looked so young. He’s the youngest looking man for his age I’ve ever seen. But he really isn’t as young as he looks. He’s thirty-five.” Her luminous eyes glowed as she rhapsodized about Roman. “He is wise, wonderful, brilliant and he knows everything! Above all, Roman is an artist.”

An interviewer found that she had “an aura, a magic, a curious mystique . . . a face of extraordinary beauty and a body that won’t quit,” and predicted that Sharon Tate would be with us a long time. It was a just prophesy, if some perverted destiny had not interfered with the right course of things…

Here is another article mentioning the recent vampire craze and it includes Roman and Sharon in The Fearless Vampire Killers:

http://www.whitefieldconsulting.com/wordpress/?p=1695

And another blog includes Sharon as one of the most beautiful women of the 1960s:

http://www.retrokimmer.com/2009/11/retrokimmer-favorite-1960s-beautiful.html

Tackling SLIFR's 2009 Holiday Quiz

I’m still catching up on a number of projects this holiday weekend. So in place of a rant this week, I thought I’d take a crack at the latest quiz offered up by Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. This is my first attempt at one of the popular Cozzalio quizzes, which I’d resisted to this point out of fear that I’d spend more time contemplating my answers than answering. Thus my self-imposed rule below was to go with my gut instinct in most cases and to contemplate no longer than 30 seconds in cases when contemplation was required.

I wanted to be sure to answer this quiz in honor of Dennis, who just celebrated his five-year anniversary as a film blogger. His greatest achievement isn’t the amount of time that he’s been blogging, it’s that all that time he’s written in his own distinct voice (which includes more words in any one post than most of us put out in four) about his own distinct interests (sometimes cinema, sometimes baseball, sometimes family, whatever). It’s for that reason that he’s a model for bloggers everywhere. Oh, and did I mention that he nurtures the community spirit of the blogosphere by creating quizzes? Here goes ...

1) Second-favorite Coen Brothers movie.

No Country for Old Men would be first. Second would be The Man Who Wasn’t There.

2) Movie seen only on home format that you would pay to see on the biggest movie screen possible? (Question submitted by Peter Nellhaus)

The Great Escape, without question! But even though I don’t have the same fondness for it, Ben-Hur would be close on that list. (Note: I’m thankful to have seen Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen at the AFI Silver.)

3) Japan or France? (Question submitted by Bob Westal)

France, by both interpretations of the question.

4) Favorite moment/line from a western.

The Boot Hill sequence from The Magnificent Seven – or just about anything involving Calvera.

5) Of all the arts the movies draw upon to become what they are, which is the most important, or the one you value most?

Well, photography is the obvious answer that I want to be the “right” answer (the one I value most), but the truest answer is probably literature. The fact remains that a well-assembled story unskillfully or unimpressively shot can still be a darn good movie, and yet when it goes the other way the result usually feels empty.

6) Most misunderstood movie of the 2000s (The Naughties?).

If only it could have been “of the past 10 years,” because then I could have said that it’s Fight Club, and I would have been referring to many of its fans. So I think I’ll go with The Fountain. I’m fine with folks not loving that movie so long as they at least understand the structure of what’s happening. That said, if people keep insisting that Precious has an uplifting ending, I’ll need to change my answer.

7) Name a filmmaker/actor/actress/film you once unashamedly loved who has fallen furthest in your esteem.

Kevin Spacey. There was a stretch there in the late 90s when he impressed me or flat out blew me away in almost everything he did – The Usual Suspects, Seven, L.A. Confidential, American Beauty, even A Bug’s Life. Now his style has gotten so REPETITIVE, that I can hardly STAND even his previous SUCCESSES.

8) Herbert Lom or Patrick Magee?

Patrick Magee, I suppose. No strong opinion.

9) Which is your least favorite David Lynch film (Submitted by Tony Dayoub)

With the caveat that there are many I haven’t seen, probably Lost Highway. After about 30 minutes I was entirely disinterested.

10) Gordon Willis or Conrad Hall? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)

Toughy. I’ll go with Conrad Hall for the moment.

11) Second favorite Don Siegel movie.

I suppose this means I should know my favorite Siegel film. Since I don’t, I’ll give a shout out to Hell Is For Heroes, the bleakest film to include Bobby Darin and Bob Newhart among its cast. In addition to Steve McQueen, of course.

12) Last movie you saw on DVD/Blu-ray? In theaters?

On DVD, Rear Window for the, I dunno, 20th time … though it included a nap. In theaters, The Road.

13) Which DVD in your private collection screams hardest to be replaced by a Blu-ray? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)

For the same reasons that I’d rush to see it on the big screen, I’d love to see The Great Escape on Blu-ray. But without repeating myself too much I’ll go with … The New World and Heat. Both are on my Christmas list.

14) Eddie Deezen or Christopher Mintz-Plasse?

Mintz-Plasse. For looking like Pinocchio in Superbad.

15) Actor/actress who you feel automatically elevates whatever project they are in, or whom you would watch in virtually anything.

Samantha Morton. She proved it again in The Messenger.

16) Fight Club -- yes or no?

No. And no.

17) Teresa Wright or Olivia De Havilland?

Teresa Wright, I suppose.

18) Favorite moment/line from a film noir.

It’s an easy answer, but I’d be over-thinking if I didn’t go with the revelation of Harry Lime in The Third Man, presuming that’s close enough to traditional noir to apply here.

19) Best (or worst) death scene involving an obvious dummy substituting for a human or any other unsuccessful special effect(s)—see the wonderful blog Destructible Man for inspiration.

Spielberg movies have tons of these. The one that I have to watch every time, because it kills me, is when the German in the tank goes over the edge of the cliff in The Last Crusade and manages to hold on to the gun turret as it breaks away from the tank. (See image in middle of this post.) That isn’t because the tank is a model and the Nazi action figure’s hands are glued on to the turret, is it? Nah!

20) What's the least you've spent on a film and still regretted it? (Submitted by Lucas McNelly)

Of the free advanced screenings I’ve managed to see over the years, A Love Song for Bobby Long was particularly painful, even if it did give the Internets its most popular side-boob shot of Scarlett Johansson.

21) Van Johnson or Van Heflin?

Van Halen.

22) Favorite Alan Rudolph film.

I’m not sure I’ve seen one.

23) Name a documentary that you believe more people should see.

The implication here is that most people haven’t seen the documentary in question, so I’ll go with Double Dare, the highly entertaining documentary about stuntwomen featuring Zoe Bell. If for no other reason, everyone should watch it for the scene in which Bell gets hit on by a drunk Gary Busey.

24) In deference to this quiz’s professor, name a favorite film which revolves around someone becoming stranded.

A favorite would be The Black Stallion.

25) Is there a moment when your knowledge of film, or lack thereof, caused you an unusual degree of embarrassment and/or humiliation? If so, please share.

I don’t think so. I’m frequently frustrated by the number of great and even not-so-great films that I haven’t yet seen. There are some huge gaps and blind spots in my cinema knowledge. But I wouldn’t say I feel particularly embarrassed about that.

26) Ann Sheridan or Geraldine Fitzgerald? (Submitted by Larry Aydlette)

Speaking of blind spots … pass.

27) Do you or any of your family members physically resemble movie actors or other notable figures in the film world? If so, who?

Well, if you ask my grandmother, my dad looks like Robert Redford. But this isn’t true whatsoever. What is true is that when my dad was a young newspaper reporter in the early 1970s he dressed a lot like (and had long hair a lot like) Redford’s Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men, which is no doubt where my grandmother made the connection.

28) Is there a movie you have purposely avoided seeing? If so, why?

Anything that could ever be called – even incorrectly – “torture porn” is something I try to stay away from.

29) Movie with the most palpable or otherwise effective wintry atmosphere or ambience.

Is it too obvious to say The Ice Storm?

30) Gerrit Graham or Jeffrey Jones?

Given that Jeffrey Jones pleaded no contest to possession of child pornography, it’s gotta be Gerrit Graham, right? Sometimes reality taints what’s on screen. This would be one of those times.

31) The best cinematic antidote to a cultural stereotype (sexual, political, regional, whatever).

Wes Studi as Detective Casals in Heat. Not only isn’t he some magical American Indian character, he isn’t even a Native American character. He just is. This is particularly rare for Native American characters on screen, but, some Denzel Washington characters notwithstanding, it’s a significant break from the norm for minorities overall, sadly.

32) Second favorite John Wayne movie.

This is a reminder of my intention to go through some of Wayne’s films again, as I haven’t seen many of them in about 20 years. (I can’t believe I’m getting old enough to say something like that. Fuck.) That said, I’ll admit I have a soft spot for The Cowboys, which I inevitably end up watching more of than I planned whenever it comes on TV. (The Searchers would be No. 1, by the way.)

33) Favorite movie car chase.

Sorry, Steve. It’s not Bullitt. It’s the car chase at the end of Death Proof – the only car chase I’ve ever seen on the big screen that actually quickened my heartbeat.

34) In the spirit of His Girl Friday, propose a gender-switched remake of a classic or not-so-classic film. (Submitted by Patrick Robbins)

I think it would be fascinating to see Vertigo remade from a female obsession perspective. For as much as would be similar, it seems that reinterpretation would change the feel of the picture quite a bit. (Oh, and don’t tell me that Mulholland Dr. is the female reinterpretation of Vertigo. I’m talking about a more traditional remake.) That said, how many years until average American society is comfortable enough with male homosexuality that Bound could be remade starring two men without being called gay soft porn?

35) Barbara Rhoades or Barbara Feldon?

Once again, no opinion.

36) Favorite Andre De Toth movie.

I don’t believe I’ve seen one in full.

37) If you could take one filmmaker's entire body of work and erase it from all time and memory, as if it had never happened, whose oeuvre would it be? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen)

I think the filmmakers who would qualify here are the ones whose films I now avoid. That seems to be working fine.

38) Name a film you actively hated when you first encountered it, only to see it again later in life and fall in love with it.

“Actively hated” and “in love” are both too strong, but I’ve written before about how it took me several tries to get through The Player, only to develop a genuine fondness for it. If I ever come around on Jerry Maguire, I’ll let you know.

39) Max Ophuls or Marcel Ophuls? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen)

I’m not sure I’ve had a strong opinion on one of these yet. Ugh. Now I remember why it’s taken me so long to do one of these quizzes.

40) In which club would you most want an active membership, the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, the Cutters or the Warriors? And which member would you most resemble, either physically or in personality?

The Greasers. Because there’s a chance you can hang out with Cherry Valance at the drive-in.

41) Your favorite movie cliché.

To quote Fletch on filing cabinets in Fletch Lives: “I love them when they are unlocked, neatly organized and tell me exactly what I want to know.”

42) Vincente Minnelli or Stanley Donen? (Submitted by Bob Westal)

Vincente Minelli.

43) Favorite Christmas-themed horror movie or sequence.

Crap, is this a bigger genre than I think it is? Gremlins? Does that count?

44) Favorite moment of self- or selfless sacrifice in a movie.

I broke my rule for this quiz and stared at the screen for a good five minutes just running through a long list. I’m going to go with Private Witt near the end of The Thin Red Line – because I believe in the scene (and the sacrifice) and because it’s poetic, too.

45) If you were the cinematic Spanish Inquisition, which movie cult (or cult movie) would you decimate? (Submitted by Bob Westal)

If this hadn’t come up twice already, I’d answer differently. But for now I’ve got to say that I’d decimate the Cult of Tyler Durden that fails to realize that by becoming the cult of Tyler Durden they are embracing the very things he preaches against in the philosophical ramblings they like to quote. I wouldn’t do this because I have it in for these people. I’d do it because I’d want to see how many Fight Club fans were left after that. Not many, I’d guess.

46) Caroline Munro or Veronica Carlson?

Caroline Munro. Very talented woman.

47) Favorite eye-patch wearing director. (Submitted by Patty Cozzalio)

John Ford. Unless Terrence Malick wears an eye-patch I’m unaware of.

48) Favorite ambiguous movie ending. (Original somewhat ambiguous submission---“Something about ambiguous movie endings!”-- by Jim Emerson, who may have some inspiration of his own to offer you.)

The Graduate, for several reasons: First, it’s so perfectly ambiguous that I couldn’t even tell you what happens 15 minutes later. Second, my varying opinions on what would happen 15 minutes later are equally satisfactory. Third, the ambiguousness of the ending doesn’t feel like a manipulative mindfuck that’s either (a) the entire point of the movie’s existence or (b) a lazy way for a writer/director without a distinct conclusion in mind to pretend to be profound.

49) In giving thanks for the movies this year, what are you most thankful for?

Sappy as this will sound, I’m most thankful for the blogging community. Though I still use Metacritic to peruse the reviews of paid critics, more and more these days their reviews feel like the lite version of what I find from unpaid critics on the blogosphere – either in the reviews proper or in the discussion they inspire.

50) George Kennedy or Alan North? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)

George Kennedy.

Photo Comparison of the Week & I Nominate Sharon Tate for Stardom

Here is are photo comparison of the week.  It's Hillary Duff and Sharon looking similiar.  Duff's hair looks great here and it reminds me of Sharon. 

Here is another short article I found on Sharon that I thought everyone would enjoy:

Modern Screen Magazine, December 1966

by Dorothy Manners

I Nominate for Stardom:  Sharon Tate

Yes, she’s the one I told you about in the bikini on the Don’t Make Waves set. Remember the name – she’s going to be BIG. Under contract to Marty Ransohoff’s Filmways Productions, Sharon has more rival producers bidding for her than any new girl in town. The word is out. But she’s not bolting. “I’d be pretty ungrateful if I did,” said the blonde bombshell when we chatted between scenes before I bolted. “The Filmways people picked me off a bench in the MGM casting office waiting for an interview. They tested me, spent a lot of money giving me dramatic lessons and singing and dancing lessons – the works. They brought me along carefully for 30 months before I was trusted with a major role in 13, with David Niven and Deborah Kerr. I’d be some kind of ingrate if I didn’t appreciate the investment.”

That’s the kind of girl Sharon is, grateful. Also humorous. Drawing an orange robe across the bikini, she chuckled suddenly. “I’ve appeared in three pictures, 13, followed by Roman Polanski’s The Vampire Killers in Europe, and now this one. The public has yet to see me. Who knows that I won’t be a bomb?” I’ll take that bet.

Sharon was born in Dallas, Texas the daughter of a colonel in Army Intelligence. Because of her father’s assorted missions, the family traveled a lot. Even spent two years in Italy where she learned to speak like a native. “But I always had my fingers crossed that we’d eventually land in Los Angeles because I had my heart set on being a movie actress,”Sharon said. They did. And she did. And this is just the beginning of Sharon Tate. There’ll be a lot more to tell.

Under the photo it reads: On the way to being a big star, Sharon Tate isn’t likely to forget old pals.

Photo of the Week and More Polanski News

Here is a sweet Photo of the Week of Sharon and her co-star Vittorio Gassman on the set of "12 + 1":

Just in case you are curious what all is being sold alongside the nude Sharon and Roman photo here is a story on it:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=34547

The story on the nude photo is still appearing on more websites but nothing really new to report other than the same story being told again and again.

More the Polanski case here:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=444155>1=28101

I hope everyone has a nice and safe shopping day!  Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving Poem and more Polanski News

I was thinking about the Tates today and wondering how their Thanksgiving was when Sharon was alive?  So I found this poem to dedicate in memory of them:

Thanksgiving Delights

On Thanksgiving Day we’re thankful for


Our blessings all year through,


For family we dearly love,


For good friends, old and new.



For sun to light and warm our days,


For stars that glow at night,


For trees of green and skies of blue,


And puffy clouds of white.


We’re grateful for our eyes that see


The beauty all around,


For arms to hug, and legs to walk,


And ears to hear each sound.


The list of all we’re grateful for


Would fill a great big book;


Our thankful hearts find new delights


Everywhere we look!



By Joanna Fuchs from this website: http://www.poemsource.com/thanksgiving-poems.html

Apparently, the news isn't done discussing the nude photo of Sharon and Roman.  It has now been announced on The Wrap, Movieline Blog, The Boston Herald, The Playlist Blog and The Seattle Times.  I guess since Polanski has made so much recent news that now this photo has become a sensation.  It will be interesting to see how much it goes for and I will post the results as soon as they are available.


More Polanski News:

There is also more news on Polanski being released under house arrest in Switzerland.  "I am very happy and relieved," Mathilde Seigner, Polanski's sister-in-law told Le Parisien daily, adding that the director's imprisonment had "enormous consequences on a psychological level" for his children. After Polanski's release, "we're going to drink a nice glass of Champagne and toast together," she said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34162794/ns/entertainment-celebrities?GT1=43001

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/polanski-makes-bail-but-i_n_370529.html

Also, here is Gore Vidal 's take on the Polanski case, which is quite interesting:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/gore-vidals-vile-remarks_n_336995.html

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Nude Photo of Polanski and Tate is Big News & New News on the Polanski Case

I didn't think that much of it when I posted the news yesterday that a vintage David Bailey nude photo of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate was to be auctioned off soon.  But there are several places on the net that are reporting like it is big news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091124/people_nm/us_polanski

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/photo-depicting-nude-roman-polanski-and-sharon-tate-heading-for-auction.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/3096407/Nude-Tate-Polanski-pic-to-be-auctioned

http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-44217020091124

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9168885

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/nude-photo-of-sharon-tate-roman-polanski-set-for-auction/31763

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/41447265.html

And the latest on the Polanski case:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=443890>1=28101

Polanski wins bail in Switzerland, stays in jail

Nov. 25, 2009, 10:28 AM EST

GENEVA (AP) -- A Swiss court granted Roman Polanski bail on Wednesday, accepting $4.5 million to allow him to remain under house arrest at his chalet. The director will stay in prison for up to 10 days while the Swiss government decides whether to appeal.

The Swiss Criminal Court reversed its previous rejection of bail, saying it was confident the large cash guarantee would compel Polanski to remain at his chalet in the Swiss resort of Gstaad under house arrest and monitored by an electronic bracelet.


The court said it still viewed him as a high flight risk.

The verdict does not affect the Swiss Justice Ministry's ongoing assessment of whether Polanski should be extradited to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski fled sentencing in Los Angeles a year later.

"The 76-year-old appellant is married and the father of two minors," the court said as it considered Polanski's offer of a cash bail secured by his apartment in Paris. "It can be assumed that as a responsible father he will, especially in view of his advanced age, attach greater importance to the financial security of his family than a younger person."

The court said Polanski would be subjected to "constant electronic surveillance" at his chalet and an alarm would be activated if he leaves the premises or takes off the bracelet.

But Polanski wasn't immediately released by the Swiss Justice Ministry, which ordered him arrested Sept. 26 as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.

At least now he can spend some time with his family. 

Here is a great review of "The Fearless Vampire Killers" on a French site:
 
http://moviesintheatersc.blogspot.com/2009/11/dance-of-vampires-sublime-tragicomedy.html
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!

Photographer Otto Stupakoff and his photos of Sharon & Bailey's photo of Roman and Sharon to go on sale

I found out that one of the people who photographed Sharon died this year in April.  His name was Otto Stupakoff and he photographed Sharon during rehearsals for the dance sequence in "The Fearless Vampire Killers" and did a session with her for Cosmopolitan magazine.

He photographed many stars of the 1960s and did fashion photography.  Among the many he photographed are: Paul Newman, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly, and Richard Nixon.  He died on April 22nd and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. 

There is a great article on his life and work here (and also some of his photographs):

http://www.fashionlines.com/2005/jul/arFineOtto.php

However, he apparently never wanted to talk about the actresses he photographed.  "Sophia Loren, Sharon Tate!  Just ask me about my personal life on these actresses!"  he declared sarcastically.  I have no idea why he mentioned those two actresses in particular?  Or why he wouldn't want to discuss them?  Unless something got lost in the article I translated that information from?  It just sounds like an odd statement doesn't it?

Although having said that many of his photographs (including many of stars including the one of Tate shown here with her dog) were exhibited in later years and he is quoted to have said this: "This exhibition was a gift! The greatest tribute to my work today! 40 meters with several pictures! Without false modesty, I think I deserve!"

Here is his photograph of Sharon that has appeared in many of the exhibits. It was taken in Santa Monica:

Here are a few from his session of Sharon during the dance rehearsal for "Fearless Vampire Killers".  I have one with Polanski somewhere but have not been able to find it. I will see if I can find it and post it here soon.

Let me know what you think of his photographs and quotes?

Here is another interesting short article on David Bailey's famous nude photograph of Roman Polanski and Sharon being auctioned soon:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/naked-roman-polanski-shar_n_369963.html

Naked Roman Polanski & Sharon Tate Picture Going To Auction (NSFW PHOTO)
   

Christie's auction house is auctioning off a David Bailey photo of Roman Polanski and then-wife Sharon Tate taken shortly before her murder.
 
Christie's estimates it will sell for between $8,000-$12,000 at the December 7 auction.

From Reuters:

"It's an important image," said Laura Paterson, a vice president at Christie's auction house and a specialist in their photography department.

"It certainly is provocative because of who the characters are. But it's also a touching naked shot of a happy couple," she added. "And Bailey does capture the anything goes flavor of that period."

Polanski is currently in a Swiss jail.

Weekly Rant: The Blind Side

Because most sports movies are mediocre, and because most movies starring Sandra Bullock are worse than that and because I have read the book upon which it is based, I had no intention of seeing The Blind Side. That’s why I spent my lunch hour last Friday clicking through Metacritic to read about it: I wasn’t worried that my own experience with the film would be colored by my prior exposure to these reviews, because this wasn’t a film I was planning to experience. But the more reviews I read, most of them negative, the more interested I became. At a time when Precious, a sensationalistic story about a black woman who is used as a dramatic punching bag, is being widely celebrated as worthwhile art, The Blind Side, the true story of a black man who rose from homelessness to a career in the NFL with a lot of help from a white family, has been derided by some as condescending toward black people. That I had to see to understand.

And so I saw The Blind Side, only to leave the theater as confused as when I went in. Is the film offensive? Yes. If Precious takes itself too seriously, The Blind Side doesn’t take itself seriously enough. This is a film with a high school football coach who doesn’t use the headset hanging around his neck but does take a cellphone call on the sideline during a game. It’s a film in which a teenage Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), now a starting tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, gets whipped into shape by an elementary school kid. It’s a film in which Bullock’s saintly yet spicy Leigh Anne Tuohy confronts a threatening gang leader by threatening him right back – in his neighborhood, on his porch, in front of his homeboys. More often than not, The Blind Side adopts an air of preposterousness that suggests it’s more comfortable emulating a made-for-Lifetime melodrama than approximating reality. For me, at least, that’s offensive. As for the film’s supposed condescending treatment of its black main character, that’s where things get tricky.

In The Village Voice, Melissa Anderson suggests that The Blind Side “peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of African-Americans who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them.” Scott Tobias of the AV Club argues that The Blind Side “finds a new low” in the sports genre’s “long, troubled history of well-meaning white paternalism, with poor black athletes finding success through white charity.” Both critics support these arguments by citing scenes in which white people must act upon Oher in order for him to act for himself. They also note how the film treats Oher, in Tobias’ words, as a “gentle, oversized puppy in need of adoption.” Frequently their arguments are compelling. Tobias notes that the Tuohy family “literally picks (Oher) up from the streets during a rainstorm, like a stray,” quipping: “All that’s missing are the children pleading, ‘Mom, can we keep him?’” One only needs to read such descriptions to see how neatly The Blind Side rests within the shamefully deep mold created by all the tactless “whiteys”-as-“virtuous saviors” films that have come before it. But I’m not sure that means that The Blind Side is automatically as tactless or shameless as its predecessors.

The thing that struck me about John Lee Hancock’s film is how faithful it is, a few indulgences aside, to Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book. Does that mean the film is capital-T True? Of course not. As I suggested, the film has a wink-wink demeanor about it that manages to undercut even the things that are factually accurate. Nevertheless, if Lewis’ account of the story can be trusted at all, many of the elements that might seem especially condescending toward black people are in fact based on truth. Indeed, Michael Oher was taken in by a rich white family. He did attend an almost all-white school. He was given special treatment by some of his white teachers to help him along. He did have a white tutor who guided him through high school and even college. He was inward and slow to reveal his feelings and history. He had been homeless. He did lose a father he barely knew to a sad death. He did have siblings he hadn’t seen in years, if ever. He didn’t take to football immediately and really was coached to equate offensive line play with the protection of one’s family. Perhaps most important of all, the black Oher really did form a bond with the white Tuohys, and they became a genuine family in the process – not just during high school, not just for the span of the film, but then and now. Any way you slice it, Oher was in fact “rescued,” in almost every sense of the word, by white people who, through their acts, were both “virtuous” and “saviors.”

None of this is to suggest that the film doesn’t take liberties in the specific depictions of these broader truths. Nor is it to suggest that The Blind Side gives us the “whole truth,” whatever that is. Furthermore, I don’t mean to imply that this is a good film. (When the professional actor playing the high school coach delivers a performance more forced than that of the career college football coaches who make cameos in this film, you’ve got problems.) Yes, it’s true that we leave The Blind Side better understanding Leigh Anne Tuohy than Michael Oher. But explain to me why this isn’t her story as much as his? Seems to me that without a Leigh Anne Tuohy we'd never have heard of Michael Oher. Sure, it would be condescending to depict Oher as the family pet being taught to sit, stay and play football. But I’m not convinced the film portrays him that way. I’d suggest the film portrays Oher as a young man in need of a mother and a lot of guidance, which by virtue of the formula means that Oher is placed in the role of a child. Is that offensive? If untrue, I suppose. But here’s the thing: What if it's accurate? Has our political correctness gotten so out of hand that stories about whites saving blacks are now taboo? That doesn’t sound like progress.

More than a decade ago, then living in Oregon, I eagerly followed the development of another sports-related film: Robert Towne’s Without Limits, which proved to be the better of the two Steve Prefontaine biopics released almost simultaneously. One thing I remember from the prerelease buzz is that Without Limits, which dedicates quite a bit of time to Prefontaine’s efforts to medal at the 1972 Olympics, didn’t score well with test audiences. Their complaint? Prefontaine didn’t redeem himself by winning gold at the 1976 Olympics. Why? Because he died in 1975. In that instance the real story – one of promise unfulfilled – wasn’t the story that (many) audiences wanted, but it was the story of what really happened. I have a feeling that something similar is happening here. In this era of heightened sensitivity to political correctness (which is a good thing for the most part, don’t get me wrong), The Blind Side is indeed hampered by Hancock’s sometimes overly simplistic approach to his subject matter. Just as often, though, what hurts The Blind Side isn't the depiction of its subject matter but the realities of it.

Kerstien Matondang 's New Sharon Art, Rare Covers & More

Be sure to check out Kerstien's new art for Sharon on her website:

http://www.kerstien.se/sharoninart.htm

Here are some more rare covers I found online for Sharon:

This one is for Tony Scotti for his music 45 from the film, "Valley of the Dolls"

Here is a French book club cover of Sharon on "Valley of the Dolls:

And Sharon and Roman on a press brochure for "Vampire Killers":

Thanks to Melissa for sending the photo of Sharon and January Jones from People Instyle:

Vampires are all the craze and here is another list of films to see that includes "The Fearless Vampire Killers":

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/pains_in_the_neck_z7X6WwD8sqg8RGivfuSRYN

Photo Comparison of the Week Story & More News

A Sharon fan sent me this comparison of Sharon to Actress/Model Tasha de Vasconcelos:

The fan who sent this to me said they thought they were look a likes in "physically in beauty and grace.  Tasha seems even look like sharon in her spirit!"

Tasha sounds like she is as kind as she is beautiful in her biography.  Here is her official page if you would like to learn more about her:

http://www.tashadevasconcelos.com/index.html

New book mentions Sharon:

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091121/FEATURES06/911210309/1010/FEATURES/Remembering+pivotal+1969

On flickr, someone has uploaded a photo of the Villa Bella, where the Cielo House used to be:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44863601@N00/4122041358/

Sharon pic in new People Style Watch magazine:

Hilary Duff's on the front cover. It's the Nov. issue. Open up the back cover, there's a pic of Sharon in 1965 compared to a recent pic of January Jones.  Anyone seen this?  I just heard about it.  If you find it, please email me a scan.

Casualties of War: The Messenger

Enough movies have been made about or around the Iraq War at this point that either we are narrowing in on the specific psychological effects of this military engagement or we are already settling for movie-manufactured stereotypes. I don’t pretend to know the truth. What I do know is that the two soldiers at the center of The Messenger – not to mention other soldiers briefly glimpsed or merely mentioned in this film – have a lot in common with soldiers of The Hurt Locker, Stop-Loss, Battle for Haditha, In the Valley of Elah and, to jump back a war, even Jarhead. On display in Oren Moverman’s film, cowritten with Alessandro Camon, are soldiers who struggle both with the guilt of the horrors they have seen (if they fought and lived to tell about it) and the horrors they haven’t (if they avoided combat). We see men suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and from a general inability to adjust to the casualness of civilian life after months or years of adrenaline-fueled survival. We see men who manage their emotions and release pent up testosterone by abusing alcohol or engaging in promiscuous sex, fistfights or good-natured horseplay. Perhaps this is what we should see. Perhaps this is accurate. For the moment, however, it feels tiresomely familiar, which is why I suspect that The Messenger will play better 15 years from now than it does today. We need time to be able to see this film with fresh eyes. And maybe by then we’ll also have a better sense of what’s real and what’s cliché.

Don’t misunderstand me: The Messenger isn’t all retread. Telling the story of two soldiers assigned the awful task of knocking on doors and extending death notices to fallen soldiers’ next of kin, Moverman’s film provides a perspective that is both unique and universal. In no other film I can think of do we witness the grief and heartache of war from the experiences of those delivering the bad news. Moverman’s film doesn’t shy away from the intense reactions of the next of kin – those learning that their son, husband or daughter was killed in action – but he doesn’t exploit it either because their reactions are only half the story. Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski’s camera often leaves the most significant devastation just out of sight, focusing instead on the faces of Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) and Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) as they recite their dispiriting script: “The Secretary of the Army regrets to inform you …” The Messenger is specifically about the harrowing job of delivering death notices just as The Hurt Locker is about working on an Explosive Ordinance Disposal team. And yet Montgomery and Stone are also surrogates, standing in for the so many of us who feel personally removed from the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while remaining ever conscious of how many American families are intimately connected. Without clearly understood criteria for victory, the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are, for most of us, as indefinite as the timetable for withdrawal. The only thing that makes these wars tangible is the news of more American deaths or the sight of the walking wounded.

Will Montgomery is one of those wounded warriors. That’s how he drew his assignment. The scar under his left eye is the only visible sign of his trauma, but Foster’s restrained performance hints at damage beneath the surface. Montgomery’s vague but intimate relationship with his ex, played by Jena Malone, reveals a man who wants to emotionally connect but isn’t up to it. Meanwhile, his approach to his new assignment shows his military-bred professionalism and also his compassion; he’s had loved ones die, too. Some people respond to survivor’s guilt by hating themselves. Others try to heal everyone around them. Montgomery does the latter. Though Snow implores him stick to the book (recite the script) and to keep to himself (no physical contact), Montgomery can’t bear it. When others are hurting around him, he puts himself in the line of fire. He dares to engage. Montgomery isn’t trying to be heroic. It’s a reflex. And soon enough, Snow – who has problems of his own, including alcoholism – is benefitting from Montgomery’s compassion, too. Their friendship is brotherly: sometimes antagonistic but respectful and deep. Few others understand what it's like to knock on someone’s door with the knowledge that you are about to permanently alter the worldview of the person on the other side. Montgomery and Snow are out of the war but sharing a foxhole. They need one another, and they know it. Moverman’s film is about their enriching camaraderie as much as it’s about the tragic reality of their jobs.

Harrelson’s performance is solid (he’s still at his best in outsized roles, as in Zombieland), and Foster’s suggests that, along with Ryan Gosling, he’s one of America’s most promising actors under the age of 30 (barely). But the film’s best performance is delivered by the unfailingly engaging Samantha Morton, who plays an Army wife turned into a widow when Montgomery and Snow show up in her front yard. A sexy – or at least sexual – figure in movies like In America, Code 46 and even Synecdoche, New York, here Morton is inward, hesitant and awkward. The last thing she’s looking for is a romantic connection, which is key because it underlines that Montgomery’s developing attraction to Morton’s character isn’t because of what’s on the surface but because of something underneath. He sees her need to connect with someone who understands what it’s like to have a husband killed by a war long before he actually loses his life. Likewise, Montgomery needs to share a commonly understood universe, because the real world is still too abnormally normal for him. Watson and Morton’s scenes together, often shot in long patient takes, are tender and intimate. Like the characters at the center of Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love, what they share brings them together and keeps them apart.

For a movie that is sometimes this rich, it’s a shame that it wanders into such predictable territory, falling back on drunken antics, an inappropriate wedding toast and a tearful confession. The final act feels by-the-numbers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. For the moment The Messenger suffers from poor timing, arriving late to a party at which other Iraq War films are dressed in the same antics and emotions. Over time, however, the films we remember will be the ones that wear these characteristics best, not the ones that wear them first, and there’s one scene that convinces me that The Messenger has staying power. In it, a young soldier, just back from his tour, entertains a table of friends with his combat stories. The mood is surprisingly light until the soldier, without even realizing it, punctuates his tale by describing the grisly death of one of the characters of his anecdote. In the confused expressions of the people at the table and in the knowing look of Montgomery, listening in from the bar, the chasm between those who have been engaged in this war and those who haven’t is perfectly articulated. Crossing the gulf one way can happen in one devastating instant, The Messenger makes clear. Getting back takes longer.

Another interview with Sharon at the beginning of her career & more

New York Sunday News December

December 18, 1966

Sharon Tate is on a crash program to get to the top

It's difficult to imagine Sharon Tate as having ever been shy.

Wearing an abbreviated miniskirt, she seems to enjoy the commotion she causes wherever she goes. Sharon also affects thick, black, false eyelashes, brown eye shadow around her lips, and long ash-blonde hair that falls freely about her shoulders. Her presence in a crowd is as insignificant as a floodlight in a blackout.

Yet just three years ago, Sharon was a "painfully shy girl of 20 with blonde pigtails," according to her own recollection. The Dallas-born youngster had never acted or had a smidgen of dramatic training. But that didn't faze Filmway's top executive, Martin Ransohoff. When he first glimpsed her in the reception room of his office, Ransohoff ordered that she be singed to a seven-year contract.

Today, Sharon Tate is an actress. Some even label her a star though she has yet to be seen in a movie. Her first two MGM films--"13" and "The Vampire Killers"--won't be released for at least two months, and Sharon's latest movie "Don't Make Waves," isn't scheduled for screening until next summer.

And so no one really knows whether Ransohoff's gamble to make an instant star with his crash program technique has succeeded. Sharon, naturally, is convinced that she has made the show business grade. "I'm sure the three years I spent in training to be an actress will pay off," she says.

The training consisted of intensive schooling (10 hours a day, five days a week) in dramatics, singing, dancing, body building, walking, talking--everything except breathing. Sharon soon began to lose her shyness and gain a sense of permanency in her surroundings.

Up to then, Sharon had led a tumbleweed type of existence. As an Army 'brat' (her father is Maj. Paul James Tate), she spent a great deal of her childhood packing and moving from one military base to another. Before Sharon was 15, she had lived in Tacoma, Houston, El Paso and San Francisco--just to name a few cities. When Maj. Tate was shipped overseas in 1959, he took his wife and Sharon with him. As a result, Sharon boasts a fluency in Italian and a diploma from a Vicenza, Italy, high school.

It was in Italy, too, that she met actor Richard Beymer, who was on location for the film, "The Adventures of a Young Man." Beymer gave her the old line that "she ought to be in pictures"--only he meant it. Sharon scoffed at the notion, but then came around to the idea when the actor introduced her to his agent.

On Sharon's return to this country, she tried out for a TV cigarette commercial at the agent's urging. She landed the job despite the fact that she had never smoked before. (Today, she goes through half a pack a day.) "The commercial required many takes," Sharon recalls. "Just when they were ready for the final one, I passed out from taking too many puffs on my first attempt at smoking."

Sharon was still a bit dazed at the enormity of breaking into show business when she stepped into Ransohoff's Filmways office. Ransohoff felt instinctively that she had movie star potential. However, it was only after she had several months of acting lessons that he placed her in CBS-TV's "Beverly Hillbillies". Sharon portrayed Janet Trego on the series, but wasn't given any TV credit. Ransohoff wanted to spring her on movie audiences as a "surprise."

Now that Sharon is an actress in the technical sense of the word, anyhow, she has set her goal on becoming "a light comedienne in the Carol Lombard style." But the 5'5 1/2, 117 pound newcomer does not care to hear that she resembles the late actress. "I don't think I look a bit like her," Sharon pouts. "It's not that I think I'm a sexpot, either. I don't have voluptuous hips and I'm not heavy-chested."

For the time being, Sharon isn't giving movies a thought. She left recently for London to continue her romance with Poland's famed, shaggy-haired director, Roman Polanski. "I've known him for nine months," says Sharon. "We have a wonderful relationship. I don't know if I'll marry him. He hasn't asked me yet." If Sharon does wed, her film career and Ransohoff's half a million dollar investment in her will go down the drain. "I'll give up acting the second I'm married," says Sharon, which leads many observers to believe it won't happen for some time.

Most actresses would rather shed a husband than a career, but Sharon is an unusual girl. What actress, for example, would go out her way to point up the scars on her face? Sharon has a noticeable diagonal scar under her left eye. She also has a small one to the side of the left eye, and another one--"caused by chicken pox"--on her forehead.

"I suffered the big scar," says Sharon, "when I fell on a piece of corrugated tin when I was five. I wouldn't dream of having the scar removed. I am very proud of it. It's me."

More news:

There are two movies that have been filmed on location in Italy that are coming out soon.  I mention this because Sharon graduated High School there and some of the locations may very well be places that she saw and visited when she was there.

1)  Is a movie called "Letters to Juliet".  An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by a the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter.  It stars Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried.

2)  Is a movie called "When In Rome".  Beth is a young, ambitious New Yorker who is completely unlucky in love. However, on a whirlwind trip to Rome, she impulsively steals some coins from a reputed fountain of love, and is then aggressively pursued by a band of suitors.  It stars Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.

Both will be released next year.

Tomorrow another special issue of Photo Comparison of the Week.