Here is blog for Glamorous celebrities and it has some great stuff on Sharon:
And here is another Sharon fan who has posted two rare great pics of her:
A rare polariod of Sharon.
Showing posts with label Steve McQueen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve McQueen. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
For Monday, December 27, 2010: Web mention of Sharon and Steve McQueen, Glamorous Sharon, And another blogger who loves Sharon...
Here is a web mention of Sharon and her friend Steve McQueen:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post/10-you-dont-know-about-steve-mcqueen-23488
Here is blog for Glamorous celebrities and it has some great stuff on Sharon:
http://glamourousblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/sharon-tate.html
And here is another Sharon fan who has posted two rare great pics of her:
http://blondiematic.blogspot.com/2010/12/sharon-tate-candids.html
Here is blog for Glamorous celebrities and it has some great stuff on Sharon:
And here is another Sharon fan who has posted two rare great pics of her:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Sharon in the News for September 1st: Don't believe rumor that new novel is based on, Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre Shows "Valley of the Dolls" today, and Walter Chappell's son Robin shows off some rare never-before-seen photos of Sharon
I am trying continuously to get back to blogging daily for Sharon's memory. Sorry for all the delays. I will try to get caught up on everything as soon as I can but it may take awhile. I will update some of the past blog entries with news from the months of April thru August soon. So all will be updated shortly.
Here is the news I found for Sharon:
There is a new novel called 'Sick City' that even showcases a photo of Sharon on front. Unfortunately it is based on one of the worst rumors ever printed about Sharon and some of her friends. It has a character who comes across a famous video tape of Sharon having an orgy with Steve McQueen, Mama Cass, and Yul Brynner. There are other rumored tapes of Sharon but none truly exist. Writer Dominick Dunne asked Vicent Buglosi if these tapes really existed and he said no. And there was a collector of Sharon memorabilia in the 1970s who was offered a tape of Sharon supposedly with two men but on close inspection, the collector comfirmed it was someone who looked a bit like Sharon but was definitely NOT Sharon. He said that someone from the LAPD had sworn it was her and tried to sell it for a lot of money. None of the rumors of these tapes have ever been able to be confirmed by anyone. They are just part of the horrible rumors and false stories that were told about the victims after their sad deaths. Such a shame anyone would ever do this.
The only tape that does exist is one of Sharon and Roman and Polanski confirms it in his biography. There were some other tapes found but none like what the media and rumor mill would have you think. Also, there is a tape of a girl swimming in the nude in the backyard pool. Some think that this is Abigail Folger and that Frykowski shot it. However, none of the actual tapes sound that bad.
Anyway, if you are still interested in the book, here is a recent review with a photo of the cover:
http://www.daemonsbooks.com/2010/09/01/sick-city-by-tony-oneill/
Today the Hollywood Egyptian Theatre is showing both "Valley of the Dolls" and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls":
http://popcultureaddict.com/pca-retro-reviewevent-board-special-hollywood-egyptian-theatre-screens-valley-of-the-dolls-and-beyond-the-valley-of-the-dolls-sept-1st-2010/
And Robin Chappell sent me a link to a new website showing some of his father, Walter Chappell's rare photos of Sharon. Some great stuff here:
http://www.walterchappell.com/purchase.htm
Finally, thanks to all for your understanding and for staying with me during this difficult summer. My best to all of you! :)
A recent photo of Sharon sold on Ebay.
For today...Here is the news I found for Sharon:
There is a new novel called 'Sick City' that even showcases a photo of Sharon on front. Unfortunately it is based on one of the worst rumors ever printed about Sharon and some of her friends. It has a character who comes across a famous video tape of Sharon having an orgy with Steve McQueen, Mama Cass, and Yul Brynner. There are other rumored tapes of Sharon but none truly exist. Writer Dominick Dunne asked Vicent Buglosi if these tapes really existed and he said no. And there was a collector of Sharon memorabilia in the 1970s who was offered a tape of Sharon supposedly with two men but on close inspection, the collector comfirmed it was someone who looked a bit like Sharon but was definitely NOT Sharon. He said that someone from the LAPD had sworn it was her and tried to sell it for a lot of money. None of the rumors of these tapes have ever been able to be confirmed by anyone. They are just part of the horrible rumors and false stories that were told about the victims after their sad deaths. Such a shame anyone would ever do this.
The only tape that does exist is one of Sharon and Roman and Polanski confirms it in his biography. There were some other tapes found but none like what the media and rumor mill would have you think. Also, there is a tape of a girl swimming in the nude in the backyard pool. Some think that this is Abigail Folger and that Frykowski shot it. However, none of the actual tapes sound that bad.
Anyway, if you are still interested in the book, here is a recent review with a photo of the cover:
http://www.daemonsbooks.com/2010/09/01/sick-city-by-tony-oneill/
Today the Hollywood Egyptian Theatre is showing both "Valley of the Dolls" and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls":
http://popcultureaddict.com/pca-retro-reviewevent-board-special-hollywood-egyptian-theatre-screens-valley-of-the-dolls-and-beyond-the-valley-of-the-dolls-sept-1st-2010/
http://www.walterchappell.com/purchase.htm
Finally, thanks to all for your understanding and for staying with me during this difficult summer. My best to all of you! :)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon
The Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon has ended. Many thanks to the event's contributors. There's lots of great reading here. Enjoy!
Day 4
The Blob (1958)
By Doniphon - The Long Voyage Home
Steve stutters, making up nonsense, eventually trailing off and laughing. But as he looks at the officer his dying laugh becomes something else, and even as Steve the character sets out to tell the aw shucks officer he'll never do "it" again, Steve the icon practically sneers. Those (goddamn soulful) eyes look out, that vein in his forehead we know emerges, and he seems to say, "I don't deserve this." It becomes clear; McQueen the star was McQueen the star long before he ever was one, and he ain't going to be doing this bullshit forever.
Bullitt Points on Steve McQueen
By Jason Bellamy - The Cooler
I expressed most of my Steve McQueen thoughts in my two previous submissions to the Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon: the “5 for the Day” piece at The House Next Door and the video essay “Steve McQueen: King of the Close-Up.” But here are a few more ruminations and ramblings related to the King of Cool.
Le Mans
By Tony Dayoub - Cinema Viewfinder
What's amazing about Le Mans, a film which was branded as McQueen's Folly even as it was being made, is how well it still holds up today. Racing films always seem so full of cinematic potential, speed being the most attractive factor. Yet with rare exception does it ever pan out. I'm speaking strictly from a cinephilic perspective since I am not qualified to render even the most basic opinion about auto racing or even cars (so this is your opportunity to take me to task in the comments section if you have a stronger argument). But contemporary auto racing films like Days of Thunder (1990), Driven (2001), even Pixar's Cars (2006) seem to place a priority on artificially raising tension through camera placement; if one's point-of-view resides amongst the vehicles jockeying for position, then one should get the feel for what it's like to be a driver in one of these competitions. It's just a bunch of horseshit, if you ask me.
The Sand Pebbles (1966) - Part 2 - The River Battle Sequence
By Hokahey - Little Worlds
Especially during the 1960s, the heyday of the widescreen historical epic, battle scenes were everywhere. But this one stands out. I like how it uses extreme long shots to establish the setting and the situation the San Pablo is in, and when it comes to the battle, close-ups are used sparingly for dramatic effect, and loosely framed medium to long shots capture the hand-to-hand combat, making the action clearer, unlike the claustrophobic, in-your-face framing of much of the battle action in films these days.
Day 3
For Steve
By Jay C. - Funny Farm
There's always this discussion on what people are actors and what people are stars. I'm no movie critic and McQueen's acting skills can be debated maybe, I don't know, I live in Holland and I can't remember him getting any big awards like an Oscar or anything at the time. Not that it matters, to me he is the real meaning of the word actor, more so than the word star, although he was that too, a big one.
The Kid's Break
By Jamie Yates - Chicago Ex-Patriate
When notes or conversations arise about Steve McQueen's beginnings, the first two names that understandably come up are The Blob and the television show Wanted: Dead or Alive. Further fame would come with his more memorable roles in the 1960s and 1970s, but a little-discussed aspect of his start is his first teaming with John Sturges in 1959's Never So Few. Perhaps the fact that this film doesn't garner much attention is because it's a movie weighed down with limitations and a generally poor script.
The McQueen Persona, Part II: The Imprisoned Free Spirit (The Great Escape & Papillon)
By Steven Santos - The Fine Cut
In Part 1 of this series (see Day 1), I discussed the one aspect of the McQueen Persona, the Righteous Rebel, in two of his films, Bullitt and An Enemy of the People. I had admitted that both films were both rather flawed films that were elevated by McQueen's performances, but never quite pushed him as far enough in challenging that aspect of his persona. As we take a look at a different aspect of the McQueen Persona, The Imprisoned Free Spirit, not only are both films much stronger, one of which I consider a genuine classic, but they do quite an effective job at building McQueen's image while almost cutting him back down to size in a way that few parts designed for movie stars rarely do these days.
Seeing The Great Escape (1963)
By Hokahey - Little Worlds
I was 11 years old, living in San Mateo, California, in a suburban home that had a small backyard with a lawn and a wooden shack used as a garden shed. The shack had a door, windows with glass, and a concrete floor with a hole in it. My two brothers and I, along with a couple of neighbor kids, pulled away more pieces of concrete and started digging straight down. Then we tunneled out under the foundation and the front wall. Surreptitiously, we dispersed the dirt in the backyard garden beds, sometimes holding handfuls in our hands, walking through the garden, and dropping them as we walked. A neighbor friend made a wooden tray that we filled with dirt and placed over the mouth of the tunnel to conceal it. Our secrecy fooled the German “guard” who sometimes looked over us from the kitchen window over the sink. (Well, she was my mother – but she really was German.)
Day 2
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
By Adam Zanzie - Icebox Movies
Before Jewison came onboard, the end result was destined to be something completely different from what it is now. Peckinpah's original vision for The Cincinnati Kid was to shoot the film in black-and-white, and fill the story (in typical Peckinpah fashion) with visceral sequences of sex and violence. But Hollywood was not yet ready for Peckinpah's “fascists works of art” (as dubbed by Pauline Kael in her Straw Dogs review), and with Jewison replacing Peckinpah as director, Steve McQueen's next anti-heroic vehicle was about to become something more passive, less aggressive. Arguably, it ultimately became a better film.
Regarding The Getaway
By Steve Saragossi - The Screen Lounge
The Getaway is first and foremost an action thriller. That is what all concerned were endeavouring to produce and, on the basis of its box-office receipts and Steve McQueen’s return to the top of the superstar tree, they succeeded. But a closer examination of the text reveals subtleties not usually at work in such a genre-piece.
Day 1 - Essays:
5 for the Day: Steve McQueen
By Jason Bellamy - The House Next Door
McQueen's was a career that started too late — in 1958's The Blob, his first starring role on the big screen, the already-developing wrinkles in McQueen's forehead give away that he isn't the high schooler he's pretending to be — and that ended too soon. ... What follows here is a list of what I consider to be McQueen's five most essential performances.
The Getaway
By J.D. - Radiator Heaven
Steve McQueen brings his trademark cool and intensity to the role of Doc and is not afraid to play a relatively unlikable character. We don’t know what Doc was like before his prison stretch, only how he behaves once he gets out. McQueen plays him as someone who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I find it interesting that two of his strongest performances came from back-to-back Peckinpah films: Junior Bonner and The Getaway. The former featured a very nuanced, introspective performance from McQueen, while this one is all on the surface as he plays an irredeemable criminal.
The Getaway
By Bryce Wilson – Things That Don’t Suck
The Getaway’s a strange movie to write about, a star at the height of his iconoclasm, a director in full possession of his incendiary talent, scripted by another badass filmmaker I’m quite fond of, coming from what is arguably the greatest novel from the greatest hardboiled novelist of all time. It’s a movie I wouldn’t hesitate to call a classic. And yet on some level I can’t help but find it unfulfilling.
Junior Bonner (1972)
By Kevin J. Olson - Decisions at Sundown
McQueen exudes cool throughout the film as Bonner (sunglasses and a cowboy hat have never looked so good on someone), a man who has spent his best years on the rodeo circuit, immersed in the ways of the Old West, but now that he has returned home he sees modernism and the counter culture of America in the 70's starting to creep into his home. He's a dying breed, and much like the way Faulkner wrote about Modernism penetrating the old South in "The Bear," so too does Peckinpah seem enamored with this theme of things never being the same.
Le Mans (1971)
By Vuk Radic - SeeItWith.Me
Steve McQueen's vision was simple: Create the best, most realistic movie about motorsports ever made. It was a story that began years before filming took place during the summer of 1970, and its aftermath impacted McQueen for the rest of his life. Le Mans was a huge project; 20,000 props, 26 high-performance racing cars with 52 drivers from seven countries, along with 350,000 French-speaking extras. And no finished script. There were few lines, even for a McQueen film, and no intelligible structure. "Cars," he told everyone. "We film the fucking cars." And from the very inception of the idea it was riddled with problems.
McQueen, Gleason, and a Couple of Guys Who Had It Coming
By Bill R. - The Kind of Face You Hate
There are a couple of things that happen during this fight that are a bit hard to swallow, but they gain a certain level of verisimilitude due to the clumsy brutality of everything else. It's strange to watch this moody little comedy, and then find yourself smack in the middle of a terrific, bone-crunching beatdown -- these guys are pounding the shit out of each other, and it makes them tired.
The McQueen Persona, Part 1: The Righteous Rebel (Bullitt & An Enemy of the People)
By Steven Santos – The Fine Cut
I never considered Steve McQueen the greatest actor, as much as I considered him a great presence. One has to look at today's "movie stars" to truly appreciate what McQueen brought to movies that were, for the most part, mostly memorable due to him. He seemed to have a mature, been around the block quality even in his early thirties, while many present-day actors are more pretty and boyish even when some of them are approaching forty. He may have been considered too cool, and, by turn, too unemotional by some, but he still represents to me more how men really are or perhaps should be. Maybe, these days, pop psychology has infected male characterizations so much that I prefer some of the mystery that McQueen's opaque performance style offers.
Non-Expressionism: The Gift of Steve McQueen
By Greg - Cinema Styles
I started going to the movies in the seventies and Steve McQueen was one of the first stars I got to know in current releases. When I saw his last film in the theatre, The Hunter, on opening weekend no less, so excited was I to see it, I felt I knew him well. I didn't. Even though I loved movies like The Blob, The Great Escape, Bullitt, Papillon and, yes, The Hunter, mediocre as it may be, I didn't fully understand Steve McQueen as an actor. I liked him and his movies but never felt he was doing the job I thought others were doing when it came to big screen acting. I certainly didn't think he was bad, I just never gave him much thought as an actor overall. But then, very recently in fact, I had a revelation.
The Sand Pebbles (1966) - Part 1
By Hokahey - Little Worlds
McQueen well deserved his nomination for his portrayal of Holman. He creates a simple soul who just wants to be left alone. In one scene straight from the wonderful novel by Richard McKenna, Holman actually talks to the ship’s engine he loves to work with. When he first arrives on the boat, he lovingly adjusts valves, wipes pipes, and declares. “Hello, engine. I’m Jake Holman.” This might be the type of language that works in a novel but should probably be left out of the film version, but McQueen puts touching believability into his delivery and it works.
Steve McQueen, an acting racer or a racing actor? Whatever ... He loved cars
By Vuk Radic - SeeItWith.Me
Steve McQueen really did have it all. He was supposedly smoking insane amounts of marijuana every day, wasn’t a stranger to mounds of cocaine, he was married three times and died at 50. Which takes on an ironical twist to another racing quote of his: “Racing is the most exciting thing there is. But unlike drugs, you get high with dignity.”
Steve McQueen and the Evolution of the Action Hero
By Clarence Ewing – GLI Press
McQueen’s heyday was mainly in the 1960s and '70s and he had all the tools to succeed in the era of Technicolor – the looks, the screen presence, and the persona. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to declare that McQueen wasn’t the most spectacular thespian in the world, but neither were hundreds of other actors who came along before or after him. His screen presence was something that comes along a few times a decade, and his directors made full use of it.
Steve McQueen: King of the Close-Up (Video Essay)
By Jason Bellamy – The Cooler
Not quite 30 years removed from his death, McQueen tends to be remembered for his role in two of cinema’s most famous action sequences, in The Great Escape and Bullitt, and for his blazing blue eyes, his physical grace and his effortless swagger, which were the substance of several of his films. These were the ingredients that helped McQueen earn the honorary title “The King of Cool,” and rightfully so. But to come to the conclusion that McQueen’s success was simply the result of a handsome, athletic and naturally suave guy playing too-cool-for-school characters is to miss McQueen’s true cinematic gift: He was devastating in a close-up.
Day 1 - Photos:
Behind the Scenes With My Favorite Actors: Steve McQueen in Bullitt
By Jeremy Richey – Moon In The Gutter
Steve McQueen: 20 Never-Before-Seen Photos*
Photos by John Dominis - Life Magazine
(*Not technically a submission to the blog-a-thon, though LIFE was kind enough to email the link. Very cool!)
Steve McQueen's Women
By Vuk Radic - SeeItWith.Me
Steve McQueen Film Posters
By Vuk Radic - SeeItWith.Me
Steve McQueen's Cars
By Vuk Radic - SeeItWith.Me
Preamble:
The following isn’t an official contribution to the blog-a-thon, but it’s a wonderful place to start. Back in May 2009, Matt Zoller Seitz created the following video essay, which calls into question McQueen’s credentials as a leading man. If you’re a fan of McQueen, you might not agree with Seitz’s conclusion, but his arguments are almost impossible to refute. It's essential viewing.
Too Cool (Video Essay)
By Matt Zoller Seitz – L Magazine
This self-willed aura of confidence is the source of my own early admiration for McQueen. He was everything I wasn't — everything almost no one is; as much a cinematic demigod as Burt Lancaster, but humbler, more human scaled. Nevertheless, at some point second thoughts on McQueen took root in my mind and made it difficult to adore him uncritically, and made even his most acclaimed star turns feel unsatisfying. And at the risk of inviting a flood of angry email from dudes with subject headers along the lines of "Dear McQueen-hating pansy," I'll attempt to explain why.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Bullitt Points on Steve McQueen
I expressed most of my Steve McQueen thoughts in my two previous submissions to the Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon: the “5 for the Day” piece at The House Next Door and the video essay “Steve McQueen: King of the Close-Up.” But here are a few more ruminations and ramblings related to the King of Cool.
When The Great Escape Got Greater
The first Steve McQueen movie I ever saw was either The Great Escape or The Magnificent Seven. I saw both when I was about 10 or 11 and I loved them immediately. Although The Great Escape didn’t inspire me to dig a tunnel of my own, it opened up my mind to the possibility that “old movies” could be just as exciting as those made during my own lifetime (a novel concept at that age). Soon, I owned The Great Escape on VHS, and I spent my middle school, high school and even college years excitedly showing it to friends, many of whom hadn’t heard of the movie or McQueen. (It almost goes without saying that the movie was always a hit.) By the time I was 21, I must have seen The Great Escape two dozen times. Or so I thought.
It was around then that I got my first DVD player, and of course The Great Escape was among my initial DVDs. One afternoon I settled in to watch a movie I thought I knew by heart, only to find it thrillingly new. Until then, you see, I’d only seen The Great Escape in the standard pan-and-scan format of VHS. My DVD copy presented the film in its full (2.35:1) widescreen glory. What a difference it made! Now shots of Hilts speeding toward the Alps near the film’s conclusion were panoramically breathtaking. Now shots of the prisoners arriving at the camp in the film’s opening revealed more than a half-dozen trucks in a row instead of two or three. Most importantly, now, for the very first time, I knew the size of Hilts’ familiar cell in the cooler.
Stop reading. Look at the image that makes for the masthead here at The Cooler. That shot? I’ve only known that shot for a little over a decade. In pan-and-scan, we never saw Hilts’ entire cell in one shot. Instead, when Hilts tosses his baseball against the floor and walls of his cell, we’d get a shot of Hilts throwing the ball, then a cut to the ball hitting the wall, then a cut to Hilts catching the ball. Over and over again. Rinse and repeat. Consequentially, I always assumed that the cell was at least two times bigger than it actually is. The DVD-inspired renaissance of widescreen restored The Great Escape to its original glory. For me, there’s no better example of the ills of pan-and-scan than its perversion of Hilts in the cooler. Widescreen has never delighted me more.
Misspelled, With a Bullit
As I type this, I’m facing a poster for Bullitt, which is one of two Steve McQueen images among the five framed posters in my apartment (the other one shows McQueen as Virgil Hilts in The Great Escape). I bought the Bullitt poster at an outdoor sale when I was a student at Washington State University, and so I’ve had it for more than 12 years. But it was only about 10 years ago that I realized the poster’s flaw: Though the bold print atop the poster correctly touts “Steve McQueen as ‘Bullitt,’” the blurb underneath reads thusly: “Not many freaky cops like BULLIT around. You look at the Italian shoes and the turtleneck and you have to wonder. You listen to the official beefs about ‘personal misconduct,’ ‘disruptive influence,’ you figure he’s got to be up for trade. But when some rare Chicago blood starts spilling in San Francisco, they give BULLIT the mop. They weren’t exactly doing him a favor. But they’ve done a great big one for you.” OK, first of all: How cool is that blurb?! But, back to the point, how on earth did someone manage to drop a ‘T’ in Bullitt without anyone noticing? Oops.
Portrait of a Kung Fu Wannabe
In preparation for the blog-a-thon, I dusted off my copy of Marshall Terrill’s 1993 biography, Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel, which until recently had been boxed up with some other books I hadn’t touched since college. It’s a good book – personal and revelatory without seeming sensationalistic – and the process of rereading it reintroduced me to bits of trivia that I had forgotten. Perhaps my favorite forgotten factoid was this tidbit: McQueen was a pallbearer at Bruce Lee’s funeral. Surprised? So was I. The two (eventual) stars became connected when McQueen met Nikita Knatz, one of Lee’s training partners, on the set of The Thomas Crown Affair and asked (er, nagged) to get some martial arts training of his own. Soon, McQueen and Lee became companions. “Both men had what the other wanted,” James Coburn says in Terrill’s book. “It was two giant egos vying for something: stardom for Lee and street-fighting technique for McQueen.” When Lee got his first movie deal, he called himself the “Oriental Steve McQueen.” Lee then bragged to McQueen that he’d have a more worldwide audience. In response, McQueen sent an 8x10 glossy to Lee signed, “To Bruce, my favorite fan.” The two weren’t friendly rivals so much as rivals pretending to be friends. And although McQueen’s influence on Lee is difficult to pinpoint, Lee’s influence on McQueen is easy to spot. If you’ve ever wondered why Doc McCoy finishes off a butt-kicking in The Getaway with a rather goofy karate chop, now you know.
He Coulda Been a Defectah
There are several films that McQueen turned down because of a lack of interest or problematic preproduction, among them Dirty Harry, The French Connection, First Blood and even Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The one that’s most intriguing, though, is Apocalypse Now, given how easily it could have been a reality. McQueen was first offered the role of Willard, and then, after turning that down, the role of Kurtz. But McQueen intentionally priced himself out of the running, not wanting to spend so much time shooting in a foreign country, having already had a healthy dose of that for The Sand Pebbles. Francis Ford Coppola clearly wanted McQueen, and the project started roughly on time (though it famously didn’t finish that way). So had McQueen been more interested, he’d have been in that picture. The mind boggles trying to imagine if McQueen would have elevated the film’s twisted greatness, morphed it or neutralized it. McQueen as Kurtz is a strange but potentially interesting twist. It’s hard to picture, but not impossible. On the other hand, one doesn’t have to try very hard to imagine McQueen in The Bodyguard, which was originally conceived for him and Diana Ross.
The Remake I’d Endorse
There are only two McQueen films that I consider sacred and untouchable as far as remakes are concerned: The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven. Those films have a distinctive magic that I don’t think can be adequately duplicated or reimagined (so let's not try, Hollywood, OK?). On the other hand, the remake I would love to see would be Bullitt by Michael Mann. Mann certainly has the resume for it. He seems to be evoking Bullitt in Heat, both in terms of the way Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), like Frank Bullitt, is losing himself to the darkness of his work and in regard to the film’s climactic shootout in and around airport runways. Also, in Miami Vice, Mann created a film that niftily blends high-caliber action with a sort of romantic-cool mood that takes precedence over a muddled and somewhat inconsequential plot. Sounds like Bullitt. I’m not sure who would star in the picture. Daniel Craig might have been perfect, but now he’s Bond. Matt Damon could have worked, but now he’s Bourne. So maybe one of the Miami Vice stars: Colin Farrell or Jamie Foxx. Or maybe a redefining role for Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling or Jeremy Renner. Damn. Heath Ledger might have worked, too.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Steve McQueen: King of the Close-Up
[I’m pleased to debut The Cooler’s first video essay as my contribution to the Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon. As usual, the video plays best if you let it completely buffer before watching. Click here to see it on Vimeo's site in a slightly larger, but not too large, size. A transcript of the narration is below.]
In his first starring role, on TV’s Wanted: Dead or Alive in 1958, and in his last starring role, in 1980’s The Hunter, Steve McQueen played bounty hunters. In between, McQueen played a host of characters who were on the run or behind bars – guys who had been to prison or seemed to be heading there. He played lawmen, too, and leaders, thrill-seekers and risk-takers. He played men of action – guys who always seemed to be cocked and ready. Not muscle men so much as tough guys. Not brave men, because they often seemed immune to fear, but determined ones. With rare exception, McQueen’s characters were strong, silent types, either intentionally or inevitably. Quiet strength was McQueen’s default setting.
Not quite 30 years removed from his death, McQueen tends to be remembered for his role in two of cinema’s most famous action sequences, in The Great Escape and Bullitt, and for his blazing blue eyes, his physical grace and his effortless swagger, which were the substance of several his films. These were the ingredients that helped McQueen earn the honorary title of “The King of Cool,” and rightfully so. But to come to the conclusion that McQueen’s success was simply the result of a handsome, athletic and naturally suave guy playing too-cool-for-school characters is to miss McQueen’s true cinematic gift: He was devastating in a close-up.
Of course, that wasn’t the extent of McQueen’s talent. McQueen was terrific behind the wheel of anything with four tires and he was even better on the seat of a motorcycle. He didn’t do all of his own stunts, of course, but his vehicular abilities allowed directors to get some magical shots that stuntmen couldn’t provide – shots that made action intimate. McQueen was also good on a horse – a skill that wouldn’t be worth much today – and he was terrific with props of all shapes and sizes. Guns. Food. Whatever. Even the engine of a ship. Give McQueen something to do and he was quietly captivating.
In other situations, McQueen seemed painfully out of his element. Thomas Crown Affair screenwriter Alan Trustman noted in Marshall Terrill’s 1993 biography Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel that when McQueen was uncomfortable “you could squirm watching him.” This is undoubtedly true. Many of McQueen’s particularly squirm-worthy moments came when the actor attempted to wear his heart on his sleeve. But that’s oversimplifying things. Given that McQueen was most comfortable when driving, manipulating a prop, or acting from the shoulders up, it should come as no surprise that he seemed least comfortable when forced to act with his entire body and with nothing in his hands. An apt example would be this scene from Nevada Smith, which Matt Zoller Seitz used to underscore McQueen’s limitations in his cogent 2009 video essay “Too Cool.” As McQueen squats down and looks at his character’s home in flames, he comes off less like a man distraught over the murder of his parents than like an actor who feels naked from the neck down and at a loss for what to do with his hands. It might be the most cringe-inducing moment in McQueen’s career. I mean, other than this one.
McQueen’s biggest fault as an actor wasn’t so much that he couldn’t play emotion but that he couldn’t play his emotions to the back row. McQueen needed the camera to get close enough that he could emote with his face, subtly but intensely, charismatically, powerfully. Some filmmakers had no trouble identifying the money shot and put McQueen’s face to good use, particularly Norman Jewison, who directed McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid, the poker flick full of tight close-ups, and The Thomas Crown Affair, in which McQueen and Faye Dunaway turned a game of chess into steamy foreplay. Other directors used McQueen’s best angle as a tease, intentionally thwarting our ability to look directly into his eyes in order to enhance the emotional unease of the characters. A good example is this scene from Sam Peckinpah’s mostly macho The Getaway, in which McQueen’s Doc McCoy is intimidated by intimacy after years of imprisonment. Also of note is this scene from Baby, the Rain Must Fall, in which McQueen’s Henry Thomas, also recently out of the big house, and now trying to figure out how to support his wife and child, realizes his dreams of being a country music star are just that: dreams.
To call McQueen a limited actor is accurate, but to suggest that his silence is evidence of emptiness is to imply that emotions must be verbally articulated to be deep. Beyond Hollywood’s frustrating habit of bestowing awards to those who act most instead of best, even hardcore cinephiles fall into the trap of praising acting in situations when the screenwriting deserves the lion’s share of acclaim, confusing amazing roles with amazing performances. This is unavoidable, of course. At some point the two cannot be separated. And just like great talkers need great dialogue, great physical actors, like McQueen, need a director with enough sense to point a camera where the action is. Still, one of the reasons that McQueen is thought of as a purely physical actor is because so few screenwriters gave him anything interesting to say. The most quotable line of McQueen’s career might be this one from The Magnificent Seven: “We deal in lead, friend.” Trouble is, McQueen’s would-be catchphrase is merely the punctuation on a conversation between Yul Brynner and Eli Wallach. It’s the first of only two lines for McQueen in a 10-minute span. Given the film’s wealth of heroes, it’s all to easy to come away remembering the line but not the cowboy who said it. “We deal in lead, friend” is a cool line, sure. But what it isn’t as this: “Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker” – an instant classic.
And that leads us here. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about McQueen is that he’s entirely inimitable – not in the general, “Oh, there’ll never be another one like him” kind of way, but in the sense that he’s truly impossible to impersonate. Given the right props, sure, you could mimic his actions, but other than that you couldn’t “do McQueen,” the way someone could do Jimmy Stewart, Marlon Brando or Humphrey Bogart. McQueen didn’t have a distinctive voice or an unforgettable line. Some actors had both. For this, McQueen deserves a share of the blame. Woefully uneducated, McQueen found dialogue a physical challenge and cut it wherever he could. On the set of The Towering Inferno, he regularly complained that the dialogue was “shit,” but when the screenwriter pressed him for a specific example McQueen confessed that there was nothing wrong with the dialogue itself, he just couldn’t say it. It was because of this, as much as anything, that on the set of The Getaway, McQueen would read the script and say, “Too many words, too many words. I’ll give you a close-up that’ll say a thousand words.”
You have to hand it to McQueen: his arithmetic was usually correct. But sometimes McQueen took silence to the extreme. In Le Mans, the racing film that was the actor’s passion project, McQueen doesn’t utter anything resembling traditional dialogue for more than 37 minutes. Upon the film’s release, Jay Cocks of Time Magazine wrote that McQueen didn’t play a part, he just posed for it. He was right. Then again, there were also instances when McQueen’s terse approach wound up making an otherwise forgettable line of dialogue surprisingly potent. One such instance comes late in The Towering Inferno, when McQueen’s fire chief learns that the only hope for extinguishing the blaze is for him to be airlifted to the top of the skyscraper to blow up some rooftop water tanks with plastic explosives. In that scene, and so many others, McQueen’s magic was the expansiveness of his minimalism. Few actors ever conveyed so much without saying anything at all. McQueen’s physical acting was so efficient, in fact, that in the rare case one of his characters verbally articulated his thoughts, the dialogue usually seemed unnecessarily redundant.
In a way, it’s silly to criticize McQueen for so often playing to his strengths, but there’s at least one film that suggests he didn’t have to be quite so narrow, 1962’s often overlooked The War Lover, in which McQueen plays a womanizing hotshot pilot in World War II. In so many ways, it’s still the typical McQueen role: cocky, intense and tough. But in The Water Lover, McQueen is a little more emotionally vulnerable than normal, even when his character is on the attack. This is the film to recommend to anyone who insists that McQueen could only pose. And yet it’s impossible to overlook the way McQueen dazzles most in a close-up, his blue eyes blazing, even in black-and-white, flashing that visceral coiled intensity that’s so rarely duplicated.
Most actors who try to be as super-cool as McQueen come off like frauds. Every now and then, though, someone recaptures the silent swagger that was the essence of McQueen. Jeremy Renner’s Oscar-nominated portrayal in The Hurt Locker is evidence that McQueen’s brand of acting can be as potent as ever. Two of the film’s most powerful scenes are ones in which Renner doesn’t say a word. But just because McQueen’s acting style has endured doesn’t mean that it would have aged well with him as his star faded and he moved on to smaller supporting roles. Alas, we we’ll never know. McQueen was a top-of-the-marquee star until he died, all too soon, in 1980 at the age of 50 from complications due to cancer.
In a career just over two decades long, McQueen produced a collection of exhilarating films and performances, many of which are still cherished three decades after his death. And though it’s true that the most memorable thing that a McQueen character ever did was something McQueen didn’t do himself – stuntman Bud Ekin’s famous motorcycle jump in The Great Escape – it’s also true that McQueen thoroughly dominated the screen in a way that few other actors have before or since. He was “The King of Cool,” the king of the close-up, and his honorary reign continues.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Quote of the Week, Fans of "The Fearless Vampire Killers" and Ali MacGraw talks about Steve McQueen
Thanks to everyone for wishing me well. I am, thankfully, starting to feel better.
Now here is the quote of the week:
By Claudia Cardinale:
"Sharon was such an amazing person, worldly but not in any negative way, she was so grounded, still seemed to show such a delight in the little things. A good waiter or waitress, a terrific sunset, ANY animal, little things never lost their magic for her. She had the world at her feet, but never lost touch with who she was, or became blase about how fortunate she had become. The superficiality of the movie world didn't fool her one bit, she often said, 'If I start to believe I'm as good as they keep telling me I am, I'll get out, there's still so much to learn.' "
Here is another great review of "The Fearless Vampire Killers" along with fans commenting below:
http://www.buyscheaper.com/buy-cheap-fearless-vampire-killers-vhs-discount-review/
Also, be sure to check out the latest edition of Vanity Fair for March. It has an interesting article and interview with Ali MacGraw. She discusses two men she loved, Steve McQueen and Robert Evans. McQueen and Evans were also good friends of Sharon and Roman.
Speaking of MacGraw, in the article it talks about how giving and kind she was and still is. It also says she became a fashion icon in the early 1970s. Sounds like Sharon, doesn't it? Furthermore, this quote by Gloria Steinem who lived for a short while with MacGraw, also reminds one of Sharon even though it is really about MacGraw:
"She was a remarkable creature. Ali seemed unaware of being beautiful, though I remember thinking it was like living with the most magnificent and graceful cat. It was proof of her warmth and kindness that those pre-feminist days, when we were all suppose to be in competition with each other, I don't remember a female human being who resented her."
That reminds me of how Sharon got along with so many actresses in Hollywood. Patty Duke said, "I was crazy about her and I didn't know anyone who wasn't." And Sharon never fought with anyone on the set. Robert Viharo who starred with Sharon in "Valley of the Dolls" said, "Everybody was competitive with everybody (on the set of the Valley of the Dolls). The only one that I felt was above it, was Sharon Tate. The sweetest, purest, most open spirit."
The article also talks about McQueen not always being everyone's favorite but of Ali, like a saint. This is sometimes the way Polanski is talked about as compared to Sharon. But McQueen's love for McGraw is as genuine as Roman's was for Sharon, according to the magazine.
Lastly, the article mentions her love of Scottie dogs and how she has always had one. That sounds like Sharon and her love of Yorkies.
Anyway, it is a long article but worth reading.
This week I will try to get around to the promised translated articles. Sorry for the delay.
Now here is the quote of the week:
"Sharon was such an amazing person, worldly but not in any negative way, she was so grounded, still seemed to show such a delight in the little things. A good waiter or waitress, a terrific sunset, ANY animal, little things never lost their magic for her. She had the world at her feet, but never lost touch with who she was, or became blase about how fortunate she had become. The superficiality of the movie world didn't fool her one bit, she often said, 'If I start to believe I'm as good as they keep telling me I am, I'll get out, there's still so much to learn.' "
http://www.buyscheaper.com/buy-cheap-fearless-vampire-killers-vhs-discount-review/
Also, be sure to check out the latest edition of Vanity Fair for March. It has an interesting article and interview with Ali MacGraw. She discusses two men she loved, Steve McQueen and Robert Evans. McQueen and Evans were also good friends of Sharon and Roman.
"She was a remarkable creature. Ali seemed unaware of being beautiful, though I remember thinking it was like living with the most magnificent and graceful cat. It was proof of her warmth and kindness that those pre-feminist days, when we were all suppose to be in competition with each other, I don't remember a female human being who resented her."
That reminds me of how Sharon got along with so many actresses in Hollywood. Patty Duke said, "I was crazy about her and I didn't know anyone who wasn't." And Sharon never fought with anyone on the set. Robert Viharo who starred with Sharon in "Valley of the Dolls" said, "Everybody was competitive with everybody (on the set of the Valley of the Dolls). The only one that I felt was above it, was Sharon Tate. The sweetest, purest, most open spirit."
The article also talks about McQueen not always being everyone's favorite but of Ali, like a saint. This is sometimes the way Polanski is talked about as compared to Sharon. But McQueen's love for McGraw is as genuine as Roman's was for Sharon, according to the magazine.
Lastly, the article mentions her love of Scottie dogs and how she has always had one. That sounds like Sharon and her love of Yorkies.
Anyway, it is a long article but worth reading.
This week I will try to get around to the promised translated articles. Sorry for the delay.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Steve McQueen and Sharon Tate? Immortal Muse and More
Has anyone ever read Darwin Porter's Steve McQueen biography? In it the book says that Sharon and McQueen had an on again/off again affair. It also has the rumor that McQueen was invited to Sharon's house on that fateful night in August 1969.
I know McQueen and Sharon were great friends and perhaps they did get together in the early 1960s but I'm not so sure about when she was with Sebring and Polanski. I've heard Sharon was a one man kind of woman. Has anyone read the book?
Speaking of the name McQueen, RIP to the fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Sorry to hear of his passing today at the young age of 40.
Here is a blogger who calls Sharon an 'Immortal Muse', I couldn't agree more:
http://chicandyoushallfind.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/true-beauty-lives-forever/
I know McQueen and Sharon were great friends and perhaps they did get together in the early 1960s but I'm not so sure about when she was with Sebring and Polanski. I've heard Sharon was a one man kind of woman. Has anyone read the book?
Speaking of the name McQueen, RIP to the fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Sorry to hear of his passing today at the young age of 40.
Here is a blogger who calls Sharon an 'Immortal Muse', I couldn't agree more:
http://chicandyoushallfind.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/true-beauty-lives-forever/
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Announcing the Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon
[March 23 Update: The Steve McQueen McQueen Blog-a-thon is under way here.]
For almost two years now, I’ve posted my cinema ruminations under an iconic image of Steve McQueen from The Great Escape. And yet, despite this blog’s branding, I’ve done very little writing about the King of Cool. With The Cooler just days away from the start of its third year, this must be remedied. And so today I’m announcing that I will host the Steve McQueen Blog-a-thon beginning on what would have been McQueen’s 80th birthday, March 24, and running through March 27.
I have some posts in mind, but I make this announcement now with the hope that other bloggers will take part in this effort. Traditionally, blog-a-thons are built around a genre or director – but rarely an actor or actress. So let’s remedy that, too. Submissions to the Steve McQueen blog-a-thon must meet only one criterion: they must somehow touch on Steve McQueen. If you’d like to write about the actor’s overall film career, go for it. If you’d like to discuss his lasting impact in pop culture, go for it. But bloggers should also feel welcome to write standard reviews of films in which McQueen appears. McQueen needn’t be the focus of your essay. He just needs to be the thread lacing together what I hope will be a wildly diverse group of submissions. (Likewise, please feel no pressure to bow at McQueen’s altar. If you’d like to rant about his limited range or whatever else, please do so.)
Per usual, post your contribution on your blog and send me the link via e-mail or in the comments section the week of the blog-a-thon. If you don’t have a blog and would like to contribute, e-mail me your contribution and I’ll post it here at The Cooler.
Please take part! I'm more excited to see what my fellow bloggers will submit than I am to post my own pieces.
In the meantime, if you wouldn’t mind spreading the word, I’d appreciate it.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Roman Polanski Thanks Everyone Who Sent Support to Him, Valley of the Dolls Opening and Steve McQueen in "The Cincinnati Kid"
Roman Polanski wants to thank everyone who has sent messages of support during this difficult time:
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b159792_roman_polanski_says_merci_support.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories
From his chalet in Gstaad, Roman Polanski sends his very best.
In a letter to French author Bernard-Henri Lévi, the Oscar-winning filmmaker says he is "overwhelmed by the number of messages of support and sympathy" he has received since being locked up in Switzerland for skipping out on his sentencing for having sex with a teenage girl 31 years ago.
"These messages have come from my neighbors, from people all over Switzerland, and from beyond Switzerland—from across the world," reads the translated-into-English letter, which Lévi gave to the Huffington Post, where he's a contributor.
"I would like every one of them to know how heartening it is, when one is locked up in a cell, to hear this murmur of human voices and of solidarity in the morning mail. In the darkest moments, each of their notes has been a source of comfort and hope, and they continue to be so in my current situation."
Sounds like something the director of The Pianist and Death and the Maiden would write.
Polanski requests in his letter that, because he can't respond to each missive individually, Levi "disseminate these few words" somehow. "These few words" are also the director's first remarks since his legal troubles started all over again.
The Poland-born, longtime resident of France hasn't stepped foot in the U.S., where he made Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and other films, since 1978.
He was arrested Sept. 24 in Winterthur prison after landing in Switzerland, where he was to accept a lifetime achievement honor at the Zurich Film Festival. He was transferred to home confinement Dec. 4 while he awaits possible extradition to California.
An appellate panel denied Polanski's latest request to have the decades-old charge dropped, in which he argued that the judge and prosecutor from his original case conspired against him.
On this day in movie history, Valley of the Dolls was released:
http://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/2009/12/27/on-this-day-in-movies-valley-of-the-dolls/
A review with some great trivia about "The Cincinnati Kid". Personally, no disrespect to Tuesday Weld but I would have rather Sharon had gotten that role. Also, the information here suggests it was a black woman filmed in the nude scene by Peckinpah instead of the rumor that usually purveys that Sharon was the one and that this is one of the reasons Peckinpah was fired from the film:
http://cinemaroll.com/drama/steve-mcqueen-in-the-cincinnati-kid-1965/
Does anyone have any information regarding the Peckinpah rumor?
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b159792_roman_polanski_says_merci_support.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories
In a letter to French author Bernard-Henri Lévi, the Oscar-winning filmmaker says he is "overwhelmed by the number of messages of support and sympathy" he has received since being locked up in Switzerland for skipping out on his sentencing for having sex with a teenage girl 31 years ago.
"These messages have come from my neighbors, from people all over Switzerland, and from beyond Switzerland—from across the world," reads the translated-into-English letter, which Lévi gave to the Huffington Post, where he's a contributor.
"I would like every one of them to know how heartening it is, when one is locked up in a cell, to hear this murmur of human voices and of solidarity in the morning mail. In the darkest moments, each of their notes has been a source of comfort and hope, and they continue to be so in my current situation."
Sounds like something the director of The Pianist and Death and the Maiden would write.
Polanski requests in his letter that, because he can't respond to each missive individually, Levi "disseminate these few words" somehow. "These few words" are also the director's first remarks since his legal troubles started all over again.
The Poland-born, longtime resident of France hasn't stepped foot in the U.S., where he made Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and other films, since 1978.
He was arrested Sept. 24 in Winterthur prison after landing in Switzerland, where he was to accept a lifetime achievement honor at the Zurich Film Festival. He was transferred to home confinement Dec. 4 while he awaits possible extradition to California.
An appellate panel denied Polanski's latest request to have the decades-old charge dropped, in which he argued that the judge and prosecutor from his original case conspired against him.
http://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/2009/12/27/on-this-day-in-movies-valley-of-the-dolls/
Tuesday Weld as Christian with Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid. McQueen had originally wanted Sharon for the role of Christian.
http://cinemaroll.com/drama/steve-mcqueen-in-the-cincinnati-kid-1965/
Does anyone have any information regarding the Peckinpah rumor?
Monday, November 30, 2009
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 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.
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/
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/
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Breathless Article on Sharon Tate Plus Fearless Vampire Always a Top Ten Favorite, Polanski sequel? Photos & more
Here is another great article and interview with Sharon from Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper. I dedicate this one to Rossman, a wonderful fan of Sharon, I think he will get a kick out of it ;) :
Sharon Tate Leaves You Breathless
Read her exciting story here:
By Robert Musel
For some years now a certain producer of television commercials in Hollywood must have been wondering what happened to the teenage blonde who arrived to audition for a cigarette advertisement. They gave her a cigarette, she inhaled deeply with the proper look of ecstasy on her fabulous features--and passed out cold on the floor.
Well, time has turned that young blonde into a ravishing 22 year old. Her name is Sharon Tate and she has been studying hard ever since in as concentrated a campaign for film stardom as any in the recent annals of the movie industry. Now, after all the acting lessons, the dancing lessons, the singing lessons, the vocal lessons, the moment of truth has arrived.
She is starring in her first film "13" in a cast headed by David Niven and Kim Novak. And producer Marty Ransohoff may win what amounts to a $50,000 gamble that she is star material.
She showed up at her first ever interview to tell all.
"Where do I begin?" she asked, trying to pull down a skirt short even by the latest Paris standards.
She was advised to start at the beginning and this is the biography that emerged:
She is 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall, a natural blonde with hazel eyes that change color. She weighs 112 pounds. She was born in Dallas but has never lived long in one place because her father, Maj. Paul Tate, now of San Pedro, California, is a career soldier. They were stationed in Verona, Italy, when a friend in television suggested she ought to try Hollywood. And there she went after an unsuccessful attempt to study as a beautician in Houston, Texas.
"You must remember," she said continuing this breathless tale, "that I was shy and bashful when I reached Hollywood. My parents were very strict with me. I didn't smoke or anything. I only had just enough money to get by and I hitchhiked a ride on a truck to the office of an agent whose name I had. That very first day he sent me to the cigarette comercial job. A girl showed me how it should be done, you know taking a deep, deep breath and look ecstatic."
Miss Tate demonstrated the deep, deep breath. At this point the waiter, who was serving tea, apologized for rattling the cups but there may be no connection between these two events.
"I tried to do as she said," Miss Tate explained, "but the first breath filled my lungs with smoke and I landed on the floor. That ended my career in cigarette commercials."
Miss Tate, who smokes quite expertly now, said her agent later decided she needed experience to overcome her shyness and took her along for a minor role in the 'Petticoat Junction' tv series. Enter fate in the form of Ransohoff, who is producer of the series.
"Marty saw me there," Miss Tate recalled, "and he said 'Baby'--you know how Marty talks--'Baby, we're going to make you a star.' He took me to his legal department and he said, 'Sign this girl.' I'd only been back in the states for three weeks when all this happened. What do you think of that?"
We agreed that America is the land of opportunity and Miss Tate went on:
"Up until then, I had been living on a tight allowance from my folks and what with my sheltered life and all I had never even driven a car. But when I signed with Marty the contract provided for a car and that was the first thing I got. That and a dog. These little things count you know. The very first night I got the car I wrecked it.
"Later I was on a bus and a boy of about 16 said to me, 'There's been a terrible crash on Sunset Boulevard.' I said, 'I know, it was me.' He looked at me. Suddenly he kissed me and jumped off the bus."
We agreed this was an encouraging display of initiative by American youth.
Just when she thought she could really act she played a test with Steve McQueen, the first time she had ever appeared with an actor of his power. "I was in shock for three days afterwards," she said. "But he taught me a lot. He showed me how to really act."
Miss Tate's boyfriend is a Hollywood hairstylist. Her hobby is people.
"They'd have flipped in Hollywood if they knew what I was doing for amusement," she said. "About once a month I'd have an 'experience.' By that I mean I would go somewhere on my own and just look at and listen to people. I went to a bar once at midnight and a woman said to me, 'Why drink here when you could have men buy you drinks for nothing at other bars?'
"I used to do the same sort of thing in Italy by taking different trains. Once I met six men from Moscow, Russia. They were fascinating too."
'13' is the screen version of the novel The Day of the Arrow. Ransohoff is so sure of his protege he has already cast her for a comedy.
I never knew Sharon studied to be a beautician in Houston, Texas. I have heard that she had family there so I would suppose she stayed with them possibly?
I bet it was funny when she demonstrated that 'deep, deep breath' she used for the commercial and the waiter was taken aback and accidently rattled the cups he was filling. Somehow, I can see a connection between the two, can't you? ;)
And that young man who kissed Sharon? I imagine he quite enjoyed that kiss with a beautiful stunner like Sharon! :)
Onto other news:
Even though Halloween has past there is still talk of Vampires on the web. Maybe it's because the Twilight New Moon sequel is coming out on the 20th?
Anyway, here is another top ten list that includes "The Fearless Vampire Killers." It seems that Polanski's film is always showing up on these:
http://www.filmshaft.com/martyns-top-ten-vampire-films/
A sequel to Polanski Unauthorized? um... apparently:
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/polanski-unauthorized-6209.html
More great stuff from Keith on his blog here:
http://lotsofsugarandspice.blogspot.com/2009/11/sharon-tate-is-all-american-beauty.html
Sharon Tate Leaves You Breathless
Read her exciting story here:
By Robert Musel
For some years now a certain producer of television commercials in Hollywood must have been wondering what happened to the teenage blonde who arrived to audition for a cigarette advertisement. They gave her a cigarette, she inhaled deeply with the proper look of ecstasy on her fabulous features--and passed out cold on the floor.
Well, time has turned that young blonde into a ravishing 22 year old. Her name is Sharon Tate and she has been studying hard ever since in as concentrated a campaign for film stardom as any in the recent annals of the movie industry. Now, after all the acting lessons, the dancing lessons, the singing lessons, the vocal lessons, the moment of truth has arrived.
She is starring in her first film "13" in a cast headed by David Niven and Kim Novak. And producer Marty Ransohoff may win what amounts to a $50,000 gamble that she is star material.
She showed up at her first ever interview to tell all.
"Where do I begin?" she asked, trying to pull down a skirt short even by the latest Paris standards.
She was advised to start at the beginning and this is the biography that emerged:
She is 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall, a natural blonde with hazel eyes that change color. She weighs 112 pounds. She was born in Dallas but has never lived long in one place because her father, Maj. Paul Tate, now of San Pedro, California, is a career soldier. They were stationed in Verona, Italy, when a friend in television suggested she ought to try Hollywood. And there she went after an unsuccessful attempt to study as a beautician in Houston, Texas.
"You must remember," she said continuing this breathless tale, "that I was shy and bashful when I reached Hollywood. My parents were very strict with me. I didn't smoke or anything. I only had just enough money to get by and I hitchhiked a ride on a truck to the office of an agent whose name I had. That very first day he sent me to the cigarette comercial job. A girl showed me how it should be done, you know taking a deep, deep breath and look ecstatic."
Miss Tate demonstrated the deep, deep breath. At this point the waiter, who was serving tea, apologized for rattling the cups but there may be no connection between these two events.
"I tried to do as she said," Miss Tate explained, "but the first breath filled my lungs with smoke and I landed on the floor. That ended my career in cigarette commercials."
Miss Tate, who smokes quite expertly now, said her agent later decided she needed experience to overcome her shyness and took her along for a minor role in the 'Petticoat Junction' tv series. Enter fate in the form of Ransohoff, who is producer of the series.
"Marty saw me there," Miss Tate recalled, "and he said 'Baby'--you know how Marty talks--'Baby, we're going to make you a star.' He took me to his legal department and he said, 'Sign this girl.' I'd only been back in the states for three weeks when all this happened. What do you think of that?"
"Up until then, I had been living on a tight allowance from my folks and what with my sheltered life and all I had never even driven a car. But when I signed with Marty the contract provided for a car and that was the first thing I got. That and a dog. These little things count you know. The very first night I got the car I wrecked it.
"Later I was on a bus and a boy of about 16 said to me, 'There's been a terrible crash on Sunset Boulevard.' I said, 'I know, it was me.' He looked at me. Suddenly he kissed me and jumped off the bus."
We agreed this was an encouraging display of initiative by American youth.
Just when she thought she could really act she played a test with Steve McQueen, the first time she had ever appeared with an actor of his power. "I was in shock for three days afterwards," she said. "But he taught me a lot. He showed me how to really act."
Miss Tate's boyfriend is a Hollywood hairstylist. Her hobby is people.
"They'd have flipped in Hollywood if they knew what I was doing for amusement," she said. "About once a month I'd have an 'experience.' By that I mean I would go somewhere on my own and just look at and listen to people. I went to a bar once at midnight and a woman said to me, 'Why drink here when you could have men buy you drinks for nothing at other bars?'
"I used to do the same sort of thing in Italy by taking different trains. Once I met six men from Moscow, Russia. They were fascinating too."
'13' is the screen version of the novel The Day of the Arrow. Ransohoff is so sure of his protege he has already cast her for a comedy.
I never knew Sharon studied to be a beautician in Houston, Texas. I have heard that she had family there so I would suppose she stayed with them possibly?
I bet it was funny when she demonstrated that 'deep, deep breath' she used for the commercial and the waiter was taken aback and accidently rattled the cups he was filling. Somehow, I can see a connection between the two, can't you? ;)
And that young man who kissed Sharon? I imagine he quite enjoyed that kiss with a beautiful stunner like Sharon! :)
Onto other news:
Even though Halloween has past there is still talk of Vampires on the web. Maybe it's because the Twilight New Moon sequel is coming out on the 20th?
Anyway, here is another top ten list that includes "The Fearless Vampire Killers." It seems that Polanski's film is always showing up on these:
http://www.filmshaft.com/martyns-top-ten-vampire-films/
A sequel to Polanski Unauthorized? um... apparently:
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/polanski-unauthorized-6209.html
More great stuff from Keith on his blog here:
http://lotsofsugarandspice.blogspot.com/2009/11/sharon-tate-is-all-american-beauty.html
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Steve McQueen Picked Sharon Tate as the Next Big Star!
This is a very rare article from a British magazine called Tit-Bits for December 19, 1964:
Showpiece Special: Steve Finds Another Swinger! By David Hunn
"What makes a star? The ingredients are as unknown as what two flies say to each other on a window sill. Either you have it or you haven't. It's that simple--and that tragic." --Fred Astaire
The question of star quality, magnetism or magic (call it what you will) has intrigued the world of entertainment since kings and queens kept court juesters.
Now David Hunn, the brightest and best-informed writer on the show business scene, tries to find some of the answers from the stars themselves.
He presents today the first of a sizzling series of interviews in which 'the international stars of today' give their choice for 'the stars of tomorrow.'
David Hunn: Steve McQueen didn't hesitate. But when he picked his winner he put the lights on a mystery. His tip for the top is a girl unknown in Britian, a find so hush-hush that her Hollywood studio did their best to stop TIT-BITS taking the wraps off her.
"The name is Sharon Tate," said Steve.
"You've never heard of her, but you will. She has everything she needs for success, including two qualities that do not often go together--a wonderfully pure simplicity and very great beauty."
Producer Martin Ransohoff--now shooting 'The Sand Piper' with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton--discovered Sharon.
As soon as Steve met her, he wanted her to play opposite him in "The Cincinnati Kid," which he is soon to make for Ransohoff. It was one swinger's compliment to another.
But Sharon's lack of experience cost her the part. Steve said: "I even did the screen test with her"--a rare occurrence for a star.
"I was proud to do it. That girl looks really good. I'm sure she could have done the part, but of course I don't have the final say."
In Martin Ransohoff's office in Los Angeles I found the attitude: "Sure she'll be a star, but she'll make it when we're ready."
They refused to release any pictures of Sharon, and her agent denied even having any.
But here we present pictures taken of Sharon with Richard Beymer.
Making a film with Steve would have been a great start for Sharon.
His is one of the most exciting talents in the cinema today. A casual, gritty actor, he hides a Gary Cooper charm behind a Humphrey Bogart magnetism.
(The rest of the article is a rundown of Steve McQueen's career.) For more on Steve McQueen click on these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000537/
I think it was wonderful of Steve to back Sharon up at a time when she truly needed it. I think she would have been 'the next big thing' had she lived.
News Links for the day:
French Rock Star Johnny Hallyday Defends Polanski:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5AQ13DgIAt44wU-QcB3Jl206E6g
For more of the best Halloween movies to watch go to this link, it includes "The Fearless Vampire
Killers." ;)
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-19160-scared-silly.html
Want a run down of what's on TV this Halloween. Here is a great link:
http://www.cliqueclack.com/tv/2009/10/28/the-cliqueclack-tv-guide-to-halloweens-tricks-and-treats/
If you still haven't seen "Wanted and Desired" here is a review:
http://mysticaljett.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/roman-polanski-wanted-desired/
And if you still haven't seen "Rosemary's Baby" here is another great review and it has some nice photos:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathy-whitlock/em-rosemarys-baby-em-revi_b_333706.html
Showpiece Special: Steve Finds Another Swinger! By David Hunn
"What makes a star? The ingredients are as unknown as what two flies say to each other on a window sill. Either you have it or you haven't. It's that simple--and that tragic." --Fred Astaire
The question of star quality, magnetism or magic (call it what you will) has intrigued the world of entertainment since kings and queens kept court juesters.
Now David Hunn, the brightest and best-informed writer on the show business scene, tries to find some of the answers from the stars themselves.
He presents today the first of a sizzling series of interviews in which 'the international stars of today' give their choice for 'the stars of tomorrow.'
"The name is Sharon Tate," said Steve.
"You've never heard of her, but you will. She has everything she needs for success, including two qualities that do not often go together--a wonderfully pure simplicity and very great beauty."
Producer Martin Ransohoff--now shooting 'The Sand Piper' with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton--discovered Sharon.
As soon as Steve met her, he wanted her to play opposite him in "The Cincinnati Kid," which he is soon to make for Ransohoff. It was one swinger's compliment to another.
But Sharon's lack of experience cost her the part. Steve said: "I even did the screen test with her"--a rare occurrence for a star.
"I was proud to do it. That girl looks really good. I'm sure she could have done the part, but of course I don't have the final say."
In Martin Ransohoff's office in Los Angeles I found the attitude: "Sure she'll be a star, but she'll make it when we're ready."
They refused to release any pictures of Sharon, and her agent denied even having any.
But here we present pictures taken of Sharon with Richard Beymer.
Making a film with Steve would have been a great start for Sharon.
His is one of the most exciting talents in the cinema today. A casual, gritty actor, he hides a Gary Cooper charm behind a Humphrey Bogart magnetism.
(The rest of the article is a rundown of Steve McQueen's career.) For more on Steve McQueen click on these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000537/
I think it was wonderful of Steve to back Sharon up at a time when she truly needed it. I think she would have been 'the next big thing' had she lived.
News Links for the day:
French Rock Star Johnny Hallyday Defends Polanski:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5AQ13DgIAt44wU-QcB3Jl206E6g
For more of the best Halloween movies to watch go to this link, it includes "The Fearless Vampire
Killers." ;)
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-19160-scared-silly.html
Want a run down of what's on TV this Halloween. Here is a great link:
http://www.cliqueclack.com/tv/2009/10/28/the-cliqueclack-tv-guide-to-halloweens-tricks-and-treats/
If you still haven't seen "Wanted and Desired" here is a review:
http://mysticaljett.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/roman-polanski-wanted-desired/
And if you still haven't seen "Rosemary's Baby" here is another great review and it has some nice photos:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathy-whitlock/em-rosemarys-baby-em-revi_b_333706.html
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sharon Tate was going to Star alongside Steve McQueen in "Le Mans?" & News on Polanski & new Italian Blog for Sharon
I have an interesting Spanish Article translated today that says Sharon was going to be in "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen? Here is the article:
Nuevo Fotogramas June 27, 1969:
Sharon Tate, Polanski's Baby
Wife of Polish filmmaker with whom she met while filming The Dance of the Vampires, Sharon Tate has continued her career over the years without great spectacle, but at a good pace.
Recently, she finished shooting "13", in Rome, with Vittorio Gassman. The American actress is to commence within a few weeks, another film in which she will partner up with Steve McQueen. The film is a project McQueen has wanted to do for years and will be set in the world of cars.
Shooting will take place mainly in the Le Mans circuit.
Launched by an American production company that she set out to make her a mixture of Kim Novak and Jean Harlow, she jokes it may be time to begin lying about her age even though she is only 25. But she told me not to tell her husband. "Now I say that I am 24 years old and next year I will be 23 years old."
Following her joke, I said of the director of "The Baby of Rose Mary,": "If you continue on like that, in 20 years or so you will be Polanski's baby."
Although I have heard that Steve McQueen wanted to work with Sharon on a film, I have never heard this reference to "Le Mans" which was released in 1971. Also, nothing is mentioned about her pregnancy? She would be filming only in a few weeks? Not with a baby on the way? Maybe the article meant a few months instead of weeks?
According to the Internet Movie Database this is what the film is about:
Almost in breadth and depth of a documentary, this movie depicts an auto race during the 70s on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France. The race goes over 24 hours on 14.5 kilometers of cordoned country road. Every few hours the two drivers per car alternate - but it's still a challenge for concentration and material. In the focus is the duel between the German Stahler in Ferrari 512LM and the American Delaney in Gulf Team Porsche 917. Delaney is under extraordinary pressure, because the year before he caused a severe accident, in which his friend Lisa's husband was killed. Written by Tom Zoerner.
I wonder if Sharon was considered for the part of Lisa? Or was she to have played Johann Ritter's wife Anna in the film? Hmmm....Any comments?
For more on the film go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mans_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067334/
New News on Roman Polanski:
Roman Polanski Hospitalized: Director Roman Polanski has been hospitalized for the second time since his Zurich arrest on decades' old rape charges, People reports.
Polanski apparently is suffering from an undisclosed medical condition and was transferred from prison to a Zurich hospital for medical examinations Friday. His hospitalization is expected to last several days.
Polanski's lawyer, Herve Temime said in a recent radio interview, "His general condition is no longer satisfactory. But the situation isn't easy for any prisoners, even less so for a man the age of Polanski. One has to be attentive."
“All I know is that he has been taken from prison for medical attention. I don’t know where he is or when he will be returned to prison,” the Daily Express quoted his French lawyer Herve Temime, as saying.
Polanski, who lives in France, was arrested Saturday upon arriving in Zurich where he was to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival. The famed director fled the United States in 1978 after being charged with having sex with a minor. U.S. authorities have sought the 76-year-old's arrest around the world since 2005.
Polanski is best known for his film work that includes classics like Rosemary's Baby and the multiple Oscar-winning Chinatown. The director won the Academy Award for Best Director in 2002 for The Pianist, though his legal issues forbade him from attending.
Sadly, the director's life has also been marred by tragedy. In 1969, his wife, Sharon Tate, then pregnant with Polanski's child, was murdered by the Charles Manson family at a hillside home in Los Angeles. And it was in 1978 that Polanski was accused of plying then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer with quaaludes and alcohol before repeatedly forcing her to have sex. Geimer has since publicly forgiven Polanski and has tried to get the case against him dropped for almost a decade now.
Here is a report on how the Swiss and the US planned Polanski's current arrest:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/132/story/1011132.html
There is a great new blog for Sharon written for her Italian fans. It has a nice set up page and photos. Be sure to check it out:
http://sharontate4ever.wordpress.com/
Nuevo Fotogramas June 27, 1969:
Sharon Tate, Polanski's Baby
Wife of Polish filmmaker with whom she met while filming The Dance of the Vampires, Sharon Tate has continued her career over the years without great spectacle, but at a good pace.
Recently, she finished shooting "13", in Rome, with Vittorio Gassman. The American actress is to commence within a few weeks, another film in which she will partner up with Steve McQueen. The film is a project McQueen has wanted to do for years and will be set in the world of cars.
Shooting will take place mainly in the Le Mans circuit.
Following her joke, I said of the director of "The Baby of Rose Mary,": "If you continue on like that, in 20 years or so you will be Polanski's baby."
Although I have heard that Steve McQueen wanted to work with Sharon on a film, I have never heard this reference to "Le Mans" which was released in 1971. Also, nothing is mentioned about her pregnancy? She would be filming only in a few weeks? Not with a baby on the way? Maybe the article meant a few months instead of weeks?
According to the Internet Movie Database this is what the film is about:
Almost in breadth and depth of a documentary, this movie depicts an auto race during the 70s on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France. The race goes over 24 hours on 14.5 kilometers of cordoned country road. Every few hours the two drivers per car alternate - but it's still a challenge for concentration and material. In the focus is the duel between the German Stahler in Ferrari 512LM and the American Delaney in Gulf Team Porsche 917. Delaney is under extraordinary pressure, because the year before he caused a severe accident, in which his friend Lisa's husband was killed. Written by Tom Zoerner.
I wonder if Sharon was considered for the part of Lisa? Or was she to have played Johann Ritter's wife Anna in the film? Hmmm....Any comments?
For more on the film go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mans_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067334/
New News on Roman Polanski:
Roman Polanski Hospitalized: Director Roman Polanski has been hospitalized for the second time since his Zurich arrest on decades' old rape charges, People reports.
Polanski apparently is suffering from an undisclosed medical condition and was transferred from prison to a Zurich hospital for medical examinations Friday. His hospitalization is expected to last several days.
Polanski's lawyer, Herve Temime said in a recent radio interview, "His general condition is no longer satisfactory. But the situation isn't easy for any prisoners, even less so for a man the age of Polanski. One has to be attentive."
“All I know is that he has been taken from prison for medical attention. I don’t know where he is or when he will be returned to prison,” the Daily Express quoted his French lawyer Herve Temime, as saying.
Polanski, who lives in France, was arrested Saturday upon arriving in Zurich where he was to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival. The famed director fled the United States in 1978 after being charged with having sex with a minor. U.S. authorities have sought the 76-year-old's arrest around the world since 2005.
Polanski is best known for his film work that includes classics like Rosemary's Baby and the multiple Oscar-winning Chinatown. The director won the Academy Award for Best Director in 2002 for The Pianist, though his legal issues forbade him from attending.
Sadly, the director's life has also been marred by tragedy. In 1969, his wife, Sharon Tate, then pregnant with Polanski's child, was murdered by the Charles Manson family at a hillside home in Los Angeles. And it was in 1978 that Polanski was accused of plying then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer with quaaludes and alcohol before repeatedly forcing her to have sex. Geimer has since publicly forgiven Polanski and has tried to get the case against him dropped for almost a decade now.
Here is a report on how the Swiss and the US planned Polanski's current arrest:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/132/story/1011132.html
There is a great new blog for Sharon written for her Italian fans. It has a nice set up page and photos. Be sure to check it out:
http://sharontate4ever.wordpress.com/
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