Bad Things In Threes, Again

Certainly not comparing it to earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown…but yeah, famous deaths have a tendency to triangulate. and with Elizabeth Taylor passing today, that’s three in four days, albeit three who outlived their atomic half-life and made tremendous contributions to their art.

Ralph Mooney left us on March 20th. A celebrated musician’s musician, he basically pioneered the steel guitar sound in popular country music and worked with a Who’s Who of famous names. A critical element of the Bakersfield Sound, you can hear that Buck Owens and Merle Haggard influence across the board in Americana and country-rock music. And you rockers, check those Burrito Brothers and Neil Young albums where his sound appears even when his name doesn’t.

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Pinetop Perkins walked offstage on Monday the 21st at ninety-seven (!) years old. Last month, he won a Grammy for Joined at the Hip (with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith) so he wasn’t exactly slouching. A bluesman from Mississippi like Muddy Waters, he played in the latter’s band for years and was most famous as a sideman…until he was in his eighties. He won a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement and was featured in the Martin Scorsese / Clint Eastwood film Piano Blues. Check his website for much more information on the American treasure.

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And Elizabeth Taylor shipped off today, March 23rd

I prefer to remember the younger vibrant actress rather than the perfume-pimping Jacko compadre of later years, although during that period she did yeoman’s work on behalf of AIDS. I’ll forever remember her in Giant with James Dean and Rock Hudson, although she interacted with a tremendous cast including Sal Mineo, Dennis Hopper, Earl Holliman and Rod Taylor. It was near the beginning of a great run of movies flanked on both sides by forgettable flicks.

I’ll remember the debacle about Cleopatra and the odd relationship she had with Richard Burton and how my Mom was a dead ringer for her when she was young. I’ll try to forget that she was better known for tabloid fodder than natural talent, but I’ll never forget those violet eyes.

They don’t make movie stars like that anymore.

I Knew It Was You

I don’t get HBO.

I mean, I get HBO – great concept – but I’m not a subscriber. I did, years ago, when I got everything, but as the cable company bill kept skyrocketing little by little things dropped off, until I was down to the skeletal, but still expensive, basic package. At the time I wasn’t missing much, since the home viewing market had transcended from VHS to DVD and the quality of the televisions got better. So by the time HBO started to really craft its signature programs like The Sopranos, I was so weaned off of pay cable that I still resisted. Only the advent of DVD recorders and the new market for TV on DVD box sets saved me, but shows like The Sopranos and The Wire were meant to be watched in six-hour gulps. I never would have survived the week in-between episodes.

I certainly can afford HBO now, but for some strange reason, I just haven’t bothered. Maybe it’s because basic cable channels like FX, AMC and USA have followed their lead and stolen their thunder? But the consequence is the same. Occasionally I still miss good programming, and I’ve conditioned myself to wait for the inevitable DVD, which likely will have bonus features and other amenities that would make it more than worthwhile.

And that’s my long-winded story about how I came across I Knew It Was You, the documentary about the great 70’s actor John Cazale. The title, of course, refers to the classic scene in The Godfather Part II between Al Pacino’s character and Cazale’s damaged brother Fredo. Of all the great moments in the first two films – and there were many – the last scenes between Michael and Fredo are the most haunting.

Pacino played Michael tight-lipped, private, superior. Cazale was palpable, he oozed defeat.

Cazale was only in five films, but every one was nominated for Best Picture; three of them took home the prize. He shared the screen with legends Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando as well as a Who’s Who of his generation in Pacino, Gene Hackman, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep and James Caan. He was never the lead, but The Conversation and The Deer Hunter and Dog Day Afternoon and both Godfathers would have been weaker without his presence.

I was captivated by the subject and by the film, but it had two major drawbacks. I didn’t really learn much about John Cazale, as the narration and the interviews basically echoed each other – an actor’s actor, found the heart of his characters, made his fellow actors better, always played true to the moment. I already knew that, having seen all of his films numerous times. Still, it was enjoyable to watch his co-stars as well as other craftsmen like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi vouch for his impact as well as his directors Sidney Lumet and Francis Ford Coppola.

The other shortcoming – literally – was the forty minute length.  Again, I was honed in on every minute, so the quality was there. But even if they couldn’t have acquired rights to longer clips of the films, certainly there were more actors who could have been involved, or reflections from major critics who analyzed his work. As stated, I didn’t see this on HBO, but since there are no commercials other than their own promos…they couldn’t even hit an hour?

There are bonus features including extended interviews with Pacino and director Israel Horowitz (Cazale acted in several of his theatrical productions) as well as a commentary and two short film projects from the 60’s, so it’s not as if this DVD isn’t a good value. Despite my comments above, I’m thrilled to own it and will watch it again. But I guess when all is said and done, what I really wanted was more John Cazale…and maybe that’s the whole point of this portrait.

He was the perfect actor; he had no public persona that would  cloud your impression of the character he put on the screen. As good an actor as George Clooney or Morgan Freeman or Clint Eastwood are, when they first appear in a film, a little voice in your head says “there he is“. But when John Cazale entered a scene, you saw Fredo or Sal or Stan. John disappeared.

Cazale died in 1978 at the age of 42. For his friends and colleagues, there is a wealth of great personal experience and memories. For me, who never met him, there are but five timeless films…and now, this tribute.

No fish today, Fredo.

John Cazale Wiki page

Cazale on IMDB.

Oscilloscope Films

Up The Academy

Okay, I admit it – I’m an Oscar geek.

I have long given up on the Grammys, where the same music can be nominated as “Song of the Year” one year and “Record of the Year” the next. Hello, people…calendar?

And the Golden Globes are basically a hundred or so fawning writers eager to schmooze with celebrities, 98% of which will never set foot in their respective countries. Don’t blame them for taking advantage of their opportunistic position, but really…does that opinion extrapolate?

And the city critic groups – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and a handful of others vying for supremacy – well, that’s just a local segment of the National Critics…right?

Boy Oscar, my Oscar…right or wrong you are the pinnacle of self-congratulation, the don’t-we-love-each-other hugfest that separates the elite from the great unwashed. It’s where speeches launch (or save) careers, where catch-phrases tag an actor forever (“you like me…you really like me!”), and where for some reason who you wear is important.

But seriously, it’s where movie legacies are finalized. And frankly, where Las Vegas really ramps up the odds. So here are my “should win” and “will win” for some of the major categories, and if you followed my Golden Globes predictions, you’ll keep your wallet in your pants.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight's entertainment!

 

Best Film: What, no Dark Knight? Fanboys, rage…rage against the light!

Should Win:  Milk, which blended flashbacks, voice overs, stock footage into the film seasmlessly.

Will Win:  Slumdog Millionaire, whose train is running too fast to stop.

Bad Things Come In Threes, Volume 837…

R.I.P. Eminem

Different guys, different islands. White suit versus black jacket with piping stripe. Host versus (cough) guest. Benevolent versus angry. Height-challenged assistant versus…a security orb? Ahh, crap…we lost both Ricardo Montalban and Patrick McGoohan today, and as usual there’s a third body about to drop somewhere. While we wait that out, let’s look at the pair we found lying here.

 Ricardo Montalban…unfortunately the ice-cream-suit wearing Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island, one of those horrible “let’s get famous guest stars to drop in every week” vignette dramas that rivaled Love Boat for the most embarrassing paycheck everin serious acting circles. But Montalban made movies for sixty five years and was still going at 88 years young. TV and movie legend. Khan, fergodsakes! Naked Gun. Westerns. Mexican star who played Chinese parts. Corinthian leather.

 Patrick McGoohan…ultra-cool before ultra-cool was cool. The Steve McQueen of the UK. Irish and born in Astoria, just like me, but at eighty, way older.  Actor/producer/director/writer and star of not one but two classic series, Danger Man and The Prisoner (hell, I’m still trying to decipher the latter one forty years later, and the new DVD set I just plonked for isn’t helping much. A fascinating, obtuse drama that wouldn’t make it past a pitch today. Your loss, children.) Clint Eastwood level tough without the squint.

But we all know bad things come in threes…looks like someone or something else is about to leave this mortal coil. Here are ten suggestions/predictions/wishes:

1. LOST. Hey, I know it had a huge comeback last year, and I’m all-in myself, but…it is an island. There is a Village. Do the math, people!
2. Paula Abdul. Her replacement is already sitting next to her. At this point, who wouldn’t believe she had an accident backstage while trying to (cough) plug a fork into an outlet to get that curl in her hair back?
3. Guns’n’Roses. Axl strung us along for a decade with Chinese Democracy. Every year, same schtick…is this the year we finally get Chinese Democracy? And in 2008, we did. (yawn). Hole. Card. Played.
4. Mark McGwire’s Hall Of Fame chances. I’d elaborate, but I don’t want to talk about the past.
5. PRISON BREAK. Ouch! You mean a series where people broke into prison, then out, then in, then out, is out of ideas…now?
6. President Bush’s book deal. Because he read the entire pamphlet on the radio the other day.
7. Ernest Borgnine. I have nothing against the Ern, but come on…he’s 112, right? He’d still get cast in those “salty-old-guy roles”, just sans dialogue.
8. The US Economy. You can buy a lot of life insurance with a trillion dollars.
9. The Arizona Cardinals. Because they keep winning every time I pick against them, like this weekend. Third time’s a charm, Arena Football Boy!
10. Major Labels. Just in case there was one day in your life over the past five years when some balding a-hole didn’t write an essay about the death of the music industry, I want to make sure you’re covered. You’re welcome.