Bea Arthur (1922-2009)

Dorothy or Maude?

Which character do you remember when you think of Bea Arthur?

Either choice is a good one.

Bea Arthur passed away today at age 86. An iconic TV character, she was also a great Broadway actress, appearing in both FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and MAME among many others.

And then there's Maude, running from 1972 to 1978. It was a controversial, yet still memorable sitcom. While that may have been enough of a career for some, she went on to fame with a whole new generation with GOLDEN GIRLS, from 1985 to 1992. It is still popular in reruns and on DVD.



Through it all, she had a great sense of humor, appearing on various Comedy Central roasts in recent years.

She will be missed.

Favorite Film Characters of the 1980's

Recently, I was tagged by Film Father for the Favorite Film Chararacters meme.

I’m not much for lists. I take them too seriously and feel I need to rewatch every movie I’ve ever seen before finalizing it. So, I decided to do something a bit different with it.

I narrowed the focus down to Favorite Film Characters of the 1980’s.

So, here we go. And my mind will probably change once I hit PUBLISH.



Eli Cross, THE STUNT MAN



Moody, MY BODYGUARD



Ty Webb CADDYSHACK



Everyone in LOCAL HERO



Dr. Hfuhruhurr, THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS



CLARK GRISWALD (or CLARK GRISWOLD as one of the films call him) NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION, EUROPEAN VACATION, CHRISTMAS VACATION and VEGAS VACATION.



Marty McFly, BACK TO THE FUTURE



John Bender, THE BREAKFAST CLUB



John Matrix, COMMANDO



Gordon Gekko, WALL STREET

NOTE: This post contains YouTube videos. If reading from an outside site, click through to view.

FORGOTTEN FILM: THE TIGER MAKES OUT (1967)

THE TIGER MAKES out is a very rarely shown 1967 film that recently aired on TCM.

The film is about a man, Eli Wallach, who lives alone in the basement / storage room of an apartment building. Angry at the world, and the dumbing down of society around him, he spends his days as a mailman. He finally decides to do something. He ends up kidnapping Anne Jackson, a bored housewife who sees the world as Wallach does.

Directed by Arthur Hiller, it was written by Murray Schisgal (based on his own play). The film's stage roots are evident in a lot of dialogue. Much of the film is made up of Wallach walking the streets of New York, muttering to himself.

There are moments of comedy. One scene, with a suburban family obsessively searching a lawn for crabgrass is near classic. Charles Nelson Reilly has a bit as a college Registrar. But a lot of it, especially its reliance on speeding up the film to make something funny, is a bit dated. Also, once Wallach kidnaps Jackson, the film grinds to a halt.

And, lets be honest. In today’s day and age, is a film about a deranged loner kidnapping women all that funny? It isn't.

This was the film debut of Dustin Hoffman. He only has one scene (and incidentally, Schisgal was an early writer of TOOTSIE before Larry Gelbart).

Released by Columbia, the film is with Sony. Sadly, they have slowed down their DVD output of late. This was its first TCM airing in quite a while so that may be the only way to see it.

STARLOG (1976-2009)

Back in the 1980's, there were few, if any movie magazines. There was no ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. There wasn't even PREMIERE. FILM COMMENT and CINEASTE, if they were around, couldn't be found at your local drugstore.

That left STARLOG. It was, along with its sister publication, the horror film magazine FANGORIA, one of the few magazines writing about film.

Granted, STARLOG was about science fiction and fantasy films, which I wasn't THAT much of a fan of. But this was in the era where BACK TO THE FUTURE and STAR WARS were popular, so I read it regularly.

They had a lot of special issues. I remember they had posters for films like RETURN OF THE JEDI and V. In one issue (the one posted above), they had an interview with an actress who would become one of my favorites.

STARLOG has announced that they will be switching to a web only model. That is said, although to be honest, I haven't seen an issue since the 1980's.

For a while though, I never missed it.

Easter Commercials of the 1980's

Anyone remember these commercials from the 1980’s?

David Letterman and the Today Show in 1985

Back in 1985, THE TODAY SHOW (then hosted by Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley) was doing a live, prime time special. It was so heavily hyped, even I was watching.

During one of the segments, they were interrupted by some noise in the background.

Here is what it was.



I can't believe it has been almost 24 years.