Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Michael Jackson's THRILLER was the biggest album of my lifetime. Nothing even comes close. His passing this afternoon comes as a shock.

Just look at the music that came from that one album.

"Beat It", "Billie Jean", not to mention "Thriller", arguably the most popular music video of all time.

Also on that same album were "Wanna Be Startin' Something", "The Girl Is Mine", "Human Nature", and "P.Y.T.".

Again, all that from one album.

There was also "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", "Bad" (with a video directed by Martin Scorsese), "Black Or White", And "Smooth Criminal"

He didn't do much in films. He appeared in THE WIZ, but my favorite film performance of his will always be from Disney's CAPTAIN EO



PART 1



PART 2

The 3-D film shown at EPCOT Center directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Sadly those clips don't convey just how great the 3-D was.

Michael Jackson ruled the 1980's, there is no question about that.

NOTE: This post contains YouTube clips, click through to view.

FARRAH FAWCETT (1947-2009)

Farrah Fawcett has passed away.

While everyone has been talking about Ryan O'Neal, the iconic poster and CHARLIE'S ANGELS, there are a few things I will always remember her for.


LEE MAJORS - To me, Farrah will always be Farrah Fawcett Majors. That is when I first knew her, the days when she was married to THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Lee Majors. The two were married from 1973 to 1982.


SUNBURN (1979) - I never did see this film she made in 1979 with Charles Grodin, but I think there was a law that every video store had to carry it. Never released on DVD, today, the VHS is out of print and copies are going for up to $90 on Amazon.



SATURN 3 (1980) - Farrah in outer space with Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel under the direction of Stanley Donen (a long way from SINGIN IN THE RAIN).



CANNONBALL RUN (1981) - My favorite Farrah movie.

She will be missed.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: DENNIS DUN

Not too long ago, I received an email with someone suggesting an actor by the name of Dennis Dun for the “What Ever Happened To” series. To be honest, I didn’t recognize the name. Reading his credits, my reaction changed to “Why haven’t I written about him before???”

Dennis Dun was born in 1952. After working as a production assistant on Wayne Wang’s DIM SUM, and a small role in YEAR OF THE DRAGON he would have the role that I remember him most from.


Wang Chi in John Carpenter’s BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. Playing Kurt Russell’s friend, this was a favorite of mine at the time. He was very memorable in it.

He would follow this up playing Big Li in Bertolucci’s THE LAST EMPEROR and team up once again with John Carpenter with PRINCE OF DARKNESS.



Next up was another of my favorites, playing Billy Po in the TV series MIDNIGHT CALLER. I’ve written about the series before in my piece on Wendy Kilbourne. It was a show I never missed.

After MIDNIGHT CALLER went off the air in 1991, his career sort of seemed to slow down. It does seem like the early 90’s was one of the worst eras for film careers. Direct to video films dominated the marketplace.

Dun continued to act, but in films that didn’t have much if any release. 1995’s VENUS RISING, a film most notable for an early screen appearance by Jessica Alba, seems to be one of the few that is even on DVD these days. By 1996 he was playing “Satellite Van Technician” in UP CLOSE & PERSONAL.

There was a lot of TV work, GRACE UNDER FIRE, THE NANNY, CHARMED, THE BERNIE MAC SHOW and a couple episodes of JAG.



So, What Ever Happened To Him?

On the director’s commentary for BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, Kurt Russell says he hadn’t seen Dennis in a while. John Carpenter mentions that he is married, with a kid and is very happy.

Dennis had a history in the theatre, and it looks like that is where he has spent a lot of his time. He even had a one man show, “Giant Oranges”.



He also appeared on the PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS in the “My Life Disoriented” series.

You can probably blame Hollywood for his not having a bigger career. While he was a very likable performer, there are few good roles out there for Asian actors.

Maybe Dennis, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell can team up once again. They had great chemistry the first time.

FORGOTTEN TV: 240-ROBERT (1979-1981)

240-ROBERT was a short lived TV series about “L.A. County Sheriff's Elite Emergency Strike Force”. Using helicopters, divers, and climbers, the gang was sent out on different rescue missions each week.

The cast included Joanna Cassidy and Mark Harmon. It was created by Rick Rosner, the man behind CHiPS

This was a show I watched every week. Maybe it had something to do with this promo.



The great Ernie Anderson could always get you watching.

The original series ran from August 28, 1979 to December 3, 1979. After being off the air for over a year, it came back in March of 1981. Only this time, both Cassidy and Harmon were gone. They were replaced by Stephen Burns and Pamela Hensley. After three episodes, the series was cancelled. The final episode aired March 21, 1981.

There is an excellent website devoted to the show, www.240-robert.com

Apparently, a few episodes of the series were released overseas on VHS. It has never made it to DVD.

Roger Ebert and John Wayne

Roger Ebert has another wonderful piece on his blog about the times he interviewed John Wayne.

After watching THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, EL DORADO, RIO BRAVO and RED RIVER recently, I've been realizing that Wayne, for all of his star power, was a very underrated actor.

TONY'S 2009: They Do It Again

The Tony's is the one awards show I watch every year without having seen any of the nominees. Despite that, it usually turns out to be the most entertaining of all, making me wish I was going to Broadway every weekend to see something.

Last night's was no exception. It was another great show.

Opening with a bang (and I'm not even referrubg Bret Michaels being hit in the head and and almost decapitated by the set), it was one of the fastest paced three hours I've seen in quite a while. While the Emmys and Oscars seem like they will never end, with musical numbers that bring the show to a halt, the Tony's are never boring, with musical numbers that you wish would never end.



Take this number from NEXT TO NORMAL, a show I hadn't heard much about before, and now I want to run out and see.



Neil Patrick Harris was a wonderful host. Bring him back next year. His final number was hysterical.

TRIVIA NOTE: He said that he had his first screen kiss with Samantha Mathis, who was a presenter. I'm guessing this was in 1989's COLD SASSY TREE.

A very entertaining night. If you missed it, head over to YouTube. There are plenty of clips posted.

Now to plan a trip to Broadway.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: AMY LOCANE

The “What Ever Happened To” series has turned into the most popular series here. And I have one person to thank for that, Amy Locane.

One day, when I couldn’t think of anything else to write, I noticed in the birthday listings that it was Amy Locane’s birthday. At the time, I wondered what happened to her? I then started thinking about other celebrities, Jonna Lee being the first, and the series was born.

So, I decided to go back and look at Amy Locane’s career, to write up an official series entry for her.

Amy got her start on the 1984 Chad Lowe sitcom SPENCER. Despite watching the show, and being the same age as Amy, I have no memory of her on this sitcom. She starred in a couple other TV series after that.


In the 1989 Hugh Hudson film LOST ANGELS, she starred opposite Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz. This film with Donald Sutherland as a doctor in a home for troubled kids, was a popular cable film, even though it didn’t get much of a theatrical release.

This began a run of popular films. From John Waters CRY BABY, NO SECRETS with another "What Ever Happened To" star Traci Lind, and 1992’s SCHOOL TIES.

In 1992, she also joined the cast of MELROSE PLACE for a brief run. This was followed by AIRHEADS with her SCHOOL TIES co-star Brendan Fraser and Adam Sandler.

1994 saw the release of BLUE SKY, the film that Jessica Lange won an Oscar for. The film had been on the shelf at Orion since 1991. Whether if it had come out any earlier, and had a greater impact on Amy’s career (who is very good in it), we will never know.


In 1996, she starred in yet another critically acclaimed role. She starred as Dennis Hopper’s object of obsession in CARRIED AWAY. A very daring performance by Amy, critics loved the film, even though it didn’t do much at the box office.

But the next few years saw a lot of Direct to DVD films, from GOING ALL THE WAY (with Ben Affleck and Rachel Weisz), BONGWATER (with Luke Wilson and Jack Black), LEGEND OF THE MUMMY, PREFONTAINE, and ROUTE 9 among others.

She did appear in the Maggie Gyllenhaal film SECRETARY. It was then back to smaller films before her last, a 2005 Sci-Fi Channel film ALIEN EXPRESS.



So, What Ever Happened To Her?

Amy moved back to New Jersey. There, in addition to reportedly teaching acting classes, she was married and now has two daughters, the most recent born in January 2009.

According to the IMDB, she recently finished an 8 minute short film, shot in New Jersey.

So maybe she will be returning to acting.

EDIT 6-28-10: According to the New Jersey Star Ledger, Amy Locane was accused of a fatal DUI accident yesterday. Details can be found on the website, but very tragic news.

The Moviezzz Blog's Favorite Film Books

The internet and home video have had a major impact on one aspect of culture.

Film Books.

Today, if you want to find out about a certain film, you can just go online and look it up at the IMDB. Or, you can go into your DVD collection and find a copy.

Going back to the early 80’s, this was much more difficult. There was no internet. You only had your 40 cable channels or local video store for what films you could see.

So, you had to rely on these things called books. They allowed you to learn about films you would be otherwise unable to see.

Thanks to a post over at The Dancing Image, I decided to make up a list of the most important film books, for me at least.



LEONARD MALTIN’S MOVIE GUIDE - There really is no close second, the Leonard Maltin guide is still the most used book in my collection. I have a copy 2 feet away that I just looked something up five minutes ago. I can see five different volumes three feet away on the shelf. I have 2 more copies down by my TV (including Maltin’s CLASSIC MOVIE GUIDE).

This is the one film book I buy every year, not only for the new titles but because I use them so much that I wear them out. And, I never get rid of the old ones as he is often dropping titles from it to make room for new ones.

Maltin’s book is great for the facts needed about a film (Cast, crew, year, running times) as well as an overview of the film. Some may argue with some of his ratings, or be unhappy that each film is only given a paragraph, but sometimes, that is all you need.


VIDEO MOVIE GUIDE by Mick Martin and Marsha Porter - Before I ever got a Maltin volume, I was given the VIDEO MOVIE GUIDE by Mick Martin and Marsha Porter in the early 80’s. I memorized this book and read it so much that it split in half into two volumes.

It was essentially Maltin’s guide, only more opinionated, broken into genres, with the addition of what elements of the film gave it the MPAA rating. They rated films from 5 stars to Turkey.

What I learned later on was that, well, I didn’t always agree with what the writers were saying about films.

Throughout the book, the writers would continually give Turkey ratings to this director named John Waters. They HATED his work, even though they reviewed all of his films. Not only that, in the MPAA rating section, all his films were rated X for “every excess imaginable”.

This was before HAIRSPRAY. I had never heard of him. I truly became scared reading this book that such a man existed in our world. Who was this John Waters? Why hadn’t he been stopped? Why wasn’t he behind bars?

I remember seeing he was going to be on Letterman, and setting the VCR. But, President Reagan spoke that night, throwing off the time, and I never saw the evil man’s appearance.

Of course later on I saw my first John Waters film, and then his others, and realized they were overreacting. By that time, I had moved on from the guides.

Last week I picked up my first volume in 20 years at a library book sale. It has one great feature that Maltin doesn’t have, a complete cast and director index for everyone in the book. To save room, Maltin only has it for the major stars and directors.

PEOPLE MAGAZINE GUIDE TO MOVIES ON VIDEO by Ralph Novak and Peter Travers - I found this book for a dollar at a store in the mid 80’s. Written by Ralph Novak and Peter Travers, it is one of the more entertaining to read video guides. Travers was a better writer back then, before he felt the need to throw in as many expletives as possible in his Rolling Stone reviews. I remember one line from this book about Henry Jaglom (who I like) “Let’s start up a fund so that Henry Jaglom never makes another film again.” I haven’t seen my copy since the 90’s, but it was one I used to read for fun back in the day.


THE PYRAMID ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF MOVIES - These were a collection of paperbacks from the 70’s, each a biography of a different star. They would go through their life, and cover all of their films in a breezy style, written by soon to be major film authors. Leonard Maltin wrote one on Carole Lombard, Jeanine Basinger wrote one on Lana Turner.



THE FILMS OF... - Another terrific series from the 1970’s. They would go through a stars career and list all of their film. Each film would have the complete credits, a brief overview, as well as selections from reviews. Joe Baltake wrote an excellent one on Jack Lemmon. They would be filled with stills from the films. Now with access to DVDs, I guess we no longer care about these types of books. But I for one wish they would be updated.


THE (INSERT STUDIO) STORY - I think all the studios had books in this series, last updated in the early 80’s. They were these oversized coffee table books that would go year by year through the studios output, listing all of their films, with a description and stills from each. A great record of what films were released.


SCREEN WORLD series by John Willis - Each year, this book is released that has the credits and usually a still or two of every film that is released that year. It is a GREAT reference tool. I used to read these in the library and have only recently begun collecting them for myself after reading Dennis Cozzalio’s wonderful story about them.

I guess you can see from most of these books that I tend to go for reference books more than criticism books. While I have most of the books by Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, not to mention the yearly Roger Ebert volumes, I really don’t use them for research all that much. They are great to read though.