Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

FUN WITH THE CASSAVETES CLAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2wTGNBehs The magnificent Gena Rowlands passed away last week and in tribute to her I offer the above legendary video which features her husband John Cassavetes, Paul Stewart, Ben Gazzara and Seymour Cassel (sort of–he’s barely seen and doesn’t speak) sitting around a table in a restaurant called ‘The Bull

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HOLLYWOOD, ’31

Yesterday we took a drive down Sunset Blvd. in 1952. Let’s leap backwards twenty years and get some color glimpses of L.A. in 1931. This neat little newsreel is essentially an architectural tour–what else really is there to do in L.A. other than drive around looking at houses?–but at the

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SUNSET BLVD. THEN/NOW

Dig this nifty video showing filmed driving footage of Sunset Blvd. in 1952 contrasted with a still image of the same street corner today whenever the car in the earlier footage stops at a light. We can date the old footage from early May, 1952–‘Singin’ in the Rain’ & ‘The

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WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Hold That Lion’ (1947) is the 100th short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Tuesday, January 28 through Friday, January 31 1947 and was released on Thursday, July 17th of that year (the 198th day on the Gregorian Calendar). The film is notable

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SAM FULLER–ONE TOUGH-ASS S.O.B. DIRECTOR

Continuing our theme of tough-ass action/noir directors being interviewed by soft, Omelette-making, Napoleon-eating, red-wine guzzling French guys (see yesterday’s Don Siegel interview) here is Sam Fuller describing the making of one of the seminal scenes in his oeuvre–the pickpocketing on the subway moment from ‘Pickup On South Street’ (1953). It’s

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DON SIEGEL; PARKING LOT DIRECTOR?

The fine director Don Siegel (‘Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’, ‘Dirty Harry’, ‘Escape From Alcatraz’) was a dryly amusing, self-deprecating fellow who was interviewed on camera far less often than he should have been. Here’s a short interview with him from 1984 in which he says he has no style

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WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Loose Loot’ (1953/1947) was the 146th short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. No production dates are available but the film was released on Thursday, April 2, 1953 (the 92nd day of the year on the Gregorian Calendar). The first half of the film consists of a

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‘THE WIZ’–BEHIND THE SCENES

Yesterday’s behind the scenes post featured Sidney Lumet directing ‘Dog Day Afternoon’. Today, Sidney is back as we take a look at the making of the catastrophic 1977 musical adaptation of ‘The Wiz’. The film was co-produced by Universal Pictures and Motown Records and starred Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena

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‘TOOTSIE’–BEHIND THE SCENES

As a young fellow wandering the streets of New York City in the late 70/early 80s I was always thrilled to stumble upon a movie shoot in progress. Since the New York filmmaking community was quite small then, it was more than likely to be either a Woody Allen or

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WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Cuckoo On A Choo Choo’ (1952) was the 143rd short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Monday, April 21 through Wednesday, April 23, 1952 and was released on Thursday, December 4th of that year (the 339th day on the Gregorian Calendar). The film

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