Cinema Retro continues to shine the spotlight on worthwhile independent films. Tom Lisanti interviews David Youse, one of the stars of the new movie The Neighbor starring Matthew Modine.

Busy character actor David Youse is co-starring with Matthew Modine, one of the most charming underrated actors who came onto the Hollywood scene in the mid-Eighties, and French actress Michèle Laroque in a new romantic comedy called The Neighbor. Directed by Eddie O’Flagherty (whose previous film was Fighting Tommy Riley) and based on the French TV movie Mon voisin du dessus, it is a tale of a high-powered real estate developer (Laroque), who with her equally snobbish wheeler-dealer fiancé (Ed Quinn), purchase a condo with the intention of evicting the upstairs tenant (Modine) so they can expand into a duplex. Only problem is—he won’t leave. Youse plays Modine’s former best friend who is about to marry his ex-wife (Meredith Scott Lynn). When he gets an invite to the nuptials, Modine puts aside his war games with Laroque and makes a deal with her to give up rights to his apartment in return for her to be his hot date to upstage the bride and groom. Of course, unexpected sparks will fly between the disputing neighbors as they get to know each other away from the battle ground of the condo.

David Youse is hugely entertaining as the fumbling groom-to-be in The Neighbor. An accomplished actor of stage, film, and TV, Youse has appeared in a variety of genres. A familiar face to viewers of the defunct UPN network, he turned up on practically all their sitcoms including Living Single, Unhappily Ever After, and Sister, Sister plus appearances on Murphy Brown and Ellen, among others. Star Trek fans remember him as one of the religious zealots who take over the star ship in “Chosen Realm” on Enterprise; soap watchers know him for his recurring role as Father Kelly on Days of Our Lives; and gay romantic comedy fans remember him as one of Matt McGrath’s blind dates from hell in The Broken Hearts Club.

What drew you to the role of the ex-best friend in The Neighbor?

When I first read the script, I fell for the comedy. Comedy is a very tricky thing. You have to have the timing down and it has to be honest. And to rehearse that comedy, to get it right, that is what drew me to The Neighbor. Knowing that I could have the chance to rehearse, work and eventually shoot comedy, with such fine actors like Matthew Modine, Michele Laroque (french comic genius) and Meredith Scott Lynn, I jumped at that chance.

What do you think you did in your reading that made you stand out?

I remember it was a rainy Friday about 5 PM and I was not in a very good mood. Director Eddie O'Flaherty and Producer Michel Rampal were holding the auditions. The process was going extremely slow. A few name actors were there and I thought I didn't have a chance. So I just went in, without nerves, took my time and just nailed it. I remember Eddie looking at me for a moment and he didn't say a word. I asked, "Like that?" He said something like, "Um, yeah, great. Let’s do the next scene." I did it. He busted up laughing and said, "Great, thank you." I remember asking then, "Do you need to see it another way?" and he said, “No.” I left and just thought he'll hire some one else with name recognition. But I knew I nailed it.

How was it working with Matthew Modine?

Wow. To get the chance to work with an actor that has consistently put out some amazing work and that is so respected among his peers was a blast. Matthew, to me, is child-like, fun, silly, playful, yet intelligent, wise and so grounded in who he is, that it makes working with him an absolute delight. I spent a few hours with him and Eddie the weekend before we were to start shooting. We rehearsed at the house where Matthew was living at the time and we got to know each other as best as we could in the 4 or 5 hours that we spent. We play best friends in the film and Eddie really wanted to see that relationship come through in the film. So after the initial hellos and coffee and tea that Matthew made for us, we started rehearsing what we call the Dentist scene. Running around, physical comedy and we arranged his furniture to look like the office. We had a great time, trying new things, laughing a lot and Matthew sharing some personal stories about his life—a great guy.

Was it a pleasant set to work on?

Oh, absolutely. What a pleasure to get up in the morning and be happy to go to work. To spend the day with Michele Laroque, laughing, and Matthew playing jokes, I mean, come on. The entire crew was so helpful and nice. Everyone just worked hard and had a great time. We shot the film in 25 days.

What do you think makes The Neighbor stand apart from other romantic comedies of this ilk?

Well, I have to say that it's nice to see the woman in a position of financial power and guy trying to understand what's going on with himself, emotionally. That I think is the key. Here is a character, whose life is falling apart, his business is going down the tubes, his best friend is marrying his ex-wife and his neighbor is trying to evict him. And that's the guy! She holds the strings. He doesn't and that's nice to watch it play out in reverse.

Do you prefer playing these fumbling type comic characters or more serious roles?

Well, comedy is always fun to do, but at the same time, it could be very frustrating. You really have to get it just right. But when you do and you know it clicks, that's the best. The serious roles are great to do in a whole different way. To feel that emotion in a tough scene, take after take, is very grueling. But at the same time, when you've been worn down and you feel like you have nothing else to give, that's usually the best take.

Have to ask about Enterprise. Do you have any anecdotes from working on that series with Scott Bakula?

Star Trek: Enterprise—I tell ya. Four hours of make-up and hair sitting in a chair without moving. Fun.

What’s next for David Youse?

I've been offered a play here in Los Angeles that starts rehearsing in early September, with an opening the following month. I haven't said yes yet, but that's looking pretty good right now—at least today.

The Neighbor is playing a limited engagement in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 until August 22.

Click here for the movie’s official web site.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

An over-capacity crowd packed the Academy Theater in New York last night for AMPAS’s popular “Monday Nights with Oscar” program, this time featuring a special treat: “Hollywood Home Movies: Treasures from the Academy Film Archive.” The program, curated by Academy archivist Lynne Kirstee and accompanied by pianist Donald Sosin, afforded a rare glimpse into the intimate scenes of family life of Hollywood’s legendary directors, producers and actors, and were at once fascinating and strangely familiar.

Neile Adam-McQueen, Kriste Lynne, Vera Fairbanks and Robert Coe. (Photo: Alex Oliveira / ©A.M.P.A.S.)

We saw Alfred Hitchcock playing with his baby daughter Patricia on their English estate; Bogart and Bacall sailing their beloved Santana out of the Newport Beach marina (she’s making dreary sandwiches down in the hull while he dashingly masters the riggings up on deck, an ever-present cigarette dangling from his lips); Cedric Gibbons and his wife Dolores del Rio entertaining guests poolside at their home in Santa Monica; and other peeks at the off-hours of Hollywood’s Golden Age royalty. Interestingly, just when the scenes began to look overly familiar in that “every family has an over-eating aunt” way, out of left field comes a sophisticated camera trick (Hitchcock eating a banana backwards, for example) that reminds one that these people literally had technical magic at their fingertips.

Or, for example, watching Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland playing in a charity tennis match in 1939 (part of the Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Collection) gives the viewer the sensation of being in a communal living room and watching home movies of everyone’s relatives. Or something bizarre like that.

The program also included revealing commentary from the likes of Gary Cooper’s daughter, Maria Cooper Janis; Steve McQueen’s wife, Neile Adams; and the last wife of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Vera Shelton, among others. As Shelton recounted in an amusing anecdote, she met Fairbanks by chance at a crowded bar when she turned to the man next to her and asked his help in getting her a drink. For some, brushes with fame remain just that. For others, they turn into relationships, affairs or marriages that last decades.

McQueen poses at home with super model Peggy Moffitt next to his 1963 Ferrari Berlinetta Lusso GT- a gift from his wife Neile.

One revelation I found fascinating was the availability of color film to the home movie camera user as early as the mid-1930s. In the Hitchcock segment, the clip was in a dreamy “lenticular color” which is registered on a specialized film through thousands of minute “lenses” embedded into the emulsion, and then usually projected through a tri-color banded filter (these details courtesy of Wikipedia). Also holding up astonishingly well were the Kodachrome film clips featuring Esther Williams at home (circa 1949-55) and the beautiful saturated color footage of Marlon Brando shooting On the Waterfront (c. 1953-54), courtesy of the Charles Rossi Collection.

The program was also punctuated with early home movies of New York Harbor in 1927, a beauty contest parade in Atlantic City from 1935, and the neon wonderland of Times Square in the mid-1950s, providing a national context to the celebrity home movie clips through the decades.

Bravo to AMPAS for this entertaining and revealing evening!

The Academy Theater is located at 111 East 59^th Street in Manhattan. Please note Monday Nights with Oscar is going on hiatus for the month of September for administrative needs. For reservations to any event in this monthly film series, call (888) 778-7575.

-DAVID SAVAGE

IF IT'S NOT TUESDAY, IT MUST BE YVETTE, CAROL OR DIANE

BY TOM LISANTI

From 1959 to 1964 blonde nymphets, in the tradition of the thumb-sucking Carroll Baker in Baby Doll, ruled the silver screen. Two of the most popular with teenage audiences were Sandra Dee and Connie Stevens but the four with the most potential to become important actresses and who always seemed on the verge of major stardom were Yvette Mimieux, Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, and Diane McBain. These scintillating starlets molded in the image of the flaxen-haired, pony-tailed Barbie Doll released during this time were interchangeable as a litter of kittens. Glancing at movie magazines of the time, you barely could tell one from the other. But these baby doll blondes had to grow up and when they did surprisingly none of them became super stars as poor choices, typecasting, and just sheer bad luck hurt their careers.

Yvette in The Time Machine

Once described as a “princess come to life” Yvette Mimieux excelled playing the fragile beauty who seemed to be always on the verge of a breakdown (a vacationing coed who goes all the way in Where the Boys Are, 1960; a mentally disturbed beauty in A Light in the Piazza, 1962; a rich girl in love with an Hawaiian beach boy in Diamond Head, 1963; and the wife of a struggling law student in Joy in the Morning, 1965) or fantasy figure come to life (one of the Enui in The Time Machine, 1960; a princess in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 1962). By the late Sixties/early Seventies she graduated to playing “the girl” in a number of popular adventure movies including The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967), Dark of the Sun (1968), Skyjacked (1972), The Neptune Factor (1973) while working steadily on TV. Perhaps tired of being typecast, she wrote and starred as The Hit Lady for TV and then played a rape victim who seeks revenge in the violent and popular drive-in hit, Jackson County Jail (1975), which sustained her leading lady status into the Eighties.

Carol in The Poseidon Adventure

Carol Lynley, who was once described as having “beauty that is awe inspiring,” began playing the good girl (a pregnant unwed teen in Blue Denim, 1959; aspiring author Allison MacKenzie in Return to Peyton Place, 1961) before going the sex kitten route (a coed living platonically with her boyfriend in Under the Yum Yum Tree, 1963; one of three girls looking for romance in The Pleasure Seekers, 1964). She progressed to more adult roles as a harried young mother searching for her misplaced daughter who may or may not exist in the cult classic Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) and a young woman who inherits an old mill complete with a hideous thing in the attic in The Shuttered Room (1967). Her excellent performances typed her as the damsel-in-distress though she essayed the role of a psychopathic heiress in Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969). Lynley unwisely turned down Five Easy Pieces in 1970 (“They were only paying scale”) and despite a banner 1972—she began it playing reporter Darren McGavin’s girlfriend in the highest rated TV-movie up to that point in The Night Stalker and ended the year as the terrified pop singer in the box office champ, The Poseidon Adventure—the remainder of the decade found her unjustly mired in low-budget independent films, TV-movies, and stranded on Fantasy Island.

Tuesday goes the cheesecake route

Tuesday Weld had more of an edge to her than Mimieux and Lynley, and in keeping with her real life wild child persona see-sawed back and forth between the mischievous hormonal teenager (Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys, 1959; Bachelor Flat, 1962; Soldier in the Rain, 1963; I’ll Take Sweden, 1965); the tramp (Wild in the Country, 1961); and the self-absorbed sex kitten (Lord Love a Duck, 1966). Weld undoubtedly could have become a superstar but she famously turned down Lolita (“I don’t have to play Lolita—I am Lolita!”) and backed out of Bonnie and Clyde due to pregnancy. After playing a murderous psychopath to great effect in the little-seen Pretty Poison (1968), she turned down in quick succession True Grit, Cactus Flower, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice once again assuring that she would never be known to the masses. In the Seventies she kept working steadily in studio productions (Play It As It Lays won her kudos in 1972) and even received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting turn as Diane Keaton’s sister in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) but never appeared in a box office smash though by the Eighties she was still copping leads opposite major stars in big movies—Thief (1981) with James Caan; Author! Author! (1982) with Al Pacino; and Once Upon a Time in America (1984) with Robert De Niro.

Diane: the epitome of elegance and style

While Yvette, Carol and Tuesday all essayed the good girl roles, Diane McBain seem to be always cast as the sophisticate or spoiled rich girl who never got her man (Parrish, 1961; Mary, Mary, 1963; A Distant Trumpet, 1964; Spinout, 1966.) As Southern tramp Claudelle Inglish (1961), she not only lost her true love but wound up with a stomach pumped full of buckshot by an irate father. Though McBain brought a vulnerability to these characters and made the audience empathize with them, they typed her almost forever as the bitch. As she matured her roles got even badder—a dope dealing high school teacher in Maryjane and a tough-talking biker chick in The Mini-Skirt Mob—and her films cheaper. By the end of the decade, McBain was still being outshined by her three contemporaries even playing second fiddle to Mimieux in The Delta Factor (1970). Never able to arise from low-budget exploitation movies, the Seventies found her talent wasted in Grade-Z productions (Wicked, Wicked, 1973; The Deathhead Virgin, 1974), the occasional TV-movie, and lots of television guest roles.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com