By Lee Pfeiffer

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continues its controversial changes to forthcoming Oscar broadcasts. Honorary Oscars, such as the Hersholt and Thalberg awards, will no longer be part of the ceremony and will be presented at a separate black tie dinner. This may please the unsophisticated crowd who don't even know who these legends are, but is sure to alienate classic movie purists who count these awards as a highlight of the broadcast. The policy change is further proof that the purpose of the broadcast has less to do with honoring the right people than it does with getting ratings. If the policy had been in place in recent years, movie fans would have been denied such emotional highlights as seeing Sidney Lumet, Peter O'Toole, Jerry Lewis and many others receiving their lifetime achievement awards. All this to make more time to squeeze in the stars of  Transformers 2? The Academy is also tweaking the Best Song category rules in a way that may result in the complete absence of nominees in any given year. Given the quality of what's been nominated recently, it's hard to argue with this plan. For more click here

The critically-trashed Transformers 2 showed that audiences preferred brawn over brains this weekend, as the action packed, S/FX-laden movie opened to a huge gross of $200 million in the North American market. To put that into perspective, the highest grossing films this year are Up and Star Trek, both of which have grossed approximately $250 million to date. The new Transformers will overtake those grosses in just a week. For  more click here

They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a stranger coupling than the entertainment world spawned when Marlon Brando spent two wild nights with Jackie Onassis. It all happened in 1964 when the two met up and engaged in some dancing, drinking and flirting that resulted in JFK's widow seducing Hollywood's most notorious swordsman. The tale was to be included in Brando's autobiography, but was cut from the manuscript by an editor who was a friend of Jackie's. To read more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that they will expand the best picture Oscar nominee category from five films to ten. The Academy feels this will result in a more equitable and broader selection of films. Movie fans have long griped that the Academy is too elite when it comes to recognizing the merits of movies that become financial blockbusters. The controversy reached a boiling point last year when the highly acclaimed Batman pic The Dark Knight was ignored in most of the major categories despite being a critical success. There had been a time when popular blockbusters like Airport, The Towering Inferno and Jaws would place among the best picture nominees, but in more recent years, art house films have often dominated the category. There are other pluses for A.M.P.A.S in that the inclusion of more popular titles among the best picture nominees might help improve ratings, which have been sagging in recent years. However, no other categories will be expanded and the best director nominees will still be restricted to five. Industry types  realize that in all probability, the eventual best picture winner will almost certainly derive from one of those five nominees' films. The change in rules actually is a reversion back to the years 1931-1943 when the best picture category had ten films. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

The administration of President Richard M. Nixon was consistently satirized during the 1970s for putting forth an image of square white guys who were constantly paranoid that somewhere, somehow, somebody might be having a good time. Newly revealed documents show that this was a stereotype based on reality. Despite racial unrest, anti-war riots and a teetering economy, the Nixon administration pushed the FBI to spend a staggering amount of time, manpower and money trying to investigate the origins of the legendary porn film Deep Throat. Virtually every aspect of the sensational 1972 movie was looked into, and the FBI even intimidated hapless couriers who delivered the canisters of film to theaters. Ironically, the one aspect they might have been justified in investigating apparently was ignored: the involvement of the mafia in taking control of the film and the hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Ironically, one of the FBI higher-ups involved in the investigation was Mark Felt, the man who was later revealed to be the source of information that brought down the Nixon administration. Why the irony? The code name assigned to him was Deep Throat. For the story click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Variety reports that Columbia Pictures head honcho Amy Pascal has put a halt to filming of director Steven Soderbergh and Brad Pitt's new film Moneyball just days before production was to begin. Pascal said that Soderbergh's re-write of the script drastically altered the storyline that she had given the green light to. Soderbergh is now seeking another studio to take on the $50 million baseball-themed film. It's not unusual for production deals to fall apart, but it is rare that they do so this late in the day and involving this level of high profile talent. However, even though $50 million seems like a low budget film these days, Columbia obviously feels the project is too risky. Soderbergh's directorial efforts have largely been box-office bombs with the exception of his Oceans Eleven movies and Pitt's record has been spotty at best. Add to the mix the fact that few baseball movies have resonated as financial successes, and you have plenty of reasons to explain Pascal's reluctance to proceed with the film. There's also the chance that the storyline, which is based on a book by Michael Lewis, is too inside baseball. Soderbergh plans to incorporate interviews with and performances by actual players into the film. For more click here

The shameful scandal revolving around the closing of the supposedly cash-strapped legendary home for members of the film industry continues. Actress Diane Ladd has courageously stepped forward to be a spokesperson for a group dedicated to saving the lives of elderly patients who are being forced to evacuate the home and relocate to other facilities. Reports say that several of the patients have died during the transfer process. In an open letter, Ladd chides members of the show business community for allowing this to happen and equates the callousness of the Hollywood community to the conditions that allowed the Holocaust to occur. Ladd points out that the Hollywood show business community is rolling in money, yet they have deserted the elderly veterans of the business and allowed this horrendous occurrence to endanger their lives. The closing of the home has been fraught with controversy and Deadline Hollywood columnist Nikki Finke has reported on suspicions that the financial situation may not be as dire as has been stated. For more click here 

TMZ reports that director Michael Bay sent an E mail to Paramount brass in May complaining that the artiste's latest "masterpiece"- Transformers 2-  was not getting a teaser campaign worthy of such an epic. Now you may remember the days when an "event movie" was generally perceived as being the likes of Ben-Hur or Cleopatra. However, Bay griped in the E mail that Transformers 2 now merits that status - and Paramount should have given the film a more aggressive and creative teaser campaign. A few weeks later, however, Bay was "transformed" and wrote a second E mail complimenting the studio's handling of the film's release. We wonder if Bay will force the studio to underwrite one of those useless vanity campaigns to promote his new masterpiece during this year's Oscar season. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

When a politician attends the annual White House Radio and Television Correspondent's Dinner, they know they are entering the lion's den. The event is akin to a room full of Don Rickles clones and there are no sacred cows. A tuxedo-clad President Obama was this year's guest and his deft ability to throw off a one-liner brought down the house- especially since he attacked fellow politicians and prominent correspondents, spoofing his own image in the process. Good thing the Pundit-in-Chief has a sense of humor about himself because the satirist company JibJab premiered their new short starring Obama as a superhero - complete with Dumbo-size ears. Regardless of where you stand politically, it's hilarious - as even the President attested through his reaction. For the record, the flick is far superior to most of the serious super hero claptrap released by Hollywood.

Click here to view

Remember when first ladies all seemed to have the sex appeal of Eleanor Roosevelt? The USA may be agog over sexy Michele Obama, but when it comes to off-the-charts glamour, no one can top Carla Bruni, the first lady of France. The former fashion model was routinely photographed canoodling with French President Sarkozy in the weeks leading up to their wedding - and before the ink was even dry on his divorce from his first wife. Now Woody Allen says he intends to lure Ms. Bruni to the silver screen with a role in a future film. Meanwhile, we'll use this story as a weak excuse to run the above photo of Ms. Bruni in her modeling days - and we can all breath a sigh of relief that Eleanor Roosevelt never had a penchant for posing similarly. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

In a blow to the Farrelly Brothers' long-planned big screen feature The Three Stooges, Sean Penn has dropped out of the project. He had been slated to play Larry Fine. Now the filmmakers are concerned that co-stars Jim Carrey and Benecio del Toro might get cold feet as well. They are scheduled to play Curley and Moe Howard respectively. The pic had been planned to go into production this summer. Penn, who also dropped out of a thriller titled Cartel, cited he wants to spend more time with his family. Isn't that the excuse disgraced politicians usually use when they are forced from office due to a scandal? In Penn's case, it appears to be legit, especially since he is seeking to reconcile with his wife Robin Wright Penn. For more click here

This week marks Father's Day in the USA and critic John Farr weighs in with his suggestions for the best movies ever made in terms of commemorating dear old dad. See if you agree by clicking here to read. 

The estate of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans has licensed the rights to a trilogy of theatrical films to be marketed as "The King of the Cowboys". It is not known what format the film will take, but the press release promises that it will make Roy and Dale relevant to modern audiences. This won't be an easy task since the legendary couple both passed away many years ago. It also doesn't state how the beloved husband and wife cowboy team will be made to appeal to modern audiences. Although Roy and Dale spawned a huge merchandising bonanza in the 1950s through their hit TV series, the format of that show would look creaky and corny to today's audiences. Regardless, we retro lovers welcome the return of the King of the Cowboys. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Michael Moore employed old fashioned showmanship to launch the teaser trailer for his forthcoming (not yet titled) documentary about corruption in corporate America. The innovative gag is that Moore addresses the audience directly and pleads for them to dig deep and give to ushers who will be passing donation cans for cash-strapped banks that have received bailout money. Incredibly, despite the fact that Moore is best known as a humorist and the plea is clearly designated as a movie trailer, MSNBC reported today that some gullible members of the audience actually dug deep and donated money! These are obviously folks whose grandparents jumped off window ledges after Orson Welles told them the Martians had landed in New Jersey. To view the trailer, click here

Roger Friedman, the gossip columnist who was fired by Fox News allegedly for seeming to endorse video piracy, says the real reason the company dismissed him was due to pressure from The Church of Scientology, which was offended by articles he wrote that were critical of the church. Friedman got in hot water several months ago when he wrote in his column that he obtained a bootlegged copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine with ease - and seemed to be less than critical about the practice of viewing pirated copies. Fox News summarily fired him and he now writes for The Hollywood Reporter. In an interview with the New York Daily News gossip column Rush & Molloy, Friedman says he will sue Fox News because he thinks the video piracy issue was just a convenient excuse to cave in to pressure from Scientologists, specifically actress Kelly Preston, wife of John Travolta. The organization has been a hotbed of controversy over the decades. Defenders say it is a genuine religion that has been constantly harrassed by the media because its beliefs and practices are outside the realm of other churches. Critics call it a cult that exploits naive and emotionally fragile people through techniques that approach brainwashing. For more click here

Our friend Tommy Z, who runs the testosterone-laden PlanetZMan web site inducts a new actress every week into his Cougar Hall of Fame. The qualification: they must be a mature actress who is still  remarkably sexy. This week, it's Heather Locklear, who is finally get her reward for playing second fiddle to William Shatner in T.J. Hooker. Click here to enter The Cougar Hall of Fame. 

Hundreds of friends, colleagues and co-stars attended the funeral services for actor David Carradine yesterday at Forest Lawn. Classical music and The Beatles' Let It Be were played as homages to the 72-year old actor who was found dead in Bangkok last week. The cause of his death is still under investigation, though family and a private pathologist say it was not suicide. For coverage, click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Sexpot actress Heather Graham is the latest Hollywood star to swoon over Far Eastern meditation techniques. In Graham's case, she says she is an enthusiast of tantric sex. Now, I will admit that what Heather Graham's attitudes are about anything generally ranks below my interest in the Norwegian agricultural budget for the year. However, her mention of the fact that tantric sex lasts up to eight hours brought out the leering adolescent in me and warranted a quick Google search that pointed me to this web site about the technique. It's apparently from the Kama Sutra, but I quickly lost interest after reading that more study was required for tantric sex than was allocated to my final exams in college. Besides, the last time I practiced anything from the Kama Sutra, I didn't realize that page 51 had a misprint and I ended up in traction for six months. Even the prospect of eight hour sex couldn't motivate me to share Ms. Graham's enthusiasm because I'm generally too lazy to get up to find the remote for the TV, thus stick with whatever happens to come on the tube.

Los Angeles is ground zero of the international porn industry, with over 200 production companies grinding out direct-to-video X rated films. The industry has always maintained that its practice of self-regulation in terms of health practices has ensured there have been no known cases of HIV among adult performers since 2004, when several people were diagnosed with the disease and publicly identified. Now, however, an unnamed actress in the industry has been confirmed as having HIV. She apparently continued to work after the diagnosis and had sex with both her boyfriend and a male co-star. That co-star, in turn, had relations with other women. Health officials are extremely concerned that the disease could spread rapidly and enter the general population. In the center of the controversy is the reluctance of adult film stars to use condoms on screen. For more click here

David Carradine's brothers Keith and Robert held a press conference today to announce the findings of an independent autopsy report that concluded David Carradine did not commit suicide. The famous pathologist Michael Baden, who has been hired by the family to try to reach a final conclusion on the cause of death, issued a statement saying he cannot do so at this time and is awaiting further important information from Thai authorities. Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok on June 4. 

By Lee Pfeiffer

John Wayne has always been, and probably always will be, my favorite actor. My earliest memories of going to movies are filled with images of John Wayne. I was about four years old when I remember seeing him on-screen for the first time in The Horse Soldiers - and I knew who he was even then. He was not the best actor among those I admired, nor was he the Johnny One-Note that his critics liked to paint him as. Wayne, who died 30 years ago today, was not overly diversified. He knew his audience and what they expected of him. The few times he strayed dramatically from that image were disastrous. (i.e The Conqueror in which he played Genghis Khan and his notorious, show-stopping cameo in The Greatest Story Ever Told playing a Roman soldier.) However, since his death, Wayne- who was a polarizing figure politically - has been forgiven for his "sin" of being an unapologetic right winger by most of his critics on the left. They have learned to separate the actor from the man and there is now general agreement that Wayne was capable of delivering superb performances. In my personal opinion, the essential Wayne catalog includes his remarkable work in Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers and Rio Bravo. Unlike many actors, Wayne got better as he got older, bringing a world-weariness to his performances that made his work in films like True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Cowboys and The Shootist rank among the finest performances of the era. Even his lightweight late career efforts were terrific entertainment: Big Jake, Chisum, The Train Robbers  and his two dirty cop movies McQ and Brannigan. Turkeys like Hellfighters and Cahill: U.S. Marshall are more enjoyable than most of the special effects-laden garbage released today.

On a personal level, Wayne represented a time when people held political beliefs based on reason and thought, not blind ideology. His political opponents were inevitably shocked by the fact that the man was a true scholar and proficient in the classics. He enjoyed debating those on the political left, but rarely let it get personal. He detested Jane Fonda's trip to North Vietnam but refused to bad mouth her personally because he knew her since she was a baby and didn't want to cause grief for his old friend Henry Fonda. Wayne was instrumental in supporting Joe McCarthy's deplorable blacklisting tactics in the 1950s, yet he formed a close personal friendship with Kirk Douglas - a liberal who single-handedly broke the blacklist. The two men would star in three films together. Wayne represented a more civil era of political debate. He was stubborn in his support of Nixon and Agnew, but enthusiastically participated in President Jimmy Carter's inauguration ceremonies. He told the new president "I'm a member of the opposition, Mr. President - the loyal opposition. I wouldn't have it any other way." Can you imagine George Clooney having saying the same at George Bush's inauguration, or Rush Limbaugh wishing President Obama the very best?

Actor/producer Michael Douglas is the recipient of the 35th annual American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Oscar-winner has a penchant for playing a wide range of characters from larger-than-life heroes to outright cads. He reflects on his life and career in an interview with Variety. Click here to read. (The ceremony will be telecast by TV Land on July 19). 

Director Mike Nichols reflected on his first experience watching his film The Graduate at a public movie screening in New York. He was stunned by the reaction of the audience, which was going wild over the events onscreen. Nichols admits that initially he took flack from college kids because the movie deftly avoided any mention of the central issue of the day: the Vietnam War. However, students began to rally to the movie and embraced it in a major way. Nichols also recalls that he rejected both Robert Redford and Candice Bergen for the film. For more click here

Bangkok police say they have nothing to hide in their investigation of the death of actor David Carradine, and would welcome FBI involvement if it were relegated to  observing procedures. The Carradine family want the FBI to be involved in the investigation of the strange circumstances of Carradine's death. The 72 year old actor was found hanging in his hotel closet with a rope tied around his neck, wrist and genitals. Bangkok police initially considered the case a suicide, but have since recanted. The case has  fueled the usual lunatic fringe of conspiracy theorists who are now trying to make a connection between Carradine's Kung Fu series and his death, speculating that he may have been killed by ninjas! The FBI, for its part, says it only gets involved in such cases if foul play is a real possibility. The Carradine family intends to carry out an independent autopsy. The results of the Thai autopsy won't be released for several weeks. For more click here

It's hard to believe, but Robert Redford has been a star for almost fifty years. He doesn't grant many interviews unless they are about social causes he is active in, but San Francisco Chronicle VP Phil Bronstein interviewed Redford about his long film career for over an hour at the  recent San Francisco International Film Festival. Click here to watch the fascinating chat. 

Al Pacino is said to be seriously thinking about playing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in You Don't Know Jack. The project centers on the controversial physician whose belief in assisted suicide has led to his conviction of second-degree murder. He is presently serving a jail term. Kevorkian is known as Dr. Death to his detractors, but his passionate stance that patients should be assisted in taking their own lives if they are suffering from a terminal illness, opened up major debates in American political circles. The film project has been kicking around for quite some time, and Sir Ben Kingsley was once attached. Barry Levinson will direct. For more click here 

Bangkok police are now uncertain whether actor David Carradine's death was due to suicide. Like most media outlets, Cinema Retro reported the early police conclusion that he took his own life, as Carradine was found hanging in a hotel closet with a nylon rope around his neck. We also reported that his friends and colleagues on the film he was about to shoot in Thailand were skeptical that he had any suicidal tendencies. However, the new theory offered by police adds a lurid and sensationalistic aspect to the case. Given the uncertain facts about the case, we would prefer not to directly report on these allegations unless they are proven to be fact, out of respect to Mr. Carradine.  If you want to read how the mainstream media is covering these new theories, click here.

After many months of speculation about his next project will be, it appears that Tom Cruise will team with Cameron Diaz for the action comedy Wichita, according to Variety. Cruise will play a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman. Interestingly, it appears the flick will be released through 20th Century Fox, not United Artists - the film studio Cruise is now associated with from a business partner standpoint. His last film for UA, Valkyrie did better than some critics predicted but fell far short of the grosses of his previous action films. While secret agent movies are back in vogue, it remains to be seen whether audiences want to see them in a comic vein. The similarly-themed recent Julia Roberts pic Duplicity was a major box-office bomb. For more click here

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Deadline Hollywood columnist Nikki Finke reports that MGM is once again in dire straits, saddled with billions in debt and relying on revenues from its library of classics to generate income. The studio has been struggling for many years and is eager to get films in production into theaters. However, the cavalry in a long way off. The Fame remake doesn't hit theaters until September and Peter Jackson's Hobbit films and the next James Bond entry (which MGM reclaims the rights to after two pics were released by Sony) are only in early planning stages. For more click here

Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, has another unique story that's being developed for a film. The Magnificent Eleven is a contemporary British football spoof of the classic 1960 western The Magnificent Seven, which itself was a remake of Seven Samurai. The new film will deal with an amateur football team, a Tandoori restaurant and a gang of thugs. Even more intriguingly, it's rumored Robert Vaughn will be approached to appear in the film. Vaughn is the last surviving member of the actors who comprised The Magnificent Seven. For more click here

This one sounds like an exciting prospect: The Expendables stars Sylvester Stallone in a tale about a team of mercenaries sent on a mission to South America to depose a dictator. We're crazy about these tales about macho men on suicide missions, especially when properly executed as with The Dirty Dozen, The Professionals and The Wild Geese. The new films pairs Sly with some top name tough guys such as Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Strathem, Dolph Lundgren and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, though we presume The Governator's role will probably be limited to a cameo. The film was shot in Brazil and is scheduled for release in April 2010. 

We just heard from our old friend Ingrid Pitt, and it reminded us to mention to our readers that the queen of horror movies has a terrific personal web site that allows you to keep up with her latest activities, read her fascinating biography and even join her official fan club. Although Ingrid is primarily known for her work in the horror film genre, she has appeared in other movie genres. She features prominently in Cinema Retro's forthcoming special edition issue dedicated to Where Eagles Dare. To visit Ingrid's site click the banner below: