Another person associated with the Beatles has died a tragic death at an early age. Lucy Vodden, 46, who passed away this week from lupus,  was the inspiration for the group's classic song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - even though none of the band members had ever met her. The title came about when John Lennon was creating material for the Sgt. Pepper album. His son Julian, then only 4 years old, came home from school with a drawing of Vodden. He told his dad it represented Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lennon was so taken by the phrase that he titled a song after it, and in the ensuing years, tried to dispel the urban legend that it stood for LSD. In recent years, Julian got back in touch with Lucy and tried to comfort her as her health declined. For more click here 

Rhino Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group, is facing hard times. Due to decreasing sales in the music industry, the company, which specializes in acclaimed reissues of classic tunes, has been struggling to survive. The company laid off dozens of staffers last week and hopes to evolve into a more competitive entity.  For more click here

It's hard to believe, but sex goddesses Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot both turn 75 this year. The web site Breitbart examines the similarities and diversities in their lives and careers. Click here to read

By Lee Pfeiffer

Law enforcement agencies like to say that you can run, but you can't hide when it comes to snaring fugitives from justice. The long arm of the law has just reached Oscar winning director Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland, where he planned to attend a commemoration of his career at the Zurich Film Festival. Polanski has been living in France since fleeing the United States in 1978, following his arrest for having sex with an underage girl. The messy legal battle has gone on ever since, with even the victim in the case calling for the charges to be dropped against Polanski, who had endured the horror of having his wife Sharon Tate and his unborn baby massacred by the Manson Family in 1969. Polanski has carefully planned his travels since fleeing the USA, avoiding countries with extradition treaties with America for the crime he committed. It's unclear why he made this potentially drastic misstep by visiting Switzerland. In recent years, Polanski has unsuccessfully tried to get the charges dropped, but prosecutors say he would have to appear in court to personally make the plea- and Polanski feared arrest if his strategy didn't work. A recent major documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,  revealed that Polanski had reason to believe he was betrayed by a judge who arguably double-crossed him after Polanski agreed to serve a period of incarceration. The judge, acting under apparent pressure from others, seemed poised to break his word and sentence Polanski to additional prison time, thus leading the famed director to flea the country. The present status of his situation is unclear, and it is not known when or if Swiss authorities will turn him over to US law enforcement officials.For more click here

A barn in Jackson, Wyoming that was the site of the knock-down brawl between Clint Eastwood and William Smith in the 1980 comedy Any Which Way You Can is being dismantled -even though it was supposed to be protected as a historic landmark. A bureaucratic error resulted in a contractor beginning to demolish the barn. The destruction was temporarily halted and there are plans to relocate the barn to another location. For more click here

This one is shaping up as a "must-see". Matt Damon has been signed by director Steven Soderbergh to play the lover of Liberace in the biopic starring Michael Douglas as the flamboyant master of cheesy entertainment. The fact that two of Hollywood's most notable straight guys will be paired in as gay lovers is sure to increase interest in the film...though the image of Liberace making love to anybody has to be a sobering experience for both gay and straight audiences. For more click here

If you believe Mackenzie Phillips, her father- legendary Mamas and Papas rocker John Phillips- was dreamin' about a lot more than just California. In a new book, the perpetually troubled actress says she had a decade long sexual relationship with Papa John - and even had an abortion because she feared it may have been his baby. Her stepmother, Michelle Phillips, says the claim is bogus and that Mackenzie's veracity is in question due to her long history of drug abuse. She accuses her of peddling a lie in order to sell books. However, Mackenzie's half-sister Chynna says she believes her. For more click here

Writer Danny Groner of the Huffington Post site has compiled an amusing collection of movie titles that all wittily incorporate a character's name in the title. Click here to view

Clint Eastwood, who recently directed Matt Damon in the forthcoming Invictus, will team again with the actor for Hereafter, the first supernatural-themed film that Eastwood has done. The Oscar winner will produce (along with Steven Spielberg) and direct the flick, but will not appear in it. For more click here

The music world lost another icon with the passing of Mary Travers of the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. Travers was 72 and died from complications from leukemia. She had continued to perform with her partners Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow throughout the years, playing to sold-out audiences. To read Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey's comments on the group's official web site click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

An anonymous French film pirate known only as THX Fuck is proving to be as elusive as any master criminal of the silver screen. The culprit has managed to repeatedly use a video camera to film current movies, then post them right away on a pirate web site for downloads. Studios have been able to trace the source of the piracy to a cinema in a small village in northern France, but despite a wide range of tactics, their efforts have been thwarted. The bargain basement Blofeld has eluded attempts by agents to spy on the theater audience for days - and in one case, an agent was posted behind a cardboard cut out of John Travolta! (One can only imagine Peter Sellers as Clouseau enacting a similar strategy.) Still, the resourceful villain managed to film even under this close scrutiny. For more click here

Actress Tilda Swinton and Italian director Luca Guadagnino, who recently collaborated on the film I Am Love, have their hearts set on a contemporary remake of Auntie Mame. The pair hope to remake the famed comedy with a rock 'n roll setting (don't send those protest letters to us!). Guadagnino tells Variety,"This is an SOS for Warner Bros. to give us the rights for this remake, which only Tilda could do justice to". Guadagnino also has plans to remake Dario Argento's cult thriller Suspiria. For more click here

Actor and Cinema Retro reader Ed Faulkner has just launched an official web site that will be of special interest to John Wayne fans. Ed was a close friend of The Duke's and co-starred with him in McLintock!, The Green Berets, Chisum, The Undefeated and Rio Lobo. Ed also worked with other legends including Elvis Presley and James Stewart. Ed's site offers a variety of rare photos of him with John Wayne, each of which can be personally autographed. To visit his site, click here

A Life in the Day, a biopic of Brian Epstein, the man who discovered The Beatles and guided them to their first record deal, will be brought to the big screen. Epstein managed the band through most of their glory days before dying of a drug overdose in 1967. He was only 32 years-old. For all his success, Epstein lead a somewhat tortured life due to his homosexuality, which was accepted by The Beatles, but hidden from the public because gay sex was illegal in Great Britain until September 1967. For more click here

In 1959, Barry Dennen met Barbra Streisand when they were both struggling cast members in a long-forgotten off-Broadway play. Before long, they became lovers and shared an apartment together. During this time, Dennen said he encouraged and coached Streisand, having been highly impressed by her singing ability. In fact, he had the foresight to make audio recordings of her performances, which were done in their apartment. After they broke up, Streisand asked for the tapes but Dennen said he would keep them as the only enduring aspect of their "collaboration". Now Dennen is attempting to auction the tapes for a million dollars - and Babs appears ready to take legal action. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Rob Zombie, who apparently has to base even his home movies on other people's concepts, has announced his latest remake: the 1958 schlock horror classic The Blob, which afforded Steve McQueen an early starring role. Zombie told Variety, ""My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing -- that's the first thing I want to change...That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now." The fact that Zombie doesn't realize that having "a gigantic Jello-looking thing" is the entire point behind the film's enduring legacy doesn't bode well for the remake. Does Zombie really think that after a half-century of being regarded as a bad movie classic, he can get anyone to take the concept seriously? Zombie, who is the "creative" force behind the recent Halloween remakes, isn't even the first to revisit The Blob. Actor Larry Hagman directed a tongue-in-cheek 1972 sequel Beware! The Blob and there was a 1988 big screen remake of the original. So, Zombie is planning a remake of a remake of a film for which a sequel was already made. For more click here  

By Lee Pfeiffer

Variety writer Robert Hofler presents a fascinating article about the trials and tribulations of bringing hit stage musicals to the silver screen. In some cases, the creative teams behind the stage production oppose changes made for the film version - but history has proven that very often the movie version emerges as the definitive piece. This is particularly true with West Side Story, for which many key changes were made. Although the play's writer Arthur Laurents still bemoans the fact that his original stage version is never performed, most people would feel that the changes made for Robert Wise's Oscar-winning 1961 screen version improved the product substantially. In contrast, the producers of the new revival of Hair loathe Milos Forman's 1979 screen version and have studiously avoided using any elements of it. Instead, they have morphed together various aspects of stage productions from over the years to emerge with the "ultimate" production of hippie era hit. Click here for the article

The estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien has settled a lawsuit with New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers in a case involving payments and royalties owed the family for director Peter Jackson's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy. According to the estate, they had only been paid $62,000 for the rights to the stories and were owned a percentage of the gross. No details of the settlement have been released but it is certainly in the millions of dollars. The settlement clears the way for New Line to produce the forthcoming two-feature film project based on Tolkien's The Hobbit. For more click here

If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Germany and you love classic wide-screen movies, here's your chance to combine both. The Todd A-0 70mm Film Festival will be held October 2-4 at the Schauburg Cinema in Karlsruhe. The festival will offer a rare opportunity to view wide-screen epics on a giant curved screen in the company of an audience consisting of international movie fans. The line-up is creative enough to have our tongues hanging out already:

• Paint Your Wagon starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin
• The Fall of the Roman Empire by wide-screen king Samuel Bronston
• Krakatoa, East of Java (okay, we know Krakatoa was actually west of Java, but who cares?)
• Julius Caesar starring Marlon Brando
• Funny Girl starring Barbra Streisand
• That's Entertainment
• Solomon and Sheba starring Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida
• In Harm's Way starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas
• plus other classics in glorious 70mm

All this, plus the best beer in the world....talk about an offer you can't refuse.
Click here to visit the In 70mm web site for full details

By Lee Pfeiffer

Gone are the days when collecting classic movie posters was deemed the realm of eccentrics. In recent years, rare vintage posters from classic titles can command hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Ed and Sue Poole, who run the terrific web site Learn About Movie Posters have an astounding report on a fraud case that is rocking the high-end auction circuit for movie posters. It is alleged that an unscrupulous dealer has managed to fake some of the most desirable titles and sell them as originals for sky high prices. Even the major auction houses were alleged to have been defrauded. The consequences are serious: those who claim to have been defrauded cite losses approaching $2 million. The full extent of the problem is not known, but Ed and Sue are on the case and updating collectors with the latest from court dockets relating to the suits filed against the alleged fraudster. Most of the titles concern high end Universal horror classics such as Frankenstein and Dracula. To read the report click here

Oliver Stone is about to begin shooting the timely sequel to his 1988 Oscar winner Wall Street. Michael Douglas will reprise his role as Gordon Gekko, joined by Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and Shia LeBeouf. The film, rather awkwardly titled Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, is looking to capitalize (pardon the pun) on the recent corruption and melt down in the financial world - something Stone's original film predicted two decades ago. For more click here

There is a wonderful video on YouTube that celebrates the history of legendary actresses...each photo brilliantly morphs from one actress into another. It's by Phillip Scott Johnson....click here to check it out. 

By Lee Pfeiffer

One of the traditional pleasures for movie fans is to scan newspapers to peruse ads for the latest movies and to search listings for show times at their local theaters. Now both practices may become a thing of the past. Movie theater chains in America have severely cut back on marketing campaigns in the print press in order to focus on more cost-efficient web-based advertising. Many newspapers charge theater chains to run movie show times in their listings and some chains are now eliminating those fees by putting the information only on movie-related web sites. The strategy seems short-sighted. Scanning newspapers for show times is an American tradition - it provides a quick way to compare what is playing at all local theaters. The brain trust behind the cut-backs obviously thinks that absolutely everyone in the nation is sitting in front of a device that can connect them on-line if they feel a spontaneous impulse to go to the movies. The deprivation of the marketing dollars, though minimal, is yet another blow to the nation's suffering newspaper industries - and it doesn't stop there. The real dollars are spent on display ads  - and even a cursory look at major newspapers show that the era of lavish print marketing campaigns is over, probably for good. For more click here

The Daily Beast challenges you to brush up on your trivia from the films of the late director John Hughes, who passed away recently at age 59. See if you can match the quotes to films such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and The Breakfast Club. Click here for the quiz

The "anything goes" strategy of film making in Bollywood hit a snag this week when an Indian studio that had produced an unauthorized remake of the 1992 comedy hit My Cousin Vinny lost a lawsuit. The damages were relatively minor by Hollywood standards: $200,000. However, in the Indian film industry, that amount might make producers think twice about continuing their practice of ripping off successful films without permission or attribution. Then again, another producer has announced plans for an Indian version of The Hangover - even though the producers of the American comedy hit claim to know nothing about it. For more click here

London's Daily Mail has a sneak preview of Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort, Invictus. The film reunites Eastwood (who does not appear in the film) with his friend and co-star Morgan Freeman, who plays Nelson Mandela. The film centers on the situation Mandela inherited when he became president of South Africa in the wake of apartheid policies. The nation was on the verge of Civil War, but Mandela wisely used South Africa's hosting of The World Cup to unite his countrymen behind their underdog team. The title of the film refers to a poem Mandela was fond of reciting. Matt Damon co-stars. Click here to view on the set photos. 

Sylvester Stallone is readying a fifth Rambo movie which he will direct and star in. This time around, the titular character will become embroiled in the drug wars raging on the U.S.-Mexican border and attempt to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped by human traffickers. Stallone's 2008 revival of the series met with mixed results: it grossed a weak $42 million in North America, but scored $113 million in other markets.  

By Lee Pfeiffer

Maybe Tom Cruise's next movie should be a remake of the 1967 James Bond classic You Only Live Twice. According to Japan's new first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, she knew Cruise in another life: when he was Japanese! Furthermore, Ms. Hatoyama claims she, too, has lived prior lives and knew Cruise in his Asian period. "I believe he'd get it if I said to him, 'Long time no see', when we meet," she says in her book (appropriately titled Very Strange Things I've Encountered.) Before you put too much stock in her claim, keep in mind that she also relates in the book about being abducted by aliens and taken on a trip to Venus. Hey, if her gig in Japan doesn't work out, she definitely has a place in American politics. For more click here

Actor and entertainer Gianni Russo, who played the ill-fated traitorous son-in-law Carlo Rizzo in The Godfather, recently made the Metropolitan Society of Fairfield, New Jersey an offer they couldn't refuse. Russo appeared as a special guest at the private club, where members and their guests indulge in their mutual hobby of cigar smoking - without having to listen to complaints from any of those "pain in the ass innocent by-standers" as Clemenza might say. Russo has a career that has impressed on many levels since he made his screen debut in the 1972 crime classic. He is now a world-recognized singer, appearing in top venues such as Feinstein's in New York City. He is also an entrepreneur with his own Italian vineyards that bottle his exclusive brand, Il Padrino wines. Russo won the hearts of attendees by generously providing wines for each table during dinner, then regaling the members with hilarious and fascinating stories about the making of The Godfather. Look for an interview with Gianni Russo in a future issue of Cinema Retro. Visit Gianni's web site by clicking here