By Patrick Humphries

Where does a book begin? In my case, with Cleopatra it came when my dear late mother found out that Elizabeth Taylor had been recently seen in the pub in South East London where we used to go to celebrate family occasions.

This would have been in 1963/64, when the very idea of a screen goddess, a genuine film star, a bona-fide legend like Elizabeth Taylor would inhabit the same universe as us!

Thirty years later and I am Film Editor of Vox, a monthly UK music and film magazine. I wrote a feature for the 30^th anniversary of Cleopatra, and tried pitching it as a BBC radio documentary. So over the years I accrued a filing cabinet drawer and shelf full of material about that legendary 1963 film.

Few of the film’s stars survived into the 21^st century, so I had to rely on cuttings, biographies and film histories. As you might expect for a film on the scale of Cleopatra, that in itself was quite a challenge. But the more I dipped into it the more amazed I became: stars signed up for 10 weeks hanging round for 18 months in Rome. The battles Darryl F. Zanuck fought to gain control of 20^th Century Fox. The Burton family’s determination to keep Richard’s marriage together…

I suspect that my inspiration for a book was based on Steven Bach and Julie Salamon’s books on Heavens Gate and Bonfire Of The Vanities – brilliant books about terrible films. And for all its grandeur, Cleopatra is a terrible film. But what a story in how it made it to the cinema screen.

It was a five year journey: 20^th Century Fox were keen to cash-in on the success of MGMs Ben-Hur, and so dusted down a 1917 script about the Queen of the Nile. It was intended as a $2,000,000 vehicle for Fox contract player Joan Collins with a 64-day shoot.

The fact that the Theda Bara Cleo was a silent film didn’t seem to worry the studio unduly. Five years later, and at a budget twenty times the original estimate, Cleopatra premiered.

Elizabeth Taylor accounted for $1,000,000 of that budget, the first star to ask for – and get! – that legendary seven figure sum. There was no finished script, but the UK offered generous tax breaks, so Fox decided to construct a massive set of the ancient port of Alexandria at Pinewood Studios. Shooting began in September 1961, the beginning of the English autumn. Some days it rained so heavily you couldn’t see the other side of the set. Other days it was so cold, vapour was coming out of the extras’ mouths. The imported pine tress had to be constantly replaced because of the wind. The enormous sea tank containing a million gallons was overflowing because of the rain.

The original cast of Peter Finch (Caesar) and Stephen Boyd (Marc Antony) had to quit due to existing commitments. The sky remained grey and gloomy. Trying to conjure up Mediterranean grandeur was proving problematic. Ancient Alexandria in rural Buckinghamshire suddenly seemed not such a good idea.

Eventually, after two months the decision was made to pull the plug on the UK shoot. Eight minutes of film ended up in the finished film, at a cost of nearly $8,000,000. The question was: to write off such a sum (half of what Ben-Hur cost!) Or get a new director, script and stars and relocate to begin filming again in Rome. At least in Italy you could be guaranteed good weather, besides, what else could possibly go wrong?

As Cinema Retro readers will know it all went horribly wrong. Once in Rome, Cleopatra was far removed from the Hollywood studio. In those pre-fax, email and text days, it was a cumbersome business to arrange phone calls and telexes. The story of the romance between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor was only one of the factors which delayed the production of Cleopatra. Poor writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was shooting by day and writing the script by night. His original vision for the film was two films, but the studio wanted something – anything – out to cash in on the Burton/ Taylor romance.

On its release, Cleopatra was the most successful film of 1963, but it took years to claw back its costs, and 20th Century Fox was only saved by a modest little musical, The Sound Of Music, which came in at a sixth the cost of Cleopatra!

Like many, I was of an age to be beguiled by the big-screen releases of the early 1960s. It's a cliché, but with only two UK black & white TV channels, colour was a big deal. Especially in all its Todd-AO, stereophonic majesty. I’d already lapped up The Alamo, Barabbas, King Of Kings, Ben-Hur, El Cid, How the West Was Won, The Guns of Navarone, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Lawrence of Arabia, PT109, The Longest Day, Mutiny on the Bounty, Spartacus, and Taras Bulba. Then came The Great Escape, Fall Of The Roman Empire, 55 Days At Peking, 633 Squadron… The glory days.

Finally seeing Cleopatra was a disappointment. It has spectacle, but is somehow just not… spectacular. And beware the Ides of March, because once Rex Harrison is gone, the film dips. Over the years when I began reviewing and writing about films professionally, I kept coming back to Cleopatra. How could they have got it so wrong? And didn’t they learn from their mistakes? Obviously not as flops like Dr Dolittle, Star! and Hello Dolly were overtaken by the likes of The Graduate, Bonnie & Clyde, Easy Rider…

You’d think by now, the studios would have learned from their mistakes, but no, only last year Warners announced that they’d written off their $100,00,000 Cat Woman. There is something rather magnificent in the folly of Cleopatra. But it is a hard watch. Far more enjoyable was The VIPs, made to cash-in on the infamy of the Burtons.

For those of a certain age, those epic films were emblematic. They were school holiday treats at the London Astoria, the Dominion, the Metropole… Souvenir brochures and Kia-Ora in hand as we sat open-mouthed as the screen was filled with thousands and thousands of costumed extras, besieging the Alamo or Peking. Even rewatching them on CD or Blu-Ray, the scale of those productions is jaw dropping – and those were all humans occupying those Roman forums and besieged cities, not generated by a computer. And here’s a thought… a profile of that maverick producer Samuel L. Bronston is long overdue.

Cleopatra all but finished the career of J.L. Mankiewicz, it took the studio to the cleaners, and was a body blow from which the old Hollywood never really recovered. It is hard to be fond of it as a film, but what happened offscreen gave me a fantastic opportunity to recall those extravagant days. When even a film as flawed as Cleopatra was made on a scale which had to be witnessed with an audience. At a cinema near you…

There is little left to marvel at in the Marvel Comic Universe.

There just aren’t stars like Burton and Taylor today. For all its manifold flaws, there is something compelling about the legend of Cleopatra. Not so much in the finished film, but my memories of cinema-going when a film like that was an event. For all its follies, a film like Cleopatra could almost be said to end an era of cinematic innocence. My research into what went on off the screen, and what it took to get it into cinemas was fascinating. They have done it with The Godfather, so maybe a TV series about the making of Cleopatra. Now that would make a great movie.

"Cleopatra & The Undoing Of Hollywood" is published by The History Press, £20.00, ISBN 9781803990187

Click here to order from Amazon UK

John Wayne only directed two films- "The Alamo" and "The Green Berets". Both were passion projects for him, though he certainly had a challenge with "The Alamo", an epic production in which he was reluctantly obligated to also star. To some, the film is a great American epic, to others it's simplified history loaded down with corny dialogue. But no one can dispute that when it came to the logistics of staging the climactic battle scene, Wayne did an outstanding job. In this clip, Wayne, Richard Widmark and Laurence Harvey initiate the action through a simple act involving a canon and a cigar.

By Lee Pfeiffer

"Good Day for a Hanging" is minor 1959 color Western elevated by an unusually intelligent script and an impressive cast of veteran actors and a couple of up-and-comers who would find stardom in the 1960s. Fred MacMurray plays former town marshal Ben Cutler, a widower who is living a serene small town life in the company of his fiancee Ruth (Maggie Hayes) and his teenage daughter Laurie (Joan Blackman). Their peaceful existence is shattered when Laurie's former beau Eddie Campbell (Robert Vaughn) arrives in town in the company of some shady bandits. While Laurie tries to reignite the romance with Eddie, his companions are pulling off a robbery of the bank which goes wrong very quickly when a shootout ensues. Eddie and his companions flea the scene with a posse in hot pursuit led by Marshal Cain (Emile Meyer). Another shootout follows with some of the gang killed and others escaping with half the loot from the bank. In the melee, Ben witnesses Eddie fatally shooting Marshal Cain before Eddie is wounded and captured. When he is brought back to town, Eddie is nursed back to health, in part by Laurie, and admits the obvious- he took part in the robbery. However, he insists that he did not shoot the marshal and that he must have been hit by gunfire from another gang member. Ben knows this is untrue and tells the townspeople as much. He also reluctantly agrees to temporarily resume serving as town marshal until a permanent replacement can be found. Eddie is put on trial and plays the victim, recounting a hardscrabble upbringing and turning on the charm. Nevertheless, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. From his jail cell, he can see the gallows being built. However, he begins to convince the townspeople that he is not guilty of murder and his death sentence should be changed to serving time in jail. Soon, many of the town's most prominent citizens are buying his story and they force Ben to take a petition bearing many signatures to the governor asking him to grant Eddie's request. Laurie, blinded by her romantic interest in Eddie, is his chief defender- a fact that causes Ben great consternation. Because this is a Western, there are dramatic developments that result in an action-packed climax.

What sets "Good Day for a Hanging" apart from many other minor Westerns of the period is the fact that it has a compelling and interesting script that touches upon sociological factors such as the ability of one person to manipulate many others, often against common sense, by using charisma and a strong will. Eddie has both and you can't help but be reminded of how many contemporary people, often in public service, are excused for all sorts of behavior simply because people find them personally likable or intimidating. Doubtless, there have been times when all of us have seen such scenarios and wondered how intelligent people can ignore established facts in their defense of someone whose actions are indefensible. In this case, Ben Cutler is 100% right in his testimony against Eddie but before long he is the odd man out, criticized and resented by the very people who only recently begged him to serve as marshal. Fred MacMurray gives a strong performance as the protagonist- a man who has lost the respect of his own daughter in her misguided quest to benefit a killer. Robert Vaughn gives an excellent, understated performance that allows the viewer to understand why he is able to win over so many townspeople.

It's interesting to analyze the career trajectories of several actors who appear in the film. Fred MacMurray had been going through somewhat of a minor career slump at the time but it would be short-lived. Later in 1959, he starred in his first Walt Disney movie, "The Shaggy Dog", which was a major hit. He would star in many other Disney films over the next decade. Additionally, he would give an outstanding performance as a misogynistic heel in Billy Wilder's Oscar winner, "The Apartment". Capping off his career turnaround, he would also star in the long-running sitcom "My Three Sons". Robert Vaughn would rise to stardom with his performance later that year in "The Young Philadelphians", earning an Oscar nomination for his work. That, in turn, led him to be cast as one of "The Magnificent Seven" and he would reach the level of international teen idol in the mid-Sixties due to his starring role in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E". Some of the fine character actors who would appear in the film would also find major success over the next few years. Howard McNear, who plays one of the prominent townsmen, would create his iconic comedic role as the eccentric Floyd the barber the next year in "The Andy Griffith Show". Denver Pyle, who plays  deputy in the film, would also make periodic appearances in the show as the lovably loony hillbilly patriarch Briscoe Darling, as well as appear in two major John Wayne films, "The Horse Soldiers" and "The Alamo" before landing his most memorable role as Sheriff Frank Hammer in "Bonnie and Clyde". James Drury, who would go on to star in "The Virginian" TV series, also has a supporting role. Special mention should be made of Edmon Ryan, who is especially good, portraying Eddie's defense counsel. One more note of interest: the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer, a respected figure in the British film industry who was most often associated with the films of special effects master Ray Harryhausen.

The Sony DVD has a reasonably good transfer, if a bit soft. The only extras are original trailers for "Silverado" and "The Professionals", both on Sony Home Video. Strangely enough, the trailer for "Good Day for a Hanging" isn't included, but we found it on YouTube and are providing it here. 

I don't want to exaggerate the merits of "Good Day for a Hanging". It isn't a great movie by any means, just a good Western- but it's loaded with fine actors who were on the cusp of major career successes.

Click here to order from Amazon

By  Lee Pfeiffer

When movie fans think about films related to the battle of the Alamo, the most obvious reference that comes to mind is John Wayne's epic 1960 production, "The Alamo". There are two others from the modern era of filmmaking that are largely forgotten to all but Alamo history buffs: the 1955 film "The Last Command" and the ill-fated, but underrated 2004 production, also titled simply "The Alamo". Less obvious is the 1987 NBC-TV presentation of "The Alamo- Thirteen Days to Glory" based on Lon Tinkle's book of the same name. Tinkle presented a historically accurate depiction of the legendary battle, at least in terms of what was accepted by historians at the time. However, facts about the battle continue to be fluid and hotly debated among historians. The TV production has not been widely seen since its initial airing. It was released on VHS tape and research has shown an obscure DVD release as part of a double feature with "High Noon II: The Return of Will Kane". However, the movie is now being streamed on Amazon Prime. Not having seen it since its broadcast in 1987, I felt it was time revisit the production, which was widely panned by fans who obsess over all things relating to the Alamo. Their main complaint was the casting of the pivotal roles of Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, who were played by popular TV stars James Arness and Brian Keith, both of whom were not only long-in-the-tooth but were sporting tusks. The role of Crockett was particularly a thankless one to play. Fess Parker had become an American phenomenon when he played the role in Walt Disney's telecasts. Disney only made a handful of episodes and even he was shocked when the show generated a massive fan movement and became the most successful film/TV tie-in  up to that time. Parker knew he was on to something so in the mid-1960s, free of Disney's edicts, he simply put on a new buckskin jacket and raccoon hat and starred in a hit TV series, "Daniel Boone". When John Wayne was negotiating with United Artists to produce and direct the big screen version of "The Alamo", he had to be forced to play Crockett as the studio's insistence. They wanted his name upfront to draw in his legions of fans. Wayne acquitted himself well enough, but the shadow of Parker loomed over his performance. The choice of Brian Keith was a bizarre one. He was 66-years old at the time and nothing about his appearance suggests the popular image of Crockett (he doesn't even wear the signature cap.) I'm second-to-none in my admiration of Keith's talents and recently praised his portrayal of Theodore Roosevelt in "The Wind and the Lion" on the forthcoming Imprint Blu-ray, but this was a rare case of his judgment in roles being off-course. Arness was also too old to play Bowie, but since the popular conception of the historic figure wasn't ingrained in modern society the way Crockett was, Arness's performance proved to be a bit more tolerable. The only agreement seemed to center on young up-and-coming Alec Baldwin, who delivers a fine and believable performance as Col. Travis, though it's a less interesting one than presented by Laurence Harvey in Wayne's film. Lorne Greene makes a very brief cameo as Sam Houston, showing frustration at his inability to raise an army in time to save the defenders of the Alamo. Greene is generally a commanding screen presence, but his role is so limited he can't make an emotional impact, as Richard Boone did in the role in the Wayne production.

In favor of the TV production, it was filmed on location in Brackettville, Texas, where the massive and convincing sets from Wayne's movie still stood. Behind the scenes, the film benefited from a seasoned pro in the director's chair, Burt Kennedy, an old hand at making good Westerns ("Support Your Local Sheriff", "The War Wagon"). I'm not an expert on the history of the battle, but it's been pointed out that the TV production gets certain things more accurately than the feature films but certain other factors are clearly the invention of the screenwriters. In attempt to appeal to younger viewers, the screenplay provides a completely superfluous subplot about a young Mexican girl in love with one of the Caucasian defenders of the Alamo. It's pretty dreadfully presented, with the young lovers looking like they'd be more suitable for "The Breakfast Club" gang than the besieged Texas mission. Faring a bit better are Kathleen York and Jon Lindstrom in the key roles of Captain Dickinson and his wife, who was one of the few inhabitants of the Alamo to survive. There are some familiar faces among the defenders, but most of them don't register strongly because their roles are under-written. (John Wayne's son Ethan has a minor role.) This version of the Alamo saga differs from Wayne's by presenting Santa Ana as a major character, whereas in the Wayne film he is only a minor presence. As played by Raul Julia, the legendary historic figure is presented as Snidley Whiplash-type, leering at young women and devoid of any human qualities. Julia brings some gusto to the role but a more nuanced characterization is called for. There is also the distracting presence of David Ogden Stiers as a Mexican army officer, which is justified by having him described as an adviser from the British army. If such individuals did exist, it's news to me but in any event, Stiers' presence seems more like a casting gimmick than an attempt to portray an obscure historical fact.

 

Things are fairly turgid through much of the film but as the battle scenes finally arrive they are well-handled with impressive stuntwork on display. The problem is that the spectacular climax of Wayne's big-budget production looms over the relatively skimpy assets that director Burt Kennedy has as his disposal. The TV battle attempts to add some spectacle by cribbing battle footage from Wayne's film. Much of it is set to Peter Bernstein's serviceable score, though at various times during the production, he shamelessly copies the work of another Bernstein (Elmer), with similar music to that found in the latter's classic score from "The Magnificent Seven".

In summary, "The Alamo-Thirteen Days to Glory" is undeniably flawed, but it has enough positive aspects to merit viewing, if only for comparison to other films that depict the battle and the events leading up to it. The source material used by Amazon leaves a lot to be desired, but it's still a positive development to see the production get some exposure. It deserves a Blu-ray release with a commentary track by Alamo historians, who could decipher its truths and fabrications far better than this writer can.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In days of old, there were precious few opportunities to see documentaries about the making of specific films. In 1960, John Wayne hosted "The Spirit of the Alamo", a one-hour publicity special for his epic film. In 1965, the James Bond film "Thunderball" was promoted with a one hour prime time TV special, a strategy that was repeated in 1967 for "You Only Live Twice". However, these were the exceptions. In most cases, "making of" documentaries were short featurettes lasting between five and ten minutes on average. Movie fans would only encounter them by accident. American viewers might catch one of them if a network needed something to fill some time gap, such as a rain delay in a live baseball game. The only way die-hard movie buffs could watch such films on demand required access to a 16mm film projector and the ability to know where to purchase them on the collector's circuit. Things were more liberal in the UK, where a thriving 8mm collector's market made it possible for fans to purchase full length feature films and occasionally production shorts. Today, of course, even the most inconsequential feature films generally have "making of" featurettes included on DVD and Blu-ray releases. If you're a John Wayne fan, you might like to know that buried in the thousands of unpromoted indie titles available for streaming on Amazon Prime is "John Wayne: Behind the Scenes", a mishmash compilation of featurettes pertaining to the Duke's films between 1967 and 1975.The quality ranges from awful to barely acceptable, but that doesn't diminish the pleasure of indulging in the short films.

The compilation isn't a documentary, per se. It's simply a group of individual promotional featurettes strung together without any narration. The shorts included pertain to the following films:

• "The War Wagon" (1967): this rather lengthy featurette covers the making of the fun-filled Western that paired Wayne with Kirk Douglas. It remains one of the Duke's most popular films among fans. The featurette is primarily geared to showing the logistics involved in staging the film's centerpiece fight scene, a big barroom brawl and shows Wayne, Douglas and co-star Howard Keel working with the stunt crew to stage the elaborate scene. The narration is hokey but it does give a good idea of how much work and precise timing goes into filming a major action set piece.
  
• "The Green Berets" (!968): Wayne's propaganda film in support of the Vietnam War was predictably quite controversial in its day but still grossed a sizable sum. Wayne, who starred and directed, is shown overseeing the staging of a major battle scene along with co-stars David Janssen and a young and unidentified George Takei.
  
• "The Undefeated" (!969): is a relatively short featurette in which the movie's plot about a major drive of horse herds to Mexico is narrated by a horse! (Actually, the voice of Chill Wills, who had provided the voice of Francis the Talking Mule in the feature film series.) The movie shows glimpses of Wayne and co-star Rock Hudson, but most of the footage is dedicated to the challenge of working with hundreds of horses. (Stunt legend and future director Hal Needham can be seen in some scenes.)
  
• "Chisum" (!970): John Wayne's first feature film following his Oscar win for "True Grit" is commemorated by a mere TV spot. It isn't a featurette at all, but does open with footage of Wayne at the Academy Awards showing off the Oscar to adoring crowds.
  
• "The Cowboys" (972): One of Wayne's very best films. The featurette is excellent, too, as it shows director Mark Rydell working with trained young actors who didn't know how to ride horses and, conversely, boys who could ride horses but couldn't act!
  
• "Cahill: U.S. Marshall" (1973): One of Wayne's few late career duds, "Cahill" is not generally fondly remembered by his fans. The featurette is unremarkable, as well.
• "McQ" (1974): Wayne made a surprisingly good detective film with this title. Unfortunately, the "Behind the Scenes" relegates coverage of the movie to the theatrical trailer. A pity, since a featurette was made that showed how the film's spectacular car chase on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state was filmed. As a public service, we are presenting the featurette here.
  
• "Brannigan" (1975): Wayne was back in detective mode, co-starring with Richard Attenborough in this fun romp set in London. The lengthy featurette shows Wayne enjoying the sights and sounds of the city and charming the locals. It also interviews Attenborough, who was not an action star, about his trepidation in squaring off against the Duke in a major pub brawl.
  

Cinema Retro has received the following press release :

Relive every outrageous moment of Chris Farley and David Spade’s insanely funny road trip on Digital now or in a brand new Limited Edition Steelbook, arriving March 31, 2020 exclusively at FYE, exactly 25 years after the original theatrical release.

But wait, there’s more!

To celebrate the 25^th anniversary, TOMMY BOY will return to theaters in March for a limited run at Alamo Drafthouse locations across the country. 
Check out https://drafthouse.com/show/tommy-boy-movie-party1 for details.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Many fans of John Wayne's 1960 epic "The Alamo" have visited the massive movie set in remote Brackettville, Texas, over the decades. The land was owned by "Happy" Shahan, a prominent rancher from whom Wayne and United Artists leased the land. Shahan and his wife had one caveat: that the family would be allowed to keep the magnificent sets operating as a tourist attraction and filming location for other movies. The plan worked very well and over the years many prominent westerns were shot there even as thousands of fans attended "Alamo" events and festivals on the site. But now, the Shahan family is no longer operating the property as a viable attraction and the buildings sit unattended and deteriorating, though still intact and boasting a host of on-site props and memorabilia. It had been hoped that a Texan with deep pockets or the state itself would finance the preservation of the village, but to date this has not occurred. The sets from John Wayne's most personal film seems destined to remain a genuine ghost town.... This video by a visiting fan and historian presents a landscape that is both fascinating and bittersweet.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

David V. Picker, whose tenure at major film studios and as an independent producer, made him a legend in the film industry, has died from colon cancer in New York at age 87. The Picker family lived and breathed movies and in the 1950s they ran United Artists under the leadership of Arthur Krim. Under Krim and the Pickers, UA entered a "Golden Age" of achievements. David, who was named head of production at an early age, showed an uncanny ability to attract top talent and produce films that were popular and critical successes. He was ultimately named President and COO of the company. During his tenure, UA brought to the screen films that were diverse in content including "West Side Story", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Great Escape", "In the Heat of the Night", "Judgment at Nuremberg", "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and many others. He also thought outside the box by green-lighting "Midnight Cowboy", making it the only "X-rated" movie to win a Best Picture Oscar. He also backed director Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial film "Last Tango in Paris" and developed a gradual distribution roll-out that used the movie's notoriety as a marketing took, making the film a sensation. When he heard about a director named Sergio Leone having great success with the European Western "A Fistful of Dollars", Picker ignored conventional wisdom and struck a deal to release the film in English-language markets. The Leone trilogy of films with Clint Eastwood made both men international celebrities and went on to become acclaimed as classics despite their modest production values. Picker also struck a long term production deal with Woody Allen, resulting in many highly acclaimed films.

Picker also saw early potential in the Beatles before they became household names internationally. He arranged a multiple picture deal and hired young director Richard Lester to helm "A Hard Day's Night". The film became a sensation. Perhaps his greatest success was arranging a deal with James Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to bring Ian Fleming's 007 novels to the big screen after Columbia passed on the opportunity. Picker foresaw the potential of a long-term franchise but later admitted no one could have foreseen it thriving after a half-century. It was Picker who arguably salvaged the Bond franchise after Sean Connery retired from the role after his fifth Bond film, "You Only Live Twice" in 1967. Unknown actor George Lazenby took over the role for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" but he, too, quit, leaving the franchise in disarray. American actor John Gavin was signed for the role for "Diamonds are Forever" but Picker had second thoughts about his viability to play Bond. He arranged to meet Connery for a game of golf in Spain and convinced him to return for one more Bond movie, agreeing to the highest salary ever paid to an actor. The film's success proved there was still a major market for James Bond and allowed Connery's successor Roger Moore to thrive in the role of 007.

Picker left UA in the 1970s and became an independent producer. One of his great successes was Bob Fosse's 1974 film "Lenny". He also produced the acclaimed comedy "Smile" and the disaster thriller "Juggernaut". At various times he was wooed back to take top level positions at various studios including Paramount, Columbia and Lorimar. He oversaw some major successes as well as flops but his low-key personality didn't often mix well with the hyper-activity in the New Hollywood. Ultimately, he returned to independent producing and brought Steve Martin to the big screen with the enormous hit "The Jerk". Picker also served for a time as President of Hallmark Entertainment Productions.

Picker, who was a modest and reserved figure in an industry strewn with big egos, rarely gave interviews but he was a contributor to Cinema Retro, enlightening readers with behind the scenes stories pertaining to specific films. He told us that during his days at United Artists, he and his fellow production executives were conscious of the fact that the company had been founded by actors: Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Thus, it became the corporate philosophy to not interfere with a director or producer once a movie had been given the green light. The first time the UA brass often saw any of the film was when it was completed and screened. There were exceptions when a production was deemed to be in trouble and over-budget. Picker admitted he made a mistake when he greenlit director George Stevens' biblical epic "The Greatest Story Ever Told" largely on the basis that he had grown up idolizing the filmmaker. The movie proved to be a boxoffice disaster and the studio only recovered because of the success of "Help!" and "Thunderball". Picker had also given the go-ahead for the big budget adaptation of James Michener's "Hawaii". When the budget started hitting the stratosphere, Picker went to the location and personally cut out the last half of the script in an attempt to salvage what became a boxoffice disaster. He also had to inform director/star John Wayne that he had to trim considerable footage from the roadshow presentations of "The Alamo" when the film went into wide release in order to ensure profitability. Wayne complied without complaint but when the same situation arose with Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", it resulted in bad feelings between the two men. Picker always claimed that although the film is beloved by many, he couldn't stand to watch it because it brought back so many negative memories of feuding with Kramer.

Picker had been involved in politics throughout his adult life along with other prominent members of his family who promoted liberal candidates and causes. His uncle Arnold was  named in the first spot on President Nixon's notorious "secret" list of personal enemies. In a note below Arnold's name, Nixon indicated that the resources of the federal government should also be considered to be used  illegally against David Picker and United Artists as a corporation. Picker said that when the list became public in the midst of the Watergate scandal, he hung it on his wall with pride.

Picker was arguably the last major studio head from a Golden Age of Hollywood film production. His 2013 memoir "Musts, Maybes and Nevers" is an essential read for anyone who likes classic movies. Cinema Retro is grateful for his friendship and contributions to our magazine and we extend our sincere condolences to his wife Sandy and the entire Picker family.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

A new poll finds that the majority of Millennials are shockingly unfamiliar with older, classic movies. The posting on the Cinema Retro Facebook page has set off a spirited discussion among our readers. People who live in major metropolitan areas may take issue with the poll's findings since young people routinely attend screenings of classic movies at revival cinemas. The Alamo Drafthouse chain of cinemas has been especially effective at exposing younger audiences to retro movie classics and cult films. Yes, Netflix and other streaming services make plenty of retro movie classics available to viewers of all ages everywhere. But in major cities, younger people tend to view going to see a classic film from the past as a social activity, often going in groups to theaters with funky themes. It may be, however, that people who live in more rural areas don't have the same opportunities to see older films on the big screen, therefore they are not as familiar with them. Click here to read article. 

Director Christopher Nolan is among the filmmakers who are wielding their clout to preserve the glory days of 35mm and 70mm film. Nolan has made it known that his forthcoming WWII epic "Dunkirk" will not only be seen in digital format, but will also have special engagements presented in both film formats. Quentin Tarantino also insisted upon releasing "The Hateful Eight" in 70mm, a format that was once the darling of the film industry before being deemed obsolete. Nolan's movie will depict the disastrous defeat of the British expeditionary force that tried to liberate occupied France in the early days of the war. The Brits managed to turn tragedy to triumph when an ad-hoc armada of small fishing vessels piloted by everyday citizens made the treacherous crossing to France under heavy fire to rescue the trapped British army. That they succeeded in doing so allowed Churchill to fight another day and hold out until America was finally in the war. Nolan's film is not a sure-bet with audiences which have usually been less-than-enthused about movies in which the heroes lose. John Wayne's 1960 epic "The Alamo" did well but never became the blockbuster many had anticipated. Richard Attenborough's 1977 film "A Bridge Too Far" told the story of the Allies' ill-fated invasion of Holland in 1944. It under-performed at the boxoffice. Still, we give Nolan credit for making a large scale WWII epic. In an age when many young people can't even identify their political leaders, film becomes an important tool for teaching history. - Lee Pfeiffer

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BY TOM LISANTI 

My new book Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome, 1961-1974 (McFarland) was recently released and I keep getting asked the same question. Why a book on Pamela Tiffin? I expected this from non-Sixties cinema fans but have been getting asked by more fans and experts on the time period as well. So to answer why a book on Pamela Tiffin? She is one of that decade’s most beautiful and talented actresses who left an indelible impression on movie fans. For me, she is prettier than Raquel Welch; funnier than Jane Fonda; and more appealing than Ann-Margret. Yet, they all became superstars and Pamela did not. My book tries to explain why I think Pamela Tiffin, gifted with expert comedic ability, did not achieve mega stardom though she remains a cult Sixties pop icon to this day.

I first saw Pamela Tiffin in the colorful travelogue The Pleasure Seekers, which was broadcast on the ABC-TV 4:30 Movie sometime in the mid-Seventies. By then I was a huge Carol Lynley fan due to The Poseidon Adventure and would seek out her other movie appearances. I had heard of co-star Ann-Margret but was not familiar with the handsome brunette Pamela Tiffin, the third member of this romance-seeking trio. I recall not being impressed with Ann-Margret in the least, though I thought she did swell performing the title song. I do love Carol Lynley in this movie, but I found myself beguiled by Pamela. She took what was the typical sweet naïve ingénue role and made it funny, touching, and sexy. I was only thirteen years old or so at the time and even at that young age I knew Pamela had a certain something the other two actresses did not. Soon after, I began seeking Pamela’s movies out and the 4:30 Movie came through with For Those Who Think Young and The Lively Set. I was hooked and could not understand why she was not as a big of star as Ann-Margret or even Carol Lynley.

I began researching Pamela Tiffin’s career in my local Long Island library to discover that she practically disappeared from the silver screen after 1966 with a few Italian movies popping up thereafter. My determination to uncover all about Pamela Tiffin culminated when I interviewed her at her New York City home for a series of short magazine articles and a chapter in my first book in 1998. She was elegant and charming with that same whispery voice. We stayed in contact for a brief period, but then I stopped hearing from her, though my devotion to her never ceased.

Pamela Tiffin once described her entrée into Hollywood “as a kind of Cinderella story.” And it truly was. A model and cover girl, she was discovered while on vacation having lunch at the Paramount Studios commissary. She won critical raves for her performances in her first two films Summer and Smoke (1961) and the Billy Wilder comedy One, Two, Three (1961) giving a wonderfully amusing performance as an addled-brain Southern belle who sneaks into East Berlin and marries a Communist to the chagrin of her guardian in Germany. Everyone from James Cagney to Billy Wilder to Jose Ferrer praised her acting ability, especially her forte with comedy.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The heavily-hyped Warner Brothers super hero epic "Batman V. Superman:  Dawn of Justice" is one of the most heavily promoted films in years. It's also one of the most expensive. Variety estimates that the film's $250 million production budget plus ancillary marketing costs will make it necessary for the movie to gross $800 worldwide just to break even. You read that right: $800 million. One industry analyst says that anything less than a gross of $1 billion will be considered a disappointment. Warner Brothers contends that those figures don't take into consideration ancillary revenues from video and merchandising. Fair enough, but if a film bombs, generally speaking, the merchandise and video sales do, too. If you doubt it, how many people did you see walking around with "Waterworld" or "Howard the Duck" T shirts? Veteran screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry "Nobody knows anything." That was decades ago and it's still true today. The major studios are so devoid of any original ideas that they can only keep upping the ante in hopes of milking the current passion for big-budget comic book hero productions. It seems that if "Hamlet" were to be brought to the big screen nowadays, the famed soliloquy would have to be delivered by some guy in a cape and mask. Warner Brothers says that the fate of the studio doesn't depend on "Batman vs. Superman", but the fact that they would have to make such a statement indicates how high the stakes are in terms of this film delivering the goods.

Short-sighted studio executives have always been suckers for mega-budget would-be blockbusters. After the success of "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" in the late 1950s, studios churned out any number of big-budget roadshow productions. Some worked out well ("The Sound of Music", "Patton", "The Longest Day"), some did okay ("The Alamo", "The Sand Pebbles") while many more lost substantial sums of money ("Mutiny on the Bounty", "55 Days at Peking", "Reds",  "Hello, Dolly!", "Cleopatra",  "Paint Your Wagon" and the notorious "Heaven's Gate"). That isn't to say that most of these boxoffice bombs weren't good movies. In fact, some were great movies, but from a sound business standpoint, their budgets should never have been allowed to jeopardize the health of the entire studio. When James Cameron's "Titanic" went over-budget and ended up costing $200 million back in 1997, industry executives swore they would never put themselves in such a precarious situation again. Guess what? The film became a blockbuster and all caution was thrown to the wind. Before long, directors who were deemed to be hot could get a virtual blank check if they could convince studio bosses that they had the next "can't miss" formula. That included Cameron, who ended up dropping $300 million on "Avatar", which managed to denounce capitalist corporations even as Cameron sought millions from the same entities to finance his already-forgettable blockbuster. (Cameron had learned never to sink your own money into your own production, regardless of how passionate you are about it. It was a lesson learned the hard way by John Wayne on "The Alamo" and Francis Ford Coppola on "Apocalypse Now".)  However, the truth of the matter is that the industry is relying on fewer and fewer blockbusters to carry the baggage for other costly productions that either under-perform or bomb outright. The jury is not yet in on "Batman v. Superman" but how it stacks up in terms of quality isn't the most relevant factor. If the movie doesn't open huge there will be at lot of pants wetting in the corporate boardroom. (Word of mouth on the film is worrying. Apparently, trailers aren't testing that well with the fan boy base the studio needs to woo.)  

Here's a suggestion: how about cutting back on productions that have budgets equivalent to some nation's entire gross national product and get back in the business of making modestly-budgeted movies that are designed to make modest profits. Studios never bet the ranch on mid-range westerns, war movies and spy flicks. Kate Hepburn, Jerry Lewis, Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster and Marilyn Monroe never starred in high risk blockbusters but their films could always be relied upon to make a decent profit. In the rare cases they did not, the losses were never very substantial. Remember when classic sci-fi movies like "Planet of the Apes" could be completed on relatively small budgets even with major talent involved? Today, insane salaries for overpaid talent have driven the costs of films sky high even before shooting even begins. This, despite the fact that unlike days of old, there are precious few genuine "stars" still left in the industry. What defines a star? Someone whose name on the marquee virtually guarantees a film's success, regardless of the quality of a film. Try thinking of how many actors today meet that criteria. The studios have learned nothing since the era in which Fox bet its very future on the fate of one film: "Cleopatra". It's a practice akin to the average person betting their life savings on a sure bet at a casino.  I dunno. I'm just a guy with a blue collar background from Jersey City but I think I could run a studio boardroom more responsibly than some of the folks who are now doing so-- and so could you. Nobody knows anything. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

When Walt Disney plucked a lanky, charismatic actor named Fess Parker from relative obscurity to star as Davy Crockett in the 1950s, little did either man realize that an international phenomenon was about to be launched. So great was the impact with young viewers that Disney wasn't about to let the fact that Crockett died at the Alamo in the final episode stand in the way of meeting the public demand. Thus, he had to commission some "prequel" episodes to satiate the audience. The Crockett craze resulted in the biggest merchandising boom seen in America since the Shirley Temple phenomenon of the 1930s. Kids everywhere were indulged with Crockett toys and frontiersman garb. Disney even re-edited episodes and released them as a feature film. As the initial audience grew older, Disney simply telecast the color episodes again and younger kids got into the craze, with boys wearing their older brother's Crockett costumes and toting about their toy muskets. In 1964 Parker had an inspired idea of his own: put on the old buckskins again and a coonskin cap and recreate his earlier success by playing Daniel Boone. For all intents and purposes, the characters were virtually indistinguishable. There was even a catchy theme song much in the style of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" from the Disney shows. The difference was that the Crockett episodes for Disney were few and far between while the adventures of Daniel Boone would be a weekly TV series on NBC, totally independent of Disney's tight knit control. Whatever Walt thought about this rather obvious theft of his concept isn't known, but Parker found that lightning would indeed strike twice. While the Boone program never set off a merchandising craze, it was sufficiently popular to last a full six seasons, a rather remarkable achievement for that era. Over the decades, the show has retained many fans who recall the program with fondness. To their frustration, the show was not available on DVD and illegal bootlegs of episodes commanded high prices. In 2007, the series was finally released on DVD as individual seasons commanding exceptionally high prices, much to the disdain of collectors. In 2014, however, Fox released the entire series in one boxed set ON 36 DVDs that can be had through Amazon for less than the price of two seasons from the previous release. (Note: the first season of the show was presented in B&W and all subsequent seasons were telecast in color). The quality is excellent and this release is sure to bring back many fond memories for Baby Boomers. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER 

It's a debate that has been raging for decades. Did government experiments with atomic bombs in the desert of Utah contribute to the deaths of John Wayne and many other cast and crew members of the 1954 film "The Conqueror"?  First some background: the film was produced by Howard Hughes before he became a legendary recluse. It was a big budget production that co-starred Wayne and Susan Hayward and was directed by actor Dick Powell. The film is largely remembered today as a rare instance of Wayne's generally sound instincts betraying him. Somehow Hughes convinced the Duke to play Genghis Khan. The result was as awful as you would imagine and the movie went down as one of the worst casting decisions in Hollywood history, with even Wayne disparaging his appearance in the movie. It may come as a surprise to readers, however, that Wayne and Hughes had the last laugh, at least at the boxoffice. Despite poor reviews, Wayne's popularity was such that "The Conqueror" became a substantial boxoffice hit. That's the end of the good news. Many years after its release, it was noted that a seemingly high proportion of people involved with the movie had died of cancer, most notably Wayne himself in 1979. Rumors began to circulate that the U.S. government's experiments with atomic blasts in the precise area where the film was shot must have contributed to these deaths. The theory was that cast and crew members became contaminated with remaining radioactive fallout. At the time the U.S. was still rather naive about nuclear radiation despite the dropping of two atom bombs on Japan in 1945. The government was exploding A-bombs above ground in desert regions. Years later, this was deemed to be unsafe under any circumstances and future tests were conducted below ground. The Guardian web site has reignited the debate over whether radiation played a part in the deaths of Wayne and his colleagues. This has been examined many times before and the results are always inconclusive. However, conspiracy theories abound, as they always do when high profile people are involved. JFK conspiracy theorists routinely cite a supposedly unnatural number of deaths within a relatively short period of time in regard to various individuals who had some connection to that infamous date in history. But sometimes coincidences do occur and can be a contributing factor. Those who knew Wayne point out that he was an avid smoker and had a lung removed in 1965. His widow Pilar once told this writer that the pressure of starring in and directing his 1960 epic "The Alamo" saw him chain smoking five packs of cigarettes a day, a factor that, in and of itself, would be the most likely contributor to his death from cancer. In any event, this will be a topic long debated. Click here to read and form your own conclusions. 

Here's another reminder of how great movie-going used to be in the era when a hot dog and Coke didn't require a home remortgage loan. In 1967, the Pasadena Theatre was showing a re-issue of John Wayne's "The Alamo" along with another United Artists classic reissue, "The Pink Panther". If that wasn't good enough for you, "In Like Flint" was the next feature! (Kudos to reader Mike Boldt for sharing the photo).

BY JOHN M. WHALEN

“Alamo Bay” (1985), a film directed by the late Louis Malle, was an opportunity for the French filmmaker, who directed “Atlantic City,” “My Dinner with Andre,” and “Elevator to the Gallows,” to add another great film to his resume. Unfortunately, the movie, based on the true story of conflict between American and Vietnamese fisherman in Texas, is an opportunity squandered.

In the years following the Fall of Saigon in 1975, a million Vietnamese refugees fled to the U.S. Some of them settled in communities along the Texas Gulf Coast. Their mere presence antagonized the local fisherman, many of whom were Vietnam vets. One in particular, Shang Pierce (Ed Harris) hates “gooks” and feels threatened by the competition of the Vietnamese, who proved to be excellent fishermen and hard workers. He’s married, but, of course, his wife is a nag, so he resumes an affair with Glory (Harris’s real life wife Amy Madigan), who has come back to Alamo Bay to help her ailing father Wally (Donald Moffat) run his shrimp wholesale business. The film centers on the tensions that build between them when Shang loses his boat because of missed payments. He blames Glory and her father for hiring Vietnamese fisherman.

Into this seething caldron of resentment, comes Dinh (Ho Nguyen) a young Vietnamese immigrant looking for relatives who live there. He lands a job at Wally’s, putting himself in the middle of the conflict between Glory and Shang. When Glory defends Dinh’s right to work, Shang perceives it as a betrayal and thinks she has more than just a humanitarian interest in the young man.

Tensions build between the American and Asian shrimpers. Malle and screenwriter Alice Arlen, do a good job showing the escalation of bad feelings, and have no compunction about presenting a one-sided view of the conflict. The Vietnamese are shown as good people who only want to work hard, live a peaceful life, and be able to pursue their version of the American Dream. The Americans, for the most part, are shown as bigoted rednecks, who want the Vietnamese gone. Enter Ku Klux Klan organizer (William Frankfurter), who tells them history has shown white people will prevail. He begins to outline a strategy. But Shang has no patience for slow tactics. He wants action.

The next morning armed men, some with KKK robes and hoods, go out in their boats and take some pot shots at the Asians. Violence increases as crosses are burned and Molotov cocktails tossed.

With this basic situation, based as it is on real-life events, this should have been a compelling, emotionally-involving film. But, somehow, it isn’t. Arlen’s script may be the problem. Arlen, who co-wrote “Silkwood,” another socially conscious film, hasn’t pulled her punches as far as showing which side she’s on. But when it is laid on this heavily, when characters become stereotypes. who seem to exist only to prove a point, the drama is undermined by polemic. And, oddly enough, where there should be commentary on the racism and injustice in the story, Malle instead, presents the scenes of hatred and violence in a flat documentary-like style, that leaves you uninvolved. I kept thinking what Oliver Stone would have done with a story like this.

“Alamo Bay”’s greatest failure, however, is the lack of insight into the character of Dinh, who is presented as a positive-thinking hard worker who just wants to fit in and achieve success. Since he is really the central character of this story, as a symbolic representation of the entire Vietnamese community, the filmmakers should have invested more depth to his character. Nowhere are we shown the real impact the situation in Alamo Bay has on him personally. Even worse there was a real chance to explore the whole tragic series of events that resulted in him and his people having to leave their country. There is one only one almost ludicrous exchange of dialog between Dinh and Glory where she asks what happened to him in Vietnam. He says the Viet Cong raided his village and he had to flee into the jungle. While hiding there he says he had to eat grass. “Eat Grass!” Glory says, as if it were the equivalent of surviving the Mai Lai Massacre. A better writer would have given a deeper picture of what people like Dinh experienced as the result of war. Eating grass would be pretty low on the list of hardships they had to endure.

Despite its shortcoming, however, “Alamo Bay” is worth viewing if only because it dares to deal with a subject most filmmakers would be afraid to tackle. Harris and Madigan, who worked together in “Places in the Heart,” the excellent HBO flick, “Riders of the Purple Sage,” and “Pollock” are excellent. Ho Nguyen as Dinh stayed close to the surface of his character, which was probably what Malle and Arlen wanted of him. And more’s the pity.

“Alamo Bay,” is a one of the limited edition (3,000 copies) Blu-Ray discs from Twilight Time. Aside from a separate audio channel for Ry Cooder’s atmospheric score, the theatrical trailer, and a booklet giving some background on the story written by Julie Kirgo, there are no extras. An audio commentary, at least by Harris, Madigan or Arlen, would seem to be a required feature for a disc selling at $29.99. But that’s all you get.

The transfer to Blu-Ray, however, is flawless and the 1.0 DTS HD Master audio is very good. It’s disappointing that the original film did not have a stereo soundtrack, but the separate track for Cooder’s music (which is similar to the score he wrote for “Paris, Texas)” is in stereo and sounds just fantastic.

Bottom line: “Alamo Bay” deserves viewing. It’s a worthwhile attempt to make a serious film about an important subject. Louis Malle is no longer with us, but thank goodness there are always a few directors around, like him, who dare to make such films. They are, sadly, becoming an endangered species. Kudos to Twilight Time for preserving this one to Blu-Ray.

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Famed producer Robert E. Relyea passed away recently. He was 82 years old. Relyea served as producer, assistant director and unit manager during a long career that included such films as Jailhouse Rock, The Day of the Dolphin, West Side Story, The Magnificent Seven, The Hallelujah Trail, The Great Escape, Never So Few and The Alamo. In 2008, he released his autobiography "Not So Quiet on the Set". Cinema Retro contributing writer Graham Hill visited Relyea at his home in connection with the book's release. Click here to read his report. 

By Todd Garbarini

The Definitive Document of the Dead is the latest incarnation of director Roy Frumkes’s insightful behind-the-scenes look at the making of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), a film that has achieved a level of adoration and cult status that is truly amazing given that it was released unrated at a time when such a maneuver was considered box office poison. No doubt increasing in popularity after its release on VHS (this is where Yours Truly first saw it in the summer of 1985), Dawn has become the zombie film by which all others are measured. What this 16mm documentary illustrates brilliantly is the creative process that a director must go through, and it conveys it extremely well to the average moviegoer who may not have the slightest idea as to how a movie is made. It looks at its subject from the standpoint of filmmaking as an art form, and at one point director Romero, with omnipresent cigarette in hand, even compares the process to painting, and how an artist uses watercolors and “accidents” in their final work. Dawn went into production in October 1977 at the Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania and lasted approximately six months (if you believe the Internet Movie Database) and thankfully Mr. Frumkes actively sought and was given access to the mall set over a weekend in January of 1978 (my guess is that this was the third or fourth week of that month as the archival footage shows the entire exterior of the mall blanketed in snow; the entire Northeast had suffered a snowfall of one to nearly two feet at that time).

Most documentaries that appear on DVD and Blu-ray nowadays are nothing more than self-promotion pieces. The Definitive Document of the Dead, on the other hand, actually takes you behind the scenes of the film and enlightens the viewer on the creative process, specifically the teamwork and the collaborative nature of the people working on the film. Mr. Frumkes talks to Tom Savini, Michael Gornick, John Amplas, Richard Rubenstein, the cast of Dawn, and of course director Romero himself (it’s interesting to note that filming had to be suspended from Thanksgiving until just after Christmas as decorations populated the mall. Of course, nowadays Christmas starts being promoted as early as the end of August, something probably completely unheard of 35 years ago!). The documentary gives us a great look into Mr. Romero's creative methods of filmmaking; he is quite candid about how he makes movies and discusses how he feels about being compared to Alfred Hitchcock with his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. The comparison probably stems from the fact that the opening scenes look like a throwback to silent cinema storytelling, and that is an area that Night excels at, giving visual information to the audience and pulling us into the movie. There is mention of Howard Hawks’s film version of The Thing, released in 1951, as the movie that introduced Mr. Romero to horror and the idea of confined spaces made him want to make movies. Another pivotal film that is not touched upon in this documentary (but is mentioned on the newly-recorded commentary provided by Mr. Frumkes) is Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger's The Tales of Hoffmann, also from 1951, a film that was an enormous influence on Mr. Romero and aided in the creation of his own personal visual style. He also talks about how actor Duane Jones, the lead black actor in Night, was chosen simply because he was the best actor who auditioned for the role, squashing rumors that he was making a statement about the black man’s struggles in a white man’s world. Naturally, this draws comparisons to Ken Foree’s role in Dawn. Richard Rubenstein also weighs in and discusses the European style of producing, and how Dario Argento and his brother Claudio co-financed Dawn. Dawn was originally a much darker picture with a very down and bleak ending. As shooting progressed, the film took on a comic bookish feel and there is an obvious lightening up of mood. Whereas Mr. Romero had a crew of about eight people on Martin (1977), Dawn has a cast and crew in the hundreds. The most fascinating part of the documentary has Mr. Romero describing the rhythms created by editing and spatial design. Prior to his foray into feature filmmaking, Mr. Romero honed his editing skills by making many 30-second commercials (like Sir Ridley Scott who made roughly 3000(!) prior to The Duellists (1977) and Alien (1979).

After a discussion about the distribution of the film and leaving it unrated with a running time of just over two hours, the documentary switches gears to the 1989 summer filming of Two Evil Eyes (1991). Mr. Romero discusses how he wants a family atmosphere on the set without any of the political Hollywood nonsense. There is also a follow-up segment on Land of the Dead (2005) which focuses on Mr. Romero's daughter, Tina Romero, who discusses how she got involved in filmmaking. Be warned: there is a trailer for a hard-core sex parody of Night, and I'll let your imagination guess what the title of this film is! While this trailer does not contain any overt sex, there is much nudity.

There is also footage of the Chiller Theatre convention in 2005 which features a reunion of the cast of Day of the Dead, discussions with Greg Nicotero, Bill Lustig, and some of the cast and crew of Dawn. The final segments, all of which are shot on standard definition video, ends with Mr. Frumkes heading to the Toronto set of Diary of the Dead in the fall of 2006. While these last few segments are nowhere near as incisive as the footage shot for Dawn, they still are relevant, fun to watch and make The Definitive Document of the Dead a worthy addition to the libraries of Romero fans.

This documentary has been available on home video several times before. It first made the rounds in 1985, and I first time I saw it was four years later when it was released on VHS. It also appears on Dawn of the Dead: the Ultimate Edition, which was released on DVD in September 2004. Synapse Films then released it on DVD in 1999 with some nice extras, including a commentary with Mr. Frumkes and some cast and crew members. This latest version, The Definitive Document of the Dead, goes further than its previous incarnations. In addition to the extra footage that has been added, it begins with a slightly different beginning than its predecessors: a very humorous introduction by Mr. Romero for the audience at a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX and segues into a little bit of a discussion that he had in 2006 in Huntington, Long Island.

The documentary is available in two flavors: as a single, stand-alone standard definition DVD with a newly-recorded commentary provided by Mr. Frunkes running 102 minutes that covers Dawn up to Diary, and as a limited edition DVD/Blu-ray combo set that includes a standard definition DVD with the aforementioned extras, plus a Blu-ray of Mr. Frumkes’s original, 1978 documentary Document of the Dead, which runs 66 minutes and was scanned in high definition from the 16mm master. If you have a Blu-ray player, it is worth spending the extra cash to get the limited edition, which also contains a fold-out poster of Wes Benscoter’s beautiful new cover art for the DVD and Blu-ray. Have a look at this artist’s website. His work is brilliant.

NOTE: It has come to our attention that the Blu-ray edition of this title sold out immediately. The DVD edition is still available from Amazon. Click here to order

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, which present contemporary and classic films at their unique restaurant/theaters, have delved into the DVD business- and retro movie lovers can thank their lucky stars. One of the most prominent of the Drafthouse releases is Wake in Fright, a 1971 Australian film classic by Ted Kotcheff, a Canadian born director who had never previously set foot Down Under prior to making this movie. Based on the novel by Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright is unknown to many film scholars who pride themselves on being acquainted with worthwhile, little-seen films. (I must shamefully admit that I fall into this category myself, having never even heard of the film prior to reviewing the Blu-ray release). Based on the title, I assumed this was a suspense thriller or a horror film. It is neither. In fact, it is virtually impossible to pigeon-hole this movie into a specific genre. Suffice it to say that is one of the most visually arresting and mesmerizing movies of the 1970s- one that will haunt you long after viewing it.

The film opens with a panoramic shot of a tiny one room schoolhouse set against the expanse of the Outback desert. We are introduced to John Grant (Gary Bond), a handsome young teacher who seems curiously out of place in this environment in his jacket and tie. Grant is trying to maintain the universal standards of school teachers but we soon see that he is frustrated at having been powerless in choosing his designated school district. Thus, he has been assigned to one of the most remote places imaginable, teaching a class that is so small that teenagers are compelled to share the room with first graders. As the story begins, Grant is bidding his students farewell as he eagerly anticipates a six-week school holiday. He longs to return to Sydney and the loving embrace of his attractive girlfriend, whose well-worn bathing suit photo adorns his wallet. En route home, however, Grant's train makes a fateful stop in a small city of Bundanyabba (known to the fiercely territorial  locals as "The 'yabba"). Grant is initially bored at being stranded for 24 hours in this unattractive mining town where the residents are either openly hostile to strangers or overbearingly friendly. He becomes acquainted with the local constable, Jock Crawford (the wonderful Aussie character actor Chips Rafferty, in final, and perhaps, best performance.) Crawford is an eccentric but he takes Grant under his wing and escorts him to a cavernous bar where hoards of local men are carousing and drinking alcohol with almost superhuman abilities. Grant is at first repulsed, but he finds himself accepted by the locals since he is vouched for  by Jock. Soon, he's pretty inebriated himself and he becomes fascinated with a game of chance that dozens of men are participating in. The simple premise involves a toss of a coin and you win or lose based on whether you bet heads or tails. The sheer emotion of the participants intoxicates Grant and he tries his hand. He soon wins a small fortune. Tempted by the fact that winning even more money will allow himself to be freed from his undesirable teaching position, he makes the fatal mistake of returning to the game and gambling one more round. Within seconds, the drunken Grant loses every penny he has. By the next morning, he can't afford a train ticket to continue to Sydney and has to rely on the kindness of strangers (in the words of Tennessee Williams) to find housing and food.

This is where the film becomes completely compelling, as Grant rapidly meets a succession of overbearing- and potentially dangerous new "friends". They include Tim Hynes (Al Thomas), a friendly but consistently drunken elderly man who introduces Grant to his mates: two obnoxious and crude musclemen, Joe (Peter Whittle) and Dick (Jack Thompson in his screen debut). He also discovers Tim's attractive daughter Janette (Sylvia Kay), who can hardly stand the deplorable life she leads in having to serve her sexist father and his misogynistic friends. She is drawn to Grant's sensitivity but his attempts to satisfy her repressed sexual desires go awry. He is next introduced to Tydon (Donald Pleasence in brilliant form), a one-time doctor who has lost his license because of alcoholism. He lives a threadbare existence, trading medical advice to townspeople in return for a spartan diet and all the booze he can handle. Before long, Grant is coerced into joining Tyson, Joe and Dick on a brutal hunt for kangaroos. The drunken Grant becomes as savage as his out of control companions and he reaches bottom when he willingly kills and tortures these lovable, harmless creatures for mere amusement. As the story progresses, Grant devolves even further and goes off an alcohol-fueled abyss that culminates in a most unexpected homosexual encounter.

Wake in Fright startled audiences in Australia when it was first shown, leading to some audience members screaming at the screens "That's not us!" in objection to the way the Outback dwellers were portrayed. In reality, there are no overt villains shown on screen. These are just hard-bitten people who live in an inhospitable part of the land where you have to be tough in order to survive. The film was an entry at Cannes but had a limited release before fading into obscurity. It was virtually impossible to market. The Alamo Drafthouse Blu-ray does justice to the film's astonishing cinematography by Brian West, as well as the unique and atmospheric score by John Scott. Kotcheff's direction is letter-perfect right up through the final frame. Kotcheff is interviewed on the Blu-ray and he expresses gratitude for the team of film historians who searched the world in order to find the elements that have made the restoration of the movie possible. He also recalls how, when the film when was shown at Cannes, one young man sitting behind him kept gushing about his enthusiasm for the film. When Kotcheff asked who the young man was, the dismissive answer was that he was an unheard of new director named Martin Scorsese!  The Blu-ray includes vintage interviews with Kotcheff at Cannes in 1971, audio commentary with Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley, an extensive interview with Kotcheff at a 2009 Canadian film event, a vintage TV obituary for Chips Rafferty, a documentary about the restoration of the movie, theatrical trailers and an absorbing 28 page collector's booklet.

Wake in Fright is now justly regarded as the first "adult" Australian movie. It instilled pride and confidence in a generation of Aussie filmmakers and its legacy lives on through their works. Kudos to Alamo Drafthouse for presenting this moody and haunting cinematic experience through this first-rate Blu-ray release.

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Cinema Retro Issue #23 (2012)

• Inside the British James Bond in Motion British auto exhibition..
• Tribute to John Wayne's Hatari! and visits to the African locations as they are today.
• The Films of Elvis Presley and how infrequently the King would go on location.
• The Night of the Following Day: an underrated Marlon Brando gem
• The overlooked supernatural thriller Games starring James Caan and Katharine Ross. 
  
• Remembering John Wayne's 1960 epic The Alamo

USA/ CANADA : CINEMA RETRO #23

USA/ CANADA : CINEMA RETRO #23 $15.00 USD

UK : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #23

UK : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #23 £9.95 GBP

EUROPE : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #23

EUROPE : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #23 £12.50 GBP

REST OF THE WORLD : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #23

REST OF THE WORLD : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #23 £14.50 GBP

By John Exshaw

Being reports of certain events which would have appeared earlier, had fate and the need to earn a buck not intervened.

Western Season

Irish Film Institute, 24-28 August 2011

Waiting at the station for the 3:10 to Tara Street, I was feeling good – deep down good, the way a man can feel when he’s got a bunch of Westerns to watch and a passel of press passes in his pocket. Leaving the Iron Horse at Westland Row, I cut across Grafton Street (no sign of them pesky Rykers) and on down to the Irish Film Institute, where they were about to let rip with a four-day, eight-film season called ‘The Western: Meanwhile Back at the Revolution ... The Western As Political Allegory’. Well, I reckoned they could use all them fancy five-dollar words and dress it up whatever they damn well liked, long as it meant seeing some real Westerns on the big screen. As Randy Scott would’ve said, “There’s some things a man can’t ride around—but Cowboys & Aliens ain’t one of them.” Ride clear of Diablo, hell, ride clear of dumb CGI special effects movies is more like it . . .

Anyhow, I figured not only was this a chance to see some Westerns the way they were meant to be seen but also an opportunity to have my say on films which wouldn’t normally fit into the Cinema Retro corral, being as they were made before 1960. Not that this is either the time or the place for what you might call in-depth chin-stroking and head-scratching—more like a chance to throw out some thoughts and see where they go.

First up, perhaps predictably enough, was High Noon (1952), described in the programme notes by season curator Declan Clarke as “a commentary on the McCarthy witch-hunt and the failure of U.S. intellectuals to stand up to the House Un-American Activities Committee.” This, of course, has become pretty much the standard interpretation of High Noon but it would be interesting to know to what extent it was perceived that way on its initial release; the British critic Robin Wood has recalled that he was completely unaware of any political subtext when he first saw the film, and it seems rather doubtful that many citizens of Main Street, U.S.A., came out of their local cinemas saying, “Gee, honey, that sure was one in the eye for Joe McCarthy!”

Although, generally speaking, I prefer to see something of the West in my Westerns (even if it’s Almería, west of Rome), High Noon remains one of the best “town Westerns” ever made, notable as much for its characterisation as for its celebrated manipulation of real time to build suspense. In particular, one is struck by the refreshingly adult depiction of Helen Ramírez (Katy Jurado), a “woman with a past” who is required neither to apologise for that past nor to expiate her supposed sins by catching one of those stray “moral” bullets which usually account for such characters (e.g., Linda Darnell’s Chihuahua in Ford’s My Darling Clementine, 1946). Other details I’d forgotten include the church scene in which Thomas Mitchell appears to be lending his support to Marshal Kane only to end up giving him the shaft, Howland Chamberlin’s nasty-minded hotel clerk, and Harry Morgan urging his wife to tell Kane that he’s not in, that he’s gone to church.

By Lee Pfeiffer

There's plenty of speculation that the traditional experience of movie-going (i.e. people enjoying a film in a collective environment) will go the way of the dinosaur. The encroachment of on-demand entertainment coupled with the younger generation's willingness to watch widescreen movies on mobile phones is causing theater chains to take drastic action to keep audiences flocking to hardtop venues. The New York Times reports that one major 2,000 movie theater in Seattle that is set to open in 2014 will boast a policy of encouraging audience members to utilize cameras, mobile phones and other portable devices while the movie is playing. The clueless soul involved in this war on culture is the theater's executive director John Haynes who feels that sleeping with the enemy is preferable than maintaining any standards. Haynes' theater will welcome the kind of nincompoop who confuses watching a film in a theater with laying back on his living room couch. Haynes may be right: there are enough classless, stupid people who will jump at the chance to disrupt their fellow movie-goers. Meanwhile, Haynes might want to consider that any person with an I.Q. higher than their shirt size will take pains to stay away from his venue. Among those criticizing the policy is the programming director of Lincoln Center, who does not appear eager jump on Haynes' bandwagon. She appropriately says that she still finds it unfathomable that people can't sit through any type of entertainment without the urgent need to check their mobile device for messages.Click here for more

Don't look for Cinema Retro readers at the Seattle theater- and you can probably leave out CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, as well. Cooper did an entire segment on rude moviegoers and backed up the Alamo Drafthouse theater's policy of expelling people who use mobile devices while the film is unspooling. (Click here for archived article)

 

Cinema Retro reader Mike Boldt, an Alamo buff extraordinaire, kindly provides this rare photo of John Wayne's epic film as it was presented at the Broadway Theatre in Paris, 1960.

In a recent video editorial, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper took on rude movie-goers, defending the management of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin Texas for ejecting a young woman who thought it was appropriate to text during during a screening. Alamo Drafthouse cinemas attract dedicated movie lovers so there was widespread approval when the woman was escorted out of the theater. Cooper earned kudos from viewers who are fed up with paying big bucks to see movies, only to discover the theater is packed with imbeciles who have howling kids with them, talk on cell phones, text and carry on conversations while everyone else is trying to pay attention to the film. Cooper aired the idiotic woman's equally idiotic defense, which is unintentionally hilarious. Thanks, Mr. Cooper, for standing up for the rights of all movie fans in publicly humiliating the dolts who ruin so many cinematic experiences. Cooper's video should go viral on all movie web sites. Click here to view. - Lee Pfeiffer

By Lee Pfeiffer

Once again, Cinema Retro has spoken- and the studios have listened. Well, at least it's beginning to seem that way. So many of the films we've been calling for them to release on DVD have been made available recently that we sometimes think we must have a magic lamp around here. For years, we've been after Fox to do something with the special features from their 1993 laser disc release of The Comancheros. In fact, in the latest issue of Cinema Retro (#20), writer Nick Anez provides a major analysis of the film- and we point out that it's a pity the laser disc special edition has never been released on DVD. Well, as soon as the article went to press, what shows up in our mailbox? You guessed it- a terrific Blu-ray special edition of the film that not only combines elements from the laser release, but also boasts some wonderful new features as well. 

The 1961 film was the last of a three-picture deal John Wayne had inked with Fox in the late 50s. The first effort, The Barbarian and the Geisha, was a major dud, despite teaming the Duke with director John Huston (they hated each other, but that's another story). After Wayne went into hock to produce, direct and star in his 1960 epic The Alamo, he needed cash. Fortunately, the lucrative Fox contract afforded him two major hits: North to Alaska and The Comancheros. With the latter film, Wayne seemed to be comfortable in his middle-aged years and allowed younger co-star Stuart Whitman to have all the love scenes with female lead Ina Blain. The film represents the last movie to be directed by the great Michael Curtiz. When he fell ill during production, Wayne ended up directing about half of the film, though out of respect for Curtiz, he never took a screen credit.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Severin Films:

LOS ANGELES, CA, April x, 201 – Severin Films today announced an agreement with the estate of Larry Gold, Sr. to handle all future production and marketing for Intervision Picture Corporation. The arrangement commences with the 5/10 release of 1983’s SLEDGEHAMMER, notorious as the first shot-on-tape ‘slasher’ thriller for the then-exploding home video market. Gold, a pioneer of ‘70s film distribution and ‘80s genre VHS, died in March following a massive coronary at his home in Thailand. Severin’s Evan Husney will supervise all production and marketing for the label.  Intervision product will continue to be distributed in the United States by CAV Distributing Corporation.

Intervision was reactivated in January 2011 with the DVD releases of recent Goya Award Winner Jess Franco’s 1973 rarity SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF and his acclaimed 2010 ‘audio-visual experience’ PAULA-PAULA. The 5/10 release of SLEDGEHAMMER marks the return of director David A. Prior’s bizarre video shocker, which was celebrated as part of Los Angeles’ Cinefamily ‘Homemade Horror’ series and will be screened on street-date at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse. Future Intervision releases include the 1989 ‘Canuxploitaion’ oddity THINGS and 1993’s disturbing THE SECRET LIFE: JEFFREY DAHMER.

“Either by way of budget constraints or warped vision,” says Intervision marketing director Evan Husney, “each release will represent a piece of a cinematic underbelly from a universe all its own. Buried in obscurity and ripe for reintroduction, the films in Intervision's new cult canon assure top-shelf bizarro derangement, gonzo action, transcendental fever dreams and beyond.”

“From the days of plastic clamshell VHS through the rise of Blu-ray, Intervision has been dedicated to everything fascinating and extraordinary about obscure genre works,” says Carl Daft, co-founder and CEO of Severin Films. “We are proud to carry on this commitment to rare and unique genre films under the Intervision banner, as well as its new website launching soon at www.IntervisionPictureCorp.com.”

Severin Films, founded in 2006 with offices in Los Angeles and London, has been called  â€œwell on its way to becoming the greatest indie label of all time” by BlogCritics.org. Their DVD and Blu-ray releases include Alejandro Jodorowsky’s SANTA SANGRE, Jess Franco’s MACUMBA SEXUAL and BLOODY MOON, Walerian Borowczyk’s IMMORAL WOMEN, the unrated Director’s Cut of Just Jaeckin’s GWENDOLINE, Richard Stanley’s restored HARDWARE, Enzo Castellari’s original INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, Oscar®-nominee Patrice Leconte’s THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND, Don Sharp’s PSYCHOMANIA and Roman Polanski’s WHAT? Severin’s upcoming HD restorations include Ted Post’s THE BABY, Eugenio Martín’s HORROR EXPRESS and Peter Duffell’s THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD. The company’s theatrical releases include BIRDEMIC, DEVOLVED, and the forthcoming horror anthology THE THEATRE BIZARRE.

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

There was a time when director Robert Zemeckis was one of Hollywood's golden boys. His ground-breaking use of CGI in Forrest Gump was hailed as a milestone achievement in the 1990s and his Polar Express children's film has become a holiday perennial. However, it appears as though Zemeckis is now a victim the technology he helped pioneer. In the past, moviegoers complained there were too few family films in release. Now, it's the opposite problem with studios belching out expensive, CGI-packed animated epics on a weekly basis. They have so many similar characters and elements that audiences are reacting with a major yawn. The latest film that Zemeckis helped produce, Mars Needs Moms, combines live action actors with computer graphics. The New York Times reports that the film is already considered one of the all-time box-office disasters with Disney taking a $100 million write off.  Tens of millions more in losses could follow. The Times ranks it along such financial flops as The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Cutthroat Island and the much-troubled remake of The Alamo. (Contrary to popular legend, John Wayne's 1960 epic of the same name made money.) The movie marks Zemeckis' second disappointment for the studio, with his animated A Christmas Carol underperforming. Disney once had a golden touch in marketing family films. In the 1950s and 1960s, the studio produced countless profitable live-action comedies starring the likes of Hayley Mills, Fred MacMurray and Brian Keith. Those modestly-budgeted flicks may not have been blockbusters, but they brought in a good return on investment. In today's upside down movie industry, executives somehow allocated $175 million to make and market Mars Needs Moms.

The Times speculates that the abundance of 3-D movies has already bored audiences. Instead of using the technology sparingly for "event movies", such as in the days of Cinerama, seemingly every other movie is now in 3-D. Audiences are also protesting against the premium prices charged to see 3-D movies at a time when taking your family to see any movie requires a king's ransom. Disney studio execs are not trying to sugar-coat the reception accorded Mars, and acknowledge the film was a total misfire. The first casualty is Zemeckis himself: even before Mars was released, Disney must have had a premonition. The studio pulled the plug on his much-typed remake of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. For more click here

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The Sammy Awards (or Sammys) are named after movie lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), who received 4 Oscars for his songs, and was nominated more than any other songwriter, 26 times in all.  Cahn said he was “flattered and honored” to have these movie music awards named after him. His Oscar-winning songs are: “Three Coins in the Fountain”; “All the Way”; “High Hopes”; and “Call Me Irresponsible.”  All four songs were recorded by Frank Sinatra, a big fan of Sammy’s lyrics.  Now in their  twenty-third (23rd) year, the Sammys are the longest running awards for film music recordings.  
The Sammys are chosen each year by Roger Hall, a film music historian, member of the International Film Music Critics Association, author of the book, A Guide to Film Music – Songs and Scores, and editor of the long-running online magazine,  Film Music Review – www.americanmusicpreservation.com/fmr.htm
Here are the Sammys for film music CDs of 2010: 

Best New Film Score CD: THE KING’S SPEECH – Music by Alexandre Desplat
(Decca)

Best Overlooked Film Score CD: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF
THE DAWN TREADER – Music by David Arnold (Sony Classical)

Most Overrated New Film Score CD: INCEPTION – music by Hans Zimmer
(Water Tower Music)

Best Golden Age Film Score CD: CITIZEN KANE and HANGOVER SQUARE -
music by Bernard Herrmann (Chandos CD)

Best Silver Age Film Score CD: THE ALAMO (Complete Score) -
music by Dimitri Tiomkin (Prometheus 3 CD Box Set) 

Best Bronze Age Film Score CD: PATTON –
music by Jerry Goldsmith (Intrada 2 CDs)

Best Vintage Compilation CD: THE SEA HAWK – music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (RCA CD)

Best Newly Recorded Vintage Score CD: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Complete Score) – music by Maurice Jarre (Tadlow 2 CDs)

Special Preservation Award - Best Album Producer:  Robert Townson for SPARTACUS (6 CDs, 1 DVD with illustrated book)

Lifetime Achievement Award:  John Barry (1933-2011) – 5 Oscars 

To read about these awards, go to:

http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/sammys2011.htm

 

The cavernous lobby of the Loews before the thundering herds arrived for showtime. (Photo: Cinema Retro)

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last Saturday night's screening of F.W. Murnau's classic 1922 horror film Nosferatu may have set an attendance record for the Loew's Theatre in Jersey City, New Jersey. The legendary movie palace had been saved from destruction by dedicated volunteers and has been showing classic films again for the last decade. The day began with a well-attended screening of Son of Frankenstein, certainly among the best of the Universal horror classics. However, it was the evening screening of Nosferatu that brought out the masses. The theater management expected a good turnout but admitted they were stunned. The lines of people patiently waiting to buy tickets extended all the way down the street and the show time was delayed by forty minutes just to accomodate the crowds. The draw was not only the opporunity to see the film in one of the great American theaters, but to enjoy the original musical score played on the magnificent Wonder Morton organ by Wayne Zimmerman, who came in from Pennsylvania to perform. He was masterful, to say the least. The jovial Zimmerman not only played non-stop as a warm up while the audience took their seats in the cavernous theater, but then went on to play the film's score in perfect synchronization. The feat earned him several thunderous ovations. Best of all is the fact that so many young people come out to see classic films at the Loew's. For many, this was their first experience with a silent movie. The audiences are always reverent and there are absolutely no cell phones ringing or text messages being sent. It's good to know that there are still so many sophisticated moviegoers to support such ventures. Click here to sign up for the Loew's newsletter.

The Loew's has just been named Best Movie Theatre by the Village Voice. Here is their review:

[As printed in The Village Voice] "Pee-wee's back and all the rage right now, but how many of us who grew up on his Saturday-morning wackiness remember seeing him on the big screen? Fortunately, a drop-dead gorgeous historic movie palace on Journal Square in Jersey City has taken an eclectic approach to programming films. Earlier this year, the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre revisited the decades, the monthly series culminating in a 1990s night that featured Pee-wee's Big Adventure in all its celluloid glory, introduced by a Wonder Morton Organ and all. Then the fall season kicked off with "Three of the Best Films Hitchcock DIDN'T Make"; also, all of October's selections are Halloween-themed. Besides the obvious reason to head to Jersey for a film here ('cause Jersey rules, duh), there are the gilded ceilings, red-velvet tapestries, $6 tickets, and a reminder that movies, when shown in the right place, can be all-out magical—even when they're about a man-child discovering that there's no basement in the Alamo." 

 

The superb classic movies web site www.in70mm.com  presents film music historian Jeffrey Dane's comprehensive look at the life and career of Dimitri Tiomkin, who scores enhanced such films as The High and the Mighty, The Guns of Navarone and John Wayne's The Alamo. Click here to read

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Charlton Heston gave one of his best performances as the aging cowboy in the 1968 film Will Penny. In a vintage b&w promotional featurette, Heston takes us on a tour of Paramount Studio's "arsenal" featuring all sorts of historic handguns used by major stars in other films. The inventory includes Richard Widmark's unique, multi-barrel rifle from The Alamo. Heston's passion for weaponry defined the latter part of his life, when he became President of the National Rifle Association. This put him front-and-center in a political maelstrom with one of the most controversial issues in America. His eloquence as a spokesperson is credited with rescuing the organization from being defined by its fringe elements, but that very effectiveness caused resentment among his opponents who often found it difficult to separate his achievements as an actor from his new role as an activist. This vintage short is certainly not controversial but it does provide interesting insights into Heston's interest in guns. To view click here

Prometheus Records has released a 3 CD tribute to composer Dimitri Tiomkin's magnificent score for John Wayne's epic The Alamo. The new set is performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Nic Raine. The set will feature performances of Tiomkin's complete score, including previously unreleased material. There is also an abundance of bonus extras. For more info and sample audio tracks click here

Warner Home Video has released John Wayne's The Green Berets on Blu-ray. Wayne stirred up a hornet's nest among his political opponents when he released the film in 1968 at the height of the protest movement against the Vietnam War. After his 1966 visit to Vietnam to bolster the spirits of American troops, the Duke wanted to make a statement in support of the U.S. involvement in the war. He felt so strongly about the subject that he directed the movie as well as starred in it. (Ray Kellogg directed most of the major action scenes.)

The film remains one of only two films the Duke directed, the other being his 1960 epic The Alamo. Predictably, the movie caused a firestorm of protest, as it was released just when calls for withdrawing from the conflict were picking up steam. Most critics wrote the film off as hopelessly inept from an artistic standpoint. Indeed, Wayne employed every cliche imaginable and the script seemed to have been left on a shelf since the WWII era. There is the lovable company scrounger (Jim Hutton) who unofficially adopts a doe-eyed orphan kid and other key characters are actually named Kowalski and Muldoon.Wayne does address the political controversies of the era, but the opposing viewpoint of the war is seen through diatribes of another cliched character, a liberal reporter played by David Janssen. Wayne's simplistic outlook on the conflict is represented by his answer to Janssen's complaint that due process of law is not being followed. Wayne's Colonel Kirby tells him, "Out here, due process is a bullet."

 

As regular readers of Cinema Retro know, publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall's book The Alamo: A Visual Celebration of John Wayne's Epic Movie was an instant hit, selling out very quickly. We've received many requests from readers asking if we can find additional copies for sale. We're happy to say that we have been able to obtain a small quantity of copies of this limited edition, hardback volume. It is available for sale through our Ebay affiliate Spy Guise. See description below:

This is a rare edition of the book  THE ALAMO: A VISUAL CELEBRATION OF JOHN WAYNE'S CLASSIC MOVIE. Written and designed by Cinema Retro magazine publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, the book recounts the dramatic and inspiring story of John Wayne's obsession with making his 1960 film that recounted one of the most famous battles in history. The production was a challenge from day one, as Wayne was not only starring and producing, but also making his directorial debut with one of the largest budgeted American movies ever made. The problems Wayne encountered were seemingly insurmountable and involved political battles, forces of nature and even a murder of a cast member. The book covers all aspects of production including the controversial Oscar campaign that became part of Hollywood lore. Despite these obstacles, Wayne managed to emerge with one of the great epics of American cinema.

The book was designed as a limited hardback print run of only 1500 copies. The book sold out very quickly, but we have been able to get a very small number of unused copies which are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The book was never sold in retail chains or through Amazon.

Each copy is individually numbered and has labels signed on the interior by both authors.

The book contains over 650 rare color & b&w photos, many of which have never been published before. There are entire sections dedicated to international marketing campaigns and collectibles tied in with the film. This is sure to be a valued collector's item in the years to come.

If that special someone in your life loves epic movies, this will make the perfect holiday gift. (Coonskin cap not included!)

PRICE: $110 (includes free postage anywhere in the world)

For views of the interior of the book and to order directly through Ebay, click here

You can also order through Pay Pal by sending $110 to: or by sending a check to: cinemaretro@hotmail.com

Cinema Retro

POB 152

Dunellen, NJ 08812 USA

(If you wish to pay by credit card, E mail us at cinemaretro@hotmail.com)

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE MOST THRILLING MOVIE EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR! THE MOVIE MAGIC TOUR
APRIL 23-MAY 1, 2010!

• LEARN HOW LEGENDARY FILMS WERE MADE THROUGH EXCLUSIVE MEETINGS WITH ACTORS WHO WORKED ON MANY OF THE FILMS WE CELEBRATE ON THIS TOUR!

AN EXCITING INVITATION TO JOIN LEE PFEIFFER AND DAVE WORRALL, PUBLISHERS OF CINEMA RETRO, FOR THE MOVIE LOCATION TOUR EVENT OF THE YEAR!

We regret to say that due to wide demand, the tribute book to John Wayne's The Alamo by Cinema Retro publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall is now sold out. We will accept names for a waiting list in case we succeed in obtaining more copies, but please do not forward any payments at this time. If interested in being on the waiting list, please send an E mail to:cinemaretro@hotmail.com For details on the book, see the back cover of issue #15.

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

We've received notice from an astute fan that it was 50 years ago today that filming commenced on John Wayne's The Alamo. Hard to believe it's been so long...one of my earliest memories of movie-going is seeing it repeatedly on the big screen when I was only four or five years old. Seems all classic movie goers from the Baby Boomer generation have similar fond memories. The film is not perfect, but its stature increases over the years and it remains one of the most impressive and inspirational epics of its day. Job well done, Duke..

Famed film historian and preservationist Robert A. Harris has publicly announced his ambitious plans to restore John Wayne's The Alamo to its original glory. The task will not be an easy one, as the original film materials have deteriorated drastically. Over $1,000,000 needs to be raised for the drive, with private donors being offered the opportunity to receive screen credit on the restored print. The goal is to have the project completed in time for a 2010 "re-premiere" in San Antonio. The full story appears on the Digital Bits web site. To read, click here

By Graham Hill

Welcome back to my visit with producer Robert E. Relyea, who continues to share with us some more anecdotes from his remarkable career. If you remember from part one, the principal wooded exterior location for the Elvis Presley picture Kid Galahad (1962), was the small mountain community of Idyllwild, California, near Palm Springs. Relyea had kept the location in mind for his next film, The Great Escape (1963). As hard as it is to believe, director John Sturges and United Artists were all set to shoot right there in sunny southern California, building the POW camp in the California hills with only some second unit shots done on location in Germany. This strategy would have obviously ensured that the movie was shot on a relatively low budget.  Relyea told Sturges “It’s not exactly the Black Forest, but it does have a few trees”.  Relyea advised Sturges they could hire locals to play the large number of POWs – all they would need is a waiver from the Screen Extra’s Guild.  In this pre-production stage, their best-laid plans fell apart. The Guild insisted they bring out the hundreds of union extras each day from Los Angeles.  With a prohibitive cost like that, Germany suddenly seemed rather appealing and a lot simpler.

This revelation gives you a sense of how Hollywood studio brass thinks and acts, which is not always in the interest of art over commerce. However, in this case, we have to thank the Screen Extras Guild, long since merged into the Screen Actors Guild, for unexpectedly playing a role in the creation of a classic. Thanks to the Guild, The Great Escape benefited from the kind of authenticity that you could only get from shooting in Germany itself. The unit shot at the Bavaria Studios in Geiselgasteig near Munich, with the camp set and railway station stunningly constructed in a real forest setting right behind the studio lot.  As assistant to John Sturges, Relyea got the necessary government permission to clear some 400 trees and the permission from the German railways to shoot those crucial scenes.  In addition to personally helping Sturges, Relyea also was second-unit director and even performed one of the film’s most dangerous stunts. Remember when the German plane James Garner and Donald Pleasence escape in crashes into the trees short of the Swiss border? The regular stunt pilot did not want to deliberately crash the single engine, two-seater vintage Bucker Bu 181. Having a license to fly and not wanting to hold up production, Relyea simply went ahead and did it himself. It is quite a story that Relyea relates in detail in his recent autobiography Not So Quiet On The Set.  The crash caused him some considerable pain, but like a true professional, he did not allow it to interfere with getting the picture made. Speaking of stunts, the famous iconic jump was indeed performed by Steve McQueen over that barbed-wire fence – only not in the film. McQueen was frustrated that the insurance company wouldn’t allow him to do the stunt on film – so he secretly did it on his own time in secret just to prove he was up to the task. Still -as every devoted fan knows- on screen,  it was his close friend and motorcycle enthusiast, Bud Ekins who performed the classic stunt. McQueen still performed all the other bike sequences, even - through the magic and skills of editing - chasing himself dressed as a German soldier. Relyea directed the actual jump, not Sturges, and even though on screen it was only a very few celluloid seconds, it would go on to become an iconic sequence in film history. Another interesting fact is that, because Sturges refused to work at night, the task of filming the actual escape from the tunnel sequence fell to Relyea.  Sturges simply told him, “Don’t shoot it like I would –surprise me!”

Rare behind the scenes footage from the making of John Wayne's epic film The Alamo has surfaced and has been placed on the web site for the Texas Archive of the Moving Image. The clips are in b&w and are silent, but show some interesting scenes including John Wayne (fully attired at Davy Crockett) receiving some sort of proclamation. There are also scenes of "Mexican soldiers" socializing with the Texan defenders. The scenes also show prominent cast members clowning around between takes. To view click here

By Graham Hill

For those of you out there in Cinema Retro Land, who are not familiar with the name Robert E. Relyea –well how about I drop a few other names… ? The Magnificent Seven, The Alamo, West Side Story and Bulllitt for starters – all films on which Mr. Relyea has served as a valued member of the production.  Whether he was in the role of Assistant Director, Assistant to the Producer, Unit Production Manager or even Executive Producer, Relyea played an important part in the making of those great, iconic pictures. At 78, he’s still as sharp as ever and for the first time , he has decided, at the bequest of son Craig, to document his career in the recently published autobiography Not So Quiet on the Set –My Life in Movies During Hollywood’s Macho Era. As a film historian, I highly recommend his book, especially if you supplement it with two other volumes that also came out last year –Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges  by Glenn Lovell and  I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History by Walter Mirisch. These books offer their own unique perspectives, something I hope to capture in this article. So if everyone’s ready –we’ll call action!-  and go for a take!

It was a beautiful sunny January morning, when I drove out to Westlake Village northwest of Los Angeles to visit a man I felt I already knew.  Growing up back in London, England, I kept seeing his name coming up in the credits of so many of my favorite movies.  Now I was driving through this classy suburb that once used to be where the cattle grazed and stampeded on TV’s Rawhide.  In a magnificent corner home complete with white picket fence, I was greeted by the 6ft. 3in. retired studio executive himself.  Having spent a few hours on the phone weeks earlier, we were already on the same page - although he did surprise me and say that his and his lovely wife Dorothy’s favorite movie genre was horror films.  Of course, if he had cloned himself, he could have worked on Hitchcock’s Psycho in-between making The Alamo for John Wayne and The Magnificent Seven for John Sturges. Those are among the honor roll of famous names Relyea has worked with – in addition to William Wyler, Robert Wise and Richard Brooks.  The first of these legends to recognize talent in the young 29 year old Relyea was the Duke.  Wayne was looking for a First Assistant Director for his upcoming lifelong dream epic The Alamo. Relyea’s successful work on that high pressure film saw his salary instantly doubling, along with a rise in his reputation within the industry. Upon returning home to LA from Texas on Christmas Day 1959, he got a present that was far more rewarding than anything under the tree: an offer from action director John Sturges to work in Mexico on something called The Magnificent Seven..

By Steve Saragossi

I’ve always found it odd that all the warm words, all the retrospectives, the long in-depth articles about a star come out after they’ve gone. Why aren’t our dwindling reserves of genuine icons celebrated a whole lot more while they’re still with us?

With rumours about his ill-health abounding I just hope it’s all hogwash and that Paul Newman outlives us all.

Newman is more than a star, more than good actor, more than an accomplished director, more than a great looking embodiment of all-American optimism. He is the quintessential Hollywood artist. He personifies all that the American movie industry strives so hard to achieve and rarely succeeds.

There is doubtfully a man or woman under 40 who does not admire Newman in one way or another, either purely physically or for his on-screen charisma, or his acting ability. Even his lauded salad dressing, with all proceeds going to charity, has to be admired, although it has provided some confusion with some younger people. Apparently, when one 20 year old who was using one of his dressings was asked which Newman movie she liked best, she replied “He’s making movies now?”

His 50+ year career has produced nary a whiff of scandal, and his body of work is such that it just has to contain at least one film from anyone’s top 20. You don’t think so? Let’s just dip into the obvious: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Sting, The Hustler, The Towering Inferno. The not-so-obvious: Harper, Pocket Money, Hombre, Sometimes a Great Notion, The Verdict, Road to Perdition, Nobody’s Fool, Fort Apache- the Bronx, The Young Philadelphians, Slap Shot, The Drowning Pool. Even some of Newman’s misfires are worth catching: Fat Man and Little Boy, The Prize, Winning, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.

Trying to put into words the universal appeal of Newman is tough, if not impossible. It’s certainly more than the sum of the parts as so many competent actors have come along with at least one of his attributes, but have only been a fraction as successful. To boil it down into its constituent elements is a study in futility; but I’ll try.

Mike Thomas looks at a new book by an old friend.

When I first moved to Los Angeles about a dozen years ago, the one person I wanted to meet was Robert Relyea. Now, this may seem like an odd choice since his is hardly a household name, but Bob Relyea’s credit was on just about every one of my favorite movies growing up. And if you’re reading Cinema Retro, the odds are these films are favorites of yours as well - “The Alamo,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “West Side Story,” “The Great Escape,” and “Bullitt,” to name a few of the classic movies he worked on.His nominal title on a picture like “The Great Escape” was assistant to the producer but this hardly begins to describe what he actually contributed to that film. He scouted locations, he was the production manager, directed all the night scenes (because John Sturges didn’t like working nights), he even flew the plane that James Garner piloted in the film and was courageous enough to take on the hazardous job of stunt pilot when the plane needed to crash. Oh, and that immortal shot of Steve McQueen jumping the barbed wire fence on his motorcycle? Yup, Bob Relyea directed that.

They say it’s best not to meet your heroes, that they will only let you down. Well, as usual “they” are wrong. I finally got to meet Mr. Relyea and it has been one of the great pleasures of my life to be able to call him my friend. A finer, more decent man I have never met and he is also one of the best storytellers I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Now, with the publication of his memoirs of a life in the motion picture industry, “Not So Quiet on the Set,” you, too, have the opportunity to meet Robert Relyea and I urge you to do yourself a great favor and read one of the funniest and most moving books about the movie industry I have ever read. The style of the book perfectly captures the voice of the man I know - understated, honest, slightly amazed at the things he has seen and been a part of, and full of a puckish wit that infuses the incredible goings on. And what a cast of characters! Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando, Elvis, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Frank SInatra, Steve McQueen, Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, June Allyson, Yul Brynner, Burt Lancaster, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Cliff Robertson, David McCallum and Peter Sellers, even the Beatles make an appearance. And the directors he’s worked with are here as well - Vincente Minnelli, William Wyler, Robert Wise, Blake Edwards, Peter Yates, Mark Rydell and his mentor, the great John Sturges. In fact, the story about how Sturges happened to make “Bad Day at Black Rock” is worth the price of admission alone, as they used to say. It’s hard to pick out a favorite anecdote, they are all so well told, but there are a couple of stories about the making of “The Alamo” that are priceless, including one about Relyea having a conversation with John Wayne as a horse proceeded to bite the Duke on the ass. Wayne turned around and socked his equine attacker squarely on the snout without missing a beat in the conversation with Relyea. And this was years before Mongo in “Blazing Saddles!” “I realized then,” Bob once told me, “He wasn’t acting. He really WAS John Wayne!”

“The Alamo” provides the book with some of its funniest moments as well as one of the most dramatic. During the long, arduous shoot, Relyea developed a bleeding ulcer that came within minutes of killing him. Thanks to the blood transfusions of the many stuntmen on the film, he survived, thanks to the massive infusions of stuntmen’s blood, almost all of it laced with copious amounts of tequila, Jack Daniels and Scotch. In fact, there’s a funny story that Bob Relyea once told me about that film, that isn’t in the book so I won’t be giving anything away if I recount it here. “On the first day of shooting, one of my responsibilities was to watch Duke play the scene, since they didn’t have video monitors in those days for him to look at after the shot was completed. Well, I got so pre-occupied with the set-up and and everything that I didn’t notice until we all saw the dailies that because he had lived so long with this project, Duke not only knew his lines, but knew every other actor’s lines in the scene as well. And when we saw the dailies, there he was, silently mouthing the other actor’s lines as they were delivering them. I was so focused on everything else, I missed it, and I can assure you that I caught hell for that one!”

Another of the rapidly dwindling members of Hollywood's Golden Age of stars has passed on. Richard Widmark, the versatile leading man who began his career on screen in 1947, has died at age 93. Widmark disdained publicity and gave very few interviews over the decades. He preferred keeping a low profile at his Connecticut estate. Widmark was as versatile as leading men get- he could play heroes and villains with equal ease and appeared in a wide variety of genres. He often played unsympathetic characters and his roles as sneering bad guys in Kiss of Death (in which he infamously pushed an elderly woman in a wheelchair down a staircase while laughing maniacally) and in No Way Out as a racist thug opposite Sidney Poitier were praised by critics. Widmark excelled in playing strong men with deep psychological problems. In the Cold War thriller The Bedford Incident he played a by-the-book U.S. Naval captain whose uncompromising hunt for a Soviet nuclear submarine brings the world to the brink of war. In John Wayne's The Alamo, his performance as Jim Bowie won praise, as he portrayed the heroic Texan as a courageous man compromised by an addiction to alcohol. The strong-willed Widmark clashed with star/director Wayne, but rumors that the men came to blows were exagerrated according to Widmark. Widmark also made a strong impression as the star of Don Siegel's 1968 detective thriller, Madigan - which was so successful, it spawned a TV series years later, even though the character was killed in the film! For a full look at Widmark's life and career click here

One of the qualities that makes Cinema Retro unique is our dedication to making movie fans aware of niche market DVDs and books they might not otherwise be aware of. As regular readers know, publishers Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer recently finished a major book about the making of John Wayne's epic The Alamo for Sundown Entertainment publishers. In the course of our research, we became aware of the good folks at Playset Magazine, a publication dedicated to the toy soldier playsets baby boomers cherished as kids. Turns out that the magazine's publisher Rusty Kern and his wife Kathy were in the process of putting the finishing touches on a unique DVD titled At the Alamo that examines the film versions of the famous battle through the most unusual angles imagineable. This is a wonderfully wacky hodgepodge of a project that incorporates recreations of the battle through elaborate dioramas featuring the original Marx playsets from the 1960s, an interesting history of the phenomenally popular Walt Disney TV series (including a recent exclusive interview with Fess Parker), coverage of the Wayne version of the film and a tour of the movie's sets that still stand in Brackettville, Texas, a visit to the actual Alamo shrine in San Antonio - and if that isn't enough- hand's on advice about how to build your own Alamo diorama. The only thing the Kerns left out is the kitchen sink.

As bizarre as the DVD sounds, it's completely engrossing from beginning to end. Rusty Kern makes an amiable and knowledgable guide - and unlike some of the big name TV talk show hosts, he knows how to ask a question then shut up and let the subject answer. For a homegrown, low budget project, the DVD boasts good production values including skillfull editing and fine use of composer Mike Boldt's rendition of Dimitri Tiomkin's classic score for the Wayne movie. It's a truly great way to - well, "Remember the Alamo!" This is one of the most creative and enjoyable DVDs of the year.

Click here to watch a special promotional trailer for the DVD

Click here to order the DVD from Playset Magazine

Sundown Entertainment's eagerly-awaited limited edition book THE ALAMO: A VISUAL CELEBRATION OF JOHN WAYNE'S CLASSIC MOVIE has been published. Written and designed by Cinema Retro publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, the book recounts the dramatic and inspiring story of John Wayne's obsession with making his 1960 film that recounted one of the most famous battles in history. The production was a challenge from day one, as Wayne was not only starring and producing, but also making his directorial debut with one of the largest budgeted American movies ever made. The obstacles were seemingly insurmountable and involved political battles, forces of nature and even a murder of a cast member. The book covers all aspects of production including the controversial Oscar campaign that became part of Hollywood lore.

We've seen the final copies of the book, which will be shipped shortly to those who have pre-ordered. The hardback edition is limited to only 1500 copies, each individually numbered and signed by the authors. The price is $110. The book contains over 650 rare color & b&w photos, many of which have never been published before. There are entire sections dedicated to international marketing campaigns and collectibles tied in with the film. This is sure to be a valued collector's item in the years to come.

If that special someone in your life loves epic movies, this will make the perfect holiday gift. It will not be sold in stores or on Amazon and must be ordered directly through the publisher. (Coonskin cap not included!)

TO ORDER THE BOOK CLICK HERE