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President Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt on March 30, 1981. This picture was taken shortly before the incident.
The man in the white raincoat is Secret Service agent Jerry Parr; after the shooting, it was Parr who pushed Reagan into a limousine, noticed he was bleeding, and directed the driver to take them to a hospital, probably saving Reagan’s life.
Parr had been inspired to pursue his career by the 1939 film The Code of the Secret Service, in which dashing agent “Brass” Bancroft survives a shooting in Mexico. Bancroft was played by a 28-year-old Ronald Reagan.
You have to wonder what Jerry Parr thought of the coincidence. According to the book Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Parr believed afterward that saving the president’s life was God’s plan for him. When he retired from the Secret Service, he became a minister. Link -via Nag on the Lake
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website. This post contains spoilers.
Almost everyone loves the movies, and along with viewing our personal favorites and other movies, most of us enjoy discussing the subjects and contents of films. Opinions and tastes, of course, vary. But almost everyone I know loves, or at least likes, Bill Murray’s best film, Groundhog Day.
In the film, Murray plays Phil Connors, an obnoxious, self-centered TV weatherman. Phil wakes up one day and realizes it’s actually the same day as it was yesterday -and this occurs over and over and over… Finally, Phil “evolves” and finds his true love (his colleague Rita, played by Andie MacDowell) and his true identity and a “new day” is finally allowed to dawn. The film is actually a great movie version of The Twilight Zone.
The great thing about Groundhog Day (or any other great movie) is that it is endlessly rewatchable (a bit of irony there). Last Groundhog Day, February 2nd, one cable channel played Groundhog Day over and over, for the entire day. Nice gag.
Groundhog Day also makes for great discussions, and numerous theories about the movie and its meaning have been put forth. Is it karma? What goes around comes around? Is it a commentary on man’s true nature? His true goodness -reflected by kindness, understanding, and warmth? Some Buddhists have adopted the film as a modern symbol of their religion. One keeps “coming back” until they finally evolve into a “perfect state,” at which time the endless “coming back” ceases. All valid and very metaphysical theories.
But why was poor Phil stuck in the “endless” time loop in the first place? This is one thing that the film leaves nebulous and unclear. In one sense, it is “hell,” i.e. a world of endless repetition, with no randomness, no unpredictability. But in another sense, this is the situation we all want and need: endless chances to fix and correct our mistakes, and then to understand why they were wrong. In the film, when Phil finally straightens out what he’s done wrong, the “endless” loop stops.
But again, why the punishment? After all, Phil is undeniably a jerk, but hey, he never murdered anyone. He’s not a rapist. He didn’t torture any small animals. Why Phil?
Okay, here’s the answer. The second draft of Groundhog Day says, actually, it was caused by Phil’s scorned ex-girlfriend Stephanie. The second draft of Groundhog Day is pretty close to what we all see in the film. There is a bit more of Phil in the studio at the beginning, but nothing major. But also in the second draft, Stephanie, Phil’s ex-girlfriend, puts a curse on him. Literally, she opens a book of magic spells and does a little ritual that causes him to get stuck in time.
Near the beginning of this script, we meet Phil’s girlfriend, Stephanie, who Phil coldly and unceremoniously dumps. Later, as Phil is going to bed in Punxsutawney, we see Stephanie in her room, using Phil’s business cards and broken watch (conveniently set at 5:59) to perform a magic spell from a book titled 101 Curses, Spells, and Enchantments You Can Do At Home. This sets the theme of Groundhog Day in motion. There is no “higher purpose” given, just an angry, embittered ex-girlfriend with a little book.
Excerpt from the second Groundhog Day script:
Stephanie: Are you saying that our relationship was a waste of time?
Phil: Our relationship? We went out a total of four times, and only once did anything happen. It was fun, but I don’t see that as a big commitment.
Stephanie (closing in again): I had our charts done. My astrologer says we’re extremely compatible. There may even be some past lives involved here.
For whatever reason, the director, the writer, or whoever, made the decision to completely excise any mention of Stephanie and her vindictive curse. I guess they just felt it was unnecessary to the movie or that it “slowed down the action” or that it made Phil too sympathetic, or some such Hollywood reason. Well, maybe they were right.
Groundhog Day is Bill Murray’s (who is a great actor with a great body of film work to his credit) finest and most memorable film. By the way, I never liked Andie MacDowell as an actress. She seems like a very nice lady, but just never liked her on screen. But in Groundhog Day she puts in a very likeable performance.
Oh, and that’s not the only mystery that’s solved here. The screenplay also specifies that Phil will spend the next 10,000 years (Holy cow!) trapped in the time loop. It also has a more definite answer as to why he comes out of it. It was apparently the kiss with Rita at the end of the film that broke the spell, much like a fairy tale. Even in the final filmed version, you can hear a tinkly magic sound as Phil and Rita lock lips.
Oh yes, one last note on Groundhog Day. My friend Kenny had a bit part in the film. I asked him what Bill Murray was like to work with.
“Oh, he wasn’t that friendly, but he got nicer as the film went along.”
“Just like in the film, ” I said.
“Yeah,” he said (as if it had just dawned on him),
“Just like the film.”
How do you make the 2012 Best Picture Nominees even better? Recast them
with dogs!
That’s exactly what Next Movie did, and we’re not the least bit disappointed:
Link
- Thanks Andie!
Forbidden Planet Jigsaw Puzzle | $16.95
Putting together this 1,000 piece Forbidden Planet Jigsaw Puzzle from the NeatoShop brings the reward of seeing the movie poster from the 1956 science fiction classic -and the reward of having a good time with your family and friends! The final size is 20″x27″. It makes a great gift, too! Check it out, as well as the other neat jigsaw puzzles available at the NeatoShop.
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A furry Alfred, Bane purring away as he stalks his prey, man there is something adorably hilarious about replacing the cast of the Dark Knight Rises with kittehs! And we all know that kittehs have taken the interwebs by storm, so why should Hollywood be any different?
–via ComicsAlliance
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Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
It’s a Wonderful Life is on the American Film Institute’s list of “100 Greatest Movies Ever made” (coming in at #11) and was voted the #1 spot on the list of “Most Inspiring Movies of All-Time.” To all of us now, the film seems as much a part of the Christmas season as Santa Claus, egg nog, gift giving, and kissing under the mistletoe. But much like The Wizard of Oz and Citizen Kane, the most beloved Christmas movie of all time was a disappointing box office flop when it was first released. In fact, It’s a Wonderful Life may just have sailed away, out of our collective consciousnesses, but for television and the magic of reruns.
It wasn’t actually until the 1970s, almost 30 years after its theater debut, that It’s a Wonderful Life became the cultural icon it now is. The film’s copyright protection ended and it fell into the public domain in 1974, so stations could air it for free. Repeated airings at Christmas time in the ’70s caused millions and millions of movie fans to fall in love with this now-considered “timeless classic.”
Republic Pictures restored its copyright claim to the film in 1993, with exclusive video rights included. At present, it can only be shown on the NBC-TV network.
Directed by the wonderful Frank Capra, It’s a Wonderful Life had its official debut on December 20, 1946, and going into limited release just five days before Christmas. It didn’t go into general release until July of 1947. One has to wonder at the logic of the distributors of the film. Why put an obvious “Christmassy” film into general release after the holiday? Nowadays, that would be rather like releasing one of the Halloween films in November or the film Valentine’s Day in March. What the heck were these guys thinking?
It’s a Wonderful Life also faced an even-bigger obstacle regarding its release. It was almost completely overshadowed by another film called The Best Years of Our Lives. An indisputably beautiful, touching film, The Best Years of Our Lives was a salute to returning World War II veterans. The film showed how each one dealt with life after war. The United States, of course, still had war on its mind, and this mindset probably caused the discerning movie-goer of 1946-47 to opt for The Best Years of Our Lives and neglect It’s a Wonderful Life.
Critics, too, pretty much dismissed the film upon its release; reviews were decidedly mixed. It’s a Wonderful Life did garner five Oscar nominations, but it was shut out at the awards ceremony.
Jimmy Stewart was not the first choice to play the film’s lead, perennial All-American George Bailey. (Stewart has called George Bailey his all-time favorite role.) The studio very much wanted Cary Grant, but fate, as is its want, intervened, and Stewart, a true screen legend, was given his quintessential role. Henry Fonda was also in the running for the lead role (he would have made a perfect George Bailey, too).
Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers also was offered the female lead as Mary Bailey, George’s devoted wife (director Capra’s perennial favorite leading lady, Jean Arthur, was unavailable). But Ginger was set to do a Broadway play and gave the offer a thumbs down. She considered the story “too bland.” Ginger never quite forgave herself for this monumental error in judgement, and Donna Reed got the part.
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Leave it to Sasha Baron Cohen, the guy behind Borat and Ali G, to make light of an uncomfortable situation with broad humor which will allow those being lampooned to laugh at themselves, although ruthless dictators are some of the toughest nuts to crack. Watch this trailer for The Dictator and bask in the glory of global unrest-themed ridiculousness.
–via Ology
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Is this the future of watching movies? Check out these video clips, which claim to be taken in one shot with no post production processing, about immersive movies using the PlayStation 3:
In the past, projection mapping worked only from a single, static view point, and thus was very limited. By attaching the PlayStation Move to the camera, we can track projections to screens in real time, enhancing the effect of spatial deformation and false perspective on the projections and allowing viewers to look round (virtual) corners, bend walls, create a hole in the wall, or remove the walls altogether to reveal vast expanses of virtual worlds.
Real? Fake? What do you think? YouTube Clip 1, Clip 2, and Clip 3
The strangeness of the Kung Fu film known as “Demon of the Lute” goes well beyond language barriers and cultural idioms. This movie is downright nutty, even the YouTube description sounds crazy:
Bear witness to Yuan Fei’s heroic struggle against the soulless ginger, Red Haired Evil, and his logic-defying pal, Eagle Man. Shazam!
Isn’t it nice to get a little craziness mixed in with our martial arts action once in a while? I, for one, love the Red Haired Evil’s magnetic personality, and to say he’s having a bad hair day is an understatement.
–via GeeksAreSexy
Why are Nic Cage, Holly Hunter and the baby from the 1987 movie Raising Arizona on the cover of this Serbian biology textbook? Your guess is as good as mine, but I’d be willing to bet this image wasn’t used with the studio’s permission!
Peter Jackson is such a visionary film director that he’s even changing the way movies are advertised to the public by releasing a video blog series which shows the making of his new J.R.R. Tolkien movie adaptation “The Hobbit”.
He shows things that directors generally keep to themselves, like the process of filming 3d footage with a stereoscopic camera, all the while remaining in charge of the production like a total badass. This video is number 4 in the series, so check out the other 3 if you want to see more behind-the-scenes footage from “The Hobbit”.
–via Ology
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
Some Like It Hot, besides being the most famous film made by legendary sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (her signature performance) is a comedy classic in its own right. In 2000, it was voted by the American Film Institute as #1 on its list of the 100 Funniest Movies (interestingly, the #2 choice was Tootsie, making both the #1 and #2 choices cross-dressing films).
Besides the great Marilyn (and Billy Wilder’s awesome direction), the brilliant gender-bending performances by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon make it, without a doubt, one of the most entertaining comedies ever filmed. Let’s take a look at a few facts you may not know about a truly hilarious movie: Some Like It Hot.
* The “almost cast” list is almost as great as the final choices. Director Billy Wilder originally wanted Bob Hope and Danny Kaye to play the Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon roles. Frank Sinatra was another early choice the play the Jack Lemmon “Daphne” role. Perhaps the strangest actor to audition for Lemmon’s role was a young Anthony Perkins (rejected. He was to star in Alred Hitchcock’s Psycho the next year).
* Jerry Lewis was also offered the role of the zany “Daphne.” Lewis turned down the role because he “didn’t think drag was funny.” Lemmon, who earned an Oscar nomination for his performance, sent Lewis chocolates annually in gratitude. According to Jerry, every time he ran into Billy Wilder, Billy greeted him with, “Hello, Schmuck!” Jerry later admitted he regretted his rejection of the role.
* Actress Mitzi Gaynor was the original choice for the female lead “Sugar Kane” role, but as soon as Wilder found out Marilyn Monroe was available, he offered her the role.
* The film’s original working title was Not Tonight, Josephine.
* Marilyn wanted the film to be in color (her contract actually stipulated that all her movies be filmed in color), but after looking at Curtis and Lemmon in the color film tests, they were deemed to be too grotesque-looking (they photographed with a green tinge).
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Remember the 1986 film Big Trouble in Little China? Kurt Russell spent the entire movie without a clue. He is just plain confused. They obviously didn’t let him read the script. -via The Daily What
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How do you make costumes designed around a 20-year-old movie work? You get all of your friends involved! The gang at Intense Individuals did just that last year, and dressed as almost the entire cast of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. See more pictures at their site. Link -via Buzzfeed
The Wizard was a 1989 movie that was entirely made of product placement, mainly for Ninento’s Power Glove. I have never heard of this film that was catnip for kids (it’s about video games!), but it sounds like the most bizarre mishmash ever. It involves a road trip across the country for three runaways, one who has escaped from a mental institution, in which no police are involved and the people they meet don’t find anything odd about unaccompanied minors.
The trek to California is accomplished primarily by gambling — a series of double-your-money hustles instigated by the queerly parentless Haley. We actually get to see Haley’s trailer home at one point, though her father (a trucker) is on the road. In addition to video game-related hustles, the trio end up at one point in an actual casino, wherein Haley’s skill at craps allows an adult (“Spankey,” a mentally challenged “trucker friend” of her father’s, played by Frank McRae) to win hundreds. It’s later revealed that Haley’s deceased mother had a gambling problem, which apparently led to Haley’s hustling skills. Corey’s mother is also dead. And Jimmy’s sister/Corey’s half-sister? She’s dead, too. What?! Never mind that now. We have to get to California.
The climax involves a video game tournament, so you can guess the ending. It doesn’t make any sense, either. Read more about how a favorite movie from a writer’s childhood becomes completely nonsensical when he watches it again as an adult. Link
The following is an article from Uncle John’s All-Purpose Extra Strength Bathroom Reader.
A few years ago one of our BRI writers saw the classic 1931 horror film Dracula for the first time …and thought it was terrible. He never knew there was a story behind why the film had so many problems -or even that other people agreed with him that this Hollywood classic was flawed- until he came across this story in a book called Hollywood Gothic by David J. Skal, a leading authority on the history of monster movies.
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
One of the nice things about silent films is that everyone can understand them, regardless of what language they speak. Of course, they needed title cards to help explain the plot, but it was easy -and cheap- to write new cards for each foreign market.
As a result American films found their way into countries all over the world, and silent films became a truly universal art form: American studios made half of their revenues from foreign film sales; silent screen stars like Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan became the most recognized human beings on the face of the earth.
SILENT TREATMENT
But the advent of talking pictures changed everything -and not just for silent-screen stars whose thick accents quickly consigned them to the Hollywood scrap heap. Suddenly, American films became incomprehensible to anyone who didn’t speak English. American film studios faced the prospect of losing up to half of their business overnight.
Bela Lugosi
Foreign countries that had become used to a steady stream of Hollywood films found themselves left out in the cold; some threatened to retaliate by slapping tariffs on films with dialogue in English, or by boycotting American films entirely.
Making matters worse, sound recording and synchronization technology was still very primitive, and dubbing foreign-language dialogue onto English-language films was all but impossible. Besides, one of the things that attracted audiences to the first “talkies” was the thrill of hearing their favorite actors speak for the very first time. Even if dubbing had been practical, it might not have been very popular. There was no easy solution to the problem, and as a result many foreign language markets were left out of the early years of the talkie era -except for the Spanish-language market. Spanish was too popular, and Mexico, Central, and South America were too close for Hollywood to ignore.
THE DOPPELGÄNGER ERA
No film crew works 24 hours a day. At some point everyone goes home, leaving the soundstage and the expensive sets unused until morning. So, reasoned Hollywood studios, why not bring in a second cast and crew at night to film foreign-language versions of the same films that were being made in English during the day?
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Mario’s brother Luigi once had his day in the sun, thanks to a Nintendo Gamecube game called Luigi’s Mansion, in which Luigi wins a haunted mansion and must rescue Mario from his ghostly captors using a vacuum pack to bust the spooks. Sounds like the perfect game to turn into a live action movie, right? Well, watch this spoof trailer made by YouTube user SAXjewell and see what you think.
–via Ology
Comments Off Here is a Disney Studios reference test film synched with the finished scene from the 1951 film Alice in Wonderland. You also see the animators at work, capturing the mood and the movements of the actors. -via The Daily What
All I know about the 2004 time travel film Primer is that it’s very confusing. That was made clear in an xkcd plot graph that we linked (Primer is at the bottom right). Although the movie covers only five days, there are nine timelines, according to this graph at Unreality magazine (which you can enlarge at the link). Does this clear things up? Link
You may have seen all the movies of the ’90s, but that’s been a few years now. Test your memory with today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. You’ll be given 12 different movie quotes, and for each one, decide whether it’s from Reality Bites, Empire Records, or Singles. I scored 42%, which is honestly not bad for someone who hasn’t seen any of the movies. Link
Comments Off I’m sure you’re thinking “Gee, just what we need, another deleted scene…”, but this one’s a little different than the rest. In this scene from The Empire Strikes Back, featuring Han and Leia bickering and oozing all kinds of sexual tension, you get to see Harrison Ford’s acting sound forced and a bit hackneyed, which may result in feelings of disillusionment and sadness. Not all deleted scenes hit the cutting room floor due to time constraints, some were removed to avoid fan heartbreak!
-via Ology
Photo Credit: WETA Workshops
Chances are if you are a regular reader of Neatorama, you’ve already got your geek on and have seen this promotional still from the set of The Hobbit. Still–just in case. (And at least one of them are hot! Go figure. Why did this well-armed group need Bilbo again?) The first photograph is a composite and the second is–don’t ask me why–a “final full-body rendering” for all the dwarves and conveniently includes their names–Lord knows I can’t tell them apart. Check out all things dwarf and Hobbit related at The One Ring.net, which is working as Peter Jackson’s ersatz PR team.
The movie Cowboys & Aliens opens nationwide today, marking Harrison Ford’s 40th credited movie role. In honor of the occasion, the National Post created 40 icons of Ford in his roles (although strangely all appearing to be the same age). Each is linked to an explanation of the role depicted. Link -via Buzzfeed
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Novels, movies, cartoons, tattoos… everything is better on the second draft.
1. THE CATCH IN CATCH 22: The Edit that became an idiom
In 1961, author Joseph Heller finally submitted his manuscript for Catch-18 to his editor, Robert Gottlieb. Although Heller had spent seven years perfecting the story, Gottlieb saw room for improvement. The editor taped the pages to his office wall and restructured the novel, giving more emphasis to the now-famous Major Major character and instructing Heller to delete entire 60-page sections. But most importantly, Gottlieb wanted to change the title. Earlier that year, writer Leon Uris had released Mila 18, and Gottlieb didn’t want any confusion between the two books. What followed was an exchange of frantic letters in which Heller and Gottlieb considered and rejected various numbers for the title. They decided 11 didn’t work because of Ocean’s 11; 14 was an “unfunny number;” and 26 just didn’t feel right. “I’ve got it!” Gottlieb blurted out one night in a eureka moment. “It’s Catch-22! It’s funnier than 18.” The edit stuck, and a major, major idiom was born.
2. AN AFFAIR TO FORGET: The Edit that Changed Hemingway’s Life
Hadley and Ernest Hemingway in 1922
The turmoil of Ernest Hemingway’s personal life continued long after his death thanks to the publication of his autobiography, A Moveable Feast. Released in 1964, three years after his suicide, the book was uncharacteristically poignant and sentimental. It even included a tender apology to his first wife, Hadley, whom Hemingway had cheated on with his second wife, Pauline. Yet, for decades, few people knew the apology existed. That’s because it was edited out of the text by Hemingway’s fourth wife, Mary.
As the author’s literary executor, Mary prepared the work for publication, and she removed the apology out of spite. Mary had always resented Hadley for being the literary giant’s favorite spouse, and Hemingway confirmed that belief in A Moveable Feast when he wrote, “I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.”
Decades later, in 2009, Hemingway’s grandson Sean reinserted the apology into a new edition of the book. But that wasn’t the only serious edit he made. Sean also scrapped passages about his grandmother, Pauline, whom Hemingway blamed for ruining his first marriage. Of course, literary historians were quick to criticize Sean’s selective whitewashing. They claim that while Hemingway may have wanted to cut Pauline out of his life, he never intended to cut her out of his life story.
3. HALL MARKS: The Edit that Resulted in Two Masterpieces
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What movies make you cry? When I saw The Champ during its initial theater run, I did not expect to cry, but I did, and so did everyone in the audience. Watching 9-year-old Ricky Schroeder begging his father not to die was just too much. When researchers Robert Levenson and James Gross began looking for a trigger that would ethically induce sadness in volunteer test subjects, they searched for the most sure-fire tear-jerking film ever. It took years, but they found The Champ.
In 1995, Gross and Levenson published the results of their test screenings. They came up with a list of 16 short film clips able to elicit a single emotion, such as anger, fear or surprise. Their recommendation for inducing disgust was a short film showing an amputation. Their top-rated film clip for amusement was the fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally. And then there’s the two-minute, 51-second clip of Schroder weeping over his father’s dead body in The Champ, which Levenson and Gross found produced more sadness in laboratory subjects than the death of Bambi’s mom.
“I still feel sad when I see that boy crying his heart out,” Gross says.
Cue the argument for Old Yeller. Excuse me, I think I need a handkerchief. Link -via Metafilter
Link to the specific scene from The Champ.
This in part may stem from my undiagnosed ADD, but watching Part I of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows left me abused and confused. To me it seemed like lots of random stuff that looked expensive was happening but a coherent plot wasn’t one of them. How could I enjoy the new HP flick without remembering all the details of the first six films? That’s when I discovered The Fine Brothers seven minute recap of the Harry Potter franchise that will bring diehard fans and newbies (like me) up to speed.
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes to theaters this week, so we present a recap of the 7 Harry Potter films, so you can be fully caught up to watch and enjoy the final film with your friends, and make them think you actually know the series when in reality you just spent 7 minutes watching this video.
Carl and Ellie’s dream house from the movie Up! comes to life in Herriman, Utah, with Disney’s blessing. At Lovely Listing, you can also see a bit of the inside, too. Link
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The Retroist reprinted some letters from the 1983 book Letters to E.T. Most of the letters are from children to the alien character, but this one is to Steven Spielberg himself. Link -via @LettersOfNote
Comments Off Charlie took his sister Ginny to the movies. What Charlie knew, but Ginny didn’t, was that Ginny’s boyfriend Matt had bought a slot during the previews. And we have her reaction on video during the whole thing. -via reddit
This poster for the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou was created by artist Chris DeLorenzo for the Silver Screen Society collection, where you can see it moving. Link -via Laughing Squid
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