Well, dear readers, we had an especially sparkling and lively chat last night with an especially sparkling and lively roomful of Hainsies/Kimlets. The entire affair was filled with merriment and mirth and laughter and legs and not only did we discuss the Tonys until we were blue in the face we also discussed the Tonys until we were orange in the face. Not only did we do that, but we also had the story of The Randy Vicar and the Unshelled Peanut. Oh, that was a randy one. In any case, the fur was flying. Yes, Virginia, we had airborne pelts in our chat room last night.
Last night, after supping with my friend Penny Orloff, I came home and watched the first ninety minutes of the brand spanking new DVD of Once Upon a Time in America. I love this movie and it is great to have it on DVD. I do wish the transfer, which is pretty terrific, were just a little bit lighter and not so contrasty in the darkest scenes. But most of it, so far, looks swell, and the sound is crystal-clear. The film is two minutes longer than it ever has been in this country, and the handful of reviews by the usual Internet idiots who act as if they know this film well, totally get it wrong as to what those two minutes are comprised of. When the “long” version (the supposed director’s long version) premiered in the US, a year after the bastardized short version, it ran approximately 225 or 226 minutes. When it came out on laserdisc in this country it ran 227 minutes and contained a couple of extra shots of violence. What no version of the “long” version ever contained in this country was a key flashback scene that occurred during the penultimate scene between James Woods and Robert DeNiro. How, you are wondering, would I know this if it wasn’t there? Well, I’ll tell you how I knew this because why should I deprive you of such things? I knew this because I had the script of the film, and because I also had a tape of the film from Japan. The Japanese version of OUATIA was also a shortened version (mostly for sex and violence) and ran 204 minutes, but it contained the flashback, and the flashback gave the ending of the film a resonance that it simply did not have without it. Why this had gone missing from any long version ever shown here is a mystery no one seems to be able to answer. One of the idiot reviewers even suggested that the extra two minutes on this disc were minor extensions of scenes that had already existed in the long version, and, of course, they listed the flashback as one of them, as if they’d ever seen it before, which they had not. In any case, as you may have surmised, the flashback is finally back where it belongs, like Dolly Gallagher Levi. It comprises most if not all of the two minutes that have been added (I’m still looking for other additions but I haven’t seen any yet). It’s a two-disc set with the movie spread out on both discs, and the second disc has a few but not many extras. It contains a totally worthless and inept commentary track by Richard Shickel, who doesn’t even seem to know the film all that well, a portion of a documentary about Sergio Leone, the portion that pertains to this film, but why couldn’t they just give us the entire documentary? Some stills and a trailer round it out, but minor quibbles aside, this is one of the major releases of the year.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must buckle down Winsocki and work, work, work (that is three works which really gets one worked up).
Donald’s brand spanking new radio show is up for your mental delectation, and so is our Unseemly Interview with Mr. Kevin Chamberlin, so do check them out.
Also, we have our very first Kritzerland signing coming up, at Bookfellows in Glendale (the site of the very first Benjamin Kritzer signing) and I hope some of you Hainsies/Kimlets will make it. I’ll be reading from the book and there will be cheese slices and ham chunks and cake and we shall all dance the Hora and the Hully Gully. It takes place on June 21st, which is a Saturday, and I will have complete address and time info for you shortly. So, come on down, tell your friends, tell the man in the street and the woman in the window, tell everyone and let’s have a full bookstore.
A week later, dear reader Susan Gordon and I will be doing the Ray Courts’ Hollywood Collector’s Showcase show at the Beverly Garland, and you must come visit us. The show is on June 28 and 29 and we shall be there all the livelong day. It is quite a group of celebs, including several of my Partridge Family cohorts, so it should be a blast and a half.
The singing bird was back singing endless show tunes last night, but couldn’t get any other birds to join in because they were as tired as I was. I finally put toilet paper in my ears, but that didn’t work because all I could think about whilst lying in bed was that I had toilet paper in my ears and one simply can’t fall asleep when all you can think about is that you have toilet paper in your ears like an idiot. I removed the toilet paper from my ears and then finally fell asleep at some point.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go hither and thither and perhaps yon, I must write until the cows come home to make up for the last two days in which I did not write anything (I was busy and I needed a break), I must eat various and sundried foodstuffs, I must talk on the phone and I must watch the rest of the Once Upon a Time in America DVD. Today’s topic of discussion: Since I am currently writing about this – what were your favorite things to do during school summer vacation when you were a teenager? Where did you go, what did you do, tell us everything and hold nothing back. I’ll be checking in often, since I’ll be sitting here in my kitchen like so much fish, writing, writing, writing (that is three writings).