Well, dear readers, I must hurry and write these here notes because soon the cleaning lady will be here and she will cast the Evil Eye in my direction. I have lots to do today – I have to go to storage and get some CDs and some music, I have to do a ton of errands and I really must write as soon as the cleaning lady is gone. Then, tonight, I will once again be going to Musso and Frank with Mr. Pogue and his ever lovin’ Julieanne, and my pal Beth, with whom I worked on Penn and Teller’s Bullshit. Isn’t that a full day and evening of doings?
Last night I watched a DVD entitled Four Faces West, a minor but enjoyable oater starring Mr. Joel McCrea and his ever lovin’ Francis Dee, and Charles Bickford in support. It was directed competently by Alfred E. Green, a studio director with an interesting but strange career that ran the gamut from The Jolson Story to the risible Invasion, USA. But, you can’t go wrong with Joel McCrea, so I enjoyed it very much. As usual with Artisan/Republic DVDs, the quality is iffy at best. I really hate this company – they outright lie on the DVD cases on most of their Republic releases and say that the original film negative was used. Well, what does that mean? Certainly they didn’t use the camera negatives, and none of these transfers are new – they are the same crappy transfers done for the old laserdisc editions. This is painful for films like High Noon and The Quiet Man. Phooey on them, and hopefully at some point someone will do these films justice.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because there will be more factoids coming in the next section, and besides she of the Evil Eye will be here any minute.
Don’t forget, our Unseemly Interview with Miss Penny Peyser is up and running for your mental delectation. And Donald continues his journey through the radio replays that garnered the most votes from you dear readers. And don’t forget that our Unseemly Live Chat is tomorrow at six o’clock Pacific Mean Daylight Savings Time and you simply must attend or be bitch-slapped from here to eternity and hell and back.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go hither and thither like a chicken with its head cut off, I must avoid the Evil Eye, I must write until the cows come home, I must sup at Musso and Frank and then I must sleep. Today’s topic of discussion: Even though we did this a long time ago, let’s do it again – what are your favorite oaters? I love westerns – classics, b-westerns, whatever – although I haven’t liked many of the attempts to do westerns these days. I’ll start – The Searchers, High Noon, The Naked Spur, Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch, The Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in the West, Red River, Rio Bravo – Lordy what a bunch of grand motion pictures those are. Your turn, and if oaters aren’t for you then talk about whatever you like. I’ll check back when she of the Evil Eye is gone.