Well, dear readers, we are heading toward September. Yes, Virginia, by the end of this week it shall be September and all I can say is holy moley on rye where did August go? But, let’s not jump the gun because we’ve still got a few cherce days left in August. But then, we shall be throwing down the gauntlet to September, and we shall be saying to September, “Hey, September, be a great month and give forth great things.” And hopefully September will listen, just like children. We all know children will listen, and September needs to take a page from that particular book. Otherwise, we shall have to take back the gauntlet and also we shall have to take back the mink. But, we don’t have to throw down the gauntlet quite yet, because we’ve still got a few cherce days left in August. But then, watch out, baby, because we are throwing down the gauntlet and that is all there is to that. Speaking of gauntlets, yesterday I attended the celebrity show at the Beverly Garland Hotel. With me were our very own Pogue and our very own Mr. Nick Redman. Pogue and I have already posted about it, so you can read yesterday’s posts to get the real skinny or the fake fat. In a nutshell, it was an ill-attended bore with a couple of small highlights for the triumvirate of bk, cp, and nr. Afterwards, we lunched in the hotel restaurant. The lunch was surprisingly yummilicious. I then came back to the home environment, and I immediately sat on my couch like so much fish and finished the DVD I’d started the night before.
The DVD I started the night before was entitled Bedazzled, a film starring Mr. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, written by Mr. Cook, and directed in glorious Panavision by Mr. Stanley Donen. I know this film has its devotees and that they are legion. I don’t believe the film was a huge success upon its initial release, but I think a cult has grown ever since. I did not see it on its initial release, but I did see it soon thereafter and I did not find it all that funny. Seeing it again all these years later, I appreciate the handful of good bits, and there are a couple of wonderful sequences, but mostly I feel the film is forced and just not all that funny. Mr. Cook and Mr. Moore are wonderful, as is Miss Eleanor Bron. Our very own Mr. Barry Humphries has a small role. The region 2 DVD sports a lovely and colorful transfer, and there is a very long interview with Mr. Humphries, which is more about Mr. Humphries than it is about Bedazzled.
After finishing the DVD, I toddled off to see Major Dundee, directed by Mr. Sam Peckinpah. This is the new reconstruction, which puts back several sequences that had been cut out. In fact, Mr. Peckinpah had little, if anything, to do with the cut of the film that was shown back then. And, unfortunately for the reconstruction, he had virtually nothing to do with that either, being that he’s dead and all. I don’t really remember the original cut enough to tell you what the added scenes are or how they help the film. I do remember the film being very choppy, and it seems less so now. And the original release had a really bad score by Daniel Amfitheatrof (whom I normally like), complete with one of the worst movie songs ever written (Fall In Behind The Major). That score, which Mr. Peckinpah abhorred, basically made the film seem melodramatic, lightweight, and ultimately silly. For this new version, a new score was written by newcomer Christopher Caliendo, and it’s a major improvement that finally gives the film some heft. Mr. Caliendo wisely scores it in the style of the era the film was shot in, rather than today’s droning style. While I didn’t always agree with how the film was spotted (where the music goes), I thought most of it worked pretty well. I don’t think it’s perfect, but it helps. The film is quite interesting – it still doesn’t seem smooth, and it still doesn’t seem complete. The film just sort of stops at the end, and it’s too long a journey for it to be so abrupt. I can’t help but think had Mr. Peckinpah been allowed to finish his film back then, that everything would have been smoother and, most especially, everything would have had the rhythm that Mr. Peckinpah brought to his best work – that is what is most lacking here. The editing is simply not Peckinpahesque – none of it feels right. The cast is really very good. Charlton Heston is quite good as the titular character, and Richard Harris is strange but compelling as his sort-of ex-friend and now nemesis. Jim Hutton almost walks away with the film – he’s such a terrific actor, and everything he does seems so unforced and fresh. And, you’ve got the likes of Ben Johnson, Dub Taylor, Slim Pickens, Warren Oates, and ten or so others from Sam’s Stock Company, so the actors area always fun to watch. So, this new reconstruction doesn’t turn the film into the lost masterpiece that some were hoping for, but it does make it a better viewing experience. I’ve already read a few reviews where nutcase idiotic critics are falling all over themselves to proclaim it better than it really is. Columbia should be commended for giving their all to the project, and I’m sure I’ll buy the DVD (which will have both versions plus, I believe, a commentary track which includes our very own Mr. Redman).
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly I’m throwing down the gauntlet to the next section.
Don’t forget, Donald will have a new radio show up for your listening pleasure later today, so be sure to check it out. And, don’t forget that you have until midnight Monday to submit your Unseemly Trivia Contest answers.
As I was reading over the few pages I wrote for my new short story, I wasn’t happy with the profession I’d chosen for the protagonist – it was too reminiscent of what I’d done in one of the other story, so I decided to change it. Today I shall go through and basically rewrite all those paragraphs, and make additions to reflect the change. Once I figured out the new profession, everything suddenly seemed right. I love when that happens, don’t you?
Last night I also began watching the new DVD of the recent revival of Kiss Me, Kate, starring our very own Mr. Brent Barrett. I wish I could say I was enjoying it (I did enjoy it when I saw it on Broadway), but I’m not and I really don’t think I’ll last all the way through it. It’s shot so ineptly and cut so ineptly, and there are weird choices – sometimes you hear the audience reaction, sometimes it’s complete silence, and sometimes they show the actual theater auditorium with empty seats. Whatever their thinking, it simply doesn’t work and is just confusing. I’ll have more to say when I’m a bit further in.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write, I must relax, I must finish addressing envelopes and filling out delivery confirmation slips, I must box up five amazon.com orders, and I must sup on something interesting. Today’s topic of discussion: Let’s take our haineshisway.com Time Machine back in time – you can go to the creation of any Broadway show in history. You can be there from the first time the idea hits to opening night, sitting there as the show is written, cast, rehearsed, tried out. What show would it be and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings shall we? Yes, Virginia, I am throwing down the gauntlet.