Well, dear readers, the relaxing weekend is over, and it’s time to greet the new week with gusto and verve and vim and vigor, not necessarily in that order. I think I’ll get through these here notes lickety-split or, at the very least, split-lickety. I need a good night’s sleep for today will be one of those long day’s journey into night things. I shall have not time to tarry or dally or even dally or tarry. I shall be on the go from morn till eve. Speaking of morn till eve, yesterday I did nothing. Nothing is what I did. The day was filled with endless nothingness and I loved every minute of it. I did have to have a lunch with someone who said they had important information to impart, and who then proceeded to impart a bunch of information I’ve heard about twenty times. Otherwise, I got up, I did nothing, I got tired of doing nothing so, as a change of pace, I did nothing. At one point during the day I thought about doing something, but then I thought better of it. Funny, it never thinks better of me, so why am I always thinking better of it? Damn them, damn them all to hell. And let me tell you that if you missed any of the merriment and mirth and laughter and legs of the discussion board this weekend, do check it out, especially yesterday’s wacky batch of postings. In any case, after all that nothingness, I then sat on my couch like so much fish and did – wait for it – nothing.
Yesterday, I managed to watch two-and-a-half motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Viva Zapata, starring Mr. Marlon Brando and Mr. Anthony Quinn as the brothers Zapata. I’d actually never seen the film all the way through, and it’s quite a marvelously marvelous film, beautifully directed by Elia Kazan (Mr. Kazan was really a terrific filmmaker), and wonderfully played by a large cast. You simply cannot take your eyes off Brando whenever he’s on screen – he was an amazing presence, especially at this point in his career. The score by Alex North is also pretty terrific, and the film is just the right length at 109 minutes. The screenplay by some guy named John Steinbeck is colorful and dynamic. The transfer on the region 2 DVD is pretty good – one can only wonder why it hasn’t yet been released in region one. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Wichita, starring Mr. Joel McCrea, Miss Vera Miles, Mr. Lloyd Bridges, Mr. Peter Graves and a whole mess o’ great character actors. Wichita is a terrific little oater, a programmer to be sure, but a really good and well-made programmer. The screenplay by Daniel Ullman probably plays loose with the facts, but it gets the job done and some of the dialogue is excellent. The story is about Wyatt Earp’s first job as marshall in the city of Wichita. Those around these here parts know of my admiration for Mr. McCrea, who I think is one of the finest screen actors who ever lived. He’s wonderfully human and real in this film, and is the embodiment of a good and honest hero. There’s a foreshadowing of Ride The High Country in certain scenes, and what’s fascinating about that is that Ride The High Country’s director, Mr. Sam Peckinpah, plays a small role (uncredited) as a bank teller. The film was shot in Cinemascope (the really wide Cinemascope of 1955), and the direction by the great Jacques Tourneur is just right. This DVD (part of a batch sent me by a friend) is anamorphic and in the correct 2:55 ratio. The color is reasonably okay, but the image is a bit on the soft side. The film, an Allied Artists production, seems to be owned by Warners, and I do hope they get around to issuing an excellent DVD of it one of these fine days because the film is a gem from start to finish. I only got halfway through the third motion picture on DVD, which is entitled Red Dawn, a new special edition. It’s a really risible little film by John Milius, but it has a certain loopy likeability to it in that cheeseball 80s way. I’ll have a full report when I finish it.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get up early and – wait for it – go, go, go the entire livelong day and evening.
Today is a day, that’s all I can tell you. I must prepare a few packages for shipping, then I must do an important errand early in the morning, then I have what will probably be a two-hour meeting with the Kritzerland accountant, which I hope will not be an ordeal, as these types of meetings give me a big ol’ headache. I’ll then do my shipping, attend to e-mails, mail a check to our general manager that will cover our rehearsal space, the NYMF fee, and a couple of other things. I’ll also send back their contract. I have to fill out some paperwork for the LACC Foundation, and I have to have a couple of conversations with our casting director. We’re about to begin making some offers for a couple of roles, ironically all to people with whom I’ve worked. We’ll see how that goes. I then have to go to an alumni meeting, and then directly to an LACC Foundation meeting. And please keep those excellent vibes and xylophones coming this way for a quick and successful resolution to – wait for it – our funding of the fundraiser.
Tomorrow, it’s more of the same only I think I have the evening free, although I may be wrong about that. Wednesday is more of the same and then I’m finally seeing Jersey Boys at the Ahmanson as a guest of the Wechter clan. Thursday and Friday will be spent in getting prepared for this first trip to have our casting sessions.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, go, go, go, all the livelong day and evening. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Marlon Brando films? And your least favorites. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we – wait for it – have a lovely second to last day in a little month I like to call July.