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December 17, 2007:

I DREAM OF CHURROS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, December is already half over. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, December is already half over. And 2008 is just around the corner. All I can say is holy moley on rye this year has sped by like a gazelle eating a churro. This year was like the singing group The Hi-Lo’s. The hi’s were very hi, and the lo’s were merely annoying and there were a few too many of them for my taste. I like the taste of a churro better than a lo, don’t you? But, the year isn’t over, so let’s not have our look back quite yet. I like to do that on New Year’s Eve, which is also just around the corner. Christmas is just around the corner, as well. In fact, why don’t we all just go around the corner and be done with it? My intention had been that last Friday was it in terms of work for this year, that the last two weeks of December would be mine all mine, but, much as I’d like to do that, I do have a few loose ends to tie up this week. I’m going to do my darndest to tie them up by Wednesday, and then, other than making more notes on what will hopefully be my new novel, and working on reworking a couple of songs, I shall be free as a dove or a swan or a green finch and linnet bird. Speaking of a green finch and linnet bird, yesterday was a very pleasant day. I did very little. I got up, I answered some e-mails, I had some lunch, I took a drive, I did some work at the piano, I made a few book notes, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Lisa and the Devil, a film of Mario Bava. There are, on this plant, film fans who are fanatical about Mr. Bava. One of them, Tim Lucas, has written a 1200 page book on him, and while the photographs are very pretty, no film director in history has ever had a book of 1200 pages written on them. Not Hitchcock, not Ford, not Griffith, not Brian de Palma, not Scorsese or Welles or Kurosawa or Truffaut or Ray (Satyajit or Nicholas) or Lean, well, you get my point. I’m a very big fan of Mr. Bava’s film Black Sunday. I enjoy Black Sabbath (Three Faces of Fear). I like the atmosphere and direction in Blood and Black Lace, really like Kill, Baby, Kill, and there are one or two others I’ve enjoyed. Lisa and the Devil was made in the 70s, and is a completely odd film – and not odd in a good way. Yes, it’s got atmosphere to spare, but it’s just not a good or interesting film. You do get to see Elke Sommer in her underpants, and Sylva Koscina runs around crying a lot. Telly Savalas, who, I think, plays a butler cum devil is Telly Savalas – he sucks on a lollipop through most of the film, which, I suppose, is where he got the idea he’d later use in Kojak (who loves you, baby). I suppose it has a plot, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you what it was/is. The film did have an interesting history, though – I’m not sure it was ever actually released in its original form, or, if it was, it was a marginal and unsuccessful release. What happened was, The Exorcist came out, was a huge hit, and the producer of Lisa and the Devil, reshot half the film, making the story about possession, and adding a few vomit scenes and some exorcism scenes – that version was released, as House of Exorcism. The DVD transfer is very nice, and the DVD contains both versions of the film.

I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled The Two Jakes, which was, of course, the much belated sequel to Chinatown. The film was a critical and box-office disaster, although to listen to its participants talk in the featurette, you would think they’d made some sort of great film. I was on the lot of The Culver Studios (then Laird), when filming began on The Two Jakes. For some reason, we had the script in our office. I’d read it, and couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. In the featurette, other than one throwaway comment by Jack Nicholson, you’d never know that they’d begun filming, pulled the plug, fired one of the leading actors, and replaced the original director. But, I remember it all very well, and it was well chronicled in the trade papers. The film began under the direction of screenwriter Robert Towne, and the second Jake was being played by Chinatown’s producer, Robert Evans. After one or two days of shooting, Paramount pulled the plug. Some time later, the film went back into production, this time with Nicholson directing and with Harvey Keitel playing the second Jake. Mr. Nicholson is a great actor, but he is not a great director – and certainly has none of the strengths of Chinatown’s director, Roman Polanski. When one watches The Two Jakes one becomes instantly aware of just how much Polanski contributed to Chinatown’s success. The script of The Two Jakes is not Towne’s finest hour. Unlike Chinatown, The Two Jakes is filled with voice-over narration from Nicholson, and therefore the film seems like second-rate Raymond Chandler. There are certainly some interesting sequences, and the production design has its moments, too. The score by Van Dyke Parks doesn’t really help anything, but he does give an amusing performance as a district attorney (another songwriter is also in the cast – Tom Waits). Mr. Keitel goes into full actor mode, and I really didn’t care for his performance at all, and I normally like everything he does. Meg Tilly is completely somnambulistic in the film – I’m sure that was a choice, but it just sucks the energy and pace right out of the film. Madelyn Stowe is fine, as is Mr. Nicholson, and many returning cast members from Chinatown. The Two Jakes’ version of John Huston’s memorable Noah Cross is Richard Farnsworth as a folksy but deadly oilman – it’s a weak character and has none of the power of Noah Cross. It’s difficult keeping track of who is who and who’s doing what and why, and ultimately at 134 minutes it’s mind numbing. The transfer hasn’t been upgraded from the previous DVD release – it’s passable, but that’s about it.

What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because now I’ve got the taste of a churro on my brain and now I dream of churros, only I don’t really know what to do about it, since I have no clew where to GET a fershluganah churro.

Today, I shall be working on things in the home environment, sending out the eVites to my annual Christmas Eve Do, and doing a goodly number of errands and, as I’ve said, trying to wrap up that which needs wrapping up. Tonight I’ve been invited to some cabaret in West Hollywood, so I think I’ll go down there. The fellow who runs it has asked me if I’d like to do something there next year, so we’ll chat about it.

The rest of the week will be shopping for a few Christmas presents, writing, having a couple of lunch meetings, and then, by Wednesday, by Jove I hope I’ll be done with all of it.

I Dream Of Churros – that’s the title of my next novel. I do have just a couple more packages to ship out this week, which I think I’ll attempt to do tomorrow morning and hope that the postal office isn’t a madhouse.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do things, send eVites, do a goodly number of errands, and perhaps satisfy my taste for a churro. Plus, I now have five count them five golden rings, courtesy of my true love. Do you know how gaudy it looks when you wear five golden rings? You look like Isaac Hayes. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Jack Nicholson performances, and which film did you first see him in? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I go to the bedroom environment and dream of a churro.

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