Hackers (1995) and War Games (1983) and Q&A with John Badham

Seeing WarGames again after about 25 years was great fun! It's  impossible to watch it today without reflecting on how far technology has come, and how rare it is to see pay phones! The movie is a time capsule of that era, a little bit of nostalgia for all who attended last night's screening at the Egyptian Theater. I had forgotten so much about the film that it was like watching it for the first time. Just LOVED that video arcade scene in the beginning - brought back SO many memories!!!

Regardless of the technology, it's a great story. And has a great cast of characters. I think my favorite part was when Matthew Broderick asks his computer geek friends for help. That's a great part, and the audience loved it. A number of recognizable actors appear in very brief scenes, including Maurey Chaykin (one of the geeks), Michael Madsen and James Tolkan.

It would have been a very different film in the hands of another director, according to John Badham (73) was in attendance and talked about the film, and how he got involved with the project. There were a number of good questions from audience members, including one from my friend who asked him what he thought about the previous-released direct-to-video film WarGames 2 and the proposed "remake". Badham said he had "no comment".... He wasn't involved in "Part 2" (I didn't even know there was one) and isn't involved with the remake. Someone else asked him if any politicians contacted him about the film, and he said there was a special dinner and screening in California back in '83 with some Senators;  that was about it. 

Someone in the audience was a huge fan of Badham's film American Flyers, which was filmed in LA; it's a movie I've never seen but is in my queue. 

After the Q&A, the second film in the double feature was Hackers (with Angelina Jolie) which has numerous references to WarGames and is also sort of a time capsule (no one uses cell phones, floppy disks still being used, etc)  The less said about that one the better. Let's just say I fell asleep during it. 

Touchdown Hollywood

Can't wait for the Cinerama festival this weekend....it feels great being back in Hollywood. Tonight, WarGames and Hackers double feature at the Egyptian Theater (mentioned on Laura's blog the other day). Tomorrow the Fest starts at the Dome. Will have updates and reviews to come. I don't know which film I'm most excited about seeing the most! stay tuned

Andy Williams

...in so many beautiful recordings. Thank you Andy. Godspeed. 

Forever in our hearts. 

This Year's Honorary Oscars and Kennedy Center Honors

The recipients of this years's Honorary Oscars have been announced,

- Producer George Stevens, Jr.
- Stuntman Hal Needham
- Documentarian DA Pennenton

All deserving, I'd say, but as this article from Deadline Hollywood points out, no veteran actors were bestowed an honor this year. That means no Oscar for Glenn Close (6 nominations, 0 wins), Angela Lansbury (3 nominations, 0 wins) or Albert Finney (5 nominations, 0 wins).

Another living legend that fans would love to see honored is Doris Day (1 nomination, 0 wins), one of the most popular movie stars of the mid-'50s/early '60s. In poll after poll, her name is always at the top of of the list of "Most Deserving". But alas, the fans don't get the final call, the Academy's Board of Governors do, and if they really wanted to honor her, they would have done so 25 years ago.

The Humanitarian Award will be going to executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.

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The annual Kennedy Center performing arts honors were also announced, and this year's recipient representing the movies is actor Dustin Hoffman, star of some of the most acclaimed films of the last 45 years.

The other recipients are Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, (music), David Letterman (television) and Natalia Makarova (ballet).

For whatever reason, Doris Day has never been voted to receive this honor either.

Cecil B. DeMille's This Day and Age (1933)

The poster for This Day and Age calls it "The FIRST Great Spectacle of Modern Times", which is interesting because nowadays the film is largely forgotten. It wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards at the time either. But I think the film is one that a modern audience would really find compelling.

The film is about a group of civics-minded high-school students who take the law into their own hands when they track down a gangster nightclub owner named Garrett (played by Charles Bickford) after he kills several of their friends and gets away with it.

The students are played by actors I'm not very familiar with such as Richard Cromwell and Judith Allen. At times I got confused as to who's who due to all of the supporting characters that come and go throughout the film.

One character I remember well is the Jewish tailor Herman, who has a shop right across the street from the high school. He is really friendly and knows almost all the kids in the school. It's a shame when the character's shop is bombed and he becomes a target of Garrett's ruthless gang.

Highlights of the film:

There are a number of creative camera shots; one in particular is during a funeral sequence after a casket is lowered into the deep grave. We then see the lowered casket's point-of-view looking up at the diggers who are shoveling the dirt into the grave, and dirt falls right on the camera.

In one risque sequence reminding us of the pre-code era, one of the pretty female students has to pretend to seduce one of the gangsters in order to stall him, and one of the gangster's remarks is "I like my olives green".

I liked seeing the diverse high school; black students are seen with white students on the campus and walking the halls. A black student has an important role in the film when he helps the students kidnap Garrett at a shoe shine.

When Garrett is captured, he's taken to a secret hideout where hundreds of students put him at the center of a kangaroo court. The students lower him into a pit of rats to try to get him to confess to the murders he was responsible for. This is followed by a scene where the throng of students hail him off to the local judge, walking through the streets at night singing song such as "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" and "Glory Glory Hallelujah". This ending seemed to go on a little long.

Overall though, it is a film worth seeing, and I found it thought provoking. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

More photos and more info about this film can be found here at the blog Take 39 Steps and Knock

Cinerama Festival next weekend in Hollywood

It's getting close! Next weekend is the big film fest in Hollywood celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Cinerama, with back-to-back screenings of such spectacles as How The West Was Won, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and the original film that started it all: This Is Cinerama. The blog Jim Lane's Cinedrome has been doing a great series on the history of Cinerama: check it out here for more.

Hands Across The Table (1935)

This is a really good screwball comedy, reviewed earlier this year at the blog Frankly My Dear (read the post here).

It's a love triangle story with Carole Lombard's character a hotel manicurist being pursued by both Fred MacMurray and one of her wealthy clients Ralph Bellamy. Bellamy is so persistent he deliberately sticks his hands in a flower pot's dirt only to have Carole clean them.

Marie Prevost plays Carole's best friend Nona; she's only in a few brief scenes, but she's really funny, as is William Demarest in another short role.

Directed by Mitchell Leisen. Very clever script with witty dialogue.

On DVD, part of the Carole Lombard Glamour Collection box set of 6 films.

New Stamps (US Postal Service)

Have you gotten these new stamps yet? (Available in the USA)

The "Great Film Directors" series featuring John Ford, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, and John Huston is now available, as is the Jose Ferrer stamps, part of the "Distinguished American" series, not the "Legends of Hollywood Series", as Mr Ferrer's stage career is equally meritorious.

Get yours at your U.S. Post Office before they're all gone!