Babes in Arms

I found where to see “Babes in Arms” on the Internet, and so I watched it instead of a game show on a Monday night.  The film was from 1939, and it featured songs that would be in the Gene Kelly movie “Singin’ in the Rain.”  Mickey Rooney plays a young songwriter named Mickey Moran.  He sells the song “Good Morning” for $100.  Judy Garland is Mickey’s friend Patsy Barton, who sings and dances.  The story is one of those about putting on a show.  Somehow, Mickey rounds up enough kids who can play the violin to form an orchestra.  He gets the $287 to put on the show from movie star Baby Rosalie Essex, but in exchange she has to play the lead instead of Patsy.  I thought I saw this plot before in “Movie Movie.”  During rehearsal, Mickey does a funny impersonation of Clark Gable.  Mickey Rooney did display talent in this role, and he would get a Best Actor Oscar nomination at age 19.  One unfortunate sight in this movie was the use of blackface.  I squirmed quite a bit and was hardly able to watch that part.  Besides Mickey and Judy, the only other cast member I recognized was Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.”  She is a villain in this picture, too, as she wants to put the kids into a state work school.  Somehow, I had the feeling that they were going to be spared that fate.  When Patsy was pushed out of her part and took the bus to see her mother, I had the feeling that a speech was coming and a positive twist of fate would happen for Patsy.  The music was enjoyable, and the stars made the movie a big attraction.  This was a fun movie to watch, although I wouldn’t want to see a double feature with Mickey and Judy anytime soon.  The movie was released on October 13, 1939 and was one of the biggest hits of the year.  It earned $2.3 million in the United States and Canada.  Busby Berkeley would direct Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in “Strike Up the Band” and “Babes on Broadway.”  He also directed Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in “For Me and My Gal” and Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, and Gene Kelly in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”  He was the choreographer of Esther Williams’ films such as “Million Dollar Mermaid” and “Easy to Love.”  His final film as a choreographer was “Billy Rose’s Jumbo” with Doris Day.  Berkeley died at age 80 on March 14, 1976 in Palm Springs.  Some of the people who died on August 6 include Preston Sturges (1959), Cedric Hardwicke (1964), Everett Sloane (1965), Harry Reasoner (1991), Jorge Amado (2001), Rick James (2004), John Hughes (2009), and Marvin Hamlisch (2012).  Today is a birthday for Vera Farmiga (47), Michelle Yeoh (57), Catherine Hicks (69), and Peter Bonerz (82).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for August 6, The Beatles released their album “Help!” in the U.K. in 1965.  In 1972, the Woody Allen movie “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex” was released.  In 1993, the Harrison Ford movie “The Fugitive” was released.  In 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley made their first public appearance after their marriage.

Force of Evil

I watched “Force of Evil,” the movie about a lawyer named Joe Morse who works for a gangster named Tucker.  Morse’s older brother Leo runs a number game, but Tucker seeks control of New York.  There are Biblical references to Cain and Abel and Judas in this story.  Joe seeks to give his brother a warning about a scheme to wipe out the small money people with Fourth of July numbers, but Leo just says no.  I found it rather difficult to picture John Garfield as any kind of lawyer, even if he was like Tom Hagen in the Godfather movies.  Leo is past fifty and suffering health problems, and the raid on his place did him no good.  There has to be a woman somewhere in this tale, and she is Leo’s secretary Doris Lowry, played by Beatrice Pearson.  She is loyal to Leo, but then this barbarian Joe enters the scene.  There has to be some tragedy before this story ends, and the ending to this film has quite a bit of power.  It shows a decent down some steps to the water by a bridge.  “It was like going down to the bottom of the world” is what Joe says.  John Garfield convinced us that he could commit crimes when he was in “The Postman Always Ring Twice.”  I would not say that he was as good as Clark Gable or Spencer Tracy, but he did fit right in with a film noir script.  Martin Scorsese said that he saw the movie when he was 13, and it influenced movies like “Raging Bull.”  I thought “Force of Evil” was a very good movie.  It kept going at a good pace, and it was interesting.  Marie Windsor was one of the stars, and she would be in “The Narrow Margin” and “The Killing.”  A seven-year-old Beau Bridges was in “Force of Evil.”  I thought that Beatrice Pearson had a little bit of Nicole Kidman in her.  She would appear in “Lost Boundaries” in 1949.  She was 65 years old when she died on February 1, 1986.  Abraham Polonsky’s first film as a director was “Force of Evil,” but his career came to a halt with he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951.  His return to directing was “Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here” in 1969.  He was an uncredited screenwriter for “Mommie Dearest” in 1981.  He was critical of Elia Kazan for years.  Polonsky died at age 88 on October 26, 1999 in Beverly Hills.  Some of the people who died on August 5 include Marilyn Monroe (1962), Richard Burton (1984), Alec Guinness (2000), Chick Hearn (2002), Budd Schulberg (2009), and Toni Morrison (2019).  Today is a birthday for Maureen McCormick (64) and Loni Anderson (75).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for August 5, “American Bandstand” made its debut on ABC in 1957.  In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead at age 36 in her Brentwood home.  In 1966, The Beatles released their “Revolver” album in the U.K.  In 2000, Alec Guinness died in England at age 86.

Me and My Girl

I walked past a Daiso store that was closing permanently.  As terrible news about curfews and riots and looting was on the television, I watched “Me and My Gal,” a 1932 film directed by Raoul Walsh starring Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett.  It should not be confused with the musical “For Me and My Gal,” which had Gene Kelly and Judy Garland in it.  Here we see Spencer Tracy as Dan Dolan, a cop who has a romance going with a waitress named Helen Riley, played by Joan Bennett.  There is a robbery of safe deposit boxes, a gangster hiding in an attic, a man who communicates by blinking, a curious dog, and some drinking.  One of the scenes was a parody of Clark Gable and Norma Shearer in “Strange Interlude,” with voiceovers revealing the characters’ inner thoughts.  It was like something we would see in 1977 in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall.”  “Me and My Gal” was an unusual picture, and no one wanted to see it, apparently, as it had record low attendance numbers at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.  It is still worth a look for Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett.  They would appear together in “She Wanted a Millionaire” in 1932, “Father of the Bride” in 1950, and “Father’s Little Dividend” in 1951.  As I watched Spencer Tracy, I thought about how young he looked, and how he could be humorous in movies like “Tortilla Flat.”  His character liked chocolate ice cream, which made me think of his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”  He went to Mel’s Drive-In at 5199 Mission Street to buy the Oregon Boysenberry Sherbet.  The carhop was played by Alexandra Hay, who would appear in “Skidoo” and “Model Shop.”  She would die at age 46 in 1993.  Walsh would go on to direct classics like “High Sierra” and “White Heat” in the 1940s.  I remember Spencer Tracy being old and near death in his last film.  Someone made a reference to The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out.”  A lot of things happened in the thirty-five years from 1932 to 1967.  Today when I think of what happened thirty-five years ago in 1985, it was “We Are the World” and Live Aid and New Coke.  2020 is looking like the worst year of my lifetime.  Some of the people who died on August 4 include Hans Christian Andersen (1875), Melvyn Douglas (1981), and Little Milton (2005).  Today is a birthday for Barack Obama (59) and Billy Bob Thornton (65).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for August 4, “Holiday Inn,” featuring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and the song “White Christmas,” had its New York premiere in 1942.  In 1962, Bobby Vinton’s “Roses are Red” was the Number One single.  In 1966, the Temptations released their single “Beauty is Only Skin Deep.”  In 1973, Maureen McGovern’s “The Morning After,” from “The Poseidon Adventure,” was the Number One single.  Robert Plant and his wife were injured in a car accident during a vacation in Greece in 1975.  In 1980, John Lennon and Yoko Ono entered the New York City recording studio Hit Factory to begin work on the “Double Fantasy” album.  In 1984, “Purple Rain” was Number One on the album chart while “When Doves Cry” was the Number One single for a fifth week.

Paisà

I lay in bed in the afternoon and watched Roberto Rossellini’s “Paisan.”  Martin Scorsese has said that it is one of his favorite films.  “Paisan” is made up of six episodes which are set in Italy during World War II.  Episode 1 showed an American soldier named Joe and an Italian woman named Carmela in a castle waiting on others in a night patrol.  Joe tries to communicate with Carmela despite his extremely limited knowledge of Italian.  Joe observes a shooting star, and he makes a mistake in trying to show Carmela a photograph.  Her action when German soldiers appear is heroic, but it is misunderstood by the other Americans.  Episode 2 had a street orphan named Pasquale, who stole an American soldier’s boots when he was asleep.  Again, the American soldier is named Joe.  It was meaningful to see this episode during the weekend of riots and looting after the George Floyd incident.  Episode 3 had an American soldier named Fred who spends some time with a prostitute named Francesca, and Fred had actually fallen in love with her six months before, but they had both changed so much during that period that they didn’t recognize each other.  Episode 4 followed an American nurse named Harriet and a partisan named Massimo as they searched Florence for someone named Lupo and family members.  It is a risky search to make.  The ending can’t be happy.  In Episode 5, three American chaplains seek to stay one night at a Catholic monastery.  The Americans are carrying ample supplies of canned goods and chocolate, while the Italians have barely enough food to feed everyone.  The monks learn that only one of the Americans is a Catholic, as the others are a Protestant and a Jew.  At the dinner, the monks have empty plates as they are fasting.  Episode 6 had the OSS in the Po delta.  There was a rescue of British men, but a hard battle afterwards.  The ending recalled for me “The Great Escape.”  Federico Fellini was one of the writers of this film.  This was such a fascinating movie, and it covered so many ideas and emotions that it was highly impressive.  I don’t think that Rossellini made a better film in his career.  My favorite episode might have been the one with the chaplains and the monks.  It felt like a change of pace towards the end of the film.  The episode before and the episode after this one both involved death.  Anyhow, the entire film left me with a lot to think about, along with some deep impressions.  Some of the people who died on August 3 include Joseph Conrad (1924), Flannery O’Connor (1964), Lenny Bruce (1966), Carolyn Jones (1983), Ida Lupino (1995), Alexander Solzhenitsyn (2008), Bubba Smith (2011), and Cliff Branch (2019).  Today is a birthday for Martha Stewart (79), Martin Sheen (80), and Tony Bennett (94).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for August 3, “The Last Command” was released in 1955.  In 1968, Clint Eastwood’s “Hang ‘Em High” was released.  In 1971, Paul McCartney announced the formation of his new band Wings.  In 1974, guitarist Jeff Baxter quit Steely Dan to join the Doobie Brothers.  Also in 1974, Elton John’s “Caribou” was Number One on the album chart for the fourth week.

I Walked with a Zombie

“I Walked with a Zombie” opened in New York City on April 21, 1943.  It was produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur.  The story has a nurse named Betsy Connell who is hired to care of Jessica Holland, the wife of Paul Holland, a sugar plantation owner on a Caribbean island.  One of the interesting things that happens in this place is that you get a song written about you as soon as you arrive on this island.  At least you get a verse or two.  The calypso singer was Sir Lancelot, and I thought his time on the screen added a lot to the appeal of this movie.  I will also remember this movie for the walk through the cane field.  The discussion of shock treatment had to remind me of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” although the story was supposed to follow Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre.”  I would say that this film was as satisfying as “Night of the Living Dead” or “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” but I do like the fact that the running time was only 69 minutes.  I would rate it as not very scary, although I did enjoy Mrs. Rand and the great atmosphere.  I would also that that the film is not essential viewing, even though I liked it.  The woman who played Betsy was Francis Dee, and she was married to Joel McCrea from 1933 to 1990.  She was in the films “Playboy of Paris,” “An American Tragedy,” “Little Women,” and “Of Human Bondage.”  She died of a stroke at age 94 in Norwalk, Connecticut on March 6, 2004.  Jacques Tourneur also directed the classics “Cat People” and “Out of the Past,” as well as the 1963 Twilight Zone episode “Night Call.”  His last films both featured Vincent Price, “The Comedy of Terrors” and “War-Gods of the Deep.”  Tourneur died at age 73 on December 19, 1977.  Sir Lancelot appeared in two more Val Lewton films, “The Ghost Ship” and “The Curse of the Cat People.”  He was also in the Bogart and Bacall film “To Have and Have Not.”  His last film appearance was in the Yul Brynner movie “The Buccaneer” in 1958, although he would appear in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show in 1967.  He lived in Australia during his last years.  He died at age 98 in Anaheim, California on March 12, 2001.  Some of the people who died on August 2 include Enrico Caruso (1921), Alexander Graham Bell (1922), Warren Harding (1923), Pietro Mascagni (1945), Fritz Lang (1976), Totie Fields (1978), Thurman Munson (1979), Donald Ogden Stuart (1980), Raymond Carver (1988), Colleen Dewhurst (1991), William S. Burroughs (1997), Shari Lewis (1998), Jimmy Jones (2012), and Cilla Black (2015).  Today is a birthday for Dylan Dreyer (39), Mary-Louise Parker (56), Victoria Jackson (61), and Apollonia Kotero (61).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for August 2, Robert Zimmerman legally changed his name to Bob Dylan in 1962.  In 1972, Brian Cole of The Association died of a heroin overdose.  Also in 1972, the Steve McQueen movie “Junior Bonner” was released.  The funeral service for Mama Cass was held in Hollywood in 1974.  In 1975, the Eagles had the Number One single, “One of These Nights.”  In 1978, the Faye Dunaway movie “Eyes of Laura Mars” was released.  It is also the 67^th birthday for Butch Patrick

Murder, My Sweet

On a Friday, I took out my Partridge Family DVDs and watched the episode “A Likely Candidate” with Bert Convy.  One of the notable scenes was Shirley leading lead on “Ain’t Love Easy.”  On the next night, I didn’t pay attention to the news of rioting and looting and instead watched “Murder, My Sweet,” the adaptation of “Farewell My Lovely.”  Dick Powell was Philip Marlowe.  I don’t know who else was up for the Marlowe role, but I think another actor out there in 1944 could have been a better fit.  Marlowe did a lot of guessing about what was going on, reminding me of Jake Gittes in “Chinatown.”  It goes places that other private detective movies didn’t, as we see the black pool of unconsciousness open up.  We see mindless thugs, femmes fatales, quack doctors, and the obligatory confusing plot.  It was fun to watch, although I would still prefer to spend my time with Bogart and Bacall in “The Big Sleep.”  Claire Trevor was nominated three times for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, for “Dead End,” “Key Largo,” and “The High and the Mighty.”  She won for “Key Largo.”  She was also in the John Ford classic “Stagecoach,” and “How to Murder Your Wife.”  Her last film was “Kiss Me Goodbye” in 1982.  She died at age 90 on April 8, 2000.  The director Edward Dmytryk was one of the Hollywood Ten, as was the producer Adrian Scott.  Dmytryk went on to make “The Caine Mutiny,” “Raintree County,” “The Young Lions,” and “The Carpetbaggers.”  He died at age 90 on July 1, 1999.  Some of the people who died on August 1 include Calamity Jane (1903), Frances Farmer (1970), Strother Martin (1980), Paddy Chayefsky (1981), Pola Negri (1987), Marie Trintignant (2004), and D.A. Pennebaker (2019).  Today is a birthday for Dhani Harrison (42), Coolio (59), and Chuck D. (60).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for August 1, “Rear Window” was released in 1954.  In 1964, The Beatles had the Number One single, “A Hard Day’s Night.”  Also in 1964, Johnny Burnette drowned in a boating accident.  In 1977, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was released.

Elton John at Madison Square Garden, New York City, on October 20 and 21, 2000

I logged on to Zoom to watch one of those meetings for work, although after my name was mentioned I stepped outside to take my laundry out of the dryer.  I did not have good feelings about the future.  I had nearly an hour and a half before the Elton John concert video would be available.  I tried to get my back to feel better by lying down on my side, but it happened only after about three hours.  I read that the recording was done on two nights, October 20 and 21, 2000, at Madison Square Garden.  The song order didn’t quite match either night’s show.  Elton started with “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” which was a nice start to the show.  He announced that he was going to perform the rest of Side 1 of the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” album, leading me to wonder how many fans in the audience listened to it on vinyl.  “Candle in the Wind” was a song you might expect later on in most of Elton’s concerts.  “Bennie and the Jets” sounded pretty good here.  Sometimes it sounds messy in his shows.  Elton mentioned that his first guest was going to throw out the first pitch at a World Series game, and it was Billy Joel, playing piano and singing “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” which I thought was an unusual choice for a singer who came from The Bronx.  “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is a meaningful, personal song, and I thought it was a good performance.  Elton said he hadn’t played the next song anywhere but this series of concerts, and it was “Little Jeannie.”  It is a catchy tune that the audience liked singing along to, but I think of it as a lesser song.  I don’t recall watching Elton in concert singing “Philadelphia Freedom” and thinking that it was a highlight of the show.  I like hearing the record, though.  I wondered if anyone in the New York audience cared that the song mentioned Philadelphia.  Elton introduced “Tiny Dancer” by mentioning that the movie “Almost Famous” seemed to resurrect the song.  For the first time in the show, I missed the old Elton John voice before the surgery, and the television performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1971.  “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” allowed Elton to do many things during the 1990s, as he mentioned, but it isn’t one of his greatest songs.  “Daniel” is always a fine song, and the audience liked “Rocket Man,” and they all seemed to know the words.  I don’t recall ever hearing “Club at the End of the Street” before.  It was from one of those albums, “Sleeping with the Past,” that I have never heard.  That was 1990.  “Blue Eyes” reminds of the time I heard it back in 1982, but I don’t have strong feelings for it.  Mary J. Blige came out to sing “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.”  It sounded good to me, although it left me with the feeling that there were singers out there who could have done better.  “The One” is a song that doesn’t excite me too much.  Elton mentioned that George Michael kept “I Don’t Wanna Go on with You Like That” from reaching the Number One spot on the charts, and the song was from the “Reg Strikes Back” album.  The George Michael song was “Monkey,” and I never heard the “Reg Strikes Back” album.  The song might be Elton’s biggest hit that I never liked.  “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” is a good song.  Elton had mentioned earlier that since the concert emphasized hit songs, there were a lot of slow songs in the set, but the audience liked those songs.  He talked about how “Sacrifice” was his first Number One hit in the U.K. after quite a few in the United States.  I thought it was a highlight of the show.  Elton said that being in Madison Square Garden made him think back to 1974, when John Lennon appeared as a guest at his concert for three songs and the loudest response he had ever heard.  The band played “Come Together.”  I’m not sure that everyone knew all the words.  Another guest, Ronan Keating, appeared and sang on “Your Song.”  I frankly thought his singing was annoying with a lot of mannerisms.  It’s supposed to be a simple song: “It may be quite simple but now that it’s done I hope you don’t mind that I put it down in words.”  This was the one time that I wished Elton hadn’t gone with a guest at all.  Bryan Adams, not Ryan Adams, came out to sing “Sad Songs (Say So Much).”  He was all right but not special.  I imagine someone like Rod Stewart singing this song.  “I’m Still Standing” is a likable song, although it doesn’t display creative brilliance.  I don’t know if Elton is tired of “Crocodile Rock” after all these years, but it does give the audience a chance for their best singalong of the night.  Anastacia was a guest on “Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting).”  She had a strong voice, reminding us that Elton’s voice had some miles on it.  I was kind of glad that the song was dragged out for too long.  The hour must have been getting late in the building.  “The Bitch is Back” is more personality than impressive songwriting, but this is a show.  It was not an example of Elton’s finest singing.  “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” came here, near the very end.  I thought rather sadly on how this concert happened the year before 9/11.  Elton had one last song, one that he said he rarely performed, but it was a duet, and he had the singer from 1976 on hand to help him out.  Kiki Dee was there with short hair and a deeper voice, and they sang their big hit, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”  It was a good finish to an enjoyable show.  It ran for slightly more than two and a half hours, making up for last week’s hour and a half show.  The fans weren’t cheated this time.  This was one of the most entertaining videos in this Classic Concert Series, along with the first one at the Edinburgh Playhouse in Scotland in 1976.  The ABC online website said that this was the final concert in the series, although the Classic Concert Series poster shows six programs, meaning that there is one more, from Turkey in 2001.

Le jour se lève

On a Saturday morning, I sat down to watch the “Le jour se lève,” also known as “Daybreak,” directed by Marcel Carné.  It had Jean Gabin as a man name Francois locked in his apartment with the police about to storm the place.  In flashback, Francois thinks about the events leading up to this predicament.  There is a florist’s delivery girl named Francoise, who has relationship with a despicable dog trainer named Valentin, whose assistant Clara quits and starts a relationship with Francois.  Valentin claims that he is Francoise’s father.  Francois is a factory worker.  He is not a winner in life, and it looks like he’s not going to win in love, either.  The show business and love aspect of the story made me think of “Children of Paradise.”  There is a bit of nudity in the film, which surprised me a bit.  The film looked beautiful, and Jean Gabin was a great actor in so many films, including this one.  The ending doesn’t make you feel good, but it seems like the thing that has to happen.  This was one of the top movies in the French poetic realism movement.  It is a film that you can see several times and pick up new and interesting things to think about.  The film was a collaboration with writer Jacques Prévert, and the would work together on the classic “Children of Paradise.”  Jacques Prévert died at age 77 on April 11, 1977.  Marcel Carné died at age 90 on October 31, 1996.  Some of the people who died on July 31 include Andrew Johnson (1875), Franz Lizst (1886), Mary See (1939), Jim Reeves (1964), Bud Powell (1966), Bobby Van (1980), Mitch Miller (2010), and Gore Vidal (2012).  Today is a birthday for Wesley Snipes (58) and Mark Cuban (62).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for July 31, MGM’s Leo the Lion roared for the first time in 1928, introducing “White Shadows on the Seven Seas.”  In 1964, a Rolling Stones concert in Ireland was halted after 12 minutes because of a riot.  Also in 1964, Jim Reeved died at age 40 in a plane crash in Tennessee.  In 1971, James Taylor had the Number One single, “You’ve Got a Friend.”  In 1980, John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas was arrested for possession of cocaine.  In 1987, the James Bond film “The Living Daylights” with Timothy Dalton was released in the United States.  In 1992, “Death Becomes Her,” starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis, was released.

Get Carter

Before going to work, I had the time to watch “Get Carter.”  The star was Michael Caine, who was young enough to run around and beat up people.  He returns to Newcastle from London on a train to attend his brother’s funeral.  It is a revenge story.  It looks like Carter ends up killing five people in five different ways.  Britt Ekland is barely in the movie, but she manages to enhance her sexy image.  Carter escapes a dangerous situation with the help of a woman in a car, rather like something that happened in “Chinatown.”  The action is supposed to be realistic.  During one of the scenes, I wondered how long it would take to die from a knife wound in the gut.  One person dies from a fall from a high place, but his body looked like a dummy.  What does it take to make such a fall look realistic, a dummy with a skeleton?  When Carter kills, he does the deed and doesn’t think about the bodies.  The final scene is not a great shock, and I thought the moment was more geared towards drama than realism.  However, I can’t say that I know what goes on in the minds of criminals.  I read that the film departs from the novel “Jack’s Return” in dispensing with flashbacks that would explain some of Jack’s motivation, and a couple of other key events were changed.  Mike Hodges, the screenwriter and director, was influenced by Raymond Chandler and movies like “Kiss Me Deadly.”  Carter is seen at the beginning of the film reading a copy of “Farewell My Lovely.”  In Hodges’ view, Carter was not morally superior to anyone he killed, and he should be dealt with in the same way that he dealt with other people.  A key location used in the film is the Trinity Square parking lot, with a structure that added suspense.  Hodges thought that the parking lot captured a part of the Jack Carter character.  The shopping center and the parking lot were eventually closed in 2008 and demolished in 2010.  One of the notable songs used in the film is “How About You?”  A marching band that just misses the sight of a naked Jack Carter plays “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Auld Lang Syne.”  This is a good movie on the basis of Michael Caine’s presence and performance, although I would rather sit down to watch “The Big Sleep” again.  Mike Hodges went on to direct “The Terminal Man” and “Flash Gordon.”  He is now 87 years old.  Britt Ekland didn’t appear in any movie of note after “The Wicker Man” and “The Man with the Golden Gun.”  In 2020, she appeared in the BBC series “The Real Marigold Hotel.”  She is now 77 years old.  Some of the people who died on July 30 include Junichiro Tanizaki (1965), James Blish (1975), Claudette Colbert (1996), Buffalo Bob Smith (1998), Michelangelo Antonioni (2007), Ingmar Bergman (2007), Bill Walsh (2007), Lynn Anderson (2015), and Gloria DeHaven (2016).  Today is a birthday for Hilary Swank (46), Christopher Nolan (50), Laurence Fishburne (59), Kate Bush (62), Arnold Schwarzenegger (73), and Paul Anka (79).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for July 30, The Beatles reached Number One on the album chart with “Yesterday and Today” in 1965.  In 1971, George Harrison’s “Bangla Desh” single was released in the UK.  In 1972, the Burt Reynolds movie “Deliverance” was released.  In 1977, Andy Gibb had the Number One single, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.”  In 1986, “Flight of the Navigator” was released.  In 1998, Buffalo Bob Smith died of cancer at age 80 in North Carolina.  In 1999, “The Blair Witch Project” was released.

Még kér a nép

I watched “Red Psalm,” which was a Hungarian film directed by Miklós Jancsó.  It is 1890, and some peasant revolt against a landowner.  There is a lot of music.  The shots are long, as there are only 26 shots in the film.  Some women take off their clothes.  It is interesting to watch the crowd of people in this film.  I thought the film was interesting but not especially exciting.  One scene showed blood flowing through a stream, and it reminded me of both “Sanjuro” and “Saving Private Ryan.”  Jancsó won the Best Director award at Cannes in 1972 for “Red Psalm.”  Who else was eligible that year?  One of Jancsó’s other notable films was “The Red and the White.”  He died of lung cancer at age 92 on January 31, 2014.  Some of the people who died on July 29 include Vincent Van Gogh (1890), Mama Cass (1974), Luis Buñuel (1983), Jerome Robbins (1998), Pat McCormick (2005), and Tom Snyder (2007).  Today is a birthday for Wil Wheaton (48) and Sharon Creech (75).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for July 29, The Beatles began recording “Hey Jude.”  In 1978, the “Grease” soundtrack was Number One on the album chart.  In 1983, “National Lampoon’s Vacation” was released.  In 1994, Jim Carrey’s “The Mask” was released.  In 1998, Jerome Robbins, choreographer of “West Side Story,” died at age 79 in New York City after he suffered a stroke.  In 2007 Tom Snyder died of leukemia at age 71 in San Francisco.