Megan Fox: It Was My Decision to Leave Transformers

Source: People.com

Megan Fox is seeking to transform rumor to fact.

The actress is slamming speculation she was booted from the third installment of the Transformers action film franchise.

“Megan Fox will not be starring in Transformers 3," reps for the actress, 24, tell PEOPLE. "It was her decision not to return. She wishes the franchise the best.”

Citing unnamed sources, Variety reports the studio and the film's director, Michael Bay, intend to cast another actress as star Shia LaBeouf's love interest to move the story in a different direction.

Shooting for the film, slated for a July 2011 release, is expected to kick off this summer in locations across the U.S.

Fox, meanwhile, is prepping for the June 18 release of Jonah Hex, an action film she stars in opposite Josh Brolin, John Malkovich and Will Arnett.

Cynthia Nixon Talks Coming Out & Her Relationship With Her Girlfriend

NEW YORK, N.Y. When Samantha Jones began dating a Latina artist in Season 4 of “Sex and The City,” her announcement – that she was in a lesbian relationship — came as a shock to her NYC BFFs – Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). In real life, when Cynthia began her own lesbian relationship with Christine Marinoni, there was no immediate announcement, but her friends – like co-star Kristin Davis – couldn’t help but notice the blooming romance.

Kristin told the June/July 2010 issue of The Advocate that she realized something was going on because Cynthia began spending more and more time with Christine, while campaigning to reduce the number of students in classrooms in NYC schools.

“They’d be on the phone and writing speeches,” Kristin said. “And I thought, She’s really into this.”

Cynthia, who is featured on the cover of the newest issue of The Advocate, revealed that she was surprised by the attention her relationship attracted and she was delighted to reveal her relationship publicly when the time was right.

“I was like, ‘Really, we can just confirm?’” Cynthia said of her talk with her publicist and manager. “So that’s what we did. It was so fantastic.”

In the mag, Cynthia got candid about her relationship with Christine – a redhead who is often spotted in pressed shirts and pants.

“She’s basically a short man with boobs,” Cynthia laughed. “A lot of what I love about her is her butchness. I’m not saying I fell in love with her in a sexually neutral way. I love her sexuality — it’s a big part of what I love about her — but I feel like it was her. It wasn’t something in me that was waiting to come out. It was like, This person is undeniable. How can I let this person walk by?”

In the revealing piece, Cynthia also opened up about getting away from Miranda when she’s not working on “Sex and The City” projects.

“I don’t have red hair in real life, so when we’re not in production, I make my way back to blond,” she said. “I also stubbornly go about my life the way I always did, and sometimes it’s not the smartest thing to do. I’m in places people wouldn’t expect to see me, like on the subway or in line at the post office. So they just sort of feel like I look like that person, but I’m probably not that person.”

Louis and Dreyfus to receive Walk of Fame star

Julia Louis-Dreyfus will receive a star Tuesday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The actress is the first "Seinfeld" cast member to receive the honor.

The star unveiling comes eight days before the fifth season finale of Louis-Dreyfus' CBS comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Louis-Dreyfus was born Jan. 13, 1961, in New York City. She dropped out of Northwestern University in 1982 when she became a cast member of "Saturday Night Live."

She spent three seasons on "Saturday Night Live" before costarring in the NBC comedy "Day by Day."

Louis-Dreyfus has won two Emmys, one for "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and one for her portrayal of Elaine Benes on NBC's "Seinfeld," which aired from 1990 to 1998.

Michael Jackson Video Show Tribute from Ildy Thriller style For all departed Hollywood Stars

Russell Crowe Celebrates Hollywood Star With All Night Drinking Session

RUSSELL CROWE celebrated the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last month (Apr10) by enjoying an all-night drinking session with his wife.

The Oscar winner was awarded the 2,404th star in Hollywood on 12 April (10) and his plaque was placed on the sidewalk in front of the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards are held.

But instead of marking the honour with a civilised lunch, Crowe asked organisers to host a bash for his family - and the Gladiator star was still partying with wife Danielle when the sun came up the next morning.

Speaking to British talk show host Jonathan Ross, Crowe says, "We made it into a great day. Luckily for me my kids are old enough now so they got to enjoy the experience... So we had a nice day with them. They usually have a luncheon. We said, 'Well, we'd rather have a p**s-up (drinking session) at night time than a luncheon during the day.' So the studio organised that.

"My wife and I - and it's a long time since we've done this - we were still sitting outside with a vodka in hand at seven o'clock in the morning... That's why I married the girl. So it was fun."

Frail Dennis Hopper receives Hollywood star

A bandaged and frail Dennis Hopper was surrounded by friends, family and colleagues Friday as he was honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

The 73-year-old actor and filmmaker, who is battling prostate cancer, appeared gaunt and was helped to the stage by a friend. He reportedly weighs about 100 pounds now, and his lawyer says he is too weak to continue chemotherapy. Hopper explained that bandages on his right arm and eye were the result of a fall Thursday outside his home after a paparazzi called out his name as he walked outside.

"I thought I recognized the voice, so I kept walking and turned around but I didn't see the little ridgeline in the road and I took a terrible fall because I have no muscle," the actor told reporters.


"So I fell directly on my face, and I had my glasses in my hand. I got pretty screwed up," he said.

‘Fertile artist’
The two-time Oscar nominee, who has appeared in more than 100 films, said he came to Hollywood from his native Kansas at 18, “so that was my college.”

“Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from Hollywood,” he said. “This has been my home and my schooling.”

As Hopper was speaking, a Hollywood tour bus passed slowly by the sidewalk ceremony and the tour guide said over the loudspeaker, “We love you, Dennis.”


Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, David Lynch and Dwight Yoakam were among the luminaries on hand to honor their friend and colleague. Nicholson wore a shirt decorated with images from “Easy Rider,” the classic 1969 road film Hopper wrote, directed and starred in, alongside Peter Fonda.

Mortensen, who kissed Hopper on the cheek before approaching the microphone, called his friend of 20 years “a complete and fertile artist” who has been “a constant source of ideas, inspiration and humor for his friends and colleagues.”

Another longtime friend, producer Mark Canton, said Hopper is “the coolest guy on the planet,” which elicited a broad smile from the ailing star.

“He is a force of nature,” Canton said. “He is a world-class original, a legend in his own right, whose impact on the arts and people that he loves so dearly is second to none.”

Bret Michaels ‘Remains In Critical Condition’

“There are several incorrect reports on Bret’s condition,” said a note posted to the star’s official page. “Bret remains in critical condition at an undisclosed location. Further tests are being ran and information will be updated in the coming days. Thank you for your support, thoughts & concern.”

On Friday evening, some online reports stated that Bret had stabilized and regained consciousness – and was even talking.

Radar Online reportedly spoke to Bret’s father, Wally Sychak, who told the site that he had spoken to his son.

“I talked to him this morning. He sounded upbeat and positive but they had him sedated,” Sychak reportedly told Radar Online. “But he’s doing good. He sounded like my son.”

Bret, a contestant on the current season of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” had been blogging for Fancast and sent his latest entry to the site on Wednesday, which was posted on Friday night. In his blog, the singer said he was mid-way on his way to recovery after a serious surgery.

“Hey guys. I wanted to check in again to let you know how things are,” he said, referring to his recovery from an emergency appendectomy two weeks earlier. “I’m feeling right about in the middle right now on a scale of 1 to 10. I’m not 100% yet, but I’m sure as hell not where I was when it happened.

“When your appendix ruptures if feels like what it would feel if you’re on the losing end of a knife fight, so it takes a bit to recover from that,” he continued.

The Poison frontman also addressed how his type-1 diabetes, a condition he was diagnosed with at age 6, mixes with his rock star lifestyle.

“When I say ‘party’ and ‘let’s have fun,’ I’m one of those guys that just likes to have a great time,” Bret blogged. “I’m not a belligerent drunk. I don’t need to drink. But, there’s a big misconception about drinking and diabetes, and honestly, drinking an immense amount of alcohol for anybody is bad. Let’s get clear about that. But, for a diabetic, it just doesn’t work in your diet. It’s got so much sugar content.”

He added that problems stem from confusion about intoxication vs. blood sugar levels, and not eating right after.

I pick and choose my times when I’m going to have fun,” he wrote. “This was a wake up call to be a little bit more diligent on keeping control of my health… It’s tricky for me. I need to find something healthier to do on my day off then going out and finding a club to hang out at.”

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, two weeks removed from an emergency appendectomy, Bret Michaels was rushed to the hospital on Thursday night where it was discovered the rocker had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage, a rep for the rocker confirmed to Access.

Following the news of Bret’s hospitalization on Friday, his “Celebrity Apprentice” boss Donald Trump offered his well wishes.

“I am deeply saddened to hear about Bret Michaels and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this time. He’s a great competitor and champion and I hope he will be fine.”

Sean Penn’s Cannes film “Fair Game” gets help from ex-spy

Sean Penn’s political film “Fair Game” about the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame during the George W. Bush administration will get some tubthumping by Plame herself at the Cannes Film Festival next month per Page Six.

In the film, Plame is portrayed by Naomi Watts. While doing PR for the film last week at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the ex-CIA agent exclaimed that Penn’s portrayal of her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, impressed her when he “flew in on Southwest Airlines and spent three days following my husband, even wearing the same cologne.”

Plame was identified as a CIA agent after Wilson claimed in a New York Times op-ed piece that there were was no clear evidence in Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction.

The Los Angeles Times is already buzzing that Summit Entertainement, the distributor of Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker,” is the lead contender for North American rights to the film; since it’s already selling overseas rights at the Cannes Film Festival market.

Mickey Rourke To Play Genghis Khan?

The success of The Wrestler has made Mickey Rourke one of the busiest men in Hollywood. The 57 year old actor has five films in various stages of production (not counting Walter Hill's crime drama St. Vincent, which Rourke told the Sentinel is "not gonna happen") and even more in development. One such project is a Genghis Khan biopic, written and directed by John Milius (Conan The Barbarian, HBO's Rome), that will find Rourke getting savage as the ancient ruler.

On the developing epic, Rourke had this to say: "the man (Milius) is known for his tough writing. He wrote Conan and Dirty Harry and Apocalypse Now, and it'll be interesting to see how he works behind the camera. I'm playing Genghis." He added, "John wrote as a piece told from the son and grandson's point of view, how they saw this mythic figure from their family. You see him in flashbacks, back when he was in his mid-40s. And back then, being in your mid-40s was being REALLY old."

Rourke also mentioned projects that he's working on with his Man On Fire and Domino director Tony Scott, which include a remake of the German crime film Potsdamer Platz and a potential biker gang film. Says Rouke: "Yeah, we're doing that. Talking to Tony about a 'Hell's Angels' movie, too," Rourke said. "I've been working on a motorcycle gangs script for 20 years, so I hope that happens."

Mickey as a Hell's Angel? We're already buying our tickets for that one! Until more information comes in on these new ventures, you can catch Rourke as arch-villain Whiplash in next months Iron Man 2, as a fellow soldier of fortune in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables in August and as a trumpet player who romances Megan Fox in Passion Play, due this Winter.

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DVD Playhouse: April 2010

DVD PLAYHOUSE—APRIL 2010
By
Allen Gardner

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (Criterion) Ang Lee’s revisionist take on the Civil War is awash in moral ambiguity, along with some stunning cinematography, production design, and fine performances. Set during the Kansas-Missouri border war, Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as two friends who join up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwhackers, finding an odd ally in a former slave (Jeffrey Wright). While it’s fascinating to see America’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of a foreigner, thereby allowing much of the previously mentioned ambiguity a certain latitude, the film never loses the bad taste it leaves for one simple reason: it asks us, the audience, to side with not just the Confederates, but some of the lowest trash that made up the dregs, and the fringes, of the movement. Big points for audacity, but snake eyes on the story itself. Singer Jewel is impressive in her film debut. Also available on Blu-ray disc, which really makes Frederick Elmes’ images pop. Bonuses: Director’s cut features 14 minutes of additional footage; Audio commentaries by Lee and producer-screenwriter James Schamus, Elmes, and other key crew; Interview with Wright. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
SUMMER HOURS (Criterion) Fine drama from French director Olivier Assayas, tells the story of three upper middle class siblings (Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jeremie Renier) who must decide what to do with the country estate, and all its trappings, they’ve inherited from their late mother. Deliberately paced, and more reminiscent of the subtle, yet tightly-wound family dramas from Ingmar Bergman than most French films, Assayas directs the proceedings with a master’s hand. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interview with Assayas; Making-of documentary; Inventory, another documentary that explores the film’s approach to art. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD surround.
VIVRE SA VIE (Criterion) Jean-Luc Godard’s 1962 film marked a turning point in both his career and the direction of the French New Wave. Anna Karina stars as a young woman who aspires to be an actress, but instead falls into a downward spiral that finds her suffering through a life of prostitution, all portrayed through some of Godard’s most lyrical filmmaking. Touching, funny, and tragic, a real jewel of the period. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin; Interview with film scholar Jean Narboni, conducted by historian Noel Simsolo; 1962 TV interview with Karina; Illustrated essay on “La Prostitution,” the book that inspired the film; Photo gallery; Trailer. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
GEORGIA O’KEEFE (Sony) Joan Allen gives one of the finest performances of her career as artist Georgia O’Keefe, whose life and love affair with legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz (Jeremy Irons) is portrayed in this fine period drama. Fine support from Ed Begley, Jr., Kathleen Chalfont, and Tyne Daly. Sure-handed direction from veteran actor Bob Balaban. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DOLAN’S CADILLAC (NEM) Solid Stephen King adaptation about a vengeful husband (Wes Bentley) whose wife, the material witness in a mob trial, has been killed by the gangster (Christian Slater) she was scheduled to testify against. Hatching a brilliant, and cold-blooded, plan to give the killer his just desserts, the husband tracks his prey, learns his routines, and finally strikes. Lots of build-up with a great pay-off, although Stephen King’s short story has been liberally padded in this adaptation to fit into a 90 minute running time. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CRAZY ON THE INSIDE (Boxing Cat Films) Tim Allen plays an average guy recently paroled from prison after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, taking the rap for his much more crazy, and dangerous, pal. In spite of his seeming normalcy, he just can’t quite adjust to life on the outside, particularly when his nutty family gets back into his life, making him wish he were back in the sanity of the big house. Tim Allen makes his directing debut with this forced effort that, in spite of a dream cast (Sigourney Weaver, Jeanne Tripplehorn, J.K. Simmons, Kelsey Grammer and Ray Liotta), never quite gels. Bonuses: Featurette; Gag reel. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
MAMMOTH (IFC Films) Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams star as Leo and Ellen, a stressed-out New York couple whose professional lives eat into their time with their 8 year-old daughter, who is primarily being raised by his Filipina nanny. When Leo is on a trip to Thailand, he unwittingly sets off a chain of events that will affect everyone in his life. Powerful, heartfelt drama, expertly performed. Bonuses: Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
UNCERTAINTY (IFC Films) Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins star as a New York couple who finds their lives at a crossroads as they travel across the Brooklyn Bridge on July 4th, and toss a coin, creating two parallel stories: one a low-key domestic drama with the girl’s family in Brooklyn, the other a chase-thriller a la Hitchcock set in Manhattan when the two stumble upon a cell phone with sensitive info contained therein. Interesting exercise feels like a student film expanded to feature length, and like most student films, there are truly inspired moments mixed in with those that inspire groans. Worth a look for its good bits, and kudos to the filmmakers for their audacity and originality. Bonuses: Photo gallery; Audition footage; Script/scene comparison; TV spot; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
REEFER MADNESS 75th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S EDITION (Walking Shadows) The classic anti-drug propaganda film from 1935 just keeps getting funnier with each passing year. This edition offers a beautifully-restored version of the film that “Tells the truth about marijuana parties!” and “Takes you through HELL!” as the ads promised back in the day. See fresh-scrubbed youngsters driven to fits of giggling, fondling, manic piano playing and, dare we say it, murder, after taking just a few hits off a seemingly-innocuous-looking joint. Produced, believe it or not, by the U.S. Government! Bonuses include over two hours of anti-pot, and not-so-anti-pot, shorts and cartoons, including The Weed of Death (1924), Betty Boop in Happy You and Merry Me (1936), The Pusher (1951), and more! Great fun. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
WAKE (E1 Entertainment) Quirky story of a lonely young woman (Bijou Phillips) who goes to strangers’ funerals to feel some connection with humanity. When a series of mix-ups finds her in possession of a recently-deceased woman’s engagement ring, she finds herself madly in love with the woman’s grieving fiancée (Ian Somerhalder). More than a bit of the classic Harold and Maude can be found in this slight, but likable comedy, which is saved by the skillful performances of its cast, including Danny Masterson and Jane Seymour. Bonuses: Commentary by director Ellie Kanner, writer/producer Lennox Wiseley and producers Hal Schwartz and Bill Shraga; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN (IFC Films) Director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s thriller is inspired by true events which occurred in 1975 Northern Ireland, when a 17 year-old Protestant named Alistair Little assassinated a 19 year-old Catholic youth named Jim Griffin in his home, the murder witnessed by Griffin’s 11 year-old brother, Joe. Thirty years later Little (Liam Neeson) has been released from prison, a changed man, repentant for his sins, while Joe (James Nesbitt) remains traumatized and bitter. When local news decides to stage a live reconciliation between the two on a talk show, the situation blows up in everyone’s faces. The flashback scenes are so powerful, and beautifully capture the time and place, that the present day story pales in comparison, in spite of the formidable talents present, resulting in an overly-talky, and ultimately anti-climatic film. A mixed bag, not without its merits. Bonuses: Featurette, Trailer. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
8 FILMS TO DIE FOR Lionsgate releases more titles in its After Dark Horrorfest series, now in its fourth installment. KILL THEORY finds seven college students in a secluded vacation home, celebrating graduation, when they become trapped in a deadly game by a mysterious killer. Forced to kill each other by 6 A.M. the following morning, only one of them can remain alive. But if morning comes, and more than one is still breathing, everybody dies. Claustrophobic horror exercise is really nail-biting in parts, predictable in others. LAKE MUNGO tells the grisly tale of a teenage girl who, seemingly drowned accidentally in the local dam, is laid to rest by her grieving family, only to find their house plagued by a series of inexplicable events. When the family seeks the aid of a local psychic, he discovers that the girl was leading a dark, secret life, one that leads them back to the icy waters of Lake Mungo. Well-made, helped by its cinema-verite style. ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRCUTION is a horror satire set in the conservative enclave of Port Gamble, Washington, which suddenly finds itself overrun by brain-eaters, with the clean-cut Republicans seemingly powerless to stop them. Only an Iranian college student suspected of being a terrorist and a gay businessman find the wherewithal to turn the tide against the undead and save the white man’s paradise. Quite funny, with a barbed, clever script by Ramon Isao and Kevin Hamedani. HIDDEN tells the story of KK, a young man who returns to his hometown to settle his estranged mother’s affairs after her death, only to uncover some deadly secrets that mom left behind for her only son. Some creepy, truly disturbing moments highlight this entry. THE GRAVES finds two sisters, on their last weekend of partying together before college, lost in a remote part of the Arizona desert, taking shelter in the abandoned mining town of Skull City. Only the girls discover, too late, that the town is far from abandoned, and there’s no escape. Decent little thriller, with nice turns from horror vets Amanda Wyss and Tony Todd. THE FINAL tells the story of high school outcast Dane, who assembles a group of fringe-dwellers to plot revenge for the years of humiliation they’ve suffered at the hands of their school’s “beautiful people,” setting up a night that will leave their tormentors scarred for life. Nifty revenge film, with echoes of Carrie and other “Revenge of the Nerds” horror pictures from years past. THE REEDS has a weekend boating trip turning into a terrifying ordeal for six twentysomething Londoners. After a freak accident on the water, the boat runs aground, and the group finds itself pursued by a gang of young punks and a mysterious hooded man. Not bad of its type, but derivative and really bloody/disgusting at times. Finally, DREAD follows film students Stephen (Jackson Rathbone) and Cheryl making a documentary about what people truly dread in life, unaware that their partner Quaid saw his parents murdered by an axe-wielding psycho as a child, and now wants others to experience the same demons that he faces. Produced by horror maestro Clive Barker, whose presence adds a bit of panache to the proceedings. Bonuses on all: Featurettes; Interviews with cast and crew; Deleted scenes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
EX DRUMMER (Palisades Tartan) Grisly black comedy from Holland about a punk rock band that hires a well-known writer and local celebrity to be their drummer, only to have everything go, almost literally, straight to hell. Reminiscent somewhat of Trainspotting, but (yes) even darker, more twisted, and (much) more bloody. Not for all tastes, to be sure, but for those with strong constitutions, what a ride! Bonuses: Trailers; Featurette; 3 music videos. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
TAXIDERMIA (E1 Entertainment) Almost indescribable feature from Hungary about three generations of men (an obese speed freak, a taxidermist who specializes in giant cats, and a man with…ahem, pyromaniacal privates). From the very twisted mind of filmmaker Gyorgy Palfi, who must be an Eastern European cousin to David Lynch and Terry Gilliam. Bonuses: Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.



DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! Acorn Media releases a new host of titles from across the Pond: MURDOCH MYSTERIES SET 2 is a sassy-smart Victorian-era whodunit that follows an intrepid Toronto police inspector (Yannick Bisson), who employs the latest scientific techniques to solve the city’s most brutal murders. Sort of a 19th century CSI, with a dash of Masterpiece Theater. 13 episodes on 4 discs. Bonuses: Featurettes; Photo gallery; Cast filmographies and biographies. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. HOPE SPRINGS follows three female ex-cons (Alex Kingston, Annette Crosbie, Sian Reeves) who, armed with three million pounds stolen from one of their gangster husbands, lie low in the Scottish Highlands town of Hope Springs, planning their escape to Barbados, not realizing that this seemingly-innocuous hamlet harbors some dark secrets of its own. Great blend of comedy and thriller, with an expert cast. 8 episodes on 3 discs. Bonuses: Photo gallery; Bio of Kingston. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. GEORGE GENTLY SERIES 2 stars veteran actor Martin Shaw ("The Professionals") as a former Scotland Yard sleuth now tracking murderers in Britain’s North Country in the 1960s. Great blend of policier, character study, and period drama. 4 episodes on 4 discs. Bonuses: Interviews with Shaw and co-star Lee Ingleby; Production notes; Historical facts about 1964. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE GLORY BOYS/THE CONTRACT are two vintage (1984 and 1988) Cold War spy tales. Glory Boys stars Rod Steiger as an Israeli nuclear scientist who is the target of a joint IRA-PLO hit squad. Soon the hunters find themselves hunted by their very wily and resourceful prey. The Contract follows the exploits of a former covert op (Kevin McNally) called back into service to help the Soviets’ leading missile designer escape to the West. Tense thriller, well-made. Bonuses: Bios of cast and author Gerald Seymour. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. WE’LL MEET AGAIN portrays culture clash in wartime Britain between the local residents of tiny Market Wetherby and the American servicemen ensconced at a nearby airbase. Susannah York stars in this terrific blend of romance, nostalgia and intrigue. 13 episodes on 4 discs. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. MIDSOMER MURDERS SET 15 is a sort of British, rural version of "Law & Order," set in the tiny, picturesque villages of Midsomer Country. Inspired by the novels of Caroline Graham, John Nettles and Jason Hughes star as the detectives who sniff out the guilty culprits in some of the darkest crimes this side of Hannibal Lecter, all of which hide beneath an idyllic countryside exterior. 3 mysteries on 3 discs, plus a bonus disc containing a feature-length documentary about the series’ production. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. E1 Entertainment releases THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW, the complete series from 1952-53 featuring the veteran comedians at their zany best. Time Magazine cited the series as one of the 100 best shows of all-time, and it has been named by modern comic master Jerry Seinfeld as the inspiration for his own hit series. 9 disc set features all 52 episodes of the series, plus over three hours of bonus features, including “Hey Abbott!” 1978 TV special; Classic routine reel; Lou Costello home movies; Interviews with Chris and Paddy Costello; 1948 short film. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. MPI releases LUCY CALLS THE PRESIDENT, Lucille Ball’s 1976 special in which she plays an Indiana housewife who phones the White House to discuss a housing project, then finds herself making last-minute preparations for the President to visit her house for dinner. Zany high jinks abound, of course, with fine support from Lucy veterans Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, and even Ed McMahon. Bonuses: Lost production footage; Featurette. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE HILLS, SEASON FIVE, PART TWO follows the gang after Heidi and Spencer’s wedding and the arrival of Kristin Cavallari back on the scene. Beautiful people everywhere along with lots of sudsy drama, and we do mean LOTS. 10 episodes on 2 discs. Bonuses: Featurettes; Deleted scenes; After show remixes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. A&E releases RITA ROCKS THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE, starring Nicole Sullivan as an overworked wife, mother, and former lead singer of a Bangles cover band who has traded in pseudo-rock n’ roll glory for suburbia and PTA meetings. Funny sit-com manages to be a cut above the norm, thanks to some sharp writing and a strong supporting cast. 20 episodes on 3 discs. Bonuses: Music video by Sullivan and cast members. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. SHERI THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE stars Sherri Shepherd as a single mother who tries to juggle kid, job and her dream of becoming a standup comedian. Great support from Cosby Show vet Malcolm-Jamal Warner and a talent cast. 13 episodes on 2 discs. Bonuses: Webisodes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle star in a sumptuous BBC production of Jane Austen’s PRIDE & PREJUDICE. Set in Georgian England, the story of strong-willed romantic Elizabeth Bennet, who is determined to wed for love, and not money, unfolds against a magnificent backdrop that captures the time and place to near-perfection. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. 20th Century Fox/MGM releases STARGATE ATLANTIS THE COMPLETE SERIES , featuring all 5 seasons and 100 episodes on 26 discs in a magnificent boxed set. Story revolves around the city of Atlantis, built thousands of years ago by an evolved race known as the Ancients, and is now home base to an expedition team from Earth, who leap through the city’s Stargate to explore wondrous new galaxies and do battle with enemies who threaten the existence of Atlantis. Terrific sci-fi adventure owes more than a small debt to the original Star Trek, but when what sci-fi TV series doesn’t? Bonus disc includes two featurettes on the series’ history and production. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. ALLY MCBEAL, THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON features all 23 episodes from the 1998-99 season on 6 discs, following the continued adventures of a quirky lawyer (Calista Flockhart) and her adventures in life and love. Fine support from Portia de Rossi, Lucy Liu, and Greg Germann). Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 surround.



BLU-RAY TITLES Criterion releases a BD version of Fritz Lang’s classic 1931 thriller M, starring Peter Lorre as a serial killer preying on children in pre-war Berlin. Viewed by most film scholars as the first serial killer thriller, as well as the model for all future police procedurals, Lang’s location shooting (and casting of real-life criminals in supporting roles) and attention to detail and authenticity give the film an eerie, fly-on-the-wall feel. Lorre’s whistling of “Peer Gynt” (actually it’s Lang doing the whistling, because Lorre didn’t know how) before he strikes is one of the most chilling devices ever used in a film. Beautifully restored to near-pristine quality, as befits its stature as a cinematic masterpiece. Bonuses: Commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes and Eric Rentschler; The “lost” English-language version of M, from a nitrate print preserved by the BFI; Conversation with Fritz Lang, a film by William Friedkin; Claude Chabrol’s short M le Maudit, plus a conversation with Chabrol about Lang; Interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal; Audio recording of lecture by M editor Paul Falkenberg; Documentary on the film’s production; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. Sony releases Barry Levinson’s THE NATURAL, starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, a one-time baseball prodigy whose unlucky encounter with fate gave him a wound that nearly kept him out of the game forever, until as a middle-aged man, he gets one more shot in the big leagues. Terrific blend of magical realism and sports melodrama, boasting eye-popping cinematography from Caleb Deschanel, soaring musical score by Randy Newman, and a supporting cast that dreams are made of: Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Robert Prosky, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, and Richard Farnsworth. Bonuses: Six featurettes. Widescreen. DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround. New Line/Warner Bros. releases Wes Craven’s 1984 horror classic A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, about suburban teens who find their dreams haunted by the spirit of a deranged killer whom their families burnt to death years before. A true milestone in modern horror films, emphasizing psychological terror over gratuitous gore (although the gore is definitely there). Film debut for Johnny Depp. Robert Englund became an icon with his manic turn as the blade-fingered killer Freddy Krueger. Followed by countless (and completely inferior) sequels, imitations, and a soon-to-be-released remake, which will have a tough act to follow. Bonuses: Ready Freddy Focus Points—See alternate takes and learn filmmaking secrets by jumping to video highlights while watching the movie; Commentaries by Craven, cast and crew members; Alternate endings; 3 featurettes; Interactive trivia track. Widescreen. DTS-HD 7.1 surround and Dolby EX 1.0. Palm Pictures releases THE BASKETBALL DIARIES, the film adaptation of author/musician Jim Carroll’s autobiographical novel about his tumultuous adolescence in New York City as he juggled high school basketball stardom with teenage rebellion and hard drugs. Notable for being Leonardo DiCaprio’s “adult” acting debut, as well as that of Mark Wahlberg. Along with a fine supporting cast that includes Lorraine Bracco, Juliette Lewis, Bruno Kirby, Ernie Hudson, Michael Imperioli and James Madio, film boasts some powerful moments, but is undone by one fatal flaw: Carroll’s novel was set in the mid-60s, and the filmmakers try to set the same tone and story in modern times, which simply doesn’t work. Could have been a masterpiece, but instead of being all net, winds up a brick. Bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; Interview with Carroll, along with poetry reading. Widescreen. DTS-HD 5.1 surround, PCM 2.0 stereo. 20th Century Fox/MGM releases COCOON, Ron Howard’s charming fantasy about aliens who plant life pods off the Florida coast, next to a retirement community, where its residents suddenly find themselves the recipients of a fountain of youth after plunging into the waters. Don Ameche jump-started his career again with an Oscar-winning turn as a sure-footed octogenarian, with fellow vets Hume Cronyn, Wilford Brimley, Jack Gilford, Maureen Stapelton, Jessica Tandy and Gwen Verdon all delivering equally impressive turns in their twilight years. On the younger side, Steve Guttenberg, Brian Dennehy and Tahnee Welch (daughter of Raquel) deliver, as well. Bonuses: Commentary by Howard; 5 featurettes; Trailers and TV spots. Widescreen. DTS-HD 5.1 surround. THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR is director John McTiernan’s 1999 reboot of the ’68 Steve McQueen classic, this time with Pierce Brosnan quite ably filling the shoes of the blue-blooded businessman who masterminds an art heist, all under the watchful, and lustful, eye of an insurance investigator (Renee Russo) who can’t decide whether to bust Crown, or bed him. One of the few cases where a remake is an improvement on its predecessor, which hasn’t aged well. Terrific combination of style, suspense, and some truly sexy scenes between the two leads. Good stuff. Bonuses: Commentary by McTiernan. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.



DOCUMENTARY DAYS A&E releases THE ESSENTIAL GAMES OF THE DETROIT TIGERS, a 4 DVD set containing four historic Detroit Tigers games: The 1968 World Series game 5 vs. St. Louis, 1984 World Series game 5 vs. San Diego, Sept. 27, 1999 vs. Kansas City—the final game in Tiger Stadium; and the 2006 ALCS game vs. Oakland. Bonuses: Highlights from over 20 Tigers games from 1971-2007. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Athena Learning releases TESTAMENT, a global search for the roots of the Bible. In this 3-disc, seven-part series, archeologist John Romer traces the roots of the world’s most influential book in light of archeological evidence that’s been discovered over the centuries. Join Romer as he visits dig sites in Jerusalem, Jericho, and many other ancient cities and locations, and marvel in the treasure trove of history that has been unveiled. Bonuses: 20-page viewer’s guide; Biographies of major figures in the development of the Bible; Web extras. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Acorn Media releases ON THE ROAD WITH CHARLES KURALT SET 2, featuring more episodes of the roving reporter’s adventures on the road in the United States, and some the very extraordinary “ordinary” Americans he meets and profiles. Originally debuted on a 1967 edition of The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, Kuralt is an engaging and gregarious host over these 18 episodes that are featured on 3 discs. Bonuses: Featurettes; Kuralt bio. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Indiepix releases LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS, a look at three days in the life of a small New Jersey town where five Indian-Americans and one Jewish Indiophile participate in a Bollywood-style signing contest sponsored by a pork billionaire. Yes, it is as bizarre and hilarious as it sounds! Bonuses: Commentary by director Manish Acharya; Featurettes; Interviews with cast and crew; Deleted scenes; Short films; Trailer; Music videos. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. MVD Visual releases three “Solos Jazz Sessions” titles, featuring unaccompanied performances by some of the brightest stars, and up-and-comers, in the jazz world: GONZALO RUBALCABA shows why he has become one of the most important Afro-Cuban jazz artists since his debut in the 1990s. ANDREW HILL was a groundbreaking composer and pianist, renowned for his spontaneity and lack of cliché, working to extend the techniques of bop and hard bop while many of his contemporaries abandoned them altogether. LEE KONITZ is one of the most revered alto sax players, specializing in cool tones and driven by an insatiable musical curiosity which has made him one of the most innovative musicians on the scene. All programs were originally broadcast on Bravo!Canada. All are widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Bravo Media releases THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW JERSEY SEASON 1, a look at the real-life wives of the Garden State, and their lavish lifestyles, some of whom would put Carmella Soprano to shame. The complete season one features everything from the girls’ wild weekend in Atlantic City to the infamous “table flip” episode. Bonuses: Featurettes; Reunion episodes; Lost footage; Season finale director’s cut; Quiz: Are you a Jersey girl? Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Disinformation releases PLUNDER THE CRIME OF OUR TIME, a look by filmmaker Danny Schechter that examines how the current financial crisis was built on a foundation of criminal activity. Speaking with bankers, noted economists, insider experts, journalists including Paul Krugman, and many more, Schechter paints a grim portrait of how the crisis developed, and how it easily could have been avoided, if just a handful of people had been held accountable early in the process. Fascinating and nail-biting, much like All the President’s Men. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, Discovery Channel releases MAN VS. WILD SEASON 4 with survivalist Bear Grylls tackling his own mortality in one extreme situation after another deep in the wilds of nature. 3 disc set contains 11 episodes set in divergent locals from rural Alabama, to North Africa, to China, and more. If you’re an adrenaline junkie, this one is for you! Bonuses: Extended scenes; Extra episode. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.



ANIMATION NATION Disney re-releases their hit THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE in a digitally-remastered edition. Film is a rodent variation on the Sherlock Holmes character, here played as Basil of Baker Street, who, along with loyal sidekick Dawson, goes after diabolical Professor Ratigan when he kidnaps the city’s master toymaker. Clever humor for kids and adults alike along with eye-popping visuals makes this one of Disney’s better efforts of the 1980s (’86, to be precise). Bonuses: Games; Featurettes; Sing-alongs. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. 20th Century Fox releases AVLIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS THE SQUEAKQUEL, taking up where the last Alvin movie left off, featuring the chipmunk singing sensations Alvin, Simon and Theodore as they take a break from their singing careers to enroll in school, but soon meet their match in the beautiful and talented Chipettes. Cuteness abounds in this pleasant ditty, which is sure to please the little folks in your house. Available in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Bonuses: Featurettes; Music videos; Song trivia; BD-LIVE features. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. Warner Bros. releases BURT AND ERNIE'S GREAT ADVENTURES, featuring the legendary Sesame Street duo taking pre-schoolers on 13 exciting adventures, learning valuable skills such as friendship, cooperation and critical thinking skills. Think of it as a “greatest hits” from public television’s most revered team since MacNeil and Lehrer. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. BERT & ERNIE’S WORD PLAY has the duo putting on a play, featuring some of our favorite words as the stars. Creative, involving educational storytelling, designed to help the little ones with their reading skills. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. A&E/New Video release two new Scholastic Storybook Treasures titles: HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS…AND MORE STORIES TO CELEBRATE THE ENVIRONMENT, feature seven stories on one DVD which teach children about the value of ecology. Narrated by B.D Wong, Laila Ali, Chief Jake Swamp, and more. Features three bonus stories, as well. RUNAWAY RALPH, based on the book by Beverly Cleary, about a mouse who runs away from home, and befriends a young outcast at a summer camp. Features young stars-to-be like Fred Savage, Summer Phoenix, Sara Gilbert and Kellie Martin. Bonus story: Commander Toad in Space. Both are full screen, Dolby 2.0 mono. Lionsgate releases JIM HENSON’S THE SONG OF THE CLOUDED FOREST AND OTHER EARTH STORIES, four stories featuring Jim Henson’s Muppets celebrating the Earth and the importance of maintaining her. Three other stories include: Fraggle Rock: “River of Life,” “Owl & Frog,” and “Kangaroo & Frog.” Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. JIM HENSON’S ANIMAL SHOW WITH STINKY AND JAKE, is the first “animal talk show,” as hosts Stinky the skunk and Jake the polar bear welcome guests of the animal kingdom who discuss their ways of life and native habitats. 5 episodes on one disc. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Sony releases THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN VOLUME EIGHT, featuring episodes 24-26 of the hit TV series. Watch Spidey do battle with the Green Goblin, Molten Man, and the Chameleon. Terrific animation and some clever one-liners should make this a fun view for kids and parents alike. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Finally, Paramount releases THE GREAT PANDA ADVENTURE, from the Nickelodeon series “Go Diego, Go!” featuring Diego embarking on a rescue mission to save endangered Panda Bears in China. Three more globe-trotting adventures ensue, with Diego helping native wildlife: “Leaping Lemurs,” Koala’s Birthday Hug,” and “Diego Saves the Beavers.” Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. DORA THE EXPLORER: EXPLORE THE EARTH! Features four episodes of the “Dora” series: “Mixed-up Seasons,” “To the South Pole,” “Save Diego,” and “Beaches.” All four episodes help expose kids to different seasons and environments, animals in different parts of the world, and Spanish language skills. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.

STEPPING UP TO DEFEND ROMAN POLANSKI...AND STEPPING BACK DOWN AGAIN.

An Op-Ed

by Jon Zelazny

Critics, artists, and intellectuals the world over took last month’s release of The Ghost Writer as a fresh opportunity to proclaim both Roman Polanski’s genius and bemoan his despicable treatment by Los Angeles County and the Swiss government.

Don’t be fooled. The Ghost Writer is a perfectly capable adaptation of a rather pedestrian political thriller, but one can feel the maestro pouring thought and energy into every tiny nuance while either ignoring or disdaining the fact that the work as a whole is brittle, hollow, and often just plain silly. Ewan McGregor, a trouper, is saddled with playing a protagonist who seems less of a human being than an automaton tasked with carrying the plot; he reminded me of poor Sean Connery in Hitchcock’s Marnie… another case of a dynamic actor left stranded by an old director who didn’t seem to give a shit whether his male lead did anything at all apart from hitting his marks.

Is this pale Ghost Polanski’s last feature? It’s hard to say. He turns 77 this August, and remains under house arrest in Switzerland; unless his next picture is called Weekend at Roman’s, it’s hard to imagine any financiers obtaining the necessary insurance to employ him. Master filmmakers from Fellini to Billy Wilder to Robert Altman found it endlessly frustrating to attract backing in their sunset years even without being American criminal fugitives. If The Ghost Writer is indeed Polanski’s last major work, it’s sad to see him go out with a whimper instead of the bang of his 2003 Oscar for The Pianist.

Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polanski were the first movie directors I knew by name and studied as a teenager. Of the two, I related to Polanski more—quiet movies about lonely people plagued by isolation and fear will probably always strike a greater chord with sensitive youngsters than the more cerebral Kubrick oeuvre—but Polanski also happened to be Polish, and I also happened to look at lot like him. (I had to write a report in fourth grade about notable people of my ethnic background, but my childhood reverence for Thaddeus Kosciusko, Madame Curie, and Stan Musial was waning; in Polanski I finally found a fellow Pole I could revere as a vibrant, active role model. Joseph Conrad also made my list around that time.)

I saw Rosemary’s Baby (1968) first, courtesy of Rochester, NY’s independent Channel 31, which tended to leave a lot more R-rated material in their nightly 9 PM movies than any major network censor. Thanks to another cultural cache—Bob Hyatt’s Classic Video in neighboring East Rochester—I was then able to rent tapes of the Polanski classics Knife in The Water (1962), Repulsion (1965), and Chinatown (1974). I next found Polanski’s 1984 autobiography Roman in my college library, where I first learned of his 1977 arrest for Statutory Rape and the ensuing complications that led to his final flight from the U.S. I was surprised by his matter-of-fact admission of his actions, though not overly shocked, because Polanski also makes sure to tell you about all the other teenage girls he had sex with throughout his adult life, including the fifteen-year-old Nastassia Kinski. I knew about groupies and drugs from biographies of The Beatles, The Who, and Jim Morrison; apparently directors got the same kind of action… only this guy got caught. Well, too bad for him. I certainly didn’t give the case any further thought as I eagerly hit campus screenings of lesser-known Polanski fare like Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958), Cul-de-sac (1966), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Macbeth (1971) and The Tenant (1976).

Polanski’s output slowed dramatically in the eighties and nineties. I dutifully plunked down coin for the pretty good Frantic (1988), the pretty dismal Bitter Moon (1992), the good-enough Death and the Maiden (1994), and the mostly-embarrassing The Ninth Gate (1999), but my former hero was now a faint echo on my cultural sonar. A few more details about his criminal case dribbled out over the years: that he paid his victim a settlement, that his victim revealed her true identity, publicly forgave her seducer, and said she hoped the whole case would be dismissed.

I also got to know Polanski’s old friend Gloria, one of the beautiful girls in the famous newspaper photo of the director at the 1978 Oktoberfest… the picture that so enraged L.A. Judge Laurence Rittenband that he changed his mind about Polanski’s agreed-upon plea bargain. Gloria adamantly defends Roman as an exemplary human being who would never harm a fly, and believes he got totally shafted out here: first by a mother-daughter team of would-be gold-digging fame-whores, then a corrupt judicial system obviously prejudiced against charming, sophisticated, internationally acclaimed creative geniuses who speak with thick European accents and like to have a good time.

Two years ago, the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired exhumed the case. Polanski supporters tend to herald this as groundbreaking investigative journalism, when in fact it’s barely a notch above your average E! Channel special. What does it ultimately prove about the Polanski case? That Judge Rittenband was indeed a cranky, vain, and hypocritical son of a bitch who didn’t always keep his word on some tacit agreements between the prosecution and the defense. This is all Polanski supporters need to hear: this judge acted inappropriately, therefore Roman Polanski should be left alone.

When the maestro was suddenly arrested by Swiss police last September, I was as stunned as the rest of the cinemaniacal, and would have gladly signed the famous filmmakers’ stirring petition of protest had I actually been a famous filmmaker. I figured the best I could do was draft my own rousing howl of outrage for my faithful internet readers, and dutifully set to work reviewing all pertinent facts in the case. Two weeks, four drafts, and thousands of words later, I finally threw in the towel.

There is one only accepted legal defense for Statutory Rape: if the perpetrator is unaware of the victim’s true age. Scouring the victim’s leaked grand jury testimony and Polanski’s account of the crime in his book, neither mentions the victim—or any of her friends and family members who met the director prior to the crime—revealing to Polanski she was only thirteen. This seemed to me proof of his innocence: he never asked and thus never knew the girl’s true age, therefore it was a terrible mistake for him to plead Guilty...

…except he did know her real age. That fact was plainly established by the Court at the time Polanski entered his Guilty plea. Asked if he knew the girl’s age before they had sex, he replies that he knew she was thirteen. The Court asks him a second time, just to make sure, and Polanski again admits this most damning knowledge.

What many Polanski supporters fail to grasp is that once our hero pled Guilty, he was a convicted American criminal, entirely at the mercy of the judge assigned to sentence him, and any speculation regarding the motives and character of his underage victim and her family became essentially moot. Had Polanski really wanted to argue about such things, and potentially clear his name, he was of course entitled to a trial.

The case up until that point was pretty cut-and-dried; the events Polanski defenders cite as proof of official corruption came in the months that followed. Judge Rittenband at first seemed inclined to dispense with the case as the sentencing advisors recommended: probation, no jail time. He even allowed Polanski to fly to Europe to prepare his next movie. Then some of Rittenband’s friends and colleagues inappropriately advised him that he was being too lenient. And when he saw that photo of his convicted—but not yet sentenced—criminal partying in Germany, Rittenband became very angry, and clearly conflicted as to how severe a penalty this silver-tongued satyr really deserved.

As anyone who’s attended even traffic court in this country can attest, the last thing you want to do is annoy your judge, much less make them angry and unsure about what to do with you. Did Rittenband start to fuck with Polanski? Yes. Was that nice of him? No. Did his methods of fucking around constitute judicial misconduct? Maybe. Polanski’s prosecutor Roger Gunson certainly thought so; soon after the director fled, Gunson joined Polanski lawyer Douglas Dalton in filing a formal complaint against Rittenband. The judge did not defend himself; he simply excused himself from the case… which threw Polanski’s fate into the hands of Judge Paul Breckinridge. Much relieved, Polanski immediately flew back to the U.S., accepted Breckinridge’s sentence, paid his debt to society, and went on to direct a number of wonderful Hollywood classics.

No, that last sentence isn’t true. Polanski did not return when the mean judge stepped aside in 1978, or when the mean judge retired in 1989 or died in 1993. Polanski did not return the day after he won the Oscar, when even his worst detractors had to admit The Pianist (2002) was a breathtaking humanitarian achievement. Why has Polanski never come back? Probably because by absconding, he instantly doubled the length of his rap sheet; any Los Angeles judge assigned his case is now obligated to sentence him for the crime he pled Guilty to, plus convict and sentence him again for running away.

My admiration for Roman Polanski as a filmmaker has never died, and while our lifestyles have little in common, I do like that he hasn’t spent the last thirty years bitching and moaning about what this case did to his career and lasting legacy. He decided to get on a plane knowing he could never set foot in Hollywood again—a tragedy if you happen to be a revered filmmaker—and he has abided by it. (That’s a Polish trait: we may be battered by circumstances, but we march on, like oxen.) That Polanski has “already been punished” to some degree is inarguable; unfortunately, convicted criminals in this country have never enjoyed the privilege of deciding the manner and extent of their punishment.

This simple fact seems to elude all the Polanski-championing dimwits roaming the blogosphere who speculatively thrash about in the minutia of the case like it was the JFK assassination, as well as the more educated legal and moral hair-splitters who really ought to know better than to argue that the possible mitigating factors at issue are somehow sufficient to make Polanski’s criminal status simply disappear.

With Polanski’s victim at least satisfied that justice has been served, I guess my heart goes out most to the new innocent bystanders here: Polanski’s wife, their two young children, and the financiers of The Ghost Writer, all of whom had to contend with the terrible shock of seeing their 76-year-old husband, father, and business partner not just jailed, but become the focal point of contempt by an America far less tolerant of adults having sex with minors than it was thirty years ago. While hindsight in this case is far from 20/20, I strongly suspect that had Roman Polanski bit the bullet in 1978 and returned to California to serve even, say, one to three years in prison, his crimes would now be little more than a stinky footnote is his otherwise long and distinguished biography.

Scenes from the Marriage of PHYLLIS AND HAROLD

Our conversation with filmmaker Cindy Kleine on her new documentary about the life and marriage of her parents.

By Terry Keefe

In all honesty, Phyllis and Harold is one of the best examinations, fiction or non, of the subject of marriage that I have ever seen. Filmmaker Cindy Kleine started interviewing her elderly parents, Phyllis and Harold Kleine, about their marriage and lives for a project that became first a short film entitled ‘Til Death Do Us Part, which was structured as a series of talking head spots with both parents, and then broadened that project into this larger, more visually expansive feature over a 12-year period. Driving the film is a question Cindy Kleine poses at the beginning about her parents: “Who are these people?”

For starters, Phyllis and Harold are an upper middle class Jewish couple, living in suburban Long Island. They came of age during World War II and they married young, perhaps too young, because it was what everyone else around them did. Then, they stayed together, which may have been the real problem.

If you’ve lived long enough, regardless of where you are from, Phyllis and Harold are a couple that you will know and recognize. Their marriage has remained stable, for 59 years, but it feels lifeless. They don’t appear really unhappy together, but they certainly don’t appear particularly happy either. Resigned might be the best word, although Harold certainly seems more at peace and pragmatic about what life gave him than Phyllis, not that she doesn’t have her reasons for being unsatisfied. She did do something about it, however. In the biggest revelation of the film, Phyllis recounts a lengthy love affair with someone who was once a co-worker, and with whom the relationship continued in one form or another over many years. Kleine’s younger sister had a facilitating role in the affair by allowing her mother and her lover to meet in her apartment sometimes. Phyllis and Harold was not shown publicly until after Harold passed away.

Relationships that are filled with fighting, violence, substance abuse, and other high drama make for easier storytelling than what Kleine manages to create here without such big plot twists. Using the materials of her own life and that of her family, she finds the deep passions, longings, loneliness, and struggles within what on the surface appears to be a fairly average existence. For better or worse, you will recognize yourself in their story, and all the right and wrong decisions they have made along their life journey.

The story of Phyllis and Harold is brought to life by not just their interviews, but also a dense series of photos which Harold seemed to always be taking, showing the couple both at home and on vacations to some of the most exotic parts of the world. Also included is home movie footage taken, in part, by Kleine’s grandfather. The home movies and photos add great depth and intimacy, and make the film a true journey with this couple from youth to old age.

Phyllis and Harold is being released by Henry Jaglom and his Rainbow Releasing. The film was executive produced by Kleine’s husband Andre Gregory, the famed theatre director, playwright, and actor.

We spoke to Cindy Kleine by phone as she was on her way to a screening of the film at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theater in Santa Monica.

How much agonizing did you have to go through when you made the decision to actually cut all of this footage of your parents together and make the feature film of Phyllis and Harold?

Cindy Kleine: A lot [laughs].

I ask, because you seem like a very thoughtful person from the film, and I can’t imagine it was an easy decision to put some of this information about your family out there.

It was agonizing, sort of, every step of the way. I knew I was making the film, it was done over 12 years, but I was constantly agonizing. Why I was doing it, and how I was doing it.

(Filmmaker Cindy Kleine, above.)

Did you show your mom any of the footage cut together at any point along the way?

No, but the film was first a short film called 'Til Death Do Us Part, which was a series of interviews [with Phyllis and Harold], of talking heads. She saw that whole film, that was very early on, and she loved it. She loved being a movie star [laughs]. From then, I kept wanting her to see it, but I didn’t want to show her a rough cut, because it’s sometimes hard to explain a rough cut, and she died before it was finished.

Did you show your dad any of the film?

He saw what she [my mother] did, early on. My dad saw the early short film, but not when it was completed, before I put in her really kind of blatantly talking about the lover. She was saying the things like “I didn’t want to marry him,” and I was nervous about his even [ seeing] that, but he thought it was hysterically funny.

(Phyllis and Harold, above.)

How typical do you think your parents were of their generation, in terms of their relationship? I’m from Long Island myself and elements of their story remind me very much of the stories of other older couples that I’ve known from that generation, particularly in regards to certain people eventually reuniting with the old loves that they didn’t marry.

I think their story is very typical of that generation. I always thought that, but even more so when I started talking to my mother’s friends, while I was making the film and showing them the short film, at least. Much to my surprise, many of the women, for example, who were my mother‘s friends, said, “Oh yeah, I also had a lover. I had a terrible marriage too.” A lot of them had the same situation. It was very wide-spread in that generation, because they got married very young. They didn’t know why they were getting married always. So, yeah, I think it was very, very common, and a lot of them, especially in my mother and father’s milieu, who were Jewish and of that generation…divorce was very, very uncommon to begin with, but especially in their set. It was sort of non-existent, and looked down upon, and not seen as an option.

You got married and you stayed with it.

And now the statistic is that 54 percent of marriages end in divorce. That’s certainly a big difference from those days.

How did your other family members react to the film?

I don’t have that many family members; we’re a small family. My sister loves the film, but she gets self-conscious because she still feels guilty about her complicity in [letting their mother and her lover] use her apartment and everything. But she really loves it and she loves being a movie star and everything, and she’s just mad at me for not making the whole film about her [laughs]. The only other surviving family members that have seen it are my dad’s brother and his wife. I was terrified to show them. I kind of coached them first, and told them a little bit of the story? But, they loved it too.

The film doesn’t feel manipulative, and it also feels very true. I’m going to guess that was a real challenge. You make it look effortless but -

No, it was very difficult. I had to really work on that. It was very important to me to really strike a balance, and not weigh it towards one side or the other. What’s interesting to me about the film is that a lot of audience members project their own feelings onto it. People say to me, “Oh, I loved your mother and I hated your father,” or “Your father was so great. He seemed like such a nice man. Your mother was so horrible.” People see their own thing in it, but it was definitely not something I did. I found that quite interesting, but it was a lot of work to make it very balanced. Especially, as you see, because she’s much more forthcoming and she talked a lot more. He doesn’t get lost in it, but he’s not, like, the star of it, as she is. That bothered me, so I worked really hard to make sure I kept putting more parts of his story in, to strike a balance. He just didn’t talk as much.

All of the home movie footage, and the extensive photos that your dad took…what an incredible resource for this film.

Those were invaluable. I absolutely say that I couldn’t have made the film without those as a resource, because, visually, there wouldn’t be enough material. The whole sense of time passing…of them just beginning their lives, to middle-age, to their wrinkled old faces. That to me, was the whole idea of the film.

(Phyllis in a sand dune, sometime mid-century, above.)

The last lines of the film, which I won’t reveal here, which speak about the dream you have about your parents and the metaphor about “luggage”…are very striking and sum up the entire story extremely well. As a writer, I wanted to ask how long did it take you to come up with them?

Actually, it came pretty quickly. Once I cut the dream in, I don’t remember really struggling with those lines very long. They just came out. It’s what happens occasionally, not very often [laughs].

You want it to happen all the time, but it doesn’t.

Right [laughs]. There were other lines that I really struggled with, but not those.

How did you become involved with Henry Jaglom and Rainbow Films, who are distributing Phyllis and Harold?

I’ve been an admirer of Henry’s films for years and years, and very early on, like 25 years ago, I sent him a very early cut of a film I was working on, because I knew he had this film company and he sometimes funded, or helped, young filmmakers. So, I sent him a rough cut of this [previous] thing, and then I never heard from him.

And when I finished this film…it was actually [my husband] Andre Gregory…the reason he’s credited as Executive Producer on the film because when I finished, he really gave me ideas and pushed me, and he actually said, “You really should send this to Henry Jaglom.” He actually grew up with Henry. They were children together.

I said, “Well, I once sent him something and didn’t hear from him.” Andre said, “When was that?” I said, “Oh, you know, 25 years ago.” He said, “That’s ridiculous. This is a great film. Just send it.” I did, and Henry called me flipping out over it. He really loved, loved the film, and he offered to distribute it, before anyone else had even seen it. He was an early champion of the film.

Do you know what you’re working on next?

Yes, I’m already working on it, in fact. It’s a memoir film about my husband, Andre, about his life and work, and also about our life together. It’s about a good marriage.

Phyllis and Harold opens today, April 9th, in Los Angeles, and is currently playing at the Laemmle Theatres in the Music Hall 3 and the Fallbrook in West Hills.

Relevant Links:

Cindy Kleine’s website

PHYLLIS AND HAROLD film website

Rainbow Releasing website

Remembering Horror Maestro Curtis Harrington

Filmmaker Curtis Harrington: 1926-2007.


Our Friend Curtis Harrington
by Jon Zelazny

Curtis Harrington was born in Los Angeles in 1926. He made short films as a teenager, graduated from USC, and began his Hollywood career in the 1950’s. By the end of the decade, he was directing: independent films, studio pictures, made-for-TV movies, and episodic TV. He completed his last short film in 2002, and died in 2007 at the age of 80.

I knew Curtis well in his final years, as did writer-producer Dennis Bartok, the former head programmer of L.A.’s famed American Cinematheque.

DENNIS BARTOK: I think the most interesting aspect of Curtis’s career is that he was really the only filmmaker to successfully transition from the avant-garde scene of the late 1940’s to directing Hollywood feature films. And when you see how distinctive his movies are, you wish he could’ve made more… but when you consider that none of them ever did much at the box office, it’s really a miracle he got to make as many as he did.

I don’t remember when I first met him, because he was an ever-present fixture at American Cinematheque screenings. The only film of his I knew at that point was What’s the Matter With Helen? (1971).


Written by Henry Farrell, best known for "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962), "Helen" is another psychodrama about two older women sharing a house in Hollywood. Debbie Reynolds plays a flaky dance instructor; Shelley Winters is a frumpy religious nut slowly losing her grip.

I saw it on TV when I was growing up, and it really freaked me out. The bizarre relationship between Reynolds and Winters, and the scenes of all those stage mothers trying to mold their little girls into the next Shirley Temple. I think it’s one of the great, skewed, deranged portraits of the underbelly of the movie industry.

JON: Curtis always regarded it as his best feature.

And it’s got Agnes Moorehead as that Aimee Semple McPherson-inspired evangelist. Curtis loved the history of Los Angeles, and all the great periphery characters here. He never saw the real Sister Aimee preach, but his parents went to her temple in Echo Park once, and he remembered them describing how every pew had a clothesline strung up over it at about eye level. They couldn’t figure it out… until Sister Aimee exhorted from the pulpit, “I don’t want to hear the clink of coins, just the rustle of dollar bills!” You were supposed to clothespin your offering to the line, and the ushers would reel it in. Curtis just cackled in delight when he told that story.

A vivid childhood memory he shared with me was after we saw Robert Towne’s Ask The Dust (2006), which depicted the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Curtis was only seven or eight at the time, but he very clearly recalled being in the kitchen with his mother when everything started shaking. They lived just off Santa Monica Boulevard, across from what was then the back of the Fox lot, and is now the Century City mall.

Another detail from that time—which he thought should be revived—was “crying rooms” at movie theaters, where mothers could take their babies and watch the movie. I wrote down what he said about the Los Angeles Theater downtown: “My parents would drop me off there when they went to the movies. I must have been about three or four. They had a sandbox in the downstairs playroom, and a slide for the children.”

Maybe that’s where his love affair with the movies began; as a little boy seeing that movie theater as a palace of wonders.

After Helen, I think his most successful film from end to end is Night Tide (1961), which is about as close to a perfect first feature as you can get. It has the poetry and the beautiful, yearning energy of youth.

"Night Tide." In his first starring role, Dennis Hopper plays a good-hearted Navy sailor who falls for a girl who works as a mermaid in a sideshow attraction… who slowly draws him into the beguiling web of her mysterious past.

Jean-Pierre Melville once described Bob Le Flambeur as “a love letter to a Paris that no longer exists,” and I think Night Tide captures that kind of nostalgia for the old Venice-Santa Monica beach culture. I love the wonderful, slightly overexposed black and white photography; it has a very French New Wave look. I think Night Tide and Helen were very personal evocations of what Curtis remembered from his youth.

Night Tide was the first one I saw. Curtis presented it one night at the County Museum in 2000. I’d just written a screenplay that included a character based on the L.A. occultist Marjorie Cameron... whom Curtis had cast in Night Tide. So I introduced myself to afterwards, we chatted about Cameron, and then he said, “Well, you must come to tea some time!” So I went to his house maybe a week later and he indeed served a very proper English tea in the library. It was like stepping into a Vincent Price movie.

That house was such an expression of who he was. I wish it could have been preserved as a museum… of his soul, and his artistic sensibilities. All that great bric-a-brac: props from his movies, fin de siecle and Beaux-Arts painting and statues. Ibex skulls… 18th century prints of vampire bats… his Phrenology head… the trompe l’oiel molding around the ceilings… and that gorgeous mirror when you walked in. That whole supernatural aesthetic was very reminiscent of directors like Mario Bava and Georges Franju and James Whale.

And I think all the parties Curtis hosted there were as close as I’ve ever been to a genuine bohemian salon. You read about these great social scenes, like Paris in the 1920’s, and at Curtis’s house you really did meet all sorts of wonderfully crazy people.

Dennis Hopper and Linda Lawson in Night Tide.

Some of them were very nice; I had a lot of great talks with film preservationist Robert Gitt and film scholar Tony Slide, but there were a lot of kooks as well. I think Curtis—like Andy Warhol—just loved to surround himself with interesting people. One time we brought my nice, Lutheran in-laws from Florida, and they politely listened to people talk about shooting heroin and having sex with aliens.

I always enjoyed seeing cinematographer Gary Graver and his wife Jillian; Gary shot Orson Welles’ final films. The critic David Del Valle… horror queen Barbara Steele... and there was always some artist or writer just in from New York who Curtis would be introducing around.

After that first tea, he and I would get together for lunch or dinner and a movie every couple months. And I started seeing more and more of his work. I think my favorite of his early shorts is Fragment of Seeking (1946).

Curtis wrote, directed, and starred in this sixteen-minute surrealistic dream story set in and around his USC dormitory. The film was hailed as a major avant-garde achievement.

I usually find it embarrassing to sit through student films, but I was amazed at what a natural director he was; the camerawork and editing already has this ineffable grace and rhythm to it.

The quality I most admire in almost all of his movies is the poetry. They’re all tremendously lyrical.

Remember the sequence where Curtis is charging down that series of hallways in pursuit of the mysterious figure, and every time he rounds a corner, he just misses the specter disappearing around the next corner? I asked him if that was a nod to Buster Keaton’s similar sequence in The Navigator (1924), and he thought that was hilarious. He said no one had ever compared him to Buster Keaton before.

He also showed me The Wormwood Star (1955) at his house. That was his seven-minute study of Marjorie Cameron and her paintings.

I think we screened it at the Cinematheque once. It’s in color, right?

Yeah, he shot it on Kodachrome. And Cameron’s presence, her voice of doom…

Did you ever discuss the occult with him? My impression is that unlike his old friend Kenneth Anger, who genuinely subscribes to those beliefs, Curtis was always more the curious outsider looking in. I think he was fascinated by other people’s belief in black magic; particularly if they also lived lives of “artistic” decadence, like Aleister Crowley, or Cameron’s first husband, Jack Parsons.



I know Curtis, Cameron, and Anger were all part of that fifties Hollywood experimental underground crowd. Dennis Hopper, Anais Nin… all those people who were in Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1953). Even Curtis’s friend Jack Larson—who played squeaky-clean Jimmy Olsen in Superman on TV—did some experimental films for Warhol in the early sixties.

I don’t know how long Curtis remained in touch with Anger. They were close in the forties and fifties, but I know at some point they had a huge falling out.

Anger finally put a curse on him. Curtis showed me the final poison-pen letter Kenneth wrote him. It’s hard to believe the two of them ever stood on the same philosophical ground: Anger is a dark, nasty, venomous person who clearly revels in the implicit cruelty of the Crowley system of thought.

You were at Curtis’s funeral, right? One of the most appalling things I’ve ever seen was how Anger hijacked that service. From videotaping Curtis in his casket, getting ejected, then somehow worming his way back in, sitting in the front pew, and continually interjecting all these obnoxious rambling anecdotes during Jack Larson’s eulogy. If Curtis had actually been there somehow, he would have strangled that asshole!

Author and filmmaker Kenneth Anger.

Larson was amazing; he didn’t let any of it throw him. Just calmly rolled with it. “That’s true, Kenneth.” “Thank you for reminding us of that, Kenneth.”

Anger even threw in a promo for his own funeral! “I’m dying of cancer! I intend to be buried here one year from today… and it’s going to be by invitation only!”

Which sadly did not come to pass… he’s still out there! I imagine Marjorie Cameron must have been an equally wretched human being. How could Curtis have spent so much time with her?

Well, every film he made was about some kind of strange obsession... obsession with obsession, obsession with death. Images of decay, and things falling into ruin: houses in ruin, hearts in ruin. I think Curtis lived in a kind of glorious ruin; his own house always had that faintly sweet scent of decay.

Which is ironic, because you never met a nicer, more charming gentleman in your life. I was always fascinated that here was this intellectual with impeccable artistic taste… yet the stories he felt most drawn to were almost exclusively in the realm of psychological horror and the macabre.

It’s true. He made horror films for an art house audience… who are generally not interested in horror films.

And horror movie producers are typically not the most genteel people. In The American Cinema, Andrew Sarris said Curtis needed a producer like Val Lewton; someone who really connected with that “elegant” horror ideal.

Though I doubt Curtis aspired to be known exclusively for horror films. Like most directors, I think he wanted to make successful studio movies so he could go on and tell the more eclectic stories that interested him.

At least horror opened the Hollywood door for him. Studios like scary movies; there’s always a genuine need here for storytellers with the ability to shake people up… like Curtis did with Games (1967).

Harrington's first studio feature, "Games," is a mystery about a young “decadent chic” couple (James Caan and Katherine Ross) who find they’re in over their heads when a mysterious, witch-like woman moves in with them.

Games is a really good film. Curtis wanted Marlene Dietrich to play Lisa, but Lew Wasserman at Universal turned him down, saying, “Nobody gives a shit about her anymore.” So they got Simone Signoret, who was coming off an Oscar, and I think Curtis was happy with her performance, but he really had his heart set on Dietrich. I think he at least got to meet her at some point, in Las Vegas.

He went to see her cabaret act, and they hung out for a few hours after the show. I think he regarded that as one of the great nights of his life; she was certainly part of his lifelong fascination with the films of Josef von Sternberg… whom Curtis referred to as his “directorial soulmate.” I always liked that expression.

A still from Harrington's 1967 Games.

Curtis wrote one of the first monographs on Sternberg, which was published in the UK in the fifties. And I remember him telling me about seeing a nitrate print of a Sternberg film called The Case of Lena Smith (1929).

That’s a Sternberg? I’ve never heard of it.

It’s a lost film… except for Curtis’s memory of it. That’s why talking with him was always amazing, because somewhere inside him, those flickering images of long ago were still there. He really was a repository of all the great films he’d seen, and the stories that went with them. He was this living connection to a vanished Hollywood.

Harrington (right) and James Whale in Paris.

Especially all the great directors he befriended. Just off the top of my head, there was Sternberg, James Whale, Fritz Lang, and Rouben Mamoulian. Hitchcock, Welles, Kubrick. Alexander Mackendrick, Michael Powell, Lindsay Anderson. And of the living greats, there was Polanski and Jonathan Demme and Bill Condon. He said David Lynch was his favorite living filmmaker, but I don’t think they ever met.

I believe Curtis was personally responsible for saving one of James Whale’s greatest films, The Old Dark House (1932). It was long considered a lost film as well, but Curtis managed to track down one last surviving lavender-tinted print...

…which he found in the vault at Universal. And then he convinced James Card of The Eastman House in Rochester, NY, to do a complete restoration.

Anybody who loves Whale’s Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein needs to see The Old Dark House, because it’s really one of the great American films of the 1930’s. It’s probably my favorite Whale just because it’s so unique and unexpected; everything about it is strange and unsettling.

A Whale film Curtis turned me on to was Remember Last Night? (1935). It’s ostensibly a comic romp about a group of young socialites partying all night and their compounding mishaps, but there’s a palpable sense of social critique to it. You can feel Whale’s working class judgment of these spoiled, shallow people.

I’ll have to check it out. I don’t know the full extent of the relationship between Whale and Curtis, but Curtis did tell me that when he was doing the starving artist routine in Paris in the early fifties—and literally flat broke—he somehow connected with Whale, who wound up giving him a pretty significant chunk of money. It was enough for Curtis to pay his rent and buy food, and he was always tremendously grateful for that.

Now I could never turn Curtis on to anything in return, because he’d seen everything, but I’d often mention this or that Anthony Mann film, and he’d scoff, “Anthony Mann!” …like you couldn’t imagine a bigger hack. So one day I lent him a tape of The Furies (1950), and he called me a few days later to say how much he loved it… and he never sneered at Mann again! I think that was my only contribution to his body of knowledge.

I don’t think a day went by when he wasn’t at a screening somewhere, whether it was the Cinematheque, or the DGA, UCLA, the Academy, the BAFTA screenings. He kept up with all the new movies, and he loved foreign films.

The only time I turned down an invitation was when he wanted to see Basic Instinct 2 (2006). He said, “Oh, I heard Sharon Stone is just wonderful in it!”

Speaking of batty old dames, did you see The Killing Kind (1974)?




It’s excellent. I put it in the category of Psycho (1960) and Peeping Tom (1960); these character studies of creepy serial killers. John Savage is really good in it.

What’s strange is how the relationship with his mother really veers off into melodrama. It’s a natural looking film, with this operatic relationship at the heart of it.

I think Ann Sothern’s over-the-top character was as much of interest to Curtis as the suspense elements. He was a tremendously gifted and sympathetic director of actresses, particularly great divas of a certain age and a certain style.

Ann Sothern and John Savage in The Killing Kind.

He told me his favorite part of directing prime time soaps like "Dynasty" and "The Colbys" during the eighties was when he got to cast actors from Hollywood’s golden age.

I’d like to see some of his TV episodes. They probably aren’t anything special… but I’m sure they paid well, and helped his pension.

He described that phase as the end of the line in his career. That he started in features, but once he accepted his first made-for-TV movie, that was how the Industry then saw him: as a made-for-TV director. Then when he started directing TV shows, he went down another category. He regarded it as a humiliating downward trajectory.

I think that happened to a lot of directors from the fifties, sixties, and seventies. My friend Budd Boetticher was the same way: he directed some really good TV—including the pilot for "Maverick"—but he would scowl and almost go into a rage if you asked him about it. Andre de Toth, same thing. Those guys would take TV jobs when they were hurting, but they were always hoping to somehow land another feature.

I asked Curtis what his worst career setback was, and he told this long, convoluted story about how he was originally supposed to direct The Omen (1976), but through some politics at William Morris, he lost it. He was almost in tears when he told that story… and I’m sure he would have made The Omen at least as capably as Richard Donner: that script was director-proof, and Donner went from the bush leagues to the big time. Can you imagine how a blockbuster like that would have changed the rest of Curtis’s life?

I’m sure he would have made at least several more studio features.

I wonder... I mean, his films always looked great, and he cast interesting people and got good performances, but the biggest problem is usually the stories. The dramatic structure is weak, or they lack drive, or the motivations aren’t well thought out.

What’s The Matter With Helen?, for example, opens with those two young Leopold and Loeb-type murderers being sent to prison, then the story shifts to their two disgraced mothers trying to make a fresh start in Hollywood. Which is an intriguing opening… except I kept wondering for the whole picture when it was going to come back to those sons. I asked Curtis if he and the writer had thought about doing that opening differently, or even cutting the prologue altogether… and Curtis’s eyes started to glaze over. I thought I’d insulted him, but as I got to know him better, I realized he simply wasn’t interested in dissecting plots or character motivation… which surprised me because he spent his early Hollywood career in script development for producer Jerry Wald at Columbia. He worked with a lot of big writers on major films.

And I think Night Tide and Games are two of his best films partially because both scripts were pretty heavily patterned on previous classics: Night Tide is more or less a remake of Cat People (1942), and Games is essentially Diabolique (1945). I think Curtis needed an established story to work off of. It freed him up to focus his energy on the visuals and the performances.

He sort of hit this nail on the head for me the night I took him to meet Uli Edel, who was introducing his remake of The Ring of the Niebelungs (2004) at the Goethe Institute. People were asking questions about the adaptation from the original Icelandic sagas, and Uli was going into great detail about his reasons for the various changes. Curtis finally whispered to me, “Why does he get so involved in all that? I don’t care about the story… just the style!”

When did you first see Usher (2002)?

I think we had the world premiere at the Cinematheque. That was a very personal film for him.

Harrington in Usher.

Edgar Allen Poe was Curtis’s favorite writer, and he made two short films based on “The Fall of the House of Usher.” He completed the first in high school; sixty years later, he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in a new forty-minute version.

It’s not really a film that’s going to scare anybody, but it’s dark and poetic, and extremely disturbing—particularly when Curtis first appears in drag as Madeline Usher. It’s everything he wanted it to be, I think. He shot most of it right at his house.

I really liked his script The Man In The Crowd, the short film he was trying to get made when he passed away. It was an amalgamation of three or four different Poe stories.

I thought it was better than Usher: less stagy, more cinematic.

But he was in a tough spot there: an hour-long experimental narrative? The only people who are going to put up the money for something like that are you or your friends and family. So he approached a number of his longtime friends—all very well off people, apparently—and asked for donations, and almost all of them turned him down. He was very frustrated and disappointed by that.

One time he asked me to sit in on a meeting with some possible backers. I went and listened to these two guys, and when they left, I had to tell him I thought it was bullshit. They didn’t know anything about Curtis, or his work, and I didn’t think he’d ever get a penny out of them. Which sadly turned out to be the case.

I guess his plan was that if he got Man In The Crowd made, he could pair it with Usher, and hopefully find a DVD company to put them both out on one disc.

Which I thought was a good idea. I also suggested he put some of his early short films on it as well. None of those have ever been commercially released.

Did you know his friend Oneshin Aiken made a film of Man In The Crowd?

I’ve seen it. It’s good… though I don’t think it’s what Curtis would have done. It’s more of an homage to Curtis.


The movie I made a couple years ago, Trapped Ashes (2006), was also inspired by Curtis. The first draft of the script was all set at a party at his house. Curtis was sort of this Joel Grey-Cabaret ringmaster and host for the evening, and a quartet of supernatural stories is told by various guests… and at the end, Curtis pulls out a grimoire—a book of magic—from his bookshelf, peers into the dark space where the book was and cries, “I see things! I see wonderful things!” Then he’s sucked in and disappears with that great cackling laugh he had.

Wow. Did all that make it in?

Unfortunately, no. It’s still an omnibus film, but I never quite figured out how to make that party idea work, so the framing story became a tram tour of a Hollywood studio backlot. The tour guide is played by the late Henry Gibson… as a kind of Curtis figure, but more sinister.

Is it on DVD?

Yeah, Lions Gate picked it up. I always hoped Curtis could have directed a segment, but the investors didn’t go for it. We got some great directors—Ken Russell, Monte Hellman, Joe Dante—but I like to think Curtis’s spirit sort of hovers over the whole thing.

The last time I saw him was a few months before he died. We had a long, leisurely lunch at Café Med on Sunset Boulevard. He didn’t look too good towards the end of his life: dark splotches all over his face, hair going in every direction, clothes rumpled and stained… he was like the ruins of the Roman Forum, overgrown with weeds! And there we were, surrounded by all these young, beautiful Hollywood hard bodies, but what did it matter? The conversation just roamed all over movie history, and then at one point he fell silent, and finally lamented, “I have no great love. I have no one I share my life with. My work is all I have to live for.”

Did he ever have anyone? I was always curious about his personal life, but didn’t broach the subject because he never did.

No, in all the years I knew him, he never referred to any significant other.

That must have made his last years particularly difficult. Maybe a week before he died, he told me one of his friends was going to hire a housekeeper for him, and I was so relieved to hear it. He had various boarders who helped and didn’t help him over the years, but he really should have had someone with him full time.

I think Los Angeles has really lost something with his passing. He was this wonderful, rare, gem-like part of the fabric of the city.

Looking back, all I can think is how fortunate I was that he considered me worthy of welcome into his orbit those last few years.

I feel the same way. There was such a tremendous generosity of spirit about him, and once you were a friend of his, you were a friend for life. And we can tell stories about him, and show pictures of his house, but unless you were there, and got to be in his presence…

Every time I drive past the turn-off at Argyle and Franklin now, part of me wants to turn the wheel, head on up Vine, knock on the door, and see if Curtis is home.

Curtis Harrington, photo by Dennis Hopper, circa early '60s.


This article first appeared at Eight Million Stories.com on January 22, 2010