Ask 411 Movies for 7.16.07: We’re going to party like this is column 199!
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 07.16.2007
The Sand Pebbles, Mask, more depressing movie endings, Tutenstein, The Wonder Years and Robert Loggia hawks orange juice
Next week is our 200th column. I'm as surprised as you are. We will have a contest next week to give away an entire prize pack in celebration. Basically, it's a bunch of junk I have lying around I don't want.
I went to Columbus over the weekend for the Budweiser Wing Zing. The concert lineup was highlighted by Dickey Betts and Lou Gramm. Long time readers might remember me buying a guitar with the signatures of the current lineup of Foreigner. I attempted to get Gramm to sign it, but no dice. There was also a Bruce Springsteen tribute band called Bruce in the USA who were scarily dead on.
Character actor Charles Lane died of natural causes on July 9th. He was 102. Lane was honored by the Emmy Awards and TV Land Awards in 2005. January 30th of 2005 was declared Charles Lane Day by the Screen Actors Guild. Lane was good friends of Lucille Ball and Frank Capra, appearing in many of their projects. Lane appared in well over 300 movies and television shows in his long career including It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life, 42nd Street, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, Call Northside 777, Mighty Joe Young and recurring rules on "The Lucy Show, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, Soap" and "Dennis the Menace."
From YouTube this week we have my all time favorite television commercial in Robert Loggia hawking Minute Maid orange juice.
NETFLIX MOVIE OF THE WEEK: THE SAND PEBBLES
This was asked about last week and I finally got it from Netflix. Set in 1926 China, naval engineer Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) is assigned to the gunship San Pablo, nicknamed the Sand Pebble. Holman befriends shipmate Frenchy (Richard Attenborough), but is immediately disliked by Captain Collins (Richard Crenna). The ship has an odd setup where Chinese workers, known as cooleys, pretty much run the ship. Holman rejects them in his engine room. After the engine room cooley boss is killed in an accident Holman must train a replacement. He chooses the eager young Po-han (Mako). Po-han runs afoul of Ski (Simon Oakland) and must box him to keep his place on the ship. This starts the breakdown of the cooley system. It's complete when a political uprising causes the locals to rebel against the US military presence. Po-han is killed. The locals demand to be given Holman after he is accused of killing Frenchy's wife (Emanuelle Arsan) after Frenchy dies of hypothermia from escaping the ship and swimming freezing waters to get to her. The San Pablo fights back and attempts to rescue American missionaries (Larry Gates and Candice Bergen) in a nearby province. Being made in 1966 there are obvious parallels and statements concerning the Vietnam War but they get lost in translation, especially to a modern audience. The film doesn't feel long at three hours as much time is spent in building the characters and tension. The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but didn't win any. This included the only acting nomination ever for McQueen. Attenborough did win the Golden Globe for best supporting actor. It's richly deserved as Attenborough not only brings fire to his role, but emotional complexity that helps to separate him from the other servicemen while aligning with Holman. Crenna also gives a great performance in the second half of the film when his character's back is to the wall. He represents American imperialism and military egotism, but at the same time duty, respect and morality. It's a fine line for him to walk and he does in creating a three dimensional characterization.
Q: If you mentioned it and I missed it, I'm going to feel stupid .. but man when someone asked you some of the most depressing movie endings, you forgot Midnight Cowboy, man! One of my favorite films of all time. That's gotta rank right up there, my friend.
-Tony
A: Thanks for the addition and you all be sure to check out Tony Farinella's articles here on 411. He's one of the top 20 writers we have here in the Movies Zone. Do we even have twenty writers?
At the end of the Academy Award winning film, Jon Voigt's Joe beats and robs a trick in order to have money to get him and Dustin Hoffman's Ratso to Miami. Ratso's health is failing in the cold New York weather. Ratso dies on the bus shortly before they reach their destination and Joe is left alone and without direction again.
Q: I would nominate "Mystic River", "Godfather II", "Looking for Mr. Goodbar", and "Mask" as other movies with depressing endings.
On the subject of "Mask", it was on Tuner Classic Movies a while back in a shocker, and I watched it. It was late, and I thought I was hallucinating, but all the Bob Seger songs had been replaced by Bruce Springsteen songs. Well, that and two deleted scenes that were deservedly deleted. One being a stab at a "Rocky and Cher" type skit. My question is how rare is it for a filmmaker to change the soundtrack like that at a later date? Sometimes it's done to save royalty checks, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. For the record, I prefer "Roll Me Away" as the final song over "Promised Land".
Thanks,
-Geoff in TX
A: Thank you for those other suggestions of movies with depressing endings. It is actually uncommon for a director to go back and change songs in a movie. This is usually done because the rights to a song have lapsed for television and DVD use. Sometimes a song is unavailable due to certain issues or the studio takes away the soundtrack decisions from the director that he could gain back at a later date.
The situation with Mask is a bit inverted form what you think. The Bruce Springsteen songs were actually the original soundtrack. They were taken out shortly before the film's release due to the film's studio and Springsteen's record company not being able to come to terms on royalty payments. Springsteen was the favorite artist of the real Rocky Dennis, played by Eric Stoltz in the movie. Director Peter Bogdanovich felt the music as he structured it in the film marked the passage of time well and fit the individual scenes. In 2004 when Bogdanovich was asked to do a director's cut for DVD release he and Springsteen worked to have the original soundtrack restored. So who gets screwed here? Bob Seger. What did he ever do to anybody?
"You know where you can shove this Springsteen."
Q: Hey I remember a cartoon when I was younger (probably 10-14 years ago) that dealt with ancient Egypt. The only thing I remember about it is they always said "With the power of Ra" or something like that. It's not much to go on I know but any help would be appreciated.
-Gravelle
A: About the only cartoon series I know about ancient Egypt is "Tutenstein," but it didn't come on the air until 2003 as part of Discovery Kids. The title character is a ten year old Egyptian pharaoh who died accidentally and was brought back to life by a girl named Cleo and her cat Luxor. Perhaps the readers can offer other suggestions. Just to mention it, the chief villain on "Thundercats" was named Mumm-Ra.
Q: hey Leonard --
As usual, I spent my Friday night watching a whole bunch of terrible documentaries on the Loch Ness monster, UFOs, ghost sightings and all that good stuff. There was a segment on jack the ripper and that reminded me of an old made-for-TV movie I watched many many years ago. It had Michael Caine in it, and it was actually really good. ever see it?
And here's another lost gem whose MIA status is puzzling to me: "Lisbon Story" by Wim Wenders. it's a beautifully written and shot movie by a great director, so why is it nearly impossible to find on DVD? though "Der Himmel uber Berlin" (released in the US as "Wings of Desire") is my favorite movie of his, "Lisbon Story" is a close second.
And why, for god's sake, has "the wonder years" not been released on DVD yet? It's one of the greatest TV shows ever!
Love your column!
-Deniz
A: Jack the Ripper was a 1988 British television movie that starred Michael Caine as Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline. Notable costars were Jane Seymour and Armand Assante. The producers of the film claimed that they had access to secret files that revealed the real Jack the Ripper and that their ending was the true answer to the mystery. Four different endings were filmed in order to keep everyone, including the cast, unsure of the real finale. Director David Wickes lured Caine to the rare television appearance. Caine called him one of the nicest and most efficient directors he's ever worked with. It's out on DVD for region 2.
In 1994's Lisbon Story director Frederich Monroe (Patrick Bauchau) is having a hard time completing his silent black and white film on the city of Lisbon. He calls his sound engineer friend Phillip Winter (Rudiger Volger) for help. When he gets to Lisbon, Monroe has disappeared. Winter is enchanted with the city and stays to record sound and look for Monroe. He becomes enamored with a singer named Teresa (Teresa Salgueiro). The movie was originally intended as a straight up documentary on the city, but director Wim Wenders added the fictional storyline by his own decision. It's on DVD for regions 2 and 4. The movie was never officially released in the United States I don't believe.
The problem with "The Wonder Years" is an easy one. It's not on DVD because of all of the rights issues involving the classic songs that were such an integral part of every episode. This was also a great roadblock to "WKRP in Cincinnati," which was released recently with the original songs taken out and generic music substituted in. Many fans felt this hurt the DVD release and you can read how in Chad Webb's review of the box set. The idea seems to be that it will be released in its original format or not at all. Two best of DVDs were put out in 1999.
Enjoy little Winnie Cooper, Danica McKellar all grown up.
Don't die.
"These things are good: ice cream and cake, a ride on a harley, seeing monkeys in the trees, the rain on my tongue, and the sun shining on my face. These things are a drag: dust in my hair, holes in my shoes, no money in my pocket, and the sun shining on my face."
