Dec
01
2008
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In Praise of a Hollywood Scribe Past

In Memory of ERNEST LEHMAN (1915-2005)

I have a film professor who compares the viewing and studying of classic films from yesteryear as spending time with “old friends.” Just imagine, if you will, your list of favorite films, stars, directors…now imagine years passing without another thought of those treasured memories…would it not be a reunion when you discovered their existence again?

In this the first of a series, I wish to remember some Hollywood masters who you might only recognize by the titles.*

  1. Family Plot (1976) (writer)
  2. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (screenplay) 
  3. The Sound of Music (1965) (screenplay) 
  4. West Side Story (1961) (screenplay)
  5. North by Northwest (1959) (written by) 
  6. Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (novella) (screenplay)
  7. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) (writer)
  8. The King and I (1956) (screenplay) 
  9. Sabrina (1954) (screenplay)                                 *PARTIAL LISTING
In a Hollywood career that spanned decades Ernest Lehman kept typing out the words in screenplay after screenplay, eventually becoming a producer, before being hailed as an all out legend with an Honorary Oscar® awarded him at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards® in 2001.
The titles above reveal close and repeat collaborations with 4 American Cinema Auteurs (Billy Wilder, Robert Wise, Mike Nichols, and the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock) and the films are all classics. Some are adaptation of the best plays/musicals of the day  while others are nothing but original. Lehman knew how to treat people so he’d work again but he also knew how to portray them memorably on the page.  
The next time you see William Holden and Humphrey Bogart woo Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, Cary Grant triumph atop Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest, watch a young Tony Curtis work his way up society’s ladder taking in the Sweet Smell of Success, or a see young Paul Newman prize fighting like it’ll be his last (Somebody Up There Likes Me) REMEMBER ERNEST LEHMAN because there is a little bit of him in all of them. 
Before his death in 2005, I got to meet this Hollywood master of the Golden Age at a 100th Anniversary tribute to Alfred Hitchcock in 1999. He was remarkably alert for a man in his eighties and was dressed elegantly. In some respects he was Roger O. Thornhill, the character Cary Grant portrays in North by Northwest.

I had two copies of an NxN card (see photo) and he said he had never seen the design before so I ripped one in half and gave the cover to him. How many times can you give a brilliant scribe, who just keeps on giving, a token of your appreciation? Makes me proud to this day whenever I see a clip of his work…and I know he made more of an impression on me, than I on him, but sometimes it is just nice to say thank you to an “old friend.”

Written by admin in: Hollywood Yesteryear | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Nov
30
2008
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POST-MODERN AUSTRALIA

REVIEW: Australia (2008) d. Baz Luhrmann

When I think of some of my favorite contemporary filmmakers (The Coen Brothers, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, and Baz Luhrmann) one word links them all and that is the term “Post-Modern.” These auteurs are among the generation of filmmakers who grew up with total access to the archive of world cinema, still, at the time of their respective youths, less than 100 years old. Such total access has empowered them to both learn and keep at their disposal proven techniques and story telling devices which find their way back into their personal body of work, not as an out and out rip off, but rather as pastiche of elements designed in homage to the masters. “When you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em,” “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and “I learned from the best” are phrases that subconsciously reflect such “sampling” and account for the underlying feeling of “deja vu” the seasoned moviegoer feels when watching any modern auteurs body of work!

Baz Luhrmann’s AUSTRALIA starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (see photo) is perhaps one of the most easily accessible post-modern works since pretty much any Quentin Tarantino film. 

Australia provides its viewers with a window into the post-modern world of contemporary cinema. A place where intertextualities abound! (more…)

Written by admin in: Hollywood Today, Review | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Nov
27
2008
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FUTURE FORWARD MOVIE PROMOTION

I have seen the future of movie marketing and poster design…it comes in the form of a virtual movie poster for TERMINATOR:SALVATION. The cyborgs take over 22 May 2009!


Written by admin in: Hollywood Today, New Promotion, Sci-Fi | Tags: , , , , ,
Nov
22
2008
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UPTOWN Movie Theater

Dateline: Washington, D.C., May 26, 1977

The Place: Uptown Theater

That was the day it all changed. 

At the age of nine, the mere prospect of seeing any movie or any media (TV, music, concerts, plays) was enough to send my spirits soaring. Remember in 1977, there were only maybe 6 stations to watch and there were no home video stores let alone video games. But what I saw that day expanded the possibilities and made the man you’ll meet in this blog. It was my “Apollo,” my learners permit, my moment…OK! OK! so seeing STAR WARS (1977) was a lot of people’s moment. But hey I saw it in only one of roughly 50 theaters to play it on the second day of release and the most press it had had was a glowing article in TIME magazine (May 30, 1977 edition). My cousin Jim, God Bless him, took me and my cousin Eric. We complained about the line around the block. Yes, a line around the block…hard to believe. I fear we’ll never see anything like that again. We sat in the balcony first row. I’ll never forget how COOL it felt when the star destroyer came on screen!      

On Monday, when I got back to school no one knew what I was raving about (no box-office reports in 1977), but they politely listened again and again. Note this was akin to what would be today my “virtual BLOG” or “social networking experience.” Probably sounded something like this: “it is the greatest movie I’ve ever seen! You have to see it! Take me back!” 

Seriously because of STAR WARS and George Lucas how many people have went on to work in Media for almost 20 years? How many people have degrees in film? How many people have met there heroes? And how many still embrace their inner child as a result?  ANSWER: A lot I imagine…but the only one I really know is myself.  

UPTOWN Theater, Washington, D.C.

UPTOWN Theater, Washington, D.C.

In this BLOG I hope to convey my continued enthusiasm for all the media that thrilled me then, thrills me now and will thrill me in the future. I love FILM and TV and anything that goes along with it, like this wonderful historic landmark. Let’s all go UPTOWN to share and explore what makes us film fans.

I hope you’ll enjoy! 

Hey what film made you a movie lover?

Written by admin in: Hollywood Yesteryear, Origin, Sci-Fi | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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