A new trailer is out for the documentary Life Itself, which recounts the life of movie critic Roger Ebert. It seems appropriate that someone who did so much for movies now will have a movie about this life. Steve James directed the film from executive producers Martin Scorsese and Steven Zaillian. The trailer looks great and as someone who grew up watching Ebert on television and reading his reviews, I am looking forward to the movie. Check out the trailer.
River Phoenix died in 1993 at the age of 23 while the movie Dark Blood was still being filmed. The movie’s director George Sluizer initially believed that the movie could not be completed without Phoenix. But eventually, Sluizer discovered some more film and decided he wanted to complete the movie, with some more work and some rewriting.
Now, the story of a young man (Phoenix) in the desert who becomes interested in the wife of a couple (Judy Davis and Jonathan Pryce) will be available for Video on Demand later this year. Below is the trailer.
Will you watch Dark Blood or skip it? Leave your two cents in the comments.
If you ever wondered how Toy Story (1995) might look if it were a horror movie, you no longer have to wonder. Bobby Burns has cut a trailer from the film as if it were a scary movie with Woody Pride (Tom Hanks) as something a little more psychotic than he was in the original film. Check it out . . . and play nice.
[2024 Update: Apparently, the trailer by Bobby Burns is no longer available, but since then a large number of people have created horror movie trailer versions of Toy Story. So you can go to YouTube and search for “Toy Story Horror” and catch a variety of them.] Leave your two cents in the comments.
On May 14, 1936, Walden Robert Cassotto, who we all know as Bobby Darin, was born in the Bronx. When one thinks of Darin, the first thing that probably comes to mind is one of his hits from the late 1950s or early 1960s, like “Splish Splash,” “Dream Lover,” “Mack the Knife” or “Beyond the Sea.” But Darin continued to record in a number of different genres, including folk and country, and he also did some acting, even earning an Academy Award nomination.
In 1963, Darin played a shell-shocked soldier in the World War II drama, Captain Newman, M.D.., which also starred Gregory Peck and featured other actors like Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, and Robert Duvall. The movie, based on a novel by Leo Rosten, followed the work of Captain Newman (Peck) at a neuro-psychiatric ward of a military hospital in Arizona.
For his portrayal of the shell-shocked Cpl. Jim Tompkins, Darin was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, at the Cannes Film Festival, he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor. He appears for a few seconds in this preview.
Although he continued to record, act, appear on TV, and become involved in politics through the 1960s and the 1970s, Darin had his final Top 10 hit in 1966 with a recording of Tim Hardin‘s “If I Were a Carpenter.”
Below Darin performs “If I Were a Carpenter” in January 1969 with Stevie Wonder when Darin hosted NBC’S Kraft Music Hall: Sounds of the Sixties special. Their performance has the feel of an impromptu jam, and it is pretty awesome.
Although Darin is only 32 in the performance with Wonder, Darin had health problems through much of his life from a weakened heart due to a childhood illness.
Darin passed away at the age of 37 on December 20, 1973, and at his request, his body was donated to science. As he did in his too-short life, Darin wanted to give everything he could even in death. What is your favorite Bobby Darin song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On May 7, 1901, Frank James Cooper was born in Helena, Montana. After some work as a salesman and promoter, he started working as an actor in 1925, changing his first name to Gary when he signed a contract with Paramount. Reportedly, a casting director suggested the new name after her tough hometown of Gary, Indiana.
Gary Cooper went on to star in many memorable films including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Meet John Doe (1941), Pride of the Yankees (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), and The Fountainhead (1949). Cooper was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and lost for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Pride of the Yankees, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Cooper’s First Best Actor Oscar
He received the Best Actor Oscar twice. First, he won the honor in 1942 for Sergeant York (1941).
Sergeant York features a terrific performance, even if some note that Hollywood may have been motivated to honor the World War I film about a pacifist becoming a soldier to encourage Americans to sign up to fight in the new war. Below is the trailer.
Cooper’s Second Oscar & The Meaning of High Noon
More than a decade later, he won the Best Actor Oscar for High Noon (1952), the last time he was nominated for Best Actor. It is hard to pick a favorite Gary Cooper movie, but I am not sure anything tops High Noon (1952).
We liked Cooper as a hero.
At the 25th Academy Awards in 1953, Cooper was filming another movie in Mexico and was ill. So, John Wayne accepted the award for him.
Below, actress Janet Gaynor announces Cooper’s win, and Wayne accepts the statue.
Interestingly despite Wayne’s joke wondering why he did not get the High Noon role, Wayne reportedly did not like the movie. There are various theories about why, but Garry Wills in John Wayne’s America explained that Wayne thought the movie ended on a note of disrespect for the law when Cooper dropped his badge in the dirt at the end.
Like Wayne, a number of people found political messages in High Noon. Some suspected High Noon had a “leftist” message. By contrast, though, others believed the script, written by Carl Foreman, who would later be blacklisted, was not sending a left-wing message but exploring the way people had cowered to the bully Sen. Joe McCarthy.
Other viewers find in High Noon a conservative message about how one man has to stand up when the justice system breaks down. Or they find an allegory about the Cold War. In Bright Lights Film Journal, Prof. Manfred Weidhorn summed up the contrasting theories about the movie, saying “High Noon, bristling with ambiguity, is a veritable Rorschach test.”
But High Noon is deep down a great movie, however you want to interpret any messages about the man (and his wife) standing up to the bad guys. And maybe the possibility of so many interpretations adds to its American character.
Many years ago when I was in college in the pre-Internet days and had some friends visiting from Sweden, I took them to a revival theater to see High Noon. I thought it was a wonderful example of an American movie, or at least of an example regarding how Americans see themselves.
Another former actor, Ronald Reagan, recognized how the movie remained in America’s consciousness decades later. He invokes the movie in this clip, discussing what it was like for a Republican to be in Democratic territory.
Cooper’s Third Oscar
Nearly a decade after High Noon, Cooper would be awarded a third and final Oscar. In April 1961, the Academy gave Cooper a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for his great career.
Cooper again could not accept the award. But this time, unknown to many, it was because of a serious illness.
When viewers saw Cooper’s friend Jimmy Stewart give an emotional speech at the Oscars, though, they realized Cooper was not well. The news soon came out that Cooper was suffering from prostate cancer. He died one month later on May 13, 1961, leaving behind a collection of great films that would be the envy of any actor.
What is your favorite Gary Cooper movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.
., which also starred Gregory Peck and featured other actors like Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, and Robert Duvall. The movie, based on a novel by 
explained that Wayne thought the movie ended on a note of disrespect for the law when Cooper dropped his badge in the dirt at the end.