Category: Movies

The Last Known Survivor Stalks His Prey in the Night

On July 24, 1982, the band Survivor hit the top of the Billboard pop charts with the song “Eye of the Tiger.” The song from Rocky III (1982) continued to hold that position at the top for six weeks.

Sylvester Stallone had sought out the band after hearing their 1981 song “Poor Man’s Son.” The songwriters in the band –Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik — responded to Stallone’s request for something with a “rock beat” with the hard-hitting “Eye of the Tiger.”

“Eye of the Tiger” has some clunky lyrics, such as “They stack the odds ’till we take to the street/ For the kill with the skill to survive.” But it was a great song for the over-the-top Rocky III, and the band’s lead singer at the time, Dave Bickler, does a great job.

Rocky III is one of my favorites in the franchise. After all, it has Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, introducing the latter’s catch phrase, “I pity the fool.” But the song title captures the essential theme of the movie about a man trying to find what made him find success in the first place after becoming complacent.

Another cool thing is how the band named Survivor managed to work in the words “survive” or “survivor” so many times. The words appear at least six times in the song.

The song’s six-week run at the top of the charts was longer than the run of the other hit from the Rocky franchise. “Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky).” That song from the first Rocky (1976) was the number-one song for one week in 1977. “Eye of the Tiger” also was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

As for Survivor, they never matched the hit status of “Eye of the Tiger.” The band members changed over time, with some breakups and getting back together. And singer Jimi Jamison, who became lead singer after the success of “Eye of the Tiger,” passed away in 2014. “Eye of the Tiger” singer Bickler had joined the band again before that, but in 2016 he was fired. But, living up to the group’s name, the band Survivor is still around and continues to tour.

What is your favorite Rocky music? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “The Staircase” Is a Fascinating Real-Crime Documentary

    About a decade ago, I caught the eight-part documentary about the North Carolina murder trial of Michael Peterson.  In the show, which originally aired on British and U.S. T.V. in 2005, French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade pulls back the curtain on the American criminal justice system.

    I purchased the DVDs and made as many people watch them as I could.  Not only did I want them to enjoy the series, but I needed to know if they saw it the same way I did with respect to Peterson’s guilt or innocence.  There were a lot of disagreements.  Now you may judge it for yourself because the series, with extra episodes, is available on Netflix.

    After the original series ran, two more episodes were released in 2011, called The Staircase 2: The Last Chance.  The new Netflix release includes those and three more episodes that cover judicial proceedings in 2016.  So, now you may binge watch all thirteen episodes.

    I do not want to give too much away beyond telling you to drop everything to go watch it.  But the accusations against Peterson centered on the events of the night of December 9, 2001.  On that night, his wife Kathleen went into the house while Peterson was outside.  He later claimed that he found her at the bottom of their staircase, bloody and dead.

    Eventually, Peterson was accused and tried for killing his wife.  The case not only divides viewers, but the family becomes divided too.  The filmmakers created the series with extensive access to Peterson and his lawyers, making you feel you get to know many of the people involved.

    The case goes through several twists, turns, and surprises.  Did he kill his wife? Did she fall? Or did something else happen? I enjoyed The Staircase even more than the similarly very good crime documentary Making a Murderer (2015).  Go check out The Staircase for yourself.

    Do you think Michael Peterson was railroaded by the system? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Dracula’s Lament

    Bela LugosiOn May 26, 1897, Bram Stoker‘s novel Dracula went on sale in London bookshops.  The vampire book would eventually spawn many versions in other media as well as other stories about the Count from Transylvania.

    The novel originally only achieved moderate sales, so that Stoker’s obituary in 1912 did not even mentioned the name of the novel Dracula.  But a Broadway production in the 1920s started boosting sales of the book.  And the real breakthrough came with Universal’s 1931 film that starred Bela Lugosi and was directed by Tod Browning.

    A Taste for Love

    Many other TV and movie versions followed.  Although one of my favorite versions only appeared in part in the excellent comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008).

    In that movie, the character Peter Bretter — played by the film’s writer Jason Segal — is working on a puppet play about Dracula. Below, Mila Kunis encourages him to perform one of the play’s songs, “Dracula’s Lament.”

    We never see the whole play, entitled A Taste for Love. But at the end of the film we get a good taste of it, which only makes us wish Segal would film the whole thing in a new movie.

    The music is surprisingly wonderful, the puppets created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop are brilliant, and actor Bill Hader adds a nice touch. Check it out.

    Segel has explained that he really did work on creating the Dracula puppet musical to be its own production. But with help from director Judd Apatow, he concluded it worked better as a segment in another movie rather than as a production all its own. Too bad, but at least we got to see some of it in the very funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

    I wonder what Bram Stoker would think?

    Photo of Bela Lugosi as Dracula via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Dill from “To Kill a Mockingbird” Was (Almost) in “The Godfather, Part II”

    hyman roth

    One of the most memorable childhood characters from film (and novels) is Dill from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). In the movie version, John Megna portrayed Dill, who Lee had based upon her friend Truman Capote. Megna also almost appeared in The Godfather, Part II (1974), in a scene deleted from the movie before it was released.

    Megna was born in Queens, New York on November 9, 1952. He had several roles as a child and young man in film and television, notably appearing near the beginning of another classic film, Hush. . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), a few years after Mockingbird.

    Fans of the original Star Trek series may remember him as one of the Onlies from the “Miri” episode. Yet, his most memorable role remains his portrayal of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.

    Megna nearly appeared in another all-time great movie. Director Francis Ford Coppola filmed a scene featuring Robert DeNiro as the young Vito Corleone meeting a young man played by Megna. As the young man’s name is discussed, Corleone bestows a new name on him. The scene connects to the modern story with Micheal Corleone (Al Pacino) and his conflicts with Hyman Roth.

    Ultimately, though, Coppola cut the scene. Perhaps the backstory was so convenient it might not be believable for viewers. But either way, it was unfortunate Megna lost his scene.  [2020 Update: Unfortunately, the scene seems to no longer be available on YouTube.]

    In the cut scene, the young man names Arnold Rothstein as a man he admires. Rothstein was famous for allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series featuring the Chicago White Sox (“Black Sox”) and the Cincinnati Reds.

    As for Megna, he eventually left acting. For a while he directed plays, and then he taught high school English in California. He died on September 4, 1995 at the age of 42 from AIDs-related complications. Despite his young death, he left his mark on movie history as one of our most beloved childhood characters.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “Borg vs. McEnroe” On the Men and the Match (Short Review)

    Borg vs. McEnroe I recall watching the famous 1980 Wimbledon men’s championship game between John McEnroe and Björn Borg. In what may be the most famous tennis match of all time, the two men battled back and forth, highlighted by a tie-breaker in the fourth set that was won by a score of 18-16.  A new film, Borg vs. McEnroe (2018), attempts to capture that drama while also revealing more details about the two tennis players.

    Borg vs. McEnroe, with a screenplay by Ronnie Sandahl, provides some backstory about the two men, especially Björn Borg.  We see the Swede as a driven child with a bit of the temperament and lack of emotional control we associate with McEnroe.  But Borg works to establish a more cool and calm persona, while the movie reveals trouble burning beneath the surface.  As Borg, actor Sverrir Gudnason is the highlight of the film, presenting a realistic portrayal while bearing an uncanny resemblance to the tennis player who was attempting to win his fifth consecutive Wimbledon championship.

    As the upstart emotional challenger John McEnroe, Shia LaBeouf gives one of his best performances to date.  But partly because the film focuses more on Borg and partly because McEnroe had such a larger-than-life personality, it is more difficult to imagine anyone else as him.

    Regarding the drama of the big match, Borg vs. McEnroe does a decent job capturing the back-and-forth of the match and the anguish and joy of the competition.  Still, because tennis is a game of so many points scored and no ticking clock, filmmakers face a challenge to create a great sports movie about tennis.  There is no one key football play as time runs out, there is no game-winning home run, and there is no rally in the final minutes in the boxing ring.

    So, in the classic match, the movie version lacks the drama of watching the players in real time in a match where even today the main parties remember every point.  Still, director Janus Metz Pedersen keeps the viewer engaged in the Borg-McEnroe battle until the end, helping explain why the film has a decent 83% critics rating and 72% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

    Regarding the match and the relationship between the two men, HBO produced an excellent 2011 documentary McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice.  I recommend that film, which features extensive interviews with the two key players, for anyone interested in learning more about Borg and McEnroe and their relationship after watching Borg vs. McEnroe.

    Overall, Borg vs. McEnroe will not go down as one of the all-time great sport movies and it never quite completely captures one of sports’ all-time great rivalries.  But if you wish to re-live the famous match or do not know anything about it, you may enjoy spending 100 minutes with this well-directed and well-acted film.

    Borg vs. McEnroe is available in theaters, pay-per-view, and on Amazon Prime.

    Below is video of the actual match from 1980, although you may want to wait to watch it until after you see the movie.  Check it out.



    Do you remember the famous Borg-McEnroe match? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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