#Don Henry Ford Jr.

[bkenber]

Bernardo Ruiz and Oscar Hagelsieb Talk About 'Kingdom of Shadows'

WRITER’S NOTE: This interview took place back in 2015. The U.S.-Mexico drug war is one many of us watch from a distance, but the documentary “Kingdom of Shadows” forces you to look at the war more closely than usual as it puts a human face on the damage left in its path. Director Bernardo Ruiz observes the ongoing conflict through the perspectives of three individuals: activist nun Sister…

[dasmuggler]

Here ya go:

WHEN THE WEST WAS FUN

A Western Reunion

Original air date 1979

Directed by Walter C. Miller

Written by Fred Putman

Set in a western saloon, Glenn Ford hosted a gathering of western television and film series stars including cast members from The Lone Ranger, The High Chaparral, The Virginian, Lawman and many others. This special event program brought ABC-TV its highest ratings of 1979. If you grew up on westerns like we did, (and despite the campy dialogue) it was fun to reminisce about those cherished childhood heroes with the stars who played them.

Front Row: Dewey Martin, Johnny Crawford, Chuck Connors, Glenn Ford, Alan Hale Jr., Henry Darrow, Larry Storch, Neville Brand.

2nd Row: Denver Pyle, Iron Eyes Cody, Harry Lauter, Jeanette Nolan, Linda Cristal, John Ireland, Mark Slade, Joe Bowman, Fred Putnam. 3rd Row: Pat Buttram, Milburn Stone, Dan Haggerty, Guy Madison, Rex Allen, John Bromfield, Keenan Wynn, Jackie Coogan, George Montgomery. 4th Row: X Brands, Bill Williams, Michael Ansara, Slim Pickens, Dick Jones, Don Diamond, Ken Curtis, John Russell, Peter Brown, James Drury. Back Row: Rod Cameron, Jock Mahoney, Jack Kelly, Tony Young, John McIntire, Ty Hardin, Darby Hinton, Lee Van Cleef, Will Hutchins, Terry Wilson, Clayton Moore, Doug McClure.

[alexlacquemanne]

Juillet MMXXIII

Films

Indiana Jones et le Cadran de la destinée (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) (2023) de James Mangold avec Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, John Rhys-Davies, Thomas Kretschmann et Boyd Holbrook

Un mariage de rêve (Easy Virtue) (2008) de Stephan Elliott avec Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson et Kris Marshall

Douze Heures d'horloge (1959) de Géza von Radványi avec Lino Ventura, Laurent Terzieff, Hannes Messemer, Eva Bartok, Lucien Raimbourg, Suzy Prim, Gert Fröbe et Guy Tréjan

Dies iræ (2003) d'Alexandre Astier avec Tony Saba, Thomas Cousseau, Lionnel Astier, Alexis Hénon, Nicolas Gabion, Franck Pitiot, Jean-Christophe Hembert, Alexandre Astier, Jean-Robert Lombard et Jacques Chambon

La Vérité sur Bébé Donge (1952) d'Henri Decoin avec Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux, Gabrielle Dorziat, Claude Génia, Marcel André, Jacques Castelot et Daniel Lecourtois

Sorcerer (1977) de William Friedkin avec Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Amidou, Ramon Bieri, Peter Capell, Karl John et Friedrich von Ledebur

La moutarde me monte au nez (1974) de Claude Zidi avec Pierre Richard, Jane Birkin, Claude Piéplu, Jean Martin, Danielle Minazzoli, Vittorio Caprioli, Julien Guiomar et Henri Guybet

Mission impossible : Dead Reckoning, partie 1 (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One) (2023) de Christopher McQuarrie avec Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell et Pom Klementieff

Demain ne meurt jamais (Tomorrow Never Dies) (1997) de Roger Spottiswoode avec Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Ricky Jay, Götz Otto et Joe Don Baker

Plus dure sera la chute (The Harder They Fall) (1956) de Mark Robson avec Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Nehemiah Persoff, Mike Lane, Jan Sterling et Max Baer

La Guerre des polices (1979) de Robin Davis avec Claude Brasseur, Claude Rich, Marlène Jobert, Georges Staquet, Jean-François Stévenin, Étienne Chicot, David Jalil, Gérard Desarthe, Jean Rougerie et Jean-Pierre Kalfon

Oppenheimer (2023) de Christopher Nolan avec Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek et Kenneth Branagh

L'Odyssée de Pi (Life of Pi) (2012) d'Ang Lee avec Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon, Tabu, Adil Hussain, Ayan Khan, Vibish Sivakumar et Rafe Spall

L'Histoire d'Adèle H. (1975) de François Truffaut avec Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott, Joseph Blatchley, Ivry Gitlis et Ruben Dorey

Meurs un autre jour (Die Another Day) (2002) de Lee Tamahori avec Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike et Rick Yune

La Tulipe noire (1964) de Christian-Jaque avec Alain Delon, Virna Lisi, Dawn Addams, Akim Tamiroff, Adolfo Marsillach, Robert Manuel et Francis Blanche

Séries

Friends Saison 10

Celui qui n'arrivait pas à se confier - Celui qui allait très bien - Celui qui avait décidé de bronzer - Celui qui transformait le gâteau d'anniversaire - Celui qui écrivait une lettre de recommandation - Celui qui a failli avoir la subvention - Celui qui bluffait l'assistante sociale - Celui qui ratait Thanksgiving - Ceux qui rencontraient la mère biologique - Celui qui se faisait coincer - Celui qui trahissait le pacte - Celui qui jouait le rôle du père - Celui qui baragouinait - Celui qui n'aimait pas la maison - Celui qui faisait tout pour retenir Rachel - Celui qui n'aimait pas les adieux - Ceux qui s'en allaient

Inspecteur Barnaby Saison 10

Danse avec la mort - L'Oncle d'Amérique - La Chasse au trésor - Le Blues de l'assassin - Le Flash de la mort - Le Télescope de la mort

Coffre à Catch

#122 : Finlay prend la trique et Ichtou jette l'éponge ! - #123 : Finlay à domicile pour le titre ECW ! - #124 : Les Survivor Series : Des bangers en veux-tu en voilà! - #125 : Beliaroth INFILTRE l'Univers d'Agius! - #126 : MVP et Matt Hardy: de partenaires à adversaires !

Kaamelott Livre I

Le Duel - L'Invasion viking - La Bataille rangée - La Romance de Perceval - Les Funérailles d'Ulfin - Le Chevalier femme - La Carte - Le Repas de famille - Le Répurgateur - Le Labyrinthe - Heat - Les Tartes aux myrtilles - La Table de Breccan - Le Chevalier mystère - Le Fléau de Dieu - Le Garde du corps - Des nouvelles du monde - Codes et Stratégies - Le Maître d’armes - Le Négociateur - Dîner dansant - Le Sixième Sens - Arthur et la Question - Monogame - Les Défis de Merlin - Le Banquet des chefs - Le Signe - En forme de Graal - Le Repos du guerrier - La Dent de requin - La Taxe militaire - La Queue du scorpion - La Potion de fécondité - L’Interprète - Le Sacrifice - À la volette - De retour de Judée - La Botte secrète - L’Assassin de Kaamelott - Le Trois de cœur - Basidiomycètes - L’Imposteur - Compagnons de chambrée - La Grotte de Padraig - Ambidextrie - Raison d’argent - La Romance de Lancelot - Merlin et les Loups - Le Cas Yvain - L’Adoubement - Arthur et les Ténèbres - Le Zoomorphe - La Coccinelle de Madenn - Patience dans la plaine - Le Oud - Le Code de chevalerie - Létal - Azénor - Le Sort de rage - Les Nouveaux Frères - Enluminures - Haunted - Le Secret de Lancelot - Le Serpent géant - Guenièvre et les Oiseaux - Le Dernier Empereur - Perceval relance de quinze - Le Coup d’épée - La Jupe de Calogrenant - Le Prodige du fakir - Un bruit dans la nuit - Feu l’âne de Guethenoc - Goustan le Cruel - Le Chaudron rutilant - La Visite d’Ygerne - Les Clandestins - La Kleptomane - Le Pain - La Mort le Roy Artu - Le Problème du chou - Un roi à la taverne - Les Fesses de Guenièvre - Le Billet doux - Guenièvre et l’Orage - Eunuques et Chauds Lapins - Choc frontal - Le Forage - Le Discobole - L’Expurgation de Merlin - Les Volontaires - Polymorphie - Décibels nocturnes - La Fête de l’hiver - Gladiator - La Blessure mortelle - Le Dragon des tunnels - Retour de campagne - L’Escorte - Tel un chevalier - La Pâte d’amande - La Fureur du dragon - Vox populi - Unagi - L’Éclaireur - Lacrimosa - La Quête des deux renards - Agnus Dei - Le Tourment - La Retraite - La Vraie Nature du Graal

Affaires Sensibles

Le Tour de France fantôme - Tom Simpson : une funeste passion - Lance Armstrong, le héros déchu - 21 juillet 1969 : objectif Lune

Castle Saison 2

Une rose pour l’éternité - Le Contrat - Le Troisième Homme - Le Batteur battu - Journal d'une dominatrice - Messages par balles - La Mort de Nikki - La Malédiction de la momie

Orgueil et Préjugés

Episode 1 - Episode 2 - Episode 3 - Episode 4 - Episode 5 - Episode 6

Raison et Sentiments

Episode 1 - Episode 2 - Episode 3

Spectacles

John Fogerty : Premonition (1997)

Eddy Mitchell au Casino de Paris (1990)

Livres

Pourquoi vous faisez ça ? de Pablo Mira

Gaston , Tome 2 de André Franquin et Jidékeur

Le péplum, un mauvais genre de Claude Aziza

Hero Corp, Tome 2 : Chroniques de Simon Astier, Louis et Stéphane Créty

[byneddiedingo]

Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, 2016) Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Daniel Brühl, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, Martin Freeman, Marisa Tomei, John Kani, John Slattery, Hope Davis, Alfre Woodard. Screenplay: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely. Cinematography: Trent Opaloch. Production design: Owen Paterson. Film editing: Jeffrey Ford, Matthew Schmidt. Music: Henry Jackman. The Marvel Cinematic Universe teems with superpeople out to solve the world's problems and as a consequence sometimes screwing things up even more. The Marvel world has even recognized the screwups caused by the plethora of mutants, aliens, and wealthy scientists both good and bad, to the point that after the damage caused in Sokovia -- as seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon, 2015) -- the United Nations has put together the Sokovia Accords, designed to regulate the activities of superheroes. Unfortunately, this doesn't sit well with Captain America (Chris Evans), who is a bit of a Libertarian, especially when enforcing the accords threatens his old friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), aka the Winter Soldier -- see Captain America: The Winter Solder (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, 2014). So Cap's attempt to defend Barnes puts him at odds with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), aka Iron Man, who thinks the Avengers need to display good faith with the accords. And so it goes, with various superheroes taking sides and doing battle for the cause they choose. The problem with Captain America: Civil War is essentially that of Avengers: Age of Ultron: Unless you're a Marvel Comics geek, you need a playbill in hand to figure out who's who and what their superpower is. Or you can, like me, just sit back and enjoy the ride. The Russo brothers have a skillful hand at keeping all of the mayhem going, and the screenplay by Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely provides enough quieter moments between the CGI-enhanced action sequences to stave off a headache. But the movie really does feel overpopulated at times: In addition to the combatants mentioned, there are also Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, Anthony Mackie's Falcon, Don Cheadle's War Machine, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, and a few newcomers like Paul Rudd's Ant-Man and Tom Holland as the latest incarnation of Spider-Man. There's some good quippy fun among the various members of the cast when they're not showing off their superpowers.

[papermoonloveslucy]

TOO MANY GIRLS

October 8, 1940

Too Many Girls was an RKO film musical based on the stage musical of the same title. It was produced and directed by George Abbott, who had also directed the Broadway production. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and the book was by George Marion, Jr. although the screenplay was adapted by John Twist. 

Too Many Girls opened on Broadway on October 18, 1939, at the Imperial Theatre, running to April 21, 1940, and transferred to the Broadway Theatre on April 22, 1940, closing on May 18, 1940. The cast featured Desi Arnaz, Diosa Costello, Marcy Westcott, Eddie Bracken, Richard Kollmar, Van Johnson, and Hal Le Roy. Musical Staging was by Robert Alton, scenery by Jo Mielziner, and costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois.

The musical takes place in Skowhegan, Maine and Pottawatomie College in Stop Gap, New Mexico.

Synopsis ~ Connie Casey, an energetic celebrity heiress, wants to go to Pottawatomie College in Stop Gap, New Mexico, her father's alma mater, to be near her latest beau, British playwright Beverly Waverly. To protect her, and without her knowledge, her tycoon father sends four Ivy League football players as her bodyguards, Clint Kelly, Jojo Jordan, Manuelito and Al Terwilliger, who sign a contract with an ‘anti-romance’ clause. They also join the college's terrible football team, which immediately becomes one of the best in the country. Clint falls in love with Connie, but when she discovers he is her bodyguard, she decides to go back East. The bodyguards follow her, leaving the team in the lurch. The people of Stop Gap go after them, and they are brought back just in time for the big game. Connie declares her love for Clint, and he leads the team to victory.

PRINCIPAL CAST

Lucille Ball (Consuela ‘Connie’ Casey) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. “My Favorite Husband” eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Desi Arnaz (Manuelito Lynch) was born in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917. After leaving Cuba, he formed his own Latin band, and literally launched the conga craze in America.  It was on the set of Too Many Girls (1940) that he and Lucille Ball met. They soon married and approximately 10 years later formed Desilu Productions and began the “I Love Lucy” shows in 1951. Desi and Lucille had two children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. At the end of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1960, the two divorced. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died on December 2, 1986 at age 69.

Manuelito: “I'm not conceited. I am the greatest player in fifty years, but I'm not conceited.”

Richard Carlson (Clint Kelly) makes his first and last appearance with Lucy and Desi, although his wife, Mona, was featured as one of Don Loper’s models on “The Fashion Show” (ILL S4;E20) in 1955. 

Ann Miller (Pepe) had appeared with Lucille Ball in three films: Stage Door (1937), Having Wonderful Time (1938), and Room Service (1938). In 1954, she appeared with the Arnazes on “MGM’s 30th Anniversary Tribute”. 

Eddie Bracken (Jojo Jordan) makes his only screen appearance with Lucy and Desi, although he was part of the Broadway cast of Too Many Girls and was friends with the Arnazes off screen as seen in the above photo with Ann Miller and Lucy. 

JOJO: “Well, I'm not exactly wonderful, but I'm awfully attractive in a dynamic sort of way.”

Frances Langford (Eileen Eilers) makes her only appearance with Lucy and Desi. She worked extensively with Bob Hope on his USO tours. 

Hal LeRoy (Al Terwilliger) makes his only screen appearance with Lucy and Desi, although he was part of the Broadway cast of Too Many Girls. 

Libby Bennett (Tallulah Lou) makes her only screen appearance in Too Many Girls. She had also been seen in the Broadway stage production. 

Harry Shannon (Mr. Harvey Casey) appeared with Lucille Ball in 1942′s The Big Street. On “I Love Lucy” he played Jim White the photographer in “Men Are Messy” (ILL S1;E8) in 1951 (above center). Musical fans will remember Shannon as Rosalind Russell’s father in the 1962 musical film Gypsy.

Mrs. Teweksbury says Mr. Casey is one of the richest individuals in the country. He reportedly has $7.50 more than Henry Ford. He is Connie’s father and Chairman of Casey Conglomerated Industries.

Douglas Walton (Beverly Waverly) was a Canadian-born actor making his only appearance with Lucy and Desi. He played poet Percy Shelley in the film The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He left film acting in 1950, before the advent of television. 

Beverley Waverly is a British playwright.  

Chester Clute (Lister) did four films with Lucille Ball before Too Many Girls and four after it. 

Lister is an alumni of Pottawatomie College, like his boss Mr. Casey.

Ivy Scott (Mrs. Tewksbury) was also in the stage production of Too Many Girls and only did one more film in Hollywood, Higher and Higher in 1943.

Mrs. Tewksbury is the proprietor of The Hunted Stag (or, as Mr. Lister calls it, The Stunted Hag), an Inn where the boys are waiters. 

Byron Shores (Sheriff Andaluz) makes his only screen appearance with Lucy and Desi. He was also seen in the stage production of Too Many Girls. His last film was in 1944. 

UNCREDITED FILM CAST

Iron Eyes Cody (Indian) made a career of playing Native American characters despite the fact that he was of Italian ancestry. He next worked with Lucy and in 1942’s Valley of the Sun, again as an American Indian character. He played an Eskimo in a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” but is probably best remembered as the Indian that sheds a single tear in the ‘Keep America Beautiful’ ads that ran from 1971 to the 1980s.

Jay Silverheels (Indian) also played a Native American character in Valley of the Sun (1942) with Lucille Ball. He was best known for playing Tonto on “The Lone Ranger”.

Chief John Big Tree (Chief)  

Harry James (Orchestra Leader) also played himself in Lucille Ball’s Best Foot Forward in 1943. With his wife, Betty Grable, he was seen in “Lucy Wins a Racehorse” (LDCH S1;E4) in 1958. 

Van Johnson (Chorus Boy) was also seen with Lucy in the films Easy to Wed (1946) and Yours, Mine and Ours in 1968. He played himself on one of the most popular episodes of “I Love Lucy,” “The Dancing Star” (ILL S4;E27) and played both himself and a look-alike on “Here’s Lucy” in 1968. He was also a member of the Broadway cast of Too Many Girls. 

Johnson has only two lines of dialogue in the film but is often visible in group scenes.

Shep Houghton (Chorus Boy) made two other films with Lucille Ball and was seen in the background of two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and one episode of “Here’s Lucy.”  Houghton was one of the Winkie Guards in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz and a Southern Dandy in Gone With the Wind (1939). 

John Benton (Chorus Boy)

Mildred Law (Coed) appeared on “I Love Lucy” in “Return Home From Europe” (ILL S5;E26) playing a TWA flight attendant who attends to Lucy’s cheesy baby, Chester. This was her penultimate screen credit. 

Pamela Blake (Coed) also appeared uncredited with Lucille Ball in Stage Door (1937).

Amarilla Morris (Coed) was seen with Desi Arnaz in the 1942 film Four Jacks and a Jill as the girl in the revolving door. 

Other Coeds: Janet Lavis, Ellen Johnson, Vera Fern, Peggy Drake, Zita Baca, Anna Mae Tessle

Homer Dickenson (Mr. Casey's Butler) immediately followed this film with A Girl, A Guy, And A Gob (1941) also starring Lucille Ball.

Grady Sutton (Football Coach) from 1935 to 1945, Sutton did five films with Lucille Ball.

Dorothy Vernon (Faculty Extra) also did The Bowery (1933) and Valley of the Sun (1942) with Lucille Ball. 

Dan White (Faculty Extra) had a small role in the 1970 TV special “Swing Out Sweet Land” in which Lucille Ball voiced the Statue of Liberty. 

Others: Sethma Williams (Marie), Tommy Graham (Hawker), Averell Harris (Detective), Michael Alvarez (Joe)

WHEN LUCY MET DIZZY

Lucille Ball met Desi Arnaz for the first time at the RKO studio commissary, while Too Many Girls was in rehearsals. She was in full costume and make-up after performing a fight scene for another film, Dance, Girl, Dance (1940, above): she wore a slinky gold dress slit halfway up the thigh and sported a black eye. Arnaz was seated at the same table as director George Abbott, who introduced the two. Arnaz was not impressed by Ball, thinking she “looked like a two-dollar whore who had been badly beaten by her pimp." After the encounter, he asked Abbott to fire Ball from Too Many Girls, claiming she was “too tough and common for the role."  He also advised that her reputation as Queen of the B movies might negatively impact his much-anticipated film debut, advice Abbott thankfully ignored. 

“A Cuban skyrocket burst over my horizon!” ~ Lucy about Desi

“Those damned big beautiful blue eyes!” ~ Desi about Lucy 

That night, Arnaz was rehearsing “She Could Shake the Maracas" when Ball walked in, now wearing a yellow sweater and tight-fitting beige slacks. Not recognizing her, Arnaz turned to the piano player and whispered “Man, that is a honk of woman!"  The pianist reminded Arnaz of his earlier meeting with Ball. Lucille approached them to say hello. "Miss Ball?" Arnaz said, just to make sure that there was no mistake. "Why don't you call me Lucille? And I'll call you Dizzy." 

Lucy and Desi have very little interaction in the film, but when he sees Connie for the first time, he gets weak in the knees and falls to the ground, in awe of her beauty. Despite this, Manuelito’s romance is with Pepe, not Connie. History re-wrote that chapter!

TOO MANY SONGS!

Heroes in the Fall - Male Chorus

You're Nearer - Connie, Pepe, Eileen, and Tallulah Lou

Pottawatomie - Mr. Casey and Chorus

'Cause We Got Cake - Eileen and Chorus

Spic 'n' Spanish - Manuelito and Pepe

Love Never Went to College - Eileen

Look Out! - Eileen and Pepe

I Didn't Know What Time It Was - Connie, Clint, and Jojo

You're Nearer - Connie, Manuelito, Eileen, Pepe, and Tallulah Lou

Conga

Songs cut from the Broadway show: 

Tempt Me Not - Manuelito, Clint, and Chorus

My Prince - Connie

I Like To Recognize the Tune - Jojo, Connie, Eileen, Clint, and Al

The Sweethearts of the Team - Eileen

She Could Shake The Maracas - Pepe and Manuelito

Too Many Girls - Manuelito

Give It Back To The Indians - Eileen 

TOO MANY TRIVIA!

RKO paid $100,000 for the rights to the Broadway musical. 

Filming on Too Many Girls began on June 22, 1940.

Camerman Russell Metty briefly took over shooting for Frank Redman when Redman had to attend a funeral.

Uncredited performers Van Johnson and Harry James would go on to be two of the film’s biggest stars, except for Lucy and Desi, eclipsing many of the film’s principal cast like Hal LeRoy, Douglas Walton, and Libby Bennett. 

Lucille Ball’s vocals were dubbed by Trudy Erwin, one of Kay Kyser’s singers. 

Everyone imported from Broadway (except Hal LeRoy) was making their screen debut with Too Many Girls. 

After making the film, Van Johnson and Mildred Law returned to the Broadway production. Instead of chorus roles, Johnson assumed the role of Jojo (originated by Bracken) and Law now played Tallulah Lou, originated by Leila Ernest. 

On Broadway the character of Connie was originated by Marcy Wescott in her final Broadway stage role. 

TOO MANY REFERENCES!

Each of Connie’s bodyguards plays football for an Ivy League college: Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. Manuelito is still deciding on a college, but is considering Princeton, where Clint goes. There is talk about a contentious game that includes Princeton. In Lucille Ball’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” (1948), George Cugat (later Cooper) hopes his future son will play for Princeton, his alum. Coincidentally, Lucille Ball did two plays at Princeton University’s resident theatre company, McCarter: Hey Diddle Diddle (1937) and Dream Girl (1947).

One of the characters mentions movie star Ginger Rogers, one of the top female box office stars of the time. She was also a good friend of Lucille Ball having done five films together. Rogers’ mother Lela tajght acting classes at RKO, later inspiring Ball to create the Desilu Playhouse at Desilu Studios. Rogers played herself on a 1971 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” 

Mr. Casey compares his daughter Connie with Lucretia Borgia (1480-1519) was the illegitimate daughter of a pope and his mistress,  a famous beauty, notorious for the suspicious deaths and political intrigue that swirled around her. Today her name has become synonymous with a beautiful, but scheming woman who would stop at nothing - including murder - to get what she wants.  In 1949, Lucille Ball’s friend played Lucretia Borgia for Paramount in Bride of Vengeance.

Although Pottawatomie College and the town of Stop Gap are fictional, Pottawatomie is the name of a Native American tribe, although they were mostly found in the Great Lakes region, not in New Mexico. The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred from May 23 to May 26, 1856, resulting in the death of five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. This was one of the many violent episodes in Kansas preceding the American Civil War.

 TOO MANY CRITICS!

Too Many Girls premiered on October 8, 1940 at Loew's Criterion Theatre in New York. Critical reviews were generally positive, although Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that Too Many Girls was “a pleasant, light-hearted and wholly ingenuous campus film" but that director George Abbott "has permitted it to sag in the middle, at which point the thin spots baldly show. If the intention was to be impressive, it has failed. For 'Too Many Girls' is a simple, conventional rah-rah picture, without any place for pretense. And there is not enough to it, on the whole, for Mr. Abbott to squander dancers recklessly."

TOO FAST FORWARD

This film's earliest documented television presentations began in Los Angeles Tuesday May 8, 1956 on KHJ (Channel 9), much to the chagrin of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz who were embarrassed by it, and objected to its frequent showings to no avail.

In 1977, the music of Too Many Girls was rereleased on vinyl with performers Nancy Andrews, Johnny Desmond, Estelle Parsons, and Anthony Perkins! 

The film is referenced in “Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter” a 1991 TV movie about starring Frances Fisher (above) and Maurice Bernard, as well as “Lucy” (2003), another TV film in which Lucy (Rachel York) and Desi (Danny Pino) meet on the set; Desi in his football uniform and Lucy bruised from the filming of Dance, Girl, Dance.

Clips from the film are featured in Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993).

[sciencespies]

How Denim Became a Political Symbol of the 1960s

https://sciencespies.com/history/how-denim-became-a-political-symbol-of-the-1960s/

How Denim Became a Political Symbol of the 1960s

In the spring of 1965, demonstrators in Camden, Alabama, took to the streets in a series of marches to demand voting rights. Among the demonstrators were “seven or eight out-of-state ministers,” United Press International reported, adding that they wore the “blue denim ‘uniform’ of the civil rights movement over their clerical collars.”

Though most people today don’t associate blue denim with the struggle for black freedom, it played a significant role in the movement. For one thing, the historian Tanisha C. Ford has observed, “The realities of activism,” which could include hours of canvassing in rural areas, made it impractical to organize in one’s “Sunday best.” But denim was also symbolic. Whether in trouser form, overalls or skirts, it not only recalled the work clothes worn by African Americans during slavery and as sharecroppers, but also suggested solidarity with contemporary blue-collar workers and even equality between the sexes, since men and women alike could wear it.

To see how civil rights activists adopted denim, consider the photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy marching to protest segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Notably, they are wearing jeans. In America and beyond, people would embrace jeans to make defiant statements of their own.

The Rev. Drs. Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama, en route to a protest on April 12, 1963.

(Charles Moore / Getty Images)

Scholars trace denim’s roots to 16th-century Nîmes, in the South of France, and Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Many historians suspect that the word “denim” derives from serge de Nîmes, referring to the tough fabric French mills were producing, and that “jeans” comes from the French word for Genoa (Gênes). In the United States, slaveowners in the 19th century clothed enslaved fieldworkers in these hardy fabrics; in the West, miners and other laborers started wearing jeans after a Nevada tailor named Jacob Davis created pants using duck cloth—a denimlike canvas material—purchased from the San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss. Davis produced some 200 pairs over the next 18 months—some in duck cloth, some in denim—and in 1873, the government granted a patent to Davis and Levi Strauss & Co. for the copper-riveted pants, which they sold in both blue denim and brown duck cloth. By the 1890s, Levi Strauss & Co. had established its most enduring style of pants: Levi’s 501 jeans.

Real-life cowboys wore denim, as did actors who played them, and after World War II denim leapt out of the sagebrush and into the big city, as immortalized in the 1953 film The Wild One. Marlon Brando plays Johnny Strabler, the leader of a troublemaking motorcycle gang, and wears blue jeans along with a black leather jacket and black leather boots. “Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?” someone asks. His reply: “Whaddaya got?”

In the 1960s, denim came to symbolize a different kind of rebelliousness. Black activists donned jeans and overalls to show that racial caste and black poverty were problems worth addressing. “It took Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington to make [jeans] popular,” writes the art historian Caroline A. Jones. “It was here that civil rights activists were photographed wearing the poor sharecropper’s blue denim overalls to dramatize how little had been accomplished since Reconstruction.” White civil rights advocates followed. As the fashion writer Zoey Washington observes: “Youth activists, specifically members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, used denim as an equalizer between the sexes and an identifier between social classes.”

But denim has never belonged to just one political persuasion. When the country music star Merle Haggard criticized hippies in his conservative anthem “Okie From Muskogee,” you bet he was often wearing denim. President Ronald Reagan was frequently photographed in denim during visits to his California ranch—the very picture of rugged individualism.

And blue jeans would have to rank high on the list of U.S. cultural exports. In November 1978, Levi Strauss & Co. began selling the first large-scale shipments of jeans behind the Iron Curtain, where the previously hard-to-obtain trousers were markers of status and liberation; East Berliners eagerly lined up to snag them. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, when Levis and other American jean brands became widely available in the USSR, many Soviets were gleeful. “A man hasn’t very much happy minutes in his life, but every happy moment remains in his memory for a long time,” a Moscow teacher named Larisa Popik wrote to Levi Strauss & Co. in 1991. “The buying of Levi’s 501 jeans is one of such moments in my life. I’m 24, but while wearing your jeans I feel myself like a 15-year-old schoolgirl.”

Back in the States, jeans kept pushing the limits. In the early 1990s, TLC, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, barged into the boys’ club of hip-hop and R&B wearing oversized jeans. These “three little cute girls dressed like boys,” in the words of Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, one of the group’s members, inspired women across the country to mimic the group’s style.

Curiously, jeans have continued to make waves in Eastern Europe. In the run-up to the 2006 presidential elections in Belarus, activists marched to protest what they characterized as a sham vote in support of an autocratic government. After police seized the opposition’s flags at a pre-election rally, one protester tied a denim shirt to a stick, creating a makeshift flag and giving rise to the movement’s eventual name: the “Jeans Revolution.”

The youth organization Zubr urged followers: “Come out in the streets of your cities and towns in jeans! Let’s show that we are many!” The movement didn’t topple the government, but it illustrated that this everyday garment can still be revolutionary.

Why the dye that would put the blue in jeans was banned when it reached the West —Ted Scheinman

Fabrics soaked with indigo dye in Dali, Yunnan Province, China. “No color has been prized so highly or for so long,” Catherine E. McKinley writes.

(Alamy)

It might seem odd to outlaw a pigment, but that’s what European monarchs did in a strangely zealous campaign against indigo. The ancient blue dye, extracted in an elaborate process from the leaves of the bushy legume Indigofera tinctoria, was first shipped to Europe from India and Java in the 16th century.

To many Europeans, using the dye seemed unpleasant. “The fermenting process yielded a putrid stench not unlike that of a decaying body,” James Sullivan notes in his book Jeans. Unlike other dyes, indigo turns cloth vivid blue only after the dyed fabric has been in contact with air for several minutes, a mysterious delay that some found unsettling.

Plus, indigo represented a threat to European textile merchants who had heavily invested in woad, a homegrown source of blue dye. They played on anxieties about the import in a “deliberate smear campaign,” Jenny Balfour-Paul writes in her history of indigo. Weavers were told it would damage their cloth. A Dutch superstition held that any man who touched the plant would become impotent.

Governments got the message. Germany banned “the devil’s dye” (Teufelsfarbe) for more than 100 years beginning in 1577, while England banned it from 1581 to 1660. In France in 1598, King Henry IV favored woad producers by banning the import of indigo, and in 1609 decreed that anyone using the dye would be executed.

Still, the dye’s resistance to running and fading couldn’t be denied, and by the 18th century it was all the rage in Europe. It would be overtaken by synthetic indigo, developed by the German chemist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer—a discovery so far-reaching it was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1905.

#History

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Top Men

I’ve never seen all of Raiders of the Lost Arc in it’s entirety. This thing came out when i was a kid and was the opposite of what i was about back then. My thing was giant monsters, space robots, and neon cyberpunk. Indiana Jones spent the majority of his time in a f*cking desert. That sh*t seemed boring to me. As i grew older and my tastes expanded, i found myself kind of into a lot of the things portrayed in that initial film. Archaeology, lost history, biblical mythology; I find that sh*t fascinating. Ancient lien theory actually intrigue me a great deal, mostly it’s utter dismissal on both sides of the argument, so when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out, i was all for it. Once it hit DVD. I did not see that sh*t in theaters. To my surprise, i rather enjoyed it. Apparently, however, that is not what an Indiana Jones film was supposed to be. As i perused Netflix, i noticed that Raiders was available for streaming. I figured, what the hell? It’s been probably thirty years since i last watched this thing. Let me see if i agree with the general consensus that this movie is, indeed, a proper classic of cinema.

The Great

The best thing about this movie, i think, is definitely the score. Holy sh*t, man, the music in this film definitely makes the picture. John Williams is a goddamn genius, man. Dude rarely creates something that isn’t all sorts of classic.

After that absolutely epic score, the next best thing about this film is easily Harrison Ford. If you made a movie about Han Solo but placed it on earth, during the thirties, and turned him into an archaeologist instead of a scoundrel, you’d have Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, jr. Ford gives such a charming, electric, charismatic performance as Jones, it’s no wonder the character became a staple of the American cinematic lexicon.

The Better

 Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood makes this film for me. She is the standout, only outshined by Ford’s Indiana, himself. She’s outstanding as Indy’s foil and absolutely necessary to sell the character. She’s caught a lot, sure, but it’s almost always by numerous men who probably outweigh her by a few pounds and, even then, she never just surrenders. You rarely hear her scream and she almost always lands her own solid licks in a proper fight. Lucas sure knows how to write dope female leads when he tries. When he doesn’t, we get Willie Scott. I’ll get to THAT broad when i review Temple of Doom. I got A LOT to say about that chick, man.

The action in this thing is brazen, dangerous, and appreciated. They don;t make movies like this anymore. Everything in here is practice, Every stung, fight, explosion, and set piece was done with physical, real life, stuff. You don't see this level of film making anymore because of all the CG effect proliferation which was, in part, championed by both Lucas and Spielberg. That sh*t is kind of hilarious to me. One of the greatest action films ever made, rife with practical effects, is directly responsible for the mitigation of the very thing that makes this movie so special.

Speaking of the direction, Spielberg is in fine form with this one. 80s Spielberg is hard to touch. He sh*tted classics during this decade, solidifying his place as one of the greats to ever do it. ET, Poltergeist (even though people say it’s Toby Hooper was the one who helmed it, Spielberg definitely ghost directed this thing), The Goonies as Second Unit Director, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, and Temple of Doom, all came out under his watch. Dude was prolific as f*ck.

The writing on this flick is decent. George Lucas understands how to craft a story. He has a formula and he follows that sh*t religiously but it works. He wrote Star Wars. He wrote Indiana Jones. He wrote American Graffiti. Dude knows his stuff and it really shows in Raiders. The characters feel real and actually pretty charming. I found myself rooting for Marion almost immediately, masterclass in character introduction.

The Good

I like the narrative crafted for this tale, the actual story. There are a lot of great ideas put forth, creative use of biblical imagery and christian mythology. I love that sh*t. It’s why i adore Dan Brown’s stuff so much. Say what you will about The DaVinci Code, i love that mess and it really is kind of a mess. This story is not. It get right to the point, focusing n the characters and their relationships rather than the actual Christ Judaeo-Christian imagery. In the 80s, that was absolutely necessary but i think it makes for a stronger, cleaner, narrative overall.

I rather enjoy this cast. Everyone is quite god in their respective roles, overall. I had no idea Alfred Molina was in this so that was a nice surprise. It’s always fun seeing people i know later in life, in the young, vibrant, beginnings of their careers. John Rhys-Davies was also fun to see. I know him from Sliders but seeing him in this was a real treat.

This movie is absolutely gorgeous. It’s definitely nature porn, even if most of it is sand and brown. The shot composition if this thing is spectacular. I was kind of impressed with how vivid this world looks even though there is so little of it shown. There is a ton of it show, yes, but most of it is in the desert or some sh*t. You can only see the same kinds of rocks so many times before you hate seeing those rocks. Raiders does a great job of shooting those rocks in interesting, dynamic ways, so the setting never overstays it’s welcome.

But them melting Nazis, tho.

The Bad

So, there really isn’t a whole lot of bad in this. Admittedly, Raiders is a near perfect film. I can concede that. But i still wasn’t really entertained by it. I still was gripped with what i saw. I don’t understand the allure of this franchise on a personal level. Objectively, sure, it’s fantastic. But, for me, this sh*t is boring.

Raiders feels like one, long ass, chase scene with spots of exposition before another, long ass, chase scene. The dialogue is charming, the chemistry between the leads is palpable, and the action is some of the best on film, but blergh. I was never captivated nor did i care about anyone in this film.

The Verdict

I don’t like this movie. Absolutely disconnected from it. I find it plodding, pretentious, and a little boring. I do understand why everyone who holds this film so dear, absolutely hates Crystal Skull. There is a distinct shift in tone between the two and it’s actually quite jarring. This is coming from someone who doesn’t even really like the franchise at all. It’s kind of surreal how alien that Indiana feels to this Indiana. That said, as a proper film critique, Raiders is f*cking phenomenal. Objectively, this is a near perfect example of a film in this genre. There is inspired direction, great performances, gorgeous scene composition, rich cinematography, and characters that have stood the test of time to become stalwarts of US culture. I mean, i knew exactly who Marion Ravenwood was when she was introduced in Crystal Skull and i had only seen Raiders once when i was, like, five or six. That tells you exactly how beloved this movie is within the cultural zeitgeist. Raiders f the Lost Ark is an absolutely great film. It is to the action genre as Alien is to sci-fi horror, and y’all know how high in regard i hold Alien. That’s not praise i heap flippantly. All four of these flicks are on Netflix so might check them all out eventually. Maybe. That said, personally, i do not like this movie at all. Still doesn’t do enough to shake my giant monster, space robot, neon cyberpunk sensibilities.

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Kevin Wozniak on Kevflix: Top 5 – Movies Coming Out in November

Usually when making this list, a list I have been doing monthly for three years, I have a relatively easy time picking which movies should make the cut.  Sometimes I’m forced to snub one or two, but usually the five are pretty easy to pick.  This month was the opposite of that.  There are over fifteen films coming out in November that I am excited for, which is kind of insane.  We got horror movies, animated movies, gangster movies, thrillers, comedies, all sorts of movies from all genres from some of the best directors working in the game today working with some of the greatest actors and actresses ever.  It’s a very exciting month and the five movies on this list are titles you should all have on your radar this month.  Here are my picks for the most exciting movies coming out in November.

        *BONUS* – THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese, November 1)

Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is a Netflix movie that will be available on the streaming service starting November 27th.  However, the film is also getting a small theatrical run in certain theaters before the Netflix drop.  This is a movie that you should see in theaters.  While I love that fact that Netflix gave Scorsese complete freedom to make a three-and-a-half-hour long gangster epic with $150 million-plus budget, a cast of cinematic legends, and top of the line de-aging technology, Martin Scorsese films are films that must be seen on the big screen and The Irishman is no different.  It’s a sprawling epic about life, time, and loyalty and a new gangster classic from Scorsese.  This is the best movie I have seen in 2019.

  And now, the official top five.

        5 – FROZEN II (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, November 22)

The first Frozen was an absolute juggernaut, becoming the most successful animated film at the world wide box office ($1.27 billion, respectively), winning an Oscar, two Grammy’s, and introducing a new kind of princess to a new generation of young girls.  I am excited to see what they do next.  I am excited to the improvement in the animation, where the story will go, and if they can possibly make a song to top the iconic “Let It Go”.  Frozen II has the potential to be the best animated movie of 2019.

    4 – A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (Marielle Heller, November 22)

The pitch on why A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood should be on your radar is simple: Tom Hanks stars as Mr. Rogers.  That’s it.  That’s the pitch and that is why everyone is going to see this movie.  But other than Hanks, who is simply perfect for the part of seemingly one of the nicest, sweetest, purest human beings to ever live on planet Earth, I’m excited to see the work of director Marielle Heller.  Heller, who made her debut in 2015’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl, really made a splash with last year’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which earned three Oscar nominations and put Heller’s name on the map.  I’m excited to see her work with Hanks and see what kind of magic the two conjure up together.

    3 – DARK WATERS (Todd Haynes, November 22)

A lot of Oscar players have already premiered at one film festival or another.  However, there are still a few films that could come through and shake up the already foggy Oscar race.  Todd Haynes Dark Waters is one of those films.  In what looks like a mix of Spotlight and A Civil Action, Dark Waters looks at corporate defense attorney (the always great Mark Ruffalo) who takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.  Haynes is one of the best directors working today, always making movies that are smart, emotional, visually stunning, and riveting.  I’m excited to see what Haynes does in the political thriller genre and to see how he works with Ruffalo and the rest of the cast.

    2 –  FORD V FERRARI (James Mangold, November 15)

These next two films on the list I have already seen and both are in my ten best movies of the year.  Ford v Ferrari is a true American sports movie.  A red, white, and blue underdog story that is funny, exciting, and full of moments that will make you want to stand up and cheer.  Matt Damon and Christian Bale star in this true story about the Ford Motor Company’s efforts to defeat Ferrari at 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.  Both Damon and Bale are in top form, as in Tracy Letts, who plays Henry Ford Jr. and could make an Oscar play at the end of the year.  This is movie I could watch a million times and one I am excited to see again.

    1 – KNIVES OUT (Rian Johnson, November 27)

I might be able to watch Ford v Ferrari a million times, but I could watch Knives Out two million times.  Rian Johnson’s follow-up to his brilliant, yet divisive entry in the Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi, is the most fun I’ve had at the movies in 2019.  A smart, funny, thrilling whodunit featuring an outstanding writing, the best ensemble of the year, and an ending you won’t soon forget.  Knives Out is a true blast and Johnson is the ringleader behind the mastery.  From a director who’s made other brilliant films like Brick, Looper, and The Last Jedi, this might be his crowning achievement.

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[dustinreidmusic]

Mac's Wild Years: By Michael Hurtt.  Originally published in Offbeat Magazine

Mac Rebennack was born in 1941. Dr. John was born in 1967. What happened in between would color his whole musical career. "In New Orleans, everything--food, music, religion, even the way people talk and act--has deep, deep roots; and, like the tangled veins of cypress roots that meander this way and that in the swamp, everything in New Orleans is interrelated, wrapped around itself in ways that aren't always obvious."--Mac Rebennack In 1967, Malcolm Rebennack, Jr., exiled to the West Coast after a final drug bust that forbid him "to go to or through New Orleans," donned face paint, glitter and plumes and emerged as Dr. John the Night Tripper. His debut album Gris-Gris, and the stage shows that followed it, hawked a brand of psychedelic New Orleans R&B that mixed Mardi Gras Indian street chants with the primal gospel of holiness churches, the pianistic funk of Professor Longhair, heavy doses of hoodoo mysticism and nearly every shred of ritualistic South Louisiana culture that he'd absorbed during his decade and a half in the New Orleans music scene. From the drag shows at the Dew Drop Inn to the electric guitar evangelizing of the Reverend Utah Smith, it was a netherworld far stranger and more colorful than anything the pioneer of voodoo rock could have dreamed up. His role in it, though often been eclipsed by his later metamorphosis, established a reputation that would inform every aspect of his later musical life. Populated by high school greasers, high-rolling gangsters, down-and-out dope fiends and jive-talking record men, it was a world that had rapidly begun evaporating with the election of District Attorney Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison in 1961. Prior to his widely known investigation into the Kennedy assassination, Garrison made his name locally by leading a systematic crack down on Crescent City vice that padlocked night clubs, juke joints and gambling dens. He often led the raids himself, pistol in hand, and by 1963 had managed to single-handedly dismantle the around-the-clock-party that had been Rebennack's entire young life. It had been one of after-hours jam sessions that lasted well into the next day, followed by "record dates" that produced aural snapshots that just reeked with crazed rock 'n' roll atmosphere: Jerry Byrne's frantic "Lights Out" and "Carry On," Roland Stone's narcotic anthem "Junco Partner," and Mac's own sinister, tremelo-charged "Storm Warning." "If we didn't have an artist and we had some studio time we'd just be the artist," Rebennack says of the sessions that produced hundreds of singles under monikers from Ronnie and the Delinquents to Drits and Dravy. The former's 1959 "Bad Neighborhood" was a greasy period piece if there ever was one. Meant to commemorate "the end of the zoot suit era," its gleeful lines of "Lie, steal, drink all day / good folks try to keep away," was an outright celebration of the lifestyle that Garrison sought to eliminate. And the Delinquents moniker was really no joke. "When we hired Ronnie Barron to be the singer with us, he was a li'l thug," says Rebennack, who'd had remarkably bad luck with great front men thus far. "We lost more singers to the penitentiary," he says, naming nearly everyone who preceded Barron with the exception of Frankie Ford. "Deadeye went to the joint for manslaughter, Jerry Byrne fell and went up for statutory rape, then Roland Stone went up on narcotics." Local disc jockey Jim Stewart once recalled that Rebennack's teenage bands "were always high, always late." But somehow through the haze, Mac would manage to simultaneously wear the hats of talent scout, A&R man, composer, producer, arranger, session musician, and when the need arose, singer. It might have stayed that way had Barron not refused to take on the Dr. John persona, which was invented with him in mind. Rebennack had started flirting with drugs when he was 12, already well seasoned in the art of skipping school and Mass to catch the street car to the early morning R&B jams at the Brass Rail. Since his father owned an appliance store that serviced jukeboxes, his childhood was spent wearing out stacks of hillbilly, jazz and blues 78s when they came off the boxes. Schooled on "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by his piano-playing aunt, he soon took up the guitar. By the time rock 'n' roll hit during his freshman year at Jesuit High School, he was more than ready. At Jesuit, Rebennack formed his first band the Dominos, with Henry Guerineau, then joined Guerineau's the Spades with whom he played "the Holy Father Circuit," as he refers it, starring at CYO dances from Redemptorist in the Irish Channel to Saint Anthony's in Mid-City. His teachers were current and future Fats Domino guitarists Papoose Nelson and Roy Montrell, who took an axe to young Mac's brand new green and black Harmony guitar. "He broke it all up, called my Pa and said, 'Mr. Rebennack, I ain't teachin' your son on that piece of shit. Go pick him out something nice.' I thought I was going to get killed. My Pa was hip, though. He knew it wasn't about the guitar as much as having that guitar to bring on the gig." Montrell took Mac to a pawnshop where he picked out a Gibson that he worked off lugging appliances for his dad. "My father didn't say a word til later," Rebennack wrote in his autobiography Under a Hoodoo Moon. "Apparently Roy had taken him aside and told him, 'I taught your son a lesson, that you don't get things because of the way they look. You get them on how they work." "He had a way of teaching that kept me coming back for more. During the lesson, he strung me along with ordinary riffs--but then right at the end he'd play some killer lick, his back turned so I couldn't see his fingers, and say, 'Hey, wanna learn that shit, kid? Come back next week. Now get the fuck outta here." Having already met studio owner Cosimo Matassa, who was a friend of his father, Rebennack spent his schooldays honing his songwriting skills. "Man, I used to go to school, I had a couple of comic books where the outside cover looked like a loose leaf binder. And I'd sit there in class reading that. They thought I was doing something in school but I'd be sitting there writing songs, ripping them off from Mad or Tales from the Crypt." He'd also begun hanging out at Warren Easton High School on Canal Street, a hotbed of hip musical activity that had already birthed New Orleans first bona-fide white rock 'n' roll band, the Sparks. It was here that he first encountered saxophonist Leonard James, whose band was blasting out a set of Sam Butera songs in the school gymnasium. It turned out that James knew all about the Brass Rail too, and dug the same hard-driving sounds as Rebennack did. They were soon rehearsing at James' house in the notorious St. Roch park neighborhood with guitarist Earl Stanley--now playing the recently introduced electric bass--and drummer Paul Staehle. "Leonard lived on Robertson not too far from the park and Stanley used to live around there on Dauphine," Rebennack says. "One of the things St. Roch Park was known for was as a good cop spot. St. Roch church was famous, too, because they'd take the grease out the bells by the cemetery, mix it with some graveyard dirt and some gun powder, add extra nitrate and put that all together with Patchouli oil to make goofy dust. Now, what you did with it was according to how rank a motherfucker you were." The mysterious worlds of drugs and hoodoo fascinated young Mac, but in his new musical partners he found an even deeper magic. "Paul Staehle was bad. I remember him having drum battles with Edward Blackwell and all the top drummers. And Stanley had a finger-plucking style of guitar like Snooks did, North Mexican shit that he'd learned from his daddy. He was into Earl King and Guitar Slim just like I was. We liked those cats because they did something different." Rebennack had picked up on the flamboyance of his guitar heroes a little too acutely for the priests at Jesuit, who'd brought his high school career to a halt after a Christmas talent show where they accused him of making "lewd gyrations" with his instrument. The real beef, Henry Guerineau later told Tad Jones, was that they were playing R&B instead of big band swing or Dixieland. "At the time," he recalled, "it was heresy." Stanley, who became the Spades' guitarist after Rebennack left the band, was having his own issues over at Nicholls High. "I used to hang with the gangsters, all the tough guys," Stanley says. "I was so bad they threw me out of Nicholls but they couldn't throw me out of school. So they asked me to leave and I went to McDonough on Esplanade for a couple of months, then I quit when I was 15. That was in '55. "I didn't know Mac when he was in the Spades. I just remember seeing him playing guitar at the dances. I thought, 'That guy's pretty good.' Then I got with Leonard and through Leonard I met Mac. They had a guy playing piano with them, Hal Farrar, he went by the stage names 'King Helo Attaro' and 'Spider Boy.' Now Hal was a character, he was the character of them all; the main lunatic. He liked to drink vodka, he could care less about anything, just a wild man. He used to have this Cugat jacket he'd wear and he'd play piano and try to do all of Little Richard's stuff. He even had the little moustache. In fact, he recorded the original demo of 'I've Been Hoodood' (later to become the flip side of the Dr. John hit "Right Place, Wrong Time") with Leonard." Vocalists Wayne "Deadeye" Herring and Jerry Byrne were also drifting into the group at this point. "We used to do the old low-down blues," Herring told Jones. "There weren't too many white bands that could do it. Back then if you sat in with a black band, boy, they'd jump on your ass when you come outside. People took a dim view of that but we did it anyway." While band names revolved from the Skyliners to the Loafers to the Night Trains to the Thunderbirds, the foundation remained James, Rebennack, Stanley and Staehle. "Crippled" Eddie Hynes and Eddie Shroeder often floated in on trombone and baritone sax respectively. "Whether it was Leonard's band or my band, it was all pretty much the same crew of guys," says Rebennack, "Nothing really changed other than we changed the name of the band quite frequently. It kinda helped us get some gigs and win some talent shows. We lost them under one name and won them under another." The core foursome debuted on wax with an album of raunchy guitar and sax instrumentals, Boppin' and A Strollin' with Leonard James, recorded for Decca in 1956. Rough, ready and loose, the LP was the perfect soundtrack of noir New Orleans; at once evocative of French Quarter strip joints, high school dances and hood hangouts like the Rockery Inn. Along with discs like the Saxons' "Camel Walk' and the Sparks' "Merry Mary Lou," it stands as a testament to city's incredibly potent--but often obscured--white rock 'n' roll underground. "Leonard always took pride in combing his ducktail perfect," recalls Rebennack. "I mean, he would stand in front the mirror for an hour and then put his be-bop cap on--perfect. He had his little zoot suit pressed, more than the rest of us. We'd just wear them. They were the kind that didn't wrinkle any way. "Leonard was a great hustler. He used to walk in joints where they never had a band in their life. I remember us getting a gig in the Ninth Ward at a grocery store. Leonard conned this guy into hiring us but he wanted country music. We didn't know any country music so we'd play 'Comin' Around the Mountain' or whatever. As long as we were working, we didn't care nothing about none of the rest of it." From dives like the Club Leoma, the Blue Cat and the Jet Lounge, they moved up to the Clock on St. Charles Avenue and finally, the Brass Rail. "While we were working there Paul Gayten says, 'If y'all want to keep the gig, you're going to have to quit playing songs like the record.' And that became kind of a theme with our band. We didn't play them like the records, we played them our way." Gayten also took issue with their slightly out-of-date stage wear. "We had the same suits for so long that I don't think anybody ever considered getting new uniforms until Paul started fuckin' with us: 'Nobody wears zoot suits in Chicago; they wear continental suits.' Man, here we had all our money invested in these royal blue zoot suits. And what do we do? We got some new suits from Harry Hyman's or old man Sutton's on South Rampart--continental suits--and we wore them in Gretna when they had a gang fight at Cass's Lounge. They throwed us all in the drainage ditch out behind the joint. We ruined our new suits and we hadn't even paid for them yet! "When we worked at any of them joints on the West Bank, shit happened. At Spec's Moulin Rouge, old man Spec used to have guys walking around with pieces dressed like police but they wasn't official police, they was just guys who worked for old man Spec. Gang fights was, like, prevalent. When the Choctaw Boys and the Cherokees would have their annual beef at the Wego Inn on the Hill, it would be around Carnival. And it would be like, 'Goddamn.' You know the shit's going to happen; it's just when it's going happen. I would be trying to play close to the slot machines that were on the bandstand because I figured the slots could deal with the slugs better than me. When I saw anything that looked like it could be trouble, I'd back up toward the slots. But this is the kind of shit you had to endure back in them days because you were dealing with a bunch of crazy motherfuckers. And we were crazy, too." If there was one song that distilled the insanity into the length of a 45 RPM record, it was Rebennack's "Lights Out," cut by Jerry Byrne for Specialty in 1958. Punctuated by stop-time drum breaks, a foghorn-like saxophone riff and a searing piano solo courtesy of Art Neville, "Lights Out" has justifiably been called "the perfect rock 'n' roll song." Byrne's breakneck vocal nods to a personality so bent on bringing the house down that fights--and sometimes worse--often ensued. "Jerry was one of them suckers who worked the house," says Rebennack, "but he was a piece of work. He drove me crazy a number of times in my life. He was special with that. Hey, guys wanted to shoot me over things Jerry did. He had the ability to kick up more shit with more motherfuckers than anybody I know." In 1959, Byrne cut Mac's equally boisterous "Carry On" and then got sent to prison on a trumped-up statutory rape charge. Deadeye was already behind bars. "It was a never-ending thing," says Stanley, "just make a record and things happen, you know?" Despite the trouble, says Rebennack, "our band was really popular." They'd toured with Frankie Ford behind "Sea Cruise" and Byrne behind "Lights Out" as well as backing the traveling rock 'n' roll caravans at both the Municipal Auditorium and Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park. And the records kept coming, from Bobby Lonero's "Little Bit" to Morgus and the Ghouls' "Morgus the Magnificent." "I don't think any of us thought that much about doing a record date," reflects Rebennack. "The gigs were the fun part. When I started working for Joe Ruffino's record company, Joe asked my daddy if I could be the president of the company and my daddy says, 'What are you crazy? This boy can't even find his fuckin' shoes!' But there were so many guys we did sessions for like Andy Blanco at Drew-blan in Morgan City and a bunch of other guys that had different little labels in the country. We played on all of Cos's Rex stuff and then we did a lot of crazy stuff all through the days we were working for Johnny Vincent over at Ace. I remember we stole 'Jimmy Crack Corn' and called it 'Ain't No Use.' We cut 'Row Your Boat' with Big Boy Myles. And I don't know how many different versions of 'Junco Partner' we cut with Roland Stone. We were some plagiarizing motherfuckers." Stone, the most prolific of Rebennack's vocalists on record, had already blazed the white R&B trail with local luminaries the Jokers when he waxed the regional smash "Just a Moment" with Rebennack in 1961. His entrance roughly coincided with the departure of Leonard James, who was replaced by Charlie Maduell after he joined the Air Force. "Charlie was just as crazy as Leonard was, but Leonard never got high. On the other hand, Charlie fit right in with the rest of us because he liked the narcotics, too. Probably the only one that wasn't a really serious drug addict was Stanley. If we were somewhere in the country, we would burglarize drug stores. When we were in the city, we forged 'scripts. We were strung out dope fiends, what the hell you going to do? There was a pharmacy on the corner of Dorgenois and Canal that used to sell to all the dope fiends. You had to go in there and ask for certain things, that's when I started getting my collection of Mad comic books together. If I got a comic book and a bag of pork rinds, that meant I wanted some opiates. Everything you ordered meant something else. We used to have so much fun that who'd have ever thought we'd wind up in jail? "My favorite gig was when Roland was singing with us and we started working at Little Club Forest on Jefferson Highway. At Club Forest, you could tell what audience hit because when all the junkies would come in, they'd just want to hear 'Junco Partner' over and over. When the whores came in they'd want to hear whatever their song was that night. So there were all these songs that fit the set. That gig was so fuckin' off the hook, so much crazy shit happened at that gig alone, I couldn't even describe it. "Between Charlie Maduell and Paul Staehle, they would always hide the stash for the band. One night they had a raid and Paul had the whole band's stash in his sock. They didn't shake us down, but the FBI came in and they emptied the joint. Somebody paid everyone's bond and before the night was over, Wes, the Jefferson Parish narc, was selling the customers back their dope in the band room! This is how out there it was. "And then Charlie went out and walked the bar and did the dance of the Seven Veils. He's out and there doing a striptease walking the bar. It's one of them gigs that's printed in my brain. And we always had what we used to call our 'band-aids' back then. Before they called them groupies, we called them band-Aids." When Stone fell for one of the young ladies a little too hard, friction arose. "I told Roland, 'Hey, listen, you can't marry this girl. She's our girl. She belongs to the band.' I thought I was doing him a favor but it backfired. He was obviously pissed." Stone showed up for his next recording session with three henchmen in tow including prizefighter Pepi Flores. "They stomped my ass. Charlie went out and got a gun and was firing in the air. I says, 'Charlie, quit shooting in the air! Shoot these motherfuckers!' He didn't even have real guns. They were replica weapons he'd loaded up! But we all went to work the next night together. Me and Charlie wound up having to wear shades and makeup to hide the black eyes. That's when I learned, hey, when it comes to matters of somebody's heart, stay the fuck out of it." The good times had to come to an end and they eventually did. Stone was busted on a narcotics charge, as was Maduell, who remains in Angola today. Within just a few years, Paul Staehle would die of a drug over dose. Rebennack's own luck ran out on Christmas Eve of 1961 when he intervened in a scuffle between Ronnie Barron and a jealous club owner who accused Barron of having an affair with his wife. "I walked in to get Ronnie at the last minute because Ronnie was like Leonard James, he'd take forever to get himself all perfect. So I go to get him and the guy's pistol-whipping him. Miss Mildred, Ronnie's mama, said if anything happened to her son on the road she was going to take a butcher knife and chop my cajones off. So I'm thinking, 'Man, if anything happens to this guy, his mama's going to fuck me up.' And hey, she was much more frightening to me than this guy was. I thought I had my hand over the handle of the gun, but it was over the barrel. I'm beating his hand on the bricks and as I'm hitting it, all of a sudden the gun went off and my finger's just about to fall off of my hand. It was hanging by a piece of skin and then I went crazy. I took Paul Staehle's ride cymbal out the case and just fucked up the guy's face. I was trying to pull his eyeballs out his head." Doctors managed to reattach the finger, but Rebennack had trouble playing guitar with the intensity he'd become known for. He concentrated on the keyboard, playing organ on virtually all of Huey Meaux's New Orleans sessions, most notably those of Barbara Lynn and Jimmy Donley. The first--and perhaps wildest--chapter of his musical career officially came to a close when he was busted and sent to federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. Upon his release in 1965 he headed to California and his future as the Night Tripper. "You know what the kicks of it was?" Rebennack asks. "We wanted to play music so bad that we didn't ever think about it. We were trying to make a hustle just off of the gigs and that was part of the fun of it. Everything we done, we had fun doing it. That was the one thing that I always treasured about them days. It was just something that happened. When you're young and crazy and stupid, you do a lot of crazy, stupid shit. But a lot of that shit is great because you're too stupid to know better. I know that we made it a point to always have kicks, to always have good times no matter what was going to go down. We never thought, 'Oh, this is a suck-ass gig we're going on.' We went on all kinds of suck-ass gigs! But while we were doing them, we had a ball."

[djbcadventures]

19th Annual Bryan Awards - Acting Nominees

Writing and Directing, plus Technical Prizes can be found on @thebryanandsilvergarbage Page.

Lead Actress in a Drama Series: GAME OF THRONES (HBO) - Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen HOUSE OF CARDS (Netflix) - Robin Wright as President Claire Underwood KILLING EVE (BBC America) - Jodie Comer as Villanelle KILLING EVE (BBC America) - Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri OZARK (Netflix) - Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde THIS IS US (NBC) - Mandy Moore as Rebecca Pearson

Lead Actor in a Drama Series: BETTER CALL SAUL - Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill (AMC) GAME OF THRONES - Kit Harington as Jon Snow (HBO) OZARK - Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde (Netflix) POSE - Billy Porter as Pray Tell (F/X) THIS IS US - Sterling K. Brown as Randall Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Milo Ventimiglia as Jack Pearson (NBC) Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: THE AFFAIR - Maura Tierney as Helen Solloway (Showtime) BETTER CALL SAUL - Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler (AMC) GAME OF THRONES - Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth (HBO) GAME OF THRONES - Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister (HBO) THIS IS US - Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Chrissy Metz as Kate Pearson (NBC) Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: BETTER CALL SAUL - Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut (AMC) GAME OF THRONES - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jamie Lannister (HBO) GAME OF THRONES - Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Bobby Cannavale as Colin Belfast (Amazon Prime) HOUSE OF CARDS - Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper (Netflix)  SUCCESSION - Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy (HBO) THIS IS US - Justin Hartley as Kevin Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Chris Sullivan as Toby Damon (NBC) Younger Actress in a Drama Series or Limited Series: THE ACT - Joey King as Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Hulu) THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA - Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina Spellman (Netflix) GAME OF THRONES - Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark (HBO) GAME OF THRONES - Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (HBO) OZARK - Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore (Netflix) SHARP OBJECTS - Eliza Scanlan as Amma Crellin (HBO) Younger Actor in a Drama Series or Limited Series: THE CHI - Alex Hibbert as Kevin Williams (Showtime) THE CHI - Jacob Latimore as Emmett Washington (Showtime) GOTHAM - David Mazouz as Young Bruce Wayne (Fox) WHEN THEY SEE US - Asante Black as Young Kevin Richardson (Netflix) WHEN THEY SEE US - Caleel Harris as Young Anton McCray (Netflix) WHEN THEY SEE US - Jharrell Jerome as Korey Wise (Netflix)

Guest Actress in a Drama Series: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE - Connie Britton as Vivien Harmon (F/X) AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE - Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon (F/X) GAME OF THRONES - Carice Van Houten as Melisandre (HBO) THE HANDMAID’S TALE - Cherry Jones as Holly (Hulu) HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER - Cicely Tyson as Ophelia Harkness (ABC) THIS IS US - Phylicia Rashad  as Carol Clarke (NBC) Guest Actor in a Drama Series: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE - Dylan McDermott as Ben Harmon (F/X) BETTER CALL SAUL - Michael McKean as Chuck McGill (AMC) THE HANDMAID’S TALE - Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence (Hulu) HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER - Glynn Turman as Nate Lahey Sr. (ABC) POSE - Christopher Meloni as Dick Ford (F/X) THIS IS US - Michael Angarano as Nick Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Ron Cephas Jones as William (NBC)

Performance by a Cast in a Drama Series: Better Call Saul (AMC) Game of Thrones (HBO) Ozark (Netflix) Pose (F/X) Succession (HBO) This is Us (NBC) Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: BLACK-ISH - Tracee Ellis Ross as Dr. Rainbow Johnson (ABC) THE GOOD PLACE - Kristen Bell as Veronica Van Der Hooven (NBC) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam Maisel (Amazon) MOM - Allison Janney as Bonnie Plunkett (CBS) RUSSIAN DOLL - Natasha Lyonne as Nadia (Amazon) VEEP - Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer (HBO) Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: BARRY - Bill Hader as Barry (HBO) THE BIG BANG THEORY - Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper (CBS) BLACK-ISH - Anthony Anderson as Dre Johnson (ABC) BLACK MONDAY - Don Cheadle as Mo Monroe (Showtime) THE GOOD PLACE - Ted Danson as Michael (NBC) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky (Netflix) Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: FLEABAG - Olivia Colman as Godmother (Amazon Prime) GLOW - Betty Gilpin as Debbie Eagan (Netflix) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Marin Hinkle as Rose Weissman (Amazon Prime) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Alex Borstein as Susie (Amazon Prime) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Kate McKinnon as Various Characters (NBC) VEEP - Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer (HBO) Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: BARRY - Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches (HBO) BARRY - Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau (HBO) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Tony Shalhoub as Abe Weissman (Amazon) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Kenan Thompson as Various Characters (NBC) UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT - Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon (Netflix) VEEP - Tony Hale as Gary Walsh (HBO) VEEP - Nathan Simons as Jonah Ryan (HBO) Younger Actress in a Comedy Series: ATYPICAL - Jenna Boyd as Paige Hardaway (Netflix) ATYPICAL - Bridgette Lundy-Paine as Casey Gardner (Netflix) BLACK-ISH - Marsai Martin as Diane Johnson (ABC) CASUAL - Tara Lynne Barr as Laura Meyers (Hulu) MODERN FAMILY - Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Tucker-Pritchett (ABC) MODERN FAMILY - Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy (ABC) Younger Actor in a Comedy Series: ATYPICAL - Keir Gilchrist as Sam Gardner (Netflix) BLACK-ISH - Marcus Scribner as Andre Johnson Jr. (ABC) MODERN FAMILY - Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado (ABC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Pete Davidson as Various Characters (NBC) SHAMELESS - Cameron Monaghan as Ian Gallagher (Showtime) YOUNG SHELDON - Iain Armitage as Sheldon Cooper (CBS) Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: THE BIG BANG THEORY - Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter (CBS) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Ann-Margret as Diane (Netflix) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Jane Lynch as Sophie Lennon (Amazon Prime) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Rachel Brosnahan as Host/Various Characters (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Sandra Oh as Host/Various Characters (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Emma Thompson as Host/Various Characters (NBC)

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: BROOKLYN NINE-NINE - Lin-Manuel Miranda as David Santiago (NBC) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Danny DeVito as Dr. Wexler (Netflix) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Luke Kirby as Lenny Bruce (Netflix) MOM - Bradley Whitford as Mitch (CBS) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Matt Damon as Host/Various Characters (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Robert DeNiro as Robert Mueller (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Adam Sandler as Host/Various Characters (NBC)

Performance by a Cast in a Comedy Series: Barry (HBO) The Big Bang Theory (CBS) black-ish (ABC) The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) Saturday Night Live (NBC) Veep (HBO)  

Lead Actress in a Limited Series/Movie: DEADWOOD THE MOVIE - Paula Malcomson as Trixie (HBO) DIRTY JOHN - Connie Britton as Debra Newell (Bravo) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Patricia Arquette as Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell (Showtime) FOSSE/VERDON - Michelle Williams as Gwen Verdon (F/X) MANIAC - Emma Stone as Annie Landsberg (Netflix) SHARP OBJECTS - Amy Adams as Camille Preaker (HBO) Lead Actor in a Limited Series/Movie: CHERNOBYL - Jared Harris as Valery Legasov (HBO) DEADWOOD THE MOVIE - Ian McShane as Al Swearengen (HBO) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Benicio Del Toro as Richard Matt (Showtime) FOSSE/VERDON - Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse (F/X) TRUE DETECTIVE - Mahershala Ali as Wayne Hays (HBO) A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL - Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe (BBC) Supporting Actress in a Limited Series/Movie: THE ACT - Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee Blanchard (Hulu) CHERNOBYL - Emily Watson as Ulana Khomyuk (HBO) FOSSE/VERDON - Margaret Qualley as Ann Reinking (F/X) KING LEAR - Emma Thompson as Goneril (Amazon Prime) MANIAC - Sally Field as Dr. Greta Mantleray (Netflix) SHARP OBJECTS - Patricia Clarkson as Adora Crellin (HBO) TRUE DETECTIVE - Carmen Egojo as Amelia Reardon (HBO) WHEN THEY SEE US - Vera Farmiga as Elizabeth Lederer (Netflix) Supporting Actor in a Limited Series/Movie: CATCH-22 - Kyle Chandler as Cathcart (Hulu) CATCH-22 - George Clooney as Scheisskopf (Hulu) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Paul Dano as David Sweat (Showtime) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Eric Lange as Lyle Mitchell (Showtime) FOSSE/VERDON - Norbert Leo Butz as Paddy Chayefsky (F/X) A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL - Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott (BBC)

 Performance by a Cast in a Limited Series/Movie/Special: Deadwood the Movie (HBO) Escape from Dannemora (Showtime) Fosse/Verdon (F/X) Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and The Jeffersons (ABC) Maniac (Netflix) Sharp Objects (HBO) When They See Us (Netflix) Lead Actress in Daytime: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - Jacqueline McInnes-Wood as Steffy Forrester-Spencer (CBS) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Kassie DePaiva as Eve Donovan (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Marci Miller as Abigail Deveraux (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Maura West as Ava Jerome (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Laura Wright as Carly Corinthos (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Eileen Davidson as Ashley Abbott (CBS) Lead Actor in Daytime: DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Tyler Christopher as Stefan DiMera (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Billy Flynn as Chad DiMera (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Drake Hogestyn as John Black (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Maurice Benard as Sonny Corinthos (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Jon Lindstrom as Dr. Kevin Collins & Ryan Chamberlain (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott (CBS) Supporting Actress in Daytime: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - Annika Noelle as Hope Logan (CBS) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Linsey Godfrey as Sarah Horton (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Martha Madison as Belle Black (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Tamara Braun as Dr. Kim Nero (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Vernee Watson as Stella Henry (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Beth Maitland as Traci Abbott (CBS) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Mishael Morgan as Hilary Curtis (CBS) Supporting Actor in Daytime: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - Wayne Brady as Dr. Reese Buckingham (CBS) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Eric Martsolf as Brady Black (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Greg Rikaart as Leo Stark (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Greg Vaughan as Eric Brady (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Max Gail as Mike Corbin (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Bryton James as Devon Hamilton (CBS) Younger Actress in Daytime: DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Olivia Rose Keegan as Claire Brady (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Victoria Konefal as Ciara Brady (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Hayley Erin as Kiki Jerome (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Chloe Lanier as Nelle Benson (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Eden McCoy as Josslyn Jacks (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Hunter King as Summer Newman (CBS) Younger Actor in Daytime: DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Lucas Adams as Tripp Dalton (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Casey Moss as J.J. Deveraux (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - William Lipton as Cameron Webber (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Garren Stitt as Oscar Nero-Quartermaine (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Zach Tinker as Fenmore Baldwin (CBS)

Guest Performer in Daytime: GENERAL HOSPITAL - Patricia Bethune as Nurse Mary Pat (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - James Read as Gregory Chase (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Chandra Wilson as Dr. Linda Massey and Sydney Val Jean (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Dominic Zamprogna as Dante Falconeri (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Thad Luckinbill as J.T. Hellstrom (CBS) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Shemar Moore as Malcolm Winters (CBS)

Performance By A Cast in a Daytime Soap: The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS) Days of Our Lives (NBC) General Hospital (ABC) The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Lead Actress in a New Series: BLACK MONDAY - Regina Hall as Dawn Towner (Showtime) GENTLEMAN JACK - Suranne Jones as Anne Lister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Julia Roberts as Heidi Bergman (Amazon) RUSSIAN DOLL - Natasha Lyonne as Nadia (Netflix) SALLY4EVER - Julia Davis as Emma (HBO) SALLY4EVER - Catherine Wheeler as Sally (HBO) Lead Actor in a New Series: BLACK MONDAY - Don Cheadle as Mo Monroe (Showtime) KIDDING - Jim Carrey as Jeff Pickles (Showtime) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky (Netflix) POSE - Billy Porter as Pray Tell (F/X) SUCCESSION - Brian Cox as Logan Roy (HBO) SUCCESSION - Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy (HBO) Supporting Actress in a New Series: GENTLEMAN JACK - Gemma Jones as Aunt Anne Lister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Sissy Spacek as Ellen Bergman (Amazon) KIDDING - Judy Greer as Jill (Showtime) KIDDING - Catherine Keener as Deirdre (Showtime) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Susan Sullivan as Eileen (Netflix) POSE - Kate Mara as Patty Bowes (F/X)    Supporting Actor in a New Series: BLACK MONDAY - Andrew Rannells as Blair Pfaff (Showtime) GENTLEMAN JACK - Timothy West as Jeremy Lister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Bobby Cannavale as Colin Belfast (Amazon) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Alan Arkin as Norman Newlander (Netflix) A MILLION LITTLE THINGS - Romany Malco as Rome Howard (ABC) SUCCESSION - Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy (HBO) Guest Performer in a New Series: THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Danny DeVito as Dr. Wexler (Netflix) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Ann-Margret as Diane (Netflix) POSE - Sandra Bernhard as Judy Kubrak (F/X) POSE - Clark Jackson as Mr. Richards (F/X) POSE - Christopher Meloni as Dick Ford (F/X) RUSSIAN DOLL - Chloe Sevigny as Lenora Vulkovov (Netflix) Performance By a Cast in a New Series: The Cast of Black Monday (Showtime) The Cast of Gentleman Jack (HBO) The Cast of Kidding (Showtime) The Cast of A Million Little Things (ABC) The Cast of Pose (F/X) The Cast of Succession (Showtime)

[thebryanandsilvergarbage]

The 19th Annual Bryan Awards - Acting Nominees

Lead Actress in a Drama Series: GAME OF THRONES (HBO) - Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen HOUSE OF CARDS (Netflix) - Robin Wright as President Claire Underwood KILLING EVE (BBC America) - Jodie Comer as Villanelle KILLING EVE (BBC America) - Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri OZARK (Netflix) - Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde THIS IS US (NBC) - Mandy Moore as Rebecca Pearson

Lead Actor in a Drama Series: BETTER CALL SAUL - Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill (AMC) GAME OF THRONES - Kit Harington as Jon Snow (HBO) OZARK - Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde (Netflix) POSE - Billy Porter as Pray Tell (F/X) THIS IS US - Sterling K. Brown as Randall Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Milo Ventimiglia as Jack Pearson (NBC) Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: THE AFFAIR - Maura Tierney as Helen Solloway (Showtime) BETTER CALL SAUL - Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler (AMC) GAME OF THRONES - Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth (HBO) GAME OF THRONES - Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister (HBO) THIS IS US - Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Chrissy Metz as Kate Pearson (NBC) Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: BETTER CALL SAUL - Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut (AMC) GAME OF THRONES - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jamie Lannister (HBO) GAME OF THRONES - Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Bobby Cannavale as Colin Belfast (Amazon Prime) HOUSE OF CARDS - Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper (Netflix)    SUCCESSION - Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy (HBO) THIS IS US - Justin Hartley as Kevin Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Chris Sullivan as Toby Damon (NBC) Younger Actress in a Drama Series or Limited Series: THE ACT - Joey King as Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Hulu) THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA - Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina Spellman (Netflix) GAME OF THRONES - Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark (HBO) GAME OF THRONES - Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (HBO) OZARK - Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore (Netflix) SHARP OBJECTS - Eliza Scanlan as Amma Crellin (HBO) Younger Actor in a Drama Series or Limited Series: THE CHI - Alex Hibbert as Kevin Williams (Showtime) THE CHI - Jacob Latimore as Emmett Washington (Showtime) GOTHAM - David Mazouz as Young Bruce Wayne (Fox) WHEN THEY SEE US - Asante Black as Young Kevin Richardson (Netflix) WHEN THEY SEE US - Caleel Harris as Young Anton McCray (Netflix) WHEN THEY SEE US - Jharrell Jerome as Korey Wise (Netflix)

Guest Actress in a Drama Series: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE - Connie Britton as Vivien Harmon (F/X) AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE - Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon (F/X) GAME OF THRONES - Carice Van Houten as Melisandre (HBO) THE HANDMAID’S TALE - Cherry Jones as Holly (Hulu) HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER - Cicely Tyson as Ophelia Harkness (ABC) THIS IS US - Phylicia Rashad  as Carol Clarke (NBC) Guest Actor in a Drama Series: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE - Dylan McDermott as Ben Harmon (F/X) BETTER CALL SAUL - Michael McKean as Chuck McGill (AMC) THE HANDMAID’S TALE - Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence (Hulu) HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER - Glynn Turman as Nate Lahey Sr. (ABC) POSE - Christopher Meloni as Dick Ford (F/X) THIS IS US - Michael Angarano as Nick Pearson (NBC) THIS IS US - Ron Cephas Jones as William (NBC)

Performance by a Cast in a Drama Series: Better Call Saul (AMC) Game of Thrones (HBO) Ozark (Netflix) Pose (F/X) Succession (HBO) This is Us (NBC) Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: BLACK-ISH - Tracee Ellis Ross as Dr. Rainbow Johnson (ABC) THE GOOD PLACE - Kristen Bell as Veronica Van Der Hooven (NBC) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam Maisel (Amazon) MOM - Allison Janney as Bonnie Plunkett (CBS) RUSSIAN DOLL - Natasha Lyonne as Nadia (Amazon) VEEP - Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer (HBO) Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: BARRY - Bill Hader as Barry (HBO) THE BIG BANG THEORY - Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper (CBS) BLACK-ISH - Anthony Anderson as Dre Johnson (ABC) BLACK MONDAY - Don Cheadle as Mo Monroe (Showtime) THE GOOD PLACE - Ted Danson as Michael (NBC) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky (Netflix) Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: FLEABAG - Olivia Colman as Godmother (Amazon Prime) GLOW - Betty Gilpin as Debbie Eagan (Netflix) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Marin Hinkle as Rose Weissman (Amazon Prime) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Alex Borstein as Susie (Amazon Prime) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Kate McKinnon as Various Characters (NBC) VEEP - Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer (HBO) Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: BARRY - Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches (HBO) BARRY - Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau (HBO) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Tony Shalhoub as Abe Weissman (Amazon) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Kenan Thompson as Various Characters (NBC) UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT - Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon (Netflix) VEEP - Tony Hale as Gary Walsh (HBO) VEEP - Nathan Simons as Jonah Ryan (HBO) Younger Actress in a Comedy Series: ATYPICAL - Jenna Boyd as Paige Hardaway (Netflix) ATYPICAL - Bridgette Lundy-Paine as Casey Gardner (Netflix) BLACK-ISH - Marsai Martin as Diane Johnson (ABC) CASUAL - Tara Lynne Barr as Laura Meyers (Hulu) MODERN FAMILY - Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Tucker-Pritchett (ABC) MODERN FAMILY - Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy (ABC) Younger Actor in a Comedy Series: ATYPICAL - Keir Gilchrist as Sam Gardner (Netflix) BLACK-ISH - Marcus Scribner as Andre Johnson Jr. (ABC) MODERN FAMILY - Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado (ABC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Pete Davidson as Various Characters (NBC) SHAMELESS - Cameron Monaghan as Ian Gallagher (Showtime) YOUNG SHELDON - Iain Armitage as Sheldon Cooper (CBS) Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: THE BIG BANG THEORY - Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter (CBS) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Ann-Margret as Diane (Netflix) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Jane Lynch as Sophie Lennon (Amazon Prime) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Rachel Brosnahan as Host/Various Characters (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Sandra Oh as Host/Various Characters (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Emma Thompson as Host/Various Characters (NBC)

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: BROOKLYN NINE-NINE - Lin-Manuel Miranda as David Santiago (NBC) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Danny DeVito as Dr. Wexler (Netflix) THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL - Luke Kirby as Lenny Bruce (Netflix) MOM - Bradley Whitford as Mitch (CBS) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Matt Damon as Host/Various Characters (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Robert DeNiro as Robert Mueller (NBC) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Adam Sandler as Host/Various Characters (NBC)

Performance by a Cast in a Comedy Series: Barry (HBO) The Big Bang Theory (CBS) black-ish (ABC) The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) Saturday Night Live (NBC) Veep (HBO)  

Lead Actress in a Limited Series/Movie: DEADWOOD THE MOVIE - Paula Malcomson as Trixie (HBO) DIRTY JOHN - Connie Britton as Debra Newell (Bravo) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Patricia Arquette as Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell (Showtime) FOSSE/VERDON - Michelle Williams as Gwen Verdon (F/X) MANIAC - Emma Stone as Annie Landsberg (Netflix) SHARP OBJECTS - Amy Adams as Camille Preaker (HBO) Lead Actor in a Limited Series/Movie: CHERNOBYL - Jared Harris as Valery Legasov (HBO) DEADWOOD THE MOVIE - Ian McShane as Al Swearengen (HBO) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Benicio Del Toro as Richard Matt (Showtime) FOSSE/VERDON - Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse (F/X) TRUE DETECTIVE - Mahershala Ali as Wayne Hays (HBO) A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL - Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe (BBC) Supporting Actress in a Limited Series/Movie: THE ACT - Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee Blanchard (Hulu) CHERNOBYL - Emily Watson as Ulana Khomyuk (HBO) FOSSE/VERDON - Margaret Qualley as Ann Reinking (F/X) KING LEAR - Emma Thompson as Goneril (Amazon Prime) MANIAC - Sally Field as Dr. Greta Mantleray (Netflix) SHARP OBJECTS - Patricia Clarkson as Adora Crellin (HBO) TRUE DETECTIVE - Carmen Egojo as Amelia Reardon (HBO) WHEN THEY SEE US - Vera Farmiga as Elizabeth Lederer (Netflix) Supporting Actor in a Limited Series/Movie: CATCH-22 - Kyle Chandler as Cathcart (Hulu) CATCH-22 - George Clooney as Scheisskopf (Hulu) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Paul Dano as David Sweat (Showtime) ESCAPE FROM DANNEMORA - Eric Lange as Lyle Mitchell (Showtime) FOSSE/VERDON - Norbert Leo Butz as Paddy Chayefsky (F/X) A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL - Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott (BBC)

 Performance by a Cast in a Limited Series/Movie/Special: Deadwood the Movie (HBO) Escape from Dannemora (Showtime) Fosse/Verdon (F/X) Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and The Jeffersons (ABC) Maniac (Netflix) Sharp Objects (HBO) When They See Us (Netflix) Lead Actress in Daytime: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - Jacqueline McInnes-Wood as Steffy Forrester-Spencer (CBS) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Kassie DePaiva as Eve Donovan (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Marci Miller as Abigail Deveraux (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Maura West as Ava Jerome (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Laura Wright as Carly Corinthos (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Eileen Davidson as Ashley Abbott (CBS) Lead Actor in Daytime: DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Tyler Christopher as Stefan DiMera (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Billy Flynn as Chad DiMera (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Drake Hogestyn as John Black (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Maurice Benard as Sonny Corinthos (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Jon Lindstrom as Dr. Kevin Collins & Ryan Chamberlain (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott (CBS) Supporting Actress in Daytime: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - Annika Noelle as Hope Logan (CBS) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Linsey Godfrey as Sarah Horton (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Martha Madison as Belle Black (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Tamara Braun as Dr. Kim Nero (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Vernee Watson as Stella Henry (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Beth Maitland as Traci Abbott (CBS) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Mishael Morgan as Hilary Curtis (CBS) Supporting Actor in Daytime: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - Wayne Brady as Dr. Reese Buckingham (CBS) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Eric Martsolf as Brady Black (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Greg Rikaart as Leo Stark (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Greg Vaughan as Eric Brady (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Max Gail as Mike Corbin (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Bryton James as Devon Hamilton (CBS) Younger Actress in Daytime: DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Olivia Rose Keegan as Claire Brady (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Victoria Konefal as Ciara Brady (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Hayley Erin as Kiki Jerome (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Chloe Lanier as Nelle Benson (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Eden McCoy as Josslyn Jacks (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Hunter King as Summer Newman (CBS) Younger Actor in Daytime: DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Lucas Adams as Tripp Dalton (NBC) DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Casey Moss as J.J. Deveraux (NBC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - William Lipton as Cameron Webber (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Garren Stitt as Oscar Nero-Quartermaine (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Zach Tinker as Fenmore Baldwin (CBS)

Guest Performer in Daytime: GENERAL HOSPITAL - Patricia Bethune as Nurse Mary Pat (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - James Read as Gregory Chase (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Chandra Wilson as Dr. Linda Massey and Sydney Val Jean (ABC) GENERAL HOSPITAL - Dominic Zamprogna as Dante Falconeri (ABC) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Thad Luckinbill as J.T. Hellstrom (CBS) THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - Shemar Moore as Malcolm Winters (CBS)

Performance By A Cast in a Daytime Soap: The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS) Days of Our Lives (NBC) General Hospital (ABC) The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Lead Actress in a New Series: BLACK MONDAY - Regina Hall as Dawn Towner (Showtime) GENTLEMAN JACK - Suranne Jones as Anne Lister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Julia Roberts as Heidi Bergman (Amazon) RUSSIAN DOLL - Natasha Lyonne as Nadia (Netflix) SALLY4EVER - Julia Davis as Emma (HBO) SALLY4EVER - Catherine Wheeler as Sally (HBO) Lead Actor in a New Series: BLACK MONDAY - Don Cheadle as Mo Monroe (Showtime) KIDDING - Jim Carrey as Jeff Pickles (Showtime) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky (Netflix) POSE - Billy Porter as Pray Tell (F/X) SUCCESSION - Brian Cox as Logan Roy (HBO) SUCCESSION - Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy (HBO) Supporting Actress in a New Series: GENTLEMAN JACK - Gemma Jones as Aunt Anne Lister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Sissy Spacek as Ellen Bergman (Amazon) KIDDING - Judy Greer as Jill (Showtime) KIDDING - Catherine Keener as Deirdre (Showtime) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Susan Sullivan as Eileen (Netflix) POSE - Kate Mara as Patty Bowes (F/X)  Supporting Actor in a New Series: BLACK MONDAY - Andrew Rannells as Blair Pfaff (Showtime) GENTLEMAN JACK - Timothy West as Jeremy Lister (HBO) HOMECOMING - Bobby Cannavale as Colin Belfast (Amazon) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Alan Arkin as Norman Newlander (Netflix) A MILLION LITTLE THINGS - Romany Malco as Rome Howard (ABC) SUCCESSION - Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy (HBO) Guest Performer in a New Series: THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Danny DeVito as Dr. Wexler (Netflix) THE KOMINSKY METHOD - Ann-Margret as Diane (Netflix) POSE - Sandra Bernhard as Judy Kubrak (F/X) POSE - Clark Jackson as Mr. Richards (F/X) POSE - Christopher Meloni as Dick Ford (F/X) RUSSIAN DOLL - Chloe Sevigny as Lenora Vulkovov (Netflix) Performance By a Cast in a New Series: The Cast of Black Monday (Showtime) The Cast of Gentleman Jack (HBO) The Cast of Kidding (Showtime) The Cast of A Million Little Things (ABC) The Cast of Pose (F/X) The Cast of Succession (Showtime)

[sweeeetrabbit]

MCU IN NUMBERS (PHASE 3)

For each MCU movie, I put the director(s), writers and actors, as well as box office totals (domestic & worldwide) and ratings from three separate sites (RT, Meta & IMDB). I also included any Academy Award wins/nominations.

PHASE 1 - PHASE 2 - PHASE 3 - LET’S COMPARE

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016) - 147 mins

Directed by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo; Written by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely; Score by Henry Jackman; Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Sebastian Stan, Scarlet Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman, Daniel Bruhl, Tom Holland, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp

Domestic Total: $408,084,349

Worldwide Total: $1,153,304,495

RT Tomatometer: 91%

RT Audience Score: 89%

Metascore: 75

IMDB Rating: 7.8

DOCTOR STRANGE (2016) - 115 mins

Directed by Scott Derrickson; Written by Scott Derrickson, Jon Spaihts, C. Robert Cargill; Score by Michael Giacchino; Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen

Domestic Total: $232,641,920

Worldwide Total: $677,718,395

RT Tomatometer: 89%

RT Audience Score: 86%

Metascore: 72

IMDB Rating: 7.5

Academy Awards: Best Achievement in Visual Effects (NOMINATED)

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017) - 136 mins

Directed by James Gunn; Written by James Gunn; Score by Tyler Bates;Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Kurt Russell

Domestic Total: $389,813,101

Worldwide Total: $863,562,289

RT Tomatometer: 84%

RT Audience Score: 87%

Metascore: 67

IMDB Rating: 7.7

Academy Awards: Best Achievement in Visual Effects (NOMINATED)

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017) - 133 mins

Directed by Jon Watts; Written by Jon Watts, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers; Score by Michael Giacchino; Starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier

Domestic Total: $334,201,140

Worldwide Total: $880,166,924

RT Tomatometer: 92%

RT Audience Score: 88%

Metascore: 73

IMDB Rating: 7.5

THOR: RAGNAROK (2017) - 130 mins

Directed by Taika Waititi; Written by Christopher L. Yost, Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle; Score by Mark Mothersbaugh; Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Idris Elba, Tessa Thompson

Domestic Total: $315,085,289

Worldwide Total: $853,977,126

RT Tomatometer: 92%

RT Audience Score: 87%

Metascore: 74

IMDB Rating: 7.9

BLACK PANTHER (2018) - 134 mins

Directed by Ryan Coogler; Written by Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole; Score by Ludwig Goransson; Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis

Domestic Total: $700,059,566

Worldwide Total: $1,346,913,161

RT Tomatometer: 97%

RT Audience Score: 79%

Metascore: 88

IMDB Rating: 7.3

Academy Awards: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) (WINNER), Best Achievement in Costume Design (WINNER), Best Achievement in Production Design (WINNER), Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) (NOMINATED), Best Motion Picture of the Year (NOMINATED), Best Achievement in Sound Editing (NOMINATED), Best Achievement in Sound Mixing (NOMINATED)

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) - 149 mins

Directed by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo; Written by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely; Score by Alan Silvestri; Starring Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Tom Holland, Chris Hemsworth, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Chris Evans, Scarlet Johansson

Domestic Total: $678,815,482

Worldwide Total: $2,048,359,754

RT Tomatometer: 85%

RT Audience Score: 91%

Metascore: 68

IMDB Rating: 8.5

Academy Awards: Best Achievement in Visual Effects (NOMINATED)

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (2018) - 118 mins

Directed by Peyton Reed; Written by Chris McKenna, Eric Sommers, Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer, Paul Rudd; Score by Christopher Beck; Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Hannah John-Kamen, Michael Pena

Domestic Total: $216,648,740

Worldwide Total: $622,674,139

RT Tomatometer: 88%

RT Audience Score: 76%

Metascore: 70

IMDB Rating: 7.1

CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) - 123 mins

Directed by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck; Written by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Geneva Robertson-Dworet; Score by Pinar Toprak; Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch, Clark Gregg

Domestic Total: TBD

Worldwide Total: TBD

RT Tomatometer: 78%

RT Audience Score: 56%

Metascore: 64

IMDB Rating: 7.1

Academy Awards: TBD

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) - 181 mins

Directed by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo; Written by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely; Score by Alan Silvestri; Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlet Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Josh Brolin

Domestic Total: TBD

Worldwide Total: TBD

RT Tomatometer: 95%

RT Audience Score: 90%

Metascore: 78

IMDB Rating: 8.9

Academy Awards: TBD

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY & HENRY FONDA ~ Part Two

1975-1979

[For Part One - Please Click Here!]

“The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Lucille Ball” (February 7, 1975)

Director: Greg Garrison Writers: Harry Crane, George Bloom, Tom Tenowich, Milt Rosen, Don Hinkley, Peter Gallay, Stan Burns, and Mike Marmer

Starring: Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Dean Martin, Ginger Rogers, Gale Gordon, Vivian Vance, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Gary Morton, Don Rickles, Rich Little, Foster Brooks, Nipsey Russell, Phyllis Diller, Dick Martin, Dan Rowan, Ruth Buzzi

TRIVIA

Lucille Ball is visible excited to hear that Fonda is roasting her. He tells the story of how he and Lucy dated when she first arrived in Hollywood. Public speaking and comedy where not Fonda's forte, but he delivers the material sincerely.  

“The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Jimmy Stewart” (May 10, 1978)

Producers: Greg Garrison, Lee Hale Director: Greg Garrison Writers: Harry Crane, Stan Burns, David Axelrod, Jay Burton, Robert L. Mills, Mel Chase, Arthur Phillips, Martin Ragaway, Sol Weinstein, Howard Albrecht, Jack Shea, Larry Markes

Starring: Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Dean Martin, James Stewart, June Allyson, Greer Garson, Red Buttons, Barry Goldwater, LaWanda Page, Eddie Albert, Foster Brooks, George Burns, Tony Randall, Don Rickles, Janet Leigh, Rich Little, Milton Berle, Jesse White, Orson Welles, Mickey Rooney, Ruth Buzzi

TRIVIA

Henry Fonda talks about the films they did together. Fonda introduces and narrates film clips of Stewart's career. Henry Fonda and Stewart first worked together on the film On Our Merry Way (1948). They also collaborated on How The West Was Won (1962), Firecreek (1968), and The Cheyenne Social Club (1970). The were frequently seen on TV awards shows and tributes.

Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart never appeared together in a dramatic context. They often were guests on the same awards shows, tributes, and talk shows. The first was “Hedda Hopper's Hollywood” (1960) and the last was Lucille Ball's final public appearance on “The 61st Annual Academy Awards” (1989).  

Fonda, Ball, and Stewart, were all neighbors in Beverly Hills. Lucy talks about his vegetable garden, a subject she has mentioned on other programs. Lucy jokes about what a respectful neighbor he is. She also ribs Stewart about his somewhat prudish reputation.

Lucy: “Next to Jimmy Stewart, Fred MacMurray is electrifying!”  

“AFI Life Achievement Award: Henry Fonda” (March 15, 1978)

Producers: Eric Lieber, George Stevens Jr. Director: Marty Pasetta Writer: Hal Kanter

Starring: Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Jane Alexander, Richard Burton, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, James Garner, Lillian Gish, Charlton Heston, Ron Howard, Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray, Marsha Mason, Dorothy McGuire, Lloyd Nolan, Gregory Peck, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Billy Dee Williams

TRIVIA

The American Film Institue (AFI) is an organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. It was founded in 1965 by a mandate from President Lyndon Johnson. Their annual life achievement award began in 1973 and was awarded to John Ford. The ceremony that honored Henry Fonda was the first and only one not to have a host / presenter.

Henry Fonda: “I dated Lucy once. I guess you could say I didn't really plight my troth. I cry myself asleep a lot because if I had plighted by troth properly, they might've changed the name of that studio to Henrylu.”

Lucy's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, and her husband, Gary Morton, sit next to her in the audience.

Film clips from two out of three film collaborations with Lucille Ball, The Big Street (1943) and Yours, Mine and Ours (1960), are included.

“General Electric's All-Star Anniversary” (September 29, 1978)

Director: Dick McDonough Writers: Monty Aidem, Jeffrey Barron, Bob Howard, Paul Keyes

Cast: John Wayne (Host), Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Albert Brooks, Alex Haley, Pat Hingle (as Thomas Edison), Bob Hope, Cheryl Ladd, Michael Landon, Penny Marshall, Denise McKenna, Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond, Charlie Pride, John Ritter, Red Skelton (as Old Man Watching a Parade), Suzanne Somers, Jimmy Stewart (as Mark Twain), Elizabeth Taylor, Leslie Uggams, Jimmie Walker, James Whitmore (as Will Rogers), Cindy Williams, Henry Winkler, Sha-Na-Na

Synopsis: John Wayne hosts this 90-minute ABC variety show. He gives a capsulized running history of the past 100 years between musical numbers, vignettes, and vintage film clips. Leslie Uggams and the group Sha-Na-Na perform musical numbers and Albert Brooks does a routine about holding auditions to find a new national anthem.

TRIVIA

Although video of this special is scarce, photographs show Lucille Ball interacting with host John Wayne and performing a fast-paced dance number. There are no photos or other records of Henry Fonda's role in the celebration.  

John Wayne also hosted a similar patriotic variety show, “Swing Out, Sweet Land,” in 1971. Lucille Ball did a serious monologue as the internal voice of the Statue of Liberty. Bob Hope and Leslie Uggams were also involved in both shows. Mark Twain was a character in both.

This special was ostensibly to mark the General Electric Corporation's (GE) 100th Anniversary, which came as a surprise to many as it had just celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 1970!  Although the company was formed in 1895 by the merger of several smaller companies, GE eventually decided that its Anniversary should be marked by the day Thomas Edison himself formed the company in 1878. This change was primarily for advertising purposes – and this special was one of those marketing strategies.

From 1953 to 1962, GE sponsored the anthology series “General Electric Theatre” which, like “I Love Lucy,” was aired on CBS. It was hosted by future US President Ronald Reagan. Henry Fonda played clown Emmett Kelly in “The Clown” aired on March 27, 1955.

In 1952, Lucille Ball was featured in a print ad campaign to promote GE Ultra-Vision television sets.

“America Alive!” (November 9, 1978)

“America Alive!” was a short-lived hour-long NBC daytime show which featured consumer tips, relationship advice, entertainment news and reviews, and comedy, from its home studio in New York City as well as remotes from Los Angeles.

Cast: Jack Linkletter (Host), Lucille Ball and Gary Morton (Co-Hosts), Henry Fonda (Guest)

TRIVIA

While Lucy and Gary were in a California studio, Lucy was supposed to interview Henry Fonda, who was in their studio in New York. The following day, host Jack Linkletter infers that it wasn't strictly an interview. Linkletter doesn't specify what happened and there are no video records of the interview.  

The following day, Lucy spent the entire hour taking questions from an audience of students at UCLA.  

“The 36th Annual Golden Globe Awards” (January 27, 1979)

Lucille Ball was the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Henry Fonda was in attendance to support his daughter, Jane Fonda, who won for Coming Home and received the Henrietta Award for World Film Favorite. Fonda was also a presenter. 

SPEAKING OF HENRY....

In 1971's “Lucy & Carol Burnett: The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” (HL S3;E22) the ensemble sings “Hooray for Hollywood” with specially-written lyrics that mention Henry Fonda and his children Jane and Peter.

In 1973's “Lucy and Joan Rivers Do Jury Duty” (HL S6;E9), Lucy and Joan are on a deadlocked jury they compare to the film Twelve Angry Men (1957) starring Henry Fonda as the holdout juror.  

“Lucy Moves to NBC” (February 8, 1980) kicks off with a tour bus driving through Beverly Hills and the tour guide's voice announcing the homes they are driving past, including the Henry Fonda’s. When the bus reaches Lucille Ball's Roxbury Drive mansion, Lucy gets out of the bus – having hitched a ride from after her downtown shopping trip. In real life, the Arnaz family actually did live in the same neighborhood as Henry and Shirlee Fonda as well as James and Gloria Stewart and Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone.

Henry Fonda died in 1982.

Shirlee Fonda: "She [Lucy] was always calling or coming over to see him when he was ill. And after he died, she was one of the ones who always included me in social gathering. When I gave that first party after Henry's death, I said, 'Lucy, you have to be there and help me get though this.' And she was there for me, for 100%"

Lucille Ball died in 1989.

[aion-rsa]

Biggest Movie Traitors and Backstabbers in Cinema

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Last week, as part of the streaming service’s ongoing plan to bring Warner Brothers’ slate of theatrical releases to audiences at home HBO Max premiered Judas and the Black Messiah on the same day it opened in theaters. Directed by Shaka King, the incendiary historical drama centers on the rise of Fred Hampton, the charismatic Black Panther Party leader, and his tragic betrayal at the hands of FBI informant William O’Neal.  Daniel Kaluuya stars as Hampton, a scorched-earth performance that attempts to recreate the magnetism and magma-like intensity of the revolutionary figure, but Kaluuya is somehow not the star of the film.

The film’s true protagonist is O’Neal, played by LaKeith Stanfield. After getting himself into some hot water, O’Neal is propositioned by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) to either infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report back on his findings or face jail time. At first O’Neal seems to luxuriate in the kickbacks he’s given by Mitchell for his intel but he quickly learns how dangerous it is to lead a double life. O’Neal also has to try to reconcile betraying the very movement he’s spent real time and energy trying to build.

Stanfield’s performance is filled with queasy anxiety and paranoia but also cockroach-like survival tics. It’s an all-time great turncoat performance, worthy of the biblical reference in the film’s title. To honor Stanfield’s turn as “Wild” Bill O’Neil, here’s a countdown of some of cinema’s greatest backstabbers.

Fredo Corleone – The Godfather Part II (1974)

Fredo Corleone, the least intelligent and most ineffectual of Don Vito’s children, has become something of a pejorative term used against anyone deemed to be the lesser sibling in a famous family. Played with a sense of melancholy and knowing pity by esteemed character actor John Cazale, Fredo’s betrayal of his brother Michael is due more to petty jealousy than it is to Machiavellian scheming or dreams of leading the Corelone Crime Family.

As the character pathetically rages, “‘Send Fredo off to do this. Send Fredo off to do that. Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse night club somewhere’… I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says!” The worst part about Fredo’s actions against his family is that it’s unclear if Fredo actually knew what was being planned against his brother or whether he was just blindly jumping at the opportunity to be important and have something for himself.

Lando Calrissian – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Perhaps the most lovable backstabber on the list, Lando at least shows some backbone and tries to make up for his nearly unforgivable alliance with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. While serving as Baron Administrator of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back, Lando is visited by Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett and told to help trap his old friend Han Solo and the Rebels seeking sanctuary in Cloud City in exchange for the safety of the city’s citizens.

After selling his friend out, Lando has a change of heart when he overhears Han being tortured and realizes that Vader and the Empire were already reneging on their promises. He helps Leia and Chewbacca escape, and is able to evacuate Cloud City before the Empire is able to retaliate. Later he participates in the near-incompressible plot to rescue Han Solo and serves as a key general in the Rebel Alliance. Still, even back when he’s on the wrong side of the fight, Billy Dee Williams is able to turn Lando an appealing character, making his eventual redemption that much sweeter.

Henry Hill – Goodfellas (1990)

Ray Liotta plays the ultimate rat. After a long and fruitful career as a capo for local boss Paulie Cicero, Henry Hill’s mafia lifestyle comes to a final, screeching halt after he’s arrested by narcotics agents while trying to facilitate unapproved drug deals with his Pittsburgh associates. Henry’s good friend Tommy jokingly posits that Henry would crack under questioning earlier in the film, but Henry’s damning testimony against his associates Jimmy Conway and Paulie is all about survival: Henry knows that if he doesn’t cover his own ass, Jimmy will have him and his wife killed.

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Becoming the very thing that mafioso’s hate most of all, Henry turns on his friends and is forced into the witness protection program. All Henry ever wanted was to be a gangster, but in the protection program, he’s reduced to “an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” It’s a fate that may be worse than death for him.

Mr. Orange – Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Arguably the villain of the story, depending on who’s side you’re on, Mr. Orange is actually L.A.P.D. undercover cop Freddy Newandyke. Looking to bring down crime boss Joe Cabot, Mr. Orange infiltrates his crew and takes part in diamond heist gone bad. In the ensuing chaos, Mr. Orange is shot and ends up killing an innocent civilian in retaliation. Played by Tim Roth, Mr. Orange screams and cries as he believes he’s fatally wounded, but it’s also possible that he’s airing out the guilt he feels in letting his undercover operation get so out of hand.

Without going into all of the bloodshed in the conclusion of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Orange’s double agent status is so sound that it eventually leads to the demise of almost all of Cabot’s colorful crew, and Orange then feels compelled to confess his deception, resulting in an ambiguous ending that most believe concludes with his death.

Dennis Nedry – Jurassic Park (1993)

Wayne Knight’s Dennis Nedry is probably the most cartoonish Benedict Arnold of the bunch, and if you think about it, the only human antagonist in the original Jurassic Park film, if you’re not counting short-sighted, megalomaniacal John Hammond. The slovenly Nedry is chief architect of the computer system at the fledgling Jurassic Park theme park, and he’s miffed by perceived low pay. So he decides to take an offer from Lewis Dodgson (“DODGSON, WE GOT DODGSON HERE!) of rival biotech company Biosyn to steal embryos of 15 dinosaur species in exchange for $61,500,000.

To make his grand escape with the embryos, Nedry shuts down the park’s security systems, including the electric fences surrounding the dinosaur paddocks. He also uploads a self-aggrandizing computer virus to prevent the systems from being quickly turned back on. However, a perfect combination of his own harebrained scheme and a nasty storm leaves Nedry stranded and at the mercy of a young Dilophosaurus. It does not end well.

Cypher – The Matrix (1999)

Cypher’s betrayal of the Nebuchadnezzar crew in The Matrix is pretty easy to see coming, and not just because the character is played by Joe Pantoliano, who’s portrayed many malcontents throughout his career. Cypher being a red pill dabbler and wishes he had taken the blue pill instead. He also outwardly makes his disapproval of Morpheus known throughout the movie. Using “ignorance is bliss” as his mantra, he strikes a deal with Agent Smith to return him to the Matrix and erase his memory of ever awakening from it in exchange for selling Morpheus out.

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After tipping Smith off to a meeting with the Oracle, Cypher goes full villain and unflinchingly kills Dozer, Apoc, and Switch before finally being stopped and killed. At least he’s free from the reality he hated so much.

“Mad Eye Moody” (aka Barty Crouch Jr.) – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

What’s a bigger betrayal: Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. revealing that he’s been impersonating Alator “Mad Eye” Moody for the entirety of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts, or Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealing herself to be a transphobe, betraying many of the themes of her beloved book series? We’ll leave that one to you, dear reader.

However, Barty Crouch Jr. (David Tennant before he was the Doctor) memorably betrays Harry Potter and the Hogwarts community by using the Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the former Auror and ensure that Harry would get into the Triwizard Tournament and ascend to the Third Task, which was a trap to help Lord Voldemort return to a body of his own. At least the real Mad Eye didn’t actually turn his back on those that revered him (like Rowling).

Colin Sullivan – The Departed (2006)

The biggest rat in a film full of “gnawing, cheese-eating fucking rats,” Sgt. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is the criminal counterpoint to Leonardo DiCaprio’s undercover cop Billy Costigan, an undercover gangster who serves as the personal mole to Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson).

Played with smarm and cowardice by Damon, Sullivan eventually double crosses the police and Costello when he discovers that Costello is an FBI informant—a rat leading rats. Scared but trying to retain his high-ranking job, Sullivan misguidedly tries to position himself as a hero and tie up all loose ends, resulting in a shocking, bloody finale that finds cocky Colin Sullivan miraculously as the last man standing. Or at least the last man standing for the moment, as a final, forgotten loose end returns to give the audience what they want; another dead rat.

Robert Ford – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Well, it’s all right there in the title, innit? Played with a jealous, insecure bent by a creepy (in multiple ways) Casey Affleck, Robert Ford starts off as a Jesse James fanboy, desperate to join the outlaw’s gang with his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell). When he finally gets close to the mythical criminal (a shadowy Brad Pitt), Bob begins to resent the man, eventually brokering a deal with the Governor of Missouri to either capture or kill Jesse James in exchange for a substantial bounty and full pardon.

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Bob Ford cozies up to Jesse James even further, eventually earning the man’s complete trust, before cowardly shooting the man in the back—although in the film both carry an air of expectation that it needs to happen. Ford then lives out the rest of his days known as the coward punk that betrayed Jesse James until his eventual murder.

Aaron Burr – Hamilton (2020)

Close knit allies but ideological opposites, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton both fought in the Continental Army for independence from the British. However, when it came time to actual govern the new country that they fought to begin, the men drifted apart.

It’s unfair to call Burr the only backstabber in this relationship, because both men betray their former friend. Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.) becomes jealous that Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) constantly has George Washington’s ear, and switches political parties to defeat Hamilton’s father-in-law in an election, ending their mutual admiration.

Burr also inadvertently pressures Hamilton to publicly reveal an affair, which strains the rivals’ relationships even further. However, when Hamilton endorses Thomas Jefferson (Daveed Diggs) in the third presidential election, a man that he doesn’t even like, to block Burr’s political malleability from the presidency, it becomes the final straw for Burr, who challenges Hamilton to a duel. In the ensuing gunfight, Hamilton throws away his shot, and Burr seals his fate to be remembered as the villain who killed Alexander Hamilton.

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Top Men

I’ve never seen all of Raiders of the Lost Arc in it’s entirety. This thing came out when i was a kid and was the opposite of what i was about back then. My thing was giant monsters, space robots, and neon cyberpunk. Indiana Jones spent the majority of his time in a f*cking desert. That sh*t seemed boring to me. As i grew older and my tastes expanded, i found myself kind of into a lot of the things portrayed in that initial film. Archaeology, lost history, biblical mythology; I find that sh*t fascinating. Ancient lien theory actually intrigue me a great deal, mostly it’s utter dismissal on both sides of the argument, so when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out, i was all for it. Once it hit DVD. I did not see that sh*t in theaters. To my surprise, i rather enjoyed it. Apparently, however, that is not what an Indiana Jones film was supposed to be. As i perused Netflix, i noticed that Raiders was available for streaming. I figured, what the hell? It’s been probably thirty years since i last watched this thing. Let me see if i agree with the general consensus that this movie is, indeed, a proper classic of cinema.

The Great

The best thing about this movie, i think, is definitely the score. Holy sh*t, man, the music in this film definitely makes the picture. John Williams is a goddamn genius, man. Dude rarely creates something that isn’t all sorts of classic.

After that absolutely epic score, the next best thing about this film is easily Harrison Ford. If you made a movie about Han Solo but placed it on earth, during the thirties, and turned him into an archaeologist instead of a scoundrel, you’d have Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, jr. Ford gives such a charming, electric, charismatic performance as Jones, it’s no wonder the character became a staple of the American cinematic lexicon.

The Better

 Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood makes this film for me. She is the standout, only outshined by Ford’s Indiana, himself. She’s outstanding as Indy’s foil and absolutely necessary to sell the character. She’s caught a lot, sure, but it’s almost always by numerous men who probably outweigh her by a few pounds and, even then, she never just surrenders. You rarely hear her scream and she almost always lands her own solid licks in a proper fight. Lucas sure knows how to write dope female leads when he tries. When he doesn’t, we get Willie Scott. I’ll get to THAT broad when i review Temple of Doom. I got A LOT to say about that chick, man.

The action in this thing is brazen, dangerous, and appreciated. They don;t make movies like this anymore. Everything in here is practice, Every stung, fight, explosion, and set piece was done with physical, real life, stuff. You don't see this level of film making anymore because of all the CG effect proliferation which was, in part, championed by both Lucas and Spielberg. That sh*t is kind of hilarious to me. One of the greatest action films ever made, rife with practical effects, is directly responsible for the mitigation of the very thing that makes this movie so special.

Speaking of the direction, Spielberg is in fine form with this one. 80s Spielberg is hard to touch. He sh*tted classics during this decade, solidifying his place as one of the greats to ever do it. ET, Poltergeist (even though people say it’s Toby Hooper was the one who helmed it, Spielberg definitely ghost directed this thing), The Goonies as Second Unit Director, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, and Temple of Doom, all came out under his watch. Dude was prolific as f*ck.

The writing on this flick is decent. George Lucas understands how to craft a story. He has a formula and he follows that sh*t religiously but it works. He wrote Star Wars. He wrote Indiana Jones. He wrote American Graffiti. Dude knows his stuff and it really shows in Raiders. The characters feel real and actually pretty charming. I found myself rooting for Marion almost immediately, masterclass in character introduction.

The Good

I like the narrative crafted for this tale, the actual story. There are a lot of great ideas put forth, creative use of biblical imagery and christian mythology. I love that sh*t. It’s why i adore Dan Brown’s stuff so much. Say what you will about The DaVinci Code, i love that mess and it really is kind of a mess. This story is not. It get right to the point, focusing n the characters and their relationships rather than the actual Christ Judaeo-Christian imagery. In the 80s, that was absolutely necessary but i think it makes for a stronger, cleaner, narrative overall.

I rather enjoy this cast. Everyone is quite god in their respective roles, overall. I had no idea Alfred Molina was in this so that was a nice surprise. It’s always fun seeing people i know later in life, in the young, vibrant, beginnings of their careers. John Rhys-Davies was also fun to see. I know him from Sliders but seeing him in this was a real treat.

This movie is absolutely gorgeous. It’s definitely nature porn, even if most of it is sand and brown. The shot composition if this thing is spectacular. I was kind of impressed with how vivid this world looks even though there is so little of it shown. There is a ton of it show, yes, but most of it is in the desert or some sh*t. You can only see the same kinds of rocks so many times before you hate seeing those rocks. Raiders does a great job of shooting those rocks in interesting, dynamic ways, so the setting never overstays it’s welcome.

But them melting Nazis, tho.

The Bad

So, there really isn’t a whole lot of bad in this. Admittedly, Raiders is a near perfect film. I can concede that. But i still wasn’t really entertained by it. I still was gripped with what i saw. I don’t understand the allure of this franchise on a personal level. Objectively, sure, it’s fantastic. But, for me, this sh*t is boring.

Raiders feels like one, long ass, chase scene with spots of exposition before another, long ass, chase scene. The dialogue is charming, the chemistry between the leads is palpable, and the action is some of the best on film, but blergh. I was never captivated nor did i care about anyone in this film.

The Verdict

I don’t like this movie. Absolutely disconnected from it. I find it plodding, pretentious, and a little boring. I do understand why everyone who holds this film so dear, absolutely hates Crystal Skull. There is a distinct shift in tone between the two and it’s actually quite jarring. This is coming from someone who doesn’t even really like the franchise at all. It’s kind of surreal how alien that Indiana feels to this Indiana. That said, as a proper film critique, Raiders is f*cking phenomenal. Objectively, this is a near perfect example of a film in this genre. There is inspired direction, great performances, gorgeous scene composition, rich cinematography, and characters that have stood the test of time to become stalwarts of US culture. I mean, i knew exactly who Marion Ravenwood was when she was introduced in Crystal Skull and i had only seen Raiders once when i was, like, five or six. That tells you exactly how beloved this movie is within the cultural zeitgeist. Raiders f the Lost Ark is an absolutely great film. It is to the action genre as Alien is to sci-fi horror, and y’all know how high in regard i hold Alien. That’s not praise i heap flippantly. All four of these flicks are on Netflix so might check them all out eventually. Maybe. That said, personally, i do not like this movie at all. Still doesn’t do enough to shake my giant monster, space robot, neon cyberpunk sensibilities.