#Laszlo Kovacs

[davidhudson]

László Kovács, May 14, 1933 – July 22, 2007.

With Dennis Hopper during the making of Easy Rider (1969).

[oldshowbiz]

Variety praised the cinematography of Laszlo Kovacs in Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) calling him an "undiscovered talent."

They criticized Jack Nicholson's acting style which they said was "made up mostly of variations on a grin."

[terrencemalice]

New York, New York (1977) Dir. Martin Scorsese Cinematography by László Kovács

THE WAR WAS OVER AND THE WORLD WAS FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Targets

Made before director-co-writer Peter Bogdanovich knew what he couldn’t do, TARGETS (1968, Criterion) is one of the screen’s most audacious directorial debuts.  As good as some of his work is, I’m tempted to call it Bogdanovich’s best film. And it certainly gave Boris Karloff one of the best roles of his career, essentially playing a variation on himself.

The film opens with the finale (almost) of one of Roger Corman’s most delirious films, THE TERROR (1963), which starred Karloff and the largely unknown Jack Nicholson. It then cuts to a screening room, where Karloff’s Byron Orloff has been unhappily watching the last of three low-budget horror films he’s just made. He informs his ambitious young director-writer (Bogdanovich) that he’s retiring without having read the young man’s new script, which you may suspect is the script for this film. The argument moves to the street, and suddenly we cut to Karloff seen through the sights of a sniper rifle. That moves us into the parallel story of Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly), who’s stockpiling weapons for a killing spree. Bogdanovich switches between these stories almost effortlessly with the help of editor Verna Fields. The idea of the classic horror star who feels he’s no longer relevant in a world of real-life horrors like those perpetrated by O’Kelly may be a little too pat, and the inevitable merging of the two plots a little too convenient, but the ideas behind all this trump any objections.

Karloff is magnificent, giving a performance even more impressive when you know that between scenes he had to return to a wheelchair and breathe through an oxygen mask. He’s a master of subtlety. He never wastes a gesture, and he doesn’t just speak his lines; he makes love to them. O’Kelly is also strong, projecting a lot through long silent stretches. Bogdanovich wisely never explains the specifics that led him to mass murder (there’s a sense that he has father issues), but you get the impression that he and O’Kelly know exactly what’s going on in the character’s mind. Laszlo Kovacs did the pristine cinematography, with subtle camera moves to disguise the cutting and build tension. Bogdanovich’s then wife, Polly Platt, co-wrote the original story (there were uncredited writing assists from Sam Fuller) and did a terrific job designing the sets. Thompson lives with the family, and their home is a fascinating combination of story book setting and sterility. It’s the middle-class dream moldering around the edges.

[sig-mata]

[annoyingthemesong]

SUBLIME CINEMA #674 - PAPER MOON

Ryan O'Neal's films of relevance spanned a short period, about ten years, but a few of his films are some of the best ever made.

Along with Barry Lyndon, Paper Moon is one of the greatest films of the 70's.

Beautiful black and white cinematography by Laszlo Kovacs and a timeless performance by his daughter Tatum.

[babblydrabbly]

Hey, everyone! I'm going to give @flufftober a shot this year. I've got the prompts all planned out below, but I might alter things around or change my mind as the month goes on. There's a lot of new ships I've never written before but I'm excited to try- especially with an autumn theme! My goal is to write between 300 and 1k words for each prompt. Hopefully I'll be updating this post often. Wish me luck! ❤

Week One

1. Wearing Each Other’s Clothes - Eddie Brock x Reader x Venom

2. “You’ve told your parents?” - Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (DCU) x Reader 

3. Thick as Thieves - Nathan Drake (Uncharted 2022) x Thief!Reader

4. Supporting Silly Quirks/Hobbies [Alt 2] Caught in the Rain - TASM!Peter Parker x Reader

5. “Oh no, you’re a Morning Person!” - Robert "Bob" Floyd x Reader

6. Candles, Lanterns, Fairy Lights - Nadja of Antipaxos x Reader x Laszlo Cravensworth

7. Movie Marathon - Natasha Romanov/Black Widow x Reader

8. Shooting Stars - Thorin Oakenshield x Human!Reader AU

Week 2

9. Game Day (Sports) - Poly!SuicideSquad x Reader

10. Love Language - Bruce Wayne (Batman 2022) x Reader

11. Poetry, Art, Music, Craft - Rick Flag x Artist!Reader AU

12. “You kept this?” - Edward Teach (ofmd) x Reader 

13. Secret Family Recipe - Peter Parker (MCU) x Ned’s Sister!Reader

14. Truth or Dare/20 Questions - Wade Wilson/Deadpool x Vigilante!Reader

15. Accidents don't just happen accidentally - Joan Watson x Reader x Sherlock Holmes

16. “I hate you” – “I love you too” - Emilia Harcourt x Argus Agent!Reader

Week Three

17. Animal Shelter - Stephen Holder x Reader 

18. Soulmate AU - Eddie Munson x Reader

19. Hot Chocolate - Bilbo Baggins x Human!Reader

20. Bedtime Stories [Alt 5] Winning a Teddy for the Other - Steve Harrington x Reader

21. Kiss for Good Luck - Daenerys Targaryen x Reader

22. “Have you heard?” - Robert Dubois x Reader

23. POV Outsider - Digger Harkness x Reader from Rick Flag’s POV

24. All the Hugs - Harley Quinn x Squadmember!Reader

Week Four

25. First Dance - Kili (Hobbit) x Reader

26. Blankets - Takeshi Kovacs Prime x Reader

27. Reunion - Yelena Belova x Reader

28. Picnic - Guillermo de la Cruz x Witchhunter!Reader

29. Leaves [Alt 1] Slow dance - Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader

30. Dear Diary - Chris Smith/Peacemaker x Reader 

31. A Sweet Treat - Rick Flag x Argus Agent!Reader

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (Steckler, 1964)

Probably the most remarkable thing about this movie is that it was shot by Joseph V. Mascelli, Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond. Now, I suspect this won’t rank near the top of the filmographies of the latter two gents, who are considered some of the greatest cinematographers ever, but I do think the movie is pretty nicely shot. When I was binging Ray Dennis Steckler’s work last year, I ended up holding off on this one as I couldn’t find a good looking copy. Now, I just had my Severin Steckler box set come in the mail, with the magnets, the stickers (why does Severin keep sending me stickers? not complaining, just asking), the one-sheet signed by Carolyn Brandt, but not the Steckler mask (I was very tempted, but couldn’t find a good justification for getting the mask, especially as that set was significantly more expensive; yes, I decided to be financially responsible just this once), and I decided to pop this in. I’m glad I waited. The transfer looks beautiful, and the darker colours have an inky richness to them, and the brighter ones really pop. But in this nicer copy, it’s probably easier to appreciate some of the compositions here, like the framing of the actors’ silhouettes on the beach, and the shadows during the horror scenes, and the dazzling musical numbers.

This is a horror movie directed by Ray Dennis Steckler, meaning that it’s not too heavy on the horror. What we get here instead is lots and lots of carnival footage in lieu of the thrills and chills one might expect in a horror movie. But unlike his later slashers where the relentless padding reeks of a certain desperation to get his movie up to feature length, the footage here has a certain joy of discovery and an appealing time capsule quality. (I know I just complained about carnival footage padding in The Funhouse, but maybe I’m warming up to that one too. Anyway, consistency is for suckers.) We don’t just see characters walking by the roller coaster, we actually get on it ourselves. There are also a ton of song and dance numbers, which feel like Steckler doing MGM on a budget. Probably not the best musical numbers you’ve ever seen, but they’re executed with a surprising level of commitment, and are distinct and fun enough that I had a good time. The most fun one is “A-Shook Out of Shape”, a jaunty rock’n’roll song about...let’s see, being beaten by your mother for staying out late. And there’s a number with a gladiator costume where the dancers get attacked by the mixed-up zombies of the film’s title, and it takes the audience a second to realize that it ain’t part of the act.

Steckler himself plays a character who can be described as “willfully unemployed”. Actually, that’s probably inaccurate, as unemployment numbers only include those who consider themselves part of the labour force and Steckler here very much does not. (Glad I could finally use that bit of knowledge for something. Who says higher education doesn’t have its merits?) Steckler goes with his buddy and girlfriend (who clearly use different hair products than he does, consider his hair has no volume and theirs seem to stand up several stories high) to the carnival, gets hypnotized and starts killing people whenever he sees a spiral (one of his victims foolishly twirls an umbrella before her demise). These murder scenes are executed with lots of handheld camerawork and draped in shadows, which was likely to suggest more explicit violence than could be shown, but helps give them a certain charge, as they break from the bright candy-coated aesthetic of the surrounding film. Of course, one of his victims is an alcoholic dancer played by his wife at the time Carolyn Brandt, who is always a delight to hang out with. I understand Steckler was an admirer of Jean-Luc Godard, and I wonder if he ever compared his movies with Brandt to Godard’s with Anna Karina. Would this be his A Woman is a Woman? Is Blood Shack his Pierrot Le Fou? Is The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher his Made in USA? Or maybe it’s Body Fever and you shuffle the timeline around? Steckler and Brandt continued working together after their divorce, which you gotta respect.

So no, this isn’t a great horror movie, but it’s always (okay, not always, have you seen his pornos? yeesh) fun to spend time with Uncle Ray and friends.

[lesser-known-composers]

George Barati (1913-1996) - Chant of Light ·

Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Laszlo Kovacs

[michaelcosio]

200 Dollars - Paper Moon (1/8) Movie CLIP (1973)

Addie (Tatum O'Neal) puts Moses (Ryan O'Neal) in a tough situation when she demands the $200 he owes her.

FILM DESCRIPTION: The year is 1936. Orphaned Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal, in her film debut) is left in the care of unethical travelling Bible salesman Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal, Tatum's dad), who may or may not be her father. En route to Addie's relatives, Moses learns that the 9-year-old is quite a handful: she smokes, cusses, and is almost as devious and manipulative as he is. They join forces as swindlers, working together so well that Addie is averse to breaking up the team -- which is one reason that she sabotages the romance between Moses and good-time gal Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn). Later, while attempting to square a $200 debt that Addie claims he owes her, Moses runs afoul of of a bootlegger (John Hillerman) and is nearly beaten to death by the criminal's twin-brother sheriff. Painfully pulling himself together, Moses gets Addie to her relatives, whereupon she adamantly refuses to leave his side. Photographed in black-and-white by Laszlo Kovacs, the film was made largely on location in Kansas and Missouri (an experience colorfully recalled by director Peter Bogdanovich in his 1972 book of essays Pieces of Time). 9-year-old Tatum O'Neal won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, beating out costar Kahn. Paper Moon later became a short-lived TV series, starring Ryan O'Neal lookalike Christopher Connelly and future Oscar winner Jodie Foster.

[kvlci]

Just started to work on this catalog , out for a hunt for these statues. #photography #photooftheday #Website #project #followme #nikon #object #Studio

[oldshowbiz]

The Most Depressing Thing: Laszlo Kovacs first-rate camerawork thrown away on such trivia.

[ghassanrassam]

Vilmos Zsigmond 1930-2016, Laszlo Kovacs 1933-2007, cinematographers

[filmandimage]

That Cold Day in the Park (1969) Robert Altman

[boxcarwild]

Nickelodeon is a 1976 comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and stars Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds and Tatum O'Neal. Jane Hitchcock, who played aspiring actress Kathleen Cooke, never acted in another film. According to Bogdanovich, the film was based on true stories told to him by silent film directors Allan Dwan and Raoul Walsh.

"The whole idea was to capture the era, since obviously the original films were shot in black and white", Bogdanovich says. "My cinematographer, Laszlo Kovacs, carefully lit everything to accommodate black-and-white, which is why the lighting looks so good. We used a lot of the techniques of the silent era, irising in and out of scenes." The 2009 DVD release includes a 125-minute "Director's Cut" in black and white. "There's nothing to distract you", said Bogdanovich, "Ryan's blond hair and blue eyes don't distract you, and you focus on the action in an easier way. That's why the funniest movies ever made were silent comedies—Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin. It focuses the attention in a different way, and color is distracting for that sort of thing."