TAKE FIVE

Hey, kids, I am taking five and while I do, let me share this note from the Deseret News.  I will not generally include DVD releases unless they are special and this one is.  “I Love Lucy” was one of those programs that made my kids laugh fifty years after the fact!

 

 

'I Love Lucy: The Movie' DVD comes full of extras

 

"I Love Lucy: The Movie" (CBS/Paramount, 1953, b/w, $19.99).

 

This is actually the bonus disc from the "I Love Lucy: The Complete Series" set. The "movie" of the title was cobbled together from three first-season episodes, with newly filmed connecting sequences, and it was intended for theatrical release. But because Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's feature film "The Long Long Trailer" was about to be released, "The I Love Lucy" movie was shelved. And it's great fun for "Lucy" fans who don't have the series box set.

 

Just as intriguing are the bonus features - a full-length color episode (by all accounts the only one), a two-minute clip from "The Ed Wynn Show," in which Lucy and Desi appeared together on TV for the first time (and Desi can't stop laughing), along with a touching excerpt from the Emmys where Vivian Vance won for best supporting actress and "I Love Lucy" won for best sitcom - with Ball urging the Emmys to establish a writers category, which it did the next year.

 

Extras: full frame, "I Love Lucy" 1956 color episode, Lucy & Desi's first joint appearance (on the "Ed Wynn Show," 1949), Emmy Awards excerpt (1954), on-set commercial (1951), text program notes. - Hicks, Chris. "'I Love Lucy: The Movie' DVD Comes Full of Extras." Deseret News [Salt Lake City] 29 Apr. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2010

TAKE FOUR

A Shot in the Dark:  The Funniest Movie Ever Made.

Only one film can make me laugh right at the opening credits.  "A Shot in the Dark" is such a film.  The first time I saw the film in 1966 I laughed.  My mother reported I laughed so hard I nearly choked.   "A Shot in the Dark" (Hereafter referred to as "Shot") retains the comedic spark.

The main reason, Peter Sellers.  He IS Inspector Clouseau.   The other Clouseaus, I will not mention.  They failed miserably to fill the trench coat of Clouseau.

Rather then rehash the movie plot I would like to share some favorite scenes.

• Clouseau's first interview with Maria Gambrelli in his office.  Ripping his pants when he forgets to take out the key, notice how Elke Sommers struggles to keep from laughing!  Classic.
• Hearing the opera singer and ending up charging through the recital and out the window and into the river. 
• The nudist colony scene.  The look on Clouseau's face when it dawns on him he is at a nudist colony is priceless. 
• The nude Clouseau and Maria Gambrelli getting caught in traffic. 
• The introduction to the series of Dreyfus and Kato.
• Going out to various nightclubs where an assassin misses Clouseau, killing four innocent people instead. 
• The climatic scene.  Clouseau gathers the suspects together and each of them are guilty of murder.  They escape in Clouseau's car which contains a bomb that was placed there by the  now insane Dreyfus.
• Trivia note:  William Peter Blatty is co-credited with Blake Edwards on the screenplay.  Blatty would later give us "The Exorist."   

"Shot" was really the beginning of the "Pink Panther" franchise.  All the elements were assembled together to allow the series to continue.  I am laughing right now with the memories!

       

   

TAKE THREE

Buying stock on the Movies:  Sure thing or sucker bet?

Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to Arlington Park Racetrack for the Summer Movies Race.  Who will win, place or show?  Place your bets, folks. 

Annnnddd....they're off!  Iron Man 2 takes the lead but here comes Robin Hood close and on the outside.  Followed by Shrek Forever After in the green silks.  Sex and the City 2 is fourth but look out for Prince of Persia on the dark horse! 

The summer movies are coming and it is anyone's race to win.  The major studios are betting big and we, the movie going public are betting as well.  Winner take all!  The L A Times reported on a brand new way to lose your shirt.  Selling stocks on the movies.  Not the studios but the movies they make.  After the sterling record Wall Street has given us lately, NOTHING CAN WRONG HERE. 

I am a rank (unranked, really.) amateur and I know enough not to buy stock in the movies.  Why?  How many of us remember previous "sure things" from 2009:

•    Land of the Lost: Cost $100 million to make and made half that.
•    Funny People:  Adam Sandler!  Seth Rogen!  Pure....lead. 
•    Year One: Unfunny TRAILER equals unfunny movie.
•    I Love You Beth Cooper:  No one saw Beth Cooper let alone loved her.

Think about this.  What large studio in memory ever trotted out a picture and then spent millions saying:  STAY AWAY!  Toxic Movie!  Do not see this!  Fast answer is none.  Now add in betting.  Or stocks, I mean. 

I can picture the following :

"Bill?  John at Hee Hee Americade.  Hey, I got a hot stock.  Golden.  New film.  Called "Babies."  Yeah.  It is about four babies from around the world and they follow them around for a year.  Hey!  Let me shoot you the trailer.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/dor/objects/54003/10012014-babies/videos/babies_trlr_121409.html
 

So, how much do you want to buy?  Hello?  Hello?"

Ok.  Cuteness squared but other than doing huge business in Utah County, who is this film for?  I can predict a theatre full of women but where are the guys?  Oh? And did the broker tell you it opens the same weekend as Iron Man 2?  He didn't?  SUCKER!  

 After you pay for a sitter, parking and concessions, you are into a movie pretty deep anyway.  Why compound going to movies by investing in stocks?  If a movie sucks, all you lose is the money you spent going and the two hours involved.  Nothing more.    

Remember, Kids, vote for a movie with your feet not your retirement or kids college money.

TAKE TWO

Leonard Nimoy has announced that he will be retiring from acting soon. It had to happen. Nimoy is 79. Bones and Scotty have already departed us. Would it be worth it to see the poor man at a Trek convention with a walker? Oh well, as The Next Generation signed off on television with the final episode titled, "All Good Things" fans everywhere will miss him.

This gives me an opportunity to share with you my favorite "Trek" movies:

• ST- II Wrath of Kahn "Scotty, I need warp speed in three minutes or we're all dead!"

• ST-IV The Voyage Home "Captain, there be whales here!"

• ST-VI The Undiscovered Country "To be or not to be."

TAKE ONE

Hello and welcome to my new blog. I felt that it was time to let the world in on my love of movies. I will be mixing favorites with recently seen movies. Add to that favorite theatres, popcorn and the whole movie going experience. So let's dim the lights and get started! That being written, ON WITH THE SHOW!