Throughout the 1950s, big-budget musicals were de rigueur for Hollywood, and there was a sudden glut of epics that sported gigantic budgets, recognizable stars, and no small amount of studio hype. Such films were exhibited as touring roadshow productions, which was a great way for films to make fistfuls of cash. Roadshow epics were also, it should be noted, a concerted ploy by studios to distract audiences from the rising threat of television. Studios felt the need to invest a lot of money into musicals and epics, hoping the massive productions could draw people into theaters and keep the industry afloat.
One might logically predict, however, that Hollywood tried to ride the trend of epics for a little longer than was healthy, and foolish overspending eventually became common. The age of the "roadshow epic" pretty much came to a close with the release of the notorious bomb "Cleopatra" in 1963.
But then,...
One might logically predict, however, that Hollywood tried to ride the trend of epics for a little longer than was healthy, and foolish overspending eventually became common. The age of the "roadshow epic" pretty much came to a close with the release of the notorious bomb "Cleopatra" in 1963.
But then,...
- 6/3/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
“The transition will be seamless.”
Those words usually accompany an announcement of a corporate takeover and, of course, it never works out that way. And it likely won’t for Paramount 2024.
Consider history: When MGM found it had become a corporate conquest in the mid-1960s, not only was the studio staff fired but three major movies were canceled mid-production. The executive guillotine was also in action at Warner Bros a year later, when the production team was decimated by its new proprietor and even Looney Tunes was dropped.
Paramount’s “transition” in 1966 was even more lethal: Not only did the new studio owner cancel existing shoots but he also greenlit three of the biggest flops in Hollywood history – earning renown as “Bluhdorn’s Bombs” (see below).
History may not automatically repeat itself in the deal now unfolding behind the filigreed Paramount gates, but the “seamless transition” already sounds problematic:...
Those words usually accompany an announcement of a corporate takeover and, of course, it never works out that way. And it likely won’t for Paramount 2024.
Consider history: When MGM found it had become a corporate conquest in the mid-1960s, not only was the studio staff fired but three major movies were canceled mid-production. The executive guillotine was also in action at Warner Bros a year later, when the production team was decimated by its new proprietor and even Looney Tunes was dropped.
Paramount’s “transition” in 1966 was even more lethal: Not only did the new studio owner cancel existing shoots but he also greenlit three of the biggest flops in Hollywood history – earning renown as “Bluhdorn’s Bombs” (see below).
History may not automatically repeat itself in the deal now unfolding behind the filigreed Paramount gates, but the “seamless transition” already sounds problematic:...
- 5/9/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Joshua Logan’s Paint Your Wagon can be viewed as one of the last gasps of a dwindling Hollywood studio system, as well as a precursor to the New Hollywood. The film, with its expansive anamorphic vistas of the American Northwest, bears some superficial similarities to Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, which is often historicized as the end of the New Hollywood, given how it bankrupted United Artists. But in contrast to the profound sadness with which Cimino regards America’s history of violence, Logan’s musical romp takes a lighthearted approach to the process of resettlement, and it’s propelled by the contrasting personalities of Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood as bickering and tussling gold prospectors.
Paint Your Wagon straddles multiple genres at once, suggesting something like a western-inflected musical riff on Ernst Lubitsch’s Design for Living. The crux of the story concerns Ben Rumson (Marvin), a ne...
Paint Your Wagon straddles multiple genres at once, suggesting something like a western-inflected musical riff on Ernst Lubitsch’s Design for Living. The crux of the story concerns Ben Rumson (Marvin), a ne...
- 3/25/2024
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
Movie stars no longer “own” Hollywood, we are told, but two hallowed brand names owned much of the media space this week.
At age 80, Harrison Ford is soldiering through the interview circuit to energize his balky Indy numbers. And an HBO doc about Rock Hudson this week reminded viewers of an era when stardom was as much manufactured as earned.
Both Ford and Hudson coveted their celebrity, which now borders on the mythic. But early in their careers, both struggled through identity crises, trying to define a persona they could comfortably live with.
The young Hudson was so gawky and naïve that he required emergency coaching on both his speech and sexuality from his ambitious manager, Henry Willson. Neither Willson nor his protégé imagined that Hudson would become a superstar both in cult movies, like Pillow Talk, and in classics, like Giant. Who else could hold his own opposite both Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor?...
At age 80, Harrison Ford is soldiering through the interview circuit to energize his balky Indy numbers. And an HBO doc about Rock Hudson this week reminded viewers of an era when stardom was as much manufactured as earned.
Both Ford and Hudson coveted their celebrity, which now borders on the mythic. But early in their careers, both struggled through identity crises, trying to define a persona they could comfortably live with.
The young Hudson was so gawky and naïve that he required emergency coaching on both his speech and sexuality from his ambitious manager, Henry Willson. Neither Willson nor his protégé imagined that Hudson would become a superstar both in cult movies, like Pillow Talk, and in classics, like Giant. Who else could hold his own opposite both Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor?...
- 7/6/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“Happiness is a Warm Gun” isn’t the only connection between The Beatles and Peanuts. Both groups exemplified the optimism of the 1960s era. Charles M. Schulz’s Charlie Brown was so assured of positive outcomes he repeatedly tried to kick a field-goal-placed football held by the town’s resident five-cents-a-session psychiatrist, Lucy, in spite of the knowledge she would pull it out from under him at the last moment. He faced defeat and realized “the world didn’t come to an end.”
When Schulz’s comic strip moved into animated TV specials, much of that expectant wonder was expressed through the music. Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi joined the Peanuts’ creative gang in 1964, when he was hired to score a TV documentary about Schulz, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The documentary never aired, but jazz label Fantasy Records released the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack, Jazz Impressions of A Boy...
When Schulz’s comic strip moved into animated TV specials, much of that expectant wonder was expressed through the music. Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi joined the Peanuts’ creative gang in 1964, when he was hired to score a TV documentary about Schulz, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The documentary never aired, but jazz label Fantasy Records released the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack, Jazz Impressions of A Boy...
- 3/11/2023
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Most noted for its troubled production background, this hospital-set murder thriller turns a doctor into a detective: James Coburn’s medico undertakes an amateur investigation of a crime involving an illegal abortion, and the cover-up thereof. Although tangled up in the crazy James Aubrey-Kirk Kerkorian regime at MGM, Blake Edwards’ film can boast a strong supporting cast: Jennifer O’Neill, Pat Hingle, Elizabeth Allan, Dan O’Herlihy, James Hong, Michael Blodgett, Regis Toomey and John Hillerman.
The Carey Treatment
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date May 10, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: James Coburn, Jennifer O’Neill, Pat Hingle, Skye Aubrey, Elizabeth Allan, Dan O’Herlihy, James Hong, Michael Blodgett, Regis Toomey, Jennifer Edwards, John Hillerman, Alex Drier, Robert Mandan, Melissa Tormé-March.
Cinematography: Frank Stanley
Art Director: Alfred Sweeney
Film Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Original Music: Roy Budd
Screenplay by “James P. Bonner” and...
The Carey Treatment
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date May 10, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: James Coburn, Jennifer O’Neill, Pat Hingle, Skye Aubrey, Elizabeth Allan, Dan O’Herlihy, James Hong, Michael Blodgett, Regis Toomey, Jennifer Edwards, John Hillerman, Alex Drier, Robert Mandan, Melissa Tormé-March.
Cinematography: Frank Stanley
Art Director: Alfred Sweeney
Film Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Original Music: Roy Budd
Screenplay by “James P. Bonner” and...
- 5/24/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Evans (right) with Robert Shaw on the set of "Black Sunday" in 1977.
By Lee Pfeiffer
Robert Evans has passed away at age 89. The former actor-turned-studio head had a long, dramatic career that saw him appointed to run Paramount Pictures at the tender age of 36 when the studio was bleeding red ink. Under Evans' management, the studio rebounded, releasing such classics as "Chinatown", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Odd Couple", "True Grit" and, most notably, "The Godfather". Even Evan's non-blockbusters became cult classics. Among them: "Harold and Maude" and "The Italian Job". Other hits brought to the screen by Evans include "Marathon Man" and "Black Sunday". His tumultuous private life was the stuff of Hollywood lore including his seven marriages. Evans' producing career started modestly when he bought the screen rights to the crime thriller "The Detective" by Roderick Thorp. He successfully brought it to the screen in an acclaimed 1968 film starring Frank Sinatra.
By Lee Pfeiffer
Robert Evans has passed away at age 89. The former actor-turned-studio head had a long, dramatic career that saw him appointed to run Paramount Pictures at the tender age of 36 when the studio was bleeding red ink. Under Evans' management, the studio rebounded, releasing such classics as "Chinatown", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Odd Couple", "True Grit" and, most notably, "The Godfather". Even Evan's non-blockbusters became cult classics. Among them: "Harold and Maude" and "The Italian Job". Other hits brought to the screen by Evans include "Marathon Man" and "Black Sunday". His tumultuous private life was the stuff of Hollywood lore including his seven marriages. Evans' producing career started modestly when he bought the screen rights to the crime thriller "The Detective" by Roderick Thorp. He successfully brought it to the screen in an acclaimed 1968 film starring Frank Sinatra.
- 10/28/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Robert Evans, the legendary Paramount Pictures exec and consummate Hollywood producer behind films like Chinatown and Marathon Man, died on Saturday, October 26th, Variety reported. He was 89. A representative for Evans confirmed his death, though no cause or location was given; The New York Times reported that Evans died in Beverly Hills.
Evans’ career stretched across decades and was filled with an array of glitzy highs and brutal lows. He was best known for running and revitalizing Paramount in the late Sixties and early Seventies, overseeing hits like The Odd Couple,...
Evans’ career stretched across decades and was filled with an array of glitzy highs and brutal lows. He was best known for running and revitalizing Paramount in the late Sixties and early Seventies, overseeing hits like The Odd Couple,...
- 10/28/2019
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Robert Evans, the Paramount executive who produced “Chinatown” and “Urban Cowboy” and whose life became as melodramatic and jaw-dropping as any of his films, died on Saturday night. He was 89.
Even though Hollywood history is filled with colorful characters, few can match the tale of Evans, whose life would seem far-fetched if it were fiction. With his matinee-idol looks but little acting talent, Evans was given starring roles in a few movies and then, with no studio experience, was handed the production reins at Paramount in the 1960s. When he left the exec ranks, his first film as a producer was the classic “Chinatown,” and he followed with other hits, like “Marathon Man” and “Urban Cowboy.” Eventually, his distinctive look and speaking style turned him into a cult figure, and he had the distinction of being the only film executive who starred in his own animated TV series.
His life was a continuous roller-coaster.
Even though Hollywood history is filled with colorful characters, few can match the tale of Evans, whose life would seem far-fetched if it were fiction. With his matinee-idol looks but little acting talent, Evans was given starring roles in a few movies and then, with no studio experience, was handed the production reins at Paramount in the 1960s. When he left the exec ranks, his first film as a producer was the classic “Chinatown,” and he followed with other hits, like “Marathon Man” and “Urban Cowboy.” Eventually, his distinctive look and speaking style turned him into a cult figure, and he had the distinction of being the only film executive who starred in his own animated TV series.
His life was a continuous roller-coaster.
- 10/28/2019
- by Richard Natale and Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Freshly divorced from American-International Pictures, Roger Corman leaps into the filmic mainstream with a fairly large-scale World War One aviation picture. He competes with the big studios but retains his nonconformist attitude: his retelling of the story of the Red Baron fixates on the theme of the death of chivalry in combat. For his star player Corman picks John Phillip Law, whose on-screen persona is a good fit for one of the first warrior aces of the sky.
Von Richthofen and Brown
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Stephen McHattie, Hurd Hatfield
Robert La Tourneaux, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Masterson, Clint Kimbrough, George Armitage.
Cinematography: Michael Reed
Film Editor: Alan Collins
Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Written by John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington
Produced by Gene Corman, Jimmy T. Murakami
Directed by...
Von Richthofen and Brown
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Stephen McHattie, Hurd Hatfield
Robert La Tourneaux, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Masterson, Clint Kimbrough, George Armitage.
Cinematography: Michael Reed
Film Editor: Alan Collins
Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Written by John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington
Produced by Gene Corman, Jimmy T. Murakami
Directed by...
- 5/14/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rock Hudson would’ve celebrated his 93rd birthday on November 17, 2018. The Oscar-nominated actor made a name for himself as a hunky leading man in romantic comedies, melodramas, and adventure flicks. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Hudson spent years as a supporting player and leading man in B-pictures before shooting to stardom in Douglas Sirk‘s soap opera satire “Magnificent Obsession” (1954). Shot in glossy Technicolor with a sweeping musical score, the film was the first of many the actor made with the German-born auteur, including “All That Heaven Allows” (1955), “Written on the Wind” (1956), and “The Tarnished Angels” (1957). Trashed by critics and adored by audiences in their time, these works have found a second life as clever subversions of American values, influencing filmmakers such as Pedro Almodovar and Todd Haynes.
He received his sole Oscar nomination for...
Hudson spent years as a supporting player and leading man in B-pictures before shooting to stardom in Douglas Sirk‘s soap opera satire “Magnificent Obsession” (1954). Shot in glossy Technicolor with a sweeping musical score, the film was the first of many the actor made with the German-born auteur, including “All That Heaven Allows” (1955), “Written on the Wind” (1956), and “The Tarnished Angels” (1957). Trashed by critics and adored by audiences in their time, these works have found a second life as clever subversions of American values, influencing filmmakers such as Pedro Almodovar and Todd Haynes.
He received his sole Oscar nomination for...
- 11/17/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
This article marks Part 11 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the winners.
The 1970 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:
“Whistling Away the Dark” from “Darling Lili”
“For All We Know” from “Lovers and Other Strangers”
“‘Til Love Touches Your Life” from “Madron”
“Pieces of Dreams” from “Pieces of Dreams”
“Thank You Very Much” from “Scrooge”
Won: “For All We Know” from “Lovers and Other Strangers”
Should’ve won: “Whistling Away the Dark” from “Darling Lili”
1970, the year voters embraced monumental pictures including “Patton” and “Mash” and far lesser efforts like “Airport” and “Love Story,” marked a comparably mixed bag in Best Original Song, sporting a truly grand Julie Andrews tune and respectable winner in “For All We Know,...
The 1970 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:
“Whistling Away the Dark” from “Darling Lili”
“For All We Know” from “Lovers and Other Strangers”
“‘Til Love Touches Your Life” from “Madron”
“Pieces of Dreams” from “Pieces of Dreams”
“Thank You Very Much” from “Scrooge”
Won: “For All We Know” from “Lovers and Other Strangers”
Should’ve won: “Whistling Away the Dark” from “Darling Lili”
1970, the year voters embraced monumental pictures including “Patton” and “Mash” and far lesser efforts like “Airport” and “Love Story,” marked a comparably mixed bag in Best Original Song, sporting a truly grand Julie Andrews tune and respectable winner in “For All We Know,...
- 11/6/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
Julie Andrews started singing at a very young age. So young in fact, that at age 13, she became the youngest performer ever to give a Royal Command Performance for then British monarch King George VI. After many appearances on the British stage, Andrews made her Broadway debut at age 19 in the musical “The Boy Friend.” That performance led to her being cast as the lead in one of the biggest hits and most acclaimed productions in Broadway history, “My Fair Lady.”
Her great success in “My Fair Lady” would later become one of her greatest disappointments when she was deemed too unfamiliar to film audiences to recreate her role on film (though her Broadway co-stars Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway were both hired). In her place the studio hired Audrey Hepburn who gave a good performance but had to have her singing dubbed by another performer. Some studios felt Andrews...
Her great success in “My Fair Lady” would later become one of her greatest disappointments when she was deemed too unfamiliar to film audiences to recreate her role on film (though her Broadway co-stars Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway were both hired). In her place the studio hired Audrey Hepburn who gave a good performance but had to have her singing dubbed by another performer. Some studios felt Andrews...
- 10/1/2018
- by Robert Pius and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
'The Pink Panther' with Peter Sellers: Blake Edwards' 1963 comedy hit and its many sequels revolve around one of the most iconic film characters of the 20th century: clueless, thick-accented Inspector Clouseau – in some quarters surely deemed politically incorrect, or 'insensitive,' despite the lack of brown face make-up à la Sellers' clueless Indian guest in Edwards' 'The Party.' 'The Pink Panther' movies [1] There were a total of eight big-screen Pink Panther movies co-written and directed by Blake Edwards, most of them starring Peter Sellers – even after his death in 1980. Edwards was also one of the producers of every (direct) Pink Panther sequel, from A Shot in the Dark to Curse of the Pink Panther. Despite its iconic lead character, the last three movies in the Pink Panther franchise were box office bombs. Two of these, The Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther, were co-written by Edwards' son,...
- 5/29/2017
- by altfilmguide
- Alt Film Guide
Blake Edwards: Director of the 'Pink Panther' movies – and Julie Andrews' husband for more than four decades – was at his best handling polished comedies and a couple of dead serious dramas. Blake Edwards movies: Best known for slapstick fare, but at his best handling polished comedies and dramas The Pink Panther and its sequels[1] are the movies most closely associated with screenwriter-director-producer Blake Edwards, whose film and television career spanned more than half a century.[2] But unless you're a fan of Keystone Kops-style slapstick, they're the filmmaker's least interesting efforts. In fact, Edwards (born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 26, 1922) was at his best (co-)writing and/or directing polished comedies (e.g., Operation Petticoat, Victor Victoria) and, less frequently, dramas (Days of Wine and Roses, the romantic comedy-drama Breakfast at Tiffany's). The article below and follow-up posts offer a brief look at some of Blake Edwards' non-Pink Panther comedies,...
- 5/29/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
On this day (April 21st) in history as it relates to showbiz...
Anthony Quinn
1904 Oscar winning cinematographer Daniel L Fapp (West Side Story and Desire Under the Elms, among many films) born in Kansas City
1914 Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor born in England. Though he was BAFTA nominated Oscar never bit despite high profile films and collaborations with famous directors. Credits include: Repulsion, The Omen, Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Frenzy, Dracula (1979) and MacBeth
1915 Oscar's all time favorite Mexican actor Anthony Quinn born (Lust for Life, Viva Zapata, Wild is the Wind, Zorba the Greek, La Strada, etcetera)
1918 "The Red Baron," the famous German fighter pilot, shot down in World War I. Snoopy in Peanuts fantasizes about him repeatedly and he's also been a character in many films including Wings, Hell's Angels, and Darling Lili ...
Anthony Quinn
1904 Oscar winning cinematographer Daniel L Fapp (West Side Story and Desire Under the Elms, among many films) born in Kansas City
1914 Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor born in England. Though he was BAFTA nominated Oscar never bit despite high profile films and collaborations with famous directors. Credits include: Repulsion, The Omen, Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Frenzy, Dracula (1979) and MacBeth
1915 Oscar's all time favorite Mexican actor Anthony Quinn born (Lust for Life, Viva Zapata, Wild is the Wind, Zorba the Greek, La Strada, etcetera)
1918 "The Red Baron," the famous German fighter pilot, shot down in World War I. Snoopy in Peanuts fantasizes about him repeatedly and he's also been a character in many films including Wings, Hell's Angels, and Darling Lili ...
- 4/21/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
William Peter Blatty, author of “The Exorcist,” died last night at the age of 89, according to close friend and “Exorcist” director William Friedkin.
Blatty first rose to prominence with his 1971 novel “The Exorcist,” about the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and the two priests who attempt to exorcise the demon. He later adapted the book into the script for the 1973 film, directed by William Friedkin. “The Exorcist” was a huge critical and commercial success. It was nominated for ten Oscars, with Blatty winning an award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Blatty began his writing career in earnest in the mid-1960s with a series of comic novels — “Which Way to Mecca, Jack?,” “John Goldfarb, Please Come Home,” “I, Billy Shakespeare,” etc. — but his first foray into film was his collaboration with director Blake Edwards. His first major screenplay...
Blatty first rose to prominence with his 1971 novel “The Exorcist,” about the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and the two priests who attempt to exorcise the demon. He later adapted the book into the script for the 1973 film, directed by William Friedkin. “The Exorcist” was a huge critical and commercial success. It was nominated for ten Oscars, with Blatty winning an award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Blatty began his writing career in earnest in the mid-1960s with a series of comic novels — “Which Way to Mecca, Jack?,” “John Goldfarb, Please Come Home,” “I, Billy Shakespeare,” etc. — but his first foray into film was his collaboration with director Blake Edwards. His first major screenplay...
- 1/13/2017
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Robert Walker: Actor in MGM films of the '40s. Robert Walker: Actor who conveyed boy-next-door charms, psychoses At least on screen, I've always found the underrated actor Robert Walker to be everything his fellow – and more famous – MGM contract player James Stewart only pretended to be: shy, amiable, naive. The one thing that made Walker look less like an idealized “Average Joe” than Stewart was that the former did not have a vacuous look. Walker's intelligence shone clearly through his bright (in black and white) grey eyes. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” programming, Turner Classic Movies is dedicating today, Aug. 9, '15, to Robert Walker, who was featured in 20 films between 1943 and his untimely death at age 32 in 1951. Time Warner (via Ted Turner) owns the pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library (and almost got to buy the studio outright in 2009), so most of Walker's movies have...
- 8/9/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Hollywood will come alive with The Sound of Music (1965) this spring as the beloved, Oscar®-winning classic returns to the big screen to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a gala opening-night screening on Thursday, March 26 at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival. Legendary stars Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer will join Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne at the world-famous Tcl Chinese Theater IMAX to introduce the beautifully restored film and kick off the sixth annual festival, which will run March 26-29, 2015, in Hollywood.
The film is being presented in collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox, in celebration of their Golden 50th Anniversary Blu-ray release arriving on March 10, 2015.
The Sound of Music is the story of the Von Trapp family, whose lives are forever changed by the arrival of Maria, the warmhearted young governess who brings joy and music to the Captain (Plummer) and his children. The film earned Andrews her second...
The film is being presented in collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox, in celebration of their Golden 50th Anniversary Blu-ray release arriving on March 10, 2015.
The Sound of Music is the story of the Von Trapp family, whose lives are forever changed by the arrival of Maria, the warmhearted young governess who brings joy and music to the Captain (Plummer) and his children. The film earned Andrews her second...
- 1/20/2015
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Marlene Dietrich is Turner Classic Movies last "Summer Under the Stars" star of 2011. Today, TCM is showing 12 Marlene Dietrich movies, in addition to J. David Riva's 2001 documentary Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song. Riva, I should add, is the son of Maria Riva and Dietrich's grandson. [Marlene Dietrich Movie Schedule.] Unfortunately, TCM isn't presenting any Marlene Dietrich movie premieres today. In other words, no Dietrich opposite David Bowie in Just a Gigolo, or Dietrich next to Jean Gabin in Martin Roumagnac / The Room Upstairs, or any of Dietrich's little-known German-made silents, e.g., Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame / I Kiss Your Hand, Madame; Das Schiff der verlorenen Menschen / The Ship of Lost Men; and Gefahren der Brautzeit / Dangers of the Engagement. None of the silents are exactly what I'd call good movies — nor is Just a Gigolo — but they all are worth a look if only because Dietrich is in them. Another option for...
- 9/1/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
I find it surprising that some people were surprised when the fact that Rock Hudson was gay was publicly revealed back in the mid-1980s, as the actor became the best-known person with AIDS in the world. After all, even my mother knew about that. Anyhow, today's jaded crowd, looking at the above photograph, will surely assert that it's so obvious that Rock Hudson was gay. Just look at him! I thoroughly disagree. In fact, I don't see anything "obvious" about Hudson's sexual orientation in the photo. And no, I'm not blind. The guy just looks like a man — gay, straight, anything in between — doing his best to appear classy, or at least what used to pass for classy. Personally, I don't find Hudson very convincing as a "classy" type à la Cary Grant. Whatever his sexual predilections, I've always found Rock Hudson much more believable in rugged roles, such...
- 6/25/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It’ll be safer than getting married.
When I first heard about this film, it was when I was being sent a review disc from the Warner Archive. A Blake Edwards film that was a western? How hadn’t I ever heard of this film before. Known for his off the wall comedies, Wild Rovers is a peculiar departure in his filmography. Coming off of a $25 million dollar flop in 1970 called Darling Lili, Edwards’ next film was this one, which was supposed to originally me close to a three hour roadshow. Sadly for Edwards, MGM took control of the film in post production and cut it down to 106 minutes, which put a heavy burden on Edwards in general.
Luckily in 1986, the film was restored to a lengthier 136 minute running time, this time with the originally intended overture, intermission card and exit music. Thankfully for the restoration and Warner Archive for releasing this version,...
When I first heard about this film, it was when I was being sent a review disc from the Warner Archive. A Blake Edwards film that was a western? How hadn’t I ever heard of this film before. Known for his off the wall comedies, Wild Rovers is a peculiar departure in his filmography. Coming off of a $25 million dollar flop in 1970 called Darling Lili, Edwards’ next film was this one, which was supposed to originally me close to a three hour roadshow. Sadly for Edwards, MGM took control of the film in post production and cut it down to 106 minutes, which put a heavy burden on Edwards in general.
Luckily in 1986, the film was restored to a lengthier 136 minute running time, this time with the originally intended overture, intermission card and exit music. Thankfully for the restoration and Warner Archive for releasing this version,...
- 5/11/2011
- by James McCormick
- CriterionCast
Life has been less than a jolly holiday for the star of the movie classics Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music since the death of her husband, director Blake Edwards.
"I think every day it's a struggle right now," says Julie Andrews, Edwards' soul mate for 41 years. Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's) died from complications of pneumonia in December. He was 88; Andrews is 75. The two were married and worked together for most of the British actress' five decades in Hollywood.
They first teamed for a big-budget dud, the 1970 musical flop, Darling Lili. Eventually, though, Edwards and Andrews would deliver big-screen successes: the 1979 box-office smash 10, the biting 1981 Hollywood satire S.O.B. and their Oscar-nominated 1982 musical Victor/Victoria - which Andrews called some of the best work in her career. There was also That's Life, which the couple made in 1986, "which was such a joy," she says.
"I think every day it's a struggle right now," says Julie Andrews, Edwards' soul mate for 41 years. Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's) died from complications of pneumonia in December. He was 88; Andrews is 75. The two were married and worked together for most of the British actress' five decades in Hollywood.
They first teamed for a big-budget dud, the 1970 musical flop, Darling Lili. Eventually, though, Edwards and Andrews would deliver big-screen successes: the 1979 box-office smash 10, the biting 1981 Hollywood satire S.O.B. and their Oscar-nominated 1982 musical Victor/Victoria - which Andrews called some of the best work in her career. There was also That's Life, which the couple made in 1986, "which was such a joy," she says.
- 5/7/2011
- by Cineplex.com and contributors
- Cineplex
Mary Poppins star Julie Andrews and her late husband Blake Edwards were in therapy when they met.
The actress recalls the couple's early meetings, calling them "very Hollywood", in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times.
She explains, "I’d met him in passing at some reception many many years before I actually personally met him... (but) I was crossing Sunset Boulevard one day and I was at the middle meridian and waiting to cross. A beautiful car pulled up beside me, and I just looked over and then he drove on.
"A week later the same thing happened. The third time it happened, the gentleman in the car rolled down his window and said, 'Hi, we seem to be doing this. Are you going where I just came from?'
"And we realised that we were both in therapy, and he’d just come from his analyst... and I was just going to one in that region. Then I got a call asking if he could come talk to me about a film, and that film was Darling Lili, which we eventually made together. It was a huge flop, but it didn’t seem to affect our relationship in any way."...
The actress recalls the couple's early meetings, calling them "very Hollywood", in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times.
She explains, "I’d met him in passing at some reception many many years before I actually personally met him... (but) I was crossing Sunset Boulevard one day and I was at the middle meridian and waiting to cross. A beautiful car pulled up beside me, and I just looked over and then he drove on.
"A week later the same thing happened. The third time it happened, the gentleman in the car rolled down his window and said, 'Hi, we seem to be doing this. Are you going where I just came from?'
"And we realised that we were both in therapy, and he’d just come from his analyst... and I was just going to one in that region. Then I got a call asking if he could come talk to me about a film, and that film was Darling Lili, which we eventually made together. It was a huge flop, but it didn’t seem to affect our relationship in any way."...
- 4/17/2011
- WENN
Julie Andrews recalls the couple's early meetings, calling them "very Hollywood", in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times.
She explains, "I'd met him in passing at some reception many many years before I actually personally met him... (but) I was crossing Sunset Boulevard one day and I was at the middle meridian and waiting to cross. A beautiful car pulled up beside me, and I just looked over and then he drove on."
"A week later the same thing happened. The third time it happened, the gentleman in the car rolled down his window and said, 'Hi, we seem to be doing this. Are you going where I just came from?'"
"And we realised that we were both in therapy, and he'd just come from his analyst... and I was just going to one in that region. Then I got a call asking if he could come...
She explains, "I'd met him in passing at some reception many many years before I actually personally met him... (but) I was crossing Sunset Boulevard one day and I was at the middle meridian and waiting to cross. A beautiful car pulled up beside me, and I just looked over and then he drove on."
"A week later the same thing happened. The third time it happened, the gentleman in the car rolled down his window and said, 'Hi, we seem to be doing this. Are you going where I just came from?'"
"And we realised that we were both in therapy, and he'd just come from his analyst... and I was just going to one in that region. Then I got a call asking if he could come...
- 4/17/2011
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
When the news of Blake Edwards’ passing at age 88 broke earlier this month, it stood to reason his obituaries would mandatorily lead off identifying him as the writer/director behind the “Pink Panther” movies and as a “master of sophisticated slapstick comedy.” After all, the “Panther” films may not have been his best work, but, in a career marked by as many flops as hits, they were his most recognized and consistently popular efforts with six films spanning 20 years (excluding 1993’s execrable post-Peter Sellers Son of the Pink Panther).
In the longer obits, it was nice to see his more sophisticated work also remembered like romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), another iconic rom-com for another decade in 10 (1979), his 2/3 brilliant and 100% brutal skewering of Hollywood in S.O.B. (1981), and an early turn at drama with Days of Wine and Roses (1962), still one of the most disturbing portraits of alcoholism in a studio film.
In the longer obits, it was nice to see his more sophisticated work also remembered like romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), another iconic rom-com for another decade in 10 (1979), his 2/3 brilliant and 100% brutal skewering of Hollywood in S.O.B. (1981), and an early turn at drama with Days of Wine and Roses (1962), still one of the most disturbing portraits of alcoholism in a studio film.
- 12/27/2010
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Mrs & Mrs Blake Edwards (1974)Our heart goes out to the divine Julie Andrews in what is surely a difficult time as her husband the writer/director Blake Edwards passed away a few days ago. We apologize for the delay in honoring him. Edwards was long beloved and praised for his comic sensibilities as a writer and director, most famously within The Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers.
What was less often noted is that he was often responsible for shining a flattering light on actresses, no matter your feelings about him getting Julie out of her clothing. His late career efforts in this realm (Ellen Barkin in Switch and Kim Basinger in Blind Date) weren't as magical as his earlier work but he had a hand in big moments in the careers of Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn and was absolutely crucial to Julie Andrews career.
Blake and Natalie Wood...
What was less often noted is that he was often responsible for shining a flattering light on actresses, no matter your feelings about him getting Julie out of her clothing. His late career efforts in this realm (Ellen Barkin in Switch and Kim Basinger in Blind Date) weren't as magical as his earlier work but he had a hand in big moments in the careers of Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn and was absolutely crucial to Julie Andrews career.
Blake and Natalie Wood...
- 12/18/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Chicago – If you love movies, you love Blake Edwards. The iconic comic director, best known for teaming with Peter Sellers in a series of wacky Pink Panther adventures, also directed such classics as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Great Race” “10” and “Victor Victoria.” Blake Edwards died Wednesday at age 88.
Born William Blake Crump in 1922 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Edwards began his career as a writer/director in Hollywood’s “Silver Age” in the 1950’s, after a stint as an actor in the 1940’s, mostly playing uncredited military types in such films as “They were Expendable” and “The Best Years of Our Lives.” He began in radio, writing the popular “Richard Diamond” series, and moved on to television with Diamond star Dick Powell with “Four Star Playhouse.”
Peter Sellers (left) and Blake Edwards (right) trying out a gag during their memorable collaboration
Photo credit: BFI
Edwards went...
Born William Blake Crump in 1922 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Edwards began his career as a writer/director in Hollywood’s “Silver Age” in the 1950’s, after a stint as an actor in the 1940’s, mostly playing uncredited military types in such films as “They were Expendable” and “The Best Years of Our Lives.” He began in radio, writing the popular “Richard Diamond” series, and moved on to television with Diamond star Dick Powell with “Four Star Playhouse.”
Peter Sellers (left) and Blake Edwards (right) trying out a gag during their memorable collaboration
Photo credit: BFI
Edwards went...
- 12/18/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Film director best known for the Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany's and 10
The film-maker Blake Edwards, who has died aged 88, will be best remembered as the creator of the Pink Panther films, and as the husband of the entertainer Julie Andrews. But Edwards was a third-generation show-business figure whose complex and controversial career spanned more than 50 years, initially as an actor and writer and subsequently as one of America's most prolific producer-directors, primarily concerned with the popular genres of comedy and musicals and with creating television series.
Despite working in mainstream cinema, his maverick spirit and ego made him an uneasy partner with Hollywood studios. He famously savaged the hand that had fed him so well with S.O.B. (1981), a raucous, vitriolic attack on Tinseltown. His sophisticated work drew strongly on his love of early cinema (his stepgrandfather had directed silent films), and on his own life and psychological problems (he...
The film-maker Blake Edwards, who has died aged 88, will be best remembered as the creator of the Pink Panther films, and as the husband of the entertainer Julie Andrews. But Edwards was a third-generation show-business figure whose complex and controversial career spanned more than 50 years, initially as an actor and writer and subsequently as one of America's most prolific producer-directors, primarily concerned with the popular genres of comedy and musicals and with creating television series.
Despite working in mainstream cinema, his maverick spirit and ego made him an uneasy partner with Hollywood studios. He famously savaged the hand that had fed him so well with S.O.B. (1981), a raucous, vitriolic attack on Tinseltown. His sophisticated work drew strongly on his love of early cinema (his stepgrandfather had directed silent films), and on his own life and psychological problems (he...
- 12/17/2010
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Director/writer Blake Edwards, who graduated from directing episodic TV in the 1950s to being one of the top feature film directors of his era, has died at age 88. He had been quite infirm for over a year. Julie Andrews, Edwards' wife since 1968, was at his side when he passed away. Edwards had his share of films that were unsuccessful with critics and the public, but when his films did click they were often huge successes. He directed the Pink Panther series despite having personal differences with his temperamental star Peter Sellers. He also had an enormous hit with the 1979 comedy 10 that made Bo Derek a household name. Less appreciated by mainstream audiences was S.O.B., his scathing 1981 satiric attack on Hollywood studio executives that many speculated was based on Paramount's having cut his 1970 film Darling Lili against his wishes. Julie Andrews starred in several of his films, most successfully in Victor,...
- 12/17/2010
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Los Angeles — Blake Edwards, the director and writer known for clever dialogue, poignance and occasional belly-laugh sight gags in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "10" and the "Pink Panther" farces, is dead at age 88.
Edwards died from complications of pneumonia late Wednesday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, said publicist Gene Schwam. Blake's wife, Julie Andrews, and other family members were at his side. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks.
Edwards had knee problems, had undergone unsuccessful procedures and was "pretty much confined to a wheelchair for the last year-and-a-half or two," Schwam said. That may have contributed to his condition, he added.
At the time of his death, Edwards was working on two Broadway musicals, one based on the "Pink Panther" movies. The other, "Big Rosemary," was to be an original comedy set during Prohibition, Schwam said.
"His heart was as big as his talent. He was an...
Edwards died from complications of pneumonia late Wednesday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, said publicist Gene Schwam. Blake's wife, Julie Andrews, and other family members were at his side. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks.
Edwards had knee problems, had undergone unsuccessful procedures and was "pretty much confined to a wheelchair for the last year-and-a-half or two," Schwam said. That may have contributed to his condition, he added.
At the time of his death, Edwards was working on two Broadway musicals, one based on the "Pink Panther" movies. The other, "Big Rosemary," was to be an original comedy set during Prohibition, Schwam said.
"His heart was as big as his talent. He was an...
- 12/16/2010
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Blake Edwards, the screenwriter, producer and director best-known for the hugely successful Pink Panther film series in collaboration with the comedian Peter Sellers, died Wednesday evening at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica of complications from pneumonia; he was 88. Known mostly for the slapstick comedy of the Pink Panther films and other farces ranging from the midlife crisis comedy 10 to the gender-bending Victor/Victoria, Edwards did venture into other genres, most notably with the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn, and the melodrama Days of Wine and Roses, both filmed in the early 1960s. Edwards was also known for his high-profile marriage to actress Julie Andrews, whom he directed in a number of films, and with whom he adopted two children; Andrews and his family were reportedly at his bedside when he passed.
Born William Blake Crump on July 26, 1922, in Tulsa Oklahoma, Edwards was the son of a stage director and the grandson of prolific silent-film director J. Gordon Edwards. He began his career as an actor and a radio scriptwriter specializing in hard-boiled private detective scripts tinged with humor, a different take from the classic noir gumshoes such as Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. Edwards took his talents to the small screen in 1959, creating the TV series Peter Gunn about a private investigator who loved hip jazz and dressed to the nines. Though the series ran for over 100 episodes, Peter Gunn is perhaps best remembered for its theme music, composed by Henry Mancini, who was to become an invaluable contributor to Edwards' career in film.
In the mid 1950s Edward also moved towards film, directing a number of comedies before striking box office gold with the 1959 hit Operation Petticoat, starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. Two years later, Edwards turned Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's into a critical and commercial success, propelling Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly into the pop culture pantheon as well as Mancini's hit song "Moon River", which won an Oscar (the film received five Oscar nominations total, including Best Actress). The adult-for-its-time comedy, co-starring George Peppard, Patricia Neal and Mickey Rooney (whose jaw-dropping portrayal of a stereotypical Japanese landlord was the film's biggest misstep), erased much of Capote's sexual subtext in favor of a standard Hollywood romance between the two leads, but it nonetheless became one of the favored romantic comedies of all time. He followed up that film with the effective black-and-white thriller Experiment in Terror (1962) , his only turn in the thriller genre, and the alcoholism drama Days of Wine and Roses (also 1962), which featured Academy Award-nominated performances by Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick.
In 1963, beginning with The Pink Panther (1963) and in four subsequent Panther films over two decades, Edwards, in collaboration with Peter Sellers, gave audiences one of the most distinctive comedic characters ever conceived - Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau. With an exaggerated French accent and an incredibly clumsy manner, Clouseau was a uniquely brilliant creation, a completely inept detective who always got his man. Only two films were made in the early 1960s, but the franchise was revived in the mid 1970s with three more films. Though Sellers died in 1980, Edwards made three additional Panther films into the early 1990's, though none came close to capturing the freewheeling and blissfully absurd spirit of the first two Panther comedies, which also included A Shot in the Dark (1964).
First married from 1953-1967 to actress Patricia Walker, with whom he had two children, Edwards met his second wife, Julie Andrews, in the late 1960s as both were coming off big movie hits, she with The Sound of Music and he with the Pink Panther films as well as The Great Race (1965) and The Party (1968). The two, who married in November 1969, attempted to join their creative forces for the World War I musical melodrama Darling Lili, which was an attempt to show Andrews in a more adult light as a Mata Hari-type spy who attempts to use her seductive wiles on American major Rock Hudson, only to fall in love him. One of the most notorious flops of its time, the production was marred by expensive location shooting, expansive yet nonsensical musical numbers, extensive rewrites and constant meddling from Paramount studio to make the film more commercially appealing; the budget skyrocketed as the film drew towards its 1970 release, and was roundly drubbed as a fiasco on all counts.
Darling Lili practically sunk Edwards' career, and the filmmaker suffered from severe depression and retreated to Switzerland to recover. While he made some films in the early 1970s, none were warmly received until The Return of the Pink Panther in 1975. After two more Panther films with Peter Sellers, Edwards was suddenly back on top in 1979 with the comedy 10, which featured Dudley Moore as a man besotted with a younger woman, a corn-rowed Bo Derek, who thanks to the film would become a superstar and cultural icon of the time, due mostly to scenes captured of her running on a Mexican beach in little more than a flesh-colored bikini. The film turned Edwards' career around, and he gleefully skewered the Hollywood that attempted to sink him after Darling Lili with the scathing satire S.O.B. (1981), in which Andrews played a thinly veiled version of herself and finally rid herself of her pristine image by baring her breasts.
Andrews received an Oscar nomination, as did Edwards for screenwriting, for the cross-dressing musical hit Victor/Victoria (1982), the story of a British female singer pretending to be a gay Polish female impersonator in pre-World War II France. The racy comedy, which dealt frankly with cross-dressing and homosexuality in an era when both evoked titters and general discomfort with mainstream audiences, also starred James Garner and Oscar nominees Robert Preston and Lesley Ann Warren. The film, featuring numerous musical numbers and Edwards' patented brand of slapstick, was a huge hit, and would inspire a Broadway musical adaptation in the mid-1990s, also directed by Edwards and starring Andrews; lightning, however, did not strike twice, and though commercially successful, it was less than warmly received by critics.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Edwards made more comedies, including Micki & Maude (1984), A Fine Mess (1986), Blind Date (1987), and Switch (1991); his most notable film post-Victor/Victoria was the autobiographical That's Life! (1986), starring Jack Lemmon as an Edwards-style protagonist suffering from depression, Julie Andrews as his wife, and one of Edwards' children, and one of Andrews' children as part of the main character's large family.
After the Broadway adaptation of Victor/Victoria, Edwards essentially retired from filmmaking; in 2004 he received an Honorary Oscar "In recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen". The presentation of the award, by Jim Carrey, was notable for including a patented Edwards sight gag, in which the director, ensconced in a wheelchair, crashed through a wall in an attempt to accept the statuette.
Edwards is survived by Andrews and his four children.
Born William Blake Crump on July 26, 1922, in Tulsa Oklahoma, Edwards was the son of a stage director and the grandson of prolific silent-film director J. Gordon Edwards. He began his career as an actor and a radio scriptwriter specializing in hard-boiled private detective scripts tinged with humor, a different take from the classic noir gumshoes such as Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. Edwards took his talents to the small screen in 1959, creating the TV series Peter Gunn about a private investigator who loved hip jazz and dressed to the nines. Though the series ran for over 100 episodes, Peter Gunn is perhaps best remembered for its theme music, composed by Henry Mancini, who was to become an invaluable contributor to Edwards' career in film.
In the mid 1950s Edward also moved towards film, directing a number of comedies before striking box office gold with the 1959 hit Operation Petticoat, starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. Two years later, Edwards turned Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's into a critical and commercial success, propelling Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly into the pop culture pantheon as well as Mancini's hit song "Moon River", which won an Oscar (the film received five Oscar nominations total, including Best Actress). The adult-for-its-time comedy, co-starring George Peppard, Patricia Neal and Mickey Rooney (whose jaw-dropping portrayal of a stereotypical Japanese landlord was the film's biggest misstep), erased much of Capote's sexual subtext in favor of a standard Hollywood romance between the two leads, but it nonetheless became one of the favored romantic comedies of all time. He followed up that film with the effective black-and-white thriller Experiment in Terror (1962) , his only turn in the thriller genre, and the alcoholism drama Days of Wine and Roses (also 1962), which featured Academy Award-nominated performances by Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick.
In 1963, beginning with The Pink Panther (1963) and in four subsequent Panther films over two decades, Edwards, in collaboration with Peter Sellers, gave audiences one of the most distinctive comedic characters ever conceived - Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau. With an exaggerated French accent and an incredibly clumsy manner, Clouseau was a uniquely brilliant creation, a completely inept detective who always got his man. Only two films were made in the early 1960s, but the franchise was revived in the mid 1970s with three more films. Though Sellers died in 1980, Edwards made three additional Panther films into the early 1990's, though none came close to capturing the freewheeling and blissfully absurd spirit of the first two Panther comedies, which also included A Shot in the Dark (1964).
First married from 1953-1967 to actress Patricia Walker, with whom he had two children, Edwards met his second wife, Julie Andrews, in the late 1960s as both were coming off big movie hits, she with The Sound of Music and he with the Pink Panther films as well as The Great Race (1965) and The Party (1968). The two, who married in November 1969, attempted to join their creative forces for the World War I musical melodrama Darling Lili, which was an attempt to show Andrews in a more adult light as a Mata Hari-type spy who attempts to use her seductive wiles on American major Rock Hudson, only to fall in love him. One of the most notorious flops of its time, the production was marred by expensive location shooting, expansive yet nonsensical musical numbers, extensive rewrites and constant meddling from Paramount studio to make the film more commercially appealing; the budget skyrocketed as the film drew towards its 1970 release, and was roundly drubbed as a fiasco on all counts.
Darling Lili practically sunk Edwards' career, and the filmmaker suffered from severe depression and retreated to Switzerland to recover. While he made some films in the early 1970s, none were warmly received until The Return of the Pink Panther in 1975. After two more Panther films with Peter Sellers, Edwards was suddenly back on top in 1979 with the comedy 10, which featured Dudley Moore as a man besotted with a younger woman, a corn-rowed Bo Derek, who thanks to the film would become a superstar and cultural icon of the time, due mostly to scenes captured of her running on a Mexican beach in little more than a flesh-colored bikini. The film turned Edwards' career around, and he gleefully skewered the Hollywood that attempted to sink him after Darling Lili with the scathing satire S.O.B. (1981), in which Andrews played a thinly veiled version of herself and finally rid herself of her pristine image by baring her breasts.
Andrews received an Oscar nomination, as did Edwards for screenwriting, for the cross-dressing musical hit Victor/Victoria (1982), the story of a British female singer pretending to be a gay Polish female impersonator in pre-World War II France. The racy comedy, which dealt frankly with cross-dressing and homosexuality in an era when both evoked titters and general discomfort with mainstream audiences, also starred James Garner and Oscar nominees Robert Preston and Lesley Ann Warren. The film, featuring numerous musical numbers and Edwards' patented brand of slapstick, was a huge hit, and would inspire a Broadway musical adaptation in the mid-1990s, also directed by Edwards and starring Andrews; lightning, however, did not strike twice, and though commercially successful, it was less than warmly received by critics.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Edwards made more comedies, including Micki & Maude (1984), A Fine Mess (1986), Blind Date (1987), and Switch (1991); his most notable film post-Victor/Victoria was the autobiographical That's Life! (1986), starring Jack Lemmon as an Edwards-style protagonist suffering from depression, Julie Andrews as his wife, and one of Edwards' children, and one of Andrews' children as part of the main character's large family.
After the Broadway adaptation of Victor/Victoria, Edwards essentially retired from filmmaking; in 2004 he received an Honorary Oscar "In recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen". The presentation of the award, by Jim Carrey, was notable for including a patented Edwards sight gag, in which the director, ensconced in a wheelchair, crashed through a wall in an attempt to accept the statuette.
Edwards is survived by Andrews and his four children.
- 12/16/2010
- by Mark Englehart
- IMDb News
Courtesy: Charlie RoseLOS Angeles, California (X17online) - Oscar winning director Blake Edwards, husband of Julie Andrews and the man behind such classics as Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther series, 10, The Days of Wine and Roses, and Victor/Victoria, died Thursday morning with Andrews and his adult children by his side. He was 88. After a turbulent 14-year marriage to former actress Patricia Walker, the famed director met Andrews while working with her on the 1969 musical Darling Lili. After the film wrapped, Edwards told People in 1977: "It seemed dumb not to admit we were in love," while Andrews revealed: "I kept telling him it wasn't going to work!" The couple were married for 40 years and resided in both Gstaad, Switzerland, and Malibu. Edwards was presented an honorary Oscar in 2004. He is survived by a daughter, Jennifer, an actress; son, Geoffrey, a writer, director and editor; Andrews's daughter (with her first husband,...
- 12/16/2010
- x17online.com
Blake Edwards, the master craftsman who gave the world such stylish screen fare as Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther series with Peter Sellers, and Victor/Victoria with his wife Julie Andrews, died Thursday morning with Andrews and his grown children at his bedside, reports Variety. He was 88. No further details have been provided. Born in Tulsa, Okla., but with a grandfather and father in the Hollywood movie business, William Blake Crump (the name Edwards came later) practically had celluloid flowing through his veins. After graduation from Beverly Hills High and World War II duty in the Coast Guard, Edwards sold two scenarios for Westerns.
- 12/16/2010
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Blake Edwards passed away last night at at 88 due to complications of pneumonia, The Associated Press has confirmed. A classic Hollywood talent, Edwards spent more than six decades working as a writer, director and producer, bringing to the screen films like The Pink Panther , Breakfast at Tiffany's , and Days of Wine and Roses among many others. Though his last credited film was 1993's Son of the Pink Panther , Edwards has been a long-celebrated talent, earning a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2004. Edwards is survived by five children and his wife, actress Julie Andrews. The pair had been married since 1969 and collaborated on a number of films, including Darling Lili and 10 . The clip below features a classic example of Edward's comedy with Peter Seller starring...
- 12/16/2010
- Comingsoon.net
To celebrate the 75th birthday of the great Julie Andrews, our favorite singing governness, our favorite magical nanny, our favorite gender bending toast of Paris. Something big was in order. Why, she's practically perfect in every way... so in her honor, a resurrection of a long dormant exhaustively researched 100% true* series that was once the Film Experience's most popular feature.
1935 Julia Wells is born to Mrs. Barbara Wells in Surrey, England. Mr. Wells is not the father. Scandal! This bastard child will one day become the icon of squeaky clean family entertainment. She won't always enjoy it. At her christening the good fairy Fauna grants her the gift of song
One gift, the gift of song,
Melody your whole life long!
The nightingale her troubadour,
Bringing his sweet serenade to her door.(We figure that's the only way you get a voice that lovely.)
1940 Having already recognized the fairy's generous gift,...
1935 Julia Wells is born to Mrs. Barbara Wells in Surrey, England. Mr. Wells is not the father. Scandal! This bastard child will one day become the icon of squeaky clean family entertainment. She won't always enjoy it. At her christening the good fairy Fauna grants her the gift of song
One gift, the gift of song,
Melody your whole life long!
The nightingale her troubadour,
Bringing his sweet serenade to her door.(We figure that's the only way you get a voice that lovely.)
1940 Having already recognized the fairy's generous gift,...
- 10/2/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
With 18 Academy Award® nominations for Best Song (and one more nomination for the song score of "Darling Lili," written in collaboration with Mancini), Mercer remains one of the cinema's most honored songwriters. Such standards as Blues in the Night, I'm Old Fashioned, That Old Black Magic and Something's Gotta Give added immeasurably to the impact of the movies in which they were performed, not to mention the good will generated by Mercer's anthem to the movie business - Hooray for Hollywood.
- 10/28/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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