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Now in our seventh calendar year! PCR #327. (Vol. 7, No. 26) This edition is for the week of June 26--July 2, 2006.
COMING SOON LETTERS WHAT'S 2 FOOT TALL AND 35 YEARS OLD? IT'S OFFICIAL PASSING ON As mentioned in last week's rant, prolific television producer Aaron Spelling passed away last Friday from complications of a stroke he had suffered earlier in the week. He was 83 years old. After beginning his television career as a writer, he quickly moved into the producer's chair by the time he was 33. He produced more then 200 television series and films in his 50-year career, far too many to list individually. However, here are just a few of the ones I watched faithfully: Daniel Boone, Honey West, The Mod Squad, The Rookies, S.W.A.T., Starsky and Hutch, Family, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Dynasty, T.J. Hooker, Hotel and Beverly Hills 90210. He also produced one of my favorite television films ever, "The Boy In the Plastic Bubble," starring John Travolta. Among his feature films: "Baby Blue Marine," "Mr. Mom" and "'Night Mother." He was married to actress Carolyn Jones, best known as Morticia Addams on "The Addams Family" for 10 years. He later remarried and is survived by his second wife, Candy, and their two children, Tori and Randy.
MY FAVORITE FILMS - CHAPTER 26
FIRST SEEN: Valley Center Cinema, Owings Mills, Maryland In 1994, one of my projectionists, Matt Singleton, introduced me to the work of Quentin Tarantino. He talked me into accompanying him to a midnight showing of "Reservoir Dogs" and also lent me a copy of "True Romance." Needless to say, I was hooked. In June of that year, while attending a movie themed function in New York City, I participated in a silent auction where the winner would receive an advance screening of "Pulp Fiction" for themselves and their friends. I ended up winning the screening and, after a few phone calls, was allowed to have the screening in Baltimore instead of New York. My friend, Ben, arranged for the screening to be held in a 350 seat theatre outside Baltimore. Not having 350 friends, I invited everyone I knew and told them to invite everyone they knew. The place was packed and the reception the film got was phenomenal.
A lot has been written about Quentin Tarantino. He has basically lived every fan boy's dream by rising from local video store clerk to Oscar winning film maker. His sense of pop culture is unrivaled in my opinion. He has taken some of his favorite stars of his past (Travolta, David Carradine, Robert Forster, Michael Parks) and practically given them new careers through the parts he has written for them. And he introduced, along with Kevin Smith, a new type of cinema, driven more by the written word then the on screen action. He has also dabbled in acting, appearing in his own films as well as co-writing and starring in the vampire film, "From Dusk to Dawn." I actually saw him perform on Broadway alongside Marisa Tomei in "Wait Until Dark" and I can say first hand that, as an actor, he's one hell of a film maker! In the 12 years since "Pulp Fiction," he has only done two other films ("Jackie Brown" and "Kill Bill"), making him almost as reclusive as Terrance Malick. He is currently working on one half of a project entitled "Grind House" with fellow film geek turned director Robert Rodriguez, which is scheduled for release next year. He has also shown an interest in making a "Man From U.N.C.L.E" film and actively sought out the latest James Bond adventure. He is also currently working on a "Reservoir Dogs" video game to be released later this year. It is rumored that he has also considered a movie featuring the Vega brothers, Vincent and Vic, to be played by John Travolta and Michael Madsen. As long as he's not acting, I can't wait to see what he does next.
Next week I'll look at another film that featured Eric Stoltz, at least until he was fired, "Back to the Future".
Well, that's all for now. Have a great week. See ya!
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