Gently down the stream....favorites that never reached video in the u.s. (1 Viewer)

[Louis Letizia]

That would make most sense, sort of like the Preminger estate. While I understand families wanting to protect a loved ones dignity after they are deceased, in the case of WC FIELDS AND ME, it seems unfair. It was a sweet, tame portrayal that was lightyears away from how the man was written about. Hopefully, like Premingers family, Mr Fields will relent. Hope lies in that last year it was shown on cable quite often and was available on hulu streaming. Yes, it is far from a great movie, but there is no denying Steigers turn...at once poignant and nasty, very much like the real man, very much like all men. I wonder if this is stopping other maligned bios like THE INCREDIBLE SARAH and CHANEL SOLITAIRE from being released? What a bonus to have met Fields grandson. There was something so Purple Roseish about meeting a legends progeny in a movie theater, only backing up how magical the Thalia was.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

What a bonus to have met Fields grandson. There was something so Purple Roseish about meeting a legends progeny in a movie theater, only backing up how magical the Thalia was.

Richard said he met the junior Fields. at a dinner, though, not the Thalia.

 

[Louis Letizia]

I read it too quickly at work...sorry.

 

[Louis Letizia]

Others: AN INTIMATE TENDERNESS: I had never heard of this unique United Artists documentary. It hit home. Focusing on 2 invalid children who comfort each other in their hospital reminded me of my sickly childhood. I had a brain tumor at 5 years old and was in the hospital over a month -i was unable to speak or hear very well after the operation-and I too developed a relationship with a little girl who was worst off than myself. My movie love may have eminated here as the playroom was bombarded with Disney books , posters and toys and a constantly playing phonograph that like something out of CHRISTINE -only played Disney records. As time went on I got better -but the little girl , unfortunately stayed the same. I tried to dance with her, teach her songs -but her condition was too far gone. As a 30 something the girls mother found me and wrote that Darlene had passed on but that I was one of the few bright spots in her short, dark life. She swore I was the only one that could make her beloved daughter smile . This heartwrenching documentary was a blessing to find. That a major studio released such a downer (yet uplifting) it is even more impressive . THE MERCENARY : It seems everyone else has a DVD of this amazing spaghetti western but the u.s.. I do not count the bastardized , awful EDDE video as a real video and thus this is a video premiere. Quentin Tarantino loved this-and so do I. Jack Palance would spoof his character here over 2 decades later in CITY SLICKERS. I ESCAPED FROM DEILS ISLAND : I'm amazed that in 40 years this very exploitable Papillion ripoff never escaped to find the light of day on video in any format A BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY : An AIP gangster flick that has a nice tone to it

 

[Richard Kaufman]

I met Field's grandson at the Academy of Magical Arts Awards Banquet dinner. (The AMA is the entity that inhabits the Magic Castle in Los Angeles.) Not sure of the year, but it was between five and 10 years ago. He bore a small resemblance to his grandfather. His hatred for "W.C. Fields and Me" was very deep. So much so that I was afraid to say how much I admired Steiger in the part, particularly because Steiger had few great parts in the latter part of his career.

 

[Louis Letizia]

Hopefully he will reconsider. Fields was given pathos by Steiger. I can't help to think this was more of a vehicle for Valerie Perrine than Steiger at that point. It was her firest major film after her Oscar nomination for LENNY(amazing she was nominated as Best Actress when this year Bereniece Bejo is considered Supporting in another modern black and white classic -THE ARTIST)-and she kind of fizzled after SUPERMAN . She's an aquired taste -but not knowing anything of the real life "ME" in Fields life -I can only say she did a formidable job. WC FIELDS AND ME was a bomb from the getgo as I look through old Variety magazines. It was r eleased a month after GABLE AND LOMBARD (which did quite well and no matter what anyone thinks of it had a great Jill Clayburgh performance as well as one of the best scores of the 70s)-but didnt ride the wave of a subgenre of old hollywod set movies that inclued the brilliant DAY OF THE LOCUST. 2 mnths after FIELDS bombed the subgenre literally went to t5he dogs with Paramounts WON TON TON THE DOG WHO SAVED HOLLYWOOD. The small genre would slightly recover with NICKELODEON at the end of 1976 and had a real cult classic with INSERTS at the beginning