TCM

[Insidious Von]

Ted Turner is younger than his favorite ex-wife Jane Fonda yet luck isn't on his side. He has Lewy Body Dementia, he has secluded himself on his Montana ranch.

His channel TCM is priceless. They are currently doing a Sidney Poitier retrospective, some of the titles I've never heard of before. A Patch of Blue was on, I hadn't seen it in decades. It's lost none of quiet power rating an audience score 80% on IMDB. Elisabeth Hartman was a gorgeous redhead who may have taken most of Sissy Spacek's roles had she kept her health. Like Gene Tierney, she was bi-polar. The former Film-Noir Femme Fatale endured numerous electric shock therapy before escaping the sanitorium. Gorgeous Ms. Hartman committed suicide at age 43.

 

[Insidious Von]

Ivan Dixon (Hogan's Heroes) played Poitier's brother.

 

[Insidious Von]

Just giving a heads up for whomever is interested.

TCM is doing a review of post WWII Japanese films. It's starting now with two Ikira Kurosawa films Scandal (about a gambling addict in modern Tokyo) and Throne of Blood (MacBeth). Yojimbo (A Fist full of Dollars) is also on the menu. I've never seen Scandal nor Throne of Blood, I'm looking forward to the later. For good reason I may have missed Scandal, the other film Kurosawa made in 1950 was Rashomon.

Rashomon is an absolute classic murder mystery that showcases the beauty of the Japanese countryside with the ruination of WWII.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

While the few Japanese movies I have seen are brilliant, I suppose, they ain't exactly a barrel of laughs. Talk about a window into the soul. Fuckin scary culture.
Women portrayed as very horny though. So I guess there's that.

 

[Insidious Von]

Akira Kurasawa's influence on Western film runs deep, I was wrong about Scandal.

It's actually the original version of Sidney Lumet's The Verdict with Takashi Shimura in the Paul Newman role. He plays him as thoroughly beaten man, Paul Newman didn't reach this level of hopelessness. Until he pulls a rabbit out of a hat, leaving the defendants utterly bamboozled. Lumet changed it from a defamation case to a hospital malpractice. Takashi Shimura would go on to play the Yul Brynner role in Seven Samurai.

 

[Insidious Von]

Ted Turner may be old and enfeebled now, in his prime he was an audacious risk taker.

He bet on Cable TV at a time that The Big Three dominated network TV. He skirted bankruptcy, TBS didn't turn a profit for over a decade. You can't hold back technology, Time-Warner saw the potential and merged with TBS - they wanted their own fledgling cable channel HBO to survive. Ted Turner changed the format of HBO from live events to quality programming that could rival anything produced by the Big Three. He wanted TCM to not be like Disney, a nostalgia channel, so he bought the film division of MGM which gave him first dibs on The Criterion Collection.

Much to our enjoyment as Akira Kurosawa's three greatest film were featured on Friday. Yojimbo (A Fist Full of Dollars), Rashomon and Seven Samurai (The Magnificent Seven). All three feature Toshiro Mifune, who's actually closer to John Wayne than Clint Eastwood. I have to make time for Seven Samurai, it's almost as long as The Irishman...considered the pinnacle of Kurosawa achievement.

 

[Don Draper]

Commendatore Von, you continue to show your erudite film taste. I am also a huge Kurosawa fan. The impact he has had on Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas & Scorsese is undeniable. The whole Star Wars saga exists because of "The Hidden Fortress".

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"Rashomon" is also the inspiration for Zhang Yimou's epic "Hero". Where the color palette dictates the narrative as much as the performances.

Too bad much of this is lost on the TERB fraternity.

 

[unassuming]

Oh Boy! TCM has a Clint Eastwood marathon today, starting at 11:15am

Every Which Way But Loose
Hang'em High
Coogan's Bluff
Kelly's Heroes
The Outlaw Josie Wales
The Gauntlet