tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post134053995541049660..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Movie MagicBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31085164476040257042019-11-22T16:13:11.510-08:002019-11-22T16:13:11.510-08:00A current example of the Doris Day Parking Spot ca...A current example of the Doris Day Parking Spot can be found in the excellent (and very serious) MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN, where Norton and Mbatha-Raw pull up and park right in front of the hottest jazz club in Harlem.mike schlesingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15824197221204862706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-35087259423527587492019-11-21T03:33:10.751-08:002019-11-21T03:33:10.751-08:00I assumed all the mail was opened by army censors ...I assumed all the mail was opened by army censors first. And made sure everyone knew. Real or fake the coffee was awful.<br /><br /><br />Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-46546460485621908792019-11-20T10:41:36.279-08:002019-11-20T10:41:36.279-08:00Billy Wilder looks like Wallace Shawn in that pict...Billy Wilder looks like Wallace Shawn in that picture.workplace innovatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11456356067764195005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14077102774741288372019-11-19T22:59:15.914-08:002019-11-19T22:59:15.914-08:00Two parking bits; last month, on a busy Saturday n...Two parking bits; last month, on a busy Saturday night, I snagged a space directly in front of the downtown Seattle Dick's Drive-In (which I was going to). But I have above average parking karma, leading to the second, more amazing bit.<br /><br />Many years ago, I was hosting writer Harlan Ellison for an appearance at the University of Michigan. We knew each other already, so things were casual. I was driving him from talking to a class on North Campus to his next engagement with a class on Central Campus. It being the middle of the day and the class building not on the Diag but close, I said I'd probably have to drop him off at the building, he could find the classroom, and I'd get there when I found a parking space. <br /><br />He said he had good parking karma, I replied that I did too, and a few moments later I was parking about 20 feet from the building entrance.<br /><br />(Worst movie parking bit. Don't recall the name, but it had a character walking out of the Boston Pops Fourth of July concert on the Esplanade right to his parked right there car (which would've had to have been there since, oh, before sunrise) and driving off without hitting any traffic restrictions or, well, traffic.)<br />Tom Gallowaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-68979724798372633062019-11-19T21:37:43.200-08:002019-11-19T21:37:43.200-08:00In reference to the post above by Estiv about HItc...In reference to the post above by Estiv about HItchcock:<br />https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeLogic<br /><br />"Fridge Logic has been the writer's-room term for these little Internal Consistency issues for a good while, as in "Don't sweat the Fridge Logic, we've got bigger fish to fry. We've only got 20 minutes left to work in three costume changes, a foreign language, and a weird wig." It refers to some illogical or implausible plot point that the audience doesn't realize during the show, but only long afterwards. This naming is highly subjective, since not every person follows the same train of thought. Some people will never even realise there was a problem, while others will call it a Plot Hole, since they already noticed the problem during the show.<br /><br />The phrase was technically coined by Alfred Hitchcock. When asked about the scene in Vertigo when Madeleine mysteriously, and impossibly, disappears from the hotel that Scottie saw her in, he responded by calling it an "icebox" scene, that is, a scene that "hits you after you've gone home and start pulling cold chicken out of the icebox." "<br />Jithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12277374853833650307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29742553868877886442019-11-19T20:06:31.240-08:002019-11-19T20:06:31.240-08:00Ken, through Billy Wilder you have two degrees of ...Ken, through Billy Wilder you have two degrees of separation from the great Ernst Lubitsch.<br /><br />I'm impressed.VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-59545769523278364462019-11-19T19:05:06.283-08:002019-11-19T19:05:06.283-08:00Wilder shoulda gone out with Fedora. Bookend with ...Wilder shoulda gone out with Fedora. Bookend with Sunset Blvd. Good Old fashioned. As opposed to Buddy buddy's bad old fashioned.<br /><br />In a good last movie, John Wayne's character in The Shootest gets a haircut. The prop man put small clips of hair. Wayne told him to drop big clumps. That the audience would accept it.Bill Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06041905291496937729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52643806918732757072019-11-19T16:13:59.878-08:002019-11-19T16:13:59.878-08:00::: FRIDAY QUESTION :::
From the department of &q...::: FRIDAY QUESTION :::<br /><br />From the department of "I've always wondered..."<br /><br />On MASH, was the coffee urn in the Mess Tent a working urn or was it strictly just a prop?Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00107309396839340695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-44464503051330160852019-11-19T15:40:31.148-08:002019-11-19T15:40:31.148-08:00I wish I suffered from Doris Day parking syndrome....I wish I suffered from Doris Day parking syndrome. And have the perfect parking spot constantly <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-19820337114314570522019-11-19T14:47:52.884-08:002019-11-19T14:47:52.884-08:00Just one more example, again from Hitchcock. I'...Just one more example, again from Hitchcock. I'll add that 1) the relevant part only lasts about sixty seconds, and 2) I never would have known we're seeing an older Rod Taylor if it hadn't been clear from context.<br /><br />https://youtu.be/JM1isMOti-c?t=444estivhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12736355730705116526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-587820624773037982019-11-19T14:47:01.149-08:002019-11-19T14:47:01.149-08:00Just one more example, again from Hitchcock. I'...Just one more example, again from Hitchcock. I'll add that 1) the relevant part only lasts about sixty seconds, and 2) I never would have known we're seeing an older Rod Taylor if it hadn't been clear from context.<br /><br />https://youtu.be/JM1isMOti-c?t=444estivhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12736355730705116526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39907841907889462492019-11-19T14:30:31.875-08:002019-11-19T14:30:31.875-08:00Breaking Bad, it bothers me that Saul Goodman is j...Breaking Bad, it bothers me that Saul Goodman is just magic who can solve all their problems. I have a guy who can sell all your product for you. I know a guy who can get you a new identity.MikeNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-90495679159206829782019-11-19T12:04:08.625-08:002019-11-19T12:04:08.625-08:00I worked as a technical advisor on The Fugitive.
W...I worked as a technical advisor on The Fugitive.<br />When I pointed out an inaccuracy about what goes on in the hospital, an assistant director told me "We want real life, just not too much real life." <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-41653309861655731562019-11-19T12:03:48.483-08:002019-11-19T12:03:48.483-08:00How about when the phone rings, somebody always an...How about when the phone rings, somebody always answers it immediately after the first ring? Or when a character knocks on somebody's door (or rings the door bell), the homeowner always opens the door two seconds max afterwards? Or when somebody in a medical situation is given a sedative injection, and they're knocked out instantly? And how about M*A*S*H? Did you ever notice none of the mail that arrived for anybody in camp was ever actually sealed? Everybody just opened the envelope flaps like nothing. MAGIC!Joseph Scarbroughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02572781083272335747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-12603874583964135692019-11-19T11:43:26.204-08:002019-11-19T11:43:26.204-08:00Wilder didn't have as much clout to get the Ru...Wilder didn't have as much clout to get the Russians and the East Germans to stop building the Berlin Wall while he was trying to do the scene there with Jimmy Cagney for "One, Two, Three" in 1961. They had to finish by recreating the Gate on a set at a West German studio.J Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175515543694122729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-10929792959679144892019-11-19T11:40:10.162-08:002019-11-19T11:40:10.162-08:00A favorite bit of movie magic -- magic in any fict...A favorite bit of movie magic -- magic in any fiction, I guess -- is getting away with an outrageous coincidence. If it's too obvious, it tips a lazy or desperate writer. But it's done all the time.<br /><br />If it's positioned as bad luck for the hero, it'll usually fly. Making something especially undesirable somehow mitigates its unlikelihood (the wives spotting Stan and Ollie in a newsreel in "Sons of the Desert"). If a hero makes really clever use of an improbable event, the hero's ingenuity veils its convenience (the uniformed minion who's exactly the hero's size). And in farce, foreshadowing characters on a collision course can make wild coincidences look comically inevitable. As as Estiv noted, speed and the illusion of sense covers a multitude of holes.DBensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01144515471557731622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-19081871805473220582019-11-19T10:50:11.468-08:002019-11-19T10:50:11.468-08:00One of my favorite things about being an extra was...One of my favorite things about being an extra was getting to see all the behind the scenes action, especially the props and sets. One time we were filming inside the Los Angeles colosseum. There were piles of debris everywhere. Since this was not long after our 1994 Northridge earthquake I assumed that they were from repairs going on around the venue. As I got closer I noticed that what I thought was concrete and steel, etc., was Styrofoam and plastic. The "debris" was actually part of the set dressing. Yet, it totally faked me out! Things that look so real and solid on camera are often, quite literally, just a facade.<br />M.B. Mike Bloodworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04755626259169126800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-49465697359124806302019-11-19T10:48:05.993-08:002019-11-19T10:48:05.993-08:00Re: Parking spaces. The last scene of Albert Brook...Re: Parking spaces. The last scene of Albert Brooks's "Lost in America" shows a Winnebago instantly finding a parking place in front of the main character's building in midtown Manhattan. The whole audience got the joke and cracked up.Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-18531525703965342162019-11-19T10:45:11.988-08:002019-11-19T10:45:11.988-08:00From “Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controvers...From “Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder”<br />By Gene D. Phillips<br /><br />Peter Sellers was not accustomed to incessant banter on the set.<br />Moreover, Wilder preferred an open set and allowed his own friends, <br />as well as guests of the cast and crew, to visit the soundstage during shooting.<br />“The clubby atmosphere made Sellers feel like an outsider,” <br />since he was from Britain, notes Glenn Hopp.<br />............,, .........<br />Once he was back in London, Sellers granted Alexander Walker <br />an interview for the Evening Standard, in which he declared<br />“I have had Hollywood, luv. At the studios they give you every creature comfort, <br />except the satisfaction of being able to get the best work out of yourself. <br />I used to go down to the set of Kiss Me, Stupid with Billy Wilder <br />and find a bloody Cook’s Tour of hangers-on and sightseers. <br />standing just off the set, right in my line of vision.”<br />These were friends of the director and the cast <br />“who came to kibitz on Peter Sellers, actor. <br />I should have ridden to the set on horseback and bawled out. <br />‘Who are all these damn civilians? <br />Get them out of the range of my cannons!’ “Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-48351741795890752902019-11-19T09:56:37.420-08:002019-11-19T09:56:37.420-08:00Andy Rose, years ago Roger Ebert had a recurring f...Andy Rose, years ago Roger Ebert had a recurring feature in his newspaper column where he had a glossary of terms that referred to movie cliches, which he also later turned into a book. He created some of them himself, but many came from reader submissions and I submitted one that he actually used. My submission was "Human Antenna", which referred to the ability of a movie character to turn on the TV at the exact moment when a newscaster is starting a report on something directly relevant to them. Jeffrey Graebnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04452864460607926061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28165100455085445042019-11-19T09:41:19.703-08:002019-11-19T09:41:19.703-08:00Alfred Hitchcock is supposed to have calmly admitt...Alfred Hitchcock is supposed to have calmly admitted that there were plot holes in all his thrillers, but since you didn't notice them until you'd left the theater, who cared?estivhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12736355730705116526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47030681743994040102019-11-19T09:23:50.765-08:002019-11-19T09:23:50.765-08:00Funny, the last time I heard the phrase "movi...Funny, the last time I heard the phrase "movie magic" was from the recently deceased Marshall Efron in the movie IS THERE SEX AFTER DEATH? His director character was responding to a grotesque scene involving a squirrel humping a horse,Lemuelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-33963960641586145612019-11-19T08:29:24.391-08:002019-11-19T08:29:24.391-08:00Isn't it also known as "artistic license&...Isn't it also known as "artistic license"?Mike Barerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447874605833321732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-72715893961779841572019-11-19T08:22:39.753-08:002019-11-19T08:22:39.753-08:00I'm just old enough to remember when most TVs ...I'm just old enough to remember when most TVs still had vacuum tubes. The tubes had to warm up in order to work, so it would take several seconds after the set was turned on before you'd see a picture. It always bothered me as a kid when people on TV would turn on their set and see a picture almost immediately.<br /><br />I would also get annoyed when writers in the days before cell phones would use the premise of a live news report to let one set of characters know instantly about something that happened to another character in a different location. TV and radio stations don't cut in to regular programming to give a "breaking news" report on a routine arrest of a non-celebrity, or an ordinary protest or car accident. But you'd see them all the time on sitcoms and dramas because somebody needed to be able to say, "Wait, is that MOM being led away in handcuffs?" or "That sounds like Dad's car that just wrecked on the 101!"Andy Rosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39091157248563095722019-11-19T08:21:52.341-08:002019-11-19T08:21:52.341-08:00BUDDY BUDDY didn't work, but I loved the origi...BUDDY BUDDY didn't work, but I loved the original French comedy it was based on, released in the US as "A PAIN IN THE A--", starring Jacques Brel and Lino Ventura. It was directed by Edouard Molinaro, who also directed LA CAGE AUX FOLLES.<br /><br />I enjoyed Wilder's version of THE FRONT PAGE when it came out, but I was a kid. It really gets raked over the coals in the current Eddie Murphy Netflix film DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, which I loved.<br /><br />Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, who thinks TFP is awful and not funny (despite a white audience enjoying it), and it inspired him to make his own movie. Dixon Steelenoreply@blogger.com