One of the best voices ever
It's fitting that he was discovered based on his voice alone because it's one of the best ever. I read somewhere his mother was quoted as saying he had that deep voice even as a young boy.
shareI never knew that about him. I always loved him in Have Gun Will Travel.
shareHello, MissMargoChanning! I love him in Have Gun-Will Travel too and just about every other thing he was in as well!
If you are referring to how he was discovered, the story goes that he fed lines off-screen to an actress who was doing a screen test for the director Lewis Milestone. Milestone had no interest in the woman, but told whoever was there to find out who the voice was. He was found and given a 7 year long contract with Fox--all because of that voice!
Fantastic! I never knew that.
I have always liked him. I have seen him in odd films....
I am a big horror film buff. I love the bad, good and the ugly when I see something fun. I Bury The Dead may stink like Rotten Tomatoes, but I love watching that movie. If for nothing else? Richard Boone!
Thanks for the info. I'm going to check out more of his work.
I watched him in I Bury the Living just last week! I enjoyed it despite the reviews because of him! Did you ever hear that there was an alternate ending to that movie? The archived threads here from IMDb talk about it.
If you haven't seen Richard Boone in the 1972 TV movie Goodnight, My Love, it's a must-see. It's so entertaining, and the dialogue is wonderful! About the only place to see it is on YouTube.
I also liked him in A Thunder of Drums and The Tall T.
I've enjoyed chatting with someone who gets why I like Richard Boone so much!
I had no idea of the alternate ending. I will read more!
"If you haven't seen Richard Boone in the 1972 TV movie Goodnight, My Love, it's a must-see. It's so entertaining, and the dialogue is wonderful! About the only place to see it is on YouTube."
This sounds good! I will definitely watch it and let you know what I think. Thanks!
I enjoy chatting with you. People gripe about how slow the traffic is on this site.
I say that we need to look at the trending board more and respond! That's where I found you.
The people on General Discussion should follow this advice. They may not gripe so much about the slow traffic..... LOL!
Glad to meet you! I am a big fan of Richard Boone!
I enjoy chatting with you. People gripe about how slow the traffic is on this site.
I say that we need to look at the trending board more and respond! That's where I found you.
The people on General Discussion should follow this advice. They may not gripe so much about the slow traffic..... LOL!
Glad to meet you! I am a big fan of Richard Boone!
I completely agree with you about looking to the trending board and responding to those. I am only interested in the individual title boards, and I'm getting a good vibe from this site approaching it this way. I've found some people I remember from IMDb by looking at trending.
Glad to meet you too! :)
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I hope to run into you again. I will definitely check out Goodnight My Love and I'll let you know what I think.
Hang in here. This site is still new.
I hope you enjoy Goodnight, My Love, Miss Margo! I can't wait to find out what you think of it. :)
shareI am just dropping by because I am on record at moviechat, imdb and other places as trying to promote Richard Boone as one of the great unsung actors of the 60s and 70s. However, I find his greatness to be limited in scope:
"At the movies" between 1964 and 1979, as follows:
Rio Conchos(actually the star for once, with Tony Franciosa his fellow cool guy)
Hombre(opposite Paul Newman)
The Night of the Following Day(opposite Brando)
The Kremlin Letter(for John Huston)
Big Jake(opposite John Wayne)
Goodnight My Love(1972 TV movie)
The Shootist(opposite Wayne again, at Wayne's request, for Wayne's final film)
The Big Sleep(opposite Robert Mitchum)
WinterKills(among such faded all stars as Liz Taylor, Tony Perkins, and Toshiro Mifune!)
Boone made his name and his first fortune on Have Gun Will Travel. The movies weren't inclined to make him a star, but he was always in demand in the 60s, making about one movie a year while spending the rest of his time in Hawaii for most of the decade(Boone was offered the lead on Hawaii 5-0.)
I think before Boone played the role in Rio Conchos, he lacked a few "personality colors" having played such a straight role on HGWT all those years, and having been tossed into movies where he couldn't use his humor(movies like A Thundering of Drums and even The Alamo cameo as Sam Houston.)
But starting with Rio Conchos, Boone rather re-invented himself -- like Al Pacino did with Scarface and Scent of a Woman. Boone -- like Pacino -- suddenly got funnier, and more flamboyant with his line readings, and just more FUN to watch, whether he was playing bad(Hombre, Big Jake), good (The War Lord, Goodnight My Love) or somewhere in between(Rio Conchos.)
Boone died in 1981, but as late as 1979 you can see him acting up a storm in a few scenes in the thriller "WinterKills." LA Times critic Charles Champlin wrote of Boone's work in that film "Boone makes his every line sound as authentic as if it is the word of God." His co-star Jeff Bridges said that Boone amazed him with his "unique line readings."
That Richard Boone didn't hit the star level of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or Lee Marvin or Gene Hackman is somewhat a factor of luck, somewhat a factor of deteriorating looks, and, sadly, somewhat a factor of Boone's offscreen alcoholism near the end . But he easily SHOULD have been at their level of stardom.
And for me, he is.
He is also now something that all film actors become: nostalgic. Seeing Richard Boone's TV and film work now summons back, for some of us, our younger years and the people we watched back THEN as our character guys.
I fully expect later generations to feel the same way about Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman, the "guys we see all the time now."
My appreciation of Richard Boone is quite new even though my knowledge of him isn't. Sometimes I have to remove the scales from my eyes and see more clearly what I've been missing!
Yes, he is an unsung one. You mention his greatness is limited in scope. I've been reading the David Rothel book about him, and it's made quite clear that when he was on point in either his acting or directing, nobody was better, but then there were times when his heart wasn't in it and it showed. That along with his drinking you mentioned could've certainly made the difference.
Another possible reason why he didn't achieve that superstar level was he wanted quite a bit of control over his projects. The "suits" had a difficult time with him.
I like to think about what he would've been like on Hawaii Five-0. Ahhh, what could've been.
One thing that is certain is he died far too soon. His son Peter is quoted as saying he believed the 80s would've been a great decade for his dad professionally speaking had he lived.
You mention his greatness is limited in scope. I've been reading the David Rothel book about him,
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That's a great book. Its a bit of a limited edition vanity book, but obviously somebody out there felt that Richard Boone deserved his due. The many interviews with family and friends reveal the actor as "a regular guy with a big talent," and shed light on his problems, too.
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and it's made quite clear that when he was on point in either his acting or directing, nobody was better, but then there were times when his heart wasn't in it and it showed. That along with his drinking you mentioned could've certainly made the difference.
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Yes, it seems with each passing year, his concentration faded even as his innate talent with line reading and hand gestures did not. Its like he's at 2/3 speed in some of his later roles.
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Another possible reason why he didn't achieve that superstar level was he wanted quite a bit of control over his projects. The "suits" had a difficult time with him.
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Boone was evidently shocked at how, after he delivered a megahit in "HGWT," when he wanted to do weekly reperatory dramas as "The Richard Boone Show," the suits cancelled THAT in one season. This evidently drove him to exile in Hawaii(with a wife he loved and a son he adored).
But even in exile, he was in demand. About a movie a year. And sometimes that movie was Hombre or Big Jake. And The Kremlin Letter -- a thoroughly nasty and repellent John Huston spy movie which Boone single-handedly saves with just about the best performance he ever gave IMHO. (And he does it with his moustache shaved and dyed-white hair!)
I like to think about what he would've been like on Hawaii Five-0. Ahhh, what could've been.
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And he lived there already! It lasted ten years, ended in '78 so Boone would have lived to finish it. Maybe lived longer by doing it.
Still, Boone was likely tired of the TV grind and he didn't know it would be such a hit. Perhaps watching Jack Lord grow rich from it pained him.(The drinking.)
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One thing that is certain is he died far too soon. His son Peter is quoted as saying he believed the 80s would've been a great decade for his dad professionally speaking had he lived.
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Boone was 63. He joined Lee Marvin and Bill Holden in dying at 63; all three men lived hard lives(though Holden died in a drunken fall, alone in his apartment, and likely would have lived longer if found in time.)
With Clint Eastwood and other stars now working well into their 80's, one can only mourn Boone(and others of his short-lived lifespan) who left us too soon. But on the other hand, Boone and those other guys lived the hard-drinking, hard-smoking lives they wanted to live, and gave us some great stuff in short but not THAT short working lives. Boone was active from the early 50s to about 1980. That's about 30 years to show us some fine acting.
ecarle, you have such a vast knowledge on so many topics! I'm just wowed by it!
But even in exile, he was in demand. About a movie a year. And sometimes that movie was Hombre or Big Jake. And The Kremlin Letter -- a thoroughly nasty and repellent John Huston spy movie which Boone single-handedly saves with just about the best performance he ever gave IMHO. (And he does it with his moustache shaved and dyed-white hair!)
I have to see this film! If you believe it to be his best performance, that means something!
I read that NBC had no intention of ever renewing The Richard Boone Show beyond a year. It was just a filler show. No wonder he fled to Hawaii. share
I have to see this film! If you believe it to be his best performance, that means something!
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Well, it is his most entertaining performance, I think.
The issue is that the movie it is in -- and aspects of Boone's own character -- are very reprehsensible.
I can watch it because that stuff doesn't get to me...but I worry that it might get to others.
So watch The Kremlin Letter to fast forward past the Boone scenes, and to hold your stomach for some of what he says -- even if HOW he says it(especially in a number of scenes that aren't so replusive) is still entertaining.
What a half-hearted rave I'm now giving him in that film! Me, I just tune out the sick stuff and enjoy the Boone stuff. George Sanders and Nigel Green are enjoyable, too.
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I read that NBC had no intention of ever renewing The Richard Boone Show beyond a year. It was just a filler show. No wonder he fled to Hawaii.
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Evidently Boone wasn't told this when he started the show. His rage was high. And he had made his "go to hell money" from HGWT. So he moved to Hawaii.
And he was still in demand for movies and, eventually, quite a few TV movies(they saved Boone and a number of other actors in the 70's -- Martin Balsam made a few of those, too.)
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As you know or will know when you finish the David Rothel book, once Boone's beloved son was grown up, Boone elected to move with his wife to HER home city of St. Augustine Florida. Also near the ocean...just another ocean. It is in St. Augustine that Boone lived his final years and days.
ecarle, you have such a vast knowledge on so many topics! I'm just wowed by it!
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Thank you for your kind words. A man picks up a lot of trivia over the decades , if he reads enough. Time to pass some of it along...
It's good to see you back in the saddle, EC.
Richard Boone, I think, suffered from what one might called "black and white syndrome", which is to say he photographed better without color. His features were strong and well defined, though his natural coloring wasn't that dark. When movies and TV switched to all color this became apparent, which was of course aggravated by his heavy drinking.
I seriously doubt that even Clark Gable would have made it so big if movies had been in color when he began. He too looked perfect in black and white. It's like his charisma was determined by it. Same with Bogart. Not awful in color but better without. Color was such a game changer. Lee Marvin was fortunate in going back to the black and white era; and the other Lee, Van Cleef, wasn't hurt by color, but for the most part the era of the "facially distinguished", strong featured player ended after 1966. It was a whole new ball game after that, for stars as well as character actors.
It's good to see you back in the saddle, EC.
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I show up when I can, telegonus. Though even this very day, I've been fighting "disappearing posts" on these boards. I think the powers that be here just dump my stuff if there's too much. I guess.
But I will try to respond here because..YOU showed up!
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Richard Boone, I think, suffered from what one might called "black and white syndrome", which is to say he photographed better without color. His features were strong and well defined, though his natural coloring wasn't that dark. When movies and TV switched to all color this became apparent, which was of course aggravated by his heavy drinking.
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This whole line of discourse is new to me and fascinating. Much as actors with bad voices were "out" once the sound era came in...thus did color mess up an era of "black and white" actors! Again, fascinating.
And of course Boone, with his "rugged"(er, pockmarked and wrinkled) face had to fight things. I suppose a darker tan would have helped.
On the other hand, Boone was a beneficiary of the sound eras love of great voices. To think in retrospect how important the voices of Bogart, Grant, Stewart and Fonda were to their stardom...Boone was in their vocal ballpark.
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Thanks for the quick reply,--gotta run--but briefly: I've often wondered why some charismatic television actors who seemed to have the right stuff to become major stars didn't. Think Michael Ansara (Broken Arrow, The Law Of The Plainsman), another great voice, and a commanding presence. Ends up as a character actor, probably best remembered as the ex-Mr. Barbara Eden. Yuk!
Robert Lansing, so literally commanding and authoritative on 12 O'Clock High, and yet he goes nowhere afterwards, TV and movie-wise, that is. He had a fine stage career but was in virtual peekaboo mode for the last twenty years of his life. Then there was the brooding Vince Edwards, of Ben Casey, another non-starter. There seems to be no rational explanation for this. In some cases there were "personality issues". Okay.
For all this, it takes a good deal of luck and what I can best describe as self-management skills for an actor to "endure" after a TV series. James Garner nor Clint Eastwood were a combination of luck and shrewd in lasting so long. Neither showed superstar potential on the small screen, though Garner's charm was obvious.
Steve McQueen had to reinvent himself for the movies. He never struck me as particularly dynamic or charismatic on Wanted: Dead Or Alive. The Rifleman's Chuck Connors seemed to have more but after a few "spikes" he became a moderately successful TV actor. David Janssen had charisma to burn as The Fugitive, less so later on.
Thanks for the quick reply,--gotta run--but briefly: I've often wondered why some charismatic television actors who seemed to have the right stuff to become major stars didn't. Think Michael Ansara (Broken Arrow, The Law Of The Plainsman), another great voice, and a commanding presence. Ends up as a character actor, probably best remembered as the ex-Mr. Barbara Eden. Yuk!
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What was interesting to me is that the Eden-Ansara marriage lasted a very long time...well past his "castability" before finally breaking up. Somehow, love kept them together. They were also, in the beginning, two very hot bodies...I figure this was a bigtime physical attraction marriage.
The downside for Ansara in his prime, I think, is that he was seen as made for "exotic ethnic character parts" before exotic ethnic people became part of the American mainstream and stars in their own right.
As to the second "clause" of your post, telegonus, its indicative of the forever-tricky chemistry of Hollywood acting careers(where my fascination lies on the male side of the ledger -- its not quite so beauty-driven as the other side.)
Your named actors in descending order of stardom:
Clint Eastwood -- a huge star for 30 years (1970-2000), with plenty of years of stardom on either side. Now a successful director. The most successful star in Hollywood history.
Steve McQueen -- like Clint, from TV Westerns to start, and BIGGER than Clint in the 60s and even the 70s (McQueen didn't work much, but was sought for high profile films.) Premature death at 50 ended the superstardom, Clint won on genes.
James Garner -- very handsome, and with an affable vocal manner that was perfect for comedy. (He was as much Cary Grant as John Wayne.) He got to be a movie star for the 60s. Period. Then back to TV for stardom there ("The Rockford Files") and years thereafter of a TV/movie mix. Never really a superstar in the Clint/Steve tradition.
David Janssen. Some saw Clark Gable in Janssen's big ears and gravelly voice and The Fugitive was an enormous hit show. The movies didn't work for him very long. He was great in a competitive private eye show to Rockford.."Harry O."
As I recall, a heart attack took Janssen out fairly young . James Garner claimed that the grind of TV work -- plus Janssen's hard-drinking, partying lifestyle -- took him out(he was pals with Rod Stewart.)
Robert Lansing: A great voice and a commanding presence but he was neither as pretty as Garner nor as rugged as Boone. Lansing almost had a "corporate man" look to him that didn't quite carry over into a "type for casting."
Still, all of these men worked at various levels and earned at various levels.
Clint's hitting the top is a bit ironic to me. McQueen(eventually with age) had more realistic charisma and Garner seemed more the Compleat Movie Star. But Eastwood found his niche -- merciless, murderous, stoic, sexy - and ran with it.
Had to run to the store for a return,in 90 plus degree weather, couldn't avoid it. Now at library, for a short spell:
Yes, all true. There had been ethnic stars prior to the Sixities but the Latin lover type went out pretty much with the silent era despite such moderately successful later players as Ricardo Montalban and Ferndando Lamas. Ansara wasn't Latin but he played his share. He had something of a Robert Lansing-Robert Stack thing going for him: no-nonsense hero with cojones. Monolithic when given a chance to shine. He could also play a sullen bad guy-sore loser type.
Lansing had generic leading man looks, was more striking than most, he alas resembled Ralph Bellamy in being handsome in a classic "other man" fashion, but more stalwart as a type. With the right vehicle he might have taken off. Fox got more fan mail when he left 12 O'clock High than they'd ever had for any star in their history, protesting Lansing's departure. This made him, briefly, a possible candidate for Patton. They remembered all the fallout from a few years before.
Another one who showed similar potential, though he wasn't half the actor Lansing was IMO was Pernell Roberts. His quitting Bonanza at its peak was considered a bad career move, but Roberts did as he pleased, and when he returned to episodic television he picked a winner in Trapper John, a part he played for more years than Adam Cartwright. IRL Roberts outlived all his Bonanza co-stars. Lucky guy. He when to get in, when to get out (I guess).
David Janssen had really been around the block a number of times prior to The Fugitive. He'd been Richard Diamond in the Fifties for Four Star, a Universal contract player for a number of years prior to that. Janssen always had that superstar in the making air to him, more than most in Uni's "stable" (Rex Reason, Jack Kelly, Grant Williams, Richard Long, William Reynolds,--but then they had Clint Eastwood, too!). As Dr. Richard Kimble he finally crashed through.
Ran out of space: but that show took a lot out of him. His basically conservative demeanor (and personal political views) made him, in just a few short years, a sort of younger, sexier Jack Webb. But his type was way out of fashion in the Seventies, Harry O notwithstanding. He might have, like Richard Boone, had HE lived, made a comeback. Heck, if bland as butter John Forsythe could come roaring back in the Eighties, not to mention that failed Liz Taylor might have been Joan Collins, these guys could have...
shareI'm fighting a disappearing post problem that drives me crazy trying to respond, telegonus. I'm not stopped from READING, however.
Still I shall try to respond til they stop me again...
Your Cook's Tour of all those actors is pretty fascinating...those of us who follow movies and TV "from a certain era" know all those names.
Its a weird damn numbers game in Hollywood. Who gets stardom. Who KEEPS stardom.
I think one issue for Janssen and Lansing and Roberts is that they never got the one big movie that launches a star and keeps them flying for awhile.
McQueen got The Magnificent Seven, and then The Great Escape. Launched.
Eastwood got the weirdest launch of all: the spaghetti Western. (Charles Bronson and Lee Van Cleef used that route, too.)
James Garner got Doris Day movies AND The Great Escape.
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But Janssen and Lansing never got one of those shots.
Of course, TV stardom is its own reward. John Wayne turned down Gunsmoke and recommended his protégé James Arness. And for awhile there -- Arness earned more for Gunsmoke than Wayne earned in movies!
Your "Uni stable" list invokes the dangers of being "just another handsome guy" in Hollywood. Hard to get star traction.
Meanwhile , a heavy set heavy like Raymond Burr -- with ANOTHER great voice -- becomes Perry Mason AND Ironside. A star from the 50s through the 70's. On TV.
I'm having some problems posting here, too, EC.
To stay on the TV track: it's truly a mixed and strange blessing to be a TV star, by which I mean in a dramatic series, as a regular on a series that lasts more than a season or two.
The slipping into near oblivion rate is quite high, and some TV players actually brought this on themselves, even early on, such as Sky King's Kirby Grant, The Lone Ranger's Clayton Moore (and Jay Silverheels), and all the regulars on the wildly popular Superman series. For all the tributes paid to him of late Batman's Adam West didn't have much of a post-Batman career beyond the Camp level. He became, as one shrewd IMDB poster noticed several years ago "the new Leslie Nielsen", when the latter died. Well, its succinct anyway.
I just watched a couple of episodes of Felony Squad (go figure) and took note that Dennis Cole didn't have much of a career after that series ended. How's about them Peyton Place regulars (aside from Mia and Ryan): Dorothy Malone, Tim O'Connor, Ed Nelson, Pat Morrow, James Douglas? Some remained sort of busy but none enjoyed the kind of high profile name and face recognition they'd had for a few brief shining years on Peyton Place.
Then there are those "journeyman superstars" who knock one out of the ballpark twice (at least): Raymond Burr, James Garner, John Forsythe, Michael Landon, Pernell Roberts, Carroll O'Connor and William Conrad. I'm not sure if Larry Hagman truly belongs on this list. Or for that matter Dennis Weaver.
Few women's name's, alas, I just noticed. Lucy was on and off again a prime time fixture for well over twenty years. Carol Burnett had a dozen years on her variety show after her stint on Garry Moore. Elizabeth Montgomery didn't want another show after Bewitched, remained a highly popular star of TV movies and mini-series thereafter. Mary Tyler Moore is one of the great exceptions, with not only two long running series to her name but too much beloved classic ones as well.
The women stars were mostly of the comedy and/or variety kind, including MTM. I mean, look at Dinah Shore's career: she had two, three or more hit series, but they were all musical, variety or talk.
I'm having some problems posting here, too, EC.
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Its a mystery, telegonus. If the owners are doing it, I wish they would set a policy on post frequency (for me.) Otherwise...I dunno.
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To stay on the TV track: it's truly a mixed and strange blessing to be a TV star, by which I mean in a dramatic series, as a regular on a series that lasts more than a season or two.
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I'm not sure how this worked with radio , but once TV came along in the 50's, actors and actresses suddenly had that means of making a living...at their peril.
I've got anecdotes:
Hitchcock, after directing John Forsythe in The Trouble With Harry, frankly advised Forsythe that his career would be as a TV actor, not in movies.
OR
Just this week with the passing of Martin Landau, an old quote from him about how being on Mission:Impossible killed his movie career for awhile:
"I'd worked with Hitchocck, George Stevens, Lewis Milestone, Joe Mankewicz. But with Mission:Impossible, it all stopped. I'd become a TV actor."
Buy, hey, reversibly: The M:I producers also made "Mannix" and that made Mike Connors a star. On TV.
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The slipping into near oblivion rate is quite high, and some TV players actually brought this on themselves, even early on, such as Sky King's Kirby Grant, The Lone Ranger's Clayton Moore (and Jay Silverheels), and all the regulars on the wildly popular Superman series.
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You have to figure that some of these actors knew these was the only place that they COULD shine. I'll bet movie character parts were hard to come by back then. They had nowhere else to go..except into other professions after TV acting.
For all the tributes paid to him of late Batman's Adam West didn't have much of a post-Batman career beyond the Camp level.
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Indeed. Though I was impressed to see how much he DID work. He was saluted at Con-COM this week, and some TV producer said he worked hard to book West on his shows because he grew up on Batman.
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He became, as one shrewd IMDB poster noticed several years ago "the new Leslie Nielsen", when the latter died. Well, its succinct anyway.
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Succinct, true, but ironic: it took some years to realize that Adam West was Leslie Nielsen ON BATMAN. Recall that Nielsen had a "serious career" for over 20 years before Airplane switched him in 1980. Though I think he's pretty funny in The Poseidon Adventure, overacting his poorly written cruise ship captain.
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As I mentioned before, Adam West's passing seemed to be given the weight of the death of a Head of State. So many Boomers and post-Boomers loved THAT Batman.
It had great villains, that's for sure.
Richard Boone, I think, suffered from what one might called "black and white syndrome", which is to say he photographed better without color. His features were strong and well defined, though his natural coloring wasn't that dark. When movies and TV switched to all color this became apparent, which was of course aggravated by his heavy drinking.
I seriously doubt that even Clark Gable would have made it so big if movies had been in color when he began. He too looked perfect in black and white. It's like his charisma was determined by it. Same with Bogart. Not awful in color but better without. Color was such a game changer. Lee Marvin was fortunate in going back to the black and white era; and the other Lee, Van Cleef, wasn't hurt by color, but for the most part the era of the "facially distinguished", strong featured player ended after 1966. It was a whole new ball game after that, for stars as well as character actors.
telegonus, this point you make about some looks being better for black and white television is fascinating and brilliant to me. I believe you are so right about this.
Boone's face was like a human relief map, and the shadows and highlights that B&W TV offered him showcased him wonderfully. I read once that on HGWT they used a magenta light to deepen and darken the color of his hair. I didn't get why they would do that until I saw his natural coloring in another role. He had much lighter hair and eyes than I believed that didn't offer as much distinction in color.
This discussion reminds me of a 1942 horror movie called The Cat People. That movie is a thing of cinematic beauty to me, and it's all down to the fact it's in black and white. The shadows and highlights with the whites, blacks, and grays arrest the eyes. If it had been filmed in color, it would've been another picture entirely, one not as good. share
Thank you, Platinum Screen. Black and white enhanced aspects of the film, sets, clothing and faces in ways that were unique to black and white. Think of the texture, the richness, of Citizen Kane, of so many Noirs, even comedies. Films like It's A Wonderful Life or even, to move in the opposite direction, the 1958 Titanic sinking movie A Night To Remember. Color would have ruined both. The change to all color films and television some fifty years ago killed much of the joy of just watching movies and television. There are exceptions, of course; and color is fine for films that need to emphasize color, but black and white is strong for many kinds of movies, such as dramas, suspense films, comedies, even films set largely outdoors, or which emphasize the outdoors. I think of Red River.
shareWhat's sad about this b/w versus color discussion is that, even though a few b/w films still get made now and then, a conscious decision was made to drop the option.
It was indeed around 1966...and driven by the proliferation of color TV sets in the US. That was the last year with separate "Black and White" categories at the Oscars, too. (Cinematography, Art Direction.)
You would think all these decades later, with all these TV channels on cable, that b/w shows and films could come back. The audience is huge and splintered now. "Color TV" doesn't much have a cachet anymore.
I know. We can always dream, EC, but as of now black and white seems to be slipping into borderline oblivion, with Boomers like us keeping the love and enthusiasm alive--as younger folk prefer color. I say this because there are so few black and white films shown on TV, and on digital they've been ghettoized; and old black and white TV shows are getting scarcer by the year.
MeTV is a great champion of black and white, it seems, but they dropped their Sunday Night Noir lineup a while ago, and then one by one dropped their old Noir or noirish TV series: Naked City, The Untouchables, Thriller,The Fugitive, Thriller, Peter Gunn, Mr. Lucky. That was probably the most TV fun I've had in the last thirty years. Seriously.
There were lengthy threads on several message boards sites on what Me was doing, but in the end they canned it, went for color shows of a much later vintage. There's been a "ginger" return to form of late, what with Perry on weeknights, followed by The Twilight Zone, then two Hitch half-hours, plus a late night weekend return of back to back Outer Limits episodes, but my sense is that the audience for the black and white shows and movies is skewed to Boomers and older, and that unless a miracle happens, its numbers are going to dwindle even more as the years go by.
Let's hope not. I hope they'll be a revival of black and white, period, and a renewed interest in classic films and TV.
I know. We can always dream, EC, but as of now black and white seems to be slipping into borderline oblivion, with Boomers like us keeping the love and enthusiasm alive--as younger folk prefer color.
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One thing to remember about Van Sant's Psycho is that one of the reasons he made it was to do the story in color...and thus lure in an audience who had no taste for b/w. That didn't really work -- the color of Hitchcock's Psycho IS black and white. (I sometimes try to imagine Hitchcock's Psycho in 1960 color...I think it might look like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.)
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I say this because there are so few black and white films shown on TV,
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Viva TCM!
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and on digital they've been ghettoized;
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At least the colorization horror is long past(it was of the 80s and is now ancient itself.) They never got around to Psycho -- I think Universal had it too well protected.
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and old black and white TV shows are getting scarcer by the year.
One needs access to those channels you frequent. I fear age-ism will start banning them as Sinatra channels got banned (On AM/FM -- he's alive and well on Sirious satellite radio. But his final wife, Barbara, died at age 90 the day before I posted this.)
MeTV is a great champion of black and white, it seems, but they dropped their Sunday Night Noir lineup a while ago, and then one by one dropped their old Noir or noirish TV series: Naked City, The Untouchables, Thriller,The Fugitive, Thriller, Peter Gunn, Mr. Lucky. That was probably the most TV fun I've had in the last thirty years. Seriously.
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Just reading those titles brings back the memories the SHOWS were good, and somehow "informed" by black and white. If only they could have added Burke's Law and Honey West.
Recall that one rumored reason why Hitchcock pulled the plug on his TV show even with high ratings is that he didn't want it done in tacky TV color. He dropped it in 1965.
Let's hope not. I hope they'll be a revival of black and white, period, and a renewed interest in classic films and TV.
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The happy ending for me is that I personally own so many of my favorite B/W films. Psycho of course(in various versions of digital quality). And the rest of Hitch(his first color movie was Rope!)
And The Apartment(great in 1960 Panavision B/W.) And Lonely are the Brave (the same but 1962).
And Sunset Boulevard. And Casablanca. And Citizen Kane...
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B/W faves of mine in recent years include Ed Wood(with Martin Landau as Bela, of course) and, for those with strong stomachs, "Sin City." But those movies are over 20 and 10 years old! RECENT years? I'm wrong.
I like Ed Wood, too. Odd that the movie is so much better than anything the man it'ss paying tribute to made, but,--who knows?--maybe that was the idea. It's beautifully made.
shareI like Ed Wood, too.
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Its my favorite of Johnny
Depp films, my second favorite of Tim Burton films(behind Batman with the great Jack Nicholson "cashing in"), and, I'm afraid , my second favorite of Martin Landau films(versus NXNW) -- though clearly this one belongs to Landau more than NXNW did.
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Odd that the movie is so much better than anything the man it'ss paying tribute to made, but,--who knows?--maybe that was the idea.
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The idea that "that was the idea" sounds, I think, in the marvelous fantasy sequence that ends the film -- a full-house premiere of "Plan Nine from Outer Space" in which Ed is given his due --a cheering crowd, a standing O, applause for each and every member of the cast as their names appear (especially the dead Lugosi's.)
One ALMOST believes the scene until we realize that...it could not have possibly happened. Not for the REAL "Plan Nine from Outer Space."
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It's beautifully made.
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And unimaginable in color. Burton had residual "Batman" clout, and could demand b/w.
The film had a script by a pair of writers that took the material to different places that Burton usually went -- more realistic places with regard to Lugosi's poverty and drug problems, more heartfelt places with regard to Ed's finally finding true love with a simple, pretty girl who doesn't mind that he cross dresses -- as long as he "likes girls."
There are a lot of things to love about "Ed Wood." I think one of them is how it captures the "indie film spirit" even as it existed among the untalented. Ed Wood HAS to make movies, so he does everything possible to raise money for them.
And then he hires some "professionals"(a cameraman, a make-up man) who may have seen better days, and may be working on awful no-budget tripe right now -- but who clearly care about making movies, and earning some sort of living at it.
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The film also magnificently captures a crew of "fifties oddball celebrities" -- The Amazing Kreskin, Vampira, and some turbaned dude who plays the organ -- and gives them life as a Hawksian "group of friends" around Ed Wood. (Not to forget Tor the wrestler and Bill Murray lending his star power to the wanna be trans, "Bunny Breckenridge.")
What a special, special movie. With perhaps just a touch of Psycho to it -- the horror trappings, the black and white cinematography, the fifties look.
Ed Wood was a nice trip down Memory Lane. Too bad it didn't have much influence on the mainstream. I know that it wasn't a big financial success, but still. Those who loved it loved it a lot.
The acting was so good, too, with Johnny Deep, not, to my way of thinking ideal casting as Wood, putting his all into the part and crashing through, His spirited quality was right for Wood but that his Mid-American voice and manner were wrong for the character, but maybe not. IMHO. A younger Bill Murray, if he could play it straight, would have been closer to my ideal Ed Wood. He was terrific as "Bunny" Breckinridge. Now take off fifteen or twenty years and imagine him in the lead!
Everyone else was good, too. Landau was just fine as Bela Lugosi, though I've never been that big a fan of his. You can always see him acting. In every role. He's better than usual as Lugosi maybe because he's playing an actor. Sarah Jessica Parker was fine, as was Jeffrey Jones, perfect as Criswell. I'm sorry that a scandal ruined his career. I sensed a major talent in him. The ending of the movie was sheer perfection. No, not like it was but like it ought to have bee. The premiere, I mean. In an alternate universe maybe...
Ed Wood was a nice trip down Memory Lane. Too bad it didn't have much influence on the mainstream.
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I saw Ed Wood pretty much on its first night -- at a special midnight sneak preview before it began its regular run. The film gave me almost equal satisfaction as Tim Burton's biggest hit, Batman. It must have been strange for Burton to know that Batman was seen by everyone, whereas Ed Wood was seen by practically no one...but they are of near-equal excitement and affection in my book.
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About that midnight sneak preview. I was a younger, more vibrant fellow in 1994, I guess, but nonetheless, I fell asleep and had a two-hour nap in the early evening before being awakened to go see "Ed Wood" at midnight with my companion. And thus, I will always remember: I saw "Ed Wood" at midnight in a state of "half-slumber," sort of "half awake" and feeling like Ed Wood was as much a dream to me as it was a movie.
Its a great movie going memory -- a PHYSICAL memory.
I know that it wasn't a big financial success, but still. Those who loved it loved it a lot.
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I suppose it couldn't BE a big financial success, given its quirky and "ancient"(1950s!) subject matter. I remember really wondering how the story of Ed Wood could be told; what kind of movie I was going to SEE. (I put my trust in Burton and Bela as draws.) The crackerjack credit sequence with weird music and shots of octopi and cheesy flying saucers set the tone marvelously, I thought, and then the great bit with Jeffrey Jones (as CRISWELL, you are right, not Kreskin) rising out of a coffin to tell us in sonorous tones of the dark and incredible tale we were about to see...well, I was in from the get-go with that.
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The acting was so good, too, with Johnny Deep, not, to my way of thinking ideal casting as Wood, putting his all into the part and crashing through,
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Here was the movie that told me Johnny Depp had it in him to be a charismatic star. Like Kurt Russell before him with "Used Cars", it looks like a comedic performance was necessary to bust Depp free from his bland reputation as a TV series star. Edward Scissorhands had shown off his beauty and acting chops, but not in any sort of "movie star charismatic way." This comedy performance -- with his great "Jon Lovitz-like" line readings, made a difference.
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His spirited quality was right for Wood but that his Mid-American voice and manner were wrong for the character, but maybe not. IMHO.
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Depp was aided by his writers, who conceived of Ed Wood as a guy who felt a kinship with fellow "writer-director-actor Orson Welles"(they meet at the end in a great fantasyish scene done "real") who has no idea that he hasn't a shred of Welles' TALENT. Ed Wood is self-deluded.
But not stupid. Watch his panicky reaction when Bela explodes at a crew member saying "you were great as Karloff's sidekick." Ed KNOWS the mistake his crew member has made, steps right in to divert Bela's attention, etc.
And Depp gets this great exchange after Tor Johnson accidentally walks right into a wall trying to go through a doorway on a film take, with the fake wall shuddering and wobbling:
Ed: Cut and print.
Cameraman: Don't you want to do another take?
Ed: In real life, he would have that problem every day.
It just makes me laugh.
The film also notes that in trying to express to the world his personal take on cross-dressing(in Glen or Glenda?), Ed Wood actually had something to say that was very personal. He wasn't just trying to make horror movies; he was trying to express his life to others.
Johnny Depp's beauty was here re-crafted into something a bit manly, with Wood's WWII background and moustache. The film's great conceit is that this very handsome and self-confident Ed Wood could lure two beauties -- Sarah Jessica Parker and Patricia Arquette -- easily into his orbit, while subjecting each of them to his cross-dressing taste(one rejects, one accepts.) Meanwhile, Parker gamely read this line from a critic's review of her character in an Ed Wood play:
Parker: Do I really look like a HORSE?
(I sense an improvised line here. Parker has a very sexy aura to her, but yeah, she does kinda look like a horse, and I guess she thinks so, too.)
Later, near break-up with Ed, Parker notes of his hangers on:
"I see you've brought along your usual assortment of weirdos, freaks, and drug addicts."
A younger Bill Murray, if he could play it straight, would have been closer to my ideal Ed Wood. He was terrific as "Bunny" Breckinridge. Now take off fifteen or twenty years and imagine him in the lead!
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Absolutely. And funny from the get-go. Someone wrote of Bill Murray early in his movie comedy career: "Bill Murray's gift is that he makes you laugh just standing there, doing nothing. Its how he looks around."
Imagining a "younger Bill Murray" in the role is like it was in the sixties when folks like me imagined a 'younger Cary Grant" in roles. The wish was very strong given how perfect the men were in their younger incarnations but, alas...they got old. They couldn't BE Cary Grant and Bill Murray anymore. Just distinguished later versions of themselves.
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Everyone else was good, too. Landau was just fine as Bela Lugosi, though I've never been that big a fan of his. You can always see him acting. In every role.
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Never thought of that, but yeah. In his Oscar nommed work in "Tucker" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors," I must say I found Martin Laundau over-emotional, a bit off-putting in his "airs". Compare that to "Hitchcock's Other Martin" -- Martin Balsam(Psycho), who projected a certain amiable, regular-guy reality over his entire career.
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He's better than usual as Lugosi maybe because he's playing an actor.
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And a pretty emotional actor. And an actor who had his career ups and downs. Director Tim Burton was direct about it: "Landau knew from Lugosi's career troubles. Landau worked with Hitchcock on North by Northwest but later on Gilligan's Island Meets the Harlem Globetrotters."
Good news: "Tucker," "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Ed Wood" brought Landau back, permanently.
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Sarah Jessica Parker was fine,
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She started as a gawky, indeed horse-faced young actress on "Square Pegs," and then hit a nice sexy period based on a great body and a face that was now "distinctive" -- pretty in its own way. This was when she worked on "Ed Wood." Then came Sex in the City and she cemented her status as "everywoman" in a cast surrounded by other TYPES of women.
On her looks, Parker offered this idea once: "If they make a sequel to The Way We Were, I could play the grown-up daughter of Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Don't I look like BOTH of them?"
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as was Jeffrey Jones, perfect as Criswell.
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Criswell! Not Kreskin.
I love how Criswell is nice to Bela after the latter's disastrous appearance on a live TV comedy show(where the host horribly mistreats Bela on the air.) Ed Wood senses a kindred "compassionate oddball" in Criswell, and they become fast friends. Criswell also directly reveals that he knows NOTHING about the future: "Oh, that's a bunch of poppycock. But people eat it up."
Criswell and the exotic, stand-offish Vampira, are both surprisingly kind in helping Ed Wood try to raise money for his films. "Ed Wood" suggests that even low-level celebrities ARE celebrities, and use their personas with care.
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I'm sorry that a scandal ruined (Jones') career. I sensed a major talent in him.
Its too bad. An unforgivable scandal. Though I think he still got to work on "Deadwood" for awhile.
Well, what's done is done. We have him and his great voice and intriguing face in some films we can still enjoy. Tim Burton used him in Ed Wood, Beetlejuice, and Sleepy Hollow. But he may be most famous as Ferris Bueller's foil ...his final scene in that movie, getting on school bus in ignomy and failure...is hilarious.
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The ending of the movie was sheer perfection. No, not like it was but like it ought to have been. The premiere, I mean. In an alternate universe maybe...
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Well, its a kind of dream-like wonder (with great music) that turns the story of Ed Wood into a story of triumph and winning...and love. Ed opens the door on a rain-filled convertible for his love(Patricia Arquette), and they're off to Vegas to celebrate and marry.
In real life, Ed Wood was a rather tragic, hardscrabble figure. In "Ed Wood," he's a winner.