WINSTON-SALEM – Peter Bogdanovich is cinema. He went from being an entertainment reporter to an Oscar nominated director thanks to a degree from Roger Corman University. He and Polly Platt (they were married at the time) teamed up to create four hit films (Targets, The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc? and Paper Moon). He directed and she was production designer (among her many roles). But Bogdanovich is a passionate man which explains why he had an affair with Cybill Shepherd during The Last Picture Show. Platt stuck around for two more films. His directorial career proved rocky after Platt stopped working with him. He lost a fortune releasing a movie featuring the ill-fated Dorothy Stratten. He found second life as an actor including his time as Dr. Melfi’s shrink on The Sopranos. Now he’s teaching film students at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The man has a lot to talk about.
Recently Adam Hulin sat down with Bogdanovich for an interview that covered the director’s career. Hulin should be known to Party Favors readers as the co-curator of the thrilling Cinema Overdrive film series in Raleigh, NC. He used to run a drive-in theater in the middle of Texas so he understands the terrain of The Last Picture Show. By Bogdanovich covers the filmmaker’s career from his early time with Corman to his friendship with Orson Welles. The special is now available for viewing on Youtube as a 12 part series. I had a chance to swap email with Hulin about talking cinema with the ultimate cineaste.
Party Favors: What inspired you to want to conduct a career survey interview with Peter Bogdanovich?
Adam Hulin: Originally, Second Cinema’s Matt Hayhurst wanted to shoot a 15-30 minute interview with Peter for Second Cinema and Time Warner On-Demand. He knew that I’d gotten to know Peter a little since he’d moved to NC to teach at the School of the Arts and asked if I could set something up for him. Not long after, Matt suggested that I should helm the interview and gave me carte blanche (but not a blank check) on the format. Once everything was agreed on, I prepared to do a career retrospective.
Party Favors: What did he think of dedicating so much time to the interview?
Adam Hulin: You don’t have to twist Peter’s arm to get him talking. He’s an amazing raconteur. I think he appreciated having the chance to talk about some of his lesser known films.
Party Favors: Had you met Bogdanovich before contacting him for the interview?
Adam Hulin: Yes, I had met and talked to him several times before we conducted the interview. He’s always been extremely polite and generous with his considerable knowledge of cinema history.
Party Favors: Were there any ground rules?
Adam Hulin: The only constraint I had was a 2-hour time limit due to his schedule. There were no rules regarding subject matter whatsoever.
Party Favors: How was it talking about Polly Platt with him? (Platt recently passed away after battling ALS for years).
Adam Hulin: He didn’t mind talking about her, but Peter and Polly definitely had a very complicated relationship. It seemed like it was the most strained of his previous romances. In contrast, he’s maintained strong ties with both Cybill Shepherd and Louise Stratten.
That being said, he gave her credit for important suggestions and contributions she’d made early on in his career like pushing him to do Paper Moon after his epic western fell through. She and Sal Mineo were the two key people who convinced him that the novel of The Last Picture Show could be turned into a great movie.
In any case, it’s tragic when anyone has to deal ALS, so my heart goes out to Peter and their two daughters.
Party Favors: What question were you most eager to ask?
Adam Hulin: I didn’t have a prepared list of questions, but the two topics I was most eager to talk to him about were his two biggest flops (At Long Last Love and Illegally Yours) and his two favorite films (Saint Jack and They All Laughed).
Party Favors: Was there an answer he gave that was completely unexpected?
Adam Hulin: I don’t know about unexpected, but I appreciated the fact that he was willing to talk about some extremely painful experiences, namely Dorothy Stratten’s murder and its effect on his desire to continue making movies. He’s never gotten over her death, he’s just learned how to live with it.
Party Favors: Did you consider shooting the interview in black and white?
Adam Hulin: It probably occurred to me at one point. Ultimately, I figured since the vast majority of his pictures are in color, the interview would play better if it matched up to most of the clips. Besides, you couldn’t tell what color neckerchief he’s wearing if it was in black and white.
Party Favors: Will there be a transcript of your interview?
Adam Hulin: I haven’t planned on it. Perhaps one day I’ll transcribe the unabridged version of the interview, not that there’s much missing from the finished film.
Party Favors: Which of his films are your favorites?
Adam Hulin: In chronological order: Targets, The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, Saint Jack and They All Laughed.
From his later work, both Noises Off and The Cat’s Meow are very good. What’s Up, Doc? and Mask were both successes and hold up well. Daisy Miller is perhaps his most underrated film.
Party Favors: When you tell people you interviewed Bogdanovich, do you list his films or just cut to “He was Dr. Melfi’s shrink on The Sopranos?”
Adam Hulin: If they’re under 30, I mention The Sopranos. If they’re over 40, I mention Picture Show, Doc and Paper Moon. For some reason, possibly because they’re black and white, Picture Show and Paper Moon don’t get anywhere near the same kind of TV play films like The Godfather, The French Connection or American Graffiti do.
Party Favors: How is he liking life in North Carolina?
Adam Hulin: He seems to be getting along fine in NC. He frequently travels on weekends to make Q&A appearances at film festivals and screenings of either his own or his favorite directors’ movies.
Party Favors: His documentary about Tom Petty was well received. Do you sense he’ll do another rock doc?
Adam Hulin: As far as I know, he doesn’t have any plans to make another doc, but one can never tell. As of right now, the two projects he’s concentrating on are his screwball comedy, Squirrels to the Nuts, and completing the edit on Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, which Peter co-starred in around 1972.
Party Favors: Who do you think had a bigger influence on him as a filmmaker: Orson Welles or Roger Corman?
Adam Hulin: Welles influenced his use of extreme depth of field photography, but I’d say Howard Hawks’ understated directing style has had the greatest influence on his filmmaking. Peter is a master of filming lengthy and difficult shots that don’t draw attention to themselves.
Party Favors: Do you think it helped that his first film’s star was Boris Karloff so his career as a director nearly spans the history of cinema when it comes to actors?
Adam Hulin: He’s always been outspoken about how much he adored working with Karloff. He also appreciated getting the chance to work with other classic Hollywood actors like Ben Johnson and Mildred Natwick. One of his biggest regrets is that he never got to film his version of Lonesome Dove starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda. Like many filmmakers, Peter feels like he was born a generation too late.
Party Favors: Will he ever work with Ryan O’Neal again?
Adam Hulin: He always says that he never had to deal with a problematic Ryan O’Neal on the set. Apparently Ryan was very cooperative on the three pictures they made together. After Nickelodeon some bad blood developed between Peter, Ryan, and Burt Reynolds. I think this mostly had to do with the film being a tough and physically arduous shoot. After it opened and didn’t do well, there was some finger-pointing going on all around. Peter’s biggest problem with Ryan has a lot more to do with his abusive behavior towards Tatum.
Party Favors: When you were done running the drive-in, did you run Last Picture Show as the finale?
Adam Hulin: I never ran Picture Show at my drive-in, even though the film’s location, Archer City, was only 80 miles away. I will say that I had a much deeper understanding of the book and the movie after having lived in the same area for four years. Honestly, not much has changed.
Targets was the movie I seriously considered running at my theatre since it’s the greatest film to use a drive-in as a primary location. What could be more exciting than watching a film about a sniper hiding behind a drive-in screen while sitting in your car at a drive-in? It’s a shame I never got around to booking a print of it.
Party Favors: After the entire experience, do you still have questions for him?
Adam Hulin: He’s pretty much an inexhaustible resource of all things cinema.
LENNY BRUCE?
Why is Nik Richie of the dirty website pimpin’ his book proposal by calling himself the 21st Century Lenny Bruce? Cause the harsh truth is that Nik Richie isn’t even the 21st Century Larry the Cable Guy. Has he read How to Talk Dirty and Influence People? Has he heard Thank You, Mr Masked Man? Has even watched Lenny? Cause then he’d be forced to admit that he hasn’t a clue as to what Lenny Bruce has to do with his website.
Does Nik Richie know who he really is? He’s Ralph Cirella from Howard Stern’s posse. He makes little wisecracks about how a woman thinking she belongs in Playboy has a botched boob job. That’s what Ralph does to those women who swear they’re ready to be a centerfold. But being the 21st Century Ralphie isn’t as hot as being the new Lenny Bruce. Calling yourself the 21st Century Ralphie makes it sound like you’re the lead in A Christmas Story 2: I’ll Shot My Eyes Out. Nik ought to wear a bunny suit on the cover of his book. It’s what Lenny Bruce would have done.
THE BALLS OF CHARLES NELSON REILLY
Celebrity Bowling was Match Game with balls in the ’70s. The program brought together four well known stars to hang out at the gutter. The dvd contains 15 match ups featuring bigger names than the history of Dancing with the Slugs. Supposedly this recently aired on ESPN Classic, but all I ever saw on that channel was forgettable college bowl games. This is a series that ought to be airing on ME-TV or Antenna TV. I’d be up for Celebrity Bowling after an episode of Love American Style. They made 144 episodes. Break out a six pack of Schlitz and take in the pin busting action. Where else will you see Billy Barty, Charles Nelson Reilly, Nipsy Russell, Roy Rogers, John Saxon, Angie Dickinson and George Foreman in rental shoes?
BLU-RAY HEAVEN
Bambi II Special Edition isn’t quite a sequel to the Disney classic Bambi so much as it’s a middle-quel. Instead of starring the grown up deer, we’re taken back to the time when Bambi has to deal with growing up mother-less. His dad tries to pawn him the kid off on another lady deer, but there’s no takers for various reasons. Thus dad has to raise the child. The two learn about relying on each other even though the little one is still sad about mom’s end. Thumper shows up to make sure Bambi isn’t that good of son. Purists will moan about this not being canon. Parents will rejoice that they can put this in the rotation rather than have to watch and hear Bambi on constant repeat. The soundtrack includes a song by Alison Krauss to please the grown ups. The Blu-ray also contains the DVD so you can have it to watch in the house or the mini-van without a care. The bonus features include a deleted song, a making of and an interactive game featuring Thumper. The image looks good since the film was originally released in 2006.
MST3K SOLO LAUNCHES
DVDs will go out of print for various reasons. Nobody cares too much most of the time and you can find them used for less than their original retail price. But there are those special titles that soar out of control. Such is the fate of several Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes that originally came out on nearly a decade ago. Thankfully Shout! Factory is re-issuing them so MST3K fans won’t have to sell too much plasma. Red Zone Cubaand The Unearthly are the latest. The Unearthly is a poverty row quicky with John Carradine as the mad scientist dealing in mutant life. His assistant is the immortal Tor Johnson (Plan 9 from Outer Space. Tor is red hot in his role. The Bots point out his emotional range. He’s a regular Richard Burton. The invention exchange features the mad scientists evil plans for pills that are hard to swallow. Joel and the Bots create a destructive entry for America’s Funniest Home Videos. There are two educational shorts: “Posture Pals” and “Appreciating Our Parents.” Don’t fall for these lies. You should always slouch and expect mom to do your laundry without thanks. What good is unconditional love if you care?
Red Zone Cuba is a fine piece of “torn from today’s headlines” filmmaking. In this case director Coleman Francis claims that escaped convicts were sent down to the Bay of Pigs to fight Castro. There must have been a conspiracy to make this film really bad. Which means it’s prime for Mike and the Bots to riff wild on the political intrigue. Mike and the Bots dress up in tuxedos. Mike flips out and disguises himself as Carol Channing. There’s even a T-Bone Burnett joke long before T-Bone became an Oscar winner. This is the first Mike in the lead episode released in a long while. It’s good to see him back in the jumpsuit. Along with the feature is the educational short “Speech: Platform, Posture and Appearance.” The title spoils the surprise of the film.
Both The Unearthly and Red Zone Cuba are available only through Shout! Factory’s website (http://www.shoutfactorystore.com).
CORMAN CORNER
Roger Corman’s Cult Classics All-Night Marathon Sword and Sorcery Collection is four movies about the time when barbarians and magic rule the world! Or at least ruled the videostore so that kids with polyhedral dice could figure out what to do with their slave girl fantasies. These four classics are packed with metal, loin clothes, bare torsos and even a few chests with extra breasts. Back in the mid-80s, Dungeons and Dragons players would go to Videorama looking for Conan the Barbarian starring Arhnuld. Odds are they only had one or two copies and they were always out. So what did you do? Rent Benji? Nope. You searched the covers for another box covered in Boris Vallejo art. That’s the shelf bait Roger Corman did with a majority of these titles. Deathstalker is Conan-esque. Rick Hill is the blond with massive pecs who has to uncover three magical objects before an evil sorcerer. His big help includes Playboy‘s Barbi Benton and Lana Clarkson. It’s something for all the viewers in that lusty trio. What the producers spent in sets, they saved in a lack of wardrobe for the actresses. Deathstalker II is director Jim Wynorski’s cheeky sequel. John Terlesky is now Deathstalker. He’s got to deal with Monique Gabrielle (Emmanuelle V, Bachelor Party and Penthouse Pet). Have I told you the story about how she came up to my college radio station wearing a tank top and silver parachute pants? She was hot in person. You can experience her hotness on this transfer. The evil sorcerer is played by John Lazar. He’s cinema royalty for being Z Man in Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. This is cheesy fun in furs.
Barbarian Queen gives the leading role to Lana Clarkson. She’s unfortunately best known for being the actress killed by Phil Spector. In the movie, she must defend her people against evil. Even though a woman is in charge, there’s still a lack of clothing for the female characters. What these films lacks in plot, it makes up in nudity. The Warrior and the Sorceress is almost like a diabolical version of Kung Fu. David Carradine plays Kain, a warrior-priest. This almost sounds like his warrior-priest character in Kung Fu named Caine. He ends up in a town playing two rival tribes against each other as they battle for control of the central well. This duo of film were originally released as Shout! Select titles. If you already bought them last year, you can loan them out to any college kids that want an old school D&D weekend. You might want to throw in a couple Rush albums. The four films are charming cheesefests that don’t pretend to be Game of Thrones.
MORE KROFFT FUN
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters Season One contains more of Sid and Marty Krofft’s Saturday Morning Puppet weirdness from the ’70s. Unlike previous shows, the child star doesn’t fall into an alternate universe. The puppet comes to the real world this time. Sigmund isn’t like the rest of his sea monster relatives. He hates to scare people. He roams away from his aquatic home and into the lives of Johnny (Whitaker of Family Affair) and Scott (Kolden of The Mystery of Dracula’s Castle). The beach-loving brothers have to hide Sigmund from their housekeeper (I Love Lucy‘s Mary Wickes) and a nosey neighbor (The Wizard of Oz‘s Margaret Hamilton). Luckily they have a cool clubhouse to hide him inside. They boys parents are on a constant vacation which explains their disappearance. They also have to deal with Sigmund’s monster relatives. They’re the original Squidbillies. Belated ’70s crush Pamelyn Ferdin guests on a couple episodes. Season One has 17 episode of coastal subterfuge. The video masters have a better resolution than the previous release. There’s a twenty minute interview with Whitaker and Kolden about their lives, the shows and Billy Barty. Whitaker shows off his double take lessons learned from Mary Wickes. They’ve got cool Sigmund stuffed monsters. They included 8 mp3s of Johnny’s songs from the series. Rock out! Coverage of Sid and Marty with Olivia Munn is included. Sid tells the tale of the time they met Walt Disney. I’ve never seen Munn so wrapped up and proper. They have Sigmund skateboards. No news as to when they’ll release Season Two. That’s when Rip Taylor arrived. Just bring on more of the Krofft freaky fun.
DVD SHELF
Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension wins bonus points for mocking the 3-D craze. My five year old nephew went nuts when the hype for this TV special started. Forget Phantom Menace – this is what excites the little ones. The Disney Channel show is a huge hit. Naturally the mouse had to give P&F a 77 minute movie. Phineas, Ferb and Perry the Platypus follow Dr. Doofenshmirtz into an alternate universe. It’s the universe where the Doc is worshiped like a god and he has a cool dueling scar. The visit turns nasty since the evil Doc has plans to invade the other dimension with his robot army. Only the Platypus can save humanity. The big advantage of the DVD is 8 deleted scenes sure to excite a five year old. They also throw in the “Attack of the 50 Foot Sister” episode. Along with a digital copy of the movie, there’s an 8 song soundtrack. Kids can sing this songs all weekend long. The big bonus is a Platypult. You can build a game that lets you launch pog like discs. This is perfect for annoying the co-worker on the other side of the veal pen wall.
The Perfect Host marks the glorious return of David Hyde Pierce. He smartly twists around his Dr. Niles Crane persona from Frasier. Pierce seems to be just the same fuddy duddy snob from Seattle. He’s in the middle of readying the house for a dinner party when a Clayne Crawford interrupts. Clayne just robbed a bank and needs a safe haven till the cops split the scene. He thinks Pierce is the perfect mark. Except what he sees isn’t what’s really happening. It’s a fine twisty film that will freak out your mom if she somehow thinks this is the Dr. Niles Crane movie. In fact, you should tell her this was a pilot film for a spin-off and watch her reaction. Fans of ’70s music will get a buzz out of seeing Helen Reddy return to the screen. She is woman, hear her roar.
Troll Hunter is coolness from Norway. A group of kids track a man they think poaches bears. As they sneak up on the guy in the wilderness, they realize he’s not into slaughtering Gentle Ben. Nope. He’s after a much bigger critter: Trolls! It’s shot through the kid’s video camera. Think of it as Cloverfield except not nearly as annoying. The effects look convincing when the troll attacks. If you’re addicted to SyFy original movies, you really need to go hunting trolls in Norway. There is an English dub track for people who don’t understand Norwegian.
BKO: Bangkok Knockout is a film as badass as its title. The plot is simple as a fist to the head. A group of pals reunite. They were a fight club that would test their various martial arts skills on each other and others. Someone crashes their party and along with stealing the fun, there’s a kidnapping. It’s up to them to rescue their friends and kick lots of ass. This is so much better than Nic Cage’s Bangkok Dangerous. What elevates BKO is Panna Rittikrai. He was the stunt coordinator on Ong Bak. His direction on BKO is simple – give the viewers the goods. This is the kinda film you’d want to name your band after.
The Police Story: Season One arrives in time to stop my thinking about what’s dad going to get for Christmas. This was the best police anthology show ever on TV. Creator Joseph Wambaugh was an ex-LAPD cop. He understood the true personalities and lives of cops and wasn’t merely recycling what he’d seen in other shows. The series didn’t have any central characters like Hill Street Blues or The Wire. Each week would give us new characters with badges, although a few would recur. Major stars would show up to be the leads. The pilot TV movie “Slow Boy” could be mistaken for a theatrical release with Vic Morrow (The Bad News Bears) part of an elite unit that’s pursuing Chuck Connors (The Rifleman). Get a taste of what happens with Vic and Chuck face off in a supermarket. Clean up on aisle 13.
“Dangerous Games” gives us Fred Williamson as a pimp marked by the vice squad. Can he outsmart them and find out which of his ladies is a snitch? “The Ten Year Honeymoon” lets Claude Akins shine. For those who merely know him as a comic Sheriff Lobo, Claude had some serious cop chops. “Death on Credit” gives the triple thrill of John Saxon, Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island‘s Ginger) and Rory Calhoun. Mr. Burns shall be pleased. “Line of Fire” blasts Jan-Michael Vincent and Alex Cord with Cameron Mitchell. Coincidentally, Vincent and Cord meet up later for Airwolf. Vic Morrow returns for “Countdown” with Tige Andrews (Mod Squad). Good to see Vic’s finest work coming back onto the screen thanks to DVDs. “Cop in the Middle” squeezes in Sid Haig. “Country Boy” teams up Kurt Russell with Gary Collins. Keep Gary away from your RV. “The Runners” has the cool mix of Frankie Avalon, Jackie Cooper, Dandy Don Meredith (Monday Night Football), Sal Mineo (Rebel Without a Cause, Jack Soo (Barney Miller) and Nehemiah Persoff (every cop show of the ’70s). Smokey Robinson acts in “Wyatt Earp Syndrome.” “The Gamble” is what turned into Police Woman with Angie Dickinson flashing the badge. Bert Convy’s her boss. The lack of a central character helps makes things on the series more realistic. Cause all this action couldn’t happen to the same police squad. The big bonus is an interview with Joseph Wambaugh about the series. Get your dad and yourself a copy of Police Story: Season One.
Airwolf The Movie features the original pilot with more violence than was allowed on American TV. It’s 82 minutes long with a few extra violent moments that weren’t good for broadcast TV back in the early ’80s. Airwolf is a billion dollar helicopter that can do everything from the speed of sound to explosive power of a battleship. Things go wrong when it’s tested out by the CIA for a powerful congressman. Turns out the creator (Blow Up‘s David Hemming) has sold America out for an offer by Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi for the chopper. He can’t have that weapon. The CIA’s Alex Cord must get it back. His only hope is luring the original test pilot, Jan-Michael Vincent. He’s extremely reluctant to get back in the game. But after a major arm twisting, he takes on the mission with his pal, Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy). There’s air battle action in the desert that make this feel like a great low budget action film and not a cheap TV pilot. The big bonus feature is the immortal Ernest Borgnine discussing his time on the show. When will the Kennedy Center honor Ernest?
NCIS: Los Angeles: The Second Season will please the ladies with more sweaty action from LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell. The duo continue to go undercover on various military oriented missions. Linda Hunt keeps them in line. Alan Ruck moves things along on “Human Traffic.” Star Trek: The Next Generation Fans will get a peek at Jonathan Frakes on “Disorder.” He also directed the episode. How come there aren’t any other rappers or hunks of the ’90s making cameos on the show? Why isn’t LL Cool J forced to take down Busta Rhymes? The show works the military operation angle properly to keep up the tension. There’s 24 episodes this season. Claire Forlani gets a recurring role towards the end of the season.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: The Complete Eighth Season proves Mark Harmon is a very smart guy. At this point in a dramatic series, the star is aching to break free of his bread and butter character. Think of all the shows lately that swap out lead actors for various creative reasons? Harmon’s been around long enough to know not to get out of the roller coaster while the ride is still going. Cause a majority of the time it isn’t pretty for the actor or the show. This season focused on the CIA meddling in NCIS’s operations. They’re not happy at being out done by Harmon’s crew. The final episodes focuses on the Port-to-Port homicidal manic. This guy is the killer that they fear the most – cause he’s good and doesn’t like to make mistakes. He’s the kinda killer that has you turning one episode into a marathon night that ends right before you have to get up for work. You might want to wait for the weekend before hitting play on this storyline.
Politics of Love finally sexes up the ’08 election. Mallika Sherawat is an Obama supporter who finds love in an unusual place. She runs into Brian J. White who doesn’t quite seem her type since he’s all about McCain-Palin and is a minority. How can he support the grumpy old man and youbetcha lady? How can she fall for the guy? Will their politics pull them apart or make their sexual chemistry more explosive? Ruby Dee and Loretta Devine are their to make sense of their hearts. I’m more excited about the fact that Tracey Walter (Repo Man) arrives on the scene. He knows his presidential action. He ought to be running this year. How does Malika not run off with Tracey?
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