"Hey! I Know That Guy" Episode #1 ( of a Hopeful Series)

 Presenting Episode #1 of a series of posts I'm titling:

HEY! I know that guy!

OK, so you may not have noticed I do this frequently.  Get some inspirational idea and try to run with it.  So this may be an ongoing series (and then again it may die on the operating table) But  I am going to give it a shot.

Premise:  One of my favorite TV shows is the old 50's/60's TV show, The Twilight Zone.  The old anthology series had a strange story each week, and, since it was an anthology series, as opposed to a weekly drama, there were no recurring characters, or for that matter, recurring actors.  Admittedly, there were a smattering of actors who came back time and again for the series, but the only mainstay was the show's host, Rod Serling.

The man himself

 

Now, the headliner in these episodes was almost always a star in his or her own right. The first season alone had such luminaries as Ida Lupino,  Ed Wynn, Rod Taylor, Anne Francis and Howard Duff, just to name a few.  But each episode also had a supporting cast, some of which had not quite hit the heights they would later claim.   Many of the minor characters in these vignettes were just riding on the verge of discovery.

Of course, at least two of those  episodes had only two people on screen the entire time of the episode, and in those cases both actors were fairly well established by then: I am speaking, of course of  the third season episodes of "Two" and "A Game of Pool".  "Two" featured on Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery, and "A Game of Pool" featured only Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters. So if this series goes on long enough and I choose to focus on one or both of those episodes, my choices will be limited.

 

Chuck and Liz

 

Jonny and Jack

 

So, anyway, back to the inspiration. One day, several years ago, I came home from being out carousing and turned on my TV to see what was on.  I started watching what turned out to be the Robert Redford movie Brubaker. In one scene, Redford is conversing with a character who is one of the prison trustees.  And I said "Hey! I know that guy!" But I couldn't figure out where I knew him.  Fortunately I had access to the internet by then and zipped over to my computer.  With a little effort, I found out the actor  was Matt Clark.  Still wasn't sure even with that, but a glance at IMDb told me Clark played Packy Harrison in the film In The Heat of the Night, and I immediately recalled his brief scene.

Thus, we have the inspiration for this series.  I'm going to pick one of the secondary characters from an episode of The Twilight Zone. In each post I will encapsulate the plot of the episode, as well as point out the actor and where he or she appears in the episode.  Then I will give some brief background on said actor, and highlight one (or more) of his or her memorable performances.

I hope this is enjoyable.  Don't know yet how it will all flesh out.  And I'm probably not going to stick to any predetermined sequence.  But I have decided to start at the beginning anyway.  The very first episode had only one character in it for 90% of the story.  The main character was played by Earl Holliman, a somewhat star in his own right by this time, though mostly as a supporting cast member.  For instance he was one of the astronaut crew accompanying Leslie Nielsen in the classic sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet.

 But at the very end, after the denouement, several more characters make their presence known and one these is played by James Gregory. 

 

So who is James Gregory, you might ask?Gregory was one of those actors who, even if you don't know his name, is definitely a familiar face (and voice).  Some of you may remember him best from the TV series from the late 70's - early 80's, Barney Miller.  Gregory had a recurring role as Inspector Luger.  And, although he was hidden by makeup, his voice was recognizable from Beneath the Planet of the Apes as General Ursus, one of the gorillas who sought to capture the main character in the film.

 

Interestingly, Gregory got his start in 1941 in a religious film called Journey to Jerusalem, but his acting career got put on hold (sort of) with the outbreak of WWII. Not sure what his actual duties involved during his service work, but he apparently got involved in helping make propaganda films, since he made at least one during that time. (There is a clip of him and a couple of other soldiers confronting a Communist street speaker in the film The Atomic Cafe. But try as I might I have been unable to find a title for the original film they gleaned for the clip).

After his return to civilian life, he started doing more acting work, including being the lead actor on a TV series from the 50's called The Lawless Years.  Gregory would go on to some more prominent work during this time, although he never really became a headliner.  One of the more prominent roles I remember is he was Senator Iselin, the prime target for the assassination attempt in the 60's thriller The Manchurian Candidate.

But his mainstay during his career was really with TV.  Notably he played the victim in one Columbo episode ("Short Fuse", featuring Roddy McDowall as the killer) and as a subsidiary character, the coach of a football team being run by another killer (Robert Culp) in "The Most Crucial Game", thus making him one of a handful of actors who appeared more than once on that iconic mystery series.

And, back to The Twilight Zone, he also had a meatier part as a Confederate soldier who stops to talk to a woman on her porch as the road filled with soldiers trudges by on the nearby road.  (The Passerby) 

In the first Twilight Zone episode, however,  the main focus is on a character, played by Earl Holliman, who finds himself in a town where there is no one else, although it appears at times they may have just left within the past hour or so.  Holliman's character desperately tries to figure out what is going on, as well as try to remember who he is and and how he got there in the first place.  It turns out that Holliman had been going though isolation and sensory deprivation exercises to see how they might affect potential astronauts on deep space travel.  At the end of the episode it is revealed that he has been watched by several Armed Forces  bigwigs, one of whom was a General played by Gregory.

In this episode, Gregory serves as the grounding in reality, the connection to the poor schmo who had to spend some 484 hours (that comes out to about 20 days, to give you perspective)  in this box as a guinea pig to see how long term isolation would affect his mind. The General may come off a bit uncaring, since it was his experiment, but he does show some compassion at the end.  

As mentioned earlier, Gregory's biggest bulk of acting roles occurred on the small screen.  He was really an important cast member in Barney Miller during that series' run.  He was introduced in the first season, but only had a few limited guest shots in the first couple of seasons.  He became a frequent star as the series went on , and in season 4 he was included as one of the stars of the show as the opening credits rolled.

Over the course of it's six seasons, there would be some characters that would come and go.  Notably Gregory Sierra, who many probably remember as Julio on Sanford and Son, stayed only through two seasons.  Abe Vigoda likewise left the series after a few years.  Jack Soo unfortunately passed away during the series run.  And there were a few additions that came on to compliment the cast, like Steve Landesburg, and surprisingly enough to me,  since he was such a strong presence later in the series, Ron Carey. 

The Season 4 Cast

 

With such an ensemble cast, there were often two or three stories going on in any episode, and thus not much dominant screen time for any one character.  But a highlight, for the episodes where he did appear,   was when Gregory walked into the squad room as Inspector Luger. He always came unannounced, just seemingly "happened to be in the neighborhood" kind of visit.  Of course, with Inspector Luger you never knew .  Ofttimes he was just showing up because he was a lonely man that craved attention and recognition,  Luger was guy you could get annoyed with because he was insensitive and oblivious to any one who might take offense, because he was just being genuine.  And then he could drop a bomb on you and make you feel sympathetic for his predicament. because, after all, he was a 50 something year old lifelong bachelor who almost never seemed to be able to settle down in a relationship, which might have mellowed him.

Oh sure, there was that one season when he had a fiance named Agnes (or maybe "Ag-a-nes", since that's how he pronounced it), but as wedding bells advanced he became more and more worried about the loss of independence.

By far, one of the more entertaining episodes of the series was the two-part "Quarantine" episode.  In this episode we got to see how the individual members of the squad were able to cope with being cooped up together, by force.  A prisoner was brought in who was sick and later determined to have either chicken pox or small pox.  As a result a doctor quarantines the entire precinct, and especially the squad room.  Not especially good even in the best of circumstances, but included in the mix are a gay couple who had just come to see Barney about helping them get a reprieve from one of them who was on probation.  And the unfortunate Luger who just happened to decide to visit the squad room at the wrong time.

Most of the rest of the squad room are somewhat upset, obviously, but Luger, being Luger, tries to manipulate the procedure.  And he is also not quite so accommodating to the fact that there is a gay couple in the quarantine.  

This being the 70's, the gay couple do receive some of the humorous remarks,and the gay viewing audience were not always receptive to the portrayal, but the writers did their best to be sympathetic and not condescending when presenting the characters.  There is an interesting video out there on youtube about the trials and tribulations behind the scenes.

Eventually the whole squad room finally settles down to crash on cots put up for the quarantine and Luger has to concede the couch in Barney's office to the only woman who has been quarantined with them (showing one of the rare moments when he is willing to think of others well being. 

Over the years that Gregory was in the acting business, he managed to accumulate over 200 appearances in TV and movies.  Pretty impressive by any standard.  He passed away in 2002 at the age of 90. 

Well, folks, thus ends our first entry in this venture. I had fun, so maybe it won't be the last entry...

 

Quiggy

The Big Bad Wolfe

 

In 2000, A & E Television produced a one off film The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery, which starred Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin as, respectively, Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe.  

The Nero Wolfe series of novels, written by Rex Stout had been created in the 30's and were published, both as short stories in magazines (later to be collected 3 or 4 at a time in book form) and novels until the author's death in 1975.  

(Side note:  The mantle of Nero Wolfe has, in recent years, been taken up by one Robert Goldsborough, who does an admirable job of it.)

The background of Nero Wolfe over the years has been spotty, to say the least.  There were at least 4 separate radio series, (3 of which aired during the heyday of radio entertainment,  radio being the prominent format for home entertainment, pre- television), and, as near as I can tell, at least 2 attempts to try to move Nero Wolfe into the television era of entertainment (prior to the series discussed today.)

One of those, which I remembered fondly and have been lucky enough to have found on DVD featured William Conrad as Wolfe and Lee Horsley. 

Conrad, of course, will be familiar to most of you.  Not only was he the voice of Matt Dillon when Gunsmoke was a radio show (obviously if you've seen him you know why he didn't transition to that role on TV), and he played lead roles in two TV series, Cannon and Jake and the Fatman.  Lee Horsely, on the other hand, may not be all that familiar, depending on your perspective.  He did have the lead role in a Magnum, P.I. knockoff (my perspective of it anyway), Matt Houston. But other than that, he has a very slim file of appearances.

There were also a couple of attempts to bring the character to the big screen, both of which took such liberties with the character that Stout himself refused to authorize another adaptation.  (Seems like Stout had much the same opinion of these attempts as Stephen King has been known to have for film adaptations of his works.)

So back to the original premise of this post.  A very good adaptation of Stout's The Golden Spiders was produced for A & E.  Not only did they stick with the story as much as possible (which includes...spoiler alert!....the death of the kid who comes to Wolfe's door early in the story).  And, BTW, not the same with an earlier adaptation. In the 1977 TV movie that preceded the Conrad/Horsely series, the boy survives... so much for PC TV. 

Anyway, the reception to the A & E movie was such that the studio greenlighted a series.   And each one was to remain true to the original Stout vision.  The sad part is only 20 episodes were made,  But each one of those was adaptations of already published Rex Stout stories.  Unlike the multiple radio series and the 1981 TV series, the producers didn't attempt to create their own intricate mysteries for the detective.

And there was a new twist (one that I hadn't seen at any rate) on this new series.  Th episode featured a repertory (multiple actors who came back each episode playing different characters each time. There were a few recurring characters in the series, including the familiar ones such as Fritz Brenner, Wolfe's major domo and chef (always played by Colin Fox) and the irascible Inspector Cramer (always played by Bill Smitrovich). Plus frequent secondary help from independent P.I.s Saul Panzer (Conrad Dunn, Fred Durkin (Fulvio Cecere) and Orrie Cather (Trent McMullen).

Colin Fox

Bill Smitrovich

Conrad Dunn

(And, BTW, does Dunn look familiar?  He was the character "Psycho" in the Bill Murray movie "Stripes"...)

But in addition, there were multiple members of the cast who were part of the repertory who would come on in various roles as needed.  Among these were a couple of familiar people.  James Tolkan (who, if not familiar by name, is definitely familiar by face... he was Principal Strickland in the Back to the Future series of films). Tolkan is recognizable, most of the time.  It took me by surprise that it was him in one episode, however, since the character sports a shaggy toupee(?) and a big bushy mustache, but you hear his voice and think, "oh, yeah, it's him...")

 George Plimpton (probably better known as an author than as an actor, but he did have some acting credits), is also among the familiar names.

The rest of the recurring repertory were names I had never heard of prior to watching the series, and none of them appeared in ALL the episodes.  It usually depended on what characters were present in the stories. And since they were instrumental members specific to the plot of each individual episode, they were, of course, not reprising a previous role from a preceding episode.

One of the highlights when watching the opening credits, for me, was seeing that Kari Matchett was included in the cast. 

Twice she only briefly appeared, as Lily Rowan, Archie Goodwin's now and again enamorata, and was thus only briefly involved in the story.  At other times she was a significant player in the ongoing plot of the episode., and so I got to see more of her.

A complete list of the actors and actresses who appeared over the course of the series can be found here:

Nero Wolfe Characters (2001-2002)

The series was well-scripted with much attention to keeping it in line with the original stories.  The list of teleplay authors is pretty good, too. Sharon Elizabeth Doyle wrote a majority of them, and her resume is not real extensive, but she did a good job with the adaptations.  

But also included in the cast of writers was Stuart Kaminsky, whom some will remember has the writer of at least two fairly well known detective fiction series, one of which ranks among my favorites, that of Toby Peters. Peters was to put it in my own terms "detective to the stars".  Each book involved the detective working with stars of the 30's and 40's Hollywood.

And then, the final set of writers I want to highlight are Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin, both of whom later wrote scrips for one of my favorite TV series, Monk. And Goldberg has even a few of the Monk novels under his name. (not to mention a few others, he is prolific...)

The A & E was far too short, however.  What could have gone on for several years only lasted two.  With a combined total of 74 stories and novels by Stout alone, that could have expanded the show at least  for another 3 or 4 years.  The biggest disappointment, for me, though was that the series did not adapt my favorite Stout book "Too Many Cooks".  (Of course, adapting that one would have necessitated that most of the female members of the repertory be sidelined, since that one consists of almost all male characters).

At any rate, having been cooped up this week, I finally got a chance to more or less binge the entire series.  It gave me a serious jonesing to see more of Timothy Hutton, whom I had forgotten was such a great actor.  I remember my first experience was seeing him in Taps  and Turk 182 in the early 80's. The last thing I remember seeing him in was as the main character in the adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Half. 

Primarily I remember Turk 182 as it was a big influence on me in my youth.  I still remember it some 40 years later, even though I only saw it that one time in the theater.  Currently trying to track down a copy for a review, but might have to break down and buy it retail, since I can't find it in the used stacks and it's not streaming currently.

Maybe one day (I doubt it, but one can hope), another well produced Nero Wolfe series may appear on the scene.  Not sure who among the current available actors could pull off a believable Nero Wolfe, however.  Unfortunately Chaykin passed away a few years ago, so it would have to be somebody else, and the role is limited in it's potential prospects, given the size of Wolfe himself.  (God forbid they get somebody like an Arnold or Sylvester and put a fat suit on them... and if you needed last names there, boy are you a newcomer...)

Well, folks, if you happen upon this great adaptation, it's worth a look. And if you only get to one or two, might I suggest you start with The Doorbell Rang as your first?  You really get to see Archie (Hutton) at his best and Nero (Chaykin) holds his own especially in moments of exasperation with others.

Drive safely folks.

Quiggy

Muscles and Steel

 Note; It wasn't planned, of course, since this blogathon was created a few months ago, but I think it's fitting that I should dedicate this entry to the memory of one one of the most iconic voices in Hollywood, James Earl Jones. Jones, in case you were unaware, left the scene earlier this week.  Not only did he give us the memorable voice of Darth Vader, but he played both good and bad guys with style, Go check out some of his classic roles.  (Here he was Thulsa Doon in the first entry of this double feature).

This is my entry in the Barbarians at the Gates blogathon hosted by Hamlette's Soliloquy and yours truly.

The barbarian movie begins (but not necessarily ends) with Conan.  There were a few others, to be sure that predated the two Arnold Schwarzenegger movies featuring the iconic warrior, but I would be willing to bet $$ it would never have taken off to the heights it did it if "The Governator" hadn't come on the scene.

Imagine, for a moment, if you will... Conan the Barbarian... starring...Charles Bronson.  Believe it or not, in the early 70's when this production first started getting batted around Hollywood, Chuck was one of the guys considered. Now Bronson would have been in his 50's, and I don't know for sure how buff he was then, but still...

Another was William Smith (who actually did get a brief role as Conan's father early in the film).  He was a bit younger than Chuck, by 10 years, but still. A mid-40's Conan? 

The third option, and by this time beefcake enough to have pulled it off, was... Sylvester Stallone.  Well, he was indeed turning to a muscular behemoth even in the  early 80's.   And he could have given Arnold himself a run for his money when it came to enunciating.  But I still don't think the swords and sorcery genre would have taken off quite the way it did if Stallone had been at the helm. 

One note in particular about the first movie.  The background to the character of Conan is changed somewhat from what my research says was Robert E. Howard's background for his character.  In the novels Conan develops in his village as a muscular warrior and goes off to the road to adventure from there.  But the movie has a different tack on it.

In the film, a quiet village goes through day to day life.  Conan's father (William Smith) is a metalworker and teaches his young son about what they believe and the legends of their peoples. This includes a down to earth god, much like the people that worship him, Crom.

Into this bucolic setting rides an invading horde.  Since the end result is that the village is burned to the ground and all the men are killed (and maybe even all the women), apparently they are only there to get Conan, who is taken captive.

Conan watches as the warriors lay waste to his village, killing his father.  And then, while standing there holding his mother's hand, the leader of this marauding horde rides up, and removes his helmet.  Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones). doesn't even need to say a word.  (We don't actually get to hear Jones' iconic voice until much later in the movie.).  All he has to do is just stare into the eyes of Conan's mother and she drops her sword.  And then Doom beheads her.

Conan, along with several other boys, are taken captive, and eventually put to work as slaves turning a wheel.  At the start, all of them turn the wheel. (And what the point of this wheel is is never really clear...) Eventually all of the other children fall to the wayside (whether by death or some other circumstances is also not really clear.)

This leaves Conan himself, who through all this has become a very muscular older man.  And he is released from his captivity.  The scene shifts to him, supposedly free (but still has some remnants of chains on him so I'm not sure.) Being chased by wild dogs he hides in a cavern which quite possibly is a burial tomb.  A skeleton that appears to have been a former king sits on a throne with a sword.  Conan takes the sword, cleans it up and removes the remaining chains.

When he gets out of the cave/tomb he encounters a witch who revels to him some important information on where he can find the men who killed his father.  He has to go to a town where more will be revealed.  Along the way he meets a thief named Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and the woman with whom he becomes infatuated, Valeria (Sandahl Bergman).  

The trio raid a tower and kill a big snake and get some jewels, but their escapade comes to the attention of the local king, Osric (Max von Sydow),

Osric gives them a quest, rescue his daughter who has come under the influence of a powerful sorcerer (you guessed it, Thulsa Doom). Both Subotai and Valeria try to convince Conan to turn down this quest, but, revenge is a dish best served cold (to quote another movie).  Conan has to go after Doom for the honor his dead parents and ends up taking it alone since neither is willing to go on this obviously no-win endeavor.  (I mean Thulsa Doom is renowned for his big time status as a wizard after all.)

Conan makes his way to the citadel and runs across a small time wizard (Mako) in his own right (and by coincidence our humble narrator of the saga),  who gives him some help but sends him on his way.  Conan arrives at Doom's citadel. where he poses as a wannabe convert, with the help of a priest whose robes he "confiscates".

But Thulsa sees through him (wizard, remember?) and orders him to be crucified.  But Conan is not going to go down so easily. Even as he is crucified and beginning to be eaten by vultures he still tries to fight back.  And to his rescue come his friends. Both Subotai and Valeria come around to his way of thinking and agree to help him on his quest to rescue Osric's daughter. But first they must nurse him back to health and for that they need the help of a wizard.  The same wizard Conan met on his way to Doom's citadel.

 But ultimately Doom has some manner of magic and Valeria ends up dying. 

Conan pleads with Crom to help him in his quest for revenge. And since Valeria has previously promised if she died and Conan needed her help to defeat the powers of darkness, well..

They don't get much more magical than this.  You have to summon some serious powers to defeat a big time wizard like Doom, and Conan is going to need every bit of it.

So I'll leave just a bit of stuff for you to check out, but since Conan returns in the sequel you know somehow he's gonna win.  But just how is worth the wait.

Conan the Destroyer (1984):

The ensuing years since Conan defeated the power of Thulsa Doom and his minions ad lost his great love Valeria have not been easy for Conan.  He wanders the world looking for things to help him deal with his loss, but nothing seems to fill the void. At the time of the beginning of this film, he is just an itinerant thief, working with a fellow thief, Malak (Tracey Walter).

Into his world comes a band of soldiers who are intent upon, not killing him, but capturing him. He is able to fend them off fairly well, well enough that the leader of the band stops the fight.  The leader turns out to be a queen, Taramis (Sarah Douglas), who has been seeking a champion for a quest.  And she has the right bait to lure Conan, since power and money are not an incentive.  She promises him, at the outset, that she can bring back Valeria from the dead.  And, Conan, being a lovesick mourner (as well as not as cynical as I would be), falls for her bait.

So what is this quest?  Conan is hired to accompany Taramis' niece, Jehnna (Olivia D'Abo), on a journey to retrieve a key that will be used to revive the god Dagoth.  

It is a convoluted myth, but basically Jehnna is the prophesied girl who is the only one who can actually touch said key.  Conan will accompany Jehnna, and Bombaata (Wilt Chamberlain), Taramis' captain of the guards, on this quest.  

What neither Conan, or for that matter Jehnna, know is that Taramis is trying to fulfil a prophecy that will bring a god back to life, but that will require the sacrifice of Jehnna, the "virgin" that so often shows up in these kinds of legends.

 And, also, it turns out, Taramis has no intention of fulfilling her promise to Conan (whether she could or not). She instructs Bombaata to kill Conan once the key is retrieved.

So we begin the journey, Conan, Jehnna, Bombaata and Malak.  But along the way we will acquire a few other travelers, including the wizard friend from the previous adventure (Mako), who has since acquired a name, Akiro.  Akiro has to be rescued, however, since he is currently the main course of a feast for cannibals.

Also, in a village, they come across a woman who is chained and fending off six tormenters.  She is the last of a band of marauders that had attempted to raid the town..  After helping her (simply by unchaining her), Conan and the band ride on.  But the woman, Zula (Grace Jones) follows and wants to join with Conan on his quest.

The first step is to somehow get in to the castle of Thoth-Amon (Pat Roach), which is located out in the middle of a lake (and since Thoth-Amon is a wizard, guarded by some serious magic).  Conan insists they wait until morning to try their attempt, but Thoth-Amon has other ideas.  He turns into a giant bird and captures Jehnna.  (Using some pretty cheesy special effects to accomplish it...) Leaving the rest of the band to figure out how to rescue her and complete the quest of retrieving the key they came for.

They invade the castle, but are greeted by far greater magic than they have encountered yet.  Conan has to fight a creature in a room full of mirrors.  A creature comes out of each mirror and combines to form one creature, one that seems almost impervious to anything Conan can try to defeat it.  The solution to it's defeat is not necessarily ingenious (in fact in retrospect it seems kind of cheesy) but it is a satisfying solution.  (And I won't give it away, but I bet even if you've never seen the movie you can guess how to defeat this creature.)

It turns out that the creature's death also results in the death of Thoth-Amon, who had used magic to make himself the creature.  So now Conan and company can retrieve the key they came for.

The next part of the journey should be without Conan, since this is the point that the queen gave Bombaata instructions to dispatch him.  But Conan has other plans.  Bombaata, for his part, manages to convince Conan that the queen's guards have attacked on their own, not by orders of the queen.  Conan, if anything, gullible to subterfuge, believes him.  So the crowd continues on its way to the next quest, which is to use the key they got to retrieve the real relic they were after.  A cavern, and a big stone door that requires the strength of both Conan and Bombaata to open.  (So it turns out that it's a good thing Bombaata and the guards didn't succeed.)

Inside the hidden room is the horn of Dagoth, and an inscription which Akiro translates and discovers the ultimate destiny both of Jehnna and the horn.  But when Akiro tells Conan of the writing he dismisses it.  

Eventually Bombaata manages, he thinks, to trap the rest in the cavern and escapes with the girl.  but since this is Conan, the rest manage to escape and decide to go back to the city to try and stop the queen's evil plans.

The rest is the battle that occurs after the horn is replaced and the statue of Dagoth is revived.  But in order to complete the rite, you remember, Jehnna the virgin must be sacrificed.  Of course, if the rite is not completed as it is written things could go awry. Which of course is what happens.

So how does Conan defeat the evil forces?  Watch the movie!

It's too bad that the saga did not continue from here.  But then if it had we would have missed out on a few other great movies that Schwarzenegger did from here on out.  But it was not necessarily the end of Conan on film.  There was a 2011 reboot with Jason Momoa as the titular character.  But since it failed to even recoup it's production money at the box office, that pretty much torched a Momoa sequel. But we can always keep our hopes up, because Hollywood never lets a budget deficit completely bury a potential possibility of new reboots.

Well, folks, time to head out for home (wherever home may be).  Keep an eye out for those wizards, you never know what they might be up to.

Quiggy

The Barbarians at the Gates Blogathon Arrives

 

The music rises to a crescendo.  A burly, muscular guy rides a horse up over the horizon in the distance. Cue the close up. The face of the determined serious horseback rider as he stares slightly off camera.  Cue the point of view change and we see an army of skeletons advancing over the hill and a huge ominous tower behind them.

The implications are clear.  The burly Adonis has an objective and his goal is hampered by the presence of the skeletons.  He must defeat them.

Is this going to end well?  Well, if you are a fan of these types of movies you already know the answer.  Whether by himself, or with the help of a coterie of allies, some of whom may die in their efforts, the heroes will succeed.  The outcome is a foregone conclusion, but the journey is the essence.

Hence this blogathon, a celebration of swords and sorcery movies, ones where human heroes (or even would-be heroes) face down the hordes of supernatural evil.

Over the next two days, Rachel @ Hamlette's Soliloquy and I will be celebrating this genre, as well as a few other stalwart companions who will be presenting their own forms of "barbarian worship".

THE BARBARIANS: 

Realweegiemidget Reviews: The Beastmaster  (1982)

 

 

Hamlette's Soliloquy: Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023):

Speakeasy: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961):

The Midnite Drive-In: Conan (Schwarzenegger Double Feature) (1982/1984):

18 Cinema Lane : Willow (1988):

Taking Up Room: The Scorpion King (2002):

Whimsically Classic: Sleeping Beauty (1959):

More barbarians to come. Tune in later.

Quiggy

Connecting the Dots

 

 

 

 

This is my entry in the Norman Jewison blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room.

 

 

 

Norman Jewison was not the most prolific director to come down the pike. IMDb credits him with only 44 entries as director and of those 20 were either TV shows of made for TV movies and documentaries.  So, all-in-all, he only has 24 major motion pictures to his credit.  But of those 24, there are some of the most iconic films of all time.  

In the Heat of the Night is one that many people will remember. As well, he also brought two classic Broadway musicals to the big screen; Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar. One of my favorites, and one that may not be all that well-known, is A Soldier's Story, which I saw in conjunction with a project for a history class, even though it is not based on an actual historical event.

In the 40 year career from his first major theatrical endeavor to his final film had a variety of actors and actresses appear in his films. In the course of those movies there was an interesting  connection to them.  You could almost do a connect the dots with the actors who appeared in his movies, as some would appear in more than one film.

Hence the game that I came up with for this entry.  How are the movies connected with each other?  Admittedly some don't exactly connect in any way on this level.  For instance: Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof are connected by the presence of Barry Donnen, but I could find no way to connect any of the other movies with these two.  (Presumably because the rest of them were not musicals and possibly none of the other actors in those films had any musical ability whatsoever, with the exception of Doris Day, of course.)

This idea came as a result of seeing Edward Andrews' name appear in the list of credits for the first three major theatrical releases in the Jewison oeuvre. So it's fitting that we start there.

Edward Andrews: From 40 Pounds of Trouble-

My experience with Andrews got it's start when I saw him in an old Twilight Zone  episode "Third From the Sun" in which he was ostensibly the villain of the piece. In this movie he plays Herman.

  To The Thrill of it All-

Where Edwards plays Gardiner Farleigh. The main stars of TTOIA are Doris Day who plays the wife of a doctor, who in turn is played by James Gardner.

     To Send Me No Flowers- 

Where Edwards once again shares billing with Doris Day, this time as the doctor of a hypochondriac, played by Tony Randall.

But ....

James Garner, who skipped a leg in this sequence returned in The Art of Love-

Where he played the best friend and roommate of Dick Van Dyke. One of the other players in the film was 

Carl Reiner, who segued from there to-

The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! -

Where he played a writer on vacation when a broken-down Russian submarine  and it's commander intrudes into his life.  One of the minor characters is Peter Brocco as a preacher.  Brocco also was part of the cast in

Gaily, Gaily - 

Where he played along side of Brian Keith (who had also been with him on the set of TRAC,TRAC!) 

See how they all seem connected?  It goes even further.

Denzel Washington was one of the main featured actors in A Soldiers Story. He was also the star of The Hurricane, a movie which featured a role played by Rod Steiger as the Judge who overturned the main character's conviction.  And we all know Rod Steiger as the Academy Award winning actor in In the Heat of the Night.  He also had a role in the Sylvester Stallone flick F.I.S.T. 

Jack Weston appeared in both Steve McQueen/ Norman Jewison collaborations, The Cincinatti Kid and The Thomas Crown Affair.  And, as stated earlier, Barry Donnen had roles in the two musicals directed by Jewison. Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof. 

And with a few stretches, you could end up linking all of them together.  (By that I mean you'd have to accept one of those Oracle of Kevin Bacon connections. You know, like James Caan was in Rollerball. He also shared the screen with Al Pacino in The Godfather, who was also the star of Jewison's ...And Justice for All.)

Apparently, either Jewison, or his casting directors had a good rapport with a stable of actors and actresses or just a whole lot of people enjoyed working with HIM. 

Or maybe there some finger of fate swirling around the pie filling with her finger.  Either way, this was a fun post to create.  Hope you got a chuckle or two.

Quiggy

Announcing the Barbarians at the Gates Blogathon

 

A muscle-bound, (usually) bare-chested Adonis (or in some cases, a woman, although NOT bare-chested..) stands facing a supernaturally powered horde of enemies, the only one who has the courage to face the onslaught and prevent the success of some evil force from it's nefarious goals.

"Sword and Sorcery" stories and movies have been around since the early days of pulp fiction.  Authors familiar to all, like Robert E. Howard, made a name for this type of fiction, and beginning in the late 50's, Hollywood even got it's fingers in the pie.

The term 'sword and sorcery" was given to the genre by Fritz Leiber, another stalwart of the pulp fiction days, and it was more or less defined by a statement made by another giant of the print industry of the genre, Lin Carter:

"We call a story sword and sorcery when it is an action tale derived from the traditions of the pulp magazine adventure story, set in the land, age or world of the author's invention - a milieu in which magic actually works and the gods are real _ a story, moreover, which pits a stalwart warrior in direct conflict with the forces of supernatural evil."

This blogathon was originally inspired by a long-planned post on the two Arnold Schwarzenegger / Conan films from the 80's and spurred into commitment by my acquisition of a book "Barbarians at the Gates of Hollywood". 

My friend and frequent cohort, Rachel @ Hamlette's Soliloquy agreed to help bring this blogathon into fruition.  The sword and sorcery genre is rife with possibilities, not only in film, but as previously noted, in print.  Therefore it would be a shame to limit the idea to only movies.  Therefore the ground rules are a bit expanded (see rule #1)

Rules for the Barbarians at the Gates Blogathon:

1. Anything that fits the idea of "sword and sorcery" are allowed.  Want to write about Robert E. Howard or one of the other authors who kick-started the theme?  Or any of the plethora of films that have made their way to either the theater or even direct-to-video films?  Any questions about whether an idea fits can be addressed to Rachel or myself, but it's pretty wide open.

2. Only one person per film or idea, but you can go several ways with it.  A general overview of the print genre and an entry specifically on the career of Robert E. Howard, say, would be two different ideas.  The same goes for movies.

3. We would like to limit the entries per person to 3 (if you are that ambitious..), so more people can enter.

4. For your enlightenment the following page will give you some ideas to start with on movies (but not limited to just these.  Got another idea?)

Sword and Sorcery Films

5. The dates of the blogathon are Sept 14-15. Early entries are OK, but we are asking that you post new material. And extensions for late entries could be accepted if you get tied up those days.

6. Please use one of the following banners to help promote the blogathon.

7. Have fun 

Additionally, I have a few gifts which will be in a drawing for all people who post entries in the blogathon.  You could be the winner of one of these.  If you win, I will mail your prize, And postage is not a problem. If you are in the UK, (or elsewhere) you can still be a winner.

Set of 4 pins

20 sided die lapel pin

Dungeons and Dragons lanyard

2 unpainted (sorry) miniatures

This list will be updated as time permits me to do so over the next few weeks.  Here are the entries so far:

The Midnite Drive-In: Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer (the two "Ahnold" entries in the saga).

Hamlette's Soliloquy: Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: (2023) 

Realweegiemidget Reviews: The Beastmaster  (1982)

Soeakeasy: Hercules and the Haunted World (1961)

Whimsically Classic: Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Taking Up Room : The Scorpion King (2002)

18 Cinema Lane: Willow (1988)