Happy birthday, Egyptian Theatre!
Oct
18
2011
Okay, doll, you’re 89 years old, but in this town that’s a drop in the bucket! In L.A., we like our ladies well preserved — jowls, cheekbones, and posteriors properly nipped and tucked. So hang on, Egyptian Theatre, you’re a great survivor. And a genuine happy birthday, as well, to the 30-year old American Cinematheque, ...
The latest from Leo the Lion
Oct
17
2011
I very much enjoyed seeing Jack Goldstein’s art film, “Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer” (1975) screened by LA Filmforum as part of “Industry Town: The Avant-Garde and Hollywood,” one of Pacific Standard Time’s offerings around L.A. This journey through eight short experimental films amply showed the shadow side of filmmaking in Los Angeles. Directors as disparate as Kenneth Anger, ...
The divine meets the dogged: Tippi Hedren & Edith Head reunite
High Hollywood gets a sparkling rejuvenation when the divine Tippi Hedren will meet the determined Edith Head at a theater opening on October 28. It’s the restaging at the Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles of the one-woman show, “A Conversation with Edith Head.” Ms. Head, who was petite, loomed large as a cinema costumer. ...
LA Filmforum contributes “Alternative Projections” to Pacific Standard Time
Los Angeles Filmforum screens a wonderful line-up of short experimental films under the rubric of Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980. The next chapter of the multipart series happens on October 16 with “Industry Town: The Avant-Garde and Hollywood.” Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, ...
From the people who killed LACMA’s classic film program: a film museum 1
Oct
4
2011
It’s really difficult living in this city if you have a memory that operates longer than two weeks. It can drive you insane. Having wiped the slate clean by annihilating the perfectly superb classic film program at the County Museum, and installing in its stead an incoherent line-up of movie gobbledy-gook, along comes LACMA Trustee ...
The back side of HOLLYWOOD, viewed from Palermo
Oct
2
2011
Maurizio Cattelan, “Hollywood,” 2001 color photography, plexiglas, 180 x 400 x 15 cm Weserburg Museum of Art, Bremen, Germany Yes, Palermo. Palermo, capitol city of Sicily, the tip of the boot of Italia, home of the Spaghetti Western. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s restaging/replica of the Hollywood sign, erected among palm trees and olive plantations, sits on ...
Tutu Taylor
It was a hell of a week for ballet. Our most brilliant male ballet dancer, a true wunderkind, a homegrown wonder, David Hallberg, got a job offer from the Bolshoi Ballet, better, obviously, than his current gig with American Ballet Theatre. So off he goes. Hallberg’s young, 29, he doesn’t speak the language, and Russia ...
Malcolm McDowell memories: Lindsay Anderson & Stanley Kubrick 3
Sep
17
2011
On Lindsay Anderson, with whom he worked on “If” & “O Lucky Man” He was a great man. He was a genius. And I say that even though today you’re a genius if you can do a crossword puzzle. He was a real curmudgeon; for a young actor, to put in so much time, he ...
Malcolm McDowell: “I love Cagney.”
Sep
17
2011
Charming the knickers off his audience by telling witty tales of Stanley Kubrick and Lindsay Anderson, actor Malcolm McDowell earned extra points by showing respect to the great James Cagney. The occasion was the 40th anniversary screening, at the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills, of Kubrick’s exuberant, brilliant, thought-provoking ...
Meow! Bette Davis discusses her dear colleague Joan Crawford 3
Sep
16
2011
Quotations from Chairman Bette: “I wouldn’t piss on her [Joan Crawford] if she was on fire.” “She [Joan Crawford] has slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie.” “Why am I so good at playing bitches? I think it’s because I’m not a bitch. Maybe that’s why [Joan Crawford] always plays ladies.” “[Joan Crawford] ...