Puga is just another of those twerps with zero skills who gets hired because she's cute and skinny; no actual ability or intelligence required. She's just lucky she's never interviewed Tommy Lee Jones. As for Hill: he was, is and always will be a dick. That he has a career at all is cosmic retribution upon the world for some unknown sin.

McGavin was a swell Mike Hammer as well. Always liked him, even long before Kolchak. Plus he was married to Kathie Browne, hubba, hubba.

Barbara Payton could make a lot of people do a lot of things.

Don't you mean Franchot Tone? :-O

BTW, did you know that stripper in THE GRADUATE is my pal Lainie Miller, aka Mrs. Dick Miller?

Well, Dennehy is a big star on Broadway, where he frequently gets leading roles. In a bizarre coincidence, I saw him a couple of years ago in the Wm. J. Bryan role in a revival of INHERIT THE WIND, while several years earlier, I saw a different revival in which Bryan was played by...Charles Durning!

David, you suspect correctly. Per Mirren, Pat was against making the film and refused any cooperation.

Okay, someone has to be the contrarian here, and I guess it's gonna be me. I enjoyed the picture thoroughly. Is it "baloney," as Norman Lloyd put it? Yeah, pretty much. But show me one biopic that isn't. Moreover, the main point of the story--the love/irritation relationship between Hitch and Alma--is fabulously done (it's no small irony that the movie's title bears only his name), and the filmmaking sections are far truer to the production experience than I've seen in far bigger pictures, even if they get some details wrong (e.g., nobody ever called Herrmann "Bernie"). And if nothing else, I thought Johansson--an actress I generally can't abide--did right by Leigh. Plus it has one of the funniest last lines in years (excluding a brief epilogue). Finally, it has Helen Fucking Mirren. So there ya go. My two cents.

Mr. Hulse misremembers slightly. I wouldn't "wouldn't be caught dead" at a B-western; in fact, I had not been exposed to many of them, and indeed I owe him a great debt for furthering my understanding of and appreciation of the genre. He is no doubt referring to my less than great affection for singing cowboys, and the cracks I would make during screenings of some of the worst offenders. He has a tendency to take one specific remark and make it a blanket statement. He also can't understand my great affection for JOHNNY GUITAR. But that's okay. The man knows his shit, and deserves props for that.

A few years ago, Paramount kindly struck a new 35 of OSR--the first since 1953!--so we could shoe it at Cinecon. Not just because it's a darn good picture, but I felt that Brooks' presence might attract some folks who otherwise wouldn't be caught dead at a B-western. It played like gangbusters, with several people expressing surprise afterwards at how slick and well-made it was. The moral, of course, is that any road that gets you there is the right one.

You include recent one-shots like Zero and Starling, but leave out such vintage durables as Mr. Moto, Michael Shayne,Bulldog Drummond, The Lone Wolf, Boston Blackie, Bill Crane, The Saint/The Falcon and the Warren William incarnation of Perry Mason? Are you auditioning for a gig at "Entertainment Weekly?" :-O

I've always been a stickler for logos. When I reissued Capra's BROADWAY BILL in the early 90s, which had wound up at Paramount, we pulled a B&W logo from ROMAN HOLIDAY and placed it AHEAD of the original Columbia Torch Lady. And when we started to do the American version of GODZILLA 2000, the editor said when the Toho logo came up, "We're losin' that, right?" "HELL, NO!" I hollered. And in fact, it not only got a great reaction from the fans but several critics, including Gleiberman, favorably commented on its retention.

For the record, I have absolutely no desire to be Paul Thomas Anderson. I want to be Mel Brooks.

See, I had the exact opposite reaction to HT. It strikes me as a movie for the boomers. The kids today--their "monsters" are Freddy, Jason and Jigsaw. They wouldn't know Dracula from Drake. The fact that the movie addresses the idea that the classic monsters are somehow outdated (not unlike that classic moment in "The Simpsons"' Halloween episode a couple of years back) kind of tickled me. But you're right that the rap number at the end negates everything that happened before, but such numbers are apparently de rigueur ever since the "Shrek" movies beat the idea to death.

What's especially funny is how Wells frequently rails against the fact-denying thugs of the right without realizing he's become one himself when it comes to movies. As Steve Martin says in ROXANNE, "We haven't had any irony here since 1983."

Glad to see so much love here for EMPEROR, a tremendous film containing what I think is Ernie's best performance. I was lucky enough to see it at an early screening, when it still had the Bill Medley rendition; never understood why they felt the need to replace it. BTW, the full title is hobo slang; Emperor of the North Pole means you're emperor of...nothing (since the North Pole is basically a frozen wasteland). And somebody needs to mention McHALE'S NAVY, so I guess it's up to me: McHALE'S NAVY!

I agree that MONEY may be Jerry's best film, and much of that is due to the fact that Tashlin managed to talk the famously color-obsessed Lewis into doing it in B&W. A lot of credit is also due to the writer, John Fenton Murray, whose decidedly off-trail sensibilities also gave us THE MAN FROM THE DINER'S CLUB, MAN'S FAVORITE SPORT and the truly oddball non-sequel McHALE'S NAVY JOINS THE AIR FORCE. And BTW, 17 comments and no one's pointed out the year's most unforgivable typo: BETTY Davis?

How could you possibly omit Aaron Sorkin's phenomenal STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP? The first half of the season was as good as dramatic television has ever been, and even the second half, when it was clear the sky was falling and they reacted accordingly, was still first-rate. NBC's mistreatment of this show compared to its coddling of the similar-but-inferior 30 ROCK is typical of the mismanagement that has brought the network to its current state.

The shortest speech ever is zero words: having previously given a speech when he won Best Director for A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, Fred Zinnemann, upon returning to the stage to accept Best Picture, merely smiled and nodded. Next closest is probably Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen for Best Song ("High Hopes"): One said "Thank" and the other said "You." Two personal favorites. Ben Johnson: "This couldn't have happened to a nicer fella." And of course, Mel Brooks: "I just want to say what's in my heart: ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump..."

INSANE PULITZER-PRIZE-WINNING MUTE DEAD AT 82!

Brian: I also saw 8mm at the Dome and we all had the same reaction! (There were more than two of us, obviously.)

Two things we can glean from its apparent B.O. failure: 1) Drew Barrymore's days as a movie star are well and truly over. Time to get yourself a TV series, hon. 2) The right-wing Christians who constantly condemn "Hollywood" for all the "filth" they put out once again failed to come out for a wholesome family film. Put up or shut up, guys--you can't have it both ways. current mood: grumpy

Something similar happened to me about 20 years ago at Paramount. Someone turned up a print of DAY OF THE LOCUST in a closet, so I decided to screen it to see what condition it was in. Needless to say, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw a scene taking place just outside the projection room! And of course, it's not uncommon for Angelenos to be sitting in the Chinese or the Cinerama Dome and see that very theatre on-screen!

I was raped when I saw the remake of CAPE FEAR and heard Marty reusing HERRMANN'S ENTIRE SCORE! And then again when Van Sant remade PSYCHO and reused HERRMANN'S ENTIRE SCORE! And has anyone watched FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN and yelled, "OMG! That's 'Storming The Castle' from GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN! I've been raped!!!" Jesus H. Christ, get a grip, people. Cues get reused all the time.

Maybe it's time to rethink the idea of one man making all the decisions. Personal bias is the only possible reason why the likes of RIO BRAVO and MAD MAD WORLD continue to languish on the sidelines while recent BP Oscar winners win a free pass.