Coming of age in the fifties, he shared with Elvis that he admired the stars back then, such as Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, the latter he never dreamed he’d be working with.  He loved Natalie Wood and while THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED is not his first directorial feature, it was, according to him, the first really important work he did.  It also co-starred Robert Redford, who was already friends with from the first movie both were in, WAR HUNT.
He remembered blushing like a little boy when he met with Natalie and he credits her for launching his career.

This first movie I remember having a major impact for me by him was THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY.  Made in the late sixties and set in the thirties, this is one of Jane Fonda’s best roles as a dancing marathoner.  The expression Yowsa, yowsa, yowas, was given a way different meeting than Gomer Pyle (tv star Jim Nabors) ever gave it when shouted by Gig Young who played the troubled taskmaster which earned him an Academy award.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON is a rare Pollack Western, also unusual has it has Robert Redford fighting Indians for just about the only time in his career.  Their next film would also be one of their most famous.  It’s also one of the most popular films ever to have starred Barbara Streisand and that film is THE WAY WE WERE.  Woman have shared with me that they wept when Barbara touches Robert’s hair at the end of movie with the music of theme song playing in the background.

The next film that I confess only seen part of is THE YAKUZA which starred Robert Mitchum with much of the movie in Japanese.  What I have seen looks very good.  I have seen and must say my favorite Pollack-Redford movie is THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR.  This taught political thriller has Reford kidnapping Faye Dunaway to escape master hit man Max Van Syndow.  Their next movie that also starred Jane Fonda is actually a non-political comedy.  THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN also gives the screen debut of another famous leftie, Willie Nelson.

But Pollack’s biggest comedic hit was TOOTSIE.  This also gives Sydney’s best performance on camera as Hoffman’s agent who can’t give him a job as a man.  I remember the audience laughing hysterically to the restaurant scene where Sydney first meets Dustin dressed as a woman when this first came out.  Sydney was able to throw zingers as well as any straight man in the business.

OUT OF AFRICA matched THE COLOR PURPLE with eleven nominations at the 1985 Academy Awards.  The ending results were the first winning seven, the second winning zero.  Out of the seven, Pollack won two, Best Picture and Best Director but he would shake the not even nominated Speilberg’s hand on his to accept the Oscars.  That noted, I myself find OUT OF AFRICA to be an excellent picture.  In spite of billing, this is really Merryl Streep picture. She was nominated but did not win but that doesn’t change the fact she gave an outstanding performance ably supported by Robert Redford.  The WWI plane ride he gives her is a great cinematic moment.  It is obvious that Pollack put a lot of work on this and did deserve to win.

The last Pollack/Redford was a major bomb for both.  Though it has its fans, it’s a strange retelling of the Casablanca story set when Castro was taking over Cuba.  Both would more active as producers of others projects going forward.  Sydney would also appear as actor in other’s films or tv shows on an ongoing basis.

I do want to mention before TOOTSIE, Pollack directed Paul Newman and Sally Fields in ABSENCE OF MALICE, a very good suspense thriller with a nice twist.  He later directed Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman in the major hit THE FIRM.  On the minus side, he directed Harrison Ford in SABRINA, a poor remake of the Billy Wilder classic. 

Sydney served as executive producer on Anthony Mingella’s THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY.  He and Mingella became business partners for Mirage Pictures.  Mingella who pre deceased Pollack by a couple of mouths, who was also a multiple Oscar winner for THE ENGLISH PATIENT and generally had a more cerebral style than Pollack’s.

Sydney co-starred with Kidman in Stanley Kubrick’s last, EYES WIDE SHUT though his scenes were actually with super star Tom Cruise.  In it, he played a troubled film maker whose prostitute dies on him.  THE INTERPRETER, though not a big hit, was an interesting thriller that starred Kidman and Sean Penn.  I remember Sydney bragging that he did what Hitchcock was unable to do, film inside the U.N. building and have actual ambassadors served as his extras.

Sydney had a dry sense of humor and did note his passing on May 23 with sadness.  I believe he was one of the best ones of this generation and hope future generations will be inspired by his work.

It creating a bit of an iminate atmosphere.  Ably assisted by Writer/Photogreapher Christopher Trela, a nice ambiance of food. desserts and refreshments were offered free of charge or donation with party favors as Sparrow stressed, this was not a wake.  This was a birthday party.

I myself offered to give a brief history of Fairbanks before the screening and she took me up on the offer.  I was able to mention most of his biggest hits, marriages and time frames.  Thank God, I did mention Lady Ashley, as her daughter was among the attendees.  Being introduced as a Fairbanks expert for that first time, I sat down thinking there were facts I knew that I forgot to mention, such as being the first President of the Motion Picture Academy but then I didn’t prepare.  People did thank me afterwards and one even told me he had no idea what an important pioneer he was.

If I ever do that again, I would like to present him in two parts.  First would be the basic stuff, dates and his public persona.  Second, I would voice what influence he left and what a brilliant film maker he actually was.  For instance, when he adapted “The Curse of Capistrano” into “The Mark of Zorro,” not only was that a major turning point of his career, he showed genius in creating the first super hero on screen.  He humorously played the cowardly and effete Don Diego who is reality was the masked Zorro, able to take on several swordsmen at once and succeed.  Siegel and Shuster who created Superman and Bob Kane who created Batman cite this one film as an inspiration.  On the international level, Akira Kurosawa, famous for directing Samarai masterpieces, has also cited Fairbanks as a major influence.

Fairbanks grew a mustache because Alesandre Dumas gave D’Artangnan one when he wrote “The Three Musketeers.” In spite of the strange happy ending, Fairbanks’ retelling is one of the most enjoyable films the silent film ever did.  Though he rarely took directorial credit, as producer and writer as well as choreographer, he was very much the auteur of his own films, though director Fred Niblo did do a good job on both.  Among other directors that Fairbanks collaborated with were Victor Fleming, Allen Dwan and Raoul Walsh.  “The Thief of Baghdad” (1924) by Fairbanks/Walsh is arguably Fairbanks’ best showcase as a producer.

I could go on and on but that’s for another time.  The movie that was shown for his 125th was his last.  “The Private Life of Don Juan” has Doug playing the real Don who allows people to think he is dead when an imposter pretending to be him dies in a sword fight.  When he decides to return later, no one believes he’s actually the real Don Juan.  There’s a strong pallelel here to the actor’s real life.  Fairbanks’ name was once guaranteed box office and when this was made, he couldn’t make a successful picture.  It would also bomb, in spite of the intriguing premise and strong direction by Alexander Korda, whose then wife, Merle Oberon, played the main leading lady.

Again, kudos to Sparrow and it was a real treat meeting Ashley’s daughter. 

Story involves a bored, married physician, Dr. Talbot (Kent Smith) who falls for a luscious nightclub chanteuse (Sheridan). For most of the first half, the film works as a straightahead chronicle of an adulterous affair. Then it turns bigtime NOIR. One of the doc’s chronically ill patients, visiting after hours, dies before him. Where other healers might see failure, this one sees opportunity. Noticing a similarity in height, age, and weight, he puts the man’s body in his (the doc’s) car, sets it on fire, and pushes it over a cliff. Problem solved: everyone thinks it’s the doc’s body, negating the need for a messy divorce. (An aside: it’s hard to remember another Noir in which a crime is committed not out of greed, lust or fear, but out of love and concern for family. The doc’s fevered thinking is that his family would rather a dead husband and father than a divorced one. No matter. His “good” intentions are no match for sadistic Fate.)

Dr. T and Nora decamp to NYC, where they keep a low-pro as long as they are able. He is, after all, supposed to be dead. Eventually she goes back to work singing and the unemployed (and unemployable) doc starts to go a little nuts. Jealousy, drinking, and boredom make him suspicious, angry, and unpredictable. He soon gets into a car crash which disfigures his face, rendering him unidentifiable. The cops come to arrest him: not for the murder of his patient, but for the murder of HIMSELF! My friend, Gretchen, told me she wanted to start applauding at the sheer cleverness of this plot twist, and I had to agree.

His son Tony Huston joined the discussion with Richard Robbins, director of “American Homecoming” (2007),an Oscar nominated documentary of Iraq War veterans, Dr. Charles Wolfe, professor of film and media studies at UC Santa Barbara and biographer of Frank Capra, and moderator Dr. Betsy McLane, published author of two well received books on film.  She actually opened and closed the discussion with readings from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, who wrote sad poetry inspired by Whitman’s tour of duty during the Civil War.

Director Frank Capra was in charge of the “Why We Fight” series made in cooperation with the U.S. armed forces during World War Two.  Among the directors under him in this venture were good friends William Wyler and John Huston.  John Ford directed Oscar winning documentaries that were based in the Pacific.  Huston previously made “Report from the Aleutians”, itself an Oscar nominated documentary of 1943.

Huston’s “San Pietro” starts off with the aftermath of one of the most bloodiest battles of the war.  Corpses, maimed children, even the wreckage of the church of the city’s patron saint, Saint Peter, were unflinchingly shown.  Battle weary American soldiers are shown struggling dealing with their own wounded and digging graves.  Two of Huston’s crew were killed during the making of this.  When completed, it got negative response from the miliatry until it went to one of the top guys, George Marshall, who adored it and thought it essential for every soldier to see.  Captain Huston became Major Huston as a result.  Tony said his father would cry anytime it was shown.  At the time it was given limited release.  Today it’s considered one of best war documentaries ever made.  John Huston narrated as well as directed.

It still got more exposure than “Let There Be Light.” What’s today referred to post-traumatic stress disorders, this film focused on veterans being hospitalized for different types of mental illnesses.  There’s one who constantly mumbles, one who only thinks he’s paralyzed, one shakes uncontrollably, about ten of of three thousand were focused on.  Segregation still existed during World World Two but this documentary shows a racial mix.  Blacks and whites are shown together.  At the end they’re even playing baseball together.  I really found this one quite enlightening.  There’s no easy fix for mental illness but one can get better if given the motivation to try.  Hypnosis is shown as a tool psychiatrists used and the panelists firmly stated nothing was written for the veterans to act or speak.  Narrated by Walter Huston, this documentary was not given a release at all until 1980.  Why it’s considered unpatriotic to show veterans in pain is still a controversial topic today as our current administration will even disallow flag covered coffins to be shown.

Primarily Huston directed, wrote and acted in fiction narratives.  That his name would be honored for the academy’s lecture series speaks of the high regard his wartime documentaries are viewed.  They are actually quite timeless and are as relevant today as when they were made sixty years ago.  Dare I say, they are works of genius. 

I will do my best not to reveal any spoilers as there are many surprises here and probably best seen without even seeing the trailer.  I will say there’s a strong Jewish theme that the novel this was based on had and Hunt saw no reason to change that.  In fact, atonement is very big in the Jewish faith.  It starts off with her getting married to Matthew Broderick and we quickly find out that he’s totally pathetic and selfish.

Hunt gets outstanding performances from Colin Firth and Bette Midler whose own characters have their own baggage that Hunt’s character is forced to deal with.  That in itself is what makes “Then She Found Me” so refreshing.  We human beings are so imperfectly perfect and the issues the players here play with are quite believable.  On top of everything else, Helen Hunt’s character has a baby time clock and she’s no longer a spring chicken.

As an actress, she is as good as she was in “As Good As It Gets”.  Actually, there is some “borrowed” dialog towards the ending from that, but that’s a moot point.  It’s perfectly acceptable to repeat what one has done before especially if it was done well.  How many times has Woody Allen copied himself and seems to get more self centered each time?  With this film, Helen Hunt has proven a woman can also make an excellent film of fractured relationships, a genre he did help invent.

In closing, I do hope this film gets the attention it deserves.  Like a lot of geeks, I sit through a lot of films and most disappoint or I find myself looking at my watch.  Not so with this one, I found this to be very insightful and entertaining.

Saturday night continued the tradition. Most people had showed up to see the Peter Lorre double feature ( STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR and THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK). But it was the live people that made the evening memorable. 90-year-old Marsha Hunt, an actress with 100-plus TV and film credits to her name, took the stage to share memories of working with people like Jules (or “Julie,” as she called him) Dassin. Speaking eloquently about her experiences working for the studios in the forties and fifties she seemed especially gratified at never being typecast, but being allowed to play “everything,” and did.

Eddie Muller (Noir City programmer/writer/graphic artist/Noir expert) then showed his short film, THE GRAND INQUISITOR, starring Hunt and outstanding newcomer Leah Dashe. The film involves a young woman who confronts an elderly one about the meaning of some old books, and whether or not they hold the key to identifying the Zodiac Killer. Haunting, historically compelling, well-acted, and boasting surprising plot twists, the film didn’t disappoint. Muller then revealed that the story was inspired by a real-life incident he had in Northern California bookstore, when the owner took him in the back to ask his opinion on some markings in some old tomes.

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER grabbed me (and the audience) from the first frame to the last. Stanwyck plays a shrill, dependent, filthy-rich invalid stuck in a penthouse prison. Her telephone is her sole lifeline to the world. Stakes are raised when - courtesy of some crossed wires - Stanwyck overhears a murder being planned. But is it someone else’s or her own? Too bad her husband (Burt Lancaster) is nowhere to be found. 89 minutes later, lots of wicked grins emerged from the theatre, my own included. Hopefully there was a studio exec around to witness the audience satisfaction and say to himself: “why can’t WE make a taut thriller like that?”

Humphrey Bogart (as a World War II Vet looking for his vanished army buddy) and Lizbeth Scott (as a Torch Singer once involved with the friend) do a wonderful dance of death from the moment they meet. Bogey snarls and sniggers accusations; Lizbeth purrs and demurs. Amazing how, sixty-plus years after this was film was shot, the audience still chortled at Bogey’s choicest lines, like “Maybe she was all right and maybe Christmas comes in July. But I wasn’t buying it.”