James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers”

James Baldwin published “A Talk to Teachers” in The Saturday Review of Dec. 21, 1961. The essay was originally delivered as an address in New York City on Oct. 16, 1963, titled “The Negro Child: His Self-Image.” It is reprinted in Baldwin’s Collected Essays in The Library of America (pp. 678-86).

Let’s begin by saying that we are living through a very dangerous time. Everyone in this room is in one way or another aware of that. We are in a revolutionary situation, no matter how unpopular that word has become in this country. The society in which we live is desperately menaced, not by Khrushchev, but from within. To any citizen of this country who figures himself as responsible – and particularly those of you who deal with the minds and hearts of young people – must be prepared to “go for broke.” Or to put it another way, you must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society, you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance. There is no point in pretending that this won’t happen.

LFM Review: Martin Scorsese’s Letter to Elia

Marlon Brando, in Elia Kazan's iconic "On the Waterfront."

By Joe Bendel. No director portrayed the immigrant experience or the struggles of the common man with greater sensitivity than Elia Kazan – but to this day, he remains widely reviled on the left. Even a figure of Martin Scorsese’s stature took heat for presenting Kazan a lifetime achievement Oscar at the 71st Academy Awards. Yet for Scorsese, Kazan’s influence extended far beyond his early stylistic debt to the great filmmaker. Scorsese explains Kazan’s significance both to cinematic history in general and himself personally in Letter to Elia, an hour-long documentary he co-directed with Kent Jones, which screened with Kazan’s epic America, America at the 48th New York Film Festival.

Director Elia Kazan.

Regardless of political controversies, Kazan’s reputation as an actor’s director is without peer. A co-founder of the Actor’s Studio, Kazan began his career on the boards before finding his calling as a theater director. Letter reminds us that it was Kazan who helmed the Broadway premieres of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Of course, he would revisit Streetcar on film with original cast-member and frequent collaborator Marlon Brando, one of several legitimate masterpieces he crafted. However, for Scorsese, East of Eden stands out first and foremost in his consciousness, claiming to have “stalked” the film through second-run cinemas as a boy.
Looking straight into the camera, Scorsese forcefully and lucidly describes Kazan’s contributions to stage and screen, with the help of generous clips from the director’s filmography. While Eden and the best picture nominee America, America capture the most screen time, Scorsese and Jones duly include Kazan’s arguably single most famous scene, Brando’s “could have been a contender” speech from On the Waterfront, the classic tale of union corruption.
In contrast, they are clearly uncomfortable addressing Kazan’s testimony to the HUAC committee. Kazan was a former Communist who became disillusioned after the Stalin-Hitler (Molotov-Ribbentrop) non-aggression pact came to light. Considering Communism a severely flawed ideology, Kazan defended his decision in an op-ed piece, but Scorsese and Jones largely ignore his motivations, preferring to gloss over the incident with vague language of “difficult choices,” which does little to serve Kazan’s memory.
Of course, Scorsese is on solid ground when celebrating movie history. Letter is definitely an effective commercial for Kazan’s rich body of work, which really speaks for itself throughout the documentary. However, if any of his masterworks is under-represented, it would be Gentleman’s Agreement, a powerful examination of anti-Semitism that won Kazan his first Oscar.
Truly, Kazan is due for a critical renaissance, unblinkered by partisan score-settling. Letter is a well intentioned, mostly well executed effort to spur just that. Due to be included in a forthcoming Kazan boxset, Scorsese and Jones’ film screened yesterday (9/27) with a rare big screen presentation of America, America at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of the 2010 NYFF.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Elia Kazan's adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire, was a terrifying film when it came out, exploring ideas of abuse and mental illness. Fifty-six years later, it still shocks your blocks.

It launched Marlon Brando's career, and with no surprise, either. Brando steals the show, eclipsing every other actor on screen. He's Stanley Kowalski, a working-class Polish descendant, complete with sweat-stained fitted T-shirts and a vulgar mouth. His wife is Stella Dubois, from a formerly wealthy upper-class house, and the differences between them are obvious, especially when Stella's sister, Blanche, comes to stay.

I watched the film at the double feature at the Chauvel, coupled with East of Eden, James Dean's first movie... Dean idolized Brando, using his angry swagger for his own persona.

Blanche is played by Vivian Leigh, who brings the same Scarlett O'Hara act that she was known for. She plays her character like a Southern Belle, albeit one that has seen better days.

TV Review - BRANDO- A TCM World Premiere Documentary

Brando- A TCM World Premiere Documentary

Part One :  Tues, May 1 8:00 p.m. et/pt

Part Two:  Wed, May 2  8:00 p.m. et/pt

Marlon Brando is a legend. Whether you know him from one film or many, or from tales of his behind-the-scene antics, he is an American treasure.  To the fifties-generation of filmgoers, Brando was The Wild One; to the seventies he was The Godfather or Jor-el, father to Christopher Reeves’ Superman. A role model to many contemporary Hollywood actors, he is given credit for introducing method acting to film.  His naturalistic mood and style on camera was groundbreaking, he had learned much of his technique studying under Stella Adler in New York.  Director Michael Winner comments on the documentary: “Before Brando actors acted, after Brando they behaved”.  Actor Al Pacino adds; “You saw the change in acting with Brando, it was in his DNA”. Marlon Brando was a unique, fascinating individual, and it comes through loud and clear in this interesting and engaging documentary.

Quickly moving from the stage to Hollywood films, Brando’s early screen successes set a new style and approach for film acting.  Where before the film industry and acting was much the same as it had been since the talkies were invented, Brando revolutionized the depiction of on-screen pathos and male vulnerability. His talent and charisma impacted the motion picture industry in ways that are truly worth examining.  Johnny Depp comments: “Marlon revolutionized acting. He changed it…he changed everything.”

For years I have heard local Hollywood lore surrounding the personal life of Marlon Brando, which added to his image as a larger-than-life character.  My favorite story is that in the 1980’s Brando often frequented a childrens’ hair salon called “The Yellow Balloon” in Studio City, California to have his hair cut.  He would also show up at a small pizzeria in the San Fernando Valley shortly before closing to order a pizza, which he would eat before returning to his sanctuary in the Hollywood Hills.  He is also said to have frequented “Pink’s”, hot dog stand in Los Angeles, where he would eat up to six hotdogs in one sitting.  Many savvy fans are also aware of Brando’s desire to depict Superman’s father Jor-el as looking “like a bagel” who spoke in electronic noises, whose voice could only be translated to the screen with subtitles.  Though these are some of the tales I have personally heard, there are many more classic stories in this insightful character study. Actor Ed Begley Jr. tells a great story about being phoned by Brando in the nineties to come over to his house and discuss “a new project”.  He arrives at Brando’s home, thinking that they were going to talk about a movie or a play. The first thing Brando asks him is if he knew how much current an electric eel produced.   To Begley’s surprise, it turned out that Marlon was interested in using hundreds of electric eels in his swimming pool to supply electric power his property! Hilarious!

 

It was interesting to hear that in many of Brando’s later film appearances he refused to learn his lines.  He preferred to use cue cards or to have his lines read to him by a personal assistant, who would feed her voice into his ear through a special hearing aid.  He would also achieve a spontaneous feel to dialogue by hiding cue cards just out of camera range, a technique he demonstrated for Johnny Depp. Many motion picture giants who worked with Brando in his films reflected on the impact that he had on them in their careers, and Al Pacino’s memories of Marlon are fantastic. Just seeing Pacino reminisce about his on-screen “father” when he worked with him on The Godfather was priceless, he tells a great story about doing a long scene with Brando and nailing its emotional depth in one or two takes.   Robert Duval and James Caan recall their childish antics during their first meeting with Brando on The Godfather set, where they mooned him from a moving car! Hearing such stories from these seasoned, respected actors are priceless and will be the tales of future Hollywood lore.

This is the first documentary regarding Marlon Brando’s career that I am aware of.  Most people in their thirties, including myself know Brando from his role in The Godfather, but nothing else about him personally. This documentary takes the viewer back to Brando’s childhood, revealing his troubled family life and troubles he had with his mother, whom Brando later referred to as “a drunk”. All of these issues tie into his ability to act, to plumb great depths of sorrow, and his ultimate hatred of acting as a profession.  To combat boredom in the workplace, Brando became involved with controversial projects, even in the beginning of his career. A Streetcar Named Desire was such a raw stage play that it had to have several scenes cut before it was considered decent for filmgoers.

 

Brando’s bankablity for the studios faded in the 1960’s, partly due to his costly and eccentric on-set behavior. As a result, he was no longer offered the quality parts that he was accustomed to, until Francis Ford Coppola wanted him in The Godfather in the 70’s.  The heads of Paramount were so opposed to casting Brando for the film that they threatened to fire Coppola if he brought up Brando’s name for the part of Vito Coroleone again.  Luckily for film history’s sake, Copplola took it upon himself to visit Brando at his residence and film a screen test, which ultimately convinced Paramount to grant him the now-legendary role.   Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for his part in The Godfather but famously refused to accept it at the ceremony, on the grounds that Hollywood had historically mistreated Native Americans.

“Brando” is perhaps one of the most captivating documentaries I have ever seen, and is peppered with rare interviews with Marlon Brando, as well as never-before-seen screen tests.  His personal charm immediately wins you over, adding to his likeability both on screen and off. I was of a Brando fan before viewing this piece, but after it I am a devoted fanatic, and am eager to see all of his movies. Get ready to experience Brando parts one and two, broadcast over two consecutive nights.  Each night will feature several of his most important films immediately following the premiere of this two-part documentary. A masterfully crafted and exemplary documentary, this experience is not to be missed, an account of perhaps the greatest American actor of all time.

Bill Nunn as Radio Raheem in “Do the Right Thing”, 1989

 

The story of love and hate in Spike Lee’s version of Robert Mitchum’s anecdote in Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter is an effective urban re-imagining in the manner of hip-hop sampling the classics.

 

Let me tell you the story of Right Hand, Left Hand. It’s a tale of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cane iced his brother. Love: these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand: the hand of love. The story of life is this: static. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand, Love, is finished. But hold on, stop the presses, the right hand is coming back. Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes, now, that’s right. Yea, boom, it’s a devastating right and Hate is hurt, he’s down. Ooh! Ooh! Left-Hand Hate KOed by Love. If I love you, I love you. But if I hate you …

Phoning It In From 30 Years Ago

While filming on 2006's "Superman Returns" began early in 2005, one actor completed all of his work for the movie almost 30 years ago. Director Bryan Singer has announced plans to incorporate footage shot in 1977 of late actor Marlon Brando as Superman's Kryptonian father, Jor-El. A voice from the past playing the part of a voice from the past.
As a screen legend, Brando was one of the big draws of 1978's "Superman: The Movie". At the time, many considered Brando's multi-million dollar salary for about 2 weeks of work obscene. Brando shot all of his work for "Superman" and "Superman II" at once. For a wide variety of reasons including finances and the replacement of original director Richard Donner with "Superman II" director of record Richard Lester, all of Brando's shot footage for "Superman II" was cut from the final film. Lester brought in actress Susannah York to re-film key scenes replacing Superman's biological father with his biological mother. And Brando's work sat in a film vault for decades.
In the 25 years since "Superman II", and particularly over the last decade since DVD technology has been introduced, there have been efforts to get Brando's work on "Superman II" incorporated into a restored "Richard Donner cut" of the film. Now it's been revealed that some of that footage will be used in "Superman Returns." Presumably, Brando's Jor-El will digitally interact with Brandon Routh's Kal-El (or possibly Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor) in the Fortress of Solitude.
While the details of the film's plot remain firmly under wraps, an examination of the last "Superman II" script reprinted online that listed Donner as Director (and Donner colleague Tom Mankiewicz as Creative Consultant) reveals at least Jor-El's side of his conversations in "Superman Returns". For purposes of this article, it is assumed that all the scenes involving Jor-El contained in the "Superman II" script dated April 18, 1977 were filmed as written. According to David Michael Petrou's "The Making of Superman: The Movie", filming began simultaneously for "Superman" and "Superman II" on March 28, 1977. Brando filmed all of his scenes over the first two weeks of the production. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the late April 1977 script included all of Brando's scenes as they were shot
In the theatrical version of "Superman II", Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor finds Superman's Fortress of Solitude and learns about the Kryptonian memory crystals and the Phantom Zone villains from the spirit of both Superman's biological mother and an unnamed Kryptonian elder. Originally, all of the dialogue was Brando's as Jor-El. The re-filmed scenes were interspersed with Hackman's already filmed scenes. Because Hackman refers to the voice he is speaking with as a "he", Lester was forced to cast a Kryptonian elder in addition to Lara to recite the Earth poem "Trees".

Monthly archive May, 2011

This terrific review of Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrence Kelly’s new All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age comes to us from new Mbird contributor Zach Williams:
One must always bear in mind when reading a book like All Things Shining that unbelieving friends have surrendered all conscious hope of waking up after dying. The empiricist in me greeted the authors’ proposal formula for a meaningful life in a post-Christian era—consisting of kind of purposeful superficiality, wonder at the incidental goods delivered by the world, and gratitude for the acts of the nonexistent gods—with a measure of consternation. How could a person muster the will to a play out the Life of Meaning in a flourish of cosmic playacting? But the project became more plausible once I reminded myself that authors Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly and others like them aspire to end life smiling while looking backward in time rather than forward. Phenomenology over metaphysics, Kelly and Dreyfus urge us, and indeed, there is not much use for a truth claim when a man wonders which tug upon his deathbed’s sheets will be the last of all his sensations.
The deathbed is as bound and un-free a place as exists in the world. Contrast it to the vast and multi-dimensional freedom—political, social, economic, ideological—we enjoy in this era. Do we really “enjoy” them, though? Kelly and Dreyfus believe we have come to the end of our enjoyment. Their diagnosis is not new. The freedom to choose from an endless stock of identities, careers, ideologies, cultures, and so on, has left us inert, without a basis to choose among the stock in making a life choice. This paralysis is nihilism. The burden of choice is the primary quandary of the godless age. Nietzsche delighted at freedom’s endless possibilities; the authors are exhausted by them.
Nor is the authors’ solution entirely new, but manner of describing it appears to be. They find inspiration in Homer’s Greeks, for whom excellence lay in being in sync with the gods and their moods at any given moment, so as to respond appropriately without thinking. Athena directs spears thrust by six of Penelope’s suitors and was thankful. At a dinner party thrown by her husband Menelaus, Helen tells the story, of her affair with Paris, approvingly, the dalliance that led to that little difference in perspective called the Trojan War. The cuckolded Menelaus looks upon Helen as “shining among women.” Why? She embodies—passively, acceptingly, with no resistance—the mood given by Eros. Helen has lived the best life because she is in sync with what has been given to her; she responds with awe, thanks, and wonder to that which is sacred in her culture (which, as you can tell, was not marital fidelity). The authors mix a dose of Martin Luther (whom they admire) with the strain of literary modernism that praised the small, the local, one’s little corner of the universe, in rejection of every ism. Here I think of Frederic Henry retreating to the woods with Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms. They reject the illusion underlying Nietzsche’s free spirit while refusing to descend into the postmodernist miasma.

In sync with the gods in a world of no gods? Hence the description of cosmic playacting. But it is not metaphysics that matter; the metaphysical emptiness of the authors’ proposal is irrelevant, of course, because the world is metaphysically empty. Phenomenology over metaphysics, the authors insist. In dwelling on man’s experience—or urging us to experience experience—the authors are content not to theorize the experience they endorse. A reader probably could not describe All Things Shining’s idea of the good life in a sentence or two. The book is not a treatise but a provocation and reflection on acceptance, passivity, and thankfulness. It turns philosophy’s late interest in phenomenology into an ethical mandate—an anti-ethical ethical mandate. At the self-conscious smallness of the authors’ final description of the meaningful life will leave many wondering, “That’s it? Really?” But again, one must always bear in mind about his unbelieving friends . . .
To quibble with the authors’ rejection of metaphysical commitment is to fixate overmuch, and pointlessly, on the obvious. And there is much to appreciate in the authors’ aesthetic sensibility; they tap into Chesterton’s “

Marlon Brando discusses Dylan

BRANDO
There are people who aspire to be artists, but I don't think they're worthy of the calling. I don't know of any movie actors, or any actors. . . . There are no people . . . we can call them "artists," give them the generic term if they're comfortable with that, but in terms of great art, magnificent art, art that changes history, art that's overwhelming--where are they? Where are the great artists today? Name one. When you look at Rembrandt, Baudelaire, or listen to the "Discourses" by Epictetus, you know the quality of men is not the same. There are no giants. Mao Tse-tung was the last giant.

GROBEL
Pauline Kael made some pretty audacious statements when she reviewed "Last Tango in Paris," saying it had altered the face of an art form. Did such critical reaction to the film throw you?

BRANDO

Choking on Marlon Brando

Choking on Marlon Brando is the story of a young female film critic s love-life is affected and nearly ruined by her obsession with male movie stars. As her increasingly hapless hunt for the right man unfolds and her television and newspaper career unravels, our heroine finally begins to understand that difficult truth: that life is not like the movies.

Entwined within the narrative of her real-life love affairs is a kaleidoscope of digressions on great screen actors her early obsession with Brando, her later dream-life with Gerard Depardieu, a personal ad seeking out Tom Cruise, a disastrous climactic encounter with Jeff Bridges. It s a helter-skelter ride through love and the movies which reads like a screwball comedy. But our heroine is no screwball; she seems to know everything about movies and the human heart, and painfully little about anything else. Written in a fresh

It Sucks To Be a Nazi

I stayed up late last night watching the 3-hour WWII epic The Young Lions (1958).  The film is an adaptation of Irwin Shaw's (Rich Man, Poor Man) hefty WWII classic, multicharacter novel.
The novel and film follow the war stories of three different soldiers - two Americans (Noah Ackerman, a Jewish young man and Michael Whiteacre - a Broadway guy) and one German (Christian Diestl).
My memory of the book isn't that clear, but I gathered that the film departs drastically from Shaw's uncompromising conclusion, in which Diestl kills the wholly-admirable Noah Ackerman, and then Whiteacre the heel shoots Diestl.  In the book, Diestl becomes a cold-hearted, animalistic, amoral Nazi after starting as an idealistic, charming young man.
In the film, Diestl is portrayed by a platinum-blond Marlon Brando.  This isn't as bad as it sounds.  He actually looks pretty darn godlike and is referred to as such by the females he naturally attracts.  Whether or not you are interested in WWII topics, this film is also interesting in that it features two of not just the most famous, but best, actors of their generation:  Marlon Brando as Diestl, and Montgomery (post-accident) Clift as Noah Ackerman.
In the original novel, Diestl morphed into a villainous, dislikeable character.  This never happens in the film.  I read some review material that indicated that Brando's vanity dictated that Diestl be portrayed as a naive charmer with high ideals that didn't wither throughout the film.  The King Nazi in the movie is Diestl's superior officer, portrayed by the definitive Nazi, Maximilian Schell, in his first Hollywood role.  I learned that gifted Swiss actor Schell did not speak English at this time, and spoke his part phonetically.  This film effortlessly makes use of unbelievable acting power.
In the war of humanity, however, mirrored by the acting one-upmanship in this epic film, it is Montgomery Clift and his character Noah Ackerman who wins.  As I noted some reviewers pointing up, The Young Lions was filmed at close enough proximity to the actual war (14 years later) that no one questioned what our troops encountered when they liberated the concentration

The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice

 

 

By Chris Foran 27 February 2012

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT)

We love to graft Big Ideas onto Big Stars. John Wayne is America, Elvis Presley is The King, Marlon Brando is The Rebel, Bob Dylan is The Prophet.

Elizabeth Taylor is so big we keep adding ideas onto her. She’s been The Beauty, The Star, The Great Actress, The Husband Collector. But The Feminist?

So argues M.G. Lord, in The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice.

There’s an interesting idea lurking here, but it’s obscured by insights that are simultaneously thin and overreaching. Which is kind of a shame, since anything that gets you past the glitter and into Taylor’s movies isn’t a bad thing.

Lord, the author of the cheeky and smart Forever Barbie, argues that Taylor carried the banner of feminism, on screen and off, sometimes without knowing it but always without apology.

And Lord has Taylor carrying that banner from childhood. National Velvet Lord says, is based on a fierce, gender-bending polemic of a children’s novel, with Taylor — all of 12 years old at the time — taking a stand for equality by posing as a male jockey to win the big race.

The Chase" with Marlon Brando, E.G. Marshall, Angie Dickinson and Jane Fonda (1966)

 

Changing societal conventions collide with booze, money and power in this barnburner of a film by director Arthur Penn. Bubber Reeves; played by Robert Redford, escapes from prison; and promptly becomes involved in a crime which results in a murder he does not commit. With the entire state on the lookout for him, he heads home to his South Texas town to see his wife, Anna, played by Jane Fonda. She has been having an affair with the married son of Val Rogers, played by E.G. Marshall, the local oil and cattle baron, who provides a great deal of employment to the people of the town. He also causes a great deal of resentment toward the Sheriff.

Sheriff Calder, played by Marlon Brando, is married to Ruby Calder, played by Angie Dickinson. Together they run the courthouse, seemingly at the direction of Val Rogers. But that myth is shattered the night Bubber returns to town, and the "respectable" citizens show their true colors. All have something to hide, or prove to others, and to themselves.

With Sheriff Calder alone looking out for justice, can justice prevail? Old tensions flare, and the film ends on an apocalyptic note; literally; as the town utterly destroys itself.

Working from the novel by Horton Foote, the screen play by Lillian Hellman captures all the drama of the fragility of the human condition. When a whole town can be so adversely affected by one event, the question of just what constitutes society is called into question.

MARLON BRANDO

Critically Marlon Brando is considered as the most important actor in modern American Cinema. He is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century. Brando had a significant impact on film acting, and was the foremost example of the “method” acting style. He initially gained popularity for recreating the role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), his other iconic roles include On the Waterfront (1954) and  my favourit Brando film, rebel motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (1953). His later work included the Godfather ,  Apocalypse Now (1979) and a cameo in  (1978) Superm
an. Brando wasnt just a great actor, he had charm and a swagger different from the other actors. His on screen presence and style was  cool, relaxed and rebellious.

Few men have had as much of an impact on cinema and celebrity as Brando did.  In addition, he also cultivated a sophisticated, classy 1950s look for himself that men today still strive to achieve. His style was effortless and he pulled it off well. Brando and James Dean are perhaps the only two people who could pull off the effertless, cool and rebellious style.

His style was Tailored Suit On the red carpet, in his movies, White Tee On his casual days, Plaid Scarf and  Button-down Shirt.  Marlon Brando made looking cool effortless, if any guy is attempting the effortless cool look, not no further than Marlon Brando, a true style icon.

Legendary Actors : Marlon Brando

 

                                                            Marlon Brando was quite simply one of the most celebrated and influential screen and stage actor; he rewrote the rules of performing, and nothing was ever the same again. Marlon Brando movies range from well-acted masterpieces to wildly out-of-control disasters. That’s because the celebrated actor was prone to moments of genius followed by equally bizarre periods of strangeness. Brooding, and intense, his greatest contribution was popularizing "Method acting".

What is Method Acting?

                                  Lee Strasberg , a film theorist of acting and a leader of the Actors Studio, suggested that the most effective film performers were those who did not act. “They try not to act but to be themselves,to respond or react,” he said.

Marlon Brando is The Godfather

 

60cm x 91.5cm (24" x 36") Poster

Gangster Movie Poster: This poster features Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone in a scene from one of the most famous gangster films of all time, The Godfather. Rarely can it be said that a film has defined a genre, but never is that more true than in the case of The Godfather. Since the release of the 1972 epic (which won ten Academy Award nominations and was named Best Picture), all "gangster movies" have been judged by the standards of this one. In this picture Corleone is dressed in trademark dinner jacket and shirt and delivers the immortal line: "Someday-and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift".

Marlon Brando Trustees sue Harley-Davidson for using name

Marlon Brando’s estate executors have filed a suit against Harley-Davidson Motor Company for the unlicensed use of Brando’s name on a line of boots. Brando Enterprises is seeking to recover damages caused by the sales and marketing of the unlicensed boot. The lawsuit says the boots look similar to a pair that Brando wore in the 1953 movie „The Wild One”. The movie mogul says, “The Marlon Brando name is among the most recognized in the world. Only a select few can transcend generations and Marlon Brando is in that rarified group of globally renowned icons.

Marlon Brando died in 2004

“The entire licensing industry is fully aware of the importance attached to protecting a brand – not only from the perspective of the brand owner but also for the benefit of all licensees, retailers and consumers. Brando Enterprises has successfully achieved a number of high-profile licensing partnerships with a broad range of media and retail licensees – all within the specific parameters set forth by the actor himself.”

The Godfather Wars

 

In manyways, the men who made The Godfather—director Francis Ford Coppola, producer Al Ruddy, Paramount executives Robert Evans and Peter Bart, and Gulf & Western boss Charles Bluhdorn—were as ruthless as the gangsters in Mario Puzo’s blockbuster. After violent disputes over the casting of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, they tangled with the real-life Mob, which didn’t want the movie made at all. The author recalls how the clash of Hollywood sharks, Mafia kingpins, and cinematic geniuses shaped a Hollywood masterpiece. Plus: Video, more photos, and the late-breaking story of how a Jersey family mentored the cast.
by Mark Seal

Francis Ford Coppola, at right, directs Marlon Brando and the cast in the wedding scene at the start of The Godfather. By Steve Schapiro.

During the 1960s, a dirty, loaded word came into currency: Mafia. It signified one of the most terrifying forces on earth, the Italian-American faction of organized crime, and naturally the men who headed this force wanted to keep the word from being spoken, if not obliterate it altogether. When it became the basis of a best-selling book, and the book was sold to the movies, those men decided that they had to take action.

Video: Mark Seal discusses the movie makers and mobsters behind The Godfather. Plus: Set photographer Steve Schapiro’s photos, and the late-breaking story of how a Jersey family mentored the cast.

It all began in the spring of 1968, when a largely unknown writer named Mario Puzo walked into the office of Robert Evans, the head of production at Paramount Pictures. He had a big cigar and a belly to match, and the all-powerful Evans had consented to take a meeting with this nobody from New York only as a favor to a friend. Under the writer’s arm was a rumpled envelope containing 50 or 60 pages of typescript, which he desperately needed to use as collateral for cash.
“In trouble?,” Evans asked.

Cate Blanchett Upstaging Marlon Brando? A Streetcar Named Desire Review at BAM

Cate Blanchett might not be the first actress you would picture playing Blanche DuBois, as she is doing in the Sydney Theater Company’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this month. Blanche is over the hill; Blanchett is at her peak. Blanche is brittle and lost; Blanchett seems rooted and indestructible, maybe because of our memory of her Oscar-nominated roles as the Queen of England in both “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” or her Oscar-winning performance as Katherine Hepburn in “The Aviator” — or maybe just because of her high cheekbones, which make her look as if she was born to be on the cover of this month’s Vogue Magazine, even though she is there not as a model but to accompany an article about how much she loves the theater.
If Blanche is afraid of bright lights because they will reveal her true age, from the moment Blanchett walked on the stage, dressed elegantly in white from head to toe, she seemed to…glow, as if light existed to reveal her glamour.
Add to all this that Blanche is a Southern belle, born on a plantation in Mississippi and escaping her past by moving in with her sister Stella and Stella’s brutish husband Stanley in the very Southern city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Blanchett is from Australia, and she’s being directed by a Norwegian.
None of these disparities matter a whit of course, least of all the last, since the Norwegian in question is the great Liv Ullmann, the star of so many of Igmar Bergman’s most remarkable films. However nightmarish the marriage between Stella and Stanley, the theatrical pairing of Cate Blanchett and Liv Ullman is one I would not have wanted to miss no matter what alchemy actually occurred on the stage. I am clearly not alone; the entire run long has been sold out.
The production that opened Tuesday night by Ullmann and the Sydney (the Australian theater company that Blanchett serves as artistic director with her husband) adds some lyrical touches that make us feel as if we have entered an Edward Hopper-like landscape of loneliness. There are blues songs, background flute music, the almost constant silhouette of the upstairs neighbors behind window shades, a set with a deserted feel and a weather-beaten look (which fits in well with the modern-ruin architecture of the Harvey Theater in which the play is being presented.) But the heart of this production is in making Blanche the riveting center around which the other characters revolve.
Whether by conscious choice or by quality of acting, this was not the case in the original Broadway production, which opened 62 years ago — Tennessee Williams’ second major hit play (after “The Glass Menagerie”) and Marlon Brando’s sixth (and last) appearance on Broadway. Most to the point, it was the play that made the then-23-year-old Brando a star, bringing him to Hollywood, where he eventually appeared in the indelible 1951 filmed version of Streetcar. His performance as Stanley is often said to have revolutionized acting in America. It is safe to say that Joel Edgerton’s performance as Stanley in the current production does not revolutionize acting in America, or even in Brooklyn. The animal is there, but I didn’t see enough of the animal magnetism, which would explain Stella’s attraction to Stanley and bring out the undercurrent of sexual tension in his brutality towards Blanche, or at least make his resentment towards her more understandable. Here he taunts her with rude gestures, throws her radio out the window.
Thus Blanche here seems more victimized than self-destructive: We excuse her lies (who isn’t a lush and a fallen woman these days?) , and find her disheveled deterioration almost unwatchable – except of course we must watch, because Cate Blanchett makes us pay attention, in a performance so alive and real it feels painful.
It would not be possible for me to place Cate Blanchett’s Blanche in any sort of hierarchy of Blanches. I wasn’t alive yet to see Jessica Tandy in the original production; I imagine she was closer to a fluttering bird than Blanchett’s expiring volcano. The role has beckoned so many exquisite actresses — Vivien Leigh, Uta Hagen, Blythe Danner, Jessica Lange, Patricia Clarkson, Natasha Richardson.
It is easier to place “A Streetcar Named Desire” in American letters, to see how powerful Tennessee Williams’ play remains, able to resist the leveling to which such a familiar work is subjected in our popular culture. Sixteen years ago, another great play, Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” made mincemeat of one of the most famous lines in Williams’ play – one of the most famous lines in all American theater – when one of his gay characters quotes it in self-conscious parody, but also in all sincerity:
“I’m going now,” says the Mormon mother Hannah (played by Kathleen Chalfant on Broadway and Meryl Streep in the movie).
“You’ll come back,” the AIDS-ridden Prior Walter says.
“If I can,” Hannah says…
“Please do,” Prior says. “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
“Well,” says Hannah, “that’s a stupid thing to do” – getting the loudest laugh in the play.
Yet when Blanchett’s Blanche utters that line at the end of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” 62 years after anybody anywhere uttered it on any stage, it is just as devastating as it ever was.
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A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street, through December 20, 2009.
Directed by Liv Ullmann
Set design by Ralph Myers, costume design by Tess Schofield, lighting design by Nick Schlieper, sound design by Paul Charlier
Cast:
Cate Blanchett as Blanche Dubois
Michael Denkha as Steve Hubbell
Jole Edgerton as Stanley Kowalski
Elaine Hudson as a strange woman
Gertraud Ingeborg as a Mexican woman
Morgan David Jones as a young collecor
Russell Kiefel as a strange man
Jason Klarwein as as Pablo Gonzales
Mandy McElhinney as Eunice Hubbell
Robin McLeavy as Sella Kowalski
Tim Richards as Mitch
Sara Zwangeobani as Rosetta
Running time: three hours, ten minutes with one intermission.
Ticket prices:
“Due to popular demand, tickets to A Streetcar Named Desire are sold out to the general public, with the exception of a limited number of partial view seats, available by calling BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100.
A limited number of front orchestra seats are available to Friends of BAM at the Benefactor level ($1000) and up for Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances only. To become a Benefactor, call Patron Services at 718.636.4182.”

Hot Toys Marlon Brando

"The following is a guest review.  The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author." Jeff Parker jumps in tonight with a look at another Hot Toys Movie Icon, Marlon Brando!  Take it away, Jeff... 揑t begins here for me on this road. How the whole mess happened I don't know, but I know it couldn't happen again in a million years. Maybe I could of stopped it early, but once the trouble was on its way, I was just going' with it. Mostly I remember the girl. I can't explain it - a sad chick like that, but something' changed in me. She got to me, but that's later anyway. This is where it begins for me right on this road�. OK it抯 more than a little melodramatic, but so begins the opening narration of The Wild One (1953) one of Brando抯 earliest staring vehicles, many consider it over rated and it抯 probably true to say that had Brando not starred, it might have disappeared without trace! But he did star, and so it has become a dated and flawed classic, but still a classic, it supplied the blue-print for the angry, disenfranchised youth of 1950抯 America and a defining role for its lead actor!   Brando had made a big impact in Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire a couple of years earlier and he was still to make On The Water Front the following year for which he won his first Oscar. But as far as a character 憀ook� goes, this was just about his most iconic. He played Johnny Strabler, the leader of 慣he Black Rebels Motorcycle Club� (with BRMC stenciled on the back of their jackets), a biker gang that drifts into 慦rightsville� a small Norman Rockwellesque town and proceeds to terrorise its inhabitants, and when a rival gang 慣he Beetles� (It has been rumoured that that a certain little 慡couse� band was inspired by this name) led by Chinno (Lee Marvin) arrive in town as well, things start to turn even uglier.   Brando was the archetypal rebel in this movie, a movie that by today抯 standards might seem pretty tame, but back in the day the British film board of censors banned it for 15 years, finally giving it a release with an X certificate in 1968. And so it is pretty fitting that for Hot Toys (HT) second M Icon, they should choose to make the figure of Marlon Brando from this iconic role. What're you rebelling against, Johnny? Whaddya got? If you want to familiarize yourself with the look of the character here are a few more youtube links. Careful with this one, if you don抰 want to know how it ends! Packaging: ***1/2 In its construction this is very similar to the previous M-Icon; James Dean figure reviewed here, so it抯 the same shoe-box design that flips open sideways. Instead of the denim effect that Dean had, this Brando version is printed to mimic the sheen and grain of leather, neither gloss nor matt but a kind of semi gloss finish. It has a 憊ery� brief biography on the front and again bears the small metal badge in the top right corner. Inside is a printed-paper cover that you lift to show a sheet of foam that protects the front of the figure. Under this is the figure, completely surrounded by die cut black foam. This does an amazing job of protecting the contents, and like the Enterbay, Bruce Lee figures, it means that short of actually crushing the box he抯 gonna reach you in A1 perfecto condition. So a nice bit of design, totally collector friendly and the box looks good displayed to boot. Sculpt: *** 4/5 This is very a strong sculpt by Kang In Ae, I抎 say better than his work on James Dean, but still not quite as spot on as the amazing cannibal Jack by Yulli, but there is absolutely no doubt that this is a striking sculpt of Brando in his prime. Kang has captured something of his arrogance and his heavy eye lidded nonchalant stare. And though this looks virtually spot on from the front, in profile it is faultless, with the silhouette of his brow, chin, mouth and all importantly his nose is a 1/6 facsimile of the man him self. Paint: **** Not too much paint needed here but all carried out very tightly. His hat and boots are painted well with some lovely attention to detail on the metal rings and zips on his boots (my engineers boots have always been pull on though?). When I first saw pics of the cap, I was sure it was fabric, it抯 not, but the paint is so well applied to such a solid sculpt that it抯 all very convincing. The most impressive paintwork is of course on the face, I think this sculpt is even stronger than on Dean, and therefore the paint doesn抰 have to work quite as hard, but this is still outstanding. Beautifully tight crisp work on and around the eyes, in fact these are some of the best painted eye抯 I抳e seen, clean subtle work on the skin-tones and some very fine work is applied to the hair, especially on the hairline, another outstanding paint app from the HT golden boy J C Hong Articulation - **** This is the classic HT True-Type used on virtually all the 憂on-muscle�, bodied human males, but unlike Dean he still has the double neck articulation. I, like Michael think this is just about the best body out there at the moment, some are slightly more agile, but this poses absolutely fine and is very sturdy to boot. You can find some detailed pics of this here on the HT website, but I plan to do a review of the new Asian base body soon. Accessories: ** Well, apart from his hat, which is really part of his outfit the only thing you get is a stand. It抯 a nice stand, but that抯 it. I抳e known since I ordered this it wouldn抰 have any accessories, so there抯 no argument from me. And what could you give him� OK, OK, a 650cc Triumph Thunderbird would have been nice, but here in the real world I抦 happy just to have him in this basic form. A line up of classic Hollywood greats has been something I抳e coveted for a long while and at last someone has answered my prayers! Outfit- **** Like the James Dean figure from last month, this is an amazing outfit designed by Hai Lim. It was a much-favoured look of the fashionistas in the UK during the 80抯, (well, without the hat, as even in the 80抯 that could be considered a little too 慥illage People�). Suffice to say, I had the 慹ngineers boots� (still wear that style to this day), the 50抯 cut denims (red seam stitching and turn ups) and best of all the Schott, Perfecto leather jacket (I still have mine, but sadly the years have taken there toll and it no longer fits). So, what I抦 saying is, these are all garments I know pretty intimately, (boy if that jacket could talk!). When this movie was made there was no such thing as a 慴ikers� jacket. Up until that time, bikers had looked to army and air force surplus supplies to provide garments that could keep them warm and more importantly protect them if they took a spill. So when they were trying out different outfits for Brando, it was decided nothing looked quite right for this edgy dangerous character, so Schott were called in. They had a long history of making fatigues for the military and US police force, and brought this expertise to bare when designing the first, edgy but functional civilian bikers jacket, and so a short time later the classic Schott Perfecto was born! A brief history of the company can be seen here and indeed you can still purchase this classic jacket from them here. Hot Toys have pulled off a near perfect, scaled replica of the entire outfit. His boots and cap are moulded plastic but are expertly sculpted to look just like the screen worn garments; the jeans are again exceptional with working pockets and small metal rivets, a belt with stitched detail and lastly the jacket I described above. This thing is amazing, with tiny, scaled zips, small working press-studs on the collar (you抣l find a small instruction sheet about these, as care is needed when 憉n-popping�). The attached belt also has a metal effect buckle and metal eyelets and they抳e even attached a ribbon zip-pull that hangs from the front zipper. This could well be my 1/6 garment of the year, but having seen some detailed pics of the upcoming HT Joker outfit, it might be a tight call. Now although this jacket 憀ooks� perfect, a few liberties were taken to make it look as cool as they could at this scale. The front zipper doesn抰 actually undo completely to the bottom so as to make it lie flatter against his stomach, to remove the jacket you need to undo the belt then unzip two concealed zips on either side of the jacket, but unless you really need to, I抎 advise leaving everything just how it is. They have also omitted the stencilled BRMC with the skull and crossed pistons on the back and the name Johnny that was on the left hand side chest of the movie jacket, I抦 sure this is to avoid any licensing issues, as this is officially 慚arlon Brando, 1950抯 version�, not 慣he Wild One� version! Fun factor- **** I can only really base my score on how much 慺un� this has given me. Like I said about the Dean figure, these aren抰 for everyone, it抯 a small work of art aimed squarely at your hardcore 1/6 fans. But if you consider yourself in these ranks, and perhaps even more importantly if you抮e a fan of Brando, this is one figure you will LOVE! Value: ***1/2 Sideshow has him up for $129.99, that抯 $15 more than Dean was, but I抎, put that squarely down to the work carried out on the jacket. Had the jacket not turned out as well as it had I might have deducted another � star, but it is exceptional so he level pegs in the value department with Dean. Overall: ***3/4 I love this figure, I expected to like Dean more, but this has the edge. The price increase has kept him from that perfect score, had he come in at $115 it would抳e been top score no problem, but for me at least he still comes damn close. Score Recap: Packaging - ***1/2 Sculpt - *** 4/5 Paint - **** Articulation - **** Accessories - ** Fun Factor - **** Value - ***1/2 Overall - ***3/4 Where to Buy - As I said above SST the official importer still has him on pre-order for $129.99 and a few of Michael抯 sponsors also have him, many a good bit cheaper. Sideshow $129.99 - PRE ORDER Dark Shadow $117.00 � PRE ORDER Alter Ego Comics $116.99 � PRE ORDER Or if you抮e in the UK Forbidden Planet �99 - PRE ORDER Or you can use Michaels sponsors Shopping.com or search ebay using MyAuctionLinks. KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS! Figure from the collection of Jeff Parker.

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