Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1940 Prehistoric Porky starring Porky Pig , directed by Bob Clampett.
The "magazine for cavemen" that Porky gets in the mail has a number of Warner Bros. employees' names on the cover (Cob Blampett = Director Bob Clampett, Mubby Tillar = Writer Melvin "Tubby" Millar, Tick Dhomas = Background Artist Richard H. "Dick" Thomas, Cohn Jarey = Animator John Carey, Reve Visto = Animator Vive Risto, Ray Blouse = Cameraman Ray Bloss, Tary M[cut off] = Ink and Paint Supervisor Mary Tebb), all of whom worked on this cartoon. Several others are also "honored:" Have Doffman = Dave Hoffman, Farren Woster = Warren Foster, Jorge Gordan = George Jordan. Cut off at the bottom of the list of names are the series titles "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies." And the illustration of a caveman on the cover looks suspiciously like producer Leon Schlesinger.br />
The staff at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour has extended their vacation to include the Labor Day weekend, (I, myself, am in an undisclosed location.) Trawling through the intraweb, I found a link to this great re-interpretation of Life During Wartime. (Please check out the website I found it on - Nag on the Lake,)
It's truly disconcerting to see this song become reality
We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1993 drama, Short Cuts, directed by Robert Altman, and the ensemble cast includes Matthew Modine, Julianne Moore, Fred Ward, Anne Archer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Chris Penn, Jack Lemmon, Frances McDormand, Lori Singer, Andie MacDowell, Buck Henry, Lily Tomlin, Annie Ross, Huey Lewis, Lyle Lovett, and Tom Waits.
The film cast includes five Oscar winners: Jack Lemmon, Tim Robbins, Frances McDormand, Julianne Moore and Robert Downey Jr.; and seven Oscar nominees: Buck Henry, Bruce Davison, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Anne Archer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Huey Lewis.
Music and how it reflects and affects people's lives is a running theme in this movie. Annie Ross' "I'm a Prisoner of Life" is particularly poignant; and is probably the main theme of the movie; an anthem to the cruelty and joy of life itself. (It's no mistake that she sings it again during the closing credits of the movie). To go along with this Altman hires many musicians to be in the cast; most notably jazz singer Annie Ross and her cello player daughter Lori Singer; both of whom are accomplished musicians in real life; just as their characters are. Singers Lyle Lovett, Huey Lewis and Tom Waits are also in the
Only Robert Altman could’ve made a three-hour film that seems to be a sweeping analysis of an entire population, and have it be such a charming and bubbly experience.
Please find a very comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this amazing film: Short Cuts .
Robert Altman originally wanted Madeleine Stowe to play the controversial role ultimately played by Julianne Moore that called for the actress to play a long scene naked from the waist down exposing her pubic hair and rear. But Stowe refused saying she couldn't find a justification for the character being nude in the scene. it." Though Stowe did agree to play the part of Moore's character's sister who poses fully nude for a painting because she felt "it was essentially a comic scene, and I didn't feel exposed in the same way."
In an interview, Julianne Moore revealed that Robert Altman warned her that the role of Marian Wyman had a lengthy monologue while bottomless and that her shirt wouldn't cover anything below her waist, so both sides of her would be visible most of the time as she's walking around. The actress said she not only agreed to take the role on the spot but also told Altman that she had a bonus for him: "I really am a redhead."
Demand Euphoria!
