John Carpenter's Halloween: It's a Kentucky Thing

While it may be set in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois (not to mention actually shot in California), John Carpenter's Halloween is to a lot of fans very much a Kentucky film.

I was only five years old when Halloween first hit theaters in October of 1978, so I was too young to see the film in its first run. I ended up seeing it for the first time around the age of ten courtesy of a TV broadcast and it had a huge impact on me. Never before had I felt so much glorious terror and it made horror my favorite genre, a fact that continues to this day. I have watched Halloween at least once every year since, making it one of the films I have seen the most, and those initial viewings still haunt my dreams and memories like no other.

It wasn't just the thrills the film supplied that had such a huge impact on me but it was the regional references that struck an emotional chord. Locations mentioned like Smiths Grove, Hardin County and Russellville were instantly recognizable to me, as they are to any native Kentuckian, and I was thrilled to find out that my Mom had actually attended school (they had one college class together) with John Carpenter in the late sixties. Halloween became not only one of my favorite films just before my teenage years, but also my favorite Kentucky film...and Carpenter became the living embodiment of someone who had got out but hadn't forgotten his roots.

The Kentucky references are scattered all over Carpenter films, especially The Fog, and they appear numerous times in the Carpenter scripted Halloween II. In fact there are two particular moments in the first Halloween sequel that really hit me location wise as one names an area I lived at as a child, and another pinpoints the street and corner where I lived at between 2006 and 2008. The obvious impact the state had on Carpenter (something he made clear last year when I saw him in person) is extremely resonate and quite haunting for someone like myself who knows this area so well and loves these films so much.

As a child and now I often daydream at school about Carpenter's film and the characters who occupied it, especially Laurie Strode. I would often wish to step back into the past and run into the very people who inspired these iconic characters, who know doubt Carpenter knew back in his days as a young man walking down the streets I walk down now everyday.

For those interested in some of the Kentucky locations mentioned in several of John Carpenter's films, please visit this Bowling Green, Kentucky site that offers up a 'driving' tour you can take.

-Jeremy Richey, 2008-

Growing Up With Fangoria: Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween II Special Edition

All from Issue #17

Down Those Deserted Hallways Again.

Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II commits the cardinal sin for a suspense film, in that it just attempts to explain too damn much. This mistake is one of the main problems that have plagued so many sequels and remakes throughout screen history. Why is ambiguity such a problem for mainstream American filmgoers? Why do so many feel like unanswered questions are such a bad thing?



Despite it’s many faults and failings, and there are plenty of them, Halloween II has survived and has had an effect. Michael Myers’ role as not only Laurie Strode’s lost brother but also as some sort of ‘lord of the dead’ comes directly from Rosenthal’s frustrating follow up to John Carpenter’s delightfully minimal and mysterious first film. Of course, one can’t blame Rosenthal completely as Halloween II was indeed penned by both Carpenter and producer Debra Hill. One can see the effect of the film in not only its sequels (particularly 4, 5 and 6 that took the ‘Samhain’ idea to finally ridiculous extremes) but also in Rob Zombie’s remake that unfortunately embraced the whole ‘Laurie as a lost sister’ concept.



The many missteps in the film’s script are especially unfortunate when one considers the fact that there are moments in Halloween II that are actually quite effective. Why more horror films haven’t been shot in seemingly abandoned hospitals in the dead of night is a mystery, because Rosenthal uses its empty and long hallways to great effect. At its best, Halloween II manages to build not a small amount of suspense, despite its script that seems to want to spoil all the mysteries the first film had created so terrifyingly.




Rosenthal’s film also benefits greatly from the work of returning cinematographer Dean Cundey, who lights and photographs the film with an eerie clarity. The film is indeed the only one of the sequels that manages to recreate at least partially the look of the stunning original, even though the larger budget actually seems to take away much of the freshness Carpenter and Cundey had come up with originally.



It is, of course, unfair to hold Halloween II up to its legendary predecessor. Perhaps it is more fitting to compare it to the other dozens upon dozens of slasher flicks that were populating American screens in the early eighties. In this respect it carries itself quite well. With Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance and a couple of other key players back on board, Halloween II is one of the best cast slashers of the period. The new additions redeem themselves quite nicely as well, especially Pamela Susan Shoop and Gloria Gifford. Compared to many of the Slasher films of the period, Halloween II is actually pretty top notch, although finally it cannot be considered among the best.



Personally speaking, I have a lot of memories tied up in Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II, and despite its problems I find myself watching it each year. I’m especially drawn towards the television version, with the alternate ending, that seemed to play endlessly throughout my teenage years. While it is mostly just nostalgia that keeps pulling me towards it, I have always suspected that somewhere down those stretched and shadowy hospital hallways that a great film could have emerged. When asked my opinion on the film, I typically just reply, “It has its moments” and perhaps that is all that should have been expected from it…but I have the feeling it could have been so much more.

Images From My All Time Favorite Films: John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)

Requiem for Laurie Strode

Truth be told Halloween H20: 20 Years Later shouldn’t have been any kind of success. Placed after three mind numbingly dreadful sequels, not to mention automatically falling right in the shadow of the masterful original, H20 had a lot going against it ten years ago when production wrapped and the film prepared for release. Placing the odds further against the film were constant rewrites, persistent technical difficulties and numerous interferences from a studio looking to turn it into another Scream rather than a proper film to fit into the Halloween legacy.



Honestly one can see all of the negative influences weighing on the film during its short running time. H20 is a messy production with many visible mistakes ranging from such obvious flubs like the odd switching of Michael Myer’s mask, to a rather large number of smaller continuity errors. Despite these errors and all that it had going against it, H20 is a surprisingly successful and enduring film that maintains as much if not more of the spirit of Carpenter’s original work than any of the other sequels or the countless number of copycat films that landed in its wake.



The reasons for H20’s success are easy to point out. First and foremost is the Steve Miner as the choice of director. Miner’s an undervalued character in the film community and he was the ideal choice to lead H2O back to the spirit of the original. Second is the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the role of Laurie Strode, her most interesting and iconic character. Thirdly is the cast gathered surrounding Curtis, an engaging and talented group who elevate the film above the many studio caused errors. Finally, and perhaps its biggest asset, is that H20 loves being a Halloween film. Unlike the sequels which felt like they were working against the original as much as they could, H20 works towards Carpenter’s work and it shows as it is the scariest and most resonating of all the Michael Myers sequels.



The genesis of H20 came from Curtis herself, who reportedly wanted to do something special for the twentieth anniversary of Carpenter’s film. She also had been itching to revisit the character of Laurie Strode and, like many, had been unhappy with the way the sequels had been handled. Carpenter was approached but balked at the idea of directing although he gave his thumbs up to Curtis to proceed.
An early draft of the script was submitted by Scream scribe Kevin Williamson but it felt too much like a sequel to Scream rather than Halloween. Unfortunately some of Williamson’s material and dialogue survives and at its weakest moments, H20 is a bit too winking and self referential for its own good. Thankfully it does contain Scream’s glowing reverence to Carpenter’s original film and some of its most effective scenes come as it is deliberately paying homage to some of Halloween’s smaller and most enduring moments, such as Laurie staring out of her classroom window (mirrored wonderfully by Michelle Williams here).



The script for H20 apparently went through a lot of hands before Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg ended up sharing the main credit. Despite the many phases it went through, the script for H20 still feels a little undercooked to my tastes. At times the film survives just on the skill of Miner’s direction and talented cast…even when they really don’t have a lot to work with story wise.



The set up of H20 is fairly simple. Ignoring parts 3, 4, 5 and 6, H20 is essentially a sequel to the first two films where we find a paranoid, pill popping and alcoholic Laurie Strode living under an assumed name as the head of a private school for teenagers, which includes her son John (played well by a young Josh Hartnett). The film plays out exactly as you expect it to, with Michael Myers finding Laurie and returning to enact another night of mayhem on the kids remaining at the school Halloween night after everyone else has gone on a field trip.
H20 doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel here. Miner knows the Slasher film basics and he delights in playing to them…this is after all the man who helmed both Friday the 13th Part Two and Part Three.



Born in Connecticut in the early fifties, Miner began cutting his teeth in film in his early twenties with friends Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham. It is indeed Miner who helped produce and edit Craven’s landmark 1972 feature Last House on The Left. He continued working closely with Cunningham throughout the seventies and it was indeed the first sequel to Cunningham’s immeasurably popular Friday The 13th that marked Miner’s first full time directing gig. Working mostly in television with the odd theatrical feature thrown in occasionally (such as 1986’s House and 1999’s Lake Placid) Miner has perhaps not had as distinguished a career as he should have but he remains more than a little undervalued. H20, for all its sloppiness due to the studio’s tampering, remains arguably Miner’s greatest moment.

In front of the camera joining Curtis (who by the way does some of the best work of her career here) as her love interest is award winning actor Adam Arkin, and stealing the film briefly in just a couple of scenes is Curtis mom, Janet Leigh. Watch out for one of the film’s smartest and sweetest references involving Leigh, a car and a certain famous film role she had played herself many years before.



Even more worth noting is the younger cast though, one of the best assembled for a horror film in the nineties. Miner had directed Michelle Williams previously on the series that gave her her start, Dawson’s Creek, and she proves a splendid ‘final girl’ here already exhibiting the great acting chops she would eventually hone to devastating effect in her Oscar nominated turn in Brokeback Mountain (2005).
Hartnett, making his debut here, is fine and very believable as Curtis’ frustrated and concerned son. Re-watching the film today, one wonders why Hartnett traded in much of his natural youthful expressiveness for the rather stolid style he has become so known for.



Featured in smaller roles are L.L Cool j (in the film’s most underwritten part), Adam Hann-Byrd (7 years after his extraordinary debut in Jodie Foster’s miraculous Little Man Tate (1991), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (whose work since has been quite miraculous in itself) and gorgeous Jodi Lyn O’Keefe (essentially playing the PJ Soles role here, and redeeming herself quite nicely). O’Keefe should also be given kudos for performing the film’s most brutal and grueling sequence that ends with the film’s most classic kill and shock piece.



While the film is filled with as many ‘inside tributes’ as possible to the original film (and Halloween II which H20 clearly embraces as well, even though Miner denies it), Miner’s film stands as its own work and if it didn’t have the impact of Craven’s Scream when it was released it definitely distinguished itself amongst the onslaught of that film’s copycats…it also made more people jump than any of those films, something I can attest to after seeing it with a sold out crowd opening night.



Far from perfect, Carpenter’s original score is particularly missed although composer John Ottman does the best he can and cleverly weaves Carpenter’s iconic theme in quite well, H20 finally works as a standalone Slasher film and a celebration of the most legendary entry in the genre.



H20 did fairly well when it opened (despite Dimension botching the release) and got some surprising critical support from publications like The New Yorker. However a superior work print leaked soon after its release alerting fans that the film had been tampered with, and that many of the film’s issues were not Miner’s fault. Dimension, which had wanted a new Scream and not a new Halloween all along, continued to do the film no favors when it botched its DVD release by not delivering a promised audio commentary by Curtis and Miner, and by over-pricing the near bare bones disc. H20 has still yet to get the proper DVD release it deserves.



Battling my nostalgia for Halloween II, H20 is my favorite of the Halloween sequels. Despite the fact that it is a classic example as to the kind of trouble a film can get into due to studio pressure and tampering, H20 is surprisingly potent. One wonders what Miner and Curtis could have accomplished though had they been left alone to really deliver the film they wanted to.

Halloween Film Poll #2: John Carpenter 76-86 (Ten Awe-Inspiring Years)

One of the most remarkable periods for any American filmmaker comes for director John Carpenter between 1976 and 1986. With no disrespect meant for Carpenter's work before the period or since, this particular ten year run is truly awe inspiring and it is the focus of my 2nd poll here at Moon in the Gutter to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of Carpenter's most startling creations, Halloween. So vote for as many favorites as you like and ignore the ones you don't and I will post the results a week from now.

Halloween Film Poll #1 Results: The Sequels

Thanks to the folks who participated in last week’s Film Poll on the Halloween sequels. I expected Halloween II to win fairly easily but it got some welcome competition from both Season of the Witch as well as H2O. Thanks again to all that voted and the results are as follows:

Halloween 2 37 votes (71%)

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch 27 votes (51%)

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers 8 votes (15%)

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers 5 votes (9%)

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers 8 votes (15%)

H20 22 votes (41%)

Halloween Resurrection 5 votes (9%)


I will be offering up a new Halloween related poll shortly and hope everyone will participate.

Starting Next Week at Moon in the Gutter: A Month Long Celebration of The Night He Came Home

This October marks the 30th anniversary of John Carpenter's incredibly influential Halloween, and I couldn't let the celebration go by without something special, so starting next week at Moon in the Gutter I will be offering up some sporadic visual and written tributes to the film which will stretch throughout my favorite month of the year. Throughout October you'll learn about:



My special regional connection to the film and why it still means so much to me all these years later.

My nostalgic feelings for the very flawed Halloween 2 and especially the television version of it.

Why I think Laurie Strode is one for the key female characters in all of modern American cinema.

How the seventies couldn't have happened without P.J. Soles.

My hatred for Parts 4, 5 and 6 and my admiration for H2O.



Plus the usual number of screenshots, wallpapers, some Halloween related polls, and perhaps some surprises as well. I realize Halloween has been covered to death but I will try to bring a personal touch to a film that has haunted my memories for most of my life.



The usual posts will continue here as well (and also at Fascination and Nostalgia Kinky) but I hope everyone will get a kick out of my upcoming special tribute to one of the greatest of all American films.

Sunday Slasher #2: Terror Train (1980)

While it wasn't the first madman on a train movie ever released, 1980's TERROR TRAIN is certainly one of the most memorable. Shot in Canada in late 1979 partially aboard an actual train, young director Roger Spottiswoode delivered an interesting if flawed entry in the slasher genre that is well worth giving another look to.
Spottiswoode, who edited several high profile films in the 70's including STRAW DOGS and PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID for Sam Peckinpah, is probably best know today for his directorial work on the 1997 James Bond film, TOMORROW NEVER DIES. TERROR TRAIN was his first assignment as a director and while the film is undeniably silly in parts, the direction from the young filmmaker is pretty stylish and the cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, is mostly solid.
Like many Slasher films of the period, TERROR TRAIN begins with a practical joke that goes horribly wrong. The victim of the joke in this one is named Kenny, an outcast wannabe magician who is constantly made fun of by his classmates. Three years after the joke lands Kenny in the hospital he returns to wreak havoc on his old classmates, who have rented out a train for a New Years Masquerade party.

TERROR TRAIN suffers from the typical major lapses in logic that most of the slasher films in this period share, but the script by T.Y Drake (writer of the 1976 Christopher Lee film, THE KEEPER) thankfully keeps things fairly levelheaded. The main strength of the film thematically is its setting, as there is something naturally claustrophobic and frightening about being on a moving train after a snow storm with no where to stop.
Spottiswoode's film also suffers from sluggish pacing in its first half, mostly due to some needless time padding scenes featuring the great actor Ben Johnson. Also disappointing is the film's score by John Mills-Cockell which is neither scary nor particularly effective. The band on the train is credited as "Crime" and their oddly off kilter synth songs lend the film at times a weird Euro Disco feel that is simultaneously effective and distracting.
Despite the many problems the film obviously has, I still like it and looked back on it feels much more classier and solid than many of the other films of the genre that came out in the same period. The film's biggest asset is indeed Jamie Lee Curtis, who looks really lovely here under the film's fine photography by John Alcott (one of Krbrick's favorite D.P.s who had just shot THE SHINING before this one). Curtis is very strong in the role of Alana and simply put, every time she is on the screen TERROR TRAIN works very well. Particularly noteworthy is an exciting fight sequence between her and Kenneth that thankfully isn't interrupted by a male hero coming in to save the day. Curtis was always so strong and smart in these films. It is a credit to her and her directors that she was allowed to play these parts the way she did, and the reason she is still so beloved today by genre fans. Curtis was in her prime as the great scream queen of the period here as she had just wrapped Paul Lynch's PROM NIGHT just before TERROR TRAIN began shooting.

The cast also features the fetching Sandee Currie, who is good as Jamie's best friend Mitchy, and a surprisingly effective David Copperfield as simply 'The Magician'. Many other faces pop up that film fans will recognize, including a young Vanity and of course the great Johnson who is a bit wasted here although he does get a lot of screen time.
So its not the greatest film ever made but any film starring Jamie Lee Curtis, directed by Sam Peckinpah's editor and shot by one of Kubrick's favorite D.P's should at least be interesting, and TERROR TRAIN absolutely is.

TERROR TRAIN opened up in early 1980 to pretty solid business and was either ignored or condemned by most critics. The film is surprisingly tame with most of the killings taking place off screen. I am not sure if any footage was cut out or not or if that was Spottiswoode's intention from the get go. The current DVD of it features a fairly sharp print of the film that shows just how fine Alcott's photography is, but outside of a theatrical trailer it is a bare bones release. If you can trudge through the poorly paced first half of the film, you will find TERROR TRAIN to be surprisingly effective and a ride worth taking. It isn't among the very best slasher films of the period but it certainly isn't one of the worst.

Quick Thoughts On The Upcoming Halloween Remake

John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN is one of my all time favorite films and it is one of the key films of my youth. I first saw it in my early teens on VHS and I must have watched it, and its first sequel, over twenty times as a teenager. I also read all of the novelizations and devoured article after article about it in back issues of magazines like Fangoria. I still revisit the film every Halloween and I never grow tired of it, it is a true American classic and one of the major films that marked Horror as my favorite genre.
I have very mixed feelings on the upcoming re-thinking of HALLOWEEN by Rob Zombie. I think it is a mistake and whatever merits it might have, there is no way it will come close to equalling the original. That said, I must admit that I like Zombie very much and I will be seeing the film opening weekend and I hope it plays better than anyone might expect.
I was never a fan of his music and his first film, HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES (2003), left me cold but I greatly admired his THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005). To me it is one of the few modern exploitation films that comes close to feeling authentic. It is a controversial work that divides horror fans but I honestly believe that THE DEVIL'S REJECTS will someday be regarded as one of the key genre works of this decade.

I also really like Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon and think that she is an incredibly charismatic and talented actress. The main thing I like about both of them is that they seem to really love the genre. I don't feel any winking, pandering or apologizing, just an overwhelming affection for the same horror movies that I loved and admired growing up.
Zombie has stated repeatedly that the original HALLOWEEN had a major impact on him growing up and I believe that his new version is meant as a tribute. When I saw John Carpenter speak several months ago, he spoke highly of Zombie as a person and filmmaker (and very highly of the check he received for the new film).
So, I will be seeing the new HALLOWEEN but I have to admit that I wish it had been directed by a total hack and I could just ignore it. Apparently the studio has already been tampering with Zombie's final cut and I am honestly not expecting a lot. I hope that Zombie follows it up with an original work and doesn't get trapped in a remake mode, as we are overrun with them right now.
HALLOWEEN is one film that I did not want to see get remade. It is one of the most perfect American films of the seventies and I can only hope that Zombie's version isn't an embarrassment. Hopefully it will turn out like Aja's searing HILLS HAVE EYES remake and have something valuable to add rather than being something truly horrendously bad like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE re-working. Either way, I will be there opening weekend and success or failure, I will still admire Rob and Sheri Moon and hope that they will one day deliver another film as good as THE DEVIL'S REJECTS.
I must say that even if I do end up liking the new HALLOWEEN, nothing and I mean nothing will ever replace these three for me.

I'll Give To You A Paper Of Pins

Several months ago I was reading over a film message board and I came across a topic concerning Marilyn Monroe as an actress. I was surprised to see just how many people on the board seemed to have so little regard for her, not only as an actress but also as culturally relevant figure.
I could go into a heavy and long posting on why Marilyn Monroe was, and remains, so important but I thought for now I would just look at one particular performance that I think is so fine that I can't imagine people who have seen it questioning her abilities. I will say though regarding her as a person, and as a cultural significant figure, there are very few people I hold in higher regard than Marilyn Monroe.

After filming THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH with Billy Wilder, Marilyn was under the mistaken impression that 20th Century Fox would immediately start offering her equally challenging roles. She was mistaken as the studio wished nothing more than to continue to play her as a dumb blond sex goddess and asked her to do a series of lightweight films that she rightly felt were underneath her. Marilyn did the unthinkable at this point and just left Hollywood. She travelled to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's famed Actor's Studio and effectively broke her contract with Fox, a move that could have ruined her entire career but Monroe was smart enough to know what she was doing.
Within a few months Fox caved, and in a move nearly unthinkable under the studio system, gave Monroe director and script approval rights. Monroe had imn the meantime been taken under Strasberg's wing and her time in New York is one of the most significant in her life. The Marilyn Monroe that would return to Hollywood in 1956 was a very different one than had left less than a year earlier.

Marilyn's first post New York/Strasberg role was Joshua Logan's BUS STOP, adapted from the William Inge play by George Axelrod. Logan had just come off his wonderful Inge adaption PICNIC (1955) and Axelrod of course had just adapted his play THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH for Monroe and Wilder in 1955.
Axelrod had a tricky time adapting Inge's play but finally he did a splendid job as BUS STOP manages to open the play up but never loses it's sweet if slyly cynical and heartbreaking feel. Logan was the perfect choice and with it's lovely widescreen CinemaScope photography by Milton Krasner and fine supporting cast including the always great Arthur O'Connell and a young Hope Lange, BUS STOP remains one of the most enduring and effective films from Hollywood in the fifties.
The Oscar nominated Don Murray was a well known tv actor and BUS STOP would provide him with his first major film role as the clueless and slightly irritating Bo Decker, a farm boy off to the big city obsessed with finding him a wife. The incredible O'Connell plays his wise uncle Virgil and spends much of the film attempting to rescue Bo from himself. The object of Bo's desires is a nightclub singer named Cherie, a lonely woman whose been on her way to California for years but she is starting to understand that the hardest thing to realize is a dream. Cherie is played in a heartbreaking and fully realized performance by Monroe. A performance that more than twenty years after it's release had a tearful Logan exclaiming, "She WAS Cherie...she was just Cherie."

From her opening scene where she is singing an exciting, funny and tragic THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC, to the film's final moments where she is literally shaking with anticipation, Monroe is everything here her legend has made her out to be. There has never been anyone that can even come close to matching her simultaneous strength and vulnerability on screen and BUS STOP is her major work. It might not be as good of a film as SOME LIKE IT HOT or THE MISFITS but Marilyn Monroe as Cherie is one of the smartest and most effective performances in Hollywood history.

I first saw BUS STOP in my early teens and really just fell in love with Monroe in it. I remember I was so taken with the theme song by The Four Lads that I took one of those small home cassette recorders and held it up to the front of the TV to get it on tape. It is a film that I have watched dozens of times and it never fails to move me and it remains one of my favorite films from the fifties.
Marilyn's best moments in the film are pretty well documented, from her opening musical number to the chase at the bus stop. One scene that hasn't gotten enough attention is one between her and Hope Lange. Lange was making her feature film debut and was just in her early twenties when she got to work with the legendary Monroe. The scene, where they discuss the future and marriage, is a remarkable moment between two really fine actresses at the top of their game. It is also quite moving to see Monroe interacting with a younger woman, you can almost feel the impact she was having on an entire generation of young women who could see how fiercely intelligent and strong she was. Jamie Lee Curtis would once note something along the lines that she didn't love Marilyn Monroe for the dumb blond roles that she played but that she was intelligent enough to play them smartly and with humanity. It was this quality that separated her from the many blond copycats that have followed in her path.

Marilyn Monroe would not get an Oscar Nomination for BUS STOP, in fact she never got an OSCAR NOMINATION nor has she ever been honored with a posthumous lifetime achievement award from them. The film would garner several awards and nominations and would be a solid hit in 1956. Monroe would follow the film with THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL (1957) where her increasing naturalness and ease would easily steal the film from the stiff and stately Laurence Olivier. 1959 would of course bring the great SOME LIKE IT HOT where Monroe would again be ignored by the Academy although it's harder to think of a more defining and important performance from the fifties.
I think a lot of younger film fans just haven't seen BUS STOP or I am guessing many Marilyn Monroe films at all so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised by the lack of respect from this particular film board. Like Elvis and James Dean, her image has been marketed to the point where her considerable achievements and importance have been nearly forgotten by many people. May I highly recommend BUS STOP for anyone who perhaps only knows Marilyn Monroe through her photographs or imitators. She was a wonderfully warm and effective actress and BUS STOP is one of her most enduring films. It is currently available on a nice Widescreen Fox dvd and can be found for under fifteen dollars through most vendors.

Richard Franklin R.I.P.

I missed the sad news last week that talented Australian director Richard Franklin had passed away at the age of 69 due to cancer. Franklin was probably best known for his interesting film PATRICK from 1978 but I always preferred his underrated ROADGAMES from 1981.
The Australian born Franklin was born in 1948 and began his career in the sixties directing for Australian television. After a couple of minor films in the early seventies he made FANTASM in 1976 which brought him a lot of notoriety. It was 1978's tale of telekinetic power, PATRICK, that really put the stylish Franklin on the map. The low budget but very well made PATRICK still packs an odd punch and is a real fan favorite among seventies horror enthusiasts.

PATRICK'S follow up would be the fantastic ROADGAMES. This stylish thriller would give Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis two of their best roles and is one of my favorite films from the early eighties. Anchor Bay's splendid special edition dvd of it is highly recommended.
Franklin would continue directing throughout the eighties with varying success and disappointments. His films from this period include PSYCHO 2, CLOAK AND DAGGER and the odd LINK which starred a young Elisabeth Shue, Terence Stamp and a crazed monkey.
Richard would work mostly in television in the nineties and his last feature film is listed as 2003's VISITORS starring the very talented Australian actress Radha Mitchell.
Franklin was always a solid director, even when he was working with material that wasn't as good as he was. Search out PATRICK and ROADGAMES for an ideal introduction to his work. He will be missed and I am sorry to hear the news of his passing.