Happy 79th Birthday Jack Nicholson...........Our 10 Favorite Films of His.......

Jack Nicholson turned 79 yesterday (April 22nd), a day which also marked the 80th birthday of country singer/actor Glen Campbell who s struggling with a high publicized bout with Alzhemeir's Disease.

Here are our ten favorite films of his, all but three are from the 1970s:

1) The Passenger (1975, pict. top)

2) Five Easy Pieces (1970; pict. center w/ the late Karen Black)

3) Chinatown (1974, pict. bottom w/ Faye Dunaway)

4) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

5) Carnal Knowledge (1971)

6) The Last Detail (1973)

7) The Shinning (1980 w/ Shelley Duvall)

8) The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)

9) The Departed(2006)

10) Prizzi's Honor (1985)

Last Ten Songs We Heard on Steve-FM in Roanoke, Va. (on Jan.9th from 2:00-3:00 p.m.)

Here are the last ten songs we heard on 1061. Steve-FM (Roanoke, Va.) on Friday, Jan. 9th from 2:00-3:00 p.m.

The images are of 1) Billy Idol 2) an Australian kangaroo (for "Down Under") and Jack Nicholson from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (for "Let's Go Crazy)..........

1. Bang, Bang by Jessie J. 2014

2. Eyes without a Face. Billy Idol. 1984/1999*

3. Breakdown. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. 1976,

4. Down Under. Men at Work. 1981.

5. What a Girl Wants. Christina Aguilera. 1999.

6. If You Leave. OMD. 1986.

7. Rockin' Me. Steve Miller Band. 1976.

8. You Make My Dreams. Hall and Oates. 1981.

9. Home. Daughtry. 2007.

10. Let's Go Crazy. Prince and the Revolution. 1984

*-Digitally remastered in that year

http://www.1061stevefm.com

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.roanokedoesntsuck.com

http://www.billyidol.net

A Top Ten Random List of English-Language Films I've Seen Multiple Times.........(except "The Godfather")

Here in America, National Public Radio (NPR) has had an interesting series of interviews with film directors, actors and other celebrities have talked about films they can watch over and over again.

Among the surprises is that David Fincher ("Zodiac," "Fight Club") loves "Mary Poppins"!

There aren't that many films I've watched more than five times. As someone with a wide interest in films, it is simply challenging to watch every film of social or historical merit over and over again.

There are also many world and European films like Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless," which I've seen multiple times, but for the sake of 'making it simple,' we are just going to focus on English-language films here.

I have also not decided to list films I watched often as a child, like "The Absent Minded Professor" or films I watched once too often as a teenager, such as "Bachelor Party."

And, this is not in order of preference:

1. "The Graduate" (1967)

2. "Planet of the Apes" (1968)

3. "Stagecoach" (1939)

4. "Psycho" (1960)

5. "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex........." (1972)

6. "Dr. Strangelove........." (1964)

7. "Pulp Fiction" (1994)

8. "Taxi Driver" (1975)

9. "Chinatown" (pictured, 1974)

10. "Life of Brian" (1979)

http://www.npr.org


SIDEBAR: I have an article in a national Washington-DC based blog regarding the politically charged events happening in Turkey:

http://www.dcmiccheck.org/2013/06/06/gezi-park/

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Sofia Coppola Likes Rango

Since I have longed though that film director Sofia Coppola was a private person, I was surprised when I heard her give an interview to Terry Gross for the NPR show "Fresh Air." And, I was even more stunned to see that she has a Twitter account.

And, apparently, the director of "Lost in Translation" who turns 40 in May likes the new animated film "Rango" that stars Johnny Depp (well his voice any way):

"Rango is such an amazing film, has anyone seen it? It's like Chinatown for kids, even the old turtle resembled John Huston."

I thought the tweet was a bit ironic since in a book about the Oscars writer Danny Peary said that "Chinatown" should have been chosen as the Best Film of 1974 instead of "The Godfather, Part 2," which Sofia's father directed. (We're not getting into this debate, as fighting and arguing with radical rapture-seeking right-wing extremists like the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va.*, is our top priority around here!).

As for Sofia Coppola's new film "Somewhere" is showing at one of our favorite cinemas, the Galaxy Cinema in Cary, NC (Raleigh). They are not showing "Rango," but they are also screening "Barney's Version" which a friend of mine in Bethesda, Maryland, really enjoyed!

*- Yes, this is a real person and (of course!) he has his own tv show!

Special Quote of the Week- Magic Johnson

Today's special Quote of the Week in honor of Black History Month, in which we are focusing on famous African-American athletes, continues with a quip from Earvin "Magic" Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers great known for his '80s showdowns with Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics.

We forgot to mention yesterday that Dustin Hoffman, himself an avid NBA fan (though not as much as Lakers fanatic and fellow film legend Jack Nicholson), won a second Oscar for "Rain Man" (1988).

Here is our quote from Johnson, which shows he is not slowing down even though he is now 51 years old:

"If you're a competitive person, that stays with you. You don't stop. You always look over your shoulder."

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Jaaack-O-Lantern

For those of you who reside in a remote village in Azerbaijan, this image above is of Jack Nicholson who played Jack Torrence in the Stanley Kubrick film version of "The Shinning," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

King is to this day reportedly displeased with the Kubrick film. Interestingly enough, Kubrick would frequently call King when it was the middle of the night in Maine, where King still resides, and ask him absurd questions like: "Do you believe in God?"

"The Shinning" is currently showing (at least of tonight) at the famed Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Tex., which is about as close to us as a remote village in Azerbaijan (we are on the east coast).

According to the IMDB, King also professed a preference for actor Jon Voight, now known more for his radical transformation from post-Vietnam hippie to a right-wing Tea Party extremist than his still emmence on-screen talents, to play the title role instead of Jaaack Nicholson.

The title of the book apparently came about when King was listening to or thinking about the John Lennon song "Instant Karma" and the line: "We all shine on."

Last Ten Films I've Seen---Three with Bruce Dern

Three of the last ten films I've seen, "The Trip" (1967), "Psych-Out" (1968) and "Coming Home" (1978) feature the great character actor Bruce Dern (father of Laura Dern, pictured here) who turned 76 on Friday. Dern recently played Frank Harlow in the hit HBO series "Big Love," which still may not play well in Provo, Utah (since it's about fundamentalist Mormons with lots of wives).

"The Trip" also featured Dennis Hopper, who died last week. He had also just turned 76 some two weeks before his death. "The Trip" which also featured Peter Fonda was a precursor to "Easy Rider."

Even though "Watermelon Man" (1970) was made by a black filmmaker in Melvin Van Peebles (Mario Van Peebles' father), I'm not sure it would get made today as it deals with a racist white man who becomes black overnight. Sadly, the star of the film Godfrey Cambridge died at age 43 in 1976 while on the set of a tv movie with Kirk Douglas in which he was to play Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Here are the films:

1. "Watermelon Man" (1970. dir-Melvin Van Peebles)
2. "Personal Best" (1982. dir- Robert Towne)
3. "The Trip" (1967 w/Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. dir-Roger Corman)
4. "Psych-Out" (1968 w/Jack Nicholson. dir-Richard Rush)
5. "Friends of Eddie Coyle" (1973. w/Robert Mitchum. dir-Peter Yates)
6. "Coming Home" (1978. w/Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. dir-Hal Ashby)
7. "The Girl Can't Help It!" (1956 w/Jayne Mansfield. dir-Frank Tashlin)
8. "The Special Relationship" (2010. HBO TV movie about Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. dir-Richard Loncraine)
9. "Dog Eat Dog" (Colombia. 2008. dir-Carlos Moreno)
10. "It Happened One Night" (1934 w/Clark Gable. dir-Frank Capra)

SIDEBAR- There is a great blog entry by my good friend Moviezzz about the very short-lived tv show "Tales of the Golden Monkey" (1983-84). At the time, all of us thought it was a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" rip-off, but as it turns out the producers had submitted the idea for the show before the epic film came out in 1981!

My 10 Favorite Films from 1970

In our on-going series of ten best films from the years 1950, 1960, 1970, etc.- we focus on 1970 which happens to be the year I was born. For the longest time, I thought "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was a 1970 film but it was actually released in 1969.

Not all of these films were released in the United States until at least 1971, but we thought we would focus only on the films which first came out in their country of origin in 1970.

"The Conformist" (poster pictured here) tops the list. The Bernardo Bertolucci film is also a favorite film of my friend Bilge Ebiri, a film critic in New York.

My number two film "Claire's Knee" happens to be a favorite of my friend Moviezzz who is an ardent admirer of Eric Rohmer, the French New Wave master who passed away several months ago.

"MASH" which is actually being remade (?!) is my favorite American film of the year. Robert Altman's film is considered to be one of the best contemporary domestic political comedies ever made. I also admire the film "Five Easy Pieces" which many argue should have won Jack Nicholson his first Oscar (George C. Scott actually won for "Patton" that year. Nicholson would Oscar five years later for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

Here is the list:

1. "The Conformist" (Italy. d-Bernardo Bertolucci)
2. "Claire's Knee" (France. d-Erich Rohmer)
3. "The Red Circle" (France. d-Jean-Pierre Melville)
4. "MASH" (d-Robert Altman)
5. "Five Easy Pieces" (d-Bob Rafaelson)
6. "The Honeymoon Killers" (d- Leoanrd Kastle)
7. "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" (d- Sam Peckinpah)
8. "Zabriskie Point" (d- Michaelangelo Antonioni)
9. "The Wild Child" (France. d-Francois Truffaut)
10. "Umut/Hope" (Turkey. d-Yilmaz Guney)

Honarable Mention: "El Topo," "The Butcher" (France), "Little Big Man," "Beneath the Planet of the Apes," "Beneath the Valley of the Dolls," "Husbands," "Performance" and "Even the Dwarfs Get Small" (Germany).

Quote of the Week- Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (pictured here from the film) Oscared in the Best Actor category in 1975 for his depiction of mental asylum inmate Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

His co-star Louise Fletcher, who played the antagonistic Nurse Ratchet also won for Best Actress in the film directed by Czech emigre Milos Forman. A quote fromher is on our sister blog Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time.

Forman, who later Oscared for "Amadeus," also won a Best Director Oscar for "Nest."

Before we get to Nicholson's quote, I wanted to mention that the stage version of "Nest" is currently in production at the Biloxi Little Theatre in Biloxi, Miss.

Rick Amos is playing Nicholson's part while Melissa Entrekin is playing Nurse Ratchet. For those in the Magnolia State, (I'm far from it actually), the theatre's web site is www.4blt.org and they can be reached at (228) 432-8543.

A statue of the late Ken Kesey, who wrote the book that became the play that became the movie, can be found in Eugene, Ore.

Here is Jack's quote. We're not sure if he's refering to himself or someone like Tom Cruise, who co-starred with Nicholson in "A Few Good Men:"

"A star on a movie set is like a time bomb that has to be defused so people can approach it without fear."