Quote of the Day- Henry Fonda

We continue our series of quotes from actors who have played real-life presidents on film or television or both, with a quip from late Henry Fonda (1905-1982) who finally won an Oscar for "On Golden Pond" (1981) which co-starred his daughter Jane Fonda.

Henry Fonda is one of 20 actors (or perhaps more) who have played President Abraham Lincoln, including most recently Benjamim Walker who played the 16th president in "Abarahm Lincoln, Vampire Hunter."

Fonda played Lincoln in "Young Mr. Lincoln" (dir. John Ford, 1939), which is available from the Criterion Collection. Two of Fonda's other films will air on TCM this month. They are "The Big Street" (1942) and "The Fugitive" (1947).

Fonda and the late Marlon Brando, also a native of Omaha, Neb., both made their stage debut at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

Here is Fonda's quote:

"I've been close to Bette Davis for 38 years, and I have the cigarette burns to prove it."

http://www.tcm.com

http://www.criterion.com

Quote of the Night-Lillian Hellman

Today, we continue our series of quotes from American writers with a quip from the great playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) who penned the plays "The Children's Hour" (1934), "The Little Foxes" (1939) and "The Autumn Garden" (1951).

Here are some quick facts about Hellman:

-She was born to a Jewish family in New Orleans

_Close friends with fellow writer Dorothy Parker

_Had 30-year romantic relationship with mystery writer Dashiell Hammett*

_Was blacklisted by HUAC in the early '50s for her left-wing views (as was Hammett), but her career survived the witch hunt.

_Was played on film by Jane Fonda in the film "Julia" (1977).

Here is her quote:

"If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves."

*_In previous posts, we had not spelled Dashiell Hammett's first name correctly

Quote of the Week- John Lennon

Ahhh! Now there is apparently something wrong with the Amadeus Mozart bobblehead doll image I posted over the weekend. Well, it is fitting for both the zany day and the zany week I have been having, but that's as personal as we go here. Well, ok, I will admit I honestly don't care that Kim Kardashian is getting hitched. I'm a Turk; she's an Armenian. It would never work out:)

John Lennon (19401-1980) is one of several decased celebrities whom I've recently outlived. Malcolm X, Lenny Bruce, the French actress Jean Seberg ("Breathless") and the Austrian pop singer Falco (who sang "Rock Me Amadeus" which seems fitting given our recent entry) are among those who died at age 40. And, none of these deaths were natural ones.

We are quoting Lennon as part of our homage to left-wing radicals, and since Lennon was perhaps the most vocal opponent of the Vietnam War aside from Jane Fonda, he qualifies. Though, certainly given the dubious nature of that conflict, one does not have to a radical or even a liberal (well, I am the later) to think it was a very bad idea.

Here is our quote from Lennon, who would surely marvel at how insane the world is more than 30 years after his untimely death:

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain."

What We Are Working On...

Since a lot has happened in the world since I last posted a blog entry on Thursday, and I have really had my fair share of distractions, I thought I would fill you in on what we are working on. I am also going to post an entry within an hour about some unique things going on in North Carolina this week.

I decided after seeing a startling news story about a blogger in Boulder, Colo., who became a victim of savage stalking last year not to say which town I actually live in, but I am a resident of the Tarheel State. Though I don't smoke, watch NASCAR races or eat much ham!

But, here are the four things we are working on for this particular blog (be sure to visit us and tell all your friends about our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time) and as indicated in the images we borrowed for this entry, be sure to brush your teeth so you don't end up like Dustin Hoffman in "Marathon Man."

1) Since May 1, May Day, is known as the day to recognize laborers around the world and is generally associated with far left-wing figures, we are going to quip such radicals who might be alive or deceased starting on Tuesday. I am not a fringe left-winger myself but I loved Jane Fonda in "Barbarella" and I haven't voted for a Republican since Calvin Coolidge (actually, he was a bit before my time). If you are wondering who will be quoted, you will have to tune in tomorrow. I will say that it will not be the late Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers on PBS) whom Glenn Beck has probably cited for being subversive.

2) We are also going to be quoting famous novelists throughout the month, and we will quip a timely author who has been dead for quite some time on Wednesday.

3) On Thursday, I am hoping to find time to share my surreal story of how I found out about Osama bin Laden's killing at exactly midnight last night/this morning. Some interesting things about the incident include the fact that the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan, will probably be found in the next world map I get from Doctors Without Borders, an organization I firmly believe in (which means I should at some point donate money to them!). According to mentalfloss.com, Sohaib Athar, a regular 33-year-old Pakistani computer engineer who must have insomnia tweeted at 1:00 a.m. local time in Abbotabad the following: "Go away helicopter- before I take my giant swatter." At the time, Athar had no idea that a CIA operative to kill bin Laden was being carried out in his very own zip code.

4) On Friday, we are hoping to officially launch our "Things We Learned Today from Google" series, which we have experminted with. The idea stems from the book "The Googlization of Everything" by UVa professor Siva Vaidhyanathan who was number two on my people with difficult names list last week. For this blog, we are looking at exploring facts about a Latin American or European soccer team, which will hopefully help both Real Madrid and AC Milan fans, discover this blog that reportedly has a loyal following in Uzbekistan!

Top 10 Most Controversial Films of All Time?

After contemplating many different options for this week's Top Ten List, including a list from the old "Late Night with David Letterman" from 1991, I've chosen to go with a Top Ten List which deals with the supposed most controversial films ever made.

I did not make this list myself, and it was posted on listserve.com three years ago today and hence it does not feature the fairly recent Lars Von Trier film "Anti-Christ."

But, since many of the films mentioned on this particular list and the one I will post on my other blog deal with religion, we thought we'd go with an image of Jesus Christ who is apparently going to be visiting a fundamentalist church in Madison, NC, soon (we couldn't resist!)*.

Interestingly enough, this film does not include German Nazi films like "Triumph of the Will" nor any Vietnam War films from either the left or the right, including the documentary "Hearts and Minds" from the left or the John Wayne film "The Green Berets" from the right.

The Sundance Channel will be broadcasting the early '70s documentary "FTA," featuring Jane Fonda making anti-Vietnam War rallies outside American military bases in Hawaii, The Philippines and Okinawa (Japan) on Monday. This film by the late Francine Parker which was effectively banned upon its initial release will show at 8:40 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. on Monday. To this date, it is the subject of great debate.

*- We mention Madison, NC, 20 miles north of Greensboro, in particular because there is a church there which has erected some 14 white crosses along Rte. 220!

Here is the list:

10. "Last Tango in Paris" (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972)

9. "Natural Born Killers" (Oliver Stone, 1994)

8. Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915)

7. "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Martin Scorsese, 1988)**

6. "JFK" (Oliver Stone, 1991)

5. "Deep Throat" (Gerard Damiano, 1972)***

4. "Fahrenheit 9-1-1" (doc. Michael Moore, 2004).

3. "Salo" (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)

2. "A Clockwork Orange" (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)

1. "The Passion of the Christ" (Mel Gibson, 2004)

**- Scorsese's film is actually banned from Bulgarian public television.

***-"Deep Throat" is the only film on the list which is considered an adult film.

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!

Quote of the Week- Jane Fonda

Today, in honor of the Oscars which were held last night, we are quoting the two previous Oscar-winners for Best Actress and Best Actor from the 1978 film "Coming Home," Jane Fonda (here) and Jon Voight (on our other blog: Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time).

"Coming Home," directed by the late Hal Ashby, was considered to be an excellent film about the plight of returning Vietnam veterans. The film lost out to another Vietnam War veteran film "The Deer Hunter," directed by Michael Cimino, in the 1978 Oscars.

But, "Coming Home" landed acting Oscars for its two stars and some film critics maintain it is a better film than "The Deer Hunter." Though Ashby is one of my favorite directors, I actually haven't seen "Coming Home" since it aired on network television when I was a teenager (I no longer consider seeing a film on network tv with commercials as seeing the actual movie!)

Interestingly enough, both Fonda and Voight who were vocal liberal activists in the
'60s and '70s have become devout Christians, but Fonda has mostly maintained her politics while Voight has done an about-shift and evolved into perhaps the most radical right-winger in Hollywood (not counting Chuck Norris).

Fonda also won a Best Actress Oscar for "Klute" in 1971. And, she appeared in a wide range of films at the height of her career, including Jean-Luc Godard's brilliant French film "Tout Va Bien!" (1972), which I saw very recently.

Last night, Fonda tweeted her disappointment that the late Farrah Fawcett was not included in the list of film industry people who died last year. Though Fawcett was best known for the '70s tv series "Charlie's Angels," she had appeared in a number of films including "The Apostle."

Here is the quote from Fonda who once declared that she had retired from acting though she has appeared in a few films and performed on Broadway in recent years:

"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming," Fonda said.

Quote of the Week- Jane Fonda

I am sick and tired of being called a 'socialist' by people on the far-right and being called a closet conservative by folks on the far-left, so I am quoting both Jane Fonda and Barry Goldwater today on my respective blogs to show irony!


First, a quip from Jane, who I am NOT accusing of being a socialist but she is to the left of me:

"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming."