Ed Faulkner, Longtime John Wayne Co-Star, Dies At 93

Above, Ed Faulkner in Chisum (1970).

The name Ed Faulkner may not conjure up any recollections, but his face is quite familiar to fans of John Wayne and Elvis Presley movies.

The  Daily Beast reported:

Actor Edward Faulkner, who appeared in six films with John Wayne and two with Elvis Presley, has died at 93 of natural causes. Faulkner died Aug. 26 at a health care facility in Vista, California, his daughter Leslie Wadsworth revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. The McLintock!, Rio Lobo, and The Green Berets actor had a long-standing chess rivalry with Wayne. “I occasionally let him win,” Faulkner said, who once kept a plane idled to keep from interrupting a match between the actor and Wayne. Faulkner, a 6′3″ Kentucky native, saddled up on horses in multiple TV westerns, but his debut on the silver screen came in the form of an uncredited role on the 1960 film G.I. Blues, starring Elvis Presley.

Faulkner also appeared in The Undefeated, Chisum and Hellfighters with Wayne.

To read more, go here.

Actor James McEachin Dies At 94

Above, James McEachin.

It has been announced that actor James McEachin passed away at 94.

I remember him as a bailiff in John Wayne's True Grit (1969). He also appeared with Wayne in The Undefeated (1969) as Jimmy Collins. He appeared in several Clint Eastwood films, including Coogan's Bluff (1968). Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Play Misty For Me (1971) and Sudden Impact (1983).

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

James McEachin, who wrote and produced songs for Otis Redding before turning to acting to portray cops on his own NBC Mystery Movie series and in 18 of the popular Perry Mason telefilms, has died. He was 94.

McEachin died Jan. 11 and was interred last month at Los Angeles National Cemetery.

To read more, go here. 

The Win of "Godzilla Minus One"

 

"Congratulations to Coach Yamato and all the white team 🎉

Very happy to see 70 years.

I'm sure my sister and dad are surprised.

You're saying, "See you Godzilla."" - Sonoe Nakajima, daughter of suit-actor Haruo Nakajima.*

It took 70 years, but Godzilla finally got some respect in special effects.

The win of Godzilla Minus One for Best Special Effects last night at the Academy Awards had many Godzilla fans in tears of joy when the winner was announced. Fans were just as pleased when the movie was even nominated, but the win was much more than the icing on the cake. 

Godzilla movies from Toho were often laughed at, although entertaining, during the man-in-the-suit with miniatures years. Toho shifted gears and joined the U.S. in using CGI. That has paid off in spades as last night's Academy Awards has shown.

Although Toho's Godzilla is now being animated with computers, I was even more impressed with the recreations of Tokyo of the 1940s. Apparently, Academy members agreed. Taken as a whole, the special effects were astounding considering the $15 million total movie budget and only 35 members on the special effects team.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

The King of Monsters finally has his share of Oscars glory.

In an ironic triumph of small over large, Japanese monster movie sensation Godzilla Minus One — which was made for only about $15 million — beat out four big-budget Hollywood tentpoles to win the best visual effects category. It’s the first time in decades that a non-U.S. studio film has won the category. Despite its deep influence on the history of visual effects in cinema, this year was the first time in the Godzilla franchise’s seven-decade history that it was nominated for an Oscar.

Godzilla Minus One was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who also headed up the film’s VFX team, which included Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima. The team is now Japan’s first-ever winner of the best visual effects Oscar. In another rarity, a director winning the category has only occurred once before — Stanley Kubrick’s win in 1969 for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Godzilla Minus One has been a critical and commercial sensation, earning $56.4 million in the U.S. and Canada to become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. Only two international live-action movies — fellow Oscar winners Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life Is Beautiful —  earned more in North America.

Many fans exclaimed, "I never thought I would live to see this day." I would have to agree, especially since I am the same age as Godzilla since we both arrived on the scene in 1954.

To read more, go here.

*I think Sonoe Nakajima meant Coach Yamazaki and the translation goofed it up.

Godzilla Minus Color Should Put It Over $100 Million

Some on social media have been reporting that Godzilla Minus One has reached $100 million in ticket sales worldwide.

I took a look and the movie actually has a worldwide box office total of  $94.6 million USD. That's close, but (as the saying goes) no cigar. Still, $94.6 million in worldwide box office receipts is quite remarkable for a Japanese movie, much less a Godzilla one. 

The black & white version (Godzilla Minus Color) of the movie will be released in U.S. theaters on January 26 for a limited one-week theatrical run. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The 37th installment in Toho International’s long-running monster franchise is, after all, a period piece showing Godzilla wreaking havoc as Japan struggles to recover after World War II. So a newly remastered black-and-white version is fitting for a special one-week run in cinemas billed by Toho as a “thank you” to fans after the color version of Godzilla Minus One surpassed $50 million at the domestic box office.

That should put it over the top.

Hollywood Reporter On Passing of Phyllis Coates

Above, Phyllis Coates and Armand in 2007. Photo by Carl Glass.

The first press report on the passing of actress Phyllis Coates has been posted by the Hollywood Reporter.

It begins with:

Phyllis Coates, the first actress to play Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane on television, only to leave the Adventures of Superman after just one season, has died. She was 96.

Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serials and in such films as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her daughter Laura Press told The Hollywood Reporter.

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Coates first portrayed the headstrong Lois opposite George Reeves as the Man of Steel in the dark sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men (1951).

 To read the full article, go here.

Toho Prepping New Godzilla Movie For Next Year

Above, the Godzilla mural at Toho Studios. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To celebrate Godzilla Day today, Toho Co., Ltd. in Japan announced that a new Godzilla movie will be produced next year.

This will be Toho's first Godzilla movie since the acclaimed Shin Godzilla of 2016. 

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

The King of Monsters will soon roar again. Mighty Godzilla celebrated his 68th birthday on Thursday — Nov. 3, aka global Godzilla Day — and to mark the occasion, Japanese studio Toho revealed that it is prepping an all-new installment in the long-running film franchise for release in exactly one year. 

The film will be Toho’s first domestic Japanese Godzilla flick since the well-received Shin Godzilla in 2016. The new project remains untitled, with Toho keeping details on the mega monster’s return below the water for now. But the legendary Japanese studio revealed that the film will be directed by VFX artist turned director Takashi Yamazaki, who has helmed everything from Doraemon film installments to sci-fi action films like Space Battleship Yamato (2014). Toho dropped a teaser poster for the new movie across its social media channels, including the release date. 

Above, yours truly with the Toho Studios Godzilla statue in December 2010. 

To read more, go here. 

Hardy Krüger, R.I.P.

Above, John Wayne and Hardy Krüger in Hatari!

A German actor who appeared with John Wayne in the film, Hatari! (1962) has passed away.

From The Hollywood Reporter: 

Hardy Krüger, the German actor who starred alongside John Wayne in Howard Hawks’ Hatari!, Laurence Olivier in Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far and Ryan O’Neal in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, has died at his home in Palm Springs. He was 93.

Krüger died “suddenly and unexpectedly” on Wednesday, his German agency in Hamburg said in a statement, adding, “his warmth of heart, joie de vivre and his unshakable sense of justice will make him unforgettable.”

Born in Berlin in 1928, the child of ardent Nazis (in his 2016 autobiography, he said he was “raised to love Hitler”), Krüger made his film debut in The Young Eagles, a 1944 propagandist coming-of-age drama.

 To read more, go here.

Pacific's Cinerama Dome and Other Theaters Closing Permanently

Above, the Cinerama Theatre is permanently closed. Wikipedia photo.

Back in 1963, a new theater opened in Hollywood that has become a Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument. It is a favorite venue for theatergoers.

It was the Pacific's Cinerama Theatre, commonly known as the Cinerama Dome. 

I first went there to see the theater's opening engagement of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in November 1963 and I have seen movies there several times over the years.

Now, it and other Pacific Theaters are permanently closing. The economic impact of the pandemic is the reason given.

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

In a blow for Southern California moviegoers — and those in Los Angeles in particular — the ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres are closing all of their 16 locations for good after seeing their business decimated by the pandemic.

ArcLight's stable includes the prized Cinerama Dome Hollywood. The Dome, built in 1963 by Pacific Theatres' parent company the Decurion Corp., is the crown jewel of the small theater complex that was later reconstructed in the early 2000s.

Throughout the decades, the Dome, in particular, has been a favorite site place to stage premieres — it timed its opening to the global launch of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World — and is beloved among many cinephiles.

In recent years, the ArcLight Hollywood complex has been a bastion for both first-run movies and independent titles and was among the first L.A. cinemas to offer high-end food.

We can now thank the stupidity of the state government's (i.e., Gavin Newsom) overreaction to the coronavirus for this loss.

To read more, go here.