Gerrit Graham Dies At 77

Sad news from Hollywood.

Actor Gerrit Graham has passed away at age 77.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

Gerrit Graham, the interesting character actor who appeared in Phantom of the Paradise and three other early films for Brian De Palma and wrote the Grateful Dead song “Victim or the Crime” with Bob Weir, has died. He was 77. 

Graham died Tuesday in an assisted living facility in Rhinebeck, New York, his ex-wife, Dede Taylor, told The Hollywood Reporter. The cause was complications from lung disease.

Graham also portrayed an aspiring country singer in Paul Bartel’s Cannonball! (1976); a computer nerd opposite Julie Christie in Demon Seed (1977); the abusive boyfriend of Susan Sarandon’s character in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby (1978); one of the scheming salesmen in Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars (1980); and the foster father of Alex Vincent’s Andy Barkley in Child’s Play 2 (1990).

Used Cars has to be one of the funniest movies from the 1980s. If you have never seen it, I recommend finding a copy. The movie stars Kurt Russell and Jack Warden.

To read more, go here.

Here's the trailer for Used Cars:

63 Years of "Donovan's Reef"

I am surprised that I missed this one. But it's better late than ever!

Yesterday marked 63 years that the John Wayne, Jack Warden, Lee Marvin, Cesar Romero and Elizabeth Allen feature, Donovan's Reef was released. It was the last feature Wayne was directed by John Ford. 

I remember seeing it at the old Balboa Theater in the Vermont Ave./Manchester Blvd. section of Los Angeles with my parents and a couple of friends. It was paired with King Kong vs. Godzilla. 

Donovan's Reef was the first movie shown of the double-feature. We mainly went there to see the Godzilla movie, but we enjoyed the light comedy set in the South Seas. 

Here is the official trailer: 

Jimmy Carter: Movie Star!

Well, sort of.

One of the funniest comedy movies of the 1980s was Used Cars (1980) starring Kurt Russell and Jack Warden. 

In this clip, the president's televised address on inflation is interrupted by a commercial.

John Wayne Mini Film Festival

For some unknown reason, I've been in the mood for watching John Wayne movies.

Last night, I went to El Paso Barbecue for dinner. A few doors away is the CD Trader, where new and used CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and LPs can be bought. Before going to dinner, I decided to go over to CD Trader after dinner to see if I can get two specific John Wayne movies: Donovan's Reef (1963) and McLintock! (1963). I have both on VHS, but I need to re-connect my VCR and stuff in order to use it.

So, after dinner, I headed over to CD Trader and I was in luck. They had both movies. They were used DVDs and Donovan's Reef was priced at $3.99 and McLintock! was priced at $5.99. I bought both and headed home for a "mini-John Wayne film festival".

Donovan's Reef was set in the South Pacific and it had a number of stars whose heydays were back in the 1940s such as Dorothy Lamour and Dick Foran. It was the last movie John Ford directed John Wayne in. It also co-starred Lee Marvin, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero and Elizabeth Allen. It was filmed on location in Hawaii.

McLintock! is a version of The Taming of the Shrew in a western setting with Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. McLintock! was a big box office hit when it was released. It co-starred Chill Wills, Patrick Wayne, Yvonne DeCarlo and Robert Lowery (who once played Batman in a movie serial). A new actress, Stefanie Powers, played Wayne's daughter.

Both Donovan's Reef and McLintock! were light comedies, I first saw Donovan's Reef at the Balboa Theater in Los Angeles. The second feature of the double-bill was King Kong vs. Godzilla.