Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Recommended Reading

I like Ben Stein on TV and in movies, dislike what he writes for the more rabid right-wing market, and once witnessed him be egregiously and pointlessly rude to a salesperson in the Good Guys store over on La Cienega. But this article makes me like him again, at least for a little while.

• Posted at 11:05 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Richard Cohen used to write columns that argued against the premise that George W. Bush lied us into a war. Mr. Cohen has changed his mind.

• Posted at 10:22 PM · LINK

Skidoo Mania

Quite a few folks wrote today to say that they remember Otto Preminger's Skidoo and that it's even weirder than I said. Several more wrote to say they're dying to see it and one said, "I don't care if you did show us a trailer for the film. I refuse to believe a movie like that was ever made." I've seen the film and I'm inclined to agree with that last guy.

Several wrote to point out that Harry Nilsson (who was then just "Nilsson") is in the film and also that he performed on the soundtrack and in that trailer. Yes, he is and did — he even sang the credits — but we respect him, anyway. And Jerry Beck noticed something I hadn't: The cast includes Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin and Cesar Romero, the three main male villains from the Batman TV show. Mr. Preminger was also the villain in one episode of that series and George Raft, who's also in Skidoo, did one cameo. I don't know why that's significant but I just know it is.

I have it from two sources that Paramount Pictures has no rights to Skidoo and couldn't put it out on DVD if they wanted. The rights have reverted to the Preminger Estate, and apparently it was one of the movies Otto didn't want shown, lest it cost him his reputation. Easy to understand why.

One person wrote me that they hoped someone would put it out on DVD while a few of the cast members are still around to be interviewed for commentary tracks. Frankly, I'd be surprised if you could get those people to even admit they were in it.

The thing I'd love to find are the radio commercials that Mr. Preminger recorded for the film. They sounded like he knew he'd made a gobbler and was trying to order people into the theaters. His tone was angry and his accent was more Germanic than usual as he yelled, "GO SEE SKIDOO!" And he listed the cast members: "JACKIE GLEASON IN SKIDOO! GROUCHO MARX IN SKIDOO! PETER LAWFORD IN SKIDOO!" My friends and I used to do impressions of him and add remarks like, "GO SEE SKIDOO! YOU STILL HAVE FAMILY IN EUROPE!" Or "WE HAVE WAYS OF MAKING YOU SEE SKIDOO!"

Every website needs a cause and this one has three...

1. Get the Souplantation to add their Creamy Tomato Soup to their regular line-up.
2. Get the Cadbury Adams Gum Company to bring back Adams Sour Orange Gum. (We'll be discussing this with tomorrow morning's video link.)
3. Get Skidoo released on DVD.

I was thinking of adding something about stopping the War in Iraq or dealing with Global Warming but I prefer to avoid the easy, unimportant goals.

• Posted at 6:05 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Gregg Easterbrook on the mess that is our space program. At one point, regarding the money we're pouring into the space shuttle and space station proposals, he writes...

At this point, the shuttle exists almost solely to service the space station, while the station exists almost solely to give the space shuttle a destination to fly to.

I think that's right. Not all that long ago, if you raised the question of why we were doing some of the things we were doing in space exploration, you got back the reply that you were mired in the past and didn't have a vision of the future. Maybe it's becoming a-okay to ask some of these questions now.

• Posted at 11:48 AM · LINK

Gamma Rays Will Turn You Green

Is it possible to learn science from the Marvel Super-Heroes? Someone thinks it is. [L.A. Times, you might have to register.]

• Posted at 1:33 AM · LINK

Handy Reference Tool

Alan De Smet has compiled an index to our game, There's No Such Website! Here it is!

• Posted at 1:07 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Hey, you know what movie isn't available on DVD and oughta be? Skidoo.

You heard me. Skidoo. The 1968 movie directed by Otto Preminger in a misguided attempt to connect with the youth/hippie movement.

Have you ever seen it? No? Well, it ought to be out on DVD so you can experience it at least once...and I won't even claim that it's good or bad. It's too weird to be good or bad. Depending on your mood, you might view it with the "Springtime for Hitler" look or just delight in the fact that Mr. Preminger was so totally out of control. I have this mental image of him giving orders on the set and sounding like that dictator in Woody Allen's Bananas who wants all underwear worn on the outside. You know...the one George W. Bush is starting to emulate.

Reportedly, in mid-shooting, Preminger realized things weren't going well so he called in several writers — including our old pal Stanley Ralph Ross, who worked on that Wonder Woman pilot I linked to here — to try and fix things. It was hopeless. In fact, Stanley later said that the attempt to course-correct in the middle of production probably made things less coherent. He also told me that he attended one screening where the projectionist got the reels in the wrong order and it really didn't make much of a difference.

There's an amazing cast that includes Peter Lawford, Mickey Rooney, Frank Gorshin, Frankie Avalon and Burgess Meredith. Jackie Gleason takes LSD and does a freak-out scene that would have been considered hokey on Dragnet. Groucho Marx was cast in the role of God and I guess he figured he could never top that so he never made another movie. I mean, there's something to be said for a film in which the most restrained, believable performance is given by Carol Channing.

Bootleg DVDs abound but there hasn't been an official release. So how's about it, Paramount Home Video? Your studio made Skidoo even if nobody there will admit it. You probably have the rights to put it out. If not, you can get them. It's not like anyone else will bid against you.

How can you resist a movie that brought in Sammy Davis Jr. and Dr. Timothy Leary just to appear in its trailer? And if you think I'm making any of this up or exaggerating, just click on the video link below.

Skidoo. It's time.

• Posted at 12:14 AM · LINK