Quote of the Day

A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. He is a man who has signed a contract with his conscious and his sense of duty. - A. Chekhov

Kubrick's First Film Online

Day of the Fight is a 1951 short (16 minute) documentary based on an earlier photo feature Stanley Kubrick had done for Look (Prizefighter, published January 18, 1949), which featured Irish middleweight boxer Walter Cartier, during the height of his career.

Day Of The Fight shows a day in his life, in particular the day of his fight with black middleweight Bobby James, on April 17th, 1950. The film opens with a short section on boxing's history. We then follow Cartier through his day, as he prepares for the 10:00 P.M. bout. He eats breakfast, then goes to early mass and next eats lunch. At 4:00 P.M., he starts preparing for the fight, and by 8:00, he is waiting in his dressing room.

There he sets himself to become the fighter the occasion demands. We then see the fight itself, where he comes out victorious in a short match. (The fight features a noted knock-out scene, which was not filmed by Kubrick himself, as he was reloading a negative cartridge in his camera at the time of the blow.)

Although the original planned buyer of the picture went out of business, Kubrick was able to sell Day of the Fight to RKO Pictures for the $4,000, making the small profit of $100 on his $3,900 cost to make it.

Filmbrain wonders "if the film had any influence on Scorsese and Raging Bull -- there are a few moments, particularly a through-the-stool-legs shot of the other fighter that seemed very familiar."

the mutiny company offers the film for your viewing pleasure here.

My thanks to GreenCine Daily for the pointer.

UPDATE: Stanley Kubrick's early short Flying Padre is available here. It is the story of "two days in the life of priest Father Fred Stadtmuller whose New Mexico parish is so large he can only spread goodness and light among his flock with the aid of a mono-plane."

The Movie I've Seen the Most

Spike Lee, Paul Schrader, Laura Ziskin, Peter Farrelly, Judd Apatow, Liev Shreiber, Kathleen Kennedy, Stacy Peralta, Paul Hirsch, Neil LaBute, among others, weigh in on their most-watched movie.

While I am not one prone to multiple viewings, I would have to say Joe Versus the Volcano is one that I will not change the channel when I come across it. Maria Full of Grace is another one I have seen quite a few times lately thanks to HBO.

Wings of Desire is the film I continue to enjoy over and over and over again. It is a masterpiece of modern filmmaking.

For movies on the movies, you can't go wrong with Federico Fellini's 8 1/2. On the other side of the spectrum, Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels is always worth another look.

Postscript: Of course, almost any Capra film is good for a second, third, or fourth viewing.

RomCom Writers Must Pay Attention

Cracked presents: The 7 Best 80's Movie Girlfriends.

Is Being Rich And Famous All It Is Cracked Up To Be?

Jacob Weisberg reports on The Death Styles of the Rich and Famous (via LewRockwell.com):

John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, and wife's sister died when the single-engine plane Kennedy was piloting plunged into waters off Martha's Vineyard. Though the crash was apparently caused by spatial disorientation on the part of an inexperienced pilot, there was speculation that Kennedy might also have been impaired by a foot injury from an earlier paragliding accident. If true, that would make the tragedy doubly wealth-and-fame-related. Of course, the Kennedy family is in a risk category all its own. One wonders if the surviving members are insurable at all, given the family history of driving off bridges (Teddy), smashing into trees while playing football on skis (Michael), death by drugs (David, Christina Onassis), plane crashes (Joseph Jr., Kathleen, Alexander Onassis, and, very nearly, Teddy), and assassination (JFK and RFK). These are terrible fates, but ones that members of the struggling middle class do not have to worry much about.

If you survive paycheck-to-paycheck, you can also rest easy about dying while fleeing paparazzi (Princess Diana); at the hand of a servant jealous of your other servants (Edmund Safra); at the hand of the president of your fan club (Selena); at the hand of a lunatic stalker (John Lennon); at the hand of an impatient heir (the royal family of Nepal); from a face lift (Olivia Goldsmith); in your Porsche, while drag racing (basketball player Bobby Phills); in pursuit of a speed-boat record (Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco); while diving off your yacht (Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys); after fighting with Christopher Walken (Natalie Wood); while trying to buzz Ozzy Osbourne's tour bus (Randy Rhoads); from injuries sustained in a cross-country riding event* (Christopher Reeve); in staged violence on a film set (Brandon Lee); as a former vice president, atop your mistress (Nelson Rockefeller); or of a disease that subsequently gets named after you (Lou Gehrig).

What happens if our culture's greatest reward of money and fame turn out to be not quite so rewarding?

A Great Book, A Great Actress. A Great Film?

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on the next project for one of Hollywood's latest breakout stars. Catalina Sandino Moreno is in negotiations to join the cast of "Love in the Time of Cholera." Mike Newell is directing for Stone Village Pictures and New Line Cinema. Javier Bardem and Giovanna Mezzogiorno have already been cast in the film, based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The story follows a romantic man named Florentino (Bardem) who loses Fermina (Mezzogiorno), the girl of his dreams, to a wealthier suitor and spends the next 50 years building his life and reputation so that one day he might have her.

Moreno, if she signs on the dotted line, will play Hildebranda Sanchez, Fermina's cousin.

"The Most Expensive Ticket in the World"

What if you had to drive 300 miles and pay $67 just to see a movie? That is the case in Saudi Arabia where one has to travel to Bahrain for the authentic theater-going experience. Abdullah Eyaf has catalogued the struggles of movie lovers in Saudi Arabia in his new documentary "Cinema 500km."

Raja al-Mutairi, who writes about the cinema for Al-Riyadh daily, said there is no law that bans cinemas, but he said Saudis are unwilling to open theaters for fear of a clash with Islamists.

Tareq Al-Hussein, whose first cinema experience was captured in the documentary, said his first trip to the movies will always be special.

"In films, I had always seen stars meeting their girlfriends at the movies or seen an actor munching on pop corn. But I never really knew what it felt like."

"In the theater, the emotions I had were more intense than those I had watching a movie alone. When I was laughing, everybody else was laughing. When I got scared, everybody else got scared. It was an experience I’ll always be proud of."

All Sunshine and Starlets?

The third season is here. The show The London Free Press calls "the ultimate and unapologetic male wish-fulfilment series." Fans enjoy the vicarious life as the characters seem to live out the Hollywood dream. Florangela Davila calls it "a fast-paced hedonistic ride."

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Charlie McCollum, writing in The Mercury News, seems to think the show improves with age. He sees the show as "running on all cylinders now" as characters who bordered on cliche have suddenly become fully developed human beings.

But all is not roses. Chicago Tribune staff reporter Allison Benedikt thinks the "once-great show has gone Hollywood." She writes: "Entourage" works best when Ari's barking on the phone, not trying to fix his marriage. It works best when the guys are hanging out, talking about women or cars or food or weed, not trying to protect Vince from a scam.

What could be better than that? More Sloan?

Here is an AP interview with Ari Emanuel. I mean, Ari Gold. I mean, Jeremy Piven.

TMZ offers up the "Entourage Decoder" to stay clued in on all the inside jokes and references to Tinseltown for those west of Sepulveda.

Yes, that really was Jimmy Woods' girlfriend. The daughter of one of his golfing buddies.

All sunshine and starlets? Yes, apparently so.

Jim Jarmusch's Favorite Musical Moments in Film

"Movies where a band plays I love, like Blow Up; or where it's a rock'n'roll film without music, where rock'n'roll is integrated into the film, it's an experience of the characters." And films with cameo appearances: "When a band will suddenly appear, like Ski Party or something, when suddenly James Brown and the Famous Flames appeared in the ski lodge."

He was less enamoured by Fastest Guitar Alive, which starred Roy Orbison. "He's very stiff. It's a predictable movie. Not a good movie." And dismisses also the popular trend for biopics such as Walk the Line and Ray. "I have an aversion to biopics in general. The Johnny Cash movie was well done but I couldn't get inside of it because it wasn't Johnny Cash and I'm a Johnny Cash fan." He then swoops back to Scorsese, whom he lauds for his use of songs such as Cream's The Sunshine of Your Love in Goodfellas, and the Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash in Mean Streets. "It works because the music doesn't seem tacked on," he explains. "So often, music in films seems like wallpaper bought by the yard. Yunno, 'Give me 10 yards of hip-hop.'"

Music is an integral part of how Jarmusch works. "I always make mix tapes of songs that inspire me when I'm writing a script," he explains. "And often that will be the music I use in the film. Right now it's a strange mix of old blues recordings and music from the 15th century; English composers William Lawes and William Byrd, with Wanda Jackson, Boris, Tom Verlaine and Jozef von Wissen, a composer who uses lutes and little electronic things. I've also had a five-year Kinks obsession." Throughout Dead Man, for example, Jarmusch was listening to a lot of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "particularly the solos". He then asked Young to score the film...

BIG Summer Movie Season

I have a good feeling about this one. I think this is going to be a huge summer for movies. It just seems like people are ready to get back into the theater. We have already gotten off to a good start with MI:3, The Da Vinci Code and X-Men: The Last Stand, the rest of the summer seems to look even better.

Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest should kill at the Box Office. Ditto Cars.

Warner Brothers' Superman Returns should do equally as well.

And, the Weinstein Company's Clerks II should have enough fans to make it a big hit.

The only question is who are the sleepers that will pierce through the hype to enjoy their day in the sun. Click? My Super Ex-Girlfriend? Talladega Nights?

I'm just not buying Snakes on a Plane or Miami Vice. If they were stocks, I'd sell them short. But, I'm no studio exec. At least not yet. But, I seem to recall something about online entertainment betting...

Here is David Poland's take on things.

Update: Here is an LA Times article on the new "Hollywood players" turning the weekend box-office race into a participatory sport. Movie Lines are posted Thursday nights at the World Sports Exchange.

Is Hollywood Losing Its Glitz and Glamour?

It seems as if burdensome regulations and union rules may be having a deleterious effect on the moviemaking bottom line. A new study concludes that TV pilot production in the LA area fell more than 23% from last year's level at a cost of more than 1,000 jobs which drained $70 million from the local economy.

A coupling of tax incentives and less regulation has lured production to twenty-five other states as well as Canada. The leaders are New York City and Canada as they enticed 11 projects away from LA each. Washington D.C. managed three.

In 2005, Los Angeles hosted 105 pilot projects, which represented 85 percent of those filmed. In 2006, the number of pilots fell to 81 and the city's share slumped to 68 percent.

The overall number of industry pilots slipped just 3 percent to 120 (from 124 a year earlier) during the February-to-May pilot season, according to the study, which was based on an industrywide survey of production companies.