Some short stuff done mostly for my own amusement. These do not all take place in the same timeline/reality.
LHO (1993)
Using a brilliant recreation of Walter Cronkite's (an Oscar-winning performance by Bill Murray) infamous death-row interviews for CBS as a framing device, director Oliver Stone examines the events surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald's failed assassination attempt on President John F. Kennedy, and Oswald's subsequent trial and conviction for the murder of Jacqueline Kennedy. Flash-backs take us back to Oswald's life in the days immediately before the events in Dallas, as well as the lengthy trial. Stone dwells a bit too much, perhaps, on Oswald's sometimes frantic assertions during the trial (and indeed until the moment of his execution) that he never intended to shoot the President, and that the First Lady had been his target of choice all along. While this creates an air of drama for the purposes of this film, this reviewer finds it unnecessary to refute the conclusions of the Hoover Report yet again thirty years after the fact. Indeed, Stone at times seems to show more sympathy toward Oswald's wounded pride than to the widowed John F. Kennedy. While this film might run a little long for some, it is worth seeing for Stone's use of different film stocks and photographic effects to distinguish between events in the represent tense, flashbacks, and events as seen through Oswald's "mind's eye".
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
(RKO, 1946)
Archaeologist "Indy" Jones (Jimmy Stewart) and his girlfriend Marion (June Allyson) and sidekick Sallah (Orson Welles) undertake a quest to find the Ark of The Covenant before the Nazis do. Directed by John Ford (under protest and contractual obligation), Raiders continues to be a fan-favorite despite it's obvious low-budget back-lot locations. The film does feature some innovative special effects work by Ray Harryhausen (although there is an obvious pane of glass separating Stewart from a snake in one scene). Look for some interesting supporting performances by Peter Lorre as the Gestapo Agent Major Toht, and Claude Raines as Indy's rival Dr. Belloq. Despite the film's age and flaws, many find it to be superior to Steven Spielberg's 1981 re-make starring Tom Selleck as Jones.
(Excerpted with permission from "The Ultimate Movie Guide" by Roger Ebert (1999, Schuster & Simon, New Amsterdam)
A Kind of Homecoming (Universal, 1996)
Ron Howard directs Tom Hanks in a harrowing re-telling of the Apollo 11 disaster. The second half of the movies dominates as it tells the story of astronaut Michael Collins (Hanks) and his four-day journey back to Earth after the deaths of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon's surface. Although he's the only actor on-screen for the majority of the film and he is interacting with voice-over transmissions from Mission Control, Hanks pulls off a landmark performance for which he earned the Best Actor Oscar(tm) in 1996.
Adam-12
Popular science fiction series which ran on NBC from 1969-75 starring Kent McCord as Adam-12, a clone who must hunt-down and stop the first eleven Adams who are dangerous psychopaths due to a flawed cloning process. He is aided in his mission by the lab technician who has befriended him (Martin Milner). The final episode where Adam-12 finally meets his creator (portrayed by Jack Webb) never aired on television and was unseen until the series was released on DVD in 2003.
NBC Television Press Release, 31 August 1968:
NBC is proud to announce a new series from producer Jack Webb, set to premier on the network this fall.
Gitmo is a one-hour dramatic series set in the exciting world of US Marine Peacekeepers in Free Cuba. The series stars Martin Milner as Sergeant Pete Malloy, and Kent McChord as his partner Corporal Jim Reed. We will follow Malloy and Reed as they patrol the streets and villages of Cuba working to ensure the ongoing freedom of the recently liberated Cuban population, and guarding against rebel communist insurgents. Webb promises a "realistic and uplifting portrayal of our fine American fighting men who serve on the vanguard of freedom".
Gitmo will air Tuesday nights at 8pm, 7pm Central.
LHO (1993)
Using a brilliant recreation of Walter Cronkite's (an Oscar-winning performance by Bill Murray) infamous death-row interviews for CBS as a framing device, director Oliver Stone examines the events surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald's failed assassination attempt on President John F. Kennedy, and Oswald's subsequent trial and conviction for the murder of Jacqueline Kennedy. Flash-backs take us back to Oswald's life in the days immediately before the events in Dallas, as well as the lengthy trial. Stone dwells a bit too much, perhaps, on Oswald's sometimes frantic assertions during the trial (and indeed until the moment of his execution) that he never intended to shoot the President, and that the First Lady had been his target of choice all along. While this creates an air of drama for the purposes of this film, this reviewer finds it unnecessary to refute the conclusions of the Hoover Report yet again thirty years after the fact. Indeed, Stone at times seems to show more sympathy toward Oswald's wounded pride than to the widowed John F. Kennedy. While this film might run a little long for some, it is worth seeing for Stone's use of different film stocks and photographic effects to distinguish between events in the represent tense, flashbacks, and events as seen through Oswald's "mind's eye".
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
(RKO, 1946)
Archaeologist "Indy" Jones (Jimmy Stewart) and his girlfriend Marion (June Allyson) and sidekick Sallah (Orson Welles) undertake a quest to find the Ark of The Covenant before the Nazis do. Directed by John Ford (under protest and contractual obligation), Raiders continues to be a fan-favorite despite it's obvious low-budget back-lot locations. The film does feature some innovative special effects work by Ray Harryhausen (although there is an obvious pane of glass separating Stewart from a snake in one scene). Look for some interesting supporting performances by Peter Lorre as the Gestapo Agent Major Toht, and Claude Raines as Indy's rival Dr. Belloq. Despite the film's age and flaws, many find it to be superior to Steven Spielberg's 1981 re-make starring Tom Selleck as Jones.
(Excerpted with permission from "The Ultimate Movie Guide" by Roger Ebert (1999, Schuster & Simon, New Amsterdam)
A Kind of Homecoming (Universal, 1996)
Ron Howard directs Tom Hanks in a harrowing re-telling of the Apollo 11 disaster. The second half of the movies dominates as it tells the story of astronaut Michael Collins (Hanks) and his four-day journey back to Earth after the deaths of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon's surface. Although he's the only actor on-screen for the majority of the film and he is interacting with voice-over transmissions from Mission Control, Hanks pulls off a landmark performance for which he earned the Best Actor Oscar(tm) in 1996.
Adam-12
Popular science fiction series which ran on NBC from 1969-75 starring Kent McCord as Adam-12, a clone who must hunt-down and stop the first eleven Adams who are dangerous psychopaths due to a flawed cloning process. He is aided in his mission by the lab technician who has befriended him (Martin Milner). The final episode where Adam-12 finally meets his creator (portrayed by Jack Webb) never aired on television and was unseen until the series was released on DVD in 2003.
NBC Television Press Release, 31 August 1968:
NBC is proud to announce a new series from producer Jack Webb, set to premier on the network this fall.
Gitmo is a one-hour dramatic series set in the exciting world of US Marine Peacekeepers in Free Cuba. The series stars Martin Milner as Sergeant Pete Malloy, and Kent McChord as his partner Corporal Jim Reed. We will follow Malloy and Reed as they patrol the streets and villages of Cuba working to ensure the ongoing freedom of the recently liberated Cuban population, and guarding against rebel communist insurgents. Webb promises a "realistic and uplifting portrayal of our fine American fighting men who serve on the vanguard of freedom".
Gitmo will air Tuesday nights at 8pm, 7pm Central.