River Runs Dry

In mid 1993, River was in LA, working on a film called, Dark Blood, for Fine Line Features. He was also signed to star in Interview With a Vampire, With Tom Cruise. While in LA, he usually stayed at the St. James’s Club and Hotel, on Sunset Boulevard.

On the evening of October 30th 1993, he went to The Viper Room, a club owned by Johnny Depp, at 8852 Sunset Boulevard. At 1:14 a.m. October 31, 1993 River was in full cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived and Paramedic Ray Ribar of the LA County Fire Department began to administer CPR. They rushed him to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where they arrived at 1:34. When they got there, his skin was dark blue, but his body was still warm. The ER physicians did everything to revive him, including inserting a pacemaker. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 am. on October 31, 1993.

River’s autopsy showed lethal levels of cocaine and morphine (heroin shows up as morphine, as the body metabolizes it), Valium, marijuana and ephedrine. Ephedrine is the main ingredient found in crystal meth. Official cause of death was Acute multiple drug ingestion. River Phoenix was 23 years old.

#16 The Exorcist

The film’s screenplay was based upon author William Peter Blatty’s 1971 best-selling theological-horror novel of the same name. It is a horror movie with a true good vs. evil plot. Or as some like to call them, Psychological Dramas.

It was also one of the most controversial and opposed films to ever to have been released at that time. Mainly due to the content and the graphic nature of the scenes. The 360 degree head-rotation, self-mutilation, masturbation with a crucifix, the projectile spewing of green vomit and the shocking horror story about devil possession and the subsequent exorcism. The victim a 12 year old girl (Linda Blair) becomes possessed and her mother (Ellen Burstyn) tries to save her. What happens next is true movie horror.

This is not the typical slice ‘em and dice ‘em horror movie that reign in our theaters today. This movie has a real plot with real characters and has something to give to the audience. It takes the audience into the darkest recesses of humankind and then brings them back through a message of hope and self-sacrifice. Both Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn are extraordinary in this film, and to think Linda was only 12 years old when she filmed this movie.

The Exorcist was notable for being one of the first ‘blockbusters’ in film history, and surpassed The Godfather as the biggest money-maker of its time. It was presented with ten Academy Award nominations, two of which won (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound). The other eight nominations included: Best Picture, Best Actress (Ellen Burstyn), Best Supporting Actor (Jason Miller), Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair), Best Director, Best Cinematography (Owen Roizman), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Film Editing. Until Silence of the Lambs, The Exorcist was the only horror film to be nominated for Best Picture in Academy Award history.

#17 Nashville

A multi-faceted ensemble piece about the country-western music business and the election campaign of an unseen, independent (populist) party candidate, the , beautifully-structured film is as rich as pure chocolate and complex as a hand woven tapestry. It tells the story of twenty-four protagonists during a five day period in Nashville. It is both comedic as well as tragic as you see the lives of these individuals becoming inter-twined. (This before the rise of JJ Abrams and the multi-story line of inter-twined charecters).

During these five days you find out about the hopes and dreams of these individuals and their intentions, whether they be honest or dishonest. We find them in all walks of life and locations, from the Grand Old Opry to parking lots and motel rooms.

Robert Altman secured his name in cinematic classics with the direction of this film. Both Lily Tomlin and Karen Black are exceptional in their roles, Lily as a Gospel singer, and Karen as the second most known country star in Nashville.

Nominated for five Academy Awards, unfortunately it won only the award for Best Song, and the acting and directing nods were overlooked, but Nashville is a true Altman classic and will be remembered for years.

#18 American Graffitti

Where were you in ‘62?

Personally I was only two years old, but many Americans were on the verge of a drastic change in the way they viewed life. That is what George Lucas’ American Graffiti is about. Another coming of age movie, but more of the coming of age of a country and a way of life more than the individual charecters. This movie is set between the Korean War and the Vietnam War, before the assasination of JFK and before the “love” movement and the age of psychedelic drugs.

Lucas really hits the nerve of American at that time with this film and sort of gives us a last look at innocence. Most of the actors in this film were relitively unknowns, but this film launched their careers. Names like; Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers, Cindy Williams, & Bo Hopkins are now well known stars, but in 1973 they were just making their mark.

The movie shot almost entirely at night is full of rock and roll and full of nostalgia. To think that this movie almost never made it to the screen is a horror, as what became the sleeper hit of ‘73 is now a classic.

#19 The Last Picture Show

This first major picture by director Peter Bogdanovich was adapted from the novel of the same name by Larry McCurty. Two best friends, Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) & Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) are coming of age in a town that is slowly dying away. Everyone in town is moving to the cities for jobs and these two boys are dealing with becoming men and deciding on where to go with their lives. Sonny has his girl (played by Sharon Taggart) and Duane has his, the rich Jacy Farrow (played by Cybil Sheppard in her film debut). When the folks stop attending the second-run features at the movie house and the time comes for the last picture show. With the closure of the movie house, the boys feel that a stage of their lives is closing. They stand uneasily on the threshold of the rest of their lives.

This film is much more than your typical coming of age movie, and even though most of the stars were unknowns in 1971, it helped make stars of most of them. Beautifuly filmed in black & white, The Last Picture Show made you feel you were there in this small Texas town where everyone knows everything about everyone else.

Even though the film had an R rating and had full frontal nudity and explicit sexual situations it was nominated for eight Academy Awards (including four for its ensemble cast), and was awarded two Oscars for two supporting actors: Ben Johnson (Best Supporting Actor) and Cloris Leachman (Best Supporting Actress). The other six nominations included: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Bridges), Best Supporting Actress (Ellen Burstyn), Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich).

As a teenager I liked the movie, but as an adult I grew to have a lasting love for it’s story, the supurb acting and the exceptional cinematography.

The 70’s – #20 Marathon Man

I love lists! And I loved the 70’s. Those were the years that I became enthralled with movies. Thanks to my mother and the purchase of our first Videocassette Player, I was given the opportunity to not only see the current movies but movies of her era. I first saw the movie Giant and Rebel Without a Cause in the 70’s, as well as other great classics such as All About Eve and Gone With the Wind.

The 1970’s, as I look back on the movies that were released and the performances that were given seems to have been the decade of the MAN. There were a lot of “man” movies with some great performances from the male actors. Over the next few days (or weeks/months) I am going to list my favorites of the 70’s

I am going to list my favorite top 20 Movies, Actors and Actresses of the decade that I became a teenager. I will begin with the movies, starting with…

#20) Marathon Man-1976
Marathon Man is one of the scariest nightmare thrillers ever to have hit the screen, best known for the pursuit scenes and a truly horrific scene of torture.

Doc Levy (Roy Scheider), is an American secret agent, who is thought to have stolen a valuable cache of diamonds and is killed by evil ex-Nazi Szell (Laurence Olivier, nominated for Best Supporting Actor), an ex-concentration camp dentist by profession. Szell has come to New York City to retrieve the fortune in diamonds from a safe deposit box. Szell kidnaps Doc’s brother, lone, idealistic Jewish graduate student Babe Levy (Dustin Hoffman), who knows nothing about his brother’s involvement.

In the most memorable torture scene to have ever been filmed, Szell uses his dental instruments for sadistic oral surgery to torture and extract information from Babe. Szell is pure evil and disturbingly effective during the torture, repeatedly asking Babe the question:
Is it safe?

Directed by John Schlesinger (best Director Oscar winner for Midnight Cowboy) this movie was from the very beginning intriguing and exciting. Even though when I first saw it I hid my face a few times during the torture scenes, I have since saw the film in it’s entirety and it is a cinematic masterpiece

The Duke Bombs

The Big Trail opens, featuring John Wayne in his first leading role. Unfortunately, the film flopped, and Wayne played mediocre roles for the next 10 years.

Wayne was born Marion Michael Morrison in 1908 in Iowa. He moved as a child to Glendale, California. A football star at Glendale High School, he attended USC on a scholarship but dropped out after two years. Working at Fox Film Corp., he befriended rising director John Ford. He played bit parts under the name of Duke Morrison (taking the name Duke from his childhood pet, an Airedale). In 1930, a college buddy, Raoul Walsh, hired Wayne for $75 a week to star in his film The Big Trail.

In 1939, Wayne finally had his breakthrough when his old friend John Ford cast him in Stagecoach. Wayne went on to play larger-than-life heroes in dozens of movies. In 1969, he won an Oscar for his role in True Grit. During four decades of acting, Wayne appeared in 250 films. Ford directed many of his films, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Quiet Man (1952).

Wayne was married three times and had seven children and 16 grandchildren. He battled cancer for more than a decade. In 1963, his left lung was removed. He died of cancer in 1979.

Wrong Turn

To be honest I have never been a big fan of horror movies. Yes, I know kill me now. But I’ve never really seen any (other than Hitchcock) that were really a cinematic excellence. But then again are they supposed to be? They are to become cult classics, like Pyscho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Wrong Turn was my step back into the horror genre. My partner loves horror movies especially the old B movies. But we went and saw Wrong Turn when it came out in the theaters in 2003, mainly because we both like Eliza Dushku. I must say I was more grossed out than anything. Other than Eliza and Desmond Harrington the other actors were bland and boring, especially Jeremy Sisto. He reminded me of Jeffrey Goldblum in Jurrasic Park. I was actually kind of glad when he got killed off. Kevin Zegers and his girlfriend had about 5 minutes of movie time. Long enough to get the proverbial teen sex scene in and they were toast.

You don’t really know if these hillbilly in bred monsters really eat people of just collect body parts, but one thing is for certain they were hard as hell to kill. But again, isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?

Wrong Turn is a mix of Texas Chainsaw/Blair Witch and Jeepers Creepers. It is on my top ten list of favorite horror movies, but that is because I only have ten favorites…Wrong Turn scores a C

Classic Men in Cinema: Vincent Price

Vincent Price 1911-1993

What More Needs Said?