Category: Movies

15 Fun Facts for “Young Frankenstein”

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Young Frankenstein, despite turning 40 years old this year, remains one of the funniest movies of all time.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of Young Frankenstein, Mental_Floss presents 15 Fun Facts for Young Frankenstein’s 40th Anniversary by Marc Mancini.

Here are my three favorite facts…

2. STAR AND CO-WRITER GENE WILDER CONVINCED BROOKS TO FORGO HIS USUAL CAMEO APPEARANCE

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Brooks usually gave himself a part in his own films, from Blazing Saddles’ loopy governor to the wine-selling Rabbi of Robin Hood: Men in Tights. These characters regularly broke the fourth wall and “winked” at the audience, something Wilder felt would clash with Young Frankenstein’s tone. So, as a condition of his taking on the lead role, Wilder made Brooks agree to remain off-camera.

However, the director did provide some howling

6. SEVERAL PROPS HAD PREVIOUSLY APPEARED IN THE MASTERFUL 1931 FRANKENSTEIN FILM

Taking his feature-length tribute to the next level, Brooks included much of the faux labequipment used in that earlier picture.

 

9. GENE HACKMAN SPECIFICALLY ASKED WILDER FOR A PART INYOUNG FRANKENSTEIN BECAUSE HE “WANTED TO TRY COMEDY”

According to the movie’s Blu-Ray commentary, Hackman—who’d been thrice nominated for an Academy Award (and won one in 1971)—learned about Young Frankenstein through his frequent tennis partner Wilder and requested a role. Ultimately, ‘Harold’—the lonely blind character he briefly portrayed—sparked one of the most memorable sequences in comedic history.

30 Things You Might Not Know About “Die Hard”

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Jennifer Wood and Mental_Floss present 30 Things You Might Not Know About Die Hard.

Here are my three favorites…

5. CLINT EASTWOOD PLANNED TO TAKE A STAB AT THE PART.

Originally, it was Clint Eastwood who owned the movie rights to Nothing Lasts Forever, which he had planned to star in in the early 1980s. That obviously never happened.

7. BRUCE WILLIS WASN’T EVEN THE STUDIO’S THIRD CHOICE FOR THE ROLE.

If Die Hard was to be a success, the studio knew they needed a bona fide action star in the part, so they set about offering it to a seemingly never-ending list of A-listers of the time. Rumor has it that Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, Charles Bronson, Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Don Johnson, Burt Reynolds, and Richard Dean Anderson (yes, MacGyver!) were all considered for the role of John McClane. And all declined it.

9. BRUCE WILLIS WAS BARELY EVEN SEEN ON THE MOVIE’S POSTERS.

Because the studio’s marketing gurus were unconvinced that audiences would pay to see an action movie starring the funny guy from Moonlighting, the original batch of posters for the film centered on Nakatomi Plaza instead of Willis’ mug. As the film gained steam, the marketing materials were altered, and Willis was more prominent in the promos.

Special Editions of David Morrell’s First Blood Trilogy Coming!

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David Morrell, Rambo and Sylvester Stallone fans get ready to be excited!  

Gauntlet Press in collaboration with Borderlands Press have special editions of David Morrell’s Rambo trilogy set for publication starting in 2015.

Leading the way will be Morrell’s First Blood special edition which will feature…

…essays by David Morrell and by New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry as well as the never-before-published outline for the novel and the original first chapter.

As excited as I am for the special edition of First Blood, I am equally excited about the hardcover special edition treatment that David Morrell’s Rambo II and Rambo III novels will get.  Anyone who has ever read them will understand.

For more information check out Gauntlet Press’ First Blood by David Morrell page.

15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About “The Matrix”

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Sean Hutchinson and Mental Floss present 15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Matrix.

Here are my three favorite facts…

1. THE FILM STARTED AS A COMIC BOOK.

Filmmakers Lana (then known as Larry) and Andy Wachowski originally conceived the storyline for The Matrix as a comic. They had both previously written comic books for Marvel.

5. BOTH WILL SMITH AND NICOLAS CAGE FORMALLY TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF NEO.

Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, and Leonardo DiCaprio were all also considered before the filmmakers settled on Keanu Reeves for the part.

6. RUSSELL CROWE, SEAN CONNERY, AND SAMUEL L. JACKSON COULD’VE BEEN MORPHEUS.

When they declined, Laurence Fishburne took the role.

The 15 Best Ridley Scott Movies

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/Film recently ranked The 15 Best Ridley Scott Movies.

/Film

Craig
1.        Alien 1.  Gladiator
2.       Blade Runner 2.  Black Hawk Down
3.       Thelma and Louise 3. Black Rain
4.       Black Hawk Down 4. Alien
5.       Gladiator 5. Blade Runner

My top five and /Film’s pretty much had the same mix.  The biggest difference was that I placed Black Rain in the number three spot and /Film didn’t even have it in their top ten.  I’ll also say that Thelma and Louise nearly edged out Blade Runner in my rankings.

The Journey to “Ciudad” – the Most Dangerous and Corrupt City in the World

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I first heard about Ciudad  back in March of 2012.  At that time Ciudad  was being prepped as a movie for Dwayne The Rock  Johnson and as a graphic novel co-written by Anthony and Joe Russo and Ande Parks.

Ciudad  sounded like something action fans would love…

Johnson will play a “black market mercenary” hired by a drug lord to rescue his kidnapped daughter in one of the most “dangerous and corrupt cities in the world.”

Since then Fernando León González came on to draw Ciudad and The Rock  is no longer attached to the movie.  [What about Thomas Jane or Vin Diesel or… ]

Cuidad the graphic novel is now available.  I’ve ordered my copy.  If you’re interested you can too.  If you’re still on the fence CBR.com has an interview with the Russo Brothers and Andre Parks as well as an extensive preview!

Bleeding Cool offers up Ciudad’s High-Octane Action Blows Readers Away, Just In Time For The Holidays.