“The Highwaymen” Poster & Trailer are Here!
The Highwaymen poster and official trailer are here!
The “Triple Frontier” Poster & Second Official Trailer Are Here!
The Triple Frontier poster and second official trailer are here!
10 Ridiculous Gentleman’s Duels Fought Over Nothing
Ward Hazell and Listverse present 10 Ridiculous Gentleman’s Duels Fought Over Nothing. It’s hard to imagine a time where dueling was legal and even crazier when you consider some of the rules (Check out what rule was broken in the duel between Andrew Jackson And Charles Dickinson). At any rate, here are three of my favorites and my summaries of why (check out the Listverse article for full details)…
Alexander Hamilton And Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were two of our Nation’s Founding Fathers. They were both patriots having fought in the American Revolution. Burr was Vice President and Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury. The two men disliked each other so when Hamilton was to have said something unflattering about Burr and refused to apologize a duel with pistols was arranged.
Hamilton fired first and missed. Some believe that Hamilton, “as was customary for a gentleman, deliberately missed. Burr, on the other hand, whether by accident or design, shot Hamilton in the stomach, tearing through his internal organs and paralyzing him. Hamilton died 36 hours later.”
Andrew Jackson And Charles Dickinson
In 1806, Andrew Jackson challenged Charles Dickinson to a duel after Dickinson insulted Jackson’s wife and called Jackson a “poltroon and a coward.”
Dickinson was no stranger to duels and chose pistols. Dickinson fired first striking Jackson and breaking two of his ribs. Jackson’s gun misfired, so he recocked it and shot Dickinson dead.
Here’s where it gets crazy. Dueling rules required each man to fure ar the same time. If one man fired first the second man should fire in the air and not take time for a deliberate shot! “Though there was some unpleasantness over the issue, Jackson was never charged with murder. He was troubled with pain from the injury for the rest of his life, but it did his career no harm, as he went on to become the seventh president of the United States.”
Monsieur Granpree And Monsieur Le Pique
In 1808 Monsieur Granpree discovered his mistress having an affair with Monsieur Le Pique. The men agreed to a duel to settle the issue… they would fight from balloons in the air.
After a month of training, each man entered his balloon with a blunderbuss and a second. A crowd had gathered to watch this most unusual duel. The balloons lifted into the air and the restraining cords cut. The duel was on.
Le Pique fired first but missed. Granpree’s shot struck the balloon and as you can imagine, things went downhill quickly for Le Pique. “Le Pique and his second were “dashed to pieces”… when his balloon shredded and fell to the ground.
45 Amazing Facts About All 44 American Presidents
Corrine Cummings and Mental Floss present 45 Amazing Facts About All 44 American Presidents. Here are three of my favorites…
3. THOMAS JEFFERSON
Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his personal library when the Library of Congress was burned by the British during the War of 1812. He sold them 6487 books from his own collection, the largest in America at the time.
35. JOHN F. KENNEDY
JFK lived off of his family’s considerable trusts, so he donated all of his congressional and presidential salaries to charities like the United Negro College Fund and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.
18. ULYSSES S. GRANT
In an attempt to unite the North and South, Ulysses S. Grant made Christmas a national holiday in 1870.
Jack Benny in “Casablanca”
Fans of Jack Benny and/or Humphrey Bogart probably know that they appeared together on an episode of The Jack Benny Show. But for years there has been a rumor that Jack Benny made an uncredited cameo appearance in Casablanca.
BookSteve’s Library takes a look at the rumor, finds newspaper articles and contests indicating that Benny did make an appearance in Casablanca and comes up with a conclusion that may surprise you. If this interests you, check out Jack Benny in Casablanca.
Best “TV” Movie Posters of 2018
IMP Awards is running a survey for their readers choose their favorite teaser “TV” movie posters for 2018. My vote would go to Cargo. Was I wrong?
Rambo by Kyle Frink
Once a week Joblo.com posts Awesome Art We’ve Found Around the Net.
I always enjoy seeing what JoBlo has found because with each post they list the artist’s name and a link to more of his/her art. That’s where I saw this Rambo poster by Kyle Frink. Click on the pic above to see a bigger version.
The Impact of The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show”
On February 9, 1964, The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. In this age of hundreds of channels, the internet and celebrities having personal access to multiple social media outlets, it may be difficult to understand the impact that the Beatles performing on Ed Sullivan’s show had for those not alive during that time.
I was five. My mother got me out of bed to watch. We weren’t alone, as nearly 40% of the US population had tuned in.
Stacy Conradt presents 10 Facts About The Beatles’s ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ Debut, Here are three of my favorites…
THE BAND DIDN’T COME CHEAP …
Much like The Tonight Show today, being asked to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s was a huge honor for up-and-coming (and established) artists in the 1960s. The publicity generated from an appearance on the show was enough for most talent to say yes. But The Beatles would only agree to appear if the show covered their travel expenses and paid them a $10,000 fee (which would be just over $80,000 in 2019 dollars). Sullivan and his producers agreed, but only if The Beatles would commit to making three appearances. They had a deal.
BUT THEY ENDED UP BEING A RELATIVE BARGAIN.
Though forking over travel expenses and an appearance fee wasn’t the norm for The Ed Sullivan Show, it ended up being a great deal for the program, and proof that Beatlemania was just as thriving in America as it was in the UK. It’s been estimated that close to 74 million people—40 percent of the country’s population at that time—tuned in to watch The Beatles play.
ONE OF THE MONKEES WAS ON THAT NIGHT, TOO.
Davy Jones was also on The Ed Sullivan Show that night, but not as part of The Monkees. Jones was performing with the cast of Broadway’s Oliver! Jones played the Artful Dodger, first in London then in New York, and ended up being nominated for a Tony for the role.
Eduardo Risso’s Amazing Art!
If you’re following Eduardo Risso on Instagram, then you’ve seen this piece before. I won’t apologize, because it is never wrong to share art by Risso.
If you haven’t seen this before, don’t waste time thanking me for the post. Instead, click over to Risso’s Instagram and check out more!
For those of you still here, click on the art above and you can see a larger version.
The Underappreciated Genius of “Justified”
Justified is perhaps my all-time favorite television drama. It was extremely well- cast, acted, written and directed. Justified fans will enjoy the article I’m about to recommend. If you’ve never watched the series, you may enjoy the article even more. So please consider checking out The Underappreciated Genius of Justified by Lisa Levy at CrimeReads.com.
Steranko’s Concept Art for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”
What we’re looking at above is extremely rare concept paintings for Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Jim Steranko. I’d love to see a book of Steranko’s movie concept art (Dracula, Raiders, etc.), but then again, who wouldn’t?
Click on the photo above to see a larger version.
Source: Cool Comic Art
Steranko on Twitter: @iamsteranko
Snake Plissken: The Made & Unmade Movies and More
When John Carpenter and Kurt Russell developed the character of Snake Plissken for Escape from New York, they knew they had a winning character. Russell enjoyed playing Snake, Carpenter had plans for many future adventures, and most importantly fans loved Snake Plissken.
Snake (Kurt and Carpenter) returned for Escape from LA. Although not as well-received as EFNY, Escape from LA was not going to be the final adventure for our one-eyed anti-hero. Next up was to be Escape from Earth. Sadly, that film never left the launching pad.
But Snake Plissken didn’t fade away. There were plans for future films, a tv series, comics (that did happen) and video games. Kieran Fisher at Film School Rejects discusses them all in his article The Snake Plissken Sequels We’ll Never Get to See. Since you’ve read this far, my guess is you’ll enjoy it.
Donald Westlake’s Ventures in Movies and TV
The Mind of Donald E. Westlake by Levi Stahl takes a look at Westlake’s ventures into screenwriting and the adaptations of his work for movies and television. It’s worth a look.
Did you know Westlake wrote a screenplay adapting Hammet’s Red Harvest? Sadly it was never made. Neither was Westlake’s James Bond screenplay. It’s no secret that Lee Marvin played Westlake’s most popular character Parker on the big screen, but did you know…
…that Between Point Blank, in 1967, and Parker, in 2013, Parker (usually under other names) was played by Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall, Jim Brown, Mel Gibson, Jason Statham, and, strangest of all, Anna Karina…
I didn’t.
Darwyn Cooke Draws “Everyone”
I don’t think I’d ever seen this Darwyn Cooke drawing until Cool Comic Art posted it. If you’d like to see a bigger version, click here.
Man, I miss Darwyn Cooke.
18 Things We Learned from the New “Waterworld” Blu-Ray
Max Evry and ComingSoon present 18 Things We Learned from the New Waterworld Blu-Ray. Here are three of my favorites…
Jack Black is in this movie.
In one of his earliest film roles, comedy superstar Jack Black portrayed the soot-faced Smoker airplane pilot who attacks The Mariner only to get his plane caught on the trimarand’s mast. He’s only in a few scene and is barely recognizable due to the heavy amount of dirt make-up he wears.
Kevin Reynolds did the big explosion stunt himself
One of the major stunts in the film is when Kevin Costner shoots down a wire using a hook as a massive explosion erupts behind him. At first production would not allow Costner to do the stunt, fearing for the actor’s life. To demonstrate that it was perfectly safe for Costner, Reynolds performed the stunt himself.
The Waterworld stunt show at Universal is still going!
Originally opening at the same time as the film in 1995, Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular is a live stunt show featuring the Atollers being attacked by Smokers. It is still active to this day at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Japan, and Universal Studios Singapore.
