15 Out-of-This-World Facts About “Forbidden Planet”

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Bryan Reesman and Mental Floss present 15 Out-of-This-World Facts About Forbidden Planet.  Here are three of my favorites…

7. ROBBY RACKED UP A LOT OF OTHER CREDITS.
Forbidden Planet made its lovable bucket of bolts a star, and throughout his career Robby racked up more than two dozen film and TV credits, including The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man(TV series), Lost In Space, The Twilight Zone, Wonder Woman, Morkand Mindy, and Gremlins.He has also done TV spots for Charmin, AT&T, and General Electric (that last one in 2012).

15. THE FILMMAKERS WERE RECYCLERS.
Forbidden Planet was shot on same stage as The Wizard of Oz, with bits of Munchkinland used for Altaira’s garden. In an interesting twist, some of Forbidden Planet‘s costumes (including the crewmen uniforms and Altaira’s clothing) were re-used in Queen of Outer Space, a 1958 sci-fi movie starring Zsa Zsa Gabor in which a space crew that has crash landed on Venus attempts to overthrow its female dictator, who has banished men from the planet.

5. ROBERT KINOSHITA DESIGNED ANOTHER ICONIC ROBOT.
That electronic entity being, of course, The Robot from the ’60s sci-fi series Lost In Space. While their design was somewhat different, the two cybernetic companions shared a similar “talk box,” a display that lit up in tandem with the rhythm of their speech. Robby actually guest starred on three episodes of Lost In Space.

Twilight Zone: “A Piano in the House” [Season 3, Episode 22] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “A Piano in the House” [Season 3, Episode 22]
Original Air Date: February 16, 1962

Director: David Greene

Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.

Starring: Barry Morse, Joan Hackett and Don Durant.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Fitzgerald Fortune [Morse] buys an old player piano that has the power to make people reveal their inner-most secrets.  Fortune arranges a party to take advantage of his guests, but as often happens in the Twilight Zone, things don’t go as planned.

Rating:

Was the Biggest Batman the Best?

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So how big is Batman, really?  That, of course, depends on which Batman you’re talking about.

The comic book Batman was supposed to be about 6’2″ and 210 pounds.  Adam West came closest to that version at 6’2″ and 200 pounds.  All of the other actors who played the Dark Knight, except for Ben Affleck, were smaller.

So does size matter?  Who made the best Batman?

You can check out a larger version of the chart here.

Source: Bleeding Cool.

15 Surprising Facts About “Splash”

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Roger Cormier and Mental Floss present 15 Surprising Facts About Splash. Here are three of my favorites…

2. RON HOWARD TURNED DOWN BIG DIRECTORIAL ASSIGNMENTS TO DO IT.
Ron Howard said no to directing Mr. Mom (1983) and Footloose (1984) to stay attached to Splash.

4. JOHN TRAVOLTA, CHEVY CHASE, BILL MURRAY, AND DUDLEY MOORE TURNED DOWN PLAYING ALLEN.
It was Louisa Velis, Howard’s longtime assistant, who suggested that Howard let Hanks audition. Steve Guttenberg also auditioned. He found out he didn’t get the part at the same time he heard he was getting screen tested for Police Academy (1984). Michael Keaton remembered being offered the role of Allen’s brother, Freddie—a part that eventually went to John Candy .


5. DIANE LANE TURNED DOWN PLAYING MADISON.
She said no to appear in Streets of Fire (1984) and The Cotton Club (1984).

Midnight of the Soul by Howard Chaykin

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It’s hard to believe that it was almost four years ago when I first posted about a new series from Howard Chaykin called Midnight of the Soul.  There was just a cool shot of a guy on a motorcycle [not the same as above] with the following…

Joel Breakstone came home from the Second World War
with a Purple Heart, a German Luger, and
a desperate taste for alcohol.

In one long night, he’ll lose all three and regain
everything he gave up to get them, in a story of
redemption, in the only parallel universe
that counts… The Real World.

After that teaser appeared there was nothing… until today.

Bleeding Cool has posted a preview of the series with art.  Be advised before clicking over that the series contains adult language.  If you’re of age and not offended then check out “Midnight Of The Soul Is A Labor Of Love” New Miniseries From Howard Chaykin.

Twilight Zone: “Kick the Can” [Season 3, Episode 21] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Kick the Can” [Season 3, Episode 21]
Original Air Date: February 9, 1962

Director: Lamont Johnson

Writer: George Clayton Johnson

Starring: Ernest Truex, Russell Collins and John Marley.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Charles Whitley [Truex] lives with other elderly residents of an old folks home.  They think he is going crazy, but he believes he has found the secret to return to childhood.

Rating:

Twilight Zone: “Showdown with Rance McGrew ” [Season 3, Episode 20] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Showdown with Rance McGrew ” [Season 3, Episode 20]
Original Air Date: February 2, 1962

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: Rod Serling based on an idea by Frederic L. Fox

Starring: Larry Blyden, Arch Johnson and Robert Cornthwaite.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Rance McGrew [Blyden] is the star of a 1950’s western series.  Each week McGrew outdraws and out smarts the likes of Billy the Kid, Jesse James and other outlaws.  The reality is that McGrew is terrible with a gun, afraid to do his own stunts and a prima dona.

When McGrew suddenly finds himself transported to the past and face to face with the real Jesse James, he knows that there will be no second takes.

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13 Things You May Not Know About Bonnie and Clyde

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Vintage Everyday presents 13 Things You May Not Know About Bonnie and Clyde. Here are three of my favorites…

3. Bonnie was an honor student and a poet.
During her school days, Bonnie excelled at creative writing and penning verses. While she was imprisoned in 1932 after a failed hardware store burglary, she penned a collection of 10 odes that she entitled “Poetry from Life’s Other Side,” which included “The Story of Suicide Sal,” a poem about an innocent country girl lured by her boyfriend into a life a crime. Two weeks before her death, Bonnie gave a prescient poem to her mother entitled “The Trail’s End” that finished with the verse:

“Some day they’ll go down together;
And they’ll bury them side by side,
To a few it’ll be grief—
To the law a relief—
But it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.”

 

1. Bonnie died wearing a wedding ring—but it wasn’t Clyde’s.
Six days before turning 16, Bonnie married high school classmate Roy Thornton. The marriage disintegrated within months, and Bonnie never again saw her husband after he was imprisoned for robbery in 1929. Soon after, Bonnie met Clyde, and although the pair fell in love, she never divorced Thornton. On the day Bonnie and Clyde were killed in 1934, she was still wearing Thornton’s wedding ring and had a tattoo on the inside of her right thigh with two interconnected hearts labeled “Bonnie” and “Roy.”

9. Bonnie and Clyde remained close to their families, even on the run.
In fact, it was their predictable pattern of stopping to visit family that aided the team of Texas Rangers and deputies who ambushed and killed them.

Twilight Zone: “The Hunt” [Season 3, Episode 19] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “The Hunt” [Season 3, Episode 19]
Original Air Date: January 26, 1962

Director: Harold D. Schuster

Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.

Starring: Arthur Hunnicutt, Jeanette Nolan and Robert Foulk.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

An elderly man takes his old dog hunting one evening.  When they return the following day, no one can see them and his wife is in mourning.  Although the old man and the dog have died they are about to go on a journey that will take them through the Twilight Zone.

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17 Bloody Facts About “Friday the 13th”

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Matthew Jackson and Mental Floss present 17 Bloody Facts About Friday the 13th. Here are three of my favorites…

1. THE ORIGINAL INSPIRATION WAS HALLOWEEN.
In 1978, producer and director Sean Cunningham was looking for a model on which to build a commercially successful film, and he found one in John Carpenter’s horror classic Halloween. The two films ultimately don’t share much other than very broad slasher tropes, but Cunningham says he “was very influenced by the structure of Carpenter’s film.”

7. SHELLEY WINTERS WAS THE FIRST CHOICE FOR MRS. VOORHEES.
For the now-iconic role of Mrs. Pamela Voorhees, Cunningham and company went in search of an actress with a recognizable name whose career was nevertheless on the decline, so she could be paid relatively little and the budget could stay low. Cunningham eventually made a list of actresses he was considering, and two-time Oscar winner Shelley Winters was his top priority. Winters wasn’t interested, and while fellow candidate and Oscar-winner Estelle Parsons actually negotiated to be in the film, she ultimately backed out. Cunningham also considered actresses Louise Lasser and Dorothy Malone right up until filming began, but ultimately the production wound up with Betsy Palmer in the role.

15. THE FINAL SCARE WAS SUPPOSEDLY NOT IN THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT.
The story of who invented the final scare in the film, in which a deformed Jason bursts out of the lake and grabs Alice (Adrienne King) from her canoe, is disputed. Victor Miller, Tom Savini, and uncredited screenwriter Ron Kurz all claim credit for it, Kurz because he claims to be the one who made Jason into a “creature,” and Savini because he claims the moment was inspired by a similar final scare in Carrie. Whatever the case, it left a lasting impression.

Z-View Twilight Zone: “Dead Man’s Shoes” [Season 3, Episode 18]

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Twilight Zone: “Dead Man’s Shoes” [Season 3, Episode 18]
Original Air Date: January 19, 1962

Director: Montgomery Pittman

Writer: Charles Beaumont

Starring: Warren Stevens, Richard Devon and Joan Marshall.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

A homeless man witnesses a gangland killing and before the police arrives steals the dead man’s shoes.  Once he has the shoes on, he gains the dead man’s memories and decides on revenge.

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15 Thrilling Facts About “Basic Instinct”

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Garin Pirnia and Mental Floss present 15 Thrilling Facts About Basic Instinct. Here are three of my favorites…

1. THE SCRIPT SOLD FOR A RECORD $3 MILLION.
Back in the day, spec scripts could sell for millions of dollars. Joe Eszterhas joined that club when he sold Basic Instinct—a script that took him just 13 days to write—for $3 million in 1990. Eszterhas told The A.V. Club that the media liked to focus on a writer’s failures, which occurred when Eszterhas’ Showgirls tanked at the box office. “CBS Evening News came with a helicopter crew and found me on a beach in Florida and interviewed me about the money I got for Basic Instinct,” Eszterhas said. “The other thing that I don’t think was quite fair was that after that whole period, where scripts—mine and Shane Black’s and half a dozen other writers’ scripts—went for a lot of money, the media zeroed in on the box office for some of those scripts, and they always zeroed in on the failures … When Basic Instinct went on to earn $400 million worldwide, there were no stories that said, ‘[Executive producer] Mario Kassar paid three million bucks for this.’”

2. CATHERINE AND NICK WERE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE.
Before he became a multimillionaire screenwriter, Eszterhas was a police reporter for Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer. “I met a cop who just liked the action too much,” Eszterhas told Nerve. “He was always in the middle of shootings. He was a great cop on one level, but on another, you suspected he liked it too much. That’s what Nick Curran does in Basic Instinct. As Catherine says in the movie, he got too close to the flame. He loved the flame.”

Tramell also comes from a person Eszterhas knew in Ohio, this time a go-go dancer in Dayton. One night he picked the stranger up and they went back to his hotel room to have some fun. “She reached into her purse, and she pulled out a .22 and pointed it at me,” he told Nerve. “She said, ‘Give me one reason why I shouldn’t pull this trigger.’ I said, ‘I didn’t do anything to hurt you. You wanted to come here, and as far as I know, you enjoyed what we just did.’ And she said, ‘But this is all guys have ever wanted to do with me, and I’m tired of it.’ We had a lengthy discussion before she put that gun down. Those two random characters are where those parts of Basic Instinct come from.”

3. MICHAEL DOUGLAS AND PAUL VERHOEVEN APPROACHED THE MOVIE AS IF IT WERE A DETECTIVE NOVEL.
Verhoeven wanted to make a modern version of a Hitchcock thriller—except with a lot more sex. “In traditional films, the killer lurks in a house and the victim walks into the kitchen, turns on the radio, makes coffee, opens a book, gets comfortable—and then the killer strikes,” he told The New York Times. “In this film, the killer hides—but on the bed. The situation is the same, but the two people are facing each other in bed, not the kitchen.”

Douglas agreed with the film noir aspect of the movie. “Fatal Attraction was a picture close to home for a lot of people because you could identify with those characters,” he also told theTimes. “It was a reality tale, while Basic Instinct is like a detective novel that people like to read in the privacy of their homes. It’s almost Gothic. It’s certainly more dramatic. And the real question here is: Is anybody really worthy of redemption?”