19 Things You Never Knew About “Breaking Bad”

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Hollywood.com presents 19 Things You Never Knew About Breaking Bad.  Here are three of my favorites…

5.      The GPS coordinates that repeatedly appear throughout the show, N34 59 20 W106 36 52, actually corresponds to the location of the studio where the show filmed.

6.      Showtime, HBO, and TNT all initially passed on Breaking Bad.  FX began production on it, but eventually passed in favor of Courteney Cox’s Dirt in an attempt to increase female viewership. HBO wasn’t interested and TNT liked it but couldn’t have a meth kingpin as a main character.

14.   The title of the final episode, “Felina,” is an anagram for “finale.”   The letters can also spell out the atomic numbers for various elements: Fe Li Na, or blood, meth, and tears.

20 of the Most Surprising Numbers About “Seinfeld”

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Worthy presents 20 of the Most Surprising Numbers About Seinfeld.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. $40,000,

2. $1 million

3. $110 million

During the 1991 to 1992 season, Jerry Seinfeld was paid $40,000 per episode. During the show’s final season, 1997 to 1998, he was paid $1 million per episode. He was offered $110 million to do a tenth season, but he turned down NBC’s offer to continue. He decided that nine seasons completed the show, and that is another story about numbers that was revealed when Vanity Fair did a cover story of him in 1998 when the series finally ended. He was quoted as saying “Nine is cool.” He had discovered that the number nine means completion in numerology. Learning that the Beatles stayed together nine years and then broke up was also an inspiration to Seinfeld. It turns out that nine is also a highly significant number in his life:

• He was born in 1954 (5 plus 4 = 9).

• He graduated high school in 1972 (7 plus 2 = 9).

• His first Tonight Show appearance was in 1981 (8 plus 1 =9).

• His sitcom Seinfeld first aired in 1989 (1 plus 9 plus 8 plus 9 = 27; 2 plus 7 = 9).

• The show was shown at 9 P.M.

• The show ended in 1998, which also equals 27 and, of course 2 plus 7 =9.

Seinfeld also said that when he thought about the end of the show, he felt that nine was his number.

Z-View: “In a Lonely Place”

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In a Lonely Place [1950]

Director: Nicholas Ray

Screenplay:  Andrew Solt and Edmund H. North

Starring: Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame

The Pitch: “Let’s get Bogie and Gloria Grahame and make a really noir film.”

The Tagline: “The Bogart Suspense Picture with the Surprise Finish!”

 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Dixon Steele (Bogart) is an ex-military screenwriter who hasn’t had a hit since before the war.  Since his return home, Steele’s quick temper and willingness to fight at even the smallest slight has left him with a bad reputation with the studios and run-ins with the law.  So when Steele gets the chance to write the screenplay adaptation for a popular novel he knows he’s going to have to even if he can’t bring himself to read it.

As fortune would have it, the hatcheck girl at one of Steele’s favorite restaurants has read and loves the book.  Steele invites her to his apartment late one evening after she gets off work with the idea that she can tell him the story.  Steele’s neighbor (Grahame) sees him taking the young lady into his apartment.  Later, as the girl tells Steele the story, he sees Grahame on her balcony.  It’s late and Steele gives the girl money for her time and cab fare home.

The next morning a Detective informs Steele that the girl was murdered and her dead body was found at the side of a deserted road.  Steele’s only alibi is Grahame who is called to the police station.  Although they had never met before, there is an immediate spark between Bogart and Graham.  Although she saw the girl enter with Bogart, Grahame didn’t see the girl leave, but that’s not what she tells the cops.  Instead Grahame offers that she did see the girl leave on her own… which is just the alibi that Bogart needs.

Over the next few weeks, Bogart and Graham fall in love and she begins to question if she alibied a killer.

Final Thoughts: The tagline touts a surprise finish and that is what you get.  This is a dark film and one of Bogart’s best roles.  I’m a fan of Gloria Grahame and this is one of her most famous movies.  Robert Warwick is also excellent in a small supporting role.

Rating:

Z-View: “Cat Ballou”

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Cat Ballou  [1965]
Director: Elliott Silversteen
Screenplay:  Walter Newman  and Frank Pierson from a novel by Roy Chanslor
Starring: Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a funny western!”

The Tagline: “It’s That Way-Out Whopper Of A Funny Western…A She-Bang To End All She-Bangs!!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

If you’re going to make a funny western it needs to be two things: 1] A western and 2] funny.  Cat Ballou manages to get one out of two right.  It’s a western, but it’s not funny.  Of course humor is all relative.  If you’re a fan of the tv series F-Troup  which premiered the same year and was set in the old west, you’ll definitely enjoy Cat Ballou more than I did.

Jane Fonda plays the daughter of a rancher who was killed by a hired gunfighter [played by Lee Marvin] for his land.  Fonda sends for a gunfighter of her own and ends up with a drunk [also played by Lee Marvin] who shoots best when half lit.

The story is pretty much by-the-numbers except for the fact that every ten minutes or so there is the appearance of two minstrels [played by Nat “King” Cole and Stubby Kaye] who show up to sing us the next chorus of “The Ballad of Cat Ballou.”

Most folks enjoy this film more than me so remember your mileage could vary.

Rating:

18 Fun Facts About “The Naked Gun”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 18 Fun Facts About The Naked Gun.  Here are three of my favorites…

6. THEY DREW FROM SEVERAL OLDER MOVIES.
The Charlotte Rampling and Robert Mitchum movie Farewell, My Lovely (1975) was where the scene of Priscilla Presley gliding down the stairs came from (the falling part was the comedic twist). The assassination attempt on Charles de Gaulle in The Day of the Jackal (1973) gave ZAZ the idea for the assassination plot against Queen Elizabeth II. Mad magazine, the Dirty Harry movies, and the cop series M Squad were other cited sources of satirization.

8. IT WAS JOHN HOUSEMAN’S FINAL FILM ROLE.
Houseman played the middle finger-raising driving instructor. Houseman collaborated with Orson Welles on the infamous The War of the Worlds radio broadcast and on Citizen Kane. In 1974, he won a Best Supporting Acting Oscar for the his role in The Paper Chase. A week before The Naked Gun was released, Houseman also made a cameo in Scrooged.

17. THE NAKED GUN THEME SONG PLAYED AT NIELSEN’S FUNERAL.
Nielsen passed away on November 28, 2010 at the age of 84 and was laid to rest in Fort Lauderdale. Dominik Hauser’s theme played as the Canadian Mounted Police carried his coffin.

Z-View: “The Wiz Live”

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The Wiz Live  [2015]
Director: Kenny Leon
Based on the play The Wiz by William F. Brown
Starring: Shanice Williams, Elijah Kelley, Ne-Yo and David Allan Grier.

The Pitch: We need a new musical to do live on tv…. Hey, let’s do The Wiz!

The Tagline: “Ease on down the road to Oz!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Everyone knows the story of The Wizard of Oz.  This is an adaptation of that story.  Actually, this version is an adaptation of an adaptation of The Wizard of  Oz.

The Wiz first appeared as a Broadway play in 1975.  Then in 1978, The Wiz turned up in theaters as a movie starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson directed by Sidney Lumet.

This version was broadcast live with Shanice Williams as Dorothy, Elijah Kelley as the Scarecrow, Ne-Yo as the Tin Man and David Allan Grier as the Cowardly Lion.  Queen Latifah plays the Wizard and there are appearances by Common, Mary J. Blige and Stephanie Mills.

I enjoyed The Wiz.  The cast was excellent and special mention to David Allan Grier as the Cowardly Lion and Elijah Kelley as the Tin Man for their performances.  Stand out scenes include Dorothy meeting the Scarecrow [loved the crows], when our group on the way to Oz come across the poppies, and the Lion singing “I’m a Mean ole Lion.”

If I were to pick nits:  I wish the show had been presented before a live audience.  I think it would have enhanced the viewing experience.  I was a bit let down by the tornado sequence, the creatures sent by the Wicked Witch to collect Dorothy and some of story shortcuts.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Wiz Live.  It was a fine way to spend a couple of hours in Oz.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars.

21 Thrilling Facts About Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 21 Thrilling Facts About Michael Jackson’s Thriller.   Here are three of my favorites…

3. THE ALBUM’S TITLE WAS ALMOST MIDNIGHT MAN.
Quincy Jones asked arranger/songwriter Rod Temperton to come up with an album title. He wrote down 200 to 300 possible titles in his hotel room before deciding on Midnight Man. The next morning he woke up and the word “Thriller” popped into his head. “Something in my head just said, this is the title,” recalled Temperton. “You could visualize it on the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as ‘Thriller.'”

5. VINCENT PRICE MADE LESS THAN $1000 FOR HIS WORK ON THE TITLE TRACK.
Jones’ then-wife Peggy Lipton knew Price. The horror movie legend managed to record his part in two takes. Once the album got big, Price expressed frustration over his meager paycheck and said that Jackson had stopped taking his calls.

19. THE “THRILLER” MUSIC VIDEO COST $500,000.
The Showtime cable network footed $300,000 of the budget for the rights to first air the music video and the “making of” feature, with MTV paying the rest to broadcast it after Showtime. Jackson asked John Landis to direct the video after seeing his work on the movie An American Werewolf in London. “I want to turn into a monster,” Jackson told Landis. “Can I do that?” Landis wrote the disclaimer that appears in the beginning of the video because Jehovah’s Witnesses (a group which Jackson belonged to at the time) told the artist that “Thriller” endorsed Satanism.

Z-View: “Snowpiercer”

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Snowpiecer  [2013]
Director:  Bong Joon-ho
Screenplay: Bong Joon-ho and Kelly Masterson
Starring: Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song, Ed Harris, John Hurt and Tilda Swinton.

The Pitch: ”Hey, let’s let Bong Joon-ho make a movie of the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige – he’s hot off of directing The Host and movies based on comic books are killing at the box office!”

The Tagline:  “Fight Your Way to the Front.”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Snowpiecer is set in an apocalyptic future when the only surviving humans live on a huge train that continually speeds along a track that takes a year to circumnavigate.  All plant and animal life outside the train has died due to a climate change that has left the world a frozen wasteland [Winter World, anyone?]

Those in the front cars are living the life — plenty of food, nice furnishing and clothes – the party rages on.  For those in the rear, life is a struggle – they survive on a gelatinous protein rationed to them, their living quarters are cramped, and they are at the mercy of Minister Mason [Tilda Swinton] and her armed guards who sometimes come to collect an adult or some children that are never seen again. [I know, I was thinking Soylent Green, myself.]

Chris Evans leads a group who are determined to fight their way to the front of the train and change the social order.  There are surprises [and not just who will live or die] as the group fights their way to the front.  The action scenes are well done and the movie moves at good pace.

If you buy the premise, you’ll probably enjoy the movie.  I had a hard time taking things at face value because the movie took itself so seriously.  The ending was supposed to be upbeat but left me hanging.  I think that polar bear is in for some train treats.

Rating:

14 Fascinating Facts About “Slingblade”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 14 Fascinating Facts About Slingblade.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. BEFORE THE FEATURE, THERE WAS A SHORT FILM TITLED SOME FOLKS CALL IT A SLING BLADE FEATURING MOLLY RINGWALD.
The 29-minute movie was released in 1994, written by Thornton and directed by George Hickenlooper. Molly Ringwald portrayed the newspaper reporter in Hickenlooper’s version; she was replaced by Sarah Boss in the feature. Thornton did not mention the short during theSling Blade Oscar press tour because he had a falling out with Hickenlooper, who was claiming the movie was based on the short, while Thornton said it was based on his one-man show. At the time, Thornton said he “would have been glad to have talked about the short if George hadn’t bad-mouthed me all over town. This whole thing is based on the character, and I created that before I ever knew George Hickenlooper existed.”

5. RITTER GAVE VAUGHAN THE LAST NAME “CUNNINGHAM” AS A REFERENCE TO HAPPY DAYS.
The former Three’s Company star revealed as much on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997. As an in-joke to some of his friends who were on the cast of Happy Days, Ritter made his character a Cunningham to open up the possibility that Vaughan was actually Chuck, Richie and Joanie’s older brother from season one of Happy Days, who was written out of the show and never spoken of by any of the characters again after he disappeared. In Ritter’s mind, Chuck had a “different alternative lifestyle” that he was too ashamed to reveal to his parents. Thornton had no idea this was the reasoning behind the surname choice.

13. HARVEY WEINSTEIN PAID $10 MILLION FOR THE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS AFTER WATCHING THE FIRST 30 MINUTES.
The head of Miramax initially agreed to give Thornton the final say on editing. Weinstein then saw the rest of the movie and wanted Thornton to cut 20 minutes. Martin Scorsese told Thornton not to change his edit, before Weinstein went ahead and edited it without Thornton’s knowledge. For what it’s worth, Sling Blade producer Larry Meistrich later admitted that Weinstein’s edit was better than Thornton’s.

Z-View: “The Cat and the Canary”

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The Cat and the Canary  [1939]
Director: Elliott Nugent
Screenplay: Walter DeLeon and Lynn Starling based on the stage play by John Willard
Starring: Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard.

The Pitch: ”Hey, let’s team Bob Hope in a film with Paulette Goddard.  We could do a remake of the 1927 silent film The Cat and the Canary which is based on the 1922 stage play of the same name.”

The Tagline: “A Chill-and-Chuckle Chase!… A Fortune at Stake and a Monster at Large!”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Ten years after the death of an eccentric millionaire, Cyrus Norman, his remaining family members are brought to his spooky-looking mansion deep in the bayou.  Before the will is read, his former caretaker informs the group that the spirits have said one of them will die that night. Sadly there is no way to leave the mansion until the next day.

Norman left two wills: The first leaves everything to Paulette Goddard [much to the disappointment of all except Bob Hope]; the second will is to be opened only if Goddard dies or goes insane before the month is out.  The second will leaves everything to one of the others [although who is unknown until Goddard dies] which of course puts Goddard’s life in danger.  To make matters worse, the group learns that a homicidal maniac known as the Cat has escaped from a nearby insane asylum and is in the area.

As the night wears on things get progressively worse – lights go on and off, people disappear, real eyes in paintings are watching, secret passages are found and what? Someone has been murdered!

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