The Adventures of Cinema Dave in the Florida Motion Picture World

By Dave Montalbano

The Adventures of Cinema Dave is a celebration of films from the turn of the recent century. Dave Montalbano, alias Cinema Dave, wrote over 500 film reviews and interviewed Hollywood Legends such as Fay Wray, Louise Fletcher, Dyan Cannon and new talent like Josh Hutcherson, Jane Lynch and Courtney Ford.

With South Florida as his home base, Cinema Dave details his growing involvement with the Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Delray Film Festivals, while covering local interest stories about individuals who contribute to the film culture.

Featuring a fun introduction from Cindy Morgan, actress from Caddyshack and Tron fame, and an extensive appendix of Literary Cinema, The Adventures of Cinema Dave is a saga about one mans bibliomania and his pursuit of an entertaining story in the big cave known as cinema.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781462836734

Dave Montalbano

Dave Montalbano, alias Cinema Dave ~ swashbuckling journalist and information scientist ~ was born in New York and lived in South Florida most of his life. While attending Deerfield Beach Schools, Dave attended the Dillard School of Performing Arts. Dave earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Florida State University. He is one of the last employees from R.K.O. Radio, served as a Social Science Teacher, Children’s librarian, Audio Visual Supervisor and programmer for “Blues School” and his “Literary Cinema” anthology for Broward County Libraries. A Seminole and Dolphins fan, Cinema Dave has 5 books awaiting publication between swimming laps.

Book preview

Copyright © 2010 by Dave Montalbano.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

35633

Contents

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2006

2007

2008

2009

A   

B   

C   

D   

E   

F   

G   

H   

I   

J   

K   

L   

M   

N   

O   

P   

R   

S   

T   

U   

V   

W   

X   

Y   

Z   

Top%20of%20Dedication%20Page.JPG

To my Mom and Dad, who still love me even with

a messy apartment.

20100907-046_Page_11.tif

Acknowledgments

If James Bond has his Miss Moneypenny and Mike Hammer has the voluptuous Velma, then Cinema Dave was blessed with his Miss Appelbaum, Sheryl Appelbaum. Sheryl is a great secretary and Cinema Dave’s fairy godmother.

Thanks to all the relatives of both the Montalbano and Watson side of me; the Adams, the Bivettos, the Inabinettes, the Marziglianos, the Mendolias, the Pace Familes and the Rydowskis. It is so nice to know I can sleep on so many couches across the United States of America.

Thanks to the Herma family and the Zabelin family, for their many years of consistent friendship, support, and love.

My former teachers: Mrs. Petersen, Mrs. Egan, Gorgeous Miss Grasafi, Miss Meany Macy, Nice Guy Sweeney, Mrs. Hale, Mark Wilcox, Pam Powers (formerly Miss Port), Bill Prescott, Mrs. Blue, Mary Helen Rassi, Coach Stanley, and Esther Scott. Florida State University: Dr. David Ammerman, Dr. David Kirby, Dean Jane Robins, Bill and Dona Carruth, and Dr. Frank Patterson. My friends from public school: Mark Lindell, Anita Nelson, Marrianne Maylath, John Farese, and Jeff Crevier. RKO Radio: Banshee Bob Carter and the Donoho family (won’t forget Nellie!), Susie DeVeto.

My favorite students from Loggers’ Run Community Middle School and my colleagues: Pat Arnold, Helene Grantz, Debra Baker, Debra Lehrlman, Laura Kerr, Debbie Miller, Pam Phillips, and Carolyn Thews.

Broward County Libraries: Sgt. David Lewis, Nancy Murray, Elizabeth Prior, Capt. Rei Soto, Michelin Dawes, Steve Rodeberg, Debbie Bradford, Benedicte Rosse; and the Main Library AV Pop Team (2004-2009): Tim Bain, Paul Black, Stephen Conroy, Robert Rob Dawson, Evelyn Fernandez, Patty Hartnett, and the late Irene Summers.

Doreen Gauthier and Cathy Anthony for bailing me out time after time at The Lighthouse Point Library since 1978.

Book writers and film people: Jane Asher, Hal Axler, Randi Emmerman, Judy Gardner, Rachel Galvin, Bob Goodey, Brandon Gray (Box Office Mojo), Harley Jane Kozak, Jerry and Woody, Jodi Ligas, Carol Marshall, Barabara McCormmick, Rick McKay, Jan Mitchell, Kenny Miller, Cindy Morgan, Laura Nipe, Jose and Jessica Prendes, Linnea Quigley, Debbie Rochon, Cesar Soto, Nancy Stein, Theresa Waldron and Rich Zapata.

CindyMorgan%20introduces%20The%20Adventures%20of%20Cinema%20Dave%20in%20the%20Florida%20Film%20World.JPG

Introduction by Cindy Morgan

(Chess Records DJ, the Irish Spring Girl, star of Falcon Crest, Caddyshack and Tron.)

Some people might have noticed the tall, lanky guy on the red carpet, not trying to grab the limelight for his own brain-draining reality show, but listening quietly and unobtrusively. If you ever want to learn something, don’t stand next to the person who’s doing all the talking. Stand next to the person who’s listening.

This man who was listening is Cinema Dave, the Clark Kent of modest entertainment market reporters and Superman to every reasonably frightened celebrity. Due to his ease with people and gentleness when asking a question, Cinema Dave conducts interesting interviews about the craft, art and business of film production and media entertainment.

While I personally approached film projects with a damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead attitude , and never let the facts (like lack of experience or information) get in my way, Dave would study, and more importantly, listen carefully. Dave is all about the facts.

I know these things to be true because I shared a hotel room with Cinema Dave during the Florida State University Film School 20th Anniversary Gala. Rather than trying to share my bed, he shared his copy of To Have and Have Not so I could get some sleep.

Dave is a librarian, film journalist, and quite a remarkable collector of film memorabilia. He wrote The Adventures of Cinema Dave is an attempt to clean his apartment. That’s it.

Cinema Dave has dauntlessly collected movie memorabilia, fact and fiction. Now he’s cleaning his apartment, and he’s ready to share these nuggets with us. Like some kind of mythical fairy tale squirrel saving up nuts of magical movie memorabilia for a thousand year winter.

And now Cinema Dave is ready to reveal, nuts and all.

Picture%20001.jpg

THE CAVE OF

CINEMA DAVE

This vanity piece began when I decided to clean up my one-bedroom apartment, a.k.a. the Cave. My Cave has been strewn with published articles, cinematic artifacts, and out-of-print books. While trying to make room for myself, I found out I could never throw out my treasured books and movie artifacts, but I could create space by eliminating nine years of Observer newspapers.

TheCaveOfCinemaDave.JPG

The Observer was founded in 1962 and is a weekly newspaper that serves North Broward County in South Florida. The Observer was a reliable medium for providing news about our neighbors. I tried for many years to get a job with the Observer. As luck would have it, when I quit looking for a media-related job, I landed a position as a sportswriter and volunteer film critic in July 1999. Eventually I became the film columnist. The Adventures of Cinema Dave features ten years of movie reviews, from July 1999 until July 2009.

WILMAtreeFRONT.JPG

A proud ficus tree falls to the winds of Hurricane Wilma.

WILMAaftermath.JPG

Cinema Dave, who stands 6'3" under the roots of the fallen tree.

Hurricane WILMA, aftermath

Actually my plan was to publish this book in 2004 as "Cinema Dave’s Turn-of-the-Century Movie Reviews: Cinematic Essays Volume I; from The Sixth Sense to The Passion of the Christ."

As John Lennon once wrote to his son Sean, Life is what happens to you when you are making plans doing other things. Between AD 2004 and 2005, South Florida faced the worst hurricane seasons in memory.

This book’s conclusion began shifting when I would think, Let me add one more article about the Palm Beach Film Festival. Or, "Let me wait until my anniversary date with the Observer. Or, Since I waited this long, let me add one more top ten list for the year." After visiting my hometown (Huntington, Long Island) and my alma mater (Florida State University in Tallahassee) in August of 2009, I found closure to this epic.

Film criticism has changed quite a bit in the past decade. As a volunteer film critic in 1999, mainstream media did not consider a weekly columnist as a serious critic. In fact, if one was not a member of a film critics’ society, one was not recognized by the http://www.rotentomatoes.com/. Yet as the years progressed, major daily newspapers suffered decreased circulation figures due to the Internet. With decreasing revenue, positions were being eliminated. Some critics remained in some of these societies, but those individuals were unemployed. By default, I became one of the last film columnists in South Florida. In fact, I was tempted to subtitle this book, The Last Film Critic.

Show business is a cynical world, yet so many romantic souls are drawn to it. Having my childish dreams of being a movie star dashed, I am quite humbled and especially grateful that individuals have expressed interest in my opinions about movies. As a weekly columnist, the one compliment that stays with me and propels me forward was You have a point of view that is different from the other critics.

The Adventures of Cinema Dave is not a book for people who believe that cinema journalism should feature stories and photography about teenage celebrities undergoing humiliating exposure. This book is for movie fans that enjoy the communal experience of films, eating popcorn and talking about the movie while eating ice cream afterward. This book is for people who quote and reference movies at family reunions, bars, and the reference desk at your local library.

When I was a graduate student, I learned something profound about organization; there are only two ways to organize information—alphabetical and chronological. The format for this book is divided as such; the movie reviews are separated in alphabetical order, and my interviews and essays are separated by chronology.

The chronological section will feature some cold facts about movie box office grosses, mainstream awards, and my revised top ten picks. With the benefit of hindsight, I have been able to revise this section to make it more chronologically accurate. I also see that some of my box office predictions were way off target. Remember The Core starring Hilary Swank? I have yet to see it. This section also features interviews with people inspired by motion picture production. One rule that I have had as a cinema journalist is that I do not publish interviews with those who are self-centered jerks. We all, at some point in our lives, have seen our share in the tabloids, and this detracts from the art and the craft. The people interviewed in this book were genuinely kind and nice and had something interesting to say about cinema and story telling. This section features a wide ensemble of individuals from cinematic legends, indie film producers, ushers, door attendants, and devoted fans.

page17-GeorgeTheAnimalSTeelMeetsCinemaDave.JPG

THE CHRONOLOGICAL SECTION

1999

In retrospect, 1999 was a harbinger that business was not usual for the motion picture industry. Since the box office was good, no major industry executives noticed. Easily, the most anticipated movie of many years was the newest Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace. Internet rumors and speculation suckled the sci-fi geeks, but it was a new world. The movie was released and was the number one film for almost a month, until the release of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, which included a Star Wars-inspired trailer featuring Mini-Me in outer space. Gone were the days in which a Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie could open around Memorial Day and not leave a theater until post-Labor Day weekend. In fact, during the summer of 1999, the number one box office champion changed every weekend. One of these box office champions included the extremely low-budget, but Internet-hyped The Blair Witch Project. Despite the Internet sophistication, this film about lost campers became a cultural phenomenon and inspired many imitators. It was the underdog motion picture that bucked the Hollywood establishment.

South Florida was undergoing a major growth spurt in many ways. Under the guidance of Hamid Hashemi, Muvico Theaters established high-quality theme theaters in major cities. In South Florida, the Muvico Palace created an upscale dining establishment on the second floor that was once visited by President George Bush the Elder in November 2001.

The box office facts and figures are provided by Box Office Mojo. © IMDb.com Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Box Office Mojo and IMDb are trademarks or registered trademarks of IMDb.com Inc. or its affiliates.

BEST OF 1999

Toy Story 2; The Sixth Sense; Payback; The Insider; The Green Mile; Bowfinger; The Blair Witch Project; Analyze This

1999 BOX OFFICE FIGURES

1. Star Wars: Episode I; The Phantom Menace (Fox)

2. The Sixth Sense (BV)

3. Toy Story 2 (BV)

4. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (NL)

5. The Matrix (WB)

6. Tarzan (BV)

7. Big Daddy (Sony)

8. The Mummy (Uni.)

9. Runaway Bride (Par.)

10. The Blair Witch Project (Art.)

2000

New Muvico Revives Movie Memories

(7/6/2000)

In my eyes, of all the movie theaters I visited, Muvico Theaters comes closest to what the full moviegoing experience should be. It has comfortable big layered seating, a museum-like appreciation for cinema’s past, twilight prices, and good old-fashioned customer service. With their latest creation in Boca Raton, I began to reflect on how our moviegoing choices seemed so primitive a mere twenty years ago.

For some odd reason, I do not remember the first movie I saw at in the old United Artist Theatre Pompano 6. However, my most vivid memory was escorting my uncle Dave’s family to Star Wars during the summer of ’78. Animal House starring John Belushi concluded that summer cinema season. The academic comedy inspired me to do well in high school so that I could attend Kollege.

For the grand opening of Pompano 6, George Romero’s Day of the Dead was premiered. The only sources for new movies were the opening of this six-screen theater, which was a big deal in the community—Deerfield Ultra-Vision is now a church, the old Deerfield Drive-In box office is now the home to Crabby Jack’s restaurant and Pompano Cinema is now the Cinema Nightclub.

Sometimes, it took two to three weeks for a hit movie to reach North Broward. The world was a much-slower place when gas was seventy cents a gallon, Bob Greise quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins, and citizen band radios were replacing eight-track cassette players in cars. The walls of Pompano 6 sported portraits of movie greats from the golden years: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and Ronald Reagan (our fortieth president).

Pompano 6 was a large part of my high school years. I attended Deerfield High School and was bused in the afternoon to the Dillard School of Performing Arts. Since I thought acting was the noblest profession on the planet Earth, it was only natural to work at the Pompano 6 and learn from master thespians Chevy Chase, Bo Derek, and Ryan O’Neal.

In my mind, since they made millions of dollars, they had to be the masters of their craft. In comparison, I made $3.35 an hour (the minimum wage then) and drove a Volkswagen Beetle that I named Kelso.

The people who attended the movies were truly a multicultural group; I remember the opening of the Rod Steiger / Robbie Benson tearjerker The Chosen, where senior citizens were being turned away at the door due to an unanticipated sellout. I remember kicking out middle-school students out of R-rated Heavy Metal because their tickets were for the G-rated Tim Conway / Don Knotts double feature. I remember grown men crying when Mr. Spock died in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Regardless of cultural background, the Pompano 6 audiences were constituently hypnotized by the magic of the big screen.

I noticed a change in the moviegoer’s behavior during the screening of Psycho III in 1986. The crowd was younger, restless, and seemed not to realize that Norman Bates was about to lash out. The focus shifted from the tension on the screen to the tension of wondering if someone was going to stand in front of me again. I began to retreat and wait for movies to arrive on videocassette.

My most tragic management memory was when the butter machine exploded. A little girl was covered with hot butter as if it were napalm. As the children screamed, I recall the paternal guardian screaming, not for medical attention, but for the manager because he wanted to sue.

My job was to clean up the slippery mess, and I roped off the area. While I was still mopping, some patrons found the rope to be a nuisance and took it down and people slipped on the mixture of grease and water. Of course, I was blamed for having a slippery floor. When I went home that night, the death of Adam Walsh was the lead news story. As I lay in bed that night, I began to think Armageddon was near.

The world did not end. Like the Greek myth of the Phoenix, the old Pompano 6 was leveled and has been reconstructed at three times its former glory with nineteen screens. One thing I have learned: the more things change, the more they remain the same. The last movie I saw at the old Pompano 6 was the reissue of Star Wars.

Tuesday Night National Rush to Judgment While Our Florida Neighbors Take Their Time to Decide

(11/9/2000)

The major news broadcast Web sites (with the exception of ABCNEWS) announced that Al Gore had taken the state of Florida by 9PM. However, poll workers were still at the Sunrise Dan Pearl Library counting ballots. These poll workers had been in the building since six in the morning. It is obvious that the conclusion was a rush to judgment. The major news organizations relied on exit polling that excluded absentee ballots. As an unofficial observer (pun intended) of two Lighthouse Point precincts and the two precincts housed at the Sunrise Dan Pearl Library, turnout was fast, furious, and consistent. Poll workers were overwhelmed with Broward County’s 67 percent turnout rate, and staff shortages meant employees worked without lunch breaks.

In this technically driven age, one must wonder what the future of voting will be like in the next presidential election in 2004. Will we vote via the Internet? What software will be utilized so that one person does not vote two, three, or one hundred times? What will become of these quaint polling places and their dedicated employees who work fourteen-hour days for $90?

The next supervisor of elections must address these concerns. Our county is in the national spotlight for choosing the leader of the free world. The new supervisor of elections should look to recruit the untapped human resources of the many college and university students. These young adults would enjoy a one-day commitment of public service for a chance to build up their work experience on their resumes.

As for the network’s rush to judgment Tuesday night, I found that the ABC NEWS Web site to be the most accurate voter returns of the night. The Web site presented a map of the United States with real-time data entry, not exit polling or speculation. The national news media has been taken to the woodshed once again by confusing fantasy and reality. In the meantime, smile at your neighbor next door; they may have cast the deciding vote for the leader of the free world.

Flicks in Review 2000

(12/28/2000)

It has been a year since my face has been attached to the Observer’s movie reviews. While it has been a thrill to be recognized by my parents’ neighbors at Coral Key, the volunteers of the Lighthouse Point Library, and the staff and management of Brusco’s Restaurant, I am also mindful that my picture is also lining a birdcage of some neighbor.

I wanted to do a film-in-review column last year. I waited until I saw all the films released for 1999. However, due to studios’ distribution policies, many of the award-nominated movies were not released until March of 2000.

My choices were purely subjective. My main criteria for choosing were my recollection of the title, audience reaction toward the film, and the creators’ ability to meet their artistic goal. Let us face it, all top ten lists are subjective—some critics might dislike the carnage of Saving Private Ryan, yet love the oration of Shakespeare in Love. So in no particular order except reversed alphabetical order, here’s my top ten list:

U-571, Return to Me, The Patriot, My Dog Skip, Michael Jordan to the Max, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Gladiator, Finding Forrester, Erin Brokovich, 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension

Honorable mention goes to the following:

Space Cowboys, Shadow of the Vampire, Shaft, Rules of Engagement, Gossip, Beyond the Mat

AD 2000 was an underperforming year in the movies; in fact, the most anticipated event this summer was not a movie nor the Olympics, but the literary release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The cinematic adaptation of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, will be November 16, 2001.

The first big release of a new film will be Sir Anthony Hopkins’s return as Hannibal for Valentine’s Day. Steven Spielberg gets back into the business of making movies with A.I. Artificial Intelligence, starring middle-school master thespian Haley Joel Osment. Pearl Harbor will be released Memorial Day, and hopefully, the movie will be as good as its namesake’s movie trailer.

While Hollywood will honor the passing of movie icons Loretta Young, Walter Matthau, and Sir Alec Guinness, the Academy will likely overlook Broward County resident Richard Liberty. He was a veteran of local theater; Liberty’s most featured role was that of a myopic mad scientist in George Romero’s last zombie epic, Day of the Dead. Liberty also had a featured role in Flight of the Navigator, a film produced in South Florida in the mid eighties.

As for the future of motion pictures, the potential actors’ union strike will lower expectations. The movie previews I have witnessed lately involve mostly animals, cartoons, cyber characters, and poor audience reaction. I hope that Hollywood producers will use their time wisely and produce better scripts that do not cater to the lowest common denominator.

Two modern cliches I’d like to see the Hollywood industry do:

1. Avoid having the hero uncover the meaning of life while doing drugs.

2. Stop irresponsible gunplay where pretty movie stars can jump out of the way of an impending bullet while slaughtering hundreds of unbilled extras; hypocritical, politically active movie stars are cheapening the value of life through their work.

It has been my experience that an individual who purchases a movie ticket want to be entertained in a communal setting. Moviegoers patronize good movies and theaters that provide a complete cinematic experience. The phenomenal success of Muvico Theaters and the bankruptcy of General Cinemas show what eventually happens when a business loses touch with their customers.

BOX OFFICE 2000

1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Uni.)

2. Cast Away (Fox)

3. Mission: Impossible II (Par.)

4. Gladiator (DW)

5. What Women Want (Par.)

6. The Perfect Storm (WB)

7. Meet the Parents (Uni.)

8. X-Men (Fox)

9. Scary Movie (Mira.)

10. What Lies Beneath (DW)

2001

2001 Class of ’81 Finds Their Bucks in Time for Twenty-Year Reunion

(5/10/2001)

The 1981 Deerfield Beach High School class reunion is now set for Saturday, August 11 at 7:00 pm. The location will be the Deerfield Beach Embassy Suites, which, twenty years ago, was the underdeveloped beach property with the No Trespass sign. Thanks to Kelly Palmer-Skidmore’s efforts in Tallahassee, the class of 1981 reunion committee has reclaimed their missing funds from a bank that went out of business. Given the nature of our graduating class, it seems appropriate that obtaining our class funds would not be an easy matter.

With historical hindsight, the fact that the class of ’81 is celebrating a twenty-year class reunion seems miraculous. The world almost ended before we were born, given the Cuban Missile Crisis. While we lay in cribs, our parents gathered around the television set watching the Kennedy assassination. Richard Nixon resigned from office as we were about to enter sixth grade, ending our last summer of innocence. With the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet Union moving into Afghanistan, our guys were forced to sign up for selective service while obtaining our driver’s license.

The class of ’81 was the first graduating class for Generation X. Given the hangover of the Woodstock generation, the people of Generation X searched for a cultural identity. When we began high school, disco was at its pinnacle with the release of Saturday Night Fever. When we graduated, the B-52s had a hit with Rock Lobster.

There will be another reunion meeting this Saturday, May 12, at 5:30 pm, in an effort to sort out our cultural identity. The location will be at Daniel O’Connell’s Pub, 51 SE First Avenue, Boca Raton. The discussion will focus on whether we should have the deejay play more Barry Manilow or more Talking Heads.

My Hat Has Had the Pleasure to Have Known

(5/24/2001)

Even though I quit the acting profession after graduating from the Dillard School of Performing Arts, I could not walk away from one last acting opportunity—portraying Indiana Jones for the Marching Chiefs of Florida State University. Through happenstance, I purchased a brown fedora the day before the big game, and it became my favorite hat.

Since I dislike putting chemicals in my hair, my hat acted better than hair gel. Besides keeping the sun out of my eyes, the hat was light enough to wear for a Caribbean summer, yet warm enough for a trip to Colorado in January.

Sadly, age has not been too kind to my hat. Somehow, it developed a hole in the front, and the sun changed the colors from brown to green. When in Venice, the band on my hat broke, and I thought a burial at sea would be a fitting end. Instead, I brought the hat to Saint Peter’s Basilica and left my hatband with the tombs of Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, and Pope John Paul I.

My hat has had the pleasure to have known some fine people. While in the Cayman Islands, our bald-headed chief engineer Adam Wantuck needed a shield from the sun, and my hat came to the rescue. The hat was used as a comic prop for a school skit promoting a standardized test for a middle school in 1994.

Since I had to produce the video, I loaned my hat to performer Barry Grunow. I have no idea what happened to the video, but sadly, we all know the tragedy of this seventh-grade literature teacher at Lake Worth Middle School. Barry was shot by a student on the last day of school in 2000. While I was not a close friend, he made me feel like one. Barry had an infectious smile and loved every aspect of his job. He left Loggers’ Run Middle School in 1994 to work closer to home.

I purchased my hat to portray a fictional American hero, never dreaming that my hat would be worn by a real one. All classic heroes have a code that they can live by; after all, Supermen are still fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. At the dedication for the Barry L. Grunow Gymnasium, Pam Grunow revealed her husband’s code:

• Hustle on the court.

• Crack jokes, but not at someone else’s expense.

• People are more important than things.

• Always do the right thing.

• Don’t take yourself too seriously.

• If you enjoyed a book from his class, talk about it, tell friends to read it.

• Teach someone younger to love literature.

• Read to them.

This Monday we will celebrate Memorial Day and will hopefully honor all the people who provided our physical, intellectual, and spiritual freedom.

CinemaDaveAndTheMarchingChiefs1984.JPG

Cinema Dave and the Marching Chiefs

Photo by John Chang 

(11/22/2009)

During halftime at the annual Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving game, team owner Jerry Jones asks viewers to donate to the Salvation Army. For cynics everywhere, this could be seen as public relations ploy for the man who fired Tom Landry twenty years ago. I know I did, until I heard about a favor that he did for my old roommate from Florida State University, John Chang.

John and I met when we were freshmen at Kellum Hall. We usually saw each other in the television room when the Miami Dolphins played. We both became communication majors and when I moved off campus in 1984, John offered to be my room mate.

By our senior year on campus, John was already a prodigy. Besides being technically proficient, John was a nice guy who loved what he was studying and mastered the craft. Classmates wanted to work with him because he was a natural leader. He would get excited and yell about framing a shot, but John was always encouraging, not offensive. As Seminole classmate Mark Moorman said of John Chang;

He led by example. Seeing how hard and determined John was working, you had no choice but to give it everything you had, just to try and keep up with him. Some of the fondest memories of my life are time spent with John Chang.

Moorman currently owns his own filmmaking business in South Florida and has been nominated for a Grammy Award for his documentary, Tom Dowd & the Language of Music.

After graduation, John worked for the ABC affiliate, WPLG Channel 10 in Miami. Through his Seminoles sports contacts, John worked for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and eventually became the Dallas Cowboys director of broadcasting for nine seasons, John’s leadership helped Cowboy’s broadcasting grow into one of the NFL’s largest in-house television production departments.

One of the wings of the complex is even named after my old roommate. A posthumous honor, for John died of an abrupt cerebral hemorrhage on Dec. 12, 2002, three months before he was to be married.

When Jerry Jones found out about John’s malady, he was at the hospital that night, his private plane at the ready to get John’s mother, Judy Lai, to Dallas in the middle of the night. When I heard this story, my grudge with the owner of the Dallas Cowboys ended.

Twenty five years ago, John and I were relaxing in our roach infested apartment, after a field trip to South Carolina for the Seminoles-Gamecock game, the contest where John took the picture of me leading the Marching Chiefs across the football field. John cooked our Thanksgiving dinner, a lemon chicken that was delicious. It was the best Thanksgiving I ever celebrated without my family.

Motion Pictures Side Effects for the Public

(6/28/2001)

Whether the film is good or bad, movies provide interesting side effects. This became apparent to me during Memorial Day weekend when so many neighbors asked me if I had seen Pearl Harbor, and then would tell me some great stories about their personal lives. Nancy discussed dealing with her grief while watching Pearl Harbor because of the recent passing of her father, Col. Benjamin Bell. Flora discussed government rationing and the importance of air-raid wardens to the domestic life of the United States.

Despite the scathing reviews of elitist critics, Pearl Harbor is a movie that nobody seems to like except for the people who actually see it. The atmosphere of Pompano Muvico 18 greatly helped generate a feeling of goodwill for local residents that Memorial Day weekend.

Instead of the usual sounds of Chubby Checker and Bill Hailey, the music piped in featured Louis Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey. The teacher from Dania Elementary School, Lisa Costello, provided a display demonstrating the heroism of the tugboat USS Hoga (www.usshoga.com) and a notebook listing the victims of the Pearl Harbor attack. The users and concession people wore Hawaii leis with USO patches on their arms.

Utilizing the USO promotional theme was the brainchild of Manager Janice Griffin, who wanted to place an emphasis on entertainment and not violence. Looking at war, it’s hard to be nice, I really wanted to entertain. Griffin also cooked up the promotional recipe for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which featured the storytelling talents of Broward County Youth Services librarians while downplaying Lara’s aggressive streak.

For Dr. Doolittle 2, the humane society was called upon as a community partner. Gone are the days when theater managers would cook popcorn three days in advance to serve stale to the customers.

Before the start of each show at Pompano Muvico, Head Usher Albert Howard introduces himself to the audience and asks how he can make their moviegoing experiences more pleasant. While it helps that Howard is more authoritative-looking than any actor portraying Shaft, Howard’s goodwill gesture strikes a positive chord with the audience every time he gives his speech. In the past five years, both the managers of the megaplexes and the independent chains have attempted to provide better customer service.

What the independents lack in promotional budget, they are making up with clever innovation. Mizner Sunrise Cinemas provided little candies for patrons departing Chocolat. Cesar Soto, the proprietor of Delray Square Cinemas, provided pastries for Mother’s Day and free popcorn and soda for Father’s Day.

Even the grandest promotional schemes cannot save a bad movie, but at least theater exhibitors are doing their best to make the whole moviegoing experience more appealing for everyone.

Reunion Recalls Halcyon Days of Young

Local Talent

(8/23/2001)

At the Deerfield Beach High School Bucks twenty-year class reunion, I was able to renew my acquaintance with my former associate producer, Mark Lindell. In the mid-’70s, we were students of Creature Features and we would watch those monster classics every Saturday night on channel 12. In seventh grade, Mark and I began shooting our own horror classics with a Polaroid still-frame camera.

We both took our filmmaking seriously and we spared no expense. For The Frankenstein Monster Meets the Mad Dog, we took a rowboat to a construction site on the Intercoastal for some creepy location shots. We would set fire to a paper towel roll to make it look like the mad scientist’s laboratory. For The Man Who Became Invisible, we hung a fishing knife on clear wires to simulate an invisible assassin. At one point, Mark and I contemplated saving and combing our S&H Green Stamps from Publix to buy a Super film camera.

Our lives went down a different road after Mark and I got our driver’s license. Mark became involved in the Bucks athletic scene, and I was bused to the Dillard School of Performing Arts magnet program. However, there were days at Dillard that I longed to talk about sports, and I now feel certain that while on the training field, Mark would long for a conversation about Dwight Frey and Forest J. Ackerman.

My first year at Dillard was like running off to the circus. Sadly, my second year was more like cleaning out the elephant cages when two of our most talented instructors departed. My last production was the overbudgeted and underproduced Hello, Dolly! at Parker Playhouse. Baywatch babe Nancy Valen and I shared a curtain call together. When the curtain went down, so did my public school career. Nonetheless, I learned some valuable life lessons that prepared me for my college years at Florida State University.

From 1979 to 1981, Dillard Performing Arts School produced eleven theater productions within twenty-two months. Most of the productions, both center stage and backstage, involved the talents of Deerfield’s own Stephanie Mayer, Anita Nelson, Marianne Maylath, Kim Webster, and Michael Stern. These five people were entered into state competition year after year. I was fortunate to work backstage and was perhaps the only Deerfield student who got to observe these talented individuals.

Sadly, there is a disconnect when you attend a vocational school like Dillard. It is tougher to organize a reunion or access scattered records from days gone by. While preparing for the Bucks twenty-year reunion, I saw a message from Anita Nelson on www.Classmates.com.

She was unable to attend the reunion due to family illness and she wondered if anybody would remember her. I do. Anita performed as Anna Leowens in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I at Parker Playhouse and she was phenomenal. For a girl raised on rock and Janis Joplin, she managed to sing with sincerity and warmth. For anybody who had seen Anita Nelson perform twenty-one years ago, she could not be forgotten.

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Invites a Comparison of Festivals

(9/11/2001)

Starting on October 17, and concluding on Veteran’s Day, the 16th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival will feature one hundred new films in theaters from Boca Raton to Miami. The goal of a good film festival is to highlight low-budget movies with high artistic aspirations. Sometimes a cinematic treasure can be found. Three years ago, the little-known Italian film La vita e’ bella (Life Is Beautiful) made its American debut. The film eventually received three Academy Awards for best music, best foreign film, and best actor for Roberto Beninigni. La vita e’ bella is now considered modern-day Chaplinisque classic. It showed how life could be beautiful under the most oppressive situation, the Holocaust.

Ironically, the oldest film festival was a cultural project of Dictator Benito Mussolini. At the Venice Film Festival, celebrities trade the red carpet treatment for entrances on Venetian gondolas. One of the contenders for the festival’s Red Lion Award was the South Florida-produced film Bully. Certainly, the South Florida Tourist Bureau may feel conflicted that Bully generated such overseas interest. Bully tells the true story of drug-induced friends who decides to murder a classmate.

The Cannes Film Festival was created in opposition to the early fascism of the Venice Film Festival. The first week of this French film festival features local creative talent and downtime on the Riviera’s famed beaches. The Hollywood establishment usually takes over the second week with their usual horde of paparazzi and bodyguards. Billy Bob Thorton and Joel and Ethan Coen have seemed to enthrall the French people in the way Jerry Lewis had done in the past.

In contrast to the nude beaches on the Riviera, the Sundance Film Festival is held in the Utah snow during January. Founded by Robert Redford, the Sundance Film Festival originally began as a think tank for prospective screenwriters. The emphasis is on the written word with special attention placed on the screenwriters. GEN-Y Studios gather high school students for a discussion of their interests.

Last year, the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale hosted their First Annual Video Festival at the Cinema Paradiso. While most of the entries were from the United States, there were several entrants from both South America and Europe. California and New York colleges regularly enter the film competition. However, last year, Greg Marcks of Florida State University took second place for the Short Narrative Award.

The 2001 entry form can be downloaded from the festival’s official Web site: www.FLiFF.com. This Saturday, September 15, the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival staff will reveal on their Web site the list of new films and special guests.

In previous years, the special guests list has included acting stalwarts Michael Caine, Eva Marie Saint, and Sir Richard Attenborough. Times must have gotten tough for last year’s festival. The special guest was the king of low-budget, bad-taste movies, John Walters. I hope that this Saturday the festival staff will reveal something special for next month’s event.

Americans Will Survive the Loss of the Towers

(9/20/2001)

Before we moved to Florida, my parents took me on a tour of New York City during my Easter vacation in 1973. As Mom went shopping on the Fifth Avenue Macy’s, Dad and I went to the top of the Empire State Building. At the time, the Empire State Building was the largest building in the world, but the Twin Towers was just a few floors short of topping King Kong’s favorite tourist location.

Four years later, the entire Montalbano family enjoyed a Broadway matinee show of The Wiz and cocktails on the top of one of the World Trade Centers. We were greeted by a snobbish waiter who seemed to be wearing a costume from the Starship Enterprise. Before my ginger ale on the rocks arrived, I made my inspection of the bathroom. Whenever the Montalbano family traveled, I would voluntarily inspect the restaurants’ bathroom and give it a letter grade. After a careful inspection, the bathroom on the top of the World Trade Center was given an A, which is the highest rating I have ever given a public bathroom. This A+ rating still stands.

Last March, my dad and I toured Times Square and witnessed firsthand how clean the city was. My dad had never seen it so clean, and I was amazed with the customer service of the police and deli owners.

For the last six months, I have encouraged people to go see the Big Apple while Rudy Guliani was still mayor. New York City was mythical, much like a spot called Camelot. Now academics will say the same things about the Twin Towers of Manhattan. These two towers died young; they were not even thirty years old.

The people who destroyed these grand towers were pure evil. While they may refer to the United States of America as the Great Satan, USA never intentionally targeted innocent civilians in the cause of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The only devil these terrorists saw was in their own reflection in the mirror.

While these terrorists created a brilliant scheme of evil design, they were very stupid people. By knocking down some buildings, they inspired nationwide patriotism. One strategic mistake these terroristic fools made was picking a fight in the streets of New York with the New Yorkers.

I feel blessed; my families in New York and Washington, D.C., were not harmed. My stock portfolio had taken a few lumps when Wall Street opened, but I feel the businesses I own will outlive these tinhorn terrorists.

A Little Cinema History During Wartime

(10/15/2001)

Last Sunday, I caught a John Wayne-Robert Ryan war movie, Flying Leathernecks. It is not one of the Duke’s strongest efforts, but given current events, I found an appreciation for this average war movie. It was evidently filmed in a studio, but many of the war scenes were edited from the documentary footage.

Like so many of the war movies from that time, Flying Leathernecks presented war victory through teamwork and unity. This is in direct contrast with modern Hollywood, which presented so-called heroes who could single-handedly defeat a militia of thousands. In Rambo III, the Vietnam veteran defeated the Soviet army with a little help from Afghanistan freedom fighters.

Afghanistan freedom fighters assisted Timothy Dalton’s version of James Bond in The Living Daylights. Art Malik portrayed an Afgan rebel who was educated in Oxford. Malik made his character a likable ally with a touch of Omar Sharif from Lawrence of Arabia.

The same could not be said of Malik’s villainous turn in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best movie, True Lies. Malik brought out the thuggish quality of an international terrorist who plans to do harm to South Florida. The action sequences are first-rate, though unbelievable.

Some of the most believable motion pictures of modern warfare, as defined by the Central Intelligence Agency, is based on three Tom Clancy novels: The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger. It should be noted that while Patriot Games was made in cooperation with the U.S. government, Clear and Present Danger was not. Ironically, there is an action sequence featuring Americans escaping a bazooka attack that is now being utilized by government agencies.

We are told by the United States government that we will be fighting a new kind of war. However, reviewing American history can lead to an educational prediction as to what our future may bring. Historical author Stephen Ambrose sees a similarity between our modern conflicts with that of the marines storming Iwo Jima.

In 1949, Republic Studios presented the brutal assault on the Japanese island complete with flamethrowers. The Sands of Iwo Jima earned John Wayne his first Oscar nomination. Like so many of us, John Wayne did not serve in the military. However, there was no denying his support of the American service people who defended our freedom. While many of these old war movies do not live up to today’s technical standards, these old movies still present lessons on how to successfully win a world war.

BOX OFFICE 2001

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (WB)

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

3. Shrek (DW)

4. Monsters, Inc. (BV)

5. Rush Hour 2 (NL)

6. The Mummy Returns (Uni.)

7. Pearl Harbor (BV)

8. Ocean’s Eleven (WB)

9. Jurassic Park III (Uni.)

10. Planet of the Apes (Fox)

Films in Review: 2001

(1/3/2002)

It has been two years since my picture has appeared with this column and writing flicks is still fun. It was a thrill to be recognized by Bucks classmates and by our former middle-school teachers. I am appreciative of the kind words I received from reader Ceclia Pelke.

However, the best compliment was from Cousin Rosie in Bellmore, Long Island. A talented, yet unpublished writer, Rosie has battled cancer for seven consecutive Christmases with the toughness of a United States Marine, while retaining her Mother Teresa-sized heart. She’s an inspiration to many people in days like these.

Despite the recession, the motion picture industry broke financial records last year, creating 8.5 billion dollars in box office revenue.

Economic report aside, this year’s top ten list reflects the value of communal escapism. Communal storytelling began when the cave people wrote on walls to visualize their epic adventures in hunting the woolly mammoth.

So in the spirit of Fred Flintstone, here is this year’s top ten listing, in reverse alphabetic order:

Shrek, Serendipity; The Score; Pollock; Pearl Harbor; Monsters, Inc.; Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; Finding Forrester; A Beautiful Mind

Honorable mention goes to the following:

Ocean’s Eleven,Legally Blonde, Joe Somebody, Memento, Hardball, Rush Hour 2, The Mummy Returns, Jurassic Park III, Hannibal, Shallow Hal, Along Came a Spider

Early in this New Year, the Oscar contenders will be released. The Shipping News, starring Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore, features a tale of homecoming and redemption. Ridley Scott’s Blackhawk Down is a war movie that dramatized America’s misguided mission in Somalia in 1993. Mel Gibson heads an all-star cast in We Were Soldiers, based on a flawed mission in Vietnam. Hopefully these motion pictures will provide entertainment as well as good historical lessons.

The major studios are banking on familiarity by releasing sequels. Ticket buyers will continue the first adventures of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Even Hannibal Lecter is expected to return for a cameo role in a prequel titled Red Dragon.

Besides the debut of Spider-Man, the second episode of the Star Wars saga, Attack of the Clones, will be released. Later in August, Mel Gibson returns in Signs, another twilight zone creation from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan.

One movie preview that has tested very well is Ice Age, a computer-animated epic about a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger, and a squirrel that save a human baby from extinction. The visuals look fantastic, and Ray Romano’s comedic remarks promise a moviegoing experience worthy of the goals of the cave people.

2002

THE SURFING RENAISSANCE OF 2002

(8/29/2002)

During the early 1960s, Frankie Avalon would romance former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello on a surfboard while crooning a song and battling the motorcycle gang of Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck). By the mid-1960s, surfing was presented more seriously in Surf Party in which Florida resident Kenny Miller broke his shoulder while riding the ultimate wave.

Perhaps the most revered surf movie of that time was Endless Summer, which is a documentary that features a tour of the greatest surfing locations in the world. Since the late 1960s, the cinema surfing genre has been regulated to the drug and criminal culture, with Fast Times at Ridgemond Times and Point Break being the most representative films.

This summer has featured two motion pictures in which surfing is featured: Walt Disney’s animated Lilo & Stitch and the live-action Blue Crush. Despite the presentational and technical differences, both movies have much in common. Both new movies are set in Hawaii and feature a heroine with a Cinderella complex.

Both leading ladies will be antagonized by their employers and will lose their jobs. Both characters are surrogate mothers to their younger sisters and will have problems with wicked social workers. Both women will find romance and stress relief by surfing.

Lilo & Stitch is the more lighthearted of the two movies and features an obnoxious blue criminal alien from another planet who digs Elvis tunes. This animated epic is not on a par

with other Disney cartoon classics, but it provided Saturday matinee escapism. While Blue Crush is a live-action feature, it does feature multiple special effects.

There are too many surfing scenes of a pro surfer body double combined with leading lady Kate Bosworth’s computer-enhanced head. Blue Crush also contains too many subplots that remain unresolved by the film’s climax. Nonetheless, Blue Crush is a winning motion picture that provides inspiration about learning more about the sport. Last Saturday at 7:00 am, I attended the free surf school conducted by Island Water Sports just north of the Deerfield Beach Pier.

With my two left feet, I still have a long way to go before I can develop the balance needed to ride the surf. Fortunately, Blue Crush provided an excellent supplement to the lessons I learned at surf school. I estimate over one hundred good-natured teenagers attended this school on an early Saturday morning. According to Kali, the surf school instructor, attendance for school has gotten larger since the release of Blue Crush. For more information about this free surf school, visit the informative Web site http://www.islandwatersports.com. Hang loose this Labor Day weekend!

Oscar Hopefuls’ Championship Season

Has Begun

(9/12/2002)

Unlike last year at this time, the 2002 Oscar season began sooner than expected with the release of such movies as We Were Soldiers, Ice Age, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and About a Boy.

Traditionally, Labor Day weekend marks the end of the summer movie releases geared toward children and teens. The movies released between now and Christmas tends to be more serious and literate. Fortunately, this year’s final quarter of film releases seem to veer toward telling entertaining, but not critically dry, stories.

Paramount Pictures has high hopes for The Four Feathers, which stars Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson. This was a popular movie during the 1930s that was remade four times. One version starred King Kong’s first girlfriend, Fay Wray. The Four Feathers is set in the Sudan during the early days of the British Empire and features a love triangle of cowardice, espionage, and honor.

In October, cinema’s most elegant bogeyman returns in Red Dragon. Sir Anthony Hopkins completes his Dr. Hannibal Lecter trilogy with this prequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Internet buzz states that Red Dragon is Hannibal returning to the realm of psychological suspense and avoids the gory elements that made Hannibal such a geek show. Based on Thomas Harris’s first Hannibal the Cannibal book, the cast includes Ed Norton, Emily Watson, and Ralph Fiennes as the Red Dragon.

Unlike previous Halloween seasons featuring horror movies, the other studios seem to concede the monster race to Hannibal by counterprogramming.

Walt Disney Studios will release Tuck Everlasting, a rural fable about the fountain of youth and features an Oscar veteran cast headed by Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, and Ben Kingsley. Audience reaction has been positive to the rich cinematography of the previews. Given his sentimental success of My Dog Skip, Director Jay Russell may be the best captain to helm this old-fashioned Disney movie. Tuck Everlasting will be a definite bucolic contrast to the urbanized 8 Mile, which stars notorious rapper Eminem and Kim Basinger. Will 8 Mile be the signature film of the rap music generation, or will it be another overhyped example of mass media cross promotion? Only time will tell. However, Director Curtis Hanson has a proven track record with L.A. Confidential.

Fortunately, November will export two of the British ambassadors of heroism, James Bond and Harry Potter. Die Another Day will be the twentieth James Bond movie, which will be released on the fortieth anniversary of the first James Bond movie, Doctor No. Pierce Brosnan returns for the fourth time with John Cleese stepping in for the late Desmond Lleyllowen.

Cleese will also return as Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The exposition needed from the first movie has now been explained; Chamber of Secrets will contain a roller-coaster narrative of thrills, chills, and adventure for the whole family.

Despite the season of goodwill, December will be a month of competition. Captain Picard’s final mission in Star Trek: Nemesis will cross laser swords with the part 2 of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers. Leonardo DiCaprio will compete with himself on Christmas day. Last year, DiCaprio starred in Martin Scorsese’s The Gangs of New York, which was held from release last year because of September 11.

During the interim, DiCaprio costarred with Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. Expect studio propaganda promoting an Oscar feud between Spielberg and Scorsese. Hopefully the winner of the competition will be the ticket buyers.

A Halloween Homage to a Nineteenth-Century Baltimore Resident

(10/17/2002)

Each Halloween television season brings forth the usual glut of slice-and-dice horror movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween. Though these films have been successful at the box office and have spawned over fifteen sequels, they lack empathy for their leading characters, whether victim or monster. One who seemed to understand this sensitivity of horror was Baltimore resident Edgar Allan Poe. This nineteenth-century author is an American master of the short story. Poe’s stories are descriptive incidents of pure dread and rely on the rambling unconscious mind. These short stories made it a challenge to translate a film into a longer narrative.

In the 1960s, penny-pinching producer/director Roger Corman created his cycle of movies based on the writings and themes of Edgar Allan Poe. For his movies, Corman relied on screenwriters Richard Matheson and Robert Towne to stretch out the story lines. While retaining Poe’s tortured spirit, the plots were similar in most of Corman’s films. An outsider rides into a castle and is greeted by a host with a chip on his shoulder. The disgruntled castle owner was usually played by Vincent Price in six movies of these Poe-Corman movies.

The first movie of this Poe-Price-Corman series was House of Usher. Price portrayed the hypersensitive albino Roberick Usher, a man who is overly concerned about his sister Madeline. Madeline’s suitor visits the castle and proposes marriage. Roderick discourages such a union because of the Usher curse and a hereditary disease. Heartbroken, Madeline apparently dies and is entombed in the basement by her brother. Then, on one dark and stormy night, Madeline’s bloody hand pries through her casket and she continues the sibling rivalry.

The Pit and the Pendulum was the second Poe-Price-Corman collaboration. Poe’s short story details a victim’s plight below a sharp pendulum. Screenwriter Matheson included a backstory that included an unrepressed childhood memory and the Spanish Inquisition. Price again portrayed a tortured man with a secret. Barbara Steel portrayed Price’s dearly departed wife who may have been buried alive. Notice any similarities between these two movies? Premature burial was one of Poe’s literary motifs.

Both House of User and Pit and the Pendulum are currently on DVD and contain Roger Corman’s behind-the-scenes commentary. While Corman can be a bit repetitive, he provides much insight on how to make a literate movie on a low budget. While visiting an analyst, Corman discusses his Freudian influences and its effects upon some really creepy dream sequences. Price and Corman completed their Poe collaboration four years later with Masque of Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeria.

These films were the most critically praised and presented the most adult version of Poe’s darkest themes. Price gives his most sinister performances as the sadistic Prince Prospero in Masque of Red Death. Fearing the bubonic plague, Prospero invites his subjects into his castle for devil worship and debauchery, only to discover that Red Death is waiting for more victims in the castle.

Price gives his best, most restrained performance in The Tomb of Ligeria. Price portrays Verdan Fell, a widower and drug addict who is afraid of his future. The technical improvements and Corman’s attention to visual imagery make these underrated movies classics in the horror genre.

In contrast to the Poe’s themes of necrophilia, incest, and premature burial, The Raven is an entertaining collaboration for the whole family. Price was joined by Peter Lorre (as the sarcastic Raven) and Boris Karloff. The film marks the passing of the torch when Price defeats Karloff in a sorcerers’ duel.

While this film created some scary and creepy moments, the humor is what people appreciate about this movie. The Raven is also notable for an actor who received last billing on the poster, three-time Academy Award-winning actor Jack Nicholson. And if people think that Edgar Allan Poe’s influence is outdated, one must remember that the name of the Baltimore football franchise is the Ravens. Quothe the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’

Recruitment for Corpses Are Forever

(9/28/2002)

On the first night of production, director, writer, producer, and leading man Jose Prendes is running around the set wearing a Spider-Man costume. Prendes’s goofy leadership is infectious, for he has managed to persuade thirty strangers to wear sticky karo syrup and voluntarily portray zombies in his opus Corpses Are Forever.

After the last zombie got dabbed with water-based makeup, the energy level and camaraderie picked up. Special effects supervisor Karen Ferguson says this sudden bonding spirit occurs often on a production.

The zombies were a multitalented bunch. Cynthia Duvall and Jim Potts have written the theme song. The tune is both jazzy and tropical. Cynthia’s vocals capture the spirit of Shirley Bassey’s performances from three James Bond movies. As a twisted homage to 007, Jose will play the theme song while the credits roll over snapshots of a sexy corpse.

Corpse Are Forever is the first ever zombie spy movie produced in Miami, Florida. The setting is the eternal darkness of the apocalypse and corpses roam the earth. Jose Prendes is the brainchild of this zombie opus in which he has expended two hundred thousand dollars of his trust fund to finance his movie. His method of payment to his loyal crew will be an IOU. The crew of South Florida locals is a loyal bunch and nicknames Jose Big Daddy.

CynthiaDuvallJosePrendesJimPotts.tif

Cynthia Duvall, JosePrendes and JimPotts

The genesis for Corpses Are Forever began with a short black-and-white project called Nerve which costarred Linnea Quigley and Conrad Brooks. Nerve is an expressionistic mystery in which Quint (Prendes) tries to learn the fate of his missing son. Taking advantage of the film noir imagery, Prendes was able to structure a screenplay around Nerve. With Corpses Are Forever, Prendes created a surrealistic world and recruited a first-rate cast of horror genre actors featuring Don Calfa, Richard Lynch, Linnea Quigley, Debbie Rochon, Felissa Rose, and Brinke Stevens.

page%2042.tif

Debbie Rochon

With the atmosphere of the old Universal monster classics, Corpses Are Forever is a mixture of slick Saturday matinee spy serials that inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Without falling into the trap of the usual horror clichés, creator Jose Prendes managed to create a fun and original motion picture that goes against the prejudices of what a modern-day zombie movie ought to be.

The film opens