I highly recommend the documentary “His Way” as a testament to one man’s persistence, the value of being optimistic and looking for opportunities when others see problems. In covering a man, Jerry Weintraub, for whom the Bush family helped end anti-Semitic policies at many Kennebunkport, Maine establishments in the 1960s and who counted both Ronald Reagan and Armand Hammer as friends, Douglas McGrath directed one of this past year’s best biographical documentaries.

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In these trying times, this story of one man’s unrelenting efforts to succeed can serve as an inspiration to many. I know “His Way” inspired me. After learning how Jerry cold-called Elvis Presley’s Manager, Colonel Tom Parker, every day for an entire year for the right to take Elvis on tour (for the first time in nearly a decade), I decided to roll the dice and take my own film out on the road to build an audience. Concluding our interview with Douglas McGrath, director of the documentary “His Way,” we talked about more of the film, including the amazing segments on Weintraub’s experiences with Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker and Frank Sinatra.

KW: How did you go about choosing which stories or chapters to cover or not cover from the book?

DM: Well, I didn’t do it that way. I didn’t think of them in terms of chapters. I just thought of them in terms of stories. But, I knew we’d have ninety minutes, an hour and forty-five maybe at most and I just thought, there’s no way to go through everything. I just thought “I’m going to ask about all the stuff I liked the best and the things that were really the big tent poles of his life.” So, I thought I’d better go with the things that really tell us, without repeating it, what his magic was. And the Elvis story is emblematic of his whole career, you know, that tells you how he started with nothing, he persisted. He won the contract, so to speak, the right to take him. He almost blew it. When you think of 20th Century entertainment, particularly musical entertainment and particularly male musical entertainment — you know, you have Elvis and you have Sinatra. Those guys are the big tent poles in that story. (more…)

For today’s Left, blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is an admirable figure. Director Oliver Stone called Trumbo his “hero,” while a flood of celebrities (including Gore Vidal, Brian Dennehey and Liam Neeson) have lined up to star as the screenwriter in the off-Broadway play “Trumbo.”

In a recent New York Times article, journalist David Itzkoff praises the Writers Guild for posthumously recognizing Trumbo as the true author of the screenplay for “Roman Holiday.” Both Itzkoff and the Guild saw this belated screen credit as a blow against censorship.

But missing from the award and the article is Trumbo’s own censorship efforts while a member of the American Communist Party.

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The documentary feature “His Way” premiered on HBO this past Spring. “His Way” is based on  the autobiography “When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead,” which highlights the life and career of the great film producer/concert promoter/manager/philanthropist/entrepreneur Jerry Weintraub over seven decades.

Weintraub first managed musical acts ranging from The Four Seasons to The Moody Blues, then promoted artists such as Led Zeppelin, John Denver, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Kiss, Aerosmith and Queen. He also promoted the “comeback” tours for Elvis Presley, then Frank Sinatra. Weintraub’s movie producing credits include “Nashville,” “Oh God!,” “Diner,” “Cruising,” “The Karate Kid,” “National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation,” “The Karate Kid” (2010), and the 2001 remake of “Ocean’s Eleven,” as well as “Ocean’s 12″ and “Ocean’s 13.” He appeared in all the “Ocean” films as well as “The Firm.”

“His Way” is the first documentary feature film directed by Douglas McGrath. McGrath is an actor/writer/director whose past directing credits include “Emma,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “Infamous,” and “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” In my opinion, “His Way” is pound for pound and frame for frame the most entertaining and inspirational documentary of this past year. “His Way” was shot and edited for nearly ten months and culled from approximately seventy hours of interview footage.

KW: You took an autobiography and turned it into a documentary film. That doesn’t seem like it is usually done very often.

DM: It wasn’t quite as direct as that. Graydon Carter [Managing Editor, Vanity Fair] had called me and asked if I was interested in making a film about Jerry and Jerry’s book was not out at that point. So I read Rich Cohen’s piece that he had done for Vanity Fair and said, “Boy, this guy sounds like quite a character.” (more…)

Jimmy Stewart was at times morose and insecure as filming began on the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Since he went off to serve, Hollywood had found new leading men, such as Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck, who both were seven years younger than he was. Some of “Life’s” early scenes called for the now graying Stewart to be just a few years out of high school. He felt ridiculous and considered plastic surgery, then thought better of it. But Jim was helped greatly by his co-star Donna Reed (Jean Arthur, Olivia de Havilland, and Ginger Rogers were among several actresses considered for the role of Mary Baily).

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Before the romantic scene where George and Mary tearfully and sensuously declare their love for each other, Reed encouraged her leading man to do it in only one unrehearsed take. Capra later joked that Stewart was so nervous during the tender sequence he was forced to wrap a phone chord around the celluloid couple so Jim wouldn’t run away.

“The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does.” — German Philosopher Immanuel Kant

Stewart was also helped by the actor who played the film’s villain, the wheelchair-bound Lionel Barrymore, who reminded him that movies had the power to make people happy around the world. The old man’s pep talks helped Jim regain his confidence in his acting chops, and Capra gave the Indiana, Pennsylvania-born Stewart great latitude in playing the role of the small town resident whose big dreams would never be fulfilled. Just before filming the sequence where the Bailey’s Bedford Falls neighbors came to take their money out of the building and loan, Capra advised the future grandma on TV’s “The Waltons,” Ellen Corby, to ask Stewart for $17.50, half the amount that the script called for. The leading man responded by staying in character and impulsively kissing Corby on the cheek.

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In a 1946 interview, Capra described “It’s a Wonderful Life’s” theme as “the individual’s belief in himself,” and that he made it to “combat a modern trend toward atheism.”

“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) began as a short story called “The Greatest Gift.” Pennsylvania-born writer Philip Van Doren Stern, who said that the heartwarming tale had come to him in a dream, was unable to sell it to a publisher, so he sent the story out as a long Christmas card to friends. His agent subsequently sold the fable to RKO pictures, where it went through several transformations.

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In one version a losing political candidate contemplated suicide, only to have an angel convince him to stick around and do good works. Finally it fell into the hands of director Frank Capra, who said it was the story he had been looking for all his life. He purchased it to be the first project for his new venture, Liberty Films (started by Capra in 1945 along with Producer Samuel J. Briskin, and directors William Wyler and George Stevens). With movie attendance booming during the Second World War II, a new independent film company for big name directors seemed like a can’t-miss idea.

Capra had long been an admirer of Amadeo Pietro Giannini, the founder of the Bank of Italy in 1904, renamed the Bank of America in 1928. Giannini earned a reputation for lending money to people other financial institutions had considered bad risks, including immigrants whose property had been destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. A.P. only required a handshake and was proud to say later that he was always paid back. Giannini also believed strongly in the hopes and dreams of some of the street merchants who gravitated into the fledgling film industry, and put his bank’s money behind their ventures.

Based on Giannini, Capra’s 1932 drama, “American Madness,” told the story of a bank president (Walter Huston) who makes lending decisions based more on character than collateral, which causes his board of directors to try and ruin him. The money man is bailed by his less well-to-do friends,who personally benefited from his past generosity. A movie about a bank run had proved too topical to be a big hit in 1932; now, fourteen years later, “It’s a Wonderful Life” would allow Capra to once again tackle a similar theme.

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In September 1977, Bing Crosby was recording his television special “Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas.” Slated for a guest appearance in the show was a rather unusual choice – Ziggy Stardust himself, Mr. David Bowie.

Bowie was scheduled to sing a duet with Crosby of “The Little Drummer Boy.”

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The pair seemed an odd fit artistically, but commercially it made sense, at least in theory. Bowie was then seeking to somewhat mainstream his career, and the producers of Crosby’s special no doubt hoped that a young, ultra-hip performer like Bowie would bring in a demographic not normally inclined to tune in to a very old-fashioned holiday special.

But Bowie balked at the choice of songs; he thought “Little Drummer Boy” was wrong for him, and asked the producers if he could do something else.  So, as The Washington Post described the scene:

Just hours before he was supposed to go before the cameras, though, a team of composers and writers frantically retooled the song. They added another melody and new lyrics as a counterpoint to all those pah-rumpa-pum-pums and called it “Peace on Earth.” Bowie liked it. More important, Bowie sang it.

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NSFW:

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Brought to you by the same folks who eviscerated “Avatar,” the “Star Wars” prequels and more.

The second video expertly deconstructs the film’s overbearing politics and moral equivalencies, and hammers Lucas for his political hypocrisies.

“When the filmmakers can’t choose a clear side, it affects the overall film.”

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Randy Barnett at The Volokh Conspiracy:

Besides recommending the book to anyone who shares my interests in Maverick, Rockford, or Garner, however, I want to comment on an observation with which he concludes his memoir:

I’ve been asked again and again, “How do you want to be remembered?” I usually say I don’t care, but that’s not true. I want to have accomplished something, to have made a contribution to the world. It would be wonderful if just one person looked at my life and said, “If he could overcome that, maybe I can too.”

Beyond that, I think an actor can contribute by making people forget their troubles for an hour or two. Call it relief, escape, diversion . . . I think one of the greatest gifts is being able to make people happy. I like to make people happy.”

So, if anyone asks, “How do you want to be remembered?” I tell them: “With a smile.”

Fair enough, but I think this seriously sells short what a TV actor can contribute. …

Garner’s two most famous characters set an example of manliness at two stages of life. Smart, tough, funny, a little cynical and knowing but with a pinch of optimism and even naivete, respectful towards women, willing to stand up for himself or others when pushed, but only after first looking for a way out of conflict, a sense of justice.   Developing such a character that people think they “know” is something only an talented actor (along with talented writers) in a long-running TV show can accomplish. Two hours on the screen in a movie is not enough to make that connection, to provide that example, unless the actor plays the same character over and over, like John Wayne or Garner’s friends Steve McQueen or Clint Eastwood. But even their screen personas are not as particular as the Bret Maverick or Jim Rockford characters, who we get to observe in one situation after another. These characters are Garner’s most important “contribution” to others.

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The folks at ReelzChannel know a little something about the power of controversy.

The film-focused network bought the rights to broadcast “The Kennedys” earlier this year, and the consternation over the film’s alleged mistreatment of its source drew plenty of eyeballs to the network.

Now, the cable channel’s newest special looks at some of the most controversial films ever made. Ten, in fact.

The latest installment of “Hollywood’s Top Ten,” airing at 7:30 p.m. EST tonight, counts down films which drew endless bickering around the time of their release. Some still draw heated debates amongst movie lovers today.

“Hollywoood’s Top Ten” executive producer Steve Holzer says the list came from a combination of online viewer voting and consultation with the network’s resident movie gurus, Leonard Maltin and Richard Roeper.

The Top Ten doesn’t include “Birth of a Nation” – “we know it’s a controversial movie for its time,” Holzer says – but the list spans the last 50 years of movie making.

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As they do every year, Turner Classic Movies salutes the film professionals who left us this year with a poignant tribute video.

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It is hardly surprising that pop culture protesters in zombie makeup are now intent on Occupying Wall Street. For the past decade, Hollywood has been casting financiers as the demonic villains of society. They have even replaced terrorists as villains. In the Warner Bros. political thriller “Syriana,” for example, the villain is not al Qaeda, an enemy state, the mafia, or even a psychotic serial killer. Rather, it’s the big oil companies who manipulate terrorism, wars, and social unrest to drive up oil prices. One doesn’t need to look far to discover that the root-of-evil corporate villain is hardly atypical of post-Cold War Hollywood.

Consider Paramount’s 2004 remake of the 1962 classic, “The Manchurian Candidate.” In the original film, directed by John Frankenheimer, the villain-behind-the-villain is the Soviet Union, whose nefarious agents, with the help of the Chinese Communists, abduct an American soldier in Korea and turn him into a sleeper assassin.

In the new version, the venue is transposed from Korea in 1950 to Kuwait in 1991, and the defunct Soviet Union is replaced as the resident evil. The new villain is–you guessed it–the Manchurian Global Corporation, an American company loosely modeled on the Halliburton Corporation.

As the director, Jonathan Demme, explains in his DVD commentary, he avoided making the Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein the replacement villain, because he did not want to “negatively stereotype” Muslims. Not only were neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq mentioned in a film about the Iraq-Kuwait war, but the Manchurian corporation’s technicians rewire the brains of the abducted US soldiers with false memories of al-Qaeda-type jihadists so that they will lay the blame for terrorist acts committed by American businessmen on an innocent Muslim jihadist. Thus Hollywood depicts greedy corporations deluding the public about terrorism.

Why don’t the movies have plausible, real world villains anymore?

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They’re back, and they’re more violent than ever.

“The Three Stooges” revisits the slapstick antics of Moe, Larry and Curly for a new generation as if technology didn’t exist to rent, watch or stream classic “Stooges” bits.

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We’ll say this about the film’s first trailer – the actors chosen to ape Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine (Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso and Sean Hayes, respectively) do splendid impersonations. But will “Stooges” fans want to see a 90-plus minute recreation? More importantly, will today’s teens break up at the sight of grown men poking each other in the eyes – and elsewhere?

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I remember Morgan best from his brilliant turn as the appropriately named Oily Perkins in the Western-comedy “Support Your Local Sheriff” (1969). RIP, Oily.  – JN

New York Times:

Harry Morgan was born Harry Bratsburg on April 10, 1915, in Detroit. His parents were Norwegian immigrants. After graduating from Muskegon High School, where he played varsity football and was senior class president, he intended to become a lawyer, but debating classes in his pre-law major at the University of Chicago stimulated his interest in the theater. He made his professional acting debut in a summer stock production of “At Mrs. Beam’s” in Mount Kisco, N.Y., and his Broadway debut in 1937 in the original production of “Golden Boy,” starring Luther Adler, in a cast that also included Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb.

After moving to California in 1942, he was spotted by a talent scout in a Santa Barbara stock company’s production of William Saroyan’s one-act play “Hello Out There.” Signing a contract with 20th Century Fox, he originally used the screen name Henry Morgan, but changed Henry to Harry in the 1950s to avoid confusion with the radio and television humorist Henry Morgan.

Mr. Morgan attracted attention almost immediately. In “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943), which starred Henry Fonda, he was praised for his portrayal of a drifter caught up in a lynching in a Western town. Reviewing “A Bell for Adano” (1945), based on John Hersey’s novel about the Army in a liberated Italian town, Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times that Mr. Morgan was “crude and amusing as the captain of M.P.’s.”

He went on to appear in “All My Sons” (1948), based on the Arthur Miller play, with Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster; “The Big Clock” (1948), in which he played a silent, menacing bodyguard to Charles Laughton; “Yellow Sky” (1949), with Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter; and the critically praised western “High Noon” (1952), with Gary Cooper. Among his other notable films were “The Teahouse of the August Moon” (1956), with Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford, and “Inherit the Wind” (1960), with Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, in which he played a small-town Tennessee judge hearing arguments about evolution in the fictionalized version of the Scopes “monkey trial.” In “How the West Was Won” (1962), he played Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

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Unlike their post 9-11 successors, Hollywood generally dealt with the aftermath of World War II with a more united front, more humor and less political correctness.

Since 9-11, Hollywood filmmakers have had, within free-market parameters, the choice to make any type of picture they wish. No one in government prohibited director Steven Spielberg, in the 2005 drama “Munich,” from implying, in the minds of some critics, that Mossad agents and Palestinian terrorists were morally equivalent and that both sides were equally responsible with their shared intransigence for the Twin Towers coming down (Gabriel Schoenfeld, in the February 2006 issue of Commentary Magazine stated that Munich,” deserves an Oscar in one category only: most hypocritical film of the year.”)

Spielberg, who previously produced “An American Tail” (1986), which depicted Jewish immigrants as mice, seemed to be conflicted with the whole notion of Israelis fighting back against those who wished them not to exist. “”I’m always in favor of Israel responding strongly when it’s threatened. At the same time, a response to a response doesn’t really solve anything. It just creates a perpetual-motion machine,” Spielberg told Time Magazine. “There’s been a quagmire of blood for blood for many decades in that region. Where does it end? How can it end?”

Another post-9/11 cinema trait was that Muslim villains became mostly taboo on the screen. The 2002 thriller “The Sum of All Fears,” adapted from the Tom Clancy novel of same name, featured Aryan villains trying to bomb Baltimore rather than the Arab destroyers depicted in the book. Director Phil Alden Robinson claimed the ethnic change was because Middle East terrorists would not be able to accomplish the mayhem that took place in the story, not mentioning that he had been lobbied hard by CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) not to show Muslims in a bad light.Writer Clancy later jokingly referred to himself as “the author of the book Phil Robinson ignored.”

The political correctness which was already present in the film industry, and that just seemed to grow after the World Trade Center was struck down, was a stark contrast to events following America’s entry into World War II. Shortly after December 7, 1941, Washington’s Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMI) made their objectives clear: every director, producer and writer needed to ask whether their current picture would help win the war. The implication by the Roosevelt administration was clear; if the major studios failed to cooperate, their industry would be nationalized.

For the most part, such threats were not needed.

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This February marks the 200th birthday of the man whom some have called the greatest novelist who ever lived. All kinds of tributes are in the works for Charles Dickens’ bicentennial, including biographies, festivals and three new adaptations (one feature film and two miniseries) of his novels.

Turner Classic Movies is getting an early start on the celebration. The cable channel will be showing classic Dickens films every Monday night throughout the month of December. The lineup is a stellar one, including such well-loved movies as David Lean’s “Great Expectations” (1946), and both the 1938 and 1951 versions of “A Christmas Carol.”

Also noteworthy are the 1935 “A Tale of Two Cities,” featuring a justly celebrated star turn from Ronald Colman, and the 1958 “A Tale of Two Cities,” with a performance by Dirk Bogarde that is less revered but, to my mind, even better than Colman’s.

But if, by some misfortune, you had time for only one of these movies, I’d recommend you make it “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” (1935), which is having its TCM premiere at 8 p.m. EST tonight. The film has never had a DVD release; in recent years, the only way to see it has been to snag an out-of-print VHS copy from a vendor on Amazon or eBay. It’s a case of criminal neglect, if you ask me, for “Edwin Drood” is a film that deserves to be much better known than it is.

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The Library of America’s new selection of film critic Pauline Kael’s writings showcases her liberalism; in it, we have her castigation of Clint Eastwood’s “Magnum Force” (“the liberalized ideology is just window dressing”), while praising “Julia,” a film based on Stalinist Lillian Hellman’s memoirs and starring fist-clencher Jane Fonda.

This, coupled with Kael’s oft-quoted confusion about President Nixon winning re-election in 1972 because “everyone I know voted for McGovern” gives us the impression of a limousine radical.

But what was omitted from “The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael” would have balanced this portrait; it might even have showed some conservative sentiments on Kael’s part. The omission of her celebrated essay on “Citizen Kane” – done so because of suspicions it was plagiarized – would have revealed her to be in the Ninotchka (a 1939 film that hit Stalinism where it was weakest: in the funny bone) school of anti-communism.

In the essay, she argues that it was the joyless jargon merchants of American Stalinism that destroyed the screwball genre (“the Algonquin group’s own style was lost as their voice blended into the preachy, self-righteous chorus”).

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TV talker Regis Philbin isn’t as politically chatty as, say, Sean Penn or Tim Robbins. But Philbin opens up about one particular politician in his new book, “How I Got This Way.”

Seems a future politician named Ronald Reagan made quite an impression on Philbin. The former “Live! With Regis and Kelly” star devotes 12 pages in his new book to the conservative icon.

Philbin was hosting a live post-news talk show at the time – 1962 – and he was hungry for guests. So when he learned that the star of “Knute Rockne All American” was available, the affable Philbin jumped at the chance to book him.

The two talked a little about life in general and sports in particular given Reagan’s background as both an athlete and sports broadcaster. They avoided politics all together.

“It was unthinkable back then that he would go on to become the governor of California and, eventually, the president of the United States!” Philbin writes in his typically breathless style.

The talk show host recalls the reaction Reagan had on not just him but the studio audience.

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Monster movie fans will forever be indebted to special effects guru Ray Harryhausen.

Today’s filmmakers can conjure up any creature they can imagine courtesy of computer technology. But for much of the 20th century directors had two stark choices – dress up an actor in a garish costume or pick up the phone and call Harryhausen for help.

The FX maestro perfected the art of stop-motion animation, the kind that brought early movie monsters like King Kong to life. Harryhausen’s work is front and center in “Mysterious Island,” the 1961 thriller just released on Blu-ray. The story of Civil War soldiers deposited on an island filled with danger roars to life whenever Harryhausen’s handiwork shuffles onto the screen.

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Our thanks to the reader who forwarded this video and to all our readers!

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Only one word can describe Michelle Williams’ performance in the new film, “My Week with Marilyn” – intoxicating.

Williams imbues her character with class, sexuality and self-doubt, making her one of the front-runners for the best actress Oscar next year. She’s the focal point of this biopic and owns every scene she’s in. The screenplay, though, is strong enough to build a story around her mesmerizing performance.

The film revolves around Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), a young man interested in the film business. Clark is so eager to be involved in the industry that he spends days camped out at the office of the famous actor/director Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Clark – the persistent and wide-eyed youngster – eventually gets his big break and is offered the job as an assistant director for the upcoming film, “The Prince and the Showgirl.”

Monroe, who is acting alongside Olivier in the film, arrives on set and Clark quickly becomes smitten with the seductive actress. Her fragility and self-consciousness only lure people closer to her. Despite her fame and overt sexuality, she longs for people’s approval and people, including her overwhelmed personal assistant, are happy to give it to her.

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