Me! On the radio! Talking about Casablanca!

If you advance to the 34:00 mark on this YouTube video, you'll see me chatting with genial host Craig Cohen on the HoustonMatters podcast about Casablanca — a movie that means a lot to me.

You see, one of the first movies my late wife Anne and I saw together was Casablanca — on the big screen, the way God intended us to see it — back in the 1970s, at a New Orleans rep house. We watched and rewatched it countless times over the course of our time together because, well, it was our favorite movie. Indeed, “I’m shocked – shocked! -- to find that gambling is going on in here!” became one of our private-joke movie quotes that we tossed at each other forever afterwards. Especially while we were watching newscasts, and some phony-baloney politician would appear on camera to claim they had little or no knowledge of misbehavior by underlings (or close relatives).

 So I can’t tell you how happy I am to share Casablanca it with the River Oaks 3 Theater audience – on the big screen! – August 27, just one day short of what should have been our 50th anniversary. Here’s looking at you, Anne!

The Dead is my favorite John Huston movie

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Why is The Dead my favorite John Huston film? Well, I could direct you to my original review of Huston's adaptation of the classic James Joyce story. Or I could just show you the final scene. Back in the day: I cried so hard at the end of this movie, two colleagues had to help me out of the theater. No kidding.

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Birthday Greetings to Billy Bob Thornton

 

Wishing a very happy birthday to the Landman himself, Billy Bob Thornton, whom I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing last winter in Crockett, Texas — shortly before his Ritz Theatre concert with his band The Boxmasters.

“I can always tell the husbands who got dragged here by their wives,” Thornton told me with a mischievous grin. “They just sit there with their arms folded while their wives want to dance.” 

He laughed out loud when I told him he had a small role in one of the very first movies I ever reviewed for Variety — Chopper Chicks in Zombietown. But he laughed even harder when I asked him about appearing opposite Sam Elliott, who plays his father in Landman — despite being only 11 years older than Thornton. 

Elliott is “a friend and a mentor,” Thornton said. “But I have to say — sometimes we’ll be doing a scene where I don’t have much dialogue, and my attention drifts, and I’ll get obsessed with looking at Sam Elliott’s mustache or something. Like, I’ll just be staring and then all of a sudden they’ll say, ‘Your line. Your line.’ And I’m like, ‘Huh?’ And then I go, ‘Oh yeah, this is wonderful chicken-fried steak.’ Or whatever it is.” 

You can read my Cowboys & Indians Magazine interview with Thornton here. And here is my favorite song by The Boxmasters — “She Looks Like Betty Page.”

It Was 34 Years Ago Today: Unforgiven Premiered in Los Angeles

 

The retired gunfighter who must return to his bloody business one last time. The hotheaded youngster who must back up his bragging when push comes to shove. The small-town sheriff who must face down the hired killers riding his way. The brutally wronged woman who must rely on the firepower of a steely-eyed stranger.

Unforgiven —  which premiered at the Fox Bruin Theatre in Los Angeles on August 3, 1992 —  abounds in the time-honored archetypes that have been the staples of westerns since the heyday of Tom Mix. Which isn't at all surprising, considering the classic western — the last traditional western to win the Academy Award for Best Picture — came to us from Clint Eastwood, who played a major role in demythologizing many of these elements for the better part of four decades.

You can read my celebration of Unforgiven at Cowboys & Indians Magazine here.