captainot

This is a great documentary on the Great One none the less!

Hosted and narrated by John Candy, Teri Garr, John Larroquette, and Art Carney, this program shows Gleason in his heyday on and off the camera. The rarely seen footage is a treat as well as the sampling of outtakes and bloopers from the Golden Age of TV.

This documentary was one of the first programs I ever recorded off television.

What would happen if a mechanical failure triggered World War III?

On April 9, 2000, CBS broadcast "Fail-Safe" live; the first live broadcast on CBS in 31 years. After being introduced by Walter Cronkite (who had the only flub of the evening), we watched a good remake of the original movie made in 1964.

However, it was clear from the outset, the multi-talented cast were going thru the lines in hopes of not screwing up and left their acting skills on the back burner for the moment. Many of the lines were rushed, spoken without little emotion, leaving the focus of the broadcast on its live aspect.

The only urgency from the cast was from not screwing up instead of mistakenly bombing the Soviet Union. There are many comparisons one can make from the original 1964 film here. Which cast was better, which film had the better direction, etc. However, the tension that gripped the original film was clearly lacking in the live 2000 version; an element that would have improved it immensely.

This was a good film with good performances. It was live. And that's how "Fail-Safe" will come across.

The Academy Award. The Oscar. Hollywood's token of prestige and honor. Many try for it. Many fail. Some succeed. A lot of films have been made about the Oscars. Some good. Some bad. This one is completely off the map!

This movie is the story of an actor up for an Oscar. Sounds simple right? That's what the name says on the movie poster. We then spend the entire movie watching his slow struggle to the top, going through the ranks, overcoming adversity, and finally achieving the nomination. Sounds pretty good, yes?

But when your hero is Stephen Boyd, an actor who majored in overacting and vein-popping, when the script uses every movie cliche in the book, when the directing is at best horrible, you're in for a rough voyage.

Throw in Milton Berle as Boyd's agent and it gets ugly. Uncle Miltie plays it straight, trying to garner a real Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. An hour into this movie, you're praying Berle will dress in drag just to lighten things up. His whole performance screams "Nominate Me!"

However, this movie was doomed when Tony Bennett was given the role of Boyd's best friend/narrator of the film. This was Tony's only starring role and after 10 seconds, you'll know why. Acting just wasn't his forte. Bennett remains emotionless and motionless when others speak in the film. But when his cue comes up, you can see the twinkle in his eye, his arms flail, and he delivers the line. He wisely stuck to his day job after this movie.

Look for Hedda Hopper in this film, just months before she died.