795 thoughts on “Site Index”

1. I have now received my copy of The Work Horse’s 2nd book. There’s a lot to digest and that will take time; but here are my own initial thoughts:

   1/This volume of the Cogerson collection doesn’t have as many Mega Greats ranked as did volume one but the modern cinema doesn’t seem to me to have produced as many true Greats as Old Hollywood churned out especially among the women.

   2/Bruce compensates us in Volume 2 though by covering the statistical careers of hundreds of stars as opposed to the 50 in Volume One. Indeed volume 2 is the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of today’s domestic movie marketplace and the contributions of the thespians participating that I have yet to see. Unquestionably great value for money.

   3/I am pleased to see Bruce Willis at last receiving a fine ranking [13th] – see page 419 of the book. I have long argued that Willis’ impact in movies is underrated in ranking lists generally.

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      4/This 2nd volume is overall of the same exceptional standard as the first one as a lucid, highly-informative and intelligent analysis of stardom in today’s cinema. Painstaking efforts have been made in the opening clutch of pages to ensure that the reader understands how the scoring system operates and how all statistical rankings and other conclusions were arrived at.

      5/Therefore volume 2 has done what it set out to do and should be placed side-by-side with Volume 1 on any keen movie-buff’s bookshelf – though kept far away from 1983’s Ranking the Movie Stars if the buff has a copy of that: oil and water don’t mix!

      6/Other points:

      (1)The book’s cover is very classy in my opinion.

      (2)My daughter – a keen movie buff herself – on a quick browse through the book was very impressed

      (3)The Work Horse “saved the best wine for the last”: he has assembled the greatest cast of all on page 424 of the book!!!!

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2. The book is in me hands… [cue maniacal laughter]

   First impressions? It’s big and chunky, the book that is, it’s a fat book, soft back.

   Packed with stats.

   One niggle – no photos or illustrations, not even a doodle.

   You should have had your kids and grandkids draw a caricature of some of the subjects Bruce, add a bit of humour and artistry to it. [Bruce shakes his head].

   A full color poster next to each listed movie would have been nice? mmm? [Bruce gasps] 🙂

   I’ll report back after I’ve had a good look at it.

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   1. My copy arrives this Friday and then I propose to have some fun!

      But hey! Whoa bike! The Big Guy doesn’t ask you to put stats beside your video posters!

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      1. Hey Bob….thanks for buying the book….I am very happy with they way it came out….I think it makes a great reference/review book. I look forward to hearing what you think…..just don’t be surprised when you see Myrna Loy show up in the 6th spot….that box office career really helped her….I of course had to bend some rules to get her in the book……but it is Mynra….so it was worth all the bending of the rules…I am sure you completely agree….lol.

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         1. Well if i had been writing either of your books I would have bent the rules to get Asta in – but that would have been IT!

            I’ll reserve further comments until I get my hands on Vol 2 [which Amazon tell me should be tomorrow].

            I see that in your latest page of comprehensive rankings [Career adjusted domestic Box Office Rankings] you rank Donald Crisp above The Thin Woman. Realism seems to be dawning and Thins appears to be at last getting the place on Cogerson that she REALLY deserves though you do her a slight injustice: she was every bit as big a star as Donald – I make them equal!!

            Keep safe

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            1. Hey Bob. Donald might top Loy. But Loy has almost a 2 billion lead on the next actress when looking at the chart.

   2. Thanks for buying the book. Our biggest fear from the first book was that we would get sued for copyright issues. We even had to create UltimateMovieRankings, LLC for just such issues. For the second book….we decided to just have no pictures…and eliminate that concern all together. Hopefully DoC2 will become a great artist and provide the caricature. As for the book….there are about 25 people in the book that do not have pages….so you are getting a sneak peek of future UMR pages. I was going to do a new last night….but I literally fell asleep at my computer. I am buring the candle at both ends and in the middle….lol. I hope you enjoy the book….I have enjoyed scanning through it…..I wonder who you think is the biggest miss? George V. at work could not believe Minnie Driver was NOT in the book….she has had a much better movie career than I suspected. Once again…thank you for buying our second book. Now back to teaching.

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      1. 1/Minnie has just a very low list of 4 movies to her credit that crashed through the Cogerson magical $100 million domestic grosses barrier adjusted for inflation. In one of them she is the second lead [Jane to Tarzan] but it is a voice-only role in an animation; in the other 3 she is well down the cast-lists.

         2/Only one of the 20 films that she has made in the past 20 years since the last century has been a hit: Phantom of the Opera. The other 19 have an abysmal overall adjusted domestic gross of $70 million or $3.5 million on average.

         3/The entire 33 movies listed on her Cogerson page have an overall adjusted US gross of about $1.2 billion which is a paltry average of around $36 million per movie.

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         1. 4/The 19 flops that Minnie has been in over the last 2 decades have cost the studios a lot of money. For example 2009’s Motherhood which Bruce’s credits with a terrible adjusted WORLDWIDE gross below $1 million had a production budget alone of $10 million according to Wikipedia [$12.1 million in today’s money].

            5/Bruce credits 2001’s High Heels and Low Lifes with an adjusted petty worldwide gross 0f $3,5 million and it too cost $10 million to make which is equivalent to $14.6 million today. In that one Minnie was the top star who would have been normally expected to carry the film at the box office.

            5/That anyone who was aware of Minnie’s overall box office record in her Cogerson stats might consider Minnie a suitable candidate for inclusion on the lists in a book that is supposed to be ranking the GREATEST stars of modern history suggests to me that Bette Davis was right in complaining before she died that the stardom bench mark for actresses today is down below the floor boards.

            6/To paraphrase Col John Hall in the TV comedy series Sgt Bilko in the 1950s: If Minnie Driver HAD been on the lists in Bruce’s Volume 2 there would probably have been great curiosity from readers about just how deficient in terms of stardom those who HADN’T made the lists WERE!

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            1. Hey Anon…good points on Volume 2. So far I have not had anybody really be disappointed on a missing star…my fellow teachers and co-workers have been very supportive with book purchases and feedback…..so far only Minnie has been mentioned as a missing person. Ok…a couple people were disappointed Sean Connery was not in the book. Then they got a surprised shock when I tell them Sir Sean has gone almost 20 years since his last movie. Good stuff as always.

         2. Hey Anon….thanks for the support…..that makes dealing with Steve’s complaints so much easier….lol. Good breakdown on the career of Minnie Driver.

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3. STEVE:

   Just in case you think I’ve forgotten Parts 2 and 3 of Conrad I have actually posted both parts but they are not showing up for now on your U Tube page. We’ll have to keep an eye on what happens.

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   1. Bob, there may have been a glitch delaying the appearance of your posts yesterday evening. At least you made copies of your posts, I hope. I take chances sometimes with long comments and hope they turn up. It’s a gamble. I should make copies.

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4. Happy Canada Day – July 1st – to my fellow Canadians

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   1. Happy Canada Day Flora! It was a beautiful day here in Ottawa. Hey, I thought Bruce would do a page on films with Canadian themes 😉

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      1. Hey PhilHoF17….I hope you had a great Canada Day…..my mom briefly mentioned it….seems she has somewhat forgotten her roots and now seems to want to celebrate July 4th now…sorry if you lost a Canuck to good ole USA….lol.

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   2. Hey Flora…good shout out to Canada Day. I hope you had a great day. Good stuff as always.

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5. Max Von Sydow has died at the age of 90. He was a favourite foreign film star of mine. The Seventh Seal is my favourite foreign film.RIP

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   1. Rest in Peace Max Von Sydow. My favorite role of his is in Three Days of the Condor. One of the best hit men in movies. RIP.

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