We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
My fave POSTERS in your Franciscus video are (1) City on Fire (2) the entire set for Great White which were simply stunning (3) 1st one for Killer Fish (4) raunchy one for Butterfly (5) Hellboats (6) an exceptionally raunchy entire set for I Passed for White (7) Nightkill – a true shocker of a poster (8) foreign language one for Cat O Nine Tails (9) both for Valley of the Gwangi (10) all for Beneath Planet of Apes (11) the set for Greg’s marooned and (12) The Outsider.
The Outsider is in my opinion an excellent but largely overlooked movie with a tour de force of acting by Curtis. I was pleased to see you making it No 1 with a fine 72.5 % rating. The Work Horse does well by it too with a 70% rating on his Curtis page. However WH records just a $26.1 million adjusted US gross for it so as I’ve suggested it wasn’t a popular hit with audiences probably because of a relatively bleak storyline if I recall it correctly.
My pick of the STILLS are (1) Hellboats (2) James with Jacqueline Bisset (3) lobby card and still for Youngblood Hawke (4) two crackers for Valley of Gwangi (5) Beneath the Planet of the Apes (6) James with a perennial favourite of this site, The Cowboy of the Century in Miracle of the White Stallions and (7) the closing one of James looking more than ever to me like Richard Chamberlain.
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing and rating my James Franciscus video, appreciate the info, comments and trivia! Glad you liked the picture gallery.
I first saw Planet of the Apes on a double bill with Beneath the Planet of the Apes in the early 70s, so that may be the first time I noticed James. Or it may have been his TV series Longstreet.
Btw you may have noticed that Americans prefer to use the word ‘show’ instead of ‘series’. I’ve used that in place of series a few times on my movie forum which is made up mostly of Americans. I’ve even used ‘color’ instead of ‘colour’ and ‘favorite’ instead of ‘favourite’ when posting there. [Bob gasps in horror]
When I first joined up 20 years ago they thought my spelling was strange “why did he add a ‘u’ in that word?” “what does ‘pavement’ mean?”. I had to explain that I was from a mysterious island across the ocean, the land that created the English language in the first place.
No 10s or 9s in James’s filmography, there is an 8 – The Outsider.
The Outsider tops the chart at IMDB and Miracle of the White Stallions is no.1 at Rotten Tomatoes.
Funny you should mention the resemblance to Richard Chamberlain, according to IMDB – “James was the first choice to play Dr. Kildare in the 1961 TV series, but he was committed to another series (that never materialized) so the producers went with Richard Chamberlain.”
Three more dead actors in the coming week (oh Steve that’s harsh!)
😉
HI STEVE
Thanks for the comprehensive reply to my Franciscus posts.
I never knew that James was first in line for Dr Kildare. That’s one of the beauties of our exchanging posts because one is always picking up new trivia from other users of the site.
There is of course ALWAYS something new to learn because probably only The Master knew EVERYTHING in his day and he stopped imparting information to us in 1983.
It is a nuisance at times that the Yanks spell some words slightly differently from us. I find that my computer sometimes initially rejects certain words if I spell them the English way, and yet when I’m using a family member’s tablet or laptop on holiday for example rejection can occur if I use the American spelling.
The Valley of the Gwangi posters and stills in the Franciscus video reminded me of Lanzaroti. There is in fact a big poster of T Rex in the arrival lounge over there but I never before realised the significance of it until you told me about 1 Million Years BC being made there. See what I mean about the useful exchanges between us!
To me James Franciscus often resembled Richard Chamberlain in appearance but I used to confuse James with Tony Franciosa as both debuted in movies in the same year (1957) and of course Franciscus is easy to confuse with Franciosa as a surname.
James has relatively low scores against the success yardsticks by which I personally am usually able to gauge the extent of a movie star’s comparative achievements with those of other thespians. For example –
1/IMDB lists just 1 acting award and 3 noms for him.
2/His net worth on his death in 1991 was said to be just $1.5 million [approx $2.75 million in today’s dollars].
3/He has been starved of Master and [so far] Work Horse Love.
It is therefore nice to see you paying tribute to James and despite the brevity of the video it was well worth a 97.5% rating to me as the bulk of your posters were stunners and you include some 1st class stills as well– see my comments in Part 2.
HI STEVE – Well WH hasn’t replied to MY comments on his 1988 page. He obviously thinks that [to quote Lee J Cobb in On the Waterfront] “I’m just another guy around here!”
I make it just 6 Lancaster/Douglas movies –
I Walk Alone
Gunfight at OK Corral
The Devil’s Disciple
List of Adrian Messenger
7 Days in May
Victory at Entebbe [TV]
The Work Horse quotes 7 on his Burt pagebut he seems to believe that Victory at Entebbe (1976) was produced twice – once for the big screen AND separately for television whereas my sources claim there was just a TV movie. However WH may have picked up a big screen version that my sources haven’t identified. He’ll maybe comment further.
Adrian Messenger and Entebbe were both ensemble pictures with so many important stars in them that alphabetical billing had to be employed so that in Messenger for example the billing was-
Tony Curtis/Kirk Douglas/Burt Lancaster/Robert Mitchum/Frank Sinatra
However in the other 4 “normal” films that I have listed Burt was always billed first on screen, cast lists and posters. The local Curzon cinema here in Belfast produced a “rogue” poster for Tough Guys though which gave Kirk first billing. That annoyed me at the time as Burt marginally shaded Kirk in my affections. The poster reproductions for Tough Guys on IMDB and Wikipedia show the correct Lancaster/Douglas order of billing. “All his life he wanted to be Burt Lancaster.” quote from Kirk’s own biographer.
Bob, you forgot their last film together, Tough Guys, which you mention in the last paragraph. So thats 7 with tv movie Victory at Entebbe?
HI STEVE
Thanks – I stand corrected but I’m still blaming WH because he mentions Entebbe twice and highlights one as a TV movie in his list of Lancaster/Douglas movies on Burt’s Cogerson page.
If there ARE two versions of Entebbe then that would make 8 Lancaster/Douglas movies all told. Agreed?
Well, Bob, Bruce hasn’t answered my comment on 1988 Movies either. He did say that he was tired and would answer more comments “tomorrow” (my guess tonight before bedtime?)
HI FLORA
I didn’t mean any harm. I was just trying to wind him up for a bit of fun! I get the impression he likes a bit of cross-banter. If I thought I was annoying him I would stop it.
I am sorry if I gave you the impression I was being over-critical.
Not at all, Bob. I knew you were joking. I didn’t think he was going to be answering any comments until he got back home as he said in yesterday’s post of the day that he would be away from the computer for a few days. I just thought I’dd add that he hadn’t answered my comment either.Take care.
HI FLORA
Thanks for your clarification. I am glad that I hadn’t upset you because I know you’re a very fair-minded person and you would have had the right to be annoyed if you thought that I was being unreasonable to Bruce.
In fact I know how busy he is virtually 24-7 as the saying goes and indeed it is not for nothing that I nickname him The Work Horse!
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, comments, generous rating, info and trivia, it is appreciated. Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
I’ve never watched an episode of Wyatt Earp, it was before my time but I do remember Bonanza, The Virginian, High Chaparral and Alias Smith and Jones. Eventually the cowboy series was superseded by zillions of cop shows during the 1970s and glossy soap operas in the 1980s.
I knew Hugh O’Brian best from Bruce Lee’s final movie ‘Game of Death’, Lee died before finishing it and a look-alike was brought in to complete the movie. O’Brian played one of the villains.
Hugh had the distinction of being the last ever actor killed on screen by movie legend John Wayne (in The Shootist).
There are no 10 out of 10s from Hugh’s filmography, but there are two 9s – Broken Lance and The Shootist. Three films scored 8.
The Shootist tops the ratings at IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
According to IMDB – “Hugh’s vast investments over the years have been wise and fruitful with dividends paying well in stocks and bonds, real estate, bowling alleys, a building equipment firm, a theatre-in-the-round, an oil syndicate and his own television production company.”
When he died in 2016 his wife wrote “I said goodbye, early this Monday morning, to my favorite cowboy, I was one lucky cowgirl.”
HI STEVE
Thanks for the feedback on my O’Brian posts.
I never knew that Hugh was the last actor to be killed by The Duke on screen. The competition for that honour might well have been as stiff as the clamour for the part of Scarlett !
When you emphasise “on the screen” does that mean that Big John actually shot someone in real life too?
Of the TV western series you mention my favourite was The Virginian.
Interesting your quote about Hugh’s vast wealth. It probably explains why after his death no fewer than 3 young men surfaced claiming to be his illegitimate sons!
The O’Brian posters so excited me that I couldn’t wait to comment on them and took the O’Brian video out of turn, which means that you are probably annoyed with me again for not paying proper attention to due order of posts. My James Franciscus post will be with you shortly so all’s well that ends well.
Thanks Bob, I was going to wait until you posted your Franciscus review so I can finish replying to them together but I had time on my hands and Bruce might think I’d forgotten about his latest epic page.
Or wouldn’t he have noticed if I never responded to his 1988 page? hmmm what do you think? Would he get miffed, annoyed or never even notice? 😉
Completely ignored by The Master and possibly unknown to The Work Horse Hugh O’Brian was never one of my own fave actors [and I never watched even one of the episodes of his Wyatt Earp TV series] but your video was sheer enjoyment for me to the extent of a 98% rating as many of Hugh’s B movies that I grew up with are well showcased in your posters and stills.
My pick of the POSTERS (1) Stand at Apache River (2) 1st one for Ambush Bay (3) raunchy one for Love Has Many Faces (4) Back to God’s Country (5) Seminole (6) 1st one for The Brass Legend (7) both ones for Laddie’s O’Rourke of the Royal Mounted (8) Red Ball Express (9) Little Big Horn (10) 1st one for The Fiend (11) The Cimarron Kid (12) a truly unusual one for Duke’s The Shootist (13) foreign language one for Game of Death and (14) the 1stfor 10 Little Indians.
Ten Little Indians which was based on an Agatha Christie story was a remake of the 1945 Rene Clair classic And The there Were None starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston and Louis Hayward.
Best STILLS I think are (1) opening cover of a movie magazine [I think?] (2) lobby card for Africa Texas Style (3) lobby cards for Rocketship XM (4) lobby card of Hugh with Lana (5) lobby card for The Brass Legend (6) lobby card for The Fiend (7) with Audie (8) with my Richard (9) closing one of Hugh as Wyatt at the OK Corral (10) Game of Death and (11) Hugh with Charley Bill Stuart in The Man from the Alamo.
The Man from the Alamo was the kind of average “programmer” fare that Charley Bill was consigned to in the early 1950s during a lull in his career before the role of “Teach” in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle “reincarnated” him as one of the greatest box office stars of the 1950s and as in fact THE recognised No 1 US box office star in 1958.
NOTE I may have spelt O’Brian wrong in part one – if so apologies.