LikeTelevision Blog

Friday, May 25, 2007

Marion's Memorial Day Musings




Happy Birthday to Marion.... i mean John Wayne, also known by his moniker - The Duke! On May 26, 1907 - John Wayne (Marion Michael Morrison), was born in Winterset, Iowa. So... pilgrim, John Wayne's 100th year birthday bash begins this weekend! Though loved by millions of fans for his straight forward honesty and no nonsense nature, the critics were not that friendly. He was too gruff, and bull headed. etc etc... a man's man - not the sensitive mamby pamby type of guy Hollywood critics embrace. But - cut the man some slack - that is just how he was. He would go on to win just one Oscar in 1970 for Best Actor in True Grit, as the one eyed tough guy - Rooster Cogburn.

LikeTelevision features a really fun John Wayne movie called McLintock - where politically incorrect testosterone grit - just shines. The movie even features a scene where he spanks his estranged wife, played beautifully by a wonderful actress named Maureen O'Hara. (go to the McLintock page to see an enhanced frame of the spanking, in all its glory). Even more fun - is the incredibly funny home grown funny trailer, made by LikeTelevision's witty virtuso Frank Random. The trailer was made shortly after 09/11/2001... and it remains a great peice of biting acerbic satire today. (The Duke's name in the film is George W. McLintock... and the trailer makes an implied reference to George W, aka Dubya the younger.... and offers a terrific suggestion for this holiday weekend - "let's not let an old Indian raid ruin a good Barbeque - Meat's ON!). Anyway... in honor of John Wayne, and the upcoming long Memorial Day Weekend - we thought the trailer was worth highlighting.

Also of note - it's Tonto's birthday (05/26/12 - Born in Ontario, Canada)... aka the very cool actor named Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto on the Lone Ranger. And also Robert Morley has a birthday today (b. May 26, 1908 in Semley, Wiltshire, England, UK) - he was a wonderful British actor who you'd probably recognize - but couldn't remember his name. While most might remember him in John Huston's classic - Beat the Devil (written by Truman Capote) with Humphrey Bogart, Gini Lolabrigida, and Peter Lorre... and the stunning Jennifer Jones, who was married to Hollywood heavyweight producer, David O. Selznick. (she was awesome in The Man with the Grey Flannel Suit and A Farewell to Arms with Gary Cooper - but i digress). Let's get back to Robert Morley - if you wanna have some fun - by all means check out Theater of Blood (starring Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, and Robert Morley). Morley plays a harsh critic of washed up Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart (Uncle Vinny)... In Theater of Blood, Morley plays an effeminate (perhaps gay, who knows... ) critic who just loves his 2 little toy poodles. Anyway... Vincent Price exacts revenge on all these critics by acting out some horror from a Shakepeare play.... in Morley's case, the play is TITUS ANDRONICUS... where the character ends up eating his own children baked in a pie. Since Morley has no kids ... Uncle Vinny decides to serve him the little poodles baked in a pie. It is one of the most wonderful scenes.. you probably never even heard about. As chilling as anything Quentin Tarantino ever served up. And in case you missed it... or don't have time to watch it... by all means check out the trailer, again - pure genius by LikeTelevision's own Frank Random.. and read the commentary, which features all kinds of wonderful references to Shakespeare, and the fate met by the critics.

TITUS ANDRONICUS:

Why, there they are both, baked in that pie;
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point.