Tag: Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper’s Controversial 1980 Masterpiece OUT OF THE BLUE Getting a 4K Restoration and Theatrical Release

“Subvert normality. Punk is not sexual, it’s just aggression. Destroy. Kill All Hippies. I’m not talking at you, I’m talking to you. Anarchy. Disco sucks. I don’t wanna hear about you, I wanna hear from you. This is Gorgeous. Does anybody outthere read me? Disco sucks, kill all hippies. Pretty vacant, eh? Subvert normality. Signing off. This is Gorgeous. Signing off.”

“Thumbs Up! Bitter, unforgettable. An unsung treasure.” – Roger Ebert

Shocking. Controversial. Unforgettable.  – Dennis Hopper’s brilliant punk rock masterpiece of adolescent rebellion is ready for a new, long overdue close-up! 

A kind of spiritual sequel (and cautionary counterpoint) to Hopper’s own Easy Rider, OUT OF THE BLUE chronicles the idealism of the sixties decline into the hazy nihilism of the 1980’s. Here’s a new trailer for the restoration:

Don Barnes (Dennis Hopper) is a truck driver in prison for drunkenly smashing his rig into a school bus. Linda Manz (Days of Heaven) plays Cebe, his daughter, a teen rebel obsessed with Elvis and The Sex Pistols. Her mother (Sharon Farrell) waitresses, shoots up drugs and takes refuge in the arms of other men. Cebe runs away to Vancouver’s punk scene and ends up on probation under the care of psychiatrist Raymond Burr. After Don’s release, the family struggles to re-connect before the revelation of dark secrets leads to a harrowing conclusion. 

ABOUT DENNIS HOPPER:  Born in Dodge City, Kansas, May 17,1936: Actor-director Dennis Hopper’s “Out of the Blue” premiered at Cannes in 1980. His directorial debut, “Easy Rider “(1969, Cannes Award “Best First Work,” was a countercultural landmark whose success helped spark the New Hollywood era of seventies filmmaking). His follow-up “The Last Movie” (1971) won the CIDALC Critics Prize Award at the Venice Film Festival. He went on to direct “Out of the Blue,”(1980) – Official Cannes selection; “Colors,” (1988) “Backtrack,” (1990) and “The Hot Spot,” (1990). His 200+ acting roles include “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Giant,” “Mad Dog Morgan,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Blue Velvet,” and “Hoosiers” (Academy Award nomination, Best Supporting Actor). Also a renowned photographer and artist, Hopper died in Los Angeles, May 29, 2010.

FILM PRESERVATION – Working from the original 35mm negative restored by Discovery in 2010, John Alan Simon and Elizabeth Karr’s Discovery Productions undertook the digital scan and mastering of Out of the Blue to premiere as an official selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, preserving Hopper’s landmark film to make it available to new audiences.The New 4K restoration is being shown for the first time on the big screen theatrically at Metrograph in November, 2021 in New York.Despite critical acclaim at its original Cannes premiere in 1980, OUT OF THE BLUE went unreleased because it was considered too bleak for U.S. audiences. 

John Alan Simon, then a film critic/journalist, rescued the film from the shelf, secured distribution rights and took it on the road with Dennis Hopper back in 1982 to art house theaters across the U.S. including a 17-week record-breaking run at the Coolidge Corner Cinema in Boston and then NYC and Los Angeles theatrical releases.   

“It’s incredibly important to us that OUT OF THE BLUE be preserved for future generations to experience its emotional impact and as the artistic achievement that helped re-establish Dennis Hopper as an important American director,” commented Elizabeth Karr on behalf of Discovery Productions.

“For me, this restoration project was pay-back for all I learned from Dennis Hopper when we originally took OUT OF THE BLUE on the road in 1982 after I rescued it from the shelf.  He was an amazing artist and friend and OUT OF THE BLUE remains as unforgettable as he was and serves as an indelible tribute to the talents of Linda Manz,” John Alan Simon from Discovery Productions concluded.

Cinema St. Louis’ Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 Series Continues With EASY RIDER This Sunday September 8th at 1:30pm

“You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.”

Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 features 6 classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This second edition focuses on 1969 and features a half-dozen films, all screening for free at the St. Louis Public Library (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) over 3 weekends in late summer.  (This series kicked off August 31st at 1:30pm with MIDNIGHT COWBOY). On Saturday September 14th at 1:30pm the ’69 film will be THE WILD BUNCH directed by Sam Peckinpah. There will be an intro and post-film Q&A with W.K. Stratton, author of The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film . Admission is FREE. A Facebook invite can be found HERE

EASY RIDER (1969) is much more than a 60s relic – it’s still a great movie even today. I find it fascinating that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda took Roger Corman material and gave it an European- influenced arthouse approach. Combined with breathtaking visuals, a well-chosen rock soundtrack and some classic, stoned, improvised dialogue EASY RIDER is still an impressive movie all these years later. Fonda had recently made THE WILD ANGELS, Hopper the less remembered THE GLORY STOMPERS, and Jack Nicholson HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS, but EASY RIDER reinvented the biker movie (or technically created a new subgenre: the “hippy” Biker Film), and things were never quite the same in Hollywood for the rest of the Seventies. The supporting cast is interesting and includes a great role for the fantastically underrated Luke Askew as the “Stranger on Highway”, and cameos from the star’s buddies Robert Walker Jr, Luana Anders and Sabrina Scharf, as well Karen Black and Toni Basil’s New Orleans hookers, Look for Phil Spector’s coke snorting bit part, and a fleeting glimpse of young Grizzly Adams Dan Haggerty. You either love EASY RIDER or you don’t, and I’m most definitely in the former camp. A 1960s generation-defining counter-culture classic!

Here is the rest of the schedule for Cinema St. Louis’ Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 Series

The Wild Bunch Saturday, Sep. 14 at 1:00pm

Women in Love Sunday, Sep. 15 at 1:00pm

EASY RIDER Rocks Back into U.S. Theaters July 14th & 17th

Massively influential and enormously popular, “Easy Rider” became the film event for an entire generation when it was released on July 14, 1969, less than a week before a human being landed on the moon – and for the film industry, “Easy Rider” turned out to be as significant as that event. Now, exactly 50 years after it became a cultural touchstone, “Easy Rider” is returning to movie theaters across the country for two days only: Sunday, July 14, and Wednesday, July 17

Tickets for “Easy Rider”can be purchased today at www.FathomEvents.com and at participating theater box offices. 

Fathom Events and Sony Pictures Entertainment present “Easy Rider” in more than 400 movie theaters at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day. For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

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“In 1969, I went looking for America,” said star Peter Fonda, who co-wrote the film with Terry Southern and director Dennis Hopper. “Fifty years later, I’m still looking …” The Fathom Events presentation will also include a brand-new, exclusive introduction by Fonda.

A massive box-office hit when it was released, “Easy Rider” did more than impress a generation of young, disillusioned Americans, who had never seen themselves represented in film quite as accurately before. The film was also a critical hit, The New York Times called it “A statement on film,” and Hopper received the First Film Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. 

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Fifty years later, “Easy Rider” returns to the South of France where Peter Fonda will present a restored 4K version of the film from its original 35mm original picture negative this month at Cannes Classics 2019. The restoration, which will be used for the Fathom Events screenings, was done by Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna.

Co-star Jack Nicholson and the film’s screenplay were both nominated for Oscars®. In 1998, “Easy Rider”was added to the National Film Registry, and the iconic movie is also part of the American Film Institute’s list of 100 best American films.

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“A seminal counterculture film that spoke for a generation, ‘Easy Rider’ captured the imagination and social consciousness of the late ‘60s,” said Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations Tom Lucas. “On the big screen fifty years later, the film continues to resonate, doing so beautifully in its new 4K restoration.”  

Born to be Wild! EASY RIDER Returns to Theaters 50 Years After Its First Release

Massively influential and enormously popular, “Easy Rider” became the film event for an entire generation when it was released on July 14, 1969, less than a week before a human being landed on the moon – and for the film industry, “Easy Rider” turned out to be as significant as that event. Now, exactly 50 years after it became a cultural touchstone, “Easy Rider” is returning to movie theaters across the country for two days only: Sunday, July 14, and Wednesday, July 17.

Tickets for “Easy Rider”can be purchased today at www.FathomEvents.com and at participating theater box offices. 

Fathom Events and Sony Pictures Entertainment present “Easy Rider” in more than 400 movie theaters at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day. For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

“In 1969, I went looking for America,” said star Peter Fonda, who co-wrote the film with Terry Southern and director Dennis Hopper. “Fifty years later, I’m still looking …” The Fathom Events presentation will also include a brand-new, exclusive introduction by Fonda.

A massive box-office hit when it was released, “Easy Rider” did more than impress a generation of young, disillusioned Americans, who had never seen themselves represented in film quite as accurately before. The film was also a critical hit, The New York Times called it “A statement on film,” and Hopper received the First Film Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. 

Fifty years later, “Easy Rider” returns to the South of France where Peter Fonda will present a restored 4K version of the film from its original 35mm original picture negative this month at Cannes Classics 2019. The restoration, which will be used for the Fathom Events screenings, was done by Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna.

Co-star Jack Nicholson and the film’s screenplay were both nominated for Oscars®. In 1998, “Easy Rider”was added to the National Film Registry, and the iconic movie is also part of the American Film Institute’s list of 100 best American films.

“A seminal counterculture film that spoke for a generation, ‘Easy Rider’ captured the imagination and social consciousness of the late ‘60s,” said Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations Tom Lucas. “On the big screen fifty years later, the film continues to resonate, doing so beautifully in its new 4K restoration.”  

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Julie Adams Has Died – WAMG Interview With the Star of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Julie Adams, the beautiful, leggy brunette with the cascading curls best remembered as the ‘Girl in the White One-Piece’ in the 1954 horror classic CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), has died. She was 92.

Julie will always be best known as Kay Lawrence, the beauty that the Gillman falls in love with the moment he spies her swimming above him in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). Mimicking her movements in the water, the Creature performs a lustful underwater mating dance – he’s directly beneath her but she’s unaware of his amorous overtures in the murky depths of the river. It’s a desire most men (and monster kids) could relate to and Julie Adams is the actress who will always be fondly remembered as the ‘girl in the white one-piece’.

Born Betty May Adams and raised near Little Rock Arkansas, Julie was bit by the acting bug early and moved to California to become an actress. She worked as a secretary to support herself and spent her free time taking speech lessons and making the rounds at the various movie studio casting departments. She began her film career in a series of low-budget westerns starring James Ellison and Russell Hayden. She billed herself under her real name until she was signed by Universal in 1949 where she changed it to Julia, and eventually the less-formal sounding Julie. Her breakthrough role was as the wealthy fiancee of newly blinded GI Arthur Kennedy in BRIGHT VICTORY in 1951. She followed this up with major roles opposite James Stewart in BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), Robert Ryan in HORIZONS WEST (1952), Rock Hudson in THE LAWLESS BREED (1953) and Glenn Ford in MAN FROM THE ALAMO (1953). The role that would garner her cult movie immortality was of course as the imperiled–and fetchingly underclad—heroine in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Julie Adams followed this up with more starring roles; FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (1954), SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS with Tony Curtis (1956), and ONE DESIRE (1956). She cut down on her film appearances in the early 1960s to focus on television, a medium that permitted her to hold out for meatier acting assignments. She acted in hundreds of TV shows over the next several decades, including regular parts in The Jimmy Stewart Show (as Stewart’s wife), a recurring role on Murder She Wrote, and all the way up to CSI, Cold Case, and Lost. She still acted in the occasional theatrical film including TICKLE ME with Elvis Presley (1965), and THE LAST MOVIE, director Dennis Hopper’s 1971 follow-up to EASY RIDER.

Julie Adams was married to actor/director Ray Danton from 1955 to 1978 and they worked together a number of times in film and on television. Their sons Steve and Mitch Danton have both worked behind the scenes in the film business for many years.

In 2012, after numerous requests from fans, Julie Adams, and with help from her son Mitch, she wrote her autobiography. The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections from the Black Lagoon covers her entire career and is packed with rare photographs of the actress from the movies and television shows she acted in. The book is available from Julie Adam’s website HERE and sells for $29.95, plus $3.00 for postage in the U.S., or $15 for International postage.

www.julieadams.biz

In 2012 Julie Adams was kind enough to take the time to speak to We Are Movie Geeks about her life, her career, and that scaly green monster.

Julie in publicity photos from THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman March 8th, 2012

We Are Movie Geeks: Greetings from St. Louis. Have you ever been to our city before?

Julie Adams: Yes, many years ago I performed at the Barn Dinner Theater there.

WAMG: Oh, that place is long gone.

JA: It was some time ago. We had fun there.

WAMG: I’d like to start out asking some questions about THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and then discuss other films from your career. You didn’t do horror movie conventions until 2002, what was it like attending your first con?

JA: I found it amazing that people were still enjoying that movie. It’s pretty old. It was lovely. It was really fun.

WAMG: Horror fans are a special breed. We become a little obsessive.

JA: I never mind obsessive. It’s very nice when people have enjoyed the movies. That’s what we made them for

WAMG: Why do you think THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON has endured and has attracted such rabid fans and does it surprise you?

JA: I am surprised really, but I think so much of the credit has to go to Jack Arnold our director and to the good script. It was just well done, but I am surprised really that has survived and that people still enjoy it so much. I’m delighted.

WAMG: Does it bother you that CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is what you’ll always be best known for.

JA: I’ve been in show business a long time and I figure whatever people love, then more power to it. Even though so many focus on THE CREATURE, they’ve also seen BEND OF THE RIVER and other things as well so no, I think we have to take it all with  a grain of salt and a good sense of humor.

WAMG: Do you wish you had acted in more monster movies?

JA: No. I think it’s wonderful that I did one that everybody loves so much but that’s enough. I really didn’t want to make that my whole career.

WAMG: They’ve made Creature toys, but more recently, they’ve made Julie Adams toys to go with them, Do you own these?

JA: I don’t think I have those but I’ve signed some of them.

WAMG: That white one piece swimming suit is as iconic a piece of movie wardrobe as Dorothy’s slippers or Travolta’s disco suit – what happened to that?

JA: People ask me that often, but I say it has gone the way of all latex. Long since disintegrated on its own.

WAMG: I guess they weren’t very visionary in those days in terms of keeping that kind of stuff.

JA: Well, who would have thought we’d even be talking about this movie all these years later. We didn’t know these things would become iconic many years later. We just made a movie.

WAMG: The Eel costume (an early version of the Creature costume featured in photos in Julie’s book) was interesting – it looks like an unfinished version of the Creature.

JA: I think they experimented for a while until they came up with something everyone liked. That one sort of looked like an eel, very smooth and so on. They tested them for different looks and then they chose the right one.

WAMG: You write that they shut down production for a couple of weeks to redesign the Creature. What was it like when they unveiled the final Creature costume?

JA: Oh, it was a real shock when we saw the Creature. And you can see from the pictures in the book that I look a little awestruck, kind of taken aback when I saw it at first. I thought it was quite wonderful, extraordinary, and a little scary which of course is exactly what is was supposed to be.

WAMG: Where were the underwater scenes filmed?

JA: That was all filmed in Florida at Wakulla Springs. I never got to be there during the shooting but I went there later to promote the movie.

WAMG: Why did they use a body double for some of the swimming shots? Was that a professional swimmer?

JA: Yes, that was Ginger Stanley. She was just wonderful. She and Ricou Browning (who wore the Creature suit in the underwater sequences) were both part of water shows in southern California and Florida and they were both just incredible swimmers of course.

WAMG: You mention you were friends with Lori Nelson, who starred in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE. Have you appeared at conventions with her?

JA: Yes, at one. Lori was a good friend and we worked together on BEND OF THE RIVER and we were always friends. Lovely person.

WAMG: Do you know if you were ever considered by Universal to star in any of the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON sequels?

JA: Not that I know of, no. And I think it’s just as well. It makes our movie stand out more. It was the original.

WAMG: What about Ben Chapman (who wore the Creature suit in the out-of-water scenes) ? What kind of guy was he?

JA: Ben was such a great guy. He was a great friend, warm and funny. I really treasured him as a friend.

WAMG: Did you ever work with director Jack Arnold again?

JA: No, that was the only time I worked with Jack but I enjoyed it very much. He was very professional and very skilled. There was never any nonsense going on and he worked very hard. You always felt that you were doing good work with him.

WAMG: If they remade CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON would you like to have a cameo?

JA: Oh, I don’t know if I want to appear all these years later to the fans. Let’s see the original and see me as I was all those years ago.

WAMG: I think those fans would love to see you in it though, perhaps in a walk-on or small part.

JA: Well, if they ever did it and they asked me, of course I would say yes.

WAMG: Good. Enough about the Creature. Let’s talk a bit about journey from Little Rock Arkansas to Hollywood.

JA: I had my ‘Aunt Ruth’, she was really my father’s first wife who had always loved him. She owned a bathing suit shop in Long Beach and she outfitted girls for bathing beauty contests and the like. She got in touch with me in Arkansas and she knew that I had been in drama classes and she said that if I ever wanted a go at something in the movies, I could go out to her and she’d help me out. So I took her up on it. When I came to California, I came first to Long Beach. A young woman who worked with her in her shop had an appointment in Hollywood. Her name was Valerie Sorelle and so I shared an apartment with her. So that was the connection.

WAMG: So many of your early films were westerns.  Why do you think that was? Could you ride a horse?

JA: Yes, I’ve always loved horses and back in Arkansas they had horse shows at certain times of the year at a park near where I lived and I was friends with some of the people at the stables and I would ride the horses and was crazy about them, so I was already a fairly good rider and I loved doing westerns.

WAMG: So it was a good match

JA: Yes, it was kind of a natural.

Julie with Kerwin Mathews is TARAWA BEACHEAD (1958) and with Van Heflin in WINGS OF THE HAWK (1953)

WAMG: Was it difficult for an actress to get  a contract with a studio like Universal in those days. What was it like being under contract with Universal.

JA: I guess it wasn’t terribly easy but I had been out to read for Sophie Rosenstein who was the head of casting at Universal for young players. She liked me and she brought me out to assist in a screen test. It wasn’t my screen test, it was somebody else. Then she turned the camera around and shot my part of the test and from that, they brought me out to read for BRIGHT VICTORY with Arthur Kennedy. It was the story of a blinded veteran back from the war and I got the part of his previous girlfriend. It didn’t really work out, but I got that part and it was a very nice part in BRIGHT VICTORY from that. They had an option on the contract and Universal picked up the option and I was under contract which was lovely.

WAMG: Who were some of your favorite leading men to work with?

JA: I think I have to put James Stewart at the top of the list. BEND OF THE RIVER was one of my first assignments and it was great to work with such a wonderful screen actor. I remember watching him do  a close-up, I was off-camera, I though how wonderful, he was not doing anything but everything was there in his face. Great lessons for a screen actor. And of course I got to work with Arthur Kennedy and Rock Hudson and I were great friends and we did a couple of movies together. I was very fortunate.

Julie with Richard Conte in HOLLYWOOD STORY (1951) and in PSYCHIC KILLER (1975)

WAMG: You costarred with Jimmy Stewart in a TV show a couple of decades later. Didn’t you play his wife in that show?

JA: I did, I played his wife on The Jimmy Stewart Show.

WAMG: But he was at least twenty years older than you.

JA: That’s right but I didn’t care and the audience didn’t seem to care. I always said my idea of heaven was going to work with Jimmy Stewart every day for six months.

WAMG: Jimmy Stewart and Rock Hudson were both tall men.

JA: Oh yes, Jimmy Stewart was about 6 foot 3.

WAMG: Were you tall? Did that play a part in why you were cast with them?

JA: I was about 5′ 7″ which was about average so I don’t think so.

Julie with Rock Hudson in ONE DESIRE (1953) and with John Wayne in McQ (1974)

WAMG: What about Tony Curtis? What was he like?

JA: Oh, Tony was great fun. We were always good friends. I remember a couple of years later in I was in the commissary at Universal and Tony came in after we’d worked on the movie (SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS), he came rushing in and gave me a hug. Always a very charming fellow Tony, I liked him very much.

WAMG: Can you describe meeting Elvis for the first time when you worked with him in TICKLE ME?

JA: It was not that difficult because I was not really and Elvis Presley fan. I wasn’t in awe of him or anything. I’m from the South so I felt very at home with Elvis because he was a really charming young Southern gentleman. I kind of knew his type and I like him very much.

WAMG: What was it like to work with him as an actor?

JA: Completely professional. Always very prepared. As I said, such a charming fellow. There was one scene where I was in the nightclub and we did a singing number. And I was in awe because I watched him and he did it in one take, walking all around and he was really working to a playback but he he was perfect. That was amazing. I enjoyed working with him very very much. I was the “older” woman in the picture. I think I was about 35 then, and there were as lot of young ladies there and he sent all of us flowers on the first day of shooting. A lovely experience.

WAMG: You married actor Ray Danton in 1955. What Hollywood couples did you and Ray Danton hang out with?

JA: I don’t know if we really hung out with other couples. I stayed friends with Rock Hudson, and Sally Kellerman was a friend and Bob Rafelson. I even knew Robert Blake and his family. Neville Brand was a friend.

WAMG: Did you ever work with or meet Charles Bronson?

JA: No. I never worked with him. I thought he was very good, but I never got a chance to work with him.

Julie with Elvis in TICKLE ME (1965) and with Dennis Hopper in THE LAST MOVIE (1971)

WAMG: You did a ton of TV work in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. What were some of your favorite shows to work on?

JA: I worked with Chuck Conners on The Rifleman. It was one episode but it was going to be a recurring role but it didn’t work out because of my pregnancy. I loved working on Big Valley. I got to work with Barbara Stanwyck which was just fantastic. I was so thrilled to be working with a big movie star I had seen on the screen back in Arkansas and she was such a great person as well as being such a fantastic actress. I played a villainess and got to push her around. There was a lot of good television work around in those days.

WAMG: What was it like on The Andy Griffith Show with Don Knotts.

JA: Well that was great fun. A lot of laughs. Andy Griffith was from the south so I felt right at home with him and Don Knotts was just a really funny delightful guy so I had a great time working on that show.

WAMG: I recently read a biography of Dennis Hopper and your recollection of working on the LAST MOVIE is very different from what’s described in that book. The book paints the making of that film as a drug-addled bacchanalia but you describe it much differently.

JA: I remember arriving in Peru to film that and visiting the set to see what everyone was doing and they were improvising a lot. I thought that was okay and I could do that. I had a fun time. It was very loose and I had a really fun character to play. She was very sexy and I usually didn’t get to play that kind of part. I liked Dennis. He worked very hard. There was all that stuff about all sorts of crazy things going on in Peru but I never saw Dennis being crazy or high on something. What he did after work, I have no idea.

WAMG: What inspired you to write your memoirs?

JA: I had been at a screening at the Egyptian Theater of SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS and my son Mitch and I came out of the theater and there was a fan there who asked if I had a book. Mitch and I looked at each other and an idea was born.

WAMG: What’s next for Julie Adams?

JA: I don’t really know. I’m at the stage where if I’m working, that’s fine, but if I’m not, it’s nice not to have to be somewhere at 6:30 am. I’ve got 4 or 5 conventions lined up that I’ll be attending. There’s a huge interest in the book and people are inviting me everywhere.

WAMG: The book is terrific and the photos in it are wonderful. Good luck with the book and thanks for taking the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks.

JA: You’re so welcome.

Julie Adams, still beautiful today

3-Disc Limited Edition of WATERWORLD Available on Blu-ray January 22nd from Arrow Video

  
The most expensive film ever made at the time of its release, WATERWORLD has thrilled audiences through the years with its awe-inspiring action scenes, gargantuan maritime sets and ground-breaking special effects.


A definitive post-apocalypse blockbuster, Waterworld stars Kevin Costner (The Untouchables) as The Mariner – a mutant trader, adrift in a dystopian future where Earth is submerged under water and humankind struggles to survive on boats and in ramshackle floating cities. The Mariner becomes embroiled with the Smokers, a gang of pirates who, led by villainous leader Deacon (Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet), are seeking Enola (Tina Majorino, Napoleon Dynamite), a girl with a map to the mythical realm of Dryland tattooed on her back.


Famous for both its epic scale and the controversy that swirled around its production, Waterworld is a key cult film of the 1990s, and an essential entry into the subgenre of ecologically-minded blockbusters. Presented here in an exclusive new restoration, in three different cuts, and with a wealth of extra material, this high-water mark of high-concept Hollywood can now be enjoyed as never before.


THREE-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

  • New restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative by Arrow Films, presenting the film in three cuts
  • Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo audio options
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Six collector s postcards
  • Double-sided fold-out poster
  • Limited edition 60-page perfect-bound book featuring new writing on the film by David J. Moore and Daniel Griffith, archival articles and original reviews
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper


DISC ONE THE THEATRICAL CUT

  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the original theatrical cut
  • Maelstrom: The Odyssey of Waterworld, an all-new, feature-length making-of documentary including extensive cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage
  • Original archival featurette capturing the film’s production
  • Global Warnings, film critic Glenn Kenny explores the subgenre of ecologically aware Hollywood blockbusters
  • Production and promotional stills gallery
  • Visual effects stills gallery
  • Original trailers and TV spots


DISC TWO THE EXTENDED CUTS [LIMTED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]

  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the extended US TV cut, which runs over 40 minutes longer than the theatrical cut
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the extended European Ulysses cut, which includes censored shots and dialogue

DISC THREE – THE “ULYSSES” CUT [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]:
– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the extended European “Ulysses” cut, which include previously censored shots and dialogue

SUPER MARIO BROS. Screening at Schlafly Bottleworks July 5th – ‘Strange Brew


“I’ll kill that plumber!”


SUPER MARIO BROS. screens Wednesday, July 5th at 8pm at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143) as part of Webster University’s Award-Winning Strange Brew Film Series. Admission is $5


SUPER MARIO BROS. was one of those movies that received hideous reviews when it came out in 1993, but has developed a cult following thanks to fond memories of all the young boys who saw it when it was new and are now adults. SUPER MARIO BROS. was not based directly on the games, but rather lives in the world of it. It would not have been wise to make a movie with a silent plumber hitting his head off bricks and jumping down green tubes. Sometimes artistic license is necessary.


The Mario Bros. (Bob Hoskins and John Leguiziamo) are still at their respective trades but live in Manhattan and are taken into another dimension known as the Mushroom Kingdom by Princess Daisy (Samantha Mathis) that’s inhabited by creatures evolved from dinosaurs and ruled by an evil lizard king (Dennis Hopper)


I am surprised at just how well SUPER MARIO BROS. has held up (and improved) over the years. The little quirky touches that indicate just how different their world is from ours is great, I love the forceful shove through the police station and the chicken coop jail cells, I love Toad’s song and the fungus, the stomper boots, the crazy old woman, the pumping Boom-Boom Bar where “Love Is A Drug” plays and comes complete with fire displays and psychedelic projections in the background. I love Big Bertha and the spiky edges on everything including the city’s steampunk-like inhabitants, clothing, cushions, doors, walls and even on mundane items such as a box of tissue paper! I love the Goombas despite their awkwardness and the old Fungus King is amazingly slimy and grotesque. Can you imagine if he had been done with CGI? SUPER MARIO BROS. is ripe for rediscovery and you’ll have your chance Wednesday night at Schlafly Bottleworks.

A Facebook Invite for the event can be found HERE

30th Anniversary – BLUE VELVET Plays at The Moolah Beginning Friday

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“I have your disease in me now.”

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BLUE VELVET will be showing for one week beginning Friday, April 29th at the Moolah Theater

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BLUE VELVET  is set in the quiet picture postcard logging community of Lumbertown. Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), a somewhat naive and squeaky clean college boy, finds a severed human ear. Shocked and disturbed, he reports it immediately to the police while, with the help of his girlfriend (Laura Dern), he begins his own investigation, which soon leads him into stumbling into the seedy and violent world of abused nightclub singer Dorothy (Isabella Rosellini) and drug-sniffing psychopath (Dennis Hopper). BLUE VELVET is the first movie in which David Lynch really showed us all his cards and united themes and imagery, now familiar to millions through the likes of MULLHOLLAND DRIVE, WILD AT HEART and Twin Peaks. Now 30 years old, David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET has lost none of its shock value. It is still deeply and uniquely disturbing, at times incredibly surreal and utterly compelling viewing. Beautifully filmed and directed by Lynch, its aesthetic value is often deliberately at odds with the subject matter and it is a work of dark genius. It also features superb acting performances all round. In particular, MacLachlan, Rosselinni, Dean Stockwell and Laura Dern shine, but it is Dennis Hopper’s berserk performance as a drug sniffing twisted psychopath that most people remember.

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Now it’s time to see BLUE VELVET on the big screen again. St. Louis’ The Moolah Theater (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108) will showing the film for one week beginning Friday, April 29th.

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Showtimes:

Fri & Sat: (2:00), (4:30), 7:00, 9:30, 12:00 AM

Sun: (2:00), (4:30), 7:00, 9:30

Mon – Wed: (4:30), 7:00, 9:30 Thu: (4:30 PM)

16mm Screening of EASY RIDER October 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks

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“You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.”

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EASY RIDER screens in 16mm at 7:30pm Monday October 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood

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The perfect film to watch in old-school 16mm!

EASY RIDER (1969) is much more than a 60s relic – it’s still a great movie even today. I find it fascinating that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda took Roger Corman material and gave it an European- influenced arthouse approach. Combined with breathtaking visuals, a well-chosen rock soundtrack and some classic, stoned, improvised dialogue EASY RIDER is still an impressive movie all these years later. Fonda had recently made THE WILD ANGELS, Hopper the less remembered THE GLORY STOMPERS, and Jack Nicholson HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS, but EASY RIDER reinvented the biker movie (or technically created a new subgenre: the “hippy” Biker Film), and things were never quite the same in Hollywood for the rest of the Seventies. The supporting cast is interesting and includes a great role for the fantastically underrated Luke Askew as the “Stranger on Highway”, and cameos from the star’s buddies Robert Walker Jr, Luana Anders and Sabrina Scharf, as well Karen Black and Toni Basil’s New Orleans hookers, Look for Phil Spector’s coke snorting bit part, and a fleeting glimpse of young Grizzly Adams Dan Haggerty. You either love EASY RIDER or you don’t, and I’m most definitely in the former camp. A 1960s generation-defining counter-culture classic!

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If you haven’t seen EASY RIDER on the big screen (and I confess I have not except for one time at a Drive-in on the 4th of July in 1979 when patrons were shooting bottle rockets at the screen), you’ll have your chance Monday October 5th when it screens (on 16mm film) at Schlafly Bottleworks beginning at 7:30 as part of Schlafly’s monthly Vintage Bike Night.

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So ride over to Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood for a great night of vintage and classic motorcycles, scooters, mopeds – all while sipping our favorite local beer and watching EASY RIDER. Get to know other movie buffs, gear heads, hang with custom builders and shop owners. If you don’t have a vintage bike to show off, come learn about what kind of ride might be right for you. Did we mention the great beer? And the Bottleworks is open for dinner til 10.

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Biker night starts at 6 – EASY RIDER begins unspooling at 7:30. Admission to the film is free but there will be a donations jar accepting donations for the National Childern’s Cancer Society.

A facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1645874218989829/

Hope to see you there!

EASY RIDER Screens on 16mm October 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks

easy-heade-560r

“You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.”

Easy-Rider-Dies-2013

EASY RIDER screens in 16mm at 7:30pm Monday October 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood

easy2

EASY RIDER (1969) is much more than a 60s relic – it’s still a great movie even today. I find it fascinating that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda took Roger Corman material and gave it an European- influenced arthouse approach. Combined with breathtaking visuals, a well-chosen rock soundtrack and some classic, stoned, improvised dialogue EASY RIDER is still an impressive movie all these years later. Fonda had recently made THE WILD ANGELS, Hopper the less remembered THE GLORY STOMPERS, and Jack Nicholson HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS, but EASY RIDER reinvented the biker movie (or technically created a new subgenre: the “hippy” Biker Film), and things were never quite the same in Hollywood for the rest of the Seventies. The supporting cast is interesting and includes a great role for the fantastically underrated Luke Askew as the “Stranger on Highway”, and cameos from the star’s buddies Robert Walker Jr, Luana Anders and Sabrina Scharf, as well Karen Black and Toni Basil’s New Orleans hookers, Look for Phil Spector’s coke snorting bit part, and a fleeting glimpse of young Grizzly Adams Dan Haggerty. You either love EASY RIDER or you don’t, and I’m most definitely in the former camp. A 1960s generation-defining counter-culture classic!

EASYRIDER-SPTI-14.tif

If you haven’t seen EASY RIDER on the big screen (and I confess I have not except for one time at a Drive-in on the 4th of July in 1979 when patrons were shooting bottle rockets at the screen), you’ll have your chance Monday September 14th when it screens (on 16mm film) at Schlafly Bottleworks beginning at 7:30 as part of Schlafly’s monthly Vintage Bike Night.

easy-rider-62-a

So ride over to Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood for a great night of vintage and classic motorcycles, scooters, mopeds – all while sipping our favorite local beer and watching EASY RIDER. Get to know other movie buffs, gear heads, hang with custom builders and shop owners. If you don’t have a vintage bike to show off, come learn about what kind of ride might be right for you. Did we mention the great beer? And the Bottleworks is open for dinner til 10.

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Biker night starts at 6 – EASY RIDER begins unspooling at 7:30. Admission to the film is free but there will be a donations jar accepting donations for the National Childern’s Cancer Society.

A facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1645874218989829/

Hope to see you there!