Sunday, July 10, 2011

Has 'On The Road' Been Delayed?

I was searching around the net kind of casually looking for news about the upcoming film version of "On The Road." I saw a couple of blogs saying the movie had a release date of early December in France, but no US date, other than a vague announcement it would be later in 2011.

But the "On The Road" listing on IMDB has been updated to say that both the France and USA release will come in 2012. The film has apparently been in postproduction since last December. The film is produced by Francis Ford Coppolla, among others, and directed by Walter Salles. It has an interesting cast.

Delays usually mean trouble, so we'll see.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337692/

-- LT

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Peter Falk The Troubador

By Lars Trodson

The only appropriate analogy for John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel I can think of is to the members of the Beat generation. Each group inspired each other, argued with each other, propped each other up when others were down, and generally swam against the tide even when very few people believed in them.

When Peter Falk died last week I really wasn’t thinking about Lt. Columbo, although I love that character. I was thinking of this group of actors that supported each other’s dreams and aspirations in a way you really don’t see any more. They created a body of work that is unique, just like the Beats did.

They worked for each other even though there was no money involved. Orson Welles had his itinerant group of actors that helped him out over the years - Akim Tamiroff and the like - and so did Cassavetes. This included Peter Falk.

Falk gave money to Cassavetes so he could complete “A Woman Under The Influence” in 1974. They made “Husbands” together, which is ambling but beautiful. Falk appeared in a cameo in “Opening Night.” Everytime you see these guys in an interview they’re smoking and sitting in some bar or restaurant. They’re invariably fiddling with a cigarette lighter. I suppose this glamorizes smoking but so what.