Those who like their group sex comedies on the neurotic side (with more stewing than screwing) might want to check out “Charlie’s Party,” the small 2005 comedy directed by Catherine Cahn and produced by “The Station Agent” producer Barry Sisson. Think of it as a “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” for uptight East … Continue reading »
Filed under Interviews …
The Hollywood Fixer: “Galaxina” Director William Sachs
Director William Sachs is perhaps best known for “Galaxina,” the deliberately schlocky, Mel Brooks-esque spoof of “Star Wars” and other sci-fi epics. Released in 1980, the film featured Dorothy Stratten–the 20 year-old Playboy centerfold murdered the same year by her husband–in her most prominent film role, as a sexy, mostly mute robot that wows a … Continue reading »
An interview with Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey hates so-called “independent” cinema. He hates being lumped into that genre, even though he could be seen as a pioneer of the current small-scale indie film format. In 1965, at age 27, the budding filmmaker began collaborating with Andy Warhol on film projects; by 1967, the films released by the Warhol Factory bore … Continue reading »
Critic-Proof Wackiness: The Films of Charlie Loventhal
Imagine you’re an insecure, unimposing male freshman at a school dominated by forthright, often angry women. Overwhelmed by your regular academic schedule, by the often humorless discourse in your psychology class (in which you are the only male student), you enroll in a film studies course, where you hope your goofy pluck will endear you … Continue reading »
Enviable Debauchery: Interview with Norman Thaddeus Vane
Director/writer Norman Thaddeus Vane has certainly led a full life, if not always a successful one. He was a ladies man in high school in Long Island, in the hip Swinging Sixties nightclubs of Chelsea, London (some of which he owned and operated), in the Hollywood Hills during the sex-crazed 1970s and early 1980s. Judging … Continue reading »
My Life as a Sequel: Interview with “Drawing with Chalk’s” Todd Giglio
If you’d talked to aspiring filmmaker/musician Todd Giglio five years ago about his personal artistic struggles, his story would basically follow the same trajectory as that of anyone who flirted briefly with fame during his twenties. He majored in theater at SUNY Fredonia, graduated in 1990 and relocated a year later to New York City’s … Continue reading »
Interview with Paul Lynch
Paul Lynch’s fascination with movies began at the age of 10. Saving up money from his part-time job of–in his words–walking horses on the beach, in the British seaside town of Hoylake, he bought a picture book of movie stars, but his mother made him return it, since money was tight for his working-class family. … Continue reading »
Troman Holiday: An Interview with “Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid” director John Golden
I first found out about “Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid” in 1990. I was in the fourth grade and my older brother had just bought me a Leonard Maltin book of movie reviews. As my brother leafed through it, he cracked up uncontrollably at two particular titles. One of them was the Melvin Van Peebles blaxploitation … Continue reading »
Interview with Wes Parker
It turns out that Wes Parker, first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1964 to 1972, is quite a rare film aficionado. At the onset of our discussion, he recommended I check out “La vérité,” the 1960 Brigitte Bardot film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot; “The Music Teacher” (1988), a Belgian drama about two students studying … Continue reading »
Interview with Paul Le Mat
Paul Le Mat is still most known for the role of John Milner in “American Graffiti,” George Lucas’ 1973 coming-of-age classic about a group of 1960s California high school graduates, and it’s certainly not an unflattering way to be remembered. Milner is the oldest, coolest kid in the pack (which also included Ron Howard, Richard … Continue reading »
