Shooting in the Huntsville State Penitentiary: 70 Rare Behind the Scenes Photos From the Making of “The Getaway” (1972)

The Getaway is a 1972 American action thriller film based on the 1958 novel by Jim Thompson. The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Walter Hill, and stars Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers.

Peter Bogdanovich, whose The Last Picture Show impressed McQueen and producer David Foster, was originally hired as the director of The Getaway. Thompson came on board to write the screenplay, but creative differences ensued between him and McQueen, and Thompson was subsequently fired, along with Bogdanovich. Writing and directing duties eventually went to Hill and Peckinpah, respectively. Principal photography commenced February 7, 1972, on location in Texas. The film reunited McQueen and Peckinpah, who had worked together on the relatively unprofitable Junior Bonner, released the same year.

Principal photography of The Getaway began in Huntsville, Texas, February 7, 1972. Peckinpah shot the opening prison scenes at the Huntsville Penitentiary, with McQueen surrounded by actual convicts. Other shooting locations included the Texas towns San Marcos, San Antonio and El Paso. The climactic scenes at El Paso’s Laughlin Hotel — demolished in 2013 (along with City Hall) to make way for Southwest University Park — include the curved framework of the Abraham Chavez Theatre, visible under-construction nearby, and the construction site, including the adjacent El Paso Civic Center.

Associate producer Gordon Dawson recalled: “It was not an easy task as we had to take McQueen and one hundred and thirty crew members inside the walls. The night before we began filming we were told that if a hostage situation developed, even if it included McQueen, the prison officials would do nothing, their policy was not to negotiate with inmates, they’d shoot first and ask questions later. That was a difficult night, Sam and I killed a bottle of tequila, we asked ourselves over and over, do we go in, or not? Something deep inside Sam loved taking risks, we got the first shot (the next morning) by nine thirty.”

Peckinpah’s intake of alcohol increased dramatically when making The Getaway, and he was fond of saying, “I can’t direct when I’m sober.” He and McQueen got into occasional heated arguments during filming. The director recalled one such incident on the first day of rehearsal in San Marcos: “Steve and I had been discussing some point on which we disagreed, so he picked up this bottle of champagne and threw it at me. I saw it coming and ducked. And Steve just laughed.”

Producer Katy Haber recalled: “Steve actually nearly got hurt bad. We were shooting the sequence where the prisoners are cleaning scrub and brush, we’d finished this particular shot, and Steve left the line of men to go back to the trailer, well, all the prison dogs are trained to run down anything in white, because that’s the prison garb, the dogs went after Steve, he just made it to the trailer, it was pretty hairy.”

McQueen recalled the same moment: “On our first afternoon there, when the scene was wrapped and Sam yelled ‘Cut!,’ I took off toward my dressing room for some coffee. Well, here I was, in prison duds, splitting away from the other cons. Suddenly, I’m running like hell, because this pack of hounds are snappin’ at my ass. They’d been trained to go after any con who broke ranks, and nobody had bothered to tell them this was a movie. I barely made it out of that yard in one piece. I almost got my ass chewed off.”

McQueen had a knack with props, especially the weapons, he used in the film. Hill remembered, “You can see Steve’s military training in his films. He was so brisk and confident in the way he handled the guns.” It was McQueen’s idea to have his character shoot and blow up a squad car in the scene where Doc holds two police officers at gunpoint.

Under his contract with First Artists, McQueen had final cut privileges on The Getaway. When Peckinpah found out, he was upset. Richard Bright said McQueen chose takes that “made him look good,” and Peckinpah felt that the actor had played it safe. Said Peckinpah: “He chose all these Playboy shots of himself. He’s playing it safe with these pretty-boy shots.”

The Getaway premiered December 19, 1972. Despite the negative reviews it received upon release, numerous retrospective critics give the film good reviews. A box-office hit earning over $36 million, it was the eighth highest-grossing film of 1972, and one of the most financially successful productions of Peckinpah’s and McQueen’s careers. A film remake of the same name starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger was released in 1994.

See more»

Kelly LeBrock’s Billowing Red Dress Scene in “The Woman in Red” (1984)

Kelly LeBrock played the role of Charlotte in The Woman in Red (1984), a romantic comedy directed by and starring Gene Wilder. Charlotte is the stunning and mysterious woman who catches the eye of Wilder’s character, Teddy Pierce, leading him into a series of comedic and romantic misadventures.

LeBrock, in her film debut, became an instant sensation with this role, thanks to her striking beauty and the film’s iconic scene where she stands over a vent, her red dress billowing—a moment reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.

This moment perfectly encapsulates the film’s blend of romance and comedy, as Gene Wilder’s character, Teddy Pierce, is left utterly mesmerized by Charlotte’s beauty. Her portrayal of Charlotte solidified her status as a ’80s bombshell and helped launch her acting career.

See more»

James Cameron Hangs Out of a Helicopter Over Jamie Lee Curtis for the Filming of “True Lies” (1994)

Jamie Lee Curtis performed a thrilling helicopter stunt in True Lies (1994), and it’s one of the most famous moments of her career. The scene involves her character, Helen Tasker, dangling from a helicopter over the Florida Keys while being rescued by her husband, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger), after an intense sequence on a limousine speeding across a collapsing bridge.

Director James Cameron, known for pushing practical stunts, wanted authenticity in the scene. While a stunt double was used for some shots, Curtis insisted on performing the helicopter-dangling stunt herself. The sequence was filmed with Curtis hanging from a harness attached to a helicopter flying about 40 feet in the air. Cameron, ever the hands-on director, personally filmed the shot from another camera mounted on the helicopter skids.

Curtis later said Schwarzenegger encouraged her by saying, “You can do it, Jamie. It’s no big deal!” – but she realized later how intense the stunt really was. She has called it the greatest stunt she ever performed.

In 2022, Curtis explained in a Facebook post that while her stunt double Donna Keegan deserves all the credit for the scene in which Curtis’ character Helen is pulled by Arnold Schwarzenegger out of a limousine moon roof and over burning wreckage, Curtis herself did soar in the air so they could achieve one magnificent overhead shot as you can see the photo above.

“In order to get the shot we had to wire me to the helicopter at base camp and then fly for 20 minutes over the water to get to the 7 mile bridge where the wreckage took place,” Curtis said, saying that the picture took place just three days before her 35th birthday. “In the photograph is Joel Kramer, who doubled Arnold on the skid, and that’s James Cameron hanging out of the passenger seat with the camera.”

Curtis explained that “obviously” much of the sequence was achieved with her on the road, as was her stunt double, but that the shot was “one of the most spectacular ever done.” She did though have one must before agreeing to go up in the air.

“Chuck Tamburo was the pilot, and the only requirement I had for the sequence was that somebody have wire cutters in the helicopter in case they had to ditch over water so that I could be separated from it,” Curtis said. “I saw manatees and it was late afternoon and it was a glorious ride on a wire all thanks to James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

True Lies received mostly positive reviews from critics, and ultimately grossed $378 million worldwide at the box office, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1994. For her performance, Curtis won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Saturn Award for Best Actress, while Cameron won the Saturn Award for Best Director. It was also nominated at the Academy Awards and BAFTAs in the Best Visual Effects category, and also for seven Saturn Awards.

Beautiful Portrait Photos of Vivien Leigh During the Filming of ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939)

Vivien Leigh, the iconic actress, is best known for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), one of the most famous films of all time. Her performance as Scarlett, the headstrong and complex Southern belle during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1940.

Leigh’s portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara is widely regarded as one of the greatest in film history. Despite the character’s often controversial traits, she brought depth, vulnerability, and fierce determination to Scarlett, making her unforgettable. The film’s sweeping romance with Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable, and its portrayal of the South’s tumultuous history became cultural touchstones.

Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of Vivien Leigh during the filming of Gone with the Wind in 1939.

See more»

Early Photographs of a Very Young Joan Crawford in the 1920s

“Joan Crawford is doubtless the best example of the flapper, the girl you see in smart night clubs, gowned to the apex of sophistication, toying iced glasses with a remote, faintly bitter expression, dancing deliciously, laughing a great deal, with wide, hurt eyes. Young things with a talent for living.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Many forget Joan Crawford March (born 23, 1906 – May 10, 1977) started out as a flapper in silent film roles. In fact, Crawford made a total of 29 silent movies throughout the late 1920s before successfully transitioning to talkies. She was one of the last flappers to emerge, when the archetype was already well established by other bigger stars like Clara Bow, Colleen Moore and Connie Talmadge.

Credited as Lucille LeSueur, her first film was Lady of the Night in 1925, as the body double for Norma Shearer, MGM’s most popular female star. She also appeared in The Circle and Pretty Ladies (both 1925), starring comedian ZaSu Pitts. This was soon followed by equally small and unbilled roles in two other 1925 silent films: The Only Thing, and The Merry Widow.

MGM publicity head Pete Smith recognized her ability to become a major star, but felt her name sounded fake; he told studio head Louis B. Mayer that her last name, LeSueur, reminded him of a sewer. Smith organized a contest called “Name the Star” in Movie Weekly to allow readers to select her new stage name. The initial choice was “Joan Arden,” but after another actress was found to have prior claim to that name, the alternative surname “Crawford” became the choice. She later said that she wanted her first name to be pronounced Jo-Anne, and that she hated the name Crawford because it sounded like “crawfish,” but also admitted she “liked the security” that went with the name.

Growing increasingly frustrated over the size and quality of the parts she was given, Crawford embarked on a campaign of self-promotion. As MGM screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas recalled, “No one decided to make Joan Crawford a star. Joan Crawford became a star because Joan Crawford decided to become a star.” She began attending dances in the afternoons and evenings at hotels around Hollywood and at dance venues on the beach piers, where she often won dance competitions with her performances of the Charleston and the Black Bottom.

Her strategy worked and MGM cast her in the film where she first made an impression on audiences, Edmund Goulding’s Sally, Irene and Mary (1925). From the beginning of her career, Crawford considered Norma Shearer – the studio’s most-popular actress – her professional nemesis. Shearer was married to MGM Head of Production Irving Thalberg; hence, she had the first choice of scripts, and had more control than other stars in what films she would and would not make. Crawford was quoted to have said: “How can I compete with Norma? She sleeps with the boss!”

Crawford appeared as a skimpily clad young carnival assistant in The Unknown (1927), starring Lon Chaney, Sr. as a carnival knife thrower with no arms who hopes to marry her. She stated that she learned more about acting from watching Chaney work than from anyone else in her career. “It was then,” she said, “I became aware for the first time of the difference between standing in front of a camera, and acting.” Also in 1927, she appeared alongside her close friend, William Haines, in Spring Fever, which was the first of three movies the duo made together.

In 1928, Crawford starred opposite Ramón Novarro in Across to Singapore, but it was her role as Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) that catapulted her to stardom. The role established her as a symbol of modern 1920s-style femininity who rivaled Clara Bow, the original It girl, and Hollywood’s foremost flapper. A stream of hits followed Our Dancing Daughters, including two more flapper-themed movies, in which Crawford embodied for her legion of fans (many of whom were women) an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl.

See more»

30 Amazing Behind the Scenes Photos From the Making of “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)

It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra. It is based on the short story and booklet “The Greatest Gift,” self-published by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943, which itself is loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol.

The film was shot at RKO Radio Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, and the 89-acre RKO movie ranch in Encino, where “Bedford Falls” was adapted from Oscar-winning sets originally designed by art director Max Ree for the 1931 epic film Cimarron. Covering 4 acres (1.6 ha), the town consisted of a main street stretching 300 yards (three city blocks) with 75 stores and buildings, and a residential neighborhood. Capra added a tree-lined center parkway, built a working bank set, and planted 20 full-grown oak trees. Pigeons, cats, and dogs were allowed to roam the mammoth set to give the “town” a lived-in feel.

Due to the requirements of filming in an “alternate reality,” as well as different seasons, the exterior set was extremely adaptable. RKO studio’s head of special effects, Russell Shearman, developed a new compound using water, soap flakes, foamite, and sugar to create “chemical snow” for the film. Before then, movie snow was usually made from untoasted cornflakes, which were so loud when stepped on that dialogue had to be redubbed afterwards.

Although the movie is set at Christmastime, production took place in the summer of 1946 during a brutal California heat wave. The cast had to wear winter clothing in temperatures over 90°F (32°C). If you look closely, you can spot beads of sweat on some actors' faces during key scenes.

James Stewart, who played George Bailey, had just returned from serving as a World War II pilot and was dealing with PTSD. His raw emotions in scenes like George’s breakdown at Martini’s bar were genuine. It’s said that Stewart’s heartfelt performance was partly influenced by his struggles adjusting to civilian life.

Lionel Barrymore, who played the greedy Mr. Potter, was actually in a wheelchair in real life due to arthritis. His performance as one of cinema’s most infamous villains was so convincing that audiences often forget he was dealing with severe health issues at the time.

During a scene where Mary (Donna Reed) throws a rock at an abandoned house to break a window, the crew expected to use a stunt double. But Reed, who grew up on a farm, insisted on doing it herself and hit the window on her first try!

Capra was a perfectionist, sometimes reshooting scenes multiple times to get the right emotional impact. For example, in the scene where Uncle Billy drunkenly stumbles offscreen and crashes into trash cans, it wasn’t scripted—the actor, Thomas Mitchell, actually knocked over some props, but Capra loved it and kept it in the film.

Filming started on April 15, 1946, and wrapped on July 27, 1946, exactly on deadline for the 90-day principal photography schedule.

Although it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, It’s a Wonderful Life initially received mixed reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office. Theatrically, the film’s break-even point was $6.3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. Because of the film’s disappointing sales, Capra was seen by some studios as having lost his ability to produce popular, financially successful films. Its copyright in the U.S. expired in 1974 following a lack of renewal and it entered the public domain, allowing it to be broadcast without licensing or royalty fees, at which point it became a Christmas classic.

It’s a Wonderful Life is now considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and among the best Christmas films. It has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made.

See more»

50 Amazing Photos Capture The Beatles’ Members During the “Get Back / Let It Be” Sessions in 1969

The Get Back / Let It Be sessions, which began in January 1969, were an attempt by The Beatles to return to their roots with a focus on live performance and a more rock and roll sound, initially intended as a television special and culminating in a rooftop concert. However, the sessions became infamous for creative tensions, ultimately leading to the band’s breakup a year later.

The Beatles completed the five-month sessions for their self-titled double album in mid-October 1968. While the sessions had revealed deep divisions within the group for the first time, leading to Ringo Starr quitting for three weeks, the band enjoyed the opportunity to re-engage with ensemble playing, as a departure from the psychedelic experimentation that had characterized their recordings since the band’s retirement from live performance in August 1966. Before the White Album’s release, John Lennon enthused to music journalist Jonathan Cott that the Beatles were “coming out of our shell ... kind of saying: remember what it was like to play?” George Harrison welcomed the return to the band’s roots, saying that they were aiming “to get as funky as we were in the Cavern.”

Concerned about the friction over the previous year, Paul McCartney was eager for the Beatles to perform live again. In early October 1968, he told the press that the band would soon play a live show for subsequent broadcast in a TV special. The following month, Apple Corps announced that the Beatles had booked the Roundhouse in north London for 12–23 December and would perform at least one concert during that time. When this plan came to nothing, Denis O’Dell, the head of Apple Films, suggested that the group be filmed rehearsing at Twickenham Film Studios, in preparation for their return to live performance, since he had booked studio space there to shoot The Magic Christian.

The initial plan was that the rehearsal footage would be edited into a short TV documentary promoting the main TV special, in which the Beatles would perform a public concert or perhaps two concerts. Michael Lindsay-Hogg had agreed to direct the project, having worked with the band on some of their promotional films. The project’s timeline was dictated by Harrison being away in the United States until Christmas and Starr’s commitment to begin filming his role in The Magic Christian in February 1969. The band intended to perform only new material and were therefore under pressure to finish writing an album’s worth of songs. Although the concert venue was not established when rehearsals began on January 2, it was decided that the 18th would serve as a potential dress rehearsal day; the 19th and 20th would serve as concert dates.

The Twickenham rehearsals quickly disintegrated into what Apple Corps executive Peter Brown characterized as a “hostile lethargy.” Lennon and his partner Yoko Ono had descended into heroin addiction after their arrest on drugs charges in October and Ono’s subsequent miscarriage. Unable to supply his quota of new songs for the project, Lennon maintained an icy distance from his bandmates and scorned McCartney’s ideas. By contrast, Harrison was inspired by his recent stay in the US; there, he enjoyed jamming with musicians in Los Angeles and experienced a musical camaraderie and creative freedom with Bob Dylan and the Band in upstate New York that was lacking in the Beatles. Harrison presented several new songs for consideration at Twickenham, some of which were dismissed by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney’s attempts to focus the band on their objective were construed as overly controlling, particularly by Harrison.

The atmosphere in the film studios, the early start each day, and the intrusive cameras and microphones of Lindsay-Hogg’s film crew combined to heighten the Beatles’ discontent. When the band rehearsed McCartney’s “Two of Us” on January 6, a tense exchange ensued between McCartney and Harrison about the latter’s lead guitar part. During lunch on January 10, Lennon and Harrison had a heated disagreement in which Harrison berated Lennon for his lack of engagement with the project. Harrison was also angry with Lennon for telling a music journalist that the Beatles’ Apple organization was in financial ruin. According to journalist Michael Housego’s report in the Daily Sketch, Harrison and Lennon's exchange descended into violence with the pair allegedly throwing punches at each other. Harrison denied this in a January 16 interview for the Daily Express, saying: “There was no punch-up. We just fell out.” After lunch on January 10, Harrison announced that he was leaving the band and told the others, “See you round the clubs.” Starr attributed Harrison’s exit to McCartney “dominating” him.

During a meeting on January 15, the band agreed to Harrison’s terms for returning to the group: they would abandon the plan to stage a public concert and move from the cavernous soundstage at Twickenham to their Apple Studio, where they would be filmed recording a new album, using the material they had gathered to that point. The band’s return to work was delayed by the poor quality of the recording and mixing equipment designed by Lennon’s friend “Magic” Alex Mardas and installed at Apple Studio, in the basement of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row. Producer George Martin, who had been only a marginal presence at Twickenham, arranged to borrow two four-track recorders from EMI Studios; he and audio engineer Glyn Johns then prepared the facility for the Beatles' use.

Sessions (and filming) at Apple began on January 21. The atmosphere in the band was markedly improved. To help achieve this, Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to participate, after meeting him outside the Apple building on January 22. Preston contributed to most of the recording and also became an Apple Records artist. McCartney and Lindsay-Hogg continued to hope for a public concert by the Beatles to cap the project.

According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, it is uncertain who thought of a rooftop concert, but the idea was conceived just days before the actual event. In Preston’s recollection, it was John Lennon who suggested it.

Until the last minute, according to Lindsay-Hogg, the Beatles were still undecided about performing the concert. He recalled that on January 30, they had discussed it and then gone silent, until “John said in the silence, ‘F*ck it – let’s go do it.’” The four Beatles and Preston arrived on the roof at around 12:30 pm. When they began to play, there was confusion nearby among members of the public, many of whom were on their lunch break. As the news of the event spread, crowds began to congregate in the streets and on the flat rooftops of nearby buildings.

Police officers ascended to the roof just as the Beatles began the second take of “Don'’ Let Me Down.” The concert came to an end with the conclusion of “Get Back.”

Recording of the project (and filming) wrapped on 31 January.

See more»

35 Amazing Photos From the Set of “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” (1992)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is a 1992 psychological horror film directed by David Lynch, and co-written by Lynch and Robert Engels. It serves as a prequel to seasons one and two of the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991), created and produced by Mark Frost and Lynch. It begins with the FBI’s investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) before shifting to the last seven days of the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), a popular-but-troubled high school student in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. Palmer’s murder was the primary plot thread of the TV series.

Greenlit shortly after the TV series was cancelled, Fire Walk with Me had a much darker tone than the TV series and did not address many of season two's unfinished narratives, including its cliffhanger ending. Although most of the television cast reprised their roles for the film, many comparatively lighthearted scenes featuring town residents were cut. In addition, the series’ main star, Kyle MacLachlan (Dale Cooper), asked for his role to be downsized, and Lara Flynn Boyle's character Donna Hayward was recast with Moira Kelly. In 2014, several deleted scenes were recut into a narrative and released as Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces.

Lynch planned to start filming in August 1991, but Kyle MacLachlan (Dale Cooper) prompted a delay by threatening to pull out. MacLachlan provided various reasons for his reluctance to participate. He was worried about being typecast as a Cooper-esque figure in future productions. In 2000, he added that he “felt a little abandoned” by Lynch and Frost during the second season of the TV series, as the two were simultaneously working on their own projects. He said that he blamed himself for souring his relationship with Lynch. After a month, MacLachlan agreed to return, on condition that he only appear for five days of shooting. This forced Lynch and Engels to rewrite the first act, which originally had Cooper investigating Teresa Banks’ murder. MacLachlan implied that he had requested rewrites to those scenes before he would consider appearing in them, “and David was unwilling to do that.” Lynch filled in the gap with Chris Isaak, a singer whose songs he had previously used in Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. He also cast Pamela Gidley to play Teresa Banks, the young woman whose murder starts the film's narrative; she had previously auditioned for the role of Shelly Johnson that eventually went to Mädchen Amick.

The film was made without Twin Peaks series regulars Lara Flynn Boyle (Donna Hayward), Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), and Richard Beymer (Benjamin Horne).[ The character of Donna was recast with Moira Kelly, who had worked with Sheryl Lee on Love, Lies, and Murder. Boyle and Fenn’s absences were initially attributed to scheduling conflicts, which Fenn repeated in 2014. However, Fenn added in 1995 that she did not want to return because she “was extremely disappointed in the way the second season got off track.” A 1997 biography of Lynch said that according to rumor, Boyle declined to return because she felt Lynch’s treatment of female characters was misogynistic. Beymer declined to appear, remarking that he was dismayed by a scene in which Ben Horne offers Laura Palmer cocaine for a kiss, which he said reduced Ben to “just a coke dealer.” He added that he expected Lynch to cut his “token” appearance from the final edit anyway. Fenn and Beymer eventually returned to the franchise for Twin Peaks: The Return.

The actors’ sometimes-hectic schedules forced Lynch to improvise. In addition to MacLachlan’s limitation of five days on set, Lynch insisted on casting Gidley even though she was shooting a different film at the same time; she shot her Fire Walk with Me scenes on her free days. Kiefer Sutherland reportedly sustained facial injuries during the shoot, forcing his scenes to be delayed, although the producers and police denied the claim. David Bowie shot his scenes in four or five days because Tin Machine needed to rehearse for their upcoming tour. He was not pleased with his Southern accent, and asked Lynch and Frost to overdub his lines when they used archive footage from the film in Twin Peaks: The Return. In addition, Lynch himself was dealing with a hernia “during the entire shoot”; he had injured himself while laughing too hard at something funny that Angelo Badalamenti did.

Fire Walk with Me premiered at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d’Or. The film was notoriously polarizing: Lynch said that the film was booed at Cannes, and the American press generally panned the film. The film was controversial for its frank and vivid depiction of parental sexual abuse, its relative absence of fan-favorite characters, and its surrealistic style. The film was a box-office bomb in North America, but fared better in Japan and France. Due to the poor reception, plans for two sequels were abandoned. However, the film has been positively reevaluated in the 21st century, and is now widely regarded as one of Lynch’s major works. Lynch and Frost eventually received funding to produce a third season of the TV series in 2017, which revisited several plot threads from the film. In 2019, the British Film Institute ranked Fire Walk with Me the fourth-best film of the 1990s.

See more»

In February 1919, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith Formed United Artists

United Artists (UA) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as a venture premised on allowing actors to control their own financial and artistic interests rather than being dependent upon commercial studios.

In 1918, Charlie Chaplin could not get his parent company First National Pictures to increase his production budget despite being one of their top producers. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks had their own contracts, with First National and Famous Players–Lasky respectively, but these were due to run out with no clear offers forthcoming. Sydney Chaplin, brother and business manager for Charlie, deduced something was going wrong, and contacted Pickford and Fairbanks. Together they hired a private detective, who discovered a plan to merge all production companies and to lock in "exhibition companies" to a series of five-year contracts.

Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith incorporated United Artists as a joint venture company on February 5, 1919. Each held a 25 percent stake in the preferred shares and a 20 percent stake in the common shares of the joint venture, with the remaining 20 percent of common shares held by lawyer and advisor William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier. Already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work.

They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over actor salaries and creative decisions, a process that evolved into the studio system. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized. When he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, apparently said, “The inmates are taking over the asylum.” The four partners, with advice from McAdoo (son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson), formed their distribution company. Hiram Abrams was its first managing director, and the company established its headquarters at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City.

The original terms called for each star to produce five pictures a year. By the time the company was operational in 1921, feature films were becoming more expensive and polished, and running times had settled at around ninety minutes (eight reels). The original goal was thus abandoned.

See more»

Fabulous Portrait Photos of Marlene Dietrich From ‘The Song of Songs’ (1933)

The Song of Songs is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Marlene Dietrich. This Paramount picture is based on the Hermann Sudermann novel Das Hohe Lied (1908) and the play The Song of Songs (1914) by Edward Sheldon.

Song of Songs is a “romantic fable” with “tragic elements” in which an innocent peasant girl is transformed, step-by-step through the vicissitudes of love, into a disillusioned cynic. Most telling in this case is the use in German of the entire phrase to describe the “great song of love” or “ode to love” in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians. This creates a double layer of meaning to the title of the novel in German, one that could not be duplicated in an English rendition.

The 1914 play, The Song of Songs by Edward Sheldon, also contributed to this version. It is a remake of the 1918 silent film The Song of Songs starring Elsie Ferguson and the 1924 silent film Lily of the Dust with Pola Negri.

Take a look at these fabulous photos to see portraits of Marlene Dietrich during the filming of The Song of Songs in 1933.

See more»

40 Amazing Photos of Michael Caine Wearing Glasses on Screen in the 1960s and 1970s

Sir Michael Caine is one of Britain’s most beloved and enduring actors, known for his distinctive Cockney accent, versatility, and charismatic screen presence. He rose to fame in the 1960s with breakout roles in Zulu (1964), The IPCRESS File (1965), and Alfie (1966), earning his first Academy Award nomination.

During the 1970s and beyond, Caine starred in classic films like Get Carter (1971), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and Sleuth (1972). He won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and The Cider House Rules (1999).

Michael Caine insisted on wearing glasses on screen because he believed they helped establish his identity as an actor and made his characters more relatable. He also felt they gave him a distinctive look that set him apart in Hollywood.

Additionally, Caine has spoken about how, early in his career, he adopted the habit of never blinking while acting to maintain an intense presence. Glasses helped soften this effect and made his performances more natural. Over time, his signature glasses became a recognizable part of his persona, both on and off screen.

Below is a gallery of 40 amazing photos of Michael Caine wearing glasses on screen in the 1960s and 1970s:

See more»