This is the grave of Simone Signoret and Yves Montand. Both born in 1921 and both leading lights among postwar French acting, even though neither were born in France, Signoret was born Simone Henriett
This ranking of Gus Van Sant movies reminds me of two things. First, Drugstore Cowboy should be #1 because it’s an astounding film. Second, it’s highly unlikely Van Sant has a good movie l
I was lucky enough to be on The Sound and the Furious Podcast last week, with scholars seeking to combine academia and pop culture in ways that reach out to a broad audience. The subject was “Th
This is the grave of Preston Sturges. Arguably the greatest comedic director since Chaplin, Sturges was born in 1898 in Chicago. His mom was an artist-type and pretty eccentric. She left her husband w
This is the grave of Bruce and Brandon Lee. Bruce Lee was born in 1940 in San Francisco. His actual name was Lee Jun-Fan, but from birth, he was known as Bruce. His father was a well-known Chinese ope
I have long been fascinated with World War II movies. Unlike literature, where the war didn’t lead to as many great works as one might think, there are an amazing number of astounding World War
This is the grave of Hugh Marlowe. Born Hugh Hipple in Philadelphia in 1911, Marlowe moved to California as a young man. He got quite a bit of theater and stage work in the late 30s and into the 40s.
I’ve been debating how to handle the great art of horrible men. There are many ways to handle this. If you don’t want to watch any Polanski films again, that’s certainly one’s