Ken Russell

At what point in his career did Oliver Reed get so fucking fat?

Nureyev was at his peak lifetime hotness in Valentino. He was like a giant walking hard-on, basically.

VALENTINO was one of Russell's worst films, Nureyev could not act to save his life.

I've always been obsessed with Russell since the early 70s. Through a weird path, I finally met him and am still friends with his wife, Lisi.

The Lair of the White Worm was hilarious!

Good cast too! Amanda Donohoe,Peter Capaldi and Hugh Grant! As well as Sammi Davis, who faded into obscurity.

That's some head of hair on Capaldi! Amazing!

He liked women in stockings.

[quote]VALENTINO was one of Russell's worst films, Nureyev could not act to save his life.

The movie wasn't about Nureyev's acting ability. It was about his sex appeal.

I'm sure Russell wasn't gay, although obviously he was interested in all forms of sexuality. The film that convinced me was "The Music Lovers", the one film he made with a gay protagonist. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember that the hero (Richard Chamberlain) displayed zero attraction to men, just an inability to be attracted to women. What a closeted star actor thought about making a film about a homosexual man that got homosexuality all wrong, I'd like to know!

And this picture isn't from "The Music Lovers", it's from "Lisztomania". Which was another memorably terrible picture starring a celebrity who couldn't act, that and "Valentino" were probably what did in his career.

[quote]The movie wasn't about Nureyev's acting ability. It was about his sex appeal.

Are you serious? Do you know anything about filmmaking? The bad acting cancelled out Nureyev's sex appeal. The audiences were way too distracted by the terrible acting. Michell Phillips wasn't very good either!

[quote]And this picture isn't from "The Music Lovers", it's from "Lisztomania". Which was another memorably terrible picture starring a celebrity who couldn't act, that and "Valentino" were probably what did in his career.

Yet another terrible Russell film. Wasn't The Who's Roger Daltry in the Liszt film?

These films were made during a time when directors were obsessed with hiring popular celebs to star in their films. Over the years, lots of musicians have tried to act, Jagger, Sting, Micheal Hutchence....

[quote]Are you serious? Do you know anything about filmmaking? The bad acting cancelled out Nureyev's sex appeal.

Did you just enter the human race today? Tale as old as time: we've seen scores of poorly acted films, and some awarded, all because the leading actor or actress was beautiful. DON'T MAKE ME WRITE A LIST!! There are many people out there who are excellent actors but they never made it because they didn't have the sex appeal. And many poor actors who had the "it" factor.

I thought of Ken Russell last week watching the 1986 Top of the Pops repeats on BBC. Ken directed this video of Cliff Richard and Sarah Brightman singing “All I Ask of You” from Phantom. It’s not really that weird. Well, it is weird but it’s basically green screen of holiday landscape videos with Cliff and Sarah superimposed on top.

The only films of his I remember liking were Crimes of Passion (oddly enough), Women in Love and (especially) Altered States.

"Wasn't The Who's Roger Daltry in the Liszt film? "

Yes, Daltrey had been in Russell's "Tommy" and was very good there, but the part of a deaf-dumb-blind guy didn't call for much but standing there looking angelically beautiful. "Lisztomania" was Daltrey's first try at real acting, and he didn't do any better than Nureyev in "Valentino". Daltrey has done more acting than singing in recent years and has become quite good, but his acting career wasn't without its false starts.

But yeah, all the strangeness and roles played by pop stars who couldn't act worked brilliantly in "Tommy", which is still a great movie, but failed miserably in "Lisztomania" and "Valentino". I've heard that Russel lost his touch in those years because he was coked out of his gourd, and if that's true it would explain a lot.

I adored "Salome's Last Dance" and especially its female star, unforgettable and mysterious. Salome was her first starring role, and she never appeared onscreen again.

R15, I forgot about "Tommy", Daltrey, Ann-Margret and Tina Turner, were great in it. It was over the top, but very entertaining.

THE DEVILS was one NUTTY film!!

[quote]Did you just enter the human race today? Tale as old as time: we've seen scores of poorly acted films, and some awarded, all because the leading actor or actress was beautiful. DON'T MAKE ME WRITE A LIST!! There are many people out there who are excellent actors but they never made it because they didn't have the sex appeal. And many poor actors who had the "it" factor.

No, did you, moron? You honestly think most steady acting careers are solely based on sex appeal? How old are you?

What a silly argument to justify bad acting. Of course, there are very attractive performers who can actually act, imagine that. Want me to name them, the list is very long: the late Paul Newman, Angelina Jolie, Sophia Loren, Sharon Stone, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Antonio Banderas.....

There are also tons of unattractive performers who can act, they are called character actors, most have steady careers for years on end.

The problem with super good looking people who cannot act and all the have is their sex appeal, once they age, their careers are basically over. Unless they manage to learn how to act, like Charlotte Rampling, who was panned in her earliest films. She's now a wonderful and acclaimed actress.

[quote] DON'T MAKE ME WRITE A LIST!!

I AM!! I AM MAKING YOU DO JUST THAT!!

I liked Valentino.

[quote]I liked Valentino.

I'm sure you're old enough to remember the actual Valentino.

The Boyfriend.

His vision is always entirely his own. A thrilling film maker.

R22 That stung a little.

He’s no Russ Meyer

I always knew a movie would be utter crap if it was directed by Ken Russell

Loved The Boyfriend, remember buying the cast album and delightedly sang along with R23's clip (thank you). Saw Valentino in a very crowded theater and people were not just laughing, they were guffawing, at some of the serious scenes. Nureyev and Phillips were hilariously bad and some of the dialogue, oy. Say what you will about Russell's movies, they were unique. Nobody like him today.

And I always dug Murray Melvin.

“Tommy” was the perfect vehicle for KR. The Acid Queen’s iron maiden... Elton John in gargantuan platform boots... Anne Margaret erotically gyrating in a pool of baked beans... the people’s temple of Marilyn Monroe.

So... KR is NOT gay?? Wow

Roger Daltry in TOMMY is maybe the hottest guy in any film of the 70s. He was hot as fuck and had an incredible body. One of the hottest rock stars ever.

What was the name of the dishy young blonde actor in The Boyfriend? I think he appeared in a few of Russell's films.

Christopher Gable.

[quote]And I always dug Murray Melvin.

Love Murray, he was great in the Rita Tushingham film "A Taste of Honey " and in "Barry Lyndon", one of my fave films, based on the visuals alone.

Always unusual, always original. His films must have made money in order for him to make so many. And he must have been as hot as fuck as a young man.

Christopher Gable, r30.....

Christopher Gable was straight? He married a woman. Both were ballet dancers.

He died of cancer in 1998, he was 58.

Nureyev presented hole in Valentino. Pauline Kael was appalled that Russell used shots that exposed him like that.

And yet she was rapt with joy over Maria Schneider's buttered-up hole in Last Tango...

There's some nude stills from VALENTINO here.

I'm a big Murray Melvin fan. According to IMDB he's still active and healthy at age 86.

I never saw The Devils- can't find it anywhere. Any suggestions?

[quote]I'm a big Murray Melvin fan. According to IMDB he's still active and healthy at age 86.

Murray is still working. According to IMDb, he played Caravaggio in a TV series "Starhunter"which ran in different forms from 2000-2018. He was in a French film "Jusqu'à la lie" this year, he played an English lord.

In 2012 he was in "Midsomer Murders" and was also in "Torchwood" in 2007.

THE DEVILS (in the "X' rated UK cut, minus ""The Rape of Christ") was on Filmstruck, which just became defunct.

An hour-long doc on the making of the film and resulting controversy is still on Youtube.

The sets by Derek Jarman are out of this world.

Christopher Gable was more interesting/erotic as Tchaikovsky's lover in The Music Lovers. Roger Daltrey in Tommy was among my first clues that I was gay, as it arrived in theaters right around the time that I hit puberty. Given the amount of attention that Russell gives to Gable and the camera's emphasis on his beauty, particularly in Women in Love, it's hard to believe that Russell didn't dabble with him.

LOVE “The Music Lovers” — so bold and audacious. The opening sequence is so exhilarating, and the ending so powerful. I always that the title was clever and meant to be ironic, since the movie depicts nearly everyone in Tchaikovsky’s circle to be self-serving.

Russell was dying to to Evita with Liza Minnelli. Can you even imagine?

Russell first wanted to do Evita with Karla DeVito.

He thought he could make her a star. Tim Rice insisted he hire his then girlfriend and the original Eva, Elaine Paige.

(the Liza concept sounded interesting. Russell wanted to do it as a film within a film. Liza would have played herself struggling to complete a movie of Evita.)