Bogdanovich Spills

He's a reasonable actor. He should have stayed before the camera and spared us from the vast majority of his directorial output.

He starts right in by crapping on the memory of his dead wife Polly, who styled The Last Picture Show, by calling her a "Liar" for taking the credit he wouldn't give her.

He did a great job directing The Last Picture Show but he’s perhaps the most miserable cunt Hollywood ever produced. And that’s really saying something.

He hardly shaded Orson Welles.

And Cher really is a cunt.

Orson Welles was a hungry house-guest:

"One time, we had just had dinner and were sitting in the breakfast room and I said, “Who wants dessert?” “I do,” he says. So I go into the kitchen and I open up the freezer and there had been four quarts of Häagen-Dazs ice cream and now there was one. And I opened it up and it was like that much [indicates a half-inch smidgen with his fingers] at the bottom. I went to the other room and said, “Somebody ate all the ice cream.” And he says [makes guilty look], “I didn’t.”

[quote]It must have been hard to leave that house in Bel-Air. Yeah. Louise and I still talk about it. It was a nice house.

[quote] Who’s there now? I know Diane Keaton bought the house and redid it and foo-foo’ed it up and kind of ruined it. She owned it for a while, and then she sold it. I don’t know who owns it now.

Wow. He’s got a ton of baggage he’s carrying around. Why is he always somebody’s houseguest?

He and Louise consider the day they met-- WHEN SHE WAS ELEVEN-- their "anniversary"?

Can't believe Diane put that frau-ish stenciling in the kitchen! Or maybe I can!

DL is usually extra cunty but I'm so glad everybody else seems to think he's awful, I can't stand him. You'd think he never got a phone call from somebody who wasn't Cary Grant or the Pope in his entire life, he's such a starfucker. Literally obviously. Leave him to Brett fucking Ratner.

Poor Dorothy Stratten had to get murdered to get away from this obsessive nasty little cunt. And his films suck

Wow, that’s some sour puss on him.

R11 Eh to be fair , that was more the fault of her other ex lover.

Great interview. Incredibly honest. The interviewer doesn't hold back.

Cybill dumped Jeff Bridges for this asshole? Stupid bitch.

Diane Keaton always puts in hideous lighting - like what you might find in a 1930s train station.

[quote]Diane Keaton bought the house and redid it and foo-foo’ed it up and kind of ruined it.

R9 beat me to it.

Diane Keaton portrays herself as being oh-so-cool... but the dumb frau in her comes through with some of the design choices she makes. If seen other photos of her homes and it's always the same.

[quote]Diane Keaton portrays herself as being oh-so-cool... but the dumb frau in her comes through with some of the design choices she makes. If seen other photos of her homes and it's always the same.

Her style was always kitschy - even if it was influential for a season in the late 70s, otherwise she always looks a mess.

Even by the following year when she collected her Oscar she looked like God knows what, with a hedgehog on her head.

He gave us THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and WHAT'S UP DOC and PAPER MOON, so there's that.

And I can't imagine a world without AT LONG LAST LOVE

He had a streak of wondrous films, and you can absolutely see his love for the directors he lists when you watch The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and especially What’s Up Doc.

But his well ran dry.

The interview was great, but he comes off as a fucking pig through his straight-shooting responses, picking out 20-year-old blondes from magazine covers to fuck and ordering his assistant to wrangle them.

And Dorothy Stratten’s mother taking care of him and getting his pills? Bizarre. I wonder if they are the same age.

But he loved Orson Welles. I suppose he’ll always have that in his favor.

I tried to watch the Welles movie that he completed on Netflix, but it felt out of sync with both Orson and Bogdonovich.

Did anyone make it through it?

Targets is also a very good movie, if you can ignore a few really amateurish performances (including Bogdanovich's own).

R19 So now after all that, at 79, he’s sharing a cluttered little apartment with his ex-wife and her mother who makes sure he gets his meds on time and cooks dinner for him. Crazy.

He wrote one of my favorite books of film interviews. "Who the Devil Made It". I appreciate that he befriended John Ford, Orson Welles and Howard Hawks, and recorded their thoughts on film.

But this interview reveals at a man who hasn't made peace with his past. I wonder what his relationship is with his two daughters.

[quote]Why is he always somebody’s houseguest?

Because he's broke.

R21 No, I found both of them very small in scope, despite the talent involved

He spilled the tea.

You go, girl!

I didn't know Billy Wilder was such a nasty piece of work. It's kind of difficult to sympathize with Bogdanovich, but if Wilder really said those things to him and Tony Curtis then he was a real cunt.

That’s crazy he lost all his money. No wonder he and Orson were BFFs.

I am going to watch Mask and turn down the volume and play the Springsteen song over it instead!

I actually believe what he said about Cher, and YES. a performance can be transformed in the editing room.

Cher has always struck me as a shallow pain in the ass.

I noticed he threw shade on Streep.

I remember how upset the family was that Springsteen ‘s music wasn’t used in Mask. Rocky was a huge fan of his.

I loved his and Lorraine Bracco's chemistry on The Sopranos. He had a great deadpan delivery on that show.

I like his no bullshit style. He clearly doesn't GAF. It's refreshing. Good dish.

And this interview is why he lives in an apartment.

This guy is too real for Hollywood!

I like his style.

Star 80 was a great film though. But as Dorothy's former boyfriend, I can see why he would be disgusted with it. Its very lurid.

The article didn't make him seem as much as a cunt as the OP hyped it to be.

The only issue I have is he was quite nasty and dismissive of Polly Platt. She's dead so she can't even defend herself. I mean, he cheated on her and left her and still is pissing on her.

But he did make some good points. He was right about Burt Reynolds. I mean, WTF? Peter told him the way they were going to shoot the musical and he complains? I love Cher and she's given some good performances but she doesn't have much range, and I want to watch the film now knowing what Peter has said. And I like his no bullshit style too. Kind of like Quincy Jones last year.

Usually, I love dishy and gossipy stuff like this. However, if Bogdanovich is such a great director (I'm mostly familiar with him as Elliott, psychiatrist of Dr. Melfi in The Sopranos) and he's old and maybe close to death, why not ask him about his creative process? Same old thing, fucking young actresses and fucking hookers. You could have gotten that same story out of almost anyone in power at the time. I like that he tore a new one on Hugh Hefner, but he's in the same damn category in a lot of ways. Ugh.

I'd like to know why he seems kind of broke, living in Tarantino's guest house, living with an ex-wife, etc.

He considered himself attractive when he was young . It doesn't get more delusional then that. He looked like a hound dog with oversized glasses.

Arrogant and always incredibly unattractive.

He was NEVER attractive.

He was kind of attractive but never likable.

Cher has acting talent and can sustain a scene. He's just bitter

When young he looked like Deputy Dog, now he looks like a cancerous colon

I always loathed this guy. He's always been an arrogant prick. And I never liked his movies. He's so outrageously overrated. And "attractive?" Only in his imagination. And of man, is he full of shit! He thinks he had nothing to do with Paul Snider's murderous rage. It was all Huge Hefner's fault. God, what an ass.

So he's living "in the modest ground-floor Toluca Lake apartment he shares with his ex-wife Louise Stratten and her mother." Wow, he must have hit rock bottom. And what the FUCK is he doing living with his ex-wife (the little sister of his Dead True Love Dorothy Stratten) and her mother? That is so....weird. But then Bogdanovich has always been a weird megalomaniac. He thinks people hate him because they're "jealous" of him. Someone should tell him that no, he's always been hated because he's an asshole.

The Bob Seger music worked fine in "Mask." And he got all worked up over that? What a cunt he is.

His affair with Cybill Shepherd killed any momentum he had. He never really recovered except for the success of Mask and his role on The Sopranos.

What's Up, Doc? is the best comedy every made.

This is a fact and not up for debate.

Well now that I think about it what stands out the most for me is about Mask was the close ups of Cher’s big sad face, so yeah..that part rings true.

What's the moral difference between Bogdanovich fucking a hooker and then paying her enough money to go home and Hefner fucking Stratton and then making her a Playboy centerfold?

Team Cher.

I like what he said about Out Of Africa, and it's true. You never hear Hollywood people speaking as honestly as this. Rupert Everett has done it a bit and Joan Rivers. Who else?

[quote]What's Up, Doc? is the best comedy every made. This is a fact and not up for debate.

I find it annoying, but I don't like slapstick. I thought Airplane was much funnier.

The Last Picture Show moves at the same glacial speed as Out of Africa.

R29 Some time in the early 2000s, a directors cut of Mask was released with the original Springsteen music and a few added minutes.

Bruce let them use the music at a very reduced rate, otherwise they could never have afforded to do it.

"What's Up, Doc? is the best comedy every made.

This is a fact and not up for debate."

Shut up Peter, you perverted old fuck.

R49 Honestly? According to him everybody in Hollywood was yucky to him cause they were so jelly of his amazing talent....two good films and a truck load of sinkers, he is deluded

Team Cher too.

This guy is a douche.

Mask was great because of Cher and in spite of him.

Team Cher Three

[quote] Orson Welles was a hungry house-guest:"One time, we had just had dinner and were sitting in the breakfast room and I said, “Who wants dessert?” “I do,” he says. So I go into the kitchen and I open up the freezer and there had been four quarts of Häagen-Dazs ice cream and now there was one. And I opened it up and it was like that much [indicates a half-inch smidgen with his fingers] at the bottom. I went to the other room and said, “Somebody ate all the ice cream.” And he says [makes guilty look], “I didn’t.”

The same thing happened to me recently!

[quote] "What's Up, Doc? is the best comedy every made.

[quote] This is a fact and not up for debate."

Yes, it's true of it the first time it was made... as [italic]Bringing Up Baby,[/italic] directed by Howard Hawks.

Out of Africa was stuffy in addition to boring.

The Last Picture Show was truly a great film with rich performances from Cloris Leachman, Ben Johnson, Ellen Burstyn, and Eileen Brennan.

It was slow, but like an Ozu film, it shouldn’t be remotely boring to anyone with an appreciation for real acting and photography.

"What's the moral difference between Bogdanovich fucking a hooker and then paying her enough money to go home and Hefner fucking Stratton and then making her a Playboy centerfold?"

None. Bogdanovich and Hefner were two of a kind, which is why it's infuriating to hear Bogdanovich diss Hefner. He was (and is) every bit as sleazy as Hefner ever was. They both used and exploited women in for sex and money. Teresa Carpenter's Village Voice article "Death of A Playmate" portrayed Hefner, Bogdanovich and Paul Snider, Dorothy Stratten's husband (he blew her head off when she dumped him after being seduced by the rich, famous movie director) as three of a kind. The only difference was that for the struggling pimp/hustler Snider "his sin, his unforgivable sin, was being small time."

Well, if I had Orson Welles as a house guest I would make sure the freezer was refilled with Haagen Dazs ever hour.

Both Bogdanovich and Cher did good work on Mask. Not to mention the screenwriter Anna Hamilton Phelan, the cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliott, and Laura Dern.

R62 Don't forget Estelle Getty

What a great interview. Peter is a douchebag, but he knows movies.

I know Estelle will never be forgotten on DL, so I thought praising her would be painting the lily.

What does he say about Cybil?

He's not nearly talented enough to justify his cuntiness.

He's actually quite nice to Cybill. And cunty to the woman he actually left for Cybill, Ms. Polly Platt.

Oh my God, Billy Wilder was never "jealous" of Bogdanovich. Why the hell would he be? He won six Oscars: Bogdanovich has none. He created some of the most iconic movies in history: "Some Like It Hot", "The Seven Year Itch", "Stalag 17", "Sabrina", "Sunset Boulevard", "The Apartment", "The Lost Weekend", "Double Indemnity." Bogdanovich made a few hit movies, but nothing to compare with WIlder's work. If someone had told him Bogdanovich said he was jealous of him he probably would have laughed like hell.

Love love love interviews like this! Wish people could speak their minds more openly all the time.

Bogdonovich also had a cameo in The Good Wife playing himself (?). It was a mix-up because one of Peter Florek's aides was pregnant and Peter was suspected of being the father. But it was a different Peter. Kinda weird storyline.

R27 Billy Wilder wasn't a 'nasty piece of work'. He was unafraid of looking at the less-pleasant side of human nature.

[quote]The only issue I have is he was quite nasty and dismissive of Polly Platt. She's dead so she can't even defend herself. I mean, he cheated on her and left her and still is pissing on her.

As others have pointed out over the years, Polly Platt's taste and intelligence were a big part of Bogdanovich's best films. He was never as good without her and obviously still can't deal with that.

I actually liked his country western film.

Bogdanovich made four good films (Targets, his first which is a low budget charmer, then the trifecta of "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon" and "What's Up Doc") and all made with his then wife who he treated like shit, then his movies ALL sucked after that.

And, Targets is the only that feels original. As great as "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon" and "What's Up Doc" are, it's just Bogdanovich aping Howard Hawks.

And, I don't need to see/hear him on any more "special features" gassing on and on about "Orson" and "Hawks" and "Ford" and his all so superior knowledge about Hollywood history because he "knew" them (aka stalked them).

R45 and the rest of DL's Streisand Queens just kill me.

Anybody who thinks "What's Up, Doc?" is "the best comedy every (sic) made" really needs to get out and see "Modern Times," "Dr. Strangelove," "The Philadelphia Story," "Blazing Saddles," "Nashville," "Young Frankenstein," "Annie Hall," "This Is Spinal Tap" and/or "Airplane!"

It's hardly the best comedy ever made, but Streisand was at her most relaxed, appealing, and funny in Doc. I suppose Bogdanovich deserves some credit for that.

Wasn't Ryan, uh, instrumental in that?

He is (or was) a very talented director who unfortunately suffers from a very low level of maturity. He's been conspicuously stupid at times in his life and has definite loser tendencies. Plus he's obviously so full of himself it's ridiculous.

The main thing I've always found unfortunate about Cher in every one of her acting roles is that she's not good enough to make it look like she's doing anything but acting. Unlike so many great actors, she's never been able to make it look real.

Bog started fucking Dorothy Stratton's 13 or 14yo sister after Dorothy was murdered, then married her to try to keep things "respectable," so he might want to consider laying low lest someone he trashes decides to get even with him and start bringing all that up again.

r78 I think it had more to do with Ryan’s instrument.

[quote]The main thing I've always found unfortunate about Cher in every one of her acting roles is that she's not good enough to make it look like she's doing anything but acting. Unlike so many great actors, she's never been able to make it look real.

She was a pop singer who made a few movies. What do you want?

If I'm paying good money to go to a movie I want to see actors who can pull off a role convincingly. I don't think that's too much to ask. Those who can't should stay out of the game.

R83, you must be talking about Madonna. If Cher had never made a movie other than Moonstruck, I would still be happy. She was sublime, as was the entire cast.

Back in the 80s when I was "discovering" Bogdonovich via his early 70s hits I knew nothing about his personal life and assumed he was gay based on pictures I'd seen. With his oversized tinted glasses and froufy ascots he looked like Charles Nelson Reilly to me. Wow was I wrong.

I thought he died years ago.

Based on his current decrepit appearance he probably wishes he had.

"We didn’t actually have an affair until after the picture started shooting. We just kissed. It’s called getting to know your actors."

What a slimeball.

You get the face you deserve.

Every feature on his face seems to have sagged downward at least an inch.

For someone who doesn't hold back on others, he is conveniently obtuse about himself.

For example, he doesn't realize that the only way he got to fuck women much better looking than him is because he was paying for it -- either with career opportunities or actual money. Even when talking about actual prostitutes, he claims they were fucking him because of the great sex.

Since he used his power in Hollywood to order women off magazines, I'm not sorry he lost that power.

I do find him being so complimentary to Streisand interesting. Maybe he deducted 1 point because she refused to be filmed from her right side, which he complained about after the film.

His comment that she did whatever he asked might seem self-serving, but it aligns with her horrendous DVD commentary for "What's Up Doc?" where Streisand stupidly distances herself from one of her best pics (because it was not a drama and, therefore, beneath her art) by saying that she just did what she was told.

He makes Woody Allen look like a happy man.

Why did Cybil leave Jeff B for him?

R95 She wanted to be a movie star.

He survived working with Cybill, Barbra, and Cher. At least give the guy a t-shirt.

Of his later work I very much like The Thing Called Love (the country western movie with River Phoenix, Sandra Bullock and a FINE Dermot Mulroney) and The Cat's Meow (Hearst/Davies murder on the yacht).

I grew to hate him reading that interview, but I read every last word. It was compelling.

He's no worse than Spike Lee.

[quote] For someone who doesn't hold back on others, he is conveniently obtuse about himself.

Exactly.

Huh my friend bought that house in Bel Air. It’s situated on a great lot- views from every room, even if you’re sitting on the toilet from the master bedroom suite. He’s been renovating it for over a year.

Bogdanovich sounds like he'd be fun to have a few drinks with and shoot the shit.

Is anyone else surprised he had no bad things to say about Babs?

R103 He seemed more comfortable dishing the dead.

In his mind, Barbra is still a big star and she could give him a job.

his last movie as a director, She's funny that way, was ATROCIOUS. ATROCIOUS!

He could always be a roadie for Cher.

[quote]Huh my friend bought that house in Bel Air.

Your friend's called Huh?

If you don't want to read the article, here's the gist:

Every success in his life, he and he alone is 100% responsible for.

Every failure or disappointment in his life is 100% the fault of other people.

It was a refreshing interview. You may not agree with his views but how great to not have someone say everything is always sunny all the time. The Wilder anecdotes were amazing.

R108 You forgot:

Every better regarded director was jealous of him.

Funny how Cher got along so well with Mike Nichols, who has a much better filmography and Norman Jewison, who even worked with Judy.

Neither of those directors ended up in a shitty apartment in the Valley, broke.

It must have been quite a show when Bogdnovich and Wells got together and talked shit about Hollywood over a few bottles of wine.

He's said in multiple interviews that What's Up, Doc? was the most fun he's ever had making a movie. He also loved working with Barbra.

This is a good interview of him.

R108 and R110 sum it up!

[quote] He's no worse than Spike Lee.

It’s interesting to compare the comments about Bogdanovich to the comments made here about Lee.

He was a legitimate genius when he was younger. The legendary directors recognized that he was supremely talented and that's why he so many of them befriended him, including Orson Welles, Hitchcock, Wilder, etc.

However, like Welles, he lost it early on. I don't know if it was mental illness, alcohol, drugs, or sex, but he was his own worst enemy. The Stratton romance and murder was the final nail in the coffin and his career was over after that.

I haven't seen the Lee comments, but shudder to imagine them.

He's very intelligent.

"The Bob Seger music worked fine in 'Mask.'"

"Roll Me Away" was the perfect song to end that film, whether Bogdanovich agrees or not.

"He was a legitimate genius when he was younger. The legendary directors recognized that he was supremely talented and that's why he so many of them befriended him, including Orson Welles, Hitchcock, Wilder, etc."

Oh for fuck's sake, he was never a "genius." It's been well established that Polly Platt was responsible for a good deal of his initial success, which of course is why he discredits her now. He didn't have the balls to do it while she was alive, probably realizing she would have rightly disputed everything he said. And I don't think any of those family directors "befriended" him, except for possibly Welles. I think they knew him and tolerated him but sure as hell didn't "befriend" him. I think he probably sucked up to them like crazy. Anyway, his namedropping is one of the most excruciatingly annoying things about him, along with his mammoth ego.

And he says that Paul Snider had no problem with his affair with Dorothy Stratten? Yeah, right! Someone who knew Bogdanovich said that "he knew her husband was threatening to kill her but refused to back off. Personally, I think he (Snider) shot the wrong person."

PB is the film version of Jonathan Schwartz.

Is Bogdanovich a Jew?

Why would it matter if he is Jewish anti Semite much? What is your point? Disgusting.

Love the story about Wells and the ice cream.

More impressive than the films he actually made are the films he passed on to direct.

[quote] Q: Is it true you were offered both The Godfather and The Exorcist?

[quote] A: And The Way We Were. And Chinatown. And just about everything. I was hot.

He sorta reminds me of Italian horror director Dario Argento. He, too, had a string of wonderful films (quite a few more than Peter actually), but once his muse/girlfriend, Daria Nicolodi, left him and stopped appearing in his films, the quality of his work took a nose dive and he hasn't made anything truly brilliant in about 30 years now. I think Daria might have been Dario's Polly Platt. I bet they both did a lot more heavy lifting behind the scenes than Dario and Peter would want us to think. I do find it interesting that their work started to suffer the moment their lovers/collaborators left the scene.

R123, Stop being such a prisspot.

Did I miss it or has he elaborated on that weird comment he made about River's death after "The Thing Called Love"? About his suspicions and "the level of jealousy in Hollywood"? Maybe it's just typical Bogdanovich salacious communication, but it was odd how serious he was while saying it.

There really is no denying the importance of his films to the '70s canon. I even like NICKELODEON and parts of SAINT JACK. He's probably an asshole, but most of the power players are - or were, especially back then. I wonder why he's being singled out.

Nastiness and lack of talent?

This guy is the walking embodiment of what progressives means by straight male privilege. What an asshole!

Well that was enjoyable reading about Mr. Bogdanovich and his movies. I wonder how long Tatum will hold the record for the youngest person to win an Oscar? It's been 45 yrs so far.

Umm, why is everyone praising him for being 'refreshingly honest'? This is like the Trump supporters... just because someone speaks coarsely does not mean they're telling the truth lol. I bet half these stories and conversations are made up (he's noticeably quiet about those who are still living - including Brett sex offender Rattner).

What an utter lack of self awareness. He really doesn't seem to realise how pathetic he is (not just his living situation, but the way he talks about others). I have quite a threshold for filth but the Dorothy Stratten situation - and what happened afterward with her sister - really is one of the more salacious 'personal life' tidbits in Hollywood.

He pinged to me for years too (especially the kinds of films he made), I am so glad he's not one of us.

I did love The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon though.... thanks Polly Platt!

Lack of talent does not explain PAPER MOON. Before, the DL used to bitch that Tatum O'Neal wasn't talented because Bogdanovich yanked her performance out of her, now you bitch because he has no talent?

And Polly Platt was a skilled suggestor, but she also did production design on the Streisand STAR IS BORN, which looks like a hot mess.

[quote]And I don't think any of those family directors "befriended" him, except for possibly Welles. I think they knew him and tolerated him but sure as hell didn't "befriend" him. I think he probably sucked up to them like crazy. Anyway, his namedropping is one of the most excruciatingly annoying things about him, along with his mammoth ego.

Surely the directors appreciated that there was someone documenting their words. If it wasn't for Bogdanovich, we wouldn't have anything from Hawks, Aldrich, Lang, Walsh and numerous other directors in their own words talking about movie-making. We would have words from Hitchcock because of Truffaut (and also Chabrol and Rohmer who adored his work), and we would have words from Nic Ray, because of Wenders and Truffaut. Give credit where credit is due.

It's odd that he started so well and then made such crap.

Mazursky was a bit like that but then came back and made some great films.

[quote] Nic Ray, because of Wenders and Truffaut

That would be Wenders and Godard.

Peter's success getting an Oscar worthy performance out of 8 yr old Tatum, leads me to believe he's not exaggerating how much he helped Cher's performance in Mask. I'm sure that's where a lot of the DL hostility is coming from, someone daring to criticize precious Cher. I like her too, but she's no more perfect than anyone else.

Not really, R136. It's more typical that an artist produces his best work at first blush. "Sophomore slump"?

Even Welles did KANE, then AMBERSONS, then lots of above average movies.

[quote]I'm sure that's where a lot of the DL hostility is coming from, someone daring to criticize precious Cher.

Those gurls is ANGRY.

He was treating at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for a while. Is he still teaching there? I'd assume he'd have some sort of house or apartment there, right? Maybe he scaled back his L.A. digs since he knew he wouldn't be there but for 3/4 months a year.

Never liked this smug whiner.

Society needs to accommodate its geniuses.

I was dumbfounded when Tatum won. I've seen far far better performances from child actors in movies that would have never even have been considered for Oscars.

The fact that Kahn didn't win for Paper Moon was insane. Was she even nominated for Doc? Did she ever win an Oscar? Some people get no breaks.

I only saw her once on stage and consider myself lucky. Just missed her in 2X2. Would love to know the story of why she left it. Did Kaye hate her for being so good?

R144, She beat both Kahn and Linda Blair that year.

Jealous Ryan (who hadn't been nominated) made Tatum take a cab to the Oscar by herself. That was a snub after Ryan had actually won the GG for the movie, but why take it out on his daughter?

Wait, Ryan was only nominated for the GG.

I feel sorry to this day for Tatum who has fruitlessly tried to make a healthy relationship with her dad. She deserved that Oscar, her performance is astounding.

How do you make a healthy relationship with a pathological narcissist? She cannot have one with him, ever. Though it's understandable she'll keep trying until he dies. It's pretty sad her need for his love because it will always be desperate and unrequited.

He's had three royally fucked up children. He says he doubts Griffin is really his. Patrick seems to have escaped by the skin of his teeth being raised by his mother and not hanging around his father long enough to get on his nerves.

O'Neal will always think he's been a great father and despise his 3 children because they had so many problems. Completely oblivious. Reminds me of Bogdanovich. No capability of self awareness. whatsoever.

R146, Ryan was a creep, but get your facts straight...he was in Britain/Ireland shooting Barry Lyndon when Tatum won her Oscar and I think she either attended the event with her grandfather who escorted her onstage when she won.

[quote]And Polly Platt was a skilled suggestor, but she also did production design on the Streisand STAR IS BORN, which looks like a hot mess.

The article the director wrote and had published just before ASIB was released suggested that Streisand made a lot of changes to the set design, which I imagine accounted for the mess it turned into.

[quote] And he says that Paul Snider had no problem with his affair with Dorothy Stratten?

Agree, that statement defies all logic.

[quote]He says he doubts Griffin is really his

Griffin looks exactly like him! No way is anyone but Ryan his father, though Griffin would have been better off.

The interdependence between him and the Stratten family is bizarre. His book about his and Dorothy’s romance, The Killing Of The Unicorn, was pretty self-serving. Who knows how Dorothy really felt about it, he portrays it as an endless great love. Poor Dorothy, all 3 of those guys projected onto her whatever they wanted to believe.

"Give credit where credit is due."

My point is that he was not FRIENDS with these people. He was acquainted with them. But friends? I seriously think not. Bogdanovich is one of the most unlikable people on the the planet.

Bogdanovich DID have to wring a performance out of Tatum O'Neal (he actually had to bribe her to get her to say her lines) but that didn't take any particular genius. It just took persistence. At rate, Tatum O'Neal's Oscar win was a travesty. The wonderful Madeline Kahn should have won that year. Tatum O'Neal winning the Oscar was a fluke. The Academy probably thought "let's give it to the little girl who smokes and curses in that movie! So cute!" Anyway, Tatum O'Neal's acting career went nowhere very quickly, due to her lack of talent. No way was she ever deserving of an Oscar.

When people are old and well beyond their salad days and a young whippersnapper like Bognadovich shows them attention they are going to be very friendly.

Robert Osborne was very honest about his relationship with old time stars. He said he came along at the right time in their lives when their productive years were behind them and they had time for him and were flattered by his knowledge and attention. If he had come earlier they wouldn't have given him the time of day and later they would have been sliding into extreme old age.

He’s certainly a miserable looking sod. Bit like Droopy.

He seriously thought of himself as an attractive man?

Well why else would those beautiful young starlets be in a relationship with him? His amazing good looks and charm simply slayed them.

[quote]My point is that he was not FRIENDS with these people. He was acquainted with them. But friends? I seriously think not.

Considering that people claim to have 1000 "friends" on FB, I think him calling a few elders whose work he respected, admired and publicized (when no one else did) as his friends is appropriate. I think.

Two wrongs don't make a write.

"Considering that people claim to have 1000 "friends" on FB, I think him calling a few elders whose work he respected, admired and publicized (when no one else did) as his friends is appropriate. I think."

Oh, come on. You think those directors, honored, world famous directors, some of them Oscar winners, were grateful for attention from Peter Bogdanovich? It's not like that asshole "discovered" them. At any rate, he was as much "friends" with them as people on Facebook are "friends" with each other, which is to say, not at all.

[quote]Jealous Ryan (who hadn't been nominated) made Tatum take a cab to the Oscar by herself.

It's even worse than that. Tatum said that when she won, she called her father to tell him.

TATUM: "Daddy, guess what I'm holding in my hand!"

RYAN: "Guess what I'm holding in my hand."

What a repulsive, selfish asshole.

Don't be so hard on Tatum!

Joanna Moore, Tatum's maw, was right purty.

His obvious problem is that he’s drawn to trash, like so many before him.

Adultery, drugs, prostitutes, centerfolds, nights at the Playboy mansion, a nearly underage bride that’s the sister of your murdered lover - any one of these could be viewed as indulgent or weak but forgivable (maybe not the last one). But he did it all - publicly - and still expected to be viewed as an “auteur” and viewed solely through the lens of his work. Which failed to meet its earlier promise.

Throw in the narcissism, a high-living lifestyle now depleted, a big mouth and a complete lack of self awareness and you end up with an old, bitter but once gifted man living out his golden years as a pariah who has no one left that cares but his ex-wife’s mother (where are his kids, btw?).

The early advice he was given - and ignored - that he was publicly behaving too happy remains wise today in an era where sharing false harmony online to strangers is a cheap commodity.

The interview, nonetheless, was fantastic. For those that can’t understand why anyone would enjoy listening to this wretch of a guy, it’s because he’s brutally honest about everything but himself. Most show business profiles are obsequious fluff. This was riveting. And it blasted a light on how hideous Hollywood actually is, whether one has talent or not.

Cautionary tales are rarely this entertaining.

He looks like an old Bloodhound.

Why doesn’t he hang out with Robert Evans?

Robert Evans still has a fabulous house in Beverly Hills- with a guest house. He doesn't want company.

Good post r167.

[quote]Joanna Moore, Tatum's maw, was right purty.

I sure thought so.

why do u people call, telling what actually happened from their perspective shading? grow up! Cant take the real tea about your favs get over it!

Cher really did have limited acting ability. Mike Nichols was a starfucker, he was blinded by Cher’s celebrity status. I doubt he had much respect for her as an actress.

Amen R173-

I believe that Cher cannot act!!

However I do feel that she had great emotion and charisma and can have a performance created from great scenes.

This guy is a miserable old sod, but I admire his honesty. And he's not honest about himself? He doesn't seem that arrogant to me-

He's living in a goddamn apartment with two roommates!

And I am living for R174 right now. Mike Nichols WAS a starfucker, and a total stuck up CUNT.

Great interview.

I'm not done yet, bitches. And I haven't done the Valley in 50 years.

In the '70s I saw Marlene Dietrich perform in Denver. Bogdanovich and Ryan O'Neal were in the audience. The three exited the stage door got in her limo and went....

Nichols' first couple films benefitted from the residue of Elaine May's genius. After that, down hill all the way.

As good as the movie is, the book Paper Moon is based on is 10X better. If you've never read ‎Addie Pray‎; by ‎Joe David Brown do yourself a favor and get it.

Even as a "young whippersnapper" Bogdanovich looked like an aging basset hound. Astonishing unattractive.

I read some of that execrable book he wrote "The Killing of the Unicorn." It it, he depicts himself as the rescuer of that poor damsel Dorothy Stratten, who was so exploited by evil men like Paul Snider and Hugh Hefner. He gushes over the late Playmate like nobody's business, rhapsodizing over her incomparable beauty and sterling character: "an angel... bright, witty, selfless. . . the noblest person l ever met." Their love affair is a whirlwind fairytale: "we clung to each other as two people who might find themselves the only couple left on earth...we floated dreamlike through the night." One critic said this of Bogdanovich's Bogdanovich's sappy hyperbole: "how can he write such doodle?"

Bogdanovich met Stratten in the first place because he was a regular at the Playboy mansion, a sleazeball equal to Hefner; in fact, he and Hefner were buddies until Bogdanovich placed the blame for Stratten's murder on Hefner. But he depicts himself as seeing the error of his ways while Hefner remains an evil exploiter of women. This from a guy who fixated on and later married the little sister of his dead lover. At any rate a review of "The Killing of the Unicorn" sums it up: "What caused the tragedy? In Bogdanovich's simplistic, wooly-minded view, it was virtually all Hugh Hefner's fault--especially the fault of the Playboy ethic's misogyny. (""Weren't Snider's actions, finally, an imitation of the stag reels and porno magazines he was addicted to?"") But since Snider's psychopathology remains unexplored here, and since Dorothy's behavior is romanticized and under-explained, Bogdanovich's drippy, shrill account fails both as memoir and pseudo-sociology. Self-justification, revenge, and exploitation with a sugary, sanctimonious facade--only for the titillation contingent within the People magazine audience."

Mike Nichols turned out far better movies than Bogdanovich. Even later stuff like Working Girl is wonderful. If he was a star fucker, he picked the right stars and didn't think with his dick.

R181, you obviously never saw The Fortune. He made his share of stinkers in his later years.

Yeah, so what? At Long Last Love, lol.

Day of the Dolphin was Nichols' first bomb in 1973.

As the poster who called Spike Lee a bigot in the other thread, I'm happy to call Bogdanovich an asshole in this one. Both directors have made good movies, but as people they leave a lot to be desired (so what else is new in Hollywood? Or any other place with powerful people?)

But, his shifting the blame for Stratten's murder onto Hefner was kind of jaw-dropping. Dude, you fucked up Snider's meal ticket and marriage.

Also, the insistence on dictating line readings isn't going to make him popular with any experienced actor. Burt Reynolds is an ass, but so was Bogdanovich in that one.

As for Cher--I'm sure she needed a fair amount of direction at the time, but, unlike Madonna, say, she's given a number of good performances under other directors--Robert Altman, Mike Nichols and George Miller all got good performances out of her. That says to me that she has some ability. Particularly as Altman, Nichols and Miller are all more successful directors than Bogdanovich.

1975 was hardly Nichols later years. Silkwood, Working Girl, The Birdcage and Primary Colors were after that. Not to mention Angels in America. Every director has stinkers.

R186, Charlie Wilson’s War was a total snooze. And Primary Colors was a lousy film with very bad casting. And The Birdcage is hardly a classic. Except for Hank Alaria it’s flat as a pancake. I did like Closer, though, but mainly because the writing was strong.

Oops, sorry, AZARIA.

Also Wolf, Regarding Henry and What Planet Are You From were BOMBS.

Cher played a biker bitch in Mask. That was a real stretch.

Bogdanovich was unconvincing as Melfi's mentor--by that point her character had been reduced to being a plot device anyway.

He's someone who knows a lot about film, but his best films were largely other people's stories. I think he lacked the talent of the best directors who really knew how to tell a story--their own or someone else's.

Wilder was not a fun guy to be around. cagney left movies after working with him. he was taskmaster adna bit of a cynic (Wilder). he also could write as well as direct, although always with a writing partner.

I HATE HATE HATE The Last Picture Show. Hated it the - hate it now.

Bogdanovich should write an autobiography - it'll get published if he drops names...seem he knows how to do that.

To be honest, most directors do their best work early in their careers and burn out quickly. The list is long: Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Welles, Spielberg, Polanski, DePalma and Scorsese all made masterpieces early in their careers, and then diminished with each successive film. Hitchcock probably kept his level of quality the longest, and ironically never won an Oscar.

They get rich and insulated, run out of ideas, and lose their overall drive and creativity. It's like a professional athlete who can no longer compete as he gets older.

I was never a fan of "The Last Picture Show" either. I got so bored by it I couldn't watch it all the way through.

I agree with you r193 but particularly when you say artists become INSULATED.

They become part of the 1% and lose the edge that made them want and need to create art.

OMG, The Last Picture Show was a work of art! Loved everything about it from the stark Kansas landscapes to Miss Trixie Delight.

I agree, but a career bookended by WAOVW and Angels in America isn't a bad one. I think Nichols did one movie after that.

R193, you forgot Terrence Malick. His first film was the masterpiece - Badlands (1972).

Sure they ran out of stories, but I believe financing had a lot to do with their lack of product after big film #1 or 2. They had trouble raising money for those others that might have been...or might have been a LOT better.

Nichols had a concurrent career as a theater director. Many acclaimed productions with long runs.

Peter's bogged down, oh bitch.

How was Hitchcock able to crank out iconic films over many decades? Psycho was a revelation and he made that towards the end of his career. Maybe he was just a better storyteller?

IMO, Hitchcock made his best films toward the end: Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo. He truly was a phenomenon the likes of which we'll never see again.

I do think the more success and acclaim someone gets, the less good work they're able to make. They lose the drive and the grit and can only start to tell stories about people just like them now - usually rich and spoiled without a financial worry in the world. Either that or they try to depict every day working characters, but have no way to relate to them anymore.

Granted, some have a few missteps here and there but have fairly even careers. A lot of the horror directors like Craven, Cronenberg, Carpenter, Romero still did interesting work in between some big flops. Argento, as mentioned before, is a good example to peaking too early, but he had a good 20 year period of pretty solid work from Crystal Plumage to Opera. That's more than Bogdanovich.

Ol' Peter had 3 great films. that, granted, have gone on to become classics and that's pretty much it. A nice turn here and there, but mostly a lot of really awful films since. I think his case is actually fairly rare. Still, most directors are able to make one classic film, let alone 3 and let alone so early in one's career. Peter's mistake was his ego. I actually don't think it was an issue of talent, because anyone who can make three films like The Last Picture Show, What's Up Doc, and Paper Moon can't be devoid of talent. It's all personal, which is a shame. To me, it's as tragic as seeing someone's career killed by drugs or alcohol.

Family Plot, his final film, is also one of my favorites of Hitchcock.

"How was Hitchcock able to crank out iconic films over many decades?"

His wife.

Unlike Bogdanovich, Nichols wasn't a slave to his erection.

Bogdanovich’s Noises Off is unwatchable.

[quote]a nearly underage bride

He started sleeping with her when she was 13.

I really liked Charlie Wilson's War.

Stop Stud-Shaming Peter Bogdanovich!

We really liked "Day of the Dolphin"!

Sadly, we haven't worked since.

Enough about Nichols: this is MY thread.

It seems to have petered out...

[quote]Oh, come on. You think those directors, honored, world famous directors, some of them Oscar winners, were grateful for attention from Peter Bogdanovich? It's not like that asshole "discovered" them. At any rate, he was as much "friends" with them as people on Facebook are "friends" with each other, which is to say, not at all.

I never said they were grateful, but I think they might have been flattered. I don't know the depth of their friendship any more than you do. But Bogdanovich was there, met them, and interviewed them some over the longer, some over the shorter period of time.

Bogdanovic himself only speaks of his friendship with Welles, it's the writer of the article who noted that Bogdanovic befriended the others.

I think there should be some acting award for those prostitutes he hired who convinced him they enjoyed the sex.

Love him or hate him it was an interesting interview and I like hearing that kind of dish. Are his DVD commentaries similar? I hate those snoozefest commentaries where I'm told that everyone was just marvelous and wonderful to work with and no tea is spilled. Coppola's commentary on the first Godfather movie was really interesting because he talked about how he worked around budgetary constraints and tidbits like one actor got so drunk at lunch that they had to lose half a shooting day.

Was "The Cat's Meow" really a "critically hailed comeback"? I thought it was like a lame TV movie, and it was a box-office flop.

STAY ON TOPIC CUNTS! This isnt a thread about DIRECTORS careers. Make your own thread. BAG TO THE DISH AND GOSSIP! Finally someone is honest, and you dorks turn this into an expose on the work of DIRECTORS! ugh

But not staying on topic is a venerable DL tradition.

It's also a venereal DL tradition.

[quote] Bogdanovich was unconvincing as Melfi's mentor--by that point her character had been reduced to being a plot device anyway.

IMO, Dr. Melfi's character was always a clunky expository device (exposing Tony's character through what he said in therapy). It also made The Sopranos seem like it was copying "Analyze This."

I did like the Elliott character. I thought he was believable as therapist to Dr. Melfi.

Polly Platt was the driving creative force and talent behind Last Picture Show and Paper Moon. I laughed out loud when I read Bogdonovich say that Cybill was very good in Daisy Miller and that it got good reviews.

I was near him and Dorothy's sister at an event when she was really young. She seemed mentally challenged. It was a sad coupling.

How could they not have discussed Madeline Khan, Austin Pendleton, and Mabel Albertson?

R196 Texas , dear. It was Texas.

Tks R222. I got mixed up with Paper Moon.

No shit.

He was good looking when he was young, in a Jew-y kind of way. Now he's a goblin.

In the article:

"I’ve seen pictures of us (PB and Cybill), I look like an arrogant, attractive guy, and she looks like a sexy girl."

This reminds me of when in The Last of Sheila (1973), Raquel Welch calls Richard Benjamin "the worlds most attractive man."

I see a pudgy fug, Peter.

I recall reading that he had Louise Stratten undergo plastic surgery so that she would more resemble Dorothy.

He also adds that his good friend Orson was making fun of him on the Tonight show after his crash and burn and that thing with choose your letter was brutal. Friendship in Hollywood.

Wilder's films became pretty nasty towards the end. There was always that edge underneath the surface but the production code kept him in check.

Nichols was gay. Read the Avedon biography. The best thing he did was Streamers at Lincoln Center which was tremendous. How can anybody praise the Birdcage if they've seen the original French film whose performances are beyond praise? Those performances in the Nichols' film are amateur night in comparison. And dear God how can anyone say his Angels in America(which is a wonderful play) is anything more than hungry actors chowing down at the Golden Coral.

Cukor started out as a dialogue director and was always giving line readings. Even mouthing words behind the camera.

The greatest filmmakers made great or very good films throughout their career. As one person noted Hitchcock. Then there is Renoir, Ozu, Dreyer, Bergman, Wyler, Kurosawa, Fellini, Reed...

Bogdanovitch is a classic Hollywood asshole. He deserves to be in that purgatory in the Valley.

So, Bob Fosse had to run every project by Peter to get his ok before he commenced? Fuck him. Bob Fosse had way more talent than asshole, and will be remembered longer. (That said, I'm not convinced Fosse wasn't an asshole himself) Star 80 is a great movie, if grim.

Favorite remark in the Sarasota Film Festival Clip:

"What's Up Doc? was Madeline Kahn's first firm. And she was great. And Barbra didn't like that one bit. At the first table read, on the lot, Barbra got no laughs. But all Madeline had to say was 'Howard' and everyone was cracking up. Barbra came up to me later and said, 'I'm an EXTRA on my own movie!'"

Babs HATED What's up Doc (Bogdanovich made it up at the last minute, long story), and only agreed to do it because Sue Mengers talked her into it. Streisand more or less walked through the movie which is why critics loved her "softer" performance and probably why Bogdanovich thought she was so easy to work with.

Considering what a huge star Streisand was at the time and her clout she allowed Kahn to shine. And she herself is at her most charming relaxed and beautiful.

Too bad she so underrates well done light comedy. It must be the hardest of genres to pull off. You are so exposed and really have nothing to hold onto and you've got to keep it all afloat.

He had nice hair when he was younger.

I don't get how Streisand could look down on "What's Up Doc?" because it was "just" a silly comedy, when she did "For Pete's Sake" two years later.

Unlike "What's Up Doc?", "For Pete's Sake" really was a shitty, stupid comedy.

And so was "The Main Event' -- her re-pairing with O'Neal.

"What's Up Do?" is a masterpiece compared to those two movies. Unlike them, it still holds up a great entertainment.

To link some peripherals in this thread: Mike Nichols was the first choice to play the PB role in 'The Sopranos.'

Some scenes were filmed, but Nichols later said he couldn't get into the part, it didn't feel right for him. (Maybe this was a saving face story - then again, he didn't need to share it.)

He said he felt like 'the wrong Jew', and that if he ever wrote a memoir, he'd call it 'The Wrong Jew.' Would he ever write such a memoir? He thought not, because he couldn't face the book signings.

He showed THE LADY EVE & HIS GIRL FRIDAY to Barbra and Ryan and they totally didn’t get it. Barbra even asked Peter what was so funny...

"Barbra even asked Peter what was so funny..."

Narcissists have a hard time with humor.

Well those 2 were smoking a lit of pot back then, so who knows?

I agree that truly talented directors can make great films throughout their careers. Altman made Gosford Park when he was in his mid-70s.

That said, he should have retired on that high note. I thought The Company was a dull trifle. I've never seen A Prairie Home Companion, but the reviews aren't great.

A lot depends on the script.

Peter is just a bitter, broke has been who already burned every bridge just like Julia Phllips.

I love his Orson Welles ice cream story.

R220 I checked Rotten Tomatoes expecting him to be proved wrong but Daisy Miller has a 100% rating. It actually topped a survey with the biggest disparity on Rotten Tomatoes between critic and audience ratings. I've not seen it in years but curious now to rewatch fresh. I remember it looked gorgeous at least.

That happens with a lot of older movies for some reason. Only based on 7 reviews, but 22% audience score. It stank.

BUMP

What a cold cutlet you are, my darling at table R234. What did FOR PETE'S SAKE ever do to you but hold you in its arms and tickle your tummy? *eyes cross* And anything he wants from yewww

Should be the least that you can dewww

Don't let him down

Just give him Love

Don't let his dreams turn into DUST

He's only tryin' to build a wonderland for two...

Sounds like he shaded the movie, not Streep, r30....

Rotten Tomatoes is pretty useless for older films. Thwrw just isn't a large enough pool of reviews

Pauline Kael liked DAISY MILLER, or at least Cybill's performance in it IIRC. She said something about how her flat affect and flat, chatty American style line readings were a proper choice for the character of Daisy. Which is, come to think of it, a left-handed compliment.

Acting is the only art form where you can actually improve with age, but even then, it's not the norm. Directors, singers, dancers, artists, writers almost always go downhill after their initial success.

The arts, like sports, are an endeavor for the young.

When you think of physical endeavors that makes sense but shouldn't creative artists improve with age as they hone their craft? Or is there an initial burst of creativity where you say everything you've wanted to say and after that flowers you start repeating yourself and decline because of a lack of inspiration?

Philip Roth and Lucian Freud did their greatest work when well into their maturity.

R236, I remember WUD screenwriter David Newman telling that story on Julian Schlossberg's radio show (WMCA - Sun nights) in the 1970s. Streisand made popcorn and they watched The Lady Eve, which she HATED. Ryan was tagging along, his opinion, if he had one, was not noted. It's clear Streisand has very little if any taste, R234.

Does anyone remember that Streisand was talking about retiring in 1971-72? She complained about having been under contract to this and that for ten years, and when the contacts were up, she planned on calling it a day. That might have been a good idea.

But then she wouldn't have that multi house compound in Malibu, her mall, and the Modigliani her last tour bought for her. I can't even begin to think of the monthly taxes, staff, maintenance, security and insurance costs she pays.

[quote] Star 80 was a great film though.

No it wasn't.

She may have moved back to New York full time, R254, and had a summer house in the Hamptons. Waited a few years then made a comeback in short theater runs and/or smaller concert venues, and recordings - an entirely different life/career.

Star 80 wasn't a bad movie, it told the story, just in a very lurid way. But it was a very lurid story.

[quote] He showed THE LADY EVE & HIS GIRL FRIDAY to Barbra and Ryan and they totally didn’t get it.

That's hard to believe, since Ryan was doing a very good imitation of Cary Grant in a screwball comedy. And was such a hottie at the time to boot.

[quote] Sounds like he shaded the movie, not Streep, [R30]....

- [italic]Didn’t she get an Oscar for it?[/italic]

- [italic] [bold]She gets Oscars for everything.[/bold] It was a boring picture. [/italic]

That's a shade in my book.

Your book must be Throwing Shade For Dummies....

R257, you must have not read the Bogdanovich interview linked by OP. Bogdanovich told actors how to read their lines. Ryan did as he was told.

Not everyone can be as brilliantly obtuse are you, R247 / R259.

Babs should be thanking the movie gods for What's Up Doc. It's one of her best films and she's never looked more beautiful than in that movie. I truly mean that. She's gorgeous in that movie.

She's never been terribly self-aware to realize that her flair for comedy combined with that big, beautiful voice of hers was what made audiences love her so much. It was when she kept trying to not just do dramas, but "very important pictures" that she began floundering and making a bunch of crap. Talk about someone whose acting career peaked early. Yentl was probably the last good thing she was in, although, The Prince of Tides wasn't awful. She insisted on only doing dull, middlebrow fare. Just imagine if she had actually done Gypsy in the 80's or 90's. Finally, she'd have had a role that could show off her voice, her comedic skills, and give her the dramatic moments she always craved.

What's with the little hanky always tied around his neck? He seems like the biggest queen except he slept with all those women. He seems to have no shame, if I was in his position I would do anything to remain out of the public eye.

"It's the writer of the article who noted that Bogdanovic befriended the others."

The writer sounds like he's as much of an idiot and an asshole as Bogdanovich is. Discussing Bob Fosse they both sound like retards. Bogdanovich said that "Star80", the movie he did about Dorothy Stratten "killed him." No, I think a lifetime of drinking and smoking and heart disease probably killed Bob Fosse. And then the idiot interviewer says "He died four years later in 1987. His career died and then he died." Bogdanovich concurs : "Pretty much, yeah." Are these two brain dead, or what? At the time of his death, Bob Fosse was developing several film projects and his revival of his musical "Sweet Charity" had just opened at the National Theatre. His career was far from "dead." For Bogdanovich and the idiot interviewer to say that it was is sheer idiocy.

No wonder people hated Bogdanovich and Shepard. They were both utter assholes. Remember when Cybill Shepard was presenting at the Academy Awards and she kept saying the names of Bogdanovich's films instead of the films nominated? She later claimed she was trying to be funny, but most people thought at the time: "what the hell is wrong with this dip?" Some also assumed she was drunk. At any rate, she and Bogdanovich were one of the most hated Hollywood couples of all time. And deservedly so.

The interviewer's comment "He died four years later" wasn't agreeing with Bogdanovich, but pointing out, subtly, that PB was kind of full of it on that one, but Bogdanovich just rolled on and ignored the facts. But, yeah, Fosse was an asshole, but unlike Peter Bogdanovich, he knew he wasn't a good guy--it's all there in *All That Jazz.* Serial philanderer, big on the casting couch, though also very talented and, curiously, loved by his dancers, even with the whole casting-couch thing.

I saw *Daisy Miller* when it came out. I remember it being very pretty, Cybill Shepard being very pretty and all-American in it, which works for the character, and that was that. As movies go, it's just kind of there. As far as Henry James adaptations go, both the Innocents (with Deborah Kerr) and Wings of the Dove with Helena Bonham Carter are more effective. Sigh, that should be a DL thread--Henry James adaptations--it's one of those arcane things that a bunch of DLers would know all about and have strong opinions to go with the esoterica.

I watched DAISY MILLER a year or so ago and thought Shepherd was much too coy in the role and her acting was too self-aware and borderline amateurish.

What an ass saying Cher dropped a last name because she hates men ? Could he be anymore misogynistic?

I'll tell you exactly why he & Cher didn't get along. Prior to filming she reached out to Rusty Dennis. She had her come & stay at her house. She listened to her to her talk about Rocky. Rusty loved that boy so deeply.

Cher said when she first met Rusty she showed her a bunch of pictures. One of the pics was a class picture and Rusty said, "He's the tall one in the back row". That moved Cher so much & showed her so much because anyone with eyes could pick him out but in his mother's eyes he was just the tall boy in the back row.

Cher & Bogdanovich got into a fight when he rewrote the script to have Rusty scream at Rocky saying, "I wish you'd never been born. My life could've been something if not for you". Cher refused to say the line because she said Rusty would never say that to her son. She stood her ground. It also bears knowing that Bogdanovich refused to even meet Rusty.

As I recall, "Star80", while not a box office smash, got generally good reviews. Eric Robert's performance as Paul Snider was especially praised. I though Mariel Hemingway was very miscast as Dorothy Stratten, though. She really wasn't good looking enough and she actually got breast implants to make her tits bigger for the role. Even with the implants her tits weren't that impressive. I think Daryl Hannah, who was also in the running for the part, would have been much better. She looked a lot more like Stratten than Hemingway did.

He seems happy -

There's a great SInatra story involving Bogdanovich and Shepherd. Bogdanovich produced an album by Shepherd moaning Cole Porter songs and sent it out to several stars to try to coax positive blurbs out of them. Sinatra wrote back, "Heard the record. It's amazing what some guys will do for a dame. Better luck next time."

Cybill dumped Jeff Bridges for this schlub?

Surely the only reason Streisand could bear Madeline Kahn's brilliant performance in What's Up Doc? was because Kahn was so deglamorized and dowdied up as a naggish shrew.

If we're gonna talk about the best Henry James film adaptations, look no further than William Wyler's The Heiress.

I was shocked when I finally read the novella Washington Square to discover how poorly it compared to Ruth and Augustus Goetz's play and screenplay. But then I've always found James to be.....challenging.

R118 = Peter’s mom

R271 the Sinatra line makes me think of the song in his film Guys and Dolls "When you see a gent paying all kinds of rent for a flat that would flatten the Taj Mahal...you can bet that he's doing it for some doll."

I thought it was very telling in the Sarasota Film Festival interview that when the host was telling Bogdanovich what a shitty person Ryan O'Neal was for not going to Oscars to support Tatum because he wasn't nominated, Bogdanovich's response was:

"Well, I didn't go either. Because I wasn't nominated."

What two, HORRIBLE, selfish assholes to not support a young girl like that. No wonder she ended up such a mess.

I'm no fan of Bogdanovich but Hollywood has a very long history of actors and directors not attending the Oscars when they weren't nominated.

R274, The Heiress, of course, excellent film, just kind of slipped my mind. The novella is a bit drab, the film is much livelier and Olivia deHavilland is terrific in the role. She was a pretty woman who played plain incredibly well.

So, The Heiress, The Innocents, Wings of the Dove, The Bostonians, The Europeans, Portrait of a Lady, Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, What Maisie Knew (modern adaptation), Washington Square (remake of the Heiress) and Daisy Miller. Daisy Miller is definitely in the bottom half, but I haven't seen all of them. Like I said, I remember it being pretty, but I don't think Bogdanovich had an eye for color the way some directors do--his best films were definitely in black and white--but both Babs and Ryan O'Neal irritate me onscreen, so I may be unfair to What's Up Doc.

Paper Moon and Last Picture Show are both striking films, though.

And Madeline Kahn never quite got the career she should have had. Lots of missed chances and then died fairly young.

The black and white of his best films was all due to Polly Platt.

I think it's a Hollywood thing not to attend the Oscars if you weren't nominated. They believe--rightly or wrongly--that it makes you look like a loser.

The interview is really interesting, despite how PB comes off. You may resent his putting Streep down with "She gets Oscars for everything," but it's a funny line. If Julie White said it in a Broadway comedy, everyone would roar even though the audience loves Streep. Something about PB's dry, tired responses is fascinating, however unpleasant. He's clearly not someone you'd enjoy working with or knowing socially, but it's still a fascinating read.

Bob Fosse's dancers loved him despite his personality problems because his choreography made them look like the best. That was true of Jerome Robbins as well, and he was much worse than Fosse. Bob Fosse really did have many friends who loved him--the ones who went to that party he threw posthumously (in his will). Nobody loved Jerome Robbins.

Streisand and Kahn were both perfect in their roles in WUD. They had completely different roles, so it's useless to compare them. The film worked so well because every actor in it was brilliant in their roles.

Believe me, Barbra wouldn't have traded her sexy romantic leading lady status for Kahn's zany character actress status for all the money in the world. Barbra was always a leading lady, and Madeline was forever a supporting actress.

Anyone who has ever been to the Oscars show knows it is boring AF. You are basically sitting for 4+ hours.

The parties after or during are the best.

I think Bogdanovich was and is jealous of Bob Fosse. Fosse won Oscars, Tonys, Emmys. Bogdanovich can't say the same. He was supremely talented and did great work his entire life. Bogdanovich had his moment in the sun with three movies and that was it. Although not perfect by any means, he was loved by many. I can't think of anybody who would have loved Peter Bogdanovich. Polly Platt? I think theirs was more of a business relationship than a love match. Cybill Shepherd? I don't think what was between them could accurately be called "love." I think it was more possession; they were both very chuffed to be in possession of each other (she had the currently hot young director, he had the blonde cover girl). Dorothy Stratten? Poor, dim, easily led Dorothy was drawn into that relationship because Bogdanovich was a famous director who told her he would make her a star. Louise Stratten? The girl is dumb as a brick but not so dumb that she couldn't see Bogdanovich was her ticket to a privileged life in Bel Air. That was the attraction; life with a famous rich man. I guess maybe his daughters love him, but children tend to love their parents even if the parent is a detestable creep. Yes, I'd say Bob Fosse had Bogdanovich beat in ALL respects.

He's a complete tool. He blames everyone else for his own ineptitude and failings. Pure narcissism.

I've give Cybill this - she did bounce back and that's impressive for someone with so little talent and who comes across as supremely self-conscious on camera. She's had her issues, but I don't think she's a narcissist. She's just naive and a bit daffy.

ALLL is visually beautiful. It's the best black and white in color film I've seen. It shimmers and glows. Bogdanovich captures the silver screen incandescence that you see in beautiful nitrate prints of the silents and RKO films of the 30s. I'm talking real nitrate 35mm. It's kind of shocking how beautiful these films were to the first audiences before they faded, were reduced to 16mm or went up in flames. I myself have only seen very few prints like this and I've gone to see a hell of a lot of films in black and white at revival houses and museums.

You can see why people were so mesmerized and movie palaces could seat thousands of people for one performance. Movies took hold of the imagination of a couple of generations in a way that we can't even imagine today.

Because of Tatum O'Neal's travesty of an Oscar win(yes it was) I believe Melvyn Douglas did not go to the Oscars when he was nominated for Being There. He figured Justin Henry would win. And could you imagine an actor of his reputation and stature being beaten out by a little boy? What a humiliating joke. And if he had gone and accepted his Oscar what a beautiful sendoff to a sterling career.

From an interview with Melvyn Douglas in 1980:

Will you be going to the Academy Award ceremonies next week?

No. It has been said an actor has no chance against a child or an animal. Justin Henry’s up for Kramer vs. Kramer and Mickey Rooney’s up for The Black Stallion.

Peter Bogdanovich's downfall was his lack of feeling for actors--neither Strattan nor Shepard were interesting to watch on screen. He lucked out with Tatum O'Neal because she was a tough, neglected kid playing a tough, neglected kid. She just had to be filmed right. It's clear that he neither understood nor respected the acting craft.

Which is a huge contrast to Fosse, a former performer who didn't have the charisma onscreen to be a star (there are some great clips of him dancing). He had, though, the ability to spot star quality in others and show it onscreen--Liza Minnelli and Roy Scheider gave their best performances under him--not bad for a guy who made only five films. Then there's the story about his making Ann Reinking go through multiple callbacks before casting her in a role based on her.

Wish he'd been able to use Cliff Gorman as Lenny--studio wanted a big star--you see bits of Gorman's Lenny in All That Jazz

When I was first starting out in film production, I went to visit a friend that was working on his movie. I’ve neevr had this reaction to anyone before or since, but I wanted to hit him. You know how bullies randomly shove someone into a locker because they irrationally hate someone? That was my gut feeling. He was wearing clogs and an ascot and those idiotic glasses and I thought, I really want to punch you till you’re dead.

His lionization of his skank ex gf is a joke too. She was so pure and wonderful, she let herself lie with her legs wide open so they could get a great shot of her fluffed up pussy hair, but she was an INNOCENT working for one of the biggest pervs around. I’m by no means a pearl clutcher but get real.

R262 Always thought Jennifer Aniston, who is a Streisand fan, based her look of BS’s in What’s Up Doc.

Long brown hair with centre part, lined eyes, gold tan, tank top etc.

[quote]I'm no fan of Bogdanovich but Hollywood has a very long history of actors and directors not attending the Oscars when they weren't nominated.

When it is their own underage daughter who is nominated?

You are a horrible apologist for bad behavior.

Do you have, by chance, a history of codependency?

[quote]I've give Cybill this - she did bounce back and that's impressive for someone with so little talent and who comes across as supremely self-conscious on camera. She's had her issues, but I don't think she's a narcissist.

ALL actors are narcissists.

But I have met Cybill several times socially (been to her home even) and she was always very nice. I she is very funny, in that sort of brassy dame way.

I don't think she is a great actress, but she is a lovely person in a social setting.

I loved the West End when I lived in London in the 80s because it was cheap and easy to get tickets. I think I paid 5 pounds to see Rex Harrison and Rosemary Harris in "Heartbreak House".

Oops, that was for another thread---

Astonishing that he turned down "The Godfather," "The Way We Were" and "Chinatown." I mean....

The standout in "Daisy Miller" was the tragic Barry Brown. His short life would make an unbelievable movie.

Thank God he did turn down those movies

I still think the director who's fallen the hardest was Roland Joffe. But Bogdanovich isn't far behind.

r281 I think it's a Hollywood thing not to attend the Oscars if you weren't nominated. They believe--rightly or wrongly--that it makes you look like a loser. - TELL THAT TO JLO. lmao. People only talk about her looks vs her work.

Wow.

Fabulous, brave, no bullshit interview.

Bravo, Bogdonavich!

Eldergay/r297 - tell me about this Barry Brown.

A friend of mine waited on Cybill S in a restaurant years ago, and she tried to walk her check...

Barry Brown sister committed suicide. As did his sister. His surviving brother James Brown wrote a riveting book called "The Los Angeles Diaries". It details their life with an abusive criminal arsonist mother.

I picked up the book after viewing "Daisy Miller" and doing some research into the life of Barry Brown. He was so compelling in the film I wondered what happened to his career. It's a very sad story indeed.

Whenever I read one of these famous asshole threads I am struck by the expectation that people have about artists versus what they really are.

I suppose that because great talents show us the truth about the human condition we simply assume that they are sensitive, thoughtful, caring people themselves.

They’re not. The ambition, single mindedness, and well, ruthlessness that it takes to get to the top in the entertainment industry precludes being nice, at all.

‘Famous’ people are by nature self involved to a fault. When they sound nice in an interview it’s PR. And because they usually sound nice, reading an interview like this is a shock.

But Bogdanovich the rule not the exception. Our household has a policy about not hanging out with famous people. Yeah, Mary! We’ve broken that rule a couple of times and the result is always the same. We look at each other after the milk is spilt and say I Told You So!

And it doesn’t matter if they’re directors, or opera singers, or writers, or actors. High level creatives are in their own special world. It’s best to leave them alone and let them create.

As someone who has toiled in the arts for 40+ years, I heartily concur with you, r305.

R271, the Sinatra story isn't funny or insightful in the slightest considering what Sinatra did over Ava Gardner - attempt suicide.

If anyone has questions about how and why a hot director like Bogdanovich was in 1971-74 could invest so much in such an amateurish actress as Cybill Shepherd, look at his idol's most famous film, Citizen Kane. Kane threw it away promoting Susan Alexander.

R291, EVERYONE looked that way in 1972. I was in high school and saw it. The only fashion statement unique to Streisand that traveled was the bun on top of head hairdo. Even Mary Tyler Moore wore it, a tighter version. I thought it was ugly.

R307 is Barbra wearing satin pajamas to dinner?

I fucking hate those choker Streisand wears. Who told her they look good? Certainly not her mirror.

I agree R308. Streisand actually had a nice long neck, the chokers disguise it.

R286, I agree. I adore that movie. It is visually so beautiful.

Barbra has shit and taste in clothes. Between the Victorian dresses with chokers and the Donna Karan suit dresses with the slit- I can't remember her ever looking good. Except in a couple movies. The Bob Mackie stuff in Funny Lady was beautiful.

[quote]I fucking hate those choker Streisand wears. Who told her they look good? Certainly not her mirror.

Maybe her mirror has two faces.

Good one...

Streisand had a bit of a swayback, potbelly...she didn’t look good in tight stuff.

He captured Barbra at her foxiest.

[quote] Our household has a policy about not hanging out with famous people. Yeah, Mary!

Well, smell you.

R304 this thread made me seek out the trailer for "Daisy Miller" and that handsome guy with the brown hair--Barry--was the standout (certainly not Cybill, talk about wooden). His Wikipedia page has a wonderful photo of him with Jeff Bridges. I can't believe I've never heard of him til now.

Already checked out on line the book you referenced--thanks for mentioning it

"Our household has policy..."

Mine too! Isn't it a bore when those celebrities are so insistent about socializing? I mean, they can't take no for an answer! I've just about had it with Babs and Jim -- "Oh, we were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd take a chance..." Give me a fucking break, Fanny!

I've turned down so many invitations to Barbra's mall it's getting embarrassing. I guess I'll have to attend the white sale this month. She's serving from her Hot Dog On A Stick, and soft serve ice cream after.

I'm not going to Barbra's mall till she brings the Colony Record store back.

i hadn't heard about Barry Brown either, what a sad story. I watched some scenes from Daisy Miller and, OMG, Cybill was terrible. And her face looked quite porcine with those period hairdos.

"Wow.

Fabulous, brave, no bullshit interview.

Bravo, Bogdonavich!"

Shut up, Peter, you turd-faced old has-been.

[quote]You never hear Hollywood people speaking as honestly as this. Rupert Everett has done it a bit and Joan Rivers. Who else?

What's he got to lose?

Peter did a passable biopic on Natalie Wood which was an Australian production for t.v. - I don't think it ever aired in the U.S. Cher admits in her book The First Time that she doesn't consider herself a good actress and many nights on Broadway she was completely "in the weeds" yet my friend saw Come Back to the Five & Dime and said she was fine - it's the play that is not good.

'

Barry Brown was certainly a handsome guy but not really very distinctive or particularly talented among so many other brooding dark-haired actors of the early 1970s.

He looked great with a mustache and muttonchops and a homburg in Daisy Miller but was quite forgettable in everything else he did. I would imagine that one of the reasons he committed suicide was because he knew that better than anyone.

I'd take Michael Sarrazin any day.

I've known some best-selling writers who seemed like nice people, but famous writers aren't celebrities for the most part. They're not fabulously wealthy and they're not recognized by people on the street. I've never met someone like Neil Gaiman, whose readings sell out and has a big public persona.

"...which was an Australian production for t.v."

R324, why do you write T.V. instead of simply TV? "Television" is one word, or it has been since the 1950.

r305 They’re not. The ambition, single mindedness, and well, ruthlessness that it takes to get to the top in the entertainment industry precludes being nice, at all

Oh shut up with your tired played out CELEBRITY TROPE. This isnt a celebrity thing. its a HUMAN THING! Stop thinking your are smart with such keen insights into 'celebrities'

I was never really keen on Barry Brown in DAISY MILLER. He's rather humorless and the character in the novella isn't. Certainly he's better than Shepherd, but that's not saying much.

The real standout performance in the film is Eileen Brennan.

r329 Eldergay Mary!~ No one cares!

Why did Tarantino let him move in?

Barry Brown did an interview with one of the gay entertainment mags, probably "After Dark". He said his acting role models were gay/bisexual like James Dean and Montgomery Clift so he actively tried to experiment but he found he was not sexually attracted to men. After he died, his family took out an ad in the trades that haunting said "You ARE loved".

R331. So Tarantino would have a captive audience to watch obscure movies with him and listen to his unhinged rants on popular culture

Who the hell is Barry Brown?

Barry Brown in Daisy Miller.

So he thinks Cher "can't act" , but he thought Cybill Shepperd was fine in Daisy Miller. With that, I put no credence in any of his lofty opinions.

R334, Barry Brown was a mentally ill suicide from a family of mentally ill suicides.

I irritated R316, R318 and R328.

Watch out. I’m drunk with power.

The rather dopey comedy "Irreconcilable Differences" was inspired bythe divorce of Peter Bogdanovich and and Polly Platt. Ryan O'Neal plays the Peter Bogdanovich part; Shelley Long does Polly Platt. Sharon Stone plays the version of Cybill Shepherd. The movie features Drew Barrymore as their daughter, who is petitioning the court to have her be "divorced" from her dreadful parents. They're such awful parents that poor little Drew wants to be the ward of her parent's Hispanic maid. I think the movie was a minor hit.

I remember liking "Irreconcilable Differences." I remember Shelley Long being really good in the role of wife/creative collaborator being slowly and inexorably being replaced by the Sharon Stone character. On New Year's Eve (or some other couples-type holiday), the Shelly Hack character is in sweat pants, overweight, driving an older car, dropping Drew Barrymore off at Dad's house, where Dad's having a fabulous party.

I think Bogdanovich resents Cher because she became the breakout star of Mask, even more so than Eric Stoltz who played Rocky, and of course, himself. Mask was probably his one opportunity to reclaim Hollywood glory after his chain of flops and Stratten's murder, but all the attention went to Cher.

There was a lot of talk about why Cher was not nominated for an Oscar so the focus was on her. Also, she tied for Best Actress at Cannes while Bogdanovich didn't win Best Director.

Laura Dern was the best thing about Mask.

Hey asshole R330 - this is a thread about an old timey director, with all these references to old timey movies and stars, and you're picking on R329?

Fuck off.

Bogdanovich was rude to Cher, and acted like a baby about the music. Robert Altman loved her.

Actor and director have dueling press conferences at the 1985 Cannes film festival over the film Mask on 21st May 1985

Sam Elliott was the best thing about Mask.

R345 They both come across as petty cunts.

R343, my pom poms are up and blurring, concurring. On another note, I think Cher and Peter should drop the past and their pants and get into Quentin Tarantula's hot tub and work it the hell out. They all did a fine job on MASK, why can't these two just get together and cry and fuck and scream and celebrate that wonderful movie?

R290 He strikes me as a fundamental white knight, the type who thinks that just because he wants to fuck a woman, she is the epitome of wholesomeness,goodness, and purity. Many of these guys are in the media today, and describe themselves as feminists.

R348 That's hot.

Shepherd's delivery in the Daisy Miller trailer reminds me of Lola Heatherton.

""Irreconcilable Differences" gets in a nice dig at the disastrous ALLL with its disastrous musical version of "Gone With the Wind". I can feel Sharon Stone vocally channeling her inner Cybill.

[quote] “Directors, singers, dancers, artists, writers almost always go downhill after their initial success.“

You sure about that? Sydney Lumet (84 when he directed Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead)

FWIW, Spike Lee and the Coen brothers are still hitting it out of the park 35 years after they began. Idiot

r341 OR MAYBE CHER AND PETER just didnt get along! My god, yall need to find reasons for everything @

It's interesting the number of times characters have been based on Cybill Shepherd.

Cathy Lucas in Other Side of the Wind

Sharon Stone in Irreconcilable Differences

Cheryl Ladd in Permanent Midnight

Cybill Shepherd in Cybill

Annette Benning in American Beauty

Catherine O'Hara in Six Feet Under

Say what you will about her limited talent, but she sure seems to have bedeviled allot of men.

Sounds like Cybill's way more interesting offscreen than on.

^yes, R335: all of those characters variations on the "deranged/mean/cunt"woman. I wouldn't be proud.

R335 I believe Scorsese was looking for a “Cybill Shepherd-type” when casting “Taxi Driver.” He ended up casting her.

According to Julia Philips, in her book "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again", Scorsese cast Shepherd because she had a big ass and Italian men love big asses.

I love "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again".

In Taxi Driver, she seems to be in a different movie.

Didn't she originally audition for the Jody Foster role?

Or should I say JODIE?

I was always glad that she couldn't keep a Cybill tongue in her head.

R328 I think the point is that many of these people are in the public eye because of their work and they are often being interviewed. This gives them quite frequently the opportunity to seem like thoughtful considerate caring people.

I was talking to somebody about Lauren Bacall who only knew her from her interviews and felt he had a sense of what she was really like. I had to explain that was an actor giving a performance. That to people who are not at her level or above in fame she was a complete shit as a human being. He was somewhat dismayed.

It's not only fame that can get you in with people like that. Lots of money and paying for dinner, nice gifts. Famous rich people usually expect everything for free.

The Last Picture Show has one great scene with Cloris Leachman, but the film itself is a bore.

For some reason I enjoyed the sequel, but apparently nobody else did.

[quote]I had to explain that was an actor giving a performance.

Indeed, when credulous folk swoon over some charming magazine or TV interview by a would-be gracious luminary, I think, bless your heart.

As if the acting stops when the film is wrapped. Which is why the deep dark stuff, which we all know is there, is at a premium when it finally creeps out.

This was a topic on THE VIEW today. Meghan immediately barked out that she "never heard of this person" and she loves Cher. Abby never heard of him either, but she remembers being "inspired" by Cher when she went to a concert as a little girl. Wet noodle Sunny carped about how Cher was exploited by Sonny, who took money from her and never gave her any songwriting credits. Neither Megan nor Abby recognized THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. No mention at all of Stratten or Star 80.

^peasants. fraus.

"I wasn't born yet, so I don't know," said Meghan about something that happened during the Reagan presidency. Paul Begala said: "I wasn't born during the French Revolution, but I know about it."

Starts at 1:30.

Can't these bitches take 30 seconds to Google someone before they talk about him?

I really think it's a point of pride for Meghan that she's the youngest on the panel (and, therefore, has no knowledge of something that happened before she was born). She acts like she'll never be 40 years old.

Katey Segal played an actress who gets murdered on a CSI episode - the character was based on Cybill.

Annie Potts played a character based on Cybill in a play many years ago.

Especially interesting as both actresses had worked with Cybill at one point - long before they agreed to play a character based on her.

Maybe Cybill can play Dorothy's mother in a new biopic.

Cybill Shepherd must have been born in the wrong era. A strong studio system would have suited her better.

I can't think of any other actresses who inspired so many fictional characters. So what is it about her? She must be a very interesting person.

As an earlier post pointed out, Bogdanovich had a poor "eye" for acting talent. He would develop obsessions with particular blonde women but audiences and critics did not always take to them. Other successful directors would spotlight the women they were fucking in their films when they were young , but as they aged grew more likely to cast gifted actresses. I think Bogdonavich did not want to do that for the most part . It's funny that he should refer to Cher as self pitying , he seems enveloped in self pity himself.

When Sarah Palin started "going rogue" and tried to take over the McCain campaign, it reminded me of Sharon Stone in "Irreconcilable Differences" yelling "cut" while filming the Gone With The Wind musical, as if she was the director. Sharon made a great first impression (as it was for most people) in that movie, funny and beautiful, too bad the rest of her career didn't pan out better.

As I recall there was some outcry about Cybill Shepherd being in "Taxi Driver." The consensus was that she was talentless; how could Scorsese have chosen her for the role when there were so many good actresses out there? I guess he figured she would be perfect as a good looking ice princess. But I think there were probably other actresses who would have been much better.

I also remember reading that when Glenn Gordon Caron was casting “Moonlighting,” he was looking for someone Cybill Shepherd-esque.

She essentially had to audition to play herself.

Her greatest role.

R379 she really was all wrong for the role of Betsy. When she walks down the street with DeNiro, she looks like a linebacker. He's slight to begin with, and somewhat short--and she is clearly neither (and that white dress doesn't help). Even a young Albert Brooks outacts her. She's not dreadful, just wrong for that role in that film

Cybill is a southern woman through and through and southern women are interesting for their myriad contradictions. Trust me, I'm from the south and my mother always reminded me a bit of Cybill (especially as refashioned into Annette Bening in American Beauty).

[quote]She acts like she'll never be 40 years old.

Well, with any luck ...

Shepherd was perfect for Taxi Driver. It was a perfect image for Travis to be captivated. His chemistry with Shepherd was superb and that's why it seemed out of a different movie.

Shepherd also played a "captivating" girl in The Heartbreak Kid. She was the perfect 1970s shiksa.

Why were they talking about Bogdanovich on The View? Were they reacting to the Op's article?

"His chemistry with Shepherd was superb and that's why it seemed out of a different movie."

What chemistry? There was none. She was a total fish out of water in that movie; her inexperience and lack of talent contrasted sharply with all the good actors in that film: De Niro, Jodie Foster (little 12 year old Jodie Foster outacts her), Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle. There's also an actor named Steven Prince, an unknown, who does a cameo role as "Easy Andy" the gun salesman. He too wipes her off the screen, acting wise.

Not every character based on Cybill has been a shrew or terrible person. I recall the Cheryl Ladd character in Permanent Midnight being somewhat complex and interesting. In her day, the woman besotted many a creative man.

I think I know a male version of this. Drives me fucking insane but I can't stay away.

R378, Stone was much better in a Scorsese film than Cybill was.

R387, totally disagree. Shepherd and DeNiro are suggesting a very different story than what we see and it's partially because Shepherd is the blonde icon that someone like Travis/DeNiro could never get so it works well. One of the few laughs in the movie is where she says she likes Kris Kristofferson and then we see Travis at a store buying his record. You can see DeNiro's clumsy interest and Shepherd's cool disillusion, the exact same chemistry that was in Moonlighting.

I actually didn't mind Shepherd in Taxi Driver. I thought she was right for the part, enough that any acting deficiencies might be overlooked. I thought Bogdanovich started out great with The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon. I missed Daisy Miller. He was my favorite director. But then I paid good money to go see the regrettable At Long Last Love and left kind of insulted by the arrogance of his thinking I wanted to watch a vanity project for his half-wit girlfriend.

Cybill's voice got a bit better over the years, but I remember At Long Last Love and those awful albums she put out around the same time. Embarrassing. I wouldn't have even given her the lead of a high school production with a mousy little voice like that. You always got the feeling that she fancied herself a soprano, but was probably more of an alto, so she always tried to sing in this breathy, weak head voice. Girls, there's no shame in being an alto. I knew quite a few women like that in my high school/college/community theatre days. Just own your range and work within it. If Carol Channing and Elaine Stritch could, so can you.

His descriptions of Stratton were so over the top fulsome. I think her early and tragic death gave her a halo in his eyes. Had she lived longer she likely would have dumped him for another exec who could have helped her career.

I liked how she sang on Moonlighting. I downright love the second song. "I told ya I loved ya, now get out!"

I remember Kathleen Turner on Donahue one time circa 1986. Someone in the audience framed a question in which they suggested that Turner and Cybill were similar types. Suddenly, Turner got this dismissive, "are you kidding me?" look on her face. Turner clearly thought of herself as a "real actress" and of Cybill as a model/whore.

I also thought she was fine in Taxi Driver. She and Albert Brooks have a rapport, and then with De Niro she conveys Betsy's curiosity, then wariness, well enough. I think Paul Schraeder may have written the character as a Hitchcockian icy blonde, but Shepherd gives her some warmth.

One can only imagine the chatter between Eileen Brennan and Cloris Leachman in regards to Cybill.

I can imagine R397. Two seasoned actresses having to make way for the director's obsession.

An accomplished actress could have done a lot more with the role of Betsy in "Taxi Driver" than Cybill Shepherd ever did. I thought her performance was one big nothing.

I read an interview with Timothy Bottoms . Said he hated Bog, especially his fucking around with Cybil while Bogs wife was pregnant.

Bottoms called him out on it once, and if I remember correctly, pushed the Bog against the wall.

Bog had Bottons blackballed in Hollywood, but Bittoms sounded like he was glad how he reacted

Is that what happened to Timothy Bottoms' career? I always wondered why he didn't have more success.

It was his brother Joe Bottoms who was the hunk in that family.

But Tim was the talented actor.

Power Bottoms was the most popular

The entire Bottoms family was shown in a major magazine, maybe Life, all naked sitting on the edge of a hot tub.

[quote]Eldergay Mary!~ No one cares!

I do.

Posted this before but will copy/paste my Cybill story. In the early 90s I moved down to London from Scotland when I was 19 and got a job in a club that had singers on every weekend and for 3 nights Cybill was on doing a sort of cabaret act. On the Friday afternoon it was closed but a few of us were working and setting the place up and she was in with her piano player rehearsing. She finished and they both came and sat at the bar where I was and she was talking away and was asking about my accent and where i was from and I told her I was from Scotland and moved to London as my family were not happy with me being gay and I needed a fresh start. She told me her sister was a lesbian but still hadn't told a lot of people but she hated seeing her sister be miserable in silence as in her community people were still not very tolerant at that time. She said she did work in the US for gay rights and her gay piano player said that I was actually fortunate to be in the UK as he thought it was more open minded at that time. She was nice to me and genuinely sincere about gay rights I thought so I liked her.

Bottoms up!

"As I recall there was some outcry about Cybill Shepherd being in 'Taxi Driver.'"

Um, no. Some surprise, yes, I certainly was surprised, I had the same reaction to comedian Albert Brooks being in the movie. Scorsese was known, but Taxi Driver was early in his career, it wasn't Scorsese this and Scorsese that in 1976.

Btw, I saw Taxi Driver at one of the movie theaters across from Bloomingdales and people actually walked out during the final violent scene.

R405, that’s not weird at all.

R409, was it like Mary Poppins Returns or Bohemian Rhapsody where people ran screaming from the theater?

Speaking of Larry Hagman, Mary Martin was another famous and beloved alto who did alright with her voice.

And as she got older she became a baritone like Domingo.

"Btw, I saw Taxi Driver at one of the movie theaters across from Bloomingdales and people actually walked out during the final violent scene."

What pussies. If they'd seen "The Exorcist" or 'The Godfather" it probably would have killed them. Anyway, that shoot out scene in "Taxi Driver" was stunning. One of the most unforgettable scenes in movie history.

Even as a closeted teenager, this 80s commercial with Cybill stirred something in the loins.

There was something very icy/hot and sophisticated about her image. Gorgeous woman in her day. She was also lit like she was hanging in the Louvre.

I beg to differ, R414. Neither The Godfather nor The Exorcist were as shockingly violent.

The only reason people are hating on this Man is because he dared to bitch about DL patron saint Cher. GREAT interview.

Honesty is so refreshing.

R417 - Exactly.

Cher gets away with saying the worst crap about others.

R418, I actually dig Cher, but I TOTALLY believe Peter!

And the fact that this motherfucker admits to living in this apt with roommates??

This dude is the BALLS! You guys are missing out by focusing on the wrong things.

This dude is what America has lost. Yeah, he has an ego, and yeah he is a little delusional about himself. But he has the BALLS to say what the fuck he feels.

And for that, I bow down. Brilliant.

And for what it is worth, I love Cher. I LOVE Mask. And I love the Bob Seger's soundtrack. Peter, your film was NOT destroyed. It is wonderful.

Get yourself together, Mary.

Several people spill the tea on Cybill in those television academy interviews. Alan Ball and Chuck Lorre are good starters, both had to endure both Cybill and Brett Butler. Ball thinks she was insecure and knew she wasn’t a good actor. Neither man thinks she’s a horrible, nasty person just a nightmare to work with.

"Yeah, he has an ego, and yeah he is a little delusional about himself. But he has the BALLS to say what the fuck he feels."

Yeah, well freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

LOL NO!!!!! Just the opposite.

"Neither The Godfather nor The Exorcist were as shockingly violent."

Really? Remember the horse head scene? And Sonny getting blown apart? And the montage where Michael is settling the Corleone's scores with the other Families while standing as Godfather to her sister's baby? And how could you forget the crucifix in the bloody crotch and Chris MacNeil's face getting shoved in it? I think that audience who couldn't take "Taxi Driver" probably would have fainted dead away or succumbed to heart attacks at those sights.

"This dude is what America has lost. Yeah, he has an ego, and yeah he is a little delusional about himself. But he has the BALLS to say what the fuck he feels.

And for that, I bow down. Brilliant."

He doesn't have any BALLS. He's just delusional. It doesn't take BALLS to be nasty and arrogant. And like someone said he has no career anymore so he has nothing to lose by spewing his vitriol. If you "bow down" to this miserable prick, then you have some serious issues.

R425, you're a wuss.

Also, R425, it's "Neither...nor...WAS..."

The title of this thread is really rather revolting.

No one has mentioned Nickolodeon which is absolutely unwatchable - I think I sat through 40 mins of it

[quote]R53 "What's Up, Doc? is the best comedy every made. This is a fact and not up for debate."

Except Ryan O’Neal lacks variety - he borders on deadweight.

'This is a fact and not up for debate.'

While I like it a lot there are a number that are better. Like the ones he based it on. Also Modern Times. Some Like It Hot. The General. The Bank Dick. The Palm Beach Story...

R432, I said it's NOT UP FOR FUCKING DEBATE.

R53

Lol...

R407 I met Cybil in DC during the March on Washington for gay/lesbian rights.

She was one of the speakers.

Cybil's daughter is a lesbian (she was on the L Word and she was pretty but mediocre just like mom). I liked Bogdanovich's interview, but he's burned so many bridges due to arrogance and plain stupidity that he'll forever come across as a bitter, desperate man.

Well he was happy once in his life. Lucky man.

Clementine Ford (Cybill's daughter) is bi not a lesbian, sorry. Cybil was on The L word too, i wonder if Ilene Chaiken got some story too. Clementine was once Linda Perry's gf, it must be a mandatory thing for every lesbian alive.

Cher is a bitch. My boyfriend knows someone who knows her and he said that to me. I am not even paraphrasing.

This wasn’t Bog letting his shoe polished hair down. This WAS him with filters. Imagine how delusional and interesting it WOULD be if he was truthful.

It’s like he ultimately married and destroyed that whole sad family. First he destroyed it with pushy stupidity, then went in for more.

He’s a moron who depends on others kindness and pity to get by for a long time now.

He was never any genius. He was never attractive. Look at how he wound up.

When I was a caterer, I worked with someone who had worked for Cher. He said she was funny and sweet and down to earth.

The director of Mermaids (cant remember the name) also said that working with Cher was very difficult. She basically doesnt trust her directors (maybe because she's insecure?). Anyway, that kind of situation is a nightmare on a movie set.

After reading some of the posts upthread, I just watched the ending and credits of "Taxi Driver," and I'm ashamed to say that I did not realize Brendad Ickson was in that film!

R443, Brenda Dickson was in "Taxi Driver" as Jill on "The Young and the Restless." There's a scene in the apartment where the TV is on. Y&R is on TV and Jill/Brenda is in the scene. That's the extent of Brenda Dickson's role in "Taxi Driver."

But what about Brendad Ickson?

R443

Every one told me that I absolutely STOLED the show from Bob.

They wanted me to do Sophie's Choice, but the Bells would NOT let me!!! They telled the casting people that they would fire bomb there children's private skool if they ever gave me a part that got me my first Oscars. True Story. The Bells are STILL stopping me from getting my EGOT!!!!!!

Bogdanovich MUST write a tell all autobiography before he dies (he's almost 80). Who cares if it's 85% self-serving bullshit, it's bound to be a hoot!

I don't know what Cher is like now (or then) but when she was doing Tea With Mussolini she was a bitch and everyone on set disliked her. Cast and crew were staying in a centrally located hotel and hung out after filming and during dinner, except for Cher who wasn't close to any of the cast and refused to stay in the hotel. Instead Cher spent her down time trying to find a private home to rent where she could be alone. (And this was Judy Dench, Maggie Smith (who allegedly does a mean Cher impression) and Joan Plowright.) At the end of the film, Cher adopted a local dog and handed it off to Lily Tomlin, telling her to please have it delivered to her house in Beverly Hill, like she was her personal assistant.

^That's hilarious, R488. I agree with those who say that grandiose or diva behavior stems from insecurity.

R448 That makes me feel sorry for Cher. To be around such fabulous women and be too much of a screwed-up, nasty cunt to spend time with them.

I hated TEA WITH MUSSOLINI, save for the beautiful young man all the women characters were supposed to be taking care of...I understand that he gave up acting and is into finance or real estate....but the film was dreck with horrible dialogue and really pretentious, hammy acting from Dench, Cher and Lily Tomlin.

R451, How was Maggie Smith in "Tea with Mussolini"? (I loved her in Downton Abbey.)

"Bogdanovich MUST write a tell all autobiography before he dies (he's almost 80). Who cares if it's 85% self-serving bullshit, it's bound to be a hoot!"

"The Killing of the Unicorn" was a type of memoir. He should never write another one. He's a TERRIBLE writer. And of course he's full of shit, so you can't believe much of what he says. I don't think anyone would be interested in a Peter Bogdanovich autobiography. I think most people loathe him.

Cher has even said. they always cut and butcher her scenes in the editing, so Im sure she dont trust directors!

^they cut and butcher her scenes because bitch can't act!

r455 My Oscars says hi!

What wouldn't we all give to see Maggie Smith's Cher impersonation??

This would be cat nip for Graham Norton. You just know he could get Dame Maggie to do it the next time she appears on his show.

'I'm only difficult if you're an idiot':

Yes, dear Cher at R456: you've got it precisely because a great editor "cut and butchered" your performance. You're welcome!

Is Robert Evans still mobile. He still has his name on an office on Paramount but in recent pictures he’s propped up in bed and looks embalmed.

[quote]^they cut and butcher her scenes because bitch can't act!

She can barely sing. Who did Sonny Bono have connections to for them to get as big as they did.

Then Cher shouldn't do movies, R454. Oh wait, she doesn't anymore!

R453, if Lauren Bacall can write two, PB can.

R431 Ryan was good in it. As was B$.

[quote]My Oscars says hi!

Wait -- you have more than one now?

"if Lauren Bacall can write two, PB can."

Oh, I 'm sure he CAN. But he shouldn't. He absolutely sucks as a writer.

Interestingly, his 1st wife wrote his first movie, and he says in the interview he told his wife to read and explain the last picture show to him. A poster pointed out that the book paper moon is better than the movie.

r461 Bitch bye. Cher can sing you bitter nancy boy!

Cher sings better than Madonna and Katy Perry.

Don't really like the ABBA stuff, but her voice has aged really well.

And R467 still does not give his first wife any credit! What an ass!

R470 Cher didn't give Sonny any credit until he died.

I read the book "Paper Moon" was based on. I think is was called "Addie Pray" but was reissued under the title "Paper Moon" due to the movie's popularity. It was interesting, but it seems kind of hard to stomach now. Of course it was about a little girl, Addie Pray, whose mother is killed in a scandalous car accident (she was with a married man at the time). She someone ends up in the custody of Mose, a grifter who may or may not be her father (her mother was a slut). The two of them team up and travel the country together, using ruses to fleece people out of their money...during the Depression! One of their schemes involved searching obituaries for recently deceased men; they turn up at the widow's house and tell her her dead husband had ordered for her a special white leather bible, but died before paying for it, The widow, overcome with emotion at her dear husband's last gift to her, pays the inflated price for the Bible. Sometimes the scheme works and sometimes it doesn't but they get a hold of a live one, a widow who falls for it hook, line and sinker, so Mose charges her even more than usual. The poor woman gives Addie home made gingerbread, weeps copiously ("tears as big as horse turds", as the foul mouthed Addie puts it) and tells her she once had a little girl like her, but like her husband "she want away, too." As she and Mose are leaving in his car to commit more con games Addie has a weird feeling come upon her....REMORSE. Enraged at herself for feeling that way, she flings the gingerbread the woman gave her out of the window and starts cursing the woman with impunity. Just thinking about that passage in that book kind of makes me nauseous. I guess the book tried to portray Mose and Addie as two eccentrically appealing characters, but I tended to think they were both utterly reprehensible.

Cher's vibrato is wider than the Grand Canyon.

So is her vibrator.

Cher called Madonna a cunt. Oh my!

I'm not buying Peter saying he created Cher's performance. She obviously did a good enough job on Broadway in Jimmy Dean with Altman for Mike Nichols to want her in Silkwood.

I think she's not his type for starters. In any case, Cher got the last laugh. All these years later she's still making millions, and he's a bitter has been living in the Valley.

I remember seeing a documentary about him and he sounded like he needed his actresses to fall in love with him or at the very least admire him greatly. Cher didn't do that and it bugged him.

Then when she sided with the studio when the took the film away from him and recut it using Bob Seeger songs,, well she became one of his enemies.

r475 old news.

The real truth of Cher is that she's a fraud and she knows it. As far as Diva behaviour goes, check that too. When you think of it she has been famous since she was 17 years old and there's not much she hasn't had success with. She tweets like a teenage girl and surrounds herself with other 72 year old teens. She wasn't a great mother and she has never given an interview where she doesn't bitch or cackle about now being taken seriously. As much as she puts the men in her life down, she always had one to look after her career and business interests. But ALL success always comes with an asterisk. She really couldn't sing at all, but her voice got much better in her forties and fifties, much like Diana Ross ( who could always sing ) Cher has never shown any interest in doing quality work as a singer, writer, actress, fashion plate or activist. She's easily bored, thinking hurts her head. She likes to eat candy in her mansion and braid her ancient girlfriends hair and make prank calls to cute boys. She loves money and her idea of opulence and POPULAR entertainment. She's only interested in work where she gets to look good. ( Her only memory of Silkwood is that she couldn't wear makeup) She's not very bright and Bogdanovich is right that she can't sustain a character or a scene. She's never been better than adequate and is most successful the closer the character resembles herself. Mask, Moonshine and Mermaids. I refuse to believe than anyone has ever been moved by a Cher performance. She just isn't good enough. Her singing has an Elvissy kind of drama, some people like that. Her voice has no variations in colour or tone, but she was good on some pop/rock ballads. None of this takes away from the fact that she was once exotically gorgeous, or that she remains a kick ass kind of broad who can be funny. But don't buy for a second when she says that she knows she's not a great, singer or actor or beauty. Her ego is the size of Texas. Yes, she's insecure, but she's way too old to be so dumb.

r479 Hi Bogdanovich! Hows the apartment?

R479 Hey Peter, your Orson Wells films were boring as fuck and really indulgent. Also you are a cunt

*But ALL her success comes with an asterisk.

R479, how many times are you going to post the same braiding the hair with her girlfriends shit about Cher? She's touring, working on 2 movies, another album and a new perfume- coming up on 73 years old.

If she's a diva, Cher earned it. You are a cunt, and you've earned it too. You've posted the same thing multiple times.

You're out of your mind R483. I'm new to this site. Most people know that Cher is stupid and minimally talented. We have twitter now dad.

The wisdom of Cher.

I hope Cher runs for presidenting. Watch out bitches, she's a modern gal.

As is correct, this thread has moved away from total wanker Deputy Dawg and is not focusing on the superior talent, Cher. That is good

[quote]I hope Cher runs for presidenting.

Her platform demands circumcision, so DL is a safe state. No campaign visit required.

Um, is he wearing an ascot? How cliche. Where's his beret and megaphone?

[quote]Anybody who thinks "What's Up, Doc?" is "the best comedy every (sic) made" really needs to get out and see "Modern Times," "Dr. Strangelove," "The Philadelphia Story," "Blazing Saddles," "Nashville," "Young Frankenstein," "Annie Hall," "This Is Spinal Tap" and/or "Airplane!"

"Nashville"? "NASHVILLE"? C'mon there are a few chuckles there but Hell, "At Long Last Love" is "funnier". No one actually considers "Nashville" a comedy. Strangelove is a boring mess that no way holds up today. Most of the moves you mention are "funny" but don't have the big laughs that "What's Up Doc" has that elicited roars from sold out audiences. So to be fair "What's Up Doc" along with "Airplane" are two of the funniest movies ever made.

Tatum was in the wrong category. She should have been in Best Actress as she was at the Globes. She would have been in the company of Glenda Jackson for "A Touch Of Class'", Streisand for "The Way We Were", Burstyn for "The Exorcist", Marsha Mason for "Cinderella Liberty" or Joanne Woodward for "Summer Wishes , Winter Dreams", probably knocking newcomer Mason out. But The Academy didn't nominate kids in leads then. So don't blame Tatum, blame The Academy. Kahn should have had an Oscar before she left.

[quote] Um, is he wearing an ascot? How cliche. Where's his beret and megaphone?

He’s known for wearing the ascot. And it’s been a long time since I’ve watched “Irreconcilable Differences” but I want to say that Ryan O’Neal did hold a megaphone 📢 while wearing an ascot during the Sharon Stone musical scene...

R484, yeah you're new. It's amazing how many times I've read your posts. The pranks calls to cute boys are always a lovely touch.

At least Cher changes up her concerts. There are 3 new ABBA songs now.

I'm sure you can do better yourself, even though no one is paying you.

Grow up R492. The only thing Cher changes up is her wigs and flesh facsimiles. She hasn't sung a song live in 20 years, but it's cute that you call her drag show a concert. She really should return to "serious" acting.

Buy my latest crap old gays!

Buy my latest crap young gays!

I fell in love with Cher when she said in a documentary that she had to have all the costume changes and outrageous looks in her concerts because her voice is limited, so she needs to do something to keep people entertained.

No one ever thought she was a great actress. I bet she never thought that either. But she is effective in the right roles with a good director. Why does Bogdonovich think that is news and why do people crucify him for stating the obvious.

Probably because Cybill makes Cher seem like Meryl Streep.

They all hit the 70s zeitgeist pretty well.

Amazing they are being discussed as relevant today. That was a very long time ago. Ali McGraw who was huge is rarely talked about.

Ali was a terrible actress, just terrible. I thought that I misunderstood her acting style. Then I saw her in THE WINDS OF WAR... HAHAHAHAHA. She’s a terrible actress. Nice woman apparently, but she almost destroyed that miniseries with Jan Michael Vincent. They both were miscast. Why not just get Jane Seymour and Hart Bochner from the get go?

Ali was a doormat who chose terrible men. She spent her prime years at home cooking for that toolbox, Steve McQueen.

R479 - Well put.

I don't hate Cher. She shows up and does the work. She pays her dues. She stays relevant. And she's very good with her money.

But she can't sustain an intimate relationship. And her obsession with plastic surgery speaks to mental illness.

Early in her career, Cher chose challenging music to sing. Now she churns out uninspired dance dreck. Each new song seems like a calculated drag queen anthem. It feels desperate.

Oh, and her children hate her too.

I can’t believe what an asshole Steve was to her! And she wanted a baby with him and he refused to...maybe she dodged a bullet with that. Though the offspring would have won the genetic lottery.

I never got why Cher was allowed to take over the funeral service for Sonny. I felt bad for Mary Bono.

Cher is a throwback to an old school entertainer. There's nothing wrong with that.

As for the kids, I doubt they hate her. Elijah and his wife live with her, and she had a huge BD for Chaz over the weekend.

Mary Bono asked Cher to do the eulogy- it's not like she forced her way in.

Why does Chaz hate Cher so much that she cut off her tits?

Yes, R479, all success DOES come with an ass at risk.

I agree with most of what r479 posted, save for the part about Diana Ross being able to sing...

Who are you talking about R502?

Steve McQueen had a fucked up childhood. So you give a person like that huge popular success and how are they going to handle that well? They are going to be a huge asshole and treat people like shit. Enormously charismatic, not a bad actor and in some ways very unlucky.

McQueens daughter died at 38 and had a liver transplant. Was she an addict or just bad luck?

Ali was terrible even in Love Story. Yet she created a sensation. The film was a blockbuster with constant long lines wherever it played. And it was horrible even then. I imagine it's no better or worse(how is that possible?) seen today.

I remember seeing Love Story as a kid and thinking she was the most beautiful woman in the world. It was very much a "you had to be there to understand it" sort of thing.

Time for Part II of this thread.

I saw Love Story when I was a kid and, even then, I could tell she was a bad actress.

R490, obviously the poster copied those titles and pasted them in. It's doubtful he's seen more than two on the list, and I'll bet they're the Mel Brooks ones. I saw What's up Doc when it opened at Radio City Music Hall (believe it or not) in March of 1972. It is most definitely one of the best comedies ever, I cannot say THE BEST because comedy is so subjective.

I saw it there as well. Really the best theater to see it in. First time I went it was sold out and the friend I was with didn't want to stand on line. It then went on to have a long run at an east side theater. I guess for those New Yorkers too sophisticated to see the Rockettes.

Ali MacGraw was PERFECT as Brenda as the snobby ignorant superficial Jewish deb in Goodbye Columbus (1969). So many were so impressed with this model turned actress. Problem is, they didn't understand she was playing herself. You must see it!

"I never got why Cher was allowed to take over the funeral service for Sonny. I felt bad for Mary Bono."

What Mary Bono cared about was Sonny's $$$$. It must have been a horror to be married to that fugly control freak.

I can't say I agree, R516. Radio City was a terrible place to see any movie because of the size of the theater. And WUD was the Easter showing - there were screaming children running up and down the isles during the movie. I saw WUP again in Wash DC a few months later in a very small theater at 10PM with only adults, sooooo much better.

I'm the one who said she was terrible in Love Story and she is good in GC.

Btw, there were no Rockettes at the Easter Show. Why do I get the feeling so many on this thread are full of it?

I don't remember that at all with WUD. I remember the audience enjoying it very much. Same with Mame. The audience was enthralled. Though I must admit for that one I don't know why but they really enjoyed it.

The most restless packed audience I remember at the Music Hall was a Saturday mat of 1776. It was really bored and so was I. I had loved the obc as a boy so I've hated that claustrophobic movie ever since. One case where Jack Warner did need to replace a playing to the balcony hammy cast.

R520 It is clear you were never at the Music Hall during its stage show/ film policy years. So why are you posting lies?

The Rockettes appeared at the RCMH Christmas show, darling, not the Easter show. I've been going to RCMH since 1962.

R510, why did they give her a lliver after she died?

very good dish, i enjoyed reading his interview.

that said , i remain team cher!

Ha! I only wish I had been going to the Music Hall since '62. I loved seeing a certain type of film there and there were plenty of 60s films that I like that had their NY openings in the place. I wasn't old enough until the early 70s to go into the city on my own and see films there.

And the Rockettes were part of EVERY show not only Christmas and Easter but every day of the year. The only times they weren't were the few times they were on strike and the time they danced in France during the 30s. I think it was once though it might have been twice.

No wonder Cher has so many defenders on this thread. Is everyone on DL over 75?

Bogdanovich is eighty years of age

{No wonder Cher has so many defenders on this thread. Is everyone on DL over 75?}

Well, all of us can certainly pass for 35!

29 in the night with light behind us.

Like Audrey Hepburn, Ali had a quality unlike any other actress in Hollywood history. Same with the other Hepburn.

On a Bogdanovich thread I would expect most of the posters to be in their early 20s.

Having a "look" will only get you so far unless you have talent to back it up.

That's why I spent my life as a bitter miserable bitch.

Bogdanovich is a bitch...and I love him for it.

I saw Chances Are with Cybill and Ryan on TV at the weekend and actually enjoyed it. Robert Downey was great but Cybill was very good too. Of course Ryan played the Bogdanovich type part in Irreconcilable Differences. I wonder if Cybill and Ryan ever did the deed. I can't remember her mentioning him in her book but this looks cozy.....

There's a reason he's on Hollywood's trash heap a/k/a Toluca Lake. He got rid of Polly Platt.

Cher's cuntiest moments:

[quote]The Rockettes appeared at the RCMH Christmas show, darling, not the Easter show. I've been going to RCMH since 1962.

Bzzzzzt wrong answer. As stated above the Rockettes appeared in EVERY show with a movie. Here is an ad for "What's Up Doc?" with the Rockettes listed.

In that photo at R537 you can actually see the cheekbone implants in Cher's face. Looks like she's got two tennis balls stuck in her cheeks.

CHANCES ARE is one of my favorites. RDJ is young and fresh, Ryan is still handsome and quick, Cybill is charming. If you listen closely, the script is pretty edgy. ' Plus the Johnny Mathis song.

R535, Ryan did just about everybody, probably more than Warren Beatty. Since Cybill was no slouch in that dept either, I have no doubt that she and Ryan slept together.

R538, There were NO Rockettes at the show I saw! In fact the last time I saw them was the Christmas show at the Grand Ole Opry in 2004 or so, they were on tour. I saw many many movies at Radio City Music Hall - they ran movies all year at one point, even w/o a holiday show - and the Rockettes did not perform. There was no stage show with every movie, that's a fact.

Perhaps one of the 80+ year old New Yorkers will chime in.

I'm not going to argue with you. But I guess yes I am. Until the film/stage show policy ended in the late 70s unless for the examples I gave the Rockettes were ALWAYS in the performance. And there was ALWAYS a stage show with the film. Every single time. However for its first few weeks there was no film just a stage show. Which included the Rockettes at that time called the Roxyettes after Roxy who built the place.

And who sang the theme to Chances Are?

Agreed, R517, Ali MacGraw was excellent in “Goodbye, Columbus”, exuding a charm and appeal that she never managed again.

Incidentally, Lesley Ann Warren was originally cast as Brenda (Robert Evans wrote that he was very taken with her versatility and talent in “The Kid Stays in the Picture”) but had to drop out due to her pregnancy. Interesting to speculate how Warren might have handled the role.

And the first film to play there(because the Music Hall was an instant white elephant) was an unusual early talkie Capra/ Stanwyck movie about miscegenation called The Bitter Tea of General Yen. It was a big success and cemented the new policy.

I highly recommend the film if you're a fan of Frank or Babs.

I have lived in NYC since 1980 and when Radio City has had film screenings, they have not had the Rockettes or any live performance.

Ali was actually relaxed and charming in Just Tell Me What you Want.

My mother was born in 1937, raised in NYC and she’s always reminiscing about going with her dad to see the Rockettes and a movie and then having dessert in Sardis or Lindys. That would have been between 50-58. This was a regular thing I think, certainly not a once a year thing.

From a 1978 NYT article other Broadway theaters, including the 6,000seat Roxy, the 4,000‐seat Capitol and the Paramount, Warner's Strand, Loew's State and Palace theaters were presenting a format of a stage show and a motion picture. This policy was dropped by all these theaters in the 50's. Not only were we the only theater in New York left with a motion picturestage show policy but the only one in the world.

The article

As I wrote 'until the late 70s.' That's when the film/stage show policy ended. After that there were only concerts, the Christmas show, an occasional Rockette show and the occasional film by itself. Disney did though have 3 films play with a Disney stage show. The Black Cauldron, Return to Oz and The Lion King.

I can remember seeing Butterflies Are Free at the Music Hall and there were no Rockettes or stage show. I guess this was in 1972 because that's when it opened. And I think I remember seeing a Burt Lancaster/Lee Remick western called The Hallelujah Trail back in 1965 which also didn't feature the Rockettes or a stage show.

So I wonder if the Rockettes disappeared as a regular feature sometime in the early 1960s?

On the other hand, I fondly remember seeing The 7th Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor at The Roxy in 1958 (I was a mere child!) in 1958 and the accompanying stage show was sheer heaven (something with show girls in pastel sequined cup cake costumes)! Unforgettable.

Come to think of it I also saw Dr. Zhivago at the Music Hall and there were definitely no Rockettes.

R529 yes. If we're in NY and the light is in Jersey.

And just a couple years later, r552.....

BAF did have a stage show with the Rockettes. I saw it. The Hallelujah Trail did not ever play at Radio City. It opened at the Capitol in NY as a reserved seat film.

And Dr Zhivago did most definitely have a stage show with the Rockettes unless the Music Hall showed it again after the 70s.

Oh to have seen the Roxy!

So Peter has basically been doing the occasional TV movie for the last 25 years. No wonder he's broke and bitter. A night out these days must be the early bird special at the Smokehouse..

[quote]How was Maggie Smith in "Tea with Mussolini"? (I loved her in Downton Abbey.)

Typical Dame Smith, veddy proper and imperious, she had some of the scenery for lunch but she wasn't as bad as the rest of the cast.

I'd take Lesley Ann Warren over Ali in anything. Lesley always seemed like she deserved a better career.

I loved Lesley as a boy but from what everyone has posted she seems like a very odd difficult person.

Lesley Ann Warren has given some terrific performances over the years, would love to have seen her take on Brenda Patimkin.

"Ali was actually relaxed and charming in Just Tell Me What you Want."

Ali was NEVER "relaxed and charming" in ANYTHING. Realistic in Goodbye Columbus, but not relaxed and charming. Believe me, I gave her a chance in JTMWYW.......couldn't stand her amateurishness. A Zero, period.

Lesley Ann Warren was too broad an actress for Brenda's off-handedness. Warren always seemed to be acting on a big Broadway stage in all of her films, which was no surprise as she began her career in musical theater.

And ended it in dinner theater.

Lesley Ann Warren was a Jewish NY girl...was the part, just couldn't have acted it.

My graduation from F.I.T. was at Radio City.

There were no Rockettes but a house full of queens.

I was still at Vassar in 1969, treading the boards as a rising young drama student; otherwise, I'm sure you will agree, I'd have been ideally cast as Brenda Patimkin. Ali, bless her, was unable to discover the complexities in the role that Philip Roth created, and which I would have brought to the screen delicately and effortlessly.

I always loved Warren's broader style. It was endearing and she, somehow, never became insufferable like so many hams usually can. She just had that special quality.

Having grown up Jewish in the 1960s in northern NJ, with many many MANY Brendas, I'd say that Ali McGraw couldn't have been more perfect. The entire Patimkin family was perfectly cast and acted (even Mrs. P Nan Martin who was also not Jewish).

If anyone was miscast it might have been Richard Benjamin, as I would have preferred a sexier actor like Elliott Gould.

Elliott Gould as an aspirant for head shusher at the public library (I think that's how Mad magazine satirized his role)? No, Richard Benjamin made sense. Lesley Ann Warren was one of those people from the late 60s early 70s who seemed to be in a lot of tv stuff and then vanished and wasn't missed.

BTW--I don't think Pomona had dinner theater---too many gangs. More likely San Dimas or Monrovia, maybe Arcadia before the Chinese moved-in. They probably played Equus with John Davidson as the psychiatrist.

Lesley was at one of those fan conventions and didn't have person in 3 hours. So embarrassing.

I would liked to have seen John Davidson as Alan. His Cosmo centerfold might as well have been shot by Walt Disney himself.

[quote]BTW--I don't think Pomona had dinner theater---too many gangs. More likely San Dimas or Monrovia, maybe Arcadia before the Chinese moved-in. They probably played Equus with John Davidson as the psychiatrist.

Hey! You're talking about my neck of the woods now! I've only been here since '87, but since then the only dinner theater in the area has been in Claremont. (Oh--there's one in Fontana, too, but that's a little farther afield.)

Sexier, sure R569. But we need the SMARTER Benjamin. Elliott is/was a doormat, not good for the assertive and smart Neil Klugman.

Fontana? An even more unlikely place for a dinner theater. Ontario would make more sense.

Are they even around anymore? I remember seeing Joanne Worley and her husband in Anaheim, Dorothy Lamour at Lawrence Welk's in Escondido and several mediocre shows with nobodies at a place in Tustin. My grandma loved those places.

Maybe dinner theater was finally laid to rest with Neil Simon.

Ha! Dorothy played the mom in Barefoot In The Park.

Just read it. I kind of like him, especially when he says things like Diane Keaton "foo-fooed up" his old house.

"The Last Picture Show" is a masterpiece which owes a great deal to Orson Welles--who happened to be living with Bogdanovich at the time he made the movie. Bogdanovich obviously had studied Welles early films as Welles' style is all over TLPS. Taking nothing away from it, though. It's a wonderful movie.

Diane Keaton is a member of the LA Conservancy and many times rescues homes that would otherwise be torn down. She has exquisite taste.

I'll bet Peter wishes he had that home now. Or any home, for that matter.

[quote]She has exquisite taste.

No, she doesn't. She has hew OWN taste.

This is a house she built from the ground up (with the help of the Pinterest).

^Her own taste.

Will this spill into Pt. 2? Who would have thought...

[quote]"The Last Picture Show" is a masterpiece which owes a great deal to Orson Welles--who happened to be living with Bogdanovich at the time he made the movie. Bogdanovich obviously had studied Welles early films as Welles' style is all over TLPS.

I read somewhere that Wells taught him about the use of colored filters to give the B&W film a very distinctive look, something Wells picked up from cinematographer Gregg Tolan on Citizen Kane.

[quote]I can remember seeing Butterflies Are Free at the Music Hall and there were no Rockettes or stage show. I guess this was in 1972

The Rockets were in the stage show "Luau '72". Do yourself a favor, go to this website Cinema Treasures, when you have free time. It gives the whole history of Radio City and many great theaters and has thousands of ads. The Rockettes appeared in all the stage shows. They were a permanent fixture until the final movie and stage show with "The Promise" starring Kathleen Quinlan & Stephen Collins in 1979.

Baogdanovich had two pictures, "What's Up Doc?" and "At Long Last Love" play the Musical Hall both as Easter shows. "Nickelodeon" was supposed to be that year's Christmas show but wasn't finished in time.

I keep telling that guy about the stage show/film policy but even though he claims he was going to Radio City since '62 he doesn't want to believe me.

R587 You must be the only other person alive besides myself who knew that. The Slipper and the Rose was supposed to be the following Easter Show but when Nickelodeon was pulled they replaced it with that film.

The Hall at that point was stuck with dog after dog. Nobody wanted their films playing there anymore. And distribution and marketing strategies were also changing which doomed the Hall. It was from an era when films opened in one major theater in a city's downtown for an exclusive long run(if it was a hit.) Godfather changed that in '72 opening in 5 Manhattan theaters and Jaws blew it totally apart opening wide everywhere immediately and being a financial sensation. Why open in one city and build a sure steady following when you could open immediately and make a killing.

The days when a film like The Odd Couple would only play in one city theater for more than 3 months no longer made sense.

Let alone a film like The Sound of Music which played exclusive runs in theaters for years. In London it played at the Dominion now a musical theater house for three years. It wasn't even the record. South Pacific played there for 4.

Long DL threads are like a snow ball rolling down a hill. By the time they get to the bottom, they’ve picked up all kinds of shit that has nothing to do with the snow.

R583, Diane has never had a problem selling a home that she's redone. In fact, she's been offered so much that she's sold at least 2 homes that weren't even on the market.

Here's the Wallace Neff Spanish that Diane sold to Madonna.

R588, starting a few years before Jaws, movie studios would dump movies out wide if they didn't have faith in them, such as the Barbra Streisand comedy For Pete's Sake.

Bogdanovich Spills

Brilliant analogy, r590!

Enough about the motherfucking Rockettes!

Bogdanovich Spills

his seed

into Cybill Shepherd.

Except that Bogdanovich chose to premiere 3 of his films at the Music Hall you assholes. And when he premiered his film distribution patterns were changing. He even chose it for Nickelodeon but as noted it had to be pulled,

R590 is a very stupid individual who has no idea what the thread is about but pretends to. ALLL as I wrote was cut DURING its Music Hall run and Welles accused Pete of wanting to close the Rockettes with his disastrous flop.

Those to stupid to live and have no idea what a thread involves stay off threads that you know nothing about or simply don't post.

Also because those of you posting about snowballs know nothing about film history or its distribution the Music Hall during its first years was an RKO house. Which means it showed mostly though not exclusively RKO product. As Disney was initially distributed through RKO Snow White had its NY opening there as did Bambi.

Now how does this tie in? Citizen Kane was an RKO picture. And a huge one at that. Tons of publicity and controversy which some of us know. Kane was supposed to open at the Music Hall which would have given it a huge prestigious NY premiere as well as assuring it very large audiences. After Parsons saw it and tipped off Hearst he called one of the top Rockefellers who then told the manager of the Music Hall Kane was out. 'I'm sure there was a bit of satisfaction when Welles said to PB 'You closed down the fucking Rockettes!'

Who would’ve thought a Bog thread would run this far?