#i still love you peter falk

[motionjames]

let me shill you japanese columbo

Do you like Columbo? Do you like police procedurals starring grumbly, slightly eccentric ossans? Do you believe in the power of shoujo manga?! Well, do I have the show for you!

Introducing....Furuhata Ninzaburō!

Written by genius playwright Koki Mitani and starring the extremely charismatic jidaigeki star Masakazu Tamura, Furuhata Ninzaburo is a detective drama directly inspired by Columbo (not to be confused with...Shinano no Columbo, which yes, exists). Its got the murders, its got the mystery, its got an unreasonably good theme song, and there's middle aged man with the mannerisms you love to see. The formula usually goes as follows:

Furuhata-san stands in the dark void, talking about riding bicycles or something or another to setup the theme of the story.

You see the baddie do the murder and try to cover it up. Yesiree, you see the murder-- because the fun comes from watching it all unravel!

Furuhata-san appears (possibly struggling with a vending machine, or bicycling with some half-price daikon) and catches a whiff of something funny ahead of time.

Cue the game of psychological cat-n-mouse as Furuhata-san slowly deconstructs the whole thing.

Furuhata-san looks directly into the camera like it's the office to ask the audience what the final piece of the mystery is (this is briefly addressed)

The killer spirals ace attorney style as the audience screams GOT THE BITCH! and Furuhata-san escorts them off screen to purgatory... or, you know, prison.

Yup, it's pretty standard fair detective drama stuff, but the writer Mitani is able to construct some seriously compelling, twisty mysteries that keep you on the edge of your seat. By the end of first season, the direction finds its style and you'll get plenty of jaw-dropping musical cues and camera cuts that make you feel like you're full immersed in some deluxe, spicy juicy awesome mystery fiction action!

Okay... but who is the man of the hour? A good mystery needs a good detective, and there is hardly anyone as wonderful to watch as the black-clad oyajisan.

Tamura aces the role of Furuhata. It's just too good. As he's based off of Columbo he's of course a disarmingly scrungly genius with terrible posture and a grumbling-mumbling way or speaking, but he was plenty of other traits to set him apart. He's a fan of shoujo manga; he's an excellent chef but only knows how to prepare three mismatched dishes; he loves konbinis but is cursed by vending machines; he's terrible at baseball and is totally unsportmanlike; he is often seen on his beloved bike CELINE (since he was in the area anyhow)... I could go on, but the character is well realized and so fun to watch. His head tilts, forehead taps, and drawn out ええと。。。are perfectly captured, and all do a great job at annoying his victims. A stand out trait of Columbo is his unique relationship to the culprits; he's described as being very buddy-buddy or even respectful, using his friendly ho-hum manner to weedle his way to the truth. Furuhata-san is similar, but more... salty? Bitchy? The man frequently makes underhanded remarks towards the culprit or acts offensively relaxed until he find a contradiction in their words, in which he will then pursue to the ends of the earth. It gives a kind of "c'mon, can't you do better?" attitude reminiscent of a disappointed teacher.

But even with all his sass (which he has in spades), Furuhata-san will always sit down with the killer and offer a smile and a bit of light conversation before the credits roll. The killers are usually afforded a bit of dignity. Most famously a radio show host tells the detective "the funniest joke there ever was"-- but as a small revenge, she refuses to tell him the punchline. Credits roll, theme plays, it's just another day on the job.

Oh, there's also Imaizumi. Imaizumi is a big dummy and always falls for the red herrings the killers leave behind. Because of this, Furuhata-san is relentlessly mean to him and slaps him on the forehead as punishment. He forces the guy to do menial tasks and be victim to his many tests. Imaizumi, however, is just happy to be here. His special skills include knitting, flower arrangement, not reading the room, and having hemorrhoids.

Okay, now have some Furuhata-san crying and reading shoujo manga.

Truly the guy of all time.

You're probably totally in love with this show because I've described it so beautifully, right? Right? So you wanna watch it, riiiiight? Well lucky for you it's all totally subbed on internet archive!

Watch this awesome show ENGLISH SUBBED and FOR FREE you won't regret it! This link is so full of oyajisans! Please! Join me in Japanese crime fiction hell!

(Personally speaking, the first episode pilot thingy is a bit slow and does not represent the rest of the show very well, I would suggest skipping to the second episode "The Kabuki Murder" to get a real taste and then maybe return to the previous one later. Just my thoughts!)

Also, there was a really awesome remix of the main theme made for DDR. Here's that, but with Haruka Amami from the idolm@ster dancing over it.

Ah yes.... I have spilled my love... I suppose I should go now. Please enjoy this wonderful show, and remember: Don't you ever fuck up ever or else Furuhata-san WILL get you and you WILL go to super hell! Bye!

[columboscreens]

watching ransom for a dead man and a bit :( about the "working for a woman" comment! any thoughts? would love your insight - not sure whether it's him being legitimately Sexist or it's part of him trying to buddy up to the attorney guy for info and failing

luckily, columbo is too intelligent for that brand of sexism.

best trial attorney eh? hell i'd kill my dumb boring husband too. oop sorry sir did i say that out loud

he's not quite trying to "buddy up" to her secretary per se, nor does he actually feel this way. here, he's trying to gauge the man's reaction/opinion of her in order to both find out more about her as a person and supplement his working theory that she orchestrated the murder. columbo does that often--he asks questions in roundabout ways that disarm people, make him appear dumb/impotent (important!), and are usually more conducive to getting answers than asking point blank, answers that are sometimes as subtle as shifts in facial expression.

here, he actually doesn't fail the info check--his hypothesis is reaffirmed. a full-fledged male lawyer in an era of burgeoning second-wave feminism not only doesn't mind working for a woman, he's happy to and extolls her skill! columbo is right to assume that this man is an outlier for his time and ask him his opinion by opening with a negative assumption. would he have gotten the same enthusiasm if he'd asked more directly? likely not.

columbo is also aware of how foolish the question sounds considering the woman behind it. Lady Lawyer Leslie breaks stereotype after stereotype, establishing herself immediately as a highly independent woman of her time: she's childless, a pilot with her own airplane, and in 1971, three years before women could open credit lines without a man's cosignature in the US, considered one of the top trial attorneys in the state of california. she's cold, calculating, daring, and most importantly smart as hell. columbo totally drops the act to tell her that, which is saying something.

when you spend so long investigating a sexy lady murderer who's just as genius as you are that you close the case in total awe of her

so his little remark does not reflect his actual beliefs.

there are times when columbo will push the bounds of chivalry and step into more benevolent sexism, treating women especially gently with extra care and attention, sometimes even acting more susceptible to their wiles than he actually is. he admits his own bias:

must be nice to prety ladie...

but he has no reservations nor presumptions about any woman's ability based on gender. morals aside, he'd be a pretty shitty detective if he did. imagine how much worse at his job he'd be if he were closed-minded!

hheh...maybe prety ladie is innocent after all...

[hotvintagepoll]

Congrats to the ultimate winner of the Hot & Vintage Movie Men Tournament, Mr. Toshiro Mifune! May he live happily and well where the sun always shines, enjoying the glories of a battle hard fought.

A loving farewell to all of our previous contestants, who are now banished to the shadow realm and all its dark joys and whispered horrors—I hear there's a picnic on the village green today. If you want to remember the fallen heroes, you can find them all beneath the cut.

What happens next? I'll be taking a break of two weeks to rest from this and prep for the Hot & Vintage Ladies Tournament. I'll still be around but only minimally, posting a few last odes to the hot men before transitioning into a little early ladies content, just like I did with this last tournament. The submission form for the Hot & Vintage Ladies tournament will remain up for one more week (closing February 21st), so get your submissions in for that asap! Once the form closes, there will be one more week of break. The first round of the Hot & Vintage Ladies Tournament will be posted on February 29th, as Leap Year Day seems like a fitting allusion to leaping into these ladies' arms.

Thanks for being here! Enjoy the two weeks off, and send me some great propaganda.

In order of the last round they survived—

ROUND ONE HOTTIES:

Richard Burton

Tony Curtis

Red Skelton

Keir Dullea

Jack Lemmon

Kirk Douglas

Marcello Mastroianni

Jean-Pierre Cassel

Robert Wagner

James Garner

James Coburn

Rex Harrison

George Chakiris

Dean Martin

Sean Connery

Tab Hunter

Howard Keel

James Mason

Steve McQueen

George Peppard

Elvis Presley

Rudolph Valentino

Joseph Schildkraut

Ray Milland

Claude Rains

John Wayne

William Holden

Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

Harold Lloyd

Charlie Chaplin

John Gilbert

Ramon Novarro

Slim Thompson

John Barrymore

Edward G. Robinson

William Powell

Leslie Howard

Peter Lawford

Mel Ferrer

Joseph Cotten

Keye Luke

Ivan Mosjoukine

Spencer Tracy

Felix Bressart

Ronald Reagan (here to be dunked on)

Peter Lorre

Bob Hope

Paul Muni

Cornel Wilde

John Garfield

Cantinflas

Henry Fonda

Robert Mitchum

Van Johnson

José Ferrer

Robert Preston

Jack Benny

Fredric March

Gene Autry

Alec Guinness

Fayard Nicholas

Ray Bolger

Orson Welles

Mickey Rooney

Glenn Ford

James Cagney

ROUND TWO SWOONERS:

Dick Van Dyke

James Edwards

Sammy Davis Jr.

Alain Delon

Peter O'Toole

Robert Redford

Charlton Heston

Cesar Romero

Noble Johnson

Lex Barker

David Niven

Robert Earl Jones

Turhan Bey

Bela Lugosi

Donald O'Connor

Carman Newsome

Oscar Micheaux

Benson Fong

Clint Eastwood

Sabu Dastagir

Rex Ingram

Burt Lancaster

Paul Newman

Montgomery Clift

Fred Astaire

Boris Karloff

Gilbert Roland

Peter Cushing

Frank Sinatra

Harold Nicholas

Guy Madison

Danny Kaye

John Carradine

Ricardo Montalb��n

Bing Crosby

ROUND THREE SMOKESHOWS:

Marlon Brando

Anthony Perkins

Michael Redgrave

Gary Cooper

Conrad Veidt

Ronald Colman

Rock Hudson

Basil Rathbone

Laurence Olivier

Christopher Plummer

Johnny Weismuller

Clark Gable

Fernando Lamas

Errol Flynn

Tyrone Power

Humphrey Bogart

ROUND 4 STUNGUNS:

James Dean

Cary Grant

Gregory Peck

Sessue Hayakawa

Harry Belafonte

James Stewart

Gene Kelly

Peter Falk

QUARTERFINALIST VOLCANIC TOWERS OF LUST:

Jeremy Brett

Vincent Price

James Shigeta

Buster Keaton

SEMIFINALIST SUPERMEN:

Omar Sharif

Paul Robeson

FINALIST FANTASIES:

Sidney Poitier

Toshiro Mifune

and ok, sure, here's the shadow-bracket-style winner's portrait of Toshiro Mifune.

[vintagetvstars]

Wayne Rogers Vs. Peter Falk

Propaganda

Wayne Rogers - (M*A*S*H, Stagecoach West, City of Angels) - "He just had this warmth and gentleness to him that made him sooo attractive no matter at what age..." Full text propaganda below the cut.

Peter Falk - (Columbo) - Honestly he's just my silly lil guy in his silly lil trenchcoat with his silly lil dog named Dog. He's scrungly, he's sexy, he's clever, he annoys and outwits and fucks with rich people who think they're The Shit and can get away with injustices and murder— I could go on and on and on. But no one but Peter Falk could have brought this man to life, in this house we love and adore him.

- No Negative Propaganda Please -

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

Wayne Rogers:

He just had this warmth and gentleness to him that made him sooo attractive no matter at what age. If his good looks and his charming smile (and those curls ahh!) aren't enough to convince you to vote for this nice, funny, 6ft tall man, then let me hit you with some random information What i adore is the duality of this man! First he served his duty in the navy and was about to study law when he accompanied a friend to a theatre play one evening and was so amazed by the art of acting that he decided to achieve an acting career instead. When he wanted to leave MASH after only three seasons -although the contract said for him to stay much longer-, they couldn't do anything about it bc he hadn't even signed it in the first place (there was a paragraph in it that he strongly disagreed with). If that isn't badass idk what is! And later in his career, not only did he act, write and produce all kinds of TV, movie and stage productions but he also started a successful financial business. Also (at least when he was older) he supposedly went for a swim in the sea EVERY morning. Btw when he was still getting started and was financially struggling, he shared a flat in New York and an overcoat for auditions with (also still struggling) colleague Peter Falk.

Peter Falk:

There's something about a short lil guy that's enchanting...I love a non-threatening man

Columbo in just a tank top

weird little guy of all time

[yeahiwasintheshit]

so i watched john cassavetes' 'a woman under the influence' the other night, and hooboy was that an intense movie. with an amazing performance by gena rowlands as mabel. and peter falk is great in it too. but boy is this a hard watch. you just feel bad for all these people, especially mabel. shes clearly a person in distress and she just doesnt have the people in her life that can help. not only cant help, but make her situation worse. what adds to the intensity is the way its shot, it almost feels like a documentary of this family. natural light, natural performances, natural dialogue. rowlands and falk really become these people. the thing is you also really like them. falk's character nicky really does some horrible horrible shit, and you end up feeling like hes the one mentally worse off by the end, because almost every decision he makes is wrong. but he clearly loves his wife, who is a very sick person, he just doesnt know what the right thing to do is. theres no excuse for his abuse, its bad, and hes a lousy father, but falk is such a charismatic and sorta lovable presence, you dont necessarily forgive him, there just arent any villains in the movie.

theyre just this sad family who are dealing with this mental illness, that they dont really understand, nor does the society around them. when she goes to the hospital for 6 months, and the day she comes back and nicky invites a house full of people to celebrate, you just want to strangle the guy, but its coming from a pure place of wanting to make a normal house, but its so hard to watch. plus the doctor who commits her seems to have encouraged the party, so thats another part of it, but what a bad decision. then theyre at the table and hes yelling that he wants her to have a normal conversation, and this poor woman is locked and stuck. she doesnt know what to do. the gif above is so heart wrenching. shes saying this to her father, and ooof it knocks it right out of you. that whole final third of the movie is notched up to a level 11, which is like watching a horror movie. everyone does the wrong thing for this suffering woman, and she reacts accordingly. its also hard to watch it from a 2024 perspective cause you know she could prob live a better life today with the right meds, and the right medical information for her and nicky to deal with her illness.

anyway ive been sitting on writing a review of it cause i almost didnt know what to say, cause its a lot. and maybe thats part of the problem. there are parts of the movie that are at an 11 for so long you almost shaking watching it. its a good movie with an amazing, and shocking and almost too real performance by gena rowlands (who is still alive today. shes 93) in parts it really does feel like a horror movie youre watching between your fingers. but it is really good. worth watching for her performance alone

john cassavetes is considered the father of independent movies, and i think this may be considered his best movie. he was nominated for best director and rowlands was nominated for best actress that year. so im glad i watched it, but dont have any plans rewatching anytime soon at least.

[lesbiancolumbo]

Genuine question that I literally don't know how to word without sounding silly, but here goes: do you take a gay reading to Husbands (1970) and if so, what's your take? (E.g., any or all of them closeted, romantic feelings toward one another, etc.) I've watched the film like 3 times, and each time I get something new out of it, but I still feel like I haven't fully digested it. So much of the film comes off super homoerotic but the characters are so repressed/closed off it's hard to get a read

oh you've absolutely come to the right place to ask this. i honestly have gone back and forth on this over the years tbh, and i don't think there's going to be a clear cut answer. that's part of the fun for me though.

when i think of husbands i think of it as like a three-way venn diagram where the three end points are something along the lines of: "john cassavetes wanted to make a movie about men who were repressed and not living an authentic life that brought them joy", "john cassavetes was living in the 1970s and, intentionally or not, made a movie that accurately captures the misogyny of that decade", and "john cassavetes was a little bit in love with his two best friends, peter falk and ben gazzara" and the result is husbands 1970. a film that was so much about masculinity and misogyny that it kinda accidentally became very gay, and also a film that is a love letter from one man to his two guy besties, who he did love very much and continued to love until the day he died 19 years later.

so i guess it's really not the kind of film where i definitely say "yes, harry is gay and gus is just repressed etc". there's too much ambiguity. i say embrace the spirit of john himself and just do whatever feels fun and funky to you. for me, sometimes that's "they're all fucking in a triad sitch" (i may or may not have written and abandoned a draft of this back in like 2018 lol) and sometimes that's "these men are all straight and fucking TERRIBLE".

[explodingsilver]

Watched Wings of Desire today. Thoughts:

This is literally the kind of movie a TikToker would make up to put in the mouth of a straw-filmbro when told to watch something other than Marvel. This is a compliment.

It's kind of light on plot, in favor of having the omniscient protagonist just wander around Berlin listening to everyone's thoughts, only taking action in the last half hour. In effect, this means that making him inhuman made all the unnamed minor characters feel far more human than they would in a conventional film.

Pleasantly surprised to discover I know enough German to verify that the subtitles are accurate.

Unsurprisingly, including a plot-critical Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert is an easy way to win my goodwill.

There's also a somewhat less plot-critical but still fun to watch Crime & the City Solution concert. You don't really hear people talk about those guys as much.

Columbo is there. As in, people see Peter Falk and go "holy shit that's Columbo" on at least two different occasions.

If you like it when movies switch between monochrome and color for artistic reasons, you'll love this film.

[flut-flut]

TAG YOUR IT!

Respond with your favorite thing about your top three fandoms, and any OC's you have for them!

DOES THIS MEAN LIKE: THE MEDIA ITSELF OR THE FANDOM SPECIFICALLY I Will answer both I guess LMFAO

Unfortunately I don't really make OCs for others' original content so I can't answer that part! All my OCs are for rping in my own little universes I make with my friends lmfaO

Jak and Daxter: My absolute favorite thing about these games is the aesthetics of it, and the way the characters are placed in the world. It introduces so many interesting dynamics and the plot of the second game especially there are so many political story lines and the world feels connected in a way that I just really enjoy - that said I wish they did MORE with it, but I like how it was introduced for the most part.

My favorite thing about the fandom is despite not having any new content for around 20 years now lmfao people still play around with the characters, have fun with the universe and there's quite a bit of good fan content out there!

Subnautica: This game is so fucking cool honestly, I love how it's set up, I love the world, the lore is hinted at so well and you get to piece things together yourself, I really fucking love that. I've heard of a Jak and Daxter to Subnautica fan pipeline and that is definitely true for me lmfao they are very similar and Subnautica was the first game I played that scratched that Jak and Daxter itch honestly. Plus I love the premise in general, just wish there was more plot!

As far as the fandom, the modding is fucking amazing augh I can't understand how people can just make whole ass mods like they have for this game. I can't even figure out how to download the program that runs mods right let alone make them myself LMFAO

Columbo: This show is just fucking jadfhdfhadfh so good. The aesthetics, the plots, the writing, the music, it's all fucking great, there isn't an episode I don't like. I love that it was really one of the first shows (if not the first one) to have upper class people be the criminals instead of poor people, and Columbo specifically is a great character. Just some guy doing some job, love that so much.

For the fandom, I love how much people admire Peter Falk (the actor for Columbo as well as one of the main writers). He was a really cool and interesting person, reading his autobiography was a great read and yeah idk. I think it's cool that a disabled Jewish actor made it so big and was as successful as he was in creating and acting in that show. Seeing art of him always makes me smile.

Thank you for the ask :)

[tilbageidanmark]

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS WEEK (#189):

Starting with some re-visits ♻️: That Obscure Object of Desire was Luis Buñuel last erotic film. Old businessman Fernando Rey falls in love and becomes mortally infatuated with a young flamenco dancer, who leads him astray. It's a story of uncontrollable obsession, and a dysfunctional power struggle between them. On the one hand, it's a straight-forward tale of murky motivations, told in a masterful, fluid style. On the other, there are little nuggets of dissonant surrealism: There's some old man carrying a burlap sack, going in and out of scenes without explanations. Or, Conchita, the elusive tease, is played interchangeably by two different actresses, Etc.

🍿

RIP, Gena Rowlands X 2 - (Incredible photo Above).

🍿 "You, banana, you..."

A Woman Under the Influence, hers and husband Guy Woodhouse's most acclaimed work together. A painful tour into the mind of a lonely housewife whose behavior is just a bit eccentric, and who maybe suffers from a bi-polar disorder. Peter Falk, her simple construction worker husband, loves her, but lacks the skills to deal with her, and her existential anguish eventually turns into a nervous breakdown. The general understanding of mental health in 1975 wasn't kind to 'differently-behaved' women, so no wonder she was misdiagnosed, committed and underwent electroshock therapy. A powerful performance that was hard to watch.

🍿 After this early clip of the taxi shoot-out, I also had to see Gloria. One of John Cassavetes' more commercial attempts, it was a strange neo-Noir bland of 'Running from the mob' action thriller, and Gena Rowlands as a bad-ass ex-girlfriend of Tanzinni the mafioso. The backstage of Late-70's NYC is fascinating to observe.

🍿

2 Bizarre Buck Henry-related shorts:

🍿 Buck Henry had an amazing career. In 'Gloria', he's playing the mob accountant whose killing jump starts the plot. I only discovered Kiss Kiss Fingerbang (2015) because it was the 85-year old Buck Henry's very last (cameo) role, and I only watched it because of the unusually-provocative name. But this erotic story about a girlfriend who likes it 'that way', was just plain stupid. [*Female Director*]

🍿 I miss Sonia Henie was a strange 'Yugoslav New Wave' diversion from 1971. Eight directors, including Dušan Makavejev, Frederick Wiseman (!), Paul Morrissey, Miloš Forman and Buck Henry were each tasked with coming up overnight with short avant-garde segments. Each was to be less than three minutes of film footage inside a bedroom with static shots that contains the phrase 'I Miss Sonja Henie'. The results were, as expected, experimentally-weird. The best part actually was the ending clip of the fabulous Norwegian ice skater dancing to the tune of 'The Blue Danube'. Still it was worth watching. (This is my second film by Slovenian Carpo Godina).

🍿

Close - The sad story of two 13 year old boys who love each other, but break up their friendship when their new classmates call them a "couple". Incredibly sensitive acting by the two boys. A subtle story, where nobody's able to express themselves in words, and in spite of the obvious affection that everybody has, nobody tells anybody 'I love you'. There are two themes that repeat: The flower fields, and the long bike rides home. And the breaking point, when one of the boys learns that tragedy struck, is at 44:00 min. in - exactly one hour before the end of the movie. 10/10. Re-watch ♻️.

Extra: Found a good video essay about the inability to communicate in the movie.

🍿

2 with Alice Lowe:

🍿 "Make Sanford Great Again!"...

I've watched Hot Fuzz a dozen times or more in the last few years, but it's never enough. Everything I felt and wrote about it before is still 100% accurate. So now I notice new, tiny details. F. ex. how cute is "Tina", the Supermarché announcer - "Mr. Skinner to the manager's office. Mr. Skinner to the manager's office." But really, every single actor here is absolutely perfect. The bloopers. I can't wait for Edgar Wright's 2 new films. 10/10. Another re-watch ♻️.

🍿 In Innocence (2019) Alice Lowe stars as a policewoman investigating a suspicious falling death, but except of the fact that it's a facility for patients with Downs Syndrome, and the main actor is one, it's doesn't stand out.

🍿

2 more with 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes:

🍿 Big boys is a surprising coming of age story with a different twist. A shy, overweight 14-year-old boy, who's both ordinary and self-conscious, falls for his cousin's older boyfriend, while on a camping trip in Lake Arrowhead. It's told in a careful, hesitant, nearly European tone. Awkward and heart-felt, sweet and wholesome. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes. 8/10.

🍿 I could only watch Àma Gloria in the original French-Portuguese without subtitles, so I missed some of its subtext. Still it was powerfully sad and deeply moving. A 6-year-old girl, who lost her mother to cancer, is being taken care of by her Creole nanny. The nanny must return to her native Cape Verde, and the girl is allowed to come and visit her. The little girl who plays the part is truly incredible in the role. The trailer. 9/10.

It's another of the sub-genre of 'Domestic Workers' ('Roma', 'The second mother', 'The maid', 'Oli Ilo', 'Lina from Lima', 'The chambermaid', so many others.) [*Female Director*]

🍿

Ali Abbasi was born in Iran, and moved to Denmark about 15 years ago.

Holy spider is his grim police procedural based on a true story of an Iranian serial killer. It's like Fincher's 'Zodiac', except that the location is the dirty, primitive and oppressive "Holy city" of Mashhad. The killer is a family man but also a fanatical religious nut, who takes on a mission to cleanse his city of poor, drug-addicted prostitutes. The murders are chillingly ugly, but the rest of the story is captivating. 8/10.

While waiting for his anticipated Trump biography 'The Apprentice', I am going to watch the 2 other features he directed, 'Shelley' and 'Border'.

🍿

Let's Go with Pancho Villa (1936) was long considered to be one of the 'greatest Mexican films of all times'. It's a different anti-authoritarian and epic view of the 1910 Revolution. But it didn't speak to me. ¡VIVA MÉXICO!

🍿  

"The flower had not had a fair chance to bloom in the garden of life. The worm of poverty had entered the folded bud and spoiled it..."

Shoes (1916), my 2nd by silent pioneer Lois Weber (after ‘Suspense’). A poor young working girl, struggling to support her family on her meager salary, desperately needs a new pair of shoes, as her only pair literally fall apart. In desperation she 'sells her body', just to survive. A strong feminist message in a sad, realist settings. It was added to the 'National Firm Registry'. [*Female Director*]

🍿  

4 more from the 'Miu Miu Women's Tales' Series:

🍿 "The men are coming! Cover up, everyone! Cover up!" My first film from Saudi Arabian, The Wedding Singer’s Daughter (2018) by Haifaa Al-Mansour, one of the first female filmmakers from over there. Set in 1980, separated from the men, a group of female guests prepare the music and dance for a fancy wedding. Lovely.

🍿 Brigitte (2019), the only Lynne Ramsay film I haven't seen before. It's not the best of the bunch, but still fabulously artistic. A documentary portrait of portrait photographer Brigitte Lacombe in her rustic, cavernous photo studio.

🍿 Le Donne della Vucciria (2013), by my favorite Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass ("Marcia Roy"), and featuring my favorite Lebanese actress Lubna Azabal. An impressionistic Mediterranean mood piece about a dressmaker and a puppet-master, a group of singers down at the Piazza, a Vespa ride by the promenade when the morning comes. 8/10.

🍿 Shangri-La, a poetic confession of forbidden love between a Filipina woman and her white farmhand lover, (who's disguised as a catholic priest). Set up during the Depression, when such relationships were illegal. So-so. [*4 Female Directors*]

🍿

Timor's show (2016) is an interesting Israeli documentary. Timor is a 37-year-old naive emigrant from Russia, who works as a lowly dishwasher. In Baku he studied music at the academy, and he has a lovely baritone voice. But then he decides to put up a recital in a real concert hall, where for the first time in his life, he will sing in front of an audience some of his favorite arias. [*Female Director*]

🍿

2 horrible stinkers:

🍿 "Good luck, shithead"... First watch: Stupid B-monster survivor film Tremors (1990). I did finish it, but with difficulties. Why was it so awful, when all it wanted was to copy Jaws-5 but with Sand Worms instead? 1/10.

🍿 "Who wants some head?"

I can't believe that by now I've seen two movies with John Cena (The first one was 'Barbie'). What is wrong with me?!

But really, the only reason I watched the new "near future dystopian" Jackpot is because it was made by Paul Feig, who directed 'A simple Favor', my all-time favorite Anna Kendrick guilty pleasure. However, this one-note "action-comedy" was spectacularly dreadful. I hated myself for watching it. 1/10.

And now I read that 'Favor 2' is already filmed, and everybody of the original cast, including 'Darren' to 'Detective Summerville' are repeating their roles, and that fills me with dread. I hate sequels!

🍿  

4 short westerns by Michael Brian Rawlins:

🍿 Michael Brian Rawlins specializes in writing, directing and starring in light Western shorts (?). His The Dentist (2020) is the better one. Here he plays a traveling broke dentist being held up by a highway robber with an infected tooth. A perfect meeting.

🍿 The Deputy (2017) is more of a one big action scene, told in modern style.

🍿 In Two outlaws, a marshal forces two outlaws to play Russian Roulette against each other. It ends when they are both hanged by their neck, while Lakmé 'Flower Duet' is playing in the background.

🍿 Rivals too is in a similar vain, a romanticized vision of kids playing 'cowboys'. The whole thing is like a clean Disneyfied tourist version of what a modern western should be.

None of these though is as good as The Gunslinger!

🍿  

The Fleischer Brothers X 3:

🍿 Dizzy Dishes (1930), the very first cartoon with an appearance by Betty Boop. Primitive line drawings, still trying to figure out that new media.

🍿 Any Rags (1932) about a garbage man, collecting anything he can, then selling it.

🍿 Hold it (1938) is one of the Fleischer Studio's 'Color Classics' early use of Technicolor in animation. A bunch of cats against one sleeping dog.

🍿

3 by Illustrator Nate Milton:

🍿 Viewfinder (2023), an excellent impression of precise memory packs of what it meant to be a teenager in the 90's.

🍿 In Eli (2020), a boy is being interrogated at the City of Providence Psychiatric Hospital as to why he's there. The answer has to do with magical raccoons, meteor craters, government secret facilities, music and the evolution of all matter. 8/10.

🍿 Tank (2012), a simply-drawn story of a boy who finds a giant salamander. One of his 9 Vimeo Staff Awards film winners.

His shorts are also pretty dope. F. Ex. this 1986 interview with Miles Davis...

🍿

3 More Shorts:

🍿 To scale: Time was made by a couple of friends to demonstrate how long is it since the Big Bang. They constructed a 4.3 miles stretch of lights in the Mojave Desert, and our civilization is the last few inches...

🍿 Casino Moon (2012), my first by the other-other-other Coppola, Gia Coppola. A cute Vegas roulette dealer falls for a young loser at her table. What does she finds in him, is hard to see, but then I can't stand members of the Schwartzman clan myself (Except of mamma, Taila Shire, of course). Gambling cliches + Wong Kar-wai vibes. Not bad. [*Female Director*]

🍿 Cockatoo v human: Who will win? The opening-rubbish-bins arms race between cockatoos and humans. From the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.

🍿

Throw-back to the Adora Art project:  

Buñuel Adora.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

[littlelodell]

Tag Game!!

��ˋ°*♡➷ get to know me ༊*·˚

Thank you @happy-mokka for the tag!!

rule: name your favorite movie, character, animal, drink, song, season, book, color and hobby

This is going to be tough because I am highly suggestible & I will bury my favorites for years and then suddenly remember them.

MOVIE(S) It's a tie, and an impossible task because I can name about fifty films whose images float around in my imagination. I grew watching a lot, A LOT, of Westerns, British WWII films and movie musicals, and classic films of the 1940's...but here are two later era movies that I come back to, and influence me as a creative person. Honorable mention to Hayao Miyazaki's entire oeuvre.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, 1989

dir. Peter Greenaway. Michael Nyman score.

with Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon (RIP), Richard Bohringer & Alan Howard. (and Tim Roth and Alex Kingston!)

Terrifying, horrifying, darkly funny and stunningly gorgeous. It's extremely violent in a very specific way to Greenaway, which I have a harder time with now, but it's still worth watching, if only for the scenes between Mirren and Howard, which are virtually silent. Breathtaking.

Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) 1987 dir. Wim Wenders

This movie has EVERYTHING. Angels in dark coats, a library, Nick Cave, poetry, pre-fall of The Wall Berlin, trapeze artistry, moody smoking, Peter Falk as himself, did I mention angels? The final line gets me every time; "Ich weiss jetzt was kein Engel weiss." (excuse my German spelling.) "I know what no angel knows." In other words, love.

Character. In my current obsession? Our dear demon, Crowley. He chooses himself, but is honest enough to know he loves someone else. Silly, moody, been to actual hell and back. What's not to love? Plus us redheads have to stick together.

And of course, Kate ~ Taming of the Shrew. The OG bitch you hate to love. Runner up, Ariel from The Tempest. Gotta love a spirit that manages to be both mischievous and compassionate.

ANIMAL: Grey wolf. Canis Lupus. Their reintroduction to the wild is a very, very small pinpoint of hope for our ailing world.

Drink: Coffee. No contest. Black. Unlike Daffy here, I prefer mine iced.

Song: Currently listening to Yebba's "October Sky" on heavy rotation. She's truly gifted.

But, how could I choose just one song? I listen to jazz, 90's RandB, country, West Coast rap, deep 80's cuts, current pop, always Bowie, Prince, Kate Bush, and classical vocal rep.

"Will There Really Be a Morning?" Ricky Ian Gordon comp., set to The Belle of Amherst's poetry - a perfect song.

Season: Winter. But that's because I have to travel to get to a real winter. I love to (visit) the snow. I know, I romanticize it. I grew up in a place with brutal winters but all I remember is the Nordic skiing and playing hockey in figure skates and hot cocoa. Let me have my idyll.

Books, three, in no order, all non-fiction, or I will get too far down a rabbit-hole:

The Hakawati by Rabih Alemeddine

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson

My Antonia by Willa Cather (my actual favorite)

Each of these authors have other, equally compelling titles, and you should read them.

Color: Shades of Blue.

Hobby: Reading, traveling, taking pictures, starting yet another language to study.

Possibly cooking, but I used to do it for a living, so it always feels like a dance with an old friend, not a hobby.

I'll tag @reloha and @risingphoenix761 but don't feel obligated at all. If I did this again tomorrow, I would have completely different answers.

[thealmightyemprex]

So Steven Spielberg directed an episode of Columbo:Murder By the Book

So Columbo is one of the most beloved American TV shows ever .I'll admitat the moment I have only seen two episodes ,but my grandparents were huge fans . (I have a few childhood memories of my grandfather holding a portable DVD player ,watching his DVD set of the third season Columbo,which I still have ) and honestly ,I do wanna watch more.I think it is a fun idea for a murder mystery show....Cause its not a mystery ,I'll go into that later

Today we are looking at the first proper episode ,which has a bit of a pedigree being directed by Steven Spielberg,and on the strength of the episode he got the oppurtunity to direct Duel which led to Sugerland Express and Jaws .....Its also said by some to be the best episode of Columbo.

So this 1971 episode follows mystery writer Ken Franklin (Jack Cassidy) who murders his writing partner Jim Ferris (Martin Milner ) who was planning on going his own path ,and it seems like the perfect murder ,if only this annoying Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk ) would stop bugging him with meaningless visits

So Columbo is one of those shows with a straightforward formula:Someone kills someone,and encounter this scruffy odd cop who they underestimate.So the fun comes from the villain of the week and how Columbo is going to catch them.As an episode goes this is really damn good

Spielbergs flare is definately evident here ,as he makes it very cinematic ,it almost feels like a Hitchcock thriller with the way it is framed .I also like the music which incorporates the sound of a typewriter .I think there is a pretty fun twist involving how Ken planned the murder

The supporting cast are all solid ,Martin Milner plays a likeable murder victim ,Barbra Colby is solid as an unforunate witness ,and Rosemary Forsyth doesa fantastic job as the widow of the murdered writer

What can I say about Peter Falk that hasnt been said.I've made it no secret ,I adore him as an actor , and aside from maybe the Princess Bride,Columbo might be his most enduring legacy .I love eccentric investigators ,and I love Columbo cause he if your a first time watcher youd be in the villains shoes and see him just as this weird guy but if your in the know ,its fun to see how he is befuddling the villain,and ya dont know how much of it is an act and how much is just his quirky personality .Also theres a sweet scene in this episode where he makes an omlete for the widow

The best part of this episode ,besides Colombo himself ,is Jack Cassidy as Ken.He is such a love to hate villain.An egotistical gloryhound who loves the finer things in life ,and is so smug and loves bragging about how superior he is to Columbo,you just really wanna see our hero catch him .Jack Cassidy is just so good at protraying the smugness and sleazyness ,I am not surprised he was brought back to be a villain in two other episodes

OVerall if you wanna check out Columbo this is a great place to start and as an example of Spielbergs talent its a great showcase

@theancientvaleofsoulmaking @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @angelixgutz @princesssarisa@goodanswerfoxmonster @filmcityworld1

[flintsdragon]

don't expect to like 'em

There’s ten days left of 2022, and the oscars/best movie discourse is as annoying as ever so I’m gonna take this time to instead celebrate my favorite first watches of 2022, decade by decade.

Starting with the 70s: 

I watched The Godfather(s) and Superman and Young Frankenstein and Dog Day Afternoon, but none of them resonated with me like this one.   

Mikey and Nicky (1976) written and directed by Elaine May 

Starring Peter Falk as Mikey and John Cassavetes as Nicky

(this is the whole movie, its just on youtube for free lmfao)

Watched on: September 6, 2022

“I think that’s the reason we’re such good friends. Cause we remember each other from when we were kids.Things that happened when we were kids that no one else knows about but us. It’s in our heads. That's how we know it really happened.”

This movie has officially haunted me for months. I genuinely feel the same anxiety I felt after watching Jordan Peele’s US in 2019, except instead of staying awake and checking under my bed for a clone version of myself in a red jumpsuit with a comically large pair of scissors, I stay up at night trying to forget the end of this movie. Elaine May does a masterful job putting Mikey and Nicky’s entire lives on full display over the course of a night. In doing so, the audience learns that Mikey and Nicky are authentically flawed gangsters with a friendship that has deteriorated. At the beginning of the film Nicky is sure he will be killed before the morning, and as the night goes on, it seems only natural that he will spend his final moments begging for refuge at Mikey's door as the sun rises.

Although the conclusion is natural, it isn't simple. Mikey and Nicky's relationship serves as a haunting metaphor for the pieces of ourselves we must let go of as time goes on. Mikey's refusal to let Nicky into his home even though his friend is facing certain death is Elaine May's rather bleak portrayal of getting older and letting go of people who no longer belong in your life. Growing up and cutting people off is something you're meant to get used to in adulthood, but in Mikey's face we see that no matter what Nicky has done, letting him go is still incredibly painful.

It's the nature of humanity, that we exist to be known, and in the memory of our loved ones we become immortal. Even though Mikey has grown to genuinely resent Nicky over the years, there is still a part of himself that would rather be remembered by Nicky than no one at all. May illustrates the idea that we keep old friends around through thick and thin because we find peace in having people we don’t have to explain ourselves to. You don't have to repeat old stories to old friends, old friends were there, old friends remember. You don’t have to explain why your past matters to them, cause it’s their past too. Mikey lets go of his shot at immortality by letting go of Nicky. He lets go of the last person who remembered his family, and the last person who remembered who he was before life corrupted him. After a long night, both Mikey and Nicky see the sun rise, but it isn't a symbol of hope or renewal, instead it is just a reminder that time leaves us all behind.

[columboscreens]

You know they've rumoured for years to either be remaking Columbo or shooting a movie. If they did, who would you like to see in the lead? I remember reading Mark Ruffalo was linked & yknow what I ain't mad.

as an actor and writer myself, i don't make a habit of inextricably tying actors to roles. i believe media is meant to be interpreted and reinterpreted freely.

but peter falk, man...peter falk was more than inextricable from columbo. he was columbo.

it's funny because the show's creators, levinson & link, had a totally different vision going in their heads during the casting process--they saw a much older, balding irish/anglo type. for reference, burt freed first played the character in a brief TV appearance; thomas mitchell first played him onstage; bing crosby was one of the first choices for TV.

then peter falk frantically waltzed in (quote: "i'd kill to play that cop") with his overpowering, mensch-y charm and sold them on columbo as the whimsical, dark-featured little guy we've come to know and love. falk's columbo was such an earth-shattering hit that NBC was practically on their knees begging him to sign a serial contract; when he did, he swept the nation. i don't have exact figures handy, but he was earning hand over fucking fist playing him, and NBC spent the better part of a decade kowtowing to his sometimes famously insane demands just to keep the hits coming. needless to say, despite the insanity, peter falk's dedication to his craft and the character of columbo was second to none.

on a decidedly darker note, i confess that i often think of it this way: when falk had alzheimer's in his twilight years, someone leaked from court documents that his doctor noted he could "no longer remember playing columbo". you can still find those news articles everywhere online; it was so widely reported and discussed that it was effectively treated as a death announcement. the public treated the "death" of peter falk's memory of columbo as effectively the death of both he and the character.

to me, it's pretty difficult to top that.

so yeah, frankly i'm just not interested whatsoever in seeing anybody else as columbo proper. if the character had to return, i'd rather see something actually iterative like a prequel/origin story or something. i'm also sick of reboots in general so seeing inspirations from columbo in new media rather than directly revived is a much more inviting prospect for me.

speaking of which, take natasha lyonne in poker face (you knew i was gonna go there!). she's a huge peter falk/columbo fan herself and was widely rumored to play "female columbo" in a reboot, but she did the far more creative thing and teamed up with rian johnson to devise a character/show inspired by columbo but fresh and new, neither a reboot nor carbon copy. if only the rest of mainstream flim/tv these days could take note.

tl;dr i would like to see absolutely nobody in the lead of a columbo reboot except for a terrible PS2 graphics render of peter falk clipping through the floor

[hotvintagepoll]

i found this blog by accident (i think the tumblr recommendations code or whatever figured out i have a polls addiction) and have had zero interest and experience in this topic but now. now i am so here. but i was wondering where i could go to watch movies with all these actors?? like i’m sure prime video or smthg might have a few classics hanging around but is there a service/website (of any legality) that specialises in vintage films and stuff? or is it really just physical media to get a lot of them? sry if this throws off your askbox, i didn’t know where else to ask! tyia <3

Hi!! I love this ask. Thanks for being here!

I don't know of any service that specializes in old movies, though HBO had a deal with TCM for a while that meant they had several classics on Max—I don't know if that's still a thing. In the meantime, though, the following websites all have "classic" channels that will be filled with great vintage movies to try:

Tubi—free streaming service that includes:

The Manchurian Candidate (Frank Sinatra, James Edwards)

The Philadelphia Story (James Stewart, Cary Grant)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Dick Van Dyke)

On The Town (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra)

House on Haunted Hill (Vincent Price)

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Marlon Brando)

The Maltese Falcon (Humphrey Bogart)

Hoopla—free through many libraries:

The Court Jester (Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone)

War and Peace (Jeremy Brett)

Barefoot in the Park (Robert Redford)

Cabin in the Sky (Rex Ingram)

Wings (Gary Cooper)

Kanopy—free through many libraries:

The General (Buster Keaton)

Flower Drum Song (James Shigeta)

Roman Holiday (Gregory Peck)

Seven Samurai (Toshiro Mifune)

His Girl Friday (Cary Grant)

Wuthering Heights (Laurence Olivier)

Sabrina (Humphrey Bogart)

Paris Blues (Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman)

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Conrad Veidt)

Youtube also has TONS of movies that have slipped through copyright or "accidentally" ended up there:

Charade (Cary Grant)

The Gay Divorcee (Fred Astaire)

Lying Lips (Carman Newsome, Robert Earl Jones, Oscar Micheaux)

Stormy Weather (Harold Nicholas)

Rebecca (Laurence Olivier)

The Cheat (Sessue Hayakawa)

The Lady Vanishes (Michael Redgrave)

Jungle Book (Sabu Dastagir)

To Sir, With Love (Sidney Poitier)

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Peter Falk)

What a Way to Go! (Dick Van Dyke, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman)

And of course there are methods of other legality if you want to go searching for titles by hand :)

I haven't seen all of the movies I list here—this is just a sampling of some famous ones, and a few of my secret faves—so be careful if you have trigger warnings and things. Hope you find some great movies!

[vintagetvstars]

Wayne Rogers Vs. Alejandro Rey

Propaganda

Wayne Rogers - (M*A*S*H, Stagecoach West, City of Angels) - "He just had this warmth and gentleness to him that made him sooo attractive no matter at what age..." Full text propaganda below the cut.

Alejandro Rey - (The Flying Nun) - With its mostly female core cast, The Flying Nun may be an odd property to source a Hot Man from, but look at him. As debonair playboy Carlos Ramirez, Rey had to meet the difficult task of being suave and sexy but also really over the top, continually exasperated, and funny, and he delivered so well. He's hilarious as a foil to Sally Field's earnest Sister Bertrille, Carlos essentially being her combination best friend, low-stakes antagonist, shenanigans victim, and (according to some fans) maybe love interest. Though primarily acting for comedy, Rey's also able to handle scenes that require more warmth and subtlety, and he just looks divine. The eyes and the profile alone are enough to make you forgot the ridiculous late-60s fashions he wears.

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

Wayne Rogers:

He just had this warmth and gentleness to him that made him sooo attractive no matter at what age. If his good looks and his charming smile (and those curls ahh!) aren't enough to convince you to vote for this nice, funny, 6ft tall man, then let me hit you with some random information What i adore is the duality of this man! First he served his duty in the navy and was about to study law when he accompanied a friend to a theatre play one evening and was so amazed by the art of acting that he decided to achieve an acting career instead. When he wanted to leave MASH after only three seasons -although the contract said for him to stay much longer-, they couldn't do anything about it bc he hadn't even signed it in the first place (there was a paragraph in it that he strongly disagreed with). If that isn't badass idk what is! And later in his career, not only did he act, write and produce all kinds of TV, movie and stage productions but he also started a successful financial business. Also (at least when he was older) he supposedly went for a swim in the sea EVERY morning. Btw when he was still getting started and was financially struggling, he shared a flat in New York and an overcoat for auditions with (also still struggling) colleague Peter Falk

Alejandro Rey:

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

"Bill & Ted Face the Music" was one of my favorite movies that I saw during lockdown. I saw many better films too, but there was something about the eternal optimism and good nature of William S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) that made them feel like the kind of heroes we needed during a pandemic, one of the weirdest and most uncertain situations many of us have ever experienced.

Stuck at home for far longer than natural, it was comforting to hang out with old screen pals in lieu of our real-life friends. This may be why the era of COVID-19 also saw the unlikely phenomenon of people binge-watching old episodes of "Columbo." Perhaps there isn't too much difference between Bill and Ted and Peter Falk's shambling detective. The movies and the show are set in sunny California; the stakes are low; and the protagonists are unassuming, friendly, and most importantly of all, kind. 

Aside from the cozy factor, the third installment of the "Bill & Ted" franchise also came as a surprise because it wasn't sh**e. Released almost 30 years after "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," it was remarkably consistent in tone and spirit to the original movies, obviously a labor of love for everyone involved. Unlike the embarrassing spectacle of watching Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in their mid-50s reprising their roles as Lloyd and Harry in "Dumb and Dumber To," Winter and Reeves slipped back into their old characters with ease, making it seem totally believable that these were the same dudes who once rocked out in their garage as Wyld Stallyns and dreamed of jamming with Eddie Van Halen. If only they could have persuaded the legendary guitar hero to appear in the movie...

EDDIE VAN HALEN'S INFLUENCE ON BILL & TED

A few years before everyone was rocking out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in their cars and shouting things like "Schwing!" and "Party on!" you had the air guitar from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Unlike the ironic knowingness of "Wayne's World," there was an innocent exuberance to the gesture, which Bill and Ted used as an expression of happiness, agreement, or triumph.

While Bill and Ted may have been the ones who helped spread the air guitar into popular culture beyond rock music, they were by no means the inventors. The history of the air guitar can be traced as far back as the 1860s when pretending to play an invisible instrument was regarded as a sign of mental illness, while Joe Cocker miming the opening notes of a tune onstage at Woodstock in 1969 is regarded as the "formative moment" of the gesture.

Skip forward another 20 years and the boys' use of the air guitar is clearly inspired by their taste in music. As Southern Californian lads growing up in the '80s, we're talking AC/DC, ZZ Top, Kiss, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Frank Zappa, and, of course, Van Halen. Alex Winter explained (via Rolling Stone):

"The image that Eddie had runs through all of our movies. Bill and Ted are supposed to be into hard rock. But were these sunny, optimistic California guys. And that's really embodied by Eddie Van Halen. We talk about Iron Maiden a lot, but I think we would have come up listening to Van Halen and the positivity that was infused in the music. [...] ​​And I always thought of Eddie's incredible physicality with the air guitar stuff, and just the way these guys would have seen him and how that would have impacted them."

EDDIE VAN HALEN WAS APPROACHED FOR ALL THREE BILL & TED MOVIES

It's always a thing of pure joy watching a musician with absolute mastery of their instrument, both fully in command while also completely surrendering themselves to it. If you watch a video of Eddie Van Halen performing his epic solo of "Eruption," you'll see the motion that Bill and Ted mimic so often in the movies: Yanking the fret skywards, fingers flying along the fret as if wrangling a powerful beast, perhaps a Wyld Stallyn. Yet for all his virtuosity, Eddie Van Halen was a modest, laidback character in contrast to David Lee Roth, the extroverted, pouting, poodle-permed frontman of the band.

Van Halen was so important to the vibe of the "Bill & Ted" trilogy that attempts were made to cast him in all three films, most notably as Rufus, the duo's time-traveling guide. Unfortunately, the sleeper hit original didn't have the budget for a rock star of Van Halen's status at the time. Alex Winter remembered (via Rolling Stone):

"We tried to get Van Halen into each one of the movies. [Laughs]. We asked him, but he said no. A very 'Spinal Tap' moment. [Laughs]. He was a famously private person and he wasn't, you know, the front man. He was extremely charismatic and he was always very genteel, but he always turned us down."

After Van Halen's death in 2020, screenwriter Ed Solomon revealed that the guitarist had once again been approached to play a part in "Bill & Ted Face the Music," but his representatives turned them down without revealing why. Solomon surmised that Van Halen's battle with throat cancer may have been the reason. It is sad that Bill and Ted never got to play alongside their hero; but with Van Halen's influence on the three movies, they still pay a fitting tribute to the legend.