#rip rod steiger

[duranduratulsa]

Up next on my Spooktober Filmfest...The Amityville Horror (1979) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #TheAmityvilleHorror #JamesBrolin #MargotKidder #rodsteiger #riprodsteiger #murrayhamilton #ripmurrayhamilton #HelenShaver #natasharyan #meenopeluce #AmyWright #elsaraven #michaelsacks #DonStroud #JamesTolkan #vintage #VHS #70s #Spooktober #october #halloween

[arcanespillo]

stills from James Dean: A Portrait (1988) dir by Gary Legon

"James observed classes but did not participate, he couldn't bear to have his performance criticized by the class, he said 'if I let them dissect me like a rabbit in a laboratory, I might not be able to produce again.' At the actors' studio he studied method acting, where an actor learns to utilize every emotion from their real life in their dramatic roles, although this line between acting and life was deliberately left ambiguous, students were warned never to confuse the two, Jimmy repeatedly violated this rule, he succumbed to what the method called the existential fallacy of confusing himself with his creation, it gave a sense of urgency and risk to all his roles"

[nitrateglow]

RIP Alan Arkin

I just learned Alan Arkin passed away yesterday. He lived a long life (89 years) and had a fantastic career, remaining pretty busy until the end. He is one of few actors I would watch in absolutely anything because he had a tendency to elevate any material he was in. A film could be mediocre, but Arkin certainly never was.

What endears Arkin so much to me? Two things come to mind.

First, he was incredibly versatile. I know that is a common platitude to give an actor, but Arkin truly disappeared into his roles in the way few actors actually do. It’s hard to believe the panicked, uptight Sheldon Kornplett is played by the same actor as the borderline insane but affectionate Abraham Rodrieguez, or that the delusional intellectual Simon Mendelssohn is the same guy as the lonely and sensitive but guarded John Singer. He did everything to make each character distinct and he succeeded.

Second, there’s the way Arkin never approached roles the way you would expect. My favorite example of this is in how he played the murderous Harry Roat Jr. in Wait Until Dark. The director and crew expected a typical growling heavy performance (physically sturdier actors George C. Scott and Rod Steiger were originally offered the part), so they were baffled by Arkin’s choice to make the character seem laidback and even goofy at times. But these qualities only serve as a great contrast to the character’s true sadism and aggression. When he unexpectedly pulls a knife on his underlings or shouts at a defiant Audrey Hepburn in rage, you realize all those beatnik vibes were a facade. Arkin’s risktaking resulted in a movie villain for the ages.

The same applies to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: most actors might have drenched John Singer in sentimental yearning, but Arkin makes him a bit cold, even with the people he befriends. This doesn’t take away from the character’s compassion for others or his love for his fellow deaf-mute friend-- it only makes him more complicated and his ultimate fate all the more tragic. He’s not a “saintly disabled person” stereotype. He has flaws and the fatal one comes from all the walls he puts up around himself. If Harry Roat Jr. scares the shit out of me, Singer breaks my damn heart.

I even admire Arkin in movies that were not as wholly successful, or at least are not seen as such. Deadhead Miles is a big favorite of mine, where he plays a mischievous, hilarious criminal who sounds like a Texan Kermit the Frog and steals a big rig. Inspector Clouseau might not be as fabulous as the Pink Panther films with Peter Sellers, but Arkin brought his own unique touches to the character and was not satisfied to simply ape his predecessor in the same role. The Magician of Lublin is a bit of an Oscar-baity drag, but Arkin’s performance as the arrogant but existentially unfulfilled Yasha was great-- he’s unlikable and at times awful, but very, very human. And then there’s that masterclass in bad taste and car crashes, Freebie and the Bean, where Arkin and James Caan were one of the most iconic comedy duos of all time.

Oh, and how could I forget Bud in The Santa Clause 3? That movie sucks but Arkin’s deadpan “WOWs” when he learns Tim Allen is Santa is so fucking bizarre that I have to at least watch that scene come Christmas time.

I could go on forever (I somehow did not mention Catch-22 and should be ashamed of myself for that-- such an underrated movie and Arkin is the best thing in it), and not just about movies. Arkin was also a singer, musician, children’s book author, theater and film director, memoirist, and teacher. Any biography of the man would be bursting with his creative endeavors. From the interviews I’ve perused, Arkin was truly passionate about his projects and always wanted to push himself.

Dammit, I just love this guy. He was and is a true treasure, and I’m grateful he got to live a long, active life.

Rest in peace and thank you for everything.

[ourlittlesister2015]

Literally remember Rod Steiger in amytiville horror delivering an academy worthy performance for a movie that didn't deserve it but he for some reason (likely professionalism) decided he was going to rip everyone else apart (except for Margot Kidder) making them all look incompetent and you have poor James Brolin to compare it to🤡🤡

[albertserra]

Hey there! Thanks so much for the From Hollywood to Hanoi link. I was wondering if you happened to had links to Tianas other documentaries?

Also, if I may ask, how did you discover her work in the first place? I’d really like to compensate/pay her for the stream but haven’t gotten any replies from her email.

Hii, sorry unfortunately I only have that one. I was able to get a copy of a dvd through an inter library loan and ripped it myself to keep it. It’s embarrassing but I discovered her through a not very good movie with rod steiger she did called catch the heat and she landed on my radar from that. I also tried to email her when I was looking for Hollywood to Hanoi before someone told me to try ILL - no reply either. Her other work unfortunately seems fated to stay in complete obscurity and inaccessibility

[annoyingthemesong]

SUBLIME CINEMA #535 - IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

Can’t not mention this movie now - I’ve seen many Sidney Poitier movies but I’m not sure there is one as great as this one. The man was at one point the biggest box office draw in America - no easy feat, considering that this was back in the 60′s, when there was no precedent. He faced criticism on all sides for making films that were often rosy, idealized pictures, that glossed over the hardship of racism in the US This is in fact the opposite of everything he stood for. 

A total icon, and this movie is the essence of the kind of work he was intent on making. 

[microcosme11]

[sirbogarde]

British cinema really can make you go crazy...after I read and watched Brideshead Revisited I checked out a ton of other Waugh books from the library and one of them that caught my eye was The Loved One : an Anglo-American Tragedy because a few years ago I watched this insane British movie called The Loved One but I didn’t really look then to see if they were related. I just did now and it turns out the Tony Richardson-directed makes absolutely no sense-Jonathan Winters and John Gielgud starring movie The Loved One IS IN FACT BASED ON THIS WAUGH BOOK.

I beg you go watch that movie, it is full of hollywood cameos and all the basic starter pack british actors and it’s set in a funeral home mostly and yeah i need to rewatch it because when I first saw it I was very green in the British cinema department 

[messouvenirssurleparquet]

445 - J'ai gardé la musique du Maestro. Deux fois.

Ennio Morricone (1928-2020)

Inspiré par les Etagères du Capricorne

[chapinfan69]

[perfettamentechic]

9 luglio … ricordiamo …

9 luglio … ricordiamo … #semprevivineiricordi #nomidaricordare #personaggiimportanti #perfettamentechic

2019: Rip Torn, all’anagrafe Elmore Rual Torn Jr., è stato un attore statunitense, attivo in campo televisivo e cinematografico, candidato all’Oscar nel 1984 per la sua interpretazione ne La foresta silenziosa. Cugino dell’attrice Sissy Spacek. (n. 1931) 2017: Paquita Rico, Francisca Rico Martinez, attrice e cantante spagnola. (n. 1929) 2012: Dino Cassio, attore e cantante italiano. Inizia…

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on DuranDuranTulsa's Horror Show...The Amityville Horror (1979) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #TheAmityvilleHorror #JamesBrolin #MargotKidder #rodsteiger #riprodsteiger #murrayhamilton #ripmurrayhamilton #HelenShaver #natasharyan #meenopeluce #AmyWright #elsaraven #michaelsacks #DonStroud #JamesTolkan #vintage #vhs #70s #durandurantulsa #durandurantulsashorrorshow

[chiseler]

Larger Than Life

In 1927, Albert Bertanzetti and his three-year-old son, William, were taking a stroll when they stopped to join a small crowd watching a film being shot on the streets of Los Angeles. During a break in the shoot, Albert suggested his son go show the director, Jules White, his little trick. So William toddled over to White and tugged on his pant leg. When he had White’s attention, William flipped over, went into a headstand and began spinning in circles. White was so taken with the trick he gave the young Bertanzetti a small uncredited role in the two-reel short, Wedded Blisters. Afterward, William earned a regular role in the popular Mickey McGuire series of shorts, where he played Mickey Rooney’s younger brother Billy. Taking prevailing anti-Italian sentiments into consideration, in the credits he was cited as “Billy Barty.”

Barty had been born in Millsboro, Pennsylvania in 1924, but when it was determined he had hay fever, Albert decided to move the family West, to the dry, clean air of Hollywood. Depending on how you look at it, hay fever was the least of Barty’s problems. Or maybe not, given how things worked out.

Apart from hay fever, Barty had also been born with cartilage–hair hypoplasia, a form of dwarfism. Being extremely small for his age at three (as an adult he stood three-foot-nine), when it came to early film roles he was almost exclusively relegated to playing diaper clad infants. It was a director’s dream—having an infant on set who could not only take direction, but could walk, run, talk and do tricks as well. As a result, along with the Mickey McGuire shorts, he played infants in everything from the all-star live action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1933) to Golddiggers of 1933 (1933) to Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In fact Barty, tiny as he was, would play diaper-clad infants until he hit puberty.

Over a career that would span seven decades, along with infants, Barty would play his share of elves, leprechauns, imps, Hobbits, trolls, assorted other fairy tale and fantasy characters, clowns, court jesters, pygmies, sideshow performers and mad scientist assistants. Ironically, for having appeared in over two hundred films and television shows, Barty did not appear in the three touchstones of American Dwarf-centric cinema: Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932), Sam Newfield’s The Terror of Tiny Town (1938), or Mervin LeRoy’s The Wizard of Oz (1939). No, although he would appear in the behind-the-scenes comedy Under the Rainbow (1981), contrary to the general assumption, Billy Barty was never an original Munchkin. There are reasons for this.

In 1932 when Browning was working on Freaks, Barty was only eight, he was not a professional carnival freak, and he was too busy with the Mickey McGuire shorts. And after the shorts’ seven-year run ended in 1934—two years before casting began on Tiny Town or The Wizard of Oz—Albert Bertanzetti, recognizing talent in all of his children, pulled Billy out of the movies and sent the whole family on the vaudeville circuit.

Now, 1935 was hardly the most opportune time to try and break into vaudeville. As an entertainment form it had been on life support for a decade already, with theaters either closing down or becoming movie palaces with performances, almost as a sad afterthought, taking place after that evening’s double feature had ended. Those performers who could were trying to break into pictures, and those who couldn’t were vanishing without a trace. Now here was Barty, who’d been working regularly in films for nearly ten years, trying to break into vaudeville. Nevertheless, Billy and Sisters, as they were touted, marched on, with a musical act featuring Barty’s sister Evelyn on piano and accordion, his other sister Dede playing violin, and Barty himself on drums. They all sang and danced a little, and the adolescent Barty told jokes and did impressions. In his later years he remembered the time fondly, mostly because it gave him a chance at that early age to see much of North America.

In 1942 Barty enrolled in college in Los Angeles and majored in journalism, hoping to become a sportswriter. While there, he joined the football and basketball teams, where he was both a novelty and a ringer. He also played second base on a semi-professional baseball team for a spell, where by his own account he was walked forty-five times.

Instead of pursuing work as a sports columnist after graduation, he returned to show business. Later he was quoted as saying, “You don’t see any little people doing newscasts, you don’t see any doing sports writing, you don’t see any sports announcing, you don’t see any coaches, but there are little people who are capable of doing these things, who have proven themselves.” You get the sense there was a little personal bitterness there, hinting he may have been forced back to Hollywood because that was the only place he could find work.

By 1947, now an adult with a gravelly but high-pitched voice, Barty sported a boxer’s face on a disproportionately large head. In many ways he resembled a diminutive William Demarest, and in many roles would adopt Demarest’s gruff but lovable demeanor. Shedding the diaper at last, he nevertheless picked up where he left off, playing assorted pygmies and leprechauns and elves, usually for cheap laughs.

In the early Fifties he became a regular member of Spike Jones musical comedy ensemble, The City Slickers, and was a big hit on Jones TV shows, where he became especially known for his slapstick, spot-on Liberace impression, and his ability to roll off his piano bench into a head spin, a trick which continued to serve him well.

Growing up, Barty said, he had no idea he was different, that his parents never told him there were things he couldn’t do because he was too short. By the time he was thirty, however, he’d come to learn the rest of the world was not quite as accepting as his parents. In 1957, Barty put out a call for little people from around the country to join him for a get together in Reno. Only twenty people showed up to that first convention, but it became the foundation for Little People of America, a support and advocacy group pushing for equitable treatment and civil rights for dwarfs, midgets and other people of unusually small stature. His aim was to ensure little people across the country would be treated fairly, would be able to get jobs, and would be granted the same accessibility rights afforded the normally-sized. It always struck me as a little odd that, for all his tireless efforts lobbying to normalize perceptions and treatment of little people throughout American culture, Barty, without much apparent gumption, would continue to take roles some might call demeaning, or at the very least helped cement those stereotypes he was fighting so hard to break. Perhaps to him it was simply paying work, it was showbiz, and he knew full well what his role was within that world. But the apparent ironic contrast between his activism and his work would lead to a public tiff in the Seventies with fellow small actor Hervé Villechaize of Fantasy Island. Barty, who’d appeared on the show, felt Villechaize was undercutting all his work when he said bluntly that people like him and Barty “were midgets, not actors.”

After the second annual Little People of America convention, Barty began courting Shirley Bolingbroke, a little person who had attended the meeting. When he proposed, however, she declined, telling him she was a devout Mormon, and so would never consider marrying anyone outside the faith. In 1962 Barty relented and converted to the church of Latter-day Saints, and the two were married. Although Mormon insiders and publicists have made a big deal of Barty’s enthusiastic True Believer status within LDS, it would be many years before he agreed to get baptized and receive full member status, and then only to participate in his son’s baptism.

Around the time of the marriage, as Barty was making regular TV appearances on various comedy and variety shows (including a recurring role on Peter Gunn), he also began hosting a weekday afternoon local kid’s show in Los Angeles which was called either Billy Barty’s Big Top or Billy Barty’s Big Show, depending on who’s doing the remembering. That stint may well have brought him to the attention of the sinister Sid and Marty Krofft, who in the late Sixties conscripted Barty to become a regular on several Krofft shows including H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and later Sigmund The Sea Monster, where he played the titular sea monster opposite Rip Taylor and aging child star Johnny Whittaker.

For all the low-brow antics and his uncredited roles in Elvis movies, it must be said Barty was always a compelling and charismatic screen presence, a, yes, larger than life character. In those few rare instances when he played roles that made no references at all to his height—like Abe Kusich, the shady drunken cockfighter in Day of the Locust or Ludwig, Rod Steiger’s sidekick in W.C. Fields and Me, he proved himself an electric onscreen presence who could dominate any scene.

(Just a quick aside, in 1980 Ralph Bakshi rotoscoped Barty to portray both Bilbo and Samwise Baggins in his animated version of Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t aware of that at the time, but thinking back on it now, the way both characters moved, it seems so obvious I was watching another Billy Barty performance.)

In 1975, around the same time he opened a Southern California roller rink he called “Billy Barty’s Roller Fantasy, Barty established The Billy Barty Foundation. As an adjunct to Little People of America, the Foundation aimed to provide practical assistance—money, adaptive equipment, etc.—to little people in need, particularly children. And after campaigning for George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign, he sat on a panel of advisors working to hammer out the details of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which President Bush signed into law in 1990.

At the same time he was sitting on that panel, Barty was also producing, directing and starring in Short Ribs, a syndicated sketch comedy series featuring an all-dwarf cast including Patty Maloney, Jimmy Briscoe and Joe Gieb. The show, which was modeled after SCTV and SNL, only aired in the Los Angeles area and ran thirteen weeks. After the show went off the air, Barty was slapped with two lawsuits, one from the show’s co-producer William Winckler and one from the show’s co-writer Warren Taylor, both of whom claimed Barty owed them money. The suits ended up, inevitably, in small claims court. Barty lost both suits, and even though few people had ever heard of, let alone seen the show, news of Barty in small claims court was too much for reporters to resist, and the case received smirking national attention.

After the suits were settled, Barty continued to work, but a bit more sporadically. He had one-off roles on Frasier, Jack’s Place, and a few low-budget quickies, and seemed to be edging more into voice roles, providing characterizations for a Batman cartoon and The Rescuers Down Under, to name a couple. But he was still working until the end, when he ended up in the hospital with cardiopulmonary issues in late 2000. He died on December 23rd of that year at age 73.

In the late Eighties he told an interviewer, “I’ve never looked at acting as ‘Ahhh!’ and ‘Gee!’ I started in vaudeville when I was five and for me it was just walking on a stage and I’m gonna perform. Later on I was impressed by many things, like when I worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Tough Guys. That was an ‘Ahhh!’ for me. When I look back, even today, I guess I can go ‘Ahhh!’ because I worked with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in Gold Diggers of 1933 when I was nine. Then they were just grown-ups on the stage. As I look back, I’m more awed now than I was when I was actually doing it.”

Those who knew and worked with Barty always recall what a joy it was, how kind and enthusiastic and funny he was, a real spark who could enliven even the most questionable production. I would never deny that. I’ve always loved and admired Barty, and have sat through countless godawful films and TV shows simply because he had a role, no matter how small.

That said, I do have to wonder if at the end, after all his decades of work fighting for the dignity of little people everywhere, he felt like a bit of a hypocrite for spending those same years and more cementing the stereotype in the American consciousness. I also wonder if he died still wishing he’d become a sportswriter for a Des Moines daily instead.

by Jim Knipfel

[tabloidtoc]

Globe, August 24

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: President Bill Clinton cancer nightmare 

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Kit Harington adjusts himself, Mama June Shannon’s dress flies up, Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten 

Page 3: Paris Jackson, Caitlyn Jenner, Ray Davies of The Kinks out in London 

Page 4: The movie version of the superhit stage musical Cats was such a train wreck that even its composer Andrew Lloyd Webber thinks it stinks, Elton John confesses his addictions would have killed him if he hadn’t gotten help 

Page 5: Queen of mean Ellen DeGeneres has been dumped by her Hollywood pals and now she’s begging long-suffering wife Portia de Rossi not to walk out on her too 

Page 6: Angelina Jolie has turned into a paranoid witch acting like a tyrant to keep her private life under wraps and now her torment has promoted her to torture her help and increase the hell she brings down on ex Brad Pitt, heartbroken Brad Pitt is desperately begging estranged son Maddox Jolie-Pitt to meet for a father-son peace summit to end the bad blood between them because Maddox is still harboring bitterness over the stars’ breakup even after the pair have made peace 

Page 7: Peeved Joe Pesci wants to whack his neighbors’ plans to extend the docks outside their Jersey Shore homes -- he gripes the new docks which are set to extend 300 feet into Barnegat Bay would block homeowners’ views 

Page 8: A videographer who shot promotional teasers for Suits the hit show in which Meghan Markle had a second-rank role recalls her as prickly and standoffish and says they used to call her the princess, furious Queen Elizabeth lit into grandson Prince Harry after he cursed out a palace staffer for not giving in to the demands of his high-maintenance fiancee Meghan Markle as their wedding neared -- the royal tongue-lashing came after Harry threw a fit at the queen’s closest aide Angela Kelly after she nixed Meghan’s sudden insistence to try on the tiara she was to wear at her May 2018 wedding 

Page 9: Charlize Theron doesn’t need a man and reveals she told her daughters that she’s dating herself, bloated big-mouth Alec Baldwin has been read the riot act by his health-nut wife Hilaria Baldwin who’s demanded the doughy dad get rid of his bevy of bulges 

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Cardi B dresses down to run errands in L.A. (picture), Heather Locklear claimed filming the 1996 flick The First Wives Club became gross when on-screen husband James Naughton improvised a humiliating move by circling her nipple area with his finger which wasn’t in the script but James says the move was indeed printed in the script, Reese Witherspoon won the 2020 Award for Biggest Snub of the Year for not receiving even one lousy Emmy nomination for acting in any of three starring roles, former Wonder Woman Lynda Carter still wears the supercool bullet-blocking gold cuffs that were part of her iconic TV character’s wardrobe, Drake ordered custom-made twin pendants depicting his music idol murdered rapper Tupac as a thorn-crowned Jesus figure crying tears made of perfect diamonds and each disembodied heavy gold head dangles from a chain including 70 carats of flawless white and yellow diamonds and worth a reported $600,000 combined 

Page 13: Demi Moore in a fake mustache at her Idaho home (picture), Tom Felton grabs a smoke while skateboarding in L.A. (pic), Brody Jenner and galpal Briana Jungwirth shopping in Malibu (pic), Liam Neeson’s eldest son Micheal Neeson Richardson confides he’s still not over the death of his mother Natasha Richardson who lost her life in a 2009 skiing accident when he was 13 

Page 14: Channing Tatum is producing his own musical take on Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth -- Channing’s take is about a treacherous teenage girl who will have to face the consequences of her ambition with some catchy music of course, Tracy Morgan was fortunate to survive the highway crash that sent him into a coma in 2015 but his marriage to Megan Wollover hasn’t had such a happy ending as they are filing for divorce, Fashion Verdict -- Jenna Elfman 5/10, Kiernan Shipka 2/10, Kristen Taekman 4/10, Joan Collins 9/10, Isabelle Huppert 3/10 

Page 16: Cover Story -- Bill Clinton skin cancer terror -- the former president healing from cryosurgery 

Page 17: The Beatles fans believed the band hated each other when they split up but Paul McCartney insists that wasn’t true, Kelly Osbourne ripped into an internet troll with a curse-laden comeback after saying she’s received a message crowing how great it was that her dad Ozzy Osbourne was dying 

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Carrie Ann Inaba, humble hitmaker Garth Brooks has permanently pulled his name from consideration for Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Association awards show saying it’s time for someone else to have the honor, nine years after leaving Law & Order: SVU Christopher Meloni is returning to the franchise as fan favorite Elliot Stabler in a new spinoff and reuniting with former co-star Mariska Hargitay because he feels his character has evolved 

Page 20: True Crime 

Page 21: Proof that D.B. Cooper survived the jet jump -- new evidence reveals loot was buried 6 months after skyjacking 

Page 23: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are so worried about their failing marriage they’ve hired a hypnotist to help sort out their issues 

Page 24: Official police records that could prove Prince Andrew is lying about his involvement with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s teenage sex slaves have been destroyed by Scotland Yard in a shocking cover-up linked to the royal family’s inner circle 

Page 27: Health Report -- test can sniff Alzheimer’s 20 years ahead 

Page 38: Amber Heard believed billionaire Elon Musk bugged the Tesla electric car he gave her as a gift

Page 44: Straight Talk -- nip/tuck knows no boundaries for teen fools like Kylie Jenner and Gia Giudice 

Page 45: Kathie Lee Gifford has revealed that her late Live! co-host Regis Philbin protected her after her husband Frank Gifford was cheating on her with a married woman in 1997, Stevie Nicks has some sobering news for wannabe rockers: stash some cash for rehab stints, cradle-robbing Sean Penn has tied the knot with galpal Leila George who is a year younger than his daughter 

Page 47: Hollywood Flashback -- Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier in the 1967 movie In the Heat of the Night, Bizarre But True 

[silverleafnightshade-blog]

Amityville Horror, Part One

I feel the need to cover the Amityville Horror, in part because I’m using the image on my home screen, but mostly because the residence featured in the film might be the most famous (supposedly) haunted house in the world. The film features an iconically scary house in a beautiful setting, and stars a very cute Margot Kidder (RIP, ma cheré)...

And a very curled James Brolin...

as Kathy and George Lutz.

Rod Steiger chews enough scenery to earn top billing as Father Delaney, and there are some delightful supporting actors and interesting settings peppered throughout the film. In short, many of the elements of a great 1970s horror architecture flick are in place. However, I’m going on the record upfront to declare this movie is a dud.

The reason the film is a dud is because the story behind it is also a dud. It’s a hoax, dreamt up by a couple of red-blooded American opportunists who decided to benefit twice from an actual tragedy, namely the DeFeo murders. On November 13, 1974, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and four siblings at their home in Amityville, NY.

Prior to the murder rap, DeFeo Junior was reputed to be a substance abuser and a bit of a spoiled brat. No wonder, as DeFeo Senior was an alleged abusive husband and father with Mafia connections. DeFeo Senior hired Junior to work at the family’s successful auto dealership, but Junior rarely showed up for work. He spent most of his time getting high and drinking down at a local bar. This same bar is where Junior showed up on the afternoon of November 13th, claiming he had just found his entire family shot to death in their beds at 112 Ocean Avenue. DeFeo Jr.’s story to the cops soon fell apart, and he was convicted of the murders a year later. He is still serving out the six consecutive life sentences. Mere days after DeFeo’s sentencing, George and Kathy Lutz moved with their three children into the home. The family moved out 28 days later, claiming to have been driven from the house by violent paranormal activities. The Lutzs, it is said, never returned to the house and promptly moved out of state. Much like Butch DeFeo’s defense, though, the Lutzs’ claims doesn’t hold up to scrutiny either.

But we’ll get into that later - let’s put the backstory on the back burner and dish a bit on the house. This three-story, five bedroom and three and a half bathroom house is located in a quiet and quaint part of Long Island’s south shore. The house sits on Amity Harbor and includes a swimming pool, boat slip, and boat house. The $80,000 the Lutzs paid for the house translates to about $380,000 in today’s dollars, but that price was still cheap at the time for the area and property. It sold in 2017 for $605,000, $200,000 under the asking price, but again, that’s a fairly typical price for the home and area. Here’s what it looks like today:

A previous owner successfully petitioned to have the address changed to 108 Ocean Drive, and perhaps that helped, along with changing the window style and, uh, every subsequent resident disputing the Lutz’s story, from either devaluing or inflating the price of the Amityville Horror house.

Anyway, real estate is the intramural sport of the middle aged, so let’s get into the building. I find the style of the house to be lovely, in a low key way. It’s a Dutch Colonial revival built in 1927, a fairly typical style for the area. Perhaps the most distinctive features of Dutch Colonials are gambrel roofs and dormer windows. That architecture is ubiquitous in rural and suburban New York, but examples of it aren’t uncommon throughout the entire country. The style is aesthetically pleasing and the homes are great for families. Dutch Colonials are also referred to as “barn houses” which is accurate, if you consider how much care people used to put into building a barn.

But we’re here to talk about the 1979 film, too, so let’s talk. The film starts off with the Lutzs checking out the house.

Their realtor looks a lot like a Kids in the Hall character, huh? Eat your heart out, Scott Thompson!

The house is rather seductively framed from the doorway of the boathouse, and the Lutzs totally fall for that shit.

The Lutzs move in, and things get (allegedly) weird. Tune in next time for the limp bologna that is the meat of the Amityville story!

[albertserra]

Rod steiger’s shirt just got ripped open in a fight. Sorry what was this movie about again