Passages

[domino harvey]

Anne Heche is so close to death after a bizarre triple crash incident that her rep is already organizing the organ donations

[MichaelB]

Mamoun Hassan, who as the BFI Production Board's first Head of Production in the 1970s and then the head of the National Film Finance Corporation (1979-1985, its abolition) was an ardent champion of then-new British talent, including Bill Douglas, Kevin Brownlow, Franco Rosso and others.

[colinr0380]

Anne Heche is so close to death after a bizarre triple crash incident that her rep is already organizing the organ donations

And now confirmed.

Whilst I guess she will be best known for that weird late 90s stardom push with the disaster movie Volcano (although out of the two 'brusquely capable science ladies doing experiments in sewers' vying for dominance that year I preferred Mira Sorvino in Mimic! And Linda Hamilton in the other volcano drama Dante's Peak), gamely tackling the impossible with the Psycho remake and then the awkward 'romance' with Harrison Ford's character in Six Days, Seven Nights (my favourite from this period is probably her supporting role as the increasingly exasperated P.A. in Wag The Dog), I think I will most treasure her small, but incredibly important, role in Jonathan Glazer's Birth. She has to deliver the key twist scene in that film and does it extremely well.

And she is also in that great (albeit mangled in the editing process) final film by Donald Cammell, Wild Side. The film with so many twists and turns that it could have been written by David Mamet.

[Mr. Deltoid]

Anne Heche is so close to death after a bizarre triple crash incident that her rep is already organizing the organ donations

And now confirmed.

Whilst I guess she will be best known for the late 90s stardom push with Volcano, the Psycho remake and the awkward 'romance' with Harrison Ford's character in Six Days, Seven Nights (my favourite from this period is probably her increasingly exasperated P.A. in Wag The Dog), I think I will most treasure her small, but incredibly important, role in Jonathan Glazer's Birth. She has to deliver the key twist scene in that film and does it extremely well.

And she is also in that great (albeit mangled in the editing process) final film by Donald Cammell, Wild Side. The film with so many twists and turns that it could have been written by David Mamet.

Strangely, I re-watched Wild Side a few weeks ago, not having seen it in probably 20 years. I had to obtain the old UK Tartan dvd to watch the posthumous 'director's cut' as I believe that is the only way to view that version. It's still not a particularly good film, truth be told, but it boasts one of Walken's most outrageous performances, especially the scene where he sodomises his right-hand man with a dildo! Ann Heche is also really good, delivering a strong, sympathetic performance. She really anchors the film amidst all the craziness, while her love-scenes with Joan Chen have a real erotic charge to them. R.I.P

[colinr0380]

For extra (spoilery) context it perhaps should be noted that Walken's character is only sodomising his right hand man as a payback punishment for his rape of Anne Heche's character, whilst she is forced to watch. It has an interesting gendered approach to same-sex relationships in that sense, where the lesbian couple are (Bound-style) in a psychological game with each other which may or may not end in betrayal or escape; whilst the men are mainly using sex as a weapon of subjugation or blunt way of marking their property.

[swo17]

Regrettably I mostly only know her from one of the most poorly aged Simpsons jokes of all time

[colinr0380]

Regrettably I mostly only know her from one of the most poorly aged Simpsons jokes of all time

I still have no idea what the dog howl at the end is meant to represent

[hearthesilence]

The details of how this all went down is still bewildering and shocking. Even now that she's gone, I imagine her son will bear the burden of the fallout.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Regrettably I mostly only know her from one of the most poorly aged Simpsons jokes of all time

I still have no idea what the dog howl at the end is meant to represent

I believe prior to this moment, it's revealed their neighbor is the dog from Fraser. I just think it's a silly joke from what was probably a bad episode. Haven't seen this clip in years.

[Orlac]

It's the episode where the show rather datedly kisses Mel Gibson's ass...at point he claims the police never stop him!

[colinr0380]

I don't remember the dog from Frasier ever barking, let alone howling in agony at somebody announcing their sexual preferences, so they got that wrong! While that gag doesn't land that Hollywood satire episode does have one of my favourite celebrity zingers the show ever did:

Hollywood tour guide: And if you look on this side of the bus here's the location where Hugh Grant...
Marge: (excitedly) Ew!
Tour Guide: ...made the movie Nine Months
Marge: (disgusted) Eeeew!

Well, that and the "Robert Downey Jnr is shooting it out with the cops...funny, I don't see a camera" slam, that probably doesn't land in quite the same way these days!

[pianocrash]

I always thought the dog howl was more of a rim shot, as they used it over & over again in the years following for jokes that maybe didn't fly so well before airing, or if they were spending lots of time at Cletus & Brandine's estate.

[MichaelB]

Zofia Posmysz, Holocaust survivor whose autobiographical novel The Passenger was turned into a 1963 film by Andrzej Munk and a 1968 opera by Mieczysław Weinberg, both of whom died before being able to see the finished productions.

[L.A.]

Wolfgang Petersen.

[hearthesilence]

Wolfgang Petersen.

I was surprised that he pitched a Batman and Superman movie long before comic book movies REALLY blew up. Too bad WB passed, I'm sure it would've been preferable to Snyder's movie.

[beamish14]

Wolfgang Petersen.

I was surprised that he pitched a Batman and Superman movie long before comic book movies REALLY blew up. Too bad WB passed, I'm sure it would've been preferable to Snyder's movie.

His would have used Andrew Kevin Walker’s screenplay

He was an extremely versatile filmmaker, and his pre-Das Boot work One or the Other of Us is a very affecting and progressive film for its time

[Buttery Jeb]

Q Lazzarus

[colinr0380]

Josephine Tewson, best known for playing the nervous foil to the domineering Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances.

There is little in terms of film appearances, although she does appear briefly as a French nun in the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore 1978 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (the film Paul Morrissey made following Flesh For Frankenstein and Blood For Dracula) where she gets to intone the line "In the name of all the flocking blind cripples!"

[diamonds]

Leon Vitali

[hearthesilence]

Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, per the Buddy Holly estate's official social media accounts. He was the last surviving member.

Jerry Allison co-wrote one of their greatest hits, "Peggy Sue," named after his soon-to-be wife. (She passed away in 2018.)

Here's their debut on Ed Sullivan - Allison was only 18 years old at the time.

[MichaelB]

Australian actor Vincent Gil, a classic example of millions knowing the work but mere dozens the name - but his performance as The Nightrider in the tyre-scorching opening car chase in Mad Max set him among the immortals.

[FrauBlucher]

Virginia Patton... She played George Bailey's sister-in-law in It's a Wonderful Life

[colinr0380]

Australian actor Vincent Gil, a classic example of millions knowing the work but mere dozens the name - but his performance as The Nightrider in the tyre-scorching opening car chase in Mad Max set him among the immortals.

Certainly an eye-popping performance! He also appears in John Hillcoat's first feature film Ghosts... Of The Civil Dead.

[flyonthewall2983]

Monnette Sudler

[beamish14]

Gerald Potterton, director of Heavy Metal (1981). He was associated with the National Film Board of Canada for many years

Cartoon Brew just published an excellent overview of his career. He continued to develop projects until his death