Passages

[Kauno]

I always think this song when someone mentions Margaret.

[colinr0380]

The problem is that Thatcher may be gone but we're still left with a clone parade of politicians (Blair, Cameron, Nick Clegg) who have absorbed Thatcher's legacy to a T (even down to the need/desire to have a good war during your term of office in which to prove your masculinity), a legacy that is looking in no danger of ending any time soon, which is perhaps more frightening than Thatcher's own legacy itself.

I was trying to think of any films that feature Thatcher - I suppose the closest is Nick Broomfield's documentary Tracking Down Maggie, in which he pursues the newly retired PM around her lucrative speaking engagement tour of the United States (something which again resonates amusingly with Blair's money-spinning trips around the lecture circuit after he stepped down).

Here's a clip from the film of Christopher Hitchens talking about Maggie's sexiness, in a moment that seems to anticipate Broomfield's later Heidi Fleiss and Fetishes documentaries!

[Buttery Jeb]

Annette Funicello

[hearthesilence]

The best of them.

[Polybius]

Ding, dong.

Indeed.

[Floyd]

Definitely agree with the recommendations on Les Blank's works. Pure joy and so much energy, Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers, I Went to the Dance and Always for Pleasure I enjoy as well to the other comments. Poor Werner must be beyond himself right now, I am not sure where I saw the interview they had with him after Ebert died but it was easy to hear at the end of it he began to cry. I am guessing he must have also had a special relationship with Blank.

[Donald Brown]

Russell Brand has a tremendously clever and erudite remembrance of Thatcher. I need to reassess my opinion of him; such intelligence and humanity hasn't manifested itself any of his acting that I've seen.

[knives]

He's always been subtly smart in his standup so that comes as no surprise. It's just his play acting as dumb famous guy which shoots things.

[hearthesilence]

Brand consistently surprises. His movies have been terrible, but left to his own devices - this article, the time he let Westboro Baptist Church members on to his show - it's pretty remarkable how sharp and articulate he can be, even hilarious in the case of the Westboro Baptist Church.

[GaryC]

I was trying to think of any films that feature Thatcher

For Your Eyes Only, played by Janet Brown (a regular Thatcher impressionist on TV).

[Polybius]

Anna Massey nicely captured her obdurate, self righteous mediocrity in Pinochet's Last Stand.

[MichaelB]

...although Patricia Hodge gave a rather more sympathetic portrayal in The Falklands Play.

Mind you, given Hodge's subsequent fame as Miranda Hart's sitcom sidekick, it might play rather differently now!

Brand consistently surprises. His movies have been terrible, but left to his own devices - this article, the time he let Westboro Baptist Church members on to his show - it's pretty remarkable how sharp and articulate he can be, even hilarious in the case of the Westboro Baptist Church.

The fact that Brand once took over a role made famous by Dudley Moore reminded me that Moore's former sparring partner Peter Cook had a similar image problem - as an actor, Cook had no range at all, and his performances were consequently mostly terrible, even in an otherwise enjoyable film like Bedazzled.

But in his various other roles, as a comedian and regular contributor to (and proprietor of) Private Eye, he was one of the most incisive and influential British satirists of the last half-century, even though that fame was pretty much limited to the borders of the UK. I doubt Cook's jokes travelled particularly well - or rather, the crowdpleasing likes of "I've got nothing against your left leg - the problem is, neither have you" works pretty much everywhere, but the really pointed political stuff is baffling to those unfamiliar with the career of Harold Macmillan. Although it was revolutionary at the time: before Cook, people simply didn't mock serving British Prime Ministers, something that might well have been a capital offence a couple of centuries earlier.

Brand hasn't reached that level yet, but he's got a more realistic chance of achieving it than most other comedians of his generation - although I suspect his best stuff will, like Cook's, remain similarly parochial. But there's nothing new there: outside Italy and Japan, we've only had the most superficial skimming of Roberto Benigni and Takeshi Kitano's careers - my Italian friends tell me that Benigni is a much more subversive satirical commentator on Italian politics than films like Johnny Stecchino and Life is Beautiful come anywhere close to suggesting.

[colinr0380]

Although I wonder whether he will ever be allowed the chance to attain that stature, given that he kind of escaped from the country in the wake of that radio show scandal (to make terrible comedy films, which seems like a particularly cruel and ironic punishment).

But I agree, a very erudite article (especially the shattering the glass ceiling bit!) with the sections talking about the cultural artifacts of 80s Britain reminding me a little of The Diary of Adrian Mole!

I think we should all remember Margaret Thatcher for what she did best: cultural commentary! (Which again illustrates the way that politicians always go onto the television programmes where they will have to deal with the toughest line of questioning)

[knives]

But there's nothing new there: outside Italy and Japan, we've only had the most superficial skimming of Roberto Benigni and Takeshi Kitano's careers - my Italian friends tell me that Benigni is a much more subversive satirical commentator on Italian politics than films like Johnny Stecchino and Life is Beautiful come anywhere close to suggesting.

Benigni's work on Dante is great. I don't know if there is an english translation of any of it available (youtube has a nice hour long video for those who speak Italian) but it is definitely something worth searching out. Also I don't think you're giving Cook's acting enough credit. If not for his appearence on Blackadder and Bedazzled (not to mention great small appearences in stuff like A Dandy in Aspic) I certainly wouldn't have looked up the great stuff you're talking about. I feel comfortable calling him a great talent all around.

[Polybius]

Also I don't think you're giving Cook's acting enough credit. [...] I feel comfortable calling him a great talent all around.

Agreed.

[jbeall]

Brand consistently surprises. His movies have been terrible, but left to his own devices - this article, the time he let Westboro Baptist Church members on to his show - it's pretty remarkable how sharp and articulate he can be, even hilarious in the case of the Westboro Baptist Church.

I thought his eulogy for Amy Winehouse was quite poignant. He strikes me as a rather thoughtful man whose public persona doesn't do justice to his intelligence.

[knives]

I had no idea that she was an MP, but Glenda Jackson gave a pretty appropriate tribute today.

[britcom68]

Comedian Jonathan Winters. (One of the last remaining cast members of Stanley Krammer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World)

[Roger Ryan]

...(One of the last remaining cast members of Stanley Krammer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World)...

For the most part true, but that was a big cast! Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Carl Reiner, Stan Freberg and Jerry Lewis are still breathing as of this post.

Winters was omnipresent during my youth with his nutty variety show characters and silly voices. As an adult, I still find his appearance on THE TWILIGHT ZONE to be superb and his demented role in THE LOVED ONE is one for the ages.

[knives]

I don't regularly listen to podcasts, but his interview on WTF is essential listening. It's clear he was sick at the time, but he still expressed the energy of about ten suns. The dude was hilarious until his last day.

[bamwc2]

Growing up my local fox affiliate used to play Jonathan Winters's Disney Halloween special every year. I don't think that it'd be hyperbolic of me to say that that was my favorite part of the holiday.

[dwk]

Marc Maron said on twitter that he is going to repost the Jonathan Winters WTF interview sometime this weekend.

[knives]

Not film related, but Chi from the Deftones.

[dwk]

They finally reposted the Jonathan Winters WTF interview.

[MichaelB]

Conductor Sir Colin Davis - obviously, he made an infinitely greater contribution to music than he did to cinema, but he can be heard on the soundtracks of such diverse films as The Big Lebowski, Star Trek: First Contact and The Tree of Life.