The Haunted Past

I seem to recall there once was a movie in which Yul Brynner was cast as Pancho Villa. That's Miscasting with a capital Hem.

"Villa Rides" Another of the Hollywood historical (or hysterical)
travesties:

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0063775

excuse me, all. but I'm just testing. Having problems.

Is their a gliche in your movie history, Letty?

Indeed there was, but I do think everything has been edited properly.

I hope you left in your sense of humor -- we would rather have you hysterically historical.

Well, Mr. Wizard. We can't take ourselves too seriously, but when threatened, I always think music. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not.
Whatever, I do think all of us would like to see a resolution of what was, and realize that at the same time, there are things that will eventually be revealed, just not in our life time.

goodnight, my friends.

Lest we not forget - John Wayne as Genghis Khan in the "Conqueror". Wayne with drooping moustache in an eskimo shirt and baggy pants wearing a helmet that looked like a metal fruit bowl with a fork stuck in the top. I just read that Wayne wanted the film to have its world premier in Moscow, but after a screening at the Russian Embassy in Washington, a Russian diplomat responded, "Nyet!" The film was banned in Russia. The producer, Howard Hughes, loved it and it was purported that he gave private screenings of it in his home, often in solitude, and as he grew more eccentric, he payed out $12 million to buy all the prints so that it wouldn't be shown anywhere else except in his own screening room. (17 years later Paramount secured the rights.) The plot? Well, here's a quote from John Wayne: "The Conqueror is a Western in some ways. The way the screenplay reads, it is a cowboy picture and that is how I am going to play Genghis Khan. I see him as a gunfighter."
And thus, the gunfighter rendered this dialogue:
Susan Hayward: For me, there is no peace while you live, Mongrel.
John Wayne: You're beautiful in your wrath. I shall keep you, Bortai. I shall keep you, and, in responding to my passions, your hatred will kindle into love. and "This Tartar woman is for me. My blood says take her." and "All other women are like the second pressing of the grape."
Yep, that's what Genghis Kahn said.

Right on, Raggedy. Mr. Wayne was in more revisionist historical films than perhaps any star in history (!) The war films he was in were all rewritten history and I don't mean to harp on the subject, but Dubya's distaste for revisionist history should be compelled to sit and watch "The Alamo," "The Green Berets" and "The Conquerer" over and over while eating pretzels.

BTW, your mini-review started my day off right -- with laughter!

My mother actually knew the Black Dahlia. They waitressed together at a restaurant in Harvard Square in Cambridge Mass before she went to Hollywood. She grew up in Medford Mass. Her name was Elizabeth Short. She was murdered in 1947 and cut in two. Here's a link to the LAPD case:

http://www.bethshort.com/dahhome.htm

Great anecdote and link -- thanks, bobsmyth.

oh, my gorsh, Raggedy. Hilarious. I had forgotten that JW movie...guess he should have stuck to them Western ponies...Dear old John. I did love him in True Grit, however. Only Oscar he ever won, as I recall.

Very gruesome. I'd heard of the murder, but I didn't realize she'd been cut in half. Was that the cause of death? Why would the murderer go to that trouble?

Hey Bob and equus. Well, I read a review of the book that was written by a homicide detective who claims that his father was the killer. I posted that link somewhere. It was so similar to the Peterson case, that I looked it up. Bob, amazing that your Mom knew that poor woman. I'm gonna check out your link later. Thanks.

That was Wayne's only Oscar and it's been said it was a sympathetic career award.

I'll always remember Wayne's words when he received that Oscar. He said, referring to the eye-patch he wore in the role of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit: "If I'd known this was gonna happen, I'd have put that patch on years ago.!

lets hear it 4 fonetic spelling

Algis, you're fun etic.

Yeah, Andrew. Had to admire the guy even though he was Mr. Macho. I believe "The Shootist" was his last film. Ironic, that movie.

Hi Letty:

My mom told me she worked with the Black Dahlia. They waitressed at a restaurant known as St. Clair's in Harvard Square (no longer there). She also told me she was sneaky and would steal other waitresses tips. I used to eat there myself as I managed a camera store in Harvard Sq. by day and the Harvard Sq. Theatre by night (the University theatre at the time of her death). When she was cut in two it was done with surgical precision and the blood had been drained.

Bob, she became hard awfully quick, didn't she. Almost sounds like a Jack the Ripper type slaying. If I remember correctly, the man who was accused by his son of being the perp, was a doctor.