Only now does it occur to me... CANNERY ROW

Only now does it occur to me...  that if you've been wondering all this time what a Nick Nolte Indiana Jones would have looked like (Nolte notably passed on the roles of Han Solo in STAR WARS and Jones in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), then you need look no further than this freeze frame from the John Steinbeck adaptation, CANNERY ROW:

As for the film itself, despite nice turns from Nolte, Debra Winger, and M. Emmett Walsh, it fails to capture the ever-amusing humanism of the novel (and its sequel SWEET THURSDAY) ...and is fairly unwatchable.

Read More

Only now does it occur to me... URBAN COWBOY

Only now does it occur to me...   that Scott Glenn steals the show in URBAN COWBOY right from beneath John Travolta's nose (and weirdy-beard).



 Scott Glenn flips pouty Travolta the bird!

Donning a black fishnet shirt (was the costumer's intent to make Travolta look manlier by comparison?- it didn't work),

 grinning up a storm, and chomping the shit out of the tequila worm (in a bit of improv),


Glenn ensures that his slimy character-actin' country-western bizarre-itude will be remembered for all time.  See, Hollywood?  That's what you get for burying him in a bit part in APOCALYPSE NOW the year prior.  This is full-force Glenn unleashed, and there's no stoppin' him!

As for the film itself?  Imagine if Cannon Films, during its dance-craze phase (BREAKIN', RAPPIN' SALSA, LAMBADA), made a country-fried remake of ROCKY, except instead of boxing in Philly it was about mechanical bull-riding in Houston.  Also, imagine if the film I've just described was engineered with the sort of corporate sincerity designed to win Oscars in a cheap, sleazy, kinda proto-FLASHDANCE/OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN way.

Also, prepare yourself to hear "Lookin' for Love in All the Wrong Places" at least fifty-seven times.  Yee-haw!

Read More