Best drunk in a film – Time to Vote!

Okay time for a final vote now we have had plenty of time to deliberate. I have a few additions though so if anybody else has, please add them now:

Original list:

1. Walter Matthau in Earthquake (this is also definitely my funniest)
2. Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagons
3. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (I’m still going to check out Paul Newman in The Sting though)
4. Paul Newman in The Hudsucker Proxy
5. Shelley Winters in Alfie
6. Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now (thanks for suggestion El’Phantasmo)
7. I forgot Nick Cage in Leaving Las Vegas
8. Embarrassing one this but Oliver Reed in Oliver! Okay, okay I know the film is a bit of old hokey’ but he really is very menacing – and he was Carol Reed’s nephew.
9. Okay – the butler in Dinner for One, although I am not sure I have seen this. I will look on YouTube
10. Cary Grant in North by North West. Actually this is pretty good too.
11. I am actually adding in George Peppard in the Blue Max because the book from which the film was made was actually about alcoholism and I think on reflection Peppard is trying to convey something of this.
12. Peter O’Toole in Murphy’s War
13. Lee Marvin in Shout at the Devil
14. Robert Mitchum in El Dorado

That’s all from me. If you have none to add you can vote straight away. 10 pts for your favourite down to 1 point for your tenth favourite (we do PR here)

Also been trying to think of my ‘6 films you have got to see’ but it’s actually extraordinarily difficult. Mainly because I am trying to think of not my personal 6 favourites but 6 which I think everyone should see. So far I have only thought of 2.

Finally don’t miss the UK film 1066 which is currently in production. It’s the first UK film ever to be selling shares to the public and it has the biggest cast ever for a UK film. It has Lewis Collins as Earl Godwin too, which should be fun. Perhaps at last he will get some recognition. It also has Mark Lester (remember Oliver!) as King Harold.

Stop Press: there is a competition to win a day on the set of the film 1066: go to http://www.lewiscollins.info and click on ‘Competition’.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Enter the Void and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

I have been busy over the last few weeks. Have finished Chapter 1 of Iron II and also Chapter 1 of the follow up to Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate. It’s all top secret though, so I can’t say anything. Instead here are some reviews of films I have seen lately:

The Bridges of Toko-Ri.
On the face of it just standard 50s Korean War drama starring William Holden and Grace Kelly. But look again. Apparently Holden only took the part on the understanding that the book’s sad ending would not be changed by the Director. And it pays off. I haven’t read the book, but it must be very thoughtful. Holden’s character, Harry Brubaker, was a hero pilot in WWII and then became a lawyer. However he is called up to fly jets in Korea and gets involved in the mission to bomb a set of bridges which are a key supply route from China so consequently very heavily defended. You might think, ‘Aha! 633 Squadron all over again!’ But no, the film veers away from that kind of feat of derring-do. Instead we find out that Holden’s character is afraid of fighting. He has a wife, Nancy – ably played in one of her last films by Grace kelly – and two children, and he just has too much to lose. Also he can’t understand why he has been called up when his status was completely inactive and reservists are still at home. Is it something to do with his ace-status?

Continue reading “The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Enter the Void and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” →

Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate Submission

I have had a heavy period of writing. Mainly starting the sequel to Iron I: Too Bright the Sun.

Also I submitted Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate to BigAl’s blog for review. If you missed it his blog went viral last week when he reviewed a book by Jacqueline Howett and she blasted him for picking up on her grammar. A whole load of people then backed him up which made her even more furious. If you haven’t read it, it’s here:
https://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

I thought his review was very fair.