It was the movie that broke Twentieth Century Fox. It is an epic tale of Caesar, Cleopatra and Anthony, which is actually one tryst too much. Fox was simultaneously filming The Longest Day and the two massive movies devoured Fox's production budget for 1963. Cleopatra is a monument to budget breaking movie that are visually amazing but ramble on showing pretty pictures long after the story should have ended.
And the prettiest of those pictures is Liz! She's FABULOUS!
Caesar (Rex Harrison heads to Egypt following the suppression of a rebellion by his son in law Pompeii, only to find the Egypt, too, is in a state of civil war. Ptolemy (Richard O'Sullivan) has unseated his co-regent Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) and driven her from Alexandria. Caesar, appointed as executor and protector of the Egyptian throne, goes about setting things right. Of course, Ptolemy foolishly moves against Caesar while Cleopatra seduces him. Ptolemy is defeated, and Caesar hangs around in Egypt long enough for Cleopatra to bear him a son--his wife Calpurnia (Gwen Watford) cannot. He even engages in a bigamous and exotic marriage to Cleopatra before returning to Rome.
Marc Anthony (Richard Burton) has been taking care of business in Rome for Caesar, but Caesar returns hoping to be named Emperor of Rome. Cleopatra makes a magnificent entrance in Rome and uses Egyptian riches to assure a vote in favor of Caesar, but he's assassinated and we are on to the second phase of the story, her romance with Anthony. Now, any sensible person would have ended the story without bothering with the bit about Anthony.
Sorry Dick, you end up on the cutting room floor--on the bright side, you got to sleep with LIZ!
The film runs an astounding four hours and eight minutes, plenty to fill two movies. Even more astounding, this is absolutely, positively the filthiest G movie ever. Between the sponge bath scene (rowl) and Cleopatra's entrance to Rome, with enough pastie-laden naked bosoms to make New Mexico Congresswoman Heather Wilson cry, throw in men clad in Roman uniforms and you've got a movie that is downright middle-age, two-kids-bathed-and-in-bed erotic! Cleopatra must be a favorite of gay men, if only it had Judy Garland.
Rouben Mamoulian was the first director, but he stressed that to do the movie right would cost a lot of money, then a lot more money, and finally a lot more money than Fox executive Darryl Zanuck was willing to spend. Zanuck fired Mamoulian mid-production and installed Joseph Mankiewicz-who makes me laugh because he was the director of The Honey Pot, which I have never seen but is a funny name for a non-porn movie. Mamoulian would never work again. Mankiewicz was perfect from Zanuck's position, a man who would bring the epic together with cheap scenes filmed like a play.
Cleopatra took four years to film and cost $44 million ($270 million in today's dollars), pushing Twentieth Century Fox to the brink (and some say beyond the brink) of bankruptcy. The cost virtually assured that the film would lose money-a lot of money. Cleopatra made $23 million in its first release and is still listed as a debit on Fox's books. One of Taylor's costumes alone cost $1 million. There was talk of breaking it into two films and releasing it into two parts, but the editorial skill eluded Zanuck and Mankiewicz. In fact, the second film would have been a disaster as after Caesar dies the movie is nigh-on unwatchable.
The story is well known, but Mamoulian's work is amazing. Between Caesar's arrival in Alexandria, Cleopatra's entry into Rome and the battle at the Moon Gate, it's easy to see how Mamoulian ran through $44 million (a conservative estimate). The sets are lavish. The movie is as voluptuous as Liz Taylor.
Let's face it, the best reason to watch Cleopatra is to see Liz Taylor naked, oh, and to watch her act. It's Liz's best movie and her performance is damn near enough to make a gay man straight.
But for all the film's merits, it falls flat. It was panned by the critics, and it's easy to see why. The ending is a horrid, two hour affair, staggering like a drunk that doesn't have the sense to call it a night. It's big! Really big! But it just doesn't have a compelling, cohesive story. Zanuck should have stuck with his plan to break it into two movies and dumped the second movie. Moviemaking is, essentially, storytelling. And Cleopatra is a wonderful film badly told.
Molly Ivins: GOP Outrage of the Week
Liar of the week: George W. Bush said on his Saturday radio address a week and a half ago that Iraq has 100 battalions of battle-ready soldiers. By the time he got to his television address on Thursday, it was 80 battalions. (I guess it's worse to lie if they're taking pictures of you.) Unfortunately, the next day Gen. George Casey, who oversees U.S. forces in Iraq, said of those 80, the number of Iraqi battalions fit to fight independently of U.S. support had slipped from three to one. One, three, 80, 100 -- if this is Tuesday, it must be ...
Interview of the President and First Lady Laura Bush by Matt Lauer, NBC "Today Show" (whitehouse.gov)
Matt Lauer: Your political guru, Karl Rove, is set to - or scheduled to testify before a grand jury for the fourth time this coming week, it seems, looking into the leak of a CIA agent's name. You've said if someone on your staff had anything to do with that leak, you'll take care of that person. Has Karl Rove looked you in the eye, Mr. President, and said "I, in no way, bent or broke the rules, or the law, when it comes to this case"?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Matt, I've also consistently said I'm not going to talk about the case ...
Letterman Goes After Bush's Hefty Man Image, The Frame is Breaking (dailykos.com)
Letterman shows the clip and Bush is holding the hammer by the upper neck. Just tap...tap...tap it in--like the big puss is worried about his manicure or something. Dave doesn't let it slide for a second. After the clip, he holds up his hand and says," I don't want a million emails about this, but he (Bush, that is) hammers like a little girl".
I had just finished watching the "Daily Show" with Jon Stewart…he had on as his guest the red hot actor Viggo Mortensen - who is currently starring in the Cannes Film Festival nominated "A History of Violence" ! No sooner had I pressed the magic INFO button on my remote…when what appeared on Cinemax…..a 1997 FOX TV remake of the original "Vanishing Point" starring Barry Newman and his '69 Camaro ! Well I figured that starring in this kind of flick could kill somebody's career ! Well it just so happened that the guy playing the fast car driving loner Kowalski is none other than Viggo Mortensen! This movie was perhaps the nadir of his, up (or down) to this point, depressing acting history…
Viggo was about to completely vaporize in this FOX TV remake……
His life had been rather weird up to this point anyway……in the early 80's he was bumping around New York bartending…move to LA and got a couple of bit parts and then was in a movie called "Salvation!" (1987) starring his soon to be wife Exene Cervenka who was the lead singer and poetess from the famous LA Alt./punk/rockabilly band "X" !!! this began his early and odd acting hegira!
Back to "Vanishing Point" (1997)…..Kowalski's (Viggo) wife Raphinia (Christine Elise - "Beverly Hills, 90210" - "Boiling Point" (1993) - "Body Snatchers" (1993) is having trouble with her pregnancy and must go to the hospital emergency ward …..Her husband is 1000 miles away and he is going to get in his 1968 Dodge Charger (with a 440 hp "Hemi") and drive right home…trouble is he gets snagged in a small town and pinned for a crime he didn't do…..after all, he's a gulf war vet with problems….well Kowalski stops by the local Indian reservation and bonds with a mountain lion and finds his inner voice…and ….his outer "Voice" (Jason Priestley - "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1991) - "Dill Scallion" (1999) - "Standing on Fishes" (1999) the local radio announcer who is going to turn Kowalski into a folk hero. Well we have a Motorcycle Girl (Peta Wilson - "La Femme Nikita" (1997)) and guy named Sammy (John Doe - Bass player for "X") and an FBI agent (Keith David (not David Keith)…….and the chase is on….at 180 miles per hour……and just like the ending to this movie Viggo could have "vanished" from acting….altogether !
Well…. he got a call to star in a little movie called "G.I.Jane" with Demi Moore and then he got a call to star as Aragorn in "Lord of the Rings" (2001-2002-2003) and then the lead in "Hidalgo" and now…….he's Tom Stall in the new movie "A History of Violence"….and he's on the "Daily Show"……thank god he didn't just….vanish !!!!!!
Purple Gene gives "Vanishing Point" (1997) and Viggo Mortensen 5 token tribal totems out of 10 for having the good fortune (and good looks) to survive a made for TV FOX flick!
We got a letter at the start of the semester stating there would be a new principal at the kid's middle school.
Today he brought home another letter - the new principal is leaving.
Tonight, Friday:
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'Ghost Whisperer', followed by a FRESH'Threshold', then a FRESH'NUMB3RS'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Selma Blair and Barry Sonnenfeld.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Kevin & Michael Bacon, and Bill Nye.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by a FRESH'Three Wishes', then a RERUN'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Tim Allen and Rod Stewart.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan is Dolly Parton.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson Daly are Eddie Griffin, Josh Flitter, Daniel Tosh, and Idlewild.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'Supernanny', followed by a FRESH'Hope & Faith', then a FRESH'Hot Properties', followed by '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Matt Stone & Trey Parker, Rodney Carrington, and Shinedown.
The WB offers a FRESH'What I Like About You', followed by a FRESH'Twins', then a FRESH'Reba', followed by a FRESH'Living With Fran'.
Faux has LIVE'MLB Baseball Playoffs', followed on the left coast by RERUNs of 'Simpsons' and 'Malcolm'.
UPN fills the night with 'WWE Friday Night SmackDown!'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio', the MOST IMPORTANT program on over-the-air-TV.
A&E has 'American Justice', followed by the FRESH'Mediums: We See Dead People', and 'Biography' (Green River Killer).
AMC offers the movie 'The Godfather: Part II', followed by the movie 'The Untouchables', then a FRESH'Movies That Shook The World', followed by a FRESH'Movies 101', then the movie 'Pet Sematary Two'.
BBC -
[2pm] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - The Spanish Inquisition;
[2:40pm] 'the Smoking Room' - Episode 1;
[3:20pm] 'The Smoking Room' - Episode 2;
[5pm] 'Monarch of the Glen' - Episode 1;
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30 pm] 'House Invaders - Dudley, West Midland;
[7pm] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 35;
[9pm] 'My Family' - Episode 2;
[9:40pm] 'The Robinsons' - Episode 3;
[10:20pm] 'Kumars at No. 42' - Minnie Driver;
[11pm] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - The Spanish Inquisition;
[1am] 'My Family' - Episode 2;
[1:40am] 'The Robinsons' - Episode 3;
[2:20am] 'Kumars at No. 42' - Minnie Driver;
[3am] 'Black Books' - Cooking the Books;
[3:30am] 'Black Books' - Manny's First Day;
[4am] 'Black Books' - The Grapes of Wrath;
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio' (Tom Cruise), followed by the movie 'Vanilla Sky', then the movie 'Vanilla Sky', again.
Comedy Central has last night's 'Showbiz Show With David Spade', 'Reno 911!', last night's 'Jon Stewart', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Dan Naturman), 'South Park', another 'South Park', still another 'South Park', and yet another 'South Park'.
HBO has a FRESHReal Time with Bill Maher - scheduled guests include Max Cleland, Tina Brown, and Larry Miller. Plus, via satellite, former Sen. John Edwards, and author Tom Wolfe.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Hitler's Lost Plan', 'Hitler's Family', and 'Allied Aircraft'.
IFC -
[6AM] Breaking The Waves (1996);
[8:45AM] At The IFC Center (2005);
[9:15AM] IFC in Theaters (2005);
[9:30AM] Trust (1990);
[11:30AM] Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990);
[1:45PM The Broken Hearts Club (2000);
[3:30PM] Short: Shame No More (1999);
[3:45PM] Trust (1990);
[5:45PM] Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990);
[8PM] Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001);
[10PM] Hopeless Pictures #9 (2005);
[10:15PM] Greg the Bunny #9: "2001-1: Space & Stuff" (2005);
[10:30PM] The Festival #3 (2005);
[11PM] Dancing At The Blue Iguana (2000);
[1AM] Hopeless Pictures #9 (2005);
[1:15AM] Greg the Bunny #9: "2001-1: Space & Stuff" (2005);
[1:30AM] The Festival #3 (2005);
[2AM] Dancing At The Blue Iguana (2000);
[4AM] Hopeless Pictures #9 (2005);
[4:15AM] Greg the Bunny #9: "2001-1: Space & Stuff" (2005);
[4:30AM] The Festival #3 (2005);
[5AM] At The IFC Center (2005);
[5:30AM] Short: Life Lesson (2003). (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has 'Firefly', 'Stargate SG-1', 'Stargate Atlantis', and 'Battlestar Galactica'.
Sundance -
[6:30AM] The Projectionist;
[6:45AM] Tube Mice;
[7AM] The Al Franken Show: (09/22/05);
[8AM] Missing;
[10:05AM] Held Hostage in Colombia;
[11AM] The Al Franken Show: (09/22/05);
[12PM] The Last Detail;
[1:45PM] A Foreign Affair;
[3:45PM] Assassination Tango;
[5:40PM] Salaryman 6;
[6PM] TransGeneration: Episode 4;
[6:30PM] Tube Mice;
[6:45PM] Missing;
[9PM] The Last Seduction;
[11PM] I Am NOT an ANIMAL: Planet of the Men & Women;
[11:30PM] The Al Franken Show: (09/27/05);
[12:30AM] Rick;
[2:05AM] Salaryman 6;
[2:30AM] The Al Franken Show: (09/27/05);
[3:30AM] Carrington;
[5:35AM] A Foreign Affair. (ALL TIMES EDT)
U.S. actress Jodie Foster gestures after receiving the Honorific Prize before the official premiere of her new film 'Flightplan' at the 38th Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia in Stiges, Barcelona October 13, 2005.
Photo by Gustau Nacarino
In honoring British playwright Harold Pinter on Thursday, Nobel Prize judges have again chosen an artist of literary achievement and political contention.
The 75-year-old Pinter, the most influential British playwright of his generation, is also an unrelenting critic of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, and of the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"I think the world is going down the drain if we're not very careful," a frail but defiant Pinter, who has been treated for throat cancer in recent years, said to reporters outside his London home.
U.S. Director and producer Quentin Tarantino attends a news conference for the movie 'Hostel' at the 38rd edition of the International Film Festival of Catalonia in Sitges near Barcelona October 13, 2005. 'hostel', which Tarantino produced, is being screened during the festival.
Photo by Gustau Nacarino
NBC's Tim Russert - who called the number "a dramatic setback" - looked into it, and he could not "find a pollster who can remember any President ever getting just 2 percent approval from African-Americans."
The rendition of "Happy Birthday" at the Grand Ole Opry's 80th birthday bash this weekend is bound to be good.
The guest list includes Garth Brooks, Alison Krauss, Travis Tritt, Ralph Stanley, Diamond Rio, Steve Wariner, Josh Turner, Bill Anderson, Joe Diffie, The Whites, Lee Greenwood, Connie Smith, John Michael Montgomery and Little Jimmy Dickens.
The birthday party is actually a little premature. The first broadcast of the show, then called the WSM Barn Dance, was Nov. 28, 1925. A white-bearded, 77-year-old fiddler named Uncle Jimmy Thompson, who claimed he could "fiddle the taters off the vine," played a set that began with "Tennessee Waggoner."
Singer Shirley Bassey arrives at the 80th birthday party of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at a London hotel, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005. Thatcher celebrated her 80th birthday with a brief return to the public spotlight at a big party Thursday.
Photo by Matt Dunham
Tommy Lee was burned Wednesday when a pyrotechnics stunt went wrong at a Motley Crue concert in Casper, Wyo.
Lee was taken to a hospital for treatment, but wasn't badly hurt, said Sgt. Doug Beran of the Casper Police Department. Beran declined to discuss details of Lee's injuries, citing privacy considerations.
Tom Morton, a reporter for the Casper Star-Tribune, said Lee appeared to be injured when sparks began flying as he swung above the stage suspended from a wire, back and forth among several drum sets.
Josh Holloway and his wife reportedly were robbed at gunpoint in their Honolulu home. There was no indication that the robber recognized the 36-year-old actor, who plays hunky con man Sawyer on the ABC castaway drama "Lost," television station KHON reported.
The robber rousted the couple from bed early Wednesday, took cash and credit cards and drove off in Holloway's Mercedes-Benz, which was found abandoned a short time later, the station said.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter (R) answers a question as he announces his findings on the Liberian presidential election at a news conference in Monrovia, Liberia, October 13, 2005. Liberians crowded around radios and newspaper stands on Thursday as early results showed soccer star George Weah leading the country's first post-war polls but facing a run-off with former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Also pictured is panelist Chris Fomunyoh (L) of the National Democratic Institute.
Photo by Jonathan Ernst
Jim Martin had thousands of adoring fans. He traveled the world and lived nearly every musician's dream, but he's over that now. The former Faith No More guitarist would rather grow pumpkins. But not just any pumpkins. Huge, mammoth, gargantuan pumpkins that seem to be straight out of science fiction. They're actually from Martin's Castro Valley back yard, nestled between hillsides and a winding country road. Martin's 1,087-pound pumpkin won first prize last week in a major Santa Rosa contest that drew competitors from around the state.
The former rocker works in a property management company with his family. For six months straight though, he spends every spare moment tending the gourds. The only other crop he grows is peas. Why? "I love peas. I stand out here and eat them," he said. "They never make it up to the house."
Martin lives with his wife of four years, Rain, and their 2-year-old son, Napali. Martin could never grow such huge pumpkins without her, he said. "I bring him beer and cigarettes," she said, laughing. "From the time he's home until he goes to bed he's out in the patch. Whatever he's doing in life, he focuses on it. He's happier growing pumpkins than being in the office. He likes to see them grow and likes going out on his tractor."
A herd of deer pause from grazing at the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant near Golden, Colo., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005. Kaiser-Hill Co. the contractor cleaning up the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant declared the $7 billion, 10-year project completed Thursday, a major milestone in the conversion of the site to a wildlife refuge.
Photo by Ed Andrieski
A working manuscript of one of Beethoven's final compositions has been rediscovered in a seminary library and could fetch more than $2 million at auction.
The 80-page manuscript of Beethoven's "Gross Fuge" for piano duet was created when he was deaf and is filled with editing and notations from the composer's own hand. Never before seen by scholars, it was written a few months before the composer's death in 1827.
It was found by a librarian clearing out old archives at the Palmer Theological Seminary and displayed briefly at the seminary Thursday in a glass case and under the eyes of several plainclothes guards.
A book titled Ritual for Exorcism and Prayers for Particular Circumstances sits beside a priest taking notes during the first lesson of a course for aspiring Vatican exorcists at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome October 13, 2005.
Photo by Alessia Pierdomenico
Mudslides caused by heavy rains in Peru's southern Andes stranded 3,200 tourists at the Machu Picchu Inca citadel on Thursday as mud and rocks blocked the railway in and out of the site, train operators said.
The nationalities of the tourists were not immediately known, but no one was thought to be injured, Peru Rail spokeswoman Joanna Boyen said.
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Oct. 3-9. Each ratings point represents 1,102,000 households. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. NFL Football: Cincinnati vs. Jacksonville (Sunday, 8:28 p.m.), ESPN, 5.5, 6.02 million homes.
2. Baseball Divisional Series: Los Angeles vs. New York (Friday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 4.9, 5.41 million homes.
3. Baseball Divisional Series: Boston vs. Chicago (Wednesday, 7:22 p.m.), ESPN, 4.4, 4.88 million homes.
4. College Football: Ohio St. vs. Penn St. (Saturday, 7:42 p.m.), ESPN, 4.0, 4.43 million homes.
5. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 4.0, 4.36 million homes.
6. Baseball Divisional Series: New York vs. Los Angeles (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), ESPN, 3.8, 4.2 million homes.
7. "Baseball Post Game" (Wednesday, 9:43 p.m.), ESPN, 3.8, 4.13 million homes.
8. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.7, 4.04 million homes.
9. "NFL Prime Time" (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), ESPN, 3.4, 3.73 million homes.
10. Baseball Divisional Series: Chicago vs. Boston (Friday, 4 p.m.), ESPN2, 3.3, 3.63 million homes.
11. Baseball Divisional Series: Atlanta vs. Houston (Sunday, 1 p.m.), ESPN, 3.2, 3.52 million homes.
12. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 7:55 p.m.), USA, 3.1, 3.43 million homes.
13. "Sportscenter" (Sunday, 7:08 p.m.), ESPN, 3.0, 3.26 million homes.
14. Movie: "Halloweentown High" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 2.8, 3.12 million homes.
15. Baseball Divisional Series: Boston vs. Chicago (Tuesday, 4:09 p.m.), ESPN, 2.8, 3.11 million homes.
Two giant pandas play at China Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre in Wolong National Natural Reserve, southwest China's Sichuan province, in this May 14, 2005 file photo. China's Taiwan Affairs Office on October 13, 2005 presented pictures and resumes of 11 pandas in the running to be sent as a gift to Taiwan. A list of 23 of the endangered animals was whittled down to 11 and the lucky winners, a boy and a girl, will be picked. Picture taken May 14, 2005.
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amused or entertained?
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