YOUR NAME HERE...

UPDATED

Watching Joe Kidd I thought to myself, Clint Eastwood must have his characters name in the title more then anyone else. This would NOT include White Hunter, Black Heart or Pale Rider, titles that may refer to his character. I thought I wonder who has more. I guessed Sylvester Stallone may have more and sure enough he does, 13 titles with his character’s name in the title. Eastwood’s 6 actually put him in the middle of the random pack of actors I added up.

Surprisingly Tom Cruise only has one, Jerry Maguire. While his arch enemy Brooke Shields actually has more then him, Brenda Starr and Wanda Nevada. Not counting TV MOVIES and only counting feature films to my knowledge only Christopher Lee had his character’s name in more title then Stallone and it was a surprise to me the only person I could find to come close to Stallone was an actress.

Who are we missing that could rival the top three? Is it some Bollywood actor?

Oops as we go to press I realize I never counted Mickey Rooney or Charlton Heston? How would they rank? (BELOW)

CHRISTOPHER LEE (18)

Jinnah (1998) Dracula and Son (1976) The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) .... Count Dracula Scars of Dracula (1970) Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) Count Dracula (1970) The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) Dracula (1958) Alias John Preston (1955)

SYLVESTER STALLONE (13)

Rambo (2008) Rocky Balboa (2006) Get Carter (2000) Judge Dredd (1995) Rocky V (1990) Tango & Cash (1989) Rambo III (1988) Cobra (1986) Rocky IV (1985) Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) Rocky III (1982) Rocky II (1979) Rocky (1976)

JOAN CRAWFORD (11)

Della (1964) Harriet Craig (1950) Daisy Kenyon (1947) Mildred Pierce (1945) Susan and God (1940) The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) Sadie McKee (1934) Letty Lynton (1932) Montana Moon (1930) Rose-Marie (1928)Sally, Irene and Mary (1925)

BURT REYNOLDS (10)

Malone (1987) Stick (1985) Stroker Ace (1983) Sharky's Machine (1981) Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) Hooper (1978) Smokey and the Bandit (1977) Gator (1976) W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975) Shamus (1973)

JOHN WAYNE (10)

Rooster Cogburn (1975) Brannigan (1975) McQ (1974) Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973) Big Jake (1971) Chisum (1970) McLintock! (1963) Donovan's Reef (1963) Hondo (1953) Big Jim McLain (1952)

GARY COPPER (9)

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) Good Sam (1948) Along Came Jones (1945) Casanova Brown (1944) The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) Sergeant York (1941) Meet John Doe (1941) Beau Geste (1939) Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

PAUL NEWMAN (9)

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) Harry & Son (1984) Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968) Cool Hand Luke (1967) Harper (1966) Hud (1963)

JIM CARREY (8)

Horton Hears a Who! (2008) Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) Bruce Almighty (2003) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) The Truman Show (1998) The Cable Guy (1996) Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

ERROL FLYNN (8)

The Story of William Tell (1953) Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951) That Forsyte Woman (1949) Adventures of Don Juan (1948) Gentleman Jim (1942) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Captain Blood (1935)

PETER LORRE (8)

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939) Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939) Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939) Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938) Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938) Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937) Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937)

JOHNNY DEPP (7)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Donnie Brasco (1997) Don Juan DeMarco (1994) Ed Wood (1994) What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Cry-Baby (1990)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (7)

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) Eraser (1996) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) The Terminator (1984) Conan the Destroyer (1984) Conan the Barbarian (1982) Hercules in New York (1970)

CLINT EASTWOOD (6)

Bronco Billy (1980) The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Joe Kidd (1972) Dirty Harry (1971) Kelly's Heroes (1970) Coogan's Bluff (1968)

CHARLES BRONSON (6)

Murphy's Law (1986) St. Ives (1976) Mr. Majestyk (1974) Chino (1973) Chato's Land (1972) The Valachi Papers (1972)

GEORGE CLOONEY (6)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Michael Clayton (2007) Ocean's Thirteen (2007) Ocean's Twelve (2004) Ocean's Eleven (2001) Batman & Robin (1997)

BASIL RATHBONE (6)

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943) Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) Son of Frankenstein (1939)

BETTE DAVIS (5)

Bunny O'Hare (1971) The Nanny (1965) Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

PAM GRIER (5)

Jackie Brown (1997) Friday Foster (1975) 'Sheba, Baby' (1975) Foxy Brown (1974) Coffy (1973)

KATHARINE HEPBURN (5)

Grace Quigley (1984) Pat and Mike (1952) Mary of Scotland (1936) Sylvia Scarlett (1935) Alice Adams (1935)

ANTHONY HOPKINS (5)

The Devil and Daniel Webster (2004) Titus (1999) The Mask of Zorro (1998) Surviving Picasso (1996) Nixon (1995)

BURT LANCASTER (5)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) Valdez Is Coming (1971) Elmer Gantry (1960) His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951)

BRAD PITT (5)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) Meet Joe Black (1998) Johnny Suede (1991)

ROBERT REDFORD (5)

Brubaker (1980) The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) The Great Gatsby (1974) Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

EDWARD G. ROBINSON (5)

Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944) A Dispatch from Reuter's (1940) Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) Little Caesar (1931)

ADAM SANDLER (5)

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) Mr. Deeds (2002) Little Nicky (2000) Happy Gilmore (1996) Billy Madison (1995)

PETER SELLERS (5)

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) Hoffman (1970) The World of Henry Orient (1964) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Mr. Topaze (1961)

JAMES STEWART (5)

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) The Glenn Miller Story (1954) The Stratton Story (1949) Destry Rides Again (1939) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

HENRY FONDA (4)

Mister Roberts (1955) Chad Hanna (1940) The Return of Frank James (1940) Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

TOM HANKS (4)

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) Forrest Gump (1994) Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) Turner & Hooch (1989)

BORIS KARLOFF (4)

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939) The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939) The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

* In Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) he actually plays Talpur, not Karloff. So it won’t count.

AL PACINO (4)

Carlito's Way (1993) Frankie and Johnny (1991) Bobby Deerfield (1977) Serpico (1973)

HUMPHREY BOGART (3)

Tokyo Joe (1949) The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) The Return of Doctor X (1939)

ROBERT DENIRO (3)

Mad Dog and Glory (1993) Stanley & Iris (1990) Jacknife (1989)

JACK NICHOLSON (3)

About Schmidt (2002) Hoffa (1992) The Two Jakes (1990)

MERYL STREEP (3)

Julie & Julia (2009) Silkwood (1983) Sophie's Choice (1982)

SEAN COONERY (2)

Robin and Marian (1976) The Anderson Tapes (1971)

BROOKE SHIELDS (2)

Brenda Starr (1989) Wanda Nevada (1979)

BRUCE WILLIS (2)

The Jackal (1997) Hudson Hawk (1991)

TOM CRUISE (1)

Jerry Maguire (1996)

UPDATED:

Mickey Rooney storms into second place and Chuck Heston ties Pam Grier and others...

MICKEY ROONEY (17)

Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958) Baby Face Nelson (1957) Killer McCoy (1947) Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946) Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944) Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942) The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941) Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941) Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940) Young Tom Edison (1940) Andy Hardy's Dilemma: A Lesson in Mathematics... and Other Things (1940) Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939) The Hardys Ride High (1939) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) Out West with the Hardys (1938) Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

CHARLTON HESTON (5)

Antony and Cleopatra (1972) Will Penny (1968) .... Will Penny Major Dundee (1965) Ben-Hur (1959) The Private War of Major Benson (1955)

-sweeneyrules

ACTING LIKE A DIRECTOR

Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder big box office! 

George Clooney’s Leatherheads coming to DVD in a few weeks.

French flick Tell No One directed by actor Guillaume Cane is a art-house hit.

And looking over the upcoming movie slate, director Clint Eastwood has two flicks coming out in the next couple of months. Gran Torino which he also stars in a cranky Korean War Vet will be released at Christmas. But first hitting the street in late October is The Changeling which got a mostly positive, but mixed reception from critics when it screened at Cannes, but sounds like definite oscar bate for star Angelina Jolie will be.

Actors directing, some make the transition, some just make lame movies.

We all know the Eastwood story of rise, Rawhide, Spaghetti Westerns, Dirty Harry, number-one box office star in the seventies, Clyde the orangutan movies and now kinda, John Ford status as a director. 

Though back in the seventies no one would of predicted the award and critical acclaim that would come for him in these last twenty years, personally I think his two westerns he did then, High Plains Drifter (1973) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) are still the two best films he's directed. Even if they are rather “Leone/ Siegel -esc”. 

His Charlie Parker Bio, Bird (1988) was a also very impressive flick, however, I’ve never had an urge to see it for a second time. It's a total downer made watchable because of an epic performance by Forest Whitaker as the druggy 'hep-cat'. 

Though through the years, Clint has had many directing duds, he's kept at it and he found a formula that has worked for him and obviously for 'award bestowers'. Does anyone remember The Rookie (1990) or the unwatchable Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Have you ever seen the bizarrely awkward flick Breezy? In which cranky old William Holden ends up getting jiggy with twenty-year-old flower-child cutie Kay Lenz (she does have some gorgeous nude scenes. She’s my type!).

Clint’s ‘number one box-office’ rival back in the disco decade Burt Reynolds tried his hand at directing as well. Perhaps Gator (1976) was no worse then most other good-ol’ boy private-dick flicks of the day, each of his three other features he helmed got progressively worse ending his non-TV directing career with a bang in ‘85, with the hilariously awful Elmore Leonard adaptation, playing ‘Stick’ Stickley in the inevitably titled Stick.

The two macho would-be auteurs appeared together only once in the unbearably boring City Heat (1984), ironically, directed by actor Richard Benjamin (AKA Adam Quark) who hit it big his first time out yelling ‘cut’ & ‘action’, thanks to Peter O’toole’s brilliant perforce My Favorite Year (1982). But like his fellow mustache-man Reynolds, Benjamin has been relegated to the boob-tube ever since he made the universally hated Lisa Kudrow disasterpiece Marci X (2003).

So, on with some lists....

You have your first tier of Actors like Eastwood who have become just as accomplished as directors Woody Allen, Richard Attenborough, Warren Beatty, Albert Brooks, John Cassavetes, Charlie Chaplin, George Clooney, Kevin Coster, Mel Gibson, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Orson Welles. 

Some were established as directors first branched out and became actors for hire in other director’s films, John Huston, Sidney Pollack, Otto Preminger (and to some extent Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarintino).

Others who once were known as actors, are not considered actors anymore like Penny Marshal, Rob Reiner and Ron Howard. Acting has become more of a hobby for them (and a chore for us to have to watch).

Some big-time actors have directed more sporadically but found some success... Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Dennis Hopper, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Billy Bob Thornton, Cornel Wilde.

Others major stars have dabbled but not yet had that film that gives them full credibility as directors, but it still could happen for them... Robert De Niro, Ethan Hawke, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Denzel Washington.

And there have been a number of working class actors who have made a nice transition into directing like Tony Bill, Peter Burg, Nick Cassavetes, Bill Duke, Jon Favreau, Todd Field and Keith Gordon to name a few.

Jodie Foster is probably the biggest name actress to attempt the transition to director.

Lillian Gish directed once the 1920 flick Remodeling Her Husband.

In the 40s and 50s Ida Lupino probably had as interesting a career as any actor turned director in that period.

Jennifer Jason Leigh had a terrific outing co-directing The Anniversary Party (2001) I’ve been looking forward to seeing what she would do next.

And of course more ugly, Nancy Walker somehow took the reins of the horrid Village People epic Can’t Stop the Music (1980).

Eastwood’s ex wife actress Sandra Lock has become a director and his daughter actress Allison, directed a film this past year, Rails And Ties, will she direct another?

Speaking of...

Lets take a look at the big-time established actors (A-list more or less, so no Robert Culp, Talia Shire or Bert Convy) who only dipped their toe into the directing world ONCE (as of writing. Feature films only/ TV and docs don’t count).

THE GOOD, THE BLAH AND THE UGLY 

OF A-List ACTOR’S ONE-TIME DIRECTING

The Good

Ben Afleck - Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Marlon Brando - One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

James Caan - Hide in Plain Sight (1980)

Albert Finney - Charlie Bubbles (1967)

Tommy Lee Jones - The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada  (2005)

Charles Laughton - Night Of The Hunter (1955)

Jack Lemmon - Kotch (1971)

Gary Oldman - Nil by Mouth (1997)

The Blah

Kevin Bacon - Loverboy (2006)

James Cagney - Short Cut to Hell (1957)

Matt Dillon - City of Ghosts (2002)

Sally Field - Beautiful (2001)

Morgan Freeman - Bopha! (1993)

Bill Murray - Quick Change (1990) (co-dr)

Ed Norton - Keeping the Faith (2000)

Anthony Quinn - The Buccaneer (1958)

Martin Sheen - Cadence (1991)

Frank Sinatra -  None But the Brave (1965)

The Ugly

Dan Aykroyd - Nothing But Trouble (1991)

Anne Bancroft - Fatso (1980)

Richard Burton - Doctor Faustus (co-dr) (1967)

Nicolas Cage - Sonny (2002)

Johnny Depp - The Brave (1997)

Shirley MacLaine - Bruno (2000)

Eddie Murphy - Harlem Nights (1989)

Peter Sellers - Mr Topaze/I Like Money (1960)

NEXT TIME:  B & C LEVEL ACTORS, DIRECTING

-sweeneyrules

REPRESSED SEXUALITY IS BAD FOR TEENAGE GIRLS

Recently I rewatched Peter Weir’s haunting 1975 flick Picnic At Hanging Rock.  Dug it the first time I saw it. But wowie, this time, I went gaga.  Matter-of-fact, I’m obsessed now.  I can’t stop thinking about this little flick.  With it’s eerie pan-flute score and it’s Virgin Suicides-like dreamy teen-memory feel, I keep trying to put the pieces together in my head.  What just happened?  What did I miss?  What was actually in the movie and what cracks in the story did my brain automatically fill in for me?

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s the Criterion DVD site's synopsis...

Twenty years after it swept Australia into the international film spotlight, Peter Weir's stunning 1975 masterpiece remains as ineffable as the unanswerable mystery at its core. A Valentine's Day picnic at an ancient volcanic outcropping turns to disaster for the residents of Mrs. Appleyard's school when a few young girls inexplicably vanish on Hanging Rock. A lyrical, meditative film charged with suppressed longings.

Based on a 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay which had already taken on a legendary status in Australia. 

I can’t get enough info on it. I’m dying to learn more.

Unfortunately Criterion’s DVD is, um, lacking.  

While the English 3-disc Deluxe Edition DVD is loaded with hours of extras including the 25 minute on-set documentary A Recollection: Hanging Rock 1900.  

But what has me in a total drool, appears to be the feature length documentary (It's like ninety minutes long!  That’s longer then your average Adam Sandler flick) called A Dream Within a Dream: The Making Of 'Picnic At Hanging Rock.

I've been combing the internet to see if anyone downloaded the doc, to watch on-line.  But I haven't found it yet....YET.

* Some of the foreign additions also contain many of the deleted scenes.  Which are explained with photo’s here.

* Apparently Hanging Rock itself has become a tourist trap which plays up the myths created by the movie and the book.

* This site, Castle Of Spirits explains the origins of the ‘fact or fiction’ behind the story.

* In the article Picnic at Hanging Rock: The Unseen Voices, writer John Godl discusses the casting of the young girls and the eventual complete voice over work done with one of the actresses work.  For a guy like me who wants to gobble up all the info I can, it’s fascinating stuff.  But Godl does get a little whiny about the voice actresses not getting their (kudos) due.

* I must say most of the user’s comments on IMDB are usually really lame. 

But one ‘commenter’ fedor8 from Serbia weighed in (Not recommendable to MTV fans..., 7 August 2007) with some interesting observations and theories concerning the Botticelli Angel.

* Bookmice goes even further with the ideas and themes behind the imagery.

THIS JUST IN:  I just came across these... 

* Rock of Ages by Michael J Bayly which is loaded with info!

* Brett Mckenzie offers his "Solution to Joan Lindsey's Novel".

* In an interview with the director, Peter Weir points out some "mysteries aren't necessarily there to be solved".

Picnic at Hanging Rock is often compared to Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960) and perhaps Powell & Pressburger's  Black Narcissus (1947).  Fairly Roger Ebert compares the movie to David Lean’s final film, the adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel A Passage To India (1984).  Both, unexplained mysteries involving  suppressed Victorian sexuality and public hysteria.

I’m reminded of Don Siegel's The Beguiled (1970).  In which Clint Eastwood plays a wounded Union soldier taken in by the residents of a girls boarding school, where he goes about seducing the Head master (Geraldine Page), the teacher and the students.  

It’s a sorta Southern-Gothic yarn. Clint with his big, cool, blow-dried 70’s hair, in probably the closest he’s been to a villain and his most ‘sexual’.  It’s also  probably contains Eastwood performing more dialog then all his previous films combined. 

Zelena at Live Journal fits both films ‘within the 'Girls' School' genre’.  

A favorite genre of mine, that might also include Clouzot’s brilliant Hitchcockian thriller Diabolique (1955).  As well as the more obvious The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and The Children's Hour (1961) and the groovy Therese and Isabelle (1968) and the recent disappointing The Woods (2006). 

You could also though in The Trouble with Angels (1966) and it’s sequel Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968), along with the Australian flick Flirting (1991) and the French  Innocence (2004) and the Canadian Lost and Delirious (2001) and the TV-Movie Satan's School for Girls (1973).  Dario Argento has at least two, Suspiria (1977) and Phenomena (1984).  And maybe I'd add the misplaced 007 classic On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

Here’s hoping we, the poor souls in the bloody-States who don't have region-free players, will someday get our own neato two or three disc version of Picnic At Hanging Rock (and how about The Magnificent Ambersons on DVD? Like Europe has.)  Maybe new leadership from the White House in 09 will finally rescue us from being a third-world-country DVD-wise.

-sweeneyrules