The Last Ten Films We've Seen: City Films

Among the last ten films listed here, there are two with career stand-up comedians/actors: the late Rodney Dangerfield plays a dictatorial cinema manager in "The Last Projection" and the late Richard Pryor has a cameo in "Car Wash."

Other films include the western "Winchester '73" with the late Jimmy Stewart and early film appearances from the late Rock Hudson and the late Tony Curtis (billed as Anthony Curtis), Gene Hackman reprising Popeye Doyle in "French Connection II" and Jean-Luc Godard's "Made in USA," which has only been allowed for public viewing in the USA since 2008 due to a copyright issue.

Here is the list, we got the idea from "Film Comment:"

1. "The Projectionist" 1971. dir-Harry Hurwitz

2. "French Connection II" (pictured top) 1975. dir-John Frankenheimer

3. "Winchester '73" 1950 dir-Anthony Mann #

4. "Made in USA" (France) 1966. dir-Jean-Luc Godard

5. "Car Wash" (pictured center) 1976. dir-Michael Shultz

6. "The Graduate" (pictured bottom) 1967 dir-Mike Nichols #

7. "Happymorethankyouplease" 2010. dir-Josh Radnor

8. "The Avengers" 2012. dir- Joss Whedon

9. "Bridesmaids" 2011. dir. Paul Feig

10. "The Cabin in the Woods" 2011. dir-Drew Goddard

#-Films we had previously watched before

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.filmlinc.com

http://www.richardpryor.com

Quote of the Week_ Akira Kurosawa

This month we are featuring quotes from famous film directors, and we start with the late Japanese master Akira Kurosawa:

"Man is a genius when he is dreaming."

SIDEBAR: We will miss Tony Curtis. As mentioned in my last entry, I had just seen his 1958 film "The Vikings" earlier in the week. I did not mention that I had also seen his 1968 film "The Boston Strangler," both films were directed by the late Richard Fleischer, in which Curtis played the dubious title role. He gave an excellent performance in the later film, which also featured Henry Fonda, which surprisingly did not garner Curtis an Oscar nomination. We are certainly sad that he had died, and our thoughts go out to Jamie Lee Curtis.

SIDEBAR TWO: Our favorite high school in North Carolina, Ragsdale HS from Jamestown, NC, once again won a big game last night as they triumphed over Eastern Forsyth 10-7.

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Minnesota Vikings Mascot

Today's Silly Picture to Fill Space is dedicated to the mascot of the Minnesota Vikings. We came up with this idea while watching the 1958 cinematic guilty pleasure "The Vikings" with Kirk Douglas, Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis, all of whom are still alive even all of them are at least 85 years old (Curtis is the youngest of the three). Amazingly enough, Borgnine plays Douglas's father even though he is just one year younger than him! Both actors are now in their mid-90s!

There is also a 'great' 1971 Turkish cinematic guilty pleasure called "Tarkan Versus the Vikings" based on the Turkish comic book "Tarkan" (not to be confused with the famous pop singer Tarkan who took his name from that comic book), which has very nationalist themes.....but is historically inaccurate as Norway has, to our knowledge, never tried to invade Turkey.

The Minnesota Vikings won their last game over the hapless Detroit Lions by a 24-10 score last week. They have the week off, but they head to The Big Apple (well to New Jersey, actually) to face the New York Jets on Oct. 11.

Even though the Vikes have the fifth best winning percentage in NFL history, they have yet to win a Super Bowl. Their current quarterback Brett Favre is actually older than me! (I am 40; he's 41).

SIDEBAR: One of our "High Schools of the Week" is Eden Prarie High School in Eden Prarie, Minn., since the Minnesota Vikings are headquartered in the Twin Cities' suburb.

The school which opened in 1981 has some 3,280 students according to Wikipedia. The team's nickname is The Eagles. The principal is Conn McCartan. Famous alumni include "American Idol" semi-finalist Casey Carlson.