Jerry Lewis

[brian]

Yep. 91 years old. Guy was old school as shit. One of my friends who had some business dealings with him got to visit his house one time and it was like a museum. "Sinatra gave me that, Nelson Mandela gave me that, etc."

[sancarlos]

I never enjoyed his comedy, but he did raise a lot of money for Muscular Dystrophy research. Back in the olden days, his annual Labor Day telethon dominated the airwaves for a couple days each year.

[DaveInSeattle]

"King of Comedy" is a great movie.

[Pruitt]

I stopped laughing about 7 years of age, but amen to the telethon tribute.

[howard]

"King of Comedy" is a great movie.

Yes.

By the time I was an older kid/teenager, Lewis was considered silly and corny, the meme of his being popular in France was funnier than a rerun of The Nutty Professor. But a few years later, his performance in King of Comedy clued me in to his talent. Not many folks steal a film from DeNiro in his prime (w/great script and Scorsese in his prime.) (Sandra Bernhart nearly stole it from Lewis, so props to her rather than wait for her obit.)

Love that movie so much. Travis Bickle ain't got nothing on Rupert Pupkin.

[Pruitt]

"King of Comedy" is a great movie.

A true classic. I was just doing some research to see who beat DeNiro that year for best actor. And he wasn't even nominated!

[howard]

Pretty strong year (link to wiki page) Two lifetime achievement nominations squeezed DeNiro out, Newman for The Verdict (which I think sucked even though I love Lumet and Newman but consensus is both film and performance was great, I don't see it except Hackman was pretty great) and O'Toole for My Favorite Year.

Surprised no orig screenplay nomination (I had forgotten it was Paul D.Zimmerman, not to be confused with sportswriter Dr. Z) but a very strong field: Ghandi, Diner, Tootsie, Officer and a Gentlemen and ET the Extra Terrestrial.. I miss old Hollywood sometimes.

That year was peak Jessica Lange. Won supporting for Tootsie, (and sure she was younger in King Kong but I think she was never hotter/more sexy/more beautiful than that role, and best performance of her career in Frances, netting a nom for Best, and when Meryl wins with Sophie's Choice, that almost as good as a statuette.

Deep trivia, the adapted screenplay winner was for a Costa-Gravrespolitical thriller, Missing which tells the story of a political murder in Allende's Chile. Adaptation was by director Costa-Gravres and someone named Donald Stewart; the source was a book by the prolific author and with all due respect to the Shulbergs, Sugars, Leiblings, Cannons, even Runyons, the greatest boxing writer ever, Thomas Hauser. He even wrote the best book about 'The Greatest'.

(See, I'm not bitter that when Tom became president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, one of his first actions at the annual meeting was to put in motion the downgrading of some of 'these part time Internet bloggers' from full membership to associate members, Tom is still #1 in my book, cuz I ain't bitter.) (yeah, and I'm sure it was a coincidence that issue was immediately following a discussion of the issue of overbearing security at some venues, including detailing of an altercation between MSG thugs and a LatinoSports.com writer, hey my pass allowed me access and I never touched that security guard) (Tom was actually incredibly nice to me and taught me a lot, let me tag along with him every now and then, a real mensch.) (what the hell was I talking about? oh yeah, Jerry Lewis. did I say I miss old Hollywood sometimes?)

eta: Tom's biblio, on his wiki page. I've only read about a half doze, a small percentage, hell I've only read half of his Ali books, the major biography, Muhammed Ali: His Life and Times I can personally recommend as a good starter, but you could probably start anywhere and find enjoyment.

[Pruitt]

Surprised no orig screenplay nomination (I had forgotten it was Paul D.Zimmerman, not to be confused with sportswriter Dr. Z) but a very strong field: Ghandi, Diner, Tootsie, Officer and a Gentlemen and ET the Extra Terrestrial.. I miss old Hollywood sometimes.

That was a very strong Best Actor category. And DeNiro won the year before, so no surprise then.

But Original Screenplay? "Officer And A Gentleman?" And how badly had Jerry Lewis pissed people off that he didn;t secure a nomination. One of the all-time worst winners that year - the great Louis Gossett Jr. beating out the powerhouse performance of Charles Durning in "Best Little Whorehouse In Texas"

[sancarlos]

One of the all-time worst winners that year - the great Louis Gossett Jr. beating out the powerhouse performance of Charles Durning in "Best Little Whorehouse In Texas"

Yeah, but Charles Durning always played Charles Durning.

[howard]

But Original Screenplay? "Officer And A Gentleman?"

That is a pretty good story, dialogue is pretty good, screenplay may be the most accomplished aspect of that film, because Gossett's role and performance was very good but one-dimensional. Yeah, I'm reaching. Fully agree with everything else you said.

Hollywood's still in a long phase of giving awards to black people out of guilt, for less than outstanding work (cough halle berry cough) (but as Joe Bob Briggs would say, she did display her two outstanding talents), and Gossett was far from the bottom of that barrel, but was in the barrel.

BLWIT was hideous, only slightly less so on Broadway imho, but Durning being Durning at least added some laughs in the movie. And Dolly Parton sang (but didn't act). I do love Burt Reynolds, but he sure had a ton of just crap performances, like this one. He sang a duet or two with Dolly, come on man.Well, we'll always have Deliverance, Smokey, Longest Yard. and Boogie Nights, where bad acting was fucking perfect.

The guy who wrote the Broadway book for Whorehouse had been a speechwriter/pr flack for a congressman, quit to write. I remember the article in Playboy that he later extended into the play (on occasion I did read an article or two). That little whorehouse was the inspiration not only for these pieces of art, but also a catchy tune, "La Grange" by ZZ Top. (click the link for youtube clip, if you got the time. You don't even need the ten to get you self in. Oh now I might be mistaken.

I do drone on.

[Giff]

I'd love to live in LaGrange. Smallish town of about 5,000 on the Colorado River, about an hour from Austin, 80 minutes to Houston.

[Pruitt]

I'd love to live in LaGrange. Smallish town of about 5,000 on the Colorado River, about an hour from Austin, 80 minutes to Houston.

I've heard that there are a lot of nice girls there.

[sancarlos]

I'd love to live in LaGrange. Smallish town of about 5,000 on the Colorado River, about an hour from Austin, 80 minutes to Houston.

Funny that there is a second Colorado River, aside from the one that goes from Colorado through the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead, and becomes the Nevada/Arizona/California border. I never knew about the Texas one.

[Giff]

I'd love to live in LaGrange. Smallish town of about 5,000 on the Colorado River, about an hour from Austin, 80 minutes to Houston.

Funny that there is a second Colorado River, aside from the one that goes from Colorado through the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead, and becomes the Nevada/Arizona/California border. I never knew about the Texas one.

Yeah, when I was little, I always thought it was crazy the Mississippi was the longest river because the Colorado went from Texas to Arizona.