50 Foot Woman (RIP)

Though I can't remember why I was watching Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) a few months back and thinking of maybe writing something up on it. (I thought I'd look at the 1990s Daryl Hannah remake too.) Needless to say that never came to fruition but this morning I read some horrific news. Yvette Vickers, the star of that infamous Bad Movie People Love about an angry adulteress who rampages once she's giantized, was found dead this week in her home in Benedict Canyon. She was 82ish.

The worst part of the story is this gruesome detail: her body was mummified indicating she'd been dead for a long time, possibly a year. That nobody checked in for that length of time -- neither friend nor neighbor (she had no surviving family members) -- is scarier than any horror movie.

Her first film appearance was in the showbiz classic, Sunset Boulevard. May she rest easier than those Hollywood ghosts.

Sidney Lumet: 43 Feature Films, 5 Oscar Nominations, 1 Fine Career.

A goodbye with gratitude to prolific director and Honary Oscar winner Sidney Lumet who died this morning at the age of 86 from lymphoma. He was small in stature (5'5") but his legacy looms large as one of Hollywood's most prolific and beloved directors. 

He was a stage actor and a television director before moving into feature films. Actors always loved him and he returned that love guiding several of them through signature roles. He worked with some stars multiple times including, notably: Sean Connery, Timothy Hutton, James Mason, and Al Pacino. The stage-to-screen movie, the courtroom drama, the social conscience narrative, and the true crime story would never have been the same without him. He is survived by his wife of 31 years Mary Gimbel, and children and grandchildren (you'll remember that his daughter Jenny Lumet wrote the blissful Rachel Getting Married screenplay. Our thoughts go out to the family today.

After the jump, the posters for all 43 of his theatrical features with thanks to google, the IMDb and IMP!

How many have you seen?

Click to read more ...

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BIG SCREEN
MUBI Farley Granger gorgeous star of Rope and Strangers on a Train has died at 85. RIP
Cinema Blend Our friend Katey is vlogging from Cinema Con in Vegas.
Antagony & Ecstacy has an amusing April movie preview.
IndieWire limits it to 8 limited release films that you must see.

SMALL SCREEN
Basket of Kisses is in tight with Matthew Weiner of Mad Men creation fame. I know because I went to a viewing party they threw in which he showed up! He spoke to them about what's going on with the show in light of all the negotiations and the dread news that we won't get the show again until 2012.
Basket of Kisses and here's some dire speculation about the cast cutting. Seriously, how on earth would they cut some of the headliners and still have the show?
The Daily Blam looks like they've already adjusted Wonder Woman's costume (previously discussed) to get rid of that vinyl shine on the pants.
A Socialite's Life Shangela from RuPaul's Drag Race got cast in a pilot for a hairdressing show starring Don Johnson. Kind of funny if you stop to think about it since Shangela was the one queen who couldn't style a wig for shit.
Pajiba lists the worst TV theme songs currently on the air.

How on earth do you cut this cast way down? They make the show!

OFF SCREEN
La Daily Musto Can this be true? Scissor Sisters asked to tone down their sparkle when opening for Lady Gaga. Boo! Never tell that awesome band to tone it down.
Cheyenne Jackson in the dentists chair. Hee. Truly nothing is private anymore. (thx)

"I'm not like anyone else. I'm me."

By now you've read the obituaries, scoured the career appraisals, maybe you've put in a DVD, donated to her charity in lieu of flowers, wiped away a tear, or done something silly to commemorate Elizabeth Taylor. Maybe you've just marvelled at how difficult it is to wrap one's head around the loss of a true Giant, capital and italics intended, and not just because that's one of the only titles in her filmography that doubles as an apt descriptor of its star. 

A friend of mine told me last month when she was dramatically hospitalized on Oscar weekend, that he'd been commissioned to write an obit (just in case). I actually felt bad for him. "You'll never be paid," I said...

READ THE REST AT TOWLEROAD

* This is my last piece on Liz for awhile. Between this and Tennessee Williams week (which ends tomorrow) we've become lost in time. Must jump back to 2011 pronto. Or at least by April 1st, when The Film Experience traditionally admits that the new film year has in fact begun. Here we go again...

The Blue Bird (1976) and Violet Links

The news of Liz Taylor's death derailed me this morning as Twitter exploded. Though I am less nostalgic as a person than I appear to be on the web  (I think it's that love of Oscar history and "anniversary" post-fetish that makes me seem like a weepy 'they don't make 'em like they used to' type.), this month has been admittedly nostalgia-saturated. We shall return to stuff in theaters very soon.

As I was posting about Liz and sharing reader of the day "first movie" memories I began to wonder when my Liz fandom began? I have no specific recall like I do with some stars. My earliest vivid pop culture memories  from childhood are mostly bunched around the axis of The Muppets, Star Wars and Natalie Wood (television airings of her old movies) in the late 70s. So I was looking at Liz's filmography and realized the first time I saw her must have been in the family film The Blue Bird. I remember zero about the movie other than her face... which is weird because Jane Fonda, Cicely Tyson and Ava Gardner are also in it though obvs I didn't yet know who they were... except for maybe Fonda.  I'm actually shocked to remember that my parents took us to this because in my house (my parents are right wingers) Jane Fonda was a 'traitorous devil' or some such. In all my years of film fandom I have never heard anyone talk about this movie and I had forgotten its existence myself so maybe it's not on DVD?

My favorite tweet about Liz this morning was this one, from diminutive comedienne Selene Luna. She has a perceptive papa.

Carefully Taylor'ed Memories
The Guardian explains Liz Taylor's Gay Icon status beautifully.
The Guardian Guy Lodge looks back over her career in clips.
Playbill remembers the Dame's stage outings with a photo gallery.
Boy Culture remembers her wild rollercoaster of a career and imagines how, to the generations before us -- particular those who grew up with her growing up alongside them onscreen, she must be even more intimately revered.

Fun Liz-Links To Dry Those Wet Eyes
Movie|Line shares the most memorable Elizabeth Taylor cameos. This is how many younger viewers became familiar with her from the 80s onward.
Movie|Line also has a fun post on Liz's most OTT acting.
Acidemic admires her generosity of spirit and sexuality. And like The Film Experience, Acidemic doesn't just post about her on the day of her death.
Awards Daily Sasha names her 10 favorites
La Dolce Musto Michael Musto names his 5 favorites with a good note on Cleopatra's reputation.
The Star remembers a trip Liz & Dick (Richard Burton) took to Toronto in the 60s... with photos.
The Montreal Gazette has wedding photos from their marriage in Montreal.

My 5 (okay 6) Favorites
Since Sasha and Musto listed their fav Liz performances, I'd feel remiss if I didn't.

1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
3. Butterfield 8 -(post coming next month for the Oscar anniversary.)
   
   
4. Giant and Suddenly Last Summer
   (Tie. I toggle back and forth. I haven't seen either of them in about 5 years. But I love that she does the same thing for both films in a way as the pivot point between two very different acting styles from two also legendary screen stars in a tense triangle of this-movie-can't-be-real star power.)
5. A Place in the Sun -here's a previous writeup on this.

Those are the biggies for me but I should note that I have seen neither The VIPs nor Boom, both of which I've wanted to see for some time. There's never enough of it! (Time, that is.)