Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Vital Viewing (Globe/Grindhouse Edition)



1960s screen teen ingenue Olivia Hussey was born on this day in 1951. In the following video, she reflects on her unusual adolescence:


Now let's take a little trip to Verona, courtesy of filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli:



The above is still Hussey's best known role, one that made her a star back in '68, whether that was her goal or not. But perhaps Billy Shakespeare is too highfalutin for you. Maybe you'd like a holiday film instead. We'll jump ahead six years:


Not much call there for iambic pentameter, huh?

15 comments:

  1. Hi, Kirk!

    I well remember the hoopla surrounding the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet. However I haven't seen it. Strangely, given my fondness for psycho slasher films, I haven't seen Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas either. The cast of the latter movie includes two other prominent actors of the period, Keir Dullea, who came to fame in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Remember the iconic scene with HAL? "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two." Then there's Margot Kidder, best remembered as Lois Lane in the Superman film series.

    Thanks for the memories, good buddy Kirk!

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    1. "Open the pod bay doors, Hal."

      Shady, Black Christmas also features future SCTV stalwart, Andrea Martin.

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    2. Oh, and Shady, even if I kind of wish Hussey's career had taken a different turn, I do recommend Black Christmas, directed by Bob Clarke, who later gave us Porky's and (he must have had an intense interest in all things yuletide) A Christmas Story. This particular slasher film, in my humble opinion, is superior to Halloween or the 10,000 Friday the 13 movies. In fact, I suspect it served as the template for them.

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    3. Thanks for letting me know, good buddy. Most of those H-ween and Friday 13 sequels are a snooze fest. You have me genuinely interested in seeing Black Christmas. I hope it's as good as Blacula. :)

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    4. Blacula has one of my favorite Classic Hollywood character actors, Elisha Cook Jr, as a one-handed coroner.

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    5. He was one of my favorites, too, Kirk. Check out the little known film I featured on SDMM entitled What Price Gory:

      https://shadydell.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-price-gory-aint-nothin-but-hearse.html

      :)

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  2. Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" was such a huge monster of a hit film! I saw it when I was an adolescent. Too bad its teenage stars never really went on to have any film success that equalled it again.

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    1. Debra, I actually saw it on a high school field trip. We had just read the play in English class. Olivia Hussey may not gone on to greater things, but she's had a much higher profile than the guy who played Romeo. In fact, I keep having to look up his name (Leonard Whiting, who Zeffirelli touted as the next Lawrence Olivier. I don't know about that, but he does a pretty good job in this film.)

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  3. I have never heard of her...how is that possible? And like Deb said, shame she didn't go on to do more.

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    1. maddie, I guess your high school didn't offer Shakespearean field trips. It's kind of telling when she advises young thespians in the first clip about getting a good agent. But according to her IMDb page, she's had a busy career nonetheless. And since judging by your last post you're obviously not put off by Shakespeare, I highly recommend the movie.

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  4. I remember this movie and I will always love her voice. I have seen her off and on on the TV. I think she is very talented.
    Black Christmas:
    Oh goody another slasher movie from the lovely and wonderful so so PC crowd in La La Land that has women being killed in bloody and horrible ways. Yea !

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. La La Land may have put out their share of those kinds of movies, parsnip, but Black Christmas is Canadian.

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    2. Oh No ! PC alert Canada is being corrupted by America ! ! !

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  5. I dont' recall anything I've seen her in, but I do recognize her face

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    1. Adam, according to IMDb, the most recent thing she was in was the 2015 movie Social Suicide, a UK-made thriller about the Internet. She plays a mother of a teenager. Never seen it or even heard of it until now, so can't tell you if it's good or bad.

      She also does a lot of voice work in video games. She was the voice of Master Yuon Par in a game based on Star Wars.

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