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1. What's the first movie you ever saw in a movie theater? 2. What's the worst movie theater experience you ever had as a youngster/toddler/elementary school aged kid?

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The Swimmer aired on TCM last week. I recorded it and finally got around to watching it. I caught the last half of this movie on late night TV when I was a teenager and never forgot this strange movie. Ned (Neddie) Merrill, played by Burt Lancaster, is the swimmer, a suburban resident of an affluent town in an unnamed Westchester-like county. Ned realizes that his well-to-do neighbors' homes are in such proximity to each other that their swimming pools form a path to his own home that he can navigate, like a symbolic river. And that's exactly what this movie is all about. Lancaster travels to his home by swimming all the pools in the river (and also walking to and from each pool). Hijinx ensues along the way. From a John Cheever short story (this pretty much confirms my Westchester hunch), which I read yesterday (free text available online). If I read the story before I ever saw the movie, I woulda guessed that the story was unfilmable.

Bryan Cranston can do bald super-villains. Heisenberg is slated to play the role of Lex Luthor in the upcoming Batman/Superman flick. http://www.webpronews.com/bryan-cranston-role-announcement-outshines-affleck-2013-08

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I find it hard to believe that Richard Dreyfuss was up for the role of Batman. Batman? I could see Alfred the butler.

Liz Taylor with a shout out to the world's serious and dedicated film makers of 1969. But to my ears, it sounds like a nod to the reigning World Series champs. AnPcKk3YO3s

That winter, the Mets acquired George Foster, and the Yanks acquired Ken Griffey and Dave Collins. The Newsday backpage headline at the start of spring training: "NOW PLAYING IN NEW YORK: REDS."

This movie had always intrigued me, especially it's Oscar winning triumph despite the X rating. I read the novel about 20 years ago and the feeling of dread and loneliness that surrounds the two main characters is all too pervasive, the major theme of the book, and not quite captured in the film to the same degree. The film is also somewhat fuzzy and vague as to Joe Buck's past and the events that shaped him. But I suppose that, as you wrote, the plot was secondary. Midnight Cowboy harmonica theme. ZGORPUzLxtU "I'm walkin' here!" c412hqucHKw Everybody's Talkin' at Me Dz6GzKWiIAs

Loved it. That bus ride Joe Buck takes from the midwest, through the rust belt, the bible belt and into New York City is a classic. Neat soundtrack, too. Still in print. But missing "Orange Juice on ice". I love movies filmed on location in NYC during the '60's and '70's. [youtube]SGyTnG543Kk[/youtube] Leslie Miller belts out He Quit Me, a relatively obscure Waren Zevon penned lowdown soulful blues tune. KKzNodK9U_E John Barry worked as "Musical Supervisor" on this classic gem of a movie to integrate found pop with his original themes. Many of the "pop tunes" were culled from fledgling United Artists acts of the late sixties such as The Groop ("Tears and Joys" and the Mamas and Papas-sounding "A Famous Myth" are included herein), and someone had the great sense to steer him to the avant garde New York group Elephant's Memory (whose influential work - see Stereolab and Komeda - on Buddah records remains sadly out of print)to patch together a soundscape for the film's psychedelic Warholesque party scene where Joe Buck gets high and Ratso steals all the salami. Of course, it was the inclusion and reorchestration of Fred Neil's folk tune, "Everybody's Talkin'", as sung by Nilsson, that made the soundtrack a hit in 69 and has kept it in print all these decades. The lasting impression that this time capsule of a soundtrack leaves is the abundance of vocal energy and inventive harmonizing that proliferated in the late sixties, and how styles were changing from cool lounge and orchestral scoring to topical pop music placement to reflect the moment. Modern day soundtrack producers would do well to study this package and the film from which it was borne. Barry's themes - "Midnight Cowboy", "Fun City" "Science Fiction" "Joe Buck Rides Again" and "Florida Fantasy" reflect and refract pieces of the pop tunes while draping pivotal scenes in a lovely sadness. Outstanding is Toots Theilman's wailing harmonica on the Main Theme; the piece is a wee bit overproduced for the soundtrack edition and I wish the version used in the film - just harmonica and stummed guitar - had been included here. http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Cowboy-Original-Motion-Picture/dp/B00000DQWS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1362421406&sr=1-1&keywords=midnight+cowboy+soundtrack

Loved it. That bus ride Joe Buck takes from the midwest, through the rust belt, the bible belt and into New York City is a classic. Neat soundtrack, too. Still in print. But missing "Orange Juice on ice". I love movies filmed on location in NYC during the '60's and '70's. [youtube:1xn5ajrv]SGyTnG543Kk[/youtube:1xn5ajrv]

I'm old. Who the hell are any of these people. And why the hell wasn't Robert Redford or Gene Hackman presenting an award?

Vic Sage wrote: Marie is 12 years younger than Burton; but at that point he was still married and hadn't yet met her. So the mystery girl was probably someone else he was cheating with. Maybe it was Lisa Marie. I just remembered that this dining experience occurred in the Fall of '93, not '90, as I wrote initially.

Vic Sage wrote: i like Petrossian. The babe was probably Lisa Marie, a young model who was his girfriend in 1992. She appeared in a few of his early films, up through PLANET OF THE APES, when he met HBCarter. Maybe. But I'm talking Fall, 1990. She was noticeably younger than Burton, although Burton, in 1990 wasn't that old. (Neither was I).

I sat next to Tim Burton's table (for two) at Petrossian's about 20+ years ago. The tables there are packed so tightly that I was closer to Burton than I was to my dinner-mate. He was in town for the NY Film Festival. His babe was hot.