Missing No Longer: THE COMIC (1969) and GEORGIA, GEORGIA (1972)

It's been awhile since we had an installment of Missing No More.  Since we last checked in, two more Horn Section favorites have finally found their way to DVD.  Interestingly, each film features one of our favorite performers playing a big-name performer. 

Danny Peary stated that Dick Van Dyke had his best big-screen role in Carl Reiner's THE COMIC (1969).   Always affable in light comedies and musicals throughout the Sixties, Van Dyke played his least appealing character in silent screen legend Billy Bright.  Van Dyke's Bright is afraid to be unlikable onscreen, but has no problem being drunk, vain, selfish, hot-tempered and stubborn while cheating on wife and indispensable co-star Michele Lee offscreen.

Yes, cheating on Michele Lee--Dick Van Dyke is truly playing a douche here!  But while scoring dramatic points effectively, Van Dyke also does a superb job showing his chops as a would-be silent comedian in a montage of "vintage" shorts from Bright's heyday.  Play close attention to NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH and tell me that Stan Laurel wouldn't have loved that ending.  THE COMIC isn't fully realized (the age makeup is embarrassingly bad on Lee and Cornel Wilde, for example) and it's very difficult to watch Bright slowly destroy himself with one terrible decision after another.  In addition, THE COMIC is cringe-worthy on a different level with the effects of Bright's drinking in light of Van Dyke's later revelations about his own alcoholism.

Previously unavailable on home video save for a brief 1994 VHS release, THE COMIC has been given a second life by (who else?) Warner Archive.  Despite a few shortcomings, THE COMIC was clearly a labor of love for Van Dyke and Reiner (who also plays Billy Bright's agent) and every scene radiates the affection both men have for the era depicted as well as their mutual desire to push a few boundaries in the rapidly changing Hollywood of the late Sixties. 

Talk about a film we waited a long time for: I posted a YouTube clip from GEORGIA, GEORGIA (1972) way back in 2008, and reviewed the film the following year.  At that same time, I also had the privilege of participating in a roundtable on GEORGIA, GEORGIA over at Temple of Schlock in celebration of the late, great Diana Sands' 75th birthday.  It's more than fair to say that we're fans of hers here at The Section.

Given her superb work on Broadway (RAISIN IN THE SUN, THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT) and her terrific performance in Hal Ashby's THE LANDLORD (1970), it's surprising that Sands had to wait until 1972 for her first top billing on the big screen.  Sadly, GEORGIA, GEORGIA is something of a missed opportunity.  Stig Bjorkman probably wasn't the right director for Maya Angelou's provocative script, and the editing is noticeably crude at times.  Nevertheless, the Swedish film gives us the opportunity to see Diana Sands giving another strong performance playing pop star Georgia Martin, as well as big-screen performances by Minnie Gentry and Roger Furman, two underrated actors who mostly did stage work.  Activist Terry Whitmore also appears, playing a deserter three years after being the subject of the documentary TERRY WHITMORE, FOR EXAMPLE.

Scorpion Releasing is responsible for finally bringing GEORGIA, GEORGIA to DVD. Thankfully they've given us some terrific extras: in fact the extras along warrant the DVD purchase in this case.  Bjorkman and actor Dirk Benedict participate in a very informative commentary track, and Benedict even provided some behind the scenes photos from his personal collection.  Amazon has it, as does DVD Planet and others.

Netflix Instant Spotlight: Horn Section favorites

"Why the Hell isn't THIS on DVD yet?"




It is the most frequently asked question here at The Horn Section, and the films that provoke it are often rarely scheduled on cable and/or very hard to locate on VHS.




With the new, improved and greatly expanded library at Netflix, they couldn't help but hit a few Horn Section favorites.   Here's a partial list of blasts from Horn Section past now available for streaming: (you can read the original reviews by clicking the titles):

BLOOD AND LACE (1971):  Never officially released on either VHS or DVD, but very influential.  Fans of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and the original HALLOWEEN will see that director Philip S. Gilbert managed to beat Craven and Carpenter to the punch on elements of his only feature.  And how many chances will you get to see Len "Uncle Leo!" Lesser as a creepy handyman, Vic "stow it!" Tayback playing the ass kicking hero, and Melody Patterson still trying to look underage five years after F TROOP....all in the same place!



FAST BREAK (1979): And you thought the greatness of Gabe Kaplan was confined to the small screen and the poker felt.  Think again!  As far as film coaches go, Mr. Kaplan can go toe to toe with Walter Matthau, Ken Howard or anyone else you want to name.  Gabe leads his team, including Bernard King and Mavis Washington, to new heights, but hey, who wouldn't be inspired by the man who put Robert Conrad in his place?



CALIFORNIA PASSAGE (1950):  Forrest Tucker, the man the Academy Award should really be named for, teams again with Adele Mara,  his best leading lady.  As was usually the case with Republic, a top notch supporting cast and solid action.  Estelita Rodriguez has two songs and makes you wish there were more films to remember her by.





SUGAR HILL (1974): It's a cast of familiar, rather than big box office, names in this sleeper, but it is still a lot of fun, with delightfully menacing performances from Don Pedro Colley (his Baron Samedi tops Geoffrey Holder's IMO) and Zara Cully.




ST. LOUIS BLUES (1958): Eartha Kitt, Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Pearl Bailey, Mahalia Jackson, 11 year old Billy Preston(!) and Ella Fitzgerald all in the same film.  Need I say more?  If you're a fan of Kitt's, you'll want to see her finest screen performance, and while this bio of W. C. Handy gets carried away taking dramatic license at times (far from the only music bio to do so) it's still a must see for the cast, which also includes Ruby Dee and Juano Hernandez.



THE LANDLORD (1970):  Here's the DVD success story of the bunch, and Hal Ashby's debut is available for streaming too.  Was unfairly neglected for a long time, but now looks better with each passing year.  So does Diana Sands' performance.  Also with Beau Bridges, Oscar-nominated Lee Grant, Pearl Bailey, Mel Stewart and SUGAR HILL's Marki Bey.


A much more comprehensive list of Netflix Instant goodies can be found at Rupert Pupkin Speaks.  He's at 14 posts and counting!  Happy streaming.  Number 56 is up next!

Missing No Longer: COLD TURKEY (1971) and THE LANDLORD (1970)

The question "Why the Hell isn't THIS on DVD yet?" has happily become outdated for two more of The Horn Section's most wanted, thanks to MGM's answer to the Warner Archive, the MGM Limited Edition Collection.

COLD TURKEY (1971), which was review # 19 in our series, is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.  Here is the original review for Norman Lear's one and only feature film as director.  You'll have a lot of fun counting the familiar faces from Lear's later TV efforts, including Jean Stapleton, Vincent Gardenia, Barnard Hughes, Tom Poston, Paul Benedict and Barbara Cason. TV legends Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart star, and Edward Everett Horton makes his final film appearance---and beats BLAZING SADDLES to onscreen flatulence by three years.

Perhaps the finest film of the 1970's that had been excluded from DVD, and arguably one of the decade's top 20 films, Hal Ashby's THE LANDLORD (1970), is also among MGM's initial Limited Edition releases.  Here is the original review of this unsung classic, which boasts considerable talent behind the camera.  Ashby would go on to direct HAROLD AND MAUDE, THE LAST DETAIL, SHAMPOO and BEING THERE, and screenwriter Bill Gunn would go on to direct, write and star in the highly original vampire flick GANJA AND HESS (1973).  THE LANDLORD stars Beau Bridges, Marki Bey (SUGAR HILL), Oscar-nominated Lee Grant, Pearl Bailey, and, in perhaps her finest screen performance, Diana Sands (pictured).

Happy shopping!  # 44 in the series is coming up.

Film Review: GEORGIA, GEORGIA (1972)

Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet? -- Number 39

GEORGIA, GEORGIA (1972 Kelly-Jordan Enterprises/Cinerama) Starring Diana Sands, Minnie Gentry, Dirk Benedict, Roger Furman, Terry Whitmore. Directed by Stig Bjorkman. Screenplay by Maya Angelou.

Despite her stature as a two-time Tony nominee and marquee stage star for a decade, Diana Sands had to wait until 1972 to receive top billing in a feature.  The gifted actress was arguably Broadway's biggest African-American star during the 1960's but was repeatedly denied a silver screen breakthrough. When the time came to film her biggest Broadway hit (THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT) Hollywood turned to Barbra Streisand. When she gave a marvelously layered performance in Hal Ashby's THE LANDLORD, Lee Grant received the Oscar nomination that Sands really deserved.  Finally, Sands was cast as the lead in Kelly-Jordan Enterprises' first foray into film, GEORGIA, GEORGIA.

Sands' title character is a pop music diva arriving in Stockholm for the latest stop on her world tour with her inner circle, surrogate mother Minnie Gentry and homosexual business manager Roger Furman. During her stopover, black Vietnam deserter Terry Whitmore angles for a private audience with Sands to convince her to bring attention to the plight of his fellow expatriate defectors, but the apolitical diva shows no interest. Whitmore next tries to reach her through the more sympathetic Gentry, who sees an opportunity to play matchmaker.  Meanwhile, impotent white photographer Benedict (also a Vietnam veteran) is assigned to capture Sands on film for a magazine article and ends up capturing the ice queen's heart.

Maya Angelou's debut screenplay is nothing if not ambitious. She explores the loneliness of a single, successful woman at the top; the effect of the Vietnam experience on its shell-shocked vets and the plight of deserters who are permanently seperated from their homes and families; the sicknesses of racism and obsession with racial purity; and the often poor choices that larger than life stars make for their inner circle (i.e. Elvis, Selena, Michael). Stockholm is just about the last setting you would expect for a penetrating drama on racial issues, and the setting is just one of several curveballs Angelou has in store. Sands is largely unsympathetic: spoiled, condescending, self-important, shallow and abusive to her hired help. For her part, the older Gentry is far from a comforting mother figure; damaged by her experiences with racism, she seethes inside with hatred towards Caucasians and her smiles are often chilling, rarely reassuring. The script is perhaps too ambitious: for example, when Furman asks Sands why she keeps Gentry around ("to remind me of what I escaped"), we expect further elaboration at some point.

Filming in his native Sweden and coming off the challenge of directing non-professionals exclusively in his prior feature (I LOVE, YOU LOVE), Bjorkman is nevertheless the wrong director for this film.  He's far more comfortable with his locale than with the issues Angelou raises. Budget limitations are distractingly obvious, the pacing is uneven and the editing is consistently choppy.

Most damaging is Bjorkman's failure to establish Georgia as an international superstar named "the most popular American singer in Europe" as we're told in the first few minutes. The director seems most intent with deglamorizing the songbird, and the sexy, enticing Diana Sands of THE LANDLORD and DOCTORS' WIVES is only occasionally in evidence here. Typical is the botched opening. Angelou's rousing "Bird of Paradise" plays over Sands' arrival at the airport. Instead of letting the uplifting song play and following Sands as she triumphantly enters Stockholm, Bjorkman cuts away after less than a minute and whisks us to an awkwardly staged press conference. The necessary strong introduction to Sands' Georgia Martin never materializes, and her concert is also badly mishandled: poorly attended and featuring a lukewarm finale instead of the must-see spectacle we anticipate from "the goose that lays golden eggs". The failure to dub Sands is also unfortunate; she's a fantastic actor but medicore singer and lacks the vocal range for the show-stopper that is sorely needed.

As a result of the numerous missteps, it's impossible to buy Georgia Martin as a Diana Ross or Eartha Kitt on the world stage and Angelou's story is robbed of much of its power. In the end GEORGIA, GEORGIA seems more about Gentry and her consumption by hate than its title character.

Despite not having the budget or director for its intentions to be fully realized, GEORGIA, GEORGIA is still worth seeing for Angelou's imperfect but still intriguing debut screenplay and for the underappreciated performers in front of the camera. Minnie Gentry is best known today as Terrence Howard's grandmother, but she had four decades' stage experience before making her film debut here at age 57. She's very good overall, convincingly portraying Alberta's loosening grip on reality. A young Dirk Benedict also makes a solid film debut, and Roger Furman, well known as a stage director and playwright who founded Harlem's New Heritage Repertory Theatre, makes his only appearance in a feature film and nicely avoids the stereotypes as Sands' gay manager.

So...why isn't this on DVD yet?

Poor direction and budget constraints that are too obvious keep the film from reaching its full potential. The subject matter is in some ways dated and the film is crudely edited.

GEORGIA, GEORGIA is very obscure; surprisingly, this received only a brief VHS release in 1983 at the height of Dirk Benedict's A-TEAM fame, then disappeared.

The stars are primarily known for stage (Sands, Gentry, Furman) or television (Benedict) rather than for their respective film careers. Only Sands ever played a lead on the big screen, and only one other one at that (the misfire HONEYBABY, HONEYBABY).

Why it should be on DVD:

Maya Angelou fans would certainly be interested in her debut screenplay; she also wrote the songs Bird of Paradise and I Can Bring down Rain.

There's precious little of Diana Sands' film work available as it is: amazingly, only A RAISIN IN THE SUN, WILLIE DYNAMITE and HONEYBABY, HONEYBABY are on DVD. GEORGIA, GEORGIA is far from a perfect showcase for the late star, yet it is the better of the two feature films she headlined.  Even in a less than ideal role and hampered by the budget, Sands is still very convincing off the concert stage and well worth watching.

Dated, perhaps, but certainly not irrelevant: the dysfunctional inner circle of the superstar seems as timely as ever in the wake of Michael Jackson's death, and Gentry's hair-raising comments about Sands "dishonoring her race" are sadly still echoed in news stories in America today. Also of note: the appearance by real life Vietnam deserter by Terry Whitmore, who by this time had already been the subject of a documentary (TERRY WHITMORE, FOR EXAMPLE).

TiVo alert: Diana Sands' theatrical swan song WILLIE DYNAMITE will air on Turner Classic Movies' TCM Underground at 2:30 A.M. on September 26th. With Roscoe "Gordon" Orman as the titular pimp(!).

Happy Birthday Diana Sands

Today would have been Diana Sands' 75th birthday.

In paying tribute to the late, great actress, whose best known films are likely A RAISIN IN THE SUN and THE LANDLORD, Chris Poggiali at TEMPLE OF SCHLOCK hosted a roundtable discussion of her hard to find 1972 film GEORGIA, GEORGIA.

I was very honored to be invited to participate, and would like to give special thanks to Chris for the opportunity to finally see a film that's very hard to find and has been on my want list for a long time.

Of course, The Horn Section will be offering a review of GEORGIA, GEORGIA in the near future as well. In the meantime, here's the roundtable.

Diana Sands starring in THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT on Broadway, 1964  (with Alan Alda)

Film Review: THE LANDLORD (1970)

"Why the Hell Isn't this on DVD yet?" -- Number 29











THE LANDLORD (1970 United Artists) Starring Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, Lou Gossett Jr., Marki Bey, Robert Klein, Walter Brooke, Melvin Stewart. Directed by Hal Ashby.


Beau Bridges is a poor little rich boy who decides it is finally time to spread his wings at 29. He leaves his bluenose family behind to purchase a dilapidated Park Slope apartment house with the idea of evicting the mostly African-American tenants and turning the place into a giant bachelor pad. Beau doesn't get off to a great start: he is chased down the street while unpacking, extorted by a chain smoking 8 year old boy, and then finds himself staring down the barrel of Pearl Bailey's shotgun. But he eventually grows fond of his tenants and begins fixing the place up, to the consternation of his racist parents. He grows especially fond of activist Gossett's wife Diana Sands, formerly Miss Sepia of 1957 and now a hairstylist. While Gossett is in jail, Bridges and Sands share a one night stand in a rent party's aftermath.  Later, after Gossett is released, Sands discovers she is pregnant.

Hal Ashby was one of the major directors of the 1970's (his other credits include BEING THERE, THE LAST DETAIL, HAROLD AND MAUDE and SHAMPOO) and THE LANDLORD fits right in with his other quirky projects from the get-go. Scriptwriter Bill Gunn helps create two surrealistic worlds through Bridges' eyes: his apartment building, and his family's home--which is loopier and even cartoonish. Aside from one rent party sequence with rapid-fire editing (a scene that may have influenced Spike Lee) in which Bridges hears from various directions what it's like to be black, there's little that could pass for lecturing.

Instead, Ashby and Gunn explore race relations at the dawn of the 1970's through unconventional interactions: Bailey and Grant (as Bridges' blue blood mother) bond over pot liquor; Bridges brings his biracial girlfriend Bey (SUGAR HILL) to a family fundraiser, to muted reaction at best; Sands and Bridges struggle with a mutual attraction, in early scenes with Bridges clearly intimidated, then later with Bridges exhibiting more alcohol-fueled confidence.

Performances are uniformly outstanding.  Bridges exudes boyish charm despite the occasionally frustrating ignorance of his character; scenes with Grant and Brooke convince us he comes by it honestly. Bailey (ST. LOUIS BLUES) who sadly had few feature film roles, is wonderfully eccentric, and Gossett covers the range from menacing to hilariously deadpan to heartbreaking.

Best of all is Broadway star Diana Sands, who starred in several interracial
 romances on stage (THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT, WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN) and screen (DOCTORS' WIVES, GEORGIA GEORGIA). Sands gives a remarkably layered performance. She's alternately sexy, subtly strong (in scenes with both Bridges and Gossett), and finally bitingly sad, when she realizes the level of Bridges' irresponsibility and ignorance. Grant received an Oscar nomination, but that nomination really should have gone to Sands.  It's her best screen performance IMO.

Ashby's camerawork is a little too flashy at times in his debut (uncomfortably aping THE GRADUATE in the final reel), and Gunn's script gets a little over the top in scenes with Bridges' family, but these are minor gripes, maybe even nitpicking. Overall THE LANDLORD remains a lost classic of the early 1970's, one of the very best films of its year. It is a perceptive and unpretentious study of racial and class differences and perhaps even the most puzzling exclusion from DVD of its decade.


So....why isn't this on DVD?


This is one time when I can't think of one damned reason.  Seriously, this is a classic.


Why it should be on DVD:


Imagine an early Scorcese or Coppola film not being on DVD. Can't, can you? It's the only Hal Ashby film of the decade that hasn't been released yet.

Not to put down any of the great flicks of the 'Soul Cinema' series, but THE LANDLORD is a better drama than any of them. Yes, even COOLEY HIGH.

Diana Sands is one of the most underappreciated actresses of all time, and Hal Ashby one of the most underappreciated directors. This is an opportunity to see some phenomenal work from both. Don't miss it.

Diana Sands in a Maya Angelou script

There's a number of films that I'd love to review but I simply can't find a copy of ANYWHERE. These films also never turn up on any of the hundreds of cable channels available (but of course, EVAN ALMIGHTY will air two dozen times a week...but I digress).

Case in point: 1972's GEORGIA, GEORGIA. The film stars the great Diana Sands, Minnie Gentry, and a young Dirk Benedict.  Directed by Stig Bjorkman and scripted by none other than Maya Angelou. Despite the talent both in front of and behind the camera, I've yet to see this. It received a brief VHS release in the early 1980's to cash in on Benedict's A-TEAM fame and has virtually vanished ever since.

Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet? More like, "why the Hell can't I even see this, period?"

Here's a few clips. Hard to believe that the beautiful and very talented Sands would be diagnosed with terminal cancer only a year after the film's release. If anyone out there has a copy, let me know. Any Diana Sands film is a must-watch.

The Horn Section Salutes: Diana Sands (1934-1973)

It's hard to believe she's been gone this long. 35 years ago this week, the late, great Diana Sands left us way too young at age 39.

Sands' film appearances were unfortunately sporadic, but she was one of Broadway's biggest stars of the mid-1960's, best known for starring in the hits RAISIN IN THE SUN and THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT (with a young Alan Alda). She was Tony-nominated for her groundbreaking comedic performance in the latter and for her performance as the bereaved Juanita in 1964's BLUES FOR MISTER CHARLIE.

I'm planning on reviewing THE LANDLORD here soon--as usual, I can't believe it isn't on DVD yet. But Diana Sands brought her beauty, class and tremendous talent to a number of films, ranging from classics like RAISIN IN THE SUN and THE LANDLORD to the blaxploitation-lite WILLIE DYNAMITE.

The above clip is from THE DOCTORS' WIVES (1971), an unfortunately turgid soap opera. Still, Sands is terrific as usual as the 'other woman' in married Richard Crenna's life.

See for yourself how talented she was, and imagine the great performances we didn't get to see over the last three decades.

As usual, more film reviews to come.....