Gettysburg, a place where you really feel the full weight of history all around you: the history we've experienced and the very different one we could've had instead; On the 150th anniversary of the battle, the continuing wonder that is MGM's Oscar-nominated 1955 documentary two-reel short, 'Battle of Gettysburg,' narrated by Leslie Nielsen; History Channel's 2011 documentary "Gettysburg" narrated by Sam Rockwell

If you've never been to Gettysburg yourself, much less, like me, visited after spending LOTS of time brushing-up on the various aspects of the 1863 three-day battle that you once knew pretty well, but which has since gotten a bit hazy, it's hard to fully comprehend what took place there. 

Even more so then when as a kid without much knowledge or context, I visited Shiloh around 1967, and actually met someone whose grandfather had fought there.

How so many different aspects of our everyday life -as Americans- we now take for granted that could've been completely different if this battle had turned out differently.

In some ways, the more you actually know in detail about what happened there before visiting, the even harder it is to imagine, since when you are walking around there on a very warm day, all the details just seem like... well, an unbearable weight.

Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg by tour guide Gary Kross

http://youtu.be/OS_eZDl67vs

Little Round Top at Gettysburg by tour guide Gary Kross

http://youtu.be/rDhu75RN3wQ

Five minutes from disaster!

As far as I'm concerned, nobody should ever contemplate running for president of this country who hasn't spent some quality time there absorbing the atmosphere and the might-have-beens.

And talking about it publicly.

It's a genuine eye-opener in ways that you can't really imagine until you actually see it yourself, away from the tours, standing in the middle of an immense field.

The other thing that immediately is noticed by many first-time visitors are the large number of foreign visitors you meet there at the battleground, reminding you all over again -as if you needed reminding- that many other people far from this small Pennsylvania town realize its monumental importance, too.

Gettysburg - Pickett's Charge: The Plan

http://youtu.be/TRZj48Ys25U

Video History Today video: Picketts Charge, Gettysburg, PA

-Gives present-day orientation of what took place and how it looks now.

http://youtu.be/hDkiN7cVvhg

Civil War historian Edwin Bearss - Receding Tide (National Geographic)

http://youtu.be/tEil6U5uCts

Gettysburg National Military Park homepage

http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

See other present day video of Gettysburg and other historical events at

http://www.videohistorytoday.com/

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Repeal1913 YouTube Channel video - MGM's 1955 documentary short: 'Battle of Gettysburg,' narrated by Leslie Nielsen. Filmed entirely on location at Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania. 
Director: Herman Hoffman, Producer/Screenwriter: Dore Schary, with Music Adapted and Conducted by Adolph Deutsch, Orchestrated by Alexander Courage.

1 of 3. Uploaded August 16, 2008. http://youtu.be/byG8wb1Pwzo

2 of 3. http://youtu.be/-1FKwUIyn4M

3 of 3. http://youtu.be/lkW7822UwaY

AcmeFilmCorporation YouTube Channel video: Gettysburg (2011).
History Channel Civil War documentary depicts the battle thru the eyes of eight men. Uploaded March 20, 2013. Director: Adrian Moat, Narrated by Sam Rockwell.
http://youtu.be/WEZrAmFSCEA

Hoosiers! And the day after my beloved IU Hoosiers win their first Big Ten regular season basketball championship in 20 years, we speak now of the other beloved "Hoosiers." New York Times film critic A.O. Scott on what makes "Hoosiers" not just a great sports film, but a great film for the ages

Opening scene and credits of MGM's 1986 "Hoosiers," with Jerry Goldsmith's iconic Oscar-nominated score. Uploaded June 1, 2012. http://youtu.be/tUqhPsZh93Y

NYTimes video: N.Y. Times film critic A. O. Scott reviews the beloved 1986 MGM film "Hoosiers" about Indiana high school basketball -and personal redemption- set in 1951, and why it still remains a film for the ages. Uploaded March 3, 2009. http://youtu.be/AzgOZ0xHCEA

And on the day after my IU Hoosiers win the Big Ten basketball regular season championship for the first time in 20 years, a game they appeared certain to lose to Michigan in Ann Arbor before coming back in the final seconds, we speak of the other beloved "Hoosiers."

In 1986, I was living in Evanston, Illinois, the suburban home of IU Big ten rival Northwestern University, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, a town full of bright and fully-engaged professional, academic and management types just north of Chicago, and a world separate and apart from the life I had known and led in North Miami Beach and in Bloomington.

Then as now I was a big sports fan and avid movie-goer, a lover of not only classic films, but the worlds of advertising, journalism, American and European history and politics.
And like many of you reading this today, a sucker for smart and knowing well-made films about comebacks and teamwork and overcoming adversity against all odds, including those of self-sabotage, as was the case with Dennis Hooper's character in the film, where he played former basketball star-turned-alcoholic father and assistant coach "Shooter" Flatch



In short, I was the perfect demographic for the MGM film that came out that year loaded with a cinematic all-star lineup and a narrative that was straight out of both Indiana and Hollywood, loosely based on a story I'd known for years since leaving South Florida in the rear-view mirror for the Cream and Crimson of the beautiful rolling hills of southern Indiana and Indiana University in Bloomington, late in the summer of the year that the film 'Breaking Away" had been released to popular and critical acclaim.

Because of who I knew and what my interests and passions were, I'd been hearing and reading about the film from the very beginning, even before it was ever shot, from friends in Los Angeles involved in the entertainment industry and thru my avid and copious reading of the film industry trades I usually bought most weeks, like Variety.

From the crucial initial choices made in on-screen casting as well as those behind-the-screen with respect to the writer, director and even the film's composer, I knew that it could be a very special film indeed if all the stars aligned, and yet you never know how these things will go, despite the talented team you assemble.

So, it was with all of that history and knowledge very much front and center in my mind that I found myself one cold night in Evanston literally leaning against a wall while in line outside of a movie theater, forced by timing to listen to a bunch of jaded and self-indulgent NU grad students blabbing about the film and story in ways that bore absolutely no resemblance to what the reality was or what was soon to come.

As ridiculous as it sounds now, they even joked about leaving after an hour because how could this story about Indiana high school basketball possibly turn out to be anything worthwhile, even with Gene Hackman.
Yes, they really said that.

But you know what I did?
I kept quiet.
I kept my mouth shut and refused to play the Marshall McLuhan card as Woody Allen had does in his Oscar-winning Annie Hall.
You know what scene I mean.



I found myself there at that point in time because I'd had the good sense and foresight many months before to call in some IOU's from folks I knew around the Chicago area who were very much, yes, "in the "Loop" in the Loop.
The sort of people who know things before the masses and have unusual access because of who they are or what they do.
Since I wasn't afraid to reciprocate, I was also never afraid to ask for favors when it came to something important, as long as it was legal and above board.

I told them, these media and business mavens, that I wanted to be in the audience for the sneak preview of "Hoosiers " weeks before the film actually played in Chicagoland, and if possible, somewhere near Evanston.


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That's how I came to be standing in line with a special pass from a film-related concern to attend a special sneak preview of "Hoosiers" at a then-extant movie theater on Central Avenue, located across the street from the Wildcats' athletic facilitiess, the-then Dyche Stadium and Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Hickory High head coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) gives his underdog Huskers some pregame reminders and encouragement just moments before the start of their championship game against South Bend Central. Preacher Purl (Michael Sassone)  delivers a message that seems tailor-made for the upset-minded team. Uploaded February 13, 2011. http://youtu.be/3gKbrj2nZis

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen."

- Preacher Purl encouraging the underdog Hickory High basketball team before the state title game against heavily-favored South Bend Central in 1986's Hoosiers 

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechhoosiersfinal.html

The rest as they say is history.

I've seen this film well over 25 times from beginning-to-end, less than some, but surely more than most.
Though that's still less than I've seen "Breaking Away," a film that I know inside and out like I know the smiles of my three adorable nieces in any large crowd.

More exciting behind-the-scenes video of new 007/James Bond film, "Skyfall" in London, Turkey and Shanghai with Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and director Sam Mendes; #SKYFALL, #007

Reviewing what we already know -the second U.S trailer for Skyfall
http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/skyfall/clips/5074/

"Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first."

Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, opens in U.K. cinemas October 26th and in U.S. theaters November 9th, and as everyone has known for months because it's the worst-kept 'secret' of the year, Adele will be singing the new title song. 
As I've mentioned in my previous posts about this film, Skyfall is the first 007 film to be only filmed in IMAX.


jamesbond007 video: Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe on their roles in new 007 film, Skyfall.  Uploaded September 20, 2012. http://youtu.be/diFTdVBYISg
M: "Think on your sins."


jamesbond007 video: Skyfall director Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig talk about the role of the London locations to show the essential Britishness of James Bond by showing real but iconic places he would frequent, but from unusal and perhaps even menacing perspectives. Uploaded August 16, 2012. http://youtu.be/dl218z68iC4


Amazing Shangai will clearly be a big co-star of the new James Bond film and a revelation for people who have never traveled there.
http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/skyfall/clips/4858/


jamesbond007 video: On the set in Turkey for the shooting of the opening sequences of the film that sets up the premise. Uploaded September 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/sYEpEseJl9U

See the studio stage here, including a 360 view, at:

http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/our-studios/uk/pinewood-studios/stages/007-stage-pw

Visit the official website at http://www.007.com 

See more 007/Skyfall videos at their official YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbond007

See who else Likes James Bond at http://www.facebook.com/JamesBond007 

More mournful wistfulness about a talented entertainer: All Eyes on Sharon Tate

Turner Classic Movies video: All Eyes on Sharon Tate - (Original Promo Featurette) A behind the scenes featurette on the making of 13 which was released as Eye of the Devil (1967). http://youtu.be/Qf1NX9AQOEI


I've been wanting to post this Sharon Tate featurette video ever since I started the blog, even before Turner Classic Movies finally made the video available on their website as an embed, having previously videotaped it off of TCM many years ago and then subsequently dubbed it to a DVD thanks to a friend who had a VHS/DVR when they were still expensive.

But now, well, I don't have to do that, and the difference in quality is obvious.


(And no sooner do I say that than two of the videos I've embedded here keep showing the same thing, the trailer for Eye of the Devil, when I look at this in Draft preview.
Even though the embed code for each is different! I've run into this problem before with the TCM embeds and had to cancel some blog posts here on classic films because I couldn't show what was the meat of the post. Oh, well.)


These sorts of featurettes and film promos are one of the reasons that I've been such a devout TCM viewer ever since it started. My favorite is one that was done about the filming of The Dirty Dozen, like the first video, filmed in London in 1966 for MGM.


Turner Classic Movies video: The Dirty Dozen - (Original Promo Featurette), A look behind the scenes of the making of the World War II thriller, The Dirty Dozen (1967), starring Lee Marvin & Jim Brown.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/30500/Dirty-Dozen-The-Original-Promo-Featurette-.html


The specific reasons I'm posting this today is two-fold.
First, it's a general reaction of sorts on my part from watching so much of the truly disturbing courtroom testimony that's been given at the trial of Anders Behring Breivik in Oslo, which I've been following closely and watching online since it started, though I haven't mentioned it here on the blog for reasons not worth getting into now.


Breivik was/is a person with a delusional personality who imagined himself destined for big things, believes in a political manifesto and was more than willing to kill innocent people to gain publicity for those political beliefs and to hasten the change that he imagined would naturally follow from it. 
Just like Charles Manson.


This past week, I finally I saw a recent film directed by Sharon Tate's husband, Roman Polanski, that I'd never seen before, though I've seen pretty much everything else he's done that's been released in the U.S., including the Polish language films from the 1960's, like .
Knife in the Water . 
It's 2010's The Ghost Writer starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan MacGregor.


I've previously discussed the controversy surrounding him here on the blog, but my focus today is on Tate, his wife who was only 26 when she was intentionally murdered by the Charles Manson gang, along with their unborn child, and four others on her property, three years after this video was filmed.


When you watch this video at the top that was done to promote the upcoming David Hemmings, David Niven and Debrorah Kerr suspense film she was co-starring in, she just completely takes your breath away, and you see how her dynamic beauty just jumps right off the screen.

Turner Classic Movies video: Eye of the Devil - (Original Trailer)
A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret in Eye of the Devil (1966) starring David Niven and Deborah Kerr.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/29013/Eye-of-the-Devil-Original-Trailer-.html


In my opinion, the only actress we have now with those sort of dynamic qualities is really Charlize Theron, and frankly, I'm not so crazy about her recent film choice selection or even her off-screen choices.


Theron is perplexing in that way, and while I can imagine some of the reasons why her film choices might've seemed appealing to her at the time, to be honest, since she won her Oscar for a film that very few people actually saw at the time -and which is, even now, largely forgotten and which draws blank looks from people when you ask which film she won the Oscar for- while there's no doubting that she's clearly got the talent chops and the beauty, what have we really been offered of late that film fans will recall fondly twenty years from now?


Why is she never in an ensemble film that is really well-done, memorable and popular with critics and audiences alike?
Why is is always one but not the others?


Talented directors we respect and admire ought to practically be banging down her door -or having her agent do that because of a role that she'd be perfect in- but I never hear from my friends and contacts in LA about good roles she turned down in order to be in something great.


It sort of makes me wonder what's going on, and whether there's some reason, mysterious or banal, that might better explain why Theron, as close as we have to a glamorous old-fashioned movie star as anyone, doesn't seem to be getting offered the sorts of scripts we'd all agree she ought to be seeing, for films that we'd like to see her in.


Who knows, maybe the directors I'm thinking of think she should work for less to be in quality ensemble productions, something that DOES happen frequently in Hollywood and esp. in London for period films, and she simply thinks that she'd be making a mistake to do that now.


On the other hand, isn't this sort of what has happened to Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, too?
They both should really be in the 'sweet spot' of their film careers, where they are in one good film after another, and yet... the best thing I've seen Charlize in has been that fabulous Dior ad for J'adore.



http://youtu.be/mXrWiJcmvBI


As for Gwyneth, is it a case of too much Goop-ing around?


Meanwhile, we wonder about what might've been for Sharon Tate.
The quality light-comedy films that she would've delighted us in, or the melodramas that made us cry, as she got better at her craft and more self-confident...
Take advantage of your opportunities while you have them...



Sharon Tate, Murdered Innocence - Part 4
http://youtu.be/NnrqxXnD-Mo  

First teaser trailer for new James Bond film, Skyfall, released today! "Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first." Skyfall opens in U.K. on Oct. 26th and in U.S. on Nov. 9th

The first teaser trailer for the new James Bond film, Skyfall, was released today to set the mood for the millions of eager 007 fans around the world. May 21, 2012. http://youtu.be/xJ4dAY3DW4c

"Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first."

Skyfall, the first 007 film to be only filmed in IMAX, opens in the U.K. on October 26th and in the U.S. on November 9th, the first Friday after the election.
Directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Naomie Harris. And yes, once upon a time, the amazing Rachel Weisz dated Mendes for three years before breaking-up in 2002; she's now married to Craig since last year's surprise wedding.

Over 284,000 people have already seen this teaser within the first 12 hours it's been online...


New SKYFALL Production Videoblog. May 3, 2012. http://youtu.be/GK5ws85Rxd8

See the studio stage here, including a 360 view, at:
http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/our-studios/uk/pinewood-studios/stages/007-stage-pw

Visit the official website at http://www.007.com 

See more 007/Skyfall videos at their official YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbond007

See who else Likes James Bond at http://www.facebook.com/JamesBond007 


Robbie Williams -  Millennium
http://youtu.be/BJ5uIkJDb6o

In a word, brilliant!!!