Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

  • Amazing but true fact: the guy who wrote "Wild Thing" is Jon Voight's brother.

  • A word I hate: vibrant. A worthless adjective never actually used to describe somthing that's vibrating.

    (A quick search though Pun Salad archives shows that—whew!—it's only appeared in quotes here.)

  • Things I wish were on DVD, but (as near as I can tell) aren't:

    • Hearts of the West: a neat little screwball comedy from 1975, directed by Howard Zieff, starring Jeff Bridges and Andy Griffith.

    • For that matter, another Zieff-directed movie, Slither. I remember as also being quite funny. Starring James Caan, Sally Kellerman, and Peter Boyle.

    • So Fine. Ryan O'Neal as a college prof roped into his dad's clothing business. Written and directed by Andrew Bergman, who went on to write and direct the awful, career-destroying, Striptease with Demi Moore. Which, ironically, you can easily get on DVD.)

    • OK, I like screwball comedies, but I also wouldn't mind seeing Fate is the Hunter one more time. Glenn Ford investigates an air crash that killed everyone except for Suzanne Pleshette. I saw this at the Military Theatre in Omaha when it came out back in 1964. (The theatre is now a church.)

    Someday I'm sure we'll be able to watch any movie ever made on a momentary whim. But today I'd settle for being able to get those via Blockbuster.

  • Until that day comes, though: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection is going for a mere $26.99 at Amazon. Their five best movies, plus a bonus disk.


Last Modified 2022-10-04 3:02 PM EDT