Meanwhile

 

"Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy... "

~Charlie Townsend (John Forsythe)

Charlie's Angels

Opening credits all 5 seasons

Who didn't watch Charlie's Angels when they were kids? I was 14 or so when this movie first aired, and it was good by 1976 standards, but it wasn't what made the biggest hit with friends and me, it was the way Farrah Fawcett-Majors wore her hair! We all returned to school the next September with variations on her famous haircut! Farrah brought a certain quirky glamour to her character, Jill Monroe, that was more playful then her fellow angels. The TV movie pilot for the show premiered on March 21st, 1976, and it was an instant hit with, America! It didn't hurt that one of the actors who appeared in the pilot was Tommy Lee Jones, of whom I was already a fan of, from his days on One Life To Live! Yep it was television magic for a while, but with the departure of Farrah Fawcett-Majors some of the sparkle disappeared and was never quite found again. The 5th, and final season, was unwatchable in my opinion. By the way, fun fact, the address of the Townsend Agency was, 8619 Sunset blvd, Los Angeles, California.

Meanwhile...

It's Wednesday, and I am weary, so I feel like jumping into the way-back machine, and ignoring the stupid. Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Bionic Woman, Vegas, they were all big hits, and an excellent escape from the stupid of the mid-70's and early 80's. But there are a few current shows that do that for me in the here and now. Your Friends and Neighbors, and Widows Bay come to mind. Both can be found on Apple Tv. Your Friends and Neighbors has concluded it's second season, so let the bingeing begin, and Window's Bay will air it's season finale today. I sure hope it comes back. It's got horror, comedy, drama and intrigue all wrapped into a nifty mystery! It's so much fun to watch! If you haven't seen it, go, right now to Apple TV and binge this season. Trust me, it will hook you right in! It will also make you laugh out loud, scare you, and warm your heart.

Widow's Bay review from then New York Times

8901 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood

 

"Remembrance of things past, are not necessarily remembrance as things were."

~Marcel Proust

I found the black and white picture on BlueSky this past weekend, and the memories of one of my visits to Los Angeles when I was a kid, popped into my head as if I had just lived through it just a day ago! I am sure you remember me sharing about my sister, sister-in-law and I driving down the Sunset strip one night in 1970, and being amazed at all the neon lights and the glamourous people walking about. One of the neon lights I remember was from the Whisky A- Go-Go. First of all, I loved the name, and second all those cool kids standing around were, well, cool! I was around 7 years old, or so, and I had spent half my life wanting to be a hippy flower child! An idea my mother was never to keen on, but even less so after the Manson murders! LOL.

 You know how it is, moms are overprotective. But somehow, she was sure Manson himself was going to escape, comeback to the Bay Area, find my sister and I and that would be it... we'd be dead. Eventually Dad convinced her that Manson would not be heading our way, and a trip to L.A. to Disneyland would be good for my sister and I. So, down HWY 5 we went. A mere 7 hours later we hit Los Angeles! We checked into the Disneyland Hotel, grabbed a quick meal, and hit the strip as the kids called it. I have no idea who was booked at the Whisky a Go-Go that night, but I love Johnny Rivers, and I found him singing one of my favorite songs on the Ed Sullivan show, so I hope you enjoy this post. It's meant to make you smile, and enjoy a look back, before we have to go forward with another week, and another month!

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Into The Night

 

Diana: If he's still with you, you better let him go... if you ever want to see those stones alive...

 ( corrects herself ) 

... again

( corrects herself yet again )

... ever!

~Diana

Played by, Michelle Pfeiffer

Into The Night

Ed, has insomnia. He is depressed. His wife is cheating on him. He's screwing up at work. Probably because he has insomnia, due to his depression and his wife cheating on him. Or any combination of the three dynamics, but one night everything changes, and it all gets worse! Or maybe better. You see the sudden encounter with a stranger named, Diana, rocks Ed's life. Is she just what Ed needed? Or is she the worse thing that could have happened to him. You get the drift... Ed leads a dull life... but life can change on a dime, with twists and turns you never see coming, and suddenly life isn't a boring and depressing routine! With a great cast and an amazing, title song by, B.B. King, Into The Night, is a fun little mystery that will keep you guessing, what can possibly happen next?

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Sunset Boulevard

 

"I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

~Norma Desmond

Sunset Boulevard

1950

Hubby and I enjoy noir very much, he has his favorites, Key Largo, Casablanca, Dark Passage, To Have And Have Not, and I enjoy those films to, but there is one noir film I consider high above the rest, Sunset Boulevard! How to you play a character that is over the top without going too far over the top? Well, Gloria Swanson could teach a class in the subtleties of the overly dramatic, by using this performance alone. Her portrayal of Norma Desmond, evokes as much sympathy as it does genuine terror. You don't know from one moment to the next, just which Norma you are talking to, because believe me, you don't just watch this movie, you talk to it!. Norma is an aging actress, dealing with superficial perceptions, both hers and others, and the ever changing Hollywood machine, that cast her aside when talkies came along. Also whispering in poor Norma's ear is the self-loathing, suspicious, selfish man-child who seems to have traded his own life, for the safety of life in a depressing mansion on Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles. William Holden is great as, Joe Gillis, a writer who takes a job as Norma's plaything, and manly counterpart. He is every bit as lost as Norma is, so can a co-dependency be far apart? The film has some stunning social commentary for the time, and a more than cynical attitude toward Hollywood. With it's slightly eerie feel, it's worth watching on a rainy night, but if you don't have one of those handy, any night of the week, or weather conditions will do, but rainy nights are so dramatic, aren't they?

🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

OUATIH

 

"Nah, it was dumber than that."

~Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) 

Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood 

 

Warning: Spoilers Below

 

Hair will always be my favorite movie, full stop, but in 2019 a new movie came along that floored me, and I find myself watching about as much as I do Hair. It's the 9th film from Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood. It's smart, funny, violent, gory, sweet, shocking, and downright chilling. In other words, it's a movie by Quentin Tarantino, so as you might expect, it's complicated. But what Tarantino did was to give the audience, his audience, a chance to visit the night of August 8th,1969, and dream of a whatif scenario, like any of us of a certain age did, since the tragedy happened all those years ago. I was 8 years old when the murders occurred. I had been in Los Angeles the year before when my sister and I visited Disneyland with my sister-in-law.

 

 We drove around all over Tinseltown, and marveled at the lights along the Sunset Strip. I will never forget the lights of the city. We drove to Malibu and through some of the canyons on day 2. Benedict Canyon was one of them! Our 5 day vacation was exciting, and wildly fun, and I still daydream about it to this day. My sister and I bonded that trip, and spent some time talking about our bother who was serving in Vietnam. Sis and I had never been particularly close, and we still aren't, in fact we haven't spoken in 25 years, but our first vacation away from our parents was filled with so much innocent fun that I feel a little sad that she and I are no longer friends, or family for that matter, because life is short.

 

Sharon Tate only lived 26 years. She had a younger sister too. Unfortunately they never got to live a lifetime of sisterhood, and here my relationship ended over so much self-inflicted indifference and deliberate malice that it's obscene. My heart aches for the life Sharon Tate never got to have, because of individuals filled with rage, drug induced paranoia and societal indifference. My sister acted out for similar reasons. Sharon was gorgeous, so much so that it's rumored that she was the inspiration for Malibu Barbie! And it's easy to believe, as there was a pretty strong resemblance between the actress and the doll. It's kind of a nice thought. I was a fan, even as a child. When I heard the news of her death, I was so sad, I remember discussing it with my friend Jimmy, my best friend, who would pass away himself a few short months later. 

 

His death left a huge hole in my life, and in the hearts of everyone on our street. The kids didn't play together anymore, and the parents stopped having friendly cookouts together. No dads watching football together, or moms meeting after PTA meetings for gossip and a quick drink before the menfolk got home from work. So many times over the years I have thought about those two uniquely devastating events, and what it would be like had neither had occurred. I have played it over in my head about a million times, but it always ended up the same, that poor lady passed away, and my friend was gone at 8 years old. The End. But as it turned out, there was someone, somewhere, about my age thinking about tragedy too, and in 2019, he gave me an ending I could get lost in, to a great deal of satisfaction. It's fiction. Sharon Tate's story did occur, but as I sit here, an old lady of nearly 60, watching as tragedies happen almost daily, I am grateful to Quentin Tarantino for giving me an alternate reality to step into for a bit of relief. He couldn't bring my friend back and change the events that led to his death, but he did give Sharon Tate a different story.

 

Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood.

 

If you haven't seen OUATIH watch it.

 I can't recommend it enough.