Sony Pictures: California Suite (1978) The Roller Coaster of Life

Source:Sony Pictures Home Entertainment- Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor in California Suite. (1978)

Source:The New Democrat

"CALIFORNIA SUITE is the story of five couples who have come to the Beverly Hills Hotel for diverse reasons and who must all confront some rather amusing personal dilemmas. Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine) becomes the victim of wife Diana's (Maggie Smith) outrage when she misses."

From Sony Pictures

"Four totally different and separate stories of guests staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Diane Barrie (Dame Maggie Smith) and Sidney Cochran (Sir Michael Caine) come from England to attend the Oscars; Hannah Warren (Jane Fonda) comes from New York City, Bill Warren (Alan Alda) is her ex who lives in California; in the slapstick part, Dr. Willis Panama (Bill Cosby), Dr. Chauncey Gump (Richard Pryor), and their wives come to the hotel to relax and play tennis, only to find there is only one room vacant; in the fourth segment, Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau) arrives a day before his wife for his nephew's Bar Mitzvah, while his brother Harry (Herb Edelman) sends a prostitute to his room. Written by Jonathan (jrd@netvision.net.il)"

Source:IMDB- The cast from California Suite (1978)

From IMDB

I’m sorry, I wish I could’ve found a better video that would’ve shown all three couples, or groups in this movie that would’ve given you a better idea about what this great romantic comedy is about. But I guess you’re going to have to take my word for it, or see the movie yourself.

This is one my favorite comedies of all-time that I saw again on Friday in preparation to write this piece. This is one of the smartest written and funniest written comedies of all-time, with one of the funniest casts that you could put in a movie. People who should all be in the Comedy Hall of Fame, when you’re talking about Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Walter Matthau, Alan Alda, Michael Caine, and Jane Fonda.

California Suite is about four out-of-town couples coming to Los Angeles. There, should I go on, is there really anything else you need to know about this movie, I mean isn’t that enough, can I retire now? Fine, I’ll go on, but it is about three out-of-town couples coming to Los Angeles for sort of a little vacation.

You have an African-American foursome coming to LA from Chicago. A Jewish-American couple from Philadelphia to attend a, well Bar Mitzvah. (What else) And then there’s a divorced couple. The woman coming from New York and the man coming from the San Francisco area. And they are meeting in Los Angeles for some reason and they are meeting to talk about their daughter’s future. Apparently little Sally doesn’t like living with Mom and wants to live with Dad instead.

The divorced couple played by Alan Alda and Jane Fonda is interesting to me for several reasons and I will give you a few of them. One, the humor in the movie matches Al and Jane, (let's call them) very well. It is as if the humor in this movie was written for them as far as all the sarcasm and quick-witted jabs and one-liners they deliver in the movie.

Alda and Fonda have a very similar sense of humor in real life, if not the exact same humor and they are both great comedic actors. It’s as if Alda is doing this movie on M*A*S*H as far as the humor between him and Jane. Jane Fonda has a great line in this movie where she tells Bill her ex-husband: “Billy you’re not a hopeless romantic. You’re even worst: you’re a hopeful one." Sounds like a line she could’ve come up with on her own.

Then there’s the Chicago couple where Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor, well their characters that is take their wives out to Los Angeles from Chicago on vacation. They are both doctors and best friends and yet they try to kill each other in this movie.

If you are familiar with the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles, you’ll love this part of California Suite as well. But this time the two men don’t just know each other, but they are best friends and have their wives with them. It is was one disaster after another for them in LA. Starting first in a rental car coming from the airport to their Beverly Hills hotel. The car overheats and they have to pull over and they all get out, but lock the keys in the car. And it just gets worst for them after that.

Then the couple from Philadelphia played by Walter Matthau and Elaine May. For some reason they fly to Los Angeles separately and the Matthau character meets up with his brother who he hasn’t seen in like forever. His brother played by Herb Edelman, I guess is single and perhaps coming off his fifth divorce and is a playboy. And gets his brother drunk at dinner and sets him up with a hooker to be there for his brother when he gets back to his hotel room. They get drunk together again and do God knows what. The next morning he can’t wake his hooker up and wife is on the way and you can imagine the type of problems he’s now dealing with. And it is really Walter Matthau at his funniest.

This is not a movie for people who only like cookie-cutter humor and need to of heard a joke like ten times from late night TV or their favorite comedians or sitcoms, or whatever before they can understand the one-liner and smart ass cracks in the movie.

And the humor in this movie also moves very fast with one great one-liner after another. So you not only need to pay attention to what you’re hearing, but do it quickly, because another quick joke is on the way. Played with I’m sure a lot of comedic improv in it as well, especially in a comedy that has Walter Matthau, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor in it. And I believe is one of the best comedies of all-time.

Lyndon B. Johnson: The Accidental President

Source:The New Democrat

The Accidental President, I think I would find that insulting if I was Lyndon Johnson with all of his experience and qualifications to be President of the United States. And even though Vice President Johnson wasn’t a very active Vice President, because the Jack Kennedy White House kept him in hiding with very little if any responsibility as the 2nd Ranking Officer in the U.S. Government, he was still Vice President of the United States.  

And according to the U.S. Constitution if the President can’t or doesn’t full fill their term as President and leaves office voluntarily or involuntarily, as was the case with President Kennedy, the Vice President takes over and becomes President of the United States. There was no accident to LBJ becoming President. He was Vice President at the time when President Kennedy was assassinated and JFK was assassinated as President of the United States. No accident in how LBJ became President of the United States and he was overwhelmingly elected President of the United States in 1964.

Iron Cup Shrug: Point Blank (1967) Lee Marvin vs. Angie Dickinson

Source:The New Democrat

One of my favorite scenes in this movie and because it was Lee Marvin with Angie Dickinson. And I’m a huge fan of this movie, which I’ve hoped I’ve already made clear by now. otherwise I’ve done a horrible job. But Angie Dickinson is a big reason why I love this movie and why I saw it in the first place. She’s not just a gorgeous, sexy, baby-face, adorable, woman, one of the top Hollywood goddess’ of all-time, but she’s also a hell of an actress with a great sweet sexy voice. That would make reading from a dishwasher manual or a phonebook sound interesting simply because’s she’s reading from it.

And here in this scene Angie is one on one with Lee Marvin. And he brings her up to this place, really for her own security. Probably more likely, because he wants to keep an eye on her. But she thinks he has more honest and romantic intentions and that perhaps this house is their weekend getaway or something. But he makes it clear that is isn’t and she goes ballistic and goes off on him. Well she tries to anyway and slaps the hell out of him on his chest. But Walker being the stone-cold criminal that he is, isn’t phased in the least by it. And basically just looks at her like, “what the hell is she doing” or something. And this is simply a great scene.

TCM: Kelsey Grammer Tribute to Lauren Bacall

Source:Turner Classic Movies-

Source:The New Democrat

There are Hollywood goddess’, gorgeous sexy women who are also very good entertainers who come around and then burn out and leave town. Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield unfortunately come to mind real fast.

And then are Hollywood actress’s who at least in my opinion are overrated, both as actress’s, but also how they physically present themselves and how they look. I won’t name anyone right now, but there are several young actress’s that come to mind who fit this category. And there are also actress’s who have these characteristics who stay around forever and I at least can’t wait till they retire, so I can’t stop hearing about how great they are, when I know they aren’t.

And then there are actress’s who have the same qualities as the first group of actress’s, but what makes them different? What they have in common is that they are Hollywood goddess’. They are gorgeous, they are sexy, they are incredibly cute, adorable really. But they aren’t good or very good entertainers and they don’t burn out and die young. They were built to last and did last, because they just don’t look great, but they are great. Their minds and brains matches their physical beauty and they were born to entertain and do it very well for a very long time.

The third group of women that I mentioned, Lauren Bacall could be the president of that class. She is a Hollywood goddess of all-time, because she was a Hollywood goddess for what sixty-five years. From when he was discovered in the mid-1940s or so and managed to stay around racking up one great role and movie one after the other for that entire time. I believe Liz Taylor is the best actress of all time, at least from what I’ve seen. But the difference between Lauren and Liz might be smaller than my pinky. And I wouldn’t pick anyone else ahead of Lauren.

Kelsey Grammer already nailed this in the video, but Lauren Bacall had this presence, that I believe is unmatched and even as she got older, she still had it. And every time I’ve seen her and those incredible facial expressions or the way she would say certain things with her beautiful New York accent, she’s always made me go, aw! Every time I’ve seen or heard her. This incredible, intelligent, funny, great gorgeous baby-face adorable goddess that has always put me in aw every time I’ve seen her in everything that she’s ever done. The Hollywood goddess of all-time and it’s just a damn shame she had to pass.

NBC Sports: NBA 1991- NBA Finals Game 1- Los Angeles Lakers @ Chicago Bulls: Full Game

Source:Post Up- The Lakers vs Bulls in the NBA Finals.

Source:The New Democrat

“Rewatch or discover the 1991 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan MVP.

With Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant vs James Worthy, Vlade Divac, Magic Johnson.”

From Post Up

Game 1 of the 1991 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, Magic vs. Air Jordan, James Worthy vs. Scottie Pippen and I could go on. But this is perhaps the one NBA Finals matchup that every NBA fan wanted to see in 1991.

The team of the 1980s and perhaps of all-time, the Los Angeles Lakers, with the player of the 1980s and perhaps of all-time in Earvin Magic Johnson. Vs. who would become the team of the 1990s, with the player of the 1990s and perhaps the player of all-time in Michael Air Jordan.

Not every year and perhaps every decade that the NBA produces Super Bowl caliber matchup’s in their championship series. But 1991 was certainly that and had James Worthy and Byron Scott been healthy for the Lakers in this series, we are easily talking about one of the greatest NBA Finals matchup’s of all-time, that would’ve made it back to Chicago for at least game 6, if not game 7 as well.

Biography: Elizabeth Taylor

Source:Biography-

Source:The New Democrat

If there is just one actress that I could have to put into any role for anything, I could only have one, that women would be Elizabeth Taylor. I mean she was a great actress before she was even a teenager in the 1940s. She’s the gold standard, the standard that all actress’s are judged by. The Jim Brown or Babe Ruth of acting at least when it came to actress’s. There isn’t a better dramatic or comedic actress than Liz Taylor. Someone who could make dramatic roles look hysterical, like when she played Martha in Virginia Wolf and could make comedic roles look serious.

And I’ve only covered her professional skills. But do you another women with a better pair of eyes, sweeter or prettier eyes than Elizabeth Taylor. A beautiful baby-face brunette really her whole life. And we are talking about almost eighty-years and with the curves that she had. She could play a really adorable women, who just makes guys go, “aw, she’s so cute!”. Or she can play a sexy baby-face beautiful brunette that guys can’t get their minds off that drives wives crazy every time they are in her presence.

And of course no one is perfect and Liz Taylor might be the perfect example of that. A lot of her life is a dramatic comedy, or Hollywood scandal. With the countless marriages that she had, the alcoholism and obesity that she was fighting in the 1980s and perhaps even before that. But none of that takes anything away from what she brought to Hollywood and millions of movie fans. As this beautiful baby-face sexy brunette, who was an incredible actress, as well as one of the funniest people of all-time. Both intentionally and unintentionally.

Jim Morrison Project: The Doors - Crawling King Snake

Source:The New Democrat- Jim Morrison & The Doors: Live from Frankfurt, Germany (1968)

Source:The New Democrat

I think the Crawling King Snake video from The Doors with Jim Morrison perfectly sums up the style and career of Jim Morrison. The man made leather jeans and rock and roll culture and why it looks the way it does today, at least with hard rockers and headbangers. The Lizard King obviously wasn’t a hard rocker or a headbanger, but he put his signature black snake-skin leather jeans on the map and made them cool. To the point by the 1980s they were standard for rockers male and female. And probably a big reason why Melissa Etheridge and Joan Jett got into them and why you saw rock and roll bands like Guns N Roses and Kiss get into them and of course the metal bands like Skid Row and Motley Crew.

And that is what you see in this video. The Lizard King moving so smoothly in his snake skin’s and cowboy boots and the concho belt. He combined rock and roll culture and lifestyle, with Western and American-Indian culture with the leather jeans, cowboy boots and concho belt and the leather jacket as well. He put these looks on the map in rock and roll, because of how often he wore this outfit in public and all the images that have come from those appearances. That were famous then and if anything now more popular forty-five years later. And without the Lizard King, rock and roll probably looks a lot different in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and today.

Leather in general wasn’t very popular in America when it came to wardrobes pre-late 1960s or so, except for perhaps biker and to a certain extent Western culture. So Jim Morrison in his full leather suit and then throw in the cowboys boots and the concho belt, that if anything even highlighted his leather jeans even more, especially in front, he was taking a risk. But he had the style, the look, the moves to make it work to the point that he became a rock and roll and perhaps even style icon in America and not just in rock and roll. And all of this is part of legacy that is still alive and well today.