How cool would it be to casually uncase DiMaggio’s Model 21 in the duck blind?

That was Marilyn's job.

Hopefully it's more authentic than Ty Cobb's shotgun which Barry Halper falsely claimed was used by Ty's mom to kill Ty's dad.

Was this the shotgun he used on the guy who wrote the Seven Year Itch scene that had Marilyn standing on the subway grate?

I still don't get the fascination Dimaggio's streak attracts. The numbers Williams generated for the entirety of 1941 outdid what Dimaggio did just during that streak.

To me, it's more a curiosity than anything else, kind of in the realm of an unassisted triple play.

I see Joe and Marilyn sort of like this




Or This

That first one you just linked to is a 9.5 on a 10 scale. Great cult noir that's infinitely better than the artsy-fartsy Bonnie and Clyde.

I love Pretty Poison. Both leads were terrific.

Tuesday Weld could have had a much better career than she ended up actually having. She had the rare gift of being able to play someone who was sympathetic yet pathological at the same time.

Tuesday Weld should have been a greater star. She was out of time--and, of course, as her bio. at IMDB makes clear, self-destructive, career-wise. She turned down both Lolita and Bonny and Clyde. I think the young Sue Lyon acquitted herself well as Lolita, and she probably should have had a better career, but Weld would have made Mason and Sellers put it in overdrive in order to keep up. The one thing that keeps Kubrick's Lolita from being really great is that it has this air of predicability--everyone, even Sellers, seems to be just going through their horse show paces. They're fine horses, don't get me wrong, but, still, there's a lack of energy about the whole enterprise--Weld would have juiced it up.

I still don't get the fascination Dimaggio's streak attracts. The numbers Williams generated for the entirety of 1941 outdid what Dimaggio did just during that streak.

I still don't get the fascination with people complaining about the streak not resonating with them. The number of people that complain about something that 90% of the population understand should be indicative to the person complaining that there is something fundamentally wrong with their thought process.

Great cult noir that's infinitely better than the artsy-fartsy Bonnie and Clyde.

Great movie, I'll grant you, but I don't think you need to dis B&C to make the point. To me they're kind of apples and oranges, despite the superficial similarities. And B&C gets a lot of extra credit from me for being the opening salvo in the revolution in American filmmaking that lasted through much of the 70s.

In case you didn't notice, I'm not complaining. I'm stating I don't understand the fascination others have for it, and for the reasons I mentioned.

And, now that you've brought it to my attention, I don't get the fascination with people who complain about people who complain about the streak not resonating with them.

In case you didn't notice, I'm not complaining. I'm stating I don't understand the fascination others have for it, and for the reasons I mentioned.http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/the_gun_nut_joe_dimaggios_shotgun_up_for_auction_in_october/

I think hitting streaks perfectly fit the day-to-day rhythms of the sport. I get that hitting streaks in a vacuum aren't necessarily more special than any other baseball oddity, but I was caught up in Uggla's/Rollins's/Santiago's/Molitor's streak as much as any regular-joe fan. For the same reason, I get caught up in unfolding no-hitters even though I get that a no-no isn't necessarily tantamount to utter greatness. It's theater.

In case you didn't notice, I'm not complaining. I'm stating I don't understand the fascination others have for it, and for the reasons I mentioned.

And, now that you've brought it to my attention, I don't get the fascination with people who complain about people who complain about the streak not resonating with them.

I understand caring about hitting streaks, and I understand not caring about hitting streaks. I even understand complaining about people who complain about hitting streaks. What I'm having a hard time with is people who would spend enough money to save an impoverished village in order to buy Joe DiMaggio's effing shotgun.

Gun Crazy is awesome. Bonnie and Clyde isn't. Movies about stupid, empty people are usually pretty dull, even when there's a lot of killing.

Why would you buy this gun, because DiMaggio once owned a reproduction?

In case you didn't notice, I'm not complaining. I'm stating I don't understand the fascination others have for it, and for the reasons I mentioned.

You stated the obvious though, I seriously doubt there is one person on this site who doesn't know that Ted Williams had a better year than Dimaggio and that Williams had better numbers than Dimaggio had during the hit streak. And of course it's more than a curiousity similar to the unassisted triple play. With any streak/record that is publicized you have the day to day contact with people asking about the streak/record. You don't get that with the triple play, you don't get days and weeks of building anticipation.

During the homerun chase by McGwire and Sosa people everyday were asking if they hit one and a large portion of the country was following it, yet Bonds had the better overall season than either of those two. Guess what is remembered by history. It's entertainment, it's not always about "who is more valuable". Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson chase of the single season stolen base record was followed intently. Heck a no hitter is no better than a shutout in the big picture, yet we are fascinated by them.

Great movie, I'll grant you, but I don't think you need to dis B&C to make the point. To me they're kind of apples and oranges, despite the superficial similarities. And B&C gets a lot of extra credit from me for being the opening salvo in the revolution in American filmmaking that lasted through much of the 70s.

like most everyone else at the time, I was blown away by B&C when it first came out, and I agree it was an "important" movie in the late 60s- early 70s change in American filmmaking--BUT, it doesn't hold up well at all. Watching it again, 40-odd years hence, it's remarkably superficial and quite hokey.

Gun Crazy is a great movie, but my favorite noir remains Pickup on South Street*

*among B movie noir. Asphalt Jungle for feature noir

like most everyone else at the time, I was blown away by B&C when it first came out, and I agree it was an "important" movie in the late 60s- early 70s change in American filmmaking--BUT, it doesn't hold up well at all. Watching it again, 40-odd years hence, it's remarkably superficial and quite hokey.

I didn't like B&C when it came out, and I still don't like it today, and for the same reasons: It panders to a silly notion, it advertises its own specialness way too much, and the slow motion mowdown was (and is) just way too artsy-fartsy for my taste. Slow motion is like grabbing you by the neck, rubbing your face in dog ####, and then telling you, "This is dog ####---I'll bet you never knew that before."

Great directors and great movies don't need that kind of BS to make their mark. Third rate pretenders like Bonnie & Clyde did, and still do. "Superficial" is as polite a term as you can give to that bloviated generational conceit.

Asphalt Jungle for feature noir

"Don't bone me!"

Yeah, that one's right up there in my top 5 or 10, but if you haven't seen The Killers, Out of the Past, Rififi, or Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (which was on TCM the other night), you're in for a treat. Don't let the French titles scare you off, those last two are worthy of the best American noir, and Jean Gabin wasn't called "the French Bogart" for nothing.

And in contrast to that moronic final shootout in Bonnie and Clyde, Rififi's most famous scene is a half hour break-in robbery where there's no soundtrack, and almost no dialogue beyond a furtive whisper or two, but instead a beautifully filmed depiction of a group of professional thieves doing a good night's work. It takes what you see in The Asphalt Jungle to an entirely new level.

The opening scene of The Killers has to be one of the greatest opening scenes ever.

For those who don't know, it was based on one of Hemingway's Nick Adams stories. IIRC, it was through that movie that Hemingway got hooked up with Ava Gardner.

In fact, I'm going to BREAK. THE. LAW. and provide the Youtube link to the first 10 minutes of the movie. The whole thing is there if you want to watch it in 10 minute segments:

The Killers 1/10

but if you haven't seen The Killers, Out of the Past, Rififi, or Touchez Pas Au Grisbi

I've seen them and love them all--I would add Dassin's Night and the City

EDIT: a young Ava Gardner was strikingly beautiful in The Killers---you can barely recognize her. She and Betty Bacall both seemed to age 15 years between the ages of 19 and 23 [/sexism off]

In fact, I'm going to BREAK. THE. LAW. and provide the Youtube link to the first 10 minutes of the movie. The whole thing is there if you want to watch it in 10 minute segments:

in case anyone's interested, Gun Crazy and Pickup on South Street are also available in bite-sized chunks on Youtube

(Don't tase me, bro!!)

The opening scene of The Killers has to be one of the greatest opening scenes ever.

No kidding, "bright boy". I'd remove the qualifier and just say "the greatest". Has there ever been a more perfect casting of two key bit roles than William Conrad and Charles McGraw?

In fact, I'm going to BREAK. THE. LAW. and provide the Youtube link to the first 10 minutes of [The Killers]. The whole thing is there if you want to watch it in 10 minute segments:

In turn I'm going to OBEY. THE. LAW. and tell anyone who's interested that TCM will be running The Killers at 11:30 PM this coming Thursday, and again on September 29 at 1:15 PM. NOTE: This is strictly for informational or "time-shifting" purposes only.


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EDIT: a young Ava Gardner was strikingly beautiful in The Killers---you can barely recognize her. She and Betty Bacall both seemed to age 15 years between the ages of 19 and 23 [/sexism off]

I don't think it's sexism so much as the changing hair styles, which you could see even more by the early 50's. In terms of sheer sexual magnetism I think Bacall's peak was in Dark Passage, when she was all of 23. Now how would you like to be on the lam for a crime you didn't commit, and have a rich and gorgeous babe like that rescue you out of nowhere, hide you from the law, and then meet up with you in South America to the strains of "Too Marvelous For Words" with an ocean view? I can think of worse endings for a guy with Bogart's mug.

Wasn't Agnes Moorehead awesome in Dark Passage? She had the snotty, selfish ##### thing down pat, maybe even better than Betty Davis. That scene when Bogart confronts her and she pushed back on him is priceless.

And here it is! I love how her mood changes from suspicious skeptic to coquette to frightened victim to stubborn #####, all in the space of about 5 minutes.

Dark Passage- The Confrontation

I still don't get the fascination with people complaining about the streak not resonating with them. The number of people that complain about something that 90% of the population understand should be indicative to the person complaining that there is something fundamentally wrong with their thought process.

If it weren't for people pointing out that they are too smart to care about something that other people inexplicably care about, this website would use a lot less bandwidth.

Wasn't Agnes Moorehead awesome in Dark Passage? She had the snotty, selfish ##### thing down pat, maybe even better than Betty Davis. That scene when Bogart confronts her and she pushed back on him is priceless.

And here it is! I love how her mood changes from suspicious skeptic to coquette to frightened victim to stubborn #####, all in the space of about 5 minutes.

The jealous dame who'd stoop to anything to avenge unrequited love is a Hollywood staple, and you're right, nobody ever did it better than Agnes Moorehead, who had the added advantage of a naturally villainous and somewhat witchlike face. Although Ida Lupino in They Drive By Night wasn't too bad herself, or Bette Davis in Bordertown.

Gun Crazy is a great movie, but my favorite noir remains Pickup on South Street*

Agree about Pickup, with a slight but pointed reservation that the ending isn't in line with Noir. Still, until then, it's great. Oh, and that cop is a little much. And is it really a B movie? Widmark certainly isn't a B-actor at that time, and the supporting cast (including Peters) seems frontline, for the most part. Gun Crazy has the uniqueness of that relationship going for it. Asphalt Jungle is just textbook perfect.

I have to admit that I thought Bonnie & Clyde was ground-breaking at the time, and it made a huge emotional impact with me; and like others here, I outgrew it. The feeling passed, or I changed. I guess I just didn't know then what I later learned from watching a lot of movies in the intervening years, but also a person's taste in movies (and other art) changes just like his taste in food can change. When you're a kid, your taste buds can't hack strong cheeses, maybe; now, you can't get enough of the rich premium stuff. There's an acquired taste to everything cultural, I guess.

I don't think it's sexism so much as the changing hair styles, which you could see even more by the early 50's.

And some hard living, maybe, especially wrt Ava. The '50's look was positively a negative for Bacall--but, really, as a actor, she lost her subtlety.

The Killers opening is hard to beat, right up to the shooting of Lancaster, then it like goes off a cliff with the introduction of that insurance investigation plot device--my problem with it is the way it's told--that Edmond O'Brien framing device detracts--it's too superficial, too bouncy for one thing. O'Brien's okay; his character just doesn't belong in that story. Too, both Lancaster and Gardner are pretty raw in spots, sometimes appealing so, but still.

I have to admit that I thought Bonnie & Clyde was ground-breaking at the time, and it made a huge emotional impact with me; and like others here, I outgrew it. The feeling passed, or I changed. I guess I just didn't know then what I later learned from watching a lot of movies in the intervening years, but also a person's taste in movies (and other art) changes just like his taste in food can change. When you're a kid, your taste buds can't hack strong cheeses, maybe; now, you can't get enough of the rich premium stuff. There's an acquired taste to everything cultural, I guess.

No argument there, Morty. There are movies I loved then and don't love any more, and vice versa. But I think the reason that I didn't like Bonnie & Clyde from the gitgo was the way it (and other movies like The Graduate, Easy Rider, etc.) pandered to the perceived taste of its demographic audience, in a way that seemed more than a little patronizing.

And while it's true that all movies with an underlying "message" engage in this sort of pandering, it offends me on a more personal level when I feel it's my generation (war baby / baby boomer) that's being pandered to. That sort of generational pandering was harmless enough in the era of Andy Hardy or Gidget, but when it actually takes itself seriously and confuses its cartoony message with serious thought, it raises a red flag that arouses my inner bull.

There are movies I loved then and don't love any more, and vice versa. But I think the reason that I didn't like Bonnie & Clyde from the gitgo was the way it (and other movies like The Graduate, Easy Rider, etc.)

I'll give you Bonnie & Clyde, and Easy Rider, but The Graduate? Uh-uh. It holds up marvelously well. Just that few second montage which begins with Hoffman diving into the pool and ends with him diving into Anne Bancroft captures the rhythm of his summer as well as any filmmaker has ever caught anything. That soundtrack. Katherine Ross in the strip joint. Buck Henry and the bell. The confrontation with Murray Hamilton. This is a film that managed to make actual, excellent use of Norman Fell. "Plastics." The sudden realization on the bus that this is real life we're living.

It's not a series of bits, either, It all adds up.

Well, that's a classic case of differing tastes (AFAIC Simon and Garfunkel are worse than chalk on a blackboard), but the one thing about The Graduate that's changed is that I've gotten a newly found appreciation (which I didn't have as a 23 year old) for the 36-year old Anne Bancroft.

BTW the best movie on the tube today wasn't on TCM, but on FMC: The Incident , a 1967 B&W film with Martin Sheen, Tony Musante, Beau Bridges, Brock Peters, Ruby Dee & Gary Merrill. Musante and Sheen (in his film debut) play a pair of muggers who hold a New York subway car hostage for most of the movie, and in terms of horror, it makes Night of the Living Dead almost seem like a comedy. I'd never heard of Musante before (though I should have), but in this particular film he's every bit as creepy as Richard Widmark's Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death, and that's saying a hell of a lot. It's showing again on the FMC twice on September 16th and twice more on September 21st, and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. In terms of gritty NYC-based movies with a completely realistic feel, the closest comparison would probably be Pacino's The Panic in Needle Park, but this one brings the audience a lot closer "into" the action.

I have a vague recollection of The Incident (and a vague recollection of a heroic mole on Musante's face, when the custom was to have them removed--he seemed to disappear after a promising start, but from Imdb it looks like he drifted back into TV with the series Toma, then stayed there). That's one interesting cast, and Sheen was a terrific, quirky actor for a while.

Andy, have you ever seen any of the Lemmy Caution films? I haven't, but I'm wondering whether they're worth tracking down since Godard used the character in Alphaville.

Musante's TV show Toma was critically praised, and, I think, popular enough. Creative differences arose between Musante and the producers and he walked out. The show then came back, transmogrified, as Baretta with Robert Blake.