Another piece about feature ideas that went they way of the dodo. When you’re a freelance, you’re always pissed off when a piece isn’t picked up. However, I think the following all had potential. And who knows? Perhaps some brave soul after reading about them here might care to to drop me a line at richardluck@yahoo.com…
Richard Nixon - A Life On Film
With April 22nd 2024 marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Richard Nixon,
I think there's a compelling piece to be written about the cinematic portrayals of America's most infamous president*. While other PsOTUS have been essayed more frequently, Nixon's movie portrayals are especially interesting since he's been depicted as everything from comic foil (Dan Hedaya in Dick) to superhero movie minor villain (X-Men: Days Of Future Past) to the conflicted, craven man described by Ed Harris' Howard Hunt in Oliver Stone's Nixon as 'the darkness reaching out for the darkness'. The range of actors who've played Nixon is also noteworthy, what with Philip Baker Hall (Secret Honor) being the absolute spit of Yorba Linda's favourite son while neither Anthony Hopkins (Nixon) or John Cusack (The Butler) looked a bit like the erstwhile Commander-In-Chief. Of course, some big-screen Nixons have been more successful than others. And the films themselves vary greatly, from the worthy, Oscar-bait of The Butler to Stone's epic which is every bit as complex as the man himself. Heck, there's even an obvious box-out in the shape of Richard M Dixon, aka stand-up James LaRoe who so closely resembled Nixon, he was cast as the president in Art Linson's Hunter S Thompson picture Where The Buffalo Roam, Larry Cohen's The Private Files Of J Edgar Hoover and all manner of lower-tier offerings.
The Third Man - 75 Not Out
The greatest of all British films - according to a BFI survey - Carol Reed's masterpiece turns 75 in 2024. Set and shot in post-war Vienna, there's no end of things to say about The Third Man. From Orson Welles rewriting the wonderful, if woefully inaccurate, 'cuckoo clock' speech to Anton Karras's zither score, its miraculous that the film got made in the first place, what with the project bringing together producers David O Selznick and Alexander Korda, screenwriter Graham Greene and director Carol Reed - four men not renowned for their willingness to compromise. There's also fun to be had imagining what the movie might have been like had Robert Mitchum - the first choice for the leading role of Holly Martins - not lost the part having been banged up for marijuana possession. On top of all this, you have the cultural legacy of The Third Man. The smash-hit radio series, Steven Soderbergh's semi-remake The Good German, crafty references in everything from Law & Order to Roger Corman's Alligator - the pickings are rich and plentiful. All they need now is for someone to set them before a new generation of dinners, one yet to be introduced to Harry Lime.
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